《Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!》


 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1: 1


    Year 2019 <center></center><hr>


    Day 1


    6:00 AM


    *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap*


    I was tapping on my phone, eyeing every person that walks by, checking each one, careful not to miss my friend I was waiting for. I¡¯m at an airport, rows ofrge white tiles adorned the floor, a long ss wall separates me from the peopleing and going. A few stores at my right side is selling clothes, souvenirs, food, toys and even a few items forfort on the flight. On my left side, walking on a few steps, seems to be the area where authorized personnel can onlye in and it¡¯s guarded by two security guards with one carrying a rifle while the other one has a shotgun slung on his back. The person with the shotgun also has a leash on his hand and a German Shepherd lies down on his feet, seemingly rxed but it¡¯s eyes just darts around, looking at people passing by.


    *vibrate* *vibrate*


    I felt a buzz on my hand that was holding my phone, as I face the screen, a call from my aunt pops up and as I was about to answer it, it stops and a missed call notification pops up followed by a text that says:


    ¡°Heyo! I know u don¡¯ lyk to ans cals so I txt u pz plz buy me tjos sweet peenut thins u used to buy wit de nips on it! O! Ths is Aya!¡±


    Investigating the sender¡¯s text, it was probably my little cousin. Considering all the spelling errors, I replied:


    ¡°You¡¯re talking about ¡®Trailmix¡¯, right? I¡¯ll buy a bag and those are not ¡®Nips¡¯ they¡¯re ¡®M&Ms¡¯ by the way.¡±


    I stood up and I started walking towards the store and I noticed someone familiar. She¡¯s wearing a flight attendant uniform and she¡¯s carrying on herp a small red bag with a cross sign on it. On her table, arge cup of coffee sits with an eaten cake while the fork with pink bits on it is ced on the side of it.


    I remember her from my high school. <center></center><hr>


    I could say that we¡¯re good friends back then, we used topete for our grades a while back and some other things. She¡¯s very beautiful I¡¯d admit, even now. Most of my ssmates, even from other sections used to try to ask her out, but she seems disinterested at the time and was more focused on studying.


    I walked past her since the candy store is the one further from the coffee shop. I contemted on greeting her, but I think she won¡¯t remember me because It¡¯s been years since west met.


    ¡°She might not remember me. It¡¯s good seeing her though.¡± I said to myself.


    However, as I begin to push the ss door, I saw her reflection behind me then I felt a couple taps in my back and then I heard her voice, ¡°Hey! Sky, right? Remember me?¡± she said.


    As I turned around to face her, she removed her cap and her ck hair flows through her shoulders and she pointed to herself, ¡°It¡¯s me, Kaley!¡± she said while smiling brightly.


    ¡°Oh, Hi! Ahaha¡­ I thou-¡± before I even got to finish my sentence, she leans close to me and she squints.


    ¡°Stop doing that! I know what you¡¯re doing; you have the best memory out of all the people I know.¡± she said.


    I scratched my nose as she continued, ¡°I saw you look at me earlier, I¡¯m pretty sure you thought that I wouldn¡¯t remember or recognize you earlier, am I right?¡±


    I pursed my lips to a smile, ¡°She read me like a book.¡± I said to myself.


    After a chuckle, she continued, ¡°I got that right huh? What are you buying here? Is it those dried cranberries you used to munch on back then?¡±


    I replied, ¡°Sort of, I¡¯m getting a bag of ¡®Trailmix¡¯ for my cousin at home, and yeah, now that you mention it, I¡¯m also getting a bag of those cranberries. It has been a while since I have eaten those.¡± <hr>


    ¡°That reminds me, still eating those strawberry shortcakes huh?¡± I added then I noticed she bit her lower lip into a smile, sort of embarrassed or maybe happy that I also remembered what she liked from back then. She linked her arm with mine then she pushed the door in front us towards the store.


    ¡°Let me join you then, I¡¯m gonna grab some things too before I head back.¡± She said.


    We began to walk towards where the baskets are located and I grabbed a basket. We began walking to the aisles looking for the stuff I¡¯d like to buy.


    Then she said, ¡°So, I¡¯m pretty sure you won¡¯t talk unless I start, so, how¡¯s life been treating you? I remember you said that you wanted to be a programmer?¡±


    I nodded and said, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve be one but in the end, I¡¯ve only worked for a few years then I decided to continue the family business. How about you though? I remembered you were studying to be a nurse, what happened? The uniform suits you though.¡±


    ¡°Hah! Well, you know, life happened, I shifted for a few times too. I really can¡¯t decide at the time on what I want to be. My mom said to take it easy and rx for a bit so we traveled to Indonesia, Spain and Paris and something clicked. I said to myself that I want to travel all over the world, but I want to get paid too, so here is the best solution!¡± she said as she grabs a few candies and ced it on my basket. I just smiled at her while I carefully rearranged the candies in the basket.


    ¡°But why did you quit being a programmer? It pays well right?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Well, like you said. Life happened¡­ to be exact- I hated my boss and might have done something irreversible. Hahaha!¡± Iughed as I replied.


    She chuckled and she gave me a pensive look. Then she said, ¡°Haven¡¯t changed I see, I remember you always doing things your way.¡± she squinted while she smiled at me.


    She walked beside me, just sliding her fingers through some of the packs of candies in the aisles.


    I continued, ¡°Yeah, well I really hate working at that ce and I can finish what they have given me for half the time. I told them about my performance and I asked for a raise, but they just decided to pile more work on me without properpensation while the other guys just cked off. I might have said something that ticked them off¡­oh! Here it is.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Hahaha! Like that one time you snapped at our teacher for teaching the flowcharts wrong.¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah! I remember that! He was a f.u.c.k.i.n.g Biology teacher, why the f.u.c.k did they let them teach a Computer subject?! That¡¯s nuts! I really couldn¡¯t help myself that time.¡± I looked back at the old times.


    I finally found the bag and I grabbed two. She then found the bag of cranberries that I was looking for and she handed it to me. After one more look around at the aisles to see if she would pick anything else, we went to the cashier to pay. I paid for everything as I slid my card on the cashier¡¯s device.


    ¡°Thank you for shopping! Pleasee again!¡± the cashier said.


    I just nodded at her and we head back.


    As we¡¯re leaving the store, I said, ¡°So having a break now?¡±


    She nodded, ¡°Yeah, we were supposed to fly to Japan, but our pilot had an ident earlier. He was sent to the hospital and I was supposed to wait for his recement, but the flight was dyed at first but then it was cancelled afterwards so they told me to go home. I saw the cake in the shop and I stopped by to eat, then I saw you walking past me.¡±


    She sat next to me on the bench I was sitting on earlier. We¡¯re casually chatting and I mentioned my friend I was waiting on.


    ¡°Oh? So, what was your friend like?¡± she said.


    ¡°He¡¯s an old veteran from the US, we met at a convention in San Diego and we became friends when we figured out that we watch the same TV series, ¡®The Pacing Unliving¡¯.¡± I said.


    She ces her hand on her forehead as she began tough, ¡°Yeah, I can totally see that happening, that is so like you, and what¡¯s up with that title? Is that a parody? Your friend, is he like, scary-looking or something?¡± <hr>


    ¡°No, actually, he looks like an old guy you¡¯d see feeding pigeons on the street, you can¡¯t see in his face that he served in the military though he¡¯s still strong as an ox.¡± I said.


    She smiles and said, ¡°Well it¡¯s nice you get to have new friends, I remembered the first time talking to you back then, you¡¯d always sit alone, always minding your own business, I even thought that you were mute that time!¡±


    I gave augh and remembered back. it¡¯s just like she said, I was almost invisible until she was the first one to talk to me. After she introduced me to some of her friends, I started to open myself up bit by bit although I usually started speaking my mind without filter. I could be a blunt asshole sometimes but most of her friends preferred that instead of being an untruthful prick. I was really thankful to her at that time and what she did for me when she first transferred.


    *vibrate* *vibrate*


    A few minutes pass, my phone buzzed two times. My cousin and my friend, Oscar, finally contacted me. I checked my cousin¡¯s email first.


    ¡°Yo! By me 2 bags 4got 2 tellyou I¡¯ll pay u bac¡±


    I just chuckled, ¡®as if she would pay me back¡¯, after that I checked the other email.


    ¡°Hey kid. Emergency. Code Zulu Alpha?¡± at the bottom of the email there¡¯s a link that shows a news article about a drug induced person attacking their hospital staff. It shows a video of a man dressed in a pilot¡¯s uniform with bandages in his arm getting held down by a few security guards. As the video continues, I felt her lean in to watch as well. As I look at her, the bright face she was showing earlier is slowly reced by a look of difort.


    ¡°Th-That¡¯s our pilot that got sent to the hospital earlier¡­¡± she said.


    A cold wave of air washed over me as I feel something very bad in my gut as she said that.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I said as I try to get more information.

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2: 2


    ¡°A maintenance guy was acting strange earlier in the staff cafeteria where we used to eat at. I thought they were just having a simple altercation as they were shouting at each other. But as James, our pilot was trying to talk to the guy and got closer, he suddenly pounced on him but he managed to hold him down on his shirt.¡± She said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Then¡­¡± her hand tightened a bit on the bag she was holding. ¡°The guy broke free and decided to suddenly bite James in his right arm, he stood up and ran outside the door where the guards chased after him. His arm bled a lot but me and the nurse there managed to give first-aid and we called the hospital after.¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K! Please don¡¯t let it be what I think it is.¡± I shouted in my head, the painful churn in my gut is still urring. I swallowed a bit of my saliva and I feel sweating out of my forehead.


    She continued, ¡°As the nurse was checking his arm, I could see where the guy bit him. It just bled a lot and not like that in the news where it¡¯s starting to discolor. Some time has passed but it shouldn¡¯t be looking like that.¡±


    As she finished speaking, the feeling in my gut is still there. I looked at her and I see her worried face. I checked at the gate and Oscar still hasn¡¯te up.


    I looked at the door on the left where the security is at and there are still there, but the guy with the rifle seems to be speaking with someone on his radio. The dog being held by the other guy is pacing around, he seems to sense something, giving him difort as he lets out a few whines. I grabbed my phone and sent Oscar a text.


    ¡°What is taking you so long old man? I feel something bad is about to happen, you might be right.¡±


    He replies, ¡°I think Code Zulu Alpha is happening, and it¡¯s much more differentpared than what we¡¯ve seen before on the files. I¡¯m at a checkpoint at the gate below, a medic is checking our temperatures. I¡¯m close but someone is being held up at the front. Can you pick me up?¡± as he texted that, I turned to Kaley and asked if there is a faster way we could go down to pick Oscar up.


    ¡°I could go through that door, but I think they wouldn¡¯t allow you and I don¡¯t know what Oscar looks like.¡± she said. I started to look around and saw something, I mouthed at her to follow my lead.


    I walked near the guards toward another passage where the restrooms are and then I went straight to a yellow sign at the ground. I readied myself as I slid my foot towards the floor where the ¡®caution wet floor¡¯ sign was at. I slid it forwards and I kicked my foot up to make it look more like it¡¯s real.


    *slid*


    *THUD*


    I tried to make it convincing as I il my other hand holding the bags to hide my head as I fall to the floor. A thud was produced loud enough for the guards to hear and notice. Then Kaley sprinted to me as she ¡®gets¡¯ my n. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Are you okay sir? Can you¡­¡± she said a few sentences as she began opening the case and examine my head, though a small smirk is hidden in her face. One of the guards walked towards us and checked up on me. ¡°You need to be careful sir; I think you haven¡¯t noticed the sign here.¡± said the guard.


    ¡°I¡¯m very sorry, I was walking towards the restroom but I got a text, I forgot to see where I was going¡­¡± I said while clutching a part of my head. I even let drool fall from my mouth.


    ¡°I need to take a closer look at you sir, I suggest we take you to the doctor¡¯s office inside, just in case of a concussion.¡± she said convincingly.


    ¡°Nice job.¡± I said to myself.


    I tried to hold back myughter as best as I can when I was being escorted inside now. The guard even gave me a pass to show employees in case someone questions my presence there. I wasid down in one of the few beds and the guard motions himself to go back to his station.


    The nurse started to check up on me and noticed that nothing seems to be wrong. ¡°Sir, you really need to be careful next time.¡± she said as she eyes her phone. ¡°I am being called down by the doctor, miss Kaley, kindly escort him back after a few minutes. I need to go down at the checkpoint. Excuse me.¡± She made a small bow as she walked toward the other exit.


    After she left, I grabbed a doctor¡¯s bag, filled it with different sorts of medical supplies avable: antibiotics, ointments, bandages, pills, painkillers and a few bottles of alcohol. I picked up a white coat and a stethoscope and I wore both of these items and I noticed she¡¯s looking at me with confusion, ¡°What are you doing? I thought we we¡¯re just going to pick your friend up? Is something wrong?¡±


    I held her shoulders and I looked her in the eye, ¡°There is something very wrong about to happen right now, I can¡¯t get into the details yet, all I can say is I¡¯ve only heard whispers and seen a few reports of this but I really hope I¡¯m wrong. On the case I¡¯m right, we need to prepare, hurry.¡± I motioned for us to move forward where the nurse walked at.


    ¡°Do you have family here now?¡± I asked as we walked towards a staircase where below, a group of people are being examined.


    ¡°W-wait a minute, I need to process this, you¡¯re sounding scary right now!¡± she shouted as she keeps following behind me.


    ¡°Contact them immediately, Tell them to prep-¡± I said as she interrupted, ¡°I have my younger sister at home but my parents are away right now! Please tell me what¡¯s going on!¡± We¡¯re at the front of the door and we stopped walking. She¡¯s looking worried as I saw her brows furrowed.


    *vibrate* *vibrate* <hr>


    As soon as she said that, her phone rings. As she picked it up a sound of a female voicees, ¡°Kaley! OMG! Where are you?! Some homeless dude at the street attacked Mrs. Tan outside! Her neck was bitten and there was blood everywhere! The guy kept on chewing on her so I called the cops but when they came Mrs. Tan is already dead! OMG! Pleasee home quick!¡±


    ¡°W-w-wait, WHAT?! Breathe for a moment and tell me what happened!¡± she eximed.


    As I heard everything they were saying, I stopped her for a moment and told her, ¡°Tell her to lock the doors and don¡¯t open it for anyone besides us. Have her pack clothes, food, water and medicine, tell her to wait for us and grab something for protection. The situation might be worse there. Do you still live at the same ce we made that model rocket?¡±


    ¡°Y-yeah, the same ce at the Bcan area.¡± she said.


    She nodded and as I finished talking, I notice that she is just staring at me with a pensive look. ¡°Is this connected with the incident with James earlier? Is this what I think it is?¡± Her look of confusion and worry is now reced with a serious look. Her eyes are a bit watery but I see a sharp stare.


    ¡°She picked it up fast.¡± I said to myself.


    After a brief sigh, I nodded, ¡°Yeah, I know it sounds crazy and you need to be with your sister immediately but we need to pick up Oscar first then we¡¯ll head to your ce, I promise.¡±


    She just looks at me and said, ¡°That¡¯s fine thank you, I don¡¯t have a car to go there immediately. I just picked up a cab going here.¡± After that short talk, she proceeds to tell her sister what I said and as we¡¯re walking on the ground, I noticed Oscar among one of the groups and I texted him.


    ¡°I see you now, what¡¯s holding you up? Look near the stairs at I-15, I¡¯m wearing a white coat with a flight attendant.¡±


    I saw his head start to scan around then it locks to my direction. Then I saw him tapping his phone. I felt a buzz in my phone followed with a text.


    ¡°Kid, is that a pack of cranberries? Let¡¯s do Project Sweets.¡± the text reads.


    I made a small salute and we headed to his group, I shouted ¡°I¡¯m looking for Col. Oscar Goodman, we need you toe with us.¡± As he stands up walking towards me, a few guards walked toward me and ces a hand in front of me. <hr>


    As I was about to talk, Kaley took a step forward and said, ¡°He¡¯s Dr. Ishiyama from St. Luke¡¯s and I was told to apany him by the head of security to pick up a man named Mr. Goodman.¡±


    ¡°Colonel, youngss. I¡¯m bbergasted that this no-ranks wouldn¡¯t let me through, I think I¡¯ll call their superior officer and have them removed from this post immediately!¡± Oscar interrupted.


    I almost rolled my eyes from his over the top acting but Kaley said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Col. Goodman. You said that you need to have your shots now, is that right?¡±


    Oscar gave the both of us a look of approval then he said, ¡°That¡¯s correct, I broke my bottle of Insulin and I need to get to a clinic or a hospital to get one because I¡¯m starting to get dizzy.¡± he said as he raised one of his small bags and a medicinal smell wafted. After that, a clinking noise followed as he lightly shakes the bag.


    The guards gave our group a look of hesitation and I opened one of the bags in my hand and said, ¡°Grab a handful Col. Goodman, this could help for a bit with your sugar levels. If you hold us for long, I¡¯m gonna call your supervising officer.¡± I looked at the two guards and after a moment, they were convinced to let us go.


    We walked back the way we came from and when the door closed behind us, we all gave a sigh of relief. ¡°That went better than expected, good thing those guards didn¡¯t do anything.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hah! That¡¯s what I like about this countrypared to mine, people tasked with security here are veryx and some of them feels like they don¡¯t even want to get in trouble. When I waved my rank around them, they stood there like wet puppies!¡± Oscar said while still munching the berries from his hand.


    ¡°And who¡¯s this looker here? You¡¯re girlfriend?¡± Oscar said as she leans to me with this suggestive look in his face and his eyebrows going up and down.


    ¡°Umm, ah- she¡¯s ah-¡± I stammer as I can¡¯t believe Oscar would bring it up with me in this situation. He clearly knows I¡¯ve never been in a rtionship with anyone and he keeps on setting me up with people.


    I looked at her but I can¡¯t see her face from this angle and I¡¯m hoping she doesn¡¯t feel ufortable with that. However, all I heard was a chuckle from him, ¡°Well, I¡¯d be surprised if Sky would have one, all these years I¡¯ve known him, never saw him on a proper date. I¡¯ve been setting him up with anybody with potential but he keeps turning them down, I was worried he¡¯d go to a temple to be a Buddhist Monk!¡± he cackles after a while.


    ¡°I see, haven¡¯t changed huh?¡± Kaley said, her back facing us, she keeps on walking forward.


    ¡°Well aren¡¯t you the same, hmm?¡± I rebutted. She throws a slight jab on my arm as I said it. We all remained silent as we walked towards the exit. <hr>


    ¡°Did you bring Betty?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Betty? The SUV? Of course.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sweet! Alright, Alright, Alright¡­¡± Oscar said as he attempts to do an impression of a certain actor.


    ¡°That was so bad.¡± I said to myself.


    I ced my hand on my forehead as I ryed to him my n to go to Kaley¡¯s house first. He agreed under the condition that I tell him the story about her. As I have no choice now, and it¡¯s not the moment to negotiate, I just agreed and we moved on.


    As we¡¯re getting near the doctor¡¯s office, on the corner of my eye I noticed a figureing out of the maintenance room. The person rushes outside, holding his neck, his blue uniform starting to darken from the top, a few streaks of blood trickling down the floor. It was followed by a loud banging from the other door he came from. He rushes to the other exit from where the two guards were stationed.


    ¡°AHHHH!!!¡± a shout was heard from where the guy rushed past.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    ¡°F.U.C.K!¡± I shouted in my head.


    A scream followed by a couple gunshots rang out. We tensed after that quick encounter but it was soon followed by another loud bang as the door from the maintenance room swings open. A figure, face bloody beyond recognition steps out, snarling, hands crooked, suddenly lunges at our group with speed. As he closes in, we heard a shout from behind:


    ¡°DUCK!¡±

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3: 3


    *whoosh* <center></center><hr>


    *THUD*


    I immediately ducked down while I pushed Kaley¡¯s head with me. At a quick nce, a blur of red appeared above our heads and the man in front of us was smashed by it. Turns out, Oscar grabbed a fire extinguisher and swung at the man approaching us. Blood spattered on the walls and everything fell silent. A moment passes and the man twitches again, it was followed by a downward swing of the fire extinguisher. I was staring in shock at what happened and Oscar picks up the keys on the man¡¯s waist.


    ¡°Never thought the day these old bones would still see some action.¡± Oscar said with a long sigh.


    I gave a look at Kaley and she¡¯s shaking and her face is pale, it must be the first time she saw something like that. I tried speaking to her but she¡¯s still in shock so I grabbed her shoulders to shook her awake. Still no response, it left me no choice so I gave her a quick p to the face.


    *p*


    It seems to get the proper reception and she¡¯s now looking at me back with color on her face. She¡¯s holding her left cheek then she suddenly gave me a right p, much stronger than what I did.


    *SLAP*


    ¡°Ow! Why did you do that?! I¡¯m sorry! I was waking you up! We need to move!¡± I said as I held my stinging red cheek. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Um, I¡¯m sorry, it hurts a bit¡­¡± she said as we followed Oscar. I took a quick nce at the corpse and aside from his mangled head, a white crystalline powder of small amounts is near his cor and in his right sleeve.


    ¡°Drugs?¡± I took a mental note of what I found and decided that it¡¯s best to leave this ce now instead of investigating the body.


    Oscar motioned for me to open the door for him while he readies his fire extinguisher. As I open it, another horrifying site assaulted our eyes. Looking at the scene, I immediately noticed the maintenance guy that we saw earlier face up with bullet holes in his torso and one on his head.


    What¡¯s next to him is one of the guards facing down, looking at his position, he seems to be pushed really hard and was thrown down violently, like his head was smashed on the floor. Blood has started to make a pool beneath their bodies as it still continues to pour out.


    Looking at the corpses, Oscar decided to search the body of the guard lying down. He took his shotgun, it¡¯s a Remington 870 along with a few slugs located in the guard¡¯s belt. He threw me the guard¡¯s pistol, a Beretta M9 with an additional magazine.


    I checked around and I saw a few people running outside or huddled up in a corner and some employees are trying to contain the situation. On one corner, I see a bloody strap that¡¯s possibly belonging to the dog I saw earlier, but the dog is missing. I pulled out the guard¡¯s belt which contains a handcuff, pepper spray, radio, badge, and his holster. A few security personnel are outside trying to stop other people from entering the airport.


    I strapped the belt on and holstered the gun and I said to Oscar, ¡°The other guard is not here.¡±


    ¡°Another one?¡± said Oscar. <hr>


    ¡°Yes, there were two of them here earlier.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°No time to look for him, we need to get out of here now.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Do we just leave them here? Do we need to call the authorities?¡± Kaley said as she pointed at the two corpses.


    ¡°No, I think the people outside are already handling it. We need to leave now; we still have time. Good thing is that it¡¯s still early, we can stock up a few more supplies at home.¡± Oscar said.


    We headed outside but as soon as we stepped out the doors, we we¡¯re stopped by a few more security guards eyeing our weapons and the blood stters on our clothing. ¡°Stop! State your name and affiliation and report to me what urred inside.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Mr. Ishiyama, this is Col. Goodman and Ms. Payan¡­¡± I ryed to the guard what happened to us inside the doors in front of the maintenance room. I mentioned the maintenance guy that we fought in self-defense and also the other guard missing earlier but he pointed at the back of their vehicle.


    ¡°We found him outside the doors when we responded, he¡¯s terrified. He said that one of the staff rushed outside, neck bleeding, pushed his partner with great force. He mentioned his partner lost his bnce and hit his head hard and he started to convulse violently before he stopped moving. He said he shot the guy in panic as the maintenance guy has a deranged look in his face and it¡¯s staring at him differently.¡± The guard exined.


    He continued, ¡°We¡¯re sorry you had to take care of the other one inside so our department will pay a visit to you guys for more investigation once this ce is sorted out but I need you to surrender the weapons you took from our other guard since it¡¯s still our property.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Hey, check the situation inside. I¡¯ll stay here.¡± he said to his partner.


    Oscar has a visible frown on his forehead but as I was about to hand over the pistol¡­ a shout came from the inside followed by a few gunshots. It must be from his partner who went inside to check on the other maintenance guy that we mentioned earlier.


    ¡°All of you stay here, I¡¯ll check the situation inside.¡± The guard said.


    Me and Oscar gave a look and we both knew what each other was thinking, ¡°He¡¯s noting back.¡±


    ¡°Aim for the head.¡± I said before the guard left with a questioning gaze.


    As the guard disappeared inside with a few others, Oscar immediately opened the mobile car the guard uses and went inside. He saw a box of donuts, 2 cups of coffee, a nightstick, a radio and the rifle the guard at the back was using. He quickly checked the magazine and put it back then he handed it to me. ¡°Here you go kid; it¡¯s still full with bullets.¡± he motions for me to take it.


    As I sling the M4 on my back, the guard at the back lets out a long groan. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± the guard says. As I take a closer look at him, he¡¯s visibly sweating and he is clutching his hand. He¡¯s breathing erratically but I surmise I could still talk to him.


    ¡°What happened back there?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°H-He tried to grab my rifle but I can¡¯t shake his hand off, I pulled the pistol in my hip and shot him multiple times. When he fell down, he managed to hold onto my hand and he squeezed really hard, I think he broke a few of them. One of my fingers cracked horribly and bone came out. How is he so strong?!¡± He eximed while huffing a few times.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to lose my job for that right? That is clearly self-defense, right?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to worry more about that hand than your job.¡± Oscar said from the front.


    I took a closer look at his hand and I noticed that a few dark lines are starting to protrude from his forearm. I gave a sigh and said, ¡°You need to take a rest now, sleep and have plenty of water.¡± I gave him a dosage of painkillers and a bottle of water.


    ¡°Let me get youfortable, remove your belt andy down.¡± I said as I take the same items from his belt. I locked his side of the door as heid himself lower on the seat.


    ¡°He¡¯s going to turn, It¡¯s toote for him now.¡± I said in my head.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    A few more gunshots ring out and the crowd outside started to scatter and a few guards holding the crowd started rushing inside then we rushed to Oscar¡¯s SUV.

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4: 4


    ¡°Can we still drive outside?¡± Kaley mentions. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah it¡¯s up to your government if they could notice it fast enough, but your country¡¯s traffic is the worst.¡± Oscar said.


    I looked in front of us and tried to look to the doctor¡¯s bag I took earlier. ¡°Wait, I have something we can use to avoid traffic.¡± I left the SUV and went to the vehicle in front of us. Oscar¡¯s eye lit up then he threw me an approving look.


    I grabbed the keys I found on the doctor¡¯s bag and hoped it works on the ambnce in front of us. Oscar also threw the keys from the maintenance guy just to be sure.


    *click*


    The door opened and I waved Kaley to sit next to me. I put my head outside the window and said to Oscar, ¡°I think it¡¯s best you head back home first, tell everyone of Code Zulu Alpha and start Project SHTF. Try to have everyone be at thepound, I¡¯ll follow you shortly.¡±


    ¡°Sure thing, kid.¡± He motions his two fingers to a small salute and starts to back his SUV up. I reached to my side and pulled the other pistol I got from the guard.


    ¡°Know how to use this?¡± I offered the other pistol to Kaley.


    ¡°I know a bit.¡± She reluctantly picks it up and she gave a deep long sigh. I gave her a quick nce and even though there¡¯s a slight tremble in her hands, her eyes are sharp as ever.


    ¡°She¡¯s strong.¡± I said to myself while I looked at her. <center></center><hr>


    I looked around the inside of the vehicle to try to familiarize myself on some of the controls. It¡¯s a regr manual-transmission type with a few extra buttons for the door locks, sirens and a built-in CB Radio. I started to flick the switch of the radio to channel 9 and I tried speaking on it.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oscar, copy?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, copy kid. I¡¯ll follow you behind. We¡¯ll split off at Valenzu City, heading to the Bcan area, right?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, keep close.¡± I radioed in.


    Most of the way goes smoothly as I flicked the switch on for the sirens. Aside from Oscar, other people took advantage of the open way to drive behind me. Aside from a few police cars speeding and other ambnces going around, Oscar safely split off at one of the intersections. Kaley made a call to her sister again and made sure she¡¯s safe and secure at their house. <hr>


    It took us one more hour before we reached her driveway. I turned the vehicle off as I parked in front while she knocked on the door as she rushes to her house to meet his younger sister.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    *click*


    Three quick knocks followed by a clicking sound from the other side and a teary-eyed girl opened the door and weed us. Kaley rushes in to hug her sister then I started to inspect the surroundings outside. Bloody marks still left the pavement along with a few ¡®Do Not Cross| Crime Scene Area¡¯ on the spot where the incident earlier happened. A few residents are still outside trying to talk with each other, seemingly still unaware of what has happened.


    ¡°Sky,e inside.¡± Kaley said to me.


    I walked inside and was greeted by his sister by a small handshake and a quick up-down look.


    ¡°My name¡¯s Olivia, thank you for picking my sister up.¡± Olivia said.


    She looks like a typical highschool teen, brown hair, probably dyed, still wearing her school uniform and she has these sharp eyebrows that her sister also has. She¡¯s a few heads shorter than me and a head shorter than her older sister.


    ¡°Tell me what are the things that you have packed.¡± I focused on the task at hand immediately. <hr>


    ¡°Wait, where are we going? I only packed clothes for a day.¡± Olivia said, with a visible frown on her face.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to his ce for now, remember what happened earlier here? It also happened at the airport, Sky luckily happened to be there and saved me.¡± Kaley said as she is grabbing arge bag.


    ¡°Earlier? I¡¯ve watched the news earlier and saw the news at the hospital. My friends at school also told me zombies areing like in the movies. This is a joke, right?!¡± Olivia retorted.


    ¡°I hope it is, but I¡¯ve seen it close and I know the guy in the hospital that attacked some of the staff. He¡¯s the pilot that was supposed to fly the ne I¡¯m supposed to be at right now. Sky here is someone I know from back then and someone you could definitely trust. Why did you only pack a bag?! I told you to pack everything!¡± She started to go room by room to gather stuff that Olivia didn¡¯t pack yet.


    ¡°We need a ce to settle for now and he has a ce back at his home. Help me pack more stuff, grab all the things at the medicine cab upstairs and in this bathroom!¡± She started to also go upstairs as I stand guard inside the door.


    ¡°But! But! How about mom and dad?! What if theye home?! Kaley~!¡± Olivia hurriedly followed upstairs even though hesitatingly.


    I turned their TV on and put on the news to get more information. I started flipping through the channels and all in the news right now are violence reports in the airport, hospital and the pier. There was still no mention of an outbreak or even the word zombies.


    ¡°Is the government still trying to hide the fact or are they still ignorant on what¡¯s happening here?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Sky!¡± Kaley shouted from upstairs and I decided to head up. I saw her now changed from her flight attendant outfit to a more casual attire, her ck hair is now in a ponytail but there are a few bangs that hang from left and right covering a part of her forehead. She¡¯s wearing a white shirt covered by a ck jacket and ck-gray leggings with her pink sneakers. She carries a backpack and two other suitcases and she ces it by the door. <hr>


    She motions for me to head to their parent¡¯s bedroom.


    ¡°I left a note for my parents here in case theye back from their trip. After they retired, they started going to different ces now and I¡¯m not sure where exactly they are right now. Dad always brings his hunting gear when they take a road trip and they would usually camp on mountains or forests. I tried calling them earlier but it appears they are off the grid¡­¡± she said while she pauses. Her eyes are starting to water and a hint of red covers her face, I could feel she¡¯s upset that she can¡¯t contact her parents right at the moment.


    ¡°They will be alright, if they took to the mountains to camp, they will be the farthest from this thing and I¡¯ve met your dad before, zombies would y dead if they see him.¡± I say as I try to cheer her up.


    She raised her elbows to wipe some of her tears and she opens the bottom part of her parent¡¯s closet. She lifted a ck bag and unzips it.


    ¡°That¡¯s an M70 right?¡± I said as I saw the rifle.


    ¡°That¡¯s a sweet rifle. It even has a scope and a suppressor.¡± I added as I took a closer look.


    ¡°Yeah, dad also bought one for mom when they took trips but mom doesn¡¯t like to shoot game, so he left it here. He figured if mom wouldn¡¯t use it, he¡¯d teach me instead. I learned from him a few times then it got held for a while since I graduated and started my job. Can¡¯t say I¡¯m not thankful for him teaching me. I just hope theye back safely.¡± she said as she packs it up and told me to carry some of the bags down.


    ¡°In case theye home, leave a few supplies hidden somewhere they¡¯d know where to find and I¡¯ve written down my ce in the letter by coordinates so they know where to find us. Also, you forgot something.¡± I handed Kaley a picture of their family.


    ¡°I picked it up in your parent¡¯s bedroom, just in case. This thing could be over quickly but we never know, hope you¡¯re not upset.¡± I added.


    ¡°What do you mean by that?!¡± Olivia shouted when she saw me gave the picture frame to Kaley.

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5: 5


    ¡°Are you saying we won¡¯t see them anymore?!¡± She¡¯s looking very upset and very close to burst into tears. <center></center><hr>


    Before I say anything, Kaley hugged her tight and said, ¡°He¡¯s just looking out for us, I also brought a picture of us too, see? I think this will fit in your wallet.¡± She pulls up a small picture of them when they were much younger and handed it to her sister. Olivia kept quiet and took the picture, then she carefully ced it in her wallet.


    She walks up to me and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for yelling, and um- thanks.¡±


    I patted her head and said, ¡°No worries.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a child you know!¡± she shouted and she became lively again.


    Kaley facepalmed and said, ¡°So what I got packed are a couple weeks of clothes, a few nkets, cans of food, a few candy bars, a pack of coffee and tea, a gallon of water, my M70 rifle, the pistol you gave me, a box of ammunition for the rifle, two shlights, a couple packs of batteries, a few personal hygiene products, all the medicine supplies from the cab, myptop, my phone, my power bank, my chargers, my wallet and my keys to this home. I hid a few supplies where the rifle was ced.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great.¡± I nod approvingly and then I looked at Olivia.


    ¡°Umm, I too brought a week of clothes, my phone, my charger, my pocket Wi-Fi, a few snacks and this!¡± she raises her hand and what looked to be a small stun gun is on it.


    *crackle* *crackle*


    She tested it a few times and she gave me a grin. ¡°Cool, huh?¡± <center></center><hr>


    I raised an eyebrow and gave a faint smile.


    ¡°It¡¯s cool but it won¡¯t be able to do anything to those things.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°We need to bring the frozen products and other stuff in your refrigerator or in your pantry that might spoil. We¡¯re going to turn off the electricity here with the main switch. Last thing we want is your house burning down, we leave a few cans here for your parents when theye home, just in case.¡± I told them.


    ¡°Oh! We have a generator here.¡± Kaley mentioned. ¡°I think we have a few containers of gas here somewhere.¡± she went to the back of their house.


    I saw their generator with three gasoline containers beside it and said, ¡°This is good, but we have sr-powered generators at home, we could leave the generator here for now but we could take two cans of gasoline and leave one for your parents. The generator seems full and it couldst for a while if they use it when the power goes down, let¡¯s go now.¡±


    We head outside and we started to ce the bags at the back of the ambnce. I opened the door and there¡¯s a lot of tools here that could definitely be of some use, it has a stretcher, a wheelchair, an oxygen tank, a few IV drips and even a defibritor along with a few other medical supplies.


    ¡°Looks like we hit the lottery.¡± I said to myself.


    As we are about to finish packing, a door swung open from next door and a figure started to walk out erratically which managed to catch my attention.


    ¡°Recognize that guy?¡± I pointed to the figure walking outside.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Olivia looked behind at the figure. <hr>


    ¡°Wait, don¡¯te near him.¡± I said to Olivia as she takes a step forward to take a closer look.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s Mr. Tan, I remember him trying to push the homeless guy off Mrs. Tan earlier. I saw him get bandaged by one of the Medics.¡± she said to me.


    Time seems to slow down. I noticed Mr. Tan from the ss window of the ambnce door began to turn his head violently and picks up speed towards us. Kaley is in the middle of getting thest bag, walking towards the vehicle while Olivia is in the middle of the vehicle walking towards the guy. I noticed that Kaley saw the guy too. Olivia is in the middle of me and him and I cannot get a proper line of sight since the door of the ambnce and Olivia is blocking my view. I pulled out my pistol and I walked diagonally, away from the vehicle to avoid grazing Olivia.


    *BANG*


    However, I saw a sh of light followed by a loud bang, the next thing I saw is Mr. Tan sprawled sideways on the ground. Kaley took the first shot; I saw her running towards Olivia and holding her tight. I walked towards the guy and saw it slowly stand up.


    His right cheek is torn, blood flows continuously from his mouth and ck lines are visibly jutting out, starting from his arms towards his shoulder then to his neck, his right eye is bloodshot and his iris is starting to deform from the perfect circle.


    A few residents who heard the shot went outside and some who are already outside let out screams or hurriedly went back to their houses. But the ones who watched saw a man with a dismembered face crawl up and decided to swipe his arms around me. Fortunately, the distance is much closer now and there are no obstacles for the shot.


    So, I pointed my pistol at him and I took the easiest shot in the world.


    *BANG* <hr>


    One clean shot to the head, his head blew back from the impact and his body limped as it fell down.


    ¡°Oh my god! What happened? Did that guy kill Mr. Tan?¡±


    ¡°No, I think Mr. Tan tried to attack Olivia from next door.¡±


    ¡°How could Mr. Tan move like that though, he¡¯s over 80, right?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I saw him get shot earlier by Kaley, then he stood up again.¡±


    ¡°What?! For real?!¡±


    ¡°Saw that too, It¡¯s like the movies.¡±


    ¡°You mean Mr. Tan is a zombie? Stop kidding yourself.¡±


    ¡°Well, how do you exin the homeless guy earlier who attacked Mrs. Tan?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m going to call the cops.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to gather my things and move out; it¡¯s going to be dangerous here if what you¡¯re saying is real.¡±


    The residents started to talk among themselves as I see Kaley guide Olivia through the vehicle¡¯s passenger side. I raised the badge I took earlier from the guard at the airport.


    ¡°Everybody ears up! There are a series of reported violent behavior urring across the country, the government is doing its best to maintain the order. Lock your doors and gather your supplies and start to preserve them as much as possible. If you see a person exhibiting strange behavior do not let them in! Make sure to guarantee your safety and those close to you as well. As long as we prepare and stay calm, this thing will be over soon.¡±


    I almost cringed as I paraphrased what a security detail from the movies would say to civilians. But there¡¯s no more choice here. It would be better to not have everyone fall into panic mode as their thinking capacity would suffer if they do. I just hope that everyone adopts a clear state of mind and prepare for the worst. I could only help people as much.


    Before I entered the vehicle, I grabbed the mic from the ambnce and said onest thing, ¡°If you have to fight one of them, aim for the head. Good luck to you all.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s up to yourselves if you could survive this thing.¡± I said to myself.


    A lot of the people gave me confused looks, some of them understood and immediately went inside and a few gave me looks of wanting toe with us. I shook my head and entered the vehicle. I proceeded to go back where we have driven from and a few flicks of the siren gets us through smoothly and quickly down the road.


    Another hour passes and we arrived at the intersection from where Oscar broke off. At the right side you could see a few small shops and a gatedmunity where the guard there is looking through his phone. On the left side, more stores are scattered about with a fuel station on one corner where my cousin works next to a terminal where more tricycles are waiting for passengers. A few of them are glued to the TV, which is inaudible from our side.


    We passed by the public market and where one of my shops were located and made a mental note to grab everything from thereter and close it. We passed by a few more stores and houses then I made a right turn after we passed the elementary school. From this street, only rows of houses, big and small could be seen. Aside from passing through a few local shops where people sell homemade refreshments, we finally managed to reach my home.

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6: 6


    As I start to slow down the ambnce, the huge gate was opened by Oscar and my cousin Jared. The gate is about 6 meters in height made with steel and about 4 inches thick and it is segmented to four parts vertically. It opens from the inside and the two inner parts could fold to the outer parts and could be folded once more to hug the walls. The outer part of the gate on the right has a small door that can be opened from the inside through a lever and outside if you have the keys for it. It has a small handle outside and a slit for letters to be delivered. Each gate segment spans for approximately 3.5 meters. The whole ce is approximately 500 meters each side enveloped by 7-meter concrete walls while a few floodlights and CCTVs are installed appropriately on each side. <center></center><hr>


    Inside thepound, you could see five houses in the furthest part from the gate, behind that is a medium-sized pool with benches, tables and even a grill, perfect for eating outside. On the left side, several vehicles are parked, namely a blue sedan, a ck SUV, a covered motorcycle and a white minivan. On the corner where the left wall and the front wall meets, two small boats and a jet ski are stacked vertically by a metal bar welded through the walls and the floor. On the right side, three buildingse into view, the closest one resembles a shed or a barn for animals, next to it resembles a greenhouse where the building is slightly translucent, andstly, thest building looks like a working area, several tools are disyed on the walls and a few tables for woodworking, metalworking or repairing certain items etc.


    As we drove inside, I parked the ambnce near the white minivan along with the other vehicles. I hopped outside the driver¡¯s seat and I was followed by Kaley and Olivia. I opened the door from the back to grab their bags and I felt a quick hit to the back of my knees.


    *click*


    My left knee folded for a bit, but I grinned as I turned around to give the person behind me a high overhead kick. The person behind me got surprised and was caught off guard, it was Jared my cousin.


    ¡°F.u.c.k!¡± he eximed as he tried to block it. As soon as I saw his left arm rising up to block, I twisted my knee to redirect my high kick to a low kick towards his left leg.


    *swoosh*


    *thud* <center></center><hr>


    He was toote to react from the quick switch and I managed tond a light hit on his leg. He groaned for a bit as he rubbed his left leg.


    ¡°Ohoh~ still training I see.¡± Oscar gave me an approving look as he rubs his chin.


    ¡°We¡¯re about to head to Wilcon¡¯s Depot now to buy a few building materials but we saw you arrive from the cameras. Want toe with us?¡± Jared mentions as he swings the keys around his fingers.


    I made a quick look around, ¡°Nah, I¡¯m going to have them settle first. Where¡¯s the truck?¡± I said


    ¡°Oh, our uncles drove them to Polo and started to get everything from your stores there, I also gave them the keys for the store here, so they¡¯ll stop by there tooter.¡± Jared said, his eyes darted to Kaley and Olivia as his eyes made this mischievous look.


    ¡°Hellodies, I¡¯m Jared his cousin, wink if you are taken hostage okay? Hey Sky, isn¡¯t kidnapping a crime? I¡¯ll file a- ack!¡± Oscar smacked the back of his head as he pulls him to his SUV.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go now, have Lois close the gate for us, we¡¯re losing time here kid.¡± he said. <hr>


    Before Oscar closes the door, his head perks up and he said, ¡°Oh right, kid, I¡¯ve talked to the others, we will have a meetingter at night.¡± He gives a small salute and he drives off with Jared.


    The door from the second house on the right opened and a kid in his teens walked outside eating a piece of bread, ¡°Hmm?¡±


    He looks at me and made an upwards nod as he goes to the gate and closes it. He has curly and long hair apart from his brother Jared which has straight and short hair, although they look the same, his skin tone is much darker than his brother. He is the same height as me unlike his brother that¡¯s taller than me by half-a-head.


    He quickly went back to the house sparing us a small salute as he closes the screen door.


    I motioned for Kaley and her sister to follow me to the house in the middle. It was the biggest out of the five in thepound. As we got nearer, I started to hear my dog barking and scratching the door in front. We walked a few steps up to the porch then I grabbed my keys to open the door. A huge Golden Retriever suddenly jumped on me, tails wagging and still barking at me continuously.


    ¡°Zeus, Sit!¡± Imanded my dog as he followed obediently. Zeus was still wagging his tail and the two behind me rushed past me to pet Zeus.


    ¡°Who¡¯s a good boy? Huh? You are! He¡¯s so cute!¡± they both kept on rubbing Zeus¡¯ body and now Zeus isying on the floor kicking his foot in the air while his tongue is out visibly happy on what the two are doing to him. <hr>


    I ced their bags down and I went back to grab the other bags and other supplies and gear. Olivia stayed with Zeus but Kaley followed from behind.


    We are quiet in the way to the vehicle but I heard her mutter, ¡°Hey, thank you again¡± she gives me a sideways hug then I ruffled her hair, slightly getting her ponytail loose.


    She lets out a small hiss then she pulls the tie off, letting her hair dangle once more. She once again jabbed me on the shoulder as she picks up a few bags to carry.


    As we walk towards my house, the screen door from the 2nd house opened once again then a small girl walked out wearing a simple attire and a pair of sses with long flowing hair.


    ¡°Oh! Hi Sky! Mom! Sky¡¯s here!¡± the screen door closes then it opened once again then after that, an older woman walks outside and waved at me.


    ¡°Wee home! Lois just walked outside then back and he never mentioned youing back, good thing Aya saw you, that kid doesn¡¯t have a care in the world sometimes.¡± she said.


    She takes a look at Kaley then she gave me the same smile Jared did. ¡°Can¡¯t believe I¡¯d see the day you¡¯d take a woman home! Aren¡¯t you going to introduce me?¡± she snickers. <hr>


    I facepalmed, ¡°It¡¯s not like that! Kaley, forgive my aunt, my family is a crazy bunch. Aunt Sharon, this is Kaley, Olivia over there still petting the dog is her little sister. Kaley, that crazy olddy is my aunt, Sharon.¡± I introduced them. Kaley made a short bow while giving a smile and my aunt is still grinning from ear to ear.


    ¡°Oscar said there will be a small meetingter?¡± my aunt said.


    ¡°Yeah, I hope everyone believes me now, and I hope theye.¡± I said solemnly. Kaley gave me a look of a person wanting to ask a few questions, however, she stopped herself and we continued to walk in our ce.


    Olivia opened the door for us as we walked in and I gave them a small tour inside. ¡°This first floor here is the living room, I have a small space here in the corner for Zeus, he likes to watch the TV with someone apanying him. A couple steps here is the kitchen and the dining area, there¡¯s another door here that leads outside to the pool and this little door here is the CR. You could help yourself with anything on the fridge and the cabs, we also have a pantry here where we store other food supplies¡­¡±


    I pointed to the stairs heading down and said, ¡°That metal door leads to the bas.e.m.e.nt, I use it as a storage area.¡±


    I walked upstairs and guided them to one of the three doors on the second floor. I opened the one in the middle and gave them a duplicate key. ¡°Here¡¯s the one for this room and this is the one for the front door below. You could unpack your bags here, ce them however you want and I¡¯ll ask my aunt to include us for lunch today. There is an extension cord here and those over there are the outlets. The AC is here, turn it whenever you like we have sr panels here so everything is free basically. The CR is there near the staircase, same with the 3rd floor and the 1st floor. There¡¯s nothing at the rooftop though, if you¡¯d like to use it now, I¡¯ll use the one upstairs. Rest up, I¡¯ll call you when lunch is ready.¡± I gave them a small salute and as I started to go to my room next to theirs.


    ¡°Wait. Thank you again.¡± Kaley said to me. I was about to give her a fist bump or a small handshake but she gave me a tight hug. She¡¯s hugging me for about 10 Mississippi¡¯s now and I could smell her fragrance, her arms wrapped around my torso, her chest pressed against mine and her head on the side of my cheek.

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7: 7


    I don¡¯t know how to react. <center></center><hr>


    I looked at Olivia and she¡¯s gesturing for me to hug her sister back. As best as I can, I gulped and slowly raise my hand to slowly wrap at her back, I slowly raise my right hand for a bit as I pat her back. Olivia facepalmed at the sight.


    I hear a soft chuckle next to me and I feel her letting go, I instinctively rubbed my nose and I looked at Olivia, she¡¯s looking at me with a huge grin and she¡¯s giving me two thumbs up while slightly holding back herughter.


    ¡°What does that mean?!¡± I said in my head.


    ¡°That was so awkward Sky!¡± Olivia finally busted outughing as she points at me.


    ¡°You changed a lot but you¡¯re still the same.¡± Kaley said.


    I give both a smile and confused look at the two and I said, ¡°A-Anyway, I¡¯ll leave you two here, I¡¯m going to clean up a bit.¡±


    I opened the door to my room, grabbed a towel and a few clothes then headed upstairs. The 3rd floor is a gym. It has a bit of equipment for training one¡¯s body and half of the room hangs tworge mirrors facing each other with a mat below. I headed for the shower here. I undress as I look at myself in the mirror.


    I have ck hair, short and spiky, though a few strands are starting to invade my ear and the back of my neck. I have a scar in my left eyebrow and a few isted scars in my right arm covered splendidly by a tattoo sleeve of a dragon that starts from the shoulder and slowly oveps to my neck and to my right hand. <center></center><hr>


    I turned the shower on and steam started to fog the mirrors and the ss partitions as I stood face down, hands on the wall. I quickly finished my shower, I preferred to use the tub on the 2nd floor but I offered thedies to use it instead. I headed to my room after and I put on my camouged cargo pants and white shirt. I strapped to my torso a holster that could hold pistols left and right. I wore a gray, unzipped jacket over to hide it.


    I overhear the sistersughing in the bathroom, I proceeded to let them have their own fun then I went to my aunt¡¯s ce to ask her to include us with lunch.


    I looked for Lois to apany me to Puregold and Mercury Drug to stock up on supplies and spend money as long as it is still able to buy something, I took one of the cars and we drove off.


    Its past 10:00 AM now, driving on the highway, I am noticing that the security around is starting to increase and the ambnces that are driving around is getting more frequent. We first stopped by Mercury Drug.


    ¡°What do I grab first?¡± asked Lois.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of the medicine counter, I¡¯ll buy whatever vitamins, supplements and other OTC drugs that they have avable. You take care of the hygiene products grab tissues, deodorants, wipes, baby powder, napkins-¡± he cuts me off.


    ¡°Wait, napkins? As in what the girls use? Eww!¡± I jabbed his stomach as I give a menacing smile, ¡°Yeah, napkins. Also tampons, panty liners, razors, band aids, bandages, lotion, sunblock and also that insect repellent kind¡­¡±


    I saw his face red as a tomato but he said, ¡°Alright I¡¯ll do it! But let me grab some things too! You¡¯re paying right?¡± he starts to bargain with me.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, of course I will.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Great!¡± he grabbed a pushcart and headed for one of the aisles.


    I head into the medicine counter and requested a lot of each medicine avable either for fevers, colds, sore throat etc. I even bought some eye drops, lip balm and different vitamin supplements. The person stationed there and some other staff are eyeing me suspiciously and thedy serving me decided to ask me, ¡°What are you doing with all of these?¡±


    ¡°Oh! Hahaha¡­ Is it too much? I¡¯m going around the Philippines this year, I¡¯m going to be with some friends and I¡¯m the one in charge on some of the supplies that we need.¡± I say very smoothly.


    ¡°Really? That sounds nice, where are you going first?¡± thedy at the counter now became very interested and now her mind is off the suspicion that I¡¯m starting to hoard medicine.


    One box at the counter caught my eye and now I¡¯m contemting on buying it, a struggle started in my mind whether to do it or not.


    ¡°Well, people back at home would definitely need this considering on what¡¯sing¡­¡± I said to myself.


    Thedy on the counter followed my eyes and her eyes alsonded on the box. She raised her eyebrows when she looked at me again, giving me this suggestive smile. ¡°Well, that thing, you might need a lot of it. Hmm?¡± she said to me.


    I¡¯m starting to sweat as she stares at me and I need to remain this air of confidence around me and I ced my hand up, ¡°G-give me five.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Really? Just five?¡± she starts to twirl her hair as she said it. My mind is now in shambles and I blurted out, ¡°B-boxes.¡±


    ¡°What? Say that again?¡± she looks visibly surprised.


    ¡°Give me f-five¡­ boxes.¡± I said with a tremble in my lip.


    ¡°Wow.¡± she mouthed while both her eyebrows are raised. I saw her turn around and grab one. She starts to look at the bottom of the box and she starts to walk back to me with a single box in her hand. What happened next is possibly is in the top 10 of the most terrified I got.


    She ces her hand on the mic and she said as loud as the speaker could get. ¡°Can we get four more boxes of Trust Condoms at the front, I repeat, can we get four more boxes of Trust Condoms at the front, thank you.¡±


    As she said that, almost every staff and customer have their eyes on me. The guard at the front gave a small yell and he started to p slowly, I saw Lois on the floor, clutching his stomach dying ofughter.


    I¡¯m now stuck in a stare down with thedy in the counter, my left lip is now twitching and she¡¯s just staring at me straight in the eye as sheputes my total. I gave her my card and swiped it on the POS system while still having eye-contact. I noticed her slipping a paper underneath with her number on it and I just smiled.


    ¡°Not gonna happen.¡± I said in my head. However, I still took the piece of paper.


    I also paid for the items in Lois¡¯s cart and I walk outside while the guard pats me in the back. Lois is stillughing as we drive to Puregold¡¯s parking area. The trunk of the car is filled withrge stic bags and I would surely be buying more items here than thest one. <hr>


    I stepped out of the vehicle and I went straight to their customer help desk. Walking towards the desk, there is a few more people in front of me, eitherining about their service or returning an item. I am taking a quick look around and nothing seems out of the ordinary.


    As it was now my turn. I asked for the catalog for some of the products that can be ordered in bulk.


    Thedy in front handed me the list of the items avable, ¡°Here you go sir.¡± she gave me a courteous smile. I made a quick nce and some items I need are avable.


    ¡°Can you deliver in my house? I¡¯m gonna buy quite a lot and I think it won¡¯t fit in my car.¡± I said to her as I also gave her my address topute the necessary costs.


    ¡°We have two closed trucks here and they are both avable, what items do you have in mind sir?¡± she asked politely.


    ¡°I would like 20 of these 6-gallon dried beans please give me five different kinds, 10 sacks of these oatmeal¡­ wait, are they the ones ready to eat where you just put hot water or is it the one where you cook it for a while?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We have both sir, what would you like?¡± she answered quickly.


    ¡°Oh, give me the ready to eat ones, also I¡¯ll have 20 boxes of those baked beans and baked spaghetti-o¡¯s. I¡¯d like 10 sacks of your Pedigree dried dog food and 10 boxes of the canned ones and kindly have the boxes have different vors. Also, can you add 40 boxes each of your Bees Home natural honey, Kopiko ck coffee, Kopiko white coffee, and Ricoa cocoa. Hmm, add 10 more boxes worth of the canned evaporated and condensed milk that you have. And a moment, Lois! Pick a few boxes of sweets and don¡¯t forget to get a few boxes of protein bars.¡±


    Thedy in the counter splendidly listed everything I said and it made me think deep in contemtion. ¡°Do I invite her? Probably won¡¯t work since I¡¯ve just met her and I will sound crazy to her.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8: 8


    ¡°But she has some skill in organizing everything to my taste, we could definitely benefit each other.¡± I added to my head. <center></center><hr>


    I took a look at how she works and even her workstation is in perfect order. All the lists are stacked neatly, her uniform has no creases whatsoever, her desktopputer is in order and I noticed she¡¯s doing a job for two people effortlessly. As I try to form my sentences in my head, she finished writing things down and she looked at me.


    ¡°Excuse me sir, I could have everything ready in 30-40 minutes depending on how fast the people carrying the items are. Is that eptable?¡± she said to me confidently. Her hair is perfectlybed in the middle as she adjusts her sses.


    ¡°That¡¯s good, you work really efficiently.¡± I said to her.


    ¡°Thank you very much sir, do you need anything else?¡± she said as she adjusts her sses again with a prideful smile.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± I looked at her directly in the eye. Lois saw what I was doing and I know what he¡¯s thinking right now, ¡°Oh boy, someone¡¯s gonna get kidnapped, well, with money.¡±


    ¡°Umm, m-my name is Rin. Is there a problem sir?¡± she¡¯s clearly taken aback by my question.


    ¡°Rin, how much do they pay you here? Considering in what you do here I think at the supervisor level?¡± I said to probe.


    ¡°Umm, not at all I get paid here at the minimum¡­¡± she said embarrassingly. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What the fu- well Rin, I got a proposal for you. I want you to work for me. Right now.¡± I went straightforward.


    ¡°Ah- Umm, are you serious? I just started here yesterday. It might look bad on my record If I quit immediately!¡± she said.


    ¡°So, you are thinking of quitting?¡± I quickly said.


    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant, I just met you and this is my first job going to Man and I don¡¯t even know where I¡¯ll work If Ie with you, I even paid an advance of three months to the apartment I¡¯m renting at Dndanan.¡± She exined to me in a concise manner her situation.


    ¡°That¡¯s not gonna be a problem, I¡¯m Sky Ishiyama, I¡¯m a private business owner and I sell a variety of goods for consumers at four shops located here and at Pulo, nice to meet you. I can talk to your employer here about your record, but I doubt you¡¯d need to worry about that. I can even refund you from my own pocket the advance that you paid for yourndlord.¡± I reassured her.


    ¡°That sounds too good to be true.¡± she shrugs and she now has a suspicious look.


    ¡°Still hesitating? Wait here yeah?¡± I said.


    I went to their administrator¡¯s office and I spoke to her employer for a good 5 minutes. After that, the door opened and I was walking with her employer behind me. <hr>


    ¡°Rin, you¡¯re free to go, you never mentioned that Mr. Ishiyama took an interest in you. Don¡¯t worry about your records, I¡¯ll take care of it. Good luck!¡±


    If her jaw could drop any lower, it would drop on the floor. ¡°Let¡¯s shop for a bit first inside, your employer gave you a parting gift, here.¡± I handed her a pushcart as I walked inside the shopping area.


    ¡°What do you mean gift? This pushcart?¡± she gave me a confused look.


    I gave her a smile and said, ¡°What that means is that you could fill it up with anything you want and that is yours.¡± She turned her head around to look at her employer which is still smiling and gave her an ¡®OK¡¯ sign.


    She turned to me again and she gave me a bow. I¡¯m not sure whether she¡¯s in a hurry or the idea of having everything in a pushcart for free flicked a switch in her because she immediately disappeared going from aisle to aisle. I asked Lois to apany her to tell her that it¡¯s not time constrained as I paid for the items I originally ordered. Lois also grabbed a pushcart for himself and tried to pack as many items that he could.


    ¡°Mr. Ishiyama your mom and I go way back, my name is Thelma. I used to work for her when you were still in her belly and she taught me a lot of things. I almost didn¡¯t recognize you, but those eyes of yours tells it all. I¡¯ll excuse myself, and sorry for your loss.¡± she said as she walks back to her office.


    ¡°Sorry for your loss huh?¡± I remembered what she said. I remembered something very dark, something very unpleasant, the scars on my arm throbs as I remember. I shook my head and tried to forget that for now. I followed her to her office and handed her a piece of paper. She gave me a confused look and just before she flipped it over, I went outside.


    After exactly 30 minutes Rin and Lois came back. <hr>


    ¡°Thank you for waiting for me sir, I¡¯ll check the crew if they have packed your items in the truck.¡± she said before I stopped her.


    ¡°What did you bring here?¡± I asked her since the items she brought are now neatly packed on boxes while a single stic bag is hanging upon the handlebar.


    ¡°Oh, very well, I¡¯ve brought a stack of notebooks, a few rims of paper and other misceneous office supplies. They are in these two boxes. The other three includes clothes, hygiene products, a cleaning kit for my sses, food and this heavy nket.¡± she said.


    ¡°Heavy nket?¡± I asked curiously.


    ¡°I remember seeing this online and it said it could help with sleeping.¡± she said shyly.


    ¡°Oh? Can you grab me one of those then? Lois, grab a few more supplies like batteries, duct tape and some WD-40 etc.¡± I asked.


    ¡°Of course, sir.¡± she grabbed another one then she proceeded to check on the truck while Lois went for another round in the aisles. After a while, she came back and said that everything is ready. I grabbed the bags from the car and ced it on the truck along with Rin¡¯s items. I asked Lois to ride the truck, so the driver knows where to go and I asked Rin to go where she¡¯s staying currently.


    We rode for roughly 10 minutes before we reach the destination, she¡¯s very quiet on the car ride and we just listened to the radio while I¡¯m driving. I stopped the car and locked it as we started to walk in a tight alley. A few turns along the way and what weed me is a very small apartment that she was renting. A small room has four beds in it and the window does not provide much air inside. <hr>


    She took her big duffel bag which appears to contain all her stuff and a few knick-knacks and she said her goodbyes to thendlord. She raised her hand towards me, motioning me to pay her now of her advance. I give a sigh but I understood her situation judging from her living condition.


    ¡°Well how much is it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Php. 4,500 (roughly $90)¡± she replied.


    ¡°Here, kindly keep the change. Consider it as a wee gift.¡± I gave her five Php. 1,000 bills.


    She gave me a nod, then she ced it neatly on her wallet. We walked down and drove the car back, passing some more ambnces and police cars.


    ¡°Still no military action? This is going to be ugly if they don¡¯t do anything earlier.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening outside? Is a riot happening?¡± she said.


    It just hit me that she has no ess to the news while working there, I handed her my phone and showed her the news. I even showed her old files that I¡¯m nning to show the groupter. Her eyes never left the screen and she said, ¡°H-hold on, is this real?¡±


    ¡°What do you think?¡± I replied.

 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9: 9


    She started to browse more files that I pointed to at my phone. She seems very apprehensive as she saw more. A few minutes pass, we arrived at thepound. She stopped looking at my phone then she handed it back to me withplex expressions. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Here we are, better call this ce your home too. I could be lying to you about what I showed you in my phone, but think of it like this¡­ If I lied, you¡¯d still be paid more, have better living conditions and have a boss that likes to joke around that has a sick sense of humor. If what I showed you is real, let¡¯s just say that you¡¯d have a better chance here than the ce you were living at. Fair yeah?¡± I said.


    I looked at her and she was just starting to take in the information I gave her earlier. Judging from the look in her face, the half-doubt she was keeping inside her is gone but the look of worry is still there.


    Also, I should let it out of my system, ¡°Technically, I really kinda kidnapped her to be honest. But judging from her living conditions, also technically, I saved her by ¡®kidnapping¡¯ her. One bad thing and one good thing done, an equivalent exchange.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°So, what kind of work would you need me for, some sort of a secretarial job?¡± she asked before we stepped out.


    ¡°Yes, you have something that I do too. I could do what I hired you for but I¡¯m sure I¡¯m gonna be busy theseing days. What you have is very simr to mine.¡± I said.


    ¡°And that is?¡± she looks at me, intrigued.


    ¡°OCD.¡± I said very tly.


    ¡°Oh.¡± she chuckled. ¡°My employer, Mrs. Thelma told me I have that, that¡¯s why she ced me in that position. Some people call it a bad thing, but I beg to differ.¡± she said with a pensive look. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I agree with that, they can call it whatever they want but I still think that having this is a good thing. Come on, I¡¯ll show guide you to your room.¡± I said as I grab the bags behind the car. She grabbed her duffel bag and offered to carry some of the bags in which case I handed her two, I immediately identified where those ¡®boxes¡¯ were and I ced a death grip on it. We were greeted by my aunt and her family as we passed by them.


    ¡°Sky! bring the sisters down too, it¡¯s time to eat.¡± She yelled as I close the door. Lois probably told them about Rin, so she never asked me why I brought another person along.


    I walked her upstairs and guided her to the third door on the 2nd floor. I handed her the keys to her room then I told her to change, since she¡¯s still wearing her uniform from where she worked at. She tried to ask about her job description more but I waved her down and told her to go down to the next house on the left after she changed.


    I then walked to the second door to check on the two.


    *knock* *knock*


    ¡°Hey, time to eat. Are you guys awake?¡± I said behind the door.


    The door was opened by Kaley, I saw her sister sleeping on the bed while hugging Zeus and he gives me a look of needing help. It seems that Zeus can¡¯t wrestle out of Olivia¡¯s death grip no matter what he does. I gave an amused expression and then I looked back at Kaley, I noticed that her eyes are red while she¡¯s clutching her phone.


    ¡°Something happened?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah¡­I just found out that Angel, my coworker, was attacked on their home earlier. The police said that someone under the influence tried to break into their apartment. Her boyfriend tried to confront the person but¡­¡± she said with a tremble in her voice. ¡°Well¡­ you get the idea. She¡¯s in the ICU and her boyfriend was pronounced DOA.¡± She said after a sigh.


    ¡°Where were they staying?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Near the pier.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Damn, those guys were close where it started on the news.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± that was all that came out of me.


    We shared a moment of silence then I heard a door open. Rin was now changed into a simple attire and she gave us a nce and said, ¡°Mr. And Mrs. Ishiyama, thank you for this opportunity I¡¯m-¡±


    ¡°Nope! Nope! You got it wrong! I¡¯m sorry Kaley, Ehem!¡± I immediately choked on her words.


    ¡°Let me introduce you, this is Kaley, Kaley this is Rin, the girl over there sleeping is Olivia, her sister. We know each other from way back.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, so you guys are just living together then?¡± she gave another question.


    I choked the second time, ¡°Umm, ah¡­ technically speaking, yes we are, but umm-¡±


    I stopped myself before I made it worse. ¡°She¡¯s very straightforward, no breaking balls just fast balls¡­¡± I said to myself.


    Kaley is smiling with her rosy cheeks that almost looked like a blush while Rin is kinda embarrassed as she just now understood that she misread the situation when Kaley exined for me.


    We woke Olivia up then we headed to my aunt¡¯s house with Zeus following behind.


    They are gathering the tes and other utensils at the table then I heard a call outside, it¡¯s probably Oscar or my uncles arriving. Turns out, it¡¯s both. I saw our old 8-wheeler truck as I open the gate with Lois. To my surprise, they are followed by a tricycle and two motorcycles. Oscar¡¯s SUV is in the back also followed by the truck from Wilcon¡¯s Depot. They parked near the other vehicles and I walked towards them.


    On the truck is my two uncles, Zardon and Zeidrick. The one driving the tricycle is my former employee named Jo, the two behind him is his brother Mario with her twin Maria, but we call them Dong and Mari. There are three people inside the sidecar, Manilyn, Nora and Cleo. They are Jo¡¯s wife, mother and daughter. On the ck motorcycle, it was being ridden by Mark and his GF Alice. On the blue motorcycle it was Malong and Ariel riding them. All three of the guys in the motorcycles is in my employ.


    I instructed people who are able-bodied to first remove the supplies from the delivery truck from Wilcon¡¯s Depot, we¡¯ll see to the other truckter since I own it. I made other people help my aunt with the food since there are more people that came, she suggested for us all to eat outside because with our numbers, it would be crowded inside their ce. Tables and chairs were taken out and ced outside then a stic sheet was ced over the tables for ease of cleaningter. <hr>


    Food is now being taken out and other utensils are stacked to one side with the tes. Each one grabbed a te and started serving themselves. Before I grab my te, I opened a can of dog food for Zeus and mixed it with rice, he¡¯s happily chomping down his food then I started to get some food for myself.


    Today, aunt cooked fried chicken Adobo It¡¯s a traditional Filipino dish where you first fry the chicken then you start cooking it by saut¨¦ing it with garlic and onions, adding other spices, then the soy sauce, and then the potatoes. You let it simmer for a bit and it¡¯s done. Weirdly, if you have leftovers and reheat it, it would be much tastier. Must be because the chicken is getting marinated by the sauce and it starts to seep inside the meat.


    I held thedle and I scooped two servings of rice and a serving of the vegetables on one of the containers and I grabbed a bowl of Adobo. I poured some of the sauce over my rice when I grabbed a seat next to Kaley. Everyone seems to be enjoying the food and my aunt is also d seeing everyone liking her cooking.


    I checked my watch 12:30 PM, still no emergency broadcast from the government, I think they are still trying to contain it. I shook my head to their actions, but I understand their situation. They must absolutely, not cause a panic. As I look to the group of people in front of me, a weight of responsibility is now ced in my shoulders.


    Kaley scooted next to my left side and she asked me, ¡°Hey, can I ask you something?¡±


    ¡°Shoot.¡± I replied as I swallowed another mouthful.


    ¡°How did you and Oscar really meet? And howe you¡¯ve information about what¡¯s happening now before everyone else?¡± Kaley said very straightforwardly.

 Chapter 10

    Chapter 10: 10


    Some heads turned to our direction, some of them are also curious about things. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I want to tell you guys everythingter in the meeting, but some people are not here yet. Tell you what, I¡¯ll tell you the instead the story about how me and Oscar met, sounds good?¡± I said.


    She gave me a nod and everyone else seems very interested.


    ¡°We both like watching or reading on topics about a nuclear fallout, a power grid attack, alien invasion, economic copse and you know, a zombie outbreak. It first started as a hobby, I met Oscar on a convention in San Diego where I got seated next to him. It was a panel for a TV show that features zombies as the enemy, ¡®The Pacing Unliving¡¯.¡± I drank a bit of water then I continued.


    ¡°We talked a lot after the panel and we exchanged emails. We got to talking about what we would do in case that happened, then he introduced me into prepping. To give it a short exnation, it¡¯s preparing for a certain scenario, a backup of a backup of a backup n. It¡¯s actually a rabbit hole if I go into more details on it since there is a different fit for every scenario. It¡¯s like asking someone after you watch ¡®The Pacing Unliving¡¯, what would you do in that situation? What would you prepare in case of a zombie outbreak? Like what would you bring with you? What would you fortify your house with? Something along those lines.¡±


    I got a few nods of understanding though some of them are still more focused on eating. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It got really fun when I started, he helped me buy my first gun, which was a Glock 17 and he taught me how to use it. That¡¯s where I learned that he used to be a Combat Medic for the US Army. He¡¯s 64 now and it only shows when you see the white strands in his hair. Aside from him mentioning her daughter in the Navy which I¡¯ve never met, that¡¯s pretty much all I know about him. Though we¡¯ve been friends ever since.¡± I was slicing off a chunk of potato that was too big for my spoon.


    ¡°When I went back to the Philippines, we¡¯re still in contact. Aside from continuing my parent¡¯s business, I still trained to use my gun. I even had a membership on a range in Quezon City and learned to use different kinds, though I still preferred on using pistols. In my spare time, I learned a lot of other things for self-defense, aside from already knowing Kendo and Karate ever since I was young, I¡¯ve also learned different disciplines. Because in the book that Oscar gave me, it says that you can¡¯t always have a gun at your side, learning other forms of self-defense can be the one to decide whether you could protect yourself and those close to you. It¡¯s better to have and don¡¯t need than to need and not have.¡± I said.


    Oscar nodded at thest part.


    ¡°Wow, this is very different from the things that you used to geek about.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Hah! Geeking out about something could be anything, you¡¯re right though. I even had a thought in my head to take it one step further. I also learned how to cook, grow my own food, catch fish, farm certain animals, perform basic first aid, fix certain household problems and car problems and so much more. I learned as much as I could take in during these few years, having a photographic memory helped me a lot in this case. The easiest ones to do are things like memorizing certain nts that which are edible and learning what type of medicine works with each sickness. The only thing I¡¯ve taken time to learn is where you need to practice over and over since it takes time. You can say that I¡¯ve be a jack of all trades, though there are differences in skill level for each one. Oscar even introduced me to one of his old buddies in the Army a few years back and they gave me this training from hell, it was actually the training for real soldiers and he left me there for 6 months! I thought I was gonna die at that time!¡± I concluded.


    ¡°Well, you finished it kid. I would¡¯ve told them to keep you there for a year but my friend there told me you were ready.¡± Oscar said. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! Ready for what? Vietnam? It was fun although it was hard.¡± I joked.


    He just raised his bowl and he gave a heartyugh.


    ¡°But how did the both of you get this ce?¡± Kaley inquired.


    ¡°Most of the veterans in the US are treated very poorly after they retire and some would have a hard transition to society when theye back after a number of years. Some would be lucky to have a roof on their heads and some would be left homeless, so much for being called a hero. Good thing I have saved a lot of money to help myself. I could say that I¡¯m one of the lucky ones. My daughter is in the Navy but we haven¡¯t had much contact since my wife died.¡± Oscar was the one to answer now and he continued.


    ¡°I lived alone in my old house and though I¡¯m getting by good from working 40 years in the army, I felt really bored. Then I started to watch different shows online. I get really into the end of the world genre and in the art of being a prepper so I went to one of the conventions where I met this kid. I don¡¯t know what it is but I got really intrigued in this kid. The way he looks at things and how his head works is different.¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°What do you mean by that old man?¡± I replied with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°Bah! You¡¯ll never get what I mean. To make a long story short, we became buddies and he was the youngest among all of them. When I got the news that he¡¯s flying back, I decided to sell all my property in Texas to move here. There¡¯s nothing for me there anyway, and most of the stuff here is very cheap. That means I could live the life of a king here. I contacted him immediately and said that I need his help to find a ce here and he generously offered for me to stay at his house for the meantime. I stayed at his ce and we ¡®remodeled¡¯ it while I started to look for a ce to get.¡± he said.


    ¡°This ce here was owned by the Cruz family, right?¡± Oscar looked at me.


    I nodded, ¡°Their family is nning to move in Australia and they are selling this ce lower than the market price it¡¯s really a steal. It even helped us greatly that my parents knew them. They nned to sell everything here for 64 Million PHP (1.25 Million USD) but they sold it to the both of us for 42 Million (825 Thousand USD). It¡¯s still pretty steep but Oscar footed most of it.¡±


    ¡°And what we got to thank for that is the conversion rate kid, dors converted to pesos would go a very long way.¡± Oscar added.


    Kaley now nodded herself, ¡°I agree, that¡¯s the reason why most people here tried to work abroad.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Well we spent more money and time renovating this ce when the Cruz family moved out, we changed the gate, fortified the walls, added the floodlights, sr generators and panels all around, CCTVs, the barn, the greenhouse and some other things. Oscar explores the world a few times every year and I was in charge of this ce ever since. We slowly built it up and here we are now.¡± I said while drinking from my ss of juice.


    ¡°But why though? Just from a thought that something might happen?¡± Rin finally chimed in.


    ¡°Yeah, and because we can.¡± Oscar and I answered at the same time. We looked at each other and startedughing.


    ¡°Seriously though, we really just wanted to build something of our own, there¡¯s nothing bad toe out of that yeah? We just wanted to feel secure and not me ourselves when shit hits the fan. Honestly, I just started prepping as a hobby at first, we just rushed on building this thing with Sky when we witnessed that.¡± Oscar put a lot of emphasis on the word ¡®that¡¯.


    Kaley and some people gave Oscar a questioning look but heughed it off, Rin gave a quick nce at me and Zeus is now touching my leg, he seemed to have finished his bowl. In the end, we told them that we would tell them everything we know once everybody is here. The only silver lining here is that Mnday, this barangay, has still not been hit yet. I really hope that the others woulde earlier.

 Chapter 11

    Chapter 11: 11


    I finished my food earlier than everyone else and I grabbed a banana, I broke it in half and gave the other half to Zeus. Everyone else seemed to be happy eating and chatting with each other, I headed to where the truck was and inspected its contents. It¡¯s filled to the brim with different sacks of rice, it ranges from the regr white ones to the special kinds like brown rice and the glutinous ones, though most of it contains the regr ones. <center></center><hr>


    Jo approached me and he said, ¡°Hey, thanks for taking everyone in. We hauled everything from the stores, I even brought everything from mine. I¡¯ve brought fresh vegetables and fruit, a few groceries and all of the trays of the eggs and the salted eggs that we made. Aside from that, clothes and other things are in the bags.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good, thank you.¡± I said to Jo. He patted me in the back and we approached the group eating.


    ¡°Unc, have you cleared the store here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, not yet. I¡¯ve called the store and I told Nathan and Arnel to stop receiving customers, they¡¯re probably tidying up and ready to pack by the time we get there.¡± Zardon said.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯lle with you then.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure, and hey, Paco has been hit. It¡¯s about to start there now. It¡¯s getting closer.¡± he said as I give a serious look.


    I tasked the guys to load everything from the truck to the storage area then we drove for the store at the public market. Nathan and Arnel, the other two at my employ were waiting for us. We parked in front of the store and then they started hauling the sacks of rice, sugar, flour and salt first. What followed were different kinds of groceries for cooking, hygiene, and household supplies.


    A few onlookers took notice of what we¡¯re doing and my next-door shop owners can¡¯t help but ask me.


    ¡°Hey, what are you guys doing? It looks like you¡¯re closing early.¡± one of them said.


    ¡°Why are you guys hauling everything here? It¡¯s not like a super typhoon ising, I know rainy season ising but I think this is too much.¡± another one said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Just being ready. Something is definitelying though, watch the news.¡± I replied.


    A few others voiced their opinion on the matter and some tricycle drivers waiting for customers started to ridicule me. I paid them no mind as I talked to some of the shopkeepers.


    ¡°Something¡¯s happening, I suggest you guys do the same. Gather everything you can and secure your home. Wait for the government¡¯s help or try to help yourself.¡± I said to them.


    A series ofughter is what I received from the tricycle drivers again and some with the other shopkeepers. A very few of them have pensive looks.


    ¡°Change the channel to the news aside from that sports channel so you get what I¡¯m saying.¡± I pointed to the TV on one of the shops.


    As the guy was about to grab the remote, one of the tricycle drivers shouted. He broke the bottle on his hand when he threw it in the ground.


    *crash*


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g know-it-all better shut the f.u.c.k up! I¡¯m watching that! You better not press that remote or I¡¯ll f.u.c.k you up like what I would do to this kid!¡± the guy slurred as he pointed at me. Although the TV¡¯s channel wasn¡¯t changed, other guys turned their radio on as they listened on it with their headset.


    I gave him a look of indifference as I continued talking. ¡°Do what you want, I said my piece. I hope you listen to me unlike this blubbering idiot here.¡± I said nonchntly.


    ¡°Oh, boy.¡± My uncle said.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k did you say to me?!¡± he rushed towards me, his other ¡®friends¡¯ don¡¯t seem to mind what happens. <hr>


    He¡¯srger than me, he¡¯s very obese to say it bluntly, his beer belly and his ppingteral muscles sways as he tried to punch me.


    *whoosh*


    I tilted my head slightly to dodge, then I kicked upward toward his crotch. He felt the hit as he knelt down clutching his balls. He spat in my face as he cursed. I stared at him dead in the eye as I formed a fist and gave a clean hit to his chin.


    *crack*


    He fell sideways on the pavement unconscious.


    ¡°Damn.¡± My uncle remarked.


    The ce was now silent while the two other guys justughed at theirpanion and they left him there unmoving. I just carried the guy on the side while I wait on the guys loading the truck. I received a text that my cousin Nicole and her GF Alicia just arrived home along with our few family members while another text was from my old college friend, Ken.


    ¡°I¡¯m rolling there soon man, give me 30 minutes. I¡¯ve brought my sister with me. Hope you don¡¯t mind I also brought my dog.¡± he said.


    ¡°Great, no worries man, juste here quick, it¡¯s getting closer.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Alright, man, peace!¡± he replied. <hr>


    The truck is finally filled though there are still a few tin cans of cooking oil left. I ced it in front of the truck then I let them go first. Nathan and Arnel rode their tricycles but Nathan stopped before me.


    ¡°Hey boss, I got to tell you something. I think me and my family would head to her parents in Novaliches, they have a ce there too. I appreciate that you invited us here but I think we¡¯ll try our chances there.¡±


    I looked at him and he seems to be decided.


    ¡°I respect your decision; I¡¯ll give you something before you guys go. I¡¯ll head somewhere first.¡± I told him.


    ¡°Thank you, we¡¯ll drop by your house after Jane finished packing.¡± He said.


    He gave me a pat on the back as he rode his vehicle home. I went to a bike shop where they sell motorcycles and other essories. I bought five full suits with their full-face helmets.


    ¡°This could help a bit.¡± I said to myself then I called for a pedicab, a bicycle with a sidecar attached to it, to drive me home.


    As I reach my house, I saw a car next to my gate. As the door opened, a woman about the same age as me walked out. She opened the trunk and when I saw what she¡¯s pulling out, I helped her immediately. We both pulled the wheelchair and she ced it on the other passenger door.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± she said as I nodded.


    ¡°What¡¯s up man? Been too long since Ist saw you.¡± I said to the guy pulling himself out of the car, He ced himself properly on his wheelchair then he spun it himself and he gave me a fist bump. ¡°What¡¯s up man? How long has it been, 6 years?¡± he replied.


    It was Ken, my friend from college and his sister Kristine. I helped them with some of their luggage as I opened one segment of the gate so he could push himself in. <hr>


    Their English Bulldog Peanut is looking around curiously, she saw Zeus running towards me and then they both just looked at each other as their tails slowly wagged, they seemed to be friendly as they interact.


    I introduced Ken and his sister to everybody and everybody else weed them. One of them offered to push Ken¡¯s wheelchair but he waved them off, he gave a grin and he flexed his arms. He has bigger biceps than mine. Her sisterughed at the sight and Lois, who offered to push him was visibly surprised.


    I told Lois to guide them to the house between mine and Oscar¡¯s as I go towards Rin.


    ¡°Hey, let¡¯s put you to work.¡± I said.


    ¡°Of course, what do you need sir?¡± she replied.


    ¡°I¡¯d like you to take make an inventory of everything that we have here. I trust you could make a fine system on it, sounds good?¡± I said.


    She nodded and she smiled. She seems pretty excited on doing this sort of thing, so I let her leave and grab some of the notebooks she brought from the store.


    A moment passes then there¡¯s the sound of someone ringing the bell at the gate. I opened the gate and saw Nathan and his family; they are packed and ready to leave. He brought out his tricycle and all of their bags is tied to the roof. I gave his wife and kids a small greeting as I grabbed a bag from the house.


    ¡°Here.¡± I handed the bag to him.


    ¡°Thanks, but what¡¯s in here?¡± he asked while he puts it on his back.

 Chapter 12

    Chapter 12: 12


    ¡°A parting gift, it has a revolver with a few extra rounds, a knife, a radio, a shlight, a first aid kit and a couple days of food and water. If anything goes wrong, I need you to bring your family back here. If you get close here, we¡¯re always at channel 9. You¡¯re gonna be pretty far so I need you to stay alert at all times and exin to her family properly what is going on. Stay safe and aim for the head if anything happens.¡± I said as I waved them goodbye after a strong handshake. <center></center><hr>


    His wife doesn¡¯t seem to care about me and I think she doesn¡¯t believe what I said. I really found it surprising that he managed to convince his wife into packing up and moving, that woman is really a hard-head.


    ¡°Uh, h-hey boss.¡± I heard behind me.


    I looked at him and saw Ariel, he¡¯s scratching his bald head and he¡¯s still sweating from unloading the truck.


    ¡°I¡¯m also of thinking of leaving¡­¡± he said.


    One of my workers heard him say that and he immediately walked up to us. It was Mark, he has long hair and about a full head shorter than me.


    ¡°Dude! I¡¯m telling you, It¡¯s an eight-hour drive there. You don¡¯t even know if she¡¯s still there, or even if she woulde with you.¡± Mark argued. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I know, but I¡¯d still need to try.¡± Ariel said.


    ¡°Dumb f.u.c.k.¡± Mark storms off.


    Ariel is talking about his daughter that he left with his rtives when he was still young. He¡¯s been sending money to them to support her so he needs to make sure that she¡¯s safe.


    ¡°Boss, if shees with me can she stay here?¡± Ariel looked at me.


    ¡°That¡¯s hard to say, I think it would be better for you to go further north. Head to the Quezon province, remember my Uncle Junior and Aunt Michelle? Head to their house, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll let you in. If you go there from your rtives, it would be a shorter distance to travel instead of going back here. I¡¯ll draw you a map.¡± I exined as I marked the direction he needs to go. After that I gave him a bag that contained the same gear as earlier except the radio.


    A few hours of checking everything, Aunt Sharon¡¯s Husband, Conrad, came home bringing more supplies and a few cases of hard liquor which was heavily weed by some of the group. I saw Rin saw the stacks and she flipped her notebook to previous pages to write some stuff down. She saw me checking my phone and she approached me. <hr>


    ¡°Umm, excuse me sir. I¡¯ve finished listing everything you have in the bas.e.m.e.nt and on the other houses. What I¡¯ve done is I¡¯ve made separate sheets for each house and each room and a master list for everything. Sir Oscar helped me with naming the weapons and vehicles properly and the only thing not on the list is everything on your room sir. Or should I not include it?¡± she said as she handed me her notebook.


    I take a quick nce and I was astonished. My smile is so wide, it almost ripped my cheek straight into my ear. What she did in the notebook is an artwork. I gave her a pat in the back as I handed her the keys to my room.


    ¡°Here, list everything but keep a tight lid on the number of our guns and ammunition. Keep that in a separate list and don¡¯t show it to anyone.¡± I instructed as she nodded.


    4:00 PM


    Everyone seems to be busy doing their own thing so I took a seat on the stairs as Zeus followed me as he rested his head on myp. ¡°Everything is almost ready.¡± I muttered as I stared at everyone. Kaley sat down to my other side then she ced her arm over my shoulder.


    ¡°It still looks like what happened earlier didn¡¯t happen.¡± she said. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, I-¡± before I finished what I was saying, a loud siren started ringing in our ears.


    *WONGGGGG~* *WONGGGGG~* *WONGGGGG~* *WONGGGGG~* *WONGGGGG~* *WONGGGGG~*


    The sirens that would sound for emergency situations like when the super typhoon Ondoy came in 2009. It rang for a full minute before it stopped then the door behind us opened and Olivia rushed out.


    ¡°Guyse here! Check the TV!¡± she shouted.


    We followed her in the house as we stared at the screen. The President is on the screen geared in fullbat attire with an M16 hung on his shoulders with soldiers at his back.


    ¡°This is the president speaking, I hereby dere the country, effective immediately in Martial Law! In a few hours, military personnel and the DDR or the Department of Disaster Resilience will be deployed and stationed at select ces in every city and province. Several countries have already dered a state of emergency and they have set up FEMA camps like our DDRs. All concerned civilians are required to head to these ces for the military¡¯s protection. It will have food, water, housing and emergency medical services.¡± <hr>


    ¡°The military is doing it¡¯s best to defeat this¡­this¡­ pandemic¡­those who are infected is ordered to be put down immediately! The information that the US has given us is that signs that a person is infected is its erratic movement, bloodshot eyes, high fever, violent behavior, dark veins on the skin and its increased strength and speed on a few cases. We are constantly monitoring and studying the infected to get more information. Do not, I repeat, do not! Attempt to save or try to talk to the infected! If you see any signs or any doubts that someone is, inform us immediately or try to take care of it yourself. Or, if there is too many, avoid the danger and run!¡±


    ¡°The CDC advised to gather your supplies and reinforce your doors if you are not able to go to our DDR camps. Conserve what you have and stay level-headed at all times. Avoid going out at all cost to avoid contact with the infected. If any chance you encounter one, a gunshot or a strong blow to the head immediately kills these sons of bitches! A mention of a cure or a vine is not apparent but they have started to work on it. They said to always keep yourself healthy, not just a bite or scratch will infect you, there have been reports of people dying of natural causes rising up from the dead. So, if you are staying near a cemetery, leave that ce immediately! Those who have special cases like needing Insulin or other shots simr, I suggest you to stockpile on it or head to our DDR camps for it.¡±


    He gave a proper salute to everyone then the broadcast is reced with reporters repeating what the president said and different instruction to get to the DDR camps and basic survival guides.


    Everyone is silent, just glued to the screen. Some of the group got weak on the knees, some hugged their families tight and a few has the same sharp eyes as mine.


    I immediately stood up and said, ¡°It¡¯s starting now! We got little time left before we lockdown, is everybody here?¡±


    My uncle Zeidrick rose up and said, ¡°My son is still in the gas station and my wife and daughter is still at work at the noodle factory.¡± We grabbed the sedan and drove outside, you could feel the weight in the air, there is a lot of shouting and sounds of running everywhere. I saw a few shops immediately closing down, a few cars speeding off and a few outside still watching the broadcast on the TV that one of the bakeries hung up on their shop.


    My uncle dropped me off at the gas station to look for Russel, his son, because he works here. A few numbers of people are now swarming their small convenience store either buying everything they could carry, or stealing as they grab what they could. My uncle immediately drove to the direction where his wife is at and I saw Russel in a scuffle with a shoplifter, I pulled him out of the guy and the guy runs off with a few packs of ramen.

 Chapter 13

    Chapter 13: 13


    Heshed out at me, ¡°Why the f.u.c.k would you do that?! I¡¯m gonna get fired! Hey! Stop!¡± he saw another kid grabbing a box of candies and run off. Before he chases the kid, I grabbed his cor and turned him around to face me. ¡°Dude, didn¡¯t you hear the siren and the broadcast?! Code Zulu Alpha is happening! Your dad dropped me here to pick you up, he went to your mom to get them as well, let¡¯s go now!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Wait! Let¡¯s grab some things first!¡± He rushed to the store before I even got the chance to stop him. I saw him grab his bag under the counter and he started filling it up with anything heid his eyes on. When his bag was filled, I saw him pull out a shotgun under the desk. What surprised me was that he aimed it overhead.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I said.


    *BOOM*


    *crash*


    ¡°Holy f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit! That¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g loud! Everybody f.u.c.k.i.n.g stop!¡± he shouted.


    He grabbed a basket and filled it up with potato ch.i.p.s. He even motioned me to help him grab a case of beer. Everyone is down in the ground while were looting this store. He has this smile in his face while doing this and even I can¡¯t help smiling a bit since this escted quickly. I grabbed a few more items in the store mostly essentials then we headed out.


    ¡°Here dude, catch! Everyone else, continue.¡± He threw me keys and he pointed at the small tanker parked on the side.


    The people facing down has a look of confusion but they still got up and started taking things from the shop. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We just shoplifted, open fired a gun, now we¡¯re stealing a vehicle. Can¡¯t believe we¡¯re doing this this early!¡± I shouted at him as we started to run towards the tanker.


    ¡°You told me it¡¯s happening right? We need to do this, you can¡¯t buy everything with money, dude park here!¡± he said as he pointed to one of areas where the gas pumps are.


    As I parked it, he pulled the gas pump and started filling up the gas tank of the vehicle before he filled the tanker.


    ¡°This is gonna take a few minutes. It¡¯s half full so maybe 10 minutes tops.¡± He said as he opened a bag of potato ch.i.p.s. A few gunshots started to ring out from every direction as we watch people and cars scatter about.


    He handed me the shotgun, handle first, then he said, ¡°That was exciting huh, keep that.¡±


    ¡°Really? I thought you¡¯d keep this to yourself.¡± I said as inspect the gun. Though it needs some cleaning and some polishing, it seems to be in working condition.


    ¡°My hand hurts.¡± He said as I almost spat out the ch.i.p.s in my mouth.


    ¡°Okay, then. I¡¯ll trade you for itter.¡± I said as I ced it inside the truck. <hr>


    ¡°Great! Give me a rocketuncherter okay?¡± he said while he¡¯s grabbing another mouthful.


    We both looked at each other and weughed hysterically.


    ¡°Who am I Duke Nukem?!¡± I said to myself.


    A few vehicles tried to get gas like us and Russel just told them that it¡¯s free, so they immediately picked up the pumps to load their own cars. A few minutes passed, my uncle stopped at the gas station giving us a honk, his wife and his daughter are at the backseat and a familiar figure was sitting next to my uncle. It was Ellen, an older woman who works as a pedicab driver. I waved at them then Russel steps forward and pointed at the tanker. Like father like son, they both gave each other a thumbs up.


    Russel now disconnected the pump from tanker and we followed his dad back to thepound.


    Everyone had shock after shock when I began to tell the story on how we acquired the small tanker. Russel just stood next to me trying to act out everything I said as he also provided the sound effects as I tell the story.


    I saw the group¡¯s overall demeanor lighten up a bit since the broadcast. Well, I kinda expected this to happen when we were gathering everyone earlier, everyone is in a mix of excitement and worry but when the broadcast aired it was reced by fear and helplessness, well, aside from a few others.


    We ced everything in the storage area and also a few boxes of noodles from the factory. It¡¯s almost dusk before we settled down. The sirens are still ring every hour and the broadcast is on loop. But every now and then the news covers other cities where the DDR has reached and a few ces already hit. There¡¯s now a DDR camp near here which is a few blocks away from the school we would pass to get to this ce. <hr>


    It¡¯s located at the high school which was recently built a few years ago where next to it is the barangay hall where a small clinic and a huge hospital is also located. Ken flew his drone over there and we saw that it is now being barricaded and there are 2 medical trailers and three military jeeps stationed inside. They made a checkpoint at the basketball court where the trailers are parked and they seem to check everyone before they pass through.


    A few soldiers are stationed outside and in the checkpoint area to improve security and ensure that the civilians don¡¯t do anything stupid. They are armed with M16s and in fullbat gear while the people on the line are clutching their own bags hoping to get inside as soon as possible.


    Something caught our eye in the screen as someone pushed over everyone on the line. The line got a bit crooked then it started to disperse. A guy was in top of another person, face down gnawing at it then it immediately fell down as it was shot by one of the soldiers. The personying below was convulsing but was also immediately shot without a nce. A few people on the line started to protest but they were held at gun point, ordered to maintain order. Everyone else was now huddled in the ground while the checkpoint still continued epting people inside. The line now has be a semi-circle crowding over the checkpoint.


    Two more military jeeps with a mounted .50 caliber machine gun parked in front of the crowd. Ken now started to drive the drone back as the batteries are getting low, he said that he had to pack everything in a rush and he forgot to charge everything.


    Olivia seems interested at the drone as she starts to strike a conversation with Ken. They talked for a while and when I saw her again, she has a DSLR camera hanging from her neck. Kaley then brought her again to Ken to thank him for letting her borrow the camera. He gave them a nod as he packs the drone to charge at his roomter.


    I looked solemnly at the gate and I checked my phone. ¡°I guess this is everyone for now. I hope the others are safe on the other side.¡± I mutter to myself. I looked for Rin and I saw her updating the inventory list as she adds the items we brought earlier.


    I waved her over and she walked towards me.


    ¡°Anything sir?¡± she asked. <hr>


    ¡°You need to stop calling me sir, call me by my name.¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay sir Sky- umm, Sky¡­¡± she gives an awkward smile then she continued. ¡°But S-Sky, the guys are calling you boss, should I tell them to stop too?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Well, they¡¯ve called me that for a long time it just stuck.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, so can I call you boss too?¡± she said.


    ¡°Umm, fine, go ahead¡­¡± I felt defeated.


    ¡°Okay then Boss Sky! What do you need me for?¡± she said with a straight face. I just let the naming matter go fearing it might get worse.


    ¡°Ah- Yeah, I need you to have a list of everyone here too. Ask Oscar to have a simple checkup on everyone, I¡¯ll tell Kaley to apany him, she had medical training before. It would be good if Oscar could teach her what he knows. Also, tell my aunt to get help from who is avable to prepare dinner for everyone. I would be in my room or in the gym if you need me or if somethinges up.¡± I said as I head to my room first.


    I checked online as I removed my jacket and the holster.

 Chapter 14

    Chapter 14: 14


    Every post in social media is about the epidemic, some people took pictures inside one of the camps while others have posted that they are against the idea of the camps, they thought that being there would be like putting your eggs in the same basket. A few people even said that they would head to higher ground and some people with boats decided to sail and stay in the water for a while. <center></center><hr>


    I checked my email and saw that some of the people that I invited to stay at my ce decided to go to the camps or stay at their homes, some of them didn¡¯t even reply. I immediately made an email to reply to everybody that the offer still stands, they could take anybody they trust with them and that I don¡¯t know if we could contact everybody using the Inte for long. I turned myptop off as I changed my clothes and headed to the 3rd floor. Kaley and Olivia joined me along with the other guys towards the gym.


    I started with a light jog in the treadmill, then Ipleted sets of stretches as I proceeded to the machines and then to the free weights. Istly did core exercises and a few more stretches before I headed to the bathroom for a hot shower. The whole process took me two hours. I headed down to the 2nd floor just covered in my towel while carrying my clothes in a clump.


    As I was about halfway towards my room, the bathroom on the 2nd floor opened.


    I saw Kaley walking out, a towel covered her body and her hair is also held by a towel, exposing her neck. Her jade-like skin and rosy cheeks made my chest thump.


    ¡°Oh, hi. I just finished helping Oscar with everyone, he said he¡¯d-¡± she said as she came out of the bathroom.


    ¡°Boss Sky, your aunt said that the- umm¡­ sorry for the interruption.¡± Rin came up then she stopped midway and immediately headed downstairs before I got the chance to say anything. <center></center><hr>


    We both blushed at the same time as we looked at each other, she looked away but I just looked at her.


    ¡°W-what?¡± she said as she looked back at me.


    ¡°Nothing, I just thought that you¡¯re really beautiful.¡± I said.


    Her eyes widen and her cheeks became redder, same as mine, as I said it.


    ¡°Ayiee~!¡± a voice behind her shrieked.


    Olivia was actually behind Kaley! She pushed Kaley to the side while hugging her and she looked at me with a grin. Her eyes moved about then she saw my tattoos.


    ¡°Whoa! That¡¯s cool!¡± she immediately approached me as she started to touch my arm. <hr>


    ¡°Did it hurt?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, it was inked by thin bamboo, it took a week before it was finished.¡±


    ¡°Oh, is that so? Sis! Feel Sky¡¯s arm, He¡¯s jacked!¡±


    Kaley felt my arm and as she does it, she noticed one of the few scars that I have. Her eyebrow raised and she gave me a look. I pulled back my arm as she was about to ask about it. Olivia was still oblivious to what happened in that short moment.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get dressed, they might start eating soon. We¡¯ll also have the meetingter; everyone can ask their questions there.¡± I said as I went to my room.


    ¡°Y-yeah, sure.¡± Kaley said as she dragged Olivia while she gave me a concerned nce. <hr>


    We went down together and we saw them still cing some of the utensils at the table. Kaley didn¡¯t seem to ask me about the scars that I have. As everyone is now gathered, we started to eat dinner together. One of the guys brought a Bluetooth speaker out and started to y songs as some of us started to chat among each other. We¡¯re now served with noodles with boiled eggs and vegetables, there¡¯s a few pieces of meat included. A small bowl of chili kes sits in the corner if you want to add a bit of kick to it and my cousin Nicole, also aunt Sharon¡¯s daughter, ising back for it, seemingly unaffected by the spice and thoroughly enjoying it.


    As we finished eating, some of the group are visibly sleepy from the work we¡¯ve done earlier. Add to that the toll in our minds of what is happening. Most of the people seems to be showing that they are doing fine, while a few others seemed stressed, which is understandable.


    ¡°While we¡¯re resting, let¡¯s have the meeting now that everyone is here.¡± I said as I ced myptop on one of the tables. Everyone gathered in front of me as I burp and taste a bit of the soup from the noodles that I ate earlier.


    ¡°Before we start, I¡¯d like to thank you all for being cooperative and being here. It¡¯s been a very hard day for all of us and it¡¯s safe to say that we¡¯re all tired.¡± I got a few smiles.


    ¡°Let me say what I got for you first then you can ask me all your questions.¡± I said.


    Everyone seems to agree on that so I started.


    ¡°A few years ago, while we were building this ce for fun, and of course, security, there were reports lurking out there that what appears to be people exhibiting very strange behavior. You can see them everywhere since there are a lot of them in the Inte so we can¡¯t be too sure if it¡¯s real or not. However, take a look at this.¡± <hr>


    I first showed them a CCTV video of a businessman in a bus station lying down on the floor, a few seconds pass, it rolled over, and it smashed his head on the ground. The man started to shake uncontrobly then a guard approached the man to help him. As the guard was getting closer, the man suddenly props up, then it dashed towards the approaching bus and was hit dead on. I yed the video again from another angle after the man got hit by the bus. The figure flew a few feet on the pavement, now unmoving. It then stood up for a few seconds then it fell like a puppet when its string was cut off.


    The second one I yed was from a phone camera, it shows a group of friends partying inside a house. One of the gals brought out a white, crystalline powder from a satchel and she snorted it, she gave a yell and everybody cheers her on. A few seconds pass, her eyes rolled over and she fell to the table she was standing at. It was then cut into an ambnce where an EMT is giving her CPR, the person touched her wrists to look for a pulse then he shook her head. When the body is being ced on a body bag, it suddenly wed the EMT¡¯s neck and he bled uncontrobly. Both the EMT and the girl died that day where there was no exnation for how the girl managed to do that.


    I started to show them video after video up to the most recent one. It shows a footage of a man in a maintenance uniform biting the neck of another guy in the same uniform, it then cut into another angle where a very familiar man, woman and older man was in front of it. The group now looked at me, Kaley and Oscar as they watched Oscar in the footage swing the fire extinguisher on the head of the figure.


    Kaley was the first one to get a realization from the group watching it, ¡°It¡¯s progressing or evolving, was it a timeline of the virus?¡± she asked.


    I nodded, ¡°That first video was in the 2016, and the most recent one was earlier this morning, I found thest one earlier and downloaded it.¡± I continued, ¡°It was first described as a rare phenomenon where people would just move even if they¡¯re dead, simr when a lizard¡¯s tail was cut and the tail that got chopped of still moves for a certain period. But other people thought otherwise, there were supposed to be a lot more of these videos but the craziest ones got removed a few minutes after it was uploaded.¡±


    ¡°What happened in those?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen one, it was in ab, ten people are strapped to a bed while on the other room, a zombie was being taken apart. They¡¯ve taken its teeth, nails, bone, blood, flesh etc. After they did that, they started pressing the teeth to one person as it draws blood, the same they did with the bones and nails. After that, on one of the people, they injected the blood directly to his body and one of them was fed the rotting flesh forcefully. It goes on and on as some of them started to show different changes and the scientist started to note down what they are. When the camera panned, it shows on another side more people to be used as test subjects.¡± I said to the group.

 Chapter 15

    Chapter 15: 15


    Everyone was shocked from what they¡¯ve heard. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sky is not trying to scare you for the hell of it but I think that people have also started on researching about the virus much earlier than we thought. The only problem with that is the methods they employ.¡± Oscar said.


    Oscar tried to diffuse the situation but what I haven¡¯t said was that I¡¯m not sure whether those people are searching for a cure for the virus by studying it or they were the ones who created it in the first ce. I think Oscar knew that too, he just tried toy it off smoothly. I¡¯d like to be perfectly honest with the group but I think in this case we need to do that gradually.


    ¡°So, what are we gonna do from now on?¡± Jared asked me as everyone¡¯s eyes are on me now.


    ¡°Well, we survive and wipe every zombie in this ce, well, that¡¯s what I would do.¡± Russel chimed in.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus added in as though he¡¯s part of the conversation.


    ¡°We could wait this thing out? It would be dangerous outside; we have a lot of food and water¡­¡±


    ¡°We could maybe try to take more people in?¡±


    ¡°What if they¡¯re dangerous?¡±


    ¡°We could drive them away¡­ or you know¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What? Kill them? Can you do that?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°How about weapons? Will you lend us some guns?¡±


    ¡°Do you even know how to use one?¡±


    ¡°¡­ Well I saw it in the movies¡­¡±


    ¡°Ha! I¡¯m telling you, you¡¯re gonna shoot yourself before you kill one.¡±


    ¡°I have a crowbar at the bike, we could always go melee.¡±


    *p* *p*


    I pped twice to get their attention, I looked at each one of them then I spoke. <hr>


    ¡°Well the obvious answer is we try the best we can to survive. I¡¯m not going to sugar-coat this. The only advantage we got over the people outside is that we are well prepared than most of them. We stocked up on a lot food and water that couldst us a few years, more if we ration them properly. We have a small greenhouse here and we could even dig on a few more ces here so we could grow more crop so we could have a source of food indefinitely. Same with the barn, we have a few farm animals in there and we could get milk and eggs every day if we take care of them properly.¡± I said as I look at everyone.


    ¡°On security, we have been building this ce for quite some time, look around, we have high walls and a huge gate. We even have CCTVs and floodlights installed. Me and Oscar have an armory where we could share our weapons with you just as long as we teach you first on how to properly use it and maintain it. We will have more to discuss tomorrow, so I¡¯ll request you guys to rest up because we will have lots of work to do when the morninges.¡±


    ¡°And onest thing, I invited you all here not only because of the goodness of my heart, nor because I¡¯m a self-less human being. I decided to bring all of you here since not a single person could survive alone in this world, well, maybe you could, then good on you, but there will be a time where you will need people. People who you could rely on, lean your back to, save you when needed and trust wholeheartedly. This ce is just the first phase of the ns, Oscar and I am cooking something for the long run. I just want you guys to support me in every decision I make. I¡¯m not telling you to jump of a cliff and kill yourself when I told you to but just keep in mind that the decision that I will be making is in the group¡¯s best interest.¡±


    Some hesitant faces appear on the group, mostly from the people that haven¡¯t known me that long.


    ¡°I understand that some of you will have reservations in taking orders from me, but that is how Oscar and I decided beforehand in how we n to run this ce. To put it very bluntly, all of you are very inexperienced in this type of scenario, f.u.c.k, everyone else is, including me, though Oscar has been in the war, his role is very different from being the one in charge. Oscar gave me the steering wheel of this bus that we are driving, he himself decided to be the conductor where he could advise. Though you can voice your opinions at me, I will have the final say. Make sure you have a very strong argument if you wish to sway my decision, because if you know what type of person I am, I¡¯m a very stubborn guy. I once convinced a guy when I was 10 to give me extra gravy and if not, I¡¯ll not move from the line.¡± I said as Iughed.


    I heard a few chuckles and a few grins.


    ¡°If any one of you think otherwise, I would happily guide you to the DDR camp tomorrow safely with a bag that I gave Nathan and Ariel when they decided to go their own way, no hard feelings. On the other hand, if you agree with me, I thank you with all my heart and will make sure you don¡¯t regret your decision. Speak now if you have other ns so I could prepare a bag for you tonight and whatever you¡¯ve brought in the storage area, I¡¯ll give it back or rece it if we used it already. We have everything on record and we¡¯ll know even the tiniest grain of rice that goes missing, knowing that, we¡¯ll also know what you have brought in here. We¡¯ll share everything here except for the guns since we need to teach you first in how to use them properly.¡±


    I took a look at everyone and everyone is in deep thought.


    ¡°I think if you disagree with the terms Sky said you¡¯d be pretty f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid, this is a fortress if you ask me, afortable one to boot.¡± Russel said. <hr>


    ¡°Though Sky said those strong words, he¡¯s much more lenient than themanding officers at my unit. I¡¯d be stricter than him if it was me, he¡¯s just thinking of you all since you¡¯re all civilians. We¡¯ll slowly tighten the noose as time goes by in a way you won¡¯t notice. But by the time you did, you would all be ustomed to the change in lifestyle. This will not be like your normal days as the time progresses.¡± Oscar chimed in.


    ¡°I agree with Oscar, I was in ROTC training to be one of the officers, what they did there left the other ones with no breathing room, what they say isw. If you break one of them there will be strict disciplinary action. In this case he¡¯s still willing to hear your opinions.¡± Jared added.


    ¡°Guys, I¡¯ve literally traveled from Cavite to Man and I¡¯m in a f.u.c.k.i.n.g wheelchair, I¡¯ll add that to think about if you¡¯re worried about his leadership skills. He might think weird stuff from time to time but it¡¯s just pure curiosity.¡± Ken pointed out.


    ¡°Thanks, I guess?¡± I said to Ken as heughs.


    I gave them a nod and they did as well. Everyone seems to agree to stay as no one speaks up after.


    ¡°Though we didn¡¯t technically vote, I think Sky still won the election.¡± Oscar said as he gives a heartyugh.


    I¡¯m not sure if everyone really decided to follow me but I¡¯m happy that nobody objected and that reason and understanding is in their faces.


    Olivia stood in front of everyone holding the camera Ken lent her. ¡°I think we need a group photo for this?¡± she said.


    Everyone¡¯s mood seems to lighten. <hr>


    ¡°That sounds good, actually.¡± I said.


    We gathered in front of the house as we posed.


    *click*


    Olivia set the timer on the camera then she ran frantically to her position. She grabbed the camera to take a look at the photo then she scratched her head.


    ¡°I forgot the sh, ehehe~¡± she said.


    It got a fewughs then after we took a proper photo, I told her to take individual pictures of everyone tomorrow so Rin could add that to everyone¡¯s profile.


    I went back to my room and grabbed a rifle and my binocrs. I went to the 1st floor to make some coffee for a small thermos and I also made a few sandwiches. A few people saw me and asked me what I¡¯m doing.


    ¡°I¡¯m standing guard at the barn.¡± I said.


    ¡°All night? What are you watching for? I think no one will be able to get past this gate, at least take your uncle Zardon with you. You¡¯ve been busy, right?¡± My aunt Sharon said.

 Chapter 16

    Chapter 16: 16


    ¡°Hey, we could do it for you. It¡¯s just standing guard, right?¡± Dong said. A few of my workers and friends also stepped up to volunteer. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Isn¡¯t the CCTV enough for that though?¡± Olivia asked a few people nodded in agreement.


    ¡°It¡¯s good but it would be useless if anything happens at the gate and we¡¯re all sleeping in the house. It would be good to have a few people in rotation.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I want to make you guys do this tomorrow so we have a proper schedule but let¡¯s start now since all of you are enthusiastic, who wants to volunteer for watch duty?¡± I said.


    Zardon, Zeidrick, Mark, Malong, Dong, Jo, Conrad, Nicole, Arnel, Ken, Russel, Jared and Kaley raised their hands.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the n, it¡¯s almost 10:00 PM, let¡¯s have 2-hour shifts until 6:00 AM form 2 pairs and I¡¯ll apany everyone throughout the night. I¡¯ll bring out a few more guns and I¡¯ll make more coffee. Russel, grab a box of mosquito coils from the bas.e.m.e.nt yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Why me?¡± he said.


    ¡°Just go, want me to drag you there?¡± Zeidrick, his dad leaned over.


    ¡°Uh, sure¡­¡± Russel walked toward the bas.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°I¡¯ll let someone pick their own gun on watch duty to whoever gets it here first¡­¡± I slyly mentioned.


    ¡°Really?¡± Russel¡¯s ear perked up.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± Zardon said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Smooth.¡± Ken said.


    As Russel was about to turn around, Jared sprinted past him and now the two are racing down my house as Zeus followed them. As they disappear from view, Loises up to me and hands me a box of mosquito coils. His dad raised his eyebrow as he chuckled. Everyoneughed when the two came back and saw Lois, they both gave looks of disdain. Turns out his mom asked for a box and he overheard the conversation.


    ¡°Hey! He¡¯s not included in the race!¡± Russel protested.


    ¡°Yeah! And I was first too!¡± Jared argued.


    ¡°Sky said to whoever gave him the box first, so technically I win.¡± Lois defended himself.


    ¡°Better luck next time guys.¡± I said to the two while they are still ring at Lois.


    Lois skipped his foot while he followed me to my room, he picked an M70 the same as Kaley¡¯s rifle, though it has a different colored stock and the scopes are different. He hung it proudly around the two as we walked back and he started parading it.


    ¡°So, who¡¯s gonna start watch duty with me and Lois?¡± I told everyone present.


    My uncle Zardon raised his hand then I handed him the rifle in my back. He asked what I would be using then but I showed the pistols in my torso and I pointed to the binocrs at my neck. I then told everyone to rest up and we will call themter after the shift ends.


    We climbed the roof of the barn and we sat down and started to nce around. Lois was ying with the gun but he fell asleep after a few minutes.


    ¡°This kid¡­¡± my uncle sighed.


    ¡°Pfft! Just let him sleep we¡¯re still here.¡± I said. <hr>


    My uncle was about to wake him up but he decided to light the mosquito coil and ced it near us. He seems deep in contemtion so I talked to him.


    ¡°You¡¯re not gonna get them here? It¡¯s fine with me you know. Considering what they did.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why? They made their choice; they don¡¯t even give a f.u.c.k about me anymore after all I¡¯ve done for them.¡± He said as he sips his coffee.


    ¡°How about Kenny though? And Hannah?¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± he keeps quiet.


    ¡°Any idea where they are? The DDR camps?¡± I said.


    ¡°No, Kenny still messages me. The kid said they went to Mr. Chang¡¯s ce. He said he¡¯s uncle is also with them with his family. I think they could hole up there for a time.¡± He said.


    ¡°We could drop by there tomorrow. I¡¯lle with.¡± I said.


    ¡°No, they¡¯ll be safe there for now. I need more time to think.¡± He said as he pours himself another cup.


    He drops the subject as we continued to stare into the distance. Aside from the lighting from the DDR camp, it appears that they also upied the hospital behind it as we saw a Red Cross Helicopternd on top of it. A few lights from other houses can still be seen everywhere though a few shes of lights from muzzle shes would appear here and there.


    We were sitting in silence as I suddenly woke up from my bed. I checked my watch it says 7:00 AM. I immediately headed down as I saw uncle outside still up, chatting with my aunt and the others. <hr>


    Day 2


    ¡°Morning kid, slept well?¡± he teased.


    ¡°Sorry I fell asleep. How did the watch go?¡± I said.


    ¡°No worries kid, don¡¯t sweat it. You¡¯re really tired from yesterday. I took over your post for a while, some fell asleep too. I carried you down and brought you up to your room. Kaley there tucked you in as she went outside her room for the second shift.¡± He said.


    ¡°You still snore, did you know? Hahaha!¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Better rest now ¡®Don, you¡¯re awake for the whole night.¡± My aunt said.


    ¡°Yeah, let me grab some breakfast first. You guys done yet?¡± he said as he yawned.


    I also yawned as I saw him yawn, now everyone made a yawn when they saw me, even Zeus.


    ¡°That¡¯s really weird, hahaha! I¡¯ll check thedies if they¡¯re done. Some of them volunteered to help me cook, it¡¯s nice.¡± My aunt said as she left for her house.


    ¡°Hey there sleepy-head.¡± Lois said. He started walking towards the tables and he looked at me. Everyoneughed at his remark.


    ¡°Same to you man, we weren¡¯t even there for 5 minutes and you were already hugging the gun like a pillow.¡± I rebutted.


    Everybodyughed at the banter and soon, everyone was now at the tables in the swimming pool having our breakfast. Today they cooked rice with vegetables paired with scrambled eggs. <hr>


    Oscar instructed my aunt to prioritize on cooking the food items that will spoil much sooner. Even the rice we used, we used the fanciest ones right away because since it¡¯s so soft when you cook them, after a while, the grains would start to darken and it would eventually spoil faster than the other kind. Even with the vegetables, we prioritized on using the fresh ones that Jo¡¯s family brought instead of the canned ones and the frozen ones. We¡¯ll start using some at the greenhouse if they are avable to be harvested.


    ¡°What¡¯s the n today kid?¡± Oscar asked while we¡¯re eating.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna go outside.¡± I said as I took a spoonful of rice.


    ¡°But why? We¡¯re pretty much secure here, why don¡¯t we just wait this out?¡± someone in the group stated.


    ¡°We need to scout outside. Yesterday night, I marked a few ces where there were no lights turned on. A few people are still in their houses, but on the road here on the right, going to the DZRH radio station, most the lights are turned off aside from the few big houses.¡±


    ¡°Ken here flew his drone at the area and there are seven houses there who only had their lights on, though were not entirely sure if there are more people. Some of the residents that are actually squatting in the area left and probably headed to the DDR camps yesterday though I still saw a lot of them not leaving.¡±


    ¡°If we could secure this part of our gate and build some sort of a fence to the left side, we could have a big part of this street to reim if we start on clearing the right side after that. We then would have ess to morend, houses, vehicles, supplies, the radio station, two basketball courts and fishing areas.¡±


    ¡°Woah there, wait a minute, that is a big area. From here to that ce? Can we even secure the ce? And could even our numbers could do that?¡± someone said.


    ¡°If you check the end of the map here, after we pass thest house here, it would just be a huge canal system and the road we have is a few feet higher than the waters, so it¡¯s a natural dead end and it¡¯s impossible for the infected toe from that side. Even if they did, they would first get washed away. I didn¡¯t say that we do it in a day, I did say we¡¯re just going to scout the area for now.¡± I replied.


    ¡°To secure that ce, we need to have a few people guarding this side of the gate at all times. We eliminate the infected thates from the left side and we build a small barricade for it for now. That¡¯s when we start to sweep the area on the right or we do it a bit for now as they start to build the barricade.¡± I added.


    Everyone slowly understood my intentions as they nodded a few times.


    ¡°How about the people still in their houses?¡± Kaley asked.

 Chapter 17

    Chapter 17: 17


    ¡°We¡¯ll have them on our side as we¡¯ll recruit them. Let¡¯s just say that I¡¯m gonna make them an offer that they can¡¯t refuse. Let¡¯s just hope that they have a good head on their shoulders and they don¡¯t do anything stupid. It would be easy to recruit the ones with their families; everyone wants to keep their family as safe as possible and ¡®safe¡¯ is something that we can offer. And the more people on our side, the faster we could rebuild.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°That sounds like a perfect n.¡± Oscar said with a smile.


    The crowd showed their approval as they looked at me. We tidy up then I hear Zeus and Peanut barking at the gate.


    The only issue with the huge gate is that we can¡¯t see who¡¯s behind the other side if you¡¯re standing in front of it. You¡¯d need to be in a higher position or you could slide the metal part above the mailing box to get a look at who is behind.


    ¡°Who¡¯s there!¡± I shouted.


    *snarl* *growl* *bang*


    The two dogs continued to bark at the gate. I climbed up the barn but the figure hugging the gate is too close to even see from that angle.


    Ken¡¯s drone flew atop the gate and stabilized as it makes a few turns.


    ¡°Zombies! There¡¯s four in the gate! There¡¯s also a couple areing from the left side and one from the right!¡± Ken said.


    ¡°Do we shoot them?¡± someone said.


    I made Lois bring Zeus and Peanut to the house first while Jared lines a shot to kill the ones approaching.


    *psshew* *bolt slide*


    *psshew* *bolt slide* <center></center><hr>


    *psshew* *bolt slide*


    *psshew* *bolt slide*


    He shot the onesing from the left first. He turned and also managed to hit the one from the right.


    ¡°Got them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I missed once but the onesing now are dead. How about the ones in the front now? He said.


    A few of the guys now approached the gate carrying shovels, machetes and a sledgehammer while Oscares up with his shotgun. Some of thedies led their kids at the house while a few is standing behind.


    ¡°Do you guys even know how to use that?¡± Oscar said as he pointed at the melee weapons.


    ¡°We just need to hit the head, right? Dong said while holding a machete.


    ¡°Yeah, that works but know that one scratch from them and we¡¯ll shoot you, right?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°¡­¡± the guys fell silent and was slightly startled at what Oscar said.


    ¡°What I¡¯m trying to say is that you need to be careful when dealing with those things at close range.¡± Oscar exined.


    The guys nodded. ¡°We understand.¡±


    ¡°How about this, I¡¯ll shoot three first and train you guys for thest one?¡± I said. <hr>


    Surprise filled the eyes of the guys as I said it.


    ¡°Might as well learn some things aside from swinging it wildly!¡± Imented.


    ¡°Oh boy. He has that light again¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°What light?¡± the others said.


    ¡°That light in his eyes is when he starts something crazy and unexpected. He never failed though aside from a few stupid ones, so just ready your heart.¡± Oscar said to the three.


    ¡°Get ready. We¡¯re gonna learn something new. Trust me.¡± I said as I opened the small gate.


    The zombies are in the middle part banging it when I ran outside the gate. They saw me outside so they turned their attention towards me. I lured them first on the left side of the wall so Jared will have a clear line of sight in case anything happens.


    I pulled my gun and aimed at the sights. Three quick pops filled the air and the three zombies at the front chasing me fell down. I left the older guy on the left for the others, it stumbled down on the bodies of the three as it tripped, so I circled around him and called the guys over.


    ¡°Come out if you¡¯re ready, this is like a modified game of tag. You watch out for the hands and also the mouth if you are trying to run from it. But know that if you are trying to kill it like the person ¡®it¡¯ trying to tag the other guy, remember that it won¡¯t run away but will also charge at you. Try to urately judge the distance between you two and strike when you found an opening from a quick dodge to the side or bringing it to its knees first. Weapon type and length is important too. If you have a weapon long enough, it would be better to thrust it forward if it¡¯s pointed. Just keep in mind if the weapon you¡¯re holding is blunt or ded. Using melee weapons is great since we could save our bullets and its quiet, but it increases the risk since we¡¯ll be in close quarters.¡± I exined quickly.


    ¡°Too much information kid! Exin it in simple words!¡± Oscar shouted.


    ¡°Oh, right¡­ uh, hit it in the head and be careful¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± The three. <hr>


    As the old zombie from the distance slowly stood up, it turned its head towards us and it started to run to our position.


    Dong and Mark readied their weapons but I saw Arnel frozen on the spot. Mark stepped forward then he sidestepped to swing his sledgehammer to its knee. The zombie immediately fell and Dong chopped it¡¯s head off. The head rolled off and it is facing up, moving it¡¯s jaw up and down.


    ¡°It¡¯s still alive?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°You guys must destroy the brain.¡± Oscar said as he walked outside.


    Mark then swung the hammer down then blood and brain matter sttered on the ground and on everybody close.


    ¡°F.u.c.k!¡± Mark eximed.


    ¡°You should¡¯ve used the machete, hah!¡± Jared said.


    A few bits flew to Arnel¡¯s feet and he suddenly threw up as he drops the shovel. Her wife, Vangie came outside the gate and she rubbed his back.


    Oscar looked at me and he shakes his head.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He said.


    ¡°You know the guy?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°No, I¡­I can¡¯t stand the sight of blood.¡± Arnel replied.


    Oscar gives a solemn look. <hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, But I need you to get used to it as soon as you can. I know it¡¯s hard to ovee something that you suffer from but you have to tell me these things, you could have died if you were alone. For the meantime, I¡¯ll task you with helping Zeidrick with construction.¡± I said to him. He nods as he wipes the vomit off his lips.


    ¡°We need to build a catwalk around the walls. So we could have a better view on them unlike the one that we have on top of the barn. We could also hit them in that angle if we are closer to the wall.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oscar, do we have enough materials for that?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Asking a prepper if he has enough of something is insulting hah! Of course we do! We did get a lot from Wilcon¡¯s. Good call, we haven¡¯t thought of that kid.¡± He said as everyone gave me an approving look.


    As everyone was about to head inside, I spoke, ¡°Hey we need to take care of the bodies here. We can¡¯t let them rot here, that will be another problem because we might contact other health problems when they start to dpose. Check their pockets and bags if they have anything, we¡¯ll burn them after. A few of you stay back and help me.¡±


    Oscar, Jared, Dong and Mark stayed behind as we start to search the bodies. We found two lighters, a pack of cigarettes, a few paper bills, a backpack, two belts, a purse, a stick of lip balm, face powder, three watches, a ring, a butterfly knife and five mobile phones.


    I saw Ken¡¯s drone doing a fewps around thepound. I nced once more at the bodies and saw one of them wearing steel-toed boots. I started to untie it as everyone started to look at me with mixed expressions.


    ¡°Do you really need to do that? Don¡¯t you have shoes?¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Yeah, these boots might save someone¡¯s life you know. It¡¯s steel-toed and offers a degree of protection. This guy might be working in the construction business. Too bad he got bitten in the neck, not in the feet.¡± I said.


    Oscar examined the bodies before we move them to another area to burn.


    ¡°Looking at the bodies, it hasn¡¯t been long since they were infected. No sign of dposition yet, though what¡¯s apparent is the ck veins protruding from the bites and the bloodshot eyes. Everyone has either bites or scratches¡­ except for this guy. Look, aside from the head shot from Jared, this guy has nothing.¡± Oscar exined.


    ¡°Wait, so was the guy alive when he was shot?!¡± Dong eximed.

 Chapter 18

    Chapter 18: 18


    Jared¡¯s head looked at Oscar with a worried expression. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°No, look at his arm near the elbow. It has a hole in it. He must¡¯ve been using psychedelics, he probably overdosed and turned after. I¡¯ve seen a lot of those holes to know what would happen next.¡± He exined. Jared gave a sigh of relief as Oscar confirmed that it was a dead person.


    ¡°It could be the same case with the guy in the airport, the one you killed has a white substance on his clothes.¡± I said.


    ¡°But how did the zombies reach here? I stayed on guard duty too, why did a fewe from the left side?¡± Mark inquired.


    ¡°Some could¡¯ve slipped by when we were eating breakfast since no one was at the barn earlier, we need to check the cameras for that. Also, we need to start on your n as soon as possible.¡± Oscar said, while everyone nodded.


    We then hauled the bodies to a pedicab and drove carefully to the left side of the road and burned the bodies on a street corner. The streets are empty besides us, I saw a few heads in the windows of some houses but no one seems interested to strike up a conversation.


    We went back to the gate while some of us rode the pedicab. We closed the gate and saw everyone at the poolside huddled up and talking, but there seems to be an argument happening.


    ¡°You need to calm down, everything is gonna be fine.¡± Jo said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°How?! Tell me! Don¡¯t you even care about our girl?! She¡¯s 5!¡± Manilyn bellowed.


    ¡°I¡¯m her father! Do you think I don¡¯t?! I¡¯m doing my best here aren¡¯t I?!¡± he replied.


    ¡°Do you know what she told me this morning? She told me, ¡®Momma, are we gonna die?¡¯ I can¡¯t even answer her!¡± she said as she continued to sob.


    Everyone fell silent. Manilyn left and headed to their room while Jo followed her. I was about to follow them but my aunt held my shoulder. ¡°Give them space for now, I¡¯ll talk to themter.¡± she said. A few of the people in the group have somber expressions especially the parents in the group. I decided to let my aunt handle it because she understands the challenge of being a parent more than I do.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to get through this you know¡­¡± everyone heard a small voice. As we looked for the source it was actually Aya. ¡°We got everyone here, right?¡± she said.


    A few gloomy expressions turned to lighter ones. Her mom hugged her then Aya walked towards me hands raised. I raised a questioning look and I said, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯s my peanut nips?¡± she said as she adjusts her sses.


    ¡°I remember telling you that they were called ¡®Trailmix¡¯, right?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, right. I¡¯ll remember what you say from now on.¡± she said innocently.


    I made a loud snort and Iughed; Kaley also remembered the bag of Trailmix that I bought with her so a smile formed on her face when she looked in my direction. Aya followed me to my room while I asked my uncle to start building a catwalk at the side of the gate first.


    I opened the door to my room where Zeus was the first to enter it while Aya followed. I looked for the bag and gave her one of them. ¡°Don¡¯t eat them all in one sitting okay?¡± I said. Zeus is looking at the bag while I saw Aya looking at the rack near my bed.


    ¡°What¡¯s that? You call those samurais, right?¡± she said as she pointed.


    ¡°No, samurais are those who uses them. This here is a katana, this shorter one is a wakizashi and thisst one that looks like a small knife is called a tanto.¡± I said as I point to her each one of the des ced horizontally on the rack.


    ¡°Oh~ but where is the other one?¡± she replied as she pointed to the top most part. It has a groove where one more de, which is also much longer, could be ced down.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s where you put a tachi, it¡¯s much longer than this katana here.¡± I motioned with my hands going apart as I give her a light push on the forehead. Sheughed for a bit though I never answered her for where was the tachi located. <hr>


    She carried the bag with both of her hands as we walked down with Zeus. I grabbed the wakizashi from the rack and tied it to the back of my h.i.p.s horizontally where the handle is at my left side. Lois saw use down and he looked at the weapon on my hip.


    ¡°Hey~ you finally brought the katana.¡± he said.


    ¡°Wakizashi.¡± Aya said.


    My eyebrow shot up as I smiled at Aya. I ruffled her hair while Lois gave a confused look.


    I asked Rin for a clipboard with the names of everybody. I take a look and I started to assign tasks for everyone. Before I started, Arnel came up to me with his two kids though his little daughter is with his wife.


    ¡°Anything these two boys could help? I can also make them help carry a bit of stuff for the catwalk, you know hold things and stuff. Stanley my eldest is good with his hands and Ian here is very athletic.¡± He said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good thanks. Stan, help Zeidrick to draw up the ns for the catwalk and Ian, talk to Oscar for the materials to carryter with the other guys. I¡¯m still figuring out the task for everyone today so, I¡¯ll call for you when I finish.¡± I said.


    I called Rin to help me with the task, turns out she¡¯s still behind me eyeing the de on my hip. He saw me looking at her and she adjusts her sses as she looks away. <hr>


    ¡°Like this? You can hold it for the moment.¡± I said as I unsheathe it.


    *shing~*


    The de made a small ring as I pull it out. She looks at it with at excitement as I hand it to her.


    ¡°It¡¯s a bit short, is this a wakizashi?¡± she said as she inspects it for a bit and handed it back. I was surprised that she knows the correct term, most people I know would say ¡®samurai¡¯ or just simply ¡®sword¡¯ or ¡®katana¡¯.


    ¡°You¡¯re correct. I never asked but do you have a Japanese lineage too?¡± I asked her.


    She nodded and she said that herte grandfather was a quarter and I told her I¡¯m half. We chatted for a bit then we get back to the task at hand.


    A few minutes passed and this is what we came up.


    .

 Chapter 19

    Chapter 19: 19


    Scouting. <center></center><hr>


    It would be me, Jared, Kaley, Dong and Mark. I was supposed to bring Russel but his dad needs more people to help with lifting and stuff and I was bringing two of my workers and Lois is a wildcard.


    Building the catwalk.


    It would be led by Zeidrick, my uncle. With the help of Arnel, Jo, Russel, Ian and Stanley. Zeidrick will be drawing up the ns with Stanley while the others would help with manualbor.


    Maintenance work.


    Oscar, Conrad, Rin and Zardon is assigned to it. This involves checking of the vehicles, CCTVs, lights, generators, water filters and pumps to make sure everything is in working condition. Oscar even mentioned of fixing the electronic wheelchair that histe wife used. He¡¯s going to rece the batteries with new ones and see if he could modify it to go a bit faster. Zardon would check the vehicles first since he was a truck driver before and he learned mechanic work while he was on the job. Conrad used to work on a factory so he was assigned to check some of the machinery. Rin will still be in charge of all the supplies thates in and out and she will make a logbook of everything.


    Household work.


    My Aunt Sharon leads this group. Charlene, Vangie, Manilyn, Alice, Kristine, Olivia, Ellen and Nora are also assigned. It involves babysitting, gardening, cooking, cleaning,undry and feeding the animals. It involves a lot of different work so I assigned them ordingly.


    Free time.


    Aya, Izzy, Kimmy and Cleo; daughters of aunt Sharon, Charlene, Vangie and Manilyn. Though it said free time on the clipboard, they will be apanied by their mothers and would help a bit, reducing the workload for them.


    Watch Duty. <center></center><hr>


    Lois, Nicole, Alicia, Ken, Zeus and Peanut. Lois, Nicole, Alicia and Zeus will be on the barn as I handed Lois a gun while Ken and Peanut will be checking the CCTVs and will fly the drone asionally.


    I nodded at the list and told everybody the n. The scouting team followed me while the others started to assemble themselves. ¡°Come with me, let¡¯s gear up first.¡± I said.


    Dong and Mark were still wearing tank tops, shorts and slippers when they came with me. Though Kaley and Jared have some clothing to cover themselves, it¡¯s still not enough to offer a degree of protection.


    I grabbed the steel-toed boots I took from the guy earlier. However, Jared voiced his opinion on wearing it although Mark fits it well and decided to use it for himself. I pulled a few regr boots for the others that offers a bit of protection from broken ss and other stuff that could pierce our foot.


    After giving them the footwear, I gave them a short course on clothes that we should wear when going outside.


    ¡°Okay then, have an equal ratio of defense and maneuverability. Prepare something that could at least cover most of your skin and if you¡¯re going to wear head gear, try to avoid wearing things that could impede your vision.¡±


    I then asked them to wear the gloves, knee pads, elbow pads, shoulder pads and the vest for motorcycle riders that I bought yesterday. Russel and Lois looked in envy as the team walked out after changing.


    Dong and Mark are still equipped with the Machete and the Sledgehammer while Jared is equipped with a Glock 19 and Kaley her M70 and Beretta M9. I threw a trench knife in Jared¡¯s hand while I continue with my usual loadout. However, I¡¯ve brought a bag that has a few items.


    ¡°Carry your firearms in your holsters and sheathe your weapons but be ready to draw them at a moment¡¯s notice. I¡¯ll take the lead.¡± I said as I opened the gate.


    We walked at the right side of the road and just a few meters I pointed to a small red gate to our left side. This ce was where Nathan and his family resides with the other residents. There are three other families there living in segmented apartments. Walking inside the small gate you could see a long strip of wall on the right side and on the left is where the apartment doors are located. A cage for an animal sits at end of the apartment and a wire hangs in the middle of the way where clothes are hung to dry. <hr>


    I had Jared and Dong guard the gate where we three proceeded. I knocked a few times on the first door and waited. A minute passes and I knocked again.


    ¡°Hello? Is there anyone here?¡± I said. The two beside me is tensed as another minute passes. I grabbed a small leather pouch that looks like a small wallet. The two looked at me in surprise.


    I took two items from it and after a moment I spun itpletely and a sound is made. Jared shook his head with a smile, seemingly impressed as I ce the tools in my pack.


    *click*


    I draw my melee weapon and the two behind me did as well. I opened the door and no one was there. Although the front door was locked, the rest of the rooms are not. We carefully opened each one and we confirmed that the family living here moved recently. I grabbed a marker and drew a symbol on the top of the front door. I drew a circle with a box inside with three lines horizontally ced in the box. We locked the door and proceeded to the next one.


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Kaley pointed at the symbol.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a marking system I copied from a game that I used to y a lot.¡± I said.


    ¡°Of course, why did I even ask¡­¡± Kaley said sarcastically as she chuckled.


    We did the same procedure to the other rooms and the work is uneventful. I locked the gate with my own padlock and we proceeded to the next location.


    ¡°You need to teach me that next time. I mean the lockpicking stuff.¡± Jared said. <hr>


    ¡°Don¡¯t they teach you at ROTC to never break into people¡¯s houses?¡± I said sarcastically. A few chuckled at the remark as Jared choked whileughing.


    Before we reach the first basketball court, on the left side, we would be reaching 3 more gated ces and one gravel road that leads to four houses that is above a body water held up by wooden poles. One of the gated ces is housed by a single family with a single 2 story house while the other two is connected to each other by a small gate that is ced on the intersecting wall where it meets. It could be even said to be a smallerpoundpared to ours but it has several families that used to reside inside and there are twelve houses in total, but they are not in a line like the first one we went through. Also, this is one of the ces where Ken saw lights yesterday when he drove the drone around.


    On the right side of the way, next to the wall of our ce, is a swamp-like area with a small wooden house at the middle of it. It has a little wooden bridge that brings you to the house. What¡¯s next to it is a small scrapyard about a quarter the size of ourpound, the ce used to collect scrap metal and probably sells them somewhere. There¡¯s only the working area there and a small wooden shack.


    We went to the first gate, aside from knowing that the house is abandoned, their two vehicles are nowhere to be found. We saw a little cat in a cage inside that was probably left there and Kaley took it and some of its food to make a quick run back to thepound. We waited for her for a bit as I marked the ced and went next for the wooden house.


    *bzzt*


    The radio in my hip buzzed. ¡°Hey, this is Ken. Testing. Testing.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Copy. This is Sky, what¡¯s the situation there?¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°This radio is so cool man, it¡¯s like we¡¯re Special Forces or something. Oscar managed to fix his wife¡¯s wheelchair but I suggested if we could ce the electronic parts to mine. The frame of that old one scares me a bit.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°That¡¯s good. But let¡¯s keep this line open for emergencies yeah?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh right, sorry man, peace!¡±


    *bzzt*


    We made the necessary precautions as we approach the wooden house but inside it is barren. I made the same mark on the house without the three horizontal lines on the square. ¡°This means that the ce is empty, if it has three lines it means it contains something that we could use.¡± I said to the group as they nodded.

 Chapter 20

    Chapter 20: 20


    We approached the two-gatedpound now as I stopped before it to scan around. The nearest gate to us is much wider than the one next to it. If you walk inside that gate, there will be a house in front of you with two windows and you¡¯ll see the small gate that connects the two on the right side. On the left side, you will see a walkway but you can¡¯t see where it leads from where we stand, but the door to the house in front of us is located at that walkway. <center></center><hr>


    Surprisingly, the gate in front of us is not locked by anything. I carefully opened it and slowly crept to the small gate to lock it with the bolt attached to it. This time I made Jared and Kaley stand guard on the gate while we three proceed to the walkway. I peeked while hugging the wall and I saw the door to this ce a few feet away from the walkway and at the end of it, another door can be seen though it has another passage leading to the right. Before we even took a step, a man¡¯s voice rang out.


    ¡°Who¡¯s there?! Are you Ivan?!¡± the man said.


    The group looked at me and I replied to the voice.


    ¡°No, this is Sky, a few gates back.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sky? What are you doing here? I thought everyone was at the camps. Have you seen Ivan?¡± he said.


    ¡°Is this Derek? We stayed at ourpound. We¡¯re patrolling here to check on other people. We haven¡¯t seen Ivan though, sorry. Can you let us in?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yeah, this is Derek, wait a few, I¡¯lle down.¡± Derek said.


    A few moments we heard a few locks clicking and the door opened for us. Derek has a surprised look when heid his eyes on us. ¡°Come in, my family and Ivan¡¯s family are in here.¡± he said. Ie in and saw a few more people though one woman is carrying a baby.


    ¡°Where did Ivan go?¡± I said to them.


    ¡°He went out yesterday afternoon after the broadcast to grab their baby some fever medicine, he told us to not leave this house but he never came back since.¡± Derek said. The woman carrying the baby is visibly upset as he told the story.


    ¡°Since yesterday? Could he havee to the DDR camps?¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°No, he wouldn¡¯t, his wife ra is still here with his child.¡± Derek said.


    ¡°What I mean is he could¡¯vee to that ce to get some? Mark, can you switch with Kaley for a minute? She could check the baby¡± I said.


    ¡°You got a doctor with you? Please check him! We¡¯re pretty low on medicine, the one the doctor prescribed us won¡¯t work and he¡¯s been restless since yesterday!¡± ra said.


    As Mark was switching with Kaley, I nced at Derek¡¯s family, he has an older daughter who¡¯s probably 18-ish and a son who¡¯s probably 10-ish. Derek and his wife seem to be the same age as I looked at them. I then looked at ra while she¡¯s still lulling the baby while she¡¯s swaying back and forth, I noticed the baby covered from head to toe. I was about to say that doing that would only make the fever worse but I saw the baby¡¯s foot leave the covers.


    From this distance, I could only see the foot up to the thigh.


    ¡°F.U.C.K!¡± I shouted in my mind.


    As Kaley arrived, I ced a hand in front of her to stop her.


    ¡°Wait.¡± I said sternly as I look at her.


    ¡°Why? That baby is having a fever since yesterday Sky!¡± Kaley looked at me.


    ¡°Please! Check on him! We don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong!¡± ra bellowed.


    ¡°What are you doing Sky! Do you want payment?! It¡¯s a baby for christ sake!¡± Derek shouted.


    I looked at them dead in the eye and I held Kaley¡¯s wrist tightly and said, ¡°Remove the covers first.¡± <hr>


    A wave of cold air hits the room as I said the words.


    ¡°Wait, What?!¡± Julie, Derek¡¯s wife said.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on Sky?¡± Kaley said.


    ra just started sobbing uncontrobly as her knees touched the ground. Kaley gave me a look of confusion then it slowly turns to realization as the covers slowly fell to the ground.


    The baby is very discolored, ck lines are all over its body, its body is twitching on different directions as it moves it¡¯s jaws up and down. ra just sat there holding the baby while giving a pleading look.


    ¡°Please! Help him!¡± ra shouted.


    I noticed a dark-red mark on her chest as she lifts the baby towards us. Derek also came to the realization and he moved her family away from ra. Tears now starts to fall on ra¡¯s and Julia¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°How long! ra, How long?!¡± Derek bellowed. ¡°We could¡¯ve been infected! Is that why you¡¯ve locked yourself up in the room?! You should¡¯ve told us!¡± Derek¡¯s wife moved his kids outside of the house towards Jared and Mark.


    ¡°F.u.c.k! Is there anything we can do?¡± Derek turned to me.


    I shook my head and drew my weapon.


    ¡°Oh my god! Sky! You aren¡¯t!¡± Kaley shouted as she looked at me. <hr>


    Derek hung his head low and seemed unable to do anything, Dong was silent the whole time but his hands are trembling. Kaley didn¡¯t stop me but tears are now flowing on her cheeks.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, this is the only way to do it. Finding a cure now is just impossible, it could take a few years. What can we do now is¡­ contain it.¡± I said.


    ¡°No! Please! He¡¯s just a baby!¡± ra pleaded.


    I gave a bitter smile and I said to myself, ¡°If only that was the case¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m talking about¡­ the both of you¡­ it¡¯s only a matter of time.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hold on wait! What do you mean?!¡± Derek stared at me with a look of confusion the same as everyone else present.


    Kaley looked at ra¡¯s clothes near the chest area and she understood. ¡°She¡¯s i-infected too, She must¡¯ve been b.r.e.a.s.tfeeding, the baby must¡¯ve bitten her while she¡¯s nursing him.¡± Kaley said bitterly.


    Julia seems to have heard the conversation as she almost fell on the ground, Derek saw her wife and went after her.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Dong mentioned as she looked at me and Kaley.


    ¡°I¡¯ll handle it. It¡¯s the right thing to do. Kaley, go to them first.¡± I said.


    I went inside the house as I close the door behind me. I just see ra in a fetal position while holding the baby in her arms crying. I just whispered to them, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    *shhck* <hr>


    Then I stabbed the de at ra¡¯s head. She slowly fell to the side as her baby was still clutched in her arms. Tears were flowing on the side of her face and her expression is of bitterness and anger.


    I saw her baby struggling to get out of the embrace but I raised the de once again to stab down.


    *shhck*


    The slow il immediately stopped as I pull the de from the baby¡¯s head. I felt a familiar sensation, like something leaving your body but it feels heavier.


    I grabbed a nket to cover the two and I also used it to wipe the blood on the de. I saw Derek¡¯s family crying outside the gates while Kaleyforted them. I motioned for Derek and his wife to gather their things ande to our ce where it¡¯s safer. They agreed immediately as he asks her wife to help him pack. Julia saw the covers and she started crying again. I asked for Dong and Mark to wait for them while Kaley and Jared came with me to the door at the end of the walkway.


    ¡°Are you ok?¡± Kaley stopped me before we started walking. She grabbed my shoulder as she looked at me in the eye.


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ different, I¡¯m still okay though. Thanks for asking.¡± I said as I walked forward.


    I looked at the right side of the passage first and it turns out to be a ce where the family who lived here ces their shoes and umbres. The search went smoothly and I marked the doors appropriately and I said to everyone to stop for now. It¡¯s been a few hours and It¡¯s past 11:00. Everyone agreed as we all walked back towards thepound. We also moved the bodies from that house to the ce we burn them and took care of it afterwards.


    We got back to thepound after transporting the bodies and I looked at the catwalk being built. The frames are mostly done as they drilled through the wall to mount the metal bars for it. It¡¯s abination of metal, wood and cement. The wall would be a little over my waist if I stand on it. I also told them to drill holes at the side so we could ce some carabiners, bying devices and some climbing rope. We could drop the rope to someone on the other side so the person could either climb or be pulled up if by some chance we can¡¯t open the gate.


    *whrrr*


    ¡°Hey man, look at this!¡± I heard a shout from below.

 Chapter 21

    Chapter 21: 21


    I looked back to see who¡¯s calling for me and it was Ken speeding up towards the catwalk. <center></center><hr>


    Ken¡¯s wheelchair now has been modified by Oscar and Zardon. They sessfully managed to ce the electrical parts to Ken¡¯s wheelchair. Although a few wires are sticking out, it could be said to be a job well done. The controls are on his right-hand side because he¡¯s left-handed and he asked it to be ced there since he wants to hold a gun with his dominant arm.


    Rin told me Derek¡¯s family are resting in their rooms for the moment and she also told me my aunt is preparing lunch. The supplies we got from their house is also ced in the storage area and the perishables are to be used as much as possible or stored in a cool area. I talked to the four I was with today and Kaley is the one visibly shaken on the encounter. Her eyes are still red when Olivia came to her and the sisters are up on their room.


    I went up and saw Olivia trying tofort her while Zeus is sitting next to her leg.


    ¡°Hey.¡± I said after I made a few knocks on the open door.


    ¡°Olivia, can you let us talk for a minute?¡± I said. Olivia nodded as she took Zeus with her.


    I entered their room and I closed the door. She lets out a few tears as she sniffles. She wipes her eyes and her nose with a towel as I sit in front of her. We both looked down on the mattress and we shared a moment of silence.


    ¡°Hey, umm, I came here thinking of cheering you up by saying something but this time I really don¡¯t know what to say. All I can do for you now is share this moment with you by being here and listening to what you might want to say.¡± I say as I look at her. <center></center><hr>


    She looks at me and she pats the ce next to her with her hands, motioning me to sit next to her. I obliged then weid our backs to the wall behind us. I sat a few inches away from her but she leaned over to me. She rested her head on my shoulder and I did the same thing and I rested my head on her as well. We just sat there in silence next to each other as we hear Olivia knocking softly on the door.


    ¡°Hey guys, Aya came and said that aunt Sharon is calling us, they said we need to eat. Everybody is below at the pool area.¡± she said.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus also called.


    I raised my head to look at her and we went down the stairs as Kaley left her rifle on their bed. Kaley seems to have cheered up a bit despite what happened earlier. Derek¡¯s Family also went down from their room and was weed by everybody. They still have this look on their face but they seem to be coping well. Jo¡¯s family was also there and my aunt said that they¡¯ll be fine, Manilyn seems to be smiling and talking to others.


    We had lunch and what they cooked today was called ¡®Pansit¡¯ it¡¯s abination of different noodles mixed together with vegetables and meat where it was stir fried in soy sauce and other ingredients. While we eat, I also saw Kaley look for the cat that she brought in earlier to be fed, he was named ¡®Rio¡¯ by the group because we never saw a tag anywhere. Derek also introduced his kids Demi and Jun as they were approached by Aya and the other kids.


    We talked a lot while were eating though we agreed to not mention the incident earlier in the meetingter.


    Derek mentioned that he used to work with animals and has experience tending to them so I showed him inside the barn where you could see a lot of chickens and a few goats roaming around. He pulled his sleeves up and tended to them after we ate while her wife helped with the household work. They let their kids do other chores to be done around thepound.


    ¡°Don¡¯t they need to rest after what happened?¡± Mark said. <hr>


    ¡°I told them to rest earlier but they insisted so they would have something to upy their mind.¡± I replied.


    Mark nodded as I gathered the team again. We went for the other gate this time with the most houses. Aside from finding out that no one was there and everything is ounted for, we found a small cage of rabbits hopping around from one of the houses. Kaley¡¯s eyes lit up when she saw them. She looked at me with pleading eyes as the groupughed at me at being in such a precarious situation.


    ¡°Can we take them? We¡¯ll take them, right?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Of course, we will.¡± I said.


    ¡°Are you asking or saying?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Really? Can we take them all?¡± she asked again.


    ¡°Yes, we¡¯ll put them in the 2nd floor of the barn.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Yes! Wait, why the barn though?¡± she asked again.


    ¡°We¡¯ll eat them.¡± I said with a straight look in my face.


    The look of shock, anger and despair she gave me when I said that was definitely memorable.


    ¡°Rabbits are a good source of protein; they can be easily cared for and they reproduce fast and-¡± I was cut off by Kaley with a pleading look.


    ¡°B-but! They look so cute! How can you eat that?¡± she protested.


    ¡°Is that a rhetorical question or are you looking for a recipe? I know tons.¡± I said again with a straight look in my face.


    ¡°No~!¡± she eximed.


    A fewughs from the guys and after a few rounds of debating, we agreed that she could keep one that she named ¡®Bugs¡¯ and I told her not to name the other ones because it will be harder to let go when we start to eat them. <hr>


    I marked each door appropriately then we headed to the four houses at the end of the gravel road. The houses are atop wooden poles stuck on the ground where the fishing area starts. There are a few wooden boats that could be driven by oars and there are also a few cages on the ground that is meant for roosters.


    ¡°The houses are built fine but I¡¯m worried about these wooden poles submerged in the water. Give this time and it would start to rot and eventually copse.¡± I said to myself.


    I let them scout the houses as I stand guard outside. They quickly learned the procedures and though there is some corrections for the markings, everything was running smoothly. The trip to the small scrapyard was even more easy, after unlocking the gate, aside from all the different metal parts lying around, nothing seems to be out of ce. The shack inside has a few scales for weighing the materials and a few logbooks for each shipment. We marked the gates as we lock them with our own locks and we went back to thepound to grab a few pushcarts that we also got from Puregold.


    We first went back to the furthest house as we started to scavenge the ce, Zardon followed us with the truck so we can grab more things for thepound. Jared stood guard with my uncle outside as we four started to rummage around.


    ¡°This is kinda exciting.¡± Kaley said.


    Dong and Mark also smiled as they took item from item.


    ¡°Grab the essentials first, okay?¡± I reminded them. I first took the food and water avable from each house. After that I checked the cupboards and the cabs for any type of medicine. I also unhooked the gas tanks from their stoves and I took a few clothes and household supplies. We also took the roosters and some feed that is left outside their houses. We packed everything on the truck as I take a look at everything.


    We managed to collect 37 cans of assorted food products ranging from sardines, corned beef, tuna, peas and corn. We haven¡¯t found much water because only one of the houses drink mineral water, we only got two gallons. That¡¯s understandable since most folks here get their waters from the tap which came from the dams. We didn¡¯t find any medicine. On the gas tanks we found 8 in total since most families would always keep a backup and four of those are actually full. I took a few articles of clothing mainly socks and shirts and Kaley found a few that could fit her and her sister since they¡¯ve only brought a few weeks¡¯ worth of clothes. The roosters are five in total so we could bring them back for the other chickens to breed. There was a total of 10 sacks of feed for the chickens so that¡¯s a plus. We folded their cages and we ced them on those cartons with holes so we could transport them easily.

 Chapter 22

    Chapter 22: 22


    We skipped the big gate where the houses were since the truck is almost full. We decided to stop to the small gate with four doors first since there are fewer items to take. <center></center><hr>


    Same as the earlier scavenging trip, we took the essentials and left the ones we don¡¯t have the immediate use for. We loaded the truck and drove inside thepound.


    ¡°Why are you guys getting so many?¡± Lois remarked as he saw the truck.


    ¡°It only has been two days since it started here as far as we know and almost everyone still has their belongings in their houses. Most of them just rushed to the camps.¡± I said.


    We then returned to the gated house where the family has left their cat.


    We found less food and water than usual although we found a few bottles of antibiotics on one of the cupboards. We also found a few tanks of gasoline in the kitchen along with a few bottles of alcohol. I also found a dartboard, a basketball hoop and a ball. I decided to load it up to pass the time to who are resting or for the kids. When we are about to leave, we found more kibble for the cat that we found inside earlier.


    I looked at the truck and only a quarter of it was full since we only took the essentials. It could also be attributed that the family packed most of their items before leaving.


    ¡°It would be nice if we could find weapons at some of the houses.¡± Jared said. The other guys nodded.


    ¡°It would be a very lucky find to even get a revolver from this neighborhood. Gunws are strict at this country. Though I really wish we could find some.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°So how did you get those then?¡± they pointed at my guns and Kaley¡¯s rifle.


    ¡°This? Well I did hard work on it, I used to know someone from the government and after easily acquiring a license for everything and a few under the table payments, I managed to haul a few guns. Some ways that I wouldn¡¯t tell you, well, what¡¯s the point now, I have acquired a lot more in illegal channels. Turns out, if you have lots of money, people would actually look the other way around. Good thing I started on investing guns early on or else we would be using des and stuff.¡± I said.


    ¡°How about Oscar then? He surely has stocked on guns too.¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°Hah! Oscar? Let¡¯s just say that when he sold everything he owned there to go here, guns among other things weren¡¯t the ones he let go. In fact, he bought a few more. One of the reasons that he took a lot of trips abroad is that he is stocking up on a lot of them. Guy has to have a hobby, I suppose¡± I replied.


    Jared¡¯s eye lit up as he heard the story, he seems to want to ask more questions but we arrived at the gate where Derek¡¯s family used to live.


    We made a thorough search and found a lot of food items both preserved and perishable. Kaley immediately took the rabbits and she tied a small ribbon to a rabbit ¡®Bugs¡¯ which she named. There was a total of 7 rabbits in the cage.


    ¡°Kaley, ce them near the cans of food to be categorized easilyter.¡± I teased.


    She looked at me with a re and a pout as she ced them away from where the food items are ced. <hr>


    We also found different amounts of rice on sacks or on their own dispensers. Though some of them have nobels, I could easily identify what kind are they because I was selling them in my stores. Among the items, we found two water containers that has a stic spigot attached to it, we took it because I also nned to have that same container for each room.


    We loaded the truck and it was full again, even up to the seats. After locking the gates, we started walking back to thepound. They waited for us toe in before they fully closed the gate but Oscar walked outside.


    ¡°Kid, how about building a 2yered fence instead of a single barricade?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°That sounds good, we could drill a hole to our wall and the other side so we could weld the rolled-up fence in it.¡± I nodded.


    ¡°We could put it in the ns.¡± He said.


    ¡°How about the catwalk? Are you done?¡± I said.


    He waved us inside to take a look.


    ¡°The catwalk on the left side is done though the one on the right still has a few beams that could be ced to prevent it from wobbling. The things that could hold the climbing rope is also installed. We could finish the one on the right side if we work on it till midnight.¡± Oscar said. <hr>


    ¡°No, take some rest, you could finish it in the morning. We need people to have energy for watch duty.¡± I said.


    The guys stopped working though they helped with unloading the items on the truck. Rin also helped with listing everything properly and she was in charge of where each item could be ced in the bas.e.m.e.nt.


    I looked at my watch and it reads 4:00 PM, a few moments pass and Olivia and Aya ran outside the doors. ¡°Guys! The President is having another broadcast!¡±


    We rushed to the living room and took our seats immediately. We saw the man again with the same getup though vigor has appeared on his face unlike the hint of stress from yesterday.


    ¡°Philippines, this is your President speaking. We had a f.u.c.k.i.n.g hell of a day, didn¡¯t we? We stopped the emergency sirens this morning because we learned noise attracts these sons of bitches! We¡¯re slowly learning about them so we could fight back more effectively. Our situation here is much more advantageous than the other countries since we are a smaller country than the others unlike the USA, China, Canada, Russia and other countries that are close to each other.¡±


    ¡°We have lost a lot of people in just these two days; a few DDR camps are now unresponsive. They are either overrun or have been taken control by my military personnel that has gone AWOL. Do me a favor and kill those sons of bitches for me! They are the sc.u.m of the society that we need to root out! They are a shame to their uniform and should be put down!¡±


    ¡°We have set up a fortress in Davao City my hometown and we are slowly taking over it. The worst of the three Ind groups is Luzon, followed by where I am Mindanao, andstly Visayas. The Luzon ind group is where most of the popce are located and some cities are reported to be overrun, take refuge in the DDR camps if they are close to you and do what you must to survive if you are very far.¡±


    ¡°Our dams for our waters are the most guarded of all our resources, we will continue to supply your homes as long as possible. Our power supply will be only avable in a few selected ces, we will start on conserving our energy formunications and these broadcasts will still be aired for as long as we can, every day at 4:00 PM. News reports will still be continued and survival basics will still be aired but only after these broadcasts until midnight, we encourage you to do your work while there is still light. To those of you who have Satellite Phones in this country our numbers are 0063 333 232 6900 to 0063 333 232 6909. We need information from all parts of the country. The military is doing its best to ovee this disaster, but we would also need your help so we could ovee this ordeal and those that have sacrificed themselves for the cause will be honored by those who are left. This will be a hellish climb but we will need each other if we are to survive. That will be all for now, stay strong.¡± <hr>


    The broadcast ended. We looked at each other and gave each other solemn looks, far from the fear and helplessness from the first broadcast. Each one of them are slowly adapting to the situation and having the mindset necessary for this scenario.


    ¡°It sounds like despite what¡¯s happening, the government is still doing its best.¡±


    ¡°I agree, I first thought that the president would be holed up in a bunker waiting for everything to pass.¡±


    ¡°Hey, even if you say that, we¡¯re very far from where he is. And he said that Luzon is the most dangerous ind zone and we are in it.¡±


    ¡°He said that some of the soldiers have gone AWOL. Do you think the camp next to us is?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not sure yet, but if they did, most of those living there would die. They would either form their own utopia there or take everything from that ce and leave everyone behind. So far, that¡¯s not the issue.¡±


    ¡°Good thing we have this ce here.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±

 Chapter 23

    Chapter 23: 23


    Everyone discussed with each other as the broadcast started to repeat a few times before it was reced by the news. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Everyone is on free time now, good work today. We¡¯ll have our meeting after dinner.¡± I said.


    Everyone headed outside the house to do other things, some of them set up the dartboard and the ring.


    I walked to Derek¡¯s family and started to talk to them.


    ¡°How are you guys holding up? Do you need anything else?¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯re good, we¡¯re still processing what happened earlier. The work really helped us take our mind off it. It¡¯s really weird leaving our home like it was nothing, but we feel safer here with more people.¡± Derek said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. We¡¯ll talk moreter at the meeting.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey Sky, Thanks.¡± He said as he motions for a handshake. I gave a firm grip and we went our own way.


    I went to my room and checked my email. Some of my friends still managed to reply though most of them haven¡¯t changed their minds at staying at their own ce or the DDR camps. Some people who said to move to the mountains have never replied, they could probably be off the grid.


    I was about to close theptop but I clicked on my Spam folder to check on other filtered messages. I found out that I have a message from a social media app yesterday. I immediately opened my ount on that site and I saw a message from one of my friends in college, An. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hey Sky, remember me? You have a ce at the Valenzu area, right? I received your emails and I was on my way to your ce. But I got held up near the People¡¯s Park, a mob is starting a riot outside and they are breaking everything. I ran inside a Deli with a few others but one of them is bitten¡­¡±


    Before I finished reading the message, I tried to call him through the app.


    *ring* *ring* *click*


    ¡°Hey Sky! Holy Shit! I thought you Didn¡¯t receive my message! F.u.c.k! You were right! Holy shit!¡± An eximed.


    ¡°Shut up and start telling me where you are exactly! Keep your voice down.¡± I said.


    ¡°Umm ah- were at the South Supermarket-¡±


    ¡°We?¡± I said.


    ¡°Other people who came inside.¡± He whispered.


    ¡°You said that one them is bitten?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, the rest of us tried to ki-¡±


    The call disconnected.


    I thought it was just loading at first then I was shown a little T-Rex that said that I have no Inte. I pondered for a while and I gave a long sigh. A few moments and I heard a knock on the door. It was Olivia holding her phone.


    ¡°Sky, umm, is the Inte out?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m surprised that itsted this long, I¡¯m sorry. Excuse me, I have to do something.¡± I said.


    I grabbed my AR-15 from the safe and ced four extra magazines loaded with 5.56 ammunition to the vest I put on. I grabbed the keys for my bike and a helmet, then I rushed downstairs.


    Some of the guys asked me what is going and I said I was picking someone stranded. Oscar saw me and waved me down.


    ¡°Woah kid, easy there, what¡¯s the rush? You even brought the AR, what¡¯s going on?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°An, he¡¯s at the South Supermarket, I gotta go now.¡± I said as I put on the helmet. <hr>


    ¡°Hey! That¡¯s a popted area and it¡¯s nearing sundown! That¡¯s suicide kid! We don¡¯t even know the situation there!¡± Oscar bellowed.


    The rest of the group has worried faces and some of them also voiced their opinion of me heading out.


    ¡°I¡¯m not letting one of us hanging there! I¡¯d do the same for all of you in a heartbeat! Trust me, okay?¡± I said as I fastened the AR at my back.


    ¡°I¡¯lle with you!¡± Kaley said. Jared and a few other stepped up.


    ¡°No, I need to be fast. I¡¯ll bring the bike and go to the back roads, I¡¯lle up in the highway when I¡¯m near the ce. I¡¯ll be back in half an hour if everything goes smoothly.¡± I said.


    Oscar still gives a disgruntled expression but he handed me a crowbar from the shop. ¡°Take this, you might need to pry open some of the doors. Picking them would take too long. You know what to do.¡± He said.


    I uncovered the cover on my motorcycle and it revealed a ck Hayabusa. They opened the gate as I quicklyunched myself with the bike. I made a right turn as I reached the elementary school and I saw a few stragglers walking about but I soon left them quickly.


    I also passed by the DDR camp a couple blocks driving, it¡¯s still standing though a few people are still trying to get inside while a few soldiers are outside containing the situation.


    I passed by a few houses and shops then I made a left turn towards the old church at the distance. I kept on burning on my mind the state of the surroundings as I drive. This is still far from the destination so I twisted my right hand on the handle so the bike would go even faster. <hr>


    *BRMMM*


    The noise of the motor attracted a few of them as I drive but there is still a lot of noise outside from people looting other ces and fighting each other. A few gunshots from the surroundings also rang out as I continue to weave between cars and zombies.


    I stopped near a hospital then I saw a mob of people with handheld weapons wrecking everything in their way. They are throwing rocks everywhere and they would smash car doors that they are passing through. Any zombie they encounter will be mobbed and immediately killed. They kept on shouting and making a ruckus whenever they go. People they pass through would either join them or get lynched.


    A few of them holding spray paint are spraying the walls as they pass. I can¡¯t see what they are writing but I won¡¯t stay there to find out. A few in the front noticed me and they started to run towards me.


    ¡°F.u.c.k!¡± I eximed then I turned towards the highway. I quickly maneuvered back and I took the exit where Wilcon¡¯s Depot was. I looked to the right and I saw a few cars toppled over and zombies are swarming the car while I heard a screaming from it.


    I looked to the left and saw the bakery and another back road towards the supermarket but it would take longer.


    I pulled my pistol and I shot a few zombiesing towards me as I make a path for my bike to drive through. I didn¡¯t unsheathe the de in case the bodies I slice would fall towards the bike as I pass through.


    Seven zombies fell then I started to move my bike through the bodies. I went for the road near the bakery and I started to speed up. I passed a few stores and long walls from factories as I drove through. A few minutes of driving forward, I saw the exit that would lead to the supermarket but I parked the bike at the shoe store a block away from the supermarket. I then drew my Wakizashi as I killed 5 more zombies near me, quick shes and thrusts did the job pretty easily.


    I dispatched thirteen more on the sidewalk as I made my way on a steady pace. I reached the fast food store at the corner and I saw the People¡¯s Park on the other side of the street swarming with zombies. I then turned to the left towards the supermarket.


    ¡°Why are some of them moving slower?¡± I said to myself. ¡°Could this just be the adrenaline or are some of them are starting to have Rigor Mortis?¡±

 Chapter 24

    Chapter 24: 24


    I ced the thought on a corner of my mind then I continued on to the supermarket. The supermarket is a medium-sized establishment that sells a variety of goods. It looks big because of the few fast food restaurants around it with a few other stalls. It has a parking area in front of it which directly leads to the highway. <center></center><hr>


    I saw the store, but the roll-ups are down and zombies are banging against it. A few zombies running around noticed my presence and started running towards me. I pulled the AR-15 from my back and started aiming at them. Each shot goes straight to the head and the suppressor helps to reduce the noise I¡¯m making. 17 zombies are now down on the ground and I pulled my de for the few remaining in the parking area. I killed 3 more and then I also took care of the five in the roll-up.


    ¡°50¡­ 56 if I include everything. There¡¯s a lot here than my ce.¡± I said in my head.


    I walked near the roll-up and I shouted with a hush tone, ¡°An! You there?!¡± I started to raise my voice to call him but I heard a voice from the roof.


    ¡°Holy Shit! Did you do that?¡± a man in a store uniform said.


    ¡°Can you let me in? I¡¯m looking for someone, his name is An, a short guy, skinny, brown skin and short hair.¡± I said.


    ¡°I think I saw him below, go to the back, there¡¯s a white door there. Wait for me.¡± He said.


    ¡°Why can¡¯t you just-¡± I was about to tell him to open the roll-up here but he¡¯s already gone.


    I took a nce at the side of the store but there is still more roaming around. I once again pulled the AR-15 and started clearing the area. Luckily, most of the zombies are gathered in the People¡¯s Park across the street.


    I heard the magazine empty so I quickly reloaded as I waited at the door at the back of me open. I killed 16 more before I heard the click on the door.


    ¡°Quick!¡± I heard the same voice.


    I ran inside the ce and I heard the door being locked behind me.


    *click* <center></center><hr>


    I saw a few people still in their uniforms and two security guards along with a few other civilians are in the vicinity.


    ¡°Are you military?¡± one of the guards asked me.


    ¡°No, something different, do you guys know a guy named An here?¡± I said immediately.


    ¡°Sky?! Holy F.u.c.k! You came!¡± An said as he sprinted towards me. He¡¯s carrying a metal bat and a duffel bag is slung in his shoulder. He gave me a strong handshake where it locks at the thumbs and we gave each other a quick hug.


    ¡°What happened here?¡± I said as I looked around. The supermarket is still full of supplies while a few lights are flickering on and off. All of them are seated in the food court where a variety of food items are sold by the stalls while some brought out mattresses from the store so they couldy downfortably.


    The guy with the uniform that I spoke to earlier walks up to me as he lights a cigarette.


    ¡°It started yesterday when the sirens rang. Most of those things came from the expressway and some came from the streets near the park. An ambnce crashed in the municipal hall next to the People¡¯s Park and people gathered near the crash site. I was cleaning the roof when I saw everything go down.¡± He said as he puffs a smoke.


    ¡°I just saw the crowd immediately scattering when I spot a few guys wearing those EMT suits charging towards one of the crowds. I ran down and immediately closed the roll-ups in the supermarket, a few people managed toe inside before it fully closed and a few came from the back like you did.¡± He continued.


    ¡°So, is this all of you?¡± I said as I looked at 30-ish people inside.


    ¡°No, we¡¯re actually a lot more yesterday¡­¡± An said.


    ¡°One of the guys that was bitten entered the backdoor where you came from. We focused on closing the other doors at the front but we forgot the one that is essible for the delivery guys¡­¡± the man said.


    ¡°The bastard actually hid in one of the stalls and we found him toote, he killed and infected more than half of the people here before we managed to shoot him.¡± One of the female guards said. <hr>


    ¡°So where are the bodies?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We ced the guy and the other ones he killed in the freezer, what we didn¡¯t know is that those who are also bitten could turn in an indeterminate amount of time. A few more people died and some of those bitten ran outside the door. We barricaded the door and stayed here ever since.¡± The man said.


    ¡°Sky, are we leaving? How about these people?¡± An said.


    The group showed dissatisfaction when they heard I¡¯ll be taking An with me so I fell into deep contemtion.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m thinking about that¡­¡± I said as I look at everyone.


    Everyone¡¯s focus is on me as I looked around.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the truth, I only came here on a motorcycle. I parked it a block away from here and only me and An could obviously fit in it. I saw a few delivery trucks out the back and some other vehicles parked at the front. I could only do a few things for you so decide among yourselves.¡± I said.


    ¡°What are deciding on?¡± The man said.


    ¡°Staying here or going outside. If you stay here, you have a lot of supplies, you could barricade the door and wait it out. If you preserve your food and water, by the looks of this ce, you couldst maybe a few months depending on how many of you stays. But if you go out, I could help you get in the trucks to drive to a different location. You probably have the keys for it right?¡± I said as I looked at the man.


    ¡°Yes, I do have the keys, My name¡¯s Juan by the way.¡± The man said.


    ¡°I¡¯m Jenny, nice to meet you.¡± The female guard said.


    I looked at the two and I nodded, ¡°My name¡¯s Sky, I cleared most of the zombies at the back and I have a few more mags for my gun. What¡¯s your situation on weapons?¡± I looked at the guards. <hr>


    ¡°I have four more bullets for my revolver and¡­hey Bert! How about that shotgun?¡± Jenny looked at the other guard.


    ¡°None of your business, I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g staying here and all of you should too. It¡¯s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g mess outside and you want to go out? Heh! Better to just shoot yourself in the head.¡± Bert eximed.


    ¡°And who the f.u.c.k is this guy even anyway? He just came here and he acts like the freakin¡¯ CO of this ce! We¡¯ve been doing good here since yesterday and we could do more for the days toe!¡± He continued as he stared at me dead in the eye.


    The group is now just focused on us as the room started to fill with silence.


    ¡°Great, another idiot.¡± I said in my head.


    ¡°Bert! This guy is clearly here to help us and you¡¯re acting unlike yourself.¡± Juan said.


    ¡°What is even out there? Those f.u.c.k.i.n.g DDR camps? F.u.c.k me! Give those a week at most and they¡¯ll all turn to those meatbags soon!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°But!¡± Jenny tried to interject.


    ¡°But f.u.c.k.i.n.g what! Look around! It¡¯s the end of the f.u.c.k.i.n.g world! Know my f.u.c.k.i.n.g solution? This!¡±


    *BOOM*


    Before I could even react, he ced his gun to his mouth and he pulled the trigger. A loud noise assaulted our ears as his head blew to a million pieces.


    His body flopped to the ground and the blood started to make a pool beneath his body. <hr>


    ¡°Damn.¡± I said to myself.


    Everyone was stunned. Screams from some of the kids and An even vomited at the sight. Juan was clutching his ears and Jenny was sobbing in the ground next to Bert.


    An helped Jenny in moving the body in the freezer.


    I looked at my watch and it¡¯s almost been an hour since I left thepound. I grabbed the radio from my belt and I tried to contact Oscar.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oscar, copy?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bbzt*


    ¡°Oscar, this is Sky, copy?¡±


    *bzzt*


    No response. ¡°I should¡¯ve brought the Satellite Phone.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 25

    Chapter 25: 25


    ¡°Do you have Satellite Phones here?¡± I said, hoping. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Juan said.


    I exined to him that those are phones that doesn¡¯t use the cell sites to connect to other phones. It gets its signal from the orbiting satellites across the world.


    ¡°Oh, sorry no.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well, at least I tried. That would be too easy if they do.¡± I said to myself.


    I looked at the crowd once again, ¡°As I was saying, you could stay here and hole up. But if you go outside with me, there are three options. First, there is a DDR camp at Mnday at the highschool, there¡¯s good military presence there and it is next to a hospital, I could drop you off there. Second, I figured that some of you probably used your own vehicle toe here, I suggest you take some supplies here and head to everywhere you want to go. I suggest to your other family members or to the provinces. Most of these things are in the city and it¡¯s safer there. And Lastly¡­¡± I paused as I looked at everyone once again.


    ¡°I have a ce, It¡¯s a smallpound. We have food, water and secure walls. I can give you a ce to stay but you must contribute and do as I say. I¡¯m not gonna say much on it but we¡¯re a group of people that wouldn¡¯t wait for anyone to do something about this thing. We do what we can and what we should.¡± I continued.


    ¡°Decide for yourselves now because I¡¯ll leave tomorrow at first light. Juan, can you guide me upstairs to the roof?¡± I said.


    ¡°Uhh, sure, follow me.¡± He said as he guided me to a set of stairs.


    An also followed me upstairs while Jenny was is sitting on one of the benches. A few minutes of walking then we reached the rooftop. Like clockwork, my radio buzzed.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sky, do you f.u.c.k.i.n.g copy! Answer dammit!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You said freaking 30 minutes! F.u.c.k.i.n.g answer already!¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    I was about to answer them but I had a little thought. I picked up the radio and Iposed myself before I started to speak.


    *bzzt*


    *snarl* *growl*


    *bzzt*


    I waited a few moments then I heard the radio buzz again.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sky?! F.u.c.k! SKY!¡±


    *bzzt*


    I tried to hold back myughter while the two beside me is giving me weird looks. I did the zombie voice again then it clicked. Someone must¡¯ve left the radio on and I heard shouting while I heard someone start to cry. I hear someone grabbing the radio and I think it was Oscar.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot! Stop doing that, everyone is devastated. Zombies can¡¯t use the walkie you dumb f.u.c.k. Kid! F.u.c.k.i.n.g talk normally Kaley almost fainted, you stupid f.u.c.k!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°That¡¯s totally not cool man, you can¡¯t joke at a time like this.¡± An shakes his head but I saw in the corner of my eye that Juan has covered his face and his shoulders are going up and down holding back hisughter. <hr>


    I finally relented and I talked to the radio. After an hour of scolding from my aunt and Oscar, I finally told them the situation.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s a mall here, do you need anything besides the essentials?¡± I said.


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°None, just get your ass here tomorrow morning kid so I could p some sense into you.¡± He said.


    *bzzt*


    We said our goodbyes and I surveyed the situation below. Something caught the corner of my eye. A few steps away from the 2nd fast food store on the left I saw an armored van parked some ways in the parking area.


    ¡°Juan, does the bank below have a door connecting to the supermarket?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, down below. It has a ss door connecting to it next to the fastfood area.¡± Juan said.


    I nned the steps in my head then we headed down.


    ¡°What¡¯s the n now?¡± An asked me.


    ¡°Grab another bag and fill it up. Take the essentials because we¡¯re gonna have a sweet ride tomorrow. You know how to drive right?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, I know how to drive. What do you mean by essentials? Like food and water?¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°Yes, food, water, medicine, clothes etc. Also change those slippers, grab some boots your size.¡± I said.


    He started gliding through the aisles to get what he needs and I saw Juan talking with the other people with Jenny. He also told me that they also ced Bert in the freezer while they packed their own things.


    ¡°You guys decided on what to do?¡± I asked them.


    ¡°I think my family would go to the DDR camps.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll grab my motorcycle at the front and go to my family.¡±


    ¡°Can we reallye with you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll also get my car at the front and drive towards the provinces.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll also go to the camps.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    Everyone made their choice to leave this ce. That¡¯s the most logical decision here because if all the food here ran out, what can they do?


    ¡°How about you two?¡± I looked at Jenny and Juan.


    ¡°My family is probably at a DDR camp in the Bcan area not the one close to you, I¡¯ll check one of them first before going straight to our house. Can I still go to your ce if¡­they are not there?¡± Juan said.


    ¡°Yeah, the ce is still open for you if you change your mind. It¡¯s located at¡­¡± I whispered to him.


    ¡°I¡­I¡¯m not sure where to go, I-¡± Jenny stammered. <hr>


    ¡°Come with us then, well, uh, if it¡¯s okay with Sky.¡± An said.


    ¡°We¡¯d need more people there actually, especially someone who could use a gun.¡± I said.


    She stayed silent but she still nodded in the end. I told everyone to grab everything that they could and to ready the bags for tomorrow at first light.


    I called Juan over after all of them finished packing their bags. He¡¯s now holding a fire axe along with a few others.


    ¡°Do you have rm clocks here? And can I borrow your keys? I said.


    ¡°What? What would you use them for?¡± he said.


    ¡°Those things are attracted to noise and I¡¯ll use the clocks to lure some of them away from the armored van. I can¡¯t keep on using my gun though it¡¯s easier. I¡¯ll run out of bullets before I know it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm, I have those little timers that people use when cooking, or do you needrger ones?¡± Juan said.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s good. I¡¯ll take them all. Let¡¯s prepare everything for tomorrow, it¡¯s gonna be a big day.¡± I said.


    We found several bags at the shop to ce our items and some that we need are already in boxes ready to be moved. We have plenty of food in the store so we each had several bags of it divided among us and only the medicine are the ones distributed equally. There are two delivery trucks at the back of the store and most of the vehicles of some of the civilians are at the front where the armored van is also located. Don¡¯t forget my bike also at the shoe store a block away from the supermarket. I also spotted something special in a corner of my eye and ced that box carefully in our pushcart.


    I made Juan check the rooftop from time to time on the location of the zombies, they mostly gather to the park for some reason unknown, though there are a few stragglers all around. I borrowed his keys and I went to check on the bank while Jenny and An apanied me.


    Each ss door is securely locked but I still tapped on the ss a few times to check for any surprises. Sure enough, a figure emerged from one of the cubicles in the bank area. It was a guy wearing blue overalls with a vest that is possibly bulletproof with a few things hanging from his body and one of them is possibly what I really need, the keys to the armored van.


    The two tensed from seeing the guy but I just redirected the guy to the gaps of the ss door and I slipped my de through his head.


    *Shhck*


    He slowly slid through the door in which I start to search for the keys that isbeled for the side door to the bank. I opened the door and pulled the guy through the hallway. I pulled from him a Glock 21 with an extra magazine, a canister of pepper spray and the keys to the armored van. I also pulled the vest and the guy¡¯s boots off. Although the vest has some bits of blood smeared on it, like someone wiped it with their hands, it¡¯s still a standard issue bulletproof vest. An is eyeing it almost ufortably so I gave it to him.

 Chapter 26

    Chapter 26: 26


    I ced my M9 which has the empty clip to my bag and reced it with the Glock 21. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Clean that first before you wear it okay? If some of that blood gets into you, you¡¯re done.¡± I said.


    I turned the lights on at the bank and found another body inside. Its head has a bullet sized hole and his legs are chewed off. I can now see the floor of the bank where it has a trail of blood that shows that the first guy dragged this guy here to hole up. He killed this guy here but he was also bitten by those things. I took the same items from this guy although this guy¡¯s pistol is not here, it only has the extra magazine.


    An took both of the vests and he started to wash it in one of the bathrooms, I told him the proper way to do it and heplied. I gave them the boots from the guards but it could only fit Juan, I then packed the extra to my bag. The two vests were now worn by An and Jenny and it fits them perfectly. I took a look below them then I facepalmed. An is still wearing shorts!


    ¡°An, you have the vest and boots from the store but you still want to wear shorts?¡± I said.


    ¡°Come on man! Pants are the bane of my existence! You know I don¡¯t like being restricted!¡± he said with confidence.


    ¡°How about jogging pants at least? They¡¯re superfortable, I think you don¡¯t want to end up like that other guy.¡± I said as I pointed to the guard with a mangled leg.


    He gulped and he once again headed to the aisles to search for jogging pants. I take a look at the store and I see the pushcarts with the bags on them so we could quickly head for our vehicles, the store has still a lot more items to be taken but I¡¯m afraid it would take too long to haul everything here so we just took a reasonable amount. I checked the clock, it was already 9:00 PM and I forgot that I haven¡¯t eaten yet. I saw some of the people have opened a few packs of food or have already cooked their own, us four were the only ones that hasn¡¯t taken a bite yet so I decided to cook for us. <center></center><hr>


    I found a small stall that reads Rices on Boxes. It¡¯s a takeout stall that sells fried rice topped with various ingredients. I washed their rice cooker and I started to cook some fragrant rice. I went back to do a little shopping so I came back with a whole chicken, a whole green onion, 2 whole garlics, 250 grams of togue, a can of mushrooms, honey, soy sauce and a few eggs.


    I first chopped the onion and the garlic to small pieces and I deboned the chicken and chopped it to small pieces as well. I then put oil on the pan and I added the onion and the garlic to be fried until golden brown. The smell now started to waft inside the store as I cook it, a few heads looked at my direction as I cook. I then ced the chicken next and I added the soy sauce and the honey when the chicken was fully cooked, I added a bit of seasoning to taste and I set it aside.


    Next, I ced the mushrooms and the togue to the pan where the chicken was cooked then I added the egg afterwards. I kept on mixing them then I finally added the rice and mixed the whole thing. An grabbed the utensils then we ate.


    We ate very merrily and although no one was speaking, we enjoyed the meal.


    ¡°Hey Sky, could you¡­ you know¡­ give me one of your guns? You know, Jenny has the shotgun now and Juan has her revolver, you¡¯re fully decked out and I¡¯m still holding this bat, please? You have that extra one in your bag, right?¡± An said.


    ¡°It has no bullets though.¡± I said.


    ¡°We got two extra magazines from those guards at the bank, right?¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°Those are different bullets, the M9 uses 9mm bullets and the Glock uses .45 ACP bullets.¡± I said.


    ¡°Really? Looks the same to me, never mind the bullets then, can I have one?¡± he asked again.


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll split the bullets in the M9. Take care though, only shoot them when necessary, I only have the suppressor in the AR, one shot from those and it will be harder for us tomorrow.¡± I said to him as I hand him the pistol.


    ¡°So, Sky¡­¡± he smiled awkwardly.


    ¡°Tell me how to use this again? I forgot¡­¡± he said while looking away.


    ¡°Pfft¡± Juan almost spat the rice out of his mouth when An spoke while Jenny was smiling at him.


    I gave him a quick course and he nodded to every word I speak. I see him trying all the things I¡¯ve told him as he focuses on it. Several clicks and cks, he gave a smile and he looked at me. I nodded at him so I gave him the full clip of the M9. I have 2 extra clips for the Glock and 2 for the AR so I think that¡¯s a fair choice. <hr>


    I then gathered everyone and told the n for tomorrow.


    ¡°Okay, everyone, here¡¯s the n for tomorrow. I¡¯m gonna need you to cooperate with me so that you could leave here safely. Here me out first before you ask any questions. We¡¯re first going to leave from the back entrance towards the two delivery trucks on the corner, Juan and Jenny will drive the trucks near the back entrance so we could load the first round of supplies that the people that would go on the camps would take and the other truck the supplies I¡¯m going to take on my ce. I along with the few others will ensure that no zombies coulde near them when they approach the vehicles and while we¡¯re loading them.¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯ll then move to a ¡®C¡¯ pattern towards the parking area towards the other vehicles while bringing the pushcarts for your bags to those of you that would split off with us. We¡¯ll kill everything thates near us but we need to keep everything quiet, so we need to use our melee weapons. Stay in front of me but watch the back as we move. After you load your things, you¡¯re free to go whenever. I¡¯ll have the AR ready but make sure to be quiet and move fast. An will be driving the armored van outside as we take a turn at the fast food shop towards the shoe store where I parked my bike. To those of youing with me should follow where An would be driving into because we¡¯ll be taking the shortest way possible. Ready yourselves tomorrow and get some sleep. I¡¯ll take watch at the roof.¡± I continued.


    A few of them have solemn expressions while some have excited ones since they will be able to leave this ce. A few raised their hands to ask some questions so I pointed to them like what people do in interviews.


    ¡°Yes?¡± I pointed to a guy wearing a hat with his family.


    ¡°I¡¯m Carl, we live at the Bcan area, we would like to know the nearest DDR camp there.¡± he said.


    ¡°I believe the closest one is the Meycauayan Doctors Hospital, I saw it on the list of the camps in the news. Most camps will be next to a hospital or a school.¡± I said. <hr>


    He nodded and he lifted his hat for me.


    An elderly woman raised her hand while clutching her grandson, ¡°Excuse me sir, are you still taking people in? My daughter turned to those things yesterday and we lost her, we had nowhere else to go, I could help with anything you want at your ce if you take us in.¡± the elderly woman said.


    ¡°Of course, madam, we¡¯ll take you and your grandson, I suggest you ride with Jenny on the truck.¡± I said.


    She started to tear up when I said yes, she then introduced herself to be Susan and her grandson¡¯s name is James. She was already 77 and her grandson was only 3, they were just strolling in the park when everything happened.


    I looked at the crowd and saw two high school students, a male and a female having an argument with each other at the back. They saw me look at them then the male student spoke up.


    ¡°Sir? Can we also go with you? We lost contact with her family before the Inte went out. I¡¯m living with my mom but she is¡­ umm, gone now. Her fa-¡± he said before she was interrupted by the girl.


    ¡°You want us to live with a stranger? We don¡¯t even know if what he¡¯s saying is true. I¡¯d rather die than go to those DDR camps, one of my friends posted a picture inside and it¡¯s so cramped. That¡¯s disgusting.¡± the female highschooler said.


    ¡°Oh, boy.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 27

    Chapter 27: 27


    I looked at the female highschooler and it tells me that she got this kind of princessplex going on. The short skirt, heavy make-up, painted nails and that fake extensions say it all. I don¡¯t even need to see her appearance, just that short sentence she blurted earlier reveals it. <center></center><hr>


    However, I know that some of them only have that outer shell you need to break to see who they really are. I¡¯m having a sense that it¡¯s just a strong front looking at the ck marks on the back of her hands and the traces of eyeliner fading out in her face sideways.


    ¡°She must be crying a lot, without notice from him. It¡¯s still troublesome to deal with this type though.¡± I said to myself.


    Looking at the guy, he looks like a very simple dude, aside from that machete on his hand.


    He gave a long sigh but he continued, ¡°Sir, her family is away and we don¡¯t have a ce to go to, we¡¯d also contribute at your ce since she doesn¡¯t want to go to the DDR camps. I¡¯d do her part too, as long as you take us in.¡±


    ¡°Just lost her mom but he¡¯s still thinking about her?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°No! We¡¯re staying at this ce!¡± she eximed.


    A few of the crowd is showing disdain towards the girl as she keeps on running her mouth. I looked at the guy but he just shows concern towards her.


    ¡°You guys dating?¡± I said tly.


    The girl red at me while the boy scratches his head.


    ¡°No sir, we¡¯re just childhood friends.¡± he said.


    I was about to take the two as well since I think could manage somehow but I pondered for a bit and I tried to test the waters. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I¡¯ll only take one of you. Choose.¡± I said.


    The group inside stared in shock. The two highschoolers were visibly shaken from my statement.


    ¡°Take her please! I¡¯ll go to the camps by myself!¡± he immediately answered.


    His voice trembled and his knees are shaking but he still stood upright. The girl was also trembling but her face showed a hint of worry.


    ¡°Good answer, there was nary a pondering moment.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I changed my mind, how about you leave her here? Well, she did say that she wants to stay here and there¡¯s a lot of supplies here, right? I¡¯ll give you a gun too, how about it?¡± I said with a cold look. I even pulled the Glock out and ced it on the table.


    ¡°Sky, I think that this is too much.¡± An said.


    I turned my head around An and then I signaled with a wink. He gave me a look of understanding and he immediately stopped talking. He even ced his hands in a position that says ¡®alright, I won¡¯t interfere.¡¯


    ¡°I, ah- please take her instead!¡± he said again as he took a huge bow towards me then he started to kneel down, he¡¯s now shaking all over. The girl is now trembling and she¡¯s biting her lips and I¡¯m seeing tears flowing in her cheeks but the guy is oblivious to that happening since he¡¯s in front of her.


    ¡°Is she a bitch deep down? Does she need one more push?¡± I asked myself.


    ¡°T-take him please! Just leave me here!¡± she blurted out. She then began to start bawling in front of everyone. The guy then looked behind and saw her crying her heart out. He stood up and started he started hugging her tight. It¡¯s like a cheesy movie that is so over the top, I almost cringed though I was relieved. <hr>


    ¡°As I expected the first time, kids these days.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Chris, I¡¯m still being this bitch that everyone hates, I¡¯m sorry¡­ I-I¡¯m-¡± she said.


    ¡°It¡¯s gonna be fine, we¡¯ll stay here if you want.¡± He said.


    ¡°You know that¡¯s the only truth that came out of your mouth today.¡± I said to the girl.


    ¡°What?¡± the girl stared at me as she said.


    The crowd also has this mixed look of confusion in their faces. Though a few gives a nod of understanding.


    I approach the two as I crouched down.


    ¡°The world has gone to shit and you still maintain this tough exterior. Though there¡¯s nothing wrong with that, I¡¯m your best shot out of here. If you don¡¯t trust me, fine, I get it, but I just stayed here for all of you. I could¡¯ve just taken my friend here and took off earlier and leave you all behind but I didn¡¯t. In my book, I think that means something.¡± I said as I look at her.


    Her head droops down and I continued, ¡°Your friend here still sticks to you despite what you¡¯re saying to him, I think he knows your true self and that¡¯s rare. I would¡¯ve pped you 10 times so you stop what you¡¯re doing. I have more problems to think of than putting up with that and that¡¯s why I tried testing you two. Clean yourselves up and pack up like An here, not just that on your small backpacks. Are you okay with bunking up with a few people or do you need a room together at my ce?¡±


    Chris smiled as he looked at me and he bowed once more while the girl stared at me with confusion. She wiped her tears and the remaining pattern on her eyes and on her hands confirmed my hunch.


    An then guided them through the aisles and told them what to bring. As they walked away, I saw her turning back towards me and she gave me a small bow. I made a small salute as they continued on. <hr>


    I grabbed a few cans of coffee with a few snacks then I headed on the roof while Juan and Jenny stayed near the door below.


    Day 3


    I stayed guarding the whole night and when my clock reads 2:00 AM, I saw something very different.


    I saw a figure sprinting straight in the highway. It¡¯s still very dark so I can¡¯t quite make out its features. I tried looking at my scope but it easily covered the distance and was already out of my sights. Good thing I pointed my helmet at it to at least capture a bit of footage.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k was that? Is that a person or a zombie?¡± An said.


    ¡°A mutation? F.u.c.k! Is it perhaps evolving much faster or is that a special one?¡± I said to myself.


    I kept watch till the morning while An dozed off from time to time. We talked about a few things like what thepound was like and that Ken is also there. I looked below a few times and it¡¯s significantly fewer than yesterday, which would make the jobter much easier.


    I left An after waking him up and I started to cook for everyone below when it was almost morning. I still cooked the same thing as yesterday but I made a lot more. I also added pancakes for the kids. A few of them woke up to the smell and was already drooling from it. I woke all of them up and I told them that it was time to eat breakfast.


    All of them were thankful for the gesture and we all for once started eating together.


    A few moments before we ate, a girl approached me. She has short ck hair and she looks very unfamiliar.


    ¡°Hmm? What is it?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± The girl said.


    ¡°Huh?¡± I said.


    I saw Chris behind her and he¡¯s scratching his head. ¡°Umm sir, it¡¯s Charlotte from yesterday. Surprising huh?¡± he said as he smiled.


    ¡°What?¡± I said, then realization struck.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Iughed so hard while the others also revealed looks of surprise.


    She droops her head again but she has this embarrassed look on her face. I definitely prefer this look than the one yesterday. She actually removed the dye on her hair and everything else. She¡¯s at her natural look now.


    ¡°So, Charlotte is your name huh? I¡¯m Sky. I really like this look. Grab a te, I cooked for everyone.¡± I said as I grabbed both of them a spoon.


    ¡°Thanks! This look amazing sir!¡± Chris said.


    ¡°Thanks too¡­¡± Charlotte said.


    ¡°Pfft! Please stop! I really can¡¯t handle the 180 turn!¡± I said as I eat.


    She harrumphed but she still remained docile while eating heartily.

 Chapter 28

    Chapter 28: 28


    We ate happily in the early morning and the morale is really high. I gave them one more run through of the n and everyone listened intently. A few minutes of resting, we proceeded with the n. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Get ready guys! We¡¯ll head out for the truck first. Wait for us to back up here and ready the bags. Follow the n, yeah?¡± I said.


    I with Juan, Jenny, An, Chris and a few others went out the door with weapons drawn. I went first and dispatched the two closest and I went with Juan and Jenny towards the trucks while the others tried to kill the others approaching.


    *sh* *sh* *shhck*


    I managed to kill 3 more as we¡¯re running towards the trucks and they now managed to start them. They are now backing it up close to the door while I helped the others clear the way.


    Most of them are already carrying bags at the ready and they started to fill the trucks. A few minutes passed then they closed the truck while a few rode inside. Those were the ones that would also go to the DDR camp closest to us.


    We made our way to the curve now while I lead the group with the pushcarts, they rattle as they were being pushed so I moved ahead and thanked the fact that they are moving slowerpared to when they started to turn.


    ¡°They really are moving much slower after a time, freshly turned ones are much more agile than these here. However, we still need to keep our guard up since we¡¯re not really sure if everything here has their bodies stiffen.¡± I analyzed in my head.


    A few people in the group started to break off into their vehicles while I wait for them to pack it. The tension on the other groups are increasing while the other guys pack their stuff quickly.


    *BRRRMMM*


    Three cars and a few motorcycles now left the ce before giving me a firm handshake or a nod and they rammed their vehicles to some of the zombies on the road.


    I now pulled my AR as I threw the keys to the van towards An. He reactedte so it fell to the ground before he picks it up eventually. I picked a few more zombies for the others as they were on a blind spot and a few exims escaped their mouths.


    ¡°F.u.c.k!¡±


    ¡°Move! Move! Move!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sorry, Excuse me!¡±


    ¡°Thanks!¡±


    ¡°Hurry!¡±


    As we are in the front of the parking area, everyone is packing their cars at the same time. The truck is waiting at the side and An managed to start the armored van.


    ¡°Drive straight ahead and ram everything that obstructs your path, that thing could take it no problem. I¡¯ll make a quick stop for my bike and follow you. Turn at the gas station when you see the one with the ¡®Total¡¯ sign.¡± I said.


    ¡°Got it, you sure you¡¯re gonna get to your bike fine? Don¡¯t you want to drive this there?¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure. The trucks are waiting, go now!¡± I shouted.


    We gave each other a nod and I sprinted towards the corner where I left my bike hoping that it¡¯s still there. I made my way quickly as I let round after round from my AR. I made sure to hit precisely to not waste the shots. Luckily, the path is very clear and I only fired less than a dozen rounds before I get to my bike.


    ¡°79¡­¡± I muttered before I ced the keys to the ignition.


    *brrmm*


    It started immediately then I raised the stand and quickly caught up to the group. I readied my pistol in case we encounter the mob from before. Besides the two trucks following the van, another car follows them and two motorcycles. I looked at my speedometer and it reads 90km/hr. on the dot. You could faintly hear a few thuds and crashes as the armored van starts to mow down everything.


    I saw it began to slow down as we start to near the depot, I pulled my radio and shouted.


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Ram the car! It could take it!¡±


    *bzzt*


    I referred to the toppled cars that I passed yesterday.


    *CRASH*


    The cars flew a few feet on the side as they both collided. The armored van loses speed for a while but it continues on.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Woohoo! F.u.c.k this van is too awesome! I¡¯ll name it Tiny, Hahaha!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hah! Just keep on driving man, we¡¯re getting close.¡±


    *bzzt*


    I shook my head and we continued driving forward. We passed by another block and I caught a glimpse of one graffiti on the walls, it said ¡®Chosen Ones¡¯ written on the top of a drawn fist.


    I made a mental note of it and continued to move forward. When we reached the hospital where the DDR camp was next to, I called them to stop and they parked in front of it while the car following us moved ahead. I saw Carl giving me a nod as he drove forward. <hr>


    ¡°Hold!¡± one of the soldiers guarding the ce stopped us.


    I stood in front as I removed my helmet.


    ¡°Greetings soldier, we have a few people needing sanctuary. They brought food, water and medicine. I request you process them immediately so the rest of my group could go our way.¡± I said as I made a salute and adjust my posture.


    The soldier made a salute and signaled to his men to open the gates to let the truck and the two other motorcycles to enter.


    They opened the back of the truck and a few people came out with bags of supplies. A few of them nced at me thankfully.


    ¡°Are you military?¡± the soldier said.


    ¡°Special Unit US-Philippine-Japan Coboration. Sorry, can¡¯t discuss more. It¡¯s ssified.¡± I let my silver tongue out.


    He just stared at me and he nodded.


    ¡°Holy F.u.c.k! That worked! I just lied to the Philippine Army!¡± I said to myself.


    I had a thought in my head and I asked the soldier, ¡°Is there a civilian there named Ivan Maning?¡±


    ¡°Let me check for a minute sir.¡± He called another soldier for a list. The soldier went back and retrieved a huge notebook and he rifles through the list. His hand traces each page and then he stopped.


    ¡°Sir, we have a match and he¡¯s staying at the 2nd floor at the west side of the hospital, do you need us to retrieve him?¡± he asks respectfully.


    ¡°Can you give me more information on him?¡± I said. The area is clear here so we had the time to talk for a while. <hr>


    A few minutes, a file with his name is once again given to him by his soldier. I appreciated the degree of organization that they have.


    He handed me the file outside the gate and I started to skim through it. I found words like: Type B, Male, Normal etc. But what made me frown is the marital status. It clearly says ¡®single¡¯.


    ¡°Did he just abandon them?¡± I said to myself. They could just be living together and never got married but this is too cruel.


    ¡°Anything wrong sir?¡± the soldier saw my face and he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, better put ¡®widowed¡¯ on his marital status here. We found his wife and baby yesterday. His baby is already turned while her mother is still b.r.e.a.s.tfeeding him, his baby probably died due to its high fever and her wife is waiting for him toe back for medicine¡­and he didn¡¯t. Watch out for that guy yeah?¡± I exined


    The soldier keeps a stoic face but I still saw a twitch in his eyebrow.


    ¡°Do you guys have a Sat. Phone? Call me for anything, let¡¯s keep themunications open. My number is 0063 316 619 2316.¡± I said.


    I said my goodbye as we continued on the road, it¡¯s only a few minutes before we reach my ce. The armored van now slowly pushes stray cars and pedicabs along the way and we finally made the turn towards the elementary school. I saw them starting to work on the fence at the end of the wall then they saw my motorcycle.


    ¡°Hey guys! Sky¡¯s here!¡± my uncle Zeidrick called out while a few people came outside. I saw a few more bodies in the area where we used to ce them. The guys stopped working and they weed us inside.


    ¡°Holy shit! Is that an armored van?!¡± Russel rushed to pat it all over. An stepped out of the vehicle while Jenny and the others did the same.


    ¡°Woah!¡± James, Susan¡¯s grandchild gasped when he saw the ce.


    ¡°Guys this is everyone, everyone this is guys¡­ Hah¡­ I¡¯m tired¡­ I need to sleep.¡± I said as I removed my helmet.


    ¡°Here he is! Get him!¡± someone shouted.

 Chapter 29

    Chapter 29: 29


    *smack* *punch* *ming fist* *p* *kick* *smack* *hadouken* *elbow* <center></center><hr>


    A rain of punches and kicks suddenly assaulted my body.


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g son of a bitch! How sick are you in the head kid? Doing a joke like that?! Have another kick!¡± Oscar eximed.


    The group continued to lynch me and they now lifted me up and threw me to the pool.


    ¡°Wait! Wait! Wait!¡± I shouted.


    *whoosh*


    *SPLASH*


    ¡°Ack- blrggrrh¡± I went back first and immediately sunk at the bottom. The pool sloshed around as I swam to the other side. I lifted my body upwards the poolside and the water drips from my clothes. I¡¯m soaking wet as they made a heartyugh.


    ¡°What did he do?¡± Jenny asked.


    Most of my people shook their heads but An answered, ¡°They called him yesterday and he pretended to be dead, he snarled and growled in the radio.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s messed up.¡± Jenny said.


    ¡°I agree.¡± An replied.


    ¡°Hey Sky, better apologize to Kaley. She¡¯s pretty shaken from what you did, she stood watch all night yesterday. She¡¯s sleeping at her room now.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°All night? I did too at the store yesterday. I¡¯ll let her sleep some more first, I need to sleep too.¡± I said. My body feels heavy now and I really need to have some rest. My shoulders are aching and my eyelids are starting to fall.


    I bid my goodbye to the group and I headed to my room. I also brought the box I took from the store, I let Rin handle where An and the rest could stay in.


    I opened the door to my room and I was greeted by its darkness. I removed my shoe, vest and the rest of my clothes since it¡¯s soaking wet then I let them upy a small corner at the floor for now while the box I brought is ced inside my dresser. Sleep is all in my mind right now. I slowly crawled to my bed and hugged the huge pillow beside me though I never remembered having it ced there. It¡¯s warm, soft, and it smells really good. I hugged it even tighter as I buried my face in it. <center></center><hr>


    I can¡¯t even tell how quick I fell asleep as soon as my body felt the touch of my own bed. I can¡¯t even tell how long I slept for.


    I woke up feeling refreshed while I made a few stretches and I made a few of my bones crack when I pushed against the folds of my knuckles and feet. I twisted my neck for it to crack then I looked for my watch on the floor and it says 2:36 PM. I tidied up my bed but I just found the three pillows I stacked together for my head. I can¡¯t seem to find the other one that felt supple.


    ¡°Maybe it was this one?¡± I examined one of my pillows on the stack but I shook my head.


    ¡°Maybe I¡¯m just really tired.¡± I said to myself. I nodded at the thought then I walked downstairs after equipping my weapons and knocking at Kaley¡¯s room.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    ¡°Kaley?¡± I called.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    ¡°Kaley?¡± I called again.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    ¡°Kaley?¡± I tried calling for her again.


    No answer.


    ¡°She must be outside or something.¡± I said to myself.


    I went outside and Zeus greeted me, he walks beside me as I head to the back in the pool area. I saw a few of them just chilling and I saw An talking with Ken. They were trading stories and I approached them.


    ¡°Hey Sky! Got some sleep? The others are still building the fence outside and Oscar led the scouting party though he brought more people.¡± Ken said.


    I nodded then I gave a yawn. <hr>


    ¡°Your aunt told us to rest for a bit more first and the others are still sleeping.¡± An said.


    ¡°F.u.c.k! Sky! I forgot to tell you, we opened the back of Tiny and it¡¯s loaded with two shotguns and a couple rounds of ammunition.¡± An eximed.


    My eyebrows shot up.


    ¡°Oscar was so happy and he said you wouldn¡¯t want those so he stored them in his armory. He called them SPAS-12s or something. The extra slugs are ced on the straps, it looked really cool.¡± Ken said.


    We started talking about other stuff and I saw Rin and Olivia walk by. They saw me see them but they almost moonwalked away from the vicinity. They quickly back-pedaled and avoided my line of sight.


    ¡°What¡¯s with those two?¡± I said.


    The two looked at each other then they both shrugged.


    ¡°We saw Kaley earlier looking for those two and we saw her pull their ears as she dragged them upstairs.¡± Ken said.


    ¡°Why though?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re not really sure¡­they both have been silent the whole time and they won¡¯t speak of it. Women stuff maybe?¡± An said.


    ¡°Is that so? Better not to talk about it then.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, right. An, I¡¯m gonna need my gun back.¡± I said as I held my hand out.


    ¡°B-but, I already named it!¡± he started to protest.


    ¡°It already has a name. It¡¯s called ¡®My Gun''¡± I said.


    ¡°Can I have the ck one at least?¡± he negotiated. <hr>


    ¡°Nope that¡¯s ¡®My Gun 2¡¯. I¡¯ll lend you one if you¡¯re outside with the scouting party or if you are on guard duty.¡± I said.


    ¡°Did you just?¡± Ken muttered.


    ¡°Great! I¡¯m gonna go outside now!¡± he said as he starts to slip past me.


    ¡°You¡¯re supposed to rest right? Give it to me for now.¡± I said.


    He droops his head low as he reluctantly gave it back.


    I holstered it on my right torso and looking at the symmetry eases my mind.


    ¡°I¡¯ll lend you a rifleter if you stay for watch duty at night.¡± I said.


    His face lightens up then we continued on trading stories.


    I left them after a few minutes and I stood at the catwalk. I jumped a few times and checked its durability. It holds perfectly.


    I saw them now working on the secondyer of the fence and they waved at me when they saw me up. I lifted myself up then I sat on the edge of the wall as I watch them work. I then looked at the ropes under me and I said to them, ¡°Have you tested the ropes yet?¡±


    ¡°We only pulled on it for a bit but we never climbed on it.¡± Zeidrick said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll test it while you guys work on the fence then.¡± I said.


    I called Ken and An over as I checked each rope for damages then I threw all of them down on the other side. Since there are three ropes in each wall, we three checked it at the same time.


    ¡°Hey man, before we start, arms only okay? Wanna bet?¡± Ken said.


    ¡°A pistol maybe?¡± An said. <hr>


    ¡°What happens if both of you lose then? What are you gonna give me then?¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna-¡± An was about to speak but I interrupted.


    ¡°Hold on, why is this a 2-on-1 now? It¡¯s supposed to be a three-way, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°One wish then? Free gun or anything the other guy says.¡± Ken said.


    ¡°Bet.¡± Me and An said at the same time.


    ¡°A level 9 spell eh?¡± I said to myself.


    The guys working at the fence got riled up now and then they started to rest and watch for a while, cheers are starting to erupt and some of the people inside are watching us from above the catwalk. We positioned ourselves with one hand on the rope then Ken removed his jacket, his muscles bulged and he started to flex it. An¡¯s jaw dropped and I removed my weapons first so there should be no obstructions in my movement. The crowd then began the countdown for us, ¡°3¡­2¡­1¡­Go!¡±


    We started climbing as fast as we could and as I was about to reach the top, they already cheered for Ken since he reached the top a fraction of a second faster than me while An was a few seconds behind.


    ¡°Holy f.u.c.k dude!¡± I said to Ken.


    He just smiled and gave the both of us a flex then he brought himself down. We just tested the other side normally while Ken thought of his wish.


    ¡°I¡¯d like a gun Sky and An, shave your head man!¡± he announced very quickly. An was devastated to lose his hair but he epted it and I searched the safe to look for a gun to give to Ken.


    I opened the armory inside my room that is full of guns and I scanned around. I saw on a corner a sawed-off shotgun that could fit perfectly on his bag at the side of his wheelchair. I also grabbed a dozen slugs and a few nks for it and headed back. His eyes lit up as he saw it and I handed it to him.


    ¡°Is that good?¡± I said.


    ¡°This is cool man!¡± he said.


    I also handed him the ammo and taught him how to use it. I loaded it with nks first so he could practice with it. We headed outside the fence and he loaded it himself with the nks first and he squeezed the trigger.

 Chapter 30

    Chapter 30: 30


    *BOOM* <center></center><hr>


    He squeezed the trigger from the other side.


    *BOOM*


    ¡°Why is it still loud?¡± Ken said.


    ¡°They still have gunpowder you know; it even has a bit of a kick too but very different from a real slug. Don¡¯t point it at your head or at someone very close though, nks could still do damage to you. Try loading one slug to see the difference.¡± I said.


    He ced the two nks left in his other pocket and he loaded one slug in the barrel. He pushes the hammer on the right-side down and he ces his hand on the trigger and the other hand on the barrel and he made a small exhale and he squeezed the trigger.


    *BOOOOM*


    His body felt the impact but he held it very steady. He opened the barrel to remove the slug and he handed the used slug to me.


    ¡°Holy shit! This is powerful man!¡± Ken eximed.


    ¡°Perfect.¡± I said as I gave him the other slugs. ¡°Keep safe and don¡¯t casually pull that out, I¡¯ll teach you how to clean itter. I have a few other ammo types to give you like the birdshot or the buckshot but just use those for now.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure thing man, peace!¡± he said as we went inside thepound. An reminded me that he would be doing watch duty as he eyed Ken¡¯s shotgun. I just nodded and I went on top of the wall again. They are almost finished with the 2ndyer of the fence as I looked at it. The twoyers are chain-linked fences and it can be opened like a gate would. The firstyer can be slid on the side so it hugs the other side of the wall and the second is attached to hinges so you could open it like a door. It¡¯s not as sturdy as a concrete wall but It could definitely hold a few zombies at a time and we could have arger safe space.


    I looked at my watch and it¡¯s almost time for the 3rd broadcast. A few moments pass and I saw Oscar and the group returning with the scouting group. I waved at them and I saw Kaley at the back wearing a visor, I tried to get her attention but she seems to ignore me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I guess she¡¯s really upset.¡± I said to myself.


    The truck that they brought was full of supplies. Oscar walked up to me and said, ¡°Hey kid, slept well?¡± I saw the SPAS-12 at his hands and a few bloodstains on their clothes.


    ¡°Yeah, I woke up past lunch, I still haven¡¯t eaten though. Did something happen there?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, a lot of zombies inside the shack with the pool table and the inte shop. We disposed of 14 of them. I killed 8 all in all including the one at the airport, pretty good huh? We burned them near the court.¡± he started to brag in front of me.


    I just gave a smug smile as I looked at him. He gave me a puzzled look and he said, ¡°Well how many is your total then?¡±


    ¡°79.¡± I said with a smile.


    The group stared in shock and their eyes almost popped out of their sockets and even Kaley took a look in my direction before looking away.


    ¡°Stop lying kid! You¡¯d die before you do that.¡± Oscar said while the others nodded. I could feel this old man slightly jealous.


    ¡°Wanna see proof? I¡¯ll show you at the meetingter. The broadcast is about to start.¡± I said.


    I walked down the catwalk and I opened the gate for them. Kaley walked past me without sparing me a nce and I looked at Oscar.


    ¡°You took it too far yesterday kid, better prepare the best apology you have. She¡¯s still pissed.¡± Oscar said to me as I scratched my head. <hr>


    The group on the other hand became intrigued for my proof but we now gathered at the huge TV as we wait for the broadcast to start. The TV just shows some footage for preserving food like how to preserve them in mason jars and how to smoke some of the food for it tost longer. It was then cut off and we saw the face of the president who runs this country.


    We all saw him in his usual attire but you could see the tiredness in his eyes. He revealed reports of their progress in reiming Davao City. A few people from different parts of the country and even Oscar called the guy yesterday, he was included in the list though it just mentions the city that were in. The only thing that stands out is they showed a video of 3 zombies just standingpletely still. The soldiers even tried to get close and poke them with their rifles ready but there was nary a response.


    ¡°A new type?¡± I said to myself.


    They ced those things in a cage to be studied as they received aid from Japan and three private nesnded on a reimed airport in the country so they could conduct research on the virus. Japan thinks that each country might have received a different strand since the special zombies they have there are more active in the day but made noises in the night. They also told the president that the special ones in the US are extremely active in the night but very slow in the day, their team are now being helped by some of this country¡¯s scientist and they have started a new project here. So far, they are all collecting as much data as possible to learn more about it.


    The broadcast ended on a high note and we continued on doing our own things while my uncle finishes the fence and the others helped unload the truck.


    I saw Kaley walk upstairs and I followed her. I was about to say something but the door was shut in front of me. I looked at the back and I saw Olivia and Rin looking at me with a tinge of worry in their faces. They were about to run but I managed to chase after them and grabbed them both by the cor as I pulled them upstairs.


    ¡°Is there something you guys are not telling me? Did you three fight?¡± I said.


    They won¡¯t look at me in the eye and I figured that something was wrong.


    ¡°S-sorry Sky, if we tell you, Kaley is gonna kill us. P-please understand.¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°R-right, B-boss Sky, what Olivia said.¡± Rin added.


    I was so confused I didn¡¯t know what to do so I had a gleam in my eye then I give both of them a look. They both gulped as they feel dread. I just chuckled and pulled the both of them towards the gym and I locked them both inside. I went down, grabbed something from the kitchen and went back. <hr>


    ¡°W-what are you gonna do to us Sky?! Help~!¡± Olivia panicked.


    ¡°P-please b-boss spare us!¡± Rin begged.


    I ignored their remarks, ¡°What is these guys thinking? I¡¯m not gonna torture them, well¡­¡± I said to myself.


    The gym is soundproof and it is covered in ss so it¡¯s perfect for sting music without anyone hearing you from outside. They saw me ce a te on one of the tables with a fork and a knife. They stared at me with confusion as I put earplugs in. I grabbed the knife and the fork and I scratched the te like a maniac.


    *sskksjsfbkbfslgsfavsnldvs*


    ¡°NOOOOOO~!¡± The two immediately cried out. I kept on doing it until I read their lips mouthing ¡®Okay! We¡¯ll talk! Please stop!¡¯


    ¡°You really had no idea?¡± Olivia asked.


    ¡°What? The joke that I made?¡± I asked.


    Olivia facepalmed as she looked at Rin.


    ¡°He really doesn¡¯t have any clue. We should tell her first.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°How? We¡¯re trapped here!¡± Olivia said. <hr>


    ¡°What? Tell me!¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, fudge it! We¡¯ll let the two handle it themselves.¡± Olivia said as Rin nodded.


    ¡°Yesterday when you did the¡­ in my opinion, was dark¡­ but a very funny joke¡­¡± Olivia started.


    ¡°Yeah, go on.¡± I said.


    ¡°Everyone was shocked but a few were adamant if it¡¯s real. Like Oscar and your family, they said they know you too well¡­¡± Rin continued.


    ¡°My sister among others didn¡¯t really take it that well¡­¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°And then?¡± I said.


    ¡°Kaley stayed all night to wait for you toe back and she did, but after we ate breakfast, she was sleeping on the chair soundly¡­¡± Rin said.


    ¡°Rin and I brought her upstairs but we left our keys below in the pool area¡­¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like where this is going¡­¡± I said.

 Chapter 31

    Chapter 31: 31


    ¡°So, we both decided to let her sleep in your room since it was open and you¡¯re not home yet.¡± Rin finally dropped the bomb. <center></center><hr>


    I think all the hairs on my body dropped on the floor as I heard it. I¡¯m also fearing for my life as they were.


    ¡°We were about to tell you that she¡¯s there in you room but you can¡¯t even hear us speaking, you¡¯re dragging your feet as you walked inside. We thought you would wake her up and she woulde out eventually so we went down to do our usual stuff.¡± Olivia said as she looked at the ground.


    ¡°But I slept as soon as my body hit the bed!¡± I told the two.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t feel her next to you?¡± Rin asked.


    I remembered the pillow I was hugging earlier and I¡¯m losing feeling in my knees.


    ¡°I thought I was hugging a pillow but I immediately fell asleep!¡± I eximed.


    The two blushed as they heard me. They just stared at me as their cheeks started to redden.


    ¡°You did nothing else then?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± I said.


    ¡°You know¡­ that.¡± Rin said as she can¡¯t look me in the eye.


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you! I was immediately asleep since I was up all night guarding the store yesterday!¡± I said.


    ¡°I think my sister woke up before lunch because we saw her super red as she went to get us and then she interrogated me and Rin. You guys are actually hugging for hours! And you didn¡¯t even know until now! Hahahaha!¡± Olivia started to dieughing while Rin was also red from holding herughter. <center></center><hr>


    What I didn¡¯t say to them is that I was butt-n.a.k.e.d that whole time! As I was thinking of what to do, I heard a knock on the door behind me and I felt a dread the same as them as they stoppedughing.


    ¡°Your. Room. Now.¡± I heard behind and I hear footsteps slowly fading away. I waited for a while then I steeled myself and I walked slowly inside my room and closed it. I saw a silhouette of a familiar figure inside; it was still dark because the lights were off and because of my curtains. I closed the door behind me and I walked closer but I just felt a sharp pain hit my cheek.


    *SLAP*


    The sound resounded in the room and it almost echoed. I felt the stinging pain but I held it in. I was about to say something then I heard sobbing noises. I froze on the spot as I hear the figure continue on crying.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± that¡¯s all that came out of me.


    I saw the figure drew closer and I felt closed fists hammering towards my body. The pain is secondary and I really felt bad for what I did.


    ¡°I really need to tone it down sometimes¡­¡± I said to myself.


    By this time, I must be an idiot if I can¡¯t figure out what I did wrong. I held her tight as the same sensation before I fell asleep assaulted my senses.


    ¡°It was definitely her.¡± I said to myself.


    We just stood there for a moment and I can faintly see her face due to the small lights that the slit on the side of the curtain let out. I sat her down and we talked while barely seeing each other. I tried to wipe the tears on her face with a towel but she pped my hand off.


    ¡°Kaley, I¡¯m really sorry about yesterday. I really thought it would be funny¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°Funny my ass, I-we almost rushed to the supermarket you know?¡± she replied.


    ¡°I won¡¯t do it again, maybe tomorrow¡­¡± I joked. <hr>


    *punch*


    ¡°Ouch! Kidding! I¡¯m kidding ahaha¡­¡± I helplessly said while rubbing my shoulder.


    ¡°Do that again and I¡¯ll shoot you with my rifle.¡± she said sternly.


    *gulp*


    ¡°Are you serious?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m dead-ass serious.¡± she replied again.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was silent.


    ¡°You found your friend? They said you brought others too.¡± she said with a calmer tone.


    ¡°Yeah, his name¡¯s An, I also invited Jenny, Susan, James, Chris and Charlotte. I met them at the supermarket, good folks. I also invited a guy named Juan but he went to find his family first.¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s definitely a good guy. Hope the others are too. Are you okay?¡± she replied.


    ¡°Yeah, I found something good too!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°What?¡± she said. <hr>


    ¡°Let me open the lights first.¡± I got up and turned around.


    ¡°What is it?¡± she asked again.


    ¡°Just wait!¡± I ced my hand on where I remember the switch is.


    I opened the lights and I opened my dresser. I took out the box I took from the supermarket. It was a whole cake with white icing and it has strawberries on top of it. I removed the red ribbon from it and Iid it in front of her. Kaley was surprised and she gave a smile though there¡¯s still a tinge of red in her eyes from crying.


    ¡°Tada! It¡¯s already been sliced! You could see the stic in the middle where it has been sliced, just lift here and we could it eat now! I brought a te with a knife and a fork at the gym. Let me get it for a sec.¡± I said as I was about to open the door.


    ¡°Why did you have those at the gym?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Long story ahaha¡­¡± I said embarrassingly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get them, let¡¯s just eat it with our hands.¡± she waved me over.


    ¡°You sure?¡± I confirmed.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Here, sorry it¡¯s a bit deformed. Must be from the pushcart.¡± I handed her the most perfect piece though it really is still deformed.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s perfect.¡± she said as I took a bite of it.


    ¡°¡­¡± I just smiled and I closed the box. <hr>


    She began eating the cake as I look at her. There¡¯s still a tinge of red in her eyes and I see ck circles under it.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the other thing too¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was silently eating the cake.


    ¡°I was really tired because I was up all night, I thought you were a pillow¡­¡± I exined.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was still silently eating the cake.


    ¡°Did I hug you too tight? I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m n.a.k.e.d when you woke up, they threw me at the pool when I arrived, I just removed all my clothes when I came in¡­¡± I added.


    ¡°¡­¡± still nothing from her.


    ¡°I promise I didn¡¯t do anything¡­ Kaley?¡± I tried to get her attention.


    ¡°¡­¡± she stopped eating.


    I saw her ce the half-eaten cake down and she stood up. She walked toward the door and as I thought she woulde outside, she turned off the lights.


    *click*


    I heard the door being locked and I just heard, ¡°Stop talking.¡±


    She nted a huge kiss in my mouth as she pushed me down on the bed. I feel her body wrapping towards mine as she continued to kiss me. I tasted her sweet lips while our tongues interlocked. I wrapped my hands at her back as we continue, her chest is pushing against mine and our breaths are getting heavier.

 Chapter 32

    Chapter 32: 32


    We¡¯re kissing for a while and I rolled her over. Now I¡¯m the one on top while our eyes are slowly adjusting in the dark. I broke free from her lips and I started kissing her neck, my hands glided to her ample b.r.e.a.s.t as she bites her lower lip. She lifts up her shirt as I saw the full view, those huge mounds that cannot even fit my hand. I lowered my kiss again to one of those peaks while I softly caress the other one. Her hands are above her head as I ce my other hand close to her underarm, she starts to let out a soft m.o.a.n that increased the warmth I¡¯m feeling inside. <center></center><hr>


    I then switched to the other side as she continued to enjoy herself, her lower back is slowly rising and falling with each yful bite and squeeze I did with the pink tips. My hand decided to go lower to her left thigh as I caress gently, she started to unbutton her jeans and I pulled it off after. I looked at her and she¡¯s just looking at me intensely while breathing heavily. I ced my hands on her inner thighs and on her calves as I glide my hands through them, she¡¯s slowly moving her h.i.p.s and one of her hands begun to touch her b.r.e.a.s.ts and the other one much, much lower. Her hands went under the small clothing at her h.i.p.s as she began touching herself in front of me.


    I slowly removed my shirt as I look at her, she looked at my body as her hands moved faster and her breathing more ragged. I removed thest article of clothing in her h.i.p.s where her hands were under and then she removes her hand from it and she spread her legs in front of my face. I felt it with my hands first and she pushed my head towards it. Her back arched once I bury my face deep in her and my tongue started to explore. She let out a m.o.a.n as I grunted while she squeezed my head with her thighs. I¡¯m doing it rigorously as my hands are on her thighs and her hands are on her b.r.e.a.s.ts. Her h.i.p.s are moving up and down, seemingly pushing it more against me. A few moments passed and she starts to shake and twitch for a while. However, I decided to continue what I¡¯m doing and I let my hands explore her too even though she¡¯s squeezing my head real tight while her hands are pulling my hair. Her m.o.a.ns became louder and louder and then I finally stopped when sheid on the bed panting.


    I kissed her again on the lips but she starts to bite my lip as she started smiling. She turned me over as she stood in the opposite direction. She unzipped my pants and she pulled it off while I also show her everything. She grabbed it with both hands and it disappeared from view when her face got close to it. I feel her tongue gliding across it and her hands tugging it as I grunted a few times, I was facing her lower body so I decided to do more. I grabbed what¡¯s in front of me and I once again buried my face in her. Her body reacted and I feel her pushing it in my face even more. My tongue reached ces while my hands is spreading it further. She felt it immediately and now she¡¯s doing it much faster.


    She is soaking wet and she decided to ce my thumb in the other opening. It slides in a bit more raggedly but it immediately tightened when I started to move it around. I tried to grab her b.r.e.a.s.t from this position but I feel that I¡¯m reaching my limit. She also felt it so she continued on doing it hard. I let it all out and I lost all the strength in my body. However, she never stopped and did the same thing I did to her. She continued on doing the same thing while I struggle on with the sensitivity. I steeled my mind and continued on to what I¡¯m doing. A few minutester, I¡¯m already feeling it growing back, she stopped what she¡¯s doing and she stood up in front of it while facing me. She slowly squatted down and I feel myself entering her, she let out a small gasp when she reached the base and we are face to face when she started to move her h.i.p.s.


    Pleasurable sounds are what is left to be heard in the dark room that we are in, there was little to no sense of sight at the moment, only hearing and touch could be sensed. She¡¯s moving her h.i.p.s while her huge chest is pressed against me while my hands are on her back. She tightened a few times while I continue to enjoy myself to what was happening between us. She finally lost strength while she twitches once more so I held her tight and I¡¯m the one who moved my h.i.p.s under her.


    ¡°W-wait¡­¡± she said softly but I continued on. She¡¯s turns to a mess for each thrust I did and I finally finished after a few more. Iid on the bed panting then she alsoid next to me. We¡¯re just looking at each other while we¡¯re both out of breath from what we did. I wasying straight down while she¡¯s leaning her body at me to the side, she¡¯s using my right arm as a pillow and her face is next to my chest.


    ¡°Did we just¡­?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± she replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­Yeah?¡±


    ¡°I think the cake fell¡­¡±


    ¡°Pfft! Hahahaha!¡±


    We talked for a few more minutes and we took a shower together. Nothing happened there and we¡¯re just looking at each other while we wash ourselves while chatting.


    We then went into each other¡¯s room and we get dressed separately. I wore my usual clothes and equipped my two M9s to my holsters at my torso after reloading the magazines. I went to the rack and ced my wakizashi at my left hip. I looked at the rack where my katana and tanto is ced and I took the tanto from it. I waited for her outside the door and she came out dressed with the M9 I gave her on her hip. <hr>


    ¡°Catch.¡± I said.


    I threw the tanto at her softly. She catches it by the handle then she looked at it.


    ¡°What¡¯s this? Isn¡¯t this your tanto?¡± she said.


    I smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s yours now. I want you to have it, you¡¯re really good with a gun but I think you¡¯ll be safer if you have this.¡± I replied.


    She nodded and then I helped her fasten it in her belt.


    ¡°Oh right! Good news!¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± her eyebrows raised.


    ¡°The cake is fine, itnded on the floor safely, the slice you half-eaten isn¡¯t. I stepped on it after the shower so I had to go back. Don¡¯t waste food yeah?¡± I said with a smile. <hr>


    Sheughed again while she punches me in the arm. She inspected the de at my hip.


    ¡°Aya talked to me earlier and she said that you also have a katana, why aren¡¯t you wearing the katana too? Is there a reason?¡± she said.


    ¡°Did you know that even if the katana is the most well-known de in the Japanese culture, there are actually more wakizashis being used than katanas?¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh really? Why though?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Only real samurais can wear them in the olden times, most people like merchants, civilians and the like can only wield wakizashis. That¡¯s why there are more of them avable.¡± I said.


    ¡°But why are you not wearing your katana? It¡¯s yours, right? Is this some mental thing where you still think yourself unworthy or something?¡± she said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a mental thing, but a different reason. I could wield them both, but I would like it if I could have either two wakizashis or two katanas in each hand, the asymmetry is making my head itch¡­¡± I exined.


    She facepalmed as she chuckled. ¡°But why did you choose that over the katana?¡± she said. <hr>


    ¡°Logically, the katana is more deadly because it is heavier and has longer reach than the wakizashi, but I prefer speed and maneuverability over reach and power.¡± I exined.


    She nodded with a pensive expression and she asked me the time.


    ¡°It¡¯s 5:47 PM, Let¡¯s head down yeah?¡± I said as we went down the stairs. I saw the te with the fork and knife on the sink and Zeus is sleeping on a corner. His head perks up as he saw me walk down but he yawned and continued sleeping after he tucks his tail in front of his nose.


    The group saw us and my aunt asked me to eat since I still haven¡¯t eaten lunch. I declined the offer and said that I¡¯ll just eat more on dinner. She nodded as she prepares the food and they included the extra people that I came with earlier. The group I came with earlier is at the poolside chatting with the others and they seem to get along well, though Charlotte is still struggling on switching between her personas.


    I then found out that Charlotte has a green thumb. Chris told me about her garden back at home and I immediately showed her the greenhouse. Her eyes lit up and she disappeared inside, Chris apanied her as always and I left the two there. Susan is helping with my aunt cooking while James is ying with Aya and the rest of the kids inside. Jenny was with An, whose head is now shaved from the bet earlier, he¡¯s ying with her gun and inspecting it throughout. I walked up to them and I called Ken to show them how to clean and maintain their weapons after each use.


    ¡°Sky, why do we always need to clean and inspect them?¡± Ken asked.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯d rather spend time checking it every day than not checking it and it suddenly misfiring. Worst case is if it breaks after a shot and it either blow up your hand with it or a few shards flying straight in your eye.¡± I exined with a grim look.


    ¡°Oh, ahaha¡­let me check it again for good measure.¡± Ken said as he looks at his gun again.


    We spent the time idling about, minding our own business until it¡¯s finally time for dinner.

 Chapter 33

    Chapter 33: 33


    My aunt cooked Chicken Lomi for tonight. It¡¯s made with thick egg pasta with chicken and vegetables on a very thick and rich soup. She even boiled an egg for each of us to apany it with. Slurping sounds are heard and a few exims from a burn is what you would hear in the poolside area. Kaley is sitting next to me while I saw Rin and Olivia hawking at us from afar. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You seeing the two?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯ve been stealing looks at us for several minutes now. Want me to talk to them?¡± I said.


    ¡°No! What would you even say? Call me big brother now?¡± Kaley remarked.


    ¡°Pfft! What the heck! Where did thate from? I think I¡¯ve been influencing you too much with my sense of humor.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? It¡¯s not that dark, it¡¯s just a bit edgy, I swear that if you do that again, I¡¯ll also stab you with this knife that you gave me.¡± She said.


    ¡°Hah! I¡¯ll stab you with ¡®something else¡¯¡­¡± I whisper.


    Her eyes rounded and she elbowed me. The egg in my bowl flew off to the side but I managed to catch it gently with my left hand. I ced it back in the bowl and I licked the soup from my hand.


    ¡°Awesome!¡± Russel eximed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Damn.¡± Zardon said.


    A few people saw what happened and their eyes lit up.


    ¡°That¡¯s a soft-boiled egg, right?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Not sure¡­¡± I said.


    She grabbed her spoon and she cut the egg with it. The golden yolk began to flow in the soup as Kaley scooped half of the egg and she ced it in her mouth.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± She said with a smirk.


    I was about to steal her egg too but I heard a st a few chairs next to me.


    ¡°How did you do it? It¡¯s impossible! At that height too!¡± Russel said as he ces his bowl under his hand where the yolk slowly drips. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! You? You could sharpen a pencil with those hands.¡± His father said.


    Everyoneughed and we continued eating happily.


    A few minutes after eating dinner, we cleared the tables and we gathered for the meeting. Oscar stood up first as he ryed what happened yesterday after I left and their scouting and scavenging run today.


    ¡°Okay, listen kids. We now finished the catwalks and the fences today, though we might need to do another set of fences on the other side. Our exploration group also managed to reach the three walled houses just before the huge fishing area. We also located two more houses with survivors still in there but they decided to stay in their own houses. However, they said that they are willing to cooperate with us and they would like to see you tomorrow kid. I gave each of them a radio to open themunications between our houses.¡± He said as he leans on a chair.


    ¡°It got a bit exciting in the afternoon when we opened the ce with a lot of zombies, we managed to dispose all of them with zero casualties though we used a few of our ammo for it. Better let them practice with it thanter, I say it¡¯s a good investment. To be honest, I¡¯m surprised at Kaley¡¯s uracy, you¡¯ve used guns before?¡± he said.


    ¡°Yes, I used to hunt with my dad before.¡± she replied.


    ¡°I managed to kill half of them while the others managed to kill the rest with their melee weapons. It¡¯s a tight space so the other kids with guns didn¡¯t manage to shoot as freely as they could. Kaley was in a higher spot so she picked a few from a distance.¡± he said after drinking a ss of water.


    ¡°We hauled a lot of supplies from the houses and we have a pool table there avable to be ced here along with a fewputers. We¡¯re gonna go back to that alley again since there are no gates to be locked and it¡¯s an open space unlike the gated ces that Sky scouted before. And that¡¯s it! Why don¡¯t we let Sky takeover and he shows us his 79 kills, if he really did? Hmm?¡± He said as he looked at me with a grin. <hr>


    ¡°Thispetitive old man¡­¡± I said to myself.


    I then went to the front with the helmet I brought and I took the memory card inside of it. The helmet has a concealed camera built inside it so it would still look aesthetically pleasing. I inserted it in theptop and I showed them what happened.


    There were a few reactions from the group as I began to speed past the DDR camp. The video shows the way I went and the mob before I went to the other back road.


    I see Oscar counting the zombies I killed with his mouth. The other guys are doing that as well.


    By the time I was running towards the fast food shop at the corner, Oscar puts his hands up because it already exceeded his kill count.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k?!¡± Russel and Lois eximed when they saw the view at the park. Tons of zombies are roaming there and it could easily exceed a few hundred.


    They saw everything up until the door at the back was opened.


    ¡°That¡¯s when I found An and the rest of the group. They were stranded there and couldn¡¯t get out. I then nned our escape and the video continues on the roof when you managed to call me.¡± <hr>


    It yed and ¡®that¡¯ scene loaded up, it was when I pretended to be a zombie. A few of the guys wereughing now while I saw Kaley smiling but she has this terrifying aura as she looks at me while radiating a mild killing intent.


    I fast forwarded it when I saw the figure sprinting. They were surprised and some were curious as they squinted their eyes to see clearer.


    ¡°Remember the broadcast? I think we have sprinters here. The shot was dark since it¡¯s still a few hours after midnight and I luckily caught the shot of that zombie running straight. Oscar, make a call to the president¡¯s numberter because we have two types here. They could definitely use the information about this and I think this is much more dangerous than the regr ones if you face them abruptly.¡± I said.


    The video then continued on us leaving through the backdoor and letting them go first as I sprinted to my bike.


    It shows the video of the graffiti and the other entrance to the DDR camps next to us which was the hospital in the highway. It even recorded my conversation with the soldier. Derek grew furious as he learned what his brother did. His wife tried to calm him down but he left the meeting to get some air.


    It then showed the final moments when we reached the fence and the video ended. I turned theptop off and I took my seat.


    ¡°That was crazy man!¡± Ken remarked.

 Chapter 34

    Chapter 34: 34


    ¡°It¡¯s like a movie, definitely take me sometime! I can be a sidekick.¡± Russel said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What are you gonna do? Rub them with your rough hands till they die?¡± his father said.


    ¡°I give up kid, holy shit that was intense. Good job on saving some of the bullets.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Thanks, you still need to give me those two SPAS-12s, I heard you took them. C¡¯mon man, I found those.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?! You hate shotguns, right? You even gave Ken the Sawed-off Double-barreled Remington!¡± he eximed.


    The group isughing at the banter between Oscar and me but I continued.


    ¡°I dislike using them but I found them technically, it was in the armored van that I took. I¡¯ll only ept a trade if you want to keep them. I¡¯ll take the M134 and an AK-47.¡± I teased.


    ¡°Kid?! I only have one M134! That¡¯s my pride and joy! You¡¯re pulling my leg! And an AK on top of that?!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°I¡¯m just joking, breathe old man, how about an HK416, just one, but you¡¯ll add aser sight, a suppressor and a scope. Also 2 drum mags.¡± I negotiated.


    ¡°This kid?! Wait, just one? Hmm¡­¡± Oscar said while he contemtes.


    ¡°How many guns does this two have?¡± An said.


    ¡°I think Rin knows the exact number, right?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you guys but it¡¯s definitely a LOT.¡± She replied.


    ¡°Argh! I¡¯d really like to have one!¡± An eximed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hah! From those two? Aside from them giving it to you willingly, getting it from other means is like taking a coin from a dragon.¡± Jared added.


    ¡°Fine kid! I¡¯ll give you an HK416 with all the attachments and the drum mags.¡± Oscar had a sly grin.


    ¡°Filled with 5.56 ammo, yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°No! You said mags only! You never said anything about ammo!¡± Oscar rages again.


    ¡°Oscar is getting yed around.¡± Lois said.


    The other a.d.u.l.ts left the scene and the younger people just stayed watching us.


    ¡°Sky really got good at talking when he started to take over the business.¡± Nicole said.


    ¡°Yeah, he used to just hole up in his room ying games and what not.¡± Jared added.


    ¡°And now he¡¯s leading us all, a good job too. He¡¯s very different from when I first met him.¡± Kaley said.


    Everyone nodded while we continued on not minding them.


    ¡°Wait, wait, wait, we¡¯re talking about the 5.56s where did we get to the 7.62s?!¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Reparations. You used the ammo for the SPAS-12 when you went out earlier.¡± I said.


    ¡°Bah! Fine! Fine! An HK416 with the attachments, 2 drum mags filled with 5.56 ammo and 30 rounds of 7.62 ammo. Deal?¡± Oscar said. <hr>


    ¡°Deal. Shake on it?¡± I said.


    ¡°Deal and done! I finally won this time! Hah! You just got ripped off! No taking it back now!¡± Oscar said with a pose.


    I just smiled and said to myself, ¡°I would¡¯ve settled for the HK416 with just a scope and 60 rounds, hah! Man, I¡¯m an honest guy but when ites to guns, I go crazy¡­¡±


    We went to his locker and I picked the HK416 up, checked everything and ced the attachments. Oscar even got petty and he made me load all 200 rounds that he threw on the ground in the drum mags but I happily obliged. I pocketed the 30 rounds of 7.62s that he gave me in a magazine and I went outside to where An was.


    ¡°Here, your gonna do watch duty tonight right? Avoid dozing off yeah?¡± I handed him the gun and he raised it up like a lost relic being found for the first time.


    ¡°Sky thank you for giving me this gun, I-¡± he was about to im the gun I lent him so I cut him off.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a loan, that¡¯s still mine. But tonight, you can have it temporarily.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure! It¡¯s heavy though¡­¡± he said.


    ¡°It has a hundred rounds on it. I¡¯ll grab a normal magazer. Make sure it stays on semi-auto, that¡¯s the switch right there.¡± I said as I instructed him on how to use it.


    He starts to run to the catwalk and show the other guys lounging there.


    The list for the watch duty is now posted on the wall. The rules now are that the list will now rotate between the people that are able and each shift will be three hours long with three people up. It would start at 9:00 PM and end at 6:00 AM. A total of 9 people a night, Ken is watching everything in the morning through the CCTVs and he asionally flies his drone around while a few rotates at the catwalk randomly.


    I saw that I wasn¡¯t on the list so I went to the gym. What surprised me is that a few people also wanted to use the facilities. All the guys were doing arms and their reason was they got jealous of Ken¡¯s arms. Ken was also up there heckling everybody.


    ¡°Amateurs! I was pushing myself since I was young, you¡¯re not gonna get results in a day!¡± Ken started shouting. <hr>


    I looked at everybody and they were doing all sorts of things and I facepalmed. Some were lifting the equipment for legs with their arms while a few is lifting with their shoulders instead of their biceps. A truly lost one was furiously rotating the elliptical with his hands hoping his arms growsrger.


    ¡°You guys will have pulled muscles tomorrow if you continue on doing that.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well tell us a few tips then!¡± somebody shouted.


    I grabbed two dumb bells that arebeled ¡¯40¡¯ and I demonstrated a few exercises.


    ¡°Curl it up moderately but try to release it down very slowly so you feel the tension then raise it up again. Only lift it up when your arms are about to straighten. Try doing 3 sets of 15 repetitions and it would hit your biceps. Avoid lifting it with your shoulders if you can¡¯t carry the weight. Use the small ones first and slowly rise to the heavier ones if you could easily lift the lighter ones. For the other variations¡­¡± I continued on giving them a small lecture.


    I then went on my own and did my usual routine. I stayed there for 2 hours again, only a few of the guys were left after I¡¯m done. They were mostly the guys that worked at my shops. I had a hot shower after cooling down and then I headed to my room. I was exhausted from today and I needed my sleep. I was about toy down but I heard a knock on my door.


    ¡°Hey, still awake?¡± I heard a voice.


    ¡°Yeah,e on in.¡± I said.


    It was the girls, Kaley, Olivia and Rin.


    ¡°Hey Sky, can we borrow yourptop to copy some movies? Oh! You have a huge TV here; can we watch it here instead?¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°What do you want to watch? I stored a few drives worth here.¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you rmend then?¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°What kind of movies do you like?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Hmmm, everything, pretty much.¡± She said.


    ¡°That¡¯s not much to go on, Kaley? Rin?¡± I replied as Iughed.


    They took a while thinking of one so I decided to pick one at random. I plugged an external drive to the TV and then I pressed shuffle.


    ¡°Oh! Sky picked something, what is it?¡± Rin said.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, I pressed shuffle because you guys are taking so long. It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯vest watched a movie too.¡± I said.


    It yed an autobiography of a lead singer of a band, F.Mercury the movie title was B.Rhapsody.


    I remembered a tune from one of their songs and I sang it instinctively.


    ¡°Wow.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°You can even sing?!¡± Olivia eximed as she ps her hands.


    Kaley also looked at me while her eyes are wide open, smiling.


    ¡°Well, I dabbled on everything you know, I even took voice lessons when I was a kid though I¡¯m still a beginner. If you let me continue, you¡¯ll be assaulted by ts that would make you cringe.¡± I exined as Iughed.


    The movie¡¯s opening credits finished then it started, all three of them are sitting on the side of my bed while I wasying on the other side of it facing their backs. The sounds eventually lulled me to sleep so I just woke up in the middle of the night where Kaley is sleeping next to me while Olivia is slumped on our feet and Rin is at my chair. I got up and checked the clock, it was 2:16 AM. I then carried Olivia to where I wasying earlier and after that, I covered all of them with nkets and I went downstairs.

 Chapter 35

    Chapter 35: 35


    Day 4 <center></center><hr>


    I saw four people at the corner of the catwalk talking with each other as I approach them. An is still holding the gun I gave him and he seems to want to stay up all night. He¡¯s with Zardon, Derek and Jo, they each have a cup of coffee in their hands to warm themselves. A mosquito coil is beside them to ward off a few mosquitoes flying around. They waved at me when they saw me and I gave a small salute.


    ¡°Mornin¡¯ Boss, can¡¯t sleep?¡± Jo said.


    ¡°Yeah staying up all night yesterday messed with the pattern, How¡¯s the watch going?¡± I said.


    ¡°A few were at the gate earlier and An tried to shoot them from here, after he missed three times, we decided to go out to kill them up close. I grabbed a crowbar from your workshop and I slid it in the holes.¡± Derek said.


    ¡°Ahaha¡­ new gun, new gun. Still getting used to the sights.¡± An defended himself.


    ¡°Really? With theser sight? Hahaha!¡± my uncle can¡¯t control hisughter.


    I looked at the bodies in the street then I immediately turned my head at a certain direction. I feel the hairs on the back of my head raise as I stare at the darkness. I grabbed my gun from An and looked at its scope, I even turned the illuminator on and I still found nothing.


    ¡°What was that?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Sky?¡± An inquired as all of them looked at me.


    ¡°I felt something looking at me.¡± I said.


    ¡°What? You sure kid?¡± my uncle said.


    The four guys had a look of worry in their faces. <center></center><hr>


    I nodded as I touch the hairs on the back of my neck. I looked at our houses and all the lights are turned off. We made an agreement beforehand to only use smallmps covered by a cloth or shlights pointed on the ground when it starts to get dark, we wouldn¡¯t want random peopleing at night.


    ¡°It might be nothing.¡± An said.


    ¡°Maybe.¡± I answered.


    ¡°But I definitely felt something.¡± I said to myself.


    I stayed with them all morning and I even switched the drum magazine for a normal one when I made a quick trip to the house. When It reached 3:00 AM, the people guarding switched but not all at once. The system is that the next in the list to take watch needs to set an rm 10 minutes before his turn. The one that has finished their watch are to wait up to 5 minutes before one persones to the next person¡¯s room to look for the relief, but the other two needs to stay put until the next one came out. So far, no one has disobeyed the rules and everything is going smoothly.


    The outlier today is An since he stayed up all night because he keeps on wanting to hold a gun. I finally convinced him to take a rest as I was there now and he reluctantly parted with my gun. Like clockwork, the next three came out. It was Jenny, Chris and Arnel. My uncle and the others switched ces and they waved me goodbye. They are stretching their backs as they went to their rooms. The three with me now are still yawning aside from Jenny.


    I handed Jenny the M70 since she knows to use some guns since she had training before she became a guard but I still instructed her how to operate it. She left her shotgun in Oscar¡¯s care since a shotgun is an improper choice because of the noise that it makes. The other two are also listening to us so I included them in the small lecture. They each took their turns and I let them fiddle with it as I continued to look in the direction where I felt a presence.


    ¡°Hey sir, I¡¯d like to properly thank you for taking us. Honestly speaking, I really thought that you would leave us at the supermarket when I learned that you only came for An. Turns out that you are a really good guy.¡± Chris said to me.


    ¡°Please, stop calling me sir, it weirds me out. You¡¯re like Rin when we first met. Either call me Sky or Boss, like the other guys do. Also, you¡¯re wee. First time waking this early?¡± I said.


    He gave a smile and he said, ¡°Okay Sky, it feels weird on my side though. It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve woken up this early, I used to jog every morning before going to school.¡± Chris said.


    ¡°Really? Just for cardio or something else?¡± I said.


    ¡°I used to do boxing as a hobby, I did it for a year but I stopped when Charlotte got worried. She once saw me go home with a broken nose; she took care of me that time but she pleaded that I stop doing it.¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°You could¡¯ve continued jogging though, people need the strength of their bodies now more than ever.¡± I said.


    ¡°Right, that¡¯s true, but what¡¯s your story sir? I mean Sky?¡± he said.


    ¡°What do you want to know? I have a lot to tell.¡± I said.


    ¡°How did you get that scar on your eyebrow?¡± he asks.


    I touched that eyebrow instinctively and I said, ¡°How about this, let¡¯s have a light spar and if yound me a clean hit, I¡¯ll tell you? I¡¯ll just dodge and parry.¡±


    ¡°Here we go¡­¡± Arnel said as he smiles while Jenny gave a confused look at that remark.


    ¡°Really? Do you have gloves?¡± he asks.


    ¡°I have it upstairs, but we don¡¯t need it.¡± I said.


    ¡°But what if I hit you?¡± he said.


    ¡°You won¡¯t.¡± I said with a grin.


    He gave me a frown but he gritted his teeth and he said, ¡°Fine.¡±


    He threw me a quick jab but I parried it with my right hand. <hr>


    Then I said, ¡°Let¡¯s go down first yeah?¡±


    He rubs his left knuckle then we went down the catwalk. I handed Jenny my phone and she sets a timer for 3 minutes. When she gave us the signal, I readied my hands and Chris lunged towards me. He threw me a couple of punches but I still feel him holding back a bit. I just dodged and weaved but I would asionally parry with my hands. I examined his form and though he needs to work on his footwork and his breathing, everything seems to be fine.


    At thest second, as I was about to parry his right hook, he turned it to a straight, mid-swing. I was almost caught off-guard since I was eyeing his cor.


    ¡°This kid¡­¡± I said to myself. I just dodged and I flicked my wrist while the phone beeped. I saw him close his eyes at thest second so I tapped him on his shoulder.


    ¡°Good job kid, keep your eyes open though. Did you get hit hard before? Closing your eyes in a fight is a no no.¡± I said.


    ¡°Are you a professional boxer?¡± Chris said as he catches his breath. Nothing is more tiring in boxing if your full punches only hit the air.


    ¡°Hah! No, that would be cool though.¡± I said as I hand him something.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± he looked at his hand and he froze. He gave me a bitter smile and he sat down.


    ¡°I¡¯ll hit you next time.¡± he said as he pockets the thing that I gave him.


    ¡°I¡¯ll wait for it; you can certainly try.¡± I said as I walked up to the catwalk.


    Jenny gave another confused look. She grew curious and she asks, ¡°What did he give you Chris?¡±


    Chris then reached for his pocket and ces it on her palm. She saw it and she immediately shook her head. <hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible.¡± she said.


    ¡°Then what¡¯s that then?¡± Chris replied.


    ¡°It was hanging out, I swiped it so he could fix itter.¡± I said.


    ¡°But how?! This is a button, right?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Well, you need to spend a lot of time practicing that trick. You need to judge the distance urately and move your hand precisely. It¡¯s a lucky hit and it being loose helped a lot.¡± I said.


    ¡°But why would you spend a lot of time doing that?¡± Jenny asks.


    ¡°It¡¯s fun and you know, because I can.¡± I said as Iugh.


    We all chatted while the others started to wake up one by one. They handed me the guns and I ced them neatly on my locker. I saw Kaley and Olivia still sleeping in my bed so I just let them. Rin must be in her room though; I just saw the nket that I covered her with neatly folded on the chair. I saw Zeusing up to my bed then lying next to Olivia.


    ¡°This two have been pretty close, good thing someone could take care of Zeus while I¡¯m busy.¡± I said to myself.


    Zeus began licking Olivia¡¯s face and she eventually wakes up. Her eyes opened up but she disregarded the kisses and she hugged Zeus while sheid on her side. She saw me looking at her and Zeus so she greeted me.


    ¡°Oh! Hi Sky, good morning! The movie was great yesterday, we were all crying at the end. Hope we do that againter even though you slept earlier.¡± she said. She yawned and she continued to snuggle with Zeus.


    I headed down and I can already smell the food that is being cooked. I hear them frying something and I went inside my aunt¡¯s house.

 Chapter 36

    Chapter 36: 36


    ¡°Morning.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    The rest of them greeted me and I helped them prepare the food. We made Fried Boneless Bangus on top of Garlic Rice and an Eggnt Omelet. The first dish is Milk Fish deboned, seasoned and finally fried. The Eggnt Omelet is made by boiling eggnts then mushing them and finally mixing them with scrambled eggs to be fried with the stem still on.


    After that, I helped with carrying them on the poolside while they prepare coffee for everyone. I was about to head up to wake the three but I saw the three of them walking down. We greeted each other and we went to the other houses to wake those who are not in the pool area yet.


    Rin and Olivia went to the other side then me and Kaley went in the other. We first saw Ken sleeping soundly with Peanut on the couch then I woke him up while Kaley knocked on Kristine¡¯s room as well.


    We then headed to An¡¯s room but there were a lot of rustling going on and we heard a female voice inside.


    ¡°We¡¯ll head down, thanks.¡± the voice said.


    Kaley mouthed to me, ¡°Jenny?¡± I just nodded while we smiled walking to the next room.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    ¡°Chris? Charlotte? You guys there?¡± I said as I knocked. No one answered for a while then I tried for the knob. I opened the door and I saw the bed with pillows bisecting it in half. The door from An¡¯s room then opened and the two came out. They looked at us embarrassingly first but they linked arms.


    ¡°Well, this happened, ahaha¡­ We really like each other and we think that we¡¯ll continue to do so¡­¡± An said.


    Jenny was older than us probably in the mid 30s and An is kind of exining the situation. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hey man you don¡¯t need to exin everything, do what the heart wants, yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s so cheesy.¡± Kaley said to me.


    We all shared augh then they told us that the two are probably in the greenhouse. Me and Kaley went there and we found them harvesting tomatoes. Charlotte is eating one while Chris is carefully cing them in a basket. They saw use in and they both gave a small nod.


    ¡°Sky! Did you grow this all by yourself?¡± Charlotte asked.


    ¡°Yeah? Why?¡± I said.


    She handed Kaley a tomato and Kaley then took a bite from it.


    *chomp*


    ¡°Hmm! It¡¯s good! Sweet too!¡± Kaley eximed as her eyes shot up.


    ¡°You¡¯re really good with your hands, this garden is well taken care of. I¡¯m happy that you let me take care of it. I promise to do a good job and meet the same standard such as this.¡± she said earnestly.


    ¡°Thanks, I still really find this switch of personality too abrupt, can¡¯t you act a bit more barbaric likest time?¡± I teased.


    ¡°Last time?¡± Kaley asked. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! You should¡¯ve seen her at the store, you wouldn¡¯t recognize her I¡¯m telling you. In the store¡­¡± I told Kaley the story when I met the two at the supermarket.


    She harrumphed while Chrisughed heartily. I saw the button on his shirt fixed now and then we all went to the back to eat breakfast. We brought the tomatoes in the table and we sliced a few of them so we could have fresh vegetables in our meals. We even made a dipping sauce with soy sauce and lime with chilies for the Bangus. We finished eating and I grabbed a cup of coffee after putting some sugar and creamer. I also made one for Kaley which she promptly epted.


    Oscar then sat next to me and said. ¡°What¡¯s the n now kid?¡±


    ¡°We finish reiming the area. The goal today is to at least reach the radio station. I¡¯d also like to drop by the two housed families first and you guys double check on the alleys that you went through yesterday. We might be able to finish this thing in 2-3 days.¡± I said.


    ¡°What do we do after that then?¡± Chris raised his hands.


    ¡°There¡¯s a whole lot more to do. I won¡¯t bog you guys down on the other ns for the future but some of them are that we need to have a group exploring outside and gathering more resources, start on teaching some of you to defend yourselves and how to survive, and establishing a partnership with the DDR camp next to us.¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna go outside? Isn¡¯t that dangerous?¡± Charlotte asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ll train a few of you personally, some woulde with me and some would stay here to guard this ce. I know it¡¯s dangerous but we need to gather more resources and more people.¡± I said.


    ¡°More people?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, Ideally, I want as much as possible but realistically speaking, I¡¯d like 150 people as a start.¡± I said. <hr>


    The group gave me looks of surprise and wonder.


    ¡°That many? Why though?¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Ever heard of Dunbar¡¯s number?¡± I asked them.


    They gave more looks of confusion but Kaley answered, ¡°If I recall correctly, it is the suggested cognitive limit to the number of people where a person can maintain a stable social rtionship with and those who the person has a rtionship with has the same stable social rtionship with each other.¡±


    ¡°What? That¡¯s too many rtionsh.i.p.s in a sentence. My head spins when you all start to talk like this¡­¡± Russel said.


    ¡°Hahaha, but what Kaley said is correct. However, it varies between 100-250 persons, I think 150 is a good number for an average. The catch is that we need to be very careful in choosing the people that we let in. If you remember the mob in the video, they¡¯re around 50 plus of them. It would be dangerous if we let people that have let their humanity go or have other intentions for us. We¡¯ve been pretty lucky that we have each other here. I think I could handle more than the said number but let¡¯s just stick to that for now.¡± I said.


    The group looked at each other and smiled.


    ¡°Are you trying to make me tear up kid?¡± Oscar said jokingly while the groupughed.


    I pped my hands and said, ¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough talk for now, let¡¯s get to work.¡±


    I brought the same group as before while Oscar formed his own with Arnel, Chris, Jo and Zardon. Arnel volunteered to test the waters even though he¡¯s still afraid of blood. We both we¡¯ll be heading to explore the area but I¡¯ll head to the families first to talk to them while Oscar will do another run through to the alleys. An and Jenny will be the additional guard in the catwalk during the day while the rest do their usual things.


    We set out and Jared saw Kaley¡¯s tanto on her hip. <hr>


    ¡°Hey bro, you gave Kaley the small knife and you¡¯re using the short one, can I use the samurai if you¡¯re not using it?¡± he asks.


    ¡°Tanto, the small knife is a tanto. The ¡®samurai¡¯ is a katana.''¡± a small voice from somewhere sounded.


    ¡°That¡¯s probably Aya.¡± I said to myself while Jared tried to look for where the voice came from.


    I looked at him and said, ¡°You¡¯re lucky I even gave you that trench knife, you can¡¯t even peel a potato without losing 50% of it. And it¡¯s called a tanto and a katana by the way, don¡¯t let your little sister hear you say that again. Lois was burned before and she¡¯ll keep on correcting you if you don¡¯t say it right.¡±


    Everyoneughed and Jared scratched his nose. Oscar and his group now walked in the alley and we proceeded forward to one of the families¡¯ home. I rang the doorbell and waited for someone toe out. It¡¯s a regr sized house, only a single-story and a family of eight is inside. After a short while, a kid peeked out but he went inside quickly. His dad came out and opened the gate for us.


    ¡°Can I help you?¡± The father said.


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Sky from a few gates back, I-¡± I said before he cuts me.


    ¡°What? Sorry, speak a bit louder, I¡¯m kinda low on the hearing side.¡± he said as he points to a hearing-aid on his ear.


    I immediately understood so I started to sign with my hands while I talk to introduce myself. However, all I could sign was my name and a few simple answers. He looked surprised and he gave me a smile, he introduced himself the same way I did. When he started to sign more, I told him that I only know a very few number of them. He nodded his head and he invited us inside so his wife could trante while we talk.


    ¡°I need to learn everything now. Communication is key as always.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 37

    Chapter 37: 37


    ¡°Sorry for the intrusion.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°No, it¡¯s no problem at all, your American friend, Oscar, came here yesterday. He asked us toe to yourpound but we said that we prefer to live here. Oh right, my name is Andrew Jr. That is my beautiful wife Isabelle and those are my kids: Jonathan, Esther, Madison and Billy. My parents are in their room sleeping but their names are Andrew Sr. and Estre. You said your name was Sky, right?¡± he said as he offers his hand.


    ¡°Yes, good to meet you all.¡± I shake his hand and I introduced my group.


    I made a quick nce at their ce and they seem to be well stocked. There¡¯s a lot of canned goods on their ss cab and they don¡¯t seem to be famished. They are a middle-aged couple where their eldest is probably close to my age and the youngest close to Olivia¡¯s age. They mentioned that Oscar gave his parents a small checkup yesterday and they seem to be doing fine. His eldest son Jonathan seemed to be interested in joining our scouting group but his mom is against it. Andrew is the only one who has a firearm and it¡¯s an FN Five Seven on his hip concealed by a vest.


    ¡°That is a nice piece. Its bullets fly faster than the 9mm and the .45 ACP.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Well sir Andrew, we were just continuing our scouting of the ce and I would like to share you a few pieces of information when I went outside. I¡­¡± I said as I tell him everything from yesterday. They seem apprehensive but I feel his daughter looking at me quite closely. Kaley saw it and she immediately sat closer to me to mark her territory.


    We talked for a while and we decided to let Jonathane with us for skill training, though they would just observe for now. Although their mother is against it, she relented after a bout of talking it out with her husband. She then decided toe to thepound now and she wishes to talk to the mothers there to ask to teach their kids school lessons. We found out that she was a school teacher so I agreed immediately. The world may have gone to shit but we still need our young ones to be properly educated.


    We then said our goodbyes and Jonathan came with us while Esther and her mother Isabelle went to thepound while being apanied by Andrew.


    ¡°Know how to use firearms?¡± I asked Jonathan that¡¯s carrying a metal bat. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Umm, sorry no, but I would like to learn how to.¡± he said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good, stay at the back for now yeah?¡± I said as he nodded.


    A few moments, we finally reached the second ce. It has two houses in it where it was enveloped by a wall and a medium-sized gate. The houses are both two-stories and they are very symmetrical to each other. The ce is housing four people, the house in the right is where an older couple lives at and the house on the left is where their daughter is living with his husband though they still have no children.


    I knocked on the gate and no one answered. I tried the radio that Oscar gave them and still nothing. Two cars are still on their driveway and I checked the clock, It¡¯s 9:22 AM. The door on the left house is open but after calling them a few times, no one seems to answer.


    ¡°They couldn¡¯t still be sleeping at this time.¡± Kaley said with a worried face.


    ¡°Something¡¯s off, get ready. Mark, give me a boost yeah?¡± I said.


    He backed against the gate and he formed a foothold with his hands. I ran towards him then he pushed my foot upwards so I could vault over the gate. I managed to reach the top of it and I slowly readied myself for thending. Like a cat, I made the smallest noise as possible then I opened the gate for them.


    We then checked the perimeter first and we headed to the left house. It seems like no one has left and everything still seems to be here.


    ¡°Hello? Mrs. Luna? Are you here?¡± I called out. Still nothing. <hr>


    We went upstairs and carefully opened each door, even the restrooms, still nothing. We finally headed down and we decided to go to the next house. I drew my wakizashi just in case something pops up and I slowly opened the door.


    As soon as I opened the door, everyone gagged. We closed our mouths with our hands and I tried to stop myself from vomiting.


    The whole living room was bloody. Two corpses on the floor and another two on the couch. We decided to open the windows and let it air out first. After a while, I walked inside and saw the scene. The older couple, Mr. and Mrs. Luna are on the ground while their daughter and her husband are in the couch.


    I examined the body on the floor first. Mrs. Luna was near the door, bite marks all over her and a few bullet holes while Mr. Luna has none, but his mouth area is covered in blood and his neck is twisted in an awkward angle and has a head injury. I checked the couple on the couch they are both hugging each other while their heads are pretty close and it has a bullet hole that connected the both of them. I checked their hands and the guy has a pistol, a P226 with a suppressor on his right hand.


    ¡°Suicide?¡± I said to myself.


    I looked at the girl and I saw that a part of her shoulder is missing but she didn¡¯t have the lines from it protruding out yet. I nodded a few times and made a scene in my head on how this may have happened. I radioed Oscar and they came in a few minutester. When Oscar saw the scene, anger was in his face and he kicked the nearest furniture around him.


    ¡°Dammit!¡± Oscar shouted.


    ¡°Mr. Luna must¡¯ve turned, natural death perhaps?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°But his neck was broken, did he fall from the stairs? What¡¯s with his head though?¡± Oscar asked as he also examined the scene.


    ¡°Maybe, but the head injury is different from where the angle of neck resulted in.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re right kid. Looking at it, the guy there must¡¯ve bashed the head of Mr. Luna here, there¡¯s a stter here on the side. He probably turned at night and he made a feast of his wife. Then their daughter came and was bitten here?¡± he said.


    We pointed to different locations where we think something might have urred to piece the puzzle.


    ¡°Yeah, the husband must¡¯veete and when he opened the door, his mother-inw shows up at the door full of bites and he shot her multiple times. Then he saw Mr. Luna chewing his wife so he pushed him and he bashes his head on the wall here¡­¡± I said.


    Oscar nodded and he concluded, ¡°Probably saw his wife and they opted out. Damn shame, that guy there was a cop, his name is Gilbert. He should¡¯ve radioed us first, f.u.c.k!¡±


    ¡°They really were a nice couple¡­¡± Kaley said.


    We all gave a moment of silence and we carried them to the court to be burned. Everyone had solemn expressions while we¡¯re watching them reduce to cinders. I looked at Oscar and I saw him the most affected of all of them.


    I approached him and said, ¡°Are you alright old man?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, all the deaths I¡¯ve seen in the war and these things that I¡¯ve killed made me think that I would¡¯ve gotten used to seeing it, but seeing people that you have known even for a little while still makes you remember that you¡¯re still human and you can still feel emotions.¡± He said.


    ¡°You a poet now old man?¡± I teased.


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g¡­ I was opening up there, you ruined the moment!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Just cheering you up old man. Let¡¯s continue the n yeah?¡± I said.


    We continued walking and then we reached where they left off yesterday.


    To the right side are the single houses that each have their ownrge gates, there are two of them and there¡¯s a smaller one after those two. To the left is therger fishing area, there are four in all here and the first one is the one in the gravel road that we have passed before. It used to be five but the fifth one got mismanaged by the owner and now it¡¯s just a dark muck of liquid. Good thing is that it¡¯s on the right side after the second court so their water doesn¡¯t reach the other three on the left.


    These fishing areas are small bodies of water that has a surrounding it. People here would breed fish for the market like Mud Fish, Milk Fish and etc. You can ess the fishing areas by walking to one of the bridges towards the small house that is above wooden poles and there are small rowboats there in which you could ride to fish in the middle or just to feed most of them.


    As we were about to enter one of the houses the radio buzzed.

 Chapter 38

    Chapter 38: 38


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sky, do you copy? This is Ken man.¡±


    *bzzt*


    I picked it up and I answered.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Copy, yeah?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°This radio is loud with this buzzing noise, oh right, I was just flying the drone overhead and never tried to fly it low. But I did earlier, see the drone near the second court? Careful around there, there is about three dozen inside it. The gate inside seems to open a bit and that is where they slowlye from.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°That¡¯s good looking out, thanks.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What¡¯s the n kid? Want to check the court first?¡± Oscar said.


    I nodded then I said, ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go there first. It¡¯s a few more houses down the road but the gates around are secure so we head to the one where it isn¡¯t.¡±


    The only ces that we¡¯ll pass before the court is the three gated houses and an apartment building. We headed to the court first and the difference with this court from the first one is that it is roofed and there is a 5-feet wall around it where a screen is welded on top of it. It¡¯s two gates are at the front and back and the front part is where the loose chains are located.


    We were walking towards it now and a huge gust of wind blew past us, with it, a smell of rot and decay assaulted our nostrils. Imanded everyone to draw arms and I walked forward to peek through the gap in the wall. It¡¯s as Ken said, about three dozen zombies but they are just wandering around. A few are near the gate though you could only fit there if you go sideways.


    ¡°It¡¯s as Ken said. About three dozen of them. Kill everything that¡¯s already dead, Let¡¯s try to draw them out of these gaps in the wall first. Let¡¯s try to pick some of them with melee weapons so we could save on ammo. Though they move slower after they have turned for a few days, going melee with a group of them can get dicey. Those with weapons that could reach through the walle with me and to those who only have firearms, go with Oscar and ready yourselves if some get through that gap.¡± I said to them. <center></center><hr>


    We drew our ded weapons and we started on nging the screen on top to make some noise. We were three feet apart from each other so the zombies that woulde will spread for a bit. The rest without melee weapons stood guard near the gate.


    *ng* *ng* *ng* *ng*


    They seem to have noticed the sound, a few heads turned towards us and we held our position. We started on thinning them out one-by-one and a few of their hands are starting to stick out of the gap.


    ¡°Don¡¯t try to reach their head if their hands are out! One scratch and I¡¯ll chop your arm personally, I¡¯m not even sure if it works in this case.¡± I said.


    ¡°This case?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Oh, in The Pacing Unliving and other shows, they would chop the body part off to offset the spread. It¡¯s the show though, this is real life. We¡¯re not sure on how fast it spreads. But if any of you want to learn if it works, go ahead and get scratched, I¡¯ll make a clean cut.¡± I said jokingly.


    The rest gave wary gazes but it made them more careful in dealing with them.


    ¡°Too dark kid.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°It¡¯s for the best though, what we need to remember is that these things are still dangerous. Though they walk really slow, just one mishap and you¡¯re off the list. If you still see this as a game, don¡¯t.¡± I said sternly.


    Some of the figures are now piling up in the walls and some are getting footholds and there are now starting to climb the screen upwards by using the others as a stepping stone.


    ¡°Fall back! Wait for them to drop on the ground first, give some distance and wait for my signal. Those with guns, ready them. Oscar, how¡¯s it looking at the side!¡± Imanded.


    ¡°Clear here kid! Most of them responded to the nging! Jonathan is here with me!¡± he replied.


    I then held my de with my right hand and my pistol with my left. The first one fell and Mark quickly swung down his hammer on its head as he rushed past me.


    *stter*


    ¡°Finally! I can¡¯t reach them with this thing.¡± he said.


    He made a triumphant pose but he ignored the eight that are now climbing at the same time. I looked at the screen wobble and I see the side starting to bend.


    *twist* *bend* *SNAP*


    The screen snapped on one side and it began to fall down, the eight holding on to it added to the speed in which it fell. I immediately pulled Mark by his clothes and he dropped his sledgehammer on the ground. The screen would have fallen on him If I didn¡¯t react in time. <hr>


    ¡°F.u.c.k! That was close!¡± he shouted.


    I frowned and I shouted, ¡°I told you to wait, didn¡¯t I?! Go to the back!¡±


    The eight are now slowly getting up and a few are slowly climbing their way past the wall. Among the team, only I, Dong, Chris, and Jo are carrying melee weapons with proper reach because the sledgehammer is under the screen. There are still less than two dozen zombies to go so we opened fire.


    Bodies started to fall down and the noise from the gunshots rang out. When less than five remained, I then made them stop firing and switch to use the melee weapons. After quickly dispatching the remaining zombies, I turned to Mark and said, ¡°You good? Don¡¯t do that again yeah? I won¡¯t pull you next time you disregard orders.¡±


    He looked at me and he said, ¡°My bad, sorry. I just can¡¯t stand doing nothing.¡±


    ¡°Pick up that hammer first and switch to a machete or something when we get back. I know you mean well, but don¡¯t get the excitement on your head yeah?¡± I said.


    He just looks at the ground and he said, ¡°I understand, I¡¯ll stay all night for watch dutyter to make up for it.¡±


    ¡°Giving yourself punishment now, are we? You a masochist or something?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± he asks.


    ¡°Someone who gets off being punished or something simr.¡± I said tly.


    Everyone¡¯s eyes go wide and my workers all nodded.


    ¡°What? I¡¯m not one! Why are you all agreeing?!¡± he shouted embarrassingly.


    ¡°Well, you know. I see you with Alice a lot and it seems to be the case.¡± Dong said.


    ¡°What?! It¡¯s! AHHH!!!¡± he shouted.


    The two went back and forth and we allughed hysterically. I just tapped him in the back and we headed next to the apartment building. The apartment building is a two-story building shaped liked the letter ¡®U¡¯. It has a gate made with thin metal bars and there is a total of seven rooms each story. Everyone seems to have left this ce in a hurry when the broadcast aired but we still checked each room thoroughly. My group searched the 2nd floor while Oscar¡¯s group is in the other.


    *BOOM*


    A shotgun round rang out and we immediately tensed when we heard the shot from below. <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Old man, you doing okay there?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, just shot an olddy who hung herself.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You¡¯re really noisy you know that?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Useless to put a suppressor on a shotgun don¡¯t it?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Shotgun addict.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Pistol addict.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Ooh! Look at me! I can¡¯t aim well so I always use birdshot!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I¡¯M USING MAGNUM ROUNDS YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh? You ran out of birdshot then?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°AHHHHHHH!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Umm guys, this is Ken. What happened to keeping the line open for emergencies?¡±


    *bzzt*


    Me and Oscar fell silent while our group struggled to keep theirughter in. We eventually finished checking everything and then we marked the houses appropriately. We locked the gate and we went to thest three houses.


    ¡°Kid, how about we let them handle these houses. Nothing beats experience and we let Jonathan here for a test run too?¡±

 Chapter 39

    Chapter 39: 39


    I nodded my head and I gave Dong and Mark my two pistols in which their eyes lit up in excitement. Oscar let Jonathan borrow his shotgun and he instructed him in how to use it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Shotgun already? You want him to blow his shoulder off with the Magnum rounds?¡± I said.


    Jonathan flinched at the remark.


    ¡°W-wait, is it dangerous to use a shotgun first?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Well, a pistol or a revolver would be better for a first gun.¡± I exined.


    Oscar red at me and he reced it with a 500 Magnum.


    ¡°Here kid, just hold it steady. Point and shoot.¡± he said innocently


    I facepalmed again and he just raised his hands.


    ¡°What do mean by that kid? It¡¯s the only gun I have left besides the shotgun.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Just give him the shotgun, will you? That thing will break his hand.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well how bad is it?¡± Dong asked. <center></center><hr>


    Oscar and I gave a demonic smile and said at the same time, ¡°Hah! Try it then!¡±


    My uncle Zardon was shaking his head but he has a smirk hidden on his face. Oscar handed the huge-ass revolver to Dong and he loaded a bullet.


    ¡°Hold it with both hands yeah? Watch your thumb on that side, hold it tight and pull the trigger.¡± Oscar said.


    *BOOOOOOOMMM*


    The sound went around the whole area and we saw Dong shaking his hand while still holding the 500 Magnum. He handed it to Oscar as Jonathan was shaking his head saying that he¡¯ll stick with the shotgun instead.


    ¡°Holy f.u.c.k! I¡¯ll stick with the M9! My hand f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurts!¡± Dong eximed as he shakes his hands around.


    Weughed hysterically and we continued with the n.


    ¡°What do you say us two go to the smaller one and the rest split for the other two big houses?¡± I said.


    He nodded and then we go our ways. I picked the lock for our gate while the two other groups figure their own way to get inside.


    The house we entered is just a single-story house but it has a backyard and a small pool in it. After we checked the perimeter, we entered the house carefully. It¡¯s very dusty and it looks like this house has not been used for a few months. <hr>


    ¡°This a vacation house or something kid?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I think so, we¡¯ve been in this neighborhood a few years and we¡¯ve never met the person living here.¡± I said.


    While we¡¯re checking each room Oscar asked me, ¡°So kid, when are you gonna tell me Kaley¡¯s story?¡±


    I choked and I¡¯m surprised that he remembered that promise. I sighed and said, ¡°Okay, what do you want to know?¡±


    ¡°Everything of course! Tell me everything while we work. Quick!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°We met at 2nd year in highschool. It was when highschool was still 4 years in this country.¡± I said.


    ¡°Gonna give me more details than that! I don¡¯t care about how the school system works! I need details!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°Fine, when I was in highschool, I was this huge nerd and I was very introverted. My ssmates avoided me like the gue, and I don¡¯t look like this at all. I was a changed man when you met me, I worked on myself and lost a lot of weight. But back then, I aced all the subjects in my school and I was the subject of jealousy and I was always the one being make fun of by a small group of people.¡± I started.


    Oscar looks at me while he¡¯s listening to me.


    ¡°I really wanted to make my own circle of friends but I was really shy and I can¡¯t talk to anyone unless they talk to me first.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Well I know that too, but where did Kaleye in?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m building up on it. That¡¯s how a good story works you know?¡± I replied while Iugh.


    ¡°Bah! Get to it!¡± he said.


    ¡°There was a transfer to our ss but I never really cared who it was at that time. Then this beautiful girl walked in, to be honest I was really mesmerized but I never did anything with it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why? You could¡¯ve at least talked to her.¡± he said.


    ¡°Forgot the part that I was a fat shy dude?¡± I said.


    ¡°Fat? You¡¯re just husky at best! I saw your pictures when you were young you know? Wanna see fat? Go to where I¡¯m from! Hah!¡± Oscar eximed.


    Iughed but then I continued, ¡°I was just there, alone sitting on a corner and she sat next to me. She introduced herself and I did too. I thought that was the end of it but we had plenty of interactions. She tried beating me in some of the subjects and only thing she managed is to tie me. The whole ss was surprised when that happened. However, bullies from my ss started on beating me up telling me to let her win like that would make her happy.¡±


    ¡°I never knew you were bullied kid. What happened then?¡± he asked seriously.


    ¡°I never let up. I have some pride too you know? My bullies back then were smarter than they look, they would do all sorts of things. They would steal my bag and throw it in the trash and if they beat me up, they would only hit my torso where it¡¯s hidden. I endured all of it and I never told anyone, my parents thought it was just bruising from Karate or Kendo training. I would¡¯ve fought back since I know a few things but that is not the way I think back then. I¡¯m just¡­ afraid.¡± I said solemnly. <hr>


    ¡°What about the teachers though? They never noticed anything?¡± he said.


    ¡°No, only Kaley did. She dropped her eraser and she asked me to pick it up. Bending my body made me groan in pain and I saw her looking at me with a worried expression. Turns out, she was just confirming her thoughts and she had to make sure. She introduced me to her mom and her very scary dad, her dad thought that her daughter had a boyfriending home and I was scared shitless. Her mom knows someone from the school and got the kids expelled for bullying me. It almost got on the news but I told them to just keep it low. The kid¡¯s parents even gave a huge amount of money to me forpensation and for medical expenses though we never really needed it. Anyway, I still came to school the next day and the kids who were bullying me were gone. I just found out that the other kids in my ss not approaching me was due to them also, they said that anyone who approaches me will get the same treatment as me.¡± I said.


    ¡°Damn.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Know what the kicker is? I asked those kids, why me? They could¡¯ve picked anyone, why me? Know what they said? ¡®No reason, just to pass the time.¡¯ When I heard them say that then, I almost let myself rampage on the spot. I clearly saw the ces I could hit where I would cause the most damage. I would¡¯ve done what I thought I was supposed to do. But before I ever got to do anything, Kaley threw water at their faces in her anger she shouted at them while the guidance counselor tried to calm her down. It did not do much to them but It was something that I really appreciated, who does that for someone you just met? After that incident, I¡¯ve met more friends and I started to enjoy school. We hang out a lot but we never crossed paths when college started since we went to different schools.¡± I concluded.


    ¡°You never asked her out?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°No, haven¡¯t got the chance to at that time.¡± I said.


    ¡°Did you even have feelings for her or vice versa?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty oblivious at that time you know? Maybe, I just respected her a lot as a person. We both just studied our hearts out and we graduated as friends. Part of why I didn¡¯t ask her out is maybe I got really scared of his dad.¡± I said with a faint smile.


    ¡°Hah! I wish I would¡¯ve met you sooner kid! I would¡¯ve thought you a lot of things if you were my next-door neighbor. You¡¯re really lucky that you met her at the airport.¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, I was about to walk past her because I thought she wouldn¡¯t remember or even recognize me. But she did, who would¡¯ve thought?¡± I said.

 Chapter 40

    Chapter 40: 40


    ¡°What?! You better not let her go now, understand me?! I¡¯d even give you my M134 if you guys became together.¡± he said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Really~? I thought you¡¯d die first before you hand over that gun?¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, I did say that. It would be a nice wager though. Screw it! I¡¯ll give you the M134 if you guys hooked up! I swear on my wife!¡± he eximed.


    I immediately snorted and he looked at me with confusion and he said, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Nothing.¡± I said with a smile.


    ¡°What?!¡± he asked again.


    ¡°Nothing!¡± I said again with a bigger smile.


    He threw me a suspicious look and he grumbled while working because he can¡¯t figure out what I meant by the smile. We were about to finish checking this ce out but I found a safe behind the huge painting on the wall. Both our eyes lit up and we highfived. I cracked my knuckles and I began finessing it. Oscar wanted to just blowtorch it, but he agreed to let me crack it first.


    ¡°Be quiet, yeah?¡± I said to Oscar.


    I ced my ear close in the safe and I began spinning thebination lock around slowly. I hear a faint click on my ears and I turned slowly on the different side. I spend about 10 minutes on trial and error and we heard the safe opening with the final click.


    ¡°Good job kid! Those hands of yours are crazy, your hearing too! HAHAHAHA!¡± Oscar praised with an ecstatic expression. <center></center><hr>


    We opened the safe and found cash, jewelry and a few stacks of paper. We then found two ck cases at the bottom. The first case contains a Remington 700 with a scope and a suppressor while the other contains two Glock 19s with extended magazines and abat knife. Besides the cases are 5 boxes each of 9mm rounds and .308 Winchester rounds. We both looked at each other then he tossed a coin.


    ¡°Heads.¡± I said.


    The coin flew in the air and then itnded on the floor. It was heads. I took the case with the Glock 19s but I ced both of them at my holsters which used to be empty. I grabbed the ammunition boxes and I ced it in my bag first along with Oscar¡¯s share. We closed the safe and marked the house then we went outside. We were all smiles when the two of us headed outside and the group gave us confused looks.


    I noticed that my group hasn¡¯te out yet and Oscar¡¯s group has.


    ¡°Why are the two of you smiling?¡± Chris said.


    I opened my jacket and Oscar pointed to our cases.


    ¡°We found guns.¡± We both said at the same time.


    ¡°What?! You lucky bastards.¡± my uncle said.


    The group gave envious reactions and shocked reactions at the same time.


    ¡°Why is Sky¡¯s group taking so long?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°I remember that there was someone inside and Kaley is talking to them.¡± Arnel said. <hr>


    ¡°You aren¡¯t gonna go there kid?¡± he said.


    ¡°Hah! I think she could handle it. I remember this ce has a family of three inside. If I recall correctly, their daughter¡¯s name is Alex. I¡¯ve yed basketball with her a few times.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh? What was she like?¡± they asked.


    ¡°In basketball? Definitely better than me, she was in the varsity. She¡¯s very tall and could easily dunk.¡± I said.


    A few moments pass, I saw Kaley and the rest walk outside. They seem to be in high spirits. The recruitment must have gone smoothly. Before I even got to talk, Jared walked up to me and pointed at my torso.


    ¡°Where did you get that?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Cool huh? Hey, you guys can keep those M9s but I¡¯ll teach you a sster on how to use and maintain them yeah?¡± I replied.


    They both nodded with a gleam in their eyes after that they made a small dance to celebrate.


    ¡°Everything done? What happened there?¡± I asked Kaley.


    ¡°They got worried at first when we rang their doorbell and they didn¡¯t recognize any of us but we said we¡¯re living at your ce then they let us in. Alex mentioned that you used to y basketball with her too. They wished to stay at their home and they have a couple of guns for protection, although theyck food. They have a small garden but they can¡¯t harvest the crops yet. I said I¡¯d tell you first and they also said that they are willing to help anyway they can in exchange for food.¡± Kaley reported. <hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear, great job!¡± I said.


    ¡°How about you guys?¡± Oscar asked his group.


    ¡°The ce still has a few supplies remaining. The people living there must¡¯ve left when they heard from the news the situation. Their electricity is still running there though, they must¡¯ve forgotten to turn the main switch off. We marked the ce and then we saw you guys outside. Are we heading to the radio station now or to the small houses in the middle of the fishing areas?¡± my uncle said.


    I looked at my watch and it¡¯s almost noon so we decided to do those thingster after lunch. We left Jonathan in their house and we found his parents and younger sister are also home. I saw Esther winked at me before we left their ce and Kaley saw it so she linked her arm with mine as she pushes me forward. We were in the back of the group walking so nobody saw it happen¡­except for Oscar.


    I never looked back but we were still walking while our arms are still interlocked and Oscar never said a word at the back.


    ¡°Judging from his character, he would¡¯ve flipped by now¡­and the gun that he wagered, that M134 it¡¯s his most prized treasure. Hah! He¡¯d probably find a reason not to give it!¡± I said to myself.


    An and Jenny saw using so they waved at us while An went down to open the gate. We were waiting for a few moments and by now he would¡¯ve opened the gate.


    ¡°An? You doing something else?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Yup, a moment. My shoe got untied and I can¡¯t tie them properly.¡± He said.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    The door finally opened and we settled near the poolside area. I saw the kids writing on their notebooks while some of their mothers are guiding them. <hr>


    ¡°She started immediately huh? That¡¯s good.¡± I said to myself.


    I walked towards one of the seats and I ced the case down. The rest also gathered around me and Oscar ced the other case in the table.


    ¡°You only found those?¡± Nicole asked.


    ¡°Ah, no. We just grabbed these first since they contained guns and a knife.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey bro, Alicia and I were thinking of asking you to teach us how to use guns too. The more people who knows how to use them the more secure this ce is, right? An taught us how to operate the rifle that you lent him but we want to have guns for ourselves.¡± She asked.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. I n to train a few for scouting first and the rest when we secured the whole area. I¡¯m gonna give a small lectureter if you guys want to sit in.¡± I said.


    They looked at each other and they both nodded. They held each other¡¯s hands as they walked away and I saw Rin looking at them with a gleam in her eyes.


    ¡°Could she be also?¡± I said to myself.


    She saw me look at her and she immediately averted her gaze.


    ¡°Maybe she¡¯s still not sure? Maybe something else? Bah! Nevermind, I¡¯m not good at these things.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 41

    Chapter 41: 41


    The food for today was then ced on the tables. For lunch we have Stuffed Bangus with Salted Eggs. The fish is stuffed with tomatoes, onions and peppers then it could be fried, baked or grilled. We ate it over rice and my aunt made iced tea. <center></center><hr>


    I noticed that the fish has still bones on them so I meticulously removed each one as I always do before eating it. Kaley saw and she smiled and then she tapped on my shoulder. I looked at her while my eyebrows are raised and then she pointed at Rin.


    I looked at Rin and noticed that she¡¯s also removing the bones one by one while the rest are eating a mouthful and they would just remove the bones that they encounter by pushing it out with their tongues and getting picked by their hands.


    We both smiled at each other as we continued on removing the bones. My family members just smiled at what I¡¯m doing since they already know why, though they were surprised at Rin.


    The rest who haven¡¯t known me that long are so confused as to why I¡¯m doing it and to why was Rin also doing it.


    Charlotte has a confused look on her face and then she kept on asking Chris why but Chris doesn¡¯t also know. They kept on squabbling but Chris gave in and asked me.


    ¡°S-Sky, Charlotte wanted me to ask you about why the two of you are eating them differently.¡± Chris said.


    The rest with confused looks also looked towards me if I would answer or not. I said, ¡°It¡¯s not much of a secret, I¡¯m kinda sure on why Rin does as well but I do it for convenience. I just don¡¯t like the feel of the bones in my mouth so I remove them first before eating. Also, I do the same with other foods like watermelon, sunflower seeds, etc. I¡¯d like to see them neat and ready before I start to eat them.¡±


    ¡°What? Really? I think our teacher once told us about that, it¡¯s¡­¡± Chris trailed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°OCD, one form of it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah! That¡¯s what she said! Did a doctor told you that you have it or did you just notice it yourself?¡± Chris said.


    ¡°I noticed it by myself when I was younger. Even when I walk, I would n where I ce my foot, where I¡¯ll turn, where to stop or how fast I¡¯ll go. Even with these guns, I¡¯d like for them to always be in pairs, I¡¯ll get an itch if one of them is missing. How about you Rin?¡± I said.


    The group then turned their heads towards her.


    ¡°Umm, that sounds about right in my case too. Before I met Boss Sky, I worked in a store and I was tasked on organizing inventory in the customer help desk. Mrs. Thelma, the owner, left that post for me and she said that I was perfect for the job. Boss saw me on the store and also noticed it, he even talked to my former boss to let him take me here.¡± Rin said.


    The group made different expressions when they heard the story. Kaley looked at me and she pointed at my wakizashi, I nodded at her look that means, ¡®Same thing with that de, right?¡¯


    ¡°The only bad thing thates out of it doing this is that the food gets colder, that¡¯s why I only grabbed the fish and I will just add the riceter so it would still be hot when I eat it.¡± I saidughing while they continued to eat.


    I finished removing the bones on my fish and then I started eating. To their surprise, I even managed to finish eating faster than them. I grabbed a cup of the iced tea in the pitcher and I drank half of it, I refilled it again and I brought an extra cup for Kaley. <hr>


    ¡°Thanks.¡± she said as she gave me a smile.


    ¡°How about me? Won¡¯t you take care of an old man?¡± Oscar said.


    I rolled my eyes and I grabbed another cup for him.


    ¡°Thanks kid!¡± he said whileughing heartily.


    We all finally finished eating and I handed my case to Rin to be included in the inventory along with the guns in my torso.


    I stretched for a moment and we headed out. An and Jenny are still on the catwalk because they also ate their lunch there.


    I checked our loadout and I refilled the ammunition for the M9s that I gave Mark and Dong. I also gave them a belt for a holster and I handed thebat knife to Mark. On Oscar¡¯s group, he also gave them a couple of pistols and he handed my uncle a shotgun. Each of us now are equipped with a ranged weapon and a melee weapon.


    Before we left, Charlotte and Zeidrick walks up to me and said, ¡°Hey, I¡¯m thinking of postponing on building the fence to the other side of the wall. We¡¯re thinking of dismantling the wooden house next to our ce and filling it up with more soil so that we could have a bigger ce to nt crops. We could till the soil inside and make isted farms but if we make a small farm outside just next to our ce, it would yield more crops in the long run. You guys are sweeping the area now and there will be no zombiesing from your side and on the other side since the fence there is already been built.¡± <hr>


    I contemted for a moment and then I agreed. ¡°That sounds good, we could think up of other ways to build inside thepound other than more farms. We¡¯ll discuss it in the meetingter. Do you need more people in helping you guys?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, the house there is pretty small and the less people helping the better since there¡¯s not much room inside. I think my kid and someone else could do for now. I¡¯m going to borrow some of those big rubber boots for the water.¡± he said.


    ¡°Sure, we¡¯ll be going now. Grab some of the work gloves too yeah?¡± I said.


    He nodded and we left for the small houses in the center of those fishing areas. All ces are pretty barren and nothing is there except for a few household supplies and a couple sacks of fish food. It went faster than expected so we headed to thest ce of the job today, the radio station.


    Big letters that spell ¡®DZRH¡¯ adorned the small building. It¡¯s two-stories tall and there is a huge antenna on top of it. Oscar¡¯s group guarded the entrance and then we went inside after unlocking the gate first.


    ¡°Know how to operate this thing Sky if we get this thing running?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°No, I mean not yet. I¡¯ve stocked up on many manuals and I¡¯m sure that I have one for this thing. It just might be as simple as flicking a switch and talking to it but we might need a real tech here for maintaining the ce. I¡¯ve been preupied in building thepound I¡¯ve only done a few readings on these things. Also, we have Sat Phones so I think broadcasting on a radio will not do us much good at the moment although it¡¯s nice to have something like this ce.¡± I said.


    Mark is the one starting the routine while I point out things that they have missed. Everyone is learning fast and we need to adapt fast in this situation. Fortunately, the ce is already abandoned. There were no more vehicles in the parking area and all that¡¯s left from the radio equipment are a few boxes of instant food, few gallons of water still in the dispensers and a few medicinal supplies in their medicine cabs. Mark saw a fire axe next to a fire extinguisher and he contemted on switching it with the knife. <hr>


    ¡°What do you think?¡± he asked me.


    ¡°Why not keep both? Just holster the gun and the knife and mainly use that one. The knife is very versatile but that fire axe is something simr to the way you use that sledgehammer, the bonus is that blood stter can be reduced to a minimum.¡± I exined.


    He gave a pensive expression and he followed my suggestion.


    We finished early and we took two trips in hauling the essentials. The rest helped in hauling everything in the truck and when we¡¯re done, a few also helped on dismantling the wooden shack. I showed Charlotte the list of the seeds in the inventory and she¡¯s now nning on what to nt on that plot ofnd when we finish it.


    A few zombies are starting to wander around the fence that we built and Jenny quickly dispatched some of them while An carried the bodies to the ce where we usually burn them. There¡¯s now a basket near the gate that we call the ¡®Random Trinket Bag¡¯ where we ce items that we found on the dead in there. Now, there¡¯s a few watches, jewelry, wallets, cash, knives, cigarettes, bags and footwear. No one seems interested at first but I left it there because I knew we would find a use for those someday.


    I looked at my watch and it¡¯s a few minutes short of an hour before the broadcast. I called over Mark, Dong, Nicole and Alicia. They wondered why I called them but when they saw what I was carrying they understood.


    I was nning to teach them a few hours¡¯ worth about properly using guns.


    ¡°Hey! Can you take me too?¡± An chimed.

 Chapter 42

    Chapter 42: 42


    ¡°You already know how to use them, you¡¯re just bad at aiming¡­¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°But I could get better if I practice more right?!¡± he retorted.


    ¡°Of course, that¡¯s why you volunteered for watch duty. I¡¯m just training new people to see if they could be suited to it.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hon, I¡¯d think you¡¯d waste more bullets firing at inanimate objects. I¡¯d think it would better if you have a shotgun or a machete.¡± Jenny said.


    The look on An¡¯s face¡­priceless!


    ¡°He just got burned.¡± I said to myself.


    He slumped down but he stood up and he pointed at me.


    ¡°But Sky! How long did it take you to master them?!¡± he asked.


    ¡°I never said I mastered them; it would take a few decades to do so. I¡¯m not Jerry Miculek you know. A day with my right hand and five days with my left is what it took for me to get decent. I burned through a lot of ammo and I spent a lot of time on the ranges when I got into it. I got really good at it but it¡¯s very different from the word ¡®master¡¯ yeah? It¡¯s different for everybody, though you need to practice diligently to retain your edge.¡± I said confidently.


    Jenny¡¯s eyes widened. She said, ¡°Wow. It took me a few months, how urate are you? My effective range with a pistol is roughly 20 meters.¡±


    ¡°I could hit a non-moving target with a pistol urately for around 70-80 meters, farther if I aim higher. It would vary if the person is moving or actively trying to avoid me.¡± I said.


    ¡°Damn. Seriously? Is that good Jenny?¡± An said.


    ¡°That is way more than good.¡± she replied.


    ¡°I could show you a few awards if you doubt me. Anyways, we¡¯ll go now.¡± I said as I wave them goodbye. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s more than 80 actually.¡± I said to myself.


    We went to the nearest court and we sat to one of the stone bleachers on the side. I handed the couple the same guns I gave my group. Before we even started, the gate from Andrew¡¯s house opened and Jonathan and Esther came out.


    ¡°Hey, are you guys doing okay?¡± I said.


    They both nodded though Esther is smiling a little extra at me, his older brother saw it and he gave her a re. They decided to also take a few lessons from me so I let them share amongst each other.


    I first gave them a lecture on basic firearm safety rules.


    ¡°Okay remember these words. Always keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction. Treat your weapon like it¡¯s always loaded. Keep your trigger finger outside the guard and off the trigger until you¡¯re ready to fire. Be certain of your target, your line of sight, and what lies beyond it. Andstly, always wear ear and eye protection when using and maintaining them.¡±


    I first demonstrated the proper form and I let them copy me. It took a few minutes but then we started on shooting with nks just to get them started. I gave them 2 magazines each to practice and I corrected the inconsistencies on their form.


    ¡°Alright guys. We¡¯ll move onto live rounds after you guys manage to field strip them sessfully. I¡¯ll show you first and you guys watch and after that follow after me the second time.¡± I said.


    ¡°What¡¯s the point of disassembling them? To clean inside the barrels?¡± Esther asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s the point. Especially when we fire nks. There would be more carbon and other buildup inside the gun so we need to always clean them after use.¡± I exined.


    I showed them my quick version, the normal version and then the slow version. All of them is looking attentively while I do it and after thest click, I ced it in front of them and looked at the three guns left.


    They now followed me step-by-step and I left them on their own after doing it twice more in front of them. A few minutes pass and they finally got it the first time without questions. Mark and Nicole managed to get them the fastest while the rest are about the same.


    I then ced cardboard targets away from the neighborhood and signaled for them to go to the opposite side. <hr>


    ¡°From this side to where the targets are ced is about 30 meters. If you could hit those urately at this distance, it would be pretty amazing. The goal today is to hit them a few times with 15 rounds, to make it fair, let¡¯s go to the half-court first.¡± I said.


    Esther walks up to me and she said, ¡°Can you make a demonstration first?¡±


    ¡°You said you could shoot urately at 80 meters, right?¡± Mark said.


    The guys are still somewhat in doubt about what I said earlier so I pulled a gun with my right hand and I started to shoot at the targets.


    I aimed for the two at the right and after a deep exhale, I unloaded 4 rounds quickly.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    I switched with my left hand and I aimed for the other two on the left. Same thing, another 4 rounds right after the other.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    The group stopped covering their ears and then they looked at me.


    ¡°Oops. I should¡¯ve given you guys earplugs. Live rounds are much louder than nks.¡± I said as I scratch my head.


    ¡°You should¡¯ve at least given a warning bro!¡± Nicole eximed.


    ¡°Well they taunted me.¡± I said.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t¡­¡± Mark and Esther said while the rest are rubbing inside their ears. <hr>


    ¡°Well, you now know what would happen if you do it without ear protection.¡± I tried to change the subject.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah¡­¡± Nicole said.


    ¡°Oh, back at topic. You could check the targets first. My goal is everyone to be able to do this in the future. Hitting the cardboard is fine for now, just take your time between each shot, we¡¯re just training for uracy now and not speed, remember what I taught you. I¡¯ll bring the metal targets in the future if we have more time and a proper ce to shoot at.¡± I said.


    They walked to check the targets and some of them have their eyes wide in shock. Each target has holes on the same spots, heads and chests, dead center and a few centimeters apart from each other.


    Some of them now are excited to try for themselves so we walked back to the half-court. I stood on the back and watched them. I taped a small piece of paper on the holes I made earlier in case they hit the same ce.


    I saw Dong¡¯s form slowly deteriorating as his pistol is slowly moving sideways.


    ¡°Come on man, don¡¯t give me that gangster grip, you watch too much hood films. It only looks cool; you¡¯d hit a lot more if you do it the proper way.¡± I exined.


    The rest gave a chuckle and we continued.


    I pulled the gun again and shot twice while holding it sideways. They now have earplugs in so they don¡¯t have to close their ears..


    *BANG* *BANG*


    The holes were now a bit more apart but still in a tight group.


    ¡°See? The uracy is much worse if you do it the wrong way.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else. <hr>


    Several gunshots rang out and the most notable one was Nicole out of all of them, 5 rounds managed to hit the target that is shaped like a person, not just the rectangle carton. I gave her an approving look and I said, ¡°Keep that up and I¡¯ll give you a gun for yourself yeah?¡±


    She gave a proud smile while Alicia gave her a small kiss on the cheek. Nicole got embarrassed but she gave her a p on the butt. I shook my head and I started on instructing the others.


    Esther then sat next to me and then she said with a flirtatious voice, ¡°Hey Sky, are you seeing anyone?¡±


    ¡°Direct huh?¡± I said to myself.


    I saw Jonathan facepalming at her sister.


    ¡°Forgive my sister Sky, she knows no proper decorum. Esther, ever seen the girl next to himst time? Can¡¯t connect the dots?¡± he said.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t see a ring though, so he¡¯s very much avable right?¡± she looked at her brother.


    I looked at her and I surmise that she¡¯s about the same age as Olivia, maybe older, and she¡¯s looking at me with a look I give when I make a perfect steak. I rubbed my be and I shook my head.


    ¡°I¡¯m with her already, sorry.¡± I said straightforwardly. It¡¯s better to set boundaries immediately before it gets worse.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I¡¯m okay with it though¡­¡± she gave a suggestive smile.


    ¡°Is this girl suggesting on an open rtionship? The f.u.c.k? How old is she?! I used to know people like that and though there¡¯s nothing wrong with that, it¡¯s pretty surprising to be invited in one.¡± I said to myself.


    If his brother could facepalm harder, he would. He began to grab her by the cor as he started to drag her back to their house after they returned the guns back to me.


    ¡°Come on, we¡¯re going home now¡­¡± he said while dragging her inside.

 Chapter 43

    Chapter 43: 43


    We headed back to thepound before the broadcast. <center></center><hr>


    It started for a few minutes when we got back but it¡¯s just a few reports on reiming more territory but there was no news about the research even if Oscar told me that he told them about the sprinting zombie I caught on video.


    The broadcast was much shorter today and the other videos are starting to get shorter as well.


    Oscar gave me a look and I just looked back solemnly.


    It still hasn¡¯t sink in with everyone fully. It¡¯s only a matter of time though and all we can do is keep the morale and order up. I don¡¯t want a scene like Bert in the supermarket happening here. Though there are a few people here that is adapting in the right direction.


    We turned the TV off and it¡¯s free time this point on.


    My uncle continued on working on the shack and they are cing the wood that¡¯s still usable in the side of the wall.


    I went up my room and I ced the extra guns back and I reced the 10 rounds that I fired from my gun earlier. I contemted for a moment and then I installed a few more attachments on the Glock. I added a suppressor, a red dot sight and a tactical shlight at the bottom of the gun at the rail.


    ¡°Good thing we were far from the fence, it would have attracted a few if we practiced inside thepound. Besides this is a bad ce to practice with.¡± I said to myself.


    I heard a knock on the door and when I opened it, it was Aya holding a notebook.


    ¡°Sky! You know multiplication, right? Can you help me?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I can help you solve it but I won¡¯t just give you the answer.¡± I said.


    ¡°B-but it¡¯s hard! Thedy who came here gave an assignment for us. They¡¯re making us multiply 6758 by 891! That¡¯s too many for my hands!¡± she said while adjusting her sses.


    She left the door open and Zeus also came to sit on the bed.


    ¡°So, what are you finding hard on that problem then?¡± I asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s too many to count!¡± she said.


    ¡°Well if you look at it a different way, it could get easier.¡± I exined.


    ¡°You say that it¡¯s a very big number, right? Why don¡¯t we do what we could first? Instead of multiplying them all at once, why don¡¯t we multiply 6758 by 1 first?¡± I guided her.


    ¡°Then it¡¯s easy! It¡¯s still 6758!¡± she answered.


    ¡°Then, multiply 6758 by 9 next.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why 9? Can¡¯t we do it with 2 first?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Just try to do it that way, you¡¯ll seeter.¡± I said.


    She counted in her head for a while and she wrote the answer on her paper in order, ¡®60822¡¯. She looked at me to check if it¡¯s right first then I nodded.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s next?¡± she asked.


    I then told her to do it with the number 8 and her eyes showed realization. She immediately went on her own and she stacked the numbers before atop each other while she makes a small indent after each one. She now added the numbers and she wrote her final answer, ¡®6,021,378¡¯.


    I smiled at her and then I ruffled her hair and I said, ¡°Good! Now you get what I meant right? If it still overwhelms you, solve what you can first yeah?¡±


    She nodded and she pulled something from her pocket. It¡¯s a small zip bag that contains a few handfuls of Trailmix, she poured some of it on my hands as she smiled.


    ¡°What¡¯s this, a quest reward?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Thanks! I¡¯ll teach the others too!¡± she said. Then she immediately headed down. <hr>


    Zeus looks at me and then the food on my hand and I immediately ate the handful.


    *whine*


    ¡°This has choctes in it Zeus, you¡¯ll die if I gave these to you.¡± I said.


    He gave me a sideways nce and he just rubs his head on my body. I yed with him for a bit as I was scratching his belly while we¡¯reying down in the bed. I hugged him lightly and he just enjoys the position that were in. He was mostly with Olivia since I was busy the past few days and I haven¡¯t had much time to y with him. I didn¡¯t notice that I slept for a few moments while hugging Zeus. I woke up and I still saw him sleeping beside me.


    I suddenly picked up on a few people giggling outside my room. I walked outside and Zeus followed me while he gives a yawn. I saw the three huddled up and looking at Olivia¡¯s borrowed camera.


    ¡°That¡¯s the cutest photo I¡¯ve seen all my life!¡±


    ¡°Right?!¡±


    ¡°This makes me a bit mad though, I¡¯ve been with Zeus all this time and I don¡¯t have a picture like this!¡±


    Olivia saw me walk up to them then she faced the camera screen on my direction. I saw a picture of me sleeping while hugging Zeus. I made a smile then I ruffled her head.


    ¡°Why do you always like to ruin everyone¡¯s hair so much?!¡± she hissed when her hair got ruffled.


    ¡°That¡¯s a good shot. Remember to bring that camerater at my room so I could copy it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay, though I have saved a backup for all of them in Kaley¡¯sptop.¡± she said.


    I gave an approving look then they followed me below after we took a picture in the stairs. Zeus was in the middle of the photo while I was in the side holding the camera in front of us while the rest are huddled together.


    When we went outside, I heard a call from the catwalk, ¡°Sky! Someone¡¯s here! He said he knows you from highschool!¡± An shouted. <hr>


    Kaley looked at me and we both headed to the catwalk briskly.


    We looked at the silhouette and we didn¡¯t even need him to remove his helmet to know who he is.


    ¡°Rap!¡±


    ¡°Raphael!¡±


    We both called.


    ¡°What¡¯s up Sky? Wait, Kaley?!¡± he was surprised.


    We opened the fences for him and he let himself in with another passenger in his pickup truck. It¡¯s a Raptor with bullbars installed in the front.


    ¡°Shit, man everything was crazy. We had to wait for things to die down before we head out. You look awesome in that get up, is that gun real?! That looks sick!¡± he eximed while giving both of us a hug.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go inside first man, you¡¯re the first one to get here by yourself who I sent emails to. I¡¯ll introduce you to everyone. Who¡¯s with you though?¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯d be surprised, remember when I got into an ident and the nurse that I told you about that took care of me? Well, we were living together now before everything started¡­ her name¡¯s Carol by the way¡± He said. He trailed for a while and I felt that he has more to say.


    ¡°Why are you wearing a helmet though?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°We had to ram a few of those things on the way here, with my ident from before, I subconsciously wore it on the way here.¡± He exined.


    I chuckled and then we went inside. I introduced him to everyone and my uncle who is in charge of home improvements.


    ¡°Hey, unc. Rap here¡¯s an engineer, he could definitely help you in a few things here.¡± I introduced him. <hr>


    ¡°That would be great! I have a lot of ideas and I¡¯m not really sure if it works or not.¡± he said.


    They shook hands and I asked Rin to show them to their rooms to rest for a bit. They brought a few of their bags and I helped them with some of their gear. They¡¯ve started on unpacking their clothes so we left them there for a bit.


    ¡°Who are they boss?¡± Rin said.


    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s my friend from highschool. That woman is his partner.¡± I said to Rin.


    She nodded and we headed back down.


    ¡°So, how are they doing so far?¡± Kaley asked when we reached them on the pool area.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t asked yet. But I feel something is wrong.¡± I said.


    ¡°I was so surprised that he came here, wait a minute, who among our batch did you send emails to go here though? Did you even think of me?¡± she asked a very important question while her expression is turning sour.


    Rin slowly backed away as she heard Kaley.


    ¡°Before I answer, do you want me to give you an honest one or¡­¡± I trailed off but then she cuts me.


    ¡°I¡¯d rather you be honest with me.¡± She looked at me straight in the eye.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk in private. My room.¡± I said.


    She followed me and I locked the door. She sat down on the opposite end of the bed and she looked at me.

 Chapter 44

    Chapter 44: 44


    ¡°So? Are you gonna answer my question or not?¡± she asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°No.¡± I said.


    ¡°No what?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯ve only sent emails to Raphael, Earnest, Roi, Darelle, Keh and Kris from our batch.¡± I said tly.


    ¡°¡­¡± she just looked at me with a sour expression.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You told me to be honest. So, I did.¡± I maintained my calm expression.


    ¡°That¡¯s very cold.¡± she said as she hugs her knees.


    ¡°Being honest?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it hurts.¡± she said while looking at the ground.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I did the same.


    ¡°Well, you could¡¯veid it out softly.¡± she said.


    ¡°To be fair though, I told everyone when I found out about this at first.¡± I looked at her again.


    ¡°Everyone? This? What do you mean?¡± she asked with a furrowed brow.


    ¡°The world, this virus.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?¡± she got confused. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°A few years ago, when it was just me and Oscar, our n was just to hole up in the bas.e.m.e.nt and wait 10 or more years until everything is over. If we have everything in this ce now, we could survive for much longer if it¡¯s just us two. I disagreed with that thought so I convinced him that doing that is pointless, humanity will be over if it¡¯s just the two of us left standing. After a while, he got to thinking and he agreed with me so we expanded thispound, we built a few more houses and we made the bas.e.m.e.nt bigger. After that, I tried posting everywhere and I even tried to contact various organizations about my findings.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What happened then?¡± she asked.


    ¡°What do you think? Would you evene with me three years ago if I told you that zombies areing and I need you and your sister in my house?¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was silent.


    ¡°I¡¯d like you to answer me honestly too.¡± I said straightforwardly.


    She was taken aback, but she answered honestly after a long sigh.


    ¡°No.¡± she said.


    ¡°And that is a normal and honest response, thank you. I¡¯d say that to me too. It¡¯s like the story of the boy who cried wolf but they didn¡¯t believe him the first time he warned them. It hurts when you¡¯re trying to tell something with all your heart and no one listens.¡± I said earnestly.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was silent.


    ¡°But still, thank you.¡± I said to her.


    ¡°For what?¡± she asked.


    ¡°At the airport, you believed me then. I think that¡¯s what¡¯s important.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I¡¯m the one who should be thanking you at the airport, if it weren¡¯t for you, my sister and I would be gone now.¡± she said.


    ¡°¡­¡± I just smiled. <hr>


    We just stayed in silence for a while and then she spoke.


    ¡°I should also be saying sorry.¡± she said.


    ¡°For what?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Asking a very stupid question.¡± she exined.


    ¡°What question?¡± I asked with a straight face and eyebrows raised.


    ¡°Earlier, I asked you if you thou-¡± she tried to speak.


    ¡°Can¡¯t remember that.¡± I cut her off.


    ¡°What?¡± she got confused again.


    ¡°Can¡¯t remember what you said earlier.¡± I tried to pretend not to know.


    ¡°When I asked you if you thought of m-¡± she tried to exin.


    ¡°Nope! Still can¡¯t remember.¡± I cut her off again waiting till she ¡®gets¡¯ it.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was silent for a while and looking at me in confusion.


    I gave a grin and then she realized what I¡¯m doing. She closed her eyes and when she opened it, it¡¯s already starting to water. She¡¯s about to start crying but I ruffled her hair wildly. Her hair now got tangled up and she red at me. She removed the tie on her hair and it flowed once again on her shoulders. She¡¯s smiling now though her eyes are still watery. I wiped the tears off her eyes with my jacket and I leaned myself to the wall. I patted the space next to me and she moved close while she ced her head on my shoulder. We just sat there in silence for a while.


    ¡°For the record though, I never said I didn¡¯t think of you. I just didn¡¯t send you an email because we haven¡¯t had contact in years. I nned on stopping by your ce even though I didn¡¯t know if that¡¯s still your address or you¡¯d be there. I owed you a lot you know, I won¡¯t trust in an email if you could reach this ce. I also pondered that if you would be with your dad, everything will be fine.¡± I said as I looked at her. <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± she was silent as she gives me a pensive look.


    ¡°Hey, why did we stop contacting each other after we graduated then? You remember right?¡± she asked as she tried to remember.


    ¡°Oh, I was busy moving my things to go to college since it¡¯s far and I need to prepare everything. I figured that you would be busy as well though we sometimes kept in touch through social media.¡± I said.


    ¡°Right, it was a very busy time after graduating. However, I can¡¯t remember why we stopped contacting each other.¡± she said.


    ¡°We still used to send a few short messages back then but I stopped when I saw a picture of you with someone else. I had to give some space, right?¡± I said as she looked down.


    She finally remembered what happened back then. She met someone where she studies at while I focused on other things. Inevitably, time set us apart and that¡¯s why we haven¡¯t had contact in years. It¡¯s not a unique story, it¡¯s just one of the things that happens to people. We¡¯re not even a couple back then, just bestfriends that met by chance.


    ¡°Lucky for me we met at the airport. We know that this thing ising, we just don¡¯t know the exact moment.¡± I said.


    ¡°And if I didn¡¯t greet you, you would¡¯ve left me there!¡± she eximed though she has a more lighthearted expression than earlier.


    ¡°Hahaha! Right, but it was before we saw the news with your pilot. I was really surprised that you recognized me, I was very different now from back then.¡± I exined.


    ¡°True, I feel bad for saying this, but if our pilot didn¡¯t get attacked, we won¡¯t be here now. Well, I will always remember those eyes of yours, or is it the way you look at people?¡± she said.


    ¡°What? My eyes? The way I look at people?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hmm, well your eyes can¡¯t grow muscle, don¡¯t they? Just kidding, they look deep and sharp. And the way you look at people is different. When you looked at me at the airport, I felt like you analyzed everything that you see about me. It¡¯s the same sensation back then when I introduced myself to you at the ssroom back then.¡± she said.


    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s the first time someone said that to me. That sounds about right, I do that a lot to be honest.¡± I said.


    She adjusts her position and now she¡¯sying her head in myp while I y with her hair. I¡¯m trying to braid the other side of her hair while she cracks her fingers. <hr>


    ¡°You know, there was two times I was wrong about you.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± she said.


    ¡°First time was when we were in school, I thought you were gonna be the same as everybody else.¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯re wee. What¡¯s the second one then?¡± she asks.


    ¡°I never thought that you were gonna be this strong.¡± I said as she paused.


    ¡°No, you¡¯re right about thinking that. But thank you for saying that I¡¯m strong, thating from you means a lot more than you think. I wouldn¡¯t know what to do if it happened at the airport and you¡¯re not there.¡± She said.


    ¡°I think you¡¯ll manage though.¡± I said.


    ¡°Stop lying, I know when you do.¡± She said immediately.


    ¡°Okay, you got me there hahaha¡­ How¡¯d you know though? However, if you have your gun there, you¡¯d have a chance.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Not gonna tell you why I know. If I have my gun there, I won¡¯t need you there! I¡¯d clear it all by myself and build my own empire!¡± she eximed sarcastically.


    ¡°Done!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Huh?¡± she said.


    I opened the camera on my phone and I showed her what I did with her hair. The left side of her hair now is braided up to the back while rest stayed the same. She smiled happily as she angles the camera to see every corner of her new look.


    ¡°Sky! This is cool! It looks really wicked!¡± she eximed as she sat up. She leans very close to me and she took a photo of us. I quickly covered her eyes when the photo was about to be taken much to her surprise. She red at me and then we took several photos after. We stared at it for a while then she sat on top of myp facing me.

 Chapter 45

    Chapter 45: 45


    She started on kissing me and I kissed her back. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You know, I¡¯m good with my hands too¡­¡± she whispered in my ear.


    She pulled my hands above her clothes, towards her b.r.e.a.s.ts, and she squeezed them with my hands. The lights are on now so I could clearly see her expressions. Her face is very red though we never stopped locking eyes.


    Her hands now moved to my chest, then to my stomach and then even lower. A button came undone and something was pulled under it. She held it with both hands while I feel the heat coursing through my body. My hands then went under her shirt and I grabbed the two of hers as we begin to slowly breathe heavily. Her mouth dripped something on top of it and her tight tugging is turning into a very, very slow stroke. It is a mix of pleasure and torture the way she does it.


    My other hand then moved lower as I searched under her. She made a small gasp when I reached it, it¡¯s slowly moistens as I pinched the small nub under her. I¡¯m slowly rubbing it with my thumb, twirling it, while my other fingers are slowly reaching her. I thought she would go faster, but her hands moved even slower. I¡¯m feeling every bit of it but I can¡¯t find the release, I grunted at the feeling but it¡¯s very different fromst time. This feeling of being withheld is a new sensation I¡¯m enjoying right now.


    Her other hand let go of me and it reached for the hand on her b.r.e.a.s.t, she pulled it away and she ced it on her plump behind. I gave it a huge p and the sound rang out while she makes a high-pitched m.o.a.n. Her back now straightened and she removed her shirt as she let go of me for a moment. The two of hers made a small jiggle as it was released by the clothing that was keeping them together. She held the hand in her behind once again and she moved it deeper below.


    ¡°y with that too¡­¡± she whispered in my ear.


    My hand delved deeper as I managed to touch the surface of it. My hands are now in both of her, one has gone inside while the other is starting to prod from the surface. She gave me a light kiss on the lips as our faces are very close to each other and we could feel each other¡¯s breath. She raised her upper body and I¡¯m in a very close proximity to her chest and she slowly presses them to my face. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Damn.¡± I said out subconsciously.


    She made a giggle then she shoved them harder in my face. She then continued on doing that slow, slow torture where I was kept at the brink and at bay in the same time. She seems very amused at my expression as she kept on doing it. My fingers are now inside her and I feel the warmth inside, she¡¯s twitching every time I hit a certain spot. She has her eyes close now and I feel her tightening, my fingers are soaking wet and she m.o.a.ned louder and louder as she shoves her b.r.e.a.s.ts harder in my face and the slow stroke went to a very tight squeeze. She trembled while she¡¯s still on top of me while she gave me a euphoric smile.


    She drips her saliva on it again and she stood in front of me. She removed her pants and I saw what I was ying with earlier and then she turned around and she also pulled my pants off. Her feet are on the opposite side of my h.i.p.s and she slowly lowers her body next to it. I¡¯m very close but I endured through it, it¡¯s a mind thing now and I want this tost longer before I recharge again.


    She pointed it towards her but in a different location¡­


    ¡°This is? Kaley?¡± I said while I grunted.


    ¡°Shh¡­ be quiet.¡± She hushed me.


    She lowers her body against it but it¡¯s a different space I¡¯m in. She grabbed my hands and she ced one on her chest and one where I thought I would be. I can¡¯t help but exhale heavily when she started to slowly move her h.i.p.s. Her m.o.a.ns of pleasure are slowly removing the control I had on my body. I moved where my hands were and from her twitches, I could feel that she¡¯s still sensitive from earlier. I onlysted for a few short minutes before we both released at the same time. <hr>


    We stayed in that position for a few moments after catching our breaths first. I¡¯m shooting it inside while she leaned her body at me. She pulled it out while she went on all fours. She looked back at me with a stare as if it was saying to do it once more and it has a look of begging as she pouted her lips. Her pleading look got me so heated I immediately got ready as I grabbed her h.i.p.s and I positioned myself for the other ce. I rammed it inside her while she buried her head on a pillow and while her lower body is still raised.


    Her muffled m.o.a.ns and my skin hitting her skin is the only things that I¡¯m hearing, everything else is just pure pleasure. My eyes are closed as I slowly feel it building up again. I released it outside and weid on the bed while she started to kiss me. We stopped after a while and we just stared at each other¡¯s eyes. We wiped off and we got dressed. She went to her room to get clothes for the shower as I waited for her at the door.


    She gave me a suggestive smile but I said, ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that, I¡¯m exhausted after what you did!¡±.


    ¡°Hmph, good job onsting that long though, I thought you¡¯d be much faster.¡± She said as she winked at me.


    She chuckled and we chatted some more while we showered together.


    We left there feeling refreshed though I told her toe with me to the other side of my room. I moved the bookshelf to the side and I opened the metal grate towards my armory and I opened the lights.


    Rows and rows of guns and different kinds of weapons appeared before her. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight. <hr>


    ¡°I thought Rin was kidding when she said that you have a lot but I didn¡¯t think it was this¡­ a lot¡­¡± she struggled to form her sentence.


    ¡°Oscar has more, anything catch your eye?¡± I said to her.


    Her eyes looked around and itnded on a table carrying a huge sniper rifle with a bipod holding it up.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± she pointed to it.


    ¡°It¡¯s called a Barrett M107a1. Oscar gave it to me after we bought this ce. It¡¯s super heavy and it fires .50 BMG bullets.¡± I exined as I showed her one of the bullets.


    ¡°This is too big for a person! What do you use them for?¡± she asks.


    ¡°They call it an Anti-Material Rifle; they use this for tanks and stuff. Oscar calls it the ¡®Goodbye Motherf.u.c.ker!¡¯ and that¡¯s what I call it sometimes. You could also use it against people but I think a normal .308 sniper rifle would be enough, this thing could go for miles.¡± I said. <hr>


    She chuckled and then she tried to lift it.


    ¡°It is heavy!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°If I gave that to you, your shoulders will be sore every time we go out. I¡¯d like you to pick something more practical.¡± I exined.


    ¡°You¡¯re giving me one? Is there something wrong with my gun though?¡± she asked as she looked around.


    ¡°No, but that is more suited for guarding the ce. The zombies on the fence are getting more frequent and we never know what¡¯s in the squatter area if we go there tomorrow. How about this?¡± I said as I handed her an AR-15.


    ¡°It¡¯s light, easy to use and has more rounds than your Winchester.¡± I added.


    ¡°This is the same one you brought to the supermarket, right? It does look cooler. Can I really have this?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, though we only bring them out when we¡¯re outside or on emergencies.¡± I exined.

 Chapter 46

    Chapter 46: 46


    She nodded and I let her pick the attachments that she wanted to be ced on it. She picked a square-shaped suppressor and a 2-8x40mm scope. I changed the stock to an adjustable one and I added a foregrip on it. I taught her what type of ammunition it used and she loaded a full magazine of 5.56s and she ced it on the gun. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You could just push the bullets in, it¡¯s not like the pistols where you push and slide.¡± I exined as I gave her another magazine.


    She nodded and then she continued on loading it faster. She held it firmly and we went outside for a test run. An saw using up to them and he knew what we¡¯re up to.


    ¡°That looks cool guys!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°The HK416 isn¡¯t enough for you? Hah!¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well, I have a name for this beauty that you gave me. It¡¯s called-¡± he was about to im it again.


    ¡°That¡¯s ¡®My Gun 3¡¯.¡± I interrupted him while Kaley smirked.


    ¡°AHHHH!!! One of these days man! You¡¯ll give me a gun when you recognize my greatness!¡± he eximed while Jenny wasughing at the side.


    We went outside the fence while we look for a target. 130 meters from thepound, we spotted five of them walking around banging in front of a door where if I recall correctly is a home for a family who runs a bakery. I looked around us first in case something might catch us off-guard but that seems to not be the case. I first demonstrated on how to use it and I adjusted the sights and I fired a round.


    *psshew*


    Clean hit to the head. One of them fell off and then I handed it to her. She excitedly grabbed it and she pointed it to one of them as they slowly walked towards us. She exhaled then she held her breath and then she squeezed the trigger.


    *psshew*


    ¡°This has almost 0% recoil.¡± she said.


    ¡°Cool, huh? You can even try to shoot it one-handed and the kick is almost non-existent. Your M70 fires .308 rounds and the kick from that is a bit hard on the shoulders. You could fire this thing all day without breaking a sweat.¡± I exined while smiling. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Thank you.¡± she said as she brightly smiled.


    I was almost stunned from her smile but then she aimed at them once more with her sharp look.


    *psshew*


    Another one fell on the ground and I noticed that the zombies turned around to look at their fallenrade but they still continued on walking towards us. She looked at me too and her look told me that she noticed what they did. It¡¯s a simple gesture but something like that shouldn¡¯t be performed by them anymore.


    I look at her touch the right side of the rifle seemingly looking for something. I chuckled and I said, ¡°It¡¯s a semi-automatic now remember? You won¡¯t need to do that like the bolt-action you¡¯ve used before.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right.¡± she said.


    She blushed embarrassingly though she continued on taking her time on shooting each one perfectly. She aimed the muzzle down and she had a proud look on her face. I pat her on the back and then we headed inside.


    ¡°Nice shooting!¡± Jenny said.


    ¡°Thanks!¡± she said.


    ¡°We¡¯ll work next time on speed, you got the uracy down.¡± I remarked as she nodded.


    ¡°I can do that too¡­¡± An sulked.


    ¡°Yeah, after using thrice the rounds! You¡¯re getting better though.¡± Jenny said with a smile.


    An just scratched his head and his face look determined on learning the art. I closed the gate and headed inside.


    We were met by Raphael and Carol and they were talking with everybody. They waved at us when they saw using towards them and we sat next to them. He introduced us properly to Carol and we started trading war stories. <hr>


    ¡°So, I¡¯m the only one who came then?¡± Raphael said.


    ¡°Yeah, I think Keh was still in Detroit and Darelle was somewhere with his GF abroad, they always travel so I¡¯m not sure where they are currently. Kris never responded to my emails and Roi and Earnest seemed to have stayed with their own families and holed up. I haven¡¯t received any news since the Inte went out.¡± I exined.


    He gives a solemn expression as he hears the news.


    ¡°If this ce starts to run on its own, I¡¯ll pay a visit to Roi, Earnest and Kris. They could still possibly be in their homes. Before a whole month passes, I¡¯m gonna go there with a few people to check on them. I was supposed to go to Kaley¡¯s ce too but luckily we met at the airport.¡± I said.


    ¡°But what happened here?¡± he gave a smile to both of us while he¡¯s smiling from ear to ear.


    I retold the story with Kaley and she added a few from her perspective. The expression of the two changed a lot of times and I can still sense their solemn expression.


    ¡°So, you guys are together now then?¡± he asks while he made a hand gesture.


    I smiled but I looked at Kaley, waiting for her to answer for us. She gave a blush but the silence was more than enough of an answer.


    He was about to jump for joy but we both stopped him. We shushed him and then we exined that we haven¡¯t told everybody yet.


    ¡°But why?! These things should be celebrated! The f.u.c.k are you two on about?!¡± he whispered loudly.


    ¡°Just keep quiet until everyone notices it eventually yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°I agree, I don¡¯t like on announcing stuff like this publicly¡­¡± Kaley said shyly.


    ¡°But damn, it took you guys a long time. I really thought you guys would hit it off back then, you both just hit books every single day! It¡¯s crazy!¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! Remember the shy, fat kid?¡± I said with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°You could¡¯ve at least said something¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Oooh~¡± Raphael teased.


    I looked at her but she¡¯s averting her gaze.


    ¡°Why is she not looking at me now? Am I a Basilisk or something?¡± I said to myself.


    We talked a lot more then I introduced Carol to Oscar. Kaley had medical training but Carol would be more suited in that position though Kaley would still help on medical rted things because people with that knowledge are very scarce. We¡¯d need them more than anything, I for one only know how to apply first-aid and a few other things.


    I checked the clock and it was almost time for dinner. We gathered everyone around the pool and then I helped with bringing out the food while Kaley brought the AR back to my room.


    Tonight, we¡¯re having diced tofu and beans with a tomato-based sauce. It¡¯s something like chili but with tofu instead of meat. We ate it over rice as we always do though Oscar is eating it with a few pieces of bread.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t get it why you guys eat everything with rice kid, it¡¯s crazy.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°It¡¯s an Asian thing old man, though you guys always eat food with bread or potatoes.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, that is true. The time I¡¯ve been here, I¡¯m slowly getting used to it. Though I enjoy the usual PB&J, Grilled Cheese and In-N-Out. Damn, I miss those.¡± he said while eating a spoonful.


    ¡°I call that a heart attack.¡± Kaley chimed in.


    ¡°Hah! That¡¯s another way to call it!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Custom made is always the best though.¡± I added. <hr>


    ¡°Well I don¡¯t know how to cook like you kid!¡± he replied while eating a spoonful.


    After a moment Derek said, ¡°Uh, hey Sky, I think the rabbits are gonna give birth in a few days, they were already pregnant when we got them.¡±


    Kaley¡¯s eyes shot up and she seemed to be really excited.


    ¡°How many are pregnant then?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Five of them are, they would at least produce an average of 10+ babies.¡± he said.


    Her eyes gleamed along with the others but she had a thought and she red at me viciously.


    ¡°Why are you ring at Sky?¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°He ns to cook them for our food!¡± Kaley shouted.


    ¡°NOOOOOOOO!!!¡± a few of the kids and Olivia shouted at the top of their lungs while Charlotte almost dropped her food though Chris managed to catch her hand.


    I scratched my head and I said, ¡°It¡¯s really good though, It¡¯s much better than chicken or pork. We could start to eat them after they reached 4 months onward.¡±


    ¡°Rabbits do taste good; I used to hunt them and eat them before.¡± Oscar added.


    ¡°I also tasted one, It¡¯s really good!¡± Derek also chimed.


    The looks they gave us is priceless. I¡¯m suddenly the viin after I mentioned that we need to eat them. I thought of something then I had a grin.


    ¡°Why are you smiling now?¡± Kaley asked.

 Chapter 47

    Chapter 47: 47


    ¡°Why? Won¡¯t you even try to taste them at least?¡± I asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Look at them! They¡¯re really cute! Isn¡¯t that right Rin?!¡± Olivia shouted.


    ¡°Umm, I¡¯ve eaten those before, they¡¯re really delicious. We made stew one time and I ate it for two days.¡± Rin said while slightly embarrassed.


    Olivia stared in shock at the betrayal of her friend while Iughed at the revtion.


    ¡°How could you eat them?!¡± Olivia starts to tear up.


    ¡°They eat their babies though.¡± I said tly.


    ¡°Um, What?!¡± The sisters shouted in surprise.


    ¡°Derek, back me up on this one?¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s true, they actually do sometimes. We usually kill them immediately if they do that since it would be no use in breeding them.¡± He exined.


    ¡°I think I can¡¯t eat anymore.¡± His daughter Demi said.


    ¡°Yeah, cook them whatever. I suddenly don¡¯t care anymore.¡± Charlotte suddenly chimed in while Chris scratches his head helplessly.


    ¡°But the ones who took care of their young are left alive so we could have more of them in the future.¡± I added. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m having mixed feelings now. AHHHH!!!¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°That¡¯s one of the reasons I told you to just name one.¡± I added.


    ¡°That¡¯s a good lesson for everyone now, right kid?¡± Oscar said.


    Everyone continued eating though I could feel Olivia¡¯s re on me. I feel a prickly feeling in my back as I eat from her look. Everyone was eating lightheartedly as we soon finished the food on our tes. We cleared the tables and then we gathered around for our daily meeting.


    ¡°Okay everyone good work today. Goals are reached and we¡¯re steadily clearing the right side of this ce. By tomorrow, we could reach the end of the road into the canal system. The group going out tomorrow should be ready since we¡¯ll be passing the small squatter area and visibility there is bad because of the chained houses all around. We would be passing thest few houses with the lights on them and we¡¯ll check the ce out to recruit them to join our ranks.¡± I said.


    ¡°Ken, do we have a status on the mob? Or even the DDR camp?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Uhh, still no sign of the mob anywhere, they might have gone to a different road and hopefully they avoid this ce for now. The DDR camp that you asked me to keep in contact with has now a few civilians leaving the ce.¡± he said.


    ¡°Why? Did something happen?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The captain there said that a few of them went back to their houses to grab a few more supplies or some things that the camp doesn¡¯t have but only a few came back. The soldiers are still trying to keep order in the ce so they didn¡¯t bother on checking out those who went missing.¡± he added.


    ¡°No one wandered back here though.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Unc, update on the shack?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, ah we finished on dismantling the shack and the bridge and I found out in the end part of it that there¡¯s a small water source that is connected to the canal system. We could set up a small irrigation with the help of our engineer here. He told me that we¡¯d only need a few sacks of soil to cover most of the plot ofnd if we n to make an irrigation system on the farm that we were gonna build.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°How are we on food and other supplies?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re still gaining more even if we eat like we usually do. Most of the sourcees from your scavenging runs and we made a few harvests on the greenhouse and on the barn. We will start on breeding the fishes on the fish ponds and we could already harvest a few fishes from there. Jo and his family started on making salted eggs from the chickens so it couldst a lot longer and the milk from the goats are also preserved and some of them are being turned to cheese or butter. In our increasing numbers, the plot ofnd being turned into a farm for produce is vital.¡± Rin reported.


    ¡°That¡¯s great guys. After we secure this ce, I¡¯ll start on teaching sses for you guys. It could bebat training by using ranged weapons, hand-to-hand or closebat weapons. While we are here, try to learn from others whatever skill you could find useful. Charlotte is good with nts and Derek is good with animals. There¡¯s a lot of people here that could teach you various things even from watching them work. Any questions?¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯m still doing the watch duty for all three shifts as a self-inflicted punishment, though the schedule is set, I still would want to do it. Can the schedule be changed?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t beat yourself up man, we all make mistakes. I¡¯m gonna need you well-rested for tomorrow. You¡¯d just get bitten in the face if something walks toward you if you¡¯re sleepy.¡± I said.


    He looks at the ground but he nodded at me afterwards.


    ¡°Can wee with you guys tomorrow?¡± Nicole and Alicia asked.


    ¡°Sure, but you need to stay in the back row, you¡¯ve only been trained for a day and I don¡¯t want misfires happening while we¡¯re scouting the ce.¡± I said.


    No one asked any questions afterwards and I checked the clock it¡¯s 7:51 PM. Still plenty of time to work out. So, I went to the gym with a few others and afterwards I headed to my armory to clean the guns we¡¯ve used today and to do a routine check-up on everything. I disassembled the guns we¡¯ve used and I started cleaning inside the barrels and wiping of dirt and carbon residue from using it. Kaley knocked at the door and I taught her how to operate and maintain some of them. Rin and Olivia also followed to watch another movie from my room.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna do this every night huh?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°We¡¯ll you have the best ce to do it in so, yeah!¡± Olivia remarked.


    ¡°Wait a few minutes yeah? Kaley and I are still gonna clean a few more handguns.¡± I said.


    The two just looked curiously at the guns and they started on asking us two a few questions about them. We answered everything they threw as they nodded with each answer and exnation. Rin was more interested at my katana on the rack so I let her hold it while Olivia is just curious on how guns work but she said that she¡¯s scared on operating them. Zeus just darts his eyes to whoever was speaking and he would asionally add on the conversation by barking and woofing.


    *click*


    ¡°That¡¯s thest of it right?¡± Kaley asks.


    ¡°Yeah, thanks for helping me.¡± I said.


    She ces thest Glock in the case and then we positioned ourselves in front of the TV while I yed a random movie from my hard drive. We all snuggled in our nkets and the movie started to y. It was a romanticedy movie with A.Sandler.


    We left the opening credits running for a while and then I ran down to make some hot chocte for everyone with a few soft biscuits so It won¡¯t crunch when we bite into it.


    It already started for a few minutes right before I got up. Kaley and I just held hands under the nkets as we enjoy the movie. The movie concluded right before we finished the snacks I brought up. Right before I ce them down at the kitchen, Oliva said, ¡°Hey you two, we know what¡¯s been going on for a while now¡­¡±


    ¡°We both decided that we would bunk together and the both of you could be in your room from now on¡­¡± Rin added.


    Kaley and I just looked at each other though we both blushed and smiled. <hr>


    ¡°C¡¯mon now, don¡¯t make it sound like I¡¯m leaving you, we can stay the same way as it is. He¡¯s just in another room¡­ alright?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Umm, what we mean is that if we continue to growrger in numbers, we might need more room for everyone. I already feel kinda guilty that I have a room for myself.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°Who said we¡¯re running out of room? Once we cleared the ce, we could have houses for everybody.¡± I said.


    ¡°But why are some of them bunking in the same room with like 4 or 7 people?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°I think that the reason a few families here are bunking in one room is that they feel safer with close proximity with each other. Like when you¡¯re watching a horror film with family members, it makes it bearable if you can¡¯t before.¡± I added.


    ¡°Umm, Sky, if you don¡¯t mind me asking, where is your family? You know¡­ your mom and dad?¡± Olivia reluctantly asked.


    *clench*


    ¡°Olivia!¡± Kaley shouted while Olivia flinches.


    ¡°Oh.¡± My arm throbbed and I think the look on my face scared the three of them. It seems that they can¡¯t breathe properly because the air got suddenly heavy. I was just staring at a nk space and not moving.


    I remembered.


    The scream, the blood, the smile, and the quiet.

 Chapter 48

    Chapter 48: 48


    I clenched my hand so hard, my nails started to pierce my skin. The blood flows through my hands and it dripped through the sheets. I feel my vision haze and I almost heard nothing. <center></center><hr>


    After an unknown time, I just felt a hand trying to stop the bleeding from my hand. It was Kaley.


    We both were just alone in the room and she is putting something in my hand. She proceeded to bandage it and she positioned my head to face her. She seems to be calling me but I could barely hear her.


    ¡°Sky? Sky! SKY!¡±


    *SLAP*


    My expression returned to normal and I saw her looking very worried at me. I saw the bandage in my hand and I saw Rin and Olivia peeking from the door.


    ¡°Come here.¡± I said to them.


    They flinched and Kaley looked at me. <center></center><hr>


    When Olivia entered, she said, ¡°Sky, I¡¯m very so-¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I said.


    ¡°Huh?¡± she replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for scaring all of you. I just remembered something unpleasant.¡± I said.


    ¡°Are you ok Sky?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good for now.¡± I replied


    ¡°No, I-I shouldn¡¯t have said anything¡­¡± she said as she looks down about to cry. <hr>


    ¡°No, it¡¯s ok. I really should be getting this out of me. Keeping it bottled would make it worse like Oscar said. Can you guys just listen to me for a while? It would help me a lot. I already told the story to some people and it eases the heaviness I feel here.¡± I said as I tap my temple with my index finger and middle finger.


    They all nodded and sat in front of me and then I began to speak.


    ¡°It¡¯s the day I lost both my parents¡­¡± I started.


    All of them stared at me in surprise and Kaley¡¯s giving me a look that a question from her mind got answered.


    ¡°Exactly 5 years, 2 months and 16 days. Remember the ce where we burn the bodies in the corner? See on the other corner the 3-story house with a stainless gate? That¡¯s where I used to live.¡±


    ¡°We had a lot of dogs before, 14 of them, none of them were trained though. Every time someone woulde in the door or would just pass by, they would make a lot of noise. That day, I thought it was just a few bystanders talking really loud outside that¡¯s why the dogs were so noisy, turns out, a f.u.c.k.i.n.g drug addict got too high on psychedelics and started making a ruckus outside.¡±


    ¡°He jumped towards our garage and he broke the door there to get in. He might¡¯vee to the kitchen first and grabbed my mom¡¯s knife. All of our dogs were mutted since most of them were Shih Tzus, we only had 2 big ones and even though they managed to take a bite off that guy¡¯s shoulder, he still managed to kill them. We just found the pile of their bodies sprawled out on the first floor after everything was over.¡± <hr>


    Olivia starts to cry while Rin has her hands on her mouth. Kaley went to my side and hugged me.


    ¡°My dad then went outside his room to check the ce, wondering what¡¯s themotion is about. I just stayed inside the room minding my own business since I thought it would be the same as any other day the dogs made noise. I thought it was over when the barking stopped. I just heard the door mming really hard and I heard my mom scream. I grabbed whatever is closest to me and I rushed outside.¡±


    I paused for a minute and then I continued.


    ¡°A guy was on top of my dad, smiling maniacally and shouting, ¡®I WOULD KILL ALL OF YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G DEMONS!!!¡¯ and all I hear was the knife getting stabbed over and over and my dad wincing every time it gets pulled out. My mom tried to shoot the guy with my dad¡¯s gun but she doesn¡¯t know how to even use it, it just clicks and nothing happened. The guy just smiled wildly and then he shed the knife and it hit my mom¡¯s neck. It must¡¯ve hit an artery since the blood just flowed like a waterfall. Blood hits my eye and I just cked out, my body just¡­moved.¡±


    ¡°I just came to my senses when my aunt is wiping my body with a towel. A lot of people are outside and I saw the light from a police car and an ambnce ring. I was outside sitting on the stairs to my house with a few figures covered in sheets lying on the ground where blood seeps out in a few ces. I saw a cop speaking to me but her words are inaudible. I just looked at her lips and what I deciphered was ¡®Put the weapon down!''¡±


    I looked at the rack where my tachi was supposed to be and then I looked back at them.


    ¡°Iid the tachi on the ground and I looked at my bleeding arm. My left eye was also seeing red since there was a cut on my eyebrow. It was on the news for a while but we said to never reveal our names. I even had no recollection what I did until I watched the CCTV footage until I remembered everything. I killed 6 people with my tachi.¡± <hr>


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley looked at me.


    ¡°Yeah, what happened was I drew my de and I hesitated at the first strike. I managed to cut him but it¡¯s too shallow. I made a diagonal sh from his shoulder to his abdomen but it was just the flesh getting sliced, not the bone. He managed to slice my arm a few times before I cut his arm off. I even tried to talk to the guy, asking him why did he do it, he just smiled and continued chanting his gibberish. He threw a vase at my face and he ran outside. I chased after him not even noticing that all our pets are dead. Some of his own family members that was looking for him saw his state and me chasing after him, so one of them smashed a bottle at my head by throwing it. The rest of them pulled out knives and rushed towards me, I held the tachi with both hands and I moved, one sh for each one. The five of them were bisected and the guy who broke into my house died of losing too much blood.¡±


    They flinched when they heard what I did.


    ¡°People would just practice a gun or a sword or even martial arts for a hobby or just for protection as we always say, but that was the time I used what I learned for its intended purpose¡­to kill. It was all a blur; I never would have believed that I did it if I didn¡¯t get to see myself doing it in front of the monitor. A few days after, I was acquitted by the supreme court and was let go. My uncles almost smacked the shit of the family members of the ones I¡¯ve killed there that said I should be locked forever.¡±


    ¡°What?! That¡¯s stupid!¡± Rin was the one who bellowed.


    ¡°Well, that family is a really f.u.c.k.i.e.d up one. They¡¯re lucky that they didn¡¯t all rushed at me at the time. I would¡¯ve killed all of them on the spot. Using those substances must¡¯ve have melted a few synapses on their brain.¡± I said.


    ¡°After everything was settled, I decided to take a break from everything. So, I left the country and tried to ease my mind. I met a lot of new people in my travels and I changed a lot and I learned a lot of things I didn¡¯t before. A few years after that is when I met Oscar and we bought this ce after.¡± I concluded.


    I didn¡¯t even notice that tears are slowly flowing from my eyes as I speak, theirs too. The three gave me a hug and we justid in the side of the bed for a while.

 Chapter 49

    Chapter 49: 49


    The door opens and a figure carrying a case entered. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Holy shit kid! Are you starting a harem?!¡± Oscar eximed.


    We immediately dispersed and we sat downughing at his remark.


    ¡°What¡¯s up old man? Just told them the story.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, why aren¡¯t the three of you mounting him yet?¡± he joked.


    Kaley and Rin turned beet red while Olivia is oblivious to the joke. I threw a biscuit at him which actually hit him in the face.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?! I was just trying to lighten the mood. When he told me that, I had to bring him to a club! He¡¯s a slobbering mess but did he give you the look?¡± Oscar said.


    The three became silent as he said that.


    ¡°Hah! 40 years in the military, 40 years! It¡¯s like facing someone with a tank while you¡¯re holding a .22! I almost crapped my pants when I saw him.¡± he eximed.


    I gave a faint smile and I wiped the tears on Kaley¡¯s face.


    ¡°Anyway, kid! The president wants to talk to you.¡± He said.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± Everyone in the room shouted. <center></center><hr>


    I fell off the bed from what he said. He handed me the satellite phone and I answered when it rang.


    ¡°Hello? This is Sky Ishiyama, to whom am I speaking to?¡± I said politely.


    ¡°Yo! This is Rod! The President!¡± I heard from the other line.


    ¡°Rod? What the f.u.c.k?! Why¡¯s he so casual?!¡± I said to myself.


    The rest are hearing a bit from the speakers and they are bbergasted as well except for Oscar. Well, he¡¯s been speaking to him for a while.


    ¡°Hello~? You still on the line kid? Call me Rod too, Oscar there told me about your situation there and I¡¯m pretty impressed. I¡¯d give you an honorary rank If I could, but I¡¯m too far from you. Good job on starting small, anyway, I¡¯ve sent someone on your location. She¡¯ll arrive there tomorrow; you can tell her whatever you want and she¡¯ll do it without question. Be ready though.¡± He said.


    ¡°Umm, I-¡±


    ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s it for now, bye!¡± he said abruptly.


    *click*


    ¡°What?!¡± we four eximed.


    ¡°Is that really the president?¡± I looked at Oscar.


    ¡°Weird huh? He surprised me too, I thought I was talking to a surfer dude. What he didn¡¯t mention on the broadcast is that a few more countries like the UK, China, Russia and Germany managed to send a few of their people around the globe. They¡¯ve sent a unit to them and they are tasked with monitoring the situation on the front lines.¡± He said. <hr>


    ¡°So, something like a special unit? How did you even convince the president to send us a person like that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Forgetting my old rank kid? I still have some connections in the army so I told him about it. I also learned from your silver tongue and must¡¯ve fibbed a bit to make us look good. What¡¯sing is the real deal though.¡± He said.


    I nodded. ¡°That would be a great addition to our fighters. Aside from me, you, Jared, Kaley and Jenny, we¡¯re the only ones who could hold a gun properly. I¡¯ve started on training some of them though they¡¯re still at the beginner¡¯s level. What¡¯s her nationality though?¡± I said.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t say though, what do you guess?¡± he said.


    ¡°No idea, what¡¯s important is that she¡¯s here to help even if she has a hidden agenda. We¡¯ll use her as she uses us.¡± I said frankly.


    ¡°Think she would be a spy kid?¡± he said.


    ¡°Maybe, we just need to be wary.¡± I said.


    ¡°Won¡¯t she be dangerous then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°What do you mean? I¡¯m here though?¡± I said confidently.


    ¡°Wow.¡± She mouthed. However, she smiled cheekily.


    ¡°On a serious note, we just need to keep our outmost attention on her but we still need to treat her as our own. We have amon enemy here. If she has something bad nned for our country, she would¡¯ve just killed the president and it¡¯s done, this country just crumbles.¡± I said with a pensive look. <hr>


    Oscar nodded and he said, ¡°No use mulling over it tonight kid, we¡¯ll find out tomorrow. Here!¡± he throws me a pair of keys and he drags a huge case at my door.


    I gave a confused look but he said, ¡°That¡¯s the key to the M134, you think I wouldn¡¯t notice you lovebirds?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re really giving that? I never agreed to the wager though and I think you¡¯ll just make some BS reason to keep it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! I would, but I swore on my wife kid!¡± he said.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Olivia asked.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been working tirelessly for this guy here to be with someone permanently but he seemed to be waiting for someone! I¡¯ve only managed to get him with somebody when he¡¯s piss drunk or when I knock him out.¡± He said with his hands up like he has no choice.


    ¡°Wait, you¡¯ve knocked me out before?! When did that happen?!¡± I was surprised.


    ¡°You know¡­ pills, blunt-force trauma, Chloroform. Semantics. Anyways he told me the story of you two when I saw you at the airport and I said that I¡¯ll give him the minigun if you guys became together. I did saw you guys locking arms at Andrew¡¯s ce.¡± He exined to Kaley.


    She blushes but then she red at me. ¡°Did you just use me to get a gun?!¡± she said.


    ¡°No! We¡¯re already¡­you know, when he told me, he didn¡¯t know at that time. Anyway, just keep it! I just like how it looks but I call it a waste of ammo¡­¡± I trailed as I threw the key back at him.


    He suddenly exploded.


    ¡°Kid?! What the fu-! AHHH!!!¡± he shouted more unintelligible terms until he calmed down. <hr>


    ¡°Hahaha! It¡¯s too much man, I¡¯m not the Terminator! But you know what I think? We could ask Raphael to mount it on top of your SUV!¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Too much?! It¡¯s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g weapon of destruction! ¡­wait. That sounds like a great idea! We¡¯ll make it detachable and it could be turned by a guy manning it! Betty is bulletproof and it¡¯s gonna be a mobile fortress! Hahaha! Your words kid! It¡¯s mounted on my car so the gun is still mine!¡± he shouted while he started to drag the gun back down.


    ¡°This old man is so noisy sometimes; I wish I could ce a suppressor on him.¡± I said.


    Theyughed and Kaley asked, ¡°Does he really have a minigun?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, he checks it every day before he sleeps. Kind of like his sleeping ritual.¡± I said.


    ¡°Are we gonna sleep now? There¡¯s too much that happened this night¡­ I¡¯m exhausted yet I still have energy¡­¡± Olivia said weakly. The two also nodded at that thought.


    ¡°Wait a minute, I have an idea¡­¡± I grabbed a chair and then I tried to grab a box from the top of one of my cabs. I grabbed a small device and I hooked it on the TV and I turned on theptop, the three saw what I brought out from the box and their eyes lit up.


    I waved the remote and I passed a book towards them. ¡°So, who¡¯s going first?¡± I said.


    The three looked at each other and they pointed at me. ¡°You sing first Sky!¡± Olivia shouted.


    I gave a sigh of helplessness and then I flipped through the pages of the song book as Iy down the microphone. As I began to browse to the pages Kaley tapped me. ¡°Umm Sky, I forgot to ask, is this room also umm, soundproof? Because you know¡­ it might disturb people when you know¡­ we sing.¡± she said as her face gives me a look and I understood what she¡¯s implying.


    ¡°Yes, of course. Not only would it attract zombies, it could also disturb the others sleeping if this room is not soundproof. I had this room modified so it could be turned off or on at will, If I recall correctly, the tech is stic tubes that retracts and detracts with a push of a button It does all the work needed. It¡¯s a pretty cool thing its¡­¡± I exined as I assured her then she nodded silently after she blushes.

 Chapter 50

    Chapter 50: 50


    I finally picked a local song and I sang my heart out. Theyughed at the few off-beats that I made. I took lessons but it doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯ve learned all of them perfectly. We each took turns as we let the time pass quickly, a few songs after and we¡¯re all exhausted from the singing and I saw Kaley¡¯s eyes dropping slowly. We decided to sleep now as I helped them to their rooms. Morninges quickly as I was woken by Zeus licking my face. <center></center><hr>


    Day 5


    ¡°Morning Zeus, you just came in huh? I forgot to close the door huh? Come here.¡± I said as I pulled him to a hug. His tail still wags as I hug him closely. I looked at the time and it reads 6:00 AM. Like clockwork my radio buzzed.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sky? You up? Ady is here. She said she was sent here, hello?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh right, this is An.¡±


    *bzzt*


    I answered the radio and I said I¡¯ming down. I equipped my usual loadout and I headed down with Zeus. I walked up the catwalk and I saw a HUMVEE outside the fence though it¡¯s painted ck. A woman older than me by a few years, with an athletic figure, long legs, blonde hair on a bob haircut with blue eyes, dressed in a leather jacket, camo pants and tactical boots is standing outside just staring at me from below.


    ¡°It appears that you are Sky, correct?¡± she said.


    ¡°Russian?¡± I said to myself as I detect a faint ent.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s me. You are?¡± I said.


    ¡°Smirnov, Tatiana Smirnov.¡± she said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Ishiyama, Sky Ishiyama.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Very well, can Ie in Mr. Ishiyama?¡± she asks.


    ¡°Sure, wait a while yeah?¡± I said as I walked over the fence to open it so that her vehicle could pass through. She parked her HUMVEE perfectly and she takes a quick look around the ce and her eyesnded at me.


    ¡°You are the leader here, correct?¡± she asks.


    ¡°Yeah, I-¡± before I even get to finish my sentence, I saw a heeling towards me. I saw her lifting up from the ground then she spun around, kicking with her right heel.


    *whoosh*


    I leaned my head backwards and dodged it though I feel a gust of wind from it.


    ¡°That¡¯s full force!¡± I said to myself.


    After shended, I made a sweep with my foot but she quickly somersaulted forwards and her foot is aiming for my head. I quickly rolled sideways while I lifted myself with my hand as I make a diagonal slice from below with my leg.


    *swish*


    She bends her body in an impossible angle as she dodges the slice. She followed up with an elbow from my left side while I countered with a right straight. I caught her elbow with my left hand while she tilted her head as I scratched the tip of her ear. She gives a grin and I saw her right knee going straight through my groin. I was about to block the blow with my right knee but she suddenly jumped and she wrapped her body on my right arm and her legs locked on my neck while holding tightly on my fist.


    ¡°F.u.c.k!¡± I eximed in my head.


    She hung on my body as she began to try to straighten my arm to lock it so I had no choice but to flex my arms hard to prevent it from happening. We held the position for a moment as we lock into each other¡¯s eyes. I began to push her with my weight towards the ground. She¡¯s slowly losing the strength-check so she let go and then she stands with her hands and she twisted it hard so that her legs would perform a motion of a helicopter with four kicks. I jumped back to gain some distance and I stretched my sore arm while she stands in position. She¡¯s just grinning at me from the distance. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯ll show you something¡­¡± I said with a grin.


    I lifted my fists up in an orthodox position while my legs are nted on the ground. She quickly moves in and when she¡¯s close to the range of my right foot, I did something that she did not expect.


    If you¡¯re on the orthodox position, theoretically, people would think that your weight is on the left side if you¡¯re going to kick with your right foot. So, I led her in thinking that. As she thinks she¡¯s still out of range with my right, I shifted the weight to the other side of my foot in a way that¡¯s unnoticeable and kicked with my left.


    *knock*


    A quick upwards kick hit the tip of her chin cleanly and she started to wobble after a few seconds, it won¡¯t do much physical harm like a bruise but it would definitely knock you out by rattling your brain. After a moment, the stance she held was broken and she fell to the ground unconscious. I sat down as I was exhausted and not expecting that fight out of the blue.


    ¡°That¡¯s why he said ¡®be ready¡¯.¡± I remembered the words of the president from the call yesterday.


    The people watching us just managed to exhale as they were holding their breaths the whole time.


    ¡°Damn, kid. What did you do?!¡± Oscar runs towards her and he tries to wake her up.


    He opened a small bottle and he let her breathe it in. Once she opened her eyes, she tensed and quickly looked around. She saw me sitting on the ground with a smile as I wave at her. She gives herself a disappointed look as she looked at the ground.


    ¡°I apologize for attacking without warning, I just wanted to make sure I¡¯m in the hands of a capable fighter and a strong leader. You¡¯re also in the Army, correct?¡± she said.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Ah, Navy?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± <hr>


    ¡°I see, Marines?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°CIA?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°MI6?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°¡­ Where are you from then?¡± she asks curiously


    ¡°No military affiliation, I¡¯m just a civilian. Oscar there is a veteran though, US Military. I did have basic training for half a year.¡± I exined.


    She looked at me in shock. She checked my face if it would change expression or would end a long joke but nothing.


    ¡°No, you must be kidding, correct?¡± she still tried to confirm.


    ¡°Incorrect, I¡¯m not kidding at all but thank you for thepliment.¡± I said with a straight face.


    ¡°Impossible! The way you moved! I can¡¯t even remember how I got knocked out. Secret Service?¡± she confirmed again.


    ¡°Hah! It¡¯s possible to be just a regr guy though, I just trained a few things here and there and I assure you I¡¯m not whatever you think I am. It would be really cool if I am though.¡± I said while I scratch my head. <hr>


    She¡¯s still holding doubts in her mind but I just smiled and I helped her stand up by offering a hand. She gave a firm grip though her blue eyes just keeps on scanning me.


    ¡°She really thinks I¡¯m from somewhere, I¡¯ll just have some fun with it.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Army? Russia, right?¡± I said as I let go of her hand.


    ¡°Correct. We came from a ship; the rest of the team were mainly dispatched in your other ind group while a few of us we¡¯re deployed here.¡± She said.


    ¡°I see, how many of your team are in this region?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We are four in here, one of us is sent to scout the camps that are running while two are tasked to infiltrate the camps that have gone AWOL. I was however, sent to this ce, themander-in-chief said I will be apanying a person from a special unit where a person named Sky is in charge. The rest of the group is in Davao City.¡± She exined.


    ¡°What do you think of the ce so far?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s different. I thought of a more militaristic or covert base but this ce feels like¡­ a home.¡± She said.


    ¡°I did tell you I¡¯m a civilian, so, why did they send you here? Any missions? Goals? We could help if you tell us.¡± I said.


    ¡°Umm, your president actually told me to follow your orders sir, he said to do anything that you asked and never leave your sight. He said that you¡¯d know what to do.¡± She said with a straight face with a hint of concern.


    She can¡¯t see Oscar but he¡¯s giving a look that he won from a lottery. I really do hope that she could be an ally. The rest finally woke up and I saw my aunt signaling me that the food is ready.


    I looked at Tatiana and I said, ¡°Okay then, first order of the day¡­¡±

 Chapter 51

    Chapter 51: 51


    She straightened her posture and she looked at me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°e eat with us! You must be tired. I¡¯ll introduce you to everybody.¡± I continued.


    Her body rxes and I saw her tired face, she must¡¯ve been driving for a few days. As I walk towards the pool area where we eat, I noticed that she¡¯s keeping a distance of exactly an arm¡¯s length behind me.


    ¡°Great. I have a chaperone now.¡± I said sarcastically in my head.


    The restes to eat and they all gave surprised looks at her. I introduced her to everyone and the kids are starting to circle over her.


    ¡°Wow~ Sky! Her hair is gold! So pretty!¡± Aya said.


    The other kids also eximed as they pointed at her.


    ¡°It¡¯s called blonde.¡± I said while Aya slowly nodded.


    I handed her a te and even though she was about to refuse, the growl on her stomach says it all. She blushes for a moment as she epts the te.


    Kaley is next to me though she gives a weird expression.


    For our breakfast, we have scrambled eggs with eggnts and banana ketchup for the dipping sauce. It is paired with fermented fish paste and eaten over rice. They also made coffee for everyone.


    Kaley nudged at me to look at Tatiana and we were both amused. She ate very voraciously, a strong contrast from her look and her name. My aunt happily gave her seconds which Tatiana also devoured. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Did she have no food on the way?¡± I said to myself.


    She looked at me and she said, ¡°Is this all of you?¡±


    ¡°No, we have more people still on their own houses. We¡¯re gonna clear thest stretch today so we could focus on rebuilding the ce. We¡­¡± I told her the n and she listened very attentively.


    As we finished eating, I said, ¡°Rest for an hour guys two teams of threeter will head inside while four people stays at the road. First team will be me, Kaley and Tatiana. Second will be Oscar, Mark and Jared. The people waiting at the road will be Jenny, Dong, Zardon and Arnel.¡±


    ¡°An, get Nicole and Alicia. Have them take Jenny¡¯s ce for watch today. Just radio in if anything happens. Tell them they can¡¯te today since we need more people guarding here.¡± I concluded.


    Russel raised his hand then he said, ¡°Dad said I cane with you guys today.¡±


    I looked at my uncle and he nodded.


    ¡°Okay, stay with the group on the road. The squatter area has tight spaces and we need to move with a small number inside while a few stays back at the road in case something happens. The houses there are just built very randomly and with very light material so watch your step and always keep your eyes open. Rest up yeah?¡± I said as I finish my cup of coffee.


    Raphael walked towards me and he said, ¡°Bro, Oscar said you have some work for me?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, can you mount an M134 to that SUV over there? We¡¯d like it toe up from the roof window and could be attached and detached at will. Also, Oscar said that he¡¯d like the guy to be manning the gun to be able to turn but I¡¯m asking if it would be possible to be operated from the driver¡¯s side so it could rotate 360¡ã?¡± I said.


    His eyes widened but he ces his hand under his chin and he began to think. ¡°It¡¯s theoretically possible but I¡¯d need more data let me see the gun and the SUV first, measure the dimensions and make a blueprint for it to see if it¡¯s feasible. It¡¯s gonna take a few days but it¡¯s possible if we have all the tools. I¡¯ll make a n for it first bro, okay?¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s great, tell me if you need anything.¡± I patted his back.


    I then looked for Tatiana and I saw her a few feet behind me. She seemed to have finished eating and she¡¯s awaiting her next set of orders.


    ¡°Tatiana, you could pick anywhere you wish to stay, we still have a few rooms avable.¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay sir, I¡¯d like to stay closest to your room as much as possible for your security.¡± She said.


    ¡°Oh, okay then, it¡¯s safe here though. Can you bunk with someone?¡± I said.


    She nodded.


    I looked for Rin while Tatiana followed close. I saw her still eating with Olivia and Kaley as they talk. I approached them and I said, ¡°Hey Rin, we¡¯re talking about our room assignments. You said yesterday-¡°. Then she cuts me.


    ¡°Of course, Sky, I-¡± she agreed already so I cut her too. Yeah, I¡¯m still immature after everything else.


    ¡°It¡¯s decided then, Tatiana will bunk with you.¡± I concluded.


    *choke*


    ¡°Ghrk!¡± I saw Rin choke on her food and then she began to cough. Olivia handed her a cup of water and she began to stabilize. <hr>


    Rin looked at Tatiana and then at me. Tatiana gave an understanding look and she said, ¡°I understand if you¡¯re scared of me from what you¡¯ve seen earlier. I just did that to test him.¡±


    ¡°Well if you say so, we could I guess.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°Okay, that settles it, I¡¯ll be in the first room Kaley and Olivia in the second-¡± I said as I was cut again.


    ¡°Sorry for interrupting, but I suggest to be next to your room.¡± She interrupted.


    ¡°Why though?¡± Kaley asks, she seems to be a bit annoyed.


    ¡°Orders from the higher ups. I must ensure the survival of the person named Sky. Any threat to his life must be dealt with ordingly. Also, I¡¯ve sworn to carry his burdens and follow his everymand.¡± She exined.


    ¡°Then why do you keep on interrupting me?¡± I said in my head and I still sense that she¡¯s hiding something from that sentence.


    ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll stay in Sky¡¯s room, you at the next one then my sister and Rin on the third, happy?¡± Kaley said as her annoyance is slightly showing in her voice.


    Tatiana looked at her from her head to her toes and she said, ¡°That works for me, are you his partner then?¡±


    ¡°Yes! I am! Are you interested in him?!¡± she silently shouted.


    Tatiana was taken aback and I said to myself, ¡°Why is she getting jealous now?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Miss Kaley, you must understand, your partner is a good-looking man, strong too and very intelligent, but I don¡¯t interfere with anybody¡¯s business until I was told to. Also, just an FYI, I¡¯m not interested in a romantic rtionship with anyone though I go both ways with the flesh.¡± She gave a smile and she winked at Rin.


    Kaley calmed down for the moment though she blushed at the remark while Rin is red through her neck.


    ¡°Just as I suspected.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I believe this to be a fine arrangement and I hope we get along really well, well some of you I hope much closer.¡± She said.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I hope to get closer to you too.¡± Olivia said.


    Tatiana¡¯s eyebrows raised and she patted her shoulder, ¡°Youngss I think you¡¯re getting the wrong idea.¡±


    Realization dawned on Olivia then she began to be silent, though her eyes are wide open.


    I looked at Kaley and her lips are pursed to a smile and I¡¯m not sure at what she¡¯s thinking. Rin guided her to her room and I helped on bringing some of her gear up and I cleared a cab for Kaley.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re sharing the same room huh?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, I snore though just a heads up.¡± I said.


    ¡°I know, I move around a lot. I might hit you; I doubt you could dodge them in your sleep.¡± She said with a smile.

 Chapter 52

    Chapter 52: 52


    ¡°Hah! You saw that earlier eh? Want me to teach you? It¡¯s gonna be tough though.¡± I exined. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sure, that looks really cool. This tanto too, I¡¯ve never used it and I don¡¯t know how to use it like you did.¡± She said as she draws it.


    She handed it to me and I yed with it. I spun it around my hands and I let it snake through my fingers. She just looked at wonder then I gave it back to her by sliding it in the sheath in her hip.


    *clink*


    ¡°Let¡¯s strap up, you could bring the AR out now.¡± I said as I opened the door to the locker.


    She finished on moving her stuff and she left her M70 inside while she slung the AR on her shoulders. I handed her an extra clip for it and her M9.


    I contemted on bringing another AR but I just brought more magazines for the Glock. We went to the next room and I knocked.


    ¡°Come in.¡± I heard from the other side.


    When I turned the handle and pushed the door, her back was facing us as she was slowly lifting her pants up. I caught a glimpse of her panties as she pulled her pants up and I noticed multiple scars and a huge tattoo on her back.


    ¡°Gunshot wounds and scars? That tattoo? Isn¡¯t that? Hmm¡­¡± I said to myself.


    She faced us with her bare chest and though they¡¯re smaller, you could see how fit she is based on the contours of her muscles.


    ¡°Hey!¡± Kaley pulled me away.


    ¡°Oh, Miss Kaley, It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t mind, I¡¯m prettyfortable with my body.¡± She said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s not the point! Cover yourself next time!¡± Kaley eximed.


    I heard a shirt being worn so I stepped near the door again. She¡¯s wearing Ker and I inspected to see the weapons in her case that is open.


    She has a variety of them, each one is different from the other but she picked up an M4 Benelli shotgun, an FN Five Seven pistol and abat knife.


    ¡°I believe this is enough for the mission, correct?¡± she said.


    ¡°Correct, though I have an order that you should follow at all times. Don¡¯t just protect me, protect her too and everyone else¡¯s life here. In return, we¡¯ll do the same to you.¡± I looked at her straight in the eye.


    She has a solemn expression though I saw a smile slowly forming in her lips.


    ¡°Thanks, I appreciate that. But I still would prioritize your life over everyone else here.¡± She said.


    ¡°Why me though? Is there a reason?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Is that really a question? You¡¯re the one who runs this ce, you¡¯re their leader and you want me to treat each of your lives as equal? If you¡¯re gone, they all are. To be frank, I get that you would want everyone to be safe but when the timees that you would need to make a decision over which life is more important than another is when we¡¯ll see if¡­¡± she trailed and she stopped speaking.


    ¡°If what?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°I know what she means, or an idea of it. One of the roles in being a leader is making the hard decisions. It¡¯s a huge headache actually. In my ideal world, I would like to save everyone and I want to be treated as an equal being with everyone else. The moment I decide which life is more important than another is the time the idea of being equal to one another in my ideal world is shattered. Doing that doesn¡¯t only mean that I have decided that there is a ranking in which lives are more important but that also makes you the life that is the most important since you¡¯re the leader who makes such decisions. It¡¯s hard to hold the ends of the ideal one and the realistic one, finding the trick to do it is very hard and this is just a simple analogy of it, it gets deeper and deeper the more variables are put in ce.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    The two were just staring at me.


    ¡°Umm, I was just about to say that if you don¡¯t make the hard choices, you won¡¯t be fit to be a leader. Turns out you have thought of it more than I did. It was always the choices that makes it difficult.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°I think I kind of understand what he means.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Do tell.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°In simple terms it¡¯s doing the best you can at the moment. Completely bringing the two states together will be next to impossible and short of being a paradox.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Realistically and frankly speaking I think that I¡¯m the most important chess piece here for now, Kaley¡¯s the Queen and everybody else has their own roles in the board. The reason that I want to protect and save everyone else is even if you call them pawns, all of them will have the potential to be other pieces when they evolve or reach the end of the board in chess terms. Another King could appear, we never know. It¡¯s almost an hour, we¡¯ll discuss more if you liketer.¡± I said as I looked at my watch.


    ¡°I understand your view, smooth calling her ¡®Queen¡¯ though, you just snuck it in there, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not wrong per say.¡± I said while grinning.


    Kaley gave me a slight jab while we head towards the gate with everyone.


    ¡°Before we leave, check your equipment first. We will be heading to thest part of this ce before the dead end, the canal system. Yesterday when we cleared the 2nd court even after all that noise, nothing came up from the squatter area or even from the radio station, that could mean that the sound was not carried that far, there were no zombies from that point on or some of them might still be stuck somewhere so we need to be careful when we enter that area. It will be small houses from left and right, my group will take the right while Oscar¡¯s group will take the left. The rest will stay at the road and serve as backup. We will be scanning around 15-20 houses strewn about and past that will be a few big houses where three of them might have people still living inside and after that is the canal system.¡±


    We started to walk outside while the rest continued on with their assigned tasks. We walked by the court, the fishing area, and the radio station. A few more minutes of walking by, we reached the squatter area. I pulled from my pocket four of the rms for cooking and set it on the ground while we wait for it to rang out. <hr>


    *countdown ticks*


    *ringing noises*


    After it rang for a while, we waited for a moment to see if there were any movements or soundsing from the area. I shouted after a while when nothing happened, I said ¡°If anyone is still living in here,e out now! We¡¯ll start on clearing the ce and we don¡¯t want to mistake you of being one of them if you suddenly pop out! I¡¯ll wait a minute and we¡¯ll head in!¡±


    Not even a few second passed before we heard rustling a few meters in front of us, the group tensed and readied their weapons. One¡­ Five¡­ Thirteen¡­ Twenty-Seven¡­ Forty-Two¡­ I never bothered to count when I counted past the answer to the ultimate question. There were a lot of them, we slowly backed away to prepare a proper formation on dealing with them. I counted the rounds I brought in my head and if I urately hit everything in sight, I would just have about enough.


    ¡°Shoot while we¡¯re slowly backing away. We¡¯ll kite them slowly but avoid shooting the ones near the edge to the fishing area, it might contaminate it. We¡¯ll slightly hug the right side of the road so that most of them will approach us while they walk away from the fishing areas. Do the honors Kaley.¡± I signaled.


    Oscar and Tatiana just looked at me and nodded while Kaley aimed and fired.


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew* <hr>


    *psshew*


    The suppressor helped a lot and she managed to shot down a few before the rest of the small herd notice what¡¯s happening. The zombies started on turning their heads towards us while some of them had started running while a few slowly paces towards us.


    ¡°Remember the trick yeah?¡± I said.


    We started to slowly retreat while a few let their guns loose. A few gunshots rang in the air while we slowly whittle them down. A few runners that got near got blown to bits by Oscar and Tatiana who were using shotguns. The rest are carefully aiming their pistols before they shoot. A few shots miss but it¡¯s understandable since they don¡¯t have real training though the same could not be said from the experienced ones.


    *BOOM*


    *BOOM*


    *Bang*


    *BOOM*


    *psshew*


    Every few gunshots we back away and reset the position, I told Kaley to aim for the ones farther to make them fall in a line and not in a clump when they approached. Everything is going smoothly¡­ then it happened.


    I saw three figures standing still and one of them started to make a running stance and then they all sprinted at break-neck speed.

 Chapter 53

    Chapter 53: 53


    *whoosh* <center></center><hr>


    *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap*


    The sounds of their feet hitting the ground is concerning. They began to close the distance and it would reach us in a few seconds. The rest were surprised seeing the gap get shorter at an rming rate and I shouted at everyone, ¡°AIM FOR THOSE THREE FIRST!!! DON¡¯T LET THEM GET NEAR!!!¡±


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k was that?!¡± a few shouted.


    ¡°KID?!¡± Oscar eximed


    ¡°JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHOOT!!!¡± I yelled.


    A few of the guys flinched but Kaley started taking shots while Tatiana and Oscar started to unload their guns on the ones approaching. The nearest one got peppered with bullets and it fell down immediately. The second one pushed a few zombies aside before it reached us but Oscar blew it¡¯s head off before it got close. I aimed for the third oneing close but when I squeezed the trigger, it tilted its head and I missed.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k?! Is that an irregr like in the bakery?! A Special-Irregr?!¡± I shouted in my head.


    What¡¯s more surprising is that it began to bob its head and it suddenly leapt towards Oscar with its knee first. He guarded with his shotgun but we heard a metal bending.


    *creak*


    *BOOM*


    Oscar fell down on the ground and Tatiana managed to blow it¡¯s head off before it shes its arm at Oscar. He¡¯s stillying down on the ground, awake and groaning but the rest of them are starting to get closer so I pulled my de with my left hand and ced a pistol on my right hand then I rushed forward.


    ¡°DRAG OSCAR AT THE BACK FIRST AND TAKE A LOOK AT HIM KALEY!!! TATIANA ON ME!!!¡± I shouted as I started a massacre, gunshots and shes could only be heard. Tatiana quickly followed and she also used her pistol because its rate of fire is faster than the shotgun while Jenny served as backup on the back with a few others. <center></center><hr>


    *shhck*


    *shhck*


    *sh*


    *bang*


    *BOOM*


    *chop*


    *slice*


    *bang*


    *bang*


    I kept on waving my wakizashi like there¡¯s no tomorrow and I¡¯ll only take a break when I hear the gun clicking empty. I would reload quickly and trade the position of the magazine in my hand and the one in my hip. I then would slide the action and continue on pulling the trigger when it¡¯s reloaded.


    *Bang*


    *Bang* <hr>


    *Bang*


    *Bang*


    *Bang*


    There were a few times where I would need to kick a few down since they are in a clump. I saw Mark swinging the fire axe down on the ones that I knocked down. We nodded at each other and I continued on. Jenny takes careful shots with her gun and she downs a few.


    The zombiesing in is shaped like a cone, we¡¯re slowly killing them while a few of the guys at the back take careful shots on the sides so they don¡¯t hit us three.


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    I heard the suppressed sound of the AR and I surmised that Oscar has been checked already and Kaley is already taking shots. The small herd began to get fewer and the slow ones are now left. I holstered the gun while the others also used their melee weapons to each one of the few remaining. I tried to flick the blood off the de after each kill since the blood on the grip is making me lose my hold on the weapon. Good thing that I ced it in my left since my right hand still has the wound from my nailsst night.


    ¡°I might need to clean this thoroughlyter.¡± I said to myself.


    *shhck*


    I pulled the de from thest one and I looked behind me. Bodies are strewn about and a pile of gore and bloody mess littered the road. Dismembered heads and arms coupled with bits I can¡¯t even recognize is the only thing you¡¯ll see. I ran towards Kaley and Oscar and I saw him sitting in the ground with a disgruntled expression,


    ¡°You good old man?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°See this kid?! The f.u.c.k.i.n.g runner broke it!¡± he bellowed as he raised the SPAS-12.


    ¡°More concerned of the gun than your life huh?¡± I said.


    ¡°Hah! If I was younger, I would¡¯ve shot the three first and would never have to block!¡± he eximed proudly.


    I looked at his shotgun and it was bent beyond repair. I tried to look for that zombie¡¯s body and I found itying sideways with a huge hole in his head. I looked at its knee and I called Oscar over.


    ¡°Damn, that thing lunged so hard its body couldn¡¯t take the damage.¡± Oscar said.


    Its knee is bent backwards and it¡¯s a mangled mess, good thing that the few bones that are jutting out never managed to reach Oscar¡¯s chest.


    ¡°You alright old man?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, good thing I blocked in time; it would¡¯ve torn a hole in my chest if I didn¡¯t. My hands felt the force of it and it¡¯s like getting hit with a sledgehammer. Damn shame on the gun though.¡± Oscar said while he opened his shirt to breathe a little easier.


    Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and we rested for a moment.


    Tatiana handed her shotgun over to Oscar as we pulled him up. His eyes lit up and he said, ¡°An Italian shotgun eh? I¡¯m starting to like you, thanks for the save earlier.¡± Tatiana just smiled and just reloaded her pistol.


    ¡°Could that be all of them?¡± my uncle asked.


    ¡°Maybe, but we still need to check every house. Be very careful and focus on the sprinters if you see one. Can you still lead the other group old man? Tatiana can take over for the time being.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! I¡¯ll break your bones if you wouldn¡¯t let me.¡± he said immediately.


    ¡°Hah! Says the one who almost got knocked out!¡± I retorted.


    The group gave augh and we started on slowly checking each house. Tatiana was in front while Kaley is in the middle, I guarded the rear in case they didn¡¯t notice anything from behind. We rattled a few doors, checked each corner and found a few zombies trapped inside a door but we easily killed them silently. I marked each door and I taught Tatiana on how each one works and she remembered them after a while. We took mostly an hour in checking from our side and when we meet the group in the road, they were all there just waiting for us.


    ¡°You kids done there? You took your sweet time there eh? Everything there is barren and we only found a few supplies worth taking. We could in the future dismantle all these materials for a better use since most of these was just hammered in.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Same on our side. We could do that gradually after we decide on the ce to put misceneous building materials.¡± I said.


    He nodded and Russel suddenly spoke, ¡°Hey, why aren¡¯t we going for the shops outside first? There would be a lot to take there right?¡±


    ¡°True, I n on going runs outside after this ce is secure.¡± I said.


    ¡°No, I mean we have thepound there, we should¡¯ve got more supplies outside after the broadcast, other people might¡¯ve taken some of the more important stuff.¡± he exined.


    I saw some of the guys nodding in agreement with Russel.


    ¡°That¡¯s true but there¡¯s a problem in doing that at that time. I think only Oscar and I could go outside on the time it hit.¡± I said.


    ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± I said.


    I drew my pistol and pointed it at Russel, he flinched and the group threw worried gazes at me.

 Chapter 54

    Chapter 54: 54


    ¡°Could you kill a living person then?¡± I gave them a chilling look as I say it. Although the gun is pointed at Russel, my trigger finger is in the trigger guard and the magazine ispletely empty since I¡¯ve counted how many I¡¯ve shot. <center></center><hr>


    They gulped and they stood still.


    ¡°If we go out there at that time, people will be mad on looting everything they could by any means possible. They would stab you for a can of sardines if that¡¯s what it takes. When I went out to pick up An, that¡¯s what exactly is happening on the way there. I¡¯m not saying that you can¡¯t do it, you might eventually if this thing goes on in the future. But let me tell you that the first one is the worst of all. Ask these two, they¡¯ve served, they¡¯re all too familiar with it.¡± I said as I holstered my gun.


    ¡°The kid¡¯s right, it sounds harsh but it¡¯s the truth. Killing these things is one thing but the living is another ballgame.¡± Oscar said.


    Tatiana just nodded and she seems to be mulling over something.


    ¡°But this group, if there everes a time you do it, make sure that it¡¯s quick and never hesitate.¡± I added.


    The group had serious expressions but then I started to walk forwards.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go now, yeah? Few more hours and it¡¯s lunch time.¡± I said as Kaley catches up to me.


    ¡°Are you ok?¡± she asks.


    ¡°Hmm? I¡¯m good. Got worried for a second for Oscar there but once I eat, I¡¯ll be good as new! Good shooting by the way.¡± I said as I smiled at her.


    She just bumps me with her shoulder as we walked for a while to reach some of the houses. <center></center><hr>


    Before we reached the first house, the gate opened and a person came out waving at us. He seems to be in his forties and he looks like a typical guy and we approached him.


    ¡°Oh my God! I can¡¯t thank you guys enough! We¡¯ve been meaning to leave but there¡¯s that small herd in that squatter area. We heard the gunshots and we saw you guys gunning them down, it¡¯s like an action movie I must say!¡± the man said. He has a certain softness in his voice and Kaley¡¯s look that she¡¯s giving me have just confirmed it.


    ¡°You¡¯re wee, if I may ask, where do you n to go?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Oh! We¡¯re going deep in the Bcan area, I lost contact with my family there and me and my partner are nning to go there. However, when we¡¯re about to head out on the 3rd day, we heard screams from the squatter area. We didn¡¯t want to risk it so we stayed inside our house but we can¡¯t leave. Thanks to you guys we can leave now.¡± he said as he ces his hand on his h.i.p.s.


    ¡°Where¡¯s your partner then?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°John~! Come outside they want to see you~ oh fudge how are my manners, I¡¯m Quinn.¡± he said as he shakes Kaley¡¯s hand while she introduces us.


    Another guy came out their ce while opening the whole gate. They have a small car and it¡¯s packed with different bags that you could see through the windows.


    ¡°You guys sure about leaving then? It¡¯s dangerous outside.¡± I asked them both.


    ¡°Oh, honey, thanks for worrying about us but we¡¯re good. We¡¯ll be going to a chicken farm my family owns.¡± he said.


    ¡°Okay then, we have built a fence near the 3rd road, just tell them that you¡¯ve already met me and you need to go outside. Look for An, he¡¯ll let you out. Do you at least have guns?¡± I said as Quinn pointed at her partner. <hr>


    We shook hands and we let them pass through. When they are very far, we entered their house and I opened the locks. They still have plenty of supplies here though there are no food and water left. I marked the door ordingly and we went to the next house. We went to three more houses that has no one in it and we processed them as well, we reached the second house that we suspect that still has people inside.


    It was a two-story house enveloped by a wall. Its lights are still on despite the time. I looked at the gate, it says ¡®Santino Family.¡¯


    ¡°You think they are still there?¡± Kaley asked.


    I pressed their doorbell a few times and I saw the curtain move. I was about to yell something out but I stopped when the curtain was suddenly pulled down. Two figures are in front of the window where the curtain was before and they are moving erratically. I then looked inside the gate to see if there is something hidden behind the gate just in case. There was nothing then I reached for the handle on the back of the gate to open it.


    We checked the perimeter inside the walls first and at the back of their house was a parked minivan with other mechanical tools. I then readied my de as I signaled for Dong to open the door after I picked it.


    *crash*


    *snarl*


    *growl*


    The door swung open and the two slowly walked outside while I quickly dispatched the first who came out and Tatiana the other. I knocked on the door a few times checking if any more woulde out. We entered the house and we checked each door. I then went upstairs to their bedrooms and I saw two of them.


    ¡°They have a kid here, watch out if it has turned.¡± I said below. <hr>


    I picked the door to the kid¡¯s bedroom and saw nothing.


    ¡°Where could it be?¡± I said to myself.


    I ced my foot inside and I heard a sound from the cab. I readied my wakizashi as I opened it abruptly. I saw a little boy probably four years old sleeping inside the cab. I saw a few snacks and bottles of water inside. I tapped him with my scabbard then he flinched but he is looking at me very calmly.


    ¡°Hey, can you hear me?¡± I said.


    He just nodded.


    ¡°Have you been here all this time?¡± I said.


    He nodded again.


    ¡°Hmm? Can you speak?¡± I asked.


    He shook his head.


    ¡°I see, he¡¯s probably mute.¡± I said to myself. <hr>


    Kaley found me eventually and she saw the kid I was speaking to. The kid just responded by just nodding and shaking its head to our questions.


    ¡°We could take him to Andrew¡¯s house.¡± I said.


    ¡°I agree, they could teach the kid ASL or he¡¯s just in shock.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Want to go now and double-back?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just ask someone to do it, I¡¯m kinda annoyed with Esther.¡± She said.


    ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s a bit too¡­assertive. When I taught them how to use firearms she asked if I was seeing someone, when I said yes, she said she¡¯s okay with it. Her brother dragged her to their house before she said anything more.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?! She said that?! That little¡­¡± Kaley trails.


    ¡°Hah! We need to introduce that girl to someone; Andrew is a good man but I feel that he¡¯s too strict on his kids. Not our business though but they are the right age, keeping them on a tight leash might make it worse in the long run.¡± Oscar chimed in when he walked inside the door.


    I looked for my uncle and Arnel and asked them to take the kid to Andrew¡¯s house while we search the remaining houses.


    We went inside five more small houses and then we reached thest house that might still have some people inside. Thest house was uneventful because it¡¯s another case of the light being left on. We did the necessary precautions and before we left, I saw some fishing gear left with a few baits, bobs, fishing lines and a harpoon gun.

 Chapter 55

    Chapter 55: 55


    ¡°We could use those for fishing with the other poles, right?¡± Jared said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, we could defer on bait if we use this too. Anyways, let¡¯s head back and loot the ce after we eat, it¡¯s been an action-packed day and we almost lost somebody. Let¡¯s head back for now.¡± I said.


    I saw Oscar at the end of the road looking down at the canal system.


    ¡°Kid, I think we should fence this ce too. There¡¯s a few of them floating in the water and if the water rises, they mighte through from here.¡± Oscar stated.


    ¡°I agree, though in the future, we could ce the boats at home at this ce, make a small pier. Just in case when shit hits the fan.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, where does it lead though?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Anywhere, we could go to a few ces and if we have a better boat we could sail in the ocean. However, using the boats we have won¡¯t get us far due to its limited capabilities.¡± I said.


    ¡°That is a good option though I wouldn¡¯t want to leave our ce. It¡¯s our life¡¯s work, right?¡± he said.


    ¡°I agree, we¡¯d only leave that ce only when it¡¯s really beyond saving. Anyway, your daughter contacted you yet?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Bah! I think she¡¯s still mad at me for me selling the house, I tried ringing her but maybe she¡¯s tasked somewhere where she can¡¯te here.¡± He solemnly said.


    ¡°Would be nice to have a warship. I thought you¡¯d hook us up with one, so disappointing¡­¡± I joked.


    ¡°Kid?! Always dreaming crazy stuff¡­ but yeah, that would be nice. I hope she¡¯s in one though, she¡¯ll be safe there.¡± He agreed.


    ¡°C¡¯mon old man, I told you to drag her here if you have to. Where did the skills where you knocked me out like you said before? You should¡¯ve done the same to her or something when you had the chance.¡± I added. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Bah! Toote for that now!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, she¡¯ll pull through.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Oscar.


    We made our way back and we finallypleted the mission of clearing this area. One burden has been lifted off my shoulder when I sprayed thest symbol on thest door.


    I had an idea and we invited the people who are still in their houses for dinner tonight. It would be a good time to celebrate for a while after a huge goal was reached.


    We reached the gates and I could already smell what¡¯s cooking. It¡¯s beef curry, the smell of the spices assaulted our noses and we hurriedly went inside to clean ourselves before we eat.


    I felt the morale pretty high as they¡¯ve also felt some weight off their shoulders. We ate happily and I saw Tatiana just devouring bite after bite and asking for seconds.


    ¡°So, she just eats a lot, I thought she was really hungryst time.¡± I said to myself.


    We ate happily while we talked about starting our building phase.


    Raphael listened and he asked, ¡°Why don¡¯t we increase our territory from the left side too?¡±


    ¡°Because from this ce, going to the area where we burn the bodies is a choke-point. We could have a single gate for defending the ce, if we reim more from that side, we¡¯d need more people guarding each entrance. If we have more people, we could do that.¡± I said.


    He nodded for a few times and he said that they¡¯ll work on the farm first before the SUV. <hr>


    I then went up to my room as I finished eating to clean the wakizashi. I grabbed a few tools to remove the grime that has seeped through the handle and the other parts of the de.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± I saw Tatiana from behind hawking me.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m gonna disassemble it first. I¡¯m gonna clean this properly.¡± I said as I grab a few cleaning tools for the de.


    I wiped it off first with the rice paper to remove the old oil that has been on it and a few remnants of blood. I thenid it down a soft cloth as I slowly remove each part like the hand guard, spacers, pommel, handle and the silk wrappings etc.


    I wiped the de again for a second time and I included the other metal parts and the bone handle.


    I grabbed a small ball for powdering it and then I wiped it with another sheet of paper to remove the excess powder and I inspected it for rust. There seems to be none present and then I dropped a few oils in it and wiped it again to make a thin film of oil covering the de. When everything is dried up, I reassembled the de and I cleaned the scabbard as well.


    I ced it again in my hip and when I turned around, Rin, Olivia and Kaley along with Zeus is watching me as well.


    I looked at them with confusion then Tatiana spoke, ¡°That¡¯s weirdly fascinating to watch. He¡¯s really good with his hands, correct?¡± She then looked at Kaley.


    ¡°Yeah, he is good at many things. It¡¯s fun to watch him work.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Sky, show her how you do it with guns too.¡± She added.


    ¡°Oh! I believe a challenge is in order.¡± Tatiana said with a grin.


    I¡¯m fired up so I pulled both my Glocks and I disassembled both of them quickly and ced each part on the table neatly. <hr>


    ¡°Want to wager?¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh? You might regret that. You¡¯re good at hand-to-hand fighting but I won¡¯t lose in this case.¡± She said confidently.


    ¡°Hand-to-hand is my worst skill from ranged weapons and melee weapon fighting though.¡± I said to myself


    ¡°What do you want then? I¡¯ll do anything within reason.¡± I said with a smile.


    ¡°Even letting me f.u.c.k you?¡± she said with a sly smile.


    I was taken aback and Kaley red at her but I replied with confidence. ¡°Well, you won¡¯t get the chance to though, is this to the death then?¡±


    ¡°Everything is to death now I must say.¡± She looks at me seductively.


    ¡°Alright then, I agree to the wager. I¡¯ll let you have me for a night if you win, but if I win you tell me¡­¡± I leaned close to her ear and I whispered.


    Her eyes widened and she¡¯s looking at me with a frown for a moment before it turns to normal again.


    ¡°You know about that huh? Interesting. Fine, let¡¯s do it!¡± she eximed as I told Olivia to do the countdown. The girls watching gave nervous expressions.


    As the countdown started, I winked at Kaley and I mouthed, ¡®watch this¡¯.


    Though she seemed angry that I agreed to the wager a look of curiosity still remains in what I whispered to Tatiana. <hr>


    ¡°GO!¡± Olivia shouted.


    Tatiana started with the bullets first while I started with the frame and the action. Several parts joining together is the only sound you hear and when everything clicked perfectly, I grabbed a round and ced it inside the chamber. The action closes and then I pointed the gun at her after it clicked. She was just about to finish loading the magazine when she saw me.


    ¡°Sky, Isn¡¯t that cheating?¡± Rin said.


    There are 18 more bullets in my side of the table with the magazineying down. I looked at Tatiana and she stopped moving her hands and she said, ¡°You win.¡±


    The girls were surprised then Kaley said, ¡°Why? Sky clearly hasn¡¯t followed the rules.¡±


    ¡°He did, I did say that it¡¯s to the death. Why are you defending me? Want me to f.u.c.k him that badly? I¡¯ll oblige if you say so¡­¡± she said while looking at Kaley.


    ¡°But! No, I- Ahh!¡± Kaley stammered.


    ¡°It only takes one bullet to kill a person in this situation, you win. Though I¡¯ll only tell you that in private.¡± She said as she finished on assembling the gun.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine by me.¡± I said while I finish loading the bullets in.


    ¡°Where did you learn that trick though? I think we could tie if we assemble them normally but doing it that way when you only need to shoot in a hurry could be crucial in some situations.¡± She inquired.


    ¡°Oh, that? I¡¯ll tell you if you join us for a movieter.¡± I said.

 Chapter 56

    Chapter 56: 56


    Her eyes shot up and she nodded. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s a deal, maybe you could really tell me where you¡¯ve trained.¡± she said as she looked at me.


    ¡°She still thinks I¡¯m Spec Ops or something.¡± I said in my mind.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ll seeter.¡± I picked up the pistols and holstered them, then I cracked my knuckles.


    ¡°You like cracking your bones, correct? Pleasey down, I¡¯ll do something.¡± She said as she motions to the bed. I was curious on what she would do so Iid down.


    She moved me in a position and then it happened.


    *crrrackkk*


    I feel several bones at my back cracking one after the other. I grunted with pleasure as each bone cracks with every change in position.


    Olivia opened the camera and started on recording me. I never stopped her though since I¡¯m enjoying the free massage.


    ¡°You¡¯re muscr but still very flexible, a perfect bnce.¡± She smiled as she traces her hands across my body.


    ¡°Kaley, you should try this¡­¡± I said with a euphoric smile.


    Tatiana stopped moving her hands and she motioned for Kaley toy down to take my ce. I got up feeling refreshed while I pulled Kaley down.


    She seemed reluctant to partake but Tatiana already got her in lock and she then started moving her hands. She felt it and then she let out m.o.a.ns that made Olivia ufortable. After a while, we noticed that Kaley is already asleep. Tatiana gave a proud look and she looked at Rin.


    ¡°Wanna try? I have a bed in my room¡­¡± she winked at her.


    ¡°Alright, Olivia, let¡¯s go down first yeah? Let¡¯s let them have their moment while we let your sister sleep. Tatiana stay here since we¡¯ll just be scavenging the other ces and I need someone here yeah?¡± I dragged her down.


    ¡°But! Ah-¡± she tried to retort but I carried her like a sack of potatoes.


    I just heard the door at Tatiana¡¯s room opening and closing then I went down. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sky! Let me down! She¡¯s just gonna give Rin a massage too, I just want to tape them do it since it¡¯s funny seeing your reactions!¡± Olivia said.


    I sat her down and said, ¡°You never had that talk yet eh? It¡¯s like this¡­¡±. I carefully told her about the birds and the bees.


    ¡°I know about that! But they¡¯re girls, they wo- oh¡­ I see¡­¡± her cheeks began to redden and she just nodded continuously.


    ¡°We just let them have their privacy, yeah?¡± I said as I ruffled her hair.


    ¡°Okay, stop ruining my hair!¡± she eximed.


    Iughed it off and I heard Jared knocking on my open door.


    ¡°Sky? Everyone¡¯s ready now, youing?¡± he said.


    I just nodded and I got up.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Kaley and Tatiana?¡± Oscar asked. He¡¯s holding a new shotgun in his hands.


    ¡°They¡¯re resting for now; I think we could do the heavy lifting for them.¡± I said.


    We¡¯re driving past the house where Andrew¡¯s family was then Jonathan came out and decided to help with his sister. We passed by Alex¡¯s house and she also decided to help with his dad.


    We reached the squatter area with the truck and the four who joined us were shocked at the scene.


    ¡°You guys did all these?¡± Alex said.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d like you guys to join us for the meetingter after we all eat with our families and friends. It¡¯s safe in this area now so you guys could walk outside without trouble.¡± I told the four then they nodded.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell my wifeter. I believe my daughter haven¡¯t introduced us yet, my name¡¯s Arthur. I¡¯m a PE teacher while my wife Amanda is a TLE teacher, we could contribute a lot to your group but we need a few days¡¯ worth of food. Can you help us with that?¡± he said.


    ¡°Absolutely, I can give you guys a few days of rations but I would like it if you coulde it with us every day to save on gas and every other thing, resources are finite and it will be more efficient if we could prepare food at a single ce and pool all our resources.¡± I said. <hr>


    The rest of the group started on piling the bodies and Oscar started on burning them with a controlled fire.


    ¡°That sounds good but I¡¯d like it if we could just trade food and water for our contributions. Also, a gun for each of us would be good, for a start.¡± Arthur said.


    I raised my eyebrows and I looked at him sideways.


    ¡°This guy? A start?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Dad! That sounds like a great deal already, why are you being stiff? We already have guns at home though you wouldn¡¯t even let us use it.¡± Alex said.


    ¡°This is none of your business Alex let me do the talking. We¡¯re talking business here.¡± he said.


    Alex gave a frown and she shook her head. She headed to the group searching the houses with Esther and Jonathan.


    ¡°Okay, business? Let¡¯s talk business.¡± I said.


    ¡°Good. I can offer our services for food, water and guns.¡± he said with a smug face.


    ¡°Asshole.¡± I said in my head.


    ¡°Well what services do you offer?¡± I said with a straight face.


    ¡°I¡¯m a PE Teacher, I could train you and your people. I know a lot of different exercises that could improve your physical bodies.¡± he starts.


    I looked at his potato body and I shook my head.


    ¡°What?¡± he said as he saw me shake my head.


    I felt a tap on my shoulder and I looked behind, it was Kaley pouting.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you wake me up?! Where¡¯s Tatiana?¡± she said. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, you were sleeping soundly, wouldn¡¯t want to disturb you. Tatiana is with Rin.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m still talking to you, aren¡¯t I?! Kids these days have no respect for the older people.¡± he said with a frown.


    ¡°No.¡± I said as I looked at him.


    ¡°No what?¡± he seems irritated now.


    ¡°We don¡¯t need a physical trainer; I can already do that for my people.¡± I said.


    ¡°You have a degree for it too?¡± he said.


    ¡°No. I have this.¡± I just pointed at myself.


    ¡°Laughable! I bet you¡¯re just a gym maniac who never does legs!¡± he shouted.


    The rest of the group started on hearing our squabble and they are starting to gather a few meters away from us. Kaley has a frown on her face and she¡¯s looking at me seeing at what I might do next. Honestly, I¡¯m starting to get annoyed by this guy. My friendship with Alex is the only thing keeping me from smacking his face physically.


    ¡°Gym maniac? That¡¯s new, look at yourself first before you bber bullshit next time yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°What?! I¡¯m 50! I can¡¯t move the way I used to!¡± he tried to defend himself.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t think I need your ¡®service¡¯ for me, anything else?¡± I said.


    He was taken aback, he said ¡°M-my wife! She¡¯s a TLE teacher, she could teach you how to cook and nt and s-stuff.¡±


    He¡¯s starting to stutter as his bullshit is slowly crumbling in himself.


    ¡°Nah, we have a great cook and an awesome girl with a green thumb. Next?¡± I said.


    He¡¯s shaking and his head is getting redder from anger, he looks at his daughter and he looks at me. <hr>


    ¡°How about my daughter? She could help you in many things, she¡¯s very athletic a-and she¡¯s smart too¡­¡± he said as he trails off.


    ¡°Asshole.¡± I said in my mind again.


    ¡°She could help a lot; she beat me in basketball. I need able-bodied people in my group though what about the things you owe me?¡± I said.


    ¡°What things do I owe you for?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I made this ce safe for your family, you could go out safely now. Kaley said you have a gun and you¡¯re willing to help our groupst time in exchange for food, though where were you earlier when we cleared this small herd of zombies here? I almost lost a friend and though I doubt you could have prevented that from happening, you could have presented yourself to help us earlier if you¡¯re so eager to ¡®help¡¯ or is that bullshit too?¡± I said while looking at him straight in the eye.


    ¡°I-I¡­¡± he stammers.


    Everyone was just looking at him shaking in frustration.


    ¡°Am I right? Did I hit the nail in the head? I extended my hand to everyone here so we could benefit each other. I get what you¡¯re doing, you¡¯re asking for ¡®more¡¯ help than what I¡¯ve been giving everyone. I understand you¡¯re trying to give your family the best. I understand you trying to oversell yourself so you could get a bigger cut of the cake but that never works for me with what I¡¯m seeing here. I never asked anyone here to thank me since we¡¯re helping each other and that¡¯s what family does. Some of them are not rted to me by blood but I still consider them as such.¡± I said.


    The group was silent though they have bright eyes. However, he never stops shaking in anger.


    ¡°W-well, what the f.u.c.k do you need from me then?! I¡¯m here aren¡¯t I?! How much do I owe you?!¡± he bellows.


    ¡°Dad! Stop being an asshole and apologize!¡± Alex shouted.


    ¡°SHUT UP!!!¡± he exploded.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t need much from you, I never really charge anyone for helping them. But for an asshole like you, that Glock 26 concealed in your hip will be fine, ¡®for a start¡¯.¡± I threw his words back at him.


    His eyes widened and he almost choked. His hands are clenched tightly and it¡¯s slowly creeping on his hip.


    ¡°Dad?!¡± Alex shouted.

 Chapter 57

    Chapter 57: 57


    I faced him eye to eye and there¡¯s only a small distance between us and I could feel his heavy breath. I closed the distance immediately so I could react if he does something. Being in a gun fight where the shooter could freely do what he wants is very dangerous. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Don¡¯t do anything stupid yeah?¡± I just looked at him.


    ¡°Heh! You think I can¡¯t shoot you at this distance?¡± he said smugly.


    ¡°I could punch you at this distance, you stupid f.u.c.k. You should¡¯ve tried something when I was farther from you.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°You can certainly try.¡± I said with a grin.


    We¡¯re just having a stare down and he suddenly drew his gun and he pointed it at me. I looked at it and I almost shook my head at what I saw.


    ¡°Sky?!¡± The group shouted and Kaley drew her M9 and pointed it at him. Alex started on shouting at her dad to lower his gun.


    ¡°If you¡¯re gonna point that at someone, make sure you will shoot it dead or you¡¯ll regret itter.¡± I said calmly.


    ¡°Dad?! Put that thing away!¡± Alex shouted once more.


    ¡°DIDN¡¯T I TELL YOU TO SHUT THE F.U.C.K U-¡± he looked at her for a moment and then I moved.


    *whoosh* <center></center><hr>


    *crack*


    I aimed at his balls while I pulled his hand downward. He lets out a cry while I twisted his hand so he lets go of the gun. It fell to ground then I picked it up. I saw the guys clenched their thighs when it happened. Alex immediately ran towards her dad and she gave him a hard p while his dad is still clutching his groin.


    *SLAP*


    ¡°I told you he¡¯s a good guy, didn¡¯t I?! Why do you have to be stupid?!¡± she screamed while tears are flowing in her face.


    I checked the gun and I removed the magazine and cleared the chamber then I holstered it in my pants. I then crouched at him and said, ¡°Mr. Ramos I don¡¯t like guns being pointed at me. You¡¯re lucky I know your daughter or you won¡¯t be breathing right now. I don¡¯t like wasting bullets, you see? I could use this instead on you if you want?¡±


    I pulled out my wakizashi and I let him see it closely. I¡¯m staring at him dead in the eye as he shifts his gaze and sweat starts to form droplets in his forehead.


    He shuddered.


    ¡°If you point a gun at someone, don¡¯t expect the person to stay still. I¡¯m keeping this for now and all the other guns in your house. Your daughter will take me there and you willply. I¡¯ve given you plenty of chances and you blew it, this is thest one yeah? One more slip, if you gave even one of my group here a look I don¡¯t like, or even if you shout at your daughter or wife again without reason, you¡¯d wish you were dead. Do we understand each other? One radio call from your daughter and I will snipe you from my house using my Barrett. I just need the exact XYZ coordinates and I¡¯ll fire with the ck tips to be sure I hit you.¡± I said.


    He just nodded but he didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Sky, and thank you for not¡­ you know.¡± Alex said. <hr>


    ¡°Was he always like this?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, he suddenly changed after the broadcast aired.¡± she said.


    ¡°Alright, we need to go to your house now. He¡¯s not in the right state of mind to carry guns. I¡¯ll keep them for now in storage and I will make a list of everything I took. I¡¯ll give them back to you if I think he¡¯s okay. Can you carry him on your shoulders?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yes, I understand. I¡¯ll carry him.¡± she said.


    I then told Oscar to continue with the scavenging and I went to their house with Kaley and Jared.


    Alex pressed the doorbell and after a while, her mom came outside and weed us. She weed us with a smile and then she saw her husband then she became worried.


    ¡°Did something happen?¡± she said.


    ¡°Dad happened. He tried to shoot Sky.¡± Alex said.


    Her mom was surprised then she red at Arthur. She ces her hands on her hip and she started on berating her husband in front of us.


    ¡°ARTHUR JEFFERSON RAMOS!!! I kept my lid closed after you changed when the broadcast started but this is too much! Trying to shoot a person?! Are you out of your mind! I¡¯m gonna take your guns and throw them away! Handling them is not safe!¡± she shouted. <hr>


    Arthur shrinks into a ball.


    ¡°Mom, Sky will keep them for us for the time being, can we at leaste inside first?¡± Alex said while readjusting her dad¡¯s arm on her shoulder.


    ¡°Good. You can have them all. It¡¯s the least I can do to apologize. Come inside, I know where they all are.¡± she said as she lets us all in.


    Arthur still seems to be in pain after all that so he was given some painkillers by his wife. He seemed docile now but I still kept my guard up.


    I told Jared and Kaley to watch him while I went with his wife to get his guns. She pointed to a locker and she opened it with her keys.


    ¡°I think this is all of it.¡± she said.


    She handed me a duffel bag and I began to ce everything there. He has two more pistols, one an M1911 while the other a .38 Special. They both have 3 boxes of ammo for the 9mm and the .38 though the box for the special is the only one that has a few bullets missing. I also picked up a Mossberg 930 with three boxes of slugs, buckshots and birdshots with a few y targets on the side.


    ¡°He¡¯s Skeet Shooting?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Mrs. Ramos, are you sure that this is all of it? I¡¯m just making sure because I don¡¯t want any idents. Do you mind if I check the whole ce?¡± I told her.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure, he usually just keeps them all there but I wouldn¡¯t mind you checking the whole ce. Please, call me Amanda.¡± she said. <hr>


    ¡°Thanks. I still would like you all toe to my ce tonight, I suggested that I will have food prepared there every day and you are all wee to eat there to save on resources. However, I would give you a few days rations nheless.¡± I told her.


    ¡°That¡¯s very kind. I¡¯ll take a look at him again while I tell Alex to help you check the whole ce.¡± she said as she leaves.


    I started on checking each shelf and each cab. I then looked behind picture frames, bookshelves and a few cupboards. I knocked on a few floor tiles and I heard a dull sound. Alex looked surprised and I asked her to grab a hammer and a chisel.


    ¡°You found something?¡± she asks.


    ¡°Yeah, your dad is something else I tell you. He¡¯s cautious for the wrong reasons though.¡± I said.


    She came back after a while and then I slowly whittled the cement on the tiles on the sides.


    *tick* *tick* *tick* *tick* *tick* *tick* *tick* *tick*


    When I removed it, I saw a bag covered in stic and I went to the living room. He¡¯s looking in shock when he saw what I was carrying.


    ¡°Hey! That¡¯s my bug-out bag!¡± he eximed.

 Chapter 58

    Chapter 58: 58


    ¡°It¡¯s a bag you prepare just in case something happened so it could be easily carried when you need to leave the ce you¡¯re in. It contains essential items for survival. This is a big one though, have a gun in here?¡± I asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Of course it does! That¡¯s why it¡¯s called the bug-out bag!¡± he shouted at me.


    I red at him then he piped down. I opened the bag and I found another Glock 26 inside with an extra magazine and a folding knife. I ced those in the bag and he¡¯s visibly upset.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, these are still yours. If you clear your head, I¡¯ll give them back, maybe. For the moment, just be thankful that you don¡¯t have a hole in your head yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°U-uh, sure. I-I apologize, I think it¡¯s stress from all this.¡± He said.


    ¡°I understand, you could clear your head if you alle tonight. We¡¯ll have booze though we won¡¯t go too hard.¡± I said.


    ¡°For real? You have alcohol?¡± his eyes lit up.


    ¡°Hah! Booze is what it takes to get this guy under me?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Only a bottle for you dear, I¡¯ll only allow one bottle.¡± Amanda said.


    He nodded and then I still double-checked the ce but found no more hidden spots. Alex still came with us towards the houses. I handed her the .38 Special and the folding knife from her dad¡¯s collection and then she looked at me.


    ¡°You¡¯re giving me this?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s easy to use, just point and shoot, the other one just stab and pull. I¡¯ll teach a ss every now and then so you should be there. Shoot your dad in the foot if he acts up again.¡± I said.


    ¡°I will, I definitely will.¡± she said while nodding a few times.


    We fourughed as we walked towards the truck in the far distance. <center></center><hr>


    We met the rest of the guys and then we helped in looting each house from things that we need. Kaley found more fitting clothes for them while I just grab anything that catches my eye along with the essentials. Then I got to thinking, ¡°Could there be more hidden spots like the floor tile in the other houses?¡±


    I kept that thought in my mind though it is highly unlikely to be more on the houses that were already abandoned, I figured they will take those with them. I just made a mental note on the house where Oscar met the family with a cop, finding a single pistol there doesn¡¯t add up.


    We loaded up everything and then I stayed behind the house I was mulling over and then I went inside with Kaley.


    ¡°What are we doing here Sky?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°I just think that we might find something more here.¡± I said as I started knocking on the walls and the floor.


    ¡°Oh? Like in the Ramos¡¯ house? Let me see!¡± she said as she excitedly did the same.


    I checked each cab, floor board and even under the carpets. Iid on the bed to think it over.


    ¡°You¡¯re not gonna sleep there are you?¡± she said as she saw me.


    ¡°If Oscar did say that the guy who lived here was a cop, I figured that he would have more guns here. If it was me, I¡¯d stock up on it since I will be home with my family. I¡¯d take a few more from my station if I have ess to it but what¡¯s weird is that he only has a pistol that we found.¡± I said.


    ¡°What if that really is the case? Don¡¯t you think that you¡¯re just overthinking it?¡± she said.


    ¡°Maybe, what else have we not yet checked? At least a box of ammo would be nice.¡± I said as I mull over.


    ¡°Have you checked under the bed?¡± Kaley said.


    I slide myself over the mattress and then I tried to feel underneath. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm?¡± I said.


    ¡°What, found something?¡± she shone a light under the bed and she saw nothing from that angle.


    ¡°It¡¯s cold!¡± I said.


    ¡°What?¡± she¡¯s confused.


    I removed the mattress from the bed and then I smiled from ear to ear. There¡¯s a gun locker hidden in the bed, good thing the metal felt cold to touch below otherwise I would¡¯ve missed it.


    ¡°Jackpot!¡± I cackled hysterically as I picked the lock.


    We hurriedly opened the door to the locker and we found several guns ced neatly and a riot gear with the shield and an expanding baton on one corner. I saw an M16 Assault Rifle, a Remington 870, two M1911 pistols, two Tear Gas Grenades, two sh Bangs and several boxes of ammunition.


    ¡°We got a lot of guns today!¡± Kaley said as she smiled.


    ¡°I really ate my words when I told Jared that we wouldn¡¯t get as much as a revolver in this whole ce. Luckily, we found several and the other bag we¡¯ll still return to their owners in due time, maybe.¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯re really gonna return those guns? Isn¡¯t it enough that you didn¡¯t kill the guy?¡± She said while looking at me.


    ¡°I would, but it would be a long time before it happens. He wouldn¡¯t be able to kill me that time though.¡± I said.


    ¡°Huh? I¡¯m pretty sure he would¡¯ve if he pulled the trigger.¡± she asked confused.


    ¡°I think the guy is just rattled; stress took over him. His hand is shaking all over, his finger isn¡¯t even in the trigger. Even if the Glock 26 has no manual safety, even if he dropped it on the ground, it won¡¯t discharge. He just pointed it at me just to see if he would scare me. Too bad it just ticked me off more.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°I would¡¯ve killed him that time you know¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°I know, thanks for looking out though. I would¡¯ve done something to him already if I didn¡¯t know Alex. Oscar would¡¯ve shot that guy on the spot. If Arthur died then, we¡¯d have to worry about Alex and Amanda too.¡± I said.


    ¡°You could just teach Alex to use them and give the guns to her or her mom, not her dad. I¡¯m still upset about that guy¡­¡± she said.


    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. I think I did more damage to him though; I just ended that guy¡¯s legacy; Alex will be thest of their generation¡­¡± I said while scratching my head.


    ¡°Pfft! That serves him right! Did you see the other guys¡¯ reaction?¡± she starts to smile.


    ¡°Hah! That was funny now that you mention it, it¡¯s almost 4:00 PM let¡¯s head back after packing this.¡± I said as I started to ce them all in the bag.


    ¡°How about those?¡± she pointed at the riot gear.


    ¡°I¡¯ll wear the helmet! I¡¯ll help you wear the others.¡± I said.


    I then ced the helmet on my head and I helped removed the motorcycle gear from her. I strapped her with every piece and I took a look at her. She made a pose while holding the AR-15.


    ¡°Damn, you look really hot now.¡± I said with a grin.


    ¡°Hmph! Stop teasing me!¡± she eximed.


    I looked for another bag to ce the gear and the other boxes of ammunition and I saw Kaley trying to remove the chest piece.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s a little tight here.¡± she said.


    ¡°Well, you know¡­ those are in the way.¡± I gestured with my hands as I looked at her.


    She harrumphed and then she threw it at me though I caught it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll wear this then, though I have a few of these at home. I¡¯ll try to find you a vest that fits you.¡± I said.


    I made one more look at their house and said to myself, ¡°Luna family, thank you for the equipment. These will be in good hands.¡±


    We started to walk back to thepound. I carried one of the bags while Kaley has the other, the shield is in my other arm while I wave it around while we¡¯re walking.


    ¡°Can that block bullets?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Uh, no. It¡¯s a different kind. This was mostly for rocks or any other people in riots throw or smash at the police. This could be good for people at the front for pushing zombies that are too much to handle. Hah! I¡¯ll give this to Oscar and tell him about the one that threw a flying knee at him!¡± I said.


    ¡°That thing, those sprinters. Will there be more of those?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Considering that I saw onest time? There could be probably more, I think that it¡¯s still evolving. Thest one who got Oscar is more different from the two.¡± I said.


    ¡°How were they formed though? Is it varying from person to person?¡± she said.


    ¡°Well, that I don¡¯t know. We need to wait for the news on the people researching it. It sent chills on me when it dodged my bullet and it started to bob its head. The good thing is that its body has no reinforcement of some kind, it¡¯s still a normal body, you shoot the head it¡¯s dead. We¡¯ll talk more of this in the meetingter.¡± I said.


    We reached thepound and we saw An, Jenny, Nicole and Alicia just chatting from the catwalk. I waved them over and they opened the gate for us.

 Chapter 59

    Chapter 59: 59


    ¡°We found more guns! This too!¡± I pointed to the guns in the bags and I knocked on my helmet. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sweet! Can I have one?¡± An said.


    ¡°No, every gun that I hand over is still mine, I lent you the HK416, why would you want this?¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, this gun really looks sick, nevermind.¡± he replied as he goes back to his station.


    I handed the riot shield to Oscar and when I said the intended use for it is for him to block flying knees, he lost it. We just started tough off the incident earlier and we helped them unload the stuff from the truck though they will being a second time for a few more houses in the back. Rin was busy tallying everything but she seems more rxed now and I could see that she¡¯s more¡­ happy? I can¡¯t put it into words but something is different. Then I saw Tatiana next to her then I realized what¡¯s going on.


    ¡°Well, as long as they¡¯re happy I¡¯ll support whatever they do.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Damn kid. Are you sure you¡¯re not a hound or something? Where did you smell that from?¡± Oscar said as he saw the weapons at the bag.


    ¡°Hah! I found this on Gilbert¡¯s house, sweet huh?. Technically Kaley led me to it, good thing I ced my hand under the bed. Turns out, there¡¯s a locker beneath it.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Good catch, where¡¯s my cut then?¡± He holds his hand up.


    I looked and him and said, ¡°Your cut? Hah! Stop pulling my leg old man! If anything, Kaley should have half of these.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah just trying if you¡¯re gonna fall for it.¡± he said while giving a heartyugh.


    ¡°Not in a million years old man.¡± I saidughing.


    We ced the guns on my armory first and I waited on the living room for the next broadcast.


    It got a bitte today since it started at 4:10 PM, not the usual time they did. The message was still the same updates from before. We can¡¯t really aplish that much in a few days and for everything to progress would require much time. We just noticed a few more foreign people around and I thought that they must be a few of the people from other countries that was sent here. <center></center><hr>


    However, they revealed to the public the sprinters that we saw. It was caught in one of their helicopters and it recorded a few of them making a beeline away from the city. They said that they n on capturing one alive for further studies but those things are too fast. They haven¡¯t given news on the ones staying still and with a few words of encouragement from the president, the broadcast concluded.


    I then grabbed the remote when the survival videos are being broadcasted. I was about to turn it off but Tatiana spoke.


    ¡°Sky, that person there, doing the guides, it is you correct?¡± she said.


    The group then turned their heads toward me as I rubbed my be.


    ¡°Where?! I didn¡¯t see him there though.¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°No, if you pay attention. The guy with the gloves cleaning the guns looks really familiar with his technique. I saw that earlier today when Sky is disassembling the guns, correct?¡± she said.


    ¡°Hah! Looks like they found you out kid!¡± Oscarughed.


    I just shook my head though I gave a smile after.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s me. After this is all over the president will owe me royalties for using some of those videos.¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s really you?!¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°I knew it! I just didn¡¯t say anything!¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Yeah, I wore gloves and a mask to hide my voice and the tattoos. I started on making a few of those videos with Oscar but I ended up doing it all.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯re much better at speaking than me kid!¡± he defended himself. <hr>


    ¡°Well, you had the idea but you could¡¯ve at the least helped me with something!¡± I said.


    ¡°What? Editing? I¡¯m not as tech-savvy as you think! Well, telling the man that you¡¯re the one who did some of those helped us since he sent Tatiana over here.¡± he eximed whileughing.


    ¡°Reasons. To be honest, I was surprised when I saw my videos after the broadcast, I never told anyone since I cringe whenever I hear my own voice.¡± I said.


    A few of the groupughed at the thought.


    We finally turned the TV off after a few minutes of talking. I then asked a few in the group to pick up the other people still in their houses to get ready for our small celebrationter.


    They brought the car out for Andrew¡¯s and Arthur¡¯s family.


    I headed to the gym for a workout while a few joined me. I saw Kaley getting training from Tatiana so I just did things on my own. They started on stretching while I ran on the treadmill first. After I finished my daily workout Tatiana approached me.


    ¡°Sky, I¡¯m still curious to how I got unconscious when we sparred earlier. They told me you kicked, correct?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, correct.¡± I said.


    ¡°But how? I was out of range from your right foot.¡± She asked again.


    I then showed her the movements I did and she watched attentively while Kaley is doing the exercises Tatiana told her to do.


    ¡°The trick for it to work is the shift in the weight should be unnoticeable. Every small movement can be detected quite easily so you either divert the attention from your legs or make another way.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Another way?¡± she said. <hr>


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s up to you. I never needed to find the other way, I just trained for the normal way to work. I don¡¯t know everything you know.¡± I exined.


    She just stood up and tried to practice the movements though I still saw her legs moving when she switches the weight to the other side.


    ¡°Thank you for teaching me. I¡¯ll repay you someday.¡± She said.


    ¡°Just train Kaley for me, that¡¯s enough. Your body¡¯s flexibility is something rare. Your training might be more suited for a woman¡¯s body. I¡¯d be scared seeing her with a muscr body.¡± I said.


    She smiled while she started to stretch her own body again. Kaley was slowly trying to do a split as she slowly adjusted her body to slowly spread apart.


    ¡°Gymnastics? Yoga? Right, flexibility.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Very well, trading pointers is what it¡¯s called, correct?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yes, wanna spar again?¡± I asked.


    We sparred for five minutes though we avoided head-shots now. The rest was just watching us throughout the fight. I think we tied though I feel her movements are restrained since she¡¯s still guarding from that kick.


    ¡°It left a mark in her head huh?¡± I said to myself.


    Her body was still incredibly flexible as she threw a couple of kicks from impossible angles and the way she catches you off-guard with some of her joint locks.


    ¡°I hope Kaley quickly learns what Tatiana knows. It would be for the best if she would learn a few things for defending herself aside from guns.¡± I said to myself.


    We all finished our training and then I showered on the 3rd floor with a few people though some of them did in their designated houses. When I was putting shampoo on, there was a shortmotion where Tatiana entered the shower area n.a.k.e.d. She entered with nonchnce and showered with us. <hr>


    I heard Kaley screaming for her to leave that area but all she said is that ¡®it¡¯s just skin, what¡¯s the problem?¡¯ I stole a nce and she¡¯s just acting normally. I¡¯m used to co-ed baths from Japan¡¯s hot springs but in here, it¡¯s a different custom.


    The rest of the guys ced their towels on themselves and finished quickly while the two of us is still there. A few momentster, Kaley stormed inside.


    ¡°Tatiana! I did tell you to show a little¡­you know! It¡¯s very different here! You might get¡­ and Sky! Why are you just here washing yourself like it¡¯s nothing!¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh, I was here first. I was already covered in soap. It¡¯s very steamy here though, I could barely see her.¡± I said.


    ¡°That is correct, we are very far from each other and we are here just for the purpose of showering. I think you should join us too, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°But!¡± Kaley protested.


    ¡°It¡¯s just us here though? Sky is there and he¡¯s your partner and I¡¯m a woman like yourself. I see no problem at all.¡± Tatiana exined.


    ¡°I think Kaley just wants to shower with you, I¡¯m about to finish though.¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the point! Argh! F.u.c.k it! Don¡¯te close to this side okay!¡± Kaley eximed.


    Due to the steam, I can only see an arm¡¯s length around. I just heard Kaley undressing and turning another shower on. Even if it¡¯s a big shower room, there are still dividers for each shower head with a small groove for cing soap and shampoo.


    ¡°¡­¡± Me.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley.


    ¡°¡­¡± Tatiana.


    We just continued on showering without any noise and I just finished earlier than they did. I just came outside covered in a towel while my clothes are in a clump. They did as well after a moment though they have an additional towel for their hairs. Kaley was still red in the face while Tatiana is just nonchnt. We entered our rooms to change and I just remembered that I was sharing a room with Kaley now. Tatiana entered her room while we entered ours.

 Chapter 60

    Chapter 60: 60


    ¡°That was¡­ different.¡± She said embarrassingly. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Why? We already showered together.¡± I said innocently.


    ¡°Well, I felt really tense.¡± She said while she took off her towel.


    ¡°Well, you don¡¯t seem so tense now.¡± I said.


    ¡°What I mean is that there¡¯s a lot of s.e.x.u.a.l tension there, you felt it right? I thought something was gonna happen there.¡± She said.


    ¡°What? There? With Tatiana? Hah! You know I¡¯m with you right?¡± I said.


    ¡°W-well you know how she acts; Sometimes I don¡¯t know what she would do, I haven¡¯t told you yet but I¡¯m, y-you know¡­¡± she stammered.


    I just raised my eyebrows while I grabbed my clothes and ced it on myp.


    ¡°I kinda like girls too¡­¡± she trailed weakly.


    I gave a chuckle then she got mad.


    ¡°What? Why are youughing?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Sorry forughing, I was just surprised. Nothing wrong with that though. Are you attracted to her then?¡± I said while I held my hands up helplessly.


    She gives aplex expression. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Won¡¯t you get upset at me?¡± she said while looking down on the ground.


    ¡°For what? Admitting that someone is attractive? I find that hot knowing that you¡¯re attracted to women even though I¡¯m straight. She looks a bit rough or ragged but I could see your point, she¡¯s beautiful as well. See, I also admitted that I find her beautiful. Are you gonna get mad at me?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I-it¡¯splicated.¡± she replied.


    ¡°You know, you act really normal but sometimes you have this switch that makes you different when we¡¯re together.¡± I said.


    ¡°I guess there¡¯s nothing wrong if you put it that way. What switch are you talking about? Like the one you have when you go darkst time?¡± she asked as she dries her hair with a towel.


    ¡°She¡¯s currently with Rin though. What? Are you gonna be like Esther? I don¡¯t have the ¡®stamina¡¯ for that you know?¡± I joked while she kicks me and her b.r.e.a.s.ts jiggle.


    ¡°Be serious.¡± she pouted.


    ¡°Hah! Also, I¡¯m not talking about my switch. When we¡¯re just alone you act more open with me, you get a bit wild though. However, I find it very attractive.¡± I added with a smile.


    She exhales while she rolled her eyes and she said, ¡°That¡¯s what¡¯s being in a rtionship is called you doofus!¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I said innocently.


    She thenughed hysterically while clutching her stomach. Her skin glistens from a few droplets of water that is still not dried with the towel on her hands.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked with a confused expression.


    ¡°You¡¯ve really never had a girlfriend before?¡± she asked. <hr>


    ¡°Never, had a few ¡®interactions¡¯ with women but never something serious, or romantic to say the least.¡± I said as I just shrugged my shoulders and look at her.


    ¡°Well, you have me now. Congrats!¡± she said while making an exaggerated movement.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t I the luckiest man alive then?¡± I said with a smile.


    She looks at me and her eyes darted to my towel covered with the clump of my clothes. She knelt down and she reached underneath and she felt me while she¡¯s looking at me with a grin.


    ¡°Hmm? When did this start?¡± she said while she held the thing inside.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, there¡¯s been s.e.x.u.a.l tension earlier in the shower¡­ I¡¯m a simple man, I see someone beautiful like you, I, uhh, stand proud heh.¡± I joked.


    She squeezed it tight and I almost winced.


    ¡°Really~? Howe you didn¡¯t do anything about it then?¡± she said while she¡¯s grinning.


    ¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s called s.e.x.u.a.l tension don¡¯t it?¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hmm, why is this still going strong though? Hmm?¡± she said as her hand slowly moved.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe because a very beautiful woman is in front of me n.a.k.e.d and moving around touching other people¡¯s meat scepter?¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?! Why do you call it that? Hahahaha!¡± sheughed but she kept a tight grip. She¡¯s biting her lower lip and her other hand went inside as well. <hr>


    ¡°Well, that made you smile andugh. You having that expression is something I could look at all day.¡± I said with a smile and I kissed her on the lips.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley was silent but she¡¯s staring intently.


    She blushed for a bit after then she gave me a seductive smile. She removed the towel from my hip as I was sitting in the bed. She tugged it for a while before she devoured it whole. She¡¯s making eye contact while she does it and doing that makes it harder on me. She removed her hands holding it and her head now is doing all the work. She started on massaging her mounds as she pleasures me. I didn¡¯t evenst long since I¡¯ve been keeping it in for a while.


    She stood up from her kneeling position and sheid on the bed while her legs slowly spread apart. I dove in head-first and pulled her closer then her legs immediately mped on my head. I saw her hands on the back of her head while she¡¯s biting her lower lip. Her back arches and she gives out muffled m.o.a.ns for every yful bite I did with the small piece of flesh just above herher regions. I feel myself ready for the second round after a while of doing it. She removed her legs that were wrapped in my head and she raised my head by pulling it up with her hands.


    She just looked at me but I already know what she¡¯s implying.


    I crawled on top of her and we¡¯re now face to face.


    I kissed her on the lips while I starts to touch her chest. Her h.i.p.s are starting to get impatient as she rubs her lower body against mine. Her legs are wrapped on my back while I¡¯m on top of her and the smell of her body and the way she looks at me is making me go crazy. I positioned myself perfectly as I slowly went inside. Her body responds well as she licked her lips and looked at me straight in the eye after a thrust.


    She wrapped her arms around me and she pushes me closer to her body after I went inside. I feel the warmth enveloping me and her nails are slowly digging in my back. All my weight is pressed against her while I¡¯m kissing her. She started to tighten around me and she held me closer and her legs wrapping on my back pushed me closer to her. I gave a concerned nce but she just whispered ¡®don¡¯t worry¡¯ in my ear so I continued on.


    She started on shaking a bit as I feel her squeezing me harder as her eyes rolled over and her lips curving to a euphoric smile. I never stopped though; I just moved my h.i.p.s continuously. Her bright smile is slowly changing to a messier look as she struggles with the sensitivity that she¡¯s feeling. Her hands that¡¯s wrapped around me is getting tighter and tighter. All you¡¯d hear was just flesh against flesh and the pleasurable sounds with our m.o.a.ns and grunts. I finally reached the end of it and weid on the bed panting. I saw her chest moving up and down while she catches her breath.


    She gave a smile and then sheid on her side as she ces her hand on top me. I held her hand and we stayed in that position for a while.


    ¡°Hey, remembered back then on our field trip to the amus.e.m.e.nt park?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah on the 2nd year, right? What do you recall?¡± I said.


    ¡°When we rode on the Ferris Wheel.¡± She replied. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, that? I remember that.¡± I said.


    ¡°What were you about to tell me then?¡± she said.


    I remembered the scene. We were four in the pod with our friends. I was about to tell her something then one of her friends started to get lightheaded and she vomited on the floor.


    ¡°Oh, I still remember. What I was about to say was¡­¡± I trailed.


    Her eyes looked at me, expecting to hear something with a gleam in her eyes and then I continued.


    ¡°¡­hey Kaley, I think ire is about to vomit.¡± I said honestly.


    ¡°¡­¡± she stayed silent and the gleam in her eyes disappeared. She looks really annoyed now.


    ¡°What? I saw her pale face that¡¯s what I deduced.¡± I said.


    ¡°Y-you could¡¯ve told me something sweet¡­it¡¯s just anti-climactic.¡± she pouted.


    ¡°If I did that, you¡¯d know if I lie, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, don¡¯t use that against me!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± I cackled and she hammered a light fist on my chest.


    We talked for a while and then we cleaned ourselves up. We both went to the bathroom for a quick shower and then we changed our clothes. We went to the armory and we kept our usual loadout. She just ced a bandage on my right hand since there¡¯s still a small cut that needs to be covered. I wore finger cut gloves on top of it so no once notices it like before.

 Chapter 61

    Chapter 61: 61


    We headed down and we saw that everyone was there. My aunt made a nice spread of food and a container was filled with juice and on one corner, a keg of beer was ced with a few bottles of hard liquor. A few beer bottles are on a cooler with ice is also prepared by her husband Conrad. I finally met Andrew Sr. And his wife and the kid we found on thest house was also there. The kid¡¯s name is Peter and he slowly introduced himself to me by signing with his hands. I also introduced myself slowly so he understands. He made a small bow after and then he went back to Andrew¡¯s family. <center></center><hr>


    Arthur¡¯s family was present as well and Arthur is more docile now as he greets me when I came close to him.


    ¡°H-hey, sorry for earlier.¡± he said.


    ¡°No worries, remember our deal yeah? For the meantime, just enjoy yourself and get to know everybody here.¡± I said as Oscar walks up to me.


    ¡°Hey, everyone is here, should we start or¡­¡± Oscar said to me.


    ¡°Yeah, we could just start eating.¡± I said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t we need to say something first?¡± he said.


    ¡°Nah, up to you if you want to say something.¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay kid, let me have a few words.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Sure old man, don¡¯t get to poetic since you can¡¯t rhyme for shit.¡± I joked.


    He¡¯s holding a beer bottle and he ngs it with his knife. He has a nasty grin but I let it slide.


    *Clink* *Clink* *Clink* *Clink* *Clink* *Clink* <center></center><hr>


    Everyone¡¯s attention was piqued on the sound and all of the eyes are on our direction.


    ¡°Everyone, now that I have your attention, Sky has something to say to all of you.¡± Oscar said with a grin.


    ¡°This old man!¡± I said to myself as I gave him a re. Kaley wasughing silently on the side when this happened. Everyone is now looking towards me while I made an impromptu speech.


    ¡°Well hello everyone, nice of you all to be here for our small celebration. I¡¯m just happy to say that having our own safe area here is a huge weight off my shoulders. It took us a few days but we did it! We still got lots more work to do but, in the meantime, I think a celebration like this is in order. We made a slightlyrge meal for everyone and we brought out some alcohol. But please pace yourselves. To those who are drinking, I¡¯ll be keeping your guns for now in case an ident happens. I-¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t be drinking Sky?¡± Jared asked.


    I continued, ¡°No, sorry. We still need someone in their proper minds to be holding guns and keeping order. Just a reminder though, I¡¯ll be keeping watch on everyone here. If someone makes a ruckus from drinking too much, you¡¯ll know that you caused a ruckus because you¡¯ll feel something tomorrow when you wake up, okay?¡± I said menacingly.


    Some of the group gave nervous smiles and some who didn¡¯t wereughing at the ones who did. All of the guys surrendered the guns I lent them since they already have a bottle in their hands. Surprisingly, Tatiana just stood behind me and didn¡¯t drink along with a few a.d.u.l.ts and the kids of course. Kaley reluctantly gave me her weapons as I start to ce it all on my room. The small celebration then started and everyone is having fun while someone brought out their speakers and started on ying music. A few of them swam on the pool while me and Tatiana grabbed a te of food for ourselves.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you drink though?¡± I said to Tatiana.


    ¡°Ah, alcohol is something I avoid. It dulls the senses and someone has to help you keep others in line, correct?¡± she said.


    ¡°Correct, I¡¯d just keep them in a lock or break a few bones if they get too rowdy. I did tell them to pace themselves though. Hmm! This food is good! My aunt really knows how to cook.¡± I said as I took another bite.


    ¡°I agree it¡¯s been a while since I tasted food that¡¯s cooked by a mother, it¡¯s always the best and I can¡¯t help but take seconds.¡± she said.


    ¡°A mother¡¯s cooking huh? My mom was the best though.¡± I said to myself. <hr>


    ¡°How can you eat so much and not gain weight though? I had a hard time doing that.¡± I said.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t know. A metabolism thing maybe? So, you mean to say that you didn¡¯t look like that before, correct?¡± she said.


    I pulled out an old picture from when I was a teen and showed it to her.


    ¡°This is me a few years ago when I was in gradeschool.¡± I said.


    Her eyes widened and she looked alternatingly at the picture and me for a few times. She said, ¡°Well that was really surprising, you look so young and innocent there¡­and round, really round.¡± she said.


    ¡°Hey! Is that your old photo? Let me see!¡± Kaley said. She has a te of food and a stic cup with beer on it.


    ¡°When was this?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Sixth grade, it¡¯s when I participated on a folk dance at my school. That¡¯s why I was wearing a Barong Tagalog.¡± I exined.


    The three of us were sitting on the catwalk and we saw Oscar has a few bottles in his hand approaching us.


    ¡°Here, kid.¡± he hands me an opened bottle.


    ¡°Sorry, I think I wouldn¡¯t be taking anything from you anymore.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°What? Why?!¡± he eximed while I noticed that he¡¯s trying to act.


    ¡°Well, you did admit that you got me piss drunk to hook me up with women and you also said that you dropped a few pills on my drinks! I¡¯m a little worried you¡¯d do the same thing again.¡± I said with a smile and my eyebrow is raised.


    ¡°Hah! That was before you refused to be with anyone! You have someone now! Just a bottle wouldn¡¯t hurt! C¡¯mon kid! You have two beauties left and right, have some fun!¡± he negotiated.


    I looked at Kaley and Tatiana and they justughed it off though Kaley is blushing since she had a few drinks already.


    Kaley said, ¡°It¡¯s just a bottle, right? Let¡¯s just avoid the hard liquor and we¡¯ll be good.¡±


    ¡°I agree with them, you deserve a little drink.¡± Tatiana said.


    I contemted for a while and said, ¡°Give me the closed one though.¡±


    I looked at Oscar and he paused for a while. He sighed and he hands the other bottle.


    ¡°Tsk!¡± Oscar clicked his tongue


    ¡°What does that mean?!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Nothing! Here!¡± he said as he threw me the closed one.


    He then went back to the pool area with the others. I popped the cap off and I took a sip. Kaley lifted her cup and Oscar went back to the pool area to get some more; Kaley took my te and she said that she would refill it also with Tatiana¡¯s other te. She walked down the steps and went straight in the pool area. It was just the two of us for a while. <hr>


    ¡°So, are you gonna tell me about that prison tattoo?¡± I asked.


    She flinches though she kept on eating the food on her te. Yes, she brought two.


    ¡°It¡¯s a rose with a dagger piercing it, you also have a skull baring its fangs underneath the first one. If I¡¯m correct, that means you were in prison before 18 and you have a deep-seated hatred in the authorities. How did you be a soldier though?¡± I asked.


    I was seating on top of the wall facing the pool area while she¡¯s in a chair facing the other side.


    ¡°Why do you know so much?¡± she asked. This was the first time I saw her with a mncholic expression.


    ¡°Photographic memory, sorry. I read a lot in my free time. Only need to see something once and I remember it forever.¡± I said.


    ¡°I see. That¡¯s really impressive, out of all the memories I have, this one is always on my mind. It¡¯s the worst out of all my life.¡± she said.


    ¡°What happened then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I never told this story to anyone after I joined the military, you¡¯re the first one to hear it after all this time.¡± she said.


    ¡°I¡¯m a lucky man then, I love hearing stories.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmph! It¡¯s something I always try to forget though; I¡¯ll only tell this once okay?¡± she said.


    I nodded and then she ces her te on the wall I was sitting on. She asked for my bottle of beer so I gave it to her. She took a huge swig before she opened her mouth.

 Chapter 62

    Chapter 62: 62


    ¡°I was born inside a prison. I was taken care of inside the prison walls until my mother died inside. I was then sent to a next of kin somewhere in Russia when I was very young. I was at a very young age when I discovered that life was truly unfair. My rtive sold me to different men for¡­ pleasure. I never had an idea what was going on until it happened. At first, I refused to do it. They beat me up at first and they would not feed me until I obliged. Feeling the hunger in my stomach, I just shut down and let them ravage me.¡± she said as she took a gulp from my bottle. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°The abuse happened for a few years until I decided for everything to stop. One night, after my deed was done, I grabbed his pistol when he was sleeping. I pointed it at his head and I pulled the trigger. The whole neighborhood got awake and I got sent to prison.¡± she said.


    ¡°Wait, they would have sent you to a center for minors first yeah?¡± I asked.


    ¡°That was supposed to be the case but it was a different case for me. There was little to no investigation and they just thought that I was a petite p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e that killed her employer since I was taller than most people. Even my rtives denied that I was rted to them. I was put to jail as an a.d.u.l.t for murder. I was so mad at everyone for treating me like this. The inmates there discovered my real age and they gave me my first tattoo, the rose with a dagger on the back. Just a few days after, the police who arrested me came to visit and he had the gall to say that I¡¯m a lying cunt when I said that I was being abused. I leapt towards him and smashed his head against the table. A few correctional officers handled me and I got sent in istion for a time.¡±


    ¡°After leaving istion, they gave me my second tattoo, the skull baring its fangs. You¡¯re right in what it means and the ones who inked it said I should have that one. I was supposed to be rotting in hell right now but I was saved. A college student studyingw was making a dissertation and she found me while doing her research. I don¡¯t know the exact details but she managed to convince the court to free me after 5 years.¡±


    ¡°5 years? That¡¯s still a lot of time.¡± I said.


    ¡°I was grateful for it. I really thought that I was gonna stay in prison for the rest of my life ming everything.¡± she said.


    ¡°What happened to the girl who saved you though?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, we just met for a few more times after I got free but she¡¯s already married to someone. I just decided to myself that she¡¯s the only one I would have feelings for.¡± she said solemnly. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Immediately after leaving prison, I asked for her help so I could join the military. That country would need morepetent people to serve it if it means to be one. Well, that¡¯s my story of the tattoos, I¡¯m free of the wager now, correct?¡± she said.


    ¡°Of course, thanks for telling it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Thanks for listening, telling it to someone makes me feel really¡­ light.¡± she said.


    ¡°It really does.¡± I nodded.


    ¡°Sky, you won¡¯t really consider letting me f.u.c.k you, correct?¡± she said straightforwardly.


    ¡°Ack-, please stop with that. I already have someone. I thought you were with Rin though?¡± I said as I almost choked.


    ¡°Well, yes. She¡¯s still haven¡¯t you know¡­ done it yet. We just kissed for a while and some light touching when you left earlier. Remember the offer is always on the table, you could tell me to do ¡®anything¡¯.¡± she exined while I notice that she has finished the bottle and her cheeks are a little red.


    ¡°Please spare me the details yeah? It¡¯s hot hearing it, but I still feel ufortable hearing it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll just tell you the details if you ask me, correct?¡± she said nonchntly. <hr>


    ¡°Sure, that¡¯s good.¡± I said helplessly.


    ¡°Does a weird sense of humor reallye from people like us who have suffered something before? Well, I just do it as a coping mechanism, her case is a lot more different than mine. Bah! I¡¯m not a shrink, I¡¯m not equipped to ponder about this stuff!¡± I said to myself.


    Kaley was wobbling for a bit when I saw her carrying a few tes so we helped her take it to the catwalk. She¡¯s looking tipsy now though she could still be spoken to. A few zombies were at the gate so I just went down and killed them with my de. I just pulled myself up with the rope and I sat at my usual spot at the wall. The small celebrationes to a close, no one got piss drunk since I¡¯ve only allowed a few bottles of hard liquor to be brought out. A few of them are red in the face though. I asked few of the guys who were not drunk to drive Andrew¡¯s and Arthur¡¯s family back to their homes. Everyone cleared up and a few people who were still able to keep watch was on the schedule. I was on the 12:00 MN Schedule while Tatiana was in the 3:00 AM one. A few people like Alex, Esther and Jonathan volunteered to keep watch as well since they didn¡¯t partake in the drinking.


    I guided Kaley up the stairs and I saw the girls gathering to my room for the movie. I saw Tatiana waiting for this too since I told her where I learned the trick when we were assembling the guns earlier. I yed a movie by J. Chan; the title was the ¡®The New P. Story¡¯ It was an action and a dramatic movie. A few of them cried at the opening scene and when Tatiana saw the trick at thest part, she shook her head in disbelief.


    ¡°You got that from a movie?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Well I beat you, didn¡¯t I?¡± I said.


    She was still in disbelief after she reyed that scene a couple of times. I wasughing my ass off while she does it and she nods her head a few times before heading back.


    Kaley was already asleep so I turned the TV off after and I tucked her in while the rest leaves for their rooms. I turned the lights off and set an rm for my watch in the catwalk. She was deeply in sleep so I just gave her a hug and I slept beside her. <hr>


    My rm went off and I got ready. Kaley was still asleep and I just headed down to switch with the other guys. Nicole, Esther and Alicia were watching the catwalk. I went up to them and I saw Jonathan walking alone towards us while I heard a door opening from behind me and saw Chris walking out. We greeted each other and we continued our watch. A few small talks along with deep ones lingered in the air and the steam of coffee is the only thing you¡¯d see. There¡¯s no more light in the right side of our ce though there are a few isted ones on the left side onwards. The DDR camp is still alive and running and you could see the asional helicopter flying.


    Now that our watch has ended, the following guys made their way into our ce and we switched. I justid myself on the bed and continued to sleep when I went upstairs.


    I woke up curled to the side while Kaley is hugging me from behind. I slowly removed myself from her then I felt a grab and a pull.


    Day 6


    ¡°Morning.¡± she said.


    ¡°Hey, I thought you were asleep.¡± I said.


    ¡°No, I¡¯ve been awake for a while. I¡¯m just watching you sleep soundly.¡± she said.


    ¡°You¡¯re weird. Ahaha¡­¡± I chuckled while I hugged her back.


    ¡°Compared to you?¡± she rebutted. <hr>


    ¡°Well, you got me there.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wanna do something quick before we go down?¡± she looked at me with her eyebrows raised.


    She¡¯s already holding me with her hands and she¡¯s leaning over me.


    ¡°Do I have a choice?¡± I said sarcastically.


    ¡°Well, no.¡± she giggled as we did a quick round.


    We then headed down afterwards and I saw the rest of the group a bit hangover from yesterday¡¯s small celebration.


    My aunt just made a simple breakfast for today. Just scrambled eggs with pancakes and a few sausages with coffee. We ate while making conversation with each other and the families from the other houses joined us for breakfast while they brought some of their food.


    ¡°What¡¯s the n today kid?¡± Oscar said.

 Chapter 63

    Chapter 63: 63


    ¡°The building team need to build another fence on the edge of the canal system and the farm next to ourpound should bepleted now and seeds should be nted on the soil or a few seedlings on small cups. I may need someone to check the fishing area to feed the fish daily and check if some of them are ready for harvest so we could secure a stable source of food. I almost forgot, the fences we have here on the left side, find a way to reinforce them yeah? Or add something before them.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sure.¡± my uncle replied.


    ¡°I need four people for security detail today since I will be leading a group outside to scout and scavenge the area. We¡¯ll bring the truck so we could haul a lot of supplies in some of the areas here. We¡¯ll attach the metal frame on the front of the truck now so it¡¯s safe to ram the zombies with it.¡± I added.


    ¡°Oh! Therge thingy on the workshop?¡± Russel said.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve been working on that before everything else started. It could push them to the side since constant impacts from them would damage the truck or would slow us down if there are too many. I designed it on a ¡®V¡¯ shape so they get pushed to the side instead of ramming them head on.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it just better to kill them outright?¡± Russel asked again.


    ¡°Well, like I said, we could ram them but we¡¯re not sure if we crush their heads now would we? Bits and pieces of them would stain the windshield or clog the machinery below the truck so it¡¯s safer to just push them to the side and take of them with our weapons instead of the truck.¡± I added.


    He nodded pensively as he helped his dad attach it with a few others on the truck.


    ¡°That looks so cool!¡± Ken eximed.


    ¡°Hah! Well I made it that¡¯s why. I learned welding just to do this kind of stuff.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh? Make one for me then!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°¡­¡± I.


    ¡°¡­¡± Ken.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± we bothughed at the same time. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well, I have a few ns for your wheelchair but I won¡¯t tell you those yet.¡± I said mysteriously.


    ¡°What?! Don¡¯t leave me hanging here man! I¡¯ll roll over your foot likest time! Heh!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°F.u.c.k! Don¡¯t do that likest time, It frickin¡¯ hurts when you rolled over my toe.¡± I made some distance.


    *whhrr*


    ¡°Hah! Just kidding man, peace! I¡¯ll head back to the CCTVs, Peanut¡¯s been restless, she like to look at monitors it¡¯s weird.¡± he said as he drove to their designated house.


    I looked at my group and I spoke.


    ¡°We¡¯ll prioritize food and water and medicine over everything else. Oscar, I might need you to stay here to takemand while we¡¯re gone. I¡¯ll bring Tatiana, Kaley, Zardon, Mark, Dong and Jared with me. I may need some of your vests Oscar is that okay?¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, what are the vests for?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Bullets of course, on this side, we¡¯ve only encountered zombies but outside, we¡¯ll never know what might happen. We need to be vignt and we need to protect ourselves. Be wary of the people that we met outside, they may not be as lucky as we are and they might do stupid things. Do any of you need a few special things outside? I might grab a few if I saw them.¡± I asked.


    The group just said nothing for now so we finished eating and we got ready.


    I grabbed a vest for everyone to wear and I found a suitable one for Kaley. It matches the color of the other parts of the riot gear and I let my uncle wear the chest piece.


    Our loadout is as follows:


    I was carrying two Glock 19s with the attachments which are the extended magazine, suppressor, red dot sight and a tactical shlight on my torso. I brought my AR-15 with a suppressor and a 2.5-6x45mm scope slung in my back. Never forget the wakizashi on my hip and a few extra magazines for good measure. <hr>


    Kaley was equipped with the AR-15 with the square suppressor, fore grip handle and the 2-8x40mm scope. She also has the Beretta M9 and my tanto on her h.i.p.s.


    Tatiana was equipped with her Ker vest and she brought her M4 Benelli and her FN Five Seven with herbat knife.


    Jared was still carrying his Glock 19 and the Trench Knife I gave him so I gave him the M70 that Lois was hugging on the first watch before that has a suppressor and a 2-8x45mm scope.


    My uncle Zardon has the riot shield and the expanding baton with a Mossberg 500 on his back that has a dozen slugs located on the straps.


    Mark was still carrying the fire axe mainly though he has thebat knife and the M9 on his h.i.p.s.


    Dong was also still carrying his machete and the M9 pistol that I gave them both.


    They all wore protective gear and I gave them extra ammunition for their guns. My uncle drove the truck while Dong and Mark is on the passenger seat and we four are on the back side. I decided on going to Alfa Mart first near the elementary school. On the way, we saw a few zombies but it was enough to just use our melee weapons. My uncle parked the vehicle on the small convenience store where the front of the vehicle is facing the road.


    ¡°Get ready. A few areing towards us.¡± I said.


    I immediately drew my wakizashi and rushed to the nearest ones with Tatiana while Dong and Mark went for the other side. A few zombies are far now though I asked the group to keep guard while my uncle and I went inside the store that has been broken in already. He went first with his shield up and we made sure that there are no zombies hidden. I drew my Glock with the shlight and turned it on.


    *click*


    I scanned it around the obscured areas and a few corners where the light can¡¯t shine through since some of the fluorescentmps are broken.


    ¡°See anything yet?¡± my uncle asked.


    ¡°Not yet, watch out for the corners though.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°This ce was already ransacked a bit though, but a lot of items still remain.¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, I hope they forgot the backroom.¡± I said.


    We moved past the aisles and we headed to the door behind the ice machine. I tried for the door on the back and it¡¯s locked. I examined the door for any signs of breaking into and it has none.


    ¡°Jackpot!¡± I said to myself.


    I picked the lock and it opens. There are several boxes of different items at the back room ranging from different kinds of food though some of them that are perishable are already starting to smell. I called Dong and Mark to start to haul the stuff in the truck and I feel that the truck would be half-full when we¡¯re done here. We hauled 14 boxes of instant noodles, 12 boxes of assorted biscuits, 3 boxes of different ch.i.p.s, 4 small boxes of choctes and 18 boxes of different canned goods. Aside from that, we found 5 gallons of mineral water, 3 boxes of energy drinks and 6 kegs of different kinds of soda. That¡¯s all in the backroom.


    In the front part of the store, a lot of items are scattered and most of the food was taken from the shelves. Only a few items like toothpastes, mouthwash and other hygiene products were not taken yet along with a fewmon household supplies though I took most of the cleaning agents like bleach, detergents and soap. There was no medicine though we found a few bottles of vitamin supplements and a few jars of protein powder near the cashier. There were also a few cartons of cigarettes, condoms, lighters, matches and candies.


    ¡°You don¡¯t smoke right?¡± my uncle said.


    ¡°Yeah, but this is worth more than gold now. We could trade this with other people in the future.¡± I said.


    ¡°Always a businessman eh?¡± he said.


    A few gunshots ring out when some of the zombies got too close forfort. I called the guys at the front with my radio.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You guys okay there?¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re good. There was 7 in a clump so we used our guns to thin them a bit.¡±


    *bzzt*


    I looked at the freezers on the side and I found a lot of melted ice cream that varies from the 1-liter packs and to the 250ml packs. There are other frozen products like fries and a few sausages in the other freezers.


    ¡°Guys, take these too! We could just re-freeze them back at home.¡± I said.


    ¡°Take the Cookies and Cream first!¡± Jared yelled.


    ¡°Wait, why are they selling water in stic bags? Don¡¯t they have bottles for this?¡± Dong said as he lifted a bag from the freezers.


    I looked at it and I facepalmed.


    ¡°Dong, those are the tubed ice that they sell¡­ they melted that¡¯s why.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh¡­ ahahaha¡­ didn¡¯t see thebel here¡­¡± he said as heid it back embarrassingly.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.

 Chapter 64

    Chapter 64: 64


    ¡°Do we take the freezers too?¡± Mark said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Not for now, we already have several at the bas.e.m.e.nt. If we got more sr panels I¡¯ll reconsider. More electronics at home might make the panels give out.¡± I said.


    We ced everything in the truck and it was more than half-full. I gave one more nce at the store and then I ced my hand under the counter.


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!! I KNEW IT!!!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Shh! You¡¯re too loud Sky!¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k! You found another one?!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°Hah! I have the nose of a hound! Still a shotgun though, I hope for something like a pistol but this thing is perfect for defense in a store like this.¡± I said.


    ¡°I hope we find a few more in other stores.¡± Mark said.


    ¡°Gonna be hard though. It¡¯s lucky we found this thing here. If it was me, I would¡¯ve taken this when I left this ce!¡± I eximed.


    I found a pump-shotgun beneath the counters and I remember that it¡¯s called a Maverick 88. It has a 5 round tube magazine though there are no extra ammunition box left. I ced it behind the passenger seat and we left the ce.


    ¡°Where do we go next?¡± my uncle said.


    ¡°Hmm? Go there. We will need the stuff there for everyone in thepound.¡± I pointed to aundry shop that still has the roll-up down.


    We cleared the area of the close zombies first and then we raised the roll-up and the ss door of theundry shop weed us.


    ¡°What are we gonna get here?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°You know, a few washing machines to help with the clothes. I only have 2 of this back home. Bringing a few more at home could help the people with theundry. We go home with blood in our clothes and they really do a good job of removing it, this is the least we could do.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re really kind.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Well thanks, I try.¡± I replied.


    We opened the door as the rest guarded the truck. We ced 5 more washing machines on the truck and several sacks of powdered detergents and bottles of bleach and fabric conditioners. We closed the roll up though we never locked it. We kept the padlocks and we went home. I made a mental note of other ces to take from when we get back.


    ¡°That was faster than expected.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Yeah, that backroom was a lucky find. People would just tend to get what¡¯s in front of them first when they are in a panic. They would never bother checking the other doors.¡± I said.


    ¡°We had a few runners but none of those sprinters.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Yeah, I hope they are rare as finding diamonds on the lower levels.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?¡± she was confused.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a gaming reference.¡± I said.


    Kaley once again facepalmed and the look she gave me says, ¡®of course it was!¡¯


    I just smiled with Jared since he knows what I¡¯m talking about.


    We reached the fences and the guys working there were surprised because we were outside for a little less than two hours.


    ¡°Good haul kid?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Yeah, more food and water. I brought a couple of washing machines too.¡± I said.


    The guys unloaded the truck while the housewives¡¯ eyes lit up when they saw the expensive washing machines being unloaded. Rin was busy tallying everything once more. <hr>


    ¡°Is that from across the street?¡± my aunt said.


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re saving up to buy one, right? Consider this a birthday present! It¡¯s in a few weeks, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°You little¡­ Thanks!¡± she said while smiling.


    It took a bit to unload the trucks so I refilled the ammunition that they used. It¡¯s only a few 5.56s and a few slugs.


    ¡°Ready for another run?¡± I said to them.


    Everyone seems to be excited from the haul earlier and they are eager to get more again.


    We took the truck for another spin and I decided where to go next. We aimed for the closest ones first where we could get the most yield. We drove past from the ones that already looked barren from anything. We then stopped to a small bakery at the left of the elementary school.


    We found a couple dozen of canned goods and a few sacks of flour and a few bags of bread where some of them are already stale but still edible. ¡®No bread will be too hard for a hot cup of coffee¡¯ as my grandfather says. Aside from that, we also found a few cases of sodas and we took them too. We also took the two gasoline tanks that are under the oven.


    ¡°How about we bring this oven? We could make pandesal at home, right?¡± my uncle said.


    ¡°Oh yeah, that is good paired with coffee in the morning.¡± Jared added.


    ¡°Let¡¯s leave it there for now. Let¡¯s consume the food that are quick to spoil first before we gather this oven. It¡¯s a good idea though, it¡¯s very easy to make those. Besides, we have a bakery much closer to ourpound.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You can bake?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°I dabble on a little bit of everything. I can make simple pastries, pandesal is very easy to do than the ones I tried to make before.¡± I said.


    ¡°Show off.¡± Kaley joked. <hr>


    ¡°What is pandesal?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re a fist-sized bread that is a staple here. It¡¯s made with simple ingredients and always paired with coffee. It¡¯s only made in the morning though.¡± I exined.


    Across the street is a cheap burger shop who sells burgers for 3 pieces a dor. We opened the ce up however the patties are already smelling funky but we found a few jars of different condiments like mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and hot sauce. There are also a few trays of eggs that is still good for eating. There¡¯s a propane tank at the bottom of the stove so we loaded them up and we drove off.


    A few blocks from it is a shop called CDO who sells different sorts of meat products but the ce is already looted. Although, right next to it is a pet shop that has several sacks of pet food. I hauled a few sacks for our pets and I grabbed some feed for the animals we breed at home. I also took 6 boxes of treats for Zeus, Peanut, and Rio and ced them inside the passenger seat.


    The aims of the guys shooting the zombies is getting better since I am hearing fewer pops than before I trained them. Them being able to do that releases us on the burden of looking after them while we are outside. In the future, I hope that we will be all side to side fighting and not this babysitting thing that we do for now.


    ¡°Experience will always be the best teacher.¡± I said to myself.


    So far, we haven¡¯t met any people outside yet. I saw the appliance store that recently opened and it is barren and a few zombies are inside. The few who got close has been dealt with the group outside and sometimes me when I let them haul the stuff while I guard outside.


    ¡°142¡­¡± I counted in my head.


    We stopped next to a mineral water station. Although it¡¯s already open, we still found a few containers of water inside the office. We ced them in the truck along with the water filter in the corner.


    ¡°We¡¯re near the public market¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°Are we going inside there too?¡± my uncle asked.


    ¡°Not yet. Let¡¯s go for the ones by the side of the road first. Let¡¯s avoid ces that we need to walk for a while inside. We might get surprised if we go inside.¡± I said.


    ¡°Alright where do we go next?¡± he said.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stop for the owner of this ce first.¡± I said.


    ¡°Who?¡± Kaley said. <hr>


    ¡°The owner of the majority of the shops here.¡± I said.


    We stopped by a huge gate with a small one on the side. From the top of the truck, you could see three houses inside after a short drive.


    ¡°Hello? Dave, you there?¡± I shouted.


    After a moment, I saw a head peeking out and he has a shotgun on his hand.


    ¡°Sky?¡± the guard said.


    ¡°Hey Dave, you guys alright here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Damn, you guys are looking good! The family are inside, they are resting though, want me to call them?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No just tell them I stopped by and said hello. You guys still good on supplies?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, thanks to you. Good thing ourndlord believed you, we have food that couldst us for a long time.¡± he said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. We¡¯re going now, we¡¯re gonna stop by a few more stores. Stay safe yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure! You too! Hey Zardon! Drive safe!¡± he shouted while my uncle honked.


    I gave a small salute and we went to another shop.


    ¡°Who were they again?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°The guy there is Dave, he¡¯s the guard at that ce for almost three decades now. The family residing there is the one who holds the titles to some of thend here. They are a cool bunch, I invited them toe to my ce but they decided to build something of their own. They¡¯re filthy rich too. If nothing too serious happens, they couldst until this pandemic ends too. They were the few people that believed me when I told everyone. They¡¯re the closest ones to me location-wise.¡± I exined.


    We arrived at a small pharmacy who sells OTC drugs. We slowly cleared the area first before I picked our way in.

 Chapter 65

    Chapter 65: 65


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


    ¡°Hey bro, can we just use the crowbar next time?¡± Jared said.


    ¡°It¡¯s noisy when it breaks and I¡¯d like to keep the padlock for future use.¡± I exined.


    ¡°You hoarder!¡± he joked.


    ¡°Yes. I. am.¡± I said with a smile as I opened the gates.


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


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


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


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


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


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


    Our small basket of trinkets is now increasing in numbers and is starting to make a pile. <center></center><hr>


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


    ¡°Something American! There¡¯s still rice though¡­¡± Oscar said while Iughed.


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


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


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


    ¡°Howe we don¡¯t encounter gun shops here though?¡± Kaley asked.


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


    ¡°Can we reach him though?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ve only sent an email to him but he never responded.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! The guy with eye patch?¡± Oscar said.


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


    ¡°Kid, isn¡¯t there a few isted ones in the Bcan area?¡± Oscar said.


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


    ¡°Wait! How about that olddy who tried to seduce us near the funeral home?¡± Oscar said.


    I got chills when I remembered that ce.


    ¡°What?! What is that ce then?! I need to hear that story!¡± Kaley eximed.


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


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


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!!¡± Kaley began tough.


    ¡°Every pistol she gave us, she would identally touch my hand or Oscars and everytime she reached for another one, she would bend her body in incriminating poses.¡± I exined.


    The group is nowughing when I started to act out what the olddy there did.


    ¡°Sounds like a very lovely woman.¡± Tatiana said. <hr>


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


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


    ¡°I agree, she still sells a few 9mms though. I hope she¡¯s there somewhere. It¡¯s a few kilometers from here though it¡¯s closer from where we found An.¡± I said.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re gonna head there next?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°I guess so, bullets and guns are equally important than food and water. However, we still have more ess to thetter so the former is more important in our situation since we can¡¯t replenish them indefinitely. Same thing with medicine, we should save every bit that we could since we will be relying on herbal ones when we ran out in the future.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s decided then. Rest for an hour before we go yeah?¡± I told the group.


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


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


    ¡°Oh! We have one extra here.¡± I said.


    ¡°Really? Is that Ken¡¯s spare?¡± he said.


    ¡°No, it was from the ambnce that we uhh¡­borrowed¡± I said. <hr>


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


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


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


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


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


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


    ¡°Bingo! She¡¯s very close to Rin¡¯sst residence.¡± I said to myself.


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


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


    ¡°Someone¡¯sing. One guy, he¡¯s armed.¡± She said while her expression changed.

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    The group tensed when the guy approached us. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s enough distance!¡± I shouted as I raised my rifle.


    The guy tensed and he puts his hands up.


    ¡°Don¡¯t shoot! Don¡¯t shoot!¡± he eximed.


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


    ¡°Don¡¯t move! One of us will check you first. Make a sudden move and I¡¯ll shoot you in the head, understand?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure! Sure! Of course! Please! I need a ce to stay at! My ce got overrun and I had to leave!¡± he eximed.


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


    ¡°Turn around.¡± Shemanded.


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


    ¡°Where¡¯d youe from?¡± I asked as I also approached him while I lowered my gun. Tatiana was holding his gear while the rest are on guard.


    ¡°I¡¯m from the block there near the stadium.¡± He replied.


    ¡°And you just walked here when you saw us?¡± I said.


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


    ¡°We¡¯re not. We¡¯re just a special unit different from them. What are your ns then? I could drop you off the camps if you want.¡± I said.


    ¡°That would be great! Thanks! Hold on, do you guys live in a different ce though?¡± he asked curiously.


    ¡°We do, but I can¡¯t tell you where it is if you¡¯re already nning to go to the camps.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I¡¯m an office worker, I know it won¡¯t help you guys much but I think I¡¯ll take my chances with you guys. I think this is a fated meeting and I promise you that I¡¯ll do whatever you ask me.¡± He said. <center></center><hr>


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


    ¡°My name¡¯s Sky. Come with us then.¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯m Bobby, nice to meet you guys.¡± He said.


    ¡°We¡¯ll do the full introductionster. A few are getting close.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°Sky!¡± Kaley pointed to a direction a few meters away.


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


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


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


    *BOOM* *BOOM*


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


    *psshew*


    *bolt slide*


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


    ¡°What was that?!¡± Bobby eximed as he paled in horror at the sight.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell youter, we gotta move now.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°What¡¯s this ce?¡± he asked. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s the address of the owner of the store that we got the guns from. I hope the olddy is there with her husband. If not, we could get a few more guns from that ce since half the store is empty.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh? We¡¯re taking them then?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, she has her entricities but I think they will be a good addition with our team. Besides, we need more people at the ce.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°Hello? Mrs. Smith? Are you there?¡± I said.


    ¡°Who is this?!¡± a male voice sounded.


    ¡°This is Sky, an old customer of Mrs.-¡±


    ¡°Go away! We¡¯re not taking in people!¡± the voice shouted.


    ¡°You must be mistaken; we have a ce in-¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t hear what I said? Go away! We won¡¯t go to your camps and we won¡¯t give up our weapons you hear me?!¡± the voice bellowed.


    ¡°I think we¡¯re not wee here Sky.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Maybe.¡± I contemted for a while and I tapped the inte a set number of times. The group grew confused at what I¡¯m doing but Jared and Tatiana are now focused on the sounds of the beeps in the inte.


    Dash Dash Dash


    Dash Dash Dash


    Dot Dash Dot


    Dot Dash


    Dot Dot Dot Dot <hr>


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


    It was Morse code.


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


    ¡°Come in.¡±


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


    ¡°What did you do?¡± Kaley asks.


    ¡°Oorah.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?¡± she asked again.


    ¡°Oorah.¡± I repeated myself while I widened my eyes.


    ¡°It¡¯s a marine yell.¡± Jared whispered.


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


    ¡°Mr. Ishiyama?¡± a voice resounded.


    ¡°Mrs. Thelma?!¡± I said in surprise.


    ¡°What are you doing here?! Are you guys alright?¡± she asks.


    ¡°You know them?¡± the man said.


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


    ¡°But our food is-¡±


    ¡°No need for that, but thank you. We¡¯re here on business. Is this all of you? You mentioned your wife, are there more?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk inside.¡± He said.


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


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


    ¡°You in the marines, kid?¡± Johnny said.


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


    ¡°No, I just needed to get your attention.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, you did it. What do you want?¡± he said with a frown.


    Joanne suddenly had a look of realization and she eximed, ¡°Wait! I remember you! You¡¯re the guy with the old army guy who bought a few guns years ago!¡±


    I just nodded and she smiled at me.


    ¡°You know this kid dear?¡± he said to his wife.


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


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


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


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


    ¡°Good job old man.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I see. I understand your situation now. But what I don¡¯t understand is how did a US Army Veteran and a Russian Army Soldier and arge group of different people though mostly family follows your orders without question? How did you manage to do that?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Because I can.¡± I said as I looked at him straight in the eye.

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    He seemed taken aback from the simple response. <center></center><hr>


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


    ¡°What¡¯s your situation on food?¡± he said.


    ¡°What about yours? I believe Thelma manages a store near the gas station. Howe you¡¯re worried earlier to prepare some with us? I left her a note too.¡± I counter-asked and he was speechless.


    ¡°Thanks to that note, I managed to ce supplies on the trucks though one of my workers took off with one of the trucks that I was supposed to bring here. We¡¯re left with one truck and it¡¯s all we have. Johnny is contemting on going outside to loot a few ces but we decided to ration and avoid going out at all costs.¡± Thelma exined.


    ¡°I knew that something happened.¡± I said to myself.


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


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


    ¡°Will you still ept me even with this?¡± he said as he showed me a prosthetic leg on his right side.


    I just smiled and said, ¡°That¡¯s it? I have a friend there who can¡¯t walk since birth and has a more positive outlook than you, no offense. He traveled from Cavite and left his house just to be here.¡±


    ¡°Dear, I think we could help each other and survive together when wee with him. We could start packing our stuff, we could alwayse back here if we don¡¯t like the ce.¡± Joanne said to his husband.


    Johnny rubbed his be and he gave a long sigh. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll check your ce first and we¡¯ll decide if we stay or not, is that eptable?¡± he said.


    ¡°Sure.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°No need. We already went to your ce, that¡¯s why I found this address.¡± I said.


    Her eyes widened. She said, ¡°Oh! Are the guns still there?¡±


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


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


    ¡°Wait! That is ours!¡± Johnny eximed.


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


    ¡°I ah-¡± he was taken aback.


    ¡°Dear I think that it¡¯s more than generous.¡± Joanne said. <hr>


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


    ¡°I¡¯ll wait for an hour for you guys to pack up. You could ce some of your bags in our truck if you need more space. I¡¯ll be in it splitting the guns and ammo.¡± Imanded.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Thelma said to me while I nodded.


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


    ¡°It¡¯s a lot of them.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah, we got 10 people in one go.¡± I said.


    ¡°Do we need to worry?¡± she asked.


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


    ¡°Hmm, true. But wouldn¡¯t it be better to find more people that has experienced this first and still turns out to be the good ones?¡± she replied.


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


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


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that some sort of maniption then?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, something like making them obligated to follow our orders. Like when someone helps you a lot and when that person asked for a favor you immediately help them without question. I think that¡¯s better than leaving them here to die or killing them because we don¡¯t want the risk of them knowing our ce. We¡¯ve been lucky since wandering people would stumble upon the DDR camp first before ours.¡± I exined.


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


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


    ¡°I understand. How long do you think this thing wouldst though?¡± she asks.


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


    ¡°I see¡­ wait, what?!¡± she eximed as she looked at me.


    ¡°What?¡± I tried to act normally.


    ¡°Kids?!¡± she silently eximed.


    ¡°It¡¯s an honest estimate. Well, talking about it now is too sudden. We¡¯ve been together for almost a week now¡­ I-¡±


    She punches me in the arm while she blushes. <hr>


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


    ¡°Don¡¯t you know that that¡¯s what¡¯s being in a rtionship is like, you doofus!¡± I said her words back at her from before.


    ¡°You!¡± she began to yfully punch me a couple of times while I justughed hysterically.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, just help me divide the guns here.¡± I said then Joanne approached me.


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


    ¡°Really? I won¡¯t be polite then, thanks!¡± I said with a smile.


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


    ¡°You hoarder.¡± Kaley said with a smile.


    ¡°Heh, being like Jared huh? I think I¡¯m hoarding people as well.¡± I said while scratching my head.


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


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


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

 Chapter 68

    Chapter 68: 68


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


    ¡°This is the ce. From this fence towards the end is a safe zone. What do you think?¡± I said.


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


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


    ¡°I¡¯m retired too, very recently. This ce is definitely much better than ours.¡± he said.


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


    ¡°How about the other houses here then? Are they all upied?¡± Johnny asked.


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


    ¡°Most of them are looted though, we did a run by them for a few days. The electricity and the water are still running in the other houses though we don¡¯t know for how long. Just flip the main switch on since we turned them off. We have panels in thepound though we¡¯re gonna start on conserving the usage of electronic devices to further the lifespan on the panels in the future.¡± I exined.


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


    ¡°Sure, there are only two upied houses here. The one near the court and the gated one near the fishing areas.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hey, can I stay inside thepound?¡± Bobby asked.


    ¡°Sure. Just pick an empty room when we go inside.¡± I said.


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


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


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


    ¡°Hey, Lois is Jared¡¯s brother, right?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah, why?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Can he shoot like his brother?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Well, he¡¯s a special case. He¡¯d only excel at things when his interest is piqued. When he starts to get bored of it, his performance suffers.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Really?¡± she said.


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


    ¡°What made him want to go to practice now?¡± she said.


    ¡°Not sure, we¡¯ll knowter.¡± I replied.


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


    ¡°Lois, go first yeah?¡± I said.


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


    *BANG*


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


    *BANG*


    It hit the torso this time. <hr>


    ¡°Go two shots per breath now.¡± I instructed.


    *BANG* *BANG*


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


    *BANG* *BANG*


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


    ¡°Good job, you really don¡¯t want to join the scouting team?¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm, maybe, but I¡¯d like to stay at home though.¡± he said.


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


    ¡°What? I haven¡¯t tried that yet. This is gonna be bad.¡± he said.


    ¡°Just try it.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°He¡¯s good.¡± Kaley said.


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


    ¡°So, what can we learn from that?¡± I said.


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


    ¡°In the future, I¡¯d like you all to at least be able to do what Lois can. He¡¯s already in the next level, even more if he continues to practice, which he doesn¡¯t. What we learned from his disy is that if you make shots in session, the uracy of the following shots starts to move away from the intended target. What we need to do to counter that is that we keep a steady grip and a proper position so that the sessive shots won¡¯t go too far. Someone go next yeah?¡± I said.


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


    ¡°Sky, I noticed that the guns we¡¯re using gives less noise and it kicks less.¡± Russel asked.


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


    ¡°Oh, that was fun though!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, that was crazy.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey! I haven¡¯t got the trade for the shotgun I gave you yet. Can I have this instead?¡± Russel said.


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


    Nicole then approached me and she said, ¡°Hey, when can I have my own gun then? I¡¯m doing pretty good, right?¡±


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


    ¡°How can that help then?¡± she asks.


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


    ¡°Really? I¡¯ll keep this one then.¡± she said.


    ¡°Clean it first yeah?¡± I added.


    She nodded and we tidied up. We then headed to thepound. We found that Johnny¡¯s family is inside there, chatting with everybody. He waved at us and we joined them. <hr>


    ¡°So, you trained a few of them?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s a few promising ones and a few needs to train normally to get better.¡± I said.


    He just nodded with a solemn expression.


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


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


    Oscar and I looked at each other but Oscar said, ¡°That¡¯s fine, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt them knowing a few things.¡±


    ¡°Does everyone in yourpound know how to use firearms?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No, but we n to train everyone in the future.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Do you guys even have enough ammo for that?¡± he asked.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be just guns. I¡¯ve been meaning to teach closebat weapons or hand-to-hand for a while.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°I¡¯d rather teach them to have the knowledge to protect themselves when they need it than needing to protect themselves but don¡¯t have the knowledge to. I learned that the hard way.¡± I said earnestly.


    ¡°I¡­¡± he was finding the words to reply.


    ¡°Better to have and not need rather than to need and not have.¡± Oscar and I said.

 Chapter 69

    Chapter 69: 69


    ¡°I won¡¯t just teach them how to fight. There are lots of things to learn here. We have a teacher in one of the houses and she could teach your grandchildren. We have a lot ofpetent people here that we could learn from, even from you.¡± I exined. <center></center><hr>


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


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


    Oscar whistled, ¡°That¡¯s a sweet gun.¡±


    ¡°I had that for a few years. I-¡±


    ¡°Can I have an S&W M&P M2 instead? I saw your inventory; I remember you have one.¡± I said tly.


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


    ¡°Kid?! You ruined a good moment there!¡± Oscar yelled.


    ¡°What is wrong with you?¡± Johnny added.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re gonna give me a gun, might as well negotiate for a better one.¡± I said while scratching my head.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Wait, you mean to say you don¡¯t like the Eagle?!¡± Johnny¡¯s face is starting to redden. It¡¯s the first time seeing him giving a different expression from his usual stoic demeanor.


    ¡°Well for starters, it¡¯s heavy. The recoil is strong, it isn¡¯t suitable for rapid shooting. And to top it off, 7 rounds? C¡¯mon man, the M&P could hold 18 or 26 if you also give me those extended mags that I saw in the brochure.¡± I exined.


    ¡°But! It¡¯s .50 AE bullets! There¡¯s custom mags for that to be mediated.¡± He said.


    ¡°Doing that would make it heavier!¡± I retorted. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°But! It¡¯s a freaking eagle!¡± he shouted.


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


    ¡°You!¡± he¡¯s red all over.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus tried to join the conversation.


    ¡°Is that how we sound? It¡¯s funny and annoying at the same time.¡± Oscar said to Kaley.


    ¡°Yes, Johnny is losing though.¡± Kaley said.


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


    ¡°This is not a battle of numbers!¡± Johnny is starting to get passionate.


    ¡°Of course, it is! Are youparing 26 dead zombies over 7?¡± I debated.


    ¡°The bullets have great stopping power and it could pass through those things and hit a few more!¡± he eximed.


    I rolled my eyes with an exasperated exhale.


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


    Oscar began shaking his headughing.


    ¡°!¡­¡± he seems to be out of words to say. <hr>


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


    ¡°He¡¯s a good kid but with guns he¡¯s the devil himself. Only won once with him.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Just ept it Sky. I thought you really like pistols.¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Okay then. Thanks! To be honest this is really cool. I always pick this gun when I¡¯m ying games.¡± I said as we shook hands after but Kaley is smiling at the remark.


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


    ¡°Thank you.¡± I heard Joanne said from behind.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± I looked back at the direction of the voice.


    ¡°It has been a while since he grew passionate like that. Ever since he got his leg¡­out ofmission, he seemed very depressed and he rarely talks. Add that to what¡¯s happening now¡­¡± she said.


    ¡°If that was me, I¡¯d happily wear that as a badge of honor.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I hope he does think of it that way too. He¡¯s just different, somewhat pessimistic in how he views things.¡± She exined.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s great for all of you toe here.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Just don¡¯t tell my husband you know¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Of course, I get it, my wife gets lonely too. Though we always talk as much as possible.¡± Oscar said. <hr>


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


    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s why they always say that freedom isn¡¯t free.¡± Oscar replied.


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


    ¡°You focused on her legs huh?¡± I said to Tatiana.


    ¡°Yeah, I figured that she would be busy with her hands as she¡¯s holding guns.¡± She replied.


    ¡°I agree, our legs are much stronger than our arms too.¡± I added.


    ¡°Hey Sky, I can do this now.¡± She said as she splits on the mat. It was the type where her legs are in the front and in the back. I was surprised at her progress and then she adjusts her position so her legs will be on her sides. She didn¡¯t stop there and she went upside down when she raises her body with her hands while she¡¯s still in the same position then she closes her legs andnded safely on the mat. Her body is starting to bend on angles but still very far from what Tatiana can do.


    ¡°A little progress is still progress.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Damn. Great job! Both of you!¡± I said out loud.


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


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


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


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


    ¡°Good day today! Kinda troubled though.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°What¡¯s the problem kid?¡± Oscar asked.


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


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± My uncle Zeidrick along with a select few burst outughing.


    ¡°That was too dark kid.¡± Oscar said as he shook his head.


    I saw Kaley in the corner palming her pistol.


    ¡°Ahaha¡­¡± Iughed weakly.


    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s start this thing properly. Let us first wee our newest addition to the group. Johnny and Marco¡¯s family and Bobby who we met earlier.¡±


    They stood up for a bit to be weed officially.


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


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


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


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


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


    ¡°Okay, that sounds great. Raphael?¡± I asked.

 Chapter 70

    Chapter 70: 70


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


    ¡°That¡¯s good guys, thanks.¡± I said as I nodded.


    ¡°Listen up, I will be teaching sses every afternoon after the broadcast ends. We will alternate between ranged weapons, melee weapons and hand-to-hand. Everyone is wee to attend though I¡¯ll be teaching a few at a time. Everyone can sit in to watch and don¡¯t be shy to approach the others if you want to learn from them.¡± I said.


    ¡°Remember our rules on the lights and noise and don¡¯t forget the watch duty for tonight. Any questions?¡± I added.


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


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


    His eyes widened and he was taken aback.


    ¡°I-I¡­¡± he was speechless.


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


    ¡°Oh, I should¡¯vee outside. T-the reason is very embarrassing¡­¡± Bobby said weakly.


    ¡°What? You milking the dragon or something?¡± Oscar joked as I facepalmed.


    ¡°Ah! N-no¡­ that was my brother¡¯s revolver. He¡­ uh, earlier¡­¡± his eyes started to water.


    ¡°I get it, I can hand you the revolverter but I can¡¯t give you the bullets for it yet. Come for the training next time or ask Oscar or Johnny for pointers.¡± I said.


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


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


    ¡°Thank you.¡± he mouthed.


    ¡°Any more questions?¡± I looked at the group.


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


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


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


    ¡°Okay, just keep on checking in with them so we have another line ofmunication.¡± I said.


    I saw Johnny raising his hand.


    ¡°Yes Johnny?¡± I said.


    ¡°I heard that we have only built fences from the gate there and on the other side where the canal system is. Why is it that we don¡¯t cover the whole ce around?¡± he asks.


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


    ¡°But Oscar mentioned that there are sprinters, right?¡± he said.


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


    ¡°How so?¡± he asks.


    ¡°The fishing areas here has a that covers a perimeter of it. They¡¯d need to pass through 2 sets ofs and they will just end up caught in it not to mention thes that are below to separate some of the fishes. Even if they did, they might also need to learn how to leap from the water since it¡¯s a 3-foot gap to reach the road.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°Have there been any breaches though?¡± he asks.


    ¡°He¡¯s really concerned for security huh? That¡¯s good.¡± I said to myself.


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


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


    The group doesn¡¯t have questions anymore so we concluded the meeting. The watch duty for today has been posted and the new guys volunteered to be included in the first watch. Kaley was in the second watch though. We headed for my room again for our nightly ritual of watching a movie. Before we even get to start, I hear someone knocking on the door.


    ¡°Hey, Sky the rabbits are giving birth now, want to see them with the girls? I thought it would beter but-¡± Derek said.


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


    ¡°Rabbits huh? Those are delicious creatures.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Yes, don¡¯t tell Kaley and the girls in front of them. They¡¯ll lynch you hahaha!¡± I said as Derek also gave augh.


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


    ¡°They look like little rats!¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re a b-bit ugly without the hairs though¡­¡±


    ¡°They still look cute though.¡±


    ¡°Why are they hairless?¡± <hr>


    ¡°We need to wait a couple of weeks.¡±


    ¡°Woof!¡±


    ¡°Be quiet Zeus, you¡¯re scaring the mother.¡±


    ¡°Look! It¡¯s giving birth again!¡±


    ¡°OOH~¡±


    ¡°What is that one doing?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s cleaning her baby¡­ wait¡­.¡±


    ¡°NOOOOOO~!¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s eating them!¡±


    ¡°Stop it!¡±


    ¡°Zombie rabbit~!¡±


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


    ¡°Why did you separate that one though?¡± Olivia asked.


    ¡°Uhh, because she¡¯ll probably eat all of them. We¡¯re probably gonna eat that one tomorrow.¡± I said scratching my head. <hr>


    ¡°NOOOOOO~!¡± some of them protested.


    ¡°It¡¯s no use keeping her though, everytime she gives birth, she would just keep on eating her babies.¡± Derek said.


    ¡°We could make a small hat out of the fur though.¡± I said.


    ¡°No! I¡¯m going back now!¡± Olivia screamed.


    ¡°The other ones are still giving birth though¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°Right! I forgot!¡± she immediately went back.


    ¡°NOOOOO~! Another one is eating their babies!¡± one of the girls screamed.


    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s not eating them, she¡¯s just eating the centa.¡± Derek exined.


    ¡°Ohh, I see.¡± Charlotte said.


    ¡°They¡¯re a lot though.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Do rabbits taste good?¡± Aya said.


    ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll share some with you tomorrow.¡± I said.


    ¡°Thanks!¡± Aya said.


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

 Chapter 71

    Chapter 71: 71


    ¡°Hey Sky, it¡¯s gonna be Halloween tomorrow, right? Can we watch a horror film in advance then?¡± Olivia asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sure. Let me find one.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°Umm, Kaley, can you sleep with me tonight? Ahaha¡­¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°I¡¯m scared too you know!¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Why did you even pick that Sky?!¡± Olivia said to me.


    ¡°But you said to pick a horror film! It wasn¡¯t that bad¡­¡± I retorted whileughing.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ve watched it before! I¡¯ll just sleep with you two here then!¡± she said.


    ¡°Olivia if you sleep with Kaley and Sky, I¡¯ll be alone!¡± Rin eximed.


    ¡°You can sleep with me just for this night then¡­ if you want.¡± Tatiana said to Rin.


    ¡°I-I¡­ sure¡­¡± she replied weakly.


    ¡°It¡¯s settled then. Goodnight everyone.¡± Tatiana said as they both leave.


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


    ¡°Right! I need to set an rm.¡± Kaley said.


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


    ¡°Kaley, do you think mom and dad are still¡­ you know¡­ there?¡± Olivia whispered.


    I just pretended to sleep.


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


    ¡°What note?¡± Olivia asks.


    ¡°Oh, I haven¡¯t told you yet. I left a note there that we went to this ce and Sky left the coordinates to this ce so they could find us.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Sky¡¯s really a good guy, smart too.¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°Yeah, a genius is a better term.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°You like him then? Have you two said ¡®I love you¡¯ to each other at least?¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Me and Kaley.


    ¡°We haven¡¯t really said that to each other yet, I mean verbally. But I hope she feels the same.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°We haven¡¯t really said that to each other yet, I mean verbally. But I hope he feels the same.¡± Kaley said.


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


    ¡°I¡¯m pregnant.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± Olivia and I shouted at the same time.


    ¡°No! I¡¯m kidding, I knew you were awake! I heard you snort! HAHAHAHA!!!¡± Kaley eximed. <hr>


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


    ¡°Damn, me too.¡± I said.


    ¡°That was payback forst time!¡± she said as she chuckled.


    ¡°You really got me there, damn. Hey Kaley?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± she replied while she turned in my direction.


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


    She kissed me in the lips and she smiled brightly.


    ¡°If you keep on exining it, it would ruin the moment!¡± Kaley said as she nted another kiss on me.


    ¡°Did you guys just kiss? Better make sure that it¡¯s all you do here! I¡¯m still here you know!¡± Olivia joked.


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


    ¡°I heard that! Aww, you guys!¡± Olivia eximed.


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


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


    ¡°How did we end up in this position?¡± I said to myself. <hr>


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


    ¡°This girl really has a death grip!¡± I said to myself.


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


    ¡°Don¡¯t these two get itchy when they sleep on the back of their heads? Hmm, maybe they just got used to it. I can¡¯t even grow my hair since it gets itchy at the back of my neck when I sleep. Dammit, I remembered that I need to have a haircut 3 days ago.¡± I said to myself.


    I closed my eyes for a moment and I can¡¯t seem to continue sleeping.


    ¡°F.u.c.k! I¡¯m fully awake and I can¡¯t move! Will I just be talking to myself until sunrise? Well, I do this a lot of times. My left leg is starting to lose feeling, Kaley¡¯s leg is on top of it and it must be slowly stopping the cirction. It¡¯s gonna get really bad soon.¡± I said to myself.


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


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


    ¡°Hmmrgh¡­¡± I heard someone from the two groaning.


    ¡°Who was that? They¡¯re too close I can¡¯t hear who¡¯s groaning. What time is it now? I can¡¯t even check since Kaley has my arm. It¡¯s still dark outside though.¡± I said to myself.


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


    ¡°F.U.C.K! Are these two ying a prank on me? Highly unlikely though, Olivia can¡¯t hold herughter for this long. How did she even manage to go to my ce?¡± I said to myself.


    I heard some scratching on my door.


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


    I tried to whistle for him to stop but I can¡¯t whistle with all the hairs in my face. He stopped after a while though. Now I¡¯m back in this position and my right leg is starting to lose feeling. <hr>


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


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


    *whoosh*


    *thud*


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


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


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


    We are now talking very silently.


    ¡°Ahahaha¡­you could¡¯ve just nudged me to wake up. Why are your legs numb though?¡± she asked.


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


    ¡°Then it¡¯s your fault then¡­ am I heavy? Do you want me to move?¡± she said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a trap, that question¡­ why would I want a beautiful woman that is embracing me leave? You¡¯re crazy.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°Ah shit. Here we go again.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 72

    Chapter 72: 72


    We¡¯re just wearingfortable clothes since we¡¯re sleeping, we haven¡¯t had the chance to change yet. She¡¯s just wearing a spaghetti top and short shorts while I¡¯m wearing a simple loose shirt and simple shorts. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°She¡¯ll wake up, you know that, right?¡± I reminded her as I whisper.


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


    ¡°Yeah, why? Wait, oh boy¡­ ¡± I replied.


    ¡°Good¡­ be quiet.¡± she said.


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


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


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


    ¡°This is really bad¡­ though I can¡¯t stop too¡­¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Want to head somewhere more private?¡± I whispered.


    She shook her head and she said, ¡°I¡¯m really close¡­hold on¡­¡±


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


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


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


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


    ¡°That¡­ that was really crazy. But crazy good.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why are there types of crazy?¡± she chuckled.


    ¡°Well that is an example of one. Wanna head out?¡± I said.


    Day 7


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


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


    ¡°Hey, you guys jogged outside?¡± Kaley asked.


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


    ¡°Captain ¡®murica?¡± I said to myself.


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


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


    ¡°You guys are early.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, just a force of habit. We walked around the ce and scanned around for any blind spots. There were none so far. You¡¯re right, this ce can be a fortress in the future.¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°Anything you¡¯d rmend we add?¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmmm, so far, none seems toe to mind. Let me think about it first and I¡¯ll tell you if Ie up with something.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Do you have extra rope or string?¡± Marco said.


    ¡°Yes, why?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to add a to the hoops in the court. It¡¯s much nicer to hear it swoosh when it has one.¡± he exined.


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


    ¡°Won¡¯t that be a waste of resources?¡± Johnny said.


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


    ¡°That is true I guess.¡± He replied while scratching his chin.


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


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


    ¡°Earpk!¡± An choked.


    ¡°What? You didn¡¯t like it?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°I haven¡¯t put sugar in it yet¡­¡± he said as he soldiers through the bitterness in his mouth.


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


    ¡°What¡¯s the n today kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking of more supply runs but there are still people here on the left side that didn¡¯t left their homes. I saw a few heads on the 1st week when we first burned the few bodies that we encountered in this area.¡± I said.


    ¡°Do you know them though?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Personally no, I would also like to pay a visit to a ce outside to relieve an itch at the back of my head.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡± Kaley asked.


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


    A few heads now turned in my direction.


    ¡°What?! Are you sure?¡± Kaley eximed.


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


    ¡°Where was it from though?¡± Tatiana said.


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


    ¡°Then it must be them then.¡± Oscar said. <hr>


    ¡°If it¡¯s them, then it¡¯s all good, but the feeling I got there is a bit different. I definitely felt something there.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?¡± he asks.


    ¡°Eyes. Like the feeling when someone is stalking you from afar but the moment you look back it¡¯s gone.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hold on, did Chris and the rest felt it?¡± he said.


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


    ¡°Well how do you n on scratching that itch if someone is inside there then? You can¡¯t just knock and say, ¡®Hello is someone there nning to kill me? h h h¡­''¡± he said.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s the n actually. I n to head there at noon.¡± I said tly.


    ¡°Kid?! Out of all the ns that you made, that¡¯s the one that made no sense at all!¡± he shouted as he almost spat out what he¡¯s eating.


    The rest are also giving confused nces and worried expressions.


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


    ¡°What?¡± they asked.


    ¡°There¡¯re no signs of people living there.¡± I said.


    ¡°H-hold on, please borate.¡± Johnny said.

 Chapter 73

    Chapter 73: 73


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


    ¡°W-what if it¡¯s a g-ghost or something?¡± Olivia asked.


    I almost rolled my eyes but I said, ¡°Sorry, but I don¡¯t believe in ghosts. Everything must have a scientific exnation. Even this thing that we are facing right now. If this is a supernatural phenomenon which I believe is highly unlikely, we¡¯re all f.u.c.k.i.e.d.¡± I said.


    ¡°What if it¡¯s a special zombie? Like a flying one?¡± Kaley said.


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


    ¡°How do you know all this?¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just a simple conclusion based on my observation. Anyway, I think we really should drop by that houseter yeah?¡± I said.


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


    I smiled and finished my cup of chocte-coffee.


    ¡°Impossible old man, there are more things that they know that I don¡¯t. I just remember stuff and that¡¯s it.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Don¡¯t downy your head kid, you really could be a scientist or something.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Hah! Toote now eh?¡± I replied while chuckling.


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


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


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a cure then?¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°A simple cure will just remove the virus outright but a vine will grant you immunity to it. The virus still exists but it does nothing to us.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What difference does it make?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°Hmm, I haven¡¯t shown you the files from our first meeting before. The earliest one I found about this thing is from 3 years ago. It didn¡¯t even look like what we have now and that means that this virus that we have is evolving to a different one eventually. Back to the cure and vine talk, if we cure someone from it, what if the person got infected again with a different strand? The vine I want to make, if I could, should also evolve with time with the virus.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°Think about it, in a few years¡¯ time we won¡¯t know what it¡¯ll be like. Better make something that would grow with it to contain it than make a cure over and over for a different type. Oh, it¡¯s almost 7:00 AM, let¡¯s talk about this moreter.¡± I said.


    ¡°My head. Oh, my little head.¡± Russel said.


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


    ¡°Where do we go next?¡± my uncle said.


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


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t they go to this drugstore though? It has plenty of medicine and has some food inside.¡± Kaley asks.


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


    ¡°Why though?¡± she said.


    ¡°They didn¡¯t think that they would need it until they needed to. We live in a third world country, barely anyone here get their weekly checkups like in the other countries. Well, most of the less fortunate ones. People just go to the doctors if they feel something is wrong and some people will be surprised at the price of some of the medicines that they are required to buy. That is because most of the people here would buy OTC drugs first and would wait it out until they feel the medicine that they bought doesn¡¯t work but when they actually go to the doctors, their sickness is a whole lot worse than it could be if they got their checkups regrly. Did you experience your mom curing everything with Vick¡¯s Vaporub?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Oh my god!¡± Kaley eximed.


    The rest of the group began tough while Tatiana is confused.


    ¡°What¡¯s that? Is that a cure-all of some sort?¡± she asks.


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


    ¡°Is that so? That¡¯s very amusing.¡± she said with a smile.


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


    Almost immediately when we raised the roll-up, on the other side of the door is a treasure trove of resources. Everything is still like it was when I entered here before, good thing Lois didn¡¯t b about the ¡®five-box incident¡¯. We headed inside while Tatiana and a few guarded the entrance. Me and Kaley grabbed pushcarts and we headed over the counters to grab medicinal supplies while Jared and Dong went aisle after aisle for consumables like food and water.


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


    ¡°Should we leave a few for other people?¡± Kaley said. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, that is a good idea but we take the most important ones. We leave a few that is easily recognizable by them since they wouldn¡¯t even understand how the ones at the back could be used for.¡± I said.


    ¡°That sounds fine.¡± she said as he removed a few that are readily recognizable.


    We closed the roll-up once again and we made three trips with the truck to clean the ce out with the important supplies before leaving a few inside. The food items are what made the trips increase in number. The baskets of biscuits, the cans of food and the gallons of water and different boxes that they are ced in is what made it so much bulkier. Can¡¯tin though, I think the only ones having a hard time is Rin, Demi and Bobby who are in charge of organizing the supplies.


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


    As we drove back, I saw the other gatedmunity ¡®Woonds¡¯. It¡¯s a huge ce that has a several dozens of big houses that are expensive. I¡¯ve noticed that their huge gate is barricaded with metal sheets though no one is guarding it.


    ¡°Is it still standing or are they doing a bad job of guarding the ce?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°How did you guys managed to loot that ce?¡± Russel asked as we reached the house.


    ¡°For starters we are well equipped and most civilians can¡¯t clear out that area since it¡¯s in the highway. However, Thelma¡¯s store got looted very early on since there is a lot of supplies there. It¡¯s a matter of time though before people think of their ways to handle the dead.¡± I said.

 Chapter 74

    Chapter 74: 74


    ¡°How about the gas station though? Are there tankers still left?¡± he said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Unfortunately, no. We have a lot of empty containers that we found in the other houses; you could fill those up first and we could drive the tanker again outside. You could ce the containers on the apartment next to Johnny¡¯s ce.¡± I exined.


    He nodded and he grabbed a few people toplete the task.


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


    ¡°Hmm, what kind do you need?¡± Oscar said.


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


    ¡°About 1000.¡± I replied tly.


    ¡°Wait, what?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°That¡¯s approximately 17.2 kilograms.¡± I said.


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


    We both just smiled and said, ¡°a LOT.¡±


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


    ¡°Oh yeah, I have a thought. You said Ken¡¯s shotgun has its barrel sawn off. Can you do the same with this one?¡± he said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure on that, why though?¡± Oscar said.


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


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


    ¡°Then it would be much easier. We just need to mount it and I¡¯ll just make it move forward a bit after opening the back door and add some sort of stopper so the barrel doesn¡¯t hit the frame of the SUV.¡± he said.


    ¡°Hold on. That wouldn¡¯t be as cool though. Wait a moment, I¡¯ll grab something.¡± Oscar said as he went to his house.


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


    ¡°How about this then? Can you mount it on the top?¡± Oscar said.


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


    ¡°Where the f.u.c.k did you get this old man?! You haven¡¯t shown me this yet!¡± I eximed.


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


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


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


    ¡°Here kid, that is definitely yours now.¡± Oscar handed me the keys to the M134 again. <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re really sure? Thanks, I have a new paperweight in my collection.¡± I joked.


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


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!! Just kidding old man! Thanks a lot for this! I¡¯ll put it near the Barett.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s already almost 1:00 PM! We three have been talking here a while.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°What took you guys so long?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh, we got too excited talking about the SUV and the gun.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, don¡¯t forget to eat okay?¡± she said.


    ¡°Of course, thanks.¡± I said as I stole a fish nugget.


    ¡°Hey!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°This is for the soft-boiled egg from before! HAHAHAHA!!!¡± I eximed. <hr>


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


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


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


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


    *psshew*


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


    ¡°You know those guys?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°No, but they needed the help.¡± I said.


    ¡°I wonder why they didn¡¯t approach us.¡± She said.


    ¡°They must have people at home needing the food. People at homes now are starting tock food and now they are forced to loot ces. If they talked to us, we could¡¯ve learned about their situation and invited them to our ce.¡± I said.


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


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


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


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


    ¡°I told you man; they wille after us if we don¡¯t move fast!¡± the guy in the back said.


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


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


    ¡°You guys soldiers?¡± the man said.


    ¡°Sort of, we need information. What¡¯s the situation at your ce? I can point out a few ces we haven¡¯t looted yet in exchange for that.¡± I said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell him man, he¡¯d just go to our ce and loot it!¡± the other guy said.


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


    Their group tensed when I said it.


    ¡°Look, we don¡¯t want any trouble, and thank you for saving us earlier. I just don¡¯t feel safe telling where we live with strangers.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Sure, that¡¯s understandable. Let me guess then. Marcelo?¡­ Libo?¡­ Pulo?¡­ Petron?¡­ Elsewhere?¡­¡± I continued on saying different ces near here and when I said ¡®Elsewhere¡¯ their breathing changed.


    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 75

    Chapter 75: 75


    ¡°Do you live near Chang¡¯s? The Chinese guy with the big house?¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


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


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


    ¡°Shut up man!¡± the guy at back bellowed.


    ¡°Toote, I promise you we won¡¯t do anything. Back at topic, do you live near Chang¡¯s?¡± I said.


    They looked at each other.


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


    ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea. I could give you protective gear instead. It doesn¡¯t run out of bullets like the gun I have here.¡± I negotiated.


    ¡°We need guns man!¡± he said to the other guy.


    ¡°Noise attracts them, right?!¡± the guy in the hat said.


    ¡°We¡¯ll take the protective gear. It¡¯s better than nothing.¡± the guy in the middle said.


    ¡°C¡¯mon man! We don¡¯t even know them and we¡¯re telling them where we live?¡± the guy at the back said.


    ¡°You think I¡¯ll took an interest in a ce with no food?¡± I interjected.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone in their group.


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


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


    My uncle eximed, ¡°Hey! You said gunshots?! Let¡¯s go there now!¡± <center></center><hr>


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


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


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


    ¡°Know someone from Chang¡¯s? I¡¯m Jay by the way.¡± the man said.


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


    ¡°Sorry, still can¡¯t tell you guys. We¡¯ve let someone in before and he stole some food. Is it a rtive in there?¡± Jay said.


    ¡°I told you we don¡¯t need food. Look at this truck, we¡¯re hauling motor parts. I¡¯m looking for the most difficult thing to find. So far, I¡¯ve only found a few.¡± I said.


    ¡°Motor parts?¡± he asked confused.


    ¡°Good people.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± their group was silent but mine has a faint smile on their faces.


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


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


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


    The girls gave an amused expression at my remark.


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


    ¡°Oh? Didn¡¯t notice she was a girl.¡± I said to myself. <hr>


    ¡°Thanks. Name¡¯s Sky. Don¡¯t apologize to me, tell it to the girls here.¡± I said as she removed her facemask and hood. She has several tattoos on her neck and chest as she loosens the jacket she¡¯s wearing.


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


    ¡°Of course.¡± I replied.


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


    ¡°To answer your question Jon, we do, stay with us for a while and we¡¯ll head to your ce if you want toe with us so I could assess you all first yeah?¡± I said.


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


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


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


    ¡°Well, so far, I¡¯ve taken everyone I¡¯ve met.¡± I said to myself.


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


    *screech*


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


    ¡°It¡¯s fewer here than my ce.¡± I said to myself.


    My uncle then went down the truck and called inside.


    ¡°KENNY! ARE YOU THERE?!¡± he shouted for a few times.


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


    *psshew* *plop*


    *psshew* *plop*


    *psshew* *plop*


    *psshew* *plop*


    ¡°They must really be soldiers¡­¡± I heard Jon whispering to Jay.


    ¡°The one with the sniper gun looks young though¡­¡± Jay replied.


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


    ¡°Pa?! You¡¯re here!¡± a small voice sounded.


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


    ¡°Hey! Get away from that drunken fool!¡± thedy shouted.


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


    ¡°What is going on?¡± Jay asked me.


    ¡°It¡¯splicated stuff.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey, can we go ahead for now? We haven¡¯t eaten this morning yet. Just drive a bit forward and look for the yellow gate that is numbered 223.¡± He said.


    ¡°Woah, why did you tell him our address?!¡± Bing eximed.


    ¡°I think we could trust this group.¡± he replied. <hr>


    ¡°Good choice.¡± I said to myself.


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


    ¡°What?!¡± he eximed as the rest chuckled.


    I nodded and then their group broke off with us.


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


    ¡°What do you want dumb f.u.c.k?!¡± Cyrill said.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t the court give you a restraining order? Hmm?!¡± Joanna said.


    ¡°I¡¯m taking Kenny and Hannah with me, then sue me in court if you still could.¡± my uncle replied.


    The two grew more furious and theyshed out with their mom.


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


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


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


    ¡°That¡¯s my f.u.c.k.i.n.g money I earned with my own! You¡¯re just a f.u.c.k.i.n.g freeloader who can¡¯t even find a decent job! Tell your whore of a mother who¡¯s seeing who and we¡¯ll see!¡± he retorted.


    ¡°¡­!¡± my cousin was stunned.


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


    I almost rolled my eyes. ¡°That¡¯s years of studies down the drain if you can¡¯t figure that out.¡± I said to myself. My cousin Jared that¡¯s with me has a frown on his face as he tightly held his gun. I could feel that he¡¯s angry and ready tosh out.

 Chapter 76

    Chapter 76: 76


    ¡°Calm down yeah? Unc. could handle this.¡± I said to him. <center></center><hr>


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


    ¡°Who did you think paid for all of your fees?! Your mom who can¡¯t even manage to feed you properly for even a day?! You really think that her being the worst household helper did all that?! That¡¯s why all those boys you take home just yed with you since you¡¯re an idiot.¡± my uncle bellowed.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k did you say?!¡± she replied.


    ¡°Truth hurts huh?¡± I said to myself as Jared squeezed a faint smile.


    ¡°bber all you want but you can¡¯t take them from me!¡± my aunt shouted.


    ¡°Who told you I can¡¯t? You don¡¯t even own this ce. Mr. Chang! Mr. Chang!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you f.u.c.k.i.n.g dare!¡± she shouted as well.


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


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


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


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


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


    ¡°Mr. Chang, he¡¯s a drunk! My kids will be in harm¡¯s way if you let him take them with him.¡± she pleaded. <center></center><hr>


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


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


    As I was about to reply but Cyrill interrupted.


    ¡°I figured, a drunk and a murderer close to each other. nning to kill someone today again?¡± Cyrill said to stir a reaction in me.


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


    ¡°Hmm? Big words for an addict. You¡¯re looking pale, on withdrawal now? Need some Oxycontin? F.u.c.k! I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have told everyone here that. What are you doing now? Sniffing rugby or paint thinner? Where¡¯s your supplier? Is he dead? Too bad¡­¡± I retorted with a smile.


    He gave me a re but he took a look around theirpound and he was taken aback from the stares given to him. His hands are balled into a fist and he¡¯s just trembling in anger.


    *SLAP*


    ¡°You¡¯re a f.u.c.k.i.n.g addict?!¡± her mom pped him in the face.


    ¡°Great, acting like she doesn¡¯t know a thing.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Mom?!¡± Joanna was in shock.


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


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


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


    ¡°This stingy old dude. I¡¯ll disregard how he looks at people like a product for now.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°What do you want to trade for her then?¡± I said.


    ¡°Guns.¡± he replied.


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


    ¡°Not enough.¡± he replied coldly.


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


    His eyebrows shot up in surprise.


    ¡°N-not the guandao. It¡¯s mine.¡± he stuttered.


    ¡°You can¡¯t even use it anymore; your kids don¡¯t know as well. It¡¯s just gathering dust now.¡± I replied.


    He threw a hateful nce and I just stared nonchntly.


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


    All of them are now staring at him as he rubs his be with his eyes closed. <hr>


    ¡°C¡¯mon, I¡¯ll ept it even if it¡¯s the replica.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°F-fine.¡± he said as I gave a faint smile.


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


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


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


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


    ¡°No! You¡¯re not taking away my kids from me!¡± my aunt bellowed as we approach them to take Kenny and Hannah.


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


    *whoosh*


    *thud*


    ¡°You f.u.c.ker better step away or you¡¯ll receive more of this.¡± he shouted.


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


    *WHOOSH* <hr>


    *THUD*


    ¡°Damn. He really did it.¡± I said to myself.


    My uncle is visibly more muscr than mynky cousin. He has a beer belly but all his muscles from driving trucks and delivering them from ce to ce and carrying it himself to the warehouses exploded at my cousin¡¯s face.


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


    I whispered at him, ¡°I¡¯ll kill you if you move.¡±


    He gnashes his teeth but he never moved a muscle.


    ¡°Bitch.¡± I said out loud.


    ¡°Well, let go of that weapon and fight me fairly!¡± he shouted.


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


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


    ¡°You¡¯d really like to know? I can kill you, your sister, and your mom here in 10 seconds with this thing. Less if I don¡¯t cut you into parts.¡± I said menacingly.


    ¡°You!¡± Joanna shouted.


    ¡°Shut the f.u.c.k up too, okay? I¡¯d take less time if you don¡¯t have a pound of makeup in your face.¡± I snapped back as I heard a few chuckles all around me. She shrinks down though she¡¯s ring at me and my uncle.

 Chapter 77

    Chapter 77: 77


    ¡°Kenny, Hannah would you pleasee here? We¡¯ll go home now.¡± my uncle said. <center></center><hr>


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


    *SLAP*


    *SLAP*


    *SLAP*


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


    ¡°NO!¡± my aunt shouted.


    ¡°W-wait! I¡¯d like toe too!¡± Joanna then started to plead with my dad. Tears started to flow from her eyes but I threw a hateful re at her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t fall for it unc, she did this before. I said I would take them before but seeing them still the same assholes, I changed my mind. Unc should have split with them before and I should¡¯ve been in the court when they decided where my cousins would go to.¡± I said to myself.


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


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


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


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


    ¡°What?¡± I said.


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


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


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


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


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll find someone suitable for this, it¡¯s a thing of beauty too. Good thing he maintained it this well.¡± I said.


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


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


    ¡°Are you willing to take us all in?¡± Jon asked.


    ¡°Tell me about yourselves first.¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll start then¡­¡± Jay said. <hr>


    Jay was actually a business owner like myself and he and his family is running a small restaurant located further than my stores at Polo nearing the border of it which was near Obando. Jon was his brother and he works at a 7-Eleven. Bing was a bouncer in a club somewhere in the city while Daisy is a tattoo artist and their otherpanion before that haven¡¯t introduced himself is Michael. He¡¯s a factory worker that worked on textiles. The other three inside their home was Andres and Veronica which was Jay¡¯s parents and thest one was Faith, his wife.


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


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


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


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


    ¡°No, I always pick the people that I think has a good head on their shoulders and I have people back there to protect the ce even if we¡¯re here.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You have more people?¡± Jay said.


    ¡°Yeah, a couple times more than yours.¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯ve never had any incidents?¡± Andres said.


    ¡°What do you mean? If you¡¯re talking about casualties, none. It¡¯s because we are always prepared, and armed. People don¡¯t just die stupidly there like in the movies.¡± I said.


    ¡°That is impressive but what I mean is that no one has pointed a gun at you or stole from you?¡± he borated. <hr>


    ¡°As I said, we have a very secure ce. However, a very stressed and confused guy pointed a gun at me once.¡± I said.


    ¡°Did you kill him then?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t kill unless I needed to. He¡¯s alive and with the group, he cleared his head and back to his usual self. However, he may have lost the opportunity to make another child since I¡¯ve kicked him hard in the nuts and I twisted his arm.¡± I told them the story.


    ¡°Hah! Did that really happen?¡± Jon asked.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I replied.


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


    ¡°Wait, I¡¯d like to confirm if you really are in the army.¡± Bing said to Tatiana.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I said.


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


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


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


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


    ¡°He¡¯s trying to cop a feel.¡± we all said to ourselves.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna die.¡± I said to him.


    ¡°Bah! Stop scaring me, I know what I¡¯m doing.¡± he said with a smirk.


    ¡°Knock yourself out.¡± I said with an amused expression.


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


    *whoosh*


    *WHACK*


    I remember that heel, that jumping spinning hook kick. It hit Bing clean in the jaw and his guard that he put up wasn¡¯t even able to block it since it was pushed to the side.


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


    ¡°Is he dead?¡± she said.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.

 Chapter 78

    Chapter 78: 78


    I facepalmed and the rest of my group had the same expression while Jay¡¯s group were dumbstruck at what happened. <center></center><hr>


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


    ¡°What happened?¡± he asked as I facepalmed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get up yet. You got knocked the f.u.c.k out. Good thing your jaw is still intact.¡± I said.


    ¡°It still hurts though.¡± he said.


    I almost rolled my eyes and said, ¡°I did warn you though.¡±


    ¡°I thought you were kidding¡­ I didn¡¯t even see it happen. Ahhhhh~ my jaw hurts.¡± he said.


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


    ¡°Hey!¡± he said.


    ¡°Yo!¡± I replied.


    ¡°You look really cool.¡± Kenny said.


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


    ¡°Oh! Dad gave it to me earlier. It¡¯s kinda big though¡­¡± he replied as his eyes are getting covered by the helmet.


    ¡°Aww, he¡¯s so cute Sky! How old are you?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°I¡¯m 6 now, how about you? Are you 37 now? You look like one.¡± Kenny replied without an ounce of worry.


    *thunk* <center></center><hr>


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


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


    ¡°What was that for?! It¡¯s loud when you knocked on it!¡± Kenny shouted.


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


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


    ¡°She¡¯s scary Sky, how old is she? Is she a witch?¡± Kenny said nonchntly while Kaley stared at me menacingly.


    ¡°She¡¯s very young, the same age as me. Also, you don¡¯t ask them about their age, okay?¡± I said to Kenny.


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


    ¡°You¡¯re really trying to get us killed here, huh?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯m 25! Happy?!¡± Kaley eximed as she huffs while I give a helpless smile.


    ¡°Cool.¡± Kenny replied innocently.


    I was close toughing from Kaley¡¯s expression. It¡¯s a mix of helplessness and frustration.


    ¡°Don¡¯t argue with a kid yeah? You¡¯ll never win.¡± I said.


    ¡°He¡¯s looking a lot less cute now¡­¡± she replied weakly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t look cute! I¡¯m cool! See this helmet?! It block meteors!¡± he eximed. <hr>


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


    ¡°Right, I forgot about this one. It¡¯s almost 4:00 PM though and I need to teach a sster. Bah! I¡¯ll do it tomorrow; my head feels itchy damn it.¡± I said to myself.


    We reached thepound and the group I brought was shocked.


    ¡°From this gate here up to the end, is a safe zone. Wee guys.¡± I said.


    ¡°You cleared all this?!¡± Daisy eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, took us almost a week.¡± Jared replied.


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


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


    Kaley and the rest guided the new people inside first.


    ¡°What about the broadcast though?¡± I said.


    ¡°It still reys right?¡± he said.


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


    ¡°I should¡¯ve gone to the Pineda residence earlier but gas is more important for the group now.¡± I said to myself


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


    ¡°Hold this for a minute yeah?¡± I said to Russel as I handed him the guandao. <hr>


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


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


    ¡°Why is there moreing from the right way than the left way?¡± Tatiana asked.


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


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


    ¡°Bubbles?¡± Tatiana asked.


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


    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s good to know. I never knew that.¡± Tatiana said as she nodded pensively.


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


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


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


    ¡°Hah! Good thing that beating you up worked. That guy is too far gonepared to you.¡± I replied.


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


    ¡°Another sprinter.¡± I said in my head.


    I told the two and they tensed up. <hr>


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


    ¡°H-hold on! One of those things broke Oscar¡¯s shotgun, right?! We could still move away!¡± Russel eximed.


    ¡°No time, we need to learn how to fight this thing up close and personal. Tatiana, don¡¯t block yeah? Just dodge and slice. I¡¯ll start the encounter and be the backup¡± I said.


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


    *whoosh*


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


    *slice*


    *plop*


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


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


    *whoosh*


    *THUD*


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


    *shhck*


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


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

 Chapter 79

    Chapter 79: 79


    ¡°Holy shit! That hit was like the major league! Oh, A few more minutes on the tanker and we¡¯re good to go.¡± Russel said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Different league man, different league. Good thing it didn¡¯t do the flying knee that hit Oscar. The aspect that is dangerous from this thing is really its speed. It would be really dangerous if it has gathered momentum and charged straight at us if we didn¡¯t notice iting. It¡¯s gonna be a pain in tight spaces.¡± I said.


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


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


    ¡°Hmm?¡± The two checked it.


    ¡°The constant running has burned through her shoes and the flesh from her feet is mangled. You could almost see the bone if it weren¡¯t for the other stuff that is stuck inside it. We¡¯d need to put a few obstacles on the street in case a few started to run through our fences so that they would slow down or get caught up in it.¡± I said.


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


    ¡°No, because of the bones. But a few bits would definitely get thrown inside.¡± I contemted.


    ¡°So, we need to rece the gate in the future, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Yeah, though the chain-link fence is good for now, we¡¯ll ce a bigger gate when we increase our territory.¡±


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


    ¡°189¡­ This isn¡¯t much but it¡¯s honest work. More bullets saved, the better.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Why are you clearing them one by one? Are you just practicing?¡± Russel asked. <center></center><hr>


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


    ¡°Oh! Like in ¡®The Pacing Unliving¡¯?¡± he asked.


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


    ¡°But it would be cool to fight one of those herds.¡± he said.


    ¡°You little¡­ want me to beat you close to death? You¡¯re not C.Norris for f.u.c.ks sake.¡± I said as I shook my head.


    ¡°Ahahah¡­ just joking¡­¡± he trailed weakly.


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


    I checked my watch and it¡¯s a few minutes before 5:00 PM. An said that a few of them are at the court ying basketball since we don¡¯t have gun lessons and the rest are just leisurely hanging about. We headed to the court and I saw them ying a 5-on-5 game. A few are watching at the bleachers and I saw Alex dominating with her skills and height. I also saw some of Jay¡¯s group ying while the others are just watching.


    ¡°Sky! Come over here!¡± Kaley said.


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


    ¡°Can you remove your jacket?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± I said as I removed it. <hr>


    ¡°That tattoo is a masterpiece. Where did you get it done?¡± Daisy asked.


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


    ¡°Yes, I was for five years. Anyway, Kaley was saying that she would like to have a small tattoo, she said that she wanted to have something simr to yours but I haven¡¯t seen it whole.¡± she said.


    ¡°You¡¯re a tattoo artist?! Can I have one as well?!¡± Russell eximed.


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


    ¡°Oh, Umm, not yet. I¡¯ll get back to you if I thought of one.¡± Russel said and she nodded. One of the guys ying was out of breath, so Russel subbed for him.


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


    Kaley gave me a nce and she seemed undecided.


    ¡°Well, just make sure that the one you¡¯re getting is something that you¡¯re prepared to look at for the rest of your life, like me. Once it¡¯s there, it¡¯s there. We have a lot of equipment here but I don¡¯t have thesers to remove them.¡± I said.


    ¡°Smooth, I want something like yours though¡­¡± Kaley said.


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


    ¡°Hmm? He¡¯s not a tattoo artist per say¡­ he¡¯s actually a great¡­¡± I said to myself and then I had a thought. <hr>


    ¡°I remember taking a few dozens of those ckening shampoos from the pharmacy. You could have a temporary one first using those.¡± I said to Kaley.


    ¡°OHHHH!!!¡± someone shouted from the bleachers. Jo was on the ground while Jared moved forward with ayup.


    ¡°Nasty crossover!¡± someone shouted.


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


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


    ¡°Is he afraid of dogs?¡± I said to myself.


    Their appointed rule is just a race to 22 points where each hoop from whatever distance awards one point. There are no time limits or anything and gentleman¡¯s ruling for fouls.


    The game concluded with Jared¡¯s team winning by a point. They wanted to do another game but they noticed me on the side.


    ¡°Bro, we finally beat Alex after two tries.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Oh, so you just tired her up?¡± I teased.


    ¡°We¡¯re going for another round, wanna join?¡± he said.


    ¡°Maybe next time, I¡¯m teaching a CCW ss at the gym now. I¡¯ll teach ten people today though a few could watch to gain some insights.¡± I said. <hr>


    A few of them gave excited expressions and Rin was one of them. I started to walk with Kaley towards thepound.


    ¡°You¡¯ll finally teach me how to use this knife. Why only 10 people though?¡± She said.


    ¡°Yeah, it took a while. I wouldn¡¯t want a few of them stabbing each other before they even learned anything.¡± I said jokingly.


    ¡°What? You¡¯re immediately using ded tools? Stop lying, do you have those wooden things?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, I have different sized bokkens lying around. This ss will be a bit different when we progress though. You might need to wear that body armor when we start to spar.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh. Right, it¡¯s different from just shooting from a distance, we¡¯d learn to dodge while striking too, right?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll teach a few movement techniques too while we¡¯re at it. I¡¯ll make it fun for them too.¡± I said.


    ¡°How so?¡± Tatiana interjected.


    ¡°You¡¯ll see. It¡¯s just basic training for now though, sparring will be a few sessions in.¡± I said while they looked at each other.


    The people who decided to join the ss was Kaley, Mark, Dong, Jared, Rin, Chris, Jay, Bing, Lois and Alex. We are gathered at the mat in the gym while a few people are sitting in the gym equipment to watch the ss. I ced my guns on the armory first and I brought the bokkens from under the rack where I ce my katana. I then tied the katana and the wakizashi together to look the part and I feel a bit of nostalgia.


    ¡°Sit here first yeah?¡± I said to them.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s have a small lecture first. What do you guys think is the most important thing when wielding weapons? Could it be power? Maybe speed? Hmm?¡± I asked them.

 Chapter 80

    Chapter 80: 80


    ¡°Precision?¡± Chris said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I think the time when I swiped his button is still on his mind.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Haha, are you answering or asking?¡± I said.


    ¡°Umm, ah, precision¡­¡± he still said half-reluctantly.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, in my own words, it¡¯s what you need to have over these weapons, control. You could be the strongest one or the fastest one but if you don¡¯t know how to control your own body to perform themands from your brain that you want to achieve, it¡¯s all useless.¡± I said.


    They all give pensive looks as I continued, ¡°For example, let¡¯s say you could throw a basketball from end to end easily, how are you confident in controlling it in a way that it alwaysnds on the hoop? How many shots from a gun could you fire continuously and have a grouping that is only a few centimeters apart? Look, we could go on and on about the examples. What I¡¯m trying to say is control trumps everything else. I¡¯m not downying your strength or how fast you are since those are important too. There are many more variables to consider here aside from speed, power and control¡­ but- Mark? I¡¯m seeing you scrunching your eyebrows, have a question then?¡± I said.


    ¡°My head is a little woozy from the exnation, can you exin it in a simpler term?¡± he said.


    The rest are also somewhat giving the same look.


    ¡°Okay, what is 1 + 1?¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°I¡¯m not mocking your intelligence guys, answer properly, what is 1 + 1?¡± I asked again.


    ¡°2¡­¡± they all said with furrowed brows.


    ¡°That¡¯s right the answer is 2, why didn¡¯t we answer with 3 or 1 though?¡± I said.


    ¡°Because it¡¯s just the right¡­¡± Mark was about to say something more but he stopped. A look of realization is on his face same with everybody else while a few in the back nodded in the simple revtion.


    ¡°I think we¡¯ve covered this topic now, it¡¯s very simr with math problems, right? Let¡¯s have a more physical demonstration.¡± I said as I brought out a pineapple and knife.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°What?¡± I said to them.


    ¡°Nothing¡­¡± everyone else. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Weird huh?¡± I said back.


    Everyone has just a look that are saying that I¡¯ve read their minds.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start with a kitchen knife first. Watch me remove the skin from this one.¡± I said.


    I meticulously removed some of the leaves on top first and I held it diagonally and then I started on removing the skin. I¡¯m making the slices as precise as possible and I finally made diagonal grooves across the pineapple to remove the eyes and I ced it on top of the chopping board.


    ¡°Tada~!¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Umm, Sky, are you teaching us on how to prepare a pineapple?¡± Tatiana from the audience said.


    ¡°Well, sure, you could call it that. This is just more of a demonstration in knife control. Watch this though.¡± I said as I swiped the knife horizontally without bracing the pineapple.


    *slice*


    They are looking attentively then I raised a very thin slice on top of it and ate it.


    ¡°What the¡­¡± Russel trailed.


    ¡°Cool, huh?¡± I said. I then flicked my hand several times as they watched in wonder.


    *slice*


    *slice*


    *slice*


    *slice*


    *slice*


    *slice* <hr>


    *slice*


    *slice*


    *slice*


    *slice*


    I made 10 more quick slices and the pineapple didn¡¯t even topple over and the slices are still on top of it and all are even in thickness. When I picked it up and Iid it on the table like poker cards, they are all staring in shock.


    ¡°Have a bite, it¡¯s sweet.¡± I said.


    They then approached the table and carefully examined the slices.


    ¡°Holy shit!¡±


    ¡°Damn.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°How did you do that?!¡±


    ¡°¡­How?¡±


    A few of them tried to do the same but they failed miserably. Tatiana also tried but she failed to do so as well. The pineapple even toppled though I managed to catch it since it would be a waste of a good pineapple.


    ¡°It¡¯s better to make a show of strength first to get their bloods pumping yeah?¡± I said to myself.


    They all ate their slices and I said, ¡°The sharp and thin knife also helped but this is an example of perfect control. In the future, I hope that you would be able to reach this standard or something close to it. Though from our theory earlier, being able to do this is like answering 100 on a 1 + 1 question.¡± I exined.


    ¡°More like 1 million.¡± Russel said.


    I chuckled and said, ¡°All right, my goal here in teaching you guys is not how to prepare pineapples but to protect yourselves from those things outside. I¡¯d like you to learn how to use melee weapons properly just enough to reach the answer of 2 in the 1 + 1 question. Any questions before we start with the exercises?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Earlier in the gas station, why did you just chop the arm off the zombie instead of going straight for the head?¡± Russel asked as Tatiana¡¯s head also perks up.


    ¡°Oh, that time. I saw Tatiana just standing on a stance from my peripheral vision and I figured that she didn¡¯t use her knife at first because of its short reach which will only give an answer of 1 to the 1 + 1 question; the hands of the zombie would w us first if we do that since it¡¯s also charging towards us. So, I made her sweep much easier to aplish by removing one obstacle, making a 1 + 1 question into a 1 + 0 so that her answer of one would be correct.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh, uh¡­ I think I¡¯m kind of getting your exnation.¡± he said.


    ¡°Now, grab a bokken that you¡¯refortable with or simr to the weapon you have and we¡¯ll practice with the basic movements first, can you help me with this Tatiana?¡± I said.


    She obliged and we taught them the proper way in holding them and made a few drills like swinging it in a cross pattern first and then switching to an ¡®X¡¯ pattern next. Tatiana also gave some of her insights and then the ss concluded. I looked at my watch and it reads 7:32 PM.


    ¡°I have a lot more that I wanted to do but I have so little time. I¡¯ll just do my daily router after the meeting. It¡¯s irritating to not be on schedule.¡± I said to myself while scratching my hair.


    ¡°Something wrong?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m just irritated that my schedule is a bit off, I¡¯d like to do more things but time is not enough.¡± I said.


    ¡°Huh? We got all the time in the world now, don¡¯t we?¡± she said as she bumps me with her shoulder.


    I smiled and looked at her, ¡°Shit, you¡¯re absolutely right. How¡¯s the ss though? Did I manage to teach you something?¡± I said.


    ¡°Well of course! I didn¡¯t even manage to utter a word since I¡¯m listening so intently.¡± she said while we headed to our room.


    ¡°Right, I remember you when you focus. You don¡¯t even make so much as a squeak when you¡¯re taking things in.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s one thing, that makes me not as quiet when I¡­ take it in.¡± she said as she begins to grab that ¡®thing¡¯.


    She¡¯s looking at me seductively and I just let her do what she wants with me. Her hands are now inside my pants and I¡¯m starting to feel it rise.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    ¡°Bro? A moment please?¡± we heard from behind the closed door.


    We quickly made it look like nothing has happened as I opened the door and I saw Lois.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Jay and his group said that they would like to move into the house at the other end of the road at the canal system. They told me to ask you.¡± he said.


    ¡°Tell them it¡¯s okay, I¡¯ll let them borrow a car to move their stuff but tell them to stay for dinner first and the meeting after yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure, bye.¡± he said as he walks down the stairs.


    I locked the door once again and she looks at me while she¡¯sying on the bed.


    ¡°Where were we?¡± she said as she removed her bra while still wearing her shirt. She¡¯s starting to massage her b.r.e.a.s.t while two tips are starting to protrude from the shirt that she¡¯s wearing.


    I was about to turn the lights off then I heard the door again.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    She covered herself with the nket and I could see the irritation in her face.


    I opened the door once again and I saw Russel.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Can I have the pineapple?¡± he said.


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley was speechless.


    ¡°Thanks!¡± he said as he went down.


    I locked the door once more and she removed the nket. She looks a bit irritated from the disturbances but she¡¯s now removed her pants and she¡¯s just wearing her underwear and her shirt. I took my shoes off and when I was about to remove my shirt¡­


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    ¡°Damn it!¡± I whispered as I hung my head low. I looked at her and she¡¯s now looking very frustrated as she covers herself with the nket once more.

 Chapter 81

    Chapter 81: 81


    I opened the door for the third time and the look of irritation is now starting to show in my face as well. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I said as I looked at the person, or should I say, persons. It was Nicole and Alicia.


    ¡°Oh, are you busy? I¡¯d also like to borrow the same kind as the one that you gave me for Alicia. No bullets too of course, I¡¯ll help her practice a bit more since we don¡¯t have sses today. Oh, hi Kaley!¡± Nicole said.


    ¡°Hi¡­did you see what¡¯s for dinner today?¡± Kaley asked though I can notice her brows are a bit furrowed.


    ¡°Hmm, I think it was stir-fried vegetables.¡± Alicia said.


    ¡°That reminds me, I remember that I would need to cook the rabbit too, I¡¯ll prepare itter.¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯re really gonna? That¡¯s a little sad though.¡± Alicia said.


    ¡°Well, she would keep on eating her babies if he gets pregnant again.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Hmm? You¡¯re not against it now? Wanna try to eat it with me then?¡± I said, visibly surprised.


    ¡°Uhh, sure let¡¯s try it then. I remember Aya asking for some too.¡± she said.


    ¡°Great, I¡¯ll prepare one for uster. However, I¡¯m gonna marinate it to grill tomorrow.¡± I said.


    I gave Alicia the same pistol, a Walther P22 that Nicole has and they thanked me first before they went on their way. <center></center><hr>


    I thenid next to her and she just wrapped her arm and leg on the side of my body while she¡¯s using my left arm as a pillow. She just sighs beside me while I hugged her back.


    ¡°Lost the mood then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ people kept on knocking the door and the rabbit talk¡­ it¡¯s a bit irritating.¡± she said.


    ¡°Want me to teach you how to prepare one then? It¡¯s very easy.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? Okay.¡± she replied.


    We got dressed and we grabbed the rabbit from the barn. It¡¯s very fluffy and fat, good for eating. Olivia saw us but she ran away when she heard that we¡¯re gonna butcher it now.


    I first knocked it out and I tied its feet on a string hanging down and then I slit its throat to let it bleed on a container below. After a while of letting it bleed out, I looked at Kaley and even if she looks a bit squeamish, she still paid attention to what I¡¯m doing. I then cut through the joints without damaging the meat on the feet and then I pulled the skin of the rabbit down.


    ¡°Wow, I thought you would slowly scr.a.p.e it with a knife like a boar. It looks skinny now too.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh yeah, I remember that you used to hunt with your dad. I thought you would hate to see this happen.¡± I said.


    I then sliced the tail, hands, and the head off as I ced the fur with the skin in a separate bin to be usedter.


    ¡°I could make this into a hat or something.¡± I said to myself.


    I started gutting the rabbit now and I first thought Kaley would look away at this part but now she even tried to do it herself. <hr>


    ¡°Let me try, it¡¯s not as cute anymore so I can probably do this.¡± she said.


    ¡°Okay, make a small slice there and break the bone in the middle of the legs and put your finger down there and slice it slowly so you don¡¯t hit the guts. Okay, make the cut until there and we slowly pull the insides out. Oh! The liver looks good too! We¡¯ll save itter with the kidneys and throw the unusable ones out. Good job!¡± I said.


    ¡°Thanks! This was fun! Where do I ce the guts?¡± she said.


    ¡°Here, ce it here first.¡± I instructed.


    ¡°We¡¯re done right?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, we just have to clean up now.¡± I replied.


    She has a proud look in her face and we went back to the house after we cleaned up. I also kept the foot of the rabbit since a few people believe it to be lucky.


    I grabbed a mortar and pestle and I mixed a few seasonings and herbs to a marinade and I rubbed it against the meat of the rabbit and I set it aside for tomorrow. She watches me work while I exin some of the processes to her.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like a rabbit now; it looks like a fine cut of meat.¡± she said.


    ¡°Hah! Wait till you taste it, it will blow your mind. You¡¯d wish we have this everyday.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmph! Just say that you¡¯re a good cook!¡± she eximed while she looked at me smiling. <hr>


    ¡°Well, I dabble. How about you though? Did you learn how?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well no, we just used to eat outside though I can cook a few simple dishes. Not this gourmet style that you¡¯re doing.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Oh, is that so. It¡¯s fun for me to cook so I took a few lessons. It rxes me. Though one of the reasons is that I really want to taste the food that I¡¯m seeing online. I can¡¯t go to their stores but I could at least replicate them.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! Like Gordon Ramsay? We¡¯ve been to his other stores and I¡¯ve met him once. He¡¯s a really nice guy and the food was amazing!¡± she said with a victorious smile.


    ¡°What?! I¡¯m so Jealous! Dammit!¡± I said while I finished preparing the food while she tells me the rest of the story.


    ¡°Damn, I could only replicate a few of his dishes from his videos and never tasted the real thing.¡± I said with a hint of jealousy.


    ¡°To be fair though, we only went to his restaurant. I¡¯m not sure if he¡¯s the one who really cooked it.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°But it¡¯s still in his standards! F.u.c.k it! We¡¯re kidnapping him now! Grab the AR, we¡¯ll go to the airport to steal a ne.¡± I joked as sheughed hysterically.


    ¡°W-wait, don¡¯t tell me you know how to fly a ne?¡± she stoppedughing and looked at me.


    ¡°The big ones you use? Haven¡¯t tried yet but I could fly a small one. I think it¡¯s pretty much the same.¡± I said nonchntly.


    ¡°What can¡¯t you do huh?¡± she¡¯s now curious.


    ¡°Hah! Many things! I¡¯m perfect but not that perfect.¡± I joked. <hr>


    ¡°What does that even mean! You can¡¯t use those words together!¡± she shook her head.


    Like a good coincidence, someone told us that the food outside is ready and we ate our meal with everybody.


    Everyone gathered at the meeting after we cleaned up and we started.


    ¡°Okay, good job everyone. We are now on our 7th day in survival and we¡¯re doing good. Wee our new people to the group but I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯ve interacted with them earlier. Our scouting/ scavenging group will still do the same routine of checking each ce slowly and getting supplies from the ces not hit yet. We¡¯ll keep on going ces where there is obviously something inside and just sweep the rest when we start to reach farther ces. We might grab a few more containers for gas since I want to fill the apartment next to us with containers of them since we only managed to fill one up. We need to stock up as many as possible and we might need to go to other gasoline stations when the need arises. How are we on the other side of things?¡± I reported.


    ¡°The seeds we nted are still on the greenhouse, a few people here now have shown interest in gardening and I appreciate the help. I¡¯ll continue on doing the same thing and teach other people what I know.¡± Charlotte said.


    ¡°Same thing here, my family is always helping me with the animals and the baby rabbits are doing good.¡± Derek said.


    ¡°We cleared almost half of the squatter area and all the usable materials are stacked in there. We¡¯ll start on hauling them as soon as we finish on dismantling all of them.¡± Zeidrick said.


    The rest also gave their reports and I watched the broadcast after the meeting which was the same progress report on their parts. We concluded the meeting and then I headed to the gym to finish my daily routine. Only me, Tatiana and Kaley went to the gym today since it¡¯s past 9:00 PM. Kaley¡¯s body is getting more toned and her body can now bend more than what it used to thanks to Tatiana¡¯s training. We three still did our awkward shower together and when we went down, Olivia and Rin are asleep while waiting for us toe down but a movie is already ying.


    ¡°We were supposed to watch a movie today correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Yeah, we had too much to do today, good thing none of us are at watch duty.¡± Kaley said.


    We then headed to each other¡¯s rooms and Kaley spooned me throughout the night. I woke up early to cook the rabbit and I also made mashed potatoes to eat it with, though I saved a piece for Aya. It was almost 6:00 AM so I also made coffee and I told my aunt to not include me and Kaley for breakfast since we will be eating separately today. I saw Jay and his wife helping out my aunt and he just nodded at me and they continued doing their business.

 Chapter 82

    Chapter 82: 82


    Day 8 <center></center><hr>


    I went back to my house and I ced them in a neat te and then onto a small table and then I headed upstairs. I opened the door with my other hand and I slowly woke up Kaley with the fragrant smell of the rabbit.


    *sniff* *sniff*


    She opened her eyes and she started to look around.


    ¡°Good morning!¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey¡­ you cooked breakfast? It smells good¡­¡± she said though she still looked a bit sleepy.


    ¡°Here, let¡¯s eat. Breakfast in bed!¡± I sliced a piece for her and she ate the small piece from my fork. Her eyes widened and I saw her chewing it with a happy smile.


    ¡°This is good! The mashed potatoes too! Give me another one!¡± she opened her mouth and I fed her again.


    ¡°Enjoying being pampered, are we?¡± I teased.


    She chuckled and she sliced a piece and fed me as well.


    ¡°Eat too, I don¡¯t want to be the only one getting fat.¡± she saidughing.


    ¡°Then why did the cake disappear though?¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm! W-we three ate it all when you were sleepingst t-time¡­¡± she fidgets.


    Iughed and I said, ¡°Really~? Okay, I understand. I once ate a whole chicken once when I was in college.¡± <center></center><hr>


    Her eyes widened and she said, ¡°Really? How?!¡±


    ¡°You know, I burned the rice and was toozy to cook another batch. I was supposed to eat a quarter of it and save some forter but I ate it whole. I was full until the other day too.¡± I told the story.


    ¡°HAHAHA!!!¡± she continued tough and we ate merrily. She ces the table down on the floor and we sat on the bed while I¡¯m drinking coffee. The cup was still half-full and she took it away from me. I was about to take it back but then I saw her face.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t do it yesterday after the gym and you quickly fell asleep, I tried to do it by myself and it wasn¡¯t enough you know¡­¡± she told me with a pout.


    ¡°You could¡¯ve woken me up you know.¡± I said while I start to ce my hand around her hip.


    ¡°Well, you did a lot yesterday, I thought you were too tired.¡± she said as her hand sn.a.k.e.d through my shorts.


    My hand slowly went up and I touched her left b.r.e.a.s.t while her right hand is moving somewhere. Her left hand is on the back of her head so I could reach her better, my left hand went under her shirt and I managed to reach the side of it and I slowly tried to grab the whole thing. She looked at me and we started on kissing. Muffled m.o.a.ns are the only thing you hear and my left hand searched lower. Her hand on me tightens when I pinched the small piece of flesh in herher regions. She slowly moistens and I began to have an easier time sliding my finger inside her. We had a kissing session for a few minutes and then her hand holding me moved faster and I didn¡¯t manage to hold it in. She gave a cute giggle and she whispered in my ear.


    ¡°Lay down.¡± she said in amanding tone.


    She sat in my face and she started on moving. Her h.i.p.s moved in different directions when I started to hit certain spots inside her. Viewing her from this angle with her smile makes the excitement I¡¯m feeling much stronger. She leaned a bit forward and now her hands are on the wall while her chest started to jiggle when she moves her h.i.p.s. I grabbed her b.r.e.a.s.ts by the handful and she made a muffled m.o.a.n with her closed mouth. Her full weight pressing against me is starting to slowly make me lose a bit of air though I continued on enjoying my other meal.


    Her h.i.p.s stopped moving and one of her hands cupped my hand holding her chest as she started to twitch on top of me. I removed myself from the position and she looked back at me though she¡¯s now on all fours. I pulled her legs down and now she¡¯s lying face down and I raised her h.i.p.s a little and I positioned myself over and then I entered her. I slowly thrusted while her face is on the side eyes closed but her teeth is biting her lower lip. Her hands now reached for my body and now I used it to spread her cheeks further apart. The sight made me very weak in the knees but I pushed on. Right as I was about to let it out, I pulled it off and her hands took care of it for me. I released it on her chest and I kissed her again. We stopped after a while and we cleaned ourselves after.


    I headed to my gun safe and I pulled out a bullpup from one of the disys and attached a red dot sight.


    ¡°Wow, that looks different. What is that called?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a bullpup rifle, the magazine is located at the back. This is an Israeli gun that they call a Tavor, it¡¯s light too.¡± I said. <hr>


    She tried to lift it up and she nodded a few times.


    ¡°What does this switch do?¡± she asks.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s for selective fire like with the HK416. You can use that instead of the AR-15 today if you like.¡± I said.


    ¡°Umm, I¡¯d rather keep the AR, I don¡¯t like the way this feels though. I¡¯d like to train more with the AR by using it everyday.¡± She said.


    ¡°Okay, then. I¡¯ll just ready this forter.¡± I said.


    She pulls out her tanto and she swung it in a cross pattern then an ¡®X¡¯ pattern. Some swings made good sounds but some definitely needs more work.


    ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± she said while proudly smiling.


    I then drew my wakizashi and did the same thing in a quick and single flowing motion. Then I looked at her while the sound of the wakizashi clicking on the scabbard resounds.


    ¡°Show off.¡± She said pouting.


    ¡°Well it took me a long time to do that and you¡¯ve only trained for a few hours. I can¡¯t help it though.¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Can¡¯t help what?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Being amazing.¡± I said as I made an exaggerated pose.


    She jabbed me and I stole a kiss from her. She was a bit surprised and she blushed for a few moments. <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re amazing too, can¡¯t help doing that.¡± I smirked.


    ¡°Hmm~? Who¡¯s being a bit assertive now huh?¡± she replied.


    We kissed for a while and we stopped when we heard a knock from the door calling us for breakfast. It was Aya who called us so I gave her the leg that I saved for her. My aunt must¡¯ve forgotten to tell her daughter not to call us for breakfast.


    ¡°Hmm!¡± Aya eximed.


    ¡°That was good huh?¡± I said smiling.


    ¡°Aya, can you sneak a bite for Olivia? I think she¡¯ll enjoy it.¡± Kaley said.


    We three gave menacing looks and we both watched Aya look for Olivia in the pool area. We were hiding on the side watching Olivia took a bite. Aya was smiling the whole time when Olivia took another bite.


    ¡°This is really good! Did your mom cook this?¡± Olivia asked.


    ¡°No, it was Sky.¡± Aya replied.


    Her expression changed a bit and she continued, ¡°Oh, he helped make breakfast then?¡±


    We then walked forward and greeted her.


    ¡°Hey, like my cooking then?¡± I said.


    The look on her face, priceless. She¡¯s in an inner turmoil of whether she asks for another bite or condemn me for letting her eat the rabbit. <hr>


    ¡°I think Olivia doesn¡¯t like it as much, there¡¯s still a lot there. If you can¡¯t finish it all you could probably give it to-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°Please share it with me!¡± Olivia eximed.


    ¡°You liked it then? It¡¯s what me and Sky ate for breakfast.¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°What?! Sis?! OMG, the betrayal!¡± Olivia eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have your share then¡­¡± Kaley said while approaching Aya.


    ¡°No! It¡¯s really good, I¡¯ll admit. Is that all that¡¯s left?¡± Olivia said while looking at the te.


    ¡°I could kill one more if you like¡­¡± I teased.


    ¡°NOOO~! Umm, wait- umm AHHH!¡± she rambled as the inner turmoil continues.


    She finally gave up and she shared the rabbit with Aya for breakfast. The breakfast for today was fried chicken and it doesn¡¯t look much different from the rabbit when fried. Me and Kaley just sat down with everyone while I grabbed another cup of coffee for us.


    I saw Jay approached me and he said, ¡°Hey, thank you for taking us in. Whatever you ask, we will do it without question as long as it¡¯s between our capabilities. We finally had a full belly and a good night of sleep. Bing even overslept from thefort of the cushion from the house there. Is there anything you want us to help with for now?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re wee. I¡¯m thinking since you have experience in dealing with those things outside, I¡¯d like your group with a few of mine to be a clearing group just a few blocks outside the fence. You¡¯d slowly thin out the numbers of them here but don¡¯t go too far out.¡± I said.


    Oscar interjects, ¡°What if they meet people kid?¡±

 Chapter 83

    Chapter 83: 83


    ¡°We¡¯ll make a protocol then. Tatiana will be with you guys just to be sure. We take them in but they need to surrender their weapons and be searched thoroughly. If they won¡¯t evenply for a simple security check then there¡¯s nothing to talk about. We go about our own ways and if they don¡¯t do that, Tatiana knows what to do.¡± I exined. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I thought Tatiana needs to be by your side at all times?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s useless to protect someone you can¡¯t even beat yeah?¡± I nced at Tatiana.


    ¡°Hah~ sure, I¡¯ll apany them. I¡¯ll beat you in the future.¡± she smirked.


    ¡°She actually agreed. Great.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Are you sure kid?¡± Oscar said.


    The rest of the group has solemn expressions.


    ¡°I said before, we don¡¯t kill until we needed to. If they walk away with a peaceful undertone, that¡¯s fine, we let them. If they try to do something which could harm our group, we fight back. We don¡¯t have the luxury to bring out the goodness of people and wait for them to change their ways. They get the stick if they don¡¯t ept the carrot.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I agree with that. The phrase ¡®keep you friends close and your enemies closer¡¯ is bullshit. People who say that clearly haven¡¯t been in the war. It only takes a moment of carelessness before it¡¯s all over. I learned that the hard way.¡± Johnny said as he touches his prosthetic leg.


    ¡°We need someone who can read people then.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Look who¡¯s talking, can¡¯t you always tell when I fib?¡± I said.


    ¡°Kid, you¡¯ve been pretty good on reading people too. Everyone you have taken in are good people.¡± Oscar said.


    The people I¡¯ve taken in gave a smile when Oscar spoke. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°So, are you two going to different groups then?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Nope, she¡¯s mine.¡± I said tly.


    ¡°Wow, getting territorial now kid?¡± Oscar smiled.


    I looked at Kaley and she was blushing while shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Well boss decreed it, thy will be done, hahahaha!¡± Mark chimed whileughing.


    ¡°I think I kind of announced it in the public though, nevermind that, I¡¯d like to keep her close as always.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I think I could do it Sky¡­¡± Kaley said.


    I looked at her and she looks serious and determined. I rubbed my be and I gave a long sigh. Oscar looked at me with a solemn expression while the rest of the group waited to hear my decision.


    ¡°Fine, let¡¯s try it for now, but Tatiana and Mark will be always at your side and I¡¯ll give you somethingter. Don¡¯t go past the elementary school and just around the ce first like we did on the right side.¡± I said as I looked at her straight in the eye.


    ¡°Are you sure Kaley? Sky would murder all of us if anything happens to you.¡± Oscar said while smiling.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure. Besides, Tatiana and Mark are with me.¡± She said with a serious look.


    ¡°Okay then, it¡¯s settled. My group today will be Jared, Dong, Zardon¡­Lois and Nicole. The clearing group will be Tatiana, Kaley, Mark, Jay, Bing, Jon and Marco. I¡¯ll give you your protective gear forter and we¡¯ll start in 30 minutes. The rest just continue on what you¡¯re doing and fill more containers with gas. Grab a few people if you need help with them yeah?¡± I ordered. <hr>


    I then went back to my room and grabbed a few guns for the new members of my group. I gave Lois a 10/22 rifle with a few attachments, a 1911 pistol and abat knife. For Nicole, I handed her a few magazines for her .22 pistol and I handed her a Kukri, it looks like a machete but the end tip is much heavier andrger for the purpose of chopping.


    Jay¡¯s group got a small upgrade from their melee weapons since I gave them proper ones and I handed a .38 special revolver to Jay and a Maverick 88 to Jon. Marco already has a Sig Sauer P320 from their armory so I just let him roll with that.


    I gave all of them extra ammunition and protective gear and I contemted on what I would give Kaley. I opened a case from one of my Liberty Safes and I pulled out one of my CZ P-09 pistols. I loaded it with bullets and gave an extra magazine to Kaley.


    ¡°Here, rece it with the M9. This is a CZ P-09 and it hold 19+1 9mm bullets, a few bullets more than the one you are using. This will be morefortable for you and the recoil will be more manageable with thispensator here¡­¡± I exined to her the features of the gun.


    ¡°Sky¡­¡± she trailed while looking at me.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± I said as I grabbed a re gun in another case.


    ¡°Thanks for trusting me.¡± She said.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. If I could help it, I¡¯d like you to stay with me at all times.¡± I replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a few houses from this ce okay? I have a good teacher¡­ W-wait hold up. Is that a grenade?!¡± she said then she eximed mid-sentence.


    ¡°Yeah. Put two of these at this pouch. This is a re gun; I know you have one of this at airnes. You pull that trigger and I¡¯ll rush back yeah? You could also point it at people and shoot them with it though the uracy is very low and you need to be close to do a bit damage. Have this too.¡± I said as I tied my wakizashi to her hip and reced the tanto on it.


    ¡°Sky? This is a bit much don¡¯t you think? What will you use now?¡± she said embarrassingly.


    ¡°I still think this isn¡¯t enough. I¡¯ll give a shotgun to Mark too. Tell me if they moved an inch from you, I¡¯ll beat them when youe back. Also, I think it¡¯s time for this.¡± I said to her with a worried expression and then I took the katana from the rack and ced the tanto back. <hr>


    ¡°SKY! I¡¯m gonna be fine, okay? I¡¯ll be really careful so focus on your mission too. I¡¯ll also murder everyst one of them if you don¡¯te back too, okay?¡± she said as she gives me a tight hug.


    ¡°Is this how parents feel when they send their kids to college? I¡¯m so stressed!¡± I said to myself.


    I had the IWI Tavor slung on my shoulders, Glock 19s on my torso and the katana on my hip while Kaley has the AR-15 on her back, the CZ P-09 on her hip holster and my wakizashi on her other hip.


    ¡°You going to war kid? Hah! You armed Kaley to the teeth too. If she had two pistols on her torso and a tattoo on the arm, she¡¯d look like the girl version of you.¡± Oscar heartilyughed.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m a beauty too I might say.¡± I joked while Kaley gave an overhead kick.


    *whoosh*


    I just tilted my head to avoid it and I smirked.


    ¡°Learning the ropes eh? The kick was a bit slow but you pulled it off without any indication, good job.¡± I praised.


    ¡°If she could learn my kick I did with Tatiana now¡­¡± I nned in my head.


    ¡°Mark, Tatiana, take good care of her yeah?¡± I sternly said.


    They both nodded and then my aunt approached me.


    ¡°Take care of my three kids too, Lois sometimes spaces out but he¡¯s really smart. Nicole sometimes get her emotions ahead of herself and Jared much more. Good thing he follows you like amander.¡± My aunt said. <hr>


    ¡°Sure thing. I promise we¡¯lle back with all of them. Nicole! Save that forter yeah?¡± I saw Nicole on the catwalk kissing Alicia in the mouth while An and Jenny were a bit ufortable watching the two beside them.


    We brought the truck out while Kaley and her group started to walk outside the fence.


    ¡°Where do we go first?¡± My uncle asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the Pineda residence first. I was itching to go to this ce yesterday.¡± I said.


    It¡¯s a few minutes but we finally reached the destination.


    ¡°Jared guard the truck with Lois and Nicole while we three go inside. Radio in if something happens.¡± I told them.


    The gates were high so I used the truck as a boost and I jumped down the gate to unlock the locks from inside. We first went to the house of the keeper to check it out while Dong guards the door.


    I threw an rm inside and waited for a while before wee inside. Nothing seems to be attracted to the rm so we went further in. I drew my katana and I reached for a shlight in my belt. I shone the light over but my uncle flicked the switch in the corner which lighted the whole ce up.


    *click*


    ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t see that there, ahaha¡­¡± I said as I scratched my nose.


    ¡°¡­¡± the two.

 Chapter 84

    Chapter 84: 84


    ¡°Nothing seems to be here though.¡± My uncle said as he looked around. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°But why is there a lot of food here though? Did they hole up in the main house?¡± Dong said as he took a small nce.


    ¡°Maybe, want me to mark this house first?¡± my uncle asked.


    ¡°Yeah, go ahead. Eyes up on this big house next. It¡¯s much bigger than my house.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why is it so big though?¡± Dong asked.


    ¡°Oh, the owner of this house were politicians. But this house is already built before they became politicians. Wait, that didn¡¯t exin anything at all.¡± I said as they shake their heads


    I knocked multiple times first and I waited for some sort of reaction. There seems to be no one answering so I pulled out a roll of duct tape from the bag I always carry.


    ¡°What are you gonna do with that?¡± Dong said.


    ¡°Oh, just wait and see.¡± I said as I taped a few strips to a window. After a reasonable size was taped, I elbowed it and a crack was produced and the sound is almost non-existent. The two nodded with a smile when they saw what I did.


    ¡°Are you a burr or something?¡± Dong said.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t talk to your boss like that. Hah! I¡¯ll be a good one if I ever be one.¡± I joked as I peeled the duct tape of with the shards on it andid it on the side.


    I then pulled out one more rm from the bag and I threw it inside the hole from the window where I peeled the duct tape over.


    *tick*


    *tick*


    *tick*


    *ringggggg*


    A few more minutes pass and nothing happened inside. I even took a whiff inside and it smelled like nothing. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What are you smelling the house for?¡± my uncle said.


    ¡°Decay. If anything is dead on this floor, we would smell it right now.¡± I exined.


    With nothing seeming out of the ordinary, I picked the lock and we went inside. I looked for the switch for the lights now but when I found it, the lights won¡¯t open. I pointed my shlight at the ceiling and I found out the bulbs were missing or broken though a few is still intact. The two saw it and they tensed.


    ¡°Someone could still be here or the breaker for this ce was turned off.¡± I said.


    We checked the 1st floor first while Dong guarded the stairs. We checked the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, and the two other rooms inside.


    The living room has still all the appliances inside while the kitchen has them too along with other canned goods and several sacks of rice left. The food left is still substantial for a few families when I checked a few from the cupboards and the other drawers.


    ¡°They have a lot here; do they have guns too?¡± I said to myself.


    My uncle opened the refrigerator and he found several cans of beer with a few sodas and choctes inside. On a corner of it is a wine rack with a few dozen bottles of different kinds. He just touched the bottles and moved on. I opened one of the doors and one is a tool shed for brooms and other cleaning materials while the other leads to a staircase for the bas.e.m.e.nt.


    We called Dong over and now he¡¯s guarding this side of the door. We headed down and it¡¯s aundry room with a few washing machines, dryers, and sacks of detergent powder. We headed up and I went to the bathroom. Aside from a few hygiene products, there¡¯s a first aid kit inside their medicine cab with a few OTC drugs.


    ¡°This floor is clear now. Let¡¯s head up.¡± I said to them.


    We headed to the 2nd floor now and we slowly ascended the stairs. There are four rooms in total and we checked each one. They were the children¡¯s rooms and what we found inside are clothes, smart phones,puters, a few toys, snacks and etc.


    ¡°Why are there a lot of their supplies and personal items here? There¡¯s no sign of zombies here though. This is really weird; I really should¡¯vee here the first time I noticed something was wrong.¡± I said to myself.


    We went to thest floor and we found two doors left and right.


    ¡°Get ready.¡± I told them.


    I readied my bullpup and my uncle raises his shield while Dong drew his pistol. My uncle reached for the doorknob on the right and it is unlocked. I stopped him from opening it then I pressed my ear against it but I heard nothing from the other side.


    I knocked a few times to check if someone is inside. <hr>


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    ¡°Hello?¡± I called.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    ¡°Hello~!¡± I called again.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    ¡°Hello~! Is someone inside?¡± I called onest time to be sure.


    When I gave the signal, my uncle opened the door and we were shocked. We found the other type here.


    There were seven zombies just standingpletely still and they are all looking at us except for the one by the window. They never moved, they never breathed and they never did¡­anything. They all just¡­ stared. They still have several bitemarks on their bodies and the blood on their clothes are dried and ck. A few bits and pieces of their body is on the floor and it is like a Pollock painting.


    ¡°Is this what I felt from before?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Are this thepletely still ones?¡± Dong said.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s really off-putting seeing them this close.¡± I said.


    ¡°What do we do? Kill them now?¡± My uncle said.


    ¡°Wait a moment. I¡¯ll call Oscar. Close the door first.¡± I said.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oscar? This is Sky, copy?¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid? Copy.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Contact Rod for me, will you? We found seven of those still ones in the Pineda residence. Ask him if he needs more samples.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Roger.¡±


    *bzzt*


    While we waited, I opened the other door and we saw a meeting room but there was no one inside. It has a long table with chairs and a monitor and at the far back is an isted room separated by a ss door. I went inside the ss door and I found a note in the table.


    ¡°To anyone that might stumble upon this house in the future, please, just do it for me. There¡¯s a gun inside the safe behind the painting. Please, I can¡¯t pull the trigger, they¡¯re family. Why us?! Why am I the only one left?! Why?! This is unfair!¡±


    I left the note there and looked behind the painting. There¡¯s an unlocked safe with the keys to this ce and a revolver with a box of ammunition sitting inside. It appears to might have contain more but it was already taken. I took a look at the family picture in the desk and I saw everyone inside the other door except one, Karen Ann Pineda.


    ¡°Could she be the one looking from the window on the other doorst time? But there was a zombie at the spot now.¡± I said to myself.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid, he said that they have enough samples. Besides, it¡¯s too far.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll dispose of them then. There¡¯s still an unknown risk of these things being here if we left them alone here.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure kid.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Do we just kill them here then?¡± asked Dong.


    ¡°No, we kill them outside. Let¡¯s cover them with nkets first and tie them just to be sure. They¡¯re doing nothing for now and we¡¯ll be cleaning the housester so let¡¯s just do it outside.¡± I said.


    ¡°Can¡¯t we just leave them here?¡± my uncle said.


    ¡°I won¡¯t bet on the risk that they would stay like that forever. Remember the videos? The effects progress after an indeterminate amount of time. Who knows, they might move around in a few days and infect people. However, we have never seen normal zombies turn to this type or the sprinters.¡± I said.


    I looked at the seven bodies and I noticed something peculiar. Their eyes are moving. When they see a moving person, their eyes follow. I started walking from left to right and their pupils follow me though they never did anything else. The two saw what was happening and they tried to do the same. What¡¯s weird was their pupils could look at different directions like a chameleon. I felt chills run down my spine everytime their eyes move in different directions.


    ¡°This is really weird.¡± Dong said.


    I readied my bullpup rifle just in case they move while the two covered them with nkets and tied their arms. It took a while but we finally led them below.


    ¡°Bro, what¡¯s that?!¡± Jared asked while he saw the figures covered in nkets.


    ¡°Those still ones, I think we¡¯ll call them sentries, you should see their eyes. I¡¯ll kill them outside.¡± I said.

 Chapter 85

    Chapter 85: 85


    I opened the gate and I drew my katana. With a simple flick of the wrist, I started to dispose of them one by one. When it¡¯s thest zombie, I had a thought. I removed the cover and I ced it in the middle of the street. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hey, what are you doing with it?¡± Nicole asked.


    ¡°Just had an idea. Jared, cover me yeah?¡± I said as I let it face the truck and it¡¯s now looking at them.


    ¡°Weird.¡± Lois said.


    ¡°Good naming them sentries. It¡¯s like the statues on the main quest of what you¡¯re ying before.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Unc, can you stand about 15 feet in front of it? Keep the shield up though.¡± I said as I went the other way.


    ¡°What are we doing?¡± my uncle said.


    ¡°Wait a moment, I¡¯ll attract a few.¡± I said.


    I came back after a few moments with five of them. I started going diagonally and I avoided the sentries¡¯ line of sight but I¡¯m far closer than it than my uncle. When the zombies got a few feet near the sentry, it happened.


    ¡°Woah.¡± my uncle said.


    I was 8-10 feet from the sentry but the zombies avoided me and then they started on straddling towards my uncle. I slowly sidestepped to get to the line of sight of the sentry and then its eyes split up between me and my uncle and the zombiesing from the back are now splitting between us. When I went back to its blind spot, its eyes went back to my uncle but the zombies that split up still went after me while thest zombie I attracted went to my uncle.


    ¡°This is vital information. Should definitely tell this to everyone.¡± I said to myself. <center></center><hr>


    I then brandished my katana and got rid of the ones I attracted while my group did the same. The group is just looking at me and then I sliced the head off of the sentry cleanly.


    *slice*


    *plop*


    The head fell to the ground but its eyes are still staring at me. I wrapped the head in cloth and I ced it in the truck.


    ¡°We¡¯re taking that?!¡± Nicole eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, this is something we might have a use in thepound. We might need to find an aquarium or a jar. Too bad I¡¯ve killed the other six. This is something really vital, let¡¯s get everything from this ce first and we check a few of the houses near here before we go back. We took a lot of time here since the house is too big.¡± I said.


    They then started on hauling the stuff inside while I went back to the 3rd floor to get the revolver and the box of .357 rounds. I then went to the other room where they came from and I inspected the ce. This seems to be the master bedroom and it¡¯s simr to the rooms on the second floor but bigger. I checked for any hidden doors but I found nothing. There¡¯s a few fancy clothes and jewelry here but there¡¯s not much gear we could use for zombies.


    ¡°She must¡¯ve taken the important ones. Where did she go then?¡± I said to myself.


    Aside from the essentials, I took the electronic gadgets from the rooms and I found a bag of Marijuana on the nightstand on the master bedroom with an empty medicine container.


    ¡°This does not look prescribed by a doctor. Wait, this bottle for sleeping pills, overdosed?¡± I said to myself.


    I remembered the 7 figures earlier and one of them don¡¯t have any bitemarks. <hr>


    ¡°Did thest one overdosed on this? Why is Karen the only one left alive?¡± I asked myself.


    I just ced the bag of Marijuana on my bag and figured I might have use for themter on for trading or any medical issue. There¡¯s also a wine cab here with more bottles than in the kitchen and they are much more expensive. I also checked each bathroom for any pills or any other things I might find. On one of the cabs on the bathrooms, I found a very¡­ phallic object. I left it alone and I shook my head.


    ¡°That thing could be used as a bludgeoning weapon. It¡¯s like a Barbarian with Brutal Critical if it hits you. Well, if that makes you happy¡­ I¡¯m not gonna bring that home though.¡± I said to myself.


    We finished loading the truck and the head was ced carefully in a corner. Half of the truck was full so we went inside a few more houses near it. Surprisingly, one of them has a few sr panels installed and we unhooked them with the inverters and the battery for ourpound. We grabbed a few containers for the gas at home and 20 empty ones filled the rest of the truck along with a few essentials that we found.


    There are still more zombies past the gas station since it¡¯s in the highway. In this ce, we encounter 7-9 zombies every time we make a stop and we are not using firearms as long as we could. It¡¯s possible as long as you make a proper formation with your group and they follow you properly.


    We headed back and I found out that there are a few people inside the fence and a few of them are familiar faces. A guy there smiled and waved at me though I disregarded him.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Kaley and the rest?¡± I asked An on top of the catwalk.


    ¡°Oh, they¡¯re making one more trip before they take a rest. Oscar told the people below to stay at the fence here first and wait for you. They might be back in a few minutes though.¡± he said.


    ¡°Sky! Sky! Remember me?¡± one of them said. It¡¯s a guy wearing ragged clothing but has an expensive watch on his wrist. He has gold teeth and has an air of arrogance.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k is this guy doing here? Out of all the people that would stay at their homes, this guy actually survived?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Hey man! Hey!¡± the guy shouted. <hr>


    ¡°SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP!!!¡± I bellowed.


    The man stops calling me and the few are taken aback.


    ¡°You know that guy Sky? He keeps on saying that you were bros, he never stopped talking since he got here.¡± An said with a bit of annoyance in his voice.


    ¡°I know this guy but we¡¯re not close.¡± I said.


    ¡°C¡¯mon man! We¡¯ve known each other for years I-¡± he looked at the fence and he stopped.


    Kaley and the group came back and her eyes brightened when she saw us back. I waved at her and she waved back at me. I jumped down the truck and opened the first fence for them.


    *roll* *roll* *roll* *roll* *roll*


    I checked her body for any signs of scars or wounds. I even checked the magazine of the AR and the CZ if it was used.


    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s embarrassing, stop doing that here! We never fired a shot; we just used our melee weapons and I killed a few using your wakizashi.¡± She said with a proud look.


    We then walked towards the group again and I looked at each one of them. There is 7 of them all in all. They are looking at me with wary expressions though that guy has the same bullshit expression as always.


    ¡°Hey! Hey! Hey! C¡¯mon man! Talk to me! I-¡± he tries to get my attention. <hr>


    ¡°You checked them for weapons?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, we did. I found 2 pistols from the woman there with a cap, her name is Aubrey and sheplied in surrendering them to us. The others have nothing on them and we let them all in after Kaley made a brief talk with them.¡± Tatiana reported.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Good to see your family here Anthony.¡± I turned to a guy with arge forehead carrying his daughter with his wife by his side.


    ¡°Huh? You know me?¡± he replied.


    Iughed and said, ¡°Anthony Del Mundo, we¡¯re ssmates in the elementary school here. We used to y online games every afternoon after school. Remember Gunbound X?¡±


    ¡°Hold on, wait he doesn¡¯t look like you at all. Are you Sky?¡± he said with a confused expression.


    His eyebrows were scrunched at first then it shot up in realization.


    ¡°What¡¯s up man?¡± I said as he gave her daughter to his wife then he gave me a handshake.


    ¡°Holy shit man. It¡¯s really you? Didn¡¯t even recognize you!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s been 2 decades more or less and I haven¡¯t been attending our reunions. Is this all of you?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, we decided to hole up in my house. This is my wife Laura, my daughter Bailey, my cousin Benjie and my dad Roy.¡± He introduced some of the group.


    I looked at the other two and they introduced themselves as well. The other female was Aubrey, she was the person with the pistols earlier, she works as security guard at a bank. Thest one¡­ thest one was an asshole; his name is Diego.

 Chapter 86

    Chapter 86: 86


    ¡°The six of you cane inside now, Diego stay here since we need to have a talk.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°H-hey man, I don¡¯t want any trouble alright?¡± he said.


    ¡°Is there something wrong with him Sky?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, something is definitely wrong with this asshole. Asshole, take off all your clothes.¡± I said.


    ¡°Woah! Woah! Hey man! Be cool, alright? I¡¯m not gonna take my clothes in front of all these people here okay!¡± he pleaded.


    ¡°Then f.u.c.k.i.n.g leave this ce.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sky¡­ he seems a pretty chill guy, I think we shoul-¡± Mark said before I cut him off.


    ¡°My ce, my rules. I will personally drive you to the DDR camp there but I highly doubt they¡¯ll ept you with what you¡¯re carrying.¡± I said sternly.


    ¡°W-wait, Tatiana checked him earlier.¡± Kaley said.


    He starts to sweat profusely and his eyes darted left and right. He suddenly gave a few involuntary ticks and he looks very different from the person before. Kaley is just observing him now and she has a different expression.


    ¡°C¡¯mon man, I¡¯m clean alright? Just, j-justy it easy man!¡± he stutters.


    ¡°Okay, don¡¯t take off your clothes. Hand me your bag first.¡± I said.


    He gave an almost unnoticeable smirk and he throws it at me.


    ¡°Knock yourself out.¡± He said.


    ¡°Idiot.¡± I said to myself.


    I opened his bag and I dropped all the contents at the pavement. The bag is empty but there is still some weight to it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°C¡¯mon man, it¡¯s just clothes and a bit of food there alright?¡± he said but his nervous ticks are still urring.


    ¡°Gonna go down swinging huh?¡± I said as I turned the bag inside out.


    There¡¯s a seam inside that was sticking out like a nail. I cut it open and a few syringes and a stic bag with a white substance fell out. He looked at me in shock while the others did as well.


    ¡°Still shooting yeah? I¡¯ll be taking this with me and flush it down the toilet.¡± I said.


    He suddenly ced his hands inside his pants and he pulled out a small metal piece and he lunged towards me.


    ¡°Sky!¡± Kaley shouted.


    ¡°Damn it.¡± I said to myself as I drew my de.


    *slice*


    *plop*


    ¡°AHHHHHH!!! YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G PRICK!!! I¡¯LL MURDER ALL OF YOU!!!¡± he shouted at the top of his lungs.


    His right arm falls off his body and blood started to spray out. He once again rushed towards me despite the look in his face but a gunshot rang before I tried to knock him out.


    *BANG*


    The body fell limp on the pavement and blood is slowly flowing from his head. I looked at my side and I saw Tatiana has her pistol out while everybody was frozen on the spot. I just nodded at Tatiana while she did the same as she holstered her pistol.


    A few people now went outside when they heard the gunshot and they were shocked when they saw the disy.


    ¡°Holy shit, the f.u.c.k happened here?!¡± Oscar eximed.


    I waved the packets of meth in my hand then I pointed at the shiv on the dismembered arm and he understood. <hr>


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g junkie.¡± Oscar said.


    From his bag, aside from his clothes there was a small weighing scale, a few rolls of cash, a lighter and a notebook also hidden on the other seams. Oscar dispersed the crowd and the only ones left outside was me, Kaley and Tatiana. An and Jenny were on the catwalk as usual but everyone was silent.


    ¡°Let¡¯s move this thing outside first.¡± I told them.


    I brought the pedicab first and I ced the body inside. I notice that Tatiana is rubbing Kaley¡¯s back and Kaley won¡¯t look at me but she¡¯s trembling.


    ¡°We¡¯ll talkter yeah? Help me with the fence.¡± I asked.


    We three worked in silence and we burned the body after I took everything of importance from him.


    I broke the silence when we reached the gate and I said, ¡°Sorry, you shouldn¡¯t have seen that.¡±


    ¡°H-hold on, I¡¯m the one who should be apologizing, I deemed the guy to be included to live with us. It would¡¯ve been so much worse if you didn¡¯t check him.¡± Kaley stammered.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry too. I didn¡¯t know where he got this shiv I-¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°Drop that shiv now!¡± I interrupted Tatiana. I had goosebumps in my body when I saw her casually holding it.


    ¡°Huh? But-¡± she looks confused.


    ¡°Drop it! For the love of all things living!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°She must¡¯ve not noticed where he pulled it out from.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°W-wait why?¡± they are now confused.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t see where he pulled that from? He used to be in prison.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Umm, so?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°F.U.C.K!¡± she cursed.


    ¡°I told you so.¡± I said to myself.


    When Tatiana heard the word ¡®prison¡¯ she immediately threw it away. Itnded outside the fence and it bounced a few times before sliding off. She now has an angry and disgusted expression.


    ¡°You don¡¯t get it do you? It¡¯s becau-¡± I said to Kaley then I was cut off.


    ¡°It was hidden inside his ass! That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t saw it! AHHH! F.U.C.K!¡± Tatiana shouted on the top of her lungs.


    ¡°First time I saw you explode like that, HAHAHAHA!!!¡± Iughed.


    ¡°W-wait, ass? You mean t-th- Ew! Why would he put it there?¡± Kaley eximed when the truth was finally revealed.


    ¡°Prisoners used to hide things there like knives or drugs since security would confiscate contraband if it was seen inside their cells. It took the both of you a long time before you got it. Oh man¡­¡± I exined as I was holding myughter back.


    Tatiana immediately went to a faucet and washed her hands thoroughly. She headed to my house as she looks for soap and a drink to forget about it.


    I looked at her then I said, ¡°Hey, you don¡¯t have to worry about it. That guy has been in and out of prison and he could fool anyone if you¡¯re not familiar with the guy. He was the one who was selling to my cousin and that¡¯s why I know him. He tried to sell to me too but I reported him.¡±


    ¡°But why did he act like you¡¯re bestfriends? He never knew that you reported him?¡± she asked.


    ¡°He¡¯s an abuser of those things for a long time. He¡¯s very unstable when you try to take his substances. I probed to see a reaction and a reaction is what I got. He never knew it was me. It was a good call for Oscar to not let them in yet.¡± I exined.


    Tatiana finally joined us and she said, ¡°You could¡¯ve told me sooner.¡±


    ¡°I did. You¡¯re the one who wanted more exnations, hah! What did it smell like? HAHAHAHA!!!¡± I teased andughed maniacally.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t smell it! F.U.C.K!¡± she storms off. <hr>


    We headed to the pool area and almost everyone is there. They all wore solemn expressions as they looked at me. I exined to them what I know about Diego and what happened before we killed him. An also exined before what happened and they very much understand the situation.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to remind you all to be careful with who we interact with outside. We don¡¯t need to be hostile, just vignt. Always be ready to react when something happens. We shouldn¡¯t be toox or too optimistic that we will always meet good people. Let us make it a rule to hold the neers first on the firstyer of the fence before we let them inside thepound.¡± I said.


    Kaley still has a somewhat sad expression and I still think she felt responsible for what happened. I tried cheering her up but I feel that she wants to drop the subject for now.


    ¡°Well this is the first time someone not infected was killed. I tried disabling him but Tatiana made the decision. Can¡¯t me her though, It¡¯s the right call. I¡¯m still thinking I could save everyone I encounter. I need to toughen up a bit more.¡± I said to myself.


    Everyone still has solemn expressions and the food is being brought out for everyone.


    ¡°Oscar, is the president¡¯s line always open? Can you call him after lunch?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s not the one always answering it but sometimes he just picks it up from whoever did.¡± he said.


    ¡°I might have found something out without them noticing.¡± I said as I told him about the sentries.


    He gave me different expressions when I ryed my findings to him.


    ¡°You sure that that¡¯s what happened kid?¡± he asks while the rest of my group confirms it.


    ¡°Damn, I¡¯m not sure if they¡¯ve discovered it but they never told me of that yet. It could be another version of it though, we¡¯re not sure.¡± He added.


    ¡°That¡¯s a valid point too. They would¡¯ve probably noticed that those things do that as well.¡± I said.


    ¡°From the broadcasts, all they¡¯ve said was they discovered them, there were no mention of their findings. Could they be hiding it?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Well, could they be hiding it then?¡± Johnny repeated what Kaley said and he looked at me.


    ¡°For what reason though? Aren¡¯t we supposed to help each other, right?¡± Rin said.


    ¡°Easy. Those who solves this thing first will rule the world. As easy as that.¡± I said with a straight face.

 Chapter 87

    Chapter 87: 87


    Everyone became silent after that simple statement. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°B-but why don¡¯t we all just work together and solve this thing?!¡± Olivia said as she heard us talking.


    ¡°If that ever happens in the first ce, this thing wouldn¡¯t even had happened.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? Why do you think that?¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°In my opinion, this is not the end of the world as the holy book says or a supernatural one. Somewhere, someone or a group of people made this and spread it around the world. There could be multitudes of reasons on why they did it, it could even be a f.u.c.k.i.n.g ident. The point is, that is what we humans are, we are all the same but we are all different.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, you lost me there kid.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°If everyone got along in the first ce, will there be need of military presence? Will there be borders? Will there be wars? Or even this pandemic? No, there would not. Sure, we have people having the same mindset as all of us that are trying to save this world but there are also people who don¡¯t.¡± I exined.


    ¡°But you also said that this could be just an ident, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Yeah, but I wouldn¡¯t categorize this thing as a clich¨¦. What? Someone identally dropped the vial that contains the virus on the floor? Let¡¯s say the person holding it is clumsy, they still made the virus that killed a lot of people. Granted we already have a few of those in cirction. Damn, I¡¯m going down a rabbit hole. My food¡¯s cold now.¡± I said while slicing another sausage.


    ¡°W-wait, what are the things we have in cirction?¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°Hmm? This is conspiracy theory stuff though, Alcohol? Drugs? Cigarettes? Some even say that HIV is man-made. Some people even argue that these things are made to counter the most devastating species on Earth.¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± everyone has confused faces. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Really? It¡¯s us, humans. I read in a book that we might need to do something evil just to save humanity. It¡¯s even the point of some viins in a few books and films. It can be removing half the people in the world with a snap or making a virus that would leave only a few people after it¡¯s over. In short words, a reset or a culling. To be honest though, everything that this world suffers from is caused by us humans. Well, except for natural disasters of course.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, so you agree with the people that does these things?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong here, I only agree to the sentiment that we¡¯re the ones causing all the trouble in this world. What I don¡¯t agree about is the way they resolve the situation. Like Olivia said, if people could just work with each other, that would be for the best. Too bad that we don¡¯t work that way. We¡¯re too focused on what we could achieve now and what we could take from each other that we forget what we could achieve together.¡± I said with a helpless sigh.


    ¡°What do you mean by that? War brought us the technology that we have now, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Yeah, kid. She¡¯s right. The smartphones that you kids use came from the wars that we participated in.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Hmm, let me put this in what I think about that. I deeply respect what all three of you have done for your country but hear me out. Communication devices was the result from wars, correct? What was the cause of wars then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Conflict.¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°Right, people having different ideas. Can you honestly say that we won¡¯t be able to make ourmunication devices that we have now if we don¡¯t have wars? That is different from that! Technology will advance on its own whether we fight each other or not! That is like saying that people will grow stupid if we never had conflict. It is a fuel to a cause but I think that conflict should not be the driving force in how we advance ourselves. Can you say the same with all the other inventions that are made? F.u.c.k me then. We could be living through differents by now and our poption crisis could be solved by that. We could be exploring the gxy, people bent on territory can infinitely explore it, f.u.c.k! We could even ce our bodies to indestructible ones so we could live forever and death will never be an issue.¡± I said earnestly. My eyes are a bit watery and I stared at everyone while shaking my head.


    The group looked at me with mixed expressions.


    ¡°But that¡¯s impossible right now. F.u.c.k.i.n.g humans, am I right? If we all just got along¡­ if we all just got along¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Damn, kid. I never thought of it like that. But still¡­ I can¡¯t find the words to say right now.¡± Oscar said. <hr>


    The rest of the group wore somber expressions.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just something to think about to pass the time. We do what we can right? It¡¯s just an ideal world that I wish to have instead of this. A man can at least dream right?¡± I concluded with a smile.


    ¡°My head hurts. Is this some sort of Philosophy ss?¡± Russel said.


    ¡°Hah! Did you just rope us in this ss kid?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Hmm, I didn¡¯t though but it¡¯s fun to talk about it sometimes. Oops, it¡¯s past two o¡¯clock already. We¡¯ve been talking for a while, damn.¡± I eximed as I hurriedly finished my food.


    Turns out, I was the only one not finished yet since I¡¯ve been doing much of the talking.


    ¡°Take a break for now kid. I¡¯m itching to go outside. I¡¯ve been holed up in this ce for a while and I need to stretch these old bones of mine. Where do I go next?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°There¡¯s still a lot more ces to visit. The bike shop still has a few more motorcycles that we could use. We could fill up the tanker again with gas and search the convenience store next to it. A few ces we passed by is the road going to Elsewhere, there are a few diners there and I think I saw a small pharmacy like the one we went to. However, if you drove past the DDR camp on the highschool entrance, there¡¯s also a petrol station there and a bus terminal. There¡¯s a lot more to scavenge from, just go for the ces that has a lot first. We can sweep the looted onester.¡± I said.


    ¡°Stop saying ¡®we¡¯ kid. Stay here for now okay? Just find something to do here eh?¡± he said.


    ¡°A break is good too, I guess.¡± I scratched my head and then I thought of something to do.


    Oscar led the scouting/ scavenging group for now and he brought the truck while Russel made a run for gas with Tatiana and Jared. The clearings will be only for the mornings so a few could help with other work to be done inside thepound. I grabbed my guandao and attempted to go outside to clear a few but Kaley stopped me. <hr>


    ¡°Nope, stay here. You¡¯re taking a break, right?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, doing this is taking a break. I¡¯ll take this for a spin too.¡± I said as I spun it around.


    ¡°Are you Guan Yu or something now? When did you turn part Chinese then?¡± Zeidrick interjected.


    Iughed and I said, ¡°Hah! I¡¯ll use this like a naginata. I want Rin to try and use this but I think she can¡¯t even lift this or even knows how to use this thing. If we have a lighter one it would be possible.¡±


    ¡°Well we have an engineer here; can¡¯t we just make one?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Hmm, we might need a cksmith rather than an engineer to make it. They could make something like it but we need the authentic stuff. It just doesn¡¯t feel right in my hands like when I hold a machete.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± my uncle said.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm, how do I put these into words then? Hmm¡­ craftsmanship, maybe? I can¡¯t find the right word.¡± I said reluctantly.


    ¡°What is that called? It looks cool!¡± I heard behind me.


    ¡°Cool! That¡¯s the word!¡± I eximed. <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    I looked behind me and I saw Aya was the one who spoke.


    ¡°Hey, nice catch! This is called a guandao, this is a Chinese polearm.¡± I exined as she nodded pensively.


    ¡°Back on topic, why don¡¯t you just make one then? I mean a personalized one where you could decide on how it would look?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh? Like my katana? I could, I just don¡¯t have the right tools for it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hold up, wait a second. You made that and this too?!¡± Kaley eximed as she pointed at the des in our h.i.p.s.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I said.


    ¡°And the tanto?¡± Aya added.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°W-when?! Are you a cksmith too?!¡± Kaley said in surprise.

 Chapter 88

    Chapter 88: 88


    ¡°When I was in Japan, before I got the tattoo. I was the helper though, I¡¯m not the one to made it to bepletely honest. Old man Kaiseki made it for me, I¡¯ve known him since I was a kid. I remember the processes exactly in my head but I¡¯ve never really tried making one solo yet. We¡¯d need different tools from what we have here though like a forge and an anvil. Those different types of hammers too, we could use power tools but that defeats the point of making it authentic. What we have here is more of building or repairing structures or vehicles.¡± I exined. <center></center><hr>


    I saw someone approach from the back and he tapped me.


    ¡°W-wait, I¡¯m the engineer here, are you saying that making that is uncool?! It looks awesome for f.u.c.ks sake!¡± Raphael said while he pointed at the SUV he¡¯s working on.


    ¡°Well, that looks f.u.c.k.i.n.g awesome. More, if it gets finished. I¡¯m talking about martial weapons not like the guns that we have. Heck, just make something that you like. This is just a personal preference for me.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, I thought you were shitting on my work. Hah! My bad, my bad.¡± Raphael said as he continued on working on the SUV.


    ¡°After you¡¯re done with that, I have another project in mind. I¡¯d like to have a huge smelter made. We have a lot of scrap metal here. If we identify each one, we could make new weapons or more bullets with it. I have a small one for melting lead scraps from the range but I want something bigger.¡± I said to Raphael.


    ¡°H-hey! Easy now! I¡¯m still not done with this thing and you want to pile on more?! Let me finish this one first before you tell me what¡¯s next!¡± he eximed while smiling.


    I smiled as I tried walking towards the fence but Kaley pulled me.


    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m serious! Take a break for once!¡± she eximed.


    I helplessly smiled and said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s have a date then! Know how to fish?¡±


    ¡°Umm, not really. A date huh? We never actually did that yet¡­ sure!¡± she said as she smiled.


    I grabbed my tacklebox and a few other gears and we two headed to the fishing areas. I dug up some bait first and I showed her how to ce it on the hook and she followed it perfectly. We sat inside on one of the small houses at the middle of the fishing area and we could already see a few swimming at a few spots. I tied a floater before the three hooks in the line and I casted it in the water.


    ¡°Okay, this is a spin casting rod and just do the same motion that I did.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    The line flew a few meters away from mine and the floaters started on bobbing up and down.


    ¡°What do we do next?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Wait for a tug, if you feel it, immediately pull the rod and- wait!¡± I shouted as I pulled the rod backwards.


    ¡°You caught one?!¡± Kaley shouted.


    ¡°Yeah! Watch how I do it yeah?¡± I said as I give a bit of ck to the line since the fish is still fighting. I reeled a bit and I started pulling against the direction it was going. A few momentster, it got tired and I easily reeled it in and I ced it in a bucket filled with water.


    ¡°That was exciting, where did you learn to fish? Did you take sses too?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Oh, I learned from my grandfather on my mother¡¯s side. When I was little, we had a fishing boat in the provinces and he used to take me fishing every morning. Sometimes, we¡¯d be in the boat for a few days and we eat what we caught since we only have rice in the Styrofoam containers that we brought.¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s nice, hey, about earlier¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Hmm? I told you, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Please listen, I¡¯m serious here. I¡¯m very sorry for what I did. I think I wouldn¡¯t be that confident on doing this thing again. Not only did I put your life at risk, I¡¯ve also put everyone else too. And now we¡¯re just fishing like nothing has happened¡­¡± She said.


    ¡°I said it¡¯s alright right? Don¡¯t beat yourself over it.¡± I replied.


    I saw her rod lowering and she looked at me with a frown. Her breathing became erratic as she yelled. <hr>


    ¡°Why are you not mad at me?! You yelled at Mark when he disobeyed orders right? Yell at me or something will you?!¡± she eximed.


    I gave a long sigh. Weid our rods on the floor.


    ¡°Nothing bad happened right? Isn¡¯t that all that matters? We have everyone there to help-¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not the point I was saying! You treat your life like it¡¯s nothing! You have people here that need you!¡± she yelled.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was speechless.


    She stared at the ground while she¡¯s hugging her knees. I was sitting with my legs crossed and I was just looking at her. We sat in silence; I just noticed her cheeks getting invaded by the tears flowing from her eyes.


    ¡°Kaley¡­ I don¡¯t know how to say this. Ever since my parents died, I think I¡¯ve lost something in here.¡± I tapped my temple.


    ¡°It¡¯s a weird feeling, like something snapped or something broke off. I can¡¯t exin it properly. I don¡¯t know, sometimes I feel like I can¡¯t die.¡± I added.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± she said quietly as she sniffs.


    ¡°Not really sure, it¡¯s weird to me as well. Have you ever had that feeling when what you have studied the night before your exam was exactly the one in the papers? You have experienced that right?¡± I said then she nodded.


    ¡°Like when you feel that everything is under control. That¡¯s what I was feeling earlier, that time when the fence fell when Mark disregarded orders was a different case. You did what I told you and what¡¯s at fault there was Diego.¡± I said.


    ¡°I was the one who took him inside, didn¡¯t I?¡± she asked. <hr>


    ¡°True, you did. I¡¯m not against users even if one of them killed both my parents. Some of them could change if given enough time. That guy earlier just made a very stupid decision to pick drugs over his life. If you think about it, we did everyone a favor by killing him when he reacted violently. Remember the talk earlier by doing something evil for something good? This is a small example of it.¡± I said.


    ¡°W-wait, you¡¯re changing the subject! We¡¯re talking about you here! You can say that you feel invincible and all that but you¡¯re still the same as us. You¡¯d still bleed, you¡¯d still have broken bones and you could still die¡­¡± she said earnestly as she looked at me.


    ¡°She got me good¡­¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t want to remember things as much back then but this photographic memory really sucks sometimes. Do you know what¡¯s really hard after losing your parents? Trying to live after losing them. The trip that I nned to cool my head off? I¡¯m actually tethered by a rope at each side pulling at me. One side really wants me to live on while the other¡­¡± I trailed.


    Her head immediately snapped towards my direction and then she cried once more.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t continue what you¡¯re saying. I-I¡¯m sorry for bringing it up. M-mom should be here talking to you a-about this stuff not m-me.¡± she stuttered as she tries toplete what she wants to say.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m fine now aren¡¯t I? It¡¯s a thing of the past and I wouldn¡¯t pick that card, not anymore. There¡¯s too much that I have to live for now just to throw it all away.¡± I said as I wiped the tears from her eyes.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was silent.


    ¡°And as I was about to say earlier, we have each other¡¯s back yeah? When Mark made a mistake, I corrected it. When Diego made his, Tatiana corrected it. Nobody¡¯s perfect, well¡­¡± I trailed.


    Her head lifts up.


    ¡°¡­except for you.¡± I said while grinning.


    *flick* <hr>


    *snag*


    ¡°OW! KALEY! WHAT THE F.U.C.K! SHIT!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°OMG! OMG! I¡¯M SO SORRY!!!¡± she yelled.


    What happened was she flicked the rod towards my direction and then the hook flew and it pierced my ear.


    ¡°Oh no! What do we do?! Do we pull it out?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°No! See the end of the hook here? The small nub at the end? That¡¯s why we use this for fish since they won¡¯t be able to wriggle of it since their mouth will rupture when they pull. Why are we even talking like we¡¯re having a lesson here? Let¡¯s stop by Alex¡¯s ce to borrow pliers or something. Cut the line first!¡± I yelled.


    ¡°Okay, okay, hold on¡­¡± she stammered.


    ¡°If you cut me with that too, oh boy¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t talk, my hands are shaking.¡± she stammered.


    *snip*


    The fishing line was now cut and then I tidied up the fishing equipment first and we started to walk towards Alex¡¯s house.


    *ding* *dong*

 Chapter 89

    Chapter 89: 89


    I was ringing their bell but no one seems to answer. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°They might be inside thepound¡­¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°F.u.c.k it! Let¡¯s just go back to thepound where I¡¯m sure there will be tools to remove this.¡± I said to Kaley.


    ¡°Umm, ah, are you okay? You¡¯re bleeding a bit. Let me wipe it off¡­¡± she sheepishly said.


    ¡°Wait, don¡¯t! The small threads on that towel might get caught up in the hook making it worse.¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I didn¡¯t mean for it to happen¡­¡± she slowly followed from behind.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Flicking the rod definitely wouldn¡¯t bring the hook with it¡­¡± I jokingly said.


    I managed to tick her off and she replied, ¡°Well you said earlier that sometimes you feel you can¡¯t die! Right?!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but I didn¡¯t say it wouldn¡¯t hurt now would it? Are you really trying to get me killed now?¡± I replied sarcastically.


    She harrumphed, ¡°You already said to don¡¯t worry about that, so I¡¯m not worrying about it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, stop worrying about that, worry about this hook that¡¯s making me bleed out¡­ oh god, I¡¯m seeing the light¡­¡± I said then I acted extremely exaggerated.


    ¡°Stop moving it around!¡± she eximed.


    We continued our banter as we approached the gate. An saw us and he first noticed the blood on my ear, flowing to my neck. I also saw Aubrey guarding the gate with them.


    ¡°What happened man?!¡± he asked.


    I just pointed at Kaley and Kaley went back to being her worried self.


    ¡°Turns out, Kaley is really good at fishing. She managed to catch a human being while I only caught a milk fish¡­Ow!¡± I joked then she kicked me.


    ¡°Is Oscar back?¡± Kaley asked as she attacked me a second time.


    ¡°Oh, they came back earlier with the tanker and the truck but they went out again.¡± Jenny said.


    ¡°Guess we¡¯ll have to do this ourselves¡­¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    We went to our room and then I removed my gear and I stood in front of the mirror while Kaley turned all of the lights on. I grabbed all the tools needed and I disinfected them all first while Kaley cleaned my ear after.


    ¡°Good thing that it¡¯s just a small hole and it didn¡¯t rip some of the skin apart. Here, cut the hook in that part and pull the other one after.¡± I handed her small pliers and she positioned herself while I readied a cotton ball with alcohol.


    ¡°Ready?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, go ahead.¡± I replied.


    *ssnnaap*


    ¡°Ouch, that stings. Cut it quickly next time so it doesn¡¯t bend.¡± I said while I ced the cotton ball in my wound.


    We then sat in silence after as we took a breather.


    She¡¯s just looking at my ear while we¡¯re sitting in front of the table.


    ¡°It won¡¯t heal faster if you stare at it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sorry, I just noticed that you have no piercings.¡± She said.


    ¡°Oh, never really find the charm in earrings. I see you have two in each ear. I¡¯ll just leave this wound here and hope it closes up nicely.¡± I said as I looked at her ears.


    She chuckled and said, ¡°I thought you would say something like it would get in the way or something.¡±


    ¡°Hah! That is true though, what if by some chance you had a dangling earring and someone grabbed it by force? This one time¡­¡± I continued on telling her the story where I witnessed a thief snatching an earring off of ady on the street.


    ¡°What?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, that really happened. Her ears were leaking blood all over when the kid ripped it off her ear.¡± I said.


    ¡°Good thing I didn¡¯t pull it out earlier¡­¡± she said sheepishly.


    I chuckled then I pulled out my phone.


    ¡°Now we need to take a photo of this. Hold the hook in front of us!¡± I added.


    ¡°Wait, w-why?¡± she said. <hr>


    ¡°Well, this is still a fun memory. You know, considering the circ.u.mstances. We¡¯ll start to forget about the problem as soon as we start to joke about it.¡± I said as I took the photo.


    *click*


    In the photo, I acted I was in pain while she makes an embarrassed pose. We took a few more.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m sorry again. It seems like all I do is apologize to you.¡± She said.


    ¡°Hah! ¡¯tis but a scratch! Well, a hole to be exact. Wait, where¡¯s the fish that I caught? Did you bring it here? I only carried the tackle box and the rods.¡± I said.


    ¡°I think we forgot it at the small house.¡± Kaley replied then the radio buzzed.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sky? Derek said you might have left a fish in a bucket. He brought it here. He said he ced it on your sink.¡±


    *bzzt*


    It was An who radioed in.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Tell him thanks, we forgot to pick it up earlier when I got hooked.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hah! I told him the story; he¡¯sughing his ass out when he went back.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Alright, thanks for the heads up.¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    We ended the short talk and we two headed down towards the kitchen.


    ¡°What are you gonna do with it?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m making Sashimi.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wow! I like those! Can I help?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Sure, as long as you stay away from the pointed objects.¡± I joked.


    She harrumphed and decided throw another jab at me.


    ¡°Hahaha¡­ this requires a delicate touch.¡± I said.


    I cleaned the fish first and then I removed all of its scales. I cut open the fish and removed the guts and the gills.


    *shhck*


    I then removed the flesh off from the first side and then the next one by removing the bone with its tail and head. I then grabbed two tweezers and handed her one.


    ¡°Here, feel the bones with your hand and remove them one by one.¡± I instructed.


    Her face lightens up as she picks up the tweezers and started on removing a few.


    ¡°There¡¯s a lot here.¡± She said.


    ¡°Yeah, are you done?¡± I said as I lifted my part up.


    ¡°W-wait! How are you so fast?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Heh, I¡¯ve had lots of practice, that¡¯s why. I¡¯ll start on the garnish and I¡¯ll ready a few things. Keep on doing that and avoid plucking some of the meat so when I slice itter it¡¯s still uniform.¡± I instructed.


    She nodded a few times and now she¡¯s focused on her work. I thinly chopped radish and I poured soy sauce on a small dish. I also brought out wasabi paste and I grated ginger and garlic.


    Kaley finally finished her part then I thinly sliced everything and ted it neatly and symmetrically. It looks like a flower blooming the way I te it. <hr>


    ¡°Wow~! Is that Sashimi?!¡± Rin saw us and she yelled.


    ¡°Yeah, want to eat with us?¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay, thanks! Sorry for disturbing your little date here, it has been a while since I¡¯ve eaten this.¡± She said as we all took a bite.


    ¡°Hmm! This is really good! Did you catch this just now? It tastes really fresh.¡± Rin eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, I could¡¯ve gotten more if a hook didn¡¯t fly through my ear.¡± I said.


    ¡°Drop that subject now, will you?!¡± she said while she blushed in embarrassment.


    Rin saw the wound in my ear and then I told what happened to her while Kaley shrinks down.


    ¡°That happened?! Hahahaha!¡± sheughed hysterically.


    I dipped the Sashimi in sauce as I add a few portions of wasabi and ginger. We mixed and matched the toppings as we three slowly eat the food.


    ¡°Hey Rin, I haven¡¯t asked yet. How did you end up in Man anyway?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, I was living with my dad in Japan when I was young but when he passed, me and my mom moved here instead and started our own lives.¡± She said.


    ¡°Where¡¯s your mom though?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Oh, she overworked herself by raising me up and she also passed right after I finished highschool. I was supposed to go to college as a working student but I need more money to sustain myself. I¡¯ve been switching between jobs and I finallynded here. Good thing I won the lottery by being noticed by boss. Didn¡¯t imagine having OCD would save my life.¡± She said while getting another portion.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that. Well, it¡¯s also lucky for me to find you. There¡¯s so much I wanted to do in the day and if I do what I assigned you to do now my head would get bald.¡± I said with a faint smile.


    ¡°Is that so¡­¡± Kaley chimed as she told the story about her parents as well.


    ¡°My stupid parents decided to take on a trip somewhere where they didn¡¯t even tell where they would be going to their kids. They¡¯re off the grid too and we have no way of contacting them.¡± She said.


    ¡°Right, Olivia told me too. Well, she said your dad knows a few things and she said that they will definitelye back.¡± Rin said


    ¡°Right. Rin, is there any chance that you know how to use a naginata? I have a guandao at the armory, could you perhaps substitute it for that?¡± I asked.

 Chapter 90

    Chapter 90: 90


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know how to use any weapons. I¡¯m just fascinated with all of them so I read about them in my spare time.¡± She exined. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s too bad. Well, anyone can¡¯t always be a fighter, can they? That would be too easy.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Hmm, do you want to start learning though? I could teach a bo ss though I¡¯m not that great at itpared to katanas.¡± I said.


    ¡°What¡¯s a bo?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a staff.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°Wait, it¡¯s different from the polearm, right? Why would you teach her how to use a staff then?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s the most versatile weapon actually. It¡¯s simr when using a shorter stick, the only difference with it is that you use it with both hands. It could be used for anything. It can slice, chop, sweep, thrust and smash etc.¡± I said.


    The two are now giving me confused expressions.


    ¡°Hmm, how do I exin it correctly¡­ Basically, you could perform the movements of different types of weapons by using a staff or a stick. However, the lethality is reduced since you know¡­ it¡¯s just a staff. It could build a foundation for which you want to specialize though. For example, a main use of a spear is piercing, a naginata is mainly for shing etc. Simr with an axe and a machete.¡± I tried to exin it as best I could.


    ¡°But you could still perform the other movements from using other weapons too, right?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Sure, you could. But it would be more difficult to use since it¡¯s intended use for it is not being utilized properly. Like using a Kukri for a thrust since the tip is heavy, it would be harder to perform it. Let¡¯s just say that it could be used to test affinity. Like if you¡¯re morefortable in a certain movement. You can find out what weapon is more suited to you if you practice with something that could do everything. Well, some people never moved away from the staff and mastered them, those that have done that are awesome as well since they have grasped every movement of a weapon well.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, I think I¡¯ll try to do that on the next lesson¡­¡± Rin said.


    ¡°Anyway, just continue on attending our CCW ss and we¡¯ll find someone suitable for the guandao. Kaley might be first in line since she¡¯s experienced in two handed rods.¡± I teased. <center></center><hr>


    Rin gave a chuckle while Kaley shook her head in embarassment.


    Olivia came in and she saw us eating.


    ¡°Hey! You¡¯re eating Sky¡¯s cooking without telling me!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°You won¡¯t like this, trust me.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°B-but it looks good¡­¡± she replied.


    ¡°Then try it then, remember that I warned you.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± she said as she took a bite.


    *chomp*


    We three looked at her rxed expression changing to fear.


    ¡°Hey, you good?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s g-good, b-but w-why is it s-spicy?¡± she stuttered while she hupped a few times.


    ¡°I told you, you won¡¯t like it since you ce every topping you see on the food, hahahaha!¡± Kaley almost cackled.


    ¡°W-w-water please!¡± she eximed while she blows some air from her lips. <hr>


    I headed to the refrigerator and I poured a ss of milk.


    ¡°Try this, it will be better than water. Swish it in your mouth so the heat will be contained for a bit.¡± I said as I handed her the ss.


    She drank a mouthful and she swish the milk in her mouth. I could see a single tear in her eye that is about to fall down but it never did.


    ¡°She¡¯s not that good on spicy stuff huh?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Learned your lesson now? I told you before that putting every topping you see won¡¯t make it taste good.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°But that was a different case! We were eating ice cream and there¡¯s a huge pile of toppings to be put on!¡± she retorted.


    ¡°Speaking of that, we have a lot of those in the freezers below. Want me to grab you a tub?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Right! The one we got from the first run.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a weirdbination though, fish and ice cream¡­¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°Hah! We¡¯re not gonna mush them together okay? It¡¯s just for desserts to remove the fishy taste in our mouth.¡± I exined.


    I grabbed a small tub of strawberry-vored ice cream and we each are eating a cup of it when I saw the gate open. I saw my truck entering though there¡¯s another vehicle that parked outside. Oscar was with Jay and they brought another truck that has stainless steel beams on its sidings. This truck is used mostly for animals and it did contain six cows and two calves.


    ¡°See this kid?! Bahahaha!!!¡± Oscar eximed. <hr>


    ¡°Damn! Where did you find them?!¡± I was surprised.


    ¡°Jay pointed us to the butcher shop where he used to buy his meat products for their small restaurant. He remembered that there were farm animals there and we found this truck with the cows inside! One of the cows is pregnant too!¡± Oscar said.


    I patted Jay on the back and said, ¡°This is a great find, we could ce them near the court since there is a plot ofnd there at the back of the stage.¡±


    We called Derek over and he was happy seeing more animals to be taken care of. He seems to have something in his mind and he spoke.


    ¡°Sky, since everything here is secure now, we decided to move back to our old house. I¡¯ll still take care of the animals from thispound and the other ones outside. Is that okay?¡± he asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay. It¡¯s a firste first served basis on the houses now. Better get back to your old ce where it¡¯sfortable. Is your family okay with it though? Considering what happened there?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We talked about itst night and they all agreed. The kids would want to have their own rooms back and me and my wife could have some more privacy.¡± He said as he scratches his head.


    ¡°Hah! Miss the ¡®cuddling¡¯ eh?¡± Oscar said while heartilyughing.


    ¡°Okay then, no problems.¡± I said.


    We concluded the conversation and the truck went towards the court. He borrowed a few 2x2s and a few feet of rope so he could lead and ce the cows in the courtter since there¡¯s a small plot ofnd there where they could graze temporarily.


    The broadcast is about to start so we grouped in the living room.


    The president is in his usualbat gear and even though he¡¯s about the same age as Oscar, you could see him full of vigor.


    ¡°Greetings, we¡¯re going strong in our 2nd week, don¡¯t we?¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°The whole of Davao City will be reimed in a few more weeks. We¡¯re slowly creeping on the 50% mark and if we managed to reach 100%, we¡¯ll start on building a huge wall around it so we could have a city that we could say that¡¯s ours!¡± he eximed proudly.


    ¡°Think we could do that kid?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°With our people? It would probably take a few months. This barangay? If I could rope in the soldiers at the DDR camp next to us, a month would be possible.¡± I said confidently.


    ¡°Hah! We could bargain with him to lend us his troops in exchange for the information that you have.¡± He replied.


    ¡°No, we just give the information out. I¡¯d be happy if he gives us one of those jeeps with the .50 Cal attached to it.¡± I said as he nodded and mulling about something.


    The broadcast continued, ¡°The power for your houses willst for a few more days before it gets cut off eventually. We¡¯ll prioritize the resources for this city first and the DDR camps across the country. I suggest to get your hands on a generator and some gas to power your house if you¡¯re not in one of them. Conserve it and start to use other lighting alternatives. Take care not to burn your house when you do and keep safe. Starting this day, the broadcasts will be changing its timeslot from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM. We¡¯re still standing strong and I guarantee that all of us will survive this and rebuild again!¡±


    I almost cringed at the end because of the cheesy line. The broadcast ended and we once again staring at ourselves in the reflection of the TV.


    ¡°Power is gonna go out at the end of the week. Kid, we need to have more sr panels in this ce to power-up the other houses.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I agree, we could get a lot from the depot and a few more construction materials. Going on the other side of the highway, there is a ce there where we bought our sr generators which is close to the ce where they sell water tanks. We should go to those ces tomorrow to install a tank on each house. The water is not running out soon but we need to have a huge stock before it gets cut off as well.¡± I said.


    ¡°But they said before that they will be protecting the dams, right?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°They did, but we would never know for how long they could. Well, it would just keep running on its own but we need to secure our own source too.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Are we sure that what we¡¯re drinking is clean?¡± Kaley inquired.

 Chapter 91

    Chapter 91: 91


    ¡°We¡¯ve been drinking the mineral water from the ces that we scavenged from and there¡¯s still a lot. The water we use for other necessities is from the dams. We have a filtration system here in case you¡¯re worried and we could always boil them or use our purifying tablets before we drink them.¡± I exined. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re always ready you boy scout.¡± she replied.


    Everyone agreed to the n and I gathered a group at the gym again to teach hand-to-hand fighting.


    Those who joined are Chris, Russel, Jay, Bing, Jared, Mark, Dong, Alex, Jonathan and Marco.


    Kaley didn¡¯t join the ss since she was already being taught personally by Tatiana. However, the both of them are watching from the side.


    I brought out gloves and hand-wraps for the group to put on.


    ¡°Sky, are we learning boxing today?¡± Chris said as his eyes lit up.


    ¡°Yeah, teach the others how to use those hand-wraps too yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Why boxing though? Isn¡¯t it dangerous to punch them in the face?¡± Jay asked.


    ¡°Well yes, but it¡¯s better than nothing eh? Besides this could also help if we encounter other people or in cases where we¡¯re disarmed and we don¡¯t have a weapon at hand. Boxing isn¡¯t just about punching someone, it teaches footwork, reading an opponent¡¯s movement, dodging etc.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Okay, everybody stand up and put your fists up at a bit below eye-level. ce your dominant hand behind while the other in front. Do it with your feet as well while your dominant arm is slightly lower than the other one.¡± I added.


    ¡°If you¡¯re right-handed, it would be called the orthodox stance and a southpaw if you use the other. There are rare cases of ambidextrous people that could use both but that¡¯s another topic for another lesson. But if you by chance are ambidextrous, tell me but use a stance you¡¯re mostfortable for now.¡± I exined.


    I taught them the different types of punches after and we coded each one by numbers. In numerical order, it is Jab, Straight, Left Hook, Right Hook, Left Upper and Right Upper.


    We did a fewbinations so they would remember through their bodies. I corrected some of them with their form as they punch and after that we headed to the punching bags.


    ¡°We only have five here, so take three minutes each and switch with the others holding it for you. However, one from the audience will be holding it since we¡¯ll be on the mitts. Tatiana, can you set a timer please?¡± I said as I mmed the mitts together.


    *bam* *bam*


    I called Chris over and we started. He never ran out of breath in the 5-minute session but the problem still lies in his footwork. He produced crisp sounds with his jabs and you barely notice the shoulder moving. His straight is a bitcking since when he steps up, his rhythm changes and his positioning gets worse. <center></center><hr>


    I called Russel next and he kept both his hands close to his chin and he started to weave left and right.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Russel don¡¯t give me that figure eight movement, you can¡¯t use that version of that technique in real life! It¡¯s a different version from what you see in the animations!¡± I said as I shook my head.


    ¡°It¡¯s cool though.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Hah! Just do it normally first will you?¡± I said as I positioned the gloves for where he should hit it.


    He kept on doing what he wants but his punches definitely have power in them.


    Jared and Alex are much taller than me so their punches are going at an angle lower. I adjusted by raising my hands a bit more so they would have targets that are the same height as them.


    We made a full rotation thrice with everyone and I noticed that a few were out of breath.


    I let them rest and I said, ¡°Okay, that sums up our lesson for today. We¡¯ll go light for now and we increase the load as we go on. Chris jogs everyday and it helped him a lot. If you didn¡¯t notice, he was never out of breath the whole time. Stamina is very important and we need to train it everyday. That¡¯s it for now and we¡¯ll continue this in a few days you all could always use the gym to practice what you learn. Any questions?¡±


    ¡°Umm, can I have a go with you again?¡± Chris said as everyone looked at him.


    A snort was heard a few people behind him.


    ¡°You? You¡¯re barely an a.d.u.l.t, why don¡¯t you practice a bit more eh?¡± I heard Bing talking his mouth off.


    Charlotte was fuming at the side but she stopped when she saw me.


    ¡°You¡¯re really a masochist eh?¡± I said to myself.


    I saw Chris frown and he stood up.


    ¡°Huh? Want to have a go with me then?¡± Bing said while he stood up as well. <hr>


    ¡°Bullying a kid now are we? Want to get knocked out again?¡± Tatiana said as she hopped off the stationary bicycle.


    Like a wet puppy, Bing shrinks down on the mat while Jay consoles him by patting his back.


    Chris was still standing but he¡¯s looking at me.


    ¡°You sure? I¡¯d be punching as well.¡± I said with a grin.


    He nodded and they gave us space. I threw him a headguard and he frowned when he saw that I¡¯m not wearing one.


    ¡°You¡¯re not wearing one?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, any problem?¡± I replied with a smirk.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was quiet.


    ¡°He¡¯s a good kid but he always wanted to be treated the same.¡± I concluded in my head.


    Tatiana signaled and Chris dashed towards me. He threw a fewbinations and I kept on stepping towards his left side. He¡¯s struggling to connect since he¡¯s in the orthodox stance and he always nt his feet on the ground after he closes in.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, notice your weak point. I can¡¯t spoon-feed everything.¡± I said in my head.


    He kept on throwing punches and it starts to slow down. When Tatiana said that it¡¯s thest 10 seconds, I whispered.


    ¡°Guard.¡± I said in a cold tone.


    *bam* *BAM*


    I threw a quick one-two when he raised both of his hands on his head. The first jab was guarded sessfully but the right straight threw his head back through the guard. He fell on his butt and he struggled to get up.


    Some of the audience winced from the sound made and Charlotte threw a worried expression at Chris. <hr>


    ¡°Time.¡± Tatiana said.


    The gym was silent while Charlotte ran towards Chris.


    ¡°Damn! That was awesome! It hurts though¡­¡± Chris shouted then he winced.


    I saw his nose bleeding but he was smiling and there was a fire in his eyes. We touched gloves after and I said, ¡°You good? Don¡¯t stand up quickly yeah?¡±


    He nodded while Charlotte wiped his nose with a handkerchief.


    ¡°Okay, who else wants to spar?¡± I said to the group.


    ¡°¡­¡± the group.


    I saw a hand slowly rising up and I saw it was Bing¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Hahaha! Watch kid, I¡¯ll show you how it¡¯s done! I won¡¯t wear headgear too!¡± He eximed.


    ¡°Yup, definitely a masochist.¡± I said in my head.


    Tatiana set the timer and she waved her hand down with a smirk.


    He also rushed towards me with his big body but there was no technique whatsoever. It¡¯s a telegraphed punch after telegraphed punch. He never remembered the lessons, he kept going on swinging wildly.


    ¡°Hah! You don¡¯t know anything but to dodge? I-¡±


    We were very close in proximity and I twisted my h.i.p.s and delivered a body blow to his right torso.


    *THUD*


    ¡°Grck!¡± he produced a sound. <hr>


    I was about to follow up with a right hook to his face but he waved his hands.


    ¡°T-time out.¡± He said with a wince.


    Everyone else was holding theirughter when he limped towards Jay.


    ¡°You alright big guy?¡± Jay said.


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± he said in a high-pitched voice.


    The ss was concluded when Aya went up to call us for dinner.


    We cleaned up the equipment first and we headed down.


    ¡°You don¡¯t hold back do you?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°No, I did.¡± I said nonchntly.


    ¡°Show off.¡± She said while smiling.


    We had tomato soup for dinner with a side of bread and cheese. We all ate together and we started the meeting after.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s wee our new additions for our group, Aubrey and Mark¡¯s family. We knew from earlier that she¡¯s a security guard while Mark is also an engineer like Raphael. These two jobs are different in nature but they both help in the security of ourmunity.¡± I said.


    They all took a small bow in front of everyone. Aubrey decided to stay inside thepound while Mark and his family will stay in a different house to amodate their numbers. They will be staying on the house further than Derek¡¯s house where the shoes and umbres are on the side.


    Every new member will still be processed by Oscar to have a file made for them. Aside from that, they will all be briefed about what we already know except for a few ssified ones.


    ¡°Okay, one more topic to ce in the table¡­¡± I took the head that was now ced in arge mason jar and I showed it to everybody.

 Chapter 92

    Chapter 92: 92


    The group stared in shock at what I showed them. The mason jar I picked is the perfect size for the head since it ispletely upright when ced in it. The thing is, when it was ced on the group, its eyes darted around everyone and its movements made everyone it took a look at grimace either from disgust or fright. <center></center><hr>


    I retold the story with the sentries to them and I listened to their opinions.


    ¡°Old man, have you called them yet?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They said that they have already dissected each one and now they arecking whole ones to test what you¡¯ve witnessed. Now they¡¯re trying to find more of them.¡± He replied but his look tells me something.


    ¡°What? They didn¡¯t notice its eyes? Or is this a 3rd type or an evolution of the still ones?¡± I said to myself. I just stared back at Oscar for an instant and maintained the look I had before.


    ¡°Too bad I¡¯ve already killed the other six. Well, we¡¯re too far apart for them to pick this up here. The logical choice is to find more there. The thing is, this sentry is by far, more dangerous than the sprinter.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? It just guides a few zombies at you right?¡± Lois said.


    ¡°Yeah. The sprinter is more deadly.¡± Jared added.


    ¡°Hear me out, I said by far. It can only guide zombies to a few feet just by looking at you but what if there are sprinters in the mix that are guided? You could be perfectly hidden but just a nce from this thing and you are a target.¡± I exined while I closed theptop.


    ¡°This is just a theory, but what if in the future, the distance that it could cover increases by a mile or more? Ultimately, we don¡¯t know 100% on what this kind does. We haven¡¯t tried them with sprinters yet so we never know if it works on them. Before, I saw a sprinter lock on our direction when it¡¯s still a few meters away. Aside from sound, we also know that they could also sense us from sight even if their eyes are distorted from the ones we have.¡± I added.


    ¡°Wait a minute, you said that when that special kind looks at a certain direction, it just goes there? Can¡¯t we just ce that head facing outside and nothing wille to this ce?¡± Ken asked.


    ¡°No, I think it needs to look at a living organism first. When I got in range of the sentry, one of its eyes locked at my direction and a few followed me even when I was out of range from the sentry. The thing is, if the zombie it guided to me got too close, it won¡¯t change its direction even if it looked the other way.¡± I exined.


    ¡°So, does that mean that we still can¡¯t use this head then?¡± Kaley said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm, we¡¯re really not sure in what this does. I was hoping to do what Ken was thinking but it might be dangerous if we rely on a tool that we don¡¯t even know the use of.¡± I said.


    ¡°So, we kill it then?¡± Jared said.


    ¡°That¡¯s the reasonable solution.¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t want to let go of this thing but we¡¯re really not equipped to handle this thing and discover its secrets. If only we had a scientist and a properb, we could do our own research here.¡± I said.


    ¡°In my opinion, I think we shouldn¡¯t research this thing at all.¡± Raphael said.


    ¡°But why?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Well, this thing caused the deaths of a lot of people, some I know, my point is that I don¡¯t want to rely on something that caused this to solve this. It just doesn¡¯t feel right.¡± Raphael exined.


    ¡°Yeah, you got a point there, but knowing your enemy is half the battle. Granted we don¡¯t have the proper equipment to study them, we¡¯ll just learn a few of their secrets the hard way.¡± I said.


    ¡°But what do we do with the head then?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°I say we keep it and bring it a few times outside to see what it could do more.¡± Oscar suggested.


    ¡°I suggest we dispose of it now since it¡¯s dangerous to even have a head here inside our ce.¡± Johnny said.


    A few other people gave their opinions and I thought of what we should do with this head. I rubbed my be while they voiced their concerns and ideas. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ve made a decision. We keep this thing but we do not ce it here.¡± I said.


    ¡°Where would you ce it then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°My old house. I¡¯ll ce this in one of my safes for now and I¡¯ll move it tomorrow morning. I¡¯m really curious in what this thing does and I¡¯d like to know more from it through trial and error.¡± I said.


    ¡°Might need to check on that guy too.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Wait, you still have ess to your old house?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah, we already did some work on it before. Why would I sell it?¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait. Sky, isn¡¯t this thing just a ticking time bomb if we just ce this anywhere?¡± Raphael said.


    ¡°There¡¯s a workaround for this thing.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Heh. How does sight work?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Just f.u.c.k.i.n.g tell us the answer kid!¡± Oscar yelled.


    ¡°To see, you need light. If you remove the lightpletely, we can¡¯t see anything. Last time I checked; this thing is still human in its physiology. Even if other animals have ways to manage in the dark, we humans rely on our eyes. A simple solution is just to cover itpletely so its eyes won¡¯t manage to lock into anyone.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°How can you be so sure that doing that will keep us safe?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°Our people from watch duty. I did say we learn how this thing works the hard way. Besides, I¡¯ll put this in my safe covered byyers of cloth just to be sure. Don¡¯t forget the distance needed before it starts to guide other towards to where it is looking at.¡± I said.


    ¡°Alright kid, I agree with that.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Kaley, go with Sky tomorrow okay? Take a break from clearing the dead here and just let Jay¡¯s group do it for now. We have a protocol for peopleing now so it¡¯s fine if you¡¯re absent for a day.¡± Oscar said.


    We concluded the meeting and I went to the gym to do my daily workout with Kaley and Tatiana.


    Tatiana was coaching Kaley in some of the exercises and then I noticed her picking up the mitts and pointing at me. She mmed it twice and she smiled.


    ¡°I wanna see it up close, your technique.¡± she said.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you training Kaley?¡± I said while I pulled myself once more from the bar.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine Sky, I remember the exercises that she taught me. You could have a go with her, the sparring earlier ended very quickly.¡± Kaley said while she arched her back on the opposite side.


    ¡°Okay then, just a 3-minute round then. I have a few more exercises I haven¡¯t done yet.¡± I said.


    She raised the mitts and we waited for the timer to beep. Just as I was about to hit a jab, she quickly moved her hand towards my face. I quickly tilted my head to avoid it.


    ¡°This woman¡­¡± I said to myself. <hr>


    She smirked and then she ced the mitts in front of me again.


    ¡°You¡¯re slow.¡± she said.


    ¡°Taunting me won¡¯t help.¡± I said.


    I stopped the up and down motion from my stance. I rxed my whole body and I started to slowly pace from left to right. My hands are not clenched and they are open inside my boxing gloves.


    ¡°Speed huh? Let¡¯s change a gear for now.¡± I said to myself.


    *swish*


    *POP*


    The mitt made a crisp sound and I looked at her. She was surprised and she was toote on moving the mitts before me.


    ¡°You¡¯re slow.¡± I said her words back at her.


    She smirked once more but her face is more serious. This was not mitt training anymore; it was a battle of reaction time. She ced her hands holding the mitts in different positions but as soon as I was a fraction of a second slower, she would flick her hands towards me as well. I find this exercise fun so I gave it a go. I missed a few times but she nevernded a hit on my head since the mitt is heavier than the gloves.


    We switched equipment and it was finally her turn. Her punches are sharp and quick but what surprised me is the punches that she threw. Sometimes, I would think that it¡¯s a feint but she would continue on with it but it was immediately followed by another punch by the same hand. It could either be a jab, a hook or an upper. The first hit will be crisp but the following one would be full power or another feint. She would sometimes feint with her other hand as well and that makes figuring out what punch woulde next harder.


    ¡°That¡¯s interesting.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 93

    Chapter 93: 93


    I just caught all of her punches and never bothered to throw my own when I held the mitts. I tried to study it and burn it in my memory. I even forgo the exercises I haven¡¯t done yet and hearing the beep from the rm made me stop. <center></center><hr>


    She smirked and we three did the same awkward shower as before.


    ¡°Damn¡­ it¡¯s a long day.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m tired too¡­¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna turn the lights off now.¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay.¡± She replied.


    Her back was facing me and I wrapped my hands around her. My mind was starting to drift off but then I feel her moving her h.i.p.s towards me.


    ¡°Kaley?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± she replied.


    ¡°Stop moving¡­ I thought you were dreaming or something.¡± I whispered.


    ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m not.¡± she said as she moved her h.i.p.s against me again.


    ¡°Kaley¡­ I¡¯m tired¡­¡± I replied weakly.


    ¡°Really? Your body seems to think otherwise¡­¡± she whispered as she started rubbing against me more.


    I feel it getting stiff from the stimtion of her plump butt and I felt her hand going under my underwear. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well, you kept on rubbing it, that¡¯s what happens when you rub it¡­¡± I said sarcastically.


    ¡°Want me to stop then?¡± she giggles.


    ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t say stop¡­¡± I replied.


    I started to move my left arm that she¡¯s using as a pillow towards her ample b.r.e.a.s.ts while my right hand hugging her went lower. She¡¯s slowly tugging me while I squeeze what I could squeeze and felt what I could felt while I¡¯m breathing at the back of her neck. My right hand is inside her and I feel it starting to get a lot tighter and wetter.


    She removed her hand tugging me and I heard her spit on it and she ced her hand on the tip. Her hand slides a lot smoother but I felt her legs spread a bit and she pointed it somewhere. When it slid halfway, my fingers inside felt her tighten a bit while she m.o.a.ned. I slowly moved back and forth while she ces her left hand on top of my hand that is massaging her chest.


    I started on kissing her neck and her right hand is now wrapped in my head while we slowly moved with ragged breaths. She¡¯s now soaking wet while my hand twirls around her spot. She¡¯s balling her fist at my head while a few of my hair are getting pulled as the pleasure builds up.


    ¡°Move faster¡­¡± she whispered.


    When I heard her, I slid it all the way to the base and I moved much closer and I removed my right hand inside her while my left hand stayed at the same ce. My right hand wrapped on her h.i.p.s and then I started to slowly move at first while gradually speeding up. Skin is now pping against skin and her m.o.a.ns fuels me even more. After a while, she lets out a gasp. She¡¯s shaking for a bit and then I pulled it out.


    ¡°Wait¡­ you still haven¡¯t, right?¡± she asked while out of breath.


    ¡°Yeah, this position is a bit ufortable for me¡­¡± I whispered.


    ¡°Oh, then do what you want with me then¡­ you can put it wherever you want¡­¡± she said.


    ¡°You dirty little¡­¡± I said as she grinned.


    Iid her on her back and I spread her legs wide as I caress it. I ced it at the same ce and I started to thrust. I buried my head in her mounds and my hand cupped the both of them. <hr>


    ¡°You really like those huh¡­¡± she chuckled.


    I smiled and I started on sucking one of the tips. She twitched when I did that and her hands are over her head. Her eyes are closed but she¡¯s giving me a euphoric smile.


    I then sat upright while I watch her b.r.e.a.s.t jiggle with each thrust that I made. Her left hand started to cup her b.r.e.a.s.t while pinching the tip and her right hand going in circr motions in the lower part of her body. As I was about to release it all, she actually went earlier than me again and liquid spurted out from her. She rolled her eyes and her mouth is agape while I climaxed after a few moments. I fell on top of her while she¡¯s twitching and I kissed her on the lips while her m.o.a.ns are muffled from what happened. She gave a smile and she turned me over while kissing me.


    ¡°T-that was intense¡­ that was my first-time doing t-that¡­¡± she said while she catches her breath.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked while I caress her hair.


    ¡°You know¡­ don¡¯t make me say it out loud¡­ it¡¯s embarrassing¡­¡± she said weakly.


    ¡°Oh, ¡®that¡¯. I see¡­¡± I said with a smirk.


    She blushes but I kissed her again, I was resting my head in her chest and we eventually fell asleep after we cleaned up for a bit.


    Day 9


    We woke up the next morning feeling refreshed so we put on some clothes and we headed down after a quick shower. We all gathered at the pool and I looked at everyone. I didn¡¯t even notice myself staring at them for a while.


    ¡°Sky? Something wrong?¡± Kaley nudged me.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing. I¡¯m just happy that we¡¯re growing at a steady pace despite you trying to kill me.¡± I joked.


    *whoosh* <hr>


    She tried to kick me but I pulled the tie off her hair. She hissed once more but I quickly made my way to the pool area.


    We had a simple breakfast for today and I grabbed two cups of coffee for me and Kaley after we finished eating a vegetable omelet.


    ¡°Okay, my group will go to the store that has water tanks and generators while we make a quick stop to my old house. Oscar will bring the closed truck from South to ce the panels in since the truck from yesterday hasn¡¯t been cleaned yet. That¡¯s my n for the morning today. How¡¯s the situation on the squatter area?¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s clear now, we hauled the metal parts towards the small scrapyard while the wood parts are stored inside the covered court for now. What do you n to do with it?¡± Zeidrick asked.


    ¡°I would like to make the plot ofnd in the open court arge barn. We¡¯ll move the shooting targets from the open court to the open area where the houses from the squatter area was before. We have more people so we could do more projects here. Johnny, I¡¯d like to assign you to oversee this ce while we¡¯re gone. I can trust you with that yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure thing. My family is here too, I¡¯ll do my best to hold this fort.¡± He said seriously.


    ¡°Are we clearing the streets again?¡± Jay asked.


    ¡°You could but I will be taking Kaley with me for now, you could try to bring a few people in but let them stay at the firstyer of the fences if you see some. Just don¡¯t move past the elementary school and be very careful. What other things to do is either apany Oscar with some of you or help with thebor in building the barn.¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay then.¡± He nodded.


    ¡°Oh yeah, unc. can you grab some people and make a mound of dirt at the wall of the covered court?¡± I said to Zeidrick.


    ¡°S-sure. What would you do with it?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Just to stop the lead bits if anything misses the targets I¡¯ll be cing there. It could be a ce where we sift some lead bits when I start to reload some of our ammo.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Reload? Isn¡¯t that just switching the mags?¡± Russel chimed. <hr>


    ¡°No, what I mean by reloading is the process of loading firearm cartridges or shotgun shells by assembling them by myself rather than buying from the shops. It helps a lot if you want to save a bit of money when you shoot a lot of rounds in the range.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh! That¡¯s why I notice you picking up some of the casings we use.¡± Russel replied.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s about it. It¡¯s a useful skill to learn too.¡± I said.


    ¡°Are you gonna make me more slugs kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Did you mean birdshot? Of course birdshot master.¡± I joked.


    ¡°Listen here you little shit! I-¡± he grumbled more unintelligible terms but I continued.


    ¡°Hahaha! I n on reloading what we have but I have a lot of different kinds of ammo stored from before. Mostly 9mms and 5.56s since those are what I use mostly. I told you to pick up after yourself when you use your slugs. Wait, are you running out?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Bah! Me?! You must be kidding kid, I still have a few thousand in my armory.¡± he retorted.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll focus on what I use mainly, my head itches when I see a space in where I ce the ammo.¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep a lookout when I see a few casings. Dad would always make me scout the ce every few hours.¡± Jimmy, Johnny¡¯s son said.


    ¡°Oh, okay. Thanks for that, just leave them in the buckets near the pile in the workshop.¡±


    ¡°Anything for me?¡± Anthony asked.


    ¡°Do you know how to make a smelter?¡± I asked.

 Chapter 94

    Chapter 94: 94


    ¡°I made one before by using some y-sand and ster. It could melt a few metals but not steel or iron.¡± he said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm, okay then. Try to make one for now so I could see what it does. Ask Oscar about the materials and he will give you all that you need. Kindly make it at the scrapyard¡­ wait, how is it powered then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Whatever you want. Wood, coals or gas, I prefer to use a propane tank so we could rece it easily when we start to make something bigger. I n to make something as huge as a bucket first to show you.¡± he exined.


    ¡°That¡¯s good, do you need more people to help you?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Uhh, not for now. My dad and cousin will do for now while my wife helps with the other household stuff.¡± he said.


    ¡°Alright. Kaley, Tatiana, Zardon, Mark, Dong and Jared on me. We¡¯ll bring the truck and go get a few water tanks and generators. It¡¯s a few miles past the DDR Camp. Get ready in a few minutes.¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay, Jay, Bing, Jo, Aubrey, Jonathan, and Nicole on me. Wait a minute, I¡¯ll grab some gear for you.¡± Oscar said.


    We filled the vehicles with gas and we suited up. I handed them extra magazines in case something happens and we head out.


    ¡°I miss you already guys.¡± I said as Iughed.


    ¡°Me too, we¡¯ll finally get some peace and quiet.¡± Jared said as the group chuckled.


    ¡°Yeah, Oscar is fun to be with but we always go in guns zing. It¡¯s fun to shoot guns but he never has that finesse that you have when we go on runs.¡± Dong said.


    ¡°Yup, he¡¯s definitely a loud guy.¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s like the difference of a pirate and a ninja.¡± Mark said.


    ¡°Well to be fair, he¡¯s really old. His bones would creak out if he started on sneaking around and jumping over walls.¡± I said while smiling.


    ¡°That is true, being old is a bitch sometimes.¡± my uncle said.


    We started to drive in the highway while we talked casually. There were no signs of people outside, only zombies littered the streets. We finally reached our destination and we saw the stores. There¡¯s a few dozen in front of it so I drew my katana first. They backed me up and I dived in. <center></center><hr>


    There were three in front of me so I brandished my katana immediately.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back to basics, shall we?¡± I said to myself.


    *sh*


    Southeast to Northwest.


    *sh*


    West to East.


    *chop*


    Finally, North to South.


    They fell after the quick encounter and I looked back and they are also busy. We¡¯re in a spear formation where Tatiana and Mark are on my Southeast and Southwest While Kaley is behind me followed by Jared, Dong and Zardon.


    I controlled the pace in which we are going. We reached the store after a few minutes of killing a few and I immediately headed for the locks as they made a semi-circle at my back.


    ¡°Oh, I finally found another difference, we¡¯re pretty quick with Oscar while we¡¯re a bit slower when we¡¯re with you.¡± Jared said with augh.


    ¡°Hah! I¡¯m extra careful, that¡¯s why. Focus there yeah?¡± I said.


    I finally opened the gate and we drove inside then we closed the gate after. There are several types of tanks here ranging from stic, metal and ss. There¡¯s different shapes and sizes and I immediately checked inside if there were people inside the office.


    There was none in here and all I saw aside from a few paperwork inside was a set of keys for a truck that they use to deliver some of them. It¡¯s a 6-wheeler truck though it does not have the horizontal bar that bisects our truck in the middle.


    ¡°Do we take this truck too? We could definitely use it back home.¡± Zardon said. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah we¡¯ll use that to haul more containers. Take those rectangr stic ones first that could fit 50 gallons and load all it could carry in that truck. Tie it firmly when you stack them so it doesn¡¯t get thrown off.¡± I said.


    ¡°What do we ce here then?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°ce the 100-gallon ones and choose the polyethylene ones. Forget about the metal ones for now since they would rust over time. Let¡¯s get the easiest one to load first and we¡¯ll load the metal ones and the ss ones at ater date.¡± I said.


    ¡°Polytele-what?¡± Dong said.


    ¡°The stic ones, sorry.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Speak themon tongue bro, we¡¯re normal people here.¡± Jared said whileughing.


    ¡°Heh, fill everything up, we¡¯lle back for the generatorster.¡± I said.


    ¡°How about these containers though? They look like the ones where Russel puts gas on.¡± Kaley said in the corner.


    ¡°Where?¡± I said as I walked near her.


    ¡°Here.¡± She pointed on a pile covered by a tarp.


    ¡°This is good, we¡¯lle back for these thingster. They are all the same size and color too. We could definitely fill the apartment there with these containers filled with gas. The other containers there are starting to vary in size making it waste space in stacking them.¡± I said while I mull over in what to do.


    We loaded the trucks and we securely tied it so it won¡¯t fall off when we hit a speed bump. Aside from the containers we also found a few thick tarps, jacks, ropes and a toolbox that contained a few things. We grabbed what we could carry since it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have extra stuff lying around.


    ¡°Everything is ready, shall we go now?¡± my uncle said.


    We then headed back after dispatching a few on the way out. We got several of those 50-gallon tanks and the 100-gallon tanks. I was driving the smaller truck we found in the store and the drive home was eventful.


    The soldiers from the DDR camp never seem to mind us when we went back the same way. They just assumed a pose when we came the first time. <hr>


    ¡°Where do you think they get their food?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Probably from the helicopters and the stock from the hospital and the school. They¡¯re probably well-stocked since we¡¯ve never seen them scavenge for food.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, and their numbers are way more than ours. They are easily a few thousand. They might be rationing them unlike us.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Maybe.¡± I replied


    ¡°But I¡¯m sure they haven¡¯t noticed that our portions are getting fewer. We¡¯re conditioning all of us in a way they all won¡¯t notice. Oscar and my aunt are the only ones who know.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°It would be cool to have a helicopter.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°I¡¯d like a mobile suit instead or the Iron Tuxedo.¡± Iughed.


    ¡°That¡¯s like the robot thingy right? What is the Iron Tuxedo? Another parody?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah, something like that.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s impossible to have.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Hah! If Japan or US actually make a working one, we¡¯ll head there immediately.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey, what else do we need from our ce then? Realistically speaking?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Oh, after the barn is finished, I¡¯d like it have more animals like pigs, sheeps, horses and ducks since we already have chickens, rabbits and goats.¡± I said.


    ¡°No, I mean equipment-wise.¡± She exined.


    ¡°Oh, after we get plenty of what we have here, I would like to grab those mobile dental and clinical vans from PLV.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, the ones parked on the side where I went to school?¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Yeah, when I was passing by there, I saw a few still there parked near your school near the fire station. We could probably get a fire truck as well. I hope nobody got to them yet.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! There¡¯s the police academy close there too, we could probably get a few guns there as well.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good, we could always use a lot more. I hope it¡¯s still intact, most of the police probably equipped themselves from the guns there when this thing happened.¡± I said.


    ¡°Right, I hope there could at least be a few left there. I remember seeing a MK-14 when I nced at the people there having a small lecture. A few of them are carrying one when they patrol too.¡± He said.


    We reached home and we unloaded the containers.


    ¡°Russel, ask a few people to grab a few of this and ce the 100-gallon ones at the back wall behind the pool area and some at the bas.e.m.e.nt and at each house. Contact the other families to grab their own and start to fill them with water. We¡¯ll being back with those containers you fill with gaster so you could empty the tanker.¡± I said.


    ¡°All of them?¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, all of them, fill it up yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay then.¡± He said as he stretched his back.


    ¡°Do we bring the 6-wheeler again?¡± my uncle said.


    ¡°Of course, let¡¯s fill it up one more time and we¡¯ll fill the other one with a few generators.¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s like we have the whole world now.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Hah! It¡¯s like we had a nk check.¡± I said.

 Chapter 95

    Chapter 95: 95


    We made another trip and we filled the truck with the small 1-gallon containers. We got 128 pieces and we headed to the generator store from across the street. <center></center><hr>


    *sh*


    *sh*


    *sh*


    *sh*


    I made my way quickly and the rest followed. The katana was definitely more deadly than the wakizashi since it¡¯s longer and I wouldn¡¯t have to adjust my position from each strike.


    Kaley would still use the CZ and the wakizashi from time to time but she felt morefortable with the AR-15.


    ¡°Trying to copy Sky¡¯s style, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    Kaley smiled when Tatiana noticed what¡¯s she¡¯s doing.


    ¡°I try to do it too since it¡¯s effective. However, I can¡¯t switch between hands like he did. Sky, you¡¯re ambidextrous correct?¡± she said.


    ¡°Uh, no. I just practiced on using my left hand a lot. My right arm is dominant against my left though you could say that I¡¯m ambidextrous but not born to be one. However, I tend to use the katana with my right from habit but I could switch them up just fine.¡± I exined as I tried to open the two padlocks for the roll-up.


    ¡°You really had a lot of time on your hands.¡± Kaley said while helplessly smiling.


    ¡°Heh, guard the outside for now, unc. Come with me inside.¡± I said.


    The rest took their stances and they waited for us scout the ce first.


    It¡¯s mostly filled with gas-powered generators while there¡¯s a few sr ones. On the wall beside the counter are a few car batteries that I took a mental note of it. The ce was clear so I headed outside to guard for zombies as I let my uncle and the rest haul the items.


    My katana is on my right while the Glock 19 is on my left. I left Kaley and Tatiana on the truck while I moved a bit forward to clear more zombies around.


    ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Kaley eximed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°He¡¯s clearing as much of them as possible. He did the same when we were getting gas. He said to kill as much as possible to reduce the risk of them.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Kaley, watch my back yeah? Tatiana watch for the guys loading the truck from any blind spots, I¡¯ll stretch my bones for a while.¡± I said.


    ¡°Catch.¡± I heard Kaley say as she threw my wakizashi over.


    I caught it after quickly holstering my Glock.


    ¡°Smooth.¡± She said.


    I fastened the sheath on my belt and I drew it with my left hand. I felt a nostalgic feeling but my head started to itch.


    ¡°Nope.¡± I said as I sheathed it back and threw it towards Kaley.


    ¡°Why?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°It¡¯s asymmetrical. My head itches if I hold them together.¡± I replied tly.


    ¡°Pfft!¡± I heard her hold herughter.


    I drew the pistol once more and I started on moving in a semi-circle to clear a few that I encounter.


    Quick flowing sh after quick flowing sh. Bodies are hitting the floor each time I swing my de. Kaley would asionally help by bringing down one or two that are in a clump. Jared started on aiming on the few that are 100-500 yards away to practice his shooting. The sound of the muffled M70 is always followed by his cheer when I notice from my peripheral vision that a figure from far away would fall down.


    ¡°Nice shooting.¡± Kaley praised.


    ¡°Thanks, I start to have trouble when it reaches 600+ yards.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Why would you need to shoot that far though?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s awesome to do it. Sky can shoot much farther than me since he can read the wind properly.¡± he replied. <hr>


    ¡°How far is his record then?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°1000 yards. We went to an outdoor range once. The guys there said he was just lucky so he unloaded the 4 bullets that are left in the M24 that Oscar gave him. Long story short, the guys there ate their words. They said after that the world record is 2707 yards and they started to downy him.¡± he replied.


    ¡°What did he say then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Nothing, I thought he was gonna talk back but he just kept on smiling on a corner.¡± he replied.


    I was still within earshot hearing their conversation and I just said to myself, ¡°I already went past that record. Though it is still shorter than the top record by a lot, I could unload a whole clip and still hit urately at that distance.¡±


    The group is taking a bit of time now since the generators and the car batteries are much heavier than the stic water tanks. They would lift it up over the truck while Jared slides it in ce.


    I never did use my pistol because of Kaley backing me up so I just holstered it and drew the scabbard. I would use it as a stick for deflecting hands while I use the katana for finishing them off. I kinda felt like Ikkaku when he first appeared in the show I was watching before.


    After half an hour, I managed to kill a few dozen before they called me over. I flicked the katana to get rid of the blood invading the de. I wiped the still remaining blood off by using a rag and noticed that the blood never reached the hand guard.


    ¡°Well, I wouldn¡¯t need to clean it likest time. The reach definitely helped with that.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°No sprinters today huh?¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Why, you want to see one that badly?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s actually very easy to deal with these things now.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°It¡¯s better that way doesn¡¯t it?¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, I hope we could at least see one or two.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Then walk home.¡± I said with a frown.


    ¡°W-what? I just said that it got a bit easier.¡± He replied. <hr>


    ¡°Sky?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°I thought you got it already, we¡¯re fighting for our lives here don¡¯t we? And here you areining that it¡¯s easy? Look around will you? Tell that to those who are dead now.¡± I said while facing him.


    ¡°Whoa there now.¡± My uncle tried to diffuse the situation.


    ¡°¡­¡± Jared was silent.


    ¡°I know what you feel alright? You¡¯re a great shot and this feels like restarting a game you¡¯ve finished a thousand times. But get it in your head that this your life now. It would take probably a few years or even a few decades to get it back the way it was. Remember that your little sister won¡¯t experience what we did before this happened. We¡¯re all doing what we can to at least give themfort while they are stranded on the confines of our walls. Don¡¯t start on gettingcent on what we are doing here.¡± I said.


    His eyes are slowly turning red while I heard him sniffle. Everyone else is silent while my uncle tried to guide him inside the truck.


    ¡°Sky, but more sprintersing towards us means that there would be less the other people would face, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°No, he¡¯s right. I¡¯m sorry. I never thought of it that way. Alright, I¡¯ll take 60%¡± he said.


    ¡°60%? You sure? That would sting a lot. I¡¯ll take 60% as well.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± My uncle said and Dong and Mark were wearing amused expressions since they know what¡¯s going on.


    ¡°W-wait, what¡¯s happening?¡± Kaley was confused.


    I removed the glove from my right hand and Jared lifted his shirt at the back where the vest won¡¯t reach. I threw a huge p at his lower back while he flinched.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just give him 20%¡± I said to myself.


    *SLAP*


    ¡°Attiti¡­ that was 60?! F.U.C.K!¡± he eximed while rubbing his back.


    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± Kaley was still confused. <hr>


    ¡°I think some sort of punishment system? Like in the mafia where they cut off a finger when a subordinate makes a mistake, correct?¡± Tatiana guessed.


    ¡°Yeah, the kids made it so the awkwardness after a conflict is resolved immediately.¡± My uncle exined.


    ¡°Hah! It took too much time to resolve something and the awkward wait after it is too long. So we just did this. Your turn now.¡± I said as I lifted the shirt from my back.


    ¡°Why are you getting hit as well?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m wrong too. Tatiana¡¯s right in saying that. We could at least handle ourselves but the people who can¡¯t will surely die from those things. Rather have the sprinters go to those who can handle them than those who cannot.¡± I exined.


    ¡°You guys¡­¡± she facepalmed.


    *SLAP*


    ¡°Ouch! It stings! Your big hand gives you an extra surface area!¡± I protested.


    ¡°Hah! It¡¯s still 60% though!¡± he retorted.


    We both have red marks on our back while we drove home.


    ¡°Can we all do that with each other then?¡± Tatiana suggested.


    ¡°I think I wouldn¡¯t want to¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, it¡¯s only when we made mistakes, correct?¡± she replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m down.¡± Mark said.


    ¡°Me as well.¡± Dong said.


    ¡°Nope, don¡¯t drag an old man to that stupid game.¡± Zardon said.

 Chapter 96

    Chapter 96: 96


    We headed back to thepound while we saw Oscar and his group carefully unloading the panels. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°For a couple of houses, sure. But for this whole ce, we need a lot more. However, most of the houses is still unupied and the few sr generators could power up a few basic utilities like lights or charging a few devices. This is all for the future.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Okay, it¡¯s almost noon, I¡¯ll take the head to my old house.¡± I said.


    ¡°Kid, take Kaley with you okay?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Sure, want toe with me?¡± I said to Kaley.


    ¡°Your old house huh? Sure, is there someone there I need to be wary of?¡± she said sarcastically.


    ¡°Yeah, Jude is there. He¡¯s alone though, he has been taking care of the house ever since we moved here.¡± I said nonchntly.


    ¡°Wait, what?! There is really someone there?! I thought that ce was just empty when we were clearingst time!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Oh yeah, we never told anyone. I just can¡¯t let go of the house before so I kept it and asked someone to live there for free as long as they kept it clean. It¡¯s fully stocked too.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Wait, so what you¡¯re trying to say is that your old house has someone living in it? But why was he left there and not invited toe here?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hah! Better check inside the house first before you say anything.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley said confused.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say that the time Oscar and I was living there, we also made some modifications on it.¡± I added.


    I went up to my room and I picked up the mason jar that contained the sentries¡¯ head. It was covered by 3yers of dark fabric to prevent it from seeing anything. An closed the gate for us and we made our way towards my old house.


    It¡¯s a 3-story house covered byrge gate that leads to our garage that extends upwards up to the terrace in the second floor so no one could climb over it likest time. It has a small staircase on the side of the gate that leads to the receiving area. I opened the small gate first and we walked up the stairs and I stopped at the door. <center></center><hr>


    A few moments pass and Kaley¡¯s confusion is showing more clearly on her face.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you gonna knock?¡± she said.


    ¡°Just wait. I had CCTVs here installed as well, he¡¯ll see us eventually.¡± I said as I pointed at a camera on the corner.


    *click*


    The door¡¯s lock clicking open was heard and a smell of ramen permeated our noses.


    ¡°Hey.¡± the man said while he opens the door.


    The man could be said to be a very simple guy but he¡¯s very monotonous. Even his facial expression is the same. His speech just has a certain tone that makes you question if he has any emotion.


    ¡°Hey~ Jude~¡± I said with a small tune.


    ¡°Please stop, you always sing that song when you meet me. Come in. Oh? You¡¯re with someone,e in as well.¡± Jude said with no emotion.


    ¡°Excuse the intrusion.¡± I said nonchntly.


    ¡°This is your house man, stop saying things.¡± He said quietly.


    Kaley was just growing more and more confused from our interaction.


    ¡°Would you like some?¡± Jude reached out his bowl of noodles.


    ¡°Nah, but thank you. I¡¯m just here to store something.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, ok. I¡¯ll just eat here. How about you?¡± He said. <hr>


    ¡°Umm, ah- I¡¯m fine thank you.¡± Kaley nervously said.


    ¡°We¡¯ll head up now, is that beef with green onions and garlic?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Good nose.¡± he said nonchntly as he slurps the soup.


    When we reached the second floor, I opened the door to enter it and when it closed, Kaley started to talk.


    ¡°Sky! Who was that?! He feels so¡­ chill.¡± She said.


    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s Jude. I remember telling you his name.¡± I said.


    ¡°No! Not that! Of course, I know his name! How did you two meet?!¡± she asked.


    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s a rescue.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, w-what? Like a puppy or something?¡± she grew more confused as the conversation continues.


    ¡°We met at a coffee shop. Stop saying I¡¯m a rescue, wait¡­ I am. I haven¡¯t thanked you properly yet, thanks.¡± Jude said from behind.


    The door is already open without any noise and it was closed without any noise as well.


    ¡°O-oh¡­¡± Kaley was startled when Jude suddenly popped up.


    ¡°The keys, here. I locked it, I forgot.¡± He handed me the keys to the rooms and he went back down.


    ¡°Hold on, I really need to hear this story. A coffee shop?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Hah! It is just a very boring story. The coffee shop I was at was full but I just saw him buy a coffee as well but there were no more seats. I waved at him to sit down in the chair in front me and we just sat there for half a day without speaking. He¡¯s actually talking a lot more now I might say.¡± I said as I find the keys to one of the two rooms. <hr>


    ¡°And?¡± she said.


    ¡°And what?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The story! Why did it suddenly get weird here?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Oh, hahaha! That¡¯s the end of it. You know my kind treasures peace and solitude. That half a day just sitting alone not speaking just made us friends. Everytime I go to that coffee shop, he¡¯ll show up sometimes and he would sit with me.¡± I said.


    ¡°Even if there were free seats?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it removes the awkward moment to ask someone if their other seat is taken. We¡¯ll juste and leave without a word.¡± I said.


    ¡°B-but how did you two get to know each other then? And he was just at this house all this time? I saw Jay knocking in this ce before when we thought this was not your house but no one answered. Is he really a human?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Oh, I found out when I nced at hisptop that he was looking for a ce to move at. I talked to him and he agreed in the condition that he would keep this ce always squeaky clean. I¡¯ve left this house for a few months after we moved to thepound. If he doesn¡¯t know who¡¯s in front of the door, he won¡¯t open it. He saw me with you now so he did. Hey, that¡¯s rude. Forgot me from before?¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh, right. But wait, you gave this house just like that?!¡± she was bbergasted.


    ¡°Yeah, this ce looks awesome right?¡± I said.


    ¡°You really have weird friends¡­¡± she said with a smile.


    ¡°Hah! We¡¯ll talkter, let¡¯s just leave this thing here.¡± I said as I opened one of the safes in the room and ced the mason jar inside a corner.


    ¡°I doubt this could do anything as long as it sees darkness. Putting this here just makes thepound rx a bit.¡± I said to myself.


    I waved goodbye at Jude and he did the same. I heard the door locking and we went back to thepound. Oscar saw using back and he approached Kaley.


    ¡°So, how was it?!¡± he was pretty excited. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ really different. It¡¯s very calm there¡­ to say the least.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Right?! When I went with Sky there the first time I was really off-putted by that guy! He¡¯s like the old version of Sky¡­ but weirder!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°That is maybe why they hit it off¡­ is he safe there though?¡± she replied.


    ¡°Yes, pretty much. I¡¯ve left an AR-15 chambered in .22 LR there as well with several hundred rounds. He gets excited when he touches a gun and he¡¯s a good shot as well.¡± I said.


    ¡°Really? He has this very robot-like expression the whole time though¡­¡± she said.


    ¡°Bah! If you call smiling normally excited!¡± Oscar said while he cackles.


    ¡°Anyway, enough about Jude. He¡¯s pretty secure there. What¡¯s for lunch?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s¡­¡± he told me that it was meatloaf.


    We ate together again and we discussed the next n for the afternoon.


    ¡°Okay, we need to go back to the store where we found several sacks of feed. We need to take the ones for cows. Oscar, are you done with the panels or is there more inside?¡± I said.


    ¡°We only took the ones in disy and the few boxes behind it that also contains the panels. I took a few inverters to set up the panelster. We also found a few electrical tools that I ced in a toolbox. We also took several boxes of lightbulbs andmps.¡± He replied.


    ¡°We took a bit of time clearing the ce since there is a bit of them there and we weren¡¯t able to go to their storage area since the closed truck is almost full. I figured that there would be more there but we can¡¯t find the manifest that has the codes where they are in their storage area. All the boxes there are simr and it would take too long if we checked each one.¡± Jay added.


    We we¡¯re talking for a while then we heard our radio buzzing.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sky, do you know an old man named Matthew? She¡¯s with an olddy named Marisha, they said they were pointed at this direction by a note with coordinates on it. Sky?¡±


    *bzzt*

 Chapter 97

    Chapter 97: 97


    When I heard the names, I shouted to Kaley and Olivia. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hey! They¡¯re here! They saw the note!¡± I immediately ran towards the gate and opened it. Kaley and Olivia followed after and I saw a camper outside the fence.


    I opened it and let the camper in. It has a few dents here and there but it¡¯s still in good condition. A couple of blood is smeared across it and it looked like that it has been rammed on a few of them.


    The door opened and I saw them walk outside.


    ¡°Mom! Dad!¡± the two shouted with tears in their eyes.


    I locked the fence behind and looked behind me. I smiled brightly looking at the four of them and tears fell on my eyes as well.


    The four were in the ground crying andughing and I just stood at the side happy for them. An was a slobbering mess while looking at them from the catwalk while Jenny was also teary along with Aubrey.


    Olivia was crying her heart out hugging his dad while Kaley did as well while hugging her mom. The two parents looked a bit famished but they have joy and relief in their faces.


    ¡°We were so scared when there was no one at home when we came back earlier!¡± her mom said.


    ¡°You just came back today? You saw the note then?¡± Kaley said while wiping her eyes though tears is continuously flowing from her eyes.


    ¡°Yeah we figured that you are safe when we found that the ce has the supplies taken out. We found the note in our bedroom and we found the stash that you hidden where I ce my gun.¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s all thanks to him.¡± Kaley looked at my direction and they scanned their eyes towards me.


    ¡°Mr. And Mrs. Payan, I¡¯m not sure if you remember me but I¡¯m Sky whom you helped years ago when your daughter transferred to my highschool. It¡¯s great to meet you again.¡± I said respectfully as I made a small bow.


    ¡°Who?¡± her dad said.


    ¡°Oh! Are you that young man from back then? Dear, he¡¯s the one you almost scared to death with that look of yours. You look really different now!¡± Marisha said.


    ¡°Ah!¡± he finally remembered. <center></center><hr>


    He let go of Olivia and he approached me. He still has this domineering presence but it¡¯s nothing to me now.


    He ces his left hand on my shoulder and then he raised his right hand for a handshake. I raised my right hand as well and we had a very strong handshake.


    ¡°This old man¡­! Same as always. I¡¯m not the same as before though.¡± I said to myself as I feel him squeeze tighter.


    I held my ground and squeezed harder.


    I saw his eyebrow twitch while we¡¯re staring at each other. We¡¯re in a deadlock and I heard a ng.


    *ng*


    The grip he has on me lessened and he immediately let go.


    ¡°Ouch! What was that for?!¡± he eximed.


    I looked back and her wife was holding a pan.


    ¡°I know what you¡¯re doing!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Oh, Kaley takes the most from her mom while Olivia from her dad. That almost psychic ability and this death grip is evidence.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯m just testing him you know¡­¡± he said weakly.


    ¡°We should be thanking him at least, you doofus!¡± she eximed once more.


    ¡°¡®You doofus?¡¯ Yep, definitely from her mom.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Anyway, we¡¯re just having lunch. Care to join us? You must be tired and hungry, please.¡± I asked.


    I opened the gate of thepound for them and they drove their camper next to the HUMVEE. <hr>


    I introduced them to the group and I grabbed them a te. I left them alone for now and I walked back to discuss the ns with Oscar.


    ¡°That their parents¡¯ kid?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s exclude Kaley for the ns for now. I¡¯m thinking of another gas run to take everyst drop from that station so we could go to the other one past the DDR camp.¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. I remember that there is a store there that has propane tanks and a bicycle shop.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Yeah, if we¡¯re lucky, we could get one of those gaspressors so we could refill the ones that are empty.¡± I added.


    ¡°Hold on, why don¡¯t we just get those electronic stoves? We have a lot of panels, right?¡± Jared added.


    ¡°It¡¯s possible, but when it hit, people rushed to the appliance store before they thought about food, so most of them are gone now. Remember the appliance store near the public market? Most people here use those fueled by propane tanks and we only had 2 electronic stoves here. My aunt uses both types of stoves since only using those electronic ones will take too long because of our numbers. But if we find a house who has them we¡¯ll definitely get it to save on gas.¡± I said.


    ¡°Let¡¯s prep now and we¡¯ll leave in half an hour.¡± I announced.


    When I walked up to my room, I saw Kaley following me from behind. I waved her down and told her to stay for now since her parents are here. I checked my loadout and I brought an extra gun for Lois.


    ¡°Hey,e with us for the moment yeah?¡± I said as I handed him a Ruger 10/22 rifle and a Berreta M9.


    ¡°Oh! You¡¯re taking me outside? Cool, this is a Ruger 10/22, right?¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, focus now and don¡¯t doze off likest time. Remember the lesson we took?¡± I said.


    ¡°Of course, stay strapped or get pped G!¡± he said proudly.


    *thunk*


    I threw a knuckle at the back of his head. <hr>


    ¡°Ow! I¡¯m joking! Ahaha¡­ it¡¯s always keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction. Treat your weapon like it¡¯s always loaded. Keep your trigger finger outside the guard and off the trigger until you¡¯re ready to fire. Be certain of your target, your line of sight, and what lies beyond it. Andstly, always wear ear and eye protection when using and maintaining them.¡± he recited what I said before when he went for my lessons.


    ¡°Good. And?¡± I asked once more.


    ¡°Protect everybody and in turn they will protect you. Leave no one behind.¡± he said solemnly.


    ¡°Are you fine with that Ruger or do you want an M70?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Nah, I like the .22 that¡¯s why I came for practice likest time. The rounds for the M70 hurts my shoulders.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Hah! You should get used to it in the future. I thought you want the Henry .45-70?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I just like the sound it makes when you push a round in the chamber, that¡¯s worse than the M70. Besides, good shot cement is key, right?¡± he said.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re right about that. Let¡¯s go now, they must be waiting.¡± I said.


    He strapped up and then we headed out.


    Russel was with Oscar and Jo to get some gas while I¡¯m with my usual group where Lois reced Kaley for the moment.


    We split off the elementary school and we drove right with the truck.


    We reached the destination and we parked in front of the store that has propane tanks. We managed to get 20 tanks of 15kg in weight and 10 tanks of 5kg in weight. There was no gaspressor inside unfortunately so I opened the next store with the bicycles on it.


    We loaded 5 road racers, 3 kiddie bikes and 5 normal bikes with the basket in front of it. The ride was pretty uneventful and we only used a few of our ammunition to kill a few that got too close.


    When we got back, Oscar¡¯s group was still not here so I made a quick call.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You still kickin¡¯ old man?¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bah! Filling this tank takes too damn long! This kid kept on insisting we take the good stuff.¡±


    *bzzt*


    We then unloaded the truck with its contents while I saw Jay approach me.


    ¡°Hey, can we have one of those bikes?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Oh, those are for you guys since you¡¯re the farthest one from us. Take a pedicab too for your parents so someone could drive them here. I gave one to Andrew¡¯s family as well because we¡¯re conserving gas so use those for now.¡± I said.


    He was taken aback from the statement but he¡¯s wearing a bright smile.


    ¡°Really? We could use this?¡± he affirmed.


    ¡°Yeah, this ce is not a sweat shop yeah? I treat everyone as my own.¡± I said with a smile.


    His smile was bright and he took one to test-drive.


    As the guys were unloading the contents of the truck, I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. I looked back and saw Matthew looking at me with a solemn expression.


    ¡°Can we talk in private?¡± he said.


    I nodded and I guided him to the gym. A few people were using it so we headed to the rooftop where there was only the two of us.


    ¡°We¡¯re pretty much alone here. What do you need to talk about?¡± I said as I turned around to face him.


    The wind was blowing and it masked what we were talking about. You¡¯d only see us looking at each other with serious expressions and our mouth moving.

 Chapter 98

    Chapter 98: 98


    ¡°You¡¯d only hear me say that once.¡± He said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well, I never really asked for anything. Just a simple head nod or a tap on the shoulder is fine.¡± I said.


    ¡°Haaaaa~ I¡¯m not really used to do that but my wife asked me to. But she¡¯s right, we can¡¯t thank you enough for what you¡¯ve done for my daughters.¡± He said as he rubs the back of his neck.


    ¡°I thought you¡¯re only gonna thank me once? Is that a second time?¡± I said as I smiled.


    ¡°Can I ask you something?¡± he said.


    I just raised my eyebrow and he continued.


    ¡°Why did you decide to do all of this?¡± he asked.


    ¡°What do you mean why? Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± I answered.


    ¡°If it was me on your shoes, I would¡¯ve taken only my family and moved somewhere safe. The way back here¡­ it¡­ it was a harrowing experience.¡± He trailed while looking at the sky.


    The clouds are moving in a slow pace though the wind would asionally blow a strong gust.


    ¡°What happened on your trip? I calcted that you would be arriving here in less than 3 days after it started. Your daughters are starting to worry about you two especially Olivia. Kaley is staying strong for her and we could only do so much to busy ourselves to not think of what might have happened.¡± I said while Iid on the floor, staring in the sky.


    ¡°Did you tell her?¡± he asked with a worried look.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was silent.


    ¡°Look at me, did you tell her?!¡± he bellowed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡± I replied with a frown on my face.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I never believed you when you sent the email before. I really thought it was a joke.¡± He said with a disgruntled expression.


    ¡°It was a good thing that she didn¡¯t ask the right question, she¡¯d found out if I lied. What she asked me before is if I¡¯ve sent her the email. If she asked me if I ever emailed you, I¡¯ll get busted.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Bah! Those two women must be psychics or something¡­¡± he said with a bitter smile.


    ¡°Olivia¡¯s not the same as them though, I think. Anyway, don¡¯t get befuddled by not believing me, I would¡¯ve stille to your ce when the shit hits the fan.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You don¡¯t understand, I¡¯m their father. I should¡¯ve at least tried to listen to what you had to say.¡± He said while he clenches his fist.


    ¡°To be fair, it was around this time when I sent you the email. It¡¯s just after Halloween so it¡¯s underst-¡±


    ¡°NO! I almost got them killed! I shouldn¡¯t be away with my wife camping happily in the mountains! F.U.C.K! Did you even know what I did just to get here?! I had to kill people with my own hands! PEOPLE! Not those dead ones, those are alive! PEOPLE!¡± he shouted but it¡¯s not enough for the people below to hear us.


    ¡°If it¡¯s to protect your own, that is a valid reason. You ¡®had¡¯ to you said, you¡¯re an idiot if you let something happens to your family and you¡¯re toote to save them.¡± I replied solemnly.


    ¡°Hah! What would you know about that feeling huh?! It was either them or my wife! But they¡¯re still people dammit!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯m the idiot who was toote.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­!¡± he stopped.


    ¡°You asked why I did all of this? It¡¯s because I know. I know that feeling you almost had to feel. To be honest, it f.u.c.k.i.n.g sucks. I¡¯ve killed before this thing started and ¡®had¡¯ to defend myself once and ¡®had¡¯ to kill someone about to turn when we¡¯re in here. However, the purpose back then was for vengeance, not to protect someone.¡± I said.


    I told him the story I told Kaley before. How my parents were murdered, how I reacted, everything. Surprisingly, my chest feels light now. <hr>


    ¡°Is telling it to Kaley before?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was speechless.


    ¡°I¡¯m an idiot right? If only I checked themotion myself, if only I didn¡¯t hesitate, if only did I do what I should¡¯ve done at that moment¡­ they would still be alive. So, don¡¯t me yourself for doing something you think you shouldn¡¯t have done but me yourself if you didn¡¯t do something that you should¡¯ve done at the moment.¡± I said while I got up and looked at him seriously.


    He looks at me with a pensive andplicated expression. I could feel sadness from his eyes and he seem to understand what I¡¯m saying. He removed his hat and I could see the gray hairs near his temple.


    We just stared off the distance and I saw Jared from below waving at me.


    ¡°I¡¯m going down now for another run outside. I¡¯ll leave you here for now yeah?¡± I said.


    Kaley and Olivia are still in the room with their mom and when I rode the truck I looked back at the rooftop. He¡¯s still there staring in the distance.


    ¡°Where are we headed now?¡± My uncle asked.


    ¡°Hmm, let¡¯s just go a bit further on the right and let¡¯s go to a restaurant near the ce where we got the propane tanks. It¡¯s near to a feed shop as well and if they are not looted yet we could haul a bit more food.¡± I said.


    We headed near to thest ce that we looted to a restaurant called Pixels. I held my katana and did my work. The ss doors are locked from the top and lower part but when I was about to pull out my lockpick, I found out that it was open already.


    ¡°Jared, with me.¡± I said.


    I pushed the door open and I drew my pistol. He drew his pistol as well and we headed inside.


    ¡°Someone has been here already? Why are we going in here?¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°We don¡¯t know that yet. It¡¯s just open, there are many things to exin.¡± I said as I moved past the counter.


    We went inside their kitchen but no one was there. The kitchen still has their utensils inside though some of the food was taken from their pantry and freezers.


    ¡°This is still plenty considering the circ.u.mstances. Let¡¯s grab them now, it can be all taken with one trip. Grab the spices and the sauces as well, people always left them behind. Oh, some of the cookware here is top quality too. Let¡¯s take those as well with this stove.¡± I said as I headed to the second floor.


    I opened the small cabs and I smiled faintly. There were a few miniatures inside neatly ced on a case and I ced it in my bag. A few were too big so I just carried it with my hands.


    ¡°Hey~ I remember those, we used to y that before, right?¡± Jared said as he saw what I was carrying.


    ¡°Yeah, I taught the owner how to y this and she got addicted and bought a lot of this stuff. I guess we could use this thing every week again.¡± I said while I reminisce.


    ¡°Why did we stop ying though?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Really? DM burnout is a real thing you know? I¡¯ve been doing it all!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Oh, right. Ahahaha¡­¡± he replied weakly.


    ¡°Well I hope I could y at least once. I¡¯m thinking Rin could be a Dungeon Master. I¡¯m itching to y my 200 characters that never saw the light of day.¡± I saidughing.


    ¡°Is that the pile of Character Sheets on that huge envelope?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s sad but I still like to create my own characters in my spare time.¡± I said.


    Dong and Mark hauled the supplies while I cleared the next-door lot where the ce that sells feeds is located.


    We hauled everything we could and we also took the bottles of medicine for animals in the counter. <hr>


    After we loaded a few, the truck has still more space since a quarter of it is still empty. We decided to head back to the bike shop to get 5 more regr bikes with the baskets at the front and several helmets.


    I was staring into the distance then Tatiana nudged me.


    ¡°Something is in your mind, correct?¡± she said.


    ¡°Dammit! Why did you talk to me?!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°What?¡± she was confused.


    ¡°I was about to yawn¡­ and it disappeared, the sensation that I was about to yawn.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± She said as she chuckled.


    We reached thepound while I saw them busy filling the containers with gasoline. We parked the truck and started on unloading it.


    I saw charlotte with Chris carrying a few cases with little cups where a small seedling is growing. They headed outside to the farm next to our walls and they just waved at us when they passed by.


    I helped with unloading the trucks and Rin followed to make an inventory from everything that was added. Demi and Bobby are helping her now and she¡¯s the one giving orders on where to ce everything to maximize our storage.


    I then saw Matthew cleaning his camper and scrubbing it all over. Olivia is helping him though I don¡¯t see Kaley anywhere.


    I asked Olivia where she is and she said that her sister is in her room with her mom. The door is ajar and I slowly opened the door.


    ¡°Kaley¡­?¡± I said softly.

 Chapter 99

    Chapter 99: 99


    ¡°Sky, is that you? Kaley is sleeping, she was crying the whole time as she told me everything that happened while we¡¯re gone. You two have been through a lot and she kept on saying how grateful she is of you.¡± Her mom said. <center></center><hr>


    I saw Kaley sleeping soundly on her mom¡¯sp.


    ¡°Is that so, she has been crying for a while then? Her eyes are still red and her eyelids are still wet. She¡¯s been keeping it together when they both are here. There was one time when Olivia started to doubt whether you two woulde back, Kaley reassured her and kept strong for the both of them.¡± I said softly so Kaley wouldn¡¯t wake up from our conversation.


    ¡°It was really¡­ I can¡¯t even find the right words to thank you for what you did for me and for them. What my husband did for us just to go back here is¡­ unspeakable, but necessary. He never talked about it even on our long trip to get here¡­¡± she said.


    ¡°Oh, that? He actually mentioned it to me earlier.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh? Really? That oaf opened up to you?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, we talked earlier in the rooftop. He told me that he did things that he was not proud of but I told him that he made the right decision. He got mad at me first but I told him my side of the story. I¡¯m not really sure if he understood me but he just kept quiet.¡± I said.


    ¡°He actually told you first before he talked to me¡­that¡¯s a first¡­¡± she trailed.


    She just looked at me with a caring expression. She caressed Kaley¡¯s hair while she hums a tune.


    She really looks like Kaley; the only difference is her demeanor. She¡¯s very calm and collected and her aura seems to calm you as well. She has a few gray lines in her hair but she definitely looks like Kaley if Kaley ages a few decades.


    ¡°Probably why Kaley said that I should talk to her about what I said when we were fishing¡­¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Is there something on your mind?¡± she asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm, not at the moment¡­¡± I trailed.


    She smiled at me and then she said, ¡°Just approach me when you feelfortable, okay?¡± she said.


    I was taken aback but I didn¡¯t show it in my face. Her smile is bright even with the little wrinkles that you could see in her eyes and forehead.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe in psychics but she definitely read me.¡± I said to myself.


    I gave a helpless smile and said, ¡°A-anyway, what are your ns for now?¡±


    ¡°My husband wanted to move to one of the houses here but this youngdy right here and my much youngerdy wanted to stay here for the moment. I agree with them but I wonder, why is Olivia¡¯s clothes the only thing that are in here? Hmm?¡± she asked.


    A cold gust of air seemed to pass through me though we are inside a closed space. I saw her looking at me with a rxed and a chilling expression, vastly different from her very calm look from earlier.


    ¡°W-w-well w-w-we¡¯re¡­¡± I trailed then I looked down.


    ¡°Why am I shaking?! It¡¯s a pretty easy thing to answer right? I could say that something has happe- wait, could I even say that? But she¡¯ll definitely find out if I say something else. Her powers are definitely much stronger than Kaley. This is definitely a boss battle. Why am I thinking of game mechanics right now? AHHHHH!!! This definitely something I don¡¯t have experience about! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! Just be cool¡­ be cool¡­ nope! Doing it like that would make me seem like an asshole. Think Sky, think! Use that brain you¡¯re so proud of! Brain st! Dammit! Why did I think of that reference right now?! I¡¯ll just say what¡¯s on my mind. Right, that will definitely work. Okay, okay.¡± I almost had an aneurysm in my head.


    She¡¯s still looking at me intently while I piece my words one by one.


    ¡°Sky?¡± I heard a faint voice. <hr>


    Kaley woke up and she wiped her eyes with the cloth on the jacket she¡¯s wearing.


    ¡°Oh, hi dear, I was just asking Sky why your clothes are not in this room.¡± She said while having the same look.


    ¡°Oh, ahaha¡­ let me go to the bathroom first.¡± She quickly escaped while she left me inside with her mom.


    *whoosh*


    *door closes*


    ¡°NOOOO~! This is betrayal!¡± I shouted in my head.


    ¡°Have you formed your answer then?¡± Marisha asked again.


    ¡°To be honest with you ma¡¯am, it just¡­ happened I-¡± then I got cut off.


    ¡°Nevermind that, I already know from that look. Do you know that she waited for you for 3 years?¡± she interrupted.


    ¡°Wai- huh? 3 years? What do you mean?¡± I was now confused.


    ¡°You sweet summer child¡­¡± she replied but the tense atmosphere is gone. <hr>


    ¡°Hold on, 3 years? Is that when we were at highschool? B-but I thought- I-I was very different from back then. I could never hope-¡± I stammered once more.


    ¡°Do you think that my daughter would only look from outer appearances? She always talks about how an interesting of a person you are. She thought she weren¡¯t good enough for you that¡¯s why she studied so hard to at least beat you.¡± She said.


    ¡°Wait, her? But she¡¯s someone I could only dream of¡­¡± I said to myself.


    I only have a confused look at my face as she continued.


    ¡°Her father would get mad everytime she talks about you. She told us a lot of stories but she said that you weren¡¯t interested in her. She told us that you were more focused on your studies.¡± She added.


    ¡°H-hold on¡­¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°You got it all wrong! I was the one who thought that she¡¯s being a really good friend! Granted that I¡¯m really good at studying. When she tied me the first time, I got so fired up and I stopped gettingcent. It was the first time someone actually managed to catch my attention. I just¡­ I just really thought that she wouldn¡¯t think of me that way¡­¡± I said earnestly.


    ¡°Oh my lord¡­ she tried real hard and she waited 3 years for you and you didn¡¯t even notice? Never noticed simple signs or anything?¡± she was bbergasted but amused.


    ¡°People would call me a genius but on this kind of things I¡¯m really an idiot. She waited for 3 years huh? I waited my whole life for her¡­¡± I trailed as I looked down though I¡¯m faintly smiling and a peaceful look on my face.


    ¡°¡­!¡± she was about to say something but it just turned to a very bright smile.


    ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought?¡± I said to myself. <hr>


    ¡°Did you just two waited for the whole world to end for you two to just be together?¡± she said with a smile.


    ¡°Hah! I almost left her at the airport¡­¡± I confessed.


    ¡°You did, you doofus! Good thing that she saw you, she told me what happened, remember?¡± she said as she shook her head.


    She stood up and she gave me a hug.


    ¡°Listen to me, okay? She might know if you¡¯re being untruthful to her but also know that she would sometimes keep secrets of her own. She got that from his dad though she always tells me what they are. Take care of her, will you?¡± she whispered while hugging me.


    ¡°Always.¡± I replied as I hugged her back.


    ¡°Well, now that you got my approval, the real problem starts with my husband. I won¡¯t meddle with your affairs with him since he¡¯s really bull-headed. He sticks to what he thinks and he rarely listens to anyone. You have a tough time ahead of you. What I could say is¡­ no, you can figure it out for yourself. Kaley is already an a.d.u.l.t and could already think for herself but this approval thing is¡­ let¡¯s just say, tradition.¡± She said to me.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t have to ask her for her approval eh? She really understands people. Mr. Matthew is a different case though; it would take maybe a few years to get to his shell.¡± I said to myself.


    I then waved goodbye and I headed down. I can¡¯t seem to find where Kaley is so I grabbed the bag of minis I took from the restaurant. I ced it neatly to one of my disy cases along with a number of them that¡¯s already on disy with a few books and rolled-up papers. I ced a dragon statue with five different colored heads near a behemoth and a huge sea monster on the top of the disy case. Then I took a huge dice bag and ced it below the drawer along with a few loose dice that I¡¯ve collected over the years.


    ¡°I might need to arrange a few of theseter.¡± I said to myself.


    I just heard the doors opening and closing from outside and didn¡¯t mind it.


    ¡°It might be Mrs. Marisha going down. Wait, hmmm? Could she still be hiding in the bathroom? Hope she didn¡¯t hear what her mother and I talked about earlier.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 100

    Chapter 100: 100


    I then prepared the guns for practice today and then I grabbed a few AR500 steel targets to be ced on the open area. I decided to use this now over the cardboard since you¡¯ll just need to paint over it after using. I hauled them on Raphael¡¯s pickup and I announced that we will be practicing with guns today. <center></center><hr>


    Mark, Dong, Nicole, Alicia, Esther, Jonathan, Lois, Russel, Jay and Daisy came to practice. A few people came to watch and Tatiana always followed behind me.


    I drove towards the open area where the squatter area used to be and the distance between the covered court and the DZRH radio station is several times farther than the open court that we used to do practice at.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we just practice at the same ce? Therger barn is being built at the plot ofnd next to the court, right?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°Well, we don¡¯t want to identally shoot the animals, right? The noise could bother them too and it is much better if we made noise farther from our main entrance.¡± I exined.


    ¡°You brought a lot more guns too. There¡¯s more than ten here and it has different kinds of ammo even from other gun types. They¡¯re all just pistols though.¡± Lois said.


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯d practice with the .22, 9mm and the .45 ACP first. I also brought a few revolvers so you could familiarize yourself with different kinds. They are chambered only for the .38 and .357 calibers though. It would be stupid to be in a pinch if you only know how to use one type of gun.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hey, will we be able to use rifles and shotguns too?¡± Daisy asked.


    ¡°Yeah, we have a few SMGs, LMGs, SBRs, and other special ones like bows or crossbows but we¡¯ll get to those in the future. It would be bad to just pile everything at once. We need to do everything gradually. Wait, have you shot guns before?¡± I asked curiously.


    ¡°My ex was in the army before; he would take me to ranges a few times so I know a bit.¡± She replied.


    ¡°Oh! That¡¯s good then.¡± I replied.


    We finally reached the ce and I positioned the targets on different locations. They were ced properly where no one could be identally shot since it¡¯s behind a huge mound of soil which is behind the walls of the covered court. I angled them a bit so the danger of some of the shrapnel going straight back to us will be minimal.


    There were targets that is shaped like a human¡¯s head and torso, I ced 5 of them an arm¡¯s length apart from each other. We have a long pole with the targets on the side where if you hit one, it flips to the other side and its different colored side will show. Those have 5 on each side and they are called dueling poles. Pairs would race to hit the targets to send them all in one direction but the bullets are limited to avoid using excess bullets. There is also those that looked like a wooden barricade with 8 tes on top of it that would fall down when you hit one. I ced two of them on the side as well.


    That¡¯s all I brought for today even though I have a few more at home and I saw Matthew was with the small crowd with his family.


    ¡°Hey Kaley, want to join? This is gonna be a fun exercise.¡± I asked.


    She just shook her head and then his dad walked up.


    ¡°Nice setup here, can you shoot good though?¡± he asked confidently.


    I saw Kaley smirking from the corner of my eye.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s on now. It¡¯ll take years to get to you by finessing it so now I¡¯m using the brute-force method.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Why? Want to have a bet with me?¡± I asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I¡¯ll be really nice with your wife but as she said, you¡¯re a different story.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°What do you want to wager then?¡± He said.


    ¡°I have pretty much everything I want here. How about you give me your camper van while you could pick anything that you want.¡± I said confidently.


    His eyes burned with excitement but I just stood there nonchntly.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take every gun in this table if I win then.¡± He said with a loud voice.


    ¡°Dad? That¡¯s a bad idea, just saying.¡± Kaley tried to intervene.


    ¡°Bah! I know what I¡¯m doing. Deal?¡± he said confidently.


    ¡°Hah! Deal! This is how we decide it then. I¡¯ll set a timer and this is what we do-¡± I said as I drew my Glock 19.


    I quickly aimed at the right side where the human-shaped targets were. The sound of the gun unloading a bullet and the steel target ringing can be heard at almost the same time.


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    I changed targets. I aimed to the pole at the center and I flipped the 5 ones to the other side to change their color.


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting* <hr>


    I went to thest target. The one with the circr targets that areid a few inches apart. I started from the left side then towards the right.


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    *ba*ting*


    Each hit made the tes go down and then I holstered the gun to my torso.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    *whistle*


    I heard Daisy whistle while everyone is staring in shock. Each hit on the human-shaped targets are located in the head and dead-center. The pole with the targets has all the targets on the right side while one of the targets that looked like a wooden barricade has all its tes down.


    ¡°What¡¯s the time?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t have the timer ready but that¡¯s barely 15 seconds¡­¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°I was using one hand, that¡¯s why. I think I could go faster if I use both.¡± I said.


    ¡°F.U.C.K!¡± Matthew eximed.


    ¡°Hey, take it easy. We haven¡¯t started yet.¡± I smirked.


    ¡°You¡¯re clearly used to pistols; we¡¯ll use shotguns instead!¡± he bellowed. <hr>


    ¡°Dear¡­¡± Marisha interjected and her eyebrow is twitching.


    ¡°C¡¯mon! How could I beat that? I could at least increase my chances on a gun I¡¯m familiar with!¡± he defended himself.


    ¡°Sure¡­ I hate using shotguns. But I¡¯ll humor you. We each bring our own gun then? You said to use something that we¡¯re familiar with.¡± I said.


    ¡°Deal!¡± he immediately agreed.


    ¡°I thought we we¡¯re training today, what happened?¡± Jonathan weakly said.


    ¡°Forget the training! This is exciting seeing him in action.¡± Esther said.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, yeah.¡± Jonathan replied.


    ¡°Why would you even think of training at a time like this?!¡± Russel interjected.


    ¡°Good thing I brought extra shotgun ammo¡­¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go first then!¡± Matthew walked towards the table where the guns are and he is carrying a Remington 870 while he¡¯s holding a case of slugs.


    Tatiana set a timer and he readied himself.


    ¡°We just have to hit those right? Is a graze fine?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, just grazing them is enough, we¡¯re a bit far so it is okay.¡± I replied and he nodded.


    Tatiana went to his side with a timer and we all kept quiet as Matthew gets in the zone.


    ¡°Shooter ready?¡± she said.


    He nodded.


    ¡°Standby¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was focused now.


    ¡°Go!¡± Tatiana eximed.


    *beep* <hr>


    When the timer beeped, he quickly unloaded each shot to the targets. He hit every target urately and with speed. After thest shot, when he pumped the shotgun to clear the barrel, he caught the casing with his hand when it flew out since he positioned the shotgun sideways.


    ¡°That was fast.¡± Daisy said.


    ¡°I think Sky is faster.¡± Russel said.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Matthew snorted with a proud look.


    ¡°He¡¯s good.¡± I said to myself.


    After he¡¯s done, we checked the time and it reads 28.3 seconds. That¡¯s pretty quick even if he¡¯s using a pump-action shotgun. He smirked at me and then I called Tatiana over while Russel reset the targets.


    ¡°Can I borrow your shotgun? I only brought ammo for it since I was about to teach them about different typester.¡± I said to Tatiana.


    Tatiana handed her Benelli M4 to me without question. ¡°Here, good luck.¡± she said.


    ¡°Hah! Using a semi-auto? Just give up already! I¡¯ve practiced for a long time and the 870 is better!¡± he heckled from behind.


    ¡°Really~?¡± I trailed and I picked up a few shotgun shells from my pocket. I smirked and Tatiana was shocked when she saw what was in my hands.


    Birdshot!


    She can¡¯t hold her smile back as she walked behind and set the timer. The rest were confused from her expression and then I heard the timer beep.


    *BOOM*


    *BOOM*


    *BOOM*


    The birdshot pellets flew in a spray and grazed everything. If you look closely, there are small indents on the target¡¯s paintjob. Vastly different from what the slugs did. The paint didn¡¯t even got scr.a.p.ed off unlike what the slugs did which scr.a.p.ed a portion of it.


    ¡°Too easy.¡± I said to myself.


    I looked back and I said, ¡°Keys. I won right?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± everybody else.

 Chapter 101

    Chapter 101: 101


    ¡°Whoa! Hold on! You used birdshot! That¡¯s cheating! I¡¯m not handing them over to you!¡± he shouted. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Tatiana, did I cheat?¡± I asked with an angelic expression but with a devilish smile.


    ¡°Negative. The agreement is that a graze is enough. Everyone here heard it, correct?¡± She exined.


    ¡°¡­¡± Everyone else. They are having mixed expressions and the crowd is divided.


    ¡°Wha- wait! I didn¡¯t agree to t-that! I thought we were both using slugs!¡± he was bbergasted.


    ¡°You did agree to that dear. Now hand him the keys. You should listen to what everybody else is saying from time to time.¡± Marisha said with a smile while her daughters have weird expressions.


    ¡°S-sis¡­ isn¡¯t this likest time?¡± I heard Olivia said.


    ¡°Y-yeah, I remember that.¡± She replied.


    ¡°Remember what?¡± Marisha asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a funny story, forgot to tell you about that earlier mom. I¡¯ll tell youter.¡± Kaley said.


    I looked back at Matthew and he¡¯s still processing what happened. He seemed reluctant to hand the keys over.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, this is me making myself the bad guy now! Just ept the loss to save some face!¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I can¡¯t ept that! Use the same gun and ammo that I did!¡± he bellowed as a few in the group nodded in agreement.


    ¡°Sure¡­ it¡¯s a bit cheeky using the birdshot anyway. 32.3 seconds, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°If there is a buckshot hidden there¡­¡± he said.


    ¡°Hah! I won¡¯t find a loophole this time, you¡¯ll still lose though.¡± I said confidently.


    He snorted with disdain.


    We reset the targets and he handed me his shotgun. It¡¯s a 7+1 tube magazine, so Iid the slugs neatly on the table, just a finger¡¯s width apart so that I could grab four at a time. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Shooter ready?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Always.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Stand by¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Hoo~¡± I exhaled.


    ¡°Go!¡± she shouted.


    *beep*


    When I heard the timer beep, I quickly aimed up and I unloaded each one. The shotgun resounded throughout the open area and good thing is that everyone is wearing protection gear for their eyes and ears or else they would have hearing problems.


    I aimed first at the 8 tes and it fell one by one. Then to the poles and then to the human-shaped targets. When I fired the 16th shot, I grabbed thest two slugs from the table and I immediately fired the first one. The only target that¡¯s left is in the middle but I would paused after every pump that I made by a short moment. The pause was barely noticeable and you¡¯d only know if you¡¯re familiar with my rhythm.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Kaley said from behind.


    ¡°27¡­ 28¡­-¡± I counted in my head and then I pulled the trigger.


    *BOOM*


    The group was confused at the pause at first but the only one who immediately understood what I did was Tatiana.


    ¡°Time?¡± I asked with the expression I did before.


    She is wearing a helpless smile then she shook her head and said, ¡°2-28.2¡­¡±


    ¡°Woah!¡±


    ¡°That was too close forfort!¡±


    ¡°Why did he pause for a bit though?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Pressure, of course. You need to make thest shot hit.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Is that so¡­¡±


    ¡°That was still awesome though!¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°Are we gonna still practice though¡­?¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k the practice! I¡¯d like to try as well! Wait, that doesn¡¯t make any sense¡­ f.u.c.k it!¡±


    ¡°This is just a show of strength to get our blood pumping! Like when we trained in CCW.¡±


    ¡°Right, right. I remembered that.¡±


    I give a faint smile and then I cleared the chamber and handed the shotgun to Kaley¡¯s dad.


    ¡°Looks like I got lucky! This is a great gun!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°F.U.C.K! That was too close! Fine! The equipment there is still mine though! I¡¯ll get it back soon! Just leave it there for the moment!¡± he eximed as he gave me a set of keys.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t notice huh?¡± I said to myself but as I looked around, Kaley, Marisha, Jared, Lois, Daisy, Jay and Nicole had solemn expressions.


    ¡°These people have good eyes.¡± I said to myself as I winked at Kaley.


    ¡°Show off.¡± she mouthed at me as I shrugged my shoulders.


    I asked someone to reset the targets once more and I noticed that the group I was about to teach has excited faces.


    ¡°The little bet actually fired them up huh? Too bad that we¡¯re always starting on a lecture first.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Are we gonna do the same thing you guys did?¡± Lois asked with gleaming eyes. <hr>


    ¡°Of course, but we¡¯ll do a short lecture first.¡± I exined as the gleam slightly fades the same as everyone else except Esther.


    ¡°I really need to introduce her to somebody.¡± I said to myself.


    I grabbed each of the bullets that I brought out and Iid each one in front of the group. Iid a .22, a 9mm, a .45 ACP, a .38, and a .357 magnum. I exined each one and though I have more different kinds, I only showed them what the others looked like but the focus will be on the moremon ones.


    ¡°See these two pistols here? They are both 1911s but they are chambered differently. One is for the 9mm and the other one is for the .45 ACP.¡± I said.


    ¡°How do we know which gun uses which round then?¡± Dong asked.


    ¡°Check the sidebel on your M9 that I gave you. What does it say?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hmm, oh! It says 9mm here.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Okay, then you could load a 9mm round there like we always do.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What would happen if you use a different round then? Will it explode?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°In some cases, it will. That¡¯s why we need to be very careful.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What are the other cases then?¡± he asked a follow-up question.


    ¡°Wait here, let me get this .380 ACP.¡± I said as I pulled a smaller round than the 9mm.


    ¡°This is much smaller right? But take a look at this.¡± I said as I loaded a round of 9mm in the mag and that .380 ACP next then I ced another 9mm one on top of it. I pulled the slide to ce a round in the chamber and then I shot it at one of the targets.


    *ba*ting*


    The shot hit the target while the slide sessfully loaded another round in the chamber when it got pushed back.


    ¡°Okay, the .380 is now in the chamber, watch what happens.¡± I said as I aimed at the targets again.


    *ba*ting* <hr>


    ¡°It works!¡± Russel eximed.


    ¡°It¡¯s much quieter though.¡± Lois said.


    ¡°It¡¯s because it¡¯s shorter and has less gunpowder inside. However, this is where you could see the problem.¡± I pulled the slide over and I let them look at the chamber.


    ¡°Hmm? Why is there no round there?¡± Jay asked.


    ¡°Is it because of the smaller round?¡± Daisy asked as well.


    ¡°Yeah, it could definitely shoot a round but the power it gives is not enough to slide it all the way. So, what happens is that it can¡¯t chamber another round. You would need to slide it manually again so the 9mm round will load into the chamber. There are a few more instances of this but let¡¯s leave it at that for now and let¡¯s start on shooting practice. The rest of you seemed eager to try what we did earlier so I¡¯ll give you all 3 magazines worth of ammo, it has different capacities so let¡¯s just say 30 rounds each. Try it normally the first time, then try do it much quicker than you can like we did. Thenstly, do it normally again to get the proper feel of it before we stop. We¡¯ll go one by one again and we¡¯ll analyze what the person did. Let¡¯s be critical in our observation and don¡¯t hesitate to ask questions.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Wait! Can I try as well?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Well, you brought your own gun so have at it first. Trying to put pressure on the others, eh?¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, somewhat. I kinda want to see my best time as well.¡± He said.


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯ll never beat me in speed and uracy though¡­¡± Lois said from the back.


    ¡°Try to shoot something from 500 yards before you say anything to me okay? You¡¯re just a bit faster but I definitely could shoot farther.¡± Jared chuckled.


    ¡°Well you trained for it; this is talent¡­ talent I tell you.¡± Lois said as he waved his hands around.


    ¡°What? Making your finger twitch?¡± Jared retorted.


    ¡°It¡¯s more to it than that you know. Our times will actually tell who¡¯s better in this case!¡± Lois rebutted.


    The two kept on bantering on while the rest prepared the guns that they would use. The two are now pushing each other to see who would go first on the table.


    ¡°Just freakin¡¯ toss a coin yeah?¡± I said to the two.


    ¡°I definitely should separate these two when we practice. However, it¡¯s a healthypetition¡­ it just takes too long before they start.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 102

    Chapter 102: 102


    The two finally decided on who would go first. Just as Lois was about to get ready, I saw Daisy walking up to the table and raising a 1911. Tatiana reacted and started the timer. When the beep sounded, she took a bit of time on each target but she hit them all nheless. It took her about 2 minutes to hit everything properly. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm, her uracy is on point but we need to work on her positioning after she unload each round. As you can see from her performance, each time she pulls the trigger, she would lower the gun a bit and reset her aim. Doing that would cost you a few seconds if you do it everytime you take a shot. Just keep your grip firm and your arms steady so when the recoil hits, the sights are not very far from the target or would still be in the same ce. If you continue on with that, you could definitely increase your speed.¡± I exined.


    She then tried on shooting much faster on the next magazine. Well, she definitely shot much faster but the uracy sharply fell. Some shots just blew off the soil when she missed while the targets just stood still. She ran out of bullets before she managed to hit everything this time. Thest try was kinda the same as the first try but after sheposed herself, she actually managed to shave a few seconds off her record. I gave an approving look while the rest did as well.


    ¡°Good job.¡± Jay said.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± She replied.


    The two who were squabbling earlier took their turns and Lois beat his older brother by a few seconds. It¡¯s understandable since Jared is more proficient in rifles. Well, the two doesn¡¯t care about that since they only cared about who¡¯s gonna beat who.


    The other¡¯s times hovered around a few minutes on the first mag, 30 seconds to a minute in the second mag and in the middle of both times when they tried the third time.


    Just as we were about to finish the lesson, Kaley walked up to me shyly and was seemed to avoid eye contact.


    ¡°What is with her now?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Want to try as well?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I brought the CZ that you gave me. Might as well try it right?¡± she fidgets.


    ¡°Are you still sleepy? Do you have a cold? Why are you a bit red?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Not important, it¡¯s nothing¡­¡± she said as she walked towards the table. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Kid, you gave her that gun? That looks really cool. But that doesn¡¯t mean that I like it or anything.¡± I heard Matthew from behind.


    ¡°Great, another old dude calling me ¡®kid¡¯.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Yeah, you a CZ guy? Glocks are the best though; I also gave her an AR-15 and my wakizashi.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Good, that¡¯s good. I don¡¯t know what a wakamadingdong is but I bet it¡¯s good.¡± He said while nodding.


    ¡°This old dude¡­¡± I sighed helplessly in my head.


    ¡°A re gun too¡­¡± I added.


    ¡°Good, good¡­ not that she needs help though.¡± He said proudly while nodding.


    ¡°And a couple of grenades¡­¡± I added once more.


    ¡°Goo- Grck! A WHAT?! KID?! A F.U.C.K.I.N.G GRENADE?!¡± he almost choked and died at the same time.


    ¡°Shh! Be quiet!¡± Kaley and Marisha eximed.


    ¡°Oh, sorry dear. Continue, continue.¡± he said sheepishly.


    ¡°Shooter ready?¡± Tatiana said. <hr>


    Kaley nodded.


    ¡°Standby.¡± Tatiana said.


    Kaley exhaled.


    ¡°Go!¡± Tatiana shouted then the timer beeped.


    Kaley pulled the CZ P-09 from her holster and she aimed at the human-shaped targets first. Five suppressed gunshots rang out though the steel targets still rang out at the same time. All of the shots hit the head almost dead-center.


    ¡°Damn. She¡¯s improving much quicker than I thought.¡± I said to myself.


    She breezed through the other targets and we just saw thest te falling down.


    ¡°26 seconds.¡± Tatiana said with a smile.


    *whistle*


    The crowd gave ted expressions since most the people in the group I was teaching were still in the beginner stages. Kaley, Jared and Lois¡¯s performances are the ones worth watching since they¡¯ve already grasped the next level of speed and uracy.


    ¡°Good job. You grasped speed in this few days. You beat everyone here except me. A few more days and you could catch up to me. If you aim next time, since you¡¯re right-handed, go from left to right rather than right to left. Aiming that way would be easier, trust me.¡± I praised.


    ¡°Thanks! Stop lying, the few seconds to bridge the gap between you and me would take longer than a few days!¡± she eximed though she¡¯s smiling. She still avoided eye contact from time to time though. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! I can¡¯t really figure out how you do that. Anyway! Good job everyone! Free time from this point onwards.¡± I said.


    We cleaned up the area by cing the targets inside the covered court and picking up the casings that are littered on the ground next to the table. I left the lead bits on the other side alone for now since I didn¡¯t bring the sifter I have at home.


    We then headed back to thepound while we saw the barn had a roof now and some of the cows woulde inside to take a seat or just graze on that plot ofnd. The only thing missing from that is the doors, windows and the paint.


    ¡°Good thing they also brought a lot of hay from where they found the cows. Good thing there¡¯s a single bull there so they could reproduce in the future.¡± I said to myself.


    It¡¯s almost 6:00 PM, the new time-slot for the broadcast. We went to the living room and Kaley sat next to me. It wasn¡¯t even a few seconds and a huge figure blurred my vision and pushed me aside.


    ¡°Excuse me, excuse me¡­¡± Matthew sat in the middle of us two.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I said to myself.


    *ng*


    ¡°Ow! Marisha?! Where are you getting those pans?!¡± Matthew rubbed his head.


    ¡°Move away from those and sit next to your wife!¡± she eximed.


    He sheepishly moved away from us but he still threw me a re. Olivia sat next to them and she really looked happier now. I spun his keys in front of him to tick him off even more.


    ¡°You little¡­ I swear I¡¯ll get that back from you.¡± He said sternly as he sat down next to his wife. <hr>


    I smirked and I said, ¡°Hah! Kaley, I have a present for you. It¡¯s a dented camper though, it has a lot of damage even I would take a long time fixing but I worked hard on it. Everything inside is yours now.¡±


    I handed her the keys to his dad¡¯s camper then his dad grew more furious. She began tough hysterically seeing his dad get fl.u.s.tered while her mom is trying to calm her husband down.


    The broadcast finally started and then we all quieted down. It¡¯s all the same updates but they mentioned that they are urgently looking for the special ones especially the sentries that we found. Since all the samples that they have has been dissected and studied already. They don¡¯t have intact samples except for the normal ones that are very easy to acquire.


    ¡°Hmm, is that the true story though.¡± I said to myself.


    The ce they were in is very secure and you could see footage from their helicopter that a wall is currently being built around the portion of the city that they are upying.


    ¡°That is dangerous, why are they covering it whole?¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? Why is that dangerous? Isn¡¯t it safer too build a wall around the city?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Have you yed COC before?¡± I asked back.


    ¡°Hmm, I think I have. It¡¯s a building game while you fight with other people or something right?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, something like that. My point is, it is dangerous to build a huge one like that. Well, maybe that is the first thing that they are doing but it would be better to have more sectors by each block to have a fail-safe like what I did with my base back then.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Why though? The whole ce is already secure.¡± She replied.


    ¡°My problem with that is if the gates got breached. It¡¯s another cleanup procedure again and they would have to check it whole. They would have to work fast to finish that wall in case something unexpected happens. That¡¯s why in here, we always have guards at our fence and we always secure our gate and the other gates as well. We don¡¯t know what might happen if we let them open all the time. Last thing we want is a breach and we start all over again.¡± I said.


    ¡°We might have to disturb your friend on your old house kid. We have more people now so we could increase our territory by a bit.¡± Oscar said.

 Chapter 103

    Chapter 103: 103


    ¡°Yeah, clearing this ce every morning helps. Jay could guard the people building a fence like we have at the end of our wall then.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Why do we keep on building fences? When will we make a gate like we have here?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Well, the n is to make a huge gate at the elementary school and on the end of the 1st road. We¡¯d seal a corner of the wall on a tight alley after the water station since it could also lead to this ce. But we proceed there gradually, let¡¯s focus on building a fence at my old house that connects with the 3rd road. Let¡¯s talk about thister in the meetingter, we¡¯ll head to the gym first.¡± I said.


    Me and Kaley headed to our room but I swear I heard someone following us then I heard a ng after.


    ¡°That¡¯s weird, did you hear that?¡± I asked Kaley.


    ¡°Hmm? What?¡± she seemed startled.


    ¡°I think I heard a ng somewhere¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°My hearing is not as superhuman as yours okay? It¡¯s probably mom.¡± she smiled.


    I shook it off and we closed the door.


    ¡°Something on your mind?¡± I asked while I looked at her.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing¡­ I¡¯m just really happy.¡± she said.


    ¡°Oh, since your parents are here, right? They¡¯re really still the same as back then.¡± I said while I opened the cab to get another set of clothes.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ that too. What happened when I left the room then?¡± she asked with a fidget.


    I gave an exaggerated-disgruntled expression and said, ¡°After you left me there alone to fend for myself? Hah! Not gonna tell you! That¡¯s punishment!¡±


    She pouted then I ruffled her hair but there¡¯s a faint blush hidden under her expression.


    ¡°Stop ruining my hair!¡± she hissed as she tries to fix it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hah! Let¡¯s just say that I¡¯m really an idiot when ites to some things¡­ she talked a few times while I just mostly listened.¡± I said as I changed my shirt.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was silent but I can¡¯t see her from this angle now.


    She hugged me from behind before I managed to put my new shirt on. It¡¯s just on my arms and I wasn¡¯t even able to ce it over my head.


    *footsteps*


    *crash*


    ¡°AHA! What are you doing to my daughter?!¡± The door busted open and I heard Matthew¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Matthew James Payan! Stop disturbing those two!¡± I heard Marisha next to him.


    I looked behind and both of Kaley¡¯s parents and Olivia are staring at the two of us while I don¡¯t have my shirt on while Kaley¡¯s hugging me from behind. I had a thought in my head and I smirked internally.


    ¡°Help~! Help~! She¡¯s been doing things to me ever since I- OW!¡± I tried to do something but Kaley pinched my ear that¡¯s still healing from the hook.


    ¡°Why are you half-n.a.k.e.d!¡± Matthew shouted.


    ¡°Changing clothes.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I can do what I want dad, and you should knock on the door before you open it. Didn¡¯t you teach that to us before?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Umm, ah- I- uh- I¡¯m just checking¡­ you know. Something¡­¡± he stammers.


    ¡°We¡¯re just changing clothes since we¡¯ll be doing our daily workout. I suggest youe too dad to get rid of that belly of yours. Mom is still in shape while you¡¯re starting to let yourself go.¡± Kaley snarkily said.


    ¡°OHHHHH!!! You just got burned Mr. Matthew!¡± I shouted in my head but I let out a small chuckle. <hr>


    ¡°What?! I¡¯m just a little¡­ husky. Besides, your mom likes me like this, right? Right? Ri¡­ght?¡± he turned to his wife.


    ¡°Nope. I miss those days¡­ Not everyone likes dad bods as the news says¡­ Why do I even try¡­¡± Mrs. Marisha said as she walked towards Olivia¡¯s room.


    ¡°W-wait! Why didn¡¯t you tell me-¡± he tried to stop her but the door closes.


    ¡°You just got burned dad.¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus added.


    ¡°Oh! Whose dog is this?! It¡¯s so¡­ so¡­¡± Matthew trailed.


    ¡°Just say cute dad, his name¡¯s Zeus. Your self-imposed manliness wouldn¡¯t dissipate if you call something what it is¡­¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°¡­! Hmm! Well then, it really is¡­ c-cute¡­¡± he stuttered while the twoughed hysterically.


    ¡°Why is the image of Mr. Matthew from the first time I met him slowly disappearing?¡± I asked myself.


    He disappeared to Olivia¡¯s room, well, their room now and we headed to the gym upstairs. Tatiana was already waiting for Kaley and then Matthew followed after then I started my daily workout. It¡¯s very uneventful but seeing Kaley¡¯s dad do crunches in a corner is very amusing. He finished much earlier than us and he went down. I sparred with Tatiana again and I definitely studied her techniques.


    ¡°Some of them are not taught from the Army. At least as far as I know.¡± I said to myself.


    I found a counter for that technique though, more speed. I prefer control over everything else but as they say in the martial world, speed trumps everything. No matter how strong or weird your technique is, if you can¡¯t connect it, it doesn¡¯t matter. No one held the mitts today and we both wore gloves though they are the more padded ones. When I¡¯m slowly getting used to them, she noticed and immediately used her feet.


    *whoosh*


    I tilted my head to avoid it and I threw a confused look at her. She grins while she puts her guard down.


    ¡°Kaley gave me a tip. It¡¯s to never let you focus on me too much. She said that you have a way of looking at people that lets you analyze them bit by bit.¡± She smirked. <hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s for not telling me what my mom said to you earlier¡­¡± I heard Kaley mutter.


    ¡°What?!¡± I eximed.


    *whoosh*


    She threw another kick at me but I followed her movements and I jumped as well. I caught her leg in the air and I managed to lock her ankle before we hit the ground. I could instinctively feel that she could remove herself from the lock though a bit difficult but she gave up.


    *tap* *tap* *tap*


    She tapped my leg and then I let go.


    ¡°You know locks too, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°I dabble.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re really getting me more interested in you.¡± she said with a smile.


    ¡°Hah! I told you I¡¯m with Kaley already.¡± I shrugged my shoulders.


    ¡°I am too. I think I¡¯m slowly finding more about her. She¡¯s really hiding something, but what is it? I could only hope that her aim here is not something bad. If I started to rattle that cage, it would be dangerous to the group since I¡¯m still in the dark about her.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Can¡¯t hurt to ask, correct?¡± she replied as she threw a roundhouse kick.


    When her right foot is about tond after I blocked it, I quickly slid my left foot to where it wouldnd to throw her off-bnce. We¡¯re just barefoot so I didn¡¯t mind getting stepped on.


    *slide*


    She was caught off-guard for a brief second so I threw a right body blow to her left side since my left foot gave the momentum to do so. She immediately lowered her elbow to block it but her foot stepping on mine got thrown off since I kicked with my left to throw her off-bnce again. I only need a small opening and her standing on one foot is enough of an advantage. <hr>


    I clenched my toe on my right foot and applied power on my body blow.


    *clench*


    *THUD*


    She lost bnce and she almost fell but she steadied herself since she jumped back to lessen the force of the blow.


    ¡°I yield, let¡¯s stop for now.¡± she said.


    ¡°Hah! Let¡¯s just end the spar for now then, it¡¯s almost dinner.¡± I replied with a smile.


    Kaley finished her workout as well and I could subtly notice the difference from her physique. We three showered again and we headed down to eat dinner with everyone.


    We had a hearty noodle soup tonight with vegetables but what surprised me is the smoked boar on the side. Turns out, Matthew hunted a few of them and other animals and he smoked them there and was stored properly. They brought several pounds of meat that is ready for eating.


    ¡°This is good!¡± I told them.


    ¡°Hah! You won¡¯t tter me with those words.¡± he retorted as he pats Zeus in the head. He seems to be liking Zeus the same with Olivia.


    ¡°Ohoh~? Zeus,e here.¡± I said.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus responded and he stood guard on my side.


    ¡°That¡¯s not fair!¡± he shouted while everybodyughs.


    ¡°It¡¯s his dog dad, what can you do?¡± Olivia said.


    We finished eating and then we prepared for the meeting.


    ¡°Before we start, I¡¯d like you all to wee Kaley and Olivia¡¯s parents Mr. Matthew and Mrs. Marisha. Huge thanks to them for bringing that smoked meat, damn, that was so good! Can you two introduce yourselves for a bit?¡± I said.

 Chapter 104

    Chapter 104: 104


    ¡°Well, my husband is a little shy so I¡¯ll introduce him. His name is Matthew James Payan. 47 years old and he¡¯s British-Filipino unlike me who¡¯s a purebred Filipina and my name is Marisha Ann Payan. My husband is a Photographer though he likes to hunt game when we camp around and I¡¯m a Psychology Professor. Well, used to be, considering the circ.u.mstances now. That¡¯s about it and I¡¯d like to keep more of our storiester because I might run out in the future.¡± she gracefully said with a smile. <center></center><hr>


    They sat down as a few close to them that haven¡¯t introduced themselves greeted them as well.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s start the meeting now.¡± I said.


    We discussed about the food situation first. Everything is still brimming and it¡¯s still continuing to increase from the scavenging missions from before and from our farms and animals. Add to that the haul that Kaley¡¯s parents brought. Charlotte has nted a few seedlings outside the farm area that we built before. Some of them are green onions, lettuce, baby carrots, spinach and peas. We still get daily eggs and milk from the animals and we concluded that part of the discussion.


    We next discussed about the building phase. Anthony made a small smelter like he told us and he actually hooked a propane tank on it and he started on melting a few scrap metals like aluminum to small cylindrical blocks. He showed me a few of them and he said that we could melt it again if we want to use it but we need some sort of mold if we want to make something out of it. The problem with this small foundry is like the description says, it¡¯s small. He¡¯s now writing up a blueprint to make somethingrger for us. The barn was discussed shortly as well as the SUV.


    Before we moved to another topic, Ken approached me.


    ¡°Hey man, check this thing that I¡¯m working out on while I watch the CCTVs.¡± he said to me.


    ¡°You¡¯re making our own server here, right? With this setup, we could also reach the other houses with this. We might need to start small though. Nevertheless, this is great.¡± I replied.


    ¡°The problem with this is we need the hardware for this setup. This is not in a rush, just ce this thing in the back burner.¡± he exined.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. We could get the hardware for this at a mall in the Bcan area but going there is a bad idea for now. Well, we just need a dedicated PC first but I would like to grab th-¡± I got cut off.


    ¡°Hey, in English nerds?¡± Oscar interrupted.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say that we¡¯re bringing back a small version of the Inte. To be precise a few things that we¡¯ve saved over the years. I had several drives in storage that not only contains manuals and instructional videos, it contains every little bit of what we have before: Music, Art, Movies, Books, Novels, Comics, Photos and etc. There are much more in the drives I got but if we start small, we could at least catch a break by seeing what we have before or learn new stuff by yourselves since I can¡¯t teach everyone all the time.¡± I said with an excited smile. <center></center><hr>


    Everyone¡¯s grew excited when they understood what we two are trying to do.


    ¡°How much have you stored in your drives then? I only brought about 20 Terabytes worth.¡± Ken asked.


    ¡°Hah! Definitely much more than what you brought. We¡¯ll talk about thister. Good job man!¡± I gave him a fist bump.


    ¡°Anytime man.¡± he replied.


    Lastly, we talked about increasing out territory for a bit. I assigned Oscar to lead that group. It¡¯s only up to my old house though there will be lots of houses to check first since the houses on that part are more squeezed together and there is another squatter area that needed to be taken care of. The priority is to build the fence first then clear the area after. I¡¯m probably gonna get Jude to stretch his bones since he will be guarding the group that would make the fence. After a few questions that are easily answered, we ended the meeting.


    After we ended the meeting Oscar approached me.


    ¡°Kid, you owe me.¡± he said.


    ¡°Hmm? What are you talking about?¡± I was confused.


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯ll see tomorrow, but remember, you owe me.¡± he said with a grin.


    ¡°C¡¯mon old man! You know I need to know this sort of things before I sleep! You¡¯ll keep me awake all night!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Hah! Nevermind that, but yeah, you owe me.¡± he said as he walked inside his house. <hr>


    My scalp started to itch now as I started to scratch it furiously.


    ¡°This old man, what did he do now?¡± I asked myself.


    I went ahead to my room and Kaley followed from behind.


    ¡°Hey, I thought you were gonna sleep with your parents today?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, I already did this afternoon with mom. It¡¯s really nice having them here. Besides, if we all slept in the same bed it would be catastrophic since I move a lot.¡± She said.


    ¡°I never really noticed though; you¡¯ve never hit me once in your sleep. The only time I remember you moving is when Olivia slept with us when we watched a horror film.¡± I said.


    ¡°Really? Olivia would always say that I would sometimes punch her¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Hah! Maybe because you¡¯re always hugging me when we sleep? Do you like my smell or something? Maybe, you¡¯re just so in love with me you¡¯re not able to subconciously?¡± I joked.


    She tried to flick my ear with the wound but I immediately avoided it. Her smile when she¡¯s a bit angry is a view I can¡¯t get enough of.


    ¡°I¡¯m joking! I¡¯m joking!¡± I said as she chases me.


    We changed to morefortable clothes after we cleaned the guns that we used earlier. <hr>


    ¡°Hey, can we watch a movie before we sleep?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Sure, what do you like to watc- wait. I¡¯ll just pick randomly¡­ we¡¯ll take hours before you pick one.¡± I said as she giggles.


    We we¡¯re sitting upright on the bed while I leaned my back to the wall. I was hugging her from behind while she held my hand under the nkets. The temperature lowers because of the air conditioner so I hugged her closer. I could smell her hair and I could feel the warmth of her body. Itforts me as I hug her as I feel a bit drowsy already.


    The movie that yed was a ssic animation from Hayao Miyazaki. I was surprised to learn that this was her first time watching ¡®H¡¯s Moving Castle¡¯. She was captivated by how beautiful it was made and she barely spoke since she¡¯s so focused into it.


    ¡°That was really beautiful.¡± She said.


    ¡°The person who made this has a lot more movies like this and it¡¯s all good.¡± I said.


    She smiled then she gave me a quick kiss. We slept soundly while the night quickly passes.


    I woke up a bit early and she¡¯s still sleeping. Her beautiful face is the first thing I see and I just stared at her. I slowly picked up my phone to take a picture of her and I made sure that the sh is off so she wouldn¡¯t wake up.


    It¡¯s still an hour before 6:00 AM so I went outside to check on the people watching the gate. It was Johnny, Jay and Matthew. They noticed me walking up the stairs to the catwalk so they greeted me while I pulled myself up from the usual spot that I always sat down to.


    ¡°Mornin¡¯ kid.¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°Morning too. How¡¯s the watch?¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s okay I guess. We barely use the guns now because of the fence. A quick thrust with a crowbar or something does the job.¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°How¡¯s your status on the other houses then?¡± I asked Jay and Johnny.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s manageable. We got rooms for everybody and it¡¯s morefortable than the one at Elsewhere. We got lucky on picking a good house. My wife likes the quiet and the sound of water since it calms her down.¡± Jay replied.


    ¡°Same with us. Moving away from your home is a very stressful thing to do. I installed some of the panels that you brought and the water tanks. We can¡¯t be too prepared, can we?¡± Johnny replied as well.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. How about you then? Slept well?¡± I asked Matthew.


    ¡°I never really get much sleep nowadays. How¡¯s my daughter that you took away from me doing?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Took away? Hah! She¡¯s still sleeping. I took a picture of her though.¡± I said as I showed him my phone.


    ¡°What?! Why would you do that you creep?! Delete that!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°Nope. I have more but I won¡¯t show you.¡± I replied as I immediately pocketed my phone.


    The two with us helplessly smiled while they watch us banter.


    ¡°Matthew, If I may?¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Matthew said.

 Chapter 105

    Chapter 105: 105


    ¡°Is there something wrong with this kid? You seem to not want your daughter to be with him. I heard from the people here that Sky actually saved her from the airport, right? He built this ce with Oscar too and he¡¯s running this ce really good. You¡¯ve been here just yesterday but it would make you want to protect this ce as well. I always see him keeping her close to him to keep her safe. He has his entricities but he¡¯s definitely a good match for anyone.¡± Johnny said with a solemn expression. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°No offense, but you wouldn¡¯t understand since you only have a son.¡± Matthew replied bluntly.


    ¡°¡­¡± Jay was silent but listening intently.


    ¡°Well I tried my best kid. But let me end on this then. I may not have a daughter but I got grandkids. Let me tell you, the first time you hold them is indescribable. It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s¡­ I can¡¯t find the words since it really is indescribable.¡± Johnny helplessly smiled.


    ¡°Umm, can I ask the two of you who had kids then? How do you prepare for that?¡± Jay asked the two.


    ¡°You don¡¯t.¡± The two answered at the same time.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Jay said in confusion. I nced at the two as well.


    ¡°Let me exin my side. You never really could prepare for that. Well, you can try but you¡¯ll never really be able to prepare for the whole thing. Every single day you would learn new stuff about how to take care of your kid and how precious they are. My wife did all the work though since I was deployed but I was there for a few months. All I could say is, if you really want to have kids, have them now if you both wished it. The sense of responsibility would naturallye to you and you¡¯d do everything you could to give what¡¯s best for them. A simple smile from them would wipe away any fatigue or stress that you¡¯re feeling. Well, that¡¯s my experience. I¡¯m afraid I couldn¡¯t say the same for everybody.¡± Johnny said after drinking a cup of coffee. He smelled the aroma and he gave a long sigh.


    ¡°When Kaley was born, I was still in the mountains. I was trying to make the perfect shot of a bird that I found and it took me a few days to get satisfied. I was off-grid too when my wife gave birth so I came home and no one was there. I called my wife but a nurse answered it and I immediately rushed to the hospital while I¡¯m still smelling like damp grass and soil. The first time Iid my eyes on my daughter I instinctively shot a picture. On a technical standpoint, it is one of the worst shots that I ever made but to me, that was the final shot that I was looking for. I never really was ready for it but seeing her there with my wife ce a great sense of responsibility to my shoulders. I can¡¯t really exin it but it¡¯s the same with you when you said that you felt that you¡¯d do everything.¡± Matthew said earnestly.


    Me and Jay listened intently at the two.


    ¡°My wife and I has really been thinking of having a baby but we always second guess ourselves if we could really pull it off. I¡¯ll put your words at heart in the future if we decided.¡± Jay said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I think I agree with both of you guys but we need to consider the state we are in now. This is something very new to us and I think having kids right this time where we¡¯re not yet sure in how this thing ys out is a bit dangerous in my opinion. Maybe when we got a proper foothold on this thing or something. Matthew If Kaley and I-¡± I was about to say something but he cuts me off.


    ¡°Nope! That will never happen! I¡¯m not listening! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA!¡± he shouted to drown the sound.


    ¡°A stubborn guy indeed. I really need to pull my sleeves on this guy.¡± I said to myself while Jay and Johnny once again gave helpless smiles.


    ¡°Hah! Nevermind then, it¡¯s a nice story that you two told us. Your shouting actually attracted a few, just sit down there and let me handle it.¡± I said as I jumped down the other side and I drew my katana. There are four zombies outside the fence so I quickly dispatched them.


    I just thrusted the katana in the gaps avable and they fell like ragdolls one by one. I dragged them to the corner where we burn them while Johnny is giving me cover. I never burned them there, I just ced them there since a group will be clearing a few of them when the morninges. I went back the wall and pulled myself up with the rope and I once again sat like a cat on top of it.


    ¡°You¡¯re like a ninja or something you know that?¡± Jay said.


    ¡°Thanks!¡± I replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re really good at everything don¡¯t you?¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°Somewhat. I just dabbled on a lot of things. I¡¯m very good at this thing here the most though much less in this.¡± I said as I tapped my temple and then to my chest.


    ¡°Really? I think you most of all have figured this thing out.¡± Jay remarked.


    ¡°Well, things have happened before that made me who I am. I can wish that didn¡¯t ever happen but I wouldn¡¯t be me now if it never did. If it never happened, I¡¯d be one of the people immediately dead and roaming around as a sack of flesh.¡± I said solemnly. <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± Matthew was even more silent now since he knows my story.


    *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*


    The fence shook violently and we four are startled. We immediately drew our weapons looked at the fence and then we went down. The fence has now bits of flesh on our side and three of them have their flesh having a pattern of the fence carved violently on their bodies since they rammed it with full force.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k are those?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°We call them sprinters. They always run at full speed when they notice something. Good thing unc fortified the gate and it didn¡¯t fall of when they crashed into it.¡± I said.


    The sprinters now have their hands on the fence as one slowly try to climb over it but never manages to. The two are just staring at us, snarling and trying to shake the fence off. I observed the three first but Johnny took care of one that is closest to him.


    *shhck*


    ¡°What are you looking at them for? We kill these things if they are close.¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, just checking if we could find out more about these things.¡± I said.


    ¡°They just run fast right? They¡¯re probably not the irregr ones that Oscar talked about before.¡± Jay said. <hr>


    ¡°No, we could find a lot about a person or a zombie just by observing them. Look at this female zombie. She¡¯s wearing a uniform for ¡®Romantic Baboy¡¯ weird, right? This guy that you killed is from Meycauayan, he¡¯s wearing a school uniform for the college there.¡± I exined.


    ¡°How is that weird?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°The college I¡¯m talking about is from the Bcan Area while this other uniform in a Korean ce is from Karuhatan, it¡¯s way past South Supermarket where I picked An at. Let¡¯s kill them first before moree.¡± I said as we easily dispose of them.


    When we get back to the catwalk, I continued.


    ¡°Those are from different ces and they converged here.¡± I said.


    ¡°Is it the head?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°Impossible, why would it go here if the head is at my old house?¡± I exined.


    ¡°Then why did they meet up ande here?¡± they asked.


    ¡°I dunno.¡± I replied innocently.


    ¡°¡­¡± the three.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know everything you know. I just find it weird, not everything could be exined by their uniforms. They could just be eating in that ce where it happened or something.¡± I said helplessly. <hr>


    ¡°Then don¡¯t sound all mysterious then!¡± Matthew eximed.


    ¡°They came here because of you alright? If you kept on shouting in the early morning, you¡¯d attract more than normal.¡± I said.


    ¡°Huh? Why?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Everything is much quieter, right? Our noise would travel much further if we made a lot of noise when everything is quiet.¡± I said.


    We talked for a while until the sun rises and our stomachs grumble from the smell of the food being cooked. They handed me the guns that they use for watching the gate and I headed to my room to ce them back. I started to wake everyone in my house since it¡¯s time to eat.


    Closing the armory¡¯s door woke Kaley and she¡¯s still lying on the bed while she rubs her eyes. Her clothes are slightly loose so her chest area shows a deep ravine where I can¡¯t see the bottom.


    ¡°Tatiana¡¯s training is really paying off and results are quickly showing. Her body is more toned and her leg muscles are slowly taking shape.¡± I said to myself.


    She got up and she saw me staring at her.


    ¡°Like the view?¡± she teased.


    ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t know yet, there¡¯s still some fabric blocking all of it. The face is beautiful as always though since I could see it clearly.¡± I said while still staring at her. She¡¯s wearing a loose white t-shirt and gray shorts.

 Chapter 106

    Chapter 106: 106


    She harrumphed cutely though she yawned after. I smiled and as I was about to hand her gear, she spread her legs apart like it¡¯s amon thing. She made a split in the bed and sheid her head down the bed while still doing it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°How¡¯s this though? Much better?¡± she said with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was speechless but I couldn¡¯t stare away.


    She giggled and said, ¡°Well, I need to stretch my legs everyday and since my trainer is not here, I figured that you could help me out.¡±


    ¡°What do I need to do then, hmm?¡± I said while I walk closer to her.


    ¡°Nothing much, I need to work more on my flexibility, I may need a hand to slowly stretch my legs though¡­¡± she said seductively.


    ¡°Oh? I can do that, where do you want me to ce them then?¡± I asked.


    She held my hands while I kneel down and she ced it on her calves first.


    ¡°Okay, just slowly put pressure on it¡­¡± she said.


    I did as I was told while she moves her hands under her head. Her twin peaks almost obstructed her face from me looking at her from below.


    ¡°Go a bit closer now¡­¡± she whispered. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Here?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°What do I do next?¡±


    ¡°Massage them for a bit then¡­¡±


    I¡¯m now caressing her inner thighs while she slowly moves her h.i.p.s in a circr motion. I¡¯m slowly seeing a spot in the middle of her shorts where the gray color starting to darken from some substance under it. Her hand then went inside her shorts while my face is directly in front of it. I could hear the sounds of her hands going all around inside her then she closed her legs and I heard her whisper.


    ¡°Pull it off¡­¡± she said.


    I pulled her shorts off slowly and I could see her hands still inside her while she twirls a small nub around with her thumb. I¡¯m so engrossed at what I¡¯m looking at and I could feel the excitement in my body filling up. I was about to devour her but she stopped me.


    ¡°Just watch me.¡± she said as she opened her legs wide again. She¡¯s ying with herself while she lets me watch her. We just kept on maintaining eye contact then she licked her fingers while her other hand went inside her shirt. Her other hand went back to where it was before and she¡¯s moving her hands more vigorously.


    ¡°Let me watch you too¡­¡± she said as she looked at me after she paused.


    Iplied and then I undressed. Her head is rested on a pillow while I was kneeling in front of her ying with ourselves. The tension is slowly rising and we continued on. She smiled wickedly and she is biting her lower lip while the sound I¡¯m hearing from her makes me crazy.


    She stopped my hand and she ced it inside her while she ces hers around mine, gripping it tightly. Her insides are warm and slippery and I¡¯m looking at her reaction while I search for the right spot inside. When I reached somewhere, her hand gripping me tightened and the walls I¡¯m inside in did as well for a moment. I smirked at her while she blushes, I only moved around that spot while she tried her best to make me go first. Her knees started to buckle while her hand gripping me let go and she covered her mouth with it. She lets out a muffled cry while her eyes rolled over. I never stopped though and I kept on hitting the same spot over and over. Her hand not covering her mouth is on my wrist trying to remove my hold on her but she has no strength left to do so. I felt her release a warm substance a few momentster and then she twitches uncontrobly. She¡¯s panting heavily but when she catches her breath, it was reced by a euphoric smile and she looked at me with desire. <hr>


    ¡°You little¡­¡± she said while she pushed me down and took over. She rode me while her elbows are tucked in her h.i.p.s and her fists are closed and pointed up. She¡¯s doing small jumps that would pull it right before the tip and wouldnd back with a bit of force in the base. The sight and the pleasure didn¡¯t make mest that long and I let it out outside. She kissed me after and I turned her over and we kissed intensely. My hands reached ces and we did another round. We just stared at each other¡¯s eyes then we cleaned up after a short break.


    ¡°We should do this stretching thing everyday, I never knew it would be this¡­ fun. Hah!¡± I teased.


    ¡°Hmph! Can¡¯t you just be quiet before you ruin the moment again?¡± she harrumphed though she¡¯s smiling by my side.


    ¡°Hah! I think we should head down now.¡± I said as we put clothes on.


    Almost everyone is gathered at the pool area and we saw them bringing a huge pot on one of the tables. Today, we have rice porridge with bits of meat topped with an egg, green onions and toasted garlic.


    ¡°Kid, I suggest you guard the people building the fenceter. I¡¯ll go outside and get what I was talking to you aboutst night. Besides, I¡¯m still a bit off-putted by Jude. He¡¯s so calm it scares me.¡± He said.


    ¡°Where do you n to go then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hah! It¡¯ll spoil the surprise! But remember, you owe me!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°You know I hate surprises old man.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Alright, alright. I think we could do Project Fishing, wait, I¡¯m sure we could do Project Fishing when I get back. Is there anything worth taking near the DDR camp?¡± he asked. <hr>


    ¡°Oh shit! Project Fishing?! I definitely owe you old man.¡± I said.


    ¡°Project fishing? What¡¯s that?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Heh, you¡¯ll seeter.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°At the front of the hospital is only a bank and a few residential areas. But before you reach it there¡¯s a few stores in there though I¡¯m not sure if they are still intact by this time. There¡¯s a dental clinic near a hardware store and there¡¯s a pharmacy right next to it as well. Oh! If you pass by the hardware store grab those huge PVCs in there. Maybe 20 pieces that are about 20 feet long. I¡¯ll teach Charlotte something today.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Charlotte said as she heard our conversation.


    ¡°Have you tried nting without using soil?¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! That¡¯s called hydroponies right?¡± An chimed.


    ¡°Pfft! No! Hydroponics, it¡¯s called Hydrophonics. I¡¯ll make the ce where you put them with the pipes and I¡¯ll teach you how to make the solution I cooked up myself. We¡¯ll only nt lettuces at first to get you a feel for it. How¡¯s your chemistry knowledge?¡± I said.


    ¡°Ah- I¡¯m slightly good at it but I haven¡¯t done this thing yet.¡± Charlotte said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good! I still have a few solutions left you could mimic. It¡¯s very easy if you get the hang of it. A few of the people here made my job easier so it¡¯s fine to learn something new. Just check the back part of the greenhouse where the blue tubes are under some of them.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! So that¡¯s what they are! I always grow confused when I see them so I always just observe them. I¡¯m scared to touch them in case I do something but your aunt would usually harvest them when they grow.¡± She said. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking of cing the pipes at the side of the greenhouse so we could maximize the extra space.¡± I said.


    We concluded the conversation and we finished eating.


    Oscar readied his group for a supply run while Jay readied his for a clearing run. I walked to the building where some of our building materials were with my uncle Zeidrick then Tatiana tapped me.


    ¡°Is it okay for me to lead the group to start on sweeping the houses from the 3rd road and the inside path before we reach your old house? You¡¯re nning on guarding the builders for now, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°I¡¯lle with her too and the rest of our group. You¡¯d probably be okay with your uncle¡¯s group building the fence, right?¡± Kaley chimed in.


    ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa. You¡¯re not going out! It¡¯s dangerous out there!¡± Matthew heard her daughter and he approached us.


    ¡°You¡¯d be surprised to see her in action.¡± I confidently said.


    ¡°Dad! I can handle myself. I¡¯ve been doing this for a while now, trust me will you?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Bah! I¡¯lle with you outside then just to be sure.¡± He said.


    Kaley let out a disgruntled sigh but I chose to let them squabble for now since I want to finish the fence as quickly as possible.


    ¡°Hmm? How about doing Project Kite as well?¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 107

    Chapter 107: 107


    I went with my uncle Zeidrick, Russel, Marco, Jimmy, Malong, Ian and Stanley to my old house with the materials that we needed. Jay¡¯s group cleared the area when we reached it and they are doing their rounds. They are driving with the small pedicab to haul the bodies that they dispatched to be burned in the cornerter. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s nice having people to delegate work to. Work around here is progressing very smoothly. Jay has a good head on his shoulders and can lead a few people. He suffered casualties before but that is because they don¡¯t have the proper tools to protect themselves and fight the dead.¡± I said to myself.


    I saw Jude¡¯s head popping out of the terrace in the second floor and he just raised his bowl of ramen.


    ¡°Jude! Can you go to your rooftop and offer eyes and protection to my group? They¡¯ll be sweeping the small area here while we¡¯ll be building a fence here. You can use the gun I gave you in the case now. You still remember how, right? Just shoot the ones in their blindspot when you see a few. They could handle themselves but we should always have a backup for everything.¡± I said.


    ¡°Ok.¡± He said emotionlessly while he disappears.


    ¡°Jude really is chill; I barely saw him with any emotion.¡± My uncle said.


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯ve never seen him with a gun yet? You¡¯d like him then. I discovered something from inside him when he discovered that I am a member at a range in Quezon City.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡± my uncle asked.


    Like clockwork, I heard a suppressed shot.


    *psshew*


    ¡°WHOOO!¡± A shout came from the rooftop.


    ¡°Who¡¯s that?!¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°Ric ir, no just kidding. It¡¯s Jude, he goes crazy when he holds his gun.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What?! That robot dude? What is the gun he¡¯s using then? It¡¯s super quiet. Much quieter than the AR that Kaley uses.¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a S&W M&P15-22 Sporting Rifle it¡¯s chambered in .22 and uses .22 Long Rifle rounds. I bought that gun for him since his body can¡¯t handle the recoil of a normal rifle. Lois haven¡¯t seen that yet but he¡¯ll definitely like that gun since he like the .22 as well.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh, the one like my gun, the watermajig? The .22 Long Rifle?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°Walther P22, at least get the name right. Yeah, it¡¯s much longer than the one in your Walther. That gun is suppressed and chambered in a low caliber round so that¡¯s why it¡¯s super quiet.¡± I exined.


    ¡°But I th-¡± he said while his dad interrupted him.


    ¡°Drill a hole ever there or I¡¯ll take that pistol of yours. Less talk, more work.¡± He said.


    ¡°Oh, f.u.c.k. Right, right, right¡­¡± he started on grabbing one of the drills to make a hole in the wall my old house¡¯s gate is and on the other side where another big house which is next to the bakery where Kaley practiced with her AR-15.


    I became the human radio since I sang a few songs while keeping guard and the young ones sang with me. Surprisingly, work production is increasing while listening to music. I read about that on an article once and it actually works. Jude would asionally shout and Jay¡¯s group would bring a pile of bodies every now and then while Kaley¡¯s group would bring a haul with the truck full of essential items. They never found new people here since they did a run around before at this vicinity.


    I grabbed my radio and called for Ken.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Project Kite man.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure, going in.¡±


    *bzzt*


    A few momentster a drone flew over us and when I looked at it from below, I saw a couple things attached to it. It¡¯s a small speaker hooked to a small music yer and he started to drove it around past the fence that we are making. The music yed and it was ying the most annoying song in my life. <hr>


    ¡°¡­never gonna give you up¡­ never gonna¡­¡± it resounded.


    I groaned first but I walked forward and drew my katana and waited.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Here theye dude, I brought 6 over. Is that enough?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah,, that¡¯s fine for now.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What are you doing bro?!¡± Russel eximed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t trust me yet? I could do a dozen easily. Just keep on working, this will be a trust exercise.¡± I replied with a smile.


    I walked forward once more and sliced horizontally. The figure lost its hairline and it flopped in the ground while I went for the other one. It has its arms up at first but an ¡®X¡¯ sh did the trick and I thrusted it forward to finish it after dismembering its hands. Two more areing side by side so I walked diagonally towards them so they would be in a line when they approach me.


    I circled around them first since the 5th one is much closer so I took care of it first with a diagonal sh from below. The de slices cleanly from its ear towards its scalp. ck curdling blood fell off and it made a fleshy sound when it hit the pavement.


    *psshew*


    Jude fired a shot towards the 3rd one that is beside the 4th one so I took care of the 3rd one by bisecting its head in half. I held the katana with both hands and struck down. It went straight through and it started to go diagonal when I¡¯m at its torso. Thest one just got sniped by Jude again so I wiped the blood from my katana as I made an upward nod to Jude, <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Dude, send in a few more.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay dude, wait a bit.¡±


    *bzzt*


    The building guys were weary at first but after a few times of doing the same thing, their worries of them diminished by a whole and they were able to work normally. Russel would get carried away and would almost pull his pistol out but a simple stare but his dad would make him work diligently,


    Oscar¡¯s group finally came back after a few hours and he¡¯s grinning from ear to ear. He showed me a sh drive as he drives by me. My eyes lit up and I gave him a small salute.


    ¡°Give that to Ken! He knows what to do.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure thing kid. I found a Makarov and a Smith and Wesson in the hardware store! Hah! Those pistols are mine!¡± He replied.


    ¡°Really? Still found more than you though. I¡¯m getting tired being at the top old man. Get those numbers up! Those are rookie numbers!¡± I joked.


    ¡°Bah! Just let me celebrate my discoveries!¡± he drove off as he grumbled and flipped me off when he¡¯s far.


    ¡°What are you guys talking about? Is Project Fishing a game copy?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°Hah! No, it is the list of everyone in the DDR camp here. Tie that to fishing and?¡± I trailed to wait for him to answer. <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna make them all fish?¡± he replied with a confused look.


    *thunk*


    His dad sunk a knuckle at the back of his head and he said, ¡°It¡¯s for recruiting people!¡±


    ¡°Oh~ why though?¡± he said while rubbing his head.


    ¡°I nned to have different people with different upations here. I like what we have here but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have more with a particr set of skills.¡± I said.


    ¡°Like what?¡± Marco was the one who asked now.


    ¡°Now? I¡¯d love to have old man Kaiseki here first and foremost. He¡¯s from another country though so it¡¯s a stretch. I sent an email to his son though. He¡¯s a cksmith and he could definitely improve our melee weapons. I¡¯d like a few specialized doctors too like dentists, physical therapists, nutritionists, surgeons and so much more. Farmers like Charlotte too and people like Derek who could take care of animals.¡± I said.


    ¡°How about more people that can fight though?¡± Russel asked though his hands are now moving while he works.


    ¡°Why? I¡¯m basically the Army.¡± I said as I made an exaggerated pose.


    ¡°Hah! Good answer.¡± Marco said.


    ¡°To be honest though, we have lots of people here that could fight and we actually have a few that actually served in the military and has firearms training. I could say that we pretty much covered the bases on people that we need but you¡¯re right we still need more people to secure this ce in the future who could fight.¡± I concluded.


    They screwed thest bolt in and we now have a singleyered fence made.


    ¡°We might need to dismantle a few motorcycles.¡± I muttered as we head back after I looked at the fences.


    ¡°Hmm? I had the same idea as you. We could make the gate both manually operated and machine operated to remove the risk of someone opening and closing the gate outside. One of your engineers can hook us up with that since I don¡¯t know how to do that. I¡¯m slowly learning watching Raphael work though. Oh yeah, you¡¯re making something right? I¡¯ll help.¡± He said to me.


    ¡°Oh, right. I could probably do a few preparations before lunch starts. I¡¯m gonna find the hole saw in the workshop.¡± I replied.

 Chapter 108

    Chapter 108: 108


    I saw the PVC being moved and I grabbed a few into the workshop while Charlotte and my uncle went with me. <center></center><hr>


    I checked the length of the PVC first and the greenhouse and 20 feet is perfect. I decided to make a rail system that hugs the walls of the greenhouse. It would wrap like a snake so I started on marking the spots on the PVC to cut a hole into.


    ¡°What are the holes for?¡± Charlotte asked.


    ¡°This is where we would put the cups where the nts will then be ced also. You could transfer some of the seedlings here that are ready.¡±


    My uncle fastened the PVCs first and I grabbed the hole saws and we started on cutting in them with him. We ced it over the PVC and then the circr saw that is angled down started to remove the part where the PVC is marked with.


    *brrrrr*


    Chris also came and he helped us to smooth the edges that are cut with Charlotte using a smooth sand paper. We¡¯re cutting three and quarter inches diameter on the PVC so that our four-inch cups could snug in just above the tip. We moved mechanically and we finished the 20 PVCs. We made a simple frame in which we could ce them snugly by using thin metal strips fastened on the frame of the greenhouse before the roof starts. We connected them with elbows going at the pattern that I envisioned and I connected a pump in it that would draw the solution from where the existing ones are already in.


    ¡°Why is this container ck?¡± Charlotte asked.


    ¡°It needs to be UV protected so it doesn¡¯t form algae. It could mess the solution up if that happens but if we ran out of this stuff, we¡¯ll have to use organic fertilizer instead of the chemical ones that I cooked up.¡± I exined.


    I then told her the form for the solution and I didn¡¯t even get to the half of it and her eyebrows are getting scrunched up more and more.


    ¡°Umm, I-I think I¡¯ll stick to the organic solution¡­ I think that is college level¡­¡± she replied embarrassingly.


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about that part. I¡¯m just exining in how it works. What you only need to do is to mix them with exact amounts step by step. You¡¯ll just need to check the PH level of the water by using a Litmos Paper. Also, if we start to use the organic ones, it would need more attention but easily manageable. We just start on using the stuff that we have for now until we ran out then we start on using the organic ones.¡± I exined the rest of the while my uncle hooked it up and the pump started on drawing water from the tank then through the PVCs that we made.


    ¡°So, I¡¯ll just ce the nts here after cleaning them?¡± Charlotte said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, and that¡¯s it. Pretty cool huh?¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯m learning something new today, this was just discovered recently right?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Actually no, the Egyptians was discovered to use this system years before. And also, there¡¯s also another way to grow them called aeroponics. It¡¯s moreplex though¡­¡± I gave another brief lesson.


    The two just listened to me and I happily gave them information on how it differs from our current setup and different advantages and disadvantages of using each type. The two had pensive expressions after the lesson while my uncle is busy on cleaning up the ce that we worked at.


    ¡°You¡¯re like a walking encyclopedia you know that?¡± Chris chimed in while my uncleughed.


    ¡°Did you guys know that one time he got in trouble for correcting a new student teacher when he was in preschool? This guy here actually memorized the whole book and started correcting every mistake the new student teacher made.¡± My uncle said.


    ¡°Wait, what?!¡± the two eximed as I rubbed my nose.


    ¡°Well, he was clearly wrong! What do I do then?¡± I tried to defend myself.


    ¡°His mom was not there at the time so I came in the guidance office and the student teacher was furious telling me that my nephew won¡¯t shut up when he¡¯s teaching the ss¡­¡± he added.


    ¡°What happened then?¡± the two asked.


    ¡°The new teacher said that he kept on interrupting the lesson and he won¡¯t stop speaking so he sent my nephew to the guidance office. The principal there told me the story and I nodded to what they were saying to me but this guy still has a disgruntled expression and he keeps on scratching his head. This guy just recited the whole chapter the student teacher was teaching and the look on that guy¡¯s face is priceless. Long story short, it was a wasted but worth it trip. The principal apologized to me for wasting my time and the student teacher mmed and never spoke a word after.¡± my uncle said.


    The two were helplessly smiling as my uncle concluded the short story. <hr>


    ¡°You really remember everything?¡± Charlotte asked.


    ¡°Test him, you¡¯ll see.¡± my uncle said.


    ¡°Okay! What do you still remember from the supermarket where you found us?¡± Charlotte asked.


    ¡°Hah! About you? You¡¯re wearing thick make-up that would make a small mushroom cloud if I pped you that time. You definitely have been crying the whole time since I saw marks on your hands and the side of your eyes that I think is eye-liner. You¡¯re wearing Hi Kitty socks that has ruffles on the top and the tie you wear that time matches the small bracelet you¡¯re wearing now. The shoes that you¡¯re wearing is a few inches high so you could match Chris¡¯ height and you have fakeshes that time too.¡± I said in a single breath.


    ¡°¡­¡± Charlotte.


    ¡°Damn.¡± Chris.


    ¡°How about me!¡± Chris was excited.


    ¡°You? Hmm, you¡¯re wearing the standard uniform that time and I believe you changed your watch your wearing back then when An started on clearing the aisles. I remember you holding a machete with a stic handle and you¡¯re sitting with her in a mattress eating biscuits. You two went lovey dovey when I probed if Charlotte is really bad-mannered.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Holy shit.¡± Chris said.


    ¡°What do you mean lovey dovey!¡± Charlotte eximed.


    ¡°Really? Let me remind you.¡± I cleared my throat as I try to imitate Charlotte¡¯s and Chris¡¯ voice.


    ¡°Take her please~ I¡¯ll go to the camp by myself~ No~ Take him instead~ Please~ I beg of you~¡± I said while my uncle is hystericallyughing. <hr>


    ¡°If that isn¡¯t lovey dovey, I don¡¯t know what is. Tell me, you guys done it yet?¡± my uncle said.


    ¡°¡­!¡± Charlotte was red in the cheeks.


    ¡°¡­!¡± Chris as well as he started to look down.


    ¡°C¡¯mon unc! What kinda question was that?!¡± I interjected.


    ¡°Hah! Just asking, I hear that the two are in the same room. Use protection alright! They¡¯re at that age now, right?¡± he instructed the two.


    ¡°P-please let¡¯s drop this subject!¡± Chris eximed.


    ¡°Hah! Just saying, I had kids when I was young. Never finished highschool and it¡¯s very hard to find a proper job that time.¡± my uncle said.


    The two gave pensive expression when they heard a small reminder.


    ¡°Well unc, when Kaley and I tried to wake them up one time, there¡¯s pillows bisecting their beds. No worries there.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh~ Is that so~ Let¡¯s just say that it¡¯s not bad to be fooling around when you¡¯re young. Just make sure to take responsibility when it happens okay? But for now, just enjoy the little things. You¡¯re young, ask the a.d.u.l.ts some questions you don¡¯t understand and we¡¯ll answer them. Don¡¯t be afraid to ask questions eh?¡± he concluded.


    ¡°T-thanks¡­ I guess?¡± Chris trailed.


    ¡°Hah! Just don¡¯t take some of the words of my uncle to heart. I inherited all of the crazy from this guy.¡± I said with a smile. <hr>


    ¡°And that is the best thing to inherit from me, right?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Of course, of course.¡± I replied.


    I took one more look at our work and I smiled brightly since it¡¯s symmetrical. They headed back to the pool area while I sat down on my spot at the catwalk where An, Jenny and Aubrey are. They gave me an upwards nod and An spoke.


    ¡°Hey man, I¡¯m slowly getting good.¡± he said.


    ¡°He really is.¡± Jenny said.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s good. We can finally start to save on ammo.¡± I replied.


    ¡°HAHAHA!!! That was just mandatory expenses so that I could learn.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Excuse me.¡± Aubrey said.


    ¡°Where are you going?¡± Jenny asked.


    ¡°Bathroom.¡± she replied as she went towards the houses.


    ¡°What was she like?¡± I asked when she was far from hearing distance.


    ¡°Her? She just keeps quiet all the time but she definitely listens to us when we talk and would sometimes start the conversation on her own.¡± Jenny said as I nodded.


    ¡°Anyway, good job as always and continue doing it!¡± I said as I saw figuresing in towards the fence.

 Chapter 109

    Chapter 109: 109


    Kaley¡¯s group returned with Jay¡¯s group and Jay approached me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Who was that guy on the roof?! Kaley said he was always there since this thing started? How?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ It¡¯s a long but a boring story, it¡¯s very anticlimactic. He¡¯s a good shot though.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah! He is! Every howl he made a zombie would fall down! Howe we never noticed him before?!¡± he added.


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯d be surprised if you meet him without holding a gun. I think the food¡¯s ready, let¡¯s eat yeah?¡± I said.


    We had lunch while I asked about what happened earlier.


    ¡°Oh, we started to sweep the houses and the abandoned ones have varying degrees of supplies that we could take. The left side from your old house was pretty easy and we found a few cans of food there. One of them even has a small store there and we got a lot of food items from that ce. We mostly got food though, no guns, medicine or water. Oh yeah, what¡¯s that huge wall at the end after the stream though?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°It¡¯s the wall separating us from ¡®Woonds¡¯ it¡¯s the hugemunity with huge houses strewn about. It extends up to the covered court we where we ced the shooting targets. It has huge plots ofnd but I surmise there is still people there but a few are watching their gates. The guard who was there before was not watching the ce and somebody must¡¯ve taken charge at the ce there.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! When we went to Mercury Drug? Think we could get the people there on our side?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll never know until we go there. Maybe in the future, the open spaces ofnd there could definitely help us. The only problem with that is its entrance is close to the highway. Jay, what happened at your side?¡± I asked.


    ¡°While they were on the left side, we went to the right which you guys called the 3rd road. We cleared most of the ones roaming around but we never ventured past the tight alleys. There¡¯s a lot more houses there and I think I saw a path that leads to a wooden bridge that connects to more houses that are atop wooden poles.¡± Jay said.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ll give you more gunster to take of them. It¡¯s dangerous in tight spaces. Oscar?¡± I said.


    ¡°I got a lot of medicine from the pharmacy and the dental clinic near the DDR camp. You¡¯ve used the PVCs that we got and I went to the DDR camp to get that drive from their CO. Any ce we could go next kid?¡± Oscar said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Ken is still rifling through the files that they¡¯ve given us so here¡¯s the n this afternoon: Jay, I¡¯ll give your group a few guns and I¡¯ll entrust you with clearing the alleys there. Ask Rin to give you a few of those timers from the market that I got. Don¡¯t be hasty on going in, the key is waiting. Give a few minutes of continued ringing before you head inside, it¡¯s much better to fight them in the open rather than a tight spot. Stay level headed at all times and always remember to always strategically retreat.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Okay, what does that mean?¡± he asked.


    ¡°A fancy word for running away if it gets too troublesome. Your lives are more important than killing all of them there, we could always go back to clear them but we cannot save you all if you got infected, yeah?¡± I said.


    He nodded and I handed the both of them a .38 Special and a Maverick 88.


    ¡°Those guns would be better if you got caught in a tight space. Have something in close quarters and something to push them back. Always check your back and make sure you have a backup n. But always try to kite them outside so it¡¯s much easier to deal with them.¡± I added as they got ready.


    As for our group, I told them that we would also be bringing Oscar¡¯s group with us. We¡¯ll be heading to PLV, Jared¡¯s old school, and to the Police academy next to it.


    ¡°Why are we going there kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Couple of reasons: First, there are mobile and dental clinics next to that school and if we¡¯re lucky, we could also snag a fire truck from the fire station next to it. There¡¯s also those electric jeepneys which are parked there. It would be nice for the old folks here if we could get ahold of few. In the police academy, we could get a few guns if they are still there and I would like to grab something from there.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Their servers. We could use the information inside to get more information on people and we could use the hardware for what Ken has been cooking up.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh, we could match the people from their files there if they are in the camps, right?¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s about it.¡± I replied. <hr>


    We all suited up and I saw Matthew carrying his shotgun going towards us. I tapped him and said, ¡°Are you sure you want to go outside once more?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± he said annoyed.


    ¡°You know what I mean.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do whatever it takes to protect my daughter.¡± He said with a cold look.


    ¡°Then stay here, you¡¯re not ready.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa. You¡¯re not the boss of me, why would I listen to you?!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°Dad! He knows what he¡¯s doing.¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Right, I haven¡¯t told you yet. I run this ce and what I say is final.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong about protecting my daughter then? Huh?!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Then you¡¯ll leave us all to die then? Stay here if you¡¯re thinking like that.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­!¡± he stopped even though he¡¯s about to say something else.


    ¡°You¡¯re in a group now. We just don¡¯t go sacrificing anyone here. Let me get this straight, you¡¯re not wrong about protecting her. But I go outside there thinking of everybody and everybody there thinks of me. I want everyone to move as one and not have outliers since it will jeopardize everything. I don¡¯t n to go outside there with you thinking that.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°What do you want me to do then? Don¡¯t get me wrong here, I know that we¡¯re in a group but I would prioritize her if I get to pick between all of you.¡± he said.


    ¡°Let me tell you something, nobody died on me since they follow my instructions. I¡¯m thinking about everyone¡¯s safety while you¡¯re thinking about who to prioritize when shit goes down. What I want you to do is the same thing we¡¯re doing for everyone. Protect everyone and leave no one behind. If you¡¯re fine with that, hop in then, we¡¯re losing time.¡± I said.


    Tatiana seemed to remember my words back then as I saw a faint smile. Matthew was deep in contemtion but he rode the truck with us.


    ¡°Bah! You¡¯re the one making us lose time kid! Don¡¯t mind this kid, he means well, he just feels like he needs to establish some sort of order with us. He¡¯s a control freak, excuse him.¡± Oscar said whileughing.


    ¡°Well call me what you want, I just don¡¯t want any surprises. I¡¯d like everything to be in order. No one is dying at my watch.¡± I said.


    ¡°See? Control freak. Hah!¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°Dad, don¡¯t feel bad, he says those things but he always puts himself on the front. He¡¯s more selfless than you think.¡± Kaleyforted.


    ¡°I¡¯m not feeling bad! I¡¯m just¡­ having something in my eye or something¡­¡± he stammered.


    ¡°W-wait. Is this old man a tsundere?! Oh dear lord¡­ please no¡­¡± I said to myself.


    I was with Kaley, Tatiana, Jared, Mark, Zardon, Dong, Oscar, Matthew, Nicole, Jo and Lois. We 12 rode the truck outside the fences equipped with our weapons. The loadout is as follows:


    Sky Ishiyama ¨C Main: IWI Tavor Secondary: 2 Glock 19s Melee: Katana


    Kaley Payan ¨C Main: AR-15 Secondary: CZ P-09 Melee: Wakizashi <hr>


    Tatiana Smirnov ¨C Main: Benelli M4 Secondary: FN Five Seven Melee: Combat Knife


    Jared Pano ¨C Main: Winchester M70 Secondary: Glock 19 Melee: Trench Knife


    Mark Goad ¨C Main: Mossberg 930 Secondary: Berreta M9 Melee: Fire Axe/ Combat Knife


    Zardon Minac ¨C Main: None Secondary: Glock 21 Melee: Riot Shield/ Extending Baton.


    Dong Iyan ¨C Main: None Secondary: Berreta M9 Melee: Machete


    Oscar Goodman ¨C Main: SPAS-12 Secondary: 500 Magnum Melee: Combat Knife


    Matthew Payan ¨C Main: Remington 870 Secondary: Colt Anaconda Melee: Machete


    Nicole Pano ¨C Main: None Secondary: Glock 26/ Walther P22 Melee: Butterfly Knife


    Jo Iyan ¨C Main: None Secondary: M1911 Melee: Machete


    Lois Pano ¨C Main: 10/22 Secondary: Glock 43 Melee: Kukri


    ¡°We¡¯re bringing the cavalry eh?¡± Oscar said.


    We all wore protective gear and we all have extra magazines for our ammo and a few throwables. We rode past the gas station and the DDR camp and after a few minutes, we passed Wilcon¡¯s Depot as well. There is still a lot of them on the way and we couldn¡¯t see any people outside.

 Chapter 110

    Chapter 110: 110


    ¡°I thought we would encounter people outside.¡± Jo said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s gonna be a matter of time if people start to run out of food like Jay¡¯s group. It¡¯s the highway here and probably the people looting will be in the backroads for now. When they start to learn their patterns, that will be the time we¡¯ll see more people on this side. Add to that that most of them are inside the camps. Good thing we installed a metal wall in the front of the truck.¡± I said.


    The truck is mowing past the undead since the trouble of bits of flesh going inside the inner workings of the truck is avoided. It¡¯s shaped like a ¡®V¡¯ pointed towards the undead so most would be pushed to the side or be crushed underneath. What we¡¯re avoiding is the bits going inside the engine at the front. It¡¯s not all the way down because it might hit the speedbumps in the road but so far, none hase underneath it. What it can¡¯t do is ramming other vehicles like what we did with the armored van since it¡¯s just a truck with an attachment.


    The drive was uneventful since we¡¯re mowing everything in front and I just pointed to the graffiti that I saw before.


    ¡°Is that some sort of cult then?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Maybe? It could be connected to the mob then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Definitely, they were the only ones outside causing trouble everywhere they went and I actually saw some of them spraying things on the wall at a hospital at the back roads.¡± I said.


    ¡°Damn. We¡¯re already dealing with these zombies and we have another problem to deal with in the future.¡± Oscar remarked.


    ¡°Ken is flying his drone around our ce and I told him to contact me if he noticed any anomaly. Besides, the mob would pass by the DDR camp first.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, they have more trained soldiers than us, no offense kids.¡± Oscar remarked as the rest of the group smiled. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We could prepare for them too. We could slowly start on Project Nuggets or Project Infinite Loop too.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! I like the sound of that! I forgot Project Infinite Loop but I definitely want to start Project Nuggets!¡± Oscar eximed while the rest of the group is confused.


    ¡°What are these projects and codes I¡¯ve been hearing abouttely?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Just a code name for certain things that would take more words to say. We came up with a lot though this old man only remembers the things that he likes.¡± I said.


    ¡°Easy there kid, I don¡¯t have that photosysthesis memory that you have!¡± he replied.


    ¡°Photographic, it¡¯s called photographic. See? Only remembers what he wants. Why am I so special? I¡¯m like a unicorn¡­¡± I sarcastically said as the group gave helpless smiles.


    I kept track on some of the ces that are avable for scavenging in the future as we were talking while I asked Kaley and the rest to do the same in case I missed something. We are at Malinta and we made a left turn passing another Mercury Drug but it is already opened. I saw a few items in the shelves but I made a mental note toe there if we started on sweeping the ce since some of the medicine there is still unrecognizable by an untrained individual.


    ¡°Oh, I remember the pharmacist at the counter who announced what I was buying, is she still alive? I only got her first name from the paper, maybe I could see her in the files from the DDR camp. It might brew trouble from Kaley but she¡¯ll understand since nothing happened and it was just a funny but embarrassing memory.¡± I said to myself.


    We passed by a couple gas stations and as we got closer to PLV, the zombies roaming around got a bump in their numbers.


    ¡°Damn. Is this what it¡¯s like when you came to rescue An?¡± Jared said. <hr>


    ¡°Pretty much the same. No one¡¯s been clearing the ce and it is still exactly the way it was but the zombies are a bit bumped up. I think most of them is still in the People¡¯s Park. We should at least thin a few of them out in case what¡¯s making them stay there stop.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s right kid, the thing we really don¡¯t want to encounter is a horde.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°What¡¯s worse is a horde of sprinters.¡± I said.


    ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy there now. Imagining it give me the shivers.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Hah! But we have a lot of projects for those if theye knocking. I should inform Ken of more of those since he could help us with that.¡± I said.


    ¡°What are your ns then?¡± Kaley asked.


    The two of us just give devilish smiles and the group grew more confused.


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯ll see, you¡¯ll see.¡± I replied.


    We made another left turn at the fire station and I could already see the vehicles that I want to take. There¡¯s the mobile clinics on the right and a few firetrucks on the left. Our eyes lit up from this treasure trove. We parked next to the mobile clinics and there are a few dozen zombies around and a few are starting to go towards us. <hr>


    ¡°Alright, Tatiana, Zardon, Mark, Jo and Dong. The rest, stay put on the truck for now. Let¡¯s make a perimeter around the vehicles so they could check it. Let¡¯s go by twos, Jo on me, Tatiana with Mark and Zardon with Dong. Melee first. Kaley, Jared and Lois ready your rifles and fire on a few that are in a clump so it would be easier for us below. Eyes out for the sprinters or other irregrs yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°How about us kid?¡± Oscar asked as he pointed to himself and Matthew.


    ¡°Really? I told you countless times before to put a suppressor on your shotguns. We have ear muffs but the things here don¡¯t. The rifles with suppressors give less noise but they still make a lot of noise on an ear without protection. Stay put for now, yeah?¡± I said as he grumbles.


    I drew my katana and the rest I called to go down drew their weapons as well. I led the charge at the right side of the truck while Tatiana and Mark are on the left and Zardon and Dong are on the back. Jared, Lois and Kaley climbed the roof of the truck to get a proper vantage point. I immediately killed one with a downward swing when I jumped below and it was followed by sh from below going to the Northwest direction.


    *slice* *shhck*


    One wasing from my right and I swung it horizontally.


    *sh*


    I looked forward and there are still several remaining on my side.


    *psshew*


    I heard the 10/22 firing and the one zombie with a huge belly fell down. One was running towards me but I juked and made an abrupt turn as I swing my katana from the back of its head. The katana went cleanly and left at where the eyes were located. <hr>


    I¡¯m hearing a fewmands from Oscar pointing a few blindspots from the others and a couple of shots from Kaley. Jared was the one on the lookout for the sprinters so he always scans his head around the ce we¡¯re parked in.


    I saw a female student wearing the same uniform as Charlotte before and I kicked it first then I took care of the one beside it wearing casual clothes. I held the katana with both hands and I swung it like a baseball bat horizontally.


    *sh*


    The de passed through that guy easily and it continued to the student since the I made the de run 270 degrees with a horizontal sh.


    On the corner of my eye I can now see my uncle holding the shield sideways to block a fewing towards them while Dong finishes the Job. He would asionally smash their heads in with the baton but when the zombies he¡¯s blocking grew to two at a time, Lois would fire a shot from above.


    I was so in the zone and I kept on piling bodies like they were puppets that got their string cut off. I thought I was moving with Jo in a circr pattern around the truck and I noticed that Jo was not with me. I looked back and I saw him on the truck and when he saw me see him, he just put both of his thumbs up and he said, ¡°Go ahead, I think you don¡¯t need me there.¡±


    ¡°Oh, sorry. Want to kill this one?¡± I tripped a zombie on the ground and it just tried to get away from me but I cut all its limbs off.


    ¡°Here, I prepared it for you! Just stab it in the head.¡± I said innocently.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.

 Chapter 111

    Chapter 111: 111


    ¡°Just go kid! Stop wasting time!¡± Oscar shouted while I saw Kaley rolling her eyes. <center></center><hr>


    Oscar looked like he wants a piece of the action himself and he¡¯s wearing a disgruntled expression. I cleared a lot of them and I wiped the de with a cloth. I heard a few suppressed bullets firing but there were noneing from my direction. I kept on killing a few that were close and some that are a bit away just to be safe.


    ¡°What do we take kid? Want us to find the keys first or just hot-wire them?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Right, they need keys. Just hot-wire them then. Take the biggest one here but grab the medical supplies from inside the few that would be left here.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure thing kid.¡± Oscar replied.


    *PSSHEW* *bolt slide*


    I hear the M70 firing. I looked at Jared with a smirk while Lois has an annoyed expression.


    ¡°Sprinter?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Just the regr kind though. It came from the city hall across the street. I saw it running down the stairs. See that ¡®lil bro? That¡¯s called skill.¡± he replied then looked toward Lois.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s pretty far to be fair. I¡¯m busy guarding the people here that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t see it. I killed more than you though.¡± Lois replied while scanning the ce.


    ¡°Nah, the special ones give more points!¡± Jared said.


    *thunk* *thunk* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Stop arguing and watch the people below!¡± Nicole, their elder sister shouted as she sinks a few knuckles in.


    The two immediately stopped bickering and remained silent.


    ¡°Good thing Nicole is here, making these two stop bickering is a pain in the ass.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°You guys okay over there?¡± I asked the group who cleared with me from the other side.


    ¡°Well, you cleaned up most of them so it¡¯s all good.¡± Zardon said as a few of them guards Oscar at the mobile that looks almost like a trailer.


    Each mobile was opened and it took a bit of time since there were one and a half-dozen of them in the area. They carefully checked each if there would be someone inside or below the vehicle. They grabbed everything from the vehicles and ced the supplies in the trailer that Oscar is in. It took a few minutes to make a small perimeter so I started on moving some of the bodies on the side with help from a few of them since we don¡¯t want to drive over themter.


    *BRRRRRRRRMM*


    ¡°WHOO! F.U.C.K YEAH!¡± Oscar shouted.


    Oscar howled as he sessfully started it and we drove the vehicles across the street where the firetrucks are parked. Our 8-wheeler is parked next to a firetruck and it is right beside the mobile clinic that we took.


    ¡°Want me to try the trucks as well kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°No, a few of us head to this fire station first. I want keys avable on this thing since on the case of an emergency we could drive this thing quickly. Besides, we could get a lot of things here too. Kaley, Matthew, Tatiana, Mark and Donge with me inside. The rest stay here and clear a few that walks across.¡± I said. <hr>


    The fire station is a two-story building that has a parking area on its right side where several firetrucks are parked but now, a small one and a medium-sized one are left. There used to be a huge firetruck here where there is a tform connected that could extend a few feet that I wanted to have. I picked the ss door and shone a shlight around. I looked for the switch and when I flicked it, the whole ce got lit up and all I could see first was a receiving area with a few tables strewn about.


    I made a smallmotion as I knocked on the tables. I waited a few moments and no one seems to be here.


    ¡°Dong guard the entrance yeah? We¡¯ll move forward to the small rooms here. Mark, keep watch on that staircase that leads to their equipment area.¡± I said as the two moved.


    The small rooms only contain paperwork after paperwork but there¡¯s a fire extinguisher at the side with a metal fire axe covered by ss. I saw Matthew about to strike it with his elbow but I stopped him.


    ¡°Why are you so noisy? Wait a bit. You¡¯re like Oscar.¡± I said as I grabbed the duct tape from by pack.


    Kaley chuckled while Tatiana made a faint smile as Matthew grumbles, I taped a portion of it and said, ¡°Now elbow it.¡±


    *crrck*


    The noise was minimized and I handed the metal fire axe to Tatiana.


    ¡°You need some range with your melee weapon, take this.¡± I said as she epted it.


    I skimmed over the map of the city and I saw the other ces where the other fire stations are located. I them guided us to the 2nd floor while I let Mark guard the entrance with Dong.


    The 2nd floor is the firemen¡¯s quarters and there are several uniforms on the lockers on one side. I looked at one side and I found a box with 5 new uniforms for firefighters along with the helmets. There¡¯s also a rack inside where there are several fire extinguishers of different types. <hr>


    I looked at thebels and there are the five main types. Water, Foam, Dry Powder, Wet Chemical and Carbon Dioxide.


    ¡°This is good. We take them all.¡± I said.


    ¡°Really?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah. There¡¯s not a single type of fire extinguisher that could put out all the sses of fires. There¡¯s always a best fit for each one.¡± I replied.


    I walked through the head office and I smiled when I saw a small ce where all of the keys are located. Each key isbeled and I grabbed the one for the truck below.


    We took a medium-sized firetruck that has twodders on top of it. The electric buses were not here but what we found here is still plenty.


    ¡°Bro, that¡¯s a canteen there. Should we open it now?¡± Jared said.


    On a small flight of stairs, there¡¯s a few roll-ups that could be raised and the canteen for the workers and the students could eat. There is definitely a lot of food items here but I need to make sure it¡¯s safe first.


    ¡°Right, hold for a minute.¡± I said as I mmed my hand on the roll-up repeatedly.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    I waited for a moment and nothing happens. I looked below the roll-ups where they would be locked by a padlock and I noticed that all of them are still on there. I tasked some of the guys to get the items from the fire station first while I made necessary precautions. <hr>


    ¡°Nothing¡¯s here but we¡¯ll do thister. Let¡¯s go to the academy first and see if the things we¡¯re looking for are still there.¡± I said.


    The vehicles are now parked with the fire truck and the mobile clinic. The area it was parked at is rtively safe and it¡¯s on a shade so it does not stick out. I left my uncle, Lois and Oscar in the area so we would have people guarding our vehicles and then the rest of us headed to the school and the police academy.


    On the way, we encountered several so I spear-headed the formation while the rest fanned to the side. We made less noise as possible since I¡¯m clearing them with my katana. Bodies littered the ground each time I made a sh. The length of the katana is perfect since it¡¯s a few inches longer than the zombie¡¯s arms. I could make a straight thrust to their head but I would asionally chop their arms off first in one swift motion then to the head when they are waving it around.


    ¡°Jared, go with Tatiana, Nicole, Jo and Dong to your school. Make a quick trip to your infirmary to gather some supplies and radio to me if you¡¯re done. Be careful yeah? If you could go to the admin office, try to ess theirputers if you could find their records.¡± I instructed.


    ¡°Are you asking me to hack theputer? I can¡¯t do that! I could remove the hard drives at least.¡± he said.


    ¡°Right, that¡¯s good too. Grab as much as you can.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I could get inside theputer; I¡¯ve been trained with that as well.¡± Tatiana said with nonchnce.


    ¡°Really? That¡¯s good then. Take care of them yeah?¡± I said to Tatiana with a surprised expression.


    ¡°Of course. Protect everyone, correct?¡± she replied.


    They broke off with us and then we headed to the academy.


    ¡°She knows how hack systems too huh? Is that a slip or did she deliberately said that to get a reaction from me? Well, it could really be part of her training.¡± I said to myself.


    I gathered my team and we headed to the academy. It was a three-story building with white walls. The ss door from the front is still intact but we went for the back door that I picked to get inside which is next to a few metal containers refurbished to a small shade for people.

 Chapter 112

    Chapter 112: 112


    *click* <center></center><hr>


    I drew my katana and I entered first. Almost immediately, a figure was spotted in the short hallway leading to the huge portion of the building. The lights are flickering on and off but the huge windows helped in illuminating the area.


    I slowly crept towards it and I thrusted my de on the back of its head.


    *shhck*


    *plop*


    It fell down silently and I tried to look at the surroundings. It was a huge hall with several tables and a few rooms on the right side. The left side is the wall where the huge ss windows are. The stairs up is located at the front door at the side of it. I pulled the body in the hall we were in first in case something happened in the open area. Last thing I want is us tripping on it when we start on maneuvering around.


    ¡°Let¡¯s clear this floor first. We¡¯ll go room by room; we don¡¯t want any surprises if we directly head to our goal.¡± I said.


    ¡°Do you know the way to this whole ce then?¡± Matthew whispered.


    ¡°Yeah, I went here once and I saw the directional map in the portrait just above the ss door.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, what? Did you just memorize it?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied nonchntly.


    ¡°This ce is huge though; you must be kidding.¡± he said.


    ¡°Heh, only need to see it once.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Impossible.¡± he said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t taunt him dad. You¡¯ve been burned before.¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°I bet he just trying to make himself look cool¡­¡± he trailed.


    *twitch*


    My eyebrow twitched and I let my tongue out. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Your te number on the camper is RTG 239, you have your wife¡¯s initials on your Remington 870 just above the handle, you always hold your spoon right between your middle finger and ring finger and you had a trophy for 3rd ce in a 3-gunpetition back in 2002.¡± I said in a single breath.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Shh! Dad! Be quiet! I told you you¡¯d get burned.¡± Kaley shouted quietly.


    ¡°Damn.¡± Mark said.


    ¡°It was 1st ce!¡± he rebutted.


    ¡°Nope the 1st ce was a medal from 2005.¡± I replied.


    ¡°F.u.c.k!¡± he quietly eximed.


    *snarl*


    I heard a faint snarl from the second floor and I hushed everyone. It disappeared after a while and we slowly headed to where the rooms are. Matthew and Kaley guarded the small hallway that leads to where the rooms are while Mark and I started to open the room that says ¡®1 ¨C APPLICANTS¡¯. I looked through the small ss pane just above the knob and found nothing amiss. I turned the knob and slowly opened it as Mark readies his fire axe.


    *creak*


    Nothing. Aside from a pile of paperwork, the only thing worth taking is a small fire extinguisher at the side of a table. There¡¯s a body on the floor but it¡¯s already taken care of. I checked the hole in its head and I noticed a huge hole the size of the bottom of a bottle.


    ¡°Sledgehammer? Wait¡­ it¡¯s much smaller.¡± I said to myself.


    Mark closed the door after we left the room and then we proceeded to the next room that says ¡®2 ¨C RETURNING¡¯. It¡¯s in the same condition as the first room and the only difference from this room to the first one that we entered is that there¡¯s a TV mounted to the wall. I was checking one of the drawers and I found a small pocket knife. I slid it in one of my pockets and we left the room after.


    We searched each room on the floor and what¡¯s left is the bathroom.


    *psshew*


    I heard the AR-15 firing and I looked back. Kaley fired a shot to the 2nd floor while her dad is pointing a shlight above it. We continued towards the bathroom and we found a first-aid kit above the mirror. There are a few packets of hand sanitizers in a corner so I took them as well.


    ¡°You guys done?¡± Kaley asked as we moved closer to them. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, I found a few things. What was the shot earlier?¡± I asked.


    ¡°A zombie was about to walk down the stairs so I shot it. It might stumble on its way down so, you know, less noise the better. Are we heading up?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s head there now. The 2nd floor will be a few rooms but there is an equipment area, armory, and a nurse¡¯s office there.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! Will there be guns there?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°I hope there¡¯s still some left.¡± I replied.


    We made our way upwards and just as when we were about to reach the 2nd floor I dropped low and signaled everyone to do the same.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°I spotted eight in the hallway at a corner, not sure if there are more. We should be qui-¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro! We found the admin office; Tatiana is opening it now! We found a lot of stuff too!¡±


    *bzzt*


    Three heads almost immediately locked to our direction.


    ¡°Damn it.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Get ready.¡± I said as I reached for the Tavor on my back.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro?¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Shut up for a moment you just attracted a few towards us. I told you to radio in if you¡¯re done, not when you reached the office. And stop f.u.c.k.i.n.g yelling.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°F.u.c.k, my bad.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Make the shots count yeah? Matthew and Mark, let us shoot them for now. Let¡¯s be quiet as possible. Kaley?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure.¡± she replied as she raises her rifle.


    The short call ended and then I moved forward with my team. Lights and suppressed fire followed as the ones in the vicinity are killed. They were gnawing on a figure that might be wearing a service uniform. I stabbed my katana toward its head to make sure that it won¡¯t rise up even though it¡¯s already mangled.


    *shhck*


    *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap*


    Suddenly, I heard quick footsteps from the other side of the hallway and Kaley immediately turned her head towards me. We all tensed and we four readied our guns from where the sound wasing from. It¡¯s about several feet ahead of us and we all pointed our guns toward it.


    ¡°Shit! Shit! Shit!¡± Mark eximed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t lose your shit here, them being in an enclosed space helps us too. We have just to shoot forward and if they maneuver, it is hindered by the walls.¡± I replied to calm them down.


    *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap*


    The sound continued and then one mmed to the wall.


    *SPLAT* <hr>


    Nasty bits and pieces sttered the wall. It hit the wall so hard, its body got stuck to it and a few of the portraits hung on the wall fell. Blood flew out and it¡¯s not moving anymore.


    ¡°They really couldn¡¯t turn that well.¡± I said to myself.


    *SPLAT*


    It was followed by another one and it also hit the wall hard but it bounced off and fell down twitching. The walls they are crashing onto gets dyed by their blood. A normal zombie came after but it suddenly got caught up in oneing from behind.


    *SPLAT*


    *THUD*


    Another one crashes to the wall but it survived. Its speed grinded to an immediate halt but it¡¯s now disoriented and holding its head. It shook its head violently and it snapped towards us.


    *psshew*


    I immediately shot that one while Kaley aimed for the one crawling on the ground. They appeared to not be irregrs since they never avoided the bullet likest first two on the squatter area. The one crawling immediately stopped moving as the shot went through its head and the one slowly gaining speed plopped for a few steps before it stopped moving.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure as hell not gonna wait for them to pile up, this is not a cinematic of a game.¡± I said to myself.


    But what surprised me is there were several more sprinters running straight towards the wall and getting banged up. Seven more followed and after hitting the wall, their heads would snap towards us and would immediately sprint straight towards us.


    ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa! Why are there so many?!¡± Matthew eximed.


    ¡°SHOOT!!!¡± I shouted.


    The distance is slowly getting closer so we unloaded on them. One is running straight to us while his right side is scraping towards the wall and his arm in that side is torn off. Some of them are running where their whole body is tilted forward while a few is almost skittering about where their hands would il into different directions. Several zombies woulde from that corner and I could still here the moist tapping sound of the othersing from that side.


    *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap*


    ¡°Oh boy. Why did I even say it earlier.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 113

    Chapter 113: 113


    I flipped the switch of the Tavor to automatic and aimed at the area where their heads are located. <center></center><hr>


    *p-p-psshew*


    *psshew*


    *BOOM*


    *BOOM*


    *p-p-psshew*


    *psshew*


    The bullets fly off and the ones at the immediate distance fell and slid down a few feet near our feet and some of the rounds manage to go through their heads as I saw a small spray and it luckily hit a few behind. I would hold the trigger for a few moments and let go to not mag dump and to release a few bursts at a time. When the seven fell down, there are several dozening out from the same ce but I could still hear the sounds of a few sprintersing.


    ¡°Sky! Do we go down? There¡¯s a few moreing!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°No, we¡¯re good here. We¡¯re basically camping, it¡¯s almost illegal.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? What do yo-¡± she tried to say something but another one came running.


    *BOOM*


    Matthew took care of it and I aimed up while I flipped the switch back to semi-auto. Suddenly, one came after a turn and it carried two zombies on its arms and rushed towards us. Its head is covered by the two¡¯s bodies and it started to gain speed though it¡¯s slower since it¡¯s carrying the weight of three persons while running at full speed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Boss?¡± Mark said as he reloads a slug with a worried expression.


    I pushed everyone aside and let it run past us. It tried to slow down but it can¡¯t. When the back of its head is in front of me, I fired a shot towards it and it fell down the rails with the two zombies it¡¯s carrying. The two¡¯s head got crushed when they fell on the ground and then I continued on shooting the onesing. I quickly switched magazines and aimed at the sprinters having a hard time on the muck of bodies littered on the floor. Their feet would get stuck in the bodies piled on and they can¡¯t get a running start.


    It made the encounter much easierpared to dealing with them head-on outside.


    ¡°Well, we can¡¯t always pile bodies to make them lose footing. That would be too easy but we found another weakness of them.¡± I said to myself.


    We took care of the few remaining and the bodies fell limp but there is more where they came from. Snarls and dragged footsteps are what you would notice immediately and some of them are moving much more erratic since their bodies are missing a few parts and some have foreign objects stuck on them. The lights slowly flicker from themps above and it added to the eeriness of the situation. Blood is sticking on their bodies and it¡¯s very dry and some looks like oil poured over their bodies because of its viscosity.


    All of them are wearing their service uniform but it doesn¡¯t matter now. Matthew pumped his shotgun and unloaded a round once again.


    *CH-CHHCK*


    *BOOM*


    One immediately fell so we followed his lead.


    *CH-CHHCK*


    *BOOM*


    *psshew* <hr>


    *psshew*


    *BOOM*


    *Bang*


    Gunshots rang around that hallway and bodies started to pile one after the other adding to the ones already taken care of. When there were a few zombies left, I lowered my gun and I drew my katana once more. Surprisingly, Kaley moved forward as well and took care of oneing towards us. I made quick work of the three in front and the space is just enough for me to make a full swing of the katana.


    *shhck*


    *swish*


    *shhck*


    *shhck*


    We just nodded at each other while her dad has a disgruntled expression. Mark was slowly backing away from him since maybe the heat that he was emanating is starting to prickle Mark¡¯s skin. Iughed at the thought in my head and we started to carefully check the rooms one by one. However, each time we pass a body I would sink the de in their heads just to be sure.


    ¡°They¡¯re already dead, right?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°Yeah, but always double tap. In this number of them piled one after the other we can¡¯t be too sure. One minute your walking fine another moment one is already grabbing your leg chewing a huge chunk of it.¡± I said as they joined me.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just give a simple exnation? Those things you add gave me goosebumps.¡± Kaley said as she¡¯s stabbing a few with her wakizashi. <hr>


    *shhck*


    ¡°Heh, well it made you all careful. I think that did the job.¡± I replied with a faint smile.


    We slowly made our way to that corner and what weed us is an open area that I think they use as a gym or a sparring area judging from the mats ced underneath the floors and a few equipment on the side of the wall.


    ¡°Did they all hole up in here?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°Maybe. But they could be all having a lesson here when it all started. They¡¯re all still wearing their uniforms and judging from the blood here that is already dark, it must have happened a few days ago or more.¡± I replied.


    The only thing left to check in this small gym is the showers but we only see a few n.a.k.e.d zombies roaming around. I drew my katana to quickly take care of them and I looked at their bodies.


    ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Look at this one. She was bitten on the neck but the veins that are turning dark are only a few there but almost everything is gathering at her foot. Weird, huh?¡± I replied.


    ¡°But she¡¯s not a sprinter, right? She¡¯s just a regr zombie.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. But we never saw a person getting bit and turning to a sprinter right off the bat. Well, we never really saw people getting bitten anyway but I remember Juan mentioning before that after a vehicle crashed near the People¡¯s Park that a few already rushed towards a few people almost immediately.¡± I said.


    ¡°But the ones that freshly turned could move faster than the ones turned after a few days, right? Like the one in the airport. This could be a different case.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Hmmm, I really want to have a scientist on our camp so we could study them. I low-key want to bring the head with us but we should experiment with it in a controlled space not like this one. I want to know a few things like why we have the sprinters and the sentries here and why are there different kinds on other countries. What makes the time on how one turns varies between person to person and such.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°How about the teachers in the DDR camps?¡± Mark chimed.


    ¡°No not like that. Real scientists who knows how this thing works. People who actually worked in ab to study this thing. I¡¯d like to learn a few things from them. Anyway, let¡¯s just take what we could from this ce and move to the other rooms.¡± I said.


    There¡¯s a small cab here aside from a few training equipment in the corner. We found a couple rolls of fresh bandages, splints, and a few pairs of open finger gloves, knee pads and elbow pads. There¡¯s a few equipment for weightlifting included but I already have those at my ce.


    We went back and I almost missed one of the zombies wearing a utility belt that has a few items on his person. I found a 1911 and an extra magazine, a handcuff, a wooden baton and a radio. There¡¯s a few more bodies carrying the same loadout so I took my time checking each one.


    ¡°You¡¯re really gonna take those?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°Is that even a question?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I dunno, taking things from dead people makes me feel bad.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Heh, you¡¯re like Jared when I took the steel-toed boots that Mark is wearing right now. Think of it as a bonus from making their soul or something get peace. We used a couple rounds of ammo so it¡¯s great we get to refill some of it though this is a different caliber from what we used.¡± I said as I ce all of it in my bag,


    We started to walk on the other side of the hallway and I picked up the casings and the empty shells that we used and ced them in my bag as well.


    ¡°We still got a lot of ammo, right? Why are you picking those up?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Heh, I¡¯m rich but I¡¯m still thrifty. I¡¯m not born with a silver spoon in my mouth you know.¡± I replied as I continued to do so.


    ¡°Oh, let me help you then.¡± she replied as she picks a few and stores it in her pack.


    Matthew and Mark helped as well as we took a few minutes to gather what we used. We headed to the other side of the hallway and then the radio buzzed once more.

 Chapter 114

    Chapter 114: 114


    I picked it up and ced it on my ear. <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro, were done. Sorry about earlier.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, we took care of it. Juste to the back entrance of the academy and get to the 2nd floor. We¡¯re slowly checking the rooms. Wait, if you could find a few kegs of sulfuric acid in your chemistryb take it all.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I¡¯ll try but there¡¯s still a few roaming inside the school. We¡¯ll head there if possible. We encountered a few sprinters here and good thing it mmed on a vending machine. They would just run straight without checking the obstacles in their paths.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh really? There are more sprinters here though, you¡¯re a bit lucky. We encountered a lot and a few dozen regr ones. Oh yeah, break the ss of that vending machine and take everything! I¡¯ll take dibs on the Kit-Kat bars there.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Already did bro. We have ch.i.p.s too. Russel would go crazy over these things.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hurry kids.¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oscar? Something happened there?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I had too much to eat earlier and I¡¯m feeling it about toe out the other side. You know I can¡¯t evacuate if it¡¯s not my toilet.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!! Just hold it for a few more minutes. We¡¯re almost done.¡±


    *bzzt*


    We ended the short talk and then we entered the nurse¡¯s office. It was filled with different kinds of medical supplies ranging from bandages, antibiotics, first-aid kits, burn ointments, disinfectant alcohols and a few painkillers. I also found a few bottles of Morphine, Aspirin and etc. I ced them in the bags and we carried what we could and we headed to where their armory is supposed to be located.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro, were at the second floor. Can¡¯t find the sulfuric acid you were talking about. We just looted a few more vending machines in the school.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I¡¯m just hoping we¡¯d have an alternative to take care of the bodies at home. Go ahead the pile of bodies and turn right, walk three rooms forward and then another right. We¡¯re at the front door of the armory.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Roger. Hope that MK-14 is still there.¡±


    *bzzt*


    The armory is next to a roombeled ¡®PURCHASING DEPARTMENT¡¯. We entered that room first and we only found paperwork after paperwork. Jared met up with us and they have a few blood stters on their clothes.


    ¡°Here we are guys; hope we find something in here.¡± I said as I opened the door.


    *creak*


    Jared gave a disappointed expression but I just patted his back. The guns inside are mostly gone but there is still a lot inside.


    ¡°It¡¯s impossible that they left this ce full now would it? What¡¯s left is still a lot.¡± I said to him.


    ¡°Yeah, I just hoped that the gun I was looking for was still here.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°There¡¯s still the 3rd floor, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t got to that ce yet? Hmm, I hope we find more upstairs.¡± Jared said.


    It was a huge armory but what¡¯s left inside are two M4 rifles, five Winchester ¡¯94s, two Ruger 77s, three Maverick 88s, four Glock 17s, one Mac-10, two M1911s and seven .38 Specials. On one corner are two battering rams with five body armors hanging from a small closet. There are about a dozen extending batons and there are also a couple canisters of tear gas and smoke grenades. There¡¯s also 8 riot shields the same as what my uncle is carrying. There¡¯s also a couple dozen of uniforms folded with different sizes on a box on one corner.


    ¡°Could this battering ram the one used on the zombie on the 1st floor earlier? It¡¯s the right size.¡± I said to myself.


    The silver lining is that there are several metal boxes here that are full of different types of ammunition. There are four boxes of 5.56s, two for 9mms, three for 7.62s, six for .45 ACPs, one for .44 Magnums, three for .308s, and two for .38s. There are a few dozen empty magazines here for different guns so that¡¯s a plus. Finding all this ammo here made up for what we used earlier. We even found a couple of suppressors that can be added to the M4s that we found here and a few chokers for the shotguns. We ced everything on the cases and we readied them so that a few of the guys will head down to load them in the truck. I radioed my uncle and I said to park the truck at the ss door in front while Oscar and Lois clear the few zombies in the area. It took a while but we loaded everything below.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Holy shit kid, this is a lot of gunspared to what we got before. Well, this is a police academy so it¡¯s understandable.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hahaha, one more floor old man. Keep it tight.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You little¡­ I just forgot about it and now you¡¯re reminding me again!¡±


    *bzzt*


    He stopped talking after a few probes and we proceeded to thest floor. It has multiple rooms same as the ones below but I remember that there is the head¡¯s room here and the administration office where the servers could be located. Everyone is present now so we continued with searching the whole area. The way towards it is the same staircase we went before. We slowly climbed it and I peeked when we reached the floor.


    What I noticed was that there are already a few on the ground probably taken care of and I noticed a small barricade of tables on one side that leads to the administrator¡¯s office. I decided for us to check the other rooms first before we head to the head office and the administrator¡¯s office.


    ¡°Be ready guys. You¡¯ve seen the pile on the 2nd floor. There could be a lot more here.¡± I said.


    ¡°Heh. But we¡¯re a lot more now.¡± Mark chimed.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re right about that.¡± I replied.


    We started to simultaneously check each room. The room I went in is a lobby for the instructors and there are several tables and chairs and a counter for some refreshments. There¡¯s a couple boxes of coffee, creamers, and tea on the cupboards and a couple of biscuits on the side. It has a big frame that lists all the names of the instructors here based on their position. There are several names on the frame listed so I just skimmed over them.


    I exited the room and I saw Tatiana wiping her face with a towel. The fire axe I gave her has blood smeared on the sharp side and it is slowly dripping on the ground. The room they came from is a ssroom and probably has a few inside but they took care of it using their melee weapons because the others had their des drawn as well.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s good that they¡¯re trying to conserve ammo.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Just don¡¯t forget that your lives are more important than bullets.¡± I reminded them as they all gave faint smiles.


    ¡°I thought we need to conserve as much as possible.¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°Yeah, but we could still find and make more. I couldn¡¯t make a clone of you guys.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Well how much ammo do we need anyway?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°I could say about 50 Million rounds?¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh- wait, what?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Give or take.¡± I said.


    ¡°That many?! Why?!¡± he asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s the poption in our ind group. We¡¯re about 50 Million here. Well, that¡¯s not including the 322 that I killed all in all.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hold on, you¡¯re counting all your kills?!¡± Jared eximed once more.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How many did I kill then?!¡± he was excited.


    ¡°I dunno, why would I know that?¡± I replied.


    ¡°But you have the best memory here!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Hey, I can only remember what I see. I¡¯m not all-seeing you know.¡± I replied as we walked forward.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna start counting mine then.¡± he said.


    ¡°Then do it if you can then. Just don¡¯t let counting them get in the way of what we¡¯re doing here yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure.¡± he replied.


    We now checked more rooms as we drew closer to our goal. We cleared less here and only the regr ones seems to be roaming around the 3rd floor. Even I was using my katana and Kaley her wakizashi. We searched everything minor and we went to the head¡¯s room and found a couple of soldiers sitting in a corner where their heads are blown off by the pistols in their hand. I found a single battering ram on one of the officers and surmised that this guy is probably the one who struck the head of the zombie on the first floor. There are four bodies in total and one that seems to have the higher rank among all of them is seated on one of the chairs but his head is also blown sideways. He¡¯s holding a gun with his right and a cigar on his left. I looked at everyone and they have solemn expressions.

 Chapter 115

    Chapter 115: 115


    ¡°What are you guys looking like that for?¡± I asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°They got stuck here and had to opt out. Think we could have saved them if we went here earlier?¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°Not too sure either. We have things in our hands when we¡¯re securing our ce there. Just ready your gun if we manage to find the people who started this thing. We¡¯ll make them wish they were dead. Check their bodies for the items on their person.¡± I replied.


    We found more 1911 pistols and an extra magazine for each person. The only difference from what we found earlier from the bodies is that they have knives in their belts as well. Inside the office we also found a cavalry sword that has a red tassel on the handle and a gold engraving of the three stars and the sun on the scabbard. Jared took it for himself since the trench knife I gave him has short reach. I even took the case of cigars and his fancy lighter and ced it on my pack.


    ¡°You smoke?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°No, you?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Can you give me one?¡± he asked back.


    ¡°Give me that Anaconda and I¡¯ll consider.¡± I said.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°This could be thest case of cigars you can find left in this world. This thing¡¯s value just multiplied by a whole lot.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But I¡¯m just asking for one!¡± he retorted.


    ¡°Yeah, and I¡¯m asking for that Anaconda!¡± I eximed as I widened my eyes.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± Jared muttered.


    ¡°Do you know how much I got this Anaconda for?!¡± he eximed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Don¡¯t care. That¡¯s the trade value now. One cigar for that Anaconda. Oh god this thing smells so good.¡± I said as I took one out and sniffed it in front of him.


    ¡°I¡¯M JUST ASKING FOR A SINGLE CIGAR YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°Anaconda.¡± I replied again innocently.


    ¡°AHHHHH!!!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°I thought you quit dad. I¡¯m telling mom.¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa. It¡¯s been years now! I¡¯m just asking one for a break. Don¡¯t tell Marisha! She¡¯ll kill me!¡± he forgot the cigar and pleaded to Kaley.


    ¡°Anaconda.¡± she replied with a cheeky smile.


    ¡°What?!¡± his body almost fell limp.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t hear me dad? I want the Anaconda as a bribe. Gimme.¡± Kaley said with a straight face.


    ¡°What have you been teaching my daughter?!¡± Matthew bellowed at me.


    The group watching us are shaking their heads in amus.e.m.e.nt and Jared is clutching his stomach fromughter.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you the f.u.c.k.i.n.g Anaconda if you give the whole case!¡± he tried to negotiate.


    ¡°Sure.¡± I replied as I swiped the Anaconda from his holster. I handed him the case but when he opened it, it was empty.


    ¡°You little shit! Where¡¯s the cigars?!¡± he shouted. <hr>


    ¡°Tatiana, what did he say before?¡± I said innocently.


    ¡°He said that he¡¯ll give you the f.u.c.k.i.n.g Anaconda for the whole ¡®case¡¯! The cigars weren¡¯t part of the deal.¡± Tatiana tried to lower her voice.


    ¡°F.U.C.K.I.N.G GIVE ME THE CIGARS!!!¡± he was about to lose his mind.


    ¡°Remington 870.¡± I replied.


    Like a person who lost his soul, he limped on the floor almost lifeless. Kaley was shaking him awake but he never moved. I smirked and threw him the cigars from my pack.


    ¡°Just kidding Mr. Matthew. Why would I be stingy from a cigar? You already gave me the Anaconda. Thanks!¡± I said as he stood up and shouted more unintelligible term.


    ¡°You got him good.¡± Kaley said beside me.


    ¡°Yeah. Nice teamwork.¡± I replied as I nudged her with my shoulder.


    We then headed to the administration office and I immediately checked their server. I opened the ss door but the drives where they were supposed to be located is missing.


    ¡°Damn, someone took the drives with them. I guess we¡¯ll stick with the paperwork here.¡± I said.


    ¡°What are you looking for in the drives anyway?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°People that we could recruit, ces they might have mentioned where they would be holing up, maybe even some secret that they don¡¯t want us to find because the drives here are missing. We could only get the names of some of the people from the ¡®APPLICANTS¡¯ office and match it with the files in the DDR camp to see if the ones here are there.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh, so we could get more soldiers, correct?¡± she asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, even trainees would be good. I¡¯d prefer them over the seasoned ones.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Trainees? Why would you pick them over the seasoned ones?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Okay then, Tatiana, what was your first impression of me when you saw me above the catwalk? Be honest yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, I thought I was being punk¡¯d by your president sending me to apany you and follow your orders so I tested you immediately.¡± she replied.


    ¡°I think that answers it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Huh? That barely answers anything.¡± Matthew replied.


    ¡°Okay, Tatiana has been serving maybe for a few years and she¡¯s already had experience. What would a trained soldier say when she¡¯s told to obey someone who only had basic military training for 6 months? It¡¯s bullcrap right? Besides I think that way because in gaming terms, they are a new character. I could mold them however I want them.¡± I exined.


    ¡°But the seasoned soldiers would have better fighting capabilities, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°That is true, but hear me out. Let¡¯s say I gave you a kitted gun with all the attachments that I picked. Would you be able to use that thing wlessly? Maybe you could but the one who did the customization will have better understanding andmand of the gun. Also, why doespanies prefer to hire fresh graduates over the ones that have worked a few years? Even if it would take them a bit of time training them, it would be easier to teach someone with zero experience new sets of skills rather than modify someone¡¯s skillset. It¡¯s like writing on a piece of paper, much easier to write on a nk one than to erase a few parts and write after it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Won¡¯t you still be able to train the seasoned ones too?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Skill points.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, right.¡± he understood immediately.


    ¡°Hold on, hold on, skill wha? I¡¯m lost now.¡± Matthew chimed in.


    ¡°It¡¯s a game mechanic that you could ce on your character to learn what skill it could learn depending on how many you have. Let¡¯s say that you are a master at a certain skill, it couldn¡¯t be said that you are masters of all of them. There would be variations in how your skill level in each thing is distributed. Characters have a maximum cap, in other words a limit in how many skills it could learn.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°But we¡¯re humans, we can learn anything we put our mind into, right?¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°Well, yes, but actually, no. It gets much harder.¡± I said.


    ¡°W-wait, how?¡± he replied.


    ¡°It involves more variables now. There will be age,patibility, physical and mental restrictions, potential, emotional stability, drive, talent, and so much more. What makes it hard is that we don¡¯t know the exact values for each. Shooting a gun can still be possible with a guy with one eye but a guy with both eyes will definitely have the advantage. Another example is that both singers singing the same song but one is much better than the other one since she¡¯s talented or did more training with it. We could go on and on about examples and it will be just a very deep rabbit hole. Let¡¯s just say that humans areplex yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°I think I understand what you¡¯re saying, I might need to hear it a couple more times but I think I would get the whole meaning eventually.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Hmmm, but doing that would be too nitpicky. I¡¯d still prefer seasoned ones.¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°But hey, don¡¯t get me wrong. I¡¯m pretty good at Tetris so I¡¯ll take what¡¯s avable. I just want to start a level where everything¡¯s a square piece.¡± I said.


    ¡°What? Tetris? What¡¯s that?¡± Matthew is growing more confused.


    ¡°Hah! Good one.¡± Jared chuckled.


    ¡°You never yed at least that? Remember the brick games that¡¯s sold before the Gameboys? The ck and white ones that used to cost Php 200.00? ($4.00) The game where you need to ce shapes in a horizontal line so you win points?¡± I tried to remind him.


    ¡°Oh! That game! What¡¯s the connection though?¡± he eximed in realization while Kaley facepalmed.


    ¡°Dad! Are youcking sleep?! Imagine each person a different kind of block. Being good at Tetris would trante to being good at leading people if youbine the concepts together!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Oh~! I see it now.¡± Matthew nodded a few times.


    ¡°Hah! Oscar will be so mad at us talking about random things here while he¡¯s holding his shit together literally. Let¡¯s finish checking everything so we could go home.¡± I said.

 Chapter 116

    Chapter 116: 116


    I made one final double-check on the ce to see if we¡¯ve missed everything then I saw Jared trying to ce the cavalry sword on his back. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Don¡¯t ce it there.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? Why?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Try drawing it from that angle then.¡± I replied.


    The cavalry sword is a bit shorter than my katana but it¡¯s still a full-length sword. It is protruding from his right back since it is hung diagonally. He then tried to draw it from his back.


    *shingg*


    He got past the halfway mark but when it is just about to reach thest quarter, he tilted his body on the opposite side to unsheathe it fully.


    ¡°Hahaha! You¡¯re always gonna draw it like that then? I don¡¯t ce it in my h.i.p.s just for looks or anything. This is really where you should ce your sword for drawing them. cing them in your back could work for a knife or something shorter but cing them to a ce where you could quickly draw them is key. Ever watched Courageheart?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah! That¡¯s a good film!¡± he replied.


    ¡°Did you know that they would just angle it where you can¡¯t see that huge-ass sword being drawn or being ced back? We could only draw a weapon from our back as long as our arm is longer than the weapon. How can he draw that sword if it¡¯s obviously longer than even my katana? Besides, that would get tangled with your M70 if you slung them both at your back.¡± I exined.


    He then nodded and then made a pensive expression and he finally tied it to his hip as well. He tried drawing it for a few times and he scratched his head while smiling at me.


    ¡°This is really like Post¡¯s song.¡± he said.


    ¡°What is that now?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°Hehe, better now.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Pfft! I¡¯m definitely stealing that. Holy shit that was good!¡± I replied whileughing.


    ¡°Bah! I don¡¯t get it! F.u.c.k.i.n.g millennials.¡± he said while shaking his head.


    ¡°Ok boomer.¡± Jared retorted while smiling.


    ¡°Bah! I wouldn¡¯t care now! Let¡¯s get going!¡± he shouted as he grumbles.


    The rest of us just shook our heads in amus.e.m.e.nt while we headed down. Suddenly, the radio buzzed.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid. A few people just went inside that academy.¡±


    *bzzt*


    I immediately stopped walking and halted everyone.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°How many?¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    Everyone in the group tensed and we looked at everybody with solemn expressions. Matthew has a darker shadepared to everyone.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Five or more kid. They¡¯re armed civilians. Not sure if they have guns but I think we know their purpose here.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Did you guys go back near the fire station?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, they came from the other side. You know what to do kid.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    *bzzt*


    The call ended.


    I exhaled and then I looked at everybody looking at me. I nced at my side and then I had an idea.


    ¡°Head there.¡± I said.


    ¡°What are we doing here?! This is f.u.c.k.i.n.g dangerous!¡± Matthew eximed.


    ¡°Shh. Be quiet and let me handle it.¡± I said then I took Jared¡¯s radio.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Old man. Stay quiet yeah?¡±


    *bzzt*


    I never heard a reply but I could definitely see our truck from the ce where we are currently. I saw him going outside the truck and holding his head with both of his hands.


    I shushed everybody and I took a couple items from my bag. I looked at Tatiana and she just nodded. I passed one of them to her and everyone tried to breathe slowly. <hr>


    We are all crouching down and we all waited silently.


    ¡°F.u.c.k! I thought there would be a lot here!¡± a voice shouted.


    ¡°Be quiet you d.i.c.khead! There could be more here! The guys at the yard will be so pissed if came back with nothing.¡± another voice sounded.


    ¡°Quiet? Didn¡¯t you see the mess on the 2nd floor? People have already been here and took everything. We were toote.¡± the other guy replied.


    ¡°Heh, pray that we at least find something. You know what would happen if we don¡¯t.¡± another voice sounded.


    ¡°Hold on now! I just said that we ¡®maybe¡¯ could find something from this ce! I never said we¡¯ll ¡®definitely¡¯ find something!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Just reminding you.¡± the voice replied.


    The sounds we are hearing is slowly getting stronger and I can hear them almost reaching where we are.


    They passed us and they continued on.


    ¡°Do we head down now?¡± Kaley whispered.


    I shook my head and we continued to wait.


    After a few minutes we heard running sounds and then we heard¡­


    ¡°Please! I¡¯m sorry~!¡± the first voice shouted.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    ¡°.357¡± I said in my head.


    ¡°AHHH!!! My leg! My LEG! ARGH!!! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K!¡± he shouted.


    *BANG*


    ¡°.38? Two guns?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°AHHHHHH~! Please~ Just kill me~!¡± he pleaded. He started to heave and I slowly heard the other¡¯s footsteps approaching.


    ¡°You promised, remember? I said I¡¯ll make you beg for your life if we find nothing! And now we¡¯re here! You made me waste three bullets! THREE! Do you even know how much bullets are worth?! Hah! Have another one!¡± he eximed then fired another shot.


    *BANG*


    The other people they were with wereughing maniacally so I looked at Tatiana and we threw what was in our hands.


    *clink* *clink*


    *BOOM* *BOOM* <hr>


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k?!¡± they shouted.


    We were crouched under the windows and we¡¯re hiding where a foothold is located. Two persons could fit if they¡¯re close to each other but we¡¯re crouching so we¡¯re in a single file.


    As soon as the shbang detonated, I jumped inside and saw five people clutching either their ears or their eyes and a person holding a 686 revolver is the nearest to me.


    *sh*


    No hesitation.


    He didn¡¯t even manage to defend himself.


    One diagonal sh.


    He was standing in one piece but when he fell, he¡¯s already two.


    I saw Tatianaing from the other side sinking her knife on the person holding a baseball bat.


    *shhck*


    The de was shining when it came in but when it came out it is red.


    The other person holding a Model 19 revolver was about to fire a shot but¡­


    *BOOM*


    The ss shattered from the window where Matthew is at and with the shards falling down, the person did as well.


    *PSSHEW* *bolt slide*


    The M70 fired and the person on the ground covering his ears shaking stopped.


    *bsshew*


    Thest person with a bloody crowbar fell on its knees first before breathing itsst.


    I looked behind and checked on the person that they shot. It was a teenager around 17 years old and he died while his eyes were still open. I sighed and sunk my katana to his head.


    The rest slowly came from the windows and they looked at the dead bodies. Dong, Mark, Nicole and Jo are wearing solemn expressions while the people who did it has different expressions.


    Matthew was looking down on the ground, Jared is breathing a little faster, Tatiana is cleaning the de of her knife while Kaley is showing anger.


    I approached her and nudged her shoulder. She looked at me and her expression softens.


    ¡°You okay?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe these people would kill a kid over nothing.¡± she said. <hr>


    I held her chin and ced her head where she would face me.


    Our eyes locked and I said, ¡°I¡¯m not asking about that. Are you okay?¡±


    She just nodded her head a few times and I patted her shoulder a few times.


    ¡°Let¡¯s take care of these bodies first.¡± I said as I threw one over the window.


    *woosh*


    *st*


    ¡°W-wait, why?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Remember their conversation? They have more people at the ¡®yard¡¯ I surmise it¡¯s the ce a few blocks after South Supermarket that is called ¡®Arca Yard¡¯ That ce is well stocked and a few people probably stays there.¡± I exined as I threw another one.


    ¡°Why did you throw the bodies outside?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°So that those things outside would cover our tracks. If the people out there started to find them, it would be better for us that they see these people with bitemarks to at least hide what we did.¡± I said.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s done. Had to do it.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I understand. If you¡¯re done there,e back now. Lois is starting to do trick shots. How about the others?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°They¡¯re fine. No casualties.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°This thing is something we will do more in the future to those kinds of people. You guys clearly see what they did to that kid. Hope you guys understand that. Don¡¯t even hesitate when the timees and do what you must. We have people back home waiting for us.¡± I said as I looked at everyone.


    We threw the remaining bodies and I ced the 686 and the Model 19 revolvers in my bag and we headed down.

 Chapter 117

    Chapter 117: 117


    Although we didn¡¯t get some of what we¡¯re looking for, we still had a very sessful run. However, the drives missing is still sending me signals. The truck is back on where they parked it before and Lois stands guard on top of the truck with his 10/22 rifle. <center></center><hr>


    You could barely hear the shots from the rifle he¡¯s using but he¡¯s definitely taking shots on a few of them since you could see the muzzle pointing to different directions.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you give him a better gun?¡± Matthew asked as he walked next to me.


    ¡°Him? You¡¯ll have a hard time to convince Lois. He really likes that gun.¡± I said.


    ¡°Huh? Why? That could barely do anything! At least give him a higher caliber to work with.¡± he was confused.


    ¡°Hey, a .22 is still good. At least it¡¯s quiet unlike your 870.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But this thing could tearrge holes on those things! Don¡¯tpare this to what that kid is using!¡± he retorted.


    ¡°All you need to kill them is a perfect shot in the head. A .22 caliber might not seem much but good shot cement is key. That gun is super quiet when suppressed too, remind meter to ce one on your shotguns. I¡¯ll add a few things to it too. Besides, he likes that gun so I gave it to him. When he¡¯s excitement lowers, his performance suffers. Giving a better gun might be good overall but with his personality, it might do more damage. See that? Tetris!¡± I exined as he pensively nodded.


    ¡°What block am I then?¡± he asked.


    ¡°You? A simple square, I definitely know how to handle you. You¡¯re the easiest one!¡± I said with a straight face.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k did you say?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!! Kidding, kidding. I¡¯m still figuring you out. I¡¯ll definitely have a few ns so you¡¯ll bow down to me again.¡± I piled on.


    ¡°When did I bow down to you?!¡± he¡¯s getting passionate.


    ¡°Oh? Forgot the time you lost the camper? Old people these days¡­¡± I put my hands up helplessly.


    ¡°You!¡± he shouted. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Dad, be quiet! You¡¯re like Oscar!¡± Kaley eximed.


    We opened the ss door of the academy and we started on killing a few in the vicinity. There¡¯s less here since the group who came earlier did a number on the zombies here. However, I lured a few towards where I threw their bodies. Three regr ones followed and they started on gorging the people we¡¯ve killed.


    The group I¡¯m with didn¡¯t seem to mind that we killed them. Although they were taken aback that we killed people aside from zombies, no one objected to what we did.


    ¡°Good thing we don¡¯t have those people in the movies that are stupid enough to take pity on each and every human regardless of what those people are doing. Well, for now. I hope we don¡¯t get people like that. What we did is an execution but it¡¯s called for. I wouldn¡¯t want those kinds of people roaming this ce. I¡¯m just wondering about their situation at Arca Yard. We should¡¯ve kept at least one alive for interrogation.¡± I said to myself.


    We slowly approached the truck while killing a few on the way. I took the lead while Tatiana guards the rear. We ced everything that we¡¯re carrying in the truck and in the mobile van while I killed a few in the vicinity.


    *sh* *sh* *stab* *slice* *chop*


    I took care of a few in one corner. The katana is dripping a few droplets of blood so I flicked it to get rid of some. I then started to pick the locks and we opened the roll-ups. The canteen here is mostly the go to ce from people from the school, academy and the fire station. The electricity here is still running and I smiled brightly when I looked at the ce. The canteen is untouched and there are several boxes of noodles, canned goods, bread, snacks, candies, and various seasonings. Their freezer also has a lot of items like frozen chicken, beef and pork. There are also the processed ones like sausages, burgers and the like.


    ¡°Bro! There¡¯s another one! It¡¯sing straight at us from the city hall! I¡¯ll take shots now!¡± Lois shouted.


    ¡°Go ahead.¡± I replied.


    Lois raised the Ruger 10/22 and he aimed for the sprinter¡­ sprinting straight at us. The rest also stopped what they¡¯re doing and they held their weapons at the ready while they backed a few steps guarding from the other side. It was about halfway from our distance then it started to zigzag when it saw us.


    ¡°Another irregr sprinter.¡± I said to myself.


    Lois unloaded a few rounds but it just grazed its shoulder because of the zigzagging. Lois and Kaley fired a few more but they stopped when I was in close proximity with it.


    I drew my katana and waited for it as I get ready. I watched it intently and analyzed its movements.


    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s zigzagging but it makes a short pause when it slices to the other direction. This eliminates the first weakness that we discovered but it¡¯s still not enough to pose a threat if this is the only thing it could do. The pattern is the same, it¡¯s just like a metronome swinging.¡± I said to myself. <hr>


    It abruptly swung its left hand towards me so I sliced its hand off.


    *slice*


    *plop*


    It immediately wed with the other hand but I sliced it off too.


    *slice*


    *plop*


    ¡°NyyahRRGG!!!¡± it shouted.


    It screamed guttural sounds and I saw its mouth wide open with blood curdling inside. Its jaw unhinged from the scream it did then hit lunges his head towards me as it made a small jump forwards with speed.


    *woosh*


    I jumped back as well and we kept the same distance between us so I kicked its head upwards after its short jump. And when its neck is clearly visible when my kick hit it¡­


    *slice*


    I sliced horizontally and its head lopped off while it fell on its back.


    ¡°Why would they always use their hands first before their mouth? I¡¯ve never seen one where they lunged head first. Well, there was one that went knee first¡­ Hmm, well their hands would reach us first. I wonder what would happen if they scratch us if their hands are clean.¡± I said to myself.


    *psshew* <hr>


    *psshew*


    I heard the AR-15 and two zombies approaching me from the side fell down. One of the two that fell down is wearing a military uniform so I approached it and my eyes lit up.


    ¡°A bonus reward huh?¡± I said to myself.


    It has a 1911 pistol on his leg holster with two magazines at his belt. There¡¯s also a magazine for an M16 filled with bullets but the rifle is not here. He also has abat knife sheathed to a leather scabbard and there¡¯s a shlight and a radio on the otherpartments. I looked at the boots and I untied it as well.


    The other one was just a regr civilian but he¡¯s wearing an expensive watch so I took it. I searched his pockets and I found a smartphone and his wallet. There¡¯s a few paper bills and his IDs on his wallet.


    I took it all and went back to the group.


    They saw what I was carrying and their eyes lit up.


    A few of the guys started on hauling the food items on the truck again while a few guards our perimeter.


    ¡°You hound, you found more?!¡± Oscar shouted.


    ¡°Why do you keep on taking their boots!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°Hah! I was just lucky. Kaley was the one who shot the guy though. We¡¯ll add all of this to my armory. Of course, I¡¯ll take the boots as always! Who here is a size 11?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Whoa there kid, what about my share?! Did you just say your armory?¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°Why? I found them at the academy while you¡¯re here trying to hold your shit together. Why would this interest you? You have a lot more than mine.¡± I said nonchntly.


    ¡°Here we go.¡± Jared said at the side. <hr>


    ¡°But you told me to stay guard here! I could¡¯ve gotten those myself!¡± Oscar bellowed


    ¡°Exactly. But I did.¡± I replied with a grin.


    ¡°¡­!¡± he was shocked beyond measure. He pieced the puzzle together and he understood.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Iughed my heart out.


    ¡°You little¡­! At least give me those shotguns!¡± he grinds his teeth.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it will just be in my armory. We share everything we have as always yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait if you two share your guns, why does it matter if where it is on?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°It matters!¡± Matthew chimed in.


    ¡°I don¡¯t get it.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°It does!¡± Oscar added.


    ¡°Hmmm, it¡¯s a guy thing I guess. When I won the camper from your dad that would also mean that all the guns and weapons there are mine. Al-¡± I tried to add but I was interrupted.


    ¡°Whoa! The deal was the camper! Not everything else in it!¡± Matthew bellowed.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± My uncle said.

 Chapter 118

    Chapter 118: 118


    ¡°I wagered all of my guns and ammo at the table. Did you forget how much each of those are worth? Half of them easily exceeded that dented camper you brought.¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°But the things inside are also worth something!¡± he retorted.


    ¡°What? You only have three guns inside the camper. The Winchester M70, the Remington 870 and the Colt Anaconda that is mine now. I basically gave the cigars for free if you think about it. The other thing worth noting there is your recurve bow and the crossbow. You have a few arrows and bolts inside but aside from a few food items, that is all that¡¯s in there. I¡¯m right, right?¡± I said with a grin.


    He almost lost all the air in his body when I spoke. Kaley was smiling and holding herughter as she saw her dad breaking down helplessly.


    I instructed everyone to pick up some of the casings that they could see in the immediate vicinity before we all rode the truck back home.


    ¡°We¡¯re really doing this here kid?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this embarrassing?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Heh. What¡¯s embarrassing is you using a melee weapon if you ran out of ammo. Are you just saying that or you can¡¯t bend your back now?¡± I tried to make a straight face as possible.


    ¡°I¡¯m old but I¡¯m still strong as an ox! You little¡­¡± he grumbled as he starts to pick the casings faster.


    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s head back. Our vehicles are full now. Oh yeah, we might need to talk about something.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± he said while he looked at my direction.


    ¡°People are starting to have their own ces now like us. Arca Yard past the South Supermarket in a couple blocks is upied. However, the people there is definitely something we need to take care of.¡± I said.


    ¡°We need to take care of that as soon as possible.¡± he said.


    ¡°There¡¯s a huge number of zombies at the People¡¯s Park though, they easily number a few hundred. We need to n first as always.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    The other people with us gave us a nce but they remained quiet for now.


    ¡°Do you know how many they are?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No. We killed everyone before we got to ask any questions. I thought the kid they shot would be able to talk for a few moments but he¡¯s already dead when we¡¯re done with them.¡± I said.


    ¡°Too bad. You could¡¯ve at least let someone live for a moment and let me question him.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I thought of that too but we were in the heat of the moment. The kid they shot was pleading to those people to end his life quickly. They toyed with him.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Oscar was quiet.


    ¡°Why would we even let a person from that group live? It would cause more problems with us if we do that.¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say we let him live after questioning. I¡¯ll ce a bullet in their heads after I¡¯m done. Anyway, I heard different shots. Who among you did it?¡± Oscar said.


    Judging from the looks my group is giving, the answer is pretty obvious.


    ¡°I¡¯m not gonna sugarcoat this. It¡¯s gonna be hard for your first kill and all I could say is that you better get used to it. Only the strong survive now.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it always?¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± he replied.


    I saw Lois looking at his older brother but he kept quiet when Jared was still looking at the distance. They both have solemn expressions along with their older sister. Kaley seems to be doing fine but Matthew has the same expression when he told me about what happened on their way to my ce. I scratched my head and exhaled.


    ¡°Some things are better to not be talked about.¡± I said to myself. <hr>


    The truck was leading the way followed by the firetruck and the mobile clinic. We passed the same route and the drive home was uneventful.


    They opened the gate and we drove inside. We unloaded everything on the truck while Rin listed everything and told the guys where to ce each one. I looked at my watch and it reads 4:56 PM.


    ¡°One more hour before the broadcast.¡± I said to myself.


    I headed to my room to check all of the guns that we got. Kaley followed after me and she saw what I was doing. She picked up a gun and started on doing the same thing that I was doing.


    ¡°Thanks for helping. Wear this so you don¡¯t stain your hands.¡± I said as I grabbed a few tools for polishing and cleaning them. I also grabbed a couple pairs of gloves and handed them to Kaley.


    While we¡¯re cleaning them, Kaley discovered another thing about me. I don¡¯t know what it was but sometimes I just focus and nk out and my hands would just move on their own.


    I would make sure that the chamber is clear, strip it, clean any carbon residue, apply gun oil to where it is needed, and assemble it back again. A few of them I just wipe off but a few needed deeper cleanings. It didn¡¯t even matter what type of gun it is, it¡¯s all the same. Small cking noises is the only thing that I hear as I do my business. I didn¡¯t even notice that Kaley was waving me down.


    ¡°Sky!¡± I heard her voice then I snapped back to reality but the gravity is still there.


    ¡°Hmm? What?¡± I said confused.


    ¡°Why are you in so much of a hurry? Well, hmmm.¡± she said while smiling.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I said as she pointed to my table.


    All of the guns that we brought are now all neatly ced on my left side while Kaley only has four .38 specials in her side.


    ¡°I barely finished a few and you were about to steal what I¡¯m about to clean.¡± She said.


    I looked at my hands and it was holding her hand that was reaching for the other .38 special. I let go and she checked it while I checked each box of ammo. I lifted them up and ced them to the corresponding corner though I grabbed a few and loaded the magazines that are empty. <hr>


    ¡°We got a lot.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah. Is that a kind of like a zone thingy where you shut off everything around you to do a task?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh, hahaha¡­ yeah sometimes I do that. I hate it when that happens.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why? You were moving much faster, right?¡± she was confused.


    ¡°Well, when I enter that zone, I would shut off any input from my surroundings. I didn¡¯t even notice that I was touching your beautiful hands.¡± I said.


    She harrumphed and said, ¡°Like to sneak things on your sentences huh?¡±


    ¡°Did I lie?¡± I asked innocently.


    ¡°Well you didn¡¯t.¡± she smirked while she continues to wipe the gun off.


    ¡°But what is up with your hands?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it?¡± I said as I held them up.


    ¡°It looks like you haven¡¯t worked a day in your life! It almost looks like my hands! Wait, they¡¯re a bit prettier! Yours is a bit bigger though.¡± she eximed while she held her hands towards me.


    ¡°Hah! Lotion is the key. I always moisturize my hands. They look amazing huh? If it grew calluses or anything, I¡¯d lose my touch by a few notches. Same with everything else in my body.¡± I said.


    ¡°What? Lose your touch?¡± she was confused again.


    ¡°Hmmm, how do I exin this. I read the wind with my skin while I judge the distance with my eyes. I feel with my hands if I¡¯m holding my gun properly. It¡¯s like driving a car barefoot. Yup! That¡¯s the best example I could give.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°What other ways could that help you though?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Many things! Ok then, grab a towel and blindfold me.¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay?¡± sheplied with reluctance.


    ¡°Give me a couple of our pistols from the safe there. Don¡¯t give me a revolver since it¡¯s gonna be easy to identify.¡± I said.


    I heard her looking for a gun at the safes since I¡¯m hearing footsteps and guns being taken out of the cases. A few moments passed and then I heard more footsteps approaching.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s the girls. Hmm, is that Zeus as well? Definitely him, I could hear him panting.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Hi guys.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus said.


    ¡°That¡¯s definitely him.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± I heard Olivia¡¯s voice.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly. But Sky¡¯s showing off again. He¡¯s making me pick a couple of guns at random.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh! Let me help as well.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll pick one too!¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°Oh, that means he can¡¯t see us, correct?¡± Tatiana said.

 Chapter 119

    Chapter 119: 119


    ¡°Yeah, Okay. Sky, there are five handguns here that we gathered. I¡¯lly one in front of you and do what you¡¯re nning on doing.¡± Kaley said. <center></center><hr>


    I heard a gun being ced in front of me then I picked it up. I touched it all over and I slide the action and checked the sound it made and the texture of the barrel and other stuff that are protruding. I removed the magazine and checked it as well. I pondered for a bit but I smelled it as well. I even felt the groove in the action and I am 100% sure on what and whose pistol this is.


    ¡°This is the CZ P-09 that I gave to you. I can still smell the perfume you use.¡± I said with confidence.


    ¡°Wow!¡± Olivia eximed.


    ¡°That was really cool.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°Hmmm, lucky guess.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Hah! This is a fun exercise. I¡¯m gonna try somethingter.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Give him the next gun sis!¡± Olivia eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯m not done yet.¡± I said as I stripped the gun and removed each part that could be removed by my hand while cing everything on the table neatly. After that, I jumbled them together and assembled it like it was nothing.


    *click*


    The magazine sounded as I ced it insidest.


    ¡°Now that is impressive.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°Show off.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Next gun?¡± I said.


    The next gun was an HK P30L. A certain breathtaking guy used in one of his films. I immediately noticed the ambidextrous slide levers and magazine release when I held it normally. I creeped my hand at the other ces and noticed the spurred hammer and the picatinny rail and this much confirms it.


    When I ced my hand on the 3rd gun, I made a small exhale with my nose.


    ¡°I told you no revolvers. I only have a few of them and I could immediately tell what it is. This is a Taurus Judge.¡± I said.


    ¡°I told you Olivia to not pick that.¡± Kaley said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°How could I know what a revolver is?!¡± Olivia replied.


    Kaley sighed and said, ¡°See this? This thing that revolves? Get it now?¡±


    ¡°Oh~? I see, I see.¡± Olivia replied.


    ¡°Why do you only have a few of them though?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Oh, I just don¡¯t like to use them. Same with shotguns. I like more bullets in my guns so I could take care of a few more. I hate firing 6 shots and reloading.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Why? They¡¯re pistols too, right? I though you like those.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Actually no. Pistols and revolvers are called handguns. People that are not familiar would get confused with the term. Pistols refers to semi autos, derringers and single shots while revolvers refer to the revolver here that where the bullets are ced.¡± I exined.


    ¡°That circle-thingy?¡± Olivia asked.


    ¡°Yeah, that circle-thingy.¡± I replied.


    She tried spinning it around since I could hear it spinning and being carefully ced back.


    ¡°Next?¡±


    ¡°I think you know every single gun here. It would be pointless to continue.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Wait. Try this.¡± Tatiana said as I heard a gun being ced in front of me.


    ¡°Hm? I thou-¡± Kaley said but she was interrupted.


    ¡°Shh, just let him try that.¡± Tatiana said.


    When I ced my hand on the gun in front me, I was about to snort but my eyebrows shot up.


    ¡°A franken gun.¡± I said to myself. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! This is good! You mixed some of the parts of Colt and Remington revolvers to make this. Might need to change the cylinder to a different one since it won¡¯t align properly when you make the next shot. Good try though but don¡¯t forget to ce them back in the same ceter.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm, I give up. He¡¯s good. I will, I will.¡± Tatiana said while she sighs.


    I was about to remove my blindfold but Kaley stopped me.


    ¡°Let us try something else first.¡± she said.


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± I replied.


    I heard a few rustles and giggles then I heard Kaley¡¯s voice.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna ce your hand on something. Guess what it is.¡± She said.


    I felt her grabbing my hands and cing them in soft skin.


    ¡°Guess who it is! Don¡¯t touch our hairs since you¡¯ll know immediately from our hairstyles!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± I trailed.


    I glided my hands all over the face and I first thought it was Kaley but I heard her from my left side earlier. I touched the eyebrows and it feels the same but it is much shorter and there were a few subtle differences.


    ¡°Olivia.¡± I said confidently.


    ¡°Wow! He¡¯s really good!¡± Olivia said.


    The face who came next was Rin and I guessed it correctly again. But suddenly, my hands touched something more¡­ soft? I squeezed it twice to remember whose face this was. I can¡¯t seem to remember anyone who has this kind of skin texture.


    ¡°Is this a mole? Who is this?¡± I said.


    ¡°Tatiana!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Why did you tell him the answer! I really like to know if he could guess whose boob this is. You should be next- wait¡­ it would be easy if it was you Kaley. Sky would be very familiar with those things, correct?¡± Tatiana saidughing. <hr>


    ¡°W-wait what?!¡± I eximed.


    The tie on the towel slowly came loose and it fell off.


    Tatiana was holding my hand while it is ced on her chest. I immediately removed it as soon as I saw where my hand is ced but Kaley tackled me to the ground.


    *thud*


    *crash*


    ¡°Ow! Why would you tackle me?!¡± I eximed as I hit my head.


    She¡¯s pressing against me while Tatiana isughing hysterically.


    ¡°I¡¯m really starting to like this ce!¡± she eximed with an earnest expression.


    Kaley was pouting but she was ring at me. Zeus tried to pile in as well while Rin and Olivia are shaking their heads in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that! She¡¯s the one who did it!¡± I defended myself.


    ¡°Well, yes I did it by myself. You squeezed twice though. Like it, correct?¡± she replied with a grin.


    ¡°I thought I was gonna touch another face!¡± I eximed.


    Kaley stood up and started on hammering her fists towards Tatiana but she was stillughing hysterically. The other two at the side wore helpless smiles while I slowly stood up and making my neck crack. I disassembled the franken gun while the two bickers.


    ¡°Why do you have to do that?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°What? With him this is the first time I had contact. With Rin, well¡­ let¡¯s just say that she¡¯s more assertive when we¡¯re alone.¡± she smiled while Rin blushes all over.


    ¡°Not what I meant! He¡¯s mine!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°P-please don¡¯t tell them about us I-it¡¯s a bit embarrassing¡­¡± Rin trailed. <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± Olivia was silent but listening.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you stop me though?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°I thought you really weren¡¯t gonna do it!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Hah! Well I apologize, that was fun though. But Sky, did you know who it was?¡± Tatiana asked while the three looked at me.


    ¡°Well I¡¯ve identally seen your chest before and basing it on that and confirming it with my hands now, I would probably figure it out eventually if I didn¡¯t think that a face is what I¡¯m supposed touching before.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why are you exining things like it¡¯s nothing?!¡± Kaley helplessly said.


    ¡°You could really identify things with touch alone?¡± Rin chimed.


    ¡°Well, I could guess the guns earlier even the brand of it just by tracing it with my fingers and identifying it from memory. Cool huh?¡± I said as I finished the gun I was working on.


    ¡°Show off.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Better stop now, the broadcast is about to start.¡± I said.


    Like clockwork Aya came and told us that the broadcast is about to start. Today, the broadcast mainly talked about the state of USA. Several states are already unresponsive and a few that are still going strong is Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, Ohio, V.i.r.g.i.nia and Montana. There was no news about their president and they surmised that he was already hiding in a secure bunker with a few government officials.


    Aside from the soldiers, several civilians formed their own militia and made their own stand against what we¡¯re facing.


    ¡°Good thing we have a few people out there like us. Some off your friends back there has their own thing like us here, right?¡± I said to Oscar.


    ¡°Yeah. However, a lot of them would hole up in their bunkers for a time. Unlike us who are actively trying to thin their numbers a few at a time. We¡¯re also building something here.¡± he replied.


    ¡°They¡¯ll live old man, as long as they face them in the morning. They have different kinds there. They¡¯ll surely find a way to deal with that even if your president is not present unlike ours here.¡± I said.


    ¡°Damn that dude, hiding somewhere safe when his country is in that state.¡± Oscar grumbled.

 Chapter 120

    Chapter 120: 120


    ¡°It really is much harder there old man. Add to that the ones that would being from the borders. It¡¯s all a one big pile of people and zombies getting mixed up together in a meat grinder.¡± I added. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah. Good thing your president here is actively fighting them off.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Yeah, but we cannot just trust that they would solve the situation for us. We should do our part as well.¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°I agree.¡± Matthew added.


    The broadcast continued and it panned to the president and a few foreign people.


    ¡°Philippines, we now have help from Russia, Japan, USA, Australia and China. We have a few of their people here and a few of their soldiers are helping us reiming this country.¡± The president said.


    ¡°Our scientists are slowly researching this thing and given some time, we¡¯ll be able to solve this thing. For the meantime, do what you can to survive and never forget the real enemy is what¡¯s outside not our own people. A couple more of our camps has gone AWOL and I can¡¯t even begin to understand how stupid their decisions were. After I¡¯m done here, you stupid f.u.c.ks are next! I¡¯ll unload a whole magazine in your head and throw you to a meat grinder!¡± He added.


    ¡°Well shit.¡± Oscar said with amus.e.m.e.nt.


    After a few words of encouragement, he ended the broadcast. I turned the TV off and I looked at my group.


    ¡°CCW training at the gym to those who wants to train. I¡¯m gonna grab some of our equipment and we¡¯ll meet there in a few minutes.¡± I said.


    Some of their eyes lit up and they got ready while I brought out our equipment outside. The same people from before attended while Rin is now holding a staff instead of a bokuto.


    ¡°Alright we¡¯ll do the same exercise as before remember the movements?¡± I said.


    The group nodded and I told them to do ten sets each. When they started, I almost attacked them all since they are just waving them around lifelessly.


    ¡°C¡¯mon now, add power! Don¡¯t just follow the direction that I pointed at. That will do nothing.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hmm? Can you tell us why? It¡¯s still the same movements, right?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Well do you n on hitting them with that strike? It would barely scr.a.p.e their skin. You should practice like it¡¯s real. It¡¯s the same with everything. Take tennis yers for example. Some of them would only train a certain muscle group since it is the only thing that they need or keep on repeatedly hitting the balls in the same direction to master it. What we¡¯re doing looks simple but it¡¯s building a foundation for the future.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Techniques. If I feel that you¡¯re ready, I¡¯ll teach you some of them. However, all of you are 10 years too early to learn them. I¡¯ve been practicing since I was a kid.¡± I said with a grin.


    Their eyes lit up when I mentioned techniques.


    ¡°Is one of them when you sliced the pineapple?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°Yeah, something like that. But much better.¡± I said with a grin.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you teach us now?! I¡¯d like to learn it!¡± Russel eximed.


    ¡°Did you even heard what I said earlier? You need to learn the basics first.¡± I exined.


    They are holding different kinds of weapons so I taught them the corresponding movements for each. They are now putting more power from their swings and some of them are apanying them with shouts.


    ¡°HIYA!¡±


    ¡°HAA!¡±


    ¡°BITCH!!!¡±


    ¡°The f.u.c.k was that?! HAHAHAHA!!!¡± I looked at Russel.


    ¡°Hahaha, I got pretty excited.¡± He said.


    ¡°Now, add thrusts from your strikes. Aside from the slicing motion, just push it straight towards to what¡¯s in front of you.¡± I exined.


    I checked their movements and Kaley and Rin was the ones showing promise. <hr>


    ¡°Guys, you¡¯re just slicing backwards from down to up. What I mean is this¡­¡± I said as pointed it straight at a sandbag and thrusted.


    *WOOSH*


    *THUD*


    The sandbag blew back as I struck it squarely.


    You could clearly see the small round indent that it made.


    ¡°Try what you are doing earlier with this thing and you¡¯ll notice the difference.¡± I exined.


    Some of them did and some strikes would either slide to the side or upwards and you could see the line where it scr.a.p.ed the sandbag.


    ¡°See? A thrust is very simr to a straight punch it goes from point A to point B in a straight line. If it is off by a few measurements it is no longer a thrust, it is only a variation from the shes we¡¯re learning.¡± I exined.


    ¡°It seems like we¡¯re making an asterisk now, right?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah, those are the basics. It¡¯s where each strikees from. North to South, South to North, East to West, West to East and add to that the diagonal strikes from the ¡®X¡¯ Pattern and the straight thrust. We have a total of nine ces where a de woulde from.¡± I said.


    ¡°And we need to keep on repeating the same movements over and over?¡± Russel said.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the point of training.¡± I said.


    ¡°How many times?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Everyday? I¡¯d prefer if you repeat each strike a thousand times each day. Not the half-assed one¡¯s you guys are doing at first, but the real strikes with power behind them. If you have free time, you can always practice here. Make it a habit even if I¡¯m not teaching a ss to train your own body things that could protect yourself with.¡± I said.


    ¡°A thousand each?! That¡¯s 9000 all in all!¡± Russel eximed. <hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s entirely up to you if you do it or not. I¡¯m just the teacher. You can choose to follow my lessons to the dot or not. I¡¯m doing my best to teach you what I know. Just remember to not me me in the future if you¡¯re on death¡¯s door by a simple mistake. I¡¯ve made the same movements and I¡¯m nearing 70 million strikes. Doing that has never failed me except for one.¡± I said.


    ¡°When?¡± Russel asked.


    I just looked at him with a solemn expression. Kaley looked at me and some of the other people who knew.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± Russel said as he continued on.


    ¡°Anyway, what made me fail there was not the training. It¡¯s this here. This may sound corny but no amount of training that we do here can help you outside if you¡¯re weak here. Just keep that in mind. Grueling training can help you temper your mind but, in this situation, you can only rely on yourself to train here for the most part. However, you have people around you that could help with that as well. I just dealt with it myself so it¡¯s a bit harder.¡± I said as I pointed with my thumb on my chest.


    *WOOSH*


    ¡°BITCH!!!¡± Russel shouted from behind.


    I raised my wooden katana and met it with one hand.


    *ck*


    ¡°Damn! I thought I would catch you by surprise!¡± Russel eximed.


    ¡°Hahaha! That¡¯s not how you make a sneak attack.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well you¡¯re getting emo earlier! I need to liven things up a bit!¡± he eximed as he tried to strike me again.


    He raised both of his hands that are holding his wooden sword overhead. He was about to strike down but I thrusted my weapon forward to his chest.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just do it at 20%¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Grck!¡± he stopped moving immediately as he clutched his chest. <hr>


    Russel is on the ground rubbing his chest area madly.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k bro?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°What? You want to spar this early so taste it! F.u.c.k.i.n.g hurts huh? Don¡¯t attack your teacher out of the blue yeah? I could¡¯ve done something that hurts more but I¡¯ll leave that forter. Anyway, let¡¯s continue the training.¡± I said.


    After a few more minutes of training, Aya went up and told us that it¡¯s time to eat.


    We ate a simple meal and everyone slowly quieted down waiting for the meeting.


    ¡°Anyway guys, I hate to do this but we¡¯ll do the meeting tomorrow morning. Me and Oscar will do something else today. Just do whatever you want now an-¡± I said to everyone but Russel cuts me.


    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± he asked.


    ¡°It will be on the meeting tomorrow. Just let us handle it.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Oh, okay then. James, Susan¡¯s grandson is been asking me to teach him chess earlier so I¡¯ll do it tonight.¡± Russel said.


    ¡°Forgot this rough guy is a varsity at chess when he¡¯s younger.¡± I said to myself.


    We cleared up while Oscar and I looked at each other.


    We each went to our own rooms and Kaley followed me.


    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Cleanup.¡± I said as I opened my armory.


    ¡°Whoa! What are you doing? I thought Jay¡¯s group will be doing it every morning?! Wait, is it about the people earlier?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied as I suited up.

 Chapter 121

    Chapter 121: 121


    ¡°What?! You¡¯re going there now?!¡± she eximed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah. We need to take care of those kinds of people at the earliest. It will be a problem if they growter on.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m going with you.¡± she said.


    ¡°No. You stay here with Tatiana.¡± I said coldly.


    ¡°B-but why?!¡± her breathing is starting to get ragged from anger.


    ¡°You¡¯re not ready.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ve already k-¡± she was about to say something I already know but I interrupted her.


    ¡°Killed one? You think that¡¯s what it takes?! I-¡±


    ¡°Kid. Just take her.¡± I heard from behind.


    I looked back and saw Oscar, Tatiana and Jared.


    ¡°We¡¯re going too.¡± Tatiana and Jared said.


    ¡°Damn it.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Once you¡¯ve done it, you¡¯ve already crossed the line.¡± Oscar said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Line?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°The line that determines whether you¡¯re still human or a monster like us.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley.


    ¡°I think Kaley¡¯s stronger than you in that aspect kid. Had to talk with Jared earlier but she¡¯s doing fine. Matthew was not speaking at all when we got here and just kept to their room while his wife talks to him.¡± Oscar said.


    I made a long sigh and I looked at Kaley.


    ¡°Fine. This wouldn¡¯t be like thest time though. We¡¯re not going there guns zing either. We¡¯ll see the situation inside first.¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯re not gonna take care of them? They are bad guys, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°We will. But I don¡¯t want us open firing at each other in that ce. Well, we don¡¯t even know their situation on guns. There¡¯s more ways to take care of them.¡± I said.


    ¡°What would we do then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Scout first and make the move quietly. This is one of the reasons I don¡¯t want to bring a lot of people. I alone am enough.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait. We¡¯re just gonna go there after what we¡¯ve done?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Remember we took care of the bodies before? They¡¯ll be wary of new people but I think they wouldn¡¯t care as much.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why is that?¡± he asked. <hr>


    ¡°The kid that they killed. I¡¯m thinking that they have no special rtionship with that kid. They killed him like it¡¯s nothing. They may be on a merit system where you¡¯re viewed differently when you contribute something unlike what we have where we share everything.¡± I said.


    ¡°Merit system?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Remember what they¡¯re talking about at the academy? A promise was established that if guns were found, something we don¡¯t know is given to the kid or something. But if not, he¡¯ll be killed which they did. That¡¯s what we¡¯ll know when we get there, we ¡®negotiate¡¯. Which is something I¡¯m great at.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What¡¯s the n kid? Other than heading there?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°For starters, wear dark clothing. We¡¯ll scout them from the South Supermarket. It¡¯s a few blocks away but we¡¯ll change the scopes of our guns. We¡¯ll also ce the Salvo on your shotguns to reduce our noise to the minimum. We¡¯ll confirm their numbers first before we go in. If they¡¯re too many inside, change of ns. Though I doubt they¡¯ll be a lot of them considering the way they dispose of people that easily. Let¡¯s meet on the Raptor after we get ready. This is the first time we go out when it¡¯s night. I hate doing this but this gives us the advantage over them.¡± I said.


    The three left while Kaley and I were once alone in my room.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I just don¡¯t want you to do this kind of thing.¡± I said.


    ¡°I know. I just wish you could rely on me more.¡± she said while taking off her top.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you could cope with it that well. It was a different case from my first kill¡­ well, kills. I used to have nightmares since I could remember their faces when I sleep. I would go to the bathroom to wash my hands thoroughly even though there¡¯s no more blood in them. I used to do that every night for months.¡± I said while I change my clothes as well.


    ¡°I¡¯m not too sure either. My body just told me to pull the trigger. I remembered what you said to me when we¡¯re at the fishing area. To do something despicable for something good. That¡¯s what I was thinking back then.¡± she said.


    ¡°Hmm, it took me a while to get to what you¡¯re at now. That time, I still feel guilty from killing those people.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Guilt huh? I never felt that when I did it. What about you earlier?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Once I got over fromst time, this time I felt nothing. Doing that was justified. Even if we didn¡¯t know if the kid that they killed was an actual good guy. The kid could be getting something horrible in exchange if they got guns. We¡¯re not really sure but the people he¡¯s with were not exactly the people I¡¯d invite here. Just ready your acting face when we make contact.¡± I said.


    ¡°Like in the airport?¡± she said, smiling.


    ¡°Yeah. Like that time.¡± I replied.


    We headed down after I ced something to my pack and the three are already there. The loadout is as follows.


    Sky Ishiyama ¨C Main: IWI Tavor, Secondary: 2 Glock 19s, Melee: Katana


    Kaley Payan ¨C Main: AR-15, Secondary: CZ P-09, Melee: Wakizashi


    Oscar Goodman ¨C Main: Remington 870, Secondary: Sig P320, Melee: Machete


    Jared Pano ¨C Main: Winchester M70, Secondary: Glock 19, Melee: Cavalry Sword/ Trench Knife


    Tatiana Smirnov ¨C Main: Benelli M4, Secondary: FN Five Seven, Melee: Fire Axe/ Combat Knife


    I brought a few more items and everything is ced on my pack with the bottle.


    ¡°Left the revolver eh?¡± Jared said to Oscar.


    ¡°Well we¡¯re going a bit silent, right?¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you bring the SPAS-12?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°It would take too long to attach the suppressor for it. I just took this 870 since the choker for the Salvo is already inside so I could just ce the suppressor here. However, it looks bigger.¡± he replied.


    Most of the people are inside their houses except for the people watching the catwalk and a few in the pool area. Johnny, An and Arnel are watching the catwalk and they let us through without any questions but they have solemn expressions.


    We went inside the Raptor and I drove in the highway. I would just drive to side to avoid a few that are roaming aimlessly in the highway though I¡¯ll ram a few when I wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid them. However, when we reached Malinta, I drove inside one of the backroads towards our destination.


    ¡°Why are we taking this road kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m still burning in my mind other ces to take stuff in. Besides we could spot other ces here that could have other people. Some ces here still have their lights on.¡± I replied.


    After a few minutes of driving, we reached PLV from the other way near PLDT. We drove a bit forwards and took the next right. I turned the lights off and started to drive outside the highway. The People¡¯s Park is across the street and it still has a few hundred of them there. I made a left turn and then another left to enter the South Supermarket. There¡¯re a couple zombies in the vicinity and I could see the lighting out from Arca Yard from this ce.


    ¡°They¡¯re really there huh?¡± I said to myself.


    I parked the Raptor at the door we went into before and I said, ¡°Melee only yeah? We don¡¯t want them to see muzzle shes from this side. Same reason I turned the lights off. We can make due of the lightsing from this Supermarket since we didn¡¯t turn the main switch off before.¡±


    They drew their weapons and got ready. I went out and killed one immediately. We only killed a few and I immediately opened the door I came from before. I kept the keys from Juan whom I met when I went here to rescue An and it seems that no one has still gone to this ce yet.


    ¡°Lock it again and barricade it with something. Let¡¯s search this area first before we go up. This is only a single floor and the stairs there leads to the roof. No one seems to be here but we always need to check for any surprises.¡± I said.


    I went for the small shop that sells food items first. The others split up and started on clearing the aisles. The ce has no one inside thankfully and I started heading towards the rooftop. The rest followed me then I looked through my scope.


    I adjusted the magnification until I could clearly see the ce where the people we¡¯ve encountered before are staying. The rest did the same and they have varying expressions. Oscar used his binocrs and started to scan around as well.

 Chapter 122

    Chapter 122: 122


    ¡°Why are some of them posed like that?¡± Jared asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Like what? Where?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°At the 2nd floor in the ss panes. Look a bit over it and turn the Thermal IR in your binocrs.¡± I said as I searched to a different ce.


    He aimed the scope and he immediately shook his head.


    ¡°There are people there tied like animals. How many are they?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Around 14, including the 4 people tied inside that office. That is what the Thermal Scope could pick up from this distance. There could be more hidden since this thing can¡¯t see through walls. However, looking at their hand position, only three of them has guns on their person. Wait, a few areing from the other side of the road.¡± I said as everyone looked at the entrance of the ce.


    ¡°Kid. We definitely need to kill all of these guys.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°There¡¯s three more.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Agree.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Correct.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can we do it now?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Not yet.¡± I replied as I continue on looking from this ce.


    Looking at the scope, several people are apparently tied and being dragged inside their ce. You could hear faint screams and I surmised that all of their hostages were women. I¡¯m not sure about their ages but something is definitely going on in that ce. Add to that in how a few bodies are tied in the main office.


    ¡°Kid. Remind me, what does the ce they are in look like?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a big ce. A bit bigger from where we are but Arca Yard is just a small section of the ce they¡¯re in. It¡¯s 2nd floor is open and there is a small gate you could slide where they could block other people froming in from the 1st floor. Inside the ce are several tables and chairs since it¡¯s a ce where people would spend Friday nights at. There are two floors all in all and everything that¡¯s inside are just food stores but at the end is a small office where the owner of the ce resides in. It¡¯s just covered by ss and has two entrances inside the office. Oh, at the 1st floor is also a small stage where a band could perform.¡± I said.


    ¡°How about the other stuff outside?¡± he followed up. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Last thing I remember is a dermatologist clinic, a bank, a salon and several restaurants. There are two entrances where you could drive inside but it¡¯s actually just a single entrance since a smallndscape just bisects it. At the back part is a small parking area like what we have here and there¡¯s a guard¡¯s quarters next to it.¡± I said.


    ¡°How about the way there?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°The straight path is to walk from this ce towards it. We¡¯ll have to cross the entrance of that expressway from the left or we could drive around the backroads once more toe from the other side of the road.¡± I said.


    ¡°Can¡¯t we just snipe them from this distance? I could see a few of them from this side.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea but we won¡¯t be able to kill all of them that way. A few would immediately leave that ce.¡± I said.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Grab a few food items here, liquor and cigarettes first. I¡¯ll use this now. Let¡¯s prepare first.¡± I said as I took a bottle from my pack earlier.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Cyanide. I¡¯llce a few of them.¡± I said.


    ¡°Poison? What¡¯s make you sure they¡¯ll take it?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Considering what they¡¯re doing there, I think I know how their business works.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait¡­ oh¡­¡± she trailed.


    I made a nce to Tatiana but she¡¯s just giving an expression on nonchnce.


    We started on going through the aisles and collected a few boxes. I started on opening a few packs andcing them discreetly.


    ¡°Why cigarettes though?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Cigars would be much better.¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°Those are too expensive old man. Besides, most people here are used to those small ones. That¡¯s why it has a suffix like that on the end yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Suffix? Oh! That¡¯s why.¡± he made a simple revtion and chuckled.


    ¡°How about the cans of beer?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Heh. Just watch.¡± I said while I stuck a small pin in the opening of the can. I let all the beer out when it started to spray since I shook it after doing so.


    ¡°Damn. It just removes all the stuff inside?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied as I empty all of the contents on a pot.


    ¡°Wait. How do you get them back after putting the stuff?¡± he asked.


    I never answered but I started on emptying the other cans. They started on helping me, curious on what I would do next. I then grabbed the pot I ced them all in and went to a stove to heat them up.


    ¡°Kid?¡± Oscar grew more confused.


    ¡°Just watch old man.¡± I replied as I neatly ced the two dozen cans next to a table. After that, when the beer is warm, I ced the cyanide in to mix it together.


    ¡°Hee~ Hee~ Hee~¡± I said with a creepy voice.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k is that now?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°It¡¯s the incantation to make it work old man.¡± I repliedughing.


    I then grabbed a can in each hand and ced them upside down in the warm beer. They tried to help but I waved them off.


    ¡°Just let me do this part so I¡¯ll be the only one to clean myself after. This stuff is dangerous so it needs to be properly handled.¡± I said as the cans slowly get heavy.


    ¡°It¡¯s full?¡± Oscar asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah. Looks unopened, right?¡± I said.


    I grabbed a cooler and filled it with ice and then I then mixed them along with the other food items I brought and the other cigarettes Iced with cyanide. It looks the same as everything else now and you can only tell the difference when you touch them since it¡¯s still warm though it will be undiscernibleter.


    I cleaned my hands thoroughly and I joined them at the rooftop.


    ¡°Ready old man?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Okay, here¡¯s what we do. Kaley and Jared, I¡¯d like the two of you to stay here. Snipe a few when you hear me signal. You could shoot through the people on the 2nd floor and on the small gaps of the windows on the 1st floor though it may need more skill. The three of us will go there inside first. I¡¯ll be leaving my radio open so you two could listen in.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Wait, I thought we five will be going in?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°They just got more people and the two of you I will trust on to take care of a few on the 2nd floor. You guys have higher ground here and could definitely take a few of them down from this distance. Besides, Jared only has his M70 and can¡¯t shoot continuously with it when the shit hits the fan.¡± I said.


    ¡°I have the AR though.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Yeah, but we don¡¯t leave Jared alone here. We three could handle it though. I just don¡¯t want people aiming their guns at me overhead so I¡¯ll rely on you two for that yeah?¡± I exined.


    She was silent but she nodded pensively after although reluctantly.


    ¡°What¡¯s the alibi kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Tatiana was confused.


    ¡°This here.¡± I said as I gave him an ID picture.


    ¡°Oh~ That¡¯s why you were so confident. Heh.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s Renz Santos.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Who?¡± she asked again.


    ¡°It¡¯s the kid that they¡¯ve killed. He was a trainee at the police academy and that¡¯s why he knows that there are guns over there. When we grabbed all their paperwork, I remember his file there and it matches that ID picture we found on that kid¡¯s body.¡± I said.


    They were all just staring at me.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Bro, can you let me check your neck?¡± he said.


    ¡°Why?¡± I asked curiously.


    ¡°I¡¯ll check if there¡¯s a seam underneath. You might be a robot or something like an alien is living inside you.¡± he said with a straight face.


    *thud*


    I kicked his shin lightly as he grimaced.


    ¡°I¡¯m joking¡­ I¡¯m joking¡­ That hurts, shit¡­¡± he trailed while rubbing it.


    ¡°Anyway, try to remember a bit about his information. He came from Karuhatan, birthday is July 12, 2002 and a few more relevant information. We¡¯ll head there feigning to look for a person as n A and if it goes sour, let¡¯s smoothly transition to n B. C or D.¡± I said.


    ¡°What¡¯s n B?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°The president told you to do what I asked yeah?¡± I tried to confirm again.


    ¡°Yeah, anything.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Have you watched Bare Weapon?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± Oscar muttered.

 Chapter 123

    Chapter 123: 123


    ¡°Wait, I know that film! Are you just gonna let her do that?!¡± Kaley eximed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Of course not. That¡¯s just the premise on what I¡¯m making her do.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What is that film then?¡± Tatiana was confused.


    ¡°Basically, a film where trained female assassins are sent to missions to kill their target at their weakest.¡± I said.


    ¡°Weakest?¡± she asked.


    ¡°You know¡­ after intercourse.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh¡­ I see¡­¡± she gives a pensive look.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not asking you to sleep with their leader. Just get him alone in his office so you could take care of him while Oscar and I take care of the rest.¡± I exined.


    She was looking at me with a solemn expression and it slowly turned to a faint smile.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯ve been through worse. That¡¯s very easy to do.¡± she replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be. If you continue on doing that, I¡¯ll take you by force. I doubt Kaley could stop me if I tried.¡± she said, smiling.


    ¡°You! Stop saying such things!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°I could stop you though.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± she just replied with a faint smile. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Could she still be holding back? Was before an act as well?¡± I said to myself as I stood up.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go. Shoot true yeah?¡± I said.


    Jared and Kaley nodded.


    ¡°Careful okay?¡± Kaley said as I nodded as well.


    ¡°Wait kid.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°What if they made us check the cans first by drinking it? Wouldn¡¯t that be a problem since you mixed everything?¡± he asked.


    I rolled my eyes.


    ¡°What?¡± he was confused.


    I then grabbed a can and slid the can cap.


    ¡°Just sneakily slid the can cap sideways to see the small hole that I made. You should pay attention when I do things old man. I can rece the contents but I can only hide the small damage on the can.¡± I said while cing it back.


    ¡°Oh.¡± he said.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was speechless.


    ¡°What?! Am I the only one who doesn¡¯t know?!¡± he was bbergasted. <hr>


    We four nodded our heads simultaneously as he watched in disbelief.


    The three of us went down and our smiling expressions slowly turned to solemn ones. Each footstep has weight on them as I opened the door outside while wielding my katana. One is in the immediate vicinity so I turned my wrist where the de is facing upwards and shed.


    Parts of the figure¡¯s head got lopped off and it fell at the same time as the rest of its body. I linked each attack as I make a step forward and made a small perimeter for us so the two could safely bring the items we prepared on the back of the Raptor.


    The Raptor is slowly getting a quarter of its back full and I¡¯m just at the ready at its left side waiting for a few of them toe to my direction. Its back portion is parked closely just by the door so none coulde from the other side. I felt a tap on my shoulder and then I looked back and rode the driver¡¯s side of the Raptor.


    Instead of driving towards the left, I drove it to the right so it would look like it came from the small street before the entrance to the expressway. I drove inside the street and when we¡¯re out of view, I turned the lights on and made a small U-Turn and made a left towards Arca Yard. I intentionally passed by it and then I slowly stopped and reversed the Raptor to make it look like I just discovered the ce.


    I drove to the entrance where thendscape that writes ¡®ARCA YARD¡¯ on it and I saw a few people standing outside the ce with a couple of bodies on the floor. One of them has his back on the open gate, one was ying with a corpse while throwing his knife on it and one was smoking a cigarette when they noticed us approach them.


    They immediately took a stance as I parked it and I saw one of them drew a piece from his pants. His finger is on the trigger when he drew it and I almost shook my head.


    ¡°That kind of trigger discipline will blow your d.i.c.k off.¡± I said nonchntly as I stepped out of my vehicle.


    ¡°Trigger what?¡± he replied while his revolver is on his side.


    He¡¯s pacing back and forth while the two readied their weapons as well.


    ¡°Don¡¯t pull that revolver out with you finger on the trigger or you¡¯ll shoot your d.i.c.k off.¡± I said while keeping a stoic look.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k is it to you?! You¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g new eh?¡± he eximed while he turned his head sideways and he slowly raises his gun.


    ¡°New what?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°That¡¯s a bad idea I tell you.¡± Oscar said as he walked out of the vehicle as well. <hr>


    The three seeing us two with full-sized weapons on our person made him stop what he¡¯s doing. A few inside heard the smallmotion and a few started to watch us from the 2nd floor to see us. I just made a quick nce and I looked back at him.


    ¡°One of them is carrying a pistol on his pants.¡± I said to myself


    ¡°Suit yourself. I¡¯m looking for someone. A kid by the name of Renz Santos. About this height, ck hair and ck eyes, slightly built but still a thin frame and has a small birthmark on his left chin. I lost contact with him when it started, anyone of that description here?¡± I said while I motioned with my hand to how tall the kid was.


    One of them with the knife had his eyebrows furrowed while the one with a sledgehammer made a small reaction.


    ¡°Hmm, nonee to mind.¡± he replied with nonchnce though he looked in a different direction when he said it.


    ¡°Is he an idiot or he just doesn¡¯t care? Five of their guys were also dead or are they expendable too?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°You sure? I don¡¯t like being lied to. I¡¯m just looking for a kid. I could even pay you if you want.¡± I replied while I pped my jacket and let him catch a glimpse of my pistols.


    His eyes briefly scanned through them and he looked at me and then past me. I just heard the door behind me closing and I could hear faint snarls and then it was followed by a sound of flesh getting chopped and bodies falling on the pavement.


    He whistled and then said, ¡°Hey blondie! Ever felt a real d.i.c.k yet? I can show you a good time if youe here.¡±


    Tatiana slowly approached me and faintly smiled.


    ¡°AHHH~!!! NO~!!!¡± I heard a female scream from the inside.


    ¡°SHUT UP BITCH!!!¡± a guy bellowed inside.


    ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± I asked with nonchnce.


    His guarded expression slowly turned to a smiling one and he pped both of his hands together. <hr>


    ¡°Merchandise. I have no idea of the person you¡¯re looking for but this ce here has different people that you might find¡­ more satisfying. You have a hot chick with you but I think you¡¯d still like to take a peek of our goods. We have everything the flesh wants. And I¡¯m sure you want to have a taste of everything too.¡± he replied with a glint in his eyes.


    ¡°That switch is surprising.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about what you have for sale. I¡¯m just looking for a kid. I met one of his rtives in a camp and we¡¯ve been looking ever since.¡± I said.


    ¡°I told you, we haven¡¯t seen a kide here. You either rent our goods or leave. We¡¯re already waiting for a few customers toe.¡± he said.


    ¡°People have beening to this ce?¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°How much for a stay then? It¡¯s gettingte and we need a ce to crash for the meantime.¡± I said.


    ¡°I think you have a screw loose in the head or something. What about renting our services do you not understand?!¡± he grimaced while I almost popped a vein internally.


    ¡°What can you give me for everything at the back of the truck then? We have cans of cold beer, packs of cigarettes and assorted food products.¡± I said helplessly.


    ¡°Pointless to talk to someone who doesn¡¯t know that renting a ce to stay at is still a type of service. Well it¡¯s a plus that they¡¯re not murderous f.u.c.ks right off the bat. I could save bullets and take care of them easily if the ns go smoothly¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Hmm, I could give the three of you a whole night here. But if you want to stay the night with me blondie, I¡¯ll humor you and you¡¯ll wish you¡¯d have me forever.¡± he said as he licked his lips.


    ¡°And now he epts it?! The f.u.c.k is wrong with this guy?!¡± I shouted in my head while Oscar is silently grumbling.


    The two guys beside him are also ogling at Tatiana while some of the guys on the 2nd floor lost interest in us while some are either staring at Tatiana or lollygagging.


    ¡°Deal.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Come in then. Wee to the yard.¡± he said while smiling and gesturing.

 Chapter 124

    Chapter 124: 124


    ¡°Hey, you two freeloaders! Grab everything from the back and put it on the pile inside!¡± he shouted. <center></center><hr>


    The two moved as they tried to lift everything in one trip. The guy with the sledgehammerid his weapon on the side of the wall while the other one threw it once again in one of the corpses on the pavement.


    They came with us inside while the guy we talked to earlier said, ¡°Just pick any room you like. You could do anything with the goods as long as you don¡¯t damage them. We¡¯ll charge extra if you do. Have fun.¡±


    He lights another cigarette while he turned his back towards us.


    The two with us made a left turn and theyid all they¡¯re carrying on the small stage.


    The interior is pretty much the same. The food stalls are repurposed container vans where the sides has holes that acts as a counter. The 2nd floor is open in the center and you could see everyone on the 1st floor.


    There are four people in a corner with ying cards in their hands betting assorted items. On the right side of the of the 2nd floor are the three people where one has a visible pistol in his pants tucked in. On the left side are two people with chairs with a phone, huddled and watching something inaudible from this side. On the stairs on the far side that leads to the ss office, a person with a rifle made a quick nce towards us and started on drinking the bottle of beer in his hands.


    I suddenly saw someone from the far left leaving a shop that seemed to be selling torti wraps and he¡¯s fastening his belt with a smile. A person also came from another stall with blood on his fists holding a rope that is frayed on one end. He¡¯s also carrying a pistol tucked in the back of his pants. On our immediate right, I could hear flesh hitting flesh and grunts followed by a a huskyugh.


    The ss door of the office opened and two guys carrying a shotgun and a pistol went out with smiles on their faces and going into a random stall separately. I caught a glimpse of the guy that bid them goodbye and judging from his getup, he seems to be the person running this ce. He has long hair and wearing nothing but pants and he has been scratching his neck a few times now. There are four ropes hanging from his office and one of them started to move albeit in a simple pattern when he¡¯s out of view.


    The two bringing the items on the stadium finished and one of them said, ¡°Not gonna enjoy the facilities eh? We have everything here, everything.¡±


    ¡°Is that your boss there?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? Dumb f.u.c.k.¡± He replied as he went outside again. I remained a stoic demeanor then I started on scanning the ce.


    ¡°Hey.¡± Tatiana spoke to the other guy.


    ¡°Hey there beautiful~¡± the other guy smiled brightly showing us his yellow teeth.


    ¡°You said anything here is avable, correct?¡± Tatiana said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Just go to the rooms, if you find someone inside, you can do whatever.¡± He replied while staring at her, up and down.


    ¡°How about your boss there? Is he avable too?¡± she said with a smile.


    His eyes widened and quickly said, ¡°Wait right here! I¡¯m finally gonna get a gun of my own!¡±


    Oscar and I just looked at each other then my eyes locked to a section of the ce and I nudged him to look in it as well. I was about to speak quietly but¡­


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    Everyone tensed since the shot came from the office.


    A momentter their boss went outside stark n.a.k.e.d, with blood stter on his body, his member still erect, dragging the person¡¯s body outside with a disgruntled expression.


    ¡°HOW MANY F.U.C.K.I.N.G TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G IDIOTS TO NOT DISTURB ME WHEN I¡¯M F.U.C.K.I.N.G A BITCH!!! HOW! *BANG* MANY! *BANG* TIMES! *BANG* *BANG* *click* *click* *click*¡± he shouted while he emptied his gun on the guy on the floor.


    ¡°Kid.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Fine. n C.¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Heh. Cowabunga it is.¡± Oscar muttered with a smile.


    ¡°What happened to n A?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Be quiet, that shit would take too long!¡± Oscar said as he aimed his shotgun on the ce I nudged him earlier while I aimed at their leader with my Tavor.


    *psshew* *psshew*


    *boom* <hr>


    Before all of the lights suddenly went off, I fired two shots towards their leader. I quickly turned around and fired at the three rushing inside since the ones inside are just about to draw their weapons. Only the moon could illuminate this ce and suddenly rushing inside without the proper equipment will take you time to adjust in the dark. Two shots each, chest and the head, prioritizing the guy with the revolver. I could clearly see them since there¡¯s still lighting from the outside.


    Only a ray of moonlight illuminates the ce and it¡¯sing from the 2nd floor shining light on an angle down on the 1st floor.


    A shot from afar sounded and then a body fell off the 2nd floor. shes of light also illuminates the ce shortly as Oscar and Tatiana also open fired. Oscar is aiming at the people on the table while Tatiana is aiming at the people at the 2nd floor. The container on our immediate right opened and I saw a fat guying out while trying to zip his pants. I shot both of his legs before he managed to get out and he fell inside screaming in pain.


    We already fired a few quick shots while a few of them managed to randomly fire. We three separated and I went under the stairs on the right as I aimed for the guy on the stairs near the ss office.


    *psshew* *psshew*


    He fell sideways and then the lights went on again.


    ¡°Backup generators? F.u.c.k.¡± I said to myself.


    However, that urring allowed Kaley and Jared to fire again since they won¡¯t be able to discern us when we started to move inside.


    ¡°One guy inside the green container peeking.¡± I muttered.


    I heard a faint sound and then it was followed by a scream.


    ¡°AHHHH~!!! F.U.C.K!¡± it sounded from the container I pointed to.


    Most of the people with guns are taken care of and the guy with a shotgun from above me is the only one that¡¯s left with a gun. There are still screams from them who weren¡¯t killed in one shot but I told them to leave a few alive.


    A few are already crawling madly trying to get to cover or just slowly bleeding out. I saw Tatiana rushing towards the person screaming that was shot at the container and the screaming slowly stopped when she went out after a suppressed shot and a bright shing from the inside.


    I climbed the stairs and I threw a tear gas grenade on the gap of that container then I took cover and camped on one side. <hr>


    The gas started to release and the door immediately swung open showing a person without pants holding his shotgun out coughing violently.


    *BOOM*


    *psshew*


    He fired outside after a single shot but he fell back down when I shot him between the eyes.


    They weren¡¯t able to do anything significant from that short encounter. They panicked and fired randomly earlier and the trained soldiers with me handled them perfectly. The lively ce earlier is reced by screams and bodies. Their leader wasn¡¯t able to even put up a proper fight since he wasted his bullets on one of hisckeys.


    There were only three left alive. The fat guy I shot in the leg, a guy slowly bleeding out from his side shot by Oscar and the one with a rope tied by Tatiana after sinking her knife to both of his hands. I checked each body apart from them and I made sure that they are dead and won¡¯t rise up while Oscar started to check on the people they took here by force.


    We gathered the three in the center of the room while I closed the gate first for good measure and gathered their guns.


    I crouched towards them and I turned my radio off.


    ¡°Okay, tell me everything you know now so I¡¯ll let you live.¡± I said with a cold look.


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU!!! I¡¯L-¡±


    *woosh*


    *SMASH*


    ¡°AHHHH~!!!¡± the fat guy I shot in the legs screamed when I swung the sledgehammer I got from his buddy on his foot. Two of his toes are ttened and he¡¯s shaking from the pain.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro?¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯re done here just tying some loose ends. Wait for a moment.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure. We¡¯ll just stay put.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Where was I earlier? Oh, right.¡± I said.


    *woosh*


    *SMASH*


    I aimed properly and smashed the three toes that are left. His face is red and veins are starting to protrude from his forehead from the pain.


    ¡°AHHHHHHH!!! PLEASE STOP!!!¡± he begged.


    ¡°No.¡± I replied coldly.


    Then I swung it again on his knee.

 Chapter 125

    Chapter 125: 125


    His knee bended on the other direction as I hear the bones crack and a few of them punctured his skin from the inside. He¡¯s wailing in pain while the two are shaking in fear. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°KID!!! F.U.C.K!!!¡± Oscar shouted from above.


    I looked at Tatiana and said, ¡°Watch them. If they try anything just smash a toe yeah?¡±


    The two shuddered as I went to where Oscar was.


    He¡¯s sitting outside while shaking in anger.


    I went inside the open container and then I shook my head at the sight.


    A very young female has her hands bound,ying on her back, dried tears on her cheeks, bruises all over, blood on her lower body and drugged based on her look.


    There was only a smallmp where she is and there are syringes on one side and a couple bottle of beers on the other. She wasid on a table and all of her clothes are torn off. She saw me looking at her but instead of crying for help like a normal person would what she did caught me off guard. My face darkened when I saw her smiling at me and starting to open her legs.


    I punched the metal walls of the container and themp shone a bit more of her body. Her skin color is very pale and there¡¯s a portion of her thighs that are violet-ck from what I surmise came from a very strong hit.


    ¡°How many drugs did they put in you?¡± I said but she never responded. I grabbed the dirty nket on the floor and covered her.


    ¡°Everyone here is the same kid. Either drugged beyond saving or dead. The other people here just kept on recing them after they¡¯re unusable. The people they took in earlier are all dead with multiple stab wounds from the ss office and they definitely got yed with. I just made sure they nevere back.¡± I heard Oscar from outside the container.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.¡± It was all that came out of me as I shook my head.


    ¡°F.u.c.k! F.u.c.k me!¡± the figure in front me eximed while smiling then she vomited and it all fell to the side of her mouth.


    My breathing started to speed up as I feel my blood boil but I made a long exhale and then my breathing returned to normal though my eyes darkened even more. I pulled out the pocket knife I took from the academy earlier and sunk it in her head from the side.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± I said.


    She fell limp and I covered her head with the nket I covered her body with. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°F.u.c.k.¡± I heard Oscar mutter behind me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell the people at thepound about these victims old man. We can¡¯t take the victims here.¡± I said coldly.


    ¡°Yeah. All of them are beyond saving. We could try but it would take a very long time. Years, to say the least. It would take more than a few days to take care of everyone here specially the young ones and the little ones. This is mercy to say the least.¡± He said.


    ¡°Take care of the other ones while I finish the thing below.¡± I said as I closed the container.


    He nodded so I went down again. The three figures never moved a muscle and I took the sledgehammer from Tatiana.


    *SMASH*


    Scream followed.


    I aimed for the other foot and I continued.


    *SMASH*


    *SMASH*


    *SMASH*


    His lower body doesn¡¯t look like it was before. It¡¯s just a bloody mess. The guy passed out and he¡¯s pale. I looked at the other two and they shuddered.


    ¡°Do you know the customers whoe here areing from?¡± I asked.


    ¡°W-w-w-we don-¡±


    I sunk my pocket knife on the guys hand as well. Two knives are now stabbed on both his hands. He made a guttural scream but I smashed his head on the floor to shut him up. <hr>


    ¡°I d-don¡¯t really know! My team would just collect people when we go out! A few people woulde here from time to time but I don¡¯t know where theye from!¡± he started to cry.


    ¡°Any soldiersing in? Answer honestly before I get annoyed.¡± I asked.


    ¡°We never had soldierse but a group came armed like yours before! They¡¯re well built but they¡¯re just wearing civilian clothing!¡± he replied quickly.


    I looked at him coldly but then I went to one of the stalls and I opened a stove and ced a pan on it. I saw an older woman in there but she¡¯s just staring nkly. I left it alone for the moment and I looked at him again when I went back. Tears, saliva and snot are what¡¯sing out of him. He¡¯s shaking as well but he can¡¯t move as much because of the rope restricting him.


    ¡°Give me the names of the ces where you¡¯ve taken this people.¡± I said.


    I started on lifting the sledgehammer overhead and he shouted.


    ¡°MOST OF THEM ARE IN THE RESIDENTIAL AREA NEAR KARUHATAN!!! PLEASE DON¡¯T KILL ME~!!! WE TOOK THEM IN THE PLACE NEAR THE PUBLIC MARKET!!!¡± he pleaded.


    I lowered the sledgehammer as I said, ¡°That¡¯s good. Now we¡¯remunicating. That wasn¡¯t so bad right?¡±


    He nodded a few times and then I said, ¡°However, I¡¯m just wondering about something. Did you go to an all-girls school or something?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± he was confused.


    ¡°You see, I¡¯m just wondering just why there are only women here. Care to exin that?¡± I asked as I went for a short trip on the stage.


    ¡°Oh! Ah- uh we just found them like that! Hey! Dude! Back me up on this!¡± he stammered as he tried to wake his body bleeding out.


    ¡°Oh~ I see, I see.¡± I replied as I took the pan from the stove.


    ¡°You think I¡¯m an idiot? You probably killed the rest.¡± I said to myself.


    The other guy was about to pass out so I ced the hot pan to his side. <hr>


    *SSHHHHH*


    His eyes darted up and he started screaming in pain. The pan making contact with his body made a sizzling sound and then his clothes started to meld with his skin the longer the pan stays in. The guy that has knives stabbed on his hands tried to move away from his ¡®buddy¡¯.


    ¡°You smoke?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Yes! Yes! I do! I do!¡± he replied.


    ¡°Sit him up and cut those ropes. We¡¯re taking him with us. No sudden moves, yeah?¡± I said.


    Tatiana followed me and I handed him a cigarette. I tossed a lighter on him and he started to smoke it albeit roughly. It took maybe a few seconds as he started to clutch his throat. His face is slowly turning violet and he started on convulsing. He fell lifeless on the floor as his friend who¡¯s trying to endure the burning pain barely notices him.


    Oscar came to us after and he just wore a bitter smile.


    ¡°Kid. We should go now. Find anything?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No. I wanted to keep their leader alive but talking to that f.u.c.ker would be a pain in the ass. Theseckeys don¡¯t know a thing. Let¡¯s go yeah? Let¡¯s just take a few items on their pile and leave our things here.¡± I said.


    ¡°How about these guys?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°You know what to do old man. I already took care of one but kindly clear it.¡± I replied as I went to the stage.


    I heard the one still conscious begging for his life but I just heard the noise stop after a few seconds. I looked at the pile on the stage and I grabbed a few items. Most of what we got from the ce are the guns that they have and a couple rounds of loose ammo. I even picked up the casings that we used as always though it¡¯s only a couple dozen of them.


    We loaded everything in the Raptor and it¡¯s now full of different food items, a couple of smartphones and the guns and ammo we took.


    When I¡¯m about to enter the driver¡¯s seat, a pickup truck came.


    I made a small exhale as I tried to wave at it. It¡¯s an ISUZU D-Max Pickup and there¡¯s only a single person inside. <hr>


    ¡°Lucky.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Are you guys new?¡± he asked curiously.


    ¡°Yeah. This ce is crazy. They really have everything.¡± I replied with a smile.


    ¡°They do, they do. I¡¯ve beening here for a few days now. Wait, where is the gu-¡± he was about to say something but I stabbed my pocket knife in his throat. I opened the door and dragged him outside. He slowly gurgled with his own blood so I ended him. I took a .38 Special, a fixed de knife and his wallet from him and I saw Oscar going to the driver¡¯s seat of our Raptor.


    I went inside his pickup and saw a couple of items in the backseat. I faintly smiled and I picked up my radio.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯reing back.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Took you long guys. We¡¯re about to fall asleep.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, sorry. We got another truck though.¡±


    *bzzt*

 Chapter 126

    Chapter 126: 126


    I checked my watch and it¡¯s almost midnight. Good thing that most of the blood fell through his shirt and it didn¡¯t spray out. The engine is still running so I drove the truck with us towards where Kaley and Jared were. <center></center><hr>


    There were still a couple of stragglers going inside the supermarket but we just drove past them since they were still in the parking area up front. However, I heard muffled shots and a fewing closer to our vehicles fell down. I surmised it was the two at the rooftop so we just continued to ignore the fewing towards us.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Just drive bro.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Thanks!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What is in the People¡¯s Park across the street then? Why is a lot of them gathered there?¡± I asked myself when I nced on it.


    Jared opened the door for us and Kaley rushed up to me and hugged me when we came back.


    ¡°Hey. Are you ok?¡± she said while hugging me.


    ¡°Yeah, you?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine. Let¡¯s grab a couple more of the stuff here before we go home.¡± I said.


    ¡°W-wait. Where are the others?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    She¡¯s staring at me intently and I replied, ¡°What do you think?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Bro¡­ were they killed as well?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re beyond saving. If you saw what we saw there¡­ the two of you would¡¯ve definitely lose control.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, you left them there?!¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°No. We took care of it.¡± Oscar and I replied.


    ¡°Wait, what?!¡± the two of then eximed at the same time.


    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t!¡± Kaley was getting angry.


    ¡°Bro¡­¡± Jared trailed and he took a seat.


    ¡°The victims there are more than us at thepound. We can¡¯t help everyone we encounter. We just made sure that those people who did that pay for it. I know your mom can talk to them but we need a proper ce for them to be taken care of. The medicine we got from Mercury Drug wouldn¡¯t even cut it. We need a steady supply that need tost for years and we cannot do that right now.¡± I replied.


    ¡°B-but how about the ones they just came in with?¡± Kaley asked with a sour expression.


    I looked at Oscar and he said, ¡°Dead. The ringleader there used them as pin cushions. They have multiple stab wounds there¡¯s already a pool of blood beneath their bodies.¡±


    The initial relied when we came back from their faces is gone now. It was slowly reced with solemn and sour looks.


    ¡°But we could have at least saved a few of them¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°We could, but I personally think that what we did is a better option for us.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°But still¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°If this was before this thing happened, we could find a way for them. We¡¯re still slowly building our ce back home and we need a lot more stuff before we could cater to them. Dealing with what happened to them and what is happening around us is too much for them.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°We don¡¯t know that! Why are we deciding on killing the innocent ones as well?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Ask the little girl I found inside then. The state we found her in and the things we saw inside. She¡¯s drugged where she couldn¡¯t even figure out that a gunfight is happening. What do you think would happen to her and the others if we take them? The amount of it in their bodies could knock out a crowd. Every single one of them are probably gonna die in a few days. Even if a few of them survive through it they¡¯re not gonna enjoy life anymore! You know how long it would take for them to recover from that?! I¡­ I¡­ F.u.c.k it!¡± Tatiana suddenly exploded as she headed to an aisle.


    I was silent but the others wore surprised expression.


    ¡°What¡¯s with her now? She was silent the whole time earlier.¡± Oscar said.


    Kaley was about to go to her direction but I stopped her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± I said while holding her wrists.


    ¡°Why? I¡¯m just gonna talk to her. I think something¡¯s in her mind.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°She has a dark past as well. I think I should leave it at that. Remember the time when we made a wager when assembling the guns? She told me a bit about her story when you were drinking. Just give her a bit of time for now. We can talk to herter or your mom to ease what she¡¯s feeling.¡± I said with a solemn expression.


    ¡°What happened to her kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°You better beat her at something first old man. Sorry can¡¯t tell you. Anyway, let¡¯s start on grabbing a few things here first before we go home. I think I¡¯ll take all of the electric stoves here so we could save a lot on the propane tanks at home.¡± I replied with a faint smile.


    I asked Kaley toe with me and Oscar dragged Jared with him so we started on going through the aisles.


    We went to the appliance section and we found arge induction stove in a disy and I ced it in the cart we have along with a 4 more of them and other things like electric coffee makers, toasters, rice cookers and etc. Along with the necessary appliances for the induction stove and the other stuff.


    ¡°We¡¯re not gonna get food?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°We did. We just brought a lot from the Arca Yard so we too need to bring stuff that we could cook them in. It¡¯s useless to have a lot of food if you can¡¯t prepare them. Oh! I remembered something! Come with!¡± I said as I excitedly went to a ce with canned fruits.


    ¡°What are we doing here?¡± Kaley asked. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯ll grab a few boxes of canned strawberries.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I thought Charlotte has already nted a few seedlings of them back home?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It would take a while for them to grow. We could take this thing so I could bake a cake for you once in a while.¡± I said with a smile.


    She was stunned at first but it slowly turned to a bright smile.


    ¡°I was worried for a minute there that I wouldn¡¯t see that smile anymore.¡± I said.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± she said as she hugged me sideways.


    She started on kissing me but suddenly a figure pops up.


    ¡°Hey! Having fun in a supermarket, correct? What are you guys bringing? Strawberries? Why a lot of this stoves too?¡± Tatiana asked as we stopped what we¡¯re doing.


    ¡°It¡¯s for back home. Aunt Sharon and the few people there should be well equipped like us. They do all the work there while we do our own here. The strawberries are for Kaley. She really likes them and even more if they¡¯re in a cake. I¡¯ll bake her one if we get back.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh¡­ I see.¡± she nodded a few times.


    ¡°Tatiana¡­ about earlier¡­ I don¡¯t know what I said to make you upset but I apologize for it nheless. I know that we can¡¯t take them but I still think we could save everyone. I¡¯m sorry for saying such things earlier. It¡¯s naive of me to still think that.¡± Kaley said to Tatiana.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I just have a past. I¡¯m okay now. A hug would be good now, I guess.¡± Tatiana said with a smile as she opened her arms.


    Kaley was taken aback but she slowly epts the hug awkwardly. I faintly smiled as I continued to load the boxes.


    ¡°Anyway, Tatiana, do you have any favorite meal to have? I could cook one up for you as well. Everyone is down in the dumpstely and a nice meal could do the trick. Have any ideas? I could make Pirozhki, Borscht, Pelmeni, Shashlyk and Beef Stroganoff.¡± I asked.


    ¡°You could?! I love Pirozhkis! I used to eat those with her when she visits¡­¡± she eximed and I saw a genuine look of happiness. <hr>


    ¡°Pirozhki it is then. I¡¯ll make it with a strawberry shortcake when we get back after we rested.¡± I said.


    ¡°I believe I didn¡¯t get the name of the woman who saved her. She must be the one she¡¯s talking about.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Sky, I¡¯d also like your beef.¡± Tatiana said while grinning.


    ¡°Beef Stroganoff too? Sure.¡± I replied innocently.


    The two facepalmed at the same time.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked as I was about to grab a sack of potatoes.


    ¡°I¡¯m talking about your d.i.c.k.¡± she said tly.


    ¡°Tatiana! He¡¯s mine!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Just asking¡­ we can always ask for permission, correct?¡± Tatianaughed.


    ¡°Hah! This Beef Stroganoff is only going inside a Strawberry Shortcake not a Pirozhki!¡± I replied as Iughed.


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!! I love that analogy! Just joking Kaley, I wouldn¡¯t want to ruin what you have here. It¡¯s something special indeed. Let me grab a couple bottles of Vodka as well.¡± Tatiana said with a smile as she walked to a different aisle.


    ¡°Oh! Grab a water purifier! I¡¯ll show you something cool!¡± I shouted as she just waves her hand.


    When Tatiana left, Kaley kissed me on the cheek. I hugged her and then I cracked the bones in my neck.


    ¡°Alright! Let¡¯s go home now! I want to sleep!¡± I eximed.

 Chapter 127

    Chapter 127: 127


    Day 11 <center></center><hr>


    I checked my watch and it¡¯s 1:02 AM


    I pushed the carts that we brought towards the door while we waited for Oscar, Jared, and Tatiana toe back. Kaley was just staring at me while I swing my legs to the table counter that I sat in. My clothes are bloodstained but you could only see it faintly due to the clothing that I wore and due to the fact that I wiped the bits on my skin when I did my work on the people at the yard.


    ¡°Sit here. Why are you staring at me?¡± I said as I motioned for her to sit next to me.


    ¡°Nothing.¡± she replied as she sits next to me.


    ¡°Okay.¡± I said as she leaned on my shoulder.


    We sat there for a while as Tatiana came back first while Oscar and Jared are pushing their own carts towards us. I immediately facepalmed when I saw what the two were carrying on their carts.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k is that old man?¡± I said as I shook my head.


    ¡°What? This is all food.¡± he replied.


    ¡°I know. But why in the hell did you two bring a lot of them? It can¡¯t fit the trucks that we have!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Shit! I thought we have the 8-wheeler¡­ I got so used to that thing I brought a lot.¡± Oscar trailed.


    ¡°That was what I was telling you earlier!¡± Jared said helplessly.


    ¡°Are you getting senile old man?¡± I said jokingly.


    ¡°¡­! Don¡¯t ever say that kid! I¡¯m not! I¡¯m just a bit tired!¡± he eximed but I could sense the worry from his expression.


    ¡°Just kidding old man, heh! Let¡¯s go now? Just leave that extra cart there since we would being back to this ce in the future.¡± I said while I hopped down from where Kaley and I was sitting on. <center></center><hr>


    I drew my katana as I slowly opened the door. Nothing was in the vicinity though I kept my guard up.


    ¡°Kaley, watch us when we load the items in the trucks. I could probably fit a bit more if I was the one loading them.¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll help her.¡± Tatiana said as she readied her fire axe.


    Kaley drew the wakizashi and the pistol and she stood guard with Tatiana a bit forward.


    ¡°I¡¯ll trust you guys yeah?¡± I said while I pulled the pushcarts off with Jared.


    ¡°Sure. You¡¯ll be cooking so I¡¯ll do a great job.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Bro! The f.u.c.k?! You¡¯re cooking?! Save me a portion!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°Kid?! The f.u.c.k are you not telling me you¡¯re cooking?! Make me those hamburgers inside where the meat is inside the bread! What do you call that again¡­ Ah! Beef Wellingtons, right?!¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was speechless.


    ¡°Is Sky¡¯s cooking really that good?¡± Tatiana was surprised.


    ¡°Yup. Better than mom.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell aunt you said that. You¡¯ll be eating from cans for a few weeks.¡± I said.


    ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy now!¡± Jared eximed.


    The loading of the cargo was uneventful and we sessfully finished without any incident. I rode with Kaley while the three are on the Raptor. Oscar drove it forwards while I followed from behind. <hr>


    We took the normal route in the highway and the whole ride was uneventful as well. We drove past the DDR camp but they never minded us. We made the turn and we eventually reached home. What surprised me was that Matthew is at the gate waiting anxiously. His eyes are bloodshot and he immediately rushed down to open the gate for us.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K DID YOU GUYS GO?!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°Tying lose ends.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± he was bbergasted.


    ¡°We¡¯ll talk about thister. Everyone is tired.¡± I said.


    ¡°BUT!¡± he retorted.


    ¡°Dad! We¡¯re tired and it¡¯s already past midnight, can you let us have a short rest please?¡± Kaley said as he relented.


    We parked the trucks inside though I took the guns from the truck which I just covered by a nket from the supermarket. All of the pistols are in my pack but the shotguns and the rifles are covered neatly by the nket. The shotguns are Mossberg 500s and a Maverick 88 while the rifle is a Ruger 10/22. An M4 was found by Oscar inside the ss office as well along with a couple of assorted handguns though most of them are Hi-Points and a couple of Glocks and Taurus¡¯s.


    I brought them inside my armory as Kaley and I cleaned ourselves and headed to our bed for a short rest.


    As soon as my head touched the pillow, I was already asleep. I just woke up while Kaley is hugging me from the side. I just stared at her sleeping face for a moment before I got dressed and headed down. Surprisingly, the contents of the trucks that we brought are now empty and I looked at the people at the catwalk. Lois, Mark and Bing are just chatting normally while I started on approaching them. I looked at my watch and it¡¯s 5:52 AM.


    ¡°Boss, Arnel said that you guys went out yesterday?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°With bro?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Where?¡± Bing chimed.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about itter after we eat. Anything happened when we¡¯re gone?¡± I said.


    ¡°Not much. Just Matthew constantly checking if you guys are back yet.¡± Lois said.


    I looked back and I saw the kids that are staying in thepound approaching us. Aya, Izzy, Cleo, Kimmy, Kenny, and James.


    ¡°TIME TO EAT~!¡± They all shouted.


    ¡°Sure, thanks!¡± I replied with a smile.


    ¡°When did that happen?¡± I asked the three.


    ¡°I dunno. First time they did it.¡± Lois said.


    When we headed to the pool area, I could already smell the food. My mouth watered and my stomach grumbled. Kaley caught up although still yawning and jabbed me in the shoulder as we took our seat. We had fried rice mixed with chopped vegetables and scrambled eggs and you could smell the fragrant scent of the toasted garlic on top of it with green onions. The viand is sliced meatloaf which is fried until it was crispy with a side of miso soup. There¡¯s also a thermos pot on the side with hot chocte and coffee.


    We ate merrily and we cleared the table for our morning meeting.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s start the meeting now. Report?¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go first.¡± Ken said.


    ¡°I¡¯ve browsed through the files you gave me and I made digital copies of the files from the academy though it¡¯s only scanned copies for now. There¡¯s a few dozen from that file that matched with the files from the camp. They¡¯re a mix of trainees and officers. The drive from the school also matched a few that are in the camp as well and there are a lot of students and a couple of teachers inside.¡± Ken said.


    ¡°Wait. You said before that some of the people before went outside as well, right?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, why?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Is there an indication on the file from the camp whether they are still on the camp or not?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh! Sorry but there is no indication whatsoever. Just a long list of names and their profiles.¡± Ken said.


    ¡°I see, they should have done something like that. It¡¯s gonna be a headache if we managed to pick from this list but they¡¯re already missing. Anyway, thanks man. Project Fishing will be carriedter on.¡± I said.


    ¡°Anytime, the server I will be making could probably extend up to Andrew¡¯s house. If you got the hardware I¡¯m looking for, I could extend it up to the canal system. It¡¯s just a few repeaters that we need.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll get to that. The closest shop that could have those is at SM Maro. Though I would like it if we use cables so that no one would identally pick up on our signal. The mobileworks don¡¯t work anymore but people still have their phones on their person like me. It will be a risk if someone picked up on us.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. Where is SM Maro? Is that the only ce to get what we need?¡± Ken asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a huge mall at the Bcan area but probably dangerous. There are small shops around also but we never could be too sure if they have those around. That ce is just the safest bet to have it but one of the most dangerous ces to look at. There could probably in one of the houses here but I don¡¯t know where exactly they are. I can¡¯t know where something is if I haven¡¯t seen it yet.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I just have good memory, I¡¯m not a seer.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine. This thing is not in a rush so just get them when you can. However, if you could find more drones and other electronic devices, I¡¯d appreciate it.¡± Ken replied.


    ¡°Sure man. I¡¯d keep a lookout.¡± I said.


    ¡°E-Cigs too!¡± Ken added.


    ¡°Sure¡­ though I¡¯ll prioritize the essentials yeah?¡± I said while shaking my head.


    ¡°Hah! Just kidding! That¡¯s too much! You¡¯re too kind!¡± he replied.


    ¡°Jay, how did the cleanup go?¡± I asked.

 Chapter 128

    Chapter 128: 128


    ¡°About that¡­ the 3rd road is clear but we found something on the wooden houses on the bridges.¡± He said while he¡¯s scratching his head. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s good then. What¡¯s the problem on the wooden houses?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Not on the houses, the problem is that there¡¯s a lot of them below. The ce under the houses is filled with garbage and all of them remaining fell on it. We could see a few hands sticking out of the garbage while a few walks around.¡± He reported.


    ¡°Now that is a problem.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna need a dump truck and a back hoe. It¡¯s gonna be a problem if it started raining heavily. It¡¯s still a silver lining since we could save up a lot of our ammo since they¡¯re stationary and could be reached by other means. The garbage they dump under their houses is a problem before and we¡¯re the ones to clean them. If any of the residents came back, I¡¯ll be smacking their heads hard if they try to do that stuff again.¡± I said while I rubbed my be.


    ¡°I think a back hoe can¡¯t get to those houses. We had to walk inside the alleys to get to the wooden houses atop the poles that Jay mentioned. There¡¯s a lot of squatter houses just built randomly on the way there.¡± Bing chimed.


    ¡°I know, we disassemble the houses like what we did near the covered court. Once we¡¯re done with that, we get a back hoe and take care of it. It would take a few days but it would be worth it in the future. The causes of the floods here is because the dump there clogs the creek leading to the 1st road onward.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh, I see. How about the dead below?¡± Bing replied after nodding pensively.


    ¡°What we¡¯re going to do is kill everything that moves in that dump by other weapons. We could use the harpoon guns and the crossbows and bows I have on the armory. We¡¯ll attach those to a string so we could pull the arrows and bolts back if we shoot them towards them.¡± I said.


    ¡°I could make long pointed poles where we could poke some of them from a distance and pick up some garbage as well using those. I finished the barn with the guys and I helped Anthony with the smelter. It could definitely melt a lot of stuff and it¡¯s fun to look at. I could make a simple spear from the scrap metal though it wouldn¡¯t look as good. Maybe a simple long wooden pole could do the trick.¡± Zeidrick chimed.


    ¡°Right. That¡¯s good too, long poles will work just as fine. Just be careful on stabbing them from a distance in case they managed to grab ahold of the poles. They¡¯re still strong and might pull you down.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I could lube them up maybe?¡± he asked.


    ¡°What¡¯s lube?¡± Kenny interjected.


    ¡°Not important *snort* Anyway, we could also start on dismantling the houses first but it would take a fair amount of time.¡± Zeidrick said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s okay. We¡¯re not in a rush.¡± I said.


    ¡°Will it be bad if their blood dumps on the water?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°Not exactly, the water there is connected to a creek towards the 1st road. If we clear the garbage there, the water would start to flow and bring the other muck with it to the sewers. Besides, they¡¯re already in there. We can¡¯t do anything about it. We just don¡¯t get our drinking water from that ce.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Where are we gonna get those two vehicles then?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°There is a small constructionpany a few blocks after the DDR camp near a high-end preschool. The priority is the back hoe not the dump truck. There are several dump trucks at the old city hall but we could use a truck from the constructionpany as well which is a few times better andrger.¡± I said.


    ¡°Anything else?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Umm, can I borrow your bench grinder?¡± Anthony said.


    ¡°Sure, why?¡± I asked.


    ¡°There are different scrap metal on the yard and I can¡¯t Identify all of them by eye. I might need to do a spark test for each of them.¡± he replied.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Zeidrick asked curiously.


    ¡°Unc really likes to learn new stuff.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°Oh! It¡¯s a method to learn or to determine what type or a ssification of a material is. An inexpensive way to check scrap metal.¡± Anthony replied.


    ¡°Oh~ It could check anything just by the sparks?¡± he asked. <hr>


    ¡°Not exactly, just a general idea of what it might be. We need to perform a chemical analysis of it to be 100% sure.¡± Anthony replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s cool. Teach meter!¡± he replied.


    ¡°Sure.¡± Anthony replied.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to.¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°What? Why?¡± they were confused.


    ¡°I have a handheld XRF Analyzer.¡± I said with a grin.


    ¡°What?! Those things are expensive!¡± Anthony eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯m rich.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Show off.¡± Kaley was shaking her head.


    ¡°Hold on, what is that now?¡± my uncle is curious.


    ¡°That thing is much better than the grinder. Just point it to the material you¡¯d like to be identified and it identifies it after a few moments. It¡¯s faster and it won¡¯t remove part of the metal when we grind them.¡± Anthony exined.


    ¡°That¡¯s cool but teach me the spark testter!¡± my uncle said as Anthony nodded.


    ¡°Okay then. Rap, the SUV?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°I still need more time with the SUV, maybe a few more days and it will work perfectly. Tell me, what other tools do you have in stock?!¡± Raphael replied.


    ¡°Everything is in the workshop. They were all just stacked nicely so you might have missed some of them. I just don¡¯t have those huge powertools though I know a few ces here that are close where we could procure them.¡± I said.


    We discussed a few more items and we started on our run yesterday.


    ¡°Okay, now that you have reported yours, we¡¯ll report our part as well.¡± I started.


    ¡°We went to three ces in the afternoon yesterday. Mainly the fire station, PLV and the police academy. We found several items that we are using now and even the records for the school and the academy so we could match the records there with the drive from the camp. We could start Project Fishing though I¡¯d like to visit a few more people that I know.¡± I said.


    ¡°Anyway, before I continue, can someone guide the kids outside or to another room first?¡± I said as Hannah and Alicia stood up and guided them towards the catwalk.


    ¡°We encountered people in the academy. I¡¯m not sure if the others told you yet but we took care of them.¡± I said.


    ¡°W-wait¡­ you guys killed people?¡± Jay said.


    ¡°Bad people.¡± Oscar chimed.


    I told them the story of what we did in the 3rd floor of the academy and they have a mix of expressions. The people I¡¯m with at that time seemed to have coped with it well since they have time to digest the information.


    ¡°Wait, does that mean that there are more of them?¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°We should be careful when we go out then!¡± Bing said.


    ¡°Not exactly.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Tell us what happened when you went out without me. You should¡¯ve told me at least when you¡¯re taking my daughter.¡± Matthew chimed with a cold tone.


    ¡°Sure. The n first was just me and Oscar going there first. Kaley, Jared and Tatiana decided to go with us as well. What happened there was¡­¡± I then told them the story but I paused when it¡¯s about the victims inside. I looked at the people I came with and initially, I thought I would keep it a secret from them for now but Oscar chimed.


    ¡°I think we should tell them everything kid.¡± He said.


    ¡°It¡¯s your decision bro.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine with me even if you don¡¯t tell them. Some of them might not take it as well as we do.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll trust on what you think is best.¡± Kaley said.


    I thought for a while before I came to a decision.


    ¡°What I¡¯m gonna say next is something you may not want to hear or also something you may not need to hear but for the sake of transparency, I¡¯ll tell it to the people who¡¯d stay here. I¡¯ll give you a few moments to leave this area if you think what we did earlier is already too much for you. Not everyone could handle what I¡¯m about to say next.¡± I said as I took a solemn look at everyone.


    ¡°But if it was you, what would you decide on?¡± Marisha asked.


    ¡°I¡¯d hear it all. I¡¯d like to know that¡¯s happening around me even if I¡¯m inside these walls. I could take it no problem. I¡¯m just worried about the others.¡± I said honestly.


    As expected, a few of them stood up though most of them are the elderly.


    I cleared my throat and started to tell everyone each detail I¡¯ve set my eyes on. After I¡¯m done, there was a huge mix of expressions in front of me.


    ¡°Well this is reality. Not everyone can just adjust on the same speed as the others though I hope they could do it faster.¡± I said to myself.

 Chapter 129

    Chapter 129: 129


    Everyone became silent after a short while though they started expressing their opinions. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I think it¡¯s justified. That is the only thing you could do in that situation.¡±


    ¡°But still¡­¡±


    ¡°Where are they gonna stay then if they took them?¡±


    ¡°We could¡­¡±


    ¡°We should at least¡­¡±


    ¡°No, you are not.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all done now. Nothing we can do about it¡­¡±


    ¡°They number more than us, who¡¯s gonna take care of them then? You?¡±


    ¡°I just¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s different now.¡±


    ¡°Little kids?!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s just mercy. They¡¯ve suffered enough¡­¡±


    I listened to what watch each person had to say and when they all looked at me, I sighed and spoke.


    ¡°This is just like the small discussion when we regrouped. In short, we can¡¯t help everyone. That is the reality of the situation. Could I have done a better job? Maybe. But the reality is if we take them in our supply will run out twice as fast but out production or procurement of said supplies would stay the same. Sooner orter we¡¯d be thinking of things much worse and I don¡¯t want that to happen. We did what we could. It¡¯s cruel, I know. But the die has been cast and I¡¯ve chosen to roll with it.¡± I exined. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What do we do if we encounter another one of those people or if we encounter their customers?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°We react ordingly. Same as always.¡± I replied.


    ¡°In what way?¡± he asked.


    ¡°In the best way possible. There could be a multitude of variables and we don¡¯t know until we¡¯re in there though I¡¯ve always run a lot of those things here.¡± I said as I tapped my head.


    I¡¯m sneaking nces at Matthew though he seems to agree to the decision that I¡¯ve made though he was pretty upset that we excluded him from our run.


    We concluded the meeting and then he approached me.


    ¡°Kid.¡± he said.


    ¡°Father-inw.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Grck! The f.u.c.k are you talking about?!¡± he almost choked.


    ¡°Hah! Just bringing the mood up a notch. What is it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oscar said you have a Salvo 12 or something? A suppressor for my 870, he said.¡± Matthew said while scratching his head.


    ¡°Yeah. I can ce it in your shotgunter. We¡¯re going for a run for supplies now if you want toe?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m just upset you didn¡¯t tell me you were taking care of the group we met yesterday. I¡¯m not that mad or anything but¡­ nevermind.¡± he said.


    ¡°Oh god¡­ please don¡¯t be a tsundere¡­¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°It was ast-minute thing. It was supposed to be just me and Oscar at first.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hey, I thought we were making a run for the vehicles today?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°It can wait. Maybe tomorrow we¡¯ll go there. Disassembling all the houses at the 3rd road will take a bit of time and I think I should reload some of the ammo that we used. It¡¯s making a small pile now and I might do that this afternoon. For now, let¡¯s make a few trips outside for more supplies.¡± I said.


    The group I¡¯m with is Kaley, Tatiana, Jared, Matthew and Zardon. I assigned Dong and Mark to help with the disassembling on some of the houses since the numbers of the erected houses on the 3rd road is a few times more in numberpared to the ones they disassembled before. Meanwhile Oscar brought Jay, Daisy, Lois, Jo and Marco with him for his own supply run. They brought the 6-wheeler truck while we brought the 8-wheeler. We rode our trucks while they rode theirs.


    ¡°Kid. I think we need to make the same attachment for this truck as well, on the other vehicles we bring out too.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I agree. Why don¡¯t you go get more building materials then?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Don¡¯t we have a lot of them already?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah. But we always want to have our storage full to the brim.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You hoarders.¡± Jared chimed.


    ¡°Hah! As long as we could get our hands on it, we¡¯ll take everything this world has to offer.¡± I said.


    The gates were opened for us and we drove outside.


    ¡°Where are we headed?¡± Zardon asked as we¡¯re nearing the elementary school.


    ¡°Puregold. Let¡¯s clear that area first and might as well get the food items from Jollibee that¡¯s next to it.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°I thought that ce was already ransacked?¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Yeah. But there are more than food items there though. Besides, having a cleared shop like Puregold gives us ess to other supplies. There¡¯re school supplies for the kids, bits of a few electronic devices for everyone, extra clothes, a few toys and other stuff. Besides, we could close off an area that is filled with a few of them. We could cook something special for the kids too if we got the food items from Jollibee.¡± I said.


    ¡°Chickenjoy.¡± Jared said smiling.


    ¡°Exactly.¡± I said.


    ¡°What is Jollibee again? It¡¯s the fast-food shop, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s the most popr fast-food joint in the whole country. Even when I was a kid, I¡¯d get excited when we go to this ce. The cooking at home is good but it¡¯s nice to being a bit of nostalgia with the other senses.¡± I exined.


    It was a short trip and my uncle parked the vehicle as we drew our weapons.


    ¡°Mel-¡± I was about to say something but I was interrupted.


    ¡°Melee first. We know bro, we know.¡± Jared said while smiling.


    He drew his cavalry sword and it looks like a thin saber. It curves slightly but both of its sides are sharp unlike my katana. We all jumped down while Kaley stayed at the truck to be the eyes. My uncle and Matthew guarded near the highway while Jared, Tatiana and I are near the entrance to Puregold. There¡¯s fewer in herepared to the supermarket and this made the encounter with the dead easier.


    Puregold has all of its ss entrance and ss walls broken and there is several walking inside aimlessly though the roll-ups for Jollibee which is next to it is closed down and still secure.


    ¡°Bro, remind me, why didn¡¯t we go to Jollibee? This ced is ripe for the taking, right?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Oh, when we went out at this side a few times ago, it¡¯s still infested with these things. You guys are still learning the ropes and I just surmised we take care of them at ater date, like today.¡± I replied.


    We cleared a small perimeter but there¡¯s still a fewing from Puregold getting caught up in the broken ss and from the street slowlying towards us. Jared was still adjusting his movements from the cavalry sword so I thought of an idea. <hr>


    ¡°Jared, do this.¡± I said as I changed the way I held my katana and posture.


    I was now standing sideways where I was holding the katana forwards where my other hand is on my back. Each step I make with my left hand wouldn¡¯t go past my right and I would always step with my right first to go forward and left first to retreat.


    Instead of the motion I usually do with my katana. Thrusts is what I only did this time where my body extends forward with my shoulder and right foot.


    ¡°What kind of movement is that bro? Like fencing?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yup, fencing. The de you¡¯re using would be more suitable for thrusts because it¡¯s much thinner than my katana. Though it is a bit curved, doing this motion with that kind of weapon will be easier for you. Most of the weight of that de is near the handle unlike Lois¡¯s Kukri that is made for just chopping.¡± I replied.


    He tried it to a slow oneing from his side.


    *shcwip*


    The de pierced the bottom of its jaw towards the back of its skull. The body fell and ck curdling bits are what stained the de.


    ¡°Try to pull the de quickly each time you thrust so you couldunch another attack quickly and reset your position. It¡¯s not like with my katana where my movements could be like water flowing continuously. Using that, the movements would be like jabbing quickly in boxing or the thrusts I taught in CCW. The end could go in different directions but it retracts in the same ce.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Are you seriously gonna teach a ss we¡¯re in the middle of clearing them?¡± Kaley said from the truck.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s a few of them here. It¡¯s manageable.¡± I replied. We continued on clearing a few of them and I saw Jared enjoying to use a melee weapon for once.


    ¡°Well he¡¯s always using the M70, this is a nice change of pace for him.¡± I said to myself.


    We slowly cleared the parking area up front and several bodies have been taken care of. We never fired a shot and that puts a smile to my face. It¡¯s a small pile of pierced and sliced heads on the ground.


    ¡°If we could find a straight de it would be better.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Alright we slowly lure the zombies from Puregold. After that, let¡¯s break the ss shards that are protruding so we could have arger entrance and exit and to avoid cuts.¡± I said as I pulled the scabbard from my hip. I started to smash it against the protruding ss to break them and lure a few from the noise I¡¯m making.

 Chapter 130

    Chapter 130: 130


    *crash* <center></center><hr>


    ss shards fell and I started onpletely removing it. There¡¯re five bloody figures that got immediately attracted and started on slowly pacing towards me. They¡¯re all wearing civilian clothing and ck lines are just all around their bodies.


    I backed away and waited for them toe near us before we attack them.


    When the distance is right, I made three quick shes. I cut below the armpits towards its shoulders twice, removing its arms pointed at me and thest sh bisects its head in two. Tatiana just sunk the fire axe towards the head of the one she tripped over while Jared kept on practicing what I taught him.


    The remaining two was easily taken care of and I proceeded to attract a few more.


    ¡°Slow and steady wins the race. Not as exciting but that¡¯s what it is. Better safe than sorry.¡± I said to myself.


    The clearing process bes mechanical but when a small pile is starting to form, we¡¯d stop for a bit to drag their bodies to the side. I ced them next to each other and checked the items in their person.


    ¡°Bro¡­¡± Jared trailed.


    ¡°They don¡¯t magically disappear, don¡¯t they?¡± I said.


    ¡°What I mean is looting them¡­ can we at least not loot a few of them?¡± he said.


    ¡°C¡¯mon now, not that talk again. We could find a lot we could use on some of them. It beats the waste produced when burning them along with the items that they have. Ooh! Look at this bro!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°What did you find now?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°An ROG phone, the same as mine! It¡¯s still working!¡± I eximed.


    He picked it up and started on fiddling with it.


    ¡°I thought you don¡¯t like to take things from the dead?¡± I teased.


    ¡°Ever seen a hypocrite?¡± he tried to y it off.


    I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°No password or anything? Lucky.¡± Jared added.


    ¡°Heh. Probably an owner who just buys expensive stuff to flex not knowing all its features.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    He pockets it and we continued to clear the zombiesing from the store.


    We killed 43 that are lured from inside and when nothing seems toe from inside, we slowly brought the truck to back up a bit towards the store. We slowly proceeded to check the ce and we headed for the entrance we made.


    On the immediate vicinity the counters and the baggage counter are filled with a couple of bodies already taken care of and the whole area is in a mess. There¡¯re a couple products on the floor that could be picked up along with the other baskets and flyers strewn about.


    We carefully checked each corner and blind spot as we slowly move forwards. Thankfully the ce is clear after checking every nook and cranny. I made a sigh of relief and when I looked up, I smiled from ear to ear.


    ¡°Why are you smiling now?¡± Jared asked.


    When he followed where I was looking at, he shook his head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    The shelves here are about 30 feet tall, some of the products are ced over them so the process of going to the back is minimized. There was a couple of shelves that fell down but the ones that are still standing has several boxes of supplies still avable which contains food and other items.


    ¡°Why are the items there not taken?¡± Tatiana was confused.


    ¡°Probably when it started. Everyone made a ruckus and took what¡¯s in front of them while fending off the few trying to steal what they stole. You can¡¯t safely ce adder and climb that ce, right? The moment that you could, this ce is already full of the zombies. I¡¯m guessing the small warehouse at the is still full as well. Let¡¯s head there now so we could check if I¡¯m right.¡± I said.


    We walked towards the right of the store. There¡¯s a huge passageway with stic ps hanging from it and a heavy door with a lock though an easy obstruction to get to. It¡¯s a small ce in terms of warehouse sizes but there are several boxes on palettes stacked on top of each other. Other boxes with differentbels are also on the shelves and there is adder that is inclined which has wheels on the bottom is located. A portion of it was already looted though and it¡¯s probably the portion when Thelma loaded the two of her trucks full with them.


    ¡°At least we don¡¯t have to find their manifest like in Wilcon¡¯s Depot. What you see is what you get.¡± I said.


    ¡°This is a lot bro.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Well yes. We still make a dent to our supplies everyday. We need to keep on looting ces to maintain our inventory though this wouldst a few months.¡± I replied.


    I checked the other exit located at the other side and locked it just in case. I peeked through the small ss part of the doors and I surmise that this path would lead to the parking area outside where they load the trucks from before.


    We started on checking each box first and I nodded. There¡¯s still a lot here considering the circ.u.mstances. Never even thinking about it, I decided on taking everything I could set my eyes on. We grabbed the huge pushcarts first and started on loading them with boxes and boxes of food. It took us a good thirty minutes topletely fill the truck we brought up.


    Before we leave the ce for a second run, I told everyone to gather everything from the front end to the warehouse first.


    ¡°Why? We¡¯ll stille back right?¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Yeah. But what if other people came here? We cleared the ce and everything is ripe for the taking. We should at least secure what we have. The items here is ours by right since we¡¯re the ones who killed all the zombies here and the owner of this ce is at our residence.¡± I exined.


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Sky, there¡¯s people from the gates of Woonds looking at our direction.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g knew it. Change of ns. Kaley, go with uncle back home with the truck and bring Mark and Dong. Make them bring the closed truck from this ce and the truck where Jay¡¯s group brought the animals. Ask Thelma for the keys of their truck ande here quick. Leave that truck there and let the other people unload it. We¡¯ll stay here and watch our haul.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°But!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Just do it. Trust me.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Jared, go to the rooftop of this ce so you could have a view of everything that¡¯s happening.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure.¡± he replied as he went for the stairs.


    Tatiana, Matthew and I went to the driveway and we watched the truck leave with Kaley and my uncle. I could see in the distance a few people from Woonds¡¯ heads protruding from their gate. I just crouched down casually while I stared at them.


    ¡°Know those people?¡± Tatiana asked. <hr>


    ¡°No.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Are we gonna fight them?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°It depends on them. Us staying here is just a strong front and a way for me to observe what they would do. It¡¯s almost two weeks, they could be starting to run out of food or something. Let¡¯s see if they would make contact or just stare at us.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You mentioned that their ce extends up to the covered court, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Yeah. That ce is huge. Large houses and plots ofnd. Might have to ask Kenter to check their ce with his drone to see their situation inside. They could be an ally or an enemy. We never know until we make contact.¡± I said.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro, I think they¡¯re leaving.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh? They¡¯re just looking then? They could be more well stocked than we thought. Well, people who live there are loaded as f.u.c.k.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Could be.¡±


    *bzzt*


    A few momentster I saw the 6-wheeler that we tooking into view and slowly turning to the gas station but it suddenly stopped and went towards us. I could tell that it¡¯s loaded with different types of building materials that we could use at home. However, most of what I could see are metal pipes that I used as a frame for the truck that we are using though much smaller in diameter.


    ¡°What are you guys doing here? Where¡¯s the truck kid?¡± Oscar said from the driver¡¯s side.


    I then told him the short story and he looked up to see if he could spot Jared.


    ¡°We¡¯ll wait with you then. We never know what might happen.¡± Oscar said.


    Oscar went down and he carried his shotgun with the suppressor. I saw Matthew looking at it and Oscar saw that as well. <hr>


    ¡°Cool, huh?¡± I said to Matthew.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say it¡¯s cool or anything¡­¡± he trailed.


    I got small goosebumps.


    ¡°It looks cool but it¡¯s looking a bit bulky like this.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Oh yeah, old man.¡± I said to Oscar.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± he said.


    ¡°Did you pick up the shells that you used? I¡¯m gonna start on reloading on our ammo. We still have a f.u.c.k ton but I don¡¯t want to have a pile that would take a few days to finish. It¡¯s a few hundred now of different calibers thought I¡¯ll start with the 5.56s and the 9mms first before anything else.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! I asked the others to pick them up for me. You could use the dies I have for my shells if you want.¡± he said.


    ¡°I could but I already have everything for every caliber that we use.¡± I said.


    ¡°HAHAHA!!! Good job kid!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± Matthew asked.


    I then told him and his eyes lit up in excitement.


    ¡°Can you teach me?¡± he said.


    ¡°You could watch first. Wait¡­ I suddenly have a great idea. I found the perfect person to help meter.¡± I said while I smiled in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Me?¡± Matthew said innocently.


    ¡°No. You don¡¯t even know the basics.¡± I rolled my eyes.


    ¡°Who kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Rin.¡± I smiled from ear to ear.

 Chapter 131

    Chapter 131: 131


    ¡°Rin?¡± Tatiana asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah. Someone as meticulous as her would be perfect.¡± I said.


    ¡°Has she had experience before?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°No but we¡¯re both perfectionists. Every small attention to detail counts when you¡¯re reloading ammo. Sure, even a normal person could do it but if I teach her how, she could definitely produce the ammo to my standard.¡± I exined.


    ¡°She really is meticulous.¡± Tatiana said helplessly.


    ¡°Why, what happened between you two?¡± I asked, smiling.


    ¡°Since we¡¯re living in the same room now, she told me about her everyday routine and forces me to follow them as well. Even in how the items at our rooms are ced is handled by her. She¡¯d pout if I moved anything without putting it back the same way it was.¡± she said.


    ¡°That¡¯s one of the reasons that she¡¯s a perfect candidate.¡± I said smiling.


    ¡°I see, can you also rece the few 5.7s that I used? I picked the casings that I used before. I ced them at the workshop too where the buckets are located.¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Sure. Though I would prefer if you switch to another caliber pistol. We have a few and I¡¯ll let you pick one from my armory. I have 5.7 ammo stocked but the amount is fewer than my 9mms. You could switch to a .45 or a 9mm.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That is okay too.¡± she replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Wait. So as long as we have the casings and the bullets and the whatchamacallit things, we could make ammo indefinitely?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°Yeah, as long as we got the materials. Though we need to make sure of the items we¡¯re reusing is still okay. Sometimes the brass will have cracks or the like so it would be unusable. Also, if the brass is used a lot, it would get unusable over time. So, we need to check everything first before we use them. We can¡¯t just reload our ammo recklessly. That¡¯s where the idents ur.¡± I exined.


    ¡°idents?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Well, sometimes it would explode to our faces when we put too much gunpowder on it. If less, it wouldn¡¯t just fire. Even when casting the bullets could have a few problems. I melted a few blocks of lead before and when it came out it¡¯s not the perfect shape from the cast.¡± I said.


    ¡°What¡¯s the problem with that?¡± he asked.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t 100% lead. That¡¯s why I bought an XRF Analyzer. It has a few metals mixed in so that¡¯s why there¡¯s a few imperfections on the cast. When it¡¯s not 100% or to the percentage of lead I wanted it, I¡¯d add a bit of other materials such as Tin to make it a bit to what I want it to form into.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Does it need to always be lead though?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Not exactly, it could be a multitude of materials such as steel or tungsten. It¡¯s harder to work with those materials though so I just use what I¡¯ve been using for my casts.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, we get our lead mainly from the shipyard in the pier, right? It¡¯s overrun by those things, right?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Yeah, though we still have a lot stored from before. Let¡¯s talk about thister, I¡¯m gonna clear a few in the street while we wait for Kaley.¡± I said as I stood up and drew my weapon.


    Tatiana was behind me and I immediately put down the closest to me when we went to the other side towards Jollibee after walking a few feet. This store is just separated from Puregold by its drive-thru area. The rest that are waiting did the same thing we did though they went to the other side where there is a small school that teaches vocational skills. <hr>


    I never noticed it first but from each body I dropped to the ground, something is peculiar. I thought it was normal at first so I just made a mental note of it.


    ¡°That¡¯s weird though.¡± I thought to myself.


    I continued on sinking my de through them and flicking the blood off after a couple of swings though Tatiana would just use the momentum of the fire axe to continuously strike a few down. It once got caught up in the neck of a zombie wearing a hoodie but she just let go of the axe and threw her knife at its head. She pulled the knife and the fire axe like it¡¯s nothing and we continued.


    ¡°357 and 9¡­ no 16 if I add from before.¡± I thought to myself.


    A few momentster, I could already see two vehicles approaching us. It was the two trucks we have at home and I can see Mark driving the truck from this ce. When they parked it, Oscar bid us goodbye and they drove back.


    ¡°If they¡¯re done unloading our truck, bring it here too!¡± I shouted before they drove off.


    He just puts his thumb up and they made the turn. I then made the guys haul the items from the small warehouse towards the trucks that Kaley and the group brought. We prioritized on taking all the food first since who would fight over school supplies and other electronic devices if we left them here unprotected? However, it will be a few trips before we get everything from here. Not to mention this fast food ce next to it too.


    ¡°Hey bro.¡± Lois said.


    ¡°You actually stayed behind. What¡¯s up?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We actually met other people when we we¡¯re hauling the other building materials. I think they¡¯re from the camp here.¡± Lois said. <hr>


    ¡°Really? Why are they outside? Did Oscar talk to them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I dunno. They¡¯re looting one of the shops there though all of them don¡¯t have guns on their person. All of them are just holding different kinds of melee weapons. Oscar was talking to them while I stood guard at the truck but one of the guys there seemed to be looking for you.¡± Lois said.


    ¡°Me? They¡¯re civilians, right? No way they would go out without using guns if they¡¯re soldiers. What is the shop that they are opening? What does the guy look like?¡± I asked.


    ¡°One at a time bro. Hmmm, they¡¯re wearing civilian clothing not sure if they just changed or something but the shop is a local restaurant. They were first afraid when we came in with guns but Oscar told them that we were just getting building materials and Oscar let them take the food they already have. The guy seems to be a normal dude, didn¡¯t look at him that closely since I was scanning around the ce.¡± Lois said.


    ¡°Wait. Are they starting to run out of food then?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°I thought they were well-stocked too.¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Are you sure that they were from the camp here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I heard him say that he came from the South Supermarket before. He made a mention of you to Oscar and he asked him if we know you. Oscar acted like he didn¡¯t and we all did the same. They were already about to leave so he didn¡¯t get to ask more questions.¡± Lois replied.


    ¡°What could he want then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Could be a few things that¡¯s going on there now. They could be starting to run out of food that¡¯s why a few are leaving and noting back. Or, the soldiers there are now keeping the food for themselves while the civilians inside are forced to find food on their own. Or, the important ones are given the priority and the normal civilians are doing the looting by themselves. Could be much more but we never know.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why would they still live in their premises if they don¡¯t feed them?¡± Lois asked. <hr>


    ¡°Well the soldiers there have guns, medicine and shelter. Much better than having all of it gone now, are we?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well¡­ that is true.¡± he replied with a solemn expression.


    We just stared in the distance for a while before I started on killing a few that are starting to walk towards our perimeter. It took a bit of time loading everything and the 8-wheeler came back with Oscar driving it with Russel.


    ¡°Finally escaped dad!¡± Russel shouted.


    ¡°Why are you trying to get away with unc?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Ever seen dad work? Sometimes I feel he could work for a week without a break! It¡¯s crazy! He works fast too! We already took down three houses while the others are only about half done! I¡¯m so tired!¡± Russel eximed.


    ¡°Hah! Help the others loading the boxes then.¡± I said with a grin.


    His lifeless expression after me saying that is priceless! Lois came with him inside to help as well and Jared is still at the rooftop looking at everything below. Each and every food item from the warehouse is loaded sessfully. We got several packs of biscuits, canned goods, beans, oats, sauces, condiments, spices, oils and etc. The trucks are full to the brim and we decided to just leave the other things forter since it¡¯s almost lunch.


    We haven¡¯t gone to Jollibee yet though even if the people from Woonds get the food items there, it wouldn¡¯t amount as much as we got from a store that actually sells bulks and bulks of these items. The items we left there are items we already have at home and not as important as what we took already. We just stood guard in the ce in case they try something but luckily, they didn¡¯t.


    ¡°I hope it stays that way.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 132

    Chapter 132: 132


    We reached thepound and we parked the vehicles first and we left them there for now. I saw in the corner of my eye James waiting for Russel with a wooden suitcase that is fashioned to be a chessboard. Her grandmother held his other hand and led him to the pool area to eat. <center></center><hr>


    Russel stepped down from their vehicle and I nudged him.


    ¡°Hey, that kid is already waiting for you. He any good?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Pssh! Been teaching him for only a few times. He got the basics down though. I¡¯m still not good as you though, you crazy f.u.c.k.¡± He said while smiling.


    ¡°Heh. You¡¯re the one in the varsity in chess, I¡¯m just a simple businessman.¡± I grinned.


    ¡°Businessman?! Hah! I was in the varsity till highschool! When you beat our mentor, I lost interest inpeting! Who simtes every move that might happen?! I do it too, but not to your extent! You simted everything from the start to finish! Who does that?!¡± he eximed.


    We were going back and forth and we heard a shout from behind.


    ¡°Little shit, where the f.u.c.k did you hide?! I was looking all over for you!¡± Zeidrick from our back shouted.


    ¡°Dad! Dad¡­ ehehe¡­ just helped Oscar¡­ you know¡­ we¡¯re near the gas station¡­¡± Russel stuttered.


    ¡°Uh-huh~? Why didn¡¯t you bring the tanker then huh?! Want me to take that gun you sleep with everyday?¡± Zeidrick threatened.


    ¡°Hey, hey, hey¡­ dad¡­ just need to take a bit of a breather okay? The pace we¡¯re moving at is too much¡­¡± Russel said weakly.


    ¡°He¡¯s right unc take it a bit easy, those who runs fast¡­¡± I was about toplete an old idiom but¡­ <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah and those who hide from work will get his gun taken!¡± my uncle immediately created his own.


    ¡°I give up. You two handle it yourselves¡­¡± I said jokingly.


    ¡°W-w-wait! Uhh, hmmm. Oh! Oh! A w-well regted military¡­ b-being necessary for a free country its security the right of the p-people to keep their pistols and shit shall not be infringed upon!¡± Russel eximed.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± I immediately burstughing.


    *THUNK*


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k was that?!¡± Oscar eximed while sinking his fist to Russel¡¯s head.


    I could almost hear Johnny¡¯s facepalm from the pool area.


    ¡°What in the hell was that incantation?!¡± Zeidrick was shaking his head.


    ¡°It¡¯s the 2nd amendment, right? Anyone?¡± Russel tried to find his allies.


    ¡°Far from it! Where did you read in it that says ¡®pistols and shit¡¯?! Is that a revision I didn¡¯t see?!¡± Oscar eximed though he was about tough hysterically.


    ¡°Dude, the 2nd amendment from the US constitution is ¡®A well regted militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be fringed upon.¡¯ Get it right yeah? Besides, we¡¯re not in the US.¡± I said while smiling.


    ¡°Forget about it, just don¡¯t disappear like that. Tell me if you¡¯re about to do something so I¡¯ll know where you¡¯ll be going.¡± Zeidrick reminded Russel as he nodded a few times. <hr>


    We all went to the pool area and I sat down besides Kaley.


    Today we have meat stew with carrots and potatoes. The sauce is thick and it being poured over piping rice made me drool a bit since it¡¯s always fun to eat after a hard day¡¯s work.


    ¡°Oscar, bring the group to Jollibeeter and get the remaining items from Puregold. I¡¯ll reload our ammoter so I won¡¯t be present.¡± I said as he nodded.


    After we ate, Kaley bid goodbye and they rode off while I called Rin over. I thought Matthew was gonna watch me work but he decided to apany her daughter for the supply run.


    ¡°Hey,e with me. I¡¯ll teach you something new.¡± I said to Rin.


    ¡°Hmm? Okay, sure.¡± She replied as she followed me to the workshop.


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯re gonna start fresh since you were not one of the people that attends my gun ss.¡± I started.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna teach me how to use guns? Tatiana has been teaching me how to operate some of her guns too.¡± she replied.


    ¡°In a sense. But what I¡¯m teaching you is how to reuse these things.¡± I said as I showed her the buckets of casings and shells that are empty.


    ¡°I need you to be able to identify each caliber by sight as soon as possible and here¡¯s a caliper to check the measurements of each casing. Here¡¯s a reference for the exact measurements for each and I would like you to separate each one here to the corresponding bin to where it belongs. I already have something here prepared before so just drop them in and I trust you¡¯ll do a good job on it. So far, I think we have a lot of 9mms and a few 5.56s in here. However, is you see any dents, cracks or any deformity, separate them already since I have an other use for those things.¡± I exined as she browsed through the book that I gave her.


    ¡°This¡­ this is a lot¡­¡± she trailed as she starts to flip through the pages. <hr>


    ¡°This is just a start. I won¡¯t let you digest everything in a single day but try to read that from time to time. I¡¯d also like you toe to my gun ss so you¡¯d be familiar with how to shoot them.¡± I instructed.


    We wore gloves first and other protective equipment and then we started on sorting a few of them.


    She then started to grab a handful in the bucket and she started to sort them by look and feel. After that, she used the calipers to measure each one and look at the reference book to double-check.


    ¡°Umm wait, why is the three of these the same diameter but the others are much longer? Does that mean these are all 9mms?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Not exactly, the shortest one is the .380 ACP, it has the same diameter as the 9mm though it¡¯s shorter. The other one is the .38 Special and is the longest one among the three here. This .38 Special is used by the revolvers not the pistols that I always use. Some of them have the same diameter but different case lengths and it doesn¡¯t mean that they are all 9mms.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I see¡­ you call each round by caliber, right? Is that from how the dimensions of the¡­ the casings is, right?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, somewhat. Though they are simrities between a few of them like the three that you picked up, the rounds I use is called the 9x19mm Parabellum or Luger to differentiate it from the other rounds. I just call them 9mms to make it shorter since it¡¯s a mouthful. There¡¯s a lot more simrities but I don¡¯t want to bog you on that. Let¡¯s focus on a few first for now and we¡¯ll expand at ater date.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I see¡­ okay then.¡± she replied.


    She also found the simrities of the .223 and the 5.56, same with the 7.62x39mm and the 7.62x51mm and we made a small discussion.


    ¡°So, this are the rounds that Kaley used on her rifle before? This is biggerpared to the 5.56 that she uses now. And this one is what Tatiana uses for her pistol, the 5.7, right? I might need to make a note for each of these. I can¡¯t remember each of them right off the bat though this is exciting.¡± Rin said as she adjusts her sses.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, just take your time. You¡¯ll get used to it sooner. Okay, now that we¡¯re done, grab the container where all of the casings for 5.56 are. We¡¯ll start with those first.¡± I said as she ced the container on our table.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± she asked while still writing on her notebook. <hr>


    ¡°We clean them first.¡± I said.


    ¡°Clean them?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, we use this thing here.¡± I said as I showed her an apparatus for tumbling the casings in. It looks like a container with sand inside. I have the rotary ones and the vibrating ones.


    ¡°These things here that look like grains are what we call the ¡®media¡¯ these things would polish and clean them though it would take a while of tumbling until they look brand new. These media could be either made of corncob, walnut or these steel pins right here.¡± I exined.


    ¡°How long does this ¡®tumbling¡¯ thing work then before it¡¯s finished?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It could take a few hours depending on how you want them to look. I would usually leave them on for 4-5 hours. Thirty minutes or more if I want to use them badly or if it was not that tarnished.¡± I exined.


    I then grabbed all the 5.56 casings that we have on the container and it numbered a few hundred. It¡¯s because I already have used casings ced here before this thing started. Also, the ones Kaley and I used before along with what An is also using. I threw each one in the tumbler and they started on rotating around with the steel pins.


    ¡°Okay, while that¡¯s doing its own thing, let¡¯s start on the 9x19mm casings.¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ this here, right?¡± she asked as she picked up the container containing it.


    ¡°Yup, that¡¯s it. We have a lot more casings of those since those are also what some of the guys uses. Same routine, check each one first so we could sort them and ce them on the other tumblers.¡± I instructed as she nodded.


    ¡°This is gonna be a long~ afternoon.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 133

    Chapter 133: 133


    We sorted through the 9mm casings again while we put the checked ones on the other tumbling apparatus after checking its quality beforehand. Aside from the 5.56, we have the 9mms, .45 ACPs, .308s, .22 LRs, 22 SRs, and shotgun shells that we would go through this afternoon. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Those shotgun shells, are they all the same kind?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Yeah, all that are here are called 12 gauges. There are different kinds but this is what Oscar usually uses. I¡¯m gonna make a few for him too so he won¡¯t nag me if he found out I only made what I usually use.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm, you two are really close. Like father and son.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°¡­¡± I just smiled.


    Rin looked at me and was slightly taken aback from me staying silent.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry for saying that¡­ I never thought about it before saying it aloud.¡± she has a worried expression.


    ¡°Hah! Don¡¯t worry, don¡¯t worry. Honestly, Oscar has been my father figure ever since though none could rece my real father. Maybe we¡¯ll just call him my noisy uncle.¡± I replied with a smile.


    ¡°Hmm, if I could ask, what was your father like? I can barely remember mine now.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°He¡¯s the best, the best asshole. To say it honestly.¡± I said while smirking.


    ¡°Hmm, the be- the best what?!¡± she was surprised by my answer. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°The best A-hole the world has ever seen. We fought a lot but we also had a lot of good times. All in all, it¡¯s a well-bnced rtionship I guess.¡± I said while turning another tumbler on.


    She just gave a smile mixed with confusion from my exnation.


    The rumbling of the tumblers is starting to make a bit of noise since they are all ovepping against each other, so I made Rin wear an ear-piece with the mufflers that we use when shooting guns so we could still talk with each other. The mufflers could work fine but the distortion to the voice it makes is something I dislike.


    We¡¯ve been working for a while and the 5.56 casings on the tumbler that I turned on first is ready. It has been on for an hour and I deemed them ready since most of them has just been fired for the first time. I proceeded to run them through the press that has the dies for the 5.56 already configured in for resizing first. While I slowly work on it, I called Rin over.


    ¡°Rin, check the length of the casings for each and separate the ones that are still perfect from the ones that have exceeded the length in that book. I¡¯ll trim them for a bit so it¡¯s all uniformter.¡± I exined.


    She grabbed the calipers to measure each one and she separated each casing after double-checking each one I hand her. I also gave her a tray that could hold them in ce to put the imperfect ones and the perfect ones separately.


    When resizing them, I would ce the shell loader first on the press and then I would pick a casing first and lubricate it and ce it in. I would grab the handle and pull down so it would get resized ording to the reference book when it reached the loading die at the top of the press. I worked on it mechanically and I finished after a while. Rin was slowly catching up so I went to my other tools to start on trimming the ones that are imperfect.


    I went to where my case trimmer is ced and it¡¯s a simple device. It also has a shell loader that would grab on the rim of the base of the casing and on the other side is where the bushings are that has different size cutters to fit each type. There¡¯s also a stopper on the other end to adjust on how much length you would leave out of the case that you ced in the loader.


    I picked a perfect casing from the tray and Rin stopped me.


    ¡°B-boss, those are the perfect ones.¡± she said. <hr>


    ¡°I know. I will just use this for the stopper here. If I get the measurement for this, what would happen to the imperfect ones that would follow?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh! They would conform to the earlier casing so that the cutter there could trim it!¡± she said.


    ¡°Bingo! You¡¯re slowly getting it, good job.¡± I said as I configure it for the correct length.


    I ced the perfect casing back to where I picked it up and I worked my way to the trays that Rin has already checked. I would double-check them again just to be sure but everything was checked perfectly.


    ¡°The best assistant ever. I hope she learns everything about reloading so she could do this solo in the future.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay, after this we clean the primer pockets here again just to be sure. It could be cleaned by the media we used in the tumblers but I just really want to make sure. See those little holes here in the bottom? Those are what I¡¯m referring to.¡± I exined.


    I then pulled out a box with small circr metals that almost looks like batteries.


    ¡°The primer pockets is where these things go. They are called primers and this thing ignites the gunpowder that we wouldter ce inside the casings. That in turn would make the projectile we would also ce hereter fly out when we pull the trigger.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hmmm, okay, okay. I think I finally get how a bullet works.¡± Rin nodded pensively.


    She watched my every move and she kept on jotting down all of the important points that I would talk about. I then grabbed a handheld priming tool and showed her how to use it. It¡¯s a handy tool that could also do the job aside from the press that I¡¯m using currently. You don¡¯t have to configure it like the press that I have. <hr>


    I then used the press for setting the primers in since there is a small elbow beneath it that could be used to ce the primers in the casings. I cleaned it first since the remaining oils or lube could affect the primers causing it to malfunction. I even cleaned my hands to be extra careful. We worked on it mechanically and time slowly passes.


    ¡°What¡¯s next then?¡± she asked.


    ¡°We add the gunpowder charges. We use this scale here and we make sure that it¡¯s to the correct measurements first. I have a charge dispenser here but we do it the old way first until we reach the progressive presster so we could move much faster.¡± I exined as she nodded.


    She started on rifling on the charts and I started on cing a few on a small cup and weighing it on the scale. When it¡¯s on the right measurement, I ce it carefully on the casing and we slowly moved to the dispenser and so on.


    ¡°Boss, what does this grain here mean? Is that how many grains of gunpowder we ce in?¡± she asked with furrowed brows.


    ¡°Uh, no. It¡¯s the weight of the projectile. The projectile is what people in the know call the ¡®bullet¡¯ though most people call the whole thing the ¡®bullet¡¯ even though this thing here is what it actually is.¡± I said as I picked up a bullet from one of the containers.


    I made Rin help me with this process as well and she also perfectly performed. A smile was stered on my face as we are working together and it¡¯s only been a couple of hours since we two started.


    ¡°It¡¯s really different working with people that are the same as you. If me and Oscar reload our ammo it would take us a lot of time. It would involve a lot of correcting his mistakes and arguing back and forth.¡± I thought to myself.


    I ced thest 5.56 casing on the tray that we filled with the charges and we¡¯re on to cing the projectiles on it. I reced the die to be used and I configured it. I would ce the casing in the shell loader once again, set the bullet, crimp it and finally double-check. I ced it on a separate tray and Rin checked it.


    ¡°This is thest step, right?¡± Rin asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah. How¡¯s the lesson?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a bit too much honestly, but we got a lot moreing up so I think I¡¯ll learn it all eventually.¡± she replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Turn off the tumbler for the 9mms and start on sorting them. I¡¯ll finish thisst step by myself.¡± I said as I started on getting on the zone.


    I repeated the same movements more than a hundred times and then I snapped back to reality when I feel Kaley waving me down.


    ¡°Hey! You¡¯re in that zone again! We just came back. This is a lot of 5.56!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Hey, didn¡¯t see you there. We really made a lot here. How¡¯s the run?¡± I asked as I continued on moving my hands.


    ¡°It¡¯s good. We brought the other truck too and we are going for a second trip after they finished on unloading the trucks. I used a couple of bullets though because you¡¯re not there.¡± Kaley said, smiling.


    ¡°Heh. Miss me already? Grab a few here and rece the ones you used then. ce the casings that you¡¯ve used on that container over there. Wait, where¡¯s Rin?¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯m here! I¡¯m still picking up some of the 9mms here in the tumbler!¡± Rin shouted from the tumblers section.


    ¡°Oh, I thought you were missing or something.¡± I said as I continued to work on the press.


    ¡°Kid. I thought you were gonna cast bullets as well?¡± Oscar asked as he approached us as well.

 Chapter 134

    Chapter 134: 134


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll get to that too in the future. I just want to show Rin theplete process of reloading. I¡¯ll get to castingter when we¡¯re low on the projectiles. I still have a lot of 55 grain projectiles that I¡¯ve cast before for the 5.56. We also have a lot of the store brought projectiles so I decided to use it on some of them.¡± I exined. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What? I wish I could see how it¡¯s done.¡± Rin chimed.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a couple videos stored in the drives; I could let you watch those instead. We have a lot more to go through so casting bullets now might be a bad idea.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh! Let me watch them after this then. I¡¯d also like to watch what we did now so I could refresh my memory every now and then.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°Sure. Like making stuff huh?¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Now that I think about it, I also do. Just never had the chance to do it. Maybe it¡¯s the way it¡¯s designed that you could make them as perfect as possible if you follow the instructions carefully.¡± she nodded pensively.


    ¡°Hey, Is the store brought better or the self-casted ones better?¡± Kaley asked while I got back on the press.


    ¡°Good question it¡¯s¡­¡± I trailed.


    *press*


    *crimp*


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley, Rin and Oscar. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°SKY! YOU¡¯RE ZONING IN AGAIN!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Hah! I thought you were pausing for effect again.¡± Oscar was shaking his head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Oh crap. I hate it when that happens. Let me let go of the equipment first so I don¡¯t do that. It actually depends. I get more uracy with my self-casts but there are more variants avable for the store-bought ones like the FMJ, Hollow Points, and et cetera. Not all of them are perfect but what I made is. Well, to my standards at least.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Some people from before actually wanted to buy the self-made round that this kid was making even up to the same market price. However, this kid refused saying that it would take a lot of his time.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Well doing this thing takes a lot of time actually. Also, time expended doing this is one of the reasons that some people never get into reloading and casting. You could just buy ammo back then if you have the money. I just learned this thing because this is a valuable skill in this scenario. Well too bad for them you can¡¯t buy ammo now.¡± I said.


    ¡°That is true. Well, we¡¯ll leave you here now since we¡¯ll be going back there. Don¡¯t forget my slugs!¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Sure old man, take care guys.¡± I said to them.


    I then continued on doing my work with Rin. It took me a bit of time to finish all the 5.56 ammo. I then grabbed an ammunition box and ced all of them inside neatly. I looked at Rin¡¯s progress on sorting them and I helped her.


    Time passed quickly.


    We only took a bit of time on the 5.56 since I¡¯ve been teaching her the basics and on the 9mm since those are what we used mostly. The other rounds have been eventually reloaded and I even let Rin crimp some of them from another press and she did it perfectly. I even went to the progressive press when I thought we were not about to finish in time and I worked faster. <hr>


    ¡°Good job.¡± I said to Rin.


    ¡°Thanks! Doing this was surprisingly ther.a.p.eutic. I might need to learn how to use guns properly now.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Just go to the sses. We teach those are willing.¡± I replied.


    We finished everything just a bit before the broadcast and we all gathered at the same ce to check it out after we tidied up in the workshop. We had a few casings that are unusable but we still reloaded a lot of them in working and perfect condition. Kaley and the rest also came back much earlier than us and Matthew even went to our workshop to watch what we¡¯re doing silently.


    The broadcast was a few updates on their end and it was followed by the usual videos after it.


    ¡°Kid. When are we gonna start on securing the 1st and the 2nd road after we finish on the 3rd road?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Hmm, we focus on securing more supplies first. The 1st and 2nd road are connected at the end not like the 3rd road and it has another exit that leads close to a few blocks after the DDR camps. We¡¯d need more manpower to secure those ces.¡± I replied.


    ¡°We could build a starting fence on the other exit first and then to the road we always take first, right?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°We could but there¡¯s also the other side we need to worry about. The 1st to the 3rd road are all going to the right side from our direction and there¡¯s the left side from also though they are all residential houses.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What¡¯s the problem with that? They¡¯re just houses, right?¡± Matthew chimed. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah but it¡¯s no longer protected by our natural barrier of water. There are also other subdivisions from the other side and I¡¯m thinking of reinforcing the other walls that separates us from them first to avoid other people from climbing that small gap. They are already high per say but there¡¯s also a few that are only a few feet high. We grab a lot of hollow blocks tomorrow from the constructionpany so we could make some of them much higher and we add barbwire and other safety measures to be sure first. It¡¯s gonna consume a lot of materials and it¡¯s best we focus on one task for now.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, right. That¡¯s too much. Maybe in a few more days. We have to do a lot more projects after the 3rd road.¡± Oscar nodded.


    ¡°Anyway, to those who¡¯re going for the H2H sse up to the gym. ss starts in a few.¡± I said.


    A few momentster, the people I usually teach are there and there¡¯s always a small crowd watching from the sides. I decided to do the same drills as before but mixing it up in some ways for it to not get too boring from repetition.


    ¡°Okay, next we¡¯re gonna do is all of you attending will be sparring with me. This will not be simple mitt hitting and I hope you get serious. I won¡¯t hold back.¡± I replied with menacing eyes and a devilish grin.


    ¡°Wait, why?¡± Bing asked.


    ¡°Because I said so.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Hahaha! I see that some of you are training in the gym while we¡¯re away and I just want to see the progress that you¡¯ve made. I¡¯ll be telling you some pointers while we¡¯re doing it so you¡¯ll have to improve on it while I¡¯m gone. I can¡¯t always teach you stuff in your head but remembering something from your body will be useful.¡± I exined.


    Chris immediately stood up and wore headgear. Tatiana started the timer and we started. I watched his movements and he¡¯s focused but when I started to disrupt his rhythm with well-timed jabs, he started to go back to his crude form. However, despite all that he finally found his weakness on his own. The timer beeped and he took a breather. <hr>


    ¡°Okay. Good job learning about your weakness. There¡¯s actually in-fighters who nt their feet on the ground like you before and starts on trading blows with their opponent but what you¡¯re doing before is different from what they¡¯re doing. You¡¯re starting to fix it slowly but when you start to get hit, you go back to your usual form. What I could tell you is don¡¯t be afraid to take a step back and watch the situation first. You¡¯d be catching punches nonstop if you always nt your feet. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.¡± I said with a smile.


    ¡°Thanks! I¡¯ll work on it!¡± he replied.


    ¡°Anytime. When you start to go outside you need to keep that in mind. We won¡¯t be going toe to toe with them. We need to hit them without getting hit.¡± I said.


    He made a small bow and Charlotte helped him remove his gloves.


    Bing followed and he never changed. The only thing different from him is that he starts to hold out longer.


    ¡°Bing¡­ don¡¯t forget our lessons here. The punches you threw are always telegraphed. I can always predict what punch you¡¯re gonna throw next and they are always wild swings. You need to try to remove the excess movements that you do and make each punch quick. It won¡¯t matter how much power you ce on them if it won¡¯t hit the target.¡± I exined a few things.


    I finished with him and I started on going through each one of them. I exined the things that they need to work on though I praised them on their progress. A few of them decided to spar with one another and I only agreed only on the condition of them wearing protective gear. When I was about to finish the lesson, Kaley approached me.


    ¡°Let¡¯s spar too. Not just boxing but with what Tatiana taught me. I¡¯d like to see my skill level. Hold back a bit okay?¡± Kaley said.


    The people around us immediately stopped what they were doing and gave us room.


    ¡°Sure.¡± I said with a smile.

 Chapter 135

    Chapter 135: 135


    ¡°Shit, they¡¯re really gonna fight?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Be quiet!¡±


    ¡°This is gonna be good.¡±


    ¡°So Tatiana has been teaching her.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they always stayte training.¡±


    ¡°I wonder if she could do what Tatiana could do before?¡±


    ¡°Would boss actually hit her?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s too early to say. We never know.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s starting!¡±


    Kaley tied her hair back while I cracked my neck and knuckles. I exhaled slowly while I rxed my whole body. On the corner of my eye, I saw Matthew with a worried expression but Tatiana was next to him.


    ¡°He probably can¡¯t move. What did she do? I for sure thought he would do something.¡± I thought to myself.


    My hands are in front of me and they are open. I¡¯m just watching what she¡¯s gonna do since I¡¯m curious about her progress.


    ¡°Never saw her fight in close quarters.¡± I thought to myself.


    Like Tatiana, she started with the jumping spinning hook kick.


    *woosh*


    I felt the air it made but it¡¯s still a bitcking in power however, it¡¯s faster than what Tatiana did before. I tilted my head to avoid it and just kept on watching her.


    As she was about tond, her body lowers and the kick was followed by a sweep in which I took a step back to avoid. Those two kicks were done in a flowing motion and I smiled.


    She got annoyed by it and she continued.


    Everything that she throws at me are kicks though I¡¯m watching out for her hands. It¡¯s the same open palm as mine.


    ¡°She might try to grab me when I¡¯m off-guard.¡± I thought to myself.


    She continued on throwing endless kicks one after the other and she got annoyed and stopped. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Not gonna attack?!¡± she shouted.


    ¡°Heh. Sure.¡± I smiled.


    I immediately closed the distance between us and she got caught off-guard.


    *FLICK*


    ¡°OW!¡± she shouted while holding her forehead. When she removed her hands, there¡¯s a small red mark and if this was a manga, you¡¯ll see smokeing out from it.


    ¡°Did he just¡­¡±


    ¡°Yep¡­¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t even¡­¡±


    ¡°Well she did say hold back a bit.¡±


    ¡°True.¡±


    What happened was I flicked her forehead hard and it hit her squarely since she was surprised by our distance getting closed. She tried to grab me in anger but I quickly avoided her hands. She¡¯s extremely annoyed now and her kicks are starting to have more power behind them though the speed lowered by a couple notches.


    I decided to take one to see her power level.


    *THUD*


    I caught it with my shoulder.


    ¡°Not bad. Not over 9000 but not bad.¡± I thought to myself.


    When she was about to throw another one, I ced my left foot over to her right leg and it was nted in ce. It wasn¡¯t a kick but a push with my foot so that the momentum needed to throw another kick was nullified but then she threw a left jab towards my eyes.


    *schwip*


    It was fast but the distance where she threw it wouldn¡¯t reach me. I caught a small smile from her then her legs moved again.


    ¡°Oh, the jab was to impede my vision¡­¡± I thought to myself and jumped back.


    *SWOOSH* <hr>


    Her right leg came from below right after my jump and quickly followed by her left as her right was about to touch the ground.


    ¡°That looks f.u.c.k.i.n.g cool!¡± Russel from the side eximed.


    She looks extremely annoyed that it didn¡¯t work add to that I¡¯m smirking the whole time.


    Her movement changed and she forms another stance. Her right hand formed a fist while her left is open and straight. She inched closer for a simple straight towards my chin but her right foot moved at the same time kicking me with a barely noticeable slide aimed at my heel.


    I redirected her right fist with my left hand to the side while I steeled my left foot about to catch that kick.


    Her h.i.p.s twisted to add more power to that kick.


    *THUD*


    I got hit but I immediately threw another flick at her forehead.


    *FLICK*


    The quick hit to the skin resounded and she tried to form her parried fist to an elbow but I pushed her right shoulder after the flick so we could gain more distance. I thought she would scream again but she gritted her teeth.


    Her hands opened once more and I thought to myself that she¡¯s definitely going for a grab now.


    I¡¯m counting in my head the time and when it¡¯s about to end. I baited her in grabbing me with her hands with slowed jabs. She grabbed with his right but I smirked and caught her wrist with my left hand when it was about to reach me and then my right hand coiled under her arms towards her neck and tripped her down. She fell to the mat though I caught her head gently before it hit with my foot to avoid any injury.


    *beep*


    *beep*


    *beep*


    I helped her stand up by offering my hand and everyone watching has all smiles.


    ¡°Good job! You still need a bit more work but don¡¯t worry. H2H is just an extra skill I want you to learn with CCW. You¡¯re already far advanced in handling guns but you¡¯re slowly making progress. Don¡¯t stop in the middle of attacking me though and watch out for baits, it¡¯s dangerous. Sorry I forgot to make you wear headgear. I just want to see your beautiful face while we spar.¡± I smiled.


    She harrumphed as everyone in the crowd tried to tease us. Matthew was discussing something with Tatiana from the corner of my eye but he didn¡¯t seem to want to approach us now. He just patted my shoulder as we were about to go to our room.


    We ended the lesson and we changed clothes in our room.


    ¡°My forehead still hurts though.¡± she said while still rubbing it. <hr>


    I looked at it and held back myughter since it¡¯s still red.


    ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s still red. Pfft!¡± I gave in.


    ¡°Why do you have to flick it?! Twice even!¡± she eximed while covering her forehead.


    ¡°You said to hold back, right?! That¡¯s me holding back, want a fist instead? It would hurt since we¡¯re not wearing gloves. Besides, I took a hit too!¡± I tried to defend myself while smiling.


    ¡°Did it hurt?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Are you asking me out of concern or how much damage you did?¡± I smirked.


    ¡°Wai- of course it¡¯s for concern! A-and that too! I did ask for pointers!¡± she stammered.


    Iughed and said, ¡°It was a good hit. Just try to hit vital spots next time. And yeah, I¡¯m still good.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right! I¡¯m supposed to cook for you guys today! Help me and call Tatiana, Oscar, Jared and Matthew. Tell aunt we¡¯ll be eating separately too. I¡¯ll prepare some of the ingredients while you do that.¡± I said as I hurriedly put on clothes but she stopped me.


    ¡°Hey, that could wait. Let¡¯s eat with everyone for now. You¡¯ve already done enough for today. Besides, it would take a bit of time and I¡¯d like to eat the chicken from Jollibee since we got a lot of the products there from the freezers. We¡¯ll be eating when it¡¯s past 10:00 PM if you start to cook at this time.¡± she said.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s actually right. I¡¯m kinda tired too.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You did fight several people. Tatiana might even ask for another sparter too.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh crap. She really might. You did learn a lot from her though.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you let Tatiana teach lessons for everybody too then? She¡¯s a good teacher and you could have more time on your hands since you¡¯re teaching several sses already.¡± Kaley suggested.


    ¡°I guess I could task her with some of the sses from time to time when I¡¯m bound to do other things.¡± I said.


    I looked at her and she¡¯sbing her hair. She nced at me while she¡¯s doing it and her eyebrows raised.


    ¡°What?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Pfft!¡± I could still see her forehead.


    ¡°What?! F.u.c.k! It¡¯s still red! How hard did you flick me?!¡± she eximed. <hr>


    ¡°You look like a dimsum with the red mark on your forehead¡­ HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± I can¡¯t help butugh at her expression.


    She tried to throw a kick at me but she kept on missing.


    I remembered something and I pulled it out of one of my disy cases.


    ¡°Wear this for now just to cover it. I hope it don¡¯t bruise.¡± I handed her a forehead protector. It was made with blue cloth and a rectangr metal sits in the middle of it with an engraving from the hidden leaf vige.


    ¡°W-wait isn¡¯t this from ¡®Nah, Route 0¡¯? The one we watched before?¡± she asked while putting it on albeit embarrassingly.


    ¡°Yup, though I got the metal piece made with titanium. That could literally block a bullet though you would feel the hit.¡± I said while I stare at her.


    ¡°Really? Can titanium really do that?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, remember to always wear that when we go out and some other time¡­¡± I said with a cheeky smile.


    ¡°Some other time? What do yo- oh¡­ I could, do you have the matching clothes too?¡± she grinned.


    My eyes shot up in happiness and she started tough.


    ¡°I definitely have several. You don¡¯t know what you have gotten yourself into. You¡¯re the best for agreeing so quickly! Wanna wear a few now?¡± I was ecstatic.


    ¡°Sure, you otaku.¡± She replied.


    ¡°I remember I ced them here¡­¡± I said excitedly but all of a sudden¡­


    *knock*


    *knock*


    *knock*


    ¡°TIME TO EAT~!!!¡± the kids came.


    ¡°F.U.C.K~!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Kaley started tough even louder.

 Chapter 136

    Chapter 136: 136


    I opened the door and I¡¯m wearing a look of defeat. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hi guys, what are we eating today?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh! Oh! Mom said we¡¯ll be having Chickenjoy!¡± Aya eximed.


    ¡°Yeah! I saw the boxes earlier and they¡¯re all real!¡± Kenny shouted as well with excitement.


    ¡°It smells good!¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°Come down now!¡±


    The other kids are restless and they also knocked on the other doors.


    ¡°TIME TO EAT~!¡± they shouted again.


    ¡°We¡¯ll do thister.¡± She said though she¡¯s still wearing the forehead protector.


    We came down with everyone and Oscar immediately nudged me.


    ¡°Kid, I thought you were cooking today?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Maybe tomorrow, I¡¯ve done a lot today.¡± I replied as he patted my back.


    ¡°Oh, okay then.¡± he said.


    We had fried chicken for today but Kaley and the rest even took the packaging from the store and my aunt ced them on it. The kids were really excited and we all started to eat. It¡¯s a simple gesture but the parents of the kids were happy to see their kids smile even from all this.


    *sniff*


    I looked at the direction of the sniffle. It was An.


    ¡°I miss this shit.¡± he said.


    ¡°Me too.¡± Russel said with teary eyes.


    ¡°Me as well.¡± Bing chimed while wiping his eyes.


    ¡°Oh god, the three crazy dudes suddenly have a connection. Theing days will be crazy I could feel it.¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    We cleaned up and then we started another meeting for tonight.


    ¡°Okay, simple day today. We hauled a few supplies and we reimed everything from Mrs. Thelma¡¯s store. I refilled our ammo with Rin in the afternoon and we had our usual lesson. Tatiana, can I task you in teaching some of them CCW or H2H in some cases that I wouldn¡¯t be able to? It¡¯s ju-¡± I said then I was interrupted.


    ¡°No problem.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Oh, thanks.¡± I said.


    We talked about the usual items and Chris puts his hands up.


    ¡°Umm, Sky, you said earlier in the ss that I¡¯ll be going out in the future as well. Do you mean to take me in your runs outside?¡± Chris said.


    ¡°Some of you, yes. Jay told me that he has been taking some of you when clearing the ce outside as well and it¡¯s fine. Though we still need more people helping with the 3rd road for now. However, as we get more people, we¡¯ll expand from 1 or 2 teams for supply runs to 2 or 3 depending on the situation.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Can I help in going out as well? I helped with clearing the dead below in the 3rd road also. Though I¡¯d like to have one of my guns returned. I cleared my head and I think I could help you guys.¡± Arthur asked.


    ¡°You¡¯re still grounded dear. Remember what you didst time?¡± Amanda said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it. I could return one of your guns but make sure it¡¯s not pointed to one of us. I¡¯ll let youe to one of the runs in the future though we still need people to hold this ce.¡± I reminded him.


    He got pretty excited in his seat when I agreed.


    I ended the meeting and we went to the gym.


    Tatiana is now holding the mitts for Kaley and she¡¯s teaching her a series of kicks coupled with delicate movement and footwork. The mitts would ring out with crisp sounds with every kick that Kaley does. Matthew is still in one corner doing core exercises but he¡¯s still sore from yesterday.


    I did my own routine and I showered after but Kaley and Tatiana are still going at it. I just watched them train after changing clothes. I analyzed each technique that she teaches her.


    ¡°It¡¯s a mix of everything. I believe that she taught her gymnastics first and now a mix of Command Sambo and Taekwondo. However, all the movements Kaley is making is more focused on kicks. I¡¯m noticing a bit from Chinese Kenpo as well, at least the way she steps seems familiar from that perspective. Hmmm, what else does she know? There¡¯s a lot mixed in and I can¡¯t figure it out.¡± I thought to myself.


    They finished their training so I headed down to my room. Zeus was snug in my bed as he rolled over the nkets and he¡¯s now looking like arge burrito.


    ¡°Olivia~! Come quick!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°W-what?! W-why?!¡± the door to their room opened and she gasped when she went to my room.


    ¡°AHHHHH!!! HE¡¯S SO CUTE I¡¯M GONNA DIE!!!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Quick! Take a photo of us!¡± she headed to grab Zeus from me and I caught the camera that she threw at me. <hr>


    *click*


    *click*


    *click*


    I can¡¯t get a proper shot since Zeus is moving too much.


    ¡°Zeus, stop moving!¡± Olivia shouted.


    *whine*


    ¡°Woof! Woof! Woof!¡± Zeus said.


    ¡°I think Zeus doesn¡¯t want to take a picture with you¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°WHY?!¡± she bellowed.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, sometimes he gets like this.¡± I exined.


    She looked at the photos and Zeus¡¯ face are always blurry.


    ¡°Zeus! Come here and let me love you!¡± she shouted at Zeus while Zeus jumped at me.


    I caught him while he¡¯s still wearing the nkets and he is panting but has a happy look in his face. I saw Olivia grumbling but she pointed the camera at us.


    *click*


    ¡°Not fair! You¡¯re the only one who has a perfect picture with him!¡± she pouted.


    ¡°Hah! Now¡¯s your chance, try to take a picture while I¡¯m carrying him. I¡¯ll be in the picture though.¡± I said.


    Her eyes lit up then she pointed the camera at us when she snugged with me.


    *click*


    ¡°Finally!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°What was that racket about?¡± Kaley said as she went down with Tatiana. <hr>


    ¡°Sis! Sis! Look!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Sky! Keep still, I¡¯m calling Rin!¡± Kaley shouted.


    Tatiana was confused at what¡¯s happening so I told her.


    ¡°I think they¡¯ve been trying to take a photo with Zeus but they can¡¯t. He would always move at thest second so they¡¯re using me to take a proper one.¡± I exined as she nodded.


    The three came back with excited expressions and Rin dragged Tatiana with us to take a photo. I just saw Tatiana smiling as she poses with us.


    *click*


    They made a victorious pose and they took another one when Matthew and Marisha came up.


    To my surprise Zeus actually wanted to be carried by Marisha so I handed him over. He snuggled close while Marisha caresses his head. A few moments pass and Zeus isfortably sleeping on Marisha¡¯s shoulder.


    I looked at the sisters and their facial expressions are priceless.


    ¡°Mom, I think I hate you. I can only sleep with him if I caught him with my hands.¡± Olivia pouted.


    ¡°Right, she has that grip.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hmm, jealous, are we?¡± she smiled gracefully.


    Matthew is mesmerized by his wife and I just gave a faint smile.


    I invited them all for a movie and we watched a heartwarming film. Matthew was crying after with Olivia while his wifeforts him.


    ¡°He¡¯s really different from what I assumed he was before.¡± I thought to myself.


    We all took to our beds and we slept soundly. I spooned Kaley as we slept together. She held my hand close to her as my eyes slowly droops. We¡¯re about to do something else but my bed is really calling for me.


    Day 12


    We have more people now and taking watch wouldn¡¯t be as frequent as before since there is a lot of us to go through before it cycles. Add to that Johnny¡¯s eagerness to almost always take watch in the evenings. He even brings his own gun and he teaches the people he takes watch with when he¡¯s on watch duty.


    I came down before Kaley and I checked the watch and it reads 5:12 AM. Johnny, Daisy and Anthony are now on watch duty. I walked up to them and sat on the stairs I was before where the new fence is on.


    ¡°Morning.¡± Daisy said. <hr>


    I replied promptly and I yawned.


    ¡°You¡¯re early.¡± Anthony said.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m actually sleeping much more now. I used to wake up everyday at 4:00 AM.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm? Really? Why?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°Oh, haven¡¯t told you yet. Before all this, I¡¯m just a simple business owner. I mainly sell rice to consumers and you should always open shop early. Early bird gets the worm, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°Well that is true.¡± he nodded.


    *sniff* *sniff*


    ¡°That smells good.¡± Daisy said.


    ¡°It¡¯s tuyo, right?¡± Anthony said.


    ¡°What? What¡¯s that? It smells great. We can even smell it from this distance.¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°You never had those? How long have you been here? It¡¯s dried fish basically. Ites in different forms and it¡¯s dried in the sun while cing a ton of salt on it to preserve it. It alsosts a long time if you store them properly.¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m gonna try that then. I¡¯m a little picky eater ever since I retired. I got tired of MREs and I always like to have something from home.¡± he said.


    ¡°I see, try it with vinegar and chilies. It¡¯s too salty to eat it like that because of the salt on it. Just grab a small piece, dip it in the sauce and eat it with a spoonful of rice.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to add some tomatoes and salted eggs on it too!¡± Daisy added.


    ¡°Right! It¡¯s a perfect pair. It¡¯s very cheap as well.¡± I said.


    ¡°My mouth is watering now.¡± Anthony said.


    ¡°Hey Sky¡­¡± Daisy trailed.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I looked at her.


    ¡°You¡¯re part Japanese right?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah? Why?¡± I asked.

 Chapter 137

    Chapter 137: 137


    ¡°Can you take a look at this? Bing asked me to tattoo him this and he said it meant ¡®Bravery¡¯ is it right?¡± she showed me a photo of Bing¡¯s bicep that has a kanji symbol tattooed in. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Let me see¡­ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Iughed maniacally when I saw the symbol.


    ¡°Oh no, is it wrong?¡± Daisy was worried.


    ¡°What does it say?! Tell us!¡± Anthony was excited.


    ¡°Well¡­ HAHAHAHA!!! Damn, I can¡¯t stopughing it is bravery if you think about it.¡± I cackled one more time.


    ¡°What does it say?¡± Daisy asked.


    ¡°Banana¡­ HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± I managed to squeeze the right trantion but I immediately busted outughing again.


    ¡°PFFT!!!¡± The threeughed hysterically when they learned what it meant.


    ¡°Oh god no, please tell me you¡¯re kidding!¡± Daisy eximed, trying to contain herughter.


    ¡°That is bravery alright.¡± Anthony said.


    ¡°He¡¯s a minion now.¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°Hah! You know that film?¡± I asked, surprised.


    ¡°I have grandchildren, what do you think ys over and over my house?¡± he replied with a smile.


    ¡°The shark song is always ying at my house too.¡± Anthony said.


    We continued on talking for a while until the sun rises up and the blue sky is clearly seen. Some of the kids that are awake called us over for breakfast.


    It¡¯s just supposed to be a simple day.


    ¡°Where¡¯s James?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hm? Yeah, haven¡¯t seen her with Susan yet. Even Ellen was not here yet.¡± My aunt said.


    ¡°Russel! Go to their room and tell them it¡¯s time to eat. Aya is already eating, knock hard because Mrs. Susan is a little low on the hearing side.¡± Zeidrick said.


    ¡°Okay pops.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Pops? Heh.¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    I grabbed my te and took three pieces of the dried fish that¡¯s prepared. I took two spoonfuls of the chopped tomatoes and salted eggs mixed together. I sat next to Kaley while his dad would always grumble.


    It¡¯s just supposed to be a simple f.u.c.k.i.n.g day.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    *crash*


    The tes being held by some of the people crashed on the floor and I immediately rushed to where the gunshot is.


    ¡°Sky!¡± Kaley shouted behind me.


    I ran to the first house where they were staying in and I only saw Russel on the floor holding his gun. He¡¯s trembling and his eyes are bloodshot, tears are flowing in his eyes.


    He looked up in front of him and he shook his head. He grimaced and he lifts up his gun.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *click*


    *click*


    *click*


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *click*


    *click*


    *click*


    Russel looked at me with pleading eyes and I looked inside.


    ¡°F.U.C.K!¡± I shouted in my head.


    I saw a small figurepletely standing still with bullet holes in his torso, arm, legs and chest where blood flows out. He¡¯s just looking at the both of us and one of his pupils is staring up at me while the other at Russel.


    *ck*


    Russel let go of his gun and he covered his head with both of his arms. <hr>


    ¡°He became one¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    I gritted my teeth after looking at Russel one more time and I pulled my gun out.


    *bsshew*


    Clean shot between the eyes and it fell down. I holstered my gun and then I crouched next to him.


    ¡°Hey.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± he¡¯s not responding.


    I picked up his pistol and tried to give it to him but he¡¯s not moving an inch. I checked his body for any injury but there seems to be none.


    ¡°This was the first time he shot it at a real target, and someone he knows.¡± I thought to myself.


    I¡¯m hearing footsteps behind me and I looked back.


    ¡°What happened kid?!¡± Oscar shouted.


    ¡°Don¡¯t know yet. We need to check the bodies first. Is Uncle Zeidrick here? Have someone call hi-¡± I said but he was already here.


    ¡°I¡¯m here. What happened, you okay?¡± Zeidrick came before I finished my sentence.


    He crouched to Russel while Oscar went inside the room of Susan, James and Ellen.


    I stood up and went inside the room.


    ¡°You good with Russel unc?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, he seems fine. There¡¯s no bites or anything.¡± He replied.


    Johnny walked inside as well and he scanned the surroundings. He went inside and saw the two of us examining the bodies.


    ¡°Who turned?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Ellen.¡± I said.


    Oscar was silent the whole time but he keeps on checking the bodies. <hr>


    ¡°Did she die in her sleep?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°How old is she kid?¡± Oscar finally asked.


    ¡°72.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Shit.¡± He replied.


    He removed his hat and he gave a long sigh.


    ¡°Kid, if someth-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna live to be a 100 old man. Don¡¯t give me that look.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Johnny.


    ¡°Just saying.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I know. We talked about that before. Don¡¯t kick the bucket yet. We¡¯d live through this.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How can she turn if she¡¯s not bitten?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°Remember the first presidential broadcast?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah? I think so. He mentioned to stay away from cem- oh.¡± He stopped.


    ¡°Whatever this thing is I think we all have it. It¡¯s just lying dormant waiting for a trigger.¡± I said.


    ¡°The virus?!¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we all turn immediately then?¡± he said.


    ¡°Like I said, it¡¯s dormant. I could be wrong though; this is just a theory. This might have already spread everywhere long before we discovered it.¡± I said.


    ¡°You mean we¡¯re all just ticking time bombs?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°No, if that¡¯s the case everyone here should have turned already regardless of age. I think it just kicks in when someone dies of any cause or get infected the normal way.¡± Oscar said. <hr>


    ¡°How does the bites and scratches matter then? Even if you die normally, you still turn?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Hmmm, I think since the biter or the scratcher is already dead or infected, it already has the virus active inside it now. By biting and scratching, heck, even by other means it gets its bits or fluids to us, it wakes the virus inside of us, making it active and that makes us turn. The first one we encountered at the airport has blood gushing from his neck from a bite and he¡¯s holding it with his hand. When he went out, he squeezed the guard¡¯s hand so hard and it broke, making some of the bone jut out. The blood in his hands must¡¯ve transferred some of the active ones to the guard when it happened.¡± I said.


    ¡°That sounds about right.¡± Oscar nodded pensively.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°We¡¯ll burn them as always. It sounds harsh but we¡¯re not sure if we let them dpose in the soil naturally.¡± I said.


    I walked outside the room and Tatiana is guarding the door not letting anyone in.


    ¡°Make them finish eating first if they could before we take the bodies outside. Johnny, diffuse the situation outside first and we¡¯ll cover them for now.¡± I said.


    Oscar pulled the nket they were using in the bed and I helped by lining the three of the bodies together. We two were silently working the whole time since my uncle guided Russel outside after. We decided that we will burn each nket and sheet that they¡¯ve used that is stained with their blood or haven¡¯t washed yet and we would clean this room thoroughly after. I highly doubt anyone would use this room immediately and I think morale will drop considerably because of what happened.


    Russel¡¯s pistol is still with me and he didn¡¯t even bother to take it back.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna need to have a deep talk with Russelter. He¡¯s very outgoing but he¡¯s very emotional deep down. I shouldn¡¯t even be saying it this time but it¡¯s good he pulled the trigger. Most would just freeze up and get bitten. At least he has heart and he¡¯s ready¡­ I hope.¡± I thought to myself.


    We closed the door of their room inside for now and Oscar¡¯s expression is still the same from before as we¡¯re standing outside the small hallway.


    ¡°This is another thing I need to worry about. Wait, can Mrs. Marisha have a talk with them instead? I think she might do a better job than me.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°We leave them here for now. Wanna head out kid?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Yeah, we should at least tell everyone what happened after we eat.¡± I said.


    ¡°Really? I think it¡¯s best to tell them what happened is the same with the Luna family. This is a different thing and I don¡¯t want old people to get weird looks here.¡± he said.


    ¡°No, we tell them the truth. I tried stretching out a lie before, when it was discovered, the feeling is much worse than telling them the truth outright. Besides, we can¡¯t just gamble on the fact that this wouldn¡¯t happen another time.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, that makes sense, I agree. Kid¡­ don¡¯t interrupt me now for I want to say something serious.¡± he faced me before we reached the door.


    ¡°I¡¯ll repeat what we talked about before. If anything happens to me, I want you to be the one to do it. No questions asked. We make it quick and we move on. We don¡¯t need to have a fancy ceremony or anything. I just want you to remember me and tell my daughter if you had the chance. You know where everything I own is and where some of the hidden ones are. I will trust you on that.¡± he said seriously.


    ¡°Of course. The same thing with me. You know what to do old man. But I want to add something.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± his eyebrows perked up.


    ¡°Kaley.¡± I replied.

 Chapter 138

    Chapter 138: 138


    ¡°You never needed to mention that. I¡¯ll make sure not a single guy will be with her!¡± he proimed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hah! I think that¡¯s going too far.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Too far? I thought you were the king of dark jokes, what happened?¡± he said.


    He¡¯s now a bit cheered up and he¡¯s wearing a smirk.


    ¡°Are you taunting me then? I¡¯m saving this up for a long time now, I really think this is not the time to say this though.¡± I replied with a glint in my eye.


    ¡°Oh~? I¡¯ve heard you¡¯re jokes. They¡¯re nothing special. Hit me.¡± he dered.


    ¡°Well, here goes nothing.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna start on learning taxidermy so when you die, I¡¯ll have a figure of you at your house. I¡¯ll stuff your skin with whatever is needed. If I can¡¯t, I¡¯ll just settle for a wax figure.¡± I said in a single breath while I wait for his reaction.


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS WRONG WITH YOU?!¡± he exploded.


    ¡°I told you it¡¯s not the right time. Even the delivery is off.¡± I replied.


    ¡°BUT!¡± he tried to retort.


    ¡°You taunted me, I¡¯m gonna say that if this is all over but you taunted me. Here we are.¡± I replied as I pointed at him. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°TAXIDERMY?! WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! ARE YOU STILL ALRIGHT IN THE HEAD KID?!¡± he can¡¯t stop shaking his head.


    ¡°I told you old man before. I lost something here, remember?¡± I said as I knocked my temple.


    ¡°¡­¡± he calmed down and he looked at me with solemn eyes.


    ¡°You still couldn¡¯t figure out why?¡± he asked with his normal tone now.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Kaley¡¯s mom, Marisha. Have you talked to her at least?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I think I would put that off for now. There are still some things I can¡¯t talk about people to yet.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Won¡¯t you tell me at least? I told you before kid, you need to tell people what you have bottled up inside you.¡± he said.


    ¡°I talk about it all the time.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? With who?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Myself.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was speechless. <hr>


    ¡°What? I need expert opinion. Who better to talk about my demons than myself? I¡¯ve solved a lot of my problems in here by just talking with myself, there¡¯s a few more things I still need to iron out here.¡± I said as I knocked on my temple again.


    ¡°I dunno kid. I still think you need to talk to someone. What about Kaley though? Can¡¯t you at least talk to her about it?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Hmm, in due time. This is something I think I need to take care of myself. Besides, this is not too serious of a problem as you think it is. It just takes long to solve. Like answering a test with the same questions that spans a million pages. It takes time but I¡¯m slowly getting there.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay then. Just always remember that you have me here okay?¡± he said as he pats my back.


    ¡°Sure thing old man.¡± I replied.


    We headed outside and then everyone is looking at the two of us head out. They are all wearing solemn expressions while a few have helpless looks. I walked up to them while Oscar followed from behind. Jared is carrying a trash bag filled with some of the broken tes.


    ¡°Before you guys say anything, eat first. Even if the food tastes nd on your tongue, eat. Even if something on your mind is forcing you to put the spoon down, eat. Eat first even if you don¡¯t want to and we¡¯ll talk about what happened after. I promise you I¡¯ll answer whatever question you have at what happened there though I think some of you already know.¡± I said as I grab my te.


    ¡°Are we gonna eat like it¡¯s noth-¡± Manilyn from the group in a corner said then I cut her off.


    ¡°Please, eat first. I¡¯m not gonna say anything until we finish the food that¡¯s in our table.¡± I replied.


    She was about to get emotional but Jo patted her down. The kids are still oblivious to what happened to their friend and some of my rtives who have spent time with the people we lost has sad expressions. The rest gave bitter looks at their food but a few now started on eating them, albeit slowly. I grabbed my spoon and started to eat my meal. I think this is the first time we ate together where everyone ispletely silent. You could only hear the clinks of the spoon and fork. Even when we¡¯re all clearing the table, everybody is quiet. When everything was done, everyone is gathered and no one was talking, all was looking at me as I stood up.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m gonna tell you what exactly happened. We discovered that Ellen turned maybe in the middle of the night where everyone was sleeping. From looking at her corpse, she seemed to have passed naturally and made victims of Susan and Peter which were sleeping with her in the same room. We¡¯re gonna burn the bodies after and-¡± I was cut off. <hr>


    ¡°Wait, we aren¡¯t gonna bury them?¡± Thelma asked.


    ¡°No.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Why?¡± she replied.


    ¡°It might contaminate the soil if we don¡¯t burn them.¡± I replied.


    ¡°B-but those are people we¡¯ve known here!¡± Joanne chimed.


    ¡°If I die, I don¡¯t care if you burn me as well to ensure that those alive will rest easy.¡± I replied tly.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you know Ellen since you were young?! How can we be so cruel?¡± Vangie, Arnel¡¯s wife chimed as well.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve known most of you when I was younger as well. Let¡¯s say we bury them and the crops absorbs some of the virus from their bodies. What now?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can that happen?¡± Arnel chimed.


    ¡°To be honest, there¡¯s a possibility.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then doesn¡¯t that also mean that there¡¯s a possibility that it can¡¯t?¡± he replied.


    ¡°You really want to bet on the chance that it can¡¯t when on the other side it could kill us all? We burn them. If we have a crematorium, we could always cremate them to hold a bit of memory from them but the nearest one here is a bit farther from Pulo. I don¡¯t even know the situation from that side since we haven¡¯t gone there yet. Burning them is what we could do for now.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Can¡¯t we make a trip there?¡± Charlene, Zeidrick¡¯s wife chimed.


    ¡°Not for now, we still have lots of work to do here.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But! ¡­.¡± she can¡¯t find the right words to reply.


    ¡°If you really want to honor the dead, there is one more way. Inside here.¡± I said as I tapped my temple.


    They all gave solemn expressions.


    ¡°There are two conditions in which you really cease to exist, first is if you leave this world and the other one is when people stop talking about you when they forget your existence. We can always honor them by remembering them. I happen to have the best memory out of everyone here.¡± I replied.


    They all looked at me.


    ¡°Ellenita ¡®Ellen¡¯ Rubiano she¡¯s 72 years old. Born and raised here. I first met her in my old house when she¡¯s already driving pedicabs to make a living. She has a female partner who left her a few years ago but they soon continued being friends even if her partner returned with two kids. She didn¡¯t mind them and took care of them like her own. Her left eye twitches a bit from her stroke back then but she continued to live her life as if nothing happened to her. She has a foul mouth but what I call it is crude honesty. She speaks what she meant and never heard her utter a lie. She always lived her life to the fullest and she made a lot of friends back then and even now.¡± I said.


    ¡°Susan and Peter Aquino 77 and 3 years old. I¡¯ve met them at the South Supermarket when I rescued An. It is also where I¡¯ve found Jenny, Chris and Charlotte who were here with us today. She lost her daughter when this thing started and she made sure that her grandson is safe though we lost them in an unfortunate ident. I¡¯ve only talked to them a few times before but they are good people. Also¡­¡± I added more details to what I remember from them albeit small.


    The rest of them now stood one by one to say what they remembered from the people we lost today. I made sure to remember what they said and a few now are starting to let their tears flow since what happened really can¡¯t be helped. The kids eventually learned of the incident and they wouldn¡¯t stop crying. They lost two mother figures and a friend.


    We brought their bodies outside to burned while a few watched and slowly dispersed when the bodies slowly turned to ash. Russel is still with me along with Kaley and Oscar. He¡¯s just looking at them solemnly but his appearance now is much more¡­ contained. It still has a shred of sadness in his eyes but I think he¡¯ll pull through.

 Chapter 139

    Chapter 139: 139


    ¡°This is rough. Russel just started to form a bond with James. This is all too sudden.¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Here. I¡¯m gonna rece the bulletster.¡± I handed him his pistol back.


    ¡°Thanks¡­ I¡¯ll pick up the casings I¡¯ve used so you could use them again.¡± he replied as he holstered it.


    ¡°Already did.¡± I replied.


    He gives a faint and bitter smile and I patted his back.


    ¡°How are you?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I think I just need a bit of time. That¡­ that was different. I was just teaching James yesterday on how to ride the bicycle and how to y chess and now we¡¯re just burning him. He turned to one of those things, right?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± he said.


    ¡°For what?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I thought you were gonna keep his head. That¡¯s why I just looked down while covering my eyes. You could¡¯ve secretly cut his head off and stored it but you didn¡¯t. That means something to me.¡± Russel said.


    I just kept silent.


    ¡°I Almost did. Those sentries are very hard toe by. If I didn¡¯t know them, I would have kept it.¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley and Oscar wore surprised expressions though they remained quiet as well.


    ¡°Take a bit of rest for now and I¡¯ll ask Marisha to talk to youter.¡± I said.


    ¡°Kaley¡¯s mom? What for?¡± he asks. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Mom knows a lot about what¡¯s going around in our heads. She could help you to what you¡¯re feeling right now by talking.¡± Kaley chimed in.


    ¡°Does it really help?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied but Oscar has a look that said ¡®You hypocrite!¡¯


    I just shook my head and we all headed back.


    The looks on their faces are still somewhat down but it¡¯s a step in the right directionpared to earlier. Everyone has different ways in handling their emotions and I saw Marisha talking to everyone one by one or in a small group now.


    ¡°She¡¯s already started, that¡¯s good.¡± I said to myself.


    ¡°What¡¯s the n now kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ll grab the back hoe and the dump truck at the construction site a few ways away from the DDR Camp with my group and I¡¯ll make Johnny take charge of the guys at the 3rd road like yesterday. Tell him to make them get everything from the houses that would be dismantled and double check the ce again in case some of them wandered off or stuck in a ditch. I¡¯d like you to double-check with Ken the people we would be taking.¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be doing Project Fishing in a bit too?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do that in the afternoon since I¡¯ll be also helping you guys after we grab the vehicles¡± I said.


    ¡°I could also go pay a visit to my other friend¡¯s houses.¡± I thought to myself.


    I brought my group out and headed for the constructionpany¡¯s ce.


    ¡°Bro.¡± Jared spoke.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can¡¯t believe we¡¯ll be going out to clean garbage now. Heh.¡± He said.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s tedious but still a necessary job.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Think we¡¯ll find something likest time?¡± he said.


    ¡°Last time? Oh shit, that was rough. We might, but we¡¯ll never know if it¡¯s from her or them now. It¡¯s been too long.¡± I said.


    ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± Kaley scrunched her eyebrows.


    ¡°Oh, this was from back then in the 90¡¯s. Did you know that the 3rd road was used to be called the Devil¡¯s Ind?¡± I said.


    The group now looked at me.


    ¡°Why? Is the woman you¡¯re talking about a witch doctor or something?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Worse. Well¡­ something like that.¡± I said as I looked at the distance.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Sky!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°What?¡± I looked at her innocently.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this the time you tell us this story? You always tell the whole story if we talk about things!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Oh, ahaha¡­ well this story is really dark. Wanna hear it?¡± I said.


    ¡°Why are you now concerned about the story if it would be dark or not? Just tell us!¡± she replied. <hr>


    ¡°Well, don¡¯t me meter.¡± I said as I adjust my sitting position.


    ¡°This thing happened when I was in elementary. Jared here just heard the story from us when my uncle and I were talking about it. The 3rd road before does not look like that at all before. It¡¯s actually a ce where people would squat in and just build their houses there without permission.¡± I started.


    ¡°But why is it called a Devil¡¯s Ind?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°Well, in the following years, it became a hiding spot for small-time criminals. Whether you¡¯re a burr, thief, drug dealer and etc., you could make that ce a safe haven.¡± I said.


    ¡°But you said it was a ce for informal settlers, how can it be a safe haven?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Oh yeah, a couple there moved in. The guy became the kingpin there and his woman was a doctor with no formal practice. A few guys with wounds or any other medical needs is handled by thedy there. She would just patch them up with anything but the patch was crude as f.u.c.k. I remember one that she patched up was sent to the hospital and had to amputate his leg since it grew worse. The leg of the guy grew very discolored and they had to cut it off.¡± I said.


    ¡°Right! Dad said he knew the guy from work. The guy used to work at where my dad used to work as well but dad said the guy got fired for stealing a few expensive equipment.¡± Jared chimed.


    ¡°But what does it connect to the garbage?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m building up on it. That¡¯s how a good story works you know?¡± I said.


    If you could hear an eyeroll, you¡¯d hear it when Kaley¡¯s eye rolled.


    ¡°It¡¯sing, just listen.¡± I said while smiling.


    ¡°She slowly got better cause of the number of people that came to her for assistance. But it got really worse again when thedies started toe to her.¡± I said.


    ¡°For what?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Abortion.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But why don¡¯t they just go to a clinic?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Here? You¡¯ll find no such thing, specially back then. It¡¯s illegal here. You could find a doctor to do it but it costs a lot of money. The people living there back then is broke as hell. They would literally stab you for a cup of rice.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°How much does thedy charge then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Nothing. She finds cutting up people into pieces and sewing them back together fun. Getting operated by her is like ying Russian Roulette but using a semi-auto instead of a revolver. You¡¯d only live if the gun jams or the bullet is a nk. Anyway, she has a couple of sessful ones but on the unsessful ones¡­ that¡¯s where it gets dicey.¡± I said.


    ¡°What happened then?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°She¡¯d just close the incision on some of them but some would dieter. But the ones who didn¡¯t survive the operation, not so much. She¡¯d cut them up and just throw them to the creek to get washed over. The fetuses that she removed? She¡¯d throw them there as well.¡± I said without flinching.


    Kaley almost retched and Tatiana has a mix of emotions in her face.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me they¡¯re still alive?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Of course not. When the mayor caught wind of what has been happening. He organized a raid and made sure the couple died there. Let me circle back now, Jared and I had a friend in the 3rd road before and we used to y at their house which was atop the wooden poles. This was a few years after the couple got killed. They have this huge wooden pole there where a is attached at the end. Almost all of them there have one at their houses in case they drop something below since the garbage below acts as a safety, they could easily pick it up. When we were there, we were ying with it. It got stuck to something and we can¡¯t pull it out.¡± I said.


    ¡°What did it get stuck to?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°A bag with a dead baby inside.¡± I said.


    ¡°W-w-wait, I thought she already died?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°She did, but her customers didn¡¯t. Even if the ce got upied by a few decent people, some of the old upants there are still in there though most became docile. With no one to take the baby out, they would just birth them normally and throw them down the creek below. If people from other ces took an interest in the baby, they would sell it but if not¡­ they would be disposed of. Devils, right?¡± I concluded.


    ¡°That is also where that asshole came from.¡± I said to myself.


    Time passed by quickly from the talk earlier and it¡¯s a few more minutes until we reach the ce.


    The ce is in front of a high-end preschool. It¡¯s next to a spa on the right side and a small gym on the left side. The spa is named ¡®Body and Soul¡¯, the constructionpany ¡®Bodhi Builders¡¯, and the gym Seoul¡¯s Body Builders. We reached the ce eventually and I can¡¯t help but smirk when I saw theirpany names.


    ¡°Why are you smiling?¡± Kaley asked. But when she saw thepany name, she couldn¡¯t help but smile and shake her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.

 Chapter 140

    Chapter 140: 140


    The ce isn¡¯t that secure at all. All we need to do is slide the huge gate at the side and we could enter it. You could easily see the white ces with a lot of cement and hollow blocks on one side and gravel and other equipment in the other. The dump truck I¡¯m looking for is there and the back hoe is already loaded in a muchrger truck with a steamroller. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well, who would take construction equipment this early?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay, clear the area first. I¡¯ll head to the back where the ones still following behind are. Kaley, cover yeah?¡± I said as I hopped from the back of my truck.


    Katana on my right and the scabbard on my left. I slowly paced forward as I raised my de. There¡¯s a few in front so I started on clearing them.


    ¡°Got a shooter on the back might as well save more bullets when it¡¯s possible.¡± I thought to myself.


    Like a max level character traipsing around a bunch of level 1 noobs, the regr ones almost killed themselves to avoid me.


    The rest of them went to the sides and cleared the few near the entrance while slowly stretching the perimeter where it¡¯s clear of zombies on the other side. It took us a few minutes but we made that side of the street clear with them.


    ¡°Hey, should we go to the gym and the spa too?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°We could, but let¡¯s get inside this ce first.¡± I replied as I flicked my katana then wiping it with a cloth after.


    They opened the gate while my uncle drove the truck inside. I made a small scan of the area first and we headed to where their small office is located.


    ¡°Check the whole ce first on any signs of those things. I don¡¯t want any surprises here.¡± I told the group then Mark, Jared and Tatiana made a round.


    I made a couple of knocks to their office first and after a few moments of silence, I picked my way in.


    I turned the lights on and I checked each table, cab, file and anywhere I could find something useful. <center></center><hr>


    What I found were several doc.u.ments that is for contracts, a few packs of cigarettes, a small radio, a pack of gum and the newspaper from before it started.


    ¡°No one has been here since it started.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Found the keys yet?¡± my uncle came inside.


    ¡°It must be in the room in that door.¡± I replied.


    We approached the door and I knocked first.


    ¡°You¡¯re really cautious huh?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen enough films where a person opens a door and a zombie is suddenly in front of them and gets killed stupidly. Who would¡¯ve thought that proper etiquette can be a survival tool?¡± I said as Iughed.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re right about that.¡± She said as she squeezed a faint smile.


    I picked the lock and opened the door. It looks like a regr office and the only difference is the air conditioner at the top-right corner and the huge andfy chair at the middle.


    ¡°Well, he¡¯s the boss. This is understandable. Though that thing could cool down the whole office alone.¡± I thought to myself.


    I opened the drawer and then I found a family picture and the keys to the vehicles outside. Each one isbeled properly to which it goes and with its corresponding te number on some small vehicles or trucks.


    I threw the keys to my uncle and he caught it.


    ¡°Do we just take the vehicles or do we take a few items here too?¡± he asked. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, let¡¯s fill half the truck with the hollow blocks in here and ce some of the tools here and the cement mixer. Oh, I¡¯ve noticed near the trucks that there are scaffoldings there that we could use as well. The sacks of cement on the corner should be taken too since it¡¯s easier to store rather than that mound there.¡± I said.


    It took us a while to load everything up since my head itches everytime they misaligned a hollow block from the formation I had in mind. In the end, I¡¯m the one who organized them perfectly while they just loaded it on the truck.


    ¡°Y¡¯know bro, this is also a thing different from you and Oscar. We just haul everything here in a pile and take care of it inpound.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Hah! Well, if you organize them nicely, you could squeeze about 20-30% making the haul more substantial.¡± I replied while I ce each one perfectly.


    ¡°Hey, are we taking that steamroller as well? Or we just leave it here?¡± my uncle asked.


    ¡°Nah, we take it as well. Better to have and not need than to need and not have.¡± I replied.


    The group shook their heads smiling while I opened the gate so we could drive outside after clearing a few that have walked at the perimeter.


    We also made a quick stop to the spa and the gym for some essentials but we only got a few essential oils, fragrant herbs from the spa while we got jars of protein powder and other supplements from the gym. We didn¡¯t take the equipment there because we got plenty at our home already and the quality is sub par at best.


    Mark is driving the dump truck while Dong is driving the truck without the sidings where the back hoe and the steamroller is in. Jared apanying Mark while Tatiana is with Dong. I¡¯m facing them while I rode on the top of my truck while we drive on a line.


    In a corner of my eye I saw a regr zombie chasing after using from a corner. I looked at the hollow blocks at my feet and grabbed two.


    ¡°What are you doing with those?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Just watch.¡± I said as I started the calction in my head. <hr>


    ¡°That thing is running at that speed and if I try to show of- no, try to hit it urately that way¡­ Hmm, I need to throw this at that height and follow it with this with this thing at this time. Well, we¡¯ll never know until we try it!¡± I grumbled in a fast pace then I threw the hollow blocks in the air.


    The first one came at an angle and urately struck the kneecap of the zombie running towards us and it halted but when it started to stabilize, the second hollow block smashes on its head on that short pause.


    *trrg*


    *TRRG*SPLCK*


    The head got smashed by it and it immediately fell down unmoving.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sky too OP, please nerf. Autoban Sky next update.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!! Did you see that?! Am I awesome or what?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Show off.¡± Kaley smiled to the side.


    ¡°Remember the science test that we have before?¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°I remember those! Like at what speed should you be moving to hit a target at that distance while using a ball that is this heavy. I think this is the time I¡¯ve seen one of those used in real life. Well, they are being used but the examples are ridiculous.¡± she said.


    We drove near the DDR camp and the soldier taking guard had their eyes bulge when they saw what we we¡¯re bringing back.


    ¡°Funny how surprising it would be to be carrying construction supplies now¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    We made our turn and we finally reached thepound. The trucks our parked outside thepound and we left them there first since most of the group are in the 3rd road clearing the area. My group went down from our newly-acquired vehicles and we walked towards the ce. Almost all of the houses here are close to each other and there is only a few where a wall separates them. Several houses are strewn about like apartments and we just walked straight to where my uncle and the others are dismantling some of the squatter houses.


    My uncle Zeidrick and the rest are in their working attire and he has a huge crowbar and he is in the middle of pulling some of the nails stuck in one of the houses.


    ¡°Hey, you guys doing okay?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah. I just had to- hmph! Pull this- hmph! Little bitch of a hmph! Nail out! Ah! Finally, did it!¡± he celebrated.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Lois and the rest?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Oh! Go to the end of the road where most of the houses on the wooden poles were. They¡¯ve been picking off some of them with the harpoon and I made a couple of long poles so you could just stick them in the head with it.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Do you need to use the truck for the building materials to be moved? I could haul some of the hollow blocks on one ce first.¡± I asked.


    ¡°Nah, we have a lot of trucks here that we could use. I¡¯ve used the one with the beams earlier and Anthony ced some of the scrap metal at the yard and the other at the covered court.¡± he replied.


    I said my goodbyes and my other uncle, Zardon decided to stay and help with dismantling the other houses with Dong and Mark. We four headed to where Lois and the others were and I saw them busy at work. Lois has the harpoon gun and the others are slowly picking the ones off one by one with the long sticks while a few are slowly bringing some of the garbage up with a few withs on them so it could be disposed of properlyter.

 Chapter 141

    Chapter 141: 141


    They are all standing on a wooden bridge that could fit two to three persons easily while it is also submerged in water though the garbage beneath is what you¡¯ll see immediately. A couple hands are reaching out and a few are already killed and the only ones are left are the far ones or the ones underneath. Jonathan, Alex and Arthur are also there armed with long poles. They are poking deep in to the trash figuring out where the head is located and you¡¯ll know if the hands that are reaching slowly bends down. <center></center><hr>


    I whistled and they all looked at my direction.


    Lois waved his hand and he walked towards me.


    ¡°Hey bro, we¡¯ve been going at it for a while and I¡¯m starting to like this thing! I lost the first bolt on the muck much earlier since I tied it too loosely but I¡¯ve been hitting them clean now.¡± he said.


    ¡°Need more help? Where¡¯s Jay and the others?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Nah, we¡¯re good here. I remember him asking Oscar to clear a few on the 2nd road now since this ce is clear now. Most of the zombies here are in the water and we only need a bit of time to clear them all so they headed outside to do a bit more clearing.¡± he replied.


    *PSSHEW* *bolt slide*


    *ssh*


    ¡°Bro, what the f.u.c.k?!¡± Lois eximed.


    ¡°Oops. My bad, my bad.¡± Jared said.


    What happened was Jared aimed for one underneath and the dirty water sshed upwards. None of it came near us but the smell it unearthed was very unpleasant.


    ¡°Okay then, I¡¯ll leave you guys here. It¡¯s a few more hours before noon we might go for another trip. Us four will grab Raphael¡¯s pickup and head to my old friend¡¯s houses. We need to bring them here first before we start Project Fishing.¡± I said to the group I¡¯m with.


    ¡°Oh! To Earnest¡¯s and the rest? Let¡¯s go then!¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Where?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°You don¡¯t remember? The fat kid though much shorter than me that I brought here when I was in highschool?¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Bro, that was several years ago!¡± he replied.


    ¡°Oh, right. A couple of friends from highschool. I think just us four will be enough. Oh yeah, Kaley.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± she looked back as we¡¯re walking.


    ¡°Do you have any other friends here? We could stop by to their ces too if you think they could be a good addition here.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm. I don¡¯t really have much contact of anybody around here anymore. Most of my friends are around the world too. How about you guys here? Jared?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°About that, it¡¯s hard being called an idiot if you have been telling them for a while that this thing is about to happen. I tried to though, no one seems to care. I¡¯m not sure if any of them are alive now. Tatiana, how about your otherrades who came here? Any contact with them?¡± he replied then he asked Tatiana.


    ¡°We have Sat Phones too though we never contacted each other. I think they would all just report to your president from time to time or to our CO which is also there. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re doing but I think I¡¯m having the best time out of all of them.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Well, if they¡¯re done, they could alwayse here. Though I¡¯ll watch out if they all attack me out of the blue like you.¡± I said.


    Kaley and Jaredughed while she pursed her lips in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    We walked back to thepound and we saw Olivia talking to Marisha.


    ¡°Mom! Tell dad that I want to stay here!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°No. We¡¯ve already talked about this. You¡¯ll stay with us over there. Besides, your clothes are already packed.¡± Marisha replied.


    Kaley approached them with furrowed brows.


    ¡°Mom? What are you talking about?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well Matthew is looking around for a house that we could move into. I think he¡¯s near the fishing area by now. He told me he found a nice ce with a small pool.¡± her mom replied. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, where Oscar and I found the guns.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Mom! But why is Kaley allowed to stay here?!¡± Olivia retorted.


    ¡°Oh? Mr. Matthew actually agreed? He didn¡¯te with us today too.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°You¡¯re still not an a.d.u.l.t, you¡¯re only 16. We talked about this. You could alwayse here as you like, the ce you¡¯d sleep at will be the only thing different.¡± Marisha replied.


    ¡°But mom! It¡¯s a long walk!¡± she replied.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s good for you since you¡¯re getting bulkier.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Wai- what?!¡± Olivia eximed.


    ¡°You are.¡± Marisha chimed.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t notice yet? You should at least walk around every once in a while.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Maniption at its finest.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Argh! Fine! I¡¯ll do it! I¡¯ll do it!¡± Olivia gave in as we all gave a faint smile.


    We brought the Raptor out and when we told Raphael that we would go to our other friend¡¯s ces he became excited.


    ¡°Sky! If you could, drop by Darelle¡¯s house as well! We don¡¯t know if he¡¯s here or not! That guy always travels everywhere!¡± he shouted as I drove outside.


    ¡°So, more of your friends, correct?¡± Tatiana asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What were they like?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Is she probing? Not that it matters though¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Well, Earnest is a Radiologist, Darelle is a Travel Blogger, Roi is a Real Estate Agent, and Kris is a Programmer like me before.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I thought you were a businessman?¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°Yeah, well life happened and I decided to just continue with the family business. It pays more now actually. Having a bachelors now is not enough to be honest. People are at most required to at least have a Master¡¯s Degree tond a job sessfully like Kris and Ken did.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I see.¡± she nodded and then we started to make a left turn after we passed the elementary school.


    ¡°Wait. Wouldn¡¯t some of them be in the DDR Camps as well?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°F.u.c.k. Yeah, some of them might. Earnest actually works at the hospital where the DDR Camp in Meycauayan is.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Will he be there then?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Not sure now. But I think we need to stop by there first. Juan might be there as well.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Who?¡± They all asked at the same time.


    ¡°The guy I met at the South Supermarket. Hope he¡¯s there.¡± I replied as I drove in the highway.


    ¡°Oh! The guy from where you rescued An.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s another family too but they didn¡¯t mention from where they are headed. The guy said that they were from the Bcan area too.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°And there¡¯s another blockhead whom I know exactly where he is but definitely wouldn¡¯te with me. Nevermind, he¡¯ll be safe considering all the circ.u.mstances.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Bro, there are a few bodies outside which aren¡¯t burned. Could it be other groups now? When we went out those weren¡¯t there.¡± Jared asked.


    There¡¯s a pile of bodies near Mercury Drug where we looted before and it is actually open now and a few shops that are next to it. A few bodies are piled on the side and there¡¯s remnants of small fights happening there when we passed by it.


    ¡°Could be, people are starting to lose resources now. But I think this group is properly armed, I think going out in the highway with a couple of handhelds is a no-no for people yet. It won¡¯t be too long when another problem happens. I could be wrong though, people aren¡¯t idiots. They¡¯ll eventually learn how to fight this thing.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Will we start to fight other people likest time?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Yeah, but the group we took care of before definitely needed to be rooted out. We pick the people we could work with and if not, we know what happens. Not everyone we encounter could be like that ce.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± the group was silent.


    ¡°This is just the world is now. Well, they could be good people, we never know until we meet them.¡± I said.


    Jared turned the radio on and aside from the looped broadcast from the government, nothing else but static is on it from the other channels.


    ¡°Bro, when do we use the radio station?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Soon. Haven¡¯t gone back to that ce yet to check it or even read the manuals needed. Ken even said he had no idea how to make that ce work. But I checked their files before when we went for a run there. If the people working there is also at the DDR Camp, we could recruit one of them to our ce.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, where are we going first?¡± he asked.


    ¡°To Meycauayan Doctor¡¯s Hospital. We¡¯ll make contact with that camp first and see if Earnest is there. If not, we¡¯ll head to his house next with the others.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What was the ce like?¡± Tatiana asked.


    I then mentioned that it is a hospital the same size as the one we have back home though aside from being near to a highschool, it is next to a McRonalds, a gas station and a bus terminal. It is alsoposed of different sized building that aren¡¯t connected to one another unlike at what we have home that is just a huge establishment with several floors.

 Chapter 142

    Chapter 142: 142


    I just drove mostly in a zigzag pattern to avoid a few zombies on the road while Jared sniped a few with his gun if the turn would be too tight if we avoid them. Kaley tried to shoot a few from the back but her uracy is sharply reduced since we are in a moving vehicle. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Just anticipate. You¡¯ll get it eventually. Try using my Tavor, it could help since it would be closer to your body aside from that AR.¡± I said from the front.


    She took it as sheid the AR-15 on the side. She mostly got ufortable of the length first and how the magazine is at the back but aiming it from inside a vehicle proved that it is much easier.


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    She finally downs a few when I slightly slowed down and now she¡¯s in turmoil.


    ¡°You like that now?¡± I asked.


    She started to grumble as everyoneughs.


    ¡°This feels great but I still would like to stick with the AR-15.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Sure. Just tell me if you want to switch weapons.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Tatiana, why aren¡¯t you using an AK or something?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Hmm? I just feel morefortable with using shotguns, why?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re Russian, right?¡± he asked innocently as I shook my head.


    ¡°Then why aren¡¯t you using a GA MSSR that our country made then? You kept sticking to that M70.¡± I asked back.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right, you¡¯re right. I apologize.¡± he said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I like AKs too though.¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± we allughed hysterically.


    We passed a few barangays on the way and we¡¯re already on the outskirts of the Bcan Area. We¡¯re gonna pass by Bancal and Banga before we reach the hospital so I just kept an eye out for potential ces to lootter.


    We reached a ce where there are the ces I mentioned before. I took a left turn and I saw the other DDR Camp we¡¯re talking about. It took us almost an hour to reach the ce.


    It was a huge ce with two entrances next to each other and heavily guarded. The two entrances are covered by barricades and it forms a semi-circle around that makes it a single entrance. A couple of sandbags areid on the floor with a mounted gun on top of it. I¡¯m noticing a small glint from a scope is atop the fast food area and all of the soldiers there are looking at us when I stopped the vehicle in front.


    A soldier wearing fullbat gear stepped in front of the small stage he¡¯s at and waved us over. I moved a bit forward and stopped in front of the guy.


    I opened the door and stepped outside.


    All of them are eyeing our gear and he spoke.


    ¡°This is the Meycauayan DDR Camp. You look different from the usual rabble here thates and go, I¡¯m guessing you¡¯re looking for someone. Am I right?¡± the man in front of me said.


    He¡¯s in a standard t-top cut, dark skin, close to 6-foot tall and he¡¯s carrying an M16 but the muzzle is pointed down.


    I made a proper salute first and said, ¡°Sky Ishiyama, Us-Phil-Japan-Russia Special Unit. Who am I talking to? State your name and rank soldier.¡± I said nonchntly but with a bit of amanding tone. <hr>


    His eyes widened for a bit but he returned my salute. He started to look at the people I¡¯m with but he has a bit of a mixed expression.


    ¡°Well, the people I¡¯m with don¡¯t generally look like soldiers.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Captain Rico D Rosa. Commanding Officer of this camp, we¡¯ve heard of you from the Mnday Camp and it appears you¡¯re looking for people. I¡¯ll fetch the manifest for this ce sir. If you could please wait a moment.¡± He replied and signaled to one of his soldiers.


    ¡°This is easier than I thought. What did Oscar tell the president?¡± I asked myself.


    ¡°Mr. Ishiyama¡­¡± Rico trailed.


    ¡°Hmm? What is it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°C-can I get a picture with you? I-if that is okay?¡± He fidgets.


    ¡°What?¡± I was now confused.


    ¡°Woah there! Cap! Include us as well! Mr. Ishiyama, I¡¯m Private Benjamin, huge fan!¡± another soldier walked up to me.


    ¡°Now what is going on?¡± Jared walked to us and asked.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know? The camps are required to always drive everyday to the 2 camps closest to them and trade reports.¡± Benjamin said.


    ¡°Oh, you have a protocol like that? Why don¡¯t you guys just radio in?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°What¡¯s required is to have a clear road on the way to each camp so that the way to each camp is manageable to be driven through. We used to just stay here at first but a protocol was set in after a call from the President.¡± Benjamin replied.


    ¡°But why am I famous now?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°Really? You don¡¯t know? A guy here from almost a week ago came here with his GF and a few others and all he talked about was you.¡± He said.


    ¡°Juan?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°We first didn¡¯t believe him but a few days ago, the Mnday Camp came to this ce. They brought footage from a run from the same exact ce the guy was talking about. They said it was from an old army dude from the US that belongs to a special unit.¡± He added.


    ¡°Was it the footage of me going to the Supermarket?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah! Look!¡± he replied as he took out his phone.


    ¡°No need, I¡¯ve al- oh boy.¡± I said at first¡­ then I saw the footage.


    *cinematic music*


    *deep voiceover*


    *The Dude ¨C Sandystorm ys in the background*


    The same video yed but its edited to make it look more exciting. Jared¡¯s jaw dropped and when Kaley and Tatiana went down the truck, they were shaking their heads in amus.e.m.e.nt. The video ended while the soldiers have excited faces while I was facepalming and the three losing their shit. They were holding their stomachs and in a fetal position trying to contain theirughter.


    ¡°This is definitely Ken and Oscar¡¯s doing. I became an action star without me knowing. We have a lot to talk about when we get home.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°This gives me chills everytime I watch it! It¡¯s the best source of entertainment since we just guard here all day.¡± Rico said.


    ¡°Entertainment huh? I guess I have a lot of those to trade in the future.¡± I thought to myself.


    A few momentster, a group of normal civilians came in with a vehicle and has several supplies in the back. They¡¯re carrying melee weapons and they have solemn expressions but one of them is showing anger. They parked the vehicle to the side and each of them carried a box from the back and they started on walking towards another checkpoint. <hr>


    They looked at us while a soldier checked their bodies first. Their temperature was checked by a medical staff and when everything was clear, they were let in.


    ¡°They lost someone.¡± Rico said but without a hint of emotion.


    ¡°Are you letting the civilians get food on their own?¡± I asked directly.


    ¡°Yeah. We already started on rationing everybody but it is still not enough for some of them. Some people who came in didn¡¯t evene back when we started on rationing them. I have to keep my soldiers fed or we wouldn¡¯t have the strength to guard this ce. I can only prioritize the food to us soldiers first and the doctors. Some patients that are far off we¡­ resorted to other means. We can¡¯t help everybody and we need to keep the supply up. If we tried, there will be chaos. We can only do what we can to maintain some sort of order.¡± he replied.


    ¡°At least he got a good head on his shoulders. Saving everybody at this point will make you crumble from the inside if you don¡¯t have a steady food supply. It¡¯s harsh but some people would really need to die for others to have a chance. This is just the reality of their situation here. We¡¯re just a bit more forgiving back home.¡± I thought to myself.


    Jared and Kaley have solemn expressions when they heard what Rico said. They would usually disagree with what is happening to everyone but this time they finally understood fully.


    I just nodded and I said, ¡°Can we take a look inside first to see if the people we¡¯re looking for is here?¡±


    ¡°We have a file here; do you want to check it too?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I know they have a manifest like the one in our camp but we haven¡¯t seen the situation inside yet. I want to see for myself the ce inside.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Yeah, that could help too but I can¡¯t remember the real names of some of the people I want to see here. We just call each other by nicknames.¡± I lied just to get inside.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s fine but can we first?¡± He raised his phone first and I agreed to his earlier request to take a picture.


    We were led inside but Jared and Tatiana decided to guard outside with our vehicle.


    ¡°We won¡¯t be long.¡± I said as we went inside.

 Chapter 143

    Chapter 143: 143


    Kaley and I went inside while I skimmed through their list of people that are in here. One of the soldiers served as our guide as we went inside. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°E¡­ E¡­. E¡­ he¡¯s not here. Oh! Juan is here but Carl isn¡¯t. K¡­ K¡­ K¡­ D¡­ D¡­ they¡¯re not here too. The camp at Mnday has better organization. Hold on, why is Juan the only one here with hisst name? I remember the soldier said he came with his GF but I thought he would also be bringing his family over as well. Something might have happened.¡± I thought to myself.


    There are four buildings here and we went to the building where all the civilians are ced in. We discovered that most of them are huddled in a few spots and some were chatting normally. We saw the earlier group and I could see an older woman crying uncontrobly. The guy with the angry expression red at the soldier we were with but he looked away when the soldier we were with looked at his direction.


    ¡°How long could they maintain this thing though.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Are all the civilians in here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No. Some who were early had rooms for themselves though they share with a few others. The people here are a few stragglers who manage toe here at ater date. There¡¯s also a few at the upper floors that get special treatment.¡± He exined.


    ¡°Like doctors and such then?¡± I asked and he nodded.


    I just scanned my eyes around and I can¡¯t seem to find Juan here.


    ¡°Juan Santiago. The guy who talked about me, is he still alive? You said that he came with people.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! That guy, he¡¯s in the 4th floor. Wanna head there now?¡± he asked.


    We climbed the stairs and I¡¯m still scanning my eyes around the ce for anything out of ce. So far, there seems to be none aside from that most of the people are in the ground floor and the 2nd floor and up has no people loitering in the halls and might seem to be in their rooms.


    We reached Juan¡¯s own room and I found out that he¡¯s living alone. There¡¯re several supplies on his table and he¡¯s sleepingfortably on his bed. There¡¯s an ashtray on his side and a lit cigarette is slowly burning itself.


    ¡°I thought he was with other people?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hey, wake up! You got a visitor.¡± the soldier said. <center></center><hr>


    Juan¡¯s eyes slowly opened and it looks like that he¡¯s still groggy. When our eyes met, it suddenly shot up and he quickly stood upright.


    ¡°Hey man! The f.u.c.k are you doing here?!¡± he eximed happily.


    He gave me a strong handshake but he suddenly started on packing his things. I was surprised at what he¡¯s doing and Kaley was confused as well. He puffed his cigarette and blew a huge cloud of smoke and he packed the ash tray as well.


    ¡°Hey man, I thought you would go to my ce. I-¡± I was about to say more but he cuts me.


    ¡°Are you taking me with you? You¡¯re taking me, right? Great! Let¡¯s go now!¡± he said as he finished on packing everything.


    Our eyes locked for a brief moment and he definitely have something to say but can¡¯t at the moment.


    ¡°Sure, the other people I would be fetching isn¡¯t here. Let¡¯s go now.¡± I replied as we turned back.


    ¡°Really? You¡¯reing with them? Suit yourself.¡± the soldier said with nonchnce.


    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s nice here but I¡¯d like to go with my friend here.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Sky, they¡¯re not here?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah. I checked their list. We need to go to their houses now. I hope that they¡¯re there.¡± I replied.


    We slowly made our way down and we saw Jared on the roof of the pickup while Tatiana is chatting with Rico. They saw meing out and they eyed the person we brought out.


    ¡°Oh. You¡¯re bringing him out. Okay, then.¡± Rico said.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be on our way.¡± I said as we five get in the Raptor. <hr>


    As soon as we drove off, Juan breathed a long sigh of relief but there was a slight grumble.


    We started to drive towards Lawa and when we¡¯re a fair distance away, Juan started to sob silently while his hand shakes while holding his unlit cigarette. Everyone besides him was silent but I spoke.


    ¡°Tell me what happened.¡± I said.


    ¡°The camps are not safe.¡± He replied.


    ¡°What?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°At least for the civilians. Well, the normal civilians. I don¡¯t know for the situation at the other camps but that ce will get you killed.¡± He said.


    ¡°Tell me everything.¡± I said.


    ¡°When I went to my ce and got my GF and my mom to safety along with a few close friends, I was supposed toe straight to your ce but there was a herd in the distance. The closest refuge we got is that DDR Camp. The soldiers there took care of it so we decided to stay there for the time being.¡± He said.


    ¡°Where¡¯s your family and your GF?¡± I asked.


    ¡°My mom went missing. I didn¡¯t even notice her gone until the gates were being closed behind me. There were a lot of people when it happened and I was carrying all of our bags. My GF was the one with my mom behind me but when I looked back, she¡¯s just by herself crying. I can¡¯t even find my friends too; it was all a blur. I tried to find her outside when I came out a few times but we never did.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Then that means that she¡¯s somewhere alive.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Did you check the other zombies if she might¡¯ve turned?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°No! If she turned to one of them I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell since the camp burns the ones that they kill.¡± he replied. <hr>


    ¡°How did she disappear?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°What my GF said to me was that another civilian pushed my mom away from us while she was pushed inside. We didn¡¯t even get a proper time to check my other friends. But my GF¡­ my GF¡­ F.U.C.K.I.N.G DAMN IT!!!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°What? I thought she was already inside.¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Did they do something to her?¡± I asked.


    ¡°That¡­ that¡­ that ce makes everyone there without any use or deemed useless baggage will be sent outside to get their own food. My GF, she uh, you know, gave herself to them in exchange for supplies. She is staying with one of the soldiers there so she wouldn¡¯t have to do anything. Some of the females there did the same as well. In turn, us guys would need to head outside to scavenge our own food.¡± Juan said.


    ¡°So, you¡¯ve been out a lot then? You have a lot of supplies.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°No. I haven¡¯t gone out even once when she started to stay with one of them.¡± he replied.


    Everyone looked at him with confusion.


    ¡°She was given special privileges. She would asionally bring some food to me. She kept on saying that it was for the best but I¡¯m stuck in a dilemma. I don¡¯t want her to do those things and I kept on insisting to go out for supplies but¡­¡± he trailed.


    ¡°But what?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°She asked the soldier she was with to not allow me to go outside.¡± he said.


    ¡°But how were you allowed toe with me?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We had a fight recently because of what she¡¯s doing and she just left me all this supplies and told me to go f.u.c.k myself. I don¡¯t even know what to do. It¡¯splicated. I just wished that she didn¡¯t decide like that the first time the food got rationed. We should¡¯ve gone to your ce by using the backroads not the highway so we wouldn¡¯t be in this situation. I just got left there all alone now. I want to head to your ce alone but I¡¯m afraid that your ce might not be standing since we don¡¯t have a way to contact each other.¡± he said.


    ¡°I thought the camps are well stocked?¡± Jared asked. <hr>


    ¡°At first it was. But there are several thousand inside before. Now, we are about several hundred since some who went outside didn¡¯t manage to get back.¡± Juan said solemnly.


    ¡°It came sooner than expected.¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°Do you really think that the DDR Camps are self-sustaining? Even if a helicopter woulde and go a few times, the supplies they bring wouldn¡¯t be enough.¡± I said.


    ¡°So, we just let some of them die?¡± Juan said.


    ¡°That¡¯s the reality now. Even I can¡¯t help them.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But I thought they have set the DDR camps for that? To help people, right? Even yourpound, right?¡± Juan said.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the point but this is more than our government or even the whole world could take. Everyone is severely unprepared. We have the same situation at my ce and that¡¯s why I started small unlike what they did to take everyone and y god. If we take everyone from that ce we¡¯ll be out of food in a week. I just took what I could first since we need some people, not all of them. We¡¯ll decide on taking in more once we can sustain them and if we have more territory ornd to produce more. But for now, we only do what we could. We help people but not by sacrificing everything that we have. We need to secure everything that we have and slowly increase what we could sustain. I¡¯m not a saint. Let¡¯s drop the subject for now since we¡¯re close.¡± I said.


    They kept silent and it¡¯s a few more minutes before we reach the ce. The road there is narrower than what we have in the highway and it runs on a few slopes but everything is cemented. This pickup is just the right size to use in this ce rather than the 8-wheeler at home. I looked a the vicinity and this ce has several walking around unlike our ce since we have a group clearing them on a daily basis.


    ¡°Juan, you still have Jenny¡¯s revolver?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, they took it. Only the soldiers have guns. How¡¯s Jenny by the way?¡± He asked.


    ¡°She¡¯s doing good. She¡¯s with An now.¡± I replied and he gives a look of surprise.


    ¡°How about the olderdy and the kid? They¡¯re doing good too I think.¡± Juan said innocently.

 Chapter 144

    Chapter 144: 144


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone was silent. <center></center><hr>


    He was looking at me and then his eyes showed realization.


    ¡°What happened?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Unfortunate ident is what happened. I was too preupied doing other things I overlooked a ring problem that should be easily taken care of. Borrow this gun for now. There¡¯s already a round in the chamber. Just point and shoot.¡± I said.


    I handed him one of my Glock 19s when I parked the truck in the front of Earnest¡¯s ce. There is no gate at the utmost front of the road and you need to drive a bit forward to reach it since their gate is a bit further in which has 20 foot walls on the way.


    I just parked it sideways so the right side of the truck would face their driveway while the left would face the road. The length of the pickup perfectly covers it so I went outside and drew my katana while everyone follows.


    Different sized houses and shops are around and there is a 9-Eleven in a corner but we disregarded it for now. There are a few dozen approaching us from behind and there are several from the front.


    We cleared a small area near the pickup first then I made a quick look-around.


    Tatiana has a Machete in her hands now since her fire axe isn¡¯t that versatile. Each day passing would make each bullet more valuable so it¡¯s a given to save as much as possible. However, it¡¯s not so far as we risk our lives for saving a bullet. Our lives are obviously the most important one.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s head to the ce where there is a few first since it¡¯s elevated so the movements from the ones below is slowed to a certain degree.¡± I said.


    I led the charge while Tatiana guards the rear. She let a few bullets out to the ones quickly approaching while we ascend towards the small elevation on the road.


    *shhck*


    *sh* <center></center><hr>


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *shhck*


    Five immediately fell down from our initial charge while we maintain our simple formation.


    I thrusted my katana forwards to a guy wearing hooded jacket though it¡¯s insides are dangling on the road.


    *shhck*


    I drove the katana down so it would slice towards the ear so it would be free from the head and then I made a horizontal sh towards the next one. It slices clean and its forehead is now missing and its brain matter spilled in the ground as I headed for the other one.


    Kaley drops a few with her pistol while she would asionally use the wakizashi if the opportunity presents itself. She¡¯s slowly learning to rapid fire since her target acquisition after each shot is getting quicker by the day.


    Jared has his pistol out as well since his rifle wouldn¡¯t be suitable for rapid firing and his trench knife is on his left hand doing the same thing. He¡¯s not that proficient in shooting with his left so he used the trench knife aside from his cavalry sword.


    ¡°Wait. Hold on¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    Tatiana is holding her machete with his right and the pistol with her left. The only one different is Juan holding the pistol with both hands.


    I made the final sh to the zombie wearing an apron and I looked at the group.


    ¡°Why are you all copying me? I¡¯m just too awesome I guess.¡± I said. <hr>


    The three looked at themselves and they chuckled while Juan is amused at the disy.


    ¡°Nice group you have here.¡± Juan said.


    ¡°Yeah, get ready for the ones behind us. I have an extra knife if you want to look the part since you¡¯re one of us now.¡± I said as the others chuckled.


    He took the pocket knife I handed him but the hand holding it is used as a base to keep the pistol steady with his right. The figures that are now moving towards us are having a bit of a hard time since some of them stumbled down but some of them still continued on moving towards us albeit slower.


    ¡°Some of them have poor motor skills when they turned. But the ones moving normally are still slowed by this small elevation. The only ones I think who would not be affected much by this are the ones that are freshly turned or the sprinters.¡± I said.


    As soon as I said the word ¡®sprinters¡¯, one immediately appeared from a corner and mmed straight to amp post followed by another one who crashed into a wall. The group took careful shots and we¡¯re now on alert on a few that might follow them. Luckily none followed but I made sure the two that suddenly came are taken care of.


    ¡°I really should stop talking about them.¡± I thought to myself.


    From the added advantage, we made quick work of the ones that are left even if they are more in number. Juan isn¡¯t that great at shooting and he would use a few bullets to kill one but I still let him use it to gain more proficiency though a small guidance wouldn¡¯t hurt.


    ¡°Let¡¯s pull some of the bodies at the side first. I don¡¯t want any idents when we drive through them.¡± I said.


    It took as a few minutes but now we¡¯ve cleared a small perimeter of the street. There¡¯s a few roaming around but they are too far to take notice of us.


    ¡°Kaley and I will head to the house now. Guard this ce for a moment yeah?¡± I said.


    Since the Raptor blocks the way towards Earnest¡¯s house, I made quick work of the five on that small driveway towards their screen gate. <hr>


    As we reached it, you could see 3 different houses that is built almost conjoined to each other where the two at the side are much higher than the one in the middle. I nged their gate first and tried to see if there are still people inside.


    *ng* *ng* *ng*


    ¡°EARNEST! EARNEST! IT¡¯S SKY!¡± I shouted.


    I was about to shout a second time but the curtains on the nearest house moved. I saw a vague figure, unrecognizable by the mesh window but I noticed its head tilting, like it¡¯s trying to make an image of us.


    I hear some soft murmuring and then the curtain went back the way it is.


    ¡°Is it them?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Not sure, be ready for anything.¡± I replied.


    I leaned on the gate and noticed that their parking area contains three SUVs are parked neatly. I was about to shout again but their front door opens and then two figures came out. I remember the both of them but the one that is smaller and a bit bulkier is definitely someone I¡¯m very familiar with.


    ¡°Sky? Hey, wha- Kaley? Oh my god. Guys!¡± when he saw us up close, he immediately opened the gate for us and when we three made a small hug, he started to cry. He¡¯s only up to my chest but his grip is strong.


    ¡°Guys! *sob* I¡¯m so sorry¡­ hic! I should¡¯ve *sob* ah- is this all of you? *sob* I¡¯m so sorry! *sob* Come in! Come in!¡± he can¡¯t even form aplete sentence properly but happiness is definitely on his face right now.


    ¡°Okay~ let it all out man, let it all out. All is forgiven. Is all of your family here?¡± I asked.


    His younger cousin as I remember made a small bow and closed the gate behind us. I made a small nce at Earnest and if it wasn¡¯t because of the small beard he¡¯s sporting, you¡¯d think he¡¯s in highschool because of his height and demeanor. He got a proper haircut though he still is a bit huskier than me even from back then.


    He guided us to his house and I saw his wife there with their daughter and his big brother. <hr>


    ¡°Bro, this is Sky I¡¯m talking about. He¡¯s the one who emailed me that something is about to happen. I managed to get us all the supplies we need here just in case what he¡¯s saying is real but I never really thought it would blow up like in the movies. He¡¯s also my daughter¡¯s godfather.¡± He said.


    His brother made an up-down look at me and he has a solemn expression mixed with worry.


    ¡°I¡¯m Earl, Earnest¡¯s older brother. I think this is our first time meeting each other?¡± he asked as he motions for a handshake.


    ¡°I remember everyone here his cousin¡¯s name is Jeremy, Cora is his grandmother¡¯s name, Shayne is his wife¡¯s name and Ca is his daughter¡¯s name. This is the first time I¡¯m meeting his brother though I¡¯ve seen him in a few pictures from social media.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Sky Ishiyama, nice to meet you. This is Kaley Payan, my wife.¡± I said with a straight face.


    ¡°W-w-what?! When did this happen?! Congrattions!¡± Earnest eximed.


    *jab*


    ¡°Sky! Stop it!¡± she eximed as she tried to jab me.


    ¡°I¡¯m kidding, hahahaha! Well, not yet.¡± I replied as she blushes faintly.


    ¡°You¡¯re still the same dude, I can¡¯t even.¡± Earnestughed.


    ¡°Back on business, is this all of you?¡± I asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s our grandma in her room upstairs. My wife and daughter are on the other house resting. My cousin here is the only one who came here when it all started. We haven¡¯t gotten outside since we don¡¯t have weapons to defend ourselves but we¡¯re just staying here waiting for help.¡± Earnest exined.


    ¡°How is your situation on food?¡± I asked.

 Chapter 145

    Chapter 145: 145


    A asked that but looking at them, they seem to be well-stocked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh, we could survive a week or two from our stocks but I¡¯m afraid we might need to go outside if that ever happens. That¡¯s why I¡¯m so happy that you guys came. We even started to slowly ration our supplies and I¡¯m slowly starting to lose a bit of weight.¡± He replied.


    ¡°Six people, still manageable¡­ but their grandmother. I need to tell them the situation back home.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Earnest, I need to tell you all something first. Your grandma, how old is she?¡± I said.


    Kaley looked at me but she has a bitter expression. She never said anything but her expression made Earnest and his family look at me with worry.


    ¡°S-she¡¯s 89 years old. W-why are you asking? Is there something wrong? If it¡¯s work to be done around your ce I¡¯ll do extra! Just let us take her! I¡¯m used to doing extra work! I always do overtime at the hospital! Even if it¡¯s something I don¡¯t know how to do, I¡¯ll learn it!¡± Earnest pleaded but Earl has a more serious look.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s something different Earnest.¡± Earl said.


    ¡°Earlier this day, we have an elderly we have on thepound who turned in the middle of the night.¡± I said.


    ¡°W-what?!¡± Earnest was shocked.


    ¡°What happened next?¡± Earl said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What increased the problem was the she was bunking with two other people. Another elderly and her grandson. They fell victim to her and we almost lost another when one of my own checked them in the morning.¡± I said.


    The group listening to me have solemn expressions while Earnest has his eyes watery. Shayne also came with her daughter Ca while we¡¯re talking and when she heard what I said, she held her daughter very tight while Jeremy looked down on the ground.


    ¡°But what do you want us to do? Leave her here?! We can¡¯t do that!¡± he replied but Earl seems to be mulling on something.


    ¡°I¡¯m not suggesting that. I¡¯m just saying that just in case another incident happens. It might sound cruel but at least have her in a separate room from all of you. That is what I n to say in mypound in the meetings we have every night. That is a mistake on my part that I don¡¯t want to have a repeat of. I hope you understand what I meant since you have a kid here. We would be implementing a few rules every night to be safe. I know your grandmother would understand that as well.¡± I replied.


    They are all looking at the ground and Earl gives a long sigh.


    Ca started to cry since she was still a baby so Shayne excused herself to take care of her daughter and Jeremy went with her to offer assistance. The four of us are now alone on the 1st floor and a deafening silence epasses us. No one is making a sound and no one is making any movements. I was just looking at the two¡¯s expressions while Kaley is also doing the same. The silencested for a few more moments but Earl spoke.


    ¡°Gran is really old bro.¡± Earl said to Earnest.


    ¡°What are you implying?!¡± Earnest¡¯s tone has a hint of anger now.


    ¡°Do you really think that gran can still survive this? I¡¯ve been mulling it over since it started and when the broadcast said that people dying of natural causes could stille back. Your friending here actually confirmed that report and that¡¯s why I moved to the other house at the left. It¡¯s too dangerous bro.¡± Earl said.


    ¡°But that¡¯s gran we¡¯re talking about! She¡¯s the one who took care of us when mom and dad passed!¡± Earnest shouted. <hr>


    ¡°I know! That¡¯s why I think that it¡¯s time for us to take care of her this way!¡± Earl rebutted.


    ¡°BY DOING WHAT?! F.U.C.K.I.N.G TELL ME!!!¡± Earnest bellowed with tears in his eyes.


    ¡°You know what I¡¯m talking about.¡± Earl replied solemnly.


    ¡°BUT THIS IS GRAN THAT WE¡¯RE TALKING ABOUT!!!¡± Earnest got more upset at their topic.


    ¡°This is making it easier for her! Do you even know where we could get more oxygen for her?! The tanks we have here couldst us for a month! Don¡¯t you think that letting her rest peacefully is the best course of action now?! She¡¯s suffering now for f.u.c.k¡¯s sake! We¡¯ve been trying really hard to keep her alive when this thing didn¡¯t even hit us before. But you want to continue doing that while this thing is happening?! This is too much bro! We should let her rest peacefully.¡± Earl replied with a look of helplessness.


    ¡°What are you gonna do? Let her overdose? If what Sky and the reports say is true, she¡¯ll immediately turn after! We need to kill the brain, right?! Can you even do that?! Can you even stab a knife or something on gran¡¯s head?!¡± Earnest retorted.


    ¡°¡­¡± Earl was silent but he¡¯s trembling.


    ¡°ANSWER ME DAMMIT!!!¡± tears fell on Earnest¡¯s face.


    I was silently watching them and Kaley¡¯s breathing is starting to hasten. <hr>


    ¡°We need to bro, we f.u.c.k.i.n.g need to. Think about your wife and daughter bro. Gran wouldn¡¯t want them to be in danger because of her. We¡¯re just waiting for her to die and turn to one of them. Understand that bro, please.¡± tears fell on Earl¡¯s face as well.


    ¡°F.U.C.K!¡± Earnest shouted.


    Earl looked at me and said, ¡°Sky, has this thing ever happened at your ce yet? What did you even do?¡±


    I remembered ra and her child that I didn¡¯t even get the chance to get his name and the other instances where I¡¯ve lost and killed people.


    ¡°It was a different case. We went to a house once where a mother was waiting for her husband for their baby¡¯s medicine. The father never came back but the mother kept on nursing the child even though it already turned. I had to take care of the both of them myself even if the mother is still human because she¡¯s already infected. There was a case in one of the houses when the older husband fell in the stairs and broke his neck. He ate his wife in the middle of the night and attacked her daughter when she came to visit. When her husband checked up on her, she was already bitten and they both¡­ opted out. Thest case that happened in my ce was the story I told you earlier.¡± I replied then I also told them about the case in Arca Yard.


    ¡°But what would you do in this situation?¡± Earl asked.


    Earnest looked at me but he never said anything.


    ¡°Are you sure you want to ask me? I think the decision of this case needs to be discussed by family.¡± I replied.


    Earnest¡¯s head drooped down.


    ¡°We clearly need a second opinion on this.¡± Earl said. <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re talking about taking a life for mercy but you forgot something important in this case.¡± I said.


    The three with me looked at me with mixed expressions.


    ¡°You forgot to ask the person you¡¯re trying to do it to on what she feels about it.¡± I said.


    Both of the brother¡¯s heads drooped down and they started to sob while Kaley did the same.


    ¡°What you¡¯re doing is not cold-blooded murder. It¡¯s as you said, mercy. People could argue about it but it is depending on the context. What I could say is that you need to have an honest talk with her first and decide from there. If she wants to continue on, we let her. But in mypound, we follow our protocol to have her stay in a separate room but not like a prisoner. I could always ce listening devices inside her room or a camera to check if something happens and we even have an apparatus to check her pulse to be sure. But¡­¡± I trailed as they looked at me.


    ¡°If she wants to rest now, I think it¡¯s best to respect that as well. It¡¯s her life. You already said that she¡¯s suffering even before this thing started. I think the best person to decide on whether they wanted to continue on or rest is the person who holds it. It¡¯s hard for you guys to do it since she is family so I could do it for you. I promise I would make it as painless as possible and as quick as I could. We can let her die as a human peacefully or you know¡­ one of those outside. I think it would be harder for all of you seeing her walking outside looking like one of them.¡± I said.


    ¡°But I don¡¯t want her to die like this¡­ I¡­ I don¡¯t feel ready to let go of gran like this. This is all too sudden. Gran¡­ gran can¡¯t¡­ she can¡¯t¡­¡± Earnest trailed and he stopped pacing around.


    ¡°You could decide between yourselves but also remember to discuss it with each family member present, they¡¯re family too, right?¡± I said.


    They looked at each other and asked to be excused while Kaley and I were alone for the moment at their ce. I took a quick look at their house and I found something interesting.

 Chapter 146

    Chapter 146: 146


    I found old records in a small corner of the room and an old and a new gramophone sits on top on the small table next to the shelves that has all of the records ced neatly. Aside from a few CDs that has albums from the past years, a few modern ones are also in the mix in a corner. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Old school eh? Is this the Carpenters? Nice. There¡¯s also from Kenny Rogers, Eagles, and the Bee Gees.¡± I thought to myself.


    I looked next to me and I saw Kaley wiping her tears and looking at me solemnly.


    ¡°Hey, something wrong?¡± I asked.


    ¡°If you were in their situation, can you still be able to say the same thing?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Last thing a family member would want is to hurt another. If I could endanger all of you and I can¡¯t do anything about how to resolve it like their grandmother, I¡¯ll ask them to take care of it for me.¡± I said.


    ¡°What I mean is if you were in the brother¡¯s shoes?¡± she exined.


    ¡°Well, I think you also know the answer to that. One of the hardest decisions to make is the one where most people doesn¡¯t want to talk about but are what they want to say in the back of their minds. I think they have been mulling it over in their heads for a while now but they don¡¯t just want to talk about it. It¡¯s really hard.¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you think they will decide on then?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a psychic you know? We can¡¯t possibly know what they would decide on. It¡¯s always a decision on what you want and what you need. Besides, it¡¯s their decision to make, not ours. We should¡¯ve had this topic on thepound before it started. I-¡± I replied then she interrupted me.


    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault alright? We shouldn¡¯t be ming ourselves for everything that is happening that we have no control of. You taught that to me. Please remember that.¡± she said.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey bro, you guys okay there?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah. They¡¯re talking about something right now, might take a while. What¡¯s your situation outside?¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Good. Hey bro, can we make a stop to that 9-Eleven? It seems to still have a few items. I can¡¯t believe there¡¯s one here in this ce since this is not a ce I think you would ce one, I wonder who thought of this.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Who else? Their owner, Shrub. I don¡¯t know who does their job inside though. Drive the truck over there first. You know the drill when entering a ce now but make sure it¡¯s safe and I¡¯ll let Kaleye with you guys so two coulde inside while two guards outside.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll wait for her then.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Why are you sending your wife to a scavenging run while you just sit here doing nothing?¡± she said sarcastically.


    ¡°Oh~ we just got married huh? Too fast don¡¯t you think? No ceremony or anything?¡± I replied while smiling.


    ¡°You started it. I¡¯ll go now, just radio in if you need me back here.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Sure.¡± I said.


    She went out the door and I opened the fence for her and I closed it afterwards. I hear soft voices from the 3rd house and I surmise that they are still talking about what to do. I headed back to the house but what surprised me is that their grandmother is slowly descending the stairs. She took a nce at me and she smiled brightly.


    ¡°Oh~ Earnest, you¡¯re home~ I¡¯m so d~ Did you bring the apple to your teacher?¡± she asked me. <hr>


    ¡°Mrs. Ortiz, I¡¯m not-¡± I tried to remind her that I¡¯m not who she thinks I am.


    ¡°Sit down here Earl, I made a cookies for you.¡± she said while she sat on one of the sofas.


    ¡°I see. She¡¯s on that stage now huh¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    I just sat down next to her and listened to everything that she says.


    ¡°Did you know, when your parents passed, I decided on myself that I would take of the both of you until you two can take of yourselves on your own~¡± she said to me as she rubs my back.


    ¡°This is gonna be hard for the two.¡± I thought to myself as I answer her politely with simple words.


    Her hands are wrinkled and she¡¯s very thin. Her breathing is a bit erratic but it goes back to normal at very random intervals. Despite that, she has this peaceful look at her face.


    ¡°Ernie, Ernie, hey Ernie, look! Look! Isn¡¯t our grandson looking really ugly? Don¡¯t tell our daughter but he looks like a pickled plum!¡± she spoke again. She kept on telling me random stories from her memories and I listened and nodded from time to time.


    I let her lean next to me and then the door opened. They were taken aback when they saw her with me sleeping soundly and Earnest began to tear up again.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been talking to her for a while now. Well, she¡¯s been telling me all sorts of stories.¡± I said to them.


    I was waiting for them to bring up on what they decided as a family and I just caressed Mrs. Ortiz¡¯s hair while she¡¯s still sleeping in my shoulder.


    Earl walked up to me with a solemn expression and crouched down close to her grandmother.


    ¡°Sky, I think we¡¯re ready¡­ ready for her to¡­ to rest easy.¡± he said.


    I looked at Earnest and he seems to have agreed. He¡¯s crying but his eyes look like that it has decided on something.


    ¡°Okay. Do you want me to do it or?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Earl replied.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± I asked seriously.


    ¡°Yeah. We take care of our own, it¡¯s only proper.¡± he replied.


    ¡°I see. Let¡¯s head up and tell your wife and your cousin to start on packing. Grab the food, water, medicine, clothes and any other gear that could fit in your vehicles. It¡¯s just us two then or do you want toe as well?¡± I said to Earnest.


    ¡°No, I¡¯lle. It¡¯s only proper for me to be there as well.¡± Earnest replied.


    Earl carried her grandmother up the stairs while she¡¯s still sleeping and we went to the 2nd floor where her room is located. Heid her on the bed and Earnest is carrying a small bag and pulled a bottle and a syringe out. I looked at it and the bottle says ¡®Morphine¡¯ on thebel.


    ¡°Well, we could do this at least with her feeling less pain.¡± Earnest said as he saw me look at him.


    ¡°I see no problem at all. I always have a bottle at my kit everytime we go out.¡± I replied.


    She was still sleeping and then Earnest slowly injected a dose on her arm. She¡¯s smiling peacefully after and Earl came up carrying a kitchen knife. A tear is slowly flowing through his cheeks and he slowly ced the de to the side of his grandmother¡¯s temple.


    *shhck*


    The de went inside and the slow breathing of her grandmother came to a halt.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry gran, and thank you for everything.¡± he said.


    He stood up and he hugged his brother tightly while they share a short moment. They wiped their tears off and Earl headed to the other house to pack his own stuff while I stayed with Earnest here to help him pack. He still looks sad but it¡¯s understandable.


    ¡°No one can suddenly adjust like that.¡± I thought to myself.


    He immediately went for the family albums while I went for the cabs and other drawers to gather food items and other supplies that are essential. They have several bags ready and a few boxes are being brought out.


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Bro, we got a lot here. We mostly took the items that would take long to expire but I found a revolver bro! Another .38!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, that¡¯s good. You have one for yourself now. Give me back that M70 and Glock 19.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Whoa! Hold on now! I may have used my words wrong; I mean to say that I¡¯ve found a revolver for you. It¡¯s a .38 special and I would like you to have it. It¡¯s a bit rusty though.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh. I see, I see. Good job, thanks! Just give that to Juan for now so I could have my Glock back, my head is slowly starting to itch.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure, haha.¡±


    *bzzt*


    I smiled cheekily while I continue to pack their stuff. Shayne came after and she helped in packing their clothes and other stuff that their daughter needs. Their pantry is half-full but it definitely would take a month or more if they ration them properly. It¡¯s an assortment of canned goods, dried pasta, beans and even freeze-dried meats. Don¡¯t forget several sacks of rice in the corner.

 Chapter 147

    Chapter 147: 147


    ¡°Well they do like to eat, these brothers. They¡¯ll definitely start to lose weight when theye to thepound. They¡¯re still a bit big now despite what is happening outside. I¡¯ll definitely have them on some of the sses.¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    We took a bit of time on packing stuff maybe a few minutes short of an hour to get everything ready while Earl and I carried Mrs. Ortiz on their backyard to be burned first. The body is covered by a white sheet and we ced her down.


    ¡°Why do we burn them?¡± he asked as he starts on pouring gasoline.


    ¡°Just to be sure. We¡¯re not sure if the virus ceases to exist when the host dies and to avoid the chance of other animals from picking on them and spreading it further.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Does it affect animals as well?¡± he asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re not sure with that as well. But all the times I¡¯ve been outside, I¡¯ve never seen an animal getting infected. I¡¯d mostly see a few stray dogs eaten up in a corner but never walking like the others outside. I could be wrong or it hasn¡¯t mutated to affect animals yet or it just infects us.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I see. That would be a huge problem as well if that happens.¡± he said.


    ¡°Heh, I just realized that the one who made this thing is hell bent on killing every single human in the world. If this thing can only infect humans, that is.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You think this thing is man-made?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah. This kind of thing wouldn¡¯t just get picked of a tree now wouldn¡¯t it?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well you¡¯re right about that. Earnest¡¯s wife thinks otherwise though. She thinks that this is the end of the world from the book she¡¯s reading.¡± he said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh. That type huh? She¡¯ll realize she¡¯s wrong eventually. I think she¡¯s just denying that everything she has been believing in is wrong. If you need to follow an instruction of a book just not to be an asshole, I think you have more problems than that. She might be just using it to have a stick to hold on to I don¡¯t know.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s one of the things they always fight about. I just stay away.¡± he said.


    ¡°Really? I thought she reads that thing. Tell Earnest to let her read 1 Timothy 2:12, it basically tells the woman to be silent and not have authority over a man just to see her reaction. There¡¯s nothing wrong in believing in something as long as it doesn¡¯t affect other people who have other beliefs in life negatively. I could be wrong in my take but I¡¯ll take my chances. People believe in different stuff; I just wonder how could the one they were born into is always the right one. I know people who switched but it¡¯s just because they had a fight with the previous one.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! I¡¯ll tell him in ater date when he¡¯s in a pinch. Does it really say that?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Good thing Kaley is not like that.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Yeah. Anyway, one more double-check on the houses. Turn the main switch off and we head to mypound after we head to the houses of our other friends. You could choose from the plethora of houses there but I need everyone contributing there what they could. I haven¡¯t asked, but what do you do for a living?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, I work in a small radio station. See the records at the house? I own all of that but Earnest keeps on sneaking modern stuff in my collection. His wife buys and sells stuff online now because of their kid but she used to be nurse. They want someone in the house and not hire a sitter. Our cousin Jeremy is still at college, well was now, he¡¯s studying to be a veterinarian.¡± he said.


    ¡°Oh! We secured a radio station at mypound. I think you know more stuff about it than I do. I think I found the perfect job for you there. Earnest and Shayne could be added to our medical staff and Jeremy could help with what Derek, our vet there does. I could say that it¡¯s almost a perfect fit.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s good. Just want me to y a few songs? That would be easy. It¡¯s all old tunes though but I could mix them up for the other people.¡± he said while smiling faintly.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯d love a mix of everything and I would like you to say a few things as well. I could let you borrow some from my collection. Ites from the old and some from the new though I made sure not to save a few of them that is too much for me. It¡¯s better to let some of them disappear forever.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Like what? The things you want me to say as well.¡± he asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just talk about thatter but it¡¯s just a few instructions same as the broadcasts and a few things that could lift people¡¯s morale up. I think we¡¯re ready to go.¡± I said as Earnest approached us.


    He saw the figure in front of us burning into cinders and he gives a solemn expression but he took a deep breath and his eyes showed focus.


    ¡°Are you guys done?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± he replied.


    I checked everything that they have brought and they are armed with handhelds. Earl is carrying a cricket bat while Earnest is holding an aluminum bat and Jeremy a crowbar.


    We walked back and the two of the SUVs are now full and ready to head out so I opened the gate and met the others while the ones behind me followed with their vehicles. They closed the gate behind them and then I looked back.


    ¡°Follow behind us yeah?¡± I said as Earl and Earnest went to their own driver¡¯s seat.


    I handed them an extra radio formunication and I gave them my pistols, one for Earl and one for Earnest. They were surprised at first.


    ¡°I trust you know how to use them. That is a tool to protect yourself and not to harm others discriminately.¡± I reminded. <hr>


    I looked at the back of our pickup and it¡¯s filled with different boxes of canned goods and at the end a few boxes of candy bars and a bit of sodas and water bottles on one corner.


    ¡°They have a lot of supplies.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ll drive, move to the back.¡± I said.


    Jared moved at the back while Kaley is on the seat next to me while the three are at the back.


    ¡°How about Roi, Darelle and Kris?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll head there now. Let¡¯s check Kris¡¯s ce first since it¡¯s closer than all of them.¡± I said.


    We started to drive on the opposite direction while the two other vehicles followed from behind. I looked at my watch and it reads 12:10 PM. Kris¡¯s house is near the expressway at the Bcan area. His house is in a small street though we¡¯re not sure that he¡¯s there or not. The drive is only 15 minutes and we eventually reached it.


    Our vehicle stopped and the ones behind us did the same.


    We made a small perimeter as we killed a few in the immediate vicinity. Kaley and I continued to kill a few towards Kris¡¯s house while the rest stood guard at our vehicles. It¡¯s a two-story house painted blue and there are several flowers in a small garden though a few is trampled over. There are several blood stters in their gate but none seem to have gone inside¡­ yet.


    I opened their gate while Kaley provided cover while I try to open his door when no one responded when I called out. <hr>


    Easily enough, it opens and I reached for the switch. The light turned on and there was nobody in the 1st floor. I checked each one and there¡¯s a lot of supplies still in here. Something is tearing in my stomach right now since the house is really quiet.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡± I thought to myself.


    We slowly went up the stairs and I tried to check for movement and noise. I knocked he first door first and checked on the slits at the bottom for any shadows but there was none. I opened it and saw a gaming room where there are different consoles and a custom-made PC and other devices for streaming. A collection of action figures is also neatly ced in a corner. I closed that door immediately as we headed for thest door that I haven¡¯t checked yet.


    Kaley is already looking a bit sour but I tried to open the door. It was already unlocked but I still slowly opened it just to be sure.


    I¡¯m slowly turning the knob and there was light flickering from a TV screen. I was surprised and then when I opened the door fully, I saw a figure with a euphoric face with a huge-ass headphone milking the dragon with a Yaoi film.


    The dialogue is extremely explicit from the captions and the scenes are hardcore to say the least. What¡¯s funny is that he can¡¯t seem to hear us and see us from his small distraction. Kaley stepped away in embarrassment but then I kicked the door hard to crash into the wall.


    *CRASH*


    ¡°WE¡¯RE HERE YOU LITTLE F.U.C.KER!!! STOP MILKING THAT THING AND WELCOME US!!! WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD YOU STUPID F.U.C.K!!!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°OH SHIT!!! OH- AH! F.U.C.K!!! CLOSE THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G DOOR!!!¡± he shouted and I immediately did while hystericallyughing.


    *SLAM*

 Chapter 148

    Chapter 148: 148


    There was a series of shuffling sounds that finally entered our ears that broke out the silence but it was a weed experience from the things we experienced earlier. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sky¡­ Kris¡­ he¡¯s not like that before, right? He¡¯s watching two guys getting it on¡­¡± Kaley whispered.


    ¡°Yeah, that was a surprise. I had my suspicions before but I didn¡¯t expect to discover it this way. I saw him with several women before and this was a first. Maybe he¡¯s just hiding it or he¡¯s trying to discover new things, we never know.¡± I replied.


    We heard a huge stumble and the headphone jack must¡¯ve been disconnected.


    Huge grunts were heard from the door and it silenced after a shriek from the inside.


    ¡°Kris! Are you still trying to finish? We¡¯re still outside you know!¡± I shouted while Kaley was holding herughter.


    ¡°SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHUT UP SKY!¡± we heard him shouting.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Earnest, Kris is here. He¡¯s alive and very much enjoying his time.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°That¡¯s great! Wait, why is he enjoying his time?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hah! Let¡¯s see if he¡¯ll tell youter. Come inside and let Tatiana, Juan and Jared guard outside for the moment.¡±


    *bzzt*


    Earnest¡¯s family eventually went inside and Kris finished a quick shower and told us to keep quiet about what we saw.


    Kris is taller than me and a bit above Jared. He has short hair,rge eyes and slightly brown skin. He¡¯s wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans but there¡¯s a holster on his right hip.


    I nced at his gun and I chuckled.


    ¡°Pfft!¡± I can¡¯t help myself.


    Everyone suddenly looked at me.


    ¡°What?¡± Kris was confused.


    ¡°IS THAT A F.U.C.K.I.N.G HI-POINT?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry *snort* I can¡¯t help it *cough* *cough*¡± I started to die.


    ¡°W-what¡¯s wrong with a Hi-Point?!¡± Kris eximed.


    ¡°Nothing. Just obligatory bashing is needed.¡± I replied as myughter was now contained and did a 180 in expressions.


    ¡°That is so weird when you do that dude.¡± Earnest chimed.


    ¡°So what are you guys doing here? I¡¯m fine on my own. Never had an incident but thanks for the visit.¡± Kris said. <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re noting with us?¡± Earnest asked.


    ¡°You need to stay at my ce dude. It¡¯s dangerous here solo. You have a gun but that can¡¯tst you long. I even entered your house easily. If that was any other person with malice, you¡¯d be dead already.¡± I said.


    ¡°I have something that could defend myself more than guns dude.¡± He smiled as he ran upstairs.


    We were confused but when he went down, he¡¯s carrying a katana and my eyes shot up. However, when he drew it, the light on my eyes dimmed.


    ¡°Cool, huh? This is the same as what you¡¯re carrying.¡± He proudly said.


    He handed it to me and I inspected it. The de is not true and I could see a few dents and this is definitely not heat treated and quenched properly. This would make the steel be very prone to breaking and dangerous to the one wielding it.


    ¡°This¡¯s fake. I bet you haven¡¯t used this. You haven¡¯t gone out yet, I could tell. This thing would break on first contact.¡± I replied.


    ¡°W-wait! This thing is f.u.c.k.i.n.g expensive you know that?! I definitely went out a few times and this thing hasn¡¯t chipped on the number I¡¯ve killed.¡± his expression turned sour.


    ¡°Wanna test it? It would break when it meets mine. Try testing it on one outside.¡± I replied.


    We went outside and he saw the vehicles we brought and the other people outside. We found one in a small corner and I pointed at it.


    ¡°Try it. I¡¯ll be cover just in case.¡± I said to him.


    His hands slowly shook and his breathing became ragged. After three steps, I grabbed his cor and said, ¡°Stop, I already know dude. Stop pretending. That thing would instantly snap when it hits bone and you will die immediately after since you haven¡¯t gone outside and have no experience in dealing with them. Don¡¯t worry dude, I won¡¯t judge you for that.¡±


    ¡°I want to try though.¡± He replied after a sigh of relief. <hr>


    ¡°Now that¡¯s good.¡± I thought to myself as I smiled.


    I instructed him the correct positions and movement and I let him borrow my katana. He admired it and he managed to kill one but he immediately puked after. We gathered at his house once again and we prepared lunch since it¡¯s 1:03 PM already. We took from his stock and he agreed and helped me cook. We gave food to the three guarding outside while we have our meal eaten at his house.


    ¡°You got me dude, alright I¡¯lle with you. It¡¯s been almost two weeks, what made youe for us at this time? I thought I would face this thing solo.¡± he asked.


    ¡°As I was about to say earlier, we have a ce. We¡¯ve been working on it for a while¡­¡± I then started the whole story for him to hear.


    ¡°Then let me pack for a bit you¡¯re going to where everyone is, right? Is Darelle even in his house with his wife? It¡¯s been too long since west met him, he couldn¡¯t possibly be there. They would always go on trips around the world.¡± he said.


    ¡°Hey, we went here thinking you were dead. But there you are having the time of your life. You¡¯re lucky that this house you¡¯re at is a bit obscured or people would havee to this ce already and looted it. People are slowly losing resources dude. I need all hands on deck, not on your di-¡± I was about to continue but he shushed me.


    ¡°Atititi, don¡¯t continue that dude, I get it, I get it.¡± he replied with a fl.u.s.tered look.


    ¡°Kris is a good guy but he¡¯s always worried about what other people might say to him. He always have ¡®modes¡¯ he shows other people but we his friends already know him well. Well, that¡¯s what friends are.¡± I thought to myself.


    He brought everything from his house and he ced it on his Civic. All the essentials and all his tech are on it. The cargo space is full along with the backseat.


    After checking everything, we drove deeper in the Bcan area once again and passed the Public Market in one of the barangays.


    That¡¯s where I saw another one of what I saw near Jollibee.


    One of them is just standing in a corner¡­ eating himself. Its arms are devoid of flesh but blood is still trickling down from the shoulders but it continued on munching on his own body. I dismissed it as an irregr though Kaley saw it and she took a shot.


    ¡°What was that Sky?¡± Kaley asked. <hr>


    ¡°I think another irregr. Like the one in the bakery who looked back to the one you shot.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What are irregrs now?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°I ssified them as ones who still exhibits behavior from humans that shouldn¡¯t be done by zombies anymore. The only thing in their heads right now if to infect other people but there were cases like before that they shouldn¡¯t be doing. That one is just weirder since it¡¯s eating itself. It could be different things though. I really hope that what I¡¯ve observed is what it is, if not, it would be hard.¡± I exined.


    We continued to drive around but we would asionally clear a few on a tight street when there are a lot of them. Earl tried to learn to shoot but his aim is off so I told them to stay put in their vehicles for now since we might miss them when we¡¯re killing a few on the street.


    Kaley and Jared are keeping a good eye on the corners while Tatiana and I would take care of the normal ones. This would be a long trip and we need to save bullets since we would be going to two more locations and we don¡¯t know in what we¡¯ll face in each one. The two of us are only using melee weapons and we¡¯re hacking and shing on the bloody figures that approach us.


    We would rarely notice the irregrs since we¡¯d only notice their behavior when we observe them and not kill them. We might be encountering them a lot but we might have already killed them before we discovered that they are one.


    ¡°Well, irregr or not, you¡¯d only need to destroy the brain.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was holding my katana with my right as I deflect the attacks from my left with the scabbard as always. Bodies are hitting the floor and we¡¯re slowly making our way to Darelle¡¯s house. It is located at a ce like Woonds but a bit smaller. We¡¯re now driving at the walls of the ceing near to theirpound¡¯s gate and we saw that it is open wide and seems to be overrun.


    ¡°Are we going inside?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Of course.¡± I replied.


    We drove near and as soon as we went inside there are several dozen around the ce roaming aimlessly. I¡¯m estimating and there are probably around a few dozen in the immediate vicinity. Darelle¡¯s house is near the end of this ce and I surmise we would face more.


    ¡°Are we really gonna go inside?¡± Jared asked again.


    ¡°Of course. Here¡¯s the n¡­ Project Infinite Loop.¡± I said.

 Chapter 149

    Chapter 149: 149


    I grabbed my radio and ryed to everyone. <center></center><hr>


    Project Infinite Loop.


    The n was to head inside and close the gate immediately so we could slowly thin the numbers from the inside. The group became worried of the other people that we¡¯re with but I told them that we would make noise first away from the gate so that we could lure everything in a line to go around the wholepound. The three vehicles that they¡¯re at will park near the gate while the vehicle that we¡¯re driving will do the luring process after we make a small perimeter for them to stay put. I left a radio just in case of some that might wander on their side or any emergency.


    The sound will be from the horn and we make a loop around thepound until they are all dead. We would be driving in a safe pace so we could dispatch them with melee weapons since we¡¯ll immediately run out of bullets if we use our guns. It will take a bit of time but time is all we have right now. Juan will be driving the Raptor while Kaley and Jared will be in the back as backup. Tatiana and I will be on the road at the ready as we¡¯re the two to mainly kill them.


    A space on the back of the truck is reserved for us two in case the zombies going after us gets clumped. The road is wide enough for other zombies toe from the side so we¡¯ll ride the truck for a while until they¡¯re in a line again and we continue to drive around thepound. It¡¯s a continuous looping process until the job is done. Earnest even gave me my pistol back since he¡¯s worried for idents on our end and they will just be in the cars staying put. The other guys wanted to help but it¡¯s very dangerous for people who haven¡¯t gone out yet to perform this operation. Even Juan is just the designated driver.


    ¡°Have you tried this yet?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°Nope. First time.¡± I replied.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?! And you think this would work?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Trust us, yeah? I¡¯ll trust your driving too.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh god, oh god. I¡¯m nervous as f.u.c.k!¡± he shouted.


    I drew my katana and stood at the ready. We¡¯re still outside thepound and we went in after I killed the few in the immediate vicinity. I stretched and limbered up since this will be a long afternoon.


    The vehicles went inside and Kaley acted as cover while Tatiana and I closed the gates. It took us less than a minute to close and lock it while the vehicles are already parked and the engine turned off.


    *sh* <center></center><hr>


    One guy lost his hairline and another lost half his face. ck blood sttered on the side while Juan started to make noise. Kaley and Jared are on the roof of the Raptor while we jumped to the back.


    ¡°Be careful guys!¡± Earnest eximed.


    I made a small salute and Juan started to mow down on a few while he kept on using the horn.


    Several heads pointed to our direction from the noise it made and they started on walking and running towards us.


    ¡°Just keep that pace Juan. Go slower when we reach that corner and honk again.¡± I instructed.


    Several dozen are now following us and they are a mix of people though they all belong to one category now. There are also severaling from the other houses trying to get to us though they would stumble to reach us. I looked at where the Raptor is heading and that is a good ce to start at. Kaley is looking at the back while Jared at the front. When I tapped Tatiana, we both jumped down and started a massacre.


    One sh from the temple to the other temple.


    A chop to the head.


    A thrust to an eye.


    A block and a stab.


    Three consecutive shes to remove both hands and the headst.


    Parry with the scabbard and then a diagonal sh from below. Blood would follow the direction the katana did and a body would hit the road. Its body would slightly impede the one in front of it since most of them can¡¯t make an extended step to avoid the one in front of them. <hr>


    I immediately killed six and Tatiana killed five. There¡¯s a fewing from the side to join the small herd so we rode the Raptor again and Juan drove a bit faster after honking a few times to get their attention towards us.


    On the tail side of the herd, I saw a single zombie making a beeline towards us pushing everyone apart but as soon as Kaley saw it¡­


    *psshew*


    It didn¡¯t even get to the halfway mark and it got lost on the herd as it fell when a shot on it ¡®s head appeared. A regr one with a construction hat even got killed since the bullet pushed through. The crowd of zombies is a huge obstacle for the sprinter to plow through since he went for the part where most of them are gathered. We jumped down again on a straight road and not on the corners since there would be a lot of blindspots.


    The figure closest to me is in gradeschool and she¡¯s even wearing the uniform. A part of her cheek is missing and dried blood is sticking to her uniform and there¡¯s a few sputters in her neck and she¡¯s still carrying a lunch box.


    *sh*


    I didn¡¯t even hesitate.


    ¡°You¡¯re already dead and I don¡¯t even know you.¡± I thought to myself.


    It fell down and a middle-aged zombie got tripped by it but I flicked my hand holding the katana to slice a part of its head off before itpletely fell down. It was followed by a figure wearing a security guard uniform and I killed it as well as it tried to approach me by a stab from his neck going up. I kicked one off the ground and sunk my de to the one on Tatiana¡¯s blindside.


    Tatiana is taking more careful attacks since the machete that she¡¯s holding is much shorter and she has nothing to parry the other attacks towards her like my scabbard. She would asionally use her pistol on rare asions and that is understandable.


    We are slowly thinning them out but there are still severaling from the other houses that we are passing through. It replenishes the ones that we killed though we¡¯re still far from the halfway mark to make aplete loop towards the wholepound. They are all in a line but a few that are too far would start to wander off. To avoid that, Kaley would tap on the roof so Juan would honk again.


    The sound of the motor, des going through bodies and the zombie¡¯s growing is the only thing you¡¯d hear aside from the asional gunshot. I thought it would stay like that for a while but I heard a very wee tune. <hr>


    ¡°WELCOME TO THE FOREST~ WE LOVE PANS AND GAMES~¡±


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I thought to myself as I smiled.


    ¡°Now that is some good f.u.c.k.i.n.g music.¡± Juan said as he tapped the door a few times.


    I got so pumped up and I took a look at Kaley when we were trying to reset the position.


    ¡°W-what are you staring at?¡± Kaley got embarrassed since I¡¯m looking at her intently.


    I moved closer to her face and I ced my hand on it.


    She was taken aback but I handed her my scabbard.


    I pulled my wakizashi off of her and I jumped down.


    She immediately realized that I wasn¡¯t gonna do anything to her and she pouted.


    I smirked as I turned around. Katana on my right and the wakizashi to my left.


    The music is ringing in my ears and my head is bopping to it unconsciously. I made a long exhale and I smiled.


    If a zombie could shudder, it would. <hr>


    I have the glint in my eye and I took the first step.


    *sh*


    *sh*


    *sl*sh**


    *sl*sl*sh***


    *sl*sl*sl*sh****


    My shes are getting faster and deadlier as I go on. I notice Tatiana on the side watching out for my blindspots so I continued on mowing through them. The bodies I piled up doubled in number since the scabbard I¡¯m parrying with before is now a wakizashi that could also kill them even if the reach is much shorter. My head would asionally itch but I pulled through since I¡¯m in the zone once more.


    Cross sh.


    Double Horizontal sh.


    Omnish.


    I sliced a part of a head after stabbing it with my wakizashi and I made a diagonal sh that took a part of a guy¡¯s head off that bisected a body of an olddy after. Kaley made sure to shoot it in the head and I maneuvered diagonally to avoid stepping over the bodies.


    Project Infinite Loop is different now since I¡¯m the one going around them instead. The more fitting term now is Project Meat Grinder since the Raptor is now stationary and I¡¯m starting to move towards them instead of them moving towards us. Tatiana started on revolving around the Raptor since a few are starting to approach it since it¡¯s not moving anymore. I thought they would stop me but they didn¡¯t. The light in my eye brightened and I held the katana and wakizashi even tighter as I smiled.


    ¡°It¡¯s been too long since I¡¯ve done this.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 150

    Chapter 150: 150


    I made quick steps to navigate through them and one to three shes finishes the job for one of the figures. I¡¯m hovering at the side and not charging at the middle since it would be too dangerous if I got surrounded. Careful positioning does the trick though I would always keep an eye open for any surprises. Kaley would take shots on a few that obstructs my path towards the Raptor so I would always have a path to go back to them. <center></center><hr>


    A zombie growling like a viking or the terminathor slowly made my way towards me but I juked and it crashed to one of them making it tumble and fall. I made a U-turn to avoid the one at my left side wearing a tuxedo since Kaley wouldn¡¯t be able to shoot it since it was right in front of me. I took a part of its nape and its head lost bnce and it fell backward thought it was still alive.


    I jumped over a fence to guide a few towards me as I ran a few feet and jumped back again in the fray to reset my position since they are starting to clump. It¡¯s like ying a game of tag with a lot of elderlies. The ones that are in my vicinity are moving really slow since the faster moving ones are already taken care of from the initial drive. I notice my breathing starting to hasten so I decided to stop for now to take a small breather and not push myself too far.


    I spun once and killed four that are starting to surrounding me. I flicked the des in my hands since the blood covering them are much thicker and it started to get less effective and I hate grime on my weapons. I slowly made my way back as I saw Tatiana doing the same since the dismembered bodies on the road are starting to make the terrain difficult to navigate through.


    When we rode it, Juan slowly drove it forwards as I grabbed a cloth to wipe my des with.


    ¡°That is f.u.c.k.i.n.g awesome bro.¡± Jared remarked.


    ¡°Heh, it makes me more tired though but we saved a lot of time. I¡¯m at 420 now.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Ayy~¡± he celebrated.


    I started to catch my breath from the burst earlier and I started to look around. My eye caught a glimpse on a few figures on one of the houses but it moved when my eyes locked on to them.


    ¡°There¡¯s still people here.¡± I said.


    The three looked at me as soon as I said it.


    I pointed at the house and to other ones that I caught a few figures of.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± Kaley asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We finish clearing this small herd. We¡¯ll figure it outter but keep another eye open for them.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hah! We¡¯re not the sentries bro!¡± Jared retorted.


    Kaley picked up her radio and contacted Earnest and Kris about other people that might pose some danger and she asked them to be cautious.


    When I jumped down the other time with Tatiana, the music changed.


    ¡°LA LUCE~ CHE TU HAI~¡±


    I almost choked since the momentum of my charge changed. I could hear Jaredughing maniacally while Juan immediately changed what was ying on the radio.


    ¡°MY EX, GON¡¯ GIVE IT TO YOU! GIVE IT TO YOU~!¡±


    The next music pped so hard I started to time it with my shes. Jared even started to shoot a few rounds out that timed with the music while we thinned the numbers once more.


    ¡°Good thing we haven¡¯t encountered that ¡®X¡¯ here, that would be scary as f.u.c.k hearing those heavy footsteps.¡± I thought to myself.


    It took us four more songs before we started topletely thin their numbers out and eventually clearing everything. A few doors started on opening and some people started to approach us.


    ¡°Thank you so much!¡±


    ¡°Are you guys military?¡± <hr>


    ¡°We¡¯re saved!¡±


    ¡°Ugh! This is disgusting but thanks to all of you!¡±


    ¡°Are you going to stay here?¡±


    ¡°Are you single?¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the help!¡±


    Our group was showered with praises and then we heard an olderdy crying.


    She was first hugging what seems to be her husband but she removed herself from the hug after seeing a figure she was familiar with on the road. Her husband tried to grab her back but she quickly made a beeline to a lone dismembered figure but the crowd trying to praise us paid her no mind. She was crouched on the ground holding a head of what I surmised that someone that she knows. I remember it was the little kid wearing the school uniform that I killed earlier.


    ¡°MY BABY~! THEY KILLED HER~!¡± she wailed.


    ¡°Oh, f.u.c.k. Not this type of idiot.¡± I thought to myself.


    The sounds of celebration immediately halted which I weed since I they were making a lot of noise and my voice is getting drowned out trying to make them quiet down. They all stared at the olderdy with a dismembered head on her arm with disgust and then her husband tried to pick her up from her position.


    ¡°She¡¯s not our baby anymore! She already turned to one of those things! If she¡¯s our baby, she wouldn¡¯t be roaming with the others like that!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°SHE IS! SHE IS MY BABY ANN~! THOSE SONS OF BITCHES KILLED HER~! SHE¡¯S ONLY SICK! SHE¡¯S ONLY SICK~! WE SHOULD¡¯VE WAITED FOR THE CURE~!¡± she continued to wail. <hr>


    ¡°Shut up bitch!¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°Those are dead already!¡±


    ¡°Yeah! Shut up!¡±


    ¡°BITCH~!¡±


    I was about to leave them to their devices but the crowd are about to lynch thedy wailing her heart out. They started to pick up small rocks to throw at thedy and the husband has a worried expression.


    ¡°Hey, f.u.c.k.i.n.g stop what you¡¯re doing. Aim those things at the dead and not at the living. She¡¯s wrong on all ounts but you don¡¯t just kill or punish someone just based on that.¡± I said to the crowd.


    She never stopped crying and she¡¯s still cradling the head of her daughter while sobbing. I started to board our truck but they waved me down.


    ¡°W-wait! Aren¡¯t you here to save us?¡± someone asked.


    ¡°No. I¡¯m just here to look for a friend. If you have gasoline, burn the bodies to avoid further health risks.¡± I replied.


    The guy tried to say more but I tapped on the truck and told Juan the direction to go to. They were confused in what to do now seeing the pile of bodies on their feet and us leaving them. It was a very short drive and it could be easily walked into but I wanted to avoid a few dozen people surrounding us. I even called Earnest and the rest to drive towards us since the coast is clear.


    We already passed by it but I saw no head peeking out from it when we¡¯re driving earlier. It¡¯s a big house enveloped by stone walls on the bottom half and iron bars pointing upwards on the upper half. There are a few greeneries on the side of the house and it is painted white withplimenting colors to provide contrast. I pressed their doorbell first to see some sort of movement from the inside and there was none for a few moments. <hr>


    I was about to vault over their gate but I heard the inte.


    ¡°Who¡¯s the f.u.c.k.i.n.g son of a bitch trying to wake me up?! I¡¯m warning you! I have a high capacity revolver that is chambered in .50 caliber armor piercing, incendiary and tracer special round! It is also belt fed with a 100-round magazine on the bottom with a holographic sight and a red dot sight mounted on top with a scope that is also good for night-vision! It has f.u.c.k.i.n.g double foregrips and a bipod and a grenadeuncher attached to the bottom and it is mounted and could be left alone since this whole ce has motion sensors that could spot you and kill you in a matter of seconds!¡± The familiar voice tried to threaten me.


    Kaley, Tatiana, Jared and I looked at each other for a brief moment and we started onughing.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡± I neverughed so hard in my life.


    ¡°W-w-wait Sky! That thing sounds f.u.c.k.i.n.g dangerous! Are we still going in?!¡± Juan was startled when I still tried to vault over but I started tough again when I heard what he said.


    When I finally contained myughter, I vaulted over again and I saw the window finally opening. There¡¯s another guy about the same height as me though with a longer neck and curly hair followed by a shorterdy at his back though they are both carrying guns which is very far from what he described earlier. He stopped when he saw me and his head tilted trying to figure out who I was.


    ¡°Hey dude, what¡¯s up? It¡¯s Sky.¡± I said as I smiled at him.


    ¡°Wait, what?! That¡¯s you now?! Holy shit!¡± he said as he holstered his gun but his eyebrow furrowed.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°If you¡¯re really him, what film did we watch in highschool and what varsity team I was in that are connected to each other? Only Sky would remember that.¡± he said.


    ¡°This is too easy.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Drumline is the film and you are in the snare section of our highschool¡¯s varsity team for drums. Can you and your wife f.u.c.k.i.n.g pack up now ande with us? Kaley, Kris, and Earnest is here with us. Raphael is back at home too and we¡¯re about to go to Roi¡¯s mansion. I thought you would alle but only Rap did. I¡¯m taking all of you with me back. We need to hurry up now since we will be driving for a while before we get there.¡± I said as his wife, Trisha, looks at him while he¡¯s in a daze slowly turning into a smile.


    He pointed his index finger at me and he said, ¡°You son of a bitch, I¡¯m in!¡±

 Chapter 151

    Chapter 151: 151


    I smiled and said, ¡°Hah! Pack everything then, what kind of vehicle do you have here? Did you manage to buy the camper you posted on social media before?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah! I have the Westfalia I wanted to buy before. I finally bought itst year and we¡¯ve been using it when we¡¯re going on trips here.¡± he said.


    ¡°Okay, I know you guys could pack fast and we¡¯ll be just waiting outside for you, okay? We¡¯re burning daylight and we need to move even faster.¡± I said.


    I opened the small gate at the side and I found out that a couple of people have followed us here. They¡¯ve been asking a couple of questions to the group and they¡¯re answering what they could. When they saw me, all heads turned towards me and they started to ask me instead.


    ¡°Do you know what the situation is outside?¡± someone asked.


    ¡°Worse than what we encountered here. You¡¯re lucky that there are no specials here or you¡¯d be having a harder time. Have you all been holed up here this whole time?¡± I replied then I gave them a brief exnation of the story outside.


    ¡°Uh, yes. We were secured here before but one of the residents here went outside and didn¡¯t close the gate. That¡¯s where a few started toe in and some houses got overrun. Are you guys nning to stay here?¡± they exined and then asked a question.


    ¡°As I said earlier, we¡¯re just here to pick up a friend. I know what you all are thinking of asking, I can¡¯t take all of you. This ce is secure and you all could either stay at this ce and make it something livable or go to the nearest DDR camp to seek refuge. There are people which are less fortunate than you trying to survive outside. Having this ce as a start is more of an advantage.¡± I exined.


    ¡°B-but you need to protect me!¡± Someone shouted from behind.


    ¡°Excuse me?¡± I said.


    ¡°You all c-could easily take care of them! Why don¡¯t you stay here and protect me from those things! I could pay you!¡± A guy that is covered by jewelry said. He has an air of arrogance and I just saw him now as the crowd gave way. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°By what? Money has no value now if you even know what is happening outside. I¡¯m not your babysitter and we already did you all a favor by clearing that small herd. Don¡¯t bite the hand that feeds you.¡± I said.


    ¡°You are already taking people, why not take us then? We could help in any way we can, please?¡± someone else chimed in.


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know you, sorry. The people I have here are all people I¡¯ve known over the years and I could trust. I¡¯m not sure in taking a stranger would do me good don¡¯t you think? I¡¯m really sorry.¡± I replied as my group have solemn expressions.


    ¡°I can¡¯t take all of the people here. They are too many.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°No! You will stay here!¡± the guy with jewelry interrupted thedy I was speaking to earlier before she has the chance to reply back at me. He started to speak in amanding tone and he started to get in my face,


    ¡°Well, what will you do if we don¡¯tply? If you have the firepower you should¡¯ve cleared them yourself. And who the f.u.c.k even are you to tell me what to do?¡± I said while getting a bit annoyed.


    ¡°Hah! You don¡¯t know me?! I¡¯m Benjamin Crisologo! I¡¯m the f.u.c.k.i.n.g owner of this ce and if I¡¯m right, you¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g stepping on my property! Either you stay here and protect me, or you get out of this ce before-¡± he shouted then I interrupted him.


    ¡°Before what? I think you didn¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g heard me the first time, what could ¡®you¡¯ do? Last time I checked the world has gone to shit and thews have no meaning right now. You can only call something your own if you could f.u.c.k.i.n.g protect it. Titles and deeds mean nothing now if you don¡¯t have the power to defend it. Now agency is present now to charge me of trespassing, and you¡¯re forgetting something¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°What?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get into an argument with a guy with a gun yeah? Even more if he has a group that has too. Just a reminder. I could take this whole ce and there is nothing you could do about it if I did.¡± I said as I looked at him straight in the eye. <hr>


    His mustache quivered violently as he began to grind his teeth.


    ¡°So now you¡¯re saying you¡¯ll kill me and take over everything I¡¯ve built?!¡± he rebuked.


    ¡°No. Like I said, I¡¯m just here to pick someone up. Just take the clearing of the dead here and making this ce secure again payment for letting me take them. I believe I didn¡¯t ask for anything when we did that. Either take my advice I would be imparting or piss off a guy that is close to lopping your head off. The dead are not the only ones I¡¯ve killed outside. There¡¯s plenty of assholes like you I¡¯ve already killed.¡± I said nonchntly.


    The crowd subconsciously took a step back when they heard that I¡¯ve already killed someone.


    The owner of this ce has his hands clenched and his shaking a bit but it gradually stopped as he looked at me.


    ¡°What advice are you giving me then?¡± he said.


    ¡°Oh? At least you¡¯re an arrogant prick with somemon sense.¡± I thought to myself then I cleared my throat.


    ¡°First and foremost, burn the bodies to cinders. Don¡¯t let any of their flesh or fluids remain intact and incinerate everything. Fortify this ce and have people guard your gate at all times. Secure a stable source of food from scavenging and farming. A few of the houses here have sr panels so make use of that since the power is going out soon. Start on conserving your resources and begin to adjust. This thing couldst longer than you think and the government can¡¯t help everyone. You all need to be able to help yourselves too if you want to survive this thing.¡± I said.


    ¡°But how can we protect ourselves if we don¡¯t have guns! Your group has several! You need to leave half of them here!¡± he retorted as some of the crowd started to agree with him.


    ¡°That¡¯s not my problem and I¡¯m not leaving half my guns here. I¡¯m pretty sure that you¡¯ve seen us clear the small herd with mostly our melee weapons and we¡¯re only four when we did that. You¡¯re over a hundred here and I think you could think for yourselves. Oh yeah, don¡¯t even try to use force to make me submit yeah? I have enough bullets here for everyone. If you deny the carrot, you¡¯ll get the stick. I don¡¯t shoot people for sport but if you make, me I will.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± Their group is just silent, looking at me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me. Start on doing on what you need to get this ce back up on its feet. This ce just got a second chance, don¡¯t waste it.¡± I said.


    They all gave reluctant expressions and there is a mix of every expression on the owner of this whole ce. He turned around grumbling and he started to order everyone present that is living in hispound. A few people cooperated and started on dragging some of the bodies together and they started on burning them.


    Some of them pretended to not hear the guy barking orders out and a few already drove outside with their own vehicles. The owner started on cursing as his voice got louder and louder on ordering the other people that chose to stay here.


    ¡°Some of them must¡¯ve already packed their belongings ready to leave the moment it presents itself. Well, I can¡¯t me them if they leave this good ce since the one who would be running it is an asshole. I¡¯d rather take my chances outside or kill this guy and take control if it was me.¡± I thought to myself.


    Earnest and Kris walked out of their vehicles and they approached me.


    ¡°Hey.¡± I said as they nodded.


    ¡°You¡¯re like a different person dude. You¡¯re still weird sometimes though.¡± Earnest said.


    ¡°Hah! You could say that again.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Good going on that group, those ungrateful bastards, after what you guys have done¡­¡± Earnest said with a grumble in his voice. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, I just don¡¯t want to waste bullets.¡± I replied.


    They were both shocked and Kris said, ¡°You¡¯ve really killed people dude?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, a lot of things happened. But those we killed really deserved it, they¡­¡± I repeated the story to him which Earnest has already heard.


    ¡°You really changed dude. Oh yeah, when did you and Kaley started? That surprised me the most.¡± Kris said.


    ¡°Like you¡¯re one to talk.¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley looked at our direction and she started to blush faintly.


    ¡°It just happened dude.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yeah, everything just happened. We need details man, details! Don¡¯t say anything Kaley, I want to hear everything from Sky!¡± Earnest excitedly said.


    Kaley and I locked eyes for a moment and her look almost telepathically said to not reveal everything.


    ¡°*gulp* I really can¡¯t tell them that we got together because I pretended to be a zombie and I brought cake home and it just happened¡­ Well¡­¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 152

    Chapter 152: 152


    I could feel the darting gaze of Kaley towards my back and I could almost feel that a spear is pointed at close range ready to pierce me on a slip. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°*gulp* Think Sky! Think! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! W-wait, they¡¯re not like Kaley, they won¡¯t know if I lied but what would I tell them? Do I make it sound like a fairytale? No! They might not be pseudo-psychic but they¡¯re not idiots either. What¡¯s the best thing to say that would make me not receive a bullet from Kaley and for them to ept an answer that they are half-expecting?! F.U.C.K! Why am I even thinking about what people are gonna say?! It¡¯s very easy, do I tell the truth and just go with it? FUUUUUUU~ DAMMIT HERE GOES NOTHING!¡± I had an inner breakdown that took less of a second to happen.


    The two are staring at me while Kaley is atop the Raptor waiting for my answer.


    *clears throat*


    ¡°Honestly, it really just happened dude. I first thought we were just two people that met but never fated but I was wrong. F.u.c.k fate, we decide what we wanted to happen to our lives. I-¡± I was about to add more but Kris interrupted me.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k you are talking about? We¡¯re talking about what happened in close doors! Who made the first move and whose the one in charge!¡± he said while his eyebrows are jumping up and down.


    ¡°This f.u.c.ker heh, I¡¯ll throw you under the bus just to change the subject.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Oh~ Is that so~ closed doors huh~ Earnest, at Kris¡¯s house, when we entered, Kaley and I saw him milking his d.i.c.k watching a Y-¡± I tried to finish my sentence but¡­


    ¡°LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! It¡¯s a YURI film! YURI~!¡± Kris tried to drown the sound as he red at me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!! That¡¯s why Sky said you¡¯re ¡®enjoying¡¯ your time! Yuri is lesbo, right?¡± Earnest started to dieughing.


    ¡°Yeah, those dies¡¯ are very muscr though.¡± I said.


    I could feel Kris¡¯s foot about to step on mine but I avoided it by simply sliding my foot away making him almost trip.


    ¡°You like muscrdies huh? *snort* Want to be dominated by one? I thought you would be the one to be in charge.¡± Earnestughed earnestly as he really thought what I was saying was the truth.


    ¡°You don¡¯t ask other people¡¯s business inside closed doors. That¡¯s what you get.¡± I thought to myself.


    We¡¯ve been going back and forth and then Earl and Jeremy joined us as well.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re really taking in all of your friends from before, how about your other friends from college or at work? Are you taking them as well or have some of them in your ce already?¡± Earl asked.


    ¡°Got an old friend from gradeschool and two people from college. I have a few more friends from college but they are so far from where we are and we need to make an expedition to reach them. Saved one actually from South. If you¡¯re talking about work friends, I have myborers at my ce already. We have a good rtionship with each other though some of them went outside and haven¡¯t heard from them if they¡¯re still alive or not.¡± I replied.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m talking about work friends when you were still a software engineer, Earnest told me you were one before.¡± Earl said. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, I have a few in my mind that could be a good addition to my ce. I don¡¯t know their whereabouts though. I just hoped that everyone at least responded to my emails from before. Almost everyone took them as a joke.¡± I said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take this the wrong way, do you just take people based on their skills and what they could do to your ce?¡± Jeremy chimed.


    ¡°Yes and no. I brought everyone there who I have a close rtionship with first, skillse second and it¡¯s just a bonus if they know a thing or two. I know a few more people that has great skills and could be a good addition to thepound but their behavior would cause a lot of friction not just with me but to everyone else. I want a tight-knit group of survivors and not a dispersed one. There¡¯s strength in numbers but a few back home are learning necessary skills to survive. I hope you all too. And to not be a liar, Oscar, my friend from back home should be getting people with a certain set of skills from the camps by now. I just prioritized all of you.¡± I replied.


    Darelle and his wife finally went out and opened their gate with their camper van. It wasn¡¯t even an hour and they¡¯re already done. I gave my Glock to Earnest again and Darelle lowered his window.


    ¡°Are we going now? We¡¯re going to Roi¡¯s mansion, right?¡± Darelle said.


    ¡°Yeah. You brought everything you need? That was fast.¡± I said.


    ¡°Heh, we always pack light if we go on trips but we took everything we needed that¡¯s why we took a bit of time. I¡¯m sure the people here would be ransacking my house after we leave so we made our final goodbye with our house.¡± he replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just a house. We can always build one and we spent more time in this camper than that house actually.¡± Trisha chimed as Darelle smiled. <hr>


    I told them to follow behind me and the guy who owns this ce just stared at us as we leave their premises. We went back the same way to drive into the highway since Roi¡¯s ce needed us to drive on the highway for a bit before we make a left to another ce the same as this though a lot bigger even than the ce back home.


    We passed by an intersection from where there is a 9-Eleven and another fast food shop in a corner and ¡®Aliw¡¯, a very old ce that used to be a popr cinema and entertainment center but ravaged by time and turned to be a simple store that has several owners inside. It¡¯s broken into much like the other ces here and a few rotting bodies are on the street but we continued straight on the road.


    We¡¯re avoiding abandoned cars and zombies and I can¡¯t tell what¡¯s the expression of the other people whose first time going out is. We passed by SM Maro and all of the windows are broken and the ce is greatly overrun on the ground floor. However, I could see tents and a few people on the rooftop and the 2nd floor.


    ¡°There¡¯s actually people who managed to get that ce up and running.¡± I said.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the ce where we need to get Ken¡¯s tech?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah but going to Kris¡¯s house solved everything. We have everything we need and it¡¯s all a matter of setting it up.¡± I replied.


    We saw several people looting ces near on the other side which is a restobar but they backed off when they see a muzzle of the guns that we¡¯re carrying. We drove past them and we reached a long bridge and past that is the public market of Maro and their residential area.


    I could remember a few ces here that¡¯s on my list to visit but it¡¯s not the priority right now.


    We went by a car dealership and a bowling alley and then we finally took the left turn going near their ce. What surprised me is that the ce is fortified and it has several blockades present and their huge gate has barbwires on top and a few people on top of a water tank taking rounds on watching the situation outside. One of them has a rifle slung on his back while the other is carrying a shotgun with both of his hands. <hr>


    ¡°This ce is good. He should be very much alive if this is the situation here.¡± I thought to myself as we went down.


    The two people looked at me and they got their weapons at the ready as one of them shouted.


    ¡°Stop right there! Who are you and what is your business here! We¡¯re not taking survivors anymore!¡± the guy with the rifle shouted.


    ¡°Anymore? Are they at full cap or has there been an incident.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯m Sky Ishiyama from a Special Unit looking for Roi Ssco. He¡¯s one of the owners of the mansions here at 3-DD9f1C-9 Block. I need to know if he¡¯s still alive.¡±


    The guy with the shotgun took his radio and spoke to it. He is going back and forth with the person on the other line and he keeps on making nces at me like he¡¯s describing my appearance to the person on the other end. When the call was over, he looked at me with a solemn expression.


    ¡°I¡¯m very sorry sir but the person that you¡¯re looking for is not here.¡± the guy said.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 153

    Chapter 153: 153


    ¡°You said ¡®not here¡¯, did he die or did he perhaps leave?¡± I asked. <center></center><hr>


    He scratched his head after he removed his cap and he said, ¡°Uh, no. He did leave in a hurry before it all started. He was frantic to the point that he looked like a madman when he drove outside.¡±


    I rubbed my be and I scratched my head furiously as I tried to figure out for where he might have gone.


    ¡°Did he leave anything behind? A letter or something?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Uhh, none. We still think he might being back since most of his valuables are still there though we took all the food and consumables from his house. The luxury items are still there since those have no value now except if this thing got cured immediately.¡± he replied.


    ¡°He knows most of the situation inside?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Can I at least check his ce to see if there are any clues regarding his whereabouts?¡± I asked.


    His expression remained the same and he picked up his radio once more. He started talking to the person on the other line as we below watched out for any surprises.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir but our leaders here said that we¡¯re not -¡± he tried to finish his sentence but I interrupted him.


    ¡°I get it, stranger danger. I only need to check his ce for some sort of clue regarding his whereabouts. I promise I wouldn¡¯t do anything and I would leave you guys a gun and a melee weapon just for checking his ce. I¡¯ll be there for half an hour at most.¡± I tried to negotiate.


    His partner watching him tapped him and said to call their ¡®leaders again¡¯. He picked it up once more and I checked my watch. It¡¯s 4:29 PM. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Uh, sir they said they would need more than that.¡± he said.


    ¡°We have a couple of food items here that I would dly part half on what¡¯s in my truck. I¡¯m thinking this is me on the losing side but I really would just check his ce to find any clues. If you don¡¯t want to have a reasonable argument in why you won¡¯t let me inside, we¡¯ll just leave right now. I¡¯d have more chances finding my friend outside when I search randomly than having to negotiate with unreasonable people.¡± I said with an annoyance in my tone though I was just pretending.


    He picked up his radio once more helplessly and he repeated what I said. After a few moments he walked towards thedder to go down. The gate is finally opened and I saw their ce.


    Severalrge houses are built and is only separated by a grass hedge or wooden fences and all of them is sporting only a single-color profile. Most high-end ces are contractually obligated to follow a color scheme so that why they are all like in the color of beige. I could see a few dozen people outside and there seems to be an auditorium in the far-right side with several chairs and a basketball court next to it.


    In the center of the ce is a huge garden with different nts though mostly flowers and bushes and a huge fountain sits in the center of it with a sculpture of several mermaids carrying pots where the water flows out. The roads are clear though and clean of any residue of blood except for a truck where I surmised where they have collected the bodies that they have disposed of and sent outside.


    They let our vehicles inside for the moment and then we drove in. They guided us towards a house with several supplies that is gathered in their garage and there are several shelves on it and pushcarts where varying supplies are disyed. A guy is holding a clipboard listing everything and when he saw us arrive, he approached us.


    ¡°You the guys looking for Roi Ssco?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Your guard already said that he went outside. We¡¯re just here to take a-¡± he then interrupted me.


    ¡°I know, I know. I¡¯m the one who Charles is speaking to. I¡¯m Andy, and I¡¯m one of the leaders here. Kindly ce all the supplies that you will give us though I would like food more than water.¡± He said after squeezing a tiny portion of hand sanitizer and rubbing his hands together.


    I let Jared and Juan take care of it while I went to Kris¡¯s car. <hr>


    He rolled up his windows and I rested my arms on it.


    ¡°Give me your gun and katana.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, what?! I thought you would be giving him yours!¡± he eximed but I shushed him.


    ¡°I never said that I would give mine. Don¡¯t be like this. Gimme.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But this is all I have!¡± he eximed silently.


    ¡°I know. Don¡¯t be hard on yourself. You¡¯re slowly killing yourself with that f.u.c.k.i.n.g Hi-Point and a fake-ass katana.¡± I said.


    ¡°But! I love these things! I would never trade them for anything!¡± he held onto them tight.


    ¡°I¡¯ll f.u.c.k.i.n.g rece them when we get home! I can give you something much better!¡± I said, trying to sway his decision.


    ¡°Oh, here.¡± he said without a bat in the eye.


    ¡°This f.u.c.ker.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    When he handed me the gun and the katana, he was about to give me the extra magazine that he has and the box of ammo but I stopped him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t give more than what¡¯s been promised. That magazine and extra ammo is invaluable. This is enough, thanks.¡± I replied.


    I then handed the guy the pistol and the katana from Kris and he handed it to ady who appears to be his assistant and she went inside to ce them. I helped Jared and Juan cing the food items to the pushcarts and when it¡¯s finally done, he spoke up.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll give you an hour to check Roi Ssco¡¯s ce and after that, I would ask you to leave. Here are the keys. We have the spares for every house here.¡± he replied.


    ¡°This makes it easier by a bit.¡± I thought to myself.


    We all then drove towards Roi¡¯s house and the small gate that he has for his driveway is already open. His garage door is bent and I could see that almost everything of some use aside from the food items that they took has been taken as well.


    ¡°Hey dude, why are we looking for clues for his whereabouts? Are you a detective or something?¡± Earnest asked as he stepped down from the vehicle as well.


    ¡°Not as much as a real detective but I¡¯m just hoping we find something. I wouldn¡¯t let go of the chance that we could be all together on thepound. I was surprised that he left. I thought he would alsoe to my ce but he went off on his own.¡± I replied.


    I took the keys and opened his front door and the ce is really ransacked specially the kitchen. I checked each room first and I finally went to his bedroom. Kaley and Earnest followed after me while the rest are either outside or checking the ce for any things that they could take. I started on knocking on the walls and Kaley¡¯s eyes lit up.


    ¡°Hey, you think he has left something here for us?!¡± she was excited for a treasure hunt so she did the same. <hr>


    ¡°What?! Let me try too!¡± Earnest got excited as well.


    Knocking noises is what we¡¯re hearing in his bedroom so I got annoyed and stopped them.


    ¡°At least go in the other rooms to search! I can¡¯t discern anything if you¡¯re ovepping the sounds with what I¡¯m doing!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Just check for the back of paintings, under the carpets or any bookshelves for any book that might have a hiddenpartment. Regarding his personality, he would definitely leave something for us.¡± I added.


    I was disappointed on the knocking session since I found nothing so I went to a part of his room that also has different consoles and handhelds. The only thing missing here is hisptop that he asked me before on what kind to buy. I was looking the several CDs in the shelves and I found his PZP from Sunny and I tried to open it. The battery is half-full and there are several games that we have yed from back then. I checked the videos and the pictures and any other doc.u.ments and found nothing. I was about to ce it down and I remembered something.


    ¡°We used to y ¡®Take Ken VI¡¯ a lot. He never beat me once though.¡± I thought to myself then I had a revtion.


    What I did was not open the game itself but the save files.


    There are several saves but the ones are left is from the game that we were ying before. I was scrolling to each of them and my stoic expression is slowly forming to a bright smile.


    ¡°This motherf.u.c.ker. He actually left something.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 154

    Chapter 154: 154


    ¡°Why are you smiling? Found something?¡± Kaley asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°None.¡± I replied but my head is nodding.


    I ced my index finger towards my lips to shush them then I started to pocket that PZP. Kaley and Earnest gave a look of realization and then I tasked them to collect all the tech here and a few albums from this ce to hide the fact that I took the most valuable things here just in case they wonder why I only took the PZP.


    Aside from that, I also took his silverware, containers, nkets, pillows, clothes, and other valuable items that could fit the space from the Raptor that Roi would also use.


    ¡°This motherf.u.c.ker, I can¡¯t believe you would make it hard to find you. Good thing I insisted to enter your ce. I could probably reach you in a few days once I studied what you¡¯ve left.¡± I thought to myself.


    Andy, one of the leaders there saw us alreadying back and took a nce at what we took. He made an almost unnoticeable smirk though I was smiling inwardly. I discovered that Juan gave his revolver to Kris since Kris was alone in his car while we five are equipped for war in the Raptor. The gate opened for us and then we drove outside. They didn¡¯t try anything funny and we were let outside without any incident.


    ¡°We¡¯ll head home now. We found nothing; I just hope that he¡¯s safe wherever he went. It was a gamble for those resources but I need to know, sorry.¡± I told the group as we started to head home. I made my voice be heard by the people guarding the gate just to be sure that they don¡¯t get too curious. I¡¯m not sure yet why Roi left that ce but we¡¯ll soon find out when we reach him in the future.


    And when we¡¯re a few blocks away; Kaley broke the silence to feed her growing curiosity.


    ¡°Sky! What did you find?! Tell me!¡± she eximed.


    I handed her the PZP and she grew more confused. Instead of asking more, she started to fiddle with it and she gives a mix of understanding and confusion.


    ¡°What does this mean?¡± she finally asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s code.¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I know it¡¯s code! What does it say?¡± she replied.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know yet but he¡¯s definitely alive.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Really?! How is the save files code though? Wait¡­ I think I¡¯m seeing a pattern.¡± she said.


    ¡°It¡¯s all in the save files. The way ¡®Take Ken VI¡¯ is different from ¡®Take Ken V¡¯ is how the save files are arranged. The V Version saves everything in a single file while the VI Version has different saves for each character so that on the case of data corruption, the records for each character will be saved and only the corrupted one will be destroyed. He made a simple code for their initials, wins, loses, draws andbat percentages thought I don¡¯t know what to look for yet. He¡¯s probably giving me the address to where he went but I haven¡¯t decoded everything yet. It would take a few minutes but the sun is about to set, I don¡¯t want us heading home with a lot of people in the dark. It would be very hard to contain a situation if I can¡¯t see everything.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that too easy to decode then?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°Well, yes, but actually no. The easy thing is decoding it, the hard part is knowing what to decode. Who even owns a PZP now? I still have mine at home but most people would just use the switch or their own phones. He remembers what we used to y back then and banked on the fact that I would remember it and notice it. To a regr person who don¡¯t know our past would just pass it off as a normal save file but the records clearly left me a message. We used to y this thing for hours on end and the battle for each character would easily reach a thousand. What¡¯s left there are single digits and all of those are made in the same day, the time when I sent the first email to everybody. He clearly prepared something and that is reason enough.¡± I exined.


    I tried to drive a bit faster and I drove mainly on the highway since it¡¯s a straight shot towards home. We eventually reached thepound and we parked outside. The trucks are now empty of its contents and the dump truck is now at the 3rd road while the truck carrying the back hoe and the steamroller is parked at the open court.


    The vehicles following us parked at the side of thepound for now and they got off their vehicles.


    ¡°Took you long guys, it¡¯s almost the broadcast. They¡¯ve cleared the 3rd road of the dead and they¡¯ve hauled most of the garbage on the dump truck. The back hoe was used once though since it can¡¯t go through the bridges. They¡¯re in the pool area now taking a break waiting for the broadcast.¡± An said.


    ¡°Thanks. These are¡­¡± I replied as I introduced everyone that came with us.


    ¡°Oh! I¡¯m An! This is Jenny my girlfriend and Aubrey our friend as well.¡± he replied and then he noticed that Juan was with us.


    ¡°Juan? Holy shit bro! Jenny! It¡¯s Juan!¡± An eximed. <hr>


    ¡°Oh shit! It¡¯s really you!¡± Jenny was ecstatic as well.


    ¡°Hey guys! d to see that you¡¯re all doing fine.¡± he replied.


    ¡°How many are you guys?¡± Earl asked.


    ¡°Heh, a LOT. Let¡¯s head inside, you¡¯ll meet everybody there.¡± I replied as I motioned for us to go to the pool area.


    Raphael was happy beyond words seeing old friends and the friendly bickering started between all of us old friends. He asked about Roi and I told him the story and what I found.


    ¡°Any ideas where he might have gone?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Hmm, he could definitely be anywhere. That¡¯s for sure, it¡¯s always ¡®location, location, location¡¯ with that guy.¡± Raphael replied.


    They started on trading stories as I walked up to Oscar.


    ¡°Hey kid. I made a small trip again to the DDR Camp. I announced that we will be taking a few people off their hands and they agreed. There is a good mix of people and some of them are cadets in the military here that hasn¡¯t finished their training yet. Some of the other people there seems to know you and the camps have refugees that have knowledge in the medical field. They are also being let go if we¡¯re willing to take them and some are actually wanting toe here immediately but I told them I¡¯ll wait for you first.''¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Really? They¡¯re willing to let them go?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah. They already have the best ones at the hospital though a few are being brought outside the ce by the helicopters that would asionally fly in. What we don¡¯t know is where they are taking them.¡± Oscar replied. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, but we¡¯ll have to make sure that they¡¯re real medical experts. I don¡¯t want one pretending to be one. That would cause a lot of problems if we get a quack. I guess we¡¯ll have to interview them first before we take them. Yeah, one more thing¡­¡± I trailed and I called Ken over as well.


    ¡°What is it dude?¡± Ken asked.


    ¡°You f.u.c.kers actually made a video of me and spread it to the camps! What the f.u.c.k?!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°¡­¡± Ken.


    ¡°¡­¡± Oscar.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡± The both of them.


    I was shaking my head in annoyance but Ken said, ¡°But was it good though?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not the point!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°C¡¯mon kid! We decided to make that so people would have someone to look up to and for some entertainment! Doing that not only established our connection with the camps, it also gave you a bit of street cred!¡± Oscar defended their actions.


    ¡°You know I don¡¯t like the spotlight old man!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Really now? Who¡¯s always showing off his skills?¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°She got you good kid.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was speechless for a few moments.


    ¡°Anyway, the broadcast is about to start. Let¡¯s head to my house first to watch it.¡± I said after giving up.


    The broadcast is very different today. Aside from the updates that they did in every broadcast, what we witnessed is several executions.


    There are several people getting executed after telling their crimes against the country. The president would sometimes do the honors and kill the one on the stand before throwing them in the pile where some of the bodies are.


    ¡°See this here? This motherf.u.c.ker tried to escape this city with a few people with our supplies and weapons heading to who knows where! Any sons of bitches that would get caught will suffer the same fate! The world is in chaos now and you want to f.u.c.k.i.n.g add to it?! I don¡¯t have any use of you if you try to screw with me! I need everyone helping me solve this thing and not add to the problems I¡¯m currently facing! F.u.c.k.i.n.g sons of bitches!¡± the president eximed while executing a decorated soldier that has gone AWOL but caught.


    ¡°Rather have a few loyal ones than a group where you always have to keep another eye open.¡± I thought to myself.


    After the broadcast was over, Tatiana approached me.


    ¡°Want me to teach a ss now? It¡¯s dangerous to shoot guns in the dark now but I have a few things that I could show them without shooting guns. A few tips here and there for a good foundation in the future.¡± she said.


    ¡°I was nning to take a break for the sses now since we did a lot today but if you can still teach a ss then go ahead. It doesn¡¯t have to be about guns but it¡¯s up to you. I¡¯ll start on cooking the meal I promised you guys.¡± I said.


    ¡°Dude, what about my equipment that you said you¡¯ll rece?¡± Kris also approached me.

 Chapter 155

    Chapter 155: 155


    ¡°Sure. Come with me. Tatiana you too.¡± I said to both of them as we headed upstairs to my room. Kaley is also with us while my other friends started to explore thepound to search for a house they could live in or other rooms that they may want to bunk into. Earnest and Earl gave back my pistols and Kris returned the revolver that Juan gave him to me. <center></center><hr>


    I opened the armory once more and Kris¡¯s eyes brighten up.


    ¡°HOLY F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHIT DUDE~! HOW MANY GUNS DO YOU HAVE?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°A f.u.c.k.i.n.g lot.¡± I grabbed a Kimber 1911 for Kris and a box of baby shotgun shells for Tatiana with the special shell holders.


    Kris almost cried tears of joy while he held it up like a lost relic while Tatiana is confused on what she received.


    ¡°I still have spares, what are¡­ what? Baby shotgun shells?¡± she said as she read thebel.


    ¡°Yeah, those are smaller slugs. You know how to Quad Load, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah. But what is the purpose of this thing? I could do it with the normal-sized ones.¡± she asked.


    ¡°What? Quad Load?¡± Kaley grew curious as well as Kris.


    ¡°It¡¯s better to show you since you never use shotguns.¡± Tatiana said as she turned the Benelli M4 sideways as she slid the 4 slugs in a fluid motion after grabbing them from her belt. She managed to load them much faster than cing each shell one by one like a normal person would.


    ¡°Cool huh?¡± I said to the two watching.


    Kris tried to do it but he failed miserably while Kaley tried though it¡¯s not as fluid as what Tatiana did. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, but what are the baby shotgun shells for?¡± Tatiana asked again.


    ¡°Some of the people we have here still do it the normal way, this thing could be a starting point for them to transition easier. Some of them have small hands and can¡¯t grab the four slugs in one hand like you. The only people that I could see do it wlessly is Oscar and Matthew though I developed something that I want you to work on.¡± I said with a grin.


    ¡°What?¡± she asked.


    I ced six baby shotgun shells on the shell holders and her face started to grow curious.


    The length of my hand while stretched could grab six of the baby shotgun shells since three of them in a single file matches two normal slugs perfectly. I did the same motion that she did and the only difference is that I loaded six in the chamber while she only loaded four earlier.


    ¡°Hexa Loading?! It¡¯s actually possible?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Yep. Much harder to do though than Quad Loading and you can only do this with baby shotgun shells. This borders on the impossible since you need to have a fine control of your body to do it. Keeping the baby shotgun shells in the middle from slipping off is the only challenge I encountered though your flexibility could make up for it. This is a Sky Ishiyama Original.¡± I exined with a smile.


    ¡°But dude, there would be less power from that right? Since the powder charge is smallpared to the normal ones.¡± Kris chimed.


    ¡°Yeah, but six dead zombies sounds more pleasing than four, don¡¯t you think? A .22 could kill one easily what more could a shotgun do yeah?¡± I said as he nodded pensively.


    ¡°Tatiana, this is just something on the back burner and I don¡¯t want you to attempt this thing when we¡¯re outside if you still haven¡¯t mastered it. At least normally Quad Load or Triple Load as a start using these baby shotgun shells first that¡¯s why I gave you those shell holders.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Can Oscar or Matthew do this?¡± she asked. <hr>


    ¡°No one has done it yet except me. If you managed to do it, you¡¯ll be the second one. Oscar tried but he could never do it and I haven¡¯t shown this to Matthew yet.¡± I replied to give a her a challenge.


    ¡°Oh? Is that so? How about you Kaley? Want to try it as well?¡± Tatiana looked at her.


    ¡°Nope. I don¡¯t like to use shotguns too so I¡¯m not that interested.¡± she replied as Tatiana shook her head helplessly.


    ¡°Why am I so lucky to have someone with the same weapon preferences?¡± I eximed proudly.


    She smiled faintly then Kris¡¯s eyes started to scan around the armory.


    ¡°Sky! Can I have one of these extending batons?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Sure, just take one.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll take two. I studied Eskrima for a bit and the wooden sticks we use is not as heavy as I liked. This could be a good substitute. Besides, I think I¡¯m not suited for the katana since the things you taught me earlier just went over my head. I¡¯ll stick to what I know.¡± he replied as he took two.


    ¡°Right, I almost forgot. Keep using that FN Five Seven Tatiana since you¡¯re the only one using that round except for Andrew. Reloading them won¡¯t be much of a problem and you¡¯ll have all the ammo I have for your using. It also makes reusing some of the cases not too hard on the 9mms and the 5.56s.¡± I exined as she nodded.


    We eventually dispersed and Tatiana took a few people interested in her ss while Kris moved to the room where Olivia and her parents were before with Juan, surprisingly. Darelle and Trisha decided to just stay at their camper for now though it is now parked inside thepound while Earnest and the rest found a house which is next to Arthur¡¯s house.


    I brought Kaley with me to the kitchen as I asked her to help me prepare all the ingredients for what we would be making. We cleared the kitchen counter first as I prepared ingredients for what we would use first for everything before we started on cooking it all at the same time. I would ask for Kaley¡¯s help for anything and she would dly oblige since she wanted to learn how to cook. <hr>


    We would be making Pirozhkis, Beef Wellingtons and a Strawberry Shortcake. Just take it as a cheat meal for the work we¡¯ve done and for the stress that .u.mted. I even asked Aya to tell her mom that Kaley and I would be eating separately for tonight with the others.


    My aunt on the other hand prepared something that would also take a bit of time since it would take a while to boil the bones for the broth that she¡¯s making. While I wait for the dough to rise on what I¡¯m cooking, we multi-tasked and went to other things that we¡¯re supposed to cook. I started on the chopping the cabbages for the filling for the Pirozhkis while Kaley on the puff pastry for the Beef Wellington.


    We¡¯d chat reminiscing our past as the time slowly goes by and while we wait for the cake to cooldown so we could ce the icing on it. cing it on the freezer helps a lot while I opened the can of strawberries in sweet syrup and while Kaley is watching the time for the Beef Wellingtons. I was finally cing the icing on the cake while she fries the Pirozhkis to golden brown after I rolled the dough for it while she ced the filling inside.


    It¡¯s all chaos in the kitchen but it is controlled since we have different stations for which we cook everything separately but it is starting to get really messy though we pulled through. We¡¯re staring at our work and we high-fived.


    ¡°Finally done!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°How did we even finish cooking everything at the same time in that timeframe?!¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Hah! It¡¯s fun to let loose sometimes without using much of an order to things. If I do it the normal way, it would take several hours and we pulled it off in a bit over 2 hours only. Let¡¯s call everyone.¡± I said as I picked up my radio.


    Kaley and I brought the food on the rooftop as we set a table for everyone. They saw the spread and Oscar with Matthew drooled over the floor.


    ¡°C¡¯mon you two old dudes. Wipe after yourselves!¡± I said as I handed them the utensils.


    We six ate happily though Tatiana almost devoured every Pirozhki that she saw on the table.


    ¡°She really has a huge appetite¡­¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°Oh yeah, I brought the water filter that you told me Sky, what does it do with Vodka?¡± Tatiana asked as she raised them with both hands.


    ¡°Pour half of it in there.¡± I said as everyone grew curious.


    Each of us took a shot each first while we waited for it to fill the bottom. When it did, I poured everyone another shot and they gave surprised expressions.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k¡­¡± Oscar trailed.


    ¡°This is freaky bro, it feels much smoother.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Hah! Cool, huh? It tastes like it¡¯s the more expensive type yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you think Tatiana?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°This is really good!¡± she eximed as she downed another shot.


    ¡°Yeah, I noticed you pick the cheap ones so I let you get the water filters that they sold over there. It has charcoal filters that gets rid of some of the impurities that would make it taste better though it wouldn¡¯t beat the top shelf ones.¡± I exined.


    I nced at Matthew and he¡¯s all red. He¡¯s not speaking and I think he¡¯s trying hard to just sit down.


    ¡°Is he drunk already?¡± I thought to myself while smiling.

 Chapter 156

    Chapter 156: 156


    I never minded it and we continued to eat. I can see Tatiana sneakily pocketing a few Pirozhkis in her pockets while still eating a whole one from her other hand. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hey, I can still cook more of those you know?¡± I reminded her.


    ¡°Oh, haha, this is for Rin. I¡¯d like her to taste my favorite food.¡± she replied while smiling.


    ¡°I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g stuffed~¡± Jared chimed to the side.


    Suddenly, someone ripped a very loud fart and the smell is terrible.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K~! Who did that?!¡± I said as I looked in the direction I heard it.


    The two old dudes pointed at each other while Kaley immediately picked up the cake from the table and ran down.


    ¡°Ugh! It¡¯s probably dad!¡± Kaley shouted.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K?~ It¡¯s Oscar!¡± Matthew shouted.


    ¡°THAT FART DIDN¡¯T SOUND AMERICAN SO IT¡¯S NOT ME~!¡± Oscar shouted as well.


    ¡°HAHAHAHA~!!!¡± Jaredughed hard and we all started to vacate the rooftop. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°No one¡¯s gonna eat these so I¡¯ll take them all~¡± Tatiana said while grabbing the Pirozhkis and the remaining bottle of Vodka.


    ¡°Sure take it! The people below are still eating so juste to my room when they¡¯re ready for the meeting.¡± I said as we¡¯re going through the stairs. The two old dudes never went down while Kaley and I went to our room.


    Kaley ced the cake on the table near the TV and then she took another slice and ate it.


    ¡°You like what we cooked?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I can¡¯t believe it would be better if we cooked it ourselves.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Hah! It always is but we could make something even better if we put our time on it. We¡¯re just in a rush to finish everything in a couple of hours. It still turned out okay though.¡± I replied.


    I looked at our des and decided to clean it because of the grime that is starting to .u.mte. I took hers as well and she watched me do the same process I did before while she¡¯s eating next to me. She started to ask a few questions and I answered them all.


    I took the tanto as well to clean it since I still have more time and no one is calling us yet. After I¡¯m done, the three des are all shining brightly after I wiped the oil residue with a rice cloth. I cleaned the scabbards as well and I smiled looking at another job well done.


    Kaley and Iid on the bed and we started to listen on the music from my phone until someone called us for the meeting.


    ¡°He¡¯s here!¡±


    ¡°Thank the gods!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Sky~ Why did you leave us with Tatiana~¡±


    ¡°I think I bruised something from her training, my back hurts a bit.¡±


    I was surprised when a few people started to hide in my back while Tatiana was scratching her head in confusion.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Kaley asked.


    They then told the story that Tatiana came up the gym trying to practice what I showed her earlier and she¡¯s slowly starting to get irritated when the middle slug would always pop off as soon as she started on sliding the three in one motion. When they started on training, Tatiana made everyone spar with her but instead of holding back, she went all out.


    ¡°She hits hard Sky~¡± Chris chimed from the side while rubbing his chin.


    ¡°I forgot that I pull my punches when I¡¯m with them.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s the case now. Sometimes Tatiana will be teaching you guys instead of me. Truth be told I¡¯ve been holding back a bit and slowly increasing the load I¡¯m giving you guys. The punches I¡¯ve been throwing you before are held back and I¡¯ve never started to increase the power I¡¯ve been hitting you with just the speed. I can¡¯t believe Tatiana went 100% at the first time she taught you guys.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?! You¡¯re still holding back?!¡± some of them eximed.


    ¡°Yeah. If I didn¡¯t, you¡¯ll die.¡± I replied nonchntly. <hr>


    ¡°Kaley! She¡¯s been training you, right?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°Hmm? Yeah.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Did she hold back with you?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Tatiana, did you?¡± Kaley asked Tatiana.


    ¡°Hmm? No. That¡¯s why you improved the most out of everyone. The results are clearly showing, correct? Well, you¡¯re a special case though, you learn really fast. I can hold back with some of the people in the future then if that¡¯s what they want.¡± she said.


    ¡°Hmm, hold that thought. What I want you to do is pick a few people whom you think that could take it and start to give them the spartan training that you did. In the future, I¡¯d like you to start on leading a few people on runs as well since I want someone who knows what she¡¯s doing since you¡¯ve been with us a couple times already and know the pattern. I know that you¡¯re tasked to protect me but they also told you to obey mymands. I don¡¯t need much protection if you¡¯ve already witnessed it and I want to increase the group that goes to runs outside.¡± I said.


    ¡°I also want Oscar toy off once in a while. Johnny has been keeping the order when the both of us go out but Oscar needs a break too.¡± I thought to myself.


    We finally started our meetings and the new people I¡¯m with introduced themselves to everyone officially.


    ¡°Who¡¯s gonna start with the reports?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Kid. I brought out the pulse oximeters and handed them to the elderly today when you¡¯re gone. Marisha there exined to everyone the importance of our safety here and the dangers from what happened earlier this day. All of them agreed to wear them and Carol and Shayne will start on checking on them starting now and the family they¡¯re with is now also responsible for checking them while she¡¯s not around. The elderly has also agreed to sleep in a separate room and the door they¡¯re sleeping at was carved a square hole and a ss pane were ced on it so we could check them first before we enter just to be safe. The other news I¡¯ve told you already earlier.¡± he said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. If anyone has any more concerns for our safety, just approach me or tell them in the meetings so we¡¯ll have a discussion of it. That¡¯s why we have meetings so we I could receive inputs from you guys that I might have missed. How about the 3rd road? What¡¯s the situation there unc?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°The water from the creek is starting to flow now though there are still a few clumps of garbage that we need to get from the waters. I¡¯ve dismantled most of the houses there from the people who squatted there but I¡¯ve also dismantled a few that are already run down. Some of the windows of the wooden houses there are broken and when it rains, the water seeps to the walls and the wooden walls and floors are already rotten from the continuous damage. We¡¯re mostly finished on the most of them since a lot of people helped earlier.¡± he said.


    After Zeidrick said that, Anthony chimed, ¡°Oh yeah, we¡¯ve made a few of these earlier.¡±


    They were a few ingots from the scrap yard near the basketball court where the barn was built.


    ¡°The XRF Analyzer is awesome and we tidied everything from there. All the scraps have already been melted and Zeidrick handed me the molds and I started on making those from the small bits. The big ones I¡¯ve left alone just in case we might have use for them. I¡¯m pretty much free on duties this point on, want me to do anything else?¡± he added.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯d like you to make a huge gate for us that could rece the fence on my old house. But before you do that, check the integrity each gate for the houses that has people on it if they could still hold up. Reinforce the ones you think that needs it. You know where the materials are and I trust on what you¡¯ll do.¡± I said.


    We discussed a few more items and we ended the meeting.


    Surprisingly, Rin, Olivia, Alex, Aubrey and Charlotte are now being personally trained now along with Kaley. The gym upstairs is much more lively now with the presence of new faces. I did my usual routine and I went inside my room after a shower since thedies are still going at it.


    ¡°Now, let¡¯s see what¡¯s hidden here¡­¡± I thought to myself as I grabbed the PZP.


    I checked it again and opened the game itself to see if there are any other hidden easter eggs I might¡¯ve missed. I wrote on a piece of paper all of it and started on rearranging them first.


    ¡°S¡­ E¡­ N¡­ D¡­ I¡¯m getting something here. N¡­ U¡­ D¡­ nope. Better start over.¡± I set that paper aside after shaking my head.


    ¡°E¡­ P¡­ S¡­ T¡­ E¡­. I¡­ N¡­ D¡­ I¡­ D¡­ N¡­ woah, woah! Hold up! I might get in trouble for this. The f.u.c.k is the messages he¡¯s leaving me?!¡± I thought to myself as I started over.

 Chapter 157

    Chapter 157: 157


    I started this thing thinking of solving it in a few attempts but doing it without the proper key to start in is harder than expected. I decided to try everything possible and sift through itter to see if what makes more sense. <center></center><hr>


    I looked at my watch and it is 9:27 PM.


    ¡°Thedies haven¡¯t finished yet. *cracks knuckles* I better continue this now.¡± I thought to myself.


    I then started to check first in the alphabet to match it with the numbers first but all I got was gibberish since some of them would shoot too far or some wouldn¡¯t even make sense. I then tried cing it in binary first to see a pattern next and so on and so on.


    ¡°If I could only time travel. *sigh*¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Wait, I can!¡± I eximed in my head.


    I checked my watch and it is now 9:29 PM.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Wait for it¡­¡±


    I checked it again and it was now 9:30 PM.


    ¡°I just traveled one minute¡­ tada~¡± I thought to myself as I smirked.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k, I¡¯m getting too distracted with my thoughts. Focus you little shit! Focus!¡± I scolded myself.


    ¡°Could I just be overthinking it and this would be a simple one or do I need to dig deeper? It¡¯s hard Discerning the Transmunda- nope. The code, the code.¡± I thought to myself while checking it again from another angle.


    After a few more minutes of grinding, I think I finally got it. All that¡¯s left is thest step. Thest text reads as:


    IORSATIORPONIORNUMIOR


    IORPHIIORLIPIORPINEIOR


    IORBTIOR <center></center><hr>


    IORMGJIOR


    IORNWDIOR


    ¡°What could this mean now? There¡¯s a few more like this now and I think this could be a start.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was about to get on it again but then the door to my back opened. Kaley is drenched in sweat. I was about to hand her a towel to dry her off though she caught it and immediately went for the shower. I could hear the otherdies going down and they waved at me when our eyes met. Olivia and Rin is doing fine with Alex and the rest but I then saw Chris carrying Charlotte on his back slowly descending the stairs.


    ¡°Do you need help?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, hi Sky. Nah, I¡¯m fine. She¡¯s actually really light.¡± he replied.


    ¡°What happened?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Can¡¯t move~ too tired~¡± Charlotte replied as her head pops up.


    ¡°You finished it though. You have the stamina for it since we¡¯re always jogging in the morning.¡± Chris replied.


    ¡°Hmm~ You¡¯re right, you¡¯re right. Let¡¯s go¡­ I need a shower. I¡¯m too sweaty¡­¡± Charlotte can¡¯t even hold Chris tight enough and she almost falls but Chris managed to stabilize it.


    ¡°Careful now. We¡¯re at the stairs. Don¡¯t fall here.¡± Chris reminded her.


    They slowly went down and I believe Tatiana and Rin hasn¡¯te down yet.


    ¡°They could still be training upstairs. I wonder what she¡¯s teaching her.¡± I was curious so I went up.


    Bad idea.


    I nonchntly opened the door and I saw a clump of clothes in a corner. I dismissed it as that they changed clothes since it¡¯s full of sweat and ced it in a small corner to be picked upter. I can¡¯t hear shit since the music ying is loud and my ears are almost ringing from the bass.


    Then I looked at the side. <hr>


    Tatiana is seated on the side wall, legs spread wide while both of her hands are on top of a head that¡¯s in herher regions moving in a simple pattern. Her eyes are closed while the other petite figure that¡¯s enjoying her lower body is bent on all fours while I could see everything of her from this angle. Rin¡¯s left hand is in Tatiana¡¯s thigh while the other is inside herself while a clear substance is falling on the side of her legs.


    ¡°This is really bad if they saw me here.¡± I thought to myself as I retreated.


    I immediately moonwalked towards the door while I gently closed it and hoped that they didn¡¯t see me. I walked down the stairs and almost immediately, the door from the bathroom opened then I flinched.


    ¡°Sky? What are you doing outside?¡± Kaley asked while she has new clothes on and a towel is on top of her head.


    I signaled her to be quiet as a mouse and the two of us went inside the room as I locked it.


    ¡°What is it?¡± she asked curiously.


    ¡°Promise me you won¡¯t get mad.¡± I said.


    ¡°Huh? Why? Is it something to be mad about?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Well, I really did nothing and it was an ident.¡± I replied.


    Her eyebrows shot up and her head tilted.


    ¡°I promise I won¡¯t get mad. Tell me.¡± she said as she removed the towel and started on drying her hair with it.


    ¡°Rin and Tatiana¡­¡± I said then I pointed both of my fingers towards the 3rd floor.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ and?¡± she said.


    I then formed my hands into pincers.


    ¡°Why are you doing hand signs? We¡¯re alone here!¡± she got annoyed.


    I then slowly brought my hands together and they met on the webbing of my fingers. <hr>


    ¡°What? Are you¡­ no¡­ no¡­ what?! In there?!¡± her expression changed a few times.


    ¡°It was an ident! I just saw them there!¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh really~? You did nothing else~¡± she raised her eyebrow.


    ¡°Well I did this¡­¡± I showed her the moonwalk I did to prove it and added the obligational ¡®Hee! Hee!¡¯.


    She then shook her head helplessly andughed out loud.


    ¡°Peeping tom.¡± she said afterughing hysterically..


    ¡°What?! I¡¯m not peeping at them! It was an ident I tell you!¡± I eximed.


    Her left eyebrow raised and then she suddenly pulled on the shirt that she¡¯s wearing to reveal her bountiful b.r.e.a.s.ts and she pushed from below for it to almost pop out from the slight pressure beneath. As a man, it is a crime to not follow it with my eyes and ingrain it in my mind for years toe.


    ¡°It¡¯s all for academic purposes.¡± I thought to myself.


    What I didn¡¯t notice is that she¡¯s looking straight in my eyes the whole time. When she let go of her b.r.e.a.s.ts, my eyes went back to her eyes and she¡¯s shaking her head.


    ¡°See? Peeping tom. You really like these two¡­¡± she said while grinning and shaking her head.


    ¡°Well I¡¯m not gonna lie, If I could bury my face in them all day I would. I¡¯ll just go back to solving what Roi left me while you sleep first. I¡¯ll just open a smallmp here so I don¡¯t disturb you.¡± I said as I went to the table where the stack of papers are.


    ¡°Oh~ Really~?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Really.¡± I replied as I poked her forehead and turned around.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see who can control themselves that most.¡± I thought to myself.


    I grabbed the pieces of paper and started on cing them with a light underneath to see some sort of pattern. I kept hearing shuffling sounds behind me but I didn¡¯t mind it. The recurring pattern now is ¡®IOR¡¯ and it obviously meant his name. Looking at it again when you make a space for each ¡®IOR¡¯, it says: <hr>


    IOR SAT IOR PON IOR NUM IOR


    IOR PHI IOR LIP IOR PINE IOR


    IOR BT IOR


    IOR MGJ IOR


    IOR NWD IOR


    ¡°This is starting to make a bit of a sense now. The first and second line definitely trantes as: ¡®Satellite Phone Number¡¯ and ¡®Philippine¡¯, now what does ¡®BT¡¯, ¡®MGJ¡¯, and ¡®NWD¡¯ stand for now?¡± I thought to myself as I ponder.


    I crunched my eyebrows as I kept on staring at thest three words if it would make any sense or if I need to start over again on those parts. Since the first two lines is the most promising of the two.


    ¡°Oh! I don¡¯t need to overthink it. The letter ¡®B¡¯ could mean ¡®2¡¯ and ¡®T¡¯ can be ¡¯20¡¯ since those are the numbers it would represent in the alphabet. Wait, no. ¡®M¡¯ is already ¡¯13¡¯ and ¡®G¡¯ is ¡®7¡¯ and if you even add ¡®J¡¯ as ¡¯10¡¯ it wouldn¡¯t make sense since the numbers for the Sat Phones here is always at XXXX XXX XXX XXXX and ¡®13710¡¯ would be excessive. It could be a different way to look at them though.¡± I thought to myself.


    I kept hearing shuffling sounds behind me and I looked back and Kaley is looking through the cab and she might be changing clothes for sleeping. I looked back at my work again and continued on.


    ¡°Philippine¡­ wait. This could be also tranted as ¡®0063¡¯ the number for contacting numbers in this country. So ¡®0063 220¡¯ and the rest is mumbo jumbo like a certain spoon on yt. Why can¡¯t he just leave a message in a new device so I could just check it easily and not on this old device¡­¡± I then trailed and had an epiphany.


    ¡°Old device¡­ this motherf.u.c.ker, of course!¡± I tapped my forehead when I realized that it was so easy.


    ¡°Old devices of course. Always the paranoid type eh Roi?¡± I thought to myself then I looked at the keyboard in myptop, andstly on my phone.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see the old keyboard settings.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was a few taps close to the settings and I felt something soft pressing against my back.


    ¡°Hey~ Turn around.¡± I heard from behind.

 Chapter 158

    Chapter 158: 158


    I dropped everything that I was holding either on the table or on the floor. I¡¯m slowly turning to a rock¡­ well, a part of me is. <center></center><hr>


    She¡¯s changed her clothes now and I can¡¯t take my eyes off of her.


    She¡¯s now wearing a purple and white-cream jacket which is open and a mesh-like shirt underneath which I could almost see through. The head guard I gave her is on her neck tied loosely and she¡¯s wearing blue jogger pants with a white bandage on her right leg with a small pouch. Blue sandals on her feet and she¡¯s even wearing white contact lenses and her hands are open and she¡¯s sporting a fighting stance. The only difference from the real thing is the hair since she tied it back.


    ¡°Holy mother of god¡­¡± I muttered.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± she asked while smirking.


    I seemed to have forgotten what I¡¯ve been decoding and I lunged at her but she wasn¡¯t gonna make it so easy. I was inching towards her but she tried to deflect my hands with her open palm. My hand wrapped towards her wrist and it countered her push to the side. Very different from boxing, my hands are now moving in circr motions and with open palms. She got fl.u.s.tered since she can¡¯t seem to have control of the flow until she slowly stepped back and her knees hit the bed and she fell down.


    ¡°That was fast.¡± she said.


    ¡°You really don¡¯t know what you have gotten yourself into. I warned you before.¡± I said while I¡¯m on top of her.


    ¡°Hmm~ Let¡¯s see then¡­ kya~¡± she tried to change her voice which fueled me even more.


    I was shaking my head but I was smiling brightly. She¡¯s looking at me while she¡¯s biting her lower lip so I immediately gave her a deep kiss. Her body reacted and she ced her hands over her head. My chest is also pressed against her while we kissed passionately. I could feel her chest moving up and down trying to catch her breath. Her hands wrapped around my back and she¡¯s pushing me towards her body more.


    Our lips parted and I looked at her blushing face and her eyes looking at me intensely. My kisses moved towards her neck while she slowly reached for the zipper on the jacket that she¡¯s wearing. The loose jacket can¡¯t reveal her perfect curvatures but when she removed it, the mesh shirt that she¡¯s wearing underneath without a bra made up for it. The tension of it against her body and highlighted everything from her small waist up to her bountiful chest. The two mounds can¡¯t fall to the side slightly and they are almost tethered because of the tight shirt holding the both of them in ce. <center></center><hr>


    I¡¯m tempted to rip them off but I didn¡¯t. I ced my hands on top of them as I kneaded them all around. The tips in the middle are starting to protrude from what she¡¯s feeling but then she held my head and pushed it on the middle of the two. I¡¯m lightly biting one of the tips above her shirt while I¡¯m still caressing the other one while her hands went back over her head and I could see her smooth underarms. The shirt she¡¯s wearing is slowly gathering to her chest as I continued to knead it with pressure. A little bit of her stomach is showing up to her navel so I lowered my kisses gradually.


    Her feet are trying to reach for my hard member but I pulled her legs up as I removed the pants from her left leg that she¡¯s wearing leaving the pants being worn only by her right leg. What¡¯s left is a very thin cotton underwear that is already moistening in the middle that highlights the slit in the middle. She¡¯s almost half-n.a.k.e.d though most of the clothes that she¡¯s wearing are still on her person. She¡¯s looking at me in anticipation and I didn¡¯t disappoint. I just pushed thest article of clothing aside by my thumb as I devoured what¡¯s in front of me.


    As soon as my tongue made contact with her, her body arched and the juices started on flowing. Her m.o.a.ns are all I hear and her hands started to pull on my hair and her legs started to mp on my head. The mp is much tighter now since her legs have much more muscles and I¡¯m starting to get lightheaded but the meal is simply intoxicating I bore through it while she twitches from time to time. I suddenly felt her hands reaching the small nub just above her opening that I¡¯m ying with so I moved to the other opening below as her h.i.p.s kept on rubbing it harder on my face.


    ¡°S-Sora-kun¡­ hnn~¡± she m.o.a.ned and even tranted my name out loud properly.


    I didn¡¯t even get unclothed properly I just let loose what¡¯s needed. After she came several times from gorging on that delectable piece, I rammed it in and moved inside even if her face is turning into aplete mess for each thrust I make. I was giving her a deep kiss to muffle her m.o.a.ns while my lower body is perpetually moving. Her hands are wrapped around my back and we¡¯re inseparable. Time passed and the two of us are now in a different position but she¡¯s twitching all over while I¡¯m still inside her. She fell on top of me while we tried to catch our breaths.


    She kissed me on the cheek and whispered ¡®I love you¡¯ and I did the same as I looked at her.


    ¡°You¡¯re pretty wild today. *pant* *pant*¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Well you did it, I told you before that you won¡¯t know what you¡¯ll be getting yourself into when you did that. You don¡¯t know how much people would kill to have an experience like that.¡± I replied.


    She chuckled and said, ¡°Well wish granted~ and you¡¯re wee. We could do this every time you request it.¡±


    ¡°Really?!¡± I eximed and almost cried tears of joy.


    ¡°Well, not always. I have a few things I¡¯d like you to do as well for me.¡± she replied. <hr>


    ¡°Like what?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when I want to.¡± she replied as we both took a shower.


    We made a few more rounds while inside though in there, we¡¯re totally n.a.k.e.d.


    We then went back and she took a nce at the stack of papers that I¡¯m working on and one of them has a huge circle on it.


    ¡°You finally cracked it?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah. The first message is his Satellite Phone number. It¡¯s 0063 228 645 6693 if I¡¯m right. Thest letters here should be pressed by the old keypad while the repeating ¡®IOR¡¯ acts only as spaces to hide the other letters. There¡¯s a few more here but I think just calling him will do the trick.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re gonna call him now?¡± Kaley asked.


    I looked at my watch and it¡¯s almost 1:00 AM.


    ¡°Shit, we really took a lot of time. I didn¡¯t even notice time passing¡­ maybe tomorrow. That guy really likes to keep his sleep schedule. He¡¯ll always shut the phone down when he¡¯s sleeping.¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s what happens when you¡¯re enjoying your time. What do you mean his sleep schedule? Even at this time?¡± she asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah. Try calling him then.¡± I replied.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay, I¡¯ll believe you. Besides, I¡¯m spent up.¡± she said as we went under the covers.


    Day 13


    I woke up and immediately picked up my Sat Phone to contact Roi since I believe he is awake at this hour.


    I¡¯m patiently waiting for him to pick it up and then the phone lit up as a sign of someone picking it up.


    ¡°Password.¡± the familiar voice said.


    ¡°What? Ro- *click*¡± I was about to call out to him then the line disconnected.


    ¡°This f.u.c.k.i.n.g motherf.u.c.ker hung up on me.¡± I cursed inwardly. I tried calling the line again but I was met with the same phrase. I tried guessing it but on the third try, the response changed.


    ¡°Three tries are already used up. Please call after 24 hours. *click*¡±


    I looked at the stack of papers again and I thought I¡¯ll do it at another time, maybeter. Add to that the effort I put to contact him and being hung up on.


    ¡°Well he¡¯s safe to the point he¡¯s joking around but I¡¯ll definitely sink one of my knuckles in his head when me meet.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    I woke Kaley up with a kiss and we headed down to eat breakfast. We¡¯re having a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and rice with a side of vegetables and a cup of coffee or hot chocte.


    ¡°Wanna start Project Fishing kid?¡± Oscar asked while we¡¯re eating.


    ¡°Yeah. We could go there now while Tatiana starts a few runs outside for more supplies. Come with me.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure kid. Just us two?¡± he asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll bring a few more people of course. Wait, since we don¡¯t know who is still there or not, I think we should get everything we could now from that ce.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? Why?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Well, as you said yesterday, the ce is willingly giving people away. We could save up on the resources that I thought at first they would exchange for the people we needed. That could also mean we could get a few more important ones if we trade items that they needed. We have a few here that are luxury items that we don¡¯t really need or have a lot of.¡± I answered.


    ¡°Like what? Don¡¯t tell me we¡¯ll be trading some of our guns, food, and medicine?¡± he asked again.


    ¡°No, those are legendary equipment, we only trade those if we really needed the item for trade. What I¡¯m talking about is liquor, weed, cigarettes, and what they don¡¯t have currently, entertainment, which we have a plethora of. Let¡¯s finish up, the early bird gets the worm.¡± I said as I drank the remaining chocte coffee in my cup.


    Marisha walked up to me and said, ¡°Can Ie as well? I could help with filtering out people. Well, to a certain degree.¡±

 Chapter 159

    Chapter 159: 159


    Matthew heard his wife volunteering and he immediately cut in to our conversation. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Wait! You don¡¯t know how to use guns, it¡¯s dangerous out there!¡± Matthew said as he walks up to us.


    ¡°Thene with us and stay close. Better yet, teach me how to use one now since I¡¯ve been wrong in not learning it. We need to find decent people inside there that could help us here. I don¡¯t want to see people dying again. The bonds that they have here after a few days is tight and I¡¯ve talked to each one of them yesterday. They almost all have the same sentiments and me doing this helps us a lot.¡± she exined.


    ¡°Can¡¯t the kid just record them and you analyze it here?¡± Matthew replied.


    ¡°Hmm, I used to do that before but up close and personal would be much better.¡± she said while Matthew gives a disgruntled expression.


    ¡°What are you so worried about? We got your daughter and this young man with us. He¡¯s better at you with shooting guns.¡± she added.


    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m good with guns too! At least include me¡­ I¡¯m just less better¡­¡± he retorted.


    ¡°Of course, you are.¡± she gives a helpless smile while she looks at us.


    ¡°Okay, here¡¯s the n for this morning. Project Fishing will be conducted by me, Kaley, Oscar, Matthew, Marisha, Earnest and Shayne. I need you three toe with us to act as our filters. Carol can start on doing the rounds of checkups inside thepound. Tatiana and Jared will bring a few people a bit forwards near the high-end school we went to before to check for supplies but check the school as well, they¡¯re sure to have a lot of medical supplies in their clinics and food on their canteens. If you could grab a few books and other teaching materials, that would be great, if the ce is not looted yet.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey, we¡¯re almost nearing the elementary school from thinning out their numbers and we¡¯re also creeping in to the other entrance towards here from the 1st road. I was thinking that we slowly make a few rounds inside the other houses as well since we¡¯ve been only killing them. There¡¯s a few houses that appears to have been abandoned and we¡¯ll give those ces a shot for a few more supplies to take here.¡± Jay said.


    ¡°Sure, you already know what to do.¡± I replied.


    I first gave the three people that would being with us protective gear and guns for the look. I remember that I still have Matthew¡¯s sidearm with me from before in exchange for the cigars as a joke but I forgot to give it back. I was looking in my armory and I handed him a Chiappa Rhino Revolver 60DS Chambered in .357 which is painted ck.


    He was quite surprised from it but he still took it nheless. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°This looks kinda different.¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, notice that the barrel is located lower than the normal one. It could help with the recoil. Instead of it mostly going upwards when you shoot it, it would instead go backwards more. That could help with faster aiming. I didn¡¯t add anything to it since it¡¯s good as it is and the sights in there is enough.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm, thanks.¡± he replied.


    ¡°No problem, I guess you¡¯re too old to handle the Anaconda so I¡¯ve given you a more forgiving one.¡± I cheekily smiled.


    He was about to retort as his eyes almost turned bloodshot but his wife stared him down.


    I gave thedies a couple of sidearms while I gave Earnest a Steyr Aug though I changed the barrel for a shorter one.


    ¡°Dude! This looks sick! It¡¯s a 4-4, right?¡± he eximed.


    ¡°A what?¡± Matthew was confused.


    ¡°A 4-4.¡± Earnest replied.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not.¡± Matthew replied.


    ¡°It is, it¡¯s called a 4-4. To be precise a B 4-4.¡± Earnest replied.


    ¡°B 4¡­4?¡± I thought to myself and then I had a realization. <hr>


    ¡°Earnest, *chuckle* it really is called a Steyr Aug. The B 4-4 that you¡¯re talking about is from when we¡¯re ying Anti-Strike years ago!¡± I eximed whileughing.


    ¡°Wait! Didn¡¯t we always press B then 4, and then 4 again when buying it?¡± he asked.


    ¡°What is what?¡± Matthew grew more confused.


    ¡°It¡¯s a game dad.¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Your pop culture references; all I remember the Steyr Aug is from that Christmas movie.¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°Hold on now, now I¡¯m the one confused. What Christmas movie actually has a gun in it?¡± Earnest asked.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°How old are you kids? Never watched Perish Hard 1? That¡¯s a Christmas movie!¡± Oscar was annoyed.


    ¡°It actually is. He¡¯s actually right.¡± I thought to myself.


    They¡¯ve been going back and forth while Kaley and I was wearing helpless smiles.


    ¡°Hey, enough chit-chat. Let¡¯s go now. Just stay close to us and you¡¯ll be safe. Avoid talking about our ce and the details of it and if you can¡¯t, reply with a vague answer or change the subject, okay?¡± I told them.


    We even brought a few luxury items and I loaded my phone with a few films which would definitely entertain a group of soldiers stuck in camp babysitting people. Marisha, Earnest and Shayne looked the part now but Earnest is still sticking out like a sore thumb because he¡¯s really that small more so his wife. <hr>


    A few minutes passed and they have changed and we took the Tatiana¡¯s HUMVEE while Oscar drove the truck. We drove to the road near the 2nd entrance of the DDR Camp where the highschool was located and what greeted us is their receiving area guarded by two military jeeps with .50 caliber Machineguns on top.


    The soldiers noticed me and Oscar and they made a small salute and we approached them.


    ¡°Is there anything we can do for you sir?¡± They asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna take a few people of your hands today. Call your CO.¡± Oscar said.


    The soldier grabs his radio and a few minutester another soldier came up and the soldiers guarding stood in attention. He made a proper salute towards us and it¡¯s the same guy whom I met when I came from the supermarket.


    I gave him a list of names and he stared at it for a while. He made a few nces towards me but I kept a serious look throughout. The rest also went out to check the ce while we talk to the people that are being brought out one by one past their receiving area.


    Oscar take a quick nce at them and some of them weren¡¯t in the list of medical personnel that we¡¯ve looked at earlier.


    ¡°Kid¡­ I think we¡¯re taking the wrong people.¡± he trailed.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s correct. I picked them as well. Some of them I know personally so it would be easier to integrate them on our ce. I was surprised they were on the list. I think their boss left them here or something happened where they¡¯re supposed to be staying in.¡± I said.


    ¡°Where were they supposed to be then?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Past the Pulo area, a few miles past the constructionpany where we went to get the dump truck.¡± I replied.


    A few of them were surprised to see me standing next to the soldiers. I¡¯m hearing soft murmurs while their hands are covering their mouths, afraid that I might read their lips or it¡¯s just me overthinking it. They numbered a few dozen and I scanned each one that are ¡®possible¡¯ candidates to be taken in mypound. Meanwhile a few inside I saw peeking through some of the gaps wondering what is happening. <hr>


    ¡°Bon, JP, Robin, Renante, and Jomari. Come here.¡± I said to the five muscr people on a corner that looked likeborers wearing simple clothing.


    The five were surprised but happy nheless at seeing me.


    ¡°What¡¯s up guys, where¡¯s Rodney, your boss?¡± I asked.


    ¡°That Mr. Potater looking, bald asshole? F.u.c.k that guy! When the broadcast aired, he told us to haul everything from his shops and when we finished, he pointed a gun at us and drove us away! We have nowhere else to go to so we went here. A few more of the guys from the public market there are missing and we can¡¯t seem to find them.¡± Bon said.


    ¡°Your boss did? Anyway, how¡¯s the sound of moving to my ce sound like? I could use a few more strong hands. Almost all of my workers are in there though Nathan and Ariel went our separate ways to go to their families.¡± I asked the five of them.


    ¡°What?! Mark and Dong are there?¡± JP said.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Really?!¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k it! Let¡¯s go after I get my bag.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll go!¡±


    ¡°Me too!¡±


    The five agreed happily and they immediately went back to their quarters to get their belongings. The others who were listening in on us had excited faces and they gave me looks of wanting to be taken as well.

 Chapter 160

    Chapter 160: 160


    ¡°A few at a time, a few at a time. A few of them could help with anything on the inside of thepound or outside since I¡¯m sure they have gone outside for their own supplies. We¡¯d need more people to take care of the upkeep of the ce we¡¯re upying if we need to get morend.¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Wait, kid. Is that talk enough? I know you know them from your shop from there but I think we should interview them as well. They¡¯ve gone outside and not to sound too paranoid; we don¡¯t know what they¡¯ve done to still survive at this time.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I can see it in their eyes that they haven¡¯t done anything yet.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I agree with your observation. Are you sure you¡¯re just a simple businessman? I think you have the sense for what I do.¡± Marisha chimed.


    ¡°Now I don¡¯t understand what the two of you are talking about. Is it the psychic thingy you always do?¡± Matthew chimed as well.


    ¡°Heh. Real eyes realize real lies.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m not good as her though.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Are you going philosophical on me now? Did you invent that?¡± he asked.


    ¡°C¡¯mon now, every idea must¡¯ve been thought by someone else already without us knowing, though we can¡¯t be sure to know who had the idea first. Got that line from Tupac though.¡± I replied.


    I first took a nce at the soldiers and they seem to not care for me taking a few strong people for my camp. The guy inmand is still sifting through the list while some of his soldiers would go inside to call for them but some would be reported to have left the camp or have perished. I¡¯m counting the number of soldiers at this ce and there seems to be more herepared to the one that we went to before.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see the next batch of people.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Next, Josh and Patrick. Come here as well.¡± I told to the couple where one has long hair and one short though there¡¯s a few highlights here and there. Let¡¯s just say that in this country, they wouldn¡¯t be what you call ¡®conventional¡¯.


    ¡°Hey Josh, remember me?¡± I asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh~! You¡¯re the son of Mrs. A-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°Please just say Mrs. Ishiyama¡¯s son or Sky. Please don¡¯t say their names.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley was silent but she nced at me.


    ¡°Oh¡­ right¡­ I¡¯m sorry. Are you taking the two of us as well?¡± he asked with a soft voice.


    ¡°Yeah. I got something going on at my ce and your talents could definitely be used there.¡± I replied while I scratch my head.


    ¡°Oh! Need a haircut or something huh? I can notice a few strands ovepping on your ear. Of course, sweetie~ I could do anything for you and your people there. It¡¯s a little hard here to be honest since we need to get our own food. We¡¯re barely making it with the two of us and I¡¯d rather work for someone again so we two don¡¯t go out. A few groups here are starting to not take us with them.¡± he smiled while his partner did as well. They went back to their quarters to get their belongings.


    ¡°Next, Christian, Margie, Angel and Alona.¡± I said to a family that is patiently looking at me waiting to be called. They¡¯re looking a bit famished and Christian; their dad is looking much worse.


    ¡°He must be the only one going out for them.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Sky!¡± Angel happily called. She walked up to me and hugged me tight.


    ¡°Sky, know her from somewhere?¡± I heard Kaley from behind.


    ¡°She¡¯s Angel, an old friend when I was still in elementary. She¡¯s an English teacher while Alona over there is still in highschool.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, I see.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Always territorial.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    I ruffled Angel¡¯s hair and looked at Christian.


    ¡°How¡¯s the day going Mr. Christian? You¡¯re looking a bit thinner, you guys okay?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s harder than usual but we¡¯ll always pull through.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Sky, who¡¯s she?¡± Angel said while she let go of me.


    ¡°She¡¯s my wife, Kaley.¡± I said with a straight face while Kaley blushes and Matthew almost rushed me. Oscar wasughing heartily while Marisha tried to calm her husband.


    ¡°Oh¡­ is that so¡­¡± Angel replied weakly.


    ¡°Better luck next time sis!¡± Alona said from the back.


    ¡°Is that really you? It¡¯s been a while since Ist saw you.¡± Christian replied.


    ¡°ughs* Well, I learned how to fix the truck with my uncle so I rarely made a call. I believe thest time you saw me was when I was still in 1st year of highschool. That¡¯s a few years back. Anyway, want toe with me? I could use your help there though there¡¯s no pay.¡± I joked.


    ¡°You¡¯re really taking my family? ughs* Been really close with your dad, we¡¯d always give and take. I never asked a penny from him but he always leave me something that is above what I charge my customers.¡± he replied as he scratched his head.


    ¡°Of course, we need people there with your skills as well. Not to mention Mrs. Margie was the one who fixed my teeth before.¡± I replied as his eyes lit up and Margie came close to me.


    ¡°Oh, look at you! You still remember that?¡± Margie came up to me but she¡¯s looking up with a bright smile from her perfect teeth. <hr>


    ¡°Of course. Pack up while we interview a few people here that we don¡¯t have any idea who are yet. Don¡¯t take too long though.¡± I said as they separated with us.


    ¡°Got a fewborers, salon workers, mechanic, dentist and a teacher for skills. Whates next will be the hard part. Medical personnel and soldiers.¡± I thought to myself.


    A few which are surmise are medical staff are wearing white robes are nervously looking at me while a few younger people with built bodies and short-trimmed hair are standing in attention in one corner. Their uniforms are not all the same though. A few are from the army, navy and the air force. There were a dozen soldiers standing in attention and seven medical staff that they are willing to hand to us.


    ¡°Oscar, take all of the soldiers here but we need to interview the doctors after.¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯re taking them all?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Yeah, Project TFH.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh~ I like where this is going~¡± he said.


    ¡°What¡¯s Project TFH?¡± Matthew asked.


    Both of us nodded while making a devilish smile. The soldiers watching us shuddered from looking at our reactions.


    ¡°You guys are pretty lucky but you guys are damned to hell at the same time. Anyway, if you survive it, you¡¯d be among the elites.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°W-wait. If my guess is correct, you¡¯d be taking us away?¡± one guy that seemed to be the one speaking for their group said.


    ¡°Yeah. Your CO here gave you to us, it¡¯s either that or you¡¯d be continuing what you guys are doing here until¡­ you know¡­ until this whole thing is over or you breathe yourst. You¡¯re not really part of their group even if you¡¯ve been trained.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was silent. <hr>


    ¡°Well, who the hell are you?¡± One of the soldiers there standing tall with bags under his eyes said.


    ¡°He¡¯s the guy, you idiot!¡± said one female soldier standing atplete attention.


    ¡°He¡¯s that guy?¡± the other soldier with a bald head asked.


    ¡°You guys are hopeless. That¡¯s why you¡¯re all stuck at your ranks.¡± Another female soldier wearingmon clothes said.


    ¡°Ranks doesn¡¯t matter now! You¡¯re just one rank ahead from us but your one of the ck sheep like us.¡± The bald guy snapped back.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care if he¡¯s that guy. I think I could take him.¡± The tall guy replied.


    ¡°Try to beat me first before you spout nonsense.¡± Another guy with a muscr body said.


    They all are now starting to bicker while I¡¯m still in front of them. Oscar¡¯s brow is twitching as if it¡¯s saying: ¡®Why the f.u.c.k did you choose these f.u.c.ks?!¡¯


    I kept on watching their actions while I noticed that Marisha and Kaley are doing the same.


    ¡°They seem close but there is a clear divide and the person that speaks for them isn¡¯t that great in exerting his authority over them. I could be wrong though; the big guy is definitely the strongest one out of them but strength isn¡¯t everything in a fight. The guy speaking to them is always keeping an arm¡¯s length distance from everyone and seem to hate skin contact. The tall guy seem confident but he¡¯s scared of the big guy. The female who spoke earlier with the short hair seems to be the 2nd inmand in their group even if they¡¯re all from different divisions. The others seemed to be normal trainees but we never know until we spend more time with them. I¡¯ll let Oscar handle them back home or even Tatiana. They¡¯ll get whipped up in shape soon enough.¡± I thought to myself.


    I broke their bickering with a loud p and said, ¡°If this was bootcamp you¡¯ll be doing push-ups until I said stop. Better shut the f.u.c.k up and listen to me. Give me your names.¡±


    The other guys stood attention but the tall guy has a hidden sneer pped across his face.

 Chapter 161

    Chapter 161: 161


    ¡°I¡¯m Marvin. They are¡­¡± The guy who first spoke said as he introduced them one by one. <center></center><hr>


    The muscr guy is Brian, the tall one is Carlo, the bald one is Martin, the first female who spoke was Ashley and thest female who spoke Marjorie. The rest that are left are Max, Pete, Angelina, Cyrus, Ranier, and Sheryl.


    ¡°Okay, I know the twelve of you are having the worst of times here so just treat me as your savior. I have a ce where I¡¯ll take you to follow what I say. This old man here will train you vigorously for theing days and expect it to be hell. But there¡¯s a catch, if you can beat me now you can stay there and do whatever the f.u.c.k you want. Wanna have a go?¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± Oscar said but he¡¯s smiling.


    ¡°Anything huh? I¡¯ll have a go.¡± The tall guy said as he steps forward.


    ¡°First to yield?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure, superstar.¡± He replied as he took his stance.


    I drew my pistol nonchntly and fired a shot near his feet.


    *bsshew*


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! WHY ARE YOU USING A GUN?!¡± he shouted.


    I fired another shot. It¡¯s much closer than before.


    *bsshew*


    I¡¯m slowly raising the muzzle of my pistol while the few next to him disappeared from his side.


    ¡°I YIELD! I YIELD!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Okay, next one?¡± I said innocently as I picked up the casings.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Rule number whatever, don¡¯t bring your fists to a gun fight.¡± I said innocently again. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I thought we¡¯d be using our hands!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Oh. You should have said so.¡± I replied innocently again.


    ¡°Oscar¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°Nope. There¡¯s no stopping that kid now. See those eyes? They¡¯re gleaming again. It¡¯s like a kid first time visiting an amus.e.m.e.nt park. Let¡¯s just stay still and watch him.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Okay then, just hands.¡± I replied as I took off my gear and handed them to Kaley.


    ¡°Here.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hold back a bit.¡± Kaley said.


    The tall guy names Carlo heard what Kaley said and his expression hardened like Chris when I give him an advantage. His sneer stered across his face before is gone and he¡¯s now giving me a serious one but his breathing is different. His chest now is moving up and down much faster than normal.


    ¡°He¡¯s mad now.¡± I thought to myself.


    He once again clenched his fists though much harder and slowly approached me. I could feel him wanting to lunge but he¡¯s containing his anger somewhat. When I was in his range, he threw a quick jab but I struck it with a straight with power.


    *CRRCK*


    Our fists collided and he winced the sound it produced made the others watching grimace for a bit. I saw him clenching his right fist hard and he threw a straight as he soldiers through the pain from our fists colliding with full force.


    *whoosh*


    It hit air as I moved to his right side. His right arm is still stretched so I threw a right hook in his abdomen as I closed in.


    *thud*


    ¡°Grck!¡± he winced again but he tried to elbow me as he pulls his right arm back. It¡¯s about to hit my temple but I followed its movement and jumped around while I catch his arm performing an armbar in mid-air. <hr>


    We both fell to the ground due to my weight pulling him down as he tries to resist getting his arm stretched fully.


    ¡°Three seconds and I¡¯ll snap it if you don¡¯t yield.¡± I coldly said as I slowly bend it.


    His expression changed from my remark. He first thought I was bluffing but then I started to apply more pressure and I could feel his bones about to give out. I muttered, ¡°Suit yourself and stay here with a broken arm.¡± and he immediately tapped my arm several times.


    ¡°In this day to avoid persecution, I¡¯ll need verbal confirmation.¡± I said nonchntly.


    ¡°F.U.C.K! I YIELD! LET GO OF ME!¡± he shouted as I let go immediately.


    He¡¯s lying in the ground panting while he clutches both of his arms. Oscar approached him and checked him.


    ¡°Is it broken?¡± he asked as Oscar was checking him.


    ¡°Nah, you¡¯re still good. No permanent damage but it will be sore. Pro tip, don¡¯t fight the kid when his eyes are gleaming like that.¡± Oscar said to Carlo.


    He just nodded as he sat upright. The soldiers watching us has started on recording though a few missed the opportunity since the fight was too quick. A few of them has their phones out now while a few of the evacuees here started to crowd the small entrance to see us more clearly.


    ¡°Okay, anyone want to try as well? That barely counts as a spar.¡± I smiled at the rest but I¡¯m looking at the guy that is well-built which is named Brian.


    ¡°Why is this guy part of this squad they¡¯re giving out? They¡¯re actually giving him away?¡± I thought to myself.


    He just walked forward with a serious expression.


    ¡°You¡¯re strong.¡± He said.


    ¡°You look strong as well, strength isn¡¯t everything though. Do you know a few tricks or you¡¯ve just been fighting chumps all this time? I bet you haven¡¯t had a real fight yet.¡± I tried to provoke him but he smirked. The rest of the group is having weird expressions.


    ¡°Now I¡¯m interested.¡± I thought to myself.


    Different from the first guy, he lunged at me with a right hook. I tilted my head backwards but he suddenly pushed his elbow forwards to try to nick my nose. <hr>


    *GRRCK*


    I faced his elbow with my forehead and the look he¡¯s giving me tells me that he¡¯s hurting when he pulled his right arm back.


    ¡°Seen that move a million times with street brawlers. A dirty yer eh? That¡¯s why they¡¯re giving him away, I think. Well, if that is how you want to y, don¡¯t me me when I use it against you. Wait, doing that will make him think dirty tricks trumps everything. I¡¯ll show him something that hurts. People always remember that.¡± I thought to myself.


    He¡¯s looking a bit wary now but I feel that his earlier sneak attack didn¡¯t work, so, he¡¯s looking for another opening. That¡¯s the weakness of sneak attacks though, when the first one fails, it all crumbles if you¡¯re not experienced to follow up.


    ¡°Guard.¡± I said coldly.


    *swish*


    I opened my left hand and tried to impede his vision with it. When his eyes looked at my left hand¡­ right palm to the throat.


    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Grck!¡± he choked.


    *SLAP*


    My left palm continued for a huge painful p on the right side of his face.


    *woosh* *thud*


    Right kick to his left knee.


    His body folded in an angle then I jumped with my left knee that is in a form of a kick.


    ¡°Let me did what Kaley tried.¡± I thought to myself.


    He tried to guard with his right hand but that knee was a feint. It was just a jumping motion for my right kick. My left knee lowered as my left hand flew upward and my right hand flew downward so my right kick could fly to his temple at an angle. The hand motion is just for twisting my body to apply more force. <hr>


    *CRRCK*


    Inded at the same time as he falls to the ground sideways unconscious.


    ¡°Damn.¡± one of the soldiers watching muttered.


    Oscar immediately approached Brian for any signs of injury.


    ¡°Kid, do you want soldiers to be at our camp or vegetables?! Damn, good thing I always bring my stuff.¡± Oscar said as he carried that guy to the side as he tried to check him. After a moment he¡¯s shaking his head in amus.e.m.e.nt as he looks at Brian. Oscar let him sniff something and he finally woke up.


    ¡°What h-happened?¡± he asked.


    ¡°You got knocked the f.u.c.k out is what happened. Good thing you have a thick head, there¡¯s no sign of a concussion. I could use your skull to act as a nutcracker.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I won¡¯t damage our soldiers permanently but we need to check for quality. Two down, ten to go.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Anyone else?¡± I asked the group that are left.


    The guy I was talking to earlier named Marvin walked up but he said, ¡°I¡¯d like to try but only for the purpose of testing you. I would only like to see how much I¡¯d fare to a professional.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s clearly much more different than the rest. In what way though? He¡¯s in the file but there¡¯s something off on the way he moves.¡±


    ¡°Are you really a soldier? You don¡¯t move like one.¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hmm? I am.¡± he was confused.


    ¡°Well this guy I think is their leader or something. Let¡¯s not make it quick this time and figure him out.¡± I said to myself.


    He takes a stance and I¡¯m the one who moved closer.


    ¡°Let¡¯s probe.¡± I thought to myself as I inched closer and closer.

 Chapter 162

    Chapter 162: 162


    I threw a simple and quick jab and he tried to counter with his own. I dodged at the right moment while I nicked his ear. I dashed in and tried to hit a left hook to his side but he jumped right and threw another jab. I was in the middle of a punch but I turned clock-wise to switch it to an elbowing from the back followed by a right kicking straight down with power. <center></center><hr>


    *shwip*


    *woosh*


    He avoided the elbow and he didn¡¯t bother to dodge my kick since he thought it would miss. What he didn¡¯t know that I¡¯m not aiming for his head.


    *crrck*


    My right heel sunk to his left foot. I could see his lip folding for a bit to endure the pain.


    ¡°He¡¯s afraid of getting his head taking damage. But I like this guy, he likes to ¡®see¡¯ as well.¡± I concluded in my head.


    He winced but I followed up with a left kick to his head to check my theory. He avoided it again so when my footnded, I closed in and threw a quick jab and straight towards his head. He bobbed and weaved so I threw a right middle kick after another jab and straight. He kept on backing away and what he didn¡¯t notice that he¡¯s close to the military jeep and have no more room left to back up.


    *thud*


    I connected to his side but he sunk an elbow to my leg after it connected. However, the damage is abysmal since my leg is already going for another wind. I lifted my leg to a hit to his head once more and he jumped sideways to gain more distance. The group is watching silently and he¡¯s watching me intently.


    ¡°It¡¯s annoying since he always jumps back but this cautious nature is what I want. It makes the opponent irritable but it takes more than that to annoy mepletely to give out any openings. If you wanna protect your head, everything below will hurt.¡± I thought to myself.


    He has no intent of initiating so I slowly creeped in. <center></center><hr>


    *PA*


    Low kick to his leg. I would faint with my hands and would immediately kick his legs when he tried to avoid a headshot. I could see him trying to endure the continuous kicks from below since he¡¯s afraid to get hit in the head. He¡¯s slowly familiarizing the timing I was giving him though he would still get hit.


    I could see him wearing down from the continuous kicks now and I threw another one but slower.


    ¡°I think he got the timing I¡¯m giving him now. Then¡­ wait for it¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    He avoided it then he got worried when I stopped halfway.


    ¡°Shit!¡± he eximed.


    He was in the middle of throwing a right straight to me then I caught his fist and threw him on the ground when I ced it over my shoulder as I turned around.


    *THUD*


    ¡°There¡¯s a reason why people practice in the mats. It hurts like hell when you get thrown on solid ground. You can¡¯t even break your fall that easily since you¡¯re being held by your opponent.¡± I thought to myself.


    He quickly yielded before I started on throwing everything after I mounted him after that throw. He had a solemn expression and the group is having the same look as well. I stood up from him and handed him a hand so he could stand up.


    ¡°Anyone want to have a try as well?¡± I said to the 9 that are left. They all shook their heads while they also went back to gather their things. <hr>


    ¡°Now you scared them off. I¡¯ll be the good guy so they¡¯ll follow me more, Hah! Wanna start the interviews?¡± Oscar asked me.


    We sat inside one of the rooms as we four talked to each one separately. They have different medical expertise and Oscar and I was the only one talking while Kaley, Marisha, Earnest and Shayne is just watching them and listening. Oscar is leading the interview while I tried to learn from it as well. He would ask about different things like in how would they react to certain scenarios and he kept on giving them questions if they could find alternatives or any other means if they only have certain resources at hand.


    Marisha would sometimes give me a look if she thinks a person is ovepensating or subtle hints that the person that we¡¯re talking to is fibbing after each one came in. If the person has family or friends inside, we asked the soldiers to bring them as well to double check and other people that knew them to see if they checkout and to learn what they are like. Before we end the interview, Marisha have sets of questions for each person while I have a few of my own. The people I¡¯m with would ask about their medical knowledge while I ask the golden questions.


    ¡°How many walk- zombies have you killed?¡±


    ¡°How many people have you killed?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°AR-15 or AK47?¡±


    ¡°9mm or .45ACP?¡±


    ¡°What is life¡¯s greatest illusion?¡±


    ¡°Ali or Tyson?¡±


    ¡°Yanny or Lauriel?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Is it white-gold or ck-blue?¡±


    ¡°Coffee o tea?¡±


    ¡°What is¡­¡±


    The person receiving my questions would always get caught off-guard while Oscar tried to step on my foot beneath the table everytime I ask them with a straight face. Kaley is in the corner with Earnest trying to hold theirughter while Marisha has a helpless reaction. It took as the better part of the morning but we took two medical staff with their family if they have it.


    The first one is a guy named Francis Manangan a Pediatrician. He¡¯s been on the job for 10 years now and he has a small clinic near Petron. He¡¯s not actually one of the workers in the hospital since all they gave us was people who came to this ce for refuge. He has a wife and a daughter that we will also be taking with us named Julie and Julianne.


    The second one was a female EENT Doctor named Jocelyn Lopez. She also has a small clinic that she inherited from histe dad. She lives alone and decided toe here when everything went down. She¡¯s a bit older than me, probably on Tatiana¡¯s range and she seemed eager to leave the ce which I understood why from what we discovered they are making people do here on their own.


    After an hour of organizing everything, I left the a few medicine bottles of Marijuana, hard liquor, cigarettes, beer and a few movies for the people that I took before them asking for payment for the trainees and the two doctors I collected. It felt weird trading things for people now but I think this is something we would be doing in the future more and more. The people we took rode behind the truck and we make our way back to thepound.


    Each of them got excited to see the ce and I told them to pick a ce that they wanted. The soldiers decided to stay at the apartment next to the covered court, Francis¡¯s family decided to stay at the gated houses next to Derek¡¯s house on the other side while Jocelyn decided to pick a room inside thepound.


    Like a good coincidence, Josh and his partner chose to stay at Quinn¡¯s house before since they said that they like that overall vibe of the ce. Christian and his family decided to stay at the houses near Derek¡¯s family where Anthony¡¯s family is housed as well. The fiveborers also made that ce their home and they all bunked together.


    I never let anyone go to the houses towards to the 3rd road yet since the ce is still under renovation. Add to the fact that the houses starting from ourpound onwards looked much better. Well, aside from my old house and a couple in the 3rd road.


    It was almost lunch when we got back and everyone else at thepound is busy doing their assigned tasks. <hr>


    I saw Lois and An on top of the wall in ourpound munching on a snack. Lois saw me and his eyes lit up.


    ¡°Bro! They came back earlier and found a huge supply of food. Mom fried a few of them and they¡¯re letting us eat the first batch.¡± Lois said.


    I took a piece and they seemed to be oyster mushrooms.


    ¡°Jared must¡¯ve led them near the Pulo Area. There¡¯s a ce there where they farm this thing.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Did they bring the bags of soil too?¡± I asked.


    ¡°What? I believe they didn¡¯t. Charlotte said the same thing and now they went back to check if they missed them.¡± An chimed.


    ¡°They¡¯re called fruiting bags where you grow these things. It is a viable business and very easy to maintain. I just didn¡¯t have the time to work on it to have them here but we could definitely start with them now, I guess. If they found nothing when they went back, it¡¯s very easy to start since we only need to make a culture of this thing and the rest that are needed is readily avable.¡± I said.


    ¡°We need to find more ways to increase our food source since we got another bump in our numbers. Looting outside isn¡¯t enough, we need to have more ways to get our food from.¡± I thought to myself.


    All of a sudden Oscar went outside his house wearing his service uniform with all of his medals. He¡¯s carrying a very old saber and a flintlock pistol. I almost dropped the mushroom in my mouth as I saw his getup.


    ¡°Alright, trainees you¡¯ll be trained by the best person at this camp and it would be me! You¡¯re now part of this ce¡¯s army and after this you¡¯ll be battle hardened soldiers that could tear down a horde by using only an M1 Garand with a bay and Fruitloops as your only food! Follow me!¡± Oscar shouted as he led them further in thepound towards the covered court.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 163

    Chapter 163: 163


    I suddenly got shbacks when I went to basic training as a special case before. They would drill into you everything and would break you into pieces and finally build yourself back up a new person. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Are those guys in the army?¡± An asked.


    ¡°Hmm? *munch* not exactly. They¡¯re a few cadets from the different branches of the military.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But why is Oscar the one training them?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°Are you really asking that? The old man has been in the US Army far longer than you¡¯ve lived. Besides, can¡¯t you see how excited he got?¡± I replied.


    ¡°They all look really young. Will Oscar be the only one training them?¡± Jenny chimed.


    ¡°They really do. Mostly, yes. He¡¯s getting really old and even if he¡¯s really strong, he needs a break every now and then.¡± I replied.


    ¡°His memory is slowly slipping. There were small signs of it. Better to make him stay here as much as possible or on any chance that he goes out, I will be present. We can¡¯t be sure if he¡¯s already turning senile or it is another case. I wonder if I¡¯ll lose my ability to remember everything when I get old?¡± I thought to myself.


    We thought the small show was over and all of a sudden, Johnny came out of his house as well wearing his service uniform too. He has fewer medals than Oscar but his face shows excitement as well. He¡¯s carrying an old Mosin Nagant while he subtly marches towards where Oscar brought the trainees in.


    ¡°Oh boy¡­ those twelve are gonna die.¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Hey, are they receiving special training then? Can I join?¡± Aubrey chimed as well.


    ¡°Hmm? Sort of. What I¡¯ve been doing with you all is building a huge foundation of a building. I¡¯m been letting you get in knowledge from everything that we needed to survive. In their case, it would be mostlybat oriented. You can join them if you want, I see no problem in that.¡± I replied.


    She went down and slowly made her way by catching up to Johnny.


    ¡°She wanted to join the Army bro.¡± Lois chimed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Her? She mentioned that?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yeah. We¡¯ve been talking with each other every time we¡¯re here and she made a mention of it.¡± Jenny said.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s good. Not everyone wants to learn everything or have the capacity to do it. There would be things a person would be good at or bad at.¡± I said.


    I said my goodbyes to them and I approached Raphael in the workshop.


    He¡¯s checking his blueprint and I took a nce on it.


    ¡°That¡¯s why you¡¯re taking so long.¡± I said with a smile.


    ¡°Heh! Like what you see dude?¡± he smirked.


    I can¡¯t understand a few bits of it since it¡¯s beyond what I know but looking at the title: ¡°Ratatat Motherf.u.c.ker ver 1.113¡± with several erasures on the version number means that he made several revisions on his design to make it work.


    What he exined to me is that from the materials on hand, he would first make a frame that is the right size for the sunroof. The frame will carry the whole thing that in no way would impede the user when he uses it. There are several things that it can¡¯t do from what we wanted it to do. It can¡¯t spin all around and it could only do a 0 degree ¨C 270 degree turn at the maximum. It would be elevated properly to avoid the bullets hitting Oscar¡¯s SUV when someone actually fired it. He will attach a tube where the casings would fly out so we could easily collect them after use. So far, as far as a mounted gun does, with the materials on hand, it would still be a force to be reckoned with.


    ¡°Well, we can¡¯t have everything from the materials and tools that we have. This is still good though.¡± I thought to myself.


    Tatiana and Jared finally reached home and they came back with what they have missed from their previous run.


    ¡°Bro, we found several metal barrels like these there and a few are being hanged by a thin rope. Is this where really those mushroomse from? Well, we actually saw a few growing in them. I just can¡¯t believe it could be farmed like this.¡± He said.


    ¡°This thing can be harvested forever, correct?¡± Tatiana asked. <hr>


    ¡°Actually no, these kinds of bags would be used in 4-5 months before we make another batch an we could harvest them every 10-12 days. Very easy to make one too. Now where to put these things¡­¡± I said.


    Charlotte came from outside the gate and she talked with Amanda, Alex¡¯s mother if she could ce the fruiting bags over their house instead. There are several hundred bags avable and it wouldn¡¯t fit in the greenhouse.


    ¡°I asked Arthur to make a small shed for it to be ced on so kindly drive them in my house so I could arrange themter. I used to know someone that introduced me to this but I never had the time.¡± Amanda said.


    Charlotte rode with them to the house where to put it and Chris came up to me with a disgruntled expression.


    ¡°Sky¡­¡± he trailed.


    ¡°Hmm? What¡¯s the problem?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Charlotte is mad at me¡­¡± he trailed again.


    What happened was Chris volunteered to go outside with Tatiana and Jared since Kaley and I was missing from our usual group. Aside from Chris, Kris also came with them and they did a fine job and listened to Tatiana¡¯s orders. The problem he¡¯s facing is that Charlotte got mad at him for going out.


    ¡°What did she say to you then?¡± Kaley heard some gossip and joined us.


    ¡°Absolutely nothing. She treats me like I¡¯m dead! She has never spoken a single word to me ever since we came back the first time¡­¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well she¡¯s just really worried with you. That¡¯s why she¡¯s not talking to you.¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°But I just want to start helping out with everyone! If she¡¯s worried she should¡¯ve told me not mop around all day! It¡¯s crazy!¡± Chris replied.


    ¡°She¡¯s mad, well, you always help her around on everything that she does so maybe she don¡¯t want you to go outside and help her instead. You see Chris¡­¡± Kaley said. <hr>


    Kaley tried to exin her side of the situation but I pulled Chris to the side, ¡°Try this. *whisper* *whisper*¡±


    I whispered a few things to Chris that made him look at me that I¡¯m a crazy person. Kaley was confused as she saw Chris marching outside like a robot.


    ¡°Now what did you tell him?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Heh, a guy thing. We¡¯ll see what happens.¡± I replied.


    Time passes and everyone in thepound gathered to our ce for lunch. The new people introduced themselves while I¡¯m the one who introduced the trainees which are almost looking like they participated in the world war.


    We had the same mushrooms for lunch covered in batter and then fried with a soup on the side eaten with rice.


    While we¡¯re eating, Earl approached me.


    ¡°Hey, I checked the radio station and I¡¯m sure I can run it. I need someone to work with me inside though.¡± he said.


    ¡°Juan could help him, I think¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Really? How did you do it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I uh¡­ I just turned it on¡­¡± he trailed.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else listening.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g knew it!¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°Oh.¡± I replied with lifeless eyes.


    ¡°What do you want me to broadcast then?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ I may need to work on a script to be recorded and yed over and over but I want you to check their own recordings there and remove any indication from where we are broadcasting at the moment. I want to help people in their troubles but if all of them flock here, it will be another problem.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh yeah, are we also gonna take people from the camp on the Meycauayan DDR Camp?¡± Earnest chimed.


    ¡°Not at the moment, no.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I see¡­¡± he trailed.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry dude, like I said, we can¡¯t take everyone. I figured that you may know people that might be there but we¡¯ll pay a visit there if the situation here became stable.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Stable?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Like the time when I started visiting all of you. I made sure that this ce can run on its own before I set out. It was actually easier than I thought since I managed to get most of you here in a single day. Now we wait for everything to settle down first like a snow globe before we make any bolder moves. We always need to y it safe as much as possible since we only have one life.¡± I said as he nodded.


    I looked at everyone and I made a faint smile.


    ¡°It really pays off if you have made preparations beforehand. Things could be much worse if Oscar and I was the only one in thispound.¡± I thought to myself.


    We finished eating and I cracked my knuckles and neck once more.


    I gathered my group and I nned out our route for another run outside.

 Chapter 164

    Chapter 164: 164


    The only thing different with our group now is that Tatiana is not with us and she made another group for going runs outside with a few people that Oscar would sometimes take out. They¡¯re also properly equipped though Jared is with us for now. <center></center><hr>


    I was with Kaley, Jared, Zardon, Dong and Mark while Tatiana is with Lois, Marco, Nicole, Kris and Alex. She would be leading them to start on simple runs that won¡¯t stretch too far out our ce and will be close to Jay¡¯s own group in case of emergencies.


    I decided for us to towards the Pulo area where my group went to a portion of earlier. We¡¯re passing several streets and intersections but Kaley is wondering for why we¡¯re not opening some of them up or entering them.


    ¡°It¡¯s because most of the ces there are residential areas. There¡¯s only a few stalls there where we could get more supplies and I doubt we¡¯ll find something substantial.¡± I exined.


    ¡°So why are we going to this direction then boss?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°This is gonna be more of a scouting run. I¡¯d like to see for myself the situation in other ces. There¡¯s a couple of camps when we went to the Bcan area and I¡¯d like to see if there are more here.¡± I exined.


    We continued on driving forwards but we would make asional stops on shops that are unopened and we would do our usual procedure. We would get a lot of yield for the ces that we¡¯ve broken into to add to our reserves.


    ¡°Boss, can we make a stop to Borris¡¯ house? He¡¯s quite near in the public market in the Pulo area and if he¡¯s not there, I figured he might leave some of his animals in his house.¡± Mark said.


    ¡°Oh yeah, he takes care of pigeons and chickens. I guess he would be willing to part with some ofo them if we trade a few items we collected here.¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯re not taking him with us if he¡¯s there?¡± Dong asked.


    ¡°Seriously?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, right. Nevermind.¡± Dong shook his head. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Wait, what¡¯s up with the Borris guy?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°He¡¯s a pretty chill guy but a huge conspiracy theorist. He¡¯s been always talking about the end of the world and all our food is poisoned and will eventually kill us all. He has a small apartment building at the back of the public market where he takes care of small animals he uses for business. That guy only trusts himself but we made friends with him. If he¡¯s ever alive, he¡¯d rather be in his home than the DDR camps.¡± I exined.


    We continued on driving the truck towards our destination and we made a stop for another Alfa Mart to gather a few more boxes of supplies. The yield is fewer than when we first went out before but it¡¯s only for the food. The other products are still abundant and it filled the truck pretty nicely.


    Jared carefully made his way to the counter and immediately ced his hand under it but he gave a disgruntled expression after.


    ¡°No gun?¡± I asked while smirking,


    ¡°Shut up bro!¡± he grinds his teeth while looking at me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about finding more guns we still have a lot at home.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But it¡¯s an awesome feeling finding one in a scavenging run!¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well, yes. That is actually real. I may have a method in the future that will allow us to have a high percentage of getting guns.¡± I said.


    His eyes lit up, ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s in the future. You¡¯ll know then. We¡¯d need more trained people though in order to pull that off.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°Is that why you get all of those trainees? I was surprised you took some of them. The big guy I think I wouldn¡¯t get along with.¡± he said.


    ¡°Hmm, after Oscar is done with them, I think you¡¯ll get along just fine. Sometimes first impressions are wrong. You don¡¯t know how good a person is until you meet them but that guy is kind of an asshole I guess.¡± I said.


    ¡°Did you just contradict yourself and made my first impression of him right, then?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Well um- just giving an example. He fights dirty but who doesn¡¯t need an extra advatage to win nowadays? There¡¯s no rules in fighting now more importantly.¡± I exined.


    He nodded pensively and we passed a small bridge towards the Pulo area where different shops are located left and right. A huge contrast from what we¡¯re driving in earlier where we keep on passing houses. There¡¯s a salon, barbershop, bakery, bank, retail stores, LPG Store and etc. A few of them are already broken into and we just drove past them.


    ¡°There¡¯s a few we could take in here but we need space for the animals.¡± I thought to myself.


    We made a turn on the small park after this ce¡¯s barangay hall and we¡¯re greeted by tight clumps of the dead walking around aimlessly. I told them that we¡¯d clear them first but when Jared and Kaley were about to climb the roof of the truck, I stopped them.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be the eyes for today. This is a good ce to practice with your weapons more. Don¡¯t worry, I got your backs.¡± I said as they looked at each other.


    They agreed with the notion so I stood up on the roof with the Tavor on hand. The four of them went down while my uncle and I are at the truck. What¡¯s different with them now is that Mark and Dong have the same Riot Shields that my uncle has. They are in front of either Kaley or Jared since they are tasked to hold a few of them in ce while Jared and Kaley would deliver the final blow.


    Mark¡¯s technique was very straightforward. He would attract a few and he would make them lose their bnce by smashing the shield forward. As the zombies fall down, he would work with Jared to stab them in the head with their Fire Axe and Cavalry Sword.


    Dong on the other hand would stay close to a wall then angle the shield diagonally and forwards so he could ce them in a line so that Kaley would almost always face a single one. He would thin a few with his machete but Kaley moves much faster than him so he would just push them to make the rhythm in harmony. <hr>


    *psshew*


    I would immediately kill the ones that are offset from the push or the ones that are not knocked down by their shields to make their encounter with them a tad easier.


    ¡°Hey, we should have a group of people with shields in the future.¡± My uncle said.


    ¡°I agree. Bing is also carrying one when they go out and all the shields are the same size so we could make some sort of Phnx. We¡¯d need longer weapons with reach though to make the shields in a tight formation.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well that is true. I also want a deep hole where we could kick bad people into too.¡± my uncle replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± Him and I.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡± weughed heartily.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Mark shouted.


    The repeated tapping sounds came from a distance and we immediately know what they are. There¡¯s eight in the immediate vicinity and the figures are heading straight for us. We pulled our guns and started on shooting at them though Imanded the people below to get up in the truck first while I make the first shots.


    I killed half of them already before Kaley or Jared even managed to take their shots at the ones approaching us at great speed. They are now down to three but one of them immediately stopped and suddenly turned around after taking a nce at his fallenrades. Thest two got killed by Jared and Kaley though thest one turned into a corner and disappeared from view before I managed to aim a shot properly. I only grazed its shoulder as a small spray of blood gushed out but it continued to run.


    My uncle drove the truck forwards for a chance to see that one again and we actually did. It¡¯s about a few meters still running at incredible speed. My uncle quickly maneuvered the truck in order to chase after it while I watch out for any surprises on some blindspots. <hr>


    It turned its head around us when I thought he heard the truck approaching but it got peppered by bullets on its head. Bits of flesh and brain matter sprayed on the floor as it fall lifeless on the ground and unmoving. I approached it slowly and I sunk the katana once more on its head to be sure.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k is this thing?!¡± the others eximed.


    ¡°That¡¯s a first.¡± I said.


    ¡°First what?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°The first one we witnessed to turn around and save himself.¡± I said.


    ¡°Is it another trait of the irregrs?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°Yeah, a bit more different than the usual irregrs though. That is almost¡­ intelligence.¡± I said.


    The group on the truck are now silently staring at me when I said the words.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that too fast then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°A bit, yes. This is rming. Let¡¯s check out Borris¡¯ house fast and watch out for more of that one. It suddenly got more dangerous to go outside if we¡¯re facing more of those. If you can¡¯t make sure it would hit the head aim for the feet to have a chance of disabling it. We need to take care of those things fast.¡± I said.


    The group nodded and everyone has wary gazes all around.


    ¡°Just when I thought it was getting easier. I hope that one was a rare case. We¡¯d need to increase on clearing them to avoid more of those in the future.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 165

    Chapter 165: 165


    I took onest look at the figure we took care of earlier as we drove off for a few more minutes. We¡¯re hugging a part of the public market at this side and we finally arrived near his house. It¡¯s located in a much smaller fishing areas that are enclosed by cement so the fishes here could be bred indefinitely with proper care. However, one of the two fishing areas here has already a few zombies inside trying to climb back up from the side. The color of the water is very different from the normal one and the smell it produced could make one easily vomit. The vicinity has several houses though there¡¯s no sign of any other people living at this side as far as we know based on sight. <center></center><hr>


    This time, I left Kaley on the truck and brought Mark with me since he¡¯s much closer with Borris.


    We¡¯re walking on the cement enclosure while I would poke some of the heads that are sticking out from the fishing area to clear as much of them as possible. I just held my katana downward and almost used it as a walking stick though the ce I would ce it would be the heads of the zombies below.


    We reached his wooden gate and Mark started to knock.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    ¡°Bor? You there dude?¡± Mark said.


    I tried to check a small opening where I could peek or jump through but I have my own reasons to why I¡¯m not forcing or finessing my way in.


    Just on the other side of the gate I could see a small point of a wooden pole hidden amongst leaves and I fear there are more hidden that we don¡¯t know about.


    ¡°I think he¡¯s not here boss. Could he have gone somewhere else? I know it¡¯s improbable but it¡¯s too quiet here.¡± Mark said.


    ¡°Hmm. Wait, let me try.¡± I said as he give way.


    ¡°The Earth is t!¡± I shouted.


    Mark looked at me weirdly but I ced my finger over my lips with a smile to make him silent. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°The lizard people are not real!¡± I shouted once more.


    ¡°Zuckerberger is a reptile bent to take over the world!¡±


    ¡°Chemo is the only cure for cancer!¡±


    ¡°Aliens do not exist!¡±


    I started on spouting bullshit people believe in the Inte to get a reaction and just as I was about to pile on more¡­ I heard a creak of a wood just to the right of us.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K WHO IS SPEAKING SUCH F.U.C.KI- JESUS F.U.C.K.I.N.G CHRIST YOU TWO ARE STILL ALIVE!!!¡± Borris came from below a small hidden door covered by trash glued together and some leaves and debris to hide it from in sight.


    ¡°Borris! The f.u.c.k are you doing down there?!¡± Mark eximed.


    ¡°Cool contraption eh? Made this a few months ago in case aliens came knocking on my door. What¡¯s up? I¡¯m saying this already, I¡¯m noting with you! Well, how many are you f.u.c.kers now?¡± he said several sentences with almost no spaces between them.


    He¡­ looks pretty normal. To what we¡¯re used to seeing him but he has very long hair and a full beard. He¡¯s covered to the point the all that we¡¯re seeing from him is part of skins from his face. He¡¯s carrying a wooden staff that I think he made himself though the other end of it is pointed. He pulled himself up from the tunnel that I think he also dug himself and he took a short nce from where we came from. He also has a cloak on and a sling bag that is on his back. He looks to be well fed since he¡¯s living alone and I think he hasn¡¯te out that much.


    ¡°We¡¯re doing fine, we¡¯re just visiting. We¡¯re past a hundred people now, we-¡± he cut me off.


    ¡°Hold on a f.u.c.k.i.n.g minute now! Did you kill the ones on the fishing area on the way here?!¡± he eximed. <hr>


    We both nodded and he almost loses it.


    ¡°Why?! Those things are for camouge! It could make it appear that no one is here! Why would you do that?! There¡¯s still a few on the other side but I may need to lure a few of them there again.¡± he said.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s best to kill them and burn them after. They¡¯re mutating Borris, albeit in a small pace, they¡¯re mutating. We killed one earlier that exhibits more intelligence than the usual ones. It tried to¡­¡± I told him the rest of the story.


    His eyes are stuck to me as he listens intently. Before I told him more, he led us inside his ce via the small tunnel that he dug.


    ¡°Good thing you didn¡¯t try to break in there. You¡¯d be a human pincushion if you ever did.¡± he said while he led us inside another door.


    I told him a few stories about outside and he started on writing on a notebook a few things that caught his attention.


    ¡°In short Borris, we just came here to check on you. I know you don¡¯t want to be with people but the ce is still open for you if you wanted to join in the future. However, I¡¯m wondering if you could trade some of your animals here for a few items we got from scavenging?¡± I said.


    ¡°Wonderful! I¡¯ll check it first, where are you guys parked at?¡± his eyes lit up.


    His ce looks really rundown from the outside but it¡¯s quite decent inside. I think he just made it look like that for people to avoiding to his ce to loot stuff. He has a few vegetables growing at his small garden and there is a flock of pigeons and several chickens, quails and ducks at his backyard. He¡¯s been collecting some eggs from them and I¡¯m seeing a few vegetables getting pickled or preserved by methods that would not need electricity to store for future use. He could definitely live his days here though I couldn¡¯t see a gun anywhere. There¡¯s a few cleavers and some wooden spears but I couldn¡¯t see a trace of a box of ammo or aything.


    ¡°I could definitely make use of his skills back home. He¡¯s particrly safe here but he needs a gun.¡± I thought to myself.


    We led him outside and he only picked a few supplies that are organic or just in raw materials. He didn¡¯t pick food items that are processed though he picked a few containers of water. He didn¡¯t even look at the other people we¡¯re with as he rummaged through everything. <hr>


    ¡°Is that all you need Borris? You could take more in exchange for some of your animals. We could always gather a few more outside.¡± I said.


    ¡°Nah! This is fine, this is fine. I could give you four of each animal I have and a few pieces of eggs since I could always gather a few every day. But if you could get your hands on some feed that would be nice. There¡¯s a few shops around here since there are several farms scattered here also.¡± he said as Dong and Mark helped him take it back to his hidden house.


    We were about to say goodbye but I picked up one of Glock 19s in the holster and a radio.


    ¡°Here.¡± I said.


    ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡± he asked.


    ¡°You know it¡¯s a gun, right? I figured you might need one here or if you decided toe to my ce.¡± I said.


    ¡°I ah¡­¡± he seems hesitant.


    He removes his cloak and my eyes lit up as I saw a couple of guns in the bag that he¡¯s always carrying.


    ¡°I¡¯ll trade all of this for that since I don¡¯t want to owe you anything and be obligated. That looks much more menacing and this thing here makes it quiet, right? I fired a couple of shots before and it attracted a lot of them.¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s a suppressor. Where did you get all of these guns?¡± I asked as I saw a .38 Revolver, a Glock 17 and an Armscor GI Standard FS Pistol. All of them are scratched up and the revolver has no ammo left except for the two that has a few loose .45 ACP ammo left inside them.


    ¡°I picked those up from the ones roaming at the fishing area. They tried to break in to my house and I ah¡­ you know the rest.¡± he said as he looks down. <hr>


    The group gave solemn expressions from his statement and he bid his goodbye to us as he went back. He just made a simple head nod to Mark and Dong that are carrying a few cages where the animals that he promised us for trade are there.


    ¡°He crossed that line eh? Hope he doesn¡¯t let it go through so much in his head.¡± I thought to myself.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Stay safe there, yeah?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    *bzzt*


    We drove away to a few more stores and Jared tapped me.


    ¡°Bro, I just received a signal.¡± he said with wide eyes as he turned his phone towards me.

 Chapter 166

    Chapter 166: 166


    Everyone suddenly looked at Jared and I looked at the top of the screen of the phone that he¡¯s holding. The signal for the cellr data is grayed out and has a red ¡®X¡¯ on the bottom but the WiFi signal is indicator is grayed though it has a ¡®?¡¯ mark on the side. <center></center><hr>


    [New WiFi Network Located. Tap to see more.]


    I tapped on the truck to stop in the middle of the road about to reach the bridge which is between a bank and a small elevated road that leads to a small grocery store with several food shops that has their roll-ups closed. However, there are several smears of blood on some of them and a few bodies are killed and piled on the side of the road.


    I looked at the phone again while the others started on clearing a few that are starting to approach our truck.


    Thework that is broadcasting is public and anyone could connect to it though I doubt it would be connected to the Inte since it was already gone before. I checked the name of thework and it was just a generic name for a WiFi router that hasn¡¯t been changed by the owner.


    ¡°Is the Inte still working here?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°No, just someone who left their router unplugged.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, someone alive then?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Not sure. The signal could belong to a house further in or one of the stores here. Most routers could broadcast as far as 300 feet give or take and it seems that we¡¯re on the lower side when we¡¯re receiving the signal. It has connected sessfully but the bars for signal strength is almost nonexistent.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Are we gonna look for it then?¡± Mark chimed.


    ¡°Hmm, it could be anything at this point and we don¡¯t even know if the ce where the router is located has people in it. We¡¯ll head home first but keep an eye out on some ces that m-¡± then Jared interrupted me when I gave back his phone. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Bro, several files have been downloaded in this phone! Look! Wait! The signal is gone!¡± he gave the phone back to me again.


    I started on looking at the files and it was several text files that has normal paragraphs that seems to be from a story of an old folk tale while the other files have a random set of numbers within.


    ¡°Is it Roi?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm, let me call him. I think he¡¯s not the one who did this though.¡± I said as I picked up my Sat Phone.


    He picked it up and Roi said, ¡°Password.¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g cut the that bull!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°Wrong password, two tries remaining.¡± I heard from the other line.


    ¡°F.u.c.k! Listen!¡± I said as I almost threw my phone in annoyance.


    ¡°Wrong password, one try remaining until the 24-hour cooldown.¡± he said again.


    ¡°Your 24-hour cooldown is bullshit! If it¡¯s 24 hours, you shouldn¡¯t be picking up since I called earlier!¡± I shouted.


    *line disconnects* <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± the group looking at me.


    ¡°I f.u.c.k.i.n.g hate unreasonable people. Well, we¡¯re sure now that it¡¯s not him. That is a different person who sent those files to your phone.¡± I said while trying to calm myself down.


    ¡°I should start to figure out the rest of the messages that he sent me.¡± I thought to myself.


    Jared¡¯s eyes lit up and said, ¡°So, the person who sent this is a hacker then? Can he hack this phone again if he wanted to?¡±


    ¡°The hackers from movies are very different from hackers in real life bro. You can¡¯t just tap on your keyboard like there¡¯s no tomorrow and the next thing you know you hacked inside the Pentagon. That¡¯s impossible to do in a single sitting and within a few moments.¡± I said while smirking.


    ¡°Really? Are you a hacker like the group Anonymity then? You used to be a programmer, right?¡± Jared grew curious.


    ¡°Me? I hope I¡¯m like them as well but I just dabble a bit on that upation. I just dive in the deep web every now and then to check for news but I¡¯m not like the ones who does it for a living.¡± I said.


    ¡°Weird ce to check for news¡­¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Heh, me checking that ce saved everyone in here and in thepound. Anyway, back to the person who sent that, it¡¯s probably one.¡± I said.


    ¡°Really?! Then shouldn¡¯t we chase after him then?! We could help each other! You said routers could reach around 300 feet, right? We still got a lot of time.¡± Jared said excitedly. <hr>


    ¡°If he¡¯s a good one, then it¡¯s happily ever after. We still don¡¯t know what those files meant. I doubt we¡¯ll find him, it¡¯s hard to find someone that would only let you find him if he wants to. I¡¯ll add those to the ones that Roi left me and we¡¯ll figure this out first. We don¡¯t just rush into it since it would be too dangerous.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why can¡¯t just people get straight to the point?! They kept on giving me cryptic messages!¡± I thought to myself as we drove back.


    There are still a few spaces left for a few more boxes so we stopped by a few more stalls topletely fill the truck before we headed back. The new ones we took was filled with different kinds of feeds but these would be used for ourpound and not be sent to Borris¡¯ house. I killed a few more on the way home though I would mostly let my group take care of it while I watch them.


    ¡°Hmm, I think we¡¯ll make something like that back home. That would be really great if we ever made one. Well, we should get started on it. The earlier, the better. It could help with Chris¡¯ footwork problem.¡± I thought to myself.


    I handed the animals to Derek and Jeremy while we unloaded the truck for a while. Anthony has started on the gate and it would be a sliding one though much heavier than the fence that we made. He¡¯s now making some sort of metal bar where there is an indent in the middle that would keep the gate in ce when we¡¯re sliding it on the side unlike the fence that we made that could be slid easily by small wheels on the bottom.


    Tatiana and her group on the other hand hase back several times since they have started on sweeping everything else they could on the ces that are much nearer than we went through.


    I approached her and said, ¡°If you go out after unloading those, grab all the barricades that you can from the street. The stic ones, metal ones, and if you can, the concrete ones. I¡¯m gonna make something for the people here.¡±


    ¡°What? For the people? Barricades?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Some sort of obstacle course where they could practice tracing.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Let me show you guys.¡± I replied and I headed to my old house. <hr>


    I ced my foot on the small space on the stairs and I jumped up to the small gate that leads to the stairs that leads to the door. I then ced my hands on the rails as I lifted myself up on the other side but not falling since my feet are ced on the small spaces under the rails. I lifted myself up again as I walked on the rails then cing my hands on the pir on the corner of the house after I jumped on it and finally making my way to the 2nd floor of my house after making myself a foothold on the said pir in a fluid and quick motion.


    I made my way down by climbing down on the other side of the pir towards the huge gate where a few vehicles are and finally jumping down while rolling to break the fall.


    ¡°Like that.¡± I said.


    ¡°I see, burry, correct?¡± Tatiana said with a smirk.


    ¡°Something like that¡­ *shaking my head* yes. We¡¯ll start on a few obstacles first since we won¡¯t always be climbing houses. It could help us by maneuvering on the right ces in case we need to avoid a few of them if we¡¯re in a rush. I noticed that I¡¯m the only one doing it. I¡¯ll be d to teach another ss that is different from the ones we always do. I¡¯ll start on making a few obstacles from the materials on the covered court while you gather a few outside.¡±


    ¡°Why do you call it tracing then? Isn¡¯t parkour themonly used word?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, when I do it, I visualize the ces I¡¯d go to. Where I¡¯ll ce my foot, what I¡¯ll grab with my hand and many more. In a sense, I¡¯m tracing the ce I¡¯d be going into. Different people have different terms for it, tracing, parkour, free-running, and etc. I just preferred to call it that.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm, I think I could also perform that but not as fast as you. We have a few obstacle courses in the military when they trained us. Mobility is key now specially when the situation is you should never get hit by any means.¡± Tatiana said, nodding.


    ¡°We mostly just pick a position to kill them without getting hit but we never made a maneuver to escape them. Is doing this for the new ones that we found?¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°New ones?¡± Tatiana asked then we told her the story.


    ¡°Anyway, what I¡¯m doing could be fun too with more people. I have an idea.¡± I said as a gleam started to form in my eyes.

 Chapter 167

    Chapter 167: 167


    I let Kaleye with Tatiana for another run outside while I continued on with my idea. <center></center><hr>


    I grabbed a few tools that my uncle is not using for dismantling on what¡¯s left of the other houses and I brought a few people with me on the covered court. I was with Bon, JP, Robin, Renante and Jomari; theborers I took from the DDR camp.


    ¡°Umm, what do you want us to do?¡± Bon asked.


    ¡°Since most of the metal parts are now on the scrap yard, help me get the solid nks from the pile there. We¡¯ll start on making a few things.¡± I instructed them.


    We made use of the time that¡¯s left to make a few stationary obstructions on what I nned to be an indoor obstacle course/ maze. A few are made to be walls, bridges, small pirs,dders, and etc. The few barriers that Tatiana brought over helped with making the covered court to be a whole new ce. I even welded a few piped to select ces to add more variety to the ce and strengthen the other bits that needed to stay in ce.


    It looks like a mix of an indoor airsoft field and a skateboarding park. There¡¯re a few ces that we poured cement over to be elevated that is covered by plywood until it driespletely. The other materials that are not used are ced on the bleachers along with the targets that we use for shooting practice.


    ¡°We could use this ce now after the cement dries and polishing them after. It needs a few sweepings here and there and we might need to paint some of them over to look the part. I may add a few things and we might need to run a few test runs on this first. Also, if we improve on this ce a bit, we could ce the shooting targets in key locations here so it could double as a shooting range that they use in shootingpetitions. We could also make a routine to follow and time it to get some people heated and for some fun. I know a few people that would like that.¡± I said.


    ¡°Uh, Sky. Can I ask you something?¡± JP chimed.


    ¡°Shoot.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I noticed that Mark and the others have weapons of their own and they go outside with you¡­ Can we have our own as well? We¡¯ve had our fair share with them when we go out and I promise we could help you with getting more supplies if we have firearms at hand.¡± he said.


    ¡°Do you know how to shoot?¡± I asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well¡­¡± he trailed.


    ¡°We don¡¯t but a few of the guys said you have sses; can we join in as well?¡± Robin chimed.


    ¡°Sure, if I ever have sses you can join in but you need to perform well in those sses to guarantee yourself a gun. I don¡¯t just hand them away like candies.¡± I said.


    ¡°Russel mentioned that he found a shotgun in a gas station and he exchanged it for a pistol, is that true?¡± they asked again.


    ¡°Yeah, Russel isn¡¯t that good in shooting guns but he knows how to keep it safe. If you ever find a gun outside, you need to surrender it to me when you are inside mypound. I¡¯ll give it back when we go out so you don¡¯t have to worry about it.¡± I exined to them a few more rules inside this ce.


    ¡°If I ever got my own, I¡¯ll take revenge on that f.u.c.k.i.n.g baldy.¡± Bon said.


    I looked at him and the others seemed to share the same sentiment.


    ¡°Well thinking that way since a gun was pointed at them is reasonable¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Revenge is all good since Rodney did something unforgivable but if you¡¯re gonna do it, remember that your old boss is more trained in using it. I¡¯m not gonna persuade you in doing it or not but remember that he¡¯ll be shooting back as well. The world has no rules now and killing him will not warrant you to be put in jail but all our actions still have consequences and all I¡¯m asking is to remember that.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± the group.


    ¡°B-but¡­ what if it was you Sky? You wouldn¡¯t kill him if you were in our shoes?¡± Bon asked. <hr>


    ¡°Me? If that was me, I¡¯ll kill him when I got the chance.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± the group.


    ¡°C¡¯mon now, I never said to you guys to never do it. I¡¯ll do the same thing to you all. If you cross me, you¡¯ll be in the pile near my old house burning right now.¡± I replied with nonchnce.


    They were taken aback and they seem to be mulling something in their heads.


    ¡°I know you¡¯re good guys. I just think that your boss is afraid of you five that¡¯s why he did that.¡± I said.


    ¡°Afraid? He has a gun! How could he be afraid of us?¡± they said.


    ¡°This is just me imagining what¡¯s going on his head but hear me out. He only has a son and his wife is also old. You five are in his employ for a few years and he has been very strict with you to the point that it¡¯s almost illegal. If you¡¯re familiar with your boss¡¯ personality, he¡¯d think the worst and will make sure that his family is safe from anything. He can¡¯t guard the five of you at all times an-¡± they cut me off.


    ¡°But we would never do such a thing!¡± they replied.


    ¡°Are you sure? You just mentioned you¡¯ll kill him if you ever meet him again.¡± I asked.


    They were silent again. <hr>


    ¡°Scenarios like this brings out the worst in people, like what happened to your boss. It could happen to anyone. Just a matter of circ.u.mstances.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why did you take us then?¡± they asked.


    ¡°Easy, because I can. This ce is slowly turning to something that could survive this thing and you need people you could trust on that to maintain it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m confused. I¡¯m not sure if you trust us or not¡­¡± Jomari chimed.


    ¡°Me too.¡± Renante said.


    The rest nodded.


    Iughed heartily.


    ¡°Well, me too.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± the group is now confused even more.


    ¡°In truth, I can¡¯t believe that we¡¯ve been this sessful with this ce. I thought it would be much harder but we¡¯ve only had a few incidents it¡¯s unbelievable. This ce is doing good since we almost have everything and it¡¯s well-stocked, secure and¡­ fun in a sense. Back to the trust thing, let me put it this way, do good and I¡¯ll be good to you, do bad and I¡¯ll be bad to you. Simple as that.¡± I concluded.


    They¡¯re now wearing faint smiles and they raised their fists towards me. <hr>


    I give each of them a fist bump and they said, ¡°Thanks for taking us in¡­ Boss.¡±


    ¡°Heh. Now that we¡¯re done here, I¡¯ll send you back to the camps now.¡± I joked.


    The group almost lost their footing but weughed heartily.


    ¡°Damn, that hits a few sore spots.¡± Bon said.


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!! The more we joke about it the less it hurts when we think about it.¡± I said.


    We went back to thepound and a few people have new haircuts. Most of them are guys since some of thedies want to grow their hair out a bit. All the kids have theirs done first and now the a.d.u.l.ts are just having theirs cut by the two. They have two chairs in ce and they have their equipment with them and they¡¯re wearing aprons and a face mask while the person whose hair is being cut has a small cloak that could guard against some of the falling hair.


    ¡°I need to get mine bad. It¡¯s been a few dayste already and I could almost hear them growing and invading my ears and the back of my head.¡± I thought to myself as I instinctively scratched my scalp.


    Russel was on the other seat but he stood up with his head still half cut that made the kidsugh and his mom annoyed at him at the same time. I got a trim from Josh and his hands worked fluidly. He even used the scissors that has the other side look like ab to thin out my hair.


    ¡°Your hair is naturally spiky and slightly thick but using this texturizing shear could thin them out a bit. You could still raise them up like what you do and it would feel lighter than normal.¡± he said.


    I gave my thanks after and I gave Ken and Kris the files that Jared¡¯s phone received in any chance for them to decode it as well. I still haven¡¯t finished Roi¡¯s message and a few more people that understand a few sequences to solve this thing could lessen the work I¡¯m doing.

 Chapter 168

    Chapter 168: 168


    I went back to my room to wait for the broadcast and I pulled out my Glock 19 from my holster. I removed the attachments after clearing the barrel and removing the magazine. I cleaned it for a short while and ced it back in its respective case. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hey, what are you doing?¡± Kaley finally came back and sheid her guns in the table while I looked at my collection.


    ¡°I¡¯m looking for a new pistol to use.¡± I replied.


    ¡°A new one?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m thinking of using the Maxim 9. Using one thing for too long will get me too ustomed to it and would make using new stuff a bit weird for me.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But wouldn¡¯t it be weird to use new stuff too? Like when I switched to this CZ from the Beretta?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yes and no. I¡¯ve shot at least a few thousand rounds for each gun I could get my hands on. I could operate everything based on memory now and what I¡¯m avoiding is the time when you switched the M70 for the AR-15.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh, when I¡¯m reaching for the bolt¡­¡± she remembered.


    ¡°Yeah, muscle memory sometimes kicks in and it could be dangerous on certain situations if you do the same thing over and over. However, in your case, you don¡¯t always have to switch weapons. Master a few of them at a time and when you feel that you¡¯re getting toofortable, just tell me and we¡¯ll find another to switch it with.¡± I exined. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sure, but what is that Maxim 9? That sounds like a s.e.xy magazine.¡± She replied, chuckling.


    I opened two cases and it shows a ck pistol though the part where the muzzle is located seems to have a hugepensator beneath it. It looks slick and almost futuristic like the Steyr Aug I lent to Earnest. I only added a shlight and a red dot sight and Kaley¡¯s eyebrows scrunched up. I smiled faintly as I saw her reaction.


    ¡°This thing has a suppressor integrated to the gun. It¡¯s super quiet and the suppressor being integrated into it makes it handy since the overall length is vastly different from a normal pistol that has a suppressor on it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Really? It looks much cooler than the ones we¡¯re using. Do you have an extra? I kinda want to use one¡­¡± she said though thest bit, she hesitated.


    I opened two more cases and I let her choose between the longer one that I picked and the shorter one. I then exined to her the pros and cons of using this gun.


    ¡°As you could see, the triggers for these are not the same for the ones you could see on the original one. I¡¯m just telling you in case you get your hands on another one and you wonder why it¡¯s different and feels off. It uses the same magazines for the Glock 17 and same sights for the same brand though we reced the sights with a red dot. It has an issue of the frame starting to get hot on the ce where you would ce your other hand to hold the pistol with. It starts getting hot when you start to shoot close to a hundred rounds with it in session. But in our runs, we rarely shoot that many and we use our rifles if they increase in numbers so it¡¯s not much of an issue. Also, due to the features of this gun, we may need to clean it more times than usual with the other guns but we always clean them more than usual so it¡¯s no problem. And then¡­¡± I exined a few more things like it shoots like a .22 since it uses subsonic ammo and the slide is half the size of a normal one. The gun still uses 9mm ammo and it is the first of its kind to have and integrated suppressor.


    I noticed that she¡¯s smiling after my exnation and now I¡¯m the one who has his eyebrows scrunched up.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked after I handed her new pistol to her and taking care of her old one. <hr>


    ¡°In short, I don¡¯t need to worry about anything since all the issues are taken care of. *chuckle*¡± she said.


    ¡°Erp, well, the more you know, I guess¡­¡± I replied weakly.


    Sheughed heartily as she tried to familiarize herself with her new gun. She would attempt to draw it as quick as possible and acquire the target then holster it in ce. We spent a few more moments in simple drill with each other.


    Before 6:00 PM, I radioed everybody to gather at thepound for the broadcast. It was more progress reports on their end and reminders that the power would get cut-off at the end of the week at the earliest. One of the reports is that they found an irregr sprinter that would crawl on all fours but the parts of it where the ground faces is mangled to bits so capturing it made easier since it¡¯s just dragging itself mostly. Another irregr that they found is a sentry where it looks around like a stand fan after pressing the button at the back.


    They¡¯ve captured it and aside from them confirming that it could guide zombies to whichever direction it was looking at, this one emits a faint buzzing noise from its mouth. However, aside from turning its neck, it can¡¯t seem to move its legs still.


    ¡°So, did they really miss that ability from the first ones that they captured?¡± I said to myself.


    The broadcast also mentioned that there are several people from all over the world going to ces like the Philippines where there is less poption or lessnd to cover to make it their temporary base and work with the country to fight this thing that we¡¯re facing. Several countries are now unresponsive leaving their people to depend on themselves.


    ¡°Well, I find it surprising that some countries have the time tomunicate with each other. I thought it would be like the movies where the governments would copse on the early days.¡± Marco said. <hr>


    ¡°To be fair, this is real life. Call it what you may but the government would be the ones of the few to be thest stand for humanity like our ce here. The writers for shows just makes a hero of a normal civilian so that people could rte to them but if he is not prepared like us, it¡¯s a miracle that they would be able to survive like us.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I agree. They have the most guns and they have the power to mobilize a lot of troops to defend everything. There¡¯s only a few select people like us that could survive like us in this scenario.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm, well you could be prepared and all but it takes more than that.¡± Johnny chimed.


    ¡°We need to be lucky too.¡± Russel said.


    ¡°Luck is good but we shouldn¡¯t always rely on that. You¡¯d be like an MC that has a ton of plot armor. I¡¯d rather be someone who finishes all the side quests first and having everything ready before going through the main quest just in case I miss something important.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just speak normally and avoid a few references that normal people don¡¯t know about when everyone is present?¡± Matthew was shaking his head.


    ¡°You¡¯re just too old dad.¡± Olivia chimed.


    ¡°Why are you taking his side?! I thought you were on mine!¡± he retorted and everyone gave a few chuckles. <hr>


    The broadcast ended shortly and I started a new ss that would focus on their movements. The sses I teach at would focus on one thing at a time and gradually rise in difficulty while Oscar would teach them everything in a single day and repeat. Tatiana on the other hand would train everyone in a group but what she¡¯s making them do is different from person to person and based on what she thinks they need to improve more of.


    ¡°The thing we did on the covered court isn¡¯t ready yet but we could make use of a few things here in the gym before we move over there.¡± I thought to myself.


    Iid out small cups, ropedders, and cones on the floor in a simple pattern. I made the people attending the ss to run in the treadmills for a while to get their initial sweat for the exercises that I would be making them do.


    I first demonstrated how to do thedder exercise slowly. I made different variations to make them aware how important foot cement is in how quickly you could maneuver in every direction.


    The cups I ced in the middle are three in number but you would pick one up, ce it in the Southeast a few paces ande back to the remaining cups until you manage to ce them all. The catch is you still have to be facing North so you could move your foot in different directions not just facing in the direction you ce the cups in and just simply moving forward. They would continue to do that until they reached each direction of thepass and bringing it back in the middle.


    I then pulled out a timer and threw it to Chris.


    ¡°Time me first and let¡¯s see how everyone fares after me. I¡¯ll give the people who beat me something special.¡± I said as I stretched my whole body.

 Chapter 169

    Chapter 169: 169


    ¡°Oh! What¡¯s that something special then?¡± Chris was excited. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Heh, it wouldn¡¯t be special if I told you that now. I want it to be a mystery but do know that it really is something really worth it.¡± I smirked.


    ¡°It applies to everyone here, correct?¡± Tatiana asked from the side.


    ¡°Shit. I should bring out all I got out now. Well¡­ doing this could also make me slightly gauge out her limits as well.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Yeah, it applies to everyone. However, you can only do a challenge a day when we¡¯re training here and only when I¡¯m present. Also, since everyone is still improving day by day, me included. I¡¯m also allowed to challenge my own time so that you can beat me at the top of my game. You could practice here on your spare time since the equipment is still here but be sure to bring it when you try to challenge the top time. We¡¯ll make a list of everyone¡¯s progress too since this is not just a challenge for fun, it also serves as a way to improve ourselves too.¡± I exined a few more rules on the way.


    ¡°Wait a minute¡­ how about the routine in shooting practice? Can we also have a ranking system there too?¡± Lois from the side said as well. The other people grew excited as well.


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll have a ranking system for everything. Just tell me if you have a few more ideas.¡± I replied as I grew a bit excited too.


    I then set the cups on the middle of the gym and I took my stance. When the timer beeps, I performed the best I could while using the less extra movements as possible to finish the challenge. I went from Center to South, South to Center, Center to Southeast, Southeast to Center, and so on and so on and after that you¡¯ll go clockwise after that counter-clockwise direction. When I¡¯m almost a quarter done, it kicked in.


    I stopped thinking all together and I just moved.


    ¡°Hey!¡± I felt a hand on my shoulder as I snapped back to reality.


    I saw Kaley looking at me with a smirk and the look she¡¯s giving me says, ¡°You cked out, didn¡¯t you?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You were standing there for a few seconds; I know it happened.¡± she whispered.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Only time I liked it when it happened, almost cheating but a lot is at stake. Good thing it stops when the goal is done. I really hope I could control this thing.¡± I thought to myself.


    Since Kaley noticed it happening, almost everyone thought I was just catching my breath or something though a few who knows it already are giving helpless smiles while a few of the few is giving a look of serious thought.


    I then performed on the other exercises though it never kicked in since it was too short even if I made it to be a few repetitions to factor in stamina in the mix. Yet, the time is still fast and I doubt anyone could beat it at this point in time, for now.


    I left the gym since a few of them wanted to take a shot at it first and almost everyone wanted to see their best time.


    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re leaving already? Don¡¯t you want to wait until someone beat you?¡± Chris said.


    ¡°Heh, I highly doubt it. Maybe in the future, but now? Highly doubt it.¡± I replied then he got annoyed.


    ¡°I¡¯ll beat your record and I¡¯ll see what the prize is.¡± he looks determined now.


    ¡°Need to push everyone to do more. Even at the cost of them hating me a bit but on Chris, being a bit arrogant works wonders.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    I smiled and said, ¡°Sure. You¡¯ll be happy when you receive it. What happened with Charlotte?¡±


    His expression changed a few times and I thought he almost short-circuited. He stuttered a few times and I couldn¡¯t understand what he¡¯s saying. However, he¡¯s red all over and he went back inside the gym to avoid my gaze.


    ¡°It worked. Heh.¡± I thought to myself.


    I walked down and I saw the trainees, Marvin and the rest on the pool area having small conversations with each other and I approached them.


    ¡°Hey, will we be doing the same training tomorrow with Oscar and Johnny?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, pretty much. You¡¯d be doing that for a while since I need more people toplete another monumental task. We¡¯ll be taking something very important from the City Hall.¡±


    ¡°W-wait, the City Hall?!¡± Brian eximed.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But that ce is full of them! I also saw the video where you took a nce at the People¡¯s Park next to it.¡± Carlo chimed.


    ¡°That ce is really full of those things. If we need to take something from the City Hall, we¡¯re gonna be clearing that ce too, right?¡± Ashley chimed as well. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the n. They don¡¯t die naturally don¡¯t they? Besides, I need something there to make our future runs yield better results. We need to be ahead from everyone specially this time when resources are starting to grow fewer by the second.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?¡± Marvin asked.


    ¡°All of the records in this city are stored there. Business permits, gun licenses, location of storage units and anything that you could think of is there. Having the information to where to look at is better than randomly going at houses hoping to find something good. Let¡¯s eat first we¡¯ll talk about it in the meetingter.¡± I said.


    We had ¡®Paksiw na Bangus¡¯ for dinner and it¡¯s basically Milk Fish cooked with vinegar stock after adding more ingredients like garlic, pepper and onions. It¡¯s best eaten with fried rice saut¨¦ed in garlic. The leftovers could be fried the next day since it would be marinated by the vinegar for a set amount of time.


    We started our meeting right after we all finished eating.


    ¡°Okay, we had a huge influx of members to our group now and I¡¯d like you all to treat them as our own. Some of them I know personally while some are not. However, that doesn¡¯t mean that I will treat you any differently. Once you¡¯re here, you¡¯re one of us now. If you¡¯re worried that I would treat you harshly, ask each people that have their short time here. I won¡¯t send you to suicide missions while I¡¯m here enjoying a cup of tea. We follow a set of rules here and all of you will follow it. Now, if you could all introduce yourselves. I already know all of your names but tell me a little bit about yourself as well.¡± I started.


    The group I brought here promptly introduced themselves and they are weed by everyone.


    ¡°Okay, give me the report on the 3rd road.¡± I said.


    ¡°The 3rd road is clear of zombies but the garbage below the houses still needed to be cleared. We cleared most of the garbage off and we¡¯d probably make andfill on the other side of the plot ofnd where the targets for the shooting practice are located. We¡¯ve also started on dismantling some of the houses that are just hammered in but we would leave the houses on the wooden poles but won¡¯t let anyone upy them.¡± Uncle Zeidrick said.


    ¡°How about the bodies?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°We sniped or poked all that moved and made sure to double-tap the ones that are not moving for good measure. There could be a few more underneath but we¡¯ll know once the water started to flow. We burned a few bodies with Jay that they cleared while checking the alleys but the ones submerged are still there.¡± Lois said.


    ¡°Rin, situation on food? Can we keep up with the increase in number?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, it could still sustain us since we still have a lot in stock but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to always have a supply run every day. Some of the crops could be harvested and some would need to wait a few more weeks.¡± she replied.


    ¡°I started on leaving some of the eggs to be nursed by the hens so we could have baby chicks. Add to that what you brought earlier. The variety of our animals is good. I see that I have another professional help with the animals and it is greatly appreciated.¡± Derek added while Jeremy smiled.


    ¡°Okay, to our neers you will be processed by Oscar first and Francis, Jocelyn, Margie and a few more of our medical staff. I¡¯d like you to help Oscar with that since you¡¯ll be assigned to do the checkups in the future since this old man will have a few more things to do. We already have a file for everyone here and just make something simr to that so we couldbine them all together.¡± I said.


    I saw Marvin raising his hand.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°You said earlier that you¡¯d take us on a few missions first but we¡¯ll head to clear the city hall in the future. Can we talk about that now?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Sure, that¡¯s actually the next topic I¡¯m going to bring up.¡± I replied.

 Chapter 170

    Chapter 170: 170


    When a few of the people heard the ce, ¡®City Hall¡¯ they gave concerned nces since this is not a normal ce. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Whoa there kid, isn¡¯t that the ce where there are hundreds of them?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Old man, you really need to remember our codewords. Project Infinite Loop?¡± I said as a few people¡¯s heads perks up.


    ¡°Wait, don¡¯t tell me yet. I remember now! That¡¯s where we ce sti-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s where we have a small convoy driving around the ce clearing them slowly. We will drive them around inps until they are all cleared. We did the same thing in Darelle¡¯s ce and cleared a few just by five of us. It¡¯s gonna be a bit trickier to take care of zombies on that magnitude though so we need to n it and execute it carefully.¡± I said.


    ¡°Laps? You mean we circle around? How about our ammo then? Can itst?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°You crazy? We¡¯ll only use those on the sprinters or on any that get too close. We have a lot of ammo but we don¡¯t just spray and pray or shoot the easy targets with all that we have. We¡¯d be driving in the speed that matches the regr ones so we could slowly thin them out. Supply-wise we could get a lot out of the multitude of shops there and we could have ess to the records of this whole city.¡± I said.


    ¡°What records?¡± he replied.


    ¡°For example, gun licenses. We¡¯ve been lucky to find a few here and there but if we know where to look, there is a high chance of finding a gun if they didn¡¯t manage to take it with them. If there are still people inside, we try to recruit them to our ranks and if not, we just need to be ready when anything happens. Another one are records for storage units. We could sift through them all and we could find more supplies that way and we could go on runs where we know which ce has the certain item that we need.¡± I exined.


    ¡°How can you be sure that the records will still be there? Didn¡¯t the records from the Police Academy been taken already?¡± Oscar chimed.


    ¡°To be honest, we don¡¯t. But this is too good of an opportunity to pass up. If we clear that whole ce, it would be like rolling arge boulder to a dozen birds tied with a rope. Besides, I don¡¯t think they would even hide files of a storage unit or something simr.¡± I said.


    ¡°I think that¡¯s a different expression but I like that.¡± Oscar said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Is this mission really that important for survival?¡± Marvin asked again.


    ¡°Yeah. We kill a lot of zombies in the process, we get every record avable there, our storage rooms will be filled to the brim if we loot those ces add to that the Supermarket I went before is just in front of it across the street. Besides, we won¡¯t be doing this tomorrow. We hit a few more ces before we start with this mission. We do that probably after a week and if everything is prepared. We won¡¯t just go there without a n; I¡¯m still cooking it up. When I ran it in my head a few more times and I find it doable and survivable, we¡¯ll do it. Let¡¯s just carry on to what we¡¯re doing and get ready for tomorrow.¡± I exined.


    After a few more easily answerable questions, we ended the meeting and we all went to the gym after. Surprisingly all of the trainees are there and are using the facilities with me and the people that Tatiana is training personally. Oscar is also there though Johnny is not. The trainees look a little tired but I think Oscar is trying to make them push through their limits or find their breaking point.


    ¡°What are you doing here old man?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, better start early and hit while the iron is hot.¡± he replied.


    ¡°It¡¯ste actually.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You little shi- you told me I get to train them myself! Let me do what I do best!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Heh, I think you¡¯re just trying to establish dominance old man.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh really? Who beat up three of their best fighters then? Won¡¯t that be a much better term for establishing dominance? Huh?~¡± he said, smiling.


    ¡°Please, you don¡¯t need to do such thing. I know that we¡¯re still trainees and we are still wet behind the ears. This ce is much better than the camps. We all thank you for taking us in.¡± Marvin said.


    ¡°No. This is something you all need. I want you all to be able to perform like a unit and not like individuals. You all have strengths and weaknesses and you need each other to fill up that gap. This kid here formed a group justposed of mostly civilians with no particr training and look at what he made this ce to be. What more could you do if you all survive my training and begin to work like you are supposed to?¡± Oscar said. <hr>


    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re not special ops or something?¡± Ashley was surprised.


    ¡°Nope. I only had basic training and the only people here that are military are that Oscar, Johnny and Tatiana over there. We have a few in thispound who used to be security guards and have basic training for firearms but that is about it. We need a group that is morebat-oriented in order for us to have a better chance of the run for the City Hall.¡± I exined.


    They gave surprised expressions while Oscar grumbled as the group looked at him in confusion.


    ¡°Kid, now you just ruined the perfect story I made for you. Dammit! I told them that you were one of those secret spies that are trained since birth and that¡¯s why you¡¯re too good at things! They were all believing me for a while now!¡± Oscar bellowed.


    ¡°Stop with that nonsense old man. If I was training since birth, I would¡¯ve prepared for everything and might have killed the people who might¡¯ve attempted to do this before they even managed to.¡± I replied, smiling.


    ¡°Bah! Wait¡­ that could actually happen. Kaley! Give this kid a kid already and I¡¯ll train that little bugger to be a war machine!¡± Oscar shouted.


    Kaley almost lost bnce when she heard Oscar while the people she¡¯s with started on teasing her.


    ¡°Shut up!¡± she shouted as everyoneughs.


    ¡°You need to knock her up quick kid so I could see my grandchildren! I¡¯m gonna be a great godfather, I think¡­¡± Oscar scratches his beard while I shook my head helplessly.


    ¡°Avoid speaking to this old coot for now and before you guys start, tell me the things that ur on the camps.¡± I said to change the subject.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Marvin asked. <hr>


    ¡°I know that some of the civilians are left to get their own food while some just sell themselves like a rtive of my friend here. Is that just the situation or is there more going on?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It has been happening for a few days now since the food will run out in a couple of days if we feed everyone. Including us, we¡¯re responsible of getting our own food. Some civilians died in the process while some didn¡¯t evene back and decided to live on their own by taking their chances outside.¡± Marvin replied.


    ¡°I thought you were a part of their squad, why are you also scavenging outside?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s our fault.¡± Ashley said.


    ¡°What?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Well a few of our group already defected and a few women also sold themselves to the guys with higher rank there. We refused and we dragged Marvin and the guys with ourselves. The guys would¡¯ve been with them if it wasn¡¯t for them agreeing with our sentiments.¡± she said solemnly.


    ¡°To bepletely honest they would still give us a few rations but it is still not enough. They¡¯re only feeding most of the soldiers that could contribute greatly. Most of the women there are selling themselves to avoid going out at all costs.¡± Marvin said.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t reported it to the higher-ups?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°They are the higher-ups.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Can¡¯t we report them to the president? We have contact with them, right?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°We can¡¯t do that.¡± Oscar said. <hr>


    ¡°You guys have?! Wait, why can¡¯t you tell them about the camps here?!¡± the group eximed.


    ¡°Lesser evil.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What are you talking about now?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°That ce is slowly teetering to go AWOL soon. Same with the other camps. What we could do for now is establish some sort of connection with them. They¡¯re at least keeping some sort of order there. What we can¡¯t do is rattle that cage and make them retaliate. That would go bad so hard. I¡¯d rather shoot my bullets to the dead ones rather than the living ones this early.¡± I said.


    ¡°But they¡¯re using them as a relief!¡± Ashley eximed.


    ¡°Did they do it by force?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°No, but they just weren¡¯t given a choice. The moment that food stopped being given out, they didn¡¯t even hesitate to give themselves away after a few days. Well, those who can¡¯t survive out there. A few with their families started to go outside but a few survived and came back. We don¡¯t even know if they found a ce to live since the only thing missing from the camps is food. Everything else is avable.¡± Ashley replied.


    ¡°More time passing gives us less and less choice. They¡¯re at least keeping them alive. The moment we report them to the president, we will be having a war with every camp in this ce. We¡¯re well armed but the people we have are not prepared for it.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°But it still feels wrong, and it is wrong. I wish we could at least do something about it.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°I agree with you but it is doing what you could to live now. We could slowly increase our numbers but we can¡¯t take everyone.¡± I replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s the strongest survive then?¡± Kaley asked solemnly.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it like that even before this thing came?¡± I replied.

 Chapter 171

    Chapter 171: 171


    After that sentence, everyone seemed to have solemn expressions. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Strength could be in any form and it¡¯s the advantages that we use in life to get ahead from someone we may or may not know consciously or subconsciously. It sucks but it¡¯s the truth.¡± I said.


    It was quiet for a while until Oscar barked orders for the trainees to move into action. Tatiana did the same and I finally started on my daily workout.


    I can hear Oscar¡¯s orders even from the sounding out from the speakers when I turned it on.


    ¡°EVERYDAY! I WANT YOU ALL TO DO A HUNDRED PUSHUPS, A HUNDRED SITUPS, A HUNDRED SQUATS AND A TEN KILOMETER RUN A DAY!!! YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G HEAR ME?! DO THAT UNTIL ALL YOUR HAIR FALLS OFF AND YOU CAN KILL EVERYTHING WITH A SINGLE PUNCH!!!¡± he shouted at the top of his lungs.


    ¡°Oh boy. I remember him liking that animation very much and now he¡¯s starting to mix them up in his training for them.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was jogging on the treadmill while I notice that Tatiana approached Oscar. She said something to her and he sneered in confidence. A few momentster the trainees are wearing protective gear and they are all sparring with each other. In their case, only thedies sparred with each other while the guys on Oscar¡¯s group continued on with the training. However, Oscar got interested in watching the fights so he let the guys be on the nking position. Each second passing and I could almost feel the pain that they¡¯re feeling on their cores. The other guys have started on shaking their arms while a few droplets of sweat would fall in the mat. Oscar has a timer on his hand and he would make them rest after a minute of doing it for a short time.


    Since they were just sparring, the hits are not at full power and it was more to show the group on Tatiana¡¯s side what it feels like being inbat with a soldier that has done training. I was just watching from the side and Tatiana¡¯s group is obviously at the losing side until Kaley stood up.


    ¡°Well she¡¯s the only one who had actualbat experience from the group Tatiana is training. Let¡¯s see what she¡¯ll do.¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley tied her hair up while Ashley stood up. Kaley is much taller than Ashley by at least half a head and that is an advantage for most fights.


    ¡°Wanna do it for real?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Sure, I would prefer that too.¡± Ashley replied.


    The two were checking each other first then Kaley made the first move. She motioned for a high kick but itter morphed to a low kick after twisting her knee.


    *THUD* <center></center><hr>


    It hit Ashley¡¯s leg while her hands are still up. Kaley followed by a jab aimed at her chin but Ashley guarded against it.


    ¡°I could still see her shoulder move a bit that could allow the person in front to perceive a jab.¡± I thought to myself.


    Ashley was on the defensive the whole time Kaley was throwing jabs towards her. She would either make the jab go through a head slip or she would parry with her open palms.


    ¡°She¡¯s waiting. I hope Kaley could watch out for baits likest time.¡± I thought to myself.


    At thest moment, Kaley threw a straight at her and Ashley responded with her own. Ashley was fast on her counter but she didn¡¯t notice that Kaley is in a much lower position than her now.


    A punch was thrown but it hit air.


    I could clearly saw Kaley¡¯s movements from where I¡¯m at but the move she performed is hard to be seen if you¡¯re up close and personal. It¡¯s called a ¡®Ura Do Mawashi Kaiten Geri¡¯ or a ¡®Falling Back Heel Kick¡¯. This kick is dangerous when it connects since the whole weight of the attacker is put behind it. Good thing everyone that participated wore headgear. But still¡­


    *PA*


    The kick resounded and Ashley fell to the mat. If she wasn¡¯t wearing head protection, she would be knocked out cold by now. Add to that she¡¯s trained her body since she¡¯s in the army before and that could provide a bit of resilience.


    Nevertheless, she can¡¯t stand up for a while and Oscar took a look at her. Kaley looked at me briefly and I motioned for a p with no sound. I continued on my workout while I went on down to do my other tasks.


    I took a quick shower on the 2nd floor and when I finished, Zeus is waiting for me while wagging his tail.


    ¡°Hey Zeus, sorry I¡¯ve been to busy to y with you. Let¡¯s head to my room now while I y a movie for you.¡± I said.


    ¡°Woof!¡± he replied and he followed behind me. <hr>


    He was glued to the TV while I started to work on Roi¡¯s message once more.


    ¡°Okay, time to figure out this f.u.c.k.i.n.g password.¡± I thought to myself as I cracked my knuckles and neck.


    I brought out all the papers once more and I started to decipher on what¡¯s left that has no meaning yet. Without the key, it would take a lot of time to figure it out if you¡¯ll just go randomly. However, we have found a way in how he makes it. I doubt that he would do different things for every little code here and if all of it matches with different ways of figuring it out. It would be too godly.


    ¡°Okay, old tech, old keypads and what we only got from this is his Sat Phone Number. Remembering from what he said, he¡¯s looking for the ¡®password¡¯ somewhere around this jumbled piece of mess. Well, one way to make it harder is to do this, him being paranoid adds to that. He maybe thought someone else could get their hands on this PZP and find him.¡± I thought to myself.


    Sounds of the pen being pushed down, rustling of papers, taps on the keyboard and the TV ying a movie is all you could hear in my room. Zeus would sometimes bark when he likes the scene that is happening but I let him do it even if it almost disturbs me.


    ¡°Been a while since he watched that.¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley even went down and finished their training and she took a towel from the cab to take a shower and she went back after a while and she¡¯s now watching the movie with Zeus.


    Every time she tries to speak, Zeus would growl and snarl almost telling her to stop talking.


    ¡°Zeus, that¡¯s rude. You¡¯ve seen that film a thousand and seventy-three times already. You already know what¡¯s gonna happen.¡± I looked back and Zeus whined.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Zeus.¡± I heard Kaley whispering to him and she approached me on the table.


    ¡°What¡¯s the progress? Getting close?¡± she whispered softly.


    ¡°Yeah, what I know now is¡­¡± I told her what I found before and she¡¯s looking at the numbers below.


    ¡°So¡­ this could either be letters or number that could mean a password of some sort that only the two of you know?¡± she asked. <hr>


    ¡°Only ¡®he¡¯ knows. He could¡¯ve left at least a key to start on. I¡¯ve been going on random directions to find some semnce to a word or something close.¡± I corrected her.


    ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re both nerds, could it be a simple phrase from what you¡¯re both into back then?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Like what? Open Sesame? Sudo open? Multipass? If I tried everything, it would take a few days since he hangs up the call when I say the wrong password. I don¡¯t know why he¡¯s messing with me since he knows I¡¯ll think about it when I sleep. Good thing you went to the rescue and we did ¡®something¡¯ to get my mind off it. I wouldn¡¯t stop doing this if I hadn¡¯t solved it yet.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯ll sleep in a few minutes. If you haven¡¯t solved it by then, grab some coffee since you would be staying all night.¡± she trailed after chuckling.


    ¡°Shit.¡± I said out loud.


    Sheughed once more as she put on morefortable clothes. She¡¯s now under the nkets hugging Zeus as they watched the film together.


    I made my mind rev up a bit and now I¡¯m making blocks for each thing that might have it. I went back to thest thing I¡¯ve solved and looked for more patterns. It¡¯s the same ¡®IOR¡¯ in the beginning but if you reverse it, it wouldn¡¯t make much sense¡­


    ¡°Reverse it¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Wait, if the password is a phrase, I shouldn¡¯t be looking for numbers like thest time. If I look at it the other way, I may need to get to this other block and it would say this instead.¡± I wrote down on a piece of paper the new thing that might work and it says this:


    44339991104440260443377733028069990666966022886655337770844280444022666884 4481


    *


    25557777666110444026077772333 3304433777330266303666066 666809666777 7779991


    * <hr>


    699904333044477770944484406330266309330222666885553055544488833044337773303336667770203 33222 23 331


    *


    2288 8110444055533 333806999066886223377704446608443307999971


    *


    88663 33777 777782663084428044404428330555277743304777666887 77771


    *


    777332555 5559990844666884 4411044404466673309996668808666 6665502555 555066633308443304263377771


    *


    4666 6663055588222550666 66099966688026630999666887770755526677771


    *


    3388833777999844 44466404433777330444777704666 66630266308442655777703336667770844 4446655444664066633306331


    *


    7776664441


    ¡°Now time to f.u.c.k.i.n.g solve this shit. A lot is at stake.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 172

    Chapter 172: 172


    ¡°If I remember correctly, in the old phones, the number ¡®1¡¯ in it contains all the punctuations and the numbers contains the letters in a partition that would contain three letters except for numbers ¡®7¡¯ and ¡®9¡¯ since they contain the letter ¡®p,q,r,s¡¯ and ¡®w,x,y,z¡¯ respectively. The other extra keys is the ¡®*¡¯ and the ¡®#¡¯ which could change the case in which the letters are in and a few more functions. Don¡¯t forget the ¡®0¡¯ key that is for spaces and the underscore.¡± I thought to myself as I looked at the first line again. <center></center><hr>


    44339991104440260443377733028069990666966022886655337770844280444022666884 4481


    ¡°These are only two words since you only have a single space near thest part. Does the number ¡®0¡¯ indicate the spaces then? So, why is there a space in thest part? Oh! ughs* if there is a case of the letters belonging on the same key, you need to pause for a while and wait for the insertion point to blink again. If I got this right, everything would say¡­¡± I thought to myself and wrote beneath the numbers on the paper.


    ¡°Hey, I am here at my own bunker that I bought.¡±


    ¡°Also, I am safe here and do not worry.¡±


    ¡°My gf is with me and we could live here for a decade.¡±


    ¡°But, I left my number in the pzp.¡±


    ¡°Understand that I haterge groups.¡±


    ¡°Really though, I hope you took all of the games.¡±


    ¡°Good luck on you and your ns.¡±


    ¡°Everything here is good and thanks for thinking of me.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Roi.¡±


    I checked the numbers again just to be sure and I read his note with a solemn expression. I even brought out my really old ¡®No Key Yeah 3210¡¯ phone that I left in a drawer a decade ago with 98% battery left. I made sure to hold it tight in case it breaks the floor when I identally dropped it. I typed the numbers in the messaging function of the phone and it says the same thing on what is written on my paper. I even got nostalgia and yed Void Impact but I immediately closed it when I looked at the time.


    ¡°A decade? What ce could guarantee that? Well, he said he¡¯s in a bunker, but where? More importantly, is this the password? Too long if you ask me. It usually is eight to twenty-four characters long with an uppercase letter, a number, and a punctuation mark. This is like a small paragraph¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    I cracked my knuckles and I ced a folder on its side and I could feel Zeus tapping with his paw on my leg. I looked at Kaley and she¡¯s fast asleep, sprawled on the bed while half-covered with our nket. The movie seemed to have finished and Zeus is trying to get my attention. He¡¯s wagging his tail and I just looked at him.


    *whine* *head tilt*


    ¡°What? Oh, the movie is over, want to head down now?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Woof!¡± he replied.


    ¡°Shhh, be a bit quiet. Kaley is sleeping.¡± I said with a finger on my lips.


    ¡°Woof¡­¡± he responded but much quieter.


    ¡°Good boy, want a treat?¡± I asked as he zoomed for the door, waiting for me to head down with him.


    I opened the jar of treats above the fridge and gave him one then he snugglesfortably on his bed near the corner. He curled into a ball, hugging his tail and he began to sleep. I went back and decided to sleep but I cleaned up the stack of papers on my table. <hr>


    ¡°Who would¡¯ve known.¡± I thought to myself, smiling.


    If it wasn¡¯t for my OCD and like for movies, I¡¯d spot the ¡®password¡¯ much sooner, or at least I think it was. It happened when I¡¯m lining the folder with the edge of the paper where I¡¯ve written Roi¡¯s message. When it was only showing the first letters of each line.


    ¡°H¡­ A¡­ M¡­ B¡­ U¡­ R¡­ G¡­ E¡­ R¡­¡± I muttered.


    I swallowed my saliva and I brought out my best ent from the movie Rose Panther 2, ¡°The password is hamburger?!¡±


    I gave a small chuckle and facepalmed.


    ¡°This f.u.c.ker¡­ of course it was this simple! All that work for a simple password. He could¡¯ve just hummed the tune from that movie and I would get it already. All this trouble¡­ Well, I could sleep easy now after contacting him.¡± I shouted in my head.


    I immediately brought out the Sat Phone and called him. I think he¡¯s sleeping at this time but I tried anyway just to talk to him and find out more about his situation.


    ¡°All tries have been expended, please try again the next day-¡± He said but I cut him off.


    ¡°Hamburger.¡± I said with confidence.


    ¡°¡­¡± I heard nothing from the other line. <hr>


    ¡°*clears throat* I apologize but all 3 tries for today has been used. Please try again tomorrow. *chuckle*¡± I heard from the other line.


    ¡°Did heugh? I must be right and he¡¯s just being a sore loser. This little motherf.u.c.ker.¡± I thought to myself.


    I can¡¯t even exin my frustration as I mmed my head on the table a couple of times to calm myself. Moving the task for another day from his stubbornness, I just went to the bed and scooted over as I grabbed a portion of the nket. I can¡¯t seem to get myself under the nket but she snuggled close to me and I saw her sleepy eyes.


    ¡°Did I wake you? Sorry.¡± I said.


    ¡°A bit¡­¡± she trailed as she lifted my right arm and she snuggled more as she hugged me much tighter.


    I felt like a hen tucking its baby chickens since she¡¯s under my arms. Her leg is above my leg and her body is pressed against mine. I closed my eyes and I seemed to notice a few things while I tried to sleep.


    She buried her head in my underarm and she starts to take deep breaths. Each time she¡¯s doing it, her body presses more against me. I could feel her soft chest as it acts as a cushion but her hug is tighter. It was quite subtle at first but her head started to press more against my body the more breaths she took. She seems to be trying to take in my scent as she breathes heavily.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ that thing then? I noticed that before¡­ Well it¡¯s one more thing we have inmon¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Kaley?¡± I muttered as she seems to be enjoying herself.


    ¡°It¡¯s my turn now, justy down.¡± she spoke in amanding tone.


    ¡°Well, shit.¡± I said as she chuckled. <hr>


    She started on breathing at my neck as she went on top of me. We¡¯re still wearing our clothes but she started on grinding her lower body against mine. She wrapped her hands on my back and she buried her face on my chest area. I wanted to grab something from below but she stopped me before I got the chance to do anything.


    ¡°You¡¯ll get your turnter¡­ just let me¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± I replied.


    I can barely see anything and I could only hear and feel what she¡¯s doing to me.


    I could feel the warmth from her each exhale and the heat forming in our lower bodies. She continued on taking in the scent of my body and specially on some zones. She can¡¯t seem to get enough since she would breath in deep and exhale and would go back even if she¡¯s almost out of air. The constant contact of our lower body made my shaft escape from the side and feel the warm and moist cloth that is the only thing keeping us apart that she¡¯s wearing.


    I still did nothing despite that and let her enjoy what she likes.


    Her h.i.p.s started to move vigorously as she started on kissing me. He adjusted the position of my shaft by her hands as she continued to grind on it. After a while, I¡¯m about to release it and she stopped. She stood up and went in the opposite direction then sheid on top of me again. We¡¯re facing each other¡¯s lower body and her hands went inside and pulled something out. I thought I was allowed to move but she tucked my hands towards my side and she spoke inmanding tone once more.


    ¡°Don¡¯t. F.u.c.k.i.n.g. Move. Remember? Not. A. Muscle.¡± she said.


    She started to move her hands and head up and down and it started to throb again, regaining the same sensation, but she stopped and slowed her movements. It was almost the same thing before but she¡¯s doing it vigorously and stopping at thest second when I¡¯m on the brink of it. The torture of not being able to do anything and wanting to let her continue it is shing on my head. She did it a few times when I¡¯m about to release and she¡¯ll postpone it. My hands are clumping the nkets in frustration though I¡¯m still enjoying every second of it. One of her hands went inside herself and I could see her underwear bulging due to her hand moving inside it then she started on twitching a few times but she continued on pleasuring herself and making me go crazy.


    I felt like one more time she does this I would be able to release it even if she stopped, but what she did next made me lose my mind. Sheid next to me and covered herself with a nket.


    ¡°I¡¯m good now. Let¡¯s sleep.¡± she gave me a peck on the lips and she turned around and started to sleep.

 Chapter 173

    Chapter 173: 173


    I was shocked. <center></center><hr>


    I actually waited if she¡¯ll do anything for a few moments but she¡¯s still breathing normally through the nkets.


    ¡°Uhh, Kaley?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± she replied.


    ¡°You forgetting something?¡± I asked, hoping.


    ¡°Oh! Right, right¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Phew!¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Goodnight!¡± she replied as she still never moved from her position.


    ¡°What in the actual f.u.c.k! Is this for real?! She¡¯s ying, she¡¯s just messing with me. Is she though? Does she likes doing this kind of thing? Nah, she¡¯s definitely ying. Do I make the move now? She even said there will be my turnter. B-but, she just went wham bam thank you and good night on me! I need to release this pent-up thing inside me! This is how I mostly sleep before! Is she just waiting then? What if she¡¯s really about to sleep? Do I still do it if she¡¯s still sleeping? Wait, that is close to something else entirely. F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! I don¡¯t know! Do I just do it on my own? F.U.C.K! I usually do but not when the woman of my dreams is sleeping next to me! This is a give and take thing! I¡¯ll do it! I¡¯LL F.U.C.K.I.N.G DO IT! What if she gets mad? SHIT!¡± I almost had a mental breakdown in figuring out what she¡¯s trying to pull off.


    I sadly limped and curled on the opposite end of the bed about to sniffle.


    *chuckle*


    ¡°I¡¯m just joking! Come here!¡± she said as she turned me around.


    ¡°What do you mean e¡¯? Do you want me to scoot over or¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°*groans* Don¡¯t make me do it for real.¡± she replied with a cold voice again. <center></center><hr>


    Both of me stood up and went in position. I went on top of her and now that I started to touch her, I figured out that she¡¯s already anticipating a move from me before because every caress I do with my hands makes her gasp and look at me intimately.


    She raised both her hands and tucked them under her head as both of the peaks stood in attention. I decided to tease her more because of the small prank she did earlier. I ced my hands on them but only barely touching the pink tips. Every time I almost brush through them, her expression turns to anticipation then slight disappointment but back to more anticipation.


    I kissed lips gently but I continued on teasing her. My kisses went lower to her chests but I never touched both of her tips and I just did what she did to me earlier. There¡¯s a lot more erogenous zones in the body aside from the usual ones. Coincidentally, the armpits are too and from what I discovered, one of Kaley¡¯s weaknesses.


    She was surprised at first when I started to lightly touch them and breathed in her fragrant scent. I continued on caressing every part of it with her chest while her lower body is getting restless. She¡¯s moving her h.i.p.s against me but I decided to not do anything on that region¡­ yet.


    I continued on doing what I¡¯m doing and I could see from her expression that she¡¯s slowly getting frustrated not getting what she wants. I smirked internally but she hugged me tight.


    ¡°Sky¡­ aren¡¯t you gonna¡­¡± she trailed with bated breath.


    ¡°Gonna what?¡± I asked while kiss her neck.


    ¡°You know¡­¡± she trailed again.


    ¡°What? Tell me¡­¡± I replied as she¡¯s trying to move her hip, trying to ¡®signal¡¯ me.


    ¡°Hnn~¡± she bit her lip as I started to lightly bite the tips.


    ¡°Not that¡­ do you really want me to say it? *gasp*¡± she said after.


    I licked her smooth armpits and her body reacted. She¡¯s letting out small gasps and I noticed her hand trying to reach for my lower body but she can¡¯t since we¡¯re too close to each other and I¡¯m putting my full weight on her. All she could do to mend her increasing craving if to keep on moving her h.i.p.s against it. I almost felt sorry for the look she¡¯s giving me but I kept on teasing her.


    ¡°P-put it¡­¡± she trailed weakly. <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± I never answered.


    ¡°P-please¡­ p-put it in¡­¡± she started to lose it as she started to beg.


    I had an inward celebration for getting her back and I finally gave in. I pulled what¡¯s left of our clothing and she¡¯s soaking wet. A single thrust is all it took for her to twitch in pleasure and her nails started to dig in my back. I still moved while she¡¯s still shaking but what surprised me is that she managed to turn me over and she went on top of me. She hugged me tight and I could feel her b.r.e.a.s.ts against me as she moved her h.i.p.s vigorously while kissing me almost violently.


    We didn¡¯t even know how much time has passed as we both justid on the bed panting after a few rounds.


    ¡°You¡¯re crazy.¡± she said.


    ¡°Really~? I¡¯m the crazy one?¡± I replied.


    ¡°After what you made me say and do?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°You started it.¡± I cheekily said.


    ¡°Started what?!¡± she replied as she jabbed me.


    ¡°I thought I was getting blue-balled.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You think I¡¯d really do that?¡± she replied.


    ¡°For a moment I thought you would.¡± I said.


    ¡°So that was revenge then?¡± she asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yep.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmph! I¡¯ll get you back.¡± she said.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not really revenge if you enjoyed it that much.¡± I said,ughing.


    ¡°But it¡¯s embarrassing to say those things out loud¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Really? You¡¯re embarrassed of saying something you¡¯re doing?¡± I said.


    ¡°But those things are different!¡± she replied.


    ¡°How?¡± I asked as I looked at her embarrassed face.


    ¡°I dunno I just feel a bit weird saying it. It¡¯s like reading smut content out loud. It¡¯s very different from reading it silently and just imagining it in your head.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Oh~ so you read such things.¡± I replied with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°Um-¡± she stopped, now she¡¯s looking like she said something that she shouldn¡¯t have said.


    ¡°What are you getting embarrassed now? It¡¯s perfectly normal!¡± I tried to nudge her.


    ¡°B-but still¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s try to make the embarrassment disappear between us then. I¡¯ll start, I¡¯m Sky Ishiyama, 25 years old and I also, like the beautiful girl next to me, reads, watches, and partakes in a lot of should I say¡­ carnal desires in different forms. I am greatly interested in a woman who has short ck hair just a bit below the shoulders, sharp eyebrows and crystal-like clear eyes, perfect smile, smells intoxicating, huge b.r.e.a.s.ts, a plump ass, a sculpted and well-endowed body, smooth and untarnished skin, extreme love for strawberries, quick learner, decent fighter, great fisher *chuckle*, a great and slightly wild personality, and a kind heart.¡± I said a few embarrassing things at first and on the middle part of the sentence, I described what I perceived in her in detail. <hr>


    She started on chuckling on the first few parts but her expression slowly changes from a smile you make from hearing a joke to a smile you make when it hits you deeply. Each detail I gave about her gave me a mix of expressions and I was smiling the whole time.


    She¡¯s staring into my eyes and she kissed me once more.


    She pursed her lips and she said the same things though it¡¯s all about me now. She mentioned a few things when we¡¯re still studying together that she liked about me and I even though I can remember all of it, it¡¯s refreshing and nice to hear it from someone else.


    ¡°Wanna see a few secrets of mine that I only know of?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°Hmm? What kind of secrets?¡± she grew curious.


    I went to one of my cabs and pulled out a very old box that even smells like one. I ced it in front of her and I motioned for her to open it. She looked at me for a while but she eventually put her hands on it and she lifted the cardboard lid.


    What contained it are several letters that are starting to yellow, a few old notebooks and a few random trinkets that a few people would recognize at this time or only the people involved would recognize.


    ¡°This is?¡± she grew confused.


    ¡°Those things are a few things I wanted to give to you before and never had the courage to. I¡¯m giving them to you now. Sorry, it¡¯ste by at least a decade.¡± I said solemnly.


    She looked at me for a moment wondering at what I meant and then she finally picked a letter up and she opened it. She started on reading it and her confused look slowly turned to a very bright smile.


    It was the very old love letters, portraits, gifts and a few more things that I made and didn¡¯t have the courage to give her back then.


    She¡¯s smiling really brightly reading each of them and then a tear slowly fell to her cheeks. She hugged me tight while she¡¯s still holding the letters I wrote. Words can¡¯t describe what I¡¯m feeling that night. She tried to say a few things but she stammered as well. Words were not said but the message is received. I think that¡¯s one of the few nights I could say I slept really well.

 Chapter 174

    Chapter 174: 174


    Day 14 <center></center><hr>


    I woke up feeling rested and first thing I did was to grab ahold of the Sat Phone and dialed Roi.


    ¡°Password?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Hamburger.¡± I replied.


    There was a momentary pause and he finally said, ¡°Hey man, what¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s up? You know how troublesome it got just to contact you?! I almost thought you were the person who sent us a couple of random files as well.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? Files? What kind?¡± he asked.


    I told him the short story and he listened to everything I have to say.


    ¡°You solved it then?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I would¡¯ve if it wasn¡¯t for a paranoid guy.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! If it weren¡¯t for Andy, I wouldn¡¯t do it!¡± he said.


    ¡°Andy? The guy who runs your ce there? What about him.¡± I asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I mentioned to him before that I bought this bunker, I¡¯m at and he surmised it as nonsense before. He kept on saying that I¡¯m too paranoid h h. The moment the news from the hospital came out, my phone kept on ringing and it was his number. He even kept on calling my house and it has several voice messages on the phone there.¡± he exined.


    ¡°I think he¡¯s grasping on straws then and that¡¯s the normal response. Is there any reason that I might be worried towards him?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hmm, just be cautious since he¡¯s a bit maniptive. He mostly can talk other people to do things for him and he¡¯s definitely two-faced. He looks normal but I saw his other side when we¡¯re drinking once. Better be careful and don¡¯t let him inside your ce.¡± he exined.


    ¡°What is he like when he¡¯s drunk?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I was a bit woozy but I remember him giving a homeless guy money when we¡¯re walking home. We walked a few blocks and he started on calling the cops telling them that we got mugged by the guy that he gave money to. He said to the cops to just apprehend the guy and that they could keep the money he took as a reward. He has this dirty smile on his face and I didn¡¯t have the chance to tell him not to do it. Next day we meet, he acted like that never happened when I confronted him about it. Just be really careful when you¡¯re dealing with him.¡± he said.


    ¡°Okay, thanks for the info. We had to give up plenty of supplies just to check your house but that¡¯s all the interaction we got from him. He¡¯s building the ce up and he seems to have some people following him already. Can you tell me where you are?¡± I said.


    ¡°Some people are following him already? Well if it¡¯s him, he could easily do it. Why do you want to know where I am? I thought you have a ce going on there?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s always safe to have more backup ces to bug out in the case of unforeseen circ.u.mstances. Besides, if we happen to be close to you, I could drop a few supplies there and a few weapons for you and some I¡¯d like to keep hidden.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hmm, that sounds good. I¡¯m at¡­¡± he gave me the coordinates for where he is bunkered down and it¡¯s actually in the provinces. It¡¯s pretty far from here and I doubt I could head there with my group anytime soon. One thing is for sure though, he definitely picked the best location in where to ce it.


    ¡°That¡¯s a bit far dude but if we ever had the chance, we¡¯ll head there. I got some of our friends too. Want to talk to them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Nah, just tell him we told them so and we¡¯ll all open a cold one when this is all over. If you have anything more to say, just call this line and I¡¯ll pick up. You know the password already. Oh yeah, I¡¯m pretty sure you got Kaley one way or another and she¡¯s definitely there. Pro tip, don¡¯t let her get away this time. Time is running short and you need to toughen up.¡± he said as we said our goodbyes and hung up. <hr>


    ¡°Same old Roi.¡± I thought to myself as I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    I woke Kaley up and we took a shower and we suited up. We went down for breakfast and everyone is slowly gathering on the pool area. I felt a couple taps on my back and I checked who it is.


    ¡°Hey~ this is the one and only motherf.u.c.ker who built this ce. The legendary Sky Ishiyama. Look at the camera dude.¡± Darelle is with Trisha and Olivia vlogging everything that has happened ever since they came here.


    ¡°What are you doing dude?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Vlogging, what else?¡± he replied.


    ¡°I know, but why?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well we should at least start with this since someone will need to fill in the history books in the future. I know you could remember everything else but how about the other and theter generation! They need to know what is happening! I already interviewed a few people yesterday and we got another brilliant assistant!¡± Darelle eximed with extra hand gestures.


    ¡°They¡¯re teaching me the ropes! I interviewed mom, Charlotte, Chris and Alex yesterday, they said it was great! Sis, you¡¯re next after you get hometer. I¡¯lle by at night after the meeting.¡± Olivia happily said as Kaley was shaking her head.


    ¡°We got a few photos from her already from the time she got here so we¡¯ll add it to the collection.¡± Trisha chimed.


    ¡°That¡¯s great, just don¡¯t forget that there¡¯s other work to be done in other ces yeah?¡± I said as they nodded.


    Everyone finally gathered and we ate a simple meal. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, same thing to do for today with a few things extra. That ISUZU D-Max we brought before, make it unrecognizable from what it looks now. Change the tes or remove them, remove the extra essories, and remove those stickers from the back. Also, those leather covers for the seats, remove those as well. If we bring this thing out, it should be safe if we do that.¡± I instructed.


    After a few more things that needs a decision to be made, I decided for my group to head back to South with our trucks for a few reasons. The first one is to get more supplies from that ce and the second reason is to bring a few drones so we could scout the mass of zombies from the ce we would be hitting after carefully nning our approach. Matthew, Lois, Kris and Tatiana came with me as well so we¡¯re a total of 10 people all in all. Matthew and Tatiana came for safety reasons while Kris and Lois came for experience and curiosity respectively.


    We rode the truck and drove off with the Raptor and the 6-wheeler. We saw Jay¡¯s group hauling a few bodies to be burned off in a corner and they gave me a small nod when we passed through them. Lois started on taking shots on everything that came near us but I stopped Jared from doing the same thing since he has fewer bulletspared to what Lois brought. Kaley was watching Lois shoot and she¡¯s impressed that he could urately kill a few of them though there¡¯s still a few misses.


    She nudged me, ¡°Any tips?¡±


    ¡°What kind?¡± I replied, while chuckling.


    Her eyes rolled after a groan, ¡°On shooting moving targets of course!¡±


    ¡°Want to take this Jared? I¡¯m updating the ces in my head since a few changed. I can¡¯t do things at the same time and I think you know how Lois does it.¡± I said.


    ¡°He¡¯s picking his shots. Quite cheekily too. You think he could hit everything but he only shoots the easy ones.¡± Jared replied as Kaley grew more curious.


    ¡°Notice that he¡¯s facing the back of the truck not the side. It¡¯s easier to shoot targets that are moving forward or backward than from either side to the other since you¡¯ll not be timing them while moving the barrel sideways. Only few adjustments are required. Was that correct bro?¡± Jared exined.


    ¡°Yep. Remember when we¡¯re on the Raptor and you¡¯re having difficulty shooting them because of the length of the barrel? That¡¯s only one of the reasons why. Try Lois¡¯ way and you¡¯ll notice the difference.¡± I replied.


    Kaley walked near Lois and she also took shots while Lois stopped and watched. <hr>


    ¡°Why did you tell her my secret?¡± Lois said.


    ¡°Well you need to practice on some things you¡¯re notfortable with. You¡¯d only get better if you push yourself out of thefort zone sometimes.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Why would I leave myfort zone? There¡¯s a reason it¡¯s called thefort zone!¡± Lois rebutted.


    ¡°Wanna beat your brother in shootingpletely? Move out of yourfort zone and try to move to a higher caliber rifle. You¡¯d achieve a lot more if you have an AR like Kaley or this Tavor. I could let you use it when we get to South. I know you came with us since you want to start on thinning a few of them. Same reason you asked for a lot of ammo and brought a can of it.¡± I tried to exin to him a few more things.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ll think about it. But I¡¯ll use this 10/22 for when we reached the ce. I don¡¯t like what bro uses since it¡¯s too loud even when suppressed.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well this does the job. At least use something like a 5.56 or a 9mm in a carbine to get longer range. You can¡¯t always use a .22 just because it¡¯s quiet.¡± Jared chimed.


    ¡°Quiet huh? How about a .300 AAC ckout?¡± I replied.


    ¡°A what ckout?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a different caliber than what we use and I could let you use the Sig MCX Rattler Canebreak. It¡¯s chambered in .300 AAC ckout and I¡¯ll let you use the subsonic ones. You can also fire it without ear protection when the gun is suppressed too.¡± I replied.


    ¡°The name sold it. I don¡¯t even care if it¡¯s loud. Are we heading back to get it?¡± he asked.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was speechless.

 Chapter 175

    Chapter 175: 175


    ¡°We¡¯re already halfway there! Just practice on your shots with the 10/22, just leave enough bullets when we reach there so you¡¯ll not tell me you don¡¯t have enough.¡± I said while shaking my head. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Fine¡­ I¡¯ll try to do it¡­¡± he replied weakly.


    It happened once more, when his enthusiasm on a certain topic lessened, his performance suffers. He started on missing even on some of the easier ones. It was somewhat mediated when Jared fired a shot on the one that Lois is aiming at.


    Kaley on the other hand just used a magazine before stopping since she only brought four for the AR-15 though she used the Maxim a few times and she seemed to like using it more than the CZ.


    We four are the only ones behind the 8-wheeler since the others are driving the other vehicles. There¡¯re more bloody figures roaming around though what¡¯s different from before is that there are several that are already killed on the streets that we are driving into. All of them seems to have their heads either cut down or bashed with a blunt object since parts of their heads are missing or have a hugeceration with bits getting enjoyed by flies.


    I¡¯m looking at the other vehicles strewn about in the road and I¡¯m adding it to the n that I¡¯m cooking up in order to execute it beautifully.


    ¡°We need to make a proper runway that could go on from either side and long enough that we wouldn¡¯t be caught in the middle of them when we start on taking turns. It would take a long time to prepare for this thing. The vehicles should be moved, the other dead bodies as well, checking each street, and setting up countermeasures. Not to mention the ammo we would be using and other equipment formunication and such. We could either thin them out slowly in a span of a few days or just do it in one fell swoop in just a single day. I also need the people back at home to follow my instructions to the dot just for this n to work.¡± I thought to myself.


    We eventually arrived at the South Supermarket again and the people I¡¯ve brought herest has solemn expressions. I jumped down from the truck and drew my katana. I was followed by Tatiana, Mark, and Dong since they¡¯ve brought their own weapons. The numbers here got bumped up by another notch and looking at the other side of the street, it seemed to have gone up as well. <center></center><hr>


    Each figure I face has varying degrees of rot and flesh missing from their bodies. The smell is the same for each one and it is something you can¡¯t just get used to.


    In one corner of the supermarket a zombie was getting feasted on by a few zombies as well and it¡¯s just letting himself get devoured bit by bit. Instead of trying to figure out why, I just removed part of their heads in a quick flowing motion to pave a way for our vehicles. The hard edge of the katana is gleaming even if it¡¯s covered by a film of dark-red blood that is viscous and filled with some small bits that looked like small clots.


    Since we came with more vehicles, we made more noise ining towards this ce and even some from the road have started to move towards us. Instead of firing at them, they were slowly lured inside the parking area so we could drag them to the side after taking care of them silently.


    ¡°Unc, stay here with Jared while the other guys start to haul a few of the supplies. The rest of us will be on the roof to scout the ce on the other side of the road.¡± I said.


    ¡°Damn, this ce still hasn¡¯t been broken into.¡± My uncle said.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s dangerous to break into a ce where there is a huge horde on the other side. We still haven¡¯t figured out why they¡¯re staying at that ce for a while though. It seems to be something attracting them from the inside.¡± I said.


    ¡°Another Sentry then?¡± Lois asked. <hr>


    ¡°Maybe, but that would mean that someone is inside and can¡¯t get out. One of those things could be in a ce where the person inside couldn¡¯t reach it and has a lot of supplies tost this long. It could also be another thing though; we¡¯ll find out when we fly these things.¡± I replied.


    I headed up with the others and Iid down two cases where the drones were ced at and we started on flying them towards the People¡¯s Park.


    ¡°Holy f.u.c.k. That is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g lot.¡± Matthewmented when he saw the horde in person.


    The People¡¯s Park is a huge ce with two huge buildings where one is an enclosed small stadium where concerts are conducted and it could house a thousand people at most and the other building is a two-story building with different stores that mostly are restaurants or fast food joints. There¡¯re also a few areas like a yground, the fountain area and the walking area. A few thousand peoplee here each day but now a few thousand of the dead are there mostly gathering around the small stadium.


    It has a total of four entrances to get to this ce. The first one is the huge open space where anyone could walk into which is near the fountain area. The second one is near the other building which is connected to a walkway that leads to the City Hall right next to it. The third is a very small gate where a single person could fit at a time that is in the yground that leads to the City Hall¡¯s small canteen. Thest entrance is at the back of the People¡¯s Park where a gate could be slide to the side that is also near the yground. It could take you on the backroads where the residential areas are located though the streets there are very narrow.


    From our side, you will see the fountain area first which is sandwiched between the walking are and the two-story building though the walking area extends a bit farther and has a small elevation that would lead to the small stadium and on the back of it is the yground.


    ¡°Bro, the drone is picking up some noise from the stadium.¡± Lois said. <hr>


    ¡°Can you identify what kind?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Rock music? We couldn¡¯t hear it from hear but I drove it near the doors to it and Link In Park seems to be ying from the inside. Want me to check in the end? At the back of the yground?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Nah, it wouldn¡¯t even matter right now. The music sting from there could give us a bit of an advantage. We could slowly clear them out while the lot of them are distracted. However, we need to close the other entrances first.¡± I said.


    ¡°The two gates?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°Yeah, the small one is probably dangerous but the back entrance could be easily managed. We just need to drive the Raptor there and close the gate after clearing a few. The first two entrances could never be closed obviously since it¡¯s just an open space and the problem is the ones that would being from the City Hall.¡± I replied.


    I¡¯m driving my drone on the two-story building while Lois started to drive his on the yground. On my side, there¡¯s very few on the walkways in the store but there a dozen or so inside. They¡¯re different kinds of people and some of them are still children wearing their school uniforms. They got attracted to the whirring sound of the drone and they started on banging on the ss doors.


    ¡°Some of them might have locked themselves in.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°Bro, there¡¯s fewer in the ygroundpared to the stadium. If we¡¯re quick enough, we could close the gate there as well. Probably around 50-ish normal ones are just roaming around the whole area.¡± Lois reported.


    ¡°Fly it near the small gate and check if there are any obstructions on that. We might be able to lure a few of them away with the noiseing from the drone. Let¡¯s check the situation on the City Hall first before we try to do anything. Besides, we would be only scouting the ce and would be moving inside if it¡¯s possible.¡± I replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s a gate, how careful could you be? Pssh!¡± Matthew chimed.


    I looked at him weirdly and noticed that he¡¯s actually trying to tell a joke and I first thought he was being serious. I just shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt and drove my drone towards the other ces that I haven¡¯tid my eyes on yet.


    ¡°Lois, just drive it anywhere you haven¡¯t yet but do it a bit slowly. I need to map in my head everything that the drone sees even the corners and other obstacles after reviewing that footage when we get home.¡± I said.


    *BRRRRMMMMM*


    All of a sudden, I heard several engines from the opposite side from where we came in.

 Chapter 176

    Chapter 176: 176


    I halted what everyone was doing while we let the drones hover for a moment. Tatiana immediately radioed below to stop what they¡¯re doing and get inside the supermarket for safety reasons. I made everyone crouch down from where we¡¯re at and I peeked my head for the number of engine noises that is quickly approaching us. <center></center><hr>


    It was five big bikes mounted by two people each and what followed them seems to be a huge truck that would travel long distances to deliver goods in a certain location. Looking at them, it seems to be some sort of convoy and judging from their getup, they don¡¯t seem to be military.


    I could barely see their faces clearly because of the distance but what surprised me is that they stopped in front of the People¡¯s Park and a few more people started oning out of the huge truck. I retrieved a scope from my bag to see better since my Tavor only has a red dot attached.


    I looked into the lenses and they seem to be wearing excited faces. There¡¯s a total of 23 people from their group and all of them are carrying melee weapons though I could see a few with hunting rifles of different kinds and shotguns of different kinds as well. I can¡¯t seem to spot if they are also carrying handguns since they are wearing padded clothing and any semnce of a holster is nonexistent.


    They approached the ce without any sort of formation and then they started on clearing them in a rough manner. I felt a tap on my back and it was Jared who actually came up from below.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are they doing?! Are they clearing them for us?¡± he whispered.


    ¡°Maybe. That ce has a f.u.c.kton of supplies and if we ourselves manage to get our hands on it. It would be several times from what we could get from cleaning out this supermarket.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How about our mission then?¡± he asked again.


    ¡°As long as they don¡¯t start on torching the ce to the ground, it¡¯s fine. There¡¯s more ces to look through and our main goal is to get the records from the servers. Who would think of that right now? They¡¯re at least helping us a bit if they killed a small chunk of them.¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You think that they could clear everything there by just them?¡± Lois chimed.


    ¡°Well yes, but actually, no. We never know but they seem confident. I hate their way in approaching it though. They don¡¯t seem like a group when they move and it¡¯s all a mess though it is getting the job done.¡± I said.


    ¡°How about our vehicles below? It¡¯s half-full and no there¡¯s still a lot to take here. What if theye here after?¡± Jared mentioned.


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll see if they¡¯re the good guys or not.¡± I replied.


    We just kept on watching them while Lois piloted the drone to move away and to start heading to the City Hall which is next to the People¡¯s Park. The group below is slowly clearing the few at the road first and slowly making their way to the fountain area. The bodies piled on the floor in different conditions and nothing serious happened yet.


    Then something serious happened.


    They¡¯re making their way towards the two-story building and then in the corner of my eye, I saw something that made my skin crawl. It wasn¡¯t just me but the others who saw the scene slowly unfold. The clump of rotting bodies trying to get into the stadium suddenly moved differently. Almost half of them slowly turned around in the direction of the people heading to the other building.


    Through my eyes, it was almost in slow motion when I saw each one who turned around made a running stance as they first crouched for a short moment and they started on spilling out from the avable passage just to reach that small group. <hr>


    ¡°Kid?! What the f.u.c.k?! We¡¯re actually pl-¡± Matthew was about to say more but the shock overwhelmed him.


    The wave of that mass of sprinters overwhelmed the group and the couple of shots that they fired wasn¡¯t even enough to end their own lives just to make it quicker. They were now unrecognizable since I don¡¯t know if they got trampled or was first gorged into pieces.


    The people in my group wanted to fire a shot as well but they too understand the consequences if we attracted that to this ce.


    One of the people who remained to stand guard at their vehicle managed to pick up one of the bikes up and started to turn it around. He can¡¯t seem to find his keys properly from the shock so he just jumped inside the truck that they brought to try it instead.


    Suddenly, the mass of sprinters turned around once more but instead of going at full speed, they slowly walked towards that huge truck and all that happened after is a gunshot firing from the inside of that truck.


    ¡°F.u.c.k. He just offed himself.¡± Jared muttered.


    You could see the blood spatter from the windshield and we all thought it was over.


    The mass of zombies that are slowly approaching the truck stopped at the edge of the People¡¯s Park just before leaving it and then it all slowly turned around and walked back towards the small stadium like nothing happened. <hr>


    ¡°What?¡± I thought to myself.


    The only good thing that happened from that is I¡¯ve managed to record the whole thing from my drone that is hovering above the huge building where the group was headed before they got decimated.


    ¡°The n will change a whole lot if there¡¯s hundreds of those things acting like that. I first thought they were all just normal ones. What I hate about it is they seemed to be more in control of their bodies. However, I think we just had an advantage if what we¡¯ve witnessed earlier is real.¡± I thought to myself as I scratched my head.


    ¡°What are we gonna do now?¡± Kaley asked with a worried look.


    ¡°Just continue on. They seem to not mind the drones and we need toplete on mapping the whole ce out. Jared, go down and tell the guys to continue on filling the truck up.¡± I said as Lois and I started to drive the drones again.


    ¡°Hey kid, I think you don¡¯t understand that we¡¯re basically trapped here!¡± Matthew bellowed.


    ¡°Not exactly, why do you think we have been to this ce several times and those things on the other side of the road never attacked us?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Is the People¡¯s Park¡­ some sort of their territory then?¡± Kaley muttered. <hr>


    ¡°You saw that too then?¡± I asked her.


    She nodded and then I showed the moment the zombies stopped at the edge of the People¡¯s Park. They slowly approached it but none of them took thest step to leave the ce.


    ¡°But how could we be sure?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°The only proof we got is this video and us still being alive on the few times we came here. It could be a different thing altogether but a lot of the n is going to be changed. We need to prepare a lot more countermeasures against that if it ever happened to swarm towards us when we took everything from those ces.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You still wanted to raid that ce after that?!¡± Matthew eximed.


    ¡°If no one does, who will? If my theory is correct, I think that it¡¯s only a matter of time before they increase their territory. If I¡¯m wrong, we still need to rid the whole city of them one way or another. That horde is very different from what we faced before and managed to clear just by a few people. If we face this thing unprepared, we would be like those people there who breathed theirst from going to a ce that they¡¯re unfamiliar with. That¡¯s why we do this runs to ensure our survival from all of the information we would be gathering.¡± I exined to him calmly.


    ¡°Hah~ for starters we need to avoid facing them on equal ground. We need to be in higher ground like this building or in a fast-moving vehicle or an armored one that could take damage.¡± Matthew said a few ideas of his.


    ¡°Yeah, something like that. A few ces to funnel them in and to divide a and conquer if they could actually step outside the ce. The way their starting to show some semnce of intelligence worries me the most. It would get really hard but not impossible toplete our goals.¡± I replied while I hovered the drone around on the horde once more. They seem to be acting like the same earlier and they are now joined by the people that they killed earlier. The figures that are ttened out started to either stand up or crawl around the ce randomly as they now became part of the dead.


    I just had a solemn expression as I said to myself, ¡°Thanks for giving us this information.¡±

 Chapter 177

    Chapter 177: 177


    I have a solemn expression and then I gave a deep exhale. I looked at the huge cargo truck on the road while a few stragglers are starting to approach it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Need cover?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not cold.¡± I replied as she kicked me.


    ¡°I¡¯m joking! I¡¯m joking! Yeah, we could use that truck and taking it would let us bring more supplies back home. I¡¯m also wondering what kind of supplies they have inside it.¡± I said.


    ¡°What if they have more people and they discovered the truck?¡± Matthew said, worried.


    ¡°We show them the proof we didn¡¯t kill them and react ordingly. It sounds bad but that truck is free for the taking. You must be a fool to let that truck pass up.¡± I replied.


    I let Lois and Jared drive the drones while Kaley gives me cover. The others went back to what they were doing as I headed down. I saw the guys with the pushcarts with different kinds of boxes of food. Some of the foods in the produce section which are fresh before are starting to grow yellow or mold so they didn¡¯t take them besides a few root crops starting to bud some leaves.


    ¡°Prepare more boxes since we will be taking a huge truck. I¡¯ll drive it over here and check its contents first before we ce anything on it.¡± I told Mark and the rest.


    ¡°Want some backup dude?¡± Kris chimed.


    ¡°Seriously?¡± I tried to annoy him.


    He shook his head in amus.e.m.e.nt and said, ¡°F.u.c.k you dude! Who would¡¯ve known you¡¯d change so much!¡±


    ¡°Hah! If I didn¡¯t, I would be a simple guy writing and reading novels daily! Just keep watch on the guys hauling the boxes.¡± I replied.


    I made my way towards the road but instead of just using my katana, I also pulled out one of my pistols just to be safe in case something happens unexpectedly. I even started to note a few ces I could easily climb or haul ass if it gets tight.


    One bloody figure popped up in the vicinity and I made a diagonal sh from below to remove part of its head starting from the jaw, toward its ear. A few approached me but they suffered the same fate as the parts that went missing after a sharp edge approached them just slowly fell off as their bodies hit the ground. It¡¯s like a lid of a jar popping off after you identally dropped it.


    I¡¯m keeping my eye on the People¡¯s Park as I slowly approached the truck and the big bikes that has fallen down. <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Why are you checking their bikes now bro?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Seriously?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hoarder.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hypocrite.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Shit.¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    Jared stopped talking on the radio while I checked the bikes first. They are simple motorcycles but there are satchels at the back of them and I checked each bag first.


    ¡°Weed, weed, weed, weed, the f.u.c.k?! Why are the most of the items here weed?! Well, I do have some use for them. Nice, a couple magazines though the guns might be in their person. I¡¯m not going to that ce though; I know what I¡¯ll end up in.¡± I thought to myself.


    Aside from a couple bags of Marijuana, I also found a few bottles of painkillers, bandages, snacks, cigarettes and a couple of radios. However, the keys are not in the ignition on the bikes so I made my way towards the truck.


    The door is actually open and when I did, the body inside almost fell towards me but I dodged it in time. I checked his body first and I found his gun and a couple of loose ammo in his pockets. A set of keys are located under the wheel and the ignition has a couple of violent scratches on the outer rim probably due to the rush he made on trying to ce the key on it.


    ¡°He must¡¯ve panicked and broke down internally.¡± I thought to myself.


    I tried the key and I managed to start the truck. I made a nce towards the other side of the road and they seemed to not do anything, yet. I could feel my sweat running down my face as I quickly maneuvered the truck towards where our vehicles are located. I backed up first while still holding my pistol. It was deathly quiet even if the engine of the truck is loud.


    The zombies at the back of the truck that are still alive and too far to get killed by me are either sniped from above or just slowly pushed back to the side since I could hear them tapping on the side of this truck though they would fall down after I passed them because Lois or Kaley would fire a shot since there would be nothing behind the figures after I pass them and the angle allows it.


    I could feel the beat of my heart going faster but each deep breath I take make it normalize for a bit but the tension is still high. It only went back to normal after I backed up the truck in its perfect location. I made a slow exhale as I went down and approached the people below.


    ¡°We definitely could bring a lot more back home. You okay?¡± My uncle asked.


    ¡°Whew! There¡¯s definitely sweat going through my butt crack. It¡¯s like finding a thousand missed calls on your phone.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Too graphic dude.¡± Kris was shaking his head while the others wereughing hysterically.


    I turned around and went for the handle on the back of the truck. I turned it on the other side as the doors finally opened.


    It has several boxes and a couple of fairly obvious things inside though there is a huge freezer on the innermost side. <hr>


    ¡°If there is anyone inside,e out now since I¡¯ll be firing a shot inside.¡± I coldly said.


    There seems to be no one inside but I could hear a muffled sound. I held a shlight with one hand and the Maxim on one. The Maxim has already had one under it but I wanted more visibility in other ces I¡¯m not shining my gun into as well. Kris was on my back and he has his gun out as well.


    There were a couple of sleeping bags inside and there are also several clothes in some of the bags and lots and lots of food.


    ¡°Could they be living inside this truck?¡± Kris asked.


    ¡°I think so too. Never found some sort of ID on the guy inside but looking at the interior of this truck kinda confirms it.¡± I replied.


    We made our way inside and we finally get to the freezer.


    I knocked on it a few times but nothing seems to answer. I slowly opened it to peek inside but I immediately gagged. Kris ran outside and projectile vomited on the floor as he made wheezing noises. The smell was so bad and I surmised there is something inside this thing that has gone really bad.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k is inside that dude?!¡± Kris bellowed as he wiped his mouth.


    I told everyone to remove the boxes from this truck first and then we pulled the freezer out. We didn¡¯t even do it carefully as we pushed it on the side of the wall. I drew my gun just in case as I opened the lid.


    I was already covering my mouth and nose as the rest has curious expressions.


    Almost everyone grimaces when they saw what¡¯s inside the freezer.


    *ck* *ck*


    *ck*


    *ck* *ck* *ck* <hr>


    *ck*


    *ck*


    *ck* *ck*


    *ck*


    *ck* *ck* *ck* *ck*


    The freezer was filled to the brim with different severed heads and all of them are moving their mouths. What¡¯s left of their teeth made the cking noises as their teeth collided with each other. Some of them has no teeth left but it was still moving its jaw up and down though it just made sloshing sounds.


    ¡°This is f.u.c.k.i.e.d up dude. Why the f.u.c.k are they keeping these heads?¡± Kris eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, I have one at home though.¡± I replied.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, I forgot to tell you guys about that. I thought a few people in thepound would have already told you guys. It¡¯s¡­¡± I told him the rest of the story.


    ¡°So, it¡¯s the special case from the news yesterday. But the ones here are all normal ones. They don¡¯t seem to lock into us or anything.¡± he replied.


    Under the lid were several bloodstains and this thing just looked like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up trophy case for zombies. I decided to kill each one of them by poking each one in the head with my katana like sweet dumplings and kicking them off to kill a few more still inside.


    There¡¯s about several dozen heads inside and they all made a pile after we¡¯re done with them.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are these people up to?¡± I asked myself.

 Chapter 178

    Chapter 178: 178


    I wiped the katana with another spare cloth to remove the grime that is starting to .u.mte and I just made a small nce towards the freezer onest time. Aside from the blood that is starting to darken from the time that has passed, it also has dark muck in the bottom of the freezer that looks like change oil with several clumps .u.mting or getting congealed. <center></center><hr>


    I was about to throw the cloth away but then I saw a marking on the side of the freezer. My eyebrow raised since it was so simr.


    I wiped the other side of the cloth towards the marking to clear a few smears of dirt and blood present. The markings got slowly highlighted as the grime gets removed. The markings seem to be carved by knives and the grime sticking inside where the marking is made remains as the grime on the still smooth surface got slowly removed.


    Some of these are just random scratches and the ones that remained are a couple of initials, a few crosses, and thatst one I almost missed is the same symbol I saw before on my way back from rescuing An. It¡¯s the same fist with the words ¡®Chosen¡¯, ¡®New Army¡¯, ¡®Chosen Ones¡¯, ¡®Arise!¡¯, ¡®We are Chosen¡¯ and several more iterations. How it¡¯s carved is very different from the graffiti I saw before since the one back then is just a spray. What we¡¯re looking at now looks like carved by a knife and there are several scratches before it fully formed the desired result.


    ¡°What does that mean dude?¡± Kris asked.


    ¡°I saw this thing before, It¡¯s¡­¡± I told him the story.


    ¡°Any idea where they are located?¡± he asked.


    ¡°None at the moment, no.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Where is the next DDR Camp around this area? The next one seemed to be much farther than we think.¡± he asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s supposed to be this City Hall here.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? But it¡¯s overrun, right?¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, it got overrun right before they got the chance to build it up to be one. This ce should be a good ce since it¡¯s very close to a lot of facilities. It¡¯s just too big and they seemed to have fallen quite easily. Maybe we could get a few of their supplies when we start to clear everything else. The next one after this ce is much farther. It¡¯s in Fatima, it¡¯s a college and a hospital but we don¡¯t have any idea if it¡¯s still running or not. I¡¯m gonna let Ken ask the soldiers on the DDR Camp at our ce if they have any idea. Most of the camps are situated near the highway and there¡¯s only a few that are in the backroads. Doing it like that seems to have bitten them back in the ass in the case for the City Hall.¡± I said.


    ¡°But the people from that thing there, where do you think they are located?¡± My uncle chimed.


    ¡°I really have no idea at the moment. Judging from some of their gear here, they seem to be far since the have sleeping bags here or they are just using this thing as their room when they get to their base or if they really have one.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, something like a moving base then? Some sort of convoy?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Something like that. If that¡¯s what is happening, they really upgraded their equipment. They were just a mob with a few weapons before. They must¡¯ve struck gold somewhere.¡± I replied.


    The other guys eventually came with several pushcarts which contained each box they couldy they hands on that could sustain us or make our lives easier inside thepound. They told me that there are still several inside and I just told them to get them ready just in case we go back to this ce once more.


    I headed back upstairs as I saw them either watching the feed from the drone or the road. <hr>


    It¡¯s now in the City Hall hovering on opposite sides as they twist and turn in different corners at a certain height where the dead can¡¯t reach them.


    The City Hall is a few notches as big as the People¡¯s Park and the only difference is that there are more buildings that almost acts as its walls since the Parking Area for it is in the middle. There are five buildings in total and it represents different departments that has separate records for each.


    The first building is right next to the two-story building from the People¡¯s Park and it spans five floors. Most of the civilian records are stored there and what¡¯s inside are different ss rooms and has only a single entrance for civilians except for the two emergency exits located on its left and right wing.


    The second building is some sort of museum in its first floor where different arts and craft are ced along with the history when this ce was found. The second floor for this building is where the Main Office is and where most meetings are conducted.


    The third building is a Police Department in which firearms and other safety issues are registered and it only has two floors and also acts some sort of base for some police officers.


    The fourth building is the Registration Office which is a single floor with several chairs and table strewn about and where people could get a few clearances and permits and this ce contains a few more records not found in the first building.


    Thest building is a canteen that only serves the people who work here for free and it¡¯s on the back of the first building right next to the small gate from the People¡¯s Park. It has a food storage on its second and third floor and some of the food from this ce get given out for free if storms hit our city or if some people needed it badly.


    The Parking Area on the middle has several military vehicles and a few medical trailers and a few more supplies strewn about but none could get to them as of now since this ce also has several hundred more zombies roaming around. Most of the dead here are uniformed with either military fatigues or the vest government officials would put on when they work here. <hr>


    The brothers just roamed the drones around a couple more times and they tried to hover it around a few floors above near the windows and we confirmed that there are also several zombies also inside the buildings.


    There are only two entrances to the City Hall and one of them is a small walkwaying from the People¡¯s Park and the other is the front entrance where vehicles could drive through. They eventually drove the drones back when they¡¯re sure that they have flown it to every nook and cranny possible.


    ¡°This is a huge ce bro. I don¡¯t think we could clear that in a day.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Not to mention those weird sprinters.¡± Lois added.


    ¡°Is this thing even possible?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°With correct nning it is. I need to cook something up real good in order to pull this off. The training for our people back home is important too.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I get it but wouldn¡¯t we still gonna be clearing everything else in the future and get it all eventually? I know the records are important and all, but isn¡¯t doing this still puts us more at danger?¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°We need to kill everything that moves from that ce dad. What more could they do or be given a few more days? Besides, what if someone randomly breaking into a house managed to get to the important stuff first?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°That¡¯s true, we need every advantage we have and it doesn¡¯t for free as always. We¡¯re gonna need those records not just for easier scavenging and such but one more thing.¡± I replied as they looked at me. <hr>


    ¡°Not sure if and when it¡¯s gonna happen but, by the time the DDR Camps stopped working, chaos will definitely ensue. Some people will definitely grow desperate and would try to get into ourpound. We need an additional filter. We use the records from the City Hall if they have any criminal records or if even the name they¡¯re giving us is real or not, then-¡± I was about to add something more but Matthew cut me off.


    ¡°Wait, wait, wait! We¡¯re still getting more people?! How many do you need?!¡± he interrupted.


    ¡°I¡¯m not saying that. What I¡¯m saying is in the time that we¡¯re in thepound, none has even wandered there randomly. If therees the time, and I know that it will, that a person or a group of people managed to wander on our turf, we¡¯ll be able to know who they are from it. I know that people could change but we¡¯ll let those records act as a baseline.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What happens if we encounter a few with several criminal records?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll judge by the circ.u.mstances but I think you already know what to do. To the other people, we¡¯d either make them go the other way or use necessary force. We¡¯re cannot do the same thing the camps are doing and we could only let people that could benefit us greatly. It sounds bad but it¡¯s the reality now.¡± I replied.


    He was silent for a moment and I notice Lois ncing at me for a moment then going back to review the footage while it is on twice the speed.


    *vibrate* *vibrate*


    I heard the vibration from Jared¡¯s pocket and he pulled his phone out once again. His eyebrows shot up and he pointed the screen to me and said, ¡°Bro, look!¡±


    [New Message from Unknown Number: This is Ana71, show this to your bro.]

 Chapter 179

    Chapter 179: 179


    I was looking at the message on the phone for about half a second and then I was dumbfounded. I was simply looking at the notification on the above part of the phone when a certain camera app started on loading up. I think it was a different app from the stock apps since it already captured several pictures of my face. I was toote to react to everything when the phone started to send an email towards a different address. <center></center><hr>


    I tried to do something but my inputs weren¡¯t even recognized. The person behind this, this ¡®Ana71¡¯ has been controlling this phone remotely from somewhere and must¡¯ve been hearing and possibly seeing everything when the camera is facing a certain direction.


    It only took a moment for another message to pop up.


    [Genius.]


    ¡°What?¡± I muttered.


    Another one followed.


    [Wimp.]


    ¡°Wait¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    [Murderer?]


    I was stunned.


    ¡°Hey, is she looking into your background?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    I just nodded.


    ¡°She definitely is.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Don¡¯t we need to turn that thing off?! Like, right now?!¡± she grew worried. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Not right now, no. She can¡¯t do anything to us at this point.¡± I replied.


    [Interesting.]


    ¡°She could probably hear everything we¡¯re saying and this is a surprise. You can hear us yeah?¡± I said.


    [Actually, yes. That your woman? I could look into her background as well, she¡¯s Kaley, right?]


    ¡°What do you want?¡± I asked as Kaley grew curious but still taken aback.


    [Nothing in particr.]


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t contact me if you don¡¯t need anything in particr. Get to the point.¡± I replied. It was silent for a moment and she gave another reply.


    [I want to trade.]


    ¡°Trade? What do you need?¡± I asked.


    [My area of influence.]


    ¡°So, increasing the range of yourwork. I¡¯m guessing you¡¯re probably inside one of mine from back home. What do you think?¡± I asked.


    [It¡¯s adequate but I want to reach farther.]


    ¡°No, I¡¯m talking about my ce. Want to join me?¡± I said. <hr>


    Everyone looked at me in confusion.


    [¡­]


    ¡°Not talking now? We could use a person of your expertise.¡± I said.


    [Too much people.]


    ¡°So, she knew how many we are already? It¡¯s dangerous if she decided to share it with other people. I have to get her to side with me or at least some sort of agreement.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Too much people? Yet you wanted the help of said people. Are you alone or do you have more people? I think you have a few but maybe they¡¯re too far away? Are you from that hacker group then? If you are, huge fan.¡± I replied.


    [¡­]


    ¡°We literally have everything there. Want a room for yourself where no one can bother you all day? We have it. I don¡¯t know your situation there but I think you have already had ess to our cameras. I¡¯ve passed the files you sent to this phone to Ken and Kris and I think what it contained are codes to be able to bypass everything in my ce without our notice.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well not necessarily ¡®everything¡¯.¡± I thought to myself.


    [¡­]


    ¡°Regarding on expanding your ¡®influence¡¯, the best I could do for now is to set up a few Raspberry Pi units modified to do it. I could set it up near a few cell towers here and they could start on rying any information you want to go across though it would be much slower than what we¡¯re usually used to. I¡¯ll attach it to a small sr panel so they could run indefinitely. I can¡¯t do that right off the bat since we¡¯re in the middle of something and have more important things to do but is that¡­ adequate enough? Anyway, you have a Sat Phone? I like reading a lot of stuff but I want to hear your voice as well, or potentially see you if possible.¡± I said.


    [¡­]


    ¡°Hello~? Are you still there? 01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 00100001?¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°What does that even mean?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°Hello. In binary.¡± I replied as Kaley rolled her eyes.


    [Fine, I get it! Stop talking so much!]


    ¡°Why would I stop? Can you even hear my voice? It¡¯s too magical, I like the sound of it.¡± I cheekily said then my shin got kicked by Kaley again.


    [¡­Let¡¯s see what happens first.]


    ¡°Sure.¡± I replied.


    After a few moments, several more files have started to get downloaded into Jared¡¯s phone. My eyebrows raised in surprise as I checked each file she sent to it. What I saw are pictures with several personal information and it is better than the files from the DDR Camps since we¡¯re sure that this is urate. The personal information from the DDR Camps are just filled in by the civilian and I could sift through this to check for any inconsistencies.


    [Those are 10% of the files from the City Hall. Let¡¯s start with that. Take care of that phone. Don¡¯t lose it.]


    ¡°Thanks, if you were back home, I¡¯d let you pick your own loadout from the armory.¡± I said.


    We were waiting for her response but she stopped sending the messages altogether. I handed the phone back and everyone else was just looking at me.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked in confusion.


    They were all trying to pass information as they¡¯ve kept on giving weird hand gestures to avoid speaking.


    ¡°If she¡¯s a bad guy, she would¡¯ve started with, ¡®If you don¡¯t give me everything you¡¯ve got, I¡¯ll send to everyone I could information about yourpound.¡¯ But clearly, she didn¡¯t do anything of that sort. Besides, only a few people would have their phones on their person. I think we¡¯re thest few people she could contact.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°Kid! She could still hear us, right?! Start shutting up and avoid talking so much!¡± Matthew eximed and he immediately closed his mouth.


    I was shaking my head in amus.e.m.e.nt as they still threw worried nces at me. I was still nonchnt from that encounter and it seemed to tick them off.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure she still could. But you¡¯re forgetting that who would even listen to someone from a phone when trusting people outside is already a huge issue? We have no problems from that thing so far but it isn¡¯t the same outside. Whether she gives us the rest of the files or not or whether the files she had given us is real, we will still clear that ce across the street, we will still set up our ownmunication system, and we will still recruit more people that would let us benefit each other. It¡¯s her loss if she doesn¡¯t want to ride this thing out with us. It¡¯s up to her to do her end of the deal and if not, we¡¯ll move on. She¡¯s not the only one with expertise on that field.¡± I exined.


    ¡°On what field?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°If she has ess to everything else back at home, why didn¡¯t she just contact my phone directly? She could¡¯ve easily done that. I have my own countermeasures even if I¡¯m not a master of that subject.¡± I replied with a smile.


    I¡¯m waiting for the phone to vibrate but there was no response.


    They gave a look of understanding and their worries lessened. While we waited for the guys to load the trucks, Lois started on shooting a lot of the bloody figures roaming the road. The sounding from the suppressed .22 almost never attracted them aside from the ones that are very close to us. Matthew helped him reload the other magazines with the .22 as he would borrow the Ruger 10/22 to pick a few of the zombies to thin their numbers as much as possible.


    Kaley joined them while Jared and I started to drive the drones on the other buildings which are close to the City Hall as well to gather more information. We¡¯re looking for extra exits or entrances, vantage points, blind spots and any other things that could give us an edge. Tatiana went down to give more cover towards the guys loading the truck and we never heard a shot from below.


    Aside from the essential items that we always take, we took extra clothes, nkets, different kinds of tools, different kinds of lightbulbs, extra containers, a few toys, and some luxury items. Each box is stacked nicely as we prepared to head home. We drove by the People¡¯s Park as we leave the Parking Area and then Jared and Lois tapped me at the same time.


    ¡°Bro, want me to take a few shots towards that ce?¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Bro, want me to take a few shots towards that ce?¡± Lois said.


    ¡°Nah, just focus on the ones on the road. They¡¯ll get their turn when wee for them. Hope they don¡¯t turn tail and run in the opposite direction.¡± I replied.


    They started on sniping a few we would hit on the road while I still kept my eye looking towards that mass of zombies. They still seemed to be doing nothing at the moment waiting for people to wander inside identally.

 Chapter 180

    Chapter 180: 180


    Just them not minding us one bit gave me both relief and worry. Relief since they don¡¯t seem to care about anything that¡¯s happening outside the People¡¯s Park and worry since I¡¯m not sure what they would be like given a few more days. I was having a debate with myself inside my head but then I just lifted the Tavor up as we¡¯re about to drive away. It¡¯s a few hundred meters before we leave that area and I decided to point my gun at them. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Bro? I thought we-¡± Jared said but I started to fire a single shot.


    *psshew*


    I pulled the trigger and one almost outside the edge dropped on the floor as part of its head has a hole in it. A spray of blood from the back of his head erupted as the bullet exited towards that direction. My aim is slowly getting higher and higher since I needed to be quick to gather information in the short time this moment passes. I¡¯m shooting in almost a zigzag line, slowly creeping into the stadium while watching out if they would react to it or not. I wouldn¡¯t be able to identify the sprinters apart from the normal ones since we¡¯ll only know if it¡¯s them if they reached incredible speeds. The sentry on the other hand is more distinct than the ones we have here.


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    A few more bullets flew out and I even asked the others with me to do the same. Kaley was quick on the uptake and she started to shoot towards the mass of zombies first. I opened a zipper from one of my pouches just to be ready and we all four finally started to take shots on the mass of zombies near the stadium. Several bodies started to drop from each shot we took and the bullet would sometimes kill a few more since almost all of them are very close to each other. Even if the bullets we are using are not armor pration rounds, it still goes through them since only their rotting flesh is against a supersonic bullet that could go several thousand feet per second. <center></center><hr>


    When I counted my 30th trigger pull, I changed magazines and started on shooting again. The spent casings are still falling inside the truck since we¡¯re all facing sideways and it is nging as it hits the truck¡¯s flooring.


    I¡¯m waiting for them to react but they seem to be doing nothing. It was only a few seconds but it almost felt like several tens of minutes have already passed from it. Kaley and I were the only ones to shoot several rounds in that few seconds since Lois was slow to react and start shooting while Jared has a bolt action rifle.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll give one of the AR-10s to Jared and make him stop using the M70.¡± I thought to myself.


    We stopped shooting for a moment when we finally saw them move. I felt a sense of dread remembering what happened to the others who came to their territory but my gut feeling is telling me it¡¯s nothing to worry about, yet.


    I thought they were about to charge towards us but they did something that is not what I was expecting. My hand is already on my pouch and my finger is on a metal ring but I never got to use it.


    What happened was that a decent number of them started going inside the stadium while the other started to disperse away towards us from their original position. There¡¯s still a bit of noiseing from our guns even if they¡¯re suppressed, so some of the normal ones started to approach us even if they¡¯re a fair distance away. Lois made sure that none got close to our vehicles while Kaley kept on shooting towards them. Jared on the other hand is watching out for a sprinter pretending to be a normal one since he hasn¡¯t shot that much and he¡¯s scanning with his rifle around them.


    The vehicles started to slow down when the people driving them heard us shooting but I radioed them to continue on and drive a bit faster. The People¡¯s Park and the City hall are now quite far from view and I changed the magazine to myst one.


    ¡°Add 90¡­ no 102 from the total. Some of the bullets went through. It¡¯s 624 now.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Bro, I thought we won¡¯t pick off a few from them?¡± Jared asked. <hr>


    ¡°Did you just wanted to get the jump on us?¡± Lois said.


    ¡°Hmm, no. I just don¡¯t want to leave here without learning a bit more from that. How far have you guys reached on that part of the stadium?¡± I said.


    ¡°Not so much. I just hovered them a fair distance in case a few tried to reach the drone. The windows are tinted and it is covered by the vinyl-like curtains so we can¡¯t see anything from the outside.¡± Lois replied.


    ¡°What could be inside it?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I wanted to know if they could move away from the stadium or not and leave the People¡¯s Park by luring them outside.¡± I mentioned.


    ¡°Wait, what?! What if they did?! We didn¡¯t bring enough bullets!¡± Lois was bbergasted.


    ¡°Yeah, but we have these and those. These things could greatly thin their numbers by a huge chunk if I threw all of these at them while keeping on shooting the ones that are still rushing towards us after that. Bodies piling on the road would make them not have a running start and we could definitely break away from them since we could always drive faster. I¡¯m gonna throw these things one at a time so each time theye too close forfort; they would be in for a surprise.¡± I replied as I pulled out several grenades from my pouch. I even pointed at the pouch at Kaley¡¯s belt as well.


    ¡°WHY DO YOU HAVE GRENADES?!¡± he was shocked beyond reason. <hr>


    ¡°I have a couple in my bag too. Why are you so shocked? You¡¯ve seen a few of them at his armory.¡± Jared mentioned.


    ¡°What?! You too?! Of course I¡¯m shocked! I¡¯m the only one here without one! Where¡¯s mine?!¡± his eyes are almost bloodshot.


    ¡°¡­¡± Jared and Kaley were speechless.


    ¡°Here.¡± I said as I casually threw him two from the five on my pouch.


    ¡°WHAT THE FU-¡± he was startled but he managed to catch it both with one in each hand.


    ¡°I thought you wanted one? I gave you two. Don¡¯t get so scared, forgot how grenades work? Heh.¡± I smirked as he happily finds a ce to hide it in his person.


    ¡°Right, right¡­ you need to pull the pin first¡­ but don¡¯t throw them so casually! New Years is always awesome when we go to the provinces.¡± Lois mentioned. He¡¯s back to his old self now and he¡¯s pretty excited. He started to shoot the zombies we¡¯re passing through with great uracy even from the onesing from the side while Jared is shaking his head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    Kaley looked at us three and I told her that we would sometimes let loose when it¡¯s New Years and would actually use grenades or dynamites in the provinces a few times since it is not illegal there or should I say, no one gives a f.u.c.k about there.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you guys could do that. At least you didn¡¯t cause a fire or something.¡± Kaley said. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, we did.¡± I replied as the two brothers next to me started onughing.


    Kaley was waiting for my story as she knew I would tell it immediately.


    ¡°It happened on ournd there, someone I will not say who, *pointing at the driver¡¯s side of the truck* got a little drunk and started to fire Dragon¡¯s Breath shells from the shotgun towards some of the brush and it started a fire. We quickly put it out though and that¡¯s one of the reasons my uncle stopped drinking or started regting his drinks.¡± I started.


    ¡°Why is almost all of your friends or family members being somewhat crazy? And what is that Dragon¡¯s Breath?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Heh, I would never exchange it for anything. A Dragon¡¯s Breath is an incendiary round for a 12-gauge shotgun. We use them mostly for killing a few wasp nests at ournd there or sending a signal. My other uncle is also there with his wife and they¡¯re the ones who actually owned thend there we were talking about. I even told one of my workers who left thepound to head there since it would be closer and they would take him in.¡± I exined.


    We eventually reached thepound and the new gate has reced the chain-link fence we ced there at my old house. The gate is thick and reasonably heavy and it is quite tall. It is almost as tall as the wall from ourpound if it weren¡¯t for the space it needed vertically. It has handles for both sides but there¡¯s a huge lock that looks like a bolt action on the other side to prevent people from the other side on casually opening it. Anthony is now installing barbed wires on the top portion of it while he is on top of adder.


    He went down for a moment then slid the gate all the way and let us in. I¡¯m hearing music from his belt and I noticed a small radio ying a very old song. He looked at me and he smiled.


    ¡°Earl decided to fire up the radio station finally and he just started on ying a few songs. I like his taste in music and¡­ Oh yeah! He seems to be looking for you.¡± Anthony said.

 Chapter 181

    Chapter 181: 181


    I let the others unload everything else while I told Kaley to look for Rin to figure where to put everything else in ce. I made my way towards the radio station and Zeus followed after me when I called him over. He excitedly walked a bit more forwards than me, seemingly trying to scout the road before letting me take a single step. <center></center><hr>


    Everyone is busy at work as I scanned around everyone and then I finally reached the radio station.


    I opened the doors and I went to their booth and I saw Juan and Earl wearing headsets while an old song is being yed. It is the ¡®Coward of the City¡¯ by K. Dodger and it brought me back.


    ¡°Hey, I Anthony said you were looking for me.¡± I said as I tapped his shoulder.


    ¡°Oh, hey. It¡¯s not that important but we¡¯re just wondering on when we¡¯re gonna record the thing we would also broadcast towards the other people who still have ess to their radios?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Oh, I see. We could do it now.¡± I replied.


    We then set up the equipment needed as I started to speak in the recording device. I first mentioned safety precautions which is also the same thing from the broadcasts every day. I mentioned what we¡¯ve discovered in fighting and observing the dead specially the special ones and the irregr ones. I mentioned the cult roaming around and several bodies with missing heads or the markings is a telltale sign that they have been there.


    However, I didn¡¯t say a few things even if I wanted to.


    I didn¡¯t mention about the situation about the DDR Camps for obvious reasons. That is something we won¡¯t have control over yet and the necessarybat power to fight them in case it backfires. I also didn¡¯t mention the ces we would also be hitting in the future. Resources are finite and I don¡¯t want to take care of them when they went to the same ce we would be going. We¡¯re still relying on the supplies we could get outside since most of the crops are still growing and getting the meat from our animals is out of the question.


    ¡°Make sure to store your food in a safe and hidden location and be wary of unknown survivors.¡±


    ¡°Aim for the head.¡±


    ¡°This broadcast is sponsored by RAID SHADOW LEG¡­¡±


    ¡°Make sure to cover yourself from head to toe and avoid getting scratched or bitten at all cost. Even identally taking in their fluids will grant you their very special membership.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry we can¡¯t tell you where we are but if you do stumble upon us, do know that we would react ordingly. We¡¯re not bad people but don¡¯t give us the reason we might need to use necessary force.¡±


    The short recording session ended and Earl brought up another topic. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I also brought this is when we packed our things.¡± he said as he pointed to a device on the corner.


    ¡°What is that? An old walkie?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a HAM Radio. That thing could reach 20 kilometers minimum and much more if we use repeaters. Even the whole world if the situation is favorable.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Like a CB Radio th-¡± Juan said but Earl interrupted.


    ¡°Nope! The CB Radio can only operate on a few fixed channels on that band and is severely limitedpared to what a HAM Radio could do.¡± Earl got a bit excited.


    I casually tapped a few times in the table we¡¯re at and Earl looked at me.


    Dash Dot


    Dot Dot


    Dash Dot Dash Dot


    Dot


    I repeated it a few times as he attentively listened.


    ¡°What is nice?¡± Earl asked.


    ¡°What?¡± Juan was confused.


    ¡°Nice.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°What?¡± Juan grew even more confused.


    ¡°You had the license needed to operate on all frequencies, right? I have the same as well. I haven¡¯t brought out mine yet since we could still use our normal tech. Oscar has one too and Matthew only has a CB Radio at his camper.¡± I said to Earl.


    He smiled brightly and he nodded. I exined to Juan what we did and basically, you don¡¯t have to learn Morse Code to be able to get a license for a HAM Radio but learning it and being proficient in it can allow you to use all of the frequencies avable.


    ¡°But you have those Sat Phones, right? The one you asked if we have on our stores?¡± Juan replied.


    ¡°Yeah, but the moment the Satellites stopped working we won¡¯t be able to use the Sat Phones anymore. With the HAM Radio, even if an EMP hits us, it could still work just as fine.¡± Earl mentions.


    ¡°We got a bit off-track now talking about the HAM Radio, what do you want to ask?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Oh, right *chuckle* I got excited when I learned you have one at your person as well. Do you want me to broadcast it on this thing as well and listen in to other people? It would be great if we could also have anotheryer of security in doing that, I guess.¡± Earl exined.


    ¡°That is actually good. Do that even if we get fox hunted, we could do the same to them.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? What is being fox hunted now?¡± Juan seems eager to learn the lingo now.


    ¡°T-Hunting, Fox Hunting, or Bunny Hunting basically means an activity in tracking or finding the source of a transmission or a hidden one by using different radio direction finding techniques. It¡¯s popr among HAM Radio enthusiast but it could be used to track where our HAM Radio is. The only good thing that coulde from that is that it could go both ways. If they could track us, we could do the same. We could also employ the same technique when we¡¯re going outside if there are any people transmitting from their radios as well.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Won¡¯t it still be dangerous then?¡± Juan asked.


    ¡°Yeah, but like I said in our recordings, we react ordingly. We just need to be really careful as always though¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m kinda interested to learn this thing now.¡± Juan said.


    ¡°Well Earl is there to teach you everything you need to know. If this thing continued for several years, knowing how to operate this thing is crucial. I think lunch is ready, let¡¯s go back now.¡± I said to them. <hr>


    We walked back to thepound and Juan grabbed one cigarette from his pocket since Earl prohibited him from smoking inside the booth. Zeus happily followed us and we met a few others along the way and we told them it¡¯s time to eat lunch.


    The huge truck we brought has still a few boxes inside when we came back and we ate our lunch with everybody. It¡¯s small patties of hamburgers smothered with gravy, onions, and mushrooms and it was eaten over piping rice. It looks a bit like Salisbury Steak and everyone enjoyed it.


    While we¡¯re taking a short rest, I called Jared and Lois over and when I told them I would be handing them their new guns. They almost rushed past me heading immediately towards my armory.


    I pulled two different sized cases over and I showed them their each respective gun upgrade.


    I opened the longer case first and it contains a SIG 716 G2 DMR which is still technically an AR-10 Rifle and I let Jared pick his own attachments for it. It is chambered for the .308 Winchester and it looks very different from the M70 that Jared always carries. It has a 20-round magazine and it is a semi-automatic rifle unlike his old rifle which is bolt-action. The factory scope is still excellent and he only added a suppressor, bipod and a shlight on it along with the scope. He also added a sling and I gave him a couple of magazines for the 716.


    I then opened the much shorter case for Lois and the promised SIG MCX Rattler Canebreak was inside. He caressed it almost ufortably then he raised it up like a lost relic. He attached the same things like his brother did except for the bipod. He¡¯s getting really excited but I was just smiling cheekily.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I bet you¡¯ll be frequently joining us on a few more runs now. I doubt you¡¯ll stay much at home now.¡± I said.


    ¡°Crap. It¡¯s a trap!¡± he muttered as he realized what just happened.


    ¡°Well, how are you gonna use it if you¡¯re always at home? You need to get used to that rifle as well, right?¡± I said,ughing.


    ¡°Well¡­ I guess I could do it. I¡¯ll only go in the mornings though! I want to sleep a few hours in the afternoon!¡± he instantly negotiated.


    ¡°Then hand me that gun now since you don¡¯t have a safe in your house.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Shit! ARGH! Fine! I¡¯ll join one more run this afternoon!¡± he almost fell limply on the floor.


    We¡¯re happily chatting then the radio buzzed. <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Boss?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Someone¡¯s here.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Who?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Zardon¡¯s kid, Cyrill.¡±


    *bzzt*

 Chapter 182

    Chapter 182: 182


    When we three heard that it was Cyrill, our cousin, we three immediately went down and I looked for Uncle and told Hannah, Cyrill¡¯s younger sister, to take Kenny, their little brother, inside one of the rooms or just away from the newly built gate. <center></center><hr>


    Instead of a catwalk, the guys made a small tform in where you could stand in to scan above the gate since Anthony made the gate to be solid and not have little holes in which people outside could easily peek in from inside.


    We reached that tform and Jo is standing there while An and Jenny are on the small terrace that hangs above the 2nd floor of my old house. They¡¯re all looking down on Cyrill below on the other side while we three walked up to the tform.


    We saw him with a bloody machete and he¡¯s carrying a small backpack. There¡¯s blood all over his clothes. He seems worse for wear and there¡¯s a look of desperation in his eyes. There¡¯s tension in the air and he¡¯s looking at me with a conflicted expression. I gave a look at Jared first and he immediately understood the look I gave him. He started to look past Cyrill while Lois is already scanning around his eyes as he slightly lifted his gun.


    ¡°Hello bitch, what¡¯s up? We don¡¯t have meth here, sorry.¡± I stared with cold eyes.


    Jared slightly tilted his head with closed eyes while Lois crouched down to facepalm since the tension almost dissipated.


    ¡°F.u.c.k you.¡± he retorted.


    ¡°Thanks! What new words have you learned now?¡± I said with a mocking tone.


    He gnashes his teeth and his breath is getting heavier by the second.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you gonna let your cousin in?¡± he said.


    ¡°Not really, no. Besides, we¡¯re not your cousin anymore. Forgot that unc disowned you?¡± I replied.


    ¡°We¡¯re still blood! Can¡¯t you even consider that!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Consideration? Hah! Not killing you at Chang¡¯s ce was consideration already. If you don¡¯t have any bright ideas to talk about, better turn around since there¡¯s a couple behind you.¡± I said as a couple of zombies are slowly straddling towards him. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°F.u.c.k! Let me in!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°No.¡± I replied with a cold tone.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you see those thingsing closer?! F.u.c.k.i.n.g let me in!¡± He shouted at the top of his lungs.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you see that machete in your hand? Just f.u.c.k.i.n.g sink it into their heads.¡± I said.


    He started on nging the gates then Russel and my uncle arrived.


    ¡°Cy¡¯s here?¡± Russel said as we nodded.


    My uncle on the other hand has a solemn expression and he only said one thing while looking at his son, ¡°Leave.¡±


    He casually turned around and started on walking down the wooden stairs from the tform.


    Cyrill was furious hearing it from his dad as he turned around and made a fighting stance. He¡¯s making a lot of unnecessary movements as he turned his back at us and made a charge towards the couple of rotting bodies in front of him. I saw something from his back and noted it.


    One of them I recognize the uniform, it¡¯s from the spa next to the constructionpany we went into before and it looks like one of its workers. It looks really thin, literally. Every exposed flesh from its body has been either torn off or has been bitten off only leaving a stump on its arm. Its fingers are missing and it¡¯s waving its hands in random directions. The other one was just wearing simple clothing though its smile is wide because its cheeks are literally missing making us see its exposed teeth and curdling blood flowing from it.


    Cyrill is cursing out loud as he tried his best to avoid the iling arms.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t we gonna do anything?¡± Russel said.


    ¡°No.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°But still¡­¡± he trailed.


    ¡°After what he did to you?¡± I looked at him seriously.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was silent along with Jared and Lois.


    ¡°We gonna let him die?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Die? Well, look at him. He¡¯s not really dying, is he?¡± I said as I pointed at Cyrill.


    He kicked the one with the iling arm first in the chest to fall down to hit the one behind it. However, the other figure behind it coincidentally stepped its right foot at the right moment to avoid the one falling in front of it. Cyrill then pushed the hard edge of the machete he¡¯s using towards it and he kicked it down after it stopped moving and about to fall towards him. The one who fell down earlier is slowly getting up but Cyrill swung his weapon several times, making a mess on the road even if the figure he¡¯s swinging down on is already not moving. He made a scream of triumph as I almost rolled my eyes. He looked at me again with anger as he breathes heavily.


    ¡°Cool. Now leave.¡± I replied as the ones near me can¡¯t seem to find the right expression to give.


    ¡°LET ME IN!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Why?¡± I asked without a hint of concern.


    ¡°I NEED TO SPEAK TO KENNY!¡± he shouted again.


    ¡°Why?¡± Same expression.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K IT MATTERS TO YOU?!¡± he retorted. <hr>


    ¡°I own this ce, of course it matters. Also, that is not how you negotiate. Are you an idiot? Wait, you are. I forgot, sorry. Give me that piece tucked in your back and I¡¯ll think about it.¡± I replied nonchntly.


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU THIS THING IS MINE! DON¡¯T MAKE ME-¡± he shouted by I interrupted him


    ¡°Don¡¯t make you what? How far are you gone now? Can¡¯t you see six people here with guns that can easily take you down? What are you banking on in us not shooting you? I can¡¯t believe how many chances they¡¯ve given you before this thing even started. I f.u.c.k.i.n.g pity you dude.¡± I said in a voice that is not loud but everyone could hear me clearly.


    Him hearing that added more fuel to his rage but I don¡¯t care. His hands crept to his back but I saw that move from a mile away.


    I was already holding something in my hand and I casually threw it over the gate. Jared was the first one to see it and he immediately grabbed Lois with him as he dived on the ground. I could hear a smallmotion from above me and I figured they saw what I threw.


    I heard Cyrill shrieking from fear when he saw that and he didn¡¯t even manage to draw his pistol.


    I ced my foot on the gap of the gate where the barbed wires are ced and I jumped down when Cyrill dived on the ground as well.


    The grenade fell to the ground and made a few bounces but it didn¡¯t explode even after a few seconds.


    ¡°The pin is still in there you f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot.¡± I said


    He¡¯s clutching his head and all that came out was, ¡°What?¡±


    Then I delivered a kick to his abdomen.


    *THUD*


    The impact made him roll sideways as the hands clutching his head are now in his stomach. He¡¯s letting out a small groan as he tried to endure the pain. <hr>


    ¡°BRO WHAT THE F.U.C.K?!¡± I heard from the other side of the gate.


    I ignored Jared¡¯s remark and then I picked Cyrill up and smashed him on the gate.


    *BANG*


    Hisnky body hit the solid steel and he crashes on the ground after. I kicked his gun that came loose when he fell down with the machete he had let go on the side. His nose is leaking blood but he tried to stand up. I kicked his shin hard and I pped his ear hard with my open palm then I threw an elbow as I made a quick spin. I was about to follow it with a kick but he¡¯s down on the ground again.


    I crouched down as he started to cough and I picked him up by the cor.


    ¡°This is one way of negotiating. Learn, yeah? Tell me why you want to talk to Kenny or else I¡¯ll break one of your fingers.¡± I said as I looked at him in the eye.


    ¡°F-f.u.c.k you¡­¡± he muttered with bated breath.


    *crack*


    My patience has already run out and I bent his pinky towards the other side as his face turned red from the pain. Instead of screaming loud, he actually tried to endure that hit as well as he emitted a long groan though his saliva is leaking from his mouth as he writhed in pain.


    ¡°Are you gonna talk or do you want me to break another one? You¡¯re already lucky I didn¡¯t shoot you since I don¡¯t want guns getting pulled on me. Well, I¡¯m really holding myself back now or this is just a long thinging from all the things you¡¯ve done.¡± I said.


    Suddenly, his anger almost subsided as he started to sob. Tears started to flow from his eyes but he¡¯s still gnashing his teeth in anger.


    ¡°M-m-moms dead¡­¡± he muttered.

 Chapter 183

    Chapter 183: 183


    He started breaking down on his own after his short and stuttered reply. <center></center><hr>


    No one seems to be speaking at the moment as the people present only stared at him. He started on bawling as I let him go and he¡¯s justying down on the ground.


    I went for the Kel-Tec that I kicked earlier and picked it up. I cleared the chamber first and removed the magazine.


    ¡°No bullets.¡± I thought to myself.


    It¡¯s scratched all over and the machete on the side is a piece of junk that the handle is about to fall off and the de has rust stains all over. You won¡¯t notice it at first nce since it is covered by blood and dirt.


    I made a small sigh and then I looked at him.


    ¡°What happened?¡± I asked.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was not responding.


    ¡°I¡¯m not gonna ask twice.¡± I added.


    ¡°You have to let me in first.¡± he said as he finally stopped crying and sat down on the road. I could hear a few more people havee near the other side of the gate since several I heard several footsteps and a few murmurs.


    ¡°Then pack up your things and leave this ce. I don¡¯t give a f.u.c.k if you, your sister, and your f.u.c.k.i.n.g mother¡¯s dead. I just want to have something to tell your little brother if he ever, which I highly doubt, ask for the three of you.¡± I replied with a cold tone.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± he said in the quietest way possible.


    *twitch*


    I had a huge frown on my face and I looked at him dead in the eye.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k did you say?!¡± I eximed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I-Im s-¡± he tried to repeat what he said but I let loose.


    *BAM*


    *THUD*


    *WHACK*


    I kicked his head with my right foot and I stomped on his leg. He finally screamed in pain then I mounted him and started on raining punches in his face. He received everything I threw at him and he tried to defend himself at first but as more punches go through, he started to just receive everything.


    *PUNCH*


    ¡°Remember what you did to Russel?¡±


    *PUNCH*


    ¡°To your dad?¡±


    *PUNCH*


    ¡°To everyone else you call ¡®blood¡¯? F.U.C.K YOU!¡±


    I threw several more punches to his face as I could faintly hear a voice calling for me.


    *BOOM*


    ¡°KID! THE F.U.C.K IS GOING ON HERE?! KID! KID!¡± I heard Oscar¡¯s voice and his shotgun firing.


    I looked at the direction of the voice and I saw him with the traineesing from outside with firearms. They saw my face and all of them took a step back except for Oscar. The gate which is next to us opened and I saw several people are standing right behind it and Kaley was among them. <hr>


    Oscar approached Cyrill as I wiped off the blood from my gloves after I stood up.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k happened here kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°This f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot just said ¡®sorry¡¯ Hah! Can you f.u.c.k.i.n.g believe it? ¡®Sorry¡¯, IT¡¯S TOO F.U.C.K.I.N.G LATE FOR THAT YOU DUMB F.U.C.K!!! DID YOU THINK THAT COULD SOLVE WHAT YOU DID?!¡± I felt something unpleasant in my chest again.


    I threw another kick at his side and he let out a guttural scream.


    ¡°Is this? Ah, shit.¡± Oscar recognized Cyrill.


    *psshhh*


    Oscar ced the muzzle towards Cyrill¡¯s exposed skin. It started to burn his skin but Oscar eventually retracted his shotgun after a short wince from Cyrill.


    ¡°You¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g brave. I¡¯ll give you that.¡± Oscarmented.


    ¡°Please¡­ I just want to see Kenny¡­ and H-Hannah b-before I leave¡­¡± Cyrill said.


    ¡°Shit, really, he said ¡®please¡¯ kid. Kid, tell me, the f.u.c.k did you do? He¡¯s even polite now. Do I hit him a couple more times and he will start one of those bullshit religions? Alright, let¡¯s head in.¡± Oscar was amused as he led his group back.


    Everyone who doesn¡¯t know the story are confused in what just happened and then they started talking when Oscar walked inside never bothered on checking him.


    ¡°H-hey. Who¡¯s that guy?¡±


    ¡°Long story.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re not helping him?¡± <hr>


    ¡°You won¡¯t understand now, there¡¯s no subtitles. I¡¯ll tell youter.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s he?¡±


    ¡°We should dress the wounds he sustained at least.¡±


    ¡°And who would do that?¡±


    ¡°I could.¡±


    ¡°Trust me you wouldn¡¯t want to do that.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°You need to move our boss over first and I doubt he¡¯ll let you do it. Even Oscar doesn¡¯t care.¡±


    ¡°He better go to the camps to get some medical attention at least¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the best bet he¡¯s got.¡±


    ¡°Agree.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a waste of resources to help that asshole.¡±


    I looked at the group watching the events unfold and I thought to myself for a while.


    ¡°Here¡¯s what I¡¯ll give you since I¡¯ll be taking your gun. Tell me what you wanted to tell them or something and I¡¯ll ry it to them. You won¡¯t get anywhere if you start to y the victim and y on the feelings of the people inside who doesn¡¯t know you. Our bridge has already burned several years ago and I don¡¯t care what happens to you.¡± I said. <hr>


    His left eye is bruised and he can¡¯t open it after the rain of punches. He struggled on getting up and he picked up a few cans of food that fell off from his bag and a single bottled water. He took a small nce at me first before picking up his machete and I let him pick it up.


    ¡°J-just tell them¡­¡± his voice is really quiet and I¡¯m the only one who could hear it.


    I¡¯m just listening to every word he said. On thest part on what he said, the look I¡¯m giving him changed. My head tilted slightly as I listened more intently from his cracked lips. After I took everything in, I grabbed his hand and then I realigned the finger that I dislocated earlier by popping it back in. I handed him the gun that I took and gave him a few rounds and everyone grew confused once more.


    ¡°Go to the camps or somewhere safe. It will be hell theing days and I will thank you for the info but that¡¯s not enough for me to let you stay here. Trade-in what you have and survive. We¡¯ll talk someday but now I¡¯m still inclined on breaking all of your bones. Have a breather or something before you leave and have this for backup.¡± I said as I handed him my pocket knife and a piece of cloth.


    He epted it but he still has this mixed expression stered across his face. He pocketed the knife and he wiped his face off with the cloth I gave him. He stared at me for a few seconds and then he turned around and started on slowly walking away.


    I then turned around to the people behind me and they are all looking at me. Lois and Jared are covered in dirt since they dove down on the ground and I looked at them. Kaley on the other hand is patiently waiting for the words that I¡¯m about to speak.


    ¡°Jared go to Oscar and tell him to have a couple of machine-guns mounted on my old house and in this tform that we have. ce some of them at our catwalk too and tell him that it¡¯s a go on Project Nuggets.¡± I said.


    Jared¡¯s eyes widened then he pulled Lois with him and then they went to look for Oscar. A few moments pass and I could hear a celebratory yelling from thepound.


    ¡°That person who came here before is my cousin. Let¡¯s just say that he belongs in a circle of people that deals with illegal substances and he attempted to influence a few of our family members. We made something more than an intervention before and all we got is the middle finger. Something happened at the ce he was staying at and-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°What happened to the ce he was staying at?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s gone now.¡± I replied.


    ¡°W-wait, the ce we came in before?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°He said that several people in bikes and a truck came in at the time when they wereing back from a run. A group of people attacked their ce and the people he¡¯s with decided to took off on their own but he waited for the people inside their ce to leave. He just came inside with several bodies with severed heads and he discovered the headless body of his mother just outside the gate. He immediately looked for his sister but she¡¯s not among the dead inside along with a few others. I think you know where this goes, right?¡± I said as I looked at her.


    ¡°B-but his mother just died, aren¡¯t we gonna at least let him in for the meantime?¡± someone from the crowd said. It was Esther.


    ¡°Your mother dying doesn¡¯t make you a good person. You¡¯re good if you¡¯re good, not when a family member close to you dies. That doesn¡¯t excuse what he did to us and I¡¯m sure as hell I won¡¯t let him stay at this ce just because of that reason. Several mothers would just die if that¡¯s what it takes. I hate it when someone dies or when someone close to a person dies and suddenly their past actions seems to get forgotten easily.¡± I replied as she nodded solemnly.

 Chapter 184

    Chapter 184: 184


    The gate was finally closed and when the crowd dispersed, Francis, the Pediatrician we took from the camps approached me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Um, a word?¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah? What do you need?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Your cousin¡­¡± he trailed.


    ¡°What do you want to know?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I know this is not my ce to speak about such things but I think we should¡¯ve at least dressed his wound despite the thing he di-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°The things he did? You have no idea. Let me just tell you a few of them so you understand. You already know that he¡¯s involved with illegal substances and he¡¯s actually part of their inner circle around these parts. He influenced Russel and we almost lost Russel since he took too much of the stuff at one point. His heart literally stopped and he was hospitalized. I had to beat him up real good since he can¡¯t seem to understand that it¡¯s also his fault for taking them.¡± I exined.


    ¡°W-wait, you beat him up?¡± he asked, confused.


    ¡°After he woke up of course! I also made him fight back so it¡¯s kinda even!¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was shocked.


    ¡°Why are you telling him my story?!¡± Russel heard our conversation.


    ¡°Because I can and I¡¯d rather embarrass you over and over so you¡¯ll understand. Can you even remember what you told me on why you did it? Huh?¡± I looked at him with wide eyes.


    ¡°B-because they said it was c-cool¡­¡± he said very weakly as he shrinks down.


    ¡°See that?¡± I then looked at Francis.


    ¡°¡­¡± he can¡¯t seem to find the words to reply. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Not depression or anything! He just thought it was cool! And he got addicted to it!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°That¡¯s why they¡¯re called drugs! They¡¯re addictive!¡± Russel shouted as well in embarrassment.


    ¡°I know! Of all the things you¡¯ll get addicted to! Don¡¯t worry, next time you go back to that ce I¡¯ll beat you up again!¡± I replied.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys too rough with each other?¡± Francis chimed.


    ¡°Us? Hah! His dad was about to kill him when he found out! I was beating him up while trying to disable his dad at the same time. He¡¯s holding an axe and was about to chop him down!¡± I replied.


    ¡°W-wait, w-what?!¡± he was shocked once more.


    ¡°That really happened. I thought I was already crazy but unc is much crazier than me, it¡¯s crazy! I understand you want to help people but please don¡¯t follow that Hippocratic oath that you follow now that you¡¯re here. It¡¯s good to help people in need of medical attention but don¡¯t just go ahead and take a look at everyone that needs it. Take a step back sometimes and view the whole situation. The person you¡¯re applying medicine might suddenly stab you in the back after he made use of you.¡± I said.


    ¡°But why did you give his gun and even handed him your knife bro?¡± Russel said.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s payment.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Payment? For what?¡± he said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to owe anyone anything so I always pay my debts. He gave me information so I paid for it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°He finally talked. I¡¯ll be sure to put a bullet in their heads when I see them. I had my doubts before but him confirming it made things easier.¡± I thought to myself as I headed to my room to reload a few of my ammo since I¡¯ve only took care of the brothers¡¯ guns first.


    I took a deep exhale while I was on the chair after taking care of everything and then I didn¡¯t notice that my eyes are slowly closing.


    I saw two very familiar figures in front of me with kind faces looking at me with affection. They¡¯re both hugging me close as the image changed to another. It was now me with the same figures but the one with the female attributes is next to me teaching me how to crack an egg the other one with the male attributes is just watching me with a funny look on his face as I poked the yolk and it scattered on the pan. <hr>


    Another scene I¡¯m seeing is that I¡¯m on a bike and I could faintly hear sounds of encouragement from behind as the wobbling of the bike is slowly diminishing and getting reced by a stable stride. It then turned to a burst of speed and after that a figure sprinting past me just in time to stop me from going further outside the street.


    It changed a few more times and then I felt a something covering me and then my hand reached out.


    I heard a small gasp and my eyes opened.


    It was Kaley trying to cover me with a nket and now I¡¯m on the bed while I¡¯m holding both of her wrists.


    ¡°Shit. I fell asleep, what time is it?¡± I said as I stood up.


    ¡°It¡¯s maybe half an hour after you went to our room. Are you crying?¡± she said as she wipes a small tear from my eyes with her thumb.


    ¡°Dunno, just had a small dream, that¡¯s all.¡± I replied.


    Her eyebrow raised and she gives me another look.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really know how you do that. I just had a short dream about my parents.¡± I said with a faint smile.


    She can¡¯t seem to find a reply so she just hugged me. Surprisingly, it was all I needed. Just a simple hug.


    ¡°Oh yeah, Jared and Lois went to the shooting range to shoot a few rounds with their guns after they told Oscar what you said earlier. Tatiana brought her group out for a small run. Your unc was speaking to Russel for a few moments earlier and he heard of the news. He took Hannah and Kenny with him to their room and they were inside ever since. The others are just offering their help on where it is needed since you haven¡¯te down yet.¡± Kaley said.


    We went down and I saw Oscar with the people he¡¯s training mounting a machine-gun on the catwalk and there are several more crates below.


    ¡°Need any help old man?¡± I asked.


    ¡°What? Help? I have all I need! Don¡¯t have anything to do, are we?¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, most of my team are doing something and the things I wanted to do requires them to be present. It¡¯s just me and Kaley here now.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well I know one thing you two could do but I think you two are doing it every moment you could. Heh.¡± Oscar chuckled as we leave him to his own devices.


    I was looking around and all the kids are ying with each other and I noticed that Kenny is outside now but he seems to be doing fine. I had an idea and called all of them over. They all greeted me and Kaley.


    ¡°Why did you call us? Want to join?¡± Aya asked.


    ¡°Well I do but I have a special mission for all of you. Come with me!¡± I said as they all have excited faces. I brought knee pads, elbow pads and a helmet for the kids and I made them wear it before we left thepound. I led them all towards the covered court and I called Chris, Charlotte, Alex, Jonathan, Esther, Lois and Jared.


    We all gathered inside and they saw what we did to the covered court.


    ¡°This is really sphemy bro. I can¡¯t believe you did this to the covered court.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°We still have another one near the barn. Don¡¯t be so dramatic.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So~ what are we gonna do here? And why did you bring all the kids over?¡± Charlotte asked.


    ¡°Training obviously.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hey! You said we¡¯re on a special mission!¡± Kenny shouted.


    ¡°Yeah, of course! But we¡¯ll need to do training first before we know that you¡¯ll be qualified.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Qualified?¡± Aya asked.


    I made all the a.d.u.l.ts sit down on the bleachers first and I made Jared hold a timer. I then huddled the kids together and they all got excited. <hr>


    ¡°Okay! Okay! That¡¯s a promise then!¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna lose!¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯s Sky¡­ he¡¯s really fast¡­¡±


    ¡°I am too!¡±


    ¡°No you¡¯re not!¡±


    ¡°I am!¡±


    They kept on squabbling but they eventually quieted down when Kaley looked at them menacingly.


    Iughed and said, ¡°Okay, you have 5 minutes to catch me! If you do, I¡¯ll make the best ice cream you have ever tasted!¡±


    All of their eyes gleamed with excitement as they all made a stance to chase after me in the obstacle course that we made yesterday. I saw Lois on the side getting pumped up and ready to try it and then Jared gave the signal.


    ¡°Go!¡± he shouted.


    They all rushed towards me and I also rushed towards them.


    The people watching from the side grew confused but I made a quick slice to the side as I jumped over the small barricade making the kids stumble. They quickly recovered and I made a run to several obstacles as they all followed suit. They started to entrap me by going in different directions but they would always miss me by a hair¡¯s breadth as I would either twist my body to avoid their hands or juke in a different direction. Everyone started to have fun then the timer eventually beeped. The kids are catching their breath but they have a huge smile on their faces.


    ¡°Two birds with one stone.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Who wants to try next to be chased?¡± I looked at everyone then Lois immediately stood up.

 Chapter 185

    Chapter 185: 185


    ¡°He actually was faster than Chris to volunteer. Heh.¡± I thought to myself as I saw Chris just in the midst of standing up. <center></center><hr>


    I looked at the kids but they¡¯re giving a different expression from earlier.


    ¡°Why are you guys looking like that?¡± I asked them.


    ¡°W-we didn¡¯t catch you! L-L-Lois has no ice cream at home!¡± Aya said as the rest nodded.


    ¡°Hah! Same rule applies with everyone. If you managed to catch at least one of us, I¡¯ll give you what I promised earlier.¡± I said then their eyes gleamed again.


    When Jared gave the signal, Lois picked the optimal way and he started on shaving the time second by second. He got caught on the 3-minute mark since he started on making it harder on himself by going on difficult routes. Him trying to climb the wall made him stumble for a moment and Kenny managed to touch his heel.


    ¡°YEAH~!¡± Kenny shouted.


    ¡°Shit!¡± Lois cursed but he¡¯s still excited.


    Chris was about to go next but the timer flew at his direction. He was about to say something else but he just made a sigh and sat down.


    ¡°Watch and learn little bro.¡± Jared said as he started to stretch his legs.


    ¡°Hmph! I just wanted to try something cool.¡± Lois harrumphed.


    ¡°Yeah, try that when an actual zombie is trying to reach you.¡± Jared replied with sarcasm.


    ¡°Yo! We get our ice cream now, right?!¡± Kenny approached me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah. You all get a scoop of the best ice cream in the world. But¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°But?¡± he tilted his head.


    ¡°The more people you catch, the more scoops you have.¡± I said.


    His eyes almost widened in excitement once more while Kaley elbowed me in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Go!¡± Chris shouted.


    Jared was more cautious than Lois and he only made bold movements if the sess rate is high. He easily cleared the 5-minute time and he ran circles around Lois to annoy his younger brother even more. The kids we were babysitting and training with us has almost infinite energy. They were fine from all the running and I only noticed them getting slower on thest half of the chase but easily ovee by the temptation of the greatest reward on their mind.


    Each person took their turns and a few of them got caught by the kids. Only I, Kaley, Jared, Chris and Alex were the ones able to evade the kids by making use of the terrain or just simply speed. Chris and Alex would break-off when the kids start to get closer and would only make use of the barricades if that¡¯s the only choice. Since our bodies were faster than the kids by a few notches, we took advantage of it easily. Chris has more explosive power with running straight while Alex made long strides since she has long legs.


    What surprised me is Kaley. She tried to follow my route and she modified it to suit her body. The modifications she made are minute but it helped her greatly. She was focused the whole time and she would slip inside the window by a simple jump then she would follow it up by climbing to a ledge so the kids would scatter in different directions and would take a bit of time to find her again.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll make a few restrictions next time to raise the difficulty.¡± I thought to myself.


    I made everyone take a small breather and we gathered on the bleachers.


    ¡°Okay, great job everyone but tell me what you did to achieve your results. Our lesson today was a bit different since we moved first before our small lecture.¡± I said to them.


    ¡°It was fun!¡± One of the kids said. <hr>


    ¡°Of course, it was! You guys are great!¡± I replied then I looked at the a.d.u.l.ts for their answer.


    ¡°I remembered what you said before that you¡¯d n in your head to where you ce your foot before making a step.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah, and?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I thought we would be starting a bit small at first but the added challenge of having the kids chase us made me think faster increasing the difficulty. I think I saw¡­ routes?¡± she hesitated on thest part.


    ¡°Nice. It worked.¡± I thought to myself as I made a faint smile.


    ¡°I on the other hand started to freeze up since I nked out when too much was going on. I wanted to go to a certain ce but the kids were already there.¡± Charlotte chimed.


    ¡°Same.¡± Esther said.


    ¡°I have a few ways where I think I could go to, but the ones where I wanted to go, I think I can¡¯t reach yet.¡± Jonathan said.


    They each told their own experiences from the small exercise and then I started to give a few pointers on my own.


    ¡°The main thing that I wanted you to learn from our exercise is what Kaley said, routes. In my case, I could imagine several routes in which I could go to and those routes could branch out a few more times either joining the existing routes or creating new ones. Freezing up in the middle is the most dangerous thing that could happen and choosing a bad route is more preferable than not moving at all in this case. Imagine a swarm of sprinters chasing you and you stop moving, it¡¯s already over before you stop and think about where you could go next.¡± I exined.


    ¡°But what about in my case?¡± Jonathan asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s why we always train our bodies. I had that feeling before when I watched a movie and would try what I see from it and fail miserably since my body is different from theirs. Now I could perform almost all of what I wanted since I have control of my body by training it every single day. Have you been visiting the gym?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Yes, I do. Been visiting there as often as I could.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Then you¡¯re already working on a solution. Just keep on doing it and you¡¯ll get there.¡± I said as he nodded.


    I told them we would be repeating the same exercise but they got confused when I gathered all the kids away from them. We huddled in a circle and I started on whispering a few more instructions.


    ¡°Okay, another addition to our special training. What I wanted you all to do is that some of you hide in a few corners but don¡¯t stay in it for too long. Try to surprise them and go on a different direction if there are two of you going in the same way. Can you all do that?¡± I told them.


    ¡°Ooh~ that sounds fun!¡±


    ¡°My head is woozy¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll try my best!¡±


    *nods*


    ¡°Me too!¡±


    ¡°Okay~¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s in it for us? More ice cream?¡± Kenny asked with excitement.


    ¡°No.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°What?! But it¡¯s not fun with no reward!¡± he eximed quietly.


    ¡°Not more ice cream but¡­ sprinkles.¡± I said while moving my eyebrows up and down.


    I don¡¯t know what happened but I think the power level of the kids I¡¯m talking to went over 9000.


    ¡°Kids are scary when they¡¯ve joined forces to achieve the mission.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was the one holding the timer now and then the kids moved.


    I can¡¯t believe how the motivation of ice cream and sprinkles made them work like a unit. The same people that got caught before got caught again and even in a much faster rate and only Jared was the one not caught since he started to climb on higher ces where the kids couldn¡¯t reach him. Kaley was caught off-guard by Aya hiding on the other side of the wall patiently while Alex nked out when she found out the kids moved differently from before. I was watching everyone in amus.e.m.e.nt and we continued on for a few more rounds.


    We stopped when I noticed the kids are getting tired by the constant movements and it¡¯s bad if they start to get fatigued and get sick from it. I brought out the towels from my bag to wipe themselves off and I ced the dry ones that are left to their backs. I made them hydrate after that and we packed up. We made our way back while I carried Kenny with my shoulders as we started to walk slowly towards ourpound. The machine-guns are mounted and you could see the belt of ammo just by the side of it and several more cans for backup.


    I opened a few tubs of different vored ice cream for everyone and I brought out the chocte sprinkles I promised as a reward for them catching the others.


    ¡°We should do this every day!¡± they all said.


    ¡°With the other you could. We might be on a few runs but you could y in the course as long as you wear your equipment, okay?¡± I told the kids.


    ¡°Oof, we will be out of ice cream if we do this every single day!¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay~¡± they all said in unison.

 Chapter 186

    Chapter 186: 186


    I then left them to their own devices and went towards my room. Kaley told me that she¡¯ll visit her mom on the other house that they upied and Zeus followed her. There¡¯s still a couple more hours before the broadcast so I went to Ken¡¯s house and called Kris and Jared over. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Time to talk about Ana.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°What¡¯s up dude? The people at Woonds are still chill and they don¡¯t seem to be doing anything, yet. I rarely see theme outside but they woulde out a few times to get supplies.¡± Ken said while busy flying the drone for a routine check.


    ¡°Yeah, we need to talk about something.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What are we doing here Sky?¡± Kris asked.


    ¡°Is this about the hacker chick?¡± Jared chimed.


    ¡°Chick? Hacker? What?¡± Ken and Kris said in unison.


    ¡°The story is that someone managed to get inside to Jared¡¯s phone when we went to a run before. Well, it was caused by me since I connected to awork broadcasting in the Pulo Area. The person already knew me and she wants to have a partne-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°Wait, wait, wait! Hand me that phone!¡± Ken eximed as he started to fiddle with it.


    ¡°Hmmm, I can¡¯t seem to find any trace of this getting hacked from the surface I might need to w-¡± then the message pops up again.


    [It¡¯s supposed to be that way. You can only get to me if I wanted you to.]


    ¡°Shit.¡± Ken said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°This is the person you¡¯re talking about?¡± Kris said.


    ¡°Yeah, she goes by ¡®Ana71¡¯. She contacted us earlier at the supermarket.¡± I then exined the whole story.


    [Are you the three here who could at least understand ournguage?]


    ¡°Yeah. Just us three.¡± Jared gave me a look but I gave him a look as well and he understood almost telepathically.


    ¡°We¡¯re not sure about Tatiana yet but I think she could do something simr to what we could do. Better not reveal all of our cards from a stranger. She doesn¡¯t sound like a bad guy but it pays to be cautious.¡± I thought to myself.


    [Our agreement, when is the fastest time you could aplish your end of the deal?]


    I then noticed that Ken started on tapping silently on his keyboard trying to locate where this person ising from. I thought it was useless but it isn¡¯t bad to try. I could already see from his monitor where the signal ising from is getting scrambled and it shows that she¡¯sing from different countries. However, I think she¡¯s near us and just don¡¯t want to be found out.


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s a few cell towers close to here and instead of stretching them out as far as it could reach, I think I want the things we would be making to stay in a stable range so that the signal is stronger. I¡¯ll print out an enclosure from a 3D Printer in which to ce the Raspberry Pi modules first with the panel and the other things needed and it could take a bit of time considering how much we would be making. How far do you want us to reach?¡± I said.


    [As far as possible.]


    ¡°I wanted that too but only the record for the City Hall here is not much of a payment in that project of yours that you want finished.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Getting her limit on how far she wanted it to reach can give me a general idea of her goals and the general direction on where she is.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    [Wait. How far could you reach then?]


    ¡°I have about a few thousand of them.¡± I said tly.


    ¡°Wait, w-what?!¡± Kris eximed.


    [¡­]


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Why do you have so much of them dude?¡± Ken was shocked as well.


    ¡°Well it got really popr before. I tried to make a mining rack for them before but turns out beefy GPUs are obviously much better. I have several boxes of them lying around somewhere.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Now I can¡¯t understand what you guys are talking about.¡± Jared chimed.


    ¡°Well that part about mining is not important right now but even if I have a lot of them, I can¡¯t cover everything with them and we¡¯ll run out soon enough. Do you want me to head for the Bcan area or more in the cities?¡±


    [Not important. I want them to reach wherever I can¡¯t reach.]


    ¡°Which is?¡± I asked. <hr>


    [That¡¯s not something I¡¯mfortable in telling you. I think you wanted to get my general direction to locate me.]


    ¡°She¡¯s good. But not that good, her saying that means that she¡¯s close and not from another country.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Well you already know where we are and that just sounds unfair to me. We¡¯re basically risking our lives for an optional way to get what we wanted. I believe you heard what I said before. You need us more than we need you. I just can¡¯t pass up a skilled person such as you and all I wanted is another addition to my team.¡± I replied.


    [What if I delete the records from the City Hall? I can still ess them and erasing everything there would make me the only source of everything that you needed.]


    The atmosphere suddenly got tense but I started to chuckle.


    ¡°Great threat, much wow. If you do that, then you¡¯ll lose the only chance to get what you wanted. I¡¯ll only need to make a phone call to shut the power in this ind group. Well, the power here will be gone in a few more days I¡¯m not sure. I doubt you could do anything without any power and even if you could remotely turn the servers on from wherever you are, it won¡¯t turn on without any electricity and we¡¯re back to square one. You have your copy of what we need and we only need a little bit of time to get what we wanted. Even if you managed to destroy everything, it¡¯s just a minor inconvenience. It would only take us a bit more time in finding everything and filtering people. I¡¯m not sure on your situation over there but I doubt it¡¯s any good if you¡¯re needing the help of my group. Think of a better threat next time and don¡¯t even think of messing everything up in my ce. I¡¯m telling you, we¡¯re the best chance you get and it will benefit you more if you try to trust us.¡± I said.


    Jared¡¯s phone was not receiving messages for a moment and one finally pops up.


    [I still don¡¯t trust you, yet. I¡¯ve been burned many times and I still have some reservations. What you said to me are still words and I want a few things to get aplished first before we move onto other things. However, I apologize for threatening you. It¡¯s a mistake on my part if we¡¯re trying to make some sort of partnership.]


    I made a soft sigh and said, ¡°That¡¯s understandable. I¡¯ll look forward to that.¡±


    I was surprised to see another batch of files sent to the phone and another message popped up.


    [That¡¯s for the other information I could I could hear from your group about the cult and etc. It¡¯s only 5% but I think that it¡¯s enough payment for that.] <hr>


    ¡°Thanks.¡± I replied and she went silent again.


    ¡°I think I like her dude.¡± Ken muttered.


    ¡°Hah! You know she could still hear us, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t give a f.u.c.k. IF YOU¡¯RE HEARING THIS CONTACT ME! I¡¯M GONNA TURN OFF THE FIREWALL ON MY PC!!!¡± Ken shouted.


    Kris was pursing his lips on the side but I think he¡¯s having the same opinion with Ken.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I thought to myself.


    Kris and Ken then volunteered to make the design for the enclosure but I told him that I would need to see it first before we go through with it. It shouldn¡¯t have any small gaps and it should be a tight fit. It should look inconspicuous since not all the time we would be able to ce them above the cell towers. We have huge cell towers on select ces here but there are small ones atop residential houses which are contracted by other mobilepanies. It¡¯s much smaller and only about a few tens of feetpared to therge ones.


    I showed them the parts to make our device and they each went on their own to make their desired design.


    We were just waiting for the broadcast to start but a few of our people came to find a few of us and told us that some of the houses has no electricity but the water is still running.


    ¡°Shit. The power here started to get cut off. We still have several panels that we got from Wilcon¡¯s Depot and it is fairly easy to install them with the inverters and the batteries. It¡¯s enough for lighting and the fans but I¡¯m sure you know our protocol for lights in the evening.¡± I told the people who had some concerns.


    ¡°Another daily necessity removed from the list. How long would waterst then?¡± I asked myself.

 Chapter 187

    Chapter 187: 187


    A few houses outside have sr panels installed in their premises when Oscar first came back from the Depot and my group acquired a few sr generators. The ones whose houses didn¡¯t have them yet was handed their share and there is plenty to go around a few times. However, acquiring more sr panels is needed not just forfort but for various reasons. I searched in my head a few more ces that might contain them but the closest is really Wilcon¡¯s Depot. We might search blindly on their warehouse but it beats going to more obscure ces which we haven¡¯t explored yet. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Does Ana have sr panels like us?¡± Ken asked me.


    ¡°I dunno, why don¡¯t you borrow Jared¡¯s phone?¡± I replied.


    Ken¡¯s eyes lit up as he turned his wheelchair to face Jared.


    ¡°Your phone, how much?¡± Ken said.


    ¡°Huh? Why would you want this phone?¡± Jared said while keeping his phone tight on his pocket.


    ¡°That¡¯s the only connection I have with her! I just want to ask if she has power over her ce or not. So, I have this shotgun I only used a couple of times. Wanna trade this for that?¡± Ken pulled out the shotgun I gave to him before.


    ¡°You really want to trade the only gun you have?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°I never go out anyways! Besides, it¡¯s mine now, right? I can do whatever I want with it.¡± Ken said.


    ¡°I thought you brought down your firewall?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah! Still no contact with her!¡± Ken replied as he raised his own phone.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re going a little strong?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Me? Preposterous! Wait¡­ I might be and I¡¯m starting to annoy her. Let me try again, oh dear goddess of mystery! I came before thee with humble heart! My¡­ my¡­ I¡­ ah- walls of fire~ has been brought down by this lowly peasant so that you might gaze upon my humble self oh goddess~!¡± He started to sound weirder by each word.


    ¡°How ¡¯bout that?¡± Ken looked at us.


    ¡°¡­¡± Jared and I.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just start with a simple ¡®hey¡¯? I think that thing you did could be reserved for maybe a second date? I think?¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Pssh! Why would a simple ¡®hey¡¯ work? That¡¯s the most boring thing I could think of!¡± Ken replied while rolling his eyes.


    ¡°Ana, hey.¡± I said normally.


    [Yeah? Power just ran out and I started to set up my generator.]


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?!¡± Ken eximed.


    ¡°She¡¯s really around these parts or she just knows our situation and she¡¯s acting. Wait, am I overthinking things again?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Ahem! Ana, hey.¡± Ken said.


    Nothing.


    ¡°AHEM! Ana, hey.¡± Ken said with more bravado.


    Still nothing.


    ¡°F.u.c.k you Sky.¡± Ken rolled over my toe.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k dude?! It¡¯s not my fault she doesn¡¯t want to talk to you!¡± I eximed while rubbing my toe.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you just freaking start a harem already since most of the girls here only wanted to talk to you! Huh?!¡± he eximed as the few people near us took a look at him.


    ¡°Easy there Ken¡­¡± Jared said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Ken and I.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± the both of usughed heartily. <hr>


    Jared then got confused.


    ¡°We always joke like this, don¡¯t mind us. *chuckle*¡± Ken said.


    ¡°We¡¯re weird, don¡¯t mind, don¡¯t mind. I¡¯ll pay you back for rolling over my toe though. You¡¯ll never see iting.¡± I added to what he said but he just smiled at myst remark.


    The people watching us bicker either shook their heads or rolled their eyes at us. The broadcast finally started and the president once more appeared on the podium he is always at still wearing hisbat gear. I thought he would begin speaking but his hand is on top of it and it is seemingly gripping the podium too tightly. He slightly pursed his lips after he made a long exhale.


    ¡°Philippines¡­ I just received the report that the government of Japan¡­ has copsed¡­¡± he said.


    I suddenly had a million thought in my head about the people I knew over there. Old man Kaiseki, Aoi, the mountain, and everything else I knew over that ce. I can¡¯t seem to hear the rest of his statement and I¡¯m just staring at the screen nkly.


    ¡°SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! Wait, it just said the government, not the whole country. I know somehow it would eventuallye to this but still. Are they still alive? Well, it¡¯s highly unlikely for them to drop dead that easily. It¡¯s where I learned a few things. Did they even receive my email? They never responded but I think it¡¯s just the coverage. They¡¯re in an elevated ce and they¡¯re in the provinces. They¡¯re definitely safe and they would have an abundance of food from the mountain and the sea below. They definitely are safe, definitely. Definitely¡­¡± I tried to calm myself as I tried to listen to the report once again.


    ¡°The report came from thest ne that has just arrived here a couple hours ago and they have only brought a few soldiers and mostly their scientists with all of their research. The Philippines will wee them to our ranks and we will treat them as our own. I¡¯ll try my best to fulfill the duty of their¡­ Prime Minister who just passed a few days ago. Even if all you are in different soil and your country has fallen, Japan isn¡¯t itsnd but it is its people. The faster we solve this thing, the faster you all could go back and with the help of us, reim back yournd!¡± The President proudly proimed.


    It¡¯s a bit cheesy speech but the dead eyes of the people on one corner has started to get a little spark as they looked at our president speaking towards them. The other things he reported was mainly a few more updates on our country which we already know. The broadcast ended and then the follow up videos started to get yed over and over again.


    I turned the TV off and I ced my hand subconsciously on the top of my katana.


    ¡°CCW ss in a few minutes.¡± I said to the people there and they got excited.


    It has been a while since I taught them and I think the mention of techniques from myst lesson sparked something from inside them. I grabbed several pieces of papers and markers and I waited for them to gather towards the gym on the 3rd floor.


    ¡°It¡¯s been a while. Are you okay? They said Japa-¡± Kaley said but I cut her off.


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re fine. I¡¯m sure of it.¡± I replied then I handed her a paper and a marker. The other people who came was handed the same thing and they all grew confused. Kaley was about to ask ¡®Who¡¯s they?¡¯ but she didn¡¯t have the chance to.


    ¡°Umm, Boss¡­ what are we gonna do with this? Are we having a test?¡± Rin asked but I shook my head. <hr>


    ¡°Write eight strokes on it and eight points. It could be from any angle, direction, length and etc. ce it on the stand here and we¡¯ll begin. Make the movement as the thing that is most natural for you.¡± I told the group.


    They still give a look of confusion towards me but they slowly picked up the pen and they scribbled on the piece of paper. Russel was the first one to finish and there are random things drawn on this piece of paper.


    ¡°Good.¡± I said.


    ¡°Uh¡­ now what?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Remember the first lesson? What¡¯s the most important thing?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Oh! Being a control freak.¡± he said confidently.


    *thunk*


    ¡°Control¡­ control¡­¡± he trailed as he rubs his head.


    ¡°Now try to do the same movement with your weapon. I did say to do the most natural movement for you, right? Try to copy what was drawn on your paper.¡± I instructed him.


    He slowly lifted his wooden sword with one hand and then he tried to imitate the random lines that he drew. It was super slow at first as he tried to align the movements perfectly as much as possible.


    ¡°Good. Now faster.¡± I said.


    He tried it.


    ¡°Faster.¡± I said.


    ¡°Okay!¡± he replied.


    ¡°Faster.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Hmph!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Faster!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°Hold on a minute, why are we going faster and faster?! Can we at least do a little bit of-¡± he stopped.


    Then I drew my katana.


    *sh*


    *sh*


    *sl*sh**


    *sl*sl*sh***


    *sl*sl*sl*sh****


    *sl*sl*sl*sl*sh*****


    He almost fell to the ground as I shed towards the piece of paper that he drew on. My motions have no extra movements at all and I traced everything on the piece of paper. The cuts made is just the exact length and shape towards where the lines are drawn and the stand stood perfectly still as I did it.


    The fan that is scanning around the gym finally reached the paper and blew a bit of air on it and the paper revealed the cuts that I made. It started to ruffle around and it finally fell on Russel¡¯sp. He picked it up and he is just staring at it nkly and the whole gym is quiet.


    *clink*


    I sheathed my katana on the scabbard.


    ¡°Shit.¡± Russel muttered.

 Chapter 188

    Chapter 188: 188


    Deafening silence covered the gym and the people that are still writing in their own paper seems to forget what they are doing. They can¡¯t decide whether to look at, me, or the piece of paper that has cuts the same way the lines drawn were. <center></center><hr>


    I just simply broke the silence by pping very loudly.


    *CLAP*


    ¡°The f.u.c.k was that bro?! Is that some secret technique or something?!¡± Russel eximed.


    ¡°That? No. That¡¯s just my practice swing.¡± I replied nonchntly.


    ¡°No way.¡±


    ¡°Press ¡®X¡¯ for doubt.¡±


    ¡°Really?!¡±


    ¡°Then what are the secret techniques then?!¡±


    ¡°How could you know? They¡¯re called ¡®secrets¡¯ for a reason.¡±


    ¡°I really want to learn that.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the practice swing? What would happen if you do it for real?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll die, obviously. You should¡¯ve seen him dual-wielding.¡±


    ¡°I remember that.¡±


    The people I¡¯m teaching started to set aside the paper they¡¯re writing at and then they started on writing on a new piece of paper with a gleam on their eyes. I saw what they were writing and then I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°These little f.u.c.kers¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    Some of their drawings at first were just either straight lines or wavy lines with the same length but now it started to make tight turns and have different lengths. Some of them would intersect or loop to a different direction.


    ¡°Here!¡± They actually formed a line and they were giving me weird smiles. Russel was also in the line and he actually drawn on several pieces of paper.


    ¡°Okay¡­ *sigh* give it here.¡± I said as I picked up the first piece.


    Rin was first in line and I opened my marker and I ced my signature on it.


    ¡°Here, that would be $50.¡± I said as I handed it back to her.


    Her head tilted sideways as she grew confused.


    ¡°That¡¯s my autograph. Frame it or something.¡± I replied.


    ¡°B-but we wanted to see that thing you did again!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°Do that again!¡±


    ¡°Do it!¡±


    ¡°Just do it!¡±


    ¡°Uh, no. I¡¯m not gonna do it. I¡¯m not Shia. We¡¯re still training here, you know?¡± I said as I told them to ce the papers in the stand. <hr>


    ¡°The purpose of this exercise is just to slowly make the use of our melee weapons like it¡¯s a normal thing. You could say that making the weapon part of yourself or something if we¡¯re talking about it like in the books, novels, or manga.¡± I exined.


    ¡°W-wait, I thought we were practicing control?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°We are. Isn¡¯t making the weapon you¡¯re holding perform the task simr to what you could with other tools such as this marker an example of perfect control?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± he can¡¯t seem to understand.


    ¡°Let me start from the beginning again. What is 1 + 1?¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Everyone was silent again.


    ¡°You suddenly forgot how to do addition? What is 1 + 1?¡± I asked again.


    ¡°2¡­¡± they all trailed with weird faces.


    ¡°That answer is the easiest thing and the hardest thing to do.¡± I said.


    They¡¯re giving me weird looks.


    ¡°Saying the answer to the question is the easiest but that is the case if we¡¯re just talking about it in theory. We had a small discussion about this before when we encountered a sprinter in the gas station that Russel worked at. That¡¯s only a simplified way of talking about it on how the 1 + 1 = 2 statement works. There¡¯s a lot more factors that is in y. It could be movements we¡¯re doing subconsciously by habit or movements we¡¯re doing in our conscious that actually affects the way we perform. Can you really say that you have no other excess orcking movements? We always put a little more or a little less on the actions that we do and that¡¯s why having the exact answer of ¡®2¡¯ every single time is hard even though it sounds so simple.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Well, what is the way to do it then? Like a trick?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of different answers to that. It could be anything, really. Constant training can bring you a step closer to have perfect control over your body and that is something we don¡¯t have a shortcut to.¡± I said.


    ¡°But isn¡¯t the purpose of us training is to learn one of your techniques?¡± Russel asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, but that is the advanced ss. You¡¯d need to pass the basic training first. You need to have great control of your bodies first before you start to learn them. Learning them will just put a strain on your bodies if I teach those techniques to you now, trust me. Having the ability to control your bodies to your heart¡¯s desire is much more important than learning techniques that would boost your fighting power by a couple notches if you ask me. I would pick that first over everything else since being able to do that will slowly transfer over handling different tools as well if we train and train. Our enemies are the dead outside not the samurai from the olden times. You¡¯re also holding different weapons and the movements for it wouldn¡¯t suit on what some of you are holding.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I learned a few things from other weapons though¡­ just not as proficient with my katana.¡± I thought to myself.


    The training then continued but I still made them perform the same basic movements I taught before. I corrected some of the excess in their movements and a few faults in holding their respective weapon. A few things with how they step in is also crucial since just simply swinging them with the arms is not the proper way to use them. You need to make use of your body as a whole and even how you breathe to perform the correct action is necessary.


    Kaley was quiet the whole time but she¡¯s intently taking in every information I throw at her and the group I¡¯m teaching.


    ¡°She seems¡­ in difort?¡± I thought to myself.


    I looked at her and she seems to be doing fine and she would simply nod or just simply answer. Her face is slightly flushed but when I asked her about it, she seemed to get annoyed.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just ask her about itter. Did something happen when she went to her parent¡¯s house?¡± I thought to myself but I brushed it aside for now as I continued the lesson.


    Whenever my hands would get ced on my katana, their eyes would follow it hoping I cut the papers hanging on the stand. I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt that what I did was still on their minds but I never did the same thing. I just had fun by making my katana show a glint of its de as I raise it slightly with my thumb. They would all simultaneously sigh when I brought it down and it started to annoy them, especially Kaley,


    ¡°Why is she so irritated right now? Something definitely must have happened for her to get like this.¡± I thought to myself.


    The lesson finally ended and we headed down after cleaning up. We went to the pool area to get dinner and we have nice macaroni soup with bits of cut up chicken and different vegetables which are sliced to small pieces as well. Its main base is chicken stock but evaporated milk is also added. Its always eaten over rice even if there is pasta on it already.


    I sat next to Kaley and she¡¯s eating silently but she¡¯s not talking to me and she was actually silent even on the meeting and on our evening workout. She even went down first ahead of everybody and everyone with her acted like it¡¯s a normal thing and I think I¡¯m the only one that is noticing what is happening.


    I finished my workout and said goodbye to the people still in the gym. I opened the door to my room and Kaley is covered by our nket and she¡¯s eating a tub of strawberry ice cream while watching a movie from the TV.


    ¡°Hey, something wrong?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°Nothing¡­¡± she said as she took another bite. <hr>


    ¡°Okay¡­ just tell me what¡¯s wrong if you¡¯refortable.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I said it¡¯s nothing!¡± she shouted.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was silently staring at her.


    ¡°Sorry¡­¡± she trailed but she started on eating the ice cream in front of her while still being covered with the nket.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine¡­ I¡¯m just gonna take a shower.¡± I said to her but she never responded.


    I picked a change offortable clothes as I headed for the shower. I started to think about a few things that might be the case on why she¡¯s so cranky right now.


    ¡°Did I do something? Did she have a fight with Marisha? Impossible. How about other people? Nah. Maybe with Olivia or Matthew but she¡¯s not one to involve other people. So, I did something? But what? I have the best memory out of everyone here and I can¡¯t remember anything that I might have done.¡± I thought to myself.


    I finished my shower and I went back to our room and the movie is still ying. She seems to not notice me but I tapped her shoulder and she looked at me. Her face is more flushed than before and she seems to be having a headache. She would sometimes clutch her abdomen and she would sometimes seem to be in difort for a few moments.


    ¡°You need to tell me if something is wrong. I can solve a few things but I won¡¯t be able to solve it if you won¡¯t tell me what it is.¡± I said to her in a calm voice.


    ¡°Hmph, this is something even you wouldn¡¯t be able to solve.¡± she replied with an annoyance with her tone.


    ¡°What? At least tell me.¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯M ON MY PERIOD YOU DOOFUS!!! CAN¡¯T YOU NOTICE IT ALREADY!!!¡± she shouted on the top of her lungs.


    ¡°Oh.¡± I replied after staring at her nkly.


    ¡°So about a week of not¡­¡± I trailed in my head.


    Then one week quickly passed.

 Chapter 189

    Chapter 189: 189


    On that span of seven days, we made full use of it to carry on with our various tasks to sustain the upkeep of ourpound. <center></center><hr>


    With Rin leading Demi and Bobby, every bit of item we bring back home are properly recorded and has been sent to storage. We have kept the records in a logbook and I eventually asked Kris to make a simple system for Rin with her inputs so the system would be adjusting ording to her needs and not the other way around. In doing that, we would have three records in which everything is recorded: the logbooks physically, the system electronically, and my memory since I¡¯ve been always checking the records every time we have our meeting.


    The records include our inventory, list of people, medical records, tasks distribution, separate guns and ammo inventory, and etc.


    On our situation about food, it is still increasing even from our numbers. The resource outside is still plenty and it helps that we¡¯re one of the few that could go outside safely with the help of our equipment. We¡¯re bringing the 8-wheeler and the Raptor each time and if by some chance we found a treasure trove of resources, we¡¯ll make a call and have the cargo trucke over and doing that would save us a lot of time and gas.


    Charlotte and Derek are the ones in charge of the farms and they¡¯re steadily taking care of our animals and nts. We get eggs and milk every day from our farm animals and they made sure that the excess from the harvest are stored properly or preserved in some ways that are avable. Also, some eggs are left untouched so on their nests so they would grow to rece the ones we would kill for meat in the future though it is far on the calendar.


    We still have plenty of vegetables to go around and there¡¯s a few seedlings that are still growing and seeds that haven¡¯t been nted yet because of the space of the greenhouse. However, we scavenged a flower shop in that week and we got several y pots, soil, fertilizers, and etc. We made use of some of them to not just nt a few flowers but also some vegetables to be ced on some of the houses of our residents to be also taken care of by them.


    The situation about water remained the same. We eventually hauled everything from the ce we got the containers before. We first took the stic containers but now, the ss and the metal containers were also taken. Each tank we took was installed on the appropriate houses and a filter for them was also installed as ayer of protection just in case.


    However, since the power went out on the end of the 2nd week, we made a small mission with Oscar¡¯s group and Tatiana¡¯s group towards Wilcon¡¯s Depot. Instead of trying to figure out where the Sr Panels are located, we simply took everything avable to us. Not only that we will have some use of the building materials avable in the future, we would also avoid the instance of not having something when we needed it. We secured several Sr Panels and we have building materials that could probably allow us to build more projects or several houses with fancy interiors and solid foundations.


    We¡¯ve also produced a prototype of our agreement with Ana. It¡¯s about the size of three hard drives on top of one another and it looks inconspicuous since we matched the colors of the enclosure to the colors of the cell tower we would be cing it on. The first one we ced on top of the small cell tower that is on top of the house of the Pineda Residence. It¡¯s still fairly close to where we are but Ana still sent us another batch of the files we would be needing from the City Hall.


    The ns for the City Hall is slowlying along and I¡¯m making a few different scenarios in my head. The ce we would enter in, break out, stay put, and etc. We would be using earpieces now to have another hand free just for this mission. I¡¯m studying the terrain from the videos and we started to drive around the roads near it to clear some of the zombies there to thin them out so on the day we actually hit them, there would be fewer surprises. <center></center><hr>


    A few more things happened on the past week but let¡¯s save it for another time.


    Day 22


    Today was the day we were supposed to hit the City Hall but I moved it to another date. I decided that since we would be making use of a lot of people on that mission, I figured we would need a few exercises or more runs outside where we are all involved so we would be able to know how each group works. I¡¯m already familiar with my group but I only have a small idea on how Oscar¡¯s and Tatiana¡¯s operate on their own runs since we only have a single run together. I want them to be able to obey my chain ofmand and I want them to follow orders mainly from me even if they¡¯re used to Oscar¡¯s and Tatiana¡¯smands. After all, I¡¯m running the ces and a conflict between orders are detrimental on crucial situations.


    I woke up and Kaley¡¯s sleeping face weed me. I just stared at her for a moment and then I carefully removed her hands from me as I put on clothes and wore my gear.


    I went down and saw Marco, Malong and Zeidrick watching the catwalk while a few are guarding at the tform from my old house.


    We greeted each other and what I noticed that they were all looking at the right side of the road.


    ¡°What are you guys looking at?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Heh, we¡¯re just watching the trainees runningps around the ce. They were woken up early by Oscar and they are at their 16thp, I think.¡± Zeidrick said.


    ¡°Oh, the old man is still training them at this time eh?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, Chris and the others who were jogging in the morning was also surprised that there are more people co- oh, here there are.¡± He said as the group started toe into view.


    Right off the bat, Alex was at the front, a few inches from her is Marvin, followed by Ashley, Chris and Brian. The five are running at full speed while the others are at a normal pace. I see on thest ce is Charlotte normally jogging while Oscar apanies her.


    ¡°First!¡± Alex shouted.


    ¡°F.u.c.k! Second!¡± Marvin said next.


    ¡°Third!¡± Ashley shouted.


    Brian tried to grab Chris¡¯ back but Chris anticipated it and made a simple sidestep. It made Brian miss and Chris reached fourth ce while Brian made fifth. The others came one after the other panting heavily.


    ¡°Hey kid, you¡¯re early. These guys had basic training before but stopped training their bodies regrly when it hit. I¡¯ll take care of them as usual but I would like you to include some of them in your lessons. They could learn a few things from you.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°No problem with that but considering that you guys have been outside getting your own food before, you must have dealt with a lot of those things yeah?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, we even encountered those things that run really fast.¡± Marvin said. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s a huge pain dealing with even the regr ones since we only have melee weapons before but Oscar¡¯s been only letting us use the M1 Garand. Can we have ess to a few¡­ modern ones?¡± Ashley said weakly as Oscar made a faint smile.


    ¡°Of course. But who among you guys had actually handled them? Do you know how to maintain them at least? Or just simply shooting them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t even try to lie guys this kid is psychic. He¡¯ll know.¡± Oscar added with a serious look.


    ¡°As if.¡± I thought to myself.


    I found out that Marvin, Ashley and Carlo can use them and maintain them properly while the rest only knows how to shoot them.


    ¡°Okay, I see no problem with that. I¡¯ll lend you guys a few guns since we¡¯ll be clearing a few ces outside to see what you guys could do with my group. We went outside before but my group was the one who went inside the ce.¡± I said.


    ¡°But what could you do? We just know that you¡¯re good at hand to hand. Can you even shoot well?¡± Carlo asked.


    Their group gave small nces as well while my group had faint smiles.


    ¡°Hah! Don¡¯t try to taunt this kid. He could kill you 10 times before you could even draw your gun.¡± Oscar said whileughing then he threw a coin from his pocket. <hr>


    ¡°Kid.¡± he said as I quickly drew my pistol.


    *bsshew*


    *ting*


    ¡°Damn.¡± Marvin said.


    The coinnded on the ground spinning with a hole in its center.


    ¡°Show off.¡± I heard from behind. It was Kaley just having woke up.


    The group below are examining the coin thoroughly as they passed it around. I picked the casing on the catwalk and pocketed it.


    ¡°Anyway, the nter is to clear the public market here. In there we could get a lot of food items from the shops and next to it is ¡®Mn¡¯ which is a warehouse of sorts where we could find a lot of items as well. This could be a good ce to start with before we start on the n to take care of the horde in the People¡¯s Park. It¡¯s smaller than the park but it¡¯s not open and has many blindspots we need to worry about.¡± I said.

 Chapter 190

    Chapter 190: 190


    ¡°Sky~ Mom said the food is ready¡­¡± Aya walked up to me and pulled on my clothes as she rubs her eyes. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Okay, what¡¯s for breakfast?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Champorado.¡± She replied as she yawns.


    Champorado is a breakfast staple here but it¡¯s sweet. It¡¯s made with glutinous rice and eaten with evaporated milk and sugar. Some folks would eat it with dried fish since the mix of saltiness and sugar is actually good with this dish.


    To make it, you cook the glutinous rice in water until it¡¯s soft. After that, grab a couple of cups of cocoa depending on the amount of rice you¡¯re making and mix it well with water first. After you¡¯re done, just pour it into the pot you¡¯re cooking the rice with and stir it until the color spread out evenly.


    Serve it with milk and sugar or just mix them on the pot as well. Most people would prefer to add it themselves to their liking.


    Everyone slowly gathered at the pool area where we always eat at.


    I grabbed a bowl and took a serving of it and gave it to Kaley while I grabbed another one for myself.


    I sat down and took a look at everyone.


    Earnest is feeding their daughter patiently as his wife wipes their daughter¡¯s face. Tatiana is devouring her food as always while Rinughs at her. The other new people that we have are mingling with our group and they are enjoying the simple meal.


    ¡°Alright. Small discussion about the public market. Listen up.¡± I said as I gathered the group to clear it.


    ¡°Okay, the public market is quiterge and there is only one way to get to it. When we get there, we will first make a smallmotion to draw them out. There will be three paths when we reach there and the other end of the public market is a small school and the residential area for some of the people working there. There are two apartments there that could house a few families. The way there is gated though, the same as the way to the school. Jay, can you tell me the situation inside when you guys went there?¡± I said as I looked at Jay.


    ¡°Oh, when we went there, there¡¯s a few inside but there¡¯s a lot of blindspots so we only took items from the nearest shop we broke into. But what I could say is that the lights there are not working anymore. You could only see a few feet inside the public market from the sunlight and I remember a few silhouettes moving around inside.¡± Jay said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We should bring the huge shlights kid.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Yeah. The drones as well, I¡¯ll bring my small ones to get a proper view inside.¡± I said.


    ¡°Can¡¯t we just go inside and react when something happens? I¡¯m pretty good at that.¡± Brian said confidently.


    ¡°Yeah, sure. I¡¯m pretty good at slicing people too. One scratch from them I¡¯ll put you down.¡± I said.


    ¡°But that would take a lot of time!¡± he replied.


    ¡°We have all the time in the world. What better things do you have to do? If we go outside, we ensure everyone¡¯s safety.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Excuse me, can you please move.¡± I heard a monotonous voice.


    *crash*


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k?! Where did youe from?!¡± Brian fell off his chair.


    ¡°I came from the other house. I heard you guys are having Champorado. Lois radioed in.¡± Jude said while he took a spoonful of sugar and scattered it in his bowl. He then turned around and opened the gate by himself. An slowly went down and closed the gate after Jude.


    ¡°Who the f.u.c.k was that?!¡± People who haven¡¯t met him yet we¡¯re surprised.


    ¡°Oh. He¡¯s Jude.¡± I replied innocently. <hr>


    I saw Kaley hiding herughter next to me while the rest is still bbergasted from that short encounter.


    ¡°Hah! I thought you were good at reacting? If that was a zombie, you¡¯re dead already.¡± I said.


    ¡°B-but we¡¯re inside this ce!¡± he retorted.


    ¡°Oh? Just because we¡¯re inside thepound does not mean that we¡¯re safe. Has anyone told you what happened here before? It was an unfortunate ident but if Russel wasn¡¯t vignt at that time, he would be dead now.¡± I said while my group before had solemn expressions.


    I told them the story of Ellen and the others who turned before.


    ¡°Understand? I figured it would be the same for your group. How many where you guys before?¡± I asked.


    Their group suddenly had glum expressions as I asked.


    ¡°It sucks right? That¡¯s the thing I¡¯m trying to avoid. So, listen to me if you don¡¯t want to feel that way again.¡± I said.


    I saw Oscar bringing out a few guns from his armory and I saw 4 M1 Garands, 2 Mossberg 500s and 2 Taurus 1911s. A few of them are just carrying melee weapons then he looked at me.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Bring a couple of the riot shields so we could have a few do what your group does.¡± he replied.


    We gave everyone proper gear and my uncle readied the truck. I handed Brian and the others the riot shields and a few melee weapons of their choice. Since five of them doesn¡¯t have a gun on their person, I brought out 5 Glock 17s from my armory and handed it to them. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, just a reminder. If any of you try something outside, you¡¯ll never know how you die. This kid could shoot faster than me and you saw him make a small disy earlier. We¡¯re letting you borrow those guns as a sign of trust. Don¡¯t waste your life over nothing.¡± Oscar said to the trainees.


    ¡°Just remember that to make sure you point those guns at the threat and not us and you¡¯ll live. We¡¯re not intimidating you or anything, we¡¯re just stating what would happen.¡± I added with a stern tone.


    I looked at each one of them and they have solemn expressions.


    ¡°We won¡¯t do such thing!¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡±


    ¡°Why would we do that? This ce is awesome!¡±


    ¡°Roger.¡±


    ¡°No problems here.¡±


    ¡°This ce is better than the camps, are you crazy?¡±


    All of them responded and everyone seems to be on board. I looked at Kaley and I noticed that she¡¯s looking at them seriously as well. After a moment, her breathing rxed.


    ¡°No one seems to have other intentions from her reaction. Well, they¡¯ve been here a while and it would be stupid to cross us and try to take over this ce.¡± I thought to myself.


    We all rode the truck. Aside from the trainees and my usual group, Oscar was with us. Matthew on the other hand decided to stay put and work on their house a bit more since he borrowed several tools. The rest started to continue on their task and Jay¡¯s group followed us outside for the moment then they started on clearing a few past the gate. <hr>


    We made an easy drive towards the public market and there are already several from the vicinity. Some of the stalls that weren¡¯t broken into before are open but there is still a lot to take since this public market is a huge ce. The only problem is that it¡¯s cramped inside once you go in.


    ¡°You know the drill.¡± Oscar said.


    Marvin and Brian separated their group into two and they started to slowly kill the several bloody figures roaming around the entrance of the Public Market slowly approaching us. Tatiana didn¡¯t bring her group with her so she helped Dong and Mark who cleared the ones on the other side of the truck to set a small perimeter.


    ¡°Let me see how you guys work. We¡¯ll give cover if anything happens.¡± I said.


    Brian led his group but their formation sucks. They all moved individually when they start to clear a few of them. The only good thing from that is that they never used their guns. They seemed to be morefortable with melee weapons since that¡¯s what they used before.


    On the other hand, the group Marvin is leading is working in unison. Aubrey is also with them and they seem to have epted her as one of them. So far, even if some of them would sometimes move individually, they are keeping a safe distance from them and would only strike after a dodge or a block from the shield.


    Brian killed the most of them since he¡¯s really aggressive. He would bash them with his shield and take them down on the ground to finish them with his axe. He moves much more forward than everybody but his group follows after him.


    Marvin on the other hand jumps around checking at everybody¡¯s situation. He¡¯ll sometimes assist from behind or make a quick kill when he stabs them from the spear that he¡¯s carrying. His head spans around checking everything else before moving aside from Brian that is just rushing forward.


    They¡¯re slowly making their way towards the entrance but I noticed the figures that they¡¯re putting down now looked strikingly familiar. Not only that, they¡¯re making the same movements before and I could notice the group slowing down when they saw what the ones further in are doing.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?¡± Brian slowed down.


    One of the figures is eating its own fingers while the two next to him are either feasting on its leg or slowly devouring the mangled flesh from its back. One of them noticed Brian so it turned around towards him. Everything on its mouth spilled out. The blood and flesh with varying colors either dripped down towards his body or just plopped straight on the floor.

 Chapter 191

    Chapter 191: 191


    I stared at the figures closely and I can¡¯t fathom what they are doing. I could obviously tell what they were doing but¡­ why are they doing it? They¡¯re just¡­ eating¡­ some of them and¡­ themselves. A couple zombies in their vicinity are getting feasted upon and the ones that are not close to anything are eating themselves. The only time they stop eating themselves is when anotheres close to them or when they hear a noise. <center></center><hr>


    Most of them have their arms chewed up with bones sticking out but a few still have remnants of their knuckles still intact. One of the figures has most of the flesh from its shoulder eaten up so its arm that is connected to it is just swaying lifelessly.


    ¡°That is f.u.c.k.i.n.g disgusting.¡± Oscar said.


    Brian raised his axe up and swung it down on the oneing towards him. Marvin on the other hand stabbed the two that are still busy eating themselves with his spear. The bodies fell to the ground and they cleared a few more like it near the entrance of the Public Market.


    Several of the bloody figures are now littering the space that we¡¯re in so I told them to stop.


    ¡°Stop luring them for now. Drag a few of them on the side of the road so our space to navigate into wouldn¡¯t be hindered by them.¡± I said from the earpiece.


    ¡°But there¡¯s more roaming inside. Besides, I could easily walk over them, they¡¯re not that much of a hindrance.¡± Brian said.


    ¡°Just follow him Bri.¡± Ashley said.


    ¡°Just trying to say my opinion Ash.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Sure, don¡¯t move them.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, really?¡± I saw Marvin starting to move one of them. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, I think Brian wants me to write ¡®Died by tripping over a dead zombie.¡¯ on his grave. Wait, we don¡¯t have graves, we just burn everyone. I¡¯ll just remember you, don¡¯t worry.¡± I said.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just tell me normally and not n my funeral every single time?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well, can¡¯t you just follow my orders then?¡± I said.


    ¡°F.u.c.k it.¡± he said.


    I could hear a few chuckles from the earpiece but they decided to just move the bodies first before proceeding forward. I told them to ce them on the street corner first and they moved back towards the truck to drag the ones near it first.


    However, from inside the Public Market, I saw something that I thought was the same as them but wasn¡¯t.


    It has the same features as the ones before but the difference is that its belly is bulging like a pregnant woman. Almost all of its flesh has been torn off but its stomach was the only thing left intact. It¡¯s like a person who suffered 3rd Degree burns but its stomach miraculously stayed the same. Kaley slowly raised her gun since the people below has their backs turned towards it but it did something that made my head itch. Marvin saw Kaley raising her gun and he also looked back with his pistol drawn and saw the figure we are currently looking at.


    It didn¡¯t even look at us.


    It just buried its hands that looks like bony ws to the nearest body in front of it and it started to drag it inside the Public Market. It¡¯s about to enter the entrance when it went out but Kaley immediately fired a shot when she saw it.


    *psshew* <hr>


    It fell to the ground but a couple more appeared and started to gorge on the one that Kaley shot. They just ripped its belly apart and made a feast of all its fluid and the small clumps of flesh that is stored in its stomach. They seem to have forgotten the one body their rade¡¯ was dragging around and they just happily feasted on it instead.


    The group near the truck were also staring at them but what¡¯s weird is those ones with the bulging stomachs does not seem to eat or even attack each other.


    ¡°Sky, permission to shoot.¡± Marvin said.


    The rest also asked permission which was surprising but I said, ¡°Wait, can you aim on the one on the left?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Wait, don¡¯t hit its head.¡± I added before he managed to fire the shot.


    ¡°What? Why?¡± Kaley was the one who asked.


    ¡°Just do it. I¡¯m curious.¡± I replied then they sent their gaze towards the zombie again.


    He aimed only a bit lower since the one I pointed to is crouched then he fired a shot.


    *bsshew* <hr>


    *bsshew*


    The first hit grazed its chest but the second one finallynded on its belly.


    When it happened, the one eating quietly next to it turned its head abruptly and started to sink its hands towards the one Marvin shot. It ruptured its belly as it started to devour what¡¯s inside it be it the bile or the meal that the first one originally ate. The group with me is silent while I¡¯m observing what just urred.


    ¡°Are you just irregrs or a new type?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°What in fresh hell is that one doing?!¡± Oscar eximed.


    However, the one it ate also started on picking the bits of its own flesh from his belly and it started to ce it inside its mouth. The flesh it ate would just continually loop around his body and it would only get diminished when the one next to it ate the one it ate.


    ¡°That is some f.u.c.k.i.e.d up shit bro.¡± Jared grimaced.


    The others wanted to shoot that one as well but I stopped them again.


    ¡°Wait, let¡¯s see what it would do next first. Secure this perimeter, Jared, bring the drones out.¡± I instructed them.


    While that single one was left alone happily enjoying its buffet, the group did as I told them to do. Jared handed me the controller for the other drone while the others brought out the huge shlights. It¡¯s several lumens high and it could light a small beam in dark ces. While we¡¯re setting up the equipment and the others are securing the perimeter, the one we¡¯re slowly watching stood up normally and its stomach was about to burst open. The one that was getting eaten just continued on eating itself in an endless loop since it just ate what it already ate before in a vicious cycle. <hr>


    ¡°Do we shoot it now?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Just let him shoot it kid, I don¡¯t want to remember that when I eatter.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Not yet old man, let it go inside. Let¡¯s see what it would do there. Shoot that one though.¡± I replied as the kill was awarded to Jared.


    Since its full, I think, it slowly made its way inside and the people with me shone the shlights towards the two paths. We drove the drones slowly checking the inside. The ce is really different from before, it used to have several shops with their goods disyed on whatever surface or area avable. It used to have different kinds of sacks of rice on the flooring with their prices on it or bottles of different kinds of liquids that are refilled to be sold easily. Now, it¡¯s just a bloody path with varying degrees of flesh strewn about the sliding windows or on the cemented flooring. Several shops are still closed and that could mean that whatever supply is still inside for the taking.


    Jared started to drive it around while I closely followed the figure slowly making its way inside. What¡¯s surprising is that it could actually avoid the small obstacles on the ground and it would sometimes walk sideways to get inside tighter spaces. It is very much different from the normal ones that would casually bump against everything in front of it. There are several more ¡®normal¡¯ types inside mixed with these ones though I still couldn¡¯t tell which is which from the angle I¡¯m at.


    ¡°So far, the only way to tell them apart is if their stomach is still intact or not. But why are there so many of them here? Is this some sort of ne- no, well, it could be?¡± I thought to myself.


    Oscar was patiently watching the feed on the controller and then it reached the halfway point of the Public Market. The first half is where the dry goods are sold and where my shop used to be located and thest half is where most of the wet goods are disyed. It involves fish, chicken, cows, and etc. There are several hooks on one of the stalls that has the meat that is indistinguishable from this angle still hooked on it and I can¡¯t identify whether the blood sprayed on some of them are from the humans or the animals that are butchered inside that ce.


    The figure we¡¯re following still slowly made its way towards the end of the Public Market where all of the wastes are stored for proper disposalter but what is shown in the feed made almost all of the people watching retch in disgust.


    ¡°Ah, shit.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 192

    Chapter 192: 192


    Five humanoid mounds are firmly nted on the floor. <center></center><hr>


    Mounds that has hands flopping around.


    They looked like what you see in centers for the morbidly obese patients. All of their bodies are bloated to the point that if you poke them with a stick, they would burst open and anything that might have been inside it would pour towards you. The floor is descending at an angle and there¡¯s a small pool of muck that has gathered beneath the huge figures since they are clogging the canal in which some of the wastes are thrown into.


    The muck below is so viscous and it leaves an oil-like stain on the hands of the huge figures below every time their hands would touch below. It¡¯s like a soup in where you identally poured over different shades of green and ck food color. Their skin is about the same color scheme as well. Aside from it stretching out to its limit, the color is a mix of everything in the pool and the discolored skin lesions. There are several clumps floating above the surface though on some areas there are bits that are starting to curdle and thicken.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit is that kid?! Why does those look like the game where you shoot them, they explode?! Can we shoot it?!¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°They¡¯re stuck on something, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°If they were any bigger, they would look like Jabbah from Gxy Wars.¡± Jared chimed.


    ¡°Yeah, they are, the good thing is- wait¡­¡± I¡¯m talking to them but I stopped halfway.


    The figure we were following earlier with my drone stopped at the edge where the small descent is and just stood there for a few moments. The huge figure¡¯s heads snapped at it and then their hands started on raising up, trying to reach him but they can¡¯t.


    What happened next made a few of us grimace.


    The figure that is standing still arched its body and started on projectile vomiting everything below him.


    ¡°That¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g disgusting!¡± Oscar eximed. <center></center><hr>


    The huge figures below opened their mouths and they caught what they could and they¡¯re eating everything like pig slop. It took the zombie above a few more retches as its bulging stomach has visibly returned to its normal state. It slowly turned around and began walking back in a random direction.


    ¡°Are¡­ they¡­ feeding them?¡± Kaley asked me.


    ¡°Kinda?¡± I replied.


    ¡°You don¡¯t sound too sure kid.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Well, they are, obviously, but¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°But what?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Which is which then? Or are they both? Are they specials? Irregrs? Both? What do you guys think?¡± I replied.


    The group just looked at me.


    ¡°Are the ones with the huge bellies feeding those huge ones with the purpose of fattening them even more or something? If yes, what¡¯s the difference between those huge things and the normal ones? They can¡¯t be making a zombie burrito now, are they? Those huge ones, are they the ones in control? Why are they there? Why are they acting like little birds getting fed by their mother bird? Who¡¯s the actual one in charge?¡± I started.


    ¡°I think those huge ones are the ones leading them.¡± Marvin chimed.


    ¡°Well that is the obvious answer but is it though? Sometimes I wish I could see a status window of everything so we wouldn¡¯t be figuring things out like this.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well¡­ just a guess since the ones in charge wouldn¡¯t be doing the hard work¡­ but¡­¡± he trailed but can¡¯t seem to find an answer. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m not too sure either. We just need to be very cautious. We never know what else they could do. It¡¯s already good that we could observe them from this distance. We need to figure everything we could about those things.¡±


    ¡°Just one piece of advice kid. We don¡¯t have to figure out everything. The solution for those things? Always a bullet between the eyes.¡± Oscar said as he c.o.c.ks his shotgun.


    *ch*chhk**


    ¡°Uh, no.¡± I rebutted as he almost fell off.


    ¡°I WAS HAVING A MOMENT THERE KID!!! Can¡¯t you see I¡¯m about to pose?!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°¡­¡± the group.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k you talking about old man? What is this ¡®Don¡¯t have to figure out everything.¡¯ bullshit. You might, but I do. That¡¯s why we have scientists, doctors, engineers and everything else. They figure things out and once they do, we gain new understanding on the subject and that makes our life easier. However, you¡¯re right about the solution though. It¡¯s the only thing we have, for now.¡± I said as I tapped Jared.


    I instructed him to just let the drones hover above them and watch them if they would do anything besides flopping on that mess below.


    ¡°I wish I could snipe them from this side. Too bad there are many obstacles and I don¡¯t have a straight path. The distance is around seven basketball courts and it would be easy if it wasn¡¯t dark and they are not on that lowered area.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Well we do it old school. Here¡¯s the n for now¡­ just be ready though.¡± I said as I told them what to do.


    The perimeter around the truck is maintained while three groups are divided between me, Kaley, and Tatiana. <hr>


    Kaley and her group will stay put on the middle passage towards the Public Market, sniping down everything that moves. I didn¡¯t make her group enter it since the middle passage has the most blind spotspared to the ones Tatiana and I would be entering. Oscar will be with Jared and my uncle keeping watch on the truck and the feed from the cameras for any sudden urrences.


    I on the other hand will enter the left-most passage, while Tatiana on the right-most passage. Tatiana and I will start to sweep everything from the side first as we slowly move forward, clearing each one we encounter. My path is a bit narrow since vehicles can¡¯t enter that passage while on Tatiana¡¯s side, that path is where vehicles could enter and even reach the Apartment building and the school behind the Public Market.


    Before we entered our passage, I could see several bodies roaming around and I made sure to kill them first in a safe location rather than inside where we don¡¯t know the situation yet. Tatiana did the same since I could hear gunshots from her side and Kaley started to do the same as well. I added 14 more bodies towards my kill count and we proceeded when I can¡¯t get a clear shot to the remaining ones I could barely see.


    Brian and Carlo were in front of me with their shields up while I¡¯m holding my Maxim, shining the shlight attached to it in every direction. There¡¯s a beam of light behind us but it is not enough to illuminate everything. Each body we get close to that isn¡¯t moving I sunk my katana into for extra measure. I could hear Brian¡¯s irritated huff since we¡¯re going at a very slow pace. There¡¯re narrow passages towards the other paths that belonged to Tatiana and Kaley and we checked them but never walked past it because we might get clipped by a bullet.


    Martin and Sheryl which are behind me also have their own shlights, acting as a secondary filter on the chance I miss something.


    We get to the center of the Public Market and the smell has gotten more horrible. It could almost bypass the masks that we¡¯re wearing and some of us even started to lightly cough. I could see a glimpse of one of the heads of the huge figures at the end of the Public Market.


    ¡°Can¡¯t snipe it with all the other ones here walking around aimlessly.¡± I thought to myself.


    The zombies in the center all snapped their heads towards our direction and they all started to stop what they were doing as they started to head towards us.


    *BOOOM*


    *BOOOM*


    I see a few shes of light from the other side and the sound of Tatiana¡¯s grouping from it. I surmised we all came at the same pace and doing that almost perfectly split the ones approaching us into half. The ones Kaley shot never went for her since the ¡®gatherers¡¯ in the middle would rake them inside to be feasted upon.


    ¡°Now slowly retreat while thinning them.¡± I told my group. <hr>


    The process was going smoothly and I even allowed them to use their guns. A sh of light from our side would equal a hole appearing on the bloody figure¡¯s heads. Not all of them are that great at shooting but the distance made up for it. Brian kept on using his axe as he grips it tightly. He would make bold moves but he always goes back when a clump is getting too close forfort. I could almost sense that he wanted to take the whole thing by himself but he¡¯s calcting the risk involved.


    ¡°A calcted hothead? Weirdbination but okay.¡± I thought to myself.


    We¡¯re halfway near the entrance where we came from and the bodies are piling the floor.


    ¡°This is too easy!¡± Brian eximed.


    ¡°Better make them get used to this pattern since we will be doing sorta the same thing when we hit the City Hall.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°KID!¡± I heard from the earpiece.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I asked.


    ¡°HURRY THAT SHIT UP!!!¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Why?¡± I replied.


    ¡°THE HUGE ONES AT THE BACK STOOD UP!!! THE HUGE ONES AT THE BACK STOOD UP!!! GET OVER HERE ALREADY AND HURRY THE F.U.C.K UP!!!¡± Oscar eximed.


    Everyone heard what Oscar said and even the gunshots from the other side stopped as well.

 Chapter 193

    Chapter 193: 193


    The five of us were in a ¡®V¡¯ spun counter-clockwise 90 degrees position. Brian is at the most forward position followed by Carlo, me, Sheryl, and Martin. I was sticking out in the middle since I would mostly fire my guns to support the ones at the front and at the back when the need arises. It would also make me the one to react first or be the target in case one suddenly pops out from the side. <center></center><hr>


    I made a quick nce at the end of the Public Market and I still couldn¡¯t see the huge ones. The people with me are looking at me for instructions but I just sheathed my katana and held my pistol with both hands.


    *bsshew*


    *bsshew*


    *bsshew*


    *bsshew*


    I fired consecutive shots towards the ones at the front. My uracy went to its peak since I¡¯m holding it with both hands rather than what I was doing earlier. I could shoot them just fine with one hand but doing it the proper way would make the use of the tool you¡¯re using reach greater heights.


    ¡°We have a bit more time before they reach here, shoot!¡± I shouted.


    I could feel their worry since the shots they were making now just to make a proper headshot took more than we were clearing them earlier smoothly. It was an understandable thing since Oscar made it sound like something really bad is gonna happen. Even our slow retreat has gotten faster and I think Brian and I were the only ones wanting to stay a bit longer and kill more of them.


    I got to thest bullet from the magazine of my Maxim and instead of reloading, I holstered it and pulled the other one out. I then started to shoot again at a rapid pace, much faster than what they were doing but each bullet did the job as intended.


    Their heads would make a small pop to the back as a small spray of blood from the back of their heads woulde after. The zombie behind them would get sprayed with the blooding from the one in front and they would either move normally or get tripped when the ones in front of them fell forward. The 18 bullets from a full magazine were gone in the matter of a few seconds and the passage we¡¯re in just got decorated of bloody figures that has small bullet holes at the back of their heads, lying down, and unmoving.


    Brian didn¡¯t attempt to kill any with his axe since the bullets I¡¯m making fly towards the one in front of him would definitely clip him if he makes a wrong step. He made use of the shotgun Oscar gave him and he unloaded everything he could, the same as everyone. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°KID?! THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU STILL FIRING OVER THERE FOR?! GET OVER HERE!!!¡± Oscar shouted.


    ¡°THEY¡¯RE FAT F.U.C.KS! HOW FAST DO YOU THINK THEY COULD RUN?!¡± I shouted back as I pulled out my IWI Tavor.


    I aimed with the Red Dot Sight and started to pull the trigger.


    ¡°HURRY THE F.U.C.K OVER HERE KID THERE¡¯S THREE GOING IN YOUR DIRECTION!!! TATIANA!!! THERE¡¯S TWO OVER YOURS! KALEY BACK UP ON TATIANA¡¯S RETREAT PATH!!!¡± Oscar shouted.


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew* <hr>


    The 5.56 rounds in my IWI Tavor travels much faster than the 9mm rounds in my Maxim 9. The spray of blood that follows after each shot is more apparent. The people with me hardly manages to properly aim at each one of them since I would take care of it before they manage to pull the trigger. I just instructed Martin and Sheryl to make sure that our path of retreat is clear while the three of us in front continue shooting.


    I¡¯m managing the shots to hit a small circ.u.mference around their be while the rest tried their best to do the same. The swarm in front of us got to a few dozen in a matter of seconds and then I got a clear view on the huge figures slowly appearing from view.


    ¡°Now what are you f.u.c.kers gonna do?¡± I thought to myself.


    They started to run when they saw us and their weight does not seem that much of a hindrance at all. They¡¯re slowlying with speed. The ps on their bodies are flopping around and one of them crashed to a counter. Its sides got ruptured and everything flowed outside like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d-up version of a chocteva cake. The other two are making their way towards us though not as fast as the sprinters but the one who got its stomach ruptured screamed.


    ¡°KRRROOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡±


    The moment he let out that deep growl, the ¡®gatherers¡¯ that are still among the ones near us slowed down and clutched their bulging stomachs. I think I knew what they were about to do next so I aimed at them first while I shouted at the two in front of me.


    ¡°GET BACK!!!¡± I shouted.


    Brian was unwilling but Carlo managed to pull him back as he dropped the shield on the ground.


    ¡°BbllLlEeerrGGhHHh!!!¡±


    I managed to kill the most of them which are closest to us but the one of them projectile vomited on our direction. Good thing that Carlo pulled Brian out of the way or else he¡¯d be covered in that viscous fluid that poured over the floor. The smell is horrible but judging on the shield where itnded, it doesn¡¯t seem to be of the corrosive nature.


    ¡°Not corrosive eh? But if that poured over you, chances are you are infected already.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    Our retreat backwards became much faster since the huge figures are already on the center. The slow ones they reached would get trampled over by their size and there are still a few that are still near us. I aimed at them first to thin them out even more since the distance between us could still be forgiving. I only made a few steps of retreat to reload the magazine on my IWI Tavor and I immediately went back to shooting the small ones remaining after I chambered a round in my gun.


    I thought I was the only one trying to thin them out before the huge ones reaches us but I was wrong.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K ARE ALL OF YOU NOT RETREATING YET?! KID! TATIANA! COME OVER HERE QUICK!!! F.U.C.K IT!!! I¡¯M GOING IN AS WELL!!!¡± Oscar shouted.


    I had a thought in my head and I smirked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t. We¡¯re already heading back.¡± I said.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?! I¡¯m already about to head down!¡± Oscar shouted.


    ¡°No, just kidding. I can still make a run for it since they¡¯re not as fast as the sprinters.¡± I said innocently.


    I killed a few more of them and then I heard a few more unintelligible terms and a few chuckles from the earpiece.


    ¡°Just stay safe there old man. Keep watch on the truck with Jared.¡± I said as I kept on pulling the trigger.


    The ones in front of me were only in the single digits but the one of the huge ones is a few meters near me. I was about to aim for its head but it suddenly swung its hand down to a figure in front of him.


    *WOOOOOSH* <hr>


    The force behind that p was so strong the figure he pped mmed on the ground with such force, it is not unmoving then it continued to run towards me. The zombie it hit has its head having a huge crack from above due to the strong hit and a huge crack from below due to it crashing on the hard floor.


    It¡¯s about the same height as me but its width is several times than me. What I didn¡¯t notice at first nce was it was not wearing any clothes and what I thought was its pants was the oil-like stain that remained on its body.


    Instead of shooting its head, I aimed towards the both of its kneecaps.


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    The first hit made it buckle and the second one made it lose its bnce as it fell face forward.


    *CRASH*


    Due to its momentum and its weight, the crash was so strong that its stomach bursted out. All of the contents that was fed onto it spilled from its sides and it¡¯s a huge f.u.c.k.i.n.g mess. The one following it tripped over it and it rolled over like a huge boulder but its head smashed to another counter and its head split open, revealing the brain matter inside. Thest one on the far end is not making much progress but its arms are still iling around randomly and while still screaming the same thing over and over.


    I killed the three remaining small ones at my passage before I make a small exhale and sniped the huge one that is the farthest from my location. Its arms fell limp as the contents from its stomach are still emptying itself out slowly due to the rupture.


    Now, the only one remaining from my side is the one I shot in the kneecaps.


    ¡°Now, what to do with you.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 194

    Chapter 194: 194


    Even if it looked like a reverse roadkill since the parts that are mangled are below, I carefully approached it since it is still iling its arms around. I can still remember the strength it exhibited when it smashed the normal zombie to the ground. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°KID! ONE MORE SECOND AND IF YOU¡¯RE NOT HERE, I¡¯M CHARGING OVER THERE!¡± Oscar shouted from the earpiece again.


    ¡°Go ahead old man, we¡¯ve already killed the one on our side. How¡¯s going there on your side Kaley and Tatiana?¡± I said from the earpiece.


    ¡°What?! You already killed them?!¡± Oscar shouted.


    ¡°Same here.¡± Kaley said from the earpiece as well.


    ¡°Oh. Good job, I was worried since I can¡¯t see what was happening.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°What? Aren¡¯t you with Jared controlling the drones?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah. The feed is still showing the end of the Public Market where the small pool is at.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well, didn¡¯t you think of driving it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Bro¡­ Oscar is holding both of the controllers¡­ he won¡¯t hand them to me since he¡¯s looking intently at the screen¡­¡± Jared trailed from the earpiece.


    ¡°Pfft! Old man! I really need to teach you how to operate those things! Good thing that we are facing zombies, not cyborgs from the future. You¡¯ll die first if that ever happens.¡± I said.


    ¡°Bah! A slug could always solve my problems!¡± he rebutted. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Apparently a slug can¡¯t teach you how to drive a drone¡­¡± Jared chimed.


    ¡°Shut up you little shit! I nearly fell off the truck when I was trying to go there earlier! You didn¡¯t even help me! Good thing I still got my guns!¡± Oscar said as he flexed his biceps.


    ¡°I wasughing! What would you want me to do?! You¡¯re not even blinking when you were trying too hard to hold into the sidings! At least blink with Morse Code so I could do something!¡± Jared eximed.


    Several chuckles from the earpiece resounded.


    ¡°WHY ARE YOU ALL LAUGHING?!¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°Really? You almost fell? Can you do it again? I didn¡¯t see it when it happened.¡± I replied.


    ¡°SHUT UP!¡± he shouted again then several more chuckles followed.


    ¡°Enough talk, some of you grab the Jerry Can from the truck and hand it to Mark. Some of you go with him to the generator near Tatiana¡¯s Path to light up this ce since it¡¯s clear now. If you want to see the huge one up close, I¡¯ve left one alive so we could capture it in video. I wish I could¡¯ve recorded it when it smashed a zombie to the ground. I would ce a small camera on my vest from now on after this thing, everyone else too.¡± I said.


    A few moments pass and the people that went with Mark stood guard where the generator room was located and they told me that there are also several zombies at the other side of the gate where the school and the apartment building are located. I instructed them to clear the ones that they could without opening the gate and stay put for now. Oscar slowly made his way towards my direction as I heard him say from the earpiece.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get too near it old man.¡± I said to Oscar as he approached from behind.


    ¡°Ah, this is some f.u.c.k.i.e.d-up shit kid! What did you do to it?¡± he asked. <hr>


    The huge figure was still iling its arms around trying hard to drag itself to reach us but to no avail. I then told him how it went down and Kaley grimaced when she also saw the sight. Every time it moves, a few bloody bits still inside it would somehow escape from that flesh enclosure. The mangled parts that would escape are so sticky and slimy it makes a moist sound each time the huge figure moves.


    ¡°I thought they were three?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s on the far side. It crashed into one of those counters and got immobilized so I just shot it after dealing with these ones here.¡± I replied.


    They shone their shlights over and it is several meters far. They gave me weird looks as their shlights move back and forth between me and the huge figure in the distance.


    ¡°What? Forgot I¡¯m OP?¡± I said cheekily.


    ¡°Kinda difficult by not using a scope though¡­ hmm¡­ maybe I¡¯ll use the canted red dot and attach a scopeter. But it makes the gun look unbnced visually speaking. However, the options I could do would be increased. What to do, what to do.¡± I thought to myself.


    They never said anything and they just kept on shaking their heads in amus.e.m.e.nt. The drone slowly flew towards us and it hovered around the huge one in front of us as it continues its struggle to move. The lights for the Public Market eventually turned on and it gave a better shot of capturing the huge figure in every angle. It also allowed us to see the Public Market in full view and the mess we made here is just straight from a movie.


    ¡°Alright, some of you start to drag the bodies near the entrance so we could burn them. I would hate it if this would be a f.u.c.k.i.e.d-up slip and slide while we¡¯re taking everything from the shops around here.¡± I said.


    ¡°How about this big one kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    *stab*


    I sunk my de into its head and the hands that were iling around halted as it dropped on its own bits and juices. <hr>


    ¡°I got enough information. They have a few more quirks than the ones we faced but I think the ones at the People¡¯s Park are still the bigger threat. We never know why they are doing what they were doing earlier but I think it¡¯s enough for now to know ¡®what¡¯ they could do aside from ¡®why¡¯ for now. Heck, we don¡¯t even know ¡®why¡¯ those sprinters run like the Italian dude when you hold ¡®B¡¯, we just know that they do.¡± I said.


    ¡°I see what you did there bro.¡± Jared chimed from the earpiece.


    It took us a bit of time to haul the bodies outside but we did finish it eventually. Oscar made a controlled fire to burn them though there is still the blood stters across the ce.


    ¡°Want us to check Mn now? We could get a lot from that ce if it¡¯s not looted yet. It¡¯s just a huge warehouse, not a shop.¡± Mark said.


    ¡°Maybeter. We¡¯ll do things one at a time. Let¡¯s take everything from this ce first.¡± I instructed them.


    I pulled out my lockpicks and Oscar almost loses it. He actually managed to find a crowbar in one of the shops and almost everyone from my group celebrated since they could open the shops at a faster rate.


    ¡°You barbarians! Don¡¯t know the meaning of finesse! Amateurs! Amateurs I tell you!¡± I muttered silently though Kaley heard it.


    ¡°Well, you really do take a bit of time taking the locks off using those lockpicks.¡± Kaley said while giggling at me.


    ¡°I guess so. I just hate it when the locks get destroyed. Well, me could melt it and turn it to something new but it would take a bit of time.¡± I replied.


    The supplies that we could use are mostly located on the first half of the Public Market since they areprised of canned goods, liquid cleaners, dried pasta, sacks of rice, sacks of sugar, sacks of salt, cans of cooking oil, containers of soy sauce, bottles of vinegar, different kinds of seasonings, sachets of soap, sacks of detergent, insect repents, school supplies, rolls of fabric, and etc.


    ¡°Oh yeah, check the small entryway towards the attic-like entrance there. Almost all of the shops here use those as their storage area and definitely people who have tried to scavenge here before missed them.¡± I said to Marvin and the rest who don¡¯t know the ins and outs of the shops here. <hr>


    ¡°Damn, there really is! We should¡¯ve checked this ce much sooner!¡± Carlo eximed.


    ¡°Hah! If you did, you¡¯d still miss that ce if I didn¡¯t tell you.¡± I replied.


    The other half of the Public Market has everything there that could be eaten has be rotten since the power went out a week ago. Several pieces of meat that are either on their huge freezers or just hanging above the metal hooks on some of the stalls has already discolored and has several bitemarks. A few pieces have maggots crawling onto them in different directions and they are full. However, there are several tools that we could make use of like their different kinds of knives, scales, lights, containers, sharpening tools, and etc.


    We gathered everything to the entrance and we called home to bring the Cargo Truck. The haul we got ising from several shops and we haven¡¯t even finished on clearing the apartment building, the school, and Mn.


    ¡°Mn is a bit dangerous since it is enclosed and only has one entrance inside. I think we head towards the apartment building and the school first and head to Mnst.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay kid, we got everything important here. What do we do next?¡± Oscar asked as everyone was idling about.


    ¡°Important? You¡¯re sure you got everything? Hmm?¡± I asked with raised eyebrows.


    ¡°What? We got all the food and other supplies. Are there any hidden entrances we didn¡¯t get to yet?¡± he asked as the group grew confused.


    I pointed on the floor and said, ¡°The casings. Let¡¯s start on picking everything up. Don¡¯t miss a single one or we¡¯ll go back here with a metal detector!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Everyone else.

 Chapter 195

    Chapter 195: 195


    They were all looking at me like I said something really weird. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What? You think our bullets are unlimited? We have a f.u.c.k ton but we still need to be stingy! Go on, let¡¯s pick everything up!¡± I defended myself.


    They were all shaking their heads as they started to pick a few from which are close to them and it took us a bit of time in doing so.


    ¡°You know, I think we spend more time before or after an encounter with them rather than the actual encounter itself.¡± Kaley said next to me.


    ¡°Well yeah, before we dive in, we make sure that everything is ready and after we dive in, we make sure we ounted for everything. Gunfights, swordfights and any other fightssts less time than we think.¡± I replied.


    I called Jared over so we could drive the drones over the gates toward the school and the apartment building. It started to hover over the small pile of dead bodies that our group killed near the gate by simply poking them.


    The school was something that also teaches religious beliefs to their students and it is rather a small onepared to regr school sizes. They have very few students and it is only a single floor. We could already see a few roaming around the ce. Aside from the small offices that are the guidance office and the faculty areas, this ce does not seem to have a lot of supplies of huge value to be taken. It would just be beneficial for us to clear the ones inside for obvious reasons.


    The apartment on the other hand houses different kinds of people and it has four floors in total and ten rooms each. Driving the drones over, several rooms have already broken into and some windows are smashed to pieces. The dead are roaming each floor however, a few rooms have their windows barricaded by wood nks but I doubt people are still alive inside.


    ¡°It¡¯s unlikely but I doubt they would simply hole inside without even trying to kill the dead just walking outside their doors. Besides, they would be like cats if they could stay quiet for that long without the dead starting to bang against their door. Well, unlikely but still possible. We just have to be careful going inside.¡± I thought to myself.


    Jared tried to make some of the dead went over the rails by attracting them with the noise of the drone. Some of them still has their motor skills avable and a few actually tried to vault over but would then plunge to their deaths as they fall from the highest floor. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Motor skills present but still stupid.¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley and I poked a few more heads near the gate since we attracted a few since they¡¯re the easiest targets ever. The trucks went back home apanied by some of our people and we¡¯re waiting for the 8-wheeler toe back before we head inside. Marvin started to help us with his spear that is just a wooden rod with a sharpened end.


    ¡°Know how to use staffs or spears in real life?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Not really, using this just feels really natural for me. Besides, I just don¡¯t want them too close so I use a long weapon like this.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Hmm, just be careful with that though. It¡¯s hard wood but it still prone to breaking. I really hope we get to have the spears that has the tang that reaches the whole length of the spear. Some spears only have a spear head that they attach to a pole but the ones I would like to have are the former ones.¡± I said.


    ¡°Not gonna let you use the Guan Dao though, that¡¯s a weapon I don¡¯t casually give out until you¡¯ve proven yourself capable.¡± I thought to myself.


    The truck finally came back and my uncle backed it into the right passage while a few people there stood guard. Oscar came with us while Jared still guarded the truck with my uncle.


    We opened the gate and I drew my katana after reloading my pistols. I sunk the katana to each of the heads of the pile first before proceeding while the rest dragged them down on the side after. We walked on a gravel road as we first went for the school.


    Since this ce is quite small, most of the group are guarding outside to avoid bumping into each other inside. We cleared each room but it was made easy since the windows for each room is enough for stabbing them in the head. We¡¯d aim for their eyes for easier entry and we don¡¯t need to push it through their skulls to kill them. Just sinking an adequate portion of it inside their head is enough for them to truly die.


    It seemed that some of the students when it hit was locked inside some of the rooms since there are padlocks on some of the doors. There are still several people outside the rooms wearing civilian clothing but the locked rooms just make you think that something f.u.c.k.i.e.d-up has urred here. <hr>


    ¡°Did they lock them inside?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°I think so too.¡± Marvin replied.


    I was silent.


    We eventually cleared every room and what¡¯s left is the guidance office. Our theory got proven immediately when we opened the doors and checked each desk.


    We found a note inside that says:


    ¡°I¡¯m really sorry to do this but I know the one up above will forgive me. He always do. Help will soone. This is the end of the world as we know it. Help wille. Help wille.¡±


    I checked the desk and I found out that the principal here did it based on the simr handwriting on some of the files inside.


    ¡°This f.u.c.ker. He didn¡¯t even give them the chance to survive on their own. He basically sealed their fate when he did this.¡± I said.


    The group with me has solemn expressions but the name of the principal seemed familiar. <hr>


    I pulled out my Sat Phone and contacted the CO of the DDR camp here.


    ¡°Sir?¡± the voice said.


    ¡°If a person there is named Arturo C. Manalo kill him. He actually¡­¡± I told him what he did and what he looked like. He was silent for a moment and I could hear a few pages turning.


    ¡°We¡¯ll check sir if he¡¯s still here.¡± he replied.


    The group never said anything and they seemed to share the same sentiment.


    ¡°There¡¯s no chance in hell that I would let those kinds of people live.¡± I thought to myself.


    We eventually cleared the whole school and aside from a few school supplies and their records, we actually found a couple boxes of food from their small canteen. It¡¯s only snacks and juice boxes but it¡¯s a good find. We also took other electrical devices from the ce such as theirputers, projectors, LED Screens, and etc. along with the mobile phones and a few handhelds that are located in a box where they confiscate them and on a few student¡¯s bags.


    The apartment was the same thing and we never even had to use our guns. The bodies we cleared are just thrown over the edge to be taken care of while Oscar tried to start scavenge the vehicles parked on their driveway. We found the keys from the bodies and the three sedans here is in good working condition. It could be either used as another vehicle for transport or for extra parts when the need arises.


    The food that is left here is abysmal but there are a couple of good finds like first aid kits, sewing kits, and a telescope. We took all the clothes we could find along with several towels and nkets we could get our hands to. We also found an autographed sneaker on one of the shelves and they started on bartering with it and Brian won. We found no guns in the apartment, even from the small guardhouse that is located on the entrance but several handhelds that could be used as a weapon like machetes, bats, and sledgehammers are found in some of the rooms that are barricaded. Like I thought before the people there either left the ce or just died inside.


    ¡°Alright, load everything in the truck!¡± I said as I sprayed the markings from before on the entrances. <hr>


    ¡°We¡¯re going to Mn now, right?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I trailed when I looked upwards.


    ¡°Bro?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Hmm? Oh, I just had an idea. Follow me and grab thedder.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Where are you guys going?¡± Kaley followed me.


    ¡°Up the roof of the warehouse. Come too.¡± I said.


    I could see the small windows from the second floor of the warehouse and we made our way towards it. I pulled out the duct tape from my pack to quietly break the ss windows. I only broke a small portion of it to reach the handle on the other side so that I could open it more fully.


    I could already see several shelves that has several boxes of different items on the 1st and the 2nd floor. There¡¯re a few pallets on one corner also filled with supplies but those things roaming around is still present on the 1st floor. However, I can¡¯t seem to find any figures on the 2nd floor. There is a small office at the rightmost corner and the sunlight could still shine through it. I even shone my shlight on it to get a better view of things. We can¡¯t seem to see anything from this angle so we drove the drones inside.


    *BANG*

 Chapter 196

    Chapter 196: 196


    *CRASH* <center></center><hr>


    The three of us tensed when we heard the gunshot. I instinctively pulled Jared and Kaley down since we heard the gunshot. I just caught a glimpse of a shing from the office we were trying to drive the drones earlier before I pulled them down. The window I carefully opened now has shattered to pieces and luckily none of us three was shot. However, our controllers for the drones fell and it made the drones lose control inside. The feed is showing darkness but a couple sun rays would hit it and I surmise that it is getting kicked around.


    ¡°Kid?!¡± Oscar shouted from below.


    ¡°Someone¡¯s inside old man, be quiet for a few moments. I¡¯ll handle it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take a few people to head to the main entrance.¡± he said.


    ¡°Yeah, do that. Don¡¯t open it yet though, there¡¯s several of the dead inside the first floor and we don¡¯t know what type they are yet.¡± I said.


    After that single shot on which I surmise is from a shotgun, I thought of a few ways to handle the situation.


    ¡°I need to establish a connection first.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hey! We¡¯re sorry we didn¡¯t know that anyone was here! Can you speak to us? We don¡¯t mean any harm!¡± I shouted.


    No response.


    However, I¡¯m listening to other sounds that might reveal where the person or persons inside is located.


    ¡°I¡¯m Sky Ishiyama and we belong in a special unit. You could keep everything you have there but we need to kill everything below! I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯re still able to hear the broadcasts but they evolve or turn to somethingpletely different. It¡¯s a bad idea to let them-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE NOT TOUCHING MY FAMILY!!!¡± A shout came from the same direction the shot was fired.


    ¡°Great. One of those.¡± I thought to myself as I made an exasperated exhale.


    ¡°You know they¡¯re already dead, right?¡± I said in a calm tone. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I¡¯LL WAIT FOR THE CURE TO COME! IT WILL COME SOON! HOWEVER LONG IT TAKES! I KNOW IT¡¯S COMING!¡± he said.


    I saw Tatiana slowly making her way towards us and she¡¯s giving her normal look of nonchnce. She started to slowly move her hands.


    From the past week, I decided to learn more signs in ASL. I even taught my group basic signs tobine it with but Kaley and Tatiana were the only ones able topletelymunicate not just with simple responses but actual sentences though still limited.


    What I did to made up for it is I would read their lips to fill in the gaps on some things that made no sense since they would mouth whatever they were trying to say.


    Jared and Lois on the other hand can only respond with simple signs but those two f.u.c.kers learned curse signs first before everything else so they could argue in another way without their sister noticing.


    ¡®Want me to do something to distract him?¡¯ Tatiana gestured.


    I just shook my head then Kaley looked annoyed.


    I raised my eyebrows in question and the both of them looked annoyed at me now.


    ¡®What¡¯s the point of us learning to sign if you would just use bodynguage normally?!¡¯ they both gestured.


    ¡°Oh.¡± is all that came out of me.


    The two were shaking their heads in annoyance.


    ¡®Oh.¡¯ I signed.


    ¡°¡­¡± the two.


    Jared was almost dying trying to hold his stomach and contain hisughter.


    ¡®F.u.c.k.¡¯ he signed as well. <hr>


    ¡°And that¡¯s all you f.u.c.k.i.n.g know.¡± I silently said and I went back to the task at hand.


    ¡°The cure is definitelying but sorry to tell you this but it won¡¯t be avable this early. It could take several years and we never know what state your fami-¡± another gunshot fired from the same spot.


    *BANG*


    ¡°NOT ANOTHER BULLSHIT TALK FROM YOU! I¡¯LL BREAK MORE THAN GLASS IF YOU TRIED TO DO ANYTHING ELSE! LEAVE OR I¡¯LL F.U.C.K.I.N.G DO IT AGAIN!¡± he shouted again.


    ¡°Again? What did he do again?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Dammit! F.u.c.k.i.n.g listen to me! This is also for your own safety! We don¡¯t know how long would it take for the ones below to turn into something else. Even if the ones below didn¡¯t, you can¡¯t restore something that has turned to that extent back to the way it was. I¡¯m sorry but even if a cure was made, it¡¯s already toote for your family.¡± I tried to exin.


    *BANG*


    *BANG*


    *BANG*


    *BANG*


    He started to unload everything from his shotgun.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! A CURE WILL BE MADE! THEY¡¯LL BE IMMEDIATELY DISTRIBUTED AND MY FAMILY WILL BE BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS! I DON¡¯T EVEN KNOW IF WHAT YOU¡¯RE SAYING IS TRUE AND YOU¡¯RE JUST TRYING TO GET INSIDE MY HEAD! NO! F.U.C.K YOU AND YOUR SPECIAL UNIT!¡± he exploded in rage. He unloaded more from his shotgun and I¡¯m counting each one.


    ¡°Only 5 more¡­? hmm? Is he out already?¡± I thought to myself.


    The ruckus that he is making is attracting a few to our direction but Oscar with the others below took care of it. However, the zombies inside are getting lively from the noise that he¡¯s making. <hr>


    I waited for a while for him to calm down and I made a very long exhale.


    ¡°Okay. It seems we havee to a disagreement.¡± I said.


    ¡°DISAGREEMENT?! BOY~ THIS IS MORE THAN A F.U.C.K.I.N.G DISAGREEMENT! YOU WANTED TO KILL MY FAMILY AND THIS COULD GO BOTH WAYS!¡± he retorted.


    ¡°I really hate unreasonable people like this.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Alright, this is getting ridiculous and we¡¯re wasting time here. I want you to make a choice. Throw your weapon on the ground and let us kill the ones below peacefully or I¡¯ll let my group below open the main entrance and they will put down everything thates out for good. You making them ¡®grow¡¯ like this is not only a threat to you but to everyone else that is still alive. I¡¯m sorry that what used to be your family is below there but this is something we need to do. I¡¯ll wait half a mi-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°DON¡¯T YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G DARE!!!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Trust me, I will f.u.c.k.i.n.g dare.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯LL F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHOOT YOU IF YOU DARE TO POKE YOUR HEAD IN THAT WINDOW!!!¡± he c.o.c.ked his gun but I listened for the sound.


    ¡°Nothing fell on the floor likest time. He¡¯s really out. Even if he has another piece, I could shoot faster when ites to that. I have Kaley and the rest here with me too if he tries anything. Well¡­ before we do that¡­¡± I thought to myself and I removed my helmet.


    I bnced it on top of my Tavor and I slowly raised it up. It¡¯s really visible from the window and it confirmed that he¡¯s already out.


    ¡°You¡¯re out, right?¡± I asked.


    He was silent.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonnae inside in a few seconds. Don¡¯t make me kill you for such a stupid reason. I want you to understand that. I¡¯m going in now, okay?¡± I said then I quickly revealed myself with my Maxim ready just in case.


    I jumped inside with my gun drawn and the people with me readied their guns and Kaley went with me inside when nothing happened. The contained smell inside is horrible and I wonder how he could stay in such a ce. We saw the person we¡¯re talking to just leaning over the rails with the shotgun on the floor.


    He¡¯s about in the age of 40 and he¡¯s wearing a hat and the uniform for this ce. <hr>


    ¡°Figures.¡± I thought to myself.


    I made a nce on the inside of the office and there is several piled of trash inside with a lone tent that is pitched in the corner. I looked back at him and he seemed lifeless.


    ¡°I hadn¡¯t got your name yet.¡± I said to him.


    He looked back at me and he said, ¡°You look young.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Asian.¡± I replied with a smile.


    He made a small chuckle and he started to shake his head.


    ¡°I could take you to the nearest camp first if you wanted or you could make this ce your own since you¡¯re well stocked. I could let you borrow a car if you have a ce in mind instead. I believe that the people below are not only your family. I have a list of people here and you can find them if you check their information here and-¡± I was cut off again.


    ¡°No need. I know where I need to go.¡± he said.


    His face seems to be the one that has decided on something and tears fell on his face.


    Next thing we know is that he let himself fall on the 1st floor but he survived the fall. The dead have already started to gather around him but his eyes are set to a figure. He hugged it tight but the figure he hugged decided to sink her teeth towards his neck but he didn¡¯t make a sound. He just hugged her even tighter and the rest of the zombies inside decided to gorge on him. His body got torn to pieces and blood started to sprout from every direction.


    ¡°Is this what he meant earlier?¡± I thought to myself.


    We just moved on from it since we won¡¯t mourn someone we just met.


    Kaley went inside the office and when I followed her after a few moments, I noticed that she¡¯s wearing a bitter expression. She handed me a journal and thest thing written made me feel a mix of emotions. It¡¯s just a simple sentence and the only thing written on thest page.


    ¡°Sorry, sorry for pushing you.¡±

 Chapter 197

    Chapter 197: 197


    The two of us were silent for a moment but Iid the journal down on one of the desks. We just looked at each other and we decided to check what we could inside. Kaley found what I was initially looking for and she handed it to me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re looking for this, right?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, thanks.¡± I replied and I flipped the logbook to thest page.


    It contained thest shipment which was a few days before it hit. Most of the shipments are food and a lot of those are ones that has a long shelf life. I aimed my shlight below and saw the mess that has happened here. The supplies below are abundant though a few boxes and shelves have fallen down and got trampled by the figures below.


    The single metal staircase that leads to the 2nd floor has been barricaded sloppily but it does the job of keeping them away. The normal ones below act as if they¡¯re like roombas that on the case they hit something, they turn around and move the other way.


    ¡°Kid, it¡¯s gone quiet over there, what happened?¡± Oscar said from the earpiece.


    ¡°It¡¯s done. He¡­¡± I told him the rest of the story.


    He told me that he¡¯ll keep a few people down to watch outside while he would send a few more on our location for help on clearing the ones below. Marvin¡¯s spear was utilized more because of its length in dealing with the ones below. The dead noticing us on the staircase made them gather towards us like moths drawn into the me.


    I held my katana downwards and I started on sinking the de to their heads one by one. I made sure to wipe the de each time it gets too sticky since the blood from the bodies I stabbed into has gotten more viscous than normal blood.


    Aside from killing them I saw one of the drones we brought and it would seem to need a few repairs to get it to working condition again since it fell down below and is covered in muck. The other one safelynded to the second floor and is fine.


    The warehouse is finally cleared of everything and we did our standard procedure of dragging the bodies outside and burning each one of them including the guy we met earlier. The trucks were called over and they started on hauling everything they could fit in the trucks. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°The supplies we got today couldst for a few months.¡± Oscar said to me while we¡¯re standing guard.


    ¡°Well yeah, this is the Public Market after all. The only gun we found in here is this 88 though.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh yeah, shotguns are mine, right?¡± he said.


    ¡°What? Where did we ever made that rule? I believe firste first serve is our policy on guns?¡± I said as I looked at him.


    ¡°Heh. I saw that Tatiana would sometimes attempt that Hexa-loading thing that you invented. She¡¯d still Quad-load a few times but she¡¯s getting there. If I¡¯m still in my prime, I bet I could do it.¡± he said.


    ¡°If you started on using the AR-12 I gave you before as a present, you¡¯d be killing more of them and reloading would be much easier. The mags coul-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°There you two go again on that gun talk! Can you please talk about something else? You both share the guns you have and yet you still argue to who owns who!¡± Kaley snapped and we two backed away in a safe distance.


    Oscar leaned over to me slightly and whispered as quietly as he could, ¡°Is she on¡­? ¡­? Hmm?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You know?¡± he said while raising his eyebrows up and down. <hr>


    ¡°I still think so?¡± I replied.


    ¡°What do you mean you think so? You two are together, right?¡± he retorted.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you talking about? I don¡¯t check and ask her every chance I get if that¡¯s what you mean. You have no idea what happened this past week. Kris and Juan even moved out due to what happened and I¡¯m the only guy left alone in my house.¡± I said.


    ¡°Huh? What are you talking about?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Well the McClintock effect is not really proven 100% real but it happened at my house. Each and every one of them ¡®synced¡¯ up and I had to almost walk on eggshells just to see the other day safely. It even happened with the women Tatiana trained every day and it was really a tense atmosphere. I know for sure that it¡¯s a coincidence but it couldn¡¯t have been more uncanny.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh~ that also happened with my wife and her friends before. That shit was crazy.¡± Oscar said but I nced at him and he has a mncholic expression.


    ¡°You made contact yet, old man?¡± I asked after a short moment of silence.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was silent.


    ¡°I see¡­ my n still stands if you¡¯re up for it¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°n? What n?¡± he asked. <hr>


    ¡°You know, Project Turn Oscar Into A Living Doll By Taxidermy So On The- Ack!¡± Oscar kicked me in the shin.


    His mood seemed to have lightened and then the trucks were finally loaded. We dropped a couple of boxes to Dave which is still guarding his employer¡¯s gate. Judging from his physique, he still seems to be well fed but I saw a new person with him guarding the entrance. We said our goodbyes and we headed back to our ce.


    They also fortified their ce since their gate¡¯s size has been augmented by adding more barbed wires and sheets of metal are padded in front. Aside from the new guy, I could hear that the ce is more lively and I surmise that they could be more rtives, friends, or a few people that wandered and took in.


    From the past week, we still didn¡¯t increase the area of which we upy but we made sure that every house there is livable and has been fortified. It¡¯s like those cultivation novels where you fill everything to the brim before you start a breakthrough. So far, Cyrill was the only one who wandered on ourpound. The reason to that could be is that the DDR Camp is quite near us and they wouldn¡¯t think to search for another ce around.


    Besides, the houses we have are more than enough for our numbers and trying to increase our territory recklessly without the proper manpower is dangerous. There¡¯re emergency rations and equipment hidden in each house. Also, bug out bags are ced on the houses with people on them just in case anything happens and the number of it is equal to the number of people living inside. We even ced extra cameras outside on a few corners to increase the area that can could survey without driving his drone outside every single time. I even trusted each household with a gun but it is only given if they pass the basic training for handling them. It¡¯s a single pistol with an extra magazine but it¡¯s enough in my opinion. We¡¯re a bit past my desired number of 150 people but everyone is still maintaining a good rtionship with everyone.


    ¡°I believe that your run is over for the morning dude? You came back with everyone now, so that¡¯s what I¡¯m guessing. I thought you would be hauling until darkness came! My hands are kinda sore since I also helped with unloading them with haste!¡± An said as he saw us.


    ¡°Yeah. We just cleared everything avable on the Public Market here. What¡¯s for lunch?¡± I asked.¡¯


    ¡°Oh it¡¯s ¡®Sinigang na Baka¡¯ I think your aunt and the rest are still preparing them.¡± An replied.


    It¡¯s a dish made by boiling the beef shanks and bones to make a simple stock and adding several vegetables after the meat is tender enough that you could slice it with a fork. Tamarinds are also ced in the stock to get that salty and sour vor that is good for restoring energy after working hard.


    ¡°I could barely use this gun you gave me now since Jay¡¯s group keeps on piling bodies one after the other when they go outside¡­¡± An trailed. <hr>


    ¡°Well it¡¯s better that way don¡¯t you think?¡± I said.


    ¡°Well I¡¯m thinking of joining them sometimes to clear a few outside. I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll get rusty just keeping guard here. Right Jude?¡± he said but Jude didn¡¯t even respond.


    ¡°See? He gets me.¡± he added while Jenny was shaking her head.


    ¡°Get rusty? You¡¯re already rusty to begin with! What you need is to get either melted down or an extensive restoration!¡± I said, jokingly.


    ¡°Bah! You¡¯ll never see the greatest which is I if you don¡¯t open thine eyes fully!¡± He eximed.


    ¡°Thine? Which is I? Are you hanging out with Ken that much now? He¡¯s starting to rub off on you.¡± I said,ughing.


    ¡°What?! I have Jenny here I¡¯m not that kind!¡± he was shocked.


    ¡°An¡­ that¡¯s not what he meant¡­ It¡¯s¡­¡± Jenny tried to exin the misunderstanding he said.


    ¡°Nevermind dude, see youter.¡± I said while I saw Kaley waving me over.


    Since the food is still being cooked, Kaley and I went to our room first.

 Chapter 198

    Chapter 198: 198


    ¡°Hey¡­¡± she trailed while Iid my guns on the table. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah? Need something?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Sorry¡­¡± she said as sheid her guns down as well.


    ¡°For what?¡± I asked again.


    ¡°Well¡­ you know¡­¡± she fidgets.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t know what you¡¯re apologizing for. Well, which one? Earlier when you yelled at Oscar and I for talking casually? Or¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°That and what happened the past week¡­ I¡¯m not on my cycle anymore but remembering what I did makes me angry at myself¡­¡± she weakly said.


    ¡°Well, I understand and forgive you two. You two just owe me one thing though.¡± I said as Iid on the bed while still in fullbat gear.


    ¡°I¡¯m so stupid!¡± she yelled as she jumped on the bed head first.


    ¡°You¡¯re not, just what you did was, slightly. That¡¯s why Rin also moved to the other room. She¡¯s mad at the both of you. You better talk to her too.¡± I said.


    ¡°We already did and she¡¯s fine now. She just needs a bit of time alone. They said that what they have wasn¡¯t really that serious and she was a bit surprised when it happened, I¡¯m just more worried about us. I really didn¡¯t expect you to react like that¡­¡± she said.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was silent for a moment. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I can move to mom¡¯s house for a while if you¡¯re still mad?¡± she asked, worried.


    ¡°Hmm? I¡¯m not, don¡¯t worry. I just¡­ I just don¡¯t know what to feel at that time. You two were really going at it. You two should¡¯ve seen Rin¡¯s face. She looks like you whenever Tatiana tried her usual verbal advances towards me.¡± I said,ughing.


    ¡°You¡¯re not? I thought I immediately became sober when I caught a glimpse of your face! It¡¯s like the time when you told me- you know¡­ that look you give where it would feel really cold¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Well, to be honest I got a bit upset when Tatiana joked about kissing you and you¡¯re the one who actually started on kissing her. I thought it would be just a peck but it was a full blown kiss! Like thirty Mississippi¡¯s long! You¡¯re the one who always get jealous when someone tried to get close to me then you¡¯re the one who actually did something! How ¡®great¡¯ was that?!¡± I eximed in a grumble.


    ¡°Hnngh~ Please don¡¯t remind me of what I did~ I actually thought you would like it so¡­ I did it¡­ We were really drunk that time too¡­ I thought you like seeing girls do those kinds of stuff¡­¡± she trailed as she buried her face in the pillow.


    ¡°Well yeah, only when I watch it in flicks! I¡¯m not gonna lie about that!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°B-but you actually felt nothing down there?¡± she turned her head towards me.


    ¡°Wait, hold up¡­ you¡¯re changing the subject now, are you?¡± I said.


    ¡°Just answer it!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I trailed and I can¡¯t look at her in the eye.


    ¡°Hmm? Answer!¡± she nudged me.


    ¡°I plead the fifth! I plead the fifth!¡± I eximed. <hr>


    ¡°Ohoh~ So you actually liked what you see, huh?¡± she almost celebrated.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. So what? You¡¯re the one who actually did something. I¡¯ve been keeping a clean record and even if you did that when you¡¯re intoxicated, that still counts as a strike! Let¡¯s stick to the subject first before the tables turn against me, yeah?¡± I defended myself.


    ¡°Hnngh! I¡¯m sorry! What can I do to make you feel better? I¡¯m feeling guilty every time I remember what I did!¡± she buried her face in the pillow again.


    ¡°Hahaha~! Just remember that you two owes me and Rin one thing. Let¡¯s leave it at that for now. I¡¯m not as mad as you think I am. Just a little bit since the person I want to spend the rest of my life with did something I thought she would never do. Just a mix of every emotion, I think. It¡¯s not like you two went all the way. You¡¯re both drunk, it¡¯s fine.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was silent and she turned her head the other way.


    ¡°What? Did I say something wrong again?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You doofus!¡± she shouted.


    ¡°What?!¡± I was confused.


    Her ears are getting redder by the moment and she seems to not want to face me.


    ¡°What did I? Oh¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°You really mean that?¡± she asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah. We¡¯ve joked about it a few times but I really meant it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re making me feel really guilty now¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the point. The point is that if we ever did something the other person might not like, we talk and forgive whatever it is and not leave it for too long to fester and develop into something else that might ruin what we have. People make mistakes. We don¡¯t simply burn our bridges when something happened. We can¡¯t really have a divorce now if we fight since you know¡­ zombies happened.¡± I said with a calm tone.


    ¡°Pfft! We¡¯re not even married yet!¡± she said as she looked back at me.


    ¡°Well in my head we already are.¡± I said cheekily.


    Our eyes are just looking at each other and then I could see her hands slowly reaching for her te carrier.


    ¡°The food is about to be served. You think our time is enough?¡± I said.


    ¡°We could always eat a bitter than them or we make the best of it by doing it quick¡­¡± she trailed.


    We stood up and removed the equipment we have on person and left only our clothes to getfortable. She unbuttoned her shirt half-way and it revealed her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts kept in ce by her undergarments. I wanted to bury my face on the deep cleavage but she pushed me to sit down on the edge of the bed.


    ¡°Just let me do everything for now¡­¡± she whispered.


    She unzips the pants I was wearing then she removed everything from the waist below. I¡¯m only wearing my long sleeves while she¡¯s only wearing the half-unbuttoned shirt with her bra still on. She took hold of me and then I felt the warmth of her mouth when she started on devouring me. Her hands are gripping my jewels while she tries to envelop everything. Her tongue wrapping around it while her lips are tightly enveloping it almost made me lose my mind. I released everything inside her warm mouth and she let it drip towards her chest when she opened her mouth. She kept on stroking me with her other hand while the other is inside herself making that wet noise every time she moves a finger inside.


    I thought that she would go on top of me next but she didn¡¯t. She cupped her b.r.e.a.s.ts and it slid in between of the huge mounds. It immediately felt like heaven when it slipped inside. I started to lose it when she started to squeeze them together and moved up and down. Her bra is keeping it tucked in when she began to do it with no hands. Her left hand is on the top of her head clutching a part of her hair exposing her underarm while the other is inside her moving wildly since her shoulder is almost shaking from the way she moves. She started on shaking after a few moments and each twitch from her body would make her b.r.e.a.s.ts jiggle and make the tips hidden inside slowly peek out. <hr>


    She¡¯d always rest for a moment everytime she released it since she can¡¯t handle the sensitivity after but it¡¯s the time I always go for it. I picked her up and threw her onto the bed facing me.


    ¡°Wait! Wait! Wait!¡± she eximed.


    I didn¡¯t wait. She¡¯s saying differently but she¡¯s already open wide. She¡¯s dripping wet and it slid in smoothly. Her feet wrapped around my h.i.p.s and her hands are up above her head. I started to move my h.i.p.s and she let me take over. Her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts started to pop out of her bra a couple of thrusts in and the sight of it makes me weak on the knees. I leaned my body towards her and it slightly squeezed her chest when she also wrapped her arms around me. She started to release that warm liquid from the inside while I continued on. I identally pulled too hard and when I get inside again, I found that I was in the other ce.


    She never stopped me though and she continued to kiss me while our m.o.a.ns are muffled from each thrust. I let it all out inside and then there¡¯s a knock on the door.


    *knock*


    *knock*


    *knock*


    ¡°Time to eat~! The kids already came and they saw me on the first floor. I just climbed up here to tell you guys.¡± I heard Rin¡¯s voice.


    Kaley¡¯s a mess and she¡¯s still panting. I¡¯m struggling on what to do and my mind shut down. I just said what¡¯s on the top of my mind.


    ¡°We¡¯reing!¡± I shouted behind the door.


    I could almost hear Kaley¡¯s facepalm when I unintentionally released an unintended pun.


    ¡°Okay! I¡¯ll head down and we¡¯ll wait for you below!¡± Rin replied.

 Chapter 199

    Chapter 199: 199


    We could hear Rin¡¯s footsteps slowly disappearing but Kaley doesn¡¯t know what to do with herself as she¡¯s still covering her face with her elbow. I pulled it out while I moved her hands covering her face to look at her expression. Her face is flushed and she¡¯s looking at me with a mix of emotions. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Really?! We¡¯reing?!¡± she blurted out with embarrassment.


    ¡°Two birds with one stone!¡± I eximed proudly.


    She hit me lightly on my chest and then I kissed her. We started to get passionate again but we stopped ourselves since it¡¯s time to eat.


    ¡°We¡¯ll continue thister.¡± Kaley said as we stood up.


    We quickly went for a shower and we headed down to eat with everybody which are already in a line on the table with food. I had two bowls where my meals are separated. I would eat a spoonful of rice first before eating a small chunk of the beef and vegetables then sipping some of the soup by lifting the bowl towards my mouth.


    The taste of everything inside my mouth refreshes my body and it refilled my energy after the work and ah¡­ the other exercise we¡¯ve done.


    ¡°Where are we heading next kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ Ken, how about the status on Woonds?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Oh yeah, they¡¯re still remaining stupid over there. A few of their people are still trying to get supplies outside but one time when I flew my drone over, some of them are actually fighting with each other. The situation on the camps are slowly stabilizing though even if there¡¯s less people than before.¡± he replied.


    From the past week, we made a small trip towards Woonds to have some sort of partnership. They have high walls, huge plots ofnds, and big houses. The problem with their ce is that aside from that the location is too unfavorable since it is right next to the highway, there are too many stuck-up rich people that still think that the money on their ounts would still have value for something still inside. They still act as if we have a caste system that dictates who¡¯s a better human being than the other. There¡¯re still a few people that are reasonable but it immediately ticked me off when the others started on asking for a whole lot to the point that we would be doing all the work without their help.


    What I proposed back then is ess to some of the plot ofnds that are empty to be used as farms. Another part of the deal is we¡¯d build a bridge that would connect our bases and we¡¯d station a few of my people on their front gate for security. We¡¯d also ce one of the rys we made to further increase the range of Ana¡¯s reach. What I ask for them is that they should be the ones to take care of the nts we would be nting and we¡¯ll split everything down the middle if harvestes. They¡¯re not utilizing their ce fully and all the food that they have on them is only from their runs outside and their own stocks from before it hit.


    ¡°They¡¯re fighting?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know why though but some of them havee to blows.¡± Ken said.


    ¡°What are we gonna do about them though?¡± Jared asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We wait a few more days until they get desperate. We¡¯re more equipped than them and that makes us able to get more supplies outside much easier than everybody else. Sooner orter they¡¯ll run out and the sound of tilling soil and watering nts will be the best job offer they¡¯ll ever have. We can survive on what we have here but it¡¯s not bad to have more ces where we can have another reliable food source.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What if they do something to the food?¡± Johnny asked, concerned.


    ¡°It would be very stupid to do that since they would also be eating those. I have a few countermeasures in mind so we should rest easy. However, first time they do it or if something slipped past us, will be theirst.¡± I said.


    ¡°I agree with that. An attempt on one¡¯s life more so when you¡¯re trying to help them is bounds for our retaliation.¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°Retaliation? You mean¡­? That?¡± An trailed.


    Johnny and I just nodded with serious expressions.


    ¡°Well, obviously! What would you do instead?¡± Oscar chimed.


    They were all just silent.


    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s continue with our work here and let¡¯s worry about it at ater date.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait a minute kid. What do you think about the trainees?¡± Oscar asked me.


    ¡°The results are fine for a few days of training but there is still a lot they could improve on. A bit on following orders but a lot more on using guns. Honestly, my group could kill them a few times over if we ever get into a gunfight.¡± I said honestly.


    ¡°Hmm, I agree. I mostly trained their bodies first by doing the exercises everyday. They mostly get their practice on guns when I bring them outside.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I agree with that too. They need more practice, correct?¡± Tatiana chimed as well.


    ¡°What?! Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious?!¡± Brian heard us and he can¡¯t believe what we said. <hr>


    ¡°What do we need to improve on?¡± Marvin asked.


    ¡°You need to improve a bit on uracy but the most pressing thing is speed. You need to get your heads cool too. Also, when they started to get too close, your fingers started to go wild. You definitely shoot faster but your uracy suffers. It¡¯s also not bad for some of you to always aim for headshots but most of you still took the same time acquiring the target even if the target is close. You need to keep those two things on high standards.¡± I exined.


    ¡°How do we reach that standard then?¡± Ashley asked.


    ¡°Easy. Practice, over and over.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that take a lot of bullets? Do we even have enough for that?¡± Marvin asked.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re right about that. However, each bullet meant for practice is worth it. What use are 1000 bullets if you could only kill 5 or less? When we¡¯re only a few here, I made the people that are starting to learn just enough to learn basic stuff. I made them use a lot at first to get the feel for it since they are just starting but you don¡¯t always need to splurge on ammo to get better.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Then what do we need to do?¡± he asked again.


    ¡°Oscar, want me to train them for now on using guns just for this afternoon?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Sure, go ahead kid. We got a lot of supplies today. I think we could forgo one run so they could see what we mean.¡± he replied.


    ¡°I think I saw a ce we could hit that has still supplies. Someone still needs to go outside, correct?¡± Tatiana chimed and I nodded.


    We went to our shooting range that has a roof and walls now. The targets increased and we have the cardboard and paper ones aside from the steel targets.


    ¡°Okay, you¡¯re gonna train with my team and you¡¯ll learn what we¡¯ve been doing this past week. Jared, show them how to do the drills.¡± I said.


    Jared ced a target about 7 yards away from him and he took his stance while I¡¯m holding the timer.


    *BEEP* <hr>


    Jared raised his AR-10 and fired a shot to the cardboard target. After it hit, he went back to his stance then I looked at the timer.


    ¡°.53 seconds, again.¡±


    *BEEP*


    ¡°.51 seconds, again.¡±


    *BEEP*


    ¡°.48 seconds, next thing.¡±


    *BEEP*


    Jared raised his AR-10 again and he fired a shot on the same target. However, after he fired the shot, he pressed the mag release and the magazine fell down on the ground. He pulled the other magazine from his belt and then he ced it on his AR-10 then he fired another shot at the same target after he chambered a round.


    ¡°3.21 seconds.¡± I said as I let him reset.


    *BEEP*


    ¡°3.33 seconds, again.¡±


    *BEEP*


    ¡°2.98 seconds whoo! You got lucky there.¡±


    ¡°Heh, would¡¯ve done it faster if everyone is not looking at me.¡± Jared said. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Do the next thing.¡± I said as I raised the timer.


    This time, after the beep, he pulled out his Glock 19 from his holster as he fired two rounds and then switching to the AR-10 and firing another two. After that, he switched to the Glock 19 again to switch magazines and switching again to the AR-10 to switch magazines. It took more time since he had to clear the chamber for the AR-10 since it jammed. He did it again for a total of three times and Lois suddenly popped up in the range to join our ss.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you doing here? I thought you would be sleeping by now?!¡± Jared eximed when he saw Lois.


    ¡°Pssh! I smelled was happening and it seems I was right.¡± he said as he caresses the gun I gave him.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ll be thest to try since you camest.¡± I said.


    ¡°B-but don¡¯t you want to see me beat everyone else here to set a record?¡± he said cheekily.


    ¡°Even me? You think you could do that?¡± I smiled then he scratched his head.


    ¡°If I practice a bit more, I think I could!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Hmm! That¡¯s good but better practice to be on time next if you want to join our drills, not just when you want to okay? You¡¯d still gost.¡± I said as he almost became lifeless from facts.


    Jared did more drills with even more variations. The group Oscar¡¯s been training is watching intently at the speed Jared has been showing not just on shooting the target fast and precisely but everything else. It involves clearing a jam, switching magazines, stock cement, target acquisition, recoil control, and etc.


    ¡°The speed I¡¯m talking about is not just about how fast you shoot. It involves everything that you saw Jared did. You¡¯d get better faster if you put parameters and challenges upon yourself and not just blindly shooting a target over and over. You¡¯d also need to practice those other things too. If you want to conserve more ammo, dry-firing works as well. It would need a few adjustments when you get back to live ammo but that¡¯s the next best thing if you want to get good.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Dry-firing? I thought that shit never works?¡± Brian chimed.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Lois, call Nicole over.¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°Ah crap. Not sis.¡± Lois gave a glum expression.

 Chapter 200

    Chapter 200: 200


    Lois reluctantly grabbed his radio and phoned his sister in. <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sis¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°She¡¯s not answering bro! We better get going with the training! Who¡¯s next?!¡± Lois eximed.


    ¡°Ah- Ah- Ah- don¡¯t turn that f.u.c.k.i.n.g radio off! Wait for her to answer! Dial her for a few times since she¡¯s in thepound.¡± I said as I widened my eyes at him.


    Nicole finally answered the radio and we found her walking to our ce with Alicia. They both brought their guns which has now the bullets for the magazines and a few extras. Nicole still has both the Glock 26 and the Walther P22 I gave her before and Alicia still the same Walther P22. The guns were on their respective holsters that we¡¯re all using that is strapped to our belt where another strap runs from the holster then under our legs.


    ¡°Lois said you called for us?¡± Nicole asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Remind everyone, how many times have you two fired your guns?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°Hmm? Maybe less than four magazines worth? Three for the .22 and one for the 9mm. Why? ¡± she was curious.


    ¡°I¡¯ve only fired mine about a magazine worth.¡± Alicia said.


    ¡°Not the exact numbers but it¡¯s okay, but tell us, how many times do you practice dry-firing?¡± I asked them.


    ¡°The what?¡± Alicia asked.


    ¡°The thing where we fire them without any ammo where you say it¡¯s really boring.¡± Nicole answered.


    ¡°Oh, I see¡­ I see. That¡¯s what you call it.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Besides doing that, you practice drawing from the holster, holding the gun properly, correct stances, and target acquisition, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, like you told me to, we do that every single day. We can¡¯t practice clearing the jams properly though since it¡¯s weird to clear a jam when there actually isn¡¯t.¡± Nicole said.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Let¡¯s see if it paid off, shall we? Walk to that direction¡­¡± I told her a few instructions.


    She¡¯s standing on a much shorter distance than what Jared did earlier and it¡¯s about 5 yards. However, this time there are three targets in front of her. The moment I pressed the timer, she drew the Walther P22 from her left holster and then she fired a shot towards the left and right targets once.


    *bang* *bang*


    It made a hole a bit offset from the center on the 5-inch sqaure that represents the head of the cardboard targets. A small eruption of dirt from the back apanied it while she switched to her Glock 26 to fire two shots on the target at the center after switching magazines.


    *bang* *bang*


    She holstered her Glock 26 and then switched back to her Walther P22 and fired a single shot to the center target and then she rested her stance. Her movements are fluid and it only took a few seconds. It¡¯s fast for a person with only a few weeks experience with guns but she¡¯s definitely much faster in handling them than Brian and the rest. Nicole¡¯s a bit struggling on the recoil since I could notice her gun would sometimes raise up since she¡¯s not holding it properly. It¡¯s understandable since it¡¯s a minor problem when you mostly practice with dry-firing and only get to fire with live ammo a few times. <center></center><hr>


    I made her repeat the drill a two more times and she¡¯s slowly getting the hang of it by thest try on that drill. Alicia was a tad slower than Nicole but she¡¯s quick on the draw and she would acquire the target much faster than most people. Recoil on her isn¡¯t much of an issue since she¡¯s using a .22 caliber.


    ¡°That enough bro?¡± Nicole and Alicia asked.


    ¡°Yeah, thanks. Just get your refills from Rin.¡± I told them as they are in the middle of doing something when Lois called for them. I don¡¯t know what happened between Lois and Nicole but I saw Lois breathing a sigh of relief when her older sister finally left our range.


    ¡°See? Dry-firing works, right? You¡¯ll only need to get the hang of the recoil when turning back to live ammo but aside from that, not only you¡¯d shoot faster, you¡¯d perform the other things like mag switches, jam clears, target acquisition, and etc. if you practice that every day when you have the time. You don¡¯t need to copy the exact exercise but if you decide to do something by yourself, time yourself first and slowly try to do it quicker.¡± I said as I looked at Brian and the rest.


    ¡°Are there any shortcuts though?¡± Brian asked.


    ¡°Heh. There¡¯s one on the top of my head that would involve no skill at all.¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked as everyone grew curious.


    ¡°Use a f.u.c.k.i.n.g automatic. Just spray and pray like an idiot.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else but Oscar was choking,ughing.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K IS WRONG WITH YOU KID?! I THOUGHT YOU REALLY INVENTED A WAY! HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± he eximed while stillughing.


    ¡°Honestly though, there¡¯re a few tricks but if you still don¡¯t put the work on it, it¡¯s still useless. Kaley, you¡¯re next.¡± I said.


    Kaley went next and she started to break off a few slices from Jared¡¯s record. She shoots much faster with her AR-15 than her Maxim 9 not only because she¡¯s more proficient in it but I taught her a little trick in recoil control. I actually did teach it to a few too but Kaley managed to learn it first. Jared was scratching his head in frustration every time Kaley beats his record. Even if Kaley is using a lighter gun than him, he still couldn¡¯t believe she learned it faster than him.


    Even if the stock is tucked properly to your body, if your supporting hand is not holding your gun properly, it would shoot up. The small trick to shoot faster was instead of waiting the gun to get back on the same position after a recoil, you push it with your supporting hand back in ce. It¡¯s a very minute movement but doing that could shave a lot from your time.


    It¡¯s like moving your mouse down when you fire a weapon to shoot again when the cursor starts to go up. Instead of waiting for it to stabilize slowly, you make it stabilize yourself. There¡¯re a few more ways to control recoil but it does the job for now.


    *BEEP*


    *psshew*


    ¡°.45 seconds, again.¡± I said, smiling.


    *BEEP*


    *psshew*


    ¡°.39 seconds, again.¡±


    *BEEP*


    *psshew* <hr>


    ¡°.29 seconds, holy f.u.c.k!¡± I celebrated.


    ¡°Shit.¡± Jared and Lois muttered.


    ¡°That¡¯s some crazy reaction time.¡± Oscar said.


    Kaley did the same exercise Jared did earlier and she beat him t out. The crowd is amazed by the disy and even Oscar gave her a look of approval.


    ¡°Damn, kid. The f.u.c.k are you teaching her? Hah!¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°What I teach everybody else. She¡¯s just that good. Okay, Kaley, next one.¡± I said nonchntly.


    The next drill is just using your pistol. There are two targets present and I made her aim at the targets already instead of it just being in the holster earlier. Each time I press the timer, she¡¯d fire a shot and switch to the next target. The challenge here is to react fast enough after hearing my timer and I made it difficult by pressing it at random intervals. I went slow at first then I gradually bring it up and would abruptly slow it again to make them wait for the beep first and not shoot when they thought that I was about to press the timer. We¡¯re training for reaction time, not anticipation.


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew*


    ¡°.33¡±


    ¡­


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew*


    ¡°.35¡±


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew*


    ¡°.41¡±


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew* <hr>


    ¡°.43¡±


    ¡­


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew*


    ¡°.30¡±


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew*


    ¡°.35¡±


    ¡­


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew*


    ¡°.41¡±


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew*


    ¡°.49¡±


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew* <hr>


    ¡°.40¡±


    ¡­


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew*


    ¡°.39¡±


    ¡­


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew*


    ¡°.25¡±


    ¡­


    *BEEP*


    *bsshew*


    ¡°.29¡±


    She¡¯s making consistent shots and everyone is watching her shoot. Kaley just holstered her pistol after she went through the whole magazine and she gave me a bright smile.


    ¡°Show off.¡± I said to get a reaction from copying her.


    ¡°*giggle* I like this drill from the rest we do.¡± she said.


    ¡°Well, we need to make things fun too. Great job though. We¡¯d need to work a bit more on some things but this is crazy progress.¡± I said, smiling.


    She pursed her lips to a smile as she steps to the side for the next person.


    ¡°Alright, the next one step up to that spot and you¡¯ll do the drills. Try it normally first while gradually increasing the speed if you¡¯re still unfamiliar with it.¡± I exined.


    Each one of them started to line up but the movements for the drill is adjusted to their preferred weapon since we¡¯re using different kinds. Oscar started the baseline for the people using shotguns and like me, he definitely showed off to get everyone fired up. He showed them how to Quad-load and it piqued their interest when he showed them the steps to do it.


    ¡°Well, uh, you grab this shit here by this thingy here and uh make sure to f.u.c.k.i.n.g tuck them properly while you f.u.c.k.i.n.g push those motherf.u.c.kers in the receiver¡­¡± Oscar tried to exin it with passion while the trainees are either confused or have surprisingly¡­ understood him.


    ¡°Now that is something I can¡¯t exin on how that exnation works.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 201

    Chapter 201: 201


    When everyone finally got their turn, we did the drills again for two more times. I would point out some of their inconsistencies when they¡¯re performing the actions I instructed them to do. However, some of them would discover by themselves the mistakes that they are making and they require little to no assistance. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Remember, consistency is key. I mean consistency by getting the same results from different actions. We¡¯re here practicing with the best conditions possible. Outside, we can¡¯t always say for sure that we would be in the perfect stance, grip, or anything rted in how we could perform the best we can. We¡¯d practice more in the future but I encourage you to dry-fire when we¡¯re not doing runs outside. I want you all to get consistent shots or groupings whether we¡¯re shooting from afar or near, fast or slow, and moving or on a static position.¡± I exined.


    ¡°You¡¯re forgetting something very important kid.¡± Oscar chimed.


    ¡°I agree. You¡¯re really forgetting something really important.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Hmm? Did I?¡± I tilted my head.


    ¡°You forgot to show off like you always do in lessons bro. C¡¯mon! I know you¡¯re itching to do it!¡± Jared said, excitedly.


    ¡°Oh. Hah! Okay! Now that you¡¯ve mentioned it.¡± I replied as Jared held the timer for me.


    Everyone started to gather around me as I took my stance and I took a deep breath.


    ¡°Let me show you all consistency. Hope I could pull it off.¡± I thought to myself.


    *BEEP*


    *psshew*


    ¡°.50 seconds.¡± Jared said, smiling.


    I smiled as well but he got confused as to why.


    *BEEP*


    *psshew*


    ¡°.50¡­ .50 seconds¡­¡± he trailed.


    The people behind me are starting to murmur since my time is abysmalpared to our faster shooters. I¡¯m just smiling inwardly and never said anything. I took a nce at Kaley and she seemed to be trying to figure out on what I am up to. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Not gonna press it? I¡¯m waiting.¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Oh, ah- wait.¡± Jared said after looking at the timer.


    *BEEP*


    *psshew*


    ¡°¡­¡± he was silent.


    ¡°Time?¡± I asked innocently.


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g psycho!¡± Jared eximed as he almost threw the timer at me.


    ¡°What? What did I do?!¡± I tried to act innocent.


    ¡°What¡¯s that f.u.c.k.i.n.g time?¡± Oscarmented.


    Jared was shaking his head then he threw the timer to Oscar.


    It also said .50 seconds.


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g kid, when did you get this-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°Time?¡± I still asked innocently.


    ¡°I THINK YOU KNOW YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Oh. Nice coincidence.¡± I replied innocently but my devilish smile revealed my thoughts.


    I looked at everybody and they looked like I started talking about spotting bigfoot.


    ¡°Show off.¡± Kaley said, shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt. <hr>


    ¡°Heh. Need to set an example, don¡¯t I?¡± I replied.


    They seem to have forgotten that there are more drills next from what I did but I stopped to save a bit more bullets. I think the message was properly delivered.


    ¡°Rather let the bullets get used by them for practice than me. I think my de is still sharp for the moment.¡± I thought to myself.


    It took us a couple of hours for the lesson and we cleaned up by picking the casings on the ground and cing them in a bucket. I was carrying it back with a smile while Kaley and I slowly made our way back by simply walking.


    ¡°Why are you all smiles now?¡± Kaley nudged me.


    ¡°Because of this!¡± I replied while shaking the bucket full of casings.


    ¡°Oh! You¡¯re gonna handload them now?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, we still have a bit of time. I¡¯ll get Rin for us to work on a few. She¡¯s getting faster on working and she almost got everything down. A few more times we do this, I¡¯ll let her do it on her own in the future. Unc and Anthony could cast the lead ingots for me and I could make the projectiles myself. Guess I¡¯ll teach her how to do those too.¡± I said.


    We passed by the court where the barn is located and I saw the kids crowding over one of the cows that Derek is feeding. We just waved at them while Kenny tried to ride one. We walked past them as we two finally reached thepound. I called Rin over while Kaley decided to assist us.


    We started on sorting the casings first from the bucket I brought over and from the other ones that are located in the workshop. It¡¯s several hundred pieces and we mechanically worked on them. Rin has now the same pistol which is an FN Five Seven that Tatiana is using and it is ced neatly on her own holster. She could use it properly but it¡¯s only up to the basic standards.


    Rin is teaching Kaley on how to remove the primers with the press while I¡¯m cing the casings on the tumblers.


    I could feel a bit of tension.


    I¡¯m not sure how or why I¡¯m feeling it but I¡¯m sure, that it¡¯sing from Rin. Kaley is a tad ufortable while Rin patiently teaches her how to operate the press but instead of getting in the middle of things, my instincts told me to back away, for now.


    ¡°I thought they already talked to her? Is she still mad and just hiding it? I know Kaley could feel the tension too judging from her expression but why is she not doing anything? Wait, or it could be something else entirely and I¡¯m just starting to overthink things again? Why did I even agree for us to drink at that time? Worst idea ever. Hmm? The casings over there are slightly off-set, that could be the reason why Rin is emanating some sort of invisible aura. Well, she could¡¯ve fixed that easily but she¡¯s still looking menacing! What is it Sky?! What¡¯s wrong with them?! *sigh* how I wish I could read everything from a 3rd person view¡­ if only that was possible¡­ Well, I¡¯ll let them deal with that for now. I¡¯m reloading the ammo as some sort of therapy anyway. It would ruin the experience if I try to think about that stuff.¡± I thought to myself.


    My mind is getting rejuvenated each time I finish a bullet perfectly. I had a peaceful look in my face while I ce them on their holders. I¡¯m having the time of my life while I didn¡¯t mind what the two were doing.


    ¡°Where do I need to ce the ones needed to be cleaned?¡± I heard a voice. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm? Just ce them over there, then- Hmm? When did you get here?¡± I saw Tatiana was the one carrying several handfuls of 5.7 casings.


    ¡°Me? I was here two hours ago. You didn¡¯t notice me, correct?¡± she replied smiling while she headed for the tumbling area.


    Tatiana also seemed to be in distress as I nced at her earlier and her faint expression is like what Kaley is showing me even now.


    ¡°She¡¯s still mad, I could feel it. I¡¯m right the first time. Should I talk to her? What would I even say? Hmm, I think Kaley and Tatiana know what she¡¯s feeling already and they should talk to her again. I¡¯m not really good at this type of thing.¡± I thought to myself.


    We eventually finished reloading our ammo and we lollygagged for a few minutes before the broadcast aired.


    Ever since the electricity from this ind group went out, one of the only other way the other people could still hear the broadcasts if they don¡¯t have what we have is through their radios that are powered by batteries. Hearing the voice of the president is a beacon of hope for some people to not despair in our times.


    However, when I was seeing the broadcast that aired just now, my expression changed.


    Not only me, Ken and Kris immediately noticed and their heads snapped to my direction. I didn¡¯t know if Tatiana looked at me when it we saw the feed since she¡¯s behind me but what I did is I just looked at Kris and Ken with a serious look.


    Jared also tapped me with his phone and showed me a message from Ana. It says:


    [You¡¯re seeing it, right?]


    ¡°Yeah, loud and clear.¡± I replied.


    The people from thepound also knew the presence of ¡®Ana71¡¯ and some of them would sometimes try to talk to her to get her to join to our ce. She would always reply with ¡®Maybe.¡¯ or ¡®We¡¯ll see.¡¯ but it didn¡¯t dim the hopes of some of my people that she¡¯d actually join us especially Ken.


    ¡°What do you mean loud and clear?¡± Kaley asked when she saw my expression.


    ¡°Look very~ carefully at the broadcast. Notice anything?¡± I asked back.


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°What? Why?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Quiet for a bit, I can¡¯t hear it properly.¡±


    ¡°Carefully?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s still the same broadcast, right?¡±


    ¡°Are there new people?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to look for.¡±


    The rest of our people started to inspect everything else they could and almost no one noticed what¡¯s wrong.


    ¡°That¡¯s well-made.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°You noticed too?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, even when his hands would ovep on his face,¡± Ken added.


    ¡°Who did the voice though?¡± Kris asked.


    ¡°Not sure.¡± Ken replied.


    ¡°Our problems suddenly increased by one. A huge f.u.c.k.i.n.g one.¡± I added.


    ¡°Correct. That is a huge problem. Most of my team are in there.¡± she said.


    ¡°Wait. What¡¯s wrong? Someone tell me!¡± Oscar eximed as everyone else is looking at us four.


    I took a very deep sigh and I said:


    ¡°That is a deepfake.¡± I replied with a serious expression.

 Chapter 202

    Chapter 202: 202


    ¡°A what now?¡± Matthew chimed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°A deepfake.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I heard you the first time but what is it?¡± he said.


    ¡°An example of that is what you¡¯re seeing now.¡± I said with a serious look.


    Ken, Kris, and Tatiana have the same look as me and the people with us are still confused and looking for answers.


    ¡°Enough of that cryptic talk kid. What is really happening? Isn¡¯t that Rod speaking in that broadcast? Does the word ¡®fake¡¯ in deepfake means that it¡¯s a fake person in that podium right now?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Somewhat. Deepfakes are synthetic media in which a person¡¯s image from a video or something simr is reced with someone else¡¯s. Remember the ones I showed you before with the US President? Where they ced his face on someone else¡¯s to nder him?¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! I f.u.c.k.i.n.g remember now! It¡¯s the one I showed you before and you said that it was a fake video. Wait, I thought you said that making those takes a lot of time. What the f.u.c.k are we seeing now?!¡± he eximed as he looked back at the TV.


    ¡°Yeah, here¡¯s where the problem is¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± he looked back at me.


    ¡°Ana, did your people do this?¡± I said out loud.


    I¡¯m staring at the screen while I wait for her to answer.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible. How could she do that? She¡¯s-¡± Ken said but I cut him off.


    ¡°She¡¯s what? A partner? A colleague? One of us? Ana, I¡¯m just asking a simple question. I just want you to answer me honestly.¡± I said calmly while Ken stops.


    ¡°Too bad I, Kaley, or Marisha couldn¡¯t see her in person. We would¡¯ve known immediately if she or her group has bad intentions.¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    [No. That is not from my group. We¡¯d never do something like this. Please trust me.]


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna take your word for now. Just remember that I don¡¯t like people lying to me.¡± I said.


    [My word is all that I could offer you besides the files that you needed.]


    ¡°Besides, I already know where she is. She¡¯s fairly close too.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I know besides that, that deepfake appearing could mean many things but the most obvious one is that somehow, something happened to the president. They could be either covering it up and made that thing as a backup in case anything happened to not let people descend into chaos or it could be something I could bet on¡­¡± I trailed as I took a deep exhale.


    ¡°And that is?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°Those people that made that just had the power to control this country, whatever is left of it.¡± I replied with a serious look.


    When I said those words, the whole room got suddenly quiet. You could hear my wall clock¡¯s ticking sound. I bet Zeus even understood what I said as he started to crawl under my legs while hugging his tail.


    ¡°Imagine, another video like that and the ¡®president¡¯ says, ¡®Sky Ishiyama¡¯spound is located at this address go and plunder everything from that ce!¡¯ What would happen then? Or what if he says that the cure is to drink bleach or even thoughts and prayers work?¡± I started saying the things popping up in my head.


    ¡°Wait! Wait! Wait! But what if you¡¯re wrong? What if he¡¯s just sick or something and he needed to rest for a while? They just broadcasted that video so the people wouldn¡¯t worry?¡± Rin chimed.


    ¡°Then it¡¯s the best-case scenario. I always assume the worst when ites to things like that. Especially at the times were at now. Anyway, enough talk about this. We have one sure-fire way to know if I¡¯m right.¡± I said as I looked at Oscar.


    ¡°Hmm? What? Oh! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! I HAVE HIS F.U.C.K.I.N.G NUMBER! WAIT A BIT HERE YOU F.U.C.KTARDS! I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT IT!¡± he immediately jumped up from the sofa he¡¯s sitting at and he ran as fast as the wind outside towards his house.


    ¡°Bro¡­¡± Jared said as he faced the phone¡¯s screen at my face again.


    [YOU HAVE THE PRESIDENT¡¯S NUMBER?!?!?!] <hr>


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    [WHAT THE F.U.C.K?!?!?! WHY DIDN¡¯T YOU TELL ME?!?!?!]


    ¡°Hmm? That¡¯s rich. Why don¡¯t you tell me where you are? Is Ana even your real name? You¡¯ve been interacting with almost everyone here for a while and I think you could already see what we have here. Is your ce such a utopia that you can¡¯t leave it? We could even make a small convoy just to fetch you. You¡¯d be a valuable addition to my team.¡± I said as I looked at the phone¡¯s camera.


    No answer.


    ¡°Still don¡¯t trust us huh? Let me tell you again, unless you¡¯re the MC of a story gifted with supernatural abilities or some shit that¡¯s giving you plot armor, you¡¯ll have the hardest time out there. That¡¯s why we need people, people like you. However, if you¡¯re the type that can¡¯t even recognize words of sincerity then we¡¯ll just have this deal by deal basis we¡¯ve been doing until you change your mind. You¡¯re really stubborn you know that?¡± I said even if she didn¡¯t answer me earlier.


    [I¡¯m sorry. But I still think that it¡¯s not the time yet. Like I said before, I trusted people before and I¡¯ve been burned many times than I could count. It¡¯s hard to find the right people now that you could trust. I mostly operate on a deal by deal basis now like you said. You¡¯re just the people that stayed this long with me.]


    ¡°Who would be the other people that she interacted with before? Are they still alive?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I think I have one proof that you could trust me.¡± I said calmly.


    Everyone started to look at me.


    [What do you mean?]


    ¡°I never ki- ACK!¡± I was about to joke about what Kaley did to Tatiana before but Kaley elbowed me on my side hard. She must¡¯ve figured out what I was about to say and she reacted immediately. She¡¯s ring at me hard while everyone around is confused besides Rin and Tatiana.


    [What were you saying?]


    ¡°*high pithched* Nothing. I forgot.¡±


    [¡­] <hr>


    ¡°Anyway, I bet you could see everything around here already. Just look at it and think for yourself long and hard if my ce is not as bad as you think.¡± I said after rubbing my sides quickly.


    She never responded back so we continued to watch the broadcast which is now in a loop. Ken still recorded every single thing from the broadcasts and it is stored on hisptop.


    The broadcast restarted again and you could immediately notice that the difference of this one from the earlier ones is that the ¡®president¡¯ standing before us didn¡¯t have his generals behind him and some other people from other countries. The person there sounds and looks like the president and if it wasn¡¯t for our keen eyes, every single person here would¡¯ve been fooled until we told them that it¡¯s a deepfake.


    I¡¯ve begun to analyze everything that he¡¯s saying and it seemed to check out. The way he talks, his mannerisms, and even his colorful curses that is always mixed in between his sentences. I could almost say that he could be a double if it wasn¡¯t for the minute details I noticed earlier. The worst deepfakes I¡¯ve seen are really bad to the point that an amateur seeing it for the first time would notice the flicker when it reverts back on some cases. But this thing¡­ the only problems with it is that it¡¯s too perfect.


    I nned to check more details from it but Oscar finally came back.


    ¡°I FOUND THE PHONE!!!¡± he shouted at the top of his lungs.


    ¡°Good! Now f.u.c.k.i.n.g call the president! What took you so long?!¡± I shouted back.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g kid! You know I always forget where I ce my other things that I rarely use! My guns on the other hand¡­¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°JUST DIAL HIS F.U.C.K.I.N.G NUMBER!!!¡± everyone shouted at him.


    He got taken aback and then he sheepishly started to tap on the screen to dial the president¡¯s number after he snuggled to the sofa.


    Everyone is silent watching the phone in his hands and the wait is almost like an eternity. The voice of the ¡®president¡¯ on the TV is the only thing we¡¯re hearing now but Matthew almost kicked my TV down but luckily Lois turned it off with the remote.


    The line couldn¡¯t be reached.


    ¡°Dial it again.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± Oscar replied <hr>


    ¡­


    ¡°Dial it again.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°Again.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°Again!¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°AGAIN!¡±


    ¡­


    Still no established connection with the other line.


    ¡°Try the other lines not just the direct one. It¡¯s¡­¡± I said with a serious look as I told him the numbers given out before.


    The first number Oscar dialed immediately connected. It was the same reply you¡¯ll hear from them and the first questions being asked is from where we are calling. Oscar looked at me but I shook my head in disappointment. He tried asking for the president, even from the other numbers but he got the same reply:


    ¡°The president has just finished his broadcast, he¡¯s resting for the moment. Could you please tell us where you are calling from? We didn¡¯t get it the first time.¡± the voice said before Oscar would hang up the phone.


    Everyone is silently watching us and hoping for some sort of voice we could hear that is from the real president and not from the ¡®president¡¯ we heard earlier, even though they really sounded the same. I think that everyone has the same exact thoughts in their heads but no one could just simply say it out loud.


    ¡°Is the president dead?¡± I asked myself.

 Chapter 203

    Chapter 203: 203


    When Oscar finally dialed thest number, the same voice answered and he hung it up and set the Sat Phone down. My living room is back to its silent state and everyone is just looking at each other. Everyone¡¯s head slowly looked at me and I stood up. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I think I need to say something. Well¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    I made a deep exhale and I said, ¡°Schr?dinger¡¯s cat.¡±


    ¡°Umm, what?¡± everyone said in unison I saw Kaley slowly starting to facepalm.


    ¡°What cat? I thought Rio was our cat here? Did you guys find another one?¡± Russel immediately said.


    ¡°Seriously? You don¡¯t know what Schr?dinger¡¯s cat is?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh! Someone here is named Schr?dinger? Do we have another foreigner?¡± An chimed.


    ¡°No! That¡¯s Tatiana¡¯sst name! Sc¡­ Schr¡­ that.¡± Bing chimed as well.


    ¡°It¡¯s Smirnov. Herst name is Smirnov.¡± Aya said as Tatiana pats her head.


    ¡°Kaley, care to exin what I¡¯m talking about?¡± I looked at Kaley.


    ¡°Schr?dinger¡¯s cat, in simple terms, is a¡­ some sort of thought experiment made by physicist, Mr. Schr?dinger.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Thought¡­ experiment?¡± Rin asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yep. The cat in Schr?dinger¡¯s cat is part of the said experiment when you put a cat and let¡¯s say¡­ a vial of poison or something dangerous towards the cat inside a box that could either break or not break in a set amount of time. After that, you seal the boxpletely, not knowing whether the cat is still alive or dead. That being the case, the state the cat is now is considered both dead or alive. Is that about it?¡± she looked at me.


    ¡°Yeah, somewhat. Basically, until we open that box where the cat is ced, our president could both be considered dead and alive. Schr?dinger¡¯s cat is more than that exnation actually but we¡¯ll take a bit from that to just exin the situation. The real thing involves more things than just cats,¡± I said.


    ¡°Uhh~ I still don¡¯t get it.¡± Russel, Bing, and An chimed.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was silent for a moment just looking at them.


    ¡°What?¡± they said.


    ¡°Uh, nothing. Just think of it like this. Until it¡¯s not 100%, it¡¯s not 100% Not until we see his body buried underground or roaming around biting people, he¡¯s not dead. Also, not until we see him in the flesh again, he¡¯s not alive. He¡¯s both alive and dead. That¡¯s the state he¡¯s in.¡± I replied.


    ¡°He¡¯s alive and dead?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, a zombie? Alive and dead.¡± Bing said confidently.


    ¡°That¡¯s different!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°How did it get to this?¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    I made an exasperated exhale and I said, ¡°That¡¯s not the point I want you to all understand. In the end, whatever may have happened, we are all still moving forward. It¡¯s not bad to worry about things, but don¡¯t let it ovee you. I worry too. It¡¯s just bad to make worrying make you¡­ weary¡­¡± I made a gesture with my fingers pointing at them.


    Several facepalms and groans followed though there¡¯s a few whoughed out loud.


    ¡°Anyway, the president might be really resting for now and somehow, the broadcast for our ind group just got coincidentally hacked and got reced by another one. However, this is looking at it lightly. If ites down to it, we could also make a deepfake the same as we saw earlier in case things escte.¡± I exined.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna broadcast our own?¡± Earl asked.


    ¡°Yeah, if they could do it, we could also. Besides, what the broadcast contained today was still their progress reports. It never mentioned anything out of the ordinary yet or something outrageous. They could beying it out slowly we never know until it happens. We just need to be ready when it happens if it does. We don¡¯t stop trying to make contact with the president¡¯s number though. With the military power he has over there, I doubt anyone could have easily dealt with him. It could be an injury, health issue, and etc. It won¡¯t be so easy for someone his age to run this country and at the same time mow down everything with his gun. It would still take a huge toll on someone¡¯s well-being if he doesn¡¯t watch it himself. I don¡¯t want to get everyone¡¯s hopes up but I don¡¯t want you all to despair either, we need to get that middle ground as always.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to say this but as far as I know, the president living or dying has really no effect on us aside from morale. I know the president is this country¡¯s backbone but it¡¯s like he said before with the people from Japan: ¡®Japan is not itsnd but its people.¡¯ Easy as that. Same thing here and same thing everywhere else.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I¡¯m more concerned with the people who made that whatchamacallit video. If what you said is true that they could be the ones manipting everything just by making those things, then they have a country¡¯s power right there and then. We might need to know for sure if their intentions are good or bad. If you think about it, if you could really make something simr to what they did, we could wrestle control from them and make this ce our own. It¡¯s something to think about but I think we should still rely on ourselves more rather than power that we might not have proper control over.¡± Johnny chimed.


    ¡°Yeah, we could make them but we can¡¯t stop them from making those things as well. It would just confuse everyone and all things escte even more. With great poweres great responsibility.¡± I said but I almost smiled at thest part.


    ¡°Bro, did you just?¡± Jared said, smiling.


    ¡°Shhhhh~¡± I said while cing my finger over my lips. A few people got the reference while Kaley is just shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    Everyone finally dispersed and we minded our own business. Their mindset from what we are experiencing today has been somewhat adjusted. Some were already used to it though a few are still trying to keep up. We¡¯ve all been having talks with each other if we have the extra time but if anyone has any problems inside that they need to talk to someone about, it is always Marisha. She¡¯s been keeping the mental state of everyone in peak condition ever since she got here and I thank her for it same with everyone else. I can¡¯t keep tabs of everything at the same time so delegating jobs to other people while they report to me what urred in the meetings solves that problem. <hr>


    ¡°The people we have here are getting more capable. I hope it continues.¡± I thought to myself.


    I went back to my room with Kaley and I headed for my armory. I picked up three boxes and my tools and told Kaley to bring her rifle over.


    ¡°Here it is. What do you need it for?¡± she asked.


    I attached an offset red dot sight to her AR-15 while I reced the red dot that is mounted on my Tavor with a scope and attached an offset red dot sight in a 45-degree angle to the right, same with what I did to Kaley¡¯s rifle. The offset red dot sight is still ced on the top rail of the gun and it could be adjusted from 35-45 degrees and could also be ced on the other side.


    ¡°Here, try to check it.¡± I said as I gave it back to her.


    ¡°Oh, you ced that red dot here¡­ why?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Just being practical. You could look into that red dot instead of adjusting the dial on your scope to a lower magnification each time you needed to. Just tilt your gun a bit sideways and you¡¯re good to go. It also helps when you¡¯re strafing sideways or at an angle if you¡¯re trying to shoot. Cool, huh?¡± I said.


    She started to fiddle with it a few times while I watch her. She¡¯d try to aim with the sights that is newly ced on her AR-15 and would switch back to the scope again. She¡¯s trying to incorporate the new movements she would be doing with the small upgrade that she has now. She finally left the dial for her scope to herfortable position and she finally lowered her gun after a few minutes of practicing.


    ¡°Thank you! This helps a lot!¡± she said, smiling.


    ¡°Hmm. You¡¯d get used to it in a couple more uses. I think it would juste naturally for you.¡± I replied.


    ¡°The president though, you think he¡¯s still alive?¡± she changed the subject as she removed the sling from her body. <hr>


    ¡°I really don¡¯t know. It could be anything at this point.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What do you think the safest ce to be in now though? Aside from our ce?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Safest ce? Our ce could do some more work but other than that, I have two ces in mind.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm? Really?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Not just a ce though. Countries, two of which are if not the safest, actually not infected.¡± I said seriously.


    ¡°W-wait, you¡¯re serious. Is there such a thing? I thought the whole world got infected?¡± she replied.


    ¡°Oh! I got through once.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°We never know though, Schr?dinger¡¯s cat, remember?¡± I replied.


    ¡°What countries? You said two, right?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah. Greend and Madagascar. That¡¯s the safest ce on Earth right now.¡± I replied.

 Chapter 204

    Chapter 204: 204


    As soon as I said that, she squints then she proceeded to pinch a part of my skin. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Ow! I give! I give! I¡¯m joking!¡± I shouted as I grabbed her hand off of me.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t get through that time. I really wonder how she does that.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°You almost got me going there!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Heh. I¡¯m just trying to figure out how your ability works. So far, I¡¯ve only been lucky once. You¡¯d always know if someone tried to fib. Do you even know how it works yourself?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmmm, I don¡¯t know either. I just get this gut feeling, woman¡¯s intuition I guess?¡± she said.


    We talked for a few minutes then we were called by the kids since the food is already ready. Tatiana and Rin walked down with us and looking at Tatiana¡¯s expression, things between them haven¡¯t been going well. Rin was still staying on the other room ever since that incident. She¡¯d still talk to the two but anyone who is familiar with her would notice that something is on her mind.


    ¡°Something should be done with this. I¡¯ll talk with themter.¡± I thought to myself.


    We all enjoyed our meal and it was a light vegetable soup with bread on the side. The meeting came shortly after.


    We talked about our run in the morning and the things that we encountered earlier first.


    ¡°Wait, so we have new ones?!¡±


    ¡°The big ones, do they explode?!¡±


    ¡°This is not that game sis¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Then the gatherers, are they a new one too?! So two new specials?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that¡­¡±


    ¡°You killed all of them, right?¡±


    ¡°Of course we did.¡±


    ¡°You should¡¯ve seen the others too¡­¡±


    We showed them the feed from the drones and they all took it in.


    ¡°Dude¡­ one question.¡± Ken chimed.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± I looked at Ken.


    ¡°Can that big one be a sentry too?¡± he asked as everyone looked at him.


    ¡°¡­¡± I fell into deep contemtion.


    ¡°They¡¯re clearlymanding them. Isn¡¯t that the core of what the sentries do? And the time when the one behind growled, the zombies gathering food for them simultaneously vomited. I mean they do more than the sentry you guys encountered before but isn¡¯t that the gist of what the sentry could do?¡± he exined.


    ¡°The sentries, from what we¡¯ve known before could guide you to a living person by looking at you. These things are kinda different. It¡¯s like they make a nest for themselves and build a small colony like ants. But I get what you mean, it¡¯s a great observation on their quirks.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Did you check the eyes?¡± Johnny asked. <hr>


    ¡°Thest one I killed don¡¯t possess those eyes that could look at different directions. Also, there are times when the big ones are notmanding them. The gatherers would move independently at times to get the food for the big ones and the only time I think when theymanded them is when they growled and they vomited.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Umm, but what if the big ones are the evolved form of the sentries?¡± Chris chimed from the side.


    ¡°Could be, but we can¡¯t be 100% sure about that. We¡¯ll just keep in mind on what they could do aside from the ones that we already know. We can¡¯t keep track if they evolve to a new form with new quirks or if what we see earlier is a new type altogether. The best thing we could do now is put them down as fast as possible and learn what they could do from encountering them to ensure that we won¡¯t get any surprises. I really hope we have a scientist here.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Dude, how about the head we are keeping on your old house? You already said we need to put them down as fast as we can, are we gonna take care of that one too? I¡¯m still in favor of killing each and every one of them. That head especially.¡± Raphael chimed.


    I was contemting but I made an exhale, ¡°You¡¯re right, we¡¯re just keeping that thing there for nothing. I didn¡¯t even get the chance to study it since we¡¯re preupied with things that are more important. I¡¯ll take care of itter. We¡¯ll only keep them for studying them when we have the proper facilities and people. Besides, we still have a lot of samples to get from, we just need to search a bit more to find that type since that thing is really hard to find. I¡¯m sorry for making you all worry and I promise I would take care of it after this meeting.¡± I replied then a few people sighed with relief.


    ¡°People are still worrying about that huh? I thought they would have forgotten about it by now.¡± I thought to myself.


    We talked about a few more things but we finally ended our meeting. A few concerns are taken care of and the schedule for watch duty is handed out. Tatiana called the people she would be training to the gym and some of the trainees from Oscar¡¯s group followed her as well. She¡¯d always fill in for me everytime I would be doing something now but the people still preferred me to be their instructor since I still hold back when I teach them. There would be fewer people in attendance every time Tatiana teaches but she didn¡¯t mind it and she still taught them with what she knows. I said I¡¯ll follow themter since I would be doing something else first.


    I followed with my promise to deal with the head I took from the Pineda residence. I took the jar I ced it in and I went down on the gate we¡¯ve built. I removed the dark fabrics covering it and what we didn¡¯t know is that we¡¯re in for another surprise.


    I tried to view it through the ss but the blood that has smeared on it made it less visible from the outside. I opened the jar, left without any choice, and the stench that wafted through my nose and to everyone that came with me made us retch or clutch our nose in disgust. I held the jar upside down so that the severed head would fall to the ground where I could safely stab it. The head was a bit snuggled on the jar so I shook it for a bit and it finally rolled over a few times and it wobbled after leaving a trail of dark blood that is either congealed or hardened.


    I drew my katana and as I was about to stab it and throw it over the pile to get burned, I looked at its eyes. I thought I was just imagining it so I shone my shlight over it as I crouched down. Their eyes¡­ they¡¯re different now.


    *spurt* *spurt*


    ¡­ <hr>


    *spurt* *spurt*


    ¡­


    *spurt* *spurt*


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k?!¡± I eximed in disgust.


    ¡°Dude?¡± Kris said from the tform.


    ¡°Look at this.¡± I said as I stood up for everyone to see.


    ¡°Ah, hell no!¡±


    ¡°Hans, get ze mmenwerfer!¡±


    ¡°Why is it like that?!¡±


    *spurt* *spurt*


    ¡­


    *spurt* *spurt*


    ¡­ <hr>


    *spurt* *spurt*


    The eyes started to look around everyone but that was not the thing that made me stop. It also wasn¡¯t the spurting-moist sound it made whenever it looked in a different direction.


    Each eye has now two irises.


    It wasn¡¯t visible at first since their iris is very far from the normal one that people have. It started to deform from its circr shape and but you could still determine that it is an iris with a deformed pupil in the middle. However, this thing that we¡¯re looking at has four now. It slightly looked like a cell mitosis where it separates into two new nuclei. It is right next to each other but the whole eye moves in a more rigid way since each iris is wanting to take a look at everyone present. The first one would lock onto one person first and the iris next to it would seem to wrestle for control and it would snap to look at the person the previous one was looking before.


    ¡°Now this is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g mutation. I could safely say that the one we encountered earlier is a new one or just a whole nest of irregrs. If we see more, they probably are.¡± I thought to myself.


    The eyes kept on moving while the head is still tilted to one side. Dirt and debris is sticking on the head since it rolled over earlier but we also can¡¯t stop looking at its eyes also staring at us.


    ¡°Dude, just f.u.c.k.i.n.g kill it. Don¡¯t tell me you wanted to keep it now more than ever since it evolved?¡± Raphael said, with worry.


    ¡°No. If we really have a scientist here, I¡¯d keep it. I really wanted to keep it even without one but we really just have more things to do here than to figure out something we don¡¯t have the time to. Besides, I already said I¡¯d take care of it.¡± I replied and I stabbed it with my katana.


    ¡°Whew, shit dude. I could finally sleep. I¡¯d remember that thing looking at me every time I sleep so I wanted it killed before my eyes. Thank you for doing that.¡± Raphael said.


    ¡°Shit. That thing just ruined pineapples for me.¡± Kris said.


    The quick switches between the eyes stopped immediately when I sunk the de in. I threw it over on the corner where we burn the bodies and I watched it with its eyelids half closed as it slowly turns into cinders.


    ¡°What would happen if the sprinters mutate though?¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 205

    Chapter 205: 205


    ¡°Well we have started to see a few of them different from the usual ones though. The one I killed earlier is something entirely different though. How did it grow that extra iris and pupil? Both eyes even. *shiver* Hope I don¡¯t see a sprinter with four legs or I¡¯ll burn this whole country to the ground. ughs* Extra toes would be funny as f.u.c.k though.¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    I said my goodbye to the group for watch duty and I headed to the gym after changing clothes andying my weapons on my armory first.


    When I walked up the stairs, I opened the door towards the gym and the sound of the speakers sting permeated my ears. From the past week, more and more people started on going to the gym to train their bodies. Since most people from thepound do their designated work in the morning, they would only have the time to go to this ce at night after their work is done.


    Looking at the huge mat on the side, Kaley and the rest are wearing protective equipment as they were sparring with each other. Brian¡¯s head immediately perked up when he saw me and he waved me over. He¡¯s with Carlo and the rest while Marvin is on the treadmill.


    ¡°What? Want to spar again?¡± I asked as I approached them.


    ¡°It¡¯s an everyday thing now. I¡¯ll keep asking for one until I beat you.¡± he replied as he stretched.


    ¡°More like an ass-kicking than a spar.¡± Carlo chimed.


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Brian yelled.


    ¡°Well, if you learn something from every ¡®ass-kicking¡¯, that¡¯s good. If not, then you¡¯re just doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. That¡¯s just insanity. *a certain character¡¯s voice* Brian, did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?¡± I said.


    ¡°Why did your voice change suddenly?¡± he replied.


    I inwardly sighed then I took a nce at Kaley. She¡¯s currently waiting for her turn since Tatiana is giving pointers to Alex up close. I was about to call to her but I heard wind getting sliced.


    *whoosh*


    *clench* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you up to?¡± I said while I caught Brian¡¯s fist with my left.


    ¡°Oh, shit!¡± Carlo eximed.


    ¡°Y¡¯know, cheap shots won¡¯t work on me and it would only piss me off.¡± I said calmly when I looked at him.


    He tried to remove his fist from my grasp but I threw a right straight towards his face. He saw it but he didn¡¯t saw my right foot as a follow up.


    *THUD*


    It hit his leg then he grimaced. My right fist has already retracted and it is now going to his abdomen. He anticipated it but he can¡¯t evade it because I¡¯m holding him in ce. When my fist reached his abdomen, it felt hard since he clenched his muscles to lessen the damage received.


    After that, I saw his heading towards me for a headbutt but I gestured for my fingers about to poke both of his eyes. He immediately hesitated so I mmed my open palm to his left ear. He got dibobted for a short moment but it is enough time tond a middle kick to his side.


    *THUD*


    I let go of his fist before performing the kick since I need to get theplete motions to deliver everythingpletely. Air came out of his mouth then his hands performed a ¡®T¡¯ sign, signaling for a timeout before my other heel connected to his head.


    ¡°How many times is that now?¡± Carlo said from the side.


    ¡°Shut up! Carlo said he¡¯ll follow after me.¡± Brian said as he pushed Carlo towards me.


    ¡°NOOOOOOOOO~!¡± Carlo pleaded. <hr>


    I smirked and I rushed Carlo. He tried to keep his distance by using his reach advantage but I never let up. I aimed shots towards his legs and body so he started to slowly slow down. He started to move around but what surprised me is that Brian joined in to try to take me down.


    ¡°Oh~ Interesting.¡± I thought to myself.


    I quickly made my bones from my neck and knuckles crack and the look on their faces made it seem like they heard a death sentence.


    Carlo got the distance that he wanted so he kicked forward towards my stomach. Brian is on my right side about to tackle me so I caught Carlo¡¯s kick and pulled him at an angle opposite from Brian so he¡¯d lose his bnce. Brian¡¯s tackle was halted since Carlo was now in front of him jumping so he wouldn¡¯t fall down. He looked really silly jumping up and down but I pulled him once more to deliver a kick to his shin. He started to fall down when he grimaced in pain and Brian is already rushing towards me.


    ¡°You really want to be sore when you sleep huh?¡± I said casually.


    I fell forward but it was actually a variation of what Kaley did before. My heel followed after that flip and itnded on his left shoulder. All my weight is behind it and he fell faster than me after that kick.


    ¡°That¡¯s not fair!¡± Carlo yelled.


    ¡°What? Why?¡± I asked as they slowly get up.


    ¡°You¡¯re supposed to fight us at the same time!¡± Brian added.


    ¡°I did, and you both lost, miserably.¡± I said,ughing.


    ¡°But you fought us one by one even if-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°Exactly. I¡¯m not gonna be the idiot would plow through with the numbers advantage. I just positioned myself better than the two of you. I¡¯d just get hit if I let you two do what you want. I also need to hold back to not injure the two of you so you¡¯d be able to do our work tomorrow. I could take you both if that¡¯s what you want to happen but you won¡¯t be able to do anything tomorrow. I did hit a little hard on Brian though with thatst kick.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°A little?! This shit f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurts!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, a little. I didn¡¯t aim for your head so they won¡¯t carry you home.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sky, how strong really are you?¡± Marvin chimed from the side.


    ¡°Heh. Get stronger yourself so you¡¯ll know. Words are just words.¡± I replied then I started to do my routine. Time quickly passed inside the gym while a few more people started to try to request pointers from me. I obliged though I held back with some of them since they are still learning. A few of them have learned a few techniques to defend themselves but developing their bodies is still the most important thing I wanted them to continue on doing.


    The soldiers we recruited before are performing obviously well on their training even if we still need to modify a few more things to fit in my group nicely. Their main purpose here is to protect this ce and be our main fighting power against anything that would threaten our safety. I obviously wanted everyone here to learn everything possible but that would take a long time. I decided to make people specialize on one thing first and slowly branch out to learn other things. There are a few exceptions obviously like Kaley and a few others that absorbs everything quickly.


    We finished training then Kaley and I decided to take a long hot bath from the tub on the 2nd floor of my house after a short rest. I was hugging her from behind while we enjoy the heated water.


    ¡°Hmm~ this is really nice. I wish I could fall asleep in hot water like this.¡± she said as she¡¯s leaning towards me.


    ¡°Yeah, I miss the hot springs from the mountains though. They¡¯re several times better than what we have here.¡± I said.


    ¡°Mountains? Oh! From Japan, right?¡± she said as she sinks more.


    ¡°Yeah. Remember the old man I¡¯m talking about? He¡¯s the one that made the katana and the wakizashi we¡¯re using, the tanto too. They own a mountain there, they have it for generations and generations.¡± I said.


    ¡°What do you think they¡¯re doing over there? Since you know¡­¡± she asked.


    ¡°Them? As long as zombies can¡¯t use guns they¡¯ll live. That is the ce where I learned how to wield them first.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Well, the people who taught you how to use those must be crazy strong like you. I wish I could meet them.¡± she replied as she leaned her back even more when she stretched her feet.


    ¡°That is true. You¡¯d like them. They¡¯re really nice people.¡± I said.


    ¡°Are they from your dad¡¯s side?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Oh, not at all. It¡¯s actually a coincidence where I met them. I¡¯m a little kid who happened to follow an old man carrying a huge box. It¡¯s crazy, I tell you.¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°Really?! Tell me that story!¡± she said excitedly.


    ¡°You really like stories huh?¡± I said while I palm a bit of water into her head.


    ¡°Not really, I just like stories about you¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Oh really~? You¡¯ll find this funny then.¡± I said as I started.


    ¡°Okay, this happened when I was still in grade school. We had a trip to Japan to visit my dad¡¯s rtives there. On a corner of a shrine, I was hearing thumping and shouting. I followed it subconsciously and found a shop making Mochis. One of them is carrying a wooden hammer while quickly hammering the green dough to make them while the other one repositions them by his hand quickly.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! I¡¯ve seen them make it like that actually.¡± she chimed.


    ¡°Cool, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°But where¡¯s the part where you followed an old man? That¡¯s your old man Kaiseki right?¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah, well¡­¡± I continued.

 Chapter 206

    Chapter 206: 206


    I paused for a moment and she turned her head back to me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well¡­?¡± she raised her eyebrows.


    ¡°I¡¯m pausing for effect. It¡¯s how you make your listeners stay tuned- Ow!¡± I said cheekily but she pinched a bit of my leg.


    I embraced her tightly with her arms so the movements that she could do in our position is limited.


    ¡°Stop moving so much! I¡¯ll get to it!¡± I said then she stopped and leaned over me again. Her head is rested on my shoulder while I could see a magnificent view from above. A few droplets of water are above her bountiful chest and I continued to tell the story.


    ¡°Okay, okay. I was young back then and as you know; I really like to read, like a lot. The mochis they¡¯re making are actually specialty products but still really cheap. I still can¡¯t believe that they haven¡¯t started on exporting it overseas since I believe that they would be extremely popr. Anyway, there are several boxes there where they ce each one with a wooden box containing a dozen of them. I was just reading a bit of it and the stickers on the box has instructions on it. Since it was ced offset and was sideways, I tilted my head sideways to read it and suddenly, it got picked by this really tall old man and he brought it to his rickshaw which he parked a few steps on the side. My head started to itch since I didn¡¯t get to finish reading everything and I wanted to peel that sticker off to ce it again properly so I followed him.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, no. Where are your parents?! Did they even see you?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Well mom was watching me at that time but dad wanted to buy more so he called my mom for a second to get more money. I guess my sneak level was really high since she didn¡¯t notice me slipping past her. Next thing I know I was inside the rickshaw trying to slowly peel off the sticker. Take note, everything else is offset so I suddenly got fired up and didn¡¯t notice that the rickshaw started to move. However, I started on reading the whole thing first even if I haven¡¯t ced the stickers on the correct way yet.¡± I replied.


    She started on chuckling and her b.r.e.a.s.ts started to jiggle while she did so. She wrapped her hands around my neck backwards while she¡¯s still in front of me then she snuggled even closer.


    ¡°As I was saying earlier, I got irritated not being able to read the whole thing so I followed the old man and rode at the back of his rickshaw. I was just so intent on reading the whole thing I didn¡¯t know that I¡¯m already being searched by the police and old man Kaiseki didn¡¯t know that he identally kidnapped me. I finally read the whole thing and I managed to peel off the stickers and ce them properly. However, the slow rocking of the rickshaw made me drowsy and I decided to take a nap.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! I swear I could see you really doing that!¡± she interjected,ughing. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Heh. Crazy, right?! You could¡¯ve seen my parents¡¯ face! Long story short, old man Kaiseki found me sleeping at the back of the rickshaw and quickly went to the police station and told the whole story. I woke up being carried like a sack of potatoes and I thought I was floating for a second since old man Kaiseki is really tall! His long beard and hair is itchy though. He gave me one of the boxes of mochis to eat while we waited for my parents. That was hands down the best mochi I ever tasted! I immediately ate half the box and I felt drowsy again after being so full. I just woke up after a few minutes seeing the teary faces of my parents.¡± I said.


    ¡°Really?! Oh my god! And you just slept through all that?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Hah! I¡¯m weird when I was a kid! Even now! Give me a break! Anyway, old man Kaiseki felt so guilty making my parents worry so he invited us to their mountain. Our simple trip turned to something unforgettable. We just rode the rickshaw up the small mountain path where he pulled us three effortlessly. The ce was so quaint and peaceful. I wish I have a mountain like that. Our ce would be really perfect if we build this ce on top of a mountain like theirs.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, who wouldn¡¯t?! I like the mountains too!¡± she said.


    ¡°Hah! *suddenly grabs her two handfuls in front* You already have two huge ones. What are you talking abo-grck!¡± she suddenly elbowed me.


    ¡°HAHAHA!!! Just kidding! Stop! Stop! Let me get back to the story. When we reached the ce, there are several people there and a couple of wooden houses that looked like a small mansion. They have a fish pond, a huge farm for vegetables, farm animals, a mine, and etc. They could forage from the mountain some wild fruits and the like but they wanted to be able to have a stable food source. What made me really excited is his workshop. That¡¯s where I discovered that aside from making Mochis for a living, he actually makes and repairs tools. He guided me to his shop and I could still remember how rough his hands were when he¡¯s guiding me, he was actually making tools since he was young. I was looking around and then my eyes locked to one of the weapons there disyed majestically.¡± I said.


    ¡°Is that the katana then?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s actually an odachi, much longer than the katana I have and the tachi I have before. I just can¡¯t stop looking at it. He suddenly had a thought and he ordered his son to let me hold a bokken. My parents were amused and just kept on taking pictures all around while I was holding a wooden stick clumsily. He guided me to their dojo and then it happened¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°What? Tell me!¡± she grew extremely interested.


    ¡°See that? Trailing like that makes listeners more interest-ack! Stop! I¡¯m joking! I¡¯ll continue!¡± I said as she elbowed me again. <hr>


    ¡°What happened was that there was a young boy and a young girl practicing there as well. Turns out, they were old man Kaiseki¡¯s grand kids. The young girl there, but much older than me approached me and tried to teach me what they were doing but the young boy just diligently practiced. I just watched her move and started to do what she was doing. She got pretty excited that I could copy her easily but the boy there got annoyed and performed somethingplex. Remember the basics where we draw an asterisk with the weapons?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah? I always practice it, why?¡± she replied.


    ¡°Imagine doing that in a quick flowing motion where you could almost see a flower blooming roughly.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh! Like what you didst time?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Something like that but what I did before when you were present is still the basic movement for it, not the actual technique. You¡¯d need to add something else but that is the gist of it. I never intended to perform that technique at that time, but in that ce, I copied it perfectly. That actually was a technique in their household for their children before you officially get recognized by their n as one of their own. I made a rough outline of a flower and Mashiro, old man Kaiseki¡¯s son, the person who let me borrow the bokken ran outside to call the old man. Arashi, the boy, and Aoi, the girl, is staring at me really weirdly when Mashiro went outside with a huge smile on his face. It¡¯s like the two have seen a ghost or several missed calls from their mom or something.¡± I said.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you actually did it because of all the times I¡¯ve seen you do things. Oh! Then what happened? Can they also recognize you as one of the even if you¡¯re not rted by blood?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Even you, if you managed to do it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Too bad¡­ wait, what?! For real?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Yeah. Everyone there is not rted by blood before. Old man Kaiseki is just thest of his lineage and adopts or takes in people that he sees potential in. They made a small celebration and my parents were dumbfounded when they told me that they would treat me as family even if we¡¯re not rted by blood. A lot more things happened there, it involved where I got my tattoos and weapons from him though that happened a few years after.¡± I said.


    ¡°So, some of them partnered up with each other then? You said that they were not rted by blood before.¡± Kaley asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re not rted by blood so it¡¯s okay. Some of them are still not though since they¡¯re a huge mix of people. Blood or not, he treats everyone like family. They also have a cool family tree carved on their walls. Cool, huh? Also, when this thing is over, we could make our own.¡± I said.


    ¡°Own what?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Family tree.¡± I said innocently but I tried to get ready in case she attacks me again.


    However, she was silent all the way and she¡¯s looking down. Her knees raised up to her chin as she hugged them and her b.r.e.a.s.ts got squeezed in the middle.


    ¡°Kaley?¡± I tried to look at her face.


    She just turned around and gave me a quick kiss.


    ¡°I love you.¡± she said while staring at me.


    ¡°I know. Ack! I¡¯m just joking! Ahaha¡­ I love you too.¡± I said after she punched me.


    ¡°Hey.¡± she said.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°Do you really want to live the rest of your life with me?¡± she looked at me seriously.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied immediately.


    She¡¯s staring at me and she kissed me again.


    ¡°You know¡­ I actually heard everything you said when you were talking to mom.¡± she said.


    I was speechless and shocked. However, my initial expression turned into a very bright smile afterward.


    ¡°You heard huh. I¡¯m sorry for not noticing the signs that your mom told me. I¡¯m pretty dense about those kinds of things.¡± I said after.


    She¡¯s just staring at me and she slowly smiled though I think she¡¯s up to something.


    ¡°You know¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to have kids now. But, we could always practice¡­ I said we¡¯ll continue thister, right? We went a little fast earlier¡­¡± she said as she leaned closer to me.

 Chapter 207

    Chapter 207: 207


    We started on kissing each other as she wraps her hands around my neck while her body presses against me. I wrapped my hands around her so she wouldn¡¯t slowly slip because of the water and soap on us. We¡¯re kissing intensely while I rise up in the lower part of my body. She felt it and it slowly gets tucked on her thigh gap. She raised her eyebrows and then she slowly slides her body against me and grind her thighs together. It¡¯s getting smothered and stroked by her thighs every single time she moves her h.i.p.s back and forth. <center></center><hr>


    Our lips never parted though were slowly starting to breath heavily from the pleasure and excitement. A couple minutes of deep kissing and the mess that¡¯s happening below us, we¡¯re savoring each second of it. We¡¯re slowly reaching our limits but we moved even slower for the feeling tost even longer. It¡¯s pleasurable and painful at the same time by hindering ourselves to release.


    Our lips then parted but we¡¯re both still looking at each other intensely. I¡¯m still standing tall and ready while shebs her hair back with her hands. She turned around and went on all fours and I saw her handsing from underneath the water and started going on circr motions on the slit in front of me. Her white, smooth, and supple skin below is getting parted with her hands and I started to see something pink slowly revealing itself.


    ¡°I¡¯m really close¡­ hnngh~¡± her fingers started to move faster but I stopped her.


    Soap and bubbles slowly flow down her body and I pulled her towards me. I¡¯m leaning on the side of the tub while she is leaning her body towards me again. Her hands are now raised while wrapped on the back of my head as I grab the hefty twin peaks when I reached in front. Every time I graze the tips with my hands, she would twitch. Add to that that we¡¯re in the tub, my hands are gliding much smoother. Her expression while leaning against my shoulder made me almost went ahead of her since it got tucked again between her thighs. It is getting rubbed violently by her thighs and her slit below since it is getting sandwiched and grinded on every time she moves.


    ¡°y with this too¡­ please¡­¡± she pleaded as one of her hands ced my hand lower.


    Her hand went back on wrapping at my neck and I kissed her neck and shoulders as my hand moves by trying to squeeze the handful on my left and the wet and hot entrance below with my right. She¡¯s slowly starting to let out small gasps as the pleasure builds up. She¡¯s moving her h.i.p.s onto me as she grinds against my thing that is still trapped below.


    ¡°I thought you were gonna let me do all the work¡­¡± I whispered.


    She just tightened her hands which are around my neck and m.o.a.ned while biting her lip and giving a seductive smile. The water from the tub is slightly making small waves from our movements. Her hands on me slowly gripped tighter again and the walls where my fingers are inside is getting tighter as well. Her thighs are also tightening around my hands since her legs are lined straight and I could see from the water that her feet are curling. Her head rested on the side of me as she starts to shake and twitch several times uncontrobly.


    She looked at me and she¡¯s red and panting but she¡¯s smiling while her chest heaves up and down. She still made small twitches every couple of seconds but she still kept the smile while looking at me. Her hand went under the water and she tugged something below and pointed it somewhere as she rises for a moment. It was the other orifice since it was even tighter and she started to move her h.i.p.s around. I¡¯m so overwhelmed from the feeling so I justid my head on the side of the tub as I witness her making the water make waves in different directions. I¡¯m slowly losing my mind as I look at the perfect curves of her body. I didn¡¯t evenst long from what she¡¯s doing to me and I let it all out inside.


    She rested her body on mine and we just looked at each other.


    ¡°Could you go a few more?¡± she asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm? Of course.¡± I said. I started to embrace her again and kiss her but she stopped me.


    ¡°Not here you doofus! It¡¯s a bit ufortable here. Let¡¯s head back to our room¡­¡± she said but¡­ she¡¯s giving me a weird smile.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Nah, I guess she wanted to do it more since we¡¯ve not done it for a while.¡± I thought to myself.


    We left the bathroom after wearing the clothes we brought earlier. They¡¯re just short clothes with very thin fabric and I could almost see the tips through Kaley¡¯s crop top where she¡¯s not wearing a bra. She just dr.a.p.ed the towel over her shoulders to cover the tips that are protruding from it. I was the first one to enter our room since I was carrying all our used clothes.


    I thought we would already go at it once we went inside but she told me to open up the TV first.


    ¡°Okay¡­ what do you want to watch? Wait¡­ I¡¯ll pick something. It¡¯s gonna take us hours before you finally pick something¡­¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°That was before! I just can¡¯t decide quickly if you¡¯re also gonna like it or not¡­¡± she defended herself.


    I finally picked a movie and it started to y the opening credits. When I looked at her, she¡¯s leaning over the wall and her hands are open motioning for me to sit in front of her. I obliged and sat in front of her and then her hands wrapped around me. I could feel her b.r.e.a.s.ts squeezing against me as I leaned on her. We¡¯re both covered by a nket and then I rested my head in her abdomen since her legs are apart from each other and I¡¯m in the middle of it while she¡¯s almost cradling me.


    I was given a good shade from the lights because of what¡¯s above me. I¡¯m feeling really sleepy right now since I came from a workout, the other workout, and I did release once. My eyes are slowly drooping over since I¡¯m basically just using Kaley as a pillow. She¡¯s caressing my hair gently while I could smell the soap and shampoo we used.


    However, as I was about to doze off, there¡¯s a knock on the door.


    *knock* *knock* *knock* <hr>


    I was about to ask as to who is it but Kaley answered.


    ¡°Come in!¡± Kaley shouted.


    ¡°What is going on? I thought we¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    The door immediately opened while I quickly ced a pillow on top of me to hide a pitched tent below. Rin and Tatiana came while carrying a few snacks.


    ¡°Oh! It¡¯s starting already!¡± Rin said.


    ¡°We¡¯reing in~¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°I could rewind it for you two if you wanted. The opening scene is really great.¡± Kaley said as she grabbed the remote.


    I was trying to look at her face but all I could see was her underboob from below. However, I could see Rin and Tatiana¡¯s faces from both sides and the three started to casually open the snacks and chat normally. Even the tension I¡¯m feeling from Rin is already gone and the three of them seemed to be getting along nicely.


    I was so confused on what was happening so I decided to discreetly tap on Kaley¡¯s leg since it¡¯s under the nket too.


    Dot Dash Dash


    Dash <hr>


    Dot Dot Dash Dot


    I tapped a couple more times until she noticed what I was doing. Then I felt a few taps on my head.


    Dash Dash Dash


    Dot Dot Dot Dot


    Dot Dot


    Dot Dot Dash Dot


    Dash Dash Dash


    Dot Dash Dot


    Dash Dash Dot


    Dash Dash Dash


    Dash <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± I was in disbelief.


    Dot Dash


    Dot Dot Dash Dot


    Dash


    Dot


    Dot Dash Dot


    ¡°¡­¡± I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g speechless.


    ¡°Shit. The movie is 3-hours long¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    The tent below is slowly going down and I just decided to watch the movie with them. It¡¯s a 3-hour long film but I remained in the same position to enjoy it. It¡¯s a great ssic anyway so might as well make the most of it with friends.


    ¡°Good thing they made up already. I thought I need to have a talk with them to find out what¡¯s wrong. I¡¯d hate for my best secretary and best soldier or whatever Tatiana is to be keeping their emotions to themselves. I also thought Rin might be upset at Kaley too. Keeping it bottled for too long would just hurts us all in the long term.¡± I thought to myself.


    As the film continued, I started to get drowsy again and my eyes started to droop once more. I would sometimes wake for a second from theirughs or exims but I would immediately fall into a quick nap soon after.


    In an undetermined time, I felt something.

 Chapter 208

    Chapter 208: 208


    I was partially awake when I heard shuffling sounds all around me. I¡¯m hearing a couple of giggles and something like ss clinking against each other. The movie seems to still be ying as I could hear the sounds from the TV. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°ss? Did I hear ss earlier?¡± I thought to myself then I smelled alcohol.


    ¡°Vodka.¡± I thought to myself.


    However, I kept feeling something from the lower part of my body. Some sort of tugging¡­ and pulling¡­ it¡¯s slow but¡­ it feels good, really good.


    ¡°Wait¡­¡± I was enjoying the sensation because I thought I was dreaming.


    ¡°Kaley¡­ she¡¯s¡­ her hands¡­ under the sheets¡­ Impossible¡­ I must really be dreaming¡­ Might as well enjoy this though¡­¡± I thought to myself as I slowly get harder by the second.


    I realized what she was doing and I tried looked at my left and right to see what Rin and Tatiana was doing. I could hear moist sounds from my left and right and I can¡¯t seem to figure out what was happening. But, before I even managed to do it, I was looking below my body and the pillow and nket was gone!


    What remained was only my half-worn shorts and my member slowly getting erect where you could see Kaley¡¯s hand moving up and down. I could hear them talking but I still thought I was dreaming.


    ¡°He¡¯s awake now¡­ *giggle*¡± I heard Tatiana.


    ¡°Well he really is¡­ down there¡­¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°That¡¯s a bit¡­ too¡­ too much¡­.¡± Rin chimed.


    ¡°You¡¯re backing out now? After Kaley finally agreed to do it just this once? You¡¯re crazy¡­¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°B-but I think it won¡¯t¡­ f-fit¡­¡± Rin sheepishly said.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡± Kaley and Tatianaughed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Of course, it will, it just hurts the first time though.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be fine, just breathe and rx. It would feel really~ good eventually¡­ *giggle* I¡¯m also waiting for this for a very long time¡­¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Hey! I thought this was what Rin wants?! Why are you joining now?!¡± Kaley snapped.


    ¡°What?! It¡¯s unfair! You two would get d.i.c.ked by him and I won¡¯t?! My fingers are not enough you know? If you¡¯d share his d.i.c.k every now and then this wouldn¡¯t have happened¡­¡± Tatiana said while giggling.


    ¡°Hmph! Just this once! Like how we agreed on it!¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Tatiana! Language! Please! Please don¡¯t say those things out loud! It¡¯s embarrassing!¡± Rin said.


    ¡°What? We¡¯re already f.u.c.k.i.n.g him so why can¡¯t we speak about it?! You¡¯re acting weird now. When we¡¯re alone you¡¯re much vulgar than I am¡­ Of course, Kaley, just this once¡­¡± Tatiana replied.


    They started on bickering but I immediately stood up when I figured out that I¡¯m not dreaming.


    ¡°Woah! Woah! Woah! What agreement is this and why am I part of it?!¡± I eximed but when I looked at them, my jaw dropped.


    The three of them are already half n.a.k.e.d and I could almost see everything. Tatiana¡¯s still wearing her sports bra but everything below is gone. I could see her white skin with a couple of scars and her hand is already inside herself going in and out. Rin has her shirt removed and I could see her small b.r.e.a.s.ts and the tips are already hard while she¡¯s starting to pinch both of them. However, I could see that Kaley¡¯s hand is already inside Rin¡¯s shorts and she¡¯s moving them around. When I finally looked at Kaley, her crop top was raised, showing her bountiful chest and the gray shorts that she¡¯s wearing already has a wet spot in the middle of it. I surmised that she just slipped her shorts earlier without any underwear on since I could clearly see her lips making an outline. My member is already out of my shorts since Kaley was tugging it earlier and it started to get even harder after seeing them.


    The three are looking at me intensely though judging from their faces and the half-full bottle on the floor, they should be a little bit tipsy.


    ¡°Ah, shit. What have I gotten myself into?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Kaley, I-¡± I was about to say something but she cut me off. <hr>


    ¡°Hey! Before you say anything, this will be a one-time thing and this was what Rin requested. You said we¡¯ll owe you two, right? This could only happen again if you used your wish for the same thing. We¡¯ll talk about thister if you wanted to but for now,y down and let us three do the work! What happened here stays in here, okay?!¡± Kaley shouted as the two next to her nodded.


    ¡°I- uh- ah-¡± I stammered then the three started to giggle cutely. Their blushing cheeks and their exposed skin just hypnotized me, so theyid me down in the bed while they do what they want. They gave me a drink first and then they started after bringing out one box of protection from the storage area.


    They started to undress each other but Tatiana was the first one to approach me. Kaley tried to go first but Rin embraced her. Rin¡¯s hands started to cup Kaley¡¯s huge b.r.e.a.s.ts and Tatiana grabbed my erect member.


    ¡°So, Kaley¡¯s been with this thing every day, correct? I¡¯m so jealous~¡± she said as her mouth devoured it whole. I immediately reacted from her warm mouth and Kaley started to m.o.a.n when Rin¡¯s hands started on going inside her.


    Tatiana¡¯s head started to go up and down but when our eyes locked, she stopped and she sat on my face first before doing the same thing again.


    ¡°Could you please lick it? It¡¯s starting to get lonely~¡± Tatiana said.


    Even if Tatiana¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts are just normal sized, her ass is above average because of the training she¡¯s been doing. However, that doesn¡¯t matter now since her soaking lips are what¡¯s in front of me. I already got Kaley¡¯s go signal so I grabbed her ass and started on eating her out. I ced my finger inside her other hole and she immediately reacted.


    ¡°Just do it like that! Oh f.u.c.k!¡± Tatiana eximed as she decided to push her lower body against me harder.


    Her hands gripped me tighter and her teeth would sometimes graze the skin of mine every time she twitches. I looked at my side and I could see Kaley getting dominated by Rin as her hands are going in and out of Kaley while she¡¯s sucking on Kaley¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    Tatiana stood up after a short while and she¡¯s giving a euphoric smile. She squatted down in front of me and she ced my thing inside her and it immediately slipped inside. It¡¯s like a bolt of electricity hase through our bodies when I went inside her since her eyes rolled over when it happened. When she started on moving, I could see Rin momentarily got stunned when she saw my thing prating Tatiana¡¯s insides. She¡¯s so engrossed from what¡¯s happening that Kaley managed to go above her and take control.


    ¡°You think you¡¯re the only one who wants to be on top?!¡± Kaley eximed while Rin got smothered by Kaley¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    ¡°Why are they so big?! Hmph!¡± Rin eximed while Kaley giggles.


    Tatiana is leaning over from the other side while her b.r.e.a.s.ts bounces and her thighs are open wide while riding me. She started to move her other hand on the small nub just above her opening in a circr motion as she¡¯s looking at me with a smile. <hr>


    ¡°You like the view, correct?¡± she said.


    I was about to reply to her but she started to convulse after a few seconds. Her eyes rolled over and sheid on the bed panting while giving a euphoric smile. She¡¯s giving me a look that she wants more so I pulled her legs over me but I pointed it much lower. It went inside perfectly and her hand started to roam around my body. She pulled me closer towards her just enough for her b.r.e.a.s.ts to get squeezed and I continued to ram it inside. Skin started to hit skin and after a few more thrusts, I let it out inside while our eyes are locked.


    Coincidentally, Rin started to shake and twitch since Kaley started on eating her out. Kaley¡¯s fingers are going inside herself while she¡¯s devouring Rin and I could see liquid slowly flowing down from her thighs.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we¡¯re really doing this.¡± I said.


    The three chuckled and looked at me at the same time then Rin said, ¡°I think I¡¯m ready for that.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean? I thought you two?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We never went there, yet.¡± Tatiana said.


    They told me toy down again since they wanted Rin to be the one to gauge it. She slowly approached me with anticipation then her hands slowly wrapped around it. She clumsily moved her hands up and down and the two with us is watching her while they are beside me. She tried to suck it first and I could tell it¡¯s really her first time doing it with a guy. The two are touching themselves while they waited on what Rin would do.


    She gulped nervously and she positioned herself in front of it. It¡¯s already on top of her and all she needed to do is to go down. However, when the tip is about a quarter of the way in, she stopped.


    ¡°C-can you be on top instead? I¡¯m a b-bit nervous¡­¡± she looked at me.


    ¡°Sure.¡± I replied and we switched positions.


    She¡¯s already wet to the point I could slide it all the way in but she¡¯s still shaking. I made her rx first by sucking on her n.i.p.p.l.es and just cing it just above while slowly rubbing and prodding it with my member. After a few moments, I started to slowly thrust it inside as she made a small gasp. Her nails dug into my back when all of it went inside her very tight hole. I let her get used to it being inside first before I started to move but I got surprised when she started to move her h.i.p.s below me.


    ¡°It hurts but it feels really good~ can you move your d.i.c.k already~?¡± she pleaded. <hr>


    ¡°I told you she¡¯s more into it than me.¡± Tatiana chuckled from my left.


    I slowly pulled it back for a few inches and I slowly thrust it back in. I still believe she hasn¡¯t gotten used to it being inside yet since she would grimace a few times but the l.u.s.t that she¡¯s feeling is oveing her sense of pain.


    She eventually asked to be on top but we wiped the blood off her first before we started again. She¡¯s slowly moving her h.i.p.s while her hands are on top of my chest. Her eyebrows are scrunched but she¡¯s still moving her h.i.p.s nonstop. Kaley and Tatiana were just engrossed at watching us two but they took each of my hands and ced it on their lower half at the same time. Their b.r.e.a.s.ts are pressed against my arms and they told me to go inside them with my fingers which I obliged. Kaley was the first one to climax from what was happening between us four and we all soon followed after.


    Rin fell forwards into me while the two beside me started to shake and twitch.


    We went on for a few more rounds but after we¡¯re done and have cleaned ourselves, Kaley and I went for a few more with just each other. She mostly did the work since I¡¯m really exhausted.


    ¡°So, how was it?¡± she said to me, smiling.


    ¡°It¡¯s crazy. It¡¯s good but I enjoyed it more when it¡¯s just us two.¡± I cheekily said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a one-time thing unless you want it to happen again. You still have your wish.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Hah! I know what I would wish for but I wouldn¡¯t tell you all just yet. It¡¯s gonna be fun, I promise.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You really thought of something?! Tell me!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Heh. You¡¯ll know eventually. I¡¯m gonna prepare a few more things before we do that.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmph! Good job onsting that long though. You really did your work.¡± she said while she hugged me.


    ¡°I could go for one more if you wanted to¡­¡± I trailed as her eyebrow raised.


    We did onest round before we slept together in the middle of the night. Let¡¯s just say all the pent-up stress that has been .u.mting has been released from what has happened. Another day when I¡¯ve slept really well.

 Chapter 209

    Chapter 209: 209


    ¡°Hey¡­ Sky! Wake up!¡± I heard Kaley¡¯s voice. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm?¡± I slowly opened my eyes and I saw her beautiful face.


    ¡°5 more minutes¡­¡± I snoozed Kaley.


    ¡°It¡¯s morning already! It¡¯s already past 6:00 AM and the kids have already knocked on our doors!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°What¡­? I¡¯m so, so tired¡­ Ever had an idea what I did yesterday?¡± I replied.


    ¡°*giggle* I know. I was there, remember? How many times was that? I believe you¡¯ve used a dozen or so condoms. Wait, is it a dozen or a couple¡­?¡± she trailed as she looked at me.


    ¡°Fourteen to be exact but we did a few more without when we¡¯re finally alone with each other.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Really?! You even managed to count all that?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m really great at counting. Okay¡­ let¡¯s head down?¡± I asked as I slowly stretched.


    We finally went down and coincidentally, Rin and Tatiana came out of a single room.


    ¡°They¡¯ve really made up.¡± I thought to myself.


    Tatiana greeted us but Rin can¡¯t seem to look Kaley and I into our eyes. She sheepishly followed us down while Tatiana is silentlyughing on the side.


    ¡°Well,st night was fun!¡± she said.


    ¡°Shh! We don¡¯t talk about that okay?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Oh! I forgot! What happened there, stays there, correct?¡± she said as Kaley nodded. <center></center><hr>


    Everyone is slowly gathering on the pool area and the gate has a few more peopleing inside. Lois is carrying a few tes of food for the people watching the gate and for Jude which is always eating instant noodles. We had eggs and dried fish for breakfast apanied by garlic fried rice.


    ¡°What¡¯s the n today kid?¡± Oscar said after we finished eating.


    ¡°Okay, listen up!¡± I tried to get everyone¡¯s attention.


    I told everyone that since reinforcing and repairing every single house avable was finished. The next part of our building phase is to build a small pier at the end of the road behind us. It could allow us to bypass other roads that we haven¡¯t explored yet to reach other key locations by using our two small boats. Encounters with the dead are greatly minimized since we still haven¡¯t encountered one who could swim in the water.


    All of the ones we¡¯ve encountered so far are like people who have eaten the devil¡¯s fruit and made them unable to swim.


    However, when we start to explore other ces via the canal system, the things we could carry back would be severely limited due to the cargo space allowed by our boats. It would only be solved once we get bigger ones.


    ¡°Oh! Going in the water sounds good!¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°We have only two vehicles though. The YAMAHA SX210 and the Escape RT 220. They¡¯re collecting dust now on that corner but it could reach a few ces.¡± I replied.


    ¡°We could always ¡®borrow¡¯ some of them for now! We already have different vehicles fornd, what¡¯s wrong with adding on a few more for water since we¡¯recking in that department?¡± Oscar said, smiling.


    ¡°And where do we get more? We have a few wooden boats too near the fishing areas but I think we need bigger ones than that and what you have. A yacht or something would be better. I have the license for it so I could drive one. We could even reach the other ind groups if we got the fuel for it.¡± Matthew said.


    As soon as Matthew said the word ¡®yacht¡¯, everyone suddenly looked at me. It was about half a minute of silence.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked them all.


    ¡°We¡¯re waiting.¡± they all said in unison.


    ¡°Waiting for what?¡± I was confused. <hr>


    ¡°You know! We¡¯re just waiting for you to say that you have a yacht or something!¡± Matthew eximed.


    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g believe you!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Hah! I really don¡¯t. Wait, we do. WE HAVE ONE!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g loser I knew you don¡¯t have every- wait, WHAT?!¡± Matthew choked.


    ¡°Remember the Pineda Residence? When we started on installing one of the rys on top of their house? We did a second run inside to check everything else that we might use. They actually own one but it is a bit far. I have all that we needed to drive that thing here though.¡± I replied with a smile.


    ¡°Seriously?! Where?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°The Pier.¡± I said solemnly.


    ¡°Well that is another project I¡¯ll be d to go to!¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°Did you forget? One of the ces where it started here is in the Pier. Man North Harbor to be exact. Coincidentally, that is where the yacht is docked. There could be a huge swarm of them there but luckily, we have boats that could help us reach it safely. If we go there innd, I think our chances of surviving will be close to zero.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Wait a minute, we¡¯ve only secured a few ces here, why are we going somewhere a lot farther than what we¡¯re supposed to? There¡¯s still the People¡¯s Park we need to clear, right? Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± Johnny trailed.


    ¡°It¡¯s not what you think. I¡¯m not sending a team to Davao City to check on the president. It¡¯s a means to get to a few more ces and check on their situation where we can¡¯t onnd. If I could help it, I want a helicopter too. Having one would make things much easier. I¡¯m just figuring out a way in how can we acquire one from the camp here.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm. So we¡¯re paying a visit to the pier, eh?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll be bringing ten people. Let¡¯s hook the trailers on the trucks first so we could ce the boats on the canal system first. If we could nab some gas from that ce too for the yacht it would be great and if the yacht is actually in working condition when we get there.¡± I replied. <hr>


    However, An buzzed from the radio.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Dude, the people from Woonds are here, they¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g pissed. Come quick!¡±


    *bzzt*


    We cut the small meeting short first and a few of us ran towards the gate. I walked up the tform and I could see an SUV that¡¯s carrying a few people. One of them I talked to before on the past week is outside, almost shaking in anger.


    When she saw my face, she immediately exploded.


    ¡°YOU! DO YOU THINK WHAT YOU DID IS A F.U.C.K.I.N.G JOKE?! YOU THINK WHAT YOU DID WOULD F.U.C.K.I.N.G SCARE EVERYONE FROM MY GROUP?!¡± she eximed at the top of her lungs.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you talking about She?¡± Oscar chimed from the side.


    ¡°OH?! YOU THINK I¡¯M PLAYING GAMES?! I DON¡¯T PLAY F.U.C.K.I.N.G GAMES!!! GET THOSE F.U.C.K.I.N.G HEADS OUT OF OUR FRONT GATE RIGHT NOW!!!¡± she bellowed.


    ¡°Wait, heads? When did this happen?¡± I asked.


    She is shouting more unintelligible terms and then her ex-husband also came out of the passenger¡¯s seat. He sheepishly dried her face with a towel and said, ¡°She, I thought we were here to just ask if they know anything about what happenedst night? Why are you already shouting at them and using them that they did it? Calm down, your blood pressure is gonna rise up aga-¡±


    ¡°WHO ELSE WOULD F.U.C.K.I.N.G DO THIS?! THEY¡¯RE THE ONLY ONES HERE THAT WANTS A PIECE OF OUR LAND THAT WE BOUGHT WITH OUR FUC-¡± I cut her off.


    ¡°Shut the f.u.c.k up before I shoot you in the head for attracting a few zombies here.¡± I said calmly but the tone I used made her shut up.


    ¡°I¡¯M JUS-¡± she tried to speak. <hr>


    ¡°Shut the f.u.c.k up. I¡¯m not gonna repeat myself a third time. Mr. Gabriel, good to see you here. I see you¡¯ve brought your ex-wife here who could rival thendy of that kung fu movie when ites to shouting. You mentioned heads?¡± I looked at the guy which is sheepishly trying to calm her ex-wife down.


    ¡°Uh, yes! We found s-several heads on our front gate this morning when our group who does runs was about to head outside. I think it¡¯s best if you see it yourselves. Do you have any idea with what is happening? Everyone from our ce is terrified and won¡¯te out.¡± he replied as he nervously looks at his ex-wife.


    ¡°I can guarantee you that it¡¯s not us. Each one we encounter we burn to cinders and not keep as trophies. However, I have an idea on who might that group be. We¡¯ve encountered a few of their men before and they have a full freezer of heads when we went outside. They¡¯re a dangerous bunch and I think they have bad intentions for your ce.¡± I said solemnly.


    ¡°D-do you know a way we could contact t-them?! To stop this madness?! The kids back home are frightened!¡± he said.


    The other door opened and another one of the homeowners from their ce went outside.


    ¡°The partnership we talked aboutst week. I want to revisit that conversation again.¡± said an older man carrying a cane.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here too Damian. How¡¯s it going? I thought your exact words before is ¡®this is my final offer, take it or leave it.¡¯ hmm?¡± I said with a chuckle.


    ¡°This time it¡¯s different!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Yeah, it is. It f.u.c.k.i.n.g is. You¡¯re all in for a ride if you don¡¯t up your defenses. The ce where my cousin is staying at just got their heads collected by those people. I bet if I go to your front gate now which I remember you also said is the ¡®safest of all ces¡¯, it would have one of the heads collected from his ce too.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you all understand?! We already went to the DDR Camp here for help and they shrugged us off! Don¡¯t you know that if those psychos that did that as you mentioned took over our ce, yours would be next?! How f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid are all of you?!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°Stupid? Hah! We could easily take over your ce with just five of my people. We could take care of anything thates here easy with everyone present. Can your ce do that? Oh, I forgot, it¡¯s the ¡®safest¡¯, right? I¡¯m so ¡®stupid¡¯ I forgot about that detail.¡± I replied calmly not caring in the slightest.


    He almost pulled all the hairs from his body since he became frustrated with my reply.


    ¡°Alright! What do you f.u.c.k.i.n.g want?! You want the stupidest proposal you made before to happen?! Is that it?! Huh?!¡± he bellowed as I formed a faint smile on my face.


    ¡°No. I want full control of your ce and your people. If you all want to survive, that is. Oh! I forgot! This is my final offer, take it or leave it.¡± I said his words back at him.

 Chapter 210

    Chapter 210: 210


    The moment I finished speaking, the whole ce became silent. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°WHAT?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR F.U.C.K.I.N.G MIND?!¡± She shouted.


    *twitch*


    I jumped over the gate and then I drew my pistol. I pointed it in front of her but it¡¯s a few inches to the right just enough to graze her ear. She was toote to react when I pulled the trigger.


    *bsshew*


    A bloody and crooked figure plopped to the pavement tens of meters away from us behind them.


    I holstered my Maxim 9 and I looked at her dead in the eye. The atmosphere became suddenly cold then she fell on her knees and a small pool of liquid formed beneath her that reeks of ammonia.


    ¡°S-She!¡± Mr. Gabriel finally snapped back to reality and he tried to take care of her ex-wife since he pulled out a first aid kit. Damian on the other hand was staring in shock since he thought I was gonna kill one of her people.


    ¡°P-please f-forgive her! She didn¡¯t mean to shout at you! She, hurry up and a-apologize to this young man right here! W-w-we apologize!¡± Mr. Gabriel is trembling all over while She is still in shock.


    ¡°Damian, my proposal, what do you think? The right answer seems pretty obvious to me.¡± I disregarded the couple and looked back at Damian.


    ¡°T-that¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s impossible! How greedy could you get?!¡± he snapped.


    ¡°Like you¡¯re one to talk¡­¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Greedy? Yes, yes I am. I want everything I could get my hands on. Your ce is one of the things I want to acquire personally first so I could proceed with my ns. Your just lucky I¡¯m not a murdering psychopath or else I would¡¯ve killed all of you so I could start on reiming your ce for myself.¡± I said while looking at him straight in the eye.


    He started on pointing his cane at me and he shouted, ¡°Your lucky I¡¯m this old! If I was your age I could take you on by myself! As if a young kid like you have thought out ns right from the start! I¡¯ve seen plenty of confident brats like you that can always talk but doesn¡¯t have the balls to get things done! That ce you wanted to get is my blood and sweat! I worked all my life just to get that piece ofnd! You don¡¯t know shit about working hard! Tell me! What is this oh so great n of yours? Huh?! What are the ces you so wanted to get your hands on?! TELL ME!!!¡±


    ¡°Luzon. I want this ind group for starters. I¡¯ll start on this barangay first, then this city, and slowly move up to the close ones. I want all thend I couldy my eyes on be safe from those things. Next is Visayas and Mindanao. After getting this country back on track I¡¯ll then head to Japan next, and the others too, andstly the world. That¡¯s how ¡®greedy¡¯ I am. It could take several years to do that but I know I could do it. Well, words are just words. If a certain balding old dude doesn¡¯t stop pointing his cane at me, I¡¯ll f.u.c.k.i.n.g smack it on his head and just be a murdering psychopath so things would be a little easier! Being a murderer is easy, being a politically correct guy is a pain in the ass.¡± I replied.


    His jaw dropped from my words and even the people from the tform and my old house was shocked from what I said.


    ¡°I think I went a little too far for taking over the world speech but it did sound really cool¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Heh.¡± Oscar chuckled from the tform.


    ¡°Y-you¡¯re really nning to get the whole of Luzon?!¡± Damian eximed.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I quickly replied.


    He was speechless.


    ¡°Y-you¡¯re impossible!¡± he shouted but his tone seemed different from before.


    ¡°What? I can¡¯t be impossible. I exist. It should be ¡®you¡¯re improbable¡¯, right?¡± I corrected him.


    He was speechless again but he was in deep thought while staring at me. I looked back at She and Mr. Gabriel and she has already stood up though the pants that she¡¯s wearing is still soaked. <hr>


    ¡°Need a new pair?¡± I asked nicely.


    ¡°P-please I-if you have a s-spare¡­¡± Mr. Gabriel replied.


    ¡°No. I want She to answer.¡± I replied.


    She red at me and she¡¯s biting her lip really hard due to her anger. However, she still replied although reluctantly, ¡°I need a pair. Give me one. Now.¡±


    I sighed and said, ¡°Old people these days, no respect for the young ones¡­ can¡¯t even hear the word ¡®please¡¯.¡±


    Her breathing started to get faster but she bit her tongue while still ring at me, ¡°P-please.¡±


    ¡°Please what?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Could you p-please let me borrow a spare pair of pants.¡± she said while slightly trembling.


    ¡°That¡¯s good enough. Guys! Could you please give this squirter- I mean She here a spare pair of pants? She¡¯s already shaking here a bit!¡± I shouted behind me.


    Oscar loses it and he started tough uncontrobly. She on the other hand is furious but she has no choice on the matter. Me looking at her with a grin makes her angrier each passing second. She finally got her change of clothes and she changed inside their SUV. Damian took the moment to speak to me again.


    ¡°Alright, I would like to see what your ns are and you could have control over mynd but the people at my ce will take a bit more convincing since they have also paid for their houses and you already know the situation at my ce. It¡¯s a reallyplicated dynamic.¡± he said after a deep sigh. <hr>


    ¡°I know. That caste system bullshit that¡¯s urring at your ce needs to be stopped or else the people you all deem that are lower than you will eventually snap and fight back when they realize that there is no such thing and you¡¯re all equal. It¡¯s only a matter of time, I promise you. Add to that what you told me that has happened at your front gate. Can I see it first?¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re going to help us?¡± he asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see first if I could still lend a hand. You have to help me help you too, you know?¡± I replied.


    ¡°We¡¯ll still dispose of the psychos who did that if we ever meet them and it¡¯s just a bonus that we could also get Woonds as an extra reward. It¡¯s just lucky that they revealed themselves sooner. I could capture one or two of them and make them spill everything they know.¡± I thought to myself.


    They rode their vehicle while we rode the Raptor with my usual crew. I made a short nce on Oscar¡¯s covered SUV first that is parked at the same spot since the beginning before we head to their ce. The Raptor which we¡¯re using now is different since a few quirks are added to it. It now has the bullbars reced with the same thing that is in front of our 8-wheeler and its tires are changed to the tubeless tires aside from the pneumatic ones it had before. A few more things are also installed on the Raptor which are still hidden but we¡¯re also itching to use when the timees.


    Oscar tookmand of thepound first while we left the ce. My uncle gathered some people at the end of the road first to start building a small pier and bringing the boats there as well.


    We finally reached the ce and the disy outside their front gate is really something else.


    It¡¯s not just heads that are on disy as they said. Well, most of them are heads but the correct term for some of it would be effigies. There¡¯s a small mountain of different heads in one corner and there¡¯re several wooden pikes on the ground that has three or four heads in each pike though there¡¯re also a few dismembered arms and legs on the mix. Some of the heads are still alive since it is ced on the topmost part and the pike doesn¡¯t seem to have pierced its brain yet. The flooring¡¯s original color is stained by the mess of blood that has either sttered or dripped from the ones hung above and the smell they¡¯re emanating is horrible.


    Thergest one on the middle I could say is a f.u.c.k.i.e.d-up piece of artwork though.


    Several chopped up arms are stuck to each other by spikes to form hands that looks like it was a huge hand sped together praying. It was a huge statue made of flesh and each ¡®finger¡¯ is probably made up of a couple dozens of hands just to get the dimensions correctly proportioned. Near the ¡®pinky¡¯ of the huge effigy are several heads that looks like the parts of a rosary. Their foreheads and cheeks are carved with different messages.


    ¡°REPENT¡±


    ¡°Join us so your sins would be forgiven¡± <hr>


    ¡°SINNER¡±


    ¡°We are chosen¡±


    ¡°DELIVER¡±


    ¡°ARISE¡±


    ¡°Embrace the Father¡±


    ¡°Refuse or you will be smitten¡±


    Their teeth are still cking since they¡¯re still alive and still moving their jaws.


    ¡°The ones who did this is definitely one with the group we saw get decimated on the People¡¯s Park.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why would they make something like this? This could be on r/cursedimages or something!¡± Jared chimed.


    I looked at Damian and said, ¡°Order EVERYONE from your group to take care of this. Stab the heads first and make them pile everything in a corner to be burned, no excuses. You have a lot of work to do.¡±


    ¡°Now, let¡¯s see who¡¯ll follow and who wouldn¡¯t.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 211

    Chapter 211: 211


    Several people are peeking at us from the inside and they are all looking at me and my group. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Who the f.u.c.k is that guy?¡±


    ¡°Is that kid the one who came to this ce before?¡±


    ¡°I think so. I wish we could¡¯ve worked with them.¡±


    ¡°You dense idiot! Go grab me a pack of cigars!¡±


    ¡°yes sir¡­¡±


    ¡°Did he just order that old bastard to order us?!¡±


    ¡°Heard that too.¡±


    ¡°He wants us to work for him. We have other people for that job that are much suited.¡±


    ¡°You! Do whatever they say since the smell here is killing me¡­ Ugh! I¡¯m gonna go back to my mom!¡±


    ¡°Y-yes ma¡¯am.¡±


    ¡°So f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid. As if we¡¯ll do what he wants.¡± <center></center><hr>


    The people inside started to chatter with each other. After a few minutes, a few people came outside with a few tools and started on doing what Damian ordered.


    I immediately stopped what they were doing and faced the group looking at me with disdain.


    ¡°Did I say yourborers here would do all the work?¡± I said as I looked at the people still on the gate. Some of them actually left the gate and started on walking inside and I was left with Damian, Mr. Gabriel, and the people who went outside first. She gave me a cold re before she went inside with the others after someone opened the gate for her.


    ¡°More than half the people here are part of the asshole category. Why don¡¯t the people here with me leave and go to the DDR Camp instead? There¡¯s something Damian here is not telling me or something.¡± I thought to myself.


    The people near me with tools are looking down and a few of them are hiding their gritted teeth and murderous faces as they turned their heads away from the people still watching from the gate. When the people watching them got bored and left, they started on cursing them from behind. However, I noticed that some of the people here actually are some of the homeowners and they seem to be on board as to what theborers here are feeling. They¡¯re trying to assist the people here that are less fortunate and talking to them to keep it cool for now.


    ¡°There¡¯s no proper leadership here, there¡¯s clearly a divide. These people here are a problem too since they would just follow their employers blindly.¡± I thought to myself.


    Damian then walked up to me after avoiding the muck beneath our feet. His cane is clinking every time he uses it as a crutch.


    ¡°That cane¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I told you. It won¡¯t be so easy. They just appointed me as one of the leaders and they would alwaysin to me every time they feel a little bit of difort. The others are just doing nothing. I just don¡¯t have the power to make all of them follow me. This ce is just a divided piece of crap.¡± Damian said with frustration.


    I looked at the people and asked, ¡°Is what this old fart saying true or is there another story I don¡¯t know yet? You could tell me. Things around here will change I promise you all.¡±


    ¡°Are you really here to help us?¡± William, a gardener from their ce said.


    ¡°Yep. My question earlier, is what this old fart saying true?¡± I asked once again. <hr>


    Kaley was silently watching everyone while the rest of my group have started to make a small perimeter from the dead that are slowlying towards us.


    ¡°You think I have the time to lie to you?!¡± Damian bellowed.


    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking them.¡± I bluntly said.


    ¡°N-no. What Mr. Damian saying is truth. Ever since this thing started the way the people treated us inside changed and they started to lord over us. We¡¯ve been friends before even if we¡¯re employer and employee¡­¡± he started to tell a few things about the dynamic inside.


    ¡°Well here¡¯s the age-old question, are you all willing to do anything to change this ce? Are you ready to step up? If you are, here¡¯s what we¡¯re gonna do first¡­¡± I told them my n.


    The look on their faces while listening to me is priceless.


    I thought for a moment that Damian would fall down with a heart attack but he popped a pill and he soon stabilized. He tapped his chest a few times while Mr. Gabriel is sweating bullets. However, when I reached at thest part of my n, everyone¡¯s faces became really solemn and some of them are figuring out whether I¡¯m serious or just lost the timing of the joke I¡¯m telling.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I really intend to do. This is the help I¡¯m willing to offer. If you don¡¯t want that, fine. Don¡¯t came knocking on my gate a second time asking for help. Well, you won¡¯t have the chance to.¡± I said with a serious look.


    William and the others eventually agreed but the more fortunate people like Damian, Mr. Gabriel and the rest that offered their help are still hesitating.


    ¡°Y-you¡¯d burn in hell if you do that! Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious?!¡± Damian bellowed.


    ¡°Hell? Hah! I¡¯d be there several times already at the lowest level if that ce was real.¡± I replied. <hr>


    He was taken aback the same as Mr. Gabriel.


    I looked at Mr. Gabriel seriously and said, ¡°You. You¡¯re gonna step up or what? Same for the rest of you. Everyone here should be on board or I¡¯ll just let you deal with this thing here without me.¡±


    Mr. Gabriel and the rest has a mix of expressions but luckily, they all agreed.


    I made a long sigh and said, ¡°Good. If someone didn¡¯t, I would¡¯ve killed anyone who disagreed here for this n to work. Come on, do what I told you to do. You know what would happen if they knew of the n.¡±


    They all nodded and we proceeded with my n.


    Several hourster, I¡¯m with my group and a few others just looking over in the distance in fullbat gear. Mymunication device is at my left hand waiting¡­ just waiting. The sky is dark and the stars and the moon are the only things that could illuminate the surroundings. The only sources of light you could see in the distance is from the DDR Camp and Woonds. However, in the far left, several small circles have started on appearing one by one and it numbered several dozen. A few of those lights are slightly swaying around and some of them are pairs and just moving closer and closer.


    As the lights from the vehiclese near, I could faint hear a tune from gospel songsing from a speaker.


    We patiently waited for them toe in full view and the sight is more disturbing than the disy that they made before. A huge cargo truck was in front with the special decorations that they have and a few people are on top of the cargo carrying crosses while dismembered parts of the dead are dangling on the side. What follows them are several motorcycles, cars, pickup trucks and vans. It¡¯s a muchrger group than what we encountered before and they easily numbered a few hundred. The vehicles they brought are forming a semi-circle around the entrance of Woonds and they lit up torches or the shlights that they have brought with them.


    The moment the truck in front stopped, the back opened and a man wearing a priest¡¯s outfit came outside with a few others armed by either guns, ded weapons, blunt weapons, or just simply carrying huge crosses while muttering gibberish. The priest who came out knelt down on the effigy in the middle that looks like huge hands praying and he seemed to be praying.


    The people behind him just bowed down in prayer, not minding that a few of the dead have started to approach them. One of the bloody figures managed to sink its teeth to one of the bikers but the biker, instead of reacting, he raised his arms and started to shout.


    ¡°I¡¯M ONE OF THE CHOSEN! I¡¯M ONE OF THE CHOSEN!¡±


    The priest in the middle turned around and raised his fist up high and then the group he came in started to gather in front of the gate as if almost celebrating. They didn¡¯t seem to mind the person they¡¯re with is bleeding from his wound from the bites that he received. <hr>


    ¡°Are these people even the same ones we encountered?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Here we are blessed with a new ce to call our home which was spoken to me by our Father who blessed us with everything that we have! He whispered to me in my sleep and told me that this ce! This very ce is full of sinners that hasn¡¯t repented! However! He told me of a n to convert them to be one of the chosen so they may once again be embraced by our Father watching over us! DELIVER THEM!!!¡± The priest in the middle shouted.


    After that small speech, they started to break open the gate in a huge frenzy and several gunshots rang out. The people living inside started to fight back with whatever¡¯s left of them just to protect their home. Screams andughter followed but after a few minutes, it was all quiet. The priest was still in the huge effigy with a huge smile on his face.


    After a while, the mob that went inside came back with the bodies of each people from the inside that are almost unrecognizable. Some of them are torn up to pieces and some of them are almost dead. The ones with strength left on their bodies are stark n.a.k.e.d but covered in either dirt or mud. He started on talking to each one of them and She was first. They were all held tight by the mob then the priest pulled out a dagger from his robe and plunged it to She¡¯s abdomen. He¡¯s wearing a gruesome expression but the people around him are celebrating.


    She screamed loudly at first but it became quiet when she started to gargle with her own blood. The group I¡¯m with is just watching what¡¯s been happening the whole time.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Do it.¡±


    *bzzt*

 Chapter 212

    Chapter 212: 212


    As soon as I gave Oscar the signal, I immediately took cover with my group and some soldiers from the DDR Camp that we formed a partnership with earlier. <center></center><hr>


    A small beep sounded first and then I heard Oscar shouting in the radio:


    ¡°PROJECT NUGGETS MADAFAKA!!!¡±


    A faint smile formed on my face from his remark then it happened.


    *BOOOOOOOOOM*


    *BOOOOM*


    *CRASH*


    *BOOOOOOM*


    *BOOOM*


    *CRASH*


    *BOOOOOOOOOM*


    Several explosions erupted where the effigies are located. Bright shes of light one after the other shone outside and then the ground trembled for each explosion that happened. Some of the ss windows which are near to the entrance to Woonds shattered from the impact the stic explosives that Oscar and I nted inside the effigies. A few more were set in different locations just in case but I¡¯m sure that most of them are in the center of the st. A few momentster, some of the people in the nearby building brought out the huge shlights I gave them for visibility on the damage done below. A drone was also seen flying in the distance to be another set of eyes on the situation.


    I looked at the damage it caused and the effigies are blown to bits same with the people near them. A few craters are made where you could see several unrecognizable parts of either human or zombies are strewn about which looks like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d-up version of chili. I¡¯m not sure if I could correctly identify which part belongs to who on the mess below since everything is either a part of something or a part of something. A few small explosions erupted as well due to the gasoline tanks of some of their vehicles catching fire. Most of the vehicles they also brought were destroyed and the songsing from their speakers stopped. Only the motorcycles on the outer proximity remained intact with a few smaller cars but they got stained with debris and flesh. <center></center><hr>


    Everything is destroyed, however, some of the people which are a bit farther than the st still survived but in dire conditions. All you could hear is their screams of agony and them cursing their ¡®Father¡¯ for why they are suffering this fate.


    ¡°FATHER!!! WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN US?!¡±


    ¡°FATHER!!!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU~!!!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K~!¡±


    ¡°MY LEG~! MY LEG~!¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    ¡°FATHER~! WHY~!¡±


    ¡°NOOOOOO~!¡±


    ¡°WITNESS ME~!!!¡±


    ¡°FATHER~! HELP US~!¡±


    Several people from my side and the DDR Camp came out from the nearby buildings and they started on shooting the ones that are starting to move away from the st. Oscar came in with his SUV while Tatiana came with her HUMVEE. They made sure that each person who survived is taken care of but a few will be left alive for a thorough interrogationter. I could hear themands from the soldier¡¯s radio too and I¡¯m listening intently on how they operate and work with each other.


    *BOOOM* <hr>


    *psshew*


    *BANG*


    *BOOM*


    *BANG*


    *psshew*


    I broke a few pieces of ss from the window closest to me and I sniped each one that have slipped past them that have started on limping away. I would hear Ken¡¯s voice from my earpiece pointing to where a few have went to. Jared and Kaley were with me and they did the same. The soldiers with us were surprised that we were not hesitating to shoot the people outside that we casually set a trap on. All of the members of the cult didn¡¯t expect the trap we ced and they were caught off-guard from a few pieces of C4 we nted earlier inside the effigies that they were worshipping.


    I went down with the group I¡¯m with and I drew my katana to double check each body not moving if they somehow survived the st and was just only unconscious or courageously ying dead.


    ¡°Uh¡­ sir. Why are you checking each body again?¡± one of the soldiers asked.


    ¡°Hmm? It¡¯s Rule #2 ¨C Double Tap.¡± I replied quickly.


    Surprisingly, he got my reference and he started to chuckle with Jared and Kaley.


    ¡°Oh, you know that film?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes sir. I remember that film from a few years ago. I¡¯m more surprised your group sir are moving like us, some even better.¡± he said while looking at Kaley and Jared. <hr>


    ¡°Well Jared is actually military but hasn¡¯t graduated yet officially. Kaley on the other hand is a special case. She knows how to shoot before but she got really better at an rming rate when it started. I¡¯ve been training a few of them when we hunkered down and I guess the situation made them learn faster than normal.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well our teacher is a crazy f.u.c.k and I guess that helped us.¡± Jared said while Kaley is smiling.


    ¡°Oh, I see, hahaha. This thing here is a mess though. We waited all night for them to finally appear.¡± he replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s almost midnight and I thought they wouldn¡¯te. I thought we would have to wait for a few more days for them to appear and luckily they came quicker than expected.¡± I replied.


    ¡°This is a change of pace though, watching the road every single night can be quite boring. We eliminated a threat and we solved a problem at our camp. Oh, excuse me sir my CO is calling for us.¡± he replied and he broke off.


    Earlier this morning, after I told my n with Damian and the rest, I went to the DDR Camp here to form a partnership. I solved some of their problems while they solved a few of mine. One of their problems is the discord with some of the people inside their camps because of theck of food. The helicopters thates in every single day is getting infrequent and that made them start to scavenge on food as well to remove some of the unrest.


    From the past week in the DDR Camp, I¡¯ve learned that they started to distribute their food equally to everyone when their numbers got to an optimum size. I convinced some of them to manage their people well since manpower can be a valuable resource especially in these times. Some of their people are still being given special treatment due to ¡®special¡¯ services but that is their problem to solve themselves.


    What I proposed to them is that after we reim Woonds, we¡¯ll send people over there, same as them, for security and we would close off some of the streets which is not from the highway so we could have a huge ce to ourselves where our people could travel safely between ces. Since Woonds have huge plot ofnds, farms would be built inside and the some needing ces toy their heads on will also be amodated there. Crops harvested from that ce would be shared by everyone and we would trade goods of equal value for the resources we already have on each ce.


    A few more things were discussed but we focused at the task in front of us for now.


    It only took us a bit of time of time clearing every single body up and extinguishing the small fires that was caused by the explosions earlier and the gas still burning from the gasoline tanks of some of the vehicles. A small group is at our left and right nks to take care of any zombies that woulde because of the noise the explosions produced.


    We piled the bodies one after the other and we started a controlled fire to burn every single leg, head, arm, torso, and other body part we could see on the ground along with a few bodies which are partly intact. The smell of burnt flesh permeated our noses and we could feel the heat of the fire with our bodies since the fire we made to burn them all is quiterge.


    Therge gate to Woonds was secured first and the people we captured has been given medical attention just enough so they would be able to talkter. They were taken to the DDR Camp guarded by some of the soldiers inside while I tasked a few of my people to spend a night to guard inside Woonds. We¡¯ve split the guns and ammo we recovered in half with the soldiers in the DDR Camp since they helped us in taking care of this cult.


    Their CO finally approached us and he made a small salute. <hr>


    ¡°Anything else we could do sir?¡± he asked.


    ¡°None at the moment, no. Thanks for the help though. I¡¯ll contact you again tomorrow.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Do you need help with guarding that ce? I could station a few of my squad here as well if you wanted to.¡± he asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re good for now. It¡¯s just a single gate. You have two entrances to cover at your ce and the prisoners you have to watch as well. We¡¯d talk about this tomorrow on the rotation of guards. We¡¯ll just take the first watch here, thanks.¡± I replied.


    He made another salute with the other guards and when they finally left, Oscar and I slowly formed a small smile with our faces and the people from my group did so as well. It seemed that my habits have slowly rubbed off on my group.


    Instinctively, we all opened a small bag and started on picking up the casings littered on the ground.


    ¡°Those f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiots! Don¡¯t they know that Brass is worth more than Gold now?! HAHAHAHA~!!! They didn¡¯t even wanted the melee weapons here! HAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°They could have more ammo than us though?¡± Jared chimed.


    Oscar and I looked at each other first but we started onughing even harder.


    ¡°More than us? You must be kidding, right?!¡± we both said at the same time.


    ¡°¡­¡± our group.


    However, the casings we found only numbered a few dozen since most of what killed the mob were the explosives we used. However, the hidden quest rewards weren¡¯t the brass casings below. It¡¯s the other stuff inside some of the vehicles that are intact and the whole of Woonds¡¯ houses avable for looting. Aside from that, we gained a bit of good notoriety and some sort of respect from the soldiers.


    ¡°Finders Keepers.¡± I said as we went inside the gate.

 Chapter 213

    Chapter 213: 213


    The two vehicles we brought slowly made their way inside Woonds after driving around the pile of burning bodies. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Want to do this now kid? Or do you want to take a rest first and startter when we get some sleep?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Hmm, better do it now before the soldiers there figure out that they¡¯ve been left out with the supplies we would be getting here. We¡¯d get everything here first but we¡¯d make a separate portion for the people that would be living here.¡± I replied.


    I¡¯m about to tell the group where to go but Lois radioed in.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro! This is Lois!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Careful inside since a few might still be hiding. We¡­ we took¡­ care of a few who started to vault the wall at the covered court and on the wall near your old house. It¡¯s a few of them but I think we got everyone. Johnny told us to watch out for more so we¡¯re camping here for the moment. The weapons they have floated away on the canal system too though but some of them got stuck on the banks and on some of the poles. I think we could get them after you¡¯re done over there.¡±


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, thanks dude. Ken, drive the drones around here a few times and tell me if there are any heads peeking out. A few ces here have the lights on but some of them has no power even from the street lights.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure thing dude. Kris and my sister is helping me drive them.¡±


    *bzzt*


    The gates were then locked and Oscar¡¯s SUV was parked against it. He opened the sunroof of his SUV and the XM556 that Raphael has sessfully mounted from the past week appeared in all its glory. Looking at it while Oscar is waving it around locked and loaded intimidates me.


    ¡°There¡¯s no dodging that if that thing unloaded everything at you.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Damn kid, your engineer buddy took his sweet time to build this beauty but look at it! I could ogle at this thing all day! I¡¯ll guard here with Jared and Ashley while you take the rest of the trainees and do your thing. I¡¯ll make sure none passes here.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Sure thing old man. Tatiana, bring half of Marvin¡¯s group and start on sweeping the houses with us. Teach them how it¡¯s done properly, if Brian starts to act up and disobey orders, crack his left testicle for me.¡± I said as I pulled out my Maxim 9.


    ¡°H-hey. Not the left one.¡± Brian put some distance between her and Tatiana.


    ¡°Heh. I¡¯m bad at aiming maybe I¡¯ll hit both. That still does the intended job, correct?¡± Tatiana chuckled. <hr>


    The huge shlights we brought were used to shine light towards the houses we would be going inside first for extra measure.


    As soon as the beam of light hits the first house we would be entering, I heard a shout.


    ¡°Please~! Please~! Don¡¯t shoot me! Don¡¯t shoot me!¡± the voice said.


    ¡°Come out!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°Please! I¡¯m innocent! The father was the one who told us to do those kinds of things!¡± the voice pleaded.


    ¡°The father? Yeah, right.¡± I thought to myself.


    The group has their weapons at the ready but I waved them down.


    ¡°Okay! Come out slowly and we¡¯ll talk! No sudden movements or I¡¯ll toss a grenade in that house you¡¯re in!¡± I shouted back.


    It was silent for a moment but I could see his silhouette due to the shlights and he¡¯s slowly inching towards the door. The doorknob slowly turned and anky and short teenager with bloody clothes slowly went outside with his hands raised up. He shields his eyes from the beam and I could only see several missing teeth from his mouth since the way he is squinting his eyes made his mouth open up as well.


    ¡°You¡¯re the only one there?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No weapons or anything. The f.u.c.k is he doing inside?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Amen! Y-yeah! Ple-*bsshew*¡± <hr>


    I quickly fired a shot between his eyes and his body fell to the ground. A small thud was produced when he hit the ground but when we¡¯re about to check his body, a scream came from the same house and a woman came out in which I think is about the same age as the one I killed. She¡¯s n.a.k.e.d from the waist down and there¡¯re several scars on her thighs and arms.


    ¡°PLEASE! PLEASE~! HELP ME~! HE- HE!¡± the girl slowly limped towards me but I made a sigh when I notice something shining hidden in her palm.


    I simply made a stance by facing down where the handle of the katana is also facing down and the scabbard is raised up. My right hand is firmly ced on the handle and my left is holding the scabbard tightly.


    Then I drew it in one quick motion shing diagonally from the bottom left towards the upper right.


    In an instant, a small glint of the de was the only thing she saw before my katana entered her right torso while exiting her left temple. I flicked the de one time before I wiped it with a small cloth. The two bodies were on top of each other where the first one was bleeding through his head while the other was gushing blood and guts where her body was dismembered. A small de without the handle tumbled a few times near the girl¡¯s body after I sheathed my de.


    ¡°There could be more here so eyes out. Be careful and remember that the only ones that are needed to live are already inside ourpound for now. Anything still alive here or undead needs to die. No excuses and you know the risks of letting unknowns live.¡± I said as I looked at my group.


    All of them are pointing their weapons towards the couple and it seemed they were all ready to react if anything happens though I was the first one to move before them. They only made a short final nce towards the couple that I made quick work of and we continued on searching the houses remaining.


    Woonds is one of the best ces to acquire especially at this time. When we¡¯re still in the nning stages, Oscar and I thought to ce our base here but we¡¯re not allowed to modify things inside it so we decided to go for the Cruz Family¡¯spound instead. This gatedmunity is 14 hectares of prime real estate. Rows and rows of houses are avable with several other amenities are inside it which includes a clubhouse, a basketball court, a tennis court, a number of swimming pools, and a children¡¯s yground. Aside from that there are several open spaces, a centralized water system, and an underground drainage system. Their tall walls covered the whole area and there are several security cameras ced at convenient locations.


    This was the best ce to start in this location but the people here severely underutilized it. They made a few modifications on this ce but it is not enough to my standards. However, now that we have reimed this piece ofnd, we could start on a few projects in this ce along with a few that we have at home. We¡¯d start on repairing most of the houses here first and fortifying its defenses while we assign the people who would be living here to start on digging the farms.


    Each house we checked has most of their doors still intact but the windows at the sides were unprotected so it was still easily broken into even if the door was barricaded with a heavy object.


    Not a single house was spared.


    The houses here that was still housing people when the cult broke into was even more of a mess than the houses that were empty. The people who came here have a bit of ¡®fun¡¯ before they delivered it to the priest. Several furnitures are broken and most of them has blood stter or sprays of blood that takes little imagination to what has urred when they swarmed over here in a frenzy. The bedrooms much more since we saw blood stains on the sheets and it is fairly obvious as to what has happened here as well add to that several torn clothes we found on the side. <hr>


    In one of the houses, we heard sounds of skin hitting skin and a few pleasurable grunts. I made a few signals to the group with me to keep silent. I slowly opened the door and my eyes widened at the sight.


    A burly guy was f.u.c.k.i.n.g a headless corpse from behind while covered in its blood. His eyes were rolled over and he seems to be high as f.u.c.k because he was totally unaware of what had urred outside. The missing head seemed to have rolled over near the door and seems to be looking at me directly in the eye. It was one of the young girls living at this ce that is barely an a.d.u.l.t. She was one of those stuck-up bitches you¡¯d normally see in movies that has no sympathy for anyone whatsoever so I don¡¯t care whatever happened to her. The guy was still going at it not noticing I have already sneaked behind him.


    My hands crept to his head and then¡­


    *CR-CRAAACKKK-CK*


    I twisted his neck backwards where I could see his bloodshot eyes. His pelvic thrusting immediately halted then I threw him over the window where his head got crushed when he fell from the 3rd floor. The body he was desecrating has a mix of fluid flowing from its orifices but I also threw it below. I saw that Kaley was looking at the head of the young girl and she called me over.


    ¡°Hey, look.¡± she pointed at the head.


    I looked at the head and thin ck lines are visibly starting to invade the sclera, or the white part of the eyes. When the ck lines reached the iris, the iris started to deform but it severely slowed when it has invaded a small portion of it.


    ¡°It stopped?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah. I thought this head would turn into them immediately or one of those sentries. I really wish we could figure out how this thing works. It seems to be a random thing without any patterns.¡± I replied.


    Since nothing visible is happening, Kaley stabbed it from the side of its ear to make sure the head doesn¡¯t turn into one of them.


    ¡°Let¡¯s check the other houses too. We¡¯d be finished here when it¡¯s morning.¡± I said as I threw the head below as well.

 Chapter 214

    Chapter 214: 214


    We soon found out that a couple zombies have made their way inside when the cult mob decided to ransack the ce. Ken was the one who saw them on the far edge of this ce simply roaming around while a few are extending their hands on the part of the wall where the few people that tried to vault over was shot down by Lois and the others on the other side. Each body fell to the other side but noise was still made so a few have stayed in that ce trying to find the source. <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You¡¯ll see it soon enough when you reach the far end but still keep your eyes peeled. We¡¯re gonna be checking each ce again in case we missed anything dude.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Thanks dude. Just radio in if you see anything else dude.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure dude.¡±


    *bzzt*


    I can see everyone following Tatiana¡¯s orders in how to properly check each room in case there¡¯s still a person inside. Checking for a zombie is easy as pie but for a living person it¡¯s a different story. You¡¯d need to pay a lot more attention not just to your surroundings but also yourself. The way you enter the kill zone, how you check the corners, how to make sure you¡¯re not revealing yourself carelessly, and etc.


    ¡°Brian, make sure that when you creep in, that muzzle would not be already peeking inside since if they noticed that, they¡¯d be already aware that you¡¯re on the other side. Be aware of that and also watch out for your foot. It¡¯s sticking out and I could easily shoot it. The moment you reveal yourself doing that I¡¯m already in position to gun you down. Also¡­¡± Tatiana added a few more thing regarding CQB.


    ¡°We¡¯re really gonna do that procedure to each and every room?¡± Brian asked.


    ¡°Correct. Each and every one. It¡¯s for your safety and everyone else¡¯s.¡± Tatiana replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°For you, I¡¯ll do it. Anyway, after this, I¡¯m thinking that you could teach me more of this you know¡­ personally.¡± Brian said.


    Kaley slightly elbowed me but I whispered to her, ¡°I heard.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re not my type.¡± Tatiana bluntly said.


    ¡°Well, what¡¯s your type then?¡± Carlo slid in.


    ¡°Oh, someone with a v.a.g.i.n.a. Well¡­¡± Tatiana stole a nce at me but she continued her sentence after that short pause. I felt Kaley was ring at her so she stopped and I just shook my head.


    ¡°This is gettingplicated.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°¡­nevermind. *chuckle*¡± Tatiana said after trailing.


    ¡°Hey, stop hitting on her and let¡¯s finish the job here first. Don¡¯t you remember that she¡¯s with Rin? Be serious here for a moment.¡± Marvin chimed.


    ¡°Hah! Just making small talk. Well, what happened between you and Ashley? Hmm?¡± Brian grinned.


    ¡°Oh~ Details man!¡± Carlo got excited.


    ¡°Nothing! Nothing happened! Shut the f.u.c.k up and let¡¯s finish what we¡¯re doing here!¡± Marvin shouted.


    ¡°Hopeless! He¡¯s hopeless!¡± Carlo was shaking his head.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t like her give her to me! I¡¯ll do much better.¡± Brian scoffs.


    Marvin was shaking his head but Kaley and Tatiana performed disciplinary action. The two fell into the pavement clutching their nuts while muttering gibberish. <hr>


    ¡°We¡¯re not here to bicker, we¡¯re still not done here yet!¡± Kaley shouted at the two.


    ¡°No lollygagging!¡± I added with a smirk.


    Brian turned around ring at Kaley but he saw me looking at him with a devilish smile. He shrunk down while they both took a minute to jump up and down. Marvin and Mark continued to lead some of the group to continue on checking the other houses.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you two jumping now?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°What? That¡¯s what you do when you get your balls kicked! You won¡¯t understand.¡± they simultaneously said.


    Tatiana was confused but the rest we¡¯re acting pretty normal.


    ¡°It¡¯s a Filipino thing. It does nothing really but we just kept on doing it when that happens.¡± I told Tatiana.


    She finally understood¡­ I think¡­ and we continued on checking the houses.


    We found more bodies inside which belongs to the people originally living here in thisrger house. It immediately ruined the mood we¡¯re having earlier since it was a family where their dad took the lives of his kids and wife and finally killing himself. Instead of them suffering from the hands of the cult, they took their own when they still had the chance.


    The family was covered by a white nket where you could see a bloody hole where the gun was pointed and shot. The father was sitting on the couch still holding the revolver he used and there¡¯s a spray of blood and brain matter on the wall next to him. However, a small figure in the nkets slowly moved in which I surmised that the shot didn¡¯t kill the figure¡¯s brain and must¡¯ve missed somehow and the time passing made it turn. We didn¡¯t let it get up and Tatiana threw her knife towards its head and it sunk back down.


    The people I¡¯m with was just having solemn expressions.


    ¡°What I decided on, letting the people here which are left, taking the brunt of the mob while we swoop in to take everything¡­ is the reality now. That¡¯s just the way it is. We can¡¯t ta-¡± I was cut off by Kaley.


    ¡°We know, I know. You don¡¯t have to keep on exining your decisions to us. You can if you¡¯re worried that we have different opinions but know I for one support you. Besides, the way they treated their people that used to be their friends warrants them to take responsibility or punishment for something, right? We have no judicial system anymore and that¡¯s just leave us to decide for ourselves.¡± Kaley said. <hr>


    ¡°The people they¡¯re with would eventually kill them. What¡¯s the difference if we¡¯re the ones to do it for them? Well the cult did but in the end, they would owe us a favor and a few other things, correct?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°Boss, like you always say, the world has gone to shit. I don¡¯t know what to add to that because I think that already exins it. It¡¯s not like that they were innocent.¡± Mark said.


    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s life¡¯s greatest illusion. Innocence. Seems like I was worried for nothing, thanks.¡± I said while I approached the next room.


    The owner of this ce probably has been hiding their own supplies from their neighbors since this room has several boxes of different kinds of food. Dried pasta, rice, oats, canned beans, canned meat, canned vegetables, candies, a few MREs, and several gallons of water. There¡¯s barely a dent in here and it confirmed my suspicions.


    ¡°This guy could be a prepper. Would I find more things here though?¡± I thought to myself.


    I then told Tatiana and the rest to keep on searching the other houses since this one was already clear. Kaley and I remained in this house to search a few more things in case we find another stash like before. I thought it would take us a while but we already found a safe in their master bedroom hidden behind a cab. It was a safe with a 6-digitbination lock so I quickly went to check their pockets and other belongings.


    I checked each drawer first and I found his wallet and phone. He also has a Sat Phone sitting by one of the nightstands so I ced it in my bag.


    I started on fiddling on the phone and when I browsed through the calendar app, I approached the safe once more.


    ¡°You already found the password? That was quick.¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re not sure but I¡¯m going for the obvious ones first. If this fails we could always force open the safe here by shooting therge bars that lock it off or just torching it.¡± I replied when I typed in their birthdays.


    [02-01-73]


    [ess Denied]


    [09-23-70]


    [ess Denied] <hr>


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    I was on thest date on the dates saved on the app and it was their anniversary. I made a small exhale first and slowly typed it in. Each button I press makes a small beep from the safe that is asrge as the liberty safes I have at home.


    [10-12-97]


    [ess Granted]


    ¡°Yes!¡± Kaley celebrated.


    The red light finally turned into green and I turned the knob of the safe.


    Our eyes lit up and I can¡¯t help but smile from happiness.


    Aside from the stack of files from the toppartment and several jewelry and cash on the side, there are two AR-15s, one Benelli M2, and a Kimber 1911 on the safe. The AR-15s have different attachments from each other and one of them has a few engravings while the other has more wear on it. It wasn¡¯t a lot of guns but there¡¯re several ammo cans below. We found six cans of 5.56 ammo, four cans of 12-gauge shells, two cans of .38 Special, and four cans of .45 ACP with several magazines and a speed loader. I opened each can to make sure that they¡¯re all filled to the brim but the weight simply told me that they are. Thest can for the .45 ACP cartridges is missing a box but this is still a huge haul for a single house. What we¡¯ve found here are .50 cal ammo cans and a single can of this full with 5.56 ammo would give us 1200 rounds worth! Multiply it by six and we have 7200 rounds all in all just for the 5.56 ammo!


    ¡°Jackpot! We could use this when we go back to the People¡¯s Park.¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s that?¡± Kaley asked while pointing inside the safe.


    ¡°Hmm? Oh! This is¡­¡± I trailed.

 Chapter 215

    Chapter 215: 215


    ¡°¡­these are called speedloaders.¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What? Are those special kinds of magazines where you could load them easily?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°What? Uh, no. These are tools used to load the magazines much faster. Give me your empty magazines so I could show you how this works.¡± I replied.


    She handed me one which ispletely empty and one which is missing a few from her rifle. She reced it with a new one from her te carrier after she locked the bolt. She chambered a round first before looking at what would I do next.


    ¡°You¡¯re getting faster doing that.¡± I remarked.


    I then opened the ammo can for where the 5.56 ammo are located and I lined a few of them towards the speedloader. I filled it to the brim and I pushed it against the receiver of the magazine in which all the rounds are quickly dispensed inside. Kaley looked with interest and I saw her almost stopping me when I was about to fill the speedloader to the brim again.


    ¡°Just watch.¡± I said.


    I pointed it towards the magazine again and when I pushed it inside, it stopped right at the middle still with the remaining bullets still inside. I then pulled out one of my empty magazines and ced the remaining bullets inside. Of course, it¡¯s not the exact amount so I continued on replenishing the empty magazines we have using the same speedloader.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it much faster when we just reload them manually? It feels like twice the time would be passing since you would still be arranging it at that loader thingy.¡± she asked.


    ¡°Not quite. What if we load all of these in the magazines here? It will shave us a few seconds so in the long run it would be much faster. I have these at the armory too but since we only fill up a few at a time, I rarely use it. This could help greatly in reloadingrge amounts or if your hands have arthritis or something. There¡¯s different kinds too but this ETS Loader is a tad faster than most ones out there. Some would even have one for different calibers but it¡¯s nice to have one that could amodate almost everything. Some people with weaker hand strength would appreciate this because when the magazine is almost full, it starts to get harder to ce more because of the tension in the spring. Also, it could help in avoiding calluses if you¡¯re that meticulous.¡± I replied as I tapped it against my hand a few times to make sure all of it is backed up to avoid feeding issues.


    ¡°Hmm~ okay. Do we leave those here first or we call a few here to help in hauling it?¡± Kaley asked.


    I then decided to leave it here for now and would remove the safe from this house to be delivered to mine. However, I brought out one of the AR-15s to give to one of my group. We caught up to the group slowly making their way towards the houses.


    ¡°Max! Come here for a sec.¡± I shouted. <center></center><hr>


    Max was one of the soldiers we trained that shows a bit of skill.


    ¡°Sir?¡± he said walking towards us pointing the M1 Garand down that Oscar gave to him.


    ¡°He should¡¯ve given you a Mosin or something but here, take this. Return that to Oscar after we¡¯re done here.¡± I handed him the AR-15 that has some wear on it. It only has simple attachments, a suppressor and a scope though not as high-end as what Kaley and I use. He was surprised to receive it first but he was delighted regardless. He started to check the AR-15 first and I was looking at what he does and when he aimed at the sights, his eyebrows slightly crunched up.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was silent but he gave me a nce.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I gave it to you, you have good eyes. I thought it was only Marvin but yours reach farther. His eyes are for more up close and personal fights not long ones. I think you already know how to sight them, right? It¡¯s a bit off but if you¡¯re not shooting that far, I think it would be fine for now. Just sight them properly after we¡¯re finished here. I notice things from everyone. Remind me to get you a sling for that when we get back yeah?¡± I said as I tapped his shoulder.


    He kept silent but he¡¯s smiling faintly. He joined the rest of the group then jealousy ensued.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?!¡±


    ¡°You have two guns now?!¡±


    ¡°¡­he told me to return this one to Oscar¡­¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k¡¯s sake!¡±


    ¡°What did you do to get that?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g jealous!¡±


    ¡°It looks a bit worse for wear though.¡± <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s still mine! Back off!¡±


    ¡°Perform well and you¡¯d receive your own. I¡¯d give you a suitable weapon too. Could be guns or anything. Finish everything here so we could go home.¡± I said to them.


    My words were like a gallon of water in the scorching rays of the dessert since they all moved much more in order and enthusiasm, even Brian.


    ¡°Smooth.¡± Kaley remarked.


    ¡°Heh. Let¡¯s check the other houses. Hope our luck doesn¡¯t stop there. The way they keep their own stashes makes me think there¡¯s more where that came from.¡± I said.


    Kaley and I went to one of the bigger houses again to see if we could find more stuff.


    We proceeded with a few others inside a house which is three stories high and has a mix of paint thatplements the color scheme of all the houses in this gatedmunity. Even if there¡¯s a few signs of a break-in, we found out that no one was inside after a thorough check of each room. We were checking each one of them and I happen to stumble into one of the closets that has several items stored within. I saw a particr item inside and I started to chuckle.


    ¡°HAHAHA!!!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°What?! You found their stash too?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Look! The hidden ¡®stache!¡± I said as I turned facing them with a fake mustache. It¡¯s thick and brown looking extremely out of ce from the rest of my face.


    Kaley immediately threw towards me a small chair while half of the soldiers with me started to groan while the rest started tough. I caught the small chair while neutralizing the spin it made when Kaley threw it.


    ¡°Be serious! I thought you really found something!¡± Kaley eximed. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, hi Kaley! I¡¯m Serious.¡± I replied immediately.


    Kaley almost shot me while the rest proceeded with the same reactions.


    I kept the mustache on me to tick Kaley off even more while we started to search this house. Like the earlier one, this ce is also stocked to the brim with supplies of food though not as many as the first one. Like the closet I opened earlier, it also contained several costumes for theater y like wigs, make-ups, clothes, shoes, and etc.


    Kaley and I found more jewelry and fancy clothes in this house and I could see Kaley wanting to try a ck dress in front of the mirror in one of the bigger closets. She¡¯s cing it in front of her trying to outline her body despite the several equipment already on her. I was simply looking at her and she caught me staring at her.


    ¡°STOP WEARING THAT MUSTACHE BEFORE I ACTUALLY SHOOT YOU!¡± she bellowed.


    Iughed heartily and said, ¡°So, you like that dress? Oh! The tag is still on- HOLY F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHIT! That thing is expensive! Take it!¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this just more of a luxury item? We should be getting the essentials first, right?¡± she fidgets.


    ¡°What? I already took all the jewelry from each house we went in, see? You should spoil yourself from time to time. Everything we couldy our sights on is ours for the taking! What¡¯s wrong with a couple of fancy clothes? The shoes too¡­ their hmm¡­ F.U.C.K.I.N.G CHRIST THE PRICE ON THESE THINGS!¡± I showed her my front pack full of them while Kaley nabbed the fake mustache.


    She started to smile and I saw her take a few more dresses from the closet she¡¯s looking at. The boxes of shoes she can¡¯t fit on her bag she wrote down a huge text saying that those are hers in capital letters.


    ¡°We¡¯ll being back for the other things, remind me!¡± she looked back with a smile.


    ¡°Of course, your highness!¡± I replied with a bow.


    I then heard Tatiana¡¯s voice from our radio.


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°You two, can youe here at the third house on the left numbered 3357? We¡¯ve found something and I¡¯d like you to check it. You know a lot about swords, correct?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What? Swords? Yeah! We¡¯ll head there! Wait! What did you find? Rapiers? Messers? Longswords? Arming Swords? dius¡¯? Katanas? Hook Swords? Zanpaktous? Sabres? Falchions? Jians? Daos? Samehada? Kubikirib¨­ch¨­? Excalibur? Lightsabers? Kusanagi? What? I could name a few more! What? What? What? Tatiana? Hello~?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Uhh, just go here. I¡¯m afraid I might say the wrong thing. Are the ones you even said real? I bet some of them aren¡¯t, correct?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What? Of course, they all are, *chuckle* wait for us!¡±


    *bzzt*


    Kaley and I went down with the rest and I¡¯m almost speed-walking because I¡¯m excited to see what Tatiana found. I saw Marvin entering one of the houses next to the one Tatiana pointed but I also brushed past them.


    ¡°Hey! The swords are not going away! Tell me, you have a huge collection of guns at home but on swords, you have only three at home. Is there a reason why?¡± Kaley stopped me for a moment.

 Chapter 216

    Chapter 216: 216


    ¡°Hmm? Well we have several kinds of machetes and axes at home that the rest use if you¡¯re talking about ded weapons. We have an abundance of them here if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking. Or¡­ are you talking about martial weapons and the like?¡± I asked back. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, you have several types of guns at home and I didn¡¯t realize till now for why you don¡¯t have a sword collection! Aren¡¯t you the greatest hoarder alive?¡± she said, smiling.


    ¡°Well¡­ to tell you the real story, the three I have home is enough for me. Weird, huh? My standards for ded weapons are really high and Ipare everything I see with old man Kaiseki¡¯s standards. Also, I¡¯d be broke if I buy everyone high quality swords for their use. It would be a million times better to invest on guns since the force multiplier with guns is much greater than swords.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, then what about the Guandao? Also, why don¡¯t you ask your old man Kaiseki to make you more? Isn¡¯t he a nice old dude?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s just an extra thing to have for getting my cousins back and the craftsmanship of that thing is really great. On getting old man Kaiseki to make me more is nothing short of a pipe dream. He¡¯d only make you a single type of each weapon he thinks you could wield and that¡¯s it. He¡¯d never make pairs since he always say that, ¡®No two weapons are the same child.¡¯ but I kept on nagging him before to either make me two katanas or two wakizashis. As long as they look the same and weigh the same I¡¯d be happy. Whatever method I employ he wouldn¡¯t agree so I just let it go for now. He¡¯s really stubborn in that way too, I guess.¡± I said.


    We finally made our way to the house Tatiana pointed us to and she¡¯s the only one left there since the others have started to check on the other houses. She¡¯s on the living room of the ce and we both saw several swords on the coffee table which she already removed from the walls. There¡¯re two arming swords, two bastard swords, a rapier, and a longsword. All of which are two-edged swords vastly different from the single-edged de in my possession.


    ¡°Are these swords real?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Let me see first.¡± I replied and I picked up an arming sword first from the pile.


    I drew each one from the scabbard checking each part carefully and slowly dividing them to which are usable or not. Unfortunately, only one bastard sword and the single longsword are real and in good condition. The rest of the swords are merely for disy purposes and not for actual fighting. I sighed ruefully when I picked up the two swords that would have use for my group. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Wait, aren¡¯t the others still good for something?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°For a wall disy, yes, for actually fighting, no. It¡¯s actually scrap metal now or we could trade it for something if the person we¡¯re trading with has no idea. It could kill a few times but I¡¯m afraid it would still snap or bend in a random sh. Check this rapier here¡­¡± I replied then I struck it down the gaps of the wooden flooring.


    I started to slowly tilt it while holding the handle sideways and I did the same thing for the other direction. When I pulled it up, the rapier didn¡¯t retain its strength and flexibility and the de has already warped sideways without going back to its original position. On the other bastard sword, it is not tightly fitted and when I started to pull the handle on it, we found out that the tang didn¡¯t even reach the halfway point of the handle and is super thin.


    The thing I¡¯ve discovered on the arming swords are bad too, I started to scr.a.p.e the de with a hard metal and I started to listen to it. Basing its condition on the sound it made, I discovered that there¡¯s very tiny cracks inside of the de due to it being quenched in water and not in oil. This could result in it breaking off identally when dealt with a hard blow against a much stronger metal. Aside from that, you could see hairline cracks on one side of the de and a few ch.i.p.s here and there.


    ¡°So, the only ones we could use are those two, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Yeah, want to have one? I¡¯d suggest the bastard sword since it¡¯s a hand and a half sword.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm? Bastard sword? Aren¡¯t they all the same, just different sizes, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°What¡¯s a hand and a half what?¡± Kaley asked as well. <hr>


    I gave a devilish smile and then I immediately pulled out chairs and I let them sit down.


    ¡°Time for a lecture~¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh no.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh no.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Actually¡­¡± I started to exin the proper terms for each and I exined that the terms used are actually different from each time period. The ¡®longsword¡¯ is such an umbre term for each time period that even the arming sword and the bastard sword we have here are also called a ¡®longsword¡¯ before it was called its current name now. Even the ¡®rapier¡¯ we have now was called a ¡®longsword¡¯ before and the ¡®rapier¡¯ they refer to was actually a side sword. The term ¡®bastard¡¯ in bastard sword was simply used because before, they don¡¯t know where the sword originated so it stuck.


    It¡¯s a tad confusing whereas the katana I have was just called a ¡®katana¡¯ since time immemorial same with the wakizashi, tachi, tanto, and the other ones.


    ¡°About the hand and a half sword term¡­¡± I then also exined that what it meant was that it can easily be wielded by one hand just as easily as two hands. You could still wield a longsword with a single hand but using a bastard sword or an arming sword would be much easier.


    After mansining for a few minutes, Kaley made a mistake of asking another question. <hr>


    ¡°So, I remember hearing that the rapier is the fastest between all of these here since it¡¯s the lightest, right?¡± Kaley slipped.


    I then formed another devilish smile and I gestured for them to sit back down again.


    ¡°Kaley! Why would you do that?!¡± Tatiana nudged her.


    ¡°I know! I¡¯m sorry~!¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Actually, the rapier is just about the same weight as the longsword. It would be faster than the longsword for thrust attacks since most of the weight is in the handle but since you¡¯re only holding it with one hand while the longsword with two hands, the weight distribution would actually make the longsword feel much lighter between the two. Also¡­¡± I added a few more points before I stopped the lecture.


    Tatiana decided to follow my suggestion to use the bastard sword instead of the longsword she found.


    ¡°That reminds me, Kaley, does your dad practice HEMA?¡± I looked at Kaley but she shook her head.


    ¡°He¡¯s a gun nut. Don¡¯t have any interest in swords at all.¡± Kaley replied. <hr>


    ¡°Have a Guandao and a Longsword. Hope I could find people who knows how to use a Chinese Polearm and someone who practices HEMA. I¡¯d rather give those things who knows how to actually use them to maximize those tool¡¯s potential. I¡¯d also like to have a spar with those practitioners too since it¡¯s been a while. I¡¯m just wondering now if Tatiana knows how to use that despite herck of knowledge on the correct terms.¡± I thought to myself.


    We finally reached the far end of this gatedmunity and we took care of all the roaming zombies and we also made sure that there were no other cult members hiding in one of the houses.


    However, on the far-right side of this ce, we¡¯ve discovered that some have actually escaped with their lives. A few handprints of blood or dirt was smeared across the walls on this side where Lois and Johnny wouldn¡¯t be able to keep watch on since it is on the other side. They made use of the dumpsters on that side of the wall to vault over easily and we¡¯re not sure how many were they.


    ¡°The only problem with this ce is that it¡¯s too big for a small number of people. We¡¯d need to make sure that the security of this ce is high to actually own it. Good thing we¡¯ve made the camp here cooperate with us. Our numbers got suddenly big though and I need to make sure everyone stays in line. I¡¯d need to make a set of rules that we all need to follow at this ce to make it work.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Do we need to chase after them?¡± Marvin asked.


    ¡°Not for now. We¡¯ll just post more guards here and we¡¯d turn on the CCTVs of this ce to be extra careful. We¡¯ll ce a few more safety precautions though I doubt they¡¯lle back to this ce that soon. Besides, judging from the trail they¡¯ve left, they should be no more than a dozen. If theye back, we¡¯d be prepared as always.¡± I replied.


    The bodies found were burned along with the pile at the front of the huge gate and I called over the trucks to haul the items we got here first. I started to clear a few zombies outside with everyone while we wait for them to reach here. That explosion attracted a lot of them towards this location and it would be a while for it to die down.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯d kill a lot of them and Tatiana could practice with the bastard sword, if she¡¯s really not familiar with them.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 217

    Chapter 217: 217


    From our side, we could already see several figures in the distance slowly making their way towards us and on the side of the DDR Camp, a few shes of lights are appearing due to gunshots. Iid my longsword on Oscar¡¯s SUV first before the three of us went outside to whittle down the figures approaching. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Kaley, use the wakizashi but draw your pistol just to be sure. Wait, do you want to use the longsword instead?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°Hmm? I¡¯m starting to get familiar with this so I¡¯ll stick to this one. Maybe one day when your old man Kaiseki meets me he¡¯ll make me one for myself as well.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Hah! Okay then, let¡¯s go.¡± I said as I opened the gate.


    Kaley and Tatiana have their own swords in hand though Kaley is the only one holding a pistol with her off-hand.


    Tatiana drew the de from her hip and the bastard sword came into full view. Looking at it, the way it¡¯s tapered is bnced for the purpose of cutting and thrusting. It¡¯s made with spring steel so it¡¯s not only hard but also flexible. You could bend the tip on a bit of an angle yet it¡¯s still hard enough to cut into bodies of flesh and through bone. There¡¯re a few things done to its cross guard, pommel, and handle for aesthetics though the scabbard and the de has none of those engravings present.


    My katana on the other hand was made with a mix of different kinds of steel by carbon content and assembled in a way that exceeded the existing sevenyer method which is used by famous sword-smiths. It boasts great strength, extreme hardness, and its resistance to wear. Also, it¡¯s ductile enough that it could receive punishment without breaking easily.


    I was watching Tatiana¡¯s movements from the back since she¡¯s the one who moved forward. I thought she would use it immediately but she first threw her knife towards the couple that are near her.


    *shhck*


    It entered the eye socket of the figure wearing bloody rags while the one next to it bleeding from the neck got decapitated by a horizontal sh that she made.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Tatiana remarked.


    She made a small exhale and then she continued to stab it down on the head that fell before picking up the knife she threw on the other figure. She began to make her way towards the others in the corner then I could Kaley moving ahead of me as well.


    ¡°Despite herck of knowledge on the correct terms for it, she really does know how to use it. Has she trained in HEMA too? In the military? Well, it¡¯s not like she couldn¡¯t pick up a hobby, but still¡­ I can¡¯t even risk it by opening the question of ¡®Are you a spy?¡¯ in a joke. Next thing I know, I could be receiving a bullet to the head or a knife to the throat. However, the time we¡¯ve all spent with her is making me think she has no ill intention towards our group. She¡¯s been really close with everyone too, well¡­ if you remove the fact that we¡¯ve already done ¡®that¡¯ as well. Just better be wary as always though. Shit, I¡¯m overthinking again-¡± I thought to myself but then I was cut off.


    ¡°HEY!¡± Kaley shouted. <center></center><hr>


    A figure missing every bit of skin from his face is fast approaching. Its hands are crooked but it has already made the motion of wing towards me.


    ¡°AArrghhNNyaaNGHH!!!¡± it groaned.


    I immediately turned to my right to make a spin to dodge that hand then drawing my katana immediately to deal with it. I shed his arm off first before I aimed it towards his eye just as I thrust.


    ¡°If you¡¯d stop looking at my ass, you wouldn¡¯t be spacing out as much. *chuckle*¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Stop nking out!¡± Kaley added with a re.


    ¡°It¡¯s under control.¡± I replied with a straight face.


    ¡°Stop lying, that was a close call.¡± Kaley interrupted.


    ¡°Shit.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°A-anyway, I¡¯m just checking you out if you know how to use that.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm, I do know how to use swords. Not as great as the ones as the professional practitioners though. Remember her? She taught me when we would meet sometime. Whenever I¡¯m not deployed I¡¯d attend sses.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Oh. I see, I see.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Who?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°If you¡¯d let me f.u.c.k Sky again, I¡¯ll tell you. *chuckle*¡± Tatianaughed heartily. <hr>


    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, you¡¯re the one who agreed before. Beat her like I did before and she might still tell you the story.¡± I said when Kaley looked at me.


    Kaley made an annoyed look and good thing we¡¯re pretty far from where Oscar and the rest are or else that would be another problem. She started to sheath her wakizashi and she made quick work of the ones remaining in the immediate vicinity by using her pistol. When the figures are too far, she pulled out her rifle for extra range and it¡¯s frightening to see that she never missed once.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± she harrumphed after she was done and several dozen bodies littered the highway where we stood. She quickly made her way towards the gate not minding us two.


    ¡°¡­¡± Tatiana and I.


    The trucks finally arrived and it¡¯s already sunrise. They came with several people and I told them that all of the items to be hauled are already outside the doors though the safe we found will need to be removed by using a few tools. I was seated at the roof of Oscar¡¯s SUV and I could already feel my eyelids falling.


    ¡°Kid. Let me handle things here for now. Let Tatiana drive you and Kaley back. You need some sleep.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Visit the campter after they hauled everything else and make the people that would live here start on digging the-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I know what to do. We¡¯ve already talked about it with them. You need to sleep. Kaley is already asleep in Tatiana¡¯s HUMVEE. I¡¯ll keep the soldiers and Jared with me here for a while before I switch with Johnny and after the soldiers from the camp sent their people over here.¡± he said.


    ¡°Okay, thanks old man. See you in a few.¡± I replied then I stood up and stretched.


    I already yawned a few times and it caused another chain reaction. Tatiana immediately yawned after seeing me yawn from the rear-view mirror.


    She finally drove us to ourpound and we saw the people from Woonds wearing solemn expressions while eating breakfast. Marisha is talking with some of them while I started to lift Kaley like a sack of potatoes. Tatiana decided to go back to Woonds though she received several containers of food for her and the other soldiers over there. It was tightly packed by Rin then Tatiana handed the longsword and told Rin to follow me upstairs before she went back.


    A few people greeted me when they saw mee out and Kaley was still sleeping soundly.


    ¡°This is a longsword, right? I¡¯m not that interested on these types though. I like how Eastern weapons look more.¡± she remarked. <hr>


    ¡°Me too but I like how symmetrical they are. It brings a smile to my face. I¡¯m just really more proficient in using thispared to that.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh~ so you trained with longswords too?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Yeah, just for a short while though when I went for a trip to Europe. Practicing HEMA is great! When they discovered that I was practicing Kenjutsu, they all wanted me to spar with them. I simply wanted to learn more of their techniques but they¡¯re more hard-pressed to convert me.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well~ if a longsword and a katana shed though, who would win?¡± Rin asked excitedly.


    ¡°Oh! Easy, a yari.¡± I quickly replied.


    ¡°A spear?! That¡¯s not even part of the choices!¡± Rin eximed.


    ¡°Heh. It depends on a lot of things. It just boils down to who wields it. A tool is simply a tool. Even with guns, you could be using the most kitted gun you could find but if you¡¯re not great at using it, a person with a Hi-Point YEET Cannon would win even with the disadvantage.¡± I exined as I opened the door.


    ¡°Hmm, but! You alreadypared the guns! What about longswords and katanas?!¡± she¡¯s getting passionate.


    ¡°Hah! I¡¯ve been that road before. There¡¯re a lot of variables like which type of long-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°I know about that! How about if the longsword here versus your katana then? That¡¯s one way of narrowing it down, right?¡± she replied.


    ¡°Okay, you got me. Let¡¯s put it like this. In the ancient times, if a normal longsword and a normal katana shed, a longsword would win. This is just because of the materials used and the forging process from before was different. Take note, it was different times when they were produced.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?! I thought we developed the way when we folded the steel to make it stronger and such than most swords!¡± Rin retorted.


    ¡°It was an ingenious way to make the materials they have on hand before to be much stronger and to remove the impurities from the material. However, as hard for me to say it, the steel we used back then isn¡¯t that greatpared to what longswords were made of. It¡¯s because we can¡¯t melt it, only heat it to be folded and forged to what they are. On the time longswords were made though, they made use of a crucible to melt everything down. It allowed them to remove nearly all of the impurities making it the better steel between the two. It even paved the way for the industrial revolution, historically speaking.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°Really? Hmmm¡­ I see¡­ so this longsword would win over your katana¡­¡± she looked very dejected.


    ¡°I never said that. I said, before~ BEFORE~ old man Kaiseki doesn¡¯t just stick to the traditional ways of forging tools, you know? He travels the world to learn techniques from everyone! He made his own way by merging the techniques together to produce something that he only could and the weapons I have are a few of those that he made.¡± I replied with a proud look in my face.


    ¡°Oh~! Then that¡¯s really nice to hear!¡± Rin said happily.


    ¡°Yeah, it would be better to add to who made it to the variables for that debate. It really is a rabbit hole if you ask me.¡± I said.


    I thought it was over but it¡¯s not.


    ¡°Wait! Then what if your old man Kaiseki made a longsword too? What would win?¡± she asked innocently.


    All of my face muscles just froze and I¡¯m just wearing a nk face.


    I calmly took the longsword from her hand andid it on the side of my rack where I also ced my katana after. The whole room suddenly got colder by the second and Rin must¡¯ve felt the aura I¡¯m emanating.


    ¡°I-I t-think I¡¯ll leave for now. Y-you t-two s-should be sleeping, r-right?!¡± she quickly left my room.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡± I shouted in my head.


    I droop my head low and started toy by Kaley¡¯s side to sleep. I carefully removed the gear from her first so she could sleepfortably.


    ¡°Well, thinking about it like that, what would really win? F.u.c.k. I can¡¯t sleep now thinking about it. F.U.C.K! It goes on and on, f.u.c.k.i.n.g debate! I¡¯d kill whoever started it! F.U.C.K~!¡± I had trouble sleeping.

 Chapter 218

    Chapter 218: 218


    I started to slowly feel the coldness from the air conditioner and the softness of my pillow. Even if I¡¯m still thinking about what Rin said earlier, the tiredness I¡¯m feeling from what happened is starting to lull me to sleep. Kaley started to snuggle with me while still asleep seemingly wanting to enter the nket that I am in. I pped the nket once so that it could cover us both and then I saw her open her eyes slightly due to the sound it made. <center></center><hr>


    She must be feeling really tired too because she said nothing and just ced her arm and leg over me while leaning to me sideways. Her head is ced in my chest so I just ced my left arm over her and then I closed my eyes.


    I was about to sleep but I heard her mutter something.


    ¡°The katana is still better¡­ my wakizashi too¡­ and the tanto¡­¡± she whispered as she snuggled even closer then a smile was formed on my lips.


    ¡°We must¡¯ve woken her up for a bit from that debate earlier.¡± I thought to myself.


    I kissed her on her forehead after I made a small chuckle and then we slept for a while.


    I woke up to the fragrant smell of food invading my nose and when I opened my eyes, Kaley is still hugging me from the side. What caught my attention is that Marisha is with Zeus and she¡¯s carrying a tray of food for us two.


    ¡°Oh! I was just about to wake you two. It¡¯s past noon and everyone have already eaten lunch. Your aunt sent food to the people on the other side as well. Could you please wake Kaley up? I¡¯m gonna ce this tray here¡­¡± Marisha said as sheid down the tray of food near our bed. Zeus was just happily following behind her and seems to be acting as her bodyguard.


    I tapped Kaley a few times on her shoulder and her eyes slowly opened. She gave me a peck on the lips first then she started to rub her eyes. She stretched her body for a moment and then she also smelled the food from the tray that her mother brought. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Good Afternoon. I brought you two some food. You skipped breakfast, right?¡± Marisha said.


    ¡°Hmm? Oh, hi mom¡­ *yawn* thank you¡­ hnng~¡± Kaley was still sleepy.


    We were served a huge piece of Okonomiyaki which is a savory pancake made with different vegetables with sauce on top but there¡¯s a ttened and breaded piece of fried chicken underneath it to be eaten with rice. There¡¯s also a pitcher of iced tea and water on the tray and the utensils needed.


    I started on feeding Kaley since she seems to still want to go back to sleeping. Marisha watched me in amus.e.m.e.nt trying to feed her daughter while Zeus is posed to attack the crumbs that would identally fall on the carpet below.


    We finally finished eating then Marisha spoke.


    ¡°How are you two?¡± she simply asked.


    ¡°Well¡­¡± we started a simple conversation.


    We told her about what happened yesterday and today while she told us what happened on this side. She carried a solemn expression throughout and even if she already knew that her daughter is a capable fighter and with me at all times, her motherly side still worries for Kaley.


    We learned that the people we brought here from Woonds were also jolted awake from the explosions and was awake ever since. Theborers and the few other people are doing okay while a few are much better knowing that the torment they¡¯re receiving everyday would finally stop. The memories they have with their old friends who died from what happened will only be remembered when they were still treating each other well. What¡¯s been given to them today was a new start and they were all eager to start anew and Damian, Mr. Gabriel, and Willian will be their leaders on their ce now. However, they¡¯re required to report to us on whatever has happened and would still be monitored closely with the other peopleing from the DDR Camp. <hr>


    Marisha also talked with Lois and a few others who in the first time in their lives have taken a life. It¡¯s something serious especially when it was the first time you did it but all of them seems to be doing well and they understood for why they did it and for who. It¡¯s fairly obvious now and everyone¡¯s mindset here has already adjusted ording to the world we¡¯re living in right now. It would be hard if you don¡¯t have the resolve to do what you¡¯re supposed to do in order to survive.


    We¡¯ve conversed for a few minutes and we cleaned up afterwards. I thought Marisha was simply checking in on us but she has something for us that we didn¡¯t expect.


    ¡°Oh yeah¡­ one more thing¡­¡± Marisha trailed.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Kaley remarked.


    ¡°Rin, that sweetdy, and Tatiana, that strongdy¡­ you four have done ¡®something¡¯ together here, right? The two, somehow feels different, care to tell me if I¡¯m right?¡± Marisha said.


    ¡°Ah crap, here¡¯ses that psychic power again¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley was about to run away but I was ready and caught her wrist.


    ¡°Nope. You¡¯re staying here with me.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°M-m-m-mom¡­ I-It¡¯s j-just a o-one-time thing¡­¡± Kaley started to sweat bullets.


    ¡°It¡¯s not my business to ask about such things but make sure that a few boundaries are in ce. I¡¯m not sure yet but sometimes, things would getplicated. I think you two know what I¡¯m talking about. I don¡¯t know everything that¡¯s going on but I feel things. A human¡¯s psyche and heart are delicate, all I¡¯m asking is for you two to remember that, okay? I know you two are already set and I for sure know that Kaley was the one who orchestrated it. I don¡¯t want to dictate what you do under covers but be careful, because like I said earlier, it getsplicated sometimes, okay?¡± Marisha said as she stood up and left. Zeus followed behind her as she closed the door.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley and I was just looking at each other.


    I¡¯m thinking about the way Rin looked at us two earlier and the way some of Tatiana¡¯s sentences sounded even if she¡¯s always like that. I think Kaley¡¯s also thinking the same thing the way she¡¯s looking at me.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just talk about that when we four are all present. We need to know what they think as well, right?¡± I said.


    She nodded and we started to take a short shower first before wearing our gear. The next thing we did is we rode my Hayabusa towards the DDR Camp to meet with Oscar to check on the people that were captured earlier. Oscar was talking with the CO of this ce when we arrived and I noticed on the far street that a fence was being made by my uncle and a few people while being guarded by the soldiers and the rest of my group. A small fire with a few bodies is burning on the side of the road which I think are fresh ones.


    ¡°Hey kid. You two slept well? Johnny and Tatiana are at Woonds now and I¡¯ve just finished ¡®talking¡¯ to the sons of bitches here.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°You already did? What happened then? Are they the only ones left or are there more of them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Most of them are unresponsive and wouldn¡¯t want to talk so I made a little demonstration if their faith holds true. I killed one of them right in front of their faces with my shotgun at point nk and almost all of them talked. Here¡¯s the problem though, there¡¯s more where they came from. The only good thing we have is that they¡¯re one of therger groups among them. A few of them operate like the ones from the supermarket which are the small ones but the ¡®father¡¯ they¡¯re talking about is a real guy. We might face them sooner orter we never know. Most of their members came from either the camps that has left it or was simply picked up on the street or other ces. You could have a run with them since there¡¯re some difference on their answers while a few are unbelievable.¡± Oscar said. <hr>


    ¡°I thought the dead ones are our only problem, turns out there¡¯re more. They mentioned that their father could cure this thing and the chosen ones are the supreme beings, is that even true?¡± Ferdinand, the CO of this ce added.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s bullshit though, for sure. People sure are easy to manipte if they don¡¯t have the answer themselves. Like UFOs, everything will be categorized as ¡®unidentified¡¯ if you¡¯re stupid enough.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Figures that there¡¯re more of them. I didn¡¯t see my AR-15, unc¡¯s shotgun, and Chang¡¯s practice Guandao from the bodies. Another group must¡¯ve raided that ce instead of the ones earlier. That reminds me, is a guy here named Cyrill still here? He came here before, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°Cyrill? What¡¯s hisst name? What does he look like?¡± he asked then I gave him his description.


    ¡°Oh! That guy who¡¯s beaten upst time. Yeah, he was here for a while but he went outside after a few days and never came back. I didn¡¯t know you know him though, sorry. You think he joined the cult?¡± he said.


    ¡°Impossible. He would never join them after what happened. Just call either one of us if hees back.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What do we do now?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°The people you¡¯ve ¡®talked¡¯ to, where are they?¡± I said.

 Chapter 219

    Chapter 219: 219


    ¡°Hmm? There¡¯s a few in the morgue since I had a few idents. The others that were too injured were killed to avoid using the medicine supply. Where¡¯s the other whatchamacallit people again?¡± Oscar looked at Ferdinand. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°All of them are locked in the small apartment in the covered court in this school. A few soldiers are watching them.¡± Ferdinand replied.


    ¡°How many were left?¡± I asked.


    ¡°There¡¯re ten left. What do you n to do with them? I think sir Oscar have been very thorough.¡± Ferdinand said.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m gonna give them some breakfast- I mean lunch. You haven¡¯t fed them, right?¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?¡± Ferdinand looked at me weirdly the same with the people around listening in.


    ¡°You gonna put those things again?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm? Those things? Oh. No, there¡¯re a few more ways to get information from them aside from doing the usual thing. Sometimes, you get a few more tidbits if you finesse them. Some of them didn¡¯t talk yeah? I think I could make them spill a few. Wait a bit here, I¡¯m gonna prepare something back home.¡± I exined.


    Kaley and I was about to get back to my Hayabusa but Oscar called me.


    ¡°Kid.¡± he said as he threw a key.


    ¡°Hmm? Is this?¡± I asked as I looked at Ferdinand. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s the key for one of the jeeps here. I could phone you in if the helicopter arrives. We¡¯re not sure on their schedules since they¡¯ve beening at irregr times now. Is that enough? The jeep is also filled with gasoline and a few medical tools that sir Oscar here picked from the hospital.¡± Ferdinand replied.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s good. We could provide rations of food from our ce to this camp every three days as promised. We can¡¯t give out food every day since we¡¯re also scavenging outside. I¡¯ll assure you that it¡¯s good food and would make you feel full for a long time. It would alsost long than normal. You still need to ration your food like we do but it¡¯s better than nothing. Just keep contact with my ce if you need anything else.¡± I replied.


    ¡°No, the food is really all we need. It¡¯s good that our problem got solved quite easily by you guys. I don¡¯t know what I would¡¯ve done if people here started to fight with each other. The food you¡¯ve sent earlier this morning is really delicious. Everyone liked it and excited for the next time.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Then it¡¯s all good. Thanks for this.¡± I replied.


    I asked Kaley to drive the jeep mounted with a .50 cal machine gun home while I took the lead with my Hayabusa. Ever since Raphael finished Oscar¡¯s SUV, he wouldn¡¯t drive any vehicle besides it. Raphael is now working on the ISUZU D-Max I acquired before after he finished on kitting out his Raptor that I always use when avable.


    The drive back was easy enough and the eyes of the people back home lit up when they saw the jeep being parked by Kaley just outside the gate. She went outside and walked beside me. The presence of zombies here roaming around is getting lesser and lesser because of the daily clearingspared when we¡¯re going far outside.


    ¡°Are you really giving all of the people from the DDR Camp and Woonds some of our food? I know we have a lot but still¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s the best timing possible. Good thing Charlotte, Derek, and the rest did a really great job on our food production. We always acquire huge amounts when we go out but producing our own is the best possible solution. Harvest for the newly nted vegetables when it started is close too. Add to that the new farms we would have ess to. If we could sustain the food source until harvestes for the crops that would be nted in Woonds, this barangay will be as good as secured if all goes well. We need to take care of a few more things here and there but food is the deciding factor to make the whole n to work.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re not afraid of the camp here going AWOL?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Ferdinand is a good guy, considering on the ways he wanted their ce to work with ours. You¡¯ve met the guy, he¡¯s not as arrogant as the people at Woonds and he listens to reason. He¡¯s willing to take a step back for the better of his people and that is one of the things that makes him a reasonable guy. Besides, they¡¯ve caught a glimpse of what we could do. I think they would think twice if they tried to head to our ce with ill intent. C¡¯mon help me whip up a few meals.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Sure!¡± she replied. <hr>


    Kaley also learned a few more dishes from me and we made a simple fried rice with a few toppings but we made it more aromatic by adding a lot of garlics and onions. It¡¯s a sure-fire way to make a few stomachs grumble. The process was quick and we head back and found out that Oscar drove to Woonds to check on a few other things.


    We made our way to the covered court carrying a few containers of food and the soldiers posted there already knew what we are up to. I handed them an extra container and I made sure that the people from the cult saw what I did. I made the people who didn¡¯t utter a single word to be taken outside on the table weid beforehand.


    They were three people in total. One was an olderdy that could be easily described as a stereotypical meth head. The second one was a younger dude with a very thin mustache and it appears to be that he has memorized the bible since he¡¯s been silently quoting it nonstop. Thest one was an older man with a bald head but covered in several tattoos and he has veryrge eye bags. His lower lip is darker than his upper lip maybe due to excessive smoking. The three are covered in bruises and several scars and they are in handcuffs.


    ¡°Oscar did a number on them and I¡¯m wondering what secrets do they know that the other seven don¡¯t know.¡± I thought to myself.


    The soldiers are watching them closely while Kaley is on my side ready if anything happens.


    I on the other hand is wearing a bright smile that is starting to confuse everyone.


    ¡°Hello~!¡± I greeted them joyfully.


    ¡°¡­¡± the three.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not here to hurt you. I¡¯m just here to ask a few more questions. Have you eaten yet? I brought some food.¡± I asked.


    They seemed to be ignoring me still but I pulled out one container and waited for their reactions. <hr>


    ¡°I guess you three already have, the lord provides, right? I was blessed as well so I thought I could bring some extra I¡¯ve got. Do you three mind if I eat? I thought we would be having a potluck here like we do in church but I guess I¡¯ll eat by myself for now.¡± I started to eat a spoonful and the young guy immediately gulped when I made a face.


    The golden yolk slowly poured over the fried rice when I scooped a spoonful and their eyes are starting to get glued at me. There¡¯s still smokeing from the container since the ones I ced them in are insted. I would asionally blow some of the steam towards them so they could also smell the aroma of the food.


    ¡°U-um, we still haven¡¯t eaten for several days¡­ C-can I have some? Please?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Several days? This would be easier than expected.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Oh! You still haven¡¯t? All of you? Oh my lord, how could I be so foolish!¡± I eximed as I stopped eating.


    I grabbed the paper bag where all of the food containers are ced and instead of giving it to the three, I handed them to the people that Oscar has mentioned that already talked. They hurriedly grabbed the containers and gorged on everything. The way that they eat clearly gave me an idea that what the kid was saying is true.


    ¡°S-sir?! Please! C-can we have our share?!¡± he asked again.


    Thedy beside him is looking at me with contempt while the bad guy I think already knew of my ns.


    ¡°SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HE¡¯S DOING?!¡± the bald guy shouted.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m just so h-hungry¡­¡± he sheepishly said.


    ¡°God fasted in the desert for 40 days, I¡¯m sure that by His grace we could survive this test my child. He gives us a face of an angel but he¡¯s clearly the devil himself trying to tempt us! WE¡¯LL NEVER ANSWER A SINGLE QUESTION FROM YOU OR THE MURDERER YOU SENT EARLIER!!!¡± thedy bellowed. <hr>


    ¡°Murderer? That¡¯s rich. Then tell me, what did you do back at that ce? Isn¡¯t that murder as well?¡± I replied with a fake smile.


    ¡°That¡¯s the will of God! The Father says so! Your days are numbered and Father¡¯s disciples wille here eventually to save us! What we did isn¡¯t murder! It¡¯s retribution for those people! If we weren¡¯t informed that such people are living, they would have stained the new world God created for us! The only way for them to be forgiven is to be chosen!¡± she snapped back.


    ¡°Informed?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°You won¡¯t seed in tempting us with food. God will provide.¡± the bald guy said.


    ¡°Oscar said that you three never uttered a single word. I¡¯m now confused since you won¡¯t shut up. Okay, I¡¯m done with you three for now.¡± I said then they looked at me with confusion.


    They were escorted back but they were now in a different room than the seven.


    ¡°Don¡¯t give them water only the seven. They¡¯re underestimating hunger and dehydration too much.¡± I said to the soldiers.


    ¡°Three days.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay, the other seven. It¡¯s their turn now.¡± I said to the soldiers.


    I asked them several questions that I already knew the answer to but I still asked them since I¡¯ve got Kaley here with me. Also, I need to have a baseline when they¡¯re speaking the truth and lying so if I started to ask questions where I wanted answers, I¡¯ll have some things to watch out for. There¡¯s a few subtle things people do when they lie or are hiding something. I¡¯m watching out for subtle cues but the moment I asked about the three earlier, each and every nervous tick, change of voice, and some hand gestures that indicated that they were lying appeared immediately.


    ¡°It seems that there¡¯s something special about those three. I only made a different approach since what Oscar did to them didn¡¯t make them talk. I could go a step higher on what Oscar did but the kid there is almost ready to talk. Let¡¯s observe things for now.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 220

    Chapter 220: 220


    I never said anything to address the looks that they¡¯re giving me but Kaley¡¯s about to say something to them. I just held her hand below the table to stop her and I gave her a look and she held herself back. The containers of food that I gave them are almost wiped clean and they¡¯re eyeing the remaining that are still in the paper bag that I brought. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I think you all are just tired and can¡¯t seem to remember much because of what happened earlier. So, just rest for now and you¡¯ll receive your next rations after three days.¡± I said to them.


    ¡°U-umm, sir? H-h-how about t-the food you still have?¡± one of the people with stains of oil in his mouth said.


    ¡°Oh, this? This few remaining here are for your other people on the ce you attacked. I¡¯ll talk to them first and see if they know more than you here. I might throw in a beer or two if they do.¡± I lied.


    The guy gulped but I could still see the hesitation on his face along with the others. I know too well that face they¡¯re giving me for why they don¡¯t want to answer my question about those three.


    ¡°Fear.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was about to tell the soldiers stationed to guard them to take them back but a shrill shout came from the other room where the three was in.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    The seven around me tensed and then another shout followeding from a different and younger voice.


    ¡°THE LORD PROVIDES~!!! HE PROVIDES~!!!¡±


    The seven started to shake and even one of them started to kneel down while praying nonstop. Her hands are sped together and there¡¯s a tone of begging in her voice. One of them broke down crying and he started to retch, seemingly remembering something very unpleasant. One guy wanted to start running outside to escape but the soldiers prevented him from doing so.


    Kaley gave me a curious nce and the rest of us are now looking at the soldier¡¯s reaction guarding that room where the shouting came from.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go check it out. Sent them back to their holding room.¡± I told the soldiers.


    A few more soldiers, civilians, and even Ferdinand came to the scene and the seven were immediately thrown to the other room. There¡¯s already a few people crowding in the room where the sound came from and a few civilians already walked on the opposite direction and started to retch.


    Kaley and I saw the scene happening and we were shocked at the sight.


    A puddle of red has already formed on the floor but there¡¯s also a huge spray on the wall. The bald guy we talked to earlier is trying to squeeze himself in a corner and his expression is of fear. The puddle is slowly gettingrger from the second and the sound of gargling blood epasses the area.


    The olderdy¡¯s leg and arms are twitching each time the kid we were also talking to earlier sinks his teeth on her body. She¡¯s trying to pull him away but her strength fails her each time her hands get swatted away. Her clothes are ripped off and you could see several ces on her torso where if it wasn¡¯t because of the blood endlessly flowing through it, you will notice that flesh has been torn off violently. Her throat is ripped apart and most of the blood gushing outside came from her neck that has a huge chunk eaten out of.


    The kid was kneeling down but his mouth never left the olderdy¡¯s body. Her chest area was missing a huge chunk while her abdomen is torn and there¡¯re a few ps that stitching wouldn¡¯t fix. He seems to not be satisfied and he started to m thedy¡¯s head on the floor until her head cracked open. He started to scoop with his hands the brain matter inside that are starting to leak out and he slowly slurped each chunk he bites off.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?!¡±


    ¡°Wait, he didn¡¯t turn?!¡± <center></center><hr>


    *belch*


    ¡°Oh my god!¡±


    ¡°Shit.¡±


    ¡°SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!¡±


    ¡°ESCORT THE CIVILIANS OUT OF THIS AREA IMMEDIATELY!!!¡±


    ¡°GO BACK TO YOUR ROOMS! NOW!¡±


    ¡°Holy f.u.c.k!!!¡±


    Slurping sounds followed and the bald guy started to weep and there¡¯s a small pool of liquid forming beneath his body that has first stained his pants.


    Everyone present outside was disturbed at the sight and the seven on the separate room seems to know what has happened even without seeing the scene by themselves.


    ¡°Has this happened before? They looked¡­¡± Kaley trailed as she also took a nce at the seven.


    The kid finally stood up while holding a small chunk of flesh. He threw it over the bald guy and it hit him after it bounced once on the wall behind him. It bounced on his body and it fell near his feet. The kid started to look up and his head snapped to bald guy.


    ¡°I told you I was hungry.¡± the kid said without any emotion.


    ¡°You never listened.¡±


    ¡°Mom didn¡¯t listen.¡±


    ¡°All of you never listened.¡±


    ¡°Hungry.¡±


    ¡°So hungry.¡±


    ¡°The food earlier looked really good.¡±


    ¡°I wish I could¡¯ve tasted it.¡± <hr>


    ¡°He was giving it to us for free.¡±


    ¡°It smelled great too.¡±


    ¡°He has enough for everybody.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s really nice.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m full now.¡±


    ¡°Shame.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s your share.¡± he pointed at the small chunk of flesh that he threw.


    ¡°God provides, right?¡±


    ¡°He really works in mysterious ways.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know God provided mom.¡±


    ¡°She tasted funny though.¡±


    ¡°Like my little sister when we can¡¯t go outside.¡±


    ¡°I was hungry that time too.¡±


    ¡°She was softer than mom though- BLERGH!!!¡±


    He started to vomit a few chunks of what he ate earlier and the bald guy is just looking at him in disgust and fear.


    ¡°Hey~ this is mom! Look~!¡±


    ¡°Look~!¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s here and she¡¯s also over there~ haha.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Haha.¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha.¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    He started tough maniacally and he started to dance around the room while singing praises to their god.


    The bald guy kicked the chunk of meat at his foot and he saw us watching them from the windows. He rushed past the kid without hesitation and he started to m his fists on the door. The cuffs clinked each time he does it and the soldiers were looking at me and Ferdinand. The olderdy of the floor stopped twitching but we weren¡¯t worried that it mighte back because the kid already took care of it since what needs to be destroyed was already half-eaten by him.


    ¡°HELP~! HELP ME~! I¡¯LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING~! I¡¯LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING~! JUST GET ME AWAY FROM HIM~!¡± the bald guy pleaded.


    I told them to let him out and Ferdinand ordered his soldiers to ce the guy among the other people on the next room. He fell t on his face when they threw him inside and he started to vomit but none came out.


    The kid was still dancing around the ce not minding what¡¯s happening around him.


    ¡°Precious Jesus~¡±


    ¡°Precious Jesus~¡±


    He started to sing while dancing and he¡¯s smiling brightly. There¡¯s a red streak across his mouth and it¡¯s slowly dripping across his chin towards his neck and then to his shirt that is also soaked with the same substance. The people outside can¡¯t seem to give the proper reaction to what he¡¯s doing.


    ¡°Sir, what do we do about the kid?¡± the soldiers asked Ferdinand.


    ¡°KILL HIM~! F.U.C.K.I.N.G KILL HIM ALREADY~! I F.U.C.K.I.N.G TOLD MARY TO KILL HIM ALREADY! SHE SHOULD¡¯VE LISTENED TO ME~!¡± the bald guy shouted from the other room. He and the others are still shaking in fear and it shows that from observing all of them that this thing has already happened before.


    The soldiers and the other people who witnessed what the kid did shared the same sentiment. Ferdinand was about to order to put the kid down but I stopped him. I decided to make use of the moment to gain something we couldn¡¯t get earlier. I was ready to y the long game but the opportunity presented itself. A few soldiers disagreed with me and they seem intent on listening only to Ferdinand¡¯s orders.


    ¡°Wait, he¡¯s just there dancing around. Let¡¯s have another talk with the people here and if they don¡¯t tell me what I wanted to hear, they¡¯ll be bunking with the kid until they do, or until¡­ you know.¡± I said loud enough for the eight inside to hear.


    The kid heard my voice and he suddenly stopped singing. He quickly approached the windows and he put his hands on the bars across it and he smiled at me. The people near the window instinctively took a step back and the kid smiled while still covered blood.


    ¡°Hey~ Name¡¯s Tim.¡± he smiled.


    ¡°Yo. Nice name.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Wow~! You¡¯re a rapper! Do you still have more of the food you brought earlier? I just vomited and I¡¯m hungry again. Do you? Huh?¡± his tone is really innocent but his face is a huge contrast.


    ¡°I do. Still have several to be honest. Eight, to be exact.¡± I then nced at the people on the other side of the room and they shook.


    ¡°Eight! Wow! So many! Can I have one please?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Sure.¡± the eight tensed quickly and moved away from the doors but I took one container from my pack and handed it to him through the gaps.


    ¡°Thank you! May the Lord bless you as well!¡± he took it and he sat down in a corner. He ate it with his stained hands and he was happily humming a tune while eating.


    ¡°Sure thing. By the way, your other group. Can I know where some of them are located?¡± I tried to ask him.


    ¡°Oh! We¡¯re always going ces but we always meet at St. Andrew Kim Parish Church. It¡¯s a really huge~ church. Mom took us there when it started. The Father would go there sometimes but he¡¯s mostly not there. You should join us, you¡¯re really nice.¡± he replied after eating a mouthful.


    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll think about that.¡± I replied with a smile.


    ¡°It¡¯s deeper in the Bcan Area.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Sure thing. Did you cook this? It¡¯s really~ good!¡± he added.


    ¡°Yeah, thanks, I¡¯ll visit you soon since I¡¯m gonna do a few more things, okay?¡± I replied.


    He just nodded happily and started to eat again. The soldiers around are confused and still repulsed by the kid but I simply struck when the iron was still hot.


    ¡°I¡¯m not gonna say that was easy but I still need to confirm if what he said was true.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Y-you¡¯re really g-gonna let that glutton live?! Didn¡¯t you see what he did?!¡± the bald guy shouted at me.


    ¡°Yeah, problem? He¡¯s more cooperative than you all. You¡¯d do well to tell me everything I wanted to know now or I¡¯ll stamp a number on your foreheads to see who¡¯ll be next.¡± I said to them.


    ¡°We already told you everything!¡± they shouted.


    ¡°You told me shit. All of you, what you told me I already know. Tell me something I don¡¯t yet. The MVP will get food until this is all over and be absorbed in my group.¡± I lied on thest part.


    ¡°W-what do you want to know?! I already told you I¡¯ll talk!¡± the bald guy interjected.


    ¡°Who¡¯s the person you have contact with in Woonds? Three seconds.¡± I replied with a smile.

 Chapter 221

    Chapter 221: 221


    The moment I finished my sentence, I looked at their reactions to see if they would give any indication that they would know anything. The soldiers around me gave either surprised or solemn expressions but the people inside gave me lots of indication that they knew something. It was an instant but I saw their faces give a different expression and going back to what it was originally. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Contacts?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Someone probably told their people about that ce.¡±


    ¡°Why though?¡±


    ¡°Well, they¡¯re all crazy f.u.c.ks. You weren¡¯t there.¡±


    ¡°You should¡¯ve seen what they did.¡±


    ¡°What? What did they do?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell youter when we¡¯re on break.¡±


    The bald guy is looking directly at me while the rest of them inside are barely listening or still cowering in fear. He has a difficult expression stered on his face but he would flinch every time he would hear the kid in the other roomughing.


    ¡°Three.¡± I started to count.


    ¡°I-I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± he quickly said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Two.¡± I ignored him.


    ¡°Please~! Ask me anything else! I really don¡¯t know!¡± he pleaded.


    ¡°One.¡± I sighed.


    ¡°Hey, Thomas, right? Can you bring this guy out? I was promised that he would tell me everything earlier but apparently his meaning of ¡®everything¡¯ is very different from what I know.¡± I looked at one of the soldiers. He nced at Ferdinand first and he nodded.


    ¡°P-please! I really don¡¯t know the contact you¡¯re talking about! Wait! Wait! Please don¡¯t put me back~!¡± he eximed when Thomas opened the door to get him.


    The others inside didn¡¯t help him in the slightest and Thomas smashed the stock of his rifle on the bald guy first so it would be easier to bring him outside. Instead of bringing him to the next room, I told Thomas to remove his restraints and everyone got confused. The bald guy got ced in front of me and he is shaking all over.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to call you baldy so tell me your name.¡± I looked at him.


    ¡°B-bob, B-bob¡¯s my name. Please I¡¯m begging you! Please~ I really don¡¯t know anything!¡± He pleaded.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~¡± Tim¡¯sugh resounded from the inside again.


    ¡°Bob? Okay then, Bob. You know, Tim and I are slowly starting to be friends now. I gave him food and he gave me information. That¡¯s a very simple transaction but we both acquired what we wanted. Tell me, can you do the same?¡± I said calmly.


    ¡°Yes! Yes! I-¡±


    Before hepleted his sentence, I delivered a strong punch towards his abdomen. He curled down and he clutched his stomach. <hr>


    ¡°Seriously? Lying again? I just asked you a simple question earlier and you said you didn¡¯t know. Bob, I¡¯m really getting tired, you know that? We waited all night for you all toe and my sleeping pattern has gone to shit and I f.u.c.k.i.n.g hate that happening. Tell me what I want or I¡¯ll cut you to even parts so that Tim would have rations for days.¡± I said as I squatted down.


    He¡¯s dry heaving and he¡¯s coughing at random intervals. I gave a long sigh and decided to ask another question. Ferdinand was silently listening to our conversation but he was needed in the hospital. He said his goodbye and left me with a few of his soldiers to guard the people I¡¯m with. I gave him the rest of the food in my paper bag and he simply nodded when he left us.


    ¡°Bob, we¡¯ll get back to this, okay? I¡¯ll ask you a different one. Why are you collecting heads? I encountered a small group from your side and they have collected a freezer full of heads. Care to exin me why? Does your ¡®father¡¯ have some sort of weird collection going on? I collect things too don¡¯t get me wrong but I think there¡¯s more to it than that.¡± I said.


    ¡°H-hey sir, isn¡¯t it just for the statues that they¡¯re making?¡± Thomas chimed.


    ¡°Well, yeah. That¡¯s one of it I guess but the effigies they made has different parts too. The group I encountered is specifically a head-only group. Even the ones who attacked Chang¡¯s ce has their heads taken only as well. Seems a bit weird to me. If they collect parts just for that purpose, wouldn¡¯t it be just better to take the whole body? Bob, did I guess correct?¡± I replied and looked at Bob but he kept quiet.


    ¡°The heads in the disy at Woonds are mostly dead while the ones we found are all alive and¡­ cking. They could be using those heads for a few more things rather than simply turning them to one of those effigies.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°What if they¡¯re using them to turn others? Into zombies?¡± Thomas replied.


    ¡°You could simply sink a piece of knife stained with their blood to another living person and they¡¯ll turn eventually even if they don¡¯t die. Blood to blood contact can make other people turn. I witnessed that when Kaley and I were in the airport. Bob, you¡¯re really quiet now, any reason? Why are you collecting heads that are still alive?¡± I replied then turned to Bob again.


    Instead of pleading that he didn¡¯t know anything again, he¡¯s really silent now. A faint smile formed on my face and the surrounding area got really cold.


    ¡°Bob, based on that look you¡¯re giving me tells everyone here that you know something. I¡¯ll be more ¡®thorough¡¯ now if you catch my drift. Judging from your bruises, you were all hit by either punches or kicks. Icing them properly and taking the medicine for pain would make it healpletely in a few days. Anyway, Bob,st warning. If you don¡¯t tell me what¡¯s on your mind right now, oh boy. Something would really happen that¡¯s permanent.¡± I said with an angelic smile but with a devilish re.


    ¡°I-I really don¡¯t k-¡±


    Before he finished his reply, I dragged him back to where the seven where and threw him against a wall. He mmed against it and he fell t on his stomach. He was about to get up but I grabbed his right hand and pulled something from my med pack. I keep it on hand just in case I need to perform emergency stitching but I think using it for a different purpose would send the message across. <hr>


    It¡¯s a very thin needle.


    ¡°No no no no no no no no no, please~! NOOOOOOO~!!!¡± he pleaded.


    ¡°Toote.¡± I replied.


    It made a small glint and then it entered under his fingernail. The tip barely sunk in and he tried to pull his arm back. I didn¡¯t let him pull it since I¡¯m stepping over his shoulder so I pushed it all the way inside. The color of that finger changed immediately and you could only see the half of the hole where you could ce the thread in if you look closely. He started to roll over on the floor while the rest inside watched in horror as they grimaced.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡± he shouted at the top of his lungs.


    He tried to pinch it with his left hand to remove it but it¡¯s only making it worse. His right hand is shaking and he¡¯s struggling to keep a straight face. A huge vein has appeared on his forehead and his face is all red from the pain he¡¯s experiencing.


    ¡°I¡¯m cing another one if you don¡¯t start on talking.¡± I casually said.


    He gave a really difficult expression and he gritted his teeth. However, the pain hits him again and he grimaced as his finger is starting to bleed a little.


    ¡°THEY¡¯RE MAKING GUIDES~! GUIDES~! THE FATHER IS MAKING GUIDES~! PLEASE~! PLEASE F.U.C.K.I.N.G REMOVE IT~!¡± he pleaded and he stretched his hand with a needle stuck under his fingernails.


    ¡°They¡¯re?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Guides? What guides are you talking about? Are you talking about the sentries? F.u.c.k.i.n.g answer properly! What does the guides do?¡± I asked as I swatted his hand off.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHH~! GUIDES! WE CALL THEM GUIDES~! PLEASE~! THEY- THEY- THEY GUIDE THEM AWAY OR ANYWHERE!!! A GROUP JUST COLLECTS THEM AND THEY WOULD GIVE THEM TO THE FATHER!!! I DON¡¯T KNOW WHAT ARE THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G SENTRIES YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!¡± he shouted. <hr>


    ¡°Shit.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°So that ¡®father¡¯ of yours can make those ¡®guides¡¯ you speak of just by collecting normal heads?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I DON¡¯T F.U.C.K.I.N.G KNOW!!! HE JUST COLLECTS THEM AND IT WOULD JUST BE A MIRACLE!!! THE CHOSEN HEAD WILL BE A GUIDE WHERE THE OTHERS COULD FOLLOW!!! IT IS THE MIRACLE OF GOD THAT A F.U.C.K.I.N.G MURDERER LIKE YOU DOESN¡¯T HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW!!!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°So, the ¡®father¡¯ just waits for one to turn to a special then? Or does he do something else? There¡¯s a lot more question than answers.¡± I thought to myself then I offered my hand.


    He draws it back at first but when he saw my calm face, he thought I was gonna pull it out. Well¡­


    Instead of relieving him of the pain, I relieved him of something else.


    I held his finger tightly as I felt the tip of the needle. I used it as a leverage as my other hand started to push upwards his nail. His nail quickly got torn off and blood started to drip from the sides. When it was halfway done, I pulled the nail out and let go of him. He quickly pulled back and his back mmed against the wall. He is looking at the half-torn nail on his finger and he¡¯s breathing heavily. He ripped a portion of his shirt and he started to ce it against his bleeding finger.


    He was more determined than I thought because he actually tried pulled it off himself. He used the cloth to hold the nail so that when he pulled it off, it wouldn¡¯t slip. His nail has more surface area than the needle earlier so he easily pulled it off. He screamed loudly after that but he gritted his teeth and tried to contain the pain. He looked at me as if he would pounce on me since nothing is restraining him.


    ¡°Go ahead. Try.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°F.U.C.K.I.N.G SINNERS KNOWING THE SACRED WAYS OF OUR FATHER!!! YOU ALL ARE NOT WORTHY!!! F.U.C.K.I.N.G PRICKS!!! WAIT TILL THE FATHER COMES HERE HIMSELF!!! YOU SEVEN WILL ALSO BEAR HIS WRATH SINCE YOU DID NOTHING!!! NOTHING!!!¡± he started to get hysterical.


    Tim¡¯sughter resounded again but it was longer than before. It seems that he lost it and then I made a small nce outside. The guards and Kaley are wearing different expressions than normal and Kaley looked at me when she felt my eyes looking at her.


    ¡°He¡¯s! He¡¯s¡­¡± Kaley shouted with a worried face.

 Chapter 222

    Chapter 222: 222


    Before Kaley managed to finish her sentence, at the corner of my eye, I saw Bob starting to form a fist to lunge at me. I also saw Kaley¡¯s eyes shifting past me, making me notice him amidst what¡¯s happening on the other room and me looking at her. <center></center><hr>


    An overhead punch came from his right fist hurling towards my temple.


    *woosh*


    I made a half-step to get much closer to him as I raised my left arm to guard from it where my elbow is raised high enough for my hand to palm the back of my neck.


    *thud*


    As soon as his fist hit my left arm¡­


    *SWISH*


    Right elbow to his chin.


    *WHOOSH*


    Left middle kick to his right torso.


    *CR-*THUD**


    The two strikes almost hit simultaneously and his body twisted at an angle before he fell down unconscious.


    ¡°You seven better talk after I¡¯m done with Bob here. I¡¯m getting pissed with unreasonable people so I¡¯m thinking of two things to do to you all, kill you quick or kill you slow. Better cooperate because this would be a team effort. If one of you act like Bob here, I¡¯ll do much worse things to all of you. Better talk among each other and get to a decision quick.¡± I said as I quickly restrained Bob and went outside after locking the door.


    Kaley and the rest were holding their weapons looking at Tim from the other side.


    I nced at Tim and he¡¯s crouched down and he seemed to be in pain and pleasure all at the same time.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°WHY DOES IT F.U.C.K.I.N.G HURT?!¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    I looked closely but his skin has started to disy ck lines starting from his torso going out to his arms and neck. I guessed as much since the lines are starting to thin out when it was reaching his hands and face. His body started twitch and snap to different directions and he started to vomit everything else that he has eaten.


    We could clearly see the clumps of rice and the chunks of meat that has started to mix together with some of the fluids from his stomach that is one after the other falling piece by piece on the floor. He then started to tremble non-stop while maniacallyughing. He started to bang his head on the floor and the way he is banging it each time is getting stronger by the second.


    *thud*


    *thud*


    ¡°IT F.U.C.K.I.N.G HURTS~!!! MAKE IT STOP~!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡±


    *THUD*


    *THUD*


    *THUD*


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!¡±


    I was about to pull my pistol out and end his life but thest strike he made with his head towards the marble flooring made a sound of bone cracking and then he stopped moving immediately. Mother and son, one was facing the roof while one the floor. Both heads are cracked open and the floor was once again painted with the red substance thicker than water. <hr>


    The silence is deafening and all of us we¡¯re just starting at the corpses that was killed both by the same person. However, I still pulled out my pistol and shoot two rounds each towards their heads to make sure that they wouldn¡¯t rise up. I didn¡¯t risk stabbing them with my katana since this is the first time I witnessed something weird like that happening.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k did just happen?!¡± Thomas eximed.


    ¡°He started to turn but I¡¯m not sure how. First time seeing someone off himself before it happens. Shame, I should¡¯ve asked more questions from him. So far, he¡¯s been the only one we got any solid info from.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, does him eating his mother made him turn? That¡¯s impossible, right?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s reverse, he ate his mom and he¡¯s the one who turned. Wait, I think what I said was confusing¡­¡± One of the soldiers chimed in.


    ¡°I¡¯m not 100% sure but that is one of the reasons, I think. I do have a hunch though.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Remember in one of our lessons before? It was called Kuru Disease or something along those lines. However, it was supposed to take a bit more time but this happened instantly. It was only on a group of people before but his actions was somewhat simr to that. I¡¯m not saying that this was the exact same thing but the cause from how he became different from his earlier demeanor somewhat rtes to that.¡± I replied.


    Kaley¡¯s seemed to have remembered but the soldiers were confused.


    ¡°It¡¯s because he also ate his mom¡¯s brain, right? They¡¯re called Prions if I remember correctly.¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct. Maybe, and somehow, what we have now elerated the duration of one to two years in mere minutes. Well, he did say he did it before so give or take a month. Let me check them first.¡± I replied then I opened the door.


    I flipped Tim over and his looked at the two corpses. There¡¯s something I quickly noticed. I grabbed a hose and started on spraying their bodies with water to remove the blood that is staining their bodies. I removed their clothes by cutting them with scissors and I double-checked to make sure.


    Tim¡¯s torso has dark lines while his mother has none.


    ¡°Could it be because her head was destroyed before it took effect? Hmmm, this is all guess work but I guess I needed to try¡­ try it on someone.¡± I said as I took out my knife.


    ¡°S-sir? What are you?¡± Thomas said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley was silent. <hr>


    ¡°Just confirming something.¡± I replied.


    I took out very small but bite-sized chunks from Tim¡¯s mother that is not stained with blood and has no dark lines whatsoever and I took a small piece of her brain that is scattered on the floor. I ced them on separate containers and I made my way towards the other room.


    Bob is still unconscious so I opened his mouth and ced one of the pieces inside which is the brain matter. I made sure that it is inside and then I wrapped duct tape over his mouth, around his neck ,and to his mouth again to make sure that he wouldn¡¯t vomit it out. He¡¯s still knocked-out and I didn¡¯t bother waking him up.


    The moment I stood up and looked at the seven, they all showed terrified faces.


    ¡°I think you know what happens, right?¡± I said with a smile holding a container where the other piece was ced in.


    ¡°W-we¡¯re go- I-I¡¯M GONNA TELL YOU ALL THAT I KNOW!!!¡±


    ¡°WE HAVE NO KNOWN CONTACT!!! THE FATHER DICTATES OUR EVERY MOVE!!!¡±


    ¡°HIS INNER CIRCLE MIGHT KNOW MORE THAN US!!!¡±


    ¡°W-wait, I¡¯ll TELL YOU WHAT YOU MIGHT WANT TOO!!!¡±


    ¡°THE FATHER HAS LONG HAIR AND A LONG BEARD!!!¡±


    ¡°Y-YEAH!!! HE ALWAYS WEAR A WHITE ROBE AND HE¡¯S ALWAYS BAREFOOT!!!¡±


    ¡°HE HAS VERY LARGE EYE-BAGS BUT HIS SMILE IS LIKE GOD!!!¡±


    ¡°IDIOT! HE¡¯S ONLY WEARING THOSE IF HE¡¯S INSIDE THE CHURCH!!! OUTSIDE HE¡¯S WEARING EQUIPMENT LIKE THE REST OF US!!!¡±


    ¡°HE ALSO HAS A WHITE HORSE AND SEVERAL WOMEN!!!¡±


    ¡°YEAH! SEVERAL GUARDS TOO!¡±


    ¡°T-THEY A-ALSO¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°AND¡­.¡±


    ¡°THEY HAVE A¡­¡±


    They started to tell me each and every information they know about the father and the group that they¡¯re in. Their stories are finally going in a straight line and not branching to different directions like earlier when I talked to them.


    ¡°Fear is really a great motivation. I just think I did a bit too much today. Well,pared to what they did and would be doing unless I do this¡­ I¡¯d dly be the devil to ensure the safety of everyone I know.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay, wow. You guys really cooperated quickly. Now, let¡¯s see you all cooperate again. Decide among yourselves to who would eat this. I¡¯m really curious about something so decide quickly.¡± I said.


    The look on their faces turned from relief toplete terror the moment I finished my sentence. They thought that they¡¯re safe the moment they spilled everything they know but that¡¯s just a matter of killing them now orter. Their united front instantly crumbled as they¡¯re now against each other. If their looks could kill, they would¡¯ve already from the way that they¡¯re looking at each other. That simple sentence made their heads think of each other as an enemy instead of me.


    ¡°Marisha is right as always; the human psyche and heart are really delicate.¡± I thought to myself.


    They¡¯re still shouting over each other but the skinnydy at the corner is getting overwhelmed by everything that¡¯s happening around her. I¡¯m just casually ncing at each one of them waiting for them to stop. Thedy on the other hand started on sobbing while the others still have the deranged look on their faces. It¡¯s taking longer than expected but I wanted to know how they¡¯ll resolve this issue.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it!¡± she shouted much to the surprise of everyone present.


    ¡°Good choice.¡± I replied.


    ¡°W-what? How is that a good- Well, it would be good for me-¡± the guy next to her spoke but he was shocked to witness what I did.


    She was closing her eyes while tears are flowing through her cheeks. They all thought I was gonna feed her the chunk of flesh but I sunk my knife on the side of her head instead.


    *shhck*


    Her shaking immediately stopped and they¡¯re looking at me with confusion.


    ¡°I thought you were listening to me earlier? I said I¡¯m thinking of two things to do to you, kill you quick or kill you slow.¡± I said as I pulled out five more containers.


    Silence.

 Chapter 223

    Chapter 223: 223


    The six that are remaining were stunned when they saw me pull out the exact numbers of containers for each of them. They seemed to be frozen in ce since none of them moved a muscle despite me casually opening one of the containers. <center></center><hr>


    The guy celebrating earlier that thedy volunteered snapped.


    ¡°YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G SICK BASTARD! THE F.U.C.K WOULD YOU WANT US TO CONSUME THAT?! IF YOU¡¯RE GONNA KILL US, JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G KILL US!!! YOU SICK F.U.C.K!!!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°WHAT WOULD YOU EVEN GET FROM DOING THIS?!¡± another person added.


    ¡°YOU SICK F.U.C.K!!!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU!!!¡±


    ¡°MOTHERF.U.C.KER!!!¡±


    ¡°SICK BASTARD!!!¡±


    Curses rained towards me but I struck his jaw hard for it to get dislocated. His jaw is just hanging down and it made it easier for me to ce the chunk inside his mouth. He still made an effort to scream and move his head away but, in the end, it didn¡¯t do much to hinder me from doing what I want. The people outside are wearing serious expressions while they watched me. I didn¡¯t mind the stares and continued to open the next container. The guy I force fed the meat has an expression of fear at first but after a few moments, he¡¯s just staring nkly at the ceiling feeling hopeless.


    ¡°PLEASE~ DON¡¯T DO THIS!!!¡±


    ¡°WE ALREADY TOLD YOU WHAT WE KNOW!!! PLEASE~!!!¡±


    The remaining people started to beg me to stop but I still continued on doing what I want to the rest of them. A few of them didn¡¯t require their jaws to be broken so I could do what I want and it goes well slightly. One of them I needed to knock outpletely since she¡¯s making it too hard for me. I faced them and a mix of expressions are what they gave me through their eyes since I taped their mouths the same as Bob.


    ¡°You six here will only serve a single purpose. I need to confirm something and I need live subjects that people here wouldn¡¯t give a f.u.c.k if anything was done to them. If you turned, thank you for your service since you¡¯ve be evidence to confirm one of my theories. If I¡¯m wrong in my hunch, you¡¯d still live and you¡¯d only have consumed human meat. However, that doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯d let you go. I still have a lot more to confirm and what better way to prove a theory than to test it physically. Sorry it tastes bad since I don¡¯t have any experience in cooking human flesh, just cutting them into pieces.¡± I said as I left the room. <center></center><hr>


    I closed the door and I locked it myself. What I didn¡¯t know is that Oscar came back and he brought Jared and Tatiana back. Ferdinand is also back from the hospital and all of them are looking at me with worried and serious expressions.


    We made our way towards the exit with a few others since we already spent a bit of time here. I nced at the far left and the fence seems to still not be finished. It¡¯s made much higher and much stronger than what we have at home since that would be the boundary for that side. Large vehicles could still pass through and tforms on both sides would be ced for the guards to watch over.


    ¡°Kid¡­¡± Oscar trailed.


    ¡°What happened at Woonds? Has everything gone smoothly?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Bro, we shouldn¡¯t be torturing them like this. I know what they did but we shouldn¡¯t be ying with their lives like that.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley was silent.


    ¡°You see what they did several times, you shouldn¡¯t be feeling sorry for them. They¡¯d do worse things to you if you ever got captured. It¡¯s better to kill yourself before they manage to get their hands on you. The moment you feel sorry for them that¡¯s the time your positions would be switched and you¡¯ll regret ever saying that.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Still¡­ kinda feels wrong¡­ ying with them like this.¡± Jared made a difficult expression.


    ¡°I¡¯m not ying with them. This is research to say the least. I can¡¯t and will not do that sort of thing to our own but we¡¯ll do it with our enemies. It could answer a few questions honestly.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But! How could feeding them human meat answer anything? I thought that was already answered by what happened here earlier?¡± Jared asked and I figured he caught up with what happened here.


    ¡°It¡¯s different. It¡¯s¡­¡± I exined that the Prions are more concentrated in the brain area and consuming it causes moreplicationspared to simply eating flesh.


    ¡°I know about that! I yed that game!¡± he rebutted. <hr>


    ¡°Oh. Right, I gave a copy to youst time. It¡¯s different though.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I know, but that¡¯s the gist of how it works, right?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well¡­ we have no fast-forward button here and the scientists to help us!¡± I rebutted.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you two talking about?!¡± Oscar chimed.


    ¡°Contagion Inc.¡± we both said at the same time.


    ¡°¡­¡± Everyone else.


    ¡°Be serious here!¡± Kaley snapped.


    ¡°¡­¡± Jared and I.


    ¡°A-anyway, what are you trying to aplish by feeding them just the flesh of a dead person if we already established that eating the brain causes it?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Few things actually. What we know now but not proven 100% yet that if you consume another person¡¯s brain, it triggers some form of the Kuru Disease or something simr. He¡¯s the only one that¡¯s different when he turned abnormally. I just wanted to find out more clues. It could be his either personality or the most obvious one that we witnessed earlier.¡± I started.


    ¡°Like Mad Cow Disease but for humans?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Yeah, Tim really started to get hysterical after he ate his mom.¡± Kaley said. <hr>


    ¡°That was something we didn¡¯t see happen to normal people alright.¡± Thomas added.


    ¡°Yeah, it already happened so it must be the case, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Yeah, somewhat correct. But what if we¡¯re wrong? What if there¡¯s more variables needed to be met? What are the limits? What if eating not just the brain and simply human meat makes you turn slowly? Is it just blood? We¡¯ve seen the ck lines before forming, right?¡± I exined.


    ¡°But we won¡¯t be eating people, how does it affect us kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Really? A lot of things. The biggest thing now is that Tim¡¯s mom didn¡¯t show signs of her blood getting darkerpared to what happened to Tim himself. You kinda understand what I¡¯m getting at, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°Just f.u.c.k.i.n.g tell us kid!¡± Oscar snapped.


    ¡°Here¡¯s why I fed the six flesh and Bob brain matter. I¡¯m trying to recreate what happened earlier but in isted cases to determine what caused what. Depending on what happens next may very well dictate if we could even safely perform blood transfusion from blood bags that are preserved. I know that it¡¯s highly unlikely and me just being paranoid but I¡¯d rather know for sure than to regretter. I fed more people flesh to have more subject to confirm whether just eating it by itself would turn people or not. What we know is that eating brain matter has more chances of you turningpared to thetter because something simr happened but not 100% confirmed.¡± I exined.


    ¡°So, you mean that people that have an idea to be cannibals need to think twice before they start to do it now? If the people there turned, there would be zero chance of us encountering a group of cannibals, right?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Well, if you think about it like that, yeah. However, only us here would only know that causes it and we need to broadcast that piece of news to our radio station. Also¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Also?¡± Everyone grew curious.


    ¡°Also, if we ever ran out of food and fall into eating each other, we¡¯d only need to avoid the brain. I might need to learn recipes though since I don¡¯t want to eat them raw. We¡¯re not even sure if it¡¯s like chicken or beef. I wonder if we could store them too? Smoking sounds good as well if we¡¯re gonna preserve them.¡± I joked. <hr>


    Silence. Complete and total silence.


    Kaley, Oscar, Jared, and Tatiana started to facepalm while the soldiers around us were taken aback.


    ¡°Kid¡­¡± Oscar looked up in the sky.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I replied with a smile.


    ¡°BE SERIOUS HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT!!! YOU¡¯RE SCARING EVERYONE AROUND YOU!!!¡± he bellowed while I started tough uncontrobly.


    Oscar tried to smack my head but I quickly avoided it. However, Kaley attacked in my blindspot at which I took slight damage from my back. Oscar exined to the soldiers that I have a sick sense of humor and that it usually pops out at very serious moments. A few understood and they started to shake their head in amus.e.m.e.nt while a few are in total disbelief that I would make a joke at such a situation.


    The tension in the atmosphere quickly lessenedpared to what it was earlier.


    Oscar then told me that half of Marvin¡¯s group went home while the other half stayed with the soldiers who came to Woonds. A schedule has been made that would ensure that each ce has their people guarding Woonds so that there would be no issue for each group.


    I also decided that the rys we made for Ana to be installed in this camp, the public market, and Woonds for better signal coverage. It could reach farther on its own but I want to be sure that it wouldn¡¯t be stretched out too thinly. It will be done after we leave the camp and do other things for the time we have before dark.


    Before we left the camp, I gave a few instructions to the people guarding the cult member and to iste Bob and to ce him on his other cell where Tim and his mom were previously located. The two were now being burned in the corner where they pile their bodies.


    ¡°This thing that hit us isplicated than what we expected. Makes one wonder how much work is put into this.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 224

    Chapter 224: 224


    We¡¯re about to leave the DDR camp here but I saw Ferdinand hurrying to approach us. He ran towards me and he gave back the containers which are cleaned properly and stacked together nicely. I was surprised to see it squeaky clean and almost all of us looked at him weirdly. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What? Is there a problem sir?¡± he was confused.


    ¡°Nothing. Just keep doing what you¡¯re doing and we¡¯d get along great. Thanks for cleaning them. I¡¯lle back here in a bit since I would be installing something for better radio coverage. Remember I told you about the radio station at our ce?¡± I replied and then we drove back home.


    ¡°Better not to tell them about our other friend yet.¡± I thought to myself while my group acted like it was nothing.


    ¡°Okay sir, understood. Just drop by and install it to where it is needed.¡± he replied.


    Oscar, Tatiana, and Jared went home to rest while Kaley and I picked up the rys to be installed on the ces I mentioned earlier so we brought out one of our vehicles instead of my Hayabusa. While I¡¯m cing the items needed for installing the rys and a few other things on the back of the truck I would be using, Raphael approached me.


    ¡°Dude, I¡¯m about to finish the D-Max tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, do you have other projects for me to work on? I have more people that could help so the work is much easier.¡± he asked.


    Raphael is now teaching a few people a bit of what he knows since he took his sweet time building up Oscar¡¯s SUV by himself. Now, there¡¯re a few people helping him work on the D-Max so time consumed on a single project is reduced significantly and the people he¡¯s teaching would be learning essential skills. It¡¯s mostly vehicle-rted and about mechanical parts and how to use certain tools for which job and not just their rusty old all-purpose screwdriver for just about anything. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Now that you asked me, I want the 6-wheeler, the 4-wheeler, the cargo truck, the armored van, the sedan, the minivan, and the¡­ oh, I think that¡¯s enough for now. I wanted everything to be modified for what we would be doing for People¡¯s Park. I don¡¯t want to pile a lot just a few, so-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°A FEW?! THE F.U.C.K?! THAT¡¯S TOO MANY!!!¡± Raphael eximed.


    ¡°What? You have more people now! You already finished working on Oscar¡¯s SUV and your Raptor. You don¡¯t need to n them as much and you only need to repeat the same thing with only a few modifications since their sizes are different.¡± I exined.


    He hung his head low in defeat but he looked at me seriously, ¡°You¡¯re really sure about doing that? ns don¡¯t always go 100% dude.¡±


    ¡°I know, I¡¯ve already worked out 14,000,605 oues in my head and the odds are a million times on our favorpared to those guys fighting the purple dude.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Fourteen Mil- What? Wait, Isn¡¯t that Th-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°Shhh¡­ it¡¯s the purple dude, purple dude. Be careful! We might get demized!¡± I joked as I suddenly looked around.


    ¡°Did youck that much sleep dude? Hah! Better sleep a few more hours since you¡¯re slipping!¡± Raphaelughed. <hr>


    ¡°He really does, you won¡¯t believe what he said earlier in the camp¡­ the soldiers were more surprised that he leads us rather than what he said. Good thing Oscar exined things¡­¡± Kaley was shaking her head. She started to tell what happened and they burst outughing.


    ¡°C¡¯mon! I¡¯m the one surprised that you¡¯re still surprised with what I said! The time you¡¯ve been with me would have you at least half-expecting that I would say something like that!¡± I defended myself.


    After a few back and forth, he eventually agreed to fortify and modify the rest of the vehicles after they¡¯re done with the D-Max. Kaley and I went outside once more and it¡¯s nearing the time for the ¡®broadcast¡¯ that we know is not the real president. Even if it¡¯s still a deepfake, we still watched it for any inconsistencies, signatures, ws, or anything really that could be evidence that it¡¯s a fake one. The first one was saved and being analyzed by Ken and Kris in their free time to spot things we might have missed when it aired the first time.


    ¡°If we started to find a hint of such things that a normal person could notice, we¡¯ll keep those at hand in case the broadcast took a turn for the worst.¡± I thought to myself.


    The first stop was the DDR camp once again to install one of them in the rooftop of the hospital among their antennas that is at the highest point. I secured it tightly and made sure it is just nestled in the middle to feed my OCD. I smiled after looking at it and Kaley was simply amused at my entricities.


    After installing the ry, I ced small cameras that are battery powered to the rooms where the other cult members are ced. I used those kinds since it would take too long of a time to install proper CCTVs in this ce and even if there¡¯re existing ones throughout the whole hospital, it would make their power source give out since they don¡¯t have what we have.


    All of the cult members are still alive for the most part and you could see a lot of them still struggling to break free from the objects that are keeping them in ce. Their wrists are bloody from the constant pulling and chafing and all we could hear are muffled shouts of despair. They¡¯re still keeping at it though even if some are just in short bursts. Bob on the other hand is keeping quiet the whole time ever since he woke up as reported by the soldiers. What the six don¡¯t realize is that even if they sessfully removed those restraints, there¡¯s also the door and the soldiers that they needed to go through barehanded. <hr>


    ¡°What are they gonna use to get through? Thoughts and prayers? At least Bob hase to terms with it, I think.¡± I thought to myself.


    Despite that, I still reminded the soldiers watching them to be careful just to be sure since it would be dangerous to underestimate desperate people. I asked them to use non-lethal force if they could since I still wanted to see the results of what I did. They still have those kinds of equipment in stock and I guess they were used to keep the unruly people inside in order when it was still early, much more when their situation on food got worse.


    I¡¯m looking at the loose brass casings near their feet and I wanted to pick them up so bad.


    ¡°I should think of a great way to get those without them knowing that I could make use of them to make more. We¡¯re in a partnership but I want to still keep a few things secret from them. If they somehow get to know that I could reproduce bullets, next thing that would happen is they would want a share of that too. I guess in the future I could, hmm¡­ but I want to know what¡¯s their situation on bullets first before I make any offers.¡± I thought to myself.


    Looking at what they have here, they mostly have .223s, 12 gauges, .45 ACPs, and .50 cal. They¡¯re using simr loadouts and there are very few guns that uses a different kind. We then said our goodbyes after we¡¯re done and we drove to the Public Market to install the next one.


    ¡°You held yourself back there didn¡¯t you?¡± Kaley chuckled while I was working.


    ¡°Hah! If I could, I would¡¯ve taken them all. Makes me wonder how much do they still have. I want our rtionship with their group to turn out great but as always, we need to be sure just in case. It¡¯s not just our food that¡¯s making the situation stable but our hidden number of bullets too. The one who has more will have the final say if things don¡¯t go the way we wanted it to.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I noticed that some of them are using non-issue guns too.¡± she said. <hr>


    ¡°I guess they¡¯re from their scavenging runs. They would always take the guns of the people they took in and never gives it back even if they go out like what happened with Juan. That takes away the force multiplier from the people that they took in. Like what we do at ourpound at neers on the earlier week¡­ wait.¡± I suddenly had a realization.


    ¡°Hmm? What?¡± she knew something was up.


    ¡°Neers.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was giving me a pensive look.


    ¡°Is that how they did it at Woonds?¡± she asked.


    ¡°One of the only ways possible. They would only take their, guns, right? I could be wrong but it¡¯s a start.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But, not all of them would be though. I felt nothing when you did your work on the ones who deserve it but I don¡¯t feel that we should do the same thing to them if one might be innocent.¡± Kaley said solemnly.


    ¡°Well, you and your mom could always talk to them as a start. We¡¯re just going to check if my hunch is right. I don¡¯t go around doing that to each and every one we need to get information from, you know. Hold on, wait, wait, wait, I have another idea. We might need to visit the DDR Camp again and Woonds after this.¡± I said then I grinned from ear to ear while my eyes are gleaming brightly.

 Chapter 225

    Chapter 225: 225


    ¡°I¡¯m inclined to ask what you¡¯re gonna do but the look that you¡¯re giving me tells me that it wouldn¡¯t be as bad as what you did earlier. I¡¯m just gonna held back today just for a bit too I guess.¡± she said, chuckling. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Heh, I¡¯m not gonna do it now though, we¡¯re going back to the DDR Camp just to get their updated file again and Woonds to see what¡¯s been going on with my own eyes. About the thing I¡¯m gonna do, you¡¯re gonna be a part of it and a few others. We¡¯d need the help of Earl too.¡± I said as she grew curious.


    ¡°Earl? What for?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I thought you just said that you¡¯re gonna held yourself back today for a bit? Don¡¯t want a bit of mystery?¡± I said,ughing.


    She grew a bit annoyed but she really did hold herself back from asking more questions. Kaley and I were conversing normally on the roof of the Public Market. There¡¯re these antennas on the roof of the Public Market here that are held by a long metal pipe so I¡¯m trying to take one down so I could ce one of the rys I brought on it. I picked the thickest one to ce it on and reinforced it with duct tape. It doesn¡¯t look as aesthetically pleasing as the one I did on the hospital in the DDR Camp but it does the job of keeping it in ce.


    ¡°If you want to something to stay in ce, always use duct tape. If you want something to move, WD-40 is the answer. Well, there¡¯s torches too. It won¡¯t get stuck if it¡¯s liquid.¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley is looking out for any zombies trying to roam around but we encountered none so far. It¡¯s due to the fact that Jay¡¯s group is doing a great job of clearing them from the streets and two of the roads where they woulde from is sealed which are the road on the far left of the DDR Camp and the highway entrance of the DDR Camp. There¡¯re only two remaining ces where they woulde from which is from the highway and the small road that leads to Chang¡¯s ce.


    The entrance for the highway is the road which is next to the gasoline station where Russel worked at. The small road could easily be sealed since it is quite narrow and only allows two vehicles side by side to traverse but on the road that leads to the highway would be a bit harder since more materials would be used topletely set up a barrier in it since it is so wide. However, if we managed to set up the barriers on all of those entrances, we¡¯ll have a huge territory of our own which is zombie-free.


    ¡°Aaand, we¡¯re done!¡± I said after folding up a small portion of the duct tape so I could easily find the endter. <center></center><hr>


    We then made our way to Woonds to check on the situation over there and we found out that everyone is busy at work. The front gate is cleaned up though there¡¯re still the small craters that were formed when the explosions urred. A few of them were in top soil so it blew a portion of it along with the grass nted but it is easy enough to be fixed. We drove inside and we saw Damian coborating with Gabriel, William and one of the representatives from the DDR Camp that would live here starting today which is named Maricel.


    ¡°Hey, you guys still busy? It¡¯s almost sundown.¡± I asked.


    ¡°U-umm, yes, we¡¯re still figuring out where some of them are gonna stay.¡± Gabriel said.


    ¡°Really? There¡¯s a f.u.c.k ton of houses here, what¡¯s the problem?¡± I asked.


    ¡°O-oh! There¡¯s none actually. We just didn¡¯t have the time earlier.¡± Gabriel said as he wiped his face.


    I could see that their hands are all soiled and their clothes are dirty, even Damian. The atmosphere here is lively and everyone seems to have breathed in fresh air for the new start that they were given.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re the person who made things possible? Thank you.¡± Maricel chimed as she made a small bow.


    ¡°Not all me though, it¡¯s all up to everyone now if you want this ce to work. I won¡¯t be spoon-feeding everything for you guys here. Some of you would still need to go out to gather your own resources if the need arises. The food we would be giving you the first few weeks is just enough to feed each one of you a simple meal and it couldst longer if you start to ration them. Take good care of the farms and when our animals back home start giving birth, we¡¯d part with some of them for you guys to take care of here as well.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Y-yes sir, we understand.¡± she replied. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, oh right, Damian, could youe with us for a sec? We¡¯re heading to the admin office to check on a few things.¡± I said.


    He agreed and he rode on the vehicle that we¡¯re in. It¡¯s fairly close but I just wanted a private time with the owner of the whole ce. I didn¡¯t say much of how they should run this ce since I believe Oscar have already made that talk with them.


    ¡°Damian, tell it to me straight without filter, how¡¯s it going here? Any issues that you need help with?¡± I asked as we entered the admin building.


    ¡°Well, aside from two of my swords missing, the real ones, if I could speak honestly, it is still a bit shaky, but shaky good. I noticed that one of yours has them, the blonde one. I can¡¯t seem to spot the other one.¡± he replied with a sigh.


    ¡°So that¡¯s his house then. What does shaky good even mean?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Oh, I took the other one.¡± I replied quickly.


    ¡°What?! You already have a katana, why would you need another one?! You took the most useful ones!¡± he got agitated.


    ¡°First of all, thank you. That¡¯s a nice longsword and bastard sword. It¡¯s just on disy, better make use of them at least! Besides, you still have one that I haven¡¯t examined yet. Can I take a look?¡± I said as I looked at his cane. <hr>


    It looks a bit inconspicuous looking at it normally but the way it clinks every time he walks with it made me think that something is hidden inside. It¡¯s a straight ck cane without the hook-like handle a few of them usually have. Its handle has a pommel-like horse design that appears to be made from steel and there¡¯s space enough for a hand before what I surmise is where the de starts.


    ¡°I kinda knew it was you who took the other one. Here, but please give it back to me. It¡¯s the only thing I have left.¡± he said with a sigh as he handed it over.


    It has some weight to it and I started to slowly unsheathe it.


    It made that nice sound every time you pulled a de out and the very thin de slowly appeared before us. The de itself is as thin as a finger and it is most definitely suited for thrusting instead of cutting. It is well maintained and the only thing missing from it is a proper handguard since it looks like a veryrge needle. The weight is mostly distributed to the handle, add to that the huge pommel that it has. You could call it a rapier and the only thing different is the de is hard but not as flexible as the usual ones.


    I sheathed it and I handed it back to him.


    ¡°That¡¯s the real deal too. Know how to use them though?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hmph! You could always try me, I¡¯m old but I still have some fight!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°That¡¯s good then but you¡¯d be with a disadvantage without a handguard. I could easily lop off your fingers without it.¡± I replied with a smile.


    ¡°Hmph! It is made for the purpose of hiding it in in sight. I wish I could have that added to it but it would be too obvious now, would it?¡± he replied. <hr>


    ¡°Well, it does look slick, how much?¡± I said immediately.


    He instantly choked then Kaley and I started tough heartily.


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!! I¡¯m joking! Anyway, I¡¯m just here to look at some of the files here. I will be taking the hard drives from theputers here but I need to look at the files in the cabs too. I need it for something else.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmmm, I see. Don¡¯t make jokes like that or my heart wouldn¡¯t be able to take it! I think most of them are around here somewhere¡­ oh, all of them are stored on these things¡­¡± he started to point out the ces I need to look at first but I still checked everything doc.u.ment that I see lying around.


    I was looking at the files for the tenants, homeowners, blueprints, contracts and everything else on here. Istly removed several drives from theputers here and ced them on my pack. However, I didn¡¯t make a mention of what I think might¡¯ve caused the cult to find out about their ce. I decided to tell him that when I got all of the things I need prepared and ready for when Imence my other idea.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go. Thanks for helping us.¡± I said to Damian.


    ¡°Huh? You¡¯re not gonna take the doc.u.ments? I could help you pack them on your truck if you want?¡± he said confused.


    ¡°Hmm? Oh, I already memorized it.¡± I replied.

 Chapter 226

    Chapter 226: 226


    The moment I finished my sentence he huffed in amus.e.m.e.nt and almost hit me with his cane. I replied with a confident look and kept on walking forwards. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°H-hey, did he really?¡± he turned to Kaley to confirm.


    ¡°Yep.¡± Kaley simply answered and walked by my side.


    ¡°That¡¯s amazing!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Oh, you believed me without questioning eh?¡± I was surprised.


    ¡°W-well you said it was, did you lie?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well, it is real. I did mean what I say. Most people would then start to question me things if it was real or not. You¡¯re one of the few that believed me this easy. Well, you asked Kaley but you didn¡¯t ask for more proof.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, that is one of my good quali-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°Nope. That¡¯s bad. Question everything. It¡¯s bad practice to take things as they are without questioning them.¡± I said.


    ¡°Bah! I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g old! I do not have time for that anymore! I still question things but I¡¯m just amazed you have that ability. Makes an old man like me a bit jealous.¡± he exined.


    ¡°Well, Kaley¡¯s psychic. She could read minds.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?! That¡¯s even mor-¡± I cut him off again.


    ¡°I¡¯m lying. Didn¡¯t I tell you to question everything? What happened to you? You went from being this old dude I want to beat up because of being unreasonable from being this old dude I want to beat up because of being so annoying!¡± I eximed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I ah-¡± he was speechless.


    ¡°So you still want to beat him up then? *chuckles*¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Nah, just kidding. He did gave us a couple of swords, well, I said ¡®gave¡¯ but I meant taken. Hey, old timer, we¡¯re going now, do you want to walk the way back?¡± I said.


    Damian was slightly left behind and he tried to catch by walking a bit faster. His cane clinks at each step as he followed behind and we made our way to one of the houses which has a small satellite dish that is slightly above others to install thest of the rys I¡¯ve brought. The house I¡¯m talking about belongs to Damian.


    It was easily installed and I made mention that if they still have their radios with them, they could turn it on to listen from our radio station. I said the same thing that the apparatus I¡¯ve installed would be for better coverage to hide the fact that it was for something else entirely. I just made nces to everyone present at this ce and I¡¯ve asked Gabriel to make a list of all the people in here and make a simple logbook to who goes in and out.


    Since all of them wouldn¡¯t be just farmers, they were tasked with different jobs that suited their skills the same way for what we do in my ce. Most of them just scavenge all over the ce when they were in the camps and doing work here will allow some of them who aren¡¯t suited to go outside to work for tasks suited for them. All will be required to contribute and those who don¡¯tply will be met with disciplinary action.


    Before I left the ce, I gave a small speech not to just raise spirits but to also give them the reality of the situation and some things they needed to know. It¡¯s simple, they need us more than we need them. We could survive on our own already but we still share amon enemy. We¡¯ll see how things work for theing days and I¡¯ll decide if I would let them take part on my n to reim and clear the People¡¯s Park and the City Hall. I still need to prepare a lot of things before diving in that n and I need capable people and not just an added number of people to increase the chances of sess.


    We then came back to the DDR Camp and got an updated copy of the people inside. We found out that the fence is already standing strong and high and my uncle and my other people will build the others tomorrow. When everything of importance outside was finally aplished, I took a small breather inside our vehicle first. I stretched my body and made the bones of my fingers and neck crack and I took a deep breath.


    ¡°Good job today, you must be tired.¡± Kaley tapped my shoulder.


    ¡°Thanks. I am, a little bit, yes. It¡¯s going a lot smoother than expected. I¡¯d be more tired if they started to get unreasonable. We¡¯re basically giving them a portion of our food.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Will we be okay at home though?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Yeah, actually, we¡¯d be fine to feed them for about half a year or more easily. The amount we got from the past week is staggering. The timing for our harvest is just right too. It¡¯s like making banana bread.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°What? What did banana bread have to do with feeding them now?¡± she started tough from the unexpected example.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! Well, the bananas you use for banana bread is the ones that are ck, not the yellow ones.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait! Wait! Wait! I can¡¯t follow! HAHAHAHA!!! Why are we talking about bananas now?!¡± she¡¯s shaking her head.


    ¡°Well, we use them since most of the starch is converted to sugar. It is easier to mash and people wouldn¡¯t even touch them if they¡¯re that color anyway. I don¡¯t know why but I¡¯m really weirded out by bananas.¡± I said.


    ¡°This has suddenly turned to a baking ss¡­ Wait, why are you weirded out by bananas?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Well not by bananas per say, but by the way we eat them. We avoid the ck spots but next thing you know we¡¯re sticking our tongues to where the sun doesn¡¯t shine and a few others.¡± I replied.


    ¡°AHHHHH~!!! Stop! Can you please drive and *snort* let¡¯s go home now?! I need to stop asking questions since I¡¯m afraid where you¡¯ll go next!¡± she¡¯s blushing from the neck and she¡¯s withholding herughter.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Hey, I¡¯m notining about doing it! In fact, I don¡¯t mind doing it every single time! Or do you not like it then?¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°Well! I- AHHHHHHHH!!! Just drive!¡± she can¡¯t look at me in the eye and she¡¯s still red.


    We made our way home and it was just in time for the broadcast. However, it is not the ¡®broadcast¡¯ but the real broadcast. I with the others were surprised to see the president in the podium again with the others as if nothing has happened.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k?! I thought he¡¯s already-¡± Ken eximed.


    ¡°Hmm? Wait, what?! It¡¯s the real one now?!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°OH SHIT!!!¡±


    ¡°Then it¡¯s all good!!! Nothing happened then? Right?¡±


    ¡°SHH! HE¡¯S ABOUT TO SPEAK!!!¡±


    ¡°Shhh~¡±


    It was a very short squabble between us and he started his address to everyone that is still able to watch him. I¡¯m still in doubt so while I listen to what he has to say, I¡¯m observing very small details that might give some clue if it¡¯s really the real deal.


    ¡°Philippines, this is your president speaking. We¡¯re about to reach a month from when it all started and I believe that even if we¡¯re all struggling, we¡¯re still fighting. I apologize that the rations that has been given out are getting fewer and fewer even if our numbers are still decreasing by the day. We¡¯re trying to secure food for everyone but the city I¡¯m in takes priority. I¡¯ve lost contact with a few camps from the other ind groups due to unknown reasons and my heart aches for them. However, those whose lives are lost while performing their duty will not be forgotten I assure you. Also¡­¡± he started his speech.


    Everyone seems to be in high spirits knowing that the president we¡¯re seeing now is the real one but I¡¯m still wondering about the days where he wasn¡¯t the real one.


    ¡°What happened on those days? Did he get sick? Did someone from his family die? Did someone deliberately hidden the contents of those broadcasts? Why? I¡¯m happy that he¡¯s alive and all but what about those days?¡± I thought to myself.


    While we were watching the broadcast, Jared handed me the phone which is currently being sent files. However, as I was checking the names of the files, there¡¯re a few names mixed within that I requested specifically.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you back this pher since I will be copying the files after this.¡± I said to Jared.


    ¡°Okay bro. Charge it too while you¡¯re at it.¡± he replied. <hr>


    ¡°Sure.¡± I replied as I tapped on the first name.


    [Jennifer Goodman]


    I started to read the information written within and a smile is slowly forming on my face.


    ¡°Holy shit, Ana is really from that group. I wonder from whom she got this info though since her reach here is pretty limited. Everything is in here. Oscar is gonna flip out if he finds out about this. Wait, I remember that he pulled something when he first acquired the sh drive from the DDR Camp¡­ I¡¯d do a little something first.¡± I thought to myself.


    After the broadcast was finished, I tapped Oscar.


    ¡°Old man, you owe me.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? What?¡± he was confused.


    ¡°Hah! I¡¯ll tell you tomorrow but yeah, you owe me.¡± I smirked.


    ¡°KID?!¡± he started to get pissed.


    ¡°This is the payback forst time! You think I will ever forget that?! HAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU OWE ME MADAFAKA~!!!¡± I started to sprint upstairs.


    ¡°KID?! WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS IT?! TELL ME YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!¡± he shouted from below.

 Chapter 227

    Chapter 227: 227


    I ignored every little thing he shouted at me and the group below are all confused. I quickly made my way to my room and I immediately locked the door. <center></center><hr>


    *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*


    ¡°KID!!! WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS IT?! TELL ME YOU LITTLE SACK OF SHIT!!!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°I DON¡¯T HEAR ANYTHING~! LA! LA! LA! LA~!¡± I shouted back.


    *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*


    ¡°LET ME IN!¡± he shouted once more.


    *THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*


    ¡°LET ME INNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN~!!!¡± he started to get hysterical.


    I nned to make him wait until tomorrow but I heard his shotgun.


    *CH-CHHCK*


    ¡°I¡¯LL BLOW YOUR DOOR OFF SO BETTER GET TO F.U.C.K.I.N.G COVER KID!!! THREE!!! TWO!!! ON-¡± and then I cut him off.


    ¡°I know where she is.¡± I said with a calm tone but loud enough to hear for Oscar and the rest of the people by the door with him.


    The noiseing from the door behind me started to get quiet almost immediately while I raced to transfer everything from the phone to myptop. Good thing I already have everything in my table ready so the transfer was quick add to the fact that the files isn¡¯t thatrge because most of them are only text files and with very few images.


    Instead of deleting everything that is on the phone, I attempted to only delete one file from the list before transferring everything over. I burned in my head everything that is written as I scrolled to each one as quickly as I could. The door behind me was still eerily quiet and once I was done scanning it with my head, I tapped on the option to delete it.


    [Confirm delete of file named Tatiana Smirnov?]


    ¡°Some things shouldn¡¯t be pried upon too much you f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot. You¡¯re too f.u.c.k.i.n.g paranoid sometimes and now you knew more about her past that shouldn¡¯t be told to just anyone.¡± I thought to myself.


    I have a solemn expression first before it turned into a sigh of relief. I tapped the confirm button and once the loading bar waspleted to full, I made my way towards the door and I unlocked it. I ced my hand on it tightly first since I thought it would swing open. However, I was greeted by a different scenario.


    Oscar¡¯s eyes were red and teary as he is standing upright but there¡¯s still some tremble. I could see Kaley on the steps trying to keep everyone from crowding over to see what has happened. When Oscar looked at me, a tear fell to his cheeks and he started to bawl almost immediately. <center></center><hr>


    There¡¯s one thing about Oscar though, he looks really ugly crying.


    ¡°HAHHHHHHH~!!! *SNIFF* IS SHE STILL ALIVE~?! HUH?! TALK TO ME YOU MOTHERF.U.C.KER~!!! WAHHHHHHHHHH~!!! KJSHNFSJSBSK~!!!¡± he started crying as I pulled him inside my room.


    I did my best to hold myughter looking at him and the situation on the first floor has also calmed down thanks to Kaley. She soon came inside my room and then Zeus, Matthew, Olivia, and Marisha followed her.


    ¡°Hey, what happened here bud?¡± Matthew asked Oscar.


    ¡°Bud? When did this happen?¡± I thought to myself.


    Oscar has no words except his unintelligible crying but he managed to point at me.


    ¡°What did you do Sky?¡± Olivia looked at while trying to make Zeus stop licking Oscar on the face.


    ¡°Nothing, really. Our little friend outside found where Jennifer is.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Who?¡± Thedies asked.


    ¡°Oh! Your daughter, right?¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°*high pitched* yeah.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°When did this two became like¡­ like that? The f.u.c.k?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Where is she then? Oscar¡¯s daughter?¡± Marisha asked.


    ¡°Here.¡± I handed Oscar the phone so he could see for himself.


    ¡°I-I-I can¡¯t understand this shit kid! Can¡¯t you just f.u.c.k.i.n.g read it to me?!¡± he is a blubbering mess.


    ¡°*sigh* sure old man, I¡¯ll make sure you understand every bit of it.¡± I replied as I stood up and took one of the chairs. I started to ce it in one of my cabs to get a ck suitcase that is wider than normal.


    ¡°Sky¡­?¡± Kaley trailed as everyone was confused to what I was doing. <hr>


    I ced the suitcase in front of Oscar and I flipped thetches to remove the front cover.


    The moment the object in front of them was revealed¡­


    Silence. Complete silence.


    It¡¯s a typewriter.


    ¡°Okay, old man. I¡¯m gonna put this in words that you could understand! Wait a bit since it¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve used this!¡± I dered as I started to ce a couple of papers in the typewriter. I adjusted it ordingly and I started on typing very loudly.


    *ck* *ck*


    *ck*


    *ck* *ck* *ck* *ck*


    *ck* *ck*


    *ck*


    *TING*


    *slides the lever back in ce*


    *ck*


    *ck* *ck*


    *ck* *ck* *ck*


    I continued on typing and everyone was just staring at me nkly. I didn¡¯t mind the stared and I continued on.


    *ck* <hr>


    *ck* *ck*


    *ck* *ck* *ck*


    *ck*


    *TING*


    ¡°JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G READ IT TO ME YOU LITTLE SHIT!!! WHAT I MEAN BY I CAN¡¯T UNDERSTAND IS THAT THE TEXT ARE TOO SMALL YOU MOTHERF.U.C.KER!!!¡± Oscar bellowed then Kaley turned around trying to contain herughter with Olivia. Matthew and Marisha on the other hand started to facepalm and Zeus was just happily watching everything unfold.


    ¡°Oh. But I already started¡­ *ck*¡± I replied trying my best to maintain a nk face after pressing another key.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡± he started to lose his mind.


    He almost kicked the typewriter over but then I managed to calm him down so I could read what was said in the file.


    His facial expression of happiness never changed but Kaley and the rest started from joy to solemnness. At the end of the file was a couple of pictures of her wearing her service uniform while on board one of the warsh.i.p.s from the US though it was not said which one and where it is headed. One thing is for sure though, she¡¯s still alive and the photos that were attached are the most recent ones taken just three day prior.


    ¡°Bud¡­¡± Matthew tapped Oscar¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Thank you kid.¡± Oscar said earnestly while looking at me directly in the eye.


    ¡°Well, Ana was the one who found it, thank her. I just had fun.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Thanks to you too.¡± Oscar looked at the camera on the phone.


    [It was a mutual benefit. Sorry that¡¯s all I could find. Don¡¯t you atleast have a number that you could use to contact her? You there have Satellite phones, right? I believe those still works.]


    ¡°I know that number. She won¡¯t answer that call though but thanks anyway. This thing here is enough. As long as she¡¯s still alive.¡± Oscar replied with a joyful expression.


    The people around him including me are wearing solemn expressions but he still remained jubnt. He wiped his tears off and he stood up. However, I saw Kaley and Marisha giving me that signal that someone¡¯s not saying the truth.


    ¡°Shit.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°Come with me kid.¡± he said as he started to walk outside the door.


    I was tempted to make the typewriter ck again but I stopped myself and started to follow him. The people outside wanted to ask a few things from the smallmotion but I waved them off for now. We reached his house and he went for the refrigerator first.


    He threw me one of his beers and he opened his own while I¡¯m still holding mine. He drank it all immediately then he grabbed another one and we headed to his armory. I have a faint smile on my face and then I opened my can of beer.


    ¡°Why are we here old man?¡± I asked but I already know the answer.


    ¡°You know why you little shit. I know this isn¡¯t a great exchange for what you did but I want you to pick one from my stash here alright? Heh. You know the drill. Remember the time when you first saw my armory?¡± he said as he opened his second can.


    ¡°Yep. Clear as day. However, what we have here now is several times than what you have at your house back then. Are you sure I could take anything?¡± I replied as I made a devilish grin.


    ¡°Ack! I meant to say anything but my old 1911.¡± he said immediately.


    ¡°Hah! I know you won¡¯t give that away. It¡¯s not even in here but your room upstairs. It still works, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°Of course, it still works! It¡¯s a freaking 1911! It¡¯s been on two world wars kid! Not those stic bricks you¡¯re always using!¡± he eximed after drinking a mouthful.


    ¡°It¡¯S BeEn oN tWo WoRlD WarS!¡± I replied while distorting my voice.


    ¡°Oh~ Don¡¯t start that shit with me kid!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Heh, I¡¯m not since you¡¯re just gonna lose miserably. However, I¡¯m gonna start something different though¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Hmm? What do you mean kid?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Jennifer, are you even really trying to call her? You¡¯re not, aren¡¯t you?¡± I replied with a serious look.


    ¡°What?! H-how did you even get that idea?!¡± he eximed but his reaction gives it away.


    ¡°Not important. If you¡¯re really calling her then dial her number now. It¡¯s easy to dial her if she¡¯s not gonna answer, right?¡± I replied.


    He never answered back but that silence was enough of an answer to my question. I thought my response would make him mad but it was different. A smile is still stered on his face and up to this day, I still don¡¯t understand their father-daughter rtionship. His smile has a hint of bitterness nowpared to earlier but his face really makes me wonder what¡¯s going on with him. I really thought before that his daughter is not answering his calls but turns out that it is moreplicated than that.


    ¡°F.u.c.k it. I¡¯m gonna dial her myself.¡± I said then I pulled out my Sat Phone much to his shock.

 Chapter 228

    Chapter 228: 228


    When he saw me pull out my satellite phone from my pack, he was shocked and he almost spilled his beer. However, in a very quick moment, he sneered and then he started tough after burping. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I told you kid! She wouldn¡¯t answer~! Let me show you.¡± he pulled out his phone and started to dial it manually. The tones of his keypad resounds each time he presses a number.


    ¡°Why are you dialing it manually? Didn¡¯t you save it at least?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Bah! That¡¯s one of the things I wouldn¡¯t forget even if I get amnesia!¡± he dered.


    ¡°That¡¯s not how amnesia works old man!¡± I rebutted.


    After he dialed it, he didn¡¯t make it ring even once and he ended the call.


    ¡°See kid? She never answers!¡± he eximed.


    I was so annoyed at what he was doing so I didn¡¯t even try to argue so I raised my phone again. He started to sit down on one of his workbenches as he ps his thighs in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA~!!! As if you would know her number! I¡¯m the only one who knows that! Is the beer making you stupid kid?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡± his face has slowly started to redden.


    ¡°Really~? I bet I could correctly guess that number~¡± one of my eyebrows are raised while I¡¯m smiling cheekily.


    ¡°I knew it! You¡¯re just trying to scare me! I¡¯m the only one who knows her number, kid! Don¡¯t even try! HAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡± he eximed.


    I finished the whole can and then I threw it over his trash can. I made a huff and then I continued on pressing the numbers that I could remember on my head.


    ¡°If I got it correctly¡­ it¡¯s¡­¡± I pressed the numbers in my phone but he¡¯s stillughing uncontrobly.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA~!!! Keep acting all you want kid! I know you¡¯re just trying to scare me! I¡¯ll bet any of my guns here if you could actually guess it! If not, you¡¯ll give me all of your shotguns!!!¡± he shouted with confidence.


    I ignored his rabbles but then it suddenly connected to the other line. I actually waited for a while and actually wanted to end the call but Oscar¡¯s smile warranted a facepping.


    ¡°This is Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Goodman. This is a private line from whom you¡¯re calling at and I suppose this number belongs to someone who knows me privately. To whom am I speaking to?¡± the voice from the other side said.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA~!!! Who the f.u.c.k did you hire to even talk like my daughter, huh?! They even know of her rank, HAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡± Oscar is still oblivious to what is happening. <center></center><hr>


    I gave him an indifferent smile as I replied to the voice.


    ¡°This is Sky Ishiyama, good friend of Colonel Oscar Goodman I¡¯m-¡± then I was cut off.


    ¡°PUT THAT F.U.C.K.I.N.G OLD BASTARD IN THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G PHONE RIGHT F.U.C.K.I.N.G NOW OR I¡¯LL F.U.C.K.I.N.G SEND A F.U.C.K.I.N.G WARHEAD TO WHERE YOU¡¯RE F.U.C.K.I.N.G AT~!!!¡± the voice bellowed.


    ¡°Oh shit!¡± I thought to myself.


    Before I handed the phone to Oscar, I made sure to turn the volume up so I could listen in. I saw in the corner of my eye that Matthew and Johnny had made their way towards us and were just standing by the door. I waved them over so that they could approach us to something I knew would happen but still didn¡¯t. Oscar on the other hand was still all smiles and has started to y around thinking that it¡¯s still part of an borate joke.


    ¡°Wow~ kid. You¡¯re really pulling out all the stops now, are ya? Okay, okay, hic! I¡¯ll y along¡­ Hello~ whoever the f.u.c.k is in the other line would de-¡± then it happened.


    ¡°YOU MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G STUPID ASS UNGRATEFUL LYING SACK OF HORSE SHIT ON A SALTINE CRACKER!!! WHERE THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G BITCH ASS OLD MOTHERF.U.C.KER IS HUH?! DON¡¯T YOU KNOW HOW I¡¯M CLOSE TO RAZING THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G GROUND LOOKING ALL OVER FOR YOU?!¡± the voice exploded.


    ¡°Wow~ good job on finding someone that curses like her too! Bah! I¡¯m getting tired, kid. I¡¯m gonna hit the sack and won¡¯t be attending the meeting for today.¡± Then he ended the call.


    I was shocked, same with Johnny and Matthew.


    ¡°Bud, that¡¯s a real call¡­¡± Johnny said when he saw the phone screen.


    ¡°What? Oh~ Wow~ kid. You even got these two to help you, huh? Props to that, props to that.¡± he started on pping.


    ¡°Shit. He got too much to drink. Why¡¯s he turning to Owen Wilson?¡± I said.


    However, when he was about to walk past us, my phone rang again.


    ¡°Oi, kid. Your phone actually has someone calling, huh? It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s¡­¡± then he snapped back to reality.


    He quickly answered the phone with fear and he sat upright on the chair he was into earlier. I on the other hand started to scan my eyes on his armory searching for anything that would pique my interest. However, I stopped when I heard him speak.


    ¡°H-hi¡­ so¡­ how¡¯s work?¡± was Oscar¡¯s first words.


    *unintelligible terms* <hr>


    ¡°Ahahaha¡­ you know¡­ daddy¡¯s been busy for a few-¡± he was cut off.


    *more unintelligible terms*


    ¡°Shit. I wish I could hear what she was saying!¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    *unintelligible terms*


    ¡°Yes¡­ he hacked my¡­¡±


    *unintelligible terms*


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am¡­¡±


    *unintelligible terms*


    ¡°I am¡­¡±


    *unintelligible terms*


    ¡°I will¡­¡±


    *unintelligible terms*


    ¡°He is, yes. He is.¡± He looked at me for a moment.


    *unintelligible terms*


    The three of us watching him can¡¯t help butugh on his predicament and we tried to listen in bying close to his ear. However, he immediately pointed his shotgun towards our direction so we¡¯re just stuck listening to him getting berated by his daughter. After a while, he gave my phone back to me and surprisingly, the line is still on. <hr>


    Oscar started to get more cans of beer from his refrigerator and started to drink by himself. Matthew and Johnny approached him while I was left alone in his armory. I turned the volume up and the speakers on so they could hear our conversation.


    ¡°Hello?¡± I ced the phone on my head.


    ¡°Sorry for the outburst earlier.¡± Jennifer said.


    ¡°Sure. I understand.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m usually calm but finding out that MOTHERF.U.C.KER IS STILL ALIVE AND DIDN¡¯T EVEN HAD THE¡­¡± she started to yell at the line again for a few minutes and Oscar flinches every time his name was mentioned.


    ¡°They¡¯re really alike in this way.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Shit. F.U.C.K! I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m usually calm but¡­ *deep breaths* okay, I¡¯m calm now. Anyway, thank you for informing me of his status. He said that you hacked his phone so you got a hold of this number, is that true?¡± she asked.


    ¡°What? No, I just listened for it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Listened? Care to exin?¡± she grew curious.


    ¡°Well your old man¡¯s phone has just a SatSleeve where he ces it on and the phone that he is using has the settings on where if you press a number a sound will be made. Each number has a corresponding sound to it and he dialed it in when I was in close proximity. So¡­ pretty easy, right?¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was silent.


    ¡°Hello?¡± I asked.


    ¡°T-that sounds a b-bit¡­ Anyway, I believe this number is yours. Can you give me his number as well? I don¡¯t want to disturb you each time I wanted to talk to him.¡± she asked and then I told her Oscar¡¯s number.


    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m quite free at the moment so could you tell me your situation over there? I just wanted to know if he¡¯s telling me the truth. How are your resources?¡± she said.


    ¡°Oh! We don¡¯t have oil here.¡± I replied nkly as several cans flew and assaulted my body.


    ¡°KID?!¡± Oscar bellowed.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K IS WRONG WITH YOU?!¡± Same with Johnny. <hr>


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA~!!! GOOD ONE~!!!¡± Matthew started to dieughing.


    I heard soft chuckles from the other side and she spoke again.


    ¡°Please be serious here. I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯te over there to my father since I¡¯m still in the line of duty. Our situation here is very hard and these small moments here I will deeply cherish.¡± she said solemnly.


    ¡°You could alwayse here.¡± I replied.


    The three far from me were silent.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t. Also, I won¡¯t. If we weren¡¯t out here¡­ you know the reason.¡± she replied.


    ¡°I understand. I¡¯d like to be in a warship for once though. Just call us if somehow you¡¯re close to where we are.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure. Hmm? How did you know I¡¯m in a warship?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Shit.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°You¡¯re in the navy, right? Of course you¡¯ll be in one. If you¡¯re in a different vehicle I¡¯d be surprised.¡± I tried to cover it up.


    ¡°Right. I see, I see. I¡¯m being called so I¡¯ll just call when I¡¯m avable. You¡¯re lucky you called me at this time when I¡¯m on a break. Tell that old bastard to answer it or else.¡± she said then she hung up.


    I walked up to them drinking and Oscarid his eyes on me.


    ¡°Your f.u.c.k.i.n.g ears.¡± he said.


    ¡°Heh. Gotcha, didn¡¯t I?¡± I replied.


    He drank a few gulps and he started to stare at the ground.


    ¡°Now I know how my wife feels.¡± he said solemnly.

 Chapter 229

    Chapter 229: 229


    The three of us beside him were just silent from his statement. He gave me another can which I promptly declined. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°C¡¯mon it¡¯s just a couple! I know you could handle more than that!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Have to teach a sster, old man. Also, it¡¯s not like we¡¯re sitting all this time here doing nothing. We each have our own things we do here on this side of the world. Just think of it like we¡¯re making it easier for your daughter when they reach this ce since this whole country would be clear of those things when they do.¡± I said.


    ¡°I know, kid. I was really surprised she wasn¡¯t mad at me.¡± he said as we three stared at him in confusion.


    ¡°What? I think I¡¯ve heard different there, bud.¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°Me too. How is she when she¡¯s mad then?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°Well she takes it from my old wife, those two are cranky-assdies I tell ya.¡± his texan ent started toe out.


    We conversed for a little while and then I left the three to their own devices. I didn¡¯t even bother to take a couple of his guns from the earlier bet but I would remind him of it on another date.


    I came up to the gym for our hand to hand training session in which I found out that they have already started. I teach a little bit each day and I slowly make them remember each thing by their bodies. It¡¯s one thing to know the correct moves and such but it¡¯s a different thing to make use of what you learned in actualbat. A few could integrate them easily though most woulde back to what they were used to when the bell rings or when they get hit a few times.


    The soldiers we have are easily the ones who could dominate the sparring session when they were matched up against the people I have that have little to no experience. There¡¯s a few promising ones that could evenly match with them but the numbers are too few.


    *THUD*


    Bing dropped on the floor.


    ¡°C¡¯mon big guy! I thought you could take me easy? Huh?!¡± Brian shouted.


    Bing is easily one of the people here withrger builds along with Brian but Brian has morebat experience and Bing has more body fat and his technique is a mess. Bing is receiving each strike cleanly to his face and even if Brian is at an advantage, he keeps his distance though his verbal taunts are ever present.


    ¡°Oh we¡¯ll see how well you could take a punch of mine if I connected muscle-boy!¡± Bing rebutted.


    ¡°Connect first before you start to trash talk!¡± Brian shouted back. <center></center><hr>


    Bing has learned a few boxing moves but he always throws wide swings the moment his face gets hit a few times. Brian has his guardpletely down revealing his face and even though that¡¯s a bad idea, it makes Bing swing more towards his head wildly, trying to knock him out in one hit.


    ¡°Dirty yer to the core. If he knows where Bing would punch him, dodging is easy as pie.¡± I thought to myself while watching them.


    The match was easily over and I called Chris to match up against Brian. Chris immediately stood up and wore his headgear while Brian sneered.


    ¡°You want more again, kid?¡± Brian started his usual taunts.


    ¡°Yeah, like you always getting beat up by Sky.¡± Chris rebutted much to his surprise.


    ¡°Oh~ Now you¡¯re gonna get it.¡± Brian mmed immediately.


    The disadvantage is clearly seen between the two but this is a learning experience for both of them. Chris needs to learn that a disadvantage from arger opponent could be somehow bridged by technique and Brian needs to learn never to underestimate his opponents.


    Chris started to weave his head around while silently staring at Brian. Brian slowly crept on him and he opens it with a jab.


    Miss.


    Miss.


    Miss.


    Block.


    Even if Chris guarded against the punch, it still gave him damage since his nose started to bleed. He¡¯s patiently waiting for an opportunity while throwing feints with jabs to throw Brian¡¯s rhythm off. After a few seconds, Brian threw a wide right hook and Chris timed it almost perfectly.


    *WOOSH*


    *WOOSH* <hr>


    Simultaneous right hooks connected to each other¡¯s face. However, even though Chris¡¯ counter was timed almost perfectly, it was stillcking a few things. Chris¡¯ head jolted from the impact while I noticed that Brian took it directly without trying to even avoid it.


    ¡°The difference in physique is too great.¡± Marvin said from the side.


    ¡°Obviously.¡± Ashley added.


    ¡°If he has more muscle and he used his full body to counter, there would be a small chance. Chris just tried to hit him once and tried to match his own strength in a wrong way.¡± I concluded.


    Training continued while I made a few people who asked for pointers give up in the middle. Their legs were red from continuous kicks and some of them almost limped outside the gym when the kids called us for dinner.


    ¡°Don¡¯t just watch out for your head Marvin, look down too.¡± I said as we walked down.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a chameleon, how could I do that?¡± he replied helplessly.


    ¡°Zoom out while you¡¯re zoomed in!¡± I replied as I motioned with my fingers pinching.


    ¡°What?¡± the rest who heard were confused as well.


    ¡°Hmm, it is hard to exin though¡­ take it like this then! If you kept on focusing on Ashley¡¯s eyes, you¡¯ll miss everything else that she wants you to look at as well.¡± I exined as best I could.


    ¡°Obviously. Hmph!¡± Ashley added while Marvin can¡¯t seem to respond. The ones behind him are stuck in the door.


    ¡°Hey! Move!¡±


    ¡°Marvin! Move!¡±


    ¡°Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g Lydia?! Move!¡±


    ¡°FUS~ RO DAH!¡± <hr>


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k are you saying?¡±


    ¡°Nevermind¡­ Marvin! Move!¡±


    The crowd behind us are shouting curses while Kaley next to me is silentlyughing at Marvin¡¯s predicament. We changed our clothes first before we ate a simple meal for dinner. The meeting promptly started after we ate.


    It was mostly summaries from Rin and the rest but we have a few things left for discussion.


    ¡°Now that we have formed something with the DDR Camp here, I suggest a few people at a time needs to go to that ce in the day to receive a full check up from the hospital that they upy. There is equipment there to run several tests that we don¡¯t have here currently. We¡¯ll all take those so we could see if we have any hidden illnesses or any conditions so we could prevent it, manage it, or treat it as soon as possible.¡±


    ¡°I suggest we take a few people with existing health issues first before the more healthy ones.¡± Francis said.


    ¡°I agree. They are more equipped than us though they rarely use it.¡± Jocelyn added.


    ¡°It¡¯s decided then. You have the files for each one of us and we¡¯ll start on doing that tomorrow.¡± I concluded.


    After that topic was done, Darelle and Trisha approached me with a memory card.


    ¡°Everything is in there. But I could report a shorter version. You¡¯re correct by the way.¡± he said.


    ¡°How did you know that was happening?¡± Trisha asked.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re always outside. You¡¯d notice if there¡¯s fewer of them running around.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± An chimed.


    ¡°Remember from the past week when we talked about what happened in People¡¯s Park?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh! Those f.u.c.k.i.n.g sprinters inside!¡± Bing replied. <hr>


    ¡°What about them?¡± Russel said.


    ¡°Darelle and Trisha here went there with Mark and Dong a couple of blocks away for recon. I noticed something this few days and I told them to check that ce out. Darelle?¡± I replied as I looked at him to start his report.


    ¡°Okay, we simply just went there a few hours at a time to check on the sprinters over there as you¡¯ve said. However, like you noticed from the past week, the presence of them on the highway was getting fewer and fewer. If you¡¯d check the video file on that card I gave you, the zombies roaming there got bumped up again. They¡¯re now also upying the South Supermarket.¡± Darelle said.


    ¡°How about the sprinters then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re all gathering towards that ce. Good thing we parked a bit farther.¡± Darelle replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s really weird though, I¡¯m wondering if they¡¯re really the ones you said.¡± Trisha added.


    ¡°They¡¯re not on the streets though likest time but they almost doubled.¡± Mark chimed.


    ¡°That was one scary thing to witness. They did something too, watch the video boss.¡± Dong said.


    I grew curious so I viewed the contents of the memory card through myptop and Darelle told me to forward it a bit to see what they were talking about.


    They¡¯re hunkered down a bit farther from the City Hall and the drones were the ones taking footage. A small convoy of vehicles came driving on the highway which is sandwiched by the People¡¯s Park and the South Supermarket. The moment they entered their range, all hell broke loose. I wish the drone was flying closer since we¡¯re only seeing it from an angle.


    The sprinters once again spilled out from different directions as each body smashed itself dead towards the vehicles that were approaching. The initial stters were taken easily by the vehicles but when several dozen more came stampeding, the smaller cars got toppled over while the bigger ones were unable to move due to the muck of severed and rotting bodies on the highway.


    A few managed to drive a bit further but were immediately chased down. A pickup truck swerved and luckily avoided the ones about to crash into it but a few managed to reach it as it lost some speed and was just about to elerate again. It has rotated at an angle while trying to maintain speed but a few managed to crash themselves into its sides and one jumped inside the wheels so it would get stuck inside preventing the truck from running away.


    After everything quieted down, a few came to view walking slowly towards the vehicles and nced at the ones still alive. A few of them made hand gestures and then the ones that were living started to get dragged inside the small stadium. It was the stadium they ran inside to when we started firing at them before when we¡¯re about to leave. When the people are getting dragged against concrete, the normal ones started to approach them slowly. However, when one of them got too close, it was struck down by one of its own by a backhand and it stopped moving.


    ¡°Woah, it killed its own?¡± An asked.


    One of the people getting dragged by the hair is trying to break free from its grasp. The figure dragging her suddenly smashed her on the floor a few times until she¡¯s barely breathing. Her body was easily lifted off the ground as she was waved like a sack of meat. Her screams of agony fell into deaf ears and one of her people killed himself by a gun tucked on his back. They were all eventually dragged inside the stadium while the ones gathering on the highway went back to their positions.

 Chapter 230

    Chapter 230: 230


    Everyone with us watching the video are wearing different expressions as they witnessed the few which exhibit more intelligence than the normal ones. Darelle reyed the same clip from another angle which came from a different drone since they brought two when they went outside for recon. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Dude! We need to get rid of them like right now!¡± Russel eximed.


    ¡°Yeah! What could happen in a few more days if we let them do things like that!¡± Bing chimed.


    ¡°Whoa there! What do you n to do? Just go there guns zing?! You¡¯ll die if theyid their eyes on you!¡± Mark interjected.


    ¡°But they¡¯re getting stronger and a lot of people are dying!¡± An added.


    ¡°We¡¯re still preparing the vehicles needed for Sky¡¯s n!¡± Raphael chimed.


    ¡°You guys are taking too long then! Hurry it up!¡± Bing said.


    ¡°It¡¯s not that easy big dude!¡± he replied.


    ¡°What are you even doing to those vehicles?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re making a convoy so that arger group of people can travel greater distances. Those vehicles would be also used for this dude¡¯s ns to take over that ce.¡± Raphael replied.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you guys see what happened over there?! Those vehicles got trampled by their numbers! The same would happen to us if we go in like that!¡± Brian then chimed as well.


    ¡°And some of you wanted to go in there. Tell me, what¡¯s your n then?¡± I finally said after listening to them express their concerns.


    ¡°We could use explosives again!¡± Russel said.


    ¡°Of course, that¡¯s just one part of my n. What else would you do?¡± I asked. <center></center><hr>


    They started to give a few of their own ideas which I¡¯ve already considered though a few of them sounded really impossible. Some of their ideas are actually part of what I cooked up.


    ¡°Okay, great points some of you, but, that wouldn¡¯t be thorough and we¡¯ll die the moment we go there with half a n and almost zero preparedness. There would be more victims, I know. They¡¯re growing more each day, I know. Even if those things are true, we don¡¯t go there hoping in some way, somehow, a half-baked n would work. That will go so bad the first few seconds if we didn¡¯t think things through.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What¡¯s the n then kid?¡± I heard Oscar¡¯s voice.


    The people turned around and saw the three old dudes justing out for our meeting.


    ¡°Good that you three are here so everyone in our group could hear it. I would ry this n to the groups outside that we would be taking with us but for now I¡¯ll tell you what I cooked up.¡± I said.


    ¡°Good thing they¡¯re not piss-drunk as I thought.¡± I thought to myself.


    I then started to ry several projects needed to bepleted first and the look on everyone¡¯s faces is priceless. The look of helplessness and solemness the moment they saw the video was slowly turning to hope and¡­ excitement? Even Raphael and Anthony, who are our engineers grew excited since they thought the vehicles and a few others that they were building was the whole n. The n I cooked up before has no changes even from what we saw earlier but it doesn¡¯t matter, those things would get decimated nheless if all the preparations arepleted. It¡¯s not always 100% guaranteed due to unforeseen circ.u.mstances but having those things ready could greatly improve our chances.


    ¡°So, questions?¡± I said after rying the n.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone was silent but they¡¯re looking at me differently. They always grew silent and looked at me differently after a very bad joke or an unexpected answer but this time they looked at me with high regard and deep respect.


    ¡°Oh yeah, dude. If you could get a few people that know how to weld and have a bit of knowledge in automotives from the other groups to do what we¡¯re doing would be great. They also have several vehicles there and it would help us a lot if they could fashion it the way you told us to.¡± Raphael said.


    ¡°Sure, to the people we would be bringing for that n from their ce, it makes sense to make use of their own vehicles too. However, I¡¯ll make sure that it¡¯s up to standards like always and just enough of them so it wouldn¡¯t be a clutter when we execute it. Anything else?¡± I replied as I looked at everyone.


    ¡°Uhh, hey. Kaley said earlier that you need me for something?¡± Earl asked.


    ¡°Yeah, right. I would like to record a few things. Do you have anything else to do after this? It¡¯s just gonna be a few short things.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Oh! Sure, Juan could help us. He¡¯s learning a lot from just watching me. I n to go to the gym after this but you already said it would be short so, yeah, I¡¯m good. Also, you don¡¯t have to worry about asking for favors, man. You¡¯ve done a lot for everyone here and we¡¯re all willing to give back even a little bit like this. Wish we could help the others that would identally go to that ce though.¡± he said.


    ¡°Okay then, that settles it. The only way we could help the others that would identally stumble upon that ce is to broadcast it from our radio station as a warning. There¡¯s a few roads they could take where those things could be avoided. It¡¯s not zombie free per say but their chances on other roads would be higher.¡± I said.


    ¡°A few earlier ns got pushed aside for the moment like the small pier my uncle should be building and was reced by building the huge gates that would serve as boundaries for thend we would be reiming. I could only imagine what the president¡¯s situation on managing a whole lot more people.¡± I thought to myself as we made a small trip towards our radio station.


    I brought a few more people with me as I wrote a few scripts. Juan guided them to the booth and we started a small recording session.


    ¡°To anyone who is nning to traverse the highway where the People¡¯s Park is located, do not, I repeat, do NOT attempt to traverse it since there is a huge swarm of them that is highly dangerous and they move as if they have some sort ofmand. Several people have already fallen victim and let this message serve as a warning.¡±


    ¡°This broadcast is sponsored by NordV- Your trusted¡­¡±


    ¡°Please take caution on a group that are going around kidnapping or murdering people as they go. They¡¯re a part of a group that follows this crazy ¡®father¡¯ and they would do anything for him blindly¡­¡±


    ¡°Be careful of¡­¡±


    We started on recording a few things in the booth and we also finished a few things that are specifically to make a reaction on a few people that might belong to the contacts of the cult if there are some among us. It¡¯s made with different voices but the meaning to it is about the same.


    ¡°You think that could really work?¡± Earl asked.


    ¡°Well, we make the people we have at the camps and Woonds ¡®identally¡¯ hear it. They revere this ¡®father¡¯ figure a bit too much, well, too much is an understatement to be honest. All of them are fanatics much more the inner circle they have. We dropped a few references I got from the people who spilled the beans and let¡¯s see what happens.¡± I replied.


    The short recording session ended and we all went to the gym afterwards. A few have already started but the space inside is still enough for everyone to finish their own routine. Some of the people go early in the morning after a jog so all of us are not using the facilities at the same time. Nothing is much worse than having to wait for your turn on a machine or an equipment so everyone has a different schedule.


    Kaley and I took a shower together on the 2nd floor and we watched a film with just the two of us. We¡¯reying down on the bed but Houston we have a problem. <hr>


    ¡°I can¡¯t sleep. My eyes are still open wide.¡± Kaley and I said at the same time.


    ¡°Well we slept in the morning so our body clock has gone haywire.¡± I remarked.


    ¡°Could we watch the sequel of that movie then?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Nope. Not gonna happen. Did you know I waited several years for that sequel to get on the theaters?! Wait at least a few days so you¡¯ll know how I feel! Ten years Kaley! Ten f.u.c.k.i.n.g years!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°*giggles* Okay! Fine! What else do you want to do? We could you know¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s that. However, I want to do a little something first.¡± I replied as I stood up.


    ¡°Hmm? What are we doing?¡± she stood up as well, excited.


    ¡°Something you¡¯re really good at.¡± I replied.


    When she saw me open the wardrobe, she smiled brightly. We changed clothes and we made our way to the rooftop. The people that are still at my house saw us two and they were surprised.


    ¡°Hey~ What are you two up to?¡± Chris said.


    ¡°You two look good!¡± Charlotte eximed.


    ¡°Where are you guys going?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°To the rooftop to dance. You could all join us if you like.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Oh! Let me grab my dress too!¡±


    ¡°Where did I ce my suit¡­¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯m gonna sleep¡­¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°No! You¡¯reing with us!¡± Rin pulled her back.


    ¡°But I don¡¯t have a¡­¡± Tatiana trailed.


    ¡°Oh I know! I have a dress from Woonds that I took! That could fit you too!¡± Kaley eximed.


    Tatiana was helplessly dragged by the two while I prepared a few things on the rooftop. It¡¯s only a few chairs, tables, and refreshments since the stars and the moon are brightly shining down on us. I also brought a few small speakers to y music. When the rest of them finally came upstairs, everything was prepared and the music was already ying.


    It was a surprise to see Tatiana wearing a dress with high heels and she¡¯s definitely ufortable wearing one. I saw a different side of her and the two are smiling non stop acting as if theypleted a hard mission. Iplimented them since they all look amazing and I started to dance with Kaley as I took her hands.


    The rest partnered up with each other while I enjoyed my moment with Kaley. I surprised her each time I moved in tune with her but I was almost always getting into a daze each time I watch her dance which leaves me smiling like an idiot.


    ¡°Hey! Stop smiling like an idiot! Everyone¡¯s watching you, you doofus!¡± Kaley eximed,ughing.


    Thest song was a very slow one in which we embraced each other close. We¡¯re swaying real slow as the night progresses.


    ¡°This is really nice. Thank you.¡± Kaley said while her hands are wrapped on my neck while mine are on her h.i.p.s.


    ¡°Heh, you¡¯re wee. I¡¯m d you liked it.¡± I replied as the music continued. However, she went close to my ears and she whispered something that only the two of us could hear.

 Chapter 231

    Chapter 231: 231


    She¡¯s wearing a bit of makeup on and I figured she¡¯s the one who did the makeup for Rin and Tatiana too. She¡¯s even more beautiful now as she¡¯s looking at me while we¡¯re embracing each other. She leaned over my ear and she whispered something which is selfish but really sweet. I can¡¯t help but kiss her in front of everybody. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Can I have you for myself tonight? Just us?¡± was what she whispered before I kissed her for a sweet moment.


    Her eyebrows scrunched and her lips pursed cutely.


    ¡°Hey¡­ you still haven¡¯t answered me¡­¡± she whispered again while we kept on swaying slowly.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t the kiss enough? Want me to kiss you again? And why are you asking as if you three have nned something without me knowing again?¡± I replied but I kissed her again before she managed to reply. I nned for that kiss to be quick as well but she pulled me closer so we kissed for a while longer. However, the length of it made the others notice us two and some of them started to cheer loudly.


    ¡°Woohoo!¡±


    ¡°Get a room you two!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! Can I kiss you too?¡±


    ¡°Shut the f.u.c.k up! We¡¯re just here to dance!¡±


    ¡°Oh,e on!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHA~!!!¡±


    ¡°You! When are you gonna kiss me?! I¡¯m waiting!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Y-yeah¡­¡±


    Our lips finally parted and after Kaley noticed that all eyes were on us, she blushed up to the neck. She pinched me and she gave me a cute re.


    ¡°Why are you ming me?! You¡¯re the one who can¡¯t get enough of me. *sigh* Why am I so perfect like you?¡± I said with a smile but she sunk one of her heels towards my shoe.


    The night was still lively but we cut it short not only because of the look Kaley is giving me but we don¡¯t want to disturb the people that are already sleeping or about to. The things we used were left of the rooftop for now and will just be taken care of tomorrow. However, some things needed urgent attention.


    The moment Kaley closed the door behind us, she jumped on me. I caught her and I lifted her against the wall while her hands were wrapped around my neck. She¡¯s looking at me intensely then our lips found their way to each other. I tasted her soft and sweet lips then it was immediately followed by our tongues interlocking and invading each other¡¯s space in our mouths.


    My body is pressed against her, helping in some way to keep her lifted up against the wall. Her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts are getting squeezed between us and our breaths are getting heavier and heavier. She eventually found her footing when I started to lower my kiss to her neck but her knees buckled when my right hand started to go under her dress by lifting it up slightly.


    ¡°You dirty little¡­¡± I muttered while she started to giggle.


    ¡°Well I don¡¯t want any obstructions after¡­ so I removed it when I handed Tatiana the dress that I found¡­¡± she said in a hurried breath.


    There really was no obstructions to where I wanted to reach since she¡¯s not wearing any panties underneath! I immediately felt her juices flowing through her thighs before my hand felt the wet and supple lips below. I parted the fat lips with my fingers as I searched for the small nub just above the opening. The moment I brushed it with my fingers, the embrace she¡¯s been giving me got tighter almost immediately.


    ¡°C-c-can we go to t-the b-bed? P-please?¡± she requested with a tremble in her voice.


    ¡°Why? Want me to stop?¡± I asked while I pulled down her dress just enough to reveal those huge mounds. <hr>


    ¡°N-no b-but..¡± she tried to reply but she gasped.


    They seem to defy gravity since the both of them are looking like they are still being held up by something even if the fabric holding them together was removed. They started to jiggle each time Kaley twitches after I hit her sensitive spot below. I ced my left hand on one of them while I started to suck on the pink tips of the other. One is getting squeezed almost violently while the other one is getting pushed towards her since I¡¯m trying to take in as much as I can.


    She then started to let out m.o.a.ns that fueled me even more. She tried to cover her mouth to muffle the sounds she¡¯s making but that is a grave mistake. Her hands and elbows are up so that allowed me to start on licking and kissing her underarm. I pushed her left arm away with my head as I took in her sweet scent and smooth flesh.


    ¡°HNGH~ HNNNNNMMMPHH~¡± she¡¯s still covering her mouth.


    All of a sudden, warm liquid started to squirt out of her when I felt her insides start to tighten. Her body convulsed in a few bursts and she started to pant heavily when it was all over. She pulled my face close to her so she could kiss me on the lips as she smiled while still breathing heavily.


    However, I had a small request of my own.


    We¡¯re still standing by the side of the door and I turned her around. I made her lift one of her legs up, making her perform a split, as she rested that leg on the wall high above her head. Everything below is revealed so I started to feast on the sweet, sweet nectar of hers. She¡¯s struggling to keep herself bnced while my tongue is going ces. My left hand is reaching around her h.i.p.s so I could y with the front and eat her around the back.


    ¡°MMMH~!!! H-h-hey¡­ HNNGH~ l-l-let me do you too.. AH!¡± she gasped as she started to shake once more since she¡¯s still sensitive.


    I stood up and pulled my pants down as I easily went inside her ass. I started to go slowly at first but I gradually started to go faster and faster. She failed to maintain her position but we still continued nheless. Skin is pping against skin and she used the wall to ce both her hands. I leaned closer to cup those huge mounds while I¡¯m thrusting inside her. Pleasurable noises filled the room and I still took control when I threw her on the bed.


    The ce I went inside is oozing with that white and sticky substance but I went inside there again while I pressed my body against hers. I¡¯m pulling it just enough for the tip to remain inside her tight insides while I would ram it back violently much to her liking. My face is buried between her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts alternating on sucking the pink tips while both of her hands are under her head. She started to m.o.a.n harder and her insides has gotten tighter so I finally kissed her on the lips while my thrusts became shorter but faster. She started to reach for air as she started to shake uncontrobly before I released everything inside.


    We finally copsed to the bed after that intense activity. <hr>


    We¡¯re just staring at each other¡¯s eyes as we¡¯re embracing each other under the nket.


    I had a thought in my head and I decided to ask her the same question she did.


    ¡°So, how was it?¡± I said while smiling cheekily.


    She pped my chest while biting her lower lip in amus.e.m.e.nt. She never replied from that question verbally and she simply kissed me. We started to chat and discuss a few things.


    ¡°You¡¯re getting quiet. What are you thinking about?¡± she asked after a few moments of me just looking at her..


    ¡°You really want to know?¡± I asked to be sure and she nodded.


    ¡°Well, here goes~ Your b.r.e.a.s.ts have gotten smaller by a tiniest bit. Not gonna lie. It¡¯s still huge but I noticed it.¡± I quickly said.


    ¡°Huh?! Wait, what?! How did you know?!¡± she was shocked then I started tough heartily.


    ¡°First of all, I touch them everyday. That¡¯s a really weird thing to ask. Of course, I¡¯ll notice. Besides, it would be impossible if they don¡¯t shrink by a tiniest bit despite the workout you¡¯ve been doing!¡± I replied and she started to give me a worried look.


    ¡°Hey! I love you not because of your huge b.r.e.a.s.ts but because you¡¯re you, okay! I just mentioned that I noticed them getting smaller by a bit and you looked like I would leave you for that. I don¡¯t just go for looks, you doofus!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Stop copying my lines!¡± she eximed but now she¡¯s smiling. <hr>


    ¡°Look at it this way. You have lost weight by that happening and some of your baby fats have started to get reced by muscle. Your body has started to transform these few weeks. You¡¯ve lost a few but you¡¯ve gained a lot. I see that as an absolute win!¡± I said with a huge smile while spreading my arms wide..


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the Incredib- nevermind¡­ you¡¯re always quoting different characters and you smiling like that confirms it.¡± she said while shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Hah! I love it when you get those! I could die happily if you managed to get everything else in the future.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then I have a lot of things to catch up to! To be honest, I didn¡¯t realize that the shows you used to geek about are really that good. I wished I could¡¯ve started them earlier.¡± she said.


    ¡°Heh, well, like you said before, we got all the time in the world, don¡¯t we?¡± I replied.


    She snuggled close to me and I was now cuddling her. My eyes slowly started to fall down and I woke up feeling something pleasant¡­ too pleasant.


    Something¡¯s wrapped around below ¡®me¡¯ and I immediately checked my surroundings. We¡¯re the only ones around but Kaley has taken advantage of my morning wood. She¡¯s giving me head and that caused me to wake up in the best way possible. Her hands are holding it at the base while her tongue is wrapped around the upper-half of my shaft. She¡¯s sucking intensely on the tips while I enjoyed that moment. She stopped sucking it for a moment when she saw me looking at her, awake.


    She simply smiled and said, ¡°Good morning.¡±


    ¡°What do we have here?¡± I asked, smiling.


    Instead of answering immediately, she started to stroke it real slow as I was reminded of the same pain and torture that happened weeks ago. She¡¯s giving me the same look she have yesterday and she seemed to have enjoyed herself a bit already while I was still asleep.


    ¡°Well¡­ I woke up earlier than expected and I saw this thing here in attention so¡­ I thought of you know¡­ to volunteer as tribute.¡± she said, smiling.

 Chapter 232

    Chapter 232: 232


    ¡°Did you just quote that movie?¡± I said, smiling. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Did you just got turned on from that?! HAHAHAHAH~!!!¡± she started tough while still gripping me tightly.


    ¡°Not by that quote quote! It¡¯s you saying them! There¡¯s a difference!¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay, okay. Just be quiet then and just watch me. You did everythingst night while I just enjoyed myself. I didn¡¯t even get to do this!¡± There was a hint ofining on her voice but it came across differently the way she said it while below me.


    I obliged and just rested my headfortably and closed my eyes while she did her best. I didn¡¯t even take long before I released everything. She cleaned everything up nicely by drinking everyst drop while I tried to keep myposure from the sensitivity.


    Next thing I know she¡¯s sitting on top of my face. Her intoxicating scent invaded my nose while my eyes feasted upon her bountiful mounds while I was underneath her. She¡¯s growing impatient since she started to rub it on my face instead of waiting for me to eat her up. She¡¯s already soaking wet from whatever she did before I woke up so I started to return the favor. I made sure to not let up even if she started to almost suffocate me while I enjoyed the meal in front of me.


    It was an unexpected but greatly appreciated morning experience. We took a shower and geared up. Coincidentally, our next room neighbors went out at the same time.


    ¡°You two had fun? So selfish¡­ keeping all of that for herself¡­¡± Tatiana immediately joked uponying her eyes on us.


    ¡°Hey! He¡¯s mine and so is his d- He¡¯s mine!¡± Kaley was caught off guard by what Tatiana said.


    Rin was silent but she¡¯s smiling in amus.e.m.e.nt to Kaley¡¯s reaction.


    ¡°Good thing I found ¡®those¡¯ in Woonds, all of them were new too.¡± Tatiana said then Rin blushed up to her neck.


    ¡°Hmm? What did you find inside?¡± I asked, oblivious. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Not as great as yours tthough but among them, we made use of a strap-¡± then Tatiana was cut off.


    ¡°NOTHING! SHE FOUND NOTHING~!¡± Rin suddenly interjected.


    ¡°Is that what I think it is?¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley quickly tried to drag me down the stairs as the two started a one-sided argument. I could still hear what they were saying but Kaley¡¯s ears perked up and she also decided to listen in to what they were saying.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell them about that!¡±


    ¡°Why? It¡¯s just toys!¡±


    ¡°But!¡±


    ¡°Yes, one of them is called a butt plug. We haven¡¯t-¡±


    ¡°I said ¡®BUT¡¯! Not b-b¡­¡±


    ¡°They sound the same so why are you getting embarrassed? You¡¯re the one who wanted to try them all!¡±


    ¡°SHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    ¡°Toote for that now, don¡¯t it? They already heard everything.¡± <hr>


    Tatiana pointed at us while Rin embarrassingly tried to run back inside their room. However, Tatiana caught her cor and she dragged Rin with us that was already beet red from embarrassment. I suddenly remembered that¡­ that ¡®weapon¡¯ from the Pineda residence that I saw when we went there and I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle inwardly.


    ¡°Good thing that bludgeoning weapon hasn¡¯t been found yet by anybody as far as I know. No one couldpete with that. That thing almost looks like ¡®The Prator¡¯ from Gods Row.¡± I thought to myself.


    We eventually ate our simple meal and started to work on our own tasks. Preparing for everything necessary for the n to work is a must so I gathered my group to gather one of the keyponents that would decide our survival. They have all finished eating and are ready to go out. Instead of the 8-wheeler, we brought out the truck where the steamroller and the backhoe was ced before and we drove outside.


    ¡°Bro, why did we bring this huge-ass truck? Are we getting something impossible for the 8-wheeler?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Yep. We¡¯re getting the keyponent for one of the projects needed to aplish our goal, Project Heemeyer.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? Project Maya-hee?¡± my uncle chimed.


    Then the music from the Radio Station sounded.


    ¡®Maya-hee~ Maya-huu~ Maya-ha-ha~¡¯


    ¡®Maya-hee~ Maya-huu~ Maya-ha-ha~¡¯


    We all started tough from what urred and I started to tell them the story of the man named Marvin John Heemeyer.


    ¡°Wait, our Marvin?¡± Dong asked. <hr>


    ¡°Huh? No! This is a very old dude who made a¡­¡± I started to tell the story.


    It¡¯s a true to life story. I read an article on the news before for what he did and the reasons for why he did it. A doc.u.mentary film was even made to tell the tale of his deeds. Shock and awe appeared to everyone¡¯s faces when I told them everything I know about the guy. However, the expressions on their faces grew solemn when they found out about his fate at the end.


    ¡°¡®Sometimes unreasonable men must do unreasonable things¡¯ was one of the things written on his letter.¡± I said as I ended the story.


    ¡°That¡¯s just sad at the end though.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah, it is. However, we¡¯re gonna revive the thing that he built for our use. Clearly that thing is unstoppable and the only one who managed to stop himself is himself. We¡¯re gonna expand on that and we¡¯ll see what those things at People¡¯s Park could do about it.¡± I replied.


    We arrived at a ce after going through back roads, avoiding the People¡¯s Park as much as possible. We all jumped down but there¡¯s small clumps of the bloody figures roaming around aimlessly. Our encounters with the special ones have been abysmal since we discovered them gathering at that ce. It¡¯s a stroke of luck to the people on the streets and us scavenging for supplies but it is the exact opposite to people who had the rotten luck to stumble upon that ce.


    I unsheathed my katana as I took the lead on taking on the dozen or so threats approaching us. Kaley made quick work of the ones that are clumping with her pistol. Several suppressed shots and brass casings clinking are the things we heard first before six quickly dropped to the floor. Their heads had a new feature which we called ¡®bullet holes¡¯ that made them stop moving immediately.


    While Kaley added new features, I removed existing ones.


    I held my weapon with two hands for extra leverage in cutting them down. Bowls made of bone and flesh flew in the air after each sh I made. The cut was clean and precise and anyone could glue the parts that flew off since you could identify which owns which. Their brain matter, whatever is left of it, would spill on the pavement after their body falls as well.


    ¡°Hmm. How about I do that?¡± I thought to myself.


    I started to make my cuts surgically precise, trying to figure out how much of their head needed to be removed so they drop without rising again and vice versa.


    ¡°Severing the head has already established that it would still be alive after that, but how much more could I remove before it dies?¡± I asked myself. <hr>


    There¡¯s several of them getting attracted to our direction so I started with my little experiment.


    *SLASH*


    From the right cheek entering the left cheek,


    Its body fell over and its head started to roll over to the side. I kicked it to the side since another one was approaching.


    *SLASH*


    It was much shorter than me so the cut severed its head but its chin was dismembered and arger part of its neck was left behind. I also kicked it to the side as I made more samples. We easily cleared a street of them and several bodies either dismembered or have bullet holes littered the ground. Mark and the rest made a small perimeter first before I checked the heads I collected. I wiped my de first before I examined each one.


    The first head I collected still has its eyes moving around despite the viscous blood flowing outside the vessels and flesh I cut from. It is the same situation for every head that is still alive. The second head I cut still has its tongue pping around since a part of its lower jaw is missing. I started on examining each one if there would be any discrepancies to what we already know in how they work. What I¡¯m doing is like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up version of an Anatomy ss where I figure out which f.u.c.k.i.e.d up part is this f.u.c.k.i.e.d up part I was looking at.


    At thest head I¡¯ve kicked to the side, I¡¯ve noticed something different. It¡¯s a head clean shaven but I could still notice scars on the top of it which I surmise are from a fairly recent surgery. They look like stitches from the way they are formed but that is not what stopped me to take a closer look.


    The part where the scars are located is actually pulsing.


    Kaley approached me when I pulled out my knife and I started to make a slice around the skin of its head. It was not a precise cut as I hoped but it does the job of not damaging anything inside. I slowly inserted the knife below to slowly peel off the skin by lifting it off its head. The middle area of its head is still pulsing and it was finally revealed when I pulled off the skin I carved off.


    ¡°Why is it moving like that?!¡± Kaley eximed when we saw what was inside.

 Chapter 233

    Chapter 233: 233


    My knife has dug into its scalp and the skin didn¡¯t offer much resistance when I slowly pulled it off. However, Kaley was shocked to see what¡¯s underneath it. There¡¯s a huge chunk taken from the skull and we could clearly see liquid flowing out of it each time the brain inside pulse violently. It¡¯s not thumping like a heart would. It is more like random contractions on different directions on what the skull could allow. It¡¯s vastly different from Tim¡¯s mom since she was still alive when her brain got scattered on the ground. The one in front of us is more discolored and there is like a mosaic pattern of red, ck, white and gray on some areas looking at it closely. <center></center><hr>


    I flicked to the side the piece of scalp hanging from my knife and everyone that heard Kaley exim walked closer to us.


    ¡°Boss, why is part of his skull missing?! The f.u.c.k!¡± Dong eximed when he saw the head.


    ¡°It¡¯s cleanly cut though.¡± Mark chimed.


    ¡°This guy must have his brain swelling that¡¯s why.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Dpressive Craniectomy? That operation then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Something like that.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Craniac- what? Isn¡¯t that from Tuber Sim-¡± I cut Jared off.


    ¡°What~?! Hah! No, it¡¯s not from that. It¡¯s a medical procedure when a portion of the skull is permanently removed to reduce the brain¡¯s swelling.¡± I replied, smiling. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What?! Wouldn¡¯t that be dangerous?!¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°Well, after the swelling has gone down, there would be a second surgery to rece it. However, that¡¯s not the issue now. Just look at its brain inside.¡± I replied as I shone a bit of light inside.


    You could clearly see the texture of the brain inside through the hole and the way it moves. It seemed almost wanting to squeeze out of the hole that was made but the size of it can¡¯t allow such a thing since it would be damaged when it does. However, I noticed something when we¡¯re all talking to each other.


    I started to motion to everyone to stop talking for a moment while I faced it down on the ground and obstructed its vision by dirt. The group is silently and curiously watching me while I do that. The surroundings are silent as well and after I¡¯m done, we¡¯re all silently watching the brain pulse on its own.


    It produces a squishy sound everytime it pulsed but now¡­ it¡¯s slowly getting less frequent after a minute or so of us not making a sound. It¡¯s movement is different nowpared to when we firstid our eyes on it but it is still grotesque looking at it. Our brains could move to a limited degree but not like what we¡¯re seeing at this moment.


    When it¡¯s not doing anything different, I pped my hands loudly to see a reaction from the head.


    *CLAP* *CLAP*


    *twitch* *twitch*


    *twitch* <hr>


    *twitch* *twitch* *twitch*


    It must¡¯ve heard it clearly since the brain started to pulse violently again. After my p, none of us made a sound for a few minutes again and it eventually reverted to its calm state. I did a few more things like flicking its ear, making zombie noises, blindfolding it first then revealing ourselves when it calmed down, cutting a piece of its skin, making it smell fresh blood and rotten meat, feeding it its own flesh, and etc.


    I was fascinated by the results and what I¡¯ve found confirmed some of the assumptions I have from them. All of its senses are still active but a reaction is made each time it picks up on something specially beings that are still alive.


    It could still see from what we surmise but it has a more distinct reaction to seeing humans rather than its own. It pulses violently when it sees us but it still pulses when itys its eyes on zombies though milder. What I haven¡¯t tried is making it see animals since there is none in the immediate vicinity. I first thought it just reacted to movement from just about anything but testing it a few times proves it.


    ¡°If it just reacts to movement, it would just end up chasing anything. It¡¯s not an observer block per say.¡± I thought to myself.


    It still responds to touch but its reaction is the same as simply seeing its own earlier. I haven¡¯t tried touching it with objects that have a different feeling like a hot de, rough paper, or a cold piece of rod against its skin so I have no idea yet if it would do anything different. Removing pieces of it doesn¡¯t make much of a difference as its pain receptors must¡¯ve been shut off after it turned to this.


    On hearing and taste, it just reacts to everything. For each sound it hears, it pulses and each bite it makes it pulses without difference too. I don¡¯t have any human or any fresh meat to feed it but I think the result would be fairly obvious to even try. The only thing left unanswered on this thing is how could the special ones from the People¡¯s Parkmunicate with each other. I tried different zombie impressions I could just to have some fun and it only gave me the same reactions much to the amus.e.m.e.nt of everyone.


    ¡°Could you stop with that voice?! It¡¯s making me remember what you did before!¡± Kaley eximed but she¡¯s not upset likest time. <hr>


    ¡°What? ¡®NyAaRGH!¡¯ is different from ¡®BLaaeRRgh!''¡± I replied then she kicked me.


    ¡°Ow! What are you gonna do if it actually works?! Hmm?!¡± I widened my eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna help Tatiana over there¡­¡± she left me to kill more zombiesing in from the perimeter.


    I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt and tried myst impression, ¡°All your brainz r belong to us!¡±


    Then everyone left except Jared.


    ¡°You¡¯re having too much fun bro¡­¡± he said as I started to check its other senses.


    On its sense of smell, it reacted differently with blood and rotten flesh obviously.


    ¡°Bro, does that mean we could cover ourselves with their guts or other pieces, like in the show? Some sort of camouge against them so we could go inside the small stadium in People¡¯s Park?!¡± Jared asked excitedly.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you getting excited with that for?! Unless our skin is coveredpletely before we apply anything of their bits to ourselves, we¡¯d turn!¡± I eximed. <hr>


    ¡°B-but in the-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°Yes, in the show they could. But our skin could absorb everything you put on it through there¡¯s varying degrees and I¡¯m not that sure on the specifics. I won¡¯t bet on the chance that prolonged exposure of their blood or anything else on our skin wouldn¡¯t cause anything. That¡¯s why when we go out, our whole body is covered and we clean ourselves thoroughly when we go home. Even the weapons we use gets wiped when we¡¯re outside and cleaned thoroughly when we get back to thepound. Even this knife I have here is just for sticking it to their heads and was never used to peel an apple or anything else that goes inside me.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Well now that I think about it¡­ I¡¯d rather not have those things spread onto me. The smell is already terrible from afar. What more could happen if it¡¯s near my nose?¡± Jared grimaced.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s the point. This little experiment with this head here confirmed a few of our general assumptions towards them. Let¡¯s burn the bodies here first before we go inside this ce to pick what we could use.¡± I replied as I stabbed each head that was partially moving about the pile.


    Surprisingly, there was the same exact model from which Heemeyer used parked inside which is a Komatsu D355A. My uncle parked the truck inside so we could ce the dozer onto the back of the truck where a trailer was attached. While they were starting to load it onto the truck, I went to their office to check on some things to take back home.


    There wasn¡¯t much here for consumables like huge stockpiles food and water but the office still contained a few essential items. There¡¯s a few first aid kits in the bathroom and in the main office and there¡¯s other items like fire extinguishers, water dispensers, electronic devices, repair tools, and several files. There¡¯s also a manual for each vehicle on here for how to use it and maintain it. The files here have a few contracts, list of employees with their background, ns, checks, and other paperwork that is not too important. I just took note of their names and how they look just in case I meet them in the future.


    On the corner of the office of the owner here, I found a golf bag with several clubs. I figured that I could have some use with it either as a weapon for somebody else or just for leisure so I took it with me. I also found a few trophies inside a disy case and I also took them since they were made of precious metals, not like other stic trophies simply coated by a gold-looking wrapper.


    ¡°I could have this melted into ingots back home.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 234

    Chapter 234: 234


    We swept the whole office for any other things that we might find useful. Even a loose pack of batteries and cigarettes found their way into our bags. We went outside and found that the Komatsu was already loaded onto the truck and now they¡¯re currently loading two Bobcat Skid-Steer Loaders not for taking on People¡¯s Park but for use at home. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Boss can that thing even outrun those things we would be facing?¡± Mark approached me.


    ¡°Hmm? What? No, it would be a miracle for that to happen. I doubt it could even run faster than 8 MPH.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, I thought that thing was unstoppable?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I didn¡¯t say it would be fast now, wouldn¡¯t it? There¡¯s other vehicles for that. We¡¯re just gonna rely on the modifications that would be done on it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, I see. How long did the Maya-hee guy take to do it?¡± he asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s Heemeyer, don¡¯t f.u.c.k up his name dude. On the time it took him¡­ If I remember correctly¡­ about a year and a half.¡± I replied.


    They all suddenly looked at me like I said something stupid.


    ¡°What? We have more people. I¡¯d help with building it as well. It¡¯s gonna take us a while but we would definitely be faster than the man himself. Oh! Take those things as well.¡± I said as I pointed to the crates that contained different attachments for the Bobcat for different jobs. There¡¯s a few more crates among them which are aftermarket parts that could rece the existing parts of our vehicles in case they malfunction and it needs recement.


    ¡°These two could get to ces where our other construction vehicles can¡¯t due to their size.¡± I thought to myself.


    The guys were still fastening the vehicles, crates, and the rest of the supplies we took so I went outside to attract a few that are roaming around.


    My purpose now is for clearing them to thin their numbers albeit small. It goes much easier than expected since the special ones rarely appear at all. The moment one sprinter appears, it would get immediately gunned down since you¡¯d quickly notice it approaching. <center></center><hr>


    I¡¯m making quick work of each and looking at their bloody figures each time I cut one down, it confirmed another assumption.


    ¡°Since they die if their brain gets destroyed or even nicked in some way, they never eat them. A few movies back then even a game with nts had their zombies eat brains too. In our case here, they don¡¯t since that is their lifeline. Even the ones from the Public Market leaves it, they only gorged on everything else besides that. In Tim¡¯s case, he ate his mom¡¯s brain because I think that it¡¯s because of something wrong with him mentally and not the virus itself. Not entirely sure since I don¡¯t have definite proof. I¡¯ll just take what I know now as a guideline and not a definite rule to follow in how they operate. Things always change and it¡¯s the only thing that never changes.¡± I had a deep thought.


    My head is thinking of different things but my hands are still mechanically cutting them down. I was holding my katana with both hands and I¡¯m making pieces of scalp and bone remove themselves from where they are attached to. Sometimes, I would cut them just enough to remove a small piece of their heads where a little piece of brain matter is attached to end their life.


    Kaley is still much used to using her gun instead of the wakizashi. She uses it in times there is a single one in front of her but most of her attacks with it are thrusts and less on cuts. She¡¯s having slight trouble on edge alignment but nothing that experience, training, and time wouldn¡¯t solve. She would also try to practice using her non-dominant hand in a few cases. She¡¯s making quick progress as always but learning new things always takes time even if she absorbs things more quickly than others.


    Tatiana on the other hand is still the best person above everyone else whenparingbat power. The Cold Steel hand and a half sword she¡¯s using cuts to the bodies of the dead as if it¡¯s an Albion sword like the Principe. I noticed that she has sharpened it and that¡¯s not the only reason she could cut them down like butter but also the technique she¡¯s using. It¡¯s nothing shy or showy like you¡¯d see in ys and it gets the job done much quicker. There¡¯s no extra brandishing or flourishing of the sword she¡¯s using since each attack goes straight for the kill.


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    Three bodies heading our way quickly got sniped from where our truck is located.


    Jared is having a lot of fun with his AR-10 since he could shoot faster now and he¡¯s getting more familiar with it by the day. His proficiency in guns is undeniable but he could honestly need more work on other things. Mark, Dong, and my uncle Zardon are so-so but they¡¯re a great help and they follow orders to the dot. There¡¯s a few notable ones back home and I¡¯m grateful that they¡¯re on mypound.


    We¡¯ve gathered the bodies in a corner after I checked anything that might be on their person that I could use. I¡¯d asionally find wallets, rings, bracelets, earrings, watches, phones, and much more if they¡¯re carrying a bag or a purse. It would be pure luck to find guns or any other weapon on their person since we¡¯d usually get those from fallen soldiers. Luck is not on our side this time since I only found a couple of rings, seven wallets, and three mobile phones. <hr>


    Despite that, I¡¯m more pleased to get their wallets when I kill one. Not only could I lessen their numbers to reduce the threat that they bring to us and other people, I could also update a few things in my head. If they have some sort of identification on them, I could sift them through the list of people that we have that came from Ana and the files we already have on hand. I know that I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep a record of everyone but in the case that I came across someone looking for them, I could at least provide closure.


    ¡°You¡¯re really checking each person¡¯s belongings when you kill them. Are you looking for someone perhaps?¡± Kaley asked me.


    ¡°Not really. It¡¯s soul crushing to know that some people might be looking for someone as long as it takes, giving it their all and risking their lives not knowing that they¡¯ve already died. I could at least tell them what I know.¡± I replied then she gave me a solemn expression.


    ¡°But what if the hope of finding the person they¡¯re looking for is the only thing keeping them alive? Wouldn¡¯t that be a bad case then?¡± she asked.


    ¡°So, you¡¯d rather not tell them?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well¡­ if I would be in their shoes¡­ I¡¯d like to know though¡­¡± she hesitated to answer.


    ¡°I think I¡¯d like to know as well.¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°Then where did your question earliere from?¡± I looked at Kaley, confused.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I just had that thought. I guess some people are not the same as us and might think differently or react differently if they¡¯re in that situation. Some might do things to themselves that are irreversible. I know not telling them is just prolonging the inevitable and it might even cause friction if they knew we withheld the information but¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°You just don¡¯t want to be the one to cause their suffering, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°What? N-no¡­ I¡¯d still do it but I¡¯d figure out a way toy it softly¡­¡± Kaley replied but I noticed a faint smile forming on Tatiana¡¯s lips. <hr>


    ¡°Just tell that person what needed to be said. If he epts it and moves on, then it¡¯s all good. If not and he does something to himself¡­ for example, suicide, you might think you caused it but in the grand scheme of things, you did him a favor.¡± I replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s not that easy though. Causing the death of someone that¡¯s simply been looking for someone he cherishes. I¡¯d feel bad after I did that.¡± she said solemnly.


    ¡°Well, you got me worried for a sec but you¡¯re on the right track.¡± I replied as she grew curious at my reply.


    ¡°Hmm? What did I say?¡± she was surprised.


    ¡°You said that ¡®I¡¯d feel bad after I did that¡¯ not ¡®I¡¯d feel bad so I won¡¯t do it.¡¯. Like you said, it¡¯s prolonging the inevitable. I mostly operate here *taps temple* and less here *taps chest* so most of what I do seems cold. You on the other hand, mostly seems bnced but you¡¯re more on this side a few times *fist on her chest* than I could remember. Not all our decisions that we make would make us feel good even if it¡¯s the right thing. Besides we¡¯ll be there if that person tries anything. Most of it would happen on the spur of the moment and I could easily disable them if that happens.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was silent.


    ¡°I agree, that¡¯s correct¡­¡± Tatiana chimed but I didn¡¯t know that she trailed.


    ¡°See? She agrees with me too.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°¡­her chest seems bnced but it is bigger by a bit on the other side.¡± Tatiana said with a straight face.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley and I.


    ¡°She¡¯s right though and it¡¯s barely noticeable.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°What? Did I say something wrong?¡± Tatiana was confused.


    ¡°That¡¯s what you got from that?! I thought you were listening seriously!¡± Kaley eximed while crossing her arms against her chest.


    ¡°I am. I¡¯m just making joke.¡± Tatiana¡¯s ent suddenly pops out.


    I facepalmed and tried to hold myughter as best I could while Kaley stomped her feet as she made her way back to the truck. Jared was too far to hear our conversation since we¡¯re on a street corner a few feet away.


    ¡°My joke is bad, correct?¡± Tatiana looked at me.


    ¡°N-no, it¡¯s great. It was just really unexpecteding from you. Good job. Why did you think it was bad? Did you think it was bad or you just based it off her reaction?¡± I asked while chuckling.


    ¡°Well no, I think I¡¯m hrious.¡± she seriously said then I started to lose it.


    ¡°Hah! Now that is funny.¡± I replied but she grew even confused. I tried to exin to her what I found funny but it didn¡¯t work.


    ¡°Comedy is hard.¡± she concluded.


    ¡°Of course it is. C¡¯mon let¡¯s go back.¡± I said as we followed Kaley. Everything is now loaded and we started to drive home.


    ¡°A few more things and we¡¯ll be set. Soon.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 235

    Chapter 235: 235


    While we¡¯re driving home, Kaley made use of her rifle to shoot down zombies while inside a moving vehicle. She learned what Lois was doingst time when Lois came with us but now she¡¯s polishing up everything that she knows. <center></center><hr>


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW* *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW* *PSSHEW* *PSSHEW*


    *bsshew*


    ¡°Why did you shoot it?! I was about to-¡± I cut her off.


    ¡°Hey now! Don¡¯t get agitated when you miss! Breathe and reset. Don¡¯t dump all the bullets at once. You¡¯d waste more bullets that way if you do that.¡± I exined when she started to shoot several times in session. I holstered my gun after shooting the one she was aiming for when she missed a couple of times.


    ¡°That was a hard target actually. It was also swaying its head and we¡¯re moving too at this speed.¡± Jared chimed.


    ¡°*sigh* I kept on grazing it but I was so confident I could hit it. The random way it moved made it hard to anticipate where it would move next.¡± Kaley pointed her rifle down.


    ¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s called ¡®random¡¯ don¡¯t it? It really was a difficult shot, you¡¯ll get it next time.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Says the guy who did it in one shot, with a pistol too. Show off.¡± she replied but her mood is much better.


    ¡°Hah! Well there¡¯s this beautiful girl I¡¯m trying to impress. I hope she notices me-¡± then she kicked me.


    She grew lively again and she kept on practicing the rest of the way home. Even if it¡¯s a shame we wouldn¡¯t be able to burn the bodies and check their belongings, I¡¯d rather have them dead than moving around potentially creating more victims or turning to specials. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley and I dropped by the camp first to check on the cult members. We found out that a few of our people already have their full check ups in the hospital when we saw one of our vehicles there about to leave with our people. Russel and Bing were walking silly.


    ¡°You two okay?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Bing hesitated to answer.


    ¡°My butt hurts. Is the colo- col- the thing where they examine your butt necessary?!¡± Russel eximed and the rest of the people who heard the two started tough.


    ¡°Where¡¯s An? I thought you three were always together?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well that guy has Jenny. Daisy doesn¡¯t seem interested in me¡­ yet¡­ while this little kid here seemed to be satisfied in wacking off day in and day out!¡± Bing answered.


    ¡°Hey! I have someone!¡± Russel retorted.


    ¡°Who? Your right hand? Oh, right you¡¯re left-handed, your left then? Huh? HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Bing started to choke.


    ¡°Would you like to bet then?!¡± Russel dered.


    ¡°Bet bitch!¡±


    ¡°Okay! We¡¯ll¡­¡±


    The two were left behind by the vehicle they were supposed to ride home and we also left them to their own devices.


    We walked inside the ce where the cult members are being held captive and the soldiers guarding them gave us a small salute though I waved them off. I noticed that there¡¯s a small radio ying stuff from our radio station and I surmised that they were already briefed on the n. <hr>


    It needs a little bit of acting but all the soldiers or anyone has a radio is to pretend to switch channels to ¡®identally¡¯ arrive at the father¡¯s broadcast. However, it was all a ruse to subtly have potential moles inside to reveal themselves that we¡¯ll see in the future.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so formal guys. You don¡¯t have to do that every time you see me. How are they doing?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Uhh, they¡¯re still doing nothing but try to make noise. A few seemed to have lost hope and were just staring at the distance. You could also check the cameras you ced to see things we might¡¯ve missed.¡± Another soldier named Jose said.


    ¡°I see, I¡¯ll check them on their rooms up close though.¡± I replied and I entered the room where the six were located.


    All of them tensed when they saw my face and a few started to get hysterical. The others were just showing fear when I started to check their temperature and their skin condition. I observed a few more things without speaking a word to them.


    ¡°Nothing has been happening to them, yet.¡± I thought to myself.


    One of them I saw ring at me viciously but Iughed it off. I could tell he¡¯s smiling inwardly but what he doesn¡¯t know is that I am doing the same.


    ¡°Weird being on the other side of what you¡¯re doing eh?¡± I said then I went to the next room.


    I looked at the window first then one of the soldiers said, ¡°Sir, he¡¯s been unconscious this whole time and has never woken since. We thought he was dead but he¡¯s still alive, just asleep or something.¡±


    ¡°Really? I¡¯ll have a closer look though.¡± I replied as I drew my knife and gun to be on the safe side.


    Looking at him, you¡¯d still notice that he¡¯s still breathing normally. His temperature is surprisingly, still normal and¡­ nothing seems to be happening, still the same as the other people in the next room. The weird thing right now is that he¡¯s not waking up.


    ¡°Comatose then? I didn¡¯t hit him that hard though.¡± I thought to myself.


    I checked his body too for any abnormalities but there still seems to be nothing out of ce. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, this is weird now. Why is nothing changing? Well, the question is, how many did Tim eat before he became weird in the head or was he just like that all this time? He mentioned his sister but¡­ *sigh* time will tell then. Need to wait a bit more for results or change the way I approach this thing to get a different oue.¡± I thought to myself.


    Seeing no promising results yet, I decided for us to leave this ce for now. I noticed that their dumpsters are full and some are already overflowing so I made a suggestion.


    ¡°Later, I¡¯ll send my dump truck over here so we could bury those in thendfill we made back home. Separate the biodegradables to the non-biodegradables or have people do that for you here. It¡¯s another health concern if you let all of those things just stay like that.¡± I said as he nodded.


    ¡°Oh, time to take advantage of the situation.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°The other things here that could be recycled that you have no use for, send them too. There¡¯s a scrapyard at our ce and we could make use of metals such as these casings that are scattered here or anything simr by melting them in the furnace. We could turn them to metal sheets for reinforcing some structures for example but we make them as ingots for now.¡± I said then Kaley gave me a nce.


    ¡°Yes sir. I¡¯ll talk to Sir Ferdinand about it. That will be a huge help.¡± the soldier replied then Kaley and I made our way back.


    ¡°Smooth.¡± she said when we¡¯re far from earshot.


    ¡°Hmm. I try.¡± I replied cheekily.


    We just walked our way back and we saw Raphael taking the measurements of the Komatsu we brought back. He saw us looking at him so he waved at us toe over.


    ¡°Holy shit dude, I think I want to join you when you go for that ce. I kinda want to drive this thing after we¡¯re done modifying the crap out of this!¡± he excitedly said.


    ¡°What are you gonna put on it?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Good question. What are we gonna put in this f.u.c.ker?¡± Raphael added.


    ¡°Seriously dude? You¡¯re a f.u.c.k.i.n.g engineer and you don¡¯t know the guy? Well, nevermind what we¡¯re doing to this f.u.c.ker is¡­¡± I then told them everything needed to be done. <hr>


    The original one was fitted with improvised armor ting covering key parts of it. It was made with a mix of concrete and steel sheets that are thick enough to resist small arms and resistant to explosives. It was also fitted with cameras for visibility since the whole cabin was covered by the armor ting. Monitors inside were ced so the person inside could see what was happening. Fans and air conditioners were also inside to allow himself to be cool, temperature-wise. It was said he used a homemade crane to lower the improvised armor te that he did with the intention of not being able to go out.


    There¡¯s a few more things like ports for guns, and other protections for the camera to remove dust and such but what we would be doing to what we have will be a step higher and it could allow safe exit for the person inside.


    ¡°The improvised armor ting we would be cing here should be thicker and made with higher quality materials.¡± I started.


    ¡°What, why?¡± Raphael asked.


    ¡°To protect you inside of course. You¡¯re driving this, right? Like you said?¡± I replied.


    ¡°B-but, but why? You said the original could already withstand small arms and explosions. The zombies would be mming this hunk of metal so it¡¯s enough, right?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, but¡­¡± I started to remind him what the person that would be driving this Komatsu will be doing.


    ¡°Shit.¡± he replied.


    ¡°You already volunteered dude, no backsies.¡± I said as I saw his reaction.


    ¡°Y-you¡¯re right. W-we should reinforce the f.u.c.k out of this shit. Wait, you said improvised, what are we making it with then?¡± he hurriedly said.


    ¡°I dunno, haven¡¯t tried it yet. You¡¯re the engineer here, why are you asking me?! Make something good or you¡¯ll be full of bullet holes!¡± I joked with a convincing face.


    ¡°What?! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOO~!¡± he started to lose strength in his legs.

 Chapter 236

    Chapter 236: 236


    I started tough at his outburst but I could still see him showing concern with his expression. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Dude! I¡¯m serious here! I have no idea where to start with this improvised bulletproof thing! I¡¯m gonna use the best materials here and just pile it all several inches thick if that¡¯s what it takes! It won¡¯t go through as long as it¡¯s thick enough, right?! Why did I even volunteer?! Shit!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Hah! Come with me then. I¡¯m not too sure either but we have a ce we could start with. We already know the materials he used before and we pretty much have everything here to experiment. We¡¯d need to build on his idea first and proceed with trial and error. If we make something really good we could use it for future projects.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Shit dude, I thought we¡¯d go into this blind. Hah! Where are we going?¡± he asked.


    ¡°In my room it¡¯s better to show you a few videos so you¡¯d have a general idea.¡± I replied.


    I led him to my room while Kaley went to her parent¡¯s house to check on them. I turned myptop on and started to y one of the videos.


    ¡°What are we watching dude?¡± he asked.


    ¡°What? You don¡¯t know this guy?¡± I replied then the video started.


    ¡°Okay Demolitia! Today we¡¯re gonna know if a boyfriend could stop a .50 cal!¡± the voice said.


    *CH-CHHCK*


    *Slugs rolling over*


    *GUNSHOTS*


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! The f.u.c.k is this guy up to?!¡± he started tough.


    Raphael got engrossed in watching each of the videos and I apanied him on watching everything that has to do with making improvised bulletproof armor. There¡¯s a few more videos from other people and he started to write down things on a piece of paper. He¡¯s really great at making things and all that¡¯s needed to be done is an introduction.


    ¡°What?! That piece of crap actually stopped that?! Well, materials that are too hard will sometimes be too brittle¡­ softer ones would do the trick sometimes¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Interesting~¡±


    ¡°If I start with a metal sheet then add¡­¡±


    ¡°Could I even weld those two together? Hmm¡­¡±


    ¡°What?! FlexSea-¡±


    He started to talk to himself out loud as he tries to figure out what he wanted to use to make the armor ting for the Komatsu.


    ¡°Hold up, dude. One question.¡± he looked at me.


    ¡°Shoot.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Before I start to n what I¡¯m gonna use, what guns would you be using? Are you gonna use that big sniper thingy he uses? I think I won¡¯t be able to make something to stop that unless we have Titanium that is several inches thick.¡± he asked.


    ¡°Oh, hahahaha! No, we¡¯re not using the Barrett for that but the jeep we got from the camp has that Browning M2 attached to it. However, it would also be far from where you¡¯re supposed to be. As long as it could stop a .308, you¡¯re good. Add to that only a few people would be using that round and there would be a very low chance to hit in the same spot consecutively.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can you show me what that .308 you¡¯re talking about looks like?¡± he said.


    ¡°Sure.¡± I said then I opened my armory.


    I showed him the round and he started to ask about the different cartridges. He asked about how fast each bullet travels, stopping power, prating power, and etc. We spent a bit of time discussing things and I showed him the different cartridges as examples.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?! This bullet from the Barrett is f.u.c.k.i.n.g huge!¡± he eximed when he saw the boxes that contained several pieces.


    ¡°Why are you looking at that? The bullets on this pile here are what we would be using not that on the other side. Let¡¯s start on making a small te first so we could shoot it and try if what we¡¯re gonna make could stop it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That sounds great. We should test what we make first. We could theorize and makeputations all day but a physical test could give us the answer too, much faster if we¡¯re lucky.¡± he said.


    A huge smile is stered on his face and he seemed excited to work on a new project. We got a f.u.c.k ton of resources to blow through so we started to make several te designs. A metal sheet was always the first thing up front and several materials would be in the back. It could be anything from a piece of tile, cement, steel, ceramic, ker, Plexiss, FlexTape, cast iron, and etc. but we made sure it is even all throughout so there would be no weak spots. <hr>


    Anthony and my uncle are busy making the fences for the other entrances so we two are the only ones working on it. We made several 5-inch square tes one after the other inside the workshop. We copied the existing design first to check them as well before we proceeded with our own.


    We tried using different materials on top of each other and I prepared the guns for use to test the ones that are finished first.


    We first started on using a .22 Long Rifle cartridge first and we slowly moved up until the te we made had a bullet hole from a failed attempt. The pistol rounds are easy enough to block but when we started to get into the rifle rounds, things started to get a tad difficult for the design we wanted. Making it thick as much as possible is the way to go if you want nothing to pass through but we wanted to find the sweet spot where it would be easy to make and not as thick, yet, it could stop the bullets with ease.


    *BSSHEW*


    ¡°Shit. It went through.¡±


    *BSSHEW*


    ¡°¡­again.¡±


    *BSSHEW*


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit!¡±


    *BSSHEW*


    ¡°O-oh! We did-¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a .223 you used. Is it the heat dude? We¡¯re not up to the .308 yet.¡±


    ¡°SHUT UP! AHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    *BSSHEW*


    ¡°Try again. Could you at least hit the target?¡±


    ¡°Then why did you make me shoot it then?!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Comedy.¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k you!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    *BSSHEW*


    ¡°Dammit!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s take a break for a few. I think the other tes next for testing needed to dry first.¡± I said after several failed attempts.


    ¡°Well we¡¯re slowly inching there. If we reced¡­¡± Raphael said.


    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s gonna be a bitplicated to make it once we start to mold it around the Komatsu but I think it could still be done. We could always make several pieces and stick them together instead of a huge piece to cover it.¡± I replied.


    Some of what we made had materials that needed to dry first before we got to shoot at it so we started to draw the blueprint in how we wanted the Komatsu to look like. It included where the ports for some of the weapons from the inside would be ced as well as the cameras and monitors to see where he would be going.


    The cameras outside would be covered with Lexan, a material used for windshields, visors, and etc. but is also used for making bulletproof ss. It is stronger than Plexiss and it is more inclined to bend rather than to crack. In case things go wrong and the cameras were somehow blown off, there¡¯s always the drones to see from above and radios would be used tomunicate.


    ¡°Dude, do you have chainsaws perhaps?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Hmm? Yeah, we have several in fact.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh! Can I put it inside the Ko-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°No. It only looks cool in film dude! That would be f.u.c.k.i.n.g messy getting every bits of flesh spraying out and you forgot to take into ount that they¡¯re still wearing clothes. What if it started to tangle, huh?¡± I interrupted him.


    ¡°F.u.c.k. I forgot about that. Oh! I saw a methr-¡± I cut him off again.


    ¡°Dude! We¡¯re not gonna make that thing you saw in Battlebots! We¡¯d have more problems if we set those things on fire! How long do you think the mes would start to burn through their brains before it started a swarm of ming sprinters burning the whole city?¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°WHY IS IT THAT THE TWO F.U.C.K.I.N.G THINGS I WANTED TO USE IN THE APOCALYPSE F.U.C.K.I.N.G USELESS~?!¡± he eximed facing the sky.


    ¡°Well after this, in the future, you could start to invent weapons that are more effective and still practical.¡± I said, chuckling.


    ¡°Well if you start to stop on piling work on me I could start to n one! *chuckle* Just kidding. How about you? You¡¯re sure of what you¡¯re nning on doing? That¡¯s the most dangerous thing out of all the jobs dude.¡± Raphael replied.


    ¡°But it would be so cool!¡± I cheekily said.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was speechless.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Be serious dude! I¡¯d be in an armored bulldozer and you¡¯ll be in-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. It really is dangerous considering what everybody else would be doing but I¡¯d never risk myself if I¡¯m not sure I could pull it off, trust me.¡± I replied but he still gave me a worried expression.


    Aside from preparing the vehicle itself, I gave the manual of how to operate the Komatsu to Raphael. He needed to familiarize himself with the controls and other things too so our n could work smoothly.


    Several days have passed.


    I¡¯ve spent less time going outside to gather resources since we needed to finish up a lot of projects inside thepound. I¡¯ve let Tatiana and Kaley go to scavenging runs while Darelle and Trisha would asionally do recon outside to check for any changes. Their numbers are continually growing while we make progress with all the preparations needed.


    A few projects needed to be set in ce outside as well but it needed to be installed on the day we¡¯re going to hit the People¡¯s Park, South Supermarket, and the City Hall hard. When I informed the DDR Camp and Woonds of my n to reim those ces, a few people voiced their concerns but the rewards I promised to share and we would be getting swayed some of the people hesitating.


    A few more things popped up in the days that have passed but the primary focus is to put the n into motion.


    All the things needed are prepared and the peopleing with us are carefully chosen. I¡¯ve run everyone through each scenario and I made them memorize everything before we went with the n.


    Communication is key.


    I¡¯ve made them repeat the n to me several times until they grew tired of hearing it and saying it over and over. I equipped everyone with proper equipment and made sure that they know how to operate the tools that we would be using.


    ¡°Everyone in position?¡± I asked through my earpiece.

 Chapter 237

    Chapter 237: 237


    My voice is loud and clear for everyone wearing ourmunication devices. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Roger.¡±


    ¡°Careful.¡±


    ¡°Go time.¡±


    ¡°Affirmative.¡±


    ¡°Correct.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what she said. I¡¯m always in position. Heh.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    I was looking at a tablet disying different feeds of the ce we would be hitting. I heard the flood of responses from the different teams I assigned to different ces. The sound is crisp and clear and I could easily identify which voice came from who from the earpiece. I made a very deep breath and I could hear that everyone else instinctively did the same thing.


    ¡°Alright. Send it out.¡± I said.


    ¡°Roger.¡± Thomas said.


    A few momentster, three beat-up sedans came into view, making their way towards the highway that is between South Supermarket and People¡¯s Park. The windows and the windshield are tinted heavily and it eventually made its way in moderate speed. The vehicles would sometimes bump to small obstacles as if a drunk person was driving it.


    It started to m towards a few dozen zombies roaming around the streets and the vehicles got littered with the bloody bits and pieces. However, the vehicles continued on despite the small holdup as if nothing had happened and nothing was obstructing their view of the road.


    The moment it entered their range of influence, the same thing happened from Darelle¡¯s report.


    Hundreds and hundreds of bloody figures casually roaming the open streets stopped and they all looked in the direction where the vehicles wereing from. The only ones who did nothing were the regr ones among the mix. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Shit bro, I¡¯ll never get used to this sight. It¡¯s like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d-up version of that singing show when they turn around when they like someone.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Focus dude.¡± I replied then I heard no reply.


    Like a mob of people on a ck Friday Sale, they all made a stance and they started to swarm towards the vehicles. They met it head-on and the ones in front got easily decimated to different pieces. Bloody bits became unrecognizable and it either flew towards the hood of the sedan or the bloody figure behind it. Some were running at greater speed then it tumbled across the second one, almost breaking the windshield. The vehicles made no evasive maneuvers and they¡¯re still going straight.


    The vehicles easily mowed down a few dozen figures in front but the sheer numbers of the zombies mming into them made it slow down significantly. The mangled flesh underneath it and severed limbs clogging up where the wheels were are making the vehicles slowly grind to a stop. The roars of the engines started to die down because of the rotting flesh starting to obstruct everything it reaches.


    A f.u.c.k.i.e.d-up off-road track made out of flesh and bones acted as a barrier that made the first sedan stop while the second one crashed behind it and thest one has tumbled to its side. I was still watching from the tablet everything that has been happening and there was no one talking through the earpiece.


    Like clockwork, we saw the doors from the small stadium opening and a few where we assumed the ones that had a higher position or the ones in charge walked outside very slowly. From Darelle¡¯s recon missions, I¡¯ve noticed that the same group of zombies woulde out each time there were victims. Whatever is left of their facial features I could easily recognize and they would order by random hand gestures and growls at the ones who kamikazed towards the victims to pull the bodies out.


    One of the bloody figures got pointed to by one of them and it walked in front of one of the sedans and it punched the window to try to break it. I could barely see from the camera from above but the picture is clear from the camera inside the sedan. It winded its arm backward and it actually formed a fist.


    *CRASH*


    Several pieces of ss fell to the pavement and one body was pulled out though its skin started to get carved open by the sharp edges of the ss that were still intact. A few shards got stuck to its body since some of them broke off due to its weight.


    ¡°MMMMMMPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡± the person inside shouted at the top of its lungs even though it¡¯s muffled. Even if the cameras have mics installed, we also ¡®installed¡¯ them to the people inside the sedans.


    From the past days, we found out about everyone that is involved, or should I say the contact persons which directed a portion of the father¡¯s group close to us. Turns out, it is a few people from Woonds and the DDR Camps. All of them were neers that they¡¯ve epted inside their ce fairly recently. Not even all of them were religious nuts who blindly followed the version of the father¡¯s teachings. Some of them were just simply criminals that made use of the father¡¯s name to do anything they wished.


    The criminals were easily rooted out from a couple of things. Some of their names matched some of the records from the Philippine National Police that Ana sent to me. Some of them have several criminal records and some of them are still wanted but not yet caught.


    Broken bones and pulled teeth made them talk very easily. The hidden cult members on the other hand were found out by a few of my people attending their ¡®hidden¡¯ religious meetings and seeing their reactions from hearing the recordings about their father. Not all of the religious people we have are connected to them but the one that were connected never escaped our eyes. Some of them even started to talk about the father to recruit some of my people to their cause which I quickly shut down.


    They were supposed to be quickly taken care of but they¡¯re serving a different purpose. The ones that are plenty reasonable and slightly demure are being kept in the same ce with the ones I¡¯m experimenting on while the ones that are too violent when discovered are being used as bait as of now.


    The person which is pulled out continued to scream as blood quickly drained out of its body. The second person wasn¡¯t so lucky because its guts spilled out from its stomach since his abdomen ruptured from the broken ss which attracted a few. Same likest time, when a normal zombie started to approach it, it would get killed instantly.


    The special ones have started to collect each one first before they start to drag them inside. The people we¡¯ve left to die still gave up a fight despite being full of bruises. They struggled hard but the strength of the specials is too much for them barehanded. They were easily thrown around but they were never killed outright. It still makes we wonder what they¡¯re doing to them inside.


    They have made a small circle to y with them first and that was one of the moments I was waiting for.


    *BEEEP* <hr>


    *BEEEP*


    *BEEEP*


    Three beeps sounded then a familiar sight happened.


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOM*


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*


    Project Nuggets.


    Explosions sounded one after the other as the ground quaked. I¡¯ve lost the signal from the cars since several remote explosives have been detonated. The only cameras I have left are from the drones and a few nted on the nearby streets.


    Dismembered parts were stered near the three huge craters but there are still a huge number of them left. As soon as the explosions resounded, countless rotting bodies started to spill out from the ces they were hiding in. ss doors and windows were broken as another wave of the swarm came out running.


    There¡¯s a huge mess on the highway since the explosions didn¡¯t kill everything outright. Some of them are still alive and moving even if one of them is just a head connected to its shoulder and arm. It¡¯s trying to move by wing its hand across the pile of dead bodies but it is making almost no progress with a few in a simr predicament. You could see a few hands reaching out to the sky getting trampled by the ones that havee out.


    Surprisingly, one of the special ones survived and it is scrambling its way towards the stadium.


    ¡°Jared.¡± I said.


    ¡°Bro.¡± he replied.


    *PSSHEW*


    It quickly fell sideways as it started to get trampled by the ones that are stampeding outside.


    Each and every bloody figure, sprinter or not, started to move in different directions as I quickly fixed in ce the tablet in front of my Hayabusa.


    ¡°Dude.¡± I calmly said on the radio. <hr>


    ¡°Copy dude.¡± Raphael calmly replied.


    ¡°Block the roadways where a few wouldn¡¯t get attracted! Fire at will!¡± I shouted as I got several responses.


    ¡°GOOD LUCK YOU LITTLE SHITS!!!¡± Oscar shouted as well.


    ¡°Time to control the chaos.¡± I thought to myself.


    *BEEEEEEEEEP*


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOM*


    Another huge explosion sounded from the distance and the ones that were scrambling to random directions switched directions to run where the sound came from. They¡¯re slowly making our way towards us but I¡¯m calmly waiting for the correct timing. They packed the streets and it would be impossible to go against it, unless¡­


    ¡°Raphael.¡± I said.


    Project Heemeyer.


    The huge bulldozer at my back started to move while I waited patiently. A few short moments and the bulldozer started to face the iing swarm of sprinters. I could hear their bodies mming to it and I could hear the pneumatic system he installed that would punch out several spikes from the inside. It could quickly retract and the blood from it would be wiped because of how tightly fitted it was. He sometimes fires a few shots from the ports but most of his kills are from the ones getting crushed by the sheer weight of the dozer when they got run over.


    I on the other hand started to rev my motorcycle.


    *BRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMM*


    The sound of my motorcycle attracted a few of them and the ones that have run past the bulldozer started to sprint towards me. However the ones that tried to topple the bulldozer over weren¡¯t so lucky. Not only they would get skewered, they would also face a rain of bullets.


    *PSSHEW* *PSSHEW* *PSSHEW* *PSSHEW*


    *BOOM*


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    *CH*CHHCK**


    *BSSHEW* *BSSHEW* <hr>


    Several gunshots from several key buildings that were cleared before rang out and the ones at our vicinity got peppered. Most of the gunshots are aimed at the ones at the Komatsu but several running towards me got killed as well. The Komatsu has several scratches but there was no bullet holes since the improvised armor we made finally worked. However, their numbers are still a huge problem so I twisted the handle of my bike and I started to break off when they were too close forfort. There were still several hundred following me as I started to speed up. The Komatsu still drove forwards while I drove in a different location.


    ¡°Good luck you crazy f.u.c.k.¡± Raphael said.


    ¡°Heh, you too. I¡¯ll be back soon. Just wait a bit.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Careful, okay?¡± I heard Kaley¡¯s voice.


    ¡°I¡¯ll alwayse back to you. Breathe and reset if it happens again, okay?¡± I replied then I heard a small huff.


    It was a horrifying sight seeing hundreds of them at my back as I figured out the optimal speed I could go where I would be just a little bit faster than the rest of them. I started to drop a few grenades in session to slightly thin their numbers for the little surprise I prepared for them. There are still a few people on the few buildings in my direction that are helping me by shooting the ones that have already broken off from the swarm.


    At the speed I am going, I quickly reached the destination and that ce is smoking, literally. We¡¯ve discovered from past experiments that they could still see so we¡¯ve made artificial fog by using smoke machines with either dry ice or glycerol. Everything was ced inside a dark tunnel so that it does not get blown away by the wind outside.


    I positioned my bike at the exact center of the tunnel before I ducked my head real low and made myself as small as possible. I entered the smoking tunnel and I could hear from their rapid footsteps that they are following me. However, it is not for long as several hundred of them will meet their end here easily.


    *BRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM*


    I quickly crossed it after a few seconds and my heart was about to thump out of my chest.


    ¡°Whew! That was f.u.c.k.i.n.g something else!¡± I shouted in my head.


    That was when it happened.


    The swarm that went in full force inside was met by a surprise.


    Project Iron Web.


    The moment the fog cleared out, the tunnel came into full view.


    Several metal cables are installed inside where the only ce where it is not running through is the exact measurement of me tucking my head down with my motorcycle and making myself as small as possible with only a few inches of allowance. I turned the lights on and all of them got sliced to different pieces due to the speed they¡¯re sprinting towards me.


    I believed that I got every single one of them but I made sure by picking up several molotovs on the street corner a few feet away from me which I prepared beforehand. I lit a few and I threw them inside. Their bodies started to burn when the fire started to spread and I rode my Hayabusa back to the People¡¯s Park at full speed.


    ¡°I¡¯m done here. I¡¯ming back.¡± I said through the earpiece.

 Chapter 238

    Chapter 238: 238


    I made one final nce of the pile of dismembered bodies as I fastened the mask I¡¯m wearing that has slightly gotten loose in the nose area. I saw a few hands still connected to their torsos moving about but after a few moments it would stop since I surmise the mes had started to reach their heads. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What happened? You okay?!¡± Kaley immediately said.


    ¡°Well someone¡¯s worried. Hahahaha!!! Of course I am. Gonna be a short moment. I just need to reach the U-turn and I¡¯ll be back.¡± I replied.


    I revved the Hayabusa once more and I started to drive at full speed.


    *BRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMM*


    ¡°Shit kid, so Project Iron Web worked? I thought your head would get lopped off you crazy son of a bitch!¡± Oscar shouted but I could still hear several gunshots from their side.


    ¡°Yeah, this thing could only work on them because of the speed that they ran towards me. I had an idea before when they mmed against our fence on the early days.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Raphael, how¡¯s it going on your side?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a bit loud from the constant bullets raining down on the Komatsu but I¡¯m starting to push some of the bodies to the side along with some of the vehicles strewn about. This shit is f.u.c.k.i.n.g unstoppable!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Did Project Glory Hole work?¡± I asked.


    ¡°GLORY HO- IT¡¯S PORCUPINE!!! F.U.C.K.I.N.G PROJECT PORCUPINE!!! AHHHHHH!!! F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHUT UP AND GET BACK HERE!!!¡± he started to lose it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!! A ¡®project¡¯ is our codename for an operation not an attachment! But yeah, Project Glory Hole sounded more fitting!!!¡± I eximed.


    Several snorts andughter resounded from my earpiece as I quickly made my way back. I hadn¡¯t had the time to check on the tablet since I¡¯ve got my eyes on the road. There¡¯s plenty of roads to take where a few of the specials could run off to so the other vehicles we have at hand are made to hunker down and make a roadblock to box all of them inside.


    The final roadblock has just been upied when I went the way I came from and now it¡¯s time to eradicate them as much as possible. I refilled the grenades I¡¯ve used from the crate that my uncle has brought since the 8-wheeler is the one upying the roadblock I was at currently.


    I grabbed the tablet to check on everyone¡¯s situation and most of the specials are still swarming over the Komatsu though a few have started to break off to run in different directions. The moment we killed the ones who appeared to have beenmanding them, all hell breaks loose and they are like a wasp¡¯s nest that was suddenly disturbed.


    A mix of people are riding the back of the truck which came from my ce and the two others. I¡¯ve lent some of them my weapons and they¡¯re required to give it back after what we do here. A few regr ones have started to approach our roadblock but they were quickly shot down by the soldiers from the DDR Camp. They made a small nod towards me first as I rode my Hayabusa once more.


    ¡°You going back inside? I think it¡¯s pretty secure now. Just a matter of time.¡± my uncle asked.


    ¡°Yeah. I need to make sure though. Remember, you¡¯re not supposed to hold down this roadblock, we¡¯re doing this just for a chance to take all of them out. Our main goal is the resources we would be able to get back to our ce. This ce was supposed to be a camp but was overrun so we would be able to get a lot out of it. If it gets too dicey, make a loop-around and retreat if necessary. Our lives are still the most important one to hold on to..¡± I replied and looked at everyone.


    They gave me a small nod then I radioed Marvin¡¯s group.


    ¡°Marvin, Project Iron Maiden?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Sessful sir. We¡¯ve caught about a dozen, more or less inside the closed van. They¡¯ve just funneled in and ¡®set¡¯ in ce. Now we¡¯re shooting down everything that follows. I think you¡¯ve lured most of them sir earlier.¡± he replied.


    ¡°About a dozen? That¡¯s good. I¡¯m gonna circle around the other team and check on Raphael.¡± I replied. <hr>


    In the immediate vicinity, about 30 or so sprinters clumped together, broke off from the cl.u.s.ter where the Komatsu is mowing everything down. It seemed they ¡®sensed¡¯ that what they¡¯re doing against the Komatsu has no effect whatsoever so they started to focus on the other ces.


    They started to run towards the Fire Station but a huge chunk of metal suddenly mmed against them when they reached the corner. It was the armored van we took before with several bull bars now installed. The bull bars starts from the back running across the sides up to the front where it is welded to a huge chunk of metal like the ones attached to our 8-wheeler that is shaped like a ¡®V¡¯.


    The ce where the wheels are located were also covered by metal sheets in case one of them dives inside it. The armored van could run much fasterpared to the Komatsu so the impact it made either sent the sprinters flying or the ones at the front broke their limbs to several ces.


    ¡°YOU SEE THAT BRO?! F.U.C.K!!! I HIT MY HEAD ON THE SIDE!!!¡± An shouted from the mic.


    ¡°Careful you idiot!¡± Jenny scolded him


    He was the one tasked to drive the armored van and he has already made severalps around the vicinity, slowly thinning them out. However, it isn¡¯t as efficient in terms of killing them but it served its purpose to get the attention of the sprinters and the regr ones. It could also take punishment from the rain of bullets that is raining down towards the dead.


    He travels at a set route that could allow me to drive around them in a wider arc since it would be difficult to traverse the road if it is littered with the dead. I reached below the building where Kaley and the others are located so I quickly parked the Hayabusa inside a small garage. The bullets raining down in this area stopped for a moment since I was below them so the dead approaching this ce had advanced a sizable margin.


    ¡°Open the door below. I¡¯m here.¡± I said through the mic.


    ¡°I¡¯m here waiting already bro but there¡¯s several at the door and I can¡¯t shoot them!¡± Lois said as he saw meing from the side.


    There¡¯s about 70 of the dead approaching me and on the far distance there¡¯s about a dozen or so sprinters heading also towards my direction. I also have to make quick work of the ones at the door already since a few are smashing their hands towards it. I killed the ones on the door with my katana and I faced the ones iing behind me. Now that the ones on the door are killed, they started to remove the barricades so I could get inside. <hr>


    ¡°This is gonna be close.¡± I thought to myself.


    I pulled out my Tavor and I aimed for the closest ones.


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    I was aiming through the canted red dot sight since my scope¡¯s magnification is at 6x at the smallest. My gun was tilted 45 degrees as I pulled the trigger the moment I acquired the target. My gun is already acquiring the next target at the same moment I was de-pressing the trigger for the reset. Five bodies have already fallen from me but as I pointed to the sprinter closest to me, it quickly avoided where I was pointing the muzzle and it began to move in an arc.


    I was about to aim towards it knees and shoot several times in session but it took cover against the others approaching me.


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW* <hr>


    Despite its efforts, it was gunned down from above and several more bodies followed after it.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± I said through the earpiece.


    The door behind me was finally open but instead of me going inside, Lois also came out and helped me kill all of the ones in the immediate vicinity first. He started on firing as well and I immediately noticed how quiet his gun ispared to mine since he¡¯s using the gun and ammo I gave him before. Both of our guns are suppressed and if it weren¡¯t for others using louder guns, he wouldn¡¯t be wearing ear protection right now.


    His aim was true and added to the fact that some of what he¡¯s aiming for is only tens of feet away. Each headshot didn¡¯t need to be the center of the forehead. Even if it enters its temple, eyes, or the ears, as long as it nicks the brain, it¡¯s good. Bodies started to fall towards us and the sprintersing from behind had a bit of trouble getting proper footing from the bodies scattered on the floor. Thest one who fell with a bullet hole in its head was only five feet away from us and it is wearing a government uniform.


    We went inside the building that is a few floors high which is a hotel. We barricaded it again as we headed upstairs. I switched mags now because I only managed to switch to my pistol when there¡¯s a small swarm of them running towards us earlier.


    We reached the rooftop and Kaley was busy firing shot after shot. Darelle was also here and several monitors are in front of him that show different feeds from the drones and there is a gasoline-powered generator close to him where he draws power from. A few people are also with him helping drive the drones to key locations so we could have eyes everywhere. Kaley finally saw me from the corner of her eye and she breathed a sigh of relief, the same with everyone. We two just smiled at each other then I focused my attention on the monitors.


    I tapped Darelle¡¯s shoulder and he was startled.


    ¡°F.u.c.k dude! Don¡¯t surprise me like that!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Heh, what¡¯s the situation inside some of the buildings? Especially the stadium?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Dude, there¡¯s only a few inside but¡­¡± he trailed.


    ¡°But what?¡± I asked and he gave a difficult expression.

 Chapter 239

    Chapter 239: 239


    The rest of the people at the rooftop are still taking shots towards the ones below but I¡¯m focused on Darelle¡¯s expression. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°L-let me rewind what¡¯s left of the footage earlier¡­¡± he said.


    ¡°Hmm? What¡¯s left?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯ve lost- well, you¡¯ve lost a couple of drones when we started to drive it inside the stadium. Check this here. I¡¯ll show you the footage from what survived first. They all went to the other buildings and the picture is clear.¡± he started to rewind the footage.


    The footage was running at twice the speed and getting skipped a few seconds a few times when nothing seems to be happening. I¡¯m looking at different videos at the same time and Darelle would pause the others and would bring one to regr speed if it contains something important.


    It shows us first that the drones were slowly descending after the second wave of the swarm came out of their hiding spots when the explosions erupted earlier. One feed shows the inside of the Main Building of the City Hall far from where it used to be. It¡¯s just rooms of blood and gore where each turn is just about the same following a theme. A few regr ones are roaming around and a few even started to follow the drones but failed to do so.


    Almost all of the buildings were the same inside and I¡¯m starting to think that the server located inside that I was aiming for might not be intact. However, it just makes me wonder why they all gathered at this ce if they would have better options if they roamed around with their numbers.


    ¡°Wait, why am I giving advice to what they should do? Shit. If the drives from the servers here didn¡¯t survive, Ana is the only person we could get the files from. I¡¯m willing to cooperate with her and our partnership is good at the moment but I at least want to see one hard drive surviving.¡± I thought to myself.


    The footage finally showed the ce where the server room is located but the huge ss doors and partitions are stained with blood and we could barely see anything from our side.


    ¡°Hope they didn¡¯t bump or crash into it or it would be bad. I wish we could see the situation from here at least.¡± Darelle said.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just hope for the best. Well, we¡¯d still actually need to go there physically so it¡¯s fine but how about the stadium?¡± I asked.


    Darelle gave a sigh and dismissed the other videos in yback and disyed the footage from the stadium in fullscreen. The only thing I saw earlier was the doors opening but nothing inside because of the angle. Now, however, even if it is directly in front of the opening, I could barely see anything. I could recognize barely 15 feet inside but the sunlight can¡¯t reach farther to surmise anything. The moment the drone drove inside, to shed some light, the feed got cut off. <center></center><hr>


    Another shot from another drone came but it¡¯s the same thing. The feed got cut off before it managed to record something substantial.


    I was silent.


    The third one came attached with a shlight below and it just hovered outside trying to record footage as much as it can but nothing could be seen clearly. The beam of the shlight is not strong enough to illuminate everything.


    However, it caught something.


    A glimpse.


    It¡­ they¡¯re moving really fast but their movements are different. If someone¡¯s running straight, you¡¯re supposed to see them upright or even slightly nted forwards. However, the way they moved seemed to be that they¡¯re not moving like bipedals would even if their features show that they¡¯re humanoid. The way the drone turned revealed a few of them in random locations and their heads would turn away if their faces got shone on with the light. They don¡¯t seem intent on going outside even if hundreds of the others have already spilled out. The drone caught a few glimpses of them but I think there¡¯s plenty of them still inside.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g weird, right?¡± Darelle said.


    ¡°Yeah. The ones inside have a few quirks. I bet we can¡¯t lure them outside and they¡¯re waiting for us to go inside. Let them hole in there for now while we sweep everything else outside first. They¡¯ll see how stupid they¡¯re decisions are if they ever did make one.¡± I replied.


    I looked below and there¡¯s a semi circle near the entrance where we did our work. There¡¯s still a lot in the vicinity so I ced my IWI Tavor on the ledge as I acquired several targets within range and ended their lives. A few of them are still falling out from the windows due to the earlier ones breaking them. Some of them would immediately get killed though some would still survive. They would either stand up and start on pacing or they¡¯d crawl their way just to have some sort of movement.


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW* <hr>


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    Shot after shot resounded throughout the area but it is not because of people simply being trigger happy. Each shot is carefully ced and yet it sounds like people are mag dumping. It¡¯s because there¡¯s a huge number of us shooting at the same time almost simultaneously. However, there¡¯s still a select few who get too excited while using a full auto so we¡¯d asionally hear a sound like the name of a purple Pocket Monster that bes brown when it evolves.


    Quite a bit of time has already passed since we¡¯ve started to clear everything we see outside and the roadblocks. There has been zero casualties on all teams throughout. Days and days of preparation can be attributed to it and making sure no one acts recklessly. The only drawback to this operation is the amount of bullets that we used is staggering and I¡¯m hoping it would get replenished from the resources we would be acquiring here. I started to tell everyone at the roadblocks to slowly creep inside while checking each building that is close. The goal is to check for remaining zombies still inside and the scavenging part will be carried outter.


    We¡¯re now on the final stretch and the only building that has any semnce of the bloody figures inside was the small stadium inside the People¡¯s Park. We¡¯ve resetted our positions and now most of my usual team are atop the rooftop of the South Supermarket with a few others. Some of them are still atop the other buildings but all our eyes are on the entrance of the stadium.


    ¡°Go in, dude.¡± I said through the earpiece.


    ¡°I think I won¡¯t fit inside.¡± Raphael replied.


    ¡°Just crash into it. Make the entrance bigger. Don¡¯t use lube.¡± I said.


    ¡°Can¡¯t I just get a f.u.c.k.i.n.g proper reply dude?!¡± he eximed.


    The Komatsu then made its way towards the entrance of the stadium and it mmed itself towards it. The smooth finish of the Komatsu is gone now since several bullets have rained on it earlier. Despite that, aside from a few of the spikes failing to retract, it is still in working condition. <hr>


    *CRASH*


    The initial crash took away the doors and it removed part of the walls by its side but not enough to affect the building¡¯s structural integrity. The Komatsu reversed for a few feet and it mmed itself against the entrance to make it wider. The moment the Komatsu could go inside without any obstructions, Raphael drove inside while a few debris fell from the entrance.


    A short moment passes and another hole is created from the inside. Everyone could see the w of the Komatsu partially protruding from the other side of the wall where there is no significant damage yet.


    ¡°Dude, something¡¯s been mming against me. It¡¯s making loud thuds but they can¡¯t break through this armor. I¡¯m gonna make a few more holes while avoiding the pirs.¡± Raphael said.


    ¡°Sure.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Bro, that Komatsu is like a cheat code here.¡± Jared said from my side.


    ¡°Heh, of course it is. It¡¯s just really slow and we can¡¯t take it far.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hey, look.¡± Mark said.


    *CRASH*


    The other entrance was formed after another huge crash. Several zombies came out into view that were walking on all fours. The way they moved is very unnatural and they are mming their fists towards the Komatsu. Their hands up to their wrists have already had its bones jutting out due to the force they¡¯re using. Despite their efforts, it has no effect on the Komatsu whatsoever aside from staining it with their bits and pieces.


    Some of them tried to get into the gaps of the wheels but it only made the condition of their arms worse. Their hands would get twisted and when they pulled against it, a portion of their arms would get twisted off along with the bones. It¡¯s a sorry sight to see them struggle. <hr>


    Our equipment made the raid towards the final stage almost anticlimactic because the hard part was taking care of hundreds of sprinters from the several projects we executed, not this one. They were easily sniped down and the Komatsu parked on the side after none of them appeared. Their numbers weren¡¯t that great, only a few dozen and their behavior dictates that they only want to protect their territory.


    ¡°So, the ones we killed earlier were the ringleaders? If that¡¯s the case then it¡¯s good since things would¡¯ve turned out differently if they couldmand that swarm. Better kill the leaders first then take care of the dregster.¡± I thought to myself.


    Being the paranoid f.u.c.k that I am, I still sent several drones inside to check the whole situation first before I sent our people in.


    Turns out, it wasn¡¯t for naught.


    At the stage, there¡¯s a small, lone figure where it¡¯s sitting down on the ledge. On its hands is a piece of a human¡¯s leg with several bitemarks. It¡¯s wearing a pink outfit that seemed to be for a person practicing ballet. Its legs are dangling on the ledge and it is continuously munching on that piece of leg and the blood flowing out from it is staining its face even more.


    Jared saw it from my tablet and he said, ¡°I could take that shot.¡±


    ¡°Do it, so we could search the whole ce. That¡¯s thest one, right kid?¡± Oscar said as I nodded.


    Jared took his position while I¡¯m still glued to the screen. When Jared chambered a round, the kid inside put the leg it¡¯s munching on down and looked at the camera of the drone hovering near it. The chunks of flesh fell from its mouth then its mouth moved.


    *PSSHEW*


    A hole was formed on the side of its head but I could still vividly see itsst moments especially the words it mouthed towards the camera that almost no one noticed.


    It was a simple word: ¡°Hello.¡±

 Chapter 240

    Chapter 240: 240


    ¡°Shit.¡± I muttered. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Did that just happen?¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°What? Shooting from that distance? I think you could do that too, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s a different thing. Wait, let me rewind it.¡± Darelle said.


    ¡°Hmm? What are you kids talking about?¡± Oscar said.


    A few people caught our attention and we showed them thest moments of the little kid dangling her legs. The atmosphere suddenly got cold and saw their facial expressions immediately changing though some were still of disbelief.


    It was clearly one of those things because its skin was discolored on different hues not to mention the hugeceration on its back that is showing a part of its spine. The ck substance oozing out of the bullet hole that Jared created also adds to the evidence that it was already one of them.


    However, what we witnessed earlier in that moment is something really unexpected.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?!¡±


    ¡°No way dude.¡±


    ¡°What? Are you even watching it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but¡­¡±


    ¡°IT F.U.C.K.I.N.G TALKED FOR CHRIST¡¯S SAKES!!!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Dude, can you pull out the audio? I know it would be bad because of the propellers but if we could at least hear something from it.¡± I said.


    He grabbed his huge headphones from his bag and plugged it in the tablet. He turned the volume to max and brought the footage back to the moment the kid opening its mouth. He set the speed to normal first then half the speed so I could clearly see how she opened her mouth.


    *whrrrr*


    *whrrrr* <center></center><hr>


    *whrrrr*


    *whrrrr*


    ¡°He-¡±


    *whrrrr*


    *whrrrr*


    ¡°L-¡±


    *whrrrr*


    *whrrrr*


    *whrrrr*


    ¡°Lo.¡±


    *whrrrr*


    *whrrrr*


    *PSSHEW*


    ¡°It really talked. Can the older ones earlier talk too?¡± I thought to myself.


    I carried a solemn expression and I handed the headphones to the others that wanted to hear it. Kaley looked at me for confirmation since she didn¡¯t take the headphones and I nodded to her to confirm what we saw.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s head there so we could see that up close. The ones on the roadblocks will stay put while someone calls the cargo trucks. Eyes open since the noise we made would also attract a lot of them from other ces. Grab anything we could find and we would split it all when we get back. Gather everything in front of the People¡¯s Park so when the cargo trucks arrive, it could easily be loaded.¡± I said to the groups.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll have Raphael operate the Komatsu to make a huge pile of the dead that we¡¯ve killed in a corner. Let¡¯s have a big bonfire for them instead of having different small ones. I¡¯ll head straight for the City Hall so I could check the several crates there of supplies. I¡¯ll see what could still be used.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I¡¯lle with you!¡± Jared said. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯lle with also!¡± Lois said.


    ¡°I want to see the kid.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll head back to the group on the right side of the highway.¡± Thomas said.


    ¡°We¡¯ll help on the other side of the highway.¡± Mark and Dong said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll help with gathering the supplies.¡± William said.


    ¡°Hey! Help with the bodies where the dozer couldn¡¯t reach!¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    ¡°Damn, I can¡¯t believe we survived this.¡±


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    ¡°No one¡¯s dead too which is unbelievable.¡±


    ¡°Sky was the one who lured the majority of them away, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I wonder where he broke off.¡±


    ¡°Broke off? Hah! He killed them all. I saw the pile of burning bodies in the tunnel.¡±


    ¡°Me too. I was on the roadblock where it was near.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°OI! Less talk, more work!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Y-yes sir¡­¡±


    Everyone went to their assigned positions and we did as well. We didn¡¯t bring everyone that could fight here since we still needed people back home to keep things secure and in order. Same with the DDR Camp and Woonds. Ferdinand was back at the Camp while Matthew was taking charge at home with some of my people. Half of the trainees we have and the soldiers are with Johnny and they are tasked with guarding Woonds since it is more exposedpared to our ce.


    I was with Kaley and Tatiana and we made our way to the small stadium. Everything¡¯s secure but I still have my hand on the tsuka or the handle of my katana while the other is carrying my Maxim 9. Kaley has her AR-15 ready while Tatiana has her bastard sword drawn.


    We made way for Raphael to drive the Komatsu so he could start to gather the bodies while a few others started to carry them on the side of the road so he could easily grab them with the w.


    The first thing we saw when we¡¯re closer to the stadium is the dozen or so bodies that were moving differently earlier. I flipped one over so I could examine its body. Aside from the way its arms were mangled due to their own actions, there seems to be nothing different from their bodies that shows why they are moving on all fours earlier. Its kneecaps are protruding though because it is moving that way and the rotten skin couldn¡¯t take as much damage. Tatiana sunk her sword down to make sure none of them were moving and I noticed that Darelle followed us from behind.


    ¡°You¡¯re recording?¡± Kaley asked him.


    ¡°Yeah. I wanted to capture everything here. Much better if I¡¯m up close.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Stay close and don¡¯t wander alone. We¡¯re secure here but we¡¯ll never know.¡± I said.


    ¡°Says the guy who went solo earlier. I¡¯m getting goosebumps when I watch the footage from the drones dude!¡± he excitedly said.


    ¡°Hah! Well you got me there. Send me a copyter. That¡¯s the best way I could think of to thin them out while using as few bullets as possible. Though next time on a swarm of regr ones, we¡¯d do the reverse since they wouldn¡¯t be moving as fast.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well what surprised me more is that Kaley was not worried as much as I think she would be.¡± he said.


    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m worried for him but didn¡¯t you see his eyes gleaming when he was talking about the n?!¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Hey guys, check this kid. I think something¡¯s wrong with its mouth. The inside of this ce too is something else.¡± Tatiana said from the front.


    Our casual conversation stopped and we went to her direction where the kid is nowying on its back. On the small space just below the stage are several bodies that are dismembered to different pieces the same way the kid was munching on earlier. It seemed that the parts that are torn off are ced with a bit of ¡®organization¡¯ since you could see piles where there are arms, legs, torsos, and heads stacked separately.


    The heads are smashed beyond recognition and the torsos has their organs already missing. A huge hole was in the cavity where the organs of a human body is supposed to be located but by the looks of it, it wasn¡¯t removed surgically but by brute force. The ribs are broken off where it is convenient and the skin just ps off.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k did they do that?¡± Darelle said but we three are silent because we too don¡¯t know the answer.


    ¡°If I turned to one, I guess I¡¯ll do that. Maybe a bit-¡± I¡¯m not finished with what I have to say but Kaley kicked me hard.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! Rin might too.¡± Tatiana added. <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± Darelle was speechless.


    ¡°Can you two stop?! I know you two would but¡­ *chuckles*¡± Kaley¡¯s face was red.


    ¡°Hah! Now youugh?! You¡¯ve been holding back all this time?!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°N-no! It¡¯s just too likely if it was you t-two¡­¡± she stammered.


    ¡°Heh, wee to the dark side!¡± I celebrated as she red at me.


    Darelle was shaking his head but then he started to approach Tatiana and he pointed his camera to what she was doing. Tatiana has already sliced the part of the kid¡¯s cheeks so it could let her open its mouth wider. What she did was a sight most of us are starting to get used to but the inside of the girl¡¯s mouth is really different. I then remembered what happened with the head I kept for a time.


    We didn¡¯t see it clearly from the footage but something is bulging inside its gums and throat. Darelle has his camera ready while I nced at Tatiana to cut on the side of it to see what was inside. I really thought it has grew extra parts but I was wrong.


    Blood and pus came out and it is so viscous like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up version of condensed milk. When the whole incision was finished, several dozen fat maggots came out one by one wriggling.


    ¡°Blech!¡± Darelle gagged while Kaley grimaced. Tatiana¡¯s brows were furrowed but I was more curious to see what else would happen.


    One of the girl¡¯s tooth fell off and we discovered a lot more worms squirming inside though much smaller. They¡¯re all clumped inside while moving ever so slightly. Tatiana dug her knife in between the kid¡¯s teeth and she twisted her knife so that the others would fall off. They did fell off but it was the same sight.


    ¡°Dude! Let¡¯s burn it now! That¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g disgusting!¡± Darelle eximed.


    ¡°Please!¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s pull it out. I thought we would discover from that bulge for how it talked. I guess everything stems from their brains still. This is something new though. It¡¯s gonna be f.u.c.k.i.e.d up when a zombie we would be killing is talking at us.¡± I said as they gave solemn expressions.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it. I¡¯ll pull it to the side of the road to be burned with the others.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Nah, just call a few more people. Tell them to burn those just outside and the dismembered parts too. Let¡¯s start to go to the ce where the servers are. That¡¯s the main thing I wanted to get in this ce. It took us a while but this is one major aplishment.¡± I said then she picked up her radio to contact the others. As she was doing that, Oscar radioed in.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid. I think I¡¯m about to cry! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    *bzzt*

 Chapter 241

    Chapter 241: 241


    Oscar¡¯s sudden outburst made us all tense since we all share the same channel from our radios. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oscar is really loud sometimes, doesn¡¯t he? He¡¯s almost always at full volume when we interviewed him before.¡± Darelle said.


    ¡°Yeah, you don¡¯t know how hard it is to convince him to buy that Salvo 12 for his shotguns.¡± I said then I spoke on the radio.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What did you find, old man? Oil?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°CAN¡¯T YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G CUT IT OUT WITH THAT OIL JOKE YOU LITTLE SHIT?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I HAVE NO SCISSORS OLD MAN!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Wh- What? OH!!! F.U.C.K!!! SHUT UP!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    I received several curses from him but he eventually calmed down. However, Jared and Lois were the ones to tell me what they found. Everything was still not ounted for but they found several crates of guns and ammo on one of the military trucks parked inside the City Hall. It was just what they initially found but what made Oscar flip out is that there are four RPG-7s.


    Even if it¡¯s the much older model, not the Airtronic RPG-7USA which has more updated features and is much lighter, it is still a wee addition to our firepower.


    ¡°Russel would flip out if he sees that as well. A bullet may have someone¡¯s name on it but a warhead is more a ¡®to whom it may concern¡¯ situation.¡± I thought to myself.


    They also found a few medical trailers in working condition and a couple of military jeeps that are the same we got for a trade in the DDR Camp. I intend for some of them to be ced on Woonds permanently for added protection.


    We¡¯re making our way to the main building and there¡¯s still a lot of bodies strewn about with varying states of decay. A few of them are soldiers which I always make a quick stop to check what¡¯s on their person. I¡¯d take their dog tags first before taking their M1911 pistol, extra magazine, knife, shlight, cuffs, pepper spray and etc. The belt and the shoes they¡¯re wearing are also military grade so I took what I could so it would be included in the pile. I gave a small radio call to check each body first before they burn each one so we wouldn¡¯t miss anything important.


    ¡°Dude¡­¡± Darelle trailed.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± I said while checking a body near a hotdog stand.


    ¡°Do you really ne-¡± then he was interrupted by Kaley.


    ¡°Shhh, just let him. Can¡¯t you see how happy he looks?¡± Kaley said, amused.


    ¡°B-but¡­¡± he was in disbelief.


    ¡°But what?¡± she asked. <hr>


    ¡°We¡¯ve already spent about 15 minutes checking each body here¡­¡± he trailed.


    ¡°That is correct. They¡¯re all valuable though.¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry dude we do this all the time. We¡¯re getting close.¡± I said.


    ¡°We WERE close! We¡¯re already 15 feet away from the entrance earlier but we¡¯re now several turns away from the building and I could already see Jared and the rest over there on the parking area!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°B-but¡­ loot¡­¡± I was in disbelief.


    He was speechless and he left us. He made his way towards Oscar and the rest while I happily looted everything I set my eyes on. Kaley and Tatiana were just following behind me and they would help me carry some of the things that wouldn¡¯t fit in my bag. We finally reached the main building after an unknown amount of time.


    Server rooms are usually always located in the centermost part of a building and not near an external wall, bas.e.m.e.nt, or rooftop. Doing that could protect it from water breakages, floodings, leaks, and etc. Not only that, building it in a central location also helps with horizontal cabling that woulde from this room towards the other rooms.


    The three of us made our way where the server room is but it is a sorry sight.


    I caught a glimpse of it before but it is now very far from it. There were several racks neatly ced on this ce before but some of them have fallen down and some of the cables have tangled off and it is now a mess. Bloody bits have stained some of the equipment and there is water dripping from up above to one of the server racks. It also seemed that one of those things crashed into one of the server racks since some of them have dents and scratches all over.


    I was frustrated to see it in this way after all the things we¡¯ve gone through. We gained a lot considering the other resources we¡¯ve found but the main thing I wanted to acquire is in this sorry state.


    ¡°Can we still salvage them?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, but I wish we could¡¯ve acquired everything from here in 100% good condition. Just a shame seeing it like this.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°How about the physical ones? The forms etc.? That could still be used, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Yeah! Like we did in the Police Academy before.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s a silver lining. C¡¯mon, help me with removing the things we need.¡± I dejectedly said.


    The two just looked at each other first before we quietly removed each drive. We separated the ones in perfect working condition with the ones that have been damaged. It¡¯s a long shot but I want to at least scr.a.p.e something off of it or even try to see if it would still work. The desktopputers that they have here still have the drives inside and I took it in case there would be duplicates that might exist. The huge folders where the physical copies of the files here were also taken but some of the pages have damages and some pages are stuck together.


    My mood has gone for the worse and if it wasn¡¯t for the files from the Police Station which is right next to the City Hall beingpletely intact, I would¡¯ve scared everyone off from the look I¡¯m giving and the aura I¡¯m emanating.


    All the guns and ammo were finally ounted for and its amount is just slightly above the number for what the DDR Camp at our ce has, based on what I saw. There¡¯s four military trucks, six military jeeps though two only have a .50 cal attached, four medical trailers, and a multitude of different vehicles for the taking.


    The food we acquired is also nothing to sneeze at since it is a f.u.c.k ton. Not only did we get supplies that the military trucks here also have, the amount from the City Hall and the other shops at the People¡¯s Park is staggering. Granted a moderate portion of them have gone bad already but even if half of it has gone bad, it could still feed several hundred people a simple meal for a month or so.


    There¡¯s close to 300 50kg sacks of rice, several packs of snacks, dozens of boxes of different canned goods, and crates and crates of MREs. One of the groups also found a few cases of beer and liquor in a bar at People¡¯s Park which a few of them were itching to take a sip of.


    ¡°Easy now. Hah! We¡¯ll have a small celebration back home but we won¡¯t go too hard. All of us have done something monumental and a little drink or two is a nice reward. The sooner we finish gathering everything of use, the sooner we could go home.¡± I said to everyone but all of them were still wearing excited faces.


    ¡°Sir! A moment!¡± One of the people that moved to Woonds approached me.


    ¡°Yeah? Austin, right?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Does everyone get a share from everything here?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Everything you could see here except the guns. It was already decided before by the soldiers at the camps and my group. With the food here we-¡± he then cuts me off. <hr>


    ¡°Does the people who killed more have an extra cut perhaps? I killed ab-¡± then I cut him off.


    ¡°Twenty, right? I saw the footage. To answer your question, no. We share everything equally. Well, except the guns like I said earlier.¡± I said then a few people started to look at our direction.


    ¡°Wh- How did you know?¡± he was surprised.


    ¡°I counted it obviously.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So you know, this would be easy. Please reconsider!¡± he smirked.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Austin! Lay it off man! We¡¯re already receiving plenty!¡± One of the guys named Henry said from the side.


    ¡°But why? I-¡± I cut him off again.


    ¡°If we¡¯re going by kills, more than half the shit here should belong to me. That sounds a little unfair if you think about it, right? Well, if you wanted to have food for a couple of days instead for a month, be my guest. Besides, we¡¯ve already agreed beforehand on what to do with the spoils. Maybe next time on another run we¡¯d do it that way but since we¡¯ve already agreed on something, let¡¯s follow that for now, okay?¡± I replied.


    He was speechless and a few of the soldiers were shaking their heads in amus.e.m.e.nt. His face was sour but he apologized before he followed his group to carry some of the stuff we collected. We even had to eat our lunch at this ce since there is a lot to gather.


    It took us several hours of work to gather everything we needed and the four cargo trucks we have now actually made a couple of trips back. There¡¯s still the asional sound of a gun being fired on the roadblocks that we made since we have started to attract some of them. I was dispatching body after body that woulde close and I¡¯m starting to make a small pile.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m at Five thousand. Halfway from the goal of that sniper dude.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 242

    Chapter 242: 242


    I was smiling faintly as I was wiping my de. There are several normal ones slowly making their way towards us but some of them would just fall after a suppressed shot. Jared and Lois have been sniping the ones on the farther side and it¡¯s suddenly be a contest between them, Max, and a few soldiers. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Here.¡± I felt someone tapping my back.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± I replied.


    Kaley handed me my magazines that are now loaded. I ced some of them back to my te carrier though I loaded one to my Tavor.


    ¡°Hey, I noticed that we¡¯re always using these 30-round mags¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°Yeah, anything wrong?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m just wondering why we¡¯re not using the extended mags and the drums you have back at home.¡± she replied.


    ¡°No reason particrly, I¡¯m just more used to these and we have more of them. If you want, I could let you use the extended magazines but not the drums.¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s because of feeding issues, right? But why do you always opt for them when you¡¯re betting with Oscar?¡± she asked and I went closer.


    ¡°It¡¯s an illusion, okay? He¡¯d think I made a mistake choosing them but he¡¯s forgetting that he¡¯s giving me more ammo that way.¡± I replied, smiling.


    ¡°What? Oh, Hah! Then, why do you two have them then if it¡¯s unreliable? It¡¯s heavier too because of the number of bullets, right?¡± she asked again.


    ¡°Yes. Well, it¡¯s fun to use in a range. It could intimidate people too if they know a little less about guns.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That makes a bit of sense though I really don¡¯t understand why you two arepeting to who has more in their armory if you share everything.¡± she said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a guy thing, like I answered before. I bet after this we¡¯ll be arguing about who would have the RPGs in their armory even if we could use them whenever we wanted to. It¡¯s confusing but it¡¯s a fun thing to argue sometimes.¡± I replied.


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    ¡°YEAH!¡± Lois celebrated.


    ¡°F.U.C.K!!!¡± Thomas cursed.


    ¡°That¡¯s 10 rounds of .308 that I bet If I remember correctly? Pay up!¡± Jared dered.


    Turns out, they started betting on who could shoot the farthest one. However, I cut it short since thest cargo truck is almost full.


    ¡°Hey! We¡¯re about to go home! Pull those bodies over to that pile I made and burn them!¡± I shouted. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Bro! That¡¯s a couple blocks far!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°Exactly. Quickly now! You guys too, the more the people help the easier we would be able to go home.¡± I said.


    Several groans is what I heard though they still followed my instructions.


    However¡­


    *PSSHEW*


    Kaley shot one that is much farther than the ones that they have shot so far and she looked at me with a grin.


    ¡°Can you pull that one over here for me? Please?¡± She said while smiling cheekily.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was speechless.


    ¡°Please?¡± she looked really cute but her smile was like a devil¡¯s. I was shaking my head in amus.e.m.e.nt but I mouthed ¡®I¡¯ll get youter¡­¡¯ when I was looking back at her. Her eyebrow just raised slightly while still smiling at me.


    ¡°C¡¯mon bro, you lost this time. Hah!¡± Jared was chuckling with Lois.


    Jared and the rest of the soldiers started tough when I went with them to pull the bodies to the pile that I made. I made a controlled fire to burn the bodies and I ced the wallets that I found on their person to my pack.


    Everything else was finally taken care of so we headed back to our home.


    *BRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM*


    Kaley and I were on my Hayabusa and we sped past everyone. She¡¯s hugging me tight as I reached three digits on my speedometer. I slowed down on the right curve towards Malinta and it was all a straight way until we reached Woonds. I easily dodged each stationary vehicle and each bloody figure we came across.


    ¡°This is so exhrating~!¡± Kaley eximed from my back.


    We finally arrived and Johnny saw us from atop the tform they made for the gate in Woonds. He waved us over and we removed our helmets. There¡¯s a huge wall that covers the gasoline station and the road inside while the rest of the buildings near it acts as a natural barrier though the entrances there were blocked and a few fences were also put up. There¡¯s a few more things that needed more touch ups but the ces we have reimed are far from what they looked like before.


    ¡°Damn, how fast are you two going?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Almost 200 km/h if I didn¡¯t slow down a few times. I¡¯d reach higher or to max speed if it wasn¡¯t for the obstructions.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Shit be careful at least. That¡¯s too fast. Where¡¯re the others?¡± he said.


    ¡°They¡¯reing. Maybe a few minutes. Everything is prepared there?¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s still being pre-¡± he stopped.


    Just as he was in the middle of his sentence, the gate opened and Matthew came running out with Zeus. He¡¯s already smoking a cigar and Zeus excitedly ran around me. Kaley gave his dad a hug while Matthew just nodded at me seeing his daughter safe. I nodded back while I started to push my bike towards the gate.


    ¡°You came from the bridge we made before?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, our people from back home also used it since it would be closer, and safer. Your uncle Zeidrick was left there with Conrad so at least a few people will be on watch. Oh, Ken is there too with a few. I guess they don¡¯t go out much or like gatherings like this.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m like that too since I¡¯ll only be here a short while. I¡¯ll have a drink or two but I wanted toy down in bed to rest for a moment. I¡¯lle back for Kaley if-¡± then Kaley cuts me off.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll only have a few too since I¡¯m also a bit tired.¡± she said.


    ¡°Well I won¡¯t be drinking with Johnny. Oscar will definitely grab a few cans so we¡¯re here to be ready just in case anything happens when people get too rowdy.¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°Thanks father-inw! Did you bring the rubber bullets?¡± I eximed to get a reaction.


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g- Oh! I definitely brought those. Let¡¯s see if I get to use it today. Heh!¡± he was excited.


    The convoy of vehicles finally came into view after a few minutes and they were all transported to our ce. The supplies were already divided at the People¡¯s Park and loaded to each cargo truck systematically. Thest few trips were now all for the supplies back home and the trucks will be just parked inside for now since there will be a small celebration to be conducted.


    A few moments pass and everyone is gathered at the events ce at Woonds.


    I hate giving speeches but I was once again put to the test. Everyone is looking at me while a few of them already have tes of food and beer cans or sodas in their hands.


    I looked at them first without speaking for a few moments but it was ruined by An dropping his te.


    ¡°Sorry! Sorry! Continue!¡± he eximed embarrassingly


    ¡°Hah! *shakes head* Well¡­ we kicked ass today didn¡¯t we?¡± I said with a smile then a huge uproar of cheers broke out.


    ¡°WOOHOO~!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K YEAH WE DID~!¡±


    ¡°OORAH!¡±


    ¡°WAKANDA FOREVER!¡±


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K DID YOU JUST SAY?!¡± <hr>


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°GO HOME YOU¡¯RE DRUNK!!!¡±


    I was smiling brightly and they all quieted again when I cleared my throat.


    ¡°Well anyway, I¡¯m not that really good at giving speeches but I have a few things I wanted to say. I wanted to thank all of you. If not for you guys, the projects we carried out would take us a very long time and would be very difficult to aplish. You all trusted me with your lives and I made sure no one would be made as pawns or sacrifices. I know that the life we¡¯re experiencing now is really hard for everyone and the least we could do to bring back at least a fragment of it is through our small celebration like this. Umm¡­ bringing things back to the way it used to be would take us a long time but we¡¯ll start one city after the other. I don¡¯t want this speech to be too long so we¡¯ll continue it another time. For the time being, we have drinks, we have food, let¡¯s celebrate!¡± then I raised my beer can and everyone did the same.


    I took a few gulps with everyone and cheers resounded again.


    ¡°The taste of a cold beer after a hard day¡¯s work is really something else.¡± I thought to myself.


    Everyone started to have fun. They¡¯re all mingling with one another and the horrors outside we have to face every single day is forgotten for at least this night. Even the children from our ce are getting along nicely with the kids from the DDR Camp and Woonds. There¡¯s also some interaction with the adolescents and other age groups and I think something is budding nicely between some of them.


    Looking at everyone here added to the weight of responsibility on my shoulders but that responsibility is shared by everyone present. I¡¯m not the only one risking my life, everybody is. I¡¯m not the only one making decisions, everybody is. I¡¯m not the only one facing this thing, everybody is.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to be not alone for once.¡± I thought to myself.


    I stayed there for a few minutes and Kaley and I went back home while using my bike. We used the bridge at the back of Woonds that connects to the small street towards my old house. I removed every equipment on my body and the feeling is great. We¡¯re now wearingfortable clothes and we have just taken a shower.


    ¡°It¡¯s a great feeling to have them taken off. It¡¯s cool and safe wearing them but it¡¯s nice to be light as a feather sometimes.¡± I said to Kaley.


    ¡°Hah! You don¡¯t know the feeling of removing your bra on top of all of that! You have no f.u.c.k.i.n.g idea!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Well your bra isn¡¯t your problem but those huge tits of yours! I could wear a bra and feel nothing-¡± then she started tough hysterically.


    ¡°OMG! Please don¡¯t say that! I can imagine it and I¡¯m starting to have nightmares! HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± she¡¯s clutching her stomach.


    ¡°Hey.¡± I looked at her.


    ¡°Hmm? What?¡± she looked at me.


    ¡°I think I want my wish now. If I could?¡± I replied then her smile grew wider.


    ¡°Oh really? Just me or¡­?¡± she trailed.


    ¡°I¡¯d like Tatiana and Rin to be here too.¡± I said.


    Her eyes widened and she immediately ran outside. I could hear her knocking on their door and surprisingly the two were inside also resting. They came inside with Kaley and their hairs were still not dry since they took a shower upstairs. <hr>


    ¡°Why are they all excited?¡± I thought to myself, confused.


    ¡°So we¡¯re doing this? I thought the day wouldn¡¯te!¡± Tatiana eximed.


    ¡°What? Well it¡¯s fun doing it. I wish we could do this without the wish thingy too.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh~ Someone¡¯s getting a little c.o.c.ky there~ Hah! I¡¯ll think about it.¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you have fun with us Kaley? Why would you think about it?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Have fun? They did this before?¡± I thought to myself as I was confused once more.


    ¡°It¡¯s fun but-¡± I cut Kaley off.


    ¡°Wait! You¡¯ve done it without me?!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°What? No! I didn¡¯t!¡± Kaley replied, surprised.


    ¡°But you said-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°You were there, you doofus!¡± Kaley shouted.


    ¡°What are you talking about? I was?¡± for the life of me I don¡¯t understand what they were talking about.


    ¡°We had a foursome, correct?¡± Tatiana added since she got confused to what I was saying too.


    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s not what I was talking about. I got you three here for a different thing!¡± I finally cleared things up on my side.


    ¡°What?¡± the three said simultaneously.


    They were the ones confused now but I called them over to my table and handed them a few pieces of paper and a pencil. After that, I handed them different sized polyhedrals and I made them pick up 4 pieces of the polyhedral with six sides.


    ¡°Oh no. I know what this is.¡± Kaley was already facepalming.


    ¡°¡­¡± Rin¡¯s interest was piqued.


    ¡°What? Dungeons and?¡± Tatiana was confused.


    ¡°Okay, 4D6 drop the lowest. Quick! We¡¯re ying DND!!! This is a wish, no backsies!¡± I eximed.


    Silence. Complete and total f.u.c.k.i.n.g silence.

 Chapter 243

    Chapter 243: 243


    Anyone would clearly hear the clock ticking or a needle dropping on the floor by the silence that envelops the room. Despite that, I was still smiling brightly while there was a mix of reactions in front of me. Kaley has both her hands in front of her face, Tatiana¡¯s left brow is twitching almost violently, while Rin is more focused on the stacks of books by my side. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley was about to say something but Rin was the first to speak up.


    ¡°Woah! What is all this?! Are this all the rules and such?! There¡¯s so many!¡± Rin started to flip through the first one but I handed her the yer¡¯s Handbook first since the one she picked up was the DM¡¯s Guide.


    ¡°They¡¯re not ¡®rules¡¯ per say but more like ¡®guidelines¡¯ to y it. It could be anything we want to be since the point of ying this game is how to have fun. However, I keep things bnced but if it sounds really cool I add it to my games.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh~¡± Rin started to flip through the handbook and I took a nce at Kaley.


    She now has several sets of dice in front of her and the ones I gave to her before were now reced by the most beautiful ones that I have in my collection. They¡¯re glistening brightly and she¡¯s slightly pouting while she¡¯s twirling the pencil on her hand. She saw me looking at her and she immediately crossed her arms.


    I gave her a smile and it ticked her off even more. I thought she wouldsh out but she started to pick up the other copy of the yer¡¯s Handbook in front of her. She started to read it quietly and she started to ask a few questions of her own.


    ¡°This is heaven if there was one~!¡± I thought to myself.


    I was so ecstatic seeing her indulge me but I seemed to have forgotten someone.


    Tatiana was now like a statue by Rin¡¯s side though her eyebrows couldn¡¯t stop twitching. However, Rin snapped her back to reality and she started to ry what she learned so far. They didn¡¯t make outrageous characters and most of what they did are simple ones and not as fleshed outpared to the ones that have done it several times already.


    All of them are humans and they decided to have them look like themselves. Kaley decided to be a Bard, Rin a Wizard, and Tatiana a Fighter. I created a DMPC for them that would always follow them around which is a Cleric. A fight almost erupted when we rolled for our stats.


    ¡°Kaley! That¡¯s the 4th 18 points that you have! You¡¯re cheating!¡± Rin eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Tatiana loses it.


    ¡°Roll it again!¡± Rin shouted.


    ¡°Why would I?!¡± Kaley was shaking her head.


    ¡°Because it¡¯s too highpared to mine!¡± Rin was getting passionate.


    ¡°Just because you have single digits for all your stats doesn¡¯t mean that I need to adjust mine!¡± Kaley rebutted.


    ¡°Tatiana, can you roll for yours now?¡± I tried to get Tatiana¡¯s attention.


    ¡°Oh, ok.¡± she replied


    *rolls dice*


    ¡°6¡­ 12¡­ 14¡­ no¡­18? Is that correct? I¡¯ll remove the lowest number, correct?¡± Tatiana looked at me and I nodded.


    ¡°What?! You got 18 too?! Sky! Can I reroll mine?! Please~?¡± Rin begged. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hey! That¡¯s unfair!¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°Wait a minute¡­ Sky! Why are all of yours 18?! Are you cheating too?!¡± Rin was shocked again.


    ¡°All of you saw me roll it in front of you! How could I cheat?!¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, he¡¯s lying!¡± Kaley shouted.


    ¡°Fine! I kinda cheated since I know a way to throw the dice to make the numberse as I wanted it to¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°I knew it! Let¡¯s use that dice tower thingy and start over!¡± Rin shouted.


    ¡°What?! But I didn¡¯t cheat on mine!¡± Kaley was furious.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    To avoid more fights, everyone agreed to use the point buy method where there is a set number of points already given and we could increase it ording to what we wanted by using another set of points to remove the randomness.


    A few hourster.


    ¡°We¡¯re done? Is this DND?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°What? No! You¡¯ve only finished your characters, we¡¯ve still got to use them to y the game!¡± I exined.


    ¡°What?! I thought¡­ okay¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°C¡¯mon now! Let¡¯s start it already! I¡¯m excited!¡± Rin eximed.


    Like a very unlikely coincidence that would only happen to an MC of a novel, I miraculously have the exact minis of our characters already printed and painted ready for use. Even the mat and the other minis for the terrain and everything else we would be using is already prepared in advance.


    ¡°Wait, h-how did you?¡± they looked at me weirdly.


    ¡°Hmm? Better to have and not need than to need and not have.¡± I nodded like an old wise man.


    ¡°B-but t-those-¡± I cut Kaley off.


    ¡°Shhh~ Just let it happen~ Just let it happen~¡± I said and they¡¯re starting to get creeped out.


    I exined a few things before we started and we brought a few snacks and drinks for us since a game of DND couldst a few hours. I cracked my knuckles and my neck as I looked at the three.


    ¡°You three epted a bounty posted on the board of the guild you have been a member of for several years. The bounty requires the extermination of several monsters that have appeared inside a temple located in the east, a few days of travel from where you are currently. A map has been drawn and part of the deal is to apany a cleric from a different branch towards the temple so he could assist you three in your journey. Uponpletion, 500 gold would be rewarded and you would gain the favor of the Temple of Siskri. You are now on your way to the temple by way of a carriage. What do you do?¡± I started as I looked at them.


    ¡°Umm, we could do anything, right?¡± Rin asked and I nodded. <hr>


    ¡°Oh! What does the Cleric look like?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say that he looks like me but a few years older. He¡¯s d in armor and he has a mace and he has a shield that seems to have markings of the deity that he is serving. His back is turned against you three since he¡¯s driving the cart that you¡¯re currently on.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Cool! How about our surroundings! What does it look like?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°You¡¯re currently traversing a path in a rainforest and it seems that you¡¯re pretty close to your destination.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, about how long?¡± Tatiana asked but I handed her a drawn map.


    ¡°You even prepared this far?! Hah! Now I¡¯m slowly getting into it! Where are we? Here, correct?¡± she replied and checked the map.


    Rin borrowed the map from Tatiana and she said, ¡°On the speed of our horses, a few minutes.¡±


    ¡°Can I talk to the Cleric? Is his name Sky too?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Close, it¡¯s Sky the II, you pronounce it differently. What do you say?¡± I replied and she almost attacked me in real life.


    ¡°S-Sky the II¡­ ¡± then I cut her off.


    ¡°Just as you were about to catch his attention, the carriage stopped. *deep voice* A bit of silence goes a long way. We¡¯d need to walk the rest of the way since I don¡¯t want to risk the chances of them discovering us first.¡± I said.


    ¡°That deep voice is so cool, and hot.¡± she replied.


    Several hours have already passed and we didn¡¯t notice that it is reallyte from the fun that we¡¯re having. They started to do a different voice for their characters and I tried my best to be like Mercer himself.


    ¡°I¡¯ll attack the ugly goblin with my spear!¡± Tatiana enthusiastically shouted.


    ¡°Roll for attack.¡± I replied.


    ¡°This D20 is what I¡¯ll need to use, correct?¡± she asked and I nodded.


    *Rolls D20*


    ¡°14? Did I hit it?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Tatiana! Don¡¯t forget to add those too!¡± Kaley excitedly said.


    ¡°Oh, right! 17~?¡± she looked at me.


    ¡°Did it hit?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°It hits. Roll for damage.¡± I smiled when she celebrated. <hr>


    It¡¯s a very simple game and I can¡¯t believe how much they¡¯re enjoying it. Another fight almost broke out when dividing the loot but nothing a good old coin toss wouldn¡¯t solve.


    ¡°What did you get?¡±


    ¡°Natural 1¡­¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! That¡¯s called the ¡®Wheaton Curse¡¯ Rin.¡±


    ¡°Who is that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll press the switch!¡±


    ¡°Nothing happens¡­¡±


    ¡°*high pitched voice* I¡¯m innocent!¡±


    ¡°I think he¡¯s lying!¡±


    ¡°Use an insight check, not your psychic powers! Sheesh!¡±


    ¡°B-but!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s metagaming!¡±


    ¡°7¡­¡±


    ¡°Your character believes what the cult member said¡­¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K!!!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll check this chair again!¡±


    ¡°For the 100th time! It¡¯s just a chair!¡±


    ¡°NATURAL 20~!!!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll throw a rock before entering the passage¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll sing a tune to calm her down¡­¡±


    ¡°12 piercing?¡±


    ¡°How do you want to do this?¡± <hr>


    The simple temple monster extermination became a full-on dungeon dive since I had to improvise a lot of things. They¡¯ve leveled up a few times and I was surprised by some of their choices. They finally killed the end boss which is located at the deepest part of the dungeon. It was already past midnight and all the snacks we brought have been eaten already along with the drinks we have. They¡¯ve divided the loot among themselves and as I was about to end the game, Kaley stopped me.


    ¡°We could do a bit more. Don¡¯t stop yet.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Hey! Easy now! It¡¯s already 2 AM if none of you noticed!¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?! Oh, it really is!¡± Rin eximed.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve killed thest boss, correct? This was fun as hell!¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Yep. We could do this some other time if you wanted to but I want to thank you for-¡± then I was cut off.


    ¡°I started to undress.¡± Kaley said in character.


    ¡°Oh shit.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Ohh~ Why didn¡¯t we think of this earlier? My cha- I do too.¡± Tatiana said, smiling.


    ¡°Me too!¡± Rin eximed.


    I was speechless. They¡¯re looking at me, waiting for my reaction and what I was about to say next.


    ¡°I thought the DM narrates the things that are happening? Hmm?¡± Kaley¡¯s eyebrow is raised and she¡¯s biting her lip.


    ¡°Okay, you asked for it. Amidst the blood and gore beneath your feet-¡± Rin cuts me off.


    ¡°Prestidigitation. It would clean everything, right?¡± Rin smiled.


    ¡°Oh shit! F.u.c.k! Yes, yes it would.¡± I eximed.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! Good one!¡± Tatiana eximed.


    ¡°I cast suggestion on Sky.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°What do you say?¡± I asked, smiling.


    ¡°I think you already know¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°Roll for initiative?¡± Tatiana chimed and we started.


    Kaley sat in front of me and she wrapped her hands around my head. She ced my hands on her back and then she started to kiss me while the two behind were watching. She presses her body against me each breath she takes and her scent is intoxicating.


    ¡°This is gonna be a long~ early morning~¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 244

    Chapter 244: 244


    Kaley and I were starting to get passionate and we continued on doing kissing as if Rin and Tatiana weren¡¯t behind us. Her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts are pressed against my body but my left hand is hugging her back while the other is caressing her ass. My thing is already hard inside my shorts and I could feel her lower lips grinding against it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We¡¯re here too, you two! Can you even hear us?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Hah! I still want to y for a bit but looking at them like this¡­ I¡­¡± Rin trailed.


    ¡°Well¡­ they¡¯re like meant for each other or something. Oh! D¡¯you want to bring ¡®those¡¯ here?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Oh, ¡®that¡¯ thing?! I¡¯ll be the first to use it though, deal?¡± Rin said and Tatiana agreed.


    I could still hear what they¡¯re talking about but we stopped kissing each other when the door quickly opened and closed.


    Kaley was still looking at me intensely but then she turned around and looked at Tatiana while my hands started to feel her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts from underneath her clothing. She¡¯s not wearing anything underneath and I slowly lifted her shirt just enough to see her underboob. I was fondling them gently but I suddenly pinched one of the tips.


    ¡°Ah! What are you two talking about?¡± Kaley gasped before asking Tatiana.


    ¡°Hmm? Something nice. Aren¡¯t we gonna move to the bed?¡± Tatiana replied.


    Kaley motioned for us to switch to the bed while I removed my shirt and brought out the box of condoms. <center></center><hr>


    Tatiana was already n.a.k.e.d when she reached the bed and Kaley¡¯s eyes were glued to her body. Kaley kissed her for a short moment then she pushed her down. Tatiana started to ce her fingers inside herself while Kaley went in all fours in front of her. She wrapped her arms around Tatiana¡¯s thighs and she started to bury her face on Tatiana¡¯s wet slit. Kaley was eating Tatiana¡¯s insides vigorously while one of her fingers was prodding Tatiana¡¯s other hole.


    ¡°Oh~ F.u.c.k!¡± Tatiana m.o.a.ned while pinching her n.i.p.p.l.es.


    Tatiana¡¯s body is arching upwards from the pleasure but Kaley wouldn¡¯t let up. I on the other hand slipped my shorts off and I partially removed Kaley¡¯s shorts since she¡¯s still in apromised position. I could see her plump ass in full view and the slit underneath that is already soaking wet. She noticed me behind her and she immediately reacted when I felt her two holes at the same time. She¡¯s yfully moving her h.i.p.s around but my thumb is already inside her ass.


    ¡°Could you¡­ p-please?¡± Kaley muttered.


    It didn¡¯t even need her sucking it first since she¡¯s soaking wet down below. I rubbed it against her fat lips, almost parting them, before I slowly pushed it inside. The moment it hit the base, she gasped and I could feel her insides tightening for a short moment. It is gripping me tightly when I pull it slightly and she can¡¯t help but stop what she¡¯s doing as she lets out a m.o.a.n.


    Tatiana raised her head for a moment to see why Kaley stopped eating her. However, when she saw me behind Kaley moving my h.i.p.s, she smiled andid her head down. Her thighs started to mp on Kaley¡¯s head but all of a sudden, the door to my room opened. We were slightly startled but it was Rin carrying a small suitcase and she pouted when she saw us already partaking in each other¡¯s flesh.


    ¡°Hmph! This is so unfair!¡± Rin pouted but she immediately locked the door and undressed. She looked at me then she started ying with herself. Sheid next to Tatiana but she¡¯s looking at me while her fingers are going inside herself. We can hear the squishing sound when she moves her fingers inside but she pulled it out and ced her fingers in my mouth when she sat upright.


    ¡°Does it taste good? *chuckle*¡± she asked, blushing as I almost released quickly.


    Rin¡¯s body has developedpared to her petite frame from before. She has more curves than Ist saw her n.a.k.e.d and it¡¯s all thanks to Tatiana. She slightly increased a cup size and her ass has grown a whole lot though not as big as the two. She never waited for my reply and she pulled my thing out of Kaley and she started to suck on the tip. Her right hand is gripping it as best as she could while her tongue would twirl around the tip. She¡¯s still ying with herself while doing it then she puts it back inside Kaley.


    ¡°You both taste good~¡± Rin said, licking her lips. <hr>


    ¡°Rin! You ruined it! I was about to~ Hnngh~¡± Kaley snapped at Rin but I continued to move my h.i.p.s. However, Kaley stopped me and she made mey down on the bed.


    ¡°Why?! F.u.c.k~ Now mine¡¯s ruined!¡± Tatiana eximed but Kaley was looking frustrated.


    ¡°Sorry~¡± Rin chuckled.


    Kaley went on top of me and she pressed her body against mine. Her arms are wrapped around my neck while her h.i.p.s are moving violently. Her face has a look of frustration at first but it¡¯s slowly turning into a mess. I helped her by timing my movements to hers and her insides tightened and left me the only one moving. I was thrusting for a few times and she finally started to shake uncontrobly. Her eyes rolled over and and she would twitch a few times. I can¡¯t see what the other two were doing as Kaleyid on my side, chest heaving up and down.


    ¡°You still haven¡¯t, correct?¡± Tatiana asked me when she went closer.


    ¡°Almost.¡± I replied then she started on stroking it slowly. Rin seemed to be trying to wear something but Kaley tapped me.


    ¡°Sorry, I just had to¡­¡± Kaley was still panting.


    Before Kaley managed to catch her breath, Rin came up to her and she¡¯s wearing a strap on. She parted Kaley¡¯s legs after lifting them up then she thrust her rubber shaft inside Kaley. I assumed it was lubricated since the tip of it was already shining. The moment it happened, Kaley grabbed my arm and ced it on her chest.


    ¡°Wait! Wait! Wait! I just- Hnngh~¡± Kaley eximed. <hr>


    ¡°*chuckle* This is to apologize from earlier!¡± Rin eximed as her h.i.p.s started to move. She started to suck on one of Kaley¡¯s pink n.i.p.p.l.es while Tatiana started to suck the living hell out of me. Kaley¡¯s mounds are still standing majestically even if she¡¯sying down and Rin can¡¯t seem to get enough of it. Tatiana is doing it without any hands since they were exploring my torso and herself. Kaley started to shake again while I almost came the same time as her. I let it all out in Tatiana¡¯s mouth and she swallowed it all.


    ¡°You¡¯re still hard¡­ This is an action surge, correct?¡± Tatiana said as she gave me a peck on the lips when she moved closer to my face. I smiled from her reference and she started to lower her body against me. We¡¯re in the same position as Kaley and I were earlier but she did something different.


    ¡°Rin?¡± she called out to Rin that¡¯s currently kissing Kaley.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be back Kaley, just a bit.¡± Rin replied and she went behind Tatiana.


    ¡°Are you guys? Wow~¡± Kaley¡¯s eyes widened when Rin started to prate Tatiana¡¯s ass. Tatiana¡¯s eyes rolled over when both her holes were filled. She told us two to move slowly at first but her facial expression wanted us to go fast from the get go.


    Kaley stood upright and watched what was happening below and I could see her touching herself due to what she was witnessing. Tatiana has her eyes closed but she¡¯s biting her lower lip and smiling euphorically. Rin was happily moving her h.i.p.s while her small tits were slightly jiggling from each thrust.


    ¡°F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! I¡¯M CO- I¡¯COMING~!¡± Tatiana¡¯s face was a mess as all the strength on her body left her. Sheid her head on my chest while she slowly catches her breath. Rin pulled her dildo out of Tatiana¡¯s ass and Tatiana let out a small m.o.a.n. I took a nce at Kaley and her facial expression was priceless. She¡¯s so engrossed and it looked like she came just from watching us do that.


    ¡°Want to try it?¡± Tatiana asked her and she immediately blushed.


    ¡°D-does it hurt?¡± Kaley replied then Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Did it look like it did?¡± Tatiana sat upright. <hr>


    ¡°Well¡­ I-I g-guess¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°Wait a minute, how about me?! I still haven¡¯t and you all¡­¡± Rin interjected then Kaley had an idea.


    ¡°Let me borrow that! You had your fun with me so I¡¯ll return it back!¡± she grinned.


    ¡°We have another one too!¡± Tatiana eximed.


    Rin tried to resist at first but she was held down by Tatiana. Kaley removed what Rin was wearing first and she gave it to Tatiana. Kaley and Tatiana double-teamed Rin and it was a sight to behold. The three were standing when they did it initially but Tatiana sat down in a chair. Rin sat in front of Tatiana and it slowly slid inside her. When Kaley tried to enter Rin¡¯s butt, it was met with resistance since it is still a bit tight.


    But when they moved, Rin didn¡¯t know what to do with herself since she immediately became a mess. I was happy watching them go at it but Kaley pushed aside the strap on her backside and looked at me while one of her eyebrows is raised. I immediately obliged and I rammed it inside her ass. She was almost standing from her position and it made it easier for me to cup her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts from behind while we¡¯re doing it. Rin didn¡¯t mind Kaley slipping it off since she¡¯s more focused on Tatiana f.u.c.k.i.n.g her.


    There¡¯s a moment when we¡¯re doing it as couples in another part of a room while the other couple does it like we¡¯re not there. We continued on for a couple more rounds but not as much as before. I woke up with everyone on my bed but Kaley was on my side hugging me close. I have a slight headache since I¡¯ve only slept for a couple of hours but I could see the rays of lighting from the curtains.


    ¡°Wake up guys, it¡¯s already bright outside.¡± I said as I tried to wake them up. I was tapping Kaley¡¯s leg so she would wake up but she dragged me down. She won¡¯t wake up whatever I do but I had an idea.


    ¡°Will she get mad if I do that? She would, I think. Hmm, but it would be f.u.c.k.i.n.g funny. She might kill me though¡­ F.u.c.k it, I¡¯ll do it!¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 245

    Chapter 245: 245


    Tatiana is spooning Rin and their backs are turned against us. My face was buried between Kaley¡¯s huge mounds when she pulled me down and I could feel her breathe slowly. Her eyes are closed and she has a peaceful look on her face. I could feel her supple skin with my body but I¡¯m having something men always do every morning, a morning wood. <center></center><hr>


    Don¡¯t get me wrong, I enjoy myself everytime I have a foursome with them but there¡¯s nothing like doing it with Kaley. I guess I¡¯ll call thest instances that includes Rin and Tatiana ¡®f.u.c.k.i.n.g¡¯ while the other ¡®making love¡¯ when Kaley and I were the only ones involved. However, I¡¯ll do something she did to me when I was sleeping.


    I slowly and quietly escaped from her grasp while I moved lower. I took in her scent from below and I slowly pushed one of her legs to the side to reveal a significant portion of her lips. I moved towards that part even closer as my body goes wild from what I¡¯m seeing and smelling. Her below is fair and smooth and the added sweat from what I¡¯m taking in made me gulp in anticipation.


    Then I started.


    My hands went below her legs then my tongue glided from her opening right up to the small nub just a few spaces above it.


    *twitch*


    She immediately reacted but I was holding her legs in ce. She turned to her side first to look for me but it then snapped to where I am currently. I saw her beautiful face and she mouthed, ¡°What the f.u.c.k are you doing?!¡±


    I ced my index finger above my lips to tell her to be quiet. I thought she was gonna do something else but both of her hands covered her mouth and she opened both of her legs wide for me. I almost came from seeing her do that embarrassingly but I didn¡¯t disappoint.


    We did it as quietly as possible while the two are sleeping just right next to us. It was supposed to be a quick one and I stopped eating her right before she was about toe. Her face was a mess when I moved closer to her face and she couldn¡¯t figure out what to do with herself when my shaft went inside her. She started to shake and twitch just after a few pumps. I came soon after since I didn¡¯t need to hold myself back.


    We¡¯re both trying to keep our breaths back to normal and there¡¯s no signs of the two next to us waking up yet. She hugged me from the side and she kissed me as we dozed off for a few more minutes.


    *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*


    I could hear someone calling out from the other side of the door.


    *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*


    I still couldn¡¯t hear everything properly though I could feel everyone on the bed already moving due to the knocking. However, that voice is strikingly familiar.


    *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*


    ¡°Dear? Sky? Are you two awake? It¡¯s already past 7 AM and Rin and Tatiana didn¡¯t seem to be answering their doors too. Hello? I thought your dad said you only drank a few cans.¡± Marisha said from the other side.


    Kaley and I immediately sprang up from our stupor and the look of dread on our faces is the same. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°W-what? W-w-who is-¡± Rin was just about waking up and Kaley jumped over Tatiana to cover Rin¡¯s mouth.


    ¡°K-Kaley? *yawn* we actually slept here. Sky, want to go for another round? We¡¯re already na-¡± I immediately went into emergency mode as I saw Tatiana stretching her body. I tried to signal her to what the situation is but she¡¯s starting to hold ¡®me¡¯ hostage.


    ¡°This is going to be bad.¡± I thought to myself.


    *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*


    ¡°Dear?¡± Marisha knocked again.


    Tatiana¡¯s head slightly tilted and her face brightened.


    ¡°Oh~ you guys are f.u.c.k.i.e.d~¡± she smiled even brighter.


    Then Kaley, Rin and I felt despair. Kaley was dragging Rin towards the closet to hide but we all heard keys jiggle.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.¡± I muttered then the door opened.


    *CRASH*


    I was half-hard while Tatiana was stroking me. Rin slipped and now Kaley is on top of her.


    Marisha¡¯s eyes widened when she saw the scene and the only person calm was Tatiana.


    ¡°Good morning Mrs. Payan~ Lovely to see you.¡± Tatiana casually greeted her.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley, Rin, and I.


    ¡°You. Four. Dress. Up. And. We¡¯ll. All. Talk.¡± Marisha said then the room¡¯s temperature went cold suddenly.


    A few minutester. <hr>


    The four of us were now dressed and we¡¯re all kneeling in front of her. Kaley was the one scared out of her wits and Marisha is just staring at us four.


    ¡°Kaley.¡± Marisha said then Kaley tensed.


    ¡°M-m-mom?! Y-yes?¡± Kaley stuttered.


    ¡°You started this, didn¡¯t you? Your s.e.x drive is really something else! It would be much more when you start to get near your 30s, I can¡¯t believe it!¡± Marisha said and the look on Kaley¡¯s face was priceless.


    ¡°B-but! W-we¡¯re just having a bit of fun!¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s not just her Mrs. Marisha, part of that was me too.¡± I added.


    ¡°Y-yes¡­ it¡¯s not just her!¡± Rin added.


    ¡°To bepletely honest, Kaley has the say if we four could do it or not. Sky actually doesn¡¯t have a harem, Kaley does.¡± Tatiana said, then Rin elbowed her.


    Kaley and Marisha immediately choked.


    ¡°Wait. She¡¯s got a point.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°You¡¯re not helping!¡± Rin whispered loudly.


    Marisha sighed and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    The four of us were confused.


    ¡°Mom?¡± Kaley muttered.


    ¡°You four are consenting a.d.u.l.ts and I shouldn¡¯t have a say or even interfere in what you do. I can¡¯t be upset since I understand why you four did what you did. I guess it¡¯s just the traditional upbringing I was raised in and me being Kaley¡¯s mom that I almostshed at the four of you. It¡¯s still a tad difficult for me to casually ept rtionsh.i.p.s like this that are not in the norm especially if my daughter is in it. I¡¯ve talked to many people like that and it has gotten reallyplicated and most of them turned out¡­ not as long as it was supposed to. I¡¯m sorry but do tell me, do you still love each other or¡­ you know what I mean.¡± Marisha said as she looked at me and Kaley.


    ¡°What? Always!¡± Kaley and I immediately said at the same time. <hr>


    Kaley and I looked at each other and Marisha spoke again but she¡¯s faintly smiling.


    ¡°And you two?¡± Marisha looked at Rin and Tatiana.


    ¡°Hmm, well love is a strong word but don¡¯t worry about me in regards to them. I would like to tease them a bit but I know my boundaries, well, sometimes. I just partake to have fun and Rin here knows that we¡¯re together but we don¡¯t know if we¡¯re on the same level as Sky and Kaley yet, correct?¡± Tatiana said then she looked at Rin.


    ¡°Y-yes, she already told me that she still has feelings for someone back in her country¡­¡± Rin said.


    ¡°How does that make you feel?¡± Marisha said.


    ¡°U-umm, I¡¯m j-just waiting¡­ until¡­¡± Rin looked down on the floor while her hands were slightly clutching her clothes.


    ¡°¡­¡± Tatiana was silent.


    ¡°Mom! I thought you weren¡¯t gonna have a say in what we¡¯re doing?! You¡¯re on ¡®work¡¯ mode again!¡± Kaley eximed when she saw Rin¡¯s face.


    ¡°K-Kaley¡­ it¡¯s okay¡­ I¡¯ve talked to her before¡­¡± Rin trailed but Tatiana embraced her from the side.


    ¡°But still!¡± Kaley was upset.


    ¡°What? You all answered me, you know I¡¯m really nosy. It¡¯s part of my job, you doofus!¡± Marisha puts up her hands as if saying it was our fault for answering.


    The three of us were speechless while Tatiana started to chuckle. The mood seemed to lighten and the tense atmosphere was gone.


    ¡°Well, anyway, the food is ready. Come down in a bit after you¡¯re done with your¡­ cuddling. I seemed to havee at a wrong time earlier. It seems that I was just worried for nothing. Bye~!¡± she got up and went outside.


    The four of us were speechless but we simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.


    ¡°Your mom got us good, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Hnngh~ She¡¯s really professional most of the time but once in a blue moon, she¡¯s really unpredictable.¡± Kaley was scratching her head. <hr>


    The four of us suddenly looked at each other and we enjoyed the silence.


    ¡°So¡­¡± Tatiana trailed and we looked at her.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna continue ¡®cuddling¡¯ or what?¡± she said, grinning.


    Kaley and I quickly sprang up and made our way outside while Tatianaughed heartily.


    ¡°Hahahahaha! It¡¯s a joke! I know you two did it earlier. I just pretended to sleep. I¡¯m right, correct?¡± she eximed.


    ¡°They did? So unfair!¡± Rin eximed and her mood has lightened somewhat.


    ¡°Stop it! I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g tired and I only had a couple hours of sleep! We¡¯ve still got a lot to do today!¡± I eximed as theyughed.


    We finally geared up and went down towards the pool area. Some people are having coffee for their hangovers. They greeted us weakly when they saw us and I saw Oscar giving out a few doses of aspirin to some of them to help with their hangover while taking coffee.


    ¡°My head f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurts!¡± An eximed.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t even drink much! You fell from the catwalk you stupid f.u.c.k! Who on their right minds would do a handstand while intoxicated?!¡± Jenny bellowed.


    ¡°Just drink some Henny next time, I never got a hangover from that!¡± Bing chimed while eating some crackers.


    ¡°Whiskey is the way to go casuals!¡± Oscar added to the discussion while smacking their heads.


    ¡°Damn guys, almost all of you look like shit. We¡¯re supposed to have our meeting in the morning today.¡± I said as a few more looked at my direction.


    ¡°Well most of them took it too far and Matthew got trigger happy yesterday night. They¡¯re either down with a hangover or down due to a few bruises from the rubber bullets.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Hey! They tried to strip in front of everyone and runps around Woonds! My daughter and wife was there! What would you have me do?!¡± Matthew rebutted.


    ¡°What do you mean tried? They seeded! Had to shoot a few myself!¡± Johnny added,ughing.


    ¡°Well kid, what¡¯s the n supposed to be today?¡± Oscar asked.

 Chapter 246

    Chapter 246: 246


    Before we discussed the n for today, I asked about the status reports of everything else first like food, water, and other resources. Rin gave me the report on it and I checked each one. Ever since we¡¯ve been giving food to the DDR Camp and Woonds every three days, the dent it made to our stocks is greater than ever. In the past, we¡¯ve been stocking more than what we could eat due to our runs outside and the food we are growing or farming. But now, the runs outside are yielding less and less because obviously no one is stocking up the markets. Unless we go farther or more thorough when we look for supplies, we¡¯d find less outside. Add to the fact that the produce that is nted on Woonds can¡¯t be harvested yet. <center></center><hr>


    However, that is only a problem to a group that isn¡¯t prepared.


    The dangerous run we justpleted solved almost all of our problems currently. The food we gathered from that ce is astronomical since it has been untouched ever since the whole world was plunged into chaos. Not only did we get a lot of food items from the fast food restaurants in the People¡¯s Park, we also got a lot from the City Hall next to it which has a full storeroom in case of disasters. Most of what we could use from that run belonged in that storeroom since all of the food items stored in that ce are supposed tost a long time. Not only that, we got a boon that we could use that I¡¯ll discusster. For now, I listened to some of their reports.


    ¡°Amanda and I made more fruiting bags to be ced in the other houses which have no people in it and the seedlings for the other crops could be nted in Woonds already. We¡¯ve also nted medicinal nts and a few seedlings have sprouted. We¡¯ve made more hydroponic systems in some houses and a few have been taking care of them with the help of Anthony though we¡¯re also nning on building more greenhouses especially on Woonds. And¡­¡± Charlotte reported.


    ¡°The animals are still happy and increasing in number but we¡¯re maintaining their poption of some of them so we butchered a few. Some of them were frozen while a few were smoked, dried, or salted. Also, some of their products have been preserved in conjunction. I think we¡¯d need a few more mason jars to store some of them so we could put a few in each house just in case. Oh yeah¡­¡± Derek reported.


    From the past few days, in one of the meetings, we told everyone in thepound that we¡¯re slowly decreasing the amount of food that we¡¯re cooking everyday but not to the point that our daily nutrient intake would not be met. To say it shortly, we¡¯re eating just enough. Everyone was surprised at first but there were no qualms whatsoever and they understood why we did it. Not only are we saving on food, people that are living a little excess in life before have turned for the better.


    We discussed a few more things and we eventually moved to the next subject which is slightly connected to the first one.


    Health.


    Since we now have ess to a hospital, everyone from mypound went there by batches to get every test possible done on them. Our medical file for each person in mypound got updated to the best it can be and the good thing is that no one is terminally ill or has a sickness that they don¡¯t know about. <center></center><hr>


    Checking our physical health is good but we never forgot about mental health as well. I think we got our best person for that which is Marisha and everyone in thepound talks to her not just for a check-up but also to tell some of their inner problems. She¡¯s the one that knows everything about everyone¡¯s mental well-being and she makes sure that she keeps everyone healthy inside their heads too.


    Our medicine supply is still well-stocked but if a certain illness could be cured by natural remedies and not as bad, we go for that option first. Medicine has expiration dates but it is still something we need to make smart decisions on when we would use it since they are not being produced anymore, well, for now. Keeping our bodies as strong as always is the best thing to go but there will be unforeseen circ.u.mstances as always that would need external help.


    Guns and ammo.


    ¡°The guns we made other people borrow? Are they all returned and ounted for?¡± I looked at Rin.


    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re all in the crate but some of them needed cleaning, same as the ones you guys found from that ce. Oh right, you returned with a lot of casings, we¡¯re gonna reload them too, right? Also, why are they mixed with other scraps? It¡¯s giving me nightmares.¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Yes, we¡¯ll reload them maybe in the afternoon but you could start on sorting them if you¡¯re done with your duties here. I think Matthew would want to learn how to do that too so teach him but I want to be the one to do the final touches. Just have some people bring the other scraps to the scrapyard so unc could melt them afterwards. The other groups still don¡¯t know that we can make ammo, keep a tight lid on that.¡± I replied and she nodded.


    Construction.


    ¡°Unc, are you still working on something?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well we¡¯re still fortifying some of the huge entrance gates and we¡¯re fixing some walls that have cracks. We¡¯re also making some of them higher so people can¡¯t vault out of it that easily. However, the small pier is done. The boats are already there as you can see. I¡¯m also thinking of making a waterwheel and some sort ofting at the pier that we have so we could turn it into something more in the future.¡± he replied. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, I could help with that!¡± Anthony chimed.


    ¡°Dude, about the Komatsu. I think I¡¯ll do a few more changes on it.¡± Raphael called me.


    ¡°Yeah? It¡¯s the spikes, yeah?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yeah, dude. I think I might need to remove the spikes on the Komatsu and think of something better. Some of them got shot up and now they¡¯re stuck.¡± he said.


    ¡°Well I told you before that design would have problems. It wasn¡¯t even efficient, the zombie should be in a perfect ce before you could pierce their heads. Some of them wouldn¡¯t even pierce them and would just push them away. If you¡¯re gonna follow through with that better increase the pressure in which they would burst out.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hmm, I guess I¡¯ll have them steady in ce instead of jutting out or something. I¡¯ll think of something better.¡± he replied.


    We talked for a few more things and the meeting is about to be over.


    ¡°Marvin. Project Iron Maiden?¡± I looked at him for his report. <hr>


    ¡°Oh! Yes, it¡¯s¡­¡± he started to report everything.


    The term Iron Maiden came from the torture and execution device that is shaped like a coffin or a sarcophagus that has spikes inside. Project Iron Maiden is an operation we made to capture several sprinters at once by using a container van that is designed to a simr fashion with the torturing device. Since the dead wouldn¡¯t die as long as the brain is not destroyed, we designed it in a way that the dead would be like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up version of a kebab where several spikes are running through them so that they would bepletely in ce. Also, the spikes are only running through their torso. It is to ensure that they would still function if we let them do their purpose.


    ¡°It¡¯s currently parked near the scrapyard and your uncle Zeidrick welded all the openings shut and reinforced them with thin metal sheets to be sure. They also attached the needed hooks at the top of it and reinforced it so it would be ready for transport.¡± Marvin ended his report.


    ¡°You did it already?¡± I looked at my uncle.


    ¡°Well, yeah. I didn¡¯t drink yesterday so I worked on it with a few others.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Hey dad! Why did you put hooks on it again?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°D¡¯you even listen when we¡¯re in the meeting?! It¡¯s so that the helicopter that would be arriving could carry it easier. They¡¯d be bringing a few of their equipment but they needed the hooks on some of the ces. I added a few extras but it won¡¯t go over the weight limit, I think.¡± Zeidrick replied.


    ¡°You think?! What if it isn¡¯t?!¡± Russel spat out his water.


    ¡°It is. I¡¯m joking. I checked twice.¡± he replied and burst outughing. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! Let¡¯s just hope they¡¯d follow through with their end of the deal. There would be problems if they don¡¯t.¡± I said.


    ¡°Well they¡¯ve been trustworthy so far, right? You¡¯re just being paranoid kid.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Hmm, maybe. I think that¡¯s all for the reports eh? Time for the n today. Like I said before, getting the files from the City Hall is a huge advantage. We¡¯ve taken a hold of all the records that they have pertaining to everything in this city though a few are lost. Gun permits, business permits, storage unit permits, criminal records, birth certificates, and any record we could think of. We could go outside and have a specific location to hit so our yields would be far greater. We¡¯d sweep everything eventually but it is better to go for where the big mega jackpot is. Not only that, we could monitor people that have past or existing criminal records that live in one of our ces or recentlying to our fold. It¡¯s not gonna be that urate since we don¡¯t know what others have done when the world has gone to shit but it¡¯s a baseline to say the least. The records will act as a filter for some people and it could be used in more ways we could think of.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Kid, but that¡¯s only for this city though, right?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Well yeah, unfortunately. We¡¯d just hit the other cities¡¯ City Hall so we could get their records too. C¡¯mon old man, we¡¯d take over this whole city first before we do anything else. I think that¡¯s about it. I¡¯d map out a route for my group to take so we could hit several ces in one run. I¡¯d give a call if we needed the cargo trucks to fetch what we found. Anything else?¡± I looked at everyone.


    ¡°Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you this kid¡­ I just got a call yesterday¡­ Uhh¡­¡± Oscar trailed.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± I looked back at him.


    ¡°The president would being with the helicopter.¡± he innocently said.

 Chapter 247

    Chapter 247: 247


    Silence. Total f.u.c.k.i.n.g silence. Everyone that heard Oscar stopped what they were doing and some of them fell off their chairs. The only ones who didn¡¯t care were our pets and the rest of the children ying around. You could hear a pin drop on a fur carpet from the silence just because of what Oscar casually said. <center></center><hr>


    Then everyone lost it.


    ¡°W-w-wait a f.u.c.k.i.n.g minute!¡±


    ¡°Hold up!¡±


    ¡°The president?!¡±


    ¡°No-¡±


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G PRESIDENT?!¡±


    ¡°ROD?!¡±


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K?!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re lying!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not!¡±


    ¡°OH SHIT THE PRESIDENT IS COMING!!!¡±


    ¡°WE F.U.C.K.I.N.G DON¡¯T KNOW WHEN YET SO SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP AND LET OSCAR SPEAK!!!¡±


    ¡°Geez, you don¡¯t have to shout.¡±


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE THE ONE F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHOUTING EARLIER!!!¡±


    ¡°Shhh~¡± <center></center><hr>


    It took a short moment for themotion to die down because I waved everyone down so I could hear more of what Oscar had to say.


    It¡¯s still a mystery not just for me but for everyone for why there is a broadcast with a fake president from the past days. We halted any form of contact from Davao City unless the call woulde from Rod himself. It was fortunate that the broadcasts with the real one continued but it is still giving me signals that something has happened.


    A few days prior, Rod contacted Oscar for something.


    Oscar came to me when I was still polishing the ns for our run to People¡¯s Park and he told me that the president requested samples of sprinters and a few other things. It seemed that the number of sprinters in their ind group has gone down significantly so they came to us if we could make a deal. The main reason is that they needed more samples of the specials ones and the sprinter is one that is really difficult to catch. I was really skeptical at first but what they would be giving us in exchange is something I wouldn¡¯t be able to pass up.


    ¡°Well, old man?¡± I looked at him the same as everybody.


    ¡°What?¡± he blinked his eyes a few times.


    ¡°The rest of what you have to say? I doubt that¡¯s the only thing they told you. C¡¯mon, take the stage for now. You ain¡¯t getting senile, right?¡± I smiled as I tapped him.


    He quickly sprang on his feet and stood in front of everyone. He grumbled a few things towards me but I¡¯m just smiling throughout which made him pissed off even more than he is earlier.


    ¡°Well, uh¡­ good morning. *scratches head* Like this little shit- I mean this kid here said, there are more things that I forgot to tell you all. *clears throat* You all know that a helicopter woulde to the DDR Camp here to retrieve our live samples of sprinters. They¡¯d give us things in exchange for that along with information that we¡¯ll exchange with each other.¡± Oscar started.


    ¡°Did they say when they woulde here?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°And how many?¡± Johnny added.


    ¡°Well they¡¯ll-¡± he suddenly stopped talking.


    He suddenly picked up his Sat Phone and ced his ear next to it to listen. Everyone was silent to what was happening and Oscar was looking at me straight in the eye. The call was brief and when he ced his Sat Phone down, he gave me a smirk.


    ¡°He¡¯s close, approximately 30 minutes before he arrives. Let¡¯s adjourn this meeting now since everything woulde to light when his team arrives.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Okay guys. You heard him. Let¡¯s prepare everything that we need in the allotted time. Autobots, roll out!¡± I shouted as a few people grinned to what I saidst. <hr>


    ¡°OH SHIT! OH SHIT!¡±


    ¡°IT¡¯S HAPPENING!!!¡±


    ¡°Shut up you two! Don¡¯t panic! DON¡¯T PANIC!¡±


    Anothermotion started after that call and I gathered a few people that woulde with me to the DDR Camp. I also assigned a few things to be prepared here just in case. However, a few people voiced that they would at least want to catch a glimpse of the president so they decided toe with us.


    Time quickly passed and my group and the others could clearly see the helicoptersing into view. They¡¯re three in total: one cargo helicopter followed by a civilian andstly an attack helicopter. The cargo helicopter is quite huge and I bet it could carry a tank easily. The cargo helicopternded on the open field on the school part of the DDR Camp here while the other twonded on top of the school buildings.


    Several soldiers came out of the helicopters and I caught a small glimpse of Roding out of the attack helicopter. Several people are gathered below but they made way for him even though some of them are shouting their concerns towards the president. A select few started to rain their curses andints towards him but one look from him and his entourage made them shut up.


    ¡°Intimidating as always.¡± I said.


    ¡°Heh. Well he¡¯s the president alright.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Tatiana, aren¡¯t they?¡± Kaley looked at Tatiana.


    ¡°They are, some of them.¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°Who?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°My team.¡± Tatiana replied.


    There are four soldiers walking behind them wearing different equipment from the rest of them but it is strikingly simr to what Tatiana was wearing. It bears the g of Russia and they seem to be scanning their heads around.


    ¡°Kid, who do you think those other people behind are?¡± Oscar said as he pointed to a number of people that didn¡¯t seem to be soldiers but wearing protective equipment.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure for all of them but the one that is always behind the president with that slick hair is his spokesperson while thedy seems to be¡­ wait, no way. Hah!¡± I was shaking my head in amus.e.m.e.nt. <hr>


    ¡°Oh shit, she is bro! I thought she was taller than that though.¡± Jared chimed.


    ¡°Who?¡± Oscar was curious.


    ¡°His side chick perhaps? Their age gap seems¡­ nevermind.¡± Tatiana guessed.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure but there¡¯s a lot of controversies surrounding her and her position in the government. She used to be a celebrity before but she became an appointed government official when the president came into power. She¡¯s Ms. M. Her presence here is not that important though, I just found it surprising that she¡¯s here.¡± I exined.


    A few momentster, he arrived at the center of the school and I could feel the pressure of a man who¡¯s run a country and has fought in the front lines. He removed his shades and he scanned his eyes towards us. It stopped at Oscar but his attention was caught by Ferdinand then the rest of the soldiers in the DDR Camp gave him a salute. He responded in kind but almost everyone could feel the tension in the air.


    Not everyone followed after the president since they started to go in key locations to secure his safety. A few of his personal guards started to ry something to him but he waved them off. He started to walk in our direction and the spokesperson that was speaking to him earlier is giving a difficult expression.


    ¡°Mr. President I suggest we move to a more se-¡± but he was cut off when the president stopped in front of Oscar.


    ¡°Yo!¡± Rod extended his fist towards us.


    Everyone was bbergasted except for me and Oscar.


    ¡°Why¡¯s he so casual towards us?!¡± seems to be the inner thought of everybody around us.


    ¡°Hah! Finally saw you in the flesh Rod! I thought you died, you son of a bitch!¡± Oscar raised his fist as well and they fist-bumped.


    Everyone was bbergasted again except for me and Oscar.


    ¡°YOU! WHO THE F.U.C.K DO YOU THI-¡± the spokesperson bellowed but he was cut off.


    *SMACK*


    ¡°Can¡¯t you tone it down you son of a bitch? I¡¯m talking to my f.u.c.k.i.n.g friend here and you keep on shouting like we¡¯re all deaf here. Shut up for a moment, okay? I f.u.c.k.i.n.g told you to stay in Davao City and you insisted for my safety. I¡¯d be a lot safer if another soldier boarded that chopper instead of you.¡± he calmly said. <hr>


    ¡°BUT MR. PR-¡± he was cut off again.


    ¡°Come here Mr. Roque, leave him for now and prepare what is needed by the presidentter. Let¡¯s check the lodging and the office we would be using first. I told you this would happen if you kept on doing that. There¡¯s a lot of soldiers next to him, what could go wrong?¡± Ms. M dragged him with a couple of soldiers.


    ¡°He¡¯s the president alright. That demeanor and the way that he talks is something everybody here is very familiar with. Are they gonna stay long? She mentioned lodgings.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Anyway, who¡¯s the kid? You? It¡¯s you, right?¡± he suddenly looked at me and he extended his right fist again.


    I smiled and met it with my own as I nodded. Kaley, my group, and the rest of the people around us seemed to be BSODing right now from Oscar and I¡¯s interaction with the president.


    ¡°d to see you here Mr. Pr-¡± and he cuts me off.


    ¡°Hey, hey, hey. I thought I told you before to call me ¡®Rod¡¯, right? Stop being so f.u.c.k.i.n.g formal with me and- oh, wait a moment. This is why I hate travelling so much!¡± he then started to stretch his h.i.p.s around.


    We all quietly watched him stretch for a moment and the people behind him are losing their minds from his actions.


    ¡°Oh yeah, I¡¯m a bit tired from the trip. Did you guys have some food perhaps? I¡¯ll pay you back if you have some to spare. Your ce is just near here, right? Can we go there for a moment?¡± he calmly said.


    ¡°Sure, follow me. I bet you want to stretch your legs for a bit so we¡¯d just walk. I think you saw thend we reimed. Not as big as you guys have but from what we have here it¡¯s a great start. I have a few things I want to show you too if you¡¯re interested.¡± I replied and I started to walk outside.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go. I really want to take a walk right now. You guys still have electricity eh? Is that where the runners are? Cool. Yeah, I¡¯ll take a look of what you have but I really want to have a short rest.¡± he started to follow me and Oscar was already walking besides him.


    ¡°Kid, did you tell your Aunt to make that stuff?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Hmm? What stuff?¡± Rod asked.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ll see when we get home. I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯ll like it.¡± I replied.


    I don¡¯t know why everyone was stunned but we eventually made our way back to ourpound.

 Chapter 248

    Chapter 248: 248


    ¡°This is the ce! An~! The gate dude~!¡± I shouted. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, just a sec *rolls gate to the side* HOLY F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHIT IS THAT THE PRE- Good morning Mr. President, I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re visiting our Supreme Leader¡¯s humble abode. Pleasee in.¡± An suddenly did a turn and a bow.


    ¡°Supreme leader?! The f.u.c.k?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hah! Surprised you, huh?!¡± Oscarughed heartily.


    ¡°Oh~ So this is the ce. Can Ie in?¡± Rod asked.


    ¡°Yeah, excuse the mess~¡± I replied.


    There¡¯s this unspoken rule that everyone has been following ever since that I think I¡¯m the only one who noticed but has been set for some time. I didn¡¯t set it per say but everyone just assumed it is, so I went with it. It¡¯s nothing special really but no one from the DDR Camp and Woonds are allowed to just casually enter the gates of mypound unless I allow them to. My people on the other hand could just casually enter their ce willy nilly and they don¡¯t seem to say anything about it. However, I didn¡¯t know that it extended to everyone else, even the president.


    ¡°Hey, Tatiana¡¯s team is asking if you¡¯d let theme inside? We followed you here and some of the president¡¯s soldiers seemed to be asking permission if they coulde inside too.¡± Kaley tapped me.


    ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± I replied nonchntly.


    It took Kaley and the others watching us earlier a few minutes to get theirposure back before some of them rushed to follow us. I could hear a hugemotion from our backs when we¡¯re casually walking back to our ce but even the president didn¡¯t seem to mind it. He¡¯s more focused on the small tour we¡¯re giving him instead.


    Zeus was the first to notice us and he rushed towards us and he started to run circles around me. He tried to sniff the president a few times and his tail wagged a few moments after. The president just patted Zeus on his head while we made our way to the pool area. Everyone inside also started BSODing as well when the president casually took a seat in one of ourwn chairs.


    ¡°Ah~ So tired~ I needed this likest time~¡± he said.


    ¡°Last time?¡± Oscar asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah. Last time. I think you noticed that since you stopped calling me but I have a group that made a fake broadcast when I was under the weather. I really needed a break and they made a perfe- well almost perfect job of making me there. You¡¯re the one who noticed didn¡¯t you?¡± he looked at me.


    ¡°Yeah. It was too sudden to have a change of background suddenly. I first thought you died or something.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, good eyes. I for one can¡¯t even tell the difference! I asked my IT people there to make a p.o.r.n video where they would attach the face of my favorite actresses but they wouldn¡¯t! Well, that would be too much I guess.¡± he said while removing his boots.


    I was seated in a way where I could see everyone hawking at us and their facial expressions were priceless! What they seem to forget is that our president is human too. He¡¯s more casual than everybody and he¡¯s not like those uptight elitists politicians that everyone wanted to at least punch once.


    ¡°Wait, you can do that?! Kid! I have another pro-¡± Oscar got excited but I cut him off.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna tell Jennifer.¡± I interjected and he choked on his drink.


    The three of us are casually chatting while everyone else are losing their minds. A few minutester, my aunt came out with a tray of dishes. His eyes immediately lit up and he sat upright from what he saw.


    On the tray was Grilled Tuna Belly, Carabeef Soup, Turon, Pandesal with Kesong Puti, Longganisa, and Monggo.


    Those were some of his favorite Filipino dishes and Oscar and I could hear his stomach grumble.


    ¡°Son of a bitch! This looks f.u.c.k.i.n.g amazing! Thanks!¡± he started to happily dig in but we heard a shout.


    ¡°MR. PRESIDENT! DON¡¯T CASUALLY EAT IT! IT COULD BE POISONED! WE NEVER KNOW WHERE THEY GOT IT FROM!¡± Mr. Roque shouted then everyone heard dull sounds hitting skin.


    ¡°CONRAD! NO!¡± my aunt suddenly shouted.


    *THUD* <hr>


    *WHACK*


    *CRASH*


    Mr. Roque actually followed us but he is now sprawled on the ground. Jared¡¯s dad, Conrad, managed to swing at him a few times before the president¡¯s soldiers managed to stop him. My hand is also clenched hard and if it wasn¡¯t for Oscar holding me down, Mr. Roque would have several bones broken.


    ¡°DO YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G THINK MY WIFE WOULD POISON THE PRESIDENT?! HUH?! F.U.C.K.I.N.G LET GO OF ME!!! LET GO OF ME!!! F.U.C.K.I.N.G BASTARD!!!¡± Conrad bellowed as he struggled to get away from the soldiers¡¯ grasps.


    Mr. Roque slowly stood up and his eyes were bloodshot. He has this maniacal look and he spat out a tooth. Blood was trickling from his face and everyone¡¯s attention was now on them.


    ¡°IMPUDENT!!! YOU DARE HIT THE PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESPER-¡± Mr. Roque bellowed as well but the president roared.


    ¡°ROQUE YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G PIECE OF SHIT! AVALOS! HONASSAN! LET GO OF THAT MAN!¡± the president was now in the middle of everyone.


    The soldiers immediately let go of Conrad but he lunged towards Mr. Roque again. However, Jared managed to hold his dad down with Lois while the president is ring at Mr. Roque. My aunt is crying on the side and Nicole and Aya are on her side.


    ¡°You piece of shit! Go back to that camp and wait for me toe back. I thought you were there with Ms. M. Don¡¯t ever think of going back here and start to disrespect the people here who gave me good food or I¡¯ll kill you. Avalos, escort him back and lock him up in a room and watch him. The f.u.c.k did happen to you Roque? You weren¡¯t like this as I remembered you.¡± the president said then he went back to the table where the food is.


    ¡°BUT MR. PRESIDENT I WAS JUST-¡± this time, I was the one who shouted.


    ¡°STAND DOWN! NOT A SINGLE MOVE!¡± I bellowed.


    ¡°Hmm? My soldiers are doing nothing Mr. Ishiyama.¡± the president looked at solemnly me when I shouted. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about yours. I was talking about mine.¡± I replied as everyone inside removed their hands from their holsters.


    The president and his soldiers were startled to see ring eyes from different directions directed at Mr. Roque. He was shaking to say the least when reality dawned on him.


    ¡°I think I should tell you asshole. My aunt Sharon here has been preparing our meals here ever since the shit hits the fan. I don¡¯t care who the f.u.c.k you think you are you¡¯d wish you were dead if you do that again. If you think we¡¯re gonna take out the president here, I should¡¯ve shot your helicopter down with my RPG-7s, not waste good f.u.c.k.i.n.g food.¡± I said just it loud enough for everyone to hear.


    The president looked at me solemnly but all he did was let out a deep sigh.


    Mr. Roque was escorted outside and the jolly atmosphere earlier was gone. The president¡¯s food is now ruined since the president rushed to the scene earlier. However, to our surprise, he still started on eating it despite them getting all mixed with each other. It looked really messy right now and I could tell that the taste of it right now isn¡¯t that greatpared to earlier.


    ¡°Mr. President, please let me rece it with a ne-¡± my aunt was cut off.


    ¡°No. This is the most delicious thing I¡¯ve tasted. Do you have more? I would also like to feed my soldiers with your cooking if that is possible. I¡¯ll pay for the ingredients used of course. I apologize for that f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot¡¯s behavior. He¡¯ll get something from meter. He¡¯s just doing his job but I think he¡¯s losing it.¡± he looked at her with a smile.


    ¡°Y-yes! Thank you!¡± my aunt started to cry again and she went back to the kitchen to give the others their portion.


    I even tried to persuade him to change his food but he insisted that he would finish what was on his te. I think the degree of respect everyone has for him shot up once again. He didn¡¯t have to but he also apologized to Conrad but my uncle was still pissed off. However, my aunt talked to him and he was back to normal. He always keeps to himself mostly and it was surprising to see him like that. The soldiers were happily gorging on the food that they were served and the president has already finished his.


    ¡°Thank you for the meal.¡± he said.


    ¡°Thank you for making your asshole go away.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! Thank you for not f.u.c.k.i.n.g killing everyone here.¡± he chuckled then his soldiers tensed.


    ¡°Hah! We only kill the dead and assholes.¡± Oscar chimed. <hr>


    ¡°Hahaha! I¡¯ll add my spokesperson to your list if he does that again. I¡¯ve killed a few assholes myself. Makes the work much easier.¡± the president replied.


    ¡°Really? What kind?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ve seen some of them in the broadcasts but I killed a few that started a coup at my ce. The dead are already a problem and they¡¯re more concerned of who¡¯s in charge because they¡¯re in the opposition in the past. They rallied arge group of people against me and I had to respond in kind. The only good thing that came out of it is that we¡¯re allocating less food. I like your setup here since there are less people and it¡¯s great that everyone gets along and is really tight knit. I can¡¯t remember the time that I could rx like this for a few minutes.¡± he replied.


    ¡°It is that bad over there eh?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hah~ The weight on my shoulders are massive and it seems that this thing would take longer than what I thought it would be. This short moment here is already a blessing.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well, why don¡¯t you stay here?¡± I simply asked.


    Everyone was f.u.c.k.i.n.g silent. Even Oscar was still like a statue when he heard me ask that question. A few of the soldiers immediately choked along with a few of my own.


    ¡°KID?! WHAT THE F.U.C.K?!¡± Oscar managed to get his bearings.


    ¡°Really? Maybe I¡¯ll take you up on that.¡± he simply replied.


    Everyone was f.u.c.k.i.n.g silent again.


    The two of us just looked at each other for a moment and then we burst outughing.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I LIKE YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!¡± we both said at the same time.

 Chapter 249

    Chapter 249: 249


    Everyone¡¯s staring at us in disbelief from the things that we¡¯re saying. It¡¯s crazy talk honestly but it feels weird that the president in front of me is someone that almost thinks like me. We¡¯re kinda simr in a way yet we¡¯re still different. <center></center><hr>


    The soldiers have finally finished their meals and my aunt gave them a bag of food for Avalos and the other soldiers that stayed in the DDR Camp. She included an extra portion for the president in case he wants to eat again. They thanked her profusely and my aunt seemed to be doing fine despite what happened earlier.


    ¡°Well anyway, thanks for the food.¡± the president said.


    ¡°No problem, you said you¡¯d pay for it, so, order as much as you can eat. How long would you guys stay here though?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯d actually charge me, I¡¯ll pay though, no worries. Not long, maybe a day or two just to finish some stuff. I thought you have a few things to show me?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well let¡¯s get down to business, shall we?¡± I smirked.


    I called a few of my people over and I showed him everything that we have uncovered. Before I pressed the y button, he also called all of his soldiers to watch what I¡¯m about to show him. I showed him everything that I showed my group first on the first meeting. It was the earliest video that I could find where thest of it shows ab where a few scientists are experimenting on the bloody figures and humans. After that, I showed him the rest of it which includes from where we first discovered the sprinters, sentries, up until we saw the zombie kid which has started to talk. Everyone in his group is wearing solemn and shocked expressions.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit.¡±


    ¡°WOAH!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen them that many!¡±


    ¡°You think we have those back home?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Shit.¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a movie, right?¡±


    ¡°Hah! F.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot! Didn¡¯t you see the vehicles we saw when we went in? They¡¯re just parked outside.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g excited to exterminate that many using that.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d rather try the bike thing.¡±


    ¡°What could we even use at home?¡±


    ¡°We got engineers there too, no worries.¡±


    A few of them started to chatter.


    ¡°Hmm. So this f.u.c.k.i.n.g son of a bitch was here a few years already? F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit.¡± he scratches his beard.


    ¡°Well, a form of it. We could study them all we want but we need to exterminate each one of them as fast as possible. We never know what they would turn out to be in a few years. The world is scrambling to work on a vine or a cure but it seems that too much has been going on.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°The ones working on it should do it faster because the only thing working right now are weapons of war.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Wait a minute, is it possible that the reason for why there is less presence of the sprinters at my ind group is that they¡¯re gathering somewhere?¡± He looked serious.


    ¡°Could be, yeah. What do you think, kid?¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s the most probable reason or there is just an abundance of them here. How about the other kinds that we have here? Do you have those there too?¡± I said.


    ¡°Those fat f.u.c.ks I saw earlier I believe we haven¡¯t encountered them yet. The talking one too is a surprise, too bad it¡¯s already dead. The scientists back home would have studied it. Honassan, that¡¯s the case, right?¡± he asked one of his soldiers.


    ¡°Yes sir, but we have a lot of those ¡®irregrs¡¯ that they speak of. Most of them are moving like they¡¯re possessed or something. The ¡®sprinters¡¯ you call here, we call them ¡®runners¡¯ back home. We¡¯d asionally see them run on all fours though like the ones inside that stadium earlier. We never saw them act like that, attacking with their hands for example, but if the same is about to happen back home, we need to take care of it as soon as possible. Do you want me to make some calls back home sir?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah. This is gonna be a problem if they grew in numbers. We are still trying to build the wall around our city so we¡¯d have a solid fortress. We¡¯re done with the fencing all we need to do is make it at least a meter thick with metal and concrete. We¡¯d send a few scouts to the other cities but they have never gone too far. Lucky for you guys that you¡¯ve seen it as early as that. Who knows what¡¯s in store for my group when we go back. Can you give me a copy of this?¡± he said.


    ¡°There could still be more of them gathering in other ces though. You made a copy of the files, kid?¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°I already did, here. I know you¡¯re still ying the survival videos on loop but I included several books and manuals there just to make sure. I know you have capable people back at your ce but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have more information. What I¡¯ve copied there could make everyone start from scratch and rebuild anew. Please don¡¯t lose that. Have the contents printed and not just be stored in that drive only.¡± I replied as I handed him a drive.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s the damage?¡± he asked. <hr>


    ¡°I gave you all the info I could. I want you to tell me what you know too. We¡¯ll talk about the items we¡¯ll be exchangingter but I want information more than anything.¡± I replied as I nced at Kaley and Marisha at the table as well.


    ¡°Sounds fair. What do you people want to know?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Well, what I¡¯d like to know is how many DDR Camps here are still contacting you and running? How much longer could you send supplies to the DDR Camps here in this ind group?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Are you sure? It could be different the time we leave or as of right now after I tell you.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well, you have a point there. It¡¯s just to have a baseline though. It¡¯s on the same state as the info on the zombies I gave you. It could be different the moment you get home, it¡¯s all a matter of time.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmmm. I¡¯ve been sending more supplies to Visayas, the other ind group apart from this ce since they¡¯re much closer. There¡¯s a few more DDR Camps and groups in this ind group that are active and still keeping contact with me besides you. Most of them are near or in the provinces where there is less poption obviously.¡± he said.


    ¡°Okay, but how much longer could you send supplies to the camps?¡± Oscar asked again.


    The president gave a deep sigh first and said, ¡°This is thest time I could send supplies here. I¡¯ve sent most of it in the City of Man where Mayor Iskoh is. He¡¯s doing a great job and his territory is muchrger than yours and he¡¯s in the center of a densely popted city. One of thest things I¡¯ll do before I get back to Davao City is fly to that ce and discuss a few things too. If I have the time, I¡¯ll fly here but all I could say is that things are still an uphill battle despite everyone¡¯s efforts.¡±


    The ce is silent but everyone already understands the situation.


    ¡°Shit, Iskoh is still alive eh? It¡¯s past Caloocan City and Quezon City, right kid?¡± Oscar was shaking his head in amus.e.m.e.nt. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, it would be the best if we could establish a connection with him. He will definitely be a good ally. The only problem is that he¡¯s two cities far from us and we still have a lot of problems here. Rod, can you give me his Sat Phone number?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You¡¯re not worried about supplies eh? Hah! That¡¯s good. I¡¯m sorry it¡¯s all I could give away. We have lots of people back home too, we all need to make do with what we have. His number is¡­¡± he gave me Iskoh¡¯s number.


    ¡°How¡¯s he holding up there?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay for the most part. His problems aside from the dead are the gangs that are scattered about causing havoc. I¡¯m not sure which is worse, the cult you have here or the ones that he has but all of them are sources of headaches. He wanted to give some of them a chance since some are still young kids but one of the reasons I¡¯m going there is to give him a piece of my mind. Some people are just not worth saving. He keeps on saying that life is more important than stolen goods so he uses non-lethal force but a few of his people are showing dissatisfaction since those people stille back despite that.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Have a soft spot for kids eh? That¡¯ll be trouble if he continues to think that way. He¡¯s lucky he¡¯s not dead yet.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°He¡¯s not wrong in saying that life is important but what he should do is see it in both ways. Back when this shit didn¡¯t happen yet, the moment you stole something or broke into someone¡¯s house, you just decided that the items you stole are more important than your life. Even if the person stealing is doing that to survive, well shit, everyone does now don¡¯t we? Especially this time.¡± I chimed.


    I then gave time for the rest to ask their own questions as well but I went for one I¡¯m kinda excited about.


    ¡°Rod, which helicopter would you give me?¡± I asked nonchntly.


    ¡°Hah! I forgot about that. Want to bet if you could get the attack chopper? Hmm?¡± he started.


    ¡°Sir?! Are you serious?!¡± Honassan choked.

 Chapter 250

    Chapter 250: 250


    When I heard him say the word ¡®bet¡¯, my eyes immediately lit up. A devilish smile is slowly forming on my face as I could see Kaley slowly shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt. I know that everyone that knows me is already saying, ¡®Uh-oh.¡¯ in their heads. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You sure, Rod? That attack helicopter is something else. I¡¯m happy taking the civilian one as part of the original deal, but if you insist, I¡¯ll take that instead.¡± excitement is on my face.


    ¡°Hah! That¡¯s the f.u.c.k.i.n.g spirit! What would you add in extra then if I win? Hmm? You¡¯re speaking as if you¡¯ve won already you son of a bitch!¡± He has the same facial expression as me.


    ¡°Well I doubt that I¡¯d lose but that¡¯s fair, I guess. We haven¡¯t used something in our run yesterday. Well, it was there but it wasn¡¯t needed. See that SUV over there? That¡¯s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g armored beast that has an XM556 attached to it. It¡¯s the only one in the world and that¡¯s not all I¡¯m betting. I¡¯ll give you and your soldiers an upgrade with your guns. I can see that all of you are still using the factory ones. There¡¯s nothing wrong with that but a few add-ons here and there for everyone wouldn¡¯t be bad, right? I¡¯ll even throw in the protective gear we¡¯re currently using if you¡¯d leave us with more fuel for that attack helicopter.¡± I was still smiling then his soldiers subconsciously looked at their weapons.


    ¡°WOAH! WOAH! WOAH! THAT F.U.C.K.I.N.G SUV IS MINE! WHY THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU BETTING THAT KID?! AT LEAST BET YOUR HAYABUSA!¡± Oscar suddenly spit out everything in his mouth.


    ¡°Have I ever lost a bet old man?¡± I smiled cheekily.


    ¡°Ohoh~ You¡¯re a confident son of a bitch eh? HAHAHAHA!!! I really f.u.c.k.i.n.g like you kid. Hmm, those guns of yours would make anyone covet it however¡­ nevermind. You¡¯re giving me too much though, the only thing in the attack chopper have extra is the guns and theuncher on it, just give me new guns with the upgrades and it¡¯s settled, deal?¡± he started tough heartily and we shook hands.


    ¡°Umm¡­¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°This is your wife, right kid? Like you said when we¡¯re walking earlier?¡± Rod looked at me.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I immediately replied then she also immediately kicked me.


    ¡°Stop you two! You kept on talking about your wagers but you still haven¡¯t decided on what you two are betting on!¡± Kaley snapped.


    ¡°Oh, right.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Son of a bitch, you¡¯re right.¡± Rod also said.


    Kaley was shaking her head in disbelief.


    ¡°Sir, I got something to say.¡± another soldier chimed.


    ¡°Guttierez? What do you have in mind?¡± Rod looked at him.


    ¡°No disrespect but it isn¡¯t about the gun, it¡¯s the soldier.¡± he said while looking at me directly.


    ¡°Well said. It just makes things easier but in the end, it¡¯s in the one who uses it.¡± I replied but he wouldn¡¯t stop looking at me.


    I scanned around his getup and the thing I noticed immediately is that he is carrying a stock L96 and a stock Glock 17. Rod and the rest of his soldiers are using M16s though a few, Rod included, have an M203 Grenade Launcher attached underneath. There¡¯s a difference in handguns but he¡¯s sticking out like a sore thumb. He looked much younger than the rest of them too, probably a little bit older than Tatiana. He has a sharp look in his eyes and he seems annoyed the longer he looks at me.


    ¡°Their marksman? I think I know where this is going.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°This is Lawrence Guttierez, one of our best shooters. I think you know where this is going eh?¡± Rod introduced him.


    ¡°Yeah, this is Kaley Payan, one of my best shooters. She¡¯ll take Lawrence on. I have a range at the back, let¡¯s go?¡± I said then Lawrence got ticked off.


    ¡°You¡¯re not even doing it yourself?! And her? Pssh!¡± he eximed.


    Kaley silently looked at him not saying anything. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well, if that¡¯s the way we go, Rod should be the onepeting, right? How about we bet your gun too? Hmm? And an apology.¡± I retorted.


    The atmosphere suddenly got tense.


    No more words were exchanged and we made our way towards the range we made. Several more targets are present and it is now more than double the amountpared to the guy where you could hear brass casings when you walk inside it. We have an audience and Kaley is silently psyching herself up.


    ¡°He just dug his grave, Kaley is mad.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Here¡¯s what we¡¯ll do, since it¡¯s your first time here, you make the routine first and here¡¯s a box of ammo to practice with. There will be three rounds where the first routine is made by you, the second by Kaley, and thest by me.¡± I exined.


    ¡°No long-range targets?¡± he asked.


    ¡°It would be too easy if it¡¯s not moving. Or is that the only thing you could shoot?¡± Kaley snapped.


    ¡°Oh shit.¡± thought to myself.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna die. HAHAHAHA!!!¡± Rod said to Lawrence.


    ¡°I just¡­ Well let me shoot a few first.¡± he replied.


    He got busy and Kaley was just crossing her arms. I nced around and Tatiana was happily chatting with her team. We haven¡¯t introduced ourselves with each other yet but I¡¯ll let them have their own moment of catching up first.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m ready.¡± Lawrence looked at me.


    The tes were reset and I held the timer ready.


    *BEEP*


    His reaction time is exceptional and he quickly shot down the row of tes while leaving weaving left and right. After that, he went to the dueling poles and he shot each one twice before he switched magazines.


    He then went for the chicken, the duck, the duck, the duck, andstly the cow.


    He hit them all squarely and he moved next to the Texas Star target. He timed it perfectly on each swing and he has never missed a target.


    All of these targets were still quite near and he¡¯s slowly going for the farther ones. Each shot he made would be quickly followed by the sound of ringing metal and the people watching him were astonished. He ended with aiming for the gong at the farthest end but it took him a bit of time acquiring the target.


    *BA*TING**


    Nevertheless, he hit it with one shot and he holstered his gun. He looked back at us and he¡¯s smirking.


    ¡°Nice job. A minute and forty seconds.¡± I said.


    ¡°He¡¯s fast and urate. I could go faster than him though.¡± I thought to myself.


    Then it was Kaley¡¯s turn. She was never speaking a word and she just walked up to the table. She¡¯s now in position and all eyes are on her. <hr>


    *BEEP*


    She drew her Maxim and she did work. However, my internal clock is saying that Lawrence is still faster. Rod, Lawrence, and the rest of the soldiers were surprised that she could shoot that fast and they thought the two were at the same speed.


    ¡°She needs to go faster to beat him.¡± I thought to myself.


    But she couldn¡¯t.


    However, when she went for the Texas Star, she did something different.


    Instead of waiting for the star to swing and slow for a bit before shooting it, she acquired the target while still in transit.


    *BA*TING**


    *BA*TING**


    *BA*TING**


    *BA*TING**


    *BA*TING**


    The five targets at the end of the stars fell down one after the other after just one swing. She never waited for them to slow down when it reached it¡¯s maximum swinging capacity before shooting again.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s one way to do it. Heh. Why didn¡¯t I think of that? I¡¯d try thatter.¡± I wasughing internally.


    ¡°Damn.¡± Rod muttered.


    Kaley breezed through the targets but in thest one, the gong, she took a bit more time in acquiring the target.


    *BA*TING**


    She holstered her gun and she looked at me, same as everyone.


    ¡°Close. A minute and forty-seven seconds.¡± I replied.


    ¡°If I didn¡¯t aim that long on that gong¡­ nevermind.¡± she trailed.


    People were astonished to hear the time but I think I¡¯m the only one who noticed the hidden smirk on her face.


    ¡°Did she just? No, she¡¯s up to something. She always aim that same time on that gong even now.¡± I thought to myself.


    Lawrence is now wearing a solemn expression.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s thinking but he better know that it¡¯s on now.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°Interesting.¡± I heard one of the people Tatiana is with muttered.


    ¡°Well, wait for Sky in Round 3, it was surprising to see him not showing off.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Hey, I heard you.¡± I chimed.


    ¡°Am I wrong?¡± she replied.


    ¡°Nevermind¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! I was reserved in myments at first but your wife is something else I tell you. She¡¯s trained before?¡± Rod looked at me.


    ¡°Her dad, Matthew, has been teaching her to shoot guns since she was young. She¡¯s a real quick study and has talent. It would be best not to underestimate her.¡± I replied.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.¡± Lawrence said from the side while Rod started tough.


    ¡°Regret betting your gun now, eh? Time for Round 2, Kaley?¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey! He¡¯s gonna copy me, right?¡± Kaley asked for confirmation and I nodded.


    ¡°This is what we¡¯re doing¡­¡± she trailed and she ced her pistol on the table.


    Lawrence was confused but I started to smile brightly when I figured out what she¡¯s about to do.


    ¡°Hmm? What is she doing?¡± Rod asked.


    ¡°Just watch. Heh.¡± I replied and I raised the timer.


    ¡°Shooter ready?¡±


    She nodded.


    ¡°Standby.¡±


    *BEEP*


    Several gunshots rang out and everyone not paying much attention were confused.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it the same targets?¡±


    ¡°Kaley should¡¯ve done something different.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, something she¡¯s used to doing would be a better choice.¡±


    ¡°Hah! Look closely you idiots.¡± <hr>


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about.¡±


    ¡°Wait¡­¡±


    ¡°Holy f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit.¡±


    ¡°Son of a bitch!¡±


    ¡°What is happening?!¡±


    ¡°You still can¡¯t see it?! Hahahahahaha!!!¡±


    Kaley finally holstered her gun and she¡¯s the one giving a smirk.


    ¡°Time?¡± she asked, grinning.


    ¡°Show off. Two minutes and seven seconds.¡± I replied, smiling.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAH!!! I like you two sons of bitches~!¡± Rod was dyingughing.


    ¡°¡­!¡± Lawrence was bbergasted.


    ¡°Hey~! Someone tell me what happened!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHA~! You really didn¡¯t notice?!¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t as well¡­¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it longer? That¡¯s bad, right?!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAH!!! YOU IDIOTS~!!!¡±


    ¡°What?! F.u.c.k.i.n.g tell me then!¡±


    ¡°Her hands! Can¡¯t you remember the position her hands are in?! Seriously?!¡±


    ¡°Her¡­ hands?¡±


    I decided to tell everyone what Kaley did.


    ¡°If you didn¡¯t see it clearly, on Round 2, she used her left hand for pulling the trigger, not her right. Her right hand was the one supporting this time. Basically she switched grips.¡± I said loud enough for everyone to hear.

 Chapter 251

    Chapter 251: 251


    The moment I exined what¡¯s going on, the people who were confused as to what is going on were astounded. The smug look Lawrence has before is gone and it is reced with seriousness. Rod and Oscar were dyingughing and Matthew¡¯s proud look was priceless. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What is that proud look for? I¡¯m the one who taught her.¡± I cheekily said.


    ¡°SHUT UP! I¡¯M HIS DAD! I GET PROUD WHENEVER I WANT!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°Hey! Shut up you two! It¡¯s your turn.¡± Kaley interrupted and she looked at Lawrence.


    ¡°Hah! What are you gonna do now? Can you even use your left hand?¡± one of the soldiers chimed.


    ¡°¡­¡± Lawrence was silent.


    Despite that, he still came up to the table and he gave a long sigh. He pulled out his gun and heid it on the table. Everyone was looking at him and he nced back at me.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t back down, I¡¯ll give him that.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Shooter ready.¡±


    ¡°Ready.¡±


    ¡°Standby.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *BEEP*


    He quickly picked it up but it was all too obvious. It took him several moments to acquire each target sessfully and a couple shots or more to hit one. It¡¯s kinda painful to watch but he still finished the course for this round. A few people have started to do other things since his performance this time is very different from what he did earlier.


    ¡°Time?¡± he asked solemnly.


    ¡°Thirteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds. You¡¯re ten seconds early.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?¡± he was confused and Jared was shaking his head. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Nevermind.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I learned a lot today. It isn¡¯t over yet but I apologize for earlier.¡± he looked at Kaley.


    ¡°Hmm. It¡¯s fine.¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Hah! It would be over if I used my left hand too, don¡¯t it? I taught her, remember? Ready for Round 3?¡± I interjected.


    Silence. Complete total f.u.c.k.i.n.g silence.


    ¡°At least be fair kid!¡±


    ¡°HE TRIED IT EVEN IF HE¡¯D LOSE! HAVE SOME CONSIDERATION!¡±


    ¡°Respect soldier bro!¡±


    ¡°BE FAIR YOU IDIOT! WHO TRAINS WITH THEIR LEFT HAND LIKE A PSYCHO!¡±


    ¡°Hey! I trained my left hand too! I¡¯m a psycho then?!¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡±


    *CLAP* *CLAP*


    I pped loudly so that everyone would stop bickering well¡­ their curses raining towards me.


    ¡°Hey! An attack helicopter is at stake! Doing this benefits us greatly! At least you know the importance of training both your hands. It is the same thing not with just hand to hand fighting and using melee or martial weapons, it also applies to using guns. What if by some chance your main hand is out ofmission or you have a bet with the president regarding an attack helicopter? Huh? You would¡¯ve lost then and there!¡± I shouted.


    Everyone was not speaking though amused but Lawrence had a difficult expression.


    ¡°But yeah, I¡¯ll make it fair. Like Kaley said earlier, it would be too easy if it¡¯s not moving.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna shoot moving targets?¡± Lawrence asked.


    ¡°What? No. We¡¯re already here. We¡¯ll use this! Tatiana timer please.¡± I said as I threw her the timer.


    I pulled out a long piece of cloth from my pack as I walked in front of the table. Everyone made anothermotion as they saw what I did after I made a short nce towards the targets.


    ¡°Told you guys he¡¯d do somethingter.¡± I heard Tatiana¡¯s voice.


    ¡°F.u.c.k me.¡± I heard Lawrence¡¯s voice as well.


    ¡°Impossible.¡±


    ¡°He finally lost it.¡±


    ¡°SHH! I want to see it!¡±


    I¡¯m just faintly smiling and I heard Tatiana¡¯s voice once more.


    ¡°Crazy f.u.c.k, ready?¡±


    ¡°*chuckle* Yep.¡±


    ¡°Standby.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *BEEP*


    I quickly drew my pistol and I aimed at the ces where the targets were supposed to be. Only the sound of my suppressed gun and the steel targets ringing could be heard. I changed magazines once and I¡¯m keeping track of everything. Where the extras are located, where my hand is supposed to be, how many bullets are left, where the gun should be pointed, and where the targets were. I did the same routine as Lawrence earlier but like Kaley, I did something to bump the difficulty level. However, this time, everyone saw what I did.


    *BSSH*TING** <hr>


    I heard the gong ringing and I holstered my pistol. I turned around, removed my blindfold and I said, ¡°Time?¡±


    ¡°A minute and nine seconds.¡± Tatiana said, shaking her head.


    ¡°Sixty-nine seconds? Nice~ This is fair, right? Kaley doesn¡¯t know how to do that, yet.¡± I said nonchntly.


    When my eyes met everyone¡¯s faces, their mouths are all agape.


    ¡°Bro¡­ how did you do that?!¡± Jared was in disbelief.


    ¡°They¡¯re not moving, right? Why would you need your eyes for it?¡± I replied with a grin.


    ¡°Bro! But! How about sight alignment?! Target acquisition?! The reposition after a recoil?! A-and much more! F.u.c.k! I thought you were joking before when you said you could do it!¡± he shouted and started to get hysterical.


    ¡°Practice. Lots~ and lots of practice. Well, being a psycho like you said helps I guess. *chuckle* Aside from havingplete control of your body, it¡¯s all numbers really. If my hand is ced at this angle and such and such. That¡¯s boring stuff, what¡¯s important is the result. This is really easy if they¡¯re not moving like that. I wouldn¡¯t be able to do it if they are moving in random directions unless I could hear them at least. I¡¯d have a chance if that¡¯s the case.¡± I replied, cheekily smiling.


    Not only Jared, everyone seems to be in disbelief with my answer.


    ¡°Bro I really think there¡¯s an alien living inside your head, can you have a brain scan?!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°Show off.¡± Kaley said, shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! I admit defeat you son of a bitch! Blindfold or not, you¡¯re several seconds faster than him. It would be a matter of time before your wife there learns it. I thought I¡¯d already seen everything when the zombies came, hah! Who would¡¯ve thought?¡± Rod spoke up.


    ¡°B-but sir! In the end, I¡¯d still bepeting with her, not him¡­ There¡¯s a chance that I m-¡± Lawrence interjected but Rod waved him off.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. My chopper, my rules. You know how to pilot one, right?¡± Rod looked at me.


    ¡°I can¡­ However, if you want to give me a pilot, I wouldn¡¯t be polite! I¡¯d like to be on the ground in a run while a pilot is on standby.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! I think I¡¯m gonna hold off on that for now. I might lose my whole team if I keep on betting. Tell me, what else do you need aside from that?¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°Well¡­ if you¡¯re done with that cargo helicopter, I¡¯d like to have it too.¡± I replied as almost everyone choked.


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!! You¡¯re really something, you know that? What the f.u.c.k would you use that for? HAHAHAHA!!!¡± he startedughing.


    ¡°What else? It could carry heavy things and I for one need a special vehicle in my ce. I bet it could carry around 20 tons, right? Modified vehicles are good and all but I want something built for this. A tank or two from one of your military bases here would be a start. I¡¯ll go for the ones not in use of course. I¡¯d get what I could as the fuel allows. You don¡¯t mind, right? I doubt you¡¯d need more since you have plenty of them in your city.¡± I said.


    ¡°He has his personal army too, the ¡®DDS¡¯. I wonder if some of them are in the mix with the soldiers he brought. He¡¯s been keeping silent on his vignte group but I think they¡¯re out in the open now.¡± I thought to myself.


    His facial expression started to be solemn and he started to nod a couple of times.


    ¡°Hmm. That sounds like a great f.u.c.k.i.n.g idea. F.u.c.k it, I¡¯ll give you a pilot but not today. If I give you a cargo helicopter, the person piloting it wouldn¡¯t be able to go back and you¡¯ll have two. Honassan, after our trip here and we get back to Davao, you¡¯lle back to this ce.¡± He immediately decided.


    ¡°Sir?!¡± Honassan was in shock the same way everyone is.


    ¡°Rod, a question.¡± I chimed.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± he looked back at me.


    ¡°Well how much for another one? I could still give you upgrades to your guns if you like in exchange for another pilot. I doubt you¡¯recking pilots at your disposal, right? We¡¯re all the same team too.¡± I turned to ¡®business¡¯ mode.


    ¡°Kid?! I think that¡¯s too much!¡± Oscar almost fell off his chair but the look on his face is telling me that he¡¯s smiling inwardly.


    ¡°Hmm. Really? Then it¡¯s a deal. I¡¯ll tell Avalos the news. What would you give me in exchange for Guttierez? Are you in need of more shooters?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Sir?!¡± Guttierez started to puke blood. The loss and the words of the president seemed to be too much for him.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Why are you in disbelief? Don¡¯t you want to train your skills here? This crazy son of a bitch is leagues better than your brother. If you want to beat him¡­ I think this son of a bitch is the answer eh?¡± he said.


    ¡°No thanks, we¡¯re good on shooters.¡± I quickly replied.

 Chapter 252

    Chapter 252: 252


    Everyone present choked and the president and I started onughing maniacally. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!! LOOK AT YOUR FACES! HAHAHAHA~!!!¡± the president is wheezing.


    ¡°Seriously though, you¡¯re willing to part with another one of your soldiers? A decent shooter to boot? I¡¯m not saying that I won¡¯t ept him, it¡¯s just that you¡¯re giving away valuable soldiers easily.¡± I tried to confirm.


    ¡°Hmm. Soldiers are something I have a lot of. I just want something from you that wouldn¡¯t be as much trouble. My city is holding up great but we could never be too sure eh?¡± he replied.


    ¡°So that¡¯s why.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°You want this ce to be your backup n. Two of your pilots here would also ensure that in case of something goes wrong at your ce, you could be easily picked up. That¡¯s the reason why you easily gave me those two helicopters, right? I know we¡¯ll be exchanging a few more but I thought it has gone too smoothly.¡± I said and he had a faint smile.


    ¡°Heh, something like that. I really like the way you think, kid. We somehow think the same thing.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Yeah, good choice picking the word ¡®somewhat¡¯ though. I have more backup ns and going to another ce to seek refuge is the least of my priorities. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯d still fly those aircrafts to your city with my people as ast measure too if all else fails. It¡¯s easy to escape from trouble, I just want to have a ce of my own.¡± I said.


    ¡°Why? I think you¡¯ll be a fine addition to my team.¡± hemented.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m the best of course but I have problems working under people. I want things a certain way and if it isn¡¯t, I¡¯ll go to somece else or I¡¯ll make it so that I would be the one in charge.¡± I replied then the atmosphere tensed. His soldiers looked at me if I was joking but I have a serious expression with a faint smile. The small chatters around us also stopped and they felt the cold wind blowing.


    ¡°Hmm. So you mean to say that in any case this ce goes down, you¡¯d fly to my ce and take control of it? Is that what you meant? Can you hear yourself?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the point.¡± I quickly replied while looking him in the eye. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Kid. Stop talking. Now.¡± Oscar said from my side.


    ¡°You just threatened the president. You think that¡¯s funny?¡± Rod was still staring at me.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the point.¡± I quickly replied while still looking him in the eye.


    ¡°¡­¡± Rod.


    ¡°¡­¡± I.


    *CHUCKLE*


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡± We both startedughing and crying.


    ¡°HA~! DID YOU GET A LOOK AT YOUR PEOPLE¡¯S FACES?!¡± Rod eximed.


    ¡°YOURS TOO! HAHAHAHAHA~! I CAN¡¯T BELIEVE WE PULLED A SECOND ONE UN-¡± then Kaley attacked me.


    ¡°CAN¡¯T YOU TWO JUST HAVE A NORMAL CONVERSATION?! YOU TWO ARE SCARING PEOPLE LEFT AND RIGHT!!!¡± Kaley bellowed.


    The tense atmosphere that came earlier quickly dissipated just like that and we¡¯re all walking back towards thepound after a few rounds of reprimanding. Lawrence started to hand me his gun but I waved him off. I told him to keep since that would be the gun he would be using since he is now part of my group along with Honassan and Avalos. Honassan was still in disbelief though he can¡¯t wait to tell Avalos to see his reaction. <hr>


    ¡°Rod, so what are you thinking about your upgrades? Do you want to use the same thing and just have attachments ced on it or do you want to have a new gun?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hmm. What do you suggest?¡± he asked.


    ¡°A shotgun.¡± Oscar immediately interjected.


    ¡°Hah! A rifle is the way to go. Well, up to you.¡± I said,ughing.


    While he was thinking of what to do, I also asked the rest of his soldiers about things that they wanted done on their guns. However, all of their answers made my lips twitch a bit. The way they¡¯re looking at my guns earlier made me initially think that they would tell me to bling-out their guns. Doing that would turn their guns into a mall ninja gun that would be too unwieldy if several dozen attachments are ced. Instead, they just requested for a suppressor, a foregrip, and aser sight which I have several of. However, I switched the slings for their rifles and the holster for their pistols since what they have is a little outdated and worn out. It¡¯s a small upgrade but it did the job as intended.


    ¡°Less is more as always.¡± I thought to myself.


    I then turned back to Rod still thinking of what to do.


    ¡°I want the same thing as them but I want a new gun. I want something with a bit of oomph! You guys have something like that?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Of course. I have just the idea, prepare your shoulders though.¡± I replied.


    I let Oscar take care of Rod¡¯s M16 while I went back to my room to get a Henry .45-70. It¡¯s a lever-action rifle that could hold 4 .45-70 Government rounds that hits really hard. I also added several rounds of ammo for him to use since I rarely use this gun and I hate shooting it the same with the 500 Magnum. Aside from the regr ammo that it uses that already hits hard and could leave a bruise on your shoulder, I added a few Extreme Prator Rounds that looks like a philip head screw just to make him regret his decision. I went down with the Henry and a small ammo can filled to the brim. I surmise he doesn¡¯t have these rounds avable to him or has few of these so I gave him a lot.


    ¡°Something tells me that I¡¯m gonna love this and hate it at the same time.¡± he said as he picked it up. <hr>


    ¡°Well you said something with an ¡®oomph¡¯ so that¡¯s something that gives it. Heh. You¡¯d know the recoil is strong since the end of the buttstock there is rubber. I¡¯d shot it a few times but I¡¯m sticking to my 5.56 and 9mm.¡± I said.


    ¡°Heh, even the bullet is this big. F.u.c.k.i.n.g son of a bitch gun. Tell me how to use this thing.¡± he said.


    I taught him how to operate it and he listened closely. It¡¯s fairly easy to use and he learned it eventually.


    ¡°Thanks for this. What are your ns for today? I¡¯m nning to stop by the DDR Camp next to you in the Meycauayan Hospital, is that right? I wanna scare some rookies and tell them you and your group are now affiliated with me. I¡¯m gonna try to contact a few camps so I could follow my part of the deal.¡± he said.


    ¡°Sure.¡± I replied.


    One of the things I needed to have for real is something I requested from him.


    Authority.


    I faked that I was belonging to a special unit before and now it just bes reality. Authority is something intangible but definitely could help me a lot especially in this situation. I always made the effort to prove myself by showing off or giving deals where I¡¯m on the losing side just to get them to follow my orders but that would change now. Like the time when I convinced everyone to help me with the run to People¡¯s Park. I mostly did the work but the resources were still split equally among everyone.


    The thing is, I don¡¯t know how long it could take me just by the president¡¯s work alone but I would definitely make full use of it to where it can be used. Not just having the power or right to give orders to his soldiers is what I would be receiving from that, I could also filter the camps who would disobey an order from me so I¡¯ll know for sure which camps are the ones that have gone AWOL for sure.


    Some of them as he told me were violently hostile where some of them are still going on a ruse that they¡¯re still a functioning camp. He just can¡¯t announce which is which to avoid further confusion and paranoia between people still thinking of going to the camps. Not only that, they¡¯re not sure if the camps he would be announcing are still safe would still be safe the moment people seek that ce.


    ¡°I thought you were going to Mayor Iskoh¡¯s DDR camp?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°Maybe tomorrow or this afternoon. I have to settle down a bit since I hate flying long distances like this.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Just be on the lookout for the cult members. We warned them before and they caught a few at that camp but we never know if there would still be remnants.¡± I said.


    ¡°I also need to find a way to ce one of our rys installed in their vehicle without them noticing. I¡¯m still not sure of letting anyone know of her yet. Well, I could always tell them that it¡¯s for a radio or something but he has people who know their stuff at his ce.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Heh. Let theme and they¡¯ll get something. Oh yeah, since you would be trying to set a connection with Iskoh, why don¡¯t youe with me when we leave so you could meet the guy? We¡¯d bring the chopper and you could bring yours. I¡¯d feel more secure if you¡¯d bring a few of your people too since I would be leaving M and Roque here when I go there. I just can¡¯t leave them without the soldiers I know personally.¡± he said.


    ¡°Personally? You mean? That group, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, f.u.c.k it. No use hiding them from the public anymore. Well, most people already know about them. Issues just popped up when I became president.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Hmm? What are you two talking about?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Oh, you didn¡¯t know about my Davao Death Squad? The ¡®DDS¡¯ that those f.u.c.k.i.n.g reporters kept pestering me about? Heh, this kid will fill you in on that.¡± he started to chuckle.


    The president and his team started to get up and leave and the moment they left the gate, my radio buzzed and I heard Tatiana¡¯s voice.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, we¡¯re in the gym with my team. Come on up.¡±


    *bzzt*

 Chapter 253

    Chapter 253: 253


    I suddenly had a foreboding of a jumping spinning hook kick happening again as I heard what Tatiana said. I started to make each of my knuckles crack and I started to jump a few times after I made my neck crack. <center></center><hr>


    *CR*CRACK**


    ¡°That was Tatiana, right?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yep. They¡¯re in the gym, she said. I think I know what¡¯s about to happen so I¡¯m starting to loosen myself a bit. Be my backup in case all of them attack at the same time.¡± I replied as I looked at her.


    ¡°Wow~ sending your wife to a fight, eh? *chuckle* Sure, I¡¯ll help. I doubt you¡¯d need my help though. From what I¡¯ve seen, have you ever gone 100% yet? I¡¯m seeing a few of your cards each time there¡¯s a challenge up ahead. It¡¯s like you¡¯re the main protagonist of a novel or something.¡± she chuckles.


    ¡°Hah! I plead the fifth then! Just kidding, I definitely have several aces hidden in my sleeves. Everyone should, especially at this time. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s see what they¡¯re up to.¡± I replied.


    We headed up to my gym and I saw their equipment being organized by Rin on the side. Kaley and I alsoid our equipment next to where Rin ced theirs and we greeted her as we watched them. They¡¯ve changed to clothes that we acquired on our runs and they are now sparring with each other. I¡¯m looking at their movements and I noticed something peculiar.


    ¡°Their movements and stances are from Combat and Sports Sambo with a mix of Systema. The only outlier is still Tatiana because she knows a bit more from different disciplinespared to them. Wait, that guy is just watching them from the side, he seems¡­ different? He looks like the big guy but he¡¯s morepact.¡± I thought to myself.


    They¡¯re wearing gloves but the sound of the blows missing or getting blocked is strong enough to knock another person out. They¡¯re also performing joint locks though a simple tap is performed when it seeds so that they could reset immediately.


    Tatiana is fighting with another woman thatmented when we¡¯re in the shooting range. She has dirty blonde hair and she has almost the same features as Tatiana though her chin is more pronounced and she¡¯s shorter by a few centimeters. She¡¯s avoiding Tatiana¡¯s low kicks by stepping back and her hands are open. That seems to tell me she¡¯s waiting for an opportunity, maybe a pause on Tatiana¡¯s attacks because Tatiana¡¯s been relentless ever since we came up. <center></center><hr>


    The two guys on the other hand are in the middle of a battle of who¡¯s gonna mount who on the ground. The guy with hair tied to the back is smirking since he got the upper hand. However, a punch came from an angle that made its way to his side that made him wince. I thought it wouldn¡¯t do much damage and would act more like a push but he was quickly mounted by the other guy with much shorter hair. I just noticed that his back was huge when he was the one on top.


    ¡°That¡¯s a huge back. Maybe where the power from that punches from. Throwing a punch from that position that could actually hurt someone needs technique or just in stupid raw power and he¡¯s definitely thetter.¡± I thought to myself.


    His fists started to hammer down on the guy below but some of them were still blocked sessfully.


    *SWISH*


    *THUD*


    Tatiananded a huge middle kick to her opponent but thedy took it to catch her leg. Thedy managed to sessfully take her down but Tatiana caught her in a guillotine when they fell down on the mat. Tatiana wrapped her legs around thedy¡¯s waist and she started to tighten her grip. A few taps on Tatiana¡¯s body were ced and she immediately let go. They reset the position and thedy was the one to start with a right low kick followed by a left hook.


    Suddenly, on the other match, I could hear several dull thuds due to how hard the guy on top was still hammering the guy below. All he could do was guard now and his arms are starting to get swollen. The guy below suddenly threw his hand upwards towards the other guy¡¯s face. I saw how his hand was formed and just as I was about to interfere, the guy watching them shouted.


    ¡°ALEXEI!¡± he bellowed.


    Everyone stopped moving and I saw Alexei¡¯s hand stopping just a short centimeter away from gouging the other guy¡¯s eye off.


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g- we¡¯re just sparring you idiot!¡± the guy on top shouted as he stood up and offered his hand. <hr>


    ¡°What? Can¡¯t you see my arms bruising like this?! If you don¡¯t want your eye gouged, hold back a bit! Freakin¡¯ oaf!¡± Alexei stood up without the other guy¡¯s help.


    His arms really are swollen from the constant blows being blocked. He removed the tie on his hair and it is a bit longer than Tatiana¡¯s hair. Tatiana and the other woman had also stopped sparring and they finally noticed us watching from the side.


    ¡°Hi guys! We¡¯ve been here just a short while. I thought they would wait for you when Tatiana radioed you in but they started already.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a change of pace to see people somewhat even and performing high level moves. When we¡¯re practicing, especially the first time, I could feel Tatiana¡¯s concern since we know almost nothing.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Hah! Well they¡¯re required to know to fight like that. But yeah, it¡¯s a change of pace to see people not just getting pummeled by Tatiana.¡± I added.


    ¡°Like you¡¯re not the one pummeling everyone.¡± Kaley immediately said and I chuckled.


    I noticed that the soldiers were walking towards us so we stood up to greet them.


    ¡°You must be Sky, thank you for letting us use the facilities.¡± the guy who shouted earlier said.


    ¡°No problem. The president already made their way back though, is that okay?¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°It is okay. We¡¯d receive a call if they need us. Oh, I forgot to introduce ourselves. I¡¯m Niks, the big guy there is my brother Mikhail. You know Alexei, and the other one is Vera. Tatiana has been saying great things about you.¡± he said but I felt something from the way he talks.


    ¡°Same. Great to meet people from Tatiana¡¯s side. Are you their CO? I thought there were more of you and some here were stationed somewhere.¡± I asked as I also introduced Kaley and Rin.


    ¡°Hah! He wish! Artem is our CO. He¡¯s still back at Da.. Davao, right?¡± Mikhail interjected.


    ¡°Yeah, big oaf. We¡¯ve been there a long time and you still can¡¯t remember ces properly.¡± Vera added.


    ¡°It¡¯s just hard to pronounce them in my case.¡± Alexei mentioned.


    ¡°Enough. Well, I¡¯m the one here and on our mission at this ce. Which brings me back to something I have to discuss with you.¡± he said as he looked at me.


    I quickly noticed Tatiana smirking and I took it as a signal.


    It was the perfect distance and position.


    Niks is in front of me though the others were a few feet apart from him. If he¡¯d throw the same kick Tatiana always does, the time is now. He¡¯s a bit taller than me and I bet he could deliver more power from that kickpared to Tatiana just by body type alone.


    Instead of waiting for him to make the first move, I performed that ghost kick I did before that made Tatiana unconscious. It¡¯s a kick made by cing where you lean your weight on the other side that would make first timers or people unaware to fall victim to. <hr>


    *SWISH*


    My quick upwards kick with my left nicked his chin and he took a small step back. He had raised his arms halfway before he fell to the mat unconscious. His eyes were rolled over and he looks like a doll with his strings cut off.


    ¡°Wai-¡± Tatiana was surprisingly shocked to see the events unfold but the three started to attack me when they saw Niks falling down.


    Luckily, Tatiana managed to hold down Vera while I¡¯m stuck fighting the two. Kaley hesitated and she seemed to want to hear what Tatiana said first.


    ¡°LET GO OF ME!¡± Vera shouted.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got it al- WAIT!¡± Tatiana was trying to say something but it was toote.


    Mikhail dashed towards me and he¡¯s throwing a huge right punch towards my face. I got a split second before Alexei managed to reach me so I let it brush past my cheek and I ced a counter towards him. I balled my right hand and I ced the weight of my body to my counter since I also moved forward. I aimed to make him fall unconscious by rattling his brain around. I doubt I could make him fall from continued attacks to the body since looking at him made me think he could take a lot of punishment.


    His head jolted from the impact and his huge body started to fall down.


    ¡°Gotcha.¡± I suddenly felt an arm wrapping around my neck for a choke.

 Chapter 254

    Chapter 254: 254


    ¡°Shit.¡± I thought to myself as I felt his arming from my right side. <center></center><hr>


    Severe miscalction on my part since I thought Kaley wouldn¡¯t hesitate on thest moment. I know that Tatiana was about to say something but I still needed to defend myself from their attacks. I used attacks like the full-body counter to Mikhail just to knock him out in one blow to lessen injuries from a continuous barrage from both sides.


    Alexei¡¯s huge swollen arm instantly wrapped around my neck and I could already feel it tightening.


    ¡°GUYS! STOP! IT¡¯S A MISUND-¡± Tatiana was about to finish her sentence but she was headbutted by Vera. Her head blew back and now I could see Vera doing the same kick that Tatiana always does as an opener towards my head. Blood spurted from Tatiana¡¯s nose and it was all a blur.


    ¡°STOP IT!!!¡± Kaley finally snapped back to reality as I saw her blurred figureing from my side but she went for Vera instead. I surmised that she thought I could easily break free from this rear n.a.k.e.d choke but it would be highly difficult. She received Vera¡¯s kick with her right arm and it made a dull sound.


    A few seconds have already passed and I was nearing my limit.


    ¡°WHY DID YOU ATTACK HIM?!¡± Alexei bellowed.


    I had a few options and I needed to act quickly. Several options popped into my head. First, gouge both of his eyes out; Second, stomp on his foot since he¡¯s barefoot and I¡¯m wearing my steel-ted boots; Third, push his arm upwards and use the sweat from his body as lube so I could try to slip off. Several scenarios ran in my head but of all the options I could do, I chose something that my Bard would definitely do in this situation.


    ¡°GUYS! HE THOUGHT YOU WOULD ALL ATTACK HIM!!!¡± Tatiana bellowed but¡­


    ¡°Here goes nothing~¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°P-please¡­ c-choke me daddy¡­ h-harder¡­¡± I muttered with thest of my few seconds remaining.


    ¡°W-what?¡± Alexei was thrown off so bad I could already feel his grip getting loose at an rming rate.


    Tatiana¡¯s eyes widened, Kaley almost lost his bnce, and Vera¡­ she blushed while covering her mouth. The threedies in a scuffle stopped fighting when they heard what I said.


    ¡°NATURAL 20 MADAFAKA~¡± I shouted with the top of my lungs as I stomped hard on the mat.


    *BOOM*


    My foot hit his exposed toes and his grip on me waspletely removed. A dull sound was produced from the impact though I didn¡¯t feel bones getting shattered. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°AHH~!!!¡± he winced.


    I quickly spun delivering a right elbow to his jaw.


    *CRRCK*


    Left middle kick to his torso.


    *THUD*


    Reverse spin to low sweep to both his legs.


    *SWISH*


    *THUD*


    He quickly fell to his sides but he was still conscious. I quickly followed up by doing the same Rear N.a.k.e.d Choke he did to me. I made sure that all his efforts to escape me will be f.u.c.k.i.n.g difficult since my legs are also locking both of his arms along with his torso with an Anaconda Body Lock. He lost consciousness in exactly eight seconds and I let go.


    Rin was still firmly seated on the chair shocked from what had urred and the threedies were watching me get up. Kaley went for her medical pack and grabbed a few things to stop Tatiana¡¯s nose from bleeding.


    ¡°Well this escted quickly, correct?¡± Tatiana casually mentioned.


    ¡°You think?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°W-w-wait, why did he attack Niks then?¡± Vera finally gotposed.


    ¡°Ask thisdy right here!¡± Kaley answered.


    ¡°Ahahaha¡­ it¡¯s a long story, correct? Why don¡¯t we let Sky tell everything? I¡¯m still bleeding from my nose¡­¡± Tatiana said as she sat down next to Rin.


    ¡°We need to wake the two of them first since Alexei will wake up sooner than the two. Grab that small vial in my pack. Vera, right? Let them sniff it. If I¡¯m the one who did it and they say my face, another thing might start again.¡± I started, <hr>


    The three have now fully woken up and they¡¯re all ring at me.


    ¡°Let me exin why I attacked first. When Tatiana first came here¡­¡± I started to tell the four what happened.


    Vera and Mikhail are now chuckling with Tatiana while Niks and Alexei still can¡¯t believe what happened.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe this.¡± Niksmented as he rubbed his be.


    ¡°It¡¯s somewhat starting to make sense but¡­ ¡®choke me daddy?!¡¯ What kinda f.u.c.k.i.e.d up shit was that?!¡± Alexei started to get hysterical.


    ¡°But it worked, didn¡¯t it? I thought I was a goner earlier.¡± I quickly replied.


    ¡°Wait, what do you mean?¡± Niks and Mikhail asked.


    ¡°Well¡­ earlier when I was about to knock him out¡­¡± he told the story of what I did.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA~!!! YOU FELL FOR THAT?!¡± Mikhail roared inughter.


    ¡°Preposterous. You should be prepared for everything.¡± Niks said.


    ¡°Says the guy who fell first~¡± Vera chimed.


    ¡°But that was a sneak attack!¡± Niks retorted.


    ¡°And that misdirection was not?¡± Tatiana added.


    He was speechless.


    ¡°Tatiana, isn¡¯t this all your fault then? Considering what you did before, I think it¡¯s safe to say that, right?¡± Rin added. <hr>


    ¡°Also, why are you smirking earlier? I thought you were signalling Sky for something too¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°She noticed too, huh?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Nevermind that, at least I tried to contain it. These other three just started on rushing you so I wasn¡¯t able to exin myself. It was everyone¡¯s fault, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°A-anyway, I jumped the gun too early so I apologize. The least I could do is cook you something that you want and I¡¯ll do what little skill I have in that regard. You¡¯re wee to eat here as long as you wish. We also have spare rooms here if you¡¯ve got nothing toy your heads on yet.¡± I said then Tatiana snorted.


    ¡°Request whates to mind guys, he could make anything, literally anything. He made Pirozkhis before and it¡¯s better than what¡¯s back home!¡± Tatiana got excited.


    ¡°Plov!¡±


    ¡°STROGANOFF!!!¡±


    ¡°Golubtsy~¡±


    Niks gave a sigh while the three grew excited. Then he said, ¡°I ept your apology but you still owe me a match. It¡¯s embarrassing going down like that. Not like Alexei did but still embarrassing for the man leading this group.¡±


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll oblige. However, we usually go to the gym at night after every work assignment is done in the morning. Oh yeah, you never answered yet, what do you want me to cook for you? It¡¯s a few hours before lunch so I¡¯d have plenty of time to prepare everything.¡± I said.


    I saw him nce at Tatiana for a short while and he muttered, ¡°I would like to have P-pirozhkis too.¡±


    Kaley and I saw his actions and we both immediately knew what was going on. Kaley nced at Tatiana and she just shrugged her shoulders in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Well anyway, I¡¯ll do what I can, Kaley? Want to help me again?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll help. I¡¯m still learning to cook a few things too.¡± she replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ll help too!¡± Rin added.


    ¡°I¡¯d taste test everything!¡± Tatiana dered. <hr>


    ¡°C-can I watch?¡± Mikhail interjected.


    ¡°Sure, big guy.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go back to the camp to check on a few things.¡± Niks said.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll sleep right here.¡± Alexei said.


    Vera also said that she would take a rest and she dragged Alexei with them since the gym is not a good ce to sleep on.


    I went to the pantry first to prepare everything and I started to designate positions. I told my aunt we would be eating separately again and she adjusted ordingly. The smell of my kitchen is now mouth watering and surprisingly, Mikhail had a good pair of hands when he decided to help us. Tatiana got too greedy with taste testing so she was tied up instead of getting booted out. Time quickly passed and all the food was prepared perfectly.


    ¡°Oh~ This looks f.u.c.k.i.n.g amazing!¡± Mikhail had a proud look on his face.


    ¡°Call everyone else so we could eat together. Be fast or else Tatiana would finish everything here.¡± I said to him.


    Alexei and Vera were the first toe by and I could faintly smell Vera¡¯s scent on Alexei.


    ¡°Oh~¡± I thought to myself.


    Niks followed after and we ate happily. They were shocked by the disy and I started to find out a bit about them just by the way they move and their mannerisms. We all started sharing a few things from our lives and we got to the topic of Tatiana and Rin being together.


    The look on Niks¡¯ face when he found out that Rin is with Tatiana is priceless.


    ¡°Better not tell him of what else has happened or things would be moreplicated than it is.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Oh yeah, earlier, before I knocked you out, you said you have to discuss something, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, that. I¡¯m sorry but we need to take Tatiana off your hands.¡± he replied.

 Chapter 255

    Chapter 255: 255


    The moment Niks¡¯ words came out of his mouth, everyone grew silent. The silence is deafening and I¡¯m looking at him, trying to analyze if he¡¯s telling the truth or not. Kaley was looking at him the same way and Rin was shocked beyond measure. Tatiana is carrying a solemn expression when I looked at her and I decided to know more details. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°And why is that? I believe I¡¯m gonna need more details before one of my own is taken from me.¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s about the other three on this ind group. We¡¯ve lost contact with them for a couple weeks already. They¡¯re part of our team and going to this ind group is an opportunity to find out what happened to them or perhaps extract them wherever they are stuck in.¡± he exined.


    ¡°The president is only gonna be here in this ind group for a few days. I doubt you could sweep this whole ind group in that time frame. Or¡­ you four have other ns in mind?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ve already been given permission to stay at this ind group so we could search for clues or anything from our team members. As you can see, we four are still short-handed and we need all the help we need. I bet you¡¯d do the same for everyone else here, right?¡± he asked.


    Kaley has her brows furrowed and Rin is giving a difficult expression.


    ¡°I would, definitely. I leave no one behind. That¡¯s the rule here. However, I need to know what¡¯s your n to go about searching for them?¡± I replied back.


    ¡°We¡¯d start from where thest ce they were known to be. We¡¯d start to-¡± then I cut him off.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the logical approach but that would take a long time, a long~ f.u.c.k.i.n.g time. How about vehicles? Food? Shelter? Guns? Ammo? Besides that, where were thest ces where they were?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We believe all three are in Region IV-A from ourst contact with them.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Cbarzon. It¡¯s going South after you¡¯ve left the region we¡¯re in.¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°That region is South of NCR, which is where we are. That¡¯s arger areapared to where we are but if they would be near or in the DDR Camps over there, it would be easier since there are less cities there but morend to travel to. One of the things you¡¯d have a problem with is how to get from here to there.¡± I started.


    ¡°But why would that be?¡± he asked.


    ¡°This region of Luzon is the smallest but everyone else from all of the regions flock to this ce for jobs. Both regions have almost the same number of people but like I said, they¡¯re bigger than us. The poption density of this regionpared to any other is staggering. We¡¯re lucky that we¡¯re in the border of the other region but to make it to the other side, you¡¯d have to face farrger numbers of the dead.¡± I answered.


    ¡°It seems to me that you¡¯re trying to make us not continue with our mission to retrieve them, is that right?¡± he asked.


    ¡°You could go if you want, I¡¯m justying out the facts for you. Also, you still haven¡¯t told me your situation on supplies. Judging from what I¡¯ve seen you bring with you, I bet you¡¯re thinking of getting them from me, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°Well, if you would be so kind, we¡¯d ept what you could give. If there¡¯s none, we¡¯ll make do. We could use Tatiana¡¯s HUMVEE for starters and the others we could procure ourselves.¡± he replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid n.¡± I said.


    ¡°Then it¡¯s all good, no hard feelings. We¡¯d go our separate ways with Tatiana after the president leaves.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Tatiana is not going with you.¡± I added.


    ¡°What?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°You¡¯ve only got permission to retrieve your people from that region, not bring Tatiana along with your stupid n. If she¡¯s included, the president should¡¯ve already told me earlier, stop lying to me. She has been given orders to stay with me until this is all over. She¡¯s already in my group and I don¡¯t send people to their deaths due to a stupid n.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m telling the truth!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Not right now, you¡¯re not. You¡¯re mixing your lies with truth, and truth with lies. Don¡¯t even try, I¡¯m psychic.¡± I said calmly.


    ¡°Wait, you are?¡± Mikhail interjected.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m lying.¡± I quickly replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°However, I¡¯d know when someone is and you¡¯ve definitely lied a few times.¡± I said.


    ¡°But I¡¯m telling the truth when I say that we¡¯re short-handed! I¡¯d need her to be with us so our chances-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°Now you¡¯re telling the truth. She could multiply your chances by a whole lot but your chances of even getting out of this region is 0% That is based solely on the fact of how you¡¯re approaching it. Unless you tell me more of how you¡¯d attempt to get there, I won¡¯t even part with a day¡¯s worth of supplies and a vehicle moreso, Tatiana.¡± I stated firmly.


    It¡¯s a good thing that everyone has already finished eating when we started to talk because I can already sense that no one would have the appetite to eat here just from the atmosphere. The three also beside him are giving difficult expressions and they seem to be at a loss the same with my group present.


    ¡°I thought you leave no one behind? I know they¡¯re not part of your team but they¡¯re part of mine, Tatiana too. We¡¯ve been through a whole lot of life and death battles and we can¡¯t just leave them there to die. I think you¡¯re just underestimating us too much just because you beat us once.¡± he replied. <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re right. I never do. I¡¯m not underestimating your capabilities, I think you¡¯re overestimating your chances.¡± I said.


    ¡°Then you¡¯re a hypocrite. You keep saying things of leaving no one behind and ye-¡± I interrupted him.


    ¡°Sometimes I am one but all I said was that your n was f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid. You¡¯d be in luck if you could still call for help the moment you entered the cities where it is densely popted. You¡¯re not the only one who wants to go to the other ces to save your people. I still have a few rtives that I need to get to as well since they didn¡¯t believe me the first time. If you wanted to do this properly, it would take some time. If you rush in like that, not only that you wouldn¡¯t be able to get to them, you¡¯d also risk the people you came with. We need to make a perfe-¡± I said then he got mad.


    *SLAM*


    He suddenly mmed his fist on the table and he shouted, ¡°THIS IS THE HAND THAT WE¡¯RE DEALT WITH! WE HAVE NO CHOICE! WHATEVER SMALL CHANCE WE HAVE, WE HAVE TO TAKE! THEY ARE OUR COMRADES FOR F.U.C.KS SAKE! I CAN¡¯T WAIT FOR MORE TIME SINCE WE¡¯RE ALREADY LATE BY A WHOLE LOT! WE DON¡¯T KNOW WHAT MIGHT¡¯VE HAPPENED ALREADY SO WE NEED TO HURRY! WHAT USE IS A PERFECT PLAN IF YOU WOULD BE TOO LATE TO EXECUTE IT?!¡±


    ¡°Easy there, bro. We¡¯re at the guy¡¯s house.¡± Mikhail chimed.


    ¡°To bepletely honest with you man, I think there¡¯s a really small chance that they¡¯re still alive. This thing we¡¯re facing is not like the other times when we coulde in and save the day.¡± Alexei added.


    ¡°¡­¡± Vera was silent.


    ¡°F.u.c.k me. If you three don¡¯t even want to go then I should¡¯ve brought the others who wanted to. Us four with Tatiana would¡¯ve done something about their situation. This trip is aplete waste of time.¡± he sighed heavily.


    ¡°Hold on now. Can¡¯t you just wait for a perfect n to be formed first? They¡¯re soldiers like you, they¡¯re not babies. If they¡¯re dead, they¡¯re dead. If they¡¯re not, in this span of time, they are probably stuck somewhere where they can¡¯t contact you because if it was me, I¡¯d already have found a way. That just means that the chances that they¡¯re dead are higher. They know what they¡¯re in for the moment they enlisted in the army. I don¡¯t get why you¡¯re being too emotional. If you want higher chances of saving them, form a n, not bring more people willy nilly.¡± I said.


    ¡°I already told you. I can¡¯t wait that long.¡± he replied. <hr>


    ¡°Really? Not even three days?¡± I asked.


    ¡°What? I-¡± he was shocked.


    ¡°Well, a week tops but you have topromise since we can¡¯t save everyone. I have people I want to go too but I can¡¯t. Resources are limited and I could only do so much.¡± I said.


    ¡°You have a way? Why three days?¡± he asked.


    ¡°First things first, I have to establish a connection with the Mayor of the City of Man. I think three days is enough time for that. I¡¯d be gone with a few people and I need soldiers to stay here. We still have a threat looming over us here and I can¡¯t leave this ce without making sure that this ce is well defended.¡± I answered.


    ¡°That¡¯s thepromise?¡± he asked.


    ¡°That sounds easy.¡± Mikhail added.


    ¡°No. Far from it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then what is it?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I could get you to the ces where there¡¯s a high chance of them being there but after that, whether we find them or not, you would all be my soldiers.¡± I said.

 Chapter 256

    Chapter 256: 256


    I was looking at him directly in the eye and the moment I said that they¡¯ll be in my fold regardless of what happens made him flinch. The others around me were also shocked from the words that came out of my mouth. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°W-whoa! Y-you can¡¯t just do that! We¡¯re still-¡± then I interrupted him.


    ¡°Still what? What difference does it make whether you are here on this ind group or in the other ind group? Are you doing something important at that ind group? If yes, why are you here in a rescue mission with not even half a n? Tell me.¡± I said.


    He pursed his lips and he looked down on the ground. Alexei was scratching his head and the rest were waiting for him to answer.


    ¡°It¡¯s a struggle for power there, right? With the other nations present taking refuge in ournd. Who has the most power over there aside from us? China? America? Japan? Hmm? You guys went to this ce and I guess all of you were just soldiers. I¡¯m guessing that there are more foreign dignitaries there that are more favored than you?¡± I said after a moment of silence.


    ¡°Wai- how did you know?¡± Vera chimed.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s something obvious actually. The other countries have sent their forces to ces like this not just to preserve their forces but to also gather information. The world has gone to shit and people are still more inclined to get the bigger slice out of everybody. Well, that¡¯s the way the world works anyways, it always was. Anyway, enough talk about that. What would you guys like to do?¡± I replied.


    The rest looked at Niks and he still seemed to be undecided.


    ¡°What would it be? Wait three more days starting tomorrow so there¡¯s a chance you could find them or I¡¯ll just send you off while you leave your dog tags here? You won¡¯t have a chance of taking Tatiana since I¡¯ll be taking her with me. You¡¯reing with me, right?¡± I looked at Tatiana.


    ¡°Correct.¡± Tatiana immediately replied.


    ¡°You agree with this guy?!¡± Niks was in disbelief.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t been here. He¡¯s crazy but he¡¯s smart. He knows what he¡¯s doing. If you want the chance to get Alexander, Ilya, and Kuzma, he¡¯s the guy. Don¡¯t act like you can¡¯t see what this ce has turned to. I bet you¡¯ve got a better view since you came from the helicopter. Everything outside is already gone.¡± Tatiana said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so, that¡¯s wrong.¡± I interjected.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Tatiana looked toward me.


    ¡°I prefer the word genius.¡± I smirked.


    Almost everyone choked and Niks is still wearing his serious expression.


    ¡°It¡¯s tough to get into this guy.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°See? He¡¯s crazy, if earlier conversations with the president are not enough. I thought I had the worst luck when I got sent here but turns out I¡¯ve got the best possible ce to be in. I¡¯m gonna be honest, when you four came here, you look like shit.¡± Tatiana said as her team had solemn expressions.


    ¡°Thank you, here.¡± I said as I handed her a 100 peso bill from my pockets.


    ¡°What?¡± she immediately got confused.


    The look of confusion on everyone¡¯s face is priceless! I could almost hear Kaley¡¯s eyeroll and Mikhail started tough as he pped his brother on the back.


    ¡°Where did you even get that from?!¡± Kaley finally spoke.


    ¡°Heh. Better to have and not need than-¡± I wasn¡¯t able to finish my sentence since she pinched my sides. <hr>


    ¡°Ow! Kaley! I¡¯ll get you backter¡­¡± I said as I rubbed my sides.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I think you¡¯re not being serious at all.¡± Niks interjected.


    Everyone looked at him and the jolly atmosphere that was about to form was once again back to this murky swamp we were in earlier. Tatiana sighed as she looked at while the rest looked at Niks.


    ¡°And why is that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You always make these stupid jokes and it seems that what¡¯s happening outside doesn¡¯t bother you. Instead of thinking of ways to-¡± I cut him off again.


    ¡°Seriously dude? You¡¯re too uptight. I make stupid jokes to make peopleugh at least. There¡¯s a time in my life that I know what it feels like to- all I could do was to make myselfugh. It¡¯s all I have back then. Don¡¯t even start on telling me that this shit doesn¡¯t bother me. It bothers me a whole lot. I can¡¯t wait to see who did this and make their lives miserable. Like Tatiana said, you haven¡¯t been here that long. I already have my nsid out and all I need to do is execute them. Granted there¡¯s a few that need changes and a few needed to be made for special cases but I have thought of this thing way before I even saw the first video that has an inkling of what may happen. Don¡¯t start to lecture me on what to do if you yourself didn¡¯t even have half a n to begin with.¡± I said solemnly.


    ¡°This guy would be really~ fun at parties.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to put it that way. It¡¯s just that this ce¡­ feels different from the president¡¯s city¡­¡± Niks trailed.


    ¡°Feels like a home, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°¡­yeah.¡± Niks nodded.


    ¡°I said that the first time I came here too.¡± Tatiana said. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! If it gets too rowdy at Rod¡¯s ce, you could always tell¡­ Artem, if I got it right, and the rest of your team toe here. There¡¯s plenty more room here. Just tell me if they¡¯d attack out of the blue like Tatiana if I meet them or like you that would catch it unaware.¡± I replied, smirking.


    He lets out another long sigh that he always does but this time a smile is formed afterwards. Well¡­


    ¡°Niks¡­ you have a great smile but please¡­ more lips and less¡­ teeth¡­ you look like Baraka from MK or something. Your eyes too, can your eyebrows even move? Did you have botox? Is that it? I¡¯ll-¡± I started rambling on and Kaley started on attacking me. The rest started tough and I noticed that Rin was hugging Tatiana tightly from the side. Her face is buried on her shoulders and I think she¡¯s a little fl.u.s.tered.


    ¡°She didn¡¯t want Tatiana to go, huh? She was silent this time too. I thought she would immediately voice her concern but she didn¡¯t. Good thing Tatiana wanted to stay here since a lot of people would definitely be against it as well.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Why do you keep on ruining great moments?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°What? It¡¯s so cheesy~ I would sometimes have goosebumps or cringe at the moment. That¡¯s my coping mechanism, deal with it!¡± I replied then another wave of attacks came.


    The situation finally calmed down and the president called me afterwards. He told me that the trip to the City of Man will be held tomorrow early morning and I need to prepare a few of my people toe with me. I already have a few in mind and since we have the afternoon to push for a few more jobs, I decided to bring Tatiana¡¯s group with me for a run.


    I made a route for us to take starting from the People¡¯s Park pushing towards the border of the expressway next to it. We would be going to a ce called ¡®Ecko¡¯, this ce is a street where there are stores on the side of it where surplus items are sold. A few blocks further from it is apany that deals withrge power tools such as presses, hammers, drills, cutters, and etc. In between these ces are a few residential areas where there might be a chance of a gun still being inside one of them.


    Even if the list we got from the City Hall is partly iplete, some of them were filled in by what Ana has already sent before. She still hasn¡¯t sent everything from her side since we still haven¡¯t increased her range of influence as much since we¡¯re too preupied before.


    We brought the 8-wheeler and the Raptor for our run but something peculiar is going on, especially with what Niks and his group is carrying. I¡¯m more concerned with the expression that Jared is wearing right now as he scanned each one of them. We¡¯re at the back of the 8-wheeler as always while almost all of us are sitting at the sidings of the truck. Our gear is strapped firmly though we would sway as the truck avoids the obstacles.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t say it. Please don¡¯t say. Please don¡¯t say it.¡± I kept on telling myself as Jared was about to open his mouth. <hr>


    ¡°Bro¡­¡± he whispered to me.


    ¡°Oh no.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Tell me, they are with Tatiana, right? They came from the president¡¯s ce, right?¡± he is still whispering.


    ¡°Yeah, if you didn¡¯t notice the g that they¡¯re bearing on their uniforms.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But their guns though bro¡­¡± he whispered again.


    ¡°Here we go, what about them? Tell me.¡± I replied as I tried to keep myposure.


    ¡°They¡¯re all carrying AK-47s¡­ Well, that long-haired guy has a Dragunov but still¡­ Tatiana is always using that Benelli M4¡­¡± he whispered again. He would stop speaking if he would notice that they¡¯re ncing at him. He¡¯s trying to speak discreetly as he could but I could already notice faint smiles from the others due to what Jared is getting at.


    ¡°So? What¡¯s your point?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re not terrorists, right?¡± he said tly.


    Facepalm.


    Silence. Complete and total f.u.c.k.i.n.g silence.

 Chapter 257

    Chapter 257: 257


    I¡¯m looking at him and he¡¯s still wearing a serious and suspicious expression. I thought he was just pausing for effect but his concern from what he is seeing is genuine. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°A little bit of crazy really runs in the family.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Seriously dude? Last time you were asking why Tatiana is using a Benelli M4 since she¡¯s Russian and now you¡¯re asking me that Russian soldiers using AK-47s might be terrorists?!¡± I eximed as the people hearing us are starting to chuckle.


    ¡°Yes.¡± he calmly replied.


    Facepalm.


    ¡°So that makes us the Counter-Terrorist faction since we¡¯re using non-AKs? Is that it? *sigh* I don¡¯t know dude, you¡¯re always judging a person based on the guns that they¡¯re using. Well, it could be somewhat urate but that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s right all the time. It¡¯s where you point it to that determines whether you¡¯re a terrorist or not.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Dude~ I¡¯m just making fun with you. Hah! I know that of course. Of course¡­¡± he trailed while scratching his head.


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    Kaley started to shoot down anything we came across. The spent casings would fall onto the truck¡¯s flooring the same way the bloody figures outside would hit the pavement. I would always bring extra magazines for her when we go out so she could practice while we¡¯re moving. Lois didn¡¯te with us since it¡¯s the afternoon and he¡¯s probably fast asleep. If he was here, he would definitely bepeting with her since Jared can¡¯t fire as many rounds as them.


    She could only practice this on our runs because the threat of zombies at our ce is minimal. A few people are now helping Jay¡¯s group in clearing the streets where the fences aren¡¯t erected. You¡¯d just see smoke rising up to the sky a few hours before the sun sets when they start to burn them. I told them to be extra careful when they go out now since the rate of sprinters appearing on their runs might get bumped up.


    Like clockwork, one popped up from our backing from a street corner.


    *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* <center></center><hr>


    *GSSHOOO*


    ¡°A regr one, huh.¡± Alexeimented as he lowered his gun.


    I looked at Jared and he has this annoyed look. His finger was already in the trigger and all he needed to do was pull it. Alexei saw him and he smirked.


    ¡°Oh boy. First it was only Jared and Lois. Now Max¡­ well max doesn¡¯t speak much but he¡¯s like them too. If we add Lawrence and Alexei¡­ well, it¡¯s all healthypetition.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Boy, you need to be faster than that. Heh, I hold the most kills on those f.u.c.kers. I¡¯m around 60-ish with those.¡± Alexei said.


    ¡°Psh! I just reached 99 kills yesterday. That one was supposed to be my 100th.¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°What?! How could you even count them?!¡± Alexei eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯m around 40-ish the day before that but on our recent run, if you saw the video, It got bumped by a whole lot. We have drones hovering around if you want proof. I counted each one so I¡¯m sure that I have 99 kills.¡± Jared was the one smirking now.


    ¡°See what happens if you¡¯re overconfident?¡± Vera added.


    ¡°HAHAHAHA~!!!¡± Mikhail roared inughter while I saw Niks looking at me.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Nothing. If you¡¯re gonna boast about kills of that kind don¡¯t forget about him. How many was yours?¡± Niks replied.


    ¡°870. Most of them were not headshots though, but I still killed them regardless.¡± I replied as shock appeared on Alexei¡¯s face.


    ¡°Show off.¡± Kaley added. <hr>


    ¡°And how am I supposed to catch up to that?! You crazy f.u.c.k.¡± Jared is getting annoyed even more.


    ¡°Next time if there¡¯s another swarm like that, grab the Hayabusa. I¡¯ll let you drive it instead of me. Just don¡¯t get your head lopped off. You need to be-¡± then Alexei cut me off.


    ¡°Oh f.u.c.k, I saw that. Well, it doesn¡¯t matter if you shoot them in the head or you bash them in with a rock, killing is killing.¡± then he spreads his arm wide.


    ¡°Hah! Nice reference.¡± I replied then Jared chuckled.


    ¡°Hmm? What reference?¡± Alexei was confused.


    ¡°Quick and Angry? Never watched that? There¡¯s several sequels already.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Quick¡­ and angry? What?¡± Alexei was confused still.


    ¡°Nevermind. I¡¯ll give you a copy of that movieter. Get ready, we¡¯re here.¡± I said as the trucks slowed down.


    There¡¯s several rotting bodies still chasing us from the back but Niks drew his MP-443 pistol and started on thinning them out. A few heads from the other side looked at our direction and they started to approach us as well. Several stores have their roll-ups already open and a variety of goods are scattered on the floor.


    *BANG*


    *BANG*


    *BANG*


    *BANG* <hr>


    Holes appeared from their foreheads and a spray of blood followed after it. Mikhail was about to follow his brother but I tapped their shoulders.


    ¡°Don¡¯t use as many bullets. If we could take them easy with a de, do that instead. Just use them when thinning a clump.¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯s a clump isn¡¯t it?¡± Vera asked.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s still something manageable. I guess do it on what you feel isfortable. Tatiana.¡± I said as I jumped down with her.


    Mark and Dong vacated the Raptor which is in front of us and they have their shields ready. Jared and Kaley went to their positions while Niks¡¯ group jumped down as well. However, Alexei remained on the truck and took his position with Jared.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna repeat what I said before we left thepound, make a perimeter first and avoid making noise as much as possible. We¡¯d clear the ces with the open roll-ups first before we proceed with the closed ones. Also¡­¡± I barked out our procedures.


    I took the lead as I removed part of the salesman¡¯s head starting from the bottom of the ear upwards to the top of its head. The mechanic next to it has its torn off chest showing its intestines and some of them are getting dragged down as it dangles. It was stepping on the longer bits and that makes its movements much more erratic.


    I deflected its right hand that was about to w me with my scabbard and I thrust my de under its chin. My katana easily slid several inches and I pulled it out after I felt it losing control of its body. The blood staining my katana is thick and a few bits are almost curdling. I finally pushed it off with my scabbard as I cut down my next target.


    What followed was a figure wearing a torn tank top but its right shoulder is dislocated and the bone from that elbow is jutting out and is pierced on its torso. That makes its wrist pointing up and it is now diagonally moving towards me. I shed its left arm first before I shed towards its right side. I entered in between its ring finger and pinky and it still continued on, removing its wrist. That part of its hand fell off and it entered its torso, cutting straight to its vicle, removing its head when it left the other side. I avoided the figure¡¯s falling body first before stabbing down.


    I kicked it towards a small clump to attract them towards me. The moment they faced me, one immediately fell down from a shot behind me. Kaley was the designated clump thinner while Jared is the designated sprinter lookout. This time, Alexei is the monkey wrench that disrupted the system before since he would just shoot if he feels like it. The sounding from the Dragunov is distinct since the rifles that Kaley and Jared are using are suppressed.


    ¡°Well, I have a different n for them. I just want to see how they work. I need to put suppressors on their guns though. I might have problems with the barrels since some of them are threaded differently. Well, I could just give them the AK-47s that have their parts made in the US so the threads are simr or just use the suppressor we have that offers several adapters.¡± I thought to myself as I cut down what¡¯s in front of me.


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    Kaley started to take shots on Mark¡¯s side and I nced at the people behind me. They¡¯re methodically killing each one though I¡¯m a few paces forward while Tatiana almost catches up to me. Her bastard sword is stained up to the halfway point with blood so it makes a red blur everytime she swings it. Niks and his team are on the other side of the road with their own ded weapons and several unmoving bodies are behind them. <hr>


    ¡°Good. Well, it¡¯s expected.¡± I thought to myself.


    I then saw Tatiana¡¯s next target and it made me use my pistol so I could clear out the zombies in front of me quickly since I saw something peculiar.


    *bsshew*


    *bsshew*


    *bsshew*


    *bsshew*


    *bsshew*


    They fell down the same time Tatiana¡¯s bastard sword made its way to the back of its head. I hurried over to her and I flipped the figure to its side so I could see it clearly.


    ¡°Hmm? You see something?¡± Tatiana grew curious.


    ¡°Yeah. Mark! Move a bit forward so I could examine this thing closely!¡± I shouted as I started to drag it behind.


    I was grabbing it by its feet but its flesh was like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up version of a pulled pork so its rotting flesh just slipped right off its bone. Viscous fluids of different colors were still left behind and I¡¯m holding two pping boneless sleeves which were once someone¡¯s leg. However, that happening made it so much easier since I only need to scr.a.p.e fewer bits of flesh near its femur. I could see a huge lump a few ces just above it and the way it looks like is really unnatural.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you doing with it?¡± Niks asked in disgust.


    ¡°I saw something. Might as well check it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Ah, f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 258

    Chapter 258: 258


    I first threw to the side the sleeves made from the figure¡¯s legs and it made a pping sound as it hit the pavement. The skin is really loose but I¡¯m now more inclined to check on the lump of flesh protruding just below its hip. <center></center><hr>


    I tried to rip off the rest of its clothes from its lower body first so I could examine it more clearly. However, I stopped myself since if I just casually pull it off, the rest of the rotting flesh still intact might follow with it making another b in the process. Doing that might cause whatever is inside of it to have a reaction of some sort if what I¡¯m thinking of what it is, is what¡¯s inside.


    I went for a quick run to the truck to get a pair of scissors.


    ¡°Found something again bro? I¡¯d stay here for now,st time was a bit too much for me. I could see it fine but the smell kills me.¡± Jared said from the truck.


    ¡°Really? I thought you¡¯re still here trying to protect your record. Hah! At least make it a close fight. We two are gonna stay here then?¡± Alexei chimed.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I¡¯m gonna do something to it so my focus will be solely on it. Just be my pair of eyes outside, yeah?¡± I replied.


    ¡°What are you doing with scissors though?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Just checking in on something though I¡¯m not really sure on what it is. Come with me. Jared and Alexei is here with unc so it¡¯s rtively safe.¡± I replied.


    She jumped down from the roof of the truck and we walked back to where the corpse was. I borrowed my uncle¡¯s shield for the moment just in case.


    I started to carefully cut the shorts the corpse was wearing and I made sure to cut around the lump in case I might rupture it. The shorts he¡¯s wearing are rtively tight fitting and that made it easier for me to spot it earlier.


    I finally removed its clothing and the corpse¡¯s body is now in full view.


    To exin it simply, it looks like another buttcheek. However, at the central part of that lump, it seems that all of the skin is stretched at that part and something inside is trying to get out. Everyone near me was tense as I slowly ced the t side of it in order to feel it up first. I¡¯m doing it very slowly and everyone¡¯s faces are full of expectation. I¡¯m lightly tapping it a few times but it then it happened.


    ¡°BOOM!¡± I shouted at the top of my lungs. <center></center><hr>


    Everyone around me was f.u.c.k.i.n.g surprised and everyone lost their bnce. Niks almost slipped from the ¡®sleeves¡¯ while Mikhail was already several steps behind everyone. Vera ran to Tatiana¡¯s back while Mark and Dong were having expressions like, ¡®first time?¡¯


    ¡°SKY!¡± Kaley shouted as she elbowed me.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!! *choke* *choke* *wheezing* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!! YOU SHOULD¡¯VE SEEN YOUR FACES~!!!¡± I started dyingughing.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe everyone here follows you¡­¡± Niks trailed in disbelief.


    ¡°You got me. That was good! Hah!¡± Mikhail added with an ent.


    ¡°Is he really what you say he is?!¡± Vera eximed to Tatiana.


    ¡°But it was funny, correct?¡± Tatiana mentioned.


    ¡°Funny my ass! I told you th-¡± then I kissed her to make her stop talking.


    Everyone got surprised again and Kaley was blushing through her neck.


    ¡°Smooth.¡± Mikhailmented.


    ¡°Hey! Stop cutting me off wh-¡± then I cut her off again.


    ¡°You¡¯re all too close. Step back a bit, we never know what¡¯s inside here. If it suddenly exploded, we¡¯re all done for if the bits came into our eyes or something. That¡¯s why I got the shield here, yeah?¡± I said as I waved them off. <hr>


    They understood my point and I was left alone but they were on the side still watching me in a safe distance. As I was about to make an incision. I heard a smallmotion and I saw Kaley carrying Mark¡¯s shield. Mark was bbergasted but Kaley was now next to me while raising the shield on her hands. I was looking at her face and she is hiding a small smirk.


    ¡°What? I want to see it up close.¡± she said.


    ¡°Sure¡­ it feels like we¡¯re frying milkfish in hot oil. The shields are the lid of the pan while that lump is the milkfish.¡± Imented and she chuckled.


    ¡°Go on, do it!¡± I suddenly heard Tatiana from my other side.


    ¡°Wha-¡± Kaley and I were shocked.


    ¡°I took the other one from Dong. Continue.¡± she replied nonchntly.


    I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt as I reached my hand out while holding the knife. I first felt how supple it was with the knife and it feels as though there¡¯s something about a few inches inside it that is hard. I ced the t side of the knife in the center of the lump and I started to press against it. When I would angle it, the thing in the middle seems to not be moving alongside it.


    ¡°I thought it was gonna explode?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°I sure hope not. Well, if it was, it should¡¯ve already exploded when Tatiana was near it if we¡¯re basing it on the ones in zombie games.¡± I replied.


    I was nning to make a cut on the side first but I decided to slice in the middle. The huge lump is a bit oval shaped so I started to the part where it curves then to the other side. I bet I could make the same cut with a blunt weapon since its skin is like cutting butter with a hot knife.


    The knife I¡¯m holding onto was just at the halfway point butrge amounts of pus and darkened blood started to pour out from the wound I made. The amount is staggering and it started to spill to the pavement quickly even though it is quite viscous. The lump started to dete at an rming rate and I finished the incision I made earlier. The wound is still spilling out copious amounts of pus so I decided to push with the t side of the de to make it go faster.


    It started to spill out small clumps of blood now but I started to feel with my knife the hard part I was feeling earlier. I started to make a cut around the lump when I felt it so I could clearly see what it is. <hr>


    ¡°Water. Get me some water. Dong, can you get me some?¡± I raised my head up.


    He ran back to the truck while everyone around me is looking at what¡¯s happening to the corpse¡¯s leg. Kaley and Tatiana were giving serious expressions and they borrowed my knife to scr.a.p.e off what flesh was still remaining on it. They were growing impatient and Niks¡¯ team also approached us when weid down the shields.


    I was handed a bottle of water and I started to pour it over the cut I made on the corpse. The water started to wash off the goop albeit barely, it is still obstructing our view to the part we wanted to see. When I finished pouring the whole bottle on it, everyone has a difficult expression when we saw what was inside.


    ¡°Ah, no no no no no no no.¡± Mikhail was the first to speak.


    ¡°I remember you hate things like that big guy? You okay?¡± Tatiana mentioned.


    ¡°This is a joke, right?!¡± Vera said.


    ¡°Everyone¡¯s clearly seeing it.¡± Niks readied his gun and looked around.


    ¡°Well, what is it boss?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure, but remember the head I kept before? It¡¯s happening with the regr ones too.¡± I replied.


    What we saw is that the femur of this corpse is starting to form another one just beside it. It is starting from where the joints are but the size is clearly disproportionate. It¡¯s like a human¡¯s femur is shrunk down several scales and it is jutting out in a different direction even if it started in the same ce where it was connected in the hip joint. I thought it was just it but there are also much smaller ones at the base starting to form the same thing.


    ¡°A form of bone tumor?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Something like that but this is a little different. I don¡¯t want to dismiss it just like that. We might find a few of those things.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Those things?¡± Niks asked.


    ¡°Ever yed The Rainforest? Or have you watched Human Millipede? If that thing started to develop more and more, I think we¡¯ll see a few of them having more appendages.¡± I replied.


    Everyone was silent.


    ¡°This is serious¡­¡± Niks said.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­seriously have no idea what you¡¯re talking about!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Oh. Well¡­¡± I started to describe what those things were.


    They were annoyed to not get what my references were before but when they saw in their heads the abominations that some of them would turn in the future, they¡¯re all carrying solemn expressions. I took several pictures of it and I made a video so I could show it to everyone when I get back as proof. I was about to leave it alone but I had an idea.


    ¡°We¡¯re taking that back.¡± I said.


    ¡°Huh? I thought we¡¯d clear as much of them as possible. This is dead already, right?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°Yeah, but the president has scientists back in his city. They¡¯d be able to learn more of this thing than us just basing it on observations when we check them. I bet I could get a few more things when we exchange this thing here. When they send us the cargo helicopter, a few things could be brought as well.¡± I said.


    ¡°Like what?¡± Mikhail asked.


    ¡°Anything. Supplies, more fuel, medicine, or most importantly, your whole team. I¡¯d add a few more things though.¡± I replied.

 Chapter 259

    Chapter 259: 259


    Niks and the rest of his team looked at me with surprise when I told them that I would be taking their whole team. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What? You think I¡¯m not serious about doing it? Hah! If it wasn¡¯t obvious already I¡¯m severelycking people which are morebat oriented than most folks. I¡¯ve been training some of them with Tatiana and a few other people but it would always take some time. I could give a few orders to the soldiers at the DDR Camp next to us but they would follow the president¡¯s orders over me. Well, I¡¯m working on that too but it¡¯s best to always have a backup n.¡± I said as they gave pensive expressions.


    ¡°Artem is a different case though.¡± Niks chimed and the others seemed to share the same opinion.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked as I looked at him.


    ¡°Uhh, how should I put this he¡¯s a bit¡­ entric?¡± Mikhail answered.


    ¡°I¡¯m the definition of entric, isn¡¯t the short time you¡¯ve been with me proof enough? Next?¡± I replied.


    I was staring at them nkly and realization dawned on them. I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re thinking inside their heads but I could bet everything I have and guess that they¡¯re saying ¡®of course!¡¯ inside.


    Tatiana chuckled and said, ¡°Not exactly like you but he is really differently different from you. I don¡¯t know how to put the right words.¡±


    ¡°Is that so? Well, we¡¯ll see when they get here. Let¡¯s finish this street up so we could go home. Kaley, let¡¯s do that thing again.¡± I said as I started to wipe my katana and my knife with a spare cloth.


    ¡°Sure.¡± she replied. <center></center><hr>


    I asked Mark to ce the body inside a makeshift body bag made of tarp so we could transport easilyter. Since I still have my uncle¡¯s shield, Mikhail borrowed it and it could barely cover half his body. He¡¯s not only tall but he¡¯s also bulging with muscles. Kaley is now by my side and she drew her wakizashi. Tatiana is now taking the lead with the rest while I¡¯m throwing the zombies into Kaley¡¯s direction.


    She could easily handle one or two with just her wakizashi but she would always use her gun when it gets too much for her. She¡¯s getting proficient on using her pistol with her left hand and what she did earlier in the range is proof.


    However, this time, her right hand is gripping the de and her left hand is gripping the scabbard. She¡¯s making careful movements before she goes for the kill. Even if I highly doubt that there would be a time that Kaley would be just equipped with her wakizashi, it¡¯s best to prepare for it just in case it happens.


    ¡°There might also be a time that I wouldn¡¯t be there to protect her so she needs to be able to protect herself. Well, I highly doubt it would happen so¡­ let¡¯s just always be prepared just in case.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Focus now. Always remember your training. Position yourself in the most advantageous position. Always move your feet. See the whole thing. Don¡¯t forget to breathe. Be prepared for surprises. IT¡¯S JOHN CENA~!!! Good. You¡¯re prepared for that. Ow! Don¡¯t hit your instructor!¡± I started to rub my shin.


    ¡°SHUT UP~!!! You¡¯re doing more harm than good!¡± she eximed as she continued on piling bodies.


    ¡°You can¡¯t always afford a perfect situation! It wouldn¡¯t always be safe like this! You need to be able to filter out and process everything amidst the chaos to control it!¡± I kept on speaking to annoy her.


    I was a few steps behind her and I would maintain that distance even when she moves backward or would lunge in a certain direction. She¡¯s morefortable with blocking with the scabbard first before she goes in for the kill but she would asionally wait for them to attack first before dodging and aiming at their head. She¡¯s still having difficulty beheading them or removing a part of their head in one full stroke so she¡¯d mostly go for thrusts. She could sink the de in several inches but it would sometimes get stuck in the middle so she would pull it out in annoyance. She¡¯d seed a few times but she still have lots more to work on.


    I didn¡¯t help her in the least though I¡¯m ready just in case anything bad was about to happen. I¡¯m making it harder for her to kill them from my yapping and the way I¡¯m directing them towards her but it¡¯s all for the sake of making her stronger. <hr>


    There¡¯s a couple left on our side of the street so she moved forward to attract them but she stepped diagonally to make them bump into each other. The bloody figures lunged at her at the same time but now they¡¯re recovering from the small impact.


    She quickly took care of them but I attempted something. My back was on the trucks and Tatiana and the rest have their backs against us.


    ¡°Kaley.¡± I said then I took action.


    My scabbard was in my hip but I made a downward sh while holding my katana with both hands and stepping with my right foot. She was startled for a brief second but she immediately jumped back the correct distance. However, it was not a simple downward sh.


    Her eyes showed fear when it stopped just a few centimeters away from her. It waster reced by confusion after a short moment.


    ¡°Weird, huh?¡± I said as I gave her a smirk and I sheathed my katana.


    ¡°W-what did you do?¡± she looks curious.


    ¡°That¡¯s the next assignment. You¡¯ll figure it out if you observed my movements carefully. C¡¯mon they¡¯re done over there. Let¡¯s clear up.¡± I replied.


    She got annoyed but I shrugged my shoulders and thought to myself, ¡°I just let go with my left hand and extended my shoulder at thest minute. Well, it was quick when it came at her. Not anyone could easily notice my hand if a de ising for your head.¡± <hr>


    Some of them started to drag the bodies to the side but Tatiana tried to look for those with abnormalities on their bodyposition though she found none. We made the decision to burn the bodies when we leave to not have smoke giving away our location. We started on opening an outdoor adventuring shop first while the rest stood guard.


    There¡¯s several hiking, camping, and climbing equipment and a few notable ones among them we took first. What we found are several sr panels that could be installed into any surface and it could be bent several degrees. It also includes the controller, inverter, and the battery with the instructions on how to operate and install it. There¡¯s also small gas stoves, survival books, srmps, water filter bottles, multi tools, pocket chainsaws, triple hammocks, and a few pieces of B. Grylls Ultimate Survival Kits. There¡¯s a few more items with cool gimmicks and some that could be used as weapons but we took the things we needed most, especially the sr panels.


    ¡°Ooh~ They have res too~ Why didn¡¯t we do this in that city?! We¡¯re always just staying guard at that ce.¡± Vera said.


    ¡°Really? We¡¯ve already explored several ces here. It¡¯s fun when we find a gun. That¡¯s a gun technically but wait till you see their reactions, especially Sky¡¯s¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Hah! Well don¡¯t forget to grab those energy bars by the counter.¡± I added.


    ¡°Having more of them could lessen the use of fuel that powers up the generators in Woonds and the DDR Camp. Well, they don¡¯t get everything for free and it¡¯s nice to have a spare. Too muchfort might make a few of themcent. That¡¯s another problem that I wouldn¡¯t want to start.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was about to head out to the store where I saw a power hammer being sold before but I noticed Mark opening a store that sells fabric. There¡¯s also more sewing stuff being sold like sewing machines, needles, threads, and different kits. My heart bleeds a little since it was decided against my will to bring bolt cutters. They¡¯re now easily destroying the padlocks and I have fewer chances to use my lockpicking skill.


    ¡°Oh, right.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Why is Mark opening that store with Dong?¡± Kaley asked. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s a request from some of the olderdies back home. Clothes could get damaged and we need a few of those things back home. They could also make their own clothes if the ones we found are not enough.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I thought you already have one hidden in your room? I remember seeing one when we cleaned one time.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Well, it would be better if we have more. I also use that for making costumes. Forgot I go to conventions?¡± I replied, chuckling.


    ¡°Oh~ I remember wearing one. You made that?¡± she asked, smiling.


    ¡°Yes, though I bought a few. Also, no offense, I think I¡¯m better at makeup than you and have better makeup. I could make anyone look like one of those bloody things with prosthetics too. It takes time though.¡± I replied much to her disbelief.


    ¡°What?! Are you saying what I did when we went dancing was terrible?¡± she¡¯s raising her eyebrow and crossing her arms.


    ¡°Heh, I did say ¡®I think¡¯ I am. Wanna put it to the test?¡± I¡¯m smirking.


    ¡°Deal. We¡¯d do that when we get home. This time you¡¯d lose I¡¯m telling you. Tatiana! You¡¯ll be my guinea pig!¡± she seemed really confident.


    ¡°Why me?!¡± Tatiana shouted.

 Chapter 260

    Chapter 260: 260


    Kaley is forming a devilish smile while Tatiana just had shivers down her spine. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s open those stores over there too. They have those little stic pots where a seed could be nted. I¡¯m gonna have a small assignment for the kids at home too. Teaching them small things like this could benefit everyone. They¡¯d also have more things to do at home when they get bored. Some households at Woonds could also start this little project.¡± I said.


    ¡°I remember you saying we¡¯d only have 150 people. It seems like you¡¯ve taken more than several times of it.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s just say that they¡¯ll be more like acquaintances rather than real friends. It¡¯s more like a mutual benefit but we¡¯re the one giving a bit more. Everything will pay off in the end so it¡¯s all just arge investment. Let¡¯s just hope they don¡¯t ruin that chance. We could survive on our own but you need a few people to do different things. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s help Tatiana over there.¡± I replied as I started to walk away from the store.


    ¡°Wait, I think I¡¯m gonna get this pair of pants. I think this fits me. This would be useful in emergencies when outdoors the way it is designed.¡± she said after hurrying to ce it on her pack. I didn¡¯t see what she took but the things here are also high-quality.


    The truck is .u.mting resources as each box or crate is ced inside. The trucks have now moved a bit forwards so the perimeter we¡¯re guarding has gone a bit smaller. We¡¯ve also loaded the power tools that I needed from one of the shops so we could make more items with a little bit of an easier time. I¡¯ve had to rearrange the way the items are positioned in the truck because the new ones that we needed are inside huge wooden crates.


    ¡°I think I might move some of these to the scrapyard after we clean that ce up. There¡¯s a lot of scrap there that still needs to be melted down and I think our gas is still plenty. On the other hand, I should just make use of the other building not upied yet so we¡¯d have more storage space. Hmm, I¡¯ll think about it when we get home, I¡¯ll just tell unc to clean it up since he¡¯s there mostly with Anthony¡¯s dad.¡± I thought to myself as I¡¯m still organizing the supplies we have.


    The truck was finally full after some time and now we¡¯re covering the back part of it with tarp. I made an allowance for a few people at the back who could ride in though Alexei said he¡¯d be on the roof on the truck with Jared.


    We made our way to a medium sized residential area though it seemed that people have been here for quite some time and took some items. Most of the doors and windows were broken and there¡¯s several rotting bodies strewn about that have head injuries.


    ¡°You think the items you¡¯re looking for are still here?¡± Niks asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Maybe. One thing to do to find out. Same thing, always be careful. Unc?¡± I said as my uncle started to make noise from the engine.


    We¡¯re in the gate waiting for most of the ones in the vicinity toe out so we could kill them in the open. The gate having openings made it so much easier since we¡¯re just stabbing through the gaps of the bars. A couple special ones came sprinting towards the gate so we immediately backed off. The design of the gate split its body into three equal parts like a certain heroine should¡¯ve been when a caped hero sweeped in to catch her falling down in the air.


    The job inside was easy enough and we¡¯re lucky to still find a couple of handguns that are inside hiddenpartments. We found three Glock 26s, a Model 19 revolver, and two 1911s. There¡¯s a couple of extra magazines for the 1911s. They¡¯re chambered in .45 ACP and there¡¯s a box of ammo included. There¡¯s none for the other guns but I found a folding knife with the Model 19 revolver.


    We took what we could fit in on our vehicles and we made our way home.


    We went straight for ourpound to unload everything but we left the body in the Raptor so I could deliver it to the DDR Camp. The rest unloaded the truck while I was the only one who came to the DDR Camp. The president was back sooner than we imagined and he was now brought to light to one of the things I¡¯ve decided to do with the cult members or people here that are too much of an asshole and would rather watch the whole world burn.


    Some people were against and have voiced their concerns the first time they caught wind of it but I don¡¯t see them as people anymore. Why not make use of them to learn more about this thing rather than to simply kill them. The people I experimented on before have now more people to apany them though some of them have already turned.


    It was really random and I couldn¡¯t identify the reason why some of them are still alive even if I fed them things. The time it took also was different and the degree of infection also varies. I didn¡¯t feed the new ones the things I fed them before but I made them test a few things if they¡¯re safe for consumption.


    ¡°Hmm, so you¡¯ve done it here, eh? I was still debating about it at my ce since I know people would be against it. I shouldn¡¯t have killed those f.u.c.k.i.n.g traitors so easily. I kept on forgetting that I can do whatever the f.u.c.k I want. My enemies will have a purpose aside from dying by my hands.¡± the president said.


    ¡°Mr. President! I think we shouldn¡¯t do this kind of barbaric thi-¡± Roque suddenly sprang up from our conversation but one look from the president made him shut up.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t let you go outside so you could yap your mouth. You shouldn¡¯t be too uptight like that or you¡¯ll just piss me off. Why are you against this? I¡¯d kill people the humane way if they¡¯ve done good and suffering but if they were like those f.u.c.kers, I¡¯d rather have something I¡¯d get out of it.¡± the president said. <hr>


    ¡°Still¡­ ying with people¡¯s lives? How far have we gone?¡± Roque replied with a bitter expression.


    ¡°Then what if by doing this actually helped in solving this thing? You¡¯re still not gonna do it? Also, we¡¯re the ones dirtying our hands. You¡¯d also benefit in it one way or another.¡± I added.


    ¡°¡­¡± Roque was silent as he looked down on the ground.


    ¡°This is the young man then? Mr. Ishiyama? Nice to meet you.¡± Ms. M then came from behind us with a smile.


    She¡¯s wearing military fatigues though she only has soft armor on. Her hair is still long and flowing up to her waist and she has this seductive aura I could feel she¡¯s always emanating. She has a beautiful face and a s.e.xy body that could make people turn their heads towards her. Her skin tone is a little tanned and she has this refreshed look on her face.


    ¡°Hey, rested already?¡± the president said as he grabbed her by the h.i.p.s and gave her a kiss. She epted and returned with her own but the president¡¯s hand is going lower. The both of them never let up even if they¡¯re in front of everyone. Roque cleared his throat before the two separated and got back on topic.


    ¡°Well I think I know why she¡¯s here. Unless she could throw down like the president¡¯s soldiers I think she was brought here since the president is still active even in his old age.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°The facilities are a littlecking but a little bird told me that someone has a ce that has still a semnce of what we have before all this.¡± she said as she looked at me in a different way.


    ¡°Maybe, a little bird?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°You know, one of the pilots, Avalos. I¡¯ve been told that the ce has it all and I wasn¡¯t invited¡­ Isn¡¯t that a little unfair?¡± she replied as she looked back at the president.


    ¡°Here you go again. You should¡¯vee with Roque when you had the chance. That ce, Woonds is great too but there¡¯s a lot of people there living in a single home. Kid, if you don¡¯t mind, can we two have a room over there at your ce just for a night? We¡¯ll just leave Roque here so we won¡¯t upset your people.¡± the president said.


    ¡°No problem but I may need you to look at something I brought at the back of the truck. I bet your scientist at your ce could learn something new from this. We discovered it earlier when we¡¯re out for a run. I think this is the start of something. I saw something simr happening before but it was a long time before I saw another like it.¡± I said and I motioned for us to go to the Raptor.


    They were shocked at what they saw and surprisingly, Roque was the only one who couldn¡¯t stomach the sight. He started to vomit on the ground after catching the first glimpse of it and he hurled even when I still didn¡¯t have the chance to show him the mutation. Ms. M was looking at it more curiously rather than showing the same expression as Roque. Her expression is still a bit difficult to exin but she¡¯s holding it up more than Roque to say the least.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k happened to this son of a bitch?¡± the president grimaced not only from the sight but also from the smell it released when I removed the cover.


    ¡°Some form of Bone Tumor. Normally it happens whn cells divide uncontrobly inside a bone. It would usually form a lump or something like a mass of abnormal tissue but this thing started growing itself¡­ well a part of himself.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see a¡­ lump¡­ blergh!¡± Roque hurled again when he caught a glimpse of the protruding bones.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t like that before obviously since we scr.a.p.ed through it and removed most of the pus, blood, and the rotting flesh that covered it earlier.¡± I replied.


    ¡°This could be added to the list of things that they¡¯re doing. They¡¯re having a hard time doing¡­ well I don¡¯t know that f.u.c.k.i.n.g right way to call it but they¡¯re having a hard time.¡± the president said.


    ¡°Well viruses are a pain in the ass. They mutate at a rapid pace so it would be hard to keep track of it. The moment it does, it¡¯s a new thing already and they have to observe it again and do the whole process. Not to mention when they make reassortment strains. It¡¯s a kinda a different way from mutation but it still make things f.u.c.k.i.n.g difficult. I wanted to get a scientist from your ce but I think it would be better for them to work together. We still don¡¯t even have the facilities to house them.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°You seem to know a whole lot of how they work, hmm?¡± Ms. M chimed.


    ¡°I¡¯ve read a few books about them but all I know is basic theory. I understand a few terms but if it goes any deeper than what I know, I¡¯d get lost.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh~ I thought for sure you¡¯d request one of them.¡± the president said.


    ¡°Well, I do have a different request in mind.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! I knew it you son of a bitch! Tell me then, if I could give it to you I will.¡± he replied afterughing heartily.


    I was about to answer him but the radio buzzed.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, you done over there? I want to show you something.¡±


    *bzzt*

 Chapter 261

    Chapter 261: 261


    I heard Kaley¡¯ voice on my radio and I replied promptly. <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re about to go back. See you in a few.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°She seemed a bit in a hurry. Well, we¡¯re about done here too. Good thing the back of the Raptor didn¡¯t get stained. It must¡¯ve spilled all it could earlier when it was still on the pavement.¡± I thought to myself.


    I looked at my watch and it was an hour before the president¡¯s daily broadcast. I looked ay him and he was also looking at his watch. However, he started to chuckle when he guessed what I was thinking.


    ¡°So, another one of those videos would pop up?¡± I asked the president as we made our way to the Raptor.


    ¡°Yeah, those guys work fast. They said the first one took a few days to make so this time they¡¯ll do something a little different to mix it up. They¡¯d let a few of my officials there to speak and would just say that I¡¯m in a middle of something important. They¡¯re good at their jobs and they¡¯ll figure it out themselves. It¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g tiring to do it everyday so a few days of break helps me a lot.¡± he replied.


    ¡°So who was thatdy on the radio?¡± Ms. M asked as she touched my arm.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s Kaley, my wife.¡± I replied with a straight face.


    ¡°Really? I don¡¯t see a ring though~¡± she raised her eyebrow as she went closer to me.


    ¡°Well we wear it back home after we¡¯ve cleaned up. We decided to remove it since it might get in the way in some unforeseen circ.u.mstance.¡± I said a half-truth statement.


    ¡°It¡¯s a death sentence to mess with the president¡¯s woman.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Oh~ I see.¡± she smiled as she withdrew her arm. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Now that you¡¯ve asked me something from my life, I¡¯ve been curious about one thing. Have you two really been going out ever since Rod was in office? Or, was it longer than that?¡± I asked to probe.


    ¡°Hah! She¡¯s one of many but she¡¯s my favorite! I¡¯m not gonna lie, one isn¡¯t enough for me. She¡¯s a special case though, right M?¡± the president answered and Ms. M smiled but I know that look she¡¯s giving me.


    ¡°Of course, we¡¯re more of an open rtionship if I may say so myself. He just sometimes forgets to tell me if he has another one over. He canno-¡± then Rod cut her off.


    ¡°Oi! Don¡¯t tell the kid too much of what I could do! If this is all over, he¡¯d know all our secrets! I¡¯m not what I used to for f.u.c.ks sake!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°It¡¯s that kind of a rtionship, huh? Funny to see this president¡¯s side though.¡± I thought to myself.


    Of all the presidents that have been in office, Rod is really the different one. He gets the job done with no bullshit and he governs with an iron fist. However, he still has his vices. He runs his mouth the way he wants it to and it¡¯s a well-known fact that he is forck of a better term a womanizer. He was on the news when he swore on the pope and when he revealed the bullshit of a reporter trying to nder him. There¡¯s a lot more things he did that people disliked but I¡¯d rather have that than the elitist sc.u.mbags we have from the past years.


    We finally arrived at our ce and anothermotion ured.


    Ms. M is a celebrity and she was rushed by everyone who is a fan of hers. She obliged everyone¡¯s requests to take pictures and to interact with them. She really has done that a ton of times and even if the world has gone to shit, she still knows how to please people.


    ¡°Hey kid, so where are we staying?¡± Rod didn¡¯t mind my people crowding over Ms. M because he seemed a bit tired.


    ¡°Bro! Stay at my ce! I have whiskey and I¡¯ll introduce you to my buddies!¡± Oscar suddenly popped up.


    ¡°Bro?! When did that happen?! I never noticed because it¡¯s happening all the time but he¡¯s actually calling me ¡®kid¡¯ too! The f.u.c.k?!¡± I was shocked though it was all in my head.


    I then said my goodbyes to the two as I started to go head to my house to see what Kaley wanted to show me. I didn¡¯t see her in the crowd so I surmised that she¡¯s in our room. I walked up the stairs and I surprisingly, my door was locked.


    ¡°Kaley?¡± I said as I knocked on the door softly. <hr>


    The door promptly opened and I saw that she changed clothes and I don¡¯t recognize the pants that she¡¯s wearing. She¡¯s wearing a tank top and I could clearly see that was all that she wore for her upper body. She¡¯s smiling brightly when she saw me and she quickly pulled me inside.


    ¡°You should¡¯ve been here earlier! You werete by a few minutes!¡± she eximed excitedly. She¡¯s all giddy and I can¡¯t help but smile too because she looks so excited.


    ¡°Hmm? What happened then?¡± I was curious.


    ¡°Okay! Okay! Let mepose myself *giggles* Well I was trying this pants earlier and Olivia came rushing here!¡± she started to stammer as she told the story.


    ¡°And then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°W-well I found out that no- wait, she told me that your cousin asked her out! She was so fidgety earlier and she doesn¡¯t know what to do! I should¡¯ve taken a picture of her face!¡± she continued.


    ¡°My cousin? Who?!¡± I asked again with excitement.


    ¡°Well our intern scout Lois of course! I¡¯m always confused why he would just join us willy nilly. Sometimes he¡¯s eager to join us but sometimes he¡¯szing around ying with the kids. I saw him one time just being painted on by the kids when I-¡± then I cut her off.


    ¡°Kaley! Stay on topic! You¡¯re veering off!¡± I was shaking my head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Oh, right! Yeah, yeah, well while she¡¯s here, before we even got the chance to talk, we heard sounds of a guitar! Lois actually followed her and serenaded her here! Oh my god! Can you believe that?! Rin was also here with Tatiana and we watched the events unfold!¡± she¡¯s so excited for her sister and she¡¯s screaming like a little girl.


    ¡°That motherf.u.c.ker~ Hah!¡± I asked with a smile on my face.


    ¡°Well, Olivia is with him and they¡¯re just chatting at the pool area, isn¡¯t that amazing?!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Hah! That¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g awesome. I¡¯d do the same thing to you but you¡¯d never expect it! Damn it! That f.u.c.ker pulled a fast one on me, I should¡¯ve done that sooner!¡± I eximed. <hr>


    ¡°Hmph! Then I¡¯ll wait for it! That¡¯s really sweet to do. Oh yeah, what do you think of these pants that I got from our run? Pretty cool, huh? Oscar said it has the same materials of what we¡¯re wearing. It has a nice feature too!¡± she stood up and turned a few times.


    ¡°Hmm? What feature?¡± I asked as I looked closer.


    ¡°Really? You can¡¯t see it yet? We¡¯d make good use of this when we go to the City of Man¡­¡± she trailed.


    I decided to look closer but her hands went for that particr zipper.


    ¡°Oh shit.¡± I muttered as she started to giggle cutely.


    She raised one of her legs and she ced it on top of the chair she was sitting on earlier. The zipper went down and down, exceeding what a normal one could do.


    ¡°I bet you could see all the applications these pants could be used in, right?¡± she said but I can¡¯t look away to what I¡¯m seeing.


    Her pants have a crotch zipper on it instead of a normal one. Having that on your pants could make it easier fordies to go to the restroom. Instead of undressing a few articles of clothing, you could just simply pull that zipper down and your problem would be solved. A few clothings like that are being sold and luckily, she found one at that ce.


    However, I have a different situation I¡¯m facing.


    Her zipper has already reached the base which is at the other side and I could see everything beneath. Her smooth white skin is revealed from that dark fabric and the two openings are calling for me. She spread her lower lips apart and it showed me the pink and moist flesh inside. It¡¯s making that squishy sound every time she moves her finger inside. She¡¯s biting her lower lip while her other hand went around and started to prod the other opening with her finger.


    She positioned herself in a way that I could see all of it. I wanted to eat her so bad but she told me to stand up.


    I then stood up to follow her wishes and she gave me a quick kiss. She took my hand and reced it with her hand that was spreading her apart. I felt the suppleness of it and she was making my hands felt every inch of her. I was moving my finger across her slit and I could already feel how wet she is right now. My finger went inside her and she made a small gasp when I reached her warm insides. I was trying to remove my pants with my other hand since she doesn¡¯t want me to let go of her.


    Her n.i.p.p.l.es started to get hard as I saw them protrude from the tank top that she¡¯s wearing. Her b.r.e.a.s.ts are almost spilling out because of the way she¡¯s grabbing them from underneath. We¡¯re maintaining eye contact when two of my fingers finally made their way inside her. She made a small twitch when it happened and I sessfully unbuttoned my pants. Our breathes are heavy and were stealing small kissed from each other. <hr>


    Her hand cupping her b.r.e.a.s.ts immediately went for me and she¡¯s gripping it tightly. She started to tug it at the same speed I was going inside her and we could feel the pleasure building up.


    However, there was a knock on the door.


    ¡°Hello~ Mr. Ishiyama?¡± I heard Ms. M¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Who was that?¡± Kaley whispered and her tugging slowed down.


    ¡°It¡¯s Ms. M¡­¡± I whispered back to her as I started to feel one of the tips through her shirt.


    ¡°Wait¡­ she might hear¡­¡± Kaley struggled but she never stopped me.


    Another knock.


    ¡°It¡¯s actually an emergency~ Could you please open up?¡± Ms. M asked again.


    Kaley gave a frustrated look and she let go of me.


    ¡°Open it. It might be important.¡± she whispered then she tidied up quickly.


    ¡°Just a sec Ms. M.¡± I said as I zipped my pants on.


    I opened the door and we saw her smiling at us.


    ¡°Hi! You must be Kaley. Can I join you? Please, call me Micah.¡± she said as she introduced herself.

 Chapter 262

    Chapter 262: 262


    The first thing I noticed is that she has already changed tofortable clothes. The only thing out of ce is a Glock 26 on her hip holster with a small folding knife next to it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hi! Umm, it¡¯s nice to finally meet you Miss¡­ Micah¡­ oh! Pleasee in first. I¡¯m just trying on new clothes¡­¡± Kaley smoothly said with a fake smile on her face.


    Micah went inside our room and she made a look around. She nonchntly jumped on my bed and she groaned very loudly.


    ¡°Arrgh~ I¡¯m so tired~¡± she said in a muffled voice.


    ¡°Miss Micah?¡± I was confused.


    ¡°Please, remove the ¡®Miss¡¯, Micah is just fine.¡± she replied.


    ¡°M-Micah¡­ how can I help you? You said there¡¯s an emergency?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Not like a real emergency but I need a quiet ce to lie down. Rod¡¯s been drinking with the old army dudes wait- are they all from the army? They seem like one but- Also, no offense but I¡¯m still tired from the trip! I like taking pictures but I¡¯ve been doing it all day with the people from the camp.¡± she replied as she rolled over.


    ¡°Is that so. Well if you want a room for yourself we have an extra one in here. I have the keys if you want to take a nap.¡± I replied.


    She never answered me and she¡¯s just looking at Kaley and I with a faint smile. From my peripheral vision, I could still see a bit of frustration on Kaley¡¯s face.


    ¡°Well I don¡¯t want that. I just want someone to chat with that¡¯s not raving about the things I¡¯ve done in TV and film. I thought you for one would already ask several questions or even a picture but you didn¡¯t. Well, both of you. So, can I just stay in here for a while?¡± she said.


    ¡°Umm¡­ sure. I¡¯m sorry we didn¡¯t ask for a picture or anything¡­ I¡¯m a fan too and I¡¯m just too overwhelmed I guess¡­¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to apologize~ It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not super famous or anything. Sky, are you a fan of me too?¡± she then looked at me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I thought you said that you don¡¯t want people talking about what you did on TV?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Well I¡¯ve known you when you were with your girl group. I just had a lot to do and I know it¡¯s important to make space for everyone. Especially celebrities.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Aw~ That¡¯s nice~ Well¡­ it¡¯s all in the past now if you think about it¡­¡± she had a mncholic expression.


    We were casually chatting for a few minutes but it took a turn. I don¡¯t even care what kind of turn it was but it was really far from what we¡¯re conversing with earlier. We¡¯re all sitting on the bed watching a random film when she turned to Kaley. My back was against the wall and Kaley was in front of me leaning against my body. I was hugging her though my hand was caressing her inner thighs under a nket. Micah on the other hand is next to me and she¡¯s more focused on chatting with us instead of what we¡¯re watching.


    ¡°Kaley.¡± Micah said.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Kaley¡¯s mood has turned for the betterpared to earlier.


    ¡°You¡¯re beautiful.¡± Micahplimented her as she looked at Kaley¡¯s features.


    ¡°Umm¡­ thanks! Notpared as you though¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°Nonsense! If you don¡¯t mind me asking, are those real?¡± Micah asked as I¡¯m having another breakdown in my head.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Umm¡­ yes they are. It¡¯s kinda hard to move around and it sometimes makes my back hurt.¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Wow~ I bet Sky¡¯s been ying with these everyday. Let me see~¡± Micah giggled as she suddenly grabbed a handful. <hr>


    ¡°Umm- Wait! Please¡­¡± Kaley was startled.


    ¡°Oh! I¡¯m sorry~ I¡¯m just really curious. These are really nice though~ Can I see them in full? It¡¯s fine right? We¡¯re both girls and you¡¯re with your man. I¡¯m just jealous since I had a few things done here and there.¡± Micah didn¡¯t even wait for Kaley to agree as she lifted Kaley¡¯s top off.


    Kaley is blushing while Micah has a devilish grin. I on the other hand raised the volume of the movie that we¡¯re watching just to be safe.


    ¡°Wow~ I could barely grab it all~ They¡¯re quite hefty but they¡¯re firm and soft.¡± Micah said as she¡¯s fondling Kaley¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts in front of me.


    ¡°M-Micah¡­ is the president okay with you doing this?¡± Kaley muttered.


    ¡°What? Him? I do what I want with my body. What are you even talking about? I¡¯m just checking them that¡¯s all. Well, if you want to go a bit further¡­¡± she trailed as she looked at me.


    Right after she said it, Kaley also looked at me and her expression is telling me that she really wanted to do it with her. There are times that she wanted to be in control especially when we two are alone but I can¡¯t resist this submissive side of her.


    ¡°Who am I to say no? By all means¡­¡± I replied as Micah¡¯s smile grew wider.


    ¡°Good answer.¡± Micah said as she started to kiss Kaley on the lips.


    Kaley is still leaning on me and I could see upfront how their tongues interlock with each other. Micah is forceful to say the least and she¡¯s touching her own b.r.e.a.s.t while doing so. Their kissing stopped for a short moment but I was already cupping both of Kaley¡¯s huge b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    ¡°How about you?¡± Micah looked at me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me. Enjoy yourselves for a moment. I¡¯d like to watch for a while before I join in fully.¡± I said as I¡¯m pinching one of Kaley¡¯s n.i.p.p.l.es. <hr>


    Kaley¡¯s arms are wrapped around my neck and she¡¯s simply enjoying everything being done to her. Micah stood up for a moment to remove all her clothes and now a celebrity is n.a.k.e.d in front of me. Her body is well proportioned and I could identify where her body has some things done on. Nevertheless, I don¡¯t give a f.u.c.k if they¡¯re real or not. She made a few poses and I saw everything that most people covet. She licked her fingers and she yed with herself for a very short moment while looking at Kaley¡¯s body.


    Kaley¡¯s still wearing her pants so I lifted both of her legs up and I spread them apart for Micah to see.


    ¡°That¡¯s kinky~ I¡¯m gonna take it off you though so I could lick you all over.¡± Micah said as she unzipped Kaley¡¯s pants and pulled them off.


    Kaley¡¯s position is slightly lower than mine but I continued to fondle her b.r.e.a.s.ts since Micah was now the one to spread Kaley¡¯s legs wide open. The moment Micah went down on Kaley, Kaley started to m.o.a.n loudly as I heard slurping sounds along it. Her eyes are closed but her expression is full of euphoria. However, while Micah¡¯s eating Kaley, I noticed that she¡¯s looking at me instead of her. Her other hand is going wild on her insides and she¡¯s twitching every time she hits a good spot.


    ¡°Hey¡­ can you¡­ while¡­ please? Hnngh~¡± Kaley tried to get my attention and Micah stopped for a moment.


    ¡°What did she say?¡± Micah licked her lips while her hands were still going inside herself.


    ¡°Just a moment.¡± I smiled as Kaley turned around to face me.


    She¡¯s kissing me wildly while she hurriedly tried to undress me. Micah was the one watching us now while Kaley started to suck the life out of me. The way she¡¯s doing it right now is much rougher than what she usually does. Her saliva was now all around it and her face is telling me that she can¡¯t wait for one more second.


    She turned around once more and she sat on it entering her ass. It easily reached the base after pulling it up slightly a few times and we¡¯re back on the same position though I¡¯m now involved. She¡¯s grinding her h.i.p.s slowly while I¡¯m starting to lose my mind. I grabbed her b.r.e.a.s.ts again the same time she gave the signal to Micah to continue eating her out. Her legs are spread open for Micah while she¡¯s still grinding on me. I could feel it sliding in and out albeit slowly but it¡¯s pure pleasure nheless.


    ¡°Wow~ I can¡¯t wait for my turn¡­¡± Micah remarked as she ced her fingers inside Kaley. Her tongue is gliding on the small nub just above the opening while she¡¯s wildly moving her fingers inside her. I immediately felt Kaley tighten around me when she let out a m.o.a.n.


    A few momentster, Kaley started to twitch uncontrobly while tightly gripping the sheets on the side. Micah knows what to do and she just kept on fingering Kaley¡¯s insides while she¡¯s still shaking. I decided to pile on so I lifted her body a few inches higher and I started to move my h.i.p.s. I thought she would squirt but I found out that only happens when we¡¯re alone together. Kaley¡¯s face is a mess when she had multiple orgasms add to that she was almost deprived of having to experience a normal one earlier.


    Kaley was breathing heavily when she removed herself from me but now Micah excitedly grabbed me while I¡¯m still rockhard. <hr>


    ¡°Well someone¡¯s reliable~ Still like this even if you came inside her ass¡­¡± Micah started to tug it while she ced my hands inside her. It¡¯s definitely warm and moist and my fingers slid right in.


    ¡°Do you have a condom? I want to get f.u.c.k.i.e.d in my p.u.s.s.y first. I want it hard like earlier okay~?¡± she said as sheid her back next to Kaley. I quickly slipped one in and I was now on top of her. She was looking at me intensely and all I needed to do is push my h.i.p.s in and I¡¯d be inside her. Her legs are spread apart and she¡¯s ready to hug me tight. Kaley was still catching her breath but she was on her sides, watching us.


    The moment I pushed it inside her legs wrapped around my h.i.p.s and she held me close to her body. It¡¯s like a bolt of electricity hit us and I started to go fast from the get go. She was looking at me first, maintaining eye contact from each thrust but now her eyes have rolled over and her nails are digging on my back.


    ¡°F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! IT¡¯S IN SO DEEP~ AH! AH! AH! F.U.C.K ME~ DON¡¯T F.U.C.K.I.N.G STOP!¡± she started to lose it and now she¡¯s holding Kaley¡¯s hand while I¡¯m doing it.


    I felt her walls tightening but I still continued on despite her telling me to stop. She¡¯s a mess the same way as Kaley but I was surprised when she asked for us to roll over to change positions. When she was on top, she tried to kiss me but she¡¯s still twitching a few times. I was still inside her when she sat upright and gave a euphoric smile.


    ¡°I wish we could do this till morning~¡± she said while biting her lower lip.


    I still haven¡¯t released my second round and she took advantage of it. She was making small grinding motions first but it eventually turned to small jumps while still mounted on me that makes her ample b.r.e.a.s.ts bounce to different directions. Her body is slightly arched backwards on our position and it definitely highlighted her curves especially her augmented b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    I was about to grope them but it suddenly got dark.


    Kaley sat on my face and her lower lips are rubbing against me while she¡¯s moving her h.i.p.s. I tasted her sweet juices and I took in her intoxicating scent below. I¡¯m munching on it while I¡¯m squishing her ass around. I thought it wouldst for a while but Kaley stood up and wore the strapon we usedst time.


    ¡°Oh, wow. Be gentle please~¡± Micah said as Kaley is now behind her. Kaley fondles Micah¡¯s b.o.o.b.s from behind while slowly prodding her behind with the dildo. She slightly grimaced when it entered her fully and Kaley¡¯s taking her time to make Micah adjust to both of her holes getting filled. Micah¡¯s hands are on my chest now when she leaned over and I could freely fondle her b.r.e.a.s.ts. Her eyes are closed and we¡¯re all moving slowly as the pleasure builds up. When I felt her the one moving instead of just receiving, I started to thrust faster and Kaley followed suit.


    We¡¯re moving as fast as we could and we¡¯re holding it as long as we can until we reach our limits. I¡¯m seeing everything unfold and it adds to what I¡¯m feeling all over. Micah tried to kiss me while Kaley and I were going inside her wildly. Kaley¡¯s huge b.r.e.a.s.ts are jiggling in different directions and when she saw me looking at her, she smiled while biting her lower lip.


    We continued on for a while before we copsed on each other, panting. We three are catching our breaths while our n.a.k.e.d bodies are intertwined.


    ¡°I think I want to stay here¡­¡± Micah whispered to us.

 Chapter 263

    Chapter 263: 263


    The two of them are hugging me from my sides and Kaley¡¯s face is buried near my armpit. We¡¯re still catching our breaths when Micah dropped the bomb on us. The two of us were speechless and we looked at Micah¡¯s face abruptly. I¡¯m not sure what our faces look like but it made Micah form a bright smile. <center></center><hr>


    *giggle*


    ¡°I¡¯m joking! I¡¯m joking! I don¡¯t want to leave my girls over in Davao City. I have left my group for various reasons but I¡¯m not gonna leave them now. The s.e.x is great though! Let¡¯s make the best of it as long as we¡¯re here! When we¡¯re in the City of Man, I¡¯ll drop by when I could or we¡¯d have rooms next to each other!¡± she smiled excitedly at us afterbing her hair back with her hand.


    ¡°Sure, I guess! I enjoyed myself too!¡± Kaley immediately answered.


    I was just silently catching my breath.


    ¡°I don¡¯t mean to pry but have you two done things like this before? Or am I the exception?¡± Micah said after giggling.


    I just smiled and looked at Kaley.


    ¡°Well¡­ we¡¯ve done some things like this a couple of times¡­¡± Kaley embarrassingly said.


    ¡°Oh~ is that so? Have you done it with other guys or just¡­ you know?¡± Micah giggled again.


    ¡°Oh, just girls. I¡¯ve never been with two guys at once before. I¡¯m happy with him. I just like girls as well and he likes to see girls getting it on. I think that¡¯s a perfect match, don¡¯t you think?¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯re one lucky guy! Let¡¯s just keep what we did between us okay? Rod doesn¡¯t mind me doing this but he doesn¡¯t want to know who I do it with.¡± Micah said, smiling.


    ¡°Sure, we don¡¯t talk about it much when we¡¯re outside. We always keep things like this on closed doors and to only those involved.¡± I said.


    We continued on chatting for a few moments and then we heard a knock on the door.


    ¡°Hey, they¡¯re calling us for dinner!¡± I heard Rin¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Just a sec!¡± I replied and we hurriedly put on clothes.


    ¡°We still haven¡¯t taken a shower!¡± Kaley silently screamed at me.


    ¡°I feel a bit sticky too~ Wait, why are you two worried? Is she one of the- you know? Oh~ I get it. *giggle*¡± Micah added.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just open the door. She¡¯s not the one I¡¯m worried though~¡± I said as I opened the door.


    Like I thought, Rin and Tatiana were together fresh out of the shower. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm?! Ms. M~!¡± Rin was ecstatic while Tatiana was oblivious.


    ¡°Oh, hi~!¡± Micah made a small wave.


    ¡°C-can I give you a h-hug?!¡± Rin was giddy.


    ¡°N-not a good idea now but- Oh! Okay~ I wish I could¡¯ve showered, sorry~¡± Micah said but Rin hugged her immediately.


    Rin was so happy but Tatiana is looking like she already knows what happened between us three inside.


    ¡°Oh boy. Well, f.u.c.k it! Why am I even worried? It¡¯s going to be fine¡­ I hope.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°You three f.u.c.k.i.e.d didn¡¯t you?¡± Tatiana straightforwardly said.


    ¡°Whoop, there it is~¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley looked away while Micah didn¡¯t know what to do with herself. I¡¯m rubbing my be while I hear Rin suddenly sniffing Micah¡¯s body.


    ¡°Hmm~ You three really did! Why didn¡¯t you invite us?! So unfair!¡± Rin pouted.


    ¡°Well, who locked themselves in their room?! You were justte by a few minutes. That¡¯s what you get for doing it.¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°Umm¡­¡± Micah was still embarrassed.


    ¡°Be a bit more silent when you talk. We¡¯re outside and someone might hear us.¡± I reminded them.


    ¡°Good thing the two did it on their own. We need to wake up early tomorrow and I have a few more things to do¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Oh, right! Sorry~ Let¡¯s talkter Ms. M~¡± Rin apologized.


    ¡°Girls really talk a lot when they¡¯re together though¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    We finally ended the short conversation and we cleaned ourselves up. We went down to eat and found out that the president, Oscar, Matthew, and Johnny are still drinking and having a smoke and they decided to eat at Oscar¡¯s house on their own. We have a nice dinner for tonight and it brought back my energy to capacity. Before I prepared the things we would be bringing to our trip tomorrow and doing my daily workout, we had a short meeting first. The updates and a few concerns were discussed properly and now we¡¯re talking about who woulde with me.


    ¡°The first two would obviously be Honassan and Avalos. They¡¯re the pilots for the attack helicopter that they brought and they would have bettermand on it than me. The two of them would be flying it alongside us.¡± I started. <hr>


    ¡°Just the two of them? Can¡¯t it carry more people?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°Well that SuperCobra isn¡¯t made for that. The S-76 that the president was riding on could carry much more. That thing fits only two people.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Really? Why make a deal with something that could hold less people?¡± Jay chimed.


    ¡°Well I¡¯m working on it. We¡¯d also use them just for emergencies and we won¡¯t be transporting people as much. I¡¯d have to see the helicopters that came to the City of Man first and negotiate something so I could also have that S-76. They could all fit in that cargo helicopter or the other ones they brought here since a lot of luggage and supplies were removed.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So we¡¯re actually taking all three of their helicopters? Hah!¡± Brian added.


    ¡°Yeah, something like that. They¡¯d need to bring that cargo helicopter back to their city still but they¡¯ll fly it back here as soon as they can. Hopefully with all of Tatiana¡¯s team back in that city.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So who else woulde with you? I¡¯ming, right?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Of course, We¡¯d be six in total in their S-76. It would be me, Kaley, you, Tatiana, Niks, and Jude.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh¡­ wait, JUDE?!¡± Jared¡¯s eyes almost popped out of its sockets.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I quickly replied, not changing my expression.


    ¡°Would we be going on a stealth mission? We¡¯re making use of his¡­ quietness?!¡± Jared still can¡¯t believe what I said.


    ¡°I said we¡¯d negotiate, right? Jude is Iskoh¡¯s brother-inw. Haven¡¯t I told you yet?¡± I replied nonchntly.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± everyone suddenly lost their minds.


    ¡°Nah, this is a joke, right?¡±


    ¡°Wait for it¡­ there¡¯s definitely a punchline there¡­¡±


    ¡°What if it¡¯s real?¡±


    ¡°Our Jude? The quiet guy who eats ramen?!¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re new here. He¡¯s¡­¡±


    ¡°Haven¡¯t seen him yet.¡±


    ¡°If you guard the gate, you would see him. He¡¯s a nice guy, wild with a gun though¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, that was funny as f.u.c.k!¡±


    ¡°But the mayor¡¯s brother-inw?!¡±


    ¡°Hey! Still don¡¯t believe me? Ask him.¡± I said.


    ¡°What? Right now? You want us to go to your old house?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°What? Why? He¡¯s right there next to Brian.¡± I replied as I pointed at him quietly sipping a bowl of soup.


    ¡°HOLY F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHIT!!! WHEN IN THE F.U.C.K DID YOU GET HERE?!¡± Brian almost got a heart attack the second time.


    ¡°I was here when we started eating. I wanted to see the president. Yeah, I¡¯m Iskoh¡¯s brother-inw. *slurp*¡± Jude still has a deadpan look on his face and the people around him can¡¯t stop having goosebumps.


    ¡°See? I told you guys.¡± I added, nodding.


    ¡°WHY ARE YOU TWO CASUALLY TALKING LIKE THAT?!¡± everyone is losing their minds.


    ¡°I actually know it! Jenny and I were always talking with him.¡± An proudly dered.


    ¡°Oh yeah, I told you two. *slurp*¡± Jude spoke again.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s it. Jude and Iskoh are very close and he might help us convince the president to also let go of the S-76. A few simr to it might already be in his city if we get there. We¡¯ll bring a few luxury items to trade but we¡¯d also be prepared for anything over there. Their situation there is slightly worrisome and the president needed toe there to straighten things out. If you have any questions, raise them now.¡± I said as I looked at them.


    ¡°Excuse me, why am I also included?¡± Niks asked.


    ¡°Why? You don¡¯t want toe with me?¡± Tatiana asked back and he choked. <hr>


    ¡°Good job.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Well¡­ sure¡­¡± he was in a loss and I nodded approvingly at Tatiana.


    ¡°Then that settles it. Any more questions?¡±


    The following questions were very easy to answer and we ended the meeting faster than expected. Kaley invited Micah to join us at the gym though I have another concern to address. Before we went up to the gym to do our workout, I dragged Lois over.


    ¡°Hey, you¡¯reing with me to the gym.¡± I said to his yawning face.


    ¡°Yeah, you really need to.¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°But! I only slept for a couple of hours in the afternoon!¡± he protested.


    ¡°You have no idea what you did eh?¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? What did I do?¡± he asked.


    Kaley was chuckling.


    ¡°What do you mean ¡®wHat dID I dO?¡¯ You just courted Olivia, Kaley¡¯s sister.¡± I said.


    ¡°So? What about it?¡± he was still oblivious.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice Matthew¡¯s body this past few days? He¡¯s been working out nonstop and he¡¯s back to his old body now. I already got his approval for Kaley but you have a f.u.c.k.i.n.g mountain to climb. You don¡¯t know what I¡¯ve been through! You¡¯ll die, you little shit!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°B-but I¡¯m also working out! Well¡­ I have things to do sometimes!¡± he retorted.


    ¡°Yeah, when you wanted to. Also, that thing you¡¯re doing? It¡¯s sleeping, don¡¯t lie. Kaley, back me up on this.¡± I said to Kaley by my side who is shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Is he really gonna kill me?¡± Lois asked, nervous.


    ¡°Yep. Dad actually open-fired on a few boys who tried asking for us just to scare them before this all started. He really got in trouble for that. He¡¯s also more protective of Olivia too. Actually¡­ don¡¯t work out, it wouldn¡¯t help¡­¡± Kaley trailed, smiling.


    ¡°Hmm? What? I thought?¡± Lois asked, confused.


    ¡°Wear body armor.¡± Kaley said with a serious face.

 Chapter 264

    Chapter 264: 264


    It took Lois to blink a few times trying to understand Kaley¡¯s word as to why he needs to wear body armor. He alternated looking at us waiting for an exnation. He¡¯s kinda like me in a way before. He excels at a few things but in things that he isn¡¯t familiar with, he really sucks at it. <center></center><hr>


    *chuckle*


    ¡°Dad is really a hard-ass and he wants the best for us though maybe a little too much. I doubt he¡¯d really shoot you but he would let loose a few rounds to see how you¡¯d react. I don¡¯t know how his head works but I guess it¡¯s best to try everything.¡± Kaley exined.


    ¡°Olivia is actually training with Kaley and the rest. You¡¯re only going sometimes in the morning, right? You¡¯d have more time with each other and you¡¯re kinda safe tonight since Matthew is drinking with the president.¡± I added as he was in deep thought.


    ¡°Hmm~ I guess I¡¯ll give it a try¡­¡± Lois trailed.


    ¡°I know what you¡¯re feeling dude. I n everything I¡¯m doing today the day before and a change of n sucks. But yeah, we need to do what we got to do.¡± I said as I tapped his shoulder.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was silent.


    ¡°My sister is gonna appreciate the effort too if you think about it. You also need my approval, not just dads!¡± Kaley smiled. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Me too!¡± I added.


    ¡°What?! I thought we were family!¡± Lois is scratching his head.


    ¡°Hah! Don¡¯t give us that look. Take it like this then, don¡¯t do it for Matthew or even Kaley, do it for her. If you¡¯re really serious about it, this is gonna be a bit corny but be the person that your special someone deserves. You won¡¯t need to do much if you think about it. Look at me, I spent years to be what Kaley deserves even if I¡¯m not certain we¡¯ll be together. That¡¯s something, right?¡± I seriously said.


    I think what I said convinced him but he¡¯s looking at Kaley. The moment I looked at her, I was given a surprise. I thought she would be about ready to attack me for my cheesy remark but she¡¯s about to cry. I immediately wrapped my arms around her and she held me tight. Her eyes are watery and she¡¯s sniffing a few times.


    ¡°You okay?¡± I asked Kaley as I¡¯m rubbing her back trying to calm her down. Lois signalled for me that he¡¯s gonna go to the gym and he would only get a change of clothes.


    Then she kicked me in my shin.


    ¡°Ow! Kaley?! The f.u.c.k?!¡± I eximed but she¡¯s still not letting go of me. <hr>


    ¡°D-don¡¯t suddenly say that kind of thing out of the blue¡­ sorry for kicking you¡­¡± she whispered.


    ¡°Hmm, is that so? I meant every word of it though. You know we¡¯re still outside and a few people are looking at us¡­¡± I whispered back.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care¡­ I¡¯m just hugging you¡­¡± she replied.


    ¡°Hah! Let¡¯s go now, I think they¡¯ve already started upstairs.¡± I said as I could feel her slowly letting go of me. She whispered the words we rarely say to each other but we always mean when we do. I did the same and whispered it to her as I held her hand when we went up.


    We saw everyone still warming up and I left Kaley to Tatiana so they could get on with their training. I did my usual training. I¡¯m running on my treadmill first and I¡¯m scanning over everyone. Tatiana actually talked Niks and the rest to give training to our trainees since Oscar and Johnny are out for the count. Marvin and the rest have made substantial progress from the time that they¡¯ve been here but it wasn¡¯t enough topare to real ones. Like Tatiana, Niks didn¡¯t hold back with their training but there was always a show of strength first so the people he would be teaching would know he¡¯s the real deal.


    Mikhail surprisingly got along with Bing and Russel. They¡¯re now in a contest to who could bench more but Mikhail is winning by andslide. Alexei and Vera were simply lounging around and chatting with anyone that woulde up to them. I thought Niks would ask for his match but he¡¯s moremitted to following through with Tatiana¡¯s request. Lois came up a few minutes after we did and he¡¯s copying what I¡¯m doing. He immediately veered off the path when his brother started apetition to who could do more squats. A few joined in and it made the dull workout fun. I continued on with my own and time quickly passed.


    I cleaned up and I prepared for the things Kaley and I would be bringing for our trip. I already informed the rest of my group what to bring and I told them to simply drop by my ce if they don¡¯t have it or have difficulty procuring a certain item. <hr>


    I first double-checked the water bottles that we would be bringing and even if it already has a built-in filter, I prepared a couple water purification tablets just in case. The amount of water we would be taking with us is around 1-3 quarts per person. It¡¯s taking into ount how long we would be there and I¡¯m ounting for three days.


    ¡°Oh, yeah. I also have to prepare a tent, tarps, and maybe a sleeping nket in case we don¡¯t have proper lodging. I might drop a few of them if it would be too heavy. A couple of raincoats and a change of clothes wouldn¡¯t hurt.¡± I thought to myself.


    I then went down to our storage area to get a couple packs of MREs. I took my favorite Chili and Macaroni and I bet Kaley would also like this. It also contains a pound cake, jpeno cheese spread, crackers, and a couple of candies. The essory packet contains coffee and some matches so I could brew a quick one though not as good as what I usually make. I also grabbed a couple of protein and candy bars for our extra pockets.


    Ibined our first aid kits and trauma kits in a single pack so I would have ess to items treating life-threatening and non-life-threatening injuries. I even sneaked in a few hygiene items like baby wipes, a small bar of soap, and a few feminine hygiene products.


    On tools, we already are carrying them on some of our runs when we head out. I have multitools in my possession and it could act as different tools for different instances.


    ¡°Hey, sorry I took so long. Oh! What are you doing? You need some help?¡± Kaley opened our door and saw me with two bags near the bed with several items spread around the bed.


    ¡°The things we would be bringing. It¡¯s one of the times where we would be away from our base for a few days and it is a given that we should be prepared. I¡¯m just about done though. I¡¯d clean the guns we would be using and I might bring an extra something just in case. I might also give Jude and upgrade. A CZ Scorpion or something could work for him.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Wow, you already prepared a lot. What else haven¡¯t you prepared yet?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm~ Don¡¯t worry, I got this. However, I¡¯d let you pack your share in your own bag so you¡¯d know where to get them. Take a shower quickly or you might catch a cold.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Really? Are you sure? Well, I¡¯d take a quick one and I¡¯d see to that.¡± Kaley said after getting a change of clothes and her towel.


    She bid her goodbye and I started to pack everything inside my bag.


    I made sure that the items we would be carrying wouldn¡¯t make us over-enc.u.mbered. It is great that we have everything that we need but it would be troublesome if we couldn¡¯t carry them at all. Having lightweight versions of some of the items you would be bringing is a plus though it is much more costly. Well, we don¡¯t have to pay for anything now though I have already bought them even before this thing started. It pays to cut weight whenever possible so I decided to not feed my obsession about bteral symmetry and focus more on the former category.


    I decided to use my hip holster instead of my torso holster so I could cut more weight. I never had the chance to use two pistols at the same time and its purpose was more of feeding my own demons. I even used the Maxim 9 which has the shorter barrel which Kaley uses to cut a bit more. I¡¯m tempted to use a CZ Scorpion like I would be lending Jude or a UDP-9 or maybe a Lone Wolf G9 SBR but I stopped myself since I¡¯d still like to have rifle rounds in the mix of what we would be bringing.


    ¡°Now all that¡¯s left are the items for trade and we¡¯re set.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 265

    Chapter 265: 265


    Iid my finished bag near the door and there¡¯s still more room for several items. People preparing for a trip that would span several days or simply preparing for a bug-out bag would fill their bags to the brim without considering the fact that they may find something valuable along the way. If you¡¯re at max capacity, it would be a shame to leave something you found behind or it would be a tad difficult to carry it along. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°If I could simply have ess to supply lockers from an outpost¡­ heh. All of my problems regarding storage would be solved.¡± I¡¯m chuckling at myself.


    Regarding the items I would be bringing for trade, I brought over a few guns that are a little worse for wear. Most of them are what we found from our runs where the quality isn¡¯t that good but a gun is still a gun.


    It is worth a whole f.u.c.k.i.n.g lot for someone who doesn¡¯t have one.


    I would also be bringing a few subpar knives and other melee weapons that we found on our runs. Not only weapons, random things lying around that I find people would have use with, I would bring it with me. Like all of what I would be bringing, none of them are of the highest quality like what we¡¯re using. These are the items I would be willing to let go even if I¡¯m a f.u.c.k.i.n.g hoarder.


    I also picked a few boxes of food that are a few days before expiration and I¡¯m sure I could trade it with something much better. I never know what I would get from what I would be bringing but I¡¯m hoping that something could get my interest piqued.


    ¡°I may call these junk but they would call these treasures.¡± I inwardly chuckled.


    The door to my room opened and I saw Kaley with a towel on top of her head and around her body. She seemed to still be drying her hair and I could smell the shampoo that she always uses. She saw the bag by the door and she was about to attempt to carry it.


    ¡°Oh! You¡¯re done already. This bag looks hu- hmmp! It really is bigger than what we usually carry outside. Oh yeah, Micah would be sleeping with Rin and Tatiana tonight.¡± Kaley eximed as she lifted it.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I need my energy for tomorrow. I kinda want to sleep early too. About that bag, I don¡¯t want us to be sitting ducks if we get there. We¡¯re almost living the life of luxury here and I can¡¯t guarantee we¡¯d have the same thing over there. Oh, I have our tent in my bag and I left the tarps over there.¡± I said.


    ¡°If you say so. We already did it earlier. The tarp, want me to ce it in mine? Oops!¡± When Kaleyid my bag down, the towel on her body got loosepletely and it fell down on the floor. She¡¯spletely n.a.k.e.d in front of me though the towel on her head is still on.


    I nked out. <center></center><hr>


    *snap* *snap*


    ¡°Hey, are you still alive?¡± I then saw Kaley snapping her fingers at me.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± I then snapped back to reality.


    ¡°Did you really just get in a daze from just looking at me? Hah!¡± Kaley started tough hysterically when she saw me blink a couple of times.


    ¡°Why the hell would I not?! Don¡¯t you look at yourself in the mirror?!¡± I retorted, embarrassed.


    ¡°Well, thank you. My hair is still drying so I¡¯ll leave this towel here.¡± she smiled brightly and she grabbed her own bag to start on packing her items.


    ¡°Umm, Kaley?¡± I¡¯m still looking at her confused.


    ¡°What? We¡¯re just the two here, you¡¯ve seen me nakes plenty of times, what¡¯s wrong?¡± she¡¯s smirking while packing her stuff.


    She still hasn¡¯t put on clothes and I¡¯m getting distracted by what I am seeing. She¡¯s walking around n.a.k.e.d and she¡¯s making sure that her bag is opposite me so she would bend over every time she puts an item inside. Each time she bends over, it¡¯s over the top and I could see everything beneath her. She seemed to have no intent of doing anything but I could feel my head¡¯s going haywire.


    ¡°This is some powermove bullshit. Well, I can¡¯tin though.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Nothing is wrong, it¡¯s perfect. Wait, no, you are.¡± I replied while shaking my head in amus.e.m.e.nt. <hr>


    ¡°Uh-huh~ If you say so. *giggles* Oh! You¡¯ve changed holsters. Trying to cut a bit of weight?¡± Kaley saw the gear I would be wearing tomorrow.


    ¡°Yeah. After you¡¯re done packing, try to carry them all and tell me if it¡¯s still heavy for you. I¡¯d try to cut a few more from you as much as possible.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How about a lighter gun though? Do you have something simr from my AR-15?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Hmm~ Well I hope you could still carry a gun with rifle rounds but I have something here. How about this?¡± I said as I headed for my armory. I grabbed one of the cases and I ced it in front of her.


    ¡°Wow~ this is really short. This is much lighter than what I¡¯m using though, what is it called?¡± she asked, still stark n.a.k.e.d.


    ¡°*exhales heavily* It¡¯s called a Lone Wolf G9 SBR, it looks kinda simr and operates almost the same way. I swapped a couple parts to make it more lightweight like the stock and the rail. Also, having a 5-inch barrel instead of a full-length barrel helps too. However, aside from how short and light it is, look at what it is chambered in.¡± I started as I showed her the features of it.


    ¡°Oh! So it¡¯s a pistol caliber, right? 9mm? Wait a minute¡­ can it?!¡± she got excited and I just nodded from her realization.


    She ran over to her Maxim 9 and pulled out the magazine that it has on. She went back to me excitedly and ced the same magazine to the Lone Wolf G9 SBR.


    *click*


    ¡°It fits perfectly!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, and you could use these extended mags too aside from those 17-round ones. These could hold almost double that and you could interchange where you want to ce it. It would just depend on the situation in what gun you would want to use. If you want to use the wakizashi, you could remove that magazine and ce it on the Maxim 9. Just remember that you¡¯re using a 9mm not a 5.56. A pistol round is still a pistol round and a rifle round is still a rifle round. There¡¯s always trade-offs but if you want to go with this setup, it would help you cut weight. So, do you want to go with this?¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm~ This looks really cool too¡­¡± Kaleymented but she seemed undecided after all that.


    ¡°Not sold yet? Wait a bit¡­¡± I trailed as I took out a hunk of metal.


    *ps the hunk of metal*


    ¡°This baby¡¯s stock could be copsed too and that red dot sight I¡¯ve been using for years on that! The suppressor fits nice and you could add a few more things in that quad-rail!¡± I eximed while pping that hunk of metal again.


    ¡°Umm¡­ what is that?¡± Kaley was now confused.


    ¡°It¡¯s the roof of a car.¡± I replied, smirking.


    ¡°Is that the car salesma- HAHAHAHAHAHA~!!! Where are you hiding that all this time?!¡± Kaley started tough as she got my reference.


    ¡°Hah! It¡¯s been a while here. Oscar would always wheezeughing when I do that.¡± I replied.


    She finally agreed to use it and it was already good to go since I¡¯ve been bringing it with me when I go to the range among other guns. She started to familiarize with it but I would keep getting distracted on giving her pointers because she still didn¡¯t have any sort of clothing on. She would sometimes ¡®identally¡¯ go into incriminating poses that would make me fall in a daze.


    Kaley finally finished familiarizing with it and I also helped her pack her stuff. She still needed to actually fire it a few times to getpletely used to it so I decided to bring an ammo can of 9mms and a few loose rounds for 5.56s for myself.


    ¡°And~ we¡¯re finally done. You really held yourself back there.¡± Kaley said, giggling. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! I just really wanted to get this thing finished. We need to wake up early too.¡± I replied.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t need to be what we always do, it could be a quick one if you want. Like you said, we might not have proper lodging so it¡¯s best to do it here. Releasing once could also help us sleep quicker¡­ I don¡¯t mind if you go faster than me¡­ We could continue what Micah interrupted earlier¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°You sure?¡± I asked as I couldn¡¯t resist the look she¡¯s giving me.


    I immediately turned the lights off and the two of us are covered in our nket. Our eyes slowly got used to the dark and we¡¯re both lying t on our backs. Like she said, we opted for something really quick and wouldn¡¯t need much effort.


    Her right hand is slowly stroking me below while my left hand is rubbing her little nub above her opening. We could faintly see where our hands are ced from above the nket and we¡¯re making slow and deep breaths. She stopped tugging me and I could feel her thumb moving around the head. I then also stopped what I was doing and made her right thigh lean a bit to my left thigh so I could go inside her.


    She obliged and the moment I entered her past those fat lips, my fingers becamepletely soaked. She immediately reacted by m.o.a.ning softly and tugging me faster. I didn¡¯tst long from that sensation and I quickly released. She stroked it a few more times before letting go and now I¡¯m focused on her. I turned sideways and I started to suck on her right pink n.i.p.p.l.e while also going inside her with my other hand.


    I could see that she¡¯s pinching her other n.i.p.p.l.e and the pleasure is building up quickly. Her breaths became more ragged and her body is starting to arch highlighting her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts. She started to twitch a few times but she won¡¯t let me remove my fingers inside her.


    ¡°O-one more p-please¡­¡± she begged quietly.


    She lifted her arm so I could lick her underarm while she twirled her fingers around her moist n.i.p.p.l.e I was sucking on earlier. I felt warm liquid squirting out from her and she started to twitch more violently. In the end, she came a few more times before we finally got to have some sleep. I was spooning her but I started to have some thoughts for out trip tomorrow.


    A few hours from now, we would be going to a ce where I have noplete control since I¡¯m not the one in charge. The City of Man is two cities away from our city and the other city we would be passing is the biggest in our region.


    ¡°Well¡­ it depends. We could go back here with another ally or the rest of the supply for the camps.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 266

    Chapter 266: 266


    *vibrate* *vibrate* <center></center><hr>


    *vibrate* *vibrate*


    *RINGGGGGGGGGGGG*


    *beep*


    I woke up from the rm and I turned it off when I sat upright. It was 3:30 AM and I radioed to everyone that would being with me to see if they¡¯re awake already. We would be leaving by 5:00 AM and I¡¯m making a check with what everyone has brought in case they might have missed something. Kaley rolled over to the side and I saw her slowly stretching her body before rising up. Jared was thest one to respond from my radio call while Niks was already outside since he woke up much earlier than us.


    I heard the door from the other room opening and I heard Tatiana knocking.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I responded.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be ready in five. I¡¯m gonna take a quick shower.¡± she said.


    ¡°Okay~ We¡¯ll make use of that~¡± Kaley answered for me and she made a short giggle.


    Tatiana started to chuckle from the other side and I could hear Micah and even Rin is up. I think Rin is gonnae send us off in the camp.


    ¡°What would you make use of?¡± I looked at her.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do another quick one? You down there is already up. Hmm?¡± Kaley said while wrapping her arms around me.


    It was a quick and pleasurable couple of minutes and we cleaned ourselves up and we all assembled below. My aunt is awake and she prepared a meal for us and a takeout bag for noon. Jude was also there with us and he sat down in a chair while his bag was on top of the table.


    ¡°Those who are already finished eating, tell me all the things you¡¯ve brought and where you ced them. I want you to be able to pull them out at a moment¡¯s notice without any trouble.¡± I said to everyone present.


    While I¡¯m checking if they¡¯ve brought everything I told them to, I saw Oscar, Matthew, Johnny, and Roding to our direction.


    ¡°You¡¯re early kid.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°You guys are too.¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well we didn¡¯t drink too hard. I¡¯d be in charge of this ce while you¡¯re away, so, you know.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Coffee?¡± My aunt asked them.


    ¡°ck for me please.¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°Me too.¡± Johnny added.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have whatever, thanks.¡± Oscar answered.


    ¡°No sugar for me.¡± Rod answered.


    They were also served their own food and we¡¯re double-checking everything and making sure everything is ounted for.


    I tried to ask Jude if he wanted an upgrade but he chose to stick with his .22 AR. However, I seeded in giving him a Glock 19 for backup. I didn¡¯t have the time to ce a suppressor on Niks¡¯ AK but I made him use my own that already has one. It is an all-ck AK-47 and it has several more add-ons than his previous one aside from the suppressor. It uses 40-round magazines, has a folding stock, aser sight, and a sling. Tatiana would still be using her Benelli M4 though she switched her FN Five Seven for the same Glock I gave to Jude. Jared still brought what he¡¯s currently using and never made changes. I didn¡¯t notice Oscar leaving for a short moment but I saw him approaching me with another gun.


    ¡°Kid. Bring this with you.¡± Oscar said as he reached his hand out holding a 590 Shockwave SPS.


    ¡°What? Ew.¡± I replied as everyone listening choked.


    ¡°KID?! DON¡¯T MAKE ME MAKE A SCENE THIS EARLY!!!¡± Oscar bellowed.


    ¡°That would just add extra weight!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°BUT IT¡¯S A F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHOCKWAVE!!!¡± he growled.


    ¡°But it¡¯s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g shotgun!!!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°bUt It¡¯S a fUcKiNg sHOtGuN~ JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G BRING IT WITH YOU!!!¡± he doesn¡¯t have anything to reply back so he¡¯s distorting his voice.


    ¡°Give me a f.u.c.k.i.n.g reason why that would f.u.c.k.i.n.g help me! I¡¯d have to bring more shells aside from the five already on that side shellholder!¡± I avoided his reaching hand. <hr>


    ¡°IT¡¯S TEN ALL IN ALL YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G IDIOT! I ALREADY LOADED ONE INSIDE AND THERE¡¯S FOUR ON THE TUBE!¡± he shouted again.


    ¡°I did say shellholder didn¡¯t I?!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°WELL YOU NEED TO BRING THIS WITH YOU!!! SHOTGUNS GIVE A DIFFERENCE!!!¡± he bellowed back.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need ten rounds of birdshot!¡± I went for the kill.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!¡± Oscar started to lose it.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡± his three buddies started to dieughing.


    ¡°Hey! You two are waking the others still sleeping!¡± my aunt shouted at us while ring hard.


    ¡°Kid! Just f.u.c.k.i.n.g bring it! You¡¯re using the bag I gave you so it fits snugly on that strap on the side!¡± Oscar lowered his voice but he¡¯s still breathing heavily.


    ¡°Oh yeah, he gave me this bag¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Fine¡­ it¡¯s another 6+ pounds old man. I¡¯d only use this thing if I ever ran out of bullets.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Bah! Sure, whatever. Bringing that would give me a peace of mind. Bring me a souvenir when you get back you little shit.¡± Oscar said, chuckling.


    We finally finished everything we needed to do and we¡¯ve said our goodbyes to a few people that woke up from our squabble. We were driven by my uncle towards the DDR Camp and the soldiers over there are already awake and just simply waiting for us. Avalos and Honassan went into the SuperCobra and my team went into the S-76. Surprisingly, Micah was the one about to pilot the S-76 and she chuckled at my expression.


    ¡°You think I¡¯m just a pretty face here? I know things too~¡± Micah said, smiling.


    ¡°Hah! You got me there, I want to pilot this thing though, is that okay?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You know how to fly it too?¡± Micah was surprised.


    ¡°Oh, they haven¡¯t told you yet? He knows everything, he¡¯s crazy.¡± Kaley was chuckling. <hr>


    ¡°Interesting~ I¡¯ll give you pointers though.¡± Micah replied.


    ¡°Kid, if you reveal more cards, I¡¯d f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidnap you and send you to my city, HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Rod started tough.


    ¡°Do you even know where we¡¯re headed bro? Man is a huge ce.¡± Jared chimed.


    ¡°I know, it¡¯s in the City Hall, right?¡± I looked back at Rod and he nodded.


    ¡°That coffin looking son of a bitch.¡± Rod added.


    ¡°It really does but I remember it representing a shield from the temrs historically.¡± I replied.


    We all went inside and I was in the pilot¡¯s seat. Flying a helicopter is a few notches higher in difficulty than simply driving a car. You¡¯d have to be inplete attention towards it or else things would be more than bad. I have the cyclic and the collective in either hand and my feet are on the pedals that allow the helicopter to move in either direction on its horizontal axis.


    I started the basic things you needed to do for a takeoff and we¡¯re on the part where I needed to make the amount of lift produced by the rotor exceed the total weight of the helicopter including our baggage. I immediately felt the cyclic bing sensitive as the S-76 leaves the ground. I gripped the cyclic and I nudged it forward.


    It¡¯s several kilometers towards the City of Man and it would take several hours to reach that ce by and vehicle, not to mention the bloody figures now upying the streets. The time it would take with our helicopter will reduce that several hours by several times. I¡¯m paying attention to the controls and the people with me are chatting casually on the radio.


    Roque is discussing some of his ideas with the president while I tasked Jared and the rest of my people to take footage of the road beneath so we¡¯ll have a rough idea of the situation below. We would still be traversing the ces we¡¯re scanning albeit roughly so a little bit of scouting wouldn¡¯t hurt. I¡¯d sometimes make unnecessary turns to make full use of our time inside this helicopter.


    ¡°We¡¯re almost there.¡± I said through themunication radio of the helicopter.


    We could see everything from below and I don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g like what I¡¯m seeing.


    Don¡¯t get me wrong, Man is one of the best cities in our region even before this thing started but despite its beauty, there¡¯s always that dark side people would always hide under the rug. This city¡¯s mayor did its best to clean up this city but there¡¯s still the huge probleming from the depressed areas. The ¡®coffin¡¯ shaped City Hall is still standing with the 100-foot clocktower inside it. It mostly has that same dirty yellow paint it has with a few red details to make the color pop out.


    The thing I¡¯m hating about it is aside from the multitude of hammered makeshift houses just outside of it, the security of the outside is shit. The amount of people trying to get inside is staggering, so they decided to camp outside to make the people living inside have more problems. The vehicles trying to drive outside are getting crowded by people trying to get a handout. When we¡¯re still hovering above, I could see a ton more of f.u.c.k.i.n.g problems that would make my head itch like a head full of dandruff on a sunny day.


    ¡°F.u.c.k me. It¡¯s worse than what he said the situation here is.¡± Rod said.


    ¡°It could be worse in the inside, we never know.¡± Roque added. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, people are always the problem.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Want me to drop a grenade in there? We¡¯re fairly high, I wanted to use the M197 from that attack helicopter but it¡¯s yours now.¡± Rod said.


    ¡°Mr. President?!¡± Roque was shocked.


    ¡°Hmm, how about a molotov though? The fire would spread and we¡¯d need to only use one. Those materials that they used would caught fire easily.¡± I replied.


    ¡°WHAT?! ARE YOU TWO LISTENING TO YOURSELVES?!¡± Roque is losing his shit.


    It took a few moments of silence before Rod and I started tough hysterically.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!! I F.U.C.K.I.N.G LIKE YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH~!!!¡± Rod bellowed.


    My people are still struggling to get used with my sense of humor so much more the people that has only heard us a few times. I even saw the SuperCobra and the Cargo Helicopter swaying abruptly just before we spoke to each other.


    ¡°Hah! We¡¯re kidding of course! Oh! Is that Iskoh over there?¡± Rod said after ncing at the window.


    ¡°That¡¯s him? Want me to do an entrance?¡± I asked.


    ¡°What entrance? Wait, when did you have that tattoo on your neck? Ranger?¡± Roque was confused.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Everyone suddenly looked at my neck. It¡¯s a fake tattoo with the words ¡®RANGER¡¯ written on it with lightning bolts and a dagger forming a cool spread.


    ¡°I¡¯M A RANGER BABY~!!!¡± I shouted at the top of my lungs as I veered hard right.


    ¡°BROOOOOOOOOO~!!! NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN~!!!¡± Jared eximed and held tight to anything he could.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡± everyone inside shrieked.


    Then chaos ensued.

 Chapter 267

    Chapter 267: 267


    The Cargo Helicopter and the SuperCobra are in front of us so I decided to do a little something I saw from a movie. Although, a Barrel Roll, which is its official name, was first performed by Daniel Maloney historically speaking but with a ne not a helicopter. It is possible to do it with a helicopter since it would only be upside-down for a short moment and not sustained. There¡¯s a few more maneuvers simr to it which all fall to the name Discement Rolls but this one caught my eye so I practiced doing it unauthorized. <center></center><hr>


    If someone would ask me why I did it, I¡¯ll say: I don¡¯t know, I think I have a daily quota of how much crazy I need to let out, I guess. The S-76 I¡¯m flying veered to the right just to get the momentum since the radius that I need to cover just to circle around the Cargo Helicopter is huge. I need to be precise and not lose focus in order to sessfully do it.


    My eyes are gleaming and I¡¯m grinning devilishly as everyone inside the aircraft I¡¯m flying are shouting curses through the radio. I then turned hard left then down and up and around the Cargo Helicopter in front of me. The measurements I did in my head are perfect and it wasn¡¯t even the whole trick. I was still moving forward when I cleared the Cargo Helicopter and what¡¯s next is the Attack Helicopter still going at its usual speed. They¡¯re both going a tad slower than me so it was easier. The radius needed to clear was much shorter and I quickly did the same thing to pass it much to the shock of my passengers.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    ¡°MR. PRESIDENT~!!!¡±


    ¡°YOU SON OF A BITCH~!!!¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    *cries*


    ¡°MOMMY~!!!¡±


    ¡°WITNESS ME~!!!¡±


    ¡°THIS IS SO COOL~!!!!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU BRO~!!!¡±


    ¡°SKY~!!!¡± <center></center><hr>


    *faint*


    ¡°BLEGRHHHGHGJGHHJJHHHFSFHGH~!!!¡±


    ¡°VALHALLA~!!!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!¡±


    After thest loop, I stabilized the S-76 and now we¡¯re slowly descending towards the section where it is cleared fornding. We were guided at the top of the City Hall with the SuperCobra where other helicopters are present while the Cargo Helicopter is on the ground due to its size. A few more Cargo Helicopters are on the same space and I surmised they were the ones carrying the supplies for this ce and just waiting for the president toe here.


    ¡°They did bring a lot more here but if it was me, I¡¯d let this ce go. I may need to know more about this ce¡¯s situation before I decide though.¡± I thought to myself.


    Surprisingly, I could only hear curses from the other helicopter¡¯s radios and not on mine. I finally looked around me and the first one I saw was Micah since she was my copilot. She has already lost consciousness among the others though a few are trying their hardest to remove the belts so that they could run outside and vomit it all out. I could not see Kaley¡¯s face due to my position so I removed my belts to check up on her.


    Some of the soldiers are already giving me murderous looks outside but it would be immediately halted since their breakfast is trying toe out. Niks and Tatiana are doing somewhat okay but I could still see their usual color is a little palerpared to normal. Roque and Jude have passed out while Rod and Jared are trying to get some air outside. I was about to call for Kaley since she¡¯s hunched down but I was about to get attacked by everyone that has already somewhat recovered.


    ¡°YOU MOTHERF.U.C.KER~!¡± everyone bellowed.


    ¡°Ah, crap.¡± I muttered.


    I parried each blow with my hands and I evaded, rolled, ducked, and dipped with all I had. I never got hit since their heads are still spinning somewhat.


    ¡°Mr. President! Awesome disy! Wait¡­¡± Mayor Iskoh finally reached us. He was fascinated at what I did and he¡¯s only just noticing the situation. <hr>


    ¡°WHAT AWESOME DISPLAY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOU SON OF A BITCH! I ALMOST PASSED OUT! HAAAAA~ I WAS FINE WITH THE FIRST ONE BUT I GAVE OUT ON THE SECOND ONE! KID! TELL ME IN ADVANCE IF YOU¡¯RE GONNA DO THAT TYPE OF SHIT!!!¡± Rod bellowed.


    ¡°Oh, my bad.¡± I replied.


    ¡°MY BAD?! WE ALM- BLERHGH~¡± Roque finally woke up and began shouting.


    I was scratching my head from the continued rain of curses but I felt someone tugging on my shirt. I looked back and it was Kaley all red in the face.


    ¡°Hey, you okay?¡± I asked her then she pinched me hard and I winced.


    ¡°A-ask t-them w-where¡¯s the¡­ t-the b-bathroom¡­¡± Kaley whispered.


    The look she¡¯s giving me says that it¡¯s really urgent so I quickly interrupted the president and the mayor¡¯s conversation. He just looked at me and gave me the directions while I gave a signal to Jared and Tatiana. I think Jude is with them probably following silently since I think that Iskoh still hasn¡¯t noticed him.


    ¡°You¡¯reing with me, you doofus!¡± Kaley pulled me with her quickly after we took our bags with us.


    We¡¯re walking briskly towards the nearest restroom and luckily it¡¯s unupied. It¡¯s from one of the offices that has its own restroom inside, not a public one.


    ¡°Guard the door!¡± Kaley eximed as she shut the door in front of me.


    I could hear from the other side that she¡¯s ruffling through her bag and I think I know what happened.


    ¡°Kaley¡­ did you p-¡± then she cut me off. <hr>


    ¡°Shut up! It¡¯s embarrassing! Hngh~¡± she eximed, jittery.


    ¡°Was it cool though? That was you, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Y-yeah¡­ that double loop was too much¡­ I identally¡­ you! Don¡¯t mention this to anyone! I was lucky it was a small amount¡­ I need to wash this though¡­ I¡¯m mad at you!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s a good thing I didn¡¯t barrel roll three times. That would be catastrophic¡­ but yeah, I¡¯m sorry for that happening. I¡¯ll give you a warning next time.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Come in here, I¡¯m done changing.¡± Kaley called me over.


    I opened the door and I saw her washing her clothes in the sink with the small bar of soap that we brought. She¡¯s still blushing when our eyes meet but she¡¯s ring at me big time.


    ¡°Need a diaper next time?¡± I cheekily said but she threw her wet clothes at me.


    *plop*


    ¡°Hmph! You wash them! It¡¯s your fault!¡± she harrumphed while I finished what she started on her clothes. We made use of the hand dryer of the restroom to quickly dry her clothes and she packed them inside her bag.


    ¡°Hey, on a serious note, don¡¯t leave my side when we¡¯re here. I made a quick nce outside while walking here and it¡¯s worse than I thought. I found out something really peculiar inside though.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°This is a huge building and I thought this ce was gonna be packed inside since there¡¯s still a lot of people outside with makeshift houses but it¡¯s not. Even this office, it¡¯s supposed to at least have a few people roaming around but we¡¯re the only ones here. There might be something going on so we need to be extra careful.¡± I said solemnly. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re right, it¡¯s kinda quiet here but differently quiet. Do we follow them back now?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°No need. Jared¡¯s been recording their conversation along with Tatiana so we¡¯d knowter what they¡¯re talking about. Let¡¯s just ¡®identally¡¯ get lost around here so we could take a look around with our own eyes what¡¯s going on.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What if they see us? Oh, wait¡­¡± Kaley chuckled.


    Before we left ourpound, Rod already dered us a special unit that could move independently. I was given the power to give orders to most of his soldiers but not his personal army. It was the same thing he gave the government officials when it started so they could mobilize the soldiers to their own discretion. The only catch is that there¡¯s more power to the person if they are in their own territory.


    Which means that I could order Iskoh¡¯s soldiers to do tasks here but he has the final say and vice versa. However, if a person of power is not appointed, the CO of the military group is to be in charge until further notice or if they deem that the person appointed is not qualified for the job. I don¡¯t want to say it but that rule might be the reason some of the camps went AWOL. They simply decided to do it on their own but it backfired.


    Kaley and I finally saw some people on the lower floors and we started on conversing with them. They¡¯re fairly hospitable and we found out that most of the people living here are the people working for the government. They were given priority to stay in here with their families and the others were people with no criminal records and have proper identification. He doesn¡¯t just ept anyone with a shady background inside but those people started on building their own houses outside even though it¡¯s dangerous.


    A few blocks outside have been fortified by a fence that extends farther than my ce but there¡¯s no one guarding them and it¡¯s flimsy. This City Hall is their main base of operations so they put their all on fortifying it but a few minutes of talking with them revealed one of I think many problems inside.


    The soldiers and the government employees are doing all the hardbor with the mayor while their families are cking off, waiting to be fed. They¡¯re acting like they¡¯ve just evacuated from a super typhoon and all would be fine after a while. Some are helping them but the ratio isn¡¯t enough to cover for everyone and it poses a few risks and security is my main concern.


    ¡°The soldiers are spread too thin. He needs to whip some shape to the other people here. He¡¯s too kind with them and they¡¯re gettingcent. He already has a nice setup but if he continued with this bullshit, he¡¯d lose this ce. I still haven¡¯t heard from them the supplies that are getting stolen.¡± I thought to myself.


    I said our goodbyes for now and we decided to check on the gates where there¡¯s a line or should I say a clump of people trying to get in. They were riled up to see the helicoptersing and some of them are requesting supplies as alms. I approached the soldier and he was skeptical at first for what I said to him but a simple call was enough to get my wish granted.


    ¡°We¡¯re making a stall here.¡± I ordered the soldier.

 Chapter 268

    Chapter 268: 268


    He was still in disbelief from my words but he eventually nodded in agreement. The gate that they made is perfect for me to do transactions because it is the same two-way gate that we did on the walls of mypound in the beginning. I could let in a few people at a time to check what items that they have for trade and make sure they don¡¯t attempt anything funny. I was about to bring Kaley with me towards the Cargo Helicopters to bring our crates of different items but I noticed two familiar people bowing on the ground facing me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°MASTER!¡± Avalos and Honassan shouted while their heads were still down.


    ¡°Pfft! Master? Why are you two bowing down? Get up!¡± I started to chuckle.


    Kaley and I started to walk towards where our Cargo Helicopter is located but the two still followed us while maintaining the same position. They¡¯re almost crawling and their heads are still bowed down and it¡¯s beginning to look ridiculous.


    ¡°B-but! That discement roll!¡± Avalos protested.


    ¡°Loaded with persons too! It¡¯s not a simple roll too since the radius of it shrunk down when you went for our Attack Helicopter!¡± Honassan added.


    ¡°Extreme control and lots of balls are needed to aplish that! Please take us in!¡± Avalos¡¯ eyes are bloodshot.


    ¡°We¡¯ll do anything!¡± Honassan added once more.


    ¡°Ah~ so you¡¯re nning on justzing around when the president assigned you to me before eh? I¡¯ll remember that. I thought we were buddies for once and would get along fine. It just turns out that I¡¯d need to reveal my cards for you two to acknowledge me.¡± I was acting the whole time and Kaley is shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt since she knows what I¡¯m doing.


    ¡°Ah! It isn¡¯t like that!¡± Avalos was shocked.


    ¡°Master~¡± Honassan was surprisingly agile since he followed us while still maintaining the position perfectly.


    *sigh*


    ¡°Okay, okay, fine¡­ help me bring the crates I brought.¡± I inwardly celebrated. <center></center><hr>


    The two immediately moved with perfect coordination and Kaley and I were just waiting by the gate for them to bring it all. While it was being moved I made a small announcement to the people outside that I have a few items that I could trade with them and I would ept anything as long as it¡¯s valuable to me. The soldier beside me immediately picked up his radio and started to repeat the things I¡¯ve said.


    ¡°It¡¯s bad inside too, huh? This is one of the problems when you¡¯re inside a city, they¡¯re more inclined to gather resources than to produce it themselves. There¡¯s a couple of ways to remedy that but they¡¯re clearly not doing it here.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°U-umm¡­ sir! C-can we know what you¡¯re willing to trade with us?!¡± one of the people outside shouted.


    ¡°Everything.¡± I smiled and the line formed earlier was immediately gone.


    A few still remained that are doubting me and even the soldier was still giving me looks. I was shaking my head and I casually opened one crate. Their eyes widened and it immediately showed desire, greed, and hostility. I purposely showed them a couple of boxes where guns ¡®might¡¯ be inside and everyone around me picked up speed on going back to their quarters.


    ¡°Sir! Do you really have g-guns for trade?!¡± the soldier watching the gate confirmed.


    ¡°I did say ¡®everything¡¯ didn¡¯t I?¡± I replied.


    He picked up his radio and immediately started calling everyone again but with more vigor.


    ¡°HE HAS GUNS FOR TRADE~!!!¡± was all I could hear around me.


    A huge line has started to appear outside and several more guards are stationed at the gate where we¡¯re at. It was only a short moment before I saw my grouping towards us with the president and the mayor. I¡¯m thinking that one soldier behind the mayor has some sort of importance by simply assuming the way he walks and how the other soldiers move around him.


    ¡°Must be the soldier¡¯s CO here. Where¡¯s Jude?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Kid, they told me that you¡¯re gonna be trading for guns?¡± Rod asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah. I could, couldn¡¯t I?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Bro? I think that¡¯s a bad idea.¡± Jared added.


    ¡°I¡¯ll buy every gun you are selling. I don¡¯t want guns getting sold to anyone outside. I have more problems than you could imagine and I don¡¯t want people outside having guns be one of them.¡± Iskoh is now looking at me with a serious expression.


    ¡°What¡¯ll you give me for them? I¡¯m a reasonable guy. Sorry for putting you in a bind but I¡¯d sell them to the highest bidder. Now that you¡¯ve said that you¡¯ll buy everything, I hope you could give me what I want. Please don¡¯t tell me to donate them all since you¡¯re the mayor or else you¡¯ll lose all the credibility I have for you.¡± I replied.


    His eyebrows scrunched and he¡¯s looking directly at me. We¡¯re just looking at each other and a smallmotion has already started outside.


    ¡°Please, I have jewelry!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do anything for food!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯LL SUCK YOUR D.I.C.K!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Do you have knives too?¡±


    ¡°When is it gonna start?¡±


    ¡°PLEASE! WE HAVEN¡¯T EATEN SINCE YESTERDAY~! TELL ME WHAT YOU NEED~!¡± <hr>


    ¡°They didn¡¯t give anyone outside rations!¡±


    They started to bang their hands on the gate and the situation is getting rowdy. The soldiers stationed tried their best to contain the situation and they had to fire a warning shot to make everyone outside pipe down. The mayor seems to be thinking of something to give to me while the president is just watching the scene unfold.


    ¡°What¡¯ll it be Mr. Mayor? I¡¯d say firste first serve but for you, I¡¯ll give an exception.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°I have heard a few of your tales from the president and I think only a few things here could interest you.¡± Iskoh said while in deep thought.


    ¡°Yeah, that sounds about right.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I doubt you need food since you¡¯re giving some of them away. Guns and other weaponry are a negative too since you¡¯re doing the same thing with them. The best answer I could think of is information.¡± he said.


    ¡°That¡¯s one of the things I want but regarding information, I want everything.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What do you mean by everything?¡± he asked.


    I then told him that the information that I had in mind pertains to everything that is going on here. Their list of people, food, ammunition, weapons, territories, vehicles, and etc. Not to mention that I needed the same records that I took from our City Hall back home.


    ¡°All of those you mentioned are valuable information. I cannot simply part with them with just guns. How many guns did you even bring over here?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Is that so? I brought almost a hundred assorted guns here with me. However, the bullets I brought for each of them is just how much the gun could carry by itself. Even if that¡¯s the case, you could see how valuable, especially in this time, is a loaded gun, much more, several loaded guns.¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s not that easy.¡± he muttered. <hr>


    ¡°If you¡¯re worried about this ce¡¯s security by giving away the information I need, don¡¯t. The president wouldn¡¯t let mee here if he didn¡¯t trust me. How about this, I¡¯ll hold off on selling them until thest item I have aside from them is sold.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was once more in deep thought.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I wouldn¡¯t only give you guns, I have a few things here that you should ept to make this cest long.¡± I added.


    ¡°I know. The president told me earlier of some copies of books that you gave him. Can that apply to this city where growing something is difficult due to the terrain?¡± he asked.


    ¡°It has everything you needed to know to rebuild. He gave me a few soldiers and two helicopters for that though and a few other things. I hope you¡¯ll give me one of them here so I¡¯ll have three back home, fuel included.¡± I said.


    ¡°Is another helicopter one of the things you wanted from me? Tell me all you needed first so we could negotiate properly.¡± he said.


    ¡°From you? I want constantmunication with my ce by sharing different kinds of information such as movements of people and zombies. If you¡¯ve got hostile survivors that are roaming around, I¡¯d like their names and information to be sent to me and vice versa so that we¡¯ll be ready for them in case you didn¡¯t have the chance to take care of them. This is one of the reasons I wanted your records here so I could check a random person if he came to my ce.¡± I started.


    ¡°Will you do the same if a hostile group escapes you?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Of course, that¡¯s why it¡¯s called ¡®sharing¡¯ doesn¡¯t it?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I see, very well. Anything else?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, no offense, cross the f.u.c.k.i.n.g line already or you¡¯ll lose this ce.¡± I then looked at him seriously.

 Chapter 269

    Chapter 269: 269


    He¡¯s looking at me like I¡¯m talking about bigfoot and my group who knows how I usually discuss things with people are giving concerned nces. Being in charge of several establishments before this thing started, I do business where the goal is that everyone should be happy after a deal. I rarely put someone in a bind or use underhanded means to get what I want but this time I need to be an asshole to send my point across. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You heard me.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone around us was silent.


    ¡°Excuse me? Are we even on the same page here? I¡¯m calmly negotiating with you the terms you wanted so just I could keep everyone inside this City Hall safe. You¡¯re the one bringing extreme risk to this ce by simply waving around your guns by god knows where you get them and even trying to intimidate me in the process. What do you mean by saying that I need to cross this freakin¡¯ line or I¡¯ll lose this ce? Can¡¯t you see that this ce is secure?¡± Iskoh said with a stern tone.


    ¡°Then where¡¯s the rest of YOUR city? Not to brag but I never received assistance from the president when this thing started but my territory is bigger than yours. I didn¡¯t expect you of all people to be holed up in this City Hall. It¡¯s almost a month and half after the world has gone to shit and this is only the ce you have saved. I know that the size of your territory doesn¡¯t matter one bit but you shouldn¡¯t be facing problems from a building this size!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°¡­¡± Rod is still watching us.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know what happened here! Didn¡¯t you even receive the news that we¡¯re close to where it started?! A few kilometers that way is the pier! Do you have any idea what hardsh.i.p.s we faced just to reim this City Hall?! We were supposed to contain it when it began and our numbers weren¡¯t this small when it started!¡± he started to get emotional.


    ¡°You¡¯re not f.u.c.k.i.n.g getting it.¡± I was shaking my head.


    He¡¯s about tosh out but we¡¯re all seeing that he¡¯s trying to keep his emotions in check. His hands are clenched really hard and I could see a vein almost popping out of his forehead.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk in my office.¡± he muttered before turning around, leaving everyone.


    ¡°Hey, watch our crates here with Niks and Tatiana. Shoot anyone whoes near.¡± I told Jared.


    ¡°What? What if they¡¯re soldiers here bro?¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°Shoot them in the leg or something, figure it out.¡± I waved him off and I followed with the president going to Iskoh¡¯s office to talk privately.


    When we reached his office, he was already seated and he had a ss of gin by his side. Only the three of us are inside since Kaley asked Micah to apany her in searching for Jude. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Mr. Ishiyama, please tell me again why I¡¯m not freakin¡¯ getting it?!¡± He said after taking a sip.


    ¡°That happening to you should¡¯ve already taught you a valuable lesson. Why the f.u.c.k are a ton of the people here inside are acting like nothing is f.u.c.k.i.n.g happening outside?! You¡¯re trying to shoulder all the work here with what¡¯s left of your people and that¡¯s only one of the many things I¡¯ve f.u.c.k.i.n.g noticed!¡± I snapped back.


    ¡°THEY¡¯RE THE FAMILIES OF THE PEOPLE I¡¯VE LOST!¡± he roared in anger while mming the ss down.


    ¡°So? I don¡¯t give a f.u.c.k!¡± I quickly replied.


    ¡°WHAT DO YOU MEAN ¡®SO¡¯?! YOU!¡± his breathing immediately started to get faster.


    ¡°You¡¯re really not f.u.c.k.i.n.g getting it, are you? I get that you¡¯re feeling responsible for the people you¡¯ve lost but that doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯re gonna let those people they¡¯ve left behindze around and do nothing all day. Did the president even tell you what¡¯s gonna happen to the supplies yet?¡± I¡¯m starting to get annoyed.


    When he heard the mention of supplies, his head snapped to the direction of the president.


    ¡°Mr. President?¡± he has looks of worry.


    ¡°I f.u.c.k.i.n.g knew it.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I was supposed to tell youter but this would be thest.¡± Rod sighed.


    ¡°B-but how about the people here?! The famili-¡± Rod was the one to cut him off.


    ¡°You¡¯re the person in charge here but listen to this kid if you want this ce tost. I know you want to do good by them but what you¡¯re doing for their families is too much. You¡¯re too preupied with things you shouldn¡¯t be preupied with and you¡¯re forgetting about the other people inside and outside. Let me remind you, people die everyday. It just burdens us if the people who died are connected to us. You¡¯re gonna have problems if you dwell into it too much. You have the biggest territorypared to mine in the early days but you have the least now. I just kept sending you most of the supplies hoping you could turn it around.¡± Rod said in a serious tone.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was silently giving a difficult expression.


    ¡°I brought this kid here since he has been sessful at his ce. I hoped that you two could work together since I¡¯ve already lost contact with most of the other people in this ind group. They might still be alive and fighting butmunication with them has been hard ever since the power went out. You two are the only ones I have a clear contact with and the only problem is that both your ces are far away from each other. It would¡¯ve been perfect if your territories are close.¡± Rod exined. <hr>


    ¡°What happened to the mayor of your ce?¡± Iskoh asked me.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. He could be dead for all I care. He¡¯s a good guy and even his brother is one of our senators but I never saw both of them. They could be missing or hiding somewhere safe but I always assume the worst especially at this time.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I still can¡¯t believe a young man like you could be this¡­ cold.¡± Iskoh said.


    ¡°Yeah, thanks for thepliment.¡± I replied, faintly smiling.


    ¡°That¡¯s not a¡­ nevermind.¡± he drank another sip.


    ¡°Hah! Look at you two sons of bitches, I thought you would throw hands earlier.¡± Rod said.


    ¡°I¡¯m just joking. It¡¯s just that when you have ess to everything and have seen a lot of deaths going on even from before this thing started, you began to get desensitized. It¡¯s not like in the old days where news travelling from another town would take several days. It¡¯s all instant before the world has gone to shit and not just me, most people who have ess to the world would be the same way. Even more now when we get to kill those bloody figures who were once people, you just get used to it.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I clearly need help here. If that is thest of the supplies, I need to make some hard decisions. I know what to do but I¡¯m just looking for more options to keep this ce together.¡± Iskoh said, looking at me.


    ¡°If it was me, I¡¯d leave this ce.¡± I said and he immediately choked.


    ¡°Woah! Hold on there! I thought I need to keep this ce together until th-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but this City Hall sucks ass. It¡¯s secure but it¡¯s all there is to it. The watchtower is awesome for a sniper but I think you have none. You could turn any other ce secure if you¡¯re given enough time and resources.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! I knew this shit wasing.¡± Rod added.


    ¡°Is he really serious Mr. President?¡± Iskoh looked at him. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! Don¡¯t look at me, look at him.¡± he replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m serious. This whole ce is just a huge block of stone. There¡¯s no ce to nt crops or even farm animals. The best way to go is to fin-¡± then he cuts me off.


    ¡°How a-about the Intramuros Golf Club next to Rizal Park which is freakin¡¯ next to this City Hall?! Isn¡¯t thatnd e-enough?!¡± He is stuttering a few times.


    ¡°No. Those ces are too big for your soldiers to handle and it sits too close to the pier. I remember the president saying there¡¯s also gangs roaming around. They¡¯re mostly from Tondo, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°This¡­ you¡¯re right. They¡¯re mostly from there but there¡¯s still a fewing from Baseco Compound and a few in Delpan. They survived the initial outbreak when it started and they¡¯re mostly building their own turf. Although, they¡¯re still not united and they don¡¯t have much guns avable. That¡¯s why I¡¯m trying to purchase all of what you have to avoid them getting guns at all costs. Do we really need to move?¡± he asked reluctantly.


    ¡°How about them going to PGH kid? It¡¯s a hospital which is also next to the US Embassy.¡± Rod added and I rolled my eyes.


    ¡°Sure~ nt your crops atop thend next to it. That would be great.¡± I sarcastically said and Iskoh was faintly smiling since he knows what¡¯s next to it.


    ¡°What is next to it? I¡¯m not overly familiar in this ind group.¡± Rod was scratching his head.


    ¡°The cemetery. It¡¯s still f.u.c.k.i.n.g close to the pier even if you avoid the path where the road leads to Tondo.¡± I quickly replied.


    ¡°What?! F.u.c.k that shit then!¡± he was shocked.


    ¡°How about this ce?¡± I turned to a map of the whole city which is in a frame on his wall and pointed to a specific ce.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Iskoh is in deep thought.


    ¡°That ce is the Mca?ang Park which is also next to the Mca?ang Hospital. It¡¯s Northwest of here and half of it is surrounded by the Pasig River so you¡¯ll use less manpower and resources to maintain it. The park has a huge plot ofnd and there are trees bearing fruit growing there and I think it¡¯s fairly obvious with the advantage of having a hospital.¡± I proposed.


    ¡°Oh~ Like your ce eh?¡± Rod smiled. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, something like that. That could be the best restart if you want to reim this city. It¡¯s hard starting in the center of it and you need all the advantage you could.¡± I concluded.


    Iskoh gave a very long sigh and it seemed that a huge burden was lifted off his shoulders. He offered Rod and I a drink and we finished it quickly.


    ¡°Thank you for helping him.¡± Rod looked at me.


    ¡°What do you mean ¡®thank you¡¯? That¡¯s called a consultation and that cost you that S-76!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA~!!! You can have it you son of a bitch!¡± Rod roared inughter.


    ¡°Don¡¯t celebrate yet, we still have more work to be done here, especially you Iskoh. You need to step up and that would mean crossing the line.¡± I reminded him.


    ¡°I know. We would need to n more of this operation though. How long would you guys be here? I need all the help I could get.¡± Iskoh said.


    ¡°I could stay here at most two to three days. I still have my own city which is the biggest to run though I¡¯d leave a few of my soldiers here too like I did with the kid.¡± Rod replied.


    ¡°Lot¡¯s of favoritism here, eh? I have to do a lot more to get stuff from you. I have another request from you but I¡¯ll tell you when you go back. It isn¡¯t much and it could be done when you give my Cargo Helicopter back.¡± I remarked.


    ¡°Bah! Isn¡¯t three helicopters and seven of my soldiers enough?!¡± Rod eximed.


    ¡°No.¡± I quickly replied and we bothughed hysterically while Iskoh is just giving a faint smile.


    The three of us started to discuss more things but the door to his office opened.


    ¡°Hey. Long time no see.¡± Jude monotonously said.


    ¡°JUDE?!¡± Iskoh fell to the floor.

 Chapter 270

    Chapter 270: 270


    Iskoh rubbed both of his eyes furiously for a few times while looking at Jude¡¯s figure. He was more in shock seeing his brother-inwpared to me saying that we¡¯d leave the ce he painstakingly built for a new one. Jude on the other hand is just like his usual self blinking a few times but still wearing a deadpan expression. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Is that r-really you?!¡± Iskoh shouted after picking himself up.


    I on the other hand is rifling through all the pages and forms in front of where a part of the information I needed is recorded. Kaley and Micah are behind Jude and Kaley made a small greeting with her eyebrows when I first nced over them.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me. Can I sit here? No one¡¯s sitting on it.¡± Jude made his way to the sofa with all of his things and sat down. Kaley and Micah followed though I could see Micah¡¯s reaction is the same with Rod¡¯s reaction.


    ¡°It takes a few more times of seeing Jude to get used to him, well, for a normal person.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Jude! My wife, your sister, is here in one of the rooms upstairs. I could call for her and y-¡± then Jude cut him off.


    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s here? That¡¯s cool. I want to take a nap though¡­ *yawn* Is she sleeping? I could feel it.¡± Jude started to yawn and it made a chain reaction.


    ¡°F.u.c.k me, that¡¯s really weird when it happens.¡± Rod¡¯s eyes were watery after yawning.


    ¡°Jude! She would be so d to see you! She¡¯s just on the next floor right next to the fire exit and the restroom. There¡¯s a couple of beds too and much softer than that couch you¡¯re sitting on. She¡¯s a bit downtely and a familiar face would help her a lot!¡± Iskoh said convincingly.


    ¡°I know but I-¡± then Iskoh cut him off.


    ¡°She has that ramen pack that she likes which she told me before that you also like. I remember her saying it wa-¡± then Jude cut him off.


    ¡°Alrighty then~¡± Jude left Kaley and Micah by his side.


    It must¡¯ve been a bizarre sight for them but it¡¯s a normal day for me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°There he goes~ Jade would be so happy seeing her brother¡­¡± Iskoh is smiling brightly.


    ¡°Hey, have you seen Jude¡¯s sister? What does she look like?¡± Kaley walked up to me, also checking the formsid out.


    ¡°Just look at Jude and imagine his hair growing longer up to his hip. Add the female parts and you¡¯re done.¡± I replied and Iskoh nodded a few times.


    ¡°They¡¯re twins, kid? He knows if his sister is sleeping. They must be, right?¡± Rod asked.


    ¡°Yes, they are.¡± Iskoh was the one who answered.


    ¡°A-anyway, where were we again?¡± Rod looked back at the map.


    It¡¯s around four kilometers to reach Mca?ang Park from this ce and would only take a few minutes to reach by driving a vehicle. However, there¡¯s a lot of obstacles on the road now and there¡¯s a need to scout the whole ce first. Everything should be nned carefully and the mention of our operation should not reach the people outside or the inside yet.


    ¡°We can¡¯t just move everything there right off the bat and we need to make sure of a few things first.¡± I said.


    ¡°I agree. It could be infested or have other people upying it already.¡± Iskoh chimed.


    ¡°That¡¯s easy to deal with.¡± Rod said.


    ¡°Well I want to be the one to lead the scouting party. I¡¯d bring a few of my people with some of Rod¡¯s soldiers. Bring a few of yours too and we¡¯ll go outside on the pretense that we¡¯re scavenging for supplies. Well, we¡¯ll take what we could when we came upon essential items but you get the gist of it. I saw a few military trucks parked below, are they all still running?¡± I started.


    ¡°They are, yes. We had a bit of trouble with diesel though. We can¡¯t go that far so we¡¯ve started on siphoning them from other vehicles outside to keep the generators run-¡± I cut him off. <hr>


    ¡°Wait, how long do your generators run? Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡± I waited for his answer.


    ¡°Umm, e-everyday¡­ we have sr panels but it doesn-¡± then Rod attacked him.


    *SMACK*


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g son of a bitch. Turn it off now and only turn them on for a few hours a day! You need to give up with theforts of life to survive here! You still have a huge stock but supplies diminish! It¡¯s hard to get our fuel from the oil rig on the sea!¡± Rod was furious.


    ¡°I¡¯ll g-get to it¡­¡± Iskoh was like a child rubbing his head in embarrassment. He made a radio call and it was done already.


    ¡°The oil rigs in the ocean are still up and running? Why did I forget about that~¡± I looked at Rod with a devilish face.


    ¡°Shit, that¡¯s a slip but f.u.c.k it. Yeah, it still does. How do you think the zombies could reach that? They charge exorbitant prices now though. Good thing I¡¯ve made a huge purchase and we¡¯re set for a while. What¡¯s on your mind?¡± Rod looked at me.


    ¡°I want part of your fuel and I have something to trade for it. I¡¯ll tell youter about them since we could even discuss it over the phone. Anyway, let¡¯s continue¡­¡± Then we finished up the rest of the n.


    What I decided with my group is that I would be with Tatiana and Niks for the scouting team. Jared would be staying near our helicopters with Avalos and Honassan at the roof while Kaley is to learn all she could about flying a helicopter with Micah. Jude is with his sister for the moment and the trading of items would be conductedter. The crates of guns now belong to Iskoh in exchange for several gallons of fuel for our helicopters.


    Iskoh is now hard at work with the president trying to change things around this ce abruptly. The residents inside weren¡¯t too happy about the changes though the soldiers and the other government employees took it better than expected.


    ¡°Time to go stretch some bones.¡± I said after making my knuckles and my neck crack a few times.


    I was givenmand of six more soldiers, four from Rod and two from Iskoh for scouting out the ce. We rode in a military truck but it was immediately crowded by groups of people outside. When they saw my face, they started shouting at me all the things that they¡¯ve prepared and some are even offering themselves so that they could have a piece of what I brought with me. It was getting pretty annoying so I turned to the good ol¡¯ maniption. <hr>


    ¡°Wait in the afternoon for me, okay? If you don¡¯t stop getting in my way, you¡¯d receive nothing from it ¡¯cause I could remember your faces. Things will change here and you all might have a chance of getting inside.¡± I dered.


    Their eyes turned agitated from my statement and they quickly parted to make way for us.


    ¡°Now that¡¯s nice. The president is talking with the mayor and there would be some changes. Get on your best behavior so there¡¯s a chance they¡¯ll notice you. I could put in a good word if any of you could tell me some things I don¡¯t know outside.¡± I said to fish for information.


    They then started to tell me a few ces where some gang members are frequenting and a few ces that are overrun. They¡¯ve also mentioned ces that are already ransacked and some ces where there are people still living by themselves. I took everything into ount and with caution because that might not be the case when we actually reach those ces.


    We drove further and we reached several blockades where there used to be an outpost. The fences are down and you could see the metal bending due to which I assume is from a huge number of them trying to break it down. I could see the line of fences where Iskoh¡¯s territory used to be epassing and it is several timesrger than my ce. We passed several universities and shops along the way and we¡¯re starting to see a huge mass of them getting drawn to the sound of our truck.


    The first thing Tatiana and I noticed is that the groups of zombies here are more dense than normalpared to our ce. I told the driver to keep on driving forwards until we reach an open area to quickly take care of them. He drove us in a huge parking space near one of the universities here for Maritime studies where several cars are still parked.


    ¡°Hmm, if I could get a few of these to work, that would be great. Is that a Mustang over there? I¡¯d definitely take that home!¡± I thought to myself, excited.


    ¡°Do I stop here sir so we could kill them?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No, just drive slowly and around first then watch what my group would do. Jump down if you feelfortable with the rhythm. Niks, only take a shot at the specials or on emergencies since we¡¯re conserving ammo!¡± I instructed as Tatiana and I jumped off.


    We immediately drew our weapons and the 70-ish mass of them almost parted since Tatiana and I were several feet away from each other. I quickly took down a few at my side so I could focus on what¡¯s in front of me. I¡¯m holding my katana with both hands in order to strike one down with more power. We¡¯re still moving backwards after every kill to trip the ones following them so the next strike would be easier.


    Their bodies started to fall down but one mmed to a parked car and its rm suddenly rang out. All of a sudden, the windows of the universities next to us got broken into pieces and bodies started falling down with it. Some of them also fell into one the vehicles parked and it started a chain of rms ringing throughout the whole area.


    ¡°Shit. Well we do know that they¡¯re working. I hope the-¡± I was thinking in my head then one of the soldiers spoke. <hr>


    ¡°Damn, that Mustang got totalled.¡± he said.


    *TWITCH*


    ¡°What did you say?¡± I ran back for a bit.


    He repeated what he said and I looked at the direction where it was parked. It is now dented and a f.u.c.k.i.n.g fat zombie is now on top of it wriggling itself off. A huge piece of metal is piercing its huge body and its guts are spilling all over it. It can¡¯t get out of its predicament and all its wriggling could do is to make the wound open much wider. My heart suddenly ached for the car and Tatiana ran to me.


    ¡°We could make a run for it now since most of them would be attracted by the noise.¡± she said.


    ¡°B-but¡­ my Mustang¡­¡± my eyes are almost teary.


    ¡°You¡¯re Mustang?¡± she was confused.


    ¡°MY MUSTANG~!!! KILL THEM ALL~!!!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°Sky?! Are you serious?! You¡¯re not, correct?¡± Tatiana said, concerned. The rest of the soldiers are wearing nervous expressions from my outburst.


    ¡°Of course not, let¡¯s go.¡± I jauntily jumped on the truck and pulled her up.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.

 Chapter 271

    Chapter 271: 271


    The six soldiers with us can¡¯t seem to find the correct reaction to put on their faces though it¡¯s also the same thing with Niks. Tatiana was the only one to quickly adapt to my quirks and we drove away from the ring rms. Most cars from the cities are following an ordinance that requires their vehicle¡¯s rm to go around 5-10 minutes before it automatically shuts off. I wanted to take care of the ones iing but I still haven¡¯t made a mental character sheet of each of the soldiers in my head. I¡¯d attempt bold moves when I¡¯m with the people I¡¯m familiar with. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Why did you bring us to that ce man!¡± one of the soldiers yelled.


    ¡°It was one of the closest open areas here! That was close! My bad!¡± he replied.


    ¡°We¡¯d still need to kill them though. Maybe if we still have time when wee back. It¡¯d be several hours by then and the rm would definitely be off. I¡¯d hate a small gathering of them and I would¡¯ve given themand to kill them all for real if we¡¯re already familiar with each other¡¯s movements.¡± I reminded them as we drove closer to our destination.


    ¡°But sir, we¡¯ve also been killing them ever since it started and I think we don¡¯t need much coordination.¡± the soldier replied.


    ¡°You might be right but I don¡¯t want any idents when I¡¯m in charge. Not to downy your mayor, I¡¯ve never had a casualty when we go outside. Knowing the people you¡¯re working with could also dictate how your runs turn out.¡± I said looking at the distance.


    They were suprised though now they seem to be in deep thought.


    We would have reached the ce in 10 minutes if we¡¯re driving straight towards it but there¡¯s a lot of cars along the road. Going around them would take longer and it would take the same time going back so I decided to move all of the vehicles obstrucing the path to the sidewalk. Doing that would make the time to reach our destination longer but going back would be easier, not to mention in the future when we drive to the same ce. While we¡¯re moving some of them, I ordered one of the soldiers to siphon the gas on the vehicles that still have some inside their tanks. <center></center><hr>


    Doing this would make some noise that attracts the bloody figures so I partnered up with one of the soldiers with dark skin and a crew cut. We¡¯re watching the other end while Tatiana is at the other side with another soldier. Niks is on top of the truck and he assumed Jared¡¯s role. It seems that he¡¯s excited to try out the gun I¡¯ve lent him but he never had the chance to fire several rounds from it because we would quickly take care of the ones in front of us.


    I¡¯ve begun to work with the soldier next to me. The vehicles we moved to the side has their trunks and their inside searched for any valuables and we sessfully found a few baubles figuratively. We found a small snub-nosed revolver in one of the glovepartments and the most we got are bottled water and packs of cigarettes. There¡¯s also a few useful things like jacks, jumper cables, toolboxes, and etc. that we loaded into our truck. We saw a few figuresing towards us and we got ready.


    ¡°Private Cruz, you don¡¯t have anything longer than that knife?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, sir.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Okay, you deliver the finishing touches while I prep them for you.¡± I said


    His approach is to trip the ones in front of him or dodge before sinking his knife towards the figure¡¯s eye socket or earlobe. He¡¯s carefully judging the correct distance before he attacks and one mishap could get him scratched because of the length of his weapon. I could end them in one stroke if I wished with my katana but I want to establish a small connection with the soldier I¡¯m working with hence the preparation.


    I made surgical slices towards the dozen or so figures approaching us to dismember certain parts that would make his job a little bit easier. Think of it as power-leveling someone or carrying someone in a dungeon. Taking away a few parts of it that makes it dangerous is my job for now. It could be part of its toes, its knees, its shoulder, its head.


    I was humming that song and he turned towards me. <hr>


    ¡°Is that the children song?¡± he asked, amused.


    ¡°Maybe.¡± I smiled.


    I began by cutting upwards a bloody figure¡¯s right thigh, then immediately following it by cutting sideways to remove its right arm along with its elbow. It hopped twice before it lost bnce and Cruz quickly took care of it. Its slow il with its left hand stopped after the knife Cruz was holding came out of its earlobe. One bloody figure came from Cruz¡¯s side missing both its arms and its nose needed only a slight tug before itpletely fell off. He tripped it so it crashed to a waiting shed while I removed another one¡¯s torso from the rest of its body. I killed a few myself when it is getting dicey since waiting for him to get into position takes a bit of time since we haven¡¯t synched our movements yet.


    ¡°Quickly take care of the ones incapacitated. I¡¯ll move a bit forward.¡± I instructed him.


    *SLASH*


    I made someone¡¯s scalp plop to the side of the road. It slid a few centimeters before stopping entirely but there¡¯s a trail it left like a snail¡¯s slimes when traversing a path. There¡¯s three in front of me so I made quick work of the two so I could let Cruz take care of thest one. We¡¯re trying to make less noise as possible since we¡¯ve never fired our guns, yet. Checking the bodies of the figures we¡¯ve killed, I saw a handheld weapon that looks like a machete but it has a false edge only located near the tip and I gave it to Cruz. He promptly epted it and we rode on the back of the truck once more.


    We¡¯re slowly making our way and we crossed a small bridge and we¡¯re seeing factories on the left side while a couple of car dealingpanies are on the right side. Some cars are still on disy though you couldn¡¯t see them clearly due to blood stains. We saw a cop car that has crashed into a donut shop but when we checked it, it was already looted, both the donut shop and the cop car. The only thing we found useful inside the shop are a few ingredients that wasn¡¯t taken like flour and sugar. <hr>


    There¡¯s a huge cargo truck that is blocking the road and we¡¯re nning to start it so we could move it aside. There¡¯s a lone figure trapped under its wheels and when the truck moved forward, it revealed an interesting sight. It has been run over diagonally because part of its shoulder is ttened but bones are jutting out from the inside tearing through the flesh. It could only move its right arm and tilt its head which were the only ones that weren¡¯t run over. I sunk my katana to its head to end it so we could drive away since we¡¯re close.


    ¡°The tap guys are here.¡± Tatiana remarked after looking at the distance.


    ¡°Tap guys?¡± Niks asked.


    I was thinking of what she meant first but I understood it as I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* *tap*


    We drove back a few meters to receive them since several sprinters are in the mix. It was a kind of a surprise to see them again since it has been too long seeing them not inside the Valenzu City Hall. We finally used our guns when they appeared though I found out that Iskoh¡¯s soldiers have a certain fear of them. They fired more shots than what was needed and their aiming became shit when they tried to shoot them. The distance we drove back helped since a few of their shots missed when they aimed for them.


    ¡°All you need is one shot to the head, same as everything here roaming around. No need to panic like that.¡± I told the two.


    ¡°U-understood sir.¡± they both replied. <hr>


    ¡°Avoid shooting them until it¡¯s needed since your guns are not suppressed. Also, leave them to us for now and focus on the other normal ones. There¡¯s more of them traveling in a clump herepared to our ce so small swarms are always seen. It would be bad if they all joined together and made a bigger swarm.¡± I added.


    We continued our way and we finally reached our destination. However, since we¡¯re simply checking the whole ce out, I told the person driving the truck to drive around the walls of this ce to see if they¡¯re still intact. We soon discovered that this side of the wall is still in good condition because the people who built their own homes just to the side of it informally were the ones that got destroyed first.


    ¡°Those materials jutting out could make vaulting over to this side difficult.¡± I thought to myself.


    We continued to drive around to survey it¡¯s walls and we reached the only entrance of the Mca?ang Park and Hospital which is unfortunately open wide. The only other way to enter this ce is by boat and making use of the river or using adder to climb over the high walls. Instead of going inside as soon as we saw the entrance, we drove to the other side of the wall to check its condition as well.


    ¡°This could be a great base if we managed to reim it. We could also drop by this ce not just with my helicopters but with my boats back home.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was scanning the surroundings when I saw several armed figures in the distance. Judging by the getup, it¡¯s fairly obvious that they¡¯re gang members and one is already raising his hand carrying a pistol.


    ¡°Niks. Leave one alive.¡± I muttered.

 Chapter 272

    Chapter 272: 272


    The six people I saw a few meters away are wearing baggy clothing and there seems to be this signature handkerchief that they¡¯re wearing like a bandana. You could see a small glint from the chains around their necks and they¡¯re walking like they own the ce. The guy I saw slowly raising his pistol sideways made me quickly alert Niks. <center></center><hr>


    He¡¯s just about to raise the AK-47 I gave him and I immediately ran to the side to circle around the group.


    *BSSHEW*


    *BSSHEW*


    *BSSHEW*


    *BSSHEW*


    *BANG*


    *BANG*


    *BSSHEW*


    Screams followed after a few more gunshots.


    *CRASH* <center></center><hr>


    I don¡¯t know who¡¯s aiming at themp post nearby but it shattered.


    *BSSHEW*


    ¡°AHHHHHHHH!!!¡± a voice where I¡¯m headed at shouted.


    ¡°F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K!¡± another voice resounded.


    The AK-47 I lent Niks is made from the US which I mentioned before. It¡¯s semi-automatic unlike the AK-47 he brought since automatic rifles like the AK-47 were banned in the US. I think that he¡¯s still getting used to it since his shots are not as fast and urate as before. His shots were all I could hear except a few guys screaming in pain.


    *BANG*


    *BANG*


    One of the guys he shot must¡¯ve still had the strength to pull the trigger even if he¡¯s down. However, it was all for naught since he¡¯s aiming randomly and it only hits the walls that are way off from where Niks and the rest are at.


    I dashed towards their general direction and my pistol was already drawn. The first thing Iid my eyes on are three bodies sprawled on the pavement with their heads blown off. Thest three are still in the immediate vicinity but they are badly injured except for one woman. She only has a graze on her shoulder while the two have bullet wounds in their chest cavity.


    They still haven¡¯t noticed me so I finished what Niks started.


    I implemented the rule of double tapping a zombie but there¡¯s an actual rule against hostile survivors. I discussed this with my group in a few sses in between building the Killdozer. <hr>


    The Mozambique Drill.


    It is called a few things like Failure to Stop Drill, Failure Drill or even Triple Tap. I always remind my group to aim for the head but the Mozambique Drill is a closebat shooting technique that requires the shooter to shoot twice in the torso and one in the head. It is a technique to ensure that the person you¡¯re shooting is immediately stopped. Two quick and sessive shots are ced to the muchrger and easier-to-hit center mass, after that, the head which is a more difficult shot. It is practiced and taught even with our police and military forces from way back because two shots to a person¡¯s chest cavity might not be enough due to different factors such as bulletproof vests, drugs, or the torso shots not hitting vital organs.


    We aim to apply this technique when we go outside but I¡¯m feeling really cheap today since we can¡¯t replenish our bullets willy nilly at this ce. A bullet is now inside their torsos so I just aimed for the heads of the two guys crouching down.


    *bsshew*


    *bsshew*


    Their bodies slowly fall to the side much to the shock of the woman a few feet away from them. She was toote to react as I fired another shot towards her right vicle. She¡¯s holding her gun with her right and she lost hold of it. However, she¡¯s gritting her teeth as she pulls out her knife from her belt.


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU! I¡¯D RATHE-¡± she quickly lunged at me while holding the knife in the opposite direction but I have other ns.


    I quickly reached inside one of my pouches and threw it at her.


    ¡°POCKET SAND!¡± I shouted.


    Direct hit. <hr>


    ¡°AHHH!!!¡± she let go of her knife as she tried to rub her eyes furiously while I could almost feel everyone at the truck facepalming.


    Inded a left kick to her torso and I followed it by catching her iling left arm and twisting it in the other direction to make her elbow dislocate.


    *CR*CRRCK**


    She winced in pain and she never got to scream again since my arms have already wrapped around her neck. It only took a few moments to knock her out and I called a few soldiers over my direction. I was tying her up when Tatiana and Cruz arrived and they saw the pile of bodies around me.


    ¡°Search their bodies and bring their bags.¡± I told the two while I tightened the restraints I ced on the woman.


    They have a few beat up old guns that are scratched all over and the grime on some of them almost made me want to just leave them there and just take the bullets. Tatiana found a few loose rounds of .38 Specials in one of the guy¡¯s pockets and different kinds of folding knives from each of them. We also found three satchels that contained Marijuana and a few packs of cigarettes in their pockets.


    ¡°What are we gonna do with her, sir?¡± Cruz looked at me.


    ¡°We¡¯ll bring her in for questioningter and let her join herrades when I¡¯m done. Carry her to the truck and tie her against one of the rails. Let¡¯s finish scouting the outside walls but watch out if a few more of them pops up due to the sound we made.¡± I replied.


    We drove at the beginning of the Mabini Bridge which is also the other end of the wall. There is still a huge wall that epasses the other side of it though it is just facing the Pasig River. We turned the vehicle around and we headed inside the only entrance. It is a huge engraved gate with fancy designs and just on the back of the wall where the huge gate is located is a checkpoint and a guardhouse with several dead bodies roaming around.


    ¡°Let¡¯s clear that first.¡± I said as I drew my katana.


    They followed my lead while the soldiers with Niks closed the gate so we could kill everything inside this huge ce. Doing that will ensure that none from the outside interferes or adds to their numbers. Dismembered pieces were left after I¡¯m done with them and now I¡¯d sometimes let Cruz deal with one by himself because of the longer weapon that we found. He had a small upgrade but he¡¯s still staying cautious which I greatly appreciated. A few minutes passed and we cleared the two areas. <hr>


    ¡°Where are we gonna proceed first? The park or the hospital?¡± Cruz asked me while wiping his de off.


    ¡°The park obviously. It has a few small buildings around it for serving food or selling souvenirs and we could clear it much easier because of the huge open area. We could easily see where one of them areing from and react ordingly. The hospital on the other hand is not that hard to clear but we¡¯ll go with the easier one first.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Understood. I thought we would be simply driving inside to check more buildings and the status of their walls.¡± he said.


    ¡°Well, we can do both. It¡¯s just making the job easier when wee back here in the afternoon. It¡¯s just a shame I didn¡¯t bring my drones or this scouting mission would be easy as pie.¡± I replied.


    ¡°There¡¯s actually a time when you don¡¯t have something at the ready?¡± Tatiana remarked, smiling.


    ¡°Hah! We have bigger ones at the base though so I omitted them. Those things just uses a f.u.c.k ton of fuel instead of the charge from their batteries. Joking aside, I really wish I could¡¯ve brought them. It won¡¯t help much in the park but it would be really helpful in the hospital.¡± I replied.


    Inside the walls of this area, there¡¯s still cemented roads to be traversed around and the view is amazing if you¡¯d take out the bloody figures in the picture. There are the beautiful flowers nted by the benches located at some ces and right next to it are trees that are bearing fruit. There¡¯s different kinds erected here but there¡¯s a lot more Mango Trees that I¡¯m seeing.


    We started clearing our way towards the dead upying the opennd and we¡¯re making steady progress. However, I¡¯m noticing a pattern that most of them areing from the building which is a canteen on the far back.


    ¡°It could be that arge number of them are trapped inside.¡± I thought to myself.


    I noticed this peculiarity since the ones I¡¯m cutting down seemed like they¡¯ve squeezed themselves out of a very tight spot. The skin on their arms up to their shoulders were almost rolled up like sleeves and it is a very gruesome sight. Some of them arepletely rolled over or some of them got torn on one side and just pping around while a few are almost melding with their clothes because of the muckbined with it. I couldn¡¯t see the entrance from this side and I¡¯m eager to find out for myself.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s clear that canteen first and we¡¯ll go back in the afternoon.¡± I said to my team.

 Chapter 273

    Chapter 273: 273


    The sound of the truck started to attract the ones in the vicinity towards our direction but instead of waiting for them toe to us, we steadily advanced. I¡¯ve instructed two soldiers to stay near the guard house to watch the gate just in case someone or something approached it. They could take care of a problem if it¡¯s easy enough though I ordered them to radio in if something important happens. <center></center><hr>


    On our side, there¡¯s several of theming from different directions but most of them areing from the canteen which is still several meters away. They¡¯reing at us at different speeds but they¡¯re not at the level of a sprinter yet.


    We tend to use our melee weapons as much as possible on the normal ones but if one is even seemingly like a sprinter, we shoot it down immediately. Not only for the chance that it might be one but also for the reason of its rotten body getting close to us being a huge risk to everybody present.


    Some of them still have their bodiespletely intact though some have their bodies already rotten to the point that some of it is already like mush. If one of those zombies with that body type, or even the ones that have their guts torn or have parts that are almost falling off, if they started to run towards us with speed, we shoot them down.


    The reason why them being close to us is a risk is imagine cing water on your hands and iling them around violently. The water would scatter in every direction and anyone close to it is gonna get sprinkled. Now, imagine a zombie running at you at violent speeds, the nasty bits and pieces on it would also reach ces when it starts its running motion. It poses a risk of it getting into our eyes or something that would lead to infection. We faced them before up close and personal but I figured that we¡¯d only do that again if we do not have any other options. Yes we¡¯re covered from head to toe when we go out but a lucky punch is a lucky punch, and that is one stupid way to go down.


    I sidestepped from a bloody figure that was slowly pacing while I made an upward sh from below that entered its chin and left the top of its headpletely removing its face. ck and red sludge came out from the severed parts and a shorter one is running towards me. Slightly opposite of what I did earlier, my sh came from above, entering the top of its head but it left around its nape.


    I¡¯m at the front leading the way towards the canteen. I¡¯m curious about the appearance of some of them and I want to know what caused it.


    The building is facing a small fountain with the rest of the other buildings next to it and that made it face sideways so we can¡¯t see its entrance from where we came from. It seems that we¡¯ve killed a number of them since the zombiesing from that ce has significantly lessened.


    The moment we reached that area and saw the entrance of the ce, I immediately understood as to why they¡¯re looking like that. I thought it was something else entirely but it was caused by the design of the building itself.


    ¡°Uhh, that is some f.u.c.k.i.e.d up shit.¡± Cruz remarked.


    It¡¯s a wall of hands. <center></center><hr>


    Aside from the doors which are kinda loosely wrapped around by chains, the front walls of the canteen are designed differently. It looks like the pattern of a beehive where there are small holes which an arm could barely fit into. This ce and the other building have a theme of insects and this ce seemed to get the memo for bees. It¡¯s several hexagonal patterns formed by cement that is just as high as the average person.


    However, what we¡¯re seeing right now aside from the hexagonal holes are several hands waving around where their hands are the only ones that have skin remaining. A few of the hands waving around are getting chewed up by some of the bloody figures outside that happened upon them. There is this greasy consistency that is flowing below every time they try to pull their hands out. There¡¯s a few skin gloves at the floor where I surmise came from some of them that have sessfully freed themselves from that predicament.


    ¡°New rule, be careful eating Fringles. Just angle the can downward instead of trying so hard to reach it.¡± I mentioned and everyone around slowly turned their heads towards me.


    ¡°What?¡± I said as they all shook their heads with varying expressions.


    ¡°I think I¡¯m gonna trade the small Fringles can I packed for something else¡­¡± Cruz trailed.


    ¡°Hah! I have something I could trade with that. Let¡¯s take care of everything here now. We could easily just poke them through the holes instead of removing those chains. Let¡¯s just do this first then we go to that small office. I think we¡¯ve thinned most of theming here, we¡¯d have to check this ce again when wee back just in case.¡± I instructed everyone.


    ¡°Sir, I have a question.¡± Cruz approached me.


    ¡°Hm? What is it?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Who locked them there?¡± he asked with a serious look.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t me.¡± I quickly replied. <hr>


    Tatiana snorted.


    ¡°No! I mean, this ce is always open to the public and I¡¯m just wondering if they got locked up here when it started or the other way around.¡± he exined.


    ¡°It could be anything now really but look at their clothes.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Their clothes?¡± he said as he looked at some of them.


    ¡°Most of them are still wearing their daily uniforms and some are even wearing flip flops. That could mean that they were either locked up here when it started and it turned out that there¡¯s one of those infected inside or someone gathered them here sloppily since they can¡¯t kill them that instant or something else entirely. Like I said, it could be anything. It¡¯s up to us to notice a few things so our deductions could be closer to the truth. We¡¯d find out more clues if we clear this area.¡± I replied.


    We gradually cleared everything up and we hauled everything we found useful inside. We found most of the food from the canteen obviously but there¡¯s a few snacks in the souvenir shop and gallons of water in the other buildings ced in a dispenser.


    ¡°So they were here when it started.¡± I said after looking at our haul.


    ¡°Because of the amount of food, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°I think so too.¡± Niks suddenly chimed.


    ¡°Oh shit, I thought you started a vow of silence. You¡¯ve never spoken a word and just kept on nodding at me!¡± I eximed. <hr>


    ¡°W-well¡­ I¡¯m still lightheaded¡­¡± Niks embarrassingly said.


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯ll get used to it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Used to it?¡± Niks was confused.


    ¡°What do you think we¡¯re gonna use to go back to our ce? Unless you know how to fly a helicopter, I¡¯d still still be driving home.¡± I¡¯m smiling devilishly.


    ¡°Oh no.¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°What are you guys talking about? That was cool seeing from below! I wish I was there.¡± Cruz excitedly said but everyone besides me were clearly against it.


    ¡°Well I¡¯m not gonna do it when we go back since Oscar might kill me. I surprised him once and I got beat up by all his veteran buddies. I thought they would like it but they clearly don¡¯t!¡± I¡¯m shrugging my shoulders.


    ¡°Sir, I think there¡¯s still the issue of the person who did it.¡± Cruz brought us back.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s pretty obvious already.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Sir?¡± he was still confused. <hr>


    ¡°Unless a person that is always carrying chains and that huge ass lock randomly came in when it happened, I¡¯m betting that the people who maintain this ce did it. They might¡¯ve panicked and made a boneheaded mistake like this or something simr but they¡¯ll pay for it. Something like this happened at my ce and that person was executed.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Sir¡­¡± one of the other soldiers chimed to our conversation.


    ¡°Mike, right?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yes, t-the people who were maintaining this ce are actually in our City Hall.¡± Mike announced.


    I made a long sigh and then I wiped the blood off my de.


    ¡°Well they better have an excellent exnation as to why they did it if they are the ones who did it unlike the principal at our ce or this would be theirst day.¡± I casually mentioned.


    They were giving me solemn expressions.


    ¡°I think we¡¯re done here for now. Let¡¯s head back, shall we?¡± I said.


    I wanted to hit the hospital but our truck¡¯s full and we need to take a short rest before doing something more strenuous. We rode the truck and the woman we tied up is bearing through the pain and still ring at me.


    I simply smiled at her and said, ¡°Having fun ying gangster yet?¡±

 Chapter 274

    Chapter 274: 274


    The moment she processed in her head that I¡¯m mocking her, the re she¡¯s giving me intensified. It didn¡¯t affect me much so my smile just kept on getting wider. We met up with the other soldiers by the gate and we started to drive back to our ce. They were excited from the amount of supplies we found and the only one not happy is the woman which is tied up in our truck. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sir, she¡¯s just staring at you all this time.¡± Cruz mentioned.


    I decided to pass the time.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? You took the vow of silence too? You could easily remove that handkerchief on your mouth if you push it with your tongue.¡± I said as I¡¯m staring at her.


    After I spoke she tried to push the handkerchief off but she¡¯s struggling. It took her a few seconds before she stopped and made muffled sounds.


    ¡°Hah! You actually tried! I lied you dumb f.u.c.k.¡± I was chuckling.


    The soldiers around me seem to be still figuring out the right expression to give out. The woman we¡¯re holding captive is still trying to speak with an intense look so I gave her one of my chilling looks. Her struggling stopped for a moment and she tensed when she felt my gaze. The people around me seemed to have sensed it since they gave wary looks toward me.


    ¡°I¡¯m getting there.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna push that handkerchief down towards your chin so you could speak but if all thates out of your mouth is f.u.c.k.i.n.g curses or stupid noises, you¡¯ll gargle your blood or sweep your broken teeth on the floor. Do you understand?¡± I said as I looked at her.


    She slowly nodded and her struggling stopped. I did what I said earlier and now she¡¯s moving her jaw up and down since it must be sore from how tight the handkerchief was.


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g murderer. All of you.¡± she muttered.


    I was almost out of words to reply back to what she just said. Not just me, even the soldiers around me were confused from her words or were just having none of it.


    ¡°Well you¡¯re not lying. I¡¯ve killed not only members of your group so that makes me one. Is that all you want to say or you¡¯re just that bored?¡± I replied.


    ¡°We¡¯re just t-trying to look for food! You f.u.c.kers shot Tom and the rest of us!¡± she shouted.


    ¡°Seriously? Do you look for food by pointing your gun at us? Wait, by ¡®looking for food¡¯, does that mean looking for food from other people? Is that it?¡± I chuckled. <center></center><hr>


    She looked like she was speechless.


    ¡°Oh? You didn¡¯t see what that ¡®Tom¡¯ guy did? Let me show you.¡± I said as I pulled my gun out and pointed it at her. I even copied the exact motion that guy did and she¡¯s trying to give me looks of disbelief. She flinched for a short moment though I could sense that she¡¯s somewhat pretending, same as earlier.


    ¡°No! He¡¯s just-¡± then I cut her off.


    ¡°He¡¯s just what? Using his gun as a pointing tool? Are you a f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot? You point your gun at some stranger you don¡¯t just stand still, you react. Do you think that we have the time to think someone¡¯s intentions outside when a stranger is pointing his gun towards us? That¡¯s one way to get killed, I tell you that.¡± I said as I holster my gun.


    ¡°HE¡¯S NOT POINTING HIS GUN AT ANYBODY! WE¡¯VE NEVER KILLED PEOPLE! WE¡¯RE JUST USING THEM TO SCA-¡± I cut her off again.


    ¡°Liar.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wha- What are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g talking about?!¡± She¡¯s getting more upset but she¡¯s wincing everytime we hit a speedbump.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Wha-¡± she¡¯s even more confused now.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know your name? Or is your name ¡®wha¡¯? Is that your first name orst name?¡± I huffed.


    ¡°What does it matter?!¡± she snapped.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t but let¡¯s make it so. I¡¯ll count to three, if you don¡¯t answer, I¡¯ll punch your gunshot wound that I made.¡± I said.


    ¡°What are you-¡± she¡¯s shaking.


    ¡°One.¡± I counted.


    ¡°ARE YOU F.U.C.KI-¡± she snapped. <hr>


    ¡°Two.¡± I continued.


    ¡°I¡¯M NOT GO- AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡± she started to scream hysterically so I made my move.


    The third count quickly passed and I punched her right vicle hard. There was a very loud thud and a bit of blood seeped out from her clothes. Veins started popping out of her forehead from the pain and her face is red all over. Her breathing became ragged and she¡¯s almost convulsing from the pain she¡¯s going through.


    ¡°Let¡¯s try again. I¡¯ll count to three, if y-¡± she cut me off.


    ¡°M-MY NAME IS NANCY! NANCY BRILLANTES!¡± she shouted.


    ¡°Cool.¡± Then I punched her wound again.


    Her scream resounded once more and she¡¯s showing disbelief. The people who aren¡¯t familiar with my methods are giving uneasy expressions especially Iskoh¡¯s soldiers.


    ¡°WHY?!¡± she shouted.


    ¡°Why? Let me tell you what I said earlier. Liar.¡± I smirked.


    ¡°S-sir, I think she wouldn¡¯t-¡± I cut Cruz off.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t what? Lie? Hah! She just lied twice already! She¡¯s not Nancy Brintes, she¡¯s Karen Agur.¡± I mentioned and Cruz was taken aback.


    Everyone is looking at me and I¡¯m not sure if they saw her face when I mentioned her real name.


    ¡°Do you know her sir?¡± Mike was the one who asked.


    ¡°I just said her name, didn¡¯t I?¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°I mean, before this thing started?¡± he said, not getting my joke.


    ¡°No. When I¡¯m having a meeting with the mayor and the president earlier, he gave me ess to all of his files and I tried my best as I scanned through most of them. I can¡¯t scan through all of them but I managed to view all the criminal records. She¡¯s actually wanted for homicide. The guy who Niks shot earlier was not ¡®Tom¡¯, he¡¯s Larry Montenegro, wanted for s.e.x.u.a.l abuse and murder. I¡¯m right, aren¡¯t I?¡± I then looked at her stupid face.


    Her face is showing shock and disbelief by me blowing her facade. However, I thought she would give up but she¡¯s nning on going down swinging.


    ¡°No! You¡¯re the one lying! That¡¯s what you people in power always do! You make up stories just to oppress us poor people!¡± she bellowed.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna go down swinging huh? I have more proof of your identity.¡± I said as I started to remove her shirt.


    ¡°WHA- WHAT ARE- HELP! HE¡¯S RAP- HELP!¡± she tried to make anothermotion so I delivered a solid punch on her jaw.


    *THUD*


    Her face was thrown sideways and she spat out several teeth.


    ¡°That¡¯s 5% power. Make anymore noise and your jaw woulde off. I¡¯m just showing them your sides.¡± I said as I pointed at the long scar located at her side.


    ¡°That is?¡± Tatiana was curious.


    ¡°Proof. It¡¯s all on her records. She sold one of her kidneys probably in the ck market. It was discovered when she got hospitalized after a turf war with another group. Information is such a powerful weapon isn¡¯t it?¡± I smiled.


    ¡°But how did you remember all of that?¡± Cruz asked.


    ¡°I always eat the vegetables my mommy gave me.¡± I said and everybody except him slowly facepalmed.


    ¡°Is t-that so?¡± Cruz replied.


    ¡°He believes in me too much hah!¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m kidding. Let¡¯s just say that I have a gift. Anyway, ¡®Nancy¡¯, I think I¡¯m done talking to you for now. Well, we¡¯re close too but let¡¯s just say what you¡¯ve experienced earlier is warmup. You¡¯d wish you suffered the same fate as that ¡®Tom¡¯ guy we killed first. I-¡± then she cut me off.


    ¡°Please! I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯ll tell you everything I know! I¡¯ll do anything! I¡¯ll even s-¡± then I cut her off.


    ¡°Why are you saying it like it¡¯s an exchange? Hah! YOU will tell me everything you know and YOU will do anything I say. This is not a negotiation, you¡¯re just making yourself useful onest time. Well, we¡¯ll see.¡± I said as the truck we¡¯re riding came to a stop.


    We¡¯re now back at the City Hall and a small crowd of the people outside are forming around us. I dropped a couple boxes of snacks for them since a few routes we used were marked safe by them and they didn¡¯t give out false info. They happily divided it amongst each other and they gave me a grateful nod.


    ¡°Thank you kind sir!¡±


    ¡°Thanks!¡±


    ¡°Thanks kid!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t call him kid!¡±


    ¡°Thanks child!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    They were all smiles and even though a few at the back are still giving me doubtful looks.


    ¡°Just take that as payment for the info earlier. I¡¯d also take reliable information in exchange for some of the supplies I brought. However, the guns would not be in the mix since the mayor has already bought them all. He¡¯d given me something that is worth all of them. Well, I have more food to exchange since we¡¯ve been sessful on our run.¡± I told the people outside.


    The gate was opened and we drove inside. I instructed the soldier to divide the supplies we brought and my share, which is thergest one, is ced near my pile which Jared, Avalos, and Honassan were guarding. Our captive woman was sent to a secure room as per my instruction and I popped back her dislocated arm. I then found out that Iskoh called every resident inside for a meeting and they¡¯re still inside the huge conference hall with the president.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Kaley and Micah?¡± I asked Jared, who was sitting on a chair, yawning.

 Chapter 275

    Chapter 275: 275


    Jared is still rubbing his eyes when he points up in the sky. They¡¯re not there right now obviously but I get his point. <center></center><hr>


    He yawned one more time before he said, ¡°They¡¯ve been gone for a few minutes. I think Kaley is the one flying it now. It¡¯s obvious when she does since it¡¯s not as smooth. They were alternating I think but she¡¯s learning fast.¡±


    ¡°Well I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll pick it up and I¡¯ll teach her a few tricks when we have that back some time after we¡¯re done with this ce. Why don¡¯t you try to learn that as well?¡± I asked though I already know the answer.


    ¡°Psh! It¡¯s your fault you f.u.c.ker!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°Hahaha! Anyway, have you guys eaten yet? It¡¯s past 1:00 PM already.¡± I asked.


    ¡°We did actually, since my stomach is f.u.c.k.i.n.g empty ¡¯cause of you! Well, Kaley said she¡¯d wait for you so your meals with her, Tatiana and Niks are in that paper bag over here. The ones for the president and his soldiers are among those too.¡± Jared is pointing with his foot on a paper bag under the table.


    ¡°Oh, we¡¯ll eat when shees back then. What did your mom cook?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re in those threeyered containers. There¡¯s soup on the bottom, rice on the middle, and tempura and egg rolls on the top. I think she ced seaweed in yours since you like it with that. You call those Nor¡­ Noori?¡± he tilted his head sideways.


    ¡°Just Nori but seaweed is also good. I like it over rice. How about you guys? You could eat now if you want, it¡¯s already past noon and we¡¯d be going back there after a few minutes.¡± I looked at Tatiana and Niks.


    ¡°I¡¯ll wait for her too. I think I¡¯m used to us eating together. Eating alone feels weird now.¡± Tatiana smiled and Niks was dumbstruck. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°He really likes her. It¡¯s one-sided though.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯ll wait for her too.¡± Niks added but his stomach grumbled.


    ¡°Hah! You sure about that?¡± Iughed.


    ¡°Just eat if you really need to. You don¡¯t have to wait for us. Jared and the rest already ate.¡± Tatiana said.


    He stood firm on his decision and waited for Kaley and Micah to arrive despite his growling stomach. It was a funny few minutes looking at his expression but Kaley and Micah arrived shortly after. I¡¯m wiping our utensils that we would be using and the two came down. Coincidentally, the meeting that Iskoh and Rod started have only finished now and they¡¯re also walking outside the conference room from the other side.


    I started on scanning the other people that walked outside with them and their expressions were divided. Some were fine, angry, worried, or whatever mix of emotions you could think of. The two then saw me sitting near a pile of crates and they approached me almost the same time Kaley and Micah did.


    ¡°Kid, we have a few th-¡± I cut the president off.


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat first. Someone¡¯s about to die.¡± I said as I handed him one of the containers.


    ¡°F.u.c.k me! It¡¯s already past noon! Come here, eat some too. His aunt¡¯s cooking is crazy I tell ya.¡± Rod grabbed another container and handed it to Iskoh. <hr>


    ¡°You have extras? Oh, right. Jude¡¯s has already eaten with his sister.¡± Iskoh happily received his portion.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m flying us back home¡­ maybe.¡± Kaley chimed proudly.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah¡­ stop talking and eat too. I have a few things to discuss after.¡± I said as I handed her a spork.


    ¡°We¡¯re even cutting down weight with our utensils? Do you think this is a bit much?¡± Kaley gave me a weird look but she¡¯s smiling.


    ¡°It works as two with the weight of one! What more could you ask of it?!¡± I was bewildered.


    ¡°It¡¯s stic! It almost weighs nothing!¡± she eximed, about tough.


    ¡°I could still feel it!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°Feel what?! The couple of grams?! How?!¡± Micah was the one who replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m weird! Get used to it!¡± I eximed as everybodyughed. <hr>


    They were all shaking their heads in amus.e.m.e.nt but we all ate at the same time. It took us a few minutes and we started a small discussion.


    Like what I noticed earlier and even though it¡¯s fairly obvious, the meeting they have with Iskoh¡¯s people didn¡¯t go as well as they had hoped. Most of the people inside the conference hall got too used to having everything given to them. It was a lot of back and forth, a LOT of back and forth from different sides but Iskoh is not the only one that doesn¡¯t want things to change. He has the support of several residents, all the soldiers, and even the president. It¡¯s always a problem with dealing with a huge number of people with varying opinions peacefully.


    Iskoh wanted to try to convince everyone at first but it is definitely harder than he thought. He wanted to lead everyone democratically while the president is theplete opposite. I on the other hand is a mix of both. Iskoh¡¯s using the carrot only, Rod the stick only, while I use both in simpler terms but there¡¯s always a gray area. In the end, since the residents have no idea of our ns yet and most just simply want to stay inside this City Hall, they¡¯ll stay in this f.u.c.k.i.n.g City Hall. However, while they lounge around, we move out while they¡¯re least expecting it.


    When we three had a small meeting earlier, what to do about them became Iskoh¡¯s biggest concern.


    It¡¯s the start of Iskoh crossing the line.


    Leaving them here to fend for themselves is basically a life sentence or a f.u.c.k.i.n.g eye opener for them. They¡¯re taking everything for granted and are simply waiting for handouts. Most them are just using guilt to persuade him to not make them do anything inside this ce. Rod wanted to simply set an example by ¡®relieving¡¯ a few but he let Iskoh make the decision on his own. Iskoh decided for the ones to be left behind given the chance to survive on their own without his help since they wouldn¡¯t have a chance if they try to retaliate. He just assured us that we could act on our own if we feel that something is about to start.


    One thing to add to the ns are the people he would be bringing along with him.


    It would be fairly easy to notify who we would be bringing along since they¡¯ve made these divided ¡®factions¡¯ inside already and they¡¯re living in separate sections of the whole building. However, it¡¯s still not the time to tell them since a few things are still being ironed out. Aside from me clearing a new ce for them, I¡¯d also sift through the people outside so we could wee them to our new camp. I¡¯d have Kaley¡¯s help with thatter after we¡¯ve cleared the hospital.


    I then told them about ¡®Nancy¡¯ and they gave me solemn expressions. <hr>


    ¡°What do you n to do with her, kid?¡± Rod asked.


    I told them that we¡¯ll squeeze out every bit of information we could from her. Their base location, number of people, amount of firepower, situation on food, other groups, and so much more. Rod actually volunteered for that task and he has a soldier suited for that role. We¡¯re also working on something that would make the threat of the gangs far north of this ce, to be lessened significantly.


    One of the reasons Kaley and Micah flew the helicopter around is to scout around the bridges like the Mabini bridge right next to the Mca?ang Hospital. They¡¯ve also flown near the port areas to check for the things we¡¯d be using. When I first told Rod and Iskoh of this method, they were in disbelief. It¡¯s sounded simple but it is something very difficult to aplish.


    There are seven bridges in all that connect this ce where they came from. Rod first thought of just simply blowing them up. I immediately disagreed since we¡¯d still need those bridges in the future and it would take time to repair them if that happens. However, what I told them is to simply stack several container vans on top of one another to block the bridgespletely. Not only in the port areas are they located here but there¡¯s severalpanies spread throughout that makes them.


    Several stacks of them carefully ced in the right position would bar their passage and it could also act as a watchtower or an outpost if we leave a few soldiers to guard those points. There would be a few gaps obviously but filling them up would be easier than stacking several container vans on top of one another. It¡¯s also not a finished n yet but it would get easier when I get my hands on the exact dimensions of that bridge.


    Sealing them first could allow Iskoh to just be facing threats from the south which is another city which we have no contact with. The gang members or other hostile survivors up North would be traversing a long way just toe around and reach us. They¡¯d be thinking twice if the effort is worth it.


    Iskoh would then have ess to half of the city he had before this thing started. He could begin clearing a veryrge area sessfully since their numbers do not get replenished when there¡¯s no ce they would being from. Dividing the city in half by using the bridges is a great idea but it needs careful nning. Everything could look good in paper and in my head but there¡¯s this thing called Murphy¡¯s Law that is an equivalent of a 1 in a dice roll.


    I already have the ns in my head to aplish it but I need to run several more tests.


    However, our main concern for now is securing the new base of operations first. That project that has no name yet woulde at ater date and I gave them that huge project for a few reasons. Firstly, doing this would get the president involved since he got excited hearing it and there would be a chance for him to visit this ce from time to time in his convenience with a f.u.c.k ton of help. Rod already said that he¡¯d be leaving a portion of his soldiers here to bolster Iskoh¡¯s forces. Secondly, if we sessfully managed to block those bridges and clear one of the port areas, we¡¯d be able to go here by boat safely and there¡¯s a huge hidden reward right in front of us.


    The stacks and stacks of shipping containers located in the port areas that have different supplies inside them.

 Chapter 276

    Chapter 276: 276


    The amount of supplies from the shipping containers even from half of the port west of the City Hall is staggering. The only problem with that is it¡¯s filled with random stuff and we may need to find a manifest to know which container contains which. Nevertheless, if we find something we like, we¡¯d be sure to have a shipping container¡¯s worth from it at a minimum. <center></center><hr>


    Jared came back to our table after a few minutes since he took all the containers we used and washed them. It was all neatly packed and it is in the same paper bag that his mom owns. We¡¯ve walked through several ns that needed adjustments and Iskoh stood up and looked at us.


    ¡°Are we done here? I¡¯m gonna visit my wife for a second if we are.¡± Iskoh asked Rod and I.


    ¡°Close. I have a few things to ask you before we go back to the hospital.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Sure. Anything on your mind?¡± he looked at me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take this the wrong way but have you ever killed anyone?¡± I asked with a serious look.


    ¡°What did you say?¡± he was shocked.


    ¡°You heard me and it¡¯s a legitimate question. After you¡¯ve answered that, there¡¯s a few follow ups on that.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯ve sent soldiers to their deaths¡­ I¡¯m not the one who killed them in actuality but I think I¡¯m the one who did. Does that answer your question?¡± he said.


    ¡°That¡¯s a no.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°No. What I¡¯m asking is if you¡¯ve ever picked up a gun and shot somebody with it. If not, how about a knife in the chest? Or even a twist of a neck? Anything that stops a person from movingpletely.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I¡¯ve shot a few of those things out-¡± he stammered but I interrupted him.


    ¡°No, I mean people, not those things outside.¡± I said as everyone who heard what I said looked at me.


    ¡°What are you getting at?¡± he asked.


    ¡°This is your ce and I¡¯m gonna inform you of something really important so you better listen. There are people inside here that caused a lot of deaths due to a foolish decision. If this was my ce, they¡¯d be dead already but here¡¯s the thing¡­ this ce is not mine. I think you understand what I¡¯m getting at, right?¡± I replied.


    There¡¯s a few heads that turned to our direction and then a small chattering is uring. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hold on, deaths? What are you talking about?¡± Iskoh asked.


    ¡°Kid, exin yourself. Did something happen over there?¡± Rod spoke.


    ¡°Something like that. I think it would be best if you¡¯d hear the same thing from your soldiers so you¡¯d be sure that I¡¯m not lying.¡± I looked at Iskoh.


    ¡°F.u.c.k that kid. Just tell it to us straight. I believe you.¡± Rod said.


    ¡°Well they could help me in telling the story since they were the ones to tell me that the people who did something at the canteen were living here.¡± I replied.


    Iskoh then called Cruz and Mike over to tell the whole situation with me and everyone around understood what happened. Rod already knew what to do so he ordered his soldiers to bring those people over. Iskoh is still in disbelief of what we discovered and it seemed that he knows the people Cruz and Mike were talking about. He¡¯s rubbing his be while looking down on the ground.


    My group was just silently watching the events unfold and they¡¯re already trusting me in what to do in this situation.. I also took a short nce at Micah and she seemed to know and seemed to be familiar with what¡¯s gonna happen next.


    There¡¯s now arge crowd when Rod¡¯s soldiers arrived with four people in handcuffs and wearing horrified expressions. Iskoh gave a small nce towards them at first but now he¡¯s just looking down on the ground. The four were made to kneel and then they started to cry out. Their shouting attracted more attention from the residents inside and some of the people which I surmise are their rtives, are trying to get past the soldiers that have formed a small perimeter to not interfere with our business.


    ¡°Mr. President! What¡¯s the meaning of this?!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve done nothing wrong!¡±


    ¡°Why are we in cuffs?!¡±


    ¡°Mayor Iskoh please help us!¡±


    There¡¯s now an evenrger group of people around us and even the people outside caught wind of what¡¯s happening and they¡¯re trying to stick their heads out to see what¡¯s going on. Iskoh is still silent and Rod is looking at him seriously. The four kneeling in front of us still have no idea as to why they¡¯re in the situation they¡¯re in.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Why are they cuffed?¡±


    ¡°Are they gonna get executed?¡±


    ¡°Probably.¡±


    ¡°Why?!¡±


    ¡°President¡¯s orders, I think.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s the kid with them?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s the one who got lost earlier.¡±


    ¡°What? Then why is he the one who came outside leading their soldiers?¡±


    ¡°They say he has a big territory too. The soldiers here have been saying that he discovered something and the four there were at fault.¡±


    ¡°At fault?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not too sure either but it seems the president believes him.¡±


    ¡°What if he¡¯s lying?¡±


    ¡°What would he gain though?¡±


    ¡°I dunno.¡±


    ¡°The fours there are just maintenance guys, right?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s just watch.¡±


    ¡°I think I already know the ending to this.¡±


    The people around are chattering even more and the soldiers are pushing some of them much further so we could have the appropriate space. I wished to tell him of itter this night but I don¡¯t want the risk of having those kinds of people around.


    ¡°SHUT UP YOU SONS OF BITCHES! WE¡¯RE TALKING HERE!¡± Rod bellowed.


    ¡°M-Mr. President! I-I don¡¯t understand!¡± one of the four wearing a white t-shirt spoke immediately.


    ¡°I¡¯m not in disagreement in the meeting earlier if this is about it!¡± the guy with missing teeth said.


    ¡°Iskoh, are you just gonna stare at the ground or what?¡± Rod looked at Iskoh and everyone did the same.


    He¡¯s still not moving but I could see him clenching his fists a few times but he¡¯s letting go right after. He¡¯s breathing heavily and he¡¯s leg is getting restless. He finally raised his head and his expression now is different from earlier.


    ¡°The canteen. Who?¡± Iskoh said with a cold tone.


    ¡°Mayor? Canteen?¡± one of the four with a crew cut was confused.


    I¡¯m looking at them and I instantly saw two of them, a man and a woman that seemed to be a married couple quickly changing expressions. The other guy with several missing teeth still seemed to be as confused with the guy with a crew cut.


    ¡°Those other two then?¡± I thought to myself.


    It¡¯s the guy wearing a white t-shirt and the other was ady with dyed hair and a mole near her upper lip. They seemed around the age of 40-50 and they¡¯re both wearing rings that seemed to match designs. When the two heard the word ¡®canteen¡¯, thedy froze while the guy immediately tensed. It was a brief moment but anyone closely watching them would¡¯ve noticed.


    ¡°It¡¯s you two, right? Teresa and Kiko, I saw your immediate reaction. You¡¯re the ones assigned with the canteen. I think you two know what I¡¯m referring to, right? Who locked those people inside?¡± Iskoh pointed at them.


    The crowd then understood why those people got dragged towards us and another round of chattering ensued. The other two beside them let out their biggest sigh of relief when they learned it wasn¡¯t them we were looking for. <hr>


    ¡°M-mayor Iskoh! It could¡¯ve been anyone! T-the chains are always dangling on the door handles so when we close up, we¡¯d just push down on the padlock to secure it!¡± the guy quickly answered while trembling. Thedy on the other hand started to cry uncontrobly when everyone¡¯s gazended on them.


    ¡°The word ¡®anyone¡¯ could still be you two, right? Why the f.u.c.k did you lock those people up?!¡± Iskoh shouted in anger.


    ¡°M-m-mayor! It¡¯s all a misunderstanding!¡± the guy quickly answered once more.


    ¡°Huh~? Do exin before I do something irreversible.¡± Iskoh replied.


    ¡°P-please h-here me out! Teresa! Stop crying because we¡¯re innocent! We need to exin our side so they¡¯d know what happened. We¡¯d get through this like always, I tell you.¡± he held his wife¡¯s shoulders and assured her.


    ¡°Like always?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Quickly.¡± Iskoh reminded them but his anger seemed to have subsided a couple of notches.


    I then nced at Kaley and she¡¯s actually looking at me.


    ¡°Oh, right. In the canteen¡­ well, let¡¯s see what he has to say first.¡± I thought to myself.


    He then told us the story that when it started at the canteen, it was all in chaos. Several gunshots started to rang out from the entrance and a few wounded people rushed inside the canteen. The people who rushed in told them that the soldiers are mindlessly killing the people and they ran here to hide. The people inside tensed once more when they heard gunshots and that¡¯s when the panic set it.


    He continued by telling us that the soldiers kicked the door open and they started looking for people with wounds that came rushing to this ce. The people inside however, got too scared to what had happened and they were about to rush the soldiers in an attempt to escape and live. However, a scream followed from the second floor and they saw that one of the wounded people who came rushing in was eating one of the other employees.


    The soldiers then, ording to him, started shooting everyone that started to rush them and the two of them were one of the lucky ones that didn¡¯t get hit since they were down on the ground. However, several more bloody figures came from the outside and took out chunks from soldiers whose backs are turned against them. He said that they had to crawl from a pile of dead bodies just to get out of the canteen and they found out that the someone chained the canteen up so that the ones inside wouldn¡¯t be able to get out. However, the ones that chained it up did it poorly and there¡¯s a gap that they could squeeze in.


    He told the story as everyone listened intently. Iskoh¡¯s expression is now of relief, same with the others especially the guy named Kiko. Teresa is still crying non stop while Kiko is hugging her. However, there¡¯re several people not buying it when I nced around the people hearing his story.


    ¡°You sure about that? I have a few questions.¡± I broke their small celebration.

 Chapter 277

    Chapter 277: 277


    I¡¯ve seen that move several times already. <center></center><hr>


    There¡¯s this way a person speaks where they remember all the details of something that happened that has got to do with them or someone they know. It¡¯s not like when I exin to people everything that¡¯s on my mind or remind them of something they forgot which is almost exactly simr to what he did. There¡¯s a very subtle difference and only people that have heard enough bullshit could tell it apart from the real thing.


    If you try to call them out, they have the perfect response to everything and they have already prepared their answers beforehand. Their bodynguage for example is that they never break eye contact and they¡¯re speaking in a much faster tempo than how they usually do it.


    The only way you could catch them red handed is through solid irrefutable proof or catching inconsistencies with what they¡¯re saying. If you¡¯d just hear it from their mouth and you¡¯re not there or you¡¯ve just read it from a novel while the author hides a few stuff so there¡¯d be some mystery, you¡¯d think that they¡¯re telling the truth.


    Everyone¡¯s eyes have now shifted towards me and I¡¯m staring at everyone back.


    ¡°Questions? What questions? Isn¡¯t my story enough?¡± he looked at me like I was an idiot.


    ¡°Whatever you say is nothing but the truth of what happened, right? That doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m not allowed to challenge your story. If people kept on believing what anyone else says without question, liars would be ruling the world right now.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So you don¡¯t believe everything that I said?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Not ¡®everything¡¯, there¡¯s a few details you might¡¯ve missed and I simply wanted some rifications.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay, then. I¡¯ll answer everything.¡± he folded his arms.


    ¡°I¡¯m not gonna drag this out so I¡¯m gonna drop everything else on this table. If you manage to have a perfect response for each of them, I¡¯d give you everything that I scavenged earlier and you could punch me as hard as you can, deal?¡± I smirked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°¡­deal.¡± he paused for a moment and he seemed to be in deep thought.


    I then grabbed my backpack and Iid down a bag that made sounds of metal when I ced it on the table, a thick logbook, and a few stacks of cardboard-like lengthwise papers that had several timestamps punched on them. The crowd was curious with the items I brought out the same with him.


    ¡°First question, do you know the guns that the soldiers used?¡± I looked at him.


    ¡°Umm, I don¡¯t know a whole lot about them but they all look like that.¡± he pointed to Cruz and Mike carrying their M16s.


    ¡°Great. They don¡¯t have anything like this or that, right? Exactly like what Cruz is carrying. You¡¯ve seen it with your own eyes, right? Just the stock ones not like what the president is carrying.¡± I said after pointing at the attachments on my own rifle.


    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m sure they don¡¯t have those. I¡¯ve seen it clearly, how they murd-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, you don¡¯t have to repeat your story. I could remember everything and apparently you do too since you have this perfect story amidst the ¡®chaos¡¯ you¡¯re talking about earlier, right? d to see one like me.¡± I smiled and he grew slightly nervous.


    ¡°So what does that have to do with my story?¡± he¡¯s pursing his lips while his wife can¡¯t look me in the eye.


    I then opened up the bag Iid earlier and I dumped everything inside. It¡¯s a few dozen spent casings that Niks and I used which is for the 7.62 and the 9mm. I then pulled out one 5.56 and one 9mm from my magazines and I told Niks to pull out one 7.62 from his magazine as well. I lined up the casings neatly on the table for everyone to see.


    ¡°Kid. What is this about?¡± Rod asked. <hr>


    I then gave a quick course.


    ¡°This is a 7.62 round that the AK-47 Niks uses, this is a 5.56 round that my Tavor, those soldiers guns, and Rod¡¯s M16 uses, and this is a 9mm round that my Maxim 9 uses. Now let¡¯s match the corresponding cases that I collected.¡± I started as I ced the spent casings behind the corresponding pile they belong to.


    The moment I finished, most of the residents were staring in confusion while the soldiers, my group, Rod, and Iskoh were giving dark expressions.


    ¡°Wow~ Would you look at that. Makes one wonder, huh? Why is it that there¡¯s no 5.56 casings among them? Huh~? I¡¯m pretty sure someone with a photographic memory like you said that you ¡®saw¡¯ soldiers shooting everybodyst time. Did I perhaps hear wrong? Or perhaps you ¡®saw¡¯ wrong? You could check it yourself if you like since I bet we could find a set of calipers here though just seeing them is pretty obvious, right?¡± I said with a mocking tone.


    He was taken aback and his wife started to tremble in fear.


    ¡°This- THIS IS A F.U.C.K.I.N.G SETUP! I KNOW WHAT I SAW! YOU COULD SIMPLY NOT PICKED THOSE 5- WHATEVER THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G BULLETS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! IS THIS HOW YOU OPERATE AT YOUR PLACE?! F.U.C.K.I.N.G SETTING PEOPLE UP SO YOU COULD DO WHAT YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G WANT?! WHY ARE YOU EVEN PICKING THOSE CASINGS AND I FIND IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO NOT FIRE A SINGLE SHOT FROM THOSE F.U.C.K.I.N.G GUNS!!!¡± he bellowed.


    *chuckle*


    I started tough for a few moments but I stopped myself when he shouted again.


    ¡°WHY THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU LAUGHING?! DOES THIS LOOK FUN TO YOU?! IS THIS HOW YOU GET OFF YOU PSYCHO?! MAYOR IS-¡± I cut him off as I mmed the table.


    The casings and the bullets on the table got jumbled and some of them fell to the floor. I¡¯m smiling like a devil when I look at him. <hr>


    ¡°Why we didn¡¯t fire a single one of those bullets? Easy. Because we can.¡± I said.


    ¡°THAT ISN¡¯T EVEN A PROP-¡± I cut him off again.


    ¡°Want a proper exnation? I don¡¯t want to waste bullets on some of them so we killed our way with melee weapons. The only time we fired our guns was when we encountered those sprinters and when we encountered a group of gang members in which I fired three shots with my pistol that uses 9mm bullets. I never made the soldiers fire a shot from their M16s since it¡¯s not suppressed and it would attract more attention than what I wanted. I¡¯ve killed thousands of them already and the normal ones are pretty much a nuisance in small numbers.¡± then I took a breath.


    ¡°You could check our mags if we used a single one and match it with the inventory of this ce. That will be proof that we never fired a si-¡± he cuts me off.


    ¡°THAT¡¯S DOES NOT EXPLAIN OR EVEN PROVE THAT YOU SIMPLY DIDN¡¯T PICK THEM UP!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I pick them up? Brass is a precious metal and why am I doing a lot of exining? You have one more thing to exin to me before the people here understand the whole situation.¡± I smirked.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± he shouted at the top of his lungs.


    ¡°You¡¯re not even there.¡± I simply replied.


    Silence. Complete and total f.u.c.k.i.n.g silence.


    ¡°W-what?¡± Iskoh was bbergasted. <hr>


    I threw him the logbooks and the attendance sheets for the canteen.


    ¡°Mr. Mayor, kindly check the name of Kiko Palomares.¡± I said.


    Iskoh immediately checked the attendance sheets and he frowned immediately when he saw that Kiko¡¯s name is not among them.


    ¡°MR. MAYOR IT¡¯S TRUE THAT I¡¯M NOT IN ATTENDANCE BECAUSE I¡¯M TAKING A DAY OFF BUT I CAME TO OUR CANTEEN THE MOMENT I HEARD VIOLENCE REPORTS ON THE NE-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°Wow~ You¡¯ve really prepared a speech, huh? You¡¯re lucky there¡¯s no CCTVs there or you wouldn¡¯t have the luxury of shouting at me. However, it¡¯s a good thing that I took all I needed to prove you wrong. Check that thick logbook please. There¡¯s a few blood stains on it but the relevant part is still readable. That¡¯s the records for anyone thates in and out of the gates of the whole ce. Everyone is required to write their name in when theye in ande out but surprisingly, he¡¯s not there too. Can you turn invisible or something? I bet those guards wouldn¡¯t let anyone pass even if you¡¯re a worker there since everyone¡¯s name in those attendance sheets are also on that logbook.¡± I looked back at him.


    ¡°This¡­ I- THEY WEREN¡¯T THERE WHEN I ARRIVED!!! I RUSHED IN AS FAST AS I COULD-¡± I cut him off again.


    ¡°Seriously? Why don¡¯t you stop talking for a moment and let the real person behind it talk? She¡¯s just crying there the whole time while you¡¯re bbering about things that didn¡¯t happen. Let me tell you something, there is only one truth.¡± I said.


    All eyes shifted to Teresa and Kiko was trembling in anger. The people listening in to our conversation seemed to have already decided by themselves as to who was telling the truth. Their confused faces earlier were now reced with either rity or bitterness because after all, they¡¯ve been living with the said persons and their view of them suddenly changed. Kiko was about tosh out again but the mayor had other ns.


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard enough.¡± Iskoh said with a dark expression.

 Chapter 278

    Chapter 278: 278


    Every single person in the City Hall looked at Iskoh¡¯s darkened expression when he spoke just loud enough for everyone to hear. Kiko is ring at me earlier but now his expression when he sees Iskoh is now of fear. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Kiko and Teresa. I¡¯ve known you two ever since I came into office and I could honestly say that we have been more acquainted to be simply called acquaintances and I refer to our rtionship as friends. However, not only did Teresa make a mistake of locking up all those people to die and not giving them a chance, you Kiko, of all people tried to cover her wro-¡± Kiko cut him off.


    ¡°But Mayor Iskoh! She¡¯s my wife! WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!¡± Kiko bellowed.


    ¡°TWO WRONGS DON¡¯T MAKE A RIGHT!¡± Iskoh shouted back furiously.


    Everyone including me is silent.


    ¡°IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!¡± Kiko shouted once more.


    ¡°No, it is not. An ident is different from apse of judgement.¡± Iskoh replied, breathing deeply.


    ¡°I¡¯M SORRY~!!! IT¡¯S ALL MY FAULT~!!! *sobs* IF YOU¡¯RE GONNA KILL THE ONE R-RESPONSIBLE, PLEASE JUST KILL ME~!!! HE¡¯S JUST- HE¡¯S JUST TRYING TO- *sobs*¡± Teresa suddenly wailed but she can¡¯t finish her sentence. Her hair is ruffled and tears areing out of her eyes non stop.


    ¡°THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!! WHAT IF YOUR WIFE DID THE SAME THING?!¡± Kiko looked at me, furious.


    Kaley then nced at me, same with the rest of my group.


    ¡°Hah! First of all, that¡¯s just a hypothetical and she won¡¯t do something so stupid. However, let me still answer your question. If she ever did the same thing, I¡¯d admit that I would do the same thing you did. I¡¯d do anything in my power so that nothing happens to her. It¡¯s only obvious to do that for someone you love. However, trust me when I tell you that the people on the other side of the argument wouldn¡¯t see that answer holding up. In the end, a mistake is still a mistake and we have to make sure that you¡¯re not the one whomitted it. We need to remember that our actions still bear consequences even if the world has gone to shit. Let¡¯s add more hypotheticals then if you want to do that, what if your wife is one of the victims locked inside? It¡¯s a different story, huh?¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    Kiko then broke down crying in front of everyone. He hugged his wife tight and now everyone seemed to be deep in thought, thinking to themselves if they¡¯re in the same situation. Iskoh is still breathing heavily though I could see Rod looking at him, waiting for what¡¯s he gonna do next.


    ¡°If you keep on waiting to make a decision, it would be harder.¡± I reminded him.


    Iskoh¡¯s gaze shifted to me.


    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s that easy?!¡± he said with a difficult expression.


    ¡°I thought you heard enough earlier? I never said it is but if you don¡¯t make one now, the only thing I would be doing for you is to finish my job here for the allotted time, nothing more. After that, I¡¯ll pack up and leave this ce with my group. Indecisiveness is something I frown upon. You¡¯re the mayor, you should be used to making tough decisions. Anyway, I¡¯ll leave it to you.¡± I said as I started to walk away.


    ¡°Wait, leave it to me? You¡¯re leaving already?¡± Iskoh is confused.


    ¡°This is your ce, you decide for yourself. Kill them, make them live, exile them, and etc. Like I said, our actions bear consequences. It applies to what you¡¯re gonna decide on. I¡¯m gonna bring my group for another run since I¡¯m wasting time here waiting for you. If you¡¯re gonna kill them, aim for the head. You wouldn¡¯t want to waste extra bullets if they rise up again.¡± I said as I tapped his shoulder once before dragging my earlier team with Kaley and the rest to the truck we would be using.


    Avalos and Honassan were left to guard our pile while we drove outside the gate. It was so quiet at the back of the truck and everyone inside seemed to see things through.


    ¡°Bro¡­ I kinda want to know what the mayor would do¡­ why do we need to leave early?!¡± Jared nudged me with his elbow.


    ¡°It¡¯s past 2:00 PM already and we still have a lot to do. Don¡¯t worry though, he¡¯ll do it, I think.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°You don¡¯t sound too sure.¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°The mayor here is still too kind.¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°Agreed.¡± Niks said.


    Cruz and Mike were silent.


    ¡°Well if he doesn¡¯t, someone else will. The president¡¯s there too, watching him. He¡¯d lose a lot more if he doesn¡¯t cross the line. Oh, right. Kaley, promise me something.¡± I said as I turned her to face me.


    ¡°Hmm? What? Don¡¯t chain people on the other side of the door?¡± she¡¯s looking like she¡¯s about to attack me.


    Jared snorted.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I still answered and a kick to my shin came.


    ¡°Hmph! I promise but you should promise the same thing. I¡¯d do anything for you too¡­¡± she looked away.


    Instead of my group usuallyughing loudly, we all just faintly smiled as we slowly drove towards our destination. Rod¡¯s soldiers and Iskoh¡¯s soldiers shared the same sentiment as us and we chatted normally along the way. <hr>


    The gate is still the way I left it earlier and made a short sweep towards the ce we cleared earlier to make sure none from the hospital area came through to this side.


    ¡°This ce is bigger than I thought bro.¡± Jared said, scanning around.


    There¡¯s a few stragglers that were slowly walking around that reached the park but it was easily taken care of. They¡¯re moving at different speeds but the ones who made it far are the ones that still have their bodies intact. I¡¯ve left a couple of soldiers with Jared to guard the gate and the ones that are left are toe with us. The truck we¡¯re on earlier was also left near the gate and we started to walk towards the hospital. I divided our team into two groups where the other one is led by Tatiana.


    The Mca?ang Hospital has several wings unlike the hospital we have at home. It¡¯s much bigger too and there¡¯s a huge parking space that has several vehicles still parked. I looked up and some of the ss walls and windows of the hospital were broken into pieces and some fleshy bits were hanging from them. The electricity from this ce ispletely gone though sunlight could still pass though most of the areas.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go for the smallest wing first.¡± I instructed them.


    Our weapons already have bloodstains from a small encounter with some of them from the parking area and we¡¯re maintaining a safe distance from Tatiana¡¯s group so we could respond or help them in case there¡¯s trouble. My Maxim 9 is on my right hand while my katana is on the other. We¡¯re carefully making progress and we reached one of the areas which is somewhat of a lying-in clinic/ birthing center. We could see some movement from the inside through the translucent ss walls.


    I slowly turned the knob and I gently pushed the door.


    The smell that wafted from the inside is horrible but it wasn¡¯t as bad as what we saw inside.


    It¡¯s not the nurse slowly walking towards me missing half its face and the skin on its forearms but the ones making small movements on the beds strewn about. I¡¯m in front and I couldn¡¯t see the expressions of the people behind me but the short pause they made when they saw what I saw behind the nurse is enough for me.


    I thrust my katana towards the nurse¡¯s head and gentlyid her body down, carrying her weight with my katana to not make a sound when its body hit the floor. <hr>


    ¡°Carefully move the curtains so we¡¯re sure that there¡¯s not more of them behind those.¡± I said.


    Luckily, there weren¡¯t more of them but I really thought I¡¯ve seen everything from this shit show.


    The first one lying on the bed has its head pierced by a pair of scissors but its stomach is torn from the inside and a small figure is moving inside it. I could see small discolored hands and toes from its belly and the viscous amniotic fluid that was supposed to be inside is just a darkened goop of muck which the small figure inside is now swimming in while it¡¯s head is buried beneath it.


    The next one from the curtain partition is something with just a hole in its head which I surmise is from the same scissors but the one supposed to be on its belly is slowly iling on the floor while it¡¯s umbilical cord is still attached. Its body is still not developed and its body is having a hard time moving around because the drying fluids around it are making it stick on the floor. The umbilical cord connecting them is moving every time the small figure below moves.


    There¡¯s a few more rows of beds where the same thing is on disy and everyone with me is giving a difficult expression. We¡¯ve seen one slowly making its way to the other side of the partition but it can¡¯t since the cord that connects it to its mother is still not cut off and holding it back. That small figure¡¯s foot is dislocated and it seemed that it fell after it tried to eat its way out of its mother¡¯s w.o.m.b.


    The small figures that still have their heads in the open are making small guttural cries every time they move and it adds to the difficulty of what we¡¯re experiencing. Some of them were like the irregrs we saw back then which are eating themselves because a few of them just have stumps for hands. They didn¡¯t bite them off obviously but the rot on their skin made their bodies so soft that even small slurping could take their skin and flesh off.


    I just made a very long sigh and I did what I had to do.


    I sheathed my katana and pulled out my small knife.


    The rest of my group did the same and the only thing you could hear from the room is sounds of des entering skulls. It¡¯s a very easy target but it¡¯s a very difficult encounter. We all just looked at each other solemnly and we took a small breather before we went to the other room when we¡¯re finished.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about you guys but the decision for the deaths of the persons who did this is f.u.c.k.i.n.g unanimous.¡± I muttered and everybody nodded.

 Chapter 279

    Chapter 279: 279


    It¡¯s a depressing afternoon to say the least because of the things we¡¯ve witnessed here and the earlier talk of whether the person that caused a lot of deaths due to a f.u.c.k.i.n.gpse of judgement should die or not. I could feel that everyone has a lot on their minds right now and this is one of the times that I would always bring up something funny to make them smile at least but I didn¡¯t. There are just times like these that we need to soldier on and doing that might make us gain something in the future that we could use even if it¡¯s intangible. <center></center><hr>


    Tatiana and Niks came out from a room that¡¯s the same as us that has a NICUbel on its sides. They both have the same expression as us when we met eyes.


    ¡°You guys okay?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well that is something to keep you up at night.¡± Niks sighed.


    Tatiana just nodded at Niks¡¯ words.


    ¡°C¡¯mon let¡¯s continue clearing each room and hope that room is the worst we could see here.¡± I said as I walked forward.


    ¡°Sir, how about the other passages where it is dark? I know we have shlights but some of them arerge areas and could pose a threat.¡± Cruz mentioned.


    ¡°Hmm, what we could do is take the gasoline cans we prepared just in case for our vehicles and pump it on the generators here. If we¡¯re just gonna use lights, I think it could solve the problems here. We just need to go where it is and grab the cans from the truck.¡± I replied.


    ¡°We need to be careful about the noise it would produce too.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Yeah, but it would be easier for us to clear them if almost all of them would gather to where the noisees from. We just need to be wary of surprises and we¡¯re good.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re familiar with this ce sir?¡± Mike asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s all on the records from the City Hall, remember? This huge building needs approval from the Mayor and the other City Engineers before it gets built. I¡¯ve found a copy of where each facility is located but we need to clear this wing first before we head into the main building. It¡¯s at the back of it right next to one of the fire exits.¡± I exined.


    The wing we¡¯re in is just a long hallway with a couple of forks and we¡¯re now in itsst area to clear which is a small cafeteria. I¡¯m hearing low growls from a small distance away and I¡¯m slowly inching towards it since it is just the next turn to the right and it¡¯s a bigger areapared to the earlier ones.


    I inched closer and closer and when I sprang up to the opening with my gun at the ready, I was shocked. <center></center><hr>


    Several dozen heads turned to my direction which made a running start and I only managed to squeeze my trigger seven times before I signalled everyone to run back where we came from. My group was about to turn and shoot when I did earlier but I pushed their guns down so we could make a run for it.


    It¡¯s like someone is having a concert inside the cafeteria since it¡¯s packed to the brim. Their bodies are sticking close to each other and it made urately judging the exact number of them incredibly difficult.


    *tap* *tap* *tap*


    ¡°NyyErghhHARghh!¡±


    *CRASH*


    We had already ran away from them for a few meters before we heard the loud crash behind us. We¡¯re lucky that the entrance to the cafeteria is fit only for four persons side by side and the walls that are made of ss are only the outside or most of them would have caught up to us easily.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit, RUN! FOREST! RUN!¡± I shouted at the top of my lungs since I knew none of which we¡¯ve seen so far has speed that could break the ss walls just in front of the entrance of the cafeteria without almost a running start.


    I¡¯m at thest of my group while they almost stumble from the sudden change in tempo so I immediately looked back to somehow see what caused that crash.


    I didn¡¯t manage to.


    There was this huge wall of them when they started to spill out from the cafeteria and some of them are still continuously running straight outside. The ss walls have cracked considerably and a lot of noise was produced due to it. A huge mass of them upied the whole hallway and their right side where the ss walls are located is cracking while they try to squeeze themselves inside.


    I started to shout the directions in which we should run into since going into tight corners would make them lose speed considerably. I fired more shots while I turned around momentarily to thin their numbers as much as possible. Bodies falling in front could disrupt their run because they could tumble upon it and make their advance get disrupted. It¡¯s not a simple trip because the ones pushing behind them would make them fall face forward and it would be a chain reaction.


    A few managed to climb over them easily though they may need to gain speed once more.


    That short moment made me take more careful shots towards them and my magazine is now empty. I switched mags since there¡¯s only eight still running towards me while the majority are still getting their bearing since they fell down. However, I saw them falling down with varying sizes of holes in their heads before I managed to chamber a round. I looked back for a short moment and it was Kaley and the rest assisting me. We had a small breather but the surprise was not over.


    ¡°BACK THE F.U.C.K UP!!!¡± I shouted. <hr>


    I could see from the other side of the wall a humanoid figure running on all fours, curving from its initial path going straight to our direction. The only thing I noticed aside from several ss shards jutting out from its body is its diving motion before it made contact with hard ss.


    *CRASH*


    It crashed towards the ss wall then the drywall after it.


    Instead of us running back to the door a few meters behind us, I shouted at everyone to use the hole that jumping f.u.c.ker made for us.


    ¡°GO HERE!¡± I shouted as I pulled one object from my pouch with a pin that made everyone who saw it run faster than ever.


    ¡°F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K!¡±


    ¡°DON¡¯T F.U.C.K.I.N.G THROW IT YET!¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHH!!!¡±


    The figure I saw that crashed is trying to remove half its body from the wall and just as it seeded and turned around to face me, my Tavor is already facing him and I already squeezed the trigger several times.


    *B*B*B*B*BSSHEW*****


    The bullets made holes from different parts of its head and it stopped moving. I watched it for a short moment to see if it would move even after that but it didn¡¯t.


    The grenade in my hand is already back in my pouch and when I turn around to run again, some of my group are covering their ears even if they have ear protection on. The expressions on their faces when they saw me not throwing it and realizing that I did that just to make them run faster is inexplicable. There¡¯s still several dozens of them since I only killed a few dozen plus that jumping freak I took care of earlier.


    ¡°When we reach the truck, jump in, and fire at will! The distance we covered would be just enough!¡± I shouted as we¡¯re only a few meters away and it¡¯s backed up and ready to move after we board it. <hr>


    The small fence we jumped before running towards the truck helped a lot since most of them just rammed it and they got skewered. Some of them still just run straight towards us not minding the obstacles blocking them. Jared and the rest of the soldiers already heard themotion and their guns are now raised and Jared is already taking several shots. It didn¡¯t matter if the soldier¡¯s M16s are suppressed or not since killing the ones behind us is more important. I just made an instruction before to not use it in full auto so our bullet consumption is still manageable.


    I jumped in the back of the truck and I helped anyone that needed a small lift. I looked forward and I surmised that a few also came from the other wings of the hospital since their numbers got bumped up.


    The moment we¡¯re all inside, the truck moved towards the park while we took a small breather. Jared and the soldiers with him are taking shots at the ones sprinting towards us and after I took a small rest, I joined them, same with the others.


    The truck has gone offroad and the grass patches aren¡¯t bnced so there¡¯s a small sway when we¡¯re taking shots but it¡¯s manageable. We eventually cleared them and we even drove back and honked the horn a few times so the ones that got left behind woulde for us.


    I finally sat down and Kaley sat next to me.


    ¡°That was f.u.c.k.i.n.g close.¡± I took deep breaths.


    ¡°It is.¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°F.U.C.K YEAH!!!¡± I then shouted and she pinched my sides.


    ¡°DON¡¯T SHOUT CLOSE TO MY EARS!¡± she snapped.


    ¡°Geez, calm down. I still have a bit of adrenaline going through so I¡¯m still excited.¡± I took another deep breath.


    Kaley rested her head on my shoulders and Jared spoke up.


    ¡°Bro, that was around a hundred. You didn¡¯t see them huddled up or something? You guys would¡¯ve been killed!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°A bunch of them are just standing inside the cafeteria doing nothing. Good thing I noticed their running motion so we zigzagged across the hallways so they couldn¡¯t pick up much speed.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But what the f.u.c.k is that other one?! That¡¯s still a sprinter, correct?!¡± Tatiana is still catching her breath. <hr>


    I was about to answer but Cruz interjected.


    ¡°T-those were the ones who destroyed the gates.¡± he said, with a difficult expression.


    ¡°What?¡± Everyone looked at him except Mike who is wearing the same expression as him.


    ¡°Tell us everything.¡± I said.


    He then told the story when their territory here was stillrgepared to today. Those were the times where the specials would onlye one at a time and they nevere in droves. The fences they had before are chain linked fences but not as sturdy as we made them and they saw several bloody figures approaching it. They thought that they could easily kill them slowly by poking through the holes but almost all of them suddenly rammed themselves against the fences and it broke down. Cruz and Mike were lucky that they were in the back of the truck and it sped up when the gates fell down.


    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s something to be wary about. Okay, let¡¯s head back there again.¡± I said nonchntly.


    ¡°CAN YOU AT LEAST LET US REST FOR A WHILE?!¡± Kaley snapped.


    ¡°Oh, sure.¡± I said as I sat down and everyone¡¯s smiling.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡°How about now?¡± I asked again.


    Rains of kicks and punches came at me not just from Kaley but from everyone still catching their breaths. It didn¡¯t hurt as much as I thought it would although I received everything while they¡¯re enjoying themselves.

 Chapter 280

    Chapter 280: 280


    We took a small breather when we drove back to the gate and I pulled out candy bars from one of my pockets. I then handed them to the person next to me to be passed on though we¡¯d need to cut them in half so there would be enough for everybody. Eating something high in calories could replenish our spent energy because we exerted not only our bodies but also our minds. It was a close call earlier because the amount of noise I surmised earlier did not equal the amount of zombies we encountered. Most of what we encounter are always making small guttural noises or growls but I think that some of them aren¡¯t making any and are just silent. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We just need to be extra extra extra careful next time. It would be awesome in a movie but it would not be as great on my pants in real life.¡± I said to the group.


    ¡°How about using mirrors next time?¡± Kaley suggested.


    ¡°That would be great since we don¡¯t have our drones to scout ahead. Did you perhaps bring one?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s in my pack at base though. What are we gonna do about the main building and thest wings?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°We need to-¡± but I saw Mike raising his hand.


    ¡°Sir, I actually sprained my foot earlier. I think it would be better if I¡¯d be left to guard in the truck instead¡­¡± Mike embarrassingly said.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g¡­ tell me when something like an injury happens! We have kits here to help ease the pain. Don¡¯t bear through it and which foot is it?¡± I asked as I opened my kit and Kaley stood up to assist.


    ¡°N-no I¡¯m not bearing through it. I just felt a bit of pain when we started to rest. I didn¡¯t feel it earlier.¡± Mike replied.


    ¡°Okay, first things first¡­¡± I trailed but everyone saw my gleaming eyes.


    ¡°Sir?¡± Mike shuddered.


    I quickly backhanded his foot that he says is sprained. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°AH!¡± Mike winced.


    ¡°Good, it¡¯s reall- OW!¡± Kaley smacked me in the head.


    ¡°Why did you have to do that?!¡± She pushed me to the side.


    ¡°Hey, he could be pretending. I would too after that shit.¡± I replied, scratching my head.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°There¡¯s ways to check it aside from your methods!¡± Kaley started to slowly untie his shoes.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m a spec ops agent, not medical staff. I could provide treatment but I have my reservations.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re spec ops sir?!¡± Mike and the rest of the soldiers eximed.


    ¡°No, I lied.¡± I quickly said then Kaley turned around hiding her smile from her re.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Technically though, we¡¯re a special unit now.¡± I smiled as Jared was dyingughing on the side with Tatiana. <hr>


    ¡°But sir, if you¡¯re not military, what do you do for a living before? Your weapons and a few more things you have is much better than what we have. The president¡¯s soldiers have a few attachments bu-¡± then one of Rod¡¯s soldiers which I think is named Mando judging from his uniform cuts them off.


    ¡°Actually, he¡¯s the one that gave us upgrades on our guns¡­¡± Mando is scratching the side of his face.


    Mike and Cruz were speechless. Their jaws hit the ground when they found out that I¡¯m just a simple businessman that does prepping on the side.


    Kaley started to touch the skin around Mike¡¯s injury and she¡¯s looking for ces where it is a bit tender than normal. After that, Kaley started to move his foot slowly in different positions to check and understand which positions are the ones that cause pain or difort.


    Mike winced very few times and luckily, his injury is not severe.


    We don¡¯t have ice packs at the moment so Kaley started to bandage it tight enough to stop the swelling but not too tight to stop cirction. She started at the end farthest from the heart and the correct way to put it since you wrap it around different ways and which side is injured dictates how sometimes. After that, I handed him an Ibuprofen to manage the pain of his ankle.


    ¡°Thank you sir and ma¡¯am.¡± Mike bowed his head and Kaley and I smiled.


    ¡°For now, switch with Mando and guard the gate with Jared. Climb the roof of the guardhouse using the truck so in case a huge number of them appears, you¡¯d be all safe in higher ground.¡± I said.


    ¡°Bro, what¡¯s the problem being inside the truck?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ll be driving it at the back of the hospital now, we¡¯d need to turn the generators on so we¡¯d have power inside the hospital. Also¡­¡± I then told him that the noise would attract most of them outside which is an ideal ce to kill them because of what happened earlier.


    Jared and the rest helped Mike reach the roof carefully. <hr>


    ¡°Just radio in dude if anything happens.¡± I said to Jared before we drove to the back of the hospital.


    There¡¯s still the ones that got skewered when they tried to run through the fences so we stabbed their heads first before we drove around. Quite a few were still pacing around and they got attracted from the noise of the engine but we let them reach us theb we killed them in close quarters.


    My katana is covered in blood a few inches from the tip since I¡¯ve just been stabbing straight down because we¡¯re still at the back of the truck, in an elevated position.


    We¡¯re slowly killing them while the truck would move forward a few times so that none of them would crowd the front of it so we could easily drive away. We circled around the hospital twice before we managed to kill several dozen of them easily just by driving around. The only thing that we lost here is the amount of fuel it took to go around which is not as significantpared to our safety.


    My eyes gleamed when I saw a dead guard carrying a Glock 17 in its hip holster. If it¡¯s chambered in 9mm, I could make use of its magazines and bullets since Kaley and I¡¯s Maxim 9s uses Glock 17 magazines. I looked at the small crowd following us which is now thinned considerably so I jumped down after tapping the roof of the truck.


    ¡°We can take them on now.¡± I said after looking at their hesitant faces.


    I took a single step and shed horizontally from left to right.


    A head rolled over to the side and I moved around the crowd following us so they would be divided among us. I juked to the right to dismember the hands that followed me but its owner¡¯s head followed shortly. Tatiana moved to the other side to do the same thing that I did though her shed now are more violent than earlier.


    ¡°Had too much sugar?¡± I said out loud but she just shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    The soldiers with us plowed through in the middle so Tatiana and I slowly advanced to match their speed. Niks and Kaley were still on the truck where Niks is assuming Jared¡¯s position while Kaley is having too much fun with her new gun. She managed to use it earlier and she liked the way that it kicks less and howpact it is. I would just raise my hand to signal her if she¡¯s shooting too much of them down so we¡¯d save more bullets.


    The crowd following us were now just dismembered parts strewn together though I kicked the guard I found earlier to the side so the gun I would be taking from him wouldn¡¯t be stained as much. I removed his belt and took everything from it. Aside from the Glock 17 and the extra magazine still full of bullets, I also got an extending baton, pepper spray, handcuffs, a small shlight, his ID, a whistle, and a lighter. <hr>


    The soldiers with me also checked the belongings of the others we killed and the most valuable thing that they manage to scrounge up is a nail clipper.


    ¡°If he¡¯s looking for stuff, he¡¯d find the best one since he could sniff it out. Better luck next time.¡± Tatianaughed at the soldier¡¯s disappointed faces as I approached Kaley.


    ¡°Here, refill that extended magazine you brought.¡± I handed the extra magazine to Kaley while I kept the Glock 17. I wiped it a few times and found it funny that the guard doesn¡¯t have a round in the chamber.


    The truck is now parked in a position that it could quickly take off at the back of the hospital. I checked the fire exit first and I pulled the door and shone a shlight over it since it¡¯s dark. The generator room is inside and I have the gasoline cans ready.


    A lone figure turned around and made the same running motion as earlier. It¡¯sing closer and closer and the people behind me are already trying to warn me of it. They thought I was frozen in ce but I had other ns.


    The moment it lunged its body towards me, I gripped the door handle hard and mmed it on its face.


    *THUD*


    The sound it produced when the door collided with it made you think that it was hit by a truck and sent to reincarnate in another world having OP powers, crazy plot armor, and a harem with several beauties.


    The door got dented and I quickly opened it, de and gun drawn.


    I was ready to cut it to several pieces but it turns out that its head got crushed from the impact.


    I just flicked an Ibuprofen towards it and said, ¡°It¡¯s for the pain.¡±

 Chapter 281

    Chapter 281: 281


    The moment that pill flew in the air after I said something funny, I then had a mental breakdown. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Wait, wait, wait, that¡¯s a pill that could relieve pain and I¡¯m just flicking it for what? Comedy? Coolness? Wait, it¡¯s neither of the two¡­ IT¡¯S STUPIDITY!!! Hold on, I think it¡¯s cool doing that though- wait. It¡¯s funny too but still it¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid. IT¡¯S A WASTE!!! Can I still catch it? I think I could. The moment I stop thinking I¡¯ll jab it after I lean over so I¡¯ll catch it after it starts to go down. Yes, yes, that would be the best. I¡¯ll¡­¡± I thought to myself as I watched the pill fly.


    My shoulder already moved for my jab but unfortunately, I felt a hand on top of it and they turned me around to face them.


    It was f.u.c.k.i.n.g Mando.


    ¡°Sir¡­ respect!¡± He looked amazed at what I did and he¡¯s giving me a thumbs up.


    ¡°THE PILL!¡± I shouted as I quickly turned around to try to save it.


    *plop*


    It fell right in the middle of the bloody figure¡¯s cracked head. The impact it made when it dived head first violently divided its head from the top up until its soul patch. There¡¯s a few pieces of its skull that¡¯s getting mixed in with the discolored bits and pieces of its head that¡¯s making a viscous pool that is slowly flowing out. It¡¯s like you mixed rotting sticky oysters with ckened fish guts together. I¡¯m tempted to pick it up and wash it but it is really toote to save it from its predicament. I was watching it for a few seconds and I almost performed the 21-gun salute.


    For once I paid dearly from simply showing off. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°S-sir?!¡± Mando is almost shaking from the violent aura I¡¯m emanating.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Kaley walked up to us.


    I exined what happened and she just told everyone toe inside the hospital to where the generators are after shaking her head.


    ¡°Okay, enough fooling around. Let¡¯s be more careful this time and be ready in case those types are hidden and waiting for their would-be victims again.¡± I said as I took the lead.


    ¡°You¡¯re the only one fooling around¡­¡± Kaley muttered.


    ¡°Well we¡¯re pretty safe outside.¡± I replied and she just red at me.


    The door to where the generators are located is still locked so I employed some good ol¡¯ lockpicking. It¡¯s like I am in possession of the Skeleton Key since it was easily opened. Well, the doorknob is already loose and simply sticking a knife to the side and pushing against it would open it too but I don¡¯t want to tell my group that because of various reasons.


    It was dark inside and we shone our shlights around. The inside is secure and no one has been inside this ce ever since it started. We found out that there¡¯s still gas pumped inside it and we only have to turn it on since it didn¡¯t automatically kick in when the power went out. <hr>


    It started to make a loud grumble and we went outside after closing the door towards the generator while leaving the dented door of the fire exit open. We could see from the outside that some of the lights around the hospital had turned on. You¡¯d need to be focusing on it to notice it since the sun is still up though we need to turn that off at night to avoid unwanted attention.


    ¡°Let¡¯s wait a few to see if more would stille. After that, we¡¯d run around the perimeter a few times to take care of the stragglers that are isted. There would be peopleter toe to the upper floorster to clear double-check ces that might have doors or areas that are closed off. We need to check those ces because they might contain more of them that were not able to get out.¡± I said to the group.


    ¡°We¡¯d still be looting this ce after, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Actually¡­ let¡¯s just take things from the rooms where the confined patients are or from the lockers of the medical staff. Let¡¯s leave all the supplies here that could still be used since some of us are gonna spend the night here after we¡¯re done.¡± I replied.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna move here already?¡± Cruz asked.


    ¡°The sooner the better since it¡¯s not just moving here is the whole n. It¡¯s just up to Iskoh if he¡¯ll follow through with what we¡¯ve discussed. We talked about flying all our air vehicles here after midnight when most of the ckers are sleeping so they won¡¯t have any chance to board them. The trucks too will be driven here at the same time, leaving the ones who want to stay in that City Hall to fend for themselves.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can¡¯t they juste here? It¡¯s pretty close.¡± Cruz asked again.


    ¡°They could but like I said, it¡¯s up to Iskoh. He could let them in but strict rules should be implemented. If he wasted this opportunity given to him well¡­¡± I trailed. <hr>


    ¡°Sir?¡± Mando asked.


    ¡°Well, the chances of your ce here surviving the times would decline by a significant amount. In the future, if this ce burned to the ground due to the way he¡¯s running things, we might just be looting items off your corpses when the timees, no offense. I¡¯m not saying that it would happen but the chances are higher if he doesn¡¯t step up.¡± I continued and they¡¯re wearing solemn expressions.


    We talked for a few minutes while waiting for some of them to gather but the ones who came due to the noise are abysmal. A few came from the higher floors but they made a mistake of making the broken ss walls as shortcuts. They fell to their deaths and the ones who survived despite that has their mangled parts either in contorted ces or several feet away.


    After that, we decided to clear the upper floors and it also turned out to be a very easy job. We¡¯ve finished clearing the whole hospital and it took us a few hours to do it. We¡¯re just staring at the burning corpses below while we¡¯re on the roof near the gate where Jared and the rest are. Our rifles are rested on our shoulders while we¡¯re taking a small break. We turned off the generator so we could save some fuel before we came here to take a short rest.


    ¡°Bro, I feel like we¡¯re the people on top of the roofs in the LA Koreatown in 1992. I remember the doc.u.mentary I¡¯ve watched when I was still in the academy before.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g throwback. The only difference is that we also looted this ce. Well, we¡¯re protecting it from other forces so it is kinda the same thing, heh.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Mom actually knows a few people from that time. The LA Riots is something that should not have happened if the people given the job made the right decision. People were killed, injured, and several small businesses were looted where a lot of money was lost. It¡¯s not wrong to protest but what¡¯s the point if you¡¯re involving people that shouldn¡¯t be? It¡¯s a good thing that the people there banded together to save their own.¡± Kaley said solemnly.


    ¡°A protest is a very different word from the word riot. It¡¯s one thing to fight for what¡¯s just and one thing to mindlesslysh out to everyone, involved or not involved. Well, I¡¯m not even born at that time and I wasn¡¯t there either, so what do I know? It could be a different time than ours but things shouldn¡¯t have turned out that way. It would be chaos if it happens again.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, I believe the police there left them on their own. Help came eventually after a few days but the people left behind had it the hardest. The roads were closed off and their calls for help is getting ignored.¡± Jared added.


    ¡°Well some of them just joined the protest to take advantage of it so they could do the things they want. Well if the same thing happened here, I¡¯ll support their cause if they point it in the right direction but if they go overboard and do the same shit those people did back then, they¡¯ll be eating lead bullets from me and my workers. I own businesses too and it would be at least okay if the government would pay for all the damages but they surely won¡¯t. I¡¯d be the one to shoulder all of the expenses if they destroy what I worked hard for. It¡¯s one of the reasons I started prepping, a gun in hand is faster than calling for help when the need arises.¡± I said.


    ¡°Bro, we have zombies now though, why woul-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°What? You think it wouldn¡¯t happen again? Forgot what happened at Woonds? Those f.u.c.kers tried to take that ce and we protected it. It¡¯s kinda the same thing if you think about it. Also, in a parallel world, it could be happening in the world right now instead of this.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Here we go with that parallel world talk bro. Well, a multiverse is fun to think of. I could be doing different shit than what we¡¯re doing now, right?¡± Jared faintly smiled.


    We¡¯re chatting normally and it¡¯s close to sunset when I saw Tatiana looking at the direction where the Mabini Bridge is located. I shushed everybody since Tatiana pointed at what she noticed.


    ¡°shlights. Someone¡¯sing near here.¡± Tatiana muttered.


    ¡°It¡¯s the smoke from burning the corpses. Be ready.¡± I told everyone.

 Chapter 282

    Chapter 282: 282


    I instructed Jared to rush towards the roof of the Hospital as fast as he could with Niks so they would have a better view of every single thing outside. The Hospital is a few yards away from the gate but it is still close to the high walls enveloping the whole area and closer to the Mabini Bridgepared to where we are. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Marlon, right? Park the truck as close to the wall as possible from the other side so a few of us could position themselves on the roof of the truck. Cruz, stay here with Mike and the others and if you could, stay prone and only pop up if something serious started. Kaley, I want you on the top of the truck too with Marlon and be ready. Tatiana on me with Mando, also¡­¡± I said a few more instructions.


    The group outside is still quite a ways far so I decided to be overkill.


    I grabbed my radio and contacted Honassan and Avalos.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, I need you two here ASAP. Bring my SuperCobra and I want it hot as f.u.c.k.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sir?! Right away! How about your boxes?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Grab Jude to guard it for us and tell Micah to have someone bring our belongings to the S-76 and ask her to fly it here too. I believe our bags is at the Mayor¡¯s room. However, you two I need here as fast as you could. I¡¯ll wait as long as Bohemian Rhapsody ys in my head.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What? The song?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sir?! That¡¯s only around 6 minutes!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Did you even watch the film about it? They wouldn¡¯t even allowed to y it sinc- f.u.c.k it, JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G COME HERE ALREADY OR I¡¯LL CHANGE YOUR LOADOUTS TO F.U.C.K.I.N.G HI-POINTS FOR THE REST OF YO-¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°WE¡¯RE COMING!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, good.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    I put my radio back to my pack and everyone around me is staring.


    ¡°What? F.u.c.k.i.n.g move! They¡¯re gonnae here sooner orter!¡± I eximed.


    They all sighed heavily while shaking their heads but they still followed my orders. I already have a fresh magazine on my Tavor and my Maxim 9 since I always make sure I¡¯m at full capacity. The magazine I used that had twelve rounds remaining is located at my right side and the ones that are 30-rounds full are always at my gun and my left side. The magazine for my Maxim 9 I¡¯m using is refilled by the Glock 17 magazine I found earlier and there¡¯s still five 9mm rounds from the extra I got from the guard.


    It¡¯s about sunset and the sun is already showing us this orange shade it alwayses with at this time. Looking outside, the huge pile of corpses are still burning and the smoke produced from it could be seen from afar. The way that Tatiana saw the shlights being shone is that the bridge where it was seen have huge metal bars on top of it acting almost like a tunnel. Waving your shlight around would definitely give your position especially if the shlight you¡¯re using is several hundred lumens high.


    A few momentster, Jared radioed in.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro *huff* we¡¯re *huff* here.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°How many are they?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°*deep exhale* around 30. They seem to be searching for someone.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Must be the people we encountered earlier.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Some of them have rifles and shotguns but they¡¯re textbook gangsters bro. Do you want us to open fire now? I could down a few before they figure out what hit them.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Wait a bit. Niks, f.u.c.k.i.n.g speak dude. Are they close to the spot where the rest of the bodies are?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Close if they only go straight, about 50 meters¡­ dude.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°*snort* I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g calling you dude now, heh. Wait for their reaction if they saw them first. If it looks like they know them, you know what to do.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°¡­ leave one alive?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah¡­ dude.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I¡¯m regretting humoring you¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hah! Everyone says that at first. Are theying close¡­ dude?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°They turned and headed to the gas station from the opposite side¡­ oh shit!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°They just pushed one of their own against one of the zombies¡­ f.u.c.k, now he¡¯s bitten.¡±


    *bzzt*


    The people next to me were shocked when they heard what Jared said but the madness isn¡¯t over.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    *BOOM*


    *BOOOOM*


    *BANG*


    Jared reported what happened but we already know just from those gunshots. We could hear faint shouts from the distanceing from their general direction. The only thing we didn¡¯t figure out is that a few of them started taking shots with each other because the person that got bitten seemed to be close friends with one of the group.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro¡­ they¡¯re taking f.u.c.k.i.n.g selfies now after shooting each other¡­ I¡¯m itching to shoot these f.u.c.kers¡­ they must be high as f.u.c.k or something. How the f.u.c.k did they even survive this long. Now they¡¯re drinking alcohol from the gas station¡­ now they¡¯re making it into molotovs and throwing it on the nearby buildings¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Wait a bit. They just might kill themselves if we wait a bit more. We¡¯d save more bullets that way. Could you even hit them? How far are they?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Of course I could hit them! It¡¯s only around 600-650 yards! I don¡¯t need a headshot, just one in the chest and they¡¯ll f.u.c.k.i.n.g scramble. C¡¯mon bro! Just one! They¡¯d fire more shots too so when theye here, they¡¯d be out or almost out! What do you say?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We could use their bullets if we kill them without them firing a shot. They¡¯d also scramble like you said so we might not kill everyone and taking a hostage is out of the question.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro, you already have one at the City Hall, right?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s better if we have two so we couldpare notes. We could have much more control over them if we¡¯d pit them against each other.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro, I¡¯m gonna be honest and tell you that I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g happy I¡¯m on your good side. You scare me sometimes when you¡¯re like that. They might get away from this ce if they go further. Thin them out the threats as much as possible, right? I doubt even the mayor would ept them in this camp. I bet the president¡¯s men could pull out every bit of information from your captive earlier.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hah! You still haven¡¯t seen the scary side of me, yet. Okay, f.u.c.k it. Drop one and do- *BSSHEW*¡±


    *bzzt*


    I wasn¡¯t even finished with what I have to say and he already fired one. We heard the suppressed shot and several gunshots from the other group resounded in retaliation. However, they seemed to be shooting blind and anothermp post was hit.


    ¡°Why are they always hittingmp posts?!¡± I thought to myself.


    The gunshots still continued but when it paused, I radioed Jared once more.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Another one.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *BSSHEW*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Want another one? I¡¯ll aim for this f.u.c.ker looking in this direction.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Another one.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *BSSHEW*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°DJ~ KHALED~!!! Ow! Kaley?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°*snort* Be serious bro! I almost identally discharged!¡±


    *bzzt*


    Faint screams resounded and another series of gunshots resounded. It was too easy for Jared atop the roof of the hospital and he told me that they can¡¯t figure out where he¡¯s shooting from. They¡¯re still firing all over the ce trying to somehow luckily hit him but they¡¯re failing miserably and they¡¯re still out in the open as easy pickings. He said that Niks just became his spotter since he¡¯s not confident hitting them at that distance, not to mention the effective range for the gun he¡¯s using is not suited for that distance.


    The noise that group is making is starting to attract some of the bloody figures outside towards their direction. Jared mentioned a sprinter tackling one of them to the ground and getting mauled. Some of them he didn¡¯t need to shoot since when they got bitten, their friends took care of them. It¡¯s all chaos on their side and it adds to Jared¡¯s advantage over them. He single-handedly took care of that group though some of them hurt their own in confusion.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s done bro. Everyone¡¯s either dead or one of them.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, good job. It¡¯s because of that gun I gave you.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Ack-! F.u.c.k you bro! Hah! It¡¯s all skill.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What are we even gonna do now?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go in that direction and loot their bodies. We could also kill that small mob that formed due to their noise. We could also refill the empty gasoline containers we found at the back of the hospital. It¡¯s a bonus that ce hasn¡¯t been looted yet and we could have more supplies at hand.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°What? You thought you¡¯d see more action? We used a few bullets and that¡¯s for the best. You could have helped Jared but your AR15 is not here. We¡¯de to that gas station so we could clear a few of them.¡± I replied, smiling.


    Marlon started the engine and as we were about to head to their direction, I could hear the whirring sounds of a helicopter approaching our direction and my radio buzzed.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯re here sir! We came as fast as we can!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh, right. Go back, we¡¯re done.¡±


    *bzzt*


    The helicopter swayed almost instantly after I replied but it soon stabilized.

 Chapter 283

    Chapter 283: 283


    The people around me can¡¯t seem to find the correct expression to wear on their faces since it is almost constantly changing every time I open my mouth. I could see the SuperCobra hovering for a moment as it slowly turned around and attempted to go back. However¡­ <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Just kidding,e here. Don¡¯t waste gas for nothing. Land it on the top of the hospital building which is second highest. Tell Micah on the radio when shees tond the S-76 on the main building.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°R-roger sir¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    They made another turn and it seemed that they hesitated to proceed in case I changed my mind again for another time. We didn¡¯t wait for them tond and we drove the Military Truck towards the pile of dead bodies that Jared was the culprit of. The sun¡¯s brightness is slowly fading away though it¡¯s enough for us to drive there, loot the bodies, loot the gas station, and drive back. If we still have time during that small run, we¡¯d do a few things with the time that we have.


    Kaley was the one who assumed Jared¡¯s position from the top of the truck since he¡¯s still on the roof with Niks. I handed her my Tavor so she could also familiarise herself with it while Tatiana and I will use our ded weapons to carve a path. Marlon, Cruz, and Mando were the only ones with us but it¡¯s enough for the small mob of the dead we¡¯reing for.


    *BSSHEW* *BSSHEW*


    *BSSHEW*


    *BSSHEW* *BSSHEW* *BSSHEW*


    Kaley quickly killed a few that are chasing us from the back. They¡¯re moving with a bit of speed so we didn¡¯t take our chances.


    The moment we parked in front of the bloody figures, some of them stopped feasting on the gang members still bleeding out. Some of them are not wearing any clothing for their upper body which makes gorging into them much easier for the dead. There were actually some of them that are still alive but they are missing chunks of flesh from different ces on their bodies. One of them saw us and tried to ry a message but it didn¡¯t manage to since the one feasting on it took a huge bite off its throat.


    He simply gargled his own blood and died staring at us.


    ¡°Let¡¯s be quick. Make less noise as possible and only fire a shot when you¡¯re in bind.¡± I said as I killed the person staring at us before it turned. <center></center><hr>


    They all nodded as we slowly advanced. Bodies would drop after one full swing of our des and we¡¯re finished after a short while.


    ¡°One, two, three¡­ seven¡­ thirteen¡­¡± I started to mutter while counting the ones decorated with bright handkerchiefs and baggy clothing.


    ¡°What are you doing sir?¡± Cruz asked.


    ¡°Making sure that all of them are here. A few of them are actually alive when we got here and some might¡¯ve slipped past Jared.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well, are they all here?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I said with a somber expression.


    ¡°And why are you looking like that?¡± Kaley asked, confused.


    ¡°Well, if all of them would be stupid like this, I¡¯d rather have one manage to go back and inform his other members. We¡¯d save the trouble of watching out for them day and night if we kill all of them. We¡¯d have more resources for ourselves too if that happens.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, they did burn a few stores where we could find something useful.¡± Kaley nodded.


    It¡¯s a good thing that the fires didn¡¯t spread as much as it should be since that is another damn thing to worry about. It was easily put out by the fire extinguishers we found lying around in the hospital and in the guardhouse and there¡¯s always one or two in gasoline stations.


    The bodies littering the pavement were moved to the sidewalk after looting each one of them and we also found different kinds of melee weapons on their person. Most of them were small folding knives and a few machetes but there¡¯s a few aluminum bats that were dented all over.


    For the guns that they¡¯re carrying, I took it to myself to also give them to Iskoh along with the pile I brought since it¡¯s much worse than what I imagined. The only saving grace from those guns is I found seven rounds of .22 caliber, three rounds of 9mm, and a couple of shells which I handed to Tatiana. The casings littering the ground didn¡¯t escape me since I also picked them up.


    We¡¯re about to leave them and just burn them after we¡¯re done with the gas station but I remembered that Jared said something when we¡¯re chattering on the radio earlier.


    ¡°¡­they¡¯re taking selfies¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hey, you guys see any phones in their pockets when we¡¯re checking them?¡± I asked the group about to head to the gas station. <hr>


    ¡°Umm, Cruz, you saw anything? I only saw rings and other knock-off jewelry from some of them¡­¡± Mando replied.


    ¡°I thought I saw one but it¡¯s a case for sunsses¡­¡± Cruz trailed.


    ¡°Let me check them again.¡± Tatiana went back.


    Kaley and I decided to shine our shlights on the road to see if by some chance it was thrown off or something.


    ¡°Why are you looking for their phones, sir?¡± Marlon asked.


    ¡°Jared said that they were taking selfies earlier, we might find their group¡¯s exact location if we scan through their photos.¡± I replied and they gave pensive expressions.


    ¡°That¡¯s actually a great ide-¡± Crus said but Tatiana took our attention.


    ¡°Found it! Found a couple of them but one must be out of battery. We can find a charger at this gas station, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Yeah, good job. Can you check the photos to see some clues?¡± I asked then she started rifling through the files.


    Her thumb is now swiping sideways but she suddenly grimaced.


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley asked.


    Tatiana¡¯s eyebrow is twitching nonstop and everyone grew curious.


    ¡°What is it? Let me.¡± I said as I took the phone.


    I almost barfed.


    D.i.c.k pic, d.i.c.k pic, d.i.c.k pic, group d.i.c.k pic, d.i.c.k pic again, close up d.i.c.k pick, sleeping d.i.c.k pic, squatting d.i.c.k pic, working out d.i.c.k pic, and it goes on and on. <hr>


    If it wasn¡¯t for me waiting for the photos and pimpled d.i.c.ks to change so I could find more information, I would¡¯ve ced it under the truck to be rolled over. However, after rifling through 357 pictures, all of them were d.i.c.k pics. I checked the video files and aside from several XXX videos, all of them were the same guy that identally captured a video instead of capturing another one of his own junk.


    Everyone¡¯s watching me slowly release a deadly aura but Kaley started to hold herughter.


    ¡°You think this is funny?¡± I¡¯m pretty annoyed from the meat scepter coge.


    ¡°Do you know what¡¯s gonna happen to you?¡± Kaley¡¯s face is starting to redden from holding herself.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked, still annoyed.


    ¡°You have photographic memory, right? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You¡¯ll remember that for the rest of your life!¡± Kaley dropped the bomb on me.


    I¡¯m like a f.u.c.k.i.n.g statue for several seconds.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡± I shouted in my head.


    Everyone around me started to dieughing and it actually attracted several dead bodies from the immediate vicinity. I was the only one who noticed so I quickly pulled my pistol and dropped each one of them while they¡¯re stillughing. I aimed for small gaps near their bodies that got them startled and they all shut the f.u.c.k up at the same time.


    However, after that disy, they¡¯re still smirking from what Kaley said earlier.


    ¡°DAMMIT!!!¡± I shouted in my head once more.


    I marched begrudgingly towards the gas station and they soon followed.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get her backter¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    All of the food items aside from a few candy bars were already gone from this ce and I surmised they found the liquor they used for molotovs from the back of the cashier since the ss case they were in has fresh stains of blood. I really thought we¡¯d find more food from this ce but there¡¯s none even if we checked the back of the store. However, there¡¯s still a few useful things we could use ourselves or a few luxury items like cigarettes we could trade for inside.


    There¡¯s this small disy case near the cashier which contains a few over-the-counter drugs. There¡¯s also a few clean bandages, rubbing alcohol, betadine, cotton balls, band aids, and a bottle of painkillers in the medicine cab inside the employee¡¯s restroom. I found a generic charger that fits the phone we¡¯ve found since the charger I brought for mine isn¡¯t the same type as it was. I took all the packs of batteries hanging from one of the shelves and some of the shlights as well. <hr>


    I started to chuckle when I squatted down and found out several rolls of duct tape untouched by anyone who looted this ce. If they only knew the applications they could make of use of such a simple thing, they would be banging their heads off when they do.


    We all took several more items but we never forgot about filling up the tank of our truck full and the other containers we brought with us. There¡¯s also several LPGs on the side and we took everything else before we went back to our ce. It¡¯s already sundown and the moon is slowly rising from the other side. Everyone is gathered at the guardhouse near the entrance. We don¡¯t have a permanent ce to store everything we¡¯ve brought here yet so we just unloaded them where we¡¯re at.


    Micah arrived half an hourter with a few soldiers that¡¯s supposed to apany her. Shended my S-76 atop the main building as I instructed and it was a smoothnding. However, she seemed displeased by her chaperones and she can¡¯t seem to shake them off.


    Our bags are intact and nothing seems to be missing from it after checking it. Oscar¡¯s shockwave is still at the sidestraps and it doesn¡¯t seem that it was fiddled with.


    ¡°They¡¯re all there don¡¯t worry.¡± Micah chuckled.


    ¡°Yeah, thanks for bringing them. What happened back there?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hmm, I think it¡¯s best to see for yourself tomorrow. I¡¯m not too sure about what happened but it happened¡­¡± Micah shrugged.


    I looked at Avalos and Honassan and they seem to have the same answer.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s one cliffhanger to keep me up a few hours. Have you guys eaten yet? I¡¯ve brought extra MREs, it¡¯s not as good as what my aunt cooks but its still good. I¡¯ve eaten this vor for weeks when I¡¯m toozy to cook.¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°I¡¯m still full from earlier though¡­ and I¡¯m in a bit of a diet¡­¡± Micah trailed and a few seems to be in agreement but Tatiana wants to eat now.


    ¡°Well, then some of you help me set the tents up while some of you, Tatiana, prepare the meals. Does that sound fine?¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°Sure, it¡¯s one thing I could prepare with confidence.¡± she chuckled.


    We then set up the tents and we gave one of them with a few tarps for Mike and a few soldiers that would be apanying him below. We started eating happily inside our own tents that are facing each other. The mesh-like opening is the only one zipped shut so we could still barely see each other while we¡¯re chatting andughing.


    The cold air blew in our direction and several exims of it being cold came out from everyone present. If you¡¯d look up, the moon is shining brightly apanied by the stars that serves as our light temporarily.


    We¡¯re still chatting with everyone then I felt my hand being guided to somece I¡¯m really familiar with.

 Chapter 284

    Chapter 284: 284


    ¡°Can you massage my back and shoulders? It¡¯s a bit sore from wearing the te carrier all day.¡± Kaley said to me as she ced my hands on top of her shoulders. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll just ce the containers we used in the trash bag.¡± I replied and went outside our tent for a moment.


    ¡°Are you sore too? I know a few things¡­¡± Tatiana said to Micah while she¡¯s still eating.


    ¡°Hmm~ I know you do~ *chuckles*¡± Micah replied.


    Jared and Niks were not moving for a short moment, stunned.


    ¡°Tatiana gives a good massage, she made my bones crack a few times and I fell asleep immediately.¡± Kaley broke the silence.


    ¡°O-oh, is that so¡­ I thought- nevermind¡­¡± Jared is scratching his nose.


    ¡°She¡¯s the best. I dislocated my shoulder one time and she popped it back in, it was amazing.¡± Niks praised Tatiana but the tone he¡¯s using is too much to not notice.


    ¡°Well, who dislocated your shoulder?¡± Micah asked.


    ¡°Umm¡­ I-¡± Niks stammered.


    ¡°I did. We were sparring.¡± Tatiana casually mentioned.


    ¡°What?!¡± Micah eximed.


    ¡°It was an amazing throw! What happened was¡­¡± Niks then started his long winded story that made Tatiana the protagonist. It continued for a while but I managed to escape and throw out what we used for eating.


    Our tents are forming a triangle on the way it faces each other. Tatiana and Micah will be sharing a tent, the same thing with Jared and Niks. The trash bag is near the fire exit and I collected each person¡¯s trash if they¡¯ve finished eating already. Micah is fascinated watching Tatiana devour her portion so she¡¯s happily giving some of her own since she¡¯s not eating much. Niks and Jared switched guns and they¡¯re now casually talking about their features. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I hope the AR VS AK debate doesn¡¯t start. I almost died when the Katana VS Longsword debate startedst time¡­ well Rin isn¡¯t here but we couldn¡¯t be too sure¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    The moonlight is enough to give us some visibility through the night though if we zipped the mesh-like opening of the tent, we could only see a few silhouettes. There¡¯s sources of light inside Jared and Niks¡¯ tent since they¡¯re inspecting their guns closely. They¡¯re absorbed at what they¡¯re doing and I could hear faint murmurs from their conversation. The tent that Tatiana and Micah uses still has their p entrances open and tied upwards since they¡¯re enjoying the cool breeze and Tatiana is still eating. Kaley has just her head popping outside our tent and she¡¯s casually chatting with Tatiana and Micah.


    ¡°What? So you started a dance group and it blew up? Wow¡­¡± Tatiana was surprised to hear of Micah¡¯s past.


    ¡°They also did several tours around the world! She¡¯s not just famous, she¡¯s famous famous!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Stop it! It¡¯s embarrassing getting praised like this~¡± Micah is covering her face.


    They startedughing and that¡¯s the time they saw me.


    ¡°Why is your head like that? Can¡¯t handle the cold that well?¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Well something like that. I brought a small bottle of the oils we¡¯re using. Want to start now?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yes, your majesty. It will be done.¡± I made a small bow and they all chuckled.


    When I entered our tent, I found out that she already removed her shirt but her bra is still on. Our equipment is on the side with our backpacks and she¡¯s using one of them as a pillow so her head is elevated while talking to Tatiana and Micah. She handed me the bottle that smells of Mandarin and Sage and she went back to her earlier position where she¡¯sying down and her chin is on top of her hands..


    ¡°Where were we again?¡± Kaley asked the two.


    ¡°About how amazing Micah is.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Stop~ Let¡¯s talk about something else~¡± Micah begged. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, one time¡­¡± Kaley told a different story.


    I on the other hand have started cing some of the oil on Kaley¡¯s back. I disengaged the clips on her bra so the oil wouldn¡¯t seep on the fabric. The straps were justying on the side and I could see the side of her b.r.e.a.s.ts from the position I¡¯m in. Her hair is already tied on a ponytail so it wouldn¡¯t get in the way too.


    I started on massaging her shoulders and I¡¯m firmly gliding my hands through her body. I would softly caress the back of her neck and glide my hands down through her back. She¡¯s making soft exhales when she¡¯s not talking and some tension on her body is getting released.


    ¡°Well the training is always hard¡­¡± I could hear Tatiana mentioning her training in the army.


    ¡°Oh~ You did all that? That¡¯s 100 times harder than our dance lessons! How about you Kaley?¡± Micah mentioned.


    ¡°Well training to be a flight attendant wasn¡¯t hard for me but training to shoot while my dad is the one teaching is way worse. He keeps yelling if you make mistakes! Also¡­¡± she continued her story.


    This was the time I decided to do something.


    The moment my hands glided down her back, it went up sideways then I reached for her b.r.e.a.s.ts which were getting mushed from her position. Luckily, the way she¡¯s resting her body against our bags allowed her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts to have some breathing room which I took advantage of. The remaining oil in my hands granted me the power to slither in the small and tight gaps to cup everything and she quickly twitched when she felt me pinching her pink tips.


    The two can¡¯t see what I¡¯m doing since the mesh-like p opening of our tent is zipped while leaving a small opening for Kaley¡¯s head. There¡¯s no light source inside our tent but I could still see the two due to the moonlight shining over them.


    ¡°Kaley?¡± Micah noticed her reaction.


    ¡°Oh, I just shivered for a bit since it¡¯s cold.¡± Kaley tried to y it off.


    I thought she would stop me but she didn¡¯t. She continued on chatting with the two as if nothing¡¯s happening.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see how far I can push this¡­¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    Her n.i.p.p.l.es are starting to get hard as I y with it by circling around it with my fingers. I took a nce at the two¡¯s expressions but they seemed to not notice anything¡­ yet. The handfuls in my hands are heavenly and supple. I wished that she¡¯sying on her back so I could enjoy them more but we don¡¯t have that luxury right now. However, this secretive way we¡¯re doing it in front of the two is something else.


    The moment my right hand left one of them, it was already on her zipper that would reveal everything below.


    I gulped in anticipation since I need to be perfectly quiet in unzipping it. She even helped me by parting her legs just enough for my hand to reach for it since she¡¯s still lying prone. I could notice that her breathing was getting heavier by the second and I almost lost it when she looked at me with anticipation. She slightly raised her h.i.p.s and I started to reach for her warm insides.


    I felt the surface and side of it first and I discovered that her liquids were dripping down on her thighs already. It¡¯s already making this squishy sound when I put a finger in and going much faster would get us discovered. Even eating her out which is my favorite thing to do is out of the question since it would make more noise when I eat her insides.


    The only thing I could do is go slower.


    My thumb is slowly prodding her other opening while two of my fingers are slowly going inside her. Once it was in, instead of pulling back, I made minute movements inside as if I¡¯m pulling a trigger. It made less noisepared to moving it inside and out like a maniac. She tightened around me and even more so when my thumb also entered her other opening.


    Kaley¡¯s talking less and less and when she does, she¡¯s stuttering sometimes or would make an awkward pause.


    ¡°Are you okay Kaley?¡± Micah asked again.


    ¡°I¡¯m j-just a b-bit sleepy n-now¡­ what were you saying a-again?¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Right, so¡­¡± Micah continued her story but I noticed that Tatiana felt something was going on.


    Tatiana was silent but I could see her not looking at Kaley¡¯s face but through the mesh ps where I¡¯m currently at.


    ¡°Well f.u.c.k it, let¡¯s see what happens!¡± I thought to myself as I unzipped my pants.


    Kaley had no idea since she¡¯s still savoring the pleasure she¡¯s feeling and the buildup is taking longer than normal but still intense. She thought I was just gonna stroke myself and didn¡¯t mind it but it was toote when she noticed I¡¯m kneeling down behind her. I pushed it inside her warm insides inch by inch while she¡¯s still prone but that makes it tighter than usual because of her leg position. <hr>


    I took a short nce at the other two first and they were still busy tinkering with their guns based on the light source inside their tents.


    I started to thrust it inside and it is going in a slightly downward angle due to the position that we¡¯re in. My full weight is being transferred to her and now I saw Micah covering her face in surprise. Each thrust I made makes Kaley¡¯s body move alongside it and the two watching us also instinctively look at the other tent to check if the other two are still busy. Micah saved the day by ying some music on her phone since Kaley is starting to let out soft m.o.a.ns.


    I can¡¯t see her expression from my point of view but I could see Tatiana and Micah¡¯s faces. They¡¯re both looking at Kaley¡¯s reaction and Micah¡¯s already biting her lower lip. Both of their eyes show desire and l.u.s.t while Kaley¡¯s ponytail is slowly getting loose. I leaned over and I started to kiss her neck and my hands went back on cupping her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts. The sound of skin hitting skin is getting drowned out by the music so I started to go faster. Her walls started to tighten around me and she buried her face in our bags when she started to shake uncontrobly.


    I looked at the two watching us but unfortunately, show time is over.


    I pulled Kaley as I zipped our tent shut.


    I turned her over and she¡¯s still twitching from earlier. I nted a huge kiss in her mouth while embracing her and I entered her once more. Her legs are wrapped around my h.i.p.s and our kiss was broken when I started to suck on one of her pink n.i.p.p.l.es. Her hands were now covering her mouth since she¡¯s still sensitive and letting out m.o.a.ns which she couldn¡¯t control.


    Right as I was about to release it, I pulled it out and she took care of it for me. Her tongue wrapped around it and she sucked it all off. She didn¡¯t let up after swallowing it since she¡¯s still tugging it after. The moment it went hard again, she licked her lips and went on top of me. She¡¯s riding me hard and she ced my hands on her huge tits. She finally copsed on top of me after a few minutes and we used wet wipes to clean ourselves.


    We¡¯re nowying beside each other and our tent opened.


    ¡°What about us?!¡± Micah silently eximed with a pouting expression.


    ¡°She made a diversion, reward her at least¡­¡± Tatiana is chuckling behind her.


    ¡°How about them?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmph! It was all for naught! They¡¯re actually wearing earphones while cleaning their guns! We¡¯re worried for nothing!¡± Micah puts her hands up in disbelief.


    Kaley then had an apologetic look when she nced at me. The two were about to enter our tent but I had other ns.


    I decided to close my eyes and sleep.

 Chapter 285

    Chapter 285: 285


    I peeked with one of my eyes and I saw that they¡¯re all looking at me with a pout and Tatiana is almost ring. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°No you don¡¯t. I know you¡¯re still awake!¡± Kaley pinched me.


    ¡°Please? Kaley is really feeling it earlier so we want a little¡­ you know~¡± Micah said in a hugh tone.


    ¡°How long were you two doing it earlier? Right before you entered your tent? Wow, it smells really good here¡­¡± Tatiana asked, giggling.


    ¡°This is gonna be a long night¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    I could still hear the musicing from Micah¡¯s phone but it seems that it is either outside in one of the boxes or inside their tent. I still closed my eyes hoping for them to go away or do it themselves but they wouldn¡¯t. Kaley is still leaning on my side and I felt her hand moving down inside my pants.


    ¡°How could I say no to Kaley? I¡¯m a bit tired so please don¡¯t let me do all the work¡­¡± I just smiled helplessly.


    ¡°Thanks, but you can¡¯t say no to these, correct?¡± Tatiana kissed Micah while groping her b.r.e.a.s.t after zipping the tentpletely shut.


    ¡°How long are they gonna clean their guns though?¡± Kaley mentioned.


    ¡°I left my phone inside our tent so they¡¯ll think we¡¯re inside. Let¡¯s just go back when they sleep or go down the restroom or something.¡± Micah has a proud look as her hands went inside Tatiana¡¯s pants.


    ¡°Did they n for this?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°We still need to keep our voices to a minimum, correct?¡± Tatiana started to ce her hand inside Micah too.


    ¡°Gag me if I¡¯m too loud, I don¡¯t mind¡­¡± Micah trailed.


    ¡°Woah hold on there. That¡¯s a bit- well, I really want to sleep really bad though¡­ what have I gotten myself into¡­¡± I sighed inwardly.


    ¡°Well let¡¯s start it off with this, I¡¯m really turned on watching Kaley¡¯s face turn into a mess¡­¡± Micah then walked over me right up to my head. <center></center><hr>


    She squatted on top of my face and started moving her h.i.p.s, rubbing it against my face. That intoxicating scent flooded my head and I even forgot to question how fast she removed her clothes. Well, she¡¯s partially undressed but everything below is gone. Micah¡¯s sucking the tip of me while I notice another hand grabbing what¡¯s underneath my shaft.


    The pleasure I¡¯m feeling from them is slowly building up and they gradually felt me getting harder. Micah¡¯s still trying to get me to eat her by rubbing her lower lips on my face so I obliged.


    ¡°Bravo Six going dark. I didn¡¯t get to do this to Kaley¡­¡± I thought to myself, enjoying that pink slit.


    I embraced her h.i.p.s and I pulled her down while I devoured her. My tongue parted her insides and she quickly reacted. I¡¯m slurping her wet insides and she¡¯s pushing her h.i.p.s towards me more, almost suffocating me in the process.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go first¡­¡± Tatiana trailed then the weight on my face increased.


    Micah sat upright, still on top of my face, rubbing it almost violently while I felt tight walls enveloping me below. I then felt my right arm being hugged by huge mounds, which is obviously from Kaley. After that, she guided my hand to her special ce which is now moist and warm again.


    ¡°Oh, sorry for leaving you there~ Do it with me~¡± Micah said to Kaley.


    I bet she just nodded and Micah now sat on her face. She started to pull down Kaley¡¯s pants after that and they started eating each other. They¡¯re letting our small m.o.a.ns as they enjoy each other¡¯s taste. I¡¯m looking at them do it but Tatiana leaned her body against me and made me look at her when she turned my head.


    ¡°Look at me¡­¡± Tatiana gave me a deep kiss.


    I decided to raise my h.i.p.s in time with her movements and the way it slides smoothly is just right. We¡¯re all emitting low m.o.a.ns and grunts aside from the sounds of skin hitting skin or tongues exploring ces. We ended after a few more rounds and I was inside Kaley¡¯s ass. She¡¯s embracing me tight while my thing is getting gripped tight every time I pull out. I started to shoot it inside while she¡¯s still shaking and the two next to us have their legs interlocked and they¡¯re rubbing each other¡¯s lips with their own, Kaley and I finished first and we watched the two going at it while I rested my head on her chest and embraced her. We¡¯re still catching our breaths when they finished and we took another breather.


    We cleaned ourselves and I was ready to sleep soundly but the two stayed to chat andid down next to us.


    ¡°I¡¯m sleeping for real this time. I¡¯m really spent because of you two! You better take our spot in watch dutyter¡­¡± I want to raise my voice but I really am tired.


    ¡°You did more before, right? I think you¡¯re able to go a few more if you wanted to.¡± Kaley said as she¡¯s ying with my hair.


    ¡°I could but I still get tired too¡­ I thought they¡¯d do it again with each other earlier so I nned my energy consumption¡­.¡± I trailed but they grew even more confused.


    ¡°You could do that?¡± Micah asked. <hr>


    I was about to answer but Kaley did it for me.


    ¡°Well he told me before that each day when he wakes up, everything that he¡¯ll do is already nned and he could only make small adjustments. He has this schedule in his head and he grows grumpy or more tired when his inner schedule veers off the path.¡± Kaley exined.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I love you¡­¡± I muttered though my eyes were already falling down. Kaley just hugged me tighter from what I said.


    ¡°You did more the first time we did it with me and Rin, correct? How¡¯s this any different?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Hmm~ I wish I was there~ Rin surprised me too, she turns different under covers~¡± Micah chuckled.


    ¡°She does¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Well regarding that, I was ready for it. This time I¡¯m already nning to sleep¡­¡± my eyes were already closed. Kaley¡¯s running her fingers through my hair and it rxes me even more.


    ¡°Tatiana, if you don¡¯t mind me asking, how about Niks? Do you even notice the way he talks about you? I know you have Rin b-¡± Micah was cut off by Tatiana.


    ¡°We¡¯ve done it once.¡± Tatiana casually mentioned.


    ¡°What?! I thought you¡¯re avoiding him or something.¡± Kaley was surprised.


    ¡°Ooh~ I didn¡¯t know about this cheesy gossip~¡± Micah giggled.


    One of my eyes instinctively peeked out.


    ¡°It¡¯s a one time thing and my experience with him is not that¡­ you know what I mean. He¡¯s okay down there if we¡¯re talking about it but two pumps and we¡¯re done. You think I¡¯d like that?¡± Tatiana shrugged.


    ¡°Well~ Sometimes I take pride if I make a man c.u.m fast but if I want to enjoy myself, not so much~¡± Micah replied. <hr>


    ¡°Well I¡¯m learning new things¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°And we¡¯ve got this guy here~ I bet you had plenty of experiences~ Hmm~?¡± Micah giggled.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been with women but not as much as you think. If you want tost, it¡¯s all in the mind. Proper pacing could help but not as much. He could just be too excited when it happened so he identally discharged¡­ *yawn* I really need to sleep¡­¡± I added.


    ¡°Then you¡¯re not that excited when you¡¯re with me? Is that it? Hmm?¡± Kaley turned my sleepy head to face her.


    ¡°Oh~ You¡¯re~ in~ trouble~¡± Micah giggled while her voice got higher.


    Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°What? It¡¯s the best thing that happened in my life aside from first meeting you. I want to make you happy too, not just me so¡­ I don¡¯t want our first time with each other tost 30 seconds¡­¡± I trailed, chuckling.


    ¡°Why is that sweet but it¡¯s making me horny somehow? Want toe back with us in Davao City?¡± Micah jokes.


    ¡°Nope. That¡¯s not gonna happen! We do a few things but he¡¯s mine, okay? You! Stop saying those things out of the blue!¡± Kaley tried to suffocate me with her b.r.e.a.s.ts but it¡¯s doing the opposite effect.


    The two started to chuckle but we¡¯re still maintaining our volumes to the minimum.


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell them that I¡¯m a two-pump chump for my first time with¡­ well let¡¯s not think about her¡­ It¡¯ll be trouble when they meet¡­ huge~ f.u.c.k.i.n.g trouble¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    They continued to chat but I really need to get some rest.


    I finally got my sleep and I woke up by Kaley tapping me on my shoulder. The two were not inside our tent anymore and I could see the sky outside which I surmise that it¡¯s early morning. I could hear the whirring sounds of several helicoptering from the distance and I stole a kiss from her before yawning.


    ¡°They¡¯re here.¡± Kaley looked at me.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s see what he decided on. Let¡¯s gear up.¡± I replied. <hr>


    I helped her with gearing up and I handed her gunsstly when she¡¯s outside. We decided to not fold our tents for now since we would be using them againter. I was finally done and when I went outside, Jared was taking a picture of Niks sleeping soundly in one of the chairs they put near the edge when on watch duty. Jared saw me and the rest of us and he signalled for us to be quiet. Micah met eyes with me and she just winked while smiling faintly. Tatiana is stretching her arms over the top of her head and I decided to make the bones of my neck and knuckles crack.


    We headed down after waking Niks and I immediately saw that our ns were carried out. The people we¡¯re nning to leave behind were noting out of the helicopters and the trucks that are justing in do not have them there too.


    ¡°Good.¡± I thought to myself.


    However, the atmosphere seemed different when I took a look at everyone¡¯s expressions. There¡¯s a mix of glum, somberness, and fear among the residents. Not all of them but if you catch one, you¡¯d notice it immediately.


    I looked at Micah and she¡¯s not telling me what happened over there when we¡¯re gone.


    I finally found Iskoh and the president walking with Jude and Jade and we walked towards them. The twins look exactly alike and their hairs and facial expressions are different among other things. It looks like a before after of a person oveing depression. Jude¡¯s wearing neutral colors while Jade is wearing bright colors.


    The first thing I noticed is that Iskoh¡¯s eyes were different. His eyes have dark circles around them and it¡¯s deep and dark, almost bloodshot. It¡¯s a threatening re and his wife can¡¯t seem to get close to him. She¡¯s just keeping close to Jude while Jude is always keeping this robotic expression. Rod¡¯s expression is just the same as always but it seems uneasy. A few soldiers that would approach them are giving wary looks and their conversations are straight to the point.


    ¡°This ce looks better¡­ right sis?¡± Jude mechanically said.


    ¡°It¡­ it is¡­¡± Jade replied but she¡¯s wary of Iskoh.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit kid, you cleared this shit in a day? I think I¡¯m being too lenient with my soldiers. I¡¯ll tighten the leash a bit.¡± Rod looked around while every soldier hemands got shivers.


    ¡°Hey.¡± Iskoh greeted me with a deep voice, still ring and almost looking down at me.


    ¡°He definitely killed them, maybe more. He¡¯s like me before¡­ he needs a little¡­¡± I thought to myself as I moved closer.


    I got annoyed from the look he¡¯s giving me so I delivered a punch to his face.


    The whole ce went silent.

 Chapter 286

    Chapter 286: 286


    Iskoh¡¯s head blew backwards from the impact but he quickly retracted and delivered one of his own. His right hook was too huge a swing so I quickly avoided it by tilting my head left. It gave me a wind up to deliver a body blow with my left hand while he¡¯s still in transit. His body folded but I delivered another one to the same spot. <center></center><hr>


    His expression is still dark so I threw in my right knee towards his torso. A vein is visibly popping out of his forehead but I kicked his right shin right after with my left foot. He tried to swing wildly at me but a person without anybat training would be rendered useless. However, there¡¯s still a chance of a lucky punch happening so I¡¯m still giving it my all.


    He¡¯s gritting his teeth hard while he¡¯s breathing heavily and it shows that he¡¯s bearing through the pain I¡¯m giving him.


    Front kick to the abdomen.


    ¡°KAH!¡± he almost retched.


    I then grabbed his body and I mmed him on the ground we¡¯re standing on. He fell on his face so I mounted him for a choke. His hands pped around for a short moment before he passed outpletely. I let go of him and I looked at everyone around me.


    They all look the f.u.c.k.i.n.g same.


    Jade was about to run to her husband but Jude held her tightly. Rod was bewildered while looking at me and the soldiers around us can¡¯t seem to decide on what protocol to follow when their higher ups decided to have a one-sided fight.


    ¡°WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! HE¡¯S THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G MAYOR!!!¡± Roque suddenly popped out from one group of people and started on shouting at me.


    ¡°Now this guy shows up. He¡¯s already f.u.c.k.i.n.g quietst time and now he seemed full of life.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Kid, you better exin yourself.¡± Rod looks upset but still confused.


    ¡°How many did he kill?¡± I stared right at him with a sharp glint in my eye.


    Rod just stared at me the same way but he simply exhaled after.


    I felt everyone that came from the City Hall react to the words that I said and it seemed to trigger a not so fond memory.


    ¡°It¡¯s that bad, huh?¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It was a f.u.c.k.i.n.g mess there kid. I had to kill a few myself.¡± Rod finally answered.


    ¡°Tell me.¡± I nced at Iskoh for a moment before looking back at him.


    ¡°Well¡­¡± Rod started.


    I found out that right when I left with my group, Iskoh is still hesitating.


    The group of people inside starte to get rowdy but there was clearly a divide. Half of them wanted to have them executed while the other half didn¡¯t. A fight was about to break out and that¡¯s right when Jade went down with his brother to check on what¡¯s happening. It¡¯s starting to get rowdy and the soldiers around can¡¯t seem to control the crowd that is trying to break into the circle where Iskoh and the others were.


    Despite that, Jade and Jude managed to find their way inside the circle and that¡¯s when Kiko tried to do something stupid.


    Kiko was actually hiding a small knife and he managed to take hold of a golden opportunity amidst the chaos. Jude was pushed down and Kiko is now holding Jade hostage. Jude¡¯s rifle was left in his sister¡¯s room and he only has the Glock 19 I gave him. However, even if it¡¯s concealed on his back, his sister¡¯s life is in jeopardy. One push of the de and Jade would be bleeding out in mere seconds.


    ¡°I actually pointed a gun at Teresa to make Kiko change his mind but Iskoh made a more diplomatic approach. He promised to let them go with supplies, guns, and a vehicle as long as Kiko let them go. He calmly exined that after what they did, they wouldn¡¯t belong in the City Hall no matter what they do and the only chance they have is to move somece else and start anew. The people¡¯s trust in his kind judgments before still remained in Kiko¡¯s mind and he was eventually persuaded to let them go.¡± Rod said,


    ¡°Wait, them? Is she¡­?¡± I thought to myself.


    I¡¯m listening to Rod and his expression made me think that it still didn¡¯t end peacefully.


    Iskoh asked for Kiko¡¯s knife and Kiko broke down and gave it to him. Rod said that Iskoh¡¯s eyes became different the moment he held that knife. Kiko handed the de handle first but it came back to him several times, de first. Iskoh gripped that de so hard and he stabbed Kiko in his torso enough to rip his stomach out and make his guts spill out. The face Kiko made when it happened was inexplicable and he could only look back at his wife one more time before he fell to the ground.


    ¡°What happened to Teresa?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hmm. Iskoh locked her up¡­¡± Rod answered.


    ¡°What? That¡¯s impossible, after all that?¡± I replied.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t let me finish. She locked her up with her dead husband and he tied her up so she couldn¡¯t run away or do anything. He started to wait for Kiko to turn to one of those things and devour Teresa inside. Teresa can¡¯t do anything to her husband so she would be just eaten helplessly. Iskoh said that he wanted to make her feel what the people she locked up inside felt when she did what she did. Teresa was begging to be forgiven and several people stepped up to try to talk Iskoh out of his decision.¡± Rod continued, <hr>


    ¡°Let me guess, they¡¯re either close friends or rtives of Kiko and Teresa and they werete to the party.¡± I said.


    Rod just nodded and he looked at Iskoh.


    ¡°What happened then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Iskoh opened the door in the premise that those people could help Teresa but he had other ns¡­¡± Rod trailed.


    I nced at Iskoh once more and Rod continued.


    ¡°He pulled out the gun one of his soldiers were carrying and started shooting them. Some were killed outright and some were terribly wounded. The moment it happened, the people that were against his decision started a riot. They tried to bum rush every soldier inside for their guns and some managed to seed just because of their numbers. It became ugly in just a few moments and I even open fired to kill the lot approaching me. Iskoh prioritized his wife though Jude made sure that she¡¯s safe. It was contained eventually but the surviving people of the other side were killed by Iskoh himself. More than half of the people inside the City Hall were killed after we went through our list.¡± Rod concluded.


    ¡°And Teresa?¡± I asked to make sure.


    ¡°She and her husband are the only ones roaming inside the City Hall. They¡¯re still inside the room they were locked in but Iskoh¡¯s n for her happened.¡± Rod replied.


    ¡°How about Karen? The girl I shot so you could interrogate?¡± I reminded him.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell youter since Iskoh should be awake.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well, how about the people outside?¡± I asked again.


    ¡°The moment the riot started, they were gone and must¡¯ve scattered in all different ces. I have no idea where they went but they¡¯ll soon gather at this ce when they discover it or find a new ce. Iskoh¡¯s been thinking of taking them in to replenish more people but he wants to make sure that they would act ordingly.¡± Rod answered.


    ¡°Well I hope it went smoother but he still did it.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hey, kid. You still didn¡¯t answer me as to why you attacked him. Exin to me why or you two will have more problems.¡± Rod said. <hr>


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s wake him up first. I need to tell him why too.¡± I said as I reached for my pack.


    I let him sniff through the small bottle I have and he tensed when he woke up. His re at me earlier is still there when he saw me but it¡¯s been brought down a few notches.


    ¡°What did I f.u.c.k.i.n.g do to you?!¡± Iskoh immediately eximed after getting his bearings.


    ¡°You¡¯re letting it out too much. Can¡¯t you see your wife and everyone around you feeling ufortable? You look like shit by the way.¡± I calmly answered.


    ¡°What?! Let out what?!¡± he grabbed my cor while staring at me.


    ¡°This.¡± I removed his grip without issue and the temperature dropped several degrees.


    His knees almost buckled when he saw my eyes and the people around us instinctively took a step back or fell on their ass. It seemed that everyone was suddenly in a quagmire carrying a bag full of bricks. I¡¯m staring right at him and the look he is giving me earlier has been wiped out. There¡¯re still these dark circles around his eyes but the murderous re is gone. It was only a very short moment when I released it but he felt it nevertheless.


    ¡°You¡¯re getting too bloodthirsty so I had to beat you up. That¡¯s the only way I could help you with that. Do you even remember anything that you did?¡± I said after letting go of him.


    It seemed that he lost all his strength and he fell down on the ground. He¡¯s out of breath but he¡¯s still looking at me.


    ¡°Bloodthirsty huh? I could only remember pieces of it. I just wanted to kill everyone that opposed me¡­¡± he looked at the ground with a difficult expression.


    ¡°Taking a life with your own hands is a different matter entirely from ordering someone to do it. Some people, like you, would have the tendency to feel more in power when they do it. It¡¯s not bad per say but it¡¯s not good either. Do it too much and you¡¯d lose a part of yourself and discover a new part unknown to you. It¡¯s different for each individual but simrities could still exist. You get what I¡¯m saying?¡± I sat down as well to level with him on the ground.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand half of what you said.¡± Iskoh is shaking his head.


    ¡°Me too.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± he just stared in shock.


    ¡°I¡¯m kidding obviously. That¡¯s how I interpret what I saw in you earlier. Mine¡¯s a bit different from you but I know what you¡¯re experiencing.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± he was silent once more.


    ¡°Also, if you could see yourself in the mirror, you¡¯d beat yourself up too. You¡¯re making everyone around you uneasy. You need to f.u.c.k.i.n.g control that since you¡¯re letting it out without you noticing. I won¡¯t be able to beat you up all the time.¡± I added.


    ¡°Well what did you do for yourself then? I doubt this is thest time I¡¯ll do it. I¡¯ve been really naive with my decisions and I failed to notice that the foundations I¡¯ve built are standing on sand.¡± He asked.


    ¡°Keep everything in check. Serene mind, raging heart. It¡¯s different solutions for everybody. You could start by apologizing to your wife. She¡¯s pregnant, right? It¡¯s bad for her to be under a lot of stress if she¡¯s carrying one inside her.¡± I said as I tapped his shoulder.


    I got up and I didn¡¯t notice everyone¡¯s expression around me. I¡¯m offering my hand so that Iskoh could easily get up


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE PREGNANT?!¡± Iskoh eximed.


    ¡°You¡¯re pregnant sis? I didn¡¯t notice.¡± Jude calmly said.


    ¡°WHAT?! I AM?!¡± Jade was bbergasted.


    ¡°YOU DON¡¯T KNOW?!¡± Iskoh is losing his mind.


    ¡°WAIT, I¡¯M NOT!!! WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA?!¡± Jade looked at me.


    ¡°Rod said earlier, right?¡± I looked at Rod, same as everybody.


    ¡°WHAT?! WHEN DID I SAY THAT?!¡± Rod is looking at me like I¡¯m talking about bigfoot.


    ¡°Earlier, when you said that Iskoh said to let ¡®them¡¯ go?¡± I exined.


    ¡°WHAT?! YOU MISUNDERSTOOD YOU LITTLE SON OF A BITCH!!!¡± Rod eximed,


    ¡°What? I thought- Oops, my bad.¡± I said as I scratched my head.

 Chapter 287

    Chapter 287: 287


    Everyone around me can¡¯t seem to find the right facial expression, movement, or even words to say out loud from my simple mistake. The only thing that I could take away from that is Iskoh¡¯s expression and demeanor came back to the way it was when I said that Jade¡¯s pregnant. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Just don¡¯t lose her, she could bring you back¡­¡± I thought to myself when I looked at Kaley.


    I thought they were also in shock but the group I have has already locked me in ce and started on beating me up senseless. I received a rain of punches, elbows, knees, kicks, and chokes from everyone but they obviously held back and wereughing in the process.


    Things finally settled down and we started our 2nd day at this ce.


    ¡°Okay, okay, let¡¯s cut it out! We have a lot of things to do in so little time.¡± I tried to pat off the patches of grass stuck on my clothes.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do a small briefing. What happened inside this ce?¡± Iskoh walked up to us.


    ¡°Every bloody figure here was cleared and were burned outside the gates except two.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Two?¡± Rod asked.


    ¡°Come with me.¡± I started to walk back to the hospital. I told Honassan and Avalos to fetch my crates and bring it to the guardhouse so they could guard it with Mike. Kaley and Micah were the only ones following me when we walked to the hospital. Jared and the rest helped on other misceneous stuff that needs an extra pair of hands. The generators were turned on and I asked Jared to charge the phone I looted so we could see what¡¯s stored inside it since there¡¯s no memory card to be taken out.


    I showed them two corpses where one is chock full of ss and has several bullet holes in its head and one with a cracked head and fluids that have dried and is almost sticking on the floor.


    ¡°These are?¡± Iskoh looked at me.


    ¡°Another version of the sprinters¡­ well, we call those fast ones that but Cruz mentioned before that there¡¯s a huge number of them that destroyed the gates. I think the scientists Rod has at Davao could make use of them even if they¡¯re like that.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I could do that but those guys always prefer to have them still active. They mentioned before that uh¡­ it¡¯s gonna be difficult to learn from something that¡¯s been neutralized. Although, the didn¡¯t say it was impossible. They¡¯ll still learn a few things but not a lot.¡± Rod mentioned.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, how about Karen?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, ask this son of a bitch where our source of information is.¡± Rod is shaking his head. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You killed her too? At least get a bit of- f.u.c.k it. Good thing we still have a chance from the phone I found. It¡¯s still charging but Jared will radio in if he finds anything. While waiting for that, what about the n of attack for those f.u.c.kers?¡± I looked at Rod.


    ¡°Well I had some inspiration from you.¡± Rod smiled devilishly.


    ¡°That n is crazy.¡± Iskoh was the one shaking his head now.


    ¡°Hmm? Do tell.¡± I¡¯m curious.


    ¡°Well after my soldiers are done unloading the cargo helicopters, we¡¯ll secure¡­¡± he started to tell his n.


    I¡¯m listening and I¡¯m starting to get excited but it turns to worry, then excitement, then worry, then confusion, and over and over. Kaley and Micah seemed confused from his n and they said their goodbyes a few moments after.


    ¡°Told you, it¡¯s unbelievable. There¡¯s too many holes in it. If you have another n, please tell him.¡± Iskoh looked at me.


    ¡°Woah, woah, Rod, I want to take care of all of them, not leave remnants roaming around.¡± I said after hearing his n.


    ¡°What?! Don¡¯t tell me that didn¡¯t sound cool?!¡± Rod is bbergasted.


    ¡°Well, it f.u.c.k.i.n.g is but-¡± he then cuts me off.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be here for only three days and a day has already passed. I know you have a great mind and could do something better if you sit down but don¡¯t forget that you have your own ce to take care of. Careful nning would yield great results but it would just take much of our time.¡± Rod exined with a devilish smile.


    I¡¯m scratching my head furiously while Iskoh is wearing a helpless smile.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you two looking like that?! It¡¯s the best one we can do in this time span. You wouldn¡¯t be able to carry it out once we leave because you wouldn¡¯t be just busy fortifying this ce but you¡¯d need specific people for this n to work. So, we¡¯d just need to follow this you sons of bitches!¡± Rod dered, cackling.


    ¡°Haaa~ fine, I agree. It¡¯s not like a lot of them would be alive after that. Resources spent would be a lot higher though. Well, it depends exactly on when they are.¡± I replied with a sigh. <hr>


    ¡°What? You¡¯re agreeing with him? I think this n is still a bit too shy¡­¡± Iskoh is in disbelief.


    ¡°Bah! It¡¯s already a 2-1 decision. I¡¯m the f.u.c.k.i.n.g president, deal with it.¡± Rod has his arms on his h.i.p.s, smiling.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll bring my-¡± then Rod cuts me off again.


    ¡°No, you stay here for now. I don¡¯t want you near a f.u.c.k.i.n.g helicopter you son of a bitch. Have my soldiers do that prep work for now. Well, I have something I need your help on here.¡± Rod said, nodding.


    ¡°Hmm? What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Teach this son of a bitch how to shoot properly. Not just him but his wife, Roque, and Micah. You¡¯re the best shot I¡¯ve seen in my life. That¡¯s hard for me to admit but afterst time, f.u.c.k me, I¡¯m still tempted to drag you at my ce.¡± Rod said, reminiscing.


    ¡°Whatst time?¡± Iskoh said.


    ¡°You¡¯ll seeter, you¡¯d better learn something so that your hand wouldn¡¯t get clipped like that.¡± Rod pushed us to find the others.


    ¡°What happened with your hand?¡± I asked and Iskoh showed his wound.


    On the webbing of his thumb and index finger, there¡¯s a small part where a pinch of flesh is missing. It must have something to do with holding the gun wrong and the slide clipping some of his skin off.


    ¡°Well that could be easily fixed if you follow closely. Even Micah though? I thought you would¡¯ve taught her lots.¡± I looked at Rod.


    ¡°It¡¯s not enough. She almost had a close call yesterday too. She looks fine on the outside but she¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g terrified when the dust settled. Improvements to one¡¯s own skill is a must and she has lots more to improve on. Teach her like how you teach your wife Kaley. Got it, kid?¡± Rod exined,


    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Do we even have proper shooting targets here? There¡¯s an indoor range a bit far from here and we shoot those paper targets there. Do we have something simr?¡± Iskoh asked. <hr>


    ¡°Well, I have a solution for that¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Iskoah and Rod said.


    We gathered the people we¡¯ll train and a few of my group started to tag along. The people with experience with the four of them are Iskoh and Micah. Jade and Roque don¡¯t know jack shit about anything and I¡¯ll start them off with the basics. I made them choose a handgun they prefer to use from the plethora of guns I brought over to this ce or the ones they have on their small armory.


    Iskoh went with the Colt 1911, Micah has her Glock 26, Jade went with the same thing her brother used which is a Glock 19, and Roque was excitedly holding a Smith and Wesson Model 17 revolver.


    ¡°Wow, Roque, you went for that old one, eh?¡± Rod chuckled.


    ¡°Revolvers are much better, right? This thing has more power, right?¡± Roque said and a fist came through his head from Rod.


    ¡°I would¡¯ve done that myself.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°That uses .22 rounds. It could kill but it needs to hit a vital part first. How about this Model 19 instead of that Model 17?¡± I asked him and showed him the bullets the Model 19 uses.


    ¡°Oh, I thought they were all the same¡­ do I really need to use one? We have sold-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°What if I point this gun at you right now? Can your ¡®soldier¡¯e in time to save you?¡± I looked at him.


    ¡°You¡¯re right¡­¡± he nodded a few times.


    ¡°Well that was easy.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay, let me see you fire it your way first and we¡¯ll go from there, okay?¡± I said and the four nodded.


    ¡°Hey kid, I thought you would take care of the targets?¡± Rod asked. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, wait a moment.¡± I grabbed one of the papers we have on hand and started to draw on them.


    It took me a few moments to draw the figures but when they saw what¡¯s on disy, they¡¯re already in disbelief.


    ¡°Holy f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit, is there anything you can¡¯t do?¡± Rod started to chuckle.


    They are perfect ill.u.s.trations of the bloody figures we¡¯ve encountered. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that they have no color and they¡¯re pping since I haven¡¯t secured them in ce, you¡¯d think it¡¯s a 3D model. I made one for each of them but when Iskoh saw his target, he frowned.


    It was an exact portrait of Kiko.


    ¡°Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me?¡± Iskoh looked at me, visibly upset.


    ¡°I told you. You need to control that thing we do. Now shoot it in the head and I¡¯ll tell you what¡¯s wrong with you.¡± I simply smiled.


    ¡°Too soon, kid.¡± Rod mentioned.


    ¡°I disagree, hit the iron while it¡¯s hot. The f.u.c.k are you standing there for? You¡¯re part of the ss too! You said you¡¯re good but I haven¡¯t seen you actually shoot. Let¡¯s have a little contest between you guyster and the winner will have an awesome prize.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Prize? What prize?¡± they all asked.


    ¡°We will get to that for the meantime, hit the target.¡± I smiled again which annoyed all of them.


    I watched each of them shoot a round and several problems already popped up.


    ¡°Iskoh, wall.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?¡± he looked at me.

 Chapter 288

    Chapter 288: 288


    ¡°The wall.¡± I widened my eyes as I repeated what I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, I heard you but what is it?¡± he looked at me, eager to learn.


    ¡°Okay, let me borrow that and show everyone. Not just Iskoh but all of you are shooting from the ck and not the wall.¡± I said as I took his gun.


    They all gathered around me and I told them to watch my trigger press. I cleared the chamber first and removed the magazine though I¡¯m still pointing the gun to where the targets were. The pad of my finger is now on top of the trigger and I¡¯m slowly pressing it until I meet the wall of resistance after the ck.


    ¡°See it?¡± I asked them.


    ¡°I see no difference.¡± Roque is shaking his head.


    I let go of the trigger and did the same thing again.


    ¡°See it?¡± I asked again.


    ¡°Umm, is it the thingy where you could press it and it would still not fire?¡± Jade raised her hand.


    ¡°Oh, that ¡®thingy¡¯ your referring to is called the ck. I guess this is something you all need to feel. Clear your guns first and try to press through the ck until you reach some resistance. It varies from gun to gun so what I¡¯m showing with Iskoh¡¯s 1911 can¡¯t be the same for your guns. Iskoh, try it again. Feel it first and burn in your head as to where it is.¡± I replied as I handed him back his gun.


    All of them, even Rod, is slowly pressing their triggers and some of them seeded in finding the wall. However, some of them would press too much and would actually dry-fire it.


    ¡°Oh~ found it~ It¡¯s this, right?¡± Micah looked at me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°So it¡¯s the point where it gets a bit harder to press¡­¡± Roque muttered, holding his chin.


    ¡°Yeah, I encourage you to practice that each time you draw and point it, before you shoot, it would be right up to the wall and not the ck.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Sure, but why? It still shoots the same, right?¡± Roque said, curious.


    ¡°Not quite¡­¡± Iskoh trailed.


    ¡°Best way to exin it is to try it for yourself, right? Shoot at the targets a few more times but make sure to do it as I instructed. You don¡¯t need to shoot fast yet, only proper. You guys have a few more things to adjust in shooting but we¡¯d tackle it one by one.¡± I said to them.


    They shot a couple of rounds and Iskoh immediately felt the difference.


    ¡°Doing that makes me yank it less¡­ right?¡± Iskoh looked at me half-guessing and I nodded.


    ¡°Yeah, proper trigger management could also help you to shoot faster and urately. Sometimes, when you pull it from the ck, like you said, you could yank it to different directions and it would make you miss.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! You still have a lot to learn Iskoh!¡± Rod mocked him,ughing.


    ¡°Yeah~ you have a problem too.¡± I scratched my head.


    ¡°What?! I¡¯m hitting them perfectly, aren¡¯t I?!¡± Rod was shocked. <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re aiming way down. Can¡¯t you see most of your shots are lower than the nose? It wouldn¡¯t matter as much close range but when we go to the middle range and above, problems would appear. What you¡¯re doing is anticipating or timing the recoil incorrectly. Don¡¯t drive your gun down just before you shoot or else all your shots would go lower or farther than what you¡¯re aiming at. Just hold it tight and drive it back to the target after it recoils. I¡¯m not telling you to wait for the gun to settle but drive it down after you shoot, not before. You would be able to shoot much faster and more urate that way,¡± I exined.


    ¡°Well son of a bitch, f.u.c.k me.¡± Rod is shaking his head.


    A few soldiers and residents that have nothing to do started to make a small semi-circle around us to try to listen in to what I¡¯m teaching.


    ¡°Is there anything wrong with me you could point out?¡± Jade asked me.


    ¡°For you, since you¡¯ve just been learning for the first time like Roque, practicing more if you could is the way to go. The only thing I¡¯ve noticed is that you¡¯re holding your gun a bit low and loose. Hold it up as much as you can up to that tail just before the slide and grip it as tight as you can so it won¡¯t veer off. You could ce the fingers of your supporting hand right on the grooves in between the fingers of your other hand aside from just on top of it so you would have a tighter fit.¡± I replied.


    She¡¯s scrunching her eyebrows but Jude is assisting her so she could understand it better.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, learning new things takes time. You-¡± then Roque cut me off.


    ¡°How about me?¡± Roque is tapping my shoulder several times.


    ¡°Oh, switch guns.¡± I replied and he choked.


    ¡°WHAT?! WHY?! I PICKED ONE EARLIER AND YOU CHANGED IT NOW YOU¡¯RE MAKING ME CHANGE AGAIN?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Yes.¡± I replied immediately. <hr>


    ¡°WHY?!¡± he¡¯s starting to lose it.


    ¡°That .357 is a bit much for you. I suggest a gun chambered in 9mm or even a .22 so you¡¯d get used to it first. However, please veer off from a revolver for now since most of them only hold six rounds. You¡¯re better off with something like a Beretta M9 or a Glock 19 or 26 that they¡¯re using. More bullet capacity is the way to go.¡± I exined.


    ¡°THEN YOU SHOULD¡¯VE TOLD ME SOONER!!! ARE YOU MESSING WITH ME?!¡± he shouted but I ced my hand above his shoulder.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s funny.¡± I just shrugged.


    He almost popped a vein while everyone chuckled.


    ¡°Seriously though, your grip is not as strong so your shots go way off. Unless you could manage that, practice with a lower caliber gun first. Go back to that Model 17 if you still want to use revolvers.¡± I concluded.


    Micah never had to ask me questions since Kaley is already giving her pointers. Since I¡¯m teaching a lower number than what I usually teach, I¡¯m able to focus on each of them more than I usually do. The bullets we could freely use are not that limited since Rod actually brought a lot for this ce so it could start over. I managed to replenish the rounds that we used and add a bit more to what we brought so we¡¯re at full capacity again. Despite that, they didn¡¯t shoot a lot though they made each shot count. There¡¯s some improvements at the end of the lesson and all they needed to do is assimte what they¡¯ve learned and practice a lot more than we did today in the following days.


    The short lesson eventually ended.


    There are still a lot of things to do inside these walls so we designated jobs. Iskoh is overwhelmed but ecstatic by the amount of people that he couldmand now since the residents that he was protecting too much before became part of his workforce. Rod started with his n and left us two.


    The initial orders is to clean every nook and cranny of the ce since we only dragged the bodies outside to be burned. The lodgings will have assigned rooms prioritising the elderly and persons with disabilities. All the resources inside this ce will be gathered in one spot so it could be equally distributed or stored in its proper ceter.


    I told Iskoh my setup at my ce and he decided to copy most of it. <hr>


    He still has medical personnel among the residents and some soldiers who know a bit about taking care of people so a new record will be madeter when they start to do check ups on everyone. It will be alongside the records we will gather inside this hospital if they have one already.


    The vehicles at the parking area will be moved to a different location since the parking area will be the temporary camp of everyone until the whole hospital is cleaned out. The small cars will be moved first but vehicles with a lot of cargo space will remain in case we need more vehicles for a run. They will all be looted and the fuel inside their tanks will be siphoned so that we could use the extra fuel for the vehicles or the generators we have.


    Large scaffolding tents will be erected after the parking area is cleared.


    ¡°Oh yeah, there¡¯s a gas station near here. We could bring the trucks so they could be filled up alongside the containers we have at the back of the hospital.¡± I said to Iskoh.


    ¡°That sounds great. I¡¯d also like to mobilize some of the soldiers outside with you so they could sweep the streets and the neighborhood of anything they couldy their hands on. Basic lifting of our items and cleaning the hospital could be easily done by some of the residents so we need our fighting force outside to bring back some stuff we could use here. Them going in droves would make it safer and faster.¡± Iskoh added.


    ¡°If you want to make a smaller scale version of our n to block the bridges and take half of this city, you could start with this ce. Aside from the Mabini bridge if you check the map, there¡¯s seven small bridges here that could easily be blocked by a bus or a single container van. You could leave one open and just have soldiers guarding the other bridges after you clear this small part of your city. This part of the city is pretty high-endpared to where the gang members areing from. There¡¯s several car dealersh.i.p.s, a mall, gas stations, restaurants, midtown homes and a few condominium units. At the southwest part of this chunk, there¡¯s a garden that I surmise has seeds where you would be able to grow your own food, not just here. The only thing missing here is farm animals and you¡¯d be almost set.¡± I said.


    ¡°Almost set, huh?¡± He was in deep thought as he¡¯s checking the ces I pointed to.


    ¡°If you seed in reiming the parts I told you about, you¡¯d have a bigger territory than me. You¡¯re lucky that you have bridges here you could block so there¡¯s a bottleneck you could easily handle them. There¡¯s a few at my ce but this n cannot be done over there.¡± I said.


    ¡°That would be the greatest scenario in this ce. However, I learned that having a territory too big could be bad for me. I¡¯d need to take into ount a lot of things or else a repeat of what happened before might ur. I might just take this chunk of the city first for a while before I take even half of it in the future. However, let me thank you for the things- no, everything you¡¯ve done here. I¡¯m really impressed at what you could do and I hope we could work with each other until this thing is over.¡± he motioned for a handshake.


    ¡°A handshake?! At least give me half or even a quarter of the soldiers Rod would be leaving you with! Damn, I had to work hard to get a few from him and several aircrafts and he¡¯s giving it to you for free! C¡¯mon man, I¡¯ll even ept a dozen but I want to choose them myself. I¡¯m thinking of Cruz and Mike for starters. How about it? Mike¡¯s already injured so at least let me take one more. Also, I wouldn¡¯t have a vehicle to take them with so if you would be so kind as to lend me a helicopter for them?¡± I¡¯m lightly elbowing his sides a few times.


    He immediately choked but he started tough heartily after. He started to wheeze while clutching his stomach and I think this time is the first time I saw himugh without a worry in his face.

 Chapter 289

    Chapter 289: 289


    I looked behind me and I noticed that Kaley, Micah, Jude, and Jade were also smiling from what I said. I saw Jade mouthing ¡®thank you¡¯ with a bright smile maybe because I made her husbandugh and forget even for a short moment. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hah! Okay, I¡¯ll see what I could do. A dozen or so soldiers wouldn¡¯t hurt me as much but a heli-¡± then Jude cut him off.


    ¡°No, give me one. You took my sister from me, I take a helicopter from you, understand?¡± Jude¡¯s words were threatening but his expression and tone didn¡¯t help his case.


    ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Iskoh is bewildered.


    ¡°So now I¡¯m only worth a helicopter?! How rude!¡± Jade eximed full of emotion which is a great contrast from her brother.


    ¡°I¡¯m wrong. Give me two helicopters.¡± Jude nodded a few times.


    I snorted with Kaley.


    ¡°Jude!¡± Jade eximed.


    ¡°Okay¡­ three? Wait¡­ four?¡± Jude is tilting his head sideways before his sister attacks him.


    ¡°Hey, speaking of giving things away, Micah performed the best, right? Well, Ro- I mean the president opted out from the contest but she hit the targets with the tightest groups. So, what¡¯s her prize?¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°Oh yeah, if either Iskoh or Jade won, I¡¯m nning to give either my Tavor or that G9 before we leave this ce. Now that Micah won, we could do the same thing or I could customize one for you when we get back home. What do you think?¡± I looked at Micah. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh~ It¡¯s a gun~ I think I want something simr to what Kaley is using now.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Oh! Here, try it if you like it. This here is the¡­¡± Kaley started to exin the features of her gun.


    ¡°Oh~ Really? It takes the same magazines as my pistol?¡± Micah was surprised.


    ¡°Something like that but your Glock 26 could do the same. Your gun could take different mags aside from my Maxim 9 that only takes Glock 17 mags. I just wanted to use this one because of the integrated suppressor. The good thing with yours is that it¡¯s great for concealment.¡± Kaley exined and I¡¯m having a concealed hard-on after hearing her say that smoothly.


    ¡°Umm~ You know a lot about guns too, huh?¡± Micah said, smiling.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t understand half of that.¡± Iskoh mentioned.


    ¡°I understood nothing¡­¡± Jade weakly said.


    ¡°If you give me five helicopters and you¡¯ll understand everything.¡± Jude nodded a few times again.


    ¡°I think telling him to negotiate is a bad idea. I wish I got this on camera since Oscar would die witnessing this.¡± I thought to myself.


    The six of us talked for a while more and we separated after to continue our work. Micah was excited to be able to have another gun and Kaley even offered to give her what she¡¯s using now but Micah stopped her. It¡¯s because we¡¯d still need that when we go out for a run and Micah is not allowed to go outside because she needs more training. It is also important to mention the president will have our heads if anything happens to her.


    Kaley and I walked back to the hospital to assemble our team. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s good that the president asked you to teach them how to use guns properly, especially Micah and Jade. It¡¯s dangerous being in a crossfire when you don¡¯t know how to protect yourself.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Micah just needs more practice which I think she doesn¡¯t do much but aside from that, she¡¯ll be able to protect herself if she does. It¡¯s also good that Iskoh realized that it¡¯s a bad idea to keep your loved ones just cooped up being protected. Doing that before is stupid if you ask me, just teach her how and you¡¯d be alongside each other, right? It¡¯s still dangerous but you got each other¡¯s back. It¡¯s like having a shield-brother.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ wait- what¡¯s a shield-brother?¡± her smile turned to confusion.


    ¡°Oh, hahaha¡­ it¡¯s from a faction where you could turn to a werewolf if you be a member of their inner circle. Oh shi- I¡¯m gonna let you y that when wee back!¡± I replied.


    ¡°S-sure¡­¡± she hesitated but she agreed.


    ¡°You agreed! No backsies when we get home!¡± I took her hand and we continued on looking for Jared and the rest.


    We found them sweeping the broken ss and Niks is holding a sack up so Jared could ce it there to be disposed ofter. Tatiana is helping with setting up the scaffolding tents just next to them and I called them over with Cruz, Marlon, Mando, and the rest of the soldiers I¡¯m withst time.


    Since several soldiers were already deployed to thin out the numbers outside by a sizable amount, I led my group with other groups of soldiers to make roadblocks at the bridges. Since we don¡¯t have ess to container vans at the moment, we¡¯d be making use ofrge vehicles to make some sort of blockade to limit the amount of zombiesing while the others are clearing them.


    Our first stop is a small bridge right next to a high school and several residential buildings. It¡¯s also right next to the Pasig River where the other half of the ce we upied is also enveloped with. There¡¯s a Barangay Hall on the other side of the bridge but I¡¯m not nning on going there since the files stored there could also be found in the files from the City Hall.


    We jumped down and I¡¯m more than relieved that Jared is the one overlooking from the top of the truck. Our goal is not to clear everything around the area but to create a small perimeter to allow us to block that bridge. Armed with our handheld weapons, we killed our way to the small parking lot that belongs to the high school. There¡¯s several vehicles parked and we picked a couple of SUVs to use. <hr>


    We resorted to hot-wiring them since their keys were nowhere to be found. We packed it tight against that small bridge and we padded it with a few more vehicles behind so anything that tries to cross it would have a hard time or wouldn¡¯t be able to at all. It¡¯s not as effective as stacking several container vans but it makes the trickle of them lessen.


    Before we left that bridge I already got my hands on a few knick knacks.


    On the glovepartments and on the trunks of the vehicles we used, I found a few valuable things to take back. Aside from the several tools that could maintain a vehicle, I found two mobile phones, car chargers, a few ch.i.p.s, bottled waters, and a neck pillow.


    ¡°Seriously bro? Heh.¡± Jared chuckled.


    ¡°What? They are right in front of me, why wouldn¡¯t I take them?¡± I was in disbelief from his words.


    ¡°I know, but a neck pillow bro?¡± he¡¯s shaking his head while we¡¯re driving away.


    ¡°It¡¯s not just a neck pillow. Check this out.¡± I started to press a button at the side and it started to vibrate.


    ¡°And that could help in¡­?¡± he¡¯s speaking with a mocking tone.


    ¡°Hey, having a good rest is important too. Don¡¯t underestimate the power offort!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°Ooh~ This feels nice¡­¡± Kaley touched it.


    The soldiers with us that aren¡¯t familiar in how we do things are giving us weird looks but it changes when we drop body after body. We¡¯re on the way to the second small bridge and I a smile is already stered on my face. <hr>


    ¡°Let¡¯se to the other side first. I bet we could find several valuables there.¡± I said to our driver.


    We drove by a several storied condominium first before we crossed the small bridge which is looking a little more beat up than the first one. It¡¯s paint is just mold and there¡¯s visible cracks on the sides of it but it is still passable.


    A few meters away is the Police Station and I quickly jumped down and dismembered a few bodies. We¡¯re making quick progress because of our numbers and Jared would just fire several rounds in case wee across a special one. So far, they¡¯re onlying solo or just a handful so it could be taken care of with careful aiming from a distance.


    I tried peeking at the gaps of the windows. Some of them have curtains that could block my view but some of them are viable.


    Several dozen are inside and I could almost fail to see the walls inside because of how tightly packed some of them were. I could see some of them wearing civilian clothing and some police uniforms. I nced at their belts and it seems that their service firearms are still with them. The entrance is on the other side of this building and some of them seemed to be trying to go up on the second floor.


    ¡°We¡¯re going inside to clear them. The chances are, several guns could still be inside for your guys use and a few more things.¡± I said to my group.


    ¡°They¡¯re a lot though.¡± Mando said.


    ¡°Okay, here¡¯s what we do then, once I open the doors, attract them drive around that street. That will allow you to thin their numbers or lose them. We could kill them but we still have several bridges to go through. I¡¯ll go inside with some of us so we could check inside if my hunch is right.¡± I replied and they nodded.


    The moment I reached the double doors, I almost burst outughing.


    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ dead¡­ open¡­ inside? What?¡± Cruz tried to read the warning signs.

 Chapter 290

    Chapter 290: 290


    I¡¯m still looking at the sign and I¡¯m trying hard not tough but my face is already giving it away. The truck Jared is on top of drove a little closer and he managed to catch a glimpse of it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hah! Bro! See that shit?!¡± Jared pped his thighs,ughing.


    ¡°Sir? I can¡¯t¡­¡± Cruz is scratching his head.


    A few more soldiers came down and when they saw the sign, a select few gave reactions.


    ¡°Cruz, seriously?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You haven¡¯t watched The Pacing Unliving?¡±


    ¡°I did..¡±


    ¡°Forgot the hospital sce-¡±


    ¡°Oh! F.u.c.k me! Hahahaha!¡±


    ¡°Be serious guys, a few are already approaching from behind.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, this shit is still funny though.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ it really is¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    Five soldiers wearing their military uniforms came up to us and started a short conversation. They meet the standard physique for being in the military and they seem to have the control to fool around and be aware at the same time. Not to mention they know what I¡¯mughing about so their fate is already sealed. The other soldiers at the back chopped down the few following behind us and I made a short conversation with the five before getting back on business. Kaley is giving a faint smile watching me talk about the show for a short moment.


    ¡°This five, with Cruz, Mando, Marlon, and Mike¡­ they¡¯reing with me back home.¡± I thought to myself and they shuddered when they felt my gaze.


    ¡°Bro, I¡¯ll bet a p at the back a hand wi-¡± Jared was about to tell the scene after the protagonist from the TV Series we¡¯re referring to saw pale handsing out of the gaps but in our case, a hand really came out with long nails, well mostly.


    The pale hand is stained with darkened blood and missing a few digits but it almost copied the scene perfectly. It started to clutch the chains that are keeping the door shut but the joints in its knuckles popped to the opposite side when it tried to use more force. It made a small cracking sound which is not as loud but that happening made the ones who saw and heard what happened give out a solemn expression.


    ¡°Did it just?¡± one of the soldiers that has a nametag of ¡®Szar¡¯ muttered.


    ¡°Yeah, it made a noise as if it got hurt when its knuckles got bent. It also pulled its hand back as if it¡¯s scalded by hot water.¡± I replied.


    All of them let out noises. It¡¯s usually a low growl or someone almost choking but this time, after it got injured, it let out a shriek as if it¡¯s in pain. It¡¯s faintly distinct but you¡¯d feel it¡¯s different the first time you hear it. I¡¯ve cut them down without killing them outright multiple times but I¡¯ve only heard that noise when they¡¯re about to chomp down on my neck or dive in head first. I¡¯ve never heard or saw them like that when that happened before.


    The way it suddenly pulled its hand back is sending gs in my head.


    ¡°If possible, we need to take it back¡­ alive if possible.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ feeling pain?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°It seems like the one child that retained some of its human features, correct?¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see about that.¡± I replied and I slowly approached the door.


    When I drew nearer, they seem to have caught my scent since several dozen hands tried to reach for me. There¡¯s also a few popping out from the windows but it¡¯s futile. Huge wooden nks are hammered in the windows to keep them inside even if they managed to break the window ss down. A few fingers managed to wiggle out but it¡¯s just a sight to keep some people awake at night. <hr>


    I drew my katana and I chopped an arm off.


    The arm I lopped off does not belong to the one I saw earlier but I want to feed my curiosity. The moment the forearm I cut made a small dust on the ground, its remaining parts are still moving around like it¡¯s nothing. I chopped a few more and now there¡¯s several stumps waving their arms around. Their blood seemed to be too sticky to fly around when they wave their hands so that¡¯s a plus. The dismembered pieces are on the ground and it made a small pile where some of them have the bone almost slipping off.


    The one earlier I can¡¯t spot. I remembered its features but none of the sort appeared when I approached the doors. I even checked the pile on my feet in case I missed it but to no avail.


    The owners of the stumps slowly iling by the doors are now blocking it and I don¡¯t want the soldiers to identally kill that special or irregr one when we open the doors so I have to change it up.


    ¡°Yank the nks of that window so we could let out a few at a time. Let¡¯s open one for now since we don¡¯t know how much would spill out if we yanked more. I remember a crowbar in one of the toolboxes we took.¡± I ordered the soldiers and they followed.


    They started to rifle through the toolbox for a time so I lent a hand. A small perimeter is always erected every time we make a stop.


    ¡°It¡¯s in the yellow one with a CAT logo.¡± I said and they were in disbelief when they found it.


    ¡°W-we¡¯re gonna open it now s-sir samurai¡­¡± one of the soldiers said.


    ¡°Samurai?¡± I looked back at her.


    ¡°Umm, ah- some of us can¡¯t pronounce your name Ish- Ishi- that properly so we used a codename¡­ is that fine? The president sometimes calls you that if we¡¯re talking about you.¡± She seemed fidgety and it¡¯s a huge contrast from her build. Judging from her uniform, she seemed to be from Rod¡¯s group.


    ¡°Sure¡­ the president calls me that sometimes, huh? I guess it¡¯s better than getting called ¡®kid¡¯ all the time.¡± I replied, almost smiling.


    ¡°I thought you said you¡¯re not one, huh?¡± Kaley chuckled. <hr>


    ¡°Well technically, it¡¯s just a nickname not a title so¡­ loophole!¡± I replied and she¡¯s shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    The soldiers have ced the crowbars perfectly and they¡¯re just waiting for my signal to yank the concrete nails that we¡¯re used to hammer in the nks through the wall. When I gave them the signal, they quickly applied force and the nks were quickly removed. The ss behind it is already broken but there¡¯s still jagged pieces remaining. It didn¡¯t matter as much because what mattered is that we need to be systematic in dealing with the ones that are starting to spill out.


    ¡°Kill.¡± I said at the first one I saw.


    The crowbar the soldiers were holding found its ce inside the bloody figure¡¯s head. Its t side went straight through from its right ear to the left ear and brought a few bits and pieces when it exited.


    ¡°Kill.¡± I said the same thing for the second one.


    The hook part of the crowbar entered the second one¡¯s eye and it stopped moving immediately. Having it hinged in that ce makes dragging it to the side easier.


    It continued on for a while because of their numbers though I¡¯m making a swift decision if the one that jumped out would be disposed of or not. I¡¯m quickly identifying them and if it¡¯s not what I¡¯m looking for, its head would be either cracked open or bore a hole into and be dragged to the side for the next one. The first one who came through were the ones that weren¡¯t able to squeeze their hands through the gap in the door and still have their bodies intact. The small bottleneck made by that window is enough for us to manage the ones that areing out. The most that coulde out at once are two but they would immediately tumble when they fall down.


    ¡°Sir, this small operation is going smoothly, can we open another window?¡± Cruz asked.


    ¡°Well it is too easy doing this, it¡¯s almost illegal. Okay, go ahead.¡± I¡¯m scratching my head.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Yank open the one close to it but listen close to mymands since we need the one earlier to be left alive. You could hook its body with the crowbar but don¡¯t aim for its head. You could also dismember the arms and legs so transporting it would be easier.¡± I said.


    They eventually followed my orders and opened up another path for the zombies toe out. The ones with the stumpy arms followed and they didn¡¯t need my instruction to know that they were not the ones I¡¯m looking for. We eventually opened up two more windows since we could still manage it and we significantly reduced their numbers. We had to honk the horn a few times to attract the ones that are still inside.


    I¡¯m listening for noise from the second floor and there¡¯s a few muffled sounds I could still hear but not as loudpared to earlier when there was a mass of them inside. We started to notice a fewing from the second floor but I saw them falling down the stairs for an unknown reason. It almost sounded like they¡¯re slipping at each step or missing the stepspletely and falling down. Aside from them, if anything, there could still be a few trapped inside the offices and it could easily be taken care of. However, despite all that, the one I¡¯ve been looking for still hasn¡¯te out. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s still ying hard to get, huh?¡± I said.


    ¡°We should go inside. I think most of them are gone now, correct?¡± Tatiana asked and I nodded.


    I called for Kaley, Tatiana, Niks, Mando, and Cruz and I led them inside the police station. I picked the lock first and removed the sign and turned it around so it wouldn¡¯t distract me. The moment I opened the doors, I started to think twice if we¡¯ll proceed or not. The flooring is just a bloody slip and slide of different kinds of fluids meshed together. The sight of it could make anyone with a weak stomach immediately throw up and that¡¯s not the worst of it. The smell and warmness it is wafting towards us is making a few soldiers gag. It¡¯s not as worse when they areing from the windows since we still have some distance but the moment we drew closer is like using a shoe of a guy with several foot infections as a face mask.


    ¡°Do we still go inside? Our footing would be impeded.¡± Kaley said.


    I looked around the neighborhood and my eyesnded on a particr ce. Everyone followed to where I was looking at and they looked back at me in confusion.


    I had a thought and said, ¡°Heh. Let¡¯s go there first.¡±


    ¡°Bro, can you tell me why?¡± Jared said, confused.


    ¡°Seriously? You¡¯ve known me since birth and you don¡¯t know what I¡¯m gonna do next?¡± I was acting like I was exasperated.


    ¡°But bro¡­¡± he trailed.


    ¡°C¡¯mon already! We¡¯re wasting time here!¡± I then marched to the store a few meters away from us not minding the looks I was being given.


    ¡°What exactly are we doing there?¡± Kaley also asked.


    I turned around and almost sang, ¡°It¡¯s a hard knock life~¡±

 Chapter 291

    Chapter 291: 291


    Everyone behind Kaley is looking confused as hell and some of them are looking at the person next to them to ask about what I meant. I ordered most of them to stay put in our small perimeter and I continued walking towards the store I¡¯m looking at earlier. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious. Wait, you are?!¡± Kaley walked briskly to catch up to me.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That ce, we¡¯re actually doing it?!¡± her voice is rising but her face is almost smiling.


    ¡°Not the whole musical, just cleaning. Props to you for getting that reference, fistbump?¡± I raised my left fist.


    Kaley¡¯s mouth is agape from my reply and the people behind us that I ordered to follow me to help carry some of the stuff are much worse. The shop I walked to is selling random stuff but the first thing I saw ovepping at the road are several feet of garden hoses, mops, and brushes with long handles. I picked the lot and everyone back at the trucks were losing their minds.


    ¡°S-sir?¡±


    ¡°Is that what I think it is?¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­¡±


    ¡°Are we really¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I think we are¡­¡±


    I ignored their remarks and I started to hand out the mops and brushes among them. I hooked up the garden hoses to the faucet and when I turned it on, the pressure was just right. I was about ready to start cleaning but Jared shouted at me.


    ¡°Bro! Are you really serious?! This n is the stupidest n I¡¯ve ever witnessed!¡± Jared eximed while the others faintly nodded.


    ¡°Yes.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?! Then why the f.u.c.k are we doing it?!¡± he¡¯s starting to lose it.


    ¡°People say that if something is stupid but it works, it ain¡¯t stupid. Well, we¡¯ll see if this is ain¡¯t it? If you have any other ns, tell me.¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± he was speechless.


    ¡°Okay, okay, hear me out. The one we¡¯re looking for is clearly noting out so we need to go inside. If we take a step inside, no, WHEN we take a step inside, the risk of us slipping is close to a 100%, right? It¡¯s like trying to catch a pig covered in oil! One slip and your lips touching that muck is worse than getting herpes. You¡¯d be lucky if a bump is the only thing you¡¯d grow from that but you get my point, right?¡± I said while waving my hose around.


    ¡°Fine¡­ but if you sing that f.u.c.k.i.n.g song, I¡¯ll head back, deal?¡± he stared at me. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯ll get copyrighted anyway if I do that, sure.¡± I shrugged.


    He was still shaking his head, the same with a few soldiers but they eventually gave in and followed my orders.


    I said a few things to justify what we¡¯re about to do but in the end, it would really look stupid.


    We literally started on a corner and I¡¯m spraying water so that the f.u.c.k.i.n.g slip and slide on the floor could be easily scrubbed. The nks on the windows were yanked every time the group furiously cleaning was about to pass through them. We found more dead bodies inside from the process but the one I¡¯m looking for cannot be found on the first floor, yet. Since we still have several soldiers on standby, I ordered them to start on searching the nearby shops for anything we could use back home to make use of our time wisely.


    We found a couple of jail cells which are part of a much bigger room where several arms are reaching out and it looks like some of them were forcefully yanked out and gorged upon. Only bones and bits of flesh were left from some of them though there¡¯s ps of skin and flesh still remaining inside the cells that are almost sticking to the metal bars. Even in their condition, they¡¯re still moving slowly but they can¡¯t remove themselves from the metal bars since their bodies were already stuck in between them. The others inside that weren¡¯t stuck are just feasting either on themselves or the ones on disy.


    We walked inside that room after disposing of the ones we saw initially.


    There¡¯s a few more cells when we walked further in and we found what we¡¯re looking for. However, its condition now is not what I hoped it would be when we found it.


    It is almost making a ¡®T¡¯ pose where its arms are spread to its side and its legs are close to each other. The problem is that its back is against one of the cells and several bony hands are keeping it in ce. I¡¯m wondering at first as to why it isn¡¯t making any noise but its throat and jaw were already wed off and yanked off and must it be inside one of the bellies of the bloody figures feasting on it. The only way I know that it¡¯s the one is the hand where the knuckles got bent backwards hasn¡¯t been eaten yet.


    ¡°F.u.c.k. We¡¯re a bitte.¡± I said. <hr>


    I noticed that it is not making any movements and the reason is in front of us.


    The part of its body which is against the metal bars were already eaten off and the ones remaining in front are getting grasped violently and then eaten. Its face is almost falling off and the ones inside must¡¯ve nicked its brain, maybe from trying to reach ces where their hands could still grab something soft. They only needed to clip the skin p near its ear and the scalp would just fall off. The ones inside that are enjoying themselves have a few that are just making a mess since what they¡¯re eating is just falling off the bloody floor because their stomachs are already ruptured.


    I just made a long sigh and killed every single one of them with everyone. I¡¯m just sinking my de slowly and pulling it out when their movements stop. The ones minding their own business in the corners were shot down because we wouldn¡¯t bet on the fact they wouldn¡¯t change in the future.


    We started on clearing the second floor and it¡¯s a relief that it doesn¡¯t have the floor coating the first floor has. We found a few more stuck inside restrooms, offices, or trying to crawl its way down the stairs and they were quickly taken care of. We took everything from this ce we would have use for and we found a gun locker with several guns inside. Most of them are well maintainedpared to the ones we found on the dead bodies. Aside from guns, we found other useful items like their radios, riot gear, night sticks, fire extinguishers, boxes of extra uniforms, important records, and etc.


    ¡°Hey, how about their storage area for evidence? We could find a few things there, right?¡± Kaley mentioned.


    ¡°That¡¯s a great idea. Let¡¯s check that ce now for anything we could find.¡± I replied.


    We already found the keys for the storage area and I¡¯m already expecting a few things in particr. We found a few knives or shivs that had dried blood covering the edge and a few handguns that have their serial numbers filed off. They¡¯re still in working condition for the most part but they definitely need some cleaning. Surprisingly, there¡¯s no drugs to be found and maybe, just maybe, the ones in charge here might¡¯ve been sampling it for themselves.


    ¡°I find it impossible to find none in this city where a lot of gang members are running corners. They were always in the news before too. This ce is defensible if the people guarding it isn¡¯t high as f.u.c.k. Well, not all of them are upstanding and we can¡¯t always have good apples.¡± I thought to myself.


    We also took the couple of pickup trucks just parked on the side that has the Police Station¡¯s colors. We ced the items the soldiers found on it and they were driven by a few of the soldiers back to our ce to save space on the military trucks. Most of them were boxes of food items and the amount of it tells me that not a lot of people managed to survive and scavenge this part of the city. <hr>


    We boarded up the windows and doors once more so people wouldn¡¯t clear this ce the second time. We continued with our current goal of blocking the small bridges and it took us the whole second day to do everything. There¡¯s a few bridges that took us more time than necessary since we encountered a few small-scale hordes and we needed to strategically face them. Not to mention our pit stops in ces where there¡¯s a huge stash of supplies we could take back. The pickup trucks were a huge help in transporting them back and we would just radio in our location if we already moved before they came back.


    Time gradually passed and it¡¯s ourst day at this ce.


    Kaley and I were already in ourbat gear and we¡¯re just staring at each other inside our tent. It¡¯s the early morning and the sun hasn¡¯t evene up yet. Everything we would be using are right in front us and we¡¯re just waiting. Our breathing is slow and the cold wind outside is the only thing you could hear.


    A few momentster, we heard a voice from the radio.


    It was the president.


    It was a short message but hearing it jolted me and my blood started to pump faster.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Wake the f.u.c.k up, samurai! We have a city to burn.¡±


    *bzzt*

 Chapter 292

    Chapter 292: 292


    I looked at Kaley and she¡¯s looking at me solemnly. I gave her a quick kiss before I handed her her helmet. She wore it promptly and we went outside our tent. Niks is already up and Jared is still in the process of yawning. There¡¯s a sound of a zipper getting undone and Tatiana came out of her tent with Micah. Micah¡¯s also wearing fullbat gear and she¡¯s now carrying Kaley¡¯s Lone Wolf G9. An M70 which is simr to Kaley¡¯s rifle back home is what Kaley is now carrying. <center></center><hr>


    No words were exchanged since our nces are enough.


    I looked down from the roof of the hospital and there¡¯s already several soldiers below getting ready. A few lights frommps or shlights are present with some rooms just having turned their lights on. We carried a few things to our S-76 and Micah is the main pilot while Kaley is the co-pilot. I don¡¯t know why, they just made sure I¡¯m the one to board itst.


    Several buzzes of the radio followed by coded conversations is all you could hear. After that, what followed are the whirring sounds of several helicopters lifting off of the ground. The sun is barely rising and we¡¯re hitting them just at the time most of them were just starting to sleep or in the middle of.


    From the phone we found, we have the exact ce where this group of people are staying and the routine of the owner of the phone. We had a long discussion yesterday about whether we would kill everyone on sight. However, from the things we¡¯ve seen just on that single phone, it is f.u.c.k.i.n.g unanimous. It¡¯s not a unique reason at all, it¡¯s just something you have to do when people are not responsible with the power that they¡¯re holding.


    Our helicopter turned to the right direction and we moved forward after we reached a high point.


    It took us a few minutes to reach our area and wended on a nearby building which is our designated position. I ordered the soldiers with us to apany Tatiana and Niks to clear the inside of the building we¡¯re in and make proper precautions at the entrances. We had to shoot a few before wended so it¡¯s only natural to assume that there¡¯s several inside..


    Below, after a moderate distance are the slums where a lot of informal settlers are located and the crime rate is always at an all-time high. Local enforcers before were having a hard time maintaining the peace in that area though sometimes those thugs will resolve the situation with their own hands using violent means. Once you walk inside that ce, it¡¯s your own fault for anything that happens to you. People inside would literally stab you just for a cup of rice and even children will be kidnapped in broad daylight just to have their organs harvested.


    The majority of people that are living there aside from the informal settlers are gang members that simply cause havoc but the ones running the show are members of several syndicates. Not all of them are living there but there¡¯s a few inside that area responsible for why that ce is in that condition. If you¡¯d see even an elderly with gouged out eyes begging the streets for change, better think twice if the money you¡¯d be giving away as charity would even go to their pockets in the end or to the people who made that person that way.


    I wanted to use just the military trucks for this operation but when I learned of its location, I¡¯d have to agree. You can¡¯t even drive a beetle in the centermost of it because of how narrow the roads were. Heck, even my Hayabusa would have trouble because of the random crap that litters those roads. The only thing that they have that they could be proud of is the tall walls that separates them from the city. Iskoh was trying to clean up the slums before but their roots clearly run deep. <center></center><hr>


    Right now, the slums have gotten worse by several notches ever since the world has gone to shit. What we¡¯re doing can¡¯t guarantee we could get rid of them all but it would sure as hell turn those f.u.c.kers into a statistic.


    The moment the cargo helicopters are in position, Rod gave his order.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Drop it you sons of bitches.¡±


    *bzzt*


    We¡¯re watching from atop the building where cargo helicopters carrying several shipping containers are in view. The moment the order was given, those objects weighing several metric tons started falling out of the sky. Gravity did its work and just from the height they were released from would guarantee that anything it fell on would feel the f.u.c.k.i.n.g damage. They were different sizes and the air being present made the speed in which they fall vary by a slight amount but that¡¯s far from anyone¡¯s problem below.


    Faint screams resounded coupled with wails of despair came after several loud crashes. Houses, stores, telephone poles, small apartments, anything it fell on got terraformed.


    Large dust clouds were produced from the impacts and what we¡¯re doing is more than a demolition project. A demolition order is just for a specific building for a wrecking ball but this is more like a ¡®I found a swarm of spiders f.u.c.k this ce kind of¡¯ thing. The tattered houses which a simple storm could blow off is not enough to take that amount of damage. There¡¯s a few houses that are built by hollow blocks and cement but I doubt that could survive too.


    We could only imagine the expressions of the people below who survived the moment they discover those shipping containers are full of zombies with a couple of surprises. <hr>


    One of those shipping containers contains half of the sprinters we caught topped off with several normal ones.


    ¡°Well, in a few moments, they will.¡± I thought to myself


    Then they did.


    The doors for the shipping containers were simply held up by flimsy ropes or a few pieces of zip ties joined together. A strong impact would immediately snap them and the figures inside would spill out uncontrobly.


    Gunshots immediately followed and it¡¯s now total chaos inside the slums.


    I looked at the street below and just as I was about to aim at the fewing towards our building,rge explosions resounded.


    *BOOOOM*


    *BOOM*


    *BOOOOOOOOM* <hr>


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*


    *BOOOOM*


    ¡°Is that ours bro?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Yep, Rod ced a few explosive charges on some of the shipping containers. Not all of them exploded though.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then why did he need arge amount of fuel?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Oh, those things inside? They¡¯re doused with fuel so¡­ you get the picture.¡± I replied.


    The moment the explosions urred, the rotten figures approaching our building switched directions. Those explosions were not the only ones that¡¯s apparent aside from the gunshots but small fires have already started in a few ces inside and going wild.


    From the materials in how some of the houses there are made, it would be very easy for the fire to spread and burn the slums to the ground.


    The zombies that reached the slums are like moths to a me since they got set aze when they made contact with the burning buildings. They¡¯re still running around while still burning and it¡¯s taking time for them to get burnt to a crisp. Not only that helped in spreading the fire, it¡¯s another obstacle the people inside have to go through. They would be in luck if they managed to get out of the slums in one piece. <hr>


    The majority of the people living inside would be either eaten first and get burnedter or the other way around. The only thing left to do for the ones that are left if there is any is to evacuate the slums.


    The sun has started to rise and it¡¯s enough to see clearly without using NVGs.


    That is where our small part started.


    A few of us were stationed in a few points in which the lucky ones could escape to. It will be pretty easy to figure out which to aim for since they will be running the opposite direction the zombies were. I¡¯m still overlooking the whole area while Jared and Kaley are already in position.


    Like clockwork, a few of them appeared. They vaulted over the wall with great difficulty but one fractured his leg after jumping down. I looked at my scope and told Kaley and Jared to standby first.


    They¡¯re all covered in soot and ash and one is already bleeding from its neck. They¡¯re carrying nothing but the clothes on their back and charred figures are following them from behind which squeezed through the other entrance. It¡¯s not a small number of them and they seemed to have retained their motor skills since they could still briskly walk even from their condition.


    They¡¯re slowly making their way but I saw somethinging with great speed on the corner.


    ¡°Bro?¡± Jared reminded me.


    ¡°Not yet.¡± I replied.


    We¡¯ve simply let them get eaten first before shooting them.

 Chapter 293

    Chapter 293: 293


    A few casings clinked when they touched the flooring when Kaley fired thest shot. It was towards the guy limping his way, trying to find cover even if bone is already sticking out of his leg. The noise of the M70 that Kaley fired would¡¯ve attracted arge number of them because a muzzle brake is attached instead of a suppressor. Despite that, only the closer ones to our direction got attracted but they would still redirect towards the slums. <center></center><hr>


    ck smoke is still billowing out from that direction and a few small explosions are urring maybe due to propane tanks or other mmable objects catching fire. The C4 Rod nted that didn¡¯t detonate still hasn¡¯t because they wouldn¡¯t in real life even if you shoot it with a bullet. The gunshots that we are hearing from that ce have lessened significantlypared to earlier but I could still hear a few automatics going off in the distance.


    ¡°These people have no chance going against someone that holds the power of a country.¡± I thought to myself.


    A mass of bloody figures are slowly marching towards the direction of the slums with the exception of a few specials that we prioritized on shooting down. The amount of them is staggeringpared to the ones at my ce. Some of them areing from a few tall buildings after falling down and surviving luckily. The only vehicles that could safely traverse that road is our killdozer and a few vehicles that we modified. If I let Niks travel on their own when they asked me, it¡¯s hard to tell if they coulde back in one piece.


    ¡°How about the normal ones bro? They¡¯re a f.u.c.k.i.n.g lot, do we shoot them too?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s let them be for now, until this operation is over, we deal with the special ones and those people only. Also, Kaley, hold off on shooting for now since that M70 unsuppressed would be trouble.¡± I replied then looked at Kaley.


    ¡°Okay, can I borrow that Tavor then? It¡¯s nostalgic to use an M70 again but I prefer a semi-automatic now.¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± I trailed as I handed her my Tavor.


    Sheid the M70 down and she wore the sling of my Tavor across her body and get into position.


    *CRASH*


    All of a sudden, a huge truck crashed against the gate which came from inside the slums. It¡¯s a 10-wheeler truck and its windshield has several cracks all over. The body has several dents and a few body parts are dangling in some areas. There¡¯s a few people at the back of it holding tight and it¡¯s slowly gaining speed after that crash. The person riding shotgun decided to peek out the window and shoot everything that moves in front of them. He killed a few but a sprinter running in all fours suddenly came from a blind angle and jumped inside in one quick motion.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    shes of light erupted from inside the truck and a gush of blood followed after. The huge truck swerved a few times until it overshot and fell on its side with incredible speed. It started to slide and mow down the mass of zombies marching towards them that immediately turned into paste. It slid several meters until it crashed into a nearby building but it hit its corner. The speed it was sliding in made the impact cause the truck to get bent in a gruesome angle and the people riding at the back can¡¯t be recognized from the ones that turned to a bloody paste.


    A few of them actually got up but are seriously wounded. They tried their best to escape that horde and they even managed to kill a few. They¡¯re fighting for their lives but that¡¯s when our kind¡¯s evil nature kicked in.


    A lucky guy that jumped off before the truck crashed shot hisst surviving ¡®buddies¡¯ so he could get away. Two quick pops to the knee stopped them in their tracks and he gained a substantial lead because the ones following them crouched down and gobbled up the ones screaming for help. However, the windshield of the truck got kicked off and the same figure who jumped inside the truck chased after him. His back was turned and he was running for his life and he didn¡¯t notice it closing the distance. It just stretched its hand out and wed against the guy¡¯s head. I thought he would just get scratched but he didn¡¯t.


    His head flew off several feet ahead. <center></center><hr>


    Everyone witnessed that happening and I didn¡¯t even need to give an order. The moment we saw it chomping down on the guy¡¯s body, they aimed for its head.


    *BSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW*


    Jared and Kaley immediately took shots.


    I thought it would be an easy shot but it wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley.


    We¡¯re not 100% sure on what happened. It could be a fluke or that it just moved its head at the right moment. Their shots missed their mark by a hair. One bullet hit its jaw line and tore through the joints so its jaw is now hanging out and its tongue is dangling wildly. The other bullet just grazed its shoulder making the two shotspletely useless.


    What happened next is that its head snapped to our direction.


    ¡°KROOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!¡± It screamed out loud.


    ¡°SHOOT IT DOWN!!!¡± I shouted.


    It crouched as low as it could and itunched itself running towards our building. It¡¯s running at an erratic zigzag-like pattern as if it knows what it¡¯s doing. The zombies it tangled with would be pushed to the side with great force due to how fast it is running. Jared and Kaley shot it multiple times but a headshot at this distance and the way the target is moving erratically made them miss the head every time. It¡¯s also picking the path it¡¯s treading in where there¡¯s a lot of obstructions so aiming at it properly is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g chore.


    At the rate it is approaching us, I made a decision. I ran to the helicopter to get Oscar¡¯s shockwave and I ran down the stairs. I grabbed my radio and contacted the people below while going at full speed.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°TATIANA WHAT FLOOR ARE YOU ON?!¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    I¡¯m still on the stairs on the 4th floor.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯re at the first- a few are at the second!¡±


    *bzzt*


    I¡¯m making my way to the third.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°INCOMING IRREGULAR!!! BE READY I¡¯M RUNNING DOWN!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    I heard Tatiana shouting orders to guard the entrance.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°BRO IT JUMPED STRAIGHT TO THE 2ND FLOOR!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    Everyone in our frequency heard Jared¡¯s voice.


    *CRASH*


    I heard the crash from the floor below me and several screams followed after erupting gunshots. I had no time to radio in as I dashed to the opposite side of the building where the stairs are located. The moment I reached it, I jumped the whole flight of stairs and broke my fall by rolling over. It¡¯s a few dozen steps but there¡¯s another flight of stairs since I¡¯m still between the 3rd and 2nd floor. I jumped again and rolled over and just as I saw the hallway, I caught a glimpse of that figure lunging towards a soldier inside an opposite room. <hr>


    I immediately heard flesh getting torn apart.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°WE¡¯RE GOING DOWN!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    I heard Kaley¡¯s voice.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°WE¡¯RE COMING UP!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    It was Tatiana¡¯s voice.


    A guttural scream resounded and I saw Tatiana¡¯s figure from the opposite side where the stairs to the 1st floor are located. We just locked eyes but the one I¡¯m chasing after seemed to have noticed me and it broke through the drywall partition and I could see its ugly mug from 6 feet away.


    It lunged towards me but I jumped back at the same time.


    The moment wended, it¡¯s only a couple feet away from me but the shockwave was already aimed at its mouth.


    ¡°You are terminated.¡± I said with an ent then I pulled the trigger.


    *BOOOOM*


    It¡¯s head scattered to a million pieces and its bloody bits decorated the walls.


    I pumped the shotgun and the empty shell fell to the floor. I walked over to the room where it was and saw Cruz¡¯s torn corpse among the few soldiers we brought. I let out a very long sigh and I took their tags after making sure they wouldn¡¯t rise up again. I looked back and the group I¡¯m with are carrying solemn expressions but now is not the time for mourning ourrades. <hr>


    Jared gave a sigh of relief when he saw me alive and kicking while Kaley still took a few moments before calming down. The soldiers close with the ones who died tore the culprit into pieces out of spite even though it¡¯s already dead. I let them do that so at least they¡¯d have a ce to vent their anger and frustration.


    I left a few soldiers to guard and barricade the first floor while we climbed the stairs back to the rooftop to check on the situation outside.


    Micah is carrying a frightened expression when we saw her but it eased when she saw our faces. I told her about what happened below and she actually knew the other soldier that was killed by that wild animal-like sprinter. She asked for the tag of that soldier and she kept it in her pocket.


    We¡¯re just watching the ck smoke slowly turning lighter in color but there¡¯s a few more sources of fire where it is still ck and thick.


    ¡°Is it over on our side?¡± Micah asked.


    ¡°Close. The cargo helicopters just need to drop down a few more shipping containers to block the entrances towards the slums.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Why do we need to block them?¡± Micah asked.


    ¡°Unless their bodies get burned to a crisp, there¡¯s a huge chance that they would still be walking like the ones we saw chasing a few that escaped. They would look like burnt matchsticks but they¡¯re still a threat and should be properly taken care of. That¡¯s why I¡¯m against this n of Rod at first. If it wasn¡¯t for the time remaining for you guys to be in this city, I would¡¯ve cooked a better n.¡± I answered.


    ¡°I see~ it worked though, right?¡± Micah replied.


    ¡°It did, yes. It¡¯s just that I wa-¡± then Kaley cut me off.


    ¡°He wants the spoils so he¡¯s thinking of other ways to deal with them.¡± Kaley lowered my rifle.


    ¡°Yep. Think of the things those people have acquired over this time period. It makes my heart bleed a little when I see potential resources getting burned down. I just wanted to have our returns for using up resources exceed the expenses. The returns we have for this operation is that we would be able to dispose of a huge number of the dead that¡¯s gathering there in the process and taking out a ce that would be a huge problem in the future.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Bro, that¡¯s why people say it is better to get robbed than to lose your house through a fire.¡± Jared interjected.


    ¡°And who told you that?¡± I looked back at him.


    ¡°Oh, right.¡± he chuckled but his expression quickly turned back to solemness.


    We¡¯re making light conversation but we finally saw the cargo helicoptersing back.

 Chapter 294

    Chapter 294: 294


    The cargo helicopters are carrying one shipping container each and they¡¯re flying around the slums instead of above it for more visibility because of the smoke. The one that is near us slowly lowered and is cing the shipping container a bit forward than the entrance. I will be radioing in if the pilot is in the correct position. The moment they¡¯re positioned correctly, they drove it a bit forward and then pulled back so the shipping container would slightly m the walls of the slums to block the gatepletely. <center></center><hr>


    The swarm of the dead gathering towards the shipping container were either just crushed or pushed off to the side. The shipping container could be pushed a bit to the right if I could help it, but I let it go this time. We¡¯re waiting for the fires to die down on their own since we¡¯ll need to sweep the slums to make sure we¡¯ve got everyone inside.


    Only one of those wild animal-like sprinters coulde in and jump through that shipping container. I¡¯ve looked below and I saw a sedan where the one we encountered earlier used as a boost to jump directly on the second floor. The roof is dented and you could clearly see where it ced its hands and feet since there are four indents visible from above though where the feet are ced is much more apparent.


    ¡°We need to take more precautions about that kind in the future. First time I¡¯ve lost people in an operation.¡± I thought to myself.


    The gunshotsing from the slums have already stopped and even the faint screams are gone. It could be that they perished, ran out of bullets, or even the most unlikely had the chance to escape. The only ones that have spilled out from the slums are one of those zombies that are looking like they¡¯ve been struck by lightning.


    Their skin is burned to a crisp but it¡¯s not enough to reach the inside of their heads to make them stay down. The burns are uneven and some ces you could still see the boundary where the clothes have started to meld with the skin.


    *PSSHEW*


    *PSSHEW* *PSSHEW*


    Kaley started on taking shots with my Tavor and she¡¯s already on her second magazine. I bet she¡¯s frustrated that she wasn¡¯t able to hit the target in time and it caused casualties. No one is ming her and Jared but it¡¯s definitely on their minds. They know that they¡¯re not the ones at fault of such a thing happening entirely but one can¡¯t help sometimes to think that way. I even partly me myself for not being able to get down in time but I know that there would be things we wouldn¡¯t haveplete control over.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just talk to themter just to check what¡¯s on their minds.¡± I thought to myself.


    Sometimes, it¡¯s better to just let a matter like this stay in your head for a while before talking about it openly or to someone you know. Add to that if the person doesn¡¯t want to talk about it yet and has to do something to upy their heads.


    Jared¡¯s been holding off on shooting since we don¡¯t have a lot of .308 rounds and all he¡¯s doing is watching out for the special ones and quickly taking them down exclusively. We¡¯ve never seen anything quite like that and he¡¯s doing his own thing while carrying a solemn expression. What he¡¯s doing now topensate is quickly snapping the gun to a target but predicting where it might go next and switching to a different one and doing the same exact thing, almost practicing more in what he thinks hecked.


    ¡°That¡¯s a few ways to move forward.¡± I thought to myself.


    The smoke emanating from the slums have changed in color from the time we¡¯ve spent on this building and we¡¯ve done a few things while we¡¯re still saying guard.


    Tatiana with the ones below started on clearing the dead outside the street but they¡¯re staying extra vignt in case they encounter the same thing again. A huge pile of the dead were burned outside and Cruz and the rest of the soldiers who died were also burned among them. The way we did their send off is not as what we would¡¯ve liked but regarding our situation, everyone had to agree. The corpse of the one who killed them was defaced and almost torn to pieces, much worse than what it did to those soldiers but I still decided to bring it back to base. We wrapped it with a tarp and it¡¯s ready for transport.


    The building we¡¯re upying is owned by several small businesses and each room has different things inside. I mostly found paperwork and usual office stuff but I found several valuable objects. Each office we entered has one or two medical kits, fire extinguishers, radios, and a few electronic devices which are left in the cubicles. <center></center><hr>


    There¡¯s time to burn so I took Kaley with me to start on going office by office.


    We took batteries from remotes, gathered loose vitamin supplements and painkillers, scavenged for food items, ced the water in one big container while refilling our own, and took everything else this ce has to offer as long as it could fit inside the helicopter. One ce has several food items which are always sold byworkingpanies that always use a pyramiding scheme to get more people. The number of them ced in boxes is a lot and it couldst a long time because of the preservatives inside them.


    ¡°We can¡¯t be picky with the food we¡¯re collecting now, are we?¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Hey, are these rings what I think they are?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm? What did you find in those boxes? Rings, you say?¡± I went inside the room she¡¯s in.


    We¡¯re inside an office with a few random items shipped which are not yet open. It¡¯s a couple of useless things at first but Kaley found something useful.


    ¡°Oh, this ring here is made with Titanium. It has this little saw inside which we could use in case we¡¯re held captive or something and we need to cut ourselves loose and we need something concealed.¡± I said after inspecting the box each one is in.


    ¡°Oh~ that actually sounds cool! Can we wear one? We have plenty for everyone.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± I trailed and went down on one knee.


    ¡°What are you-¡± Kaley was confused at first but shock filled her eyes.


    ¡°Kaley, will you marr-¡± then she kicked me in the head.


    ¡°Ow! Kaley!¡± I started rubbing my head.


    ¡°Oh! I¡¯m sorr- You! Don¡¯t surprise me like that! Hngh~¡± Kaley eximed, pouting.


    ¡°Surprise?! If I¡¯m gonna surprise you I¡¯d shout ¡®Boo!¡¯ not taking an arrow to the knee!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°What? Arrow to th- Is that one of those things you¡¯re gonna make me y when we get back?¡± her head tilted sideways. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯ll get it when you start to y it. But why did you kick me when I tried to propose to you? Huh~?¡± I teased, smiling.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a proper one, you doofus! Besides¡­ I think¡­ we¡¯re already one¡­ we¡¯ve had no ceremony or anything and we fool around with- but I think us two agreeing is enough¡­ right?¡± Kaley looked away but looked back after a moment of fidgeting.


    ¡°How about your harem? They¡¯d be so- OW! I¡¯m joking!¡± she kicked me again.


    ¡°I¡¯m being serious here¡­¡± her face is starting to redden.


    ¡°I think you already know my answer, right? It never changes whatever happens.¡± I replied as I looked at her in the eye.


    She simply embraced me and whispered the words we rarely say but always mean when we do. I said the same thing and I kissed her.


    It was a short moment but it¡¯s enough.


    Well I gave her that kiss after I meticulously wiped our faces with wet wipes. We can¡¯t be careless now, can we? It ruined the moment a bit and I received another kick after that.


    The kicks she gave me earlier weren¡¯t as hard but we locked eyes again after I recovered. She¡¯s still blushing but the both of us burst outughing at the same time. She¡¯s smiling brightly now which is a huge contrast from earlier.


    We continued on gathering stuff and we even took the gun of the guy whose head got lopped off in the street. It¡¯s an M9 with the serial numbers filed off though it doesn¡¯t have extra magazines. Cruz and the other¡¯s equipment were taken and wiped off and we¡¯re just waiting for the next set of orders.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid.¡±


    *bzzt*


    I heard the president¡¯s voice.


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Copy.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Let the soldiers take care of the slums. There¡¯s nothing much to find there anyway since it¡¯s burned to a crisp. So juste back here and I have something to show to you.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Show to me? What is it?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hah! Something the other soldiers told me you¡¯re quite fond of.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kaley? But she¡¯s righ- Ow! I¡¯m talking to the president Kaley! How rude- Ow! I¡¯m joking! I¡¯m joking!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! Well kid, they said you¡¯d almost performed the 21 gun salute to a fancy car near the City Hall so, I¡¯ve got something here for you. It¡¯s not a pony car like that Mustang that got totalled but something I think you¡¯d like even more. Moreso if Oscar gets to see it. If it wasn¡¯t for you doing all these things here, I¡¯d take this son of a bitch for myself. Juste here, you earned it.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Well, what is it? It¡¯s a car too, right?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yup.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What kind?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°American Muscle.¡±


    *bzzt*

 Chapter 295

    Chapter 295: 295


    The moment I heard ¡®American Muscle¡¯, I cked out. I just felt my body moving on its own and I could faintly hear screams from a single person. A few momentster, I felt my body getting heavier and heavier by the second and each step I took was getting difficult. <center></center><hr>


    I partially returned to my senses when I felt everyone pulling me away from the driver¡¯s seat of the helicopter. Their hands are grabbing every inch of my body just to hold me down in ce. I only needed to close the door and I would be able to fly it back to base. What I didn¡¯t notice at first is my reflection from the ss.


    ¡°Bro! Wake up! Bro! You¡¯re not driving that f.u.c.k.i.n.g helicopter for the love of Sarenrae!¡±


    ¡°Sky!¡±


    ¡°Sir! I have children, please!¡±


    ¡°His smile¡­. It¡¯s scary¡­¡±


    ¡°Just hold him down!¡±


    ¡°For how long?!¡±


    ¡°As long as it takes~ Bro! Wake the f.u.c.k up!¡±


    ¡°Why are we holding him down?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice that he was about to fly off on his own?!¡±


    ¡°Nah, I bet he¡¯s just excited, right?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know him like I do!¡±


    ¡°Kaley is here! He won¡¯t leave us here!¡±


    ¡°Well- just don¡¯t let him drive the helicopter! He¡¯d drive it as fast as he could!¡±


    ¡°PULLLLLLL~!!!¡±


    It¡¯s a hugemotion but weically flew backwards when I¡¯ve regained full control of my senses.


    *CRASH*


    ¡°Oh, what did I do?¡± I looked back at them. <center></center><hr>


    Jared just breathed his biggest sigh of relief when they seeded and he looked at me like I¡¯m crazy.


    ¡°Bro, if you saw your face, you¡¯d be f.u.c.k.i.n.g scared too. Why the f.u.c.k would the president say ¡®American Muscle¡¯ without sitting you down first?! Sheesh! Old people these days!¡± Jared is widening his eyes at me.


    ¡°Why are you saying it again though? That¡¯s bad, correct?¡± Tatiana is confused.


    Niks is looking at us from the side confused as to what is happening.


    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s just his initial reaction of hearing it we need to worry about¡­¡± Jared was almost out of breath.


    ¡°What? I¡¯m not too sure at what you¡¯re talking about man. I¡¯m perfectly normal! I just don¡¯t want to waste a bit of time¡­¡± I replied, in denial.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, nice talk for someone who almost left us, huh?¡± Jared is shaking his head.


    ¡°Really? *chuckle* The president just said ¡®American Muscle¡¯, right? I thought you¡¯d be more interested on Japane-¡± Kaley interjected while half of my ears perked but Jared closed her mouth shut.


    ¡°KALEY! ARE YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G CRAZY?! DO YOU REALLY WANT HIM TO LEAVE US HERE?!¡± Jared started to lose it while Kaley was letting out muffled sounds. Jared was forced to let go when she kicked his shin.


    ¡°Hey! I can hear you dude! I¡¯m not as obsessed back then! I don¡¯t even have ¡®that¡¯ car back home, remember? I only have the Hayabusa!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, right. Could you just let Micah drive it again so I don¡¯t have another heart attack-like event?¡± Jared finally calmed down.


    ¡°Well, what happened back then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°That is a fun mem-¡± I answered but Jared interrupted again with renewed ferocity.


    ¡°For you it was! Do you have any idea how I instinctively flinch every time I¡¯m riding a vehicle with several hundred horsepower when you¡¯re the one driving?! Anyone forgotten that loopy thing in the helicopter?! That¡¯s just one of many! The horror¡­¡± Jared almost trembled in fear remembering the past.


    The two of us began an even louder back and forth though that allowed the rest of our team to board the helicopter ahead of us. The loot we had was also loaded amidst that and we eventually flew back to our base. Wended at the roof of the hospital once more and I almost dashed as fast as I could when we saw that animal-like sprinter rushing towards us.


    I instinctively located Rod¡¯s location and I saw him beside it.


    It¡¯s a 1970 Dodge Charger R/T.


    I immediately thought to myself, ¡°This is f.u.c.k.i.n.g mine.¡± before I stepped closer to inspect it.


    ¡°Wow, that looks nice.¡± Kaley was also excited to see it. <hr>


    ¡°Bro, take a few deep breaths okay? Also, I¡¯m not riding shotgun anymore, okay? Kaley¡¯s here.¡± Jared immediately said after catching up.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind. This looks great!¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Hah! You say that now¡­¡± Jared warned.


    ¡°That really looks like the one in the movies~¡± Micah added.


    ¡°The only thing missing is the hood blower.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Like it, kid? The body has that ssic look but there¡¯s definitely a few things changed. The engine has a few modifications too but the most changes are done on the interior.¡± Rod threw me the keys.


    My smile is so wide and my sorrow for the totalled Mustang disappeared. It has this glossy ck finish where two white lines are bisecting the car from the hood to the trunk. The wheels are definitely not based on the ssic one and the brakes are also different from the original. I¡¯m caressing the whole thing almost ufortably and I took a peek at the inside.


    ¡°It¡¯s been somewhat backdated, right?¡± I looked at the president.


    ¡°What?¡± he tilted his head.


    ¡°Well, it has new things inside that you wouldn¡¯t find in a ssic 1970¡¯s Charger. Aside from the different digital gauges, steering wheel, new AC, bluetooth radio, sound system, and even the matching leather interior from the outside, they¡¯ve put on racing seats here and this somewhat of a roll cage. The only thing I found kinda weird is if the one who had this is trying to make this a racing car, the seats at the back should be removed at least. Hmm, I see that the rear tires are much bigger so it¡¯s hiding something in the hood. Well, it looks f.u.c.k.i.n.g badass so I can¡¯tin that much. The electronics done inside is also well done and everything works. Where did you find this? It feels like riding a newer model but the outside is the ssic, hence, backdated.¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s on one of the car dealership stores here actually.¡± Rod replied.


    ¡°What?! Impossible! Well, did someone already own it? It¡¯s not on disy, right? Found it in the parking area inside?¡± I¡¯m shocked at first.


    ¡°Yeah, kid. I think this was made more for looks. I wanted the ssic look but the things added here are really something else.¡± Rod said almost enviously.


    ¡°Have you taken it for a spin?¡± I asked, excited.


    ¡°Yep. They reced and added a few things to it too to add more f.u.c.k.i.n.g kicks to it. I¡¯m not sure on the exact measurements but it¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g something else.¡± he replied.


    ¡°You know a bit about cars too, huh?¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°Well let¡¯s just say I could read more than just the brochure.¡± heughed, heartily.


    I opened the hood and I found that it still has the same V8 engine though a new air-filter and a high-performance cold air intake is installed. The twin turbochargers can¡¯t be missed which is also paired with a water injection kit. Adding those things on the engine can really add some horsepower to it. There¡¯s a few more things I¡¯d like to add to it but I¡¯m really itching to burn a bit of rubber. <hr>


    ¡°Nitrous would be overkill.¡± I thought to myself.


    I turned around to look for Kaley but I found out that she already let herself in.


    ¡°What? A car is not as scary as a helicopter!¡± she¡¯s smirking.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see. Better wear that helmet again just in case.¡± I replied with a devilish smile.


    ¡°We¡¯ll really see. Don¡¯t bore me, okay?¡± Kaley has a smug look on her face.


    The small crowd immediately gave way when Kaley and I wore our seatbelts. I inserted the keys to the ignition and turned.


    *BRRRRRMMMMMMMM*


    I almost cried from the heavenly sound it made.


    ¡°You okay? Need a tissue? Hah! This thing sounded awesome!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do the hardest tutorial first.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley is confused.


    ¡°Well¡­ ever yed Driver?¡± I told her about it.


    If you¡¯ve ever yed that game when it was first released and you don¡¯t know shit about driving because you¡¯re still a kid when you yed it, getting past that tutorial is impossible. They¡¯ve released a disc before that could allow you to y thest level but the levels in between are still locked. I don¡¯t even know what a f.u.c.k.i.n.g ¡®lom¡¯ was until I grew older.


    The list is already in my head.


    Burnout


    Handbrake


    lom


    180¡ã


    360¡ã <hr>


    Reverse 180¡ã


    Speed


    Brake Test


    Lap


    Rod told me that the inside lot of the car dealership is secure and it¡¯s safe to drive around there to test the car. The number of dead bodies the soldiers left in their wake is staggering and they only needed to double-up on checking each corner if they¡¯ve missed anything.


    ¡°Have fun, kid. Take your time.¡± Rodughed before sending us off.


    ¡°Oh. I will.¡± I smiled while caressing the steering wheel and adjusting the rear view mirror


    Kaley turned the sound system and it¡¯s perfect, the opening instrumental has started and I started to time my exit.


    The car dealership is only two blocks away and there¡¯s not a dead body walking outside in that area as I¡¯m told. Iunched ourselves outside the gate and I attacked the corner with speed. Kaley is tightly holding on to anything she could grasp while I violently kicked the clutch. As the rear wheels started to slide, and the car began to rotate, I steered to start a drift.


    [Deja vu! I¡¯ve just been in this ce before~] the speakers sted.


    It still has a lot of allowance since I¡¯m still testing the limits of this Charger. When I reached the outside of the exit of the bend, I kept a close watch on the gas pedal to maintain the car¡¯s sliding motion and the engine¡¯s range in which it could operate with the most efficiency.


    It¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g smooth.


    I cleared the corner and elerated when my tires started to point forwards after ending the drift. The first thing I noticed is that this car is much heavier than the ones I usually drive before. I stepped on the gas pedal and our bodies slightly moved back from the amount of power the car is letting out. A huge smile is stered on my face when the surrounding area started to blur and each input I made was tranted through the car perfectly.


    Kaley is not able to mutter a word but I heard her taking a deep breath when we reached the roundabout.


    I only needed to turn normally but I want to see if Kaley could handle it.


    This time, I used the handbrake to make the car lose traction to start another drift insead of the clutch. The smokeing out from the tires getting burnt is a normal sight for me and I cleared the whole circle in one flowing motion. I made sure that the angle I entered it is perfect and we exited while almost obeying the trafficws.


    The roar of the engine is music to my ears since the remaining way is just straight.


    ¡°We¡¯re here. Want to take it for a spin?¡± I¡¯m smiling when I looked at Kaley.

 Chapter 296

    Chapter 296: 296


    The moment Iid my eyes on her, I found out that she¡¯s looking at me with ¡®that¡¯ look. She¡¯s still breathing faster than normal and she¡¯s slightly biting the tip of her thumb while smiling at me. Her eyes have this glint while looking at me sideways and it¡¯s the same glint I have when I¡¯m looking at a perfect steak. Her eyes always apany her lips when she¡¯s smiling and there¡¯s a slight blush present now. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Show off¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°Hmm, I need to. There¡¯s this really beautiful girl I want to impress.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Really~? I could say that she¡¯s ¡®almost¡¯ impressed. Is that all you got? Hmm?¡± Kaley chuckled.


    I just smiled while raising my eyebrow. We¡¯re just staring at each other¡¯s eyes but my hands started to move.


    We¡¯re at aplete stop and I ced the gear on reverse.


    I stepped on the throttle hard and the car went backwards aggressively. I¡¯m still looking at her and she¡¯s doing the same. We¡¯re nearing the roundabout we came from earlier and once we¡¯re a few tens of meters close, I lifted my foot from the throttle and I quickly turned the wheel. Our body swayed from the car suddenly turning though I have already ced the car on the right gear halfway through the spin.


    The moment the car was facing the right direction, I turned the wheel back in position and I pressed the gas pedal so we would elerate. The J-Turn or the Rockford Turn is perfectly executed and I attacked the roundabout with even more speedpared to earlier. I performed the clutch-kick method once more and now I¡¯m looking at the road. The angle my Charger is moving is much tighter and I exited the roundabout afterpleting onep.


    I noticed Kaley exhaling but a smile quickly formed after.


    I picked up even more speed and I¡¯m nning to attack thest corner violently. The gate is still open but there¡¯s more soldiers outside patrolling. They all moved to the side when they saw using in with speed though I started to slow down a bit since the speed I¡¯m approaching the corner is too much. I did the same thing asst time though the speed of entry is really a bit much. My heart is about to jump out of my chest when I noticed that we¡¯re only a few centimeters away from hitting the side railings when we exited from that fast drift.


    ¡°Whew! Now I¡¯m impressed.¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°As if you weren¡¯t earlier. Are you fineing out from that first roundabout?¡± I asked,


    ¡°Yeah, it was a surprise but I didn¡¯t have the same ¡®ident¡¯ like in the helicopter.¡± she replied, blushing.


    ¡°Good thing I didn¡¯t see a ramp or I¡¯ll Dukes of Hazard the f.u.c.k out of this car. I wonder how much air time we¡¯ll get!¡± I said, excitedly.


    ¡°Sure, just warn me next time so I¡¯ll be ready.¡± she said and I nodded. <center></center><hr>


    I just made a simple exhale after and continued to drive inside.


    I quickly pinpointed where Jared and the rest are and I gunned it towards them.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Stay in ce or you¡¯ll get clipped!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°BRO?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G TRUST ME!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    I shouted through my radio and they all tensed when they processed the message. I¡¯ming close at a violent pace and when the timing is right, I hit the brakes and my Charger stopped right in front of them with barely an inch of space remaining. The president is in front with a huge smile stered on his face and his hands are casually just inside his pockets.


    ¡°So kid, how was it?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Cool, the brakes work.¡± I replied smiling and Kaley almost choked with everyone.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU SON OF A BITCH, YOU THOUGHT THEY DIDN¡¯T SEE YOU OUTSIDE?! HAH! F.U.C.K.I.N.G BRAKES, YOU TESTED MORE THAN JUST BRAKES!!!¡± The president¡¯s mood is at an all-time high. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! Whoever made this thing knows his f.u.c.k.i.n.g stuff. Everything is crisp and smooth.¡± I added.


    ¡°Hmm, I just burned the tires earlier by making donuts here. Anyway, start to pack up since we¡¯d be leaving soon. Come to Iskoh¡¯s new officeter after an hour so we could finalize a few things. As much as I¡¯d like to stay here or at your ce, I have to take care of my city too- well, I¡¯m the only one with a city, eh? You sons of bitches need to get some work done! HAHAHA!!!¡± Rod said.


    ¡°Give me fullmand of your military and I¡¯ll take my city faster than you did.¡± I cheekily said.


    ¡°Hah! Well Iskoh already told me you¡¯ll be taking a few here for your ce. I think he needs more here though you really deserve it. Anyway, eat something first since we still haven¡¯t eaten a thing from that operation. You guys are good on food, right?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, we still have a few MREs. We¡¯d just eat what¡¯s avable since we¡¯d be eating aunt¡¯s cooking when we get backter.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled, an hour, okay? Micah, can youe with me for lunch?¡± Rod said.


    ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± Micah said with a smile.


    Micah followed after him but she turned around and waved at us before finally catching up to him. Jared and Niks waved back while we three just smiled and gave a small nod. I started to unbuckle my seatbelt and then Tatiana went over to Kaley¡¯s window and rested her arms. She¡¯s looking at us two first but then she smirked. She nced at Jared and Niks first then she spoke in a hush tone.


    ¡°Hmm~¡± Tatiana hummed.


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley asked her.


    ¡°Nothing.¡± Tatiana replied, smiling.


    ¡°Oh¡­ really?¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t get me.¡± Tatiana looked at her with widened eyes.


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Kaley is confused by her. <hr>


    ¡°What I meant by ¡®nothing¡¯ is that you two actually didn¡¯t¡­ over there, correct?¡± Tatiana trailed but she signalled with her hands to finish part of her sentence.


    ¡°What makes you think we didn¡¯t? Hmm?¡± Kaley tried to hide the truth.


    ¡°I just know. *chuckle* You don¡¯t need to hide it from me. You squeezing your legs like that is one clue, correct? Anyway, are we gonna board this inside a shipping container?¡± Tatiana asked while Kaley tried topose herself embarrassingly.


    ¡°That sounds about right. Rod actually brought a lot here from their runs yesterday. Iskoh could start in preparing them for our other n if he wants to execute it in the future. However, he already told me earlier that he¡¯lly off on expanding his territory that much. If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯d suggest to himter to clean up the Pasig River. It¡¯s chock full of garbage because of the people from the slums throwing their stuff there like idiots.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That could help when we start to use our boats, right?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s faster with the helicopters but we need to always have different options. Not only for us but for them too. Worstes to worst they may need to evacuate this ce and head to our ce. It¡¯s impossible to reach our ce by car because of how dense the zombies are here and the only option for them are the helicopters and the boats. It would make me wonder if they have a ce to bug out on if they use a car or something.¡± I exined.


    ¡°They just need to kill a whole lot more of them here so they could use their cars, right bro?¡± Jared added.


    While we¡¯re still conversing, Jude approached me and he is handing me the Glock 19 I gave him. Everyone saw him do that and I think I know what he¡¯s about to say next.


    ¡°Well, his family is here. It¡¯s only obvious.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± I asked since I didn¡¯t take his gun yet. I tried to y it off since I could still be wrong in my assumptions.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty obvious, right?¡± he replied, robotically.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Kaley asked with a solemn expression.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± he replied promptly.


    ¡°Well your sister¡¯s here so we can¡¯t help it. However, I¡¯d like you to keep that and get good with it. Next time we see each other, I¡¯d rece your .22 AR with a Scorpion or something much higher, deal?¡± I said.


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Jude actually gave a confused expression. <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re staying here, right?¡± Jared was listening from the side.


    ¡°What? No, I¡¯m stilling back. Here, take it.¡± Jude handed me his Glock 19 and realization dawned.


    ¡°You just need a reload¡­ my bad. Look for Avalos or Honassan and they¡¯ll show you where our ammo cans are located. Make sure to grab from our pile since the people here can¡¯t refill their own. We just found a ce with a few of them so we have several extras.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay.¡± Jude said and left us.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone but me.


    They¡¯re still getting used to Jude but Niks is gobsmacked because he has least interactions with Judepared to the rest of us. I parked the car and ordered a few soldiers to push it inside one of the shipping containers and to be marked appropriately after.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s have a bite before we do anything else, I¡¯m kinda starving.¡± I said.


    ¡°Our food is upstairs where the tents are bro.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s head up. Kaley and I will be having the one with meatballs with marinara sauce.¡± I said.


    ¡°Is that so? I brought the veggie burger with me. It¡¯s been sitting on my shelf and I kinda want to try it. Lois said it¡¯s good since he brought one once for camping in his school.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°I¡¯m having the same thing asst time.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°The mac and chili one? That¡¯s my favorite though that¡¯s the only one I¡¯ve eaten, haha¡­¡± Kaley trailed and it seemed that she¡¯s just feeling the hunger now.


    I looked at my watch and it¡¯s already past noon and we¡¯re just about to eat breakfast.


    ¡°Hmm, how about we have a few days in a month where we fast? I¡¯ll bring it upter.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°F.U.C.K THIS THING TASTES LIKE CARDBOARD!!! I¡¯LL SMACK THAT F.U.C.KER WHEN WE GET BACK!!!¡± Jared roared in anger.

 Chapter 297

    Chapter 297: 297


    Jared is looking at his prepared food and I bet he¡¯s thinking of not eating the whole thing. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Don¡¯t waste food man, I know it tastes like cardboard but it¡¯s better than nothing. People would kill for that. Just drown it with that choco banana muffin thates with it.¡± I reminded him.


    ¡°I know bro, it¡¯s just that it¡¯s too dry. Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll eat it all.¡± he looks dejected.


    ¡°Here, I haven¡¯t poured everything from mine yet. It¡¯s marinara, it could help with the taste. There¡¯s also this jpeno cheese spread that I haven¡¯t opened yet.¡± I handed him a couple of packets from my side.


    ¡°You sure bro?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Aww~ such a kind older cousin.¡± Tatiana said with an almost mocking tone.


    Kaley started to chuckle and Jared stopped his hands midway.


    ¡°Hmm? You don¡¯t want it? I¡¯ll pour it all in here and you won¡¯t be able to get anything.¡± I smirked.


    ¡°N-nevermind. I¡¯ll eat it as it is.¡± Jared started to eat everything though he¡¯s chasing it with water. Niks on the other hand is offering some of his portions to Tatiana but she¡¯s politely declining. Tatiana pulled out a couple of candy bars for herself since I think what she ate isn¡¯t enough. Jared finally gave up and took the packets where the sauce is at and he started on scraping whatever is left of it with the dry veggie burger.


    ¡°Much better¡­¡± he trailed with food in his mouth. <center></center><hr>


    I just shook my head and we continued on eating our meals.


    ¡°What do you think the situation back home is?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, Oscar will call us if anything happens. He¡¯s not calling us yet so they must be doing the same routine. They have the records from that city hall there so one of the things they might be doing is going to those ces where there is a high possibility of good items.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can I borrow your Sat Phone then? I think I¡¯ll give a call to check on mom and let them know we¡¯reing back soon.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°It¡¯s in my pack in the tent if you want to use it. After that, could you all take down our tents and pack up? Tell that to Honassan and Avalos too if they didn¡¯t receive the news.¡± I asked them.


    ¡°Sure, you¡¯ll be heading to meet with the mayor and the president, right?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I think we¡¯d be quick since he said we¡¯d only be finalizing some things. I¡¯ll get back here as soon as I can since Iskoh¡¯s new office is just the floor beneath us.¡± I replied as I stood up.


    I walked down the stairs and I reached the ce I was supposed to go to. It¡¯s arge room for the director of the hospital and I know that because the namete on the desk Iskoh is sitting at has her name. Rod is also here and there¡¯s a cold breezeing from the windows.


    ¡°So, what are the few things we need to talk about?¡± I started. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be straight to the point. I¡¯d like to tell you to ept only the aircrafts and not the soldiers from this ce. I found out that a few soldiers died at your position earlier but that¡¯s not the reason for me deciding on this. If you think about it, this ce needs more soldiers than your ce. This ce, Man, is right next to the biggest city in this region, Quezon City.¡± Rod stated.


    ¡°We¡¯ve already talked earlier and I agreed to give him at least a few from the work he¡¯s done here. It¡¯s only fair.¡± Iskoh said.


    ¡°It¡¯s not really fair if you¡¯ve seen this kid¡¯s ce. The only thing he¡¯scking over there are several more soldiers and vehicles like helicopters and such. Besides that, I think he needs morend but basic necessities are not a problem for this kid. It¡¯s like shit never hit the fan inside hispound. Guns are not a problem and the people there listen to him. Security is tight and he has people with essential skills.¡± Rod exined.


    ¡°Damn, now I¡¯m kinda jealous.¡± Iskoh is surprised.


    ¡°You¡¯re praising me too much. I wanted a lot more to happen in my ce. Besides, didn¡¯t the two of you have bigger ces than me? I know Iskoh had a restart but he already has experience running a much bigger ce. I¡¯m not being modest either but I don¡¯t want to think of my ce as utopia yet.¡± I smiled but I shrugged my shoulders.


    ¡°But you¡¯re doing a great job. That means something. I have experience but I already failed a few times. It¡¯s like I¡¯m learning the ropes again.¡± Iskoh said.


    ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s my point. This ce needs more soldierspared to your ce. Not to mention we lost a few soldiers from the riot in the city hall. What do you think?¡± Rod looked at me.


    ¡°Well, it can¡¯t be helped but I¡¯m gonna take this time to propose something¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Hmm? Better do it now while we¡¯re talking about things.¡± Rod replied. <hr>


    ¡°I want a portion of the fuel you¡¯re getting from the oil rigs in the ocean. Not the ones for normal vehicles but for boats and helicopters. I want as much as you could give me.¡± I said.


    ¡°You know that they¡¯re more expensive now that they¡¯re not epting money, right? I still have a huge supply of them back home but I can¡¯t just give them away. Well, if you want that for not taking the soldiers, I could give you an equivalent amount. They¡¯re liquid gold and if you want more, I¡¯d need something equally as valuable.¡± Rod replied while drinking from his bottle.


    ¡°I can make bullets. How¡¯s that?¡± I casually said.


    ¡°PUUUFFFFHHHHH!!! What?! You mean- What?!¡± Rod spat out what he¡¯s drinking.


    ¡°Hmm, I think I want part of that too.¡± Iskoh has a calmer reaction.


    ¡°Kid, you serious? Wait, I heard that there could be problems with handmade bullets, right?¡± Rod tried to confirm.


    ¡°Yeah, I could make them. The only way you could have problems with handloads solely lies with the person making them. Newssh, I¡¯m not like any other person. The bullets we¡¯re using are made by me. I know you have a huge arsenal of weapons in your city but it¡¯s only a matter of time before everyone runs out. Judging from your reaction, you don¡¯t have anyone that could make bullets at your city that you know of. I think we could be trading partners. You have something that I want and I have something that you need. Fuel for bullets. That¡¯s fair, right? Oh yeah, please don¡¯t tell other people besides us.¡± I looked back at them.


    ¡°Wait, can¡¯t you just teach some people to make them?¡± Iskoh asked, half-joking.


    ¡°Yeah, I could.¡± I answered quickly. <hr>


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that giving away something you have a monopoly of? I can¡¯t believe you¡¯d agree so easy.¡± Iskoh was surprised.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty straightforward but don¡¯t me me if the one they made explode and rip half your face off. Let¡¯s just say that what I¡¯m doing is more than following an instruction from a piece of paper. It needs a bit of a, let¡¯s just say, ¡®finesse¡¯ if you will.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Are you serious about that?¡± Iskoh tried to confirm.


    ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s this ¡®feeling¡¯ you need to have in making them or else losing a finger would be the least of worries.¡± I replied.


    ¡°No need to exin, I¡¯m good with you being the manufacturer. Well that solves one huge f.u.c.k.i.n.g problem in the future. Alright kid, you got me. What else do you need?¡± Rod said.


    ¡°I want the rest of the Russian soldiers at my camp. I believe their leader¡¯s name is Artem. Tatiana is who you sent me before and now Niks, their other member is here on a mission to find the rest of them that has gone missing with three more soldiers at my base.¡± I answered.


    ¡°That¡¯s easy so I¡¯ll give that as a bonus. What else do you need?¡± Rod immediately answered.


    ¡°Aside from fuel, I need materials and the equipment for making them. The casings, primers, gunpowder, and the projectiles are what¡¯s needed to make one but the equipment like the presses, tumblers, and et cetera are much needed too. I have them at my ce but it¡¯s not enough to arm the Philippine Army. I could only make bullets for you if you could supply the materials you found and I take a small percentage of that on top of the fuel.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Rod¡¯s in deep thought.


    ¡°I¡¯m not in dire need of them yet but is there anything you want to have in particr? I¡¯m still in the process of rebuilding this ce but I¡¯d delegate a few people for something that you want that could be aplished here. Anythinges to mind?¡± Iskoh asked.

 Chapter 298

    Chapter 298: 298


    There¡¯s an opened bottle of Tequ in front of us but we never touched it yet. The curtains are pping due to the wind suddenly blowing and I smirked from his words earlier. He seemed to not be affected by my expression and he¡¯s genuine on doing something for me in exchange for bullets. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Anything? That¡¯s a dangerous word. Well, I¡¯ll skip my stupid jokes for now and get to the point. In Quezon City, there¡¯s four sporting goods shops there that are licensed to sell guns. They are all in separate directions but a couple of them are quite close. Wel-¡± I started but Iskoh interrupted me.


    ¡°Quezon City? The mayor there was nowhere to be found when it started. She either died at the first wave or must be hiding somewhere safe where she got lucky. However, I highly doubt she would still be living at this moment based on the state her city is in. Anyway, If we¡¯re talking about gun shops, that would be one of the first things that gets looted. What¡¯s your n for those? Their equipment maybe?¡± Iskoh asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Regr people would only take things that they know how to use or remotely recognize. Some things would definitely get left behind which I have a use for. Well, there¡¯s also a chance that a group could be living inside one of those shops. Before one gets licensed to sell guns, that ce¡¯s security should be f.u.c.k.i.n.g tight. It¡¯s not as easy to purchase guns herepared to the USA.¡± I answered.


    ¡°Wait, so we have a deal if I could get my hands on all of the equipment inside? Hmm, anything else?¡± Iskoh asked again.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you just hear what the kid said? Anything is a dangerous word.¡± Rod added.


    ¡°Well, I just wanted to know all of my avable options. If you could notice it, I¡¯d have a grueling grind after you two leave this ce.¡± Iskoh scratched his head,


    ¡°Well, speaking of ¡®anything¡¯, you basically have anything in the ports, right? It¡¯s like a random loot box gamepanies sell to scam yers.¡± I said.


    ¡°What? Oh, I see¡­¡± Iskoh replied, half nodding.


    ¡°You mean the random shit we found inside the shipping containers? We actually found a few useful items there, more could be found if we managed to reim the ce. For now, we could rely on the cargo helicopters to snatch a few that are high up. That¡¯s the gist of what you¡¯re saying, right?¡± Rod asked.


    ¡°Yep. There¡¯s hundreds of them still ripe for the taking. Heck, you could even start that show where they start a bidding war over them. What I¡¯m saying is, if you manage to get ahold of something valuable to me, I¡¯d trade some of what I have at home. It wouldn¡¯t be just bullets, if you need something, just radio in. We¡¯re quite close so I could drop by when I¡¯m not busy.¡± I looked at Iskoh.


    ¡°Hold on, let¡¯s go back to you making bullets, how much could you make in a day?¡± Rod asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°With the equipment I have, a couple thousand rounds granted the materials I have are workable.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s not a lot.¡± Rod replied.


    ¡°Better than nothing don¡¯t you think? If your pilot is not in a hurry, you could have them wait a few days and they coulde home with more. Don¡¯t forget I have other responsibilities in my base.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Workable? What do you mean by workable?¡± Iskoh asked.


    ¡°Well some casings could be unusable due to bends or cracks. There¡¯s also an instance in which a casing has been reloaded too many times. Technically speaking, I¡¯m not making ¡®new¡¯ ones from scratch, think of plywood made from wood shavings. It¡¯s not a great example but that gets the point across. If you want to be able to make bullets indefinitely and with higher yield per day, I know of a project all three of us could do again in the future.¡± I said.


    Iskoh is waiting for my answer but Rod answered for me.


    ¡°Marikina City.¡± Rod said, and I nodded with a smile.


    ¡°The one further east after Quezon City? What¡¯s in there?¡± Iskoh asked.


    ¡°ARMSCOR.¡± I¡¯m the one to answer this time.


    Rod and I locked eyes and we¡¯re slowly forming devilish smiles. On the other hand, Iskoh is clueless to what the two of us are talking about.


    ¡°Kid, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g son of a bitch. Of course! You think they¡¯re still alive? They could be, right?¡± Rod became lively.


    ¡°Hey, you two. Tell me what that is!¡± Iskoh felt left out. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s the firearms manufacturingpany located in Marikina City. They¡¯re mostly well-known for making inexpensive M1911s. They make other things too but that¡¯s what they¡¯re most known for. They¡¯re also exporting to the USA and 60 other countries and they even made their own proprietary caliber. They have a shooting range several hundred kilometers South of us but their main headquarters is located at Marikina. However¡­ ¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Son of a bitch, that¡¯s right. F.u.c.k that would be a problem.¡± Rod looked at me.


    ¡°Hmm? Is there a problem with them?¡± Iskoh inquired.


    ¡°If they¡¯re still alive, it¡¯s a coin toss.¡± Rod answered.


    ¡°Coin toss? For what?¡± Iskoh asked.


    ¡°Due to the nature of their business, they¡¯re actually one of the reserve battalions under the Philippine Army. I¡¯m leaning on the option that they¡¯re still alive and kicking since they have a lot of guns but the problem is if they would still obey the president¡¯smands. Do you have a general idea of their situation from when it started? Marikina is one of the cities unresponsive, right?¡± I looked at Rod.


    ¡°Yeah but in their situation I have no idea. That¡¯s why I said it¡¯s a coin toss. What I know is that Marikina City is already down. I have no contact from the DDR Camps over there and theirpany. We tried contacting them multiple times but there was no response. They could all be dead which is an unfortunate oue but if they¡¯re still alive, like I said, coin toss. They could still be with us or against us.¡± Rod answered.


    The three of us became silent because we know the answer if they became thetter.


    ¡°Things like this should be taken care of as early as possible. Well, we could let nature take its course but that¡¯s something I don¡¯t want to rely on.¡± I said.


    ¡°What¡¯s the n then?¡± Iskoh asked.


    ¡°We need that ce whatever it takes. Hear me? WHATEVER it takes.¡± Rod replied with a serious look. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna put it out there that we need a n to take over that ce. We used brute force to take the slums but if we¡¯re facing an armed battalion, that¡¯s another story.¡± I said.


    ¡°We¡¯re not even sure of the situation there yet. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I know what to do now but I¡¯d still prefer to fight the dead instead of the living.¡± Iskoh added.


    ¡°Well, the first thing we need to do is gather more information. The best case scenario is that they¡¯re alive and want to cooperate with us and the worst case is that we have another fight in our hands with the living. If you¡¯re gonna give me time, I could have a n cooked up. Well, not just me, we could brainstorm and decide what to do. I said earlier that we need to take care of that situation as fast as possible but I also don¡¯t want us to rush into it.¡± I suggested.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how quick I coulde back here but let¡¯s decide on that date in the future. I wantmunication to never stop and I¡¯ll make sure that I¡¯m the one to answer the calls.¡± Rod said.


    ¡°Well, considering we thought you died and a robot reced you, how about we say something before we talk so we know if it¡¯s the right person?¡± I suggested.


    ¡°A codename or some sort of password? It should be something we¡¯d only know.¡± Iskoh suggested.


    ¡°It should be easy to remember and could be used in casual conversation.¡± Rod said.


    ¡°I know one for Iskoh.¡± I raised my hand.


    ¡°If you f.u.c.k.i.n.g say ¡®Kiko¡¯, I¡¯ll never part with the extra helicopters.¡± Iskoh red at me but Rod snorted.


    ¡°Hah! I know it¡¯s too soon but it¡¯s still f.u.c.k.i.n.g funny!¡± Rod pped his thigh whileughing.


    ¡°Am I the only sane person here?! Jesus!¡± Iskoh threw his hands in the air.


    ¡°You need a bit of crazy in life. Well, not having a single gun in your person back in the City Hall could be called crazy.¡± I copied his movements as I fling my hands as well. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, can you f.u.c.k.i.n.g believe this son of a bitch?¡± Rod added.


    I nodded and a petty argument between three people started. We talked about a few more things and it took us a bit of time. We took a shot of Tequ before we shook each other¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Well Iskoh, we¡¯ll be seeing youter. Don¡¯t drop the ball again or I¡¯ll smack you with your 1911.¡± Rod said, smirking.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll make sure this time. Thanks to the both of you again.¡± Iskoh actually made a bow towards the two of us.


    We walked outside the doors and checked on everybody. Everything¡¯s ready and I said my goodbyes to the soldiers I was supposed to take. I¡¯ve kept in my pocket the dog tags for the soldiers I¡¯ve lost and I looked for my group. Tatiana and Niks were ecstatic to learn that their whole team would being to our base.


    They tried their hardest to keep me away from the pilot¡¯s seat but I promised to not do the same thing likest time.


    ¡°You better not do that again you son of a bitch!¡± Rod eximed.


    ¡°Hah! I won¡¯t do it here. Let¡¯s go home.¡± I said to my group.


    It¡¯s a quiet for a few moments but Roque almost sprang up in panic.


    ¡°WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ¡®HERE¡¯?!¡± he shouted at the top of his lungs.


    ¡°Heh. Toote.¡± I replied as everyone panicked.

 Chapter 299

    Chapter 299: 299


    I immediately received several cursesing from my headpiece and Roque almost had a panic attack. What happened before was still fresh in their minds and I imagined that they were now having shbacks though with different versions. I never did the same maneuver as I promised but there were a lot of times when I pretended to do it. Screams or curses would assault me at first and I only stopped when I heard of several slides chambering a round. <center></center><hr>


    We flew over the massacre that we did on the slums and it¡¯s just a different scenepared to earlier.


    It took us a bit of time flying but I could already see my ce. It¡¯s already the afternoon and it is nearing sundown. Some of the vehicles the president brought over to Man broke off and headed straight to Davao. The vehicles I received on the other hand were two cargo helicopters, two S-76s, and one SuperCobra. Well, don¡¯t forget the 1970 Dodge Charger R/T inside a shipping container.


    Wended at the hospital where our DDR Camp is located and there¡¯s already a crowd forming beneath us.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Is that you kid?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What? New phone, who dis?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g- I was about to wee you here- JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G GO BACK YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hahaha! Nice to be back old man, wait till you see what I have in the shipping container. We¡¯ll see how loyal you are to your SUV, Betty.¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hmph! I¡¯ll be the f.u.c.k.i.n.g judge of that!¡±


    *bzzt*


    We made our way down and some of the people from mypound are present.


    Oscar was at the front with the rest of our trainees and a few soldiers while An, Bing, and Russel were with the kids wearing helmets, knee pads, and elbow pads. They seem to be in a formation and they have their hands behind their backs. Rin was with Mikhail, Alexei, and Vera and they made a small salute to us when they saw us walking down. Lois is also there with Olivia, Matthew and Marisha with a few of my family members. Chris and Charlotte were waving their hands when they saw me and I waved back. They¡¯re all waiting for me to walk up to them but one figure came rushing towards me.


    ¡°Woof! Woof! Woof!¡± Zeus excitedly rushed towards my direction. He suddenly jumped towards me though I made sure to catch him.


    ¡°Hey Zeus, long time no see, eh?¡± I was receiving his kisses and his tail was just wagging to every direction.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus barked once more and he wouldn¡¯t let me put him down since he¡¯d whine if I do. I finally set him down when he calmed for a bit and we were warmly weed by everybody.


    ¡°Hah! You son of a bitch. I hope I receive the same wee when we get back tomorrow.¡± Rod said from behind me.


    ¡°We¡¯re leaving tomorrow? I thought we¡¯re just gonna eat dinner here?¡± Micah said.


    ¡°Bah! They could wait a bit more. We¡¯ll just leave in the early morning and I¡¯ll call in a few minutester so they wouldn¡¯t worry.¡± Rod waved his hands.


    ¡°I see~ We still have a bit of time~ I really want a hot shower right about now~¡± Micah said.


    ¡°Oh god, me too. If I could sleep in the tub I would.¡± Kaley added. <hr>


    ¡°Guess I¡¯ll join too! Let¡¯s bring Rin along!¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled. I still have a few things to talk about Oscar and the rest.¡± Rod mentioned.


    ¡°You old dudes just talking or drinking? Hmm?¡± Micah chuckled.


    ¡°Bah! You know it¡¯s a conversation starter.¡± Rod replied.


    We finally made our way to my people then hugs and fistbumps were exchanged. Zeus is still circling around me whenever I walk and the kids formed a small circle around me.


    ¡°Yo, what¡¯s up!¡± Kenny greeted me.


    ¡°Wee back!¡± Aya added.


    ¡°Wee back~¡±


    [Wee back¡­] Peter signed.


    ¡°Are we gonna do the training tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Bing is really slow!¡±


    ¡°He sucks!¡±


    ¡°Oi! Easy, I¡¯m just letting you win¡­¡±


    ¡°No, you¡¯re not!¡± <hr>


    ¡°I am!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    It was a lively afternoon and we were warmly weed by everyone. I already noticed a few upgrades in the fences and some of the facilities when I quickly looked around.


    We were about to head back but I never forgot about my Charger inside the shipping container. The moment it was rolled outside and came into view, Oscar¡¯s jaw dropped to the ground. He was so jealous of my Charger and he started to have a mental breakdown when I told him I would trade it for his SUV.


    I started to drive my Charger back home and Oscar almost wrestled the keys off of me. The first thing I saw when we left the hospital is that the gate built before that is right next to it ispletely solid. There¡¯s two tforms on each side that could see what¡¯s on the other side and there¡¯s guards stationed with rifles to keep the threats outside low.


    There¡¯s already a spread of food for us when we got back home and a small weing party was held.


    We were immediately handed tes and Tatiana was the first in line to take some food. Surprisingly, Jude didn¡¯t go straight to my old house and he¡¯s already holding a can of juice while casually talking with An and Jenny. Roque was present and he looked for my aunt and my uncle to sincerely apologize for what he¡¯d done the first time he was here. They forgave him but he was dragged around to drink heavy liquor by my uncles and my workers.


    The kids are now ying by the pool and Bing and Russel are keeping strict watch with a few others in case an ident urs. The funny thing I¡¯m seeing now is that Lois is chatting with Olivia but Matthew is in the middle of them holding his shotgun. I just prayed to the nine divines for their blessing to help Lois in his predicament.


    Kaley went with Micah upstairs and decided to take a hot shower first since the cold water from the hospital we were in isn¡¯t enough for them. Tatiana and Rin were carrying a tray filled to the brim with food as they followed the two when they headed upstairs.


    I was holding a ss with Whiskey and I was with the old dudes trading war stories. I heard a small ng from Lois¡¯ direction and I found Matthew rubbing his head when he approached us.


    ¡°So kid, ARMSCOR, huh?¡± Oscar refilled Johnny¡¯s ss.


    ¡°It¡¯s only obvious. That ce could manufacture valuable products we could trade for fuel when my reserves run out.¡± Rod answered for me.


    ¡°We just need to be really careful in taking that ce since the machinery to make weapons and ammo might get damaged and our future bullet farm would just be a pipe dream.¡± I said.


    ¡°We need to assume the worst case scenario as always in that type of operation. I don¡¯t want to always be the negative one but that¡¯s just how I see things.¡± Johnny said. <hr>


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that very far from here? Besides, taking over another city? Aren¡¯t we not done yet with this ce?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s really far but what we could achieve from that could solve our bullet problem in the future. If we even manage to get a hold of existing workers, we would be able to produce firearms, not just ammo. Also, we¡¯re not taking over that city. We¡¯re just taking over a few buildings, maybe build an outpost around thatpany and have a few people live in that ce. We just need to n it perfectly, that¡¯s all.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! What do you mean by ¡®that¡¯s all¡¯, huh? You¡¯re making it sound easy, kid. Anyway, you should¡¯ve at least brought that Iskoh fellow here and just bring him back tomorrow so we would had the chance to talk. I know we could call him but up close like this with a drink in hand is where guys like us have the most honest conversations.¡± Oscar said.


    We continued on talking for an ample amount of time while sipping our drinks. I wanted to know the things that happened here when I was away but they told me to rest for now. I obliged then I saw Kaleying down the stairs wearing one of my hoodies. It¡¯s a few sizesrger but it¡¯sfortable and cozy to wear especially at night when a cold breeze is blowing. Despite that, she¡¯s still carrying her Maxim 9 with a leg holster. She approached us and Matthew waved his lit cigar to greet her.


    ¡°Hey.¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°Hey yourself. Isn¡¯t that a cigar?¡± Kaley has already crossed her arms.


    ¡°Um, ah- this is just a small thing since we¡¯re celeb-¡± then Kaley cut him off.


    ¡°Mom~ dad has a-¡± Kaley raised her voice.


    Matthew quickly sprang up with his ss while dragging the rest of his old buddies to Oscar¡¯s house. Kaley was just shaking her head when they quickly left and now it¡¯s just the two of us. She saw me looking at my hoodie but she just raised one of her eyebrows while smiling.


    ¡°What?¡± she asked, smirking.


    ¡°Mine.¡± I said while looking at her.


    ¡°I know it¡¯s yours! I¡¯m just wearing it since it¡¯s really cozy~¡± she replied as she pulled on the strings to tighten the hood.


    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about the hoodie.¡± I said, smiling.


    She just raised her eyebrow while biting the side of her lower lip then she held my hand and took me upstairs.

 Chapter 300

    Chapter 300: 300


    Kaley and I walked inside our house and there¡¯s a few people in the living room eating and drinking while watching a movie. They just greeted us normally and even offered a drink or two. We politely declined and when we walked up the stairs, we heard the shower inside the bathroom. There¡¯s also lighting from the slits at the bottom of my door and I could hear faint soundsing from my TV. I surmised that some of them might already be inside.. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley nced at the bathroom and said to me, ¡°It must be Tatiana. Micah and I finished at the same time and she¡¯s getting dressed in our room. Rin and Tatiana brought some food earlier in our room so we could watch a movie. I¡¯m not sure where Rin is though, maybe in the shower too or inside our room¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, so did you two in the shower¡­?¡± I trailed, head slightly tilted.


    ¡°Of course not! I¡¯m not doing anything if you¡¯re not there¡­¡± she turned towards me.


    I simply smiled and gave her a quick kiss. She kissed me back and embraced me.


    ¡°I¡¯m waiting for you¡­ well¡­ ¡®we¡¯ all are¡­ *giggle* it¡¯s okay, right? It would be a while before we see Micah again.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re asking me now? I thought her majesty¡¯s orders are absolute?¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Humph! Well¡­ I¡¯m the one who always starts it most of the time¡­ I want you to know that you also have a say in it¡­ I¡¯m-¡± then I cut her off.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. I¡¯m a f.u.c.k.i.n.g hypocrite if I say that I didn¡¯t enjoy the times when we¡¯re with them. As long as everyone is happy, right? However, I want times when it¡¯s just the two of us too.¡± I said while we¡¯re still hugging each other.


    She had a worried look first but it slowly turned to a bright smile.


    ¡°Well, they¡¯re there now and it¡¯s a special asion so¡­ Just tell me next time when you want us to be¡­ just us. Wanna head inside?¡± she giggled.


    I smiled but I had a thought.


    ¡°Kaley¡­¡± I trailed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm?¡± she was about to open the door.


    ¡°I want you now.¡± then I ced her against the wall.


    She was surprised but a faint smile was on her lips before I gave her a deep kiss. I tasted her sweet lips once more and our tongues interlocked. I¡¯m pressing my body against her and she¡¯s pulling me in even more. Her arms are wrapped around my neck while my arms are wrapped around her h.i.p.s. We¡¯re kissing intensely just outside of my room where the lights present are from the first floor and the moonlight shining through the windows.


    My kiss lowered to her neck and she¡¯s letting out small m.o.a.ns. She¡¯s staying in ce so I decided to pull down the zippers of my hoodie. She quickly nced at the stairs but my focus is what¡¯s in front of me. Kaley¡¯sced bra is holding up her huge perky b.r.e.a.s.t and one of her pink n.i.p.p.l.es has partiallye out. My hand was about to unhook the straps but I discovered that they unhook from the front. She unhooked it herself but her face is flushed red. I started to suck on one of them while I¡¯m circling my thumb on the other. She¡¯s twitching just from that and her n.i.p.p.l.es were already hard when I made contact.


    Kaley kept on ncing at the stairs but she¡¯s not saying anything for me to stop what I¡¯m doing.


    Her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts are out in the open and I went back on kissing her. Her face is almost a mess and she¡¯s letting out muffled m.o.a.ns. I¡¯m still pinching one of her n.i.p.p.l.es when one of my hands went down in her pants. I immediately felt the warmness from the supple surface and she¡¯s already soaking beneath. She immediately twitched when one of my fingers entered her while I¡¯m kissing her and fondling her b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    ¡°H-hey¡­ people m-might¡­¡± Kaley tried her best to speak when I started to suck on her n.i.p.p.l.es again.


    ¡°Do you want me to stop?¡± I faced her, our lips almost touching.


    Her breathing is heavy and she answered me by shaking her head.


    I could feel her already tightening but the door to the bathroom opened.


    Kaley tried her best to cover herself with my body but I could clearly see her expression because of the lighting from the bathroom. It¡¯s a mix of embarrassment, l.u.s.t, and frustration.


    ¡°You two! What are- Can¡¯t you two wait for- Where is Rin and-¡± Tatiana said in a hush but hurried tone. <hr>


    We would¡¯ve been busted if a different person was using the bathroom but luckily Kaley was right in her guess. Kaley just held the ps of my hoodie together while our little escapade was interrupted. I thought Kaley was the only one in apromising position but I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g wrong.


    ¡°Tatiana¡­ there¡¯s people on the first f-floor¡­¡± Kaley embarrassingly said.


    I¡¯m still facing Kaley earlier but Tatiana grabbed my hand which was inside Kaley and sucked on it.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Tatiana mumbled.


    Tatiana has just a towel covering her hair and she¡¯s n.a.k.e.d all the way down. Steam ising out of her body and she smells really good. Tatiana walked forward and grabbed the door handle and the sound of a movie ying permeated our ears. I could also hear Rin and Micah chatting but a hand quickly pulled me inside. Tatiana followed and locked the door since the one who pulled me can¡¯t take it anymore.


    It was Kaley.


    Her face is still red and I quickly understood the look she¡¯s giving me. She pulled me on the bed where Rin and Micah are still sitting on.


    ¡°Oh, wow~¡±


    ¡°I thought we-¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re right outside when I discovered them, I might¡¯ve interrupted something.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°Wow~¡± <hr>


    ¡°Please¡­ I¡¯m really close¡­¡± Kaley looked at me with a difficult expression.


    Sheid on the bed while still wearing my hoodie and she¡¯s struggling to unbuckle her pants. I helped her remove one of her legs from her pants and she immediately helped me remove mine. We¡¯re still partially clothed but she pulled me closer when my hard shaft was out in the open. Her liquids are dripping to the side of her legs and I thrust it inside her. The warm walls wrapping around me immediately tightened but I started to ram it inside harder and harder.


    The three were watching us with wide eyes and Kaley¡¯s letting out pleasurable sounds.


    Sounds of skin hitting skin are resounding and Kaley already lost strength after a few thrusts. I still haven¡¯t so I continued on going hard on her. My full weight is pressing against her and her face is already a mess. Her eyes have rolled over and she¡¯s still twitching uncontrobly. I let it all out outside but Tatiana grabbed it and started to suck on it. She licked everything that¡¯s dripping off and she swallowed it all. I looked at Micah and Rin and the two are touching themselves just from watching Kaley and me.


    Kaley¡¯s chest is going up and down and a euphoric smile slowly formed on her face after she managed to catch her breath.


    ¡°You two really did it before we- Nevermind, we still have plenty of time.¡± Tatiana said behind me.


    She proceeded to remove all of my clothes and the others followed. Tatiana started to stroke me while she¡¯s pressing her body against my back. Her soft b.r.e.a.s.ts are directly behind me, getting squeezed while both of her hands are wrapped around my shaft. Her head is rested on my shoulders while she¡¯s watching it slowly grow back.


    Kaley sat upright while removing the rest of her pants but she still has my hoodie on and I think she has no intention of removing it at all, yet. She went on all fours facing me and she started on sucking the tip of my shaft. Her tongue started going around it and I¡¯m struggling because of the sensitivity. One of Tatiana¡¯s hands grabbed my balls and the sensation I¡¯m feeling from the two made me grow back immediately.


    ¡°Hey! It¡¯s our turn, isn¡¯t it?! You¡¯re too greedy Kaley!¡± Rin eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯m here by the way~ Why don¡¯t we getfortable with each other first?¡± Micah said as she pushed Rin down.


    She started to submit to Micah¡¯s words because sheid there with an expectant face. Micah¡¯s fingers glided through Rin¡¯s little slit and Rin twitched when Micah pinched her little nub just above it. Rin¡¯s face is inexplicable and she started to part her legs and show everyone her soaking insides. However, it was only for a short moment before Micah went down on her. Her thighs mped on Micah¡¯s head and she¡¯s almost pulling Micah¡¯s hair every time Micah hits a sensitive spot.


    I on the other hand have started my second wind. <hr>


    Tatiana held one of my hands and she ced it behind me. She pulled it much closer until I reached her opening that¡¯s already dripping her juices. Kaley stopped on sucking me and she kissed me on the lips. She pulled me toy down on the bed after I turned around to face Tatiana. Kaley sat on my face while Tatiana ced me inside her.


    I almost lost my mind when the two started on moving their h.i.p.s. Tatiana¡¯s walls are wrapping around me tightly while I¡¯m taking in Kaley¡¯s intoxicating scent and sweet juices. I¡¯m grabbing Kaley¡¯s ass and the way it reveals her other opening when her h.i.p.s move to the other side is something else. I was enjoying myself when Kaley took my hands and ced them on her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts. I could barely fondle them due to how she¡¯s moving but I managed to pinch her pink n.i.p.p.l.es. Her hands are ced over my hands and she¡¯s pushing it against her b.r.e.a.s.ts even more.


    Tatiana changed her grinding motion and she started to make small jumps. I couldn¡¯t see her from my position but I¡¯m feeling her body going down against me with much force. I could barely hear the movie now since their m.o.a.ns is all that I could recognize. Rin started to orgasm but Micah wouldn¡¯t let her go. I could feel her hands grabbing my arms with force and her nails almost dug into my skin. She twitched several times but I felt her getting up and wearing something on her side.


    ¡°I¡¯m c.u.m.m.i.n.g! I¡¯M C.U.M.M.I.N.G! I¡¯M AH- MMMM~¡± Tatiana eximed as her walls tightened even more.


    She dismounted me but she¡¯s still sitting on my thighs and I could feel her legs twitching. Kaley leaned over to her and started on eating her while stroking me.


    All of a sudden, Rin appeared wearing a double-sided dildo. The other side is already inside her and Micah is already spreading her legs wide. Rin was about to go down but Kaley called them over.


    ¡°Micah, he¡¯s open now. Do you have another one of those? I want to do that with Tatiana.¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°There¡¯s one more in our room~¡± Rin quickly answered.


    ¡°I know where it is¡­¡± Tatiana left our room still n.a.k.e.d.


    I thought Micah would sit on top of me but she sat on my face. She started to suck on me like Kaley did and I saw Rin above my head. Her juices are dripping on her thighs and the dildo inside her is starting to get bent. She asked me to spread Micah¡¯s cheeks apart as she entered her other hole. The grip Micah has on me tightened and Rin started to move. Every time she pulls out, it seems that it¡¯s going out from her side, not Micah¡¯s. Her lower lips would grip it and the pleasure is shared by both of them.


    I was enjoying the sensations then I felt another tongue wrapping around me. It definitely was Kaley and now she¡¯s alternating with Micah.


    ¡°Found it!¡± Tatiana eximed after closing the door.


    ¡°This is gonna be a long~ night.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 301

    Chapter 301: 301


    The night is still young and we continued on for a few more rounds. <center></center><hr>


    Micah copsed on my body while I¡¯m still inside her. She gave me a peck on my cheek before we all took a quick shower.


    I was spent and I¡¯mying on my side, spooning Kaley while the two of us are covered with our nket. Micah and Rin are sharing one nket as well while sitting near the foot of our bed. Tatiana is at the rug replenishing herself with food and it seemed she¡¯s gonna finish everything inside the tray. They yed another movie and the four seemed to be enjoying it. My hands are wrapped around Kaley though our fingers are interlocked underneath the nket. I¡¯m smelling her fragrant hair and it helps to make me fall asleep.


    ¡°I hope there are more days like this¡­¡± Micah trailed.


    ¡°You could always stay here if you want¡­¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°I¡¯d like that but my girls are still over there¡­ Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯m happy over there too but there¡¯s just times that make you miss the times before¡­¡± Micah said.


    ¡°I feel bad saying this but my life has been better ever since¡­ you know¡­ I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m living in this huge house¡­ I would¡¯ve been dead if Sky didn¡¯t bring me here¡­¡± Rin embarrassingly said.


    There was a brief silence but they continued speaking to one another.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know that. Things could be different but I don¡¯t think that would happen to you.¡± Micah replied.


    ¡°I do! You should¡¯ve seen where I was living before¡­¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°There¡¯s still the DDR Camp here, right? I know it¡¯s not that greatpared to this ce but you would¡¯ve survived. Don¡¯t think of yourself as what you are thinking right now.¡± Micah hugged her.


    ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t know what would happen to me as well¡­¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°What?! Even you?¡± Micah was surprised.


    ¡°Well you don¡¯t know the story yet. Let me tell you what I know.¡± Tatiana told the story when it began.


    ¡°What?! That really happened?! That¡¯s amazing! I thought you two were together for several years already! That was really lucky!¡± Micah eximed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh! Don¡¯t forget to tell her when Sky pretended to be dead! That¡¯s another one to talk about! I think that¡¯s when they¡­ you know¡­¡± Rin trailed.


    ¡°What is that now?! Tell me!¡± Micah got excited.


    ¡°I would be asleep already if they didn¡¯t talk as much¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Shh! I think he¡¯s already sleeping! Be quiet!¡± Kaley reprimanded the three giggling.


    ¡°Okay¡­ then let¡¯s be quiet¡­ I¡¯ll tell the story quietly. One time¡­¡± Rin started.


    Their hush voices ovep with the dialogue from the movie and my heavy eyelids started to fall down. I never managed to hear what else they¡¯ve talked about since I¡¯m really tired from the events from the morning right up to this night.


    I was awoken by a knock on the door and it seemed like the time for Micah and Rod¡¯s departure. I lightly shook Kaley¡¯s body so she would wake up and I turned on the lights so we could get ready.


    We quickly got dressed and it seemed like the ownership of one of my hoodies had switched to Kaley. She¡¯s wearing it even now and her hands are in its pockets already. We only have our pistols on our holsters though we never forget to bring our ded weapons. I opened the door and I found out that the three were waiting for us outside.


    Micah¡¯s already in gear and she¡¯s carrying the Lone Wolf G9 I promised her.


    We walked down the stairs and Zeus had the wrong idea of thinking that I would leave for a few days again. He¡¯s sticking close to me and he would jump on me, trying to make me carry him. It took me a few times of reassuring him before he calmed down.


    We saw the four old timers having fun waking Roque up since he¡¯s only wearing boxers hugging a bottle of beer and a chicken.


    ¡°Roque~ Wake the f.u.c.k up or we¡¯ll leave you here!¡± Rod shouted,ughing.


    ¡°HrrmgHHnng~¡± Roque mumbled.


    ¡°Is that zombie talk? Allow me to shoot this f.u.c.ker, hahahaha!!!¡± Oscarughed. <hr>


    ¡°He¡¯s really out of it. How much did he drink?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m more worried about that chicken! Why is it sleeping too?!¡± Matthew eximed.


    The four saw us walking towards them and they waved at us to quicklye over.


    ¡°Kid! Take a picture so I¡¯ll have something to ckmail him when we get back!¡± Rod shouted.


    ¡°Shh! Be quiet! You might wake him up from shouting!¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re shouting too¡­¡± Johnny was shaking his head.


    ¡°Anyone want to fill a bucket with water?¡± Matthew suggested.


    ¡°I have another idea¡­ I¡¯ll make some Wake Up Juice.¡± I had a devilish smile.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the one they made to wake up the old dude who drives that time travel car?¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Oh, you watched the sequels too, eh? I was already asleep from the first one earlier.¡± I replied.


    I made a quick trip to the kitchen and I took arge beer mug from the shelf. I grabbed my blender and I mixed something close from the real thing. I threw in green peppers, Tabasco sauce, cayenne peppers, chili peppers, onions, and mustard seed. The people watching backed away since it¡¯s almost hurting their eyes.


    My eyes are also watery from that deadly concoction but I added a spoonful of The Last Dab since it¡¯s always tradition to put a little extra.


    I filled the beer mug and I grabbed a clothespin to snap Roque¡¯s nose shut. Rod and Oscar had devilish smiles the same as me and they held Roque in ce.


    ¡°You guys are really gonna do it?¡± Micah asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yep.¡± We answered.


    They opened Roque¡¯s mouth wide and I poured it all in with a funnel. It all went straight inside his throat and the effect was f.u.c.k.i.n.g instant. His eyes suddenly sprang up and it¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g bloodshot. The two let go of him as he quickly stood up with a worried expression. His face is all red and he looked at everybody.


    There was a small dy but chaos ensued.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE FU- WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS THIS~!!! OH MY F.U.C.K.I.N.G GOD!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡± Roque shouted at the top of his lungs.


    Roque suddenly became an irregr sprinter since he ran severalps around thepound without stopping. Each bottle and cup he came across, he tried to drink from it like a maniac. A few people that were passed out woke up from the ruckus and saw Roque, only wearing boxers running around screaming. The funny thing was the chicken he¡¯s carrying is still sound asleep in his arms.


    The old timers were losing itughing though I have a few items prepared for him after that adverse reaction. I was ready to give him a bowl of ice cream and a ss of cold milk but I was toote.


    ¡°JUMP IN THE POOL!!!¡± Rod already shouted.


    ¡°RIGHT!!! THE POOL!!!¡± Oscar added.


    ¡°IT¡¯S FULL OF WATER!!!¡± Tatiana added as well.


    ¡°THE POOL?! WHERE THE FU- WHERE THE F.U.C.K IS IT?!¡± Roque was getting hysterical.


    ¡°IT¡¯S ON THE BACK!!!¡± Matthew shouted.


    Roque lost all manner of thinking since he just followed their instructions and jumped in the pool. He dived without any grace and it looked painful since he belly flopped when hended. A huge ssh followed though the chicken already woke up flew from his grasp and avoided swimming with him. He kept on drinking the water but all of a sudden, he started to drown.


    ¡°HELP!!! GLLURRBBGHGH!!!¡± Roque eximed.


    I could only see his hand and he¡¯s slowly sinking down. I managed to grab him at thest second and I pulled him up. He threw up water and some of the Wake Up Juice I made but his face is still red and I¡¯m starting to feel sorry for him¡­ a little bit. <hr>


    ¡°I hold grudges and a simple apology wouldn¡¯t cut it. They may have forgiven him but I still haven¡¯t!¡± I thought to myself.


    I finally handed him the bowl of ice cream and the ss of cold milk and he almost melted fromfort.


    ¡°Thank you! I don¡¯t know what to do if you¡¯re not here!¡± Roque said.


    ¡°Nah, we¡¯re just even.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?¡± he shoves a few more spoonfuls inside his mouth.


    ¡°I¡¯m the one who made the thing that you drink.¡± I replied, smirking.


    He was about tosh out but he actually stopped himself. He just drooped his head low and he gave out a long sigh. It seemed that he had done too much to argue now and he just quietly finished the food that I gave him. He just sprang up and scrambled again when he finally noticed that they¡¯re about to leave this ce and all he has prepared is the boxers that he¡¯s wearing.


    My aunt woke up early and prepared food for everyone awake, even Roque. She also prepared lunch boxes that they could bring with them on their trip back home. Everyone awake came to the DDR Camp to send them off though Avalos and Honassan would being with them. It¡¯s for piloting the air crafts they would be using to get home then back to my ce. They¡¯d be bringing the rest of Tatiana¡¯s team and a few other items I requested.


    ¡°Kid.¡± Rod said as he made a small salute.


    ¡°Rod.¡± I replied while doing the same.


    He said his goodbyes to everyone and Micah just waved at us before they took off. We watched them disappear from the skies and the sun has already risen. Lawrence was the only one from Rod¡¯s group that was left here but it seemed that he has already adjusted from the three days that he was here.


    As usual, Oscar looked at me and asked the same question.


    ¡°What¡¯s the n kid?¡± Oscar looked excited.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m gonna sleep a bit more. I¡¯m still tired, you know? *YAWN*¡± I stretched my body after I yawned and it created another chain reaction.

 Chapter 302

    Chapter 302: 302


    Oscar was about to attack me but he stopped in ce and yawned instead. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit, what sorcery is this?!¡± Oscar said after rubbing his eyes after yawning.


    ¡°Hah! I don¡¯t know old man, they call it echophenomena or something.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Are you really gonna sleep again?¡± Kaley asked me.


    ¡°If I could sleep all day, I would. However, I need to check what this old man did while we¡¯re in the City of Man. I hope you didn¡¯t cut corners old man!¡± I said then looked back at Oscar.


    ¡°As if! Instead of Rin telling you what happened in the meetings, let¡¯s go for a small tour. Hand me the keys and at least let me drive that Charger!¡± Oscar opened his palm and I threw him the keys.


    Like an excited kid, he ran towards the driver¡¯s seat and I rode shotgun. Kaley, Rin, and Tatiana were at the back smiling at Oscar¡¯s jubnt expression. The moment he revved the engine, he actually cried tears of joy. He¡¯s humming while tapping his finger on the steering wheel and he¡¯s in his own world. We left everyone in the DDR Camp first and Oscar drove the Charger towards Woonds.


    On the way there, I noticed like the gate I saw yesterday, the gates that lead to the highway and Elsewhere were now solid. Guards are always posted with rifles and there¡¯s a tform where they could see over on the other side. It¡¯s not just a single solid gate but there¡¯s a chain-link fence after it to serve as a small checkpoint in case for people entering and exiting.


    ¡°If unc and the rest have time, I¡¯d like them to rece the chain-link fence with a solid one as well. I want the two-gate system like we did before at ourpound. It¡¯s gonna take up resources but it would be well worth it in the future.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll tell himter when we get back.¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°After that, I¡¯d like them to installdders at the side of those walls where the gates were welded on. Just leave a huge allowance after the inner gate is built. Tell them to check the structural integrity of the roofs that are using metal sheets. If they could reinforce them or something that would be great. The tforms near the gates are a great idea but if we want to have greater vision from the things outside, some of our soldiers need to be on the rooftops. They don¡¯t need to remove the tforms since we¡¯d still need them.¡± I added.


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll add that too. Anything else?¡± Rin started writing in her notebook.


    ¡°None for now, I¡¯ll tell you if I have another idea.¡± I replied.


    We finally reached Woonds and someone opened the gate for us. It was actually Mr. Gabriel and he was surprised to see our faces. He looks more energetic the few times I¡¯ve seen himpared to when he¡¯s still living with his ex-wife. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh! Good morning! Wee back! We¡¯re still here when you guys arrived. Well, don¡¯t let me keep you here, we have breakfast at the usual spot.¡± he smiled at us.


    ¡°Thank you, we just ate before we sent the president off.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh. I see, I see. Well, call for me if you need anything. If you¡¯re looking for Damian, he¡¯s in the greenhouses. They¡¯re checking on Amanda and Charlotte¡¯s project. I think they¡¯re watering it with the same thing they made before.¡± he said after waving us goodbye.


    Oscar started to drive inside and I looked at him.


    ¡°Project? What project?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Uhh- Rin! What do you call that whatchamacallit that those two made? It has to do with worms or something.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Oh! Umm- Vermi¡­ Vermposting? Am I saying that right?¡± Rin answered, half sure after flipping through her notebook.


    ¡°Oh. That¡¯s actually a great idea.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?¡± Tatiana asked Kaley.


    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me. I don¡¯t know either.¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s a term for makingpost using worms.¡± I replied.


    ¡°W-what? Worms? Really?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, let me exin. We¡¯re always separating our organic waste from inorganic, right? We have the inorganic ones recycled while the organic ones are used forpost. If we use worms, wait- did they make the worm bins already?¡± I looked back at Rin.


    ¡°Umm, yes. I saw them talking to your uncle a few days ago and Ken said you have a design for a good one from the drives. They made a few and they asked for EM-1s and Msses to make the mixture they¡¯re talking about.¡± Rin answered. <hr>


    ¡°Wait, you need to wait for seven days to actually use it. Did they use them already?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, they just made a few extra. From the ce Oscar¡¯s group found the EM-1s, there¡¯s a few bottles that are already mixed and ready for use. Also-¡± but Oscar cut her off.


    ¡°We¡¯re here. Just ask them, I¡¯m not too sure what they made either.¡± Oscar said as he turned off the engine.


    We exited the vehicle and we found Amanda and Charlotte busy with work. Arthur and Chris were assisting them for anything and they made an upwards nod when they saw us walking towards them.


    ¡°Sky, do you know what they¡¯re making? I still can¡¯t understand how worms could make growing crops easier¡­¡± Chris whispered to me.


    ¡°Why are you whispering? Can¡¯t you just ask Charlotte?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I did¡­¡± he replied.


    ¡°And?¡± I raised my eyebrows.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t get it¡­¡± he replied, dejected.


    ¡°Will it make a difference if I¡¯m the one who exined it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°If you have a better exnation¡­¡± he shrugged his shoulders.


    ¡°Are you saying I can¡¯t exin things?!¡± Charlotte suddenly exploded.


    ¡°N-no! It¡¯s me! There¡¯s something wrong with me! I just don¡¯t want to bother you¡­¡± Chris quickly went on the defensive. <hr>


    I was taken aback but Kaley looked at me and I immediately understood. Amanda has the same expression as Charlotte everytime Arthur moves a muscle.


    ¡°Oh, medium-rare season.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay, think of it like this¡­ On ourpost back home, we¡¯d wait for a time before the organic materials inside break downpletely before we could use them. If we use worms along with that organic mixture they made, it would speed up the process several times and more efficiently. Once they eat through it, it would pass through their digestive systems and then it would be what they call worm castings.¡± I started.


    ¡°Worm castings?¡± he tilted his head.


    ¡°Well in other words, worm poop.¡± I replied quickly and a few listening were taken aback.


    ¡°Worm poop?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re not eating it like that. You all have the wrong idea. Those ¡®poop¡¯ I¡¯m talking about enhances the quality of thepost so we¡¯d have better yields.¡± I exined.


    ¡°But we¡¯re using some stuff too like those mixtures to feed them. Is that alright resource-wise?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Well we¡¯re not only getting the effect of having better yields from their castings, we could acquire a few more things from having those worm bins present. For example, the excess fluid from those bins could be drained and it could be used as feed for our nts.¡± I answered.


    ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s why there¡¯s a spigot under there¡­¡± Chris nodded a few times.


    ¡°Is that it?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Well, we only have a few bins here. In the future, the worms would also reproduce and we could make more bins. However, aside from making use of their castings, we could also make use of the worms too. We could use the worms as food for our poultry animals or for our fishes. Doing that could allow us to have another source of food for them, not just our feeds.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh! We could use them as bait too when we fish!¡± Chris added.


    ¡°Yep, that too.¡± I nodded. <hr>


    I looked at their work and a smile is stered on my face. Unc and the rest actually made the design for the binsrger than what¡¯s in my drives though it still works as intended. There¡¯s eight sections in each bin that are stacked on top of each other and it could easily be removed like drawers. There¡¯s enough space for the worms to receive oxygen and it¡¯s located where the temperature is just right. It¡¯s also away from the small cages where some of the poultry animals at Woonds were located in case they start to feast on them.


    The thing I noticed though is that we have two different kinds of worms in separate bins. They¡¯re African Night Crawlers and Red Wigglers.


    ¡°Hey, where did you manage to get this much worms though?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Umm, Oscar found them on their run. I asked if there¡¯s a chance they could find some and they did¡­¡± Charlotte sheepishly said.


    ¡°Where did you find this much old man? Did you bring a group with several shovels?¡± I asked, half joking.


    ¡°Well, Mark told me that Borris might have something like this in his ce. His setup is different from what they did but that¡¯s where we got them. We took a few supplies in exchange for those and a few chickens. He gave us a lot so I gave him a few magazines worth of bullets for the gun you gave him before.¡± Oscar exined.


    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s still alive and kicking eh? How¡¯s his ce now? Still hidden from the world?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Uh, kid. Actually¡­¡± he trailed with a serious look on his face.


    ¡°What? Don¡¯t leave me hanging here, I¡¯m the only one allowed to have cliffhangers!¡± I smirked as everyone almost facepalmed.


    ¡°Well, your cousin Cyrill is actually living there with him.¡± Oscar said.


    The people around us chattering that knew the situation about my estranged cousin became quiet. They all watched what I¡¯m gonna do next but it was far from what they expected. I just acted like it was nothing and it really was.


    ¡°Oh, did uncle Zardon see him?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Your uncle acted like he never existed. Well, your cousin or ex-cousin did the same thing. Nothing happened between them but he asked for you though.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Really? Did he say anything in particr?¡± I looked at him.

 Chapter 303

    Chapter 303: 303


    Oscar adjusted his belt first before he began to speak. <center></center><hr>


    He scratched his beard and said, ¡°Well, he said that he needs to tell you in person. I said that it would be a while before we get to visit them again but he insists.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s leave that for now. If it¡¯s that really important, he would¡¯vee to this ce again or wrote a note. We still have a lot of things to n for and I can¡¯t be bothered by that guy. Anyway, were there any signs of the cult appearing anywhere? It¡¯s been a long while ever since we killed those nutjobs that came here before. There¡¯s a few that managed to run away but I¡¯m pretty sure that we haven¡¯t seen thest of them.¡± I asked.


    ¡°Nah, never seen any signs of them but we¡¯re always looking out just in case. Anyway, when you went to Man, I took a little trip to the DDR Camp at Meycauayan. It¡¯s still standing but their numbers have reduced significantly. A few people have left the ce on their own while some didn¡¯t return from their runs. They got a second wind from Rod visiting them but it¡¯s only a matter of time before that ce goes down since that ce isn¡¯t sustainable without a steady flow of resources. I got to talking with their COst time and now that we have some authority here, Well¡­¡± Oscar trailed.


    ¡°Well, what?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, I mentioned that we¡¯ll find a way. We could strong arm them but it would be better in the long run if they find us dependable. From the top of my head, what we could do is take them in and abandon that ce, let the ce serve as an outpost while we supply them in exchange for a few things, or we do a little relocation like you did in Man. If you have anything in mind just tell me.¡± Oscar suggested.


    ¡°Well there¡¯s pros and cons for each of those things. First one, if we take them in, even if they¡¯re less than before, it¡¯s still a huge number of people eating away at our resources. We had a huge chunk taken away from us when we supplied this ce though we¡¯re starting to cover them from the recent harvests. Sure, we could handle taking them in but I¡¯d like it more if we have people in different ces. I feel like our numbers here are more than enough already and if we add more, it would cause problems.¡± I replied.


    ¡°If they¡¯re in a different ce than us, they could scavenge for resources that¡¯s too far for us to reach. Instead of us eating from the same bowl, we¡¯d have plenty of options for everybody, right?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Are you asking me or saying?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s my take on it.¡± she shrugged her shoulders, smiling. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Then how about thest two options?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Hmmm, the advantage of them being in that current location is the facilities from a hospital obviously and a few gas stations close to them, wait- have they reimed those ces or took everything from it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well yeah, they did. The fuel from that keeps their hospital running.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Okay, aside from the facilities and the fuel reserve, the ce where the hospital is erected is right next to the main road. They could monitor people that drive by or even take them in if it could fit theirmunity. That¡¯s one of the reasons we don¡¯t close off the main road. If we expand our territory, it would be toward the back roads to Elsewhere where Jay¡¯s home was or to Pulo where Borris currently is.¡± I exined.


    ¡°If we¡¯re going with the second option, I suggest we take some of their people in while we leave a few to monitor the roads so we could at least make the ones we take in work the farms or something. Doing that could at least let us break even which I don¡¯t agree with. How about the third option?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°The third option¡­ there¡¯s not a ce I could think of that¡¯s right next to the main road that could be bett- wait¡­ there¡¯s such a ce but it¡¯s not exactly on the main road. It¡¯s located after you drive at an intersection that leads to the expressway though you¡¯d enter a much tighter spot¡­¡± I trailed but someone is already looking at me.


    ¡°Which is?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Our highschool.¡± Kaley interjected, faintly smiling.


    Memories suddenly flooded my head in regards to that ce. That ce is passable as another base of operations since it has plots ofnd, several rooms and buildings, leisure areas, three infirmaries and defensible entrances. The only downside to that ce is the walls covering the whole highschool since a few ces could easily be vaulted on by people. There¡¯s alsorge houses right next to it where you could simply climb the roof of and just simply jump inside the highschool. Not to mention the trees where you could pretty much do the same thing. <hr>


    ¡°It just needs a bit of remodeling.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Well you said it¡¯s not on the main road. If we¡¯re talking about simply monitoring that, just have a few people on a rooftop or something to start with. I guess one job today is to scout the ce as a start. We could order the soldiers at the DDR Camp there to do it since they¡¯ll be the ones to upy it in the future.¡± Oscar suggested.


    ¡°That sounds great. Just let them scout it first then and we¡¯ll help them with rebuilding it. We¡¯d provide seedlings and a few animals for them to take care of after that.¡± I concluded.


    ¡°Oh, we¡¯re not doing it ourselves? That ce is kinda special, correct?¡± Tatiana interjected.


    ¡°It¡¯s not the ce, just the memories we associate it with. Well, we still have to take care of your business, correct?¡± I smirked when I copied her. Tatiana just raised an eyebrow when she noticed but she just shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt after.


    ¡°Well, regarding that, we actually know where one of them is. We found one.¡± Rin has an excited expression. Tatiana must¡¯ve known already since she¡¯s smiling too.


    ¡°That¡¯s great news then!¡± Kaley was jubnt.


    ¡°What?! We do?!¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°You don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g know?!¡± I was bbergasted. <hr>


    ¡°THEY DIDN¡¯T TELL ME!!!¡± Oscar bellowed.


    ¡°U-umm- I did! I told everyone yesterday near the end of our meeting!¡± Rin defended herself.


    ¡°Ah- I must¡¯ve suspended my intelligence at that time because of the jabbering here and there. I¡¯m really tired too so I must¡¯ve forgotten. Yep, that sounds about right. Next time, we hold our meeting where the topics are straight to the point.¡± Oscar nodded a few times but everyone around him is not believing him one bit.


    ¡°Really~¡± I gave the same look.


    ¡°What? I¡¯m telling the truth!¡± he raised his hands up.


    ¡°You¡¯re sleeping near the end! Don¡¯t lie!¡± Charlotte suddenly exploded. The two must¡¯ve been done with the worm bins and now they¡¯re listening to our conversation.


    ¡°Give me a break! I¡¯m really old and I need some R&R. Matthew took over for a while with Johnny so it¡¯s all good.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Well nevermind that. Where¡¯s the location of Tatiana¡¯s team member? What¡¯s his name? Could you even contact him again?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Umm- he¡¯s at Padre Garcia, a municipality in the City of Batangas. His name is¡­¡± Rin is reading through her notes but Tatiana answered for her. <hr>


    ¡°His name¡¯s Ilya. I bet we could contact him again but there seems to be a schedule.¡± Tatiana exined.


    ¡°Wait, so how did this happen? Did he contact you or did you contact them?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Vera did most of the work but she seeded with the help of Earl and Juan. She discovered that Earl is in possession of a HAM Radio so they¡¯ve sent feelers out. One thing led to another and they¡¯ve made contact. Well she¡¯s been trying the other two but no luck so far.¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°So I need a few more details. What else do you two know? Did Vera ask about the ce¡¯s poption, situation on food, security, and etc? If she did and it all checks out, we could take off right now. It¡¯s farther than Man, maybe eight times as far but I know the ce and we have enough fuel. We just need to know his exact location and we could pick him up. If I could talk to the leader of that ce, it could open up more possibilities for trade or something simr. Well, we¡¯d give them a gift for taking Ilya in for starters.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Well for starters we need to wake Vera up.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    We rode the Charger once more and we started to head back to thepound. Oscar wouldn¡¯t give me back the keys but I threatened him by cutting the barrel of his Colt Python in his armory if he¡¯s not aware. He almost exploded but in the end, he asked to drive the Charger around one more time and we just left him alone for now.


    ¡°He really likes that car.¡± I thought to myself.


    Several people are already awake and Vera was among them. She¡¯s sitting next to Mikhail that¡¯s been getting climbed upon by some of the kids. He¡¯s just sitting like a statue not moving in fear that some of them might fall off. We approached Vera while Alexei handed her a cup of coffee.


    ¡°So you found him? Can you give me a few more details?¡± I asked.

 Chapter 304

    Chapter 304: 304


    Vera still has bed hair and her eyes are partially closed. She signaled me to wait for a moment as she took a few sips of coffee. A faint smile formed on her face after doing so and her eyes opened up a little. I was about to speak but she signaled me again to wait a moment. I can¡¯tin since I know the feeling so I made coffee for me and Kaley and sat down next to her. We¡¯re just sitting there without speaking though we¡¯re enjoying the morning coffee with everyone. She finally finished her cup and she actually waited for us to finish ours before speaking. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Okay, now that we¡¯re done with that, what did you ask me again?¡± Vera asked while Alexei is shaking his head.


    ¡°It¡¯s about Ilya, Rin told me that you made contact. Let¡¯s contact him again if we could, you said that there¡¯s a schedule?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yes, I could contact him again for you around 2:00 PM. He told me that he¡¯s taking care of a lot of farm animals over there in the morning. He mentioned that it numbers more than a hundred different animals over there, is that ce special or something?¡± Vera asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll contact him at that time then but let¡¯s try a bit earlier than that. Historically speaking Padre Garcia was a founded cattle market in 1952. After years passed, it started to grow significantlypared to its other neighboring municipalities. Now- well, before this shit started, it used to have auctions every Friday in its huge market for different kinds of farm animals. Be it cows, carabaos, horses, sheeps, goats, chickens, and etc. they have it. There¡¯s also this soup they always make in the early morning made from different cuts of meat.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I remember that! I¡¯ve been there a few times actually.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Really? Have you been in one of the auctions? It¡¯s a very busy day there when it happens.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yep, I came there with mom and dad. It was when Olivia was much younger. I doubt she could remember that sh-¡± then Olivia cut her off. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm? What happened when I was younger?¡± Olivia asked, about to return a te.


    ¡°Let me guess, she stepped on andmine? Heh.¡± I interjected.


    Kaley started to nod and chuckle while everyone around us was left confused.


    ¡°What are you talking about? Landmines?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s just what the residents there call it. Like I said, when it¡¯s Friday, a ton of people will be gathering in Pocion, one of the barangays in that municipality. It would sometimes reach a thousand animals being auctioned off and it wouldst until sundown. Whates with a ton of animals is a ton~ of poop. It¡¯s not like they¡¯re concentrated on one spot, it¡¯s actually everywhere! It¡¯s hard to spot one since the paved roads were really narrow and dirt is almost covering everything.¡± I exined.


    ¡°It really is like that. To make the long story short, she stepped on andmine so big it reached up to her knees. I¡¯m not sure if she¡¯s 3 or 4 at that time but she was really small. Mom had to give her a bath. Good thing we have dad¡¯s RV before then.¡± Kaley concluded.


    Olivia was so embarrassed and she immediately left the scene. We let them finish eating first then we started our usual jobs after hearing the rest of Rin¡¯s report. She gave me a notebook which contained the summary of everything else that¡¯s happening in our ce.


    Jay, Mark, and Dong are leading separate groups to clear an ample amount of the dead outside while bringing resources on their way back. They each have their separate vehicles, teams, and routes to operate in and there¡¯s no mishaps so far. We¡¯ve arranged it so that they wouldn¡¯t overextend their runs and they would close off ces that could be closed off. They¡¯ve been steadily making progress on the backroads but not as much on the main road where Mark is at. <hr>


    Our doctors and other medical personnel inside thepound are making rounds inside first before proceeding to Woonds andstly to the DDR Camp. Records are kept and everything is running smoothly for the most part. They¡¯re keeping close watch to the elderly as always and the ones without family inside thepound or Woonds were moved to the DDR Camp Hospital to be closely monitored in their own rooms.


    Bing, Russel, An, and surprisingly, Mikhail were well liked by the kids and now they¡¯ve been designated as their morning sitters after their lessons though Mikhail would sometimes get dragged by Oscar for runs with some of our trainees.


    The lessons taught by our teachers differ each day and aside from academic lessons, practical lessons were also being taught in conjunction. Lessons were properly selected for the corresponding age and aptitude of the person. Not just the kids are wee to attend the lessons even the a.d.u.l.ts that want to learn are wee. They would sometimes y my survival videos I made before or work with some of our specialized workers so they could learn a thing or two.


    Marvin, the appointed leader of our trainees, along with every trainee is rotating between jobs which could be guarding the entrances, going for runs, or clearing the ce with Jay and the rest. They rotate on a schedule with our real soldiers and the ce they would be guarding at would be different each time so they would be familiar with every nook and cranny of our ce.


    There¡¯s plenty more in the notebook like our full inventory, logbooks, requests,ints, suggestions, and what not and I¡¯ve read through each one of them. We¡¯re slowly getting there but we still have a lot to work on.


    ¡°Thanks Rin. Everything is excellently doc.u.mented as always.¡± I said as I handed her notebook back.


    ¡°Well, thank you. It¡¯s nice you understood them since Oscar and the rest are kinda having trouble with it¡­¡± she gave a sigh of relief. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! Well, we¡¯re kinda dealing with something on our head so we understand each other in that department. Anyway, I don¡¯t know when, but our tumblers would be f.u.c.k.i.n.g busy when Avalos and Honassan gets back. I asked all the spent casings they have among other things and I bet that would be a boatload. Don¡¯t worry about the materials since they¡¯d be sending that too and we¡¯d get a small percentage of it.¡± I replied, smiling.


    Rin got excited at the thought and I eventually led my team outside for a run since we still have plenty of time before making contact with Ilya. I decided to head towards the DDR Camp in Meycauayan to bring some of them to scout around my old highschool.


    I have the Raptor ready and my team today isposed of Kaley, Jared, Tatiana, Niks, and Alexei. We¡¯re carrying the same loadout and Kaley¡¯s d that she¡¯s carrying her AR15. I just kept the Shockwave Oscar gave me inside the Raptor just in case I need to be T-800 again. In Niks¡¯ case, he asked me if he could keep the AK47 I let him borrow and I agreed. We said our goodbyes and we were let outside the gates towards the main road.


    Driving for a few minutes, we encountered Mark¡¯s group clearing a small group of the dead in a corner further out though we just waved at them before moving forward. Jared dropped a few before leaving thempletely and Mark radioed in to tell Jared to stop stealing their kills. I immediately noticed the huge difference in the density of how much of those bloody figures are roaming aroundpared to Man. We¡¯re like high-level characters visiting the starting map of a game.


    ¡°Just need to watch out for those f.u.c.kers who killed Cruz and the others.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was driving the Raptor and Kaley started to shoot down the ones in front. She¡¯s making a path for me to take so we wouldn¡¯t stop, kill, and burn them to the side so our trip would be a tad faster.


    We passed by the same road as thest time we¡¯ve been here and I could notice subtle differences. There are several bodies on top of one another on the pavement that are surrounded by flies. They¡¯re in the process of dposing and fat maggots are swimming merrily in their abdominal area. Most of them are near some of the shops that were forcefully broken into and the ones who killed them did a very sloppy job. They didn¡¯t even bother to burn them while they looted the shops. The chunks of flesh scattered on the ground and the walls near some of it are already ckened and a few seemed to be starting to coagte.


    I decided for us to stop for a short moment to burn them and take care of the few following us. <hr>


    We added a couple dozen bodies to the pile we¡¯re about to burn but I told everyone to pick the few chunks or dismembered parts too. Jared thrust his cavalry sword inside a head and he started to inspect it. I saw him tilting his head so I started to approach him.


    ¡°I have gotten used to seeing rotting corpses but the smell really puts me off¡­¡± Kaley said behind me.


    ¡°Bro¡­ what the f-¡± Jared muttered and I saw Kaley looking in the same direction.


    The moment everyone looked at him, he kicked the head off his sword as fast as he could. The head rolled over to the pile and it¡¯s now sideways but it¡¯s facing us. I looked at it and confirmed it¡¯s really dead but Jared still has disgusted expression.


    I was about to ask him what he saw but several little spiders crawled out of its mouth and scattered on the ground. Some of them almost covered the entire head and their little little legs were moving as fast as they could. A few started to climb on the pile of corpses and it went inside a few holes that were made by maggots eating up the corpses body.


    I surmised that several eggs were probablyid inside that head and they had just hatched or it already hatched for a time and they¡¯re just using it as a temporary nest. Looking at it closely now, it¡¯s not just the mouth where they¡¯reing from but also from the ears and nose. It¡¯s a horrifying sight for someone afraid of things crawling in different directions.


    I thought that was all of it but some of the head¡¯s teeth fell off and little maggots started falling down.


    ¡°Umm, I take back what I said¡­¡± Kaley grimaced at the sight.

 Chapter 305

    Chapter 305: 305


    A small controlled fire was started and we stared at the burning bodies for a moment. We could hear the crackles from the fire and we could see some of the small spiders turning into what looks like ignited matchsticks. We¡¯re quite close to the Meycauayan DDR Camp and I bet they would be able to see the billowing smoke that¡¯sing from our direction. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± I said to my group, still staring at the burning corpses.


    They all looked at me and rode the Raptor a few momentster.


    We reached the camp after a time and it still looks decent for the most part. A few fences were erected and the entrance inside has been reinforced. The first thing I saw though is that some of the able-bodied civilians were now carrying guns and have been taking turns with the soldiers. They saw using in and I saw Benjamin wearing hisbat gear though he¡¯s sporting civilian clothing underneath. He still has his dog tag around his neck and his boots that is a little worse for wear. His head perked up and he stood up and approached us.


    ¡°Good to see you sir, is there anything I could help you with?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah, where¡¯s Rico? Tell him I¡¯m here about Oscar¡¯s idea of finding a way for your people.¡± I replied.


    Benjamin looked back and told one of the civilians smoking a cigarette to go fetch Rico. The person left the shotgun he was carrying at the table and he briskly walked away.


    ¡°Not even batteries for the radios?¡± I asked Benjamin.


    ¡°Uhh, it¡¯s been a hard couple of weeks. We have a few though we¡¯re still charging them and we try to preserve them as much as possible.¡± he scratched his head. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I see, just take good care of your electronic devices and don¡¯t throw them away. Well, if you would just give it to me.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Hmm! Sure, I¡¯ll tell it to- oh, he¡¯s here.¡± Benjamin chuckled but he saw Ricoing towards us. He made a small salute but Rico waved him off.


    ¡°C¡¯mon man, a simple nod is fine. Even our president is just giving us fistbumps.¡± Rico said while an unlit cigarette is in between his fingers.


    I greeted him and he gave out a faint smile when he saw me. I went straight to the point about my n in scouting my old highschool first and attempting to move there after. He was adamant of abandoning this ce for another so we agreed on keeping the hospital as an outpost since it¡¯s still a valuable facility to have control with. We decided on making most of the residents inside their camp move towards the highschool and I assured him that I¡¯ll assign a few of my own people to help them with rebuilding. I finally took six of his people and they¡¯re riding another pickup truck that they themselves have secured.


    Benjamin was one of the six and he¡¯s with three soldiers and two civilians. They¡¯re wearing a mix and match of protective gear and firearms though what I¡¯ve noticed is that they¡¯re carrying a small knife with a handheld weapon that has a good range in close quarters.


    They¡¯re driving behind us and we went further in towards the Bcan Area.


    We passed by a few more looted stores and buildings and a bridge that¡¯s smeared with viscous and concerning amounts of blood. A few bodies were dangling on the side and I maneuvered us through some of the dead in front of us.


    ¡°Bro, I¡¯m thinking¡­ How about we bring a .22 like the one my little brother used to bring?¡± Jared suggested. <hr>


    ¡°Why? You don¡¯t like your AR-10 anymore? I¡¯d be happy to switch it for you.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°What? No way! I¡¯m just thinking that there¡¯s times that we¡¯re just clearing those normal ones where I even had to use my gun to thin out a clump. A .22 could still kill them if we have good shot cement so it wouldn¡¯t hurt to bring one when we¡¯re on runs like this.¡± Jared exined.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m just kidding. I know what you mean. We should¡¯ve done that today, now that I think about it. I¡¯m used to you and Kaley looking out from the truck but we got Alexei too.¡± I replied.


    We passed more buildings with broken down gates and shattered windows and I turned right on a traffic light where an 8 Twelve that had been looted was located. We passed by a building where several jewelry stores were located and on the other side of it was a terminal with a few abandoned tricycles lying around. Driving forward, we passed by high walls where fancy gates were erected though we couldn¡¯t see through the other side since it¡¯s solid. A few of them were open though and we could already imagine what had happened inside.


    We finally made a left turn and we only need to pass a few more houses and we¡¯re there.


    As we¡¯re driving, we encountered concrete barriers blocking us towards the pathway to my old school. Niks and Alexei jumped down from the back of the Raptor and they started to move the concrete barriers to the side. The people behind us jumped down as well but they started to kill a few that got attracted to our direction. I¡¯ve never heard a gunshot firing and it was all quiet.


    ¡°Benjamin, stay with your group here to guard this entryway. Use this radio if you notice anything concerning and don¡¯t try to do it all by yourselves. Kill anything that wanders to your side while you¡¯re waiting for us. Don¡¯t worry about firing your guns but be smart about it. We¡¯ll head a bit forwards and I¡¯ll radio in if you are to follow us, understood?¡± I said as I gave him one of our radios.


    He nodded with everyone else and they slowly backed their truck to face the other side. <hr>


    Niks tapped the roof of the Raptor and we drove a bit forwards. The road curves to the right and the huge gate of my schooles into view.


    The huge gate is about 10 feet high and there¡¯s a smaller gate to the side. There¡¯s a small slit covered by a small te that could easily be slid to the other direction. There¡¯s a few dead heads banging their hands on the gate and one missing half its body is trying to squeeze itself in the small space beneath the gate. I guess it¡¯s barely seeding but it needs to crush its chest cavity to go all the way inside.


    There¡¯s a little alley to the right side of the gate that leads to a dead end where rows of houses right next to each other are located. A few moments after observing them, I noticed that the banging soundsing from the gate does not match the number of hands we¡¯re currently seeing. I just concluded that there¡¯s a number of them on the other side and they¡¯re just perpetually attracting one another.


    ¡°You know the drill.¡± I said to my group as I stepped outside.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± they all replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s in the toolbox at the back.¡± I innocently said.


    Groans and eye-rolls followed but I feel energized after saying that.


    There¡¯s not much of them here so I drew my katana to start the small clearing process. I inched closer and closer to the ones banging on the gate and it seemed that they still hadn¡¯t noticed me. I signalled for my team to just be on the ready since I¡¯m about to try something. <hr>


    I held my katana with both hands and I shed horizontally.


    The back of their heads got nicked by a sufficient amount and three of them fell backwards while still in the process of winding their hands. Blood started to pour out from the cut but it takes time because of how sticky it was.


    Two on each side noticed me when theirrades fell and they slowly pivoted their body towards my direction.


    I shed downwards to the one on my right and my de entered a few inches to the side from the top of its head. A sizable chunk of it with its left ear flopped to the ground first before its whole body followed. The one on my left, missing half its jaw, took a step towards me but I simply took a step back. It tripped and fell due to the one missing half its body and it fell headfirst then I heard a small crack. It¡¯s barely moving its hand so I simply stabbed down to make sure and I wiped my de clean with a spare cloth.


    I called them over to help me drag the bodies to the side and we could still hear the gate getting banged up.


    I saw Jared looking for a chair to use as a small tform to check on the situation from the other side. They watched him patiently but I went back to the Raptor to retrieve a small case. I turned around to see Jared about to tell them what he saw but he saw me looking at him while smirking. He just mouthed ¡®motherf.u.c.ker¡¯ before shaking his head. The rest were confused but they turned around and started to chuckle.


    *whrrrrrrrr*


    ¡°We have our drones now, remember?¡± I said as it flew over their heads.


    I was faintly smiling but my expression changed immediately when I saw the situation inside.

 Chapter 306

    Chapter 306: 306


    I was actually half- hoping that the situation wouldn¡¯t be as bad as I¡¯m seeing right now. <center></center><hr>


    If I simply close my eyes and think for a moment, I would be able to remember my time in this ce vividly as if I¡¯m still there. The memories I have from this ce means a lot to me and seeing this ce in such a sorry condition pulled on some heartstrings.


    I¡¯ve already killed a lot of the dead but it¡¯s something else seeing a huge number of them wearing the same uniform Kaley and I used to wear. Our uniform for males is a simple beige-green buttoned up shirt with short sleeves and green cks. There¡¯s an embroidered name just above the chest pocket and the school logo in the center of the chest pocket itself. The female¡¯s uniform has the same color scheme and style though they¡¯re wearing a skirt instead of cks and there¡¯s this little ribbon that they wear like a necktie.


    There¡¯s several hundred of them wandering around aimlessly and the only ones that were not wearing the same uniform were either civilians or employees of the school.


    It was just a depressing sight.


    Their bodies are torn up from different sides and flooring and the walls where they are waddling through is a mess.


    The group I¡¯m with saw the feed and they gave the normal reaction. Kaley¡¯s expression is about the same as mine but I could notice that her breathing is a bit faster than normal.


    There¡¯s a huge number of them banging at the gate but the problem is that there¡¯s still a lot pushing from behind. The gate was so sturdy and it managed to hold off several dead bodies trying to bend the welds of it. The bodies of the ones close to the gate were getting crushed due to the pressure and it almost amalgamated some of them due to the time that they were crushed in the same spot without moving.


    Their hands that were raised is the only normal thing I could see from their kind.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the uniforms that they¡¯re wearing, they would¡¯ve been a huge blob with heads and arms sticking out. I could barely recognize their faces since a few that were close to each other have started eating each other¡¯s face off and what¡¯s left of their faces were a small part of their forehead and scalp.


    One of them got attracted to the noise of our drone so it turned its head back to the direction of the noise. However, it was in the process of chewing off the ears of another student so it ripped its rotting ear clean taking some of the flesh from the back of its head with it. That allowed the other head next to it to partake from its meal and it managed to bite a small chunk off of it. The discolored flesh is just dangling from their mouths and there¡¯s several more things like this happening in that mass of almost amalgamated flesh.


    ¡°This is one f.u.c.k.i.e.d up homing.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°You okay bro?¡± Jared asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°No, I¡¯m Sky.¡± I replied.


    Tatiana and Alexei immediately snorted and I saw Kaley pursing her lips to a smile. Jared was shaking his head in disappointment while I saw Niks trying his hardest not to give a reaction.


    ¡°And my drill joke gets ignored?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Be serious bro!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°Okay, okay. Hello, I¡¯m Serious Ishiyama¡­¡± then Kaley proceeded to attack me.


    ¡°Alright I give up! Stop! I¡¯m not gonna say I¡¯m not affected by it but it¡¯s not enough to keep me awake at night. I¡¯ve been through worse.¡± I said after rubbing my shin.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s the n?¡± Niks asked.


    ¡°Wait a bit, let me fly this thing around this ce first. Jared, grab the other one inside and fly it straight to the other entrance where the small chapel is located.¡± I answered.


    ¡°Small chapel? There¡¯s one inside?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Yep. There¡¯s also a ser field missing a goal, a separate building for a canteen, a mini gymnasium apart from the normal gymnasium, and a mushroom park aside from the normal ones.¡± I answered.


    ¡°Your school has a¡­ lot of funds¡­¡± Alexei muttered.


    I just smiled then I started to fly my drone further. After the front gate with a mass of meshed up zombies, a driveway is right next to it though there¡¯s a walkway and a guard house on the left. The walkway has benches that are made of stone and the whole walkway stretches towards the main building of the school. Right next to that is a basketball court and two volleyball courts next to each other in the open. There¡¯s also an elevated stage and a tool shed at the furthest part which marks the end of the school on the left-most side. <hr>


    The main building has several hallways, small rooms, and it is only up to two floors. It is much wider than it is taller. Almost all of the lessons are held in the main building aside from PE sses. At the side of it is the mushroom park and the mini gymnasium. Further that ce is the separate canteen, gymnasium, ser field, andstly a separate building that spans five floors which are all ssrooms.


    The span of the school now turns to the left. The school is like an ¡®L¡¯ shape wherein we flip the letter ¡®L¡¯ horizontally and rotate counter-clockwise 90 degrees. The left turn stretches for a while andst time I was here it was just a wide dirt road covered in weeds and grass. Now, the road has been paved and arge infirmary was built on the left side with ample parking space while the other side became a garden with several nts that had their leaves rotten or dark yellow.


    ¡°This makes things a bit easier. At least they¡¯ve centralised the infirmaries.¡± I thought to myself.


    Thest part of the whole school is the chapel and what¡¯s next to it is the other entrance that leads to a backroad towards another barangay and a gatedmunity. The whole school is swarming with the living dead and the huge gate being open from the other side doesn¡¯t help in reducing their numbers at all.


    I saw Jared¡¯s drone hovering outside the entrance and I saw another terminal for tricycles with a pile of dead bodies in the curb.


    ¡°We just need to close off that gate first, right?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Yep. What¡¯s your estimate?¡± I replied.


    ¡°On the ground, maybe 200-300? I¡¯m not sure about the ones still inside the building but it¡¯s safe to assume that there¡¯s definitely more.¡± Jared answered.


    ¡°Hmm, if we close that gate, we need to either drive around or to kill our way from this side.¡± I added.


    ¡°Is there any other way? The road to the other side is much farther driving around than you think.¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°Well, take a look at the footage first before we make a decision.¡± I replied.


    We drove the drones back and they reviewed the footage. <hr>


    I climbed a wooden utility pole by using the metal pegs on the side without their notice. The view from a drone is great but nothing beats seeing something from your own eyes. I squatted down when I reached the top and I had a better view below of what¡¯s happening. I looked at the path where the other utility poles are connected while checking how thick the walls are for proper foothold. I¡¯m slowly forming a n of approach and I noticed them looking for me. Kaley looked up and saw me and she picked up her radio.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Umm, what the f.u.c.k are you doing there?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I¡¯m doing the pose before I murder my whole n. Well, I don¡¯t have a little brother who would resent me but it¡¯s close enough.¡±


    *bzzt*


    Kaley responded with an exasperated sigh though I could hear Jaredughing. I could see from this height Benjamin and his group, dragging a couple of bodies from the far side and there¡¯s no gunshotsing from their side. I started on applying my weight on the dangling wires to test their strength and they could carry me no problem.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Are you even safe there, bro?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Seriously? There¡¯s no electricity running in these wires anymore, remember? Anyway, anyone want to follow my lead? If we follow the correct path with a few detours by bncing on the walls, we could reach the other gate without driving around. I could do it myself but nothing beats a backup from above and I don¡¯t want to hog all the experience points like the wizard that doesn¡¯t want anything to pass. I just need someone looking out when I jump down to close the gate.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Experience points? You don¡¯t even have ¡®The Grey¡¯ title bro! You¡¯re closing a gate, not fighting a fiery demon with wh.i.p.s and ws!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey! At least doing that prevents the zombies from passing!¡±


    *bzzt*


    We kept on bickering and long story short, Kaley got annoyed and Jared was the one to receive the beating.


    We decided to just drive around and take the safer approach rather than killing our way in unexplored territory or traipsing from a high ce and risk falling. We met with Benjamin¡¯s group again and we told them the n.


    We started to drive back to the traffic light we passed before but we noticed a few vehiclesing from behind us.

 Chapter 307

    Chapter 307: 307


    A gray sedan with dark tints, a ck SUV hauling a caravan, and what seemed to be a green pickup truck with a few people hanging at the back were approaching us with speed. There¡¯s also several people riding motorcycles with someone riding at the back. I could barely make up if they¡¯re a real threat but I know one thing for sure, strangers popping up randomly isn¡¯t exactly what I¡¯m hoping for while we¡¯re in the middle of something important. <center></center><hr>


    Well, it didn¡¯t take us a minute before we knew they¡¯re up to something.


    We were a few meters before we reached the traffic light when the green pickup swerved to the left and the people at their back pointed their guns at us. They were gaining speed and the other vehicles trailing us opened their windows and armed hostiles peeked outside carrying guns. The people riding the motorcycles sped up and guns were drawn pointing at our direction. They¡¯re beginning to catch up to us and Benjamin has voiced his concerns multiple times.


    The atmosphere immediately became tense and we heard a husky voice through our radios.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°YOU F.U.C.KERS BETTER PULL OVER OR THINGS WOULD GET F.U.C.K.I.N.G UGLY!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    I smirked and I picked up my radio.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You sure about that?¡±


    *bzzt*


    I made Jared signal Niks to use that thing at the back.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bitch? Can¡¯t you see the predicament you¡¯re in?! AHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!¡±


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    I heard a tap on the roof. I started to drive faster and faster and Benjamin followed suit. Benjamin and his team already saw what Niks brought out and they¡¯re keeping close to our back to cover the surprise. We just drove straight and avoided the correct way towards the other entrance of my school. We¡¯re now headed to the Public Market of Meycauayan where the road is starting to get narrow.


    I¡¯m ramming the zombies ahead and they¡¯re all getting pushed and crushed to the side. The speed we¡¯re going at is in the borderline of dangerous at these parts and one wrong move will roll your vehicle. They¡¯re still persistently following us despite that and I¡¯m sure they¡¯re not here to kill us. They would¡¯ve open fired ages ago if that was the case and I¡¯m thinking that they¡¯re after us or our vehicles.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Last chance to turn back. We have guns too.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°HAHAHAHAH!!! Can¡¯t you see how outgunned you are?! You don¡¯t want a f.u.c.k.i.n.g gun fight, trust me.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I guess they wouldn¡¯t want to damage this modified Raptor.¡± I thought to myself.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh, a gun fight that you¡¯re thinking of isn¡¯t happening, trust me.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hah! Do you even know how that¡¯s gonna happen? Seems to me that you¡¯re just trying to get away.¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Well, I warned you.¡±


    *bzzt*


    I honked the horn once and Benjamin quickly changednes.


    All I needed for Niks to do is raise it up and let the ones behind see it. It¡¯s too expensive to use it on these f.u.c.kers and I¡¯d rather throw a grenade than to use this at them. I even opted out for using guns since a gun fight in our position is severely disadvantageous.


    We just prepared a little something called shock and awe.


    *SCREEEEECH*


    *CRASH*


    I immediately heard loud screeches and what followed arerge crashes. All of the vehicles behind us were forced to instinctively hit their brakes hard or turn their steering wheels quickly. Nevertheless, the mess currently happening, they did that to themselves. The gray sedan crashed into a pir hard while the ck SUV crashed onto it. The pickup with passengers at the back swerved violently and it started to roll over.


    Most of the motorcycle riders at the front lost control and crashed and slid, throwing off the riders at the road. The unlucky ones got rolled over and squished by the pickup. The road became a canvas of red when the pickup started to slide while bodies were still underneath it. It stopped sliding after crashing onto a store producing another crash. The ones that we¡¯re ¡®slightly¡¯ unlucky have their bones broken in several ces but I¡¯m sure they¡¯re still in the process of figuring out what just f.u.c.k.i.n.g happened.


    All I ordered for Niks to do was just to raise and point the RPG-7 at them and it worked like a charm.


    ¡°Damn bro.¡± Jared muttered when he saw the mess behind.


    ¡°y stupid games, win stupid prizes.¡± I replied. <hr>


    Niks ced it back on the case while we gradually slowed down.


    We didn¡¯t waste time and started to back up as we killed the ones that were barely alive. A knife to the head was all it took to end their lives. I decided to keep a couple of them alive for questioning and the first one I took is a woman whose leg is bent horribly and the other one is a guy whose half his face is almost scr.a.p.ed off. Thedy was screaming loudly and Tatiana immediately knocked her out. The guy was surprisingly cooperative and he¡¯s actually the one I¡¯ve talked to earlier. However, we still tied him up nicely and made sure he has nothing hidden on his person. I saw him looking at me with fear and regret so I leaned over to him and said some words.


    ¡°I told you so.¡± I said before leaving him with the soldiers. I just heard him starting to sniffle and I just smirked internally.


    What remains of his group on the ground have their heads cracked open or their guts spilling out. Some have bones jutting out from their extremities while a few were just a red smear on the road.


    The pickup truck has no one left alive inside and the ones riding at the back were thrown off from rolling over and have just be roadkill or food for the ones roaming around. We¡¯re putting down anything thates close while I ordered the rest of Benjamin¡¯s team to pick up the weapons the ones chasing us dropped by the roadside and any other valuable items they came across. They¡¯re still in shock at what we did and they¡¯re just staring nkly at the aftermath.


    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t space out now! Quickly!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°Y-yes sir¡­¡± some of them replied.


    ¡°You think they have a base of their own?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll know after questioning them and checking some of their belongings. Let¡¯s check the sedan and the SUV first before anything else.¡± I replied and she followed me.


    We reached the sedan and a couple of bodies were on the roof with necks bent at an impossible angle. Their heads have cracked open and their brains have spilled out on the roof, while a few chunks are on the pavement. I looked at the SUV with the broken windshield and surmised that they came flying because they didn¡¯t wear their seat belts. I dragged their bodies away from the vehicles and looted their bodies before checking the caravan they¡¯re dragging earlier.


    The caravan simply broke off from the SUV after the crash and it only slid a few meters away. I made sure that nothing was moving inside before I started to open it. Shining my shlight inside the caravan, there¡¯s a multitude of random items and I ordered the group to hook it up on our Raptor first because the dead were already gathering towards us. A couple dozen were already close so I dove in head first.


    Kaley was at an ample distance behind me and I attracted the rotting bodies towards my direction. I started to back away when I seeded and now they¡¯re forming a semi-straight line. I moved to the left while Kaley moved to the right so the undead would be at her mercy since they¡¯re all side-by-side ready for quick picking.


    I shed upwards and my de entered its chin and left its head. I kicked it down then I thrust my de forward to the next one. It¡¯s mangled hand failed to reach me since my de is longer. I continued on cutting them down and Kaley started to fire her pistol.


    *psshew* <hr>


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    *psshew*


    Kaley fired several shots at the one at the back-most first, going to my direction. She stopped after five more shots and I noticed that she killed them alternately. I saw her drawing her de and cutting down the ones that are left on her side. It took us a few moments to put them all down and the same thing is happening on the other side of the road where Alexei and Jared were.


    ¡°Sir, everything is ounted for. We even took the fuel from the SUV and the sedan. However, we used a moderate amount to burn their bodies along with the dead we¡¯ve killed while looting them. We threw anything valuable inside the caravan but the guns and ammo we found were on the back of your truck.¡± Benjamin reported.


    ¡°How are you guys on ammo?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re uhh-¡± I quickly cut him off.


    ¡°Okay, I understand. Reload your magazines and make sure that it¡¯s full and you have extras. Grab an extra gun since you¡¯re all just carrying one each.¡± I said.


    ¡°You¡¯re certain sir? We could really have one extra?¡± another soldier asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Just take what¡¯s enough and at least leave us something to take home. Make sure the one you¡¯re taking has a lot of ammo or you¡¯d just get to fire it a few times.¡± I replied, smiling.


    They wore excited expressions and chaos almost ensued. We didn¡¯t find a lot per say but it¡¯s enough to fill a magazine and a half for each of them. They¡¯re now carrying a handgun and also a shotgun or a rifle same as us but they don¡¯t have the extra attachments. Benjamin finished cing several slugs on the sling of his shotgun and he pocketed a few for extra measure. Jared started to teach one of the civilians how to use an M70 and our group dynamic with Benjamin¡¯s group increased from our recent encounter.


    We zigzagged around the mess that we made and we headed to the other entrance of my school.

 Chapter 308

    Chapter 308: 308


    Benjamin and his group are the ones leading this time because I already told them the correct route to take. The way the buildings are built in this area is not as efficient that¡¯s why we need to drive around just to get to the other entrance. The school is built right at the border of two barangays. That¡¯s why the other entrance belongs to the other side and not because the school is humongous. <center></center><hr>


    There¡¯s a few vehicles we¡¯re passing through which were just sprawled to different directions but what you¡¯d first notice is that their trunks and fuel doors were open. People that passed through them obviously took what they needed though a few cars have ring bullet holes through the windshield or the main body.


    ¡°You think those guys did those as well?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°It could be anyone honestly. I¡¯m just thinking that the only reason that they didn¡¯t shoot us is because they want to take this Raptor. What Raphael did to this thing is something else. I¡¯d avoid scratching this beauty too if I want to take it for myself.¡± I replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s either that or they couldn¡¯t aim for shit.¡± Jared interjected.


    ¡°We¡¯ll know once we start to question those two.¡± I replied as I drove faster.


    We finally reached the other entrance but we turned our vehicles around first. I¡¯m scanning my surroundings for anything out of ce but this area is still the same picture from the footage we recorded.


    ¡°Alexei, stand guard on our vehicle with Jared and two other people from Benjamin¡¯s group. If that pair we captured tries anything, at least leave one alive, mostly.¡± I said after getting out of our Raptor.


    I drew my de and made a small perimeter.


    A sharp glint would quickly appear before a piece of someone that was once alive would plop on the ground.


    Most of what I killed were from the ones following us since the number of them at this area isn¡¯t as muchpared to the opposite entrance. Anyone could easily see through the other side of this gate since it¡¯s made up of ttened iron bars ced upright at an angle with a few inches of space between them. The only solid part of the gate is near the handle where you could open itpletely. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°So, we¡¯re just gonna close this?¡± A civilian named Tony asked.


    I looked at my watch first before I answered.


    ¡°We still have time to thin them out as much as possible. Well, I bet we could clear this ce in a few hours if there¡¯s no more disturbances. I¡¯m hopeful that there¡¯s none of those sprinters on steroids here since they would¡¯ve already been attracted by the noise of the drones earlier. The faster we do this the faster you guys could relocate and be self-sustaining. Scavenging could only get you as much and now that we wouldn¡¯t be receiving supplies from the president, making your own food is one of the key things to survive this thing.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then the ones with huge farms wouldn¡¯t have much as trouble as we are huh?¡± Benjamin added.


    ¡°Well they¡¯re not receiving anything from the get go but yeah, if they could secure it, they¡¯d have no problems on food.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, what do you mean by secure?¡± The other civilian named Andres asked.


    ¡°Well look at what we¡¯re doing. This ce isn¡¯t exactly ours, right? Unless you have means to protect what you own, it¡¯s all for nothing. You¡¯re just setting up a great base for the strongest guy on the block.¡± I replied.


    I started to walk forward then a drone flew over us.


    ¡°Bro, now that you¡¯re gonna go inside, I¡¯ll fly one of the drones a bit forward than where you are so you¡¯ll have eyes in advance. Just haul ass if anything happens.¡± Jared interjected.


    I just gave him a nod and we continued on. <hr>


    Jared drove the drone several meters away from us and doing that gave us a few advantages aside from being able to see anything in advance. The noise from the rotors would attract more in his general direction and the ones we¡¯re supposed to encounter would be chasing after the drone instead of us. Even if a few managed to spot us first and head in our direction, their numbers are no longer a threat. We just need to kill the ones that have been attracted quickly or else they¡¯ll grow in number.


    Niks is taking point while Kaley and the rest are behind him. Tatiana and I were on the right and left sides while hugging the walls so we¡¯d be sure if we missed anything.


    I stabbed down on a couple in medium-tall grass where one is trying to crawl outside the area while one is just a head stuck to its back. The one stuck to its back has its jaw unhinged while its upper teeth have dug deeply on the other¡¯s back. It can¡¯t apply much force to bite a chunk off its back and is just stuck there forever.


    The first stop was the chapel and aside from finding out that there was only a single zombie inside, everything inside is pretty much useless.


    ¡°It¡¯s up to the people moving here to decide what they¡¯ll do with this ce. I¡¯d turn this into something else that¡¯s practical but people still use this ce for whatever reason they have.¡± I thought to myself.


    It¡¯s apparent that Benjamin¡¯s group has gotten used to just using handheld weapons. Even if they have guns, it¡¯s always tucked in their holster or secured by their sling.


    I¡¯m keeping an eye on Kaley everytime she fires a shot towards the heads of the students at this ce. I saw her earlier reaction before but now it seemed that she¡¯s doing great at keeping her emotions in check. We could barely recognize the faces of the ones we kill but seeing arge number of them wearing our old colors would stir something inside us even if we told ourselves the opposite.


    What I¡¯m doing when I encounter them is just to kill them as quickly as possible.


    We reached the infirmary, the garden, and the parking area which were new to Kaley and we tried to slow down the pace a little. However, the drone lowered and turned around a few times.


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°You can take that infirmary easy since they can¡¯t seem to open the doors. There¡¯s three- no, seven in the garden where the gnomes are ced in a circle.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, thanks. Try to attract the ones from the garden towards the parking area.¡±


    *bzzt*


    Jared never responded but he did what he was asked. We took care of them first before we opened the door to the infirmary.


    The smell immediately assaulted our noses even if we¡¯re wearing masks. Tony retched and he took a step back while Andres hooked one with his crowbar to drag on the ground. Benjamin sunk his knife to the side of its head and tripped a zombie wearing scrubs. It fell face first and some of its teeth hit the hard concrete squarely and got pulled simultaneously.


    Several hours have passed and we finally cleared the school.


    A few specials popped up but all they did was chase after the drone. We even encountered a single fat one unable to stand up. Its body made its knees bend to the other side and the bone is stabbing parts of itself. It was eventually taken care of and the only thing that took a bit of time was the mass of zombies at the other side of the gate. We¡¯ve been using our handheld weapons at the start but we resorted to using our guns a fair bit at thest stretch.


    The amalgamation of the ones sticking at the gate made it risky to use our melee weapons, add to that the others roaming around trying to bite a chunk off of us. They¡¯re sticking so close to each other and their hands are all over the ce just trying to catch on something to bite on. Some of them didn¡¯t even have their feet on the ground and were simply suspended in the middle because of how meshed they are. We made some noise but we killed everyst one of them here. <hr>


    It¡¯s a weird feeling shooting students in a school and good thing that they¡¯re already dead.


    We started to call Rico and he sent more people to help us. He was surprised that we managed to clear this ce just with our number and right after encountering a hostile group.


    The group that came were tasked to collect the bodies and burn each one after looting them. A huge pile is on the side of the walkway and I picked a few things that interested me. We¡¯re not taking anything from the infirmary so it¡¯s only fair to get something from that pile and a few things we¡¯re interested in. There¡¯s new people guarding the gates so the rest of my team were inside taking a look and catching a little break.


    Everyone is busy but I took Kaley inside the main building and our group followed. We¡¯re seeing a few soldiers throwing bodies to the first floor but we just walked past them. We went inside a particr room then Kaley and I sat on the chairs that we ced in the correct position. Kaley¡¯s already smiling but the rest of our group were confused.


    ¡°Hello, my name¡¯s Kaley, you are?¡± Kaley said with a smile.


    ¡°Umm- ah, my- m-my name¡¯s Sky¡­ nice to meet you¡­¡± I said, chuckling.


    ¡°So your name¡¯s Sky, nice to meet you too.¡± she replied, shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    The two of us were silent for a short moment but we startedughing heartily.


    ¡°You still remember too, huh?¡± I smiled as I looked at her then she nodded.


    Fond memories flooded our heads.


    I was sitting in the corner like the main protagonist of a show while her chair is pushed to my side since she doesn¡¯t have the book we¡¯re using back then. Even if a lot of time has passed, we can still remember the first time we met each other.

 Chapter 309

    Chapter 309: 309


    Kaley and I were looking into each other¡¯s eyes though we¡¯re not saying anything. Despite that, it seemed that the same thing was going through our heads. We¡¯re locked in the same position but Tatiana broke the silence. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Okay, we still got a lot to do you lovebirds! It¡¯s 30 minutes past noon, is it okay for us to leave them here for now?¡± Tatiana mentioned.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess it¡¯s alright. I just need to talk to Benjamin for a moment. Could some of you take the hard drives or anything that might contain important information while I¡¯m talking with him? Even hard copies would be fine.¡± I asked my group.


    ¡°Sure thing bro. Oh yeah, we could ce one here, right?¡± Jared looked at me.


    ¡°You brought one? Sure, the rys we¡¯ve installed are almost all in our city. We haven¡¯t had the time to ce one in this Area since we haven¡¯t been here much.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, Ken has been busy chatting with our techdy, I just hope she joins us soon.¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°Well, if you think about it, the ce she¡¯s in is definitely self-sustainable or something. We¡¯re closing in to two months since this shit started and we never received a call of help from her.¡± I said.


    ¡°All I have is guesswork but she¡¯s definitely there.¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley and Tatiana followed me around and we found Benjamin in our oldputerb. He greeted us when he saw using though the first thing I did was flip the mouse over. Kaley and I smiled at each other while Tatiana was almost having an annoyed look.


    ¡°Okay, what¡¯s the story with the mouse? Something to do with your love lives, correct?¡± Tatiana squinted.


    ¡°Not really, no. I just- well, we have this teacher who¡¯s teaching a subject which he shouldn¡¯t be teaching in the first ce. I got in trouble for pointing out his mistakes so I did a little prank as revenge.¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What did you do sir?¡± Benjamin was listening in.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not really that great of a story, me and my friends stole each and every mouse ball from thisputerb. It¡¯s not like the ones we have today, it¡¯s the one you twist the cap from below and clean the ball inside if it starts to get wobbly.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t get caught or even suspected of doing it?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Well you don¡¯t steal the ones on the tables, you steal the ones in their storage area. He just discovered it a monthter that each and every lost ball is missing. In terms of being a suspect, he just suspected everyone. Too bad he doesn¡¯t have evidence that points to anyone at all. My friends even forgot that we took them. Only I was the one waiting for that long game. Do you have any idea of holding that information not knowing when he¡¯d notice it?! It almost made me mad!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Did you throw them away or something then sir?¡± Benjamin asked.


    ¡°What? No, they¡¯re still in my house. Well, my old house.¡± I casually replied.


    ¡°What?!¡± Benjamin choked.


    ¡°Of course¡­¡± Kaley facepalmed.


    The other soldiers listening wereughing along with Tatiana.


    ¡°Do you really still have them sir?!¡± Benjamin tried to confirm. <hr>


    ¡°Yep, all 239 of them. I still have some use for them so don¡¯t ask.¡± I raised both of my hands.


    After that small talk, I told him a few of my suggestions to run this ce. Kaley decided to give a small tour of our school to Tatiana so they left me with Benjamin. Rico assigned him to run this ce for the moment while they figure out how to distribute their manpower.


    What¡¯s happening is that half of the civilians from their camps would be sent here and the first order of business would be securing the ce. Guards would be posted in each entrance with a schedule and people with a little knowledge of construction will work on the walls and what not. Looking at how their DDR Camp was reinforced earlier, a few people have the know-how and all that¡¯s needed is time and materials.


    To add to their numbers and to lessen my troubles, I¡¯d be sending people that haveints about how I run my ce here since I can¡¯t be bothered with their pre-apocalypse problems for now. Sending them here would be a wake-up call if they haven¡¯t figured out that they¡¯ve been taking all the things they have at my ce for granted. They weren¡¯t like that before and they started popping up when they started to have some leg room. It would be a problem for Benjamin but I trust that he¡¯ll straighten them out.


    Aside from that, I bet there would also be people that would volunteer to move here since the presence of zombies at our ce is starting to decrease due to the clearing group. I¡¯d dly allow a few of them but it wouldn¡¯t be something that¡¯s permanent. I¡¯d allow them to be there in the morning to help with security and a few things but they shoulde back home before sundown. It¡¯s either that or I¡¯ll tell our clearing group to rotate the members.


    We talked about a few more things and I decided to continue the conversation some other time. I left half the guns and ammo we collected for their use and I called my group over. I¡¯m waiting over our Raptor and they were all actually together. Kaley is smiling at me while Tatiana is carrying something I¡¯m keeping hidden at my ce. It was open wide and Alexei and Niks were on her side squinting hard.


    It¡¯s the school yearbook from the graduating ss where Kaley and I belong.


    ¡°Found him! This is him, correct?!¡± Tatiana pointed at something and looked at Kaley.


    ¡°Yep, that¡¯s him alright.¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°W-wait a f.u.c.k.i.n.g minute, that¡¯s impossible! Him?!¡± Alexei eximed. <hr>


    ¡°I think I¡¯m seeing a resemnce¡­¡± Niks is thinking hard.


    ¡°How did you find bro so quickly?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°He showed me an old photo before, I just connected the dots and I seeded.¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°But he¡¯s so¡­ different¡­¡± Alexei was still in disbelief.


    ¡°Kaley¡¯s beautiful as ever though, correct?¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°Stop talking about me! Check the other pages with the group photo! There¡¯s this funny one near the end!¡± Kaley immediately drove the spotlight away from her back to me.


    ¡°Where?! I need to see it!¡± Tatiana started rifling through the pages.


    ¡°Okay! Okay! Time¡¯s up! Let¡¯s go now! That¡¯s me alright! Happy? We need to get back, Vera might be waiting for us with Earl and Juan. Let¡¯s just use the first entrance since it¡¯s clear already.¡± I started the engine.


    They were still busy looking at our old yearbook and I have an annoyed face while driving. Kaley is chuckling everytime the group at the back exim when they find another picture of me. We drove outside and we had to remove the concrete barriers and ce them back again when we reached the exit of the entryway.


    We reached our home safely and found out that Vera is already at the radio station, waiting with Earl and Juan. We tried to go there immediately but my aunt handed us our meals first since we missed lunch with everyone. It¡¯s fried chicken covered with curry sauce with chopped potatoes and carrots on the side. Tatiana¡¯s bowl is muchrger than us since my aunt already knows that Tatiana eats a bigger portion than everybody else. <hr>


    We quickly ate our meal and we walked to the radio station. Vera is talking with someone on the radio but it¡¯s not Ilya.


    ¡°Around six feet tall, you say? Russian? Dark brown hair with blue eyes? Hmm, we haven¡¯te across that person yet but we¡¯ll keep our eyes open. I¡¯ll just tell him your name and he¡¯d know you, right?¡± the female voice said.


    ¡°Yes, thank you. I¡¯ll contact you again if we came across someone with the descriptions you¡¯re looking for. You said she has a scar on the cheek? Is it on the left one or the right one?¡± Vera replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s on the right near her ears. It¡¯s about two inches long if I remember correctly. Don¡¯t forget, her name doesn¡¯t have an ¡®e¡¯ on the end, just Jasmin. Oh! She also responds to Minnie if you call out to her.¡± the female voice exined.


    ¡°Roger, we¡¯ll also keep you posted.¡± Vera replied.


    She made a few more calls and I nced at the notebook she¡¯s writing at. She saw me looking at it and she handed it to me. There¡¯s also a map next to her which has a few markings as to where the other two of their team might be. She¡¯s already crossed out on the ces that have no clue but they¡¯re a few marks where there¡¯s chance. There¡¯s already several pages worth of failed attempts and she¡¯s finding more people that need help finding someone like her instead of clues leading to their other team members. Despite that, there was no look of frustration on her face and she¡¯s just continuing on without stopping.


    Alexei tapped her on the shoulders and pointed at his watch. It¡¯s fifteen minutes before the known time that Ilya could contact us and she stopped what she¡¯s doing. She switched it to the correct frequency and now we¡¯re waiting for the other side¡¯s response.


    ¡°Hello? Hello? You¡¯re¡­ Vera, right? From the team- umm¡­ R-red Shadow Legends? Is that right? Weird name, calling for Ilya again, right?¡± a deep voice sounded.


    I looked at Earl and Juan and they just gave me a thumbs up while smiling.


    ¡°Oh boy¡­¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 310

    Chapter 310: 310


    I was shaking my head in amus.e.m.e.nt at how they filled Vera¡¯s head of random sponsorship names that¡¯s not existing anymore in our time. Aside from that, the two are keeping the morale up by making up random funny bits to run alongside our little broadcast. They¡¯re even preparing for a radio y every weekend that other people would participate in. It makes the people inside something to look forward to and it is sometimes the talk of elderly. It was pretty much all they¡¯ve grew up with when televisions weren¡¯t around yet. <center></center><hr>


    We shortly heard Ilya¡¯s voice and the two greeted each other with a joyful tone.


    ¡°So Niks is over there now, is that right? Can I talk to him? Is he there?¡± Ilya asked.


    I¡¯m clearly hearing his voice but I¡¯m trying to listen to the background noise for anything I might catch up on.


    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s here. Niks, here.¡± Vera made him sit down on the chair she was on.


    ¡°Hey, Vera told me you¡¯re tending to animals now, is that it?¡± Niks spoke though a smile is stered on his face.


    ¡°Hah! She told you huh? Well, that¡¯s right if shoveling up manure to a truck is called taking care of them. It¡¯s like my old life before I was in the army. How are you guys holding up there? Alexei said your leader is a crazy f.u.c.k.¡± Ilya mentioned.


    The radio station suddenly became quiet.


    ¡°Hello? Hello~? Niks? Vera? Hello~? Is this working? *knock* *knock* *knock* You guys still there?¡± Ilya was confused.


    Alexei and Niks are sweating bullets while the rest are holding theirughter. I on the other hand has this smile with a sharp glint in my eye.


    ¡°He¡¯s not lying though, go on, just talk to him¡­ it¡¯s gonna be a fun ride when we pick him up¡­ hehehehe~¡± I said while the room¡¯s temperature is slowly getting colder.


    ¡°Umm¡­ *gulp* Ilya¡­ he¡¯s right behind me and we could all listen to you¡­¡± Vera took the mic away from Niks. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh.¡± Ilya muttered.


    *line disconnects*


    ¡°Hah! I like this guy!¡± I thought to myself.


    Vera hurriedly contacted him again and he profusely apologized with Alexei.


    ¡°No worries, I get called that a lot and even my family members do. Tell me, is there any chance I could talk to the person running that ce?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Umm, that¡¯s a negative. I could only meet her when it¡¯s sundown. Everyone¡¯s really busy here when the sun is up and I only have 15 minutes to talk to you everyday. After this, I would be walking around their fences to see if there¡¯s a breach of some sort.¡± Ilya replied.


    ¡°Is that so? Is she with a group going at runs outside for supplies? I hope you have the fuel for it because of how the buildings are spaced there is unlike our own. You¡¯d travel for a while just to get to a general store. They have those there but the other ones would be spread out several kilometers. How are you all on supplies?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well if we¡¯re talking about supplies, food-wise, it¡¯s pretty good here because of all the animals, fruit-bearing trees, and crops. They don¡¯t use the generators here as much so all the fuel goes into the vehicles. She¡¯s just looking for stranded people outside that need help. If you doe here, you two should at least have a talk of some sort. Oh yeah, my time¡¯s about to run out, any more questions?¡± Ilya replied.


    ¡°I guess I could just ask you more when we get there- wait, how many are you all there?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Our numbers? There¡¯s around sixty working a.d.u.l.ts here and around the same number for children plus the elderly.¡± Ilya replied, half-sure.


    ¡°How about soldiers? There¡¯s at least a DDR Camp there, right?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°There¡¯s only six including me. They said there used to be more but they just left on their own, taking most of the guns and military vehicles. Oh, I really have to go since my time¡¯s up, bye.¡± Ilya disconnected the call.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Tatiana asked while Niks is in deep thought.


    ¡°Just from that conversation, that ce is definitely one of the camps that has gone AWOL though it¡¯s not one of the hostile ones. We¡¯re not sure why the other soldiers left though. A ce that has an abundance of food is something I wouldn¡¯t just leave like that. We¡¯ll know once we reach the ce.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t their numbers a little¡­ little?¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Yeah, before this thing hits, that barangay by itself just has a poption of 3000+ and thend they have is several timesrger than a barangay here. I¡¯m guessing their leader thinks that most of the residents of that ce got stuck in the city next to them and she¡¯s trying to get them back. Not only that, like you said, their numbers are too little for a ce that big. She¡¯s trying to recruit anyone she encounters but the thing is that the poption over there is too scarce. They¡¯re not in the urban areas like us.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s the n now?¡± Vera asked.


    ¡°I want you to stay here and keep doing that. However, try broadcasting at these frequencies. Look for a guy named Hill.¡± I replied and I wrote on a piece of paper.


    ¡°Hill? Who is that?¡± Vera asked.


    ¡°An old ¡®friend¡¯ of mine. He¡¯s also staying in the same region they¡¯re in. I just don¡¯t know where exactly he is but if he¡¯s still alive, he¡¯s definitely at some ce with his radio listening in to anything. Don¡¯t mention my name though, just say out loud that someone named ¡®Julianne¡¯ is looking for a man with his name. He¡¯d try to contact you but pretend that you¡¯re not hearing him.¡± I replied


    ¡°What? Why?¡± Vera asked again.


    ¡°Long story, no subtitles. Just do it and when you hooked him in, he would keep on chattering at the radio. Use that to figure out his approximate location. If we¡¯re gonna search blind for your other team members, he¡¯s the guy, trust me.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°How about us? We¡¯re gonna pack now, correct?¡± Tatiana stood up.


    ¡°Yeah, same team before but instead of Jude, Alexei will being with us. Alexei, just ask any of our group what to bring and if you need anything else, look for me.¡± I replied and he nodded.


    ¡°Bro, are we packing the same thing when we went to Man?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s supposed to be a short pickup but we could never be too sure. Let¡¯s just pack everything that we need and let¡¯s all meet at the pool area before 3:00 PM, okay?¡± I looked at my group.


    ¡°I¡¯m almost ready. I still haven¡¯t unpacked and all I needed to do is replenish my MREs and a few bullets.¡± Jared chuckled.


    We all headed back and I started to check up on a few more things.


    Since I¡¯ve awarded my Lone Wolf G9 to Micah, Kaley is using her usual AR15 for now. I said I¡¯d fix up another one for her but she said that time¡¯s running short and it wasn¡¯t much of an issue. She also mentioned that the decreased range for that is something she doesn¡¯t like. I just decided that I¡¯ll bring out the CQBR or the MK18 for her in the future.


    It¡¯s the same thing as her AR15 but has a shorter barrel. Instead of the 16-inch barrel that her AR uses, this one uses a 10.3 inch one and has a few more features, positive and negative. If I add all the attachments her gun has now to it, she¡¯d feel how maneuverable and howpact it is and she¡¯d still be able to fire rifle rounds unlike her old G9. It would always take some time getting used to but that¡¯s for another time.


    I brought a few more things for trade just in case I find something I like and also a few things to give to their group for taking in Ilya. I brought some stuff before when we went to Man but it all ended up to Iskoh without much of a barter. This time, I¡¯m nning to let out my silver tongue for the few things I¡¯m bringing with us.


    I¡¯m bringing the guns we¡¯ve acquired from the hostile group earlier and a few Hi-Points that would make my sleep better the farther away they are. I¡¯m not providing extra magazines but I¡¯m bringing extra ammo since it could be easily negotiated.


    We finally assembled below and Oscar¡¯s waiting for us. <hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna fetch the other one, eh? Stay safe. Be back before dinner if possible. Meanwhile, I¡¯ll take care of my- I mean your Charger for you, heh.¡± Oscar chuckled.


    ¡°How about the couple we brought here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I took care of it. They¡¯re locked up in the DDR Camp and they¡¯re being ¡®questioned¡¯ ever since you came here. We¡¯ll know everything they¡¯ll know before youe back. Oh yeah, are the two pilotsing back today?¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Maybe a few more days. It would take time to gather what I requested from your buddy. There¡¯s a lot of moving parts now old man, things are slowlying together.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Hmm, the sooner we solve our shit here the sooner we could move onto more bigger shit.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re leaving again for a short while. Hold the fort again, yeah?¡± I gathered my group on the Raptor.


    A few people escorted us to the S-76 and I checked everything first before boarding. We loaded all our baggage with a few boxes of knick knacks and we said our short goodbyes to everyone present. It took a while before I managed to convince Zeus that we wouldn¡¯t be away for long but I finally left him to Olivia¡¯s care.


    I looked outside and my group is having second thoughts on riding it. Alexei was the first one to board it but he was confused as to why everyone¡¯s holding their pistols.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you guys doing? A fly-by? Is that a thing now?¡± Alexei said.


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t get it.¡± everyone answered with a grim look.

 Chapter 311

    Chapter 311: 311


    A chill must¡¯ve run through his spine looking at their faces so he instinctively drew his pistol. They were worried for nothing as I normally drove my S-76. The helicopter slowly achieved lift and everyone in the helicopter besides me is still tense on what I might do. We rose in the skies and we could barely see the people below that sent us off. <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Stay safe kid.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You too, old man.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What the- okay, here you go. Woof! Woof! Woof!¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hah! Protect our home Zeus while we¡¯re away! We¡¯lle back as soon as we can!¡±


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    Zeus responded once more and I drove us to our destination. The perks of having a helicopter in this apocalypse is massive. It would be around chapter 2000+ before a protagonist from a VRMMO novel that I read before gets their hands on a flying vehicle or a mount.


    We¡¯re making incredible time and we flew straight past the City of Man. I didn¡¯t bother him about our affairs but I¡¯m sure a few of his people or even he himself saw us. We passed the City of Makati, City of Muntinlupa, and onwards to the Rural parts of our country. We passed the Laguna Lake first and we saw in the distance the Taal Lake which has a small volcano right at the center of it. We¡¯re seeing more greenery and our Russian friends are starting to get amazed at the scenery despite what¡¯s happening below us.


    As we start to get closer, there¡¯s more farnd than the eye could seepared to houses. There are no wide roads in sight and the road is wide enough for two vehicles to pass through. The first thing we noticed though is that there¡¯s even less zombies at this cepared to ours. We¡¯re seeing one or two simply roaming around and there¡¯s no clumps or cl.u.s.ters in sight.


    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± I said.


    I finally saw the huge arc with the barangay name that acts as a wee sign if you reach their barangay and there¡¯s a few guards stationed behind their makeshift barricade. You¡¯d see all of the shops when you reach the central part of the barangay while the houses are built in different ces or around it. Most of the houses aren¡¯t made of stone but there¡¯s more greenery herepared to my ce. I¡¯ve been in this ce many times before because I know a few acquaintances here though I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re still alive. The guards were surprised by our presence and they started to wave their hands to give some sort of signal.


    ¡°I think that they¡¯re making us move forward to that direction further in.¡± Kaley said, pointing near the intersection.


    ¡°That sounds about right. Where to park though¡­¡± I trailed as I looked around.


    I decided tond on top of a convenience store which is right next to their public market and their auction house where I¡¯m seeing a few people on top of the roofs sitting on their chairs, looking at us. A few kids running around were called by their parents to get inside though most of them were curious with our presence.


    We vacated the S-76 and there were several people cautiously approaching. They were mostly a.d.u.l.ts but there are kids hiding themselves sloppily at the corner. I waved my hand at everyone and put on a friendly face. A middle aged guy wearing a jumpsuit and work boots covered in dirt waved back and faintly smiled. We went down thedder at the side of the store though I asked Jared and Alexei to stay put.


    ¡°You must be the people Ilya is talking to on the radio. He said that you¡¯ll being soon but I thought it would take a few days at least. Right, I forgot to tell you that my name¡¯s Danny. I¡¯m one of the- well, I pretty much do everything here but let¡¯s say I¡¯m Ilya¡¯s partner when tending to the animals. Ilya should being here any moment after checking all the fences with the others.¡± the guy said, motioning for a handshake.


    ¡°I see. My name¡¯s Sky, I lead these people I brought with me. Is your leader here now, by any chance? I wish to get to talk to her for a bit before we take Ilya off your hands. Don¡¯t worry, we have a few things we brought to help with him gone.¡± I replied after shaking his hands.


    ¡°Ah, Irene¡¯s not here yet but she¡¯ll be here in a few minutes. Is it urgent? We could fire a re if you like?¡± Danny replied. <hr>


    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. Does the Manzano and Mallorca family still live here? Are they part of your group?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You know them? Well¡­¡± he trailed as he looked down.


    ¡°I see¡­¡± I just nodded a couple of times.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. They were a friendly bunch. They uh- passed when this thing started. We live near the cemetery here and everyone was caught off guard¡­¡± he started to tell the rest of his story and what¡¯s left of it could be pieced together. He introduced a few more of the residents and I introduced mine.


    A few minutester, a tall figure wearing a dirty tank top, folded-up pants andbat boots came into view from the distance walking backwards.


    ¡°I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s Ilya?¡± I looked at my group.


    ¡°Correct, that¡¯s him. He¡¯s a little tanner than west saw him though.¡± Tatiana started to wave at him.


    Once Ilya¡¯s head snapped to our direction, he seemed to wave at someone and ady took his hand and walked towards us.


    ¡°What the-¡± Niks got stunned along with Tatiana. Alexei took notice and he had to look at his scope to see the woman clearly.


    ¡°She seems demure and really kind and they are¡­¡± Alexei was shaking his head in disbelief.


    ¡°Oh! Thatdy¡¯s Aurora, she found Ilya unconscious just inside our fences. She found him one early morning a few weeks ago when her dog¡¯s barking non stop. One thing led to another and he¡¯s been living at her ce ever since.¡± Danny exined.


    ¡°She¡¯s just living alone with her dog before?¡± Kaley asked. <hr>


    ¡°Well¡­ it¡¯s kind of a long story and it¡¯s something I shouldn¡¯t talk about. I think it¡¯s best if you¡¯ll hear the story from both of them. Here they are. Ilya! What took you so long? Your friends were already here for a few minutes waiting!¡± Danny tapped his back.


    ¡°I need to finish my rounds though I heard the helicoptering. Hey! What¡¯s up you miserable f.u.c.kers! Hahaha!¡± Ilya was excited and he introduced Aurora first to us before hugging it out with his team. Alexei even jumped down and rolled to the ground just to meet his old buddy. Tatiana introduced us three and he walked up to me.


    ¡°Hello! So you¡¯re the crazy f.u.c.k!¡± he extended his hand.


    ¡°Hah! Yes, I am. And you¡¯re the poop collector!¡± I replied while giving him a strong handshake. I felt him gripping me tightly and he let out a surprised expression when I handled him fine. He lets out a smirk before letting go.


    ¡°Yes, yes I am. For a few weeks now, heh.¡± Ilya chuckled.


    I was about to ask him a few questions but we heard a 6-wheeler truck approaching our direction with speed. We quickly moved to the side and we saw the persons inside with worried expressions. They drove past us though a woman with bloodied clothes looked at me before looking back at an injured kid looking pale.


    ¡°WHAT HAPPENED?! IS THAT MICHAEL?!¡± Danny shouted.


    ¡°HE SHOT HIMSELF!!! WE¡¯RE HEADED TO DOC ARTURO!!!¡± another person riding the truck shouted before they turned left.


    The rest of the residents have worried expressions and a few already followed them by running.


    ¡°DAMMIT!!!¡± Danny shouted before starting to follow the others.


    ¡°Wait for us! We could help!¡± I shouted at him.


    ¡°WELL F.U.C.K.I.N.G HURRY UP!!!¡± he bellowed. <hr>


    I wasted no time and I shouted to Jared to throw down Kaley and I¡¯s Medical Packs. He scrambled on the helicopter to find them but he resorted to throwing both our bags to check for it. Kaley and I just wore our bags and I told my group to guard our helicopter while we head to the kid that was brought in to help in any way we can. We started to sprint towards their infirmary but Danny is getting left behind.


    ¡°F.U.C.K!!! JUST GO AHEAD OF ME!!! IT¡¯S RIGHT NEXT TO THE CHURCH ON THE LEFT, YOU CAN¡¯T MISS IT!!!¡± he shouted after clutching his sides.


    ¡°Dear, stay with Danny and I¡¯ll follow these two, okay?!¡± I heard behind me.


    ¡°Sure! Check on him!¡± Aurora¡¯s soft voice resounded.


    Ilya is running with us with a worried expression so we sped up even more. We reached the infirmary and there¡¯s a crowd outside trying to offer their help. Shouting could be heard from the inside and the generator is just being turned on. Everyone seemed to be on the same page and we just arrived at the scene.


    ¡°WE¡¯RE HERE TO HELP!!!¡± Kaley and I shouted as we pushed everyone to the side.


    The generator finally provided electricity to the infirmary and a few lights have turned on. He started rummaging through his doctor¡¯s bag but it seemed that he¡¯s missing a few things he needed. He turned around to find a few bottles that were empty and he threw them on the ground in a rage.


    ¡°I DON¡¯T NEED MORE PEOPLE, I NEED SUPPLIES!!! DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING BECAUSE I F.U.C.K.I.N.G DON¡¯T!!! I CAN¡¯T EVEN SEE ANYTHING!!!¡± an older guy bellowed.


    ¡°HERE!!! USE EVERYTHING YOU NEED!!!¡± Kaley and I opened our packs and we brought out a few things he¡¯s shouting that he needed.


    ¡°HALLELUJAH!!! LOOKS LIKE YOU¡¯LL LIVE YOU LITTLE F.U.C.KER!!! WHO F.U.C.K.I.N.G TOLD YOU TO BRING MY GUN?! HAH?! YOU¡¯RE F.U.C.K.I.N.G LUCKY THE BULLET HAS GONE THROUGH THE OTHER SIDE OR- STOP CRYING YOU LITTLE SHIT!!! WANT ME TO FINISH THE JOB OR TURN YOUR LEG TO A SKINLESS LONGANIZA?!¡± the doctor shouted.


    ¡°AHHHHHH!!! I¡¯M GONNA DIE~!!! I¡¯M GONNA DIE~!!!¡± the kid shrieked.


    ¡°SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP OR I¡¯LL KILL YOU MYSELF!!!¡± the doctor smacked the kid¡¯s head.


    ¡°Is he really a doctor?!¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 312

    Chapter 312: 312


    I quickly disregarded all thoughts despite what I¡¯m seeing since we really need to stop the bleeding in his leg. The kid named Michael who is in front us is still screaming in pain and Kaley and I were holding him in ce. I¡¯m on his right side where I could see the wound and he¡¯s lucky that it¡¯s a few centimeters to the right and only flesh was hit and no arteries were nicked. He would¡¯ve bled out in seconds if that was the case. Despite that, the wound came at a downward angle and it seemed that he shot himself just from drawing the gun while his finger was on the trigger and it went straight for his leg. The woman which I assume is Irene was holding Michael¡¯s other leg in ce while Arturo was rummaging through the packs we gave him. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°DO YOU HAVE A F.U.C.K.I.N.G TOURNIQUET IN THIS MOTHERFUC- oh, here it is. HOLD STILL YOU LITTLE F.U.C.KER!!!¡± Arturo immediately ced it on the kid¡¯s leg to put some pressure.


    ¡°IT HURTS!!! IT F.U.C.K.I.N.G HURTS!!!¡± Michael shouted.


    ¡°Oh~ you don¡¯t want it to hurt? THEN F.U.C.K.I.N.G BLEED OUT!!! IT¡¯S SUPPOSED TO HURT YOU STUPID F.U.C.K!!! HELP ME RAISE THIS IDIOT¡¯S LEG!!!¡± Arturo pointed to the other guys to help him.


    ¡°W-we have something for the pain in the pack. There¡¯s a small bottle of Morphine inside-¡± Kaley tried to help but Arturo cut her off.


    ¡°No! This f.u.c.ker¡¯s allergic to that shit. We learned that the hard way. Ah! GINA! GRAB THAT BOTTLE AND LET THAT KID HAVE A FEW SWIGS!!!¡± Arturo exined while turning to the youngerdy.


    ¡°Don¡¯t give too much.¡± I added.


    ¡°¡­¡± Arturo nced at me before nodding at thedy named Gina.


    Arturo is examining the wound closely with a scrunched brow. He¡¯s shining a light to it even if there¡¯s severalmps above his operating table. Michael¡¯s leg is now elevated above the heart and they¡¯re putting even more pressure to the wound topletely stop the bleeding. It would take a bit of time normally and I¡¯m almost questioning why he ced the tourniquet but he¡¯s in charge this time around. I usually avoid it unless medical care would be dyed for several hours.


    ¡°Irene! Tell me what happened, I thought you¡¯re not using guns unless absolutely necessary. It¡¯s partly my fault why he managed to get my gun in my drawer but let¡¯s deal with thatter.¡± Arturo looked at Irene¡¯s worried face.


    Irene is wearing a bloody id shirt, blue jeans, and leather boots. She has ck hair tied tightly behind her head and she looks to be around the age of 40-50. Looking at Arturo closely, they seem to be siblings and Arturo seems to be the older one. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It was- it was a stupid decision. We¡¯re about¡­ we¡¯re about to head back when he asked if he could fire your gun at one of them. He told me you let him borrow it but I know that¡¯s impossible. I told him to give it to me but I didn¡¯t think that he would shoot himself just by drawing it.¡± Irene exined with regret.


    ¡°Borrow?! You know I never even let our neighbors borrow our scissors, much less my guns you f.u.c.ker, F.U.C.K!!!¡± Arturo looks frustrated by what¡¯s happening.


    Arturo grabbed the antiseptic ointment when the bleeding was controlled but I stopped him.


    ¡°You need to wash it first, right?¡± I grabbed his arm.


    ¡°F.U.C.K! You¡¯re right, you¡¯re right. HEY!!! GRAB THAT THERMOS OVER THERE AND THAT POT AND- where is the- do you have soap here? Is this- no. I think I saw a¡­¡± Arturo started rummaging through the packs again.


    ¡°Wait a sec, it¡¯s in the other pack.¡± Kaley replied and she asked Ilya to hold Michael¡¯s arm.


    ¡°Just hold him? I don-¡± Ilya said but Kaley cut him off.


    ¡°Just hold him down!¡± Kaley snapped.


    ¡°Alright, alright! Damn, I thought Tatiana was the scary one¡­¡± Ilya muttered.


    Ilya nced at me but I just shrugged my shoulders. <hr>


    ¡°Here we go~¡± Arturo washed the wound thoroughly and he would re at Michael everytime he made a peep.


    The atmosphere started to calm down when Arturo started on closing the wound with a few stitches and this time, his needle work is spectacr. He ced a few dabs of antiseptic ointments and covered it with adhesive bandages. Michael also calmed down a few notches and we didn¡¯t need to hold him down. He was almost thrashing around earlier but now his breathing is just a bit hurried but he would wince a few times.


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯re done here finally.¡± Arturo removed his gloves and he sat down on his chair.


    ¡°It¡¯s f-finally done?¡± Michael muttered.


    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g done. WANT ME TO AMPUTATE IT?! HUH?! YOU DO KNOW YOU ALMOST DIED YOU- Hah~ I¡¯m too old for this shit. You¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g lucky it¡¯s the .38 you took. Next time, if you want to shoot your leg, bring my f.u.c.k.i.n.g shotty so all I have to do is burn you when you shoot your leg off, got it?!¡± Arturo grabbed the bottle of alcohol and took a swig himself. He offered me and Kaley but we politely refused.


    ¡°Eh? Suit yourselves, how about you little sister? Hmm?¡± he waved it around and Irene took a muchrger swigpared to him.


    ¡°Hah! That¡¯s the spirit!¡± he chuckled.


    ¡°Is he gonna be fine?¡± Irene wiped her mouth and handed the bottle to Ilya in which he also drank a few.


    ¡°He¡¯ll live, he¡¯ll be out ofmission though.¡± he replied.


    The residents gave a sigh of relief from Arturo¡¯s words and the situation finally calmed down. <hr>


    We tidied up our packs but I took out all the bandages we have, a few painkillers and a few more things that they might need.


    ¡°Who¡¯s gonna be the one to take care of him?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Umm, I-I will watch over him while the Doc is busy¡­¡± Gina stepped forward.


    ¡°Okay, here are all of the bandages we have and make sure to clean his wound everyday and change the bandages every time you do. If it¡¯s getting redder, sweller, or if it has drainage- you know, if pus-like drainage ising out. Tell your doc immediately so he could take a look at it. Even if he has fever, chills, or anything else- make sure you tell him. These bottles have a few Paracetamols and Ibuprofens, it could help with the pain and such. Well, that¡¯s all I think he needs for now.¡± I instructed her.


    She nodded a few times and Arturo looked at me.


    ¡°Hey, you a med student or something? You don¡¯t look like it, heh. No offense, your getup and shit makes me think you one of spec ops, only younger. Not only you, but her too. Wait, what do they call it in the- oh! Combat Medics or something, I forgot.¡± Arturomented.


    ¡°We¡¯re not, we just know a few things here and there.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s it. Great catch earlier.¡± he praised.


    ¡°How about you, are you the only doctor in this ce?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Doctor? Hah! I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g not as you can tell from the few blunders. Let¡¯s say I¡¯m the same as you two.¡± he replied. <hr>


    ¡°That exins a lot but raises a few more questions.¡± I thought to myself.


    Arturo made the crowd scatter so he could have some peace and quiet and now only a few people remain. Ilya, Aurora, Gina, Irene and a few more rtives of Michael were left along with Kaley and I aside from Arturo himself.


    It was then that Irene approached us two.


    ¡°Thanks, you two. Are you part of Ilya¡¯srades? You two look young.¡± Irene shook our hands and I felt her rough palms.


    ¡°Not exactly but you could say that. You¡¯re Irene, right? Can I talk to you for a few minutes? I think we could work something out. You have a few things here that I want and I have things that you need. Do you have the time now?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Sure, sure, we need all the help we could get. As long as it could benefit my group, I¡¯m all for it. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯d like from this dump aside from our animals but just from helping patch Michael up, I would spare you a few already. If you¡¯d like, we have several cuts of cured meat in our storage.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Cured meats are great for a while but I¡¯d like alive ones so I could make them reproduce. We have that helicopter parked in the convenience store so I¡¯m thinking about a few dozen guinea pigs. A few males and a lot of females if you could. We can¡¯t exactly fit a couple of cows in our chopper, right?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Oh! Aurora has several cages of them. You should talk to her about that. I don¡¯t want to bring this up now but you¡¯re taking Ilya back, right?¡± Irene has a solemn expression and Aurora was about to cry.


    ¡°About that, it¡¯s up to you.¡± I replied as I looked at Ilya.

 Chapter 313

    Chapter 313: 313


    Right after I looked at him and said those words, he stared at me for a moment before sighing deeply. Ilya took Aurora¡¯s arms and she pulled her closer. Kaley and I looked at each other and we understood what they meant. Arturo is enjoying a cigar while Irene is watching the events unfold. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere without her. I¡¯m supposed to be one of those freaks outside if I didn¡¯t stumble into this ce by ident.¡± Ilya firmly said.


    ¡°I guessed as much. Tell me, does Vera know of you and Aurora¡¯s rtionship? I doubt Niks and Tatiana knew, even Alexei was surprised to see you two. Did I get that right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Who¡¯s Vera?¡± Aurora asked.


    ¡°One of my team, she¡¯s the one in charge of ourms in missions. To answer your question, none of them know. I at least want to tell my reasons to my group face to face. I¡¯m sorry you have to waste fuel for me and yet I wouldn¡¯t evene back with you.¡± Ilya replied.


    ¡°Is he gonna be in t-trouble? If t-that¡¯s the case¡­ you should g-go¡­ I¡¯m gonna be fine¡­ I¡¯m used to-¡± Aurora was a mess but I cut her off.


    ¡°Aurora, don¡¯t worry. Ilya is far from being in trouble. His whole group should be grateful to you especially for finding him. It¡¯s like I said earlier, it¡¯s up to him if he wants to go or not. However, if you¡¯d like it, we have some space in our helicopter and you could alsoe with your dog and guinea pigs. The fuel is not wasted since I met new people and we could always work something out.¡± I proposed though Irene gave a somewhat worried look.


    ¡°I-I think I don¡¯t want to leave this ce. I¡¯ve been living here since and m-moving is a bit¡­¡± Aurora trailed.


    ¡°Then I don¡¯t have anything to say. Ilya¡¯s staying here with you if he wants. However, I think you should talk to your team first. Just tell them what you told me and hope they see it the way I see it.¡± I said.


    ¡°What? Just like that, you agree with me?¡± Ilya was confused.


    ¡°Yeah, what¡¯s the problem?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I expected more resistance¡­¡± he replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hah! To be honest, I¡¯d like more soldiers with your capabilities at my ce. I¡¯d like the full set of soldiers that have been in many life and death situations being whole but I understand your sentiment. Besides, I want to have someone here that my group knows so we¡¯d know what¡¯s happening around other areas. Let¡¯s just take it like it¡¯s a patch-over or something.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Patch¡­ over?¡± Ilya tilted his head.


    ¡°What? You never watched Children of Anarchy? Huh.¡± I was bbergasted and Kaley¡¯s already shaking her head.


    ¡°Excuse me but I¡¯m d with your decision. Ilya¡¯s been a huge help ever since the soldier¡¯s at this ce left us. If you have anything else in mind, do ask and I¡¯ll see what I could do.¡± Irene interjected.


    ¡°Hmm, aside from a few things that I would like to trade with you, I simply want an open line ofmunication between us. I¡¯d also like to know that whole story of what happened here when this thing started. Aside from that, I¡¯d also like to know the ces you¡¯ve been to Ilya and everything you¡¯ve encountered right when you stumbled into this ce. In short, I¡¯d like information about everything more than anything.¡± I answered.


    ¡°That¡¯s easy enough to provide but telling them all would take a bit of time, are you staying here for a day at least?¡± Irene asked.


    ¡°We could stay the night but we need to leave tomorrow maybe at noon or in the afternoon. We¡¯re just supposed to pick Ilya up but a few unexpected things already happened. I¡¯d take a look around your ce in case I find things that you¡¯ve missed and might need a bit of¡­ supervision.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s great, that¡¯s great. I¡¯ll tell the cooks to include you for dinner. Have you tasted our soup here? It¡¯s really great!¡± Irene was jubnt.


    ¡°We do! We¡¯ve actually been here a few times in the past.¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°And now you talk, you¡¯re hungry huh?¡± I joked.


    ¡°Okay! Everyone¡¯s happy! Can I have some privacy here? Please?! I¡¯m taking a nap earlier when you barged into my office. Don¡¯t wake me up till morning sis. You know I really have a hard time getting to sleep and it getting disrupted like that would make me really f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard to work with. Anyway, nice meeting you two and I guess I¡¯ll see you tomorrow!¡± Arturo stood up and headed to one of the rooms with the same bottle of alcohol.


    ¡°This guy¡­¡± Irene is shaking her head. <hr>


    We took our leave and we left the room where Michael and Gina were. We headed back to the convenience store where the helicopter is and found a few more people chatting with my group. They¡¯re asking about random stuff and my group is doing the same. The elderly were doing most of the asking and my group was answering questions about our ce as vaguely as possible.


    ¡°We can never be too sure.¡± I thought to myself.


    The only thing I noticed is that Ilya seemed to be having a hard time trying to bring up the topic of him staying here to his group.


    Jared and Alexei were still on the roof not letting anyone climb up aside besides us. They¡¯ll give the excuse that there¡¯s sensitive cargo inside and an ident might happen if they touch something. The sun had already set and a fewmps and candles were lit around their territory. I could see the most lightsing from the ces in which I think were their gates where people are watching for anything thates.


    Irene started to gather everyone inside a covered basketball court for dinner. It¡¯s the same soup I¡¯ve tasted for years and they kept to the recipe for the most part. It¡¯s a rich but light soup with different cuts of meat but now it also has vegetables. The cuts include tripes, hearts, immature eggs, livers, etc. from different animals. It¡¯s tasty as it is but it¡¯s the best food to take when you¡¯re having a hangover. Almost everyone was gathered at the court except for the elderly that cannot walk and a few exceptions like Arturo, Jared, and Alexei.


    Irene introduced us to everyone again and we¡¯re weed warmly because of us helping Michael with his wound. How thismunity treats each other like family is a plus for me. The cooks were giving Tatiana helpless smiles when she came back for seconds five times. I asked for two bowls for Jared and Alexei and we started to head back when we found out that they don¡¯t have meetings everyday for what happened during the day.


    ¡°Hey! We have a few houses avable if you guys want to sleep in a bed.¡± Ilya caught up to us.


    ¡°Thank you but I¡¯mfortable with the tents we brought. Ask them if they want to, you could catch up with a few things since the night is still young.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Is that so, how about you guys? We have Lambanog at our house. I¡¯d still prefer Vodka but it could get the conversation rolling. How about it? I also have something to say that I don¡¯t want to tell you simply over the radio.¡± Ilya looked at his group solemnly.


    ¡°What is it? Something serious?¡± Alexei asked while drinking from his bowl.


    ¡°Something like that.¡± Ilya replied. <hr>


    The three looked at him but they decided to follow him with Aurora. Jared looked at me and asked what it¡¯s all about. His face turned solemn at the thought but he nodded a couple of times in understanding Ilya¡¯s situation. We then started to pitch our tents up since we decided to stay on top of this convenience store near our helicopter.


    ¡°If that was me bro, would you be fine with it?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s fine.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Really?¡± he tried to confirm.


    ¡°Yeah, I just don¡¯t know where that SCAR-17 I have back home wouldnd in the end though.¡± I baited.


    ¡°Hold on, hold on. You said you wouldn¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g give that to anyone, right?! Why bring it up now?!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°What? We¡¯re talking hypotheticals, so I¡¯m just thinking hypothetically. Kaley might use it¡­ or someone else¡­ if he¡¯s- or she¡¯s¡­ at the house¡­¡± I trailed.


    Jared started to have a mental breakdown. Kaley and I could see that he¡¯s struggling and we wished we could hear what he¡¯s thinking. He wasn¡¯t moving after a few moments though we let him be.


    ¡°Is that the one that looks kinda big?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, somewhat but it¡¯s lightweight. I only have two of those since those are f.u.c.k.i.n.g expensive- well, I have one SCAR-16 and one SCAR-17. The 16 uses 5.56 that we use while the 17 uses 7.62¡Á51 that he uses. Oscar on the other hand has several for each kind, it¡¯s crazy. Don¡¯t get me started with his shotgun collection.¡± I shrugged my shoulders.


    ¡°Enough talk about that! You¡¯re just dangling the SCAR-17 so I- f.u.c.k it, nevermind.¡± Jared sat down.


    ¡°Giving up already? So soon? Hah!¡± I chuckled. <hr>


    ¡°Well, you have me at my balls with this AR-10. I¡¯ll just stick around until you give me that SCAR-17, heh.¡± Jared is smirking.


    ¡°Hah! You learn from the best. Just find someone to stick around to first before you ask me if it¡¯s okay if you¡¯re in the same situation with Ilya.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hey, someone¡¯s got their eye on you back at home. You don¡¯t have to travel this far.¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Really?¡± Jared¡¯s head snapped to Kaley, almost breaking his neck.


    ¡°You know, we girls talk. I hear things and I believe that someone¡¯s definitely interested.¡± Kaleyid her traps.


    ¡°Is she shitting me bro? I think she¡¯s shitting me? She¡¯s shitting me, right?¡± Jared confided at me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me, would you even risk not knowing?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Well if you don¡¯t want to believe me, just know that your little brother was first to find someone. He has a hard road ahead of him but you¡¯re not even in one.¡± Kaley then harrumphed and went inside our tent.


    Jared was stunned from the revtion and it seemed that his loyalty suddenly shifted from me to Kaley.


    ¡°Kaley- I mean Big Sis¡­ can you please enlighten this peasant as to who might that person be?¡± Jared was already kowtowing outside our tent, calling for Kaley.


    Jared started to call out to Kaley several times but she snapped.

 Chapter 314

    Chapter 314: 314


    Kaley and Jared started aedic back and forth so I just shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt before standing up. I¡¯m casually walking at the edges of the roof of the convenience store afterying down my Tavor. Ipleted ap but I wasn¡¯t finished. I started to do a handstand and I started to do the same route and it looked like it was nothing. Even if it looked effortless, the burden is a notch higher since I¡¯m performing it with my fingertips holding me up. I slowly lowered my body as I folded my elbows bit by bit and I stopped right before my face touched the rock surface. <center></center><hr>


    I faintly smiled but I took a deep breath.


    My body started to nt towards the edge and I¡¯m slowly pushing it while my body is still straightly formed. I went from being straight vertically to straight horizontally while still being held up by my arms for a few moments. My arms are starting to feel the burn so I quickly stopped and sat upright like my previous position. I took another deep breath to stabilize my breathing but the two are still going back and forth.


    ¡°C¡¯mon! Kaley! Just give me a small hint of who she is and you¡¯ll have the SCAR-16 if my bro gives me his SCAR-17! That¡¯s a fair deal, right?!¡± Jared was getting hysterical.


    ¡°Deal? What kinda deal is that? I like how this AR15 looks more than that SCAR-16 you¡¯re talking about so I¡¯m fine! It looks bulky to me too so no thanks! Just look for her randomly and I hope you find the right one!¡± Kaley shouted from the tent.


    ¡°What?! The SCAR-17 is a beast! A BEAST!!! It¡¯s a freaking battle rifle! Who cares if it- wait- You¡¯re right, you¡¯re right. Whatever you say is right so please throw me a bone here! Wouldn¡¯t it be better if I know who she is so it¡¯s easier for me and her?!¡± Jared retorted.


    ¡°Hmph! Who cares if it¡¯s a beast! Well, suit yourself if you like it. I won¡¯t tell you who she is but I¡¯ll tell her that you¡¯re excited to meet her. It will be up to her if she wants to tell you. Is that fine?¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Yes! That¡¯s great! I¡¯ll do anything!¡± Jared celebrated.


    ¡°Anything?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah! Anything! I just want a meeting to happen!¡± Jared replied, excited.


    ¡°Wrong move dude. Well, you did that to yourself and there¡¯s nothing I could do about it.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hmm? We¡¯ll see about that.¡± Kaley chuckled. <center></center><hr>


    Jared was almost floating in the air as he glides around the rooftop with an idiotic smile stered on his face. He¡¯s dancing the waltz barely dodging the helicopter at the center of the roof. I nced at the entrance which is closest to us and the only one we could see from our location so I had an idea.


    ¡°Hey Jared, quit dancing around. I have something for you to do.¡± I pped to get his attention.


    ¡°Hmm? What is it bro?¡± He stopped and walked towards me.


    ¡°It seemed that the ones guarding the entrances weren¡¯t in the basketball court earlier. They were also delivered food the same as you. What I want you to do is drop by and ask a few questions. I brought a couple packs of cigarettes so grab a couple with you and open with that. You¡¯ve heard me talk to people so do something like that, okay?¡± I instructed him.


    ¡°Really bro? You know I¡¯m better suited for guard duty type things not the crowd work you do.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Just think of it as training and keep the appropriate face as always. Talk and listen and don¡¯t forget to not overshare.¡± I said before pushing him down thedder.


    I entered our tent and I saw Kaley wiping her whole body with wet wipes. Her hair is tied into a ponytail and there¡¯s a change of clothes to her side. All of her equipment is at the side of the tent where our bags were. I left the zipper open so the cold breeze woulde inside.


    ¡°Hey, it really is much colder in the provinces at night~¡± Kaley shivered a bit.


    ¡°Of course. Just the amount of trees present would add to that. Oh, I haven¡¯t told Oscar we¡¯d be dyed.¡± I said as I looked at my watch.


    I pulled out my Sat Phone and I contacted Oscar. I stepped outside our tent and I sat at the edge of the roof while my feet dangled. I gave him a brief report of the things that happened on our side first and my call was at the right time since they¡¯ve just finished their meeting.


    Oscar called for Rin and she reported a brief of what was discussed.


    They¡¯ve sent 64 towards my old school and it got a bit confrontational for the people that were havingints. They¡¯ve been face pped on the truth of the matter that they¡¯re taking all the things being given to them for granted. However, we assured them that it¡¯s just a simple relocation and we¡¯d still be extending our help towards that ce and there would also be volunteers to stay there with them. <hr>


    Mark was actually one of the volunteers along with Brian, Aubrey, Lawrence, and Carlo though Mark woulde back every other day. Oscar gave them their respective gears before they headed out and he called Benjamin that a few people woulde over to join them as promised.


    Benjamin contacted them a few hours earlier and said that the dynamic is a bit wobbly at first but it¡¯s expected. He didn¡¯t ask for representatives for both sides and instead of making them merge slowly, he made their lodgings be a mix of people from both sides. Most of their time was spent on moving and cleaning up first but they¡¯ve slowly started on making the ce secure. They¡¯re following the suggestions I¡¯ve given them and only time will tell if they¡¯ll keep to it or would make some adjustments.


    There¡¯s a few more things Rin reported though we ended the call eventually. Kaley also stepped out of the tent and sat by my side. We¡¯re looking at the light scattered about but several shes of light came from the entrance.


    ¡°What was that?¡± Kaley stood up immediately.


    I picked up my radio and I contacted Jared.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Dude, what happened?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro, you have to see this like right now.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    I suddenly heard Tatiana¡¯s voice.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What? What happened over there?¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Long story short, we killed something a little more¡­ peculiar.¡±


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I need at least one person guarding this helicopter. Tatiana, can one of youe here?¡±


    *bzzt*


    It took a few moments but Tatiana came back with Alexei and he was tasked to guard the helicopter. Kaley and I went down thedder and we went to the entrance with Tatiana to check what Jared was talking about.


    One of the residents guarding the ce is face down on the side of the wall vomiting while the rest has just a disgusted expression. Jared saw us and he¡¯s wearing a very difficult expression. <hr>


    ¡°Bro, just take a look and you¡¯ll definitely remember something.¡± Jared seriously said.


    He gave way and pointed to the corpse sprawled on the pavement with several bullet holes in the body. It¡¯s an a.d.u.l.t male body devoid of clothes but its upper body is what¡¯s worrying me. Aside from his normal arms that have swapped ces, there¡¯s a few dozen sticking out of his body where the longest ones are at the top and it gradually shortened to the size of an infant when it reached its navel.


    What¡¯s rming is not only the amount of hands we¡¯re seeing but how they were meticulously located in their own respective position. Most of the growth we¡¯ve seen so far from the others were erratic but this time it was close to being perfectly symmetrical. I for one would praise things that are symmetrical but this f.u.c.k.i.n.g creature is too unsettling.


    I lightly pushed at the base of one of the extra arms with my scabbard and the answer to Jared¡¯s expression was answered. I also checked the normal arms for those things and they were also present.


    ¡°No f.u.c.k.i.n.g way. Here?¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley and Tatiana saw those things as well and they gave difficult expressions the same as Jared. The other guards were watching out if something simr would appear again but nothing of the sort happened.


    ¡°Were those extra hands moving when you shot that thing down?¡± I looked back at Jared.


    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure if they do, even the normal ones. That thing is just moving straight and it¡¯s moving a bit faster than the usual ones. It¡¯s kinda brisk walking when it came from the direction of the city.¡± Jared exined.


    A few momentster, Irene came running.


    ¡°I received the call, what did you find?!¡± she looked at our expressions.


    ¡°Stitches.¡± I replied.

 Chapter 315

    Chapter 315: 315


    Irene quickly asked about what happened and Jared started to tell the story. At the middle of his reiteration, Kaley suddenly grabbed my arms. I looked at her but her eyes were fixated at the corpse lying on its back. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re still moving¡­¡± Kaley replied.


    Her words were not loud but everyone around the site heard her. Jared stopped mid-sentence and all their eyes shifted back to the corpse.


    ¡°What? No, that¡¯s impossible. I-¡± Jared was in disbelief but Kaley lifted the much bigger arms which I assume from adolescents with her wakizashi to the side.


    ¡°Ah, shit.¡± I muttered.


    A pair of discolored hands which belonged to an infant started to slowly rise up when the weight bearing down on them were removed.


    *BSSHEW*


    Jared fired another round to the corpse¡¯s head.


    Nothing.


    The little hands remain unaffected so he chopped the guy¡¯s head off with his cavalry sword.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone was processing what urred. <center></center><hr>


    He swung his sword three more times beforepletely removing the head off but when we looked at those little hands, they were still moving. Everyone¡¯s expressions were hard to describe as we all stared at those hands.


    ¡°This is impossible bro! What the f.u.c.k?!¡± Jared eximed while Kaley and Tatiana were silent.


    I¡¯m still observing the corpse but I had an idea.


    I started by pushing on thergest arms first if they would still move or not. If they didn¡¯t, I would start to cut the stitches around the base of the arm to remove each one.


    ¡°Hey! What are you doing?!¡± Irene tried to pull me away from the corpse.


    ¡°Just let me.¡± I looked back at her and she took a step back.


    I then found out from the first pair of arms that were ced on its pectoral muscles were deeply rooted. I found nuts and bolts forcibly connecting the joints of the arms right through its chest cavity. There¡¯s a few miniature cracks from where the holes were drilled and I couldn¡¯t simply pull the arms out without unhinging them. The only thing I could praise with this work is how clean the procedure was done. There¡¯s no tears from the flesh and you¡¯ll only know what¡¯s been done once you open it up. I removed each one while avoiding the little arms that are slowly iling.


    I already have an inkling as to why those little arms are still moving so when they were the ones left, I turned the corpse over.


    Clear as day.


    There¡¯s a huge seam at his back.


    The people around are waiting for what I would do next so I used my knife once more. I carefully cut the stitches to reveal what¡¯s hidden inside. Almost everyone turned around when they saw it but the ones who didn¡¯t have a gruesome expression. <hr>


    There¡¯s a baby stuffed inside who had its body cut in half.


    It is ced from the back so that its arms would just be ced on the holes made on the abdomen. Most of therger corpse¡¯s insides were removed to nestle the baby inside with a tight fit. The guard earlier who¡¯s vomiting on the side saw it and he quickly ran back to his spot.


    ¡°Jesus f.u.c.k.i.n.g christ¡­¡± Irene had an angry expression while both of her hands were clutching her brown hair.


    Kaley¡¯s the same way and her rate of breathing in and out increased exponentially.


    I made a deep sigh before I stabbed the back of its head with my knife.


    I turned it over again and the slow il immediately died down. It¡¯s now just a lifeless abomination like the rest of the arms earlier. Tears started toe out of Irene¡¯s eyes and she¡¯s trying to wipe them before it fell through her cheeks.


    ¡°Is it one of them bro?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°One of them? You know the people who did this?! Where?!¡± Irene exploded.


    ¡°It¡¯s not one of them.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How can you be sure bro?! Remember what they did at the front of Woonds?! Those f.u.c.k.i.n.g effigies that they built to intimidate Mr. Gabriel and the rest?! That¡¯s their doing bro!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°Then how the f.u.c.k do you think they got here, huh?! Dude, they¡¯re on the other side and several hundred kilometres far! Unless they managed to clear the expressway or managed to get a hold of a helicopter, it wouldn¡¯t be them! Why do you think I¡¯m against Niks and the rest driving outside our region to randomly look for Ilya and the rest? It¡¯s because it¡¯s still impossible! Besides, they were guards posted here 24/7, Woonds before didn¡¯t. How do you think they managed to do that and made sure that it would walk straight at this ce? Huh?¡± I retorted. <hr>


    ¡°But, they could have people from other ces that share their cause, right? It¡¯s not like they don¡¯t have ways tomunicate like us, right?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°That could be true but like I said, how could they be sure that this thing gets to this ce? It¡¯s even a miracle that it followed the road. My only guess is that this thing saw the lights and pursued it. We¡¯ve already confirmed cases of them still being able to see. Going here for those lights just might be them acting on something random. Like ¡®Oh, a light. I want to go there.¡¯ or something. I just hoped this thing was like the kid that could talk so at least we¡¯d have some idea.¡± I replied and we told Irene and the rest of that kid we encountered before.


    ¡°What if this thing is just released? That is possible too, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Released?¡± Irene asked.


    ¡°Well making something f.u.c.k.i.e.d up like this would definitely take a few tries, correct?¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°Showcasing to the world, eh? Something like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up sculptor?¡± Imented.


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying there would be more of this thing?!¡± Irene was disgusted.


    ¡°Maybe, but I think we¡¯ll find more parts than finished products basing it from that thing.¡± I replied.


    Silence followed but everyone¡¯s gazes would still point to the corpse that was yed with. Bitter expressions were still themon sight and there¡¯s nothing left to do but drag it to the pile and burn it after a short doc.u.mentation. I made sure to record every nook and cranny of that abomination for reviewter if I might have missed something. A mark or a carving would be the way to go about investigating something like this but our only clue is that it came from the direction where the city is and that¡¯s not something solid to point us in the right direction.


    I turned to Irene to ask some questions.


    ¡°Irene, just to be sure, I need to ask this. Have you seen a group of people calling themselves the chosen ones? They¡¯re an overly religious bunch that has appeared near my ce before and we managed to take care of a group of them. The reason why Jared thought that they were the ones that did this is that they left something simr to this but it¡¯s on a much grander scale.¡± I looked at her. <hr>


    ¡°Chosen ones? I¡¯m sure that we¡¯ve never encountered a group calling themselves that before.¡± Irene replied.


    ¡°But does that mean you¡¯ve encountered other groups from your runs?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, yes we have but we haven¡¯t seen them for a while now. This thing came from the road that leads to the city, right?¡± She looked at Jared and he nodded.


    ¡°Is one of them that guy? I know part of its head is blown off but could you find some semnce?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m not really sure about that. We haven¡¯t done much interaction with them and they tend to keep to themselves when we encounter them.¡± Irene answered.


    ¡°Hmm, do you have any idea on where they might be staying at least? If they¡¯re staying close to where it came from, they would¡¯ve encountered more of them in a good case scenario.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then what¡¯s the bad case scenario bro?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re either the ones making them or they¡¯ve already been made into one of those. She said that they haven¡¯t seen them in a while. They could be in the process of making one or the other thing.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Does that mean we¡¯re gonna try to look for them and your group would stay here for a while?¡± Irene asked.


    ¡°We won¡¯t be staying here for a while but we¡¯ll do what we could tomorrow. And to answer your first question, we¡¯ll try and look for them to ask more questions to get to the bottom of this. The kinds of people doing this kind of thing for fun have a special ce in where I¡¯ll put them. Unless those bloody figures learn how to use guns or evolve to something that has a higher challenge rating, people who are making things like that are one of the things that are more dangerous.¡± I replied.

 Chapter 316

    Chapter 316: 316


    We were silent for a few moments but Irene excused herself so she could inform the other entrances about what happened personally. Jared said he¡¯ll stay at this entrance for a couple more hours before he turns in. I looked at themps the guards were using and it¡¯s just burning silently while illuminating a small radius of the road and the entrance. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°See youter dude.¡± I said to Jared before taking our leave.


    We reached the roof of the convenience store once more and Alexei is talking with Vera through his Sat Phone. I could barely hear her voice but the gist of what they¡¯re talking about is just a summary of what happened at our side.


    ¡°Hey, you guys done? What happened over there?¡± Alexei asked.


    We told him what happened and he¡¯s shaking his head after hearing it.


    ¡°It¡¯s bad enough we¡¯re in this situation and now sick f.u.c.ks are having the time of their lives.¡± he muttered.


    ¡°Did Ilya tell you two about his decision?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah. I just said f.u.c.k it but Niks is having a hard time epting it. To me, I¡¯d rather have him alive like that or dead somewhere in a ditch. At least when this thing is over, we¡¯ll know what they¡¯re feeling is real or not. If yes, then f.u.c.k it but if not, we know where to pick him up.¡± Alexei replied.


    ¡°He¡¯s here as a detachment of some sort so we¡¯d still get some info and an added protection for this ce. He¡¯s really head over heels over thatdy and I think she¡¯s a sweet one. We heard a few of his stories at the beginning, want to hear a few?¡± Tatiana asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Ah, not those again. I¡¯ll head back there and keep the peace if anything happens, you three alright here?¡± Alexei interjected.


    ¡°Sure.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re just annoyed he took down a few DDR Camps alone, correct?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°A few?¡± Kaley looked back at her.


    ¡°Whatever. Shit, let me grab a pack of smokes first.¡± Alexei went back to his bag before saying goodbye.


    ¡°You said he took down a few camps?¡± I asked as I sat at the edge of the roof.


    ¡°What happened was¡­¡± Tatiana began to tell the rest of the story.


    Tatiana said that Ilya was dropped at a resort near Batangas and it was by the bay located Southwest of where we are. The bay is enveloped bynd, almost forming like a crescent shaped moon where the body of water is at the center. The shore has different tourist spots because of a few resorts and water parks built specifically. There¡¯s also ports that house fishing boats and huge vessels for transport of different cargo. It¡¯s like the pier where Iskoh is at though the difference is this ce is located in a rural area and there¡¯s hugepanies where their main business is fuel. However, a huge fire is billowing from that ce as Ilya mentioned when he arrived. It will be hard to tell if the ones close-by are still in working order or everything has already blown up by the chaos. <hr>


    The resort he was dropped off to was already gone and one of the reasons for that is that there¡¯s a huge cruise ship that crashed at the lighthouse where the resort was nearby. It seems the cruise ship has been carrying a ton of tourists which are already infected. He had to get away from the huge swarm of the dead first and find the nearest DDR Camp as fast as possible. Being in unfamiliar territory, he had ups but mostly downs at first. The nearest DDR Camp he encountered was already overrun with the dead and it continued to be that way for several municipalities.


    ¡°I thought he cleared a lot of them?¡± Kaley asked, lying to her side inside the tent.


    ¡°Correct. He made sure to clear each camp he encountered and take all the supplies that were left inside. The mission given to them was more dangerous than mine so they were handed more weapons than I do. However, even if that¡¯s the case, that amount wouldn¡¯t be able tost long and that¡¯s why he cleared each camp he encountered to replenish his equipment. It was a gamble but it paid off the first few times.¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°First few times?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, he said that after several days of either blowing up heads or lopping them off, you¡¯d think that there would be no end to them. He¡¯s keeping his head in check by talking to our group through his Sat Phone but when it got destroyed, that¡¯s when he started to slip little by little. He¡¯s fine now but he said those are times when he felt so alone. Only seeing dead bodies or hostile people almost pushed him to the brink.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°His Sat Phone got destroyed, you say?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well¡­¡± Tatiana continued.


    She said that he was ambushed by a random group when he was putting gas on his HUMVEE. Even if the outside is mostly bulletproof, if one of the doors is open, it¡¯s all for naught. A bullet made its way across his Sat Phone and his way ofmunicating with other people vanished. Most of the camps he cleared had dead soldiers carrying long range radios but that¡¯s it. Despair added when he found one but it¡¯s shot up like the one he has. It¡¯s very hard to find devices like that especially in the rural areas. <hr>


    ¡°Damn, so all of you are given HUMVEEs and a few other things when you¡¯re dropped here, right?¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Yeah, using that Ilya then zigzagged through different municipalities and towns for anything he could use and to continue his mission. His run came to an end when he encountered a camp with several hostile soldiers pretending to be a normal one. Even the residents were in cahoots with those soldiers and he fell to their trap. His HUMVEE was taken and everything else inside it and he was taken as a prisoner. He got out but he needed to remove a few bullets inside himself while the ones that captured him were still in pursuit.¡± Tatiana continued.


    ¡°How did he manage to escape them?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s easier said than done but he managed to turn it around. He first killed his pursuers in the woods one by one at night then he came back to the same ce to kill everyone in their sleep. The unfortunate thing is that the HUMVEE was no longer there and a small number of the people who hoodwinked him are still alive somewhere. He stoppeding after the camps after that to regroup first but he ran out of supplies. He¡¯s just running on fumes and was about to die of his injuries and hunger. He said that he¡¯s just limping around to find a spot to die but he just woke up with a roof on his head and a hearty meal by the bedside. The only thing left on him was his shoes, pants, and his dog tag but what¡¯s important is that he¡¯s alive.¡± Tatiana faintly smiled.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s be on the lookout just in case we encounter that group. I doubt they¡¯ll ditch the HUMVEE so that would be one of the clues. Let¡¯s just say that it¡¯s a side mission of sorts and whether we stumble on it or not is up to luck. I usually finish all the side quests first before having a go at the main quest but this time we just have a lot on our hands.¡± I added and Kaley¡¯s rolling her eyes from my statement.


    A cold breeze passed by us and the sound of the leaves rustling from the trees followed. I rubbed my hands together for a little bit of warmth and I saw Kaley inside covering herself with her nket. Tatiana pulled a candy bar from her pockets and she offered Kaley a bite. She agreed to bite a chunk off to wash away the taste of the rich soup earlier.


    ¡°Ilya chose a great ce to settle in. It¡¯s cozy too.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°What? Cozy? It¡¯s cold~¡± Kaley shivered. <hr>


    ¡°It really is cold. Although, It¡¯s a great feeling for a breeze to pass by and not smell of the dead. We¡¯d only achieve that back home when we kill a huge number of them.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well about that temperature, I¡¯m still used to the cold.¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°So¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°So what?¡± Tatiana and Kaley said at the same time.


    ¡°The cold never bothered you anyway- Ow! Kaley! Don¡¯t throw your boots at me!¡± I eximed.


    Kaley started tough heartily and surprisingly, Tatiana did the same.


    ¡°You know that movie?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, when Olivia woulde to visit Rin, they¡¯d drag me to watch a few films. A few taglines stuck so here we are.¡± Tatiana was raising both of her hands.


    ¡°Hah! Then Niks should do that with Ilya¡¯s situation¡­ let it-¡± I was about to finish the joke but several more items came flying towards me.

 Chapter 317

    Chapter 317: 317


    My hands turned into a blur as I attempted to catch each item they threw at me. I¡¯m standing on the edge of the roof so anything that gets past me would fall and might get damaged. Time seemed to slow down as I caught the important ones while pping the unimportant ones to the side. It¡¯s a good thing that my palms aren¡¯t sweaty, my knees aren¡¯t weak, and my arms aren¡¯t heavy or else most of them would get dented. <center></center><hr>


    Before they managed to throw a few more, I dashed forward and caught their hands.


    I told them to stop, coborate, and listen.


    ¡°You two, you pick those ones on the side. Don¡¯t you know how I neatly packed my stuff in that bag?¡± I said as I pulled them closer.


    ¡°Ooh~ Someone¡¯s getting bossy~ Alright, I¡¯ll stop~¡± Tatiana stood up from her position to get to the other side where a few items were scattered.


    ¡°Good, and you?¡± I looked at Kaley and she stared back with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you do it for me? I¡¯m really cold~¡± Kaley tried to look cute.


    ¡°I¡¯m cold too, aren¡¯t I? Can¡¯t you see Tatiana already picking the stuff you threw at me?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep you warm?¡± then she gave me ¡®that¡¯ look while still rolled inside the nket.


    ¡°How about ¡®I¡¯ keep you warm after you¡¯ve picked those up? Hmm?¡± I replied with a cheeky smile though I saw Tatiana briefly ncing at us.


    Kaley pouted her lips and she removed herself from her nket.


    ¡°Holy shit, that worked!¡± I inwardly celebrated.


    Kaley¡¯s rubbing her arms while she¡¯s picking some of them up. Tatiana¡¯s already done from her side and she ced it near my bag so I could arrange it myself. She was amused looking at Kaley almost begrudgingly picking up after herself. She finally finished and she dumped it all in myp.


    ¡°Here, your majesty.¡± Kaley made a small bow. <center></center><hr>


    I smiled from her remark but her arms were folded over.


    ¡°You¡¯re really cold, huh? Your n.i.p.p.l.es are protruding from your shirt.¡± Tatiana mentioned.


    ¡°Stop looking at them! It¡¯s¡­ a bit embarrassing¡­¡± Kaley covered them but her b.r.e.a.s.ts just got mushed revealing part of her cleavage.


    ¡°Embarrassing? Really?¡± Tatiana started to chuckle.


    Kaley huffed and pulled me inside our tent.


    ¡°Now I¡¯m really cold! Where¡¯s my reward, hmm?¡± Kaley pouted.


    ¡°Yes, yes. I always keep my promises.¡± I started to hug her from behind and my hands were going under her clothes. One is at her peaks while the other is somewhere deep that is just starting to moisten.


    ¡°Can I join in? It¡¯s kinda lonely on my side¡­¡± Tatiana moved closer to us.


    ¡°We¡¯re just keeping warm, I thought the cold never bothered you?¡± I replied, smiling.


    ¡°Well, my n.i.p.p.l.es are hard too, see?¡± Tatiana removed her top and she started to pinch them together. She¡¯s watching me explore Kaley with l.u.s.t in her eyes.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s because you¡¯re horny, not because you¡¯re cold¡­ hmm!¡± Kaley interjected but she gasped when I brushed through her sensitive spots.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re right about that¡­*giggle*¡± Tatiana raised Kaley¡¯s shirt just above her chest.


    Tatiana started to suck on Kaley¡¯s n.i.p.p.l.e but I had an idea.


    ¡°Tatiana, get your Sat Phone and call Rin. I think it¡¯s unfair we¡¯re doing it without her, right? Let¡¯s fill her in this time.¡± I said. <hr>


    Tatiana gave me a look while licking her lips then Kaley¡¯s arms reached back and wrapped around my neck. Tatiana left for a moment but Kaley¡¯s already soaking underneath. My thumb is flicking the small nub while my middle finger is exploring her insides. It¡¯s already tightening a few times and her breathing is starting to get erratic.


    Tatiana came back with an almost impatient look and I¡¯m feeling that Kaley¡¯s really close.


    The call finally connected and Tatiana moved closer so we could hear what they¡¯re about to say.


    ¡°Hey, are you sleeping?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Oh, not yet. I¡¯m just reading a few chapters before I go to bed, why?¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°Not much, Kaley¡¯s just getting fingered by Sky.¡± Tatiana casually mentioned and we heard a small crash.


    ¡°WHAT?! KALEY IS- F-F- WHAT?!¡± Rin eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s cold here, so they¡¯re warming up. I¡¯m helping though. My tits are already out but I always feel defeated when I¡¯m seeing Kaley¡¯s tits.¡± Tatiana was smiling brightly from Rin¡¯s reaction.


    ¡°AHH!!! Why do you have to tell me this?!¡± Rin¡¯s voice seemed she¡¯s about to cry.


    ¡°Well, we just want to include you. Why don¡¯t you just join us over the phone so we four could enjoy something? Why don¡¯t you lick your fingers and start on touching yourself?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°I¡­ I already am¡­¡± Rin replied sheepishly.


    ¡°Good. Now taste yourself.¡± Tatiana ordered.


    ¡°It¡­ it tastes good¡­ I wish I could taste yours¡­¡± Rin replied. <hr>


    Tatiana gave a smile and Kaley is about to lose it. We¡¯re hearing soft m.o.a.ns from both sides and Tatiana started to touch herself in front of us. She removed all of her clothes first and her legs were wide open. She¡¯s telling Rin what she¡¯s doing to herself and Kaley started to shake uncontrobly. She pulled my hand under her and she started to suck on my fingers while trembling at small intervals. Her other hand was ced on top of my hand cupping her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts. She pressed it much harder while squeezing the pink tips.


    ¡°Take off your clothes¡­¡± Kaley whispered.


    I stood up to remove my clothes but Tatiana pushed Kaley down. She started to give Kaley a deep kiss while her hand is still inside herself. Rin¡¯s calling out Tatiana¡¯s name louder and louder but we know what happened after she became quiet for a moment. Rin¡¯s panting through the phone though her voice seemed to want more to happen. Kaley¡¯s hands grabbed Tatiana¡¯s ass and spread them apart in front of me. I went closer before I stuck my tongue in both of their holes. I explored their warm insides while taking in their sweet juices flowing through their thighs.


    Tatiana adjusted her position and now her slit is rubbing against Kaley¡¯s own. I want to keep on watching but I plunged it on Tatiana¡¯s ass. Each thrust I made with my full weight helps in rubbing it harder on Kaley¡¯s openings. Kaley¡¯s face is a mess but she¡¯s pinching on Tatiana¡¯s pink n.i.p.p.l.es. My hands are ced on Tatiana¡¯s waist and I¡¯m starting to go faster and faster. No more proper words were exchanged as everything became a blur. Our base instincts decided what we would do to each other and nothing could be heard aside from skin hitting skin.


    Kaley is on top of me and her whole weight is pressed against my body. Only her h.i.p.s are moving and I¡¯m feeling I¡¯m about to release. I pulled it out at thest second then Tatiana grabbed it and cleaned it up. I¡¯m struggling with the sensitivity since her warm tongue wrapped around the tip to remove everything that¡¯sing out. Kaley¡¯s still kissing me from the same position and we¡¯re hearing Rin¡¯s hurried breath on the other side. Tatiana¡¯s started talking through the phone with Rin again and she motioned for me to go on top of her.


    ¡°Rin said to pretend she¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g me.¡± Tatiana said.


    We followed what Rin is saying and she¡¯s even telling us when to release. Kaley was also included and she¡¯s the one who had the hardest time trying to keep it in. However, when she finally let it all out, it was so intense that she started making a mess inside our tent. Rin allowed Tatiana to release the same time she did and Tatiana¡¯s face is red after c.u.m.m.i.n.g hard and releasing all the tension that¡¯s been being kept inside.


    We¡¯re side by side catching our breaths and we eventually cleaned up then took a rest. Kaley¡¯s hugging me from behind and Tatiana went inside her own tent to sleep.


    Morning quickly came and now I¡¯m checking the truck we would be using.


    I first checked the tires for any wear and tear. I looked for the spare tire and made sure that they¡¯re all properly inted. I also took out a gauge and checked each tire¡¯s pressure level. Everything seems to be in optimal condition and I checked the battery next. I made sure that all the terminals are securely attached and I cleaned a few areas where I saw corrosion.


    Irene was also there and she¡¯s refilling it with fuel while another guy is checking the fluids. It seemed that Niks and Alexei slept at Ilya and Irene¡¯s house and they¡¯re not back yet. Jared on the other hand took an all-nighter because he expected another one to pop up but didn¡¯t. However, he¡¯s not with us and he¡¯s checking the lights while another person is cleaning the wipers and the windshield.


    ¡°Why are we doing this again bro?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°For safety obviously. This is a good truck but everything needs to be maintained properly. Last thing we want is getting stranded because we didn¡¯t bother checking the vehicle we would be using.¡± I replied.


    Jared then continued to check each light if each setting is working. The high beam, low beam, turn signals, tail lights, etc. I¡¯m making my final checks and I found a small hole in the radiator hose. <hr>


    ¡°Irene, do you have an extra for this thing? We could patch it with duct tape but I¡¯d rather go out with a new one or something without any holes in it.¡± I asked.


    ¡°Ah, let me check on our storage. I¡¯ll be back in a few.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Why is it always the radiator hose bro? It¡¯s always that thing that gets them in trouble or something simr. It¡¯s like a curse or something, right?¡± Jared chuckled.


    ¡°Yeah, like your dad always flipping out when his 10mm socket goes missing. It¡¯s always the 10mm, why is that?!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Bro! You have no idea how much shit Lois and I go through when dad loses it himself. What we did is we bought several pieces of those in case he loses his again!¡± Jared eximed and the people working with us rted.


    A few momentster, four figures appeared. The first two were Ilya and Aurora while I can¡¯t seem to recognize the faces of the other two. Ilya seemed to have a ck eye but when Tatiana and Kaley arrived with coffee, I was so confused.


    ¡°Whoa, what happened to you two?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°You know them?¡± I looked at Kaley.


    ¡°They¡¯re Niks and Alexei, you doofus!¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°What?! The f.u.c.k happened to your faces?!¡± Jared was also surprised.


    The two¡¯s faces were swollen and Ilya¡¯s carrying an apologetic expression.


    ¡°My bad.¡± Ilya replied.


    ¡°He did that? Interesting.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 318

    Chapter 318: 318


    Our short maintenance session was paused as I stood up to check on their faces. Alexei is the most beat up one while Ilya is theplete opposite. Aurora is looking at me like it¡¯s her fault but by the way Ilya and Niks are walking apart, I could mostly guess what happened. <center></center><hr>


    Alexei¡¯s right eye is swollen and there¡¯s a few bruises on his cheek and arms. His nose is also busted and his lip has been chipped. Blood seemed to have stopped flowing and I think it was taken care of yesterday after they fought. Niks¡¯ nose on the other hand is the only thing that¡¯s busted but there¡¯s definitely more hidden and I doubt it would be safe to take them outside.


    ¡°You tried to break them up, didn¡¯t you?¡± I looked at Alexei.


    ¡°What else am I supposed to do?¡± Alexei exhaled.


    ¡°Well, for starters, you should¡¯ve let them!¡± I opened my eyes wide.


    ¡°What?! Then-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°Then we¡¯d have less injured soldiers. Sometimes you just have to let this things happen.¡± I said.


    ¡°I should¡¯ve followed you back since you can¡¯t didn¡¯t manage to break their fight.¡± Tatiana is shaking her head.


    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m the long shooter not the up close and personal specialist like Ilya! I was receiving hits from both sides so this is bound to happen! Well, it¡¯s partly your fault since you¡¯re not there! You know it¡¯s about to get bad and you hang back!¡± Alexei defended himself.


    ¡°You¡¯re ming me?¡± Tatiana had a glint in her eye.


    ¡°If I say yes?¡± Alexei returned her look.


    ¡°You know that only Artem managed to beat me in our team, correct? Do you want Vera to take care of a cripple? Huh?¡± Tatiana stepped forward while smiling and Alexei instinctively took a step back.


    ¡°Hey! Easy! It¡¯s bad enough I¡¯m down two soldiers, you also want one to be like Lieutenant Dan?¡± I stepped in the middle of them.


    ¡°Who?¡± they all asked except for Jared and Kaley turning around to hide theirughter.


    ¡°What? I thought you- Okay, Lieutenant Dan~ Lieutenant Dan~ Ice Cream~ Ring a bell?¡± I said after waving my hands around. <center></center><hr>


    I saw Aurora covering her mouth to chuckle and I gave her a thumb of approval. They¡¯re all still staring at me in confusion so I gave up the attempt and just reminded myself to let them watch that film in the future.


    ¡°Okay, you two will stay here and guard the S-76.¡± I ordered.


    ¡°Hey, I can still move.¡± Niks approached me.


    ¡°Really?¡± I suddenly jabbed his abdomen. His body croaked and right when I was about to do the same thing to Alexei, he backed away.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll take Ilya instead. Going against those two and leaving with just a ck eye should make up for those two¡¯s absence. Up for it?¡± I looked at Ilya.


    He looked at Irene carrying a radiator hose and Aurora looking worried first. Irene nodded at him then he assured Aurora that he¡¯lle back. He gave a huge exhale before approaching me.


    ¡°You have a spare gun I could use? I don¡¯t know if they told you yet but I¡¯ve lost mine.¡± he said.


    I smiled and said, ¡°Come with me.¡±


    I got him geared up with a Mini-14 chambered in 5.56 with a folding stock, pistol grip, 3-9x40mm scope, 20-round magazine, suppressor, and an M7 bay. It has a ck finish all over though the sling is dark-gray in color. I only brought one extra magazine for this gun but he epted it nevertheless. My mood was good until I touched a Hi-Point C9. It¡¯s fresh out of the box but nothing was added to it. It¡¯s chambered in 9mm and it uses a 10-round magazine without any extra aside from the ones inside the others.


    ¡°I deeply apologize.¡± I said before handing one to him.


    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s all good. I was hoping for an AK but this works. I have a bolo here and a butterfly knife so I¡¯m set.¡± he said after wearing soft armor and finger cut gloves that I gave him.


    I carried a few more items with me before we left the annoyed faces of Niks and Alexei.


    My group is nowposed with me, Kaley, Jared, Tatiana, and Ilya while Irene¡¯s group isposed of three other people who are named Ed, Edd, and Eddy. It was a funny coincidence but they don¡¯t look like their other counterparts. However, they call Edd ¡®double d¡¯ like in the show and that¡¯s it. Irene and her group¡¯s carrying firearms that are a little worse for wear but still workable. Irene is the only one carrying a shotgun while the rest have different kinds of handguns. Eddy¡¯s eyeing our equipment and I know what he¡¯s thinking though I just waited for him to start a conversation.


    Irene told Ed to drive at the outskirts of the city where west saw the group she¡¯s talking about. <hr>


    We¡¯re passing farnd, rustic houses, and a few rundown tractors. Every ce we passed was broken into and the presence of the dead here is abysmalpared to our ce.


    ¡°Irene, have you ever encountered sprinters in your runs? You know, the ones that really run fast?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Sprinters? Running fast?¡± she was confused.


    ¡°Really? How about¡­¡± I told her about the other specials and irregrs we encountered. The gatherers, the fat f.u.c.ks, the sentries, and a few irregrs that¡¯s been stuck in our minds.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k are you talking about?¡± Edd was also in disbelief.


    Jared gave an annoyed look and he pulled out his phone.


    ¡°Here. Knock yourselves out.¡± he said after handing it.


    The color on their faces disappeared when they started to browse the things we doc.u.mented. It even included the video of the little kid who spoke and several images of the sprinter that killed Cruz and the rest.


    ¡°This is happening at your ce?!¡± Irene was shocked.


    ¡°¡­¡± Edd was speechless.


    I nced at Ilya and it seemed that he also didn¡¯t encounter the ones we did.


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯ve been in the city too so I¡¯m asking if the same situation is happening here. We have a contact in Mindanao and it¡¯s the same over there. It¡¯s either the ones at the rural areas haven¡¯t evolved much or it¡¯s the other thing.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Other thing?¡± she asked.


    ¡°The other video then?¡± Edd asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s possible that they¡¯re gathering somece else and their numbers are now staggering. Tell me, how far have you gone inside?¡± I looked at Irene.


    ¡°We¡¯ve just been making steady progress but we¡¯ve never been in the central part and the other estates and the air base. There¡¯s the country club too but we need to pass through the central part of the city before we manage to reach that ce and the others.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Why do we need to pass through the central part of the city first?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s no proper roads leading to those ces and it¡¯s either we make our own or fly through the mountain to get to those ces.¡± Edd replied.


    ¡°Okay, since we¡¯re just going for the outskirts first, let¡¯s tackle that other problemter. If my hunch is correct, we need to steer clear of the central part of this city if we¡¯re just using this truck. I¡¯m regretting not flying lower so we could have a general idea of this ce when we flew here yesterday. However, if there¡¯s no presence of those things at this ce, then we¡¯re in for a treat.¡± I replied.


    We¡¯re driving straight and we made a left turn after reaching a mill that produces feed for various farm animals. There¡¯re several mills erected close to each other and there¡¯s a gatedmunity that hasn¡¯t been finished yet at the right. The number of the dead got bumped by a miniscule amount but there¡¯s still no signs of anything special.


    We passed through a rundown elementary school that has its gate bent in a gruesome fashion. There are several little houses made with light materials at the back of it and each house has a little well next to the front door. The dismembered bodies sprawled some of the houses dictates that some action has urred here. The truck slowly lost speed and it eventually came to a halt.


    ¡°This is where west saw them.¡± Irene replied.


    ¡°What are you guys doing at this ce? There¡¯s barely anything to get here aside from that gasoline station across the street.¡± I asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re trying to pick up rtives of one of our resident but we werete. It seems that they have moved to somece else since their house over there is already empty. They took their pictures too so I¡¯m sure that they are somece else.¡± Irene replied.


    ¡°And where were the people you saw when you¡¯re here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re at the gas station as you said and they¡¯re taking what they could from the pumps. After that, we saw them drive further outwards where a farm for chickens and even game fowls are located. Well, there¡¯s none over there now but it used to be like that. Furthermore, if we drive around, there¡¯s a few barangays I think they might be staying in. We haven¡¯t drove that far yet when this thing started but I¡¯ve been to those ces before.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s start from that- what¡¯s that sound?¡± I looked at the direction where a well covered by a wooden lid is.


    I¡¯m hearing a faint echo and low growls so I approached it. I took off the lid and the horrid smell immediately assaulted my nose. <hr>


    I looked down and it¡¯s a sorry sight. It¡¯s several feet below and there¡¯re figures moving below.


    A bloated and discolored body is inside covering the whole area of the well by its body alone. However, there¡¯s two little kids that are just stepping over the bloated body and their little hands are bloody from trying to w their way out probably when they were still alive. The little ones are carrying bags and their feet would sometimes sink if the flesh they¡¯re stepping on is too rotten to have a stable footing.


    I was about to end their lives but Irene saw their faces.


    ¡°Jesus f.u.c.k.i.n.g christ¡­¡± she muttered.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They¡¯re the ones we¡¯re looking for.¡± Irene bitterly replied.


    ¡°Then we have trouble. The well is covered and there¡¯s no signs of a bite from the two. Only thing I¡¯m seeing is a head injury. Someone ced them there. Who are they rted to?¡± I stated.


    ¡°Remember the guy who¡¯s vomiting when we saw that thing yesterday? He¡¯s the uncle of these kids.¡± Irene replied.


    ¡°Lester.¡± Jared muttered.


    ¡°Tell me, were the ones you saw looting the gas station here first when you arrived or you were the ones here first?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They were here first. Oh god, were they the ones who did this?! I- I should¡¯ve checked the- dammit!¡± Irene kicked a few pebbles off the ground.


    ¡°Wait, why didn¡¯t we hear themst time if they¡¯re alive? We should¡¯ve at least heard them shouting, right?¡± Edd asked.


    ¡°But their hands! Why are they looking like that if they didn¡¯t struggle to get out?! Did the noise from the engine prevent us from hearing them?! You! What do you think?!¡± Irene is pissed.


    I looked at the scene and I tried to y different scenarios in my head.


    ¡°Okay, here¡¯s what I think¡­¡± I trailed.

 Chapter 319

    Chapter 319: 319


    Irene looked at me while Jared and the rest killed a couple of the bloody figuresing from the opposite direction. The figures were moving much slowerpared to the normal ones we¡¯re seeing so it was easily taken care of. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I said earlier that someone ced the lid to cover this well. That doesn¡¯t need an exnation but what we don¡¯t know for sure is what happened before the lid is ced. Highest chance is that the people you sawst time looting the gas station were the ones who did this. However, there¡¯s also a chance that they just saw them already dead and they just covered the lid or they didn¡¯t go to this house in the first ce and some other yers did it. Looking at the state of these houses could already mean that there¡¯s not much to take inside, no offense.¡± I started as I thought of more possibilities.


    ¡°Then how do you exin that we didn¡¯t get to hear them when we came by to this cest time? This is the first time we¡¯re hearing these growls. Did theye back here and an ident happened?¡± Edd asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure about your going back theory but it¡¯s still possible or it could be that they¡¯re still unconscious when you got here. There¡¯s not much to go on but one exnation is that they were hit on the head hard and were knocked unconscious. See thoserge discolored marks on their heads? We can¡¯t exin what happened to the bloated one under them since there¡¯s too much going on but solely basing it on their head injuries, they were probably thrown down this well after knocking them out. The moment they woke up, the little ones furiously tried to get out but unsessful. They tried to climb up but their fingers gave out in the process. ¡± I guessed.


    ¡°Jesus¡­ they were so young. Lester would be devastated.¡± Irene had a difficult expression.


    ¡°Hold on, what were they doing here in the first ce? How much time has passed before you went herest?¡± I asked them.


    ¡°That elementary school was a small DDR Camp. It¡¯s being run by a dozen soldiers and a couple of medical staff. They figured it would be much safer here than our ce so they stuck it out. We just received a radio call from them that the soldiers were evacuating this ce and they¡¯re not taking any people. It¡¯s around the same time when the soldiers at the DDR Camp at our ce left the scene too. We just drove here as fast as we could to get to them.¡± Irene replied. <center></center><hr>


    I started to scratch my head but Kaley tapped me.


    ¡°How about the water levels?¡± Kaley whispered.


    I had an epiphany and I smacked her ass hard for being a huge help. However, she kicked my shin and chopped the back of my head in retaliation.


    ¡°You!¡± Kaley has an embarrassed look.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry! I just got too excited! Stop!¡± I said as I almost limped.


    ¡°Enough fooling around, did you have another idea?¡± Edd was annoyed.


    ¡°Here¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking, but first, let¡¯s understand that it¡¯s a random time for anyone that¡¯s been knocked out by a head blow to wake up by themselves. Some even wouldn¡¯t wake up in some extreme cases. When they were thrown here, the well should be about full or just enough to cover them and they got submerged. The weight of the bags that they¡¯re carrying made them sink to the bottom. That makes it impossible to find them or even hear them unless you dive in the well yourselves. They obviously drowned when they were thrown here and when the water level dropped, they¡¯re already one of those things. The water level dropped probably a few hourster since the little ones aren¡¯t as bloated as the one under them. The people who took water from these wells would definitely have a heck of a problem. This could be the thing that happened or the other one I exined earlier.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°These wells? Why?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, they¡¯re man-made and everything is connected by small tubes that run through their house. My family from the Quezon Province also have this same system so I know a bit about it. You could procure water from those hand pumps instead of tying a bucket with rope and scooping some up. Someone probably tried to get water from this ce without noticing that there¡¯s bodies underneath. They took a huge amount too since this thing is almost empty. I hope they tried to test the water here at least before they try anything with it. It¡¯s a very unfortunate way going out by drinking tainted water.¡± I exined.


    ¡°This is confusing, what are we gonna tell Lester?¡± Edd looked at Irene but Irene looked at me.


    ¡°It¡¯s really hard to tell the correct order of what happened just by seeing them like this. It¡¯s also been a while so a lot of clues already disappeared. I just told you a few scenarios that could exin what happened but I¡¯m not really sure which one is the real thing since everything is possible at this point. Well, if we managed to locate the group you¡¯re talking about, they could have the answer we¡¯re talking about. We could find a few more clues if we managed to get those bags.¡± I exined.


    Irene and her group gave a long sigh before she ordered to hook the bags that the little kids were carrying. They used a long bamboo pole with a de at the end which is used for harvesting coconuts at high ces. We cleared them first before attempting it though we only managed to get one. The other bag ripped when we tried to pull it up and the items scattered to the nasty bits of the bloated figure underneath. Well, the ones that spilled out were mostly just toys so it wasn¡¯t much of a loss.


    We opened the bag we found after pouring huge amounts of water through it by using the well from the other house. Most of what¡¯s inside were clothes but there¡¯s a little diary though it¡¯s already unreadable. The pages were stuck to each other and there¡¯s not much inside this bag. However, Irene shone her shlight at the well once more and noticed a ne being worn by one of them. She quickly grabbed a hold of the bamboo pole and tried to hook it herself. She has a difficult expression on her face and she¡¯s struggling to get it. <hr>


    ¡°Let me.¡± I took it from her hands and she was adamant at first.


    I had to slice a little part of the little one¡¯s tr.a.p.ezius muscle up to its neck so I could hook it properly. Wielding this pole proved to be a tad difficult of its length and how it wobbles at the end. I carefully pulled it up and we washed it first before opening the locket. Irene has just a difficult expression seeing the pictures inside and luckily it wasn¡¯t ruined. She pocketed it and thanked me for retrieving it.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll think of what to say to Lester after we find those guys.¡± Irene has a serious look on her face.


    ¡°Just make sure to remember their faces so we can be sure when we start to ¡®talk¡¯ with them.¡± I replied.


    We rode the truck and we took a short stop at the gas station. Everything is pretty much taken aside from the freezers and a few random items in the convenience store. We found a couple of cleaning products and three packs of AA batteries. The only food item we found is several sachets of M&Ms underneath the freezers. It must¡¯ve slid when the looting happened. We also checked the pumps if there¡¯s gas still remaining but unfortunately there wasn¡¯t.


    Irene told Ed to drive away and after a few kilometres, she told him to turn right. We passed by the ces she talked about earlier and we made a quick scan to ensure there¡¯s nothing else inside. The search isn¡¯t looking too fruitful at the moment but we continued on. We¡¯re searching through a few houses along the way when we suddenly heard a couple of gunshots further down the road.


    We didn¡¯t waste time and we decided to go where the source of that gunshot is. It¡¯s really close and we found ourselves to a gatedmunity that says ¡®El Cuervo Heights¡¯ on the wall. It¡¯s not as fancy and as huge as Woonds but it has high walls and can be made a workable base. A couple of guards were already eyeing us when we drove closer but they¡¯re not even picking up their guns to point at us. <hr>


    ¡°Could they be expecting someone?¡± Irene asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see, do you recognize the two?¡± I asked back.


    ¡°No, but they don¡¯t seem hostile.¡± she replied.


    ¡°Just be ready for anything.¡± I said to my group.


    They started to wave at us and they pointed to the little guard house right before the gate. We parked the truck and we¡¯re starting to hear music and cheering from the inside. A few from our group can¡¯t help but give out an expression of curiosity when they heard the smallmotion. Another gunshot resounded from the inside and loud cheers followed. Another wave of cheers followed from a different source but we don¡¯t know the reason for it.


    ¡°Hey~ You guys must be new. Are you just here to watch or here to participate?¡± A guy with brown skin wearing nothing but shorts said.

 Chapter 320

    Chapter 320: 320


    Hearing the guy¡¯s words, I nced at Irene first and looking at her face tells me that she doesn¡¯t know a thing about what¡¯s going on at this ce. Instead of letting my silver tongue out to lie through my teeth, I decided to use it to fish for information. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We actually came several kilometres from the South, I heard another group talking about this ce but they wouldn¡¯t say anything about it. They just told us to drive on the outskirts of Lipa City and we¡¯ll eventually find this ce. We¡¯re actually about to head back but we heard the gunshots, so¡­ we got lucky I guess. By the way, what do you mean by just watching or participating? Those guys never really said anything but they¡¯re all smiles when they¡¯re talking about by themselves.¡± I started.


    ¡°Ah, no worries friend. You¡¯re just a bit early for the real party though. Well, we only do this once a week so better early thante, eh? A few bangers here woulde for the early games but when the sun goes down, the games here now would feel like shit, I tell ya. Oh yeah, sorry friend, your question, if you just want to watch the real gamester, I¡¯m gonna need an entrance fee of some kind. It could be anything from guns, food, p.u.s.s.y, drugs, alcohol, anything! Part of it would be added to the prize pool. You could also bet with those thingster and get something on equal value, it depends. However, if one of you is gonna participate in the ¡®games¡¯, we could waive the entrance fee a bit. So, what do you think?¡± he said but looking at him closer tells me that he¡¯s stoned.


    The other guy holding a bottle half-full is just smiling at Kaley and Tatiana. He¡¯s waving like an idiot but he suddenly dropped on the ground unconscious after taking a swig. The person we¡¯re talking to saw him and he started pissing on the guy trying to wake him up.


    ¡°Hey~ Wake up vato! Ey~! Rico~ Wake the f.u.c.k up puto! Hahahaha~!¡± he started tough.


    The people in my group looked at each other, confused at what¡¯s happening.


    ¡°Better get more information while he¡¯s high. Is he Latino or something? Well, the name of this ce kinda hinted on it.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hey! That sounds f.u.c.k.i.n.g awesome, what are these ¡®games¡¯ then? If it¡¯s exciting enough, I might join them myself.¡± I tried to get his attention.


    He just raised his index finger, hinting that he needed to finish pissing first. It took him a moment and the guy he¡¯s pissing on is still unconscious.


    He finally turned around and said, ¡°You sure ese- ah, friend? Well, we do cowboy stuff, chicken stuff, knife stuff, cage stuff, you know¡­ lots of stuff! There¡¯s one fordies too if the hermosas you brought want in on the fun too~¡± he started raising his eyebrows up and down. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well that didn¡¯t tell me much and what the hell is that chicken stuff?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°If we¡¯re just watching, can we join at thest minute? You know, if we¡¯re interested in the game? We¡¯re really not familiar with how things work yet, is that okay?¡± Tatiana jumped down from the truck.


    ¡°Oh, well hello there beautiful~ Well, you could hermosa, but the deposits can¡¯t be returned and the buy-in from that would be extra expensive, sorry. Rules are rules. We don¡¯t want to piss off Mr. Cuervo, he¡¯s a man of rules you see¡­¡± he raised his hands up.


    ¡°Question, will our guns be allowed inside? I already heard gunshots, so it¡¯s allowed, right?¡± I interjected.


    He looked at me first with an eerie smile and said, ¡°Of course friend, everything is allowed inside. There¡¯s no rule for that. I could see you brought some- ehh~ kinda serious hardware there but ah- we have visitors that brought more ah~ let¡¯s just say a little more bang-bang. We¡¯ve had some troubles but blood gets paid with blood here if anything happens, friend. But don¡¯t worry, Mr. Cuervo is a fair man.¡±


    It seemed that his earlier actions were just an act after replying. It was only for a moment but he came back to his goofy self. I pretended to not notice so I also jumped down to negotiate morefortably.


    ¡°How does that entrance fee work? If any of us participate, will the others be free to enter? Also, can we choose which ¡®game¡¯ we participate in? I¡¯m not great at everything so I might be at a disadvantage on other games.¡± I asked.


    ¡°Easy there, my friend. Let me think¡­ Hold up, who would participate first? Is it just you? You¡¯d have higher chances the more people participate, right?¡± he replied.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t told me yet if we could choose which ¡®game¡¯ we¡¯re ying in on.¡± I reminded him. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, yeah. As long as you y on one it¡¯s good, I guess. Well, most of the yers y in everything that¡¯s why we have no rule for that. Don¡¯t worry friend. The games here are not as dangerous if that¡¯s what you¡¯re worried about. Except when you¡¯re stupid, everything would be dangerous.¡± he smiled once more.


    ¡°If you¡¯re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! Nice one vato! That¡¯s a good way of putting it. Anyway, just to sell it to you, the games are just a way to know who¡¯s the better man. Well, women too, of course. Also, just putting it out there, if you win all the games, a bottle of Jose Cuervo 250 Aniversario will be given to you by Mr. Cuervo himself! Even I joined a few times but failed miserably. But this vato will join againter! That Jose Cuervo is something I haven¡¯t tasted but it¡¯s something I craved so much.¡± then he looked back at Tatiana.


    I nced first at Kaley and she¡¯s just staring at him. When she saw me looking at her, she gave me a look that the guy we were speaking to is mostly genuine. I looked at my watch and it¡¯s already past noon and we still haven¡¯t got any clue as to where are the people Irene is talking about. We could simply turn around and look somece else but the information we could gather from this ce may not only include clues about the people Irene is talking about but many more. Having a gathering like this got me interested so I made a decision that involves a bit of risk.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll join the games. The rest will-¡± then Tatiana interjected.


    ¡°I will join the games too.¡± she dered.


    Ilya and Kaley were about to say that they would also participate but I stopped them at the right second. Last thing I want is getting matched up against my team and be included in the top 10 anime betrayals. Besides, I would make the group do something while all the eyes are on us.


    ¡°Perfect! Let¡¯s see here¡­ two participants and seven onlookers. You give me something and I¡¯ll decide if it¡¯s enough for them to enter. You¡¯ll be negotiating for five people only since a participant can grant another person free entrance. Let¡¯s see what you have, friend.¡± he started.


    First thing I did was pull out the C9 from Ilya¡¯s hip to test the waters. I cleared the chamber and removed the magazine and looked at his reaction. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, this is good my friend, but it¡¯s not enough. You don¡¯t have any idea how lucrative the games are. This thing could barely grant ess to a single person. I need more, friend.¡± he said after briefly looking at it.


    Second thing I did is I pulled out one of the used med packs we used to help Michael back home.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ ¡± he trailed before rummaging through it. He took a look at the bottle of painkillers and the little dosage of morphine we had on it first before cing it back on the pack.


    ¡°If you have one more like this I¡¯ll consider everything on the table for two people. Some of it¡¯s bloody though, something happened?¡± he smiled.


    ¡°Something like that. I¡¯m sorry, we need the other one for emergencies.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay, keep theming, my friend. I understand.¡± he rubbed his palms together though he¡¯s looking at Kaley¡¯s AR-15.


    Third item I brought to the table is the Mini-14 but this time, I sold it as hard as I could and I even tapped the roof of our truck before I started my pitch. I showed him all the features of the gun first and exined that the fixed gas piston system used by the Mini-14 allows it to have less fouling, jamming, and I added other ¡®imaginary¡¯ problems I made up on the fly to lessen the value of the AR-15. I could feel the energy Kaley¡¯s leaking out so I tried my best to avoid giving away her rifle.


    ¡°Is that so, vato? I see, this thing here is much better than that, eh?¡± he nodded pensively.


    ¡°It¡¯s much more expensivepared to the AR-15 too.¡± I bent the truth since if webine all the things done to Kaley¡¯s rifle, it would be theplete opposite. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, okay. I¡¯m sold but you add that extra mag and you¡¯re almost through.¡± he replied.


    I started to regret letting Irene bring more people so I started to think of something that this guy would really want. I contemted for a while then it hit me.


    ¡°Hey vato, how about this?¡± I said with a devilish smile.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± he asked while not looking at me.


    ¡°P.o.r.n.¡± I said tly.


    ¡°¡­!!!¡± my group.


    ¡°Okay, you may enter.¡± he quickly replied.


    ¡°¡­?!?!?!¡± my group.

 Chapter 321

    Chapter 321: 321


    The group was still in disbelief in how things went down and now I started to transfer a few things on his phone that is for academic purposes. He picked the genres himself and I could honestly say that he¡¯s a man of culture as well. Good thing I¡¯m always prepared for things like these and the only thing I regretted from this exchange is that I should¡¯ve started with that in the first ce. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s not about how valuable something is in general, it¡¯s about how valuable something is to an individual. I wonder if I showed him that collection? Too bad I don¡¯t have it here.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay friend, just call me Enrique. If I see you at the gamester, I¡¯ll go a little easy on you. I could even feign sickness if you have more of these majestic artworks!¡± he offered his hand for a handshake.


    I shook his hand as well and I introduced everyone. He still has his eyes on Tatiana but there¡¯s no worries since Tatiana could definitely handle herself and we¡¯re by her side if anything happens. The gate was finally opened and we were given entry after he dragged his drunk buddy to the side.


    Enrique told us to just drive forward and pick any spot we want to. Also, he said that all the houses are avable for rent if we have the proper item to exchange for it. Any of us could even join the mock games this morning since the real thing is where the rules for participants are set in ce. He gave us a tip and said this morning phase is just for new yers like us to have a feel for thepetitionter and we best make use of our time before the real thing starts. Ed nervously drove inside and I made him park where I could see everything.


    The way the ce is built has some sort of quirk as any gatedmunity. I assumed thergest house at the back with a hugewn and several armed individuals is Mr. Cuervo¡¯s house. There seems to be a party going on at his backyard since music is also sting from that direction. There¡¯s a huge open space at the center of this ce and that¡¯s where most of the vehicles are parked to the sides. Every house seemed to be facing that central part and it¡¯s huge as a football field. It¡¯s around a hundred yards in diameter and there¡¯s all sorts of things going on. There¡¯s a mix of people busy with different things and I spotted a few in the immediate vicinity.


    Two drunkdies are making out at the back of a truck and there¡¯s a fist-fight going on with a few people betting on who¡¯s gonna be thest man standing. There¡¯s also a couple of tables with passed-out individuals except one of them is still standing and kept on pouring alcohol into his ss. There¡¯s also different people exchanging different items but the most used currency is bullets. On a far corner there¡¯s a group of people cheering out loud a few people in front and I seem to notice that there are chickens buried on the ground while their heads are sticking out.


    ¡°What in the hell?¡± Edd muttered.


    A few momentster, a signal was given and they started to fire their guns one at a time. Dirt would fly off with a few patches of grass when they miss but someone immediately seeded. One head was blown to bits and it waster dug out to get butchered and ced on a grill to be eaten. The person who managed to shoot it was given a couple of bullets from the other participants and they shook hands after. The hole was reced by another chicken and another round of that f.u.c.k.i.e.d up shootingpetition started.


    ¡°There¡¯s an order at least, for the most part.¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I think I¡¯d like to join that.¡± Jared muttered.


    ¡°Hah! No, you don¡¯t. Everyone keeps a low profile, for now.¡± I said.


    ¡°What have we gotten ourselves into.¡± Irene has a look of worry the same with the rest of my group.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just y by their rules and decide what to doter. Remember I lied about hearing from them from another group and him believing it then talking about doing this thing every week? If they¡¯re mindlessly killing people, they wouldn¡¯t have new customers like us or even returning ones. In some f.u.c.k.i.e.d up way, this ce is one way to meet people and enjoy if you have the goods for it. Also, if we turned back immediately after seeing them, a tail might probably be put on us and we¡¯d have a lot of problems with that. I know it seems dangerous here but what isn¡¯t anymore? As long as you follow my lead and don¡¯t do anything stupid, we¡¯ll be fine.¡± I assured them.


    ¡°So casually joining the games is not being stupid?! I can¡¯t get a good read on him earlier! Anything could happen here, you know!¡± Kaley eximed quietly.


    ¡°Hey look, I can¡¯t be perfect every time. The moment Tatiana joined as well, you and Ilya were about to without thinking we might get matched with each other! Like Enrique said, we need to make the best use of our time but for now, let¡¯s eat.¡± I calmed everyone down.


    We started to eat a short lunch first and while we¡¯re doing that, I handed my IWI Tavor and all of its magazines to Ilya and he was confused as to why I did it.


    ¡°This gun is much better but are you sure about this? I could make it work with that handgun of yours.¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m getting bored with that anyway. If you do a good job, I might let you keep that.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯d like the AK that Niks is carrying though. It¡¯s different from what he was carrying before, that was from you, right?¡± he negotiated.


    ¡°Hah! I¡¯m really starting to like you. Keep on doing that I might give you an offer you can¡¯t refuse.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°So what are we gonna do for now bro? We still have several hours till the sun sets. We should have a n at least.¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Well, listen up.¡± I started as I told them about different contingency ns. My group was already familiar with some of them and since Jared is always staying at our vehicle, I asked him to make the rest familiar with it first before stepping out of the truck if they wanted to check the ce out.


    Tatiana went on her own and Kaley was right beside me. She gave me a couple of her magazines for the Maxim 9 since she¡¯s still worried about me just having a pistol. We started to walk around the whole area near the walls first and we saw a couple more vehicles entering when we¡¯re near the gate. We didn¡¯t mind it at first as I started on mapping out the entire ce in my head. We saw a lot of things in the process that would make my head itch and the only ce we haven¡¯t been to is Mr. Cuervo¡¯s house.


    We were stopped by the guards when we tried to enter his ce so we went back to the central area to check on everyone. All we saw is Jared, Ed, and Eddy guarding the truck while Irene and Edd are talking to a few people drinking beer. It seemed that they know the people they¡¯re talking to so that¡¯s a good sign. Tatiana is still out of sight though I immediately saw where Ilya is. He¡¯s half-n.a.k.e.d with another man, surrounded by people furiously cheering them on. I saw my Tavor with the four extra magazines and a Remington 700 with two boxes of ammo on the table with a loud announcer.


    ¡°He started to have fun already, eh?¡± I said, shaking my head.


    ¡°Did he just bet your gun for another? He has balls, I tell you that. If he lost that-¡± Kaley said, annoyed but I cut her off.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t worry, okay? If he lost, I¡¯d just get it back myself after beating him to death. Is that fine with you? I know we¡¯re in unknown territory but to be honest, this ce is kinda good.¡± I said. <hr>


    The fight is already in the middle stages and the only injury I¡¯m seeing from Ilya is his ck eye from earlier. The guy he¡¯s fighting with already has blood leaking from his mouth and nose and he¡¯s having a hard time breathing due to it. They¡¯re not wearing any protective equipment and what we¡¯re seeing is a textbook street fight.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see what he¡¯s made of.¡± I thought to myself.


    A huge overhead swing came from the guy he¡¯s fighting but his head quickly flew back mid-swing. He still hasn¡¯t recovered from that but his head got juggled to a different direction immediately after that. Ilya has a simple boxing stance and he¡¯s just watching the guy¡¯s movements. Blood was on Ilya¡¯s fists and a nasty smirk was stered on his face. A quick jab and a hook was what he threw earlier and he¡¯s just toying with the guy.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU SMILING FOR, HUH?!¡± the guy snapped.


    The guy kicked up dirt to blind Ilya but Ilya was now the one throwing a huge overhead swing.


    ¡°Hah! Nice timing.¡± I chuckled.


    The guy¡¯s foot was still in the air when Ilya¡¯s fist came for his face.


    *CRRRCKK*


    He wasn¡¯t able to defend himself since he was still in motion even if his blind attack seeded. Dirt was on Ilya¡¯s eyes but it didn¡¯t even matter anymore. The guy sprawled on the ground, covered in dirt and three pieces of his teeth are beside him. The referee with a painted on uniform didn¡¯t even need to count because the guy was out cold. He just raised Ilya¡¯s fist in the air and a mix of curses and cheers erupted. <hr>


    ¡°THE WINNER~ BY MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G KNOCKOUT~ VLADIMIR~!!!¡± the announcer shouted.


    ¡°PFFT!!!¡± I almost choked on the spot while Kaley started on facepalming.


    ¡°If he included thest name, I would¡¯ve taken him back to my ce, hah!¡± I thought to myself.


    Ilya was about to pick up his winnings but a furious guy suddenly pushed him away.


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE NOT GETTING THAT F.U.C.K.I.N.G WINNINGS!!! YOU CLEARLY CHEATED!!! I¡¯M NOT HANDING OVER MY GUN, F.U.C.K YOU!!!¡± the guy bellowed.


    ¡°Excuse me there sir, if you have any proof that he cheated, bring it to the table. Every contestant in the fights are always half-n.a.k.e.d and bare fist so cheating of any kind can¡¯t be executed. If you see him do such things, you should¡¯ve reported it before or in the middle of the game so we could check it. Tell me, are you lying just because you lost or do you really have proof that he is cheating? Everyone watching seemed to have seen nothing and you¡¯re the only one causing a ruckus.¡± the announcer calmly said.


    ¡°I- F.U.C.K YOU!!! I DON¡¯T HAVE TO EX-¡± then a loud gunshot resounded.


    The guy¡¯s head was blown to bits and a used shell fell down from the announcer¡¯s gun hidden in his cloak. The onlookers next to the guy got sprayed by his nasty bits and a hugemotion followed. The regrs acted like it¡¯s amon thing while the neers like us were shocked. We thought it was over but the participant that Ilya knocked out had a knife stabbed through the side of his head. The two bodies were dragged away from the scene while Ilya¡¯s winnings were handed to him by a ring girl with her whole outfit just painted on.


    ¡°Rules are rules. Let¡¯s continue, sorry for the dys!¡± the announcer dered before casually returning to his loud demeanor.

 Chapter 322

    Chapter 322: 322


    I quickly tried topose myself from what had happened and I took note of everyone that had the same reaction as us. A third of the audience seemed to be neers like us though we can¡¯t always say for sure. The next fight quickly followed and it¡¯s between two guys betting three cartons of cigarettes for a .38 Special revolver. I was expecting a high-level fight but it was a mud-fight right from the get go. I slightly lost interest then I saw Ilya approaching me with a smile. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Here, I scored myself something really easy.¡± Ilya said after handing my Tavor back while still in the same getup. However, the Remington 700 and the two boxes of ammo are not in his person. Not only that, ten rounds of 5.56 is missing from one of the magazines.


    ¡°Must be the house¡¯s cut.¡± I thought to myself.


    I looked at him briefly to check if I¡¯m right by lifting the magazine and he nodded.


    ¡°Yeah, they receive a small cut from the winnings. I think it¡¯s how they stay afloat.¡± he added.


    ¡°Where¡¯s the rifle you won though? You joined again didn¡¯t you?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Hah! Yeah, I did. Another one approached me after the fight and he wagered a Beretta 92 with a K-Bar for the other rifle. He¡¯s adding two extra magazines filled to the brim and a holster so I agreed. I¡¯m fighting that guy with a bald headter.¡± he replied, smiling.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t peg you for a gambler. You¡¯re a bit different now when you¡¯re in this scene.¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s not gambling if you¡¯re sure to win. Well, this kind of thing takes me back.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Take him back?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Good point but don¡¯t get overconfident. Make it a show on your next fight so you¡¯ll still have opponentster. Anyway, is that the rule here though? Just approach someone or get approached and a fight would be set?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, as far as I know though both sides must agree on the bet.¡± he replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I see. Is everything allowed then? Illegal strikes I mean. It¡¯s basically a street fight, right?¡± I asked again.


    ¡°Seems to be that way. I watched one earlier where the groin is always targeted and eye pokes is a normal thing. I have yet to perform those strikes since I don¡¯t want to scare off thepetition.¡± he answered.


    ¡°Hmm, okay. You should¡¯ve bet this Tavor with the Remington 700 so we¡¯d have a bigger return though. Aside from what we¡¯ve seen earlier, are deaths allowed? Enrique said earlier that blood is paid by blood, right? We don¡¯t want to get off-ed by killing someone identally.¡± I added.


    ¡°Trust me, I tried to up the stakes but he refused. I¡¯m not sure about that use on killing though.¡± Ilya replied.


    ¡°Why are you asking for the rules? nning to join? I thought we needed to keep a low profile? Hmm?¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°Not really, I¡¯m still wondering why they have to kill the participant Ilya knocked out. As far as we know, the only one who was supposed to die was the one not willing to give up his gun.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask the referee then?¡± Kaley sarcastically said.


    ¡°Well, why don¡¯t I, eh?¡± I started to walk towards the referee that¡¯s doing nothing much to the two¡¯s surprise.


    We had a brief conversation and I walked back to Kaley and Ilya¡¯s colorful expressions.


    ¡°I know the answer. It¡¯s all good.¡± I said to the two.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you know I¡¯m being sarcastic?¡± Kaley was still in disbelief. <hr>


    ¡°Well, it worked, didn¡¯t it?¡± Ilya started to chuckle.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I replied as I watched the fighters struggle in the circle. I was tempted to throw a few random objects to turn it into ECW but I stopped myself.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡°Hey?¡± Kaley tapped me.


    ¡°What?¡± I looked at her.


    ¡°WHAT DID HE SAY?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°wHy dOn¡¯T U AsK tHe rEf- Ow! I¡¯ll tell you! I¡¯ll tell you!¡± she pinched my sides when I copied her earlier statement. It never really hurt but it¡¯s fun to see her annoyed reaction.


    ¡°Okay, the gun they bet earlier was already owned by the house. Their car was already taken and it¡¯s their final hurrah. They just don¡¯t know when to stop and that¡¯s the result. Those two were neck-deep in debt and they were given an ultimatum. It¡¯s like Enrique said, just follow the rules and don¡¯t be stupid. They¡¯re dangerous people but they¡¯re organized and they follow their rules. Killing someone from a fight is not allowed unless it¡¯s a fight to the death agreed by both participants. They discourage it because they lose yers.¡± I told what the referee said. <hr>


    ¡°I could think of a few ways to make use of the other guy besides killing him but I guess they really pissed them off.¡± Ilya added.


    ¡°The most popr bets are guns and narcotics though.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah, the two other fights before mine are also betting guns. After I won the next one, I¡¯ll start looking for a te carrier and a helmet.¡± Ilya is really enjoying himself.


    We continued watching the fight and even if it¡¯s not high-level, it is entertaining. Neither one lets up and neither one puts up their defenses. Huge swings that could be easily dodged still connects and it fuels the energy of the onlookers. There is no time limit and it continues on until one guy gets knocked out. Their faces were all bloody and it started to drop on their torso. It¡¯s getting mixed with dirt and sweat literally making their fight a mud-fight. A headbutt decided the fight and a couple more fights followed.


    It was soon Ilya¡¯s turn again and now he put on a show like we discussed.


    He got hit a few times but the damage he took is negligible. He would sometimes throw his head or arms backwards to nullify most of the damage and he¡¯d rarely perform head-slips topletely dodge a hit. But when he does, it looks like he¡¯s terrified and that¡¯s when he¡¯ll perform a well-timed mboyant counter. He could¡¯ve ended the fight much sooner to save energy but he made itst for a while to make it look like he struggled on the opponent this time and the first match was just a fluke.


    He became my fighter and I became his manager.


    I¡¯m the one who started to negotiate the items for the wager and our earning¡¯s skyrocketed. Negotiating is made easier when I¡¯m talking to people that would fail a breathalyzer test. I made very calcted bets and I talked and listened to every yer first to know what they wanted to acquire. Ilya fought a few matches where the item wagered is of no use to us but very valuable to another.


    I confirmed that Ilya is really a specialist not only in striking but he¡¯s also great at acting, timing, holding back, and receiving damage. I kept it in my mind to have a go with him before we leave. I had him throw a few matches without a hitch and it¡¯s almost illegal. The only thing stuck in my head is how in the hell did Niks and Alexei manage to score a hit with Ilya being the way he is.


    ¡°Lucky shot, I guess. The way he¡¯s fighting now still feels like he¡¯s goofing around.¡± I thought to myself.


    A few more fightster, we earned enough to secure proper and passable equipment to everyone that¡¯scking and a few extra. Ilya¡¯s now equipped with a Draco AK Pistol, Beretta 92, and a K-Bar knife. Ed, Edd, and Eddy now have a Remington 700, Maverick 88, and a Mare¡¯s Leg coupled with their existing handguns. We have a small pile of assorted ammo, so we distributed it to which gun it¡¯s for. Irene was handed Ilya¡¯s soft armor since we managed to buy a body armor with level III armor rating. We bought that armor from the house directly since we can¡¯t find anything with that quality anywhere and we have no use for the narcotics we won from the fights. <hr>


    The extra things we kept are a bottle of antibiotics, five rolls of bandages, two shlights, a pack of jerky, and two vouchers to use their ¡®massage¡¯ services.


    Despite our gains, we still have losses.


    He¡¯s a great striker but he¡¯s not as great at grappling techniques and he uses them sparingly. There¡¯s bruising in a few areas near his little finger and a few minor cuts all throughout. He fought more than a dozen matches and even if he could still fight physically, I had to call off the other requests to ensure he could still have fullmand of his hands.


    I had to apply bandages to Ilya¡¯s knuckles since fighting barehanded can open up little cuts if you strike hard enough and hit a surface which is also hard like bone. But before that, I first cleaned his hand to remove the dirt and blood that has .u.mted with water and soap. After that, I applied an antibiotic ointment to the little cuts and luckily there¡¯s norge ones that would cause problems.


    ¡°We could have gained more items coach. Why do we have to stop that early?¡± Ilyained


    ¡°Really?¡± I pped both of his hands hard and he immediately grimaced. Kaley was toote to stop me but she should¡¯ve seen thating.


    ¡°Ow! Are you rted to Arturo perhaps?!¡± he quickly shook his stinging hands.


    ¡°Listen to your coach more next time, eh? You could¡¯ve choked most of them if you weren¡¯t such a headhunter.¡± I added.


    On the other mock games, I just watched and ced bets to avoid gathering more attention towards us and to just get the gist of it since it¡¯s not really the real thing as they said earlier. I got to talk with some of the people attending and they¡¯ve confirmed that this ce has been operating even before the shit hits the fan. I¡¯ve heard mostly good things about Mr. Cuervo even from the people that Irene recognized and was having conversation earlier.


    The gate from the other side opened once more and the number of people inside are increasing exponentially.

 Chapter 323

    Chapter 323: 323


    Two sedans, a coupe, two pickups, and an RV drove in followed by four motorcycles. They parked near the house of Mr. Cuervo and it seemed they¡¯re pretty familiar with the scene. My group is sitting near our truck with a couple of people that Irene was talking to earlier named Ben and Jerry. The two are living in another barangay with a little less people than Irene. Jerry is a retired sheriff from their barangay while Ben is a mechanic. They¡¯ve brought a couple more people but they¡¯re busy ying on the games. <center></center><hr>


    Irene made the executive decision to tell them that we came from another municipality and we happened to know someone from her ce when we happened to drive by. I greatly appreciated it since telling someone even if you¡¯ve known them for a while that you have visitors that came from a helicopter will greatly attract unwanted attention. She left it on my discretion to tell others of our origin or not.


    We got to talking and we learned more about the situation in this province.


    We were surprised to learn that there¡¯s more cl.u.s.ters of living people in this province and I think one of the reasons is that they don¡¯t have the specials here, yet. We still don¡¯t know the reason why and only time can tell or if the scientists on our side manage to figure this thing out. Irene also didn¡¯t tell the two about the videos we showed them since it would also raise questions from where we came from.


    They might think we came from the president¡¯s city since Rod showed them in the previous broadcasts before. I¡¯m guessing that broadcast slipped their minds since a lot has already happened and they¡¯re clueless when I asked them about it when we¡¯re driving earlier. Now I¡¯m pondering if I could use that information to my advantage when I get to meet Mr. Cuervo.


    I¡¯m still keeping a close eye on the neers and they were allowed inside Mr. Cuervo¡¯s house.


    ¡°Irene, do you recognize them? You know, if they¡¯re the ones you saw before.¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s not them. They look a bit too rich. The ones we saw seemed like farmhands or delivery guys. They¡¯re in a truck like ours before but it¡¯s slightly bigger. I¡¯ve also been asking around but they¡¯ve never seen the people we¡¯re looking for even if I offerpensation.¡± she replied, slightly disappointed.


    ¡°Well, all we could do now is wait for more to arrive and to meet Mr. Cuervoter. If he¡¯s running this ce and he¡¯s setting up events like this every week, he just might have the information we need. The only thing we need to do is to have the right price for it.¡± I said.


    ¡°What if he doesn¡¯t know anything?¡± Jerry interjected. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°There¡¯s a small chance of that happening since the incident happened close to his ce.¡± I replied.


    ¡°If we doe up with nothing, I¡¯ll just tell Lester everything that we found. He deserves the truth about his family. I¡¯ll handle it if he tries to do anything stupid.¡± Irene replied.


    ¡°Bro, there¡¯s a few moreing.¡± Jared said looking at the gate.


    Several more vehicles drove in as the time before sunset drew nearer and nearer. The sky has begun to change colors and the ce has be livelier. I let Ilya take a break for a moment though I just made him rece Jared for guarding the truck with the other two. I gave him the bottle of Ibuprofen from my pack to take one. Even if he redirected most of the attacks he received from throwing some matches, it would still hurt. He swallowed a couple before handing it back to me. We tried to collect more items to wagerter before it starts so we went back to bet and y.


    We won a few items but I discovered two neers ogling thedies who could give you a special massage on the house right next to Mr. Cuervo¡¯s house. You could hear the grunts and m.o.a.ns from the outside despite the noise and the look of temptation on their faces is priceless. The fat one is adjusting his shaft a little too much maybe because it is getting out of alignment.


    I still have the two vouchers we won as an extra earlier so I decided to take advantage of two poor souls that needed some serious release. It was given to me by the ring girl for Ilya and I¡¯s use but we already have someone. Jared and Kaley were looking at me weirdly but I pulled them with me as support. I told them my n and they¡¯re grinning the same way as me.


    We walked by the two while Kaley and Jared were trying to lift me up. My legs were like gtin and my face looked like I¡¯ve achieved enlightenment.


    ¡°Bro, I told you to take it easy. You¡¯ve been there eight times already and you still have two more of those f.u.c.k.i.n.g expensive tickets!¡± Jared started.


    ¡°I leave you for one moment and you¡¯re out there having the best time of your life! One more incident like this and we¡¯re leaving you behind! You can¡¯t even walk properly!¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°You don¡¯t get it~ It¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g amazing~ Oh my f.u.c.k.i.n.g god~ Let me go~ LET ME GOOOOOOOOOO~!!!¡± I eximed while getting hysterical. <hr>


    Jared ¡®tried¡¯ his best to persuade me while Kaley actually pped me to make the scene as real as it gets. I started waving around the vouchers given to me and Kaley snatched it from my hands. I started to cry while exining the glorious things done to me inside the house of pleasures and I saw the two watching us take a huge gulp while covering their crotch with their hats.


    It was too easy.


    Kaley approached them and she told them that she¡¯s selling them for cheap. She managed to trade my two vouchers for a pair of long range radios, a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, a scratched up M1911, and ten extra rounds of .45 ACP. We got some valuables from the neers craving that carnal experience. There¡¯s no rule in trading with other people and getting ripped off is their own fault. This is clearly another case of how much would you give up for something that you want.


    ¡°Thinking with your d.i.c.k is a huge no no in the f.u.c.k.i.n.g apocalypse.¡± I thought to myself.


    We watched them go inside first before we startedughing. A few onlookers even gave us a salute and someone behind us is pping slowly.


    We turned around and it was Tatiana. She¡¯s shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt and she checked the items we got.


    ¡°Are you three so bored that you resorted to scamming those two? This pack of cigarettes is worth around five pops inside while a voucher is only worth one.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Well they¡¯ll know the exchange rate once they go inside. Wait a minute, have you been there the whole time?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°What? No. I was inside Cuervo¡¯s house.¡± Tatiana replied. <hr>


    ¡°What?!¡± we all eximed.


    ¡°Well his wife has a thing for blondes so I was there for a while. She saw me looking around so she invited me in. We started talking for a while and we discussed his pricing for the special services, that¡¯s why I know the rates. I have no idea how to give the right suggestions so I told them about you. They were about to call for you but a few visitors came. I asked to be excused and then I saw you limping as if you¡¯ve c.u.mmed too much.¡± Tatiana replied, chuckling.


    ¡°I so want to take a peek inside that house. Will it work bro if I dyed my hair- no that¡¯s stupid.¡± Jared interjected.


    ¡°At least you know.¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Wait a sec, so what was he like?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You¡¯re a bit taller than him and he has a lot of tattoos on his torso. He¡¯s a quarter Filipino, the rest is Mexican and he just turned 52 years old. He carries himself good and he¡¯s well-groomed. His ck hair is slicked back and he has this thin mustache that is curled in the end.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°You said he has a tattoo?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°They were the names of his children and his wife but I think I saw wing patterns at his back. He was getting another on his neck and I caught a glimpse of his ink.¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°Okay, but what was he like¡­ you know, his all-around vibe? First impressions?¡± I asked.


    ¡°He¡¯s calm and business oriented for sure but his eyes changed when the visitors came. I think he was excited that time but I¡¯m not really sure why.¡± Tatiana answered. <hr>


    ¡°Well, whatever it is, I think it has something to do with what¡¯s arriving now.¡± Jared said, looking at the gate once more.


    Arge number of container vans arrived and they were followed by ten cargo trucks. Instead of driving in the central area, they drove around to park by the walls. I could hear a few chattering from the radio and the regrs I¡¯ve identified seemed to be excited.


    ¡°Those vehicles are f.u.c.k.i.n.g full.¡± I thought to myself.


    It¡¯s a few minutes before sunset and suddenly, the music sting loudly stopped. Everyone seemed to have stopped what they¡¯re doing and the few groups where people are having fist-fights have stoppedpletely. Even their bets were returned but no oneined.


    I looked at Mr. Cuervo¡¯s house and I saw a group of peopleing out.


    ¡°That¡¯s him.¡± Tatiana pointed.


    We saw a gentleman wearing a full 3-piece tuxedo with a distinct air around him. His coat is just hanging on his back while his hands are on his pockets. Right beside him is his wife but their kids are nowhere in sight. Behind them is the group we saw earlier that were allowed entry and they¡¯re all making way to the central part of this gatedmunity.


    Mr. Cuervo scanned around everyone present first before smiling brightly. His eyes stopped at our direction for a brief moment.


    ¡°Let¡¯s begin.¡± he dered.

 Chapter 324

    Chapter 324: 324


    The moment he dered for the games to begin, bright lights illuminated the central part of the whole area. He started to light a cigar and I caught a glimpse of a handgun on his torso. At the same moment, a few of his men started to set up the stage. Everyone was moved away from the most central part and was told to go back to where their vehicles were. Several metal pipes that are 10-feet long were erected at the center while being 10-feet apart while two container vans appeared with people holding long poles with a noose at the end. There¡¯s already a socket buried with dirt that they had to clean out before they managed to secure them in ce. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s that thing first, eh?¡± Jerrymented.


    ¡°That thing?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, just let them finish setting up and it¡¯s pretty self-exnatory.¡± Jerry replied.


    Kaley still has this curious look though we all waited for them to finish. While they were setting up, the announcer from earlier is now holding a megaphone.


    ¡°ALL~ PARTICIPANTS~ LISTEN THE F.U.C.K UP~ Here are the rules for this week. We¡¯ve been in the process of making the games exciting for everyone that¡¯s watching and participating even before this muerto thing started. This time, our tinkerers managed to make this whatchamacallit. This thing could hold up to six of them in ce and the gears inside will turn for five minutes. After that five minutes is another five minutes where all of them are chasing you. It¡¯s all a game of howrge your balls are.¡± he started by raising a mechanical device with six metal wires with different lengths sticking out.


    The poles were tested if they¡¯re tight enough while another person is creating 1 foot circles around it getting bigger and bigger until the 6 foot mark that¡¯s looking like a target. Those ¡®whatchamacallit¡¯ devices are currently being installed on the poles while the ones where they have it already would have six zombies held in ce by the device, six circr discs, and chains with a shackle at the end. The wires were running through the chains with different lengths holding the zombies in ce. Each chain is ced in different discs so that they just spin around and not get rolled when you have run around for a fewps.


    ¡°Hmm, interesting. It¡¯s something like an rm to get rotated and the countdown is represented with the release of the wires.¡± I thought to myself.


    I thought it was gonna take long but it was finished in a matter of minutes.


    ¡°PARTICIPANTS~ EVERYONE IN THIS LIST WILL HEAD AT THE BORDERS~ NO GUNS~ NO WEAPONS~ NOTHING~ ALL THAT¡¯S LEFT WHEN YOU COME HERE ARE YOUR PANTS AND SHOES~¡± the announcer shouted once more.


    He continued by stating the rest of the rules. Once the signal is given, everyone is prompted to head inside the circle while the zombies are released each minute except for the first one. Each participant will y a game of cat and mouse inside the circle without leaving it and the ones still inside after the time runs out will be the winners. The catch is that we¡¯re not allowed to attack them of any sort and even pushing is prohibited. Any sort of contact where we initiate is grounds for disqualification. <center></center><hr>


    The moment the announcer said those rules,ints erupted.


    ¡°Hey! That was not part of the rules before!¡± A guy getting ready shouted.


    ¡°Not even a shirt?! What the f.u.c.k?!¡±


    ¡°I need my gloves!¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°At least leave us with a knife!¡±


    ¡°This new rule is bullshit!¡±


    It started to get rowdy but Mr. Cuervo fired his gun. It¡¯s a silver-ted Desert Eagle with what seems to be are tribal engravings.


    ¡°Hey! Just be a p.u.s.s.y-ass bitch and drop out the first second. Did you forget that this is a game for who¡¯s the better man? You¡¯re not chained with them, you¡¯re free to leave as you are. Can¡¯t evenst ten minutes vato? I feel sorry for your wife.¡± Mr. Cuervo replied with a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. He puffs his cigarette before holstering his gun back.


    The guy shrinks down the same as everybody else who¡¯sining. Mr. Cuervo was led by a few people to the stage where the announcer is. <hr>


    I began to remove my mask, te carrier, shirt, gloves, elbow pads, and a few more things I have on my upper body. I gave them to Kaley along with my war belt, leg holster, Tavor, Maxim, knife, and katana. I squirted a bit of hair gel on my palm so my hair would be styled back. I don¡¯t want the strands poking my eye when I start to move in ever changing directions. My upper body is now on disy with my tattoo on my arm and continuous training for years kept me in shape. Kaley gave me a worried expression but I made my pecs move to annoy her.


    ¡°Hah! Who figured you¡¯re hiding that body coach! You should¡¯ve fought as well so our profits would be more than double.¡± Ilya chuckled.


    ¡°Yeah, too bad. For the record, I took down Niks, Alexei, and Mikhail without a scratch. Tatiana too at one time. I¡¯m just waiting for that Artem toe so I could test myself.¡± I chuckled before jumping down.


    I didn¡¯t wait for his reply but his expression is priceless.


    I¡¯m now on the outermost boundary and I¡¯m just waiting for the signal. I¡¯m looking at the figures on my pole and it¡¯s like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up rotating elevator or Lazy Susan. They¡¯re spinning around due to the discs rotating when they try to push each other. Blood has already seeped through their necks where the huge shackles are ced. The only good thing from my side is two of them have their arms broken in two ces. However, it was almost counteracted since the tallest one that¡¯s already circling around had part of its ribs jutting out due to a strong blow to its chest cavity. I¡¯m locking eyes with it and it¡¯s a few inches away before its ws reach me.


    I made the bones in my neck and fingers crack then the signal started.


    I circled to the other side quickly to avoid the one that¡¯s already trying to eat me. I¡¯m backing away at a moderate pace while watching it make its way towards me. The others still in ce are trying their hardest to break away from the shackles but all they could do is either rotate helplessly or rupture the skins of their neck.


    It wasn¡¯t even 15 seconds when I heard a scream next to me.


    The person¡¯s eye was dangling on his face.


    His face has a huge cut made from the bones of the ones chasing him. I¡¯ve got no time to watch him scream and I just dismissed it as him flying too close to the sun. This first obstacle is quite easy at the initial phase and I¡¯ll see the difference when it gets harder. <hr>


    Amotion urred when he tried to back away but a bullet made its way to his head before he identally bumped to another participant. I¡¯ve already made a fewps before the other chain was released. Since the chain holding it is much shorter and the radius smaller, the 2nd zombie could reach me much fasterpared to the tall guy earlier while I¡¯m running in the middle of the 5th and 6th boundary. I heard two buzzers immediately after when two participants moved away from the border.


    ¡°I see where this is going. Those disc would make it impossible for the chains to wrap around the pole. I guess this is a new thing for them too.¡± I thought to myself.


    It seemed that everyone was simply backing away when it started to release the third zombie. A few quickly followed after a few seconds of having close calls. The amount of alcohol, cigarettes, and women they¡¯ve had before this game affected their performance.


    The pace is starting to get harder on the folks who didn¡¯t do much cardio since doing this ispletely different than simply jogging in a circle. Three more people opted out and the buzzer resounded signalling their disqualifications. More people are getting disqualified but a voice resounded.


    ¡°Pussies. I thought men are the only participants but I smell~ a ton of f.u.c.k.i.n.g pussies.¡± I heard a familiar voice.


    That voice seemed to have fueled something from the other participants and a few I thought were gonna quit stayed in ce and held on. It was Enrique still wearing shorts and flip-flops. I caught a glimpse of him dodging differently and he hollered when he saw me.


    ¡°Hey vato~! You¡¯re still kicking eh? I didn¡¯t know that you look like a cholo papi under that armor~ I saw the putas in that house over there checking you out. Good luck friend but I hope youst long for the other games too!¡± he shouted.


    ¡°HEY~ ENRIQUE~ NO CHATTING HERMANO~!!!¡± the announcer shouted at him.


    ¡°WHAT~? THERE¡¯S NO RULES FOR THAT EARLIER MIGUEL~¡± he shouted back.


    ¡°IT¡¯S JUST ADDED NOW~!!! ASK MR. CUERVO~!!!¡± The announcer said. <hr>


    ¡°WHAT?! STUPID!!! ALRIGHT THEN~¡± he shouted back.


    ¡°Is that another tip perhaps? That announcer wouldn¡¯t change the rules like that if he wasn¡¯t worried about Enrique¡¯s words.¡± I thought to myself.


    I got to thinking of the rules set in ce and how everyone¡¯s trying to evade them. It seemed that speed and endurance are the things needed to win on the surface. Well, I did a couple moreps to properly see what everyone¡¯s doing since I¡¯m being chased by three dead people now. Sweat started to appear in some ces of my body so I started to think how to do things differently.


    I¡¯m still running backwards at the 5th boundary while the zombie at the 4th boundary is the one closest to me because of the distancepared to the other two. Its mouth can¡¯t reach me but its hands can. The rest are still going in a circr motion and the only chain that has ck is the one on the 6th boundary earlier since it¡¯s now running towards me while also inside the 5th boundary. I had a bit of troubleputing the movements I needed to make and the steps after that since I¡¯m still moving.


    A few seconds remain before the 4th zombie gets released but the n in my head is already set. I suddenly jumped closer to the 2nd boundary where the hands of the ones that are left chained up are almost about to reach me.


    ¡°WHAT THE HECK IS THAT IDIOT DOING~?¡± the announcer saw me and shouted on the radio.


    It wasn¡¯t speed or endurance the things you need to excel at to win in this game, it¡¯s always the same thing I¡¯ve been operating in ever since.


    Intelligence, Tactics, Strategy, and Control.


    I weaved through the bodies as if I had the correct path painted over the ground.


    ws and teeth from all sides came at me due to this path I¡¯ve chosen. However, If Ie out sessful, things would be f.u.c.k.i.n.g easier. I¡¯m feeling my heart beating rapidly and I almost wanted the ability to tuck it in since it would pop out if it beats any harder.

 Chapter 325

    Chapter 325: 325


    The chains rattled in erratic directions while my legs were feeling the stress. Moving in a pattern you¡¯re not doing everyday adds difficulty in the way I move. It¡¯s a few seconds before the fourth one is released and I¡¯m on the 3rd boundary. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°This is cutting it too close!¡± I shouted in my head.


    I had to reset the pattern in my head a few times since I didn¡¯t take into ount the ws, jagged bones, and teething for me since this idea is just made on the spot. The path I¡¯m seeing on the ground got disrupted a few times before I saw it vividly forming in my head. The moment it solidified, my movements became very fluid.


    The pattern is very simple to produce but the process to do it is difficult.


    It¡¯s the braided pattern Kaley¡¯s hair is styled on the side every time we go outside. It keeps her hair from flying to different directions when we start running. I did the same thing to the chains by manipting how they move. I had to circle around first to make the one in the 5th boundary move in the opposite direction. The ones at the 4th and 6th now have a space in the middle where I could make them weave in a pattern.


    It¡¯s very easy to do it on someone¡¯s hair but it¡¯s a few notches harder when your life is at stake.


    The announcer was out of words when I sat down at the 6th boundary.


    The chains are rattling hard in my area, trying to get loose while the others are still just sliding around. When the fourth one was released, it was a few feet away from me to do any damage the same way the three zombies that got tangled up together due to the chains. I was sitting pretty, annoying everyone from the c.o.c.ky smile I¡¯m putting out while the rest of them are struggling to run around.


    ¡°Hey vato~! How the f.u.c.k did you do that?! Teach meter, eh?¡± Enrique shouted once more but he didn¡¯t wait for my answer since he¡¯s gunning for anotherp.


    The chance has already passed for them to do the same thing I did and they¡¯re stuck with running as fast as they could. Having more zombies to make them get tangled would be harder than what I did.


    ¡°OHH~ SOMEONE¡¯S TRYING TO DO IT~!!!¡± the announcer shouted. <center></center><hr>


    The guyining earlier tried to attempt it but his back was nicked when he tried to weave through them. Fear got stered on his face when it happened but he was soon devoured by the ones chasing him when he stopped for a short moment. Another bullet made its way to that participant while the others had no time to mourn for his demise.


    When I got to thinking how this game works, if you just run fast enough in the 6th boundary, the only trouble would be the first and second zombie. The only problem you¡¯d reach from that is you¡¯d get tired from constantly running while worrying for your life. I just found a solution to have a rest and made the other participants lose their fighting spirit.


    A few quickly quit midway though Enrique and a select few kept on running. I¡¯m not paying much attention to the other participants but there¡¯s a few special ones. Enrique is having fun running while another one on the right side is just mindlessly running around at the same pace without breaking a sweat. A much taller guy just jumped over the head of two zombies when he¡¯s about to get pinned. Cheers erupted from his disy since his jumping power is an incredible feat. It got close when hended since he wasn¡¯t on his feet after that high jump though he recovered by rolling.


    ¡°I need to watch out for a few of them¡­ that one too¡­ I didn¡¯t notice him the first time.¡± I thought to myself while watching them.


    I looked at the stage where Mr. Cuervo is and coincidentally, he¡¯s also looking at me with interest. Our eyes were locked for a short moment but it was cut off by another person getting bit. Several people have already died from this game and they were getting finished off by Mr. Cuervo¡¯s guys. The team that the persons who died belongs to have no one to me except their yer and themselves. They know what they¡¯ve gotten themselves into and they were not forced to y the game, they were just given a new set of rules and tried pushing more than they could handle. A few onlookers have difficult expressions but they can¡¯t do anything about it.


    The grueling ten minutes passed and I¡¯ve rested enough for the next game. I was told by a ring girl that the prizes will be given after all the games are done and there¡¯s an extra reward if I won it all like Enrique said. She asked to shake my hand but when I did, a few more vouchers were handed to me again.


    ¡°Oh boy. Well, I could trade this for something.¡± I thought to myself.


    The other winners were panting after they¡¯re done and the zombies that were used during the game were being guided back to the container van. I was about to head back while they¡¯re setting up the next game but Enrique followed behind.


    ¡°Hey friend, nice going out there!¡± He congratted me.


    ¡°Hmm, thanks for the tip though.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Tiptoe? We¡¯re running back there, remember?¡± he was confused.


    ¡°The tip, the tip earlier. You told me moving that way could have problems. I thought you would do the same thing but you just had a minor workout.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Ah! I didn¡¯t do such a thing friend but I¡¯ll take it like you owe me one. Heh, can you ¡®introduce¡¯ me one more time to that blonde chick you have over there? She¡¯s Tatiana, right? Wait, you¡¯re not with her, right? I saw you with that brte with the big tatas.¡± he nudged me with his elbow.


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s a little bitplicated. She¡¯s ah, into women, not men.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Chh! Bah~! There¡¯s no such thing friend! Why do you think they¡¯re using rubber d.i.c.ks instead of rubber pussies, eh? They¡¯re just not receiving good d.i.c.k, that¡¯s all.¡± he chuckled.


    ¡°Wait a sec¡­¡± the way how the world works confused me again.


    ¡°What friend?¡± he asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s now how it works!¡± I eximed, chuckling.


    ¡°It is! It is! We¡¯ll just see if I¡¯m rightter, okay?¡± he replied.


    ¡°Suit yourself but that¡¯s a great analogy.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°See? You agree with me, right? Just give me a moment with her and I¡¯ll do the rest. I¡¯ll just invite her to some salsa and I¡¯ll work my Latino charm, eh? Does that sound great? Do that for and we¡¯ll call it even!¡± he started to push me towards our truck.


    ¡°I thought that I didn¡¯t have to owe you, how did ite to this? I¡¯ll try to set a meet but don¡¯t forget that she¡¯s a participant and that she could fight. One wrong move and you¡¯d get knocked out.¡± I said with fake concern as to what would happen to him.


    ¡°What?! That¡¯s even better! Come friend let¡¯s meet my future wife, eh?¡± he excitedly hopped around.


    A few momentster, Enrique is getting pulled away by Mr. Cuervo¡¯s other guys since he got knocked the f.u.c.k out. That f.u.c.k.i.n.g heel came again at a much greater velocitypared to when she first delivered it to me. I think it¡¯s a 50-50 chance if he could join the next game due to that.


    ¡°I told you so.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I hate noisy guys like that.¡± Tatiana mentioned.


    ¡°Me too. You knocked him out though.¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Sorry, he just talked his way here. He still had a lot of energy when the first game got finished.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you gonna be in trouble for doing that?¡± Irene asked.


    ¡°No, Mrs. Cuervo likes me and the only rule here for conflict is blood for blood and I barely hit him. He was the first offender too so he might be the one in trouble.¡± Tatiana replied. <hr>


    ¡°What are they doing now?¡± Ilya¡¯s looking at some of the poles still erected in the center.


    ¡°I think I know. That shape says it all.¡± Jared replied.


    The way the remaining poles were shaped already gave me a hint but when they installed the chain-linked fences, it made the next game apparent. There are ten small octagonspared to the real one in the central area being formed but they¡¯re cleaning off the blood from the mess that happened from the previous game first. The ten winners including me were separated by the list that they have and the previous losers or people that didn¡¯t participate in the first game were randomly selected to fill up the gaps evenly.


    I¡¯m a few matches away but I was bbergasted when I heard the name announced for the separate block.


    ¡°CALLING VLADIMIR FOR CAGE 9~ VLADIMIR FOR CAGE 9~¡± the announcer shouted.


    ¡°d- Ilya?! You bought in?!¡± I was in disbelief.


    ¡°Yeah. Rx, you¡¯re listed on Cage 2, lucky right? We¡¯re gonna meet at the grand finals if you win. I want to see how you fight by fighting you, not watching.¡± he chuckled before jumping down our truck. He¡¯s already half-n.a.k.e.d and made his way to the cage where he¡¯s supposed to fight another guy.


    ¡°I wonder where my turn would be.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°How did he manage to buy in?¡± I asked the group.


    They all shrugged their shoulders so I have no choice but to watch his fight.

 Chapter 326

    Chapter 326: 326


    The second game seemed to be pretty straightforward but what gathered everyone¡¯s attention are the rules for this game. Everyone thought it would be a tournament-tyle fight but it wasn¡¯t. I was #7 in the list for Cage 2 and I thought the yers #1 and #2 would fight first then it would be followed by #3 and #4. Turns out, whoever wins from the first match will fight #3, then after that, it would be followed by #4, until we reached thest number from that list which is #20. It was downright unfair for the people starting early but a blessing for the people startingte. <center></center><hr>


    Comints quickly resounded but Mr. Cuervo gave a simple reply:


    ¡°Life¡¯s unfair and that¡¯s the rule for this game. However, listen until the end in how I made it fair as best as I could.¡± he calmly stated.


    A lot of people were about to quit the game but it had a few quirks. It¡¯s just that people started toin before all of the rules for this game was announced. It was already considered a fight without weapons but Mr. Cuervo has a few ideas to add.


    First, thest person standing at the cage after the list has been gone through is obviously the winner but a prize would still be given to each person who¡¯ve won at least a single match. Furthermore, the more wins you bag on your turn, therger the prize you would receiveter, even more if you have the highest number of wins and was thest one standing at the end. The prize for the highest number of wins could exceed the prize for thest one standing if the person has won enough matches though they didn¡¯t specify by how much.


    Second, yers could freely switch their number with another yer as long as they¡¯re in the same cage and both yers agree. Forcing another yer to switch numbers using violence is grounds for disqualification.


    Third, the clothing before entry will be inspected and this time, any sort of footwear is also not allowed the same thing with gloves, helmets, and upper garments. Only shorts or pants will be allowed inside after a thorough checkup.


    Fourth, a yer is considered out of the match by tapping out, dering it verbally, getting knocked unconscious, or by a referee¡¯s decision. Furthermore, If a yer disregarded the referee¡¯s ruling in breaking them up to avoid more injury by enforcing this rule, the yer would be shot down. In the case of a yer dying due to the opponent at the middle of the match, the match will be reviewed and blood will be paid by blood regarding the circ.u.mstances.


    Fifth and final, All moves are allowed as long as the other opponent is left breathing after the match is concluded.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t want to lose customers eh?¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Before the end of the world started, the number of bodies from the games exceeded a hundred. It¡¯s always a deathmatch before but in the state the world is, finding new customers would prove to be difficult. It¡¯s tamer now actually.¡± Jerry replied.


    ¡°How much did he pay before? You said you¡¯re a retired sheriff so you must be turning your head every time these games are held, right?¡± I asked to get a reaction.


    ¡°You¡¯re a sharp one, eh? I¡¯m from another barangay but the police force here is on my payroll. Well, let¡¯s just say that if I didn¡¯t do what I did, I wouldn¡¯t have the tools and connections to survive this thing. Money gets you a long way even more if you have a lot of them. The only thing wrong about your statement is that I¡¯ve never turned my head away. I¡¯m always present at these events and I didn¡¯t miss a single one of them.¡± Jerry chuckled.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just a figure of speech but I get your point.¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh, is that so? I guess I¡¯m too old to recognize such things.¡± he offered me a smoke but I declined.


    ¡°Ilya¡¯s fight is starting.¡± Tatiana interjected.


    ¡°No zombies this time?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°The night is young, you¡¯ll see a lot moreter. They did bring a lot today though.¡± Jerry replied.


    Ilya is at an extreme disadvantage from this matchup since he¡¯s first and he needs to defeat a lot more people. He has to make the fights end as fast as possible to have the energy for the next one andst until the end. The only good thing that happened for him is that the referee allowed the bandages I¡¯ve put in earlier.


    He already dered that he wanted to fight me in the finals so I think we¡¯ll see him fight seriously.


    And he did.


    The moment the signal was given, Ilya¡¯s expression changed. Ilya ran and leaped towards his opponent, delivering a flying right knee to the guy¡¯s mouth. A loud crack resounded while several bloody teeth fell off the ground. Ilya grabbed his neck and delivered another knee to his abdomen when the guy reeled in from the pain. The guy¡¯s body folded from the impact but another knee was delivered.


    And another.


    And another.


    The guy fell to his side with a bruised torso and a bloody mouth.


    ¡°Whew! That was fast bro!¡± Jared was ecstatic.


    ¡°That guy¡¯s ribs are definitely in pieces.¡± I muttered.


    Cheers resounded all throughout the ce since the fight was quickly concluded. It was not only for Ilya¡¯s match though. <hr>


    A huge guy who joined at thest minute just one-shotted another poor soul with a huge p to the side of his head. His fight ended much fasterpared to Ilya and the group cheering for his opponent were in disbelief.


    ¡°Now that¡¯s another guy to watch out for.¡± I thought to myself.


    I¡¯m stealing nces from each cage but Ilya¡¯s second match is starting.


    ¡°I GIVE UP~ I GIVE UP~¡± his opponent quickly surrendered before anything happened. He didn¡¯t even enter the cage where Ilya¡¯s ring at him viciously.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s something to scare people away.¡± Jerry chuckled.


    ¡°The disy earlier was something else too.¡± I added.


    The next person was quickly called over and this time, his physique is more developedpared to other yers. He walked inside the cage and the signal was given.


    The two madly dashed to meet at the center and a huge right hook wasing for Ilya¡¯s face.


    Ilya dodged it by letting it slip on the side of his head before sending a punch to his throat. A cut was made near Ilya¡¯s eye but his opponent was worse off. The guy immediately choked before a right elbowing from above smashed his nose in. A left middle kick to his torso followed then a right front kick was aimed towards his left shin.


    A fluidbination assaulted the guy but Ilya decided to finish off with a headbutt.


    He aimed for the guy¡¯s bleeding nose before turning around to send a spinning right elbow and a right axe kick. It all connected to the guy¡¯s face and Ilya just put pressure on his bleeding cut to try and stop the bleeding.


    The referee decided that the match was already over since the guy¡¯s head got juggled too much and was unable to continue.


    I was enjoying the matches but a nervous guy approached me. <hr>


    ¡°Hey! You¡¯re #7 right?! I-I¡¯m #4 from Cage 2, can you s-switch with m-me?! I can¡¯t beat the #2 and the #3 guy but I have a chance for the #8 at least.¡± he pleaded.


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying I¡¯ll go down eh? Is that what you meant?¡± I replied, smiling.


    ¡°C¡¯mon! You¡¯d be tired before you reach me if we traded ces! I need to bag a win at least!¡± he negotiated.


    ¡°What would you give me then? So far, I¡¯ve got nothing to lose.¡± I shrugged my shoulders.


    ¡°W-what do you need?¡± he replied.


    ¡°What do you have?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°I¡­ I have tickets for the brothel!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°Nope, already have a dozen of them, next? Hurry or else the match at our cage will end.¡± I waved my tickets around his face.


    ¡°How big are the prizes really? He¡¯s this desperate just to score one win?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°My¡­¡± he hesitated for a moment but he ran back to his spot and came back with a butterfly knife and a pack of cigarettes.


    I had a smile on my face and epted his gifts then we informed the announcer that we switched numbers. Little did he know that I would¡¯ve switched with him without the incentives.


    The guy I¡¯m fighting next is #3 and the damage he took from his previous fight was negligible. I was soon called inside the cage and I just had a c.o.c.ky smile to try to annoy him. He¡¯s about the same height as me and the tattoos on his body tells me that he was in and out of prison. The teardrop below the eye, the webs on his elbows, and even an ¡®ACAB¡¯ sign is on his chest. He has sweat all over his body and he keeps on shaking his hands and showing his teeth as if he¡¯s excited about fighting me.


    His earlier opponent was dragged outside with an unrecognizable face since he pummeled him after taking him down. Rains of elbows and fists assaulted his opponent and he was stopped by the referee after gouging his opponent¡¯s eye out.


    ¡°C¡¯mon ref! Start it!¡± he shouted. <hr>


    ¡°What? Too excited to get f.u.c.k.i.e.d in the ass? Say your prayers at least.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU, PRETTY BOY! I¡¯M THE ONE F.U.C.K.I.N.G YOU AFTER I¡¯M DONE! REF! START IT! REF!¡± he was pissed.


    The announcer was still introducing us to the crowd while I¡¯m still trying my best to tick him off.


    The moment the signal was given, his stance was really low as he dove in head first. His hands were spread apart and it seemed that he¡¯s trying to lunge and take me down.


    I made him notice me moving my right leg backwards, trying to receive his dash, hands spread apart, for a knee strike to his head. He grew weary mid-dash but he continued dashing with a hidden smirk on his face.


    We¡¯re only a foot away and I baited him. I juked my body as if I¡¯m about to time my knee with his head and he fell for it.


    He stopped at thest second before swaying backward, revealing his torso.


    My foot was already up so I stepped forward, stomping hard on his left foot.


    He threw a right punch but I caught it with my left arm. My left arm wrapped around his right arm while forcing it to bend upwards in the opposite direction from his elbow. He tried to punch me with his left fist but I grabbed at his tr.a.p.ezius muscles hard to bend his arm further. His elbow is starting to bend in the opposite direction while his wrist is tucked in my armpit getting pushed downward. I could feel his arm giving out as his face turned red from the pain.


    I was waiting for him to give up but he suddenly spat on my face. I can¡¯t wipe his spit off this moment and he started to curse his way out.


    ¡°You think this shit hurts?! F.u.c.k.i.n.g do something better before I decided to f.u.c.k your bitch after f.u.c.k.i.n.g you up! She¡¯s the brte in the truck right?! I¡¯ll f.u.c.k her up real good!¡± he spat out with gritted teeth.


    The temperature dropped a few degrees as fear appeared on his eyes. I smiled and wiped my face with my free hand and I decided to break his arm. I immediately applied force against his arm and it snapped like a twig. The snapping sound it made was abhorrent to anyone that heard it. The shrill cry he produced after that almost drowned out the music that was sting out loud.


    ¡°What did you say again?¡± I said as I stared him down.

 Chapter 327

    Chapter 327: 327


    Everyone¡¯s eyes were glued to my cage as I casually let him go. Tears are flowing through his eyes while his dangling arm is bleeding profusely due to the jagged bone that is jutting out. He¡¯s trying to hold his arm together but all it¡¯s doing is making the ripped fleshrger. I tried to wipe his blood off of my arm but all I managed to do is stain my other hand. <center></center><hr>


    Curses and death threats were shouted towards me from who I assume were his buddies. I turned around and remembered their faces while smiling devilishly. Their shouting stopped for a short moment after we locked eyes. I turned back to my opponent and he¡¯s screaming in pain. His face is a mess from the pain he¡¯s experiencing and the thought of losing an arm permanently.


    The referee didn¡¯t stop the match since what I did to him is still allowed by the rules. As long as I didn¡¯t kill him, everything is fine. I¡¯ll admit that I went a little too far but don¡¯t try to threaten someone if you don¡¯t have the skills to back it up.


    I took a single step forward and he started to scurry away. The path he left behind reeks of ammonia and iron. He¡¯s hobbling away from me and fear is stricken in his eyes. He¡¯s trying to open his mouth to speak some words but all that¡¯sing out were gibberish. I think I¡¯ve already done enough so I reminded him of the rules.


    ¡°Tap out.¡± I calmly said.


    He immediately tapped his only useful arm before the referee snapped back to reality and dered my win. I simply crouched down to wipe my arm again with my pants and it did the trick in some ces.


    ¡°That was longer than I thought.¡± I muttered. <center></center><hr>


    I looked at the guy being dragged out the cage and what seems to be Mr. Cuervo¡¯s medical staff is applying a tourniquet on his arm. That guy¡¯s buddies approached him but they can¡¯t seem to look at me like they did earlier. The onlookers aside from them are also giving me wary gazes but it¡¯s toote to exin myself. It seemed that I intimidated more than my fellow participants.


    From my disy, the rest of the participants gave up right to #16. I had a few minutes of rest time since calling for the next yer toe up and announcing that they¡¯re giving up still took some time. I nced at Ilya¡¯s cage and he¡¯s still doing fine though his bandages were already bloody. I just don¡¯t know if the cuts that he has got bigger or it¡¯s from his opponents. There were no deaths yet and everyone seemed to be following the rules this time.


    My opponent finally appeared and it seemed that he¡¯s ex-military. He¡¯s middle-aged but his body is still toned and maintained. His hair is all short and gray and he¡¯s sporting a little goatee. He has a few scars on his body and the look on his face tells me that he has seen a lot of things. He slowly made his way towards the center of this cage and he¡¯s slowly stretching his body. We were briefly introduced and we¡¯re only waiting for the signal.


    ¡°FIGHT!¡± the ref gave the signal but no one acted immediately.


    I was calmly observing him and his stance as he slowly inched closer. He¡¯s also watching me closely but I bet he¡¯s just trying to measure the correct distance between us.


    He started with a crisp jab thatnded on my guard. I clenched my left fist slightly and he quickly stepped back. No amount of taunting works on this guy and he¡¯s careful like Marvin from back home. He started to throw a few more jabs my way and I avoided most of them with head slips. One crisp jab came for my face at the right moment and I felt how solid his punches are. He quickly followed up with a right straight but I met it with a right low kick. I dodged by a hair¡¯s breadth and Inded my hit cleanly. Low kicks would slowly pile up and I need a lot more to connect for it to bear fruit.


    ¡°All right, here we go.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    He started a small rush while I kited him around. A well-timed back-step is my solution to his simple rush. I¡¯m making full use of the space to make him tire out for a bit before I start my own attacks. He¡¯s wary for my grab because of my earlier match so a little feint when he¡¯s too close goes a long way in the right direction. Inded another low kick after a quick jab and he¡¯s slowly starting to feel the burn. Add to that there¡¯s no time limit in our fight and he¡¯s been chasing me for five minutes already.


    I opened with a crisp jab myself and I followed with another low kick. He guarded the jab but he failed to guard against my kick since I moved my right shoulder slightly. Watching someone too close has disadvantages and it¡¯s slowly showing. He started to incorporate kicks to his attacks to mix it up but his forte is really boxing. His rhythm staggers when he tries tobine his punches with kicks and it makes it easier for me to dump low kick after low kick. He managed to avoid a few but his face suffers when he does.


    His left leg is starting to get swollen from the constant hits and he only managed to score a decent counter when I got greedy. A small cut appeared on my left cheek when he sessfully baited me. I avoided his right straight at thest moment but that little cut still appeared. However, I managed to pile seven more kicks right after the other and right as he was starting to get the timing for each one, an improbable kick came from an irregr stance.


    He didn¡¯t notice how I shifted my weight to the right foot at the back as I kicked upwards with my left. The hit was clean and he almost stumbled backwards. He¡¯s still disoriented and I apud him for staying conscious. He tried his best to fight while still groggy but I only need a few seconds to finish off someone with a status ailment.


    Another solid low kick tripped him down and he lost his footing. He tried his best to stand up but my arms are already wrapped around his neck. He has no choice left but to tap out and I quickly let go.


    ¡°What was that?¡± he said while sitting down. <hr>


    ¡°Good game. Don¡¯t get up yet.¡± I replied while smiling, not bothering to answer his question.


    The other participants next to him lost by default except for #20. It was a drunk guy making his way towards the gate but it was too anticlimactic. I thought I was gonna face-off with someone that knows drunk-boxing but all he managed to knock out is himself. I don¡¯t know how he managed to trip on a t surface but he did. He fell head-first and blood started spurting out from the wound on his head.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Umm, did I win? I¡¯m done now, right?¡± I asked the announcer just to make sure.


    ¡°Unfortunately, yes¡­ I wish that drunk f.u.c.ker went first.¡± he replied, dejectedly.


    ¡°Do the winners on each cage get to fight each other?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Soon, we¡¯re just waiting for the others to finish but it would be settled with a different event and before that is thedies¡¯ turn first.¡± he replied. <hr>


    The cheers for the other participants resounded, drowning out the rest of our conversation.


    I made my way back to the truck and Kaley quickly sat me down. Kaley tried to stop the bleeding from my cheek and she looked for other injuries. There seems to be none except for minor cuts that don¡¯t need any stitches. Even the cut on my cheek just needed the bleeding to be stopped and she just ced some cream to help with the process.


    Irene and her group are still trying to adjust to the consensual violence that is happening. They¡¯re enjoying the fights but their expressions would change each time an arm or a leg is getting snapped or blood is flowing out from a huge cut. Jerry¡¯s trying his best to calm them down when that happens but Irene seems to be thinking of something else entirely.


    ¡°I should¡¯ve joined this division. I could take down a few of them easily.¡± Tatiana muttered.


    ¡°Most of them didn¡¯t even have formal training. There¡¯s a select few in the other cages but they mostly rely on raw power. It¡¯s something a few techniques couldn¡¯t stop.¡± I replied.


    The fights from the other cages continued and Ilya dominated in his cage.


    ¡°He¡¯s gonna be pissed when he discovers itter.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 328

    Chapter 328: 328


    I first thought that I¡¯d be able to fight Ilya after these knockout rounds but turns out we¡¯re gonna have a little break. I wore all of my equipment back for the moment but I had to wipe down my body first. It took me a few minutes amidst the shouting, cheering, and curses raining down on the other contestants. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°OH~ SHITTTT~ THE GOLIATH STRIKES AGAIN~!!!¡± the announcer was getting pumped up beyond reason.


    Therge guy I saw earlier took out another contestant with a single p to the face. The only problem with him is that he¡¯s too simple and he¡¯s taking a few hits before he manages to get his strike in. It doesn¡¯t matter if you can take the damage, it still means you¡¯re taking some. Sooner orter, it would all pile up and give you problems when you least expect it.


    While I¡¯m busy on the fights I made Edd do a little something with Ben. It¡¯s another source of ie aside from the prizes we would be receivingter. Ben was already familiar with it so I asked him to help Edd for a bit.


    It¡¯s the betting area for the people watching. The house is managing the odds for each participant and the returns are based on the amount of people betting on each participant. They¡¯re obviously getting a small cut from these because their security is so tight, no one would mess with them. Having a lot of small cuts from different people would in the end make them having thergest cut when it¡¯s all over.


    ¡°I might do something like this in our ce after we¡¯re done with the important stuff. Mr. Cuervo is lucky he¡¯s been doing this a long time.¡± I thought to myself.


    All the equipment and other misceneous items that we won earlier besides the body armor we bought from the house was ced on me in the first game as betting ch.i.p.s. I don¡¯t know how much we¡¯ve won based on the odds but Edd said it was more than double. When the second game started, the first game winnings were divided into two and ced on me and Ilya. It¡¯s because I already made an impression on the first game so a lot of people would be betting on me as well as the other winners.


    Ilya on the other hand also made an impression before the games started but people were disappointed when they learned that he wasn¡¯t gonna y when it started. It was ast minute thing he did, joiningte and not a lot of people knew about him since I made him stop early on before the other people came in. Less people are betting on him to win and the return if he does would be substantial.


    I was kinda ticked off when he bought himself in but in the end, it was my fault for taunting him earlier about beating his other team members.


    Istly wore my gloves and I sat down next to Kaley.


    Kaley is not speaking at all and she¡¯s just looking at me with a solemn expression. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Something on your mind?¡± I asked.


    She shook her head but she whispered, ¡°Later.¡±


    ¡°I know this is stupid but why did you have to break that guy¡¯s arm?¡± Irene said.


    ¡°That¡¯s too much eh? Want my real answer?¡± I looked at Irene, the same as the others.


    She nodded.


    ¡°It¡¯s a lot of things. I guess in the world where someone has a big stick, you need to have a bigger stick.¡± I started.


    ¡°Did he say something to you? Your eyes changed earlier¡­¡± Kaley quietly said.


    ¡°Yeah, just think of someone that has a history of doing time behind bars again and again would say to a man with a beautiful wife. I know it¡¯s different for me to react the way I did but I chose to do it nheless. It¡¯s extreme to do that to someone who is not a grave threat to me at the time but people like that have done a lot worse when they¡¯re outside. Besides, I¡¯ll dly take the insult if it¡¯s towards me but it¡¯s a different story if he involves other people, especially you.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You forgot to mention you saved a lot of energy by fighting only two people. I might do the same thing you did if we¡¯re doing something simr.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Well, that too I guess¡­¡± I replied as I scratched my nose.


    ¡°I see, but doing could create trouble for us and Irene¡¯s group. They might get back at us when we go outside.¡± Kaley said. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t think so.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You sure about that bro? I can see a few of them ncing at our direction sometimes.¡± Jared interjected.


    ¡°This ce is built from fear, respect, rules, and strength. Unless the rest of his group is pretty f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid, they won¡¯t do anything after this. Isn¡¯t that right Jerry?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Ya got that right. Those people already know the rules.¡± Jerry nodded.


    ¡°See? Let¡¯s just keep our eyes open for anything. Good thing we have a backer here, heh.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Woah there, wait a second. Who¡¯s your backer now? Did I hear that right?¡± Jerry turned around and looked at me.


    ¡°Jerry, I¡¯m gonna make you an offer you can¡¯t refuse. All I need you to do for me once this is all over is to vouch for me and my group.¡± I replied, still watching the matches.


    ¡°I dunno about that. You won¡¯t need me vouching for you if you win the games. That¡¯s about all I could tell you.¡± Jerry said, lighting up another smoke.


    ¡°All right, just tell me if you want to hear what I want to offer you. Things might change though.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Sure, but please stop referencing that Mafia Boss. I f.u.c.k.i.n.g love that movie. It¡¯s weirding out from someone looking like he¡¯s from a Triad and not the Mafia, heh. Wait- it¡¯s Yakuza, right? Having a samurai and all¡­¡± Jerry puffed after trailing. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s called a katana, not a samurai, Mr. Jerry.¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°Oh, is that right? Well it¡¯s rare to see two katanas-¡± but Tatiana was the one to interrupt him now.


    ¡°Jerry, the shorter one is called a wakizashi. Before you say anything else, what I have is a bastard sword, correct?¡± Tatiana looked at me for confirmation and I was just smiling like an idiot.


    ¡°What? Just let me be! I don¡¯t have the energy to remember such things.¡± he gave a look of confusion.


    ¡°Well having one of these doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m Yakuza. That¡¯s about all I could tell you.¡± I used his own words to exin with a smile.


    My attempt to get him interested in my offer even if he didn¡¯t hear about it was denied. But even so, I learned from that conversation is that what he¡¯s receiving from Mr. Cuervo is substantial and still ongoing. Not only that, he¡¯s satisfied with it and he¡¯s not looking around for any other offers which means his loyalty can¡¯t be easily bought.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s good in a way.¡± I thought to myself.


    Ilya has eight more people to fight but we¡¯re not sure if some of them would quit or not. Ilya¡¯s new opponent was introduced but he was quickly knocked out by a high right kick to the head. His fists are balled up to deliver a follow-up but it wasn¡¯t needed. I can see him controlling his breathing while his eyes are in focus. He¡¯s trying to end his fights as fast as possible and the way he handled his opponent made two more people forfeit.


    Half an hour quickly passed and eventually, all of the fights were concluded. Everyone who¡¯s left standing in their own cages weren¡¯t left unscathed. It¡¯s either they¡¯re starting to .u.mte fatigue or there¡¯s a couple of injuries that needs to be treated immediately. Mr. Cuervo¡¯s medical staff didn¡¯t disappoint and they took care of them. Ilya went in the same direction to get treated as well but he just went there for the free bandages, rubbing alcohol, gauze, and a few doses of Ibuprofen. However, he didn¡¯t onlye back with those but with a few vouchers that were also given to me.


    Ilya came back to us with a huge smirk on his face, holding the free supplies as he removed the bandages I ced on him by himself. It was bloody but most of it came from his other opponents. His injuries are mostly bruises located on his face and arms due to receiving and blocking attacks. Kaley patched him up and now he¡¯s just wiping his body for any dirt and blood from the fights.


    ¡°Do you have a clean knife or a de?¡± Ilya asked Kaley. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm? What for?¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Need to cut my hair. One of them managed to grab me earlier and it sucked.¡± Ilya stated.


    Kaley gave him a pair of scissors and a clean razor then Ilya handed it over to Eddy. Turns out, Eddy is the resident barber. Ilya went for a skin head while Tatiana started to stretch her body. She started to bend her body in impossible angles while a few near us caught their attention.


    ¡°ALRIGHT FOLKS~ HAVING FUN~? BEFORE THE LADIES¡¯ TURN IS A LITTLE INTERMISSION~!!! IT¡¯S WHAT EVERYONE¡¯S BEEN WAITING FOR~!!! GIVE IT UP~!!! FOR~!!! RICARDOOOOOOOOOO~!!!¡± the announcer bellowed at the top of his lungs.


    Smoke billowed from the stage and I started to saw the silhouette. The moment he came into view, Jared started to dieughing.


    The huge majestic figure came out in all his glory wearing a red bandanna and an underwear with the pattern of the stars and stripes. I don¡¯t know why he¡¯s body is oiled and glistening but when he started to move with his backup dancers, the whole ce was glued from his performance.


    ¡°BROOOOOO~~!!! IS THAT- IS THAT- WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! WHY IS HE- HOW DID- WHAT?!¡± Jared managed to recover for a short moment before he resumed dying once more.


    ¡°Now that is one fine specimen.¡± Tatiana was surprised.


    I looked back at Jerry and he¡¯s puking blood.


    ¡°Well, he¡¯s not for everyone. Great dancer though, heh.¡± I thought to myselfughing inwardly.

 Chapter 329

    Chapter 329: 329


    Ripped muscles and tender curvaceous bodies were moving in unison. The crowd was going wild from their performance and in the midst of that, Eddy made a mistake. His hand slipped due to being distracted and he identally made a small cut on Ilya¡¯s head. He immediately apologized but Ilya took it upon himself to finish the remaining patches of hair. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Give me that!¡± Ilya eximed.


    ¡°Wait! It¡¯s about done! I¡¯m sorry!¡± Eddy tried to evade Ilya¡¯s hands.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to be f.u.c.k.i.n.g scalped so I¡¯ll pass for now. It¡¯s almost done so just let me!¡± Ilya replied as he snatched the razor.


    The central part of the ce was reorganized once more for the next game while the intermission was still in progress.


    This time, we watched the chain-linked fences and the poles cover arge areapared to the ten octagons earlier. The shape they were making it seemed almost like a perfect circle the way it was organized neatly.


    A few moments had passed then Edd and Ben came back to the truck. Edd was holding two pieces of paper that has theplete list of all our winnings from the second game. Ilya¡¯s returnspared to mine were higher since he was fighting people right from the get go. I reached the end of the list and I gave Edd a questioning look but he just nodded a few times.


    ¡°That¡¯s real.¡± Edd confirmed.


    ¡°What is real?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, we just got ourselves a pickup for ourselves. It¡¯s a Ta from Toyota.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°What?! How?! Seriously bro?¡± Jared was shocked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯re shocked by that? A lot of people here go all-in when the game starts. It¡¯s normal to get something like that if you bet something high-enough. I see that your bets earlier were mostly firearms, ammunition, and medical equipment. Those things are f.u.c.k.i.n.g gold here.¡± Ben interjected, chuckling.


    ¡°Well, they did say the games are lucrative.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What else did we get?¡± Ilya asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll also be taking home 50 gallons of fuel, 2 cases of coconut wine, 100 rounds of assorted ammo but mostly 9mm, 2 boxes of cigarettes, 13 different kinds of machetes, five fixed de knives, 2 butterfly knives, three sr panels, four packs of AA and AAA batteries, three sleeping bags, two tents, 50 ft. of rope, a Ruger 10/22 with two magazines, and a Mossberg 500.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I forgot to mention that the Ta has an auxiliary fuel tank at the back and that¡¯s where they¡¯ll ce the fuel we won. They¡¯ll also give away the tool box inside.¡± Edd added.


    ¡°Wow¡­¡± Kaley muttered.


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot, what are we gonna do with that?¡± Irene asked, though her face seemed like she wanted a little piece of it.


    ¡°Easy, let¡¯s bet it all on Tatiana, even our previous bets. Oh, I forgot to mention these few dozens of vouchers.¡± I casually mentioned.


    The face of everyone in my group was priceless.


    ¡°Are you sure about this? There¡¯s only one winner from thedies¡¯ game this time, right?¡± Edd asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah. I trust Tatiana to do the job.¡± I replied while I looked at Tatiana getting ready.


    She¡¯s tying her hair real tight and then she removed her ker and other equipment. She only has a sports bra with tight cycling shorts on, almost the same getup as us earlier.


    The game that thedies would be ying would be easy to y but it would be utter chaos.


    A single oiled piglet would be released inside the cage and whoever catches it and manages to hold onto it for 30 seconds would win the game. However, like the first game we yed, there¡¯s always a catch.


    Not only the piglet would be oiled but the participants as well. Attacking or grabbing the other opponents are allowed but being covered in oil would prove that to be a difficult feat. Not only holding someone or the piglet in ce would also prove difficult, getting a proper footing to chase it or sending a powerful attack towards other participants would be a monumental task.


    When Tatiana heard that the game was starting, she was pissed not because of the slip and slide designed for the audience to ogle at them but because of Enrique who is now holding a huge banner to cheer for her. He also managed to get a hold of a mariachi band to y a song for her which is right beside us singing ¡®Bando¡¯ by Enrique Iglesias. I was wondering where he¡¯d pop up because he actually survived her kick earlier but he wasn¡¯t able to join the 2nd game. He¡¯s now wearing a neck brace to support himself but I feel that his brain is the one that needed support.


    ¡°Who knew he was actually a masochist? Good thing Niks wasn¡¯t here at the moment.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°This is bullshit.¡± Tatiana silently growled.


    ¡°Well, this just means you should¡¯ve applied more force to your kick.¡± Kaley wasughing.


    ¡°You¡¯re right¡­¡± Tatiana trailed before rampaging against the band and Enrique. <hr>


    ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!¡±


    ¡°HELP ME~!!!¡±


    ¡°AYUADAME~!!!¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    ¡°NOT THE MUSTACHE~!!! NOT THE MUSTACHE~!!!¡±


    It wasn¡¯t even a full minute before the band was getting picked up by Mr. Cuervo¡¯s medical staff because of severe injuries. Enrique on the other hand probably has brain damage by now since he was sent back the 2nd time because he didn¡¯t bother dodging Tatiana¡¯s rampage. He received it all with a euphoric smile and even I felt chills looking at his expression.


    The participants were finally called and all in all, they numbered 32 including Tatiana. It¡¯s a mix of different figures inside and several ¡®entertainers¡¯ from the house were also participants. They¡¯re wearing see-through clothes and when the oil was added to their clothes, it made you see the little ¡®buttons¡¯ protruding out. I¡¯m thinking their goal in joining the game wasn¡¯t to win but to advertise their goods for more profitter. Despite that, there¡¯s a few serious yers in the mix and their goal is to win big like us. It¡¯s up to Tatiana to win the game or else we¡¯d be losing all of our winnings plus a little more.


    They were all positioned at the edges while the piglet was in the center, inside a little cage. It¡¯s already trying to break free from the cage violently as it glistens like the participants due to the oil.


    ¡°Jerry, did they feed something to that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hah! You really are a sharp one, ain¡¯t ya?¡± he chuckled. <hr>


    The moment the signal was given, they all ran towards the center of the cage while the piglet was released at the same time. When I said ¡®ran¡¯, what I meant was to slip and slide after a couple of steps. The piglet ran the opposite side of Tatiana but she didn¡¯t care as much. While most of them were trying to grab the piglet, Tatiana started to pummel anyone who was close to her. Cries and shrieks could be heard in her immediate vicinity and everyone close to her was trying to get away as fast as they could. Since there were no rules for anyone to forfeit the game mid-way, she¡¯s making sure each one she got her hands on would stay down and wouldn¡¯t attempt to participate after she¡¯s done with them.


    ¡°OH SHIT~ LADIES WATCH OUT WE GOT A FIGHTER INSIDE THE RING~¡± the announcer bellowed crazily.


    What Tatiana was doing was grabbing someone by their clothes, pulling them down, and raining down several punches to their body. She¡¯s wearing a devilish smile while doing it and I¡¯m almost worried someone might catch the piglet first. However, that was not the case for now. The piglet had already escaped several attempts of thedies to grab him. Each hand or tackle that¡¯s aimed at him, he could easily slip through due to the lubrication.


    The crowd was having a great time watching the show with this third game.


    The other participants were still madly chasing after that little piglet while the others were already a few feet away from Tatiana due to the sacrifice of the earlier ones. Their faces paled when Tatiana suddenly dashed without issue while still being covered in oil.


    ¡°WHAT?! HOW IS SHE- WHAT?! OHHHHHH THERE¡¯S ANOTHER ONE~¡± the announcer can¡¯t seem to announce fast enough.


    It was like the announcer said, another fit woman, almost at the same speed as Tatiana, was running without issue. She has long ck hair and she has a nice figure and a pretty face. I saw her at the brothel earlier but I didn¡¯t think that she could move like that. Their bnce and control of their bodies were surprising since the oil can¡¯t seem to bother them one bit. However, their goals were very different. The woman we saw was chasing after the piglet while Tatiana was chasing after the otherdies. The piglet was crying because of thedy chasing him while the other participants were crying because Tatiana was chasing them.


    The other participants had to y dead or surrender by prostrating on the slippery floor when Tatiana managed to grab hold of them. This game was supposed to be a feast for the eyes but it turned into somethingpletely different. It wasn¡¯t only Ilya who became different when they participated in the games but also Tatiana. Comints rained on the announcer because of what was happening. Theints came from the regrs who were eagerly waiting for several beauties grinding against each other but turning out to be beauties begging to be spared.


    I looked at Mr. Cuervo and he was in disbelief at what¡¯s happening to his games while his wife isughing her heart out watching her husband loseposure.

 Chapter 330

    Chapter 330: 330


    Tatiana continued to pummel anyone she saw that moved a muscle. The other woman still continued on chasing the piglet but even if she could move without issue, she¡¯s still having troubles. The problem she was having is that the piglet still had an ample amount of oil covering his body and the piglet¡¯s body is wide enough to not allow anyone to catch it with two hands easily. The participants had to think of a solution to that problem before attempting to hold onto it for 30 seconds. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°CYNTHIA~ CYNTHIA~ CYNTHIA~ CYNTHIA~¡± a crowd of guys chanted from the other side.


    ¡°Is her name Cynthia?¡± I asked Jerry but he looked at Ben.


    ¡°Yep, she¡¯s a favorite here. It costs a lot of f.u.c.k.i.n.g vouchers for a session with her. I think only the rich guys who traded for a lot of items for her managed to have her. If you try to exchange all you have here, it would not even be close.¡± Ben was the one who answered.


    ¡°Oh shit, really? Damn.¡± I chuckled.


    Each step she took would slip a little off the floor but she¡¯s still maintaining her bnce. Her movements intrigued me so I kept a close look to somehow discover how she¡¯s doing it. Her being half-n.a.k.e.d was a blessing since I was watching how every fiber of her being move the way they do. She was moving like she¡¯s skating through ice and she was very graceful. Tatiana on the other hand was moving violently without any trace of grace at all. However, I think Tatiana has more control in that space since she could perform more actions without losing any power.


    ¡°I guess we¡¯ll see when they face off.¡± I thought to myself.


    The piglet made its way to a dozendies that had fallen over and were trying hard to get up. Onedy whose bra was about to fall tried to grab the piglet when it came near her but the piglet suddenly curved to the left, avoiding herpletely. She was about to fall on her face but Cynthia came gliding in, stabilizing her footing in the process. She blushed a little when she was held by Cynthia but what she didn¡¯t notice was Cynthia stole her bra.


    ¡°OHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡± a ton of hornballs started cheering wildly.


    Her perky tits were on full disy but she wasn¡¯t embarrassed at all. She just cupped them while covering her n.i.p.p.l.es while her gaze was on Cynthia trying to corner the piglet where there¡¯s a wall of fallendies.


    ¡°She¡¯s trying to trap it.¡± Ilyamented.


    ¡°What is she doing with that bra?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Makeshift rope?¡± Jared guessed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°If she¡¯s gonna try to hogtie it with that, it would still prove difficult. We¡¯ll see.¡± I added.


    A little barrier made of oiled-up entertainers made a little corner to trap the piglet. Cynthia was a few feet away from it before Tatiana crashed into her. They both mmed at the fence where Tatiana used Cynthia as a cushion. Tatiana took advantage by pushing against her to lunge towards the piglet. However, Cynthia managed to catch her by desperately holding onto Tatiana¡¯s cycling shorts. Tatiana¡¯s thighs were getting pronounced because Cynthia was pulling on her. Cynthia was pulling at an angle and it allowed her to show a bit of Tatiana¡¯s plump asscheeks.


    ¡°OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡± the crowd went wild again by the scuffle.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the show those idiots were looking for, heh.¡± Jerry chuckled.


    Tatiana turned around for an elbow but Cynthia dodged it by kicking hard on the fence to give her a small boost to chase after the piglet again. Tatiana smiled devilishly as she licked her lips and did the same thing to follow her. The fence rattled more violently when Tatiana was the one who kicked it. They were now at the same distance away from the piglet but another participant entered the scene.


    She was a redhead with a s.e.xy body and she was much closer to the piglet and was about to pick it up.


    However, Cynthia slid down on the floor while Tatiana jumped high. Cynthia managed to grab the piglet by using the bra as a makeshift rope while Tatiana connected her foot with the redhead¡¯s face. The bra Cynthia was using was now wrapped around the piglet allowing her to carry it without it slipping through her hands. The countdown immediately started the moment that happened.


    ¡°Shit.¡± I muttered.


    Cynthia immediately broke away from Tatiana and the redhead to shave the seconds so she could win the match. A few participants tried to tackle her but they were missing every single time. Cynthia was hugging the piglet tightly and she¡¯s circling around the other participants while keeping an eye to where Tatiana was. Five seconds quickly passed but Tatiana¡¯s smile grew even wider. Tatiana used the redhead as aunching pad so she could quickly catch up to Cynthia. Not only that, each participant she saw would be treated the same way and a footprint would be left on their bodies after Tatiana was done with them.


    ¡°Good thing I didn¡¯t buy in¡­¡± Kaley muttered.


    ¡°Is¡­ is she really that violent?¡± Jerry asked.


    ¡°She¡¯s still having fun¡­ imagine her getting pissed off¡­¡± Ilya shivered. <hr>


    I chuckled at Ilya¡¯s reply but when I looked at Kaley, she seemed to be having PTSD for an unknown reason.


    ¡°At least she¡¯s not aiming for their faces.¡± Ben added.


    It was thest ten seconds before Cynthia wins the match but Tatiana was now 5 feet behind her. Tatiana was still chasing her without attempting to steal the piglet off her hands and she seemed to be looking for the right timing. I¡¯m starting to get nervous about losing all our winnings but Tatiana used another poor victim as aunching pad.


    It was thest five seconds but they crashed into the chain-linked fence once more. However, a loud cry assaulted our ears.


    It came from the piglet.


    The moment we saw the whole situation every guy or anyone with balls watching had to close their legs. The piglet was now in Tatiana¡¯s hands but it¡¯s more like she¡¯s holding the piglet¡¯s life and future in the bnce.


    ¡°OH MY LORD~ LET IT GO~ PLEASEEE~ IT HURTS WATCHING IT~!!!¡± the announcer bellowed.


    Tatiana was not using anything to keep the piglet in ce but her right hand had a death grip on its balls.


    Cynthia on the other hand was struggling to get away from Tatiana but Tatiana¡¯s left hand was holding her in ce on the fence. The piglet was careful not to move a muscle or else Tatiana would crush them once and for all. The time restarted again but it was all in Tatiana¡¯s favor.


    ¡°STEAL IT!!!¡±


    ¡°STEAL IT BACK!!!¡±


    ¡°PUNCH HER~!!!¡± <hr>


    The crowd simping for Cynthia yelled out but Tatiana made her move to win the game.


    Tatiana suddenly leaned forwards, almost kissing her while her left hand crawled to Cynthia¡¯s special ce. Tatiana¡¯s hand inside her moved almost violently while Cynthia¡¯s face was full of shock and pleasure. Cynthia was trying to get away at first but she soon gave in. She¡¯s trembling each second a sensitive spot of hers gets stimted and the crowd seemed to have forgotten about the match.


    Cynthia even raised her oiled up bikini and showed everyone her ample b.r.e.a.s.ts. Her pink n.i.p.p.l.es were slowly getting hard while continued on going inside her. The crowd was losing their minds and I could hear Enrique¡¯s howl from somewhere. Seeing two attractive beauties fighting it out and suddenly engaging in s.e.x.u.a.l activity surprised everybody.


    The countdown finished while Cynthia was left hanging. Tatiana finally let her and the piglet go but Cynthia¡¯s face was left longing for more action. She¡¯s biting her lip, trying to regain the sensations she was feeling earlier but couldn¡¯t. Tatiana winked at her before they walked at the central part of the cage. After that, Tatiana raised her fist high and the crowd grew wild. The two exited the cage and Cynthia was following behind her.


    ¡°OHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    ¡°DO IT AGAIN~!!!¡±


    ¡°DO YOU SELL YOUR BATHWATER~?!¡±


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K DID YOU SAY~?!¡±


    ¡°Nothing¡­¡±


    ¡°Dude¡­¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA~!!! YOU SICK F.U.C.KS~!!!¡±


    ¡°NEW QUEEN~!!! NEW QUEEN~!!! NEW QUEEN~!!!¡± <hr>


    ¡°CYNTHIA~ WE STILL LOVE YOU~!!!¡±


    Me and my group were still in shock how Tatiana managed to secure her win but Jerry was wheezingughing non stop. Mr. Cuervo had once again lost hisposure while his wife was eyeing Tatiana walking towards our direction. They were still covered in oil when they reached us but I gave her a fist bump.


    ¡°Great job. That was f.u.c.k.i.n.g close though.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°It really was. I thought I would lose.¡± she replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re really amazing¡­¡± Cynthia interjected, blushing.


    ¡°In the match? Or¡­¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    Cynthia blushed once more and now I¡¯m confused if she really was in the ¡®entertainment¡¯ business.


    ¡°Do you two need a nket?¡± Kaley asked them.


    ¡°Oh yeah, f.u.c.k. How do I-¡± Tatiana said but Cynthia interjected.


    ¡°I have a nice shower in my room? You could take one with me?¡± Cynthia said, hoping.


    Everyone in the truck knew that wasing and I just handed Tatiana her clothes and equipment back since I tidied it for her earlier. The two left us while all eyes were still on them. The next game took a bit of time to get organized since there were still 30 oiled bodies inside the cage that had to be removed.


    ¡°Ben, I thought she was you know¡­ Why do I feel like she¡¯s not?¡± I asked him while everyone on the truck grew curious and looked at him as well.

 Chapter 331

    Chapter 331: 331


    Ben lit a cigarette of his own and puffed a smoke first before replying, ¡°She is, trust me. There¡¯s a few things you don¡¯t know about her yet but the moment the two interacted could tell you a bit about her. Why do you think she¡¯s so f.u.c.k.i.n.g expensive? The answer is very simple but you must be familiar with this ce to know.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well, that didn¡¯t give me much¡­¡± Jared said, scratching his head.


    ¡°Is she really that important for us to figure that out?¡± Irene added.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re waiting for the next game. Just take it as a little brain teaser.¡± Ben replied.


    ¡°But you already said we need to be familiar with this ce to know.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Well, if you can read between the lines, you¡¯ll get the correct answer.¡± Ben shrugged his shoulders.


    I then began thinking about all of the things about her that I¡¯ve witnessed personally. The group also gave guesses but they were all wrong answers ording to Ben. I can¡¯t for the life of me figure out the correct answer but Ben revealed it after several wrong answers from the group.


    ¡°Okay, first things first. Can you exin why someone like her in that line of business looked like a mess after 30 seconds?¡± Ben started.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t she just really turned on by Tatiana?¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°No, she¡¯s only allowed to have s.e.x twice a month. One from a rich investor and one from her own choosing. I learned that juicy info from one of her colleagues. To increase her you know¡­ ¡®quality¡¯, Mr. Cuervo ced a lot of strict rules for her to look like that. Well, she¡¯s already beautiful like that but with the program she went through, she looked even better. Exercise, diet, a few lessons on acting, etiquette, and a few other things but never on the real thing. She¡¯s really young too. I think she just turned 19 before this thing started. The number of times she actually did it with someone is really fewpared to the others so that adds a lot more value for her time. However, I¡¯ve talked briefly to one of the people that acquired her for the night and they said the experience was somethingpletely mind-blowing. The amount they had to bring to solidify their time with her got astronomical each month.¡± Ben exined.


    ¡°And they just casually told you that and you believed them? The only thing I believe from that story is that she received some sort of training.¡± I was suspicious.


    ¡°Every regr here knows that story. I even heard whispers that she was already getting trained even before she was eighteen. The moment Mr. Cuervo revealed her to the customersst year, his earnings from each game increased and increased.¡± Ben replied.


    ¡°How could you even make someone follow strict rules like that? Did they own her illegally or something?¡± Kaley asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well¡­ about that¡­ it¡¯s a bitplicated you see¡­¡± Ben scratched his head.


    ¡°What? Run out of bullshit to tell?¡± Jared taunted him.


    ¡°What?! No! It¡¯s not bullshit, I tell you. Well¡­ from what I¡¯ve heard, she was actually¡­ *looked around nervously* Mr. Cuervo¡¯s illegitimate child¡­¡± Ben whispered really quietly.


    Everyone was shocked except for Jerry.


    ¡°Do you even have proof from what you¡¯re saying? I find it hard to believe that, you know?¡± I replied and Ben started to stammer.


    ¡°I have proof but I ain¡¯t gonna tell you.¡± Jerry suddenly interjected but his expression changed as if he made a mistake speaking up.


    ¡°What?! You actually have?!¡± Ben looked at Jerry.


    ¡°Yep. W-well, I could be bullshitting. It¡¯s just your word against mine. We never know.¡± Jerry puffed out a huge smoke.


    ¡°Nah, man. I doubt you know anything about her.¡± Ben shrugged.


    ¡°He¡¯s telling the truth.¡± Kaley interjected.


    I looked back at Kaley and she¡¯s just looking at Jerry¡¯s weird expression. I really can¡¯t exin how Kaley could be so sure when reading people but this time, I think she¡¯s spot on because of Jerry¡¯s reaction when she spoke up.


    I¡¯m not one of those people that¡¯s interested in gossip but I was already invested in Cynthia when I saw her fluid movements earlier. Now I¡¯m determined to know the proof that Jerry¡¯s talking about.


    ¡°How much?¡± I went for the easiest form of persuasion, bribery. <hr>


    ¡°No.¡± he tly replied.


    ¡°Please?¡± I then went for the most pathetic form of persuasion, begging.


    ¡°You gave up easy, eh? What happened to the ¡®I¡¯m gonna give you an offer you can¡¯t refuse.¡¯ earlier?¡± he chuckled.


    ¡°Pretty please?¡± I tried something much more pathetic.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Hmph! It¡¯s not like I begged you to tell me or something¡­¡± I then called forth my tsundere persona but Kaley immediately attacked me.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k was that?¡± Jerry was confused.


    I tried plenty more pathetic ways to get him to tell us the proof but he never budged. I really wanted to have something like him as an ally if he could keep his mouth shut like that. I think it was only a mistake of him telling us he knows something earlier because of the amount of booze in his system. I was about to bust out the big guns but we were surprised to see Tatiana and Cynthia walking back to us. Tatiana was now wearing herbat gear while Cynthia was wearing a mini skirt and a turtleneck sweater.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t they a little too¡­ quick? Nevermind¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hi everyone, my name is Cynthia¡­¡± Cynthia shyly introduced herself.


    ¡°That tall guy on the roof is Jared, that hot guy with a katana is Sky, that hot girl with big tits is Kaley, that- that cueball is Ilya, and¡­¡± Tatiana introduced us.


    Cynthia made a little bow and she sat with us inside the truck. The atmosphere is slightly tense not only because we were talking about her earlier but also because of the number of eyes fixated on our truck. I thought we all telepathically agreed to drop the subject but we forgot about Tatiana. <hr>


    ¡°Hey, I just noticed. You kinda look like Mr. Cuervo, don¡¯t you? Are you two rted?¡± Tatiana casually said.


    Almost all of us in the truck had a mini heart attack.


    ¡°What? Mr. Cuervo? Oh, I¡¯m not so sure about that¡­¡± Cynthia replied weakly.


    ¡°SHE DOESN¡¯T F.U.C.K.I.N.G KNOW!!!¡± I shouted in my head and I think that¡¯s the same thing everyone¡¯s thinking.


    I looked at where Jerry was seated but he¡¯s already gone. Ben is like a stone statue from oversharing a very delicate subject.


    ¡°No one ever told you that? You two look kinda alike. Well, if he loses the mustache though, haha.¡± Tatiana asked innocently once more.


    ¡°Yeah, no one ever brought that up with me. I wonder why¡­¡± Cynthia chuckled as well but she began to think by tilting her head sideways.


    ¡°IT¡¯S BECAUSE OF- F.U.C.KKKKK WHAT DID WE GET OURSELVES INTO?!¡± I had another breakdown.


    Tatiana dropped bomb after bomb of questions towards her but luckily Cynthia¡¯s oblivious to connect the dots herself. It¡¯s a good thing that Jerry didn¡¯t tell us the proof that he knows and he fled the scene or else something bad would have happened if the secret he¡¯s holding onto were to be revealed. Tatiana sensed something was going on from our expressions and she decided to stop asking Cynthia personal questions. She gave us a short nce first that meant she needed to know the reasonter before changing the subject. They¡¯re now talking about random things but I formed a question in my head.


    ¡°Does Mr. Cuervo knew the truth though? Also¡­¡± I had another thought.


    I¡¯m starting to form more questions inside my head but the yers for the next game were being told to listen to the rules. I nced at the ying area and now it looked like an old school thermometer from cartoons since the huge circle now has a long runway extending up to the gate¡¯s entrance.


    While the rules were getting exined one by one, the smile on my face was starting to get wider and wider. This time, male and female participants were free to join and everyone was allowed to bring one melee weapon.


    What I would be bringing was pretty obvious but the rules for clothing was still the same. <hr>


    Tatiana and Ilya jumped down the truck after getting ready and Cynthia said that she won¡¯t be participating at this game. Tatiana brought her bastard sword with her while Ilya borrowed Jared¡¯s cavalry sword. I had my katana fastened on my hip while Kaley showed her wakizashi to Cynthia. Tatiana and Ilya started walking towards the announcer but right as I was about to follow them, Edd stopped me.


    ¡°Hey, how will I distribute the bets? Do you want me to distribute them equally in three parts or do you have something else in mind? The rules this time might affect your winningster.¡± he asked.


    I wrote the distribution on the piece of paper and when he saw it, he shone it against the light to check if what he was seeing was real.


    ¡°A-are you sure about this?¡± he tried to confirm.


    ¡°Just do it.¡± I chuckled.


    He was still waiting if I got the timing wrong on my joke but I pushed him with Ben that¡¯s still trying to not let Cynthia know of his presence. Kaley was looking at me curiously but I just winked at her and mouthed, ¡°Watch me.¡±


    The bet distribution was there¡¯s nothing on Tatiana and Ilya since everything we have, not only the winnings, we¡¯re ced on me. They¡¯ll still get something if they scored some points but none from the bets. If I lose this game, we¡¯re all going home n.a.k.e.d. What I¡¯m attempting to do was pretty dangerous but this was the time to make a proper impression.


    I¡¯m slowly walking towards the announcer near the stage where Mr. Cuervo, his wife, and the rest of his guards were located. The entrance inside the circle was near the same ce and every participant was gathered in the same location.


    Each participant brought their own weapons and I thought the one the three of us were carrying would stand out. Turns out, a few participants have their own collection of weapons and I¡¯m dying to know if they could actually wield it.


    I started to control my breathing and sweat started to appear on my body each time I exhaled. I could hear the container vans and the cargo trucks driving into position while I heard the announcer calling for my name.


    ¡°HEY YOU! SAMURAI BOY! YOU¡¯RE FIRST IN LINE! HOW MUCH?¡± he said through the megaphone.


    I nonchntly entered the cage and said with a devilish smile, ¡°All of them.¡±

 Chapter 332

    Chapter 332: 332


    The moment I dered my intentions, I already started to remove my katana from my hip. I drew it slowly while I held the scabbard with my other hand. I was waiting for them to release everything but after a few moments, nothing was happening. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What?¡± I thought to myself.


    I turned around and I saw the announcer giving me the angriest look he could give.


    ¡°ARE¡­ ARE YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G SERIOUS?!¡± he bellowed through the megaphone.


    The feedback hurt our ears but I replied.


    ¡°You deaf? I already said all of them.¡± I was annoyed.


    ¡°YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G¡­ DIDN¡¯T YOU LISTEN TO THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G RULES?! THERE¡¯S A THOUSAND OF THEM ALL IN ALL IN THOSE VEHICLES!!! THE MOMENT YOU SAY A NUMBER, WE¡¯LL RELEASE THEM AND WE¡¯RE NOT SENDING HELP EVEN IF YOU DIE IN THE PROCESS!!! YOU MEAN TO SAY YOU¡¯LL KILL A THOUSAND WITH THAT F.U.C.K.I.N.G MEASLY SAMURAI OF YOURS?! WHY DON¡¯T I JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHOOT YOU IN THE HEAD NOW SO WE¡¯LL SAVE A LOT OF TIME?! D¡¯YOU KNOW HOW LONG WOULD IT TAKE TO BRING THEM BACK ONCE YOU DIE AFTER A FEW DOZEN?! HUH?!¡± he bellowed.


    I looked at everyone¡¯s reaction and Mr. Cuervo was also looking at me, checking, if I¡¯m serious. On the other hand, only my group believed in my words but they¡¯re still worried about the amount I would be taking down by myself. Even if they¡¯re all regr ones, the moment I got swarmed, I¡¯m dead. If I tried to escape, the rules stated that climbing over the fence rewards me with a bullet to the head.


    I shook my head in anger and I anchored the conversation.


    ¡°Okay, how about this? If I managed to kill them all, I¡¯m killing you with this ¡®measly samurai¡¯ of mine.¡± I said loud enough for everyone to hear.


    The announcer¡¯s face grew red from my reply since the other participants got roused and urged him to take the bet with mockery.


    ¡°Hah! You hear what he said?!¡±


    ¡°Hey announcer! What the f.u.c.k are you gonna do now?!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the one wasting our time!¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡±


    ¡°Hey Miguel~ Answer him fool!¡±


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you gonna do now Miguel~?¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g p.u.s.s.y!¡±


    ¡°Hey Miguel!¡±


    ¡°Are you gonna p.u.s.s.y now or what?!¡±


    ¡°Take it!¡±


    ¡°Take the bet fool!¡±


    ¡°Take the f.u.c.k.i.n.g bet you f.u.c.k.i.n.g p.u.s.s.y-ass bitch!¡±


    The announcer turned around to look at Mr. Cuervo first before ring at me viciously. Mr. Cuervo nced at me briefly before giving a long and deep sigh. The announcer was shaking in anger from the embarrassment and humiliation he received so he picked up the megaphone to shout at me.


    ¡°ALRIGHT!!! IT¡¯S A F.U.C.K.I.N.G BET YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G IDIOT!!! RE-¡± the announcer was about to give the signal to release everything but I heard Kaley¡¯s voice.


    ¡°WAIT!!!¡± Kaley bellowed.


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU YELLING ABOUT YOU BITCH?!¡± the announcer was about to pop a vein. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley was looking at Mr. Cuervo while raising my wakizashi. Cynthia was behind her and she was looking at Mr. Cuervo as well. I was about to wave her down but Mr. Cuervo stood up.


    ¡°I¡¯ll allow my rule to be broken once but you¡¯ll be one of my girls when he dies, understood?¡± Mr. Cuervo said to Kaley.


    Mr. Cuervo was still in the middle of finishing his sentence but Kaley already threw my wakizashi inside the cage. She looked at me with anger and worry but she shouldn¡¯t have done what she did. I was angry at the announcer by calling Old Man Kaiseki¡¯s work ¡®measly¡¯ but this time, I was also angry at myself for getting Kaley involved. I closed my eyes for a moment then I sheathed my katana. I handed it to Tatiana outside much to everyone¡¯s surprise and now I¡¯m just equipped with my wakizashi.


    ¡°Hey! What are you doing?! I- Tatiana! Throw it back at-¡± Kaley bellowed as she banged on the cage but I looked at her and she stopped.


    ¡°I told you, watch me.¡± I faintly smiled then the temperature dropped several degrees.


    Holding my wakizashi in my right hand made me see the tattoo on my arm that Old Man Kaiseki inked for me. I was reminded of the reason why this tattoo was given to me and what it signified. It was merely a symbol to represent something Old Man Kaiseki saw in me but I understood what he meant. He made his own spin on what is was originally and he ced his creation on my arm.


    Kuroi Ri-Ryu.


    I could still remember the pain I went through when he inked it on me but I never felt something that was created by someone fitting me perfectly. Even the weapons he forged for me felt like I¡¯ve been using them for years. People purchasing or being given a new tool would take them some time getting used to it but it was a different case for what Old Man Kaiseki gave me.


    It was really cold but my sweat was still flowing out of me. The announcer just shouted curses at me before ordering the thousand zombies to be released all at once. The bloody figures one by one came into view and I didn¡¯t even wait for them to reach me as I dashed forwards. My methodical approach was to kite them and slowly thin their numbers but this time it¡¯s different.


    I couldn¡¯t hear anything.


    One.


    ¡­


    Two.


    ¡­


    Three.


    ¡­


    Four.


    ¡­


    Five.


    ¡­


    Six.


    ¡­


    Seven.


    ¡­


    Eight.


    ¡­ <hr>


    Nine.


    ¡­


    Ten.


    ¡­


    Twenty.


    ¡­


    Thirty.


    ¡­


    Forty.


    ¡­


    Fifty.


    ¡­


    Sixty.


    ¡­


    Seventy.


    ¡­


    Eighty.


    ¡­


    Ny.


    ¡­


    One Hundred.


    ¡­


    Two Hundred.


    ¡­


    Three Hundred.


    ¡­ <hr>


    Four Hundred.


    ¡­


    Five Hundred.


    ¡­


    Six Hundred.


    ¡­


    Seven Hundred.


    ¡­


    Eight Hundred.


    ¡­


    Nine Hundred.


    ¡­


    One Thousand.


    I heard the sound of my de slicing through the body of myst victim. The blood gushed out, staining my de which was now deep crimson in color. I thought I lost my hearing since the whole ce was very quiet. It took a few seconds before I heard the sounds of crickets chirping in the distance. I looked back at the speakers atop themp posts and I looked at the people watching by the vehicles.


    ¡°Oh, they¡¯re just not making a sound. Why are they not moving though?¡± I thought to myself.


    I was near the entrance and I looked back at the mess that I made.


    Dismembered bodies littered the cage and I can¡¯t even see the flooring. A pool of viscous and darkened blood covered the pathwaypletely. Iplete parts of something which was once whole were even invading the space outside the cage. The smell of rotting corpses and coagted blood permeated my nose when the cold wind blew in my direction. I felt the cold breeze touch my skin but when I looked at my torso, I was clean.


    Nothing came close.


    Not even a speck reached my body. The only thing covered in blood were my hands, my wakizashi, its scabbard, and my shoes. I flicked my de to remove some of the blood but it had no effect. I need to clean it deeply likest time since it was soiled and any wiping it with a wet cloth could only help with the grime on the surface.


    ¡°Shit, my tools for cleaning them were back at home.¡± I thought to myself.


    I slowly walked back to where Kaley was and now she¡¯s holding my katana instead of Tatiana. Tatiana, Cynthia, and Ilya were with her now but her eyes were watery and red. She started to breath heavily when I came in front of her. Only the fence was separating us and she screamed her heart out.


    ¡°DIDN¡¯T YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS?! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO-¡± Kaley was about to cry but my peaceful smile slowly calmed her down.


    I waited for her topletely calm down before I asked for a wet wipe which almost provoked an attack from her.


    I calmly wiped the surface of my wakizashi and scabbard before sheathing it. I fastened it on my hip and I took my katana from Kaley and did the same thing.


    They were all still stunned from what happened but a loudmotion immediately followed. The noise was deafening and any amount of musicing out from the speakers were getting drowned out by the participants and the people that just witnessed what happened.


    ¡°OHHHHHHHHHHHHH~¡± <hr>


    ¡°DID YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G SEE THAT?!¡±


    ¡°HOLY SHIT!!!¡±


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K DID JUST HAPPEN?!¡±


    ¡°SAMURAI BOY HAPPENED FOOL!!!¡±


    ¡°HE ACTUALLY DID IT!!!¡±


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K!!!¡±


    ¡°OHHHHHHHHHH SHITTTTT~!!!¡±


    Their thunderous cheers took a few minutes before it calmed down. It was finally stopped when Mr. Cuervo was the one holding the megaphone.


    ¡°I was nning to conduct more games after this but anything that followed that would be so f.u.c.k.i.n.g boring. You. Come over here.¡± Mr. Cuervo looked at me.


    I slowly made my way towards the stage and everyone watching me was f.u.c.k.i.n.g quiet. I saw the announcer behind Mr. Cuervo and he stepped up to face me. He had anger lingering in his eyes and he was breathing heavily. However, he took a deep breath and looked me in the eye.


    ¡°Do it. I¡¯m not gonna beg you to change your mind.¡± the announcer said without a hint of fear.


    ¡°Mr. Ishiyama, as per the rules you two agreed upon. You now own his life.¡± Mr. Cuervo said beside me.


    ¡°Apologize to my Old Man Kaiseki and Kaley first.¡± I looked back at him.


    ¡°Who?¡± he asked with an annoyance in his tone.


    I scoffed and said, ¡°Kaley¡¯s my woman who you called bitch and my Old Man Kaiseki is the one who made this ¡®measly samurai¡¯. Apologize.¡±


    I directed all of my pent up killing intent towards him and my hands moved. My heart was raging wildly but my mind was still calm as ever. My hands were telling me to cut him to pieces already but my head is telling me to wait. It was a struggle before but I have long managed a way to keep myself in check though I always let it out when I want to.


    I quickly drew my katana and aimed it at his head. However, I stopped at thest second before the tip was about to nick his eye. His fake posturing crumbled into pieces before he peed himself and trembled in fear. Mr. Cuervo kicked him down and stomped on his head before shouting at him.


    ¡°Is that what being a man means to you?! You f.u.c.k.i.n.g imbecile! Don¡¯t doubt a man¡¯s word when it already came out of his mouth! If you heard him the first time, you should have granted him his wishes even if you think he¡¯ll die in the process! You don¡¯t decide for another man what to do! Now apologize to his old man and his woman!¡± Mr. Cuervo bellowed.


    ¡°I-I-I apologize!!! I apologize!!!¡± the announcer broke down in tears then he kowtowed in front of me and bowed down towards Kaley. He waited for Mr. Cuervo to tell him to stand up and he gave him his death sentence.


    ¡°Miguel Esperanza, you bet your life against another and now you must own up to it. Stand up and ept your fate. At least die a man even after this blunder you made.¡± Mr. Cuervo dered.


    The crowd was silent the moment his death sentence was given. No one was voicing out their opinion since they know the rules of this ce.


    The announcer was still a sobbing mess but he slowly stood up to ept his fate. He was trembling when he looked me in the eye though he slowly stabilized himself when I started to draw my de.


    ¡°Once again, I¡¯m sorry. Please, I ept the punishment. Kill me.¡± he stated.


    A sh quickly appeared before a sound of a de getting sheathed followed. He was able to give a confused look for a short moment before I spoke to him.


    ¡°You¡¯re already dead.¡± I muttered before a line of red appeared on his whole body.

 Chapter 333

    Chapter 333: 333


    Everyone close enough slowly heard a very faint sound of something dripping. They were unable to urately pinpoint where the sound came from but the thin red line that appeared on the announcer¡¯s body suddenly became thicker and thicker. The dripping sound turned to a downpour as anything inside his body that wasn¡¯t holding onto anything dropped on the flooring. Blood sprayed everywhere and Mr. Cuervo and I were stained by most of it. However, neither of us moved from our spot and we just watched him slowly fall down into two equal pieces. <center></center><hr>


    The crowd near the stage quickly moved away to avoid the stter and the way everyone was looking at me was different. It was a mix of fear and reverence but Mr. Cuervo took my hand. He raised it up in the sky and everyone present fired several rounds in the air. Thunderous cheers flooded my ears once more as they didn¡¯t seem to mind the body of the person that I killed. His name was now imprinted in my head the same as the previous ones that fell by my hands.


    The music sted once more as his people started to clear the bodies. The cage was getting dismantled while food and booze were being served to everyone.


    ¡°You¡¯re the first one to be a solo winner my friend. You proved that you¡¯re the biggest man today and thatdy, Tatiana was it? My wife likes her and she told me that she¡¯s actually following you. Her performance in the previous game earlier was fantastic! Well, what you did was the most f.u.c.k.i.n.g incredible thing I saw in all of my games. Come, bring your whole crew with you. Tell them to drive inside my ce. Let¡¯s get you cleaned up first and uh- me too, heh. Let¡¯s meet again in a couple of hours and we¡¯ll have a feast my friend!¡± Mr. Cuervo excitedly said as he told his people to guide us.


    He made his way inside while his guards gave me a small salute. A few people were crowding over me to introduce themselves and a few tender bodies were already grinding against me. They didn¡¯t seem to mind my body covered in blood as I tried to break from their encirclement. Enrique came at the right time and he started on smacking the crowd with a wooden stick.


    ¡°Ey! Go away! Vete! Putas~ go away! Forgot that he has a woman already?! Didn¡¯t you see how beautiful she was?! Your tits aren¡¯t even half hers! Shoo! Hey~! Break it up! Break it up!¡± Enrique gave me a nod.


    ¡°Thanks man.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Congrats vato! That thing you did, oh man. All the putas here were f.u.c.k.i.n.g wet I tell ya! F.u.c.k.i.n.g wet hermano! Salute!¡± he hugged me like we were brothers.


    I just patted his back and I looked for Kaley. I saw her already running towards me after she pushed against the crowd that Enrique drove away. Tatiana, Ilya, and Cynthia slowly followed behind her as I saw our truck and our pickup backing up to drive inside Mr. Cuervo¡¯s small driveway. It led to his house which was several times bigger than every house present. It¡¯s even safe to call it a mansion the way it had a separate wall aside from the tall ones that surrounded this whole gatedmunity. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley looked like she was about to say a lot of things but I stopped her.


    ¡°Can we go inside first?¡± I asked her.


    She just took a deep breath and she walked beside me.


    Enrique acted as our tour guide as we were guided inside.


    He was now maintaining a safe distance away from Tatiana but he¡¯s still trying to get her attention. Kaley and I were given our separate room and it was huge. The furniture inside was exquisite and there was already a spread of delicacies near the bed. Jared dropped our bags and other equipment inside the room first before he excitedly excused himself.


    ¡°Bro, I¡¯ll f.u.c.k.i.n.g see you in the morning!¡± he shouted before disappearing.


    I started making my way towards the bathroom but my body already gave up on me.


    ¡°Shit.¡± I thought to myself.


    I fell on one knee as I lost control of my body. <hr>


    My head was about to m against the marble flooring but Kaley caught me. She raised my head up and I saw her worried face.


    ¡°Hey! Are you okay?! Sky! Talk to me! Please! Don¡¯t pass out! Sky! Sk-¡± she started to cry but I managed to ce both of my hands on top of her shoulders. I embraced her and my weight bearing down on her made her sit down.


    ¡°Are you hurt?! Please! Tell me!¡± she tried to make me stand up.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine¡­ I¡¯m just¡­ really~ tired¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± I managed to mutter a few words.


    Kaley¡¯s face started to be a mess when she saw me in this state and she can¡¯t seem to form the words she wanted to say. She just started crying while embracing me tightly. Her head was right next to mine and I could hear her sobbing.


    ¡°Hey¡­ don¡¯t cry¡­ it¡¯s my fault¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­ I really am just tired¡­ trust me¡­ I just need to sleep for a bit¡­ don¡¯t call anyone¡­ please¡­¡± my eyes were starting to get heavy. She tried to speak to me but I was too tired to hear her.


    I fell unconscious and I just woke up wearing a new set of clothes.


    I was nowying in the bed while I¡¯m hearing water gushing out from the bathroom. I could hear the muffled sound of the musicing from the outside and I saw my gear cleaned thoroughly on the table next to me. My whole body felt like I came out from an intense workout though my head was clearer than ever. <hr>


    I sat upright and looked for my watch and it said that I was asleep for over an hour. My arms and my legs were sore but I stood up to head to the bathroom. I knocked on the door and called out to her.


    ¡°Kaley?¡± I softly said.


    The door immediately opened and I saw her surprised face. She was still in the middle of taking a shower but she quickly wrapped a towel around herself to approach me. She was about to hug me but she hesitated. Worry appeared on her face once more but I just smiled and hugged her myself. She was about to start crying again but I lifted her up like it was nothing.


    ¡°Hey! Put me down! Are you sure you could- Ah!¡± she struggled to get down but I threw her on the bed. Her towel came loose and there¡¯s still a few drops of water on her body. Her hair was still wet and a few strands were covering her eyes.


    I jumped on the bed and I went on top of her. My face went closer to her face and she became fl.u.s.tered. She was looking straight at me but I could still see the worry in her eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine now. I¡¯m still~ a bit sore but I¡¯m fine now. Thanks for taking care of me.¡± I whispered into her ear then I gave her a kiss.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was still silent and I got annoyed.


    ¡°Why do you taste like Tequ? Did you start drinking without me? Hmm?¡± I said as I tilted my head slightly.


    ¡°What?! Well¡­ I was- I did! So what?! I don¡¯t know what to do with you earlier! You just copsed and- and- you told me to not call anyone! I was so- It¡¯s all my f- I was so- so-¡± Kaley looked like she was about to cry again but she hammered her fist in my chest. It didn¡¯t hurt that much but looking at her like this is breaking me inside. <hr>


    ¡°Hey, none of what happened was your fault. Please don¡¯t me yourself. Everything that happened earlier was only because I wanted to leave asting impression on Mr. Cuervo. Things happened in the middle of it like that announcer talking shit about Old Man Kaiseki¡¯s creations and you so I wanted a facepping to happen. I know it¡¯s very stupid of me to not use my katana and wakizashi side by side after you made that deal for me but that¡¯s all on me. I could¡¯ve either used both of them to have a much easier time killing them or kited them around to save my energy but I didn¡¯t, and that¡¯s still all on me. It¡¯s just that I overexerted myself that I fell unconscious. Nothing happened while I was inside the cage, right?¡± I exined.


    ¡°W-well, I shouldn¡¯t have made that deal in the first ce. I saw your expression that time you know and that pretty much said that. I know that you could handle yourself but I just made it harder for you when you tried to defend m-me. I should¡¯ve just done nothing and trusted you.¡± a tear fell on the side of her face.


    ¡°Kaley¡­¡± I looked at her solemnly.


    Her face is turning sour but I continued.


    ¡°Can you just for one moment not use your powers so I could at least tell you a white lie to make you feel better?! I don¡¯t want to see you like this, okay?!¡± I faintly smiled.


    ¡°W-w-what?¡± she was confused.


    ¡°Your powers! Your powers! You know, that bullshit supernatural shit you and your mom do! That power!¡± I widened my eyes.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a power! It¡¯s just- Don¡¯t change the subject!¡± she eximed.


    Then I suddenly headbutted her.

 Chapter 334

    Chapter 334: 334


    I slightly winded my head backwards before I delivered a slightly painful headbutt to her forehead. <center></center><hr>


    *thud*


    The look of shock and confusion on her face was f.u.c.k.i.n.g priceless and I wish I had my camera with me. A little red mark appeared on her forehead again like the time when we sparred against each other.


    ¡°W-why did you do that?!¡± she pouted and she looked like she was about to cry not because of what we talked about earlier but because of my headbutt.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I just had Tequ. Shit happens.¡± I cheekily replied.


    ¡°Teq- you just tasted a bit from my-¡± she tried to speak but I delivered another headbutt.


    *thud*


    ¡°SKY~!!! What are you doing?! Sk-¡± she eximed but she immediately stopped when she saw my face.


    I was on all fours while on top of her but I suddenly fell on her body with a pained look on my face.


    ¡°Hey! You said you were fine ear- Sky! Tell me what¡¯s going on?!¡± Kaley turned me over and now she¡¯s on top of me.


    ¡°C-C-C- AHH!!! IT HURTS!!!¡± I grimaced.


    ¡°What?! I¡¯m gonna cal-¡± she was about to head for the door but I managed to grab her hand.


    ¡°KALEY!!! YOU¡¯RE STILL N.A.K.E.D!!! I¡¯M CRAMPING!!! MY FEET!!! STRAIGHTEN IT~!!!¡± I shouted before she managed to get away.


    ¡°What? Y-your foot? IT WAS JUST A CRAMP?! SKY~!!! YOU- AHHHHHH!!!¡± Kaley couldn¡¯t figure out the right expression to project from what was happening.


    The muscles from my leg were contracting since I really overexerted them earlier. She began to help me by pointing my toes upwards while I bore through the pain. Luckily, itsted for only a few seconds before it stopped contracting violently.


    ¡°I told you I was sore.¡± I cheekily remarked.


    She gave me an exasperated look then she suddenly jabbed my crotch. I was defenseless since my legs were still in pain when she attacked me.


    ¡°Kaley?! What the f.u.c.k?! That¡¯s my-¡± then she cut me off.


    ¡°That¡¯s for headbutting me! It hurts you know!¡± she looked away, arms crossed.


    ¡°Well, you were being unreasonable!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Unreasonable?! ¡®I¡¯M¡¯ being unreasonable?!¡± her head snapped back to my direction. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I already told you it was my fault and you keep ming yourself!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°But- if it wasn¡¯t for me-¡± then I cut her off.


    ¡°Fine! We¡¯ll split it 80-20!¡± I huffed.


    ¡°What? What are you-¡± I cut her off again.


    ¡°The me! I already told you it¡¯s my fault and you want to share a bit of it so that¡¯s the solution! I¡¯ll take 80, you take 20! Is that fine?¡± I was shaking my head.


    ¡°Don¡¯t joke at a time like this!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯m not joking! I¡¯m serious!¡± I replied.


    ¡°Is splitting the me like a mathematical homework not joking?!¡± she yelled.


    ¡°It¡¯s my way of solving this! Kaley, I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re being like- Wait- are you on your perio-¡± then she cut me off.


    ¡°I¡¯M NOT!!!¡± she cried out.


    ¡°Menopause?¡± I guessed.


    ¡°WHA- NO!!!¡± she shouted.


    ¡°Pregnant?¡± I made a face.


    ¡°NOOOO!!! I¡¯M NOT PREGNANT!!!¡± she bellowed.


    ¡°You sure?¡± I tried to confirm.


    She attacked my nuts again.


    ¡°Hungry?¡± I tried again, while shielding the family jewels.


    ¡°A bit-¡± I cut her off.


    ¡°A-HA!¡± I celebrated.


    ¡°BUT THAT¡¯S NOT THE POINT!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Then what¡¯s the point in all of this when you will never change~ OW! KALEY! I¡¯M STILL HURTING! STOP!¡± I tried to sing a few verses from a local band but she attacked me again.


    I was defending myself from all of her attacks but her expression now was not of anger. She was smiling this time but she was still sending lethal kicks towards my head. I was having a hard time dodging all of them while I was trying to navigate where to look. Each part of her body was sent from heaven and I could only imagine what would happen to me if I got hard at this moment. I stepped back with my right foot and I felt a sharp pain due to the muscle spasm earlier.


    My focuspsed and all I saw was Kaley turning her left heel towards the right side then quickly turning around clockwise, sending a nasty right side kick straight to my torso when she twisted her knee at thest second.


    I was hit dead-on.


    *THUD*


    The sound it made resonated to the whole room and I almost threw up. I copsed on the floor, clutching my abdomen and I saw that I slid a few feet away from where her kick connected.


    ¡°Kaley?! The f.u.c.k?! Who taught you that?! Joe Rogan?!¡± I eximed.


    Kaley¡¯s eyes widened when she saw what happened to me. When I looked at her expression, it seemed that she did that from pure luck.


    Even if it that was by luck, it was one of the few times I received a direct hit and it f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurt me bad. Granted I was not my 100% but the amount of power Kaley produced would¡¯ve still hurt me nevertheless. It felt like being hit by a sledgehammer and the damage was still lingering. However, I was not angry at all since she added another lethal move to her arsenal.


    Kaley immediately approached me and helped me sit on the bed. She gave me an apologetic look but it kept switching from this weird situation we¡¯re having with each other.


    ¡°Nice kick. It f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurts.¡± I chuckled with a wince.


    ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me! I did that wrong!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Your sensor¡¯s not working this time? Nope, that was the right one. Did you see what happened to me? You even broke through my plot armor!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°Plot- what? You¡¯re not lying¡­ but I really did that wrong!¡± she exined.


    ¡°Then do it the right way, show me.¡± I was intrigued by the right one.


    ¡°But-¡± she gave me a look of worry.


    ¡°Why are you looking like that? Just kick in the air! I¡¯m not catching another one of those!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°I know but- are you fine?¡± she asked, concerned.


    I almost attacked her with another headbutt.


    ¡°Kaley, one more stupid question and I¡¯ll send another headbutt to your forehead. I was already tired, then you punched my nuts, then you punched it again, then you delivered that f.u.c.k.i.n.g kick, and now you¡¯re asking me if I¡¯m fine?! What¡¯s wrong with you this day?! I¡¯m the one that¡¯s supposed to be a f.u.c.k.i.n.g lunatic and you¡¯re stealing it?! Can I at least have that?! Please?! Put on some clothes before you make it worse!¡± I started to lose my sanity. <hr>


    I really don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong with Kaley today and I tried my best to figure it out while she was putting on some clothes. She stood in the middle of the room and performed the same kick. However, it was really different from the earlier one. I asked her to do it a few more times but it was still the same result. Instead of it going straight likest time, this ¡®right¡¯ kick she performed was more of a slice than a thrust on the way it was delivered.


    ¡°That¡¯s the ¡®right¡¯ kick?¡± I tried to confirm.


    ¡°Yeah, why?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It sucks. The ¡®wrong¡¯ kick was more powerful, faster too.¡± I said bluntly.


    ¡°But! Tatiana said-¡± then I cut her off.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care what Tatiana said. Can¡¯t you feel the difference yourself?¡± I asked.


    ¡°But I can¡¯t do it anymore! I was mad and annoyed at you that time-¡± I cut her off again.


    ¡°I miss your bigger tits.¡± I said with a straight face.


    ¡°Wha- What are you talking about now?!¡± she started to lose it.


    ¡°Now you¡¯re mad and annoyed at me. Try kicking agai-¡± then she really did kick me.


    However, it was still her ¡®right¡¯ version. She just added more power since the wind it produced was much strongerpared to before. I even dodged it at the right moment since I saw iting from a mile away. The earlier one was different because once shepleted the turn, the kick would suddenly be a few millimetres away from connecting.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we try to contact Tatiana? She could show you how she taught me.¡± Kaley suggested.


    I grabbed my radio and tried to contact Tatiana.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, can youe here for a sec?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hmm? Okay, I¡¯ll bring Cynthia too since she¡¯s with me.¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    While we¡¯re waiting, she tried to remember the sensation she felt when she attacked me earlier. Instead of randomly repeating the same thing over and over expecting a different result, she tried to adjust the angles and timing by minuscule amounts to try and recreate what she did earlier. However, she still can¡¯t do it and the whole process was different.


    A few momentster, we heard a knock on the door and Tatiana came with Cynthia. She was holding a bowl of food while Cynthia was holding a towel to wipe her face if there was a smudge.


    ¡°What do you need?¡± Tatiana went straight to the point.


    Kaley showed her the ¡®right¡¯ kick and Tatiana nodded. Cynthia was looking at Kaley when she performed that kick and she tilted her head but didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°It¡¯s the right one, right?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, what¡¯s the problem?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°This is.¡± I said as I raised my shirt.


    ¡°What happened to you?!¡± Tatiana was surprised.


    Arge bruise was on my abdomen and the only exnation for that was the ¡®wrong¡¯ kick earlier. Tatiana grew curious and she asked for the whole story. Kaley and I started from the top when we were fighting earlier. The two listened intently from our story and they tried their best not tough from the words we exchanged earlier.


    ¡°You two are cute~ I wish I had someone like that~¡± Cynthia giggled.


    Kaley and I almost had an aneurysm from our unreasonable fight earlier but Tatiana seemed to have found the solution.


    ¡°I got it. You still haven¡¯t backtrackedpletely.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°You figured it out? What do I need to do to recreate it?¡± Kaley asked.

 Chapter 335

    Chapter 335: 335


    ¡°You need to be n.a.k.e.d.¡± Tatiana nodded seriously but Kaley immediately attacked her. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m serious! I¡¯m serious!¡± Tatiana easily blocked her attacks and she looked at me for help.


    ¡°What difference does it make when I¡¯m n.a.k.e.d?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    The two were going back and forth but I saw Cynthia cing the towel neatly and trying out the kick Tatiana taught Kaley. She was doing it slowly but she could almost nail down the proper motion of that ¡®right¡¯ kick.


    ¡°You said you did it by chance when you were n.a.k.e.d, correct? Just do it for the hell of it!¡± Tatiana defended her answer.


    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you do it?! You know the move, right?!¡± Kaley snapped.


    ¡°Sure, if that¡¯s what it takes.¡± Tatiana shrugged her shoulders and Cynthia stopped practicing when she heard what Tatiana said.


    ¡°Ta-¡± Kaley was about tosh out again but Tatiana really undressed to prove her point.


    Cynthia was watching with widened eyes but she quickly ran to the door to lock it. Once Tatiana was fully undressed, she performed the same kick while still holding the bowl of food. She performed it more fluidly and the air it produced was more substantial. It was sharper and her heel sliced horizontallying from the left, towards the right. However, Kaley and I have the same expression.


    ¡°It¡¯s not the same.¡± Kaley and I simultaneously said.


    ¡°But that was already powerful, right?¡± Cynthia interjected.


    ¡°Then. get. n.a.k.e.d. yourself.¡± Tatiana gave up and looked at her.


    ¡°Are you three¡­? It feels like you¡¯re too familiar with yourselves¡­¡± Cynthia added.


    ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯ll tell you if you¡¯re part of the club. Kaley! You¡¯re not even wearing underwear, just remove your shirt and short shorts! It¡¯s only us girls and your man, we¡¯re trying to get to the bottom of something here! Can¡¯t you see I already got n.a.k.e.d?! How fair is that?!¡± Tatiana was chuckling the whole time.


    ¡°I¡¯m not undressing in front of all of you!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Fine, Cynthia, wouldn¡¯t you mind undressing as well?¡± Tatiana looked at Cynthia.


    ¡°Just undressing? Umm, it¡¯s a bit¡­ I have rules-¡± Cynthia muttered but Kaley interjected.


    ¡°Don¡¯t involve her with your silly ideas!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, right? You said you could only have s.e.x once a month with whomever you chose, it didn¡¯t specify how many. Besides, it¡¯s just undressing. Or¡­ you have an interest in our winner as well? Hmm? I can¡¯t me you, he¡¯s good.¡± Tatiana smiled at Cynthia while licking her lips.


    ¡°W-well¡­¡± Cynthia looked away but she briefly nced at my direction.


    ¡°Oh no.¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You have no chance though. You see, he¡¯s really in love with Kaley and is okay with having to spend the rest of his years just with her.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°B-but why could you casually strip n.a.k.e.d in front of them? Isn¡¯t that¡­ you know? Kinda weird?¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°Well, you see-¡± Tatiana was about to exin our situation but Kaley covered her mouth.


    ¡°Kaley! What are you- Hmmph! Hmpphmp!¡± Tatiana eximed.


    ¡°It¡¯s embarrassing!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Hmm? I think it¡¯s pretty normal if you ask me¡­ People do that sometimes¡­ ¡± Cynthia replied.


    The three had a long back and forth while I¡¯m trying to remember everything that happened. I¡¯m really not at my 100% this time since I could usually remember everything. The only other thing that we didn¡¯t do to recreate her kick was Kaley being n.a.k.e.d.


    Thinking about it logically, there was really no difference physically speaking if someone is clothed or not to perform something unless the clothes they were wearing were too tight and hindering their movements. The problem was the clothes that Kaley was wearing this time was veryfortable.


    ¡°What did I say earlier? Isn¡¯t it ¡®physically speaking¡¯¡­? Is that the only issue? How about- Oh~¡± I then had a realization.


    I already knew the answer but I wouldn¡¯t tell her straight up because it would be too easy. I had to get her back from being too unreasonable earlier. I found the perfect way to teach her and get back at her. I waved everyone over and told them to listen to me.


    ¡°You really found a solution?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yep, a very simple one too.¡± I replied solemnly.


    ¡°Then tell me!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°This is gonna sound stupid but Kaley, she¡¯s right. Please take off your clothes.¡± I said with a straight face and the three have a mixture of colorful expressions.


    ¡°Wow. I was just trying to get her n.a.k.e.d for some bullshit reason and you¡¯re even in on it. Good on you.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°I knew it!¡± Kaley stomped her feet while Cynthia started chuckling.


    ¡°Are you three like this always~?¡± Cynthia muttered.


    ¡°Kaley, trust me. It¡¯s for your sake.¡± I said with a serious look.


    Her eyes scanned over me and after a few moments of hesitation, she undressed. She couldn¡¯t look at anyone in the eye and that was what I was going for.


    ¡°I¡¯m only gonna do it once! I¡¯m telling you this doesn¡¯t make any sense!¡± Kaley eximed. <hr>


    ¡°Wait. Just a moment, not so fast.¡± I quickly stopped her and I called for Tatiana and Cynthia. We huddled in a corner after I made Tatiana wore her clothes back. I told the two of my n and the two started giggling. Kaley was starting to get annoyed looking at us because she can¡¯t hear what we¡¯re talking about.


    ¡°This¡­ this might work!¡± Tatiana whispered.


    ¡°Is that really the solution?¡± Cynthia whispered as well.


    ¡°Yeah, I just figured it out. Trust me and do as I say.¡± I whispered to them.


    Kaley was looking really embarrassed now since she¡¯s n.a.k.e.d in front of three peoplepletely clothed. It didn¡¯t stop there because we three suddenly sat on the marble floor.


    ¡°Why are you down there?!¡± Kaley tried to cover herself.


    ¡°This view is much better.¡± Tatiana nodded a few times.


    ¡°You¡¯re really pretty!¡± Cynthia eximed.


    ¡°Of course she is, we could even see everything. Kaley, please.¡± I tried my best to embarrass her even more.


    ¡°IF THIS DOESN¡¯T WORK, YOU THREE ARE DEAD!¡± she eximed before she performed the starting motion.


    Kaley was about to die from embarrassment but she suddenly performed the kick that I¡¯m asking for.


    That was when the ¡®wrong¡¯ kick happened once again.


    When her right leg was raised up, she saw us staring down below. She got so embarrassed, she tried to cover herself by lowering her right thigh while twisting her knee down. She was in the middle of turning around and that was the exact same movement from earlier.


    Instead of her foot sweeping horizontally, twisting her knee allowed the force from the spinning motion of her whole body to transfer to her knee so it could spring abruptly while twisting forwards. When her knee twisted, her foot did the same thing and it was able to release more powerpared to the ¡®right¡¯ kick.


    Even for punches, twisting your arm would deliver more power and even higher prationpared to a normal straight punch. That sort of twisting movement even applied to guns when bullets were fired.


    The only difference now from earlier was that she was closing her eyes since her lower ¡®goods¡¯ was exposed.


    *WHOOSH*


    Perfect.


    The wind she produced this time was even strongerpared to her ¡®right¡¯ kick. Tatiana¡¯s smiling expression earlier was now reced by curiosity the same as Cynthia. The moment the ¡®wrong¡¯ kick was finished, Kaley immediately covered herself with her hands. She was about to die from embarrassment because the three of us were intently staring at her.


    ¡°WHY ARE YOU THREE SO SILENT?! SAY SOMETHING! DID IT WORK?!¡± Kaley snapped. <hr>


    ¡°It did.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°It did?¡± Kaley tried to confirm.


    ¡°Wait, do it again.¡± Tatiana said.


    I was about to exin to Kaley the reason why she should be n.a.k.e.d but I lost the chance. It was simple really, stupid too. I just needed her to get embarrassed enough so her kick would move in a different direction. I used a different method of teaching her but we still arrived at the result that we wanted. I know this training session was over the moment I heard Tatiana¡¯s suggestion.


    ¡°Hmm? Even I saw it clearly. That was more powerful.¡± Cynthia added.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t see it clearly.¡± Tatiana replied while shrugging her shoulders.


    ¡°But-¡± Kaley was already about to put her clothes on.


    ¡°Put your clothes onter! Just one more so I could see ¡®it¡¯ clearly.¡± Tatiana tried to convince her while smiling like an idiot.


    ¡°What do you need to see clearly?!¡± Kaley asked, annoyed.


    ¡°Your perfect puss-¡± then Kaley immediately lunged at her.


    Tatiana wasn¡¯t able to stand up that fast because she was trying to hold herughter. Kaley threw her clothes first at Tatiana¡¯s face to impede her vision so she could dash and bridge the distance. Cynthia on the other hand quickly caught Tatiana¡¯s bowl because Tatiana threw it towards her so it wouldn¡¯t break from what was about to happen. I was too sore to do anything so I just scooted over and let them figure it out on their own. Cynthia was trying to get out of their way since Kaley started a rush of attacks.


    I waved Cynthia over and we shared the bowl of Tatiana¡¯s food. It was filled with little pieces of meat thered in barbecue sauce, creamy mashed potatoes, and a few slices of cheese.


    ¡°This is good! How many did Tatiana have? Four?¡± I asked Cynthia.


    ¡°Thanks! I cooked it¡­ oh! She just had a couple¡­¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°After that fight, she¡¯s gonna eat a lot more. She eats a lot.¡± I chuckled while watching the two fight.


    ¡°Y-you¡¯re not gonna stop them?¡± Cynthia asked me.


    ¡°I usually do but I¡¯m hurt for real this time. My whole body¡¯s sore and that kick connecting had me running on fumes.¡± I replied.


    She poured me a ss of wine and she said, ¡°We have medical staff over here, do you need any help? I could call them for you?¡±


    ¡°Thanks, but all I need is to get stuffed with food and have a few hours of sleep.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? You¡¯re not Luffy!¡± she looked at me weirdly. <hr>


    I was stunned.


    ¡°What did you just say?¡± I looked at her straight in the eye.


    ¡°U-ummm, nevermind. I-It¡¯s not i-important¡­¡± she looked away while fiddling with her hair.


    ¡°Cynthia, look at me.¡± I said with a stern voice but she wouldn¡¯tply so I held her head and made her look at me forcefully.


    ¡°W-w-w-w-what?¡± Cynthia stuttered but her eyes were still avoiding me.


    ¡°Manga or anime?¡± I asked a very important question.


    ¡°W-w-w-what?¡± she asked, still scared from my gaze.


    ¡°Just. F.u.c.k.i.n.g. Answer.¡± I said loud enough for the two to stop fighting.


    ¡°M-m-manga¡­¡± she was about to cry.


    I startedughing like a maniac and all the pain from my body faded away like an illusion.


    ¡°Cynthia.¡± I said after calming down.


    ¡°W-w-what?¡± she was shaking from the aura I¡¯m emanating.


    ¡°You know what? You and I just became friends. What chapter have you readst?¡± I smiled brightly.


    ¡°You read them too?! Thest copy I had was from when they just reached the prison to get his brother!¡± Cynthia eximed while pulling out her phone.


    ¡°WHAT?! YOU¡¯RE THAT FAR BEHIND?!¡± I was in shock.


    ¡°B-behind?! H-how far?!¡± she was in shock as well.


    ¡°Turn the file-sharing app on your phone!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°O-o-o-okay! W-wait a sec!¡± she was fl.u.s.tered.


    I began to transfer everything that I had up to thetest one right until the shit hit the fan. The two of us never stopped talking while Kaley and Tatiana couldn¡¯t enter the conversation. I never thought she would be into one of the stuff I worship. I even gave her a few questions only real fans would know but only up to thetest that she had read and she answered all of them.


    ¡°W-what¡¯s happening?¡± Kaley and Tatiana muttered.

 Chapter 336

    Chapter 336: 336


    Cynthia and I were enjoying the conversation that we were having and we even dragged Kaley and Tatiana since the two were so silent. We even put up a board to exin to the two the nature of the book and the treasure that they were trying to obtain. I was certain that Tatiana was up to something earlier but blood was slowly spurting out of her when Cynthia and I started geeking out. Kaley on the other hand, put on some clothes first while we¡¯re setting up the board earlier. Tatiana was about to short circuit while Kaley was trying her best to remember everything. However, Kaley was emanating an aura towards Cynthia. <center></center><hr>


    The time we have was cut short when one of Mr. Cuervo¡¯s people knocked on the door to inform us that the feast was already prepared after a miscalcted dy. The feast would start in a few minutes and they were informing us in advance. They asked us to wear something nice and we could choose from the clothes inside the closet. However, Cynthia said that her clothing was in the other room so she took Tatiana with her though Tatiana was dreading to wear dresses again. Before leaving, she held the door and looked back.


    ¡°Talk to youter?¡± Cynthia asked, holding the door.


    ¡°Yep. I¡¯ll introduce you to some novelster if you¡¯re interested.¡± I waved at them goodbye.


    ¡°Sure! Thanks for the copies again!¡± Cynthia dragged Tatiana away.


    The door was eventually closed and Kaley was pouting when I saw her.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m jealous.¡± she admitted.


    ¡°What?! I thought your name was Kaley? Hello Jealous, I¡¯m Sky.¡± I said with a straight face.


    I thought she was gonna attack me or something but she just stared at me.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m sorry for being unreasonable earlier. I was just¡­ a bit overwhelmed that¡¯s all, with all that¡¯s happening here. But thank you for trying to cheer me up, even the headbutt¡­ it worked.¡± Kaley said as she sat on the bed.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s hard when you could understand people to the degree that you and your mom could.¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    She faintly smiled as she looked down.


    ¡°You understand them to a degree that you can¡¯t get mad at them for doing something you don¡¯t like because you know how their mind works. Wait- well, not getting mad can¡¯t be attributed to you but you understand my point, right? I think you already know how to solve it.¡± I chuckled.


    She nodded a few times.


    ¡°Now that you¡¯re back, I think, I¡¯ll apologize for always thinking that you¡¯re always at your 100% emotionally. I had my times like that too, more than you I might say. Let¡¯s just say I¡¯m more experienced navigating through the chaos because I¡¯ve been there a lot of times already.¡± I concluded.


    ¡°Thank you¡­¡± she started to smile.


    ¡°Wanna see what they have over there? I bet a few of the guys were about to finish up. What do you say?¡± I slowly stretched my body.


    Kaley nodded and we opened the closet.


    The number of high-quality suits and dresses inside their guest room alone was staggering. Even the shoes and other essories were not only high-quality but also f.u.c.k.i.n.g expensive. I could only imagine what Mr. Cuervo would be wearing.


    ¡°Hey, are we bringing our guns? I could strap it on my leg, how about you?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°You think something¡¯s going down?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Just being sure¡­¡± she trailed. <hr>


    ¡°Good answer. Of course, we always have one ready.¡± I replied.


    I wore an all-ck, sleek 2-piece suit that matched with the shoes, the watch, and the cufflink I picked for myself. They prepared different varieties and sizes so I easily found the right one. Kaley came out wearing a dress thatplimented the suit I was wearing. It was also sleek and ck that matched with the high-heels and jewelry she was wearing. Instead of strapping her gun to her leg, she just ced it inside a purse that she found in the closet. I on the other hand simply appendix-carried my gun.


    What surprised me was that my wakizashi and katana were cleaned thoroughly. I checked them properly and each part was perfectly fitted and the oil was even the right amount I usually ce.


    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Wow, where did you find the tools?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I just asked if they have tools for cleaning swords and they brought me a set. Turns out, Mr. Cuervo has a collection of not just guns but also swords. They even offered to help earlier when you were asleep but I did it myself.¡± Kaley proudly said.


    ¡°Can we just skip the feast and I take you here right now?¡± I said as I kissed her.


    ¡°Hmm? I thought you said you were sore?¡± Kaley replied while raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m hard too.¡± I cheekily said.


    ¡°Oh god! Hahahaha!¡± Kaley startedughing but she leaned over to me.


    We were hugging each other when we heard a knock on the door. Kaley just mouthed ter¡¯ before she took my hand and we opened the door. <hr>


    We were greeted by a butler and he made a small bow before guiding us to their dining area. Several round tables were present with fancy decorations. Everyone was standing by the side of the tables though a few chairs were ced near the walls. We saw that Tatiana, Cynthia, Ilya, and Irene were already there with the other guests like Ben and Jerry. Tatiana and Ilya were looking so ufortable and the same could be said for Irene. Cynthia was hiding her phone underneath the table and the other guests were just simply chattering with each other. Jared and the rest of our group were outside in the yard partying and the ones invited to this dining area were the ones Mr. Cuervo requested personally.


    We were guided to our spot and the only ones not present were Mr. Cuervo and his wife. A few servants were approaching the other guests as if they were taking their orders. They finally approached us and they started asking us for our drink of choice and it felt like they have everything. Kaley chose for us and Cynthia immediately tried to get my attention.


    ¡°Hey! You two look great!¡± Cynthia tapped me.


    ¡°Thanks, you too. Tell me, how hard was it to convince Tatiana to wear a dress?¡± I chuckled when I heard Tatiana groan.


    ¡°Ugh! I had to made a lot of promises just for her to agree! Did you know¡­¡± Cynthia started telling me her trials and tribtions while Kaley and I startedughing.


    ¡°How about you Ilya?¡± I tried to get his attention.


    Ilya kept on adjusting his tie and he can¡¯t seem to find the right way to lean on the table.


    ¡°Hey coach, can I just go outside? I really hate fancy gatherings like these¡­¡± Ilya whispered to me.


    ¡°Me too bud but we have to power through this.¡± I whispered as well.


    ¡°This is harder than the matches. We didn¡¯t even get to fight!¡± Ilya asked for a drink.


    ¡°Mr. Cuervo has a gym downstairs. You could ask to use it after this?¡± Cynthia added. <hr>


    ¡°He does? Now we¡¯re talking.¡± Ilya became energized.


    ¡°Uhh, no we¡¯re not. I¡¯m injured.¡± I broke his bubble.


    ¡°What?! What happened?¡± Ilya was upset.


    ¡°Kaley happened. If you managed to receive more than five kicks from her, I¡¯ll just admit that you¡¯re better than me, is that okay?¡± I lied so Kaley could practice with him. Cynthia and Tatiana just smiled when Ilya immediately agreed.


    ¡°I¡¯ll receive ten to prove a point.¡± Ilya muttered.


    ¡°Your funeral.¡± I thought to myself.


    We continued on talking to pass the time and we even mingled with some of the guests. We found out that some of them were past winners and they were simply invited back just to watch the games. I received a few praises and I managed to fish out a little information while we¡¯re talking with them. I found out about their general location and their situation in this apocalypse. I still didn¡¯t divulge that we¡¯re looking for the people that killed Lester¡¯s rtives since I was still making sure that they were not the ones who did it themselves. I was vague as possible and I was slowly anchoring the conversation to that ce to get some sort of reaction.


    In the end, still no clue.


    I then told Ilya to tell me if he could recognize some of them but so far, they were all unfamiliar to him. Same as earlier, we didn¡¯t tell them that we¡¯re looking for two more members of Tatiana¡¯s team because they¡¯ll immediately know that we were the ones sending out feelers every single day. However, what I mentioned was that we¡¯ve been hearing the feelers ourselves and we were trying to keep an eye out. Things just got a bit dicey when they asked about Ilya and Tatiana because they¡¯ve been calling Ilya ¡®dimir¡¯ and if that wasn¡¯t sounding Russian, nothing would. Even Tatiana¡¯s name was amon Russian name and it would be difficult to get through that hurdle.


    We managed to lie our way through by saying that Ilya used to an MMA fighter abroad. He retired because he was diagnosed with being punch drunk so he used all his money to buynd here and even managed to score a local wife. The lie was perfect because he won several matches, tanned all over because of daily farm-work, and Irene told them about his wife.


    Tatiana¡¯s ¡®backstory¡¯ was a little~ different.


    ¡°I¡¯m a mail-order bride.¡± Tatiana confidently said.

 Chapter 337

    Chapter 337: 337


    Tatiana was wearing ace dress with the color of her eyes. Its sleeves were up to her wrists and she¡¯s also wearingce gloves with the same color. It reached above her knees and it outlined her body perfectly. She was even wearing luxurious earrings in which I surmised that came from Cynthia. Cynthia was wearing almost the same dress but her back was exposed and the sleeves were only up to her shoulders. <center></center><hr>


    However, that was not the focus at the moment.


    We almost lost it when Tatiana suddenly answered. The wine I was drinking almost came up to my nose and Kaley quickly turned around to hide her reaction. Ilya and the rest of the guests present stared in shock from Tatiana¡¯s statement but after a few moments, Tatiana startedughing.


    ¡°I¡¯m just joking! Lighten up! We¡¯re here to have fun, correct?¡± Tatiana was brightly smiling while everyone¡¯s expressions slowly returned to normal.


    In this country, mail-order brides used to be a normal thing but it was banned and deemed to be illegal now the same as in Russia and a few countries. However, the term was the only thing abolished and it still continued up to this day since the demand was still high even if it was illegal. It was a way for women here to find a rich and foreign husband to have a better life or move up on the socialdder.


    ¡°Well, what¡¯s your real story? You already know that I used to be a real estate agent, it¡¯s only fair, right?¡± a guy wearing a dress shirt with a vest asked. His name was Brian and he¡¯s a good friend of Mr. Cuervo.


    ¡°Does it even matter anymore? It¡¯s pretty boring in dwelling on past lives.¡± Tatiana smiled.


    ¡°It¡¯s not boring, it¡¯s fun.¡± a woman wearing a simple yellow dress added. She was Mary, Brian¡¯s partner.


    The small talk started to bore me but I still listened to their random stories. It¡¯s because sometimes people would blurt out or say important stuff in the open if they were intoxicated and having a good time. I decided to let Tatiana pick her own backstory herself. In the end, she decided that she was my security detail. I had no choice but to nod and smile while Kaley started to lose air by trying to keep herself fromughing.


    Mr. Cuervo and his wife finally arrived.


    He was wearing a white three-piece suit with gold trim on the sleeves, cor, and on the buttons. His beautiful wife was wearing a dress with the same color scheme and she apanied it with a zer thatplimented her whole outfit.


    ¡°Friends, families, and champions, I apologize for beingte because we didn¡¯t think that the games would finish this early! I stumbled by having the schedule moved early! Our champion this time was so formidable!¡± Mr. Cuervo smiled as he looked at me. <center></center><hr>


    A fewughs and apuse followed then he continued.


    ¡°Believe it or not, I thought I was looking at myself when I was still at that age!¡± Mr. Cuervo eximed but a snort quickly followed.


    ¡°When you were his age, you were still busy courting me in the streets! Don¡¯t lie to our guests!¡± Mrs. Cuervo interjected and everyoneughed.


    ¡°Aiyayai~ Veronica! Don¡¯t tell them our secret love story! I might court you again here if you do! Don¡¯t try me, I will!¡± Mr. Cuervo raised his hands in disbelief though he¡¯s smiling.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll stop Marco Antonio. We might take four years before you even start to speak to me¡­¡± Mrs. Cuervo giggled.


    ¡°Dios mio~ Veronica~ Where¡¯s our food! Please serve us before my secret courting techniques to woo my wife gets revealed to the public! Martinez! Please tell them to hurry a bi- Oh! They¡¯re here~ Vamonos! Vamonos! Let¡¯s eat first before we discuss our important matters!¡± Mr. Cuervo told us to sit on our tables while the food was being served.


    I was surprised to see delicacies with this amount being served to his guests because even I would only serve this much when we aplished something substantial at home. It was like dining in a fancy restaurant like the world never ended. I saw Kaley and she¡¯s looking at me and it seemed that we share the same thoughts. Tatiana, on the other hand, was the first to devour everything on her path and we¡¯re lucky a lot was served on our table. They had probably caught wind of Tatiana¡¯s eating habits when she was first invited by Mrs. Cuervo inside this house.


    I could already feel the fatigue leaving my body when I tasted food that cooked to perfection. I was eating a tomahawk steak and it was cooked to the right temperature and the seasoning was just the right amount. The potato puree at the side was also magical with the poached lobster tail with olive oil. Aside from those, we were also served traditional Mole, Enchdas, Tamales, and a mouth-watering Chiles en Nogada. It was Pono chilies filled with Picadillo topped with a walnut-based cream sauce, pomegranate, and parsley. Tatiana already ate three of those.


    While we¡¯re still eating, I just noticed that we were the ones on the table which was the farthest to Mr. Cuervo. I saw Brian and Mary talking about something that must be important and Mr. Cuervo was listening intently. They shook hands after a few minutes and the couple went back to their designated table. The people talking with him rotated until we¡¯re thest ones left. I was waiting for the call from his butler but we were never called to speak to him.


    The feast continued for a few more minutes before all of his guests bid their goodbyes. Even Mrs. Cuervo excused herself after a short whisper from her husband. The only ones left inside this dining area were my group including Irene, Ben and Jerry, and Mr. Cuervo himself. Jerry whispered a few things to Mr. Cuervo before he looked at me, signaling me toe to Mr. Cuervo¡¯s table by myself.


    I stood up and slowly walked to his table while my katana was at my right hand to show friendly intentions. I was delighted that he knows the meaning of it because he smiled and nodded at the same time. It was a basic rule in being a guest in someone¡¯s home while carrying a weapon like mine. However, in the end, it¡¯s just rules made for a real samurai. <hr>


    That rule doesn¡¯t apply to me but I performed it for him to think that I follow this rule. This rule was just made while assuming that all samurai were right-handed because by cing your katana on your right side, you were telling people that you do not intend to use your weapon. Expanding on that, a right-handed person could draw their katana faster if they were drawing it from the left side of their body. That was why cing it on your right could tell them your good intentions.


    ¡°Mr. Cuervo.¡± I gave him a nod.


    ¡°Mr. Ishiyama, please sit.¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    ¡°Thank you for allowing me to speak to you privately.¡± I said.


    ¡°No, no. no. Don¡¯t thank me, thank yourself. I give my champions extra- ah~ what¡¯s this¡­ let¡¯s just say consideration. What do you need? Trust me, everything we talk about stays here. You have my word as a man.¡± Mr. Cuervo assured me.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s safe to assume that you know everything that happens in this area, right?¡± I started.


    ¡°Of course. Well, my influence has thinned ever since a lot of my people died due to this Muerto thing but it¡¯s safe to say I still have some pull. Those people earlier were some of my associates and I stand above them.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Great. I want to know if you have any idea about an attack on a small family with two little kids? We went here hoping we could provide some closure to the man they left behind. It has already been a while since it happened and we just discovered their bodies earlier this afternoon.¡± I said.


    ¡°Hmm, and where did this happen?¡± he asked me.


    ¡°It happened near the small elementary school that used to be a small DDR Camp.¡± I replied.


    ¡°If that was the case, there¡¯s a high possibility that it could be one of my people. Have you taken a look around and saw all of them? Does anyone seem familiar?¡± he said. <hr>


    ¡°We walked around but we didn¡¯t recognize anyone except for the ones that camest which were your drivers.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then I suggest you ask someone to meet with them and have a look personally.¡± he replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re just gonna let us have them if we confirmed it was them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Why not?!¡± Irene suddenly interjected.


    ¡°I¡¯m not talking to you I¡¯m talking to him.¡± Mr. Cuervo looked at Irene momentarily before looking back at me.


    ¡°Please ask me her question so I could answer you.¡± he said.


    ¡°Could you tell us why not?¡± I asked for Irene.


    ¡°I have my own rules to follow. It happened outside so a much higher rule superseded mine. I think you know what that is, right? Being the champion and all.¡± he said.


    I thought for a moment and said, ¡°Laws of the jungle.¡±


    He pped his hands twice before smiling brightly and he said, ¡°That¡¯s right! This ce right here is bound by my rules but the outside is not! The outside is bound by something greater than what I could possibly have control over now and that¡¯s thew of the jungle! We¡¯re not even sure if my people were really the ones who did it but anything they do outside is not my concern. The strongest survive and those people were killed because they were weak and it¡¯s their fault. I apologize for my harsh words but it¡¯s the truth. If they were killed here, it would be another story but rules are rules. I just hope that this thing ends quickly so my influence could extend that far once more. For now, if you want, you could check my people again if they look familiar.¡± <hr>


    Irene grew upset but Jerry tried to calm her down. I looked at my group and they were looking at Mr. Cuervo differently now because his demeanor changed when he started talking about rules. He seemed to be very approachable earlier but now his expression has a tinge of something we couldn¡¯t quite give a proper name yet.


    ¡°Permission to speak.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Granted. I like you, you know how rules work!¡± Mr. Cuervo smiled while twirling his mustache.


    ¡°Hypothetically speaking, if we managed to ID them as one of your people, if we somehow saw them outside and we killed them, that¡¯s their fault, correct?¡± Tatiana said with a smile.


    Mr. Cuervo suddenly stood up after mming the table hard.


    ¡°That¡¯s right! You get what I mean! I now know why my wife likes you! As long as the rules were followed, there would be no hard feelings for me. It would even be the exact opposite, I got your backs if the rules were followed to the dot!¡± Mr. Cuervo grew excited.


    ¡°And if we go back here next time, and their friends tried to avenge them while were still inside, they¡¯re the ones at fault, correct? They could only avenge them when we¡¯re outside as well, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Yes! Yes! That¡¯s correct! You¡¯re all getting it! This is great!¡± Mr. Cuervo grew much more excited.


    ¡°Question, why did you made a deal with Kaley earlier so she could give me my wakizashi? Are there exceptions to the rules?¡± I tried to confirm a few things.


    ¡°Ah, the rules for the games are not yet perfect because we always modify them depending on the circ.u.mstances but the one we discussed earlier is already irond and cannot be changed.¡± Mr. Cuervo replied.

 Chapter 338

    Chapter 338: 338


    I was analyzing each and every word he was speaking and actions he was performing. I know a few things to determine if a person was being untruthful or hiding something but it was not as good as Kaley or her mom. My methods were stemming from my own experience and research on it by attending sses, reading books, and watching how the professionals do it themselves. <center></center><hr>


    Mr. Cuervo was telling the truth.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t care what happens to anyone or even himself as long as the rules are being followed. The only thing I¡¯m not sure is how far do his people follow it? Is it the same as him or is it something else? What about his wife? Do the rules also apply to her? If that¡¯s the case, that means that this ce is a safe haven for every one good or bad. This ce is something good and bad at the same time.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Mr. Ishiyama, something on your mind? Don¡¯t keep it in, we should talk to each other like we¡¯re open books. That¡¯s the key to a good rtionship, yes?¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    ¡°Is that so?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yes. You could lie to me but it will just dampen our rtionship. But, everything that¡¯sing out of my mouth has never been a lie. My key to my sess is following the rules of the world and the rules I¡¯ve ced on myself and my people. That¡¯s why this ce is alive! Can you see what I¡¯m seeing? If everyone in the world just followed the rules, what a world could ours have turned out.¡± he lit a cigar.


    ¡°Can you tell me what you used to do? Before all this?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Ah, the usual stuff all the previous champions have asked me. What do you think? Don¡¯t worry, use stereotypes as much as possible! It¡¯s one of the floating rules of this ce!¡± Mr. Cuervo chuckled. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Huge gatedmunity, lot¡¯s of associates from other high-end ces, police force on payroll, f.u.c.k.i.n.g rich, guards equipped with automatic weapons, entertainers for hire, andstly¡­ part Latino-¡± I was about to finish my sentence but he stopped me.


    ¡°Just say Mexican for f.u.c.ks sake- oh, go on, hah! I think you¡¯re really~ close. Let me tell you, no one has guessed correctly yet!¡± Mr. Cuervo¡¯s smile was bright.


    ¡°You¡¯re part of the Mexican cartel in this country, well, what it used to be. The president has been at war with the drug trade here ever since he won the election and just three years in, all the ¡®known¡¯ major yers were killed. It wasn¡¯t stoppedpletely but the series of killings significantly slowed down the business. The only question I haven¡¯t figured out yet is what is the exact ¡®part¡¯ do you y in as but I have a few ideas without proof. However, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re 100% part of it.¡± I exined


    ¡°Magnifico! That head of yours is as valuable as your fighting prowess, maybe even better! Can you at least give a guess? I bet you could do it!¡± Mr. Cuervo was ecstatic.


    ¡°Sure, there are a few things in my mind. Being a snitch is out of the question because of how you conduct yourself and I know Mexicans don¡¯t flip. Being a major distributor while having huge parties like this even before this shit started is too much heat, and too idiotic. Your people in the business work smart and you¡¯re always at the top of your game. Sooner orter, people would start to ask questions if you continue like that while still in the business. However, if you¡¯re not a major distributor, why is the police force on your payroll and you have a f.u.c.kton of guns with guards watching this ce 24/7?¡± I started.


    ¡°Go on¡­¡± Mr. Cuervo was nodding a few times with the same smile.


    ¡°My guess is you used to be one and got out with a deal. You formed your own ce here and your source of ie is not drugs anymore but abination of something legit and something that is not. You already know the way around the police force and the president won¡¯t give a f.u.c.k at what you¡¯re doing as long as it¡¯s not drugs because it was his main focus when he got elected. Well, we know that nobody gets outpletely so those associates of yours are probably getting something from you. What I¡¯m thinking is your role is to advise and vet people in this ce while acting as some sort of a middleman for your past bosses.¡± I concluded.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You really are one of a kind hermano!!! Yeah, I used to sell the blue stuff. You know my story, can you tell me what¡¯s yours? I¡¯m very excited to know what was the life you were living before all this. Please, do tell me!¡± Mr. Cuervo was so happy he offered me a drink and a cigar from his own private collection. <hr>


    ¡°Me? Oh, I sell rice.¡± I replied with a nk face.


    *jazz music stops*


    As soon as I said that, Mr. Cuervo, Cynthia, Ben, Jerry, Irene, and Ilya almost choked to death from shock. Kaley and Tatiana took damage as well but they were dying from holding theirughter in. I on the other hand was maintaining the same facial expression before downing the ss and pocketing the cigar.


    ¡°I¡¯m not gonna decline this shit since it¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g Cuban. I wonder what Matthew or Oscar would give me for this if I bring this back? Will I receive a box from my winnings? I bet I¡¯ll get a couple or more. I might get that MK1- well, I¡¯m not even sure if he really has that though¡­¡± I thought to myself, oblivious from what was happening.


    Mr. Cuervo coughed for a couple of times while adjusting his tie before he spoke once more.


    ¡°That is¡­ interesting. I found it really surprising but you¡¯re telling the truth aren¡¯t you, hermano?¡± Mr. Cuervo asked.


    ¡°Yeah, and groceries.¡± I replied once more with the same facial expression. <hr>


    *jazz yer died of dysentery*


    Mr. Cuervo¡¯s mustache twitched a few times but looking closely at me, he was convinced that I was telling the truth. He rubbed his forehead with his hand that was holding his cigar then he chuckled. He was shaking his head with a smile and he poured himself another ss.


    ¡°Okay, I believe you. But tell me, howe you are¡­ like that? The swords, the guns, the skills, the team, everything! I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m just a curious man. Could you at least exin that for me hermano? I for sure thought you were a samurai or somethingpletely different!¡± Mr. Cuervo ced his elbows over the table.


    ¡°Hah! Well, being a samurai can¡¯t be a day job. Let¡¯s just say that I¡¯ve been preparing for something like this happening even with the possibility of it not happening at all. Have you watched Doomsday Preppers?¡± I asked.


    ¡°AHH! That f.u.c.k.i.n.g show that vato Enrique likes to watch! I see, I see. Now I f.u.c.k.i.n.g get it why he¡¯s telling me that he wants to build a f.u.c.k.i.n.g catapult dios mio~ Well, the funds shoulde from something to build the foundation so what better way to do business is to sell the most consumed thing here eh? I respect that hermano. Come on, drink some more with me!¡± he poured me another one and we toasted.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll watch it in my spare time which is every day, hahaha!!! Someone must¡¯ve forgotten to tell me this Muerto thing was gonna be boring day and night! Good thing I have my games and my wife to y with- oh shit~ pendejo~ you didn¡¯t hear thatst part!¡± Mr. Cuervo suddenly looked around with a frightened expression.


    ¡°Veronica is gonna kill me if she hears that-! Aiyayai~¡± Mr. Cuervo muttered before calming down.


    Mr. Cuervo started to rub his be while ncing at me and the others. He said, ¡°Well, is there anything else we could talk about?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Okay, you¡¯ve been straight with me, I¡¯ll be straight with you. However, what I¡¯m about to tell you is something that I¡¯m guessing that you, or any of your associates have no idea about.¡± I started.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Mr. Cuervo¡¯s expression turned serious.


    ¡°Answer me one thing first, you and those associates of yours, you don¡¯t have contact anywhere besides this region, right? Even Mexico or any part of the world?¡± I replied while staring deeply into his eyes.


    Mr. Cuervo paused while staring back and said, ¡°Yes, they¡¯re all that¡¯s left. No one¡¯s returning my calls from Mexico. It¡¯s either they¡¯re too preupied or the people from my old life were all dead.¡±


    ¡°Figures.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°This ce of yours would be gone the moment the ones my team was facinges over here. Those thousand that I faced earlier? You¡¯d wish that was the final trial but it isn¡¯t. You have been getting the easy ones but they wille. Before I tell you any of it, I wish to talk to you alone first.¡± I said in a grim tone.


    ¡°Come with me. Jerry, thank you for the time and please tell Martinez to escort our other guests to their rooms or to tend to their needs while Mr. Ishiyama and I talk privately.¡± Mr. Cuervo said as he motioned for me to follow him.


    I thought he was gonna lead me to his office but we went down a series of stairs.

 Chapter 339

    Chapter 339: 339


    We first came down to a gym that was much bigger than mine. <center></center><hr>


    It was filled with all sorts of gym equipment anyone could imagine and the lights turned on the moment we stepped foot inside. Most of the equipment inside were the ones that do not consume electricity at all. The only thing that consumed any electricity from my initial nce were the clock, motion sensors, cameras, and the air filtration system.


    Computing the area of this gym, it was only upying about two-thirds the size of his whole house.


    We were walking near the wall and we came upon several doors that were unmarked. However, he didn¡¯t open any of them but instead, we made our way to the other side where a door for an elevator was located.


    ¡°I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g jealous.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Damn hermano! No reaction from this! You must be living somewhere simr or much better!¡± Mr. Cuervo eximed.


    ¡°Oh- haha¡­ I was just speechless. This is f.u.c.k.i.n.g awesome. I have a different setup at home.¡± I replied.


    Mr. Cuervo pressed the button outside and the door to the elevators eventually opened. He went inside and motioned for me to follow him. The numbers at the panel were numbered up to B4 but there was a keypad under it. I was looking at the panel but he waved me over.


    ¡°Could you please turn around? I¡¯m gonna withdraw money¡­ pfft! Just kidding, but please do turn around.¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    I turned around and closed my eyes.


    ¡°Thank you. Ah- you even closed your eyes? You don¡¯t have to.¡± Mr. Cuervo said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± Mr. Cuervo trailed.


    I felt him turning around and then I heard the keypad beeping for each press he made. The beeps were automatically registered in my head as he was doing that. I¡¯d only need to hear each one first so I could identify which beep belong to which code.


    ¡°Okay, I hope this code works for going up as well¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay, you can turn around now.¡± Mr. Cuervo said when the elevator started to move.


    ¡°You know, a separate room is enough for a private talk. You¡¯re making me feel too special.¡± I joked.


    ¡°Hah! Well, you asked for somewhere private to talk so I obliged. I just have the ce, it¡¯s where I used to conduct business before. Do you also have something simr?¡± Mr. Cuervo replied.


    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s by the poolside, not several floors underground.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Hahaha! Is that so? Hidden in in sight eh? Well, that is a good idea, cheaper too! In my case, I can¡¯t just openly stack that blue stuff outside.¡± Mr. Cuervo chuckled as well.


    It was a few moments and then the elevator door opened. What I saw was a hallway with a single metal door at the end with a camera on the top currently recording. There was another panel awaiting input and I turned around once more to listen for the sounds. The locks of the door retracted and I saw that it was like a vault lock when I walked right past it.


    What I saw was a medium-sized room with a long table with velvet designs. There were two doors at the other end where one was made out of metal and the other wood. There was a single ashtray at one end of the table and there were monitors at one wall and it seems that this ce was some sort of meeting/ conference room. <hr>


    ¡°Is this the private ce?¡± I asked, half-jokingly.


    ¡°Well, we could use this but let¡¯s go to something morefortable. Follow me. I promise it¡¯s thest door.¡± Mr. Cuervo walked up to the metal door.


    ¡°How long?¡± I asked while I was turning my back.


    ¡°How long what?¡± Mr. Cuervo replied.


    ¡°Since you¡¯ve been out.¡± I said.


    ¡°Ah, close to two decades now. Ah, here we are!¡± Mr. Cuervo replied.


    Thest door finally opened and what I saw was really the definition of f.u.c.k.i.n.gfortable. Mr. Cuervo even unbuttoned his suit and removed his shoes. He threw it on the couch and he asked me to do the same. It was a literal mancave where anyone would wish to hole up in for a weekend to wind down. There was a bar filled with different kinds of liquor, a pool area, arge t screen, game systems, a pole for strippers on the side, a nice kitchen, stocked refrigerator, andst but not least a separate motherf.u.c.k.i.n.g armory filled with all sorts of weapons and an indoor range.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit, how much did he earn from selling that blue stuff?!¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°You know, for someone you just met, you do trust me a lot eh?¡± Mr. Cuervo said while heading for the bar. He was now wearingfy slippers and a silk robe.


    ¡°Hmm? Why do you think that?¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Well, not to rm you or anything but you literally turned your back against me three times! Three f.u.c.k.i.n.g times! You even closed your eyes for f.u.c.k¡¯s sake! If that wasn¡¯t trust, I don¡¯t know what is. Thank you hermano. Come! Have this one!¡± Mr. Cuervo poured me a drink.


    ¡°Well, the same applies to you.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Hmm? Why do you think that?¡± Mr. Cuervo replied.


    ¡°Well, not to rm you or anything but you literally were inside my range for the whole time! The whole f.u.c.k.i.n.g time! Well, you didn¡¯t close your eyes but you didn¡¯t even try to point your gun at me! If that wasn¡¯t trust, I don¡¯t know what is. Thank you as well.¡± I modified his words then I picked up the ss and stared at him.


    The two of us were silent for a moment and then we startedughing.


    ¡°Nice one vato!¡± Mr. Cuervo downed his ss faster than me.


    I finally finished my ss and I ced it back on the table. However, this time he didn¡¯t refill our drinks and he was just staring at me.


    ¡°Okay hermano, what is it that you want to tell me alone?¡± Mr. Cuervo asked.


    ¡°Mr. Cuervo, I want this thing with you and my group to work. You are someone that I respect because I think that you decided on something that you want to do and you followed it without question, regardless of the feelings of everyone and even yourself. Calling you rare does not do it justice. I¡¯ve met a lot of people and you are one of those that reached my extraordinary list.¡± I started.


    ¡°Well hermano, that is ttering, to say the least. Is this why you wanted to be alone with me or is there something more?¡± Mr. Cuervo smiled.


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have a proper entry for this but this is where I decide if I will kill you or not.¡± my face lost all expression. <hr>


    The temperature dropped several degrees and the warmth I felt from drinking alcoholpletely dissipated.


    ¡°What did you just say hermano? Kill me? Why?¡± Mr. Cuervo¡¯s bright expression changed to confusion.


    ¡°You see Mr. Cuervo, believe it or not, drugs changed my life, the same as you. You have this nice ce, you have a beautiful wife, and from what I¡¯ve heard, two blessed kids. The only difference with our rtionship with drugs is that you gained something extremely positive while I gained theplete opposite. I couldn¡¯t say that it was all bad but what I lost was too much.¡± I said without any emotion.


    ¡°Tell me, what happened to you hermano?¡± Mr. Cuervo said solemnly.


    ¡°If I tell you my story as to why we¡¯re having this conversation, you would simply dismiss it as the victims just being weak because of your views. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I respect your views and your rules. Trust me, I would follow them in this ce of yours but there are some things that I couldn¡¯t just let go easily. I almost lost the ability to feel any emotion and I don¡¯t want that to happen again.¡± I said with a dark expression.


    Mr. Cuervo was silently staring at me with a solemn expression.


    ¡°Mr. Cuervo, like I said earlier, I want this thing with you and my group to work. However, working with you while I¡¯m seeing current ¡®dealers¡¯ in close proximity is impossible. Acting like it was nothing to me is equivalent to lying to myself. I could as easily kill them all after I wait for them to go outside but that feels like going behind your back. It would still go by your rules even if I do that but it wouldn¡¯t be the same for me. Like you, I¡¯m a curious man as well. I¡¯m curious if this rule of yours has a limitation or not. Would you still abide by your rules if your wife murdered someone inside? Which are irond and which are not? Could you confirm that for me, Mr. Cuervo?¡± I stared back at him.


    ¡°Hermano, like I told you and everyone else, rules are rules. It applies to everyone inside even my wife and my kids. You could conduct your own business once you are outside my ce but while you are here, my rules are absolute. The words that came out of my mouth is what I will follow to my death because I never turn back on my words. The moment I do, there would be no more point for me in living. I¡¯ll kill myself the moment I do that. If you feel like you¡¯re going behind my back if you kill my associates outside, don¡¯t. I¡¯d be happy to have someone who¡¯s much more capable and wholly respects the views that I have.¡± Mr. Cuervo exined.


    ¡°Then I want you to answer thisst question of mine. Your answer will decide what happens to everyone you know. Please tell me an honest answer and once you do, I¡¯ll tell you everything that I know first before what happens, happens. What I know doesn¡¯t guarantee the safety of your people but it would give you the fighting chance and even better ¡®associates¡¯ than what you currently have. Please don¡¯t treat the way I talk as threatening you, I¡¯m just stating the facts. Like what I said upstairs, you have no idea of what ising and what I could do. With half of my team, I could have easily wiped this ce clean while the party is still ongoing and no one would¡¯ve seen iting. The people that would being next week for your games would just see an empty Cuervo Heights. This is a professional courtesy because I want to work with someone like you.¡± I said.


    Mr. Cuervo breathed deeply before saying, ¡°Okay, what is thisst question of yours hermano?¡±


    ¡°Getting out, why?¡± I looked at him with a solemn expression.

 Chapter 340

    Chapter 340: 340


    Mr. Cuervo sighed heavily before pulling himself up the bar and sitting on it while his legs were dangling. He corked the bottle of alcohol and then the sses we were drinking from earlier were pushed to the side. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You know, what I got from doing what I had to do was not all positive like you said. I was never even in their inner circle because I¡¯m not pure Mexican. I was just a f.u.c.k.i.n.g son of a puta.¡± Mr. Cuervo was looking up at the ceiling.


    ¡°I started in the business young because first, I never knew better, and second, I didn¡¯t have a f.u.c.k.i.n.g choice. The only thing that put food on our table was doing that and that¡¯s all I knew. I had to be the one to work my ass off even at a young age because my madre was a f.u.c.k.i.n.g useless piece of shit. Even so, I never ran away. She¡¯s a useless piece of shit but she¡¯s still my madre.¡± Mr. Cuervo shook his head reminiscing.


    ¡°Years passed and I was still doing the same thing. I shot a lot of people and I slit a lot of throats. Next thing I know I was being sent back to where my madre used to live while she was still in Mexico. I moved up in thedder but I was still not inside the circle. They tasked me to start the business here by moving in coke, meth, and even ecstasy. I have a small crew at that time and all of them were gone now. Before you ask, they didn¡¯t follow my rules so I killed them myself. Sorry, this story of mine is taking too long¡­¡± he faintly smiled.


    ¡°No, I like stories. Good or bad, I¡¯ll give a reviewter so please, go on¡­¡± I replied with a solemn look but with a faint smile.


    ¡°Well, if you know what happened to Miami back then when coke was just f.u.c.k.i.n.g new, my bosses wanted me to do that here. I had trouble because more people were inclined with meth which you call shabu here. Well, aside from a few rival gangs from other cartels and even the presence of triads, it was much easier herepared to the mothend. I easily managed to get people in high ces and a lot of politicians. It ran deep for years that¡¯s why your president was having trouble when he got elected. Because the number of people that have power connected to the scene was just too much.¡± he swung his feet around.


    ¡°But props to that crazy f.u.c.ker, if I didn¡¯t get out that time, I would¡¯ve been dead by now. Your president is f.u.c.k.i.n.g crazy I tell you that, heh. He¡¯s crazy but he got almost all of them in three f.u.c.k.i.n.g years. He didn¡¯t y by the rules and just ordered to kill them on sight. Granted my connection with them was still ongoing but your president couldn¡¯t find anything on me. It was because I was out for so long and my methods of staying away from their radars were already tested by time. That¡¯s why I¡¯m an adviser and I vet people. Too bad all I could do was advise and not order them what to do. Those dumb f.u.c.ks that got killed didn¡¯t follow me, they just want the connection from the maind.¡± he shrugged his shoulders.


    ¡°Wait, you advanced a little too far. You¡¯re talking about a few years back, can you go chronologically at least?¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°F.u.c.k- yeah, yeah~ I¡¯m not good at telling stories hermano good thing you told me. Where was I? Ah! Getting out, I remember, let¡¯s see~ Twenty-some years ago, I met Veronica and as she said, it took me four years just to talk to her. I¡¯ve spent so much time with whores I just wanted to have something real. I have money and I thought that was enough to get her but I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g~ wrong hermano. I thought all I needed was to have more but what I needed was to give up something I¡¯ve known my whole life. This f.u.c.k.i.n.g thing, this business. And I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g ready to do that. I won¡¯t lie and say I¡¯m not proud of what I¡¯ve done here because of your past you haven¡¯t told me yet but this is all I know! Look at what I have here! I¡¯ll be dead if I don¡¯t have this! My family too!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°So you decided to get out because of her?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s one of the reasons.¡± he replied.


    ¡°One of them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, the other is my madre hermano. That useless piece of shit that forced me to do this.¡± he said with a pained expression.


    I thought he wouldn¡¯t drink anymore but he took the bottle again and chugged it for a few seconds. He tried to offer me but I declined.


    ¡°You see, the only reason was supposed to be Veronica so I flew back to tell them my reasons personally, and to strike a deal so both sides would still benefit. Before I went to my bosses to tell them of my n, I paid a visit to my madre first. I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g shocked. You¡¯re already friends with Cynthia, right?¡± he looked at me.


    ¡°Yeah, you could say that.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°She¡¯s my sister. I found her alone in our house. I think she was three at the time¡­¡± he said then he chugged the bottle once more.


    I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g speechless and he continued.


    ¡°The same thing that happened to me was happening to her. I can¡¯t believe she managed to conceive one more time before us meeting again. My mom was either sucking someone¡¯s c.o.c.k for a cigar while my sister was starving to death. I-¡± then I cut him off.


    ¡°Wait a f.u.c.k.i.n.g second, she¡¯s not your daughter?!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°What? I just told you, she¡¯s my sister! Sister! Hermana! Hermana! No Hija! Hermana!¡± Mr. Cuervo exined.


    ¡°That¡¯s why you two look f.u.c.k.i.n.g alike¡­ I thought- damn.¡± I was shaking my head in disbelief.


    ¡°That¡¯s why Jerry f.u.c.k.i.n.g took off.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°Damn hermano, I thought this night would be f.u.c.k.i.n.g fun! Well, it is in the first half not gonna lie¡­¡± the bottle was now half-empty.


    ¡°What happened next?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Going back to what I was saying, I thought my mom was back f.u.c.k.i.n.g for scraps but she OD¡¯d in the bathroom. Choked on her vomit for a couple of days already while my sister is waiting for food on the table. I f.u.c.k.i.n.g hated myself for not doing anything about her and what caused her death was the one that I was good at selling. If it makes it any better, I never touched that shit, only sold it. I didn¡¯t want to use that as one of my reason for getting out but I did. I¡¯m notpletely out but I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g out. All I¡¯m doing was talking to people and not handling that stuff anymore. I think that¡¯s out in my opinion. After that, Veronica and I eventually became together after a huge struggle.¡± Mr. Cuervo started to faintly smile.


    ¡°Struggle?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh~ boy. The look on Veronica¡¯s face after I came back with a child is f.u.c.k.i.n.g priceless I tell ya. PRICELESS! She didn¡¯t talk to me for a time and avoided me for a year! I asked Jerry to tell her that she¡¯s my sister and not my child. Well, she believed me then and we took care of Cynthia. I thought it was smooth sailing after that but I found out my madre had her while she was shooting stuff in her arms and snorting the white. Drugs were in Cynthia¡¯s system even if she didn¡¯t touch a single dose. I was-¡± I cut him off again.


    ¡°THEN WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU MAKING HER F.U.C.K PEOPLE FOR MONEY?!¡± I bellowed.


    ¡°Hermano! Hermano! Hear me out first! It was her idea! I swear!¡± Mr. Cuervo raised his hands in defense.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g lost. I almost beheaded him right then and there. <hr>


    ¡°She¡¯s still a Virgen! Virgen- ah~ what¡¯s this called in yourngua- oh! V.i.r.g.i.n! She haven¡¯t done it with anybody! Well, as far as I know¡­ but it¡¯s all a ruse!¡± Mr. Cuervo eximed.


    I got so mad since I never heard such bullshit before. I already had my katana on my left hand raised slightly by my thumb. All I needed was to hold it with my right hand and swing horizontally.


    ¡°THEN WHY THE F.U.C.K THOSE CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING THEY HAD THE BEST TIME OF THEIR LIVES?! HUH?!¡± I bellowed.


    ¡°Forgot what I did before?! I still have a f.u.c.kton of ecstasy pills still left vato! Before they managed to get to Cynthia, they¡¯re already high as a f.u.c.k.i.n.g kite! Then what we¡¯ll do is- AHHH!!!¡± Mr. Cuervo backed away a few centimeters but he fell down the bar. Listening to him, I pieced the puzzle together.


    ¡°Bait and switch¡­¡± I muttered.


    ¡°EXACTLY! F.U.C.K! My head f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurts! But you got it without me telling you hermano! I was against it but Cynthia insisted she help me in any way she can! We made a deal to only do the bait and switch tactic on customers but not on the people she wanted to do it with! Well, the thing is, she never really liked anyone! Well, except for that Russian chick which is our female champion. It was the first time we saw her bring someone to her room but were confused as f.u.c.k when they were f.u.c.k.i.n.g quick! Oh, pun unintended hermano but- you understand what I¡¯m saying. I don¡¯t know what her type is even vato! Please, believe me on this hermano, I¡¯m telling the truth. Only I, Cynthia, Veronica, and Jerry knows that we¡¯re siblings. She¡¯ll just deny everything when you ask her.¡± Mr. Cuervo said, rubbing his head.


    He was already a bit drunk but all the words that came out his mouth were genuine. I was just angry hearing the stuff he said earlier and regarded it as bullshit but thinking it over calmly made me realize that my emotions were clouding my judgment. I had to decide what to do.

 Chapter 341

    Chapter 341: 341


    ¡°Grab some of that ice and ce it on your head.¡± I pointed to the tin bucket with ice. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Ah~ this feels good hermano! Thanks!¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    I was silently staring at him for a while and the room quieted down.


    ¡°Hermano, I told you my story, and thank you for listening to me. Can you tell me yours? I¡¯ll ept whatever you do to me, but the reason for your hatred, I gotta know.¡± Mr. Cuervo deeply sighed.


    ¡°We need a drink, bring more out. I did say I¡¯ll tell you my side of the story.¡± I replied, looking down.


    ¡°Yes! Yes, hermano!¡± Mr. Cuervo pulled out bottle after bottle.


    I downed several sses and told him what happened to my family that night. I don¡¯t know how much time had passed since we¡¯ve been here but it felt like it was just an instant. I could me it on the amount of alcohol we¡¯ve consumed but my head was clear as day despite that.


    Two men were just talking to each other several floors underground. No distractions and no bullshit.


    He listened to everything that I said and he never mentioned anything about my parents being weak when they got killed by someone whose brain was already fried from the substance. I¡¯m not sure if it was giving me respect or something else but his expression revealed it. He was giving me the same look when he talked about seeing his mother dead from an overdose. It was different how his only known parent diedpared to mine but it was caused by the same thing. The same thing that somehow had made a part of how we were today.


    After I told him my story, we were just sitting with a ss in our hands while staring nkly at the ceiling. Words were already exchanged but now we needed to exchange silence.


    The silence was only broken when the ice at the bottom of the ss gave out and the ones on top fell over.


    ¡°Hermano, saying sorry won¡¯t help in your situation but I¡¯ll say it anyway. I¡¯m sorry for doing what I did. What I did before, it indirectly caused what happened to your parents. I don¡¯t even want to head down the path in figuring out who brought those things to that f.u.c.ker who killed them. It was all in cirction and I was part of it. I know, I¡¯m a bad person through and through. Despite that, I am trying my best to getpletely out but the past would always drag me back once I thought I was about to. It is f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard to go legit, trust me. However, I am still trying my hardest.¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    ¡°Hmm, you know someone said, ¡®What is better- to be born good, or to ovee your evil nature through great effort?''¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the dragon where those priests live high in the mountains? Party Snacks or something?¡± Mr. Cuervo chuckled faintly. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, killed him in my first ythrough though.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?! You f.u.c.k.i.n.g- well, looking at your katana, I guess you made a biased decision.¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    ¡°I did. How did you know that game?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, my kids wanted to have that game for years and I bought them the best PCs and the ultimate copies. However, I¡¯m the one who ended up ying until I finished the main storyline. Was good, not gonna lie. I didn¡¯t kill Party Snacks though.¡± he downed another ss.


    ¡°Paarthurnax.¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Ah- f.u.c.k you hermano, I can¡¯t pronounce that shit. I wish my kids and I could y that together, that would be awesome.¡± Mr. Cuervo poured one for me.


    ¡°You could.¡± I said after sipping on the ss.


    ¡°What?! How?!¡± he was so shocked his mustache almost fell off.


    ¡°Mods. There¡¯s a lot more you could do by using them, not just ying together. More skills, weapons, storylines, even boob physics.¡± I replied and he was mindblown.


    ¡°Hermano, before we talk more about that, are we good?¡± Mr. Cuervo asked.


    ¡°Are we? I just threatened to kill you. I¡¯m sorry, I got to get to the bottom of things before I decide on something difficult.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well, not gonna lie, I was upset but now I understand your situation. We¡¯re good.¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    ¡°Well, not gonna lie either, I was about to kill you the first time I knew about your past but like ¡®Party Snacks¡¯, I understand your situation. We¡¯re good. For the record, I didn¡¯t kill him on the rest of my ythroughs.¡± I replied while slightly copying his words. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! Well, it¡¯s fine to threaten people in my rules hermano. Just don¡¯t do it for real while inside, heh.¡± Mr. Cuervo breathed a sigh of relief as he chuckled.


    I offered him a handshake and he gave me a strong one. We downed another ss and I made another friend.


    I decided to tell him the general direction from where we came from and about the specials that we faced in my city. I showed him the videos of the things I¡¯ve doc.u.mented so this ce would be aware of the danger that wasing. I told him about the abomination we saw in Irene¡¯s ce and he was shocked and disgusted. It seemed that he doesn¡¯t like anything with extra limbs and he was getting goosebumps.


    I left it to him to find the culprit and he said it would be part of his priority. However, I would still be on the lookout myself and even Irene¡¯s group.


    The next item I told him about was finding thest two members of the Russian Army. It took me some consideration first but I revealed the real backstory of our Retired MMA Fighter but not my Security Detail for good measure. I told him that having someone like Tatiana made me convince Ilya toe over to my side. Our agreement was that he needs to bring them to me alive and well and in exchange, he could keep a generous portion of their gear. Some of them we wouldn¡¯t be able to take home, for example, were the HUMVEEs unless we bring the cargo helicopter here.


    I never told him of my ¡®associates¡¯ yet who are Iskoh and Rod, not until he decided on something we talked about that he should do personally. He asked for some time and I gave him till next month. I gave him lots of time because doing something like that without issue needs careful nning and great execution. He gave me something in exchange for the time given to him and we shook hands once more.


    We finished a couple of bottles just by talking to each other but then he had an idea.


    ¡°Hey! Hermano! Before we f.u.c.k.i.n.g forget, teach me how you y together!¡± Mr. Cuervo excitedly said.


    ¡°Well, the files are not on my phone here. They¡¯re in my bag in my room.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then off we go! Vamonos! Mas rapido! My kids would love it when they wake up tomorrow! Teach me how to do it here and I¡¯ll remember it for their PCs tomorrow!¡± he immediately stood up.


    He quickly dragged me the same way back and he didn¡¯t even ask me to turn around when he¡¯s typing the codes. Looking at it, it was pretty straightforward and I could operate it by myself. I guess he didn¡¯t mind now but I was pleasantly surprised by knowing the codes.


    They were his kids and his wife¡¯s birthdays.


    We came up to the gym and passed by several people on the way. We immediately reached my room and when I opened it, someone dragged me aggressively. <hr>


    ¡°Oh my~ You got a feisty wife there hermano! Hahahaha!¡± Mr. Cuervo eximed.


    Kaley was shocked to see Mr. Cuervo behind me while she was in the process of undressing me. She was only wearing a silk robe and she immediately shrank down.


    ¡°Oh! Ahaha¡­ didn¡¯t see you there Mr. Cuervo¡­¡± Kaley muttered.


    ¡°No problem, no problem. We were just here on important business and we need to get something from his bag, right hermano?¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    ¡°Yeah, wait- can shee down with us?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Your woman? Sure! Whoever wanted toe with you herma-¡± then the closet opened.


    ¡°We¡¯lle too!¡± Tatiana eximed, blushing from drinking a bit much.


    ¡°What are you doing here?! What do you mean by we?!¡± Kaley was shocked.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t know she was there?!¡± Mr. Cuervo and I simultaneously eximed.


    ¡°Hi~ Tatiana told me we should hide and see what happens here¡­ it¡¯s already been a couple of hours and I¡¯m sleepy¡­ My phone was about to die too¡­ Hi friend~ I said we¡¯d talkter, right? It is pastter now, where were you~? We¡¯re waiting here for hours! Kaley didn¡¯t even notice us¡­ hehehe~¡± Cynthia slowly came out with her eyelids almost dropping but she was holding an empty bottle.


    ¡°Cynthia! What are you doing here?!¡± Mr. Cuervo eximed.


    ¡°Hey~! Don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g scream at me Marco Antonio Cuervo!¡± Cynthia suddenly snapped.


    Kaley and Tatiana¡¯s eyes widened from shock. <hr>


    ¡°You don¡¯t talk to your brother like that!¡± Mr. Cuervo also snapped.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± Kaley and Tatiana eximed.


    ¡°Brother?! You¡¯re like my dad because of how old you are! You f.u.c.k.i.n.g chulo!¡± Cynthia eximed.


    ¡°They¡¯re both drunk but Cynthia¡¯s in the deep end.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Cynthia! You¡¯re drunk! Go to your room and sleep now! I have something important to do!¡± Mr. Cuervo ordered.


    ¡°No! I¡¯ming with wherever my friend is going! Kaley and Tatiana areing, I will too!¡± Cynthia linked with Kaley and Tatiana¡¯s arms before marching outside.


    ¡°Cynthia! We don¡¯t even know where they¡¯re going!¡± Tatiana eximed while being dragged.


    ¡°They¡¯re still inside the room!¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Oh, HURRY UP YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G CHULO!!! Friend, please hurry a bit before I fall asleep, do you have a charger I could use?¡± Cynthia dragged the two back.


    ¡°She¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g strong dragging those two easily..¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Type C, right? I have one, want me to bring a power bank? Or you¡¯ll just stick it in the outlet?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hehehe~ Stick it in~ hehehe~ You heard what he said? My friend said stick it in~ hehehe~¡± Cynthia grinned.


    Now I was more afraid of her than anyone.

 Chapter 342

    Chapter 342: 342


    I was not necessarily fearing for my life but the look on her face that she was giving me gave a chill through my spine. I already trained myself to the point that I could handle multiple opponents at once barehanded but this problem I was facing was beyond that. Furthermore, don¡¯t forget that I was tired, injured, and intoxicated. <center></center><hr>


    Cynthia was looking at me like she was gonna devour me whole, Kaley was looking so s.e.x.u.a.lly frustrated that I bet she¡¯s gonna pounce on me the moment she had the chance, and Tatiana¡­ well, aside from her usual advances towards me, the only difference was that she was also intoxicated but not as deep as Cynthia. I was 100% sure she was not going to help me in my situation. I could try to reason but I bet this was one of those times that the scene was already scripted and I had no chance from the get-go.


    My only lifeline to survive the three was Mr. Cuervo.


    ¡°I need to bide my time until Cynthia passes out and I need Tatiana to drink a lot more so she passes out as well. I could only survive if Kaley was the only one left and I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll understand if what happens, happens.¡± I thought to myself as I nned my moves.


    ¡°First things first, I need to take my time finding myptop. I¡¯ll stall as much as possible.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was about to head to my bag but I heard Cynthia talking to her brother.


    ¡°It¡¯s in his bag, right? Let¡¯s just bring it all so we could settle down! My phone is about to die! QUICK!¡± Cynthia shouted and Tatiana lifted my bag and Kaley¡¯s bag as well. Some of our gear was still left but Cynthia shouted at her brother to lift the rest. Mr. Cuervo obliged and was carrying several weapons and bags.


    ¡°F.U.C.K!¡± I shouted in my head.


    ¡°Wait- I could pretend I¡¯m cramping again and have Mr. Cuervo call the medical staff! Yes! Yes! I¡¯ll do it in 3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ What?¡± I was thinking of another n to stall but a fight suddenly started outside.


    A rumble happened and all I saw was Ilya and the rest trying to contain the situation. A lot of people got injured and all the medical staff was called to tend to them. The situation was handled splendidly but not in my case. I was back to square one.


    ¡°F.U.C.K!!¡± I shouted in my head again.


    ¡°Wait! I¡¯m reading too much into it! As long as Mr. Cuervo is with us, they wouldn¡¯t do anything! Yes! Yes! I could survive this thing! Yes!¡± I celebrated inwardly.


    I gained energy and I even jauntily made my way with them.


    We passed in the same way and we were once again at Mr. Cuervo¡¯s mancave. I had a smile on my face and I was d that Mr. Cuervo offered liquor to them. Kaley was given a ss but the other two were holding a bottle each. I gave him a thumbs up but he didn¡¯t know why I did it. <center></center><hr>


    I copied the necessary files to the PC below and installed all of the mods so it would take more time than usual. They had no idea what I was doing and they thought it was important so they never tried anything. I finally installed everything and the way it looked from the original game was f.u.c.k.i.n.g different because I also added graphics mods.


    Mr. Cuervo was shocked beyond measure and he almost cried tears of joy when he saw my character walking alongside his character.


    To vent a bit, I killed him in-game multiple times and he was dyingughing when he gets what I meant by doing that.


    ¡°Hermano! This is f.u.c.k.i.n.g amazing! What time is it?!¡± Mr. Cuervo was excited.


    ¡°Hmm? Around 10:00 PM, why?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I think Veronica wouldn¡¯t mind. I¡¯m gonna wake up the kids and let them see it for a bit. Stay here! Let me bring their PCs down and we¡¯ll all y here! Sounds good? I won¡¯t be long!¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    ¡°Wut? Can¡¯t Ie with you?¡± there was a tone of begging and dread on my voice.


    ¡°No hermano! I could handle it, just stay here and wait for me, okay?¡± Mr. Cuervo stood up and headed for the door.


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± I almost lost all strength in my body.


    ¡°F.U.C.K!!!¡± I shouted in my head.


    The moment Mr. Cuervo left me with the three, the temperature in the room fluctuated.


    ¡°Ehehe~¡± I heard from behind me.


    ¡°Ufufufu~¡± another chillingugh. <hr>


    ¡°Ara~ Ara~¡± then another one followed.


    ¡°Nine divines¡­ please help¡­¡± I muttered before I was pulled into the abyss.


    I was stripped down to my underwear and the ones who did it were Kaley and Tatiana. Surprisingly, Cynthia was just looking at us while blushing beet-red.


    ¡°What are you guys doing?! Mr. Cuervo and his kids mighte back here any minute!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°Mmm~ b-but¡­ we¡¯ll be quick¡­ right?¡± Kaley was biting her lip, unwilling.


    ¡°Yeah, we could block the door.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Cynthia was still silently looking at us.


    However, my words still made them hesitate and I managed to convince them to let me call Mr. Cuervo with my radio. I even stalled for a few minutes trying to figure out what his number is and typing it incorrectly.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Mr. Cuervo, you¡¯re on your way back, right?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Ah! Hermano! I apologize, Veronica got mad when I was about to wake the kids so she told me that I need to sleep as well. I¡¯ll just see you tomorrow! You four would be fine there, there¡¯s food on the fridge but don¡¯t use the range when you¡¯re drunk, okay? Just use it tomorrow when we¡¯re sober and could handle weaponry, okay?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    The call f.u.c.k.i.n.g disconnected.


    ¡°Sovngarde¡­ awaits¡­¡± I muttered before myst piece of armor which was my underwear was removed.


    I was sitting on the couch without any clothes and I prepared myself for theing battle.


    Kaley immediately sat on myp and her silk robe was already undone. Her huge cleavage was in front of my face and she nted a deep kiss on my mouth. She noticed that I was not 100% into it and she stopped midway while breathing heavily. Tatiana was in the middle of undressing while Cynthia was still looking at us.


    ¡°What¡¯s¡­ wrong?¡± Kaley looked at me.


    ¡°You guys know I¡¯m tired, right? I might not be able to do much¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then. just. f.u.c.k.i.n.g.y. on. your. back. we¡¯ll. f.u.c.k.i.n.g. handle. it.¡± Kaley¡¯s eyes changed.


    ¡°Yes, m-ma¡¯am¡­¡± I muttered then her smile grew wide.


    I don¡¯t know why but I grew harder than ever. She felt me growing stiff and her smile grew even wider along with Tatiana. She kissed me again while she wrapped her hands around my neck. I embraced her as well and we were kissing in front of Tatiana and Cynthia. I didn¡¯t care if they were watching us and Kaley didn¡¯t mind as well. She was pressing her body against me and I could feel the softness of her b.r.e.a.s.ts. Her lower body was also grinding against me and I could feel her getting wet down below. <hr>


    Her kisses grew wilder while her hip movement was also getting more aggressive. I just embraced her tight and returned her kisses then she suddenly twitched.


    ¡°Hngh~! Mmm~ Ah! Wait- I-¡± Kaley started shaking while she was still on top and even if I wasn¡¯t inside her yet. Simply grinding her meaty lips on top me was enough to make her c.u.m. I was surprised at how fast she came but I figured that it was she was impatiently holding it for a while.


    ¡°C¡¯mon~ You¡¯re not done yet, correct?¡± Tatiana giggled then I felt her grabbing my shaft and pointing it towards Kaley¡¯s opening.


    ¡°Wait- wait- Ah!¡± Kaley gasped when I entered her and I felt her warm and wet insides twitching.


    Kaley was still shaking from earlier but it slowly slid in up to the base. Her face was a mess but she was still embracing me. This time, her face was on the other side of my face while letting out m.o.a.ns and cries. I felt her slowly moving her h.i.p.s forward and she wouldn¡¯t stop twitching each time I hit a sensitive spot inside.


    I saw Tatiana smiling at me while watching us and she was n.a.k.e.d already.


    I nced to my side and I saw Cynthia breathing heavily. Her face was flushed and she seemed to be doing something else aside from watching us. I saw her hands and one was still holding her phone while one was already inside her panties. Her hands were moving in a circr motion and I could hear the same soundsing from us which was flesh getting stirred.


    Kaley was moving erratically once more and I felt that she was about to c.u.m again. My tight embrace on her back went even lower. Her h.i.p.s were moving back and forth but I stuck my finger inside her other hole. She quickly tightened but she continued on moving her h.i.p.s without stop. It only took a few moments before she came for the second time.


    She twitched and tightened around me while she let out a euphoric m.o.a.n. Her hip movements slowed and then she looked at me and kissed me again. We just looked into each other¡¯s eyes after that but I kissed her again much to her surprise. She returned my kiss but she dismounted me because the stimtion was too much for her. My shaft was just slightly sliding on her meaty lips underneath while she was breathing heavily.


    Kaley sat next to me but she was holding my hand. I was still hard so she lightly tugged it while pressing her body to my side.


    Tatiana had her arms crossed and she nced at Cynthia touching herself, ¡°Do you want to try? Aren¡¯t you lonely just watching and doing that?¡±


    Cynthia grew red when Tatiana noticed her and she embarrassingly said, ¡°I¡­ I d-don¡¯t know w-what to do¡­¡±

 Chapter 343

    Chapter 343: 343


    Tatiana faintly smiled then she took her hands and started sucking on them. Cynthia can¡¯t look at her straight in the eye as Tatiana was doing it. After she was done, she made her sit next to my other side. Kaley was still stroking me but she let go when Cynthia scooted over. Cynthia was still clothed but her panties were drenched from her juices. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°H-Hi¡­¡± Cynthia muttered.


    ¡°Hello¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°Why are you like that now? You¡¯re different upstairs! I thought you would be the first one to move! Hah!¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    Cynthia shrank down.


    ¡°Tatiana! Don¡¯t embarrass her! Cynthia, listen to me¡­ do you want to do it? It¡¯s fine with me if you want to¡­¡± Kaley said.


    Cynthia looked at Kaley and she eventually nodded. She looked at me for a moment before averting her gaze. She was still red and Tatiana was now the one watching us with anticipation.


    ¡°Okay, if you¡¯re ready, you could try touching it like this first¡­¡± Kaley slowly stroked me.


    Cynthia extended her hand and she lightly grabbed higher where Kaley was.


    ¡°Like t-this?¡± Cynthia muttered and Kaley let go of me after nodding. <center></center><hr>


    Cynthia¡¯s grasp towards me had no strength at all and it felt like she was afraid to hurt me. However, it felt so good how her hands moved and that slow stroke she was doing was preventing me from releasing quickly. Her breathing started getting heavy but her eyes were fixated on what she was doing to me. She would gulp a few times and the two were watching her flushed expression.


    ¡°Cynthia, tell me, do you really still haven¡¯t?¡± Kaley asked her.


    Cynthia nodded and said, ¡°I¡­ I only k-know it from watching h-hentai¡­ I just t-touch myself when I d-do¡­¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k.¡± I muttered before I grunted.


    The words I heard and the stimtion I was feeling was too much, I wasn¡¯t able to control myself. I exploded on Cynthia¡¯s hands and a lot came out. She was surprised but she never stopped moving her hands. I didn¡¯t even get soft but I was throbbing hard since a few spurts were stilling out. I was struggling with the sensitivity then Tatiana knelt down in front of me and she took Cynthia¡¯s hands.


    ¡°This is what you would do when he does that, okay?¡± Tatiana said.


    Tatiana licked Cynthia¡¯s fingers dripping with the sticky stuff and then she proceeded on licking me all over. Her tongue glided all over the parts where it was present and she took it all in. She was biting her lips first before I felt her warm mouth enveloping me. Kaley on the other hand adjusted her position and now my arm was in between her huge tits.


    ¡°Wow¡­¡± Cynthia muttered.


    Tatiana¡¯s head was moving up and down while her tongue was gliding all over me. Her hand was going inside herself while the other was clutching my balls. She was sucking me while looking at my eyes but then I felt Kaley cing my fingers inside her. It felt warm and glossy and she leaned her body against me more.


    Once again, Cynthia was watching us but Tatiana stopped midway before wiping her mouth. <hr>


    ¡°Want to try this?¡± Tatiana looked at Cynthia.


    Cynthia looked at me first but she nodded.


    Tatiana stood up and let Cynthia take her ce but she undressed her first. Cynthia¡¯s n.i.p.p.l.es were hard and she was so drenched, her juices were already dripping through her thighs. Tatiana smiled differently when Cynthia knelt down and started sucking me.


    The sensation was f.u.c.k.i.n.g different.


    It was clumsy the way she was doing it but she was only doing it on the tip while she was stroking me with both hands. I just rested my head back to enjoy everything but she momentarily stopped.


    ¡°Sky¡­¡± Cynthia muttered and I looked at her.


    ¡°Please¡­ l-look at me while I¡¯m doing it¡­¡± she embarrassingly said.


    I felt Kaley¡¯s insides quiver when we heard her say those words.


    I smiled and looked into her eyes while she was trying her best and Tatiana made her way behind Cynthia. She hugged her from behind and her hands cupped Cynthia¡¯s perky b.r.e.a.s.ts. Cynthia let out muffled m.o.a.ns but she was still maintaining eye contact. Cynthia was doing her best but when Tatiana touched her lower, she lost all proper decorum. She was twitching every pinch and flick Tatiana was doing and she lightly bit me. She saw me grimace and she stopped what she was doing immediately. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ d-did I hurt you?¡± Cynthia had an apologetic look.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m okay. I was just surprised.¡± I replied.


    ¡°D-did I do g-good?¡± she asked while Tatiana looked at my expression.


    I was never one for talking while doing it with someone and I could say the same for Kaley. We just savored and instinctually moved and we rarely did this sort of thing. However, to make her feel good, I answered but not verbally. I nodded my head while I moved her hanging bangs to the side of her ear. She smiled while looking at me and she continued on what she was doing earlier.


    Tatiana was still on her back and from the looks of it, she was slowly trying to prod Cynthia¡¯s insides. She managed to make her c.u.m a few times just by rubbing against the small nub just above her opening. Every time she came, her hands around me would tighten but she never bit me identally. I could already hear the squishing sounds due to Tatiana¡¯s hands and Cynthia eventually decided that she was ready.


    She slowly climbed on top of me.


    Her face was still red and her lips underneath were still on the surface, gliding against me, albeit slowly. She was looking at me while she slowly raised her body nervously. She then decided to point it to her tight and wet opening and then she slowly lowered herself.


    ¡°Mmmh!¡± she let out a little m.o.a.n.


    She grimaced for a bit and I felt her nails digging through my shoulders where they were ced. Her eyes were closed and I let her stay in that position for the moment. She exhaled a few times and then she slightly raised her body again. She was still roughly exhaling but a faint smile was hidden on her face. She then opened her eyes and lowered her body a second time. I was getting squeezed so much because of how tight she was. I didn¡¯t see if there was blood because she told me to look at her while we¡¯re doing it.


    We were doing it real slow and the two were just watching her while they were beside me. Her exhales were heavy but she was slowly finding the right rhythm. My hands were on her h.i.p.s and I was supporting her every movement. However, she took them off it and she ced it over her chest. I started to fondle them softly while grazing the tips with the tips of my fingers. The two beside me were doing nothing but watch us. We maintained the same position until I decided to rub her little nub as well because I was about to c.u.m first. <hr>


    ¡°What are you- Ah! Mmmh~¡± Cynthia muttered.


    Her face immediately changed expression and her jumping motion turned to a grind like Kaley¡¯s movements earlier. It didn¡¯t take her too long and the first time she came with another person was intense. Her body convulsed and I was squeezed violently I almost came. Her breathing was heavy and erratic and her face was a mess. She copsed on me and I decided to let her rest because her orgasmsted for a while. She was breathing heavily on my neck and as soon as she got her bearings, she gave me a little kiss on my cheek.


    Kaley had the wipes ready for us when Cynthia got off me and we cleaned ourselves for a bit.


    Tatiana decided to help me release myst one by shoving it inside her ass. She rode me while facing the other direction and Kaley and Cynthia were by my side. Both my hands were inside Kaley and Cynthia¡¯s warm and slopping insides when they made me reach around their h.i.p.s. Tatiana was going at me hard while Kaley was kissing me aggressively. Cynthia on the other hand was guiding me inside herself to where I should touch and apply pressure. Isted only for a few minutes before each of us came one after the other.


    The shower was fit only for two people at a time so we let Tatiana and Cynthia go first. Kaley was still wanting more so we tried to do it before they finished cleaning themselves. Cynthia threw us a suspicious look when they saw us out of breath when they came out but Tatiana was already shaking her head. They were helpless to do anything when Kaley and I entered the shower.


    When we got out, we got dressedfortably and I decided to make something for them. I looked at the refrigerator and made a big-ass burrito for each of us made with lots of beef, beans, cheese, tomatoes, red rice, corn, lettuce, red onions, and peppers. I needed a few torti wraps to enclose it and I lightly grilled it before serving them. Their mouths were already watering just from the smell of it and they devoured it like crazy after I served it in front of them.


    Tatiana managed to finish hers quickly and she even helped Cynthia with her serving. I just made three so Kaley and I shared one and we were already feeling sleepy after we finished it. Cynthia was already down when I nced at her and Kaley and Tatiana were also about to fall off. I grabbed a nket to cover all of them and there was a small space on the couch where I could fit in.


    I was about to sleep as well then I had the brilliant idea to check inside Mr. Cuervo¡¯s armory. I opened the door and walked inside.


    There they were, right there in the middle, in all their glory.


    ¡°You mother. f.u.c.ker.¡± I was shaking my head when I saw it.

 Chapter 344

    Chapter 344: 344


    Mr. Cuervo had several high-quality and popr guns on his walls and shelves but there was a section in the middle of his armory that could blind anyone that shone a light on it. <center></center><hr>


    Gold, Silver, and ck.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re not cartel if you at least don¡¯t have something coated like those¡­ well¡­ hot damn. If this doesn¡¯t scream drug dealer, nothing will.¡± I said out loud.


    There was a separate wall that contained what I thought were his favorite guns. The ck Section of the wall contained their original appearance but some of them have modifications already while the Silver and Gold Sections were pretty obvious once you saw it. One example was the silver and engraved Desert Eagle we saw earlier. There was an empty slot in the Silver Section where it was supposed to be. The only difference between the Silver and the Gold Section was that the Silver Section had additional engravings while the Gold Section was a pure coating of Titanium Nitride making it look like Gold.


    It was properly coated and the metal parts were the ones coated obviously. However, if there were wood parts, a very meticulous engraving would be done to iy gold or silver to make it pop. The furniture for some of the gun¡¯s wooden parts was also reced by better ones and engraved appropriately. Most of the designs were tribal but looking closely at some of them, a raven or a crow was always present.


    ¡°Well, Cuervo means raven or crow in theirnguage, I might need to see his back tattoo to confirm what he really meant by that. They¡¯re different from each other but we¡¯ll soon know the answer.¡± I thought to myself.


    The guns on disy were a Colt Python, S&W Model 500, a Mosin Nagant, a Remington 700, a Marlin Model 36, a Desert Eagle, a Colt 1911, a Thompson A.K.A. ¡°Tommy Gun¡±, an AK-47, an AR-15, and an RPG-7.


    Even the magazines and a few rounds were coated in the Gold and Silver Section.


    I took a look at everything on disy but his sword collection was not here. I figured it would be in his own room or somewhere else entirely. I never touched the ones on disy but I tidied up the ones that were scattered on the table.


    I went back to where the three were and they were starting to push each other off the couch unconsciously so I had an idea. I decided to ce our sleeping bags and a few nkets as a cushion on the wide tform where the pole was. After that, I lifted Kaley, careful not to wake her up and slowly ced her down to sleep morefortably.


    I saw Cynthia¡¯s phone still not plugged in so I looked for an outlet to charge it with. I also took care of the sses we and other cooking ware we used because it was in a pile in the faucet. My eyes were about to fall down so I decided to finally sleep.


    I turned Mr. Cuervo¡¯s PC and myptop off along with the lights first beforeying down next to Kaley. I covered ourselves with another nket and I hugged her tight before I finally closed my eyes.


    Everything that happened this day was too much so I quickly fell asleep.


    I suddenly woke up in an unfamiliar yet familiar darkness and I heard familiar voices.


    ¡°Sora, you¡¯re not the one at fault¡­¡±


    ¡°Sora-kun, please don¡¯t do that again! We¡¯re here for you¡­¡±


    ¡°Aho-Sora you¡¯ll never beat me!!!¡±


    ¡°Haaaa~ how did you do that?!¡±


    ¡°Sora¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me!¡±


    ¡°Argh! Stop copying my¡­¡±


    ¡°Sora, before you leave¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah~ it means that it¡¯s ck and it could see everything clearly¡­¡±


    ¡°Of course, the moment it happens¡­¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll be there Sora-kun¡­¡±


    ¡°Aho-Sora! You better not croak before I¡­¡±


    ¡°Sora.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you stay here instead¡­ you like it here, right?¡±


    ¡°Sora¡­¡±


    ¡°Sora, these are for you¡­ take care of them¡­ okay?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    The familiar voices faded and I was slowly woken up by the fragrant smell of food cooking¡­ well, mostly.


    ¡°Tatiana! You¡¯re burning it!¡±


    ¡°What?! It¡¯s toasted! TOASTED!¡±


    ¡°ck is not toasted! Give me that!¡±


    ¡°Why did we even woke up this early¡­ my head hurts¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°We need to cook for him at least you know!¡±


    ¡°Why? He¡¯s clearly better than us threebined! Can we just suck his d.i.c.k or something in exchange?¡±


    ¡°Well, he already did something better yesterday even if he¡¯s really tired, you know?¡±


    ¡°Tatiana! The eggs!¡±


    ¡°Oh F.U.C.K.I.N.G- f.u.c.k! I¡¯ll just eat this burnt one!¡±


    ¡°What? No! You¡¯ll get sick if you do that!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m feeling sick already¡­ my head¡­¡±


    ¡°Why did we even decide to cook with four pans at the same time?!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s your idea!¡±


    ¡°Me?!¡±


    ¡°You said when he cooks, everything is happening simultaneously!¡±


    ¡°I thought it was easy!¡±


    ¡°Oh! I don¡¯t remember my phone being charged¡­ weird¡­¡±


    ¡°He must¡¯ve done it for you¡­¡±


    ¡°The water! TATIANA THE WATER!!!¡±


    ¡°Oh god, we¡¯re burning the water¡­¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    I faintly smiled before I slowly got up. I saw the three making a mess of the kitchen I painstakingly cleaned yesterday before I slept. They still hadn¡¯t noticed me but I saw what they were trying to cook. It was something of abination of an English Breakfast but someponents were swapped. <hr>


    ¡°Good morning, watch out for that egg, if you don¡¯t remove it from the fire you wouldn¡¯t be able to dip toast in the yolk.¡± I said while behind them.


    ¡°Oh! Morning! Nice¡­ nice to see you¡­¡± Cynthia looked away, embarrassed.


    ¡°Morning chulo papi, haha, I¡¯m learning a bit of Spanish now.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Morning! Tatiana- the-¡± Kaley was frantically cooking so I decided to help her. Cynthia was helping her but Tatiana was doing more damage than good. The first thing I did was adjust the fire for each pan because all of them were set to medium. Some need more while some need less. It¡¯s all about the right bnce though I lowered some of them just so I could finish cooking them at the same time.


    Easily enough, we made a simple breakfast for ourselves. We ate happily though the sad one was Tatiana because she had the same portion as us. I had to make her my emergency meal which was cracking a raw egg on top of piping hot rice then adding a dash of soy sauce. She was shocked from how simple it was but she was smiling brightly when she took a bite.


    ¡°Hey, are you okay now?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Want to know for sure?¡± I replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g us three now? Remember, we f.u.c.k.i.e.d you yesterday it¡¯s out- Ack! Kaley!¡± Tatiana was attacked.


    ¡°That sounds like a great idea, I always work out in the morning while everyone was still asleep.¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°Asleep?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, after each party like this, they usually woke up at noon or sometimes eventer. Basically we have this whole ce by ourselves.¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s great, I hadn¡¯t had the chance to go to the gym when wended here.¡± I replied.


    ¡°We could train together if you want¡­¡± Cynthia nced at me briefly.


    ¡°Sky, I know you¡¯re a knucklehead at this so I¡¯m gonna tell you that Cynthia likes you. Well, she likes me too but she likes you more.¡± Tatiana chuckled before ncing at Kaley.


    ¡°Well, I like her too, we¡¯re friends.¡± I replied obliviously.


    Kaley facepalmed.


    ¡°Told ya Cynthia, he¡¯s a genius but he¡¯s also an idiot.¡± Tatiana was shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°¡­¡± Cynthia was shocked and was about to cry.


    ¡°What did I do?¡± I was confused. <hr>


    ¡°Cynthia, I¡¯m sorry to say this but he¡¯s mine and I¡¯m his. We could y around but we¡¯re basically married. That¡¯s how it works. You could try to do somethingter but we¡¯d never do anything unless we¡¯re both present.¡± Kaley told Cynthia the situation before it got out of hand.


    ¡°I understand¡­¡± Cynthia replied


    ¡°She¡¯s lying! She¡¯s just trying to invite you to her hare- Ack! Why can¡¯t I see your attacks today?! F.u.c.k this hangover¡­¡± Tatiana was chopped in the neck by Kaley¡¯s hand


    ¡°Oh, is that so? I could be one, I like you too Kaley. You¡¯re really nice¡­¡± Cynthia started to chuckle.


    We finally finished eating and we changed clothes. We headed up to the gym and I started by running on the treadmill first. They also did their warmups but Tatiana vomited on the corner a few seconds in.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll take a seat first. I should be sleeping some more¡­¡± Tatiana was a bit pale.


    I finished running 10 kilometers and I was about to head to the free weights when I saw the punching bags on the other side. A smile formed on my face as I went there first while my sweat was flowing down through my body. I was already in front of it but I made my knuckles and my neck crack first before attempting what debilitated me yesterday.


    I walked back a few steps as I gauged the correct distance. I stepped in with my left foot pointing to the right and then I turned hard and raised my right leg. When I was about toplete the turn, I twisted my right knee before pushing it hard forward. My foot sprung violently before it connected to the punching bag.


    *BOOOM*


    The punching bag flew back even if it was the heaviest one and the chains rattled after it swung back. The sound f.u.c.k.i.n.g resounded to the whole gym and I felt the three was staring at me.


    I had a nasty grin on my face because of how much power I¡¯ve produced from that kick that injured me. My body was now fully recovered after eating a f.u.c.kton of food and getting a good night¡¯s sleep.


    However, I was not done.


    I was nning on repeating the same move but I added a little something. I stepped back a bit more but I was in a different stance. Instead of being in the Orthodox Position, I needed to be in the Southpaw Position to add more spin to the move. A single step was added before the move but when my foot connected¡­


    *BOOOOOOOOM*


    The sound was f.u.c.k.i.n.g satisfying, I wailed on the punching bag immediately after. Kaley tried to try it next to me but I was like the guy on the range firing a .50 BMG with a muzzle brake. The winds I was creating and the torque I was producing was full power, she can¡¯t get close. The chains were rattling violently each time I connected but there was a problem.


    The motion beforepleting it to deliver a tremendous amount of power took a bit of preparation. I needed to judge the correct distance, the opponent¡¯s counter, my body for openings, and a few others more. Not to mention the whole motion was too big and notpact like my usual moves. Everything needed to happen in one quick and fluid motion and it should connect or else the body would have a lot of openings after performing it.


    To make the problem manageable, practice is always the key.


    ¡°Morning guys, you woke up early! I thought I was the only one training here but here you are.¡± I heard a voice and my smile grew wider and wider.


    A wild Ilya appeared.

 Chapter 345

    Chapter 345: 345


    Ilya was just wearing shorts and his muscled body was on disy. He started warming up but when he started to sweat a bit, I approached him. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°How about that bet earlier? Want to receive a few kicks from Kaley?¡± I said, grinning.


    ¡°Oh, right. I forgot about those. Still injured?¡± Ilya asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m around 70% now.¡± I lied.


    ¡°Really? Shit, okay. Let¡¯s see her kicks then but let¡¯s not do that bet. I¡¯ll just fight you when you¡¯re ready.¡± Ilya replied.


    ¡°What? Don¡¯t be too generous. How about this, if you survive a 100 kicks, I¡¯ll leave half of the winnings from the games to you. Sounds good?¡± I said.


    ¡°What?! You¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious¡­ wait- what¡¯s the kick though? I¡¯m not gonna get kicked in the balls, right? I¡¯d die from just one.¡± Ilya said.


    ¡°What are you talking about? We¡¯re not Shaolin Monks, I¡¯d die from a flick. Try to receive a few first but guard or try to counter after it gets monotonous.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Sure, where¡¯s Kaley?¡± Ilya agreed.


    We saw Kaley grinning like a mad dog just listening in our conversation. She was slowly producing an aura of her own and Ilya almost shuddered just from looking at her expression.


    Twenty-Seven kickster¡­


    Ilya was down on the ground convulsing with a horrifying footmark on his abdomen and a few partial bruises on his arms. Kaley was silently mulling over what she produced but she already left Ilya and practicing on the punching bags. I had to drag him to the side and I gave him a dose of painkillers.


    ¡°So, wanna spar now?¡± I said cheekily.


    Ilya choked and now he was in the same state as Tatiana on the side. Tatiana was doing fine now but she decided to not overexert herself. I was surprised by Cynthia because she was the one who drank a lot but she could move just fine.


    ¡°Maybe the amount Tatiana ate earlier added to why she can¡¯t move.¡± I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    We continued our workout and when we finished, we saw Mr. Cuervo with a couple of people carrying what seemed to be the PCs of his two kids.


    ¡°Hermano! Awake this early and training eh? Magnifico, I¡¯ll wait for you to finish down in my room so you could ce those mods in these PCs, okay?¡± Mr. Cuervo was smiling.


    ¡°We just finished, let¡¯s alle down then?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Ah, I see. Wonderful. By the way, I¡¯ve already told my people to load all your winnings on your trucks but I¡¯ve ordered them to attach a trailer to the Ta because some of them were too big. Don¡¯t worry about anything, they¡¯ll be all there.¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    ¡°You attached a trailer? Are our winnings really that great?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hah! Hermano, you just bet everything you have on yourself and you won with the greatest odds possible. No one would be attending my games if it wasn¡¯t lucrative at all.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Won¡¯t you lose resources like that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Lose? Hah! This ce is like Vegas. Just the amount we get from the percentages on the bets is enough to keep us afloat. All this time, we¡¯ve just been gaining and gaining from the peopleing to us.¡± he replied.


    ¡°For how long though? I guess I¡¯ll just get what I could while it still pays out that much. I¡¯m sure he would know the limit. He just needs to do what we agreed upon previously.¡± I thought to myself.


    We entered his personal room once more and his people bid their goodbyes. I started working on the two other PCs while Tatiana and Cynthia showered again. Ilya was ecstatic to see this ce for the first time and he helped himself to the leftovers of our breakfast. Mr. Cuervo brought a video camera to record me on how to install and troubleshoot the mods so he could do it by himself in the future. While it was installing, Cynthia and Tatiana finished showering so Kaley and I showered next. Ilya was thest one to shower because he was still eating when Kaley and I came out. While I made coffee for everyone, Mr. Cuervo spoke up.


    ¡°Hermano, I¡¯ve decided on what to do.¡± he said with a serious expression.


    ¡°Oh, that soon? You still have a lot of time.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I need to ask for another favor though.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Hmm? Sure, as long as you make sure we do it when the timees.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°What are you two talking about?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Can we talk about it in front of them?¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    I looked at the four first before I said, ¡°Yeah, I trust them.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Cynthia asked.


    Tatiana and Ilya were wearing solemn expressions when they felt the atmosphere changed.


    ¡°Well, Mr. Cuervo and I decided to do something very important in a month. We¡¯ve made a deal with ourselves and I gave him some time.¡± I said.


    ¡°What deal is it?¡± Tatiana asked.


    Mr. Cuervo and I looked at each other first before we told them what happened here between us yesterday. They were surprised about what happened but they lost it when we told them about our past. Kaley, Tatiana, and Ilya were shocked to know Mr. Cuervo¡¯s past but Tatiana, Ilya, and Cynthia were more shocked when they learned about mine. Kaley was wearing a solemn expression while Cynthia was silently crying. Tatiana can¡¯t stop looking at my expression even after I finished telling it while Ilya was sighing heavily and started day drinking.


    ¡°That¡¯s rough coach. You sure that you two are good?¡± Ilya asked.


    Mr. Cuervo and I assured them.


    ¡°Well, what¡¯s this n you two are talking about?¡± Ilya asked.


    ¡°Completely getting myself out. Mexicans don¡¯t flip but 25% of me says otherwise. I¡¯m doing this for myself and my family. I have a choice for myself now and the situation we¡¯re having right now allows it.¡± Mr. Cuervo replied.


    ¡°And how do you two intend to aplish that?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Okay, here me out¡­¡± I started. <hr>


    My words were inaudible from an outside perspective but the people who could hear it was giving me serious expressions. This is a n that would involve a few but skilled people but the number of people that would get affected after this n was carried out would affect not just this whole ce but the whole city.


    ¡°How will you manage to do that first?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Well, we need to advertise, obviously. Well, we already did most of it so that¡¯s not a problem anymore.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. We just need to make sure the advertis.e.m.e.nt reaches the correct people.¡± Mr. Cuervo said.


    ¡°Just tell me when we¡¯lle back here. The timing had to be right on the money.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hold on a sec, what do you mean by advertising and you two said you¡¯d already done it?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, the games would be the medium. It was never as exciting as what happenedst night and I received a few things from this hermano. Everyone would be excited to attend the next one where our champions would appear and we need to f.u.c.k.i.n.g sell it. Showing them the footage from yesterday and the ones I got from your city would be attracting flies with a huge pile of shit.¡± Mr. Cuervo replied.


    ¡°What? I thought everyone justes?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Not everyone does, that¡¯s why we need the advertis.e.m.e.nt to reach everyone. We¡¯ll decide on the time and all the past champions would be present to duke it out. That includes you two.¡± Mr. Cuervo looked at Tatiana and Cynthia.


    ¡°Why haven¡¯t you decided on the time yet?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Because of back home. We still have a lot on our te back home and the real threat we¡¯re facing is still present. We¡¯re just doing this selfishly for ourselves but like we said, if we do this sessfully, everyone would be affected for the better. We also have the other project for our other associates.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But how about the threat here?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Well, your brother is always sending teams to collect bodies so on the off chance one of them turns into something different, it would still be stuck inside with a noose made of chains. He¡¯s been doing it for a while so, in a sense, you¡¯re clearing a thousand or more bodies a week.¡± I exined.


    ¡°So¡­ you guys are leaving soon?¡± Cynthia said with a somber expression but Mr. Cuervo looked like he was about to say something but he stopped. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, maybeter this afternoon after we¡¯re done helping with Irene¡¯s ce. I was supposed to help them with their situation there but we identally ended up here.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Excuse me but I have a question, in the off chance your group stumble to my ce, will you attack us?¡± Ilya asked.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s already been taken care of. Your ¡®coach¡¯ just sweetened it up for me.¡± Mr. Cuervo replied.


    ¡°What did you agree on?¡± Ilya looked at me.


    ¡°Well, you like fighting so much, I told him that your ce would gain protection if you participate every week. He¡¯d also bring a few of his soldiers to your ce to help with anything as long as you do that.¡± I replied.


    ¡°If you want, you could bring anyone you like over here and live luxuriously. I could give you a house or have the same guest room and all the facilities are avable to you.¡± Mr. Cuervo added.


    ¡°That protection, I thought everyone outside is fair game?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°It still is. Besides, we don¡¯t just mercilessly kill everyone. Once my soldiers see familiar faces, they wouldn¡¯t attack needlessly until provoked. We¡¯re not savages, we¡¯re functioning savages.¡± Mr. Cuervo replied.


    ¡°Okay, I agree with that but I might need you to hold that offer for the house for a while.¡± Ilya said.


    ¡°Sure vato.¡± Mr. Cuervo shrugged his shoulders.


    ¡°Then it¡¯s set. What is the favor you¡¯re asking me about earlier?¡± I looked at Mr. Cuervo.


    ¡°Ah, I almost forgot. It¡¯s about Cynthia.¡± he replied.


    ¡°About me?¡± Cynthia was surprised.


    ¡°I need you to bring her with you.¡± Mr. Cuervo said.

 Chapter 346

    Chapter 346: 346


    Mr. Cuervo said it with a pained expression but he continued, ¡°Cynthia, here me out. This is a hard decision for me and don¡¯t take this as me pushing you away. I know we¡¯ve talked about this but I don¡¯t want you doing what you¡¯re doing in here anymore. After we¡¯re done with what hermano and I would be doing, like me, you¡¯re gonna do something for yourself.¡± <center></center><hr>


    I looked at Cynthia and she was confused and worried.


    ¡°W-What do you mean?¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°Staying at his ce and living your life. Well, I can¡¯t say for certain that living anywhere now could be the same a person your age should be experiencing because of this Muerto thing but it¡¯s a restart for you. You could start anew and meet new people your age that aren¡¯t putas or ouws like the rest of the people here. Just from the short time that they¡¯ve been here, you¡¯re already friends. You never had that here because you¡¯re forcing yourself to like something you don¡¯t have an interest in. At least with hermano, you love something inmon.¡± Mr. Cuervo exined.


    ¡°B-But how about Andres and Felipe? They¡¯re much younger than I am and yet they¡¯re staying here with you! If this isn¡¯t pushing me away, I don¡¯t know what is!¡± Cynthia retorted.


    ¡°They¡¯re my sons and they¡¯re still very young. I will make them decide on their own what to do with their lives when they¡¯re older like you. You of all people deserve this second chance at life. You¡¯d meet people who aren¡¯t wary of your connection with me or looking at you like you¡¯re an expensive piece of meat. Isn¡¯t that what you want?¡± Mr. Cuervo replied calmly.


    ¡°B-But¡­ leaving this ce?¡± Cynthia looked worried.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯d always bring you with us every time we go back here if you want to.¡± I chimed in.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it dangerous when Ie with you?¡± Cynthia looked at me.


    ¡°Well, in a sense, yes. I do think I¡¯m dangerous when pushes to shove but I don¡¯t hurt my friends.¡± I obliviously said.


    ¡°What? Umm- I¡­¡± Cynthia was confused.


    ¡°Hah! Good one vato!¡± Mr. Cuervo chuckled.


    ¡°She¡¯s talking about the zombies!¡± Kaley eximed while Tatiana and Ilya were shaking their heads.


    ¡°Oh, yeah. They¡¯re dangerous too. Well, you could help us in making them less dangerous. I¡¯ve seen you move when you¡¯re in the cage with Tatiana, you would be a great help back there. Do you know how to use guns?¡± I said, scratching my head. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°U-Umm, I know a bit¡­¡± Cynthia was embarrassed.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s see how well you do then! Mr. Cuervo, can we use your range?¡± I looked back at him.


    ¡°Whoa, you¡¯re gonna make her one of your crew?¡± Mr. Cuervo stopped me for a second.


    ¡°Mr. Cuervo, do you want to be a soldier in a peaceful time or a¡­ let¡¯s say a dancer in a war?¡± I replied.


    ¡°But she¡¯s-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°Look at Kaley, she used to be a flight attendant but she¡¯s one of my best shooters. I¡¯ve been teaching her and I¡¯ve been bringing her with me everywhere I go even if it was one of the ces swarming with those deadheads. Granted she was trained before by her dad but she improved a lot faster than I could imagine. She could protect herself and I trust her with my life.¡± I exined calmly.


    ¡°Nah, I¡¯m just biding the time till I kill you so I could takeover.¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Hah! Apparently, my sense of humor is slowly rubbing on her too.¡± I was smiling like an idiot.


    ¡°Well, you should stop rubbing with each other every night and- Ack! Kaley! I¡¯m joking! I¡¯m joking!¡± Tatiana got attacked by another chop to the neck.


    ¡°Good, receive them for me for now. She¡¯s getting good with herebacks too.¡± I chuckled inwardly.


    The group started smiling and we were led inside to Mr. Cuervo¡¯s armory. The group was shocked seeing his personal collection but I already saw them yesterday so my face wasid.


    ¡°Wha- did youe herest night?¡± Mr. Cuervo looked at me.


    ¡°Yeah, why?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°Wow¡­ I¡¯ve never seen them this¡­ perfect¡­¡± Mr. Cuervo was astonished because I cleaned them yesterday.


    ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Hey¡­ are you gonna test me here?¡± Cynthia said.


    ¡°Yeah, first things first, pick up the guns that you¡¯re familiar with. Your brother already said that he¡¯ll give you a gift basket. One of those is a few guns from his armory.¡± I instructed.


    Cynthia looked around nervously before picking up a case containing an S&W M&P 2.0, a CZ 457, an FN PS90, and a takedown AR Pistol. Kaley was looking curiously at the takedown AR Pistol but Cynthia was still scanning around the armory. After a short moment, she also ced a Henry Big Boy All-Weather with a ck coating.


    ¡°A 9mm, .22 LR, 5.7, .357, and a 5.56 or .300 AAC ckout. I like her choices already.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hey, what is that?¡± Kaley tapped me and pointed to the AR Pistol.


    ¡°That¡¯s a takedown AR Pistol, the stock could be folded to the receiver and the barrel could be attached and removed at will. See that little bag? It could fit that whole thing when it¡¯s folded. It¡¯s much shorter than the one you use and she could also rece it with another barrel so it could use .300 AAC ckout rounds instead of 5.56 rounds.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh, that looks cool. I like it if it¡¯s full-sized though.¡± Kaleymented.


    I looked around and saw Ilya looking at the gold and silver AK-47s almost ufortably.


    ¡°Good thing Niks and Alexei aren¡¯t here¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    Tatiana on the other hand was more focused on Cynthia¡¯s performance.


    ¡°You could try it if you want?¡± Cynthia looked at Kaley. <hr>


    Kaley¡¯s eyes lit up while Cynthia exined how the gun works. We all wore sses and hearing protection before Kaley fired a round on the human-shaped target on the 50-yard mark.


    Right in the forehead.


    The noise it produced was loud because a muzzle brake was installed instead of a suppressor. However, Kaley liked it because it kicked less than she anticipated. She fired more shots but I had to stop her because we were supposed to know Cynthia¡¯s capabilities.


    ¡°Wow¡­ you¡¯re really good!¡± Cynthia was shocked to see a clump like a fist when the target was reeled back. Kaley never missed the target and her groupings were tight. The ones that were a bit offset were due to firing rapidly.


    ¡°And you didn¡¯t join the games? Well, we never got to that so nevermind.¡± Mr. Cuervo added.


    We reced the targets and I made her shoot each one first without any instructions so I would know how she usually practices. We regarded this time almost like an audition if she could be one of my team permanently or something like Lois where I drag him from time to time.


    Cynthia started by using the CZ 457 which is a rifle chambered in .22 LR that has a scope and a sling. It uses a 5-round magazine which I think would be better suited for watch duty. Her shots were fairly urate but she had to adjust the target to be closer than 50-yards. I watched her every movement while I noticed that Mr. Cuervo would sometimes nce at me wondering what I was thinking at the moment.


    I let Cynthia shoot 50 rounds for each gun before I told her about the few things I noticed about her.


    ¡°Don¡¯t close your left eye.¡± I started.


    ¡°Hmm? O-Okay¡­¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°Try again.¡± I said.


    The moment she fired another shot by using the M&P, her uracy drastically lowered.


    ¡°¡­¡± she was silent. <hr>


    ¡°Close it again.¡± I said.


    ¡°O-Okay¡­¡± Cynthia replied.


    She fired another shot but it was right on target this time.


    ¡°This is a problem.¡± I said.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Cynthia was confused.


    ¡°You need to be able to shoot it on target while your left eye is open.¡± I exined.


    ¡°O-Okay¡­¡± she replied, dejected.


    ¡°That too, that¡¯s a problem.¡± I added.


    ¡°Huh? What is?¡± she was confused once more.


    ¡°You¡¯re agreeing to whatever I say too quickly. Try to ask questions about why you need to open your left eye while you¡¯re shooting. I love people who follow my orders but I would love them even more if they don¡¯t follow me blindly.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Then¡­ w-why do I need to open my left eye? I-I¡¯m shooting it more urately with it closed.¡± she looked at me straight in the eye.


    ¡°Okay, it has something to do with Ocr Dominance. Observing you, you¡¯re clearly Right-Eye Dominant. My only problem with what you¡¯re doing is you¡¯re closing your left eye while you¡¯re shooting. I prefer everyone to shoot with both eyes open because you wouldn¡¯t be able to see the threatsing from the left side when you close your eye like that.¡± I started.


    ¡°Wait, how can I determine if I¡¯m Right-Eye Dominant?¡± Mr. Cuervo interjected.

 Chapter 347

    Chapter 347: 347


    I looked at the siblings¡¯ reactions and they were interested. Well, the way that Mr. Cuervo looked much olderpared to Cynthia was also the same way in how they were interested. His interest was immediately piqued when I brought up the subject while Cynthia still needed a push to say what she wanted. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley and the rest of my group already knew about it because I¡¯ve never stopped teaching them about different theories and concepts though Ilya and Tatiana were already familiar with the subject. Looking at my new students¡¯ reactions, I guess they learned how to shoot by themselves and the teachings from other people.


    ¡°The right question is which of your eyes is the dominant one?¡± I replied back with another question.


    ¡°Okay hermano, do tell me.¡± Mr. Cuervo replied.


    ¡°Okay, here is what you two should do. Create a triangle with your thumbs and index fingers then focus on that target far away. Focus on it while holding your hands up in the same position and remember to keep both of your eyes open.¡± I started.


    ¡°Then what?¡± they asked.


    ¡°Your fingers are blurry now, right?¡± I asked.


    They both nodded.


    ¡°Okay, continue to focus on the target while slowly bringing your hands back right until you reach your face. Right, like that, slowly~ slowly~ slowly~ Then it¡¯s as simple as that. Good thing you¡¯re both right-handed and right-eye dominant. There are ways to cope with being cross-eye-dominant but being one of many is a good thing in this case.¡± I smiled.


    What happened was when the two slowly retracted their hands, they both ended up in their right eye. I already confirmed that they were also right-handed so that¡¯s a good thing in their situation.


    ¡°I see, but what does that have to do with closing our left eye? I also shoot with my left eye closed, why is that a problem if I could hit the targets urately with my eyes closed?¡± Mr. Cuervo asked.


    ¡°Okay, let me exin my side first. I do both of those things depending on the situation. If I¡¯m using a gun close range or middle range, I always keep both of my eyes open. I only close my other eye if I¡¯m looking through a high-powered scope.¡± I started.


    ¡°But why?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Closing one of your eyes has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is, if you close your non-dominant eye, you could get the sight picture much fasterpared to both of your eyes being open. However, doing that could leave you open to threatsing from the side in which you closed your eye. That is especially dangerous when you¡¯re in a gunfight and bullets are flying left and right. Not to mention, while adrenaline is pumping to your body, it would be difficult to keep your non-dominant eye close while getting the sight picture. While your brain is in the fight or flight mode, it needs to gather every information it could and most of the information we take in is from our eyes. That¡¯s why I only close my non-dominant eye when I¡¯m looking through a high-powered scope and while in a rtively safe spot. I do it mostly when I¡¯m sniping which I rarely do. Even Kaley, you saw her earlier with both eyes open but if she¡¯s on her nest sniping targets which are far away, her non-dominant eye is closed.¡± I exined. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°B-but doing it with both eyes open makes looking at the sights blurry.¡± Cynthia added.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s good that you¡¯re asking questions now. It¡¯s just like that at the start if you don¡¯t train yourself. I have a few ways to do that but what could really solve it is to practice every single day. When I was still new, someone from back home taught me a few tricky ways to solve it. The first one is to slightly blur the lens of your eye protection where your non-dominant eye is located. Lather it heavily with maybe a chapstick or something simr first until you get used to it and slowly apply less and less. After time passes, you¡¯ll just suddenly notice that you¡¯re shooting with both eyes open.¡± I replied.


    ¡°And the second one? I think that would take a bit of time.¡± Mr. Cuervo asked.


    ¡°Okay, raise your pistols and look at the sights. Open both of your eyes and I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s blurry. Focus on the front sight on your pistol and maintain that position for a moment.¡± I said.


    The two followed what I ordered. Cynthia raised her M&P while Mr. Cuervo raised his Desert Eagle.


    ¡°Good, still blurry, right? Now, what I want you two to do is slowly turn your head on the left.¡± I added.


    ¡°The left?¡± Mr. Cuervo asked.


    ¡°Just do it real slow and stop when you notice the magic happening.¡± I replied.


    The two still did as I asked and when they turned their heads for a few degrees, realization struck. The two almost smiled at the same time when I surmised is when the blurry sights became clear as day.


    ¡°Cool, huh? This position is gonna be a bit ufortable at first so I still suggest doing the arduous and boring way by practicing every single day.¡± I concluded.


    ¡°Opening the other eye is really that important huh?¡± Cynthiamented because she was still struggling to keep her other eye open. It would sometimes close when she would fire a couple of rounds.


    ¡°Okay, do your usual way and I¡¯ll show you another example.¡± I replied.


    ¡°O-Okay¡­¡± she replied and raised her gun while closing her other eye.


    While she was in position, I slowly drew my katana and ced it on her blindspot. That blindspot was created due to her closing her dominant eye. It should be several inches away but her eye being close allowed it. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, this is one more example you should open your eye while using that kind of gun. Slowly open it but no sudden moves.¡± I said.


    ¡°¡­!¡± Cynthia flinched when she saw my katana a few centimeters from her other eye so I quickly retracted it and ended my example.


    ¡°See? Pun intended.¡± I chuckled.


    Mr. Cuervo started cackling while the others were shaking their head in disappointment.


    ¡°Okay, enough joking. That little blindspot you made for yourself would¡¯ve cost you your life already. What more if that¡¯s a person holding a gun? So, I want you to practice that until you could do it without thinking about it.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I see¡­ you said something earlier about being c-cross-eye-dominant? How does that work?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Well, being cross-eye-dominant means that your dominant eye is on the other side from where your dominant arm is. In their case, they could do a few adjustments from turning their head on the opposite side from where the regr ones do or just train their non-dominant eye to do the same job as to what their dominant eye was supposed to do.¡± I exined a few things.


    ¡°So it would be harder for them?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°You could say that but they would still have advantages. For example, they wouldn¡¯t have as much trouble as you opening their left eye if that¡¯s their dominant eye and the person was right-handed. The problem lies is when they start to use guns with high-powered scopes. Like I said earlier, like myself, I only close my eyes when I use high-powered scopes. When a cross-eye-dominant person closes their dominant-eye while using their non-dominant eye, there could be a few problems.¡± I exined.


    ¡°B-but¡­¡± Cynthia trailed.


    ¡°Question?¡± I said.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t they just use their other hand?¡± Mr. Cuervo asked with a furrowed brow.


    ¡°Well, this is another example. Watch what I¡¯ll do, okay?¡± I said as I readied my own pistol. <hr>


    *psshew*


    I fired a shot while keeping my grip steady with two hands but I was mainly holding the gun with my right hand.


    Head dead-center.


    ¡°Wow¡­¡± Cynthia muttered.


    ¡°Wait, the example¡¯s not over.¡± I said before changing my grip much to their surprise.


    *psshew*


    I fired another shot through a new target while keeping my grip steady with two hands but this time, I changed my grip and I was now mainly holding the gun with my left hand.


    Still on the head, dead-center.


    ¡°Ummm¡­ What¡¯s the difference?¡± Cynthia was confused and Kaley was already shaking her head.


    ¡°Wait- I can do it right. Hold on, one more shot.¡± I once again aimed at my sights.


    *psshew*


    I almost hit the same spot.


    Everyone else was losing their minds.


    ¡°Okay, that¡¯ll do. I thought I wouldn¡¯t miss- Ack! Kaley! Stop!¡± I eximed while Kaley kicked my shin. <hr>


    ¡°Show off!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Ahaha¡­ back on topic. That was a bad example because I have control of both my hands. I¡¯m not sure about the exact difficulty of using your non-dominant eyepared to using your non-dominant arm but I think it would be harder to use your non-dominant arm instead if you don¡¯t have control over it. I already know how to use both of my arms before I even managed to start holding guns so I¡¯ll never know.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re ambidextrous?!¡± Ilya interjected.


    ¡°Well, yes. I¡¯m not born with it though. Just trained really hard for it. It involved a lot of free time and a lot of rope.¡± I replied while making my knuckled crack as I pushed against them one by one.


    ¡°Shit, f.u.c.k me, I¡¯m jealous.¡± Ilya was shaking his head.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s notte to train for it. Kaley is slowly making progress with her left hand and I have no idea about Tatiana because she¡¯s not showing me clues. Kaley could shoot with her left hand but the time for each shot is several times longer.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m still trying to make Hexa-loading smooth.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Wait. Kaley, you¡¯re right-eye dominant like me, right?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Yeah, why do you ask?¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Sky said that you could shoot with your other hand. Does that mean you trained your non-dominant hand and your non-dominant arm at the same time? That¡¯s what you did right? How-¡± Cynthia was about to finish her sentence but Kaley cut her off.


    ¡°No, I just trained on my non-dominant arm while still using my dominant eye. It would be too hard to train both at the same time with all the things we do every day.¡± Kaley exined while showing her left hand then pointing to her right eye.


    ¡°W-w-wait, I¡¯m confused now.¡± Cynthia closed her eyes to think.


    ¡°It¡¯s really simple. To be able to shoot with her non-dominant arm while using her dominant eye, she just did the adjustments a cross-eye-dominant shooter would do normally. Simple, right? Well, if you followed what we talked about earlier.¡± I exined with a smile.

 Chapter 348

    Chapter 348: 348


    Our little gun ss continued because the two tried to shoot with their other hand but failed miserably. Well, it was their first time so it was understandable. Mr. Cuervo brought a couple of cans of ammo and he asked us to help with reloading some of the magazines so they could practice. However, I stopped him before we continued. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What? What¡¯s wrong hermano?¡± Mr. Cuervo looked at me.


    ¡°Do you have a different caliber to use or something a little more¡­ less? That¡¯s .50 AE bullets you know. I know you¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g rich but those are still expensive and they would run out sooner than you think.¡± I advised.


    ¡°Oh, right. I have a f.u.c.k ton of them though. How about a .450 Marlin?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°.454 Casull?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°.45-70 government?¡±


    ¡°You also have a Magnum Research BFR?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°What?! Then how about a .460 S&W Magnum?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°.480 Ruger?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°.500 S&W Magnum?¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k no.¡±


    ¡°.600 Nitro Express?¡±


    ¡°What?! You even have that?! No! Try something like a 9mm or a .45 ACP.¡±


    ¡°What?! Those tiny f.u.c.k.i.n.g bullets? I¡¯m a man-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°I use f.u.c.k.i.n.g 9mm.¡± I said with an annoyed tone.


    ¡°Oh- I didn¡¯t mean to hermano I-¡± I cut him off again.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re bent on using high caliber rounds but you need to tone down this machismo thing you got going on. Even a .22 could kill anyone as long as you do it right.¡± I said.


    He was giving me a pensive expression and he finally decided to switch with his engraved silver Colt 1911.


    ¡°Of course¡­ I apologize on his behalf, Mr. Browning¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    They continued to practice and he let Ilya borrow his gold AK-47. Ilya was cacklingughing the whole time he was using it and even Tatiana declined even if she was a bit excited to try it. I taught them as much as I could not only on pistols given the time frame.


    When we got to rifles, I almost lost it when Mr. Cuervo brought out his AR-15 under the table. Kaley was also surprised but it seemed that she wasn¡¯t interested.


    It was an AR-15 but the upper receiver is different.


    More than different.


    It was belt-fed. It was using the Fightlite MCR AR Upper. <hr>


    Not gonna lie, I was ecstatic when I saw it but bringing a f.u.c.k ton of linked rounds would be too heavy on the arms if you¡¯re waving it around for a time. I saw Mr. Cuervo looking at me, waiting if I wouldment on it but his mustache was quivering with excitement.


    ¡°What do you think hermano? Manly eh? This 5.56s here is 500 in total!¡± he proudly lifted it up.


    ¡°Well, if you don¡¯t want to reload, that¡¯s the way to go¡­¡± I replied helplessly.


    I was already impressed that he pulled out something chambered in 5.56 and not something like a .338 Lapua Magnum or a .50 BMG so I let the matter go this time. Despite the things they need to know more about guns and how to operate them, he could shoot and handle recoil well. Kaley was giving pointers from her own experience to Cynthia and we spent the rest of our time here right until noon. I shot a few rounds myself and I picked up all of the casings littered on the floor after.


    Cynthia was about to excuse herself and was about to ask Kaley and Tatiana to apany her in packing all of her stuff. She already packed her guns here though Mr. Cuervo added a few more to bring with her before she went up. He ced a few more handguns inside her case and brought out several cans of different kinds of ammo for her to bring back to my ce. When we were cleaning up, Mr. Cuervo also excused himself so that he could bring his kids and his wife here for lunch. I asked him if I should prepare something but he declined and told me to just wait here because his wife would be cooking.


    Ilya and I were the only ones left.


    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re really letting me stay here?¡± Ilya asked.


    ¡°Yeah, still doubting me after all this time? I already told you it¡¯s your choice, right?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Niks and Alexei don¡¯t agree with you.¡± he replied.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have a better word for this but the president will be handing your team over to me. He got a lot on his hands and the situation about foreign dignitaries is not so good over there. Your whole team would be in my ce eventually, even your team leader Artem. Tell me, what¡¯s he like?¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, Artem huh? Well, he¡¯s kinda like you in a sense.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Really? Well, they said that too when I asked them. Guess I¡¯ll be meeting another unicorn.¡± I replied.


    ¡°A what? A unicorn?¡± he was confused.


    ¡°It¡¯s a metaphor. Unicorns aren¡¯t exactlymon you see?¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Oh. Well, if we¡¯re talking about simrities again, let¡¯s just say people tend to gather towards him, like you. To be honest, I was sure that I want to stay here with Aurora but now I¡¯m thinking if we should move here or to your own ce instead.¡± Ilya looked at me.


    ¡°Really? What made your mind waver?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, part of me wanted to encounter more of those things and especially those specials you were talking about to not lose my edge while another wanted me to keep Aurora close and safe at all costs. The only thing keeping me here is that Aurora doesn¡¯t want to leave her ce and I still wanted to kill the people who escaped me before. I also want to be with my team but I need to do what I have to do here first. They couldn¡¯t be too far and there¡¯s also the chance that Alexander or Kuzma would encounter them and finish the job for me. It¡¯s just hard to know if they¡¯re still alive or not.¡± Ilya replied.


    ¡°We could arrange that in the future but you have your responsibility here for the moment. You need to be here every week and Irene¡¯s ce should be the meeting point in case Vera managed to find out where they are. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll ask Irene to change your job description for something proper and I¡¯ll hand you a Sat Phone so you could contact us whenever. Thend you got here to take care of animals and grow crops is nothing to sneeze at. How much more when you start to expand? That¡¯s one of the advantages of being in the provinces. I need you here to make it work and you¡¯ll be the bridge to this ce, Irene¡¯s ce, and ours back home. Besides, I¡¯ll be leaving you a few goodies before we go back.¡± I said.


    ¡°Goodies?¡± Ilya asked.


    ¡°All our winnings. I can¡¯t take all of them back, can¡¯t I? Besides, I need space for the guinea pigs I¡¯ll be buying off your wife. Unlike the prizes we won, I could make those animals multiply indefinitely.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°You¡¯re joking.¡± Ilya can¡¯t seem to believe me.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m Sky.¡± I chuckled but all I received was head shakes.


    ¡°But¡­ but that¡¯s all yours.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m giving it to you. One benefit of owning something allows you to give it to someone else. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll pick a few things that catch my eye and I¡¯ll give you the rest, okay?¡± I said.


    ¡°Thanks, coach!¡± Ilya finally let out a smile and he gave me a handshake.


    Time eventually passed and instead of them going down here, we were called up to eat at their dining table. A nice spread was once again presented and the rest of my team including Irene¡¯s group was present, for the most part. Jared, Ed, Edd, and Eddy¡¯s eyes were still bloodshot and they seemed to have just taken a quick shower to repress their hangover. I saw Mr. Cuervo¡¯s kids and they were looking at me with excitement when their dad told them I did something special with the game they like to y.


    We eventually finished eating and I brought his kids down to see what I did. They couldn¡¯t stop thanking me and their faces were like Mr. Cuervo when I first installed it. Even his wife thanked me for seeing her boys smiling like that.


    Mr. Cuervo offered another handshake but it turned into a bro hug. He was smiling and nodding when he was looking at me and we finally bid each other goodbye.


    ¡°See youter hermano.¡± Mr. Cuervo said. <hr>


    ¡°See youter too, hermano.¡± I replied and he chuckled.


    We loaded the truck with Cynthia¡¯s belongings and another pickup would being with us with six of Mr. Cuervo¡¯s people that included Enrique. They have guns of their own and their belongings were also there.


    ¡°Hey vato! You thought I would die that easy, eh? Hah! I¡¯ve been through worse ese~! I¡¯ll being with you! Hahahaha!!!¡± Enrique eximed.


    ¡°Hah! No, you won¡¯t. Even if you try.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    Enrique was left with a questioning gaze when we drove outside. Irene¡¯s truck and our Ta were filled to the brim with supplies not to mention the trailer attached to the back of it. The people Mr. Cuervo picked listened to Irene¡¯s orders when we reached our ce and they were tasked with guarding the perimeter and other misceneous work.


    The only people pissed when we got back were Niks and Alexei.


    When Tatiana and Ilya told them the story about where we came from, they couldn¡¯t help but shout in regret. They wished that they¡¯ve defended themselves better from Ilya when a fight urred at Aurora¡¯s house.


    We started to unload the truck and Irene can¡¯t thank me enough when she learned that I would be only taking a few items from the pile that we won from the games.


    The winnings were mostly food items and a few luxury items but the number of guns and medical supply was also nothing to sneeze at. Most of them were hunting rifles, handguns, and shotguns but there were several hundred rounds for different calibers each, and the guns were more than a couple dozen. We even got back my trauma kit and what came back with it was more than double than what I brought.


    ¡°So, what would you be taking? You can pick anything, it¡¯s all yours for starters.¡± Irene said.


    ¡°Nothing much just this bottle.¡± I replied as I pulled out a fancy case.


    ¡°You¡¯re serious?¡± Ilya asked.


    ¡°Yeah, this thing costs $2250+ you know?¡± I replied with a smile.


    It¡¯s the bottle of Jose Cuervo that Enrique mentioned. The 250th-anniversary bottle of Jose Cuervo.

 Chapter 349

    Chapter 349: 349


    When I lifted up the bottle, Enrique¡¯s eyes lit up. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Damn vato, you actually won it eh?¡± Enriquemented.


    ¡°Want to have a taste? You said you haven¡¯t tasted this yet.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? No vato, but thanks. I want to win my own. Well, as long as you don¡¯t join next time or don¡¯t use that samurai of yours I guess I¡¯ll be fine. I get it why my love said I wouldn¡¯t be able to follow you. The helicopterst time was actually you guys, eh? I heard it a few days ago.¡± Enrique said while Tatiana almost attacked him again.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s good thinking that way. Yeah, but we¡¯ll being back soon. I just want you and your group to listen to Irene and I¡¯ll make it worth your while if you do a great job. Just think of this ce as an extension of Mr. Cuervo¡¯s ce. It wouldn¡¯t be as wild but it would be peaceful at least. I¡¯ll still allow you to join the games every week.¡± I exined and his group rejoiced.


    We started packing our bags but I noticed that Niks and Alexei¡¯s bag were still on the side. I looked at the two¡¯s bruised faces and they asked me and Ilya for a moment alone.


    ¡°Okay, let me guess. You two are staying, right?¡± I started.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Niks replied but Alexei was silent.


    ¡°How about you? Still having second thoughts?¡± I asked Alexei.


    ¡°No, we¡¯ve decided already yesterday but I still haven¡¯t told Vera. I guess I¡¯ll just call herter.¡± Alexei said.


    ¡°You two are really hitting it off eh?¡± Ilyamented. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re one to talk, heh.¡± Alexei scoffed.


    ¡°Okay, enough about that. Tell me why you two or staying first and tell me a valid reason or else I¡¯ll just knock the both of you out and I¡¯ll tie you two at the back of the helicopter with the guinea pigs.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, why is that? Miss the beating that much?¡± Ilya chuckled.


    ¡°Alexander and Kuzma. We¡¯re supposed to look for you too but you ended up here luckily. Vera is still looking for them and only time will tell.¡± Niks said.


    ¡°¡­¡± Ilya was silent.


    ¡°We¡¯re here already and this was my main goal for getting a few of my team at your ce. I know that Tatiana wouldn¡¯t stay here but I think just us three would be enough considering the type of zombies here.¡± Niks said.


    ¡°Hmm, I already asked someone with pull here to look for your people. Isn¡¯t that enough already? I already made a deal to look for them in exchange for a generous amount of equipment that we wouldn¡¯t be able to take home.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well, if either of them sees a familiar face, it would be easier to make theme with us instead of someone introducing themselves and telling them that they know us. I¡¯d be wary if a random person came looking for me asking me toe with them.¡± Alexei exined.


    ¡°Also, even if we tell them what they should do when they encounter them, we can¡¯t say that it would always be a peaceful one considering that we already lost contact for a while. Ilya already told us what he experienced here alone and that was rough.¡± Niks added.


    ¡°If you think about it, unless you expand your territory, you have more than enough soldiers that could hold the fort. Your civilians too have the proper knowledge and training so I think you could let go of us for the time being. We could also help to guard this ce if you want this to be an outpost of some sort. I don¡¯t know about you but I think this ce needs us more.¡± Alexei said.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll allow it but this thing isn¡¯t permanent. If by some chance I needed the two of you back home and I decided to pick you up here, you¡¯d ride the helicopter no questions asked, okay? I don¡¯t want to say this but looking for them for a few more weeks or even a month would be too much. The percentage of you guys locating them basing it on the time that has passed would be the number closest to zero. I hope you understand what I¡¯m talking about. I¡¯m just stating the facts here because I don¡¯t want you blindly hoping that you¡¯ll find them.¡± I exined and they nodded with serious expressions. <hr>


    ¡°Good. You three could make use of the guns and the other equipment from the winnings. You could also use the Ta to not interfere with Irene¡¯s runs outside while using her truck. However, I¡¯d like it if you¡¯d help her with this ce as well while you¡¯re looking for clues for Alexander and Kuzma¡¯s whereabouts. If by chance you found them yourselves, contact me immediately and we¡¯ll decide what to do after that. Hmm, use this too but don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g lose it.¡± I said as I handed Ilya my Tavor and the magazines filled with ammo.


    ¡°This too? How many guns do you have at home coach?¡± Ilya was surprised but he still epted it nheless.


    ¡°Yes. The answer is yes.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°That¡¯s not even- nevermind.¡± Ilya was shaking his head.


    ¡°How about that pistol coach? Not letting go of that?¡± Ilya joked.


    ¡°Well, I think I¡¯ll keep this on me for a while more. I think I like this one but I¡¯ll add the rest of the integrated suppressor to make it quieter. It¡¯s morepact like this but I guess it depends on the situation.¡± I replied.


    We concluded the conversation but the two were now looking at Ilya.


    ¡°What?¡± Ilya looked back at them.


    ¡°Not even gonna say thanks for us staying here you f.u.c.ker?¡± Alexei chuckled.


    ¡°Well, with the guns I have I¡¯m pretty good. I guess I¡¯ll take good care of you two f.u.c.kers. You two have a lot of shit to shovel every day I tell ya. You¡¯ll get the same tan as me too.¡± Ilya cheekily said. <hr>


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯re great at hand-to-hand but once guns and other things are involved, it wouldn¡¯t be the same asst time.¡± Niks added.


    ¡°We¡¯re no strangers to hardbor. We could fit here just fine. I might need to know about some of the ng here.¡± Alexei said.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see but thanks for lending a hand here. Finding those two would be easier. Not to mention, Enrique and the other people he came with seemed good people but I need to be wary with them and keep another eye open just in case. You two being here would make the power struggle a bit easier.¡± Ilya said as they gave each other a tight hug.


    ¡°I hope that doesn¡¯t be a problem.¡± I thought to myself.


    We came back to the group and the helicopter has now a few dozen guinea pigs, freshly harvested vegetables, and several pounds of cured meat wrapped in paper. Aurora and Irene didn¡¯t charge me for it because I already gave a lot to theirmunity. Arturo even came and he thanked me for the medical supplies I¡¯ve left them. They wanted to give me more items but it wouldn¡¯t fit the helicopter.


    I¡¯ve left Irene a copy of some of the files for survival and a few other things that they needed to know to build or make anything from scratch. I told her the situation for Niks and Alexei and she was ecstatic to have more people guarding her ce. The two would be staying with Ilya and Aurora for the moment while Enrique¡¯s group would be given a proper ce toy their heads on.


    Before we left, I asked for a picture with everybody so I could show back home another group of survivors from the other side. I never did the same thing with Mr. Cuervo¡¯s ce because Jared was already recording with his phone right from the get-go.


    We would be leaving the ce with a few things left unsolved but sometimes that was how the world works. We still have lots of stuff to do back home and staying here for much longer wouldn¡¯t be beneficial.


    We boarded the helicopter and Tatiana just discovered that the two would stay behind.


    ¡°You two are serious about this? I already figured Niks would stay but even you?¡± Tatiana said to Alexei.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Alexei replied. <hr>


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll just tell Vera that you found someone here like Ilya. I¡¯ll find someone for Vera back home, don¡¯t worry Alexei!¡± Tatiana was cackling,ughing.


    ¡°What?! No! I¡¯ll call her after you guys leave!¡± Alexei was worried.


    ¡°Hah! Just kidding. Don¡¯t die, you three. We¡¯ll being back soon, okay?¡± Tatiana bid her goodbye and the three gave their nods while smiling.


    Enrique tried to say something before we lifted off but Tatiana immediately closed the door. Kaley and Cynthia wereughing at her annoyed reaction when we were flying back home. Jared on the other hand was not speaking a word and his eyes were still bloodshot from yesterday.


    ¡°You okay dude?¡± I checked on him.


    ¡°F.u.c.k no dude. I drank too much.¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°Hah! Then you could choose to stay back at home the next time we go here.¡± I said.


    ¡°F.u.c.k no, I¡¯ming with. That ce was wild bro, I¡¯ll tell you that- BllrGHHrrGH!!!¡± Jared suddenly vomited and luckily he had a paper bag ready. He just threw it outside not caring to where it wouldnd.


    It took us a few hours and we finally reached back home. Everyone weed us but someone was not present. I looked around waiting for him but he was not there.


    ¡°Who you¡¯re looking for kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Zeus?¡± I asked with a worried tone.

 Chapter 350

    Chapter 350: 350


    I looked around once more but even Kaley¡¯s family weren¡¯t here. Lois, Mikhail, and Vera weren¡¯t here as well. Well, a few of my people came to meet us this time but the ones that were here besides Oscar were Chris, Charlotte, Unc Zardon, and Rin. A few of my workers were there too to help with the luggage. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh, that. Zeus is at Matthew¡¯s house.¡± Oscar said while ncing at Cynthia who¡¯s behind Kaley.


    ¡°Dad¡¯s house? Why?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, your little sister Olivia joined the kids in the covered court a few days ago with Lois. She thought she had it but¡­ she didn¡¯t have it. Sprained her ankle bad and I told her not to move it for a few days. Lois and Zeus are with her to keep herpany. Well, Matthew is there too to guard the two while Marisha is there to guard her husband. Heh.¡± Oscar chuckled.


    ¡°Haa~ why did she get injured from ying with the kids? What the heck are they doing there?¡± Kaley said, shaking her head.


    ¡°Hah! If you see those kids you¡¯ll be surprised I tell ya. I can¡¯t even chase one of those little f.u.c.kers. By the way, I see you¡¯ve made a little substitution here. Alexei called telling Vera they would stay there for a while but he didn¡¯t tell me you¡¯reing with anotherdy. Hello, my name is Oscar youngss.¡± Oscar grumbled when talking about the kids but he politely introduced himself to Cynthia.


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Cynthia nice to meet you.¡± Cynthia made a little bow.


    ¡°What is that you¡¯re carrying?¡± Oscar asked.


    I just noticed that Cynthia was carrying something with her hands. I was something long covered with a velvet cloth. It¡¯s almost the same length as Tatiana¡¯s bastard sword but it was much thinner and around the handle was rounder.


    ¡°Oh, my brother gave it to me before I was sent here. It¡¯s a rapier.¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°Ah, your brother? Why did he send you here?¡± Oscar asked but Cynthia hesitated to answer.


    ¡°Old man, save the questions forter. Let¡¯s just say we have a new capable survivor joining our fold.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay then, the others are still doing their runs but they will soer. We need to talk about a few things when they arrive. Something just came up.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Hmm? What came up?¡± I asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We found the church where those f.u.c.k.i.n.g cultists¡¯ ¡®father¡¯ was. Oh boy, you have got to see what Darelle recorded.¡± Oscar said with a grim tone.


    Kaley, Tatiana, Jared, and I¡¯s expressions changed when we heard the news and only Cynthia didn¡¯t know anything about it.


    ¡°They made progress eh? How many are they? How far did they manage to sneak in?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You would be f.u.c.k.i.n.g surprised. We¡¯ll talk about itter in the meeting.¡± Oscar gave a solemn expression. I looked at the others and they probably saw what Oscar was talking about.


    I just stared at him for a while then the guys helped us unload the S-76. Oscar sniffed out the Jose Cuervo 250 Anniversario bottle and almost took a sip but I stole it away from him. However, He was delighted by the guns we brought but he was shocked when he learned that it was all Cynthia¡¯s guns. He gave Cynthia a suspicious but an approving look and I was surprised he threw me the keys for the Charger. The moment we headed down the building, I was shaking my head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    Oscar snagged himself a Harley Davidson Road King.


    ¡°Hah! See this kid?! I¡¯m sure you¡¯re dying of jealousy right now you little shit! Lo and-¡± I immediately cut him off.


    ¡°It¡¯s cool but my Hayabusa is faster. Are you gonna make a biker gang old man? Hah! You need to bag a few more Harleys!¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°KID?! THIS IS A MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G HARLEY YOU LITTLE SHIT! I DON¡¯T GIVE A FLYING F.U.C.K IF YOUR HAYABUSA IS FASTER!!!¡± Oscar bellowed.


    ¡°Yeah, just say it to make yourself feel better¡­ Hahaha!¡± Oscar threw me his helmet but I caught it. Iid it on the ground so he had to walk back to pick it up.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g little shit making my blood pressure go haywire the moment he reached this f.u.c.k.i.n.g ce!¡± Oscar grumbled but we drove back not waiting for the luggage to be hauled on the truck. Jared managed to grab onto him so he could rest back home early.


    Cynthia was looking around curiously while Rin and Tatiana were already gone.


    ¡°You have a whole street to yourselves? How far does it go? A little more than that school?¡± Cynthia was shocked. <hr>


    ¡°Well, more than that. I¡¯ll give you a tour after we settled down. This ce is just the extensions from our mainpound. I¡¯ll introduce you to everybodyter. C¡¯mon, get in the car.¡± I said.


    Cynthia rode in the back while Kaley rode shotgun. Chris and Charlotte squeezed at the back and they introduced themselves to Cynthia.


    ¡°Hello, my name¡¯s Chris. This is Charlotte. She¡¯s crazy sometimes but she¡¯s really kind.¡± Chris said and Charlotte went crazy.


    ¡°Umm, h-hi. My name¡¯s Cynthia. Nice to meet you two.¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°You¡¯re really pretty. Your hair is beautiful too! You have thick strands, unlike mine.¡± Charlotteplimented Cynthia and Chris nodded.


    ¡°Oh¡­ thank you¡­ you¡¯re pretty too and your hair looks great styled like that.¡± Cynthia got embarrassed when she got praised.


    The three were conversing with each other while I was driving my Charger back home. Cynthia was still getting used to the warm wee by the two and Kaley was just smiling while watching them. Cynthia¡¯s eyes were looking around and it seemed like this was the first time she managed to get out of their ce in Batangas.


    ¡°Alright, here we are.¡± I said as we drove inside mypound.


    Cynthia was once again surprised by the warm wee she received from everybody inside. The kids approached her and Aya immediately began conversing with her. Mikhail, Bing, and Russel were getting climbed over by the other kids and a few from Woonds were also present inside.


    ¡°Woof! Woof! Woof!¡± I heard behind me.


    I saw Zeus already in his jumping motion and I caught him. His tail was wagging so hard and he started licking my face. I was carrying him and Kaley helped me introduce Cynthia to everyone who came.


    After that, Lois came pushing Olivia in a wheelchair and Olivia was wearing an annoyed look. A few momentster, Matthew came in while carrying his Remington 870 and his eyes were sharp and directed to Lois. However, his eyes rxed when he saw me and Kaley then Marisha followed him right after.


    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Kaley teased Olivia with a smirk. <hr>


    ¡°Shut up!¡± Olivia eximed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember Rule #18? Limber up?¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°What?¡± Olivia was confused.


    ¡°I love you.¡± I muttered subconsciously to Kaley and she smiled brightly beforeughing hard with everyone from my dumb look.


    Matthew and I just met eyes and we nodded at each other while Marisha started a small conversation with Cynthia and Aya.


    I noticed that not everybody was present yet and I surmised that they were either in a run or doing their jobs because it was still a few hours before sunset.


    The truck followed after us and I grabbed the cases which contained Cynthia¡¯s guns.


    ¡°Cynthia,e with us for a sec. We¡¯ll take you to your room first and I¡¯ll tell you where to ce your guns.¡± I snagged her from everyone that was striking a conversation with her. Their eyes widened when they discovered that Olivia brought a few guns of her own.


    ¡°O-Okay¡­ sorry, I¡¯ll be back in a minute¡­¡± Cynthia said to the group.


    Kaley and I guided her to our room and Kaley opened my armory. I ced her cases down and she was surprised by the guns perfectly ced next to each other.


    ¡°We¡¯re just gonna ce your guns here for the moment for safety. If I managed to get a safe for these, I would ce that in your room with your guns. Tatiana¡¯s case is here too though but just tell me or Kaley if you want to use them, okay?¡± I exined.


    ¡°Okay, is this where I¡¯m staying at as well?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯ll be in the next room after Tatiana and Rin¡¯s room. I haven¡¯t introduced you two yet but thedy with the parted hair and sses is Rin. She¡¯s Tatiana¡¯s¡­ you know.¡± I replied while giving her a look. <hr>


    ¡°Oh¡­ I see.¡± Cynthia nodded.


    ¡°Where are those two? I saw them walking back earlier than everyone.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Are they here already?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s check.¡± I replied.


    I was about to turn the doorknob to their room but I stopped myself. I silently leaned my ear against their door and what I heard from the other side was enough.


    I just gave Kaley and Cynthia a look and they blushed faintly.


    I opened the door to the third room and Iid her bags down. Cynthia went inside with Kaley then Cynthia looked around at her new room for herself.


    ¡°Okay, There¡¯s the bed over there. The AC could be turned on anytime you want but don¡¯t forget to turn it off when you go out. The outlets are located on that, that, that, and that ce and you could ce anything in the cabs here and on those shelves. If there¡¯s anything you want that isn¡¯t here, just tell me and I¡¯ll see what I could do. The bathrooms are on each floor and they¡¯re always by the stairs. Oh! We always have movie nights and it would greatly help me if you could choose something quickly. These guys took forever just to choose one and when I decided to choose something and it turned to be bad, I always get burned.¡± I said, smiling.


    Cynthia let out a faint smile before hugging me and Kaley. Kaley and I looked at each other because Cynthia¡¯s face was buried between us. I slowly patted her back before we heard a small sob. Her arms were tightly gripping our clothes and her face was sour.


    ¡°Cynthia¡­ are you okay?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°N-Nothing¡­ I¡¯m just a bit overwhelmed by this ce¡­ it¡¯s really¡­ different. I¡¯m kinda sad but I¡¯m kinda happy too¡­¡± Cynthia¡¯s eyes were red.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus barked. He followed us.


    Zeus tried jumping over to Cynthia so she could catch him but they fell on the floor. Zeus started giving her kisses and Cynthia¡¯s expression turned for the better when she hugged Zeus.


    ¡°Well, kindate to say this but wee to your new home. You¡¯ll like it here, I promise.¡± I said to Cynthia.

 Chapter 351

    Chapter 351: 351


    After a few hours, all of us were gathered in the pool area for our meeting. We now have representatives from Woonds and the DDR Camp in our ce. They alwayse in groups of five and they share their own reports from running their own ce. On our outpost outside which is my old high school, they would just tell their report in a call instead ofing here every night. It was the same case for Iskoh and Rod. Oscar was in charge ofmunicating with them after each meeting to ry what happened on our parts and for them to ry what happened on theirs. We started on this arrangement after we came back here from the City of Man. Communication with each other was one of the keys to survive this thing. <center></center><hr>


    I discovered that most of the soldiers from the Meycauayan DDR camps have moved on to my old high school. Only a few dozen would remain just to watch the road and clear a few deadheads while in the hospital. Their group nned on hitting SM Maro for everything that the ce could offer because it was still full of supplies and the people on the rooftops were found dead and just roaming aimlessly on the roof. Oscar gave them the go and they would be executing it tomorrow.


    On our side, the clearing groups were starting to encroach Coloong, another barangay next to ours. That ce was as big as ours and the difference between that ce and ours was that Mnday, our barangay, had one-third of its whole territory on the other side of the highway while Coloong was whole. That barangay owns more fishing areaspared to our ce but they don¡¯t havend to nt their crops.


    ¡°Are there people living over there?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, from the looks of it when we came therest time, seems to be none. We reached those huge fish ponds at the end that were also connected to the canal system. Everything else was neglected but there¡¯s a lot of zombies still inside the houses.¡± Mark replied.


    ¡°How about the other barangays next to them? Have you taken a look yet?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, my group went for a quick look there but it seemed the same until Pulo.¡± Jay replied.


    ¡°Okay, here¡¯s what you¡¯ll do to be a little efficient. There are four entrances in total including the bridge which connects us to Pulo that I want you to look at. There are many entrances that connect us to the other barangays via the road. There are small ones and big ones but if you¡¯d look at our map here, these four entrances is the key. If we block them all for the moment, unless those deadheads managed to learn to jump over houses, we¡¯re good.¡± I started.


    ¡°But those areas are twice as big as this barangay.¡± Dong chimed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not telling you to clear everything in one go. After you¡¯re done with Coloong, block the road leading to that ce as well then continue to Bisig, Tagg, Mabolo, I, and so on¡­ Just start with Coloong first because it¡¯s the biggest one before reaching the bridge to Pulo. We¡¯ll just start with that side of the road first because we need to make sure the canal system is clear from those other points before we even try going out with our boats.¡± I exined.


    We continued the meeting and what followed was Rin¡¯s reports on the whole upkeep of our whole ce. Supplies were still holding up and the ces I¡¯ve pointed to that might contain valuable equipment and lots of food were spot on. Sweeping each and every house would almost always give supplies but surgically scavenging high-value and low-profile ces would give the best yields because high-value and high-profile ces were either looted already or crawling with biters.


    The ces I¡¯m talking about were houses being made into storage areas, houses of people with carry permits or involved withw enforcement, apartments with people with doctoral or engineering degrees, etc., or even houses whose people used to live in were paying high amounts of tax. Those were bound to contain valuables. I made use of the files from the City Hall we hit before and they were f.u.c.k.i.n.g urate. However, I would still make them sweep each house because we would never know what we may find randomly.


    We ended that part of the meeting and I formally introduced Cynthia to everyone present. We left it to Cynthia if she would tell them of her brother¡¯s real identity but we already made an agreement beforehand that I would tell Oscar everything. I showed the group the pictures I took from the ce we stayed for a few days and boy oh boy we got a f.u.c.k.i.n.g situation on our hands.


    Oscar was stunned when he saw Irene. He was like me every time Kaley would smile brightly.


    ¡°Kid, who was that? The one on the id shirt? Kid!¡± Oscar called out to me.


    ¡°Uh, that¡¯s Irene. She¡¯s the leader of that ce Ilya was staying at.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Ah, wait. Who¡¯s that f.u.c.k.i.n.g grumpy looking asshole with a cigar?! That¡¯s not her lover isn¡¯t he?!¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s Irene¡¯s brother Arturo. He¡¯s their resident doctor.¡± I replied with a hidden smirk. <hr>


    ¡°Ah, I must¡¯ve been seeing things. They both look good especially her and that must being from good genes eh? That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right. He¡¯s a doctor too eh? I need to learn more of him too.¡± Oscar nodded though everyone already knew what¡¯s about to happen in the future.


    ¡°Right, any more questions before Darelle presents his report? That would be thest, right?¡± I looked at everyone.


    ¡°Yeah! I got a question kid!¡± Oscar raised his hand with a jolly look on his face.


    ¡°I¡¯ll introduce youter, don¡¯t worry.¡± I was shaking my head the same with everyone.


    ¡°Yes! AH- I mean- I¡¯m just gonna make sure you tell them about everything to make their p-ce hold. I saw the pictures of some of their fences and it was t-terrible. I¡¯m ah- just gonna introduce myself and tell her about a few improvements. That¡¯s right, i-improvements.¡± Oscar was fidgeting.


    ¡°Yeah, sure. Darelle, they said you have something to show me?¡± I looked at him and Trisha and they were wearing difficult expressions.


    ¡°Yeah, umm, to those who are squeamish and have kids here. Please leave this meeting now and take your kids back home. This is uh¡­ something else. I haven¡¯t shown this to everybody though a few already saw it.¡± Darelle said with a solemn expression.


    A few people left with their kids and my curiosity grew wilder. <hr>


    Darelle passed me a memory card and I plugged it in the card reader for myptop. He pointed to the file I was supposed to watch with everyone and he told me the time to skip it in.


    The moment it yed, my eyes never left the screen.


    I remembered the ce those f.u.c.kers mentioned the father was staying at and it was a beautiful church.


    It was inspired by Korean and European architecture and it was built for the first Korean Catholic priest who studied and sought refuge in the Bcan Area. It was made quite cleanly and the design of it was spectacr yet minimalist. The colors were mostly white but the roofs were ck and there were a few motifs of gold. Even thendscape was amazing but it was different now.


    F.u.c.k.i.n.g different.


    Darelle and the others managed to record footage of that ce from far away. There was also footage from a drone but it was just a quick run-through because their location might be discovered when it flew back. They left the ce the moment the drone was taken to make sure no one would have the chance to follow them. They even picked it up in another block, making sure no one followed the drone as well. The video was almost blurry but I could only imagine how that group of people managed to make that ce abhorrent even from afar.


    The whole church was made of flesh.


    From the first floor and its majestic and white pirs up to the roofs which were made with ck y tiles were now covered by people or parts of them. The once beautiful church was defaced by a group of people that had let go of their humanity long ago.


    On the pirs were bodies of children who were either dead or alive, slowly coiling up to the other end. Their hands and feet were nailed together and their insides were spilling out. I could only imagine the cries they were producing being ced in that sorry state. The walls had people nailed in a praying position and dismembered torsos were upying the gaps but their heads were still intact. Even their plot ofnd where lush trees were supposed to be growing was reced by figures which were yed and struck by a pole in their abdomen, buried in the ground. <hr>


    The funny thing is that some of them were still moving albeit roughly.


    The bodies were made sure to cover each and every surface even up to the higher floors and the roof. Even the gate has several bodies kneeling but their heads were removed and ced on the spikes on top of the gate.


    The y tiles on the roof were also paired with a huge number of heads facing up and some were in the state of undeath. The view was like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up version of corn on the cob and they were tightly packed and their heads were even shaved but some of them were missing their scalp. Blood was trickling down in some areas but most of them were already congealed and had darkened.


    Internal parts were scattered on the grass area which was once green but now was dark and red. The only thing the same was the walkway made of rock that led inside the doors of the church in which hands were nailed into the door representing wings.


    I tried to rey the footage a couple of times to see everything more clearly but I can¡¯t even get a glimpse of what was inside.


    The whole pool area was quiet and no one made a sound. There was a mix of disgust, fear, anger, and repulsion in the expression of everybody present.


    ¡°Darelle, have you ever seen their ¡®father¡¯ at least?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No, but we stayed in that ce for a while and we¡¯ve seen a lot of theming in at random intervals, bringing different kinds of supplies, even more people for¡­ you know¡­ their decorations. The church¡¯s bell would ring every 6:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 6:00 PM. We don¡¯t know why yet but they do and something seems to be happening inside. We just can¡¯t get too close because we might get discovered.¡± Darelle replied.


    ¡°No, finding their location is good enough. Don¡¯te back to the same spot because they might be there the next time you- Well, it won¡¯t matter now. You guys were searching for them for a while and you found them. Only one thing left to do for those motherf.u.c.kers. We¡¯ll kill them all.¡± I said with a dark expression.

 Chapter 352

    Chapter 352: 352


    I was looking at everyone¡¯s expressions and I couldn¡¯t help but inwardly smile at what I was seeing. <center></center><hr>


    Well, it didn¡¯tst for long.


    An stood up.


    *p*


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *p*


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *p*


    ¡°ALLAN, DON¡¯T YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G START THAT SLOW CLAP OR I¡¯LL F.U.C.K.I.N.G CRUCIFY YOU!!!¡± Oscar bellowed.


    ¡°Wha-¡± An stopped mid-p.


    Bing and Russel were about to follow him but they quickly sat down and An followed quickly after.


    ¡°Kid, are we gonna hit them tomorrow? No n?¡± Oscar calmed down and looked at me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What? Afraid now?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Bah! YOU¡¯RE telling ME if I¡¯m afraid?! Hah! I-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°Just kidding, we¡¯ll hit that ce on Sunday.¡± I was already chuckling.


    ¡°KID?!¡± Oscar was red and huffing.


    The serious atmosphere waspletely obliterated.


    ¡°Wait, hold up. Why Sunday?¡± Johnny chimed.


    ¡°I need a few days toe up with a n and if we¡¯re nning to hit them a lot of them, better bet on the day when they would have their own gatherings. If they¡¯re still following their religion which I think they are, even in their own f.u.c.k.i.e.d up way, the highest chance of us taking care of them would be on a Sunday.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What? Do you want me toe back and check on that ce some more? We¡¯ve been really careful.¡± Darelle said.


    ¡°No dude. I think that¡¯s enough. Flying your drone that close to that ce more or less alerted them that someone¡¯s watching them. I don¡¯t want you or the rest of your team in that wall as decorations, okay? When youe back there, you wouldn¡¯t be shooting them with your cameras anymore.¡± I said.


    ¡°Then what could we do while we¡¯re waiting then?¡± Trisha asked.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯re gonna work with Rin.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm? Me?¡± Rin looked at my direction.


    ¡°Yeah. Print out a map of that ce on the right scale as I did when I showed the ns for the City Hall. Have them in grids and work with Darelle¡¯s team to mark out ces around it regarding their situation. Justbel them properly whether that ce was upied, clear, infested, and etc. I did most of the work before so you have a reference. Can you guys do it?¡± I looked at them.


    ¡°Yeah, those were not all the footage we recorded. There are some random ones we did when we scanned around and when we¡¯re slowly inching towards that spot. We¡¯ll rey some of them to refresh our memory.¡± Darelle replied as he looked at Trisha, Rin, and his team.


    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s all for now. I¡¯ll check those as well when I have extra time. Any other questions before we end this meeting?¡± I looked at everyone.


    ¡°Yeah, are the people who¡¯reing with you on Sunday set already?¡± Lawrence raised his hand. <hr>


    ¡°Not yet. My other long shooter is in the province now, you want toe?¡± I replied.


    Lawrence just nodded.


    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s a no.¡± I said with an emotionless expression.


    ¡°Hey! Wait! I¡¯ming!¡± Lawrence almost lost bnce.


    ¡°Good. In this day and age, I need verbal confirmation.¡± I said while everyone was shaking their head either in amus.e.m.e.nt or confusion.


    ¡°Anything else?¡± I looked at the group once more.


    ¡°Bro! Are you gonna teach a ss today?¡± Lois raised his hand.


    The moment he asked the question, a few people tensed.


    ¡°Umm, well I¡¯ve left my Tavor to Ilya, the guy who we¡¯re supposed to take back here but instead took in Niks and Alex-¡± I stopped midway in my sentence because everyone close to Vera took a step away from her.


    ¡°Something wrong Vera?¡± I obliviously asked.


    ¡°Nothing. Nothing¡¯s wrong.¡± Vera said without emotion.


    ¡°Is it Alexei?¡± I asked obliviously once more.


    Then the pencil she was holding cracked into multiple pieces.


    ¡°No, why would that f.u.c.k.i.n.g son of a bitch bother me? He just straight up decided to stay with that motherf.u.c.ker who I painstakingly located. No, I hope they have a good time there.¡± Vera said and I finally understood when Lois was staring at me.


    ¡°Oh boy. Why didn¡¯t I notice it the first time?¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    I chose to avoid that touchy subject for now.


    ¡°Bro, as I was asking earlier, now that you¡¯re not teaching us, will Tatiana teach us instead? She¡¯s been a really good teacher. More straight to the-¡± then Vera cut him off.


    ¡°What? You don¡¯t want me teaching you too?! Is that it?!¡± Vera snapped.


    ¡°Um- Ah- that¡¯s not-¡± Lois was put on the spot.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± Vera stood up.


    ¡°N-No, I¡¯m jus-¡± Vera cut him off again.


    ¡°OH! IS THAT IT, RIGHT?! I- MIKHAIL!!! F.U.C.K.I.N.G LET GO OF ME- AHHHHHHHH!!!¡± Mikhail intervened and picked Vera by the head with one hand.


    ¡°I¡¯m very sorry for her. She¡¯s fine this morning but when Alexei called, she did a turn. I¡¯ll lock her up in her room until she calms down. Excuse me¡­ yes Vera, I know. He¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid. Yes, yes¡­ We¡¯ll tear him a new one with my brother¡­ yes, yes¡­ we will, trust me¡­¡± Mikhail lifted Vera up like it was nothing.


    ¡°¡­¡± Everyone else.


    Lois and the others breathed a sigh of relief. I saw Cynthia asking a few questions to Kaley and Kaley was answering her. Cynthia just nodded a few times before they saw me looking at them. I surmised it was just about the sses every night and I let the matter go. Tatiana decided she would teach a ss so I headed up to my room.


    I cracked my knuckles and then I picked up the parts of my BCM AR-15.


    It was a little different from Kaley¡¯s 16-inch AR-15 because what I have is a little shorter and hers was from Palmetto State Armory. Mine only had an 11.5-inch barrel length and the handguard was from an MK18. It still used the upper receiver group from BCM though nothing was done on it yet except for what it came in with when I bought it from BCM.


    I saw Kaley and Cynthia hawking at me from behind so I turned my head and also saw Zeus silently watching me.


    ¡°What?¡± I said with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus answered.


    ¡°Yes. You¡¯re right.¡± I answered back and he went closer to my table. <hr>


    ¡°You aren¡¯t gonna attend the ss?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m kinda busy. I¡¯m gonna work out after your ss though. Aren¡¯t you guys runningte?¡± I replied.


    ¡°W-Well, I want to see how you add them in.¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°You¡¯ll have plenty of chances. Look, Cynthia¡¯s excited to go up. Come on, Zeus is with me so I¡¯m safe, right?¡± I looked at Zeus to annoy Kaley even more.


    Kaley just red at me yfully before she took Cynthia upstairs.


    I first added the red dot optic with a chevron reticle because I¡¯ll be adding in a magnifier at the back of it. However, I added a riser because I¡¯ll be cing an IRser in the 12-o¡¯clock position near the end of the quad rail. The red dot was a little different because it was shaped like an arrow because if I added the magnifier at the back, the dot in a normal reticle would get zoomed in as well, messing up a few things when I¡¯m aiming at someone. That negates the problem though the magnifier could be flipped with a flip mount when I don¡¯t need the extra magnification.


    I could¡¯ve added a canted red dot on the side while using a high-powered scope but I abstained this time.


    The next thing I added was the IR Laser I¡¯ve mentioned earlier and a shlight at the 3-o¡¯clock position after that. Their switches would be behind the IRser because my thumb wouldn¡¯t reach that far and I don¡¯t want to change my grip mid-way while I¡¯m inside.


    Zeus was curiously watching what I¡¯m doing and he was silent though he would sometimes pant loudly.


    Next to the list was angled foregrip, different from the vertical foregrip that Kaley was using on her AR-15. I ced it at the bottom of the quad rail and then I held the gun tucked on my shoulder and ced near my cheek.


    ¡°So far, so good.¡± I thought to myself.


    I then added a 6-inch suppressor before cing the mounting points for my sling.


    I grabbed five empty magazines and filled them with 5.56s though thest magazine was filled with green tips. That meant that these rounds were made to prate through armor but not as much to go through anything else. It was made with a steel core though there¡¯s some problem with uracy because it tends to wobble due to weight distribution. I just ced them as a backup just in case I needed something with a little more punch.


    I ced my newly built AR-15 next to Kaley¡¯s AR-15 to tick her a bit but my eyes scanned over my Barrett that Oscar gave me. It was imposing as ever even if it was justying on the table like that.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± I thought to myself.

 Chapter 353

    Chapter 353: 353


    I began to recall the footage we¡¯ve seen earlier and I thought about a few points where it could be possible. I was sitting on my chair while looking at my Barrett but I decided to formte the n after I¡¯ve seen the map Rin would be making with Darelle. <center></center><hr>


    I looked at Zeus then his tail started to wag when we locked eyes.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus barked.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it past your bedtime already?¡± I said to him as I pointed at my watch.


    Zeus started to whine but I raised my eyebrow.


    ¡°You know what happens if you don¡¯t get enough sleep, right?¡± I said to convince him.


    Zeus covered his face with his paws and he started to lie prone.


    ¡°Nope, that¡¯s not sleeping. That¡¯s hiding, right?¡± I said as I crouched down.


    Zeus rolled over with his tongue sticking out.


    ¡°Nope, that¡¯s ying dead. I taught you that. You need to work on your panting or else you¡¯d get discovered easily.¡± I said.


    Zeus immediately stopped panting.


    ¡°Holy f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Good. Your tail is still wagging though.¡± I said, chuckling.


    Zeus¡¯ head turned to his wagging tail and he tilted his head. He stared at it for a moment before looking at me.


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t look at me. I didn¡¯t do that. Wait a minute, you¡¯re stalling for time eh? I guess we¡¯ll forget about the treat before bedtime¡­¡± I ced my hand over my head and he panicked.


    Zeus made his way down in a sh and he was standing near the refrigerator where his jar of treats was ced on top.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus barked when he saw me.


    I grabbed one and I walked to his corner where his bed was at. He came from behind me and then he turned around a few times beforeying down. When I gave him a piece of the Scuby Snacks, he held it with his mouth first then he ced it between his paws before slowly eating it. <center></center><hr>


    I patted his head before I changed clothes.


    The moment I reached the gym, a three-way battle was about to happen between Kaley, Tatiana, and Cynthia.


    Chris saw me enter and he immediately pulled me to the side. However, I saw that he kept on shaking his hands every few moments.


    ¡°What happened to you and what¡¯s happening between them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me, it¡¯s about to start!¡± Chris silently eximed.


    Kaley was holding a curved wooden sword shaped like my katana, Tatiana was holding a straight wooden sword shaped like her bastard sword, and Cynthia was holding a thin wooden sword shaped almost like her rapier. Rin was on the other side with a difficult expression while holding her staff.


    ¡°Did I came at a bad time?¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Bro, you came at the right moment.¡± Jared approached from my side.


    ¡°What happened?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know either. It just happened.¡± Jared shrugged his shoulders.


    ¡°Did they get in an argument?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Who f.u.c.k.i.n.g cares? This is gonna be good.¡± Bing said.


    A few people came to greet me but the fight already started. Kaley and Cynthia were wearing protective gear but Tatiana wasn¡¯t.


    Tatiana took the initiative by delivering a two-handed swing against Kaley. Kaley jumped back while Cynthia thrust forward to Tatiana¡¯s left side.


    Tatiana just bent her body before jumping and delivering a spinning kick directed at Cynthia¡¯s torso.


    ¡°So it¡¯s a two versus one?¡± I thought to myself.


    Tatiana was just smiling all over but Kaley aimed for Tatiana¡¯s feet just as she was about tond. Kaley was shing downwards at an angle but Tatiana spun her heel the moment shended to avoid the blow. Tatiana swung sideways aiming at Kaley¡¯s right hand but Cynthia already recovered and she was aiming for Tatiana¡¯s left shoulder.


    Tatiana¡¯s attack angle switched mid-swing and it met with Cynthia¡¯s thin wooden sword. Cyntia¡¯s sword was parried sideways and Kaley took a step forward with her left foot. <hr>


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± I thought to myself.


    Tatiana smirked when she saw Kaley¡¯s initial movements then she suddenly went low.


    Kaley¡¯s kick hit nothing but Tatiana¡¯s hair blew wildly when it flew past her head. Tatiana swept Kaley¡¯s leg and she used the momentum to send a high kick towards Cynthia who wasing from behind. Cynthia saw iting and she managed to dodge by a hair¡¯s breadth. Kaley kicked up the same moment Tatiananded and everyone watching was stunned from the three.


    Cynthia attacked after stepping back and she aimed for Tatiana¡¯s body. Kaley was right behind Tatiana but her wooden katana was on the floor so Kaley decided to push Tatiana forward. Tatiana was surprised by getting pushed and the tip of Cynthia¡¯s thin sword got rmingly closer. Kaley used that time to try and pick up her wooden katana but Tatiana had other ns.


    Tatiana grabbed Cynthia¡¯s wooden rapier and she threw it towards Kaley¡¯s wooden katana so it would get knocked away and buy her some time. Kaley gave a disgruntled expression but the short moment she was away, Cynthia was already on the floor.


    Despite that, Kaley took a deep breath while Tatiana lunged forward.


    They both swung down with their swords and they were both holding it two hands. The swords they were holding creaked when it collided against each other but they continued. I slipped past Bing and was paying careful attention to the sounds. The two didn¡¯t notice me approaching them but they managed to stop mid-swing before they hit me when I jumped in the middle. I was prepared to catch them but it seemed I was wrong in thinking that they didn¡¯t notice me.


    ¡°Before you two poke an eye out, change those swords yeah? You noticed meing from a mile away but you two didn¡¯t hear the creak at first?¡± I chuckled.


    Kaley and Tatiana caught their breaths but the audience just managed to take their first. An passed out because he was holding his breath the whole time watching the girls fight.


    ¡°I¡¯m so close!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, poking your eye out. You¡¯ve been here for three hours already, right?¡± I looked at them.


    They all instinctively looked at the watch on the exit and they were surprised.


    I was shaking my head in amus.e.m.e.nt then I asked what happened. What happened was that Cynthia sparred with most of the group and she beat most of them. She even beat Kaley but when Kaley started adding punches and kicks, the oue was different. Tatiana was grinning on the side so the two decided to challenge her. One way led to another and I saw what happened next.


    The rest decided to leave while a few remained to train their bodies in the gym. I helped Kaley take off her protective gear while Tatiana helped Cynthia. I saw small bruises on their forearms due to the training they¡¯ve been doing.


    ¡°You sparred without using protective gear earlier eh?¡± I looked at Kaley.


    ¡°W-Well¡­¡± Kaley stuttered.


    ¡°If you get hit hard with a wooden stick, the moment your knuckles get injured, it would affect your shooting. If that happened, I won¡¯t let youe in runs until it healed.¡± I said sternly. <hr>


    ¡°Sorry¡­ just got excited¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°You too. Don¡¯t go too hard on the first day. Sheesh.¡± I looked back at Cynthia and she got fl.u.s.tered.


    ¡°Boss, I tried to stop them but Tatiana kept on egging them on!¡± Rin told her side of the story.


    ¡°What? I didn¡¯t aim for their hands. Those bruises were from themselves earlier when they were sparring with everyone. A few would make mistakes and identally hit them.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Who did it then?¡± I asked menacingly and the temperature dropped a few degrees.


    I looked back at the audience and the majority was gone.


    ¡°Hey! That¡¯s part of the training! You get hurt!¡± Kaley pulled me back when I was about to chase after the ones who immediately disappeared.


    ¡°What? I¡¯m just gonna give them personnel lessons of my own. I still haven¡¯t perfected my ¡®death by a thou-¡± Kaley red at me so I stopped.


    The rest helped with cleaning up the equipment but I asked them to set aside the ones Kaley and Tatiana broke. I decided to either fix them myself tomorrow or just add it to the pile that my Unc Zeidrick was working on. He was having fun with the CNC Mill, 3D Printer, and other power tools with Raphael and Anthony that even the Killdozer wasn¡¯t fully restored yet. They told me that they have a side project going on and they would just tell me when it¡¯s ready.


    I started my daily workout when the dust settled. It felt really different training in your own gympared to others even if it¡¯s like Mr. Cuervo¡¯s gym. I was familiar where everything is ced here and I could easily flow through each exercise.


    Rin asked for a few pointers while I was doing my routine because she could only practice with her staff when I¡¯m present. She was learning other things when Tatiana or Vera would teach a ss so she made use of the opportunity.


    After we were done, Kaley dragged me in the shower with her on the 2nd floor and she made use of the time to ask about Tatiana¡¯s weaknesses. I got excited for nothing but I learned that she never beat Tatiana in a fight. Kaley tried to get help from Cynthia but they were both handled like kids. Tatiana didn¡¯t agree to fight them both unless they were wearing protective gear.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, is there anything did you notice? You were watching us earlier, right?¡± Kaley looked at me while scrubbing herself.


    ¡°Hmm, instead of looking for her weaknesses, I suggest you get better first. Your gap in levels is a little bit too much for you to handle yet. You¡¯re learning powerful moves but you¡¯re finding it hard to connect them with a moving target. Mix a fewpact and quick moves that are hard to dodge and it would eventually lead to an opening. Also¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley stopped scrubbing herself.


    ¡°Could we please talk like this in the gym instead? It¡¯s kinda distracting doing it here.¡± I faintly smiled.


    ¡°Well, if I formed a battle n for her next time and she heard us, it¡¯s all for naught, right?¡± Kaley started scrubbing herself again.


    ¡°Well, think about this. How about getting strong to the point that even if your opponent knows what you¡¯re gonna do next, they wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything?¡± I replied while maintaining eye contact. <hr>


    ¡°What? Is that even possible?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°¡­¡± I got distracted.


    ¡°What? What aren¡¯t you answering?¡± Kaley looked at me.


    ¡°Give me that soap, I¡¯ll do it for you¡­¡± I was shaking my head.


    ¡°What? Why?¡± Kaley was confused.


    ¡°I can¡¯t think straight, okay? You¡¯re scrubbing your underarm but your huge tits are in the way. They kept getting mushed up and my mind wanders when I see huge b.o.o.b.s, especially yours.¡± I admitted.


    Kaley started tough and she gave me the soap. I scrubbed her myself and she watched me soap her up. Something rose up which was unavoidable regarding the circ.u.mstances but we continued with our shower first.


    ¡°Oh yeah, I had an idea for the movie to watchter.¡± I said to Kaley.


    ¡°Oh, what is it?¡± Kaley asked as I raised her arm.


    ¡°It involves the training you had earlier.¡± I replied.


    ¡°The swords? Something Japanese then? Rin would really like that but Tatiana would always fall asleep.¡± Kaley said while turning around.


    ¡°No, it involves Cynthia.¡± I replied while I was scrubbing her back.


    ¡°Oh! I see, something with a sword and Cynthia¡­ her rapier then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Is it the old one where the guy¡¯s wearing a ck costume shing people in a ¡®Z¡¯ pattern?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°What? Oh, no, not that one. It involves someone introducing himself properly and telling the other person his intentions.¡± I replied with a grin.


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley turned around to face me.

 Chapter 354

    Chapter 354: 354


    Kaley¡¯s hair was tied up while I was scrubbing her back. I got stunned looking at her beautiful face and her snow-white neck when she turned her head back. <center></center><hr>


    I just saw her waving me over with a smile and I snapped back to reality. Her cheeks were slightly blushing while she was looking at me.


    ¡°S-Sorry, I would sometimes space out while looking at you¡­¡± I chuckled weakly.


    ¡°Hmph! Good thing that doesn¡¯t happen when we¡¯re outside!¡± Kaley turned her head back then she straightened her legs with a stretch.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re in a safe zone rtively speaking so I could rx a bit. I¡¯m always on the alert outside and it¡¯s sometimes tiring.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh yeah, before we forgot, what is the movie you¡¯re talking about?¡± Kaley repeated her question earlier.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Pringles Bribe. I¡¯m guessing you haven¡¯t watched it yet. I hope the others didn¡¯t too.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? Is that a parody?¡± Kaley was confused.


    ¡°Well¡­ let¡¯s just say that it¡¯s really good.¡± I replied.


    Kaley and I switched positions and she was the one scrubbing my back. She tried to tease me a few times by rubbing her b.r.e.a.s.ts against my back but I took the initiative. We did something quick and we nned to just sleepter. We finished our little bath and we changed clothes when we entered our room.


    I loaded the film then paused the movie at the beginning scene so I would just press y when the three came in. Kaley went to my armory while I was doing that and she was looking for my new gun.


    ¡°That¡¯s loaded. Be careful.¡± I reminded her.


    ¡°Okay~¡± I heard her respond.


    I saw Kaley removing the magazine and then she cleared the chamber afterward. She raised it up to her cheek while looking at the sights but she noticed the risers. It took her a few moments to getfortable with it first then she noticed the magnifier. She started flipping it back and forth then she started fiddling with the IR Laser.


    ¡°Cool, huh?¡± I smirked.


    Kaley nodded a few times. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well, if you want to try that setup, you could use it tomorrow. Just take note that the recoil would be strongerpared to your AR-15 because the barrel is shorter. Just hold it- well, you¡¯ll experience it yourself and you could make your own adjustments. Also¡­¡± I exined a few more things then we heard someone knocking on the door.


    ¡°Come in~¡± Kaley called out.


    ¡°H-Hello¡­¡± Cynthia peeked her head inside.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Rin and Tatiana?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, they¡¯re still getting dressed.¡± Cynthia said.


    ¡°Why are you still outside? Come in.¡± Kaley ced my gun back next to hers after cing the magazine back and chambering a round.


    Cynthia came in wearing cotton pajamas. She was clutching a huge pillow but her hand was holding her phone.


    ¡°Oh, why did you bring a pillow?¡± Kaley smiled.


    ¡°Oh¡­ I always wanted to hug something while I¡¯m watching a movie or something¡­ Even when I sleep.¡± Cynthia said as she sat on the edge of the bed.


    It only took a few moments before Rin and Tatiana came in with refreshments. We each took our seat and I yed the movie. Not even a second passed and Cynthia¡¯s eyes widened.


    ¡°Oh! I like this one!¡± Cynthia eximed.


    The other three hadn¡¯t watched it yet so we continued to watch the film. Tatiana mostly ate the snacks while Kaley and Rin were glued to the screen with Cynthia. I was just happy to show them a ssic film that came from before we were even born.


    Rin and Tatiana said their goodnights and they picked up the tes and sses we used. They closed the door behind them and I thought Cynthia would follow after them.


    Cynthia didn¡¯t.


    ¡°Oh, do you want me to y another one? It¡¯s a littlete though.¡± I said. <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± Cynthia was silent then she slowly buried her face on her pillow.


    Kaley looked at me then she looked at Cynthia.


    ¡°Is there a problem Cynthia? You could tell us?¡± Kaley asked her.


    ¡°I¡­ I kinda don¡¯t want to sleep alone tonight¡­¡± Cynthia trailed.


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Kaley looked at her embarrassed expression.


    ¡°Oh- I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to- You two just got your time alone and I-¡± Cynthia was fl.u.s.tered but Kaley waved her off when Cynthia was about to stand up and leave.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. You aren¡¯t a stranger to us, right? Well, we¡¯re just nning to just sleep tonight, is that okay? We¡¯ll just literally sleep together, not you know¡­ likest time.¡± Kaley said with a smile then Cynthia nodded with a slightly disappointed expression.


    ¡°Really~¡± I sarcastically said.


    ¡°Well- um¡­ no promises.¡± Kaley immediately retracted her earlier statement.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I just¡­ really liked w-watching the two of youst time.¡± Cynthia said then Kaley blushed.


    ¡°You¡­ you like watching us?¡± Kaley muttered.


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know. I just saw you two d-doing itst time and I didn¡¯t notice that I was already¡­ already¡­ t-touching myself¡­¡± Cynthia was red all over.


    ¡°Is that so¡­ but¡­ you could do more than just watch?¡± Kaley ¡®looked¡¯ at me.


    ¡°Umm¡­ well- but¡­ c-can I just watch you two this time?¡± Cynthia muttered.


    Cynthia¡¯s expression was vastly different from what wasing out of her mouth. She was red all over and she was already breathing heavily. She was clutching her pillow tightly while we could only see half of her face. <hr>


    ¡°What? Are you s-serious?¡± Kaley was surprised, the same as me.


    Cynthia nodded her head and then she ced my chair in front of the bed and sat on it.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley and I were stunned.


    Kaley and I looked at each other first and we could not believe what Cynthia was suggesting. We already spent time with her and a few more people but Kaley and I have never done something where someone was nning to just watch us until the end.


    ¡°P-Please? Can I just watch you t-two? I promise I won¡¯t join in!¡± Cynthia was hugging her pillow tight.


    When we heard Cynthia calling out to us again, Kaley gave me her go signal. If she wanted to be on the receiving end first, she would touch my hand while looking away. It¡¯s pretty obvious when it¡¯s the other way around because she would just pounce on me. Cynthia was looking at everything we were doing but I started byying Kaley softly on the bed. I went on top of her and then I started to kiss her lips.


    Kaley returned my kiss and I was holding both of her hands, fingers interlocked. I ced them over her head while still holding them, in a way I could see her underarms. Cynthia had her legs crossed while sitting on the chair, peeking while hugging the pillow.


    I slowly pressed my body against Kaley and when I brushed her crotch with my knee, her hands tightly gripped for an instant. Our faces were red because Cynthia was silently watching us while we were making love. My kiss became more passionate and we were breathing heavily as time went on.


    I let go with my right hand as I lifted Kaley¡¯s shirt up. Even if she was lying down, Kaley¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts were as imposing as ever. They would jiggle from the slightest touch and they were so soft yet supple and firm. I was still holding her right hand with my left but I sucked on her right boob while fondled her left. I could tell she was feeling it because her hand that was interlocked with mine would grip me tight when she liked what I was doing.


    We could hear Cynthia¡¯s ragged breathing from our side because I noticed that her other hand was not clutching her pillow anymore. Her hand was inside her shirt and she was fondling her perky tits. Her hard n.i.p.p.l.es were already visible and she was watching what I was doing to Kaley.


    ¡°Is she trying to simte what I¡¯m doing to Kaley¡­ to herself?¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley was moving her leg which was near my groin and she was trying to feel my hard shaft with it. Her breathing was heavy but my hand touching her b.r.e.a.s.t went to her special ce. It was already soaked and I parted her lips with my fingers to get inside. She let out a soft m.o.a.n but she spread her legs even more so I could get in easier. My thumb was ying with her clit while two of my fingers were going in and out her warm and glossy insides. Her left hand was grabbing my right wrist as if telling me to go even faster. My hands were going wild inside her while I was sucking on her pink n.i.p.p.l.es.


    The pillow Cynthia was clutching fell off then Kaley and I saw her hands inside her shirt and inside her pants. The cotton fabric easily gave way and we could see what she was doing to herself. She was biting the edge of her shirt, allowing us to see her navel and the lower portion of her b.r.e.a.s.ts while her other hand was making squelching sounds inside her soaking pants. She was still looking at us intensely while her face was turning into a mess.


    ¡°She¡¯s trying to think of herself as Kaley¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    She was copying what I was doing to Kaley as much as she could but then Kaley started to twitch. Kaley¡¯s legs closed up and my hand inside her was getting squeezed between her legs. However, I could still move my fingers inside so she lostposure when I twirled them around. Her h.i.p.s started moving in different directions and she was trying to push them inside even further. She came a few more times and her toes were curled while it was happening. <hr>


    Cynthia came muchter but she sucked on her fingers when Kaley did it earlier.


    Kaley made me lean on the wall and she pulled my shorts off. She grabbed me with both of her hands while aggressively sucking the tip. Her tongue would apply pressure while twirling it around my ns then her other hand yed with my balls. Her grip was tight but Cynthia was still sucking on her fingers. I¡¯m sure that Kaley knew what Cynthia was doing as well but she didn¡¯t mind it.


    Cynthia stood up for a moment before removing her pants. She spread her legs apart, letting me see all of her. Her fingers were pinching her little bean while she was trying to spread her lips apart so I could see it even better. Her juices were flowing down even to the chair she was sitting on but she was maintaining eye contact.


    I felt myself losing control and I exploded on Kaley¡¯s mouth. I grunted a few times as I was letting it all out. Kaley took it all in and her tongue coiling around me made me struggle even more. She cleaned me up with her tongue but then she stood up and removed her clothes while facing Cynthia.


    I couldn¡¯t see Cynthia¡¯s longing expression anymore.


    Kaley¡¯s plump ass was on my face and then she spread her cheeks apart to show me everything. She was still standing when I started eating her from behind. Kaley was trying to find a ce to lean her herself on and all she could do was lean on me even more. I was losing air but I couldn¡¯t let her stop m.o.a.ning from pleasure. I felt her fingering herself while I was eating her from behind and it didn¡¯t take long for her to copse on the bed.


    Kaley was still twitching when I decided to plunge it inside her ass.


    Kaley was prone and I was moving my h.i.p.s violently. Our skin was pping against each other and Kaley¡¯s eyes were rolling over while her mouth was drooling. She couldn¡¯t even form proper sentences as each word she was speaking was getting broken into pieces. However, Cynthia was in the same state and her insides were squelching because of her fingers going in and going out. Cynthia was still copying most of my actions but I focused on f.u.c.k.i.n.g Kaley. My full weight was getting pressed on her each time I thrust inside but I rolled her over so I could see her face.


    Kaley was panting heavily but I thrust it inside again. Her nails were digging on my back and her b.r.e.a.s.ts were pressed against me as she was m.o.a.ning but I didn¡¯t stop. She was hugging me tightly while I kept on thrusting inside her tight ass. My mind went nk from the pleasure and my body just moved on its own without stop. She was gripping me tightly and it continued for a while before I released it inside.


    I lost all strength and my white sticky substance was flowing out of Kaley¡¯s ass when I pulled it out. She was still quivering after I was done and we were all out of breath.


    Kaley and I managed to look at Cynthia and she was a mess. She was twitching violently while her breathing was erratic. Her toes were curled and her legs were spread apart. She was drenched in her sweat and her liquids and from the looks of it, she came multiple times.


    We cleaned ourselves after and I was between Kaley and Cynthia when we tried to sleep under one nket. Kaley was hugging me from the side while Cynthia was just leaning to my side.


    ¡°Kaley¡­ Sky¡­ are you fine with me just¡­ you know? Like that.¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Well, I wish you joined us but it seemed you were really enjoying yourself¡­ Maybe next time, right?¡± Kaley looked at me.


    ¡°As you wish.¡± I replied then they smiled faintly.

 Chapter 355

    Chapter 355: 355


    Kaley¡¯s right arm was over my chest while her right leg was near my pelvis area. She was using my right shoulder as a pillow and her breathing was getting slower as her eyes were slowly dropping. My right arm was wrapped on her back and my head was slightly leaning towards her. <center></center><hr>


    Cynthia¡¯s back was now turned against us while she was hugging her huge pillow. I couldn¡¯t tell if she was asleep already but I didn¡¯t dwell on it.


    I turned my body slightly towards Kaley so I could embrace her while we were sleeping.


    I woke up in the early morning tucked into Kaley¡¯s underarm and she was fast asleep. I was now the one using the other as a pillow and I snuggled in even closer. I was about to fall asleep again but I felt Cynthia¡¯s arms wrapping around me from behind.


    We were wearing nothing underneath the nket and I could feel her perky b.r.e.a.s.ts against me.


    ¡°She must be still sleeping and she just turned around thinking I was her pillow.¡± I thought to myself.


    Well, she wasn¡¯t.


    Cynthia¡¯s hands were slowly exploring my torso. I was about to move my hand that was over Kaley but I felt a few taps from Kaley¡¯s right hand which was near my left hand. Kaley was actually awake and she sent me a few messages by silently tapping on my skin.


    [Don¡¯t worry about it. Just let her.]


    [Are you sure?]


    [Yeah. Wait, I have an idea.]


    [What?]


    [Turn her over here.]


    [What?]


    [Just do it!] <center></center><hr>


    I first moved to lie on my back but then Cynthia¡¯s hand on me immediately retracted. She flinched when I turned towards her and hugged her. I could feel her staring at me but I suddenly turned her over for us to switch positions much to her surprise.


    ¡°Gotcha!¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Wha-¡± Cynthia didn¡¯t know what to do.


    ¡°Having a little fun huh?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°I¡¯m- I- I-¡± Cynthia was a mess.


    ¡°I already knew that you were fibbing earlier when you said that watching is enough for you. Just tell me or him if you want to do something, okay? I don¡¯t want you sneaking like that while we¡¯re sleeping. It¡¯s something um- let¡¯s just say an exclusive thing for me and him to do something while the other one was asleep.¡± Kaley said while she was leaning on Cynthia¡¯s side.


    ¡°I¡¯m- I¡¯m sor-¡± Kaley cut her off.


    ¡°You¡¯ll have a little punishment.¡± Kaley chuckled.


    Kaley turned Cynthia¡¯s head towards her and she gave her a kiss. Kaley was fondling Cynthia¡¯s tits then she looked at me to do something. I sucked on the other one but Kaley started fingering Cynthia¡¯s slopping insides. Cynthia was surprised at what was happening but she didn¡¯t do anything to resist.


    ¡°Touch me, him too.¡± Kaley said to Cynthia.


    Cynthia was at a loss but her hands slithered to Kaley¡¯s special ce and to my rock-hard shaft. She was moving her hands clumsily and Kaley smiled wildly when Cynthia followed her every order. Kaley decided to y with Cynthia¡¯s clit while she told me to shove my fingers inside Cynthia¡¯s tight hole. Kaley was still kissing her and it didn¡¯t take too long before Cynthia started twitching.


    We were double-teaming Cynthia and all of her defenses were down.


    Cynthia was crying from pleasure but she lost it when I started to go on top of her. I shoved it inside her tight and warm insides while Kaley was still ying with her clit and sucking her tits.


    We decided to continue until our rm went off but Cynthia had already tapped out. She was twitching nonstop so Kaley and I continued without her. However, Kaley made me release on Cynthia¡¯s mouth and she made her swallow it all. Cynthia made a sloppy work but she got the job done with a smile on her face.


    The sun was up and we three decided to shower. Cynthia was about to enter her room because her change of clothes was in there but Rin and Tatiana saw us go outside the shower. They were shaking their heads in amus.e.m.e.nt but the stain on their clothes revealed that they did a little something after waking up as well. <hr>


    ¡°Just sleeping for today huh?¡± Tatiana said sarcastically.


    Kaley and I just smiled and entered our room.


    We changed while casually talking about what happened and then we all went down for breakfast.


    We had rice porridge for today paired with a boiled egg and vegetable spring rolls. We ate with everyone present and Oscar opened up with his catchphrase.


    ¡°What¡¯s the n today, kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Hmm aside from the things we¡¯ve discussedst night, I want you to bring a group to assist the Meycauyan DDR Camp in clearing out SM Maro.¡± I started.


    ¡°Hmm, okay. I¡¯ll bring Marvin and the rest of his team because Brian and Carlo are there. They¡¯re doing good there and everyone seems to get along. I¡¯ll snag a few pieces of equipment for us because we¡¯re helping them. Just a few panels and a few power tools would do. Well, let¡¯s see when we get there.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Yeah, let them have all the food for now but if youe across a medium-sized safe, ask for it or trade them for something of equal value.¡± I replied.


    ¡°A safe? What for?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°For Cynthia¡¯s guns. I¡¯ll-¡± then Cynthia interjected.


    ¡°I-It¡¯s fine for them to be on your armory. I don¡¯t shoot much so it¡¯s okay without having my own.¡± Cynthia said.


    ¡°That¡¯s settled but I¡¯ll still look for one, heh. How about you? Where are you going?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ll visit Borris and check on his f.u.c.k.i.n.g roommate. I¡¯ll see what he wants and I¡¯ll take a look around over there to check on a few ces.¡± I replied then Unc Zardon nced at me briefly.


    ¡°Oh, that f.u.c.ker eh? What ces are you gonna check? More hidden supply runs?¡± Oscar asked. <hr>


    ¡°Well, if we find a few ces unlooted, we will loot them but I¡¯m checking for other routes. I¡¯ll check on that bridge near barangay Tawiran, that bridge is also another way to the Bcan Area. I¡¯m gonna see if I could block it off for the moment with concrete barriers that we¡¯ll find along the way. After that, we¡¯ll check the route towards the City of Mbon and kill a few deadheads along the way.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Why would you go to the City of Mbon?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Few reasons, that city is not asrge as where we are and where Iskoh is at. If we managed to secure a route, we could go to the City of Man not just with our helicopter but with ournd vehicles. However, before we managed to get to Iskoh¡¯s ce, we¡¯ll be passing by Tondo. We¡¯re not sure if our attack on the squatter area of that ce killed each and every one of them but there would surely be hostile stragglers running about from other areas. Doing this run would also help us make sure that they won¡¯t end uping in our area if they decided to leave their nest.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hmm, then bring a few more people. Mark and Dong have their own groups to run now. You should at least bring with you four or five more people because you would be overextending our systematic route.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll bring extra ammo too and lunch just in case we take too long. Oh, we¡¯ll drive Tatiana¡¯s HUMVEE too with our 8-wheeler.¡± I said.


    ¡°Who will we bring with us?¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ll bring Matthew, Mikhail, Lois, and Lawrence. I want to bring Vera but I need her inms.¡± I replied then Matthew nodded at me.


    ¡°Okay, can I still bring the 10/22 with my SIG MCX? You said we¡¯ll be clearing a few along the way. I don¡¯t want to waste our ammo for the normal ones.¡± Lois suggested.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll bring one for myself and your brother too but I¡¯ll be using a Walther P22 instead of a Ruger 10/22.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You two are gonna die.¡± Mikhail turned to Juan and Earl because they would be dealing with Vera in the Radio Station.


    ¡°Oh, right. We have a Vera situation.¡± I thought to myself.


    Lawrence was at the DDR Camp so I told Lois to contact him. We were about to finish eating but Cynthia approached me.


    ¡°U-Umm¡­ How about me?¡± Cynthia spoke up then Oscar looked at her.


    ¡°You want toe in a run?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Cynthia replied. <hr>


    ¡°I haven¡¯t asked you yet but have you at least shot them or been in a close encounter?¡± I asked because I knew that she never left Cuervo Heights when it started.


    ¡°W-Well¡­¡± she trailed.


    ¡°That¡¯s a no, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°But I know how to fight.¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°You do, but I want you to slowly get into it. I know that I said I¡¯ll bring you with me but you¡¯ve never seen the things we encountered here personally. How about this, you coulde with Jenny and An because they would be guarding our walls with a few soldiers. Let¡¯s dip you in lukewarm water first so you won¡¯t feel it when it gets even hotter.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Cynthia nodded her head but she looked dejected.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take it to heart. An and Jenny will evaluate you. If you do great, I¡¯ll include you in my team on my next run. I require elites so you better prove yourself.¡± I replied.


    Cynthia¡¯s expression turned for the better.


    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s settled. Let¡¯s gear up. We¡¯ll meet here in a few minutes, okay?¡± I said to the group.


    Aya took our tes for us and we headed back to my armory.


    I let Kaley hold our AR-15s and she was still undecided if she would use my BCM. While she was mulling over it, I picked up a couple of ammo cans and filled it with a variety of ammo. However, most of them were 5.56s, 9mms, and .22 LRs. I ced a suppressor on one of my Walther P22s and I let Cynthia grab a couple of her guns as well. I gave her soft armor, gloves, a helmet, and I made her switch her shoes with the same kind Kaley and I were wearing.


    ¡°U-Umm, I¡¯m just gonna be on top of a wall, right?¡± Cynthia asked while she was getting padded and padded with every protective gear I pull out.


    ¡°Yeah, but he cares for the safety of everyone. One time when I went out without him, he even gave me a gre-¡± Kaley was cut off.


    ¡°IS THAT A GRENADE?!¡± Cynthia eximed.


    ¡°Yes.¡± I replied innocently.

 Chapter 356

    Chapter 356: 356


    Kaley was dyingughing from Cynthia¡¯s expressions and she choked when I pretend to hand Cynthia my M134. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Here, press that and f.u.c.k everything else in front of it.¡± I said with a serious expression.


    ¡°W-What?!¡± Cynthia was back and forth, looking at me and Kaley.


    ¡°Sky! Stop! HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Kaley coughed a couple of times while Cynthia wasn¡¯t sure if I was being serious or not.


    In the end, Cynthia came down with her Rapier, CZ 457, and her S&W M&W 2.0 with an extra box of .22 LRs because the CZ 457 only had a 5-round magazine. I also gave her a war belt and it had a couple of magazines for her pistol.


    We headed down and Lois¡¯ eyes lit up when he saw another .22 rifle. He gave Cynthia a thumbs up before we rode the 8-wheeler and the HUMVEE. Matthew was driving the HUMVEE while my Unc Zardon was driving the 8-wheeler. I ced a few portions of cured meats in the truck for Borris once we reach their ce but there¡¯s a separate one for our lunch in case we took longer than expected.


    The other clearing groups had already left but we saw them killing a few biters on a street a couple of blocks away. We drove past them and we eventually reached where Borris¡¯ ce was.


    It was still the same as before.


    We didn¡¯t see any upgrades to his ce but I surmised it¡¯s because he wanted to maintain its hidden look. A couple of walkers wereing from the other direction but Jared and Lois immediately dispatched them with their 10/22s before Lawrence managed to raise his rifle.


    ¡°1-1 bro. Let¡¯s see who¡¯ll kill the mostter.¡± Lois chuckled.


    ¡°Heh, extra points for specials and how long or difficult the shot was.¡± Jared added a few to their rule.


    ¡°You two need to be serious outside.¡± Lawrence reminded them.


    ¡°Yeah, nice talk from a soldier losing to a high schooler.¡± Lois remarked.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k did you-¡± Lawrence looked at Lois but Jared cut him off.


    ¡°What? Are you gonna whine because you¡¯re slow or are we gonna make the score 1-1-0? You¡¯re a sniper, right? Let your kills do the talking.¡± Jared stood between them.


    ¡°Hmm! Sure.¡± Lawrence stood guard on the opposite side but the two brothers were smirking when Lawrence turned his back.


    ¡°Oh, Lawrence is doomed because of that.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Ehem! 6,690¡­ Ehem! Damn, my throat¡¯s itchy¡­¡± I muttered.


    ¡°Show off¡­¡± Kaley was shaking her head, carrying her own rifle.


    My BCM was hanging from my shoulder and I picked up my radio to call Borris.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Borris, you there?¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    No answer.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Borris, you there dude?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Still no answer.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Wait a sec, we¡¯reing out.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I was about to counter a few theories of yours but-¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I stopped when I saw the trap door flipping open.


    Borris and Cyrill came out covered with a cloak. Borris¡¯ hair and beard grew significantlypared to ourst visit while Cyrill started to gain some muscle though he still looked skinny. They were holding a pointed wooden spear though I could see a few things located on their belt.


    Cyrill looked at our vehicles and the people with me before he momentarily stopped to look at his dad. Unc Zardon was emotionless all throughout and I decided to proceed with what we came here for.


    Borris and I just greeted each other before I turned to Cyrill, ¡°They said you were looking for me? Why?¡±


    ¡°The thing I¡¯ve told you before when I came to your ce. Umm- I slipped by a few of them when I was out.¡± Cyrill said. <hr>


    ¡°The people you used to buy from?¡± I tried to confirm.


    ¡°Y-Yeah.¡± Cyrill said dejectedly.


    ¡°Where?¡± I asked with a different expression.


    ¡°Just by the border of Mbon, going to Navotas¡­ I¡¯m not sure where they are located but I recognized a few of them while I was scavenging.¡± Cyrill replied.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll keep that in mind. Weapons?¡± I asked.


    ¡°What?¡± Cyrill asked.


    ¡°What weapons were they using when you saw them? Are they on foot? On a vehicle? If so, what kind or even the color?¡± I tried to borate.


    ¡°Ah, umm- some of them were using shotguns but I think they¡¯re using an Armalite of some sort. You know, something like that but this thing at the front is a little round. No silencers too.¡± Cyrill pointed at my gun, not sure about the right terms to use.


    ¡°Okay, you heard them fire it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. It¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g loud.¡± he replied.


    ¡°What I meant was are they using automatics or not?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, ah- yes they do. I don¡¯t know about the shotguns though.¡± he replied, half-sure.


    ¡°Their vehicle?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh- ah¡­ ah¡­ it¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s arge ck van? I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s the make but it¡¯s one of those where you could peek your head at the roof.¡± Cyrill tried to remember.


    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s not much to go on but that will do. Anything else?¡± I said.


    ¡°N-No¡­ wait- have you guys found who killed mom?¡± Cyrill asked.


    ¡°Specifically? No. But we found their general location of a group of people that might have done that. Let¡¯s just say that something¡¯s gonna happen where they need their f.u.c.k.i.n.g god if they want to survive.¡± I replied.


    ¡°J-Joana, have you seen her at least?¡± Cyrill asked.


    ¡°No. Any more questions?¡± I looked at him.


    ¡°Can Ie?¡± he said.


    ¡°Come where?¡± I replied.


    ¡°When you murder those motherf.u.c.kers.¡± Cyrill¡¯s demure expression from earlier changed. <hr>


    ¡°The best thing you could do is stay here and not mess up my n. I won¡¯t hesitate to shoot you if I see you lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity at revenge, messing up my ns in the process. Unless you want to wear a vest full of C4, talk to me.¡± I stared back at him with a much darker look but my lips were smiling.


    ¡°S-Sure¡­ I- Nevermind.¡± he replied though I believe he had other ns.


    ¡°Okay, don¡¯t me me if something happens to you. Borris, thanks for the time and we brought some food for you. It¡¯s native, don¡¯t worry. Just radio in if anything happens yeah?¡± I said then I gave them the sack.


    ¡°Okay, thanks. Say hello to Mark and Dong for me.¡± Borris waved us goodbye.


    Cyrill waited for us to be out of view before he started to walk back to their hiding spot. Unc Zardon already knew where to go so I let him follow his own route because the way the roads were setup going there would involve a lot of turns. Even Matthew followed his lead and he got behind the truck.


    Silent pops filled the air because the two brothers got into a shooting contest and they involved Lawrence. The score grew steadily but Lawrence found a fatal w from facing the two.


    Lawrence was about to kill one but he stopped and lowered his AWP.


    Lois stole the kill.


    ¡°Hmm? Why didn¡¯t you shoot it?¡± Mikhail was watching them.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna be out of bullets if I continue shooting. I forgot that these two were using .22 LRs which that ammo can over there has plenty of. Even if I use all of those 7.62x51mms, I would still lose just by the sheer number of the .22 LRs over there. I lose by default.¡± Lawrence said dejectedly.


    ¡°Here.¡± Jared handed Lawrence his Ruger 10/22.


    ¡°What?¡± Lawrence was confused.


    ¡°You look like Lois when you¡¯re sulking. Just use that and don¡¯t miss.¡± Jared said, wearing his AR-10.


    ¡°He¡¯s learning to talk.¡± I thought to myself, smiling inwardly.


    Lawrence was about to decline but Lois spoke.


    ¡°Heh. I guess I¡¯ll beat a soldier higher ranked than my brother eh? Well, the end result would be the same.¡± Lois said while killing two in a corner.


    ¡°Well, this motherf.u.c.ker always knows how to tick people off. Heh.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°34-30-27. Are you gonna catch up or what?¡± Jared remarked.


    ¡°Bro, that¡¯s 36 now, 36-30- well, you quit so it¡¯s just 36-27.¡± Lois was vigntly watching the side.


    Lawrence faintly smiled before he steadily caught up to Lois¡¯ score.


    Kaley wanted to join in but it seemed that she was conserving her ammo and letting the guys have their time.


    We drove by a multitude of different sized houses and a few streets crawling with the dead. We made sure to kill each and every one of them because we would still kill them in the end if we want to get rid of them all. We had to make a few quick stops because their bodies were blocking the road and there were a few stalls worth looting.


    We even killed a sprinter which was a soldier with a spare magazine for a Glock 17 on its belt. The boots were still okay despite its movements so I took it with the belt. <hr>


    We continued to drive and we reached the barangay hall for Tawiran, a few more blocks before the bridge that I was nning to block off. We began to seerger fishing areaspared to what was in our ce. I saw a few shuttle buses parked for the government officials so I tapped on the roof of the truck. Our vehicles slowed down and we parked our vehicles but didn¡¯t turn off the engine.


    I was just about to jump down when we saw a few dozening out from the back of the barangay hall.


    They were wearing a mix of civilian clothing and government uniforms but the thing that tied them together was the several bite marks on their bodies.


    I don¡¯t know what f.u.c.k.i.n.g happened with us but we all suddenly became cheapskates. We only used the two Ruger 10/22s Lois and Lawrence were using and the Walther P22 that was on my person. Well, we didn¡¯t shoot them all and we used our des after thinning a significant number of them. The only difference between shooting .22 caliber guns was that we needed to be a bit closerpared to theirrger-caliber counterparts.


    ¡°What are we doing here bro?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ll use one of those buses to block the bridge.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can we check inside the barangay hall? We might find something.¡± Kaley suggested.


    ¡°Okay, just a quick search. We could ce one of the rys on the roof by that antenna. Tatiana,e with us. Unc, try to make one of those buses work. Mikhail, gather those bodies with Lawrence and burn them on that corner. The rest, keep guard.¡± I said then they all nodded.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m just gonna guard here?¡± Matthew chimed.


    ¡°Hmm? I figured you¡¯d just follow behind where Kaley was so I didn¡¯t bother telling you what to do.¡± I chuckled then Kaley did as well.


    ¡°Wha- then I¡¯ll just stay here and help with the bus. Hmph! It¡¯s not like I want to always follow you or a-anything.¡± Matthew turned tsundere once more and I cringed inwardly.


    It took us a few minutes but aside from files from the hard drives, fire extinguishers, and a few first-aid kits, there were no more important items inside. I didn¡¯t take the hard copy of the files because I already had them from the copy from the city hall. We were about to leave after installing the ry but my radio buzzed.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro, someone holding a kid hostage is approaching us.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I peeked at the window and I recognized the person from the files.


    ¡°DROP ALL YOUR WEAPONS OR I¡¯LL KILL THIS KID!!!¡± thedy shouted.


    Jared and everyone else stopped what they were doing while I was watching from the barangay hall.


    ¡°YOU DIDN¡¯T HEAR ME?! DROP ALL YOUR WEAPONS OR ELSE-¡± I immediately scoffed and cut her off.


    ¡°OR ELSE WHAT? YOU¡¯LL KILL YOUR DAUGHTER? GO AHEAD! I DON¡¯T GIVE A F.U.C.K!¡± I shouted from the barangay hall.

 Chapter 357

    Chapter 357: 357


    Thedy trying her best to make us drop all our weapons tried her best to hide her surprise when I informed everyone that her ¡®hostage¡¯ was in fact, actually her daughter. Her hair was frazzled and her clothes were ragged and dirty, the same as what her daughter was wearing. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I¡¯M NOT JOKING! I¡¯LL BLOW HER BRAINS OUT!¡± she bellowed.


    Her ¡®hostage¡¯ couldn¡¯t cry out because thedy was covering her mouth. We could only see up to her eyes but it was also partially covered by her bangs.


    ¡°I DID TELL YOU TO DO IT, RIGHT? DON¡¯T LET US STOP YOU! WAIT! LET ME COME DOWN FIRST SO I COULD SEE IT MORE CLEARLY!¡± I shouted so she could hear me. There was still a fair distance between my group and the two so I had to shout.


    ¡°DON¡¯T F.U.C.K.I.N.G MOVE! I¡¯LL F.U.C.K.I.N.G DO IT!¡± thedy c.o.c.ked the hammer of her revolver which was a Model 19.


    I didn¡¯t mind her and I whispered to Kaley, ¡°Stay here with Tatiana and look around if there are people hiding from the houses.¡±


    I made my way down and she already lost face when she still didn¡¯t pull the trigger. I even started to doubt if it had bullets in it.


    ¡°Wow, thank you for waiting for me. How considerate. I know you have other people watching, I saw them from above.¡± I lied to fish for a reaction.


    She instinctively looked at her left while her ¡®hostage¡¯ did the same.


    ¡°Idiot.¡± I thought to myself.


    She realized what she had done and just as she was about to run back to her people, I shot a few inches away from where she was about to head to. The pavement let out a few bits of debris towards them and they stopped.


    ¡°Umm, I¡¯m not gonna do that if I were you. If you didn¡¯t realize already, the two of you are my hostages now.¡± I said calmly.


    The two¡¯s faces paled in horror and they didn¡¯t move a muscle.


    ¡°Okay, to the f.u.c.ktards who are hiding behind that house,e out now or I¡¯ll ce a bullet in each of their legs. I¡¯ll watch them scream while I wait for them to bleed out, understand?¡± I shouted loud enough towards the area where the two were about to head to earlier.


    Silence.


    No one wasing out but the two were still ncing in the same direction.


    ¡°Oh, you think I¡¯m not serious eh? You two, raise your hands where I could see them. Make any sudden moves and you¡¯ll regret it, okay?¡± I said then I raised my rifle at thedy. My group did the same though Jared and Lawrence were looking at the other directions where they might be people hiding.


    The two were breathing heavily and the daughter slowly raised her hands. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Good. Mrs. Hostage Taker, kindly lower that gun on the ground.¡± I ordered.


    She didn¡¯t.


    ¡°You¡¯re not gonna shoot me.¡± she muttered while still holding her gun up.


    However, I¡¯m not here to y games.


    I aimed for thedy¡¯s hand and I squeezed the trigger.


    I f.u.c.k.i.n.g love this new gun.


    It hit where I aimed at and her gun fell to the ground along with two of her fingers. Her hands were bloody and she lost her bnce. She was still holding her daughter so her daughter was pulled down with her while she was shrieking in pain. Her daughter was about to reach for the gun but a shot came from the barangay hall.


    I bet it was Kaley and the revolver slid a few feet away from the two. The girl backed away but then her mother shrieked once more.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡± thedy screamed in pain after, clutching her hands.


    ¡°MOM~!!!¡± the girl shouted.


    ¡°MARICEL!!!¡± we heard a loud voice.


    ¡°NOOOO~!!!¡± another one followed.


    ¡°COME OUT OR I¡¯LL F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHOOT THEM BOTH!!! I JUST AIMED FOR HER HAND AND THE NEXT TIME WILL BE THEIR HEADS!!! DON¡¯T F.U.C.K.I.N.G TEST ME!!!¡± I bellowed.


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU!!!¡±


    ¡°ARSEN DON¡¯T!!!¡±


    ¡°STOP!!! DON¡¯T SHOOT!!!¡±


    All of a sudden, eight people came out and started firing at us. My group went for cover but then Mikhail provided suppressive fire.


    Mikhail¡¯s unsuppressed and automatic AK-47 wreaked havoc as he fired at the opposing team. <hr>


    Most of my group used that chance to try and shoot back at most of them as I ran behind the HUMVEE in front of us. Matthew was crouched near the door but I revealed a portion of myself, BCM raised.


    A couple was hit by Mikhail¡¯s gun but a few of them survived and had their heads ducked low and I used that opportunity to kill the nearest one in front of me.


    The guy was holding a shotgun but he was already on my sights.


    I pulled the trigger and hit center mass twice.


    A hole appeared near his lung and near his heart then I fired another shot towards his head. His head blew back and just as I was about to aim for the woman next to him carrying a Glock 17, arge hole reced half of her face. All I heard before that happening was Matthew¡¯s suppressed Remington 870 firing a shot, one after the other.


    The girl earlier was lying prone clutching her head but her mother was about halfway in reaching her revolver.


    I fired a quick shot to her head but several bullets entered her torso and neck before she fell down bleeding.


    Blood spurted out from the bodies of the other hostiles but some of them still managed to let a few rounds loose. They weren¡¯t aiming at any of us properly and they just fired it as long as they could.


    I quickly took cover but I went prone and saw their feet and their calves.


    Their bullets grazed the HUMVEE and our 8-wheeler but I returned by shooting several rounds aimed at their feet.


    Screams followed after that and the people I shot fell to the ground revealing their heads.


    The lucky ones were the ones that fell on their backs, heads on the other side. Well, I still shot at them while Matthew was reloading his shotgun.


    Brain matter scattered on the pavement and the ones whose heads weren¡¯t revealed got their d.i.c.ks or snatches shot off. Screams resounded but it was easily silenced by a bulleting from my group.


    ¡°STOP!!!¡±


    ¡°STOP!!!¡±


    ¡°PLEASE!!!¡±


    ¡°NO!!!¡± <hr>


    ¡°WHY DID- NO!!!¡±


    I could hear a voice from someone much further but we didn¡¯t listen to him. As long as their group was still firing at us, we wouldn¡¯t stop until it was over. I saw a few more peopleing from the other side and they received the same fate. They were running in the open, not shooting from cover so it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g obvious what would happen. Mikhail let loose another barrage after he stopped and reloaded his AK-47.


    ¡°STOP SHOOTING!!!¡±


    ¡°STOP SHOOTING!!!¡±


    Bleeding corpses was all I was seeing from under the HUMVEE so I stood up and looked through the ss. A few more people came out but their hands were raised and they were holding nothing.


    A guy was in front, tears flowing out of his eyes, waving his hands for everyone to stop. However, his people that came out earlier were all dead. The few at his back were angry and sad at the same time as they saw theirrade¡¯s bodies riddled with holes and unmoving. The only one that survived from that shoot out was the girl lying prone in the ground.


    ¡°IT¡¯S OVER!!! IT¡¯S F.U.C.K.I.N.G OVER!!!¡± the guy bellowed once more.


    ¡°Do not take a step further. That goes for the rest of your group. Move a muscle and the same thing would happen again.¡± I said to them, still behind the HUMVEE. Matthew was on the other side, pointing his shotgun at them in case they move.


    ¡°Everybody okay?¡± I shouted to my group.


    ¡°Everyone¡¯s good except for Mikhail. His ear and shoulder got nicked when he stood up earlier.¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°Nah, I¡¯m good. This is just a graze, nothing more.¡± Mikhail replied.


    ¡°Get that checked with Kaleyter. Unc? Where are you?¡± I briefly turned around. I saw the windshield of our 8-wheeler full of holes.


    ¡°Here! I went inside the bus and ducked down.¡± Unc Zardon replied.


    I looked at the barangay hall and I saw Kaley at the roof and Tatiana making her way down. Kaley just gave me a signal that she was fine while Tatiana was vigntly looking at the opposing side. Her Benelli M4 was drawn and pointed at the rest of them while she came to me.


    After making sure everyone¡¯s okay, I walked out of my cover to face the guy. Looking at him closely, I recognized that he was a government official because I saw his portrait on the barangay hall. He was the barangay captain of this ce and the few at the back were the cohorts that held a much lesser position than him. He was throwing me a hateful expression the whole time, the same as the rest of his group. The girl earlier was crying nonstop when she saw her mom with several holes with blood flowing out of them. She was shaking her mom¡¯s body but she wouldn¡¯t move anymore.


    ¡°You did this.¡± he said to me, breathing heavy.


    ¡°Yeah, I did. Well, your ¡®hostage taker¡¯ made me. Turn around, raise your shirts, and empty your pockets.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You think we¡¯ll still fight?!¡± he bellowed. <hr>


    ¡°Well, you could if you want to. Just know that we¡¯ll still kill all of you if you tried something. Are you all that¡¯s left?¡± I said.


    He wasn¡¯t answering. There were nine all in all from what I was seeing, including the girl.


    ¡°Okay, you could take the vow of silence if you want to as well but don¡¯t make me take the vow of being impatient and just murdering all of you so it would be faster, okay?¡± my face darkened.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± he asked with a difficult expression.


    ¡°I told you already. I want you all to turn around and raise your shirts so I would know if there¡¯s a gun or a knife hidden in there somewhere. After that, I want to know if this is all that¡¯s left of you.¡± I replied.


    The guy looked at his group and then they all turned around, raised their shirts, and emptied their pockets. I saw a few weapons hidden on their h.i.p.s and I told them toy it all on the ground slowly. Theyplied after much hesitation and I ordered the guy to gather all of them including their deadrade¡¯s weapons and ce it inside the HUMVEE. I noticed that there were a few guns which were standard issues for the police and the military but I kept my mouth shut. Heplied as well and he stepped back while raising both of his hands.


    ¡°Okay, you still haven¡¯t answered my question. How many of you are left?¡± I looked at all of them.


    ¡°Why does it matter?! You killed a lot of my people! Are you gonna kill them too?!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°It depends. I¡¯m here because I want to block off that bridge a ways away. If you nine are all that¡¯s left, we¡¯ll tie you all first while we check everything before that bridge. However, you already confirmed that there¡¯s more of you by saying if we¡¯re gonna kill them too. I just need the exact number, their names, and what they look like. If you want to make it easier, you could make theme out. If there¡¯s more than what you told me, we¡¯ll kill them because anyone we found hiding is also your enemy. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡± I said without any emotion.


    ¡°You¡¯re not gonna kill us?¡± another guy asked.


    ¡°It depends.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Before I tell you, I want assurances that you won¡¯t kill us.¡± the guy earlier spoke up.


    ¡°Assurances? No, you don¡¯t.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then how could we trust you?!¡± he yelled.


    ¡°You just tried to ¡®disarm¡¯ my group earlier while making that woman use her daughter as a fake hostage. What are you even gonna do after disarming us? I doubt you¡¯ll just let us walk away, am I right?¡± I said with an annoyed tone.


    They were all silent.


    ¡°If any of you wanted a chance to live, all you could do is blindly trust me that I won¡¯t give the order to kill all of you. Sucks to be on the other side eh? y stupid games, win stupid prizes.¡± I tilted my head, looking at them.

 Chapter 358

    Chapter 358: 358


    I was looking at their expressions after I said my piece. <center></center><hr>


    They were all looking at each other with a difficult expression while some of them were breathing almost heavily. The girl whose mom I shot was sobbing in anotherdy¡¯s arms. The otherdy was trying to calm her down but the girl wouldn¡¯t stop. A guy wearing a cap from their group saw me look at the two and he tried to get my attention.


    ¡°Easy now. You know what just happened, she just can¡¯t stop crying like that.¡± the man said.


    ¡°I know. So, is your leader gonna call them out or not? The thing is, I still have a lot of f.u.c.k.i.n.g things to do today. I don¡¯t want people stalling for time.¡± I said as I looked back at the man in the middle.


    He was still hesitating so I pulled out a grenade from my pouch.


    They flinched when I casually threw it in the air and caught it after.


    ¡°You know what this does, right? This thing makes people such as yourself decide faster. I want them toe out with their hands in the air. Any sudden moves from anyone, I¡¯ll throw this at your feet. Okay, 3¡­ 2-¡± I was cut off right as I caught my grenade the second time.


    ¡°Okay! O-Okay! Hey! Come on out! It¡¯s gonna be okay! Trust me!¡± the man looked behind and called out to the rest of his group.


    I saw seven more peoplee out and I looked at them.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± I thought to myself.


    We did the same procedure of checking them and now they were all gathered in the same spot.


    ¡°Are you sure that this is all of you?¡± I looked at the man again.


    ¡°Y-Yes¡­¡± he replied though I nced at the others¡¯ reaction.


    ¡°As I said earlier, we¡¯re gonna tie all of you up first and we¡¯ll do our business. Line up one by one.¡± I ordered them.


    Mikhail came down with a rope and Tatiana helped him tie each of their hands and feet together. It¡¯s harsh but I even ordered them to tie up the girl who was crying nonstop. She tried to struggle but Tatiana was having none of it. When Tatiana saw that Mikhail was grazed, she gave each of them a kick after she was done with tying them. I made them ally prone near the barangay hall while Lawrence guarded them.


    ¡°Okay, then. Jared, Lois, bring out the drones. Do a quick sweep first and we¡¯ll see if their leader is telling the truth.¡± I said. <center></center><hr>


    The guy kept on telling me that no one was left inside but I don¡¯t give a f.u.c.k about what he was trying telling me. I¡¯d rather waste time than make a mistake of believing the enemy. It took a while making them hover to each space but it was mostly clear. There were a few houses where the windows and doors were shut so we needed to go there personally.


    I made Mikhail and Tatiana follow me to the houses while Jared and Lois would still drive the drones up above in case anyone tried to sneak past us. Kaley was designated as a lookout on the roof while Matthew was designated as a lookout from below. Unc Zardon made one of the buses start but it would be driventer.


    The three of us went to the nearest side first and we breached each door while following our protocol for checking each room carefully. While we¡¯re at it, we decided to ¡®borrow¡¯ each item we see lying around. There was not much going around in these areas but we took what we could.


    Most of the buildings here were houses aside from an elementary school, a polytechnic college, a vocational school for fishing, a small dock, and the barangay hall.


    Walking around, we discovered that they made a little fence to block the entrance towards the little side road that led to the college and vocational school. We surmised that they were staying in this area so we were extra careful in case an idiot suddenly popped up. So far, none came up and we found more items in this area.


    We found loose rounds, electronic gadgets, spent casings, pocket knives, radios, dried fish, feeds, canned goods, gas cans, car batteries, and a few hidden low-caliber guns.


    Tatiana and I found three M1911s and five Glock 17s from a single house with several spare magazines and rounds. There were more items herepared to the other houses and we took them all. It included luxury items like alcohol, cigarettes, medical supplies, and food items ced onrge mr bags. The rifles and shotguns were all collected earlier because those were used by the people we killed from the short skirmish.


    ¡°This is that guy¡¯s house, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess he¡¯s still living the good life. I wonder if his people know that he had this much stored for himself.¡± I replied when I saw a picture frame with the guy¡¯s ugly mug.


    ¡°Hey, can we take that one?¡± Mikhail said, looking at the garage.


    ¡°Hmm, of course.¡± I smiled.


    We came back driving a Raptor but it wasn¡¯t modified like what we had back home. All of the items we took were loaded on the back of it and we parked it near our shot-up 8-wheeler. We started cing the loot on the 8-wheeler because I would make Unc Zardon go back home with Lois. One of the reasons was because of the broken windshield and the other was that the truck was almost full after loading it allbined with the items we got earlier.


    I nned for us to just go back home after this but finding another working vehicle made me change my mind. I would lose two people from doing this but we just needed to be extra careful.


    ¡°H-Hey! That¡¯s our-¡± I cut the guy with the cap off.


    ¡°Your what?¡± I asked with a mocking tone. <hr>


    ¡°After you killed my people, you¡¯re even gonna take our supplies?! And my truck?!¡± their leader bellowed.


    ¡°Yeah, after you tried to rob us and kill us after, you have the balls to talk back?¡± I replied with a smile.


    ¡°How f.u.c.k.i.e.d are you in the head?!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°A little, yes. How about you?¡± I asked back.


    He was speechless.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been pretty honest¡­ well, for the most part. You said there were no more people there and there wasn¡¯t. However, howe you have no children or even elderly at your camp? I doubt they could quickly make an escape using the boats without our notice because those kinds use loud motors. That girl is somewhat of an exception but she¡¯s already working, right? I even killed a boy with the same age as hers because that boy was shooting at us. What happened to those who are¡­ let¡¯s just say for ack of a better word¡­ useless? Tell me.¡± I looked back at him.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have any idea about our situation here!¡± he eximed.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I told you to tell me, right?¡± I crouched down in front of him.


    I rolled him over and he started to tell me a sob story that they were in a losing battle when it all started. He even cried on the spot but the others were wearing difficult and varying expressions. He told me that this barangay hall was supposed to have a DDR Camp stationed on it but no soldiers came. They had to defend themselves with all they got but the children and the elderly were the first ones to die.


    He said that they barely managed to survive and they¡¯ve been doing the same tactic ever since because they have no choice.


    ¡°Did that really happen?¡± I acted like I was feeling it.


    ¡°Yes! Y-Yes! I-It happened! We¡¯ve¡­ we¡¯ve been s-struggling¡­¡± he started to cry again.


    ¡°Okay, good. You in the cap, you asked me earlier if I¡¯m not gonna kill all of you, right?¡± I looked at him.


    ¡°Yes, y-yes sir. I-I¡¯ll do anything!¡± he eximed, ecstatic from my words.


    ¡°Good! That¡¯s really good! Tell me about your situation here.¡± I asked him the same question I asked their leader. <hr>


    ¡°S-Sir?¡± he was confused, the same as the rest of them.


    ¡°Tell me about your situation here. I want to hear it from the start as your leader said.¡± I said with a tone slowly getting grim.


    ¡°B-But he¡­¡± he trailed.


    ¡°Yeah, he already said his piece. I¡¯m making sure that what he said was the truth by making all of you say your version. If what he said was the truth and you¡¯ve also been in here since it started, I guess that you won¡¯t have any trouble saying the same things, right?¡± my face was already devoid of emotion.


    ¡°I-I-I¡­¡± he stammered, the same with a few people.


    My group already smelled the bullshiting from this group¡¯s leader because we¡¯ve seen that face all too much from corrupt politicians. It¡¯s the same excuses, the same tactics, and the same facial expressions. These are the types that would give up the moment they think that they lost but would definitely have ns if they managed to get out. I could just as easily ended their lives but I want to know if they were all in on it or not. Judging from their reactions, not all of them were in on it from the get-go. A select few were given no choice in the matter while that leader and the rest of his cohorts whose faces were disyed on the barangay hall made the choice for everyone.


    I was about to speak up but thedy earlier who the girl embraced spoke up.


    ¡°They- They trapped us all in here! They said the other ces were already down! We had to- We had to do this kind of things to-¡± she eximed, crying tears of anger and she was cut off.


    ¡°SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP!!!¡± their ¡®struggling¡¯ leader bellowed.


    ¡°It¡¯s that easy eh?¡± I thought to myself.


    The two sides were immediately revealed and a vicious back and forth happened between them. It was between the eight that went out including their leader and the seven who followed. The girl was not included because she was still crying nonstop.


    Technically, they¡¯re still in the same group that did those atrocities but also technically, those seven didn¡¯t shot at us. This was a f.u.c.k.i.n.g gray area because they still killed everyone that came close. If I didn¡¯t decide toe to this ce, there would¡¯ve been more victims or a strong group like ours would¡¯ve killed them all already and taken their stuff.


    ¡°YOU SENT THEM ON RUNS WITHOUT ANYTHING TO PROTECT THEMSELVES!!! YOU KILLED THEM ALL!!!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯M NOT WASTING OUR PRECIOUS RESOURCES TO A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO WOULD DIE ANYWAY!!!¡±


    ¡°SO YOU¡¯RE FINALLY REVEALING YOUR TRUE SELF, HUH?!¡± <hr>


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU!!! THE STRONG SURVIVE YOU BITCH!!! YOU BENEFITTED FROM IT SO DON¡¯T TELL ME YOU¡¯RE A GOOD GUY!!! WE¡¯VE ALL DONE SOME SHIT!!!¡±


    The shouting match was halted when I mmed the head of the leader to the pavement. A couple of his teeth fell off and his nose was bleeding.


    ¡°Release one of those seven.¡± I looked at Tatiana.


    My group was in disbelief especially Matthew because he was about ready to kill all of them. However, they respected my decision though it wasn¡¯t what they thought would happen next.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± I asked a guy wearing a bandanna. I was a bit older than him and he was rattled. The rest of his side was confused as well as my team.


    ¡°J-Joseph sir.¡± he stammered.


    ¡°Okay, pick one of them but leave Freddie.¡± I said to him much to everyone¡¯s surprise.


    ¡°YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G KNOW ME?!¡± he bellowed.


    ¡°You have no f.u.c.k.i.n.g idea.¡± I lied because I only knew his name from the barangay hall. However, he was staring at me like an idiot, trying to figure out where we might¡¯ve met.


    ¡°S-Sir? W-What do you mean p-pick?¡± Joseph was confused.


    I looked at Joseph dead in the eye before I pulled out my knife and handed it to him, handle first.


    Joseph was looking at my knife like an idiot at first then realization struck. His eyes scanned over the eight and his eyes turned blood-shot. He kneeled down in front of the guy with the cap and he stabbed him on his back.


    Screams followed but he didn¡¯t stop.


    Joseph was crying the whole time but the guy¡¯s body was already unmoving. My knife already passed through that guy¡¯s body multiple times and Joseph wouldn¡¯t stop stabbing down.

 Chapter 359

    Chapter 359: 359


    ¡°HEY!!! WHOEVER YOU ARE, YOU CAN STOP THIS!!! WE ALREADY GOT THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G MESSAGE!!!¡± Freddie¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. His face was covered by the blood of the guy with the cap and the same could be said from thedy next to them. <center></center><hr>


    Joseph started to slow down but he was still gripping my knife tightly between his hands. He was breathing heavily while we could see the anger in his eyes.


    ¡°You do know they would stille back if you don¡¯t stab them in the head, right?¡± I broke the silence.


    The guy with the cap was already dead by multiple stab wounds from its back, shoulders, neck, and arms. However, he would stille back if Joseph didn¡¯t stab him in its proper ce. Joseph looked at me after catching his breath for a moment and he finished the job. Tears were still flowing from his eyes as he pulled the knife out.


    Thedy next to the guy wearing a cap was screaming because the guy was just nkly staring at her while blood was slowly gushing out of its body. The people next in line were trembling and they were shouting at me for help while Joseph was staring at them holding the bloody knife.


    ¡°Please!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s all Freddie¡¯s fault!¡±


    ¡°He made us do this!¡±


    ¡°We had no other choice!¡±


    ¡°Please!¡±


    ¡°OH GOD! WE¡¯RE GONNA DIE! WE¡¯RE GONNA DIE!¡±


    ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!¡±


    ¡°Please! I¡¯m sorry!¡±


    Their cries were resounding and it managed to attract a few deadheads from both sides. However, it wasn¡¯t much of an issue because of my people.


    ¡°Joseph, pass it on.¡± I just replied without any emotion.


    Joseph nodded at me with a nk stare and he released another one from his side from the ropes. A middle-aged guy was handed the knife and I said the same thing to him. The cries for help turned into curses raining towards me and their people who were now killing them one by one. This time, instead of going wild on killing the other person, some of them just made it quick while the others still hesitated, making the matter worse. They slid the de slowly, making the person on the receiving side wail in agony until it reached its headpletely. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm.¡± I was watching their actionspletely.


    Thedy whom the girl was crying onto earlier was released and she was handed the knife. She was looking at it with a bitter expression as she looked into my eyes.


    ¡°Name?¡± I asked with a nk stare.


    ¡°Gemma¡­¡± she replied.


    ¡°You know what to do.¡± I said.


    Gemma looked back at the knife but she shook her head and gave it back to me, handle first.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you could kill me if you want. I don¡¯t want to be anchored in a choice I wouldn¡¯t want anymore.¡± Gemma said solemnly while the others threw wary nces at me.


    ¡°Good.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was looking at her and just as I was about to say something, the girl spoke.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± the girl said while trying to get up. Her eyes were devoid of emotion except for hate as she was looking at everyone.


    My group gave me a concerned nce but I still ordered Tatiana to untie her. Lawrence was at the ready because Jared and Lois were looking out for strays.


    ¡°No¡­ you don¡¯t need to¡­ please¡­ You¡¯ve alread-¡± Gemma was telling the girl to stop but she punched Gemma in the face.


    After that, she delivered a knee to her abdomen then a fist, hammering down to her head. Gemma fell down and the girl took the knife from her.


    Thest person besides Freddie was already wailing for us to help her. The others who picked a target was just staring at her as she struggled to get the ropes untied. However, the girl made her way to her first and she kept on stabbing her on the head. It first entered her cheek, then her neck, then her ear, and then her temple. It continued for a few more stabs then she made her way towards Freddie.


    Freddie immediately scooted by wriggling his body as he cried out to us. <hr>


    ¡°HEY!!! THAT F.U.C.KER SAID TO STAY AWAY FROM ME, RIGHT?! RIGHT?! GET HER AWAY FROM ME!!!¡± Freddie bellowed.


    All of Freddie¡¯s constituents were dead and he was the only one left.


    ¡°HE¡¯S NOT THE ONE WHO DID THIS, YOU DID THIS!!! I-¡± the girl shouted and she kicked Freddie¡¯s head.


    Freddie¡¯s bruised face got even more disfigured because his nose got broken and it tilted a few degrees to the left. He was wincing from pain as he tried to tuck his head away.


    ¡°M-MOM S-SHOULD STILL BE- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡± the girl screamed from the top of her lungs.


    ¡°PLEASE! PLEASE! WHOEVER THE F.U.C.K YOU ARE, JUST SAVE ME FROM THIS AND I¡¯LL MAKE IT WORTH YOUR WHILE!!! I¡¯M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO DID IT!!! THEY WERE ALL F.U.C.K.I.N.G IN ON IT!!! F.U.C.K!!! F.U.C.K!!! F.U.C.K!!!¡± Freddie¡¯s face was a mess as blood, tears, and snot covered him.


    The rest of the people were hesitant to move but Gemma got up.


    ¡°Angelica¡­ it was all our fault¡­ not just him, not just you, not just your mom¡­ everyone¡­ it¡¯s everyone¡¯s fault¡­ that¡¯s something we can¡¯t just pass to anyone¡­¡± Gemma hugged her.


    ¡°NO!!!¡± the girl elbowed Gemma and she pushed her away.


    ¡°MOM¡¯S DEAD!!! MOM¡¯S DEAD!!! I-I-I CAN¡¯T!!! I-¡± Angelica bellowed then it happened.


    Angelica stabbed her neck from the left side and she dragged it across to the other side.


    ¡°NOOOOOOOOOO!!!¡± Gemma wailed as she broke down crying. She was covering her mouth with both of her hands as she lost bnce.


    Joseph and the rest were shocked by what happened but they couldn¡¯t step back due to us wearing a gruesome expression. Their feet were nted on the spot as blood gushed out from Angelica¡¯s neck.


    ¡°Wh-Why did you have to do that?! You still have me! You still have me! I-I¡¯m still here!!! Why?! Why? WHY?!¡± Gemma cried as Angelica was gurgling her own blood. Joseph backed away until his back hit the truck. He couldn¡¯t believe what just happened and he broke down crying. The rest of his group were just staring at Gemma while Freddie silently breathed a sigh of relief.


    Gemma was crying but she finished the job. She picked up my knife and she stabbed it on Angelica¡¯s head so she wouldn¡¯t turn into one of those things after a time. After that, her lips were quivering as she was covered in Angelica¡¯s blood. She was looking at Freddie with hatred but she nced at me with a serious look. <hr>


    ¡°Go ahead.¡± I said nonchntly.


    Gemmaid Angelica¡¯s head down slowly and she closed Angelica¡¯s eyes. She stood up and headed for Freddie.


    ¡°What? No! NO! NO! NO! I¡¯M A F.U.C.K.I.N.G CAPTAIN!!! YOU¡¯RE ALL PESTS!!! YOU¡¯RE ALL PESTS!!! YOU SHOULD ALL BOW BEFORE ME YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G INSECTS!!! I¡¯M A- I¡¯M A- AHHHBLLRRGHRHG!!!¡± Freddie bellowed before Gemma got close to him.


    Gemma held his hair tight before stabbing in the same spot Angelica did to herself. Instead of dragging it across his neck, Gemma took the time to stab him multiple times until it connected to the other side. Freddie¡¯s neck was squelching each time Gemma stabbed him and the group behind her was wincing just from watching her. She finally finished the job by stabbing him on his eye. She nced at Angelica¡¯s corpse and the grip she had on the knife tightened once more. The knife was just covered with everyone¡¯s bits and it was unrecognizable from when it was still clean when I handed it to Joseph.


    We were just looking at what she would do next.


    Tears were welling from Gemma¡¯s eyes as she slowly aimed the knife to herself. Her hand was shaking the whole time and her eyes were closed. Her breathing was fast and heavy and the tip was already piercing a portion of her skin.


    However, she didn¡¯t follow through with it.


    Gemma handed me the knife once more after she wiped it on her shoulder. She sat down near Angelica and stared at her nkly.


    ¡°Kid, what happens now?¡± Matthew said, breaking the silence.


    The rest of them looked at me and I spoke after Gemma turned her head towards me.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a choice, which is something I rarely give out to people who tried to rob and kill me. Even if you¡¯re not really part of them, you¡¯re still a part of them. You all have followed their orders at the expense of other people¡¯s lives. I made you kill them but that doesn¡¯t make your ledger clean. It¡¯s still red as f.u.c.k and there¡¯s no way to make it go away. You have a few choices now.¡± I started.


    ¡°Which are?¡± Gemma said without any emotion.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m guessing you won¡¯t be killing yourselves, right? I¡¯m sorry but that would be too easy but in the end, that decision is up to you. What you could do is stay here and start from scratch or go somece else. I¡¯ve taken all of your supplies and I won¡¯t be giving them back. It¡¯spensation for the troubles that you¡¯ve given me and my group. You¡¯re gonna have to figure out by yourselves how to survive.¡± I said.


    ¡°W-Wait, you¡¯re not gonna take us in at least?¡± the middle-aged man said.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s an option I guess but it¡¯s for your own good to pick from the two choices earlier, honestly speaking.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°What?¡± he was confused.


    ¡°Look at the rest of my group, I¡¯m the only one here that decided not to kill you all. Honestly, we don¡¯t give a f.u.c.k whether you got roped in or not by that asshole. You try something stupid with any of us, we¡¯ll f.u.c.k you up. Youe in with good intentions, we¡¯ll return it two-fold. If you ask why? Well, because that¡¯s the way we work. If youe with us, it would be a difficult situation. Whatever you do back home, it would be taxing to earn our trust after pulling that shit on us. Each movement you do will be closely monitored even when you sleep, take a bath, eat your meal, and everything you could think of. You would have no sort of privacy whatsoever. One wrong move and it¡¯s over, we¡¯ll drive a knife to your skull. I¡¯m sorry but that¡¯s the only way we¡¯ll allow you back home.¡± I exined.


    A few of them were hesitating.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried that we might get abducted by the wrong people and made us spill the beans that we know you? Granted we don¡¯t know your exact location but you can¡¯t be too far.¡± he replied.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s cool. Let theme, it would be easier for us. We could easily fight a group if it¡¯s our home ground rather than theirs. My whole team would be there too so they would just basically hand themselves in a silver tter.¡± I replied nonchntly.


    ¡°You¡¯re that confident? How many are you?¡± he asked, surprised.


    I just smiled.


    ¡°R-Regarding if we stay at your ce, will we be given food at least?¡± Joseph interjected.


    ¡°Well, obviously. It won¡¯t be steak or hamburgers if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking but yeah, I¡¯ll provide you basic necessities. You¡¯ll live but not asfortable as the one you guys killed.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How about joining you on runs? Would that be possible?¡± Gemma asked with a serious look.


    ¡°Why?¡± I looked at her.


    ¡°You know why. Just judging from the way you speak, I bet that you¡¯re a lot smarter than that psycho.¡± Gemma replied.


    I smiled and said, ¡°Allowing you on runs means that I¡¯ll have to allow you to use weapons. I never let my people out without proper equipment. I¡¯m gonna say it¡¯s not for certain but you have to convince me and my people we could trust you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m in.¡± Gemma said without hesitation.

 Chapter 360

    Chapter 360: 360


    Joseph and the rest were hesitating whether they would follow Gemma or not. The middle-aged man was in deep thought but he was shaking his head. Joseph on the other hand was looking at Gemma and the road to the Bcan Area alternatingly. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Better decide on what you would all do because we¡¯ll leave here after we finish burning all the bodies and blocking that bridge off. Let¡¯s say we¡¯ll take whoever¡¯s left here after 30 minutes.¡± I said to them.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll just grab my clothes and a few things. I¡¯ll give you my bagter so you could inspect it.¡± Gemma said as she stood up and started walking to their reimed area.


    The rest of them followed her but they were now talking loudly to each other whether they woulde to my ce or not. Their voices were already inaudible so I told my group to continue with our initial n. However, when Unc Zardon started the bus again, the middle-aged man ran back to me.


    ¡°H-Hey! Before you block that passage, can you wait for a bit because we¡¯ll drive towards that area? We¡¯ll be quick!¡± he said with a hurried tone.


    ¡°Sure, bute back here before you drive outside. I¡¯ll give you a few things for the trip.¡± I said as I nodded so he ran back while the rest of them hurried as well.


    Gemma was the only one walking back to her house normally as if nothing else mattered. My group started to pile the bodies after checking if they would have valuables on their person. While they were doing that, I decided to clear the guns we collected from the HUMVEE. I simply wiped them down first before collecting the spare ammo inside their magazines or in their chambers. Kaley on the other hand was still on the roof watching out for any threats. While we were keeping busy, Matthew approached me.


    ¡°Kid, I need to talk to you about what you¡¯re about to do.¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°Hmm? Sure, let¡¯s talk while I¡¯m organizing the guns we have. Grab a few slugs while we¡¯re at it. There¡¯s buckshot too in that separate bag.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about the people we¡¯re taking in but I don¡¯t want loose ends like that man who¡¯s nning to leave. We have something almost like a fortress back home but it¡¯s still susceptible to damage. I¡¯m sure Oscar and Johnny would agree with me. It would be safer for all of us if we just kill the ones that wouldn¡¯te with us. I don¡¯t want to decide people¡¯s fate just like that but that¡¯s just the way it is.¡± Matthew said with a grim expression.


    ¡°You¡¯re worried?¡± I looked back at him.


    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know about you but I felt the words he said earlier feels like a threat that he might talk if pushes to shove. He¡¯s right in saying that our ce isn¡¯t that far off.¡± Matthew replied.


    ¡°Hmm, to tell you the truth our ce needs someone to attack it.¡± I replied nonchntly. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What th- What the f.u.c.k are you talking about?¡± Matthew looked at me like I¡¯m an idiot.


    ¡°Hear me out first. Remember those people we sent to my old high school? I bet Marisha told you some of their reasons regarding that. Our ce has been too peaceful and it¡¯s making people start to getcent. Yes, the ones who go outside like us are in danger but the ones who never go out don¡¯t know the trouble we are going to. I¡¯m saying that an attack not from the deadheads but from hostiles could make everyone¡¯s sphincter a little tighter when it¡¯s starting to loosen. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡± I exined.


    ¡°You¡¯d still put people at risk just from that.¡± Matthew replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s more dangerous to have our people having a false sense of security. Yes, we mess around a few times while we¡¯re inside but we never let our guard down. However, I¡¯m not 100% sure it¡¯s the same for everybody. It¡¯s not all bad though. Brian and Carlo with some of our people volunteering to move to my high school is an example. Add to that Niks and Alexei staying where Ilya was located. They know the threat level on our ce has minimized so they¡¯re putting themselves on edge to make the sphincter tight.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Could¡­ Could you stop saying that?¡± Matthew said, disgusted.


    ¡°What?¡± I replied after ripping out a loud one.


    ¡°F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHIT!!!¡± Matthew choked as he backed away from me.


    ¡°See what I mean? It¡¯s dangerous if it¡¯s loose!¡± I cackled.


    ¡°I¡¯LL SET YOU IN FIRE YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!¡± Matthew¡¯s eyes were watery.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Disgusting.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    I heard Kaley¡¯s voice then I picked up my radio.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What? It¡¯s the best example I could give!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Kaley shook her head and ignored me.


    I looked around and a few of them were listening in to our little conversation. They didn¡¯t voice out their opinion but judging from the look on their faces, they seemed to agree with me somewhat.


    Time quickly passed and then a blue SUV and a red pickup truck came into view. Gemma was at the back of the pickup and she jumped down with Joseph carrying their own bags and with a fresh set of clothes. They gave their bags to Mikhail so he could check it while Tatiana checked their bodies once more. They were told to get into the back of the truck while the middle-aged man rolled down the window of his SUV.


    ¡°Here, bring this with you. That bag has food for five people that couldst you a couple of days. We didn¡¯t take the perishable ones in your ce so you probably packed them. There are also handhelds for all of you and two guns filled with bullets. It¡¯s a Model 19 revolver and an M1911. I won¡¯t give you extra bullets so make those count. If you¡¯re gonna tell me where you¡¯re going, I could give you a tip that wouldn¡¯t get you killed in the first day. Want to exchange info?¡± I said as I handed him a bag.


    He was hesitant, the same with the rest of his group but he eventually agreed. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m banking on my rtives at the City of Bnga being well and alive. One of them is a soldier and I bet he¡¯s taking care of our side of the family. It would take several hours on a normal day to get there but we¡¯ll take our chances.¡± he said after a deep thought.


    ¡°Oh, there huh? Okay, avoid the highway and make sure to only use the backroads. I¡¯m suggesting to reach either Hagonoy or Masantol and ditch your vehicles and find a boat so you¡¯ll get there faster and safer. Let¡¯s just say that there are more than the dead to be wary of.¡± I said.


    He took a deep breath before extending his hand, ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is even the right word but thank you.¡±


    They eventually drove away after we shook hands.


    We continued with our business and Unc Zardon drove the bus past the bridge to park it sideways, blocking it off from that side. He vacated the bus and we came with a few cinderblocks and jacks to take the wheels off of it. They¡¯re fairly new and we don¡¯t want people driving the bus away so we decided to take them as per Unc Zardon¡¯s suggestion. Unc Zardon drove the other one and parked it the same way but it was now on our side. We did the same thing to it as we did to the one before and then I told them the n of making Unc Zardon and Lois go back with Gemma and Joseph. However, Matthew had another suggestion.


    ¡°Instead of that kid Lois, I want to be the one to apany them back home with your uncle. Marisha will process them with the soldiers from the DDR Camps so I want to be there personally.¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°You sure about that? How about Kaley?¡± I asked to make sure, half-joking.


    ¡°I trus- Well, she¡¯s a better shot than me and she knows a lot of things now so she could handle herself. It¡¯s not like I trust you specifically or anything. Hmm.¡± Matthew called out his other persona.


    Before they drove off, Unc Zardon and I checked the Raptor we found first for anything unusual. It was just a quick checkup in case something was not supposed to be where it is.


    ¡°Hmm, I think this thing is well-maintained. Probably why that Freddie almost lost it when you guys took it. It¡¯s much nicer on the insidepared to Raphael¡¯s truck because this is fairly new. It still has its new car smell, right?¡± Unc Zardon said.


    ¡°Yeah, just needed to make sure we¡¯re safe in driving this thing outside.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Have you checked the glovepartments and whatnot?¡± Unc Zardon asked.


    ¡°Oh, we just found a couple of IDs, car registration, permits, and a car charger.¡± I replied. <hr>


    Unc Zardon looked at me like I¡¯m an idiot.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you to buy your own pickup! You spend so much time with your Hayabusa you only know so little about Raptor¡¯s essories! Check the under-seat storage cases, flip those seats over! Those other parts too!¡± Unc Zardon was happy that he knew something I didn¡¯t.


    ¡°What? I¡¯m not addicted to Raptors, it¡¯s you! If you asked me to buy you one, I would¡¯ve already!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°Want me to f.u.c.k.i.n.g hit you? Who doesn¡¯t like Raptors?!¡± Unc Zardon made a face where the side of his upper lip was raised with a nasty grimace.


    ¡°Who said I hate them?! Just tell me what to do!¡± I eximed, making the same face then we both chuckled.


    I did as he asked and I had a bright smile stered on my face.


    ¡°Told ya. That f.u.c.ker was already prepared to leave when things go South. He just lost his chance to use these items. He doesn¡¯t look like the type to know how to use these things though. I bet he¡¯ll just spray everybody when he managed to get his hands on these.¡± Unc Zardon smiled as well.


    ¡°Well, unless you try to learn how to use the items you were gathering, you¡¯re just collecting them for the toughest kid on your neighborhood. Good thing we got to them first. Well, sooner orter we¡¯d see this when we put our modifications on this Raptor.¡± I replied as I checked the items hidden in the storagepartments.


    Tucked inside the under-seat storage cases for the rear seats was an AKM. It was attached with a suppressor, a bay, and a vertical foregrip by recing the furniture. It only had iron sights installed but there were 10 filled 60-round extended magazines stacked neatly under it. A few centimeters away from it was a couple of ammo cans filled with 7.62x39mm cartridges.


    I found no handguns but maybe his collection were the handguns we took earlier from his house.


    On Unc Zardon¡¯s side, it almost had the same things I would bring every time we go to far ces but a few notches more just for a single person. I decided to just leave them here for now but I noticed Unc Zardon drawing his knife.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± I asked him as he was looking at the centralpartment.

 Chapter 361

    Chapter 361: 361


    Unc Zardon lifted up the leather hand rest of the centralpartment and then right as he was about to jab his knife in between the little lines where it was all snapped in, I stopped him. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Umm, let me do that part Unc. I have better tools for¡­ finessing these kinds of things.¡± I said as I pulled out my lockpicking tools.


    I retrieved a couple of very thin and t pieces of metal. I inserted them into the edges as I slowly applied pressure.


    The centralpartment snapped up and then Unc and I gave each other a devilish smile. I forgot we were taking a bit of time and we saw Tatiana picking up the AKM and inspecting it.


    ¡°I¡¯m taking this outside, the magazines too¡­¡± Tatiana asked for permission but Unc Zardon and I were too busy to even care. We just gave her a thumbs up and we were met with another problem.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ now how about that¡­¡± Unc Zardon started rubbing his chin.


    ¡°A f.u.c.k.i.n.g safe¡­ Unc, just go for now and we¡¯ll deal with thister. We still got a lot of ground to cover and I want to see the road towards Mbon before it gets dark.¡± I replied, snapping back the stic part of the centralpartment.


    We walked out of the Raptor and everyone was ready. Matthew gave Kaley a bag of food and water for us who would keep on exploring because everything was inside the 8-wheeler.


    Matthew and Unc Zardon drove first and we followed behind them. Tatiana was driving her HUMVEE while Mikhail was driving the Raptor. We would just break off when we reached Pulo. While we were in transit, I pulled my radio out and contacted Borris.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, if you two need a boat to travel the little river behind your house, there are several in Tawiran ripe for the taking. There are about 8-9 wooden ones powered by motors so if you happen to pass by, it¡¯s all yours.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure, that¡¯s pretty far though. We¡¯ll see if we have time.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Go there as early as you could because the presence of the dead there lessened quite a bit because of us. We blocked the bridge so most of the dead would being from our side, Mbon, or Navotas.¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We encountered trickles of the dead going back to Pulo and Lois and Lawrence made sure to pick them off one by one. It got noisy on the way to Tawiran earlier because of the two so Kaley decided to ride the HUMVEE with Tatiana. Jared, Lois, Lawrence, Mikhail, and I were the only ones in the Raptor following behind them all. Jared was ignoring all of Lois¡¯ remarks because he was focused on watching out for potential threats. I on the other hand was busy updating my internal map inside my head.


    We received a honk from the 8-wheeler, telling us that they were about to broke off. Tatiana and Mikhail returned the same reply and Tatiana started to drive slowerpared to earlier. It was because we were now driving into new territory and we were surveying the road and we needed to be extra careful.


    Lois was reloading the 25-round magazine of the Ruger 10/22s while Lawrence was picking the little casings off the Raptor¡¯s bed.


    ¡°Bro, how much .22 LRs did you bring over? I still see a lot of them in this ammo can. What size is this?¡± Lois said, looking at me.


    ¡°Hmm? That¡¯s the one I use for plinking so I just dump my .22 LRs there and bring it somewhere so I¡¯m not sure. Well, what¡¯s the record now?¡± I replied.


    ¡°87-98. I¡¯m on the lead.¡± Lawrence replied with a cheeky smile while Lois¡¯ eyebrow was twitching.


    ¡°You just got lucky there¡¯s a lot on the corner earlier¡­¡± Lois muttered.


    ¡°Then you¡¯ve killed 215 if we include Jared¡¯s share. That¡¯s an ammo can for .50 caliber cartridges so there¡¯s probably 3,000 more, give or take. I didn¡¯t fill it to the brim but if I did, it could fit around 6,500 .22 LRs.¡± I said, ncing at the space upied by the cartridges.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t we splurging a bit on ammo?¡± Lawrencemented.


    ¡°What? You¡¯re killing those f.u.c.kers with those little rounds. One of them dead by a low caliber round is one of the greatest things that could happen. We¡¯d use less gunpowder for reloading and a smaller projectile to make it with. Just pick up as many casings as possible and we¡¯re golden.¡± I replied and Lawrence nodded a few times.


    ¡°He¡¯s calling it splurging, heh. If he knew how much we have¡­¡± Iughed inwardly.


    The road to the City of Mbon was pretty much the same towards the road to Tawiran but the number of ways we could drive in and turn to different spots was more than double. There were two main roads we could take and we took the one where we could see over the other fishing areas. Going down this road would also let us hug the road which was much nearer to the ce where Cyrill mentioned he saw a few of his old dealers.


    Now that we were using vehicles that have less storage space, we would only stop and take a look around a ce if what¡¯s inside were high-value and high-priority items. Not to mention, we were prioritizing items that wouldn¡¯t take as much space. <hr>


    We took a left turn after driving for 15 minutes and we passed by a looted gas station. We saw a few zombies stuck inside the store while a few were prone and with a nasty injury on the head. We surmised that people have looted this ce but this was not what we were aiming for when we took a turn.


    We conversed briefly on the radio and Tatiana elerated and moved down roamers past the looted water station. Crushed and dismembered bodies were left from her wake and she stopped when she reached a non-descript home.


    ¡°This the ce, correct?¡± Tatiana said as they vacated the HUMVEE.


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re just here to take the seed packets from this ce so we could grow a lot more vegetables.¡± I replied.


    We entered the house that was broken into but the seed packets I was looking for were still present.


    ¡°People always opt for the instant stuff¡­¡± I thought to myself after filling up a bag.


    Kaley and I went outside the home and we saw Mikhail swinging a huge fire axe with one hand easily. The rest were busy piling the bodies and Tatiana was checking them first before burning them.


    ¡°I may need to upgrade Mikhail¡¯s loadout.¡± I thought to myself.


    While we continued with our drive to survey the road, we noticed something quite peculiar. Even Tatiana slowed down even more and then we went to a full stop. We saw a few things pass by quickly to another corner.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You guys saw that, correct?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, eyes open for now but we¡¯ll use the drones to be sure.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Lois and I drove the drones a couple of blocks forward to check on those things we saw skitter erratically. The drones weren¡¯t even halfway before another mass of those things followed. They must¡¯ve gotten attracted to the noise of the drones and they switched routes. Lois and I drove them back and we were seeing a mass of them heading to our direction.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k¡­¡± Jared muttered, looking at his scope.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Get ready. We¡¯ll kill them all while reversing slowly. We¡¯ll use the roads as a runway and we¡¯ll go the way we came from so there¡¯s little to no surprise. Tatiana, drive by the side of us so we could fire freely and avoid grazing your HUMVEE because our aim would be lower.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Understood. Who the f.u.c.k did that though?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°No time to worry about it. A few are quicker than the rest, fire at will.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    What we saw was a mass of the dead approaching us in a¡­ different way¡­ and form¡­ <hr>


    A gathering of the dead which were roughly 3 feet in height were approaching us with varying degrees of speed. It was not because of rot or anything but all of their bodies were cut or dismembered in half. Their lower bodies were missing but they were still in a mission to infect each and every one of us.


    The ones in front were walking while using their hands as their feet. However, they were dragging their internal organs and their spinal cord was scraping off the pavement making their movements erratic. Some of them weren¡¯t even perfectly cut and their bodies were folded near the h.i.p.s. Their skin from their palms was almost gone because a few were moving too fast and because they were using their bare hands to traverse the road littered with obstacles.


    Some were even using their forearms and stumps as they were slowly getting left behind. Despite that, they were following the herd and they were trying their best to keep in line. They were all covered in bite marks and a few tools from what I guess from the victims who were too slow to get away from them.


    A huge gust of wind blew towards our direction and the smelling from them was horrid. Lois almost barfed from the smell as he covered his nose with his hands. We were all wearing masks but it was still making our eyes water.


    The ones in the back were almost swimming in the pavement as they were making way with a b.r.e.a.s.tstroke onnd. A few erratic and weird ones were doing the butterfly motion as both of their arms were dragging their torso forwards and hitting their heads in the process. I bet there were more forms but if these things managed to reach our ce or even Borris¡¯ it would be trouble.


    The baffling thing was the number of them present upying the road was too much. I wonder who got that time to saw their bodies in half. We would need to clear them all so we could safely traverse and reach our destination. I calcted the bullets we would be using and we would splurge this time.


    ¡°Jared, just keep watch for anything and everything around.¡± I said as I slung my BCM on my shoulders.


    ¡°Wait, what are you doing bro?¡± Jared looked back at me.


    ¡°I need to make sure that none surprises us from behind. Just make Tatiana and Mikhail follow behind me so we¡¯ll have a safe route.¡± I exined as I jumped down.


    I ran to the nearest intersection while my rifle was raised. There were a few stragglers far away so I decided to just drag the corpses on the ground to the side. I suddenly saw the HUMVEE¡¯s door opening and Kaley came outside to help me. She was now the one tasked to watch from behind while I made the road clear for the guys reversing the vehicle. Jared jumped on the roof of the HUMVEE while Lois opened up the ammo cans.


    ¡°Mags!¡± Lois shouted.


    ¡°This kid.¡± I thought to myself.


    Lois started reloading Lawrence and Jared¡¯s magazines if they went empty so the two could focus on shooting the ones upfront.


    It was going well but if things could go wrong, they would.


    We heard a loud and hoarse bellow from the intersection where the other road would connect the two. We saw a huge towering figure making its way toward us but its huge abdomen was getting ripped apart. We can¡¯t see quite clearly as to why that was happening but it was followed by few more like it and in the same condition as well.


    ¡°KROOOOHH!!!¡±


    ¡°KROH!¡±


    ¡°GROOOOOOOHHHH!!!¡±


    Their shouts were ringing one after the other and another wave of those 3 feet abominations poured out from their side.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.¡± Kaley and I muttered.

 Chapter 362

    Chapter 362: 362


    The huge figures were making their way towards us and their bloated bodies were making it hard for them to move forward. However, the dismembered figures which were moving in an erratic pattern were fast despite their physiology. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°This is a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up version of the crab rave¡­¡± I muttered.


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley was about to fire at them but she looked at me with confusion.


    ¡°Later,ter. Aim for the big ones while I¡¯ll aim for the small ones!¡± I said as I raised my BCM.


    I exhaled then I looked at the sights and flipped the safety. I tucked my rifle in my shoulder by pushing it in with my supporting hand.


    One wasing with speed while its elbows were folded. Its scalp and ears were missing but its eyes were directed at me. I aimed at it first and squeezed the trigger.


    The bullet entered its eye socket and blood sprayed from the other side, staining the ones following from behind. I felt the recoil but I aimed my rifle next to the one on the roof of a car bouncing up and down. I estimated the correct timing and I sent another round to thin their numbers. I fired two shots consecutively after that because three were in a straight line. I was lucky enough for it to over-prate and hit a few more in the back.


    An old one wasing diagonally and its fake teeth had punctured its cheek muscles. It was about to fall off but the coagted blood was acting like glue. I followed it with my rifle and ended its life of undeath. I even saw a much younger torso traipsing over a wall and made a hole in its head appear.


    The moment one appeared in my sights, its body would fall down faster than the brass casing hitting the ground.


    The amount of them moving in an erratic pattern could make anyone dizzy and distracted but then I heard Kaley firing shots towards the big ones.


    Three shots were sent one after the other after short intervals. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Breathe.¡± I muttered because I saw the one she shot up was still standing.


    I continued firing and good thing I was on the right side. If not, the brass casings would have showered Kaley because we were side by side. Her firing rate was not as fast because the big ones were still a ways away, walking slowly with long strides.


    The skittlers I¡¯ve killed were now getting run over by the ones hand-stepping over them.


    Kaley managed to kill a big one but the roars echoed once more. A few skittlers from their side ran back and covered the other ones by digging their ws through the big ones¡¯ bodies. Several figures which were just arms and heads were trying to climb over a bloated and cut up deadhead.


    ¡°Wha-¡± Kaley and I were gobsmacked.


    Only a few seconds have passed.


    ¡°Kaley! Aim for the small ones first! Let¡¯s get to those huge ones after!¡± I shouted and looked at the vehicles from our side still a few meters away. They were still firing nonstop and Lois was also shooting because he just finished reloading their used mags.


    I shot one with a missing jaw and I pressed the mag release when my BCM clicked empty. I switched mags as fast as possible as I pulled out another one. I reloaded in one swift motion and a round was chambered after I hit the bolt release.


    Kaley was making great progress on the walking torsos so I snapped the magnifier in ce and looked through the sights multiplied by six timespared to normal.


    I think I figured out why their stomachs were getting ruptured. <hr>


    Human parts were protruding out of varying holes through their abdomen and I could freshly see one sticking out like a sore thumb. The bone from a leg that was looking like a femur was broken and it was making a new tear on the bloated stomach of the one getting covered by the small ones. Each time it took a step, itsrge belly would bounce and make the tears more apparent. I believed that if it tried to jump, a few would spill out from its abdomen.


    I exhaled and fired two shots consecutively.


    It hit right where I aimed it but the couple of torsos covering its head cushioned the bullets. I decided to fire two-round bursts twice and I finally downed one. There were a few more at the far back but I decided to aim at them when they get much closer. I flipped the magnifier back to the other side again to ease my eyes.


    ¡°Six bullets for a big one¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    Kaley reloaded her rifle while I aimed at the few approaching us. They were like two-legged spiders slipping on thin ice because of the blood staining the road.


    I saw from my peripheral vision around a couple dozen figuresing from the opposite side where the vehicles were so I turned around and started shooting them first. Their bodies were like puppets that got their string cut but the problem was that they were now blocking the road behind. I bet we could try to drive over them but a few were piled on top of one another.


    The vehicles reached us then Kaley and I quickly boarded the back of the Raptor. There were still several dozen of them remaining but the distance between us was getting shorter. Lois was still using his Ruger 10/22 but he was down to hisst filled magazine. He would have to use his SIG MPX or reload the magazines once more. Jared went empty so he threw his magazine on the back of the Raptor after pulling out one from his te carrier.


    They were still firing nonstop as I surveyed the situation. The torsos on Jared¡¯s side of the road were thinned significantly while the ones on our side plus the big ones were still a lot. I noticed a few from Jared¡¯s side climbing on top of the four-foot walls to jump to the other side where the big ones were.


    ¡°Lois! Stop firing on that side and join Kaley! Lawrence! Switch with Mikhail and we¡¯ll drag the bodies blocking our route from the back! Jared! Just kill everyst one from your side and switch with Tatiana if you run out of bullets! Tatiana! Use the AKM instead of the Benelli M4 when you switch! Mikhail! With me!¡± I shouted orders as I jumped down again.


    Mowing through the bodies up front would just get us stuck and the threat on the right was still over a hundred. The logical way to finish this encounter is to stop at the intersection first and dump bullets on those f.u.c.kers while making an escape route. I could add our firepower by making the drivers leave their post but I wanted them to be ready in case we need to run. A few seconds would get us killed if we were toote. <hr>


    Mikhail and I were running towards the pile of bodies I killed earlier then suddenly three sprinters mmed on the car a few meters farther than us. One of them¡¯s shin got clipped pretty bad and it crashed to the others making them m on the corner wall of another street. I could see from afar that a few were still iing so we had to split the jobs once more.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are they so many of them! Are we near a f.u.c.k.i.n.g spawner?! Do I need a f.u.c.k.i.n.g torch?! Mikhail! Drag them all to the side while I deal with these f.u.c.kers!¡± I shouted and raised my rifle.


    I fired quick shots to the sprinters as they were about to get up and them being in a stationary position made it easier. They never got to get up as their heads with new decorations sprayed holes to the pavement.


    The ones iing were a different story though.


    I just killed a coupleing straight at us but then they made a sharp right turn, avoiding mepletely.


    I turned around and shouted at my group.


    ¡°WATCH OUT FOR SEVEN SPRINTERS!!! THEY JUST TURNED ON THAT STREET AND THEY MIGHT POP OUT WITH THOSE FAT F.U.C.KS!!!¡± I bellowed as I immediately helped Mikhail moving the bodies.


    *BOOOOOOOOM*


    Kaley decided to throw one of her grenades to lessen their numbers significantly. Lois followed after her and he threw one from the couple that I gave him before.


    *BOOOOOOM* <hr>


    Mikhail and I hurriedly dragged the bodies as we heard flesh plopping out from their direction due to the explosion. I saw the corpse I was dragging had a knife so I took it before we ran back to the group.


    ¡°ARE WE RUNNING NOW?!¡± Lawrence shouted.


    ¡°Not yet!¡± I shouted back.


    I heard Mikhail flicking the safety lever down from the right side and he started firing at the rotten bastardsing at us.


    Mikhail just squeezed the trigger and ran amok.


    It was a good thing that those torsos were clumped and he managed to kill a significant number of them. However, the bullets he used were f.u.c.k.i.n.g significant as well.


    ¡°I really need to change this guy¡¯s loadout.¡± I thought to myself.


    A few momentster we saw another peculiar thing happening.


    The sprinters that turned to the other side came into view but they suddenly attacked the big ones. They were wing at their bodies while the little ones started to retreat from us, trying to protect the big ones.


    ¡°GROOOOOOOOOOOHH!!!¡± the huge one roared before going down.

 Chapter 363

    Chapter 363: 363


    My group at the back saw everything go down and they were wearing a mix of expressions like myself. However, it was not the time to dwell on such things so I aimed at which I deemed more dangerous. I flipped the magnifier in position and I aimed at the sprinters running wild at the big ones while the torsos were attacking them. The little f.u.c.kers grabbed the sprinter¡¯s skin and tried to take off as much flesh as they could, trying to bring them down off of the big ones. <center></center><hr>


    I exhaled and aimed at the sprinter where five half-bods were hanging on it. It was waving its body wild, trying to throw them off but I already squeezed the trigger. It took two shots because it bobbed its head luckily the first time.


    The sprinter¡¯s punctured body fell limp and the small ones let go of it and aimed for the next target.


    My group was basically free from the threat the moment the sprinters showed up and attacked the big ones but I still made Kaley, Mikhail, and Lois aim for the armed torsos. I even ordered Lawrence to not aim for the big ones in case they were the trigger for the little ones retreating. I¡¯m half-sure that if Lawrence took down one, the attacks of the little ones might split between us and the sprinters.


    We were free-shooting but the big ones decided to attack the sprinters.


    One of them managed to grab a sprinter and it mmed it on the pavement, not minding the half-bods in a handstand near the point of impact.


    It was like the green dude that waved around the adoptive brother of a blonde hunk wielding a selective hammer. The only thing missing was the high-pitched exhale after the thrashing was finished.


    After the big one was done, half the body of the sprinter was mangled.


    The bloated one ripped off one of the sprinter¡¯s legs then its jaw dislodged. It just shoved in its throat the leg it acquired almost like an endless vat. It swallowed it whole without much of an issue initially but it got stuck when it reached the ankle.


    ¡°BlLCkkCHH!! KcHC!!! KcHhhCK!!!¡± It retched as it can¡¯t push it even more.


    That was when it pulled the leg out covered with its grimy and bloody insides where a gooey substance was dripping off of it. It grabbed the other end of the leg and it snapped it like a twig, making the discolored skin rupture and p. The jagged boneing out near the kneecaps were barely visible. After that, it just pushed it back on its mouth without issue. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g y with your f.u.c.k.i.n.g fast food¡­¡± I muttered inwardly and I shot down the one hanging from its shoulder.


    The other sprinters were behind the big ones so I decided to shoot the small ones still piling over one another. Their backs were turned against us and it made for easy pickings without tension. If we missed and just scr.a.p.ed their heads, a small piece of their scalp would fly through the air, and then it would plop on the ground.


    Our vehicles were still nted in the intersection and the engines were still running.


    We had to achieve the correct bnce in taking the undead out surgically. If we wiped off the sprinters, the big ones and the skittles would attack us again but if we killed the big ones first, there¡¯s no telling what would happen specifically but the sprinters would turn to us eventually. The best bet was to clear the half-bods while keeping a close eye on the two specials.


    Kaley¡¯s AR-15 ran out of ammo but she pressed the mag release and let it fall on the truck bed. She shoved another magazine in the mag well and smacked the bolt release. She started shooting the clump of torsos once more.


    ¡°Lois! Reload the 5.56s first!¡± I shouted as he was reloading the mags for the .22s.


    I was pleasantly surprised that he took the role of being support even if he wanted to win so much. I even threw the mags I¡¯ve used and he caught them with his right hand.


    ¡°There¡¯s no more on this side!¡± Jared eximed as he jumped behind Lois.


    Jared ducked down and started reloading his own mags with .308s.


    One of the big f.u.c.ks started using the dismembered sprinter it ripped apart earlier as a club and it swung it wildly against the sprintersing at it. Its abdomen was getting ripped apart more and more and its insides with the parts it ate earlier were beginning to spill out violently. A sprinter got its hand stuck on the abdomen of the fat one then its upper body was smacked to the ground violently by a single p.


    I was observing everything that was happening while thinning the numbers of the small ones. The mess from that part of the road would make it untraversable unless we cleared it properly. It was now a tad difficult to identify which ones were the dead ones from the undead torsos. <hr>


    I decided to even their ying field by taking down two fat f.u.c.ks.


    However, the moment I killed the first one from the two, it seemed that the small ones started to not care as much for the big ones. Almost a dozen broke off in different directions and Lawrence killed the ones approaching us. A couple even started hand-walking normally and lost their earlier aggression. More broke away the moment I sent a bullet to the second one¡¯s head. Even some of them that were attacking the sprinters stopped altogether.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Bro!¡± Lois shouted as he threw me a filled magazine.


    I caught it with my left hand and ced it in the pockets of my te carrier. He threw another one after that but Kaley caught it. I still have 12 rounds inside my current magazine so I continued shooting. We wasted more bullets because we were trying to shoot the f.u.c.k.i.e.d up ornaments hanging from the big ones. The big ones were thrashing around, trying to attack the sprinters but the sprinters that were left were more agile. They would step back to avoid a blow but their bodies were mangled now because of the small ones swarming over them.


    A head of a sprinter got blown off by Jared to even the ying field once more after Lawrence killed a fat one. The torsos were now a little bit more than a couple of dozen left and we decided to end the sprinters first.


    I sent three bullets that hit its neck, its earlobe, and its temple. It was down for the count and Kaley killed thest one. As I guessed, the armed torsos and the big ones turned to us like nothing happened. However, when Jared and Lois killed thest couple of big ones, the remaining torsos went still for a moment before scattering into different directions.


    We shot down most of them but a few managed to escape. We could chase after them but we needed to turn the vehicles around the street corners. It was because the road we were in was littered with decaying bodies, mostly upper ones.


    ¡°It¡¯s over?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I nodded, looking around. <hr>


    Before we did anything else, we reloaded all our magazines though we were running a bit low on the .308 department. It was because Lawrence participated in the shooting match while using .308 rounds with his AWP. Jared and Lawrence decided to share the remaining bullets evenly but Lois was smiling. It was because he only used a magazine worth of .300 AAC ckout cartridges since he mostly used his Ruger 10/22. He was happily reloading the magazines with a smile while Mikhail borrowed a few 60-round extended mags from Tatiana¡¯s pile.


    After that, I made Lois fly the drone upwards in case a few were hiding in corners. He was keeping watch on the tablet while Jared was keeping an eye out. I doc.u.mented the ones we encountered and I pulled out my phone.


    When I turned on the camera, I cut open their bellies to see what was inside. We discovered that the big ones were just shoving up legs inside themselves and they were running out of storage. We found pieces of ankles, thighs, feet, and anything leg rted. They weren¡¯t even chewed up, they were all shoved inside. It was all the same for the dozen big ones we shot down. Looking further from the trail they came from, a few parts must¡¯ve fallen off their stomachs because of how much they were trying to stuff inside.


    ¡°They ate too much and it ruptured their stomachs, making them run on a limb.¡± I chuckled inwardly


    There were a few things on my mind and one of them was whether or not they could control those armed torsos. The other one was why did they start attacking each other and why did the big ones only ate legs.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t they kinda the same as what we encountered in the public market?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, if we¡¯reparing sizes, yes. They do have minions but it was surprising they weren¡¯t in a nest of their own. They were actually roaming around and in such huge numbers to boot.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, like their colony or something? The minions we encountered before were gathering food for them though.¡± Kaley nodded.


    ¡°Well, this time, the minions were the food, I think.¡± I spected.


    ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± Lawrence asked and Mikhail was curious as well.


    Kaley and I told the story while we made a controlled fire to burn them all. We didn¡¯t burn them in one pile because we might take down the whole neighborhood in the process. We were still a ways away from the border to the City of Mbon and to the City of Navotas and we already spent a lot of time because of this f.u.c.k.i.e.d up herd. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, we encountered something simr to that in our ind group. They just wouldn¡¯t leave their nest so we managed to kill them all without issue.¡± Lawrence nodded after hearing our story.


    We walked back to the Raptor and Jared was in deep thought.


    ¡°Something on your mind?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m just thinking about those torsos we encountered¡­¡± Jared trailed.


    ¡°Yeah? What about them? You noticed something else?¡± I grew curious.


    ¡°Were they all in a dance troupe? Those handstands were- Ow! I¡¯m joking!¡± Kaley attacked him.


    I was shaking my head while Lois and Mikhail were already losing their shit at the thought of it.


    ¡°Following your train of thought, then the sprinters used to be what?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°Track and Field¡­ runner ups¡­¡± Jared was heavingughing.


    ¡°¡­¡± Tatiana and Kaley.

 Chapter 364

    Chapter 364: 364


    My group did another checkup on our equipment before we drove away from the pile of bodies that turned to carbon. We¡¯d stop for a few promising shops then we could continue driving. We were driving for a while then Jared tapped me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Bro, didn¡¯t you say before that there was a crematorium in Obando?¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Yeah, why?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t we supposed to make it avable to us? Is it clear?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Where¡¯s that?¡± Lawrence interjected.


    ¡°It¡¯s in the barangay right next to Pulo where we broke off with Matthew and Unc Zardon. The route on the other side is Pulo, Obando, a few more barangays because we zigzagged, and then Tawiran. We drove right past the crematorium and it wasn¡¯t touched. We¡¯ll get to that if we lost one of our own but I hope we don¡¯t get to that.¡± I answered then they gave solemn expressions.


    ¡°Bro, we¡¯re close to another DDR Camp, right? Another hospital after that corner? Should we check it out?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go there. I hope we¡¯ll find a few items there even if it¡¯s overrun.¡± I replied as I picked up my radio.


    ¡°It¡¯s overrun? Hope the items there are still untouched. It would be a shame if other groups managed to get their hand on it first. You think Borris and Cyrill managed to get to it first?¡± Lois replied, looking at me.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure but I definitely saw them carrying a few things that they didn¡¯t have before. Borris still has my gun but I saw a Glock 17 on Cyrill¡¯s hip. It could be from the nearby police stations, we never know.¡± I concluded.


    I told Tatiana and Mikhail to turn left before we reach a small chapel. Lois and Lawrence kept on shooting with their Ruger 10/22s and their body count was slowly piling up. We passed by several looted houses and an old printing shop.


    The road was starting to get narrow and we encountered a few armed torsos feasting on a dead corpse. The two immediately took care of it before we got out that small street and entered the other road towards the hospital. <center></center><hr>


    After we took a right turn, I made them stop in front of an old coffee shop.


    ¡°What¡¯s this ce?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ll show you,e with me. Guys, make a small perimeter, okay?¡± I said with an excited expression.


    I picked the locks and we entered a building which was a coffee shop on the first floor and a small two-bedroom apartment on the second floor. The ce was still the same asst time. Old and yellow pictures were still framed on the left side and it was gradually turning to new ones once it reached the other side of the wall. You could still smell the faint scent of coffee once you get nearer on the table.


    ¡°This was where Jude and I first met. Cool, huh?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Oh~ wait a sec, this is a picture of two of you!¡± Kaley eximed as she saw a picture of us minding our own business.


    ¡°Yep, that old guy is the owner. He passed a few years back but his son continued it. However, it was not the same because the way they prepared it is different. It¡¯s still good but the signature taste Jude and I were looking for was gone.¡± I said.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re just here to get this picture among a few other things?¡± Kaley asked as she removed the pin from our picture.


    ¡°Somewhat. It¡¯s just surprising to see the interior the same way. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s just grab a few sacks of coffee beans and a few more items. Let¡¯s make the inside of Tatiana¡¯s HUMVEE smell like coffee.¡± I chuckled.


    We hauled a few items and we decided to have a quick bite to eat. Lawrence and Lois decided to guard outside while the rest ate a quick lunch. When the two were the ones eating, Kaley and I checked the second floor for any valuables. We found nothing on the second floor and it seemed the son of the former owner left this ce when it hit in a hurry. We mostly came out of that ce with high-quality beans and a few food items.


    We went back on the road again and our vehicles passed by two small chapels and a little shop right next to a looted gasoline station. Right after that was a boutique, another printing station, and a bike shop. We made a left turn and we drove a few meters forward and we reached the driveway of a regr-sized, two-story hospital. <hr>


    It wasn¡¯t asrge as the one we have in Mnday and this ce only had the dead left. There was a semnce of a DDR Camp being built here but their equipment here was not present. They were either overrun and the soldiers hauled ass or another group took their belongings when the soldiers fell. However, we still haven¡¯t encountered the dead here wearing military fatigues.


    This hospital was built right next to a river that connects to the back of Borris¡¯ house and the canal system that could lead to my ce and Tawiran. This was one of the reasons why we built a little pier to traverse ces by water. It could lead us to ces with high-resource count while having to deal with fewer zombies right until we docked.


    ¡°Are we still gonna check the inside?¡± Lawrence asked.


    ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t see a pile of bodies here so the inside might still be untouched after all this time.¡± I replied and we got ready.


    I drew my katana and we jumped down and made a small perimeter first. We were in a T-junction and we were lucky to be facing normal ones this time without issue. I took the lead by lopping off a part of the head of a biter wearing a basketball jersey. My de entered just under its ear and it left just a few centimeters above its ear from the other side.


    I made Mikhail and Tatiana go to the other side up until the orange house with a destroyed minivan. We dispatched bodies as quickly as possible and we eventually reached the end of the road where the river divides this barangay to the one located on the other side of the river.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that ce on the other side leads to the City Hall?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s still the backroads after you get to the other side but once you make a few turns, you¡¯ll reach the highway. A few more minutes of driving, you¡¯ll reach the City Hall and the People¡¯s Park.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Is there a bridge here somewhere that leads to that ce? All I see is the river¡­¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°We¡¯d have to clear the road first. We¡¯re about halfway to that bridge that leads to the City Hall. If we drove for a few more minutes forward, not turning to that direction, we¡¯ll reach where these two main roads connect to reach the City of Marikina. The road to the City of Navotas would be from the other side of these two roads.¡± I exined.


    I was about to exin more of the way here but our radio buzzed. <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯re done here. We found a working SUV over here but we just took the gas from it. How about you guys?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, just watch out from that side since we¡¯ll being from this side. If we reach your side, we¡¯ll slowly try and see what we could take from this ce.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We ended the call and we carefully hugged the walls that lead to the other entrance of this hospital. The sun was giving us enough light and the three of us moved methodically. The first turn we made, we saw a couple of cheap ambnces but the equipment at the back was already taken aside from the stretcher and the wheelchairs. Kaley was checking the vehicles while Lois and I were guarding her. She shook her head when she got out and we continued on.


    ¡°We¡¯re not taking them bro?¡± Lois asked. <hr>


    ¡°Forgot that we have a hospital back home with much better ambnces? It¡¯s not even fair to call these L300s ambnces. They don¡¯t have the proper equipment and they¡¯re just mostly used for transporting patients as quickly as possible.¡± I chuckled and Lois smacked his forehead for forgetting.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget we got mobile vans too and the expensive one from the airport.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Let¡¯s just say I¡¯m a bit of a hoarder too¡­¡± Lois scratched his nose.


    I was using my suppressed Walther P22 instead of my Maxim 9 since we came with a bit of .22 LR fever. We haven¡¯t used much 9mm while we were on this run but we can never be too sure. Well, it didn¡¯tst for long because Lois asked for my Walther P22 because his Ruger 10/22 was taken by his brother earlier because he was guarding the other side with Lawrence. Those two were getting concerned about having their magazines not filled to the brim so they went back to using low caliber rifles.


    We eventually met with Tatiana and Mikhail and we decided to fly the drone inside first before going in.


    Lois and I came back with the drones and the controllers while Kaley was taking shots from a fewing from a street corner. Lois was checking the first floor while I found an open window to make my drone slip inside without issue.


    ¡°Lois, make them gather in one spot first while I would do the same on my floor.¡± I instructed him.


    ¡°Wait, I thought we were just gonna check the situation then head inside?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°Well, I just had a better idea. We¡¯ll just use the drones to make theme to us. We¡¯d just basically camp by that door and chop their head off. Easy, right?¡± I said, motioning with my hand pretending I was holding an axe.


    ¡°Oh! That¡¯s good! Can we also ce a stick right below so they¡¯ll trip and we¡¯d just stab them? It would be easier if we do that, right?¡± Lois replied.


    ¡°Wait. That¡¯s illegal.¡± Mikhail was gobsmacked.

 Chapter 365

    Chapter 365: 365


    ¡°Hah! No, it¡¯s not. SV_CHEATS 1 is.¡± I cheekily replied and Lois was the only one who got it. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley was shaking her head but Lois and I continued with our n. I asked Kaley and Tatiana to keep watch while we dragged Mikhail with us. We were controlling the drones while Mikhail was the one camping with his melee weapon.


    ¡°Mikhail¡­¡± Lois trailed.


    ¡°Yes?¡± Mikhail replied.


    ¡°Can you say ¡®Here¡¯s~ Johnny~¡¯, please?¡± Lois¡¯ eyes were expectant.


    ¡°Oh yes, please do.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°What? Here¡¯s Johnny?¡± Mikhail said the words but the delivery was off.


    ¡°Nevermind¡­¡± Lois and I lost interest.


    I lured the zombies on the 2nd floor to the end of the hallway and made it hover in ce. The battery life was still above 70% and I felt confident that it couldst until we were done.


    When Lois started to lure the ones on the first floor out the door, I shot the first few so they would be an obstacle. It removed the requirement of cing a stick near the entrance. As time went on, the blood smeared on Mikhail¡¯s fire axe was almost dripping. I made him wipe it off first while I handed Kaley my controller and killed a few myself.


    Lois made another run through with his drone on the first floor and everything was killed.


    A small pile of the dead was near the entrance so we dragged them to the side first before checking their bodies. I found a few IDs, wallets, watches, pieces of jewelry, and mobile phones. I made sure to take care of the mobile phones we found because we might find useful information stored inside before this DDR Camp got overrun.


    We left two bodies near the entrance on top of one another so we could have the tripping system for the ones on the second floor.


    Time quickly passed and the whole hospital was cleared almost illegally. I picked up my radio and got help from one of our clearing groups.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Jay? Are you guys out now?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sky? Yeah, we¡¯re out and clearing the dead. We found a lost dog and we took it back earlier, I think it¡¯s a Boxer? Derek is taking a look at it but it seemed to be fine. We¡¯ll knowter if it¡¯s safe to take care of.¡±


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh, really? That¡¯s good but let¡¯s make sure that it¡¯s safe first yeah? Anyway, Come to the Barangay of Arkong Bato at the San Lazarus Hospital. We found a lot of items here worth taking. We don¡¯t want to drive back so I figured I¡¯ll have you guys do it.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s really tame and its temperature was normal. It was just really hungry when we saw it and good thing Bing brought a few pieces of Jerky. Do you want us to bring more vehicles? We saw the 8-wheeler earlier and its windshield was¡­ damaged. How about one of the military trucks in the DDR Camp?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Wait, what are you guys using right now?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°The 6-wheeler you guys found before.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°How about gas? You brought extra?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Gas? We always bring a container as per your suggestion. It¡¯s still full.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Then that¡¯s good. There¡¯s an SUV and a few L300s here. You could just use them so you won¡¯t drive back home. We¡¯ll wait for you while we loot this ce.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure. We¡¯ll be there in a few.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We ended the call and I brought Kaley and Mikhail inside, We went room by room and Mikhail was carrying our burdens for us. Mikhail just had a sack held up and everything we were nning to put in our bags was taken by him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can handle this work just fine.¡± Mikhail smiled at us.


    ¡°You¡¯re really strong, aren¡¯t you?¡± Kaley said, cing a few rolls of bandages on his sack.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m in the military, I¡¯m supposed to be strong.¡± Mikhail replied.


    ¡°What we meant is that you¡¯re stronger than most people. You even picked up Vera with one handst time.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh~ Is that so? Yeah, I guess I am. It¡¯s one of the few things I¡¯m good at.¡± Mikhail chuckled.


    ¡°Let me ask you something, are you perhaps a machine gunner? No offense but I rarely see you let go of the trigger.¡± I said to him.


    ¡°Oh! Yes! Yes, I am one. Why do you ask?¡± Mikhail smiled for a moment.


    ¡°Well, if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯m gonna ask Oscar to lend you his PKM- ah!¡± Mikhail suddenly grabbed me and lifted me up. <hr>


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k?!¡± I shouted in my head.


    Kaley was chuckling, watching me getting manhandled by the guy I knocked out before.


    ¡°HAHAHA! The Pulemyot Kshnikova! My favorite! I have one when they brought us here but Artem made me leave it behind over that other ce!¡± Mikhail was ecstatic.


    ¡°Well, put me down first!¡± I eximed, trying to get out of his grasp.


    ¡°Oh! Sorry, sorry! Okay, down you go.¡± Mikhail was smiling and it was a better smilepared to Niks¡¯ scary grin.


    ¡°It¡¯s a little different though, it¡¯s not full-auto, it¡¯s semi-auto¡­¡± I exined.


    ¡°What?¡± Mikhail was confused.


    ¡°It was made by MCM Firearms. They made only a few of those things and it is quite rare. Oscar got his hands on one of those and it works like a charm.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But¡­¡± Mikhail was a little disheartened.


    ¡°Okay Mikhail, let me exin to you a few things. Using a semi-auto is what¡¯s best for us right now. I didn¡¯t say much when you provided suppressive fire because that¡¯s what we needed at the time. However, on these deadheads, we need to conserve our ammo as much as possible. If you get used to it, you could fire faster and faster but not as fast as a full-auto obviously. To be honest with you, you¡¯re the one who spent a lot more ammopared to everyone. I¡¯m not telling you not to shoot them but I¡¯m telling you to be more¡­ surgical. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡± I exined.


    ¡°Okay, I understand. A PKM is still a PKM. I just need to finger it fast and hard, right?¡± Mikhail said with a straight face and I identally snorted.


    ¡°Yes, you need to finger it fast and hard¡­ over and over¡­ absolutely.¡± I was nodding my head with a huge grin while Kaley was already facepalming.


    ¡°Yes, so it could still fire fast, right? That¡¯s the key, finger it fast and hard, over and over, over and over.¡± Mikhail¡¯s smile was back on his face and his ent was slowly showing.


    We continued looting the ce and we found several valuable items. The number of medical supplies inside was enough to put a huge smile on Kaley and I¡¯s faces. We found a lot of bandages, cotton, rubbing alcohol, band-aids, gauzes, splints, gloves, masks, face shields, tongue depressors, blood infusion sets, catheters, syringes, needles, thermometers, and etc.


    Most of them were inside the supply room and we also managed to get our hands on a defibritor, nebulizer, an instrument sterilizer, and several oxygen tanks.


    When we got to the little pharmacy inside, we got our hands on several bottles of antibiotics and pain relievers like ibuprofen and acetaminophen. There are also several dosages of anti-allergens, antihistamines, cough suppressants, and etc.


    It took us a few trips and we ced everything we could put on the cargo space of the SUV and the three L300s used as ambnces. Our lookouts were piling bodies one after the other and we started burning them before I tried to reach Jay once more.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Are you guys close?¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We just passed the National High School of Arkong Bato.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You¡¯re about halfway then, it would only be a few minutes before you reach us. Just turn left when you reach the boutique, you¡¯ll see Jared and Lawrence over there.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll be there.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    It took maybe fifteen minutes before they reached the hospital and we saw Jay with Bing, Daisy, Jon, Michael, Russel, and two other soldiers. They drove near the hospital and we saw a few valuable items in their truck bed. Mikhail just gave an upwards nod to Russel and Bing when their eyes meet.


    ¡°I almost forgot that he¡¯s a part of their squad¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Unc Zeidrick let you out, huh?¡± I said to Russel.


    ¡°Yep, I¡¯ve been going out a few times already. Dad¡¯s been busy with Raphael and Anthony so he would just nod to everything I say.¡± Russel replied.


    ¡°Do you know what they¡¯re doing?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm? I don¡¯t know what¡¯s the other thing they¡¯re doing at Anthony¡¯s house but the other one I think is that they¡¯re making custom holsters. Raphael borrowed my guns and he said that he took its measurements. I¡¯m not gonna change my guns¡¯ attachments anytime soon so they offered to make me one.¡± Russel replied.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a great idea. I only have tactical holsters for my guns I always use and not for everything else. For the others, I only have leather cutouts that aren¡¯t as good as what we are using.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yeah, they made a prototype for Ken¡¯s double-barrel. It actually fits nice and Ken¡¯s holster was more of a gun rack because they mounted it on the side of his wheelchair. They¡¯re still working on it because they want to ce shell holders on it as well.¡± Russel exined.

 Chapter 366

    Chapter 366: 366


    ¡°Really? Then once you guys get back, tell them to add to their projects gun racks for vehicles. It doesn¡¯t have to be fancy, I want something you could just strap on the back of the seat or something simr. I want to be able to bring it anywhere and any vehicle. Make them customizable too so I could add and remove anything I wanted.¡± I said to Russel. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Something like legos?¡± Russel was a bit confused.


    ¡°Yeah, something like that.¡± I replied.


    While the group was filling the other vehicles with gas, we ced all of the items we scavenged from the HUMVEE and the Raptor to the 6-wheeler. The two other soldiers with them just greeted me when they were helping us. They mentioned that they encountered a few armed torsos on the way here and they took care of it. However, when I showed them footage from my drones, they were bbergasted. It wasn¡¯t even the whole thing and they were much more when we haven¡¯t started.


    ¡°Wait till they see the footage from our helmets¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    I told them a short version of what happened earlier and time quickly passed.


    The two wanted to stay behind and help us but I told them that they were more needed to guard our haul. Bing and Russel wanted to stay behind as well but I stopped them four. Jay and the rest bid their goodbyes and we started our own vehicles.


    We drove back the same way but we turned left when we saw the boutique on the right.


    We continued driving but instead of continuing to where the two main roads meet, we turned to the left once more after passing an upholstery shop and a vocational school.


    ¡°Why do we need to follow this route bro?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Hmm? So we¡¯ll see the passage towards Malinta. Furthermore, I want us to take this sideroad because, on the way back, we¡¯ll use the roads we didn¡¯t take so we could have a better understanding of the status of each area.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind. We¡¯ll encounter more biters on the road we haven¡¯t taken, right?¡± Lois added, taking down one near amp post.


    ¡°Why are there a lot of little eateries here?¡± Lawrence asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°See thoserge walled facilities? They¡¯re factories for different kinds of products. I¡¯m not sure what each one does but they have a lot of workers. I guess people living near them took advantage of the situation and made a small side-job.¡± I replied and Lawrence nodded a few times.


    We started to pass a few more factories but we reached another chapel. It was near a few houses and a shop that used to sell projectors. Looking at the left side, there was a small passage that leads to Malinta we were talking about earlier. It was a small bridge that has a weight limit of 10 tons and a few corpses were hanging from the side. We decided to only close the bridge that connected to the Bcan area from Tawiran because that was the area where the cult wasing from.


    Driving for more than half an hour, there were fewer ces to loot from this side of the road but the undead to kill never diminished. We weren¡¯t driving too fast in case we miss something important and so our shooters could have an easier time. We mostly burn the bodies we kill near the ces we loot but the ones we shoot from a distance were left bleeding out on the road.


    We finally reached the medium-sized bridge that would take us to the City of Mbon but we encountered a little mishap. From the convenience store up to where we could still see the road from the other side, it was full of abandoned vehicles.


    We could see slow-moving figures moving from some of the vehicles where the windows weren¡¯t as tinted. Some of them were even looted and a few roamers were stuck between a few vehicles.


    ¡°This is the way that leads to Iskoh, right?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Yeah, and it¡¯s blocked.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Is there another way?¡± Lois asked, looking around.


    ¡°We could bring the tbeds with a winch attached to them and slowly move these vehicles or just drive around the City of Navotas and see the situation on that side.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Are we starting a chopshop?¡± Lois chuckled.


    ¡°Bro, why don¡¯t we just use the main highway instead of traversing around these small cities?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like we¡¯re avoiding going to therger cities because it¡¯s safer, it¡¯s just that driving this way is the most direct path. Besides, did you forget how many we were facing each time at the City of Man? If we used the highway that hugs the border of the City of Quezon towards the City of Man, we¡¯d be out of bullets once we reach the other side.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°And why is that? Sorry, I¡¯m not from around here.¡± Lawrence chimed.


    ¡°Those two citiesbined are thergest and the most densely popted city not only in this region and ind group but the whole country. Millions of people every single daye to those cities for work and they wereing from different regions as well. You will have a headache adding the poption and the workers all in all that turned when it hit. It would be great if our n is to thin their numbers for now but it isn¡¯t. Our n is to establish a rtively safe route where we wouldn¡¯t use as much of our resources.¡± I exined.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s our n now?¡± Lawrence asked.


    I looked at my watch first and it was two hours before sunset.


    ¡°We turn around for now but we¡¯ll use the other road that leads to the border of the City of Navotas.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How about the vehicles here?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°We need to clean them all out. Not only we would have a surplus of vehicles and their parts, but we could also save on gas if the road we are taking is shorter. It could take a while and it would be a boring process but that¡¯s the most efficient waypared to driving around a long route or driving around a dangerous route.¡± I concluded,


    I tapped on the roof of the Raptor and then we drove the other way. However, before we did, we tried to start one of the vehicles blocking the road to get started. We chose one with a little more cargo space and I was the one driving it.


    Since we already achieved our goal for the day, we started looting ces with high-resource value. I first chose a ce where it used to sell car batteries and a few vehicle essories. We found more sr panels and generators among the other shops but the time left was about to run out. We came home and we continued the process of scouting and we saw Oscar and the rest sessfullying home and bringing back several pieces of equipment.


    We didn¡¯t encounter the people Cyrill mentioned in that area and we might need to enter the City of Navotas to meet them. I was hoping to at least capture a nce from their vehicle but luck was not on my side at that time.


    A few days passed and it was now the day for their gathering.


    Jared and I were somewhere elevated and we were doing different things. Jared was looking through his DOPE which stands for Data Of Previous Engagements and he was holding his Kestrel Ballistic Calctor. <hr>


    I on the other hand was looking through my scope while lying prone.


    Looking at ourselves, anyone could tell that we were camping for a while because our hairs were oily and our clothes were dirty. However, we heard a little buzz in our radio and it was the signal. I still hadn¡¯t moved from my spot for a while and good thing I wore an a.d.u.l.t diaper. Whether I used it or not, was only known to me.


    ¡°Bro¡­¡± Jared trailed.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Range is-¡± I cut him off.


    ¡°I already know.¡±


    ¡°Oh, the wind is-¡±


    ¡°I got it.¡±


    ¡°Why am I even here¡­¡±


    ¡°I need help.¡±


    ¡°Clearly you didn¡¯t¡­ you should be the one spotting¡­ not me¡­¡±


    ¡°Do you have a Barrett?¡± <hr>


    ¡°No¡­¡±


    ¡°Of course you don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU!!!¡±


    ¡°Shh¡­ be quiet¡­ didn¡¯t I teach you that?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Good. Just like that.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    My lips were the only thing moving but when I saw the target, I ced my finger on the trigger. My head performed the calctions several times and then I performed the calctions again. I cut Jared several times in conversation because of the number of times he reminded me of the data we have on hand just from thest minute.


    The scenery inside was different before they went in but it didn¡¯t matter.


    I was here to kill.


    I held my breath.


    I pulled the trigger.

 Chapter 367

    Chapter 367: 367


    A few days prior to the shot, we made a f.u.c.k ton of preparations. Not just the shot itself, but that was what I focused on. <center></center><hr>


    What we decided to do about the cult was to kill the ringleader from a great distance. I was always perplexed as to why people in movies always take out the big boss at the end even if they could from the first five minutes. However, training to shoot far, which could be called long shooting or just simply, sniping, would take a lot of time and training.


    A few beginners I met before the world had gone to shit was more focused on equipment and the calctions instead of just actually shooting the gun. It would take them a lot of time just to calcte the steps they should take and they were forgetting that in the real thing, you wouldn¡¯t have a lot of time to do such things.


    I was discussing the n to my group but I had a thought.


    ¡°You would only have one shot, one opportunity¡­ hold on¡­ I better stop thinking of that before I get to the spaghetti¡­ f.u.c.k me! I¡¯m hungry now. Dammit!¡± I thought to myself as we were in the middle of preparations.


    ¡°Bro?¡± Jared was looking at me weirdly.


    ¡°Stop spacing out!¡± Kaley was shaking her head.


    ¡°Where do I go again?¡± Oscar added.


    ¡°We would be here.¡± Mikhail pointed at the map.


    ¡°Okay, what do we have prepared again?¡± I asked for the items we needed.


    ¡°The items are packed but everyone needs another run-through of the whole n.¡± Rin replied.


    We had to have the right gear and information for the job.


    First what I needed was the map. I asked Rin and Darelle¡¯s group to make a map like what I did before. However, they took it a step further. They made a scaled replica of the area that spans for five kilometers with cardboard cutouts. They first based it on the actual maps that we have on hand and they slowly changed it ording to the data they have from their scouting mission. The church we would be hitting was right at the center of it and everything was made perfectly.


    The whole diagram was like the pair of people made trying to drive through time using a DMC DeLorean.


    In the future, I would have them make the same diagram for our territory but I would include Ken and Kris in the picture so we could have a 3D Model digitally made.


    We picked out the ce where each and every one of my team should be andst but not the least, where Jared and I would be.


    We chose a hospital.


    The next thing I needed was a partner, or should I say, a spotter.


    Kaley was a great shot but I needed someone with more expertise and someone I¡¯ve been dragging to outdoor ranges a lot of times. That was why I took Jared with me. I could bring Kaley as well but I had a different job prepared for her.


    While a sniper should have the ability to execute its roles alone, a second set of eyes on the battlefield was critical. Both the sniper and the spotter should have a great understanding of each other¡¯s abilities and responsibilities for great effectiveness in certain situations.


    On a regr day, the more experienced one should be the spotter but in our case, that one shot had to count and I should be the one to pull the trigger. We wouldn¡¯t have the luxury to go back on the drawing board once that bullet came out of the barrel if Jared missed. A shot correction could take a few seconds but our target would have already taken cover if the shot missed the first time. I could guide Jared in what to do but this shot was that special and I just brought him so he could learn from seeing me in action. <center></center><hr>


    Seeing someone how to do things was more effective than someone telling you how to do things.


    The thing that I wanted Jared to learn was to let go of the unnecessary equipment he had on hand. Yes, his Kestrel,ser range finder, DOPE, ballistic calctor software, and etc. could help in some way but the time it would take to figure it all out using those items was just too f.u.c.k.i.n.g long. A long shooter would need to have figured that all out when the timees especially when the window of opportunity was limited.


    After getting Jared as my spotter-ish, I needed a gun that could reach far and hit hard.


    Sitting in my armory was a Barrett M107A1. It was an all-ck 29-inch anti-material rifle, chambered in .50 BMG. It had a monopod for added stability at the shoulder, a lightweight and adjustable bipod, a thermal cheek guard, a 10-round steel magazine, a cylindrical muzzle brake that could ept a suppressor, and a 6.5-30x60mm scope.


    I wouldn¡¯t use it at full magnification but we never know when we would get to use it.


    I had an old M24 which Oscar also gave me but it was not the right tool for the job.


    I retold my group the rest of the n while Jared and I went into position, a couple of days before Sunday. We rode a small boat and followed the river that would lead us to our nest. The spot we picked was the roof of a hospital which was in front of a factory and we could see the church in all its f.u.c.k.i.e.d up glory from this spot.


    To reach that ce, we only needed to walk a few meters on foot while hauling all of our equipment. We made sure to kill as little as possible to make it look like no one was upying the hospital we were in. We used the emergency exits to reach the roof which was a spiral staircase that connected to each of the floors of the hospital. I made sure to block all of those doors that we encountered even the elevator door on the roof.


    We set a little nest on the roof and we continued with our preparations. I set the Barrett in a proper position but Jared was looking at me weirdly.


    ¡°Dude, are you wearing an a.d.u.l.t diaper?! Hah!¡± Jared closed his mouth to notugh out loud.


    ¡°Yep, you should too. I brought extras.¡± I replied.


    ¡°F.u.c.k you, no way!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not asking. Wear them because we¡¯re gonna be here for a few days. We need to be ready when the timees. Our eyes shouldn¡¯t leave that spot.¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­¡±


    ¡°This shit stays with us, literally¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m starting to regret this.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Bro?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? I¡¯m peeing, be quiet.¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k no, I¡¯ll hear it!¡±


    ¡°Shh¡­ don¡¯t be quite as loud.¡± <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Good. We would be here for a while so you know what to do first?¡±


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ve ced the Barrett in an optimal and stable position where you could also lie prone. What we need to do next is to check the range.¡±


    ¡°Good. How far are we?¡±


    ¡°Wait a sec¡­ 3¡­ 3 kilometers on the dot¡­ dude¡­ are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious about this?! This is more than thrice the distance I know you could shoot at!¡±


    ¡°The 1000 yards was years ago, people improve. For the n to work, there¡¯s no other way.¡±


    ¡°What? No other way your ass! I¡¯ve seen several backup ns in case you missed!¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon! I¡¯m hyping myself up! Can¡¯t you be the moral support! You¡¯re my spotter for f.u.c.ks sake!¡±


    ¡°Spotter?! You¡¯ve got our roles reversed dude! I should be the one shooting for you!¡±


    ¡°Can you?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ not yet¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll get better as well.¡±


    ¡°Pfft! Noob.¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k you dude!¡±


    ¡°Hah! Didn¡¯t I tell you to keep quiet? It¡¯s night time too so we need to be extra careful. Good thing we didn¡¯t encounter those ferals.¡±


    ¡°Ferals?¡±


    ¡°You know, that roided up sprinter we encountered at the City of Man.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ where Cruz and the others¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, never forget them.¡± <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey.¡±


    ¡°Bro?¡±


    ¡°Keep talking. We would be here for a few days.¡±


    ¡°Heh, shouldn¡¯t I be checking the windage?¡±


    ¡°Windage?! Forgot who you¡¯re talking to?! I can f.u.c.k.i.n.g see and feel it!¡±


    ¡°No way bro, there¡¯s supposed to be a trick you¡¯re not telling me! The f.u.c.k.i.n.g wind¡¯s transparent for f.u.c.ks sake!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a gift, I tell ya. I could also see and feel the atmospherics. The temperature, humidity, station pressure, and etc. F.u.c.k me, I could also feel the Earth¡¯s rotation! I could calcte everything! Even taking into ount the Coriolis effect!¡± I said half-jokingly.


    ¡°I wish Kaley was here so she could act as your polygraph test. Is there really such a thing?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s always a trick on how unexinable things work. Most of them could be exined by experiencing them yourself but reading the wind is much simpler than it looks. You just needed to mess with your scope for a bit until it gets blurry and it disys wavy lines.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°To go into detail, what I learned from an experienced spotter before was to take off the scope from your rifle and look at your target. After that, adjust the focus two-third of the way until it gets blurry. When that happens, try to see the target through those lenses. You¡¯ll begin to notice wavy lines with different patterns ording to windage. That¡¯s how you could ¡®see¡¯ the wind. Feeling it on the other hand is a matter of experience.¡±


    ¡°What? That really works?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°How about the other things?¡±


    ¡°Well, now that we got a few days of waiting, I¡¯ll tell you all about it. Don¡¯t forget you¡¯re in charge of making all our food and watching out for threats. I¡¯ll just be nestled here but I¡¯ll take a few breaks right until that day. We need to know what they were doing when it¡¯s not their day of worship.¡±


    ¡°I knew it. You brought me here as a babysitter. Tell me again why you didn¡¯t bring Kaley? She would do a better job than me.¡±


    ¡°Well, I could talk shit to you and you wouldn¡¯t do a thing. My aim might get muddled up if I try to tick her off.¡±


    ¡°Then why don¡¯t you stop ticking her off!¡±


    ¡°What? Are you crazy? It¡¯s fun.¡±


    ¡°So I¡¯m here for an anger management ss? I f.u.c.k.i.n.g knew it.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Well don¡¯t forget I¡¯ll be imparting my knowledge to a noob. Better record what I say with your phone or you¡¯ll forget it! You have no idea how much I spent on those sses abroad!¡±


    ¡°Dammit, why didn¡¯t you bring me then?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m on a budget and you¡¯re still going to school.¡±


    ¡°Budget my ass, wait- didn¡¯t Oscar pay for every ss you took in the US?!¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°I give up.¡±


    ¡°Do you have any idea how much actors charge for signatures at Comic-Con?! Don¡¯t forget about the stuff they¡¯re selling over there!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey! Talk to me! It¡¯s getting boring out here!¡±


    ¡°I miss the days when you were just holed up in your room¡­¡±


    ¡°Hah! There¡¯s always that one day in the year where I always do that¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, right! It¡¯s really close! Right after¡­¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°Heh.¡±


    Jared and I apanied each other for a couple of days until that fated day. It was honestly pretty boring because we were only watching that same f.u.c.k.i.e.d up church from morning until evening every single day. When it was 00:01 AM on Sunday, my rm went off and I got into position. I never left that spot right until thest moment.


    I mentioned that it took f.u.c.k.i.n.g long to calcte for the perfect shot but if you did it and add past experiences. It would hit the target 100% of the time.


    We were now back right when I pulled the trigger.


    The 750-grain bullet made its way and after a few seconds of it traveling to the target, a blood-red puff of moisture and mist reced the figure on my sights.

 Chapter 368

    Chapter 368: 368


    Jared and I were watching everything that was happening from that hospital a few hours before the ¡®father¡¯ was shot through the heart. <center></center><hr>


    It took us almost 10 hours of waiting when Sunday came just to see their ¡®father¡¯ appear from that balcony.


    Their members started appearing in droves from the early morning from different directions. We could see their headlights and hear their loudspeakers from a distance and they were all gathering at the same location.


    When the clock hit 6:00 AM, the bell resounded all throughout the area and it rang for a while. It was on schedule like the other days Jared and I were nestled in this hospital from 3 kilometers away.


    The number of people who came with their undead numbered more than almost a thousand. Some came with the dead chained behind and linked together so they wouldn¡¯t escape. They came in various forms but a few victims were getting sacrificed or should I say were being made into ¡®one with the chosen¡¯ by their f.u.c.k.i.e.d up beliefs.


    Like any worship service, it wouldn¡¯t continue without bringing their own ¡®offerings¡¯ to be given to their ¡®father¡¯. As guttural screams and piercing shrieks came from the undead, cries of hopelessness and shouts for help wereing from the metal cages being pulled by a truck that came from our side. There was not only one but several metal cages being brought to the central driveway of the church.


    They all parked within close proximity with each other and then they proceeded toe inside the church. However, not all of them were able toe inside but they still stood outside to listen for the words of their leader. There was a loud screech due to the feedback of the microphone and the speakers but we finally heard the voice of the ¡®father¡¯. It was clear and deep and then he started their mass.


    It started with inexplicable songs from a ¡®choir¡¯ and then we heard his voice once again.


    ¡°WHOSO EATETH MY FLESH, AND DRINKETH MY BLOOD, HATH ETERNAL LIFE; AND I WILL RAISE HIM UP IN THE LAST DAY¡­¡±


    ¡°MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS¡­ THE DAY WHEN IT ALL ENDED AND BEGAN HAS COME AND WE WERE THE ONES WHO INHERITED THIS EARTH TO RULE OVER EVERYTHING!!! WE EVEN RULED OVER DEATH AND OUR CHOSEN BROTHERS AND SISTERS WERE GIVEN ETERNAL LIFE!!!¡±


    Apuse and cheers came from their side and a few people fired their guns and sacrificed people which were inside the cages. Their bodies were mutted and the ones who survived were made decorations of the church¡¯s walls, recing the ones that were falling off.


    ¡°WHEN THEY HEARD MY VOICE, THEY SHALL COME FORTH; THOSE WHO HAVE DONE GOOD WILL BE REWARDED ETERNAL LIFE LIKE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS AND THOSE WHO HAVE DONE EVIL WILL BE CURSED INTO DAMNATION!!! BUT HEAR ME, THESE NEW FORMS THAT THEY TOOK WAS NOT THE CURSE OUR GOD WAS TALKING ABOUT. THE CURSE OF DAMNATION WAS MEANT FOR THE SINNERS NOT BEING ABLE TO SEE THE NEW EDEN THAT WE WOULD ALL CREATE FOR EACH OTHER!!!¡±


    ¡°This motherf.u.c.ker is changing the verses¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°THE DAY OF OUR SAVIOR¡¯S BIRTH IS COMING CLOSE AND WHEN THAT TIME COMES, WE ALL SHALL RAVE THE LANDS BEFORE THE NEW YEAR COMES WITH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!! THE LAND THAT SHOULD ONLY BELONG TO US WILL NOT BE STEPPED FOOT UPON BY THE SINNERS WHO HAVE LONG COMMITED TRANSGRESSIONS AGAINST OUR LORD!!!¡±


    Their ¡®father¡¯ continued to speak for hours on end and I almost jabbed my ear with a pencil because of all the bullshit that he was spouting. Jared was also getting impatient because the target was still inside and we were still waiting for the right opportunity. My team that was also waiting for the signal was getting restless through the radio but I told them to be more patient and the right moment woulde eventually.


    When their mass finished, I saw several peopleing up the small room just before the balcony and the stained ss doors were opened.


    A middle-aged man which I assumed was the ¡®father¡¯ came out with several people dressed in the same robes but his demeanor was aplete contrast from the ce he was in. He had an angelic face and anyone who nced at him would just nod and obey hismands. It was as the cult members we interrogated as said he looked like. When he walked outside the balcony to face everyone outside, that was when I took the shot. <center></center><hr>


    A .50 BMG bullet could produce muzzle energy way past 10,000 foot-pounds nearing the 15,000 mark. It would depend on the projectile and how much gunpowder charge was used but even the weakest was damaging nevertheless. However, like all bullets, .50 BMG bullets wouldn¡¯t travel in a straight line like in the movies. The longer it traveled, the more it gets affected by gravity and other forces, making longer shots more difficult to aplish.


    The highest record of a confirmed kill was in 2017 made by a Canadian sniper. His shot was way over the shot that I made but aiming at the ¡®father¡¯ with the distance of 3km was still no way an easy feat.


    The moment the bullet reached him and pierced his chest, I fired another shot at the same ce. It would take a few seconds before the next bullet reaches its destination but I was banking on the reaction of the people behind him.


    My whole body felt the recoil and noise the Barrett produced, even when suppressed, was f.u.c.k.i.n.g loud.


    The Barrett got the job done though. I still have more bullets remaining and I was nning to take down as much as I could.


    My heart was pumping and I was seeing everything almost in slow motion. Despite that, my mind was as clear as ever.


    When the first blood-red puff appeared earlier, it took the people at the back a couple of seconds before they started running towards their father. I already took another shot earlier and before they noticed it, the second bullet made its way. Their flimsy bodies wouldn¡¯t survive a hit from a .50 BMG even if they were wearing body armor. Even if the bullet didn¡¯t go through their armor if they were wearing one, the shock their bodies would receive would still kill them. The second bullet went through almost all of their bodies and a muchrger puff of mist appeared containing their blood.


    There were two more in the balcony that survived so I made a small adjustment and fired at them as well.


    The balcony got quiet but the people outside were in an uproar. They all ducked down when they first heard a shot but they went in a frenzy when they discovered that their leader was killed along with his disciples. I could start firing at them but it was now the time tomence the other part of the n.


    Project Goodbye Motherf.u.c.ker waspleted sessfully so I grabbed my radio to signal the others for the next Project. The rest of my people were already lying in wait a day before Sunday and they also came in quietly at night. Jared pulled out a couple of tablets from our bags and he was flipping through different feeds where the next project wouldmence.


    Project Moths to a me


    Frenzied people would just follow anything. Any manner of thinking would fly out the window once they were boiling in rage. From each shot that I fired, a room from a gymnasium that was much closer to the church would light up in a sh. It was an enclosed basketball court with rooms upstairs for the announcers. The whole gymnasium could house a few hundred people but it was not enough for the number of people we were nning to wipe out.


    The light show was just to make it look like the shooter was rtively close.


    The cult members outside made a mad dash for the gymnasium and most of them didn¡¯t even bother going to their vehicles because it was very close. A few tried to start their vehicles but they wouldn¡¯t have the space to maneuver it because the whole driveway was still upied.


    This next project still needed my touch and I was already changing ammo type. I picked up my radio while I was adjusting my Barrett to a different position.


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Now?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Wait till it¡¯s at capacity.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Roger.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Only a few moments have passed before more than half of the cult members swarmed inside. A few were mad, trying to get in but it was full already. Gunshots erupted and it was all directed to the room where the shooter might have been hiding.


    That was when we dropped the ¡®celebratory¡¯ balloons.


    They were all in a above the gymnasium and a simple string could be pulled to make them all drop on the people below. We made several hundred balloons filled with celebratory goodness. The group that set this up with NVGsst night were the MVPs.


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s now at capacity. Well, more than capacity.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Drop it.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Already set!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    The moment I heard the signal, my Barrett was already loaded with a different kind of ammo.


    Instead of just the normal ball ammo, this one had a red tip. Well, I loaded a couple of them to be sure.


    They were called M1 tracer rounds.


    An M1 tracer round could be used for observing fire, signaling, target destination, andst but not the least¡­ incendiary purposes. <hr>


    A few days prior¡­


    ¡°Why do we need a lot of balloons?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°What? You¡¯ve read my file, right?¡± I replied.


    ¡°What about it?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°Oh! Your birthday is close! I thought you were someone who didn¡¯t use balloons anymore!¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Heh. Well, we¡¯re using it a bit early¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Hmm? Why?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re celebrating something a little different.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Is someone celebrating a birthday much earlier than you?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Well, this is Russel¡¯s expertise. We¡¯d need him for this.¡± I smiled devilishly.


    ¡°Him? Why?¡± they all asked.


    ¡°You¡¯ll see. We¡¯ll discuss it at the meeting.¡± I replied.


    Back to Jared and I in the hospital¡­


    Instead of the church, I was now aiming for the windows of the gymnasium. I simply exhaled and fired two shots in a row.


    The bullet traveled to where I aimed at but now asting light, some sort of trail was left behind by the bullet.


    When the bullets entered the gymnasium, it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g instant.


    I sessfully hit one of the gasoline-filled balloons and the gymnasium went up in mes, burning more than half of the cult members.

 Chapter 369

    Chapter 369: 369


    Several of our drones flew out to scout the surrounding areas. They came from different directions which meant that they were being controlled by a few different people. My people hiding in safe locations providing eyes weren¡¯t enough so I made them bring a few ¡®flying eyes¡¯ for assurance. <center></center><hr>


    The gymnasium was packed beyond capacity and it was burning as if a god of fire said ¡®F.U.C.K THAT SPECIFIC BUILDING!!!¡¯ and ignited everything inside. If the people inside wouldn¡¯t die from being burned alive, they would die from inhaling the toxic fumes.


    If they were lucky, they would¡¯ve passed out just from the pain and trauma they experienced the first few seconds. If that ever happened, they would just dieter instead of suffering the agony of being burned alive. However, it didn¡¯t take long for the conscious ones to try and push their way outside the entrance, trampling the weaker ones beneath their feet.


    The ones outside could say that they were the luckiest because they weren¡¯t the first ones to arrive. The people that managed to run outside were still burning and the ones outside took very drastic measures. The ones running outside were crying for help but the others have a different idea of ¡®helping¡¯ them.


    They started shooting at their own people.


    To be honest, shooting someone dead could be the most merciful thing you could do for someone that got burned. It would take a lot of time and medication just for an individual to recover from almost burning to a crisp. Even changing the bandages every day would be difficult for the one that suffered and a mild burn would take a couple of weeks to heal. How much more could a severe burn take?


    In the end times, who would have the time to take care of a few hundred burn victims especially where resources were f.u.c.k.i.n.g scarce?


    The ones outside were in the highway emptying their guns and the noise they were making was attracting the undead. Even the ones I attracted from shooting my Barrett turned around to face in their direction and started moving. ss windows were also broken and biters came falling down just to follow the direction of the noise.


    The idiots finally discovered the predicament they were in and they were now about to discover the meaning of despair. The ones with the vehicles left the ones on foot and they started to drive in different directions. A few managed to grab onto the vehicles and the unlucky ones were run over or dragged in the pavement.


    However, all the other pathways were blocked by the rest of my people, even the rivers. It only took a few minutes before we heard distant gunshots from where the rest of my team were hunkered down. Jared and I were part of the people blocking the bridge from the river we drove in because the hospital we were in was right near the main road.


    I switched guns and we fired at the ones iing towards us without hesitation. After we were done on our side, vehicles and bodies riddled with bullet holes were the only things in front of us.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°L. Gonzales Road Clear.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bocaue Bridge Clear.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Area AH26 and AH27 Clear.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sta. Maria River Clear.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Maro River Clear.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Roger. Wait for a while and clear all the threats. There¡¯s still a lot of them inside our encirclement. We¡¯ll slowly tighten it every few minutes. Leave none alive and take anything of value.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°How about the ones inside the church, kid? Seen any of theme out yet?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°That¡¯s something we wouldn¡¯t worry about. I¡¯m sure the ones that came inside were all dead.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Trust me, they would¡¯ve done something already An, you guys in position?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Ready dude. Bing?¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯re ready too. Just gonna drive straight, right?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    There was still a huge number of them trying to run and escape on foot. They were still close to a couple hundred and they were running in different directions. Most of them were on the highway and they seemed to have lost faith because they were also killing their ¡®chosen¡¯ brethren. They still seemed to have a lot of ammo because they still haven¡¯t stopped firing round after round. Theirrge front was gaining ground and they were starting to make a small perimeter for the ones who hold their ground instead of running away.


    However, another n was already in motion in case of something like that happening.


    Project Roadkill.


    From our side, three armored vans were slowly speeding up a few meters away. We acquired quite a few of them but we only managed to modify two by adding a modified bull bar and installing steel tes for tire protection. The first one was the one we acquired way earlier and An was the one driving it. The rest of the armored vans were still back home, waiting to get pimped.


    The group which was near us by the bridge gave way as the three zoomed inside, mowing down anything that crossed their path.


    The highway was still full of armed cult members but when the armored vans arrived, they learned how to fly briefly. Jared and I heard the dull thuds of bodies getting hit by the vehicles and the following plops when they hit the pavement.


    Live footage from a nearby drone managed to capture the exact moment when a few dozen bodies flew in the air like bowling pins. However, that was only from the first armored van hitting them. The two armored vans following from behind were there to run them over and finish what the first one started.


    Dead or alive, anything the armored vans made contact with was mangled to pieces. I could only imagine the crunching sound their bones would make when they made contact. The ones that were on the pavement were treated as speedbumps but the drivers never slowed down.


    A few lucky ones were able to dodge in time and they managed to fire a few rounds in. However, despite their best efforts, all they managed to aplish was waste more bullets.


    Looking back at the gymnasium, it was still on fire and a few charred individuals have managed to walk a few steps outside. The smokeing from the gymnasium was still ck and the ones that were stuck inside were probably more than well done. The fire was still zing at it didn¡¯t take long before the roof copsed and fell on the burning people below.


    Ourrge encirclement began to get smaller and smaller as we piled bodies of both the cult members and the dead on the pavement. We even brought out a few dump trucks to ce their bodies inside so we would be able to ce them near the gymnasium to be burned together. Fire trucks were also at the ready in case the fire from the gymnasium went out of control.


    With the soldiers from my ce, the two DDR Camps, and careful nning, we managed to take down a huge number of people that would pose a huge threat if left alone. It took a few hours of checking the remaining buildings in case of some of them hiding and just waiting for the right opportunity to escape or take revenge.


    The amount of equipment we would be taking off their hands was secondary because our main goal was to erase their group from existence. If they believed in eternal life or life after death, they better make sure they do not reincarnate in the same ne of existence.


    I would still hunt them down if they repeated what they were doing.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You two okay there?¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    I heard Matthew¡¯s voice.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah. You guys done with the radio station?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°That radio station was not as you expected it to be.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hmm? Why?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Only two people were inside kid. I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g ready to raise hell then Tatiana easily took care of them with a knife.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that for the better? Drive over here and pick us up.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure, where are we headed next?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Let¡¯s all converge in the church. That¡¯s thest ce we haven¡¯t checked yet.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure. I think Oscar is already there by the entrance. They¡¯re clearing the ones on uh¡­ disy.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I see. We¡¯ll wait for you here.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    To make sure that none got past us earlier, Jared stood guard at the roof while I was nonstop barking orders for everyone. Matthew was with Kaley and the rest of my group and they came with Marvin¡¯s group to raid the radio station. They were more than a dozen and it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g overkill to send that many people just to take care of two people.


    We basically cleared a small barangay with almost a thousand of sc.u.m and the undead we killed along the way was just a bonus.


    There were still the groups stationed on various points just to make sure no one managed to slip out.


    When a HUMVEE and a couple of Raptors came, Jared and I went down. Jared boarded the Raptor where Lois was while I boarded the HUMVEE where Kaley was, together with Tatiana and Matthew.


    Kaley gave me a hug the moment I came inside and she didn¡¯t even care if I was covered in dust. Tatiana gave me a smile while Matthew was focused on the road. Iid the Barrett to the side while Kaley handed me a towel.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± I replied but she was holding a towel of her own, already wiping my face.


    I thought Matthew would give me a cold stare but he didn¡¯t.


    ¡°Nice shooting kid.¡± Matthewmented.


    ¡°Nice? You call that nice? Hah!¡± I chuckled.


    The two of us started a back and forth but we were shut up by Kaley attacking both of us. We finally reached the church after a few minutes but the atmosphere was different. I thought he would be wearing a celebratory expression after a sessful mission but he wasn¡¯t.


    We saw Oscar outside with a few people but he was wearing a solemn expression.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, old man?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Come with me.¡± Oscar rested his shotgun on his shoulders.


    We all grew curious and we followed him towards the church. Bodies and parts were still strewn about and the rest of the people that came with him were still in the process of cleaning them all up. However, it seemed that they were all avoiding to head inside the church.


    The door was partially ajar but the atmosphere turned different for the worse.


    We just saw the ¡®choir¡¯ we were barely hearing earlier.

 Chapter 370

    Chapter 370: 370


    My face was already dark when I saw what was happening inside but everyone seemed to have released a little bit of killing intentbined with despair, fear, anger, disgust, and restlessness the moment the doors were fully open. <center></center><hr>


    The inside was so f.u.c.k.i.e.d up, I could not believe how the ¡®father¡¯ managed to convince this number of people to follow his every whim. Everyone that came inside was excited that they were first and the ones that were left outside were showing dissatisfaction when I was scouting them through my scope earlier.


    We then heard the ¡®choir¡¯ singing live.


    ¡°Amaz¡­ ing¡­ gr¡­hk¡­ ace¡­¡±


    ¡°Howchh¡­ sweet¡­ the¡­ ch¡­ NyyaRH¡­ sou¡­ nd¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡­ schhaa¡­ ve¡­. Ch¡­¡±


    ¡°A¡­ retchhC¡­ likechhCk¡­ me¡­¡±


    The scene was too much to take in at once.


    They were singing a gospel song but their limbs were missing. I forgot to mention, they were all dead but they were still wearing their torn up robes. A few dozen ¡®choir members¡¯ were behind the podium and they were just ¡®stacked¡¯ neatly so they wouldn¡¯t fall down. Their bodies were in the process of decay and the things that were making them stand upright were their limbs which were ripped apart from their bodies.


    ¡°H-How can t-they do that?¡± Ashley muttered, disgusted.


    ¡°Their torsos are still intact¡­¡± I exined a few things.


    For our voices toe out of our bodies, it still needed more than just our heads. Our vocal folds could only produce sound when they alle together and vibrate when we exhale air from our lungs and said air passes through our vocal folds. The cult members made sure that their torsos were intact for the ¡®choir¡¯ to remain singing. <center></center><hr>


    Everyone was silent.


    ¡°How long did they f.u.c.k.i.n.g collect this amount of bodies that could talk? Are they just lucky and they found them all in the same spot? Well¡­ they¡¯re still wearing their uniforms but still¡­ nevermind¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    I was first distracted by the choir but there was so much more inside. Before we get to reach the ¡®choir¡¯ and see them up close, we need to get through a few other ¡®attractions¡¯ inside.


    Four rows of long wooden pews with excellent craftsmanship were filled to the brim with blood-stained people nailed on their seats. However, their hands were sped together and their heads were pointed to a different direction forck of a better term.


    Their heads were yanked back and two metal stakes were nted through their eye sockets, right through the pew¡¯s velvet cushions. Not only that, but their jaws were also dislodged and the skin of their chin was sewn through their neck, forcing their mouths to open wide. Their lips were also cut open from the side so their ¡®smile¡¯ could be even wider.


    I was looking at each of the bodies on the pews but something was dripping from the ceiling. It wasn¡¯t just a one-time thing, it was like¡­ rain¡­ of blood.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k¡­¡± Brian muttered.


    ¡°Bro¡­ look up.¡± Jared mentioned.


    We all instinctively looked up and we simultaneously shook our heads.


    It was ¡®raining¡¯ inside the church.


    More than a hundred fresh bodies were getting bled out slowly from the ceiling and they were all tied by a rope. They were upside-down and the knots were located at their feet while a huge gash was located on their necks.


    The final droplets of blood remaining from their bodies could be the ones we were witnessing because the white marble flooring beneath us was blood-red. Their blood must¡¯ve gushed out the moment their necks were slit open earlier. The way they were ced was almost the right angle for their blood to flow through the mouths of the ones beneath them. <hr>


    No one was speaking aside from the ¡®choir¡¯ in the middle of the podium but we all decided to make sure that none from the ceilinge back. Some of them have already turned and it would only be a matter of time before they all turned to something else. We shot a few that were already moving but we stopped when a few who were hung up fell down when the rope holding them up was nicked. Their bodies crashed to the pews but they never got back up again.


    ¡°H-How did they get them up there though?¡± Matthew muttered.


    I was wondering as well and I took a few steps forward.


    I saw a few pulleys installed in the ceiling where there was a beautiful mural painted before. The mural was now defaced by the bodies hanging around literally. There was a second-floor balcony where the ropes were fastened and tied in one ce.


    The rest took a peek as well and we continued shooting a few. However, Oscar tapped my back and told us to stop.


    ¡°Kid, can¡¯t we just burn the whole church down like we did the gymnasium? These things shouldn¡¯t exist in the first ce. All these things did was give false hope and false information. They literally sacrificed themselves for nothing.¡± Oscar said, with an angered expression.


    ¡°We will, I just need to confirm the identity of the father and his disciples. I¡¯m also gonna check his room for some sort of journal or something simr. Leading a group this big should at least need some sort of admin job. They¡¯re already checking church attendance, why wouldn¡¯t they record a few things more.¡± I replied, pointing at the logbook by the entrance.


    ¡°Better get to work then, we have a lot of bodies to clear. I don¡¯t want to walk in the middle of that where a body might suddenly fall from the sky.¡± Matthew chimed and everyone nodded.


    Before we started, I turned to Marvin.


    ¡°Hey, go to that municipal hall right next to the other church a few blocks away. Grab all the files that you could even the hard copies and bring all the hard drives you could get your hands on. We¡¯d need information about those people here especially that ¡®father¡¯ up in that balcony.¡± I instructed Marvin and his group.


    ¡°Identify? Could we still identify him? You shot him, right?¡± Brian interjected. <hr>


    ¡°I didn¡¯t go for the headshot. The same with the rest of his cohorts.¡± I replied nonchntly.


    ¡°Damn, you mean to say you could go for a headshot from that distance?¡± Max whistled.


    ¡°Maybe.¡± I smiled faintly.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Just kidding.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Or am I?! Ow!¡± I widened my eyes but Kaley kicked me.


    I was trying to make the atmosphere lighten up a little but it seemed that wasn¡¯t happening anytime soon. They understood my intentions for joking around but I misread the situation. Kaley wasn¡¯t even ring at me when she kicked me, their faces were all solemn just from the sight we witnessed.


    ¡°Well, I tried.¡± I thought to myself.


    Marvin brought half of his group to the municipal hall while our group started clearing the bodies. Before we shot each and everyone inside, we shot a bit of footage first for doc.u.mentation. We used the drones for doc.u.menting everything and I called Lois over.


    I made Lois drive his drone inside to check further in for other blindspots and to check on the bodies of the ones I shot on the balcony. Luckily, we seemed to have killed every threat present and the bodies of the ¡®father¡¯, and the rest hadn¡¯t risen up yet. He drove it back and we ended the life of the ¡®choir¡¯ and the ones still hanging from the ceiling.


    The only thing left to do was to let the hanging bodies down and haul them all outside to be burned with the rest. A few clumps were already being burned but there was still more inside. Burning a lot of bodies reduces our gas reserves by a significant amount but we couldn¡¯t just let them rot or get eaten by stray animals. We would have more trouble if that ever happened. <hr>


    It was starting to take longer than I expected so I brought out a few umbres from our vehicles. I came back and my group was confused as to why I brought a few with me.


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t want their blood dropping on us since the ropes were still soaked so I brought umbres. A few coulde with me so we could check on the balcony and the other rooms first.¡± I exined myself.


    They nodded and they each took their own. Kaley and I shared one and we made our way to where the ¡®father¡¯ was located. The first thing I did was took pictures of their faces and bodies before sinking a knife to their earlobes. They were still bleeding out when we reached them but we simply threw them down to be burned after searching their bodies thoroughly.


    The only things I found on their persons were rosaries and nothing more. Their bodies had no specific markings or tattoos belonging to a faction aside from a few scars that could be a birthmark or due to the damage the .50 BMG had done.


    I searched for his study next for anything that could give us more information. We searched the drawers, cabs, dressers, and etc. There were a few more rooms on this floor so the others split up to divide thebor.


    It took us a while but we found a few things.


    One of them was a notebook listing all of the members of this church. I started rifling through them but the thing that I was noticing first was that the names from the first pages were struck through with a red-inked pen.


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know yet. Check the-¡± I replied but we heard gunshots from the other room.


    Kaley and I dropped what we were doing and rushed where we heard the gunshots came from.


    What I saw was Matthew and Oscar gunning down a few nuns to the ground and their faces were now unidentifiable. The moment our perspective of the whole room widened, we almost did the same thing to those nuns riddled with bullet holes.


    The room we were in was a nursery.

 Chapter 371

    Chapter 371: 371


    ¡°They killed them all kid¡­¡± Oscar grumbled, shaking. <center></center><hr>


    Matthew cursed and ran outside the room with a darkened expression. Kaley and I were with Oscar with a few others and we were hearing doors getting opened furiously by Matthew. He was pretty loud but we didn¡¯t stop him. I just asked Mikhail to apany him in case something happened. After Mikhail left, we were now back staring at something even a few people would put in a film. The people inside the nursery were wearing a mix of expressions so I decided to take care of it by myself.


    ¡°I¡¯ll handle it¡­ check the other rooms first. There¡¯s a few notebooks on the f.u.c.ker¡¯s study so make sure to not lose them. Grab a phone and record it while flipping through the pages just to be sure. We would be here for a while so someone do that for me.¡± I said to them as I drew my knife.


    Aside from orphanages, churches were one of the ces mothers would drop off their unwanted child or their child they couldn¡¯t afford to raise. That kind of thing happening wasmon in this country because some people were living in the worst of conditions. Still, I would¡¯ve preferred them leaving their child in these ces when the world was still okay because there were some real cases of infants just getting left in a garbage can. These kinds of ces would actually take care of them but it was a different case from what we were seeing this time.


    Looking at the snow-white sheets which were covering over a dozen cribs, no one would miss the ring red spot in the middle and the dripping blood underneath them.


    I nced at the nuns first and they were holding scissors that were stained with blood. I quickly put the pieces together and I understood why Oscar and Matthew unloaded their shotguns on the nuns, making them unrecognizable. There was even one crib where the sheets were torn up with multiple stab wounds and the head of the child was almost peeking out.


    If I was in the same situation as Oscar and Matthew, I would¡¯ve done so much worse.


    It was apparent that they were still alive when the two gunned them down and the evidence was the wall behind them. However, now was not the time to dwell on such things because I needed to finish the f.u.c.k.i.e.d up job that they did.


    I approached one crib and I stabbed a baby on the side of its head.


    The sound my knife made when it entered an infant¡¯s head made me remember something when the shit hit only a few days in. It was about ra¡¯s kid that turned who she was still b.r.e.a.s.tfeeding. My breathing was heavy when my knife exited its small head and I did my best to shut down my emotions and proceed to the next one.


    I could only imagine what my face was looking like but I suddenly bumped to someone.


    ¡°Hey, we¡¯re here too. You don¡¯t need to take on everything, correct?¡± Tatiana said with a solemn look.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley was silent but she has already drawn her knife, the same with everybody present.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± I mouthed to them.


    My group helped me make sure that the little ones wouldn¡¯t rise up again while I remembered the names that were written on their cribs. When we were done, we all shared a moment of silence for the real victims of this cult. Kaley looked for my embrace and I wrapped my arms around her. Jared patted Lois¡¯ head but Lois swatted his brother¡¯s hand off. I looked at Tatiana and she just ced her hand over my shoulder and lightly squeezed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We¡¯ll kill anyone who tries this shit again. Zero tolerance.¡± I muttered and everyone inside the nursery nodded.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe in the afterlife but I wish they could be given another chance¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    There was amotion in one of the rooms and we quickly followed to where the noise wasing from. We reached where Oscar and the rest were and we saw Mikhail holding down Matthew. The rest of the group werete to the scene and they were right behind us.


    ¡°Easy now, Matthew. That shit¡¯s not our fault.¡± Oscar was trying to calm him down.


    ¡°NOT OUR FAULT?! WE WERE JUST LATE BY A FEW- A FEW F.U.C.K.I.N.G MINUTES!!! WE COULD¡¯VE AVOIDED THAT FROM F.U.C.K.I.N.G HAPPENING!!! IF WE- IF WE JUST- F.U.C.K!!! AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SAW THAT? HUH?! AM I THE ONLY F.U.C.K.I.N.G ONE F.U.C.K.I.N.G AFFECTED BY THAT?!¡± Matthew was trying to get away from Mikhail but he couldn¡¯t. The people around us were also wearing difficult expressions and I surmised that they were thinking the same thing as Matthew deep inside.


    ¡°Dad! Please stop! Please! This is different from that!¡± Kaley grabbed her dad¡¯s face and forced him to look at her.


    ¡°What? What does she mean by ¡®from that¡¯?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°F.U.C.K.I.N.G LET GO OF ME!!!¡± Kaley¡¯s words were just falling to deaf ears. Matthew was trying his best for Mikhail to let go but Mikhail was too strong for him.


    ¡°MATTHEW!!! CALM THE F.U.C.K DOWN!!! WE KILLED THE ONES WHO DID IT!!! YOU THINK THAT WHAT HAPPENED IS THE ONLY- IT¡¯S ALREADY DONE!!! YOU¡¯VE SEEN DEATH BEFORE!!! THE WORLD IS F.U.C.K.I.E.D UP!!! WE HAVE NO F.U.C.K.I.N.G IDEA THAT SHIT WAS ABOUT TO HAPPEN!!! CALM YOURSELF AND DON¡¯T LET YOUR EMOTIONS GET THE BEST OF YOU!!! MATTHEW!!!¡± Oscar bellowed. Both of them were breathing heavily and Oscar¡¯s eyes were also beginning to tear up.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Matthew broke down crying. I asked Mikhail to let him go and Kaley immediately hugged her dad. Tears were falling from their faces and I asked for everyone to leave us alone for now and continue the job below.


    Oscar took the notebooks while the three of us were left in the study.


    Matthew was still crying and Kaley was rubbing his back while hugging him. I was just by the door watching over them.


    ¡°Something must¡¯ve happened before all this.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was deep in thought but Kaley called me over. Matthew was just looking at the flooring when Kaley asked me to sit with them. <hr>


    ¡°Do you know why dad is so protective of Olivia and me?¡± Kaley said to me with a solemn expression.


    ¡°Kaley, no. I just- please¡­¡± Matthew said, wiping the tears off his eyes.


    ¡°No. I believe he already told you his story but you never told anyone yours. Either you tell him or I will. If you keep what happened before all bottled up, when it gets uncorked, it would be much worse. I know it¡¯s still hard on you but you have us. Please, trust him too.¡± Kaley said as a single tear made way to her cheek.


    ¡°Is it partially connected to what happened here?¡± I asked.


    Matthew just nodded a few times with a dark expression.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t feel like telling it, it¡¯s okay. You can just do it when you feel like it. However, I¡¯d follow Kaley¡¯s advice. I could somewhat feel that things inside your head are haunting you. Telling that to someone could somehow ease it up and I¡¯m speaking from experience.¡± I said, looking at Kaley after.


    ¡°I get it. However, now is not the time and ce for that. I¡¯ll apologize for causing amotion but we still got a lot of work to do. Before we talk about that, I¡¯ll need to talk to my wife first. It¡¯s not just me who¡¯s involved in that incident.¡± Matthew said, standing up and wiping his tears with his sleeves.


    Matthew excused himself and then he went down while Kaley and I were still in the study.


    ¡°I could tell it to you now if you want? Only our family knows of what happened before Olivia and I were born¡­ I could add in a therapist but our therapist is always mom¡­¡± Kaley looked at me, dejected.


    ¡°No, we could do thatter or when your dad¡¯sfortable. Talking about your demons is something very difficult to do.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You talked about your demons to me, just saying¡­¡± Kaley faintly smiled.


    ¡°Yeah, and that¡¯s the best decision I¡¯ve ever made. I found it easier to tell other people now after I told it to you.¡± I replied.


    Kaley was silent for a moment but she said, ¡°I¡¯m¡­ no¡­ thank you. I don¡¯t want to be a hypocrite for the second time so I¡¯ll tell you a few of my demons as well in the future. It¡¯s not as you know¡­ dark as yours but a few things have been clouding over my head even before all this started¡­ Mom already knows about them but I want you to be the second one to hear about it¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure, we got a lot of time on our hands. Just tell me whenever you feel like it. I¡¯ll tell you a few more once our scores are even.¡± I smiled cheekily. <hr>


    ¡°What? Even?¡± Kaley was confused.


    ¡°Well, I already told you one and a half stories if we¡¯re talking about our scores. You didn¡¯t let me finish one of them so let¡¯s just say you owe me ¡®a¡¯ story. After you tell me one of yours, I¡¯ll tell you one more and we¡¯ll go from that.¡± I shrugged my shoulders, chuckling.


    ¡°Hmph! Yeah, yeah, su-¡± Kaley was cut off.


    Kaley and I were both startled when we heard my Barrett firing. We immediately rushed to the balcony and we saw Oscar smiling cheekily while Matthew was trying his best to contain the smile on his face. Lois and Jared were with them dying of jealousy because Oscar let Matthew shoot a round from my Barrett.


    ¡°What are they doing?¡± Kaley was confused.


    ¡°I think they shot one from across the river.¡± I replied.


    ¡°With your Barrett? Isn¡¯t the ammo for that expensive?¡± Kaley said with a scrunched eyebrow.


    ¡°If we¡¯re talking about expensive, how many 5.56 rounds do you use when we¡¯re outside? Hmm?¡± I teased.


    ¡°W-Well¡­ you said I could s-shoot as much as I like because it¡¯s for practice. I¡¯m just concerned because you might only have a few of those rounds.¡± Kaley fidgeted.


    ¡°Well, it was a round well spent if you ask me. Your dad has already cheered up from firing one. He¡¯s trying to contain his smile but no one- I mean no one could resist smiling like an idiot after firing one, I tell ya.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Really?¡± Kaley looked at me.


    ¡°Want to try one? We could go down and shoot the church bell where Marvin and the rest are near?¡± I suggested.


    Kaley¡¯s smile grew wild and it didn¡¯t take long before we set it up so she could shoot it while standing. I instructed her on how to use it and we adjusted the proper elevation for the shot. It wasn¡¯t as far as the shot I did earlier because the ce which I sent Marvin and his group was only 800 yards away.


    ¡°Like this?¡± Kaley asked me. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah. Send it.¡± I replied.


    Kaley exhaled and pulled the trigger. Her body jolted from the recoil but she kept it steady. The bell from the other side resounded and our radio immediately buzzed.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! SKY?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    It was Brian shouting furiously.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Not me, it¡¯s Matthew.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    ¡°KID?!¡± Matthew bellowed while everyone startedughing.

 Chapter 372

    Chapter 372: 372


    ¡°It worked this time.¡± I smiled inwardly. <center></center><hr>


    What we did and what we discovered from this operation could make any sane person up at night. All I could do to ease that feeling in our heads was joke about it and hit at ces where thinking of what happened earlier disappear for even a moment. The things we did and would be doing would haunt us for the rest of our lives if we didn¡¯t have an outlet, even if what we did was justified or in the right. I know that I was doing was not the absolute solution but if every little bit could help, I¡¯d be happy to make them smile.


    ¡°Marisha will be busy theseing days. Maintaining good mental health is also vital in these times. You could be physically fit but if your mind is not up to it, nothing else matters. Everything should be in check and inplete bnce.¡± I thought to myself.


    I was in deep thought for a moment but I was sent back to reality when I heard therge casing being ejected out from the Barrett. Kaley picked it up afterying the Barrett down. She was examining it but then she handed it back to me after a few seconds.


    ¡°So? I¡¯m right, right?¡± I smiled cheekily.


    Kaley didn¡¯t reply but her bright smile was enough of an answer. Jared and Lois tried to fire a round from my Barrett as well but Oscar bonked them.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are ya two idling for?! Work those asses and help burn those bodies on the corner!¡± Oscar roared.


    Jared scratched his head and followed orders but Lois ticked Oscar even more. Lois made that hand gesture that pointed at his eyes first then to the one he was telling ¡®I¡¯ll be keeping my eyes on you.¡¯ who was Oscar. Jared dragged Lois away before Oscar loaded his shotgun up to capacity.


    I was with Kaley, Oscar, and Mattew and we were just simply idling about while giving orders when someone radioed in.


    ¡°We should have long shooting sses back home kid. Using just a single bullet to neutralize an enemy from a great distance is something I¡¯ll pick over a shootout.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Sure, though we already have a few proficient ones.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm? I didn¡¯t notice.¡± Oscar shrugged his shoulders.


    ¡°Well, aside from me, there¡¯s Jared first and foremost. He could easily shoot up to 600 yards but his highest record back then was 810 yards. We also have three soldiers who are Lawrence, Alexei, and Max. I don¡¯t know how far they could shoot though but I think Lawrence and Alexei are better than Jared because of experience. There are Kaley and Matthew too but I don¡¯t know how far you two have shot unassisted.¡± I started. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm, we never counted though but it wasn¡¯t as far. The farthest I¡¯ve done is 700 yards but I obviously needed to use my M70.¡± Matthew replied.


    ¡°Kaley, how about you? I¡¯ve only seen you shoot around 200 yards the longest.¡± I looked back at her.


    ¡°Hmm? I don¡¯t know but shooting that bell was the farthest I¡¯ve aimed at. Wait a sec, how about Lois?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Pssh! Lois? Jared and I tried teaching him but like I said before, he gets bored easily. He got to 300 yards before and he started to sleep in the range when we took him once. But still, if he gets his motivation, he could shoot far as well.¡± I was shaking my head.


    ¡°What? That kid is thatzy? Hmm.¡± Matthew grumbled.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯ll get his motivation soon enough.¡± I assured him.


    ¡°He better.¡± Matthew scoffed while Kaley and I exchanged helpless nces.


    ¡°To be fair though, training long shooting isn¡¯t as fun as the other drills we were doing back home.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hmm. Well, that¡¯s true.¡± Matthew shrugged his shoulders.


    ¡°Anyway, teaching that kind of ss could help us save a few bullets.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna make them use that .50 BMG?¡± Matthew¡¯s eyes lit up.


    ¡°No.¡± Oscar and I replied.


    ¡°Why?¡± Matthew¡¯s eyes dimmed. <hr>


    ¡°We¡¯ll start with something a little bit lower and we¡¯ll work our way up.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? A .338 Lapua then?¡± Matthew looked at me.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°A .300 Win Mag?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°.308? I¡¯m used to that already!¡±


    ¡°Close but please don¡¯t say .307.¡±


    ¡°Heh, .270 Win?¡±


    ¡°No, go back a little bit and a choose something a little bit recent.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Ah, f.u.c.k.i.n.g 6.5 eh?¡± Matthew nodded a few times.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Oh, 6.5 Creedmoor.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°What? I don¡¯t know much-¡± Oscar cut Kaley off.


    ¡°Cheh, a .30-06 is still better in my-¡± I cut Oscar off.


    ¡°You use .30-06? A rifle round? Stop kidding me Mr. One Ounce Slug.¡± I retorted and Matthew choked.


    ¡°KID?! Don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g start with me!!!¡± Oscar¡¯s eyebrows were twitching.


    ¡°Heh, sorry Mr. Fifty Lead Pellets.¡± I corrected myself.


    ¡°What is that?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°The number of lead pellets needed for a BB Birdshot¡­¡± Matthew was about to lose it but he was keeping it together for his buddy.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I nodded innocently.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡± Oscar lost it and he started helping Jared and Lois haul the bodies.


    Kaley and Matthew were wearing the same expression but I answered Kaley¡¯s question from earlier.


    ¡°To exin a few more things, a 6.5 Creedmoor is just as urate as a .308 Winchester but it has less recoil, less wind drift, and a tter trajectory. We have a few rifles forpetition shooting and I prefer using it more than the .308 Winchester. We won¡¯t be shooting targets farther than a thousand yards so a 6.5 Creedmoor is a fine ce to start with. You started with a .308 so you¡¯ll have to adjust a little bit.¡± I concluded.


    ¡°Why do you only have a few?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°Oh, I bought more expensive scopes.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Huh? Scopes? Why?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°If you¡¯re long shooting, it¡¯s better to spend more on scopes than rifles. It¡¯s easy to trade-in a used rifle than a used scope. Once you¡¯ve saved up on a great rifle or for trade plus cash, you could simply ce your old scope on it, not buy a rifle and a scope again. I¡¯ve saved more that way.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Son of a bitch¡­¡± Matthew just had a revtion.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t get it that much¡­ I thought I knew a lot already¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°Heh, you¡¯ll know more when I teach another ss. You focused more on your AR-15 so you started to veer off from using long guns. You¡¯ll pick it up soon enough.¡± I replied.


    ¡°HEY!!! YOU LITTLE SHITS BETTER HELP WITH THE WORK HERE OR WE¡¯LL BE HERE FOREVER!!! MOVE!!!¡± Oscar roared at us and we helplessly obliged. Even Matthew was dragged with us because Oscar had fallen victim from one of the ssic blunders and had no one to take it out on.


    In the end, we abstained from burning the church to the ground because we could repurpose it to something else in the future. However, now that two of the biggest hoarders were here, Oscar and me namely, we took everything that we could from this barangay. We started making rounds through the houses and we started tapping to walls and floor to somehow find a hidden passage.


    If those hidden supplies could shudder, they would¡¯ve already.


    Everything that we would be taking home would be split 70-30 where the 30% was for our outpost in Meycauayan which was my old high school. There weren¡¯t any qualms about the division because I came up with the n and most of the resources we used came from our camp. Besides, most of the soldiers that came with us even came from the DDR Camp in our ce.


    Most of the essential items were located in therge pantry of the church. Most of the ces in this barangay were already looted and all the supplies were moved in a centralized location. We only found important particrs either in houses with hiddenpartments or in the vehicles the cult members used. We took all of their guns and their personal belongings before burning them and my onlyint was that the ammo left was a bitcking and their guns needed some f.u.c.k.i.n.g deep cleaning.


    A few had even broken parts but all we could do about that was take them apart and use the working parts as spares orbine them to fit with each other.


    It took us the whole day to finish everything up and we even managed to start some of the vehicles that the cult members brought that weren¡¯t riddled with holes. We marked the ces we have been through and we secured the ces with sturdy gates with our own locks. It would depend on our goals whether we drop by this ce again so we decided to have fewer ces to check for threats when wee back.


    ¡°Everything ready? Let¡¯s go home.¡± I said to everyone.

 Chapter 373

    Chapter 373: 373


    Each and every one of my people started boarding their vehicles but they got confused when I pulled Mikhail over. All of my equipment was inside Tatiana¡¯s HUMVEE besides my katana and my Maxim 9. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yes, Boss?¡± Mikhail said, smiling while holding his PKM.


    ¡°Come with me.¡± I replied and I motioned for us to walk on the dirt road.


    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡± Mikhail followed me without question.


    ¡°Hey, where are you two going?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Oh, to the wooden boat Jared and I used. It¡¯s still at the back of the hospital.¡± I replied then I saw Jared hiding inside the Raptor.


    ¡°Wait, why?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°First of all, I¡¯m kinda tired. I won¡¯t be able to row the boat and I bet Jared wouldn¡¯te with me anymore. I had to row us most of the wayst time when we got here¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, I thought you two used the other- you two just rowed the boat here?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Yes, gently~ down~ the~ stream~¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Why?¡± Kaley and Tatiana were shaking their heads.


    ¡°We need to be quiet, remember? we don¡¯t know who might be lurking when we rowed here. Besides, the guys on the other motorized boats already left and I forgot to tell them to pull us over.¡± I raised my hands helplessly.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you juste back for it? Do you even know how long you guys would take to row that?¡± Kaley rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Oh~ I smell a f.u.c.k.i.n.g challenge eh? Mikhail, did I hear that right?¡± I raised one of my eyebrows.


    ¡°Yes Boss, that¡¯s definitely a challenge.¡± Mikhail nodded a few times.


    ¡°Okay, Bing, An, and Lois! You f.u.c.kers heard that, right? Let¡¯s go!¡± I eximed as Mikhailid down his PKM inside the HUMVEE. The other three wereing in at slow motion while I was starting to stretch my whole body.


    ¡°You guys are ridiculous¡­¡± Kaley was facepalming as she rode shotgun at Tatiana¡¯s HUMVEE. The five of us made our way to the boat while the other group was still confused if we were serious or not. The boat was big enough to house us five and I started to remove the knot tying us on the riverbank.


    ¡°Can we even beat them?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Muscle and Willpower.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough.¡±


    ¡°We should give them a headstart.¡±


    ¡°Agreed.¡±


    ¡°Obviously.¡±


    ¡°Bro¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°There are only two oars here¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Long story short, it took us a few hours not because we were weak but because we were too prideful to ask for help and it was too f.u.c.k.i.n.gte to back down. We luckily found enough oars from another boat a few minutes forward and we got to move fasterpared to earlier.


    When we reached the other end of thepound, Kaley was there with the rest of my group. Jay and the rest of his family were also present because they were living at this location.


    ¡°I thought you were racing us, hmm?¡± Kaley had an amused look while I was scratching my head.


    ¡°We were about to go full throttle but we suddenly saw the beautiful sunset¡­¡± Bing started. <hr>


    ¡°Really~?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Yes, as men, we enjoy beautiful things because we also have our sensitive side.¡± An added.


    ¡°Of course, you all do¡­¡± Jenny was also there, shaking her head while chuckling.


    ¡°Okay, dinner is about ready. Let¡¯s head back so you guys could get a hot shower! You¡¯re all sweaty! Especially you, semi-big guy!¡± Daisy added, looking at Bing.


    ¡°Mikhail, Earl and Juan need your help for our Vera problem.¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°Oh? No problem, I could still carry her.¡± Mikhail replied.


    I asked Mikhail to securely tie the boat first before we all rode the truck back to ourpound.


    Everyone was already present and the tables were being set properly. They allughed before greeting us then I went to my house to take a quick shower. I saw that my BCM was right next to Kaley¡¯s rifle and a pile of guns was right by the corner where a few of them were already cleaned.


    I came down withfortable clothes and we ate a hearty meal that filled us with energy. The people that came with me from that operation had varying expressions but from the look on their faces, Marisha must¡¯ve talked to them briefly. It would take a few more days of talking for some people but with the right people to talk to, anyone coulde out of it.


    We finally started our meeting.


    As usual, a few representatives from Woonds and the DDR Camp were present.


    ¡°Okay, before I start, who wants to report first?¡± I looked at my group.


    Charlotte stood up carrying a mason jar.


    ¡°U-Umm, we just harvested a lot of radishes earlier so we put the excess ones in these mason jars after pickling them. Sir Johnny taught us how to seal them properly by using these metal lids and rings and we wrote the date from when they were made. Sir Johnny told me that these things couldst for years as long as the seal wasn¡¯t tampered with. I-I want to suggest that if we have more vegetables in excess, we could store them so we would have extras.¡± Charlotte was still fidgety talking to a crowd.


    ¡°That¡¯s good but we should still rotate everything and include them in our diet. It couldst years but the consistency and appearance wouldn¡¯t be as good even if it¡¯s edible or safe to eat. We¡¯d still have more harvests in the future so let¡¯s keep that in mind.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Yes, s-sure.¡± Charlotte nodded.


    ¡°Can it also be done with meat?¡± Derek interjected.


    ¡°Yep. When I was still in Georgia, my grandmother would even can jerky or bacon but she would hydrate them first. When I cleaned my bas.e.m.e.nt at that time, I uncovered a few cans and they¡¯re still good, delicious even. It just looks different from the first time you ced them inside. We could ce anything on jars or cans but as Oscar said, we need to rotate them. If our peppers grew too, I¡¯d like to have a few stored after pickling them.¡± Johnny answered. <hr>


    ¡°Yes! We have a row of different peppers still growing. We¡¯ll save some of them for you.¡± Charlotte replied then Johnny faintly smiled.


    Charlotte took her seat while Raphael reced her.


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ve been doing a side project for everyone and the people we¡¯ve been inviting to Anthony¡¯s home since they moved back to their old house already received their custom holsters. If you could give us some feedback from some of them, it would be greatly appreciated. We won¡¯t be making more now but we will soo, after getting the feedback from the few that we contacted.¡± Raphael reported.


    ¡°Tell them about the other one!¡± Anthony chimed.


    ¡°F.u.c.k, we also made something of an upgrade to the wooden spears the other guys were using. Check this out.¡± Raphael brought out a wooden five-foot rod with an attachment at the front end.


    Instead of it having a t spearhead like most of the people thought it would have, the attachment was a little different. The attachment was like a cup nestled tightly on the rod while a 6-inch spike was sticking out from the other side.


    ¡°As we are not like the crazy psycho-samurai like our supreme leader, we¡¯ve made something which is a little easier for us to use while keeping us safe. It¡¯s called a-¡± I interrupted him.


    ¡°That¡¯s a Goedendag.¡± I interjected, shaking my head from the earlier remark.


    ¡°A wut?¡± Raphael¡¯s face and tone changed to something different.


    I then began a short lecture telling them it was a weapon used in the 14th century which was essentially abination of a club and a spear. The thick cup-like attachment could be used for blunt strikes while the 6-inch spike could be used for stabbing heads from a safe distance. The rod was also shaped differently because it was thinner where the user would hold it and thicker where the attachments were ced.


    ¡°Dammit, I thought we created something original. Well, anyway, it doesn¡¯t look as awesome or badass as the weapons our supreme leader is carrying but it could still do the job nevertheless.¡± Raphael concluded.


    ¡°Does a tang run down through the middle of the rod?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Uh, no. Your uncle asked us to do that but we crimped it tight and addedrge screws on the cup-thingy.¡± Anthony answered.


    ¡°Oh, then it¡¯s still good.¡± I nodded a few times while listening to other reports.


    It took a few minutes until it was time for my report.


    ¡°Okay, as you all know, we took down a cult headed by this ¡®father¡¯ from our operation. It took us a few days of nning and preparation and- Lois?¡± I looked at Lois raising his hand.


    ¡°Did you use the a.d.u.l.t diapers you brought?¡± Lois asked, chuckling.


    Everyone present looked at me and Jared with amused expressions. <hr>


    ¡°As a matter of fact, I did. I didn¡¯t poop though, but yeah, I peed a few times. Not gonna lie, it warmed me a bit when we¡¯re hunkered there in the cold roof.¡± I replied while getting goosebumps.


    Everyone present was wearing varying expressions and Jared shrunk down behind Alex¡¯s side.


    ¡°Oh yeah, these two got- nevermind that for now, heh.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Any more questions before I give a summary as to what happened?¡± I looked back at Lois with a nasty smile.


    Lois felt dread and he almost lost color on his face.


    ¡°If there¡¯s none, I¡¯ll begin¡­¡± I said as I opened up myptop.


    I showed them everything that happened the moment Jared and I stepped foot on the roof of the hospital up until the five of us went back to our boat. I was showing them what happened from different perspectives and what my group did sitting quietly in the dark until the end of the fated day. I fast-forwarded the footage a lot of times and Ken and Kris were there to help me.


    What we did to those people was brutal but I wasn¡¯t nning to hide what we did from our group. They need to know the reality of the situation and the lengths we were willing to go to not just from keeping everyone safe but also ensuring them that outside threats are dealt with ordingly. They saw how I sniped the father from a distance, burned people alive, mowed down a group blocking the highway, witnessed the f.u.c.k.i.e.d up church, and so on.


    A few people before that had weak stomachs were beginning to get used to what was happening. I didn¡¯t force them to watch what we did and they stayed watching the whole thing unfold. The only thing I skipped was when we were looting the whole ce because it was all on Rin¡¯s report for our inventory.


    ¡°Oh yeah, kid, how about the notebooks?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°I gave them to you, where did you put them?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right, I almost forgot. I gave them to Rin.¡± Oscar said and we both looked at Rin.


    ¡°I scanned all of them first to make digital copies but I couldn¡¯t understand some of them. Some were just gibberish while a few were their inventory. The first one I picked up just contained a lot of names where a few have lines on them. Do you want me to get them now?¡± Rin stood up.


    ¡°No, I¡¯ll scan through them first before presenting them in another meeting if there¡¯s something important. For now, let¡¯s have a good night¡¯s sleep by knowing that those kinds of people were now gone from this world.¡± I replied.


    After a few more questions and answers, we ended the meeting and everyone from the operation decided to sleep early. To be fair, the meeting we had was longer than usual and it was only a couple of hours before midnight.


    I tucked Zeus in his bed first before I headed to my room with an early present.


    Kaley was wearing our high school uniform.

 Chapter 374

    Chapter 374: 374


    The moment I saw Kaley simply smiling while swinging her feet on top of my table, I almost lost it. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley had her hair tied up while she was wearing thigh-high white cotton socks. The skirt she was wearing was just a little bit above her knees and it would p up a little bit each time she swung her legs, almost revealing what was between her legs. A bit of skin from her thighs was showing but I was getting distracted by her top.


    It was the same uniform as from before but her measurements now were giving the word ¡®dimensions¡¯ a much raunchier meaning.


    Kaley¡¯s slim waist was perfectly highlighted but it was overshadowed when we got to the chest area. She was still giving me a seductive smile while raising one of her eyebrows but I can¡¯t help but notice that she was not able to button up her blouse fully. Her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts were almost in the open and her pink n.i.p.p.l.es were slightly protruding. However, the little button on the top of her blouse, to join the cors together, was buttoned up nicely.


    Kaley¡¯s perfectly formed cleavage was something I wanted to put my head in.


    ¡°Hey¡­ you can do more than just watch me¡­ help me out a little bit¡­¡± Kaley stopped swinging her feet as she slightly bit her lower lip.


    I instinctively gulped and I hurriedly moved closer to her. When we were a few centimeters apart, she grabbed my hand and ced them on her bountiful chest.


    ¡°You see, I tried wearing our old uniform but you know¡­ a few buttons popped out¡­ you could fix them¡­ right?¡± Kaley made me squeeze her tits together so I could see where a couple of buttons used to be.


    I was standing between her inner thighs and I have a huge f.u.c.k.i.n.g boner just from what she was doing to me. I wasn¡¯t able to reply immediately because of the way her supple b.r.e.a.s.ts were getting mushed together by my hands made me short-circuit.


    ¡°Hey¡­ I¡¯m talking to you¡­ can¡¯t you hear¡­ me?¡± Kaley ced my hands at her h.i.p.s and she pressed her body against me. Our faces were so close to each other we could feel the warmth of each other¡¯s breath.


    I was never able to answer because I pulled her even closer and I started kissing her. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley also wrapped her arms around my back while her b.r.e.a.s.ts were getting squeezed between our bodies. I could catch a glimpse of her mind-numbing cleavage below if I look down but we were busy exchanging each other¡¯s saliva.


    We broke our kiss as Kaley lifted up my shirt. In the process of her doing that, I grabbed the ps of her blouse and pulled them apart. The remaining buttons of her top cluttered to the floor, revealing her white and smooth skin with herrge mounds. Our breathing was heavy but we continued to kiss each other while embracing each other tightly.


    I felt the warmth of her body and the suppleness of her skin. We were kissing hard but I decided to lift her up from the table.


    ¡°Where are we- Ah!¡± Kaley gasped when I threw her on the bed.


    However, I was met with another nasty surprise.


    I thought she wasn¡¯t only wearing her bra but turns out, she wasn¡¯t wearing any panties either.


    Her blouse was still on her but her skirt revealed everything below when she hit the soft bed. She was already drenched from our kissing session and her juices were already flowing down to her juicy thighs. She always gets embarrassed when I stare at her meaty and juicy lips below but I held her thighs and started parting her insides with my tongue.


    Her womanly scent always made me lose my mind and the m.o.a.ns she was making was music to my ears. Her h.i.p.s were moving in different directions while her thighs were mping onto my head without restraint. Her hands were pulling on my hair but she ced them over my hands when I started fondling her b.r.e.a.s.ts while eating her.


    I caught a glimpse of the perfect lines her body made when her back arched.


    My head applied more pressure to herher regions as I pushed myself against her even more. I was flicking her n.i.p.p.l.es with my index fingers and it didn¡¯t take long for her to cry out while convulsing. Warm liquid started squirting out from her and the mp on my head got even tighter. I wanted to keep eating her but she muttered something with bated breath. <hr>


    ¡°P-Please¡­ f.u.c.k me n-now¡­ I-I- ah!¡± Kaley¡¯s face was a mess while she was twitching involuntarily but I felt her immediately tightening when I shoved it inside her slopping wet and warm hole.


    I was on top of her and she spread her arms wide so she could embrace me. As I was moving closer to kiss her, she shoved my head in between of her b.r.e.a.s.ts and she whispered.


    ¡°You can do a-anything to me¡­ d-don¡¯t hold back¡­¡±


    I was looking at her expression and she was smiling at me while her cheeks were beet-red. Her breathing was heavy but her eyes were expectant. She knew all about the things that would get me worked up, I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep myself in check.


    She started to ce her hands behind her head to reveal her smooth underarms while making her tits jiggle lightly. She never broke eye contact as I started to move my h.i.p.s violently. My whole body was pressed against her and I was watching all of the expressions she was letting out. The faces she was making, the raunchy sounds she was letting out, how she was tightly gripping me below, and so much more.


    Her insides were squelching each time I thrust inside and she suddenly wrapped her legs around my back right as I was about to c.u.m. I looked at her expression and her smile assured me that it was okay for me to release inside her. It took a few pumps before I copsed on top of her while out of breath. I was releasing everything inside her while she slowly wrapped her arms around me. I lost strength in my body but the night was still young. She was gripping me tight when I pulled it out and my white substance was slowly oozing out of her.


    ¡°I¡¯m on it¡­ don¡¯t worry¡­ we can do it inside as much as we want¡­¡± Kaley kissed me again while slowly tugging me.


    I was still struggling with the sensitivity but she pushed me down and started sucking me off. She wouldn¡¯t let go of me until I was ready for the second time. She was licking the tip like a lollipop while she was stroking my shaft. I was losing my mind when I heard her insides squelching once more because she started fingering herself while milking me.


    She saw me looking at her and she just gave me another wicked smile.


    She decided to stop what she was doing but she started to go on top of me. She gave me another show as she ground her h.i.p.s forward while having her hands on the back of her head. Her perfect curvatures were highlighted as I slowly sn.a.k.e.d my hands all over her body. I got to her b.r.e.a.s.ts and I sunk my hands towards them. The way we were moving now was much slowerpared to earlier but we were feeling more pleasure as we went on. <hr>


    As the pleasure was building up, we started moving faster and faster. Kaley and I were in an upright position while we were moving our h.i.p.s at the same time. Kaley¡¯s face was turning into a mess and she decided to bury my face between her b.r.e.a.s.ts once more. I was getting smothered by those huge mounds as she was getting tighter and tighter.


    Kaley started twitching before me and she copsed on my embrace. We were back in our earlier position but I didn¡¯t stop thrusting from below. She was embracing me tightly while I was rummaging her insides. It felt warm and glossy but her walls would tighten every time I slid it all the way in. It didn¡¯t take long before I released inside her while she was on top of me.


    We continued for hours and I filled all of her holes. I never stopped ramming it inside her right until her eyes were rolling over and her body was quivering nonstop. We wouldn¡¯t let go of each other even if we were covered in our own sweat and juices.


    We cleaned up after a bit and we were nowying on the bed only covered by a nket. The cool airing out from the AC was not even the reason we were still embracing each other. We were simply looking into each other¡¯s eyes while keeping each other warm from our embrace.


    ¡°I love you¡­¡± Kaley whispered while lying beside me.


    ¡°Of course you do- OW! Kaley! I¡¯m joking!¡± I eximed as she jabbed my nuts.


    Kaley was still blushing looking at me but she was pouting.


    ¡°I want to hear you say it¡­¡± Kaley was biting her lip, looking at me expectantly.


    I went on top of her and looked at her with the same eyes every time Iid my eyes on her. We were staring at each other for a while but that was enough to get my feelings across. I never said anything verbally but her expression while looking at me softened and she gave me a peck on the lips. I faintly smiled and I kissed her again.


    ¡°Smooth.¡± Kaley giggled while still blushing. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, definitely a psychic.¡± I teased her once more.


    ¡°Okay~ I¡¯ll admit it only to you. I definitely~ am one.¡± Kaley chuckled, joking.


    ¡°I f.u.c.k.i.n.g knew it. Well, to prove you are one, can you tell me what I¡¯m gonna do to you next?¡± I smiled while moving my face closer to her.


    ¡°Oh, really~ Can you though? Hmm~?¡± Kaley raised one of her eyebrows.


    I copied her facial expression then I suddenly blew a raspberry into her tummy.


    ¡°Stop! Stop! It tickles!¡± Kaley tried to get away from me.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! I thought you knew what I was about to do?!¡± I kept on doing it.


    ¡°AHHH!!! Stop! You know I¡¯m just joking! Please~¡± tears were almosting out of her eyes just from getting tickled.


    I finally stopped when she managed to pin me down. Her whole weight was getting pressed against me but I whispered the same words that I tried to tell her telepathically. Her expression softens once more and we had one of the best nights when we slept soundly.

 Chapter 375

    Chapter 375: 375


    I was in deep slumber and I started hearing voices once more. However, I started to see blurry images but I could make out who they were just from their voices. These two people were very dear in my heart and I am literally nothing without them. <center></center><hr>


    A scene yed from a part of my head that was buried deep yet I treasure so much.


    ¡°Sora¡­ I¡¯m so-¡±


    ¡°Could you please stop tranting his name?! We already agreed that we¡¯ll call him Sky!¡±


    ¡°What?! It¡¯s the same thing if you think about it!¡±


    ¡°You pretty much know Sora is awfully sounding simr to a word that means something you¡¯re really growing tired of!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s in your nativenguage, not mine!¡±


    ¡°Oh sorry, Mr. Trilingual, I just don¡¯t want our kid exining his name to people over and over when he grows up! He¡¯s studying in this country when he grows up and not in Japan! It would sound ¡®cool¡¯ there, but not here! Sky would do him better!¡±


    ¡°Ha~ sure, sure. Sky, son, I¡¯m really sorry for today, okay? Our business has been pretty hardtely and I don¡¯t have enough money to buy you a cake on your birthday. I¡¯ll promise that one day when I saved enough, even if it¡¯s not your birthday, I¡¯ll buy you not one, but two cakes! Is that okay with you?¡±


    ¡°Sure! Shinpai nai~¡±


    ¡°Oh dear¡­ Mom¡¯s really sorry too, okay? All I managed to prepare for you is this fried¡­ fried¡­ *sobs* I¡¯m-¡±


    ¡°Dear¡­ it¡¯s not your fault¡­ it¡¯s all mine, okay? Please stop crying, I¡¯ll try harder so we wouldn¡¯t be living like this.¡±


    ¡°What~? I really like fried eggs over rice though~ I hate having cakes because they need to sing to me first before I get to eat it¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *chuckle*


    *chuckle*


    ¡°Hmm? Why are you crying whileughing mom? Oh! You need to eat too! Try this yellow-thingy with the rice! It¡¯s delicious~!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing you little boy~ it¡¯s called a yolk, by the way. Of course, it¡¯s delicious! Your mom cooked it!¡±


    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t take all of the credit! That rice came from our shop! I picked them myself!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Of course, you did.¡±


    ¡°Mom!¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna learn how to cook from you so I could also make something this good when it¡¯s your birthday!¡±


    ¡°Hmm! If it¡¯s you, I¡¯m sure you could cook better things than me! I¡¯m sure of it!¡±


    ¡°B-But¡­ why are you crying Mom? Did I say something bad?¡±


    ¡°N-No son, sometimes, tears can also mean that someone¡¯s really happy! Like Mom and Dad! See?¡±


    ¡°Oh~ Okay!¡±


    ¡°Hey! How about your Dad?! Aren¡¯t you gonna say something really nice like you did with your Mom?! I thought I was your favorite! Ow!¡±


    ¡°And who told you that?! Hmm?!¡±


    ¡°We were buying ice cream and he said it!¡±


    ¡°Did you really say it Sky?¡±


    ¡°Well, dad said it¡¯s the password so I could get two scoops!¡±


    ¡°Teaching your kid bribery?!¡±


    ¡°Ow! I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry!¡±


    ¡°Hmmm~ Dad!¡±


    ¡°Yes! What is it? Anything to say to me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna read all of the books you bought me so you won¡¯t have to go home always sweaty and tired!¡±


    ¡°Aww, you know dad worked really~ hard to buy you those so you¡¯ll be really smart! I¡¯ll buy you a whole lot more!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yes! Because you always stink when you get home dad! I¡¯ll make sure I¡¯ll read all of it!¡±


    ¡°Nani?¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    I didn¡¯t notice that time was the hardest for my parents. I was oblivious to the fact that they were starving themselves just to feed me because of our bills piling up. I was able to have a viand in my meals but they were just eating rice with salt and a little bit of cooking oil back then. I only learned of it fully from my aunt but I always had a small inkling of the truth. I just pieced the puzzle one by one when I started to remember bits of what was happening before.


    That was a very tough time but they pulled through. Our mary problems before disappeared not because of dumb luck but because of hard work and dedication. Aplishing that bore fruit to more things where one was having enough money to visit my dad¡¯s rtives in Japan and meeting Old Man Kaiseki in the process. We wouldugh at that scene every time we would talk about it though we made it a tradition to always cook eggs and rice for my birthday.


    I was seeing the rest of my dream clearly but I was woken up by someone shaking me awake.


    I saw Kaley¡¯s worried face. Tears were about to fall from her eyes and she was on top of me.


    ¡°Hey, are you okay? You¡¯re crying in your sleep again¡­¡± Kaley was wiping the tears off of my eyes.


    ¡°Oh¡­ I just dreamed of something bittersweet. Hmm, you know¡­ tears could also mean that someone¡¯s really happy, right?¡± I faintly smiled but the look she was giving me warranted that there was more to what I was saying to her.


    I decided to tell her what I¡¯ve dreamt of but it all ended up me trying to make her stop crying.


    ¡°It¡¯s really weird starting my birthday like this¡­¡± I chuckled inwardly.


    Kaley¡¯s eyes were still red when I heard someone knocking at our door. We quickly got dressed and we saw the kids carrying a basket of eggs.


    ¡°HAPPY BIRTHDAY~!!!¡± they all eximed.


    It took a short moment before the doors for the other rooms open. Tatiana, Rin, and Cynthia came out of their rooms while they still have bed hair.


    ¡°What are those¡­ eggs?¡± Rin was confused.


    ¡°What~?¡± Tatiana was still rubbing her eyes and she greeted Cynthia.


    ¡°Morning¡­ it¡¯s still a few before 6:00 AM, right?¡± Cynthia was in the process of yawning.


    ¡°Yeah! Mom woke up early to check on the chickens and we helped her! We found several! Different colors too!¡± Aya eximed.


    ¡°Oh! Auntie said the brown ones were more delicious!¡± Kenny added. <hr>


    [I helped picked the little one of the corner¡­] Peter signed.


    ¡°Me too! I w-wrote my name on the other one!¡±


    ¡°Mine¡¯s the white one with the smiley face!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s mine right here!¡±


    ¡°I got the biggest one!¡±


    ¡°Mine¡¯s the brown one too!¡±


    ¡°Auntie said you¡¯ll cook for us! You will, right?!¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon, there¡¯s enough for everyone. I¡¯ll cook breakfast for us.¡± I briefly stretched as Aya handed Kaley the basket.


    The kids didn¡¯t notice but the three saw Kaley¡¯s eyes. They never said anything about it and they followed us to the kitchen. Zeus immediately greeted me and I carried him shortly right until the kitchen. He was running around the kitchen trying to make the kids stay away from the stove where I was putting pans onto.


    ¡°Okay, what do you want your eggs to be cooked in? I know a lot~ of different recipes!¡± I dered then the kid¡¯s eyes shone bright.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get the sunny-sunny!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll have the one with cheese inside!¡±


    ¡°SCRAMBLED!!!¡±


    ¡°The one where the yellow-thingy is runny!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s called a yolk! The yellow-thingy!¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°I want mine with milk and cheese!¡±


    [Anything you like¡­]


    ¡°I want mine with little hotdogs!¡±


    I remembered all of their orders and I remembered as to who owned which egg ordingly. Kaley and the rest wanted to help me so I made them cook the rice and prepare the hot chocte for the kids. My hands moved like crazy and I made sure to include theatrics like flipping the omelet in the air and juggling the eggs before cracking them in the bowl. That made sure the kids were entertained while I was making sure the cooking time for everything was perfect. <hr>


    Zeus even bnced an egg on his nose and it made the kids give him a round of apuse and lots of belly rubs.


    Eggs were fairly easy to cook and it didn¡¯t take too long to ce everything in front of them. Their eyes were glowing and their mouths were drooling from the sight and smell of the meal I cooked for them. Their cute faces were quickly reced by a bit of rice and stains of ketchup. They were eating voraciously the same way Tatiana was eating her Eggs Benedict.


    Kaley, Rin, and Cynthia went into ¡®Mother Mode¡¯ and they were wiping the kids¡¯ faces and making sure that the hot chocte was just the right temperature so the kids could safely drink them. They helped with the simple garnishes earlier by making the carrots look like flowers and the hotdogs like little octopi. They still haven¡¯t eaten their meals and they only took a few bites when Tatiana started stealing bites with her spoon.


    ¡°Tatiana! That¡¯s mine!¡± Cynthia roared.


    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t pop the yolk!¡± Rin stomped her foot.


    ¡°Drop that sausage or else!¡± Kaley was emanating a dark aura.


    ¡°Jeez~ It¡¯s just an egg! He can make more, correct?¡± Tatiana started licking her fingers.


    ¡°I could, don¡¯t worry. Just eat as much as you like.¡± I said after sitting with them on the kitchen counter.


    ¡°Wait a sec¡­ that¡¯s all you cooked for yourself?!¡± Rin eximed in disbelief.


    ¡°Just one Sunny-side Up on top of rice?¡± Cynthia was also confused.


    Kaley was silent but Tatiana noticed her. However, Tatiana just kept silent as well.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s really~ good though. Took me a lot of years trying to copy the taste but I never managed to.¡± I replied, smiling faintly.


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Heh, Mom¡¯s cooking. Aunt Sharon¡¯s cooking is great but not like Mom.¡± I faintly smiled, slicing through the yolk with my spoon, pouring it all over the rice.


    Rin and Cynthia finally noticed Kaley¡¯s expression so I decided to tell them a short story about myself. It wasn¡¯t really a secret and I could even argue that piece of my memory was something I really treasured. It was funny seeing their expressions change between sadness and happiness as they were trying to eat their meals. Kaley was faintly smiling from their expressions as well but Tatiana proposed another operation.


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g his brains out. Let¡¯s all take a day off and drain his balls as Kaley did yesterday. All vote for yes, raise your hands!¡± Tatiana silently dered.


    Cynthia and Rin immediately raised their hands but Kaley was already pulling me out of our home. However, Tatiana¡¯s n didn¡¯t happen at that moment because Oscar, Johnny, and Matthew just reached the front of my door. They were carrying a few things but I couldn¡¯t figure out what was inside those cases.


    ¡°Holy shit kid, you¡¯re up early. I thought you would follow tradition and just stay inside your room!¡± Oscar chuckled.


    ¡°I can¡¯t just take a day off, especially at this time, right?¡± I shrugged both of my shoulders.


    ¡°Wait a sec- YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G COOKED WITHOUT TELLING ME?! GET BACK INSIDE AND MAKE US SOMETHING!!!¡± Oscar bellowed when he took a peek inside.

 Chapter 376

    Chapter 376: 376


    We were back inside my home where Tatiana and the rest were grinning mischievously. The three old-timers were confused from their expressions but Kaley was looking at Tatiana as if telling her to be discreet. <center></center><hr>


    I was about to ask them what was inside those cases but Oscar pushed me to the kitchen.


    ¡°C¡¯mon kid! Cook us that whatchamacallit where it¡¯s really runny with that tomato thingy!¡± Oscar eximed excitedly.


    ¡°What?¡± Matthew and Johnny were confused.


    ¡°It¡¯s this thing he cooked before with runny eggs and the tomato sauce was a little bit spicy. It¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g good I tell ya. What do you call it kid?¡± Oscar looked at me.


    ¡°Shakshouka.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yes, that shak- shakshaka!¡± Oscar botched it.


    ¡°Eggs.¡± I opened my hands in front of him.


    ¡°What?¡± Oscar was confused.


    ¡°Eggs! The kids brought their own to be cooked, so either hand me one or pick a few from the barn!¡± I was grinning from ear to ear.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you have a few in your refrigerator? Just use them! I¡¯m not that picky when ites to it!¡± Oscar replied with an annoyed expression.


    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about chicken eggs, look for Derek if he managed to acquire some duck eggs. I used those instead of chicken eggs for the Shakshouka that you liked back then.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh~ That¡¯s why they¡¯re richer eh? Hmm~ I don¡¯t want to walk to his ce, just use whatever eggs you have on hand for mine.¡± Oscar waved his hands as he sat down on the sofa with Johnny. Matthew on the other hand was given a bite by one of the kids and his eyes shot up in astonishment.


    ¡°Kid, wait a sec. I¡¯m gonna go for a quick run.¡± Matthew said with a serious look.


    ¡°He liked it, heh.¡± I chuckled inwardly. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Dammit, okay, I¡¯lle with!¡± Johnny added when his grandkid gave him a bite as well.


    ¡°Hey~! Wait for me, f.u.c.k.i.n.g little shi- I just came from a short jog¡­¡± Oscar tried to catch up with the other two who were looking for Derek.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus chased after them but then I felt someone pulling on my shirt.


    I looked down and it was Peter.


    [Thank you for cooking for me¡­ it¡¯s really good¡­]


    [No problem. I¡¯m d you liked it.]


    [Can you cook for me as well on my birthday? I¡­ I want to eat it again¡­]


    [The omelet with cheese? Sure, I¡¯ll also bake you a cake! Your birthday, it¡¯s in January, right?]


    [What?! How did you know?!]


    [I know everyone¡¯s birthday, it¡¯s my superpower!]


    [Oh~ Do you know how to make a chocte cake?]


    [Yes, I can bake anything. That¡¯s another one of my superpowers!]


    [Wow! It¡¯s a promise then?]


    [Yep, I promise.]


    [Yay! Pinky Promise!] <hr>


    The other kids weren¡¯t able to understand what we were saying but Aya¡¯s head was tilted as she was trying hard. In the end, I tranted for them and they asked for the same thing on their own birthdays. Peter and the rest of the kids thanked us before excusing themselves. They all made a short bow before the five of us were left inside the first floor.


    ¡°So¡­ we¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g upstairs or what?¡± Tatiana broke the silence immediately.


    ¡°Tatiana!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°What? You two were alone yesterday, I don¡¯t have a present to give him and making him c.u.m is the best thing I could think of. You agree with me, correct?¡± Tatiana looked at me.


    ¡°Well¡­¡± I was at a loss.


    ¡°We can¡¯t!¡± Rin chimed in.


    ¡°Why?¡± Tatiana scoffed.


    ¡°They mighte back soon¡­ Kaley¡¯s dad, Sir Oscar, and Sir Johnny¡­¡± Cynthia interjected.


    ¡°You two finally agreed with me¡­ we can do thatter¡­¡± Kaley was shaking her head.


    ¡°Hah! You said ter¡¯, correct? That¡¯s good enough for me.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Oh boy¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    It didn¡¯t take too long for Oscar and the rest toe back with a small basket of duck eggs. They brought a lot so I included the girls again in case they wanted to taste it.


    Shakshouka was pretty easy to make. I brought out arge skillet, and I ced a dash of oil to be heated in medium-high heat. I added in peppers and onions that I prepared beforehand and I cooked them until they were soft and was a little bit on the brown side.


    After that, I added tomatoes, vegetable broth, a few spices like c.u.min and paprika, then salt and pepper. I also have dried oregano so I added them in the mix. I cooked it for a while until the sauce thickened. The smell from the several ingredients cooking made the three old-timers restless and they were beside me watching me cook their food. <hr>


    Finally, I cracked the duck eggs on top of the sauce and cooked them for a bit before the yolk bes firm. I added a dash of parsley and feta cheese and I served it in front of them.


    ¡°I¡¯m hungry again.¡± Tatiana drooled.


    ¡°You always are!¡± Rin eximed.


    ¡°I wanted to have a taste too though¡­¡± Cynthia chuckled.


    ¡°Dad, use the serving spoon!¡± Kaley eximed.


    I made a lot so we shared another meal with the old-timers. Theyplimented my cooking while I made them coffee. We were lounging on the living room because were stuffed but Oscar and Matthew each pulled out a long case while Johnny pulled out two small cases.


    ¡°I got a few presents eh? I saw you three carrying them earlier.¡± I said, looking at the cases.


    ¡°Heh, let¡¯s just say that we have a little surprise for ya. Well, I thought I was the only one but these two prepared a little something as well. Guess what it is!¡± Oscar was smiling.


    ¡°I¡¯ll bet all of my guns that all of those cases have guns inside.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Motherf.u.c.ker. Heh, just f.u.c.k.i.n.g open them and you¡¯ll see what I¡¯ve been hiding before.¡± Oscar was shaking his head.


    I opened all of the cases in front of me and I couldn¡¯t help smiling like an idiot.


    The first one was from Oscar, it was a Remmington 870 Side Folder. It was obviously a shotgun but the difference from the normal 870s was on the name, its stock could be folded to the side. It had an 18.5-inch barrel ready for cing a Salvo 12 and it could hold 6 + 1 shells. There were a few more features like an adjustable cheek-piece, a recoil pad, a strap on the forend, sling mounting point, and etc.


    ¡°You like it, kid?¡± Oscar chuckled.


    ¡°Can I trade another AR-15 for this 870 Side Folder? I already have a Shockwave so-¡± I got cut off by Oscar.


    ¡°Hah! You f.u.c.k.i.n.g little shit! Can¡¯t you feel it?! You¡¯re slowly~ getting used to shotguns. A few more months and you might be carrying one primarily.¡± Oscarughed. <hr>


    ¡°Heh, thanks, old man. I knew that you would still be attempting to convert me.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Damn right, I am. You could give that shockwave to Kaley so she¡¯ll have another backup aside from what you two are using.¡± Oscar looked at Kaley.


    ¡°Sure, I might work on her bag so she could ce it on the side for easy ess.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, thanks! Won¡¯t that shotgun be too long for your bag?¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Well, the stock for this one could be folded easily. We could just switch bags or I¡¯ll find a way how to mount this on the side of my bag like the shockwave from before. It would be 11 inches when you fold this stock on the right side so I¡¯ll find a way to nestle it in.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Heh, it wouldn¡¯t be long before you two will be using shotguns.¡± Oscar celebrated.


    ¡°Not really, I¡¯ll trade these two in case I find something that I really want.¡± I said tly and Oscar almost choked because he still had food on his mouth.


    ¡°Hah! Kid, check what I brought for you. I discovered you were using guns chambered in .22 LRs on your runs while you¡¯re still using the Walther P22 you got from my shop. So, that¡¯s a little something with more bullet capacity. Most .22 LR pistols only hold 10 + 1 rounds but that thing could hold 16 + 1. I still remembered the conversation we had before so that¡¯s what I think could help you the most. It¡¯s also ready for adding in a can.¡± Johnny pointed at the two identical pistols on the cases.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°A Taurus TX-22. You wouldn¡¯t mind if I let Kaley use the other one?¡± I replied while smiling.


    ¡°Sure, no problem. You¡¯re both using the same pistol so I figured giving you a pair would be for the best. I started using the M&P you wanted before so I actually escaped bankruptcy by giving you that instead of the M&Ps. There are a couple of extra magazines included in the cases so n on how you want to set it up on your war belts.¡± Johnny smiled.


    ¡°Thank you. We¡¯ll make use of this right away.¡± I replied then Oscar grumbled while sipping his coffee.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get mad at me, this kid likes pistols and rifles too much you¡¯re already in the disadvantage when you got him a shotgun.¡± Johnny raised his hands helplessly.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. I was nning to give him a P320 but I don¡¯t want him to use more pistols than he already is. What I¡¯m doing will pay off someday, heh.¡± Oscar poured himself another cup.


    ¡°Okay, h h h. Kid, check out what I got for you!¡± Matthew eximed.

 Chapter 377

    Chapter 377: 377


    Looking at the bolt-action rifle on the case with a carbon fiber reinforced polymer stock, a user-interchangeable 24-inch barrel, a 5-26x56mm scope, an adjustable cheek riser and buttstock, a bipod, a sling, a suppressor, and etc., I remembered our little discussion yesterday. <center></center><hr>


    We briefly talked about teaching a long shooting ss and we discussed rifle calibers.


    ¡°It¡¯s chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, take care of it. That¡¯s the gun I easily hit 700 yards with. Well, I had a great spotter but that¡¯s my best record.¡± Matthew said with a solemn look.


    It was a Daniel Defense Delta 5 and from the looks of it, it was barely used.


    ¡°Dad¡­¡± Kaley was smiling brightly.


    ¡°You¡¯re still hiding a few guns in your RV, eh?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Heh, you know how it is about buying new rifles. We¡¯d need a ce to hide it from our wives.¡± Oscar chuckled.


    ¡°That¡¯s too f.u.c.k.i.n.g real bud.¡± Johnny added.


    ¡°Hmm, I still have my M70 so I¡¯ll stick with it. I just bought that a few years back but I rarely used it. I¡¯ll say that it¡¯s definitely better than my M70 but I¡¯m more experienced with my M70 and .308 rounds.¡± Matthew said, scratching his head.


    ¡°Also, correct me if I¡¯m wrong, it¡¯s not your style, heh.¡± Imented.


    ¡°Hmm, that too.¡± Matthew chuckled.


    ¡°I first thought you got this from Oscar, all of your guns have wood stocks.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Heh, I have one of those but it¡¯s chambered in .308 as well.¡± Oscar chimed.


    ¡°You know what¡¯s funny?¡± I told them.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± the three said at the same time. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I have the exact same rifle as this but it has seen a lot of action. I have a better scope but everything done to this thing was almost the exact same.¡± I said.


    ¡°What?!¡± Matthew didn¡¯t know how to react.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, no worries. It¡¯s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g Daniel Defense for f.u.c.k¡¯s sake. I know how f.u.c.k.i.n.g expensive this thing is. I need another bolt-action to teach Kaley and here we are. Thank you for this.¡± I calmed him down.


    ¡°It¡¯s like- nevermind. I¡¯m d you liked it and it goes towards teaching Kaley. It¡¯s a win-win situation for me.¡± Matthew raised his hands helplessly.


    I closed the cases and I thanked the three old-timers again.


    ¡°So kid, now that we know that you¡¯re nning to do something instead of holing up in your room, just stay in our ce and double-check on a few things you¡¯ve assigned to other people. See if they¡¯re cking on the job or might have missed something.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°But-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°It¡¯s just for a f.u.c.k.i.n.g day! Tatiana could lead your group for this day while you do your thing here.¡± Oscar said with a strict tone.


    ¡°That would be a great idea.¡± Rin interjected.


    ¡°How so?¡± I was still trying to go outside.


    ¡°Well, you asked Raphael to make a fewpartments on his Raptor and Tatiana¡¯s HUMVEE. They can¡¯t necessarily do it without those two being here, right?¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°They can do it when we get back, right?¡± I was grasping for straws.


    ¡°I heard Anthony could install an AC to Tatiana¡¯s HUMVEE, you know how hot it gets inside it, right?¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°I¡¯m used to it but it would be nice to have an AC installed.¡± Tatiana chuckled. <hr>


    ¡°We could use the other Raptor!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°Seriously? It needs a bit more oomph for our standards! It needs to have the same attachments we have for Raphael¡¯s Raptor before we could let a group use it solo outside! Besides, we¡¯d use that as a reference for the other one so the job could be easier!¡± Oscar added.


    ¡°I see what¡¯s going on, you¡¯re all just trying to keep me inside here, eh?¡± I understood what they were trying to do for me so I acted like I was being held against my will. Well, they¡¯ve made good points and they decided to pile on a few more.


    ¡°Well, you caught on easily, heh.¡± Johnny smiled.


    ¡°Okay, what else needs to be done around the ce? Throwing me anywhere could bump their output by several times.¡± I gave up trying to convince them.


    ¡°Umm, I helped Charlotte and the others with canning the radishes but there¡¯s still a few more. I said I¡¯d get to it but I would be going with An and Jenny again.¡± Cynthia chimed.


    ¡°Also, we still have a lot of empty mason jars and it would be nice if we could fill them all.¡± Rin said.


    ¡°I thought we gave a few to Borris?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s still a lot. You guys found several pallets worth in the factories.¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°Why are you guys so concerned about food? Wait- nevermind¡­¡± Tatiana scratched her head, embarrassingly.


    ¡°Hmm, if we¡¯re talking about food, we¡¯d need to make the ultimate survival food. Something that couldst years and still be good. We still have a lot of cured meat from Batangas and we could use several pounds of those.¡± I was in deep thought.


    ¡°Ultimate food? Is there such a thing?¡± Kaley grew curious.


    ¡°Pemmican.¡± I replied with a smile.


    ¡°What?¡± the girls were confused while the old-timers knew what I was talking about. <hr>


    ¡°Kid! I don¡¯t want to be in the hospital for a couple of weeks again!¡± Oscar bellowed before I got the chance to say anything.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k are you talking about?¡± Matthew was confused.


    ¡°Well, Oscar made his own back then and he stored them incorrectly. I told him to put it in the bas.e.m.e.nt where it¡¯s cool and dry but he ced it where it was getting direct sunlight and oxygen. It¡¯s pretty self-exnatory to say what happened because of that. I never got to make more because he kept on stopping me.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Wait, but what is it?¡± Kaley asked again.


    ¡°It¡¯s the ultimate sur- Ow! Kaley!¡± Kaley bonked me.


    ¡°We heard you the first time!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Okay, to give a little introduction, Pemmican is something created by the Native Americans. Everyone calls it the survival food because if you make and store it correctly, it couldst decades without spoiling.¡± I started.


    ¡°Really?¡± Cynthia¡¯s interest was piqued as well.


    ¡°Yeah, I was nning to make a lot of it before but I never had the time. I have a few containers of them stored but it¡¯s all the spicy ones. Anyway, Pemmican is really easy to make and transport and it was even adopted by Europeans and merchants back in the day.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What is it made of? Fish or something? Rabbits? We could make a lot if we¡¯re using those, correct?¡± Tatiana asked, intrigued.


    ¡°Oh, not exactly. It¡¯s because rabbits and fish are too lean We need meat with a little more fat in them. Pemmican actually stemmed from the word fat or grease in a differentnguage. They used to make it with venison, elk, or even moose but we could use beef just as easily. Luckily we have a lot of dried beef so the drying process is already done for us.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Like beef jerky then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Eh~ not exactly. Let¡¯s stop talking about it and just help me prepare the ingredients we needed before making them.¡± I replied, standing up to stretch.


    ¡°What do we need then?¡± Rin chimed, getting up as well. <hr>


    ¡°Since I¡¯ve made a few spicy ones already, let¡¯s make a few sweet and tangy ones. I already have the cooking equipment here so I¡¯ll only need the ingredients. I¡¯ll need several pounds of dried meat, dried blueberries, dried cranberries, almonds, walnuts, and honey.¡± I started.


    ¡°Heck, you¡¯re cooking already kid? I was thinking you should take a break but I think this thing could still take a toll on ya if you do it all day.¡± Oscar reminded me.


    ¡°Cooking? Hell no. I could cook all day without a sweat. Did you forget how much cooking rxes me?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Well, shit. I guess I¡¯ll bring Jared and the others with me. For once I could bark orders from the ¡®elites¡¯ heh.¡± Oscar excused himself.


    ¡°I¡¯lle with you then.¡± Matthew caught up to him and Oscar nodded.


    ¡°I¡¯ll pay a visit to the DDR Camp to check on a few things. I¡¯ll stop by at Ken¡¯s room to be another set of eyes on the cameras.¡± Johnny said, getting up as well.


    ¡°Okay, thanks for the guns again! I¡¯ll make sure that they¡¯ll be put to good use!¡± I shouted so they three old-timers could hear me.


    They went their own way while Rin and Tatiana have gone to the bas.e.m.e.nt to check on the ingredients that I asked for. Cynthia was taking all the cups and tes to the sink so Kaley could wash them.


    ¡°You really know a lot about stuff don¡¯t you?¡± Cynthia was wiping the table the kids used.


    ¡°And he could cook as well.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Heh, did you two forget I promised to read a lot and get good at cooking? I never break my promises.¡± I faintly smiled.


    It didn¡¯t take too long for Rin and Tatiana toe back with baskets full of the ingredients I requested for. I preheated the oven while Rin was organizing the packets and the bottles neatly on the table. I asked Kaley to bring out the knives I own while I asked Cynthia to bring out the food processor and a few bowls.


    ¡°You four are really gonna help me with everything eh?¡± Imented.


    ¡°Obviously.¡± they all answered.


    ¡°Okay, here¡¯s the first thing to do.¡± I said as I ced the cured meats in front of us.

 Chapter 378

    Chapter 378: 378


    We each had a b of meat in front of us and I told them to trim down the fat and put them in a separate bowl. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Make sure to be precise be- Tatiana, don¡¯t munch on them!¡± I suddenly saw Tatiana sneaking a piece on her mouth.


    ¡°What? The meat¡¯s calling for me!¡± Tatiana joked.


    ¡°We¡¯re preparing these! Don¡¯t just eat them all!¡± Rin pouted.


    ¡°Hngh~¡± Tatiana stooped her head low and then she tried her best to keep herself in check.


    It took us a few minutes but I finished trimming the fat off on my first b. I started pointing out the things that they missed and a few things they could improve upon.


    ¡°Tatiana¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°What? I¡¯m not eating them!¡± Tatiana looked at me with widened eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m not telling you that. Don¡¯t use much force, trust the knife. It¡¯s sharp as it is, you don¡¯t need to apply more force.¡± I continued.


    ¡°Thrust? What?¡± Tatiana tilted her head then Kaley snorted.


    ¡°Tatiana¡­¡± Rin and Cynthia were giggling.


    ¡°Trust! T-R-U-S-T! Trust! Not thrust!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Ah~ I¡¯m really not good at cooking¡­¡± Tatiana turned her b of meat over.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re having a little ss now. Isn¡¯t doing this kind of thing kinda rxing as he said?¡± Cynthia chimed.


    ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t know yet. We have different ways to rx though, heh.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°And what do you mean by that? Hmm?¡± Kaley raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°You really want to know?¡± Tatiana chuckled. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh boy¡­ we¡¯re taking longer than normal¡­¡± I thought to myself while on my third b.


    ¡°From what I observed, Rin is the most rxed after she finished organizing and listing everything in her notebook. On Cynthia¡¯s case, it is while she¡¯s reading theic- wait, manga, correct?¡± Tatiana said, waving her knife around.


    Rin and Cynthia smiled because Tatiana was spot on.


    ¡°How about me and him though? Hmm?¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m not too sure about you two yet. Well, as he said, cooking rxes him but every time I saw him make something, he has this peaceful look in his face. But you¡­ I think it¡¯s every time you remove your bra because your b.o.o.b.s are too- Whoa! Don¡¯t wave that knife around!¡± Tatiana took a step back when Kaley snapped at her while her knife was raised.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley was just pouting while looking at Tatiana.


    ¡°What?¡± Tatiana started on her b once more.


    ¡°Hngh~ Well, you¡¯re not wrong¡­¡± Kaley was annoyed.


    ¡°Heh, I knew it.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°There are a few things I only know of though.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Then what about you? What do you do to rx?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Aside from having s.e.x?¡± Tatiana said innocently.


    ¡°S-Sure¡­¡± Cynthia said helplessly while Rin and Kaley were shaking their heads.


    ¡°What do you guys think?¡± Tatiana smiled.


    The three were in deep thought but I made a guess of my own.


    ¡°It¡¯s pretty obvious, right? You like putting things on your mouth.¡± I added while on my fifth b.


    ¡°Hmm, I guess I like sucking your di-¡± I immediately interrupted her. <hr>


    ¡°Not that!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Eating their pus-¡± the three interrupted her.


    ¡°No! Tatiana!¡± the three eximed.


    ¡°What? I don¡¯t understand.¡± Tatiana was confused.


    ¡°Ha~ It¡¯s eating food! Haven¡¯t you noticed yourself?¡± I said as I was wiping my knife.


    ¡°Oh, I guess you¡¯re right. I really love eating. Well, those other two as well.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°¡­¡± the three.


    ¡°A-Anyway, after you four are done with your bs, cut them into very~ thin strips like this.¡± I said as I showed them a few strips I cut from my cutting board.


    ¡°Wha- how many did your trim already?!¡± Cynthia eximed.


    ¡°Fifteen? You guys are talking to each other too much I finished most of it. The oven¡¯s not gonna fit all of them so we¡¯ll do them by batches.¡± I replied.


    The four started to be a little quiet as they focused on trimming their bs of meat. I on the other hand sliced enough for a few trays and I ced them inside the oven in the lowest setting to dry them up even more. A normal one would take more than half a day to dry and it was a good thing we already have a few ready. I was just drying them up even more to be sure. I even cracked open the door of the oven so that there would be no moisture build-up while it was inside the oven.


    ¡°How long are you gonna put them in there for?¡± Kaley approached me.


    ¡°Just a little bit because they¡¯re dry already. I just needed them to be dry enough that when I bend them, they would crack.¡± I replied.


    ¡°And after that?¡± Kaley asked another question.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna use the food processor to grind them until they turn to fine meat dust. We have a lot here so we might also use the blender or I¡¯ll borrow another one from my aunt.¡± I replied.


    While they were finishing their bs, I brought out a few pots and ced the fat we trimmed from the meat. I ced them on the stove over low heat as well right until all the fat has melted. <hr>


    It would take time for everything to be ready but I felt Kaley tapping me.


    ¡°I¡¯m done with mine, is there anything else I could do?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m done too~¡± Cynthia added.


    Thest one to finish was Rin because she wanted everything to be perfectly trimmed. She even checked the other¡¯s work first before she told me she was done.


    ¡°Well, you could open a few packets of our dry ingredients first, and let¡¯s estimate the amount we would be putting into each batch.¡± I instructed them.


    ¡°Hey, why aren¡¯t we using fresh ingredients though?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Oh, it would be better to use not only dry ingredients but also ingredients that have long shelf lives. We could use fresh ingredients but it could affect how long the final product wouldst.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh~ I see. Are these the only ingredients we could use?¡± Cynthia asked, opening a few packets and cing them on a bowl.


    ¡°Not exactly, I did say I made spicy ones earlier. There¡¯s a lot of options to choose from and it all depends on how you want your pemmican to taste like. What I¡¯ve tried adding before aside from the ones we are using were mangoes, bananas, apples, kiwis, gr.a.p.es, pineapples, and various chilies. I¡¯ve also tried adding different kinds of nuts and different kinds of spices.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Could we use other stuff than honey?¡± Rin chimed.


    ¡°Other than honey? Hmm, we could try using caramel, msses, vani extract, or other syrups.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh! Can I make my ownbination for a small batch?¡± Cynthia was excited.


    ¡°Sure, we could experiment with it but whatever happens, we got to eat it, okay? I¡¯m not saying it would be bad but your first batch would be massively different from your 100th batch. Well, I¡¯m gonna trust you with it because you¡¯ve cooked before.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Okay! I¡¯ll try making something with pineapples¡­¡± Cynthia made a short trip to the bas.e.m.e.nt.


    We were talking for a while but the oven bell dinged.


    ¡°Oh, the first batch is ready.¡± I stood up and checked the quality.


    They easily cracked upon bending so I ced them all in our food processors. The food processors started to grind them into dust and while it was doing that, I started to strain some of the fat we were trying to melt earlier. <hr>


    ¡°Hey! The meat is all ground up!¡± Cynthia called me over.


    ¡°Can you ce them in a bowl and mix it with the dry ingredients? We¡¯ll ce the fat and honeyter so mix them up well.¡± I replied.


    They all nodded though I still helped them with mixing all the ingredients.


    ¡°Oh yeah, about using fresh ingredients, will it be okay if we dried them with the oven too?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm, well¡­ I think it would be okay. We¡¯ll use my dehydrator if we¡¯re pressed for time.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, you have something better than the oven? Why didn¡¯t we use it?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Heh, aside from showing you all a few ways we could make it, I would like to spend time with you all. It¡¯s nice to cook with people to talk to. Especially with people I¡¯m really fond with.¡± I said as I was mixing my batch.


    ¡°¡­¡± the four were silent.


    ¡°What?¡± I tilted my head.


    ¡°Nothing¡­¡± they all faintly smiled.


    ¡°O-Okay¡­ can you guys pass me the fat and the honey? This is thest step in making it. We just need to ce them inside vacuum-sealed bags and we¡¯re done.¡± I said while wiping my sweat with a towel.


    ¡°Oh! Can we ce them inside these molds?¡± Rin quickly opened the cabs.


    ¡°Sure! Let¡¯s do it quickly while they¡¯re still soft. Let¡¯s use the rectangle-shaped ones so we could stack themter when we store them.¡± I replied.


    Rin washed them first before I poured the mixture inside the molds. Cynthia made a little run to my aunt¡¯s house to borrow a few more molds so we could shape everything. It didn¡¯t take long before each of them tried to make their own mixture but surprisingly, Tatiana made the best one out of all of them. She made use of her experience of eating a lot to determine which foodbination would taste better. The three were in disbelief when I dered Tatiana the winner.


    ¡°Can we try a few more samplester? I want to taste the spicy one you made.¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE ALREADY EATING ONE!!!¡± the three eximed.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s good.¡± Tatiana chuckled.

 Chapter 379

    Chapter 379: 379


    To avoid more losses from production due to Tatiana, I gave her each vor of what we made. We made a total of sixbinations of vors including the spicy one I made before. Since we brought out dried fruits mostly, the other five vors were mostly sweet and tangy but with different vor profiles. <center></center><hr>


    We managed to make several pounds of Pemmican and all that was left to do was to store them properly. I used to just scoop them all and shove them in a bag before vacuum-sealing it but Rin¡¯s suggestion of forming them into shapes first could save us a lot of space if we stack them together.


    ¡°Are we gonna ce them all in the bas.e.m.e.nt?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Yeah, but we need to ce them in a dark container or cover a clear one with dark fabric or a tarp so that any chance of the sunlight hitting them is reduced to the minimum.¡± I replied.


    ¡°The sun? The bas.e.m.e.nt is underground, right?¡± Kaley looked at me weirdly.


    ¡°I¡¯m paranoid, just bear with me. We might move it somece else and might forget that it needs to be covered.¡± I said then they shook their heads in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    While we were carefully packing them, a few of my family and friends came by to greet me with a huge grin on their faces. They already knew that I feel awkward getting greeted over and over and I would put out this fake smile that they were all too familiar with. A simple nod would¡¯ve worked fine but they went out of their way to see my awkward reaction.


    We ced the final container to the bas.e.m.e.nt but Tatiana tapped me.


    ¡°Hey, I almost forgot, what¡¯s the contents of the safe from the other Raptor? Jared said you mostly found doc.u.ments?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Oh, I briefly nced at them and it contained a few ns of escape. That Raptor was essentially his bug-out vehicle.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Does that mean he had a few ces in mind he could go to in case something goes wrong?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, he had a few ces marked on the map of his. One of them is a bit further in from where we took care of the cult and a few others were much farther. Almost all of them points out to provinces and not the cities and even one of them is kinda near Mr. Cuervo¡¯s ce.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Really?¡± Cynthia chimed in. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, but you still needed to drive for a few hours to reach that ce. Maybe I¡¯ll contact Mr. Cuervo or Ilya, Niks, and Alexei. We don¡¯t know what could be there so better safe than sorry.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Is that all?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm, aside from a few unknown numbers I don¡¯t know what for yet and a few volumes of a survival book, there¡¯s not much. He wasn¡¯t hiding a lot of things except for those marked locations.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Have you checked on the notebook from the cult?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Not yet, I was a little busy yesterday night when we arrived.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± Rin blushed slightly.


    ¡°Just say that you two were f.u.c.k.i.n.g, it¡¯s not like we don¡¯t know what you and Kaley were up to.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°A-Anyway, I flipped through a few pagesst night before I went to sleep and a couple of them seems to be like diaries?¡± Rin ended her sentence a bit high-pitched.


    ¡°You don¡¯t sound too sure.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Y-Yeah, it¡¯s just a little weird. I¡¯ll present it at the meeting if I understand a bit more. I don¡¯t want to bog you on your day.¡± Rin waved me off.


    ¡°No, you should. You already got my interest piqued by saying that, what made it weird?¡± I looked at Rin while we just came back to the kitchen again.


    ¡°I-It¡¯s supposed to be a diary but¡­ but there are two different handwritings¡­¡± Rin said, confused. <hr>


    ¡°Different handwritings? Are you sure?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I saw that as well.¡± Tatiana confirmed with a serious look.


    ¡°Hmm, okay, here¡¯s what I suggest you do if you have extra time. Look through the files that Marvin and his group managed to collect. Ask Ken or Kris for help with the digital copies and look for the real identity of not just the father but the other people that I took pictures of on that balcony. If you found nothing, start looking through the physical copies. If you managed to find a match or something simr, look through their handwriting when they filled out their forms so we could somewhat identify as to who owns the other diary. We don¡¯t have the software to identify handwriting and faces so we¡¯ll rely on our attention to detail.¡± I exined.


    ¡°If I found nothing?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll look for more clues from other runs until we find the exact match. I¡¯ll help you when I have the time to spare but don¡¯t dwell too much on it. Worst case scenario, they have another branch much further out and we need to take care of them too. I¡¯m just hoping they still stick together and not disperse like cowards when they discover what we did to them.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, why?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say we would have a lot more problems if they start to form more outposts. It would be easier to take care of them if they¡¯re all located in the same spot. Anyway, we¡¯re not even sure if there¡¯s more of them. We¡¯ll talk about this in one of our meetings when we find out more information from those notebooks.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What are we gonna do now? We¡¯re done making Pemmican, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Me? I¡¯m nning to go back to my room and start cleaning some of the guns we collected from the operation. I¡¯ll salvage some parts from the ones that are beyond repair. You guys could help me if you want so we could finish all of them in the couple hours that are left before lunch.¡± I replied.


    They all just nodded and we went to my armory.


    The guns were already cleared before piling them here but we double-checked just to be sure. I was in a lot of situations especially in gun stores where a customer would say that the barrel was clear but when the person behind the counter checked it, a bullet would suddenly fall off the floor. It would be then reced with an awkward look by the customer before sending that customer away and banned from entering the same shop again.


    Not only that, but I was also in other situations where a customer would just g everyone inside the store with his muzzle or would even negligently discharge his firearm inside. After spending a few minutes checking each gun, we never found live ammunition but I found a spent casing that wasn¡¯t ejected properly. I just simply removed it before we started wiping all the guns off from the initial dirt or grime. <hr>


    Inspecting most of them, Rin and I¡¯s OCD was kicking in.


    ¡°We need to clean everything thoroughly.¡± Rin and I simultaneously said.


    Kaley, Tatiana, and Cynthia chuckled and they didn¡¯t argue with us. They just smiled and followed our instructions.


    I brought out my cleaning kits and we each had an area in the tables to get started with disassembling each gun. The only person that was having a little bit of trouble was Cynthia because she was only experienced in basic cleaning and not thorough cleaning. However, she was next to Rin and she was guiding her with the manual for the guns she was about to disassemble. Rin wasn¡¯t proficient in shooting that much but she learned how to field strip most of the guns in our arsenal because she just wanted to clean them thoroughly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid to ask questions, okay?¡± Rin said as Cynthia nodded a few times.


    I on the other hand started with my BCM AR-15 while Kaley started with her PSA AR-15. Our rifles had a lot of parts to be taken out so we were being extra careful not to lose each one of them. However, when I was watching Kaley field strip her own, I saw some wear and a slight bend on her firing pin. It wasn¡¯t as obvious to the n.a.k.e.d eye but me looking at it was already giving me signals. It was a good thing it didn¡¯t malfunction yesterday.


    I stood up and grabbed a new one for her.


    ¡°Here, rece it with this one. You could still use this for a few more rounds but this firing pin is nearing its limit. It slipped my mind that you¡¯ve been shooting a lot with that gun already and the parts are starting to give out.¡± I said as I gave her a new firing pin.


    ¡°Oh, thanks. It¡­ it really looks kinda~ different from a new one¡­¡± Kaley examined the two firing pins closely.


    ¡°Is it? I can¡¯t see any difference.¡± Cynthia also took a look at it.


    ¡°Well, the obvious one is the fouling but even if you clean it thoroughly, it would still malfunction sooner orter. We could set aside this one so I could straighten it a bit but I won¡¯t suggest you use this one anymore. I guess I¡¯ll ce this on the AR-15s the people on the walls are using. They¡¯re safe up top and could use a backup gun but in our case, it would be life-threatening if our guns malfunctions outside.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Why does a firing pin get to that state?¡± Cynthia asked. <hr>


    ¡°If you shoot a lot, that usually happens.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How many shots would it take? Around 1000?¡± Rin added.


    ¡°What? No, themon life expectancy of a firing pin is around 6000 rounds but it could be different if we consider other factors. I had one that onlysted 2000 because it was poorly made. The best thing to do is to check your whole gun, not just the firing pin, after each use to be sure. There¡¯s a lot of parts to a gun and it could malfunction not only by a faulty firing pin but from the other parts too.¡± I exined then Kaley nodded.


    ¡°Oh~ what about Tatiana¡¯s AKM though?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°What about it?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you clean it.¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°Hah! This?! I could bury this in dirt and it would still work!¡± Tatiana startedughing.


    ¡°What?! Really?!¡± Rin and Cynthia were shocked but they looked at me for confirmation.


    ¡°Yes, it has been done multiple times. The reliability of an AK tform is something else. But¡­¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°But what?¡± Tatiana was surprised.


    ¡°Clean it, it¡¯s still dirty.¡± I said with a grin.

 Chapter 380

    Chapter 380: 380


    The moment the words came out of my mouth, the three looked at Tatiana¡¯s expression. However, I thought she would argue her case but she slowly smiled brightly after raising an eyebrow. I suddenly got chills when she did that and the three slowly looked back at what I would do. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°W-What? Why are you smiling like that?¡± I stuttered.


    ¡°Nothing. I don¡¯t know why, I just like it when you order me around.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°You? Getting submissive?¡± I was confused.


    ¡°¡­¡± the three were confused and speechless.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I said ¡®I don¡¯t know why¡¯, I always follow the orders of my higher-ups but with you, it¡¯s kinda different. Well, starting to be.¡± Tatiana started taking down her AKM.


    ¡°Thanks?¡± I was looking at her weirdly.


    ¡°Hahaha, anyway, how clean do you want it to be?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Spotless, obviously.¡± Rin chimed.


    ¡°Oh, as clean as before we prep for anal, corr-¡± Tatiana was cutoff.


    ¡°Tatiana!¡± Rin and Kaley eximed while Cynthia was beet-red. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What? I¡¯m just making a simpleparison.¡± Tatiana was chuckling as she borrowed a brush for the bore.


    ¡°Well¡­ if you think about it¡­ s-sure¡­ l-like that¡­¡± I was shaking my head as I was brushing the bolt of my rifle.


    Tatiana¡¯s AKM had fewer parts to go through but she took her time thoroughly cleaning it until it was pristine. The rest of us did so as well and we made sure to properly oil them before we switched to the next gun. Tatiana and I made faster progress than everyone because we were familiar with most of the guns present.


    I was picking up the ones with the most moving parts while the rest were picking up the ones they were more familiar with. If there was a gun unbeknownst to them, they have the manuals to look into to make sure the gun was stripped properly.


    As I was cleaning some of them, I spotted a few parts that needed to be reced. The others noticed a few too and approached me to confirm if it was the same case. What we did is we set them aside for now and we would either rece them with new parts or use the other existing ones from the other guns we salvaged the internals.


    Noon came and we weren¡¯t even done with half of them. We took a small break and we went down to eat lunch. Everyone was present and we ate a simple meal of fish and vegetables. I finished eating and I was about to get Kaley and I water but the kids were holding tes with sses of water and slowly walking to each one of us. I got two for Kaley and me and I thanked Aya for bringing us our water.


    ¡°Now this is convenient, heh.¡± Oscar chuckled.


    ¡°Old man, you brought Jared and the rest with you earlier, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, Matthew¡¯s with me too, why?¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Where did you guys go?¡± I asked, sipping some water.


    ¡°We drove a bit further in the Bcan Area, way past Lolomboy where the cult was located but still in the same municipality.¡± Oscar replied. <hr>


    ¡°What? Where? Oh¡­¡± realization struck.


    ¡°What are you two talking about?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°The Intercity.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What¡¯s in that ce?¡± Cynthia chimed.


    ¡°It¡¯s a business center solely focused on rice. It¡¯s located on the barangay of Wakas, a few more barangays past the ce where we did the operation yesterday. That ce has lots of mills and that is also where I get my supplies of rice to sell in my stores. There¡¯s a few more like them all throughout this country but that ce is the nearest one in our location. A single store inside could contain more than a thousand sacks of rice and there are close to a hundred stores.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Your uncle asked us to head there earlier and we found people there. They recognized your uncle and we talked for quite a while. Good thing we brought the 8-wheeler and Mark¡¯s team with my SUV and we went back full of f.u.c.k.i.n.g~ rice. I¡¯m not that fond of it but I know all of you can¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g live without it, heh.¡± Oscar replied, chuckling.


    ¡°What?! They just gave them to you? Where¡¯s Unc Zardon?¡± I was surprised but then I called over Unc Zardon. We repeated most of what we conversed with him and I asked a few questions for rification.


    ¡°Oh, earlier eh? Well, a ¡®thank you¡¯ is the right word for it. The owners from J & E, Jomarro, and Angelica are well and alive along with a few more others. They recognized our truck actually and they made us drive inside. We saw their situation there and they were doing pretty good.¡± Unc Zardon started.


    ¡°There¡¯s also a ton of people outside trying to get in or get a share as well but the ce is seemingly well-guarded and they don¡¯t let anyone in without proper trading goods. They¡¯re stocked as in f.u.c.k.i.n.g stocked.¡± Matthew added.


    ¡°Seemingly?¡± I asked. <hr>


    ¡°Soldiers from the overrun DDR Camps were hunkered there and protecting the ce. They¡¯re guarding two entrances and they¡¯re putting out a huge front just to scare away or put down hostiles. However, they don¡¯t have the means to produce more ammo so they¡¯re running a little low. We¡¯re looking at a possible survival partner.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Wait, unc, you also said the rice was a ¡®thank you¡¯, what do you mean?¡± I asked but Unc Zardon looked at Oscar.


    ¡°Yeah, they learned of what happened yesterday and they discovered that we were the ones who did it. They said it was just proper to give us something for it so they filled our vehicles to the brim. Well, they took it from the other stores that were abandoned but who gives a f.u.c.k, right? Rice is rice.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I was in deep thought.


    ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°The partnership idea, I don¡¯t think it would be good to partner with them in the long run.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I agree.¡± Matthew chimed and Johnny nodded.


    ¡°Why? They have a lot of supplies, right?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°In the end, the Intercity is just a huge storage area for rice now. They have no way to replenish their supplies and as much as I hate to say this, it was stupid of them to just give us several hundred sacks. If it was me, I would¡¯ve asked for a bit more. Sooner orter their supplies would run out and the only use of having that ce aside from a storage area are the mills to grind the harvested grains to rice.¡± I exined.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s our course of action, kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°We¡¯d trade them for anything we could replenish easily and we don¡¯t have any use for. Let¡¯s take everything sack that we could because their price would ramp up definitely when their supplies started to go red. Let¡¯s take advantage of it now while they¡¯re still feeling a bit generous. Do we have a means ofmunication?¡± I looked at Oscar. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, they have a HAM Radio Operator and I think it¡¯s easy enough to make contact. However, I forgot to ask what frequency they are broadcasting in. Vera, you could figure that out, right?¡± Oscar turned to Vera.


    ¡°Yes, you could all drop by the radio stationter after I¡¯ve made contact. I¡¯ll just need a few things like their names or something to make it easier to recognize them.¡± Vera replied.


    ¡°Wait a sec, aren¡¯t we gonna at least talk it out a bit more and find a way? You know those people, right?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the way to go but we need to secure a lot of their supplies first. We don¡¯t know their full situation yet and I¡¯ll weigh the pros and cons. To give more context, the Intercity is not owned by any single person. Each owner has varying degrees of ownership inside. It would be difficult to figure out as to who holds the most power inside now and who the soldiers have sided with. It would be great if they¡¯re united but if they¡¯re not, we need to tread carefully. Their ce sounds promising but we need to make sure everything is okay.¡± I exined.


    ¡°If everything is okay, how can we make it work with them?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Each of them either has a field of their own where they grow the rice that they mill or has some sort of partnership with a farmer or andowner. The owner of J & E and Angelica are getting their supply from their rice fields deep in the provinces while the owner of Jomarro is getting its supply from imports and local farmers. It¡¯s kinda the same thing with the other owners the way they do business and it boils down to who you made the best deal with.¡± I started.


    ¡°Um¡­¡± Rin was confused with a few others.


    ¡°I just added more options but everything is still a hypothetical. We could help them if their farms are located in a great position.¡± I replied.


    ¡°And what would that do?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°They obviously would have no choice but to do other things if they ran out of the items they could trade with us. If we go with the partnership route, we need to know where their farms are located and if it is defensible so we could have a supply of rice when harvestes. It¡¯s either that or we go im our own. The closer the better.¡± I exined.

 Chapter 381

    Chapter 381: 381


    Everyone was contemting but Oscar spoke up. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Kid, before we get to that iming ournd route, how long would it take for rice to grow? Also, how many could let¡¯s say¡­ an acre ofnd could produce?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Oh yeah, about that¡­ it ranges from four to five months. If we¡¯re talking about an acre, it could yield around 6000-8000 pounds.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot. Howrge is Woonds? In total? Can¡¯t we just do it there?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°If we¡¯re going by thend contract, it¡¯s approximately 14.1 hectares or roughly 34.8 acres. However, most of it is paved road or houses now and we could only nt rice or other vegetables on the empty lots we have over there. Not only that, we¡¯ve already had crops in rotation and it would be a waste if we pull them out and nt rice instead. And even if we did, it wouldn¡¯t be enough for everybody.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Are there any ces much closerpared to the Bcan area where we could nt more crops? I think it¡¯s a bad idea to reimnd that is several hours away from home base. Having more rice is good and all but I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the best course of action now.¡± Johnny added.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why I¡¯m thinking of just taking most of their stocks by trading items we don¡¯t necessarily need. However, if we¡¯re talking aboutnd, I have an idea but it¡¯s not as big as the rice fields the owners at the Intercity have ess to before this shit started. It¡¯s pretty close too now that I think about it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°And where is that?¡± some of them asked at the same time.


    ¡°Pulo.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Pulo?¡± Oscar tilted his head.


    ¡°To be specific, the school that they have right next to the za and the church. Pulo National High School. It¡¯s walking distance to where Borris and Cyrill are located and it only has one main entrance. The walls of it are high too so it¡¯s also defensible.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait- Kid, we have another high school here, right? Why are we going for another that¡¯s a few minutes away?¡± Matthew chimed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget about the elementary school.¡± Unc Zardon added.


    ¡°Yes, but we can¡¯t nt on rock, can we? The ones we have here have little gardens but we¡¯re already making use of them to nt vegetables. That high school we are talking about is something simr to my old high school. The walkways are the only things made of cement over there and it has an ample amount ofnd we could nt crops into. We could send people over there like what we did to my old high school and make it into another outpost or a DDR Camp. If we¡¯re lucky, we could also recruit some of the soldiers in the Intercity back to this ce.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s much more feasible than sending our people to far ces without backup if anything happens.¡± Johnny added.


    The rest of my people seemed to be in agreement so we changed our n slightly. Vera was tasked to make contact with the Intercity while Oscar would bring my group and Mark¡¯s group to clear the high school in Pulo with soldiers from the DDR Camp. We tidied up the tables and Oscar came out of his house inbat gear.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit kid, we should¡¯ve discussed this yesterday.¡± Oscar was handing out ammo for my team.


    ¡°Well, to be fair, the Intercity being up and running with the bonus sacks of rice was a surprise. I coulde with you if you need backup?¡± I suggested with a sly grin.


    ¡°Heh, just stay put in your house you little shit. I thought you have a lot more guns to clean? Get it shining like chrome and we¡¯ll trade the ones we could let go over to that ce. I bet they¡¯ll give a lot even if it¡¯s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g Hi-Point.¡± Oscar chuckled.


    ¡°Sure, old man. Bring Lois if you need someone to scout with the drones. Jared could drive it well but you need more eyes in the air before you go in.¡± I suggested.


    They took a few minutes of getting ready and then they drove outside thepound.


    The five of us were about to head back to my room but we found a few stowaways. Cynthia was talking to Charlotte, Chris, and Olivia and the three decided toe help or just apany us in cleaning the guns upstairs. Olivia could walk now but not for long periods of time. They were assisting her in climbing up the stairs but I decided it would be faster if I carried her.


    ¡°SKY~! THIS IS EMBARASSING~! I¡¯M NOT A CHILD~!¡± Olivia eximed but it was already toote.


    No one was stopping me because they were allughing at Olivia¡¯s expression. Even Zeus was happily following me up the stairs. Iid her down in afortable chair while the rest followed. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, back to work. We still have a lot to go.¡± I said as I opened the armory once more.


    ¡°Olivia and I will just be here watching. If you want us to help with anything, we¡¯re here~¡± Charlotte said, sitting close to Olivia.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus added.


    ¡°I¡¯ll help with the handguns. If there are revolvers, I could clean them just fine because Oscar taught me a bit.¡± Chris offered his help.


    ¡°Sure, just sit next to Rin so she could hand you the manuals if you get in trouble. We¡¯re stripping thempletely to remove everything that it shouldn¡¯t have. If we¡¯re gonna trade them, they¡¯d have to look extra shiny.¡± I replied.


    We continued cleaning the guns and we made more progress because we have more people present. We talked about a lot of things while we were cleaning them and we got to the topic of long shooting.


    ¡°Hey¡­ I heard from Lois that you¡¯re gonna teach another shooting ss aside from the usual ones? He said you¡¯ll teach sniping?¡± Olivia opened up the topic.


    ¡°Really?! Can I attend as well?!¡± Chris was excited.


    ¡°¡­¡± Rin seemed to be interested but she didn¡¯t voice it out.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m gonna teach that ss to those that wanted to try their hand on it. However, this is gonna be a little differentpared to my usual pistol and rifle ss. This is gonna be more difficult because you would take into ount a few more things and it would involve math for the shots we would be taking. Well, I don¡¯t want to discourage you from learning it so it would be better to experience it firsthand. Who knows, someone might be better using long guns than the other ones.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t like anything withputations on it¡­¡± Charlotte already backed out. <hr>


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll try if I could be good at it.¡± Chris nodded a few times.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it wouldn¡¯t be thatplicated.¡± I assured them.


    ¡°Sis! Can I use your other gun that looks like the one dad uses?¡± Olivia looked at Kaley.


    ¡°My M70? I could give it to you if you want. It¡¯s surprising to see you interested in using guns.¡± Kaley replied, smiling.


    ¡°Great- Hey! I¡¯ve attended a few sses already!¡± Olivia eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, sure~ Joking aside, you need to attend as many sses as you could even if you¡¯re just watching. Dad always says that he will protect us but it would be better if we could protect ourselves and protect others as well.¡± Kaley said then Olivia nodded a few times.


    ¡°Can I join in too?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Me as well? I might borrow a gun though¡­ I think my CZ 457 can¡¯t reach that far¡­¡± Cynthia trailed.


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll provide the guns each one of you would be using but be sure to bring a notebook and a pencil.¡± I started.


    ¡°We¡¯ll need to take notes?¡± Chris asked.


    ¡°Somewhat, you¡¯d call that notebook your DOPE. Before you say anything, it¡¯s an acronym. It stands for Data On Previous Engagements. It could contain everything from each shot you made. It could have the range of the target, the elevation, the bullet used, the windpensation, temperature, environmental factors, and so much more.¡± I started a small lecture.


    ¡°You¡¯ve shot a lot of guns, right?¡± Charlotte asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yes, why do you ask?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can we just use what¡¯s in your DOPE and achieve what you could do?¡± Charlotte said with a scrunched brow.


    ¡°That¡¯s a no. It¡¯s much deeper than that actually. The goal of having a DOPE is so that you could have previous data on hand and use that data to try to consistently hit urate shots. However, you must remember thatpletely following what¡¯s in your DOPE couldn¡¯t always guarantee a hit. We need to always make small or evenrge adjustments because the same situation, environment, and even the gun and cartridge we would be using wouldn¡¯t always be the same. Besides, I have my DOPE in my head, not in a notebook.¡± I exined, smiling.


    ¡°What?¡± Charlotte was starting to get confused.


    ¡°Well, let me give a simple example. Wait- I think we should finish this all first and start discussing in-depth when we start the ss.¡± I stopped discussing when I saw Rin already writing a few things on a new notebook.


    ¡°What?! Could we at least have something to do initially?¡± Rin and Olivia protested.


    ¡°Sure¡­ pick a gun that you would like to use first.¡± I started then they came back to me with M70s. The one Olivia was using was the one that Kaley used to own while the one Rin picked was an M70 with just a factory scope from one of the shelves. Kaley and Tatiana were already shaking their heads from the two and they started chuckling when Chris and Cynthia followed suit. They picked different kinds but the rifles were all bolt-action.


    ¡°Okay, what¡¯s next?¡± the four said, expectant.


    ¡°Grab this little wrench.¡± I replied.


    ¡°This wrench? Why?¡± they asked, curious.


    I nced at Kaley and Tatiana once more and they were hiding a smirk.


    ¡°Remove the scope, we¡¯re starting from scratch.¡± I said, chuckling.

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    Chapter 382: 382


    ¡°T-The scope? Why?¡± Olivia asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, the scope. Well, not just the scope. Remove everything attached to it but do make sure that it¡¯s something you really want to use. If not, you¡¯ll be doing the same thing again if you changed to another one.¡± I advised.


    ¡°Yeah, but why?¡± Chris asked the same question.


    ¡°As I said earlier, we¡¯re starting from scratch. You¡¯d need to adjust it ording to yourself. It¡¯s whether we¡¯ll add a cheek riser or anything else needed to make itfortable for you. We¡¯ll get to thatter but make sure to pick a bipod and a sling too for starters.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, you haven¡¯t shot these guns yet?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°No, I shot them a fair amount. The issue was they¡¯re configured for me, not you. You could try to use them as they are but you¡¯ll feel strain or fatigue in a few minutes if we started shooting.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Is that the same thing with you, sis?¡± Olivia looked at Kaley.


    ¡°Of course, dad already configured that M70 for me when I was younger though he was the one that would make adjustments. Well recently, I found about a few things we could¡¯ve done better but I already changed to the AR-15 I¡¯m using today. Wait- I¡¯m doing the same thing for the other one, right?¡± Kaley exined to Olivia but she suddenly looked at me because she remembered the Delta 5 her dad gave me that she would be using.


    ¡°Well, you already know the procedures. I¡¯m just gonna instruct them while I¡¯m cleaning the guns.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, right¡­ I¡¯ll just configure mer. Help me again, okay?¡± Kaley went back to scrubbing the fouling of another gun.


    It took them a few minutes of picking the recements of the other attachments of the rifle they picked. Since they didn¡¯t know much, I suggested a few that would suit them. What they changed was only the sling but Olivia was already rifling through the cheek pads I have inside another box.


    ¡°We¡¯re done!¡± Olivia took my attention then I taught them how to ce it themselves. However, I would still check if they did a good job and I told them to leave the scope off because it would be a different procedure. <center></center><hr>


    I finished cleaning a few more guns before they managed to attach them properly.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s ready?¡± Cynthia tapped me.


    ¡°Okay, grab the lower half of the rings and ce them on. Remember, just the lower rings only and make sure there¡¯s no ck by pushing it all the way forward after you nestle it in. I¡¯ll check it after you¡¯re done so-¡± then Kaley tapped me.


    ¡°Teach them hands-on so it would be faster. Just teach them how to mount it so we could continue cleaning the guns. We still have a ¡®lot¡¯ to doter, right?¡± Kaley said as she gave me that look.


    Olivia and the other couple were oblivious to that statement but the others got Kaley¡¯s point. Cynthia blushed faintly while Tatiana and Rin were faintly smiling.


    I shook my head while smiling but I removed my gloves and retrieved my own Delta 5. I still have my old M24 that Oscar gave me but it¡¯s chambered in .308. Since I already moved to 6.5 Creedmoor, I rarely got to use that gun. However, it was still maintained properly and I would bring it with me from time to time on outdoor ranges.


    ¡°Ooh~ That looks f.u.c.k.i.n.g awesome!¡± Chris was excited.


    ¡°Of course it is, I shot more than a mile with this gun several times already.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°For real?! Could you replicate the same shot like in the video yesterday?¡± Chris asked.


    ¡°That would be impossible because this gun is only chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor while the gun I used before was chambered in .50 BMG. The bullets fired out of this gun could reach a few more yards beyond a mile and nothing more.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Then isn¡¯t it better to just bring that other gun always?¡± Olivia chimed.


    ¡°That¡¯s a no. It would be overkill if I shoot a zombie 10 feet away with a bullet that could reach a few miles, right?¡± I replied, smiling. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, hahahaha¡­ you¡¯re right¡­¡± Olivia chuckled.


    I removed the scope on my rifle but I left out the lower rings where I could mount the scope. Now that our rifles were in the same state, I continued my little lecture.


    ¡°Okay, ce the scope on top of the lower rings and tell me if the scope could still go lower. If it could, we¡¯d rece the rings for smaller ones because you¡¯d want the scope as low as possible. Mine is already at the lowest it could without hitting the rail.¡± I instructed and they followed suit.


    ¡°Mine could go lower in the backside but it would hit the rail-thingy on the front.¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°Okay, first things first, that backside you are talking about is called the ocr bell. It is where the ocr lens is located and where you look through to see the other side. The front you are talking about is the objective bell and if we follow the naming procedure, it holds the objective lens. The other parts are¡­¡± I started talking about the external and internal parts of the scope.


    I received varying reactions but Rin was busy writing everything down.


    ¡°Rin, the information I¡¯m telling you all is in the book by Mr. Cleckner. I have a softcopy of that and you could read everything about it on that. I also have videos of him so you could watch themter if you have the time. In the meantime, just listen to me and I¡¯ll repeat myself so don¡¯t worry.¡± I exined.


    They nodded and I continued the short lesson.


    The next thing I made them do is to gently ce the scope in the right position while lightly cing the other half of the rings without tightening it all the way. The dial for the elevation should be the one on top while the dial for the windage should always be on the side.


    ¡°Okay, the next thing is to pick up your rifle and put the stock against your shoulder, in the normal shooting position. After that, close your eyes and ce rest your head on the cheek rest in a way that¡¯s mostfortable to you. There should be no strain whatsoever and the full weight of your head should be on the cheek rest.¡± I instructed.


    ¡°Closing their eyes?¡± Charlotte chimed. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯ll see why.¡± I replied, smiling.


    The four did as I told them to and then I told them to open their eyes while maintaining the same position. When they did, they discovered that their eyes were not aligned to the scope.


    ¡°Do we need to adjust the scopes again? Wait- it¡¯s ok with the cheekpiece.¡± Olivia said.


    ¡°I just need to raise my head a little¡­¡± Chris trailed.


    ¡°Mine too¡­¡± Rin said.


    ¡°Mine¡¯s okay if I adjust it for a few¡­ good thing mine could rise for a bit.¡± Cynthia added.


    They all looked at me and I said, ¡°The problem now is not with the scope but with the cheek rest. I wouldn¡¯t suggest raising your head a little because it would be different from thefortable position you¡¯re in earlier. What I suggest is to use the cheekpiece Olivia used for more padding or if your cheek rest is adjustable, turn it a few notches until you could see through the scope.¡± I exined.


    Chris could adjust his cheek rest on his rifle but on Rin¡¯s case, it couldn¡¯t be adjusted.


    ¡°How about mine? Do I need to use another gun? I kinda like how this looks¡­¡± Rin looked at me, dejected.


    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s only a few more before it reaches perfect alignment. What we could do is drill holes on the stock and I¡¯ll attach a thin wood nk and we¡¯ll cover it with the cheekpiece or I could wrap the stock evenly with paracord so we wouldn¡¯t damage the stock.¡± I suggested a few things.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll go with the paracord, I don¡¯t want to do something permanent to your rifle¡­¡± Rin decided.


    I looked at the group I¡¯m teaching how to mount a scope and their expression was already different from earlier. <hr>


    ¡°Too much already? We already skipped a few steps but there¡¯s a whole lot moreing.¡± I said to them.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s just a little too much to take in at once¡­¡± Olivia trailed.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s continue. Don¡¯t forget, mounting the scope properly is very important. I met a lot of people that just used whatever scope was mounted to the rifle they brought and they didn¡¯t even bother adjusting the settings of it. In the process of trying to use it, a lot more time and ammo was wasted just to make a single shot hit the target.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Well, what are the other steps that we skipped?¡± Chris asked.


    ¡°One of them ispping the lower rings. I¡¯ve already done that process in all of my rifles so that the scope could snug in perfectly. I have a bar at the workshop where I just rub it against the rings until it¡¯s perfectly aligned with one another. It slowly removes material from it until it¡¯s ready and it¡¯s helpful if there are no rails to ce the rings onto. They¡¯re usually aligned but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to be sure.¡± I replied.


    ¡°And what are the next steps after we mount the scope?¡± Olivia asked.


    ¡°Heh, let¡¯s finish the task at hand first, yeah?¡± I smiled devilishly.


    ¡°I think we just got trapped in a very~ long~ lesson¡­¡± Olivia shivered.


    ¡°Not so much, heh. Anyway, next thing to do is to turn the magnification to the lowest setting first because we¡¯re checking the alignment. It¡¯s simr with using the iron sights but this time, we¡¯re using the scope shadow to make sure we¡¯re properly aligned. Oh, it¡¯s better to do it while sitting down first so the scope doesn¡¯t wobble while you adjust it. After getting it ready, don¡¯t forget to bring the power back to the highest setting so we could see the scope shadow. If you could see the scope shadow, adjust the scope front to back while still looking through it until it disappears.¡± I gave them space on our table so they could adjust it ordingly.


    I assisted them also with leveling the rifle and their eyes lit up when I told them that they could finally tighten the upper rings in ce. I told them the proper way to do it and there was one final adjustment to be made before we try and shoot it outside.


    ¡°What do you call it again?¡± Rin was holding her pencil.


    ¡°The Parax.¡± I replied.

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    After I said Parax, the four were still staring at me nkly or with a smile saying that they didn¡¯t understand anything. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°O-Ok¡­ Parax¡­ what is it?¡± Olivia asked, fidgeting.


    ¡°I told you guys we should do it in the actual ss, heh. Well, let¡¯s just say that you four got a little~ heads-uppared to everybody that will be joining in the future. To put it simply, it is a phenomenon when the target and the reticle are on the different nes within the scope. You¡¯ll notice it if we start looking at targets at long range and the reticle starts to move away from the target you¡¯re aiming at.¡±


    ¡°Then what do we need to do?¡± Chris asked.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ll need to make some adjustments so it wouldn¡¯t happen. I guess we¡¯ll be doing two more things instead of one to bepletely done. Well, it depends if you want to go through with the second adjustment.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Y-Yes¡­ I mean¡­ how?¡± Chris almost hit his head on the table from not asking specifically.


    ¡°Hey! You said we need to do one final thing! Why did it suddenly be two?!¡± Olivia pouted.


    ¡°Heh, gotcha didn¡¯t I?!¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°What we need to do first is adjust the reticle for our eyes specifically. Remember what the Ocr Bell is?¡± I started.


    ¡°It¡¯s the one at the back!¡± Olivia eximed.


    ¡°Hah! Five points for Hufflepuff! Hahaha, you don¡¯t need to shout but I like the enthusiasm.¡± I said then Olivia blushed from embarrassment.


    ¡°I got excited! What do you want me to do?!¡± her embarrassment was shortlived as she started shouting lively.


    ¡°Anyway, listen up. There¡¯s a locking ring after it and what I want you all to do is to turn it all the way to the other side. After that, get behind your rifle again and look at the reticle.¡± I instructed them as I made their rifles face the white wall. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Okay, then what?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Close your eyes again and turn the ocr bell twice and look at the reticle again. If it is, turn it a couple more times until it doesn¡¯t get clearer. What I need you to do after that is to turn it back on the clearest one and instead of turning it a couple of times, do minute adjustments until it¡¯s crisp. Once it is, that means you¡¯ve adjusted the reticle for your eyes specifically.¡± I exined and they started doing what I said.


    ¡°Okay, I think I¡¯m good. What¡¯s thest one?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Well thest one is pretty easy, it¡¯s adjusting the knob on the left side of your scopes. It¡¯s the adjustment for the parax and you could mess with it in the future on targets from varying distances. It¡¯s the same thing with the first thing I told you to do but this time, set it to infinity first. Keep adjusting it until the reticle is clear and the reticle doesn¡¯t move off target even if you move your eye around a bit while looking through the scope. It¡¯s just an easy way to adjust it but once you practice with it a lot, you¡¯ll know how much to turn the knob without putting it into infinity first.¡± I concluded.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re ready to shoot with it now?¡± Olivia asked.


    ¡°Technically, yes.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?! There¡¯s more?!¡± Olivia was starting to get overwhelmed.


    ¡°You could shoot it right now but learning to shoot far is more than just configuring your rifle for yourself. Like our normal sses, we need to learn the fundamentals, understand what is MOA and Mils, study shooting positions, sighting the rifle, wind estimation andpensation, shooting angles, and so much more. There¡¯s a lot to learn but if you¡¯re really willing to, these things would just pass by like a breeze and you¡¯ll just find yourself shooting 800 yards like it¡¯s nothing.¡± I exined then the look on their faces told me that they had enough for today.


    ¡°Heh, if you¡¯re looking like that, let¡¯s continue cleaning the guns and help Kaley and Tatiana. Remember, it¡¯splicated but it¡¯s not that hard. We don¡¯t know, you might be able to hit farther than what I did before.¡± I chuckled as I sat down next to Kaley. I put my gloves on and I continued cleaning the gun I left on the table.


    ¡°Could we really do that?¡± Chris asked.


    ¡°You won¡¯t know if you¡¯ll stop in the beginning, right? I¡¯m gonna be honest and it would take time to reach my level but we wouldn¡¯t be always shooting targets that far. However, if we needed to, we would be able to. Shooting at the range of 800-1200 meters is already f.u.c.k.i.n.g good so set that as your goal in the meantime.¡± I replied.


    The four were looking at me solemnly but it soon turned into a faint smile. They took their seats and they started from where they¡¯ve left off after tidying up the rifles they configured.


    ¡°I want them all to get good but my best bet is on Rin. She¡¯s finicky like me and that helped me a lot in my experience. Hmm, Olivia might take from Kaley and Matthew too, we¡¯ll never know.¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    Time passed quickly and my armory got even crowded when Jared and Lois returned from clearing PNHS. Lois came in looking for Olivia while Jared came with Alex.


    ¡°Bro, what¡¯s with the rifles here? Oh! You¡¯ve already taught them how to configure it eh? I guess I¡¯ll drop by on your ss to flex a bit. Alex, want to try long shooting? It¡¯s kinda boring at first but the moment you hit far targets, it¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g awesome.¡± Jared looked back at Alex.


    ¡°Sure, where do I need to start? Dad wanted me to use his shotgun but I want to use a rifle as well.¡± Alex replied and I even high-fived her.


    ¡°Good, I like you already. Dude, let her use your old M70.¡± I said to Jared.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s in my house. Let me get it for a sec. Wait here, I won¡¯t be long.¡± Jared said as he sprinted downstairs.


    The moment Jared ran down, the girls started teasing Alex.


    ¡°It all worked out in the end, huh?¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Told you.¡± Tatiana added.


    Instead of getting embarrassed and shrinking down, Alex just smiled brightly and we started conversing with one another. She also offered her help to clean the guns the same with Lois when he saw Olivia cleaning a few pistols.


    ¡°You guys cleared it?¡± I asked Lois.


    ¡°Yep, there¡¯s not much inside because of the times we went back to that path from towing the vehicles on the bridge. It took longer to scout the cepared to clearing it fully. A few soldiers from the DDR Camp are now camped inside after locking the gates.¡± Lois reported.


    ¡°How many?¡± I asked.


    ¡°About a dozen? Oh yeah, Oscar asked Lawrence to stay in that ce for now so someone could be watching from up above. We left them supplies and Oscar said we¡¯ll decide who¡¯ll go and live in that outpost tomorrow. Kaley¡¯s mom said it would be better to ask for volunteers first.¡± Lois replied. <hr>


    ¡°I see, that¡¯s good. Thanks.¡± I replied.


    Jared came back after a few moments carrying the case where his M70 was ced. When he handed it to her, it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g perfect. No adjustments were needed to be done. However, the four I taught earlier was looking at Alex like they wanted to kill her.


    ¡°Why are you guys looking at me like that?¡± Alex asked, confused.


    ¡°Do you know that we spent a lot of time to configure ours?!¡± Olivia eximed.


    ¡°Hah! I remember the first time I configured mine. It was f.u.c.k.i.n.g hell I tell ya.¡± Jared wasughing.


    ¡°Yeah! I¡¯m still fuzzy from it and I just fo-¡± I interrupted Chris.


    ¡°What did you say?¡± I said with a devilish look.


    ¡°I¡¯m still¡­ fuzzy?¡± Chris was sweating bullets.


    ¡°Okay, to learn something quicker, what do we need to do?¡± I asked everyone.


    ¡°Oh no¡­¡± Olivia and Cynthia felt dread.


    ¡°C¡¯mon! It¡¯s a question easy enough to answer!¡± I was grinning.


    ¡°Repetition.¡± Kaley answered, chuckling.


    ¡°You too, Alex. Grab a wrench and disassemble Jared¡¯s M70. The four already configured theirs earlier so they¡¯ll be able to teach you how to do it so it wouldn¡¯t be ¡®fuzzy¡¯ anymore.¡± I said then the three red at Chris. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± Chris eximed.


    Jared was now the one overlooking over them while they repeated the same process without my help. I discovered that Jared was letting themmit mistakes and would tell them after they¡¯re done. It was not a fun process for the five but it¡¯s effective to drill in their heads the correct process to mount the scopes.


    Cynthia and Rin were the ones to finish correctly so they continued to help us with cleaning the guns.


    Alex, Chris, and Olivia finished soon but Olivia removed the scope from her rifle again. Everyone inside was surprised but I was already hiding a smile when she said that she wanted to try again without supervision. It didn¡¯t take long before Chris followed her and even Charlotte and Lois were dragged with them. Rin wanted to do the same but she chose to help us with cleaning the guns like Cynthia, Alex, and Jared.


    We eventually finished everything we needed to do and seeing every gun without a speck of dirt or grime made me smile.


    We tidied up all the tools we used and we went down with everyone. We ate dinner and the meeting followed soon after.


    The report Oscar gave me was the same as Lois said to me earlier. Most of what was discussed in the meeting was the number of people and equipment we would be sending to our new outpost. It was easily decided and a good mix of people will be sent there along with the volunteers.


    The new outpost was closerpared to my old high school so a fair number volunteered. However, some of the volunteers only volunteered their time in the morning to help but they requested to still be picked up before sunset.


    We reached apromise and we decided on the schedule for some of them but we will hand a few bonuses on the ones that would stay permanently by means offort and safety. It got confrontationalst time so we decided to do something which was a little different. Surprisingly, more decided to volunteer though we would bnce it out with soldiers.


    On Vera¡¯s task of making contact with the Intercity, it was easily done and a meeting was set for tomorrow. We would be bringing guns, ammo, and a few luxury items to exchange for sacks and sacks of rice.


    The usual items were discussed and we finally ended the meeting.


    A couple of hours passed by doing my daily workout and I entered my room fresh from the shower. Kaley and the rest followed behind me and we decided to smash, literally.


    They were about to give me another ¡®present¡¯ but they were the ones who were surprised when I pulled out a device and plugged it on my TV. I ced an old cartridge from 1999 to that device and their expressions were priceless when I handed them the controllers.


    The device was my old Nintendo 64.

 Chapter 384

    Chapter 384: 384


    The loading screen was what was in front of us but Tatiana¡¯s expression stood out the most. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Why is it that I feel like something simr happened before¡­¡± Tatiana pouted while looking at the controller.


    ¡°I know that time¡­ it¡¯s when we yed DND¡­¡± Kaley was looking frustrated.


    ¡°DND?! You guys yed DND?! When?!¡± Cynthia was excited for a different reason.


    ¡°It¡¯s from a while back when we started doing you know¡­ this. To be honest though, I really enjoyed ying it.¡± Rin held her hands up helplessly.


    ¡°Let¡¯s y sometime~! I really want to y it! It¡¯s great, wasn¡¯t it?!¡± Cynthia eximed.


    ¡°It is, but I enjoyed the s.e.x after more. Kaley, you agree with me, right?¡± Tatiana¡¯s hands started going inside Kaley¡¯s shirt but Kaley pped it away.


    ¡°Hey! It¡¯s his day! We¡¯ll do whatever he asks!¡± Kaley tidied her shirt.


    ¡°You¡¯re dodging the question! What¡¯s better fromst time?!¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Why are weparing them?! ying it is like a different kind of forey if you think about it!¡± Kaley answered with a flushed expression.


    ¡°Just be open about it! Who doesn¡¯t like to c.u.m over and over?! Wait-¡± Tatiana stopped talking.


    ¡°What?¡± Rin and Cynthia asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ he might have something nned differently, correct?¡± Tatiana looked at me as if she knew I was hiding something.


    ¡°Heh, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I did say we¡¯d ¡®Smash¡¯, right? Look at the screen! It really says it!¡± I startedughing but I really did have something nned.


    ¡°Really~? Hmm~ You think you could lie to my face? Just tell us what you¡¯re nning!¡± Kaley eximed while her smile started to get seductive once more. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You four would really let me do ¡®anything¡¯, right?¡± I confirmed onest time.


    ¡°Yes! For the 100th time!¡± Kaley¡¯s eyes widened from exining to me and the other three started to look at me differently.


    ¡°Okay, thank you very much for that but I hope you don¡¯t regret it. What I want you four to do is y a few games while wearing this¡­¡± I handed them a purple-pink device that looked like arge capsule with a little tail. They immediately raised an eyebrow when they saw it but Kaley started biting her lower lip.


    Kaley stood up from the bed and she handed everyone their pleasure device. However, she didn¡¯t take her device but she shoved my hands inside her panties.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to put it, why don¡¯t you help me, hmm?¡± Kaley¡¯s eyes were looking at me like she wanted to devour me whole but it immediately changed when I moved my fingers inside her.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t need to get it wet, huh?¡± I said as my fingers were slowly probing her moist insides.


    Kaley turned red but she was still smiling. The device was still on my palm and I slowly slid it inside her. She gave me a slight kiss before she sat down in the bed with the other three. They still haven¡¯t ced theirs inside but seeing the two us earlier helped in making it go inside them quicker.


    ¡°You two should make a video so I could watch it when I¡¯m alone¡­¡± Cynthia suggested.


    ¡°Or when they decided not to include us, correct?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Then I need it the most because when you go on trips I¡¯m always here! Hmph¡± Rin pouted yfully.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Rin, I¡¯ll be here with you when they¡¯re away!¡± Cynthia bumped her shoulder and they both smiled.


    They started talking to each other while messing with the game¡¯s settings. However, I pulled my phone out and opened an app. I turned it to the highest setting momentarily and I watched what happened next.


    *BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*


    The moment I pressed the button, their bodies jolted and their faces turned to a mess. <hr>


    ¡°WHA-¡± Kaley was already out of breath.


    ¡°What was that?!¡± Tatiana was red through her ears.


    ¡°That was too much¡­¡± Rin was also out of breath while her other hand was on top of her shorts that has moistened in the middle.


    ¡°Did you do something with it? It¡¯s too powerful!¡± Cynthia eximed while slightly twitching.


    They all looked at me with surprise as the game was still on the title screen. However, I smiled wickedly and they understood my initial n for this evening. I tapped the button momentarily again and then the same reaction from earlier urred. They were speechless from what happened but I tapped it twice to see their reactions change violently from the strong vibrations.


    ¡°You all understand now, right?¡± I chuckled.


    They all nodded but Kaley looked at me as if she wanted to say something.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°H-How about y-you?¡± Kaley said while still blushing from the vibrations earlier.


    I smiled but I tapped a different button.


    Kaley immediately felt it and itsted for a solid five seconds. She almost kicked violently from what she felt and she was out of breath from that short moment. I could already see her juices staining her gray panties but the three were wondering why Kaley was the only one that received the ¡®prize¡¯ I prepared for them.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say I haveplete control of those devices and this game. The vibrations could run manually by my phone or automatically in-game.¡± I replied while giving a tap for everyone.


    ¡°In¡­ game?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡± then I tapped the button for Cynthia. <hr>


    ¡°P-Please e-exin.¡± Cynthia tried hard topose herself.


    I just smiled mysteriously and I said, ¡°Just start the game and you¡¯ll see. Oh, I¡¯ll have a prize for the winner!¡±


    The four looked at each other with varying expression but they all looked at me and said, ¡°Wait till you see what we have for youter¡­¡±


    I just smiled brightly as I gave them a buzz for ten strong seconds. Their faces were a mess and Kaley was really feeling it. She immediately picked a character but she started squeezing her b.r.e.a.s.ts in front of me, through her shirt. Her n.i.p.p.l.es were already protruding but a mix of curiosity and l.u.s.t was on their expressions when they were sent into the arena.


    I thought none of them knew the controls but I noticed Cynthia¡¯s hidden smirk a little toote. She was even holding the three-pronged controller differently from the three and she instantly attacked the one closest to her which was Tatiana.


    *BZ*


    *BZZZ*


    *BZZ*


    Cynthia delivered a three-hitbo but something happened. Cynthia, Kaley, and Rin didn¡¯t know what happened but the receiver of the damage felt it.


    Tatiana twitched three times with varying degrees of power. Tatiana¡¯s toes curled while her thighs squeezed each other. Tatiana couldn¡¯t exin herself while twitching and it didn¡¯t take long before the three discovered what I meant by having control of everything.


    They all started mashing their buttons while Cynthia still tried to dobinations. Powerful moves hitting would be in the higher setting and it wouldst for a while but the jabs and pokes would be theplete opposite.


    I don¡¯t know why but seeing them trying to win while struggling with the sensitivity made me form a huge tent in my pants. The winner still hasn¡¯t been decided but Cynthia obviously had the upper hand. She was biting her lip while trying to keep herposure but she was surprised when I sat next to her. She received several attacks from everybody and she was almost knocked out of the field. To make it extra fun, I left the settings on my phone to randomly send varying vibrations to random people at random times.


    ¡°Wha- wait! Um! Hngh~¡± Cynthia m.o.a.ned as her other hand almost let go of the controller.


    She was hit again by the other three and she convulsed while she was by my side. The other three were side-eyeing me but Cynthia gasped when I went behind her and I started squeezing her perky b.r.e.a.s.ts together. She was still wearing a cotton bra but it luckily unhooks from the front. My body was against her and I could smell her fragrant hair. I started kissing her neck while she would randomly twitch from my touch. <hr>


    Despite what I was doing to her, she was maintaining her lead and she already made quick work of all of Tatiana¡¯s lives.


    The moment Tatiana depleted all her lives. The vibrator inside her wreaked havoc. It vibrated nonstop while at the highest setting. Tatiana lost control of herself and she was tightly grabbing the sheets to maintainposure.


    The look of euphoria on Tatiana¡¯s face made them question if they should just throw the match and experience the same thing.


    ¡°H-H-HOW LO-LONG~ W-W-W-WOULD THIS L- AH~!!! LAST?!!!¡± Tatiana screamed while drool wasing out of her mouth.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, it¡¯ll stop when it does I guess.¡± I said nonchntly as I parted Cynthia¡¯s legs apart.


    The moment my hand went inside her, it was already slopping wet and her thighs were quivering nonstop. My finger went inside her glossy insides while I was ying with her clit with my thumb. Kaley wanted to feel my touch so bad, she let go of the controller to approach me. However, Rin threw her off the field and the remaining life of Kaley was spent.


    Kaley lost control of herself when she experienced the same thing Tatiana was feeling. The two of them were shaking nonstop but they weren¡¯t begging me to stop it. Kaley fell into Tatiana¡¯s embrace and both of them were hugging each other tight. Kaley was about to c.u.m but Tatiana went ahead of her. They were both convulsing while their eyes were rolling over.


    The final battle was now between Rin and Cynthia but it didn¡¯tst long. Cynthia lost a couple of lives but she still defeated Rin. The three were convulsing with euphoria while Cynthia and I bought a bit of time for ourselves.


    There was no time for forey because Cynthia just pushed her panties to the side so I could f.u.c.k her. I was about to pull the vibrator out of her but she stopped me. Her breathing was heavy but I saw her pulling something out of her ass.


    It was a butt plug.


    ¡°I w-want you to take m-my first time in that ce t-too¡­¡± Cynthia couldn¡¯t keep herself together.


    The moment she went down, her nails dug into my arms while it slowly reached the base. She let out a small gasp while I felt myself entering her v.i.r.g.i.n hole. Her ass was so tight I almost lost myself and started to thrust it inside her over and over.


    ¡°O-Owiee¡­¡± Cynthia was struggling.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I-¡± I was about to lift her up but she stopped me.


    ¡°I s-said ow, not s-stop¡­¡± Cynthia pouted as she looked at me.

 Chapter 385

    Chapter 385: 385


    Cynthia was slightly quivering and her nails were still buried in my arms. However, the face she was wearing when she looked at me was a mix of pain and pleasure. Her body was still stiff after the short moment she lowered herself to me but she wanted to move already. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Rx¡­ don¡¯t push yourself too hard¡­¡± I whispered to her as I embraced her.


    ¡°B-But¡­¡± Cynthia said with a pained expression.


    ¡°I can do whatever I want, right? So, settle down for a moment and we¡¯ll get to itter.¡± I said with a caring tone.


    ¡°O-Okay¡­ HmM! It¡¯s- It¡¯s- the vibr- Ah! ¡± Cynthia gasped involuntarily as I also felt the vibrator inside her buzz.


    Rin was looking at us while I saw Tatiana going on top of Kaley. Tatiana was wearing a wicked smile while Kaley was still helpless from the vibrations. Her hand explored Kaley¡¯s special ce while the other lifted Kaley¡¯s shirt up. Kaley¡¯s huge mounds were now on disy and they were imposing as ever even if she wasying on her back. Kaley nced at me briefly before Tatiana turned her head and kissed her.


    ¡°We¡¯ll get to himter, okay? Let the other two have their fun first¡­¡± Tatiana said to Kaley.


    Kaley just nodded a few times before Tatiana gave her another kiss. Kaley pulled Tatiana down much closer to her body and their b.r.e.a.s.ts got pressed together. They were kissing each passionately while their hands were exploring each other.


    On our side, I was waiting for Cynthia to get used to it first before letting her move. She didn¡¯t want me to move from under her but she didn¡¯t stop me from ying with her clit. I was making her divert the attention from the initial pain but that was when Rin decided to join us.


    Rin held my hand and ced it on her chest. She gave Cynthia a short kiss but she turned her head towards me.


    Rin was looking directly into my eyes and she was pressing my hand against her right b.r.e.a.s.t even more. I obliged as I watched her touch herself. Her insides were squelching each time her finger went inside but she stopped and then she let Cynthia lick her fingers clean. After that, she yed with Cynthia¡¯s clit while I yed with hers. Cynthia tried to raise her body by a bit but she would wince ever so slightly.


    ¡°Does it still hurt¡­?¡± Rin asked Cynthia.


    ¡°Just a¡­ l-little bit¡­ I think I could move f-faster now¡­¡± Cynthia replied as she looked back at me.


    ¡°I think we need a bit more lube¡­¡± I replied.


    Rin chuckled but she stood up for a moment to get some. Tatiana was still on top of Kaley and Rin came back with a small bottle. We got into a morefortable position as Iid on my back and Cynthia removed herself from me momentarily. Cynthia¡¯s hole was gaping a little and Rin started to ce lube on Cynthia¡¯s little hole. Rin ced a finger inside and it was sliding smoothly. I could see everything happening because Cynthia was spreading her cheeks apart. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I¡­ I didn¡¯t think it would be this g-good¡­¡± Cynthia got into position and she was still facing away from me.


    The next thing I saw was Cynthia pointing my shaft to her ass and slowly lowering herself.


    This time, Cynthia went slower but it was still f.u.c.k.i.n.g tight. Her asscheeks were getting spread apart when it reached the base but she slowly raised her h.i.p.s as soon as it happened. She raised her h.i.p.s just before the tip and she would slowly sit back down again. I was prating her slowly but I was feeling every bit of her tight hole. It was warm and glossy and her ass was still gripping me even if Rin put lube earlier.


    Cynthia¡¯s long and slow strokes were turning into aggressive short jumps.


    I couldn¡¯t see Cynthia¡¯s face from our position but Rin was jealous of looking at her expression. Rin¡¯s fingers were exploring herself from watching us but she sat on my face when she saw me looking at her. She made me eat her ass while I was seeing her shove three fingers deep inside herself.


    Her expression turned to desperation when the vibrations inside her stopped. Cynthia was still twerking on my shaft but Rin removed the vibrator inside herself. Her h.i.p.s were violently moving and she made me pinch her tiny n.i.p.p.l.es. I was losing air but I didn¡¯t give a f.u.c.k.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m¡­ Hngh~! I-I¡¯m¡­ Ah!¡± Cynthia eximed as the spot I was inside got even tighter.


    Cynthia was still moving her h.i.p.s aggressively and her m.o.a.ns were getting louder and louder. Rin was still sitting on my face but Cynthia started to c.u.m hard. I wanted to keep f.u.c.k.i.n.g her but Rin was close as well. Cynthia dismounted me but she continued to finger herself while watching us.


    ¡°HnGh~! I¡¯m about to- I¡¯m about to c.u.m!¡± Rin was showing a desperate expression so I held her thighs and turned her over.


    I parted her lips with my tongue while I shoved the vibrator she pulled out in her ass. I was slurping her juices and Cynthia started sucking one of her n.i.p.p.l.es.


    ¡°What are y-you- AH!¡± Rin¡¯s face was a mess and she started c.u.m.m.i.n.g hard.


    Rin¡¯s thighs were mped on my head but I knelt in front of her and pushed my shaft inside her warm and glossy slit. I was keeping her thighs apart so I could see her little hole giving way.


    ¡°TH-THIS IS TOO-¡± Rin was a f.u.c.k.i.n.g mess.


    Cynthia was still sensitive from earlier but she started ying with Rin¡¯s little bean while also sucking her hard n.i.p.p.l.es. Rin¡¯s eyes were rolled over and she was just receiving every thrust helplessly. They took the same pill Kaley didst time so I went faster and faster. I poured my first load inside Rin and her little opening was oozing when I pulled it out. Rin lost all strength but Cynthia started sucking me clean. I was still hard after that but I heard Tatiana¡¯s voice. <hr>


    ¡°Hey, why don¡¯t you go for this next?¡± I turned my head towards them but Tatiana was already in position.


    I looked a bit further and I saw that Kaley was still helplessly c.u.m.m.i.n.g nonstop. Her eyes were rolled over while she was squeezing her thighs together. However, I could see that she was drenched and the sheets below her were soaked as well. I decided to pick herst and enjoy what was presented to me.


    Tatiana¡¯s figure was second to Kaley but seeing her spreading her inviting ass made me rely only on my baser instincts. I immediately went behind her and shoved it all inside. My hands were on her h.i.p.s, pulling her closer after each thrust but I could feel her backing up so it would get shoved inside more violently. Each time I pulled out, her insides were gripping me tightly as if they were trying to keep me inside.


    All of a sudden, I saw Kaley removing her vibrator and shoving Tatiana¡¯s face on her p.u.s.s.y. She was holding Tatiana¡¯s head with both of her hands while she was moving her h.i.p.s nonstop. Kaley was looking at me while she was struggling with the sensitivity but Tatiana giggled when she got some air.


    ¡°I thought you were down for the count but you want more, correct?¡± Tatiana pulled Kaley closer and she ate her aggressively while fingering her ass. It was sloppy work because I was still ramming my d.i.c.k inside her ass. The sounds of skin hitting skin and the look on Kaley¡¯s face while her legs were spread apart and her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts were getting squeezed by herself made me c.u.m inside Tatiana¡¯s gaping ass.


    I was still thrusting my d.i.c.k inside her even if I¡¯m c.u.m.m.i.n.g because the feeling was just too good to stop. Tatiana was also c.u.m.m.i.n.g and her liquids were falling down her supple thighs. It didn¡¯t take long before the two behind me regained their strength and participated with feeding our carnal desires.


    However, before they managed to pull me back, Kaley stole me away and went on top of me.


    ¡°I¡¯m waiting for you¡­ you know?¡± Kaley looked like we didn¡¯t see each other for a very long time.


    Our tongues interlocked and her body was pressed against mine. We were embracing each other tightly and I was enamored by the warmth of her body and the taste of her sweet lips. I was already inside her but we were only just kissing. We were only moving our h.i.p.s slightly but Tatiana and the rest had other ns.


    I was starting to move my h.i.p.s faster when Kaley broke our kiss from surprise. Her mouth was agape and the reason being was Tatiana was behind her and she used her strapon. Both of Kaley¡¯s holes were filled but Tatiana was moving fast from the get-go.


    ¡°TATIA- I STILL HAVEN¡¯T AH~ HNGH~ IT¡¯S SO- AH! AH! AH!¡± Kaley started losingposure.


    Kaley¡¯s face was a mess and her huge b.r.e.a.s.t was just jiggling crazily in front of my face. Tatiana was biting her lip and her tits would also jiggle each time she thrust her dildo inside Kaley¡¯s ass. The feeling and the view were too much to handle but I held strong. I decided to grab Kaley¡¯s tits but my hands were shoved into warm and glossy spaces.


    ¡°We removed the vibrators¡­ we want to feel you i-instead¡­¡± I heard Cynthia and Rin¡¯s voice.


    I looked at my left and right and I saw Cynthia and Rin making do with my fingers. Three of my fingers were inside Cynthia¡¯s p.u.s.s.y but my thumb and my two fingers from my other hand were shared in Rin¡¯s holes. Kaley saw what I wanted to do at first so she leaned closer to me so she could smother me with her huge mounds. <hr>


    Their m.o.a.ns filled the air and I filled their holes more times that our time could allow us.


    Kaley and I finally got our time together because the three were out of breath. Well, Kaley and I could only go for one more round but we cherished it. Even if Tatiana and the rest were watching us, we didn¡¯t mind them and we even came at the same time. I was releasing it all inside her but we were still kissing passionately.


    All of us took a small breather before we changed the sheets and took a quick shower.


    We decided to sleep in my room and Kaley was using me as a body pillow. She was hugging me from the side and even her leg was on top of me.


    I was about to fall asleep but I heard Tatiana¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Kaley, I think we might¡¯ve forgotten something¡­¡± Tatiana said as she wrapped her arms around Rin.


    ¡°What¡­?¡± Kaley was sleepy when she answered.


    ¡°That¡­¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°I can¡¯t remember¡­¡± Kaley replied, groggy.


    ¡°Wait¡­ I think I- Oh, Kaley, you can¡¯t remember? You¡¯re the one who nned it¡­¡± Rin muttered as well.


    ¡°It¡¯s the thing¡­ it¡¯s the thing¡­ you guys remember¡­ right?¡± Cynthia added.


    ¡°What? Oh, right! I almost forgot! How does- Where is- Wait- Is it-¡± Kaley sprang up with an agitated tone.


    ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± I opened my mouth but my eyes were already closed.


    Kaley got up but she returned soon after. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m too tired¡­ let¡¯s do it tomorrow¡­¡± Kaley went back to the same position.


    ¡°You know I won¡¯t be able to fall asleep after that, right?¡± I said while my eyes were still closed.


    ¡°¡­¡± no answer.


    ¡°Right?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± still no answer.


    ¡°Hey¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± no one was answering.


    ¡°Are you all asleep?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± I peeked around and everyone was peacefully sleeping.


    ¡°Dammit.¡± I muttered silently.


    ¡°Can¡¯t sleep?¡± I heard Tatiana¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ it¡¯s bad for me having no closure¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°I could suck your d.i.c.k?¡± Tatiana suggested.


    ¡°¡­¡± I immediately closed my eyes and slept soundly.

 Chapter 386

    Chapter 386: 386


    I woke up just a couple minutes before my rm would go off and I saw that I was hugging Kaley from behind. At the same time, I discovered that Cynthia was right behind me and her arm was on top of my shoulder and her body was positioned closely next to mine. Looking over, Rin and Tatiana were in the same position as Kaley and Rin was the one spooning Tatiana. <center></center><hr>


    I carefully tried to remove myself from them so I could let them sleep a bit more but Kaley turned around and faced me while half-asleep.


    Kaley¡¯s eyes were slightly open but the first thing she did was remove Cynthia¡¯s arm on my shoulder. I faintly smiled because she was slightly pouting as she ced her arm over me. Her eyebrows were scrunched so I wrapped my left arm under her neck while I wrapped my right arm on her h.i.p.s. I pulled her closer to me and I gave her a kiss.


    Kaley nestled her right arm under my left shoulder so she could embrace me fully.


    ¡°You¡¯re up a little early¡­¡± Kaley whispered.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I still need to pick the guns we would trade because we just cleaned them yesterday¡­¡± I replied in a whisper.


    ¡°You could ask me to help you¡­ right?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ you did a lot for me yesterday¡­ I want you to sleep a little more¡­¡±


    ¡°I did? *chuckle* I think ¡®you¡¯ did a lot¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, who orchestrated it? Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ you didn¡¯t have to do all of us¡­ you could even¡­ y-you know¡­ once and we wouldn¡¯t mind¡­¡±


    ¡°With you there? You know I- What are you-¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll help you with the guns¡­ just help me with ¡®your¡¯ gun¡­ okay?¡±


    ¡°They might wake up you know¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Then they could watch us¡­¡±


    ¡°I mean I don¡¯t want to be too tired when-¡±


    ¡°Let me rephrase¡­ they could only watch us and do nothing about it¡­¡±


    Kaley and I were on our sides embracing each other but she lifted her leg and ced it over mine. After that, she started to stroke me after spitting on her hand. She wanted to steal another moment for us so I f.u.c.k.i.e.d her sideways very slowly so the others wouldn¡¯t wake up.


    We were controlling our breathing and movements even if our brains were telling us to just f.u.c.k.i.n.g go for it. However, the added excitement from not wanting others to wake up while getting held on the brink made the two of us c.u.m hard. She still made me c.u.m inside her and the two of us silently went to the shower and got dressed up.


    The three were still fast asleep even if Kaley and I started to organize the guns.


    However, after 30 minutes, their rms went off. Rin turned all of the rms off and she saw Kaley and me in the armory. She was rubbing her eyes for a few moments before she started to wake up Tatiana and Cynthia.


    Looking back at the assorted guns inside my armory, it was still a lot even if a good portion of them were not recovered because they were all burned in the gymnasium I set on fire. I obviously decided to only include a few dozen guns that were in pristine condition from the moment we acquired them or due to the parts being switched out.


    Most of the guns we would be trading have a degree of wear in them and even the magazines I ced were the same.


    ¡°Would we give them extra magazines?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Nope. They¡¯d have to pay extra for that. Maybe a couple on some of them but even Oscar was against the idea.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How about ammo?¡± Tatiana approached us, groggy.


    ¡°Just what the magazine could carry but we¡¯ll give them a few hundred rounds.¡± I looked back at her.


    ¡°Really? We will?¡± Kaley asked. <hr>


    ¡°Most of them will be steel-cased though.¡± I replied.


    ¡°The harder ones? Why?¡± Rin chimed in.


    ¡°The ones we reloadedst time that are steel-cased are at the end of their lifespan. They¡¯re at their third time already so even if we collected them all, it would be a bad idea to reload them. Well, unless you want to turn your gun into a grenade. Our brass casings are very malleable so we could reload them for a few more times unless cracks or significant damage appeared. It creates a better seal too and¡­¡± I exined a few more things.


    ¡°I remember dad saying not to use those because it¡¯s bad.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Why?¡± Cynthia came in, rubbing her eyes.


    ¡°Dad said it isn¡¯t as urate because it¡¯s really cheap.¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Really?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Not exactly. It was just not made with the same standards as brass does. There are a fewpanies who made high-quality steel casings but yeah, overall, brass-casings are better, but¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°But what?¡± they looked at me except for Tatiana.


    ¡°In some guns, running it with steel-cased cartridges is a better choice. A good example would be guns with aggressive extractors like an AK-74 or an FAL. I fired a few rounds from Oscar¡¯s old FAL before and sometimes, the brass casings would get ripped up. So, there are some exceptions even if it¡¯s the better one overall.¡± I exined.


    I started to exin more things but they waved me down because having a discussion in the early morning was a bit too much. I finalized my list and we went down a few minutes before breakfast. We had spicy bacon and eggs eaten over fried rice with vegetables chopped to little pieces. It filled me with energy and I got my extra boost when I finished my coffee.


    Several crates were now being loaded inside the trucks and it included medical supplies, crops, animal produce, duplicate equipment, luxury items, the guns for trade, and a few more items we could let go that the people from the Intercity requested if we have on hand.


    We didn¡¯t load everything we could because we decided to test the waters first. In the bag that I packed, a few luxury items were inside like expensive wristwatches, jewelry, XXX magazines, other materials ¡®for academic purposes¡¯, and drugs. <hr>


    The magazines are for the people that were a little old-school and I figured that using drugs as trade items instead of simply disposing of them would be the better choice. Not only I could add people to the list I should be looking out for, but the trade value of illegal drugs was also sky-high to the right, miserable junkie. Not only that, but it was also safe to assume that drugs weren¡¯t being anymore as far as this country was concerned. I figured I could get ahold of something more valuable to me if I ced little feelers out.


    Aside from that, the reason I¡¯m bringing jewelry and other expensive items that don¡¯t have value anymore for a normal person was just a little hail mary or a little bait to see if anyone would bite it. If someone did bite it, it could mean that the person was an idiot or they have a lot of supplies to trade for it.


    It took them a couple of hours to get everything ready while I instructed the other groups on what to do this day. Johnny and Matthew would be holding the fort while Oscar and I would drive to the Intercity with a few vehicles. Since the Raptors and Tatiana¡¯s HUMVEE were getting small upgrades, we drove outside with Oscar¡¯s SUV, a couple of military jeeps from the DDR Camp, a cargo truck, and our 8-wheeler with a new windshield.


    I was driving Oscar¡¯s SUV and Oscar was riding shotgun. Kaley, Tatiana, and Mikhail were at the back with a few boxes of we separated from the trucks. I would asionally hear suppressed gunshots but I looked at Oscar and he was in deep thought.


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± he was palming his Remington 870 while looking through the ss window.


    ¡°Anything on your mind, old man?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Kid, if we wanted to, we could have everything inside the Intercity.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley heard Oscar.


    ¡°I said if we wanted to, we could have everything inside the Intercity.¡± Oscar repeated himself.


    ¡°We could if we really wanted to.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I heard you but what I mean was¡­ how?¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Kid, you know what I¡¯m getting at, right?¡± Oscar tapped me.


    I felt their stares at the back of my head and I sighed heavily.


    ¡°Theoretically, yes. We could really have it all if we wanted to.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, how do you n to do that? You two aren¡¯t obviously thinking about the violent route, right?¡± Kaley said, half-doubting.


    ¡°Obviously not, we don¡¯t just kill people unless we really have to. What we¡¯re thinking is let¡¯s just say a little~st resort if you will.¡± Oscar chuckled.


    ¡°Blood wouldn¡¯t be spilled too.¡± I added, smiling.


    It took them a few moments of looking at us like Oscar and I were idiots but Kaley figured out where we were getting at.


    ¡°The soldiers¡­ you¡¯re gonna use the soldiers if need be¡­ but¡­¡± Kaley muttered.


    ¡°Bingo!¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°Could you borate on this?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°How is that non-violent?¡± Mikhail added as well.


    ¡°The only reason the Intercity is still standing is because of the scattered soldiers from the DDR Camps that converged to that ce. If the soldiers there leave for some reason, that ce is done because most of the guns they have all belong to the soldiers. Even if they learned how to use them a gun in a soldier is much usefulpared to a civilian.¡± I exined.


    ¡°And why would they leave? What¡¯s the reason?¡± Mikhail asked.


    ¡°For starters, our ce is much f.u.c.k.i.n.g better than that Intercity. No offense, that ce is literally just a huge storage area for rice.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Oh! So we could make them join us instead to force the hand of the owners there, right?¡± Mikhail asked.


    ¡°Yeah, something like that. We¡¯ll just use that as a deterrent though. I¡¯m looking for a fair trade, if they start to get really~ stupid and really~ greedy, they would be in for a f.u.c.k.i.n.g treat.¡± I chuckled.

 Chapter 387

    Chapter 387: 387


    The inside of Oscar¡¯s SUV was silent for a moment but we soon continued with light conversation. <center></center><hr>


    In our small convoy, the ones in the front and back were the military jeeps that came with us. Right next to the military jeep in front was the 8-wheeler, the cargo truck, Oscar¡¯s SUV, andstly the other military jeep.


    If Unc Zeidrick and the rest have extra time, they would also add a few modifications to our other vehicles. Some soldiers even took interest in mechanic work so they were learning and adding modifications on their vehicles themselves. However, the ns they would write up needed to be approved by Raphael or Anthony first so they wouldn¡¯t waste materials and the design could be improved with a touch of an engineer.


    On our military jeeps, they never forgot to add the modification for the bumper and switching out the tires for tubeless ones.


    On the 8-wheeler and the cargo truck, aside from changing out the tires for better ones, they added metal grates on the windshield and all the other ss parts of it for extra protection. Doing that reduced visibility by a certain amount but it was easily counteracted by mounted cameras. Not only that, but my group also reinforced the doors and the cargo bed with metal sheets in case a shooter tried to shoot through them.


    Speaking of shooting, Jared and Lois were firing at the dead nonstop and I could almost feel the ones sitting next to them were experiencing.


    Bodies littered the road and since we couldn¡¯t stop every time to pile them up and burn them, we just drove around and avoid them most of the time. However, there were times we needed to make aplete stop if a herd was spotted.


    Especially when a herd was doing something a little special.


    It didn¡¯t take long before I saw a drone flying from the 8-wheeler and my radio buzzing a few moments after.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro, we saw something weird and I asked the soldiers upfront to stop. I already told Lois to send his drone over.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Good, you¡¯re not nning to rece me, right?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You? Not a chance.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, you could try at least. Okay, everyone, let¡¯s drive a little forward to that express remittance outlet right before the bridge so I could see more besides these tall buildings. Let¡¯s make a small perimeter and I want Jared and Kaley on top of the cargo truck. ¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Roger.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Great, once we¡¯re parked, honk for five seconds straight so the sleeping roaming deadheads could be put to sleep.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We drove a few meters forward and then everyone quickly went into position. Our soldiers helped us to clear the dead and half of them were using the prototype goedendag that was presented in the meetingst time. It was kinda ugly because it looked like a baseball bat with a metal spike on top but it got the job done. The reach it provided made poking holes on the dead much safer.


    However, in our case, making parts of their head fly off or just simply nicking their brain was the go-to solution.


    Intentionally making noise made the encounter dangerous but the time to set a perimeter was quicker. I faced three at a time and having Mikhail and Tatiana on my sides gave me assurance.


    The one closest to me had its skin almost falling off its body so I made a horizontal sh where my de entered a few centimeters forward just by the side of its right eye, exiting the side of its left eye. The sh didn¡¯t lop off the upper half of its head but I cut the part of its brain where the frontal and temporal lobe were located.


    The skin of its nose plopped to the ground first before its whole body followed. The tip of my katana was stained with blood and brain matter but I was already rearing up for another sh.


    I took a step to the left first before I shed from below, going diagonally towards one wearing a basketball jersey. My de cut through the side of its left ear and continuing until it lopped off a part of its head when it exited, leaving its brain matter spilling on the floor.


    Thest one in front of me was close so I brandished my de just to chop its head sideways. It entered its right ear just before its nose and it fell limp when I pulled the de out of its shaved head.


    Surprisingly, not much came and I only killed five more before I went to check the disy on Lois¡¯ drone.


    ¡°Weird, huh?¡± Loismented. <hr>


    ¡°How many are they?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hmm~ 28? They never moved but looking at one closely, they don¡¯t seem to be the sentries we found before.¡± Lois answered.


    ¡°Yeah, who could me them? The jackpot is already Php 387 Million, I would¡¯ve bet on it myself.¡± I joked.


    ¡°Hmm, I thought you don¡¯t believe in that?¡± Unc Zardon interjected.


    ¡°Heh, you got me. Jared, take one down and we¡¯ll see what happens next.¡± I shouted to Jared after turning around to face him.


    What we saw in the live footage earlier was more than a couple dozen dead heads just standing in line from a lotto outlet. Their bodies were torn apart, flies were buzzing around them, and even maggots were feasting on their rotten bodies but they still wouldn¡¯t move a muscle. Other zekes would approach them or even feast on them but they weren¡¯t even trying to react or even defend themselves.


    Jared took a knee before lining up his shot. I heard his breathy exhale before a round was sent to the one carrying a grocery bag.


    It was hit dead on and its coagted bits sprayed on the white counter of the lotto outlet. However, the ones behind it finally moved.


    Well, not the move we were expecting though.


    As the body fell to the marbled tiles, the others in line just took a step forward and they stopped moving again. Lois even tried to boop the ones with his drone but there were no movements whatsoever. We were perplexed at what was happening but with nothing left to do, we used them as shooting targets because they were 400 meters away.


    ¡°I hope this is all the weird I¡¯ll see today.¡± Oscarmented when we rode the truck to see what was going on.


    It was fairly easy to walk the shot, especially on a target not moving and getting reced by a new one on the same spot. There was also no wind so all they needed to ount for was the gravity. It took Jared and Kaley a few minutes to clear the ones on the lotto outlet from across the bridge. Kaley didn¡¯t bring her Delta 5 but her AR-15 is enough for the job.


    While they were sending bullets, we cleared a few more that camete and we drove away after setting them on fire. I only found wallets and cheap jewelry from some of the bodies but Mikhail found a stic bag with a few boxes of cigarettes inside the remittance outlet. He gave me all of them for trading but I pulled out a pack for him because he was the one who found it.


    ¡°Thank you, I¡¯ll only smoke when we get home and when the kids are not climbing over me.¡± Mikhail ced the pack inside his pocket. <hr>


    ¡°It would be better if you stop smoking altogether.¡± I replied, smiling.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m smoking less now. I used to smoke once a day but now I¡¯m only smoking a couple a week. This thing could probablyst me a couple of months.¡± Mikhail tapped his pocket.


    ¡°Wait till ya get a taste of Cuban cigars, heh.¡± Oscar chuckled.


    ¡°You don¡¯t smoke, correct?¡± Tatiana asked me.


    ¡°No, the only smoke I inhale is the smoke from gunpowder after firing a shot.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Heh, that shit¡¯s too real kid.¡± Oscar tapped his kneesughing.


    It took us a total of five hours just to reach the Intercity not only because of the distance from our ce but also from the stops we made along the way and because we used another road to travel. It was to scout out the remaining ces I haven¡¯tid my eyes on.


    When we reached the border of the Intercity, the first thing I noticed differently was the smell.


    The Intercity used to have this smell of grains getting milled and if you stay too long without a mask, you would sneeze and a little dust cloud would appear. The smell before was a bit smoky and musky but this time, it was the same f.u.c.k.i.n.g smell from everywhere the dead were present. It was the putrid smelling out from decaying bodies that would make anyone wince if they caught even a small whiff of it.


    However, the upsetting thing was that I was slowly getting used to it. Not only me, everyone still alive was inhaling it every single day, but our nose was also slowly getting ustomed to that horrible smell.


    We finally saw the arched stone entrance like in Batangas, almost enveloping the whole metal gate barring everyone froming inside. Huge bold letters were in the sculpture and it says:


    ¡®WELCOME TO THE INTERCITY OF WAKAS, BOCAUE, BULACAN.¡¯


    I saw this sculpture painted over several times when I was a kid but I wouldn¡¯t even guess that I woulde here to trade goods for my people¡¯s use, not for retail.


    I looked around and I immediately saw a familiar face.

 Chapter 388

    Chapter 388: 388


    When we reached the entrance, tall tforms made from steel scaffolding were behind the huge gate. Guards armed with M16s were watching from above and piling bodies from below. On the opposite side of the road, varying vehicles were parked outside, seemingly waiting for something and the familiar face I saw was the driver of another 8-wheeler with a broken windshield. <center></center><hr>


    The guy was named Jimmy.


    He was good friends with Unc Zardon and it didn¡¯t take long for him to peek his head out after honking his horn a few times. Jimmy also owned a shop but it was in a different location, deeper in the Bcan Area. We used to deliver to his ce before but he soon saved up and got a truck of his own.


    ¡°HEY~ ZARDS!!! YOU GUYS ARE F.U.C.K.I.N.G ALIVE HOLY SHIT!!!¡± Jimmy waved his hat around and my uncle did as well.


    We drove closer a bit closer and the other vehicles started running their horns. Our aim was to only talk to the guy but the others thought we were going to cut in the line.


    ¡°HEY!!! WE CAME HERE FIRST!!! THE LINE STARTS AT THE BACK!!!¡±


    ¡°OI!!! BACK THERE YOU DUMBF.U.C.KS!!!¡±


    ¡°MOTHERF.U.C.KERS!!!¡±


    ¡°DUMBF.U.C.KS GO TO THE BACK!!!¡±


    ¡°TO THE BACK!¡±


    ¡°OI!!!¡±


    ¡°GO TO THE BACK OR I¡¯LL F.U.C.K YOU UP!!!¡±


    Curses rained towards us but Oscar stepped out of the vehicle and puffed a huge cloud of smoke from his cigar. Everyone was confused as to what he was about to do but he suddenly drowned out the curses raining towards us. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°YOU DUMB MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G DEAD BEAT SMELLY-ASS BITCH F.U.C.K F.U.C.KTARDS DOESN¡¯T KNOW A F.U.C.K.I.N.G F.U.C.K WHAT A F.U.C.K.I.N.G FIFTY CAL THAT COULD F.U.C.K.I.N.G BLOW A F.U.C.K.I.N.G BIG-ASS F.U.C.K.I.N.G HOLE IN YOUR UGLY MUG¡¯S FACES ARE IN FRONT OF YOU EH?! ONE MORE F.U.C.K.I.N.G WORD FROM SHIT SMELLING F.U.C.K MOUTHS LIKE Y¡¯ALL, I¡¯LL LET MY F.U.C.K.I.N.G GUNS DO THE MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G TALKING, DID YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G HEAR ME?!¡± Oscar bellowed as the veins on his neck and forehead were visible.


    The people shouting at us slowly realized the .50 cal machine guns mounted on top of the military jeeps. The road became quiet as f.u.c.k as they just realized they barked on the wrong f.u.c.k.i.n.g tree. I could almost hear them gulp as Oscar was simply standing in front of them while his 870 was rested on his shoulder.


    ¡°That¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g better.¡± Oscar spat on the ground as he walked towards the gate.


    Unc Zardon and Jimmy talked in the background while Oscar started shouting at the guards on the top of the tforms.


    ¡°HEY! WE¡¯RE HERE, LET US IN! THAT GUY IN THE HAT¡¯S WITH US TOO!¡± Oscar strode around like he owned the ce.


    The three behind me were shocked by what Oscar did but I was behind the wheel dying fromughter.


    ¡°He knows how to make an entrance alright.¡± Iughed as I honked at Oscar to get inside.


    The gates were getting opened and Oscar took his time to get inside his SUV. We started to drive inside the Intercity then Oscar startedughing maniacally when he closed the door.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU SEE THAT F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHIT, KID?!¡± Oscar backpped my arm.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. We know you¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g loud. Just bring a megaphone next time.¡± I tried to tick him off.


    *Oscar_Unintelligible_Murica_Screams.mp4*


    My right ear was ringing when he stopped but I was already scanning my eyes around to see for myself as to what was the current situation of this ce. We started to drive the SUV and the 8-wheeler around randomly but I asked my team to stay put near the entrance and guard the cargo truck with the military jeeps. It was because the cargo truck was too bulky to drive around corners and so that our soldiers could converse with theirrades in arms. <hr>


    Well, it didn¡¯t take long for me to get a general impression of this ce.


    Theborers inside were in front of their employer¡¯s store, waving at us to park in front. There were already a lot of vehicles inside and one thing didn¡¯t change even if the world had gone to shit.


    This was still a ce to conduct business.


    Each store here was unlike the public markets that were only a few feet wide. Inside their stores were huge industrial mills and other equipment that used to run nonstop and more than a thousand sacks of rice could be seen inside even now. The stacks were separated into blocks where they could easily differentiate everything.


    However, not only rice could be seen inside each store. There was now a variety where they could sell different kinds of services or items that came from the traders that came for the rice they were selling. Each ce was not the same and we could only know what they were selling if wee to the store and check for ourselves.


    ¡°Old man, where are we even supposed to go? No one¡¯s guiding us, I could go straight to the shops I used to go to first if you want?¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Well, I did tell them we wereing. Let¡¯s take a look at what the other shops are offering aside from rice so we could also get a feel for how business works here. They just gave us the rice yesterday so I don¡¯t have any idea how they price their stuff here.¡± Oscar replied.


    I turned to the right but I heard a honk from Jimmy¡¯s truck, telling us that he would go the other way. I saw Unc Zardon waving at him before Jimmy turned to the left and we stopped by Jomarro¡¯s Millers first. It only had one customer though a couple of soldiers were inside and in the entrance guarding it.


    It was a medium-sized establishment and theborer¡¯s eyes lit up when they saw me and my truck driving inside their parking area.


    ¡°Oi! Boss Ishiyama! Long time no see!¡± A jacked-upborer named Mike helped us park.


    ¡°Yeah, I was surprised to know that this ce is alive and kicking. Where¡¯s Jomarro?¡± I gave Mike a strong handshake.


    ¡°Ah, I think he¡¯s having lunch but you could take a look around?¡± Mike was rubbing his hands together. <hr>


    ¡°Still going for a tip, eh?¡± Unc Zardon walked next to us and gave Mike a hard p on the back.


    ¡°Ah! F.u.c.k.i.n.g motherfu- of course, I am! Well, I don¡¯t take cash now, heh.¡± Mike was scanning around my team and I introduced him. He was all smiles like he usually was and he simply made a bow before he guided me inside.


    ¡°Kid, my allergies are acting up, I¡¯ll stay here and talk with the soldiers to get some info.¡± Oscar waved me off.


    ¡°Allergies my ass.¡± I thought to myself.


    Unc Zardon was right next to Mike while Kaley, Tatiana, and Mikhail were curiously following behind me. A fewborers that I know who were carrying 50-kilogram sacks over their heads saw me. They gave me an upwards nod but their eyes slowly shifted to Kaley and Tatiana. Their brisk walking slowed for a bit but they hurried up when Mike started shouting at them.


    ¡°HURRY UP! AFTER THAT BOSS ISHIYAMA IS NEXT!¡± Mike eximed.


    ¡°Is it like this even from before?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Their job is simply to carry those sacks over to your truck, correct?¡± Tatiana mentioned.


    ¡°Well, you need to carefully stack them too. If you pile them randomly, you would be going home with less than intended, safer too after tying them together. Mike and the rest here do a good job and they could fit 390 50-kilogram sacks in that 8-wheeler.¡± I replied.


    ¡°395 if no one¡¯s riding shotgun.¡± Mike chimed as he turned around.


    ¡°That many?¡± Mikhail was surprised and Mike give a faint smile. <hr>


    ¡°Anyway, Mike, what are the varieties avable here? I could see you still have imported long grains and a few stacks of brown rice here, anything special?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Specials? Hmm, what do you mean by special?¡± Mike was confused.


    ¡°Well, a quarter of your store here has a few things different from the usual. Any goods other than rice you guys have that could catch my eye?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Ah! I¡¯m sorry we just deal with rice here. The other shops do but Sir Jomarro doesn¡¯t want to trade for the other stuff.¡± Mike apologetically said, scratching his head.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, no worries. How many of those imported ones could you let go?¡± I said.


    ¡°The imported ones? Which kind? We still have a lot from Japan, a few from Thand, and a little more from Vietnam still avable.¡± Mike pointed to a few stacks in the corner.


    ¡°A few from Thand? Why? That¡¯s like 400 in that stack over there, right?!¡± I was confused.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ Sir Jomarro doesn¡¯t want to sell a lot of those because they expire longer. He wants us to push out the ones from Japan and Vietnam first.¡± Mike replied.


    ¡°Are they darkening already?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Not really, it¡¯s¡­ you know what¡¯s it¡¯s like, right? Softer rice tends to expire more easily.¡± Mike put up his hands helplessly.


    ¡°I see, I¡¯ll take all of the ones you could let go. About 300?¡± I said nonchntly.


    ¡°Hah! Here you go again, joking like- well, I¡¯m not falling for that anymore. If you have the right items Sir Jomarro wanted, he could let go of~ let¡¯s say~ 30 sacks.¡± Mike said.


    ¡°Ohe on! That little?! Mike, tell me, who hooked you up with ine, huh? Huh?! Give me 100 at least! Why the f.u.c.k is Jomarro taking so long? JOMARRO!¡± I was shocked by his offer.

 Chapter 389

    Chapter 389: 389


    I started shouting Jomarro¡¯s name as I briskly walked towards his office. Mike and the otherborers on the other hand were chuckling because I was doing something that Jomarro f.u.c.k.i.n.g disliked. <center></center><hr>


    He doesn¡¯t want his time eating disrupted by anything, f.u.c.k.i.n.g anything.


    Kaley and the others with me except Unc Zardon didn¡¯t know that particr bit and they were showing confused expressions as to why I was making a ruckus and as to why I was doing it.


    ¡°JOMARRO~!!! IT¡¯S YOUR FAVORITE CUSTOMER~!!! JOMARRO~!!!¡±


    It didn¡¯t even take a minute before the door to his office busted open and a huge guy with a pot belly, bald head, dirty face, and hands covered in grease came out huffing with veins popping out of his forehead. His shirt was stained with the food he was eating and the side of his shirt had stains because of wiping his greasy hands with it when he decided to do something while eating.


    In short, a six-foot slob came out, raging that his meal got interrupted. We locked eyes then his eyes turned bloodshot.


    ¡°YOUUUUUUUUU~!!!¡± Jomarro shouted as he threw the leg he was eating like a tomahawk.


    However, I cranked that Soulja Boy and avoided it.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°You¡¯re still eating this much you big f.u.c.ker?! I thought you¡¯ve slimmed back to XXXL by now!¡± I shouted after watching his annoyed face.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K DO I CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU SAY?! I¡¯M EATING WITH MY FAMILY YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!¡± Jomarro pointed his finger at me furiously.


    ¡°What?! You got hitched you big f.u.c.k?! When?!¡± I was gobsmacked.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you talking about?! I only have one family! Well, they grew by a few recently!¡± Jomarro scoffed and the realization hit.


    ¡°Kaley!¡± I quickly turned around and grabbed her hand. Kaley was surprised but I dragged her with me towards Jomarro¡¯s office.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD ENTER?! HUH?!¡± Jomarro tried to block the door and with his huge body, he could. However, I have already prepared my counterattack.


    ¡°KRONOS!!! RHEA!!! I¡¯M HERE!!!¡± I shouted then dread showed on Jomarro¡¯s face. <center></center><hr>


    All of a sudden, a ck Labrador Retriever and a Golden Retriever pushed Jomarro off his door so the two could tackle me down. Their noses were sniffing me while they¡¯re giving me endless kisses. I tried to hug them both but they were going wild when they saw me.


    ¡°Wha- Are they?!¡± Kaley¡¯s face let out a bright smile as she didn¡¯t give a f.u.c.k as I fall on my back, getting kissed by tworge dogs that looked simrly like Zeus.


    ¡°Yes, they are Zeus¡¯ parents. Jomarro gave me Zeus when he was still a little pupper- Kronos! Wait! Rhea~ Yeah, yeah, I¡¯ll pat your head too! Just let me get up! Kro-¡± I suddenly met the creatures I wouldn¡¯t be able to be violent with.


    ¡°Oh~ Hello~!¡± Kaley crouched down to ruffle their heads and the two didn¡¯t mind.


    ¡°Hey! Those two are still eating! Tell them to go back here since they won¡¯t listen to me when you¡¯re here! Rhea needs to feed the little ones too!¡± Jomarro was scratching his head.


    It took a few moments but I guided Kronos and Rhea towards Jomarro¡¯s office with Kaley and the rest. The moment we entered, I felt really nostalgic when I saw six little pups silently sleeping in the corner a couple of years ago. I couldn¡¯t even exin properly how Kaley looked at this moment.


    Rhea excitedly pulled on my clothes so she could let me see her puppies that were only a few weeks old. She started barking at me, telling me to pick one of them up while Kronos was nudging me with his snoot, telling me to do the same thing. I picked one up that had just woken up and was in the process of yawning.


    Ignoring the puppy¡¯s breath, I held her with my arms and it started to snuggle as Zeus did before when I first picked him up. However, I nced at Kaley and I almost burst outughing from the look she was giving me.


    ¡°Here you go, you should¡¯ve told me you wanted to hold her.¡± I chuckled.


    Kaley said nothing but she almost melted when it licked her hand and started to sleep.


    I turned around and I saw Jomarro eating once more while continuing a movie he was watching on his little DVD yer. I shook my head and I let him finish eating first while Tatiana and Mikhail picked up the little puppies as well.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Kaley tapped me with a desperate look.


    ¡°W-We¡¯re keeping o-one, right?! Right?! No- I- We¡¯re keeping two!¡± Kaley silently shouted.


    ¡°Yeah, of course. I¡¯ll trade a couple of Maxims for it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? Our pistols? Isn¡¯t that a little too expensive? Are you sure?¡± Kaley whispered and the two behind me nodded.


    ¡°What? I said ¡®Maxims¡¯, not our ¡®Maxim 9s¡¯ I¡¯d choose a different gun if he wanted a gun for his puppies. I¡¯ve really taken a liking to our Maxim 9s so I wouldn¡¯t trade them even if we need to clean them more thoroughlypared to our other ones.¡± I chuckled then Kaley tilted her head. <hr>


    We saw Jomarro clearing his table and taking care of the bowls his dogs used. He drank a ss of water and then he sat down on his office chair.


    ¡°Okay you little shit, how can we help each other?¡± Jomarro said while using a toothpick.


    ¡°I want a couple of your puppies, a male and a female. I¡¯ll take the one on Kaley¡¯s arms and the ck one on Tatiana¡¯s shoulder.¡± I started.


    ¡°Sure, the price is a machine gun.¡± Jomarro said without emotion.


    ¡°Heh, I have a couple of Maxim magazines with a great centerfold. If you¡¯d also give me the brown one on Mikhail¡¯s arms, I¡¯d throw in one in mint condition plus two more from yboy.¡± I stared back at him seriously.


    ¡°Deal.¡± Jomarro immediately shook my hand.


    ¡°Wut?¡± the three behind me were shocked.


    ¡°Okay, what else?¡± Jomarro said as he brought out a little cage for the three to be put inside.


    ¡°I want half of the imported rice you have from Thand. How many do you have? I saw around 400 on a stack over there but I know you have more storage areas around. ine¡¯s not here too so she¡¯s probably in one of them.¡± I replied.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k? I could only give you 20.¡±


    ¡°Mike already said he¡¯d give me 30.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°Then if webine the two offers, 30 plus 20 is 50. However, 50 is still too little for me.¡±


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K IS- HOLD THE F.U.C.K UP!!!¡±


    ¡°But I want 100 initially but I¡¯m a generous man so let¡¯s meet in the middle. Let¡¯s go with 75, okay?¡± <hr>


    ¡°THIS IS NOT THE PUPPIES WE¡¯RE TALKING ABOUT!!! D¡¯YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH THEY¡¯RE WORTH NOW?! IT¡¯S TEN TIMES COMPARED TO BEFORE AND ALL OF OUR MONEY¡¯S F.U.C.K.I.N.G WORTHLESS RIGHT NOW!!!¡±


    ¡°You take a card?¡±


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°You said you don¡¯t take cash, how about a check? I could write you one? I¡¯ll give a generous tip too.¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡±


    ¡°Why do I feel like I¡¯ve seen this scene before¡­¡± Tatiana trailed helplessly.


    ¡°Me too¡­¡± Kaley had the same expression.


    ¡°Shh¡­ be quiet¡­ this show¡¯s funny¡­¡± Mikhail whispered.


    ¡°There they go again, heh.¡± Unc Zardon chuckled.


    ¡°The world ended and they¡¯re still the same when doing business¡­¡± Mike said.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K YOU LITTLE SHIT HOW THE F.U.C.K DID WE REACH 300?! WE¡¯RE ONLY TALKING ABOUT 75!!!¡± Jomarro roared.


    ¡°What do you mean? We agreed with 75% of them, right? You have 400 sacks, and 75% is equals to 300 sacks, deal? Just throw in the rest with Japanese rice or Vietnam rice and I¡¯m good.¡± I said innocently.


    ¡°DON¡¯T F.U.C.K WITH ME KID, I¡¯M NOT JOKING AROUND ANYMORE!!!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m serious as well. Mike said that if I have the right items, I could trade for anything.¡±


    ¡°Cheh, you¡¯re right about that but I still haven¡¯t seen what you could give me.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re still doubting me, after all these years?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Heh, I only trust money, kid.¡± Jomarro scoffed.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that money¡¯s worthless earlier? Does that mean you trust no one now?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the way to go now, right? Well, aside from Mike, ine, and my other f.u.c.k.i.n.g workers. Shit, I don¡¯t trust those soldiers that came through this ce when it hit. I¡¯ve never been home and I was lucky Kronos and Rhea were here. It hurts me to say this but I don¡¯t think I would be able to go home and fetch them by myself.¡± Jomarro¡¯s face turned solemn.


    ¡°About our deal¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°CAN¡¯T YOU JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G LAY OFF WITH THAT SHIT YOUR DAD ALWAYS DOES?!¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m serious this time. Here¡¯s the deal I think we should both agree to immediately.¡± my face turned serious.


    ¡°What? This better be good or I¡¯ll kick you out my store!¡± Jomarro pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.


    ¡°How long do you think this Intercity couldst?¡± I started.


    ¡°¡­¡± Jomarro was silent.


    ¡°A year? A couple? Maybe five? What do you think?¡±


    ¡°What are you getting into? Trying to scare me, kid?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly but I¡¯m giving you the facts. This ce is only secure as long as you have those thousands of stacks in your store. The moment those are gone, it would be a different ballgame. What I¡¯m proposing to you is to close this store and ce all of your stuff inside your trucks.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Are you telling me to f.u.c.k.i.n.g bug-out? Where the f.u.c.k would I even go? Did you forget I have dogs and I have people? This ce is f.u.c.k.i.n.g secure and even if I don¡¯t trust those soldiers, they¡¯re keeping the order here while all the owners provide them food. It¡¯s really simple but it¡¯s working for us and the others.¡± Jomarro said with a frown.


    ¡°Quite the opposite actually, you¡¯re bugging in.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°What?¡± Jomarro was confused.


    ¡°You¡¯re taking everyone and everything you own to my ce. It¡¯s safer there, you¡¯d get to see Zeus too. My offer you declined before still stands.¡± I replied with a smile.

 Chapter 390

    Chapter 390: 390


    Jomarro looked at me thinking that I would say what I said with a funny face or I was just cooking up the time to give a proper punchline. However, I was not and what I said earlier was genuine. Like my friends and other colleagues, I¡¯ve sent numerous emails to tell them about what was about to happen. Jomarro was not one of the people that believed me and now I could safely say that his days were literally numbered by the number of supplies he had left for him and his people. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Did you turn deaf and mute now?¡± I said when he was just staring at me.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± Jomarro¡¯s face turned solemn.


    ¡°What do you mean by ¡®Hmm.¡¯, huh? Just give me an answer already so I could decide what to do with the supplies I came in with to trade!¡± I widened my eyes from hisck of energy.


    ¡°Cheh, how about my rice?!¡± Jomarro nced at the few thousand sacks on his shop.


    ¡°No.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What do you mean by that? No? What does that mean?¡± he started scratching his shoulder.


    ¡°It¡¯s OURS now.¡± I said with a Russian ent that took Tatiana and Mikhail¡¯s attention.


    *National_Anthem_of_USSR.mp4 suddenly yed in the background*


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k did just happen?!¡± Tatiana and Mikhail eximed.


    ¡°I think a car with a stereo passed by, weird¡­¡± I trailed, scratching my head.


    ¡°Impossible¡­¡± Tatiana was shaking her head. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°TURN THAT F.U.C.K.I.N.G COMMIE MUSIC OFF OR I¡¯LL MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G TURN IT OFF WITH A SLUG!!!¡± Oscar shouted from outside.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! We just found this cassette outside!¡± a voice replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°A-Anyway¡­ isn¡¯t it the same?¡± Jomarro went back to our previous discussion.


    ¡°The same what?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m just cing all of my items in a different location and I¡¯m worthless after I ran out of things I could give you.¡± Jomarro was still against the idea of going to my ce.


    ¡°It¡¯s all gonna be up to you if you still wanna keep on sitting on your ass all day. Instead of what you¡¯re doing right now, you could learn a lot of things from everyone at my ce. You¡¯re great with animals, you could learn animal husbandry officially or even actual agriculture toplement your knowledge with rice. We¡¯ve secured a ce where we could start building rice paddies though I¡¯m nning to also nt corn on that ce.¡± I started.


    ¡°This¡­¡± Jomarro was still hesitating.


    ¡°I also teach sses every now and then so you could learn a thing or two about defending yourself. Well, it¡¯s not just that, we have people with different kinds of skills and knowledge and they¡¯re willing to teach everyone that wanted to learn. It¡¯s not the end man, we¡¯re just starting again with a little more difficulty. We know how to grind and we¡¯ll just keep doing what we do before when we ran our businesses solo at first.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Where do I even start? I¡¯m finding the start really difficult. Mike and the rest could help you and even ine does a fantastic job of keeping the records in order.¡± Jomarro looked at his old picture where he was still buff.


    ¡°Heh, that¡¯s why I¡¯m here, remember? First things first, you¡¯ll get your old body back with our help. It¡¯s always best to sculpt your body to an optimal shape so you would be able to perform more movements and actionspared to our old ones. After that, you¡¯ll decide for yourself on what to do next. You could follow my earlier suggestions or try every path avable to you. How about it, deal?¡± I offered my hand for a handshake. <hr>


    ¡°W-Wait a sec, before my belongings turn to our belongings, I have one thing I want you to do for me. And I want this thing done before I order Mike to fill the truck you¡¯ve brought to what it could carry.¡± Jomarro looked at my extended hand first before looking into my eyes.


    ¡°What? As long as it¡¯s not too stupid, I¡¯ll do it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I want you to take me to my house. I¡¯ve left a lot of my belongings there and even if I¡¯m not sure that they¡¯re still there, I¡¯m hoping they still haven¡¯t found out the stash I¡¯ve hidden with the other valuables I have. I know I¡¯m not the most agile one but I¡¯ll move when you tell me to move and run like hell when you tell me to run like hell. If you smell any kind of trouble and it would be dangerous to proceed, then we could go to your ce though I wanted to try again in another time.¡± Jomarro stated his request.


    ¡°Jomarro, sorry but that is a disaster waiting to happen. Why don¡¯t you just tell me where to look for and I¡¯ll even show you footage from a camera as to what transpired over there. I¡¯m sorry but I would like to avoid risks as much as possible.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Forgot the ce where I live?¡± Jomarro raised his eyebrow.


    ¡°Forgot that I never forget?¡± I replied.


    ¡°You won¡¯t be able to enter if I¡¯m not there.¡± Jomarro raised both his hands helplessly.


    ¡°Is it even standing? You know thew doesn¡¯t exist anymore, right?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Just let mee with you! I¡¯ll never leave the car we would be using unless you told me to!¡± Jomarro eximed.


    ¡°Now you¡¯re being unreasonable. Give me a good reason I¡¯ll take you-¡± then he interrupted me.


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g know the reason. Look around here and think hard.¡± Jomarro looked into my eyes. <hr>


    I was taken aback but I did what he told me. I nced around his office and it took me a while topletely understood. I sighed heavily and then I shook my head helplessly.


    ¡°F.u.c.k it, fine. However, if you do something stupid, I have more than a thousand ways to disable you, understood? Don¡¯t test me now or I¡¯ll blow a hole in your foot with a .22, got it?¡± I sternly said.


    ¡°Deal you little shit.¡± Jomarro scoffed as he was the one who extended his hand.


    ¡°Deal.¡± I smiled as I extended my hand as well.


    Then both of us shook hands and the people behind us were confused about the thing Jomarro made me think about. Jomarro grabbed a packed bag and then he put on a new shirt. Surprisingly, he was in possession of arger than normal soft armor and a Mossberg 500. He saw me look at his getup and he chuckled.


    ¡°You thought you¡¯re the only one packing eh? Bought this from one of my customers.¡± Jomarro chuckled.


    ¡°Heh, not bad for a start. Remember once we¡¯re out there, my word is f.u.c.k.i.n.gw. You don¡¯t follow what I say, it will be all your fault when something happens to you.¡± I reminded him.


    ¡°Yeah, you little shit. I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ll follow orders from a kid who I saw shit his pants when he was here with his dad.¡± Jomarro was shaking his head.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Let¡¯s go now so my team could still go home before sunset.¡± I replied while Kaley and the rest looked at me while holding their smiles back.


    ¡°We could still go back before sunset? We took six hours to get here, right?¡± Kaley nudged me when we walked back to where Oscar and the rest were.


    ¡°You¡¯re right, it would depend on how long we would take on Jomarro¡¯s ce so we better move fast. Well, we always pack supplies for an emergency so if anything happens, we¡¯re good.¡± I replied. <hr>


    Before we left for Jomarro¡¯s house, I told Oscar to take the reins while Jomarro gave instructions to Mike to load our trucks. Besides, Jomarro, I was with Kaley, Tatiana, Mikhail, and Jared in Oscar¡¯s SUV. Lois wanted toe but I tasked him with staying with Oscar and Unc Zardon.


    ¡°Oh yeah, kid. I have a few things to tell you.¡± Oscar tapped me before I entered his SUV.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I said as I ced the keys in the ignition.


    While we were busy talking with Jomarro earlier, Oscar told me that he walked around the near shops to check on the items avable. I was told that the majority of supplies were food and medicine and the ones the owners wouldn¡¯t let go or expensive were guns, ammunition, and fuel.


    ¡°That¡¯s great. Bring Lois with you to go around every single shop so we could have the best deal. Bring Unc Zardon too because he knows more of the other ownerspared to me. You don¡¯t know they might give him something extra with a good deal.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Sure kid, stay safe.¡± Oscar nodded.


    When we exited the Intercity, the cargo truck and the military jeeps were on the way as to where Jomarro¡¯s shop was located. Oscar must¡¯ve radioed them in because Mike and the others needed to load them while the items for trade we brought would be stored in their ce for the moment.


    I drove the SUV near the bridge where we sniped a few irregrs waiting on the lotto outlet. I took a left turn and we started to drive a road that was starting to get narrow. We passed by small houses stuck together and we went under an overpass for the expressway.


    There were fewer bodies than I thought initially but I was proven wrong.


    Bodies from the expressway above started to free fall on the hard asphalt where we just drove past and they were starting to form a small hill.

 Chapter 391

    Chapter 391: 391


    Dull thuds followed one after another but the most rming thing was that the bodies piling up never seemed to stop. The first ones that fell either died from their skulls cracking from the impact or getting used a body cushion for the deadheads still falling. I could see everything from the mirrors and the angle we were at made it look like that more was stilling from the horizon. There were around 200 that fell already and they were blocking the way back. <center></center><hr>


    Some zekes that were able to get up were having trouble moving because of the fall.


    All of a sudden, a bus suddenly toppled over from expressway and it went straight down to the pile of bodies below. Even if the rotting bodies acted as cushions, we still heard the crank it made when the metal parts bent from the initial impact. The bodies it made contact with got ttened or mangled and I could only imagine the cracking sounds it produced.


    The raining bodies weren¡¯t over because several dozen more bodies fell on the bus, making their bodies turn in a weird angle. They also came with a few cars and concrete barriers and they all made the way back impossible to traverse without heavy equipment.


    ¡°WHERE THE F.U.C.K DID THOSE COME FROM?! WE¡¯RE DEAD!!! RUN!!! WHY THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU SLOWING DOWN?!¡± Jomarro eximed as he kept tapping on my seat.


    ¡°SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP!!!¡± I shouted because all he was doing was create chaos.


    I punched the button to make the sunroof and the rear door open but I didn¡¯t punch the button to make the XM556 flip up. I opened my car door and I ran forward while Tatiana was behind me. I cut down the one in front of me as I saw the one wearing civilian clothing receive a slug on the head.


    The bodies and the bus falling down from the expressway made a lot of noise so the ones simply roaming around that street came to our direction. I kicked an elderly deadhead with missing arms to the ground before shooting its head with my Maxim 9. Tatiana and I paved the way for the SUV to drive into and I turned around when Tatiana and I reached an intersection.


    Jared was now driving the SUV while Kaley was peeking through the sunroof, firing several shots to the mangled horde at the back. Aside from that, I could hear loud gunshotsing from the rear and it was Mikhail getting into position with his PKM.


    ¡°Hey! There¡¯s around ten in that store!¡± Tatiana tapped as she was reloading her Benelli M4.


    ¡°I got it!¡± I shouted as I pointed to a car where a couple of zombies were trapped inside.


    I raised my rifle and I managed to kill five when the ss from the car doors was broken because Tatiana shot through them. All of sudden, I heard Kaley¡¯s suppressed AR-15 firing several shots one after the other. I briefly nced back and I saw three figures rmingly closerpared to where the horde was grouped.


    ¡°I f.u.c.k.i.n.g hate it when those are mixed together.¡± I thought to myself as I picked up my radio to confirm their presence.


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sprinter?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°If they get too close and we still haven¡¯t paved the way, use the XM556.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°F.u.c.k yeah dude!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Don¡¯t celebrate I hate wasting f.u.c.k.i.n.g ammo. Keep it steady, yeah?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Pause on this intersection, right?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re scouting a bit ahead.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Lois should¡¯ve been here.¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll manage though.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I ran towards the store where I shot up the bodies and I quickly took a huge steping out from the corner to peek inside. There were 12 all in all but a few more infected wereing from other directions in the vicinity. I heard Tatiana firing her shotgun a few times in session from the other side so I did the same and I cleared the dead as fast as I could. I didn¡¯t have to drag the bodies to the side because there¡¯s still space but we were about to encounter another problem.


    A couple of SUVs wereing from my side and I couldn¡¯t figure out their intentions from their initial approach. Their windshields were tinted and I didn¡¯t know whether they were just passing through or they heard themotion and drove here to take a look. However, it wasn¡¯t the right time to figure out whether they were friend or foe because we have a huge problem to deal with already.


    The only thing I noticed was that they were driving at a constant speed. The distance between us was enough for them to see me but they didn¡¯t speed up nor slow down. They didn¡¯t even use their headlights or horn to signal me andck of information was one of the things I hate the most.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are they up to?¡± I thought to myself frowning.


    I initially nned to let my group clear most of the horde at that intersection while Tatiana and I would make escape routes. However, those vehicles arriving threw a monkey wrench at my ns. I decided to run back to Oscar¡¯s SUV while facing them, rifle at the ready. However, those unknown people approaching me were still not nning to stop at all. I tried to signal them with my hands to turn around but the f.u.c.kers were still not responding.


    It left me no choice but to lob a grenade between us. I could¡¯ve used a more non-violent approach but I was not about to wait for them to tell me whether theye in peace. It was always a matter of life and death outside and me not throwing the grenade at them directly or when they were close enough was already a huge consideration considering the circ.u.mstances.


    An explosion followed and it took away a great portion of a wall made of hollow blocks. Dust and debris flew into the air and I immediately shouted at Tatiana to get back in the SUV. I heard the brakes of the vehicles approaching us screeching so the ones driving them must¡¯ve got the message that I was not f.u.c.k.i.n.g around. Kaley and the rest also heard the explosion so their shooting stopped momentarily.


    I nced at the horde they were firing at and aside from the couple dozen sprawled on the road which seemed to be sprinters that they peppered with bullets, they seemed to be barely maintaining the hold of the numbers of the horde.


    Despite that, a lot of bodies were still falling from the expressway above and a few more vehicles were being brought down with them. <hr>


    ¡°Damn it.¡± I thought to myself.


    I wanted to kill them all before proceeding but the best course of action was to let the matter go and regroup. There was also an unknown variable that popped up so continuing with the n was downright stupid. However, before I entered the passenger¡¯s side of the SUV, I turned around to check on the SUVs onest time. I saw that one of the doors of the vehicles approaching us opening and I could barely make out a silhouette.


    ¡°TURN AROUND BECAUSE THERE¡¯S A F.U.C.K.I.N.G HORDE!!! RESPOND WHEN YOU¡¯RE BEING SIGNALLED DAMMIT!!!¡± I shouted at the top of my lungs before I mmed our door shut.


    ¡°WHO THE F.U.C.K ARE THEY?!¡± Jomarro shouted while clutching his ears.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K DO I KNOW?! JARED!!! DRIVE FORWARD BUT NOT AS FAST!!! TATIANA!!! TELL ME IF THE ONES IN THE SUVs FOLLOW AND I¡¯LL SEND THEM SOMETHING SPECIAL!!!¡± I shouted as I pulled Kaley down.


    ¡°WHAAAAAT DID YOU SAY?!¡± Jomarro shouted.


    ¡°THEY¡¯RE STILL A F.U.C.K TON COMING BOSS!!!¡± Mikhail referred to the dead.


    ¡°I CAN¡¯T HEAR F.U.C.K.I.N.G ANYTHING!!! WHY ARE MY EARS RINGING?!¡± Jomarro bellowed.


    ¡°SAVE YOUR BULLETS AND CLOSE THAT DOOR!!! KALEY!!! THE AMMO CAN FOR 5.56S IS BEHIND THAT SEAT!!! RELOAD EVERYTHING YOU USED AND I¡¯LL PASS YOU MY MAGS AFTER YOU¡¯RE DONE!!!¡± I barked out orders and they followed.


    ¡°HEEEEEY!!! SOMEONE TALK TO-¡± Jomarro was adding to the noise so I gave him a huge p.


    ¡°HEY!!! I¡¯M SORRY BUT SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP!!! YOU¡¯RE NOW WEARING EAR PROTECTION SO THAT¡¯S WHY YOUR EARS ARE RINGING!!! I THOUGHT YOU HAVE ONE WHEN YOU BOUGHT THAT SHOTGUN SO I DIDN¡¯T BOTHER CHECKING YOU WHEN WE WENT OUT!!! I¡¯LL HAVE YOU CHECKED LATER FOR TINNITUS SO WEAR THIS FOR NOW!!!¡± I said as I gave Jomarro ear muffs.


    ¡°WHAAAAT?! HOW DO I WE- OH!!! THANK YOU!!!¡± Jomarro started shouting again but Kaley helped him.


    I crawled to the back where Mikhail was and I checked where the horde was headed. Because of the noise we made and the explosion that urred, the horde split into two and the other half was going for the people in the SUVs. I just heard their tires screaming and they drove past them, towards the road Tatiana cleared earlier. They didn¡¯t bother going back and it seemed that they really needed to drive that way.


    However, once they did that, most of the horde still falling from the expressway headed to their direction. In our case, a generous amount of the dead was still following us but we were maintaining our speed in case the ones riding the SUVs tried to follow us. I already opened the case of my RPG-7 but it seemed like I luckily wouldn¡¯t have the chance to use it.


    I picked up my radio and contacted Oscar.

 Chapter 392

    Chapter 392: 392


    I was speaking through my radio and I tapped Jared because he was about to miss the turn. We even sped up eventually because there was no way the SUV¡¯s earlier would be able to plow through the dead chasing after us earlier. Not to mention they also have a horde on their back to worry about. <center></center><hr>


    Driving for a few meters, I told Jared to park in an alley right next to a wall where a tree was providing shade. It was just almost an hour past noon and the sun was about to dry our throats up from the heat and our constant shouting. I made Jared park here so we could catch our breaths for a minute to check on ourselves and because we already lost the other half on the horde when we sped up.


    This was also the time when Oscar returned my call.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid? You there yet?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Negative, we encountered a horde after passing under the expressway.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You guys okay? I could send one of the jeeps there.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯re good and I just called to give you a heads up.¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I began to tell him the story and he listened attentively. When I mentioned the SUVs, he was also confused about their behavior but I gave him the color, make, and te numbers in case they drove inside the Intercity. It could be anything as to why they were like that but it was better to let others know about their existence.


    When I ced the radio down, Tatiana and Mikhail just finished creating a very small perimeter. Kaley was still in the process of reloading our magazines so I started to pick up the brass casings on the SUV¡¯s flooring. Jared then gave Lois a call while Jomarro said that his ears stopped ringing. It was an unfortunate ident but he should¡¯ve informed Kaley and Mikhail when they started firing.


    It took us a few minutes to get everything ready and I was back on the driver¡¯s seat when we drove off.


    ¡°Hey, was it already like this when it started? I didn¡¯t see much earlier but I didn¡¯t think their numbers would reach that many? How did it even happen?¡± Jomarro asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s different from each ce. It slowly encroached in my ce but there were some ces that were hit hard from the get-go. I¡¯m not even sure if each country was hit at the same time. Well, the difference could be hours or days but unless we have someone who managed to track everythingpletely, we¡¯ll never know.¡± I exined as I turned right on a bowling alley.


    ¡°We¡¯re still going to my ce? I thought we¡¯de back when it¡¯s dangerous?¡± Jomarro asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re always in danger while on the road but we¡¯ve faced a horde in muchrger numberpared to that. The thing that¡¯s dangerous is the unknowns and this time, those were the SUVs. We don¡¯t know what they might do so we pulled out of that scene.¡± I replied as I stepped on the gas a bit more.


    The rest of the trip to Jomarro¡¯s house was rtively safe and we even managed to loot a lot of snacks and carbonated drinks from the vending machines of an LTO office. I made sure to duct tape the ss first before smashing the ss partition so we wouldn¡¯t make as much noise. The SUVs we encountered earlier didn¡¯t show up a second time but we always kept our guard up just in case.


    Jomarro¡¯s house was inside a gatedmunity much like Woonds but it was significantly smaller.


    Like any other ce, it was roaming with the dead. Jomarro was wearing a saddened expression because even I recognized some of them when we drove inside. However, there was not much left to do but put them down and make sure they don¡¯te back the second time. Jomarro¡¯s house was near the entrance but we still decided to clear this cepletely.


    The system was that we need to take care of everything on the streets first before we start to go house to house. It would take us a bit of time but an itch of not clearing the hordepletely earlier was starting to affect me. I let Jomarro drive the SUV around slowly while my team took their positions. Kaley and I were at the front, Tatiana and Mikhail were at the back, while Jared was on the SUV as our lookout.


    I drew my katana while Kaley was a few feet behind me using her new TX22. We both only had an extra magazine for the TX22 in person so I gave her my extra so she could familiarize herself with the gun more. It wasn¡¯t as powerful as our usual loadout but it could still get the job done though in a much shorter range. The sound it produced with the suppressor on was super quiet and it was even possible to use it without hearing protection. <hr>


    Kaley would only fire on the clumps exceeding three or more since I could take care of the dead easily with my katana. I was holding it with both of my hands too so my cuts were more consistent and powerful.


    We looped around twice to make sure none would randomly pop out and we eventually cleared the road rtively. Jomarro was getting impatient but he held up his end of the deal. He drove the SUV consistently and he never exited the vehicle even if his house was right in front of him. Mikhail and Tatiana started clearing a house while I helped Kaley reload the .22 LRs that she used.


    Kaley and I were reloading the magazines for the TX22 when Tatiana tapped me.


    ¡°Come with me.¡± Tatiana motioned for the house right next to Jomarro¡¯s house.


    The house was asrge as Jomarro¡¯s but there were party decorations inside and outside the house. The dead inside the house was already being dragged outside by Mikhail but Tatiana let us peek through the window where the backyard was located.


    Kaley and I were wearing solemn expressions.


    As the decorations suggested, a party was being held in this house when it hit. There were only a few a.d.u.l.ts at the backyard but there were a lot of small figures wearing party hats or swimsuits for the small pool just before the wall.


    Their bodies were all discolored and torn up and their bodies were rotting the same way as the food prepared on the table. The ones on the tables were still feasting on each other but the ones on the pool were in a much worse condition.


    Aside from their bodies being bloated from being inside the pool for a long period of time, the water¡­ or the more urate description was the muck where they were in was thick and a mix of their rotting innards. The number of them inside made the muck overflow and send their guts and pping skin just over the edge of the pool. Not only that, the dead being bloated and being mushed together tightly made their appearance as if they were melded together.


    Despite that, their hands were still grasping onto anything it could and whatever it had would be immediately ced on its own mouth. They were trying to chew every bit of rotting flesh they grasped from the dead next to them but their teeth were loose or have fallen off. All they managed to do was just to chew with their gums flowing with pus, staining the chunk they were chewing.


    We were silent for a moment but we need to continue on.


    We drew our weapons and we suppressed what we were feeling inside. My shes were lowerpared to normal and their aims with their guns were lower as well. The few times I aimed normally was when I killed a figure nursing an undead toddler. Its left b.r.e.a.s.t was devouredpletely by the little one on its arms but its mouth was clogged by an arm which was missing from the one it was carrying.


    It was nearing sunset when we cleared this gatedmunity from the undead.


    Jomarro¡¯s house was looted but like the other houses, not everything was taken. However, we found out that his hidden stash was well-hidden and it provided us with an ample amount of food and other supplies. Not only that, but he also had a Colt 1911, a S&W Model 19, a Remington 870, and a Remington 700 with a few hundred mixed rounds.


    There was also a small bag he pulled out from the floor but when we saw a couple of wedding rings he put on with a solemn expression, we understood what the rest of the items inside were.


    Since the gatedmunity was rtively secure, we formed pairs and we looted every single house. There were forty houses all in all and we found varying degrees of supplies. We took several trips from hauling everything but I was delighted when I discovered that a few houses have sr panels attached to their roofs.


    I was in the process of removing them all but the others came in with a Toyota Hilux and an H2 Hummer. I was shaking my head helplessly but I ced the panels and the otherponents at the back of the Toyota Hilux. <hr>


    Before we settled in, I blocked the gate with another vehicle just to be sure while we boarded up the doors and windows with wooden nks. It was a bit overkill because we would have turns guarding the roof but I would rather be tired than regretful I didn¡¯t take the extra steps.


    Kaley and I were able to share a room with each other but Oscar contacted me.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid, are you close? It¡¯s getting dark.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It took us a bit of time getting here and securing the ce but we¡¯ll being back tomorrow with good items and an extra vehicle or two. We could trade some of the items we found but I want to keep most of them for our use. I detached a few sr panels with their inverters and batteries but we didn¡¯t find any guns.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°No guns? Must be idiots living there. You¡¯re staying there for the night?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, stay at Jomarro¡¯s shop too. I already asked him and he said you could sleep in his office.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Already am and Lois was already about to fall asleep. I gave him the bed while I¡¯m here at the rocking chair.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, that suits you old man. What happened on that side while we¡¯re gone?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Not much but the owners of Angelica and J & E came by looking for you. Your uncle and I talked with them for a brief moment.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What did they say?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 393

    Chapter 393: 393


    Oscar began to speak and what he told me was that the owners of Angelica and J & E wanted a partnership but they do not want to move to our ce. <center></center><hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°How do they n to make it work then? It¡¯s great and all that they were the ones to approach us for help but them staying here is a problem for them, not for us.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Emily from J & E would like our guns in exchange for their rice and a few things.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Few things? Like what?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s her parents. They¡¯re really old and she wants them to have a nice ce to stay before¡­ you know¡­ They have beds in their office and whatnot but it¡¯s not exactly what we callfortable, right? I¡¯m thinking we could let them upy a private room in the hospital so they would be taken care of by the medical staff we have back home.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, I was told that Earnest was doing a great job taking care of the elderly back home. Well, the others are doing great as well but he seems to be the favorite.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Heh, your little friend¡¯s like a kid when he shaves, that¡¯s why. He lost some weight but his cheeks stayed the same. The elderly likes to pinch them and he would always tell me they were doing it constantly while he¡¯s present. Anyway, I¡¯ve already called back home to let them know we¡¯ll being back tomorrow. Let¡¯s make sure we¡¯re going home tomorrow and not like the excursions you do when you leave, okay?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, as long as nothing too serious happens. Hey, don¡¯t forget to tell me about what Angelica proposed. We only talked about J & E, remember?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit, I almost forgot. Angelica¡¯s proposal is a little different. She wanted to be a broker or middle-man of some sort. She knows that we drove for a few hours just to reach this ce and we visited each store to check on their goods.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Let me guess, she wanted to give us information regarding the other stores while we give her the information on what we would be bringing each time we get here? I¡¯m also guessing she¡¯d get a small cut each time she does the work for us so she¡¯d get supplies not just for trading her products but for the service she¡¯s providing as well.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Motherf.u.c.ker, why don¡¯t I just let you figure out everything on your own eh? Well yeah, that¡¯s the gist of it. So, what do you think about it?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s a great idea if we wanted to save time. I¡¯ll discuss a bit more about her terms when I get back but I wanted to know about the items you secured for us. You started trading for other items, right?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hehehehe~¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°The f.u.c.k was with thatugh? How many people did you hoodwink this time?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hah! It¡¯s called finessing I tell ya, like what you always call it. It¡¯s their fault they fell victim to my silver tongue. Well, truth be told, I¡¯m not as knowledgable about rice as you but I know guns a fair bitpared to the others here know next to nothing. Those guns you polished sold like f.u.c.k.i.n.g hotcakes even if the bullets are f.u.c.k.i.n.g steel-cased. Bringing a few of them helped a lot because they taught that was all we had to trade.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh yeah? Tell me what you got from them.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°This is gonna make you f.u.c.k.i.n.g excited. I got a f.u.c.k.i.n.g~ lot of brass casings for 5.56s and 9mms and the rest were assorted casings. I showed them one of the ingots your uncle melted before so they thought we have a cksmith or something. The immediate metal scrap they have in the vicinity were those brass casings so a frenzy almost happened when they started picking them all up. Well, not all of them were brass casings but if we sort through all the scrap metal, we¡¯ll find more casings. I can¡¯t just say we make bullets, right kid?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s good. If we¡¯re out of space on the truck, we could leave the other scraps on Jomarro¡¯s store temporarily. That¡¯s all you got?¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Of course not! A few shoppers discovered we¡¯re trading anything useful for guns so I received a number of offers for them. I got a few dozen chickens, eggs, and feed from one other guy and he said he¡¯ll be back tomorrow to trade for more. He said he¡¯ll bring more so I¡¯m guessing he¡¯s in a poultry farm or something. Another guy came up with several car batteries that are brand new so I traded him a shotty with a few power tools we have extra. He gave also gave me a new set of tires so I handed him a few rounds.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Wait a sec, how about the medical supplies we brought for trade? You didn¡¯t forget about them, right?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, I got loose rounds for antibiotics, bandages, alcohol, and vitamins but the thing that got swarmed was theforters, pillows, hammocks, and the folding beds. I think they¡¯re good on medical supplies because there¡¯s still a lot remainingpared to the guns and items forfort. Shit, I¡¯m kinda sleepy now so see for yourself tomorrow what we have left and what we got. Lois wrote a few items he wanted to get but I told him to wait for you tomorrow.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay old man, see you tomorrow.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We ended the call then I asked Kaley toe with me to do rounds around the house.


    Aside from the windows and doors boarded with wooden nks, we also covered them with dark fabric so that any sort of lighting out would be reduced to the minimum or none at all. Besides, unless the ones trying to peek inside were in a much-elevated position, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see anything.


    We found out that Jomarro and Jared were at the roof casually chatting about their rifles while Tatiana and Mikhail were on the first floor, having a snack, lighted by a hoodedntern. They were eating potato ch.i.p.s and each bite they made would scrunch, slightly distorting the quietness of the night.


    Tatiana saw us and she offered us a bite while slightly grinning.


    ¡°Why are you smiling like that?¡± Kaley asked while taking a piece. <hr>


    ¡°The two of us were just talking about something fun.¡± Tatiana replied as she ate a mouthful.


    ¡°Fun? Let¡¯s hear it.¡± I was curious.


    ¡°Well boss, truth be told, this thing wouldst a few years at the minimum, right?¡± Mikhail said.


    ¡°Unless something like a miracle happens or everyone dies, it would.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Stop being so morbid!¡± Kaley elbowed me as she sat down next to Tatiana.


    ¡°I¡¯m not! I¡¯m just stating every possible scenario!¡± I chuckled as Iid my head on herp. Kaley started to caress my hair then Tatiana spoke up.


    ¡°Hmm, we were talking about making this country our permanent address if this thing would take longer than it should. Even if it¡¯s over and all and everything is back to normal, I¡¯m thinking of staying here permanently.¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Are you serious?! That¡¯s great!¡± Kaley was ecstatic.


    ¡°Are you on the same boat Mikhail?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I want to stay here as well but hopefully my brother Niks would have the same idea. We really don¡¯t have anything back home aside from ourselves so staying here where it feels ¡®warm¡¯ is a great idea.¡± Mikhail replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s great, what do you think you two would be doing if you¡¯re not allowed to be soldiers for example?¡± Kaley said, leaning to Tatiana¡¯s shoulder slightly.


    ¡°Ohoh! This was something we always talk about! In my case, I could be either a PE Teacher or a mechanic. I¡¯m naturally strong so I want to be able to teach others when they¡¯re still young that there are other ways to achieve strength. I just added the mechanic because I¡¯m really fascinated by the in and outs of a vehicle. That¡¯s me, getting an answer from her is impossible though.¡± Mikhail chuckled, looking at Tatiana.


    ¡°Me? It¡¯s just that I wouldn¡¯t want anything to be different. I really wanted to be a soldier from the get-go. Well, if I could be a high-ranking officer, that would be better, correct?¡± Tatiana said.


    ¡°Just think about something else for fun! Being a high-ranking officer doesn¡¯t count! I think that¡¯s not a good answer if we¡¯re talking about hypotheticals! It should not be rted to what your job used to be.¡± Kaley nudged Tatiana multiple times and she got annoyed.


    ¡°Then what do you want to be then?! You keep on pressing me for answers but you haven¡¯t given one yourself!¡± Tatiana lightly returned Kaley¡¯s elbows.


    ¡°Me? Hmm¡­ I really wanted to be a professional dancer when I was little and it just ended up as a hobby. Other than that, I kinda like to know a bit of everything now like Sky. How about you?¡± Kaley smiled at me.


    ¡°Heh, I used to sell rice while being a prepper so if I¡¯m not allowed to do any of those I¡¯d want to be something I haven¡¯t touched on much. Well, a scientist could be fun?¡± I answered.


    ¡°Oh~ that would suit you. What would you want to figure out first if you were one then? Aside from the cure because it¡¯s obvious.¡± Kaley asked.


    I was deep in thought but I had an idea. I said, ¡°Oh! That¡¯s easy. I have a lot of things I want to figure out but I want to make Zeus live forever or longer than normal.¡±


    The room was silent for a moment but Kaley suddenly hammered her fist on my chest. It wasn¡¯t hard but it was enough to make me cough a few times.


    ¡°You!¡± Kaley was about to cry.


    ¡°What? Everyone wanted that! Even that guy from Florida kidnapped a scientist to make his dog live forever! Well, he didn¡¯t seed but I bet everyone wanted the same! I would¡¯ve kidnapped a scientist too if they could do it!¡± I retorted, chuckling.

 Chapter 394

    Chapter 394: 394


    We continued to talk for a while more but then Jared went down and called for me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Bro, Jomarro told me to ask you to cook dinner. It¡¯s almost 10:00 PM too so I¡¯m kinda hungry as well.¡± Jared said as he ced his elbows on the couch.


    ¡°Did he said what he wanted me to cook?¡± I replied.


    ¡°No, he didn¡¯t. Our options are kinda limited though, don¡¯t you think bro?¡± Jared took a handful of potato ch.i.p.s and ced it over his hand.


    ¡°Yeah, okay. Tell him to wait thirty minutes and I¡¯ll bring it up to the roof for you two.¡± I said as I got up and made my bones crack.


    Kaley and the rest have nothing else to do but kill time so they apanied me in the kitchen. Mikhail brought the hoodedntern though we turned on a couple more so we could see everything clearly inside the kitchen.


    I made thick, breaded, hamburger patties and ced them over piping hot rice. I poured over gravy made with slices of mushroom over it before sprinkling chopped green onions and toasted garlic minced into pieces. Since we had extra breading left, I made onion rings to apany it with the burger patties and I toasted them slightly so the bite would have some crunch.


    I made Jared brought their share up on the roof but Tatiana¡¯s face was f.u.c.k.i.n.g priceless when I gave her portion. She was breathing heavily and the moment she took a bite, she looked like she would¡¯ve devoured me then and there. However, that look didn¡¯tst long because she burned her tongue after pouring more gravy and eating voraciously.


    Tatiana just gave an embarrassed look before I handed her a ss of cold water. <center></center><hr>


    While we continued to eat much slower, I discussed the n for tomorrow morning. We would wake up early and drive back to the Intercity after clearing out the small municipal hall we drove past earlier. We were still on the process of collecting as much data on people as possible even if our hacker¡¯s presence lessened significantly.


    We would still ce the rys we¡¯ve made to increase her area of influence but now I would only contact her if I have someone I wanted to get checked on. Getting ahold of Tatiana¡¯s file was one of them and she was currently doing the same thing to the others and even the soldiers on our DDR Camps. I¡¯ve let Ken and Kris handle that side of the job and I¡¯ve given them my vote of confidence that they wouldn¡¯t divulge the information to just anyone.


    Aside from that part of the n, we¡¯d also drop a few hundred sacks to the new Meycauayan DDR Camp or my old high school when we drove home. Even if they were in charge of getting their own food, we were still sharing what we could because we all belong in the same fight. The only job they needed to do was ration them properly and store them in a ce that wouldn¡¯t let moisture seep inside the sacks or else it would be ruined.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t asked, but how much do we use each day?¡± Tatiana said after finishing her meal.


    ¡°Rice? In our ce including the DDR Camp and Woonds, we use 7-13 a day depending on what we eat it with or on our menu. Well, we tend to mix it up pasta or bread so it varies from day to day. We use a few tricks eat-all-you-can restaurants do in their stores so we tend to save food.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm? Like what?¡± Mikhail grew curious.


    ¡°Well, one thing was to serve water withrger sses and serve food with smaller tes. Also, ever wondered why they serve a ss of water to everybody first? There are a few more things Jay mentioned to me when they were still running their restaurant but all of it was being used to make our food storagest longer even by a fraction.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Really? I didn¡¯t notice¡­¡± Tatiana was surprised.


    ¡°Heh, that¡¯s why it¡¯s called a trick. Well, at the end of the day, what matters is that you feel full, right? Don¡¯t worry though because we¡¯re not serving you bad food, we¡¯re just using everything from nose to tail. A piece of meat could be used for a patty like this while the bones of that same animal could be used for soup or something simr. The greatest trick is to not allow our food to be wasted, that¡¯s the key for most buffet restaurants.¡± I added. <hr>


    The look on their faces was like a magician told them the secret of a magic trick. I just simply smiled and we tidied up after eating.


    We then went to the roof where Jared and Jomarro were looking through their telescopes. The hoodedntern they have was turned off because the moonlight was enough to illuminate the rooftop. They were looking at a few ces where the lights were still on and they would mark it down on a map they have on hand. I looked at the direction where the Intercity was located and it was a relief that they were following a protocol for lights at night. The two noticed us looking at them and Jared waved me over.


    ¡°What? You guy found something important?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Not really but it¡¯s worth talking about. We just found it surprising that there are still people around their own homes. See those little blips over there? Almost all of them are far from each other but we could see them from our spot.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Look at that ce though.¡± Jomarro pointed to a ce a few miles east of the Intercity.


    ¡°What is that ce?¡± Mikhail asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s arge housing project for the police and military in this region. It was a bill signed before so people like them would be granted free housing. It¡¯s all subdivisions by subdivisions and judging their situation just from the lights, a lot seemed to be living in that ce.¡± Jomarro answered.


    ¡°They¡¯re probably armed with automatics too because we saw shes of light earlier.¡± Jared added. <hr>


    ¡°Do we need to worry about them?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°For now, we just keep a watchful eye. We¡¯ll ask the soldiers from the Intercity if they ever encountered people from that ce. Also, we wouldn¡¯t be able to haul everything from your shop so I guess we¡¯ll be making multiple trips.¡± I said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t we have more trucks at home?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°We do but guarding a cargo truck with essential cargo is more difficult than just filling it up. Not only would it drive slower because it¡¯s heavier when full, we¡¯d have to watch out for the living with evil intentions. We have out jeeps as a deterrent but we never know what desperate people might resort to. Anyway, I¡¯ll take the first watch with Kaley so rest up and I¡¯ll just knock when it¡¯s your turn.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be on thest watch bro¡­ I¡¯m really sleepy¡­¡± Jared replied and the rest told us their desired time to take watch.


    Jomarro said that he still had to pack a few more items while Jared went down to his designated room. Mikhail decided to sleep on the sofa in the living room but Tatiana stayed behind and decided toy on the folding bed we were on.


    The cold wind was blowing nicely and I started to walk around the edges of the roof. It was kinda dangerous but Tatiana and Kaley were used to seeing me do that. I was traipsing carefully while I was looking around the walls this ce was built on. I was just thinking that only a feral could vault up this ce but we prepared a few traps just to be sure. Time slowly passed and it was only a few minutes when Tatiana started to yawn. Kaley looked at her while I sat down on the edge.


    ¡°You could sleep in our room if you want?¡± Kaley suggested.


    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s a couple of hours before my turn so I¡¯ll just stay here in case I saw something interesting.¡± Tatiana stretched her arms around. <hr>


    ¡°Interesting? What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ I just noticed the pants you wore today. Isn¡¯t that the one where the zipper could go all the way back? Hmm?¡±


    ¡°I-It is¡­ but that doesn¡¯t mean we¡¯re literally doing s-something here¡­¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ maybe when I start to sleep something might happen like thest couple of times, correct?¡±


    ¡°W-What are y-you talking a-about?¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon! Don¡¯t lie! We¡¯re past that already! I¡¯m starting to think you two like to do it while people are asleep around you!¡±


    Kaley was speechless but so am I.


    ¡°She was awake that time too?! Is she even sleeping?!¡± I shouted in my head.


    ¡°Well¡­ if you two won¡¯t do anything anytime soon¡­ I guess I¡¯ll start? I¡¯m wearing the same pants if you didn¡¯t notice¡­¡± Tatiana said as I heard a zipper getting undone.

 Chapter 395

    Chapter 395: 395


    My back was still facing them because I was still watching the gate for any movements. However, since not everyone was asleep below, I tried to give Tatiana a small reminder. I turned to face her because I heard her unzipping her pants but I was wrong. <center></center><hr>


    Tatiana already had Kaley on her grasp.


    ¡°Tatia- Ah! Wait- I! Um- Hngh~ Sky~!¡± Kaley was struggling and her face was flushed.


    ¡°You¡¯re already this wet and yet you say you¡¯re not nning on doing something?¡± Tatiana¡¯s hand was already inside Kaley.


    Kaley and Tatiana were lying on the folding bed though Tatiana was on Kaley¡¯s left side, face close to Kaley, watching her reactions. Kaley¡¯s hand was on Tatiana¡¯s wrist trying to make her stop but she was getting overpowered. Kaley was letting out small and soft m.o.a.ns as Tatiana was yfully kissing her on her neck. I could hear Kaley¡¯s insides squelch each time Tatiana moved her fingers but all this time, Kaley was just looking at me, worried.


    I just shook my head and gave her a smile, telling her it was okay.


    The moment Kaley got the message, she looked at Tatiana and she gave her a kiss. Tatiana returned it as she tried to spread Kaley¡¯s legs open. This time, Kaley didn¡¯t resist and I could see a portion of her juicy thighs and her soaked panties. Tatiana saw me just watching them so she made my viewing experience several times better. <center></center><hr>


    Tatiana momentarily stopped shoving her finger inside Kaley as she removed Kaley¡¯s panties off, the same as with her, after unzipping her pants fully. They were still partially clothed though most of the important parts were showing. Tatiana was on Kaley¡¯s side once more but her other leg was folded up, revealing what was underneath. Tatiana¡¯s holes and plump ass were now on view alongside with Kaley¡¯s puffy and meaty lips.


    They broke their kiss but they locked eyes with me.


    Kaley was just on the receiving end but she couldn¡¯t seem to do anything but feel Tatiana inside her. Her breathing was starting to get heavy as Tatiana¡¯s middle and ring fingers were gliding in and out of her p.u.s.s.y. More and more juices wereing out of her below and it was starting to soak the edges of her pants. Kaley was still looking at me but Tatiana started to suck Kaley¡¯s left n.i.p.p.l.e through her clothes. Kaley wasn¡¯t feeling it so she pulled her shirt up to reveal her huge mounds which Tatiana started to devour aggressively.


    Kaley¡¯s n.i.p.p.l.es were so sensitive to the touch, she immediately twitched and she pushed Tatiana¡¯s head down to suck on them harder. Kaley rested her head back and her thighs were slowly closing together as her h.i.p.s were moving upwards and her toes were curling together. She was so close to c.u.m.m.i.n.g she even started to knead her b.r.e.a.s.t Tatiana was not sucking on. Her body started to tighten and it didn¡¯t take long for her to twitch uncontrobly while letting out muffled m.o.a.ns because Tatiana covered her mouth with her other hand.


    When Kaley had multiple orgasms, Tatiana pulled her soaking fingers off of Kaley and she started to lick them clean. She gave Kaley a kiss before turning to me and smiling devilishly.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to watch the gate? Why are you watching us? Hmm?¡± Tatiana giggled as she stood up and walked towards me.


    Kaley was still out of breath from Tatiana and all she could do for now was watch us. There was already a tent in my pants just from watching them and Tatiana leaned to the wall I was standing on earlier. It was a wall that acted as a roof guard and it was just the right height for anyone to lean on an ce their arms over it. <hr>


    However, Tatiana leaned her back against it and pulled me closer to her. I could see the gate from this position and I could figure out what was about to happen next. She helped me unbuckle my pants and then I felt myself gettingthered up when I entered her warm mouth. She just sucked my d.i.c.k for a short moment before she stood up and made me lift her leg. Her juices were already flowing down her thighs and the look she was giving me was that she couldn¡¯t wait any longer.


    ¡°Now you could watch the gate and f.u.c.k me¡­¡± Tatiana whispered.


    Tatiana was already holding my shaft in position but she was rubbing it against her glossy opening. She was desperately waiting for me and she even lifted her shirt just enough so I could see her perky tits. I myself couldn¡¯t wait any longer but I also lifted her other leg and shoved it deep inside her. Tatiana was surprised by what I did and all she could do was hang onto my neck. Her legs were also wrapped around me while I was shoving my d.i.c.k inside her over and over.


    Tatiana¡¯s smile was so wide while her body would jolt each time I thrust it inside her. She would grip me tight each time I pull out and it was still f.u.c.k.i.n.g tight when I shove it back in. She was starting to lose it when she leaned back and I saw the lines of her body getting outlined by the moonlight. Everything was in the right ce and I could see her tits jiggle each time I thrust it hard. Our skin was pping against each other but I almost came when her eyes rolled over and her mouth was agape.


    ¡°Don¡¯t stop!¡± Tatiana whispered with gritted teeth.


    I never stopped even if Tatiana came over and over and her strength left her body. She now looked like Kaley after she left her covered in sweat and twitching nonstop. When I was about to c.u.m, I pulled it out andid her down but Tatiana didn¡¯t even have the strength to stand up. Kaley was already behind me and she started to tug me while pushing her tits against my back. <hr>


    It didn¡¯t take long for me to shoot it all in Tatiana¡¯s mouth. I came a lot and it was all pouring inside her warm mouth. I was faltering from the sensitivity and it didn¡¯t help when Tatiana sn.a.k.e.d her tongue on the tip. She drank everything I had though the spige was caught by her hands and she licked them after. I was out of breath but I thought we were done already.


    Kaley wouldn¡¯t stop stroking me.


    ¡°Y-You could do o-one more¡­ r-right?¡±


    I could feel Kaley¡¯s hurried breath as she was impatiently waiting for me to grow back. They made me lie down on the folding bed as both of their tongues wrapped around my c.o.c.k. Tatiana was touching herself while doing it while Kaley was spreading her lips apart so I could see them. My hands could reach them both but they scooted even closer so they could suck me off while I was pushing my fingers inside their holes.


    It didn¡¯t take long for me to get ready because just from the sight of what the two were doing to me alone almost made me lose my sanity.


    I just saw Kaley¡¯s hand pointing it in the right direction before I felt her tight and warm insides enveloping me. The folding bed started creaking when Kaley started moving her h.i.p.s violently. Her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts were jiggling in all direction but Tatiana was fondling them while rubbing Kaley¡¯s clit. Kaley¡¯s face was a mess already and she was about to c.u.m. She leaned closer to me and her b.r.e.a.s.t was starting to smother me.


    I wouldn¡¯t mind losing air if this would be the situation I was in. <hr>


    All I could do was grab her h.i.p.s and start thrusting from below. Tatiana was just watching my expression the whole time while she was kneeling and ying with herself. Kaley managed to lift her body slightly but she went straight back when Tatiana ced a finger in her ass. Her face lost all proper decorum as Tatiana and I were both inside her little holes. Her eyes were rolling over while her saliva was flowing out of her mouth. I never noticed but Tatiana was close to c.u.m as well because she didn¡¯t stop fingering herself. She was just breathing heavily the whole time and was trying hard not to make a lot of noise.


    ¡°I¡¯m close! I¡¯m close! I¡¯m close!¡± Kaley eximed.


    Kaley lost all the strength in her body but I was still thrusting from below. Her weight was pressed against me though her embrace was tight as ever. I only came the second time when I rolled her over and started f.u.c.k.i.n.g her as fast as I could.


    However, Houston we have a problem.


    We were so busy with each other that we didn¡¯t notice that someone was watching.


    The bad news was that we never saw the person because all we heard was the door closing shut. The creak of the folding bed mask the sound and we stopped while looking at each other.


    ¡°This is gonna be an awkward drive back home¡­¡± Tatiana muttered as she looked at us.

 Chapter 396

    Chapter 396: 396


    Our little session was momentarily halted then Kaley and I dressed quickly. However, Tatiana was wearing a confused expression and stopped us both. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°There¡¯s nothing else we can do about that, correct? It¡¯s not like the one who saw us could benefit from it? We¡¯re consenting a.d.u.l.ts that just decided to have a little fun. If that person ever tried to tell others, he¡¯s just a peeping tom, correct?¡± Tatiana held both of our hands.


    ¡°But still¡­¡± Kaley was worried and even if she didn¡¯t finish her sentence, I know what was on her mind. The biggest concern would be the mishandling of the information if we didn¡¯t have a proper talk with the said person who saw us. Tatiana was correct with her statement but some people might not see it that way.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna try to find out who it is. We¡¯ll just have a little talk and convince him to keep it to himself. I¡¯ll sweeten the deal a little but it won¡¯t be anything too extravagant.¡± I said.


    ¡°But what if he asks for something like¡­ like this¡­ hmm?¡± Tatiana said,


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley was silent.


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll break his teeth in for being an unreasonable f.u.c.k. That shit would not fly with me if that person tries to put that in the table.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How are you gonna figure it out without identally telling the ones who didn¡¯t know what that guy witnessed then?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± I chuckled while my eyes started to gleam.


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Kaley was looking at me weirdly.


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know who he is. I don¡¯t know what he wants. If he¡¯s looking for a bribe, I can tell him that I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g rich. However, if he tries to be unreasonable, the other thing I have is a particr set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a not so long career. If he let the matter go now, that¡¯ll be the end of it. I will not look for him, I will not pursue him, but if he doesn¡¯t, I will- Ow! Kaley! I¡¯m about to finish that speech!¡± the atmosphere suddenly lightened when Kaley grabbed my nuts and applied pressure.


    ¡°No one was taken! Why did you have to put it like that?!¡± Kaley eximed but her expression turned for the better.


    ¡°What is what?¡± Tatiana was confused. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh,e on! You haven¡¯t watched that?! F.u.c.k it, we¡¯ll do once we get home.¡± I was in shock.


    ¡°Sure, we could continue this at your room when Kaley decided to give you that other present.¡± Tatiana giggled.


    ¡°Yeah, what is it?¡± I looked at Kaley.


    ¡°Solve this thing first and I¡¯ll make that gift even better!¡± Kaley just finished putting on the rest of her clothes.


    We wiped ourselves off first before I slowly descended to look for the person that might or might not have witnessed us earlier identally. I reached the second floor but I could already hear Mikhail¡¯s loud snoring.


    ¡°Hmm, does he usually do that or is it just an act? If he¡¯s the one who saw us, I think I could easily use the PKM as leverage¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    Before I tried to descend to the first floor, I decided to check Jared and Jomarro¡¯s room first. Each step I made was like a cat¡¯s footstep and I even surprised myself as to how quiet I was.


    ¡°I am vengeance, I am the night, I am Ba- wait, too much movie quotes for today¡­¡± I thought to myself as I leaned my ear against Jared¡¯s door.


    It was as quiet as the one up above in the gue but I couldn¡¯t be too sure.


    ¡°Jared sleeps soundly but he could be just trying to keep quiet because he knows that I know how he sleeps. Wait, unless I open this door and see his face for myself, I wouldn¡¯t be too sure.¡± I thought to myself but I wanted to explore more options before I started picking doors.


    I reached Jomarro¡¯s room which was at the end of the hallway. Unlike Jared¡¯s door, this one was unlocked because it slowly turned when I tried to know if it was locked or not.


    I leaned my ear against the door but I wasn¡¯t even close when I heard a few objects falling onto his floor.


    ¡°Dammit, I thought I alreadytched it. Haa~ I wouldn¡¯t have this trouble when Martina is still¡­ Hmm, I hope one day I could move back to this ce when this f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit is over¡­¡± I heard Jomarro¡¯s voice while he was moving around in his room. I could hear hisrge footsteps and I was already doubting if he could sneak his way past the three of us upstairs earlier. <hr>


    ¡°There¡¯s a low chance it¡¯s him but I guess I¡¯ll try for Mikhail first.¡± I thought to myself.


    Instead of intentionally moving quieter and slower, I came down like I was just gonna get a bottle of water. My footsteps weren¡¯t as loud but Mikhail¡¯s loud snoring stoppedpletely. I saw him rising up from the sofa and then he rxed when he saw that it was me. I looked at his getup and he was still wearing his heavy boots. However, that was only a minor clue.


    ¡°Sorry, did I wake you up?¡± I started.


    ¡°Kinda but no worries. I pushed this sofa by the door so it¡¯s like I¡¯m also guarding this side while half-asleep.¡± Mikhail sat down and I saw that his eyes were slightly red from waking up abruptly. I looked for other signs from him and I hoped that Kaley was with so so the filters were higher.


    However, I cleared him off the list. Unless he was a great actor and could fly down the stairs without me hearing his heavy shoes, it wasn¡¯t him.


    ¡°Jared and Jomarro are the ones remaining¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    Before I went back to the second floor, I took a few snacks and bottles of water to not make it seem I just went down there for nothing. I headed straight for Jomarro¡¯s room but I didn¡¯t knock and opened the door immediately to see his reaction.


    However, a huge suitcase barred the door from openingpletely.


    ¡°Oh, is that you, you little shit? Wait a sec, lemme- it¡¯s a mess here because I¡¯m still trying to figure out what to bring. I just threw them all in that other case but I remembered what my wife said to organize them neatly first so I would know where to reach for when I started to unpack. Anyway, what can I do for you? I thought you were on watch?¡± Jomarro said, looking at me confused as to why I was there in the first ce.


    ¡°It¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g Jared.¡± I though to myself.


    ¡°Yeah, I just went down to grab a snack because Tatiana was also there with us. Want one of these? I think I brought a few too many.¡± I said as I showed him the snacks on my arms.


    ¡°Oh, I see I see. I¡¯ll just grab myself those barbecue ones after I¡¯m done with packing. I don¡¯t want them to smell like barbecue because of eating snacks while packing but thank you.¡± Jomarro replied. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, since Tatiana¡¯s still there. I could drop these off them first so I could help you pack. My head¡¯s kinda itchy looking at his chaos you brewed up.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Really? Okay, I¡¯ll wait for you. I don¡¯t know how to fit this f.u.c.k.i.n.g 700 with this 870 in this position¡­¡± Jomarro was ecstatic.


    I quickly went up though I released a bit of killing intent when I passed by Jared¡¯s room. Kaley and Tatiana saw me with snacks and a few cans of soda and they got confused even more. They started to ask some questions but I just smiled devilishly.


    ¡°Did you figure it out?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Are you sure you two want to know? You could just forget about the matter and-¡± I was cut off.


    ¡°I¡¯d rather know who it is than doubt three persons at the same time!¡± Kaley eximed as she opened a bag of ch.i.p.s.


    ¡°And you¡¯re hungry now?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Wha- I¡¯m just-¡± Kaley stopped herself from opening it fully.


    ¡°Just get to it! Tell us!¡± Tatiana eximed as she opened the bag for Kaley.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you two when it¡¯s done. This will be over easy.¡± I replied.


    The two wore helpless expressions as I quickly made my way down. However, the door to Jared¡¯s room was already unlocked and I just turned the knob and saw him grinning while holding a piece of paper. <hr>


    ¡°Bro, before you say anything, I know how our system works, ok? If I could have this for my sile-¡± I suddenly swiped the paper off his hands.


    ¡°Sig Sauer P320, FN SCAR 17, and a motherf.u.c.k.i.n.g Barrett M107a1?! You high dude?!¡± I eximed to start lowballing him.


    ¡°Bro! I know that tactic! You¡¯re starting to lowball me, aren¡¯t you?!¡±


    ¡°What?! Me?! Anyway, you know I only have one Barrett, right? Want me to smack you in the head?¡±


    ¡°Bro! I¡¯ll settle if I could fire it a few times, deal?¡±


    ¡°Just firing it a few times? Without the SCAR and the P320?¡±


    ¡°What?! No! At least give me the SCAR!¡±


    ¡°You have the f.u.c.k.i.n.g AR-10 for f.u.c.ks sake! I could give you the P320 at least! Like the Barrett, I only have one of those!¡±


    ¡°You said you have twost time!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s different calibers!¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t settle for anything less than that!¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Whoa, what the f.u.c.k is that bro?! BRO?! BROOOOOOO?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!¡±

 Chapter 397

    Chapter 397: 397


    Jared started to get hysterical when I took a step forward and his eyes were focused at my left hand. He started to back away as if I had leprosy or opened up a can of Surstr?mming and fear was evident in his eyes. I wasughing internally because I didn¡¯t think that what I did earlier would garner such a reaction. <center></center><hr>


    What I did was I casually pulled out a condom, ripped the side to pull it out, and wore a nk face as I ced it over my left fist. I was alternating of looking at my fist and Jared and he would shudder each time we lock eyes.


    ¡°BRO?! I GET IT! I GET IT! I WON¡¯T MENTION THAT THING TO ANYONE~!!! MESSAGE RECEIVED!!! BRO?! STOP!!! DON¡¯T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!!!¡±


    ¡°This shit is lubricated, don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡°BROOOOO?! THE F.U.C.K I WOULDN¡¯T WORRY ABOUT YOU LOOKING LIKE THE PROBE 2.0?! F.U.C.K!!! BLINK ONCE, WOULD YOU?!¡±


    ¡°Sig P320, take it or leave it.¡±


    ¡°YES! YES! DEAL! YOU CRAZY F.U.C.K!!!¡±


    ¡°Okay, if you say so. I¡¯ll head up now.¡±


    ¡°IF YOU SAY SO?! WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°Problem?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ have a safe trip¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh! Thank you.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    I went outside Jared¡¯s room with a grin on my face and I saw Jomarro peeking out from his door while Mikhail had just ascended the stairs. The same look was stered on their faces when they saw my left fist with a glistening condom on it and they pretended that they didn¡¯t see anything. <center></center><hr>


    However, when I was about to enter Jomarro¡¯s room to help him pack, I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g surprised at how he suddenly became organized. I thought Rin or I packed his bags because everything was in perfect order. He was already tucking himself in bed when I reached his door and he just waved me off aggressively telling me that he didn¡¯t require my services any longer.


    I wasughing hard with Kaley and Tatiana when I told them about what happened and all that was left was to experience a few awkward moments between Jared tomorrow. Jared agreed to not tell a soul about it but that didn¡¯t mean that he would forget it the incident easily.


    A few more hours had passed and we drove outside riding three vehicles in pairs.


    Everything was loaded inside and I was in the lead, heading for this ce¡¯s Municipal Hall. Since the Bcan Area was not yet a city, they didn¡¯t have the City Hall where everything was stored like what we have in Valenzu. We would have to gather everything from each barangay individually to have ess to the information of the people in this area.


    The only bright side was this Municipal hall and the one from Lolomboy, where the cult was located, wasn¡¯t infested with close to a thousand sprinters.


    I exited my vehicle and I drew my katana after running over an elderly deadhead that tripped over the curb. I felt its head crunch when the wheels of this SUV went over its head and its brain matter spurted out to the side. There was one approaching from Kaley¡¯s door but she simply mmed it by opening the door violently and stabbing down with her wakizashi.


    Kaley was slowly incorporating the use of her wakizashi before drawing her gun and she was slowly getting better and better. Still, she couldn¡¯t use it well with her left hand the same thing with how she couldn¡¯t fire her gun at the same speed with her left hand.


    ¡°Well, time is all we needed.¡± I thought to myself.


    The Municipal Hall had two entrances from the front and the back. The front entrance was two huge ss doors and windows that were currently broken into pieces while the back entrance was just a simple door that leads to the alley where the trash of the convenience store was collected.


    The sun was up and we could see the rotting bodies emerging from the Municipal Hall.


    They were missing parts of their bodies but it was reced by jagged ss that sunk deep on their bodies. Dried blood was just right below it though each time a shard was touched in an angle, it would almost dug their rotten flesh out or rip right through the discolored skin that was about to fall off.


    They all came at us while adding more shards to their bodies because they just all walked forward without avoiding them. A huge shard from below just sliced through what seemed to be an ountant¡¯s leg and it took out a huge chunk off. It just plopped to the ground while the darkened blood and pus were slowlying out of it.


    I wanted to kill them all with our melee weapons but the ss shards were an issue. Not only they could break identally and cut us, but they were also stained with the viscous fluids of the dead so one cut and you would be shot in the head.


    We decided that shooting them was the best option though I made use of the reach of my katana for the final ones I put down. I didn¡¯t perform shed and I just thrust my de forward right where their eyesockets were located. However, I had to stab from under the chin straight up at an angle for thest one because it was wearing a thick face shield. <hr>


    We started going inside and luckily we didn¡¯t have to bring home a ton of paperwork because the hard drives were still intact and still inside their server room.


    Besides taking their records, we managed to acquire a fire axe, two fire extinguishers, several rims of paper, three gallons of water, an assortment of snacks, and a pump-action shotgun from the dead security guard who blew his brains out inside the bathroom. The rest of his belt included eight shells, a pepper spray, a shlight, and handcuffs.


    We were dragging the bodies outside then my radio buzzed.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid, if you don¡¯te here in the next hour, we¡¯ll leave without you.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, just came from the Municipal Hall to check on some things. We¡¯ll be there in a few minutes.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Yeah? I¡¯ll get ahold of Angelica and J & E then. They asked me to contact them when you¡¯re close.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure. We just need to burn the bodies here.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°See you in a few then.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Since most of our vehicles were filled with supplies, we didn¡¯t bother checking the other ces that might¡¯ve contained a few more food items and the like. However, it still took a while to reach the Intercity because we had to drive around the backroads and we had to circle over a few factories.


    When we drove inside, our cargo truck seemed to be full and was already parked near the exit with our military jeeps. We also had two new recruits which were vouched by our own soldiers and checked by Oscar by contacting the president alone.


    ¡°Sanchez, is Oscar and the rest still in Jomarro¡¯s store?¡± I rolled my window down and asked one of the soldiers with us. <hr>


    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re just waiting for you toe back.¡± Sanchez replied.


    When we reached Jomarro¡¯s store, Oscar¡¯s eyes lit up when he saw the Hummer and he started to ce his hands over it to see through the tinted windows. I on the other hand looked at the stacks of rice in Jomarro¡¯s store and arge number of them which was exactly the right number of the amount you could fit inside the cargo truck and the 8-wheeler was gone.


    It would take a few days or even more than a week to collect everything from this store and we also needed to find the right ce to store them all.


    ¡°Kid, I thought you¡¯d be here in a few minutes? You took more than an hour to get here.¡± Oscar said as I handed him the keys to his SUV.


    ¡°Shit happens, are they here now?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re waiting in Jomarro¡¯s office.¡± Oscar looked at Jomarro.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s talk with everyone. I hope I¡¯m the oneing out with the best dealpared to those two, heh.¡± Jomarro chuckled as we headed inside.


    I saw Emily and Angelica when we opened the door and they seemed to have aged a few yearspared to Jomarro who looked the same thest time I saw him. Their hairs were frazzled and the bags under their eyes were more visible. They also seemed to have lost weight because their clothes were looser than usual.


    We promptly greeted each other and talked about the past a few times before we slowly slid in to talk about their proposals.


    ¡°I¡¯ll start¡­¡± Emily cleared her throat.


    What Emily told us was the same as what Oscar told me yesterday night. I discovered that Oscar already exined to her our initial n but she still asked me to make sure Oscar and I were telling the same thing to her. I made sure to assure her that her parents would be in the mostfortable ce possible and all their needs would be attended to.


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave a radio here which you could use to contact them whenever but do make sure to keep that safe and the batteries charged. We¡¯ll obviously have some precautions before you get to talk to them but it¡¯s all for the best for everyone. If something like¡­ you know¡­ happened to them and they leave this world, we have ess to a crematorium just a few miles away from our base and we could give you their ashes.¡± I exined when she started to ask a few more questions.


    ¡°You¡¯ll cremate them?¡± Angelica chimed in.


    ¡°That¡¯s the way to go. I don¡¯t want any unnecessary risks and that¡¯s the best we could do. We have people before that we only managed to turn to ashes in an let¡¯s just say in an inconsiderate ce because of the circ.u.mstances. However, now that we have ess to a crematorium, we¡¯d do our best to take care of our own by using that ce. Is that fine with you?¡± I exined a few more things and I waited for her response.

 Chapter 398

    Chapter 398: 398


    Emily and Angelica looked at each other first before Emily responded with a simple nod. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°As you two know, Jomarro will only be staying for a few more days since we¡¯ll be hauling everything here in his shop. If you have any things you might want that we might have, give me a list, and then we¡¯ll work on a deal.¡± I said.


    ¡°Wait, I decided that I¡¯ll being with you today to check on a proper house. I¡¯d like something where it¡¯s close to yours and has arge space so our dogs could run around. I¡¯ll let Mike and ine take over while I¡¯m away. I¡¯lle back the following day though since we¡¯ll only be able to make one roundtrip each day, right?¡± Mike interjected.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true. If we continue bringing the same vehicles, we might be able to finish clearing your ce before the year ends. Emily, can you tell me why you decided to note with us? Your parents will be there, why won¡¯t you be there yourself?¡± I continued as Jomarro started to mull on something.


    ¡°It¡¯s got something to do with Angelica¡¯s proposal, Angelica?¡± Emily looked at Angelica.


    ¡°Yes. Since our stores are close to each other, we decided to work as one and pool our resources. Regarding that, I would like to ask for your help too.¡± Angelica said as she looked at Jomarro.


    ¡°Me? I already said I¡¯d be going back with him. What do you want?¡± Jomarro was confused by her statement.


    ¡°Not you, your workers. If we¡¯re gonna stay here, we¡¯d need more muscle as we could get-¡± Angelica continued but Jomarro stopped her.


    ¡°It¡¯s up to them if they wanted to go with you. But I¡¯m telling you now, they seem on board and excited we¡¯d get to leave this ce. I hope you two understand that this is a golden opportunity and you two are kinda not getting the point of this kid inviting you to his ce.¡± Jomarro said as Oscar nodded a few times while holding a little puppy in his arms.


    ¡°Moving is not as easy as you think. I still have missing family members and the only ce I know they mighte looking for me is this ce. I¡¯m not gonna leave a note here telling them to drive to another ce while I start to settle in. In this ce, I¡¯m meeting people from all over and I could get information whether they came across them.¡± Angelica replied with a bitter look.


    ¡°You have missing people? Then give me their names and if possible, their most recent picture, so I could make a copy and give it to one of my people. We¡¯re also on the search of some people that are also missing and we¡¯ve made contact with other people in the same boat. If they¡¯re holed up somewhere where someone¡¯s operating a HAM radio or something simr, we¡¯ll be able to make contact.¡± I said then her eyes showed hope.


    Angelica still had her wallet with her and she gave me the driver¡¯s license of her husband. After that, a picture of her family of four where two teenagers were smiling brightly with them. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°There are a few more people missing who were friends or family of my workers so I need to get backter to fetch their names after we are done. If you found clues about anything at all, anything, please contact me and I¡¯ll have you wellpensated.¡± Angelica was about to cry but she kept strong.


    ¡°It¡¯s the same thing for me that¡¯s why I¡¯m staying here.¡± Emily added as she gave me a picture of her other family members.


    ¡°This is good but I want you to be strong enough that whatever happens, whether we find them or not, you won¡¯t do anything stupid to yourselves. Wait, did you even try to get help from the HAM operator here?¡± I said, looking at them.


    ¡°We did¡­ but we had to watch him while he does it or he just doesn¡¯t at all. He¡¯s annoyed at us doing it but we can¡¯t just keep on hanging around that ce all day. To be fair, there are a lot more people showing up at his ce every day asking for a few more minutes on the HAM radio, trying to achieve the same thing as us.¡± Angelica replied.


    ¡°Then go to that ce to request for your time in great weather conditions. It could transmit to farther cespared to when the weather conditions are bad.¡± I advised.


    ¡°Kid, seems to me thatms are very much needed here. I guess we¡¯ll bring a few handheld HAM radios next time. Maybe even long-range radios to or even simple walkies, right?¡± Oscar suggested.


    ¡°Yeah, batteries too.¡± I replied.


    We solidified a few more things and we four shook hands. Jomarro called Mike and ine over and he left them a couple of his own guns. He instructed Mike to check their own truck for anything because they would soon use it to move to our ce. Also, like Jomarro predicted, none of his workers wanted to stay at this ce and some were even asking toe with us already. However, this ce still needed people to watch it, or else it would be swept clean by other people.


    I just assured them that we¡¯ll being back for them because I need able-bodied people at my ce as always. We left Jomarro with his people for a while and we drove around the Intercity.


    Oscar and I took a small trip to Emily and Angelica¡¯s store to drop off a few guns left especially for them. It was a couple of hunting rifles and shotguns with a mix of handguns. We also gave them extra magazines and ammo and we made sure the people that would be handling them knows how to use them properly.


    ¡°We¡¯re just dry-firing them for now but remember to hold them tight when it¡¯s actually loaded with live rounds, yeah? Also¡­¡± Oscar said as he instructed them.


    I was teaching Emily how a lever-action rifle works but Lois suddenly interrupted me. <hr>


    ¡°Bro, Oscar told you about my list, right? Can I take Mikhail with me? They¡¯re kinda heavy.¡± Lois tapped my back.


    ¡°Yeah, he did. He didn¡¯t tell me what items are listed though. Wait, did you say heavy?¡± I looked at Lois.


    ¡°Yeah, some of them. I found a few cool things yesterday like those light-weight drones and this high-powered telescope but I also spotted this V8 engine with the transmission from this unfinished car so I figured we could use them to make something like a sleeper-¡± then Oscar suddenly loomed over Lois.


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g little shit, you found a f.u.c.k.i.n.g V8 lying around and you didn¡¯t tell me?! Where is it?! Mikhail! Where are you?!¡± Oscar pulled Lois and called Mikhail over.


    ¡°S-Sir Oscar, how do I-¡± a worker from Emily¡¯s shop was asking a question but Oscar snapped.


    ¡°Just pull that f.u.c.k.i.n.g thing there and it would go bang. Ask someone else! I¡¯m busy!¡± then Oscar disappeared with Lois and Mikhail.


    ¡°This old man¡­¡± I was shaking my head but Kaley and Tatiana decided to teach the others how to operate the guns we brought them. A few of them actually knew what they were doing so it went easier than what I thought it would be. Some of them already have guns of their own so I focused more on Angelica and Emily.


    All of a sudden, I heard tires screeching and doors opening suddenly.


    I turned around and saw one of the SUVs we encountered yesterday but it was now full of dents and bloody bits were staining the grille.


    Five teenagers came out with frazzled clothes and unkempt hair but the driver wearing a beanie locked eyes with me.


    ¡°YOU!!! IT¡¯S HIM!!!¡± he suddenly rushed towards me with a balled fist but I saw it from a mile away. <hr>


    He swung his right hand but I caught his arm, twisted it sideways, then I swept his feet as I was holding him by his cor. Air came out of him as he coughed violently because I pushed him down when he was about to hit the floor. I caught a whiff of his clothes and it definitely gave me an earthly and medicinal smell.


    ¡°Marijuana? Is this kid high? How did they even get here?¡± I thought to myself.


    I didn¡¯t have the time to check his body for hidden weapons because a foot was already close to my face. Another teenager wearing a tank top and baggy shorts came at me while I was still on one knee from mming their driver. He smelled the same way but there was this stench that was making my nose and eyes water.


    He was about to kick my head but I caught his foot and I made him spread his legs apart by kicking his other foot the opposite side. He involuntarily did the splits and the pain on his face was apparent. He fell on the kid earlier but he hit his head on the pavement and a dull thud was produced. It didn¡¯t crack his head open but it would definitely form a little bump.


    Thest guy was still nning to rush me but the soldiers just managed to intervene.


    ¡°HEY!!! WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS GOING ON HERE?!¡± the soldier bellowed.


    I was about to answer but the kid I knocked down and his baked cohorts started shouting.


    ¡°IT¡¯S HIM!!! HE ALMOST KILLED US YESTERDAY!!! IT¡¯S HIM!!!¡±


    ¡°HE THREW A GRENADE AT US!!!¡±


    ¡°WE BARELY CAME OUT ALIVE!!!¡±


    ¡°KILL HIM!!!¡±


    ¡°HE¡¯S F.U.C.K.I.N.G DANGEROUS!!!¡± <hr>


    ¡°HE WAS LEADING A LOT OF THE DEAD AND HE LET THEM CHASE AFTER US!!!¡±


    They started to make a scene and everyone who heard them stopped what they were doing. They looked at us and they started whispering to each other. It was obvious the kids were f.u.c.k.i.e.d out of their minds and they just came here toy the me on me. I¡¯m not sure what happened to the other SUV but I¡¯m betting that the other one didn¡¯t survive with the passengers.


    ¡°Sir, is what they¡¯re saying true?¡± one of the soldiers asked.


    ¡°Well, they¡¯re not lying per se but if I wanted to kill someone, they wouldn¡¯t manage to escape. You see-¡± then one of the girls with the most annoying high-pitched voice shouted over me.


    ¡°SEE?! HE JUST ADMITTED IT!!! WE WERE JUST DRIVING AROUND FOR SUPPLIES THEN HE TRIED TO KILL US!!!¡± she screeched.


    ¡°Supplies? What kind? From a dispensary?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP YOU MURDERER!!!¡± she screamed as she stomped on the ground.


    ¡°I have video evidence though.¡± I casually pointed to the camera on my shoulder.


    I was about to show the soldiers the footage from my bodycam but several thuds came from the trunk of their SUV. Everyone¡¯s eyes shifted to where the sounds wereing from but the young a.d.u.l.ts were more concerned about the camera on my shoulder.


    ¡°Hey! What¡¯s inside the trunk? You got something in there?¡± one of the soldiers asked them.


    They were not responding and was just looking at me with a panicked expression. I even snapped my fingers to get their attention and it took a while to get the proper response.


    ¡°Nothing¡­ it¡¯s just our friends.¡± the other girl with a pale face finally responded.

 Chapter 399

    Chapter 399: 399


    You could hear a pin drop from that one moment but anyone that had a functioning brain immediately drew their weapons. The dull thuds were getting louder and louder and the number of times it would happen each moment was getting more frequent than the usual. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°GET AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE!!! NOW!!!¡± the soldiers roared.


    ¡°NO!!! THEY¡¯RE STILL THEM!!! THEY¡¯RE JUST HUNGRY AND SICK!!! PLEASE!!! THEY JUST NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL!!!¡± the girl with the high-pitched voice yelled.


    ¡°FINAL WARNING!!! GET THE F.U.C.K AWAY FROM THAT F.U.C.K.I.N.G VEHICLE RIGHT NOW!!!¡± the soldiers raised their rifles.


    ¡°PLEASE!!! NO!!! IT¡¯S- AHHHHHHHH!!!¡± she tried to shield the SUV with her body but a bloodied arm punched through the window and ripped her throat apart. She started gurgling her own blood and it spilled through her shirt.


    ¡°CASEY!!!¡± the girl with the pale face lost control of her legs.


    ¡°R- GRBLGH! RY- GLRGGH!¡± Casey tried to call for help.


    ¡°CAS!!!¡± the guy with the beanie I knocked down earlier crawled to her side but the blood was already gushing violently from Casey¡¯s neck.


    He was trying to stop the bleeding by applying pressure but the blood was going through his fingers and the area ripped apart was too big. Blood kept on pouring down, staining the side of the road crimson red. A small pool was beginning to form beneath Casey¡¯s body but the show was not over.


    Another hand punched through the ss but its skin and bits of flesh got peeled off by the jagged shards. It seemed that the being just turned recently because blood sprayed out and it wasn¡¯t as viscous as the ones we usually encounter. It was severely discolored and ck lines were visible through its skin. It was trying to grab onto anything, trying to score the same piece of flesh the first one managed to get ahold of.


    More hands tried punching through the wall but one of them had brittle bones because its arm snapped in two ces. Bone jutted out from the middle of its arm and it bled profusely. However, it didn¡¯t stop mming its broken hand over and over until it managed to rupture its entire hand when it found a little gap to push into. However, the gap it reached just snapped a finger off then the whole arm retracted and went wild.


    ¡°KchrAArghh!!! AarchKrcKKhara!!!¡±


    It was like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up wiper trying to stain the whole ss as it violently flopped around, spraying blood all over.


    My group and I were just waiting for a head to pop up but the soldiers started firing through the trunk with their M16s. It bore several holes inside and guttural but muffled screams followed. The onlookers also took cover when it happened and several brass casings fell to the floor. Sparks flew out and the tires were also punctured from the barrage. The kids were in close proximity and the debris that flew off went straight to them. However, that still wasn¡¯t their primary concern.


    ¡°PLEASE STOP!!! THEY¡¯RE STILL ALIVE!!! THEY¡¯RE MY FRIENDS!!! NOOOOOOO!!!¡± a shout came from them. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°PLEASE!!! STOP SHOOTING!!! STOP SHOOTING!!! MOM~!!!¡±


    ¡°NO!!! THEY¡¯RE STILL ALIVE!!! THEY¡¯RE STILL ALIVE!!! WE JUST NEED TO-¡± the guy with the tank top¡¯s cries was drowned out by the gunshots.


    The young a.d.u.l.ts were just down on the ground, screaming nonstop, as they were trying their best to cover their ears. Casey, the girl with the high-pitched voice was already dead, nkly staring in the sky as everything was happening. Blood was still hemorrhaging out of her throat and none could help stop the bleeding. The blood started to seep through the clothes of her friends and most of them were going to the kid with the beanie.


    The soldiers fired for only a few seconds but the trunk was now looking like a cheese grater. The ss shatteredpletely and the hands were justying limp on one side or the other. Blood started to slowly trickle down from the bottom of the SUV but the soldiers weren¡¯t done. They pulled the young a.d.u.l.ts off Casey¡¯s body then they threw them on the side of the road. They made them lie prone before smashing Casey¡¯s head open.


    ¡°NOOOOOOOO!!! WHY WOULD-¡± the guy with the beanie shouted but a soldier drove the bump stock of his rifle towards his head.


    ¡°RYAN!!!¡±


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!¡±


    ¡°YOU KILLED HER!!!¡±


    ¡°WHYYYY?!¡±


    ¡°WE COULD¡¯VE SAVED HER!!!¡±


    ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!¡±


    ¡°SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP!!! WHY THE F.U.C.K DID YOU BRING BITERS INSIDE THE INTERCITY, HUH?! HUH?! F.U.C.K.I.N.G ANSWER YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G DELINQUENTS!!!¡± a soldier roared as he kicked the kid with the tank top as it tried to stand up and tackle him.


    The others continued crying nonstop but the onlookers were not on their side. The look they were giving the young a.d.u.l.ts made it seem that they wanted to give the beating themselves. Not only did they stow their undead friends in the trunk, but they also drove inside the Intercity, potentially infecting everyone.


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU!!! YOU MURDERERS!!! YOU SHOULD ALL JUST DIE!!!¡± <hr>


    The guy in the tank top spat out more words as he kept on trying to stand up. One quick hit to the back of the head made him fall unconscious the same way with the kid with the beanie.


    It would¡¯ve made the news when the scene of soldiers in a scuffle with young a.d.u.l.ts but it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g warranted. Not to mention, I almost wanted to join in because simply talking wouldn¡¯t work with some people, especially if they¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.e.d in the head. Pain gets through more easily sometimes aside from logical reasoning.


    Also, it was more personal for me because they tried to use me of something they did to themselves. Things back then could¡¯ve gone more smoothly but there was nothing I could do about it anymore. I just pulled my punches earlier because they were far younger than I am. I would¡¯ve resolved the issue earlier by showing the soldiers the footage.


    However, this time, what they did was inexcusable, and endangering everyone was something I just wouldn¡¯t let go.


    ¡°WHO THE F.U.C.K LET THEM IN?! DIDN¡¯T I CALL YESTERDAY TO WATCH OUT FOR THEM?! OSCAR TOLD YOU, RIGHT?! DID NO ONE CHECK THE TRUNK?!¡± I shouted at the top of my lungs, furious.


    The soldiers and the onlookers were also boiling from what transpired so everyone wanted to get to the bottom of this. One of the soldiers started to pull out his radio and started to contact the people at the gate.


    They have a simple logbook to record everyone that came in and out and we would discover the one who let them in much sooner.


    He was shouting through the radio while one of the soldiers was pointing his gun towards the kids who were now on the ground with their hands above their heads. Nonpliance would result to more violent measures and everyone in the Intercity understood that fact.


    ¡°Do they have a backer here? I find it hard to ept that they think that they could do whatever they want here.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Let¡¯s double-check the trunk in case something is still alive but can¡¯t move.¡± I said to the soldiers and they had the same idea.


    Fortunately, all of them were dead but we did make sure they by double-tapping them with our knives. They were all the same age as the ones we were detaining and I couldn¡¯t figure out why the hell did they store them at the trunk. They were a mangled mess and it didn¡¯t help to look at them riddled with holes bleeding out.


    It took a few seconds before the soldier contacting the gate grew furious.


    ¡°WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CHECKED THEM?! YOU DIDN¡¯T SEE THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G BITERS INSIDE?!¡± the soldier eximed.


    The soldier on the radio was shouting nonstop but looking closely on the inside of the SUV, they were covered by multipleyers of leather tarps and tied poorly by thin ropes. It was just a mangled mess of bodies in the truck mixed in with some of the supplies they scavenged. <hr>


    The kids that were knocked out eventually regained their senses but they¡¯re still up to doing what they do best. The guy in the tank top was looking at me furiously but I shot my pistol near his head when he started to snake his hand in his pockets. The debris hit him and trickles of blood slowly flowed out.


    ¡°I¡¯M JUST REACHING FOR MY TOWEL!!! CAN¡¯T I EVEN DO THAT?! WHAT KIND OF SICK PLACE IS THIS?!¡± he roared as his hands returned to the back of his head.


    ¡°You hotshot didn¡¯t know how to follow instructions eh? If we said you don¡¯t move, you don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g move. Trust me, I already gave you more chancespared to my ce.¡± I crouched down and smacked him in the head once.


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU!!!¡± he shouted as his face was breaded with dirt and dust.


    ¡°You, check their bodies. I¡¯ll shoot them in the head if they move.¡± I said to the soldier that was supposed to watch them.


    He found small knives and an empty pistol but the guy with the beanie had several scratches and abrasions on his body. It didn¡¯t take long before Oscar and another soldier who seemed to be the higher-ranked among the soldiers came in their own vehicles. I surmised he was the CO of their group and he looked at me solemnly.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit, what happened here kid?! I was gone for a few minutes and this happened?!¡± Oscar shouted from his SUV.


    ¡°Sir, the kids here started all of this.¡± the guy on the radio spoke up after berating the soldier on the other side of the radio.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g exin what happened don¡¯t just point fingers! Kid! What the f.u.c.k happened?!¡± Oscar exited his vehicle while Lois and Mikhail were still at the truck bed.


    The CO of the soldiers here said nothing but he seemed to demand the same exnation. We told everyone that just came in everything that transpired. To support my statements, I got vouched by several eyewitnesses and I even showed them the footage from my bodycam.


    I did throw them a grenade but the reason why was revealed from the audio before the throw. Most wouldn¡¯t give a flying f.u.c.k and just shoot them at that time because they were an unknown variable and could potentially put us in harm¡¯s way. However, I tried the best I could to not use lethal force until necessary. It was a stupid decision and I sure wished I just threw it at them. I wasted a grenade just to give them a warning and this was what I get from it.


    However, it seemed that there were more in their system apart from weed.


    All of the evidence from my side was shown but these kids didn¡¯t seem to understand the difference of fact from fiction. They were still trying to tell everyone that I tried to kill them and it was my fault for the other half of the hordeing for them. They could¡¯ve backed away when they could but they drove through them, making the other half follow suit.


    ¡°NO! HE¡¯S LYING! HE¡¯S LYING! HE TRIED TO KILL US! HE TRIED TO KILL US!¡± <hr>


    ¡°OH MY GOD, THEY¡¯RE ALSO KILLED- WHY?! WHY?!¡±


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE ALL THE SAME!!! F.U.C.K ALL OF YOU!!! THEY¡¯RE STILL ALIVE!!!¡±


    Each one of us looked at each other but a woman came running in, shouting curses that would make a Youtube video demized.


    Not to judge a book by its cover, but the signs were all there.


    The demanding tone, the racial slurs, the anti-vax shirt, and most importantly, the bob cut hairstyle. It wasn¡¯t even a second before we heard the famous words:


    ¡°I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER!!!¡± she bellowed.


    I don¡¯t know why but almost everyone around us groaned or almost shot her.


    ¡°Ma¡¯am, you need to back away in case you get shot.¡± a soldier reminder her.


    ¡°GET SHOT?! ME?! GET SHOT?! RYAN!!! WHERE WERE YOU ALL THIS TIME?! STAND UP THIS INSTANT AND DON¡¯T LISTEN TO THESE FREE-LOADERS!!! ENFORCING SECURITY MY ASS!!! AS IF YOUR GUNS COULD PROTECT US ALL!!! YOU THINK YOU¡¯RE ALL TOUGH, ARE YA?!¡± thedy shouted.


    The kid with the beanie slowly stood up with a smirk.


    ¡°No, you don¡¯t. Go back in your position.¡± I raised my voice loud enough for everybody to hear.


    ¡°What are you gonna do?! Shoot him?!¡± thedy was ring at me.


    Then I shot him.

 Chapter 400

    Chapter 400: 400


    Blood spurted instantaneously and Ryan¡¯s right ear waspletely torn off. Blood started to trickle down his neck but the one that was screaming hysterically was his mother. He fell on one knee while clutching his ear and he was dibobted because his eardrums were probably ringing aggressively. All he managed to do was start crying like a baby while trying to call for his mom for help. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°MOM~ MOM~ THEY SHOT ME~ MOMMMMYY~¡± Ryan wailed.


    ¡°RYAN!!! OH MY GOD!!! RYAN!!!¡± the mom screeched while a vein was bulging out from her forehead. She tried to run towards her son but two soldiers stopped her in her tracks.


    ¡°Ma¡¯am! We¡¯re in the middle of a-¡± a soldier tried to exin to her that she wasn¡¯t allowed toe close but he received a vicious p.


    ¡°YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G LOWLIFE DON¡¯T GET TO TELL ME WHERE I SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT GO, YOU HEAR ME?! WE¡¯RE F.U.C.K.I.N.G FEEDING YOU EVER SINCE YOU CAME HERE AND ALL YOU DID WAS LOUNGE AROUND-¡± she started to push her way in but another soldier interrupter her.


    ¡°Ma¡¯am! You don¡¯t understand, we all agreed to a mutual-¡± but it just fell on deaf ears as another p connected cleanly.


    ¡°I. DON¡¯T. GIVE. A. FLYING. F.U.C.K. OF. THE. AGREEMENT. YOU. HAD. WITH. MY. F.U.C.K.I.N.G. HUSBAND. YOU HEAR ME?! MR.~ STUPID-ASS MR. SOLDIER!!! STOP F.U.C.K.I.N.G BLOCKING ME CAUSE THE SMELL OF YOUR CHEAP PERFUME IS KILLING ME!!!¡± she still tried to keep pushing past them as she was giving them ps when an opening presents itself.


    The patience of the two soldiers wasmendable because if it was me, she would¡¯ve been already sweeping her teeth off the ground.


    She then started to w at their arms so they would let go of her. However, someone from my group with blonde hair and almost the same haircut as the Karen we were facing though a bit longer now was now behind the soldiers. I nced back at Kaley and she just smiled as she shrugged her shoulders. I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt as I waited for the events to unfold.


    ¡°Let her go. You shouldn¡¯t do that to her.¡± Tatiana calmly said. <center></center><hr>


    The two soldiers were confused from Tatiana¡¯s statement so they didn¡¯t follow her. However, the stupid f.u.c.k thought they were allies just because they almost had the same f.u.c.k.i.n.g haircut.


    ¡°LISTEN TO HER!!! YOU F.U.C.KWITS WOULD NEVER HEAR THE END OF THIS FROM MY HUSBAND IF HE REACHED THIS PLACE!!!¡± she eximed.


    ¡°Let her go, I got it.¡± Tatiana ced her hands above their shoulders while giving both of them a look.


    The two soldiers just looked at each other before letting the Karen pass through. The Karen walked jauntily and she gave Tatiana an approving look with no urgency about her son¡¯s current situation. The Karen just gave a victorious smile but it instantly changed as Tatiana swiftly delivered a knee to her mouth.


    ¡°GrcHckHK!!! Wha- WHAT THE F.U.C.K?!¡± the Karen lost it.


    I f.u.c.k.i.n.g heard the crunch from a few feet away.


    The Karen¡¯s dentures fell off as her bloodied mouth received another knee from Tatiana. It was shocking she managed to stand up after the first one but it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g satisfying to hear that crunch a second time. This time, Tatiana aimed a little bit higher so her nose was also bleeding out. The Karen was heavily breathing because blood was also present in her airways.


    ¡°MOMMY~!!!¡± Ryan cried out when he saw what transpired.


    His mom was face down on the ground, shaking, while a couple of her real teeth was just right beside her cheek. Tatiana just turned around with a hidden smirk as she slowly walked back to where we were. The two soldiers she left were just dumbfounded from what she did and they didn¡¯t know what to do about the Karen she beat the f.u.c.k out.


    The Karen was just dragged to the side but a few business owners took a picture of her sorry state. She was trying to cover her face but even if she managed to, not even her husband would be able to recognize her current appearance. <hr>


    ¡°She f.u.c.k.i.e.d around and found out.¡± I thought to myself.


    Oscar and the CO then approached me and I nced at the name tag on his uniform. It read ¡®C. Palomares¡¯ but the situation at hand was moreplicated. We briefly introduced ourselves before we tackled the current situation.


    ¡°Christopher, what¡¯s your protocol when this kind of thing happens?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ve had a few troublemakers ordered to not leave their parent¡¯s stores but this group of kids always were the ones who give me and the other soldiers headaches. The parents were supposed to not let them go out but thatdy is always enabling them.¡± Christopher replied as he removed his hat.


    Christopher was almost the same height as Oscar but he was younger by a few years. He had brown skin and still maintaining a fit body though most of his hairs were in a shade of gray.


    ¡°If this was our ce, especially if they brought home the undead like that and with multiple offenses? Oh boy, the kid would¡¯ve aimed a few inches from where he shot. Even if they¡¯re minors, endangering the lives of everyone inside more than warrants the execution.¡± Oscar stated with a grim look.


    ¡°It¡¯s just that it¡¯splicated here. We had an agreement that we¡¯d keep everyone safe in exchange for a ce to stay and food. We could take the insults from some of them but both sides wouldn¡¯t be able to live without each other.¡± Christopher exined.


    ¡°Your group is trying to keep everyone inside the Intercity safe. However, if the people themselves are trying to get themselves in danger, that¡¯s a different story. Sometimes, no matter how big of a hammer you use, you can¡¯t fix stupid. Who¡¯s the husband she kept bbering about anyway?¡± I chimed in.


    ¡°It¡¯s Mauricio Jimenez, owner of a few big stores here. He¡¯s a great guy, he even goes on runs with his people and our soldiers but everyone f.u.c.k.i.n.g hates his wife and kid. Excuse me sir, it was Neil who let them in without properly checking the trunk.¡± the soldier on the radio earlier approached us and heard our conversation so he answered. <hr>


    ¡°Neil? Eric, isn¡¯t that-¡± Christoped was surprised then the soldier answered.


    ¡°Yes sir, Neil is one of the survivors from that small camp. Apparently, he got shouted at and berated by the kids so he just let them pass without checking the vehicle thoroughly. He said he figured that they¡¯re from this ce and no one is stupid enough to bring the dead inside. However, he was wrong about that, someone somewhere there¡¯s always that someone or in our case, a group.¡± Eric said, shaking his head.


    ¡°Back to our situation, what are we gonna do with these kids? Thatdy too. I¡¯d say to just stab a knife in their heads and be done with it. Even if we let them go, I doubt they would miraculously change their ways and stop huffing that shit every day.¡± Oscar said, walking over them.


    ¡°I was nning to bait some people but I think I didn¡¯t need to wave what we found on our runs. It looks like the Karen isn¡¯t using though, she¡¯s just already f.u.c.k.i.e.d in the head naturally.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I think it would be better to ce them in handcuffs and detain them just in front of the entrance.¡± Christopher suggested.


    ¡°Why? We could be just done with it. Tell the husband his wife and kid f.u.c.k.i.e.d up and tried to frame someone. We have evidence backing our im and if he¡¯s as great as you said he is, he¡¯d kill them himself.¡± Oscar refuted.


    ¡°We¡¯re not even gonna wait for Mauricio?¡± Eric asked.


    ¡°Why? What could he do?¡± Oscar gave a perplexed look.


    ¡°It¡¯s his family sir. Something might-¡± he was about to say something but Oscar interrupted him.


    ¡°Something might happen? Hah! Something already happened! They¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g lucky you¡¯re all here or this would be just a ce crawling with dead by the stupidity of f.u.c.k.i.n.g potheads. If you ask why that f.u.c.k.i.n.gdy as well, I¡¯ll smack you in the head. F.u.c.k me, the kid always exin this but I think I have to. While her husband is away, she¡¯s the one supposed to keep them in check. Who gave them the keys to the vehicles they used? What kind of parent would let their kids go outside and y scavenger and defend them when they bring home their dead friends who wed their friends throat out, huh? Is that okay? Want me to include subtitles?¡± Oscar was confused he had to exin the situation. <hr>


    The kids and the Karen just now finally realized the gravity of the situation and they were trembling nonstop. Ryan even started to piss on himself and now the smell of ammonia and iron were getting mixed up.


    ¡°PLEASE!!! WE¡¯RE SORRY!!!¡±


    ¡°WE WON¡¯T DO IT AGAIN!!! WE PROMISE!!!¡±


    The kids started to cry for forgiveness but even the onlookers were having none of it. It even looked like they wanted to do it themselves though I¡¯m sure they would puss out at thest second.


    However, while Oscar was still discussing with Eric and Christopher, a Land Rover drove in. He exited the vehicle with a worried look and his face was distraught when he saw the dead bodies inside the trunk of the SUV and the dead girl right below it. It seemed that he recognized them but his eyes scanned over to me and everyone present.


    His eyes then stopped at Ryan.


    ¡°You did this, didn¡¯t you?¡± a deep voice resounded.


    I thought Ryan was gonna start spewing bullshit again and I have to exin myself once more but he didn¡¯t. Ryan couldn¡¯t even look at the eyes of who I assumed was Mauricio. He was just looking to the side as he was starting to shake all over. Even the Karen was surprisingly silent as f.u.c.k and I could partly figure out why they said to wait for him first.


    ¡°Do what you have to.¡± an emotionless voice followed after a short pause.

 Chapter 401

    Chapter 401: 401


    The moment those cold words came out of Mauricio¡¯s mouth, the expression that reced Ryan¡¯s already fearful look turned much worse. He had no one else to help him but his mom so he called out to her. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°M-Mom?! H-H-H-Help¡­ dad isn¡¯t helping¡­ d-d-d-dad¡¯s¡­ p-please¡­ mom?¡± Ryan¡¯s voice was breaking as he was trying to call for her mom still bleeding from the mouth.


    ¡°MAURICIO!!! YOU¡¯RE JUST GONNA LEAVE US HERE TO DIE?! IS THAT IT?! I BET YOU¡¯RE GOING STRAIGHT FOR THAT BITCH RIGHT NEXT TO YOUR SHOP WITH A FLAT CHEST, RIGHT?! RIGHT?! YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G DIDN¡¯T KNOW I CAUGHT WIND ALREADY?! YOU ACT LIKE YOU¡¯RE A STRAIGHT-UP GUY BUT NOW EVERYONE KNOWS YOU¡¯RE AS CROOKED AS EVERYONE IN THIS HELL HOLE!!!¡± the Karen started shouting at her husband.


    Mauricio just turned around and looked at her with the same cold expression he gave to his son.


    ¡°WHAT¡¯S WITH THAT F.U.C.K.I.N.G LOOK?! I BET YOU¡¯RE SO F.U.C.K.I.N.G HAPPY THESE F.U.C.KWITS WOULD DO THE DIRTY JOB FOR YOU EH?! WHY DON¡¯T YOU DO IT YOURSELF FOR ONCE AND- NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOO!!! PLEASEEEEEE~ HELP ME!!! HE¡¯S GONNA KILL ME~!!!¡± the Karen wailed when Mauricio walked towards her direction.


    She asked her husband toe for her, and the husbandeth.


    However, Mauricio never did try to kill or even hurt her physically. He just pulled his ring out of his finger and dropped it in front of her.


    ¡°Almira, I tried loving you but I couldn¡¯t. Trust me, I tried. I just see her face instead of yours. Don¡¯t forget, we married each other for money and stability, not love. Ryan is not even mine, I just thought you¡¯d have one final discussion before it¡¯s all over. You think I wouldn¡¯t know?¡± Mauricio said as the look on his ex-wife¡¯s face changed several times just from that moment. Her mouth was agape and I was not even sure what the tears that wasing out of her eyes were for.


    Ryan almost lost it from the revtion and he was just staring at whom he called ¡®dad¡¯ the whole time in shock. His ¡®dad¡¯ then walked up to him, looking like a big weight was taken off his shoulders.


    ¡°And you, do you even remember the time I called you ¡®son¡¯? No? Me neither. It¡¯s because I never did. I thought you¡¯d overdose and eventually kill yourself but it never happened. Well, we could say that you still dug your own grave, right? Too bad you involved people with you to shoot stuff in your arms, is that what you call it? Nevermind, semantics. I feel sorry for your friends but they followed the wrong example. I tried to ept and love you when you were a kid even if you weren¡¯t mine. However, you just look so much like the hobo across my house.¡± Mauricio started to walk back to us.


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE LYING!!! YOU¡¯RE MY DAD!!!¡± Ryan exploded.


    ¡°Sure, you believed it for 16 years. Do it for the rest of your life.¡± Mauricio just shrugged his shoulders as he turned back around.


    ¡°Damn.¡± I thought to myself.


    Ryan was left speechless but the tears never stopped flowing from his eyes. He started to m his head on the solid floor but he was still too scared to end himself.


    Mauricio walked back to us and gave us a simple bow and a handshake. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Thank you foring here and I guess we could arrange a meeting after a few days. I still have a few more things to do so I hope to meet you when the timees. I have a few things I could offer for a fair price that you wouldn¡¯t want to miss. I think you already know what this ce could be, right?¡± Mauricio said.


    ¡°Yeah, I thought this ce would simply be a huge storage are but it has potential to be something else. Just give us a call when you¡¯re avable.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Another sharp one like me. I hope we get along together. Let me shake your hand once more, thank you.¡± Mauricio said as he offered his hand for another handshake.


    ¡°I understand what he¡¯sing from earlier but I feel something¡­ different¡­¡± I thought to myself as I nced at Kaley. She was deep in thought but I felt that we were kinda sensing the same thing.


    Mauricio rode his Land Rover and simply drove away. He disappeared when he turned to the left but the Intercity was huge and it could bepared to another barangay. I was told that he owned several shops so I figured he would drive to one of them especially where his partner was right next to.


    As I was deep in thought, Christopher already ordered his soldiers to bring a truck with a winch to hook up the SUV that was shot up and to pile the bodies inside, including the fresh ones. The bodies were to be burned with the pile outside in a huge plot ofnd where some of the broken vehicles were also ced.


    The young a.d.u.l.ts never stopped to plead their case but they lost hope when I personally took care of Ryan. I simply slid my knife on the back of his head as the others watched in horror. If it was any constion, I noticed faint ck lines on his arm where a little bandaid was ced. He must¡¯ve been infected one way or the other and he never mentioned it to anyone, passing it off as a scratch. No one present just noticed because he was wearing a long-sleeved jacket. I just discovered it when I took watch as I rolled his sleeves over.


    There wasn¡¯t much of a ceremony when the order was given to take their lives because it was slowly bing amon urrence. The people we¡¯ve captured before to reveal the location of the ¡®father¡¯ were also been dealt with the same way these people were.


    The only oue for an unforgivable f.u.c.k up was death.


    Keeping them alive in cells was just resources being wasted. Unless I see something more from them, I¡¯d never take it upon myself to giving them basic necessities. I lose a little bit of feeling everytime I took a life but everyone was getting used to it. We just need to remember that the people we killed could¡¯ve done much more and much worse.


    Our culprit today was ultimately ignorance and it was one of the things I hope not to be amon urrence. It was something easily solved but there were still people getting blinded by it. Basking on it over a long period of time would make anyone make poor decisions or judgments. There was nothing more important in making decisions and judgments if you have everything on the table.


    It was a couple of hours before noon before we managed to drive back because a lot of unexpected things happened and Oscar¡¯s chicken guy was running a bitte. I spent the rest of my time waiting by sorting through the scrap metal we acquired by picking out the brass casings from them. Jomarro also gave a long lecture to Mike and ine before he trusted them with the keys of his store.


    Emily came by earlier to bring her parents and a few suitcases that belonged to them. I was introduced once more because they couldn¡¯t remember my face anymore.


    Jomarro will being back here tomorrow but Kronos, Rhea, and the rest of their little puppers will be permanently relocated in our home base. I could only imagine Zeus¡¯ reaction when he discovers that he had now little siblings and his parents would start living with us. He gets along with Peanut, Rio, Bugs, and the rest of our animals back home but I wanted to see what his reaction would be if the pets, hugs, and kisses directed to him started to lessen a bit. <hr>


    We were a quarter of the way back then Lois contacted me.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro, why are we driving a bit slower?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯re just taking into ount the weight of the cargo truck. It¡¯s filled to the brim and we can¡¯t just step on it. That is why Unc Zardon is the one driving it now aside from our soldiers. Also notice the distance between the vehicles. It was adjusted a little farther so in case of the cargo truck needing topletely stop, Unc Zardon would have the extra allowance. We did it with the 8-wheeler as well but the 8-wheeler is much more manageablepared to driving the cargo truck when it¡¯s full.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I see¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Is that all?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°No, can I have one of the puppies so I could give it to Olivia?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure, I was already nning to give her one because she takes good care of Zeus while we¡¯re away. I already secured a few of them from Jomarro but I¡¯ll bet he¡¯d give away all of them to good owners.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh! Thanks then!¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We were almost back home but we broke off from the convoy with the 8-wheeler. It was to give a few hundred sacks to our other base and to check on things with Rico and Benjamin. Brian and Carlo were also present when we arrived and I never had to ask them to help unload the supplies we got from them. However, I felt that something was off when they were smiling like idiots when they saw my face. I never put it to heart because it was only a couple hours away from sunset.


    The ce looked entirely different but the ce it was before was already ingrained in my memory.


    However, there was something in the stage that made my skin crawl.


    ¡°Is that a f.u.c.k.i.n.g-¡± I pointed to that cursed object as Kaley and the others started dying fromughter when they saw it.


    ¡°It¡¯s my idea!¡± Benjamin proudly dered.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS THAT SHIT?! KID, THE LEAF!!! THE LEAF!!!¡± Oscar came to us after parking his SUV and he lost it when he saw that f.u.c.k.i.n.g cursed object.


    It was a f.u.c.k.i.n.g statue of me stark n.a.k.e.d with only a leaf covering my private parts.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! DESTROY IT!!!¡± I started to lose more of my sanity.

 Chapter 402

    Chapter 402: 402


    It took a good long while before I almost epted the fact that I now have a 10-foot statue of me from where Kaley and I went to high school. The only saving grace was that they really~ went generous on the size of the leaf covering me. If we scale it to the right size, I could probably use it to press a doorbell. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Benjamin¡­ give me a good reason why you had this idea? If I¡¯m not convinced, I¡¯ll remove all the hairs on your body with flex tape and rip it all in one pull¡­¡± my words were wavering but the threat behind it was ever so present.


    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of damage bro!¡± Jared chimed, chuckling.


    ¡°Umm¡­ ah- you know¡­ you being the head and all. When the president came in and told us we need to not only work hand-in-hand with you but also given more authority than sir Rico, I think someone that makes it all happen needs something simple like this¡­ sir¡­¡± Benjamin said nervously.


    ¡°Then you¡¯d tire yourself out.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Sir?¡± Benjamin was confused.


    ¡°If we¡¯re talking about the people that make it all happen, you need to make statues for everyone, not just me.¡± I scratched my head, smiling.


    ¡°Oh~ I see how it is kid. ying humble now, are we? Hah! Your acting sucks!¡± Oscar cackled.


    ¡°What?! If we¡¯re talking about whose acting sucks, it¡¯s you!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°WHAT?! ME?! THE F.U.C.K?!¡± Oscar was bbergasted.


    ¡°You¡¯re the one who wanted a f.u.c.k.i.n.g statue built for yourself! You said when you were drunk before years ago was that you wanted something simr to the faces in Mount Rushmore!¡± I turned the tables on him.


    ¡°KID?!¡± Oscar pointed at me, red in the face.


    ¡°What? Did I lie?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t¡­¡± Oscar immediately shrunk down, embarrassed.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± everyone started wheezingughing though I think I¡¯ve made my point earlier that they didn¡¯t need to make me one because everyone put in their effort to make everything work, no matter how much work they put in. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Anyway, what¡¯s the situation here?¡± I turned to Rico.


    ¡°Fortification of this ce is still the main job for everyone. We¡¯ve been cleaning out hardware stores for their metal parts and sacks of cement to either patch up or make new structures that could help us better defend this ce.¡± Rico replied.


    ¡°How about food and water? Except for the rice we brought obviously.¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, the garden at the back was restored and more seeds were nted. We also managed to secure a few eggying chickens so we have a steady supply of eggs. On the water, we tried to make the rain collectors and water filters from your modules so we could save a lot on fuel or firewood from boiling them before drinking.¡± Benjamin answered.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t we shared a few sr panels and generators over here?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yes but we mostly use them for the fans, lights, and the cameras. It¡¯s not enough to go around simultaneously so we just store hot water on our canteens or on those thermoses so we could slowly make a stockpile of clean water.¡± Benjamin replied.


    ¡°If we managed to clear thatmercial square right before the expressway, we¡¯d have ess to more of those stuff and other things.¡± Carlo chimed.


    ¡°Then that¡¯s good. Try and slowly increase your territory as you go on and don¡¯t miss taking each and every valuable on the way.¡± I nodded a few times.


    We were one and the same group but we decided beforehand that we wouldn¡¯t spoonfeed them too much. We gave them a good headstart when they moved in by providing an ample amount of resources to get them going but they need to be able to make this ce run by themselves in the future. Well, we gave them another boost by delivering copious amounts of rice but we have a f.u.c.kton moreing to our own ce.


    ¡°Do you still have people guarding the previous DDR Camp?¡± Oscar asked Rico.


    ¡°Not quite. After we hauled each and every valuable thing inside, instead of making a dozen guards watch that ce, we decided to have 3-man groups in more scattered positions to act as lookouts aside from our people who slowly clears the dead roaming around every day. They still tangle with the dead but it¡¯s up to them to decide to take it on themselves or call for more people.¡± Rico exined.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a good idea. Where are they stationed then?¡± Oscar scratched his beard.


    ¡°It changes every few days depending on the circ.u.mstances. We have four groups in total. Three of them were fairly close while thest group ventures or extends a bit farther. They relocate more frequently too and they go back here fewer times than the other three. They¡¯re even outside as we speak and they scavenge their own food and other needs. They never missed a report though so that means they¡¯re doing a good job.¡± Rico added.


    ¡°We should do that kind of shit back home kid. Let¡¯s have a few soldiers extend towards either to Caloocan City or Marikina City. Either way, we¡¯d get more live information if they¡¯re in the vicinity. Well, we better equip them as a start first and find the right people for it.¡± Oscar gave an approving look.


    It took a while before they managed to haul everything off from the 8-wheeler so we started to talk with some of the people we sent over here. It was obvious that some of them were upset initially and it took them time to realize my point in sending them here. However, there were still people we wouldn¡¯t be able to see eye to eye and they either talked with a different tone or were one of the people that took off and decided to find their own ce. <hr>


    Before we left the ce, we gave them the rest of the ammo we have from the ammo cans while they handed us brass casings and other materials for reloading them.


    They already know that I could manufacture bullets so part of what they handed me was a mix of primers, projectiles, smokeless gunpowder, and surprisingly, even ck powder. They stumbled upon a looted gun store but the people who looted it didn¡¯t know one flying f.u.c.k about how to use them so a good amount of them was left behind.


    We shook hands and we drove back.


    While we were driving back, I suddenly had the realization that I might¡¯ve made the most stupid mistake I could possibly make. The people with me were oblivious but they grew worried when I stepped on the gas and drove even faster. My face was desperate and I almost left the 8-wheeler behind.


    ¡°Kid? The f.u.c.k is wrong with you?!¡± Oscar strapped his seatbelt, the same with everybody.


    I never answered and it made everyone but Kaley confused.


    ¡°Oh no¡­¡± Kaley finally realized what I was getting at.


    We reached our home base without issue but I was already toote to witness everything. My only saving grace was Olivia holding up her camera which Ken lent to her before. However, when I saw the lens cap still on, I lost all hope seeing Zeus¡¯ initial reaction when he saw them.


    ¡°We¡¯re toote¡­¡± I muttered as Kaley and I fell on one knee.


    ¡°¡­¡± the other people with us.


    The scene was still immacte but how I wish I could turn back time. I almost went to a certain ce where I could borrow the stone that could allow it.


    ¡°Look at Zeus!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°Peanut¡¯s excited as well!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Rio¡¯s gone.¡±


    ¡°I wish Dozer is here too! I think Jay brought him home already.¡±


    ¡°Mister Jomarro, can I really have her?! CAN I REALLY HAVE HER?! HUH?! CAN I?!¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­ calm down¡­¡±


    ¡°I want one too!¡±


    ¡°You see, having a puppy is a serious endeavor. You really~ need to take care of it. Like really~ take care of it.¡±


    ¡°I will! I will!¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t, they will get sick and be sad, are you really sure?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ will they be really sad?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I said to take really good care of them, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I guess I want to learn how to take care of them first, right?!¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the way to go.¡±


    ¡°Do I need to get really fat like you so I could take good care of them?¡± <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Do I?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Listen here you little-¡±


    ¡°Okay, calm down you big guy, he¡¯s just a kid¡­ he¡¯s just a kid¡­¡±


    Zeus was happily running around Kronos and Rhea while the little puppies were trying to chase after him. They were too slow and sometimes they would stumble but Zeus would pick them up and slow down to y with his little siblings. The other puppies were either getting picked up by the kids or trying to climb over Olivia, who was now about to die from happiness.


    Not only that, Cynthia started to cry when a little brown puppy slowly made his way towards her then decided to sleep on her foot. Cynthia couldn¡¯t move a muscle and she was looking at Kaley and me for help. Rin managed to help her but she decided to take several pictures first with Cynthia¡¯s embarrassed expression.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Zeus managed to sniff me out but he slowly approached me while waiting for the little ones to catch up to him.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus was happily circling around them before he asked me to carry him.


    This was one of the moments I was genuinely happy. He started to lick my face and he stole a kiss from Kaley as well.


    ¡°You¡¯re getting a little sneaky, aren¡¯t ya?¡± I chuckled as I received a few more kisses from him.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus responded.


    ¡°What do you mean by that? I thought you¡¯re being sneaky?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Woof¡­¡± Zeus lowered his bark but his tail was still wagging. I could feel it with my legs but I hugged him even tighter.


    ¡°That¡¯s better, you¡¯re learning quick eh?¡± I said as Iid him down and booped his little nose.

 Chapter 403

    Chapter 403: 403


    I was really happy that Zeus was able to remember all of the tricks I¡¯ve been trying to teach him. As much as possible, I would like to be able to get him to recognize my cues even if I was not able to train him every day. Well, now that we have more guardians by our side, I would like it if they could be trained as well. <center></center><hr>


    There may be a time that I would need his help outside so it would be better to get him ready for anything that mighte.


    ¡°Good thing Jomarro is here with us now.¡± I thought to myself.


    The man finally noticed me as well and he approached me.


    ¡°Shit, I didn¡¯t think the ce you have reimed would be this big. You¡¯re also inmand with the DDR Camp here? If I didn¡¯t think you were overconfident that time, I would¡¯ve already moved here when you first told me of this shit happening. Anyway, I think my dogs love this ce as well so I guess I¡¯m staying here for the long run.¡± Jomarro said to me.


    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s good to hear. Did you find a ce to stay yet?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I looked around and figured I¡¯ll stay right next to the house where this Jay? I don¡¯t know, I couldn¡¯t make out the name entirely but he owned this Boxer named Dozer. It¡¯s pretty quiet there too and I picked a normal house with a little backyard.¡± Jomarro replied, petting Zeus that was not leaving my side.


    ¡°That ce? I for sure thought you¡¯d pick the biggest house. The Pineda Residence right after the Elementary school is the biggest one in here.¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Hah! F.u.c.k that ce. I won¡¯t live where those creepy eye zombies used to live at. I almost picked that ce but the people here told me the story. The rest of my workers could live anywhere I want because I¡¯d officially retire being a rice dealer today. I¡¯d do a few things around here but I¡¯d leave that part of my life in the past. I might work with that Derek guy or something¡­ Wait- well not until we¡¯ve hauled everything I owned in the Intercity obviously¡­¡± Jomarro stretched his arms around.


    ¡°Just make up your mind, will you?¡± I chuckled.


    Kaley excused herself because she wanted to talk to her mom for a bit so I came to my room by myself. Iid my weapons inside the armory before I just sat down in my chair while looking at the ceiling.


    ¡°Things have been more or less going in the right direction¡­¡± I thought to myself as I picked up my Sat Phone. <center></center><hr>


    I dialed a certain number but even after several tries, no one was still picking up.


    ¡°A lot less in this matter though¡­ I just thought¡­ Just be alive even if you all weren¡¯t here¡­ That¡¯s all that matters¡­¡± I was wearing a frustrated look but I took a deep breath to calm myself.


    I threw myself in the bed and I decided to take a short nap. I just woke up when I felt a presence in my feet and it was just Kaley trying to untie my shoes. She saw me notice her and she just gave me a caring smile. She already changed clothes though she decided to im my hoodie for herself.


    ¡°You¡¯re tired, aren¡¯t you? You rarely fall asleep with your gear on.¡± Kaley said as she pulled my right shoe.


    ¡°A little, yes. Thank you.¡± I replied as I started to remove my gloves.


    ¡°I already picked clothes for you to change into. The food is almost ready too so we should go down soon.¡± Kaley said as she pulled the other shoe off.


    However, I saw Kaley jumping up in the air and it was toote to react. I was in mid-sentence when shended.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll- GACHK!!! Kaley?! The f.u.c.k?!¡± I coughed air as Kaley jumped to body m me.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! I just felt like doing it, sorry~ Ow~ I shouldn¡¯t have done that, I think Inded on your elbow¡­¡±


    ¡°You want to go this route, eh?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Counter-attack!!!¡± <hr>


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! NO~ It tickles!!! STOP~!!!¡± Kaley gave me a hug right after shended on me but I started to blow raspberries on her neck.


    Kaley was trying to get out of my grasp but I rolled her over and held her in ce. She tried to fight back but I was overpowering her. It only took a short while before we stopped though I continued to hug her while our faces were close to each other. We could feel each other¡¯s breaths and I felt warm while in her embrace.


    ¡°Hey¡­ Sky¡­ We should¡­¡± Kaley whispered.


    ¡°Five more minutes¡­¡± I grumbled, half-joking.


    ¡°Hmm, let¡¯s make it ten minutes. Five minutes is too short.¡± Kaley chuckled as she hugged me even tighter.


    The allotted time we gave each other was not followed because we both unknowingly took a nap. We were just woken up by Tatiana, Rin, and Cynthia after more than half an hour. I quickly grabbed my change of clothes so we could eat dinner.


    We eventually went down while the food was being ced on the tables.


    Aunt Sharon and the rest prepared a vegetable soup with a clear stock paired with fried patties mostly made with mashed beans. Flour, eggs, and bread crumbs were added for the beans to take shape and they made different dipping sauces that were sweet, sour, or spicy. Our cooked rice today was soft and fragrant because we were trying to use them first because they would go bad earlier than the long-grained rice from imports.


    I looked at Jomarro and he seemed to be enjoying the food that was prepared.


    ¡°He sure does eat a lot and it¡¯s great that he wasn¡¯t a picky eater. We¡¯ll get him in his old body soon enough. I guess I¡¯ll give him to Mikhailter. He¡¯ll definitely hate me for starting him on his path this early.¡± I thought to myself.


    I started the meeting and I officially introduced Jomarro to the rest of my group. Well, I didn¡¯t forget about Kronos, Rhea, and their puppies but they didn¡¯t need to be introduced again because their presence was immediately known when they arrived. <hr>


    As our meetings go, we report everything to the dot, and any problems were discussed and tackled by everyone.


    ¡°Kid, until that Mauricio guy asks for you, I think I¡¯ll handle the trips for the rest of Jomarro¡¯s rice in the Intercity. It¡¯s stupid for us two to be on the same team. I know you¡¯ll miss me but it¡¯s for the better. You have more things on your te than mine so I¡¯ll handle this stuff. You still haven¡¯t made progress on the notebooks, right?¡± Oscar said after I finished my report.


    ¡°I actually made a little headway but the ones easily deciphered were the ones where their inventory was listed and the list of deliveries made and by which people who did the said deliveries. However, on the ones where his handwriting was a little bit better, I think I have an inkling of what it is.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm? When did you have the time to do that?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Heh, you¡¯ll sometimes notice me just staring in the distance, right? My head runs nonstop and let¡¯s just say in those times, I¡¯m on my mind pce.¡± I shrugged my shoulders, chuckling.


    ¡°Wait, what did you have an inkling on?¡± Johnny chimed.


    ¡°When the mass was happening before, I noticed that their cult leader changed everything from that book to his own version. I have a few more notebooks to go through that needs a closer inspection but it¡¯s only a matter of time to figure out everything out.¡± I replied.


    The next item that was discussed in our meeting was the assessment of the neers.


    In random periods, a lone individual, a family, or a group would stumble across our home base. The first thing they needed to do to be allowed entry was to surrender all of their weapons and have all their luggage searched thoroughly at the gate. After that, we let them fill out a form and get all of their information from that or from IDs they still might have on their person.


    We then run them through our database for any matches and see if they have existing records for crimesmitted against this country and its people.


    Regardless of the result, we would give them temporary residence after having a talk with Kaley¡¯s mom, Marisha, with several armed guards and Matthew. People would definitely undergo changes in their psyche and it would be dangerous if we let a serial killer inside. This process was not 100% reliable because people could make mistakes but so far, Marisha¡¯s judgment was always spot on.


    If Marisha deemed one unfit for this ce, I would trust her judgment and act on it depending on the person. We have rarely let go of people because the ones that set rms on Marisha¡¯s head and were considered highly dangerous were immediately taken care of. This assessment would take days depending on the person and they would still need to be with close supervision from the soldiers. <hr>


    It was a dangerous job but having everyone armed served as a deterrent for anyone to even try their funny business.


    This time, I was looking at the approval form of Gemma and Joseph for their assessment. They were part of the group who tried to rob and kill us before but they decided toe back with us when I decided to spare them with a few others. We discovered that they were just being manipted by their crooked leader and even when I told them that their freedom would be severely restricted if theye back with us, they still agreed with the harsh conditions.


    ¡°You sure about this?¡± I looked at Marisha after scanning through the form.


    Marisha nodded so I signed the form and gave it back to her.


    ¡°You¡¯re doubting my wife, kid?¡± Matthew scoffed.


    ¡°Heh. She married you, that¡¯s why I have my reservations.¡± I jabbed back, trying to tick him off.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K DID YOU SAY TO ME?!¡± Matthew exploded while Marisha was dyingughing.


    Then chaos almost ensued.


    I suddenly had another body guard aside from Tatiana just because I gave him his favorite gun. Giving Mikhail a PKM worked wonders for me because it was like I finished a quest that would increase his favorability towards me straight to the max level.


    Tatiana was strong herself but Mikhail was on a whole other league if we wereparing muscle strength alone.


    When Matthew stood up, Mikhail just held Matthew¡¯s shoulders and he easily sat him back down like a puppy.


    ¡°Mr. Matthew, please calm down. We¡¯re all friends here, aren¡¯t we?¡± Mikhail said with a smile.

 Chapter 404

    Chapter 404: 404


    Matthew soon calmed down after he remembered that I always put them in these kinds of traps which Oscar always fall for. Clued by his wife¡¯s initial reaction, he just sat in ce but his expression was still of annoyance. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Anyway, Gemma and Joseph will be given more freedom but would still be monitored and supervised. This arrangement is not final, the same with everyone else we allowed inside our walls. Do we have any more things do discuss?¡± I looked at them.


    ¡°Kid, our cargo helicopter maye in a day or two before the year ends. Although, they mentioned that they may bring more people than what was promised.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Are the rest of Tatiana¡¯s team included?¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯ll all being here.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± Tatiana, Mikhail, and Vera were silent but a smile formed in each of their faces.


    ¡°I¡¯ll finally meet their team leader for once. It¡¯s about time I start another project.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°You said there would be more people? Who?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s the immediate family of Avalos, Honassan, and Lawrence. Loyal only to the president or not, they¡¯d be more inclined to keep this ce safe and much more if their family are here. Well, that¡¯s what I took from it when I received the news. They¡¯re all hardworking people and they¡¯ve been vouched for so they¡¯re a wee addition.¡± Oscar exined.


    ¡°Then it¡¯s all good. If they do something stupid, they¡¯re not immune, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Our rules would also apply to them. They could be the son of the president but our ce, our rules. That f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit needs to be respected.¡± Oscar said with a serious look.


    ¡°Oh yeah, speaking about them, Lawrence said that they also reimed the church right next to PNHS. It¡¯s because the walls separating them were too short and it spans a long way. He said it would be better to just include it because the church is also high enough to be a great vantage point.¡± Matthew added.


    ¡°You went there, dad?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yesterday.¡± Matthew replied.


    ¡°Anything else?¡± I looked at the group then Jay raised his hands. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I asked him to stand up.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna need to borrow a few mores because the one we ced in the canal system ripped because they weren¡¯t able to carry the weight of several undead. It just happened before we came to this meeting so I just waited for everyone to be done. We could make one after this andy them out or tomorrow when there¡¯s light.¡± Jay said, scratching his head.


    ¡°Oh, you could just make one andy it out tomorrow. We wouldn¡¯t be able to find someone in the dark if someone identally falls in.¡± I replied.


    I asked for more topics they wanted to discuss though I noticed Unc Zeidrick, Raphael, and Anthony still have greasy hands. It seemed that they wanted the meeting to end so they could continue on with their projects. Since no one had any more topics to bring up, we finally ended the meeting.


    As I guessed, the three with their apprentices immediately exited the premises and went straight to Anthony¡¯s house which was a few meters outside the gate he made before.


    ¡°I wonder what they¡¯re up to. I hope our vehicles are done already.¡± I thought to myself.


    We cleaned the tables up before we headed to the gym.


    Since a lot more people got interested to work on their bodies, the gym I have on the third floor was beginning to get smaller and smaller for everyone, even if it was open for use aside from night time. The best solution was to make use of the unused buildings and make one or two for the others, in a different location. Those locations were obviously the DDR Camp and Woonds. The equipment for them was easily procured and other equipment from my gym that they wanted to have was requested from our engineers.


    Doing that, most of the people inside my gym were just from my humble abode. The only ones that would make their way over here were the ones wanting to sit in for a lesson, not just building their bodies from the ground up.


    ¡°I love more people trying to work on their bodies but damn I still want some space for myself.¡± Iughed inwardly.


    I was peacefully working on my daily routine right now because Vera and Mikhail had taken over my spot. I would only teach lessons when it was the beginner and advanced ss for guns and the specialized ss for CCW. It was easy to poke your weapon in a biter¡¯s head but shooting them without proper training was a disaster waiting to happen. If they were gonna use guns, I would like them to do it right and that was why I was still teaching even the beginner ss.


    However, there was something still haunting me to this day: the endless requests for a different kind of lesson.


    ¡°HEY! I¡¯M F.U.C.K.I.N.G GETTING A CLEAN HIT IN THIS TIME!!!¡± Bing was already rotating his shoulders, d in protective gear. Chris was also present but he was still on the process of finishing his workout.


    They call it a sparring session but with their current skills, it would be much safer to call it a scheduled beating. I was one to analyze an opponent¡¯s skill level first before attempting an attack but Bing with a few others was different. <hr>


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s bad to get too overconfident.¡± I reminded myself but I still let out a smirk when I walked on the mat.


    The moment the bell rang, Bing actually didn¡¯t rush towards me. He maintained a safe distance while bopping up and down and weaving his head on both sides.


    ¡°Trying something new, eh?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Shut up and let me do my thing!¡± Bing eximed.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°YOU GONNA ATTACK OR WHAT?!¡± Bing roared once more, annoyed that we were just standing in ce.


    ¡°Shut up and let me do my thing.¡± I sent his words right back at him.


    It was a good thing that he tried to do that new shit here, trying something new outside would have the highest probability of getting someone killed. He almost lost his cool not only from the words I said but by also putting himself out of hisfort zone. Waiting and finding out wasn¡¯t his style so it was slowly eating up on him. It was alreadymendable he managed to keep his emotion in check for a couple of minutes.


    Bing stepped forward and led with a swift jab followed by a slow straight.


    I tilted my head to avoid the jab but I moved to his left side to deliver a body blow with my left.


    His abdominal muscles were solid and I surmised it didn¡¯t do enough damage. <hr>


    He turned to me while aiming for my temple with his elbow but I quickly caught it with my left hand. I lifted his left arm up while I delivered a kick towards his chin by flicking my left foot up. The snapping sound it produced made a few people wince but Bing was still standing. He was getting better at receiving punishment but I was starting to slowly whittle him down.


    I used to knock them out by a solid hit but now I was trying to show them our difference by at least letting them dance with me for a while.


    I took a step back when he regained his bnce but his nose was bleeding. Not only it could affect his breathing but his head was also getting affected by the smirk I was always letting out. Blood was starting to rush in his head but he still opened with a jab instead of his usual overhead, telegraphed swings.


    What¡¯s funny was I opened with a poke at the same time.


    As I noticed his shoulder moving for a punch, I curled my right toe and I aimed for the bottom of his sternum and the top of his stomach. My leg was obviously longer than his arm and I reached him first. He tried to grab my foot but a strong and surgical hit to the sr plexus would just about knock the wind out of anyone.


    ¡°GH-HACCKKKK!!!¡± Bing was clutching his stomach with a pained expression.


    I followed it with a left kick to his right side and I put in everything I got. The wind whistled as my left foot came for him. It sliced through the air and the thud that followed sounds like a dead cow was dropped from the roof. I could saw everyone wince but I wound up to send another once.


    Bing¡¯s body folded to the side and he went down a few seconds before the bell rang.


    ¡°You good?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Hngh¡­¡± Bing replied.


    ¡°Want an Ibuprofen?¡±


    ¡°Hnghn¡­¡±


    ¡°No?¡±


    ¡°Hngnh!!!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Hnggnh!!!¡±


    ¡°Oh, Tatiana! Bing said he wants to spar with you next!¡±


    ¡°HNGGBH~!!!¡±


    ¡°What?! With Vera as well?! You¡¯re crazy!!!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°You already gave up? Why is everyone starting to figure out my speech patters?! Heh, let me help you up.¡±


    A few more people asked for pointers but time passed and I was soon in front of the rest of the notebooks I need to take a closer look at. Most of them were gibberish and diagrams I couldn¡¯t understand. What¡¯s worse was that not only just a few but a lot of pages were missing from the notebooks.


    They were ripped straight off making the deciphering of the readable passages impossible. When I was done looking through a notebook, most of the words repeated were the following: Zealots, Ascension, Apocalypse, and as always, The Father.


    I was staring at some of the diagrams but I heard Kaley¡¯s voice from behind.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you use my sses? You¡¯d see clearer that way.¡± Kaley mentioned but I got confused from her statement.


    ¡°You and I have perfect vision, why would I-¡± I turned around to face her but I think this was the present I still haven¡¯t received.


    Kaley was just wearing thigh-high socks and fake sses, nothing more.

 Chapter 405

    Chapter 405: 405


    I was at a loss from what I saw and I almost lost it when she raised both of her arms and ced it on the back of her head. The natural curves of her body that started from her face, to her neck, her chest, her armpits, her stomach, h.i.p.s, navel, thighs, and her juicy pubic mound right before her meaty lips were located. <center></center><hr>


    The socks she was wearing were a little tight on her thighs so a little bit of her supple skin was showing more just by the edge of it.


    I instinctively gulped when I managed to look at her body but I was stunned when I saw her beautiful face.


    She just came from the shower so her hair was a little wet. It grew a few inches before it all happened but she already tied it to a ponytail. Her smile was as beautiful as ever but she was slightly red on the cheeks because of the way I was staring at her. The kicker was she was wearing thick-rimmed ck sses and it triggered a few things in my head.


    ¡°Hmm? Trying to say something?¡± Kaley was already smiling wickedly because she knew that I have already fallen for her trap.


    However, I knew that she liked it when I try to tease her a bit.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you cold? The AC¡¯s a little high today, right?¡± I was faintly blushing while trying to keep calm.


    Kaley just giggled as she slowly approached me. She raised her left leg and she ced it on my right armchair. Her p.u.s.s.y was right in front of my face and her juices were starting to escape from her little pink hole. However, she just adjusted her thigh-high socks while looking at me.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m wearing socks, you see? It¡¯s good for the cold.¡± Kaley casually said while looking directly into my eyes.


    ¡°Oh~ I see, I see. I didn¡¯t know that, do you know what other things you could do if you don¡¯t have socks like that? You¡¯re wearing sses, you must be really~ smart.¡± I was still sitting on my chair but I was definitely rock-hard.


    ¡°Of course I am. Hmm~ I think I know one more thing. Do you know what the force between two objects sliding or trying to slide across each other is called?¡± Kaley slightly adjusted her sses once more.


    ¡°I dunno¡­ Can you tell me? Oh, I think I might need ¡®examples¡¯ too!¡± I replied but Kaley¡¯s face was getting redder and redder.


    ¡°It¡¯s called friction but okay¡­ How about we follow with examples now? It would be better to understand it, right? We¡¯ll do it together¡­¡± Kaley put her leg down and she sat on myp. <center></center><hr>


    Her plump ass was now against my shaft and she leaned her back against me. Her body was rested against me while I could see her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts when I look down. She took one of my hands and ced it over one of her big tits. After that, she ced her left hand on the other one while she started her little lesson.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you start rubbing my¡­ my n-n.i.p.p.l.e s-slowly? I¡¯ll do it on t-the other side so you could see how to do it properly¡­ if¡­ i-if you d-do it o-over and over we could slowly k-keep ourselves w-warm¡­¡± Kaley was starting to stutter.


    I was grabbing the other side by the handful and my hands couldn¡¯t cup it all. My fingers were just sinking through them while I was trying to reach for her n.i.p.p.l.e. Her face and neck were just right to me and I could smell her body on top of the soap that she used. When I managed to brush it with my fingers, Kaley twitched involuntarily and her breathing started to get hurried.


    ¡°Here?¡± I whispered in her ear.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley was still breathing hurriedly and she didn¡¯t answer me.


    I decided to rub it more after making her lick my fingers. Her n.i.p.p.l.e was already hard and her whole body was feeling my touch. Kaley¡¯s n.i.p.p.l.es were very sensitive and one touch in the right moment would garner a reaction from her. Kaley was trying to move her h.i.p.s albeit roughly because my clothes were still in the way. However, I decided to make her feel good first because of the nice present she gave me.


    ¡°Kaley, can you hear me?¡± I whispered once more.


    ¡°Y-Yeah¡­ s-sorry I- Ah!¡± Kaley replied but I slid my fingers in her warm and wet-ass p.u.s.s.y.


    ¡°Will it work in this ce too? Hmm? I think there¡¯s less friction here for how it just swallowed my finger in, right?¡± I was looking at her expression and her face was slowly turning into a mess.


    ¡°I¡¯m not s-sure¡­ could y-you go a bit f-faster?¡± Kaley stuttered.


    I was only one finger in and I couldn¡¯t believe how tight she was gripping me below. Her legs were also mping on my wrists, making it hard for me to slide my finger in and out. I had no choice but to just wiggle and curl my finger while exploring her insides. Her body involuntarily twitched from hitting her sensitive spots and her h.i.p.s were moving nonstop.


    Kaley¡¯s m.o.a.ns were getting louder and louder and my hand kneading her b.r.e.a.s.t was held by her hand, applying more pressure. After a few moments, her nails started to dig into my forearm as warm liquid suddenly squirted out from her. My shorts got drenched as itsted for a few seconds. Kaley was shaking nonstop with an embarrassed look at first but it slowly turned to euphoria when I didn¡¯t stop exploring her warm insides. <hr>


    I wanted to make her c.u.m one more time but she held my arm and whispered softly, ¡°Hey¡­ I don¡¯t want to be the only one¡­ h-having fun¡­¡±


    I smiled and whispered back, ¡°What are you talking about? I¡¯m having the most amazing time right now.¡±


    ¡°N-No¡­ I m-mean¡­ ah! Hngh~¡± Kaley gasped when I pinched her little nub.


    ¡°You mean what?¡± I was inplete control of her.


    ¡°I m-mean¡­ c-c.u.m.m.i.n.g¡­¡± her face was beet red when she said it.


    ¡°Do you want to move on the bed now?¡± I asked her and she just nodded.


    I lifted her up while she was wearing an embarrassed look though she couldn¡¯t stop looking at me. When Iid her down, I went on top of her and held both of her hands. I gently kissed her forehead before I moved to her cheeks, lips, and then her smooth armpits. I was taking in her sweet, heavenly scent while Kaley was simply biting her lip, letting me do everything I wanted.


    Her hands were still above her head when I buried myself between her huge, bountiful b.r.e.a.s.ts. I was sucking on one n.i.p.p.l.e while I was kneading one all over. Kaley¡¯s h.i.p.s were trying to move nonstop because my d.i.c.k was just above her meaty lips. All I needed to do was wind back and thrust then I would be inside her creamy walls. However, I was still waiting for the right time.


    ¡°¡­it¡­ in¡­¡± I heard a whisper.


    ¡°¡­¡± I didn¡¯t answer.


    ¡°¡­ease¡­ put i-it¡­ in¡­¡± she was starting to beg.


    ¡°¡­¡± I still didn¡¯t answer. <hr>


    ¡°Hngh~ please¡­ I¡­ I¡­ AH! AH! AH! AH! IT¡¯S IN MY- AH! IT¡¯S IN MY- HNGHHHHHMMPPP~!!!¡± I suddenly rammed it deep inside her while I gave her a deep kiss.


    Her loud m.o.a.ns got muffled when I also explored the depths of her mouth but her legs wrapped around my back while her hands moved in to hold me tight. Our kisssted for a few seconds before I started to ram it faster and faster. Her insides were gripping me tight but her juices were making me slid in with force. I could feel her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts as she was hugging me and the way she was holding me said that she was already close to c.u.m for the second time.


    I didn¡¯t let up as I hit the same spot over and over.


    Her sses were already missing but her tight thigh-high socks were still in ce. The moment she came, the embrace we were in became tighter but it didn¡¯tst for long. I still haven¡¯t c.u.m so I watched her face turn into a mess as her eyes rolled over and her saliva escaped her gaping mouth. She lost all strength in her body because the hold she had me in came loose. Her legs were just spread apart while I could see myself sliding in and out of her tight hole. Her body was just following my movements and her b.r.e.a.s.t would jiggle violently for each thrust that reached all the way to the base.


    It didn¡¯t take long before I released everything inside her.


    It was a lot that came out and all my weight was now pressed against her. Our breathing was all out of ce but Kaley held me in her arms. My head was between her b.r.e.a.s.ts and those jugs were something I¡¯d rather rest my head on instead of a pillow. My c.u.m oozed out of herbined with her silky and creamy juices but she lost all proper decorum when I rammed it back inside.


    Kaley tried to cover her face but I held them back. She got embarrassed by the way I was looking at her so she tried to close her eyes. However, I almost chuckled when she tried to take a peek at me and she immediately looked away when she saw me still looking at her intensely.


    Her insides were squelching as our skin was pping against each other. We continued for a while before we both lost strength.


    Weid in the bed holding each other while we were looking into each other¡¯s eyes. We share more than a few things with our friends in the other rooms but a few sweet words were something we only share with each other. We were the only ones who could hear it but we still said it in a whisper. We followed it with a sweet kiss as our nket was the only one covering us and only the moonlight could illuminate part of our faces.


    ¡°Hey¡­¡± Kaley whispered while in front of me.


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Is this¡­ okay with you?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°You know¡­ just me¡­ I could¡¯ve invited them but-¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s more than okay. It¡¯s perfect.¡± I interrupted her.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°What? Is there a problem?¡±


    ¡°What? No! There¡¯s no problem¡­ it¡¯s just¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to exin it¡­¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ what I meant was¡­ no¡­ sorry I¡¯m- okay¡­ just¡­ thank you. For everything, thank you¡­¡± then I heard quiet sobs.


    ¡°Kaley? Are you cry- Kaley?¡±

 Chapter 406

    Chapter 406: 406


    I was about to reach for the lights but Kaley stopped me. She was holding my arm tight and she just wanted me to be right next to her. I tried to talk to her but she was just crying nonstop. Having nothing else to do, I just hugged her tight as she cried in my arms. I didn¡¯t even know the reason why she was crying but seeing her like this left me confused and broken. <center></center><hr>


    I always wanted to see her different expressions from pulling out a bad joke in a bad time or from making her something delicious, but, this was not one of the looks I wanted to see her in. Tears started to well in my eyes because she was crying with a painful expression and I didn¡¯t know what triggered that.


    ¡°Hey¡­ Kaley¡­ I¡¯m here, okay?¡±


    Kaley¡¯s face was buried in my chest and I could feel her tears falling on my skin as she was tightly hugging me. She was still not responding so I waited for her until she was able to talk to me. Goodmunication was always the best go-to but there were times when silence was the answer.


    ¡°Did something happen when she talked to her mom? No¡­ well¡­ maybe¡­ Our rtionship with each other really got a bit open with other people though we never do it without each other¡¯s presence. Hmm, is that even the reason why she started crying? Well, I think it started when she asked me whether it¡¯s fine with me just being with her. It could be that or there¡¯s another reason I don¡¯t know yet.¡± I thought to myself.


    I grabbed the edge of the nket we were covered in and I tried to wipe the side of her face where I could reach. Even so, tears were still continuing to fall from her eyes but she was more silentpared to earlier.


    Time continued to pass until she asked me to listen to her as we sat upright, face to face.


    ¡°I just had a little talk with mom earlier¡­ as always, she managed to figure out that our little circle grew with Cynthia¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm, I figured that she would know eventually but I don¡¯t think that would¡­ you know¡­ warrant this¡­ right? Did she say anything else?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°No¡­ just the usual reminders but¡­ I would sometimes get to thinking about us¡­ no- I- I would sometimes get to thinking about¡­ what you think of me¡­¡±


    Kaley looked at me before looking down on the pillows above ourps.


    ¡°What? What do you mean? You already know what my feelings for you are, right?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Kaley?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ just¡­ sometimes I¡­ sometimes I think that I just drag you along with me¡­ even when I¡¯m the one who used to yell at others to stay away from you¡­ it¡¯s a little hypocritical¡­ there¡¯s also an instance that I think that I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m¡­ not good enough¡­ you know¡­ for you¡­ I¡¯ve just been thinking about it¡­ a lot¡­¡±


    ¡°Kaley, to bepletely honest, I¡¯m a little confused about what you¡¯re saying. Sure, sometimes I would get surprised especially the first time we did it with them but I didn¡¯t say no at that time and those other times, right? I couldn¡¯t speak for every person but I fantasized about it happening to me at least once. Like we said to your mom before, we¡¯re all consenting a.d.u.l.ts and it¡¯s not like as most open rtionsh.i.p.s even are. The thing I¡¯m confused about is you thinking that you¡¯re not good enough for me. If I must tell you, I still couldn¡¯t believe you¡¯re with me. That never changes.¡±


    Kaley seemed like she was still not telling me things clouding over her head. Marisha informed me of this before and I was starting to scratch on the surface. However, Kaley was starting to be unresponsive as she started to look down and bite on her lip. <hr>


    ¡°Also, I¡¯ve already put two and two together.¡± I tried to get her attention.


    Kaley looked at me with a questioning gaze.


    ¡°I know that you heard me and your mom talking when they arrived here. That time when you escaped and hid in the bathroom? It took me a while but I figured it out! You know what I said and I meant every word of it. If you¡¯re still having doubts about me, the only thing I could do right now is to write a 10-page essay exining everything inside my head. It could be more pages since there¡¯s more going inside my head than what I¡¯m saying right now. You have no idea what¡¯s still inside that hasn¡¯te out.¡±


    Kaley smiled faintly and a tear fell on the side of her cheek. She wiped it with her hands and then she smiled brightly. We just looked at each other for a moment before she took a long deep breath.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I never really had something like¡­ like this¡­ like you¡­¡± Kaley responded to me but her expression turned different once again.


    I looked at her, confused once more.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been in a few rtionsh.i.p.s you know¡­ after I thought that you didn¡¯t like me¡­ However, being a bit¡­ for ack of a better sounding word¡­ partially h-h-hypers.e.x.u.a.l¡­ it didn¡¯t help build a strong rtionship with whomever I was with. It¡¯s a different set of experiences but with the same hurtful oue. Some would like it and assume I¡¯m like a¡­ you know¡­ and some would get off-putted by it. The look and even the words they would give or say to me because of how I am would really hurt me¡­ a lot¡­¡±


    Tears started to well up in her eyes once more but she closed her eyes for a moment to breathe. She held my hand before she opened her eyes. Our eyes never left each other and I suddenly felt stupid in thinking that she never had monsters of her own. I caught a little glimpse of it before but I never saw the whole thing until now. It was different for everyone but the issue was that they exist even for people that look like they don¡¯t. <hr>


    Kaley continued to speak while I continued to listen.


    ¡°I would even get told or forced to do some things that are too much for me because they¡¯re assuming that I¡¯m down for anything and they would get f.u.c.k.i.n.g mad when I say no. Sometimes I would just get confused or would mix up what I want because of my past experiences with people. If I started a new one, I¡¯m afraid of what they may say or think about me so I would sometimes act that we like the same thing¡­¡±


    I was silent not because I didn¡¯t bother to say anything but because there was nothing to say and silence was the right answer this time again. The grip Kaley had on my hand got tighter as tears escaped from her eyes once more. However, when she saw me just looking at her, she had the wrong idea and got fl.u.s.tered.


    ¡°Sky- um¡­ with you I- I¡­ I didn¡¯t¡­ I-¡± I cut her off.


    I just faintly smiled and said, ¡°Even if you did or didn¡¯t, I understand. I¡¯m sorry for thinking that I¡¯m the only one that has problems. Also, I¡¯m sorry for not noticing what you have for me. If you think about it, if I noticed your signs before, you wouldn¡¯t experience that.¡±


    Kaley got up to my face and exploded, ¡°You don¡¯t know that and it¡¯s not your fault! Why would you even put the me on yourself especially the ¡®you¡¯ from before?! It¡¯s stupid! It¡¯s not our fault, it¡¯s theirs! For the record, I never pretended when I was with you! I COULDN¡¯T AND I WOULD NEVER!!! I LOVE YOU, YOU DOOFUS!!!¡±


    ¡°I LOVE YOU TOO, MISS PARTIALLY HYPERS-¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHH~!!! DON¡¯T CALL ME THAT!!!¡± <hr>


    ¡°AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! WHY?! YOU ALREADY SAID IT YOURSELF!!!¡±


    ¡°HNGH~ Please don¡¯t call me that when Tatiana, Rin, and Cynthia are here, especially Tatiana. She might call me that every time we¡¯re all here¡­ it¡¯s true it¡¯s still embarrassing for me¡­ I have control of it after having talks with mom but it gets hard when I¡¯m really stressed, had a drink, or¡­¡± Kaley was red in the face as she trailed, looking at me.


    ¡°Or what?¡± I obliviously asked.


    Kaley didn¡¯t answer me verbally but the kiss she gave me after shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt was enough of an answer. We had to do something we did earlier even if we already spent hours earlier. However, doing it after having a serious talk felt something vastly different. The emotions we were feeling were intense and it was the most amazing night we had, by far.


    Tears fell on Kaley¡¯s face once again but it was a different emotion that triggered it. We never let go of each other when we decided to rest for the night.


    ¡°Goodnight, you doofus.¡±


    ¡°Heh, goodnight miss par- Ow! Kaley!¡±

 Chapter 407

    Chapter 407: 407


    I woke up in the early morning spooning Kaley while a nket was the only thing covering us. Kaley was still fast asleep though I managed to catch a glimpse of the AR-15 from Palmetto that I gave her, right next to my AR-15 from BCM. A quick and obvious idea popped into my head as I slowly made the smallest possible movements so I wouldn¡¯t wake her up. <center></center><hr>


    However, she quickly pulled me back as I heard a soft chuckle.


    ¡°Where are you going? What time is it?¡±


    ¡°Just gonna prepare a little something. Oh, it¡¯s a couple of hours before sunrise.¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ you almost always wake up this early, huh?¡±


    ¡°Force of habit, heh. Get some more sleep, I¡¯ll be quick.¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ We said that yesterday and we did it for hours¡­¡±


    ¡°Hahaha¡­ well this would take a few and I want to do this right. Let¡¯s just say that you¡¯ll receive a hardware upgrade.¡±


    The moment I said ¡®hardware upgrade¡¯, Kaley sprang up from the bed with an excited look and she ran to the armory still n.a.k.e.d.


    ¡°Why am I so lucky?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°C¡¯mon! What are you still waiting over there for?!¡± Kaley eximed,


    ¡°Put some clothes on first!¡±


    ¡°Why?! I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g you after we¡¯re done! Or while we¡¯re doing it!¡± Kaley giggled.


    ¡°I want a stripteaseter so put at least a shirt and some short on!¡± I was shaking my head in amus.e.m.e.nt. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hah! This early?! Whatever you say, hehehe~¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Comb your hair though because you looked like your head¡¯s been licked by a cow.¡±


    Kaley caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and she quickly disappeared to the bathroom.


    We eventually put on some clothes then I looked for one of my high-end AR-15 style rifles like my BCM from the shelves. I took out a fancy case where the words ¡®LWRC International¡¯ was imprinted on. When I removed thetch, Kaley and I instinctively inhaled. We looked at each other before we burst outughing then I pulled out an IC-Enhanced 5.56 from LWRC International.


    It was still an AR-15 style rifle and it was only called different because Colt owned the name AR-15 respectively.


    I was about to ce a few attachments simr to her old setup but I had a different idea when I looked at her. She was right beside me so I simplyid the rifle back on the case before I slid it in front of her.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Kaley looked at me with raised eyebrows.


    ¡°You know how a gun works now, especially an AR-15. You won¡¯t be building one from scratch but I think it would be the best decision to let you work on it yourself. I¡¯ll be giving supervision so just ask away if you have any questions.¡± I replied as I also ced the rest of my tools in front of her.


    Kaley was staring at me for a moment before a smile formed on her face and she said, ¡°Oh~ acting cool now, are we? It¡¯s working but I don¡¯t need sUpErViSioN~ Why don¡¯t you go back to bed and get some more sleep, eh? I can do it myself.¡±


    ¡°Kaley.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have any idea how hard I am. Please don¡¯t talk like that casually, okay?¡±


    ¡°Pfft! AHAHAHA!!!¡±


    Kaley rolled up her imaginary sleeves and got to work. It had the same barrel lengthpared to her old one but everything else¡¯s quality jumped by a very significant amount. An AR-15 from Palmetto was still great and I wouldn¡¯t mind arming my group with it but there was always something better out there. <hr>


    The only thing stopping me from arming everyone with a high-end rifle like my BCM and her LWRC was the price points for each of them. It eas easily four to five times more expensive not even including the attachments we would be cing on each of them.


    What Kaley did was that she tried to imitate what I did with my BCM. The thing that differed was the positioning of the attachments because the handguards we were using were different. Not only that, the upper and lower receivers of her rifle had a gray-metallic finishpared to the all-ck rifle I was using.


    Kaley had a wicked smile when she was done with her new setup and she immediately pounced on me for our earlier agreement. I was down for the count and good thing I have more than an hour to bring back my lost energy. From our talk yesterday, she seemed to let go of herself more when we were together and there was something different from the way she smiled.


    Even when we went outside, Tatiana and the rest noticed it first before her new rifle.


    ¡°Kaley, you¡¯re glowing! Did you use a new product? Tell me!¡± Cynthia eximed as she started to pinch Kaley¡¯s cheeks.


    ¡°N-No¡­ I still use the same-¡± Kaley got embarrassed though she was still smiling.


    ¡°I know what she did, definitely, 100% sure.¡± Tatiana nodded a few times.


    ¡°Hmm? Do you know? You don¡¯t even use anything, just soap! Unlike me¡­¡± Rin was pouting.


    ¡°Did you now? Tell us.¡± I was smirking but I didn¡¯t know we fell for her trap.


    Tatiana just paused for a while before saying, ¡°You definitely ate her holes until mor- Ow! Rin! That hurts!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley and I were gobsmacked though it was partially true. We just waited for things to calm down but it wouldn¡¯t.


    ¡°Stop joking around!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not! Look at how happy she looks!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Umm¡­ does that really happen?¡±


    ¡°No! It doesn¡¯t!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll never know until you try! Hahahaha!¡±


    ¡°Argh! Tatiana!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t believe me? I¡¯ll do that to youter!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Hah! You became quiet! You know you want me to, correct?! HAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re heading down¡­¡± Kaley and I slowly sneaked away.


    ¡°I¡¯ll being with¡­¡± Cynthia followed.


    Tatiana and Rin soon followed though they stopped bickering when they were within earshot of everyone in the pool area.


    We were already in line for the tes and the smell of fried rice topped with toasted garlic in the morning was heavenly. It was paired with scrambled eggs with chopped vegetables and there was a table in the corner for coffee or hot chocte.


    Oscar finished early with Jomarro and Mikhail and they were getting ready to drive back to the Intercity. Unc Zardon and Lois were also taken by Oscar along with a few of Marvin¡¯s team. Matthew and Johnny on the other hand just started to walk outside the gate, heading for the DDR Camp and Woonds next. They check on everything around first for anything that might give us trouble.


    All the other groups finished eating but I was finally approached by Unc Zeidrick, Raphael, and Anthony.


    ¡°Here.¡± they threw us a set of keys for the two Raptors and Tatiana¡¯s HUMVEE. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s done?¡± I asked with a smile.


    ¡°Yep. I see you¡¯ve brought a Hummer and a Hilux, eh? We¡¯ll get to that as well but I heard Oscar also brought back a V8 engine with the transmission?¡± Unc Zeidrick asked.


    ¡°Yes, yes. I dunno what he might do with it though Lois was suggesting to make a sleeper car.¡± I replied.


    ¡°A sleeper car? Why? Can¡¯t he see how cool the things we make are?¡± Raphael asked, confused.


    ¡°Wait, what¡¯s a sleeper car?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s like, let¡¯s say, a stock Civic but you upgrade all the performance parts without doing anything to the exterior. It would have a few advantages going out but there would still be disadvantages. I guess it¡¯ll depend on what you want to do with it.¡± I replied as she nodded pensively.


    ¡°Umm¡­ I still don¡¯t get it¡­¡± Cynthia chimed.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s say we make one. Aside from the obvious performance boost it could get, the only thing advantageous with that is the passengers could be covert and it would blend in, not making everyone who sees it want to steal it or something. Aside from that, I couldn¡¯t think of anything at the top of my head.¡± Raphael replied.


    ¡°I still think it would be better to ce it on the vehicles we already worked on.¡± Anthony added.


    ¡°Is there a problem with not doing anything with the exterior?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°The problem being is what we mostly do to our vehicles are upgrades to the exteriors for the passenger¡¯s safety. We make custom bumpers, the rails on the windshield and the other ss parts, tire protection after installing tubeless tires if they¡¯re avable, and even mounting a gun or two. Doing that ensures the safety of the people riding it but there¡¯s the disadvantage that it¡¯s hot on the eyes. It stands out too much so we need to be wary of potential attackers.¡± Unc Zeidrick was scratching his beard.


    ¡°Wait, there are still ways to reinforce it from the inside, right? Like your Charger?¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re talking about the roll cage, right?¡± I said then Kaley nodded.


    ¡°Heh, just thank uster, okay?¡± Raphael chuckled as they took the keys for the other vehicles.

 Chapter 408

    Chapter 408: 408


    The three left with wicked grins as Aya took all of our used tes politely. I was twirling the keys around by using the keychains and I was thinking of going either in the City of Mbon or driving past the City of Valenzu¡¯s City Hall where we cleared a lot of the dead before. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°The City of Mbon is the obvious choice though¡­¡± I was in deep thought.


    The points to think about was if we tried to drive past the City Hall, pretty much everything beyond that point was unexplored territory. We would be opening a brand new can of worms while in the instance of probing at the City of Mbon, we already uncovered a few things and we have an inkling of what to expect.


    From the past days that my group and I were busy, a separate group was busy hauling off the vehicles that blocked the bridge to get to the City of Mbon. It took some time but they prioritized to simply allow a singlene to be cleared first instead of methodically removing each one of them.


    The vehicles were distributed in our home base, Borris and Cyrill¡¯s hideout, and our new outpost which was thebined church and PNHS. Different things were done to them but it was a report for another time.


    Clearing a singlene allowed us to slowly probe the other side of the bridge but that also allowed them to probe our side as well, both human and undead. So far, from the reports that they¡¯ve given, only the undead have passed through with no signs of the people Cyrill told mest time. Anything could¡¯ve happened to them at this point but we needed to keep our eyes open because they could be lurking in the shadows in that city or at the other city from the other side.


    I¡¯ve thought about it and I would bring my group to scratch the surface of the City of Mbon. Not only it was the shortest route to open up a way towards the City of Man where Iskoh was, but I could also check on our other outpost and take Lawrence with us for the duration of the scouting mission.


    Since my group was now a little shorthanded, I also decided to bring with us someone that was starting to request to be transferred from usually watching the walls and other stuff, Cynthia.


    ¡°You¡¯re finally- I mean- you¡¯re really taking me?¡± Cynthia was ecstatic.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll be taking you off your usual routine since I¡¯ve been hearing nothing but good things about you not just from An and Jenny but also from the other soldiers as well. You also learned a bit of mechanic work and applying first aid, right? Let¡¯s just say you¡¯re on the dream team temporarily. However, don¡¯t think we¡¯re just going for a stroll. Scout work is different from watch duty, yeah?¡± I said as she nodded a few times.


    We finished our coffee first before we got ready. <center></center><hr>


    We brought our usual supplies though the ammo cans we brought had a few magazines worth of .300 AAC ckout cartridges. It was because I asked Cynthia to change the barrel of her takedown AR from 5.56 to .300 AAC ckout. Not only that, but we also brought extra .308s, slugs, 9mm, and 7.62s as well as a staggering amount of .22 LRs for killing the normal ones.


    However, the thing that got me excited was the modified Raptors in front of us. They were almost identical and the only thing different from the two was the paint job and the license tes. Raphael¡¯s Raptor had his name on it while the new one we acquired before had mine. Aside from having the same exterior modifications like his Raptor, the inside was also reinforced with a roll cage and thepartments were modified to my personal specifications.


    Let¡¯s just say everything was secured but at the same time essible. We only took my Raptor for now because taking them all would be a waste for the number of people I would be bringing with me.


    However, before we drove out, Russel boarded our Raptor with his Maverick 88.


    ¡°Hey.¡± Russel casually greeted us.


    ¡°Hey yourself, aren¡¯t you supposed to be in Mark¡¯s group today?¡± I said as I stepped on the brakes.


    ¡°What? No, I¡¯m not. They told me I¡¯m with you for today.¡±


    ¡°And who told you that?¡± Jared chimed.


    ¡°Dong, obviously.¡± Russel replied quickly.


    ¡°What?¡± Jared was confused.


    ¡°What?¡± Russel replied. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna smack you in the head if you don¡¯t tell me the truth. Mark and Dong lead different groups but they¡¯re not in charge of changing the other group¡¯s teamposition.¡± I said.


    Everyone inside was now looking at him.


    ¡°Umm¡­ I- ah- you see. I¡­ I- umm¡­¡± Russell started to stutter.


    ¡°Get out or I¡¯ll drive you straight to your dad.¡± I was already annoyed.


    ¡°C¡¯mon! I could do the heavy lifting! Mikhail¡¯s not here, right?! You need some extra hands! I already brought a few pairs of gloves!¡±


    ¡°I could bring Bing instead though.¡±


    ¡°What?! Bing is busy with making the with Jay. I¡¯m the next candidate in line, right? Bro? Jared?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we really could use an extra pair bro, worstes to worst, we¡¯ll just shoot him in the leg and rope him in the back for insubordination. We have a lot of .22 LRs so a few of them wouldn¡¯t kill him, hopefully.¡± Jared was smirking.


    ¡°Yeah! Just shoot me! Wait- did you say hopefully? Nevermind, just take me, please?¡±


    I gave a long exhale and said, ¡°Fine, but you need to tell me why you skipped with Mark.¡± <hr>


    I just finished my sentence and Russel already gave away the answer when he got red when he saw Cynthia looking at him. Everyone immediately understood his intentions though Jared and Imended him silently because he went for the one with the most dangerous background unknowingly.


    ¡°H-Hi C-Cynthia¡­ d to see you¡¯re here as w-well¡­ I¡¯ll try and t-teach you what I know because I¡¯ve been outside a f-few times already.¡± Russel was already sweating buckets.


    ¡°Hi¡­ sure, thanks.¡± Cynthia¡¯s face warped to something I couldn¡¯t exin.


    ¡°S-So¡­ a-are you seeing someone? Ahaha¡­¡± Russel immediately blurted out.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re not my type, sorry.¡± Cynthia said without any emotion.


    ¡°O-Okay¡­ c-cool¡­¡± Russel¡¯s soul almost left his body.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    We drove for a few minutes and it was the most silent drive we did just to reach Lawrence. He rode at the back and he was left confused as to why Russel was not moving an inch.


    The presence of the dead here was still somewhat existent but all of them were nowing from one side. I was just driving forwards while the bodies in front were falling one by one. Jared and Lawrence were making quick work of them but I could feel Kaley trying to hold herself back. She just softly caressed her rifle while an invisible aura was almost leaking out of her.


    ¡°We need to get to the bridge fast¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    We slowly crept to our destination and the number of the dead we were encountering was slowly increasing. However, I trusted that Jared and Lawrence would take care of it, even the specials, so I started to drive a little faster. <hr>


    It took a while before we reached the bridge and it seemed that the people tasked to move the vehicles somece else were not present.


    ¡°They helped with reinforcing the back of the church so they stopped hauling them for a few days. They¡¯ll get back to it once the hard part is finished.¡± Lawrence said from behind.


    I took a deep breath before I drove my Raptor across the bridge. I used a portion of my head to recall the roads we could take just in case we couldn¡¯t use this bridge and two were immediately registered. We passed by an auto detailing shop and a medium-sized boutique then we were greeted by the undead.


    They weren¡¯t holding wee banners or anything but they definitely caught our attention.


    A good portion of the deadheads was dragging their bodies across the asphalt while their guts were leaving a chunky stain from where they came from. Their upper body was severed from their lower counterpart though there were varying degrees in how it happened. It couldn¡¯t be the other way around because of how our bodies were formed.


    Some had the portion of their ribcage crushed, making a few sharp bones sticking out from their chest. The first ones we saw were almost disemboweled but the unlucky ones got their intestines still stuck in the middle of something, making it one of the most f.u.c.k.i.e.d up leashes known to me. It was something to keep someone up at night but the normal ones feeding on them were having the time of their lives.


    The ones dragging their bodies were easy pickings because the flesh on their backs was being gorged upon. Even their skin was getting ripped off and it was almost pping to the side of their torsos. The ones feasting upon them were crouched down, wing out a portion of their meal that would fill their bellies that weren¡¯t even functioning anymore.


    It was too early to watch this kind of thing so we decided to cut the segment short.


    We drove to the source from where they wereing from and we discovered that something happened in this angled street corner with various construction signs and equipment toppled over.


    ¡°So, it¡¯s an ident?¡± Cynthia asked.

 Chapter 409

    Chapter 409: 409


    I looked at the mess in front before I said, ¡°Not quite, we need to take a closer look.¡± <center></center><hr>


    Before we get to investigating as to what had happened, I slowly backed away from that entryway and parked my Raptor at the opposite side of the street. We wouldn¡¯t be able to drive through from the mess in that area so it would be better to position the Raptor somece we could quickly drive off when things didn¡¯t go the way we expected.


    The sound of the engine and the suppressed gunshots still attracted a few which were in close proximity so we had to quickly exit the vehicle.


    Creating a small perimeter around the Raptor needed us to be extra quiet so we drew our melee weapons. It didn¡¯t take long before we heard the crunch of a skull getting fractured because of a strong impact from a blunt object. Russel was using the goedendag and he swung it on a moving corpse wearing a police uniform. He was using extra force to clear them out but the result was all that mattered.


    The rest of my group followed and sounds of des piercing or cutting through flesh and bone followed next. Either a portion of someone¡¯s head would plop on the asphalt or a biter with a newly made hole would hit the floor.


    I was slightly concerned for Cynthia¡¯s safety outside and how she would fare the first time without the protection of our walls but my worries were all for naught. The same could be said to Russel but¡­ their situation wasn¡¯t the same at all.


    I thought Russel was only equipped with a Maverick 88, a Glock 19, a Walther P22, a goedendag, and a small knife.


    I was wrong.


    *HONK* *HONK*


    All heads suddenly turned to Russel wearing a nonchnt expression. Everyone looked at his h.i.p.s and it had one very peculiar attachment.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?¡± Lawrence muttered. <center></center><hr>


    Russel was wearing a bike horn.


    *HONK* *HONK* *HONK* *HONK*


    ¡°Bro, there¡¯s a few hidden behind that car.¡± Russel said with a serious expression after honking it a few more times. Like he mentioned, three more deadheads appeared with ripped clothes and missing limbs.


    We wanted to get mad but we couldn¡¯t. It was downright stupid but it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g working. We wanted to address his honking device but we also couldn¡¯t. Russel just honked his way to reveal everything we would more or less lure in our location.


    ¡°If it sounds stupid and it works¡­ it¡¯s not stupid¡­¡± I thought to myself, shaking my head.


    It took us a few minutes to clear them out including the ones we saw earlier. We piled their bodies in a corner first before I told Jared and Russel to watch our vehicle. The rest of us slowly crept our way towards the street we backed away from earlier.


    Looking at the ce as a whole, there was a building in the process of getting built when what seemed to be an ident had happened.


    That was what the initial look was telling me but I had to be sure.


    Huge trucks carrying gravel, sand, cement, and various construction equipment were on their side and a huge pileup was formed beneath the unfinished building. The tire skid marks were still somewhat visible amidst the blood and grime staining the road. Some of the trucks were bent into horrifying angles and the speed they were driving in must¡¯ve added to the equation of why they were turned into that state.


    The materials have poured over the asphalt and the scaffoldings and the walls where the huge trucks have crashed onto were bent out of shape and demolished, making victims of the people who were present when it happened. Most of the bodies were construction workers who got buried beneath the rubble and the ones who still could be saved were left to die. Their bodies were buried and no one was able to help them. <hr>


    However, looking at the damage, the unfinished building copsed several times. Even now, it was dangerous to proceed much further because the building could copse again any minute. Not only that, but the structures next to it also had cracks visible on the side of their walls and an unknown force might also cause it to copse.


    The only exnation I had for the newer bodies was a group of people or undead walked through this area when the building copsed a second or third time, crushing their bodies in the process. The ones who got their heads still intact eventually turned and they had to rip their bodies apart so that they could roam the streets and eithernd on a victim or be a meal for the other roamers.


    I then drew my Taurus TX22 and said, ¡°Let¡¯s just shoot what we could. Hopefully, the ones buried in the rubble got their heads crushed in the process.¡±


    ¡°Okay, how far is it before we reach Iskoh¡¯s ce?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°If we use this as a starting point, maybe 19 or more kilometers to go. It¡¯s taking into ount that we¡¯d be going the shortest route. It would take less than an hour without traffic but we have more problemspared to that.¡± I replied.


    We began to shoot the bodies wing their way towards us or were still in the process of bisecting themselves when we heard a distant helicopter.


    We instinctively looked up but it was nowhere in sight. We ran back to the Raptor to get a much better view and we saw one flying near our location.


    ¡°Is it them already? It¡¯s too early, correct?!¡± Tatiana eximed.


    I nodded before I asked Jared to look through his scope. However, Jared and Lawrence were already looking through their scopes before I got to finish my sentence. Our magnifiers for our red dots could reach up to six times the magnification but it wasn¡¯t enough to get clear details for clues as to where that helicopter came from. They were still looking through their scope but Kaley handed me Jared¡¯s spotting scope. I looked through it as well, trying to get some information.


    ¡°What do you guys see?!¡± Russel got excited. <hr>


    ¡°Wait a sec! It¡¯s still facing us! Be quiet!¡± I replied, making him pipe down.


    ¡°It turned! It¡¯s a helicopter for Channel 7 news!¡± Jared eximed as he put down his rifle and looked at me.


    ¡°It does say at the tail of it.¡± Lawrence added.


    ¡°The doors are closed though, we can¡¯t make out anything from the inside.¡± I said.


    ¡°What is Channel 7 news?¡± Tatiana asked.


    I was about to reply but Russel suddenly grabbed my shoulder and shook me.


    ¡°BRO!!! BRO!!! LOOK! LOOK! THE F.U.C.K ARE THOSE?!¡± Russel eximed.


    We all instinctively looked where he pointed and almost everyone was frozen in ce.


    From our perspective, dismembered figures jumped from the building, straight to the helicopter. A huge majority of them missed, sending them to their deaths. However, a few managed to hold onto the helicopter, making it tilt to one side due to the uneven weight distribution. The pilot tried to bnce it out but one managed to jump and grab onto the tail making them spin counter-clockwise.


    That was when it all went wrong for them. <hr>


    The rotor des of the helicopter acted as a meat grinder for the ones still jumping towards them. The pieces of their bodies got caught up and their guts tangled through the rotor des, making it spin slower and slower. It didn¡¯t take long for it to malfunction and make them crash to the side of the building before plummeting straight down. It instantly caught fire before it resulted in an immediate explosion.


    We were sure that it would be a miracle if the people driving it survived but the deadheads had to make sure.


    By the dozen, their bodies continued to fall from the building and it would take a few seconds before they hit the asphalt or the burning helicopter itself. Not only that, the undead from the nearby buildings jumped to their deaths just to have a chance to take a bite from the bodies that were being cooked alive.


    A small hill was starting to get formed and it was acting as a cushion for the ones stilling from above.


    ¡°WE¡¯RE GONNA GO THERE, RIGHT?!¡± Russel was already inside the Raptor.


    ¡°Russel¡­¡± Kaley looked at him and we saw his expression. It was a mix of bitterness and guilt but we understand his sentiment.


    It was a shitty feeling but there was no more chance to save them. If the helicopter didn¡¯t catch on fire andnded on one of the roofs, there was still a chance but that, next to impossible.


    ¡°I F.U.C.K.I.N.G KNOW THAT!!! LET¡¯S KILL ALL THOSE F.U.C.KERS SO THEY¡¯LL HAVE A HELL OF A F.U.C.K.I.N.G SENDOFF!!!¡± Russel¡¯s face turned into something different.


    We all just gave a faint smile before they all hopped inside the Raptor.

 Chapter 410

    Chapter 410: 410


    I was about to head into the driver¡¯s seat when I spotted a herd moving towards the crash site. They wereing from behind us and it would be a bad idea if one of our escape routes were blocked. It was the shortest way back as well so I raised my rifle and I swiftly flicked the safety off. The distance between them was ying a bit more than a hundred yards so not much adjustment was needed. <center></center><hr>


    I aimed at the closest one wearing a Mickey D¡¯s uniform and I pulled the trigger.


    The bullet I sent was immediately followed by several more because I didn¡¯t wait for the body to plop to the ground before I aimed at another one. Jared also opened fire because he was at the truck bed with Lawrence. Kaley and the Tatiana were in the process of getting out of the vehicle while this was all happening. Cynthia tried to get out as well but there weren¡¯t enough doors toe out immediately.


    I was blocking one with my body and it was where Russel was seated on. He was also in the process of getting out but he decided to use the other doors because I was sending bullet after bullet in close proximity. This time, we made sure everyone was wearing protective gear, especially for their ears because we wouldn¡¯t want a repeat of what happened with Jomarro.


    I was halfway through my magazine before the more nimble ones from the herd decided to increase in speed. Their bite-ridden bodies were iling around as they broke off from the initial group. Their bodies were in varying sorts of decay but the blood that seeped through their clothes had already hardened. Their excessive movements were just making the remaining fluids in their bodies leak out as I witnessed one having green and brown stuff leaking out from its abdomen.


    However, it made them an easier target and I went through my magazine faster than expected.


    The bolt locked to the rear so I pressed the mag release to take the empty magazine in my hand. I threw it inside the Raptor so that the person inside could immediately reload it. I was in the process of cing a new magazine but I heard someone yell.


    ¡°BRO, WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! WHY¡¯D YOU THROW IT IN MY HEAD!!!¡± Russel roared.


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE SUPPOSED TO CATCH IT WITH YOUR HANDS, NOT YOUR HEAD!!! OPEN THAT AMMO CAN AND RELOAD IT!!!¡± I roared back.


    ¡°AHHHHHH!!! THIS IS GONNA LEAVE A MARK!!!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°LESS TALK, MORE WORK!!!¡±


    ¡°DON¡¯T TALK LIKE MY DAD!!!¡±


    ¡°SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP AND BE QUICK SINCE MORE WOULD BE FOLLOWING!!!¡±


    ¡°ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! STOP YELLING BRO!!!¡±


    I shook my head before hitting the bolt release and looking at the iing herd, there was still moreing from the corner they came from. The road leading to the bridge was starting to get riddled with bodies but their numbers were still getting replenished.


    ¡°This is the f.u.c.k.i.n.g problem if there¡¯s no one to clear these f.u.c.kers everyday.¡± I thought to myself.


    The road we were in had fournes and we were trying our best to kill them all before they drop down and cover all of it. I¡¯m sure the Raptor could run over a few but not all of them piled over one another. I then aimed at a ss wall that belonged to a shop that sold ceramics and fired a few rounds.


    The ss shattered and anything brittle inside it and it somewhat directed their movements to keep tight and not spread around. Jared got the same idea as he tried to aim for the remaining vehicles were the bridge was located. It was his third attempt when he triggered an rm that started ring and sent the deadheads further away from us and the road they were trying to upy.


    Shooting targets other than the dead was just a means to kite them around because, at the end of the day, we still needed to send a bullet through their heads.


    ¡°BRO!!! HERE!!!¡± Russel handed me a loaded mag. <hr>


    He was about to exit the vehicle but another magazine came from the other side.


    ¡°PLEASE!!!¡± I heard Kaley¡¯s voice.


    Russel was wearing a difficult expression but he bore through it. It seemed that he wanted a piece of the action as well because even if he was reloading the thrown mags inside the Raptor, he was doing it begrudgingly.


    I ced it in a pouch to my side then I heard Lawrence firing in the opposite direction.


    ¡°Shit, there¡¯s more.¡± Lawrence muttered as he loaded another round.


    I instinctively nced at him and he noticed me looking at him.


    I didn¡¯t have to ask him what was going on as he said, ¡°There¡¯s something looking at us from the roof. There¡¯s a few of them and they could move.¡±


    Almost everyone paused for a short moment as they also heard what Lawrence said. If he said ¡®someone¡¯, it would¡¯ve already posed a threat but ¡®something¡¯ meant something different. If he was talking about the specials we only encountered a couple of times, we were in for a whole lot of trouble in this scenario. Add to that they could move, which could mean that they could make the shots towards them harder or they could go for cover if they were able to.


    ¡°The range increased significantly too¡­¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    I wasn¡¯t able to check them personally but I trusted Lawrence¡¯s judgment and it was not the time to mess around. The sentries couldn¡¯t give us trouble just by themselves butbine them with the herding for us and the swarm that kamikaze¡¯d the helicopter, it was just about time to think about bailing out and regrouping.


    However, the best course of action was to try and take them down first before we even think about leaving. The herd we were facing was still present and the others that paused for a moment continued firing at them again. There was still more distance from the swarmpared to the herd we were facing but we need to clear them as fast as possible.


    ¡°Jared!¡± I shouted


    ¡°Yeah, on it!¡± Jared turned around and looked at the same ce Lawrence was aiming at.


    They started to fire shots but their faces were telling me bad news.


    Kaley and the rest were still firing at the herd so I tried to look back momentarily.


    The swarm behind was still hundreds of meters away but now they were all standing still, facing this direction. Their backs were facing the burning helicopter and it didn¡¯t take long before a good number of them assumed running positions.


    A chill ran down my spine but I quickly reached for a little something we¡¯d call a ¡®to whom it may concern¡¯ weapon. I¡¯m sure that Jared and Lawrence could hit them at this distance but we didn¡¯t have the time to pick them off one by one. I wouldn¡¯t use this kind of weaponry against those f.u.c.kers but they f.u.c.k.i.n.g asked for it.


    ¡°OHHHHH F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHIT BRO!!! WHAT THE F.U.C.K!!! WHAT THE F.U.C.K!!!¡± Russel started to get hysterical.


    The booster charge, warhead, and sustained motor were already screwed in ce so the grenade was ready to be fired and I already removed the safety cap. I was looking at the iron sights and I just aimed it in the general direction. In case I miss, I have three more rockets and if I overshoot, they¡¯d self-detonate when they reach 900 meters. RPG-7s were not as urate as our rifles in long distances and I only have a 20%-30% chance of hitting them at this distance for the first shot. <hr>


    I c.o.c.ked the hammer and after a brief exhale, I pulled the trigger.


    The projectile wasunched by the propelling charge for a few meters before the sustainer rocket kicked in. It then flew to maximum velocity and the fins opened up that made the rocket spun and stabilize it in flight. Jared and Lawrence were still trying to take shots but the rocket made impact.


    A huge chunk of the building was removed but it hit lower than what I anticipated.


    The biggest weakness this weapon has was crosswind. I could calcte for wind, velocity, and other factors just as easily but using this weapon could give me varying results.


    However, I didn¡¯t put it to mind as I loaded another one.


    This time, it finally went straight on target and what happened next was fascinating.


    More than half of the swarm lost interest in us as they went back to the burning helicopter or to the building that threw debris over them, crushing a lot in the process. A few were still making their way but their numbers were not enough to pose a threat for Jared and Lawrence.


    I handed the case with the RPG-7 back to Russel and he was looking at it almost ufortably. I swore I saw him lick his lips before another magazine hit his head.


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K!!! BE CAREFUL!!!¡± Russel came back to reality.

 Chapter 411

    Chapter 411: 411


    Russelshed out but he quickly shrunk down when he learned that Cynthia identally threw the magazine a bit hurriedly,nding on his head. Our magazines were getting replenished but to bepletely honest, Lois was faster by a mile. Let¡¯s just say Russel was not as suited as Lois for things that required a little more finesse. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll bring more extra loaded magazines instead of just extra cartridges next time. We wouldn¡¯t put them in the ammo cans directly because they would take up space but having a few of them loaded on hand would be much faster than our current system.¡± I thought to myself.


    Bodies kept on piling up left and right and it seemed that there was no end to them. However, the herd we were clearing near the bridge seemed to have run out of pawns to throw at us so I left them to Kaley and the rest. I turned around to where Jared and Lawrence were aiming as I flipped the magnifier towards my red dot.


    ¡°Lawrence, check the roof if a sentry survived while Jared and I would aim at these sprinters! Jared, aim for the farthest ones I¡¯ll go for the closest ones!¡± I said as I sent a bullet to a biter with an exposed scalp.


    A dark-red mist just puffed when the bullet made contact.


    It got quickly ran over when the ones following behind took over its position. Since they were still farther than the herd I was clearing earlier, my shots were not as rapid because I needed to make slight adjustments for each of them. I would have to use 2-3 bullets if I rapid-fired for the correction if I missed the first time so I just traded the time it would take to put one down just to save more bullets.


    The sprinters were a mess because they were all just running on the shortest path as possible, not minding the obstacles that their bodies were getting torn over. One with a missing face ran into a pole and fractured its shoulder then one wearing an apron collided with it, making both of them fall to aplete stop. I just saved them forter because I aimed at a biter with arge forehead.


    I reached the end of my current magazine so I quickly pressed the mag release and ced in a fresh one.


    All of a sudden, three figures from the swarm near the burning helicopter pushed down the slow deadheads in front of them and they even started to catch up on the sprinters that have already made some distance. Jared and I already knew what they were capable of so we instinctively picked one and fired one shot after the other.


    I could see through my optic when the one I aimed at got a hole at its chin, then its cheek, its ear, then in an eye, and finally its temple.


    It just nose-dived into the asphalt before the one Jared hit in the kneecap tumbled right next to it. Jared took more shots to take down his target but when I was about to aim for thest one, two puffs of red followed when its nose and eyes were drilled by two bullets of the same caliber I was using.


    ¡°Lucky shot.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± I heard Kaley harrumphed but she ran out of bullets after killing the feral.


    ¡°Catch!¡± I shouted as I pulled out a mag and flicked it through the doors towards her side. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley was surprised but she managed to catch it after hitting the mag release. The empty mag hit the ground but the reload was f.u.c.k.i.n.g smooth. She ced the new one inside the mag well, hit the bolt release, and gunned down three sprinters in the process.


    ¡°Show off.¡± I chuckled.


    Kaley didn¡¯t manage to answer because she started firing immediately but Russel¡¯s shocked face after he saw everything up close was inexplicable.


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K DID I JUST SAW?! YOU DO THIS EVERY F.U.C.K.I.N.G DAY?!¡± Russel roared as Kaley and I just faintly smiled.


    It was at this moment when Lawrence fired a shot after looking through the rubble with his AWP. He must¡¯ve nailed a sentry that survived because some of the sprinters that were still a good distance away seemed to have Alzheimer¡¯s and they stopped heading for us. More than a hundred meters separated us from them but we continued firing. The shots we made attracted them towards us again but this time, we were the ones that caused it, not the sentries.


    We weren¡¯t sure how the sentry works entirely but we wouldn¡¯t let it have more pieces to control.


    ¡°We need topletely clear out every nook and cranny as much and as fast as possible. I wouldn¡¯t want one of thosemandeering the dead from several miles away if it would ever happen¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    Tatiana decided to just float around, keeping the perimeter secure with Cynthia as the four of us continued to whittle everything down. This was just supposed to be a scouting run but we got more than we bargained for.


    We were now maintaining a safe distance from everything around us so I decided to pull out my radio and call for more people.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Marvin, Mark, bring your groups here as ASAP by the edge of the City of Mbon. We¡¯re just by the auto detailing shop and near a pile of corpses.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Copy Sir.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What? Oh, copy Boss.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Eyes out because the road here isn¡¯tpletely clear.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    They eventually arrived and they saw us taking a small break. Kaley was helping me go through the corpses near the bridge, taking all of their valuables on their person while Russel and Tatiana were making a pile so we could burn the ones we¡¯ve cleared. Jared and Lawrence were still taking shots on the roamers up ahead while Cynthia volunteered to take Russel¡¯s ce with reloading the magazines we¡¯ve used. <hr>


    They were already shocked by the pile we were going through but their jaws hit the ground when they looked further ahead.


    ¡°You guys are a little early. As usual, grab anything we could use, trade, or identify them with. Shoes, watches, belts, pieces of jewelry, mobile phones, wallets, IDs, bags, anything! Help Tatiana and Russel over there but don¡¯t go further in that street with the ruined construction equipment. Some of you go through those stores there as well and see what you could fit in your vehicles.¡± I said as I wiped my face with my shoulder.


    ¡°¡­¡± they were all unresponsive.


    ¡°What?¡± I looked at them, confused.


    ¡°Boss¡­ can I ask something?¡± Mark raised his hand.


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Did you call us after that happened or before?¡±


    ¡°Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°Because¡­ it feels like you called us after it¡¯s all over¡­ isn¡¯t facing that number dangerous? I thought we were the backup¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t want to impose too much¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°What?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Nothing¡­ we¡¯ll get to work¡­¡±


    ¡°Great! Have a few people watch the other side of the bridge and that other street corner.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Boss¡­¡±


    I was oblivious to their looks as I continued to go through each body.


    Kaley and I managed to collect several packs of cigarettes with varying contents, lighters, matches, dried-out phones, several pieces of jewelry, and a few more things I mentioned for the others to collect. We even found food in some of the bags they were carrying and we made sure that they were sealed tight before we added it to our pile.


    We found a good number of valuables from the dead but the excitement always gets high when a gun or two were to uncovered. I found a couple from a few dead police officers while Kaley found one from a civilian. However, like the firearms the others also found, they all needed deep cleaning. They were all soaking in the owner¡¯s muck for days on end and the silver lining was that they came with a few rounds of ammunition.


    It took us several hours to clear everything up and we still haven¡¯t reached the helicopter. We encountered more undead in the process but we just breezed through them with our bolstered numbers. I replenished the bullets that they used from our stock and we were about to run out of buckshot and 9mms.


    Mark¡¯s pickup was full of supplies so we asked them to drive back while leaving Marvin¡¯s group with us. Max was also there and he struck a conversation with Kaley when he saw her new LWRC AR-15. I could also see that Marvin and Ashley were now officially dating but like me before, I was letting Kaley hold the reigns for the most part.


    I made sure that each of their scouting group would have a soldier or two from the DDR Camp assisting them but the leadership position would still belong to who I assigned it to. However, I would still be given reports and feedback not from the leader I assigned but the members as well. Doing that would give me a general idea if Marvin, Mark, Dong, and Jay were doing the job I assigned them justice.


    ¡°Sir, is that a helicopter?¡± Marvin asked.


    ¡°Yeah, from Channel 7.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s from Channel 7? Isn¡¯t that from Quezon City?¡± Ashley chimed.


    ¡°Well, their main building is over there. We just heard them from a distance and they got swarmed and then they¡­¡± I started to tell the rest of the story.


    We conversed for a moment before we drove further in.

 Chapter 412

    Chapter 412: 412


    Marvin¡¯s group wasposed of six people. Aside from Ashley and Max who were part of his own squad before, Crisanto and Alonzo, who were soldiers were also with them along with a resident from Woonds named John. They were all sporting rifles or shotguns except for John who was only carrying a sidearm and a mandatory melee weapon with a small knife. <center></center><hr>


    Even if the helicopter was burnt, I still wanted to check the helicopter for anything we could salvage or information we could acquire despite the wreck that happened.


    Russel was now the one assigned to drive my Raptor and I was free to look around, burning every detail I could about the surroundings inside my head. I was in the back with Jared and Lawrence casually talking about long-shooting concepts while they were putting down the dead using their 10/22s chambered in .22 LR. We made a quick stop to loot a closed pharmacy and that situation weirded me out.


    ¡°Hmm, did no one who survived in this city, or are we just inside the central area too much? Granted we killed a few hundred going here but an unlooted pharmacy is just too weird. Not only this one, but there¡¯s also a few more like it too. Are the people around here before not able to fight them? Well, a swift solution to a grave threat is always extreme violence. If every household was armed, more people would¡¯ve survived.¡± I thought to myself while we were hauling everything we could.


    The undead we encounter on a daily basis was much morepared to the other groups and we need to find ways to dispose of them while the threat level was not as high. The ongoing solutions were using low caliber guns or going melee. The same thing goes for every group but as I¡¯ve always reminded them to not worry about it if their life or theirrade¡¯s life were on the line.


    We continued to inch to the ce where the helicopter plummeted but unlooted shop after unlooted shop were making the trip much longer. We could drive past them but putting food on the table for our people back home was more important than feeding my curiosity. Add to that I wasn¡¯t expecting much on that helicopter.


    I was still deep in thought but I saw Jared waving me over.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I looked straight at him. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Bro, this is a separate city, right? Can we check on this ce¡¯s City Hall after the helicopter? Not doing the same operation asst time but just driving by the edges of it to check on its current situation. I want to have bullets on the way back so a quick peek would be enough for me.¡± Jared suggested.


    ¡°Sure, we could double-back. It¡¯s also right next to this City¡¯s own People¡¯s Park. The one in our city is muchrger but the one in this city has the City Jail, City Library, Police Station, and the DOJ¡¯s Office surrounding it. We just need to be extra careful.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Why? Are they all gathering in each city¡¯s City Hall perhaps?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°What? That¡¯s not even proven true. What I¡¯m getting at is even if this city had half the poption of ours, the dead here still poses a threat because it seemed that no one was clearing this ce since it started unlike ours.¡± I exined as Lawrence was just quietly listening to us talk.


    We finally reached the area where the helicopter was located though themotion it madeing here and crashing here attracted a lot of the dead. We already put down several hundred of them but there were still a lot roaming around in cl.u.s.ters, heading in the same direction.


    It would take us the better part of the afternoon to clear them all so we banked on distracting them by shooting at the vehicles in the opposite direction to activate their rms. It was the same thing we did with the herd earlier and there was no shame in using the same working tactic over and over.


    After giving a simple solution to the problem, we drove to the side where the buildings were still intact. We avoided the building where the helicopter crashed and where I sent two rockets for debris that might fall on us. Aside from that, Marvin¡¯s group was in a street corner, watching out for threats we wouldn¡¯t be able to see from our position. Everyone was on high alert because the tall buildings surrounding us might still have a few deadheads waiting to drop down from above. <hr>


    Looking at the helicopter now, there was no chance any of the passengers managing to survive, even their equipment.


    Not only the helicopter caught fire in the process but also a few structures like wooden posts and other small vehicles. Not to mention the clothes of the undead also caught fire, spreading it to random structures and even trees which were nearby. Most of them have already burned out but there were a few ces we need to extinguishpletely.


    It would be an embarrassment to not have a fire extinguisher in our vehicles so we quickly took care of another problem. When everything was clear we took a closer look at the helicopter. I was wearing a solemn expression because even if the chances were low, I was expecting something to get after all that trouble. We cleared a lot of the dead but I sure hoped that we cleared them before the helicopter arrived. Establishing a connection from another city was extremely beneficial even if we were just only exchanging information.


    Quoting one of the sayings of the Mad Titan, ¡°Reality is often disappointing.¡±


    The only thing we got out of the helicopter was confirming that this came from the biggest city in our region, Quezon City. It was also the city with the densest poption, and it was right next to the city where Iskoh and his people were staying at which was Man City. Part of my deal before with Iskoh was for him to send a group over there to check on the gun stores for any equipment and materials he could give me in exchange for my own bullets that I made.


    I also have a friend over there who was one of the owners we haven¡¯t heard from since the beginning.


    ¡°I guess Vera will have more work cut out for her. Good thing I have people to trust jobs to. If I didn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t be able to leave the premises to do these missions¡­¡± I thought to myself. <hr>


    We briefly doc.u.mented what we witnessed today by simply recording everything with our cameras and then we drove back to an intersection then turned left to reach this city¡¯s City Hall.


    The Mbon City Hall was one of the buildings surrounding the Mbon¡¯s People¡¯s Park. The buildings form a ¡®U¡¯ shape, hugging the square People¡¯s Park while the part where there wasn¡¯t any structure covering it was the main entrance. The shape of the park from above was like a huge crosshair and it was made of grass and stairs where the central part was the most elevated. It was divided into four parts where one quadrant was a yground while the rest were simple walkways that had a few benches for people to sit on.


    It was a ce of leisure but now, this was a ce where people made ast stand.


    The surrounding area of this ce had a barrier around it made with piles and piles of the dead. The smell was horrible but it was only secondary to the sight we were seeing. It seemed that the dead tried to climb the walls that the people here made but the number of them continued to pile over and over, making the wall made of flesh instead. The ¡®wall¡¯ soon turned into a ¡®walkway¡¯ and that brought over the end of this ce when they were boxed in.


    Looking at the deadheads roaming inside, most of them were still civilians but you could still make out several soldiers wearing military fatigues. Some of them still have their firearms on their person but Crisanto and Alonzo were nning to acquire something that was hanging from their fallenrades¡¯ necks.


    It was only a few pieces of t metal but its value cannot be measured numerically. From the bodies we looted earlier, some of them were wearing their dog tags and I made sure to bring it with me. I wasn¡¯t sure if I would be able to give them back to their family but I would make sure they will not be forgotten and honored to the best of my ability.


    ¡°Cleaning this ce out could take us more than a few days. However, I don¡¯t want other people beating us to the punch when we leave this ce ande back tomorrow. They might not have a lot of bullets left but their guns could still be salvaged or just simply cleaned. Their equipment here could also be put to good use but like everything else, we need to work hard for it.¡± I exined. <hr>


    They all nodded because we were all thinking the same thing.


    ¡°Not to mention we also need to take the same type of files we acquired in the Valenzu City Hall. I think I might need to make a few people pick a safe spot and stay for the night or two. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll leave the ones who n to stay close supplies tost longer than the required amount of time.¡± I added.


    ¡°Sir, I think Crisanto and I will volunteer to do the job.¡± Alonzo immediately stepped forward.


    ¡°Okay, that will do. You already have your guns so I¡¯ll just leave you guys a few days of food and a radio or two. Do you have anything else in mind? If not, we could start looking for a ce with a good vantage point.¡± I said.


    They never requested anything else but they found an additional member. Max volunteered as well to stay and keep watch and the two soldiers appreciated the gesture greatly. The only hup in finding them a great spot was the best spot was a love hotel.


    ¡°¡­¡± the three.

 Chapter 413

    Chapter 413: 413


    Jared, Russel, and Lawrence were watching our vehicles below in the parking area while the rest of us were making onest look-around for any blind spots or anything else simr that could jeopardize their stay inside. The ce had fewer undead bodies roaming around as expected and we decided to not burn them as to not give away their hiding spot easily. <center></center><hr>


    Max, Crisanto, and Alonzo were picking the ces they should use as a vantage point while Tatiana called Kaley and me over to the storage area.


    When we found the right room, everyone present was wearing a different set of expressions because the ¡®supplies¡¯ inside was more than enough for a couple to have safe intercourse, chafe-free experience, roley options, and references for a good number of years. There were some food items as well butparing their amount from the items most used here was stupid.


    Tatiana was the only one nonchnt from seeing the huge amount of condoms, lube, costumes, toys, and p.o.r.n inside the storage area. She already had a bag ready and she was hauling everything that interested her. No one followed her immediately but the trade value of everything inside here especially p.o.r.n was mind-blowing so I immediately took a great number of them with the boxes and boxes of condoms. I had a little weird incident about it before but it was toote and too far to get embarrassed about it now.


    ¡°Let¡¯s haul most of this stuff in the pickups. The only thing heavy from this ce is the gallons of lube and sodas. There are hiddenpartments in my Raptor so we could ce a few more there.¡± I said to the group.


    ¡°Sky¡­¡± Kaley was wearing an embarrassed expression.


    ¡°What? This? Condoms are actually a great survival tool because it could be repurposed for different things like a water container, a make-shift glove, a part of a slingshot, a cover for the muzzle of a gun, and if you¡¯re feeling a little lonely, you could blow it up to a balloon and draw a face in it. Remember that volleyball from that movie?¡± I chuckled as I exined a few things.


    It took us a bit of time and Mark managed toe back and catch up with us. We used their vehicles to store more supplies but the moment they saw the phallic objects that were as long as a grown man¡¯s arm, chaos ensued. <center></center><hr>


    They each pulled out a ¡®weapon¡¯ and I decided to be the background music.


    ¡°DAN DAN DAN~ DAN DANAN~ DAN DANAN~ DAN DAN DAN~ DAN DANAN~ DAN DANAN~ DAN DAN DAN DAN DANANANAN DAN DAN DAN DANANANAN DAN- OW! KALEY!¡± I tried to sing the Imperial March but I stopped when Kaley pointed a ¡®weapon¡¯ on my ¡®dark side¡¯ with a threatening expression after hitting me with it.


    However, even if Kaley stopped me, Russel went out of control and dual-wielded. He started to drum on the counter and even if the sound of rubber d.i.c.ks hitting the wooden counter was weird, everyone banded up for that part in the song.


    *THUD* *THUD*


    *THUD* *THUD*


    *THUD* *THUD*


    ¡°I CAN FEEL IT, COMING IN THE AIR TONIGHT~¡± Russel went high.


    ¡°OH LORD~¡± everyone followed like a congregation. <hr>


    It was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid but everyone got a hugeugh and even Kaley sang with me. We even finished the whole song and the morale was f.u.c.k.i.n.g high.


    Before we left the three, we secured another vehicle for their use just in case they needed to haul ass. It was a simple sedan but we filled it with fuel, enough for them to drive back and some more. Aside from that, I made sure that they have enough ammo and we briefly discussed this love hotel¡¯s nook and crannies so they¡¯d be able to move freely when troublees.


    It was close to sundown so we drove home. We didn¡¯t use the roads we haven¡¯t traversed yet because we might get held up with unknown encounters. It would be a job for tomorrow when wee back to this city for a cleanup operation.


    We just drove through the undead on the way back and the Raptor being at the front made it a non-issue. We dropped Lawrence off to his outpost but he almost lost it when we left him a box of a dozen rubber lightsabers. We eventually reached out home without issue and Oscar and the rest were already there. They were in the process of unloading everything but I discovered that Oscar came back with another V8 engine. However, it came with new racing tires and a few dozen essories.


    ¡°Old man, when are youing back with a whole car?¡± I teased.


    ¡°Bah! If that f.u.c.ker would f.u.c.k.i.n.g sell me a whole one, I¡¯d buy it! The f.u.c.ker has beening to the Intercity always selling parts! Well, this V8 is hard toe by, especially in this country, so I bought it! He told me he got a body and the chassis for a ¡¯67 Camaro so I said I¡¯ll take a look tomorrow.¡± Oscar grumbled.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t the guy just taking apart his car and just selling them individually? Are you sure you¡¯re not getting ripped off?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Nah, seems like a straight guy and the dude doesn¡¯t even touch guns. I offered him a few pistols before but he declined and just requested more food. He just says they¡¯re too loud and his bow is enough for the dead.¡±


    ¡°Wait, it¡¯s not the same guy you brought the other V8 from?¡±


    ¡°Well, yes, but actually, no. Lois and I came back to the store we bought that engine from before and it turns out, he also bought it from the guy I talked to earlier. They knew each other from before so we got to talking and I bought another one from the guy. Oh yeah, I got to tell you something.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? What is it?¡±


    ¡°A few trucks actually came over there with unhusked rice. It¡¯s from Mauricio¡¯s farms, I believe. I dropped by a few moments but my f.u.c.k.i.n.g nose is getting clogged up when they started milling them. I talked to him briefly and it feels like he didn¡¯t even care we executed his wife and his kid. I know he doesn¡¯t give a f.u.c.k but he¡¯s acting like they never existed in the first ce. Are we sure we want to work with that guy?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, we¡¯ll never know what¡¯s going on in his head until we get Marisha to talk with him. We¡¯ve made deals with shady people even before this thing started old man so we do what we always do. Did he ask for me yet? I got another operation lined up because we drove by to Mbon¡¯s City Hall. It¡¯s actually¡­¡± then I proceeded to tell him the rest of the story.


    ¡°Shit kid, you¡¯re piling more and more work on ya.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s like ying a game with all the quest markers present. If we don¡¯t do it, who will? Let¡¯s talk about it more in the meeting because I¡¯ll be bringing more people.¡± <hr>


    ¡°I don¡¯t even f.u.c.k.i.n.g understand half of that but sure kid, just don¡¯t overwork yourself. That¡¯s a lot of boxes, what¡¯s inside this o- HAAA~ HAHAHAHA~!!! DAN DAN DAN~ DAN DANAN~ DAN DANAN~ HAHAHAHA~!!! Kid! Give me one of these so Matthew and I will scare the f.u.c.k out of Johnny when he passes out while drinking! Wait- give me two boxes because I know a few olddies in the Intercity who could use one or two of these taped together, AHAHAHAHA~!!! I could sell this shit for a whole~ f.u.c.k.i.n.g~ lot I tell ya. A whole~ f.u.c.k.i.n.g~ lot.¡±


    Oscar¡¯sst suggestion gave me goosebumps and the look on Kaley and Cynthia¡¯s faces after hearing that was f.u.c.k.i.n.g priceless. It didn¡¯t help them much when Rin came down to check on the items we brought back. Rin was shaking her head in disbelief while Tatiana was just nodding nonstop with a nasty grin.


    ¡°What have I done¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    On the other hand, Russel was smacked in the head by his dad when he saw his dual-wielding weapons but the twoughed non-stop after a short pause.


    Time eventually passed and most of us taking a break or had nothing to do were in front of the television. It has been a while since thest presidential broadcast because the past ones were mostly pre-recorded footage or just reys.


    The president was in the same getup as before but when he started his speech, most of us were surprised by who was standing behind him. Everyone knew him from around the world and even if he was a professional prizefighter, he was also one of the senators of our country.


    We couldn¡¯t mistake him for anyone else and the people inside my house started losing their shit when he was given the chance to speak.


    ¡°So he¡¯s still alive eh?¡± I was smiling from ear to ear.

 Chapter 414

    Chapter 414: 414


    It should have been obvious from the get-go. <center></center><hr>


    We weren¡¯t sure what he was doing since it began but everyone in my house was happy seeing him on TV once more. Everyone was silent when he was about to speak and we were all curious about what he was about to say.


    ¡°Hello everyone, this is Senator Manny speaking. I know I should¡¯ve been in one of these broadcasts since it started but I was busy defending my hometown. It could sound really selfish to some of you but after our president allowing me to do that behind the scenes, not only do we have Davao City as a stronghold, we also have General Santos City as an uing stronghold as well.¡± Manny started.


    ¡°Two cities? Well, shit. Don¡¯t tell me he punched them to death or I¡¯d f.u.c.k.i.n.g lose it!¡± Oscar was surprised.


    ¡°SHHH!!!¡± everyone shushed him.


    I was shaking my head in amus.e.m.e.nt when Oscar shrunk down but Manny continued after a pause.


    ¡°It was a difficult time when it started but now we could say that we¡¯re rebuilding again. There are mountains and another city separating us but one of the ways we could safely travel is by using our boats. We¡¯ve secured a pier in the coastal areas and not only that opened up a safe way of travel, but it also opened more options for stability and sustainability like the production of salt and making use of our fishing vessels for food.¡± Manny continued.


    ¡°We made use of the seas to get a direct route but we will soon open up a path for ournd vehicles after iming Digos City and Sarangani. As of now, our numbers and allies are once more increasing due to the fact that people from neighboring inds came here to offer goods for trade or to just move here permanently. It would be a good thing to hear from other cities as well in this ind group but we¡¯re still trying our best.¡± Roque added.


    ¡°There¡¯s more I wish we could tell you about but if you¡¯re hearing this and need help, you could try and reach our cities and we wouldn¡¯t hesitate to do so. We also have soldiers roaming along the road and please, do not hesitate to approach them. In any case, if you approach them with malicious intentions, they will fire back. Follow their orders and you will be soon delivered to our cities for a ce to stay permanently.¡± Rod mentioned.


    They continued to speak about more updates about their ind group and they mentioned that the next broadcast will be right before the end of the year. The research on the virus was still not making enough headway ording to their scientists but deep inside, I was having doubts from that statement. <center></center><hr>


    The broadcast ended shortly and Oscar excused himself to have a little talk with the president. They exchange information that couldn¡¯t be said in the broadcasts and I trust Oscar with handling that job. It would be busy by the end of the year and I¡¯m sure it wouldn¡¯t get any easier when 2020es.


    Some of us were still lounging in the living room then Zeus sat on myp. He was acting like he was still a puppy but I never minded that sort of behavior.


    ¡°Bro.¡± someone tapped my back.


    I leaned my head backward and saw Jared.


    ¡°In the future, do you think we could get an ind of our own?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Well, technically we¡¯re living in one of thergest inds, Luzon. If you don¡¯t like this ind, there¡¯s 7640 more to choose from.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°No, I mean like a smaller one perhaps? Something like Mr. Beast would give away on a video.¡± Jared waved his hand around.


    ¡°Hah! Then it¡¯s not a bad idea. You might start looking in the Visayas Ind Group because there¡¯s a lot to choose from those. If it¡¯s me, I think I¡¯ll go to the Last Ecological Frontier, Pwan. I¡¯d start anew if I could and in a few year¡¯s time, Kaley and I would be on our third child- Ow! Hah! Hit me if you want but I¡¯m not taking it back! HAHAHAHA!!!¡± I started cackling when Kaley attacked me.


    ¡°Hmph! Pwan sounds really nice though¡­ I¡¯ve been there a lot and the forests and the seas are always kept clean by the residents. It¡¯s an amazing ce to be in if this is all over.¡± Kaley was faintly smiling. <hr>


    ¡°Heh, so you two are leaving us all alone eh?¡± Tatiana chuckled while Rin and Cynthia nced at us.


    ¡°What? F.u.c.k no. I¡¯ll be taking you all with me! Well, we¡¯ll be living in separate houses but I¡¯d like you all to be there, it wouldn¡¯t be the same.¡± I was brightly smiling, looking at all of them.


    ¡°Oscar wanted to retire in that ce too¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    We were soon called to the pool area for dinner and we were served with egg rolls with either meat, fish, or vegetables inside of them. Different dipping sauces were also made and it was eaten with rice as always. Kaley and I took one of each and we picked a gravy-like sauce to dip them in.


    As usual, Tatiana was voraciously eating her triple portion and I could bet all my guns that Rin and Cynthia were cursing her inwardly because she never got fat from eating like that every single day. Looking at Kaley, it seemed that she was doing the same thing in her head.


    After finishing our meals, we started our own meeting.


    We discussed the daily upkeep and we would be lying if the number of sacks we received from Jomarro¡¯s store wouldn¡¯t keep us fed for a long time. Our increase in number made us consume more food but the other projects beingpleted at a much faster rate was enough of a trade-off. The crops and our animals were being taken care of and they were all growing nicely because more people took an interest in growing crops and taking care of animals.


    We then went into the topic of clearing out another City Hall. I showed them the footage and everyone was slightly relieved that it wasn¡¯t like the City Hall that we cleared before. It was roaming with mostly normal deadheads but we still need more extra hands if we wanted to finish clearing it in a shorter time span.


    ¡°You said you¡¯d be needing more people, right? Bring Mikhail, Lois, and the other soldiers from the DDR Camp with you. Tomorrow, I¡¯d be taking a few from our outpost in Meycauayan since they¡¯re getting free supplies without doing much. Brian and Carlo volunteered when I called earlier but I¡¯ll bring more people from that ce.¡± Oscar suggested. <hr>


    ¡°Oh! I¡¯d like to shoot for once. Are we just clearing the ce out and taking the hard drives after?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s the idea but from our trip earlier, we discovered that most of the ces there weren¡¯t even looted. After doing what we¡¯re supposed to do, we¡¯d be hitting each store with valuables and I¡¯ve marked them all in this map. Other gasoline stations were also untouched and we could bring a tanker or two to fill those up ande back for more.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t there a hostile group from the city right next to it?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°Yeah, there is. However, a hugemotion urred earlier and we didn¡¯t even see a glimpse of them. They could be dead for all we know and from the report from the outpost where Lawrence is staying, there was also no presence of them there. Assuming from a group such as that, they would be actively looting every ce they could get their hands on but they weren¡¯t.¡± I replied,


    ¡°Hmm, then still keep an eye out. They could just be waiting for the right opportunity,¡± Johnny concluded.


    We discussed more topics but I had onest topic to discuss, ¡°No more questions? I don¡¯t know about you guys but seeing our champion on the TV got me excited. Let¡¯s have a simple knockout match and I¡¯ll give a reward to those who could reach the end! Three 3-minute rounds each match and everyone is wee to join.¡±


    ¡°Boxing only?¡± Chris asked.


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°How about weight ss?¡± he asked once more. <hr>


    ¡°We¡¯ll give a handicap with the gloves.¡±


    ¡°Can I use the Dempsey Roll?¡± Russel asked.


    ¡°What? N- you know what? Go ahead if you wanted to get knocked the f.u.c.k out in the first round.¡±


    ¡°Cheh, you¡¯ll see.¡± Russel scoffed.


    Then he f.u.c.k.i.n.g saw.


    Russel didn¡¯t even manage toplete a rotation when my right hook exploded in his face. He sprawled on the mat and our referee who was Mikhail just gave him a moment of silence.


    ¡°Who¡¯s the next one? Come on up!¡± I was making each of my bones crack as I was taunting each one of them.


    It was then when Mikhail wore gloves and removed his shirt.


    ¡°I¡¯m the next one, boss!¡± Mikhail eximed.


    ¡°Shit.¡± I muttered.

 Chapter 415

    Chapter 415: 415


    Mikhail¡¯s expression changed because this was his moment of redemption. When I first met them, I made a sneak attack and I managed to knock him out with Alexei and Niks. It was not as honorable as some people would say but doing that was one of the few ways I could win against trained soldiers especially with someone a few weight sses above me. Not to mention, it was a free-for-all before where I could use anything but this time, only our fists would do that talking. <center></center><hr>


    I was at a definite disadvantage especially because of how monstrously strong he is but I am not one to simply back down in a fight.


    Tatiana was now the referee between us and the only advantage given to me by the rules I said earlier was I could wear thinner glovespared to him. Mikhail was already in position but I removed my shirt, my jogging pants, and my shoes. I was only wearing my shorts and my finger-cut gloves when Tatiana rang the bell.


    I was slightly weaving in ce while Mikhail had his feet nted on the mat. Both of us were just staring at one another, waiting for the other person to make the first move.


    ¡°You could surrender now.¡± I joked.


    ¡°Hmm. Not today boss.¡± Mikhail just chuckled as he slowly inched closer.


    When we both got into striking distance, I opened up with a crisp jab. Mikhail managed to block it with his forearms but I quickly circled to his right side. I threw three jabs in the process but he blocked them all. Furthermore, it seemed that I didn¡¯t do enough damage and now apact left hook came for my temple.


    I dodged at the right moment but the air it produced was like a full-blown swing.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g handicap with the gloves my ass¡­ I should be f.u.c.k.i.n.g wearing gloves with a horseshoe inside of them!¡± I grumbled inwardly.


    Mikhail pivoted his body and he started his rush of attacks.


    He threw a right straight.


    Followed with a left uppercut after stepping forward.


    Another right straight. <center></center><hr>


    Then a two solid jabs and right hook.


    I managed to dodge everything but the sad part was I couldn¡¯t grasp a good opening because all of his punches werepact yet it was enough to knock every living soul out. I was in the backpedal watching his every movement, in a very dangerous distance.


    ¡°My legs have done more workpared to my arms¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    I was tempted to trip him or give a nasty low kick but we already decided on the rules beforehand. I could as easily turn my situation around by being given more options but this was the hand I was dealt with. I had to find a solution with the cards I have on hand or else I¡¯ll be eating one of his fists.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just watch him more first¡­¡± I started to formte a n.


    Instead of simply running away, I kept close distance while he was throwing punch after punch. I was trying to grasp his limit for each rush and how long could his breathst for. I was also looking for angles he wasfortable with and what was the probability of each punch being used after a certain punch was thrown. I even gave him small and big openings to see what he would go for. He went for each one and he made me block a punch instead of dodging.


    ¡°He¡¯s not as dull as his brother Niks, I¡¯ll give him that.¡± I thought to myself.


    I started to throw jabs at dead angles but he was looking for an exchange. The power difference was evident and I would be on the losing side if I exchanged my jab with any of his punches. However, that was one of the things I could bank on.


    The bell rang without any of us getting a solid hit in but my arms were aching when I received one of his attacks. My breathing was still stable but unfortunately, he was almost in the same state as me after throwing punches nonstop. He was looking at me with a serious expression and it seemed that he was analyzing my movements as well.


    ¡°He¡¯s more troublesome than I thought. Let me try something then¡­¡± I decided to probe a little more in the second round.


    There was something that no matter how hard you try, you wouldn¡¯t be able to grow muscle on them. I balled my fists differently then I aimed at the side of his torso. My toes were curled and I twisted my h.i.p.s but a left hook was about toe for my head as I hit him squarely. I reacted by catching it with the left side of my face, twisting my neck towards its trajectory, minimizing the damage by an ample amount.


    I made a dangerous head slip and my head felt like it would roll off at any moment from the pain. It was a guaranteed knockout if I was hit dead-on. However, the bet paid off and I managed to sneak an overhead punch at his right temple. He already grimaced from the left body blow and I saw his expression change from the other attack that followed. <hr>


    Mikhail¡¯s ears should be ringing by now so I didn¡¯t let the chance slip by.


    He was about to step back but I followed with a left hook and right hook at his jaw, then I twisted my left arm before driving it straight to his nose. Mikhail swung his right arm towards me but I gave him the exchange he was looking for.


    I lifted up from the ground as I used the whole weight of my body to send a right overhead punch to his jaw once more. His right swing was going straight for my face but I ducked my head a few centimeters so he would connect my forehead instead. When my fist connected, he was already unconscious before his body hit the mat.


    My head was aching so bad and the knuckle of my middle finger was bruised. It was due to the two blows I received even if I wasn¡¯t hit dead-on and the way I balled my fist earlier. The knuckle of my middle finger was slightly protruding to fish for his internal organs. It was a way to aim for them but his muscles were so thick I needed to apply extra power. There was a red mark on his torso when I nced at him and he was being brought to consciousness by Tatiana.


    ¡°I need to sleep this off¡­¡± I thought inwardly.


    It was a few seconds before the crowd managed to catch their breath then the cheers erupted. I was happy for the win but my head was getting worse because of the noise. Mikhail finally woke up and we gave each other a strong handshake. He was still clutching his sides and his head and we both took a dose of Ibuprofen.


    ¡°You know Boss, you¡¯re a bit stronger than Ilya but I¡¯m not so sure about Captain. It¡¯s a 50-50 I guess?¡± Mikhail mentioned.


    ¡°Artem?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, Boss.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ll probably heal up some more before I challenge him when he arrives. My head is aching, you know?!¡±


    ¡°Hah! I was hoping to knock you out with one shot but arge swing would easily be avoided by you. I could do it with other people but not you Boss. I guess the only way I¡¯ll win next time is through grappling.¡± Mikhail rubbed his chin.


    ¡°I¡¯ll probably tap on the first chance you get ahold of me. I bet my bones would be powder after a few seconds!¡± <hr>


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about powder but I could snap someone¡¯s arm as easily as a matchstick!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll remember to oil up when we fight again¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s cheating Boss!¡±


    ¡°Want me to use spit instead? It would be weirder!¡±


    ¡°Hah! Please no, that would be f.u.c.k.i.n.g worse!¡±


    The two of us startedughing while we watched a few more of our people challenging each other after a short break.


    The excitement got real when thedies¡¯ division started, especially for the closet perverts. It was a close call when Kaleynded a clean hit on Tatiana on the final round but Tatiana was still unstoppable. Her expression never turned serious even when she fought Cynthia and Kaley separately. However, we never got to see Kaley and Cynthia fight because they were on separate brackets.


    I just learned that Cynthia was more agile than an ordinary person but I had shbacks when she pulled Kaley and Tatiana without issue when she was drunk. She even defeated Vera early in the rounds and it was a surprise to everybody. Well, Vera was always still venting out because of Alexei so I didn¡¯t get to see her real fighting style.


    More fights followed but I decided to excuse myself to clean myself up and sleep early for once. I almost fell asleep in the hot tub but I was woken up by my headache. I just wore simple clothes and I left the door unlocked for Kaley when she decided to sleep.


    However, I felt someone going on top of me and she went right up on my face, ¡°Hey~ I won, correct? Where¡¯s my reward?!¡±


    ¡°What? Tatiana? Are you drunk?¡±


    ¡°Just a little~ I already asked Kaley and she said we could start early~¡± <hr>


    ¡°What? Tatiana¡­ my head hurts¡­¡±


    ¡°Aww~ It¡¯s okay~ I¡¯ll do it all if I have to~¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ Winning the rewards means you have to beat me too¡­¡± I lied.


    ¡°Beat you? *giggle* I know one way~¡±


    ¡°Oh~ You do? I have something even better¡­ turn around andy on my side¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Like this?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°Then what?¡±


    ¡°Just let me¡­¡±


    ¡°Ooh~ I thought your head still hurts?¡±


    ¡°No no, I¡¯ll make an exception this time¡­¡±


    I wrapped my arms around her and then I ced her in a rear-n.a.k.e.d choke. I applied a little bit of pressure and she was sleeping soundly after a few moments.


    I covered her with a nket and I decided to sleep.

 Chapter 416

    Chapter 416: 416


    My eyes were closed maybe for a few minutes but the lights suddenly turned on. I must¡¯ve spooked Kaley when I nced at the direction of the light switch so she immediately turned them off. I was not aware that more than an hour has passed after I took a short nap. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sorry~!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± I said nothing as Iid my head back on my pillow.


    I could hear Kaley slowly shuffling in the dark but I felt her hugging me from my back after a few minutes. She pressed her body against me but I slowly turned around to face her. She was slightly above me so she hugged me while my head was resting on her chest. I was about to doze off while in her embrace but she caressed my hair before she whispered in my ear.


    ¡°Sorry¡­ I thought you two just turned the lights off¡­ I didn¡¯t think you two would be sleeping¡­¡± Kaley whispered.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay¡­ you didn¡¯t know¡­ I¡¯m just a little crazy when Ick sleep¡­¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think you two would be done so fast¡­ Tatiana¡¯s really knocked out¡­¡±


    ¡°What time is it?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Maybe an hour or two after you went down¡­ I had a long shower because I was too sweaty¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, back on topic, Tatiana tried but I choked her out¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ wait, what?! You choked her out?! Not like- you really choked her?!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°My head was aching so bad and she woke me up just as I was sleeping¡­¡±


    ¡°Pfft~ She even asked me to have extra time with you because Cynthia and Rin were a little too busy¡­¡±


    ¡°Busy?¡±


    ¡°Rin is trying to teach Cynthia bits of Japanese each night before they go to bed. Tatiana wanted to do something but she was denied even yesterday¡­ she¡¯s really horny right now¡­ I didn¡¯t think you would knock her out though¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, she¡¯s drunk¡­ I thought she lied about asking you¡­ and I really need to sleep that time¡­¡±


    ¡°Sorry¡­ wait¡­ so you¡¯re okay now?¡±


    ¡°Not as bad as earlier but I¡¯m still sleepy¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ I could help you fall asleep a little faster?¡±


    ¡°Kaley¡­¡±


    ¡°Shhh¡­ you need your reward too¡­ right?¡±


    I never got to say anything when Kaley gave me a kiss. She pressed on me so I couldypletely on my back as our tongues were exchanging our spit. I could barely see her but I could taste her sweet lips. She was still on my side when I felt her hand pulling something out of my shorts. It gradually grew harder and harder as her hands were slowly gliding through every bit of it. <hr>


    My right arm was wrapped around her so I squeezed her huge b.r.e.a.s.t with my left. Our lips never parted and Kaley was on the losing side even if all I did was touch them. I was fondling them all over as she was stroking me ever so slowly. Her grip went a little tighter as my hand would graze her pink n.i.p.p.l.es. Our breaths were getting ragged and we wanted to move on from the position but Kaley and I heard a voice from the other side.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe I fell asleep¡­ You two really like doing it when someone¡¯s sleeping beside you eh? Good thing I woke up¡­ I won¡¯t pretend I¡¯m asleep this time¡­¡± Tatiana giggled.


    ¡°And~ she¡¯s awake¡­¡± I was shaking my head inwardly.


    We then heard a nket getting flipped over before another body pressed to my other side. We could barely make out anybody¡¯s features but I was sure that it was Tatiana. I thought she would wake up in the morning but I couldn¡¯t be more wrong. Kaley and I were still kissing each other when my face gets pulled to the other side and I tasted Tatiana¡¯s lips.


    Tatiana was invading my mouth as Kaley lent me to her for a few seconds. However, she was still stroking me as slowly as she could but I could feel somethinging out from the tip. Kaley¡¯s thumb glided over it and she started to rub that part over and over. My grunts were being muffled because of Tatiana and her hand went for my shaft as well.


    Their hands were too soft and they were moving in unison but I still wasn¡¯t able to c.u.m because of how slow they were moving.


    Tatiana stopped kissing me for a while because she went for Kaley¡¯s longing lips. My hands weren¡¯t able to do anything besides hug their waist or squeeze their ass because their bodies were on top of them. I wasn¡¯t in a favorable position to do anything to them because they also locked each of my legs with their thighs, rubbing the soft and juicy part in the middle of theirs with it. I could feel how soaked they were while they were rubbing it on me almost hurriedly. Tatiana wanted it so hard she started stroking me faster and faster and Kaley wasn¡¯t able to do anything because her hand was on the tip.


    My body tightened and I let out a grunt as I exploded in their hands. I was struggling with the sensitivity but the two weren¡¯t stopping one bit. Their hands were still wrapped around me, gliding their hands all over, while I on the other hand was losing my mind. I was out of breath but Kaley broke her kiss with Tatiana and started to kiss me again. However, it didn¡¯tst long because the three of us started exchanging our spit with one another.


    Kaley and Tatiana stopped kissing for a short moment before they looked into each other¡¯s eyes. It seemed that they have decided on something as Tatiana¡¯s grip on me loosened.


    Tatiana went on top of me but she was in a squatting position. Her hands were over my chest and Kaley helped her put my d.i.c.k inside of her. Her eyes rolled over for a short moment as I was plunged inside her tight hole. It reached all the way to the base then Tatiana¡¯s h.i.p.s went wild. Each time she draws back, her insides would grip me tight and almost wouldn¡¯t let go right until shees down with force. <hr>


    My body was following her movements and her eyes looking at me were intense.


    On the other hand, Kaley was looking with envy as Tatiana¡¯s insides were starting to get creamy and all she could do was watch and touch herself. Tatiana¡¯s insides were squelching as it was getting rummaged but I could also hear Kaley¡¯s fingers going in and out of her. Kaley started leaning more of her body against me so I would give her a bit more attention but Tatiana leaned back so I could get a clearer view of her body in a new position.


    Tatiana was still squatting but her hands were on the opposite side. I could see her pink insides getting parted as she was getting prated over and over by my hard shaft. Her juicy thighs were also in view and her tits that were a bit further away would bounce and jiggle each time she goes down. Her m.o.a.ns got louder and louder each time her insides would squelch but she suddenly tightened and started convulsing nonstop.


    Kaley thought she would have her turn but Tatiana continued to move her h.i.p.s up and down despite her face turning into a mess.


    Kaley pouted for a moment before she looked at me and sat on my face. She was clutching my hair as she was grinding her h.i.p.s over and over whilst on top of my face. My senses were assaulted by her womanly scent and I instinctively grabbed both of her thighs. It made the moving of her h.i.p.s quite difficult but I parted her insides with my tongue.


    Kaley¡¯s legs immediately mped on my head but I was forcing them apart with my hands. Kaley¡¯s eyes rolled over when I went for her clit and her soaking insides alternately. She kept on struggling to close her legs but nothing would stop me from eating her out. Her whole weight pressed on my head as she leaned forward and all I could see were her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts. She gave up on making me stop so my hands went for them.


    All of a sudden, I felt Tatiana switching positions but then Kaley lost it. Her thighs mped on my head as her body shook uncontrobly.


    ¡°Tatiana¡¯s eating my- she¡¯s eating my-¡± Kaley eximed while out of breath.


    Tatiana was still on top of me but we were both eating Kaley¡¯s holes. Kaley was m.o.a.ning louder and louder while I felt Tatiana tightening once more. I was losing air by the way Kaley was sitting on my face but she raised her h.i.p.s up when she started squirting. They both came at the same time and they both copsed on the bed.


    I was still rock-hard but who I was going for was pretty obvious.


    Kaley was still out of breath but I made her face me with an embarrassed expression. She would randomly twitch from the sensitivity but I plunged my d.i.c.k inside of her. It went all up to the base and her eyes rolled over when I hit her w.o.m.b. I didn¡¯t give her time to think as I rammed it over and over and over. She was m.o.a.ning so loud, she couldn¡¯t even cover her mouth because of what she was feeling. I was watching her face and body react to my movements and it didn¡¯t take long for me to c.u.m inside her. <hr>


    I copsed on top of her but she embraced me tightly. I was still shooting it inside her when she gave me a kiss while her face was still red. When our kiss was broken, she whispered something that made me act on my baser instincts.


    ¡°Sky¡­ c-can you do it o-one more t-time?¡± Kaley was biting her lower lip and looking at me with round eyes.


    ¡°Hey¡­ I¡¯m not done either¡­¡± Tatiana hugged me from behind.


    We three looked into each other before we continued for a few more rounds. Tatiana learned a little bit of Kaley¡¯s quirks when she was with us because Kaley started to restrain herself less and less as long as I was there with her. In exchange, we learned a little bit of Tatiana¡¯s quirks too but that was for another time.


    Kaley and Tatiana were on my sides once more, bodies pressed against me but we were just casually talking before our eyes decided to let us sleep for the night. Kaley was much closer to me but Tatiana¡¯s arms were also wrapped around me. We used to sleep differently but it just felt natural at this point.


    However, before the three of us started to doze off, Tatiana struck again.


    ¡°So¡­ what about my reward? We have s.e.x on a regr basis but as a reward? I think there¡¯s more than just that, correct?¡± Tatiana looked at me as she lightly tapped my chest right as I was about to fall asleep.


    ¡°Okay¡­ turn around¡­¡± I replied as Kaley was trying to contain herughter.


    ¡°Hmm? Okay¡­ why does this sound familiar though¡­¡± Tatianaplied as I wrapped my arms around her neck once more.


    In the end, I did get enough sleep and my headache was gone.

 Chapter 417

    Chapter 417: 417


    I woke up in the early morning being embraced by Kaley and Tatiana. I could see their sleeping faces and I got to thinking about what Tatiana saidst night. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°A reward, huh? She did win the matches¡­ hmm¡­¡± I closed my eyes to think of something nice I could give her.


    I noticed that our nket was getting loose on Tatiana¡¯s shoulders so I gently pulled it back so she wouldn¡¯t get cold. However, she suddenly turned around and almost stole away the nket we three were sharing. Kaley was now the one grasping for it but I gently pushed her when I removed myself from them so she could get closer to Tatiana¡¯s side so I could tuck her in.


    In the process of lifting the nket, I caught a glimpse of Tatiana¡¯s ink which we talked about when she just arrived here. She had two where the first one was a rose with a dagger on the back and the other was a skull baring its fangs. It was crudely done and it must¡¯ve hurt because it was done to her when she was still in her teens.


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I then had an idea and I turned the lights on at my working table.


    I simply grabbed a paper and a pencil then I started sketching.


    I tried to take from her past ink andbine it with an Ancient vic Warrior tattoo. It resembled tribal tattoo designs and I started with a rose in full bloom, looking at it from above. It started with thin and wavy lines slowly transitioning to much thicker and straighter lines to make a circr-jagged border from it.


    The next thing on the list was instead of a dagger on the back, I used the hilt of her sword I gave her but I added more details on it including the tip of the de emerging from the other side. What followed was a tribal pattern that embraces the rose but stops near the hilt of the sword making it look like the omega symbol upside-down. The design was like interwoven nordic lines but one line was wrapped by vines with thorns and at the end of the lines near the hilt were vic heads of a wolf looking in opposite directions. I made sure everything was symmetrical and I added some shading and depth on some parts so that the other objects would pop out more than the others.


    I think I did a pretty good job but I also prepared extended mags for her FN Five-Seven so it could hold 30 rounds, a bottle of expensive Vodka, and a few coupons that could allow her to order me to cook anything she wanted to just for insurance.


    ¡°I think this is¡­ okay? Do I need to add a pair of Adibas?¡± I thought to myself, half-sure.


    However, to clear things up, I wrote a note to apologize for choking her out two times, knocking her out and making her forget it happened in the first ce. I was about to head back to bed because I still have more than an hour to sleep but when I turned around, Tatiana was behind me wearing aplex expression.


    Tatiana looked at the things I¡¯ve prepared for her and then her eyes went back to me. She wasn¡¯t speaking a word but she picked up the design I sketched for her. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Is this¡­ for me?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah¡­ I thought about what you saidst night so¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about shit about the person who tattooed you because she might stab me if we ever meet in prison but I figured it needed a little¡­ touch-up¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Is it bad? It¡¯s bad, right? Sorry, I just made that in a few minutes. I¡¯ll think of a better one or perhaps I¡¯ll get Daisy to-¡± then she cut me off.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s¡­ very¡­ very beautiful¡­ it really is. Sorry, I just don¡¯t know what to say¡­¡± Tatiana looked down on the floor for a moment before she looked back at me.


    ¡°This is not the Tatiana I know¡­¡± I thought to myself because I was confused as f.u.c.k.


    ¡°Oh, you like it then¡­ g-great! I also prepared a few backups just in case you didn¡¯t like it but good thing you did. There¡¯s a note there but- nevermind¡­ sorry I choked you out twice yesterday¡­ I was really sleepy and I shouldn¡¯t have done that when I promised you a reward of some sort.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­ ummm¡­ I¡¯m gonna sleep for a few again so¡­ see you in the morning?¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave you there for now¡­ okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­ I¡¯m sleeping now¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    Tatiana was just staring at the things I prepared for her as I slowly inched to the bed, watching what she would do next. My eyes just eventually dropped and thest thing I remembered was that she was still in front of the table while a smallmp was lit beside her.


    Well, I didn¡¯t have to find her when I woke up.


    Tatiana was back on the bed with us, sleeping soundly while her arms were wrapped around me. I then felt a kiss on my cheek and I discovered that Kaley woke up as well. I returned her kiss with my own before we shook Tatiana¡¯s shoulder to wake her up.


    ¡°Hmm? What?¡± Tatiana was still groggy.


    ¡°It¡¯s morning now! Wake up!¡± Kaley chuckled. <hr>


    ¡°Oh¡­ morning¡­ Kaley¡­ go first¡­ I¡¯ll clean him up after you¡¯re done¡­¡± Tatiana said, eyes still half-closed.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley and I facepalmed.


    ¡°What? You two f.u.c.k in the morning, correct? Oh- do you want me to go first? Can I just open my legs? I¡¯m still sleepy- Ow¡­ Is that Kaley? I think it¡¯s Kaley¡­ It hurts¡­¡±


    ¡°Tatiana! We still have a lot to do today! Wake up!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll wake up after I c.u.m¡­¡±


    ¡°ARGH~ TATIANA!!!¡±


    ¡°And this is the Tatiana I know¡­¡± Iughed inwardly.


    Kaley eventually made Tatiana wake up when she lifted her straight into the shower. Kaley saw the sketch that I made for Tatiana and she was smiling brightly, telling me to make one for her as well.


    ¡°You¡¯re trying to steal Tatiana away from my harem, eh?¡± Kaley joked.


    ¡°What? Away from you? Impossible.¡± I went with her joke.


    Tatiana was just smiling though Kaley caught a glimpse of her staring at me.


    ¡°Ooh~ Did it work somehow? Hmm?¡± Kaley was grinning from ear to ear. <hr>


    ¡°Hmph! Almost, it almost did. Well, I fingered myself while the two of you are sleeping so I figured I was just horny after I came. Two days without c.u.m.m.i.n.g takes a toll on you, I tell you.¡± Tatiana chuckled to get a reaction from Kaley.


    ¡°What?! You did?! You should¡¯ve woken us up atleast! Well, you still have your extra time with him so that¡¯s that. You could have it with me or both of us if you wanted to as well. Anyway, are you gonna have that design tattooed on you? It looks really cool! It would look good on you!¡± Kaley said without a hint of jealousy.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll have my old ones covered¡­¡± Tatiana was surprised at Kaley¡¯s response.


    ¡°Really? If you will cover your old ones, let¡¯s try and work with colors as well. I¡¯m thinking yellow and red or with something like ck and blue¡­¡± I suggested.


    We talked for a while before we finished our shower.


    Rin and Cynthia woke upte and the bags on their eyes suggested they were upte and studying. Their hairs were frazzled and all over the ce but Cynthia remembered that she woulde with us so she immediately pulled Rin inside the shower.


    It took a while to get everything ready before we once again headed for the City of Mbon.


    Lawrence was just waiting by the outpost and we picked him up and drove the rest of the way. As a little precaution, Tatiana¡¯s Humvee was at the front while the rest of the vehicles were following behind. Aside from that, instead of directly driving to the love hotel or the City Hall of Mbon, we drove around it to have two of the four other teams we brought to watch over the bridges were the human threat from the City of Navotas coulde from.


    It was still inside the territory of the City of Mbon but it would be better to receive an early warning instead of receiving them while we were taking care of a lot of the dead. They parked in an inconspicuous position and we started to drive towards the love hotel in the distance first.


    The vehicle we prepared was still in the same spot but I already saw a glint of a scope a few meters before we arrived. I already radioed in and Max mentioned that they took turns watching everything outside. Marvin and the rest of the soldiers started teasing them but their expressions were different. A few of us noticed that and the jolly atmosphere slowly changed.


    ¡°Did you guys see something?¡± I asked with a serious look.

 Chapter 418

    Chapter 418: 418


    ¡°Oh, we just didn¡¯t get enough sleep¡­ yesterday night uhh¡­ the surroundings were just so quiet here that all you could hear was the dead¡¯s growls and snarls¡­ I said we took turns sleeping but the most we could do was just close our eyes¡­¡± Max started. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We never experience it at camp because we always clear the dead but being in a city where there¡¯s a lot of them just roaming around is kinda different. They alsoe in droves so sometimes it would get louder and the reason would be another herd passing by.¡± Crisanto added.


    ¡°I just talked with the people I could contact in the DDR Camp so I managed to sleep for a few minutes.¡± Alonzo chimed.


    ¡°Okay, it¡¯s not as bad as I thought but you three need to get some proper rest after we¡¯re done here. Are you three sure that there¡¯s nothing else that happened in the night aside from that? Have you seen any ces with light sources or heard vehicles randomly passing by?¡± I asked as I peeked through the window.


    ¡°No, sir. It was just really quiet so we even refrained from using ourmps too much. The moon provided enough light so we could see without much issue.¡± Crisanto replied.


    ¡°Hmm, anything else to report then?¡± I asked as I was still looking through the window.


    ¡°Umm¡­ since there was not much to do yesterday¡­ I tried counting the dead in the open area of the park as much as I could and they¡¯re hovering around 300+, not including the ones that might be inside the buildings. I could make out a few silhouettes from some of the windows but not through the ones I couldn¡¯t see through because of the angles. Also, there might be back entrances that are wide open that I couldn¡¯t see from this side because I tagged one of them and I saw it walking outside, away from that ce.¡± Max reported.


    ¡°It must be the ce at the back where all the trash is collected.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Oh, if you¡¯d also check that pile where they climbed over the fences, they¡¯re not all just corpses piled over one another but some were just trapped inside. We need to watch out for that also because when we try to clear them out, one might get scratched or pulled inside.¡± Alonzo added.


    ¡°Okay, before we start clearing all of them in the City Hall, we need to do more recon by using the drones. Jared, bring Lois with you to the roof to check for more blind spots or ces of interest and just mark them in the map we brought. Marvin, bring your group to go around this block to slowly thin the numbers outside for the meantime. Tatiana, bring a group with you to drive to the other side around the City Hall so we could have eyes from the other side. I spotted that house over there with a green roof and it seemed that it¡¯s walled so it¡¯s a good ce to hole in for the meantime. If we could go as quiet as possible, that would be great. Go now while I check in to the situation of the others watching the other points.¡± I instructed a few things.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yo, how are you guys doing over there?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Umm, still okay sir. Same old, same old.¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Had to kill a few sir ¡®coz they got a little too close. We just dragged the bodies behind the building so it¡¯s not in the open.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, you¡¯ll be there for a few hours but the bodies you put down, wait till we¡¯re about to leave before you burn them, okay?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, sir.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Roger.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    The drones then flew out from the love hotel at the same time as the other vehicles drove off in their respective roles. Mikhail and Russel were still with me in the same location though they were at the ground level with a few soldiers, watching the entrance for anything that might want to bite a chunk off of our bodies. Cynthia, Lawrence, and Max came with Tatiana and the rest of Mark¡¯s group because we needed to distribute our good shooters evenly from both sides. Kaley was always by my side though I could feel that she wanted to take shots on the dead already. However, she was patiently watching Jared and Lois do their work while out for the people below.


    So far, I haven¡¯t heard a single gunshot, suppressed or unsuppressed, and it goes to show my group knew the importance of saving them even if I was handing them out like we literally have a f.u.c.kton of them.


    ¡°We do have a f.u.c.kton but they don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g know that.¡± I smiled inwardly.


    They would surely fire a round sooner orter because it was inevitable but each biter down with a melee weapon was a step in the right direction. Especially if it was a special taken down with simple and creative means.


    After observing the other clearing groups, they were using something I might add to my arsenal. I discovered that Jay not only mades for catching the dead and the garbage floating in the canal system, but he also made a few as an entanglement device to either hold them in ce temporarily or catch one if I so requested.


    They were made with thick ropes and a few of the clearing groups already incorporated them with their runs.


    The drones arrived at their destination but they were in different ces. Jared first drove it in the center of the park to try and attract most of them to get a general idea of their actual number while Lois drove around the edges of it to check for more blind spots. They also checked on the buildings surrounding it and my eyes were glued to the screens.


    We could simply charge in guns zing but it was more important toe back to our home with everyone still present. Most of the time, preparation for a project would take longer than the actual execution of the project itself. However, the longer you prepare for it the more the sess rate of it will be depending on the circ.u.mstances.


    ¡°If I¡¯m gonna repurpose a ce to make another outpost here, where would I even ce it? The City Hall with all the other buildings plus the People¡¯s Park in this city is attractive but I need something easily defensible, partially hidden, and sustainable where we could grow crops and the like. Hmm, we¡¯d just get to it after this city¡¯s zombie presence lowers¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    It took a bit of time before I heard Tatiana¡¯s voice.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯re here inside the house. Nice ce but we had to put down a lot on the way. We could see the other side of the City Hall but it¡¯s just a few destroyed exits where a lot of trash is ced and where some of the dead wanders around. A few must¡¯ve fallen to the small canal-like ditch here with a lot of water lilies since the wooden fences are broken.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hold that ce for now but take down anything thates. I¡¯ll make Marvin and Mikhail hold the other points as well so only a few people would proceed on clearing the City Hall.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What? What¡¯s our n again?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Well, we¡¯ll do a little something very frowned upon in shooting games. With our backs covered doing this is almost illegal. We¡¯d save a lot on our other bullets too.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh. Go ahead then, it would be more exciting to hold a point here¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Sure, thanks.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    The n was to iste that area of anything iing so we wouldn¡¯t be disrupted in clearing that whole area. That was also the reason for nting two separate groups in farther locations as an early warning device so we could quickly retreat if things go awry.


    I brought in the rest of my group and as we drew closer, the smell wafting was getting more and more horrible. We went inside another elevated building that was much closer so we would have a clearer shot and a better vantage point.


    Their numbers exceed a few hundred but our .22 LRs in our ammo cans were more than double. We even brought extra rifles chambered in .22 LR so Lois was a little excited. A .22 LR wasn¡¯t that muchpared to other cartridges but it was one of the cartridges that killed a lot of the undead in our books. Like an old adage, shot cement was always key.


    We still have our usual loadout but the rest of my group started to put down body after body with a suppressed .22 rifle. The dead couldn¡¯t even figure out where the shots wereing from because shooting a .22 rifle suppressed wouldn¡¯t even require hearing protection. It was still loud but it wasn¡¯t enough to cause any sort of hearing damage.


    ¡°This is like cheating bro.¡± Jared chuckled.


    ¡°Heh, stop saying that every single time we camp on the dead. That¡¯s the DOJ¡¯s office over there, sue me.¡± I replied, smiling.


    ¡°Should I aim for some of the windows? They might get attracted to the sound and fall to their deaths?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°After we¡¯re done with the ones below. There¡¯s also the piles where the gates were supposed to be.¡± I replied.


    ¡°This is really~ like cheating bro.¡± Jared once againmented.

 Chapter 419

    Chapter 419: 419


    The clearing operation was going easier than I thought and we only had trouble punching holes through their scalps when we encounter military personnel wearing helmets. Our .22 LR cartridges couldn¡¯t pierce through them so we usedrger rounds to solve the problem. We had to use two to three shots before sessfully putting one down and we were starting to create a big pile that was muchrger than the ones where the fences were supposed to be. <center></center><hr>


    A lot of brass casings were on our feet but what I was dreading was the cleaning operation after this clearing operation.


    When we go out, we make sure that we dispose of the bodies the right way as much as possible because we could get diseases if we just let them rot in the open. There was also the issue of freeing the driveway of any obstructions because ever since this shit started, no one was responsible for cleaning the roads aside from ourselves.


    ¡°It ain¡¯t much but it¡¯s honest work.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Here, I reloaded a few mags.¡± Lois handed me a few magazines for our guns.


    ¡°Thanks. Aim for the ones near the library next. Some of them are trying to go over the wall they made with their own bodies. We have people watching but it would be bad if they spill out.¡± I pointed to the other side of the quadrant we were aiming at.


    We brought extra magazines but the number of them inside the area still made us reload our magazines manually with the extra bullets we brought. Lois and Jared had their trusty Ruger 10/22 but Kaley and I brought our S&W M&P 15-22 that looked exactly like what Jude was using. It was not as kitted out as our AR-15s but it could still get the job done. It only had a low variable scope, a suppressor, and a sling. Not even a shlight was added because I only bought this kind of gun mainly for plinking or hunting small game.


    Time continued to pass and it would seem that we may be able to finish this clearing operation today without any hitches. I let the rest of my group put down the ones in the park and the alleys for a while as I picked up my radio and called back home.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Johnny, this is Sky. Can you hear me?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Johnny?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid? What do you need?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Can you ask Marco to bring the other truck and ask my workers to load it up with the skid steers? We would be done in a few hours and we need something to plow through them. We¡¯d take a long time if we do everything by hand.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll also ask a few soldiers to apany him just in case.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°No problem, bring a couple with the w but the ones that could fit are the normal dozer-like ones, okay?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll tell him. He¡¯ll be there in an hour or so.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Before we head to the City Hall of Mbon, we would still need to burn the ones we put down. We could simply sneak at the back but I want this area to be free of zombies before I even let one of my people take a step inside. By using the skid steers, we would have an easier time of piling them into one big pile before lighting them up, turning them into carbon in the process. <hr>


    There were still a few stragglers but I decided to put down my rifle and drive one of the drones.


    I made it hover for a while before I entered a broken window where the topmost floor was located. I could fairly see the inside but as expected, there were still biters randomly walking inside. They noticed the drone flying over them and they even tried to reach it. I just made the drone bob and weave on a small group before turning back, making them all fall down to their deaths. The noise of the rotors would attract them and they wouldn¡¯t even care if their footing was located several floors below.


    They would have a few seconds of air time before a dull thud would be produced. The lucky ones would survive the fall but their heads would just be punctured by a small projectileing from my group¡¯s guns.


    It was past noon when we killed every single one weid our eyes on and Marco came with a few people with the requested skid steers.


    ¡°Shit, did you do all that? That¡¯s a few thousand at least!¡± Marco eximed when he saw the scene.


    ¡°We¡¯re only responsible for the ones sprawled on the park and the ones that fell from the windows.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Damn, when you said that the people here made ast stand, I didn¡¯t think it would be this f.u.c.k.i.n.g messy. Alright, I¡¯ll stop talking, what do you want us to do? Johnny made use with soldiers but the ones over there talking with your cousin knows how to operate skid steers as well.¡± Marco went back to business.


    ¡°Okay, what I want you guys to do is grab a chunk from those piles and make a small mountain on that curb. We need topletely remove that wall made of flesh first before we haul the ones scattered in the center. Before you get surprised, some of them are still trapped inside so you might see some movement. Just do everything slowly and the ones apanying you will put them down for you. So, just n your moves ahead and we¡¯ll be done in no time.¡± I exined.


    Marco then called over the other guys he brought with him and they started working. The rest of us were even on guard because we weren¡¯t sure of the numbers trapped inside the piles and the guards might get overwhelmed easily.


    ¡°We start here?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, any ce to start is a good ce.¡±


    ¡°Okay, watch out,ing through.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Stop!¡±


    ¡°Down a bit more¡­¡±


    ¡°More¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay! That¡¯s good! Bring it back!¡±


    They first started using the ones with the ws and they actually brought three. It slowly inched towards the pile and when it got ahold of a clump, we could hear some of the bones crunching. However, the worst part aside from seeing their bodies bending on awkward angles, was when a w punctured a roamer¡¯s abdomen and its bile started to spill out. It was one thing to smell them on separate asions but it was an experience to smell them both at the same time.


    If I could get a cold onmand, I would just have my nose stuffed with mucus instead of smelling it for as long as we weren¡¯t done with them. I wanted to loot some of them for random items but I held myself back and only opted for the ones wearing military uniform.


    The process still took a bit of time and we eventually reached the part of the wall where a few cl.u.s.ters were trying to reach for us with their bony hands. The ones in the middle were mangled and some of their skin was scr.a.p.ed off, showing their discolored flesh oozing greenish pus and coagted blood. We carefully took them down and we slowly worked away around the whole area. The other skid steers were also put to use and we were greeted by cloudy skies so it wasn¡¯t as hot in the afternoon.


    The groups I stationed around the vicinity were still putting down deadheads one after the other and the ones in hiding said that they just finished lunch when I called them.


    ¡°This is taking longer than I thought¡­ no specials encountered though¡­ yet¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    To speed things up, we manually pulled some of the bodies from the pile by hand. Some of the group were still on guard in case the one we pull outes with a surprise. I made sure to pull from the pile where the skid steers haven¡¯t touched yet because picking up dismembered limbs was not something I could do with nonchnce. The worst thing I¡¯d do was probably trying to find the rest of it and then trying to piece them first before throwing them over to the new pile.


    Time continued to pass and I retracted my idea of burning them all once we collected them all. I decided to burn everything by batches because it would not be a good idea to start a firerge enough to burn a few thousand bodies without taking into ount the surroundings that might get caught up in it. Fire spreads quicker than one might think and it would be best to burn them in a controlled fire where we throw a few bodies at a time like firewood.


    ¡°Okay, please fetch my main members and tell them we¡¯d head inside. Swap ces with them and make the isted area we upy much smaller.¡± I said to the group after we got done with the bodies we killed.

 Chapter 420

    Chapter 420: 420


    It took a few minutes as the soldiers approached my other team members but I was now with Kaley, Tatiana, Cynthia, Jared, Lois, Mikhail, and Lawrence. I wanted to bring Mark and Dong with me but I let them help with the group outside with Marvin and Ashley along with the other soldiers. <center></center><hr>


    My group left our plinking stuff at one of our vehicles but Kaley and I still had our Taurus TX22s on our person.


    ¡°Bro, we¡¯re gonna check everything, right?¡± Jaredmented.


    ¡°Hmm? Of course.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You think we¡¯d find more guns in that Police Station and that City Jail?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°We might since we already found a few from the dead bodies we hauled earlier. Those ces would be the obvious ce to store what they havepared to the other buildings here. I¡¯m not too keen on finding more guns but I was hoping for a little more ammo. We might check some of the vehicles they got parked near it as well if we could take them home.¡± I exined.


    We started from the left side of this area first because it was the City Hall in question. It had five floors in total but it was not as spacious as the City Hall we have in our own city. It had morepact rooms built for purpose, not aesthetics. It was still crawling with some manner of the undead so we proceeded carefully.


    Broken pieces of ss were all over the entrance and that was one more thing to look out for.


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll go in pairs and we clear each room and the ones roaming in the hallways. We loot the ce after we¡¯re done with the dead, okay?¡± I said to my group as I paired with Kaley.


    The two of us went directly to the second floor with our weapons drawn. Kaley had her rifle up while I had my katana and my Maxim 9 at the ready. Our weapon lights were turned on for more visibility and the movement of shadows confirmed a few were quite close.


    The first one we saw after a corner was one that had its jawpletely removed. Its bloated tongue was hanging out with what was left with its mouth and its shoulder was now a housingplex for a few dozen maggots. <center></center><hr>


    I sent a bullet right between its eyes and it flopped right when it hit the floor. Its head hit a broken ss partition and it made quite a bit of noise. We saw more shadows approaching from the other side and Kaley and I instinctively reached out for our Taurus TX22s.


    The rotting and discolored bodies came walking in an erratic pattern. I looked down at their lower body and discovered that they were missing a chunk from where their body should hold them up or a bone was broken at an awkward angle making its movements unnatural.


    We had no time to dwell much on it so we fired when we had the shot. Our bullets punched a hole in each of their heads and the seven bodies that followed were now part of the bodies meant to be burned outside.


    Walking a few steps forward and looking at the small offices, some of them were already repurposed to act as a room for one or two families. A few nkets were getting held up by thicker wires and most of the electronic devices were just collecting dust on one corner. Bags and suitcases were also present in these repurposed rooms and I was hoping we could find more than their belongings inside of them. A few food items were also present but it wasn¡¯t enough to go around for everybody. Some of them were also about to expire and some cans had thebels ripped off making their lunch a mystery.


    The rest of the offices on this floor was about the same though we found a few cubicles were the people inside took their own lives along with their children.


    Their bodies were in all sorts of decay but Kaley and I made sure that they wouldn¡¯t rise up even if they were not moving when we came upon them. We simply pushed our des a few inches inside their eye sockets to get the job done. We gave them a short moment of silence before we proceeded to the next floor.


    Mikhail and Cynthia caught up to us and they told me the others already headed to the 4th and 5th floor.


    ¡°You guys doing okay?¡± Kaley asked them.


    ¡°So far, so good. Sir Mikhail¡¯s been doing much of the work while I just watch out for anything.¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, the big guys should always be in front.¡± Mikhail chuckled.


    ¡°Okay, the server room is always located in the central area of the centermost floor so we¡¯ll prioritize that over anything else. Watch out for shooting through the rooms because we might identally render the drives useless.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°Is that some rule or something? cing them in the centermost area?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°No, one of the purposes is having the wires going through each room be at more or less the same length so a few issues would be avoided. Also¡­¡± I exined a few things.


    ¡°Boss, there¡¯s some movement in that direction.¡± Mikhail pointed at a room with translucent ss partitions.


    We ended the short conversation and we drew our weapons. Mikhail was always lugging around his PKM but he would switch to his AK-47 in tight and enclosed spaces. To be extra sure we wouldn¡¯t identally shoot up the server room, Mikhail and I kited them near the staircase to where we are and we used our melee weapons. Using the katana with both hands not only made it easy to cut one in half given the extra power, but I could also maneuver my de because of the extra leverage offered by how I grip the handle.


    However, to conserve my strength for things that may or may not happen, I settled for aiming at either their eye sockets, ears, or their mouths while thrusting upwards to use less energy. Kaley was doing the same thing as me but Cynthia¡¯s rapier was most suited for the job.


    We didn¡¯t encounter much inside because I¡¯ve already lured most of them to fall to their deaths when I drove the drone earlier. The ones that were left were either too slow to move or couldn¡¯t move at all. Our magazines weren¡¯t switched to fresh ones because we barely even used them.


    I was now getting the drives on the server room when I heard Tatiana¡¯s voice.


    ¡°You guys done here?¡± Tatiana was not with Lawrence.


    ¡°Almost, where¡¯s Lawrence? Did you see Jared and Lois?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, Lawrence joined the two. We¡¯re done with the floors above so they¡¯re hanging around on the roof. They said they¡¯re gonna check on some of the tents erected to see if they could scrounge on some stuff. Oh yeah, we found a few handguns and all of them were in Jared¡¯s pack. The bullets were ced in mine, the same thing with a few important things we found on the other floors. There are also a few spent casings and shells on the floor and Lois collected them for you.¡± Tatiana said as I picked up my radio. <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Jared, dismantle the useable tents and bring back anything you could.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, already did bro. We also found a few long rifles here and a few loose rounds. Hope we found more in the Police Station.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°From the looks of things we might.¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I ced the drives we collected in a suitcase after packing them securely and I ordered some of my people below to start looting this ce. As we were unloading some of them to our vehicles, a small herd started approaching the street we were in and good thing I made everyone gather to one spot. Well, Max and a few others were still on the roof of the love hotel but they helped in taking down a few biters. The few dozen that approached us turned to more ¡®firewood¡¯ and my group headed for the City Library next.


    What we discovered inside was worse than the family who opted out.


    My group members were all wearing solemn and somber expressions all throughout the floors because in this library, let¡¯s just say that we needed to aim a little lower. Some of them seemed old enough to be in middle school but the majority of them weren¡¯t even eligible to ride a rtively safe attraction in a carnival.


    I only made the drone drive inside the City Hall and not in the other buildings next to it so I wasn¡¯t aware of the walking bodies inside this library. A wall was full of their drawings and the one most affected by what happened to them was Cynthia.


    She froze the moment she saw them and tears welled on her eyes the moment their bodies hit the floor. I wasn¡¯t sure if she encountered a dead kid or two while in guard duty but the sheer number of them in this ce was enough to make people have trouble sleeping at night.


    ¡°No one could be ready for this shit.¡± I thought to myself.


    We just did what we have to and made it quick at least.


    When the people outside saw the bodies we were dragging outside, their expressions were the same bitter expression everyone in my group was wearing. But still, the job had to bepleted no matter what.

 Chapter 421

    Chapter 421: 421


    I was about to head back the second time to help with hauling the small bodies but Kaley tapped me. I looked back and saw her looking at me, telling me that she needed a moment with Cynthia to perhaps talk and give counsel. Cynthia was still pretty shaken from what we witnessed in the City Library so we decided to give her a little break. <center></center><hr>


    I just nodded at Kaley, signifying I understood her intentions.


    Marvin and Ashley switched for them and we went back and ced each one in a cart we found. It still took several trips to clear the library of their bodiespletely and bad as it may sound, it was time to check the ce of items we could take home.


    ncing at the shelves of different books, I pulled out a few that I don¡¯t have a copy of yet. Most of them were storybooks, novels, coloring books, and the like but I checked their archives for newspapers they have in storage. It wasn¡¯t 100% urate but it was still part of the history so I made sure we would be taking them home. I would try to keep them in good condition but making a digital copy was the best solution.


    Like the City Hall, some of the rooms here were also repurposed for lodging, and judging by the baby form and other food items for a specific age of a kid, they made use of the peace and quiet here so that the toddlers could get their sleep at least.


    We then found snacks and a few bags filled with medical equipment on one side and several clothes that were too little for us present. My group would simply follow eachmand I gave out without question in this building not because I was holding their necks but not only them, I just wanted to get done with this ce. Everyone was working quietly and only my voice was the only thing anyone could hear inside.


    We were done in a few minutes but it felt like an eternity inside.


    The moment we got out, Marco approached me.


    ¡°We¡¯re done with most of the bodies and the other guys could probably just chuck them in. I wanted to stick around but I still have work to do inside our ce.¡± Marco said as he adjusted his cap.


    ¡°Hmm, you could go but don¡¯t forget to bring the soldiers that came with you and your group. Why are you guys in a bit of a hurry anyway?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well, more dirty work. Some plumbing business that needs taking care of. We¡¯re also getting rid of all the water lilies floating in the fishing areas and the canal system. They just appeared en masse and we need to take care of it.¡± Marco exined.


    ¡°Okay, then. Sorry for leaving the boring stuff to you guys at home.¡± I joked as I faintly smiled.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯d take that shit any day of the weekpared to what you guys are facing. Anyway, daylight¡¯s burning and we gotta go, see you guyster in the meeting. Shit, we need to clean this truck and the skid steers when we get home as well.¡± Marco and his group said their goodbyes.


    They drove back after loading the skid steers and my group still had a few more buildings to go through before we head home. It was supposed to be an operation that would span a few days but we were cutting it a little close because ns would sometimes change at varying circ.u.mstances.


    The next building was the DOJ¡¯s office.


    It was a long building but it only had a single floor. Once we broke inside, we discovered that this ce was repurposed into a storage area and cooking area where most of their food items were stored for everyone¡¯s use. Shelves and shelves of food were packed inside though it only spanned half the area. They had sacks of rice, dried pasta, tubs of beans, assorted canned goods, random spices, and gallons of mineral water. They had frozen and fresh food items but they were all unusable at this time.


    Aside from the food items, we also took the propane tanks along with the cooking utensils I found useful. There were a few cast iron skillets in good condition so I made sure to pack them nicely.


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Kid, you¡¯re still over there?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yep, two more buildings to check. We might go home with another supplement of guns, ammo, and military vehicles. Well, the military vehicles are already set we just need to get inside the Police Station and the City Jail to check if they¡¯ve left more hanging around.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh, I bought another V8.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Kid? Yoohoo~ You there, kid? Kid?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You said you¡¯d buy a body for a Camaro, right? Why the f.u.c.k do you have another V8?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°C¡¯mon! It¡¯s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g V8! You know they¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g rare here, right?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Wait! It came with a lift kit and a suspension from a stock Subaru too! That¡¯s a bonus, right?!¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure¡­ I¡¯lle with you tomorrow¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sweet, Mauricio also asked for a meeting so it¡¯s good you¡¯re done with that ce already.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, let us finish the task here first and we¡¯ll talk moreter.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure, kid.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    We ended the call and now I was slightly questioning the fact I brought the Charger back home. I was thinking of options I could¡¯ve exchanged it with but in the end, we would still find some use for the engines Oscar bought from the Intercity.


    We then continued our jobs.


    The City Jail was just filled with the undead trapped inside the cells and from the looks of it, they all starved to death but a few ate their cellmates to survive. However, it wasn¡¯t enough because they still turned in the end as the ones they feasted upon returned the favor and feasted on them. They were all literally sharing themselves because the chunk they ate from the others would just pass through their ruptured stomachs and would then be cycled over and over.


    Some of them couldn¡¯t even move properly because their limbs almost had their flesh and musclespletely wed or chewed off. A few cells just had a horrible looking muck in the middle of it where their insides are piled on top of one another. It was simply a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up potluck where everyone had a share of what everyone brought to the table.


    We couldn¡¯t believe how the people from this ce tried to keep the criminals alive and from the looks of things, they were even given three squared meals a day, just like the rest of the residents they were protecting.


    ¡°If it was me, this ce could be repurposed into something much better¡­ They¡¯re humans too but I would¡¯ve at least made them work hard for it, not this luxurious lifestyle this ce couldn¡¯t afford¡­¡± I sighed inwardly.


    We just watched out for their hands as we stabbed each of their heads. We just threw them over the windows after we were done with them. We weren¡¯t able to get much from this ce aside from the loaded piece the guard inside used to kill himself.


    When my group went to the Police Station, we were met with a little surprise.


    A lone soldier survived inside one of the cells.


    The Police Station still had a few cells inside but its main purpose was just to detain an offender for a day or two until bail was posted or a raging drunkard finally got it out of its system. Most of the soldiers stored their equipment inside this Police Station but a lot of them were roaming around, seemingly there to protect their belongings.


    The inside was a little cramped so we lured them outside before we started putting them down.


    Little did we know that one of them managed to lock himself inside, grab some supplies, and ration his food and water for an unknown number of days or weeks. The only thing he didn¡¯t prepare was the keys to the cell. I managed to open it up but he was having a hard time even responding to us.


    He was looking extremely weak and dehydrated so we took care of him after making sure he wasn¡¯t infected. I first opened a bottle of water and I slowly poured it in his mouth. I was giving him small amounts to slowly replenish his fluids levels. I think he might need IV fluids topletely rehydrate but the bottled water was the best thing I could do for now.


    I looked at his fatigues and I read ¡®Ibarra¡¯ on the chest patch.


    Now, not only we would know the exact details of what happened in this ce, but we would possibly have another soldier join our ranks when he recovers.

 Chapter 422

    Chapter 422: 422


    ¡°Marvin, you and Ashley bring him outside and just do what I did with the water. Give him small amounts and watch him.¡± I said as I handed him my canteen. <center></center><hr>


    The two asked slowly brought him out and the rest of my group was now in front of a cache of weapons and equipment. The keys for the military vehicles outside were also in a tin box,beled with the corresponding te numbers.


    We already found a pile of handguns from the bodies we took down consisting of M1911s, RIA 1911s, Glock 17s, and Beretta 92s. A few of them were carrying M16s, M4s, AKMs, and Remington 870s through their slings but in this cache, we found more still in perfect condition.


    The ones just piled over on the shelves were slightly used but the ones inside the huge caches made each of us excited.


    It wasn¡¯t as much as the ones we got from the Valenzu City Hall but a good haul was a good f.u.c.k.i.n.g haul. The variety was alsomendable because the standard-issue M16 for the Philippine Military had different refurbished versions in one of the caches. Some of them even had the M203 Grenade Launcher attached while a few had shorter barrelspared to their usual carry. There were also a couple of M60s and K3s that would have a special ce in my home base.


    ¡°Hey bro, isn¡¯t this a Dragunov? The one Alexei uses?¡± Lois waved me over.


    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s- no, it¡¯s not.¡± I replied after a quick nce.


    ¡°What? It looks the exact same, right?¡± Lois was scratching his head.


    ¡°It is but that¡¯s a Norinco Type 85, developed in China. It¡¯s a look-alike but the internals are different from the real one.¡± I exined. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°OHOHO~ OHOHO~ BRO~ I think I¡¯m in love~¡± I heard Russel losing his shit.


    The moment each one of us present looked in his general direction, panic almost ensued. Russel was pointing a loaded Milkor MGL at the ceiling and I never dashed so fast in my life just to get it off his hands.


    ¡°Let¡¯s put it down and let¡¯s open a few more boxes eh? That shit would blow us up and I don¡¯t trust you holding that so casually with that f.u.c.k.i.n.g look in your face!¡± I carefully unloaded it before cing it back where he found it.


    ¡°B-But it called to me!¡± Russel eximed.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah that sounds kinda sus. We¡¯d vote you out of the ship if we could¡­¡± I turned him around and made him pick casings outside.


    There were a lot more guns to go through but no one gave a f.u.c.k. It was a while before we managed to get a good haul of guns and ammo after an operation. Everyone seemed happy except for one person.


    ¡°No RPGs eh? Even mortars aren¡¯t present. We acquired a fewst time, right? Even the ammo left is not that many.¡± Jaredmented.


    ¡°Yeah, it should vary from camp to camp. Don¡¯t forget the huge number of spent casings outside, they probably used a f.u.c.k ton of it. The only good thing was that they still had a lot of grenades left in some of the boxes and they have goodms equipment.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Well, some of the M4s had optics and other attachments and a couple of jeeps had an M2 Browning on top of it, like the ones we collected before¡­¡± Jared sighed.


    ¡°Why are you so f.u.c.k.i.n.g dejected? Heh, this shit is all free dude. Well, we used our guns to get here so let¡¯s just say that it was a good investment.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°I was hoping we¡¯d stumble upon a f.u.c.k.i.n.g SCAR here¡­¡± Jared continued.


    ¡°Our country would get broke if we equip everyone with that one, heh. I¡¯m still saving mine for a good asion but if you really want one, you better start dealing with Oscar. You¡¯ve been inside his armory, you know he has a few he¡¯s using as a paperweight. He bought a few to annoy me but little did he know I¡¯m more inclined in the AR tform still.¡± I chuckled again.


    ¡°Bro, how could you say something so controversial yet so brave? Heh, f.u.c.k it. This SIG still kicks ass so I¡¯ll bear with it.¡± Jared was shaking his head, joking.


    ¡°Bear with it? Hah! Better start hauling them in the trucks outside before I switch that back with your old M70.¡± I wasughing my ass off when he moonwalked out of the Police Station to escape me.


    Looking through most of the stuffying around, I also found their record book that contained information about the number of people they have inside, their food storages, guns and ammo allocations, and etc. I made sure to ce it inside my pack for a reference after we include everything we hauled to our own inventory.


    We hauled everything we could and there was still space for the items left on the love hotel. The people from the groups we sent to watch over the other points eventually joined with us and they even managed to scavenge a few food items on their own. They even filled out a few Jerry Cans with diesel and they marked a few spots where we could acquire more in future runs. <hr>


    The sun was already down when we got reached Lawrence¡¯s outpost but the fact that there was no activity from the City of Navotas made me thought of a few things while I was driving. They could be flying high in the clouds when everything went down, oblivious from what happened the previous day, Cyrill lying about the information he gave me, or yet, they were all dead or worse¡­ killed.


    It could be anything now and it could be the doings of another group that either came fromnd or sea or something else we weren¡¯t expecting. It could also be overrun by the dead and as bad as it may sound I was hoping for thetter. I would rather face a horde than a group of armed hostiles wanting to take half our shit.


    ¡°Should I send a group to probe in that city first or continue to make a path towards the City of Man?¡± I thought to myself but I always had the answer.


    ¡°Both. It¡¯ll always be both. The f.u.c.k am I making stupid choices now?¡± I chuckled inwardly.


    We dropped Lawrence off in his outpost while we dropped Ibarra and the rest of the soldiers that came with us in our own DDR Camp when we reached home. The protocols for sundown were already in ce and they were on alert when we came in with a lot more vehicles than what we went out.


    ¡°Take the crates from that truck and secure them in your armory. They contain guns that you guys are trained for and a few hundred rounds of ammo. They¡¯re mostly M16s and Glock 17s but I added a few grenades in another box. Have our doctors check on Ibarra and make sure he gets the right treatment. He¡¯s the only one that survived that ce and we need all the information we could get from him.¡± I said to one of the soldiers that we met first when we arrived.


    ¡°Y-Yes sir. We¡¯ll take good care of him.¡± the soldier replied.


    ¡°Okay, just hand him a pack of anything he wants when the doctor clears him and tell him it¡¯s from the house.¡± I gave onest order before we head home. <hr>


    We also parked some of the vehicles on their parking area while a couple of jeeps were driven towards Woonds. The rest followed us inside thepound, directly to Anthony¡¯s house for maintenance or repairs since not all of them were in a good condition to be driven long periods outside.


    Oscar was cackling nonstop as he got his hands on the Milkor but I made a deal to swap with one of the guns from his collection. Like the car parts salesman, I used the situation to my advantage and managed to hoodwink an old man that let¡¯s just say had an extreme liking for guns, cars, and spending too much just to get what he wanted.


    What I got from him was an I.O.U. which was the best deal I could get from him.


    I just couldn¡¯t stop scratching my head when I saw three V8s in my workshop with other partsying around and nothing to put them in.


    ¡°This is the bad side of hoarding¡­ We better secure a body for at least one of them or I¡¯ll tie him up every time we go there¡­ well¡­ as long as he doesn¡¯t put in inside a Prius I¡¯m good¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    Then I felt a tap on my shoulder.


    ¡°Hey, Cynthia decided on taking a small break tomorrow and I said you wouldn¡¯t mind. She¡¯s pretty shaken but she¡¯s now talking with her nephews on the phone. Rin is with her now but mom would drop byter to check on her.¡± Kaley said to me with a solemn expression.


    ¡°That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good. She could hang around with Chris and Charlotte tomorrow if she wanted to. The kids kinda like her too but she¡¯s a little shy around them. She¡¯ll bounce back soon but tell her she¡¯s free to do whatever she wants. She¡¯s here on permanent vacation, not conscription.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, she really wanted to help around but that was too much for her. To be fair, she hasn¡¯t been out muchpared to us¡­¡± Kaley sighed.

 Chapter 423

    Chapter 423: 423


    ¡°Hey, these spent casings go to the workshop, correct? And the guns in your room?¡± Tatiana pointed at the boxes and military crates being unloaded inside thepound. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, but tell Oscar he could have the shotguns, the 1911s, and the machineguns in his armory. Wait- just tell him we¡¯d need to clean them all first before we start distributing them around our people that have safes in their houses. We¡¯re keeping the majority of it but it¡¯s safe to have a few stored around we could have ess to.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t we already give a few guns in each household?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, we did but that¡¯s for them. It took a chunk of our ammo when we started basic training for each of them but it¡¯s better for our people to know how to use them instead of winging it when the timees. Granted we don¡¯t teach all of them every single day but it¡¯s better than nothing. Anyway, back to storing guns at other people¡¯s ces, it¡¯s only for emergencies and so that we could have a few guns at the ready outside if there¡¯s a chance we weren¡¯t able to go back to our house. Same reason we made each household have a vehicle ready just in case.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s why mom said that dad started having his own collection. Maybe he got most of them from Oscar.¡± Kaleymented.


    ¡°Hmm, I guess we¡¯ll leave a few more in your dad¡¯s house, Johnny¡¯s house, and a few ces where we could find a good hiding spot like the house in Woonds that had a safe. We never head out without our daily carry but better safe than sorry, right?¡± I replied then Kaley nodded.


    ¡°Hmm, now this is a face I wanted to see every time!¡± Tatiana nodded as well but she smiled when she saw Aya approaching us.


    ¡°Hello~ Mom said the food will be ready in a few minutes~ Oh! Oh! Thank you for the coloring books! Sis Rin said she¡¯d make a few copies first so everyone could have the same thing! Thank you!¡± Aya smiled brightly.


    ¡°No problem, just make sure to color them like your mom taught you, okay?¡± I smiled back.


    ¡°Yes! Keep it inside the lines! They look different though, you made new ones?¡± Aya asked.


    ¡°New ones?¡± Kaley and Tatiana looked at me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh, I never told you guys. I used to draw a few ones for them just to get them hooked on the anime I¡¯m always watching. Let¡¯s just say I went early before MelonCoco reached them. Oh, Aya, yes, they¡¯re the ones we found from a library, there¡¯s a lot too!¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley was speechless because of the lengths I go just to spread the word.


    ¡°¡­¡± Tatiana was speechless because she didn¡¯t understand a thing that I said.


    ¡°Oh! Okay~ Thanks!¡± Aya made a small bow before she ran back to their house.


    ¡°Oh yeah, I need to start Tatiana¡¯s ¡®training¡¯ on anime as well¡­¡± I started a few ns inside my head as Tatiana shuddered when we met eyes. Kaley was chuckling when she saw that happen but one thing she was forgetting was that we still had a game we promised we¡¯d y together but still haven¡¯t had the chance to.


    After a quick shower and a change of clothes, we discovered that the guys ced all of the crates just outside my room so I could arrange it inside my armoryter. Rin and Cynthia walked out of the door after a few moments and Cynthia seemed to have cheered up.


    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± I thought to myself.


    Tatiana followed a few moments after but she was dragged back inside because she was wearing a tank top without anything underneath. The five of us soon came down and a few of my people have just started eating.


    Tonight, we were served a bowl of freshly cooked lentil soup with green sd and cornbread. Aunt Sharon just finished another batch and a few soldiers from the DDR Camp happily took them to their base. They were carrying two huge pots but the look on their faces made me think they were ready to wharf on it the moment they reached their dining area.


    After eating, our meeting started with everybody present.


    We first talked about the daily upkeep along with the reports from Woonds, the DDR Camp, and the two other outposts. There were a few requests and suggestions but it wasn¡¯t much to worry about. Some of the requests were transfers but it needed approval from the ce the person wasing from and going to before it was epted. <hr>


    However, since the outpost where Lawrence was needed a bit more people, they were epting anyone that applied. A supervisor was recently transferred to his outpost for a trial run for admin work and she seemed to be doing a good job for now.


    The outpost in Meycauayan seemed to be doing well and they would soon expand a little bit, heading towards the square near the expressway. For now, they were sending more people to clear that area each day to lessen the zombie presence. They would soon start erecting barricades the moment the surrounding area starts getting somewhat peaceful to fully reim the area.


    The square wasn¡¯t a sustainable piece ofnd where you could grow crops but they were thinking of growing a mushroom farm inside the storage areas where the numerous shops inside store their goods. It was the same thing that Amanda and Charlotte were doing with the white mushrooms we regrly harvest. The other advantage of reiming that area was the vantage point it could give and it had a huge automotive shop where they could store and repair vehicles which their ce clearly needed help with.


    ¡°Old man, did Mauricio say anything else aside from hosting a meeting?¡± I looked at Oscar.


    ¡°Not much. He just said he had a business proposition we might be interested in and he was thinking about long-term solutions.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Long-term solutions? Is it about the farms he has then?¡± Jomarro chimed.


    ¡°More security then? Didn¡¯t they have a lot of soldiers over there? What would they want with us?¡± Johnny added.


    ¡°It¡¯s the pretty obvious answer but yeah, I guess we¡¯ll see what he wants first before we offer anything. We¡¯d work something out if it¡¯s fair and just shake hands and walk separate paths if it¡¯s too much.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Kid, before I forget, if we use two cargo trucks tomorrow, we¡¯d be done with hauling everything from Jomarro¡¯s ce plus the onesing from the other shops. I don¡¯t mind going for extra trips but once we¡¯re done with his ce, we could focus on obtaining more from the other shops willing to trade for our guns. I see we got more but I¡¯d keep on low-balling them.¡± Oscar smirked.


    ¡°Good thing the parts dealer is always hoodwinking you so the others think you¡¯re a bad dealer.¡± I chuckled. <hr>


    ¡°What?! The f.u.c.k you mean by getting hoodwinked?!¡± Oscar snapped.


    ¡°C¡¯mon old man, you know what I¡¯m talking about. Tomorrow, let¡¯s see if we could strike a proper deal with him to see his whole collection. I bet he has something special in storage and I¡¯ll make sure wee back with a whole car at least.¡± I replied, shaking my head.


    ¡°Or a body for the rest! I want a sleeper car! Something like nondescript Civic!¡± Lois added.


    ¡°Bah! Let¡¯s see if you could do better than I did then! Cheh!¡± Oscar grumbled.


    We soon ended the meeting after talking a little bit about Ibarra. They also grew curious as to what happened but all we could do was wait for him to fully recover to get a story from his side.


    My group headed for the gym and I challenged Mikhail once more for a striking match. With more options on hand, my win was achieved a tad easierpared to when we were just using our fists. However, there was still a cause for concern about his strength when we were sparring because one solid hit from him would get me vomiting everything from dinner.


    It was a good sight to see everyone training their bodies on a daily basis because physical fitness was something always forgotten when ites to prepping.


    Kaley and I came out of the shower and we headed back to our room. Tatiana, Rin, and Cynthia followed after changing clothes to help us with cleaning the rest of the guns we acquired.


    ¡°You guys found a lot¡­¡± Rin was still surprised even after adding them into our inventory.


    ¡°Lots of casings too, we¡¯re gonna be a little bit busy theseing days.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh! I could start sorting them and tumbling them in the morning?¡± Rin suggested. <hr>


    ¡°Tumbling? What?¡± Cynthia turned to us.


    I briefly exined the process of reloading ammo and it seemed she was a bit interested.


    ¡°Cynthia, I¡¯m telling you right now, it sounds cool but it¡¯s different from our perspective. it¡¯s just looking at two people with a peaceful look on their faces while making bullets that kill people!¡± Kaley eximed, chuckling.


    ¡°Correct! After that, they would smile like they f.u.c.k.i.e.d for hours after looking at what they aplished!¡± Tatiana added, smiling.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, you two exined that really poorly!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Sounds kinda cool still¡­¡± Cynthia was surprised at the two¡¯s expressions.


    ¡°You could help me sort them then? You¡¯re not going outside tomorrow, right?¡± Rin said.


    ¡°I could?¡± Cynthia was surprised.


    ¡°Yeah, but listen to everything she says.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, like yesterday?¡± Cynthia said nonchntly but Rin turned beet red.


    ¡°Yesterday?¡± Kaley, Tatiana, and I looked at them suspiciously.

 Chapter 424

    Chapter 424: 424


    It took a few moments before Rin screamed her heart out when our gazesnded on her. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°NOOOOOO~!!! CYNTHIA~!!! WORD THEM MORE CAREFULLY~!!! I¡¯M N- I¡¯M N- I¡¯M NOT LIKE THAT~!!!¡± Rin was breathing heavily as her face was red like a tomato.


    ¡°What? But-¡± Cynthia was confused.


    ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!¡± Rin covered her face from embarrassment.


    Kaley and Tatiana startedughing, Cynthia was still confused, and Rin wasn¡¯t able to form proper sentences. A few rounds of teasing came from the two and the guns they were cleaning were put down on the table.


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna take longer than expected¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    I continued cleaning one gun after the other but I was silently listening to their conversation.


    ¡°I really didn¡¯t think you have that side Rin!¡±


    ¡°I DON¡¯T~!!!¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon! It¡¯s just us here! We wouldn¡¯t judge you if you like stepping on people or something!¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°It depends on the time of day for me.¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯ve read about that¡­¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯M NOT!!! PLEASE~!!!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Then what kind are you? Hmm?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯M- I¡¯M JUST- AHHHHHH!!!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what you two been doing for the past couple of days, huh? You¡¯re starting slowly with Cynthia then going up! Or¡­ you just want Cynthia for yourself, is that it? Correct?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯M NOT!!! TO BE HONEST, CYNTHIA HAS SOME WEIRD KINKS!!!¡±


    ¡°Wha- I don¡¯t~!!!¡±


    ¡°Who always get handsy when someone¡¯s asleep, huh?!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true! Well, we all do¡­¡±


    ¡°I was just dreaming~!!!¡±


    ¡°Stop lying! It happened to us too!¡±


    *whimpers*


    ¡°Also, one time, she just wanted to watch us two while she just enjoyed herself!¡±


    ¡°HNGH~!!! I CAN¡¯T HELP IT!!! I¡¯M SORRY, OKAY?!¡±


    I thought they wouldn¡¯t stop having their back and forth but it became quiet all of a sudden. I couldn¡¯t see or even hear what they were doing but when I raised my head a few inches, they were all looking at me with squinted eyes and faint smiles.


    ¡°Oh~ I see~ I see~ We¡¯re not f.u.c.k.i.n.g doing anything until we finish everything here. There¡¯s a time limit too because I¡¯ve been losing sleep!¡± I eximed, chuckling. <hr>


    ¡°Oh~ Someone¡¯s getting bossy~¡± Kaley raised one of her eyebrows.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m gonna be like Rin as I¡¯ve heard and see for myself the magic on it.¡± I tried to make a stoic face but I suddenly snorted.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± everyone burst outughing and Rin¡¯s face turned even redder.


    ¡°Noooooo~!!! I¡¯m really not~!!!¡± Rin started to get smaller and smaller.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t there one way to find out? Hmm?¡± Tatiana made eye contact with Rin as the three of us left silently watched them.


    ¡°¡­¡± Rin said nothing but she slowly raised her head to look at Tatiana.


    ¡°Stand up.¡± Tatiana said with amanding tone.


    We were looking at Rin¡¯s fl.u.s.tered face but after a short moment, she slowly stood up after removing her gloves. Her breathing was a little hurried and her eyes were stuck on Tatiana who turned her chair to face her. Tatiana¡¯s face was just right above Rin¡¯s chest when she unbuttoned Rin¡¯s shirt.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± Tatiana was moving her hands but she was looking directly at Rin¡¯s eyes.


    Rin didn¡¯t move a muscle but we could hear her breathing getting ragged as each button was getting undone. Cynthia who was right beside them had her eyes glued to the two as well while Kaley¡¯s face was starting to turn red.


    When Rin¡¯s shirt fell to the floor, Tatiana¡¯s hand glided from Rin¡¯s navel right up to the hook from the front where a simple flick got it loose. It was soon unhooked and dangling on Rin¡¯s shoulder and her petite upper body was on disy for everyone to admire. Her smooth and supple skin was trembling slightly from Tatiana¡¯s touch and her face was starting to want more.


    ¡°Are you wet?¡± Tatiana nced at Rin¡¯s body for a moment before she looked back into her eyes.


    ¡°¡­¡± Rin didn¡¯t answer but her face turned even redder and it was also happening with her ears.


    Tatiana smiled wickedly before pulling Rin¡¯s shorts down, right until it reached her knees. Her cotton shorts were rolled over like her little cotton panties and there was a mark right in the middle of it. Rin started quivering but Tatiana wasn¡¯t done with her. <hr>


    Tatiana made Rin ce her arms behind her back before she slid her fingers between Rin¡¯s legs. Rin involuntary twitched then Tatiana shoved her fingers inside Rin¡¯s mouth. It was as if Rin knew what Tatiana wanted her to do next as she sucked her own juices out of Tatiana¡¯s fingers.


    ¡°Good.¡± Tatiana said as she licked her fingers as well.


    Tatiana was still seated when she pulled Rin even closer and she shoved her fingers inside her p.u.s.s.y. Rin let out m.o.a.ns when Tatiana sucked on her small tits at the same time. Rin wouldn¡¯t dare to move from her spot as Tatiana engorged on her body.


    The three of us were still watching them but Kaley pulled my hand and ced it around her waist, letting me go from there. She briefly nced at me before her hand went back and started feeling my c.o.c.k through my shorts. I wanted to tease Kaley a bit more so I went up and slowly kneaded her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts from below.


    They were as soft and firm as ever but I felt that she wanted me to go for her special ce. She pouted when I continued what I was doing but her expression changed when I reached her hard n.i.p.p.l.es. I inwardly smiled because I always wanted to save the best forst.


    Cynthia from the other side of the table was already a mess as we could see that her hand was already inside herself while the other was cupping her perky chest. She was looking at Rin and Tatiana but she would sometimes nce at Kaley and me with bated breath.


    Rin¡¯s insides were squelching over and over as Tatiana¡¯s fingers were curling and wiggling inside of her. Her juices were flowing down her thighs and she was struggling to stand up. Tatiana then stood up and hugged Rin¡¯s waist as she stuck her tongue down her throat. Rin¡¯s m.o.a.ns were getting muffled as Tatiana¡¯s fingers went faster and faster.


    Rin suddenly twitched and convulsed as she started c.u.m.m.i.n.g in front of everyone. Tatiana never stopped fingering her until her legs couldn¡¯t support her anymore. Tatiana licked her soaked fingers before she looked at the three of us watching them.


    ¡°When are you three perverts gonna join in, hmm?¡± Tatiana smiled wickedly.


    Tatiana lifted Rin up then she held Cynthia¡¯s hand and pulled her towards my bed. She was looking at Kaley and me before she undressed and made Cynthia do the same. Kaley wanted to get morefortable but she wouldn¡¯t let go of me. I decided to carry her like a bride and her expression was priceless.


    Tatiana was getting eaten by Rin while Cynthia sat on her face. The three were enjoying themselves so we had fun on our own before we do it with everyone.


    Iid Kaley on the bed and she removed her spaghetti strap that was barely covering her huge tits. Blood rushed to my head seeing her fl.u.s.tered expression then I pulled her shorts off. Kaley¡¯s panties were even more soakedpared to Rin and I almost lost it when she spread her legs wide.


    Her puffy and meaty lips were right in front of my face and she used her fingers to spread them open. I saw her pink and glossy insides and her womanly scent assaulted my senses.


    I made an involuntary gulp as I grabbed her thighs and buried my face between her legs. My tongue parted her insides as Kaley¡¯s thighs mped on my head. She was letting out loud m.o.a.ns then she grabbed my hands and ced them over her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts. I was kneading them aggressively while I was tasting her delicious insides. <hr>


    I wasn¡¯t even eating her for a minute when she started c.u.m.m.i.n.g hard. Her body tensed and contracted but I wasn¡¯t gonna let her off easy. Her legs were still quivering when I shoved my d.i.c.k all the way inside and her nails dug on my back as I f.u.c.k.i.e.d her over and over and over.


    Our skin was pping against each other and it didn¡¯t take long for me to shoot it all inside. Kaley was still breathing heavily when I pulled it out and c.u.m started to ooze out of her. She cleaned me up before the two of us decided to join the three besides us.


    Tatiana was dominating the two and she wasn¡¯t even wearing a strapon. Rin was already down for the count, twitching nonstop, while the two were tribbing beside her. Their clits were rubbing against each other and Cynthia was on the losing end. Tatiana seemed to get a boost of energy every time she c.u.ms right until she reaches her limit. But until then, she wouldn¡¯t stop until she gets her fill.


    ¡°I¡¯m c.u.m.m.i.n.g! I¡¯m c.u.m.m.i.n.g!¡± Cynthia lost strength but Tatiana continued to move her h.i.p.s.


    Kaley went for Rin while I went for Tatiana.


    Kaley started kissing Rin while I grabbed Tatiana¡¯s h.i.p.s when she was kissing Cynthia. However, she rolled me over while her back was still facing me. She lowered herself against me and I felt my d.i.c.k entering her tight ass. Tatiana started grinding her h.i.p.s as Cynthia looked in envy. However, I just felt Tatiana getting pushed down on my body before I saw Cynthia wearing a double-sided dildo.


    ¡°Go ahead.¡± Tatiana giggled before her whole weight was pressed against me. She positioned herself as Cynthia slowly went on top of her.


    I was still inside her ass before Cynthia parted her insides. We were moving our h.i.p.s slowly as we started to go faster and faster. The rhythm was not as good as first but it didn¡¯t take long before Cynthia and I were ramming it inside Tatiana¡¯s holes with reckless abandon.


    Tatiana¡¯s m.o.a.ns were getting louder and louder as we were sliding in and out of her. Their b.r.e.a.s.ts were pressed against each other while my hands were in the middle of it, getting smothered. Tatiana¡¯s hands then wrapped behind my neck as she made Cynthia suck on her tits.


    Kaley and Rin on the other hand were eating each other out while their fingers were going in and out of their pussies. They were both drenched and out of breath but the pleasure was too great to pass up.


    Tatiana started to tighten around me and I couldn¡¯t stop ramming it over and over. Cynthia was in the same spot because her face told me she was close as well. Tatiana grew tighter and tighter until she came hard while Cynthia and I followed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t pull it out! F.u.c.k me! F.u.c.k me! Don¡¯t stop! Please- I¡¯m- AH! AH! I¡¯M C.U.M.M.I.N.G AGAIN! I¡¯M-¡± Tatiana pleaded as she pulled Cynthia even closer.


    We lost track of time as we never stopped until we were sweating and out of breath. Our bodies were right next to each other when we were done though I was hugging Kaley from behind. Almost everyone was asleep and my eyes were about to fall down as well. However, Tatianaid behind me and hugged me from behind.


    ¡°Just in case¡­¡± Tatiana whispered before we all went to sleep.

 Chapter 425

    Chapter 425: 425


    Trying to fall asleep would usually take me a few minutes before I seed but this time, I fell asleep without moving around too much. However, I woke up in the middle of the night getting squished in the middle. The stupid thing was that the five of us shared a single nket even if there were a couple of spares just by the bedside. <center></center><hr>


    Everyone was pulling on it, making everyone huddle much closer than usual. I slipped off of them then I pped another nket open, making them morefortable when Iid it over them. I looked at my watch and it was a few minutes before I usually wake up so I just went to my armory.


    I turned the lights on and decided to continue the job we left off yesterday.


    We still had a lot to go through but I was nning on finishing a few dozen before we go to the Intercityter. I started with the guns we found in perfect condition first because I still need to double-check the internals just to be sure. Some need a few wipe-offs while some needed a bit of lubrication.


    I was alone for a while but Tatiana woke up first. Her head perked up from the bed and she started scanning around, seemingly looking for something. Her head eventually locked in my direction then she let out a yawn before approaching me. She sat next to me but she was still groggy as her head would fall down a few times. She put on a pair of gloves but she let out another yawn before she managed to continue her unfinished job yesterday.


    ¡°You could still sleep for a couple of hours, you know? I usually wake up at this time wh- oh, she¡¯s asleep already¡­¡± I tried to talk to her but I stopped midway.


    Tatiana was slumped on the table and was actually sleeping again. I just shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt and I carried her back to the bed. I rolled her in the nket like a burrito and I went back to finish what they started yesterday to reduce the clutter on my table. I had to brush the BCG from the rifle Kaley was cleaning yesterday for gunk but so far, I didn¡¯t have to rece or remove parts yet.


    I thought I would have solidarity for a few more minutes but Kaley woke up next. She was also groggy as she made her way to my side.


    ¡°Morning¡­¡± Kaley whispered.


    ¡°Kaley, you¡¯re dreaming right now.¡± I tried to hold back myughter.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ what?¡± it took a few moments before my words registered.


    ¡°You¡¯re dreaming~ this is all in your head~¡± I made my voice a little airy.


    ¡°Stop lying, you doofus¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Holy shit, is that f.u.c.k.i.n.g thing active all the time?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°That thing? That supernatural bullshit detector you and your mom have.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ depends¡­ what time is it?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, I really don¡¯t get how that works. Oh, it¡¯s 4:49 AM.¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯s the one I¡¯m working on yesterday?¡±


    ¡°Heh, already done.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ let me start with a new one then¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure, thanks.¡±


    Kaley and I worked with light conversation until Tatiana, Rin, and Cynthia eventually woke up. Tatiana was confused as to why she was suddenly inside a nket and the two had to roll her off. They joined us with cleaning the rest of the guns but there were still a lot of guns we needed to go through.


    We then heard a knock on the door telling us that the food was ready. We cleaned up and took a quick shower before heading down for our simple breakfast of fried rice and sausages.


    ¡°Kid, I have another idea.¡± Oscar said while holding his mug of coffee. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I was still finishing my food.


    ¡°What if we don¡¯t bring guns for trade today? That¡¯s good, right kid?¡±


    ¡°Are we trying to hike the prices up?¡±


    ¡°Yeah! We could even start a bidding war of some sort!¡±


    ¡°Instead of bringing nothing, let¡¯s just bring a tad fewer since we¡¯re not the only ones trading guns. It would be too suspicious if we bring nothing and they might not buy anything from us at all. They¡¯re all merchants there so they¡¯ll know what we¡¯re pulling off the moment we go hard on them. But yeah, we¡¯re just trading junk-tier to low-tier guns for their items and we¡¯re already making a killing. We make them worry but not as much.¡±


    ¡°Wha- can you just say no kid?¡±


    ¡°Want me to melt your f.u.c.k.i.n.g V8s?¡±


    ¡°Hah! Just kidding, just kidding. Let¡¯s leave in a few but I¡¯ll be waiting at the DDR Camp. I¡¯ll check in on that guy you found to see what he¡¯s doing.¡±


    ¡°Okay, old man. Check and see if Lawrence is over there and call him over if he isn¡¯t.¡±


    It took us less than an hour to prepare everything and we brought another cargo truck with us. We drove outside with two military jeeps with an M2 Browning attached, two cargo trucks, the 8-wheeler, Oscar¡¯s SUV, and my Raptor. We brought extra people for security and we made sure we have tools, gas, and spares prepared just in case our vehicles broke down. Each vehicle we brought out was made sure to be reinforced and modified for our safety.


    We also brought with us some requested items from the Intercity we could trade with extra value and they were mostly luxury items like cigarettes, alcohol, p.o.r.n, and even drugs. Items forfort were also brought out along with a few food items we could spare or not in the best of conditions. They were canned goods that had dents on them or close to their expiration date.


    We were driving for a few minutes and we saw our people from the Meycauayan outpost waiting at a convenience store. A pile of bodies was burning on one side and they hauled a few items on the back of the 8-wheeler when we stopped in front of them. <hr>


    ¡°Must be for trading. I¡¯ll take a look at that as well to see anything that catches my eye. I might get a discount too, heh.¡± I chuckled inwardly.


    We continued to drive forward while the people I was with were watching out for potential threats we might encounter or might be following us already.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro, there¡¯s smoke rising from Lias. It¡¯s quite far but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a huge fire.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Lias? We don¡¯t have time to check that ce now. Let¡¯s just continue on.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Any sort of ce that could be ssified as a point of interest was always reported no matter how trivial it was. Something that could be seen from far away might attract the attention of different kinds of people, living or undead.


    Driving the same path for a few days now made the trip shorter by a few minutes because we didn¡¯t have to stop and clear the cl.u.s.ters, unlikest time. It was a record time this day because we reached the Intercity an hour before noon.


    The soldiers recognized our convoy and made us enter the Intercity ahead of the ones still waiting outside. They had a maximum amount that they could let people in so they could safely manage them when someone tried to make trouble. It was dangerous for the people outside but the risk was worth it.


    Oscar and I broke off with the group after reaching Jomarro¡¯s ce and Oscar led the way to Mauricio¡¯s ce.


    Mauricio¡¯s shops were several times biggerpared to the others and the number of supplies he had in each shop was staggering. It was like he didn¡¯t manage to sell anything because the stacks and pallets of rice he had were still reaching the ceiling. I also discovered that he bought the ce next to him and used it as a ce where he could store all of the items he managed to acquire from trading his goods. It wasn¡¯t asrge but everything was gathered inside.


    We parked our vehicles in his main shop and one of his people recognized Oscar and signaled us to wait for a short moment. She ran towards Mauricio¡¯s office and knocked gently a few times.


    The door opened and his gazended upon us. After that, he then smiled and waved us over. We greeted him back and we walked over to his doorstep.


    ¡°Mr. Goodman, Mr. Ishiyama, d you coulde at the earliest. I thought it would be a couple more days but you actually came the next day. Okay, it¡¯s still a little bit early and we¡¯re still waiting for a few more people to arrive so why don¡¯t you let my assistant in this shop apany you for a bit to my other shop next door? You might find something you like and I might give you a good discount if you¡¯re trading good items for it. Sounds good? Oh, her name¡¯s Mona.¡± Mauricio gave a faint smile.

 Chapter 426

    Chapter 426: 426


    Mauricio looked like he was in part of the milling process of unhusked rice because dust and soot were all over his clothes and hair. It looked like he was just about to clean up when we arrived at his main shop. However, I surmised that the milling process urred in another shop because Mona had none of it on her person. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°If you would follow me, I¡¯ll guide you to our trading shop just right next to our shop here¡­¡± Mona made a small bow before waiting for us to follow her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll call you over when we are about to start or I¡¯ll just join you there if the others are gonna be running a bitte. I¡¯ll just clean myself for a bit and take care of some things.¡± Mauricio excused himself as he slowly closed his office door.


    ¡°Do you have a catalog for everything here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, yes sir. It¡¯s not as detailed but I made sure everything was written in.¡± Mona replied as she handed me a clipboard.


    Kaley¡¯s head hawked over my side as she tried to scan for the items written though Oscar went ahead and saw for himself. The list could use a bit of organization but her clean handwriting made up for it. I flipped the pages until the end before I handed it to Kaley. Tatiana and Jared nudged next to her to check on the items on the list as well.


    ¡°They have guns for trade too¡­¡± Kaley whispered.


    ¡°I saw¡­ ammo too¡­ let¡¯s check the condition first before we try and buy it. Some of them are quite expensive in terms of money too.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What if their asking price is more expensive than ours?¡± Jaredmented. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why I said we¡¯d check the conditions first. If the quality is that good, why not? We could make more food but we couldn¡¯t manufacture guns.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yet¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Kid! You gotta see this! Come here! We gotta buy them all!¡± Oscar raised his voice, ecstatic.


    Lois was next to him and he was also excited by the pile of items in front of them. The colorful boxes already gave it away and I was sure I saw a portion of them from the list Mona gave us. They were all ced right next to a wall with a warning sign of no smoking in close proximity.


    It was different kinds of fireworks.


    ¡°Hmm, we¡¯ll definitely have a use for them. The year is also ending so we might use a few that don¡¯t shoot up in the air for the kids. We¡¯ll just use those for signals to save a little bit on res. Some of them explode when the propent burns out too.¡± I nodded a few times.


    ¡°We could also repurpose the gunpowder kid.¡± Oscar added.


    ¡°Hah! Are you dying to use your f.u.c.k.i.n.g musket?!¡± I chuckled. <hr>


    ¡°What? No! Let¡¯s make the ones on guard duty confused as f.u.c.k when we make them practice with it. I could already see the oue!¡± Oscar cackled.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. We¡¯ll see, we¡¯ll see.¡± I was shaking my head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    We browsed through the items they have on disy but most of them we already have at home or could be easily procured from a scavenging run. However, there were some items that even if we already have at home, we wouldn¡¯t pass them up. Also, even if we could scavenge some of them ourselves, it would be the better choice to trade it with the items we could produce because these items would run out, depreciate, or would be difficult to produce in the future.


    There were a few units of sr panels, boxes of water filters, different kinds of batteries, cleaning agents, medical supplies, and the hottestmodity as of now, guns. They also have food items in stock but it wasn¡¯t as appealing to me and my grouppared to the ones Lois was drooling over.


    Several guns were ced inside a bulletproof ss case and a few guards were watching over them. There were also ded weapons in the mix but the martial ones were ced individually in a wooden rack. I didn¡¯t focus on it now because I asked for permission if I could check the guns from Mona.


    ¡°Umm, please wait for a few moments I¡¯ll ask Mr. Mauricio if it¡¯s okay¡­¡± Mona ran back after making another bow.


    Looking through the ss case, Oscar and I locked into a tremendously popr revolver in movies, tv, and games. I was looking at it closely if it was authentic but a closer look would validate it more. Oscar was looking at it almost ufortably so I decided to back off and look at the other ones on disy. I even discovered that a few that we sold before made its way in these cases so put it upon myself to make sure to check them carefully before buying.


    ¡°Heh, I have a few of these Pythons but if he¡¯s gonna f.u.c.k.i.n.g sell that, I¡¯d f.u.c.k.i.n.g buy it.¡± Oscar rubbed his chin excitedly. <hr>


    Mona didn¡¯t take long and she even came with Mauricio himself. He was wearing casual attire but an imprint inside his shirt revealed that he was wearing a thin bulletproof vest inside. He was carrying a Kimber 1911 in his holster with an extra magazine and a folding knife.


    ¡°Mr. Goodman, Mr. Ishiyama, I¡¯m surprised to know that you¡¯re interested in the guns I have for sale even if some of them are from your collection. Well, what do you have in mind? I know a fair bit of them but I¡¯d let you check them yourself to see their quality by yourselves.¡± Mauricio pulled out a key for the cases.


    ¡°I want to take a look at that Python. It looks real authentic but we could never be too sure.¡± Oscar immediately answered.


    ¡°Ah, the Python. It was recently traded for a Glock but-¡± Mauricio spoke but he was suddenly interrupted.


    ¡°WHAT?! Who¡¯s the motherf.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot that traded a f.u.c.k.i.n.g Glock for it?! Did it look like this kid?!¡± Oscar exploded.


    ¡°Oh, hahaha¡­ it is unfortunate but yes he traded this one for a Glock 17 and several rounds of 9mm. As you can see, I don¡¯t have a lot of .357sying around, even him, so he opted for a more¡­ economical solution.¡± Mauricio scratched his head, smiling.


    ¡°What kind of ammo do you have in stock?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Mostly .223s, 9mms, .22 LRs, and .45s but I have a few 12 gauges and .410s lying around with .357s and .38s. Oh, I¡¯m waiting for a payment of a few .308ster but they seem to be runningte. They¡¯re one of the people I¡¯m waiting for.¡± Mauricio answered. <hr>


    ¡°Who else will being then?¡± I probed.


    ¡°Oh, like-minded people that areing from different parts around this area though a few woulde from the city on the other side from where you came from. All of them are customers that let¡¯s say have a little more to trade than usual. Not only that, but almost all of the owners here areing as well so we could have a proper discussion of what to do with this ce.¡± Mauricio answered.


    ¡°And we¡¯re the first ones here? I don¡¯t see anyone parking in front of your shop yet.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°Ah, yes. They would alle from varying distances so their time of arrival couldn¡¯t be gauged properly. Anyway, to make up for it, I¡¯ll give that Python for free once you take a few items here off my hands. It¡¯s starting to get a bit cramped in here with the other itemsying around but a few guns with the cartridges I have on hand would be greatly appreciated.¡± Mauricio replied.


    ¡°We could do that but I have something that could solve your space issue. We have something we couldn¡¯t possibly bring back to our ce so I¡¯m willing to negotiate a good price for it. What do you think?¡± I looked at his calm expression.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. I was about to bring it up myself. I know that Jomarro is cashing out but he would be leaving his shop and a few lots where his storage areas are. There¡¯s also his milling, bagging, and sorting equipment inside that I¡¯m guessing would be left there to collect more dust. I love the idea of more space avable to me and I would take that into great consideration once you¡¯ve given me the list of the items that you wanted here.¡± Mauricio nodded a few times as he gave a faint smile.


    ¡°Okay¡­ from what you have here¡­¡± I paused for a short moment before I recited everything I wanted to acquire.


    The expression on Mona and his worker¡¯s faces turned into shock and Mauricio¡¯s smile was slowly turning brighter and brighter when he saw what I would be exchanging them with.


    ¡°I think you¡¯re the best customer I¡¯ve ever had Mr. Ishiyama.¡± Mauricio couldn¡¯t hide his ecstatic expression.

 Chapter 427

    Chapter 427: 427


    An item, let¡¯s just say a bottle of water could be valued differently by different people. It could be worthless to someone that owns a freshwaterke or worth its weight in gold to someone dying of dehydration. <center></center><hr>


    Trading items with people could be a whole lot easier and the returns could be greater if you have the right kind of item to trade with. However, there were some cases when there was an item being traded that both of you had more or less of equal worth to the item being traded with.


    That was when negotiations start. Which I f.u.c.kin hate if I do it with the wrong people or forck of a better term, dumbasses.


    Some merchants are extremely shrewd when ites to negotiations. A negotiation could take time and it would always eat away at your patience more so if you were negotiating with someone we identified as a dumbass. Having a few years of experience dealing with different kinds of people made me able to identify someone that wanted a fair trade or wanted to have a bigger slice of the cake.


    However, that shouldn¡¯t be taken literally.


    In reality, a ¡®fair¡¯ trade was the most unusual thing. It was almost the same as a good trade but it was slightly different.


    A ¡®good¡¯ trade meant that after the negotiations are over, both parties should be contented with the oue, could walk away happy, and possibly made a new friend, which could mean more business opportunities in the future. I discovered that it didn¡¯t matter how much someone paid for an item but what mattered was that person was happy paying this much for the item that they wanted. The same thing would apply if the roles were reversed.


    A ¡®fair¡¯ trade was like, ¡°Eh~ that¡¯s okay, I guess.¡±


    A ¡®bad¡¯ trade on the other hand was something like trading in several games in mint condition in GameHalt but only receiving a few cents plus maybe a store credit in return.


    This was one of the reasons that people shouldmunicate better with one another while not being a dumbass.


    From my brief talk with Mauricio, we traded information about the things that we wanted from each other. We both got what we wanted as we shook hands to seal the deal. However, he was surprised when I only took the free Colt Python with the several guns and cartridges that he had a fewer number of. I traded them with the guns he had a lot of bullets on hand and he decided to lessen the price of some of the items we traded. <center></center><hr>


    Mauricio didn¡¯t voice his opinion but his expression revealed what he was thinking.


    ¡°You¡¯re not the only shop here, right?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Oh, that is true. Well, in any case, I have a lot of sacks of rice fresh from the mill. If I could interest you with them?¡± Mauricio let out a faint smile.


    ¡°That sounds great but I¡¯m looking for imported ones. You know, for their shelf-life.¡± I replied, smiling.


    ¡°Hahaha, can¡¯t fool a like-minded person eh? I also have them on lockdown myself. It¡¯s all in storage and all my people are eating are the freshly milled ones ¡¯cause you know, shelf-life.¡± Mauricio added.


    ¡°He seemed really different thest time I was here¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hah! The f.u.c.k.i.n.g key to rationing food is rotation you dumb f.u.c.ks. Anyone would lose their head if all that¡¯s left is those hard ones. I like them in fried rice but f.u.c.k.i.n.g eating them steamed like you guys cook is hard on my teeth.¡± Oscar cackled.


    ¡°Ah, that is true.¡± Mauricio nodded a few times.


    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll send the 8-wheeler here to bring the items I promised. We¡¯d just take a look around the other shops for anything we might find.¡± I added.


    ¡°I see. My wife and I are cooking lunch for my people and adding in a few more wouldn¡¯t hurt. If your group coulde, I would like to invite you all for a simple meal. I¡¯d like to get to know my future business partners.¡± Mauricio said with a smile.


    My group then turned to me. <hr>


    ¡°You know what, my wife and I could cook a fair bit as well. Why don¡¯t we help you?¡± I offered help to see what his ¡®new¡¯ wife was in person. Kaley was toote to react when a round of teasing came.


    ¡°That¡¯s a great idea,e. I think she¡¯s still preparing the ingredients. We have a few helpers but it¡¯s better to always taste them before serving, right?¡± Mauricio gave a smile.


    ¡°Yes, we should always do that. Tatiana, you¡¯re in charge of Oscar. If he gets near any car part and starts offering prices for another V8, tie him up inside his SUV, okay?¡± I looked back at my group though Oscar started losing it. I briefly had eye contact with Jared and Lois and they know what to do while Kaley and I were away.


    We were then invited inside his office and the initial area was the ce where most deals were done with customers. He guided us to the 2nd floor and Kaley and I were surprised at what we witnessed.


    It was like a small home.


    There was a small couch in the living room and there were a few closed doors to the side. ssical music was ying on their CD Radio and our eyes slowly shifted to the kitchen area where ady was peeling potatoes with two other helpers.


    ¡°Must be her.¡± I thought to myself.


    She was wearing simple clothes with an apron and her hair was parted in the middle. She had a petite figure but she looked a few years youngerpared to Mauricio. She seemed to be in her early 40s but what caught my attention was how she was peeling the potatoes themselves.


    ¡°Wait¡­¡± I focused on her eyes and on her hands.


    ¡°Maui?¡± thedy spoke as she turned her head towards us. She had a very high and sweet voice. <hr>


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me.¡± Mauricio smiled.


    ¡°You brought soldiers? Wait¡­ they¡¯re kinda different¡­¡± thedy tilted her head and we saw her troubled gaze.


    ¡°Acid burns¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    Mauricio saw our solemn expressions but he didn¡¯t address it. He walked towards her before introducing us.


    ¡°Cathy, they¡¯re our new friends- wait, let me say business partner just to be a little safe. Could you twoe a little closer so she could see you two?¡± Mauricio waved us over.


    Cathy took our hands and we let her slowly caress our faces.


    ¡°So you¡¯re Sky and she¡¯s Kaley, nice to meet you two. Maui called me Cathy but my real name¡¯s Catherine. He must be getting revenge on me for giving him his own nickname, hahaha¡­¡± Cathy chuckled.


    ¡°Is that so¡­ what are you cooking then? From the looks of the ingredients, beef curry with carrots and potatoes? There¡¯s a lot of spices here so¡­ Well, we offered our help because we just closed a great deal.¡± Iid down my rifle and Kaley did as well.


    ¡°Oh! That¡¯s great, could you please check if I peeled them all off? As you can see, it¡¯s a little hard for me¡­ I¡¯ll taste the sauce here if it needs a little more spices.¡± Cathy gave a bright smile as she let us help her.


    ¡°Cathy I forgot to tell you, we¡¯d be cooking for a few more people, not just them.¡± Mauricio reminded her.


    ¡°How many?¡± Cathy tilted her head. <hr>


    ¡°We are a few dozen but I think six more including us would be okay since we also brought some food.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s okay then. I still haven¡¯t put in the beef in the pressure cooker.¡± Cathy gave another smile.


    Mauricio handed us our aprons as he put one himself. We wore them over our vests and we washed our hands first. We helped them cook and the vors she produced with the spices were mouth-watering. The aroma itself was intoxicating and I couldn¡¯t help but taste it even before it was fully cooked.


    ¡°This is really good. You ced¡­¡± I started reciting every ingredient I tasted.


    ¡°Wow¡­ you said them all. That¡¯s my great-great grandma¡¯s recipe¡­ she had a cookbook she made herself and it was always passed on toter generations. I¡¯m d you liked it¡­¡± Cathy was mncholic.


    ¡°Oh~ something like an inheritance then?¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s all in that little chest over there. They¡¯re really old and yellow so please be gentle with them.¡± Cathymented.


    I made sure that my hands were clean and dry before I even attempted to open the wooden box open. There were easily a few dozen recipes avable and I burned them inside my head. However, I still wanted to taste it firsthand because even if you have the right ingredients and you know the procedures, it could vary from person to person.


    It took us a while before we finished cooking.


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat! Oh, what happened to your eyes?¡± Tatiana suddenly popped out from nowhere.

 Chapter 428

    Chapter 428: 428


    Kaley and I went into panic mode and Tatiana realized that she misspoke. She rarely made a mistake and maybe the food that sent her here made her short-circuit. When the three of us looked at Cathy, she was just looking on the ground with a bitter expression. However, Mauricio was wearing a difficult expression. His eyes turned cold the moment he saw Cathy looking down but he took a deep breath and approached her. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I deeply apologize. It was my fault for speaking without thinking.¡± Tatiana immediately apologized.


    ¡°N-No¡­ it¡¯s okay¡­ it¡¯s been fairly recent since I became l-like this¡­ I¡¯m still getting used to it but I¡¯m doing okay now. I was just surprised, that¡¯s all¡­¡± Cathy waved her hands, telling Tatiana not to worry about it.


    ¡°¡­¡± Mauricio was rubbing Cathy¡¯s back.


    ¡°Excuse me but we have real doctors in my ce. I don¡¯t know much about¡­ partial blindness from what I think is due to acid burns or what exactly your condition is but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have someone take a look at it. All the facilities in my ce are still working and maybe they could figure out a treatment.¡± I decided to offer help.


    ¡°Y-You do?!¡± Cathy was about to cry as she hugged Mauricio tight.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t promise anything but if you want, you and Mauricio coulde back with us and have you looked at. It would depend mostly on what happened after the ident. Can I get more information? I¡¯m not an expert but it would be better to recall everything that happened so we could take the necessary steps. Did this happen when it hit or before?¡± I started.


    ¡°It happened just a month ago. That bitch sshed her with something. We thought it was just an ident before but it was deliberate considering what happened before. I was away when it happened but I was told she was given first-aid.¡± Mauricio answered.


    ¡°That f.u.c.k.i.n.g Karen?¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Umm- my e-eyes really felt like it was burning and I couldn¡¯t open them. I was alone for a while but I just felt a few people dragging me near a faucet and I heard them telling me that they needed to flush my eyes with water. It just hurt a lot but we have no one here to check on me. It took maybe 30 minutes before they stopped with making the water flow on my head then to my eyes. I still couldn¡¯t open my e-eyes after that but when I did¡­ I¡­¡± Cathy stopped talking as tears fell on the side of her cheeks.


    ¡°I see, do you have any idea what kind of substance was sshed on her? Did ite with a bottle at least?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really know. It could be bleach or any other cleaning products lying around this ce.¡± Mauricio replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Cathy, could you remember what it smelled like? Does it smell like bleach, ammonia, battery acid, vinegar, fertilizer, or nail polish remover? Something along those lines.¡± I turned to Cathy.


    ¡°Umm, I- think it smells like a-acetone? The one in those small white bottles?¡± Cathy answered.


    ¡°Nail polish remover then. Yep, that¡¯s the correct word as well.¡± I nodded a few times.


    ¡°Nail polish? Hmm¡­¡± Mauricio became silent.


    ¡°Will there be any difference at all if a different substance is used?¡± Cathy asked.


    ¡°Well, here¡¯s a bit of a lesson. There are three types of chemical burns: Alkali, Acid, and Irritant. I could go with the exact measurements but it all boils down to the pH scale. If you¡¯re sure that what has been sshed on your eyes was acetone, it could be categorized as an acid burn.¡± I started.


    ¡°And an acid burn is? It still sounds as grim as the other two.¡± Mauricio asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s not as severe as Alkali burns but it is still dangerous. This kind of chemical burn doesn¡¯t prate easily into the eye. Furth-¡± then Mauricio interrupted me.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t prate easily? But this already happened, how is that not as serious as the first one?¡± Mauricio was wearing a difficult expression.


    ¡°Calm down. As Cathy said earlier, she was alone for a while so it meant that the acetone lingered for a time and that¡¯s why it caused vision loss. Now, this is where it gets tricky¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Tricky?¡± the two looked at me seriously. <hr>


    ¡°This is the part where I don¡¯t know much. It would depend on how much damage was done in your eyes if an eye transnt is still possible.¡± I replied.


    ¡°W-Wait¡­ eye transnt?!¡± everyone eximed.


    ¡°As we all know, it¡¯s not like in the movies where anyone could simply take an eye out and shove it inside a person¡¯s eye socket, no. What our doctors could do as of now is more like a corneal transnt. It involves recing the- well, the damaged cornea, the clear frontyer of our eye with a new one from a donor. That is as much as I know from reading random books and shit but-¡± I was once again interrupted by Mauricio.


    ¡°N-No, Mr. Ishiyama that¡¯s already enough good news for one day. One more and I¡¯ll think I¡¯m dreaming. We¡¯lle with you after we eat with everybody, the food is getting cold.¡± Mauricio gave a bright smile.


    ¡°W-Wait- you still have something to doter, right? I could wait for a few more h-hours¡­ I have to prepare us a bag too¡­¡± Cathy was already crying.


    Then the loud Texan showed up.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k is everyone crying here?! You cut a sack of onions or some shit? At least have them¡­ them¡­ kid, what the f.u.c.k do you call those shit in a bowl where it¡¯s soft like a soup?¡± Oscar¡¯s entrance lighted everyone¡¯s expression up.


    Jared, Lois, and Mikhail came with him and they brought the food we also prepared for ourselves. Everything was ced at their dining table and everyone had a nice meal. They discovered what we talked about earlier and Oscar told them a few reminders.


    ¡°It¡¯s a particrly safe operation but your eyesight would still be a bit blurry in the early weeks. You could do normal tasks maybe in a month but you should always have a talk with your ophthalmologist. Also¡­¡± Oscar exined a few more things.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else besides me.


    ¡°What?¡± Oscar was confused. <hr>


    ¡°I sometimes forget that you also have medical training¡­ it¡¯s different from whatbat medics are trained for but still¡­¡± Jared chuckled.


    ¡°Bah! F.u.c.k all of you! This curry is really~ f.u.c.k.i.n.g good. Lemme have another serving!¡± Oscar bellowed.


    It didn¡¯t take long before some of the people that Mauricio was waiting for arrived. Not everyone from his list came and some people that were shopowners here also didn¡¯t bother toe. Since the number was already adequate, everyone gathered inside his office. It was a little cramped but I was introduced to new people and some people that I remember froming to this cest time.


    I became the representative of my group but the rest of them were just upstairs.


    ¡°So, now that everyone was introduced. I would like to start our meeting.¡± Mauricio started. He was giving off a different vibepared to when we were all with Cathy. The cold eyes weren¡¯t present but his presence was almostmanding.


    ¡°Can I say something first?¡± a bald guy named Jason that came from a few barangays over.


    ¡°Yes, you may-¡± Mauricio didn¡¯t even finish his sentence when Jason put his feet over the coffee table.


    ¡°Mauricio, the f.u.c.k are these other people in here? I tho-¡± Jason was about to talk trash then a woman named Mel wearing soft armor and had short hair interrupted him.


    ¡°Jason? What are you doing here? Aren¡¯t you supposed to take care of those f.u.c.k.i.n.g chickens in your little coop? Why don¡¯t you drop your supplies here so the people with the funds to trade properly could have more space?¡± Mel scoffed.


    ¡°Jesus Christ, can we have a proper meeting and let these two animal f.u.c.kers take a hike? It smells like chicken and cow shit over here. Mau, I just sent you the sacks yesterday, right? Are they all done milling? I could grab a few so I could cook some at home.¡± a built guy named Noah was already shaking his head.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K DID YOU SAY TO ME?!¡± the two ¡®animal f.u.c.kers¡¯ ording to Noah bellowed. <hr>


    The other representatives were all sorts of confused or fed up but someone¡¯s voice the followed made everyone pipe down.


    ¡°People, we¡¯re all here to talk about what we could do to help each other but most importantly, what we could do to this ce. This ce has walls high enough to protect us from the dead and this ce was the closest ce each one of us could meet face to face. Granted I¡¯m one of the outliers because I came from another province but I came first than all of you f.u.c.kers. If you keep on bbering bullshit like little kids, we wouldn¡¯t get anything done.¡± Jessica, a tall woman with amanding voice spoke out.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right!¡±


    ¡°Could we please get anything done?¡±


    ¡°Do we have snacks?¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g glutton.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s that kid next to Mauricio? Is he a soldier? Me likey~¡±


    ¡°Yourte-ass wouldn¡¯t be able to know. He¡¯s one of the top yers from what I¡¯ve heard.¡±


    ¡°Well, shit. That kid? First time I¡¯ve seen him.¡±


    It was about to go downhill once more but Jessica mmed the table to get everyone¡¯s attention.


    ¡°I¡¯ve talked with Mauricio before, I¡¯m in.¡± Jessica stated.

 Chapter 429

    Chapter 429: 429


    Mauricio immediately gave a nod when Jessica said that she was in. Noah also followed but it seemed that they already agreed on something before this meeting took ce. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°W-Wait, what are we agreeing on again? Sorry¡­ I¡¯m hard on hearing¡­¡± an old guy named Baron chimed. A kid next to him was trying to remind him about why we were all gathered here but Mauricio waved him down.


    ¡°Mr. Baron, we are all here to reach an agreement to make this Intercity a stronghold and what this ce always is, a Trading Center. This ce is also much biggerpared to most DDR Camps and even a few barangays.¡± Mauricio started.


    ¡°And how c-could that h-help us?¡± Baron leaned closer to hear Mauricio.


    ¡°If we¡¯re gonna have a safe ce to trade with people, this is the best ce. The high walls and the number of soldiers present here is not something to sneeze at. Don¡¯t forget, we were close to where that f.u.c.k.i.n.g cult was and they never managed to take this ce from us. They all opted to take the long route or avoid uspletely.¡± Mauricio replied.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t what you said the reason this ce is still dangerous? Those f.u.c.k.i.n.g people will sooner orter realize we would being here to bring items for trade or even storage. What if they just n an ambush when we¡¯re still on the road? We have the means to protect ourselves but I¡¯d rather protect my group from the f.u.c.k.i.n.g dead.¡± Jason added.


    ¡°Jesus Christ, you never listen to what anyone says eh? The kid over there already f.u.c.k.i.n.g killed their ringleader and a few hundred of his people a few days ago.¡± Noah rolled his eyes.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± Jason was shocked as his head snapped to me.


    Mel looked at Jason like an idiot though I felt Jessica¡¯s nce. Jason was looking at me for confirmation so I had to repeat myself.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true. Also, I¡¯m in with what Mauricio is proposing. However, I have a few things I want to add to his ns if he wanted to make this ce more secure if that what he¡¯s going for. My group had already put out several safety measures in my ce not just for the dead but also for hostile people. Aside from people guarding our entrances, it would be much safer if we have people clearing the roads from the dead and if we have a few ces secured outside just for the purpose of looking out for threats.¡± I exined my side. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m actually doing the same thing at my ce but we¡¯re saving up our ammo just in case of emergencies. We don¡¯t have a lot and I was actually surprised that the shops here are selling them.¡± Jessica added, looking at my gear.


    ¡°That¡¯s one of the reasons I wanted to make this ce a center for acquiring anything that you want. Trading is something we¡¯re very familiar with and it¡¯s something we could take advantage of to survive this thing. We should establish a working system that could benefit all of us as early as possible.¡± Mauricio stated.


    ¡°To be honest, we were alreadyte doing this but we should still continue with what he proposed. Sooner orter, our groups would¡¯ve looted everything that could be looted and we all know what happens after that. The ones that wouldn¡¯t be able to produce their own food would either starve or start attacking other people. We say we wouldn¡¯t do it but I¡¯m pretty sure time will tell that we¡¯re all hypocrites.¡± I added.


    ¡°A-And how d-do we prevent that child?¡± Baron looked at me solemnly.


    ¡°To prevent that, we need to make an agreement to help each other. As Jason said earlier, we have the means to protect ourselves but we¡¯d rather protect ourselves from the dead. Well, unless you¡¯re remnant members of the cult or hostiles, my group will f.u.c.k.i.n.ge for you.¡± I replied as the temperature lowered for a brief second.


    They all just stared at me for a moment before Jason spoke up.


    ¡°I get what you¡¯re trying to say but doesn¡¯t Mauricio and the other people who live here have the biggest advantage? They¡¯re all sitting pretty while the rest of us that came outside would still traverse the roads littered with the dead. I-¡± then Mauricio interrupted him.


    ¡°I¡¯m getting to that part. I already had a talk with Christopher, their CO, to let soldiers apany you back home with their gear and a few bonuses from my own stash. You could either let them guard your ce while you¡¯re away or take them with you wherever you want as long as they¡¯re given basic necessities and it¡¯s not a suicide run.¡± Mauricio exined.


    ¡°Mauricio has a few farms right next to mine so I¡¯m helping him take care of it with the soldiers that were sent to my ce. And as he said earlier, if we¡¯re gonna conduct business, this ce is the best choice. That¡¯s just the way it is unless you¡¯re able topete with that.¡± Noah added. <hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ well, I guess you¡¯re right. However, I have one final question before I join. We¡¯re talking about building a trade center and whatnot but what if my group runs out of things to trade? What happens then? We¡¯re talking about helping each other but what if the other side couldn¡¯t offer help anymore?¡± Jason sighed as he looked at each of us.


    Everyone was silent but Mauricio decided to answer his question. His eyes turned a shade colder as he began speaking.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the truth, our resources aren¡¯t infinite and we have our own groups to look out for. We have to make it work for ourselves first before we offer help to other people. I could- no, I will extend a hand but I¡¯m not giving away freebies. You have to contribute if you want to put food in your mouth and if you want to have a roof over your head. I¡¯m sorry but it¡¯s just the way it is. It¡¯s always been like that even before this thing started.¡± Mauricio said.


    ¡°Ipletely agree. In my case, I¡¯m still epting people but you need to provide me proper identification and you¡¯d undergo a vetting process. You cane with a group but if someone doesn¡¯t check out, I¡¯m sorry. Your group will decide to find another ce ore in with a few people absent. I don¡¯t care if you went through thick and thin. If you don¡¯t pass the test, you won¡¯t pass our gates. I don¡¯t want to say more about my ce but I¡¯ll leave means ofmunication to contact me if you ever needed to make that choice.¡± I added.


    Everyone was silent for a few minutes but one by one, they eventually decided to take part in Mauricio¡¯s n. Jason was still a little bit reluctant but Mel and Baron agreeing made him agree as well.


    ¡°Shit, at least it¡¯s better than getting nothing¡­ f.u.c.k it, I¡¯m in as well.¡± Jason shook his head.


    ¡°Jason¡­¡± I trailed as I suddenly remembered someone I¡¯ve met before.


    ¡°What? Why are you looking at me like that?¡± Jason rubbed his head.


    ¡°D¡¯you know a person named Quinn? He has a partner named John and-¡± I was interrupted by him. <hr>


    ¡°You know my Neph- no- I mean I don¡¯t know who you¡¯re talking about.¡± Jason snapped his mouth shut.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Jesus Christ, you could never be discreet, can you?¡± Noah helplessly threw his hands in the air.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he knows us. So, he¡¯s doing okay? We met briefly but I just guessed you might be the person they nned to reach from our short conversation.¡± I added.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ thank you. Want some eggs?¡± Jason did a 180.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°I¡¯d take some chickens.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°But the eggs will hatch eventually?¡± Jason replied. <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± I wasn¡¯t one to turn down free stuff.


    ¡°A-Anyway, as we discussed, anyone outside coulde into this ce anytime they like and we¡¯ll reserve a ce for them to store your goods. I just acquired a lot of space that could hold them while you¡¯re away and I¡¯ll contact you when someone took an interest in them.¡± Mauricio stated but he saw Jessica raising her hand.


    ¡°If you could, can you repurpose one of them to be a boarding house or a small room with a single bed at least? I trust your marketing skills but I want to be hands-on with some of the dealings. I have people at home that could run my ce so I could be away a few days at a time.¡± Jessica stated.


    ¡°I could but if you noticed, each shop here has an office like this but it varies in size. We could start with that for now and do some construction projects when we have the materials. If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll end the meeting now because I have somece to be in with Mr. Ishiyama.¡± Mauricio replied as he nced upstairs.


    It took a few minutes before everyone dispersed because Mona came out with snacks but I got to know a little more about our new business partners. I still got a few eyes doubting my achievements but I was not in the mood for face-pping. I just gave a smile and let them decide by themselves if what I said was true or not.


    I was about to join everyone upstairs but I felt a tap on my shoulder.


    ¡°You, I wanna talk to you, privately.¡± Jessica was looking at me when I turned around.

 Chapter 430

    Chapter 430: 430


    Jessica was looking at me with the same solemn expression she was carrying when we were introduced and when the meeting was ongoing. Aside from voicing out her opinions, when it was not her turn to speak, I noticed that she would carefully observe everyone¡¯s reactions and not just the expression of the one currently speaking. Thinking about it now, she carried herself well and she seemed to know what she was doing. <center></center><hr>


    She was around the same age as Cathy and I could partially guess why she wanted to speak to me privately. By looking at my gear and mentioning that her group was conserving ammo earlier, it was fairly obvious.


    ¡°We could talk here if you want. Mauricio and Cathy were the only ones upstairs beside the inner circle of my group. Or, do you want to move somece else?¡± I responded.


    ¡°I think that I want a little more privacy than that. There¡¯s a spiral staircase outside that could lead us to the roof. Can I borrow you for a few minutes?¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°If you want a special deal with my guns you need to give me something of equal value in quality or quantity. If that¡¯s all we¡¯re talking about, we could make a deal here.¡± I tried to save time by offering what I thought she wanted.


    ¡°Aside from that, I want an opinion for something else.¡± Jessica answered.


    Curious about what Jessica might actually talk about, I agreed because I still have the time and Mauricio was still getting ready. Mona saw us walk outside and when she learned of our intentions, she guided us because the way to the roof was secured by a small padlock. She unlocked it before excusing herself.


    The two of us were alone on the roof and even if it was a couple of hours past noon, the sun was still covered by the clouds.


    Jessica turned to me and said, ¡°You don¡¯t look like you¡¯re in the military.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not. So, why are we here? You got a few minutes.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Do you trust Mauricio?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s a weird question to ask. You¡¯re the first one to say that you¡¯re working with him and now you¡¯re asking me whether I trust him or not.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, trust is a different matter. I work with him and I think it¡¯s the same as what you are doing. I heard he¡¯s with a newpanion, the real one he adores. Thest time I was here, there was this little ¡®unpleasant¡¯ woman and her kid with a group of friends I didn¡¯t want to spend another second with. I¡¯m not sure about theplete details I¡¯ve heard so I¡¯m here to confirm a few things in my mind.¡± Jessica exined.


    ¡°Well, if you want to hear it from my point of view¡­¡± I started to tell my side of the story.


    Jessica listened to every single word that I said and she never broke eye contact. I was done after a few minutes and she seemed to be in deep thought. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll just look at it like he got what he really wanted. I¡¯ll keep my reservations to myself but you should too.¡± Jessica looked at me.


    ¡°I agree.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay, it wouldn¡¯t be fair if I took your time withoutpensation so you could also ask away anything from me and I¡¯ll answer it to the best of my ability.¡± Jessica stated.


    ¡°I want all the information you could give me about your ce.¡± I started.


    ¡°Hmm? Isn¡¯t that a bit too muchpared to what I asked you?¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°It is, but I heard that you could leave your ce for a few days, right?¡± I answered back.


    ¡°And what does that mean?¡± Jessica¡¯s eyes squinted, trying to decipher my intentions.


    ¡°Mauricio and his wife will being with me to my ce to see a doctor. For giving me information about your ce, you get to see mine in person. That sounds like a great deal, right?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then isn¡¯t that unfair for you?¡±


    ¡°It is, but I get to ask more questions, right?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°While you¡¯re with us, you could think about the things you could trade me for my guns and ammo. If you offer something nice, I will give you something better than what you see here.¡±


    ¡°C-Can I bring a few of my people then?¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You trust me already?¡±


    ¡°Not entirely but I trust in my people, you¡¯ll see. Besides, we¡¯re bringing a lot of items we traded back home. I could use some help.¡±


    ¡°Help?¡±


    ¡°Hauling them.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    It took a bit of time for Mauricio to leave everything to his workers and Noah was even asked to stay in his shop until hees back. In the meantime, I went shopping for once and I took Kaley with me. Our bags were full of items for trade and I was given a list of what remained of the items we brought here.


    The hottestmodity we have on hand aside from guns and ammo was alcohol, cigarettes, p.o.r.n, and drugs.


    Christopher and the rest of the soldiers knew of our intention to use the drugs we scavenged before as bait so they were on the lookout for users and dealers. A few of the medicinal marijuana we have back home are starting to grow mold so it was taken out and now used for trading along with the other goods.


    People didn¡¯t give much value to the items they¡¯re not using on a daily basis so I capitalized on that.


    I made sure to hoodwink people out of their medical supplies because, on the contrary, my people back home use them almost every day. If not for injuries due to training or doing tasks around the ce, they were also used to teach people how to use them properly. Anyone could have aplete set of everything avable but it would be useless if they didn¡¯t know how to use it.


    Bandages were easy to acquire along with rubbing alcohol, antibiotics, and other OTC drugs.


    However, having a good look around, it didn¡¯t take long for us to discover that certain ¡®services¡¯ were being offered. Even when the sun was still high in the sky, their business was booming. Aside from actually hearing what was happening between each customer by earshot, you could almost see some of them just out in the open. <hr>


    A few curtains were the only covering they had on themselves and a few gaps could allow you to see everything even from a distance.


    ¡°Kaley, d¡¯you know why that¡¯s a better business than peddling drugs?¡± I nudged Kaley when we walked right past them.


    ¡°What? Why?¡± Kaley tilted her head.


    ¡°They could wash their crack and sell it agai- OW! Kaley!¡±


    ¡°Stop! Are you 12?! I¡¯ve heard that joke a million times before! I thought you weren¡¯t gonna fo for it¡­¡±


    ¡°Then why are you trying to cover your face?! Hmm?! You¡¯re holding it in, aren¡¯t ya?!¡±


    ¡°I-I¡¯m n- *chuckle* fine! I am! Let¡¯s check that other shop over there. They seem to be selling guns¡­¡±


    ¡°You see? Isn¡¯t that hard to admit? Okay, okay, I¡¯m happy, I¡¯ll buy you anything you want there.¡±


    ¡°Hmph! Now you f.u.c.k.i.e.d up, I¡¯ll drain you.¡±


    ¡°Really? Thanks, I guess¡­ *snort* HAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°What? OH- I- It came out wrong! It¡¯s not what I- well¡­ Stop making stupid jokes!¡±


    Kaley walked forward in a hurry and we started looking at the disy. The shop had a few pump-action shotguns, a few handguns, but no rifles. However, when I checked the ammo they had on hand, it gave me a slight headache.


    A quarter of their 9mms were handloads.


    I noticed immediately because of the powdered lead projectile and how the brass casings used weren¡¯t as clean or tumbled long enough. It was shoddy work but some asshole was starting to get in the way of something I have a monopoly of. <hr>


    From the shops we have been to, this was the first time I discovered them.


    In all honesty, it wasn¡¯t something to worry about in terms of quality becausepared to mine, they were utter trash. However, in terms of the raw materials needed to produce them, that would give me some problems if another person was using them.


    ¡°Hey customer, looking to protect yourself, or deal some damage?¡± a young shopkeeper asked.


    Then my mood immediately lightened.


    ¡°Both actually, I saw those couple of soft armors on the side and these 9mm with the extra magazines. What would you trade them for?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, to get started, what do you have?¡±


    ¡°I have alcohol, beer, cigarettes, weed, and something a little bit stronger. However, if you want to expand your collection here, I have a few rifles I could trade in exchange for the soft armors and half of these 9mms you have on disy. Aside from that, if you could give a little information as to who traded these 9mms that are a little dirty, you could request for an item and I could retrieve it for you the next time we get back here.¡±


    ¡°These ones?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, those ones.¡±


    ¡°Wait, those rifles, what are we talking about? Do you have assault rifles or sniper rifles?¡±


    ¡°Umm- it¡¯s not-¡±


    ¡°I want the ck ones like the ones you two are wearing. Oh, do they have clips too? I¡¯d trade for a few more if you have extra clips?¡±


    Kaley and I looked at each other before almost telepathically thinking to ourselves, ¡°This is gonna be f.u.c.k.i.n.g~ easy.¡±

 Chapter 431

    Chapter 431: 431


    The shopkeeper Kaley and I were talking to were a few years younger than us and his name was Tyler. We found out that he was the son of the owner and instead ofpletely hoodwinking this kid, I just made the deal a little fair with a bit of a lesson. I exined to him the right terminologies and he was quick to catch on. He was adamant at first but a simple trick with a bit of showmanship made him believe what I said. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh~ there¡¯s a difference then? Jeez, I¡¯ve been calling it like that all this time! Well, thanks I guess.¡± Tyler was scratching his head.


    ¡°Anyway, I have a Bushmaster XM-15, which is basically an AR-15, the designation is just different because of Colt, and ites with a couple of extra magazines. It had no attachments but if you¡¯re just starting to learn, it would be better to get used to it without anything on it. The attachments we have on our guns could definitely help anyone but it would hurt you in the long run if you always rely on it.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Is that all that you have? I have a few other items to trade here. My dad would like it if he could have something that¡¯s used for long distances. Wait- I remember you exining that this is also used for hunting, right? Well, you know what I mean. I¡¯m looking for something that more or less just ¡®looks¡¯ the part. Do you have something like that?¡± Tyler added.


    ¡°If we¡¯re talking about that, I have a Winchester M70 and a Remington 700. They both have wood stocks and a budget scope mounted on them. They¡¯re both chambered in .308 and they could definitely reach farther than a 5.56 from the AR-15 I¡¯m trading. Where¡¯s your dad anyway?¡± I gave him a few options.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll take the Remington 700 then? Ah, he¡¯s just sleeping at this hour.¡± Tyler replied.


    ¡°Okay, here¡¯s what I think. I¡¯ll give you the Bushmaster XM-15 and the Remington 700 with 90 rounds of 5.56 and 40 rounds of .308. I¡¯ll add a couple of magazines for the XM-15 because that¡¯s where I¡¯ll ce the other rounds. However, I only have one avable 10-round mag for the Remington 700 and I don¡¯t have anything extra. In turn, you¡¯ll give me 2 Glock 17s, 4 extra Glock 17 magazines, 4 boxes of 9mm, 2 of those soft armor vests, and information about who sold you these handloads.¡± I proposed.


    ¡°That much? Aren¡¯t I in the red here?¡± Tyler took a step back.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t kid around. I already gave you a lesson for free and don¡¯t talk about rifle rounds as if they¡¯re equal with pistol rounds. Also, these soft armors you have can only stop pistol rounds for the most part. With this deal, I¡¯m the one taking a step back. You should throw in another box of 9mm or another Glock 17 at least.¡± I negotiated.


    ¡°Really?¡± Tyler was f.u.c.k.i.n.g clueless.


    ¡°This kid¡­¡± I thought to myself as Kaley and I almost facepalmed.


    ¡°Look, I could¡¯ve oversold everything I have but I gave you a fair deal instead. We¡¯ve been to a couple of shops already and it was one grumpy old owner after one grumpy old owner. It¡¯s nice to have someone our age watching over at least one shop. So, are we doing this or what? We won¡¯t be here long.¡± I replied, leaving the final decision to him.


    In the end, we happily shook hands and he threw in a knife, a pair of thick work gloves, andbat boots that weren¡¯t my size. It wasn¡¯t something I expected he¡¯d do but I figured that I still needed to make more deals with him in the future for extra freebies. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°About the info you need, if I remember correctly, a few guys wearing sporting gear were the ones that trade in those bullets you were talking about for a few sacks of rice.¡± Tyler said.


    ¡°Sporting gear?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Y-Yeah, it¡¯s not like the ones you were wearing but it¡¯s like a jersey for sports but there were guns and bullets in the designs.¡± Tyler replied.


    ¡°I see¡­¡± I trailed then Kaley looked at me.


    ¡°That actually makes sense.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°I-Is that okay? Do you need more info? Sorry, I don¡¯t have their names.¡± Tyler replied, worried.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s okay. I already learned plenty.¡± I faintly smiled.


    Aside from the guns, Kaley picked out a few essentials that we were looking for in exchange for the other items that we have on hand. One of our vehicles drove by to deliver the guns we promised and we shook hands again before leaving.


    I was given the message that Mauricio was ready to go and they were just waiting for us with Jessica. However, while we were driving back, Kaley tapped me.


    ¡°Did you discover something?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Well, the ones selling the shoddy handloads werepetition shooters. It actually makes sense for it to be them because aside from them, the only other people I could think about are range owners, gun shop owners, or people like Oscar and me. Wait, there¡¯s also the ones from the ck market but we still haven¡¯t encountered them. They should at least be around here somewhere but I¡¯m surprised they aren¡¯t causing havoc. The jersey Tyler talked about basically narrowed it down but there¡¯s a small chance of me being wrong in that assumption. The only other reason I could think of was I didn¡¯t find handloads for any other caliber aside from 9mms. It just baffles me that they made shit like that. Almost all of thepetition shooters I met wanted consistency in their rounds so almost everything they made was of good quality and not those shitty things like that. I¡¯d be surprised if none of them exploded in their faces or hang-fired.¡± I suddenly ranted.


    ¡°They might¡¯ve purposely made them just for trading?¡± Kaley suggested. <hr>


    ¡°Well- hmmm¡­ they could¡¯ve gotten more out of it if they made it the right way though. I don¡¯t know, crazy times. I was thinking of buying them too so I could re-manufacture them but I stopped myself.¡± I was shaking my head in disbelief.


    ¡°Why?¡± Kaley looked at me.


    ¡°Just for a very harsh lesson. They¡¯d know how to make things properly and if they didn¡¯t, they¡¯d lose customers and everything will just snowball against them. That¡¯s an ident waiting to happen but they wouldn¡¯t stop until someone loses a finger.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What if they didn¡¯t?¡± Kaley added then I got to thinking.


    ¡°Dammit, fine. Let¡¯s go back.¡± I relented as I turned the vehicle back to Tyler¡¯s ce.


    It was an awkward sight to see him caressing both of the rifles we traded with him almost ufortably but we just pretended that we didn¡¯t see him do that.


    ¡°Back already? You left something?¡± Tyler asked.


    ¡°No, can I check one of the handloads again?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, sure. They¡¯re all in this pile.¡± Tyler picked up the ammo can where they were ced before.


    I nned to buy everything but my curiosity made me pull out pliers from our toolbox. They were watching what I would do next but I pulled out the lead projectile from a few rounds. I was holding the cases upright then I poured the contents over a piece of paper.


    ¡°There is¡­ wait, what?¡± Tyler was confused, watching me.


    I started rubbing my be from what I discovered. <hr>


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g knew it.¡± I was ticked off.


    Kaley was silent.


    ¡°Tyler, I¡¯m sorry but you¡¯re gonna give me a huge discount for all of the ones sold to you. I¡¯m taking them all to avoid any idents in the future that might render someone incapacitated. This is something serious and we need to inform everyone about this.¡± I looked at Tyler with a grim expression.


    ¡°W-Wait¡­ what¡¯s wrong with them?¡± Tyler asked.


    ¡°If you see closely, they¡¯re filled with varying amounts of gunpowder but it looked like the ones who made these were drunk. Some are overloaded, underloaded, but look at this one, it¡¯s filled with dirt. The only way you could kill someone with this is to shove it in an opening with a f.u.c.k.i.n.g hammer. Better yet, just use the f.u.c.k.i.n.g hammer instead. The next time theye here, call the soldiers and have them deal with it. It¡¯s one thing to get a bigger slice of the cake by shrewd means but it¡¯s another thing to cause harm or severe injury by doing this crap.¡± I replied, pissed.


    ¡°Shit¡­ dad¡¯s gonna be so pissed¡­¡± Tyler was already having a headache.


    ¡°Take them all. You don¡¯t need to pay for them.¡± we suddenly heard a deep voice from their office.


    ¡°D-Dad¡­ I¡¯m sorry I- I didn¡¯t think that this would-¡± Tyler was worried and he couldn¡¯t look at his father in the eye.


    ¡°No, you¡¯re not at fault here. Even I would¡¯ve been duped. We should¡¯ve known better, you¡¯re a good kid. What¡¯s your name?¡± Tyler¡¯s dad waved him off as he looked at me.


    I briefly introduced myself and I introduced Kaley as well. We learned that his name was Tristan and he really did gave me the rest of the handloads we discovered. However, to not owe him because the materials I could salvage from those handloads were still valuable, I left the M70 I had on the truck with 20 more rounds of .308. He looked at me if I was sure of my decision but he already had a death grip on the rifle while his son had a death grip on the box of ammo.


    ¡°You¡¯re really sure? Huh? Are ya?¡± Tristan¡¯s eyes were wide from anticipation.


    ¡°Dad, don¡¯t look like that. There are two more rifles he traded with us!¡± Tyler added but he looked exactly like his dad. <hr>


    ¡°Damn boy. They have clips too!¡±


    ¡°They are called magazines dad. You f.u.c.k.i.n.g taught me wrong! I was losing street cred!¡±


    Kaley and I just nodded helplessly before I heard Jared calling me on the radio.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bro? Where are you guys? We¡¯re all good to go.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s just meet up on the gate.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 432

    Chapter 432: 432


    Tristan and Tyler gave Kaley and me another handshake before I drove our vehicle back to the gate. We were early for a few minutes but the cargo trucks that we brought were already parked over there. Unc Zardon, Jomarro, and the rest of his workers were present and they were also waiting for Mauricio and the rest of my people to arrive. <center></center><hr>


    I briefly talked with Christopher about the handloads I¡¯ve discovered and he told me that he would take care of it.


    However, when Mauricio arrived, he had another person unfamiliar to me tied up and gagged on the back of his Land Rover. My people that knew of it were wearing varying expressions but they were uneasy. I even discovered that Cathy was on the SUV Jessica was driving with a few of her people. I was about to ask him who she was but he saw my expression and guessed what I was thinking.


    ¡°I found myself the bitch¡¯s aplice. I hope- no, I¡¯m sure you know where I¡¯m going with this.¡± Mauricio said with the same cold eyes as before.


    ¡°Are you sure that she¡¯s an aplice? I¡¯ve already killed people but I need a proper reason for it.¡± I replied with a solemn expression.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m the same as well. For starters, I didn¡¯t need to get more information. When I showed up at her ce, fear was stered on her face and she immediately begged for forgiveness as she confessed everything that she did with that bitch. Long story short, I only have one thing in mind she could do so I could forgive her. I just tied her up because I¡¯ve already decided on it beforehand.¡± Mauricio exined but when he said that he¡¯d forgive her, I¡¯m not an expert but he definitely lied.


    It was a shitty feeling seeing someone beg for their life but it was funny if the one begging for it was acting like they did nothing in the first ce. People would have done a trial or something from the past, relying on the Justice System, but it was different now.


    I was sure of what he would do after getting what he wanted for Cathy but I didn¡¯t stop him.


    ¡°I would¡¯ve done the same.¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll drive between the jeeps but we¡¯ll keep a certain distance away from the cargo trucks. Drive close to me and radio in if you notice anything abnormal, that goes for the rest of us, okay?¡± I said to Mauricio and everyone.


    We made onest inspection of our vehicles before we drove outside. We were driving a little bit faster because it would be sundown if we drove the same way we usually did. We wouldn¡¯t stop for anything and we would drive through anything even if it was a horde.


    It was only a few minutes of driving before we heard gunshotsing from the front. It didn¡¯tst for long and the only thing we did was changenes and discover a few dozen bodies that tried toe out of a street corner. They were all piled up one after the other and the group up front did a great job of not letting the small cl.u.s.ter upy all fournes. The same thing was happening from the rear but it wasn¡¯t as frequent as the one from the front.


    Everyone was tense and the only thing we could hear was the sound of the engine and asional burst of gunfire. No one was allowed to turn their music on because it was something that could distract us, especially from a run as important as this.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Unc, ease a bit. It must¡¯ve rained on this area recently.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, was just about to. Don¡¯t worry, I got more experience than you driving trucks for a living, heh.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We got a situation.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hmm? Russel? What is it?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Umm, I need to pee. Like, really~ f.u.c.k.i.n.g bad.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Then pee. You don¡¯t need to broadcast it to everyone.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°C-Can we at least stop for a few? I bet a few of us were also about to?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Nah, we¡¯re good.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Same here.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Here too.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Just f.u.c.k.i.n.g hold it!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°F.u.c.k you guys!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just unzip and let it all out?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Jared will shoot me because I¡¯m at the jeep in front. If a dropnded, I¡¯m a dead man.¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Don¡¯t you have a water bottle?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I do but everyone¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g staring at me! I- I- I can¡¯t when- you know how I am!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Who told you to sit at the front then?! We can¡¯t stop now, it¡¯s getting dark too.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I might spill it everywhere!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Have them hold ¡°it¡± for you then.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHH F.U.C.K ALL OF YOU!!! I¡¯M GONNA DO IT!!! I¡¯LL REMEMBER THIS!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    A series ofughter urred and the tense atmosphere lightened for a bit. We were driving for a while and so far, there had been nothing to worry about aside from the spige that happened at the front jeep. The only time we had to make aplete stop was when we encountered a horde en masse, heading in the same direction we were.


    They were hogging all of thenes and we had no choice but to put them down.


    The first one that noticed our presence was disemboweled and missing its jaw when it turned around and it was followed by someone missing both of its arms. Lois sent a bullet through their skulls before several mangled bodies turned around and started heading for us.


    Their steps were sluggish and slow but they were leaving a bloody trail on the ground as they walked because it seemed they had just eaten and the ones that they ate joined them. It must¡¯ve been a few hours before thest time they fed on someone because there were fresh and crimson spots on their clothes, hands, and mouth.


    We have already witnessed them eating their own or themselves for an unknown reason but the colors we were seeing from them were different. It was usually dark and viscous but this time, it was crimson and slightly thick but a little watery.


    I thought a couple of them were conjoined but as it turns out, its arm was just buried in its back and trapped inside the ribcage of the ones it was next to. Nasty entrails just gushed out after I nicked the skin of its stomach. Because its belly was so full due to the amount it has eaten, it ruptured when a small opening was created. Let¡¯s just say that this one didn¡¯t chew as much because I could still recognize some of the parts that spilled out.


    We piled them in a corner and burned them afterward and we didn¡¯t check their bodies because of the time. It was almost sunset and as much as possible, I didn¡¯t want my group traveling in the dark.


    Time continued to pass and our 8-wheeler broke off from the intersection that would lead to our other outpost. I decided to leave it there for now and let them drive it back tomorrow. I still have a lot to do once we arrive so we decided to speed up once more. The area around our base was almost a ghost town due to the clearing group taking care of each one of them but this time, it seemed that they also cleared a swarm that came from the other side of the highway.


    A fire was burning in one spot as people were hauling bodies one after the other. It was already sundown so the smoke from the fire wouldn¡¯t be as much trouble.


    A few of them saw us approaching and the gates were slowly opened as we were let in. However, as a general rule ced on everybody, it was a routine check for any bites or anything that mightpromise our base. It only took a few minutes to check everybody but Mauricio and Jessica couldn¡¯t hide their surprise when they saw what we aplished.


    They were staring at me for a few moments after they got their breathing in check.


    ¡°Hey, you guys go on ahead to thepound and have the others help with hauling some of them to our storage areas. I¡¯ll apany Mauricio and Cathy to the hospital with Jessica and her group.¡± I said to Kaley and the rest because they look tired.


    ¡°O-Okay, see you in a few.¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Us too? Can I ask why?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°Routine check for new people. If you still have your IDs with you it would be faster but don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just a simple check-up for everything. After everything is done, you guys could explore around with me while I will leave Mauricio and Cathy to our ophthalmologists.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, plural?¡± Mauricio added.


    ¡°Oh, they¡¯re husband and wife. Before you ask, yeah, we have more than one of each. Well, they¡¯re learning other trades too but they¡¯re genuine doctors that could help you. They know their shit better than me because they actually studied for it.¡± I replied, faintly smiling.


    They were in deep thought but I guided them inside. They couldn¡¯t stop but look around at everything we pass by and they were surprised by the number of armed individuals that were present.


    ¡°They¡¯re all soldiers?¡± Jessica asked.


    ¡°Mostly civilians but yeah, they could be soldiers too in a sense. They¡¯re all trained and you know that quote?¡± I looked back at her.

 Chapter 433

    Chapter 433: 433


    ¡°What quote?¡± Jessica asked though I saw Mauricio look back as well. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°There¡¯s a bit of controversy if it was real or not because the letter couldn¡¯t be found or didn¡¯t exist but one of the quotes that were always repeated was, ¡®You cannot invade the maind United States. There would be a rifle behind every de of grass.¡¯ and so and so from what I¡¯ve read. I aim to have every single one of my people trained to use guns because, in every fight, a gun is always the equalizer.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, every person here has one?¡± Cathy asked.


    ¡°We already armed each household with at least one gun but their skill level is something I want to increase a bit more. I have a select few that could use them well aside from the soldiers but there¡¯s still a huge disparity between the ones that could use them from the ones that could really~ use them well. More training is the solution but there¡¯s still the issue of how much ammo we could distribute whether for training, runs, and defending this ce. We need to achieve the sweet spot so we could run this ce smoothly.¡± I exined.


    ¡°I still can¡¯t believe it. How many ces have you looted to achieve this much equipment? Even the military vehicles here are several times more than what I have at home. Granted you¡¯re in the NCR but this is too much.¡± Jessica was shaking her head.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say that I already have a few tucked away just in case this thing happened. It gave me and my group a great headstart so we¡¯re doing better than most ces. But yeah, we¡¯ve looted a few ces since that added greatly to our military strength. The equipment we have here is great in number but I wanted to acquire more. A tank or two would be great but we need to go deeper into the city to maybe snatch one.¡± I replied.


    They were all just staring at me and the look on their faces told me that they wanted to ask more questions but they couldn¡¯t figure out what to ask first. They discovered a few of my cards but their reactions told me that their situation wasn¡¯t good as ours. I initially have no idea how much power they could wield even in the case of Mauricio.


    Mauricio had some sway in the Intercity but he does not have fullmand of everyone.


    ¡°I just need to find out more from Jessicater¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    It took a few minutes before we met with Dr. Amante our ophthalmologist because she was residing in a house from Woonds with her husband. I thought they were still in the DDR Camp so we made a call and she said that she would being soon. <center></center><hr>


    Jessica and her people were being checked by another doctor so I left a soldier to apany them for a short moment.


    ¡°Sorry for the urgent call, we just wanted to get our friend checked as fast as possible to see if surgery is still possible.¡± I said to Dr. Amante.


    ¡°Oh, no worries. That¡¯s why I am here. Is she? Can I take a closer look?¡± Dr. Amante replied as she turned to Cathy.


    Mauricio and I were silently watching what she was doing as she was running a few tests. We told her the full story after and she couldn¡¯t believe such a thing happened. The two of us couldn¡¯t remember how much time had passed because the two of us were deep in thought. I didn¡¯t know what Mauricio was thinking but I just had a thought regarding this type of surgery.


    The cornea that was always used for a corneal transnt would alwayse from a dead donor.


    I had no f.u.c.k.i.n.g clue how any of this works but there was one thing I was thinking of what might happen, Dr. Amante would have to get the fresh cornea from a living donor. Acquiring one from the dead, even from someone that died recently was out of the question and too much risk was involved.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Dr. Amante herself brought it up.


    ¡°You know, this type of surgery¡­ we need a donor. We have no idea how this virus workspletely but-¡± then Mauricio interrupted her and it seemed that both of us were thinking the same thing.


    ¡°I already have one and she¡¯s more than happy to donate everything she could just to atone for what she did. Whatever you have to do, please do it for the sake of my wife. I know it¡¯s ethically and morally wrong for you to do it the way we are all thinking of but that¡¯s the only way we could proceed now. This is literally an eye for an eye.¡± Mauricio stated with a firm tone. His eyes were cold as I would have expected but the words that came out of his mouth were genuine.


    ¡°Maui¡­¡± Cathy seemed uneasy but her face wasn¡¯t showing unwillingness. <hr>


    ¡°Wait a sec, if you¡¯re looking for a donor, does that mean that it¡¯s still possible?¡± I tried to confirm.


    ¡°Yes, the burns didn¡¯t reach deep enough to the deeper parts of her eye so surgery is entirely possible. However, are you aware of some of the risks involved?¡± Dr. Amante replied.


    ¡°Yes, we do. Mr. Goodman already informed us of it and we¡¯ll be happy to follow through with it.¡± Mauricio and Cathy replied.


    ¡°I understand. The surgery itself would onlyst for an hour at most but I need to do more tests with my husband. We¡¯d also need to check on your donor if she¡¯s eligible because we couldn¡¯t simply just take it from her and transfer it to you. Also¡­¡± Dr. Amante said a few more things.


    ¡°In any case, we need to be here for a while, right?¡± Mauricio took a deep breath.


    ¡°Well, to be specific, we just need to run a few more tests on her. I understand you¡¯re here for her support and that¡¯s important as well. You said something that you two live a few hours away from here so I rmend at least Mrs. Cathy here stay in this ce before and after the surgery. There¡¯s also aftercare involved so please do understand my worries.¡± Dr. Amante exined.


    ¡°I understand. Thank you very much.¡± Mauricio breathed a sigh of relief.


    ¡°Thank you too.¡± Cathy turned to me and gave me a small bow.


    ¡°No problem.¡± I replied. <hr>


    I looked at the door and I saw one of Jessica¡¯s people leaning over the ss pane, trying to check in on us. His name was Eric and he was immediately pulled by Jessica and disappeared. Dr. Amante was exining a few more things to the two so I briefly excused myself to check on Jessica and the people she came with.


    ¡°You guys done?¡± I asked them as I waved the soldier next to them that I could handle it.


    ¡°Yeah, they were really¡­ thorough.¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Hey, question.¡± Eric interjected.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I noticed that he was standing weird.


    ¡°Is¡­ Is¡­ Is the colonoscopy really necessary? Thest time I had that done was when I went to work abroad¡­¡± Eric said.


    ¡°Eric¡­ don¡¯t evenin. At least we know that we¡¯repletely healthy!¡± Jane, the other one that came with Jessica said.


    ¡°Then all¡¯s well that ends well. Sorry, our doctor here never does much of their work so they get a little excited when they get to do their real job. I remember telling you that they¡¯re studying other trades while they don¡¯t have any work here.¡± I exined, slightly embarrassed.


    ¡°So, those two got sorted out?¡± Jessica asked with a solemn expression.


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯ll be taking some risks but it¡¯s for the better in the long run. What¡¯s your opinion on their donor?¡± I replied. <hr>


    Eric and Jane went quiet though Jessica just looked on the ground briefly before looking back at me.


    ¡°I¡¯d be against it in the past but we¡¯ve done shitty things as well. How about you? Well, you did bring him here and all but there could be other motives surrounding that. No offense, but Mauricio now owes you big time for doing that. He would give you half of what he owns in the Intercity just for Cathy.¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°Hmm, let¡¯s just say we think on the same spectrum a little bit but he¡¯s more abrupt- or should I say decisive, in his decision-making process.¡± I said as I leaned on the wall.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, you give me a different vibe. Anyway, I don¡¯t know the right time to tell you but I very much would like to take home a few dozen guns you could spare with the corresponding ammo. I doubt the ¡®few¡¯ that you tucked away was literal.¡± Jessica was staring at me.


    ¡°Heh, like I told you earlier, if you have something nice to offer, I¡¯ll give you something better than what we were selling in the Intercity.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t guns just guns? How could something be better than that?¡± Eric interjected.


    ¡°If I have to tell you why, I¡¯m speaking to the wrong people. We¡¯re all traders, I¡¯m sure you know the answer yourself.¡± I faintly smiled.


    ¡°Umm- ah, sure. I understand, I¡¯m j-just testing you. A-Anyway, the term ¡®something nice¡¯ is too vague for me. Can you give me something specific that you want?¡± Eric fidgeted.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take anything of value but information is something I value the most.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How about an airport?¡± Jessica said.

 Chapter 434

    Chapter 434: 434


    I¡¯m not gonna lie but when I heard Jessica mentioned the word ¡®airport¡¯, I was half-doubting if she was speaking the truth. However, my face showed a hint of surprise, and a faint smile was formed on her face. Owning an airport was huge but the huge drawback was the distance between our bases. <center></center><hr>


    I discovered that she was living in Pampanga but this was the first time I heard that she reimed an airport with her group.


    ¡°Are you talking about the rk International Airport?¡± I tried to confirm.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the one. The only one in my ce, if I remember correctly.¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s something huge to have at your disposal. The nearest one here is a few cities away but it is closer because everything in this region is tightly packed. However, the first one we encountered was from that ce and unless it was cleared by a group like yours, it probably is infested.¡± I looked back at her.


    ¡°So, is that something nice to offer? For your guns?¡± Jessica replied.


    ¡°It is something useful but it is something I don¡¯t have the use as of now. As you can see from the roof, I have a few helicopters and what I need most is fuel to run them. Besides, unless I¡¯m making an international flight, I wouldn¡¯t have much use of airnes. However¡­¡± trailed.


    ¡°However what?¡± Jessica was slightly dismayed, the same as Eric and Jane. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I will have a use for them in the future. I couldn¡¯t reveal much of my ns yet since they¡¯re still ongoing inside my head but I just need more time to consolidate my ns because I still have a lot going on. Each project I startes with several smaller projects or even another full-blown project and I need to n them carefully. Anyway, you guys are living inside one of the country clubs, right? The one near a river?¡± I exined then I asked a question.


    ¡°Whoa, how did you know we¡¯re living in that ce?!¡± Eric interjected but Jessica and Jane were surprised.


    ¡°I don¡¯t, but it¡¯s the logical choice. Location-wise, it¡¯s much easier and faster to nt more crops than to build high and sturdy walls. I¡¯m guessing you are upying one or two of them which are right next to each other. The country clubs over there offer a lot of housing space, high walls, huge plots ofnd due to the golf courses, and ess to maybe the Sacobia River because it¡¯s much closer to the airport. You¡¯d also be given a bonus of food items and luxury goods inside but you¡¯d be super lucky if a DDR Camp was formed inside which I think didn¡¯t happen with you. However, I¡¯m guessing your group managed to get ahold of a few weapons from the DDR Camps that were overrun but the number is too few and you¡¯re just starting to get low.¡± I formted a guess based on past conversations and knowledge from their general area.


    Eric and Jane were staring at me with mouths agape while Jessica looked at me even more deeply. It seemed I hit the nail on the head dead-on and Jessica was thinking if she made a slip and revealed everything about her camp beforehand. A bit of tension was forming between us and Ipletely understand from what their reactions wereing from.


    Sensitive information on one¡¯s base should be kept with utmost secrecy and any information that leaked out, even just the exact location, could be tantamount to giving your base away in a silver tter in the wrong hands.


    Jessica and I were not as close to trusting in each otherpletely but my simple guess made them vulnerable in their eyes. It was because they already know a few things inside my base but the three of them could be simply silenced and information on their deaths could easily be fabricated.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I wouldn¡¯t spend all that trouble to have you three checked with my doctors just to lead you on with a false sense of security. I¡¯m here to make friends and let¡¯s just consider this a little bit of shock therapy. If you forgot, I remember telling you that I value information more than anything else. I could¡¯ve guessed that any other day but it wouldn¡¯t be ssified as correct and reliable information unless going to that ce directly or your confirmation based on your reactions. In the end, I only confirmed that you three are in a group, you¡¯re low on guns, have an airport, and have set up base in one or two country clubs.¡± I exined to ease some of the tension.


    They were in deep thought but Mauricio, Cathy, and Dr. Amante walked out of their office. <hr>


    ¡°Mrs. Cathy, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow morning with Mr. Mauricio, okay? Have a good night¡¯s sleep and my husband and I will take good care of you.¡± Dr. Amante smiled before excusing herself.


    ¡°S-Sorry we took so long¡­¡± Cathy said as she squinted her eyes.


    ¡°No worries, how did it go?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s better than expected. What are you guys talking about?¡± Mauricio replied.


    ¡°Oh, I guessed something they¡¯re trying to keep a tight lid on and I¡¯m trying to assure them that I wouldn¡¯t kill them by poisoning their food, twisting their necks, or stabbing them in their sleep.¡± I replied casually.


    ¡°Wha- don¡¯t joke about things like that!¡± Jane eximed.


    Eric was shocked and speechless but Jessica just breathed a sigh of relief. She just shook her head and we eventually told Mauricio and Cathy about what happened. <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, I can¡¯t believe you identally threatened and then joked around morbidly with a sheriff. I thought what Oscar said about you was a lie but you¡¯re just gettingfortable eh?¡± Mauricio gave a smile as Cathy chuckled.


    ¡°So you¡¯re actually a sheriff? I could see that happening based on a few things. Anyway, we¡¯ll get morefortable by heading to my ce over a te of good food. I bet some of them have started eating but my aunt would always save us a te.¡± I said as I stood up and lightly stretched my body.


    We drove for a short bit but surprise was stered on their faces once more when they saw the inside of thepound. It wasn¡¯t because of the pressure like the gates exuded but because of how homey it felt. I introduced them to my people and they were warmly weed. Zeus greeted them next but I was carrying him the whole time because he jumped on me the moment my foot reached thepound. After that, the kids then politely introduced themselves before they went back to their parents.


    When Iid down Zeus, Kaley walked up to me and handed me a te. Mauricio and the rest were guided to the table by my aunt and they were given tes as well. We had a hearty meal with breaded fried chicken eaten over rice,bined with a creamy vegetable soup.


    ¡°Wow~ This is really good!¡± Eric eximed.


    ¡°Eric! Be courteous at least!¡± Jane nudged him.


    ¡°What? It¡¯s free food!¡± Eric was eating messily.


    ¡°There¡¯s more where that came from! Don¡¯t worry!¡± Aunt Sharon replied. <hr>


    ¡°Seconds please!¡± Jane did a 180 much to Eric¡¯s surprise.


    We soon finished eating with everyone then we started the meeting. Rin was already informed beforehand that we would have guests so a few things from our daily report were omitted, especially about our ability to manufacture high-quality bullets. They could have an inkling that we could but unless proven or confirmed, it wasn¡¯t correct or reliable information. They don¡¯t have the power to force us to reveal that card because they might wake up a sleeping giant.


    When the meeting ended, we gave Mauricio and Cathy a separate room, the same as Jessica, Eric, and Jane. Mauricio and Cathy decided to rest early in Oscar¡¯s house while the three decided to join us in the gym. They wanted to see more on what¡¯s going on a daily basis and they were shocked when they discovered that my group was throwing down and having a sparring tournament every night, after every lesson.


    As expected, Jessica was trained in a few things but she wasn¡¯t able to beat our elites that were training every single day. She managed to beat Ashley and Alex by using experience but when she got to Vera, it started going downhill. Cynthia even beat her and it surprised Eric and Jane who were just watching from the side with snacks.


    ¡°Whew, it feels good to sweat but how I wish I never stopped training. I kinda lost my edge and I discovered it when I fought that other Rus- her name is Vera, right? I wish everyone in my ce are doing the same things you are doing here¡­¡± Jessica said as both of us took a water break.


    ¡°It¡¯s never toote to start again. They might just need a little~ bit of shock therapy.¡± I chuckled.


    Jessica chuckled as well as she remembered our conversation earlier. However, I excused myself because Mikhail was waiting for me. I decided to challenge him every single day possible so I could test myself with someone that exceeded my strength by several folds. It was a great way to learn more about my physical limits and one day break through them.


    Mikhail was even learning about his own weaknesses and he was also slowly oveing them. It was a win-win for both of us but most importantly, I could let loose for a bit when I was fighting him.

 Chapter 435

    Chapter 435: 435


    Aside from raw power, Mikhail¡¯s body could also take more damage than a normal person. Unless I specifically aim for his vital spots in rapid session, I would have a difficult time taking him down. <center></center><hr>


    Well, what I meant by letting loose earlier was trying to take him down without doing what could achieve it the quickest way possible. Essentially what I was trying to do was have a difficult time.


    ¡°All for the sake of having the sphincter tight. Why did I even start to use self-imposed rules this time? Hope I don¡¯t start to get a bowl cut and bushy eyebrows¡­¡± I thought to myself as I even doubted myself for a stupid decision.


    I started dancing with the big guy.


    My palms were lightly clenched when Mikhail opened up with a crisp left jab. I moved towards it but my feet were going in the direction of his left side. His fist quickly retracted for another jab but jabbing while aiming at someone from an angle away from you would give out a very small opening unless you pivot your body towards the same direction.


    Well, Mikhail f.u.c.k.i.n.g did.


    I shuffled for almost half a circle before he got fed up and threw a right hook instead.


    Mikhail¡¯s face was wide open but I timed my right fist to hammer down on his right wrist and it was only possible after a step back and because he was taller than me. I added power to the strike and his body slightlypensated as his hand blew downwards.


    A frontal kick to his face was the best next move but I sent an axe kick towards his right shoulder. The feedback was great but I quickly rolled sideways to avoid his left arm that was reaching for me.


    Our position was reset and he figured out what I was trying to do.


    We continued for a time but no onended a knock-out blow. Our timer was miraculously heard for the first time because it would usually end much faster than five minutes. However, I saw him rotating his wrist and his shoulder after the fight because those were the two spots I always aimed for.


    ¡°Trying something new Boss?¡± Mikhail said after handing me a cup of water.


    ¡°Something like that. We still have a lot of Ibuprofen but I just wanted to save a couple.¡± I joked.


    We were casually chatting when our radios buzzed one after the other. It was rare for this to happen and the atmosphere quickly changed. Jessica and her group noticed our expression but I grabbed my radio just by the side of the door. I asked Russel to turn the music off because we couldn¡¯t hear the message clearly.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah? Sorry, we¡¯re in the gym. Can you repeat what you said?¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sir Ishiyama, there¡¯s been a situation here and- umm¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to exin sir. It would be better if you see this yourself. It came from the highway and a few more were trickling in.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What? Trickling in?¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Umm, we¡¯re really at a loss here sir. Pleasee at the earliest so you could see it for yourself.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Grab some footage if you could but we¡¯reing.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, sir.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Everyone grew curious and our training session quickly ended.


    Kaley and I went to our room just to wipe ourselves and have a quick change of clothes and wearing our protective gear. It didn¡¯t take us long but we made sure that we were locked and loaded. Tatiana was already heading down with her Benelli M4 when Cynthia followed right behind us. <hr>


    Oscar and Mauricio were also present below with the rest of my people and they were wearing varying expressions.


    ¡°We¡¯ll look after her.¡± Marisha told Mauricio when he was hesitating to climb on Oscar¡¯s SUV.


    ¡°I¡¯ll stay here.¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°I¡¯ll stay here just in case too.¡± Johnny added.


    My group was in Tatiana¡¯s Humvee and we passed by a few of our people that decided to run. We parked inside the DDR Camp but we had to walk to the other entrance to reach the main road.


    A clump of people that were staying in the DDR Camp was watching from atop the catwalks built around the walls while some were trying to get information by chatting up some that were told to get back.


    They moved aside when they saw us arrive and a good number of the soldiers were outside just looking at the distance with normal shlights. However, it wasn¡¯t enough to give us the proper information. It was dark outside and the moon wasn¡¯t even helping us because of the clouds covering it.


    I briefly nced to where their eyes were fixated but I couldn¡¯t spot anything that was amiss. There were a few deadheads from a few meters away and a pile of them on the road but when I was about to look at my scope and turn on the illuminator, Oscar turned to Ferdinand.


    ¡°What happened here? I couldn¡¯t see anything.¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°We¡¯re not too sure either but watch the pile and a select few from the onesing close.¡± Ferdinand replied.


    ¡°What?¡± Oscar asked, confused.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m gonna grab the drones and the high-powered shlights from the Humvee.¡± Lois pulled Jared with him.


    The two were away for a while but Kaley and I were looking through our scopes while Tatiana and a few of my people were looking through their binocrs. No one had attempted toe close because of the unknown we were facing.


    I still haven¡¯t spotted what was wrong right until one of the figures approached the pile. It was approaching ever so slowly then if plopped as if its strings were cut off.


    Everyone thought that it tripped but it didn¡¯t.


    It never moved after that and it left the group that came with me just as confused as the people that were already present when it was first noticed happening. No one fired a shot and there was even no evidence of it being struck on its head or any parts of its body to warrant what just happened. <hr>


    Jared and Lois came back looking at our confused expressions but I retold them what happened. We had nothing else to do but use the items they brought to somewhat shed a light on what was happening.


    The few times we have used the high-powered shlights was when we were surveying an alley or that time when we had to illuminate the inside of the public market. It was several lumens higher than a standard shlight and it was almost like a beam when shone into the darkness.


    The moment we shone it straight towards the main road, we discovered a lot more silhouettes from the distance.


    We just got ready just in case of anything that might happen but the drones flew in that direction. Looking at the disy, it seemed to be the same thing and the only difference was the angle we were looking at. The drones just hovered for a while before another one plopped dead right at the pile on the road.


    Not everything that came close to the pile would plop dead as Ferdinand said but it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g confusing.


    We had no way to differentiate them from the normal ones unless we wait for them to reach that threshold, which was the pile of the dead slowly increasing.


    ¡°Is it a variation of the boundary from the ones we¡¯ve faced in the public market?¡± I thought to myself but I was still having doubts. We faced a few more of them from past runs but each and every time, they were upying an enclosed area with a feeding area at the innermost part.


    It could be a new one, a variation, or a different irregr behavior they developed in time.


    ¡°Turn those high-powered shlights off for now because it might attract more attention than necessary. We need to take a closer look.¡± I said to my group as I drew my katana.


    We slowly inched forward but I made sure to cut down the ones that walked past that pile. I would receive the same feedback from lopping off a part of their head and I confirmed that they were the normal ones. However, I paused walking for a good distance right before the pile as I held my katana on the opposite side.


    I stabbed each head that was in front of me just to make sure they were not camping. We camped a lot on these f.u.c.kers but I wouldn¡¯t want the same thing done to me.


    After I was done, we took a step past their pile and we cut down each one that came close.


    That was the time when I found the distinction I was looking for.


    One of them wasing close to me with crooked arms stretched out but it was moving more sluggishpared to the ones we¡¯ve faced. I didn¡¯t put it to mind as much because its body was in all sorts of decay and parts of its skin were already falling off.


    Its neck was wed out and crusted kes made with pus and blood were leaking out over each other.


    I simply cut its arms off before lopping half of its head. My de entered the side of its face and went out cleanly to the other side. A part of its nose was still intact but everyone was shocked when it continued to move forward.


    I took a step back, the same with everyone but it just plopped on the pavement when it reached the pile.

 Chapter 436

    Chapter 436: 436


    The surroundings had never been so quiet when we witnessed a corpse with half of its head missing, continuing to move a few feet, then plopping dead where what it should have done the moment I lopped its head off, not when it reached the pile of the dead that did the same thing. <center></center><hr>


    The first one to move was Oscar and he decided to pull on its shirt before throwing it back a few feet. A few had the same idea with the other corpses as they also lifted them up and threw it back to see what would happen next. Mikhail even threw a few that walked past the pile just so we would have more of aparison.


    Everyone was observing the rotting corpses to see what hey would do but after a full five minutes, after they took a step back, we were essentially click baited. It was a good idea to try it but this time, it just added more to our confusion. However even if it wasn¡¯t the one to answer our questions, by process of elimination, we would eventually discover it if we try all the options.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k is going on¡­¡±


    ¡°It should¡¯ve worked, right?¡±


    ¡°Can we try¡­¡±


    ¡°Wait.¡±


    ¡°A few more are iing, wait a sec.¡±


    I was still thinking of other things to do when I heard a few people muttering. There was another batch of the dead iing and we were on a guessing game to figure out which one would plop right at their favorite spot. <center></center><hr>


    However, I drew my Taurus TX22 and I started punching holes in the heads of the ones that wereing. I had all the time in the world so my shots always reached the small spot right between their eyes. The deadheads that we deemed the normal ones immediately dropped lifelessly but the ones we were waiting for continued moving.


    My head was itching, the same with everyone else, trying to figure out their behavioral patterns so I took another step forward. I was gripping my katana once more but I kicked one back to see what it would do first. Its body offered little to no resistance as it tumbled down but it slowly stood up to head in the same direction.


    It was moving ever so slowly when I decided to let it pass through. To my surprise, the first one I encountered never went for me and was actually heading in a set direction. I signaled my group to be ready just in case it does something else as I went for something that might give me a clue.


    It was the part of the head I lopped off from the first one. I only paid heed to it in case I might step on it identally but I need to gather any other information that I could. It seemed that all of them were hell-bent on forming a pile so I literally went to take a look at what was inside its head.


    I flipped it over using the tip of my katana and the remaining ck goop just spilled out.


    ¡°Wait a sec¡­¡± I trailed as I searched for the rest of its body.


    My group was watching me curiously as I shone a shlight on the body which belonged to the head I flipped over. My brows scrunched even more as I recalled everything that happened when I lopped half of its head off.


    Blood would always follow the path my de passed but something vital was missing from this corpse.


    It exined a few things but it f.u.c.k.i.n.g raised a lot more f.u.c.k.i.n.g questions. <hr>


    ¡°The ones on the pile¡­ crack their heads open¡­¡± I said loud enough for everyone to hear.


    They threw curious nces once more but Mikhail¡¯s fire axe was one of the weapons suited for the job. He positioned himself properly and started swinging down on the heads one after the other. I let them discover what I found by themselves because I wanted to hear their own ideas.


    I failed to notice beforehand because I needed to apply force just to pierce their skulls. If I thrust it slowly, I would¡¯ve just nicked their skin and did nothing significant.


    While he was doing that, I faced the area where the rest of them wereing from. As Ferdinand said, they were trickling in at a moderate pace so I walked a few steps forward. A quick distinction I noticed was that the normal ones would immediately turn and head for me while the others wouldn¡¯t. I dealt with them quickly as I tried to confirm another one of my theories.


    There was another one that walked right past me so I chopped its legs off one by one. It fell down and started crawling but I chopped its arms off next.


    It tried to move its head but itpletely stopped after trying over and over.


    To confirm my earlier discovery, I removed part of its head to see what was inside, or what wasn¡¯t.


    I was wearing a solemn expression when I saw it the second time. Aside from the goop that leaked out, there was nothing else inside. <hr>


    It was hollow.


    I tried scraping the insides with the tip of my de but there was nothing else to find. I had some doubts earlier because it might¡¯ve flown in a different direction but this time, I was sure that its brain either melted into that thick goop or something else entirely.


    When I looked back at my group, their expressions were varying from confusion, fear, and disgust.


    They met eyes with me and I was sure that more than a thousand questions were running through their head.


    ¡°This shit doesn¡¯t make sense kid.¡± Oscarmented as he joined me.


    ¡°This whole shit doesn¡¯t, even the first ones.¡± I replied.


    ¡°No, what I meant was-¡± Oscar looked at me like an idiot but I interrupted him.


    ¡°Yeah, I know what you mean. There are creatures without a brain or even a CNSpletely but this is totally different. The more we know the less we understand. They¡¯re not as dangerous but in the right circ.u.mstances¡­¡± I didn¡¯t finish my sentence because Oscar already understood what I was going for.


    ¡°Avalos and Honassan might make another trip back. We need to doc.u.ment this and bring a few bodies back to Rod¡¯s scientists at least. I might take my sleeping tablets because a lot of questions are running through my head right now.¡± Oscar crouched down to take a closer look. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not even sure what their purpose is. Is it just to walk around and die in that spot? Are they just puppets? Are they already dead and just being controlled? Maybe at the end of their lifespan? If so, all of them at the same time? Did something just scooped their brain out or did it f.u.c.k.i.n.g turn to that slime? Also-¡± I narrated everything inside my head but Oscar stopped me.


    ¡°Sheesh, kid. Don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g add any more in my head. I¡¯m old. It would take longer for me to sleep don¡¯t cha¡¯ know? So, what do we do now?¡± Oscar asked.


    I deeply sighed before we doc.u.mented everything and took samples. It was fairly easy to obtain them and store them. However, the trickle stopped trickling after a while but our soldiers would now have another thing to look out for. It might happen anywhere and anytime and we need to make sure we do the necessary precautions.


    I was adamant about doing it in front of Mauricio and Jessica but Oscar already dropped the bomb on Mauricio and Cathy.


    Well, I got the pleasure of telling it to Jessica, Eric, and Jane when they asked why we were doing what we were doing. That was the time when they discovered another thing I valued aside from obtaining information, keeping said information to oneself. I was sure that they have secrets of their own but I was sure I would know a few more of them soon.


    It took us a bit of time but we eventually finished it and most of my group went back with us to thepound while Jared and Lois stayed back for a while to see if a few would eventually find their way to the same spot they gathered in.


    Mauricio tucked Cathy in bed first before he joined a few of us sitting by the pool area. Jessica and Mauricio tried to ask for more information about our connection to the president but we told them just enough and what would affect them.


    ¡°Now you know why I said that I would have future use of your airport. We were working on a sea route to this ind group but we still need an air route. I nned on clearing the one on Pasay City since it is closer but we need to keep our options open.¡± I said to Jessica.


    ¡°I see, this is more than what I thought it was. Okay, I decided to have my airport open for our allies¡¯ use especially the president but I want to have more soldiers and guns sent to my ce for security reasons obviously. The only thing of value I could think of trading with you two is the jet fuel we have collected at the airport but don¡¯t worry because I¡¯m sure it¡¯s enough for several trips. We have a few pilots on our camp but we never touched on the nes because we were not sure if there was still any ce to go to. Are you guys okay with that?¡± Jessica proposed a deal.

 Chapter 437

    Chapter 437: 437


    The three of us started to have another meetingte at night but a few people were still present like Oscar, Eric, and Jane. Zeus was by my side but I don¡¯t know why he was persisting on staying with me even if his eyes were falling off. His head was resting on myp as I was caressing his head lightly. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m okay with that but I would ask for volunteers first before I send them to your ce. I¡¯ll make sure at least 10 of them are bonafide soldiers because I¡¯m nning on sending people that have a wider skillset.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wider skillset?¡± Eric asked.


    ¡°First and foremost someone with medical know-how and someone that knows how to operate a HAM Radio. A doctor is self-exnatory but a HAM Operator is something your ce needs. I did tell you that I want to exchange information but I want it continuously happening and I want the information I receive is thetest. All I want to know is the threat status of deadheads and human hostiles at your ce and maybe a heads-up on other items we could trade with each other.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Wait a sec. Why am I not in the loop? The treatment Cathy would be receiving is something I don¡¯t even know how much to pay for but at least let me handle the soldiers and even a portion of the guns to be sent to Jessica¡¯s ce.¡± Mauricio chimed.


    ¡°You could do that but I want the same things from you. What I¡¯m talking about is information about what I talked about earlier and a heads-up is something of value popped up. Don¡¯t worry, this is not gonna be a one-waymunication because I would also be sending updates of this ce¡¯s situation about the same things. I know we still have a few things we couldn¡¯t share but I want to be able to exchange information on the things that we could.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I agree with that but tell me a few things on your wishlist so I could hold onto it if I stumble upon it on my runs.¡± Jessica nodded.


    ¡°I agree as well but I have one more thing to request from you.¡± Mauricio looked at me.


    ¡°That is?¡± I looked back.


    ¡°I want to have a helicopter on-call in case of emergencies. The Intercity is secure but I want to have options in case my people and I needed some help in evacuating if the road is untraversable. We could say that I already owe you a lot of things for Cathy¡¯s treatment but I want to treat each emergency call as one favor you could request of me so we could put a value on it. I wouldn¡¯t have much use on jet fuel because I don¡¯t own a helicopter and none in my group knows how to operate one. However, by doing this, we could all benefit from it one way or the other.¡± Mauricio exined another deal.


    ¡°I agree with that but I also have a condition of mine before we all hit the hay.¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    The two looked at me so I opened my mouth.


    ¡°Jessica, I want my people that would be sent to you treated the same way you treat your own. Even if they would be in your ce, they belong to no one and they could go whenever they want. I hope you know what I meant by that because good people are very difficult to find.¡± I started.


    ¡°I understand.¡± Jessica wore a pensive expression.


    ¡°And how about me?¡± Mauricio asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to call you out on this because this is how you are but if we¡¯re doing something together, I want a heads-up on your decision before we execute a n together. We operate in the same headspace but I need time to think of a n before actually doing it. Things could go wrong from an abrupt decision though I only request you do this if you¡¯re working with other people. However, I would like it if you apply it to yourself too.¡± I said sincerely.


    ¡°Alright, I could do that¡­¡± Mauricio nodded a few times.


    We three stood up then we shook hands.


    We shared a short moment but it was ruined by Oscar snoring his ass out. Eric and Jane were holding theirughter but I was already facepalming.


    ¡°He¡¯s ¡®old¡¯ he said. He¡¯s ¡®takes a lot longer to sleep¡¯ he said.¡± I said with a sarcastic tone.


    The rest of the people left in the pool were chuckling but I tried to wake him up. There were a few ways to do it but I know just the trick. <hr>


    ¡°O SAY CAN YOU SEE~¡± I sang his national anthem.


    It was f.u.c.k.i.n.g instant.


    Oscar stood up in attention and he removed his hat, arm on his chest.


    ¡°BY THE DAWN¡¯S EARLY- Wha- The f.u.c.k am I- what?¡± Oscar was confused.


    Everyone startedughing but I soon exined to him what happened. He scratched his head in embarrassment but he soon went with Mauricio back to his house. Jessica and her group excused themselves and it was this time that Jared and Lois came back.


    ¡°So, what happened?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They never came back.¡± Lois replied.


    ¡°If we¡¯re not going somece else tomorrow, I suggest we check the other roads bro.¡± Jared suggested.


    ¡°Yeah, that was what I was thinking of doing tomorrow. I bet this is not an isted case so there could be more of their kind present in other areas.¡± I added.


    The two then excused themselves but I also discovered that Zeus was fast asleep. I lifted him towards his bed and I tucked him in with his nket. <hr>


    ¡°Goodnight buddy¡­¡± I saw him yawn once before cing his paw on my hand. I covered it with the nket as I waited for him to fall asleep.


    It didn¡¯t take long so I headed upstairs.


    I reached my room and I saw Kaley and the rest busy with cleaning the rest of the guns we left out yesterday. They have made some progress and the report on the guns Rin omitted from the meeting was ced on my table with a towel and a change of clothes that Kaley probably prepared for me.


    ¡°Hey, we started without you. Most of the handguns are done though.¡± Kaley and the rest greeted me.


    ¡°Oh, thanks. For this too. I¡¯ll be back in a few.¡± I said as I lifted the towel and the change of clothes.


    ¡°No problem, take your time.¡± Kaley replied.


    I took my gear off first before I headed to the shower. A took a quick one before I dipped myself in the hot tub. It was nice to soak myself in warm water after a good day¡¯s work but I missed the hot springs I used to go to, especially the naturally formed ones. It would hit differently and I would sleep through everything even if I set up an rm.


    I didn¡¯t soak for too much because there were still a lot of things to do. I joined them at the table as I put on my gloves and goggles then I sat next to Kaley.


    The system was to check eachponent first before separating the faulty ones. After that, we clean them, apply necessary lubrication, rece parts if some were removed, assembling it back, then updating the record in our inventory. Their base parts are mainly recorded and any sort of attachment added was in a separate list.


    Aside from doing maintenance on the guns, there was also the issue of the handloads that were made poorly. I would need to teach Rin about it tomorrow and I might even include melting the projectiles and casting them into new ones as another lesson. We¡¯d lose some of the materials but doing that could ease my mind about reusing them. <hr>


    ¡°Cynthia, did you already call your brother about the new one we discovered?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, ah- yes, I already did. Thank you.¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s in the report I made but we still need to tumble other casings because a lot came the other day. We were done with the 9mms, .45 ACPs, .38 Specials, 5.56s, and a few more but there¡¯s a few random casings we¡¯re nning to finish up tomorrow.¡± Rin chimed.


    ¡°I see, thanks. I might teach you how to cast projectiles tomorrow but maybe we¡¯ll do it in the afternoon.¡± I opened up another topic.


    ¡°Oh, are we finally gonna use the cupcakes your uncle makes in his spare time?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°What? Oh, right. We¡¯ll use them first.¡± I replied.


    We continued cleaning the guns while making light conversation. However, because it was alreadyte, everyone decided to continue cleaning the guns for tomorrow and get some well-deserved rest.


    ¡°Hey, can we watch a movie before we sleep?¡± Tatiana requested, looking at me.


    ¡°Uh-huh¡­¡± Kaley trailed, looking at her.


    ¡°W-What?¡± Tatiana looked at Kaley before looking back at me.


    ¡°My eyes are up here, you know?¡± I raised one of my eyebrows, faintly smiling.

 Chapter 438

    Chapter 438: 438


    The three besides Tatiana startedughing at her expression when I called her out. She was faintly blushing but her eyes were squinted and her mouth was slowly forming a wicked smile. She was biting her lower lip as she smiled but our attention was caught by the volume of the opening credits of the movie that was yed. <center></center><hr>


    It was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g loud and the problem was that we couldn¡¯t find the remote. Trust was immediately broken between us because even if they said they weren¡¯t sitting on it, the person furiously looking for it would still insist the people sitting to stand up.


    I had no choice but to walk towards the TV and bring the volume as low as I could manually. They were still searching for the remote but the good thing was that the opening was quite long and the movie hadn¡¯t yed yet.


    However, I think I was caught in a very~ familiar situation that I might¡¯ve watched somewhere. It was a feast for the eyes because they were just wearing a spaghetti top or a tiny tank top paired with short shorts because it was only us in my room.


    ¡°Tatiana, can you reach under the bed? I think I might¡¯ve caught a glimpse of it¡­ I think you could reach it by the edge near this wall¡­.¡± Kaley convincingly asked for help.


    ¡°Under the bed? I wonder why it reached there¡­ hmm~ someone might¡¯ve bumped to it, I guess?¡± Cynthia added but she couldn¡¯t look me in the eye.


    ¡°Y-Yeah¡­ t-that might be it¡­¡± Rin was trying to add but she just turned her head away, blushing.


    ¡°Oh~ I think~ I found it. Let me reach a little bit more¡­¡± Tatiana agreed as sheid on all fours and ¡®tried¡¯ to reach for the remote with one of her hands.


    It didn¡¯t take long before the famous words were spoken. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh no~ I think I¡¯m stuck~ Can someone help me~?¡± Tatiana called out as she looked back at my expression.


    However, I was so disappointed with their bad acting I started shaking my head while crossing my arms. In a sense, the ones I¡¯ve watched were really bad actors from this part but how I wish they fixed that. Kaley caught wind that I wasn¡¯t feeling it and they immediately huddled for another n. Even Tatiana who was apparently ¡®stuck¡¯ miraculously got herself unstuck without my help.


    ¡°Done nning? I¡¯ll just sleep if you guys have nothing.¡± I joked.


    ¡°Okay! Okay! Wait! Umm- Onii-Chan?¡± Kaley started.


    ¡°We¡¯re the same f.u.c.k.i.n.g age and you¡¯re older than me by a few months! You should¡¯ve started with Ara~ Ara~ at least! That would¡¯ve f.u.c.k.i.n.g worked!¡± I eximed.


    ¡°Ara~ Ara?¡± Rin followed up.


    ¡°No. You got the ent but I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g older than you! Why did you even turn thest word into a question?!¡± I shook my head.


    ¡°O-Onii-Chan?¡± Cynthia followed up. <hr>


    ¡°Nope. The time has passed, I¡¯m over it. Tatiana, onest chance, or we¡¯ll only watch a movie, nothing else! Don¡¯t f.u.c.k it up!¡± I eximed.


    Panic shed on their eyes and Tatiana started to sweat buckets. She was deep in thought for a moment but an idea seemed to have popped inside her head. I didn¡¯t know why the three didn¡¯t help her but she seemed sure of herself.


    ¡°BUT IT WAS ME, DIO!¡± Tatiana yelled in desperation.


    The moment she said those words, Cynthia and I immediately facepalmed while Kaley and Rin drooped their head low. It was a great reference for another topic but it wouldn¡¯t work in this scenario. Tatiana knew from our expression that she made the wrong guess and I found out the remote was tucked between her cleavage.


    I pulled it out much to her surprise so I could change the volume to a number divisible by five.


    ¡°Okay, you guys failed. Better luck next time~¡± I chuckled as I squeezed myself between Kaley and Cynthia.


    I was absolutely just ying around with them and I was just waiting for the first one to crack. Furthermore, I really am tired but whatever happens, happens. Turns out, they were also tired and was just looking for something quick because they soon fell asleep a few minutes after the movie started.


    I turned the lights and the TV off before I covered each one of them with a nket. <hr>


    Kaley was on her side, facing away from me, but I spooned her as I ced my arm over her. I could smell her fragrant hair and I could feel the suppleness of her skin. The warmth of her body made me scoot even closer because it was a nice feeling.


    I was about to fall asleep when I felt her cing my hand over her chest. She was applying a little bit of pressure as I felt her breathing heavy and slow. The more she applied pressure the more her breathing goes deeper. She was using my hand to knead them around and I could feel her h.i.p.s moving closer, grinding her butt against me.


    I could barely see anything from the darkness but the feeling was starting to be too much to handle.


    I was slowly kissing the back of her neck but her hand started to reach behind and feel for my crotch. She slowly pulled my throbbing c.o.c.k out as I slowly pulled her shirt up. I was pinching her pink n.i.p.p.l.es while she was slowly stroking me with a different grip.


    Kaley¡¯s breathing was getting heavier by the second and her hand that was gripping me was going faster and faster. However, I didn¡¯t want to c.u.m just from her hands so I stopped her and I pulled her shorts down just enough so I could put it inside her. When my c.o.c.k prodded upon the opening of her p.u.s.s.y, it was so warm and soaking wet. I was about to slowly put it inside but she stopped me.


    ¡°P-P-Put it in my a-ass¡­¡± Kaley whispered as she licked her hands and ced it over the tip.


    That moment felt like it was an eternity because I was about to lose my mind from waiting. However, the moment I managed to slid it all the way, the agony wasn¡¯t over.


    ¡°Go s-slow¡­¡± Kaley whispered as she bit her lip. <hr>


    I wanted to ram it inside over and over but the feeling of being on the brink and being withheld from c.u.m.m.i.n.g inside her was something else. The pleasure was almost too much to bear because each thrust and pull could be felt by both of us. We were savoring each and every moment we were connected but it didn¡¯t take long for me to shoot it all inside her ass. I couldn¡¯t help myself as I embraced her tight and as I tried to make as little noise as possible.


    Despite that, I continued to thrust it ever so slowly but the sensitivity was too much. My breath was getting heavier and heavier but the same could be said for her. However, I decided to ce my hand inside her as I slightly pulled her short down from the front. Kaley let out a quiet gasp when I touched her clit and she covered her mouth as I continued. My fingers explored her insides while my thumb continued to rub on her clit.


    I suddenly felt Kaley getting tighter and tighter but I never went fast to hasten the process. It was a different sensation to reach that point but it was so well worth it. When she came, her body convulsed but I was holding her tight. I felt the warm liquiding out of her but I never stopped f.u.c.k.i.n.g her over and over. I manage to c.u.m twice inside her but we were far from over.


    Kaley faced me and we started kissing each other.


    I was stillying on my side but Kaley slowlyid on her back. We were still kissing each other when my hand went down and grabbed one of her legs. I raised it a little bit to spread them apart as my hands slowly caressed her inner thighs. I was teasing her once again as I was making sure I would just be right before I reach her special ce. However, she was making the effort to move her h.i.p.s at the right time to just somehow graze them so she could satiate her desires.


    I eventually relented as I sucked on her huge tits while she went on top of me. Our bodies were still covered by our nket and she was smothering me with her b.r.e.a.s.ts. However, the way Kaley was moving woke Cynthia up and she decided to join us. That was the n but she was pulled in the other nket where Tatiana and Rin were actually having some secret fun of their own. Our eyes were just fixated on each other we didn¡¯t notice Rin getting eaten by Tatiana under the nkets.


    In the end, Kaley and I enjoyed ourselves without reserve while we let them do their own thing.

 Chapter 439

    Chapter 439: 439


    Kaley and I finished much soonerpared to Tatiana, Rin, and Cynthia so we took a shower to clean ourselves. We decided to soak in the hot tub until the three came knocking so we could change the sheets while they were showering. <center></center><hr>


    I was scrubbing Kaley¡¯s back when she turned around to look at me.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Kiss me.¡± Kaley pouted her lips cutely.


    ¡°Where?¡± I joked.


    ¡°What do you mean where?!¡±


    ¡°Well, I could kiss you in all sorts of ces¡­¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Oh~ Is that so~ huh~? Don¡¯t tempt me or you won¡¯t be able to wake up in the early morning to clean the guns, do you want that to happen? Hmm~?¡± Kaley was smiling wickedly where she was biting her lower lip while slightly squinting.


    The two of us looked at each other for a short moment before we startedughing. We were both really tired and we need some sleep. Well, a kiss was easy enough to do so we settled with that for the moment.


    It didn¡¯t take long before the three came knocking while Kaley and I were just casually talking about a few things. Tatiana joked about dragging us back to the shower but we quickly made our way back to our room before the joke became a reality. We worefortable clothes and after that, we changed the sheets, the nkets, and the pillowcases.


    Kaley and I were under our nkets once more but when we were about to fall asleep, the three piled over us and pretended they were already asleep. They weren¡¯t as heavy but it was enc.u.mbering because we were also covered with our nket. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Guys¡­ we need to sleep¡­¡± Kaley muttered.


    ¡°Let¡¯s pretend that we couldn¡¯t hear her¡­ that usually works¡­¡± Tatiana jokingly whispered to the two on top of us.


    ¡°W-Why are we doing this a-again?¡± Cynthia asked, chuckling.


    ¡°It¡¯s to prevent them from f.u.c.k.i.n.g while we¡¯re asleep¡­ shh¡­ not so loud¡­¡± Tatiana giggled.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t we just do the same thing earlier when you woke me up?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°If you two gotta know, I¡¯ve woken up a couple of times seeing them f.u.c.k.i.n.g each other¡¯s brains out. It¡¯s their little thing so we¡¯re trying to solve their problem for them¡­¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°Guys¡­ stop¡­ we really~ need to sleep¡­¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°How is piling over us gonna help?¡± I added.


    ¡°Oh, I lied. I just wanna join in and I want to include them.¡± Tatiana said tly then she startedughing hysterically.


    It took a few joint locks to get them loose but we relented as we let them share our nket. Cynthia was behind me while Rin was behind Kaley and I don¡¯t have a f.u.c.k.i.n.g idea while Tatiana decided to sprawl on top of us four. She was the first one to fall asleep too so it baffled everyone that was still awake. We just made an executive decision to roll her like a burrito with a separate nket so the four of us could have some peace and quiet.


    Time continued to pass and I once again woke up in the early morning. I cleaned a few with Kaley that also woke up to help me and we set aside a few dozen guns for Jessica¡¯s group. It was a mix of rifles, shotguns, and pistols chambered inmon calibers. They were all in good working condition but I added a few attachments for three guns that I would be handing to Jessica, Eric, and Jane for their personal use. <hr>


    What they have on their person was useable but I just nned on giving them a little upgrade.


    For Jessica, I first wanted to give her Kaley¡¯s old AR-15 from PSA but she told me she wanted Olivia to have it instead. So, I brought out a simr AR-15 but it was from Ruger which was called a Ruger AR-556. I simply added a sling, a cheap suppressor, a red dot, back up sights, and a vertical foregrip. As an extra bonus, I¡¯ll be giving her a te carrier and a war belt where she could ce other essories like her backup pistol, knife, and extra magazines. It was all up to her on what she would do with it but I would definitely give some rmendations.


    I would be giving body armor to Eric and Jane as well but it wouldn¡¯t be as good as what I would be giving her.


    For Eric, a tried and tested Remington 870 would be a reliable tool because the number of repairs done on his shotgun which even I couldn¡¯t recognize made me wonder how was he still alive without it exploding on his face. A simple sling and a shlight were added for stability and visibility but I opted out of adding in a Salvo 12.


    For Jane, a Glock 17 ced inside a Micro Roni was what I prepared.


    A Micro Roni was a nice little tool to convert your pistol into a mini carbine. It was designed for better ergonomics and added uracy. It offers a long Picatinny Rail for mounting optics and other attachments where backup sights were already ced, a sling, an integral shlight, a right-folding stock, and etc.


    If it wasn¡¯t for me always carrying a rifle at all times, I would¡¯ve always added my pistols to use this item. However, it could only take in certain pistols and the Maxim 9 I was always using wasn¡¯tpatible with it.


    Aside from simply locking the Glock 17 inside, I also added in two 33-round magazines because the Micro Roni had a slot where you could ce the extra mag that could act as a makeshift foregrip near the front.


    We ced them all in one of the weapons caches that we found aside from the three guns I would be giving them personally. Aside from that, a few hundred rounds of 5.56, 12 gauges, and 9mms were also prepared in ammo cans as part of our deal.


    Jessica already made a call to deliver a tanker to the Intercity filled with jet fuel. They obviously couldn¡¯t deliver all of them in a single day so the deliveries would be carried out periodically with an armed escort. That would be the initial arrangement right until my cargo helicopter arrives. If that happened, my group would also be able to visit their ce and meet her people. <hr>


    It was extremely important to make valuable friends and allies and not just simply taking everyone in that we encounter. The right bnce should be met to avoid unnecessary conflict and disagreements betweenrge groups of people.


    Time quickly passed and I handed the guns to Jessica, Eric, and Jane after breakfast. Mauricio saw it but his reaction told me that he definitely had a personal collection. He himself had a nice setup and I was sure he had more stashed somewhere.


    The three of them were definitely thankful but the word ¡®excited¡¯ wasn¡¯t enough to describe Eric¡¯s reaction.


    ¡°Take care of it, yeah?¡± I chuckled when he was caressing it almost ufortably.


    ¡°I will, thanks! Shit, it even smells and tastes new! Holy f.u.c.k!¡± Eric was about to lose it.


    ¡°Ew~ Why did you f.u.c.k.i.n.g lick it?!¡± Jane eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯m ¡®marking¡¯ it! Bite me!¡± Eric retorted.


    ¡°A-Anyway¡­ thank for the guns and the bonus gear. I¡¯ll be holding up the other end of the deal and you¡¯ll get your first batch after my group delivers it in the Intercity.¡± Jessica shook my hand.


    I then started exining how to use them properly and with the proper maintenance as a short mandatory lesson. I know that Jessica probably knows how to operate each but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to be extra careful.


    After the short lesson, Oscar approached me.


    ¡°Kid, as you know, that f.u.c.k.i.n.g parts salesman didn¡¯te yesterday. I¡¯ll be bringing your uncle with me to check if he would arrive this time but I¡¯d also be apanying Jessica and the people we would be sending to their ce right until the Intercity. I¡¯d be looking around for other things too so I¡¯ll bring a few items for trade.¡± Oscar said. <hr>


    ¡°Sure old man, just don¡¯t get f.u.c.k.i.n.g duped again. I want a whole f.u.c.k.i.n.g car this time.¡± I replied.


    ¡°If you¡¯re going back again bring Mike and one or two of my workers. You could always need an extra pair of hands when hauling stuff.¡± Jomarro chimed.


    ¡°Hmm, I guess so. I¡¯d be bringing soldiers with me but yeah, I¡¯d rather have them at the ready just in case.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°Mr. Ishiyama, I¡¯d also be asking another huge favor.¡± Mauricio approached me as well.


    ¡°Sure, what is it?¡± I replied.


    ¡°As you know, Cathy and I came for her treatment but it would take a lot more time for preparation. I could obviously wait for it but I left a lot of important things and tasks back in the Intercity. Noah and Mona could handle it in the meantime but I need to personally check theings and goings. I would like to leave Cathy with your people possibly Mrs. Payan but I¡¯ming back with Mr. Goodmanter this afternoon.¡± Mauricio exined.


    ¡°It¡¯s definitely not a problem and you don¡¯t have to owe me for that. Cathy is free to do whatever she wants inside thepound and the kids are more than happy to apany her.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus interjected.


    ¡°Yeah, Zeus too.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°I-I guess that¡¯s good news. I believe you¡¯re not going to the Intercity, where are you headed perhaps?¡± Mauricio asked.

 Chapter 440

    Chapter 440: 440


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll take my group to drive outwards to the main road to check if a simr incident happened in other ces. Well, we¡¯ll check the backroads too but we¡¯ll traverse the ces that are important that it stays unobstructed.¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I see, that¡¯s good. Cathy, I¡¯ll only be gone for a few. I¡¯ll be back by dinner, okay?¡± Mauricio looked at Cathy.


    ¡°S-Sure¡­ be safe!¡± Cathy lightly waved.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the other groups to drive outside of our base and my main group was the only ones left behind. I was casually sitting on one of the chairs and the rest of them were waiting with me. However, Jared¡¯s expression slowly turned different because he had no idea why we were casually wasting time.


    ¡°B-Bro, are we waiting for Lawrence? You called him, right?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Hmm? Lawrence? No, he¡¯ll be staying in that outpost for now.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So¡­ what are we waiting here for?¡±


    ¡°What? You don¡¯t know who? We talked about it at the meeting. Everyone here knows this, right?¡± I looked at the rest of my group and they all nodded.


    Zeus even barked in mockery because of something so simple. By his side was an extra set of gear for our new member and he would growl every time someone approaches it.


    ¡°Wait, I took a piss and- nevermind, who¡¯sing then?¡±


    I was about to answer when I heard An¡¯s voice on the radio.


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey dude, he¡¯s here.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Great, send him over here.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    After a few moments, a man in his 30s with a fresh new crew cut came into view wearing military fatigues. He had nothing on his person but he slowly approached our group with a solemn expression. He looked better than thest time we saw him and I was surprised at how fast he bounced back. Someone with physical prowess was great to have in a group but someone with great mental fortitude was someone I would prefer because it was something harder to obtain or you need to be innately born with it.


    Jared was finally enlightened about who it was and why there was an extra set of gear that Zeus was guarding carefully.


    My main group now wasposed of myself, Kaley, Tatiana, Jared, and Mikhail. There were some floaters like Lois, Cynthia, Russel, and even Lawrence that I would sometimes bring with me but this guy was someone I was nning on adding to my roster permanently.


    He was someone that we found in one of our runs stuck inside a jail cell for a few weeks and was about to die but we came at the right moment. He was receiving proper treatment to get right on track and he was visited daily by Marisha to check up on his state of mind. Long story short, he passed with flying colors and I¡¯m interested in what else he could do. <hr>


    ¡°Sir.¡± the soldier greeted me.


    ¡°Ibarra, you sure you¡¯re good to go?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, sir. I¡¯m good to go whenever.¡± Ibarra promptly replied.


    ¡°Good. I have a wee package for you. It¡¯s something a little more above than your standard-issues but you¡¯d get used to it soon enough.¡± I said then I looked back at Zeus after introducing everyone.


    Zeus looked at me briefly then he barked at Ibarra. After that, he ced his paws on top of the equipment I prepared, telling Ibarra to pick them up.


    The first thing I prepared was the same protective equipment that we were using. It involved a te carrier, a helmet, gloves, knee pads, elbow pads, and a spare mask. For utility, a backpack and a war belt were included and I let him decide on how to ce the other items like his holster, mag pouches, med kit, radio, and etc.


    Ibarra looked at them for a moment before I saw him slowly wearing it almost the same way as the time we discovered him.


    ¡°This is really more than the standard-issue¡­¡± Ibarra muttered.


    ¡°It¡¯s not Gi per se but that could protect yourself. Just try and keep it on semi-auto, okay?¡± I replied.


    For his loadout, I prepared a few things. On the melee aspect, a simple K-Bar knife and a machete were provided and on throwables, I gave him a couple of frag grenades for emergencies. For his guns, I just changed a few things on their standard-issue M16 and Glock 17.


    The M16 I prepared was a 20-inch rifle chambered in 5.56 that had the option to select between semi-auto and full-auto. I changed the base solid stock to a retractable stock, added in a suppressor, ced a sling using the mounts, changed the whole upper with something that had a Picatinny Rail so I could mount an ACOG sight, and reced the handguard with something that also had a Picatinny Rail but it was also located on the sides and on the bottom so I could add in a foregrip,ser sights, and a shlight. <hr>


    The Glock 17 I prepared for him was a Gen 5 and it had a suppressor, a shlight, and a new red dot attached to it. This was the setup Jared had on his old pistol but he was now using a Sig P320 instead of a Glock 17. It had the same attachments but his Sig definitely looked better.


    I gave Ibarra 6 30-round magazines for his rifle and 2 17-round magazines for his pistol. He was quick to pack everything up and we were already outside the gates after a few minutes.


    We started to drive on the main road using Tatiana¡¯s Humvee and we just passed by the DDR Camp. We stopped and check if the same incident happened but the answer was no. The soldiers that kept watch after Jared and Lois came back were also looking out for it but the incident never repeated.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stop by that old bakeshop¡­¡± I said as I removed my seatbelt.


    ¡°This close? Why?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°We¡¯re sweeping each ce for any clues.¡± I replied.


    We decided to take down each one that we encounter and chop the heads open of the ones sprawled on a corner to confirm if they were ¡®sent¡¯ or just ¡®gathered¡¯ to that direction or if their heads were hollow. We continued to drive forward right until we reach the border of another barangay. However, the drive of a few minutes turned into a drive for close to an hour.


    ¡°Hey, look at that corner right across that hospital.¡± Kaley pointed out.


    Our eyes shifted to the direction Kaley pointed to and we saw a big pile up.


    ¡°Bro, isn¡¯t that¡­¡± Jared trailed.


    ¡°It was a tight one-way road that leads to our ce from the other side of the road. Yeah, used to.¡± I replied with a solemn expression.


    We drove a little closer and we saw the whole pile that formed a little wall to block that side of the road. It was a messy pile where it concaves on other ces but the number of them was enough to upy it so that the people wouldn¡¯t be able to traverse it. <hr>


    The only ones fortunate from this wall happening were the deadheads because they were given a free buffet.


    Cl.u.s.ters of the dead that were still moving were huddled up near the wall having the feast of their lives. They were gnawing at the limbs or appendages that were sticking out, decreasing the wall by a bit, a chunk at a time. The bodies that piled up were not moving despite what was happening to them so we surmised that they were also dead after maybe achieving their goal.


    ¡°Is this what themotion was aboutst night?¡± Ibarra asked.


    ¡°Yeah, surprised I didn¡¯t see you outside.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Madam Marisha told me to rest for this day so I slept early. I just woke up and saw what happened from the window.¡± Ibarra replied.


    ¡°What are we doing now, Boss?¡± Mikhail interjected.


    ¡°Let me find another spot to park. It¡¯s too tight here.¡± I replied.


    It took a short moment before I left Jared and Kaley to watch over the Humvee.


    I first shot down one eating a part of someone¡¯s cheek and the others turned to our direction when it plopped on the ground. I holstered my pistol as the rest of my group drew their melee weapons. Tatiana and I led the charge while Mikhail and Ibarra fanned to the side for the other cl.u.s.ter approaching us.


    I was closely watching Ibarra¡¯s actions earlier but he really seemed like he bounced back. He was careful about his advances and he retreats at the right moment. He didn¡¯t seem like he was suicidal or reckless and he even listens to orders not just from me, but from everyone. I left him to Mikhail¡¯s care as Tatiana and I lopped heads one after the other.


    It took a while disposing of them but we got some alone time with the wall.

 Chapter 441

    Chapter 441: 441


    Looking at the wall of the dead closely and with the drone, it looked more like a tall speedbumppared to a wall made of bricks. It was maybe because they couldn¡¯t line themselves properly because from what we¡¯ve observed fromst night, once they reach the pile or destination, they would just plop on the ground dead. <center></center><hr>


    This phenomenon was something we had no idea for how it happened so finding more information about it was the best course of action.


    Mikhail and Ibarra pulled out a couple of bodies and dragged them a few feet away from the wall. After that, they swung their weapons down to chop half of their heads off. As expected, it was hollow and a ck viscous substance was the only thing that was left inside.


    ¡°Same thing as yesterday¡­¡± Kaley mentioned.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start clearing them all.¡± Mikhail said as he pulled another one to a safe distance.


    ¡°This would take some time sir.¡± Ibarra added.


    ¡°We need to call another group to help us clear them all and bring back a few bodies forparison.¡± I said as I pulled out my radio.


    Last night, we made sure that the ones we encounteredst night were properly dealt with. The only ones that weren¡¯t burned to cinders were the samples that we collected but their heads were cracked open and their limbs were dismembered. It was done so any sort of movement while inside our premises would be f.u.c.k.i.n.g impossible.


    This time, since we have a lot more to go through, I decided to bring back two bodies that would be left whole. They would be ced inside secure rooms for observation and more data gathering. We wouldn¡¯t try and operate with them per se but finding out more distinctions so we could fight them better would be a huge boon.


    They were doing nothing now but the sentries we encountered that were guiding a few hundred of the dead was one of the evidence that just proved that they could evolve or mutate into something different.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Mark and Marvin¡¯s group came into view.


    ¡°Here¡¯s what we¡¯ll do. We already prepared two bodies and we covered and secured them with tarps. Mark, bring them back to the DDR Camp and tell the soldiers there to keep them in the same ce we stored the others. After that,e back here with your group and help Marvin clear this wall.¡± I said.


    ¡°Sure, we¡¯ll be back in a few.¡± Mark replied.


    My group got to work but even if the wall were just dead bodies on top of one another, they didn¡¯t take their chances. I asked them to bring rakes and skid steers to pull the bodies out because our earlier method of just using our hands with thick work gloves was dangerous. Not only that, those gloves would get stained with their fluids, and keeping close proximity with something that may or may not be alive was dangerous. <center></center><hr>


    The system was to pull a body, dismember their limbs, and make separate fires to chuck them in. Throwing in a molotov c.o.c.ktail and hoping to burn them all on the spot they were in was a bad idea because it was hugging the other buildings and the fire wouldn¡¯t reach the ones buried deep. Dismembering their limbs was just an extra added step but no one voiced their opinion about it.


    I was watching each body that was being pulled and I noticed that some of them were starting to meld into each other. This urrence was more apparent the lower the bodies were pulled so my initial conclusion was because of their fluids drying up and acting as glue to hold themselves together. However, the weight of the ones above that was applying pressure could also maybe one other reason.


    When Mark and the rest of his group arrived, our progress of clearing the wall became much faster. If we continue going at this pace, we would all be done here in a few minutes.


    ¡°Are you guys good here? If so, I could take my group somewhere else to look for more of these walls. If we found more, we¡¯ll start to do the same process of clearing them but we¡¯ll call you over. I bet there¡¯s more of these things around blocking other passages.¡± I asked the groups.


    ¡°Uh, sure Boss. Where are you headed next?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ve been driving mainly on the main road but we¡¯re checking a couple of blocks around on some passages like this one. We¡¯re right by the edge of Dndanan, the barangay next to ours, but we¡¯ll keep going forward until we reach the turn in Malinta, the barangay where our City Hall is, that would lead us to another barangay, which is Rincon, then we¡¯ll drive straight where Dong and Jay¡¯s group were clearing the barangays that would lead to the outpost where Lawrence is.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh, okay Boss.¡± Mark nodded then Marvin agreed as well.


    ¡°That¡¯s too many barangays in one sentence¡­¡± Mikhailmented.


    ¡°Are we doing the same thing tomorrow sir?¡± Ibarra asked.


    ¡°Yeah, if things go smoothly. We¡¯ll be extending a bit more right until the ce we found you. We now have another thing to do aside from simply clearing them and opening up a path to Iskoh¡¯s location so we¡¯d discuss more in a meetingter.¡± I replied and waited for Ibarra¡¯s reaction.


    Everyone that belonged in a clearing group and the people that came with me to the City of Mbon knew of Ibarra¡¯s story so a few heads turned in his direction. His gaze just went down for a moment before he looked back at me and nodded a few times. I just noticed now that he was wearing two sets of dog tags so he probably had someone from the military that was quite close to him that died in that ce.


    ¡°Good thing we brought each one back¡­¡± I thought to myself.


    ¡°Boss, that¡¯s roughly two and a half barangays, right? If we find the same things, we¡¯d be done by 1:00 PM? Can¡¯t we do the whole route at least?¡± Mikhail interjected. <hr>


    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m doing a little something this afternoon.¡± I replied.


    ¡°We could continue without you bro. We don¡¯t need you anyway, heh.¡± Jared chuckled.


    ¡°Oh~ Is that so~ I guess I¡¯ll be taki-¡± I motioned with my hand then Jared exploded.


    ¡°I¡¯M JOKING! I¡¯M JOKING BRO! Take as much time as you want because we wouldn¡¯t be anywhere without you, your holiness.¡± Jared held his guns tight.


    ¡°Heh, joking aside, if you five want to do it then either bring more members or juste with Mark or Marvin¡¯s group. You¡¯d be able to do more things that way.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That sounds good.¡± Mikhail added.


    ¡°Hmm, I actually have an appointment with Daisy when wee back. I just talked to her this morning since I know we¡¯d be done after lunch.¡± Tatiana interjected.


    Most of the groups were wondering about what that appointment was about and only Kaley, me, and Tatiana herself knew the reason why.


    We soon said our goodbyes then we proceeded to take the route we talked about.


    Most of the dead we would encounter wasing from this side of the road because our outpost from the other side was doing a great job of clearing the dead on their end. Not only that, we still had no idea if there were other groups living on this side of the road. The only information we have was from the other survivors that managed to stumble onto our base. However, they were still information that needed to be confirmed.


    Turning on one corner, we reached a block where a school and a factory for manufacturing stic were located. There wasn¡¯t much to see aside from the dead approaching us when they heard using.


    The cl.u.s.ters were carefully taken care of and I noticed something from one of my members.


    Ibarra hasn¡¯t fired a single shot. <hr>


    He had the rifle and the pistol I gave him but it was securely sticking on his body. His hands were holding the knife and the machete I gave him and they never left his hands. There wasn¡¯t a special technique he was using because all he was doing was stabbing straight into their skull with the knife or a quick chop and pull with the machete.


    I first thought he was just following our lead earlier when we went melee but even when I drew my gun to thin out a cl.u.s.ter, he still proceeded with using his melee weapons. It was good for saving bullets and he was careful about just going melee but this behavior baffled me. I myself would¡¯ve tried shooting once or twice especially if I had a new gun on my hands.


    ¡°Ibarra¡­¡± I waved him over while Mikhail and Jared were hauling the bodies.


    ¡°Sir?¡± Ibarra asked.


    ¡°You could shoot those guns, okay? I gave them to you for a reason.¡± I reminded him.


    ¡°O-Okay sir¡­ I will if I-¡±


    ¡°Nope, f.u.c.k it. Shoot that one missing an ear.¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°I could but-¡±


    ¡°But what?¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­ the bullets¡­ I-¡±


    ¡°You have 360 rounds of 5.56s on you and 34 rounds of 9mm, not to mention 2 frag grenades are on your chest rig. Are you bad at shooting or something?¡± <hr>


    ¡°No, I-¡±


    ¡°Then shoot that one with the missing ear.¡±


    ¡°Okay, Sir.¡±


    Ibarra sheathed his melee weapons then he raised his rifle. My group and I watched him carefully as he flicked the safety off. He took a few seconds looking at the sights before he fired a shot.


    It was a good 90 yards and he nailed it with one try. It wasn¡¯t a long shot per se but he could do better than most people at that distance.


    Ibarra closed the dust cover and then he flicked the safety back on.


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t bad, was it?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°No, Sir. I¡¯m just wondering why you asked me to do that.¡± Ibarra said.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m just a curious guy. I for sure thought you can¡¯t shoot or something. I guess I¡¯m reading too many novels¡­ Oh, don¡¯t forget to pick up any casings you use or see lying on the ground.¡± I said as I scratched my head, chuckling.


    Kaley was also looking at him and based on her expression, everything that Ibarra said was genuine.


    After that, Jared asked him to fire longer shots then we discovered that he was somewhat above average in shooting skill. However, he just wanted to stick with using his melee weapons as much as possible even if I told him I could make bullets.


    ¡°I guess everyone got a little something going on¡­¡± I smiled inwardly.

 Chapter 442

    Chapter 442: 442


    ¡°Anyway, you could keep going melee if you wanted to but find the right bnce, okay? It¡¯s good to save on bullets but using them also gives us more time to do other stuff.¡± I said to Ibarra after we cleared that block. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Okay, Sir. Understood.¡± Ibarra replied.


    ¡°Bro.¡± Jared called out to me.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I looked back at him filling his used magazine to the brim.


    ¡°This Humvee is cool and all but I¡¯d still prefer we use the Raptor. I¡¯d like to be in the back so I could easily shoot a few down while we¡¯re driving around.¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°I agree as well. We keep using the sunroof but it isn¡¯t enough for us two.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll switch next time or bring both. I just wanted to check if other walls exist so we might need to bring an extra vehicle and people tomorrow.¡± I replied.


    We drove back to the main road and we continued to look for our objectives. We immediately noticed a pile on top of one another from a gasoline station but upon checking their heads, they weren¡¯t the hollow ones. We performed the same procedure of taking care of the cleared ones and we left the gas station quickly after.


    Time spent inside our vehicles wasn¡¯t wasted because aside from shooting down the dead from the windows or through the sunroof, we were replenishing used mags and wiping down the muck from our melee weapons. Sometimes when we were about to park, we would attract the dead with our horn so we wouldn¡¯t need to attract them and would just need to kill them after making aplete stop.


    ¡°Hey Boss, I spotted something near that chapel and bakery. The one with the red roof.¡± Mikhail pointed to the left. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, that seems to be one.¡± I replied as I turned the vehicle in that direction.


    The moment we stopped, Mikhail and Tatiana sprung into action while Ibarra fanned to the side to check the other passage for threats. I followed his lead while holding my katana and scabbard.


    Ibarra swung deep into an elderly¡¯s head and he kicked it back so he could pull his machete out. A small student wearing his school uniform was approaching our side but a quick flourish removed his scalp from the rest of his body. I held my left hand holding the scabbard to stall one sluggishly approaching me then Ibarra finished it off by stabbing it on the side of its head.


    A decapitated head suddenly flew in the air and it was Mikhail¡¯s doing. He held his fire axe with both hands and swung violently to thest one that was following us. By his side was Tatiana that brought down several times his number. They were surgically stabbed in the eye sockets so bringing them down required less movement and power.


    ¡°Leave a few for the rest of us, sheesh.¡± Jared joked then Kaley chuckled.


    To leave space for Kaley and so he could have a better vantage point, Jared climbed over the roof of Tatiana¡¯s Humvee. He was always on sprinter duty aside from Kaley who was on cl.u.s.ter duty. They were free to fire whenever they could and each gunshot was always equal to a deadhead being free by the shackles of undeath.


    The area we stopped by was filled with several automotive shops and a few eateries right next to each other. There were small and medium-sized houses a bit further in but there was a mass of them still getting held up by a huge gate belonging to the chapel in question. Their hands were sticking out, trying to grab anything that came close. However, the wall we discovered was between that chapel and the bakery.


    The only thing different about this wall was that it wasn¡¯t blocking a passage, unlike the one we encountered earlier. It was just ced right next to an existing wall and it wasn¡¯t causing anyone trouble. Instead, the mass gathering at the chapel was the one that needed more attention.


    The gate holding them up was slightly swaying and time could only tell how much they could be left alone. It wasn¡¯t safe trying to pick them off by simply stabbing their heads from the other side of the gate because the moment it falls down, there would be a lot more trouble due to their numbers. <hr>


    ¡°Jared, hover the drone above them and estimate how many of them are inside. After that, try to lure as much of them to the back so the gate could have some breathing room.¡± I said as I wiped my de with a spare cloth.


    Mikhail and Ibarra started to drag the bodies we took down to a corner to be burnedter when Jared was handed the drone by Kaley. Tatiana was floating around the perimeter and she was watching out for any threats while Jared was busy.


    The drone started hovering in ce and then it entered the area of the chapel.


    I was looking through the paired disy and the number of them inside was something else. It could beparable to a small herd but judging from the state of the bodies inside, it could be a few weeks when they all turned. Deadheads of varying ages were present and most of the small ones were still confined within the chapel itself.


    It was readily apparent because the blood staining the ss windows were only up to a certain height. Not only that, little decaying and discolored fingers started rising up when the figures inside heard the droneing close. The main objective for this day was to clear the walls of the undead but taking care of these kinds of messes was also important.


    Jared slowly scooted by the edge of the herd on the other side and he patiently waited until the first one got attracted to the noise produced by the drone. Slowly but surely, a good portion of the undead was leaving the area where the gate was, and sluggishly following the drone with their hands raised up. Even the swaying of the gate lessened by a significant amount so the option of clearing them up close would be avable after a few more tests.


    Well, the f.u.c.k.i.n.g loophole was to hug the walls to the side and reach around to stab them in their heads. Easily enough, a scene that could be stretched out by several episodes from a TV show was finished in less than an hour. The chapel was used as an


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Hey, you guys coulde here. We¡¯re at the corner of Fmina and Sapphire St.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Mark and Marvin¡¯s group were soon called because their assignment was just to clear the bodies on the streets in the immediate vicinity after they were done burning the wall from earlier.


    We started hauling the bodies outside of the chapel as Mikhail and Ibarra started to burn them. Jared stayed on the Humvee while Kaley and Tatiana followed me inside the church to search for supplies. This was the first building we tried to search for supplies because this was the first time we have been to this ce and there were no markings ced on them.


    We discovered that this ce was one of those small-time religions not as well-known to the general public. It seemed that they gathered their people here to use that chapel as an evacuation area but they weren¡¯t epting any people that aren¡¯t following their religion.


    ¡°How did you know that?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Oh, I just read it from their journal. Unless the person wanting toe inside was willing to be baptized, they wouldn¡¯t be allowed in.¡± I replied as I handed Kaley the journal.


    ¡°Hmm~ *rifles through pages* I think their storage area is also the head¡¯s quarters?¡± Kaley added. <hr>


    ¡°How convenient.¡± I chuckled.


    Aside from the chapel, there were small tents ced around the area and a few small apartments all inside the confines of their walls. It seemed that they were a little territorial about their people and most of them were required to stay in their pseudo-chapelpound.


    When we found their storage area, there was a lone figure hanging on the ceiling with a rope tied to its neck. It was still in the state of undeath and I let Kaley end its life. She also shot the rope so we could drag it outside with the rest of its followers.


    However, Jared had an idea that he wanted to try out.


    The rest of my group outside were still burning the bodies from this chapel and he asked them the spray cans they have on their vehicles they were using for the houses they managed to clear out.


    ¡°What are we doing with this again?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s leave a dozen or so with their right arm chopped off and spray their whole body so we could have some sort of marking system. We would obviously bring a sample from this pile back home but I wanted to know if they could still move or be controlled after reaching this ce. It¡¯s only been a day since west saw them so we should try a few more things with them. Right bro?¡± Jared started and I nodded.


    ¡°What would that achieve?¡± Marvin added.


    ¡°We have no way to differentiate them aside from breaking their heads open so painting their clothes with paint and just chopping their right arm off could let us identify them if they could somehow move from ce to ce. Whether they do or do not is one step for us to know more about them. If you have more ideas, you could tell me.¡± Jared exined.


    Well, I also had an idea.

 Chapter 443

    Chapter 443: 443


    I was cheekily smiling when Jared¡¯s gazended on me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You have something bro?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Yeah, something like that. We wouldn¡¯t be able to do it this instant though.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can you at least tell us the general idea of it then?¡± Kaley asked, curious.


    ¡°Well, if you want to know, it involves a few cheap phones and the rys we have installed all around this area. The devices fully cover our barangay but in other ces such as this, we are only following a pseudo-straight line, simply speaking. I could do it myself but I¡¯ll ask Ken or Kris to code a simple app to semi-track where the phone has been. It doesn¡¯t have to be urate, as long as it moves from its original position, I want it to send data through the rys back to our ce.¡± I exined briefly.


    ¡°That makes sense.¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°Hmm, I agree. I would be better to know where they¡¯ve gone through our phones than randomly looking for them when their body disappears. A body disappearing at this time especially a zombie could be for different reasons. Right, bro?¡± Jared nodded his head a few times.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the idea. It¡¯s like a simple GPS receiver but instead of using the satellites from all around the world to locate them, we¡¯ll be using the rys instead. We¡¯ll take a few more bodies back home and we¡¯ll install it on their bodies securely so it wouldn¡¯t get shaken off by a simple bump or something.¡± I added.


    Some people understood the general idea of what we were doing. They also nodded in agreement while the others continued to do what they know. However, they still asked a few things for rification. It wasn¡¯t a bad thing not to know about such stuff but letting yourself be in the dark was something much worse.


    It was standard procedure to clean up the rest of the bodies after securing a few but we were faster by a few minutes this time. Some of the group were with Jared and Kaley helping with clearing the ones approaching like Ashley and Max but I couldn¡¯t help myself smiling from watching Ibarra be uneasy of the bullets being used.


    ¡®What if I bring him with meter with Rin so I could assure him by a bit that we could make bullets? I¡¯ll be teaching Rin a new skill but it¡¯s dangerous for her so I¡¯ll let someone assist her aside from me.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay guys, we¡¯ll leave you here and I¡¯ll leave it to you if you¡¯ll loot the other ces around because we¡¯ve already looted this chapel here. It seemed that they mostly took everything from around this block but we could never be too sure, right? We¡¯ll start to drive inside the barangay of Rincon, after driving inside the barangay of Malinta, and possibly meet up with Dong¡¯s group, okay? Also¡­¡± I left a few instructions and they all nodded.


    Aside from clothing, food items, random electronics, IDs, and random utility equipment, we managed to scrounge several rifles, shotguns, and pistols from the chapel. It wasn¡¯t muchpared to what we would get from a loaded DDR Camp but it was enough to arm a smallmunity.


    However, I found three boxes of .270s but the rifle or rifles that could shoot them weren¡¯t present. The .270 was a great caliber for hunting and it was poprly used for deer even in other countries. Not only that, but the .270 also had an advantage over energy, velocity, and even droppared to the 6.5 Creedmoor that my Daniel Defense DV uses. However, there were also a few things that the 6.5 Creedmoor had an advantage so it was better to just simply use what one prefers.


    It could be for other reasons as to why the rifle was missing but now was not the time to think about it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°This is where we¡¯ll turn, correct?¡± Tatiana asked because she was the one driving the Humvee.


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s stop by that pharmacy first.¡± I replied.


    We eventually reached the intersection that could lead us to the barangay of Rincon or to the hospital we looted before that was near the City of Mbon. However, the presence of the dead hadn¡¯t diminished one bit. The smell wafting through our nose was always horrible so wearing a mask to cover our faces didn¡¯t be an issue.


    My people have been clearing the road near our ce but in these areas, we haven¡¯t done much. The main focus was around our area then slowly extending to ces like these. We would get to this ce soon enough but doing that kind of operation was not the main priority.


    We came across another pile but they didn¡¯t belong to the type that we were looking for. They didn¡¯t even reach a few feet high but it was important to check everything. Stab marks and gashes made by ded weapons were apparent on their bodies and especially on their heads but one of them had its skull cracked horribly it jutted out to the other portion of its face.


    There were a few deadheads roaming around so to exchange safety with time, I made Jared press the horn for a few seconds.


    Bodies in varying degrees of decay started heading in our direction and all of us had our guns at the ready. It was because the sprinters would most likely arrive at the fastest time possible and it was dangerous if theye in droves.


    As soon as Jared depressed the horn, we heard theming and even Ibarra raised his rifle.


    ¡°Fire at will.¡± I muttered.


    The first one I saw crashed into a car but I managed to clip its head before it fell down. My group started firing shots and they were alling from different directions. We were surprised at the amount that wasing for us because it was pretty controlled earlier.


    ¡°Bad luck today, bro?¡± Jared muttered as he fired three shots in a row.


    They fell one after the other and the ones behind them tripped on their bodies. I just aimed farther because the ones that tripped were basically CC¡¯d for a few seconds. I bore a hole in the head of one wearing a police uniform before I sent one bullet to anky deadhead sprinting with its head forwards.


    The ones that tripped just managed to get up but Kaley made quick work of them.


    ¡°Jeez, can people stop KS¡¯ing me?¡± I joked.


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley asked after quickly reloading. <hr>


    ¡°Nevermind, there¡¯s only a couple left. Let¡¯s go melee. Ibarra! Come with me!¡± I shook my head, feigning disappointment, but I was already heading for the ones with my katana.


    Ibarra followed behind me as I rushed while side-stepping on the bodies sprawled on the floor we just shot. The one in front of me jumped head-first but all I had to do was point my katana at his head. It basically impaled itself and the length of my de was enough for me to avoid its disfigured hands.


    I pulled out my de by tilting it sideways and applying power, pushing it to the left, then I immediately swung it to the right with a quick flourish for the other oneing at me. My de entered its cheek but its forward motion allowed my de to slowly cut deeper and deeper. The entry point was shallow but the final cut was horrifying. It was like someone saw its head in half and stopped midway.


    Ibarra saw everything close up but he ran forward for the slow ones that followed. Tatiana and Mikhail went for the other ones on the other side of the road while Kaley and Jared were watching out forters. We managed to clear out bodies close to a hundred and we only used our bullets for the sprinters.


    To avoid burning the buildings they were piled over, we pulled them in a safe distance so we could turn them into cinders. We made sure the Humvee was on the right side of the road before we drove forward to look for our main objective for this run.


    It was unfortunate but we didn¡¯t find another in this area.


    However, we killed enough bodies driving inside the barangay of Rincon enough to build another wall of the undead by ourselves. It was because Dong¡¯s group made a blockade to the road that could lead to our ce as instructed by myself a few meetings before, making this area essentially a dead-end of sorts. The only other ce we could drive to was the barangay of I but the road over there that could lead to our ce was also blocked by Jay¡¯s group.


    I noticed that there were already bodies in this area that were made as practice targets for shooting so I didn¡¯t put it to mind. It would be always better to train with moving targets aside from stationary ones. Smoke was billowing out of the bodies we used as firewood and I decided to give Dong a call so our group could pass through.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Dong, you guys still here?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Boss? Yeah, we heard the gunshots and figured it was you guys.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Thanks for helping, heh.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hah! C¡¯mon boss, I know you guys could handle it. We might hit you identally too, yes?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re still quite far where that action happened. Help us remove the blockade from your side so we¡¯d be a little faster.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure, did you find more of those things?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Not in this barangay but we found a couple. There might be more but I¡¯ll do that tomorrow.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We quickly ended the call and removed the blockade. Mikhail was always a huge f.u.c.k.i.n.g help when ites to these kinds of things and he almost did everything by himself. Dong and his group decided toe back with us for lunch. We had chicken drumsticks smothered with mushrooms, onions, and gravy eaten over rice paired with cold iced tea. No one gave a f.u.c.k about how hot it was as we all chomped down on our food. Someone almost died by choking from a bone but he was saved after taking several pictures.


    After eating, I gathered my materials for casting bullets.


    I also looked for Rin and Cynthia came with her. Kaley decided to apany Tatiana while Mikhail and Jared went with another group to scout other areas. Ibarra wanted toe with them but I asked him to assist me.


    I changed clothes to a certain captain wielding a shield and I ced my foot on top of a chair and said with the same exact tone with a faint smile, ¡°So, you want to know about casting?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Rin.


    ¡°¡­¡± Cynthia.


    ¡°¡­¡± Ibarra.

 Chapter 444

    Chapter 444: 444


    As soon as I looked at them after finishing my routine, they were speechless. Rin looked like she was duped while Ibarra was checking Rin and Cynthia if he was getting punk¡¯d. However, Cynthia was looking a bit uneasy so I addressed it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Problem?¡± I asked.


    ¡°W-Well¡­ didn¡¯t he flip the chair on the other side before sitting on it? You k-kinda did it wrong¡­¡± Cynthia fidgeted.


    ¡®F.u.c.k. I got too excited wearing the costume¡­¡¯ I cursed myself.


    ¡°Shit, you¡¯re actually right. Let me do it again¡­¡± I replied as I copied the same exact movements ording to the movie. I even made them vacate the workshop because I wanted to reenact the same thing I did earlier with the correct movements.


    ¡°So, you want to learn about casting?¡± I said as if the thing I did earlier didn¡¯t happen.


    Rin and Ibarra were still speechless but Cynthia gave me a thumbs up.


    ¡°Anyway, since you two need a brief lesson on cartridges, I would like Rin to present what she knows first because she¡¯s my only student in this type of ss. There were a few sit-ins but they all left, leaving it to the OCD Gang. Rin, can you exin to them what a ¡®bullet¡¯ actually is?¡± I started.


    ¡°O-OCD Gang? Sure¡­¡± Rin was apprehensive but she knew I was just joking


    Rin stood up and exined to the two the correct terminologies for a few minutes. Everyone still refers to the ¡®cartridges¡¯ or ¡¯rounds¡¯ as ¡®bullets¡¯ but it was good to at least let them know the proper term for it even if we usually call them ¡®bullets¡¯ most times than the right term. It became themon lingo for most people but in this ss, we try to call it the right term as much as possible.


    ¡°¡­that¡¯s why this is actually called a cartridge and this one is supposed to be called the bullet or the projectile¡­ a cartridge without a bullet ismonly known as a nk and we almost never make them because it was better to train with real ones. There¡¯s also the issue of carbon build-up and¡­¡± Rin continued as she added more details too much or the two to process at once. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°O-Okay Rin, that¡¯s enough. The main point of our ss today is this.¡± I said as I showed them a lead bullet that was copper-jacketed and a hand-cast, powdered, lead bullet that was made by me.


    The three were staring at it though Rin was already familiar with them. Ibarra was in the same spot as Cynthia because they mostly just use them instead of actually trying to know how it was made in the first ce, leading to misinformation about the whole process.


    ¡°I still have a f.u.c.k ton of copper-jacketed bullets and other types that I bought from the store before because they¡¯re fine if you¡¯re training normally but if you wanted to really hit where you aim for, making your own is the answer.¡± I started.


    ¡°Can I ask a question? I remember my brother saying that they¡¯re kinda bad, right?¡± Cynthia said, raising her hand.


    ¡°I heard that too but I shot a few from the ones you gave me. They kinda feel better though¡­ better than normal.¡± Ibarra added.


    ¡°It¡¯s because it was made by OCD Gang, heh.¡± Rin chuckled.


    ¡°Heh, awooh! Actually, like everything that people make, if you took the time and make them correctly and precisely, it would be better than the jacketed ones. Yes, there are a few issues surrounding hand-cast bullets but there are already ways to prevent them. Oscar introduced me to a hardcore gunner before that always joinspetition shootings and he never uses cartridges that he didn¡¯t make himself.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Then why do we still use the jacketed ones?¡± Ibarra asked.


    ¡°As I said, it takes a bit of time especially if you¡¯re like me or Rin. Everything needs to be perfect so I mostly run through the standard ones first and only use the high-quality ones forpetition and such. In any case, as long as we send it through their heads, it¡¯s enough, right? We could also achieve the same result with the standard ones but if I really want to f.u.c.k.i.n.g nail someone, I¡¯d trust on my handloads.¡± I added.


    ¡°Is the round you used to ¡®nail¡¯ the father made by you?¡± Rin asked, excited. <hr>


    ¡°Sorry, but it¡¯s not. A different skill was used to achieve that and it¡¯s called training. But yeah, if I had to choose one between the two, I¡¯d use my handloads. It¡¯s just more f.u.c.k.i.n.g intricate to make one of those f.u.c.kers.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But why didn¡¯t you use them?¡± Ibarra asked.


    ¡°I just didn¡¯t need to at the time and a normal one was already enough.¡± I gave a light chuckle.


    ¡°If Kaley was here, we¡¯d hear the magic words~¡± Cynthia said as she chuckled with Rin.


    ¡°S-So, where do we start? This information is getting a little too much for me¡­¡± Ibarra said, confused about what the magic words were.


    ¡°Okay, since we¡¯ll be only casting bullets today, we¡¯re gonna use the lead ingots that Unc Zeidrick made by melting a lot of lead scrap from before. They are several pounds already and we could make a few hundred bullets just by using a few ingots. Well, we¡¯ll start with these lead cupcakes first because they¡¯re harder to store than the ingots and they look ugly. We¡¯re gonna re-melt them inside an electric casting furnace. We don¡¯t need to worry about fluxing or cleaning them with Marvelux or something simr because Unc Zeidrick already did. We¡¯ll just do that in another lesson when we have extra time. Even if we do, we¡¯ll try and cast a few more bullets for different calibers. For now, we¡¯ll make a few 9mm bullets because that¡¯s the round we use the most. Take a look at the equipment here.¡± I said as I showed them the materials and equipment we would be using.


    I showed them an electric casting furnace, bullet molds for a 147-grain 9mm bullet, a leaddle, a wooden mallet, a bullet sizer, bullet lube, powder coating, thermometers, and etc.


    The furnace I had could hold 20 pounds at a time and the temperatures could be controlled precisely. One of the problems of casting bullets like the end product having a ¡®frosty¡¯ appearance was due to the mold being too hot. To resolve that, lowering the temperature or using a few extra molds would solve the problem.


    Aside from the temperature adjustment, the furnace I had came with a bottom dripper where I could simply pull a lever to pour molten lead onto my molds. It also had a stopper for the lever so I wouldn¡¯t identally pour more than necessary.


    ¡°We¡¯ll just chuck them in?¡± Ibarra asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, but wear protection first.¡± I replied as I adjusted the bars and the stoppers of the furnace to the right position.


    I also showed them how to prepare the area so we would be working in so there would be no hups. We essentially made a little assembly line as I gave each one of them a task. It took us a few minutes but after wearing protective gear, making sure the workshop is well ventted, and the children out of sight, I turned the furnace on and I let them ce the lead cupcakes.


    While we were waiting for them to melt, we prepared the molds for use. Preparing it meant making sure that it waspletely clean and any sort of oil, water, or any other liquid wouldn¡¯t be present. The reaction made when molten lead met with water was something worse than a few firecrackers exploding in front of someone.


    After making sure that it was clean, the next thing to do was preheat or ¡®smoke¡¯ them by using a candle and cing it over the grooves the molds that I have on. Doing that could ensure that the bullet would drop after the pour or if all else fails, the wooden mallet was the f.u.c.k.i.n.g solution.


    ¡°All done.¡± Rin checked it one final time before we continued.


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll start pouring them. Watch me first then you¡¯ll follow me, okay?¡± I replied as I readied my 6-cavity bullet mold.


    I was holding the mold on the handle with my left hand, cing it under the furnace when I pulled the lever with my right hand. I made sure to leave a little extra of the melted lead right above the sprue te which was used to cut the base of the casted bullet so it could remain t. Before I ced my left hand holding the molds right above the soft towel we prepared, I ced a small spoon under the dripper so it could catch the overflow and I could ce it back in the pot at the top.


    I waited for a few seconds before I pulled the third handle to cut the sprues off the bullet bases. After that, I opened the mold to reveal the bullets. It showed 6-perfectly shaped bullets and I gently dropped them on a towel. Dropping it on a hard surface could cause some dents or malformation. All we needed to do was wait for them to cool then we could either lubricate them or powder coat them so we would be able to use them for reloading in the future.


    ¡°That¡¯s it. We could use them after powder coating themter when it coolspletely. You guys could try now and don¡¯t worry about making a few mistakes, we could always chuck them back in the pot and make another pour, okay?¡± I reminded them.


    ¡°Can I ask why do we powder them?¡± Cynthia raised her hand. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s to avoid an urrence called ¡®leading¡¯, it was when the bullet we made leaves traces of it inside the barrel, causing more problems than necessary. Leading could also ur when the bullet itself is too soft but another method is used to prevent that.¡± I replied.


    ¡°And that is?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Instead of using just pure lead, we¡¯d make an alloy out of it and add a few parts of tin and antimony. We could also drop them into cold water instead to increase the bullet hardness by a few levels.¡± I exined another topic.


    I continued with a few more precautions, tips, and lessons but as they were first-time casters, the bullets they made weren¡¯t as perfect as I wanted them to be. Cynthia and Ibarra were happy to create a few passable ones for training but Rin kept on chucking the imperfect and malformed ones she made back inside the pot. They could be resized manually but she wanted to achieve the degree of perfection I have by doing it the first time I showed them. The equipment we were using could be the difference but nothing could beat experience on this type of thing.


    ¡°Can I use the same mold you are using?¡± Rin put down the single-cavity mold that she was using earlier.


    ¡°Go ahead.¡± I smiled but it ticked her off. Her expression was turning a little different because the ones she made this time were a little ¡®wrinkly¡¯ and she immediately chucked them back on the pot.


    I couldn¡¯t rte so hard but after hours and hours of preparing everything and making sure that everything was perfect before, I finally made something I could trust myself with.


    While I was letting them practice, I brought out another furnace I have in storage to increase the degree ofpetition. I casually dropped a few ingots in the pot and I started to make bullets after bullets, faster than the three of thembined.


    As expected, Rin was having the most trouble even if she managed to produce the quality Ibarra and Cynthia did. Sometimes, she would even chuck back the ones the two made and even try to convert them to OCD Gang. She even started to record me while I was whistling away to learn some sort of secret to making perfectly cast bullets.


    ¡®You only have to do it once, Rin.¡¯ I thought to myself.

 Chapter 445

    Chapter 445: 445


    My goal for today was to make 500 bullets each for the ones we would always use. It didn¡¯t necessarily mean that we would reload all of them in one go but keeping a few projectiles ready for the actual thing was also good because our stock of lead ingots was steadily increasing. <center></center><hr>


    It was mainly because of our scavengers securing lead scrap and from the operation to clear the vehicles strewn about the roads.


    Being able to cast a lot of projectiles needed a steady supply of lead scrap. It coulde from any source and the wheel weights taken from the vehicles that were already unusable was one of them. Aside from those, I already had a hook-up from several ranges, boating scrapyards, junk shops, transfer stations, and etc. from before this shit started. Having a scanner of sorts helped with sorting them out from the usable ones to the unusable ones.


    ¡°Hey¡­¡± Rin approached me with a disgruntled expression.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I need a tip.¡±


    ¡°Just the tip?¡± I chuckled then I saw Ibarra losingposure for a moment.


    ¡®I just found your weakness boi~¡¯ Iughed inwardly.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna hit you, please don¡¯t joke with me right now.¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°Yes, master¡­ I do apologize¡­¡± I started to dogeza.


    ¡°Hngh~ please just tell me how you do it! I¡¯m starting to have headaches!¡± Rin eximed.


    ¡°Just do it!¡± I said as I did the infamous pose from Shia.


    ¡°Oh! I think I did one like Sky did!¡± Cynthia eximed.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± Rin almost broke her neck as she violently turned around.


    ¡°Ummm¡­ I think so, see?¡± Cynthia pointed at one bullet sitting snugly on the soft towel.


    ¡°It does look better than the ones we¡¯ve made so far.¡± Ibarra added. <center></center><hr>


    I stood up and looked at it closely and it was just as Cynthia dered. However, when Rin asked her to make another one, she didn¡¯t seed. Consistency on each and every action was the key to doing it and it would be a difficult feat to achieve the sweet spot for more than several hundred pours.


    ¡°Try and remember the sensation when you did it. If it feels off, remember that sensation as well. You¡¯d eventually get the feel for it the more you continue with pouring them. That¡¯s what I did in my case and I managed to make high-quality projectiles. That¡¯s the tip I could give you three but I don¡¯t know if it would work in your cases as well. But yeah, Cynthia, great work.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°Thank you!¡± Cynthia returned a bright smile.


    I turned to Rin and she started to jot down each and every information she could jot down and it was a funny sight. I used to be the same way but sometimes, instinctually doing it could work as well.


    ¡°Hmm, we still got a lot of hours left so continue doing your thing but don¡¯t get upset if I chuck them back. Remember, we¡¯re going for quality, if it reached the standard one, fine, if it didn¡¯t, we¡¯ll make it so, okay? After that, we¡¯ll start powder-coating them.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What¡¯s powder-coating again?¡± Ibarra asked.


    ¡°Coating bullets in powder is essentially¡­ coating them in powder¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°¡­¡± Ibarra was speechless.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯ll see the whole processter. The end result is the one I¡¯ve shown you earlier.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Yes, sir¡­¡± Ibarra continued to practice pouring.


    Time continued to pass and I eventually reached my personal goal of reaching 500 bullets of 9mm. I set them aside for cleaningter and then I pulled out a different sized mold for casting out .45 ACPs. It was essentially the same process for each type of bullet but there were some added intricacies when casting rifle projectiles. However, I continued to cast pistol projectiles until I reach my personal goal.


    ¡®I could¡¯ve gotten several achievements already¡­¡¯ I chuckled inwardly.


    Rin and Ibarra finally lucked out on making perfect ones and they celebrated with Cynthia. However, she made sure to record everything that they did so she could try and recreate the same situation when she achieved to make the perfect one.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get it consistent soon¡­¡± Rin said with enthusiasm.


    The two beside her just gave a faint smile because of how motivated Rin became when she managed to seed with one. <hr>


    ¡°I-Ibarra, can you get us some water from Auntie Sharon¡¯s house? I¡¯m k-kinda parched.¡± Rin asked him.


    ¡°Hmm? Okay, I¡¯ll ask for some.¡± Ibarraplied as he removed his gloves.


    As soon as he left, Rin approached me, holding out the perfect bullet she made.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I looked back at her.


    ¡°Anything you want to say?¡± Rin said with a different tone.


    ¡°It¡¯s perfect, yep.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hngh~ nevermind¡­¡± Rin walked back dejectedly to Cynthia who was shooting a confused expression towards me.


    ¡®What did I do? Oh!¡¯ I was deep in thought but I had a revtion.


    ¡°Rin, good job!¡± I gave her a thumbs up.


    ¡°You look weird in that costume!¡± Rin eximed.


    ¡°Oh~ Is that so? We¡¯re going this route, eh? Fine, you have a sess rate of less than 1%! Mada Mada Dane~¡± I retorted.


    Instant knockout.


    When Ibarra arrived with a pitcher of cold water, he was afraid that Rin received the same fate of being dehydrated because she was almost lifeless, staring into the distance like a hermit. Any sort of cheering Cynthia did had no effect and I almost felt bad. Well, almost.


    ¡®Hmph! That¡¯s what you get for dissing ze captain.¡¯ I chuckled inwardly.


    It only took a minute before she recovered from the blow but she was more fired up. She wanted to prove me wrong so bad she continued to make pseudo-perfect ones with great consistency. It was impressive work but she still had a long way to go. <hr>


    The perfect bullets that were perfectly lined up next to me made her lose the anger she was feeling towards me because it was enough to be ced in a subreddit or aption of extremely satisfying videos.


    ¡°So, you¡¯ve been making this for several years already?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why it alwayses out perfect.¡± I replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s surprisingly ther.a.p.eutic though, aside from the heat.¡± Cynthia chuckled.


    ¡°Okay, if you guys could turn the furnace you¡¯re using for a moment, I¡¯ll show you how to powder them.¡± I stood up, picking up a tray of 9mms that contained 100 pieces.


    They followed suit and I showed them a tumbler for coating the bullets I made. I ced 100 at a time and an ample amount of powder so it could spread evenly and the overall diameter wouldn¡¯t be affected as much.


    ¡°Is the color supposed to be like that?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Hmm? Oh, it doesn¡¯t. It¡¯s just for aesthetics or for identifying them at a nce more easily. Okay, bring out the other tumblers and do the same measurements I did. Be quick, it only needs a minute or two to shake them here.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay, but what happens after this?¡± Ibarra asked.


    ¡°After this, we just strain them to remove the excess paint with a sifter so we could ce them all into the oven. Quick!¡± I replied as they sprang into action.


    As they were setting up the second tumbler, I was already cing the bullets on a heat-safe tray after cing them through a sifter. I made sure to ce them neatly before plugging in the dedicated ovens for the powdered bullets. The oven I have could hold 5 trays that could hold exactly 100 rounds each so I started another batch for tumbling the bullets, the same exact value for each caliber that I made personally.


    After we were done tumbling them, I ced each tray inside the oven while setting it on the appropriate temperature and for around 20 minutes.


    ¡°Kindly bring the .45 ACPs over. They¡¯re next.¡± I asked Ibarra.


    ¡°Can we paint them blue?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Sure, no problem. Is that your favorite color?¡± I chuckled. <hr>


    ¡°Yep, it would be nice to see them like that.¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll do the 5.7s green!¡± Rin added.


    ¡°How about you?¡± I looked at Ibarra.


    ¡°Oh, I like the orange-ness of the 9mms you¡¯re doing right now.¡± Ibarra replied.


    ¡°Wait, you have different kinds of blue here¡­¡± Cynthia saw my collection.


    ¡°Yeah, just pick one.¡± I replied.


    ¡°U-Umm, Ibarra, can you get me some juice? I t-think the water is not doing it for me¡­¡± Cynthia embarrassingly asked Ibarra for a favor.


    ¡°Juice? Okay, I¡¯ll ask for some¡­¡± Ibarra looked at Cynthia weirdly and it seemed he figured out what she was trying to imply. However, Ibarra still went to Aunt Sharon¡¯s house to get some so we could talk privately.


    ¡°Okay, what is it now?¡± I was confused by their actions.


    ¡°It¡¯s a little embarrassing¡­¡± Cynthia replied.


    ¡°What? Picking blue? What kind of blue is it?¡± I continued to get confused.


    ¡°You know¡­ for guys that can¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t know what type of blue is it but that¡¯s the color I like¡­ Unfortunately¡­ it¡¯s the same color as that¡­ I- I¡¯m not implying that you- no- it¡¯s impossible for you to need it but- I¡¯m just saying that- oh my god- why am I- it¡¯s just like that blue, OKAY?!¡± Cynthia couldn¡¯t look me in the eye as she started to get fl.u.s.tered even more.


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Rin was confused.


    ¡°For guys¡­ that c-can¡¯t? You mean- oh. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! OUT OF ALL THE BLUE YOU¡¯RE LOOKING FOR, THAT¡¯S THE BLUE YOU WANTED TO GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± I started to lose it as I figured it out.


    ¡°W-What is it?!¡± RIn was f.u.c.k.i.n.g confused.

 Chapter 446

    Chapter 446: 446


    I was choking from my own saliva while dying fromughter and Cynthia was red as a tomato while Rin was confused as f.u.c.k. Cynthia could¡¯ve easily said Skywalker Blue or simply light blue but she opted out for something she would regrly see in Cuervo Heights. <center></center><hr>


    I tried really hard to maintain myposure as I tried my best to exin to Rin how those blue pills work. I omitted a few things about Cynthia¡¯s ce also because I didn¡¯t know how much Cynthia told Rin about her past. Ibarra came when it was all over and good thing Cynthia requested something that needed a little more preparation than a pitcher of cold water.


    ¡°Okay, I got some orange juice from Ma¡¯am Sharon. It¡¯s good, who wants some?¡± Ibarra offered the juice as we four took a little break.


    ¡°Hey, I want to ask another question¡­¡± Rin scooted next to me.


    ¡°Sure, ask away. As long as it¡¯s not about the color blue. I think I might¡¯ve exined that in great detail.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°N-No, I think I had enough of that. It¡¯s about this particr mold. I saw this one is about the right size for a .38 Special. I¡¯m just wondering why they are t on both sides? Is this one broken?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s what you call a mold for wadcutters.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wadcutters? What are those?¡± Cynthia added.


    ¡°Essentially, they¡¯re a special-purpose t-fronted bullet designed for shooting good-sized holes on paper targets. It¡¯smonly used with revolvers though not for the semi-autos we always use because of some issues.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh, I remember now. It is on a copy of the book that you gave me. I briefly read about it and I¡¯m just wondering why we never make those. Turns out it¡¯s only forpetition.¡± Rin added.


    ¡°Well, some people also use them for self-defense because it punches through soft tissue easily. On a slightly different topic, there are also bullets called semiwadcutters or Keith-Style bullets that could also be used for semiautos for example. What I made here were the typical round-nosed ones but I also have a separate mold for the others I¡¯ve said earlier. It¡¯s good not just forpetition but for other uses like self-defense, hunting, and plinking. However, a bullet is a bullet and it could almost always kill as long as you hit a vital part of a body.¡± I exined.


    We casually talked about a few more concepts and eventually, the 9mm bullets inside the oven were finally ready. There was also a set minute for them to let cool before you remove them from the tray so that the coating would still be as wet and it wouldn¡¯t stick to the tray itself.


    I ced the blue .45 ACPs next while the rest of them continued to powder-coat the remaining ones that I made. The process was repeated over and over right until we were done. It was a few hours before sunset and Mauricio and Oscar safely arrived.


    I heard them arrive because Oscar was now happily driving a full andplete car. <center></center><hr>


    It was a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS 396.


    Oscar never stopped honking like an idiot right until I came outside the gate. His cheeky grin couldn¡¯t be removed from his face as he basked into the glory of finally owning something with muscle car credibility. Compared to my 1970 Dodge Charger R/T that has been heavily modified, his 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS 396 stayed true to its roots.


    ¡°Wanna f.u.c.k.i.n.g race, kid? I bet I could smoke ya!¡± Oscar started revving up the engine, cacklingughing.


    I disregarded his taunts because I always had a thing for beautiful pieces of machinery. The ssics always had a special ce in my heart, and I couldn¡¯t help but grin from ear to ear when I saw one pass by me or right in front of me, even if Oscar was taunting me nonstop.


    However, I had mixed expressions because its paint job was the same type of ¡®blue¡¯ Cynthia was referring to earlier. Cynthia and Rin saw it and they immediately excused themselves to dieughing in a corner.


    ¡®Let¡¯s save that deadlyeback forter¡­¡¯ I chuckled inwardly.


    ¡°I¡¯ll concede defeat for now ¡¯cause you finally brought not just an engine, but aplete f.u.c.k.i.n.g~ car. Good job, old man.¡± I said, smiling.


    ¡°Heh, just don¡¯t look at the truck¡­¡± Oscar whispered but I heard it.


    ¡°No f.u.c.k.i.n.g way, you bought another V8?! How many cars are you nning to solve like a puzzle?! Are you starting a series?!¡± I was in shock from his stupid purchases.


    We now had several engines that were hanging out inside the workshop still unused.


    ¡°Bah! Don¡¯t worry about that. I think I¡¯ll stay cooped inside thispound for a time because I really wanted to start building one with your uncle. I used to have this hobby and it just got reced with owning a lot of guns.¡± Oscar waved me off.


    ¡°Fine, what did you guys managed to trade?¡± I asked.


    ¡°A few things here and there but we got the first portion of the jet fuel that¡¯s promised. We parked the tanker in the DDR Camp where our helicopters were.¡± Oscar replied. <hr>


    ¡°Where¡¯s Cathy? Is she with Mrs. Marisha?¡± Mauricio chimed.


    ¡°Yeah, I think they¡¯re at Matthew¡¯s house. Zeus is also with them, you know the way? Lois coulde with you.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? I¡¯m just about toy down¡­¡± Lois grumbled.


    ¡°You¡¯re not gonna say hi to Olivia? She¡¯s there too?¡± I retorted.


    ¡°F.u.c.k, you¡¯re right bro. Oscar, can I borrow the car for a sec? I kinda wanna surprise her.¡± Lois chuckled.


    ¡°Yeah, sure. Just don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g dent it or I¡¯ll dent you, got that?¡± Oscar said as he threw the keys at Lois.


    ¡°Great, Mr. Maui~ wannae for a ride?¡± Lois joked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t call me that or I¡¯ll dent you too.¡± Mauricio¡¯s tone changed.


    ¡°Umm- I was just-¡± Lois stuttered.


    ¡°Hah, I¡¯m just joking as well but don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g call me that. Only my wife calls me that, got it?¡± Mauricio chuckled.


    They both disappeared into the distance and I noticed that Kaley and Tatiana haven¡¯te back from Daisy¡¯s ce yet. They brought the design I made to cover Tatiana¡¯s old tattoo but I was wondering why it was taking them so long.


    I wish I would¡¯ve hitched a ride but I decided just to bring a bike. Cynthia and Rin decided toe with me so they brought their own bikes and headed to thest house located near the canal system.


    A few guards were stationed on the end of the road as well because it was another entrance to our ce if someone used a boat. However, no one had still attempted ore across this area but it was always better to have people guarding it just in case. <hr>


    When we parked our bikes, I saw Faith, Jay¡¯s wife just sweeping the floor for fallen leaves. When she saw us, she let out a smile and let use inside toward Daisy¡¯s room. We could hear muffled musicing from outside her room and we knocked first to get their attention.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± Daisy called out.


    ¡°It¡¯s us!¡± I shouted hoping they could recognize my voice.


    ¡°Oh, wait a sec!¡± Daisy replied.


    The music quieted down and after a few moments, we saw Tatiana still on the table. She was still getting tattooed and the design I made was enhanced by Daisy significantly. The design I made was now turned into a pendant worn by a female warrior d in a mix of Viking-like and knight-like armor.


    ¡°I made a little modification to your work. I hope you don¡¯t mind.¡± Daisy said when she saw me looking at Tatiana¡¯s back.


    ¡°No problem at all. It looks f.u.c.k.i.n.g better like that. Wait, it extends to her left arm too, right? Just by the elbow?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the idea. I n to add a little more coverups on Tatiana¡¯s scars here and there but I¡¯ll make sure to make it alle together. I don¡¯t want a repeat of Bing¡¯s tattoo¡­¡± Daisy embarrassingly said.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with Bing¡¯s tattoo?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Oh. That¡¯s a really weird way to love something¡­ getting it tattooed is really something else¡­¡± Rin suddenly muttered.


    ¡°Rin, it¡¯s a trade secret between the three of us here and the rest of the people at that time, okay?¡± I chuckled but we soon revealed that Bing¡¯s tattoo actually spelled out the word ¡®Banana¡¯ in Kanji.


    ¡°What, really?! He was so proud of it!¡± Cynthia eximed and the secret holders becamerger.


    ¡°Just be quiet about it, okay? We¡¯re about done with the outline. A few more minutes¡­¡± Daisy reminded everyone. <hr>


    ¡°Sure, no one¡¯s gonna mention I¡¯m the only one topless here, eh?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°It¡¯s art! Everyone¡¯s body is! We shouldn¡¯t be ashamed of it!¡± Daisy immediately huffed.


    ¡°No, what I¡¯m talking about is my situation is a little unfair. Why don¡¯t the rest of you remove your tops as well? That¡¯s fair, correct?¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°And we¡¯re about to go home, see yater?¡± I immediately dragged Kaley back.


    ¡°Stop! She¡¯s just joking! She¡¯s been at it ever since we started!¡± Daisy eximed then she gave a nervousugh.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m joking~ of course~¡± Tatiana added as she made a face only we could see behind Dasiy¡¯s back.


    ¡°See? I bet she¡¯s really joking. She¡¯s been at it for a while.¡± Daisy said as she continued.


    ¡®If only you knew¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    At this point in time, the outline was still being finished and the rest of the details would be done on ater date. Furthermore, the draft Daisy did was amazing work and it got the three thinking of maybe getting one as well. Kaley had several portfolios of the designs Daisy made by her side and Cynthia picked one up to look at it with Rin.


    ¡°Kaley, are you thinking about getting one as well?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m still not sure though¡­ I kinda wanted to have the same design on his arm¡­¡± Kaley replied as she looked at me.


    ¡°C¡¯mon! Think of something a little bit easier! I couldn¡¯t possibly do that! Well, yet!¡± Daisy eximed.


    ¡°Who got you that tattoo made again? I believe it was an old dude? He must be really great.¡± Cynthia added.


    ¡°Yep, he¡¯s really great at what he does. However, you don¡¯t just get a design and he¡¯ll just ink it on you, he¡¯s the one who picks what he ces on your body. Even the location was on his own discretion and he wouldn¡¯t do it any other way. You have no idea how I managed to ovee having this tattoo only on one side of my body¡­¡± I gave a pitying chuckle.

 Chapter 447

    Chapter 447: 447


    I began to talk a little bit more about Old Man Kaiseki and they were all interested in him, especially Dasiy on how he decided to have his own path of doing things artistically. I didn¡¯t notice at first but Daisy continued to ask more and more about Old Man Kaiseki¡¯s appearance and how he carries himself. Kaley and the rest were simply giving faint smiles and it was toote when it clicked in my head. <center></center><hr>


    Daisy was blushing like a girl in love as I drew a simple portrait.


    ¡°He¡¯s taller than Mikhail too?¡± Tatiana chimed, surprised.


    ¡°Yep, he¡¯s like one of those old dudes that forgot to age when they reached a certain point. I could swear on my life that on the first time I met him, after all these years, he still looks the same from thest time I visited him.¡± I continued.


    ¡°I wish I could see him¡­¡± Daisy had a look of longing.


    ¡®Oh no¡­ She has a thing for Old Man Kaiseki¡­ I¡¯m gonna omit to tell her that he¡¯s jacked after all these years too¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°If you look closely though, he kinda looks like Sky with a filter that makes him look older. His hair was long and a bit wilder but the other features were exactly the same, right?¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Hmm, now that I think about it¡­ They kinda look like they¡¯re rtives, even if not by blood¡­¡± Rin added.


    ¡°What tattoos does he have then? He has a few, right?¡± Daisy was excited as she gave me a short nce.


    ¡°Tattoos? Oh, his arms and back were covered with them. However¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°However?¡± they all tilted their heads.


    ¡°However¡­ I couldn¡¯t tell you what they look like, sorry.¡± I replied with a mysterious undertone.


    They all gave me various reactions and I couldn¡¯t help but let out a faint smile. However, Daisy became fl.u.s.tered as she covered her mouth and paused working on Tatiana for a moment.


    ¡°Stop it with the mysteriousness! You¡¯re making Daisy weak on the knees!¡± Kaley started chuckling. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°N-No- I¡¯m just- sorry I¡¯ll continue to- it¡¯s just my little thing- I don¡¯t know why but- whew~ Okay¡­ Okay¡­ let¡¯s continue¡­¡± Daisy tried topose herself and almost failed.


    Daisy continued to finish the outlines on the braided hair of the female warrior she made on Tatiana¡¯s back. The warrior had some of Tatiana¡¯s semnce and I bet it would be even better once the whole tattoo was done. However, deep in my mind, the person made to look like in her tattoo was none other than thedy whom she had feelings for and saved her life.


    ¡®I need to meet her to confirm though¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯re done for now! Don¡¯t forget the aftercare tips I told you about earlier, okay?¡± Daisy said to Tatiana as she ced a stic wrap over the outline.


    Daisy also gave Tatiana the ointments she had prepared prior to the session because Tatiana asked her yesterday.


    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll use them but the ones I had before I never bothered though¡­¡± Tatiana scratched her head as she put on some clothes.


    ¡°You need to really take care of it to have asting one. If you could, as much as possible, wear loose clothing when you¡¯re not outside. I know you¡¯re wearing body armor so I don¡¯t want the tattoo to ce you in danger¡­¡± Daisy was wearing a solemn expression.


    ¡°You guys heard that? Daisy literally asked me to be topless while at home. No yelling at me when I start doing that soon.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    We shook our heads whileughing but we soon said our goodbyes to Daisy and the rest of the people inside their household.


    I let Kaley ride on the back of my bicycle while Tatiana made Rin ride on the back instead as she drove. We discovered that Lois and Mauricio were still in Matthew¡¯s house but we continued to drive back home.


    The food was being prepared when we reached thepound and we decided to give the people we passed by a courtesy call. However, we discovered that Marisha and Cathy prepared a separate dinner for Matthew and Mauricio but Lois and Olivia would being here shortly.


    We ate a simple meal of soup with bits of meat and different pieces of vegetables eaten over rice and we started the meeting right after.


    I opened up the meeting with the walls of the dead we encountered earlier. <hr>


    ¡°From what we know, they are starting another series of irregr behavior. The ones we¡¯ve found were all sessful in building up a wall but only one of them was blocking a roadpletely. Also¡­¡± I said as I continued with everything my group witnessed.


    ¡°Are you gonna continue searching for them?¡± Johnny asked.


    ¡°Yes, we will continue the search for them tomorrow. We¡¯ll prioritize clearing the roads that are direct routes to other cities. However, we wouldn¡¯t be clearing a city at a time because we also need to clear a path that could lead us to Iskoh¡¯s base.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Are they even doing the same thing? I¡¯m good for establishing connections with other groups such as the ones in the Intercity but the effort put in by both groups should be equal in my opinion.¡± Johnny added.


    ¡°They are. I¡¯ve been keeping in contact with them and they have their own measures against the city of their size. The kid and Rod talked about it with Iskoh before and his making good use of the soldiers given to him. Thest time we¡¯ve talked is that they¡¯re starting to open up a path to the harbor and was about done.¡± Oscar answered.


    ¡°I see, if they manage to clear that harbor, they could make it into a valuable outpost. It gives us a sea route straight towards them while the kid and his group open up thend route crossing over another city.¡± Johnny nodded a few times.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the idea. As soon as they¡¯re done, they¡¯re gonna start working on thend route from their side and we¡¯ll meet much faster that way.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How about the air route? Who would clear that?¡± An chimed.


    ¡°I agree, the air is important too. Much valuable than the other routes in my opinion¡­¡± Bing added.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°S-Sure¡­ w-we¡¯ll g-get to it too¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t believe their words.


    ¡°Good, it¡¯s good you listen to us sometimes. Two heads are better than one, right?!¡± Bing gave a heartyugh along with An.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else. <hr>


    ¡°A-Anyway¡­ are you guys done with our makeshift trackers?¡± I turned my gaze to Ken and Kris.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s quite easy if we didn¡¯t need to pinpoint them. As long as we could see if they move from their original spot, it¡¯s quite easy as a prototype. However, if you wanted to make it a little moreplex like triangting them as a GPS would, we¡¯d also have to change the rys by a bit.¡± Ken replied.


    ¡°Does that mean we¡¯re gonna retrieve them all again?¡± Jay asked.


    ¡°Not exactly but we could do it remotely. It would take some time because of the speed the data travels.¡± Kris replied.


    ¡°Kid, why aren¡¯t we just using a simple GPS tracker instead of the ones you guys are making?¡± Oscar chimed in.


    ¡°We could but we better start using things we don¡¯t need the help of other facilities we don¡¯t have a way of repairing the moment it goes down. We¡¯re still using our Sat Phones but who knows how long it could remain functional? If we ever make rys around the ces we control, we could treat it as our data route in the future, upgrading it to better ones as we go on.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ll trust you guys on it then. I don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g understand most of it but I bet it¡¯ll f.u.c.k.i.n.g work.¡± Oscar nodded a few times.


    ¡°What else do we have to talk about then?¡± I looked at Rin for the topics given to her.


    ¡°Umm- I think Raphael has something to report?¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°Yeah, I- we have a little something.¡± Raphael said as he stood up.


    ¡°We¡¯ve been busy modifying the vehicles by adding gunpartments and whatnot but I just wanted to report that we repaired the Killdozer. However, we removed the pneumatic spikes, and instead of adding to its offensive capabilities, we fortified everything that we missed the first time we made it. A good defense is also a great offense, right? The hydraulics and a few other important parts were shot before so we made a proper module to cover them up.¡± Raphael reported.


    ¡°Oooh~ I kinda wanted to take that for a spin as well.¡± Oscar gave a look of approval.


    ¡°Oh! Don¡¯t forget that we tweaked the engine so it could bring out more power. It could run a bit faster now and we are nning to do the same thing with the skid steers. However, on the skid steers, we¡¯re nning on making custom headers. The headers will vary depending on the situation and we¡¯ll need some input from the people that are going on runs so we could know what they wanted us to do.¡± Anthony added. <hr>


    ¡°Can you guys make a sleeper car? We have a lot of engines now and they¡¯re not being utilized yet. We could use one to make one, right?¡± Lois interjected as he also looked at Oscar.


    ¡°Hmm, we could do that but we¡¯re in the process of upgrading the goedendag to something entirely different. We¡¯re working on a few designs and we just finished some custom work for Mikhail¡¯s new axe too.¡± Unc Zeidrick replied.


    ¡°Really? You guys are done?¡± Mikhail became excited.


    ¡°Yeah, yours is quite easy because we just needed to¡­ um- scale it a little bit bigger.¡± Unc Zeidrick chuckled.


    ¡°What did you have made, big guy?¡± Tatiana turned to Mikhail.


    ¡°He said it, right? I asked for an axe.¡± Mikhail replied.


    ¡°Well~ an axe wouldn¡¯t be the right term for it now. Wanna see it? I don¡¯t have the right word to call it too so just give it a name, okay? I¡¯m sure you¡¯re the only one worthy to lift this one-handed too.¡± Unc Zeidrick gave an excited look then he turned to me and chuckled.


    ¡®Worthy? Oh no¡­ these motherf.u.c.kers¡­¡¯ I chuckled inwardly.


    ¡°Where is it then?¡± Mikhail was looking around.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Unc Zeidrick revealed it dramatically.


    Music started to y and sound effects of thunder and lightning crashing down followed. Slowly, an axe-like weapon, covered with a dark fabric was brought in front of Mikhail and it was slowly unveiled. It had small differences but the main outline would make you think of it the first time youy your eyes on it.


    ¡®I F.U.C.K.I.N.G KNEW IT!!!¡¯ I shouted in my head.

 Chapter 448

    Chapter 448: 448


    ¡°Oh~ This feels nice~¡± Mikhail immediately gave a look of approval as soon as he lifted it with one hand. <center></center><hr>


    However, the weebs exploded. Yes, including me.


    ¡°HE¡¯S WORTHY~¡± we shouted in unison.


    ¡°¡­¡± the normies.


    ¡°Hah! Does that mean he gets to rule this ce now, kid?¡± Oscar chuckled.


    ¡°Nah, that¡¯s not how it works. The other one is like Excalibur that could make you the ruler of that realm while this one didn¡¯t have the enchantments for it, heh. From the looks of it though, it seemed like it was ¡®enchanted¡¯ by means of a CNC Mill and a few expert welds, am I right?¡± I replied then I looked at the three.


    ¡°Yeah, we tried to make it look like the real one but we made it different with the handle by adding leather grips. We also pushed in a metal bar inside that wooden handle so it could act as a support and like a tang for usual sword handles. I don¡¯t know how to f.u.c.k.i.n.g forge that shit from scratch but good thing we have a CNC Mill. It took me a while to perfect the shapes but we made sure to do proper tempering and heat treatment.¡± Unc Zeidrick exined.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to sharpen that too since it¡¯s too heavy¡­ for me¡­¡± Anthony added.


    ¡°But there¡¯s a question left unanswered though¡­ can it keeeeeeel~?¡± I trailed then Unc Zeidrick¡¯s face turned to the same wicked expression I was wearing.


    ¡°Oh~ Of course,~ it can keeeeeel~¡± Unc Zeidrick copied the same catchphrase from the other show.


    ¡°Hah! There¡¯s a little bit of difference from the actual shape but that¡¯s a really good replica. It¡¯s also quite smaller than the original but f.u.c.k.i.n.g bigger than the fire axe Mikhail is currently using.¡± I added.


    The meeting was slightly paused by the reveal of the ¡®king¡¯s weapon¡¯ but we soon continued to discuss more things. We concluded the meeting after the discussion of who would we bring tomorrow for searching for more constructs made by the hollowed.


    We went to the gym after but we finished quickly after our daily workout because Tatiana was along in my room and cleaning what¡¯s left of the guns. Only a few people went to the gym as well since people would take breaks every now and then. <center></center><hr>


    Despite that, their bodies were slowly forming into better shapes than ever.


    Kaley, Rin, Tatiana, and Cynthia had different body shapes but they were all physically fit. I noticed a small change in Tatiana and Cynthia¡¯s body from the first time I saw them but it wasn¡¯t as significantpared to Kaley and Rin¡¯s progress. The former had been training their bodies nonstop since the beginning while thetter just began a couple of months ago. Granted they were already fit before, the sudden change in atmosphere and environment ordered a quick development.


    Kaley lost a lot of her baby fats and reced it with muscle but most of the change happened in her lower bodypared to her upper body. Her body became more flexible and coupled with her great sense of bnce, the only thing she would need more training on was for power and speed. She was learning mixed martial arts to make up for it but between just a straight contest of power and speed, she would be a littlecking.


    In Rin¡¯s case, she had a petite figure before but she was slowly putting on some fats and muscles in the right direction. Proper nutrition and exercise would go a long way and she was developing quite nicely. She had a long way to gopared to most of them but what¡¯s important was that she had no intention of stopping any time soon.


    It was thanks to their diligence and Tatiana¡¯s training that they achieved what they have today. Despite her assertiveness at some times, she was doing a great job being their physical trainer aside from being one of my best soldiers.


    However, her ¡®assertiveness¡¯ this time around was a little extra.


    When we came back to my room, she was wearing protective gear but she waspletely topless. When Kaley addressed it, we already knew what she was about to reply with.


    ¡°C¡¯mon, Daisy said I need to wear ¡®loose¡¯ clothes! Wouldn¡¯t it be better if I have none on, correct?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Haa~ good thing the people using the gym already left and we¡¯re along now¡­¡± Kaley gave up for once.


    ¡°Are the two learning Japanese again?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Guess I¡¯ll sleep here?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Sure¡­¡± Kaley replied. <hr>


    ¡°Can I suck your d.i.c.k? I¡¯m a little tired.¡± Tatiana casually looked at me.


    ¡°¡­¡± I was stunned.


    ¡°Tatiana! How did asking me to sleep here suddenly turn to asking him to s-suck him?! Isn¡¯t that a little too abrupt?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°What?! I still haven¡¯t used the pass you gave me! Can I use it now?¡± Tatiana retorted.


    ¡°Hold up- why am I being tossed like an object?! I¡¯m a-¡± I was about to defend myself but Tatiana interrupted me.


    ¡°You don¡¯t like getting blowjobs?¡± Tatiana gave a confused look.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s not the p-point. The poi-¡± I was about to continue but Kaley interrupted me.


    ¡°Hmm~ You say that with a straight face but you¡¯re slowly forming a tent there~ I kinda want to do it now too now that I think about it. Can we just clean the guns tomorrow?¡± Kaley said as her switch suddenly flipped to the other side.


    ¡°Now you¡¯re joining me? Hah!¡± Tatiana started giggling.


    ¡°Well, you just went into it too abruptly¡­ I-I wanted to ease a bit into it¡­¡± Kaley was starting to blush as she crossed her arms, lightly squeezing her huge tits through her tank top.


    ¡°Then we¡¯re gonna ease~ into a something better. You. Bed. Now.¡± Tatiana stood up and went right up on my face, grabbing my d.i.c.k through my shorts.


    Tatiana slowly stroked me as she ced my hands over her perky chest. Her pink n.i.p.p.l.es were already hard and I started to lightly pinch them. She never broke eye contact with me as she slowly pushed me down on the bed. <hr>


    Kaley followed after locking the door and they didn¡¯t even fully strip as they went down on me.


    I wasying my head on a few pillows when the two of them pulled my shortspletely off. Tatiana grabbed my shaft by the base while Kaley went for the tip. They were stroking me ever so slowly while I was looking at them. They were lightly kissing each other but Tatiana devoured me when I got fully erect. Her tongue wrapped around my d.i.c.k while Kaley started sucking on my balls.


    Slowly, Tatiana went lower and lower and I was hitting the back of her throat. Her eyes were a little teary and she didn¡¯t even reach the base of my c.o.c.k. She was still gripping it with her hand but she pulled her head back and let Kaley take over.


    Kaley started to glide her soft lips by the side first before warm mouth enveloped me. My knees were slightly buckling from the pressure but their voluptuous bodies were pressed against my legs. I saw Tatiana watching us before she licked her hand and ced it inside her loose shorts. I wish I could see her insides getting parted by her fingers but the view in front of me was already too much.


    I almost lost it when they started alternating with their tongues while and they were kissing each other from time to time. They were sucking me dry but my d.i.c.k wasthered by their saliva and getting teased over and over from going fast and real f.u.c.k.i.n.g slow when I was about to c.u.m. I was even moving my h.i.p.s to hasten the process but the two wouldn¡¯t let me c.u.m as fast as I wanted to.


    ¡°Not yet¡­¡± Kaley chuckled.


    My d.i.c.k was so hard and it was almost painful from not being able to release when I wanted to. I was just covering my face with the back of my elbows as I was trying not to lose myself from the intense pleasure and the torture of being held back.


    They stopped for a moment then I felt them reaching for my hands.


    The moment I looked down to check what they were about to do, my legs quivered from the sight and I couldn¡¯t help but gulp from seeing their bare plump asses and wet pussies right in front of me as they were on all fours.


    They wanted me to finger their holes while they continued to suck on me.


    I wanted to get my revenge so bad I plunged three fingers on each of their dripping holes. Their insides were warm and silky and each spot I glide on would make their walls tighten for a bit. Their h.i.p.s quivered and their movements stopped for a moment before I rubbed their clit with my thumbs.


    Kaley was letting out muffled m.o.a.ns as she was sucking me while Tatiana¡¯s grip on my c.o.c.k was getting tighter the faster I go inside her. They were losingposure the faster I rummage their wet insides and it didn¡¯t take long before we all came at the same time.


    I exploded inside Kaley¡¯s mouth as my d.i.c.k was deep in her throat. Kaley was shaking as my c.u.m was flowing out of her mouth while Tatiana didn¡¯t want me to stop. She gave Kaley a kiss as they shared my c.u.m and now she was on top of her. Their tongues were interlocked with one another and they were letting out muffled m.o.a.ns. <hr>


    Their bodies were grinding against each other but I didn¡¯t want to be left behind.


    I picked a hole and I plunged my d.i.c.k inside.


    There were four to choose from and I picked Tatiana¡¯s p.u.s.s.y. It was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g tight but I pushed it deeper and deeper. When I reached the base, I started to ram it over and over then their kissing session was immediately halted. Tatiana¡¯s body was following my movements as Kaley was jealously watching me f.u.c.k Tatiana senseless.


    However, Tatiana didn¡¯t want her to just watch as she raised Kaley¡¯s arms and started licking one of her armpits while squeezing one of her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts. Kaley was looking at me right in the eye while she was letting out m.o.a.ns each time Tatiana pinches her n.i.p.p.l.es. Her b.r.e.a.s.ts would also jiggle each thrust I made because our bodies were too close to each other.


    ¡°I¡¯m about to c- I¡¯m about to- don¡¯t stop! Wh-¡± Tatiana was close to c.u.m.m.i.n.g but I pulled it out and shoved it to Kaley¡¯s p.u.s.s.y instead.


    Kaley started to lose it while Tatiana threw me an expression I only saw once. She was pouting her lips while slightly biting it and her eyebrows were scrunched while her cheeks were red. Her eyes were also slightly teary when she grabbed my hand and made me rub her cunt as I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g Kaley.


    It was something I discovered before and even if she looked like she didn¡¯t want to be denied earlier, her slopping insides were a different story. She was already c.u.m.m.i.n.g before I ced a finger inside her and that was something she also discovered pretty recently about herself. However, doing that a second time in one session was something she didn¡¯t like but doing it just once was enough to make her c.u.m almost instantly.


    Tatiana¡¯s back was leaning to me now so I could see Kaley¡¯s body react to everything I do to her. Her arms were still behind her head and aside from seeing her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts jiggle all over, her smooth armpits were also in view.


    Kaley looked like she was about to c.u.m but I wouldn¡¯t do the same thing to her. She wouldn¡¯t like it one bit so when Tatiana moved to the side, I leaned closer to Kaley¡¯s body as I went faster and faster. Our skin was pping against each other and then she pulled me even closer. She wrapped her arms on my back and she wrapped her legs on my waist. I continued to move my h.i.p.s violently as she came over and over.


    Kaley made me c.u.m inside her and I exploded for a second time. We were both shaking nonstop and her insides were so f.u.c.k.i.n.g tight.


    That was when Tatiana pushed me down so she could go on top of me. She sucked my d.i.c.k first before she let out a wicked smile.


    ¡°You think I¡¯ll let you get away with that?¡± Tatiana whispered to my ear.

 Chapter 449

    Chapter 449: 449


    When Tatiana sat upright, the tie on her hair was about toe loose. However, I was already waiting in anticipation and a brief smile formed on her face. As she removed the tie on her hair to fix it, she slowly moved her hip right in line with where my hard shaft was. Her blonde locks fell to the side of her face but she gathered them all in one spot so she could make a rough ponytail. <center></center><hr>


    Seeing her whole body from below was immacte. From her thick thighs, juicy ass, devilish h.i.p.s, slim waist, perky chest, smooth armpits, and to her pretty face, the lines from her body was something I could glide my hands on and stare at all day.


    One of Tatiana¡¯s eyebrows were raised as she saw me checking her out but she leaned closer to my body as soon as she was done fixing her hair. Her face was close to mine and I could feel her heavy breathing.


    That was when I felt her hand grabbing my d.i.c.k and pointing it on her ass.


    It was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g tight and Tatiana¡¯s eyes rolled over once I went all the way in. She bit her lower lip and then she started moving ever so slowly. She tried to move faster but I grabbed her h.i.p.s and I started thrusting from below. Her chest started to jiggle upwards with each thrust and my hands crept further in to squeeze her asscheeks. I would pull back right until the tip then I would ram it back with force.


    Tatiana¡¯s face was a mess but that was when Kaley came from behind her. She made Tatiana lean with her back so she could join in on the fun. From this view, I could see my d.i.c.k going in and out of her ass while Kaley¡¯s fingers were going in and out of Tatiana¡¯s p.u.s.s.y. Kaley was looking directly at me with a wicked smile then her other hand started to squeeze Tatiana¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.t.


    Tatiana¡¯s insides were squelching with her juices as we were going in and out of her and it didn¡¯t take long before she started shaking and begging us not to stop. I went faster and faster and Kaley started moving her hands inside Tatiana violently. She was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g wet but we were caught off-guard when Tatiana started to squirt.


    Tatiana was shaking all over and her face nothing short of embarrassed.


    It was not as much as Kaley would but Tatiana herself was surprised that it happened. Kaley was wearing a mischievous smile as she looked at me and we decided to try and attempt to make Tatiana c.u.m and squirt again. Tatiana had lost strength and control over her body already but she didn¡¯t tell us to stop.


    ¡°Please-Please-Please right there! Right there! Oh my- AHHH~!!! I¡¯M C.U.M- I¡¯M C.U.M- HNGH~ THIS- OH MY- AH!¡± Tatiana was a f.u.c.k.i.n.g mess as she squirted a second time. <center></center><hr>


    Tatiana was down for the count when she ejacted multiple times. She gave both Kaley and I a kiss before she tried to catch her breath. She was still twitching from time to time and a good portion of our bed was drenched.


    Kaley and I were still good to go but Kaley went on all fours and pointed her plump ass to me.


    ¡°You still haven¡¯t gone ¡®there¡¯ yet¡­ please?¡± Kaley said with a begging tone.


    Kaley went ahead and spread her cheeks apart, showing me her tight little hole that was begging to be f.u.c.k.i.e.d. Like anyone would at first, I grabbed both of her cheeks and started eating her ass. Kaley¡¯s h.i.p.s quivered but she was trying to push it on my face once she felt my tongue going inside her. It was only for a short moment when I decided to plunge my d.i.c.k inside her asshole.


    We went on for a while and I woke up in the early morning while Kaley and Tatiana were right beside me.


    I covered them with a nket after getting up then I went to my armory. There were still a lot of guns to go through but I just put on my gloves and started to work on them.


    Since I was checking each individual part of their quality, I decided it would be much faster if I finished one type of gun so my muscle memory would kick in. There was a pile of Glock 17s in one crate so I brought out the rest of my equipment and start working on them. My hands moved at an incredible pace as I went through gun after gun without so much of an issue. Most of them were fairly new so I didn¡¯t have to swap out parts that much.


    Kaley and Tatiana woke up an hourter and they decided to help me go through what we could given the time.


    It became a routine to fill up the spare mags with their designated ammo so each mag and ammo that were cleared today would be filled up and stored in an ammo can ready for use on our runs. We didn¡¯t need to fill them all but just enough to fill up a few for the ride. However, an additional ammo can of assorted cartridges were also avable if they weren¡¯t enough.


    ¡°Hey, can I use this?¡± Kaley approached me, holding a 60-round quad-stack magazine. <hr>


    ¡°Oh, that? Sure, you could but¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°It¡¯s not as good as the normal ones?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, 30-round mags are still much more reliablepared to that 60-round mag and even the 100-round drum mags. I¡¯ve had a few where I put down a few thousand rounds on them without issue but in most cases, I¡¯d rely on something tried and tested. It¡¯s always been hit or miss with those magazines.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Why do you have a lot of them though?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Well, aside from having fun on a range, you could actually train yourself to clear jams faster and faster by using them. We can¡¯t actually force a jam, right?¡± I said as I chuckled.


    Time continued to pass right until we were in the pool area with everyone. We had an amazing breakfast of eggs and bacon eaten over fried rice and paired with coffee.


    Tasks were given out after we finished eating and everyone drove else off to their respective areas. Mauricio would stay with Cathy this time because he set up a separatemunication system in his store and he appointed Mona to oversee his ce for a few days.


    Before my group got to depart, Vera approached me.


    ¡°Sir, Niks just called and asked me to deliver a message.¡± Vera said. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah? What did he say?¡± I replied.


    ¡°They started to encounter specials and irregrs in that area.¡± Vera said with a concerned expression.


    ¡°Around where? Irene¡¯s ce or Mr. Cuervo¡¯spound?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, I asked that as well and he said they¡¯re mostly situated in the City of Lipa. He mentioned that there was also a lot of them over there. However, when they drove towards the ce where Ilyanded, they mentioned that a big one was guiding a horde to where it was looking at. They said it might be the sentries as you¡¯ve told them before but it could move and shoutmands as well.¡± Vera exined.


    ¡°They made sure to kill it, right?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°Of course, that motherf.u.c.ker shot it from a distance.¡± Vera¡¯s tone turned sour.


    ¡®Oh, Alexei shot it.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°You said that it ¡®shouted¡¯mands? Ournguage or just in old gibberish?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Niks didn¡¯t say it but this loud guy named Enrique said that he could understand them.¡± Vera scratched her head.


    ¡°F.u.c.k that guy.¡± Tatiana shook her head in annoyance. <hr>


    ¡°They brought him with them? Hah, what did he say though?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know¡­ he sounded like he¡¯s mumble rapping when he was telling me the ¡®codewords¡¯ for the shouts the big one was yelling. His words weren¡¯t even consistent but I recorded it.¡± Vera said as she pulled out a phone.


    I knew that I was gonna be disappointed but I f.u.c.k.i.n.g knew I would be entertained. I immediately told her to y it and the rest of my group listened in.


    [Hey~ Hermosa~ you hearing me? Okay, okay, let me clear my throat. Ehem! I hope that papi chulo hears this and- oh he will, right? Tell him Enrique says hi! Oh! Tatiana mi amor~ I miss you so so much~]


    [GET ON IT!!!]


    [Jeez ese~ can a guy just greet his friends? Silly puto, okay. I watched them as diligently as a vato with crack would and themand for attack is ¡®AHHHHHHH GRAAAAHHCHCHK¡¯ while themand for stop is ¡®BRRRRCKK BRRRCCKK CHA CHAH¡¯ Hear me ese? I couldn¡¯t figure out what ¡®ACHA ACHA¡¯ and ¡®KYEW KYEW¡¯ meant but if you give me more time, I¡¯d probably figure it out ese~!]


    [¡­]


    [Hello~? Hermosa? Eyy~ You hear me~?]


    Then the recording stopped.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.

 Chapter 450

    Chapter 450: 450


    Everyone was silent for a moment but I startedughing with Kaley, Cynthia, Mikhail, and Jared while Tatiana was shaking her head in annoyance with Rin, Vera, and Ibarra. Enrique wasn¡¯t the brightest of characters but it was sure making everyone, that finds his sense of humor funny, smile a little bit. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Did they say anything else?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Not much but Ilya said that Mr. Cuervo told him to tell you that the finals would take some time to organize. It might start a couple of months next year because it was hard to get all of the yers in one ce.¡± Vera replied.


    ¡°With our schedule, that¡¯s good to hear. Things popping up one after the other made distributing manpower for jobs finicky.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, they also said that four buildings had their roofs repurposed so you could park your helicopters. I¡¯m not sure why they made a few extra but could it be connected to the finals you¡¯re talking about?¡± Vera added.


    ¡°Hmm, that could raise some concerns. Anyway, what¡¯s the status of the other stuff you¡¯re dealing with?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The connection with the Intercity, the Meycauayan Outpost, Pulo Outpost- wait, do we call them outposts or DDR Camps?¡± Vera inquired.


    ¡°Hmm, whatever will do but make sure to add the real name of the ce they¡¯re in.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay, aside from the three I mentioned earlier, I also managed to establish openmunications with Iskoh¡¯s Camp, Irene¡¯s Camp, Mr. Cuervo¡¯s Compound, and Jessica¡¯s Camp. I¡¯m still trying to reach out to other ces like the News Network where the helicopter that crashed came from and that guy named Hill that¡¯s been nothing but misses. There are also other ces that are making contact but they¡¯ve been mostly elusive of their exact location. Most of them were just trying to get a lot of information while giving as little as possible in return.¡± Vera exined.


    ¡°Any news about Isko¡¯s camp? About Jade?¡± Jude suddenly popped out from nowhere.


    ¡°Oh- umm- okay¡­ You¡¯re Jade¡¯s brother, right? I¡¯ve talked to her a few times and she told me to tell you to stop eating ramen all the time or just add pieces of vegetables. Better yet, add some real meat in your diet so you wouldn¡¯t be as skinny¡­¡± Vera was shocked by Jude but she continued to answer him. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I see. Thank you.¡± Jude just nodded before heading back to his house.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°Oscar said they¡¯re making progress there, any details?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, I discovered that they¡¯re making use of boats to clear the dead.¡± Vera replied.


    ¡°Boats? Why?¡± Mikhail asked.


    ¡°Well aside from taking over the harbor, they¡¯re also in the process of clearing the Pasig River. In any case, opening up a water route between their main base and the outpost they¡¯re trying to make would require clearing out the floating bodies on the water. It also gets a tad difficult for them because some of them are still moving. I also heard discussions that a few floating bodies made a miniature ind where some of the dead were using them as rafts. I didn¡¯t believe what I hear at first but they¡¯re pretty serious about it.¡± Vera replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s because the Pasig River is not only full of floating water lilies, it¡¯s also full of trash floating freely because of the people not disposing of their garbage properly. Combine them with the undead bodies and we¡¯ll get f.u.c.k.i.e.d up floaters.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Why is that river so important though? They could just drive around, right?¡± Vera inquired.


    ¡°That¡¯s true but keeping the water channels open such as the Pasig River could lead us to a few different ces. It could lead us to other cities without needing to clear the road and it could even lead us to Laguna Lake. It¡¯s situated in the province of Laguna which is right next to the Province of Batangas. Driving through a few barangays and a couple of cities could lead us to Mr. Cuervo¡¯s Compound and Irene¡¯s Camp.¡± I replied.


    ¡°But we would need to acquirend vehicles the moment we reached a pier of some sort, right?¡± Kaley asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, but we¡¯ll make sure and bring some fuel along the ride. Even better, we¡¯ll upy a little area in that ce and make it an outpost so we could reach more ces we haven¡¯t been to. We¡¯re gonna assign more people, n routes, etc. etc.¡± I replied as I was rubbing my chin.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say that getting more work is getting a little too finicky?¡± Jared added as he was scratching his head from the work I suddenly piled on them.


    ¡°Hah! Spend a few minutes in my head and you¡¯ll see the chaos I¡¯ve been sifting through every single day. It¡¯s like a million earphones that were pulled out of a giant¡¯s pocket we needed to untangle. Trust me, you¡¯ll f.u.c.k.i.n.g hate me once you discover everything I¡¯m thinking about every single day.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Okay, okay. I get it, bro, could we please finish what we started now? This is a little too much¡­¡± Jared shook his head.


    ¡°Okay, great work Vera. Just update me whenever and as soon as possible, okay?¡± I ended our short conversation.


    Vera decided to return to the Radio Station and continue her job then I received a couple of taps on my back.


    ¡°Here, I charged them before I fell asleep but if they¡¯re only running the app we coded, it couldst for a while. However, I also hooked them up with a spare battery as an added measure but it just looks a little ugly. But hey, as long as it works, right?¡± Kris said as he handed me a box of cheap smartphones.


    ¡°Yeah, you don¡¯t have to add cosmetics to this thing.¡± I chuckled then Kris bid goodbye.


    ¡°Are we gonna leave bro?¡± Jared waszily standing at the back of the Raptor we would be using.


    ¡°Heh, one more stop, I promise.¡± I said as I chuckled. <hr>


    ¡°One more? Where?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Nah, just kidding. We¡¯ll head back to the chapel where we left the bodies to install these things. We never know, they might not be there anymore.¡± I replied.


    ¡°By ¡®install¡¯, you mean we¡¯re gonna dig up-¡± Jared misunderstood so I immediately corrected him.


    ¡°No, we¡¯re just gonna ce it inside their pockets or something then we leave it alone for a while. If they relocated or something, the phone would send a signal through the ry every minute so we could track its general location.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Finally, I really wanted to know how they could do that bro. It just changed the f.u.c.k.i.n.g dynamic of how we approach them. It¡¯s like in the show where they have to figure out the dead ones from the masked ones but in our case, we have to figure out the dead ones from the deader ones¡­¡± Jared added.


    ¡°Really dude, ¡®deader¡¯?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Heh, what else could we call them? Deaderer?¡± Jared piled on.


    We just shook our head in amus.e.m.e.nt as we drove towards the chapel. It was a straight shot towards it and Jared and Kaley were enjoying the drive. It was because the two of them were behind the Raptor, freely shooting anything that moved. I could barely see Ibarra wearing an astonished expression seeing the two shoot with great uracy. However, I discovered I was wrong because he was just stunned by the number of bullets the two were going through.


    ¡®After the number of bullets I showed him we could make everyday¡­¡¯ I sighed inwardly but I was slightly amused.


    It took us a few minutes but we managed to reach the chapel. <hr>


    Mikhail and Ibarra immediately jumped down for two different reasons. Mikhail jumped down to test out his new weapon while Ibarra jumped down to clear the dead with his machete, making Jared and Kaley stop shooting even for a moment.


    I almost felt sorry for the ones Mikhail was chopping to pieces but even I wanted to let loose seeing him felling body after body with one swing. The added weight with the weapon he was using made it unwieldy for a normal person but it offered great destructive power even more so when you use the hammer side. It was the perfect weapon for him because it greatly synergized with his physical strength. Even I would have a hard time wielding it but I know one other person that could as easily handle that.


    It took us a short while clearing the bodies that littered the streets but we eventually managed to open the gates to the chapel where we stored a dozen bodies for recon work.


    All of them were still inside and they never moved a muscle.


    ¡°I hoped at least one moved, but they didn¡¯t¡­¡± Jared muttered.


    ¡°y ¡®Baby¡¯ or ¡®Friday¡¯ and maybe that¡¯ll work.¡± I joked.


    As soon as I said that, their faces contorted to a smile but I continued to work on our little idea.


    I brought out the box of smartphones we had and I started to nestle one inside one of their pockets. Some of them were wearing skirts or robes so we used bandages to hold the phones close to their bodies and left the area while leaving the gate open. We also sprayed their clothes with paint so it could be ssified as a ¡®avoid for now¡¯ zombie that we needed to get information out of.


    ¡®We¡¯ll see if my idea has some merit to it¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.

 Chapter 451

    Chapter 451: 451


    My group was about to set fire to the bodies we cleared outside but I had another idea on top of what we were doing. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Mikhail, Ibarra, bring a couple next to the ones here and burn the ones that are left. I had another idea.¡± I said to them.


    The two followed me but Jared was looking like thoughts were running through his head, figuring out why I ordered another batch to be taken into ount.


    ¡°Before you say anything, before these ones became hollowed out from the inside, they were normal ones, right?¡± I started.


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°Maybe, just maybe, we could figure out more or even get lucky if we install thest couple of smartphones to their bodies as well. I don¡¯t know, maybe the normal ones that weren¡¯t reduced to cinders turn to this kind of thing once left alone for a while? Or¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Or what?¡± Kaley became curious as well.


    I was in deep thought but after cing the smartphones on their person, I immediately called Marvin.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, where are you guys at?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Sir? We¡¯re quite near to the main base. We¡¯re clearing out the Barangay of Coloong while waiting for your call.] <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, can you drop by thepound and ask Rin for a- nevermind. Just continue what you¡¯re doing. Sorry, I just had an idea on the top of my head.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [O-Okay Sir. Just call us whenever.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    ¡°What was that about bro?¡± Jared was confused.


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m all over the ce. Let¡¯s just stop by that store that sells motorcycle parts. We have a couple of rys at the ready, right?¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? Oh, yeah, we have a couple in case we see a good ce to install them.¡± Jared answered.


    ¡°Great. Let¡¯s drive to that store now.¡± I replied as we hopped to the Raptor. <hr>


    They were all looking curiously at what I would do next but we first made quick work of the slow ones casually pacing around. One of them was stuck in a drainage system as if it was called by a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up morphing clown that would onlye to kill on certain dates.


    However, we had a brief heart attack when we saw a deadhead wearing a clown costume, dragging a deted red balloon. It was immediately chopped into pieces with a new record because no one would take the risk of letting ¡®it¡¯ live.


    ¡°That was too funny bro¡­¡± Jared chuckled when the situation calmed down.


    ¡°Well yeah, it¡¯s a clown, right?¡± I looked back at him, slightly elbowing him.


    ¡°¡­¡± Jared was looking at me with disdain.


    ¡°Right?¡± I turned to Kaley and the others one by one but I was met with the same reaction.


    Easily enough, when we managed to get the store to open, the ce was selling cameras that could be mounted atop helmets. I looked for a variant that operates on the same voltage the rys were operating and all I needed to do was take both items apart and make the camera take power from the small sr panel attached to the ry.


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°What now?¡± the group was still looking at me curiously.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to that cellphone repair shop so I could have the tools to take them apart. Well, I mostly need a soldering iron but I guess we could find a few parts there to make it a little bit secure and not dangly after messing with it.¡± I replied.


    It was easy enough to bring power to that store for a few minutes by using car batteries lying around abandoned vehicles so the modification for the rys was finished without a hitch. We went back to the chapel shortly and I ced the rys with the attached camera right next to the normal bodies we nted smartphones on.


    ¡°Bro¡­¡± Jared trailed.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I replied.


    ¡°I thought you had the smartphones made so we could just track their general direction but why are we using cameras to put surveince on them and watching out where they would go in case they rise up now?¡± Jared inquired. <hr>


    ¡°We¡¯re trying to figure out by trying everything, right? We¡¯re currently trying to know if they would rise up in theing days but what we don¡¯t know a few things as well.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Like?¡± Jared added.


    ¡°One theory could say that they¡¯re being given instructions or they¡¯re just moving on their own. Another one is if the normal ones would eventually turn to these hollowed ones or if by some chance, another type is making them.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Making them what?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t trail that sentence. What I¡¯m trying to say that maybe, just maybe, something else was turning or ¡®making¡¯ the normal ones to those hollowed-out puppets that only has one thing on their mind- I mean not on their mind but- you know what I¡¯m talking about.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You mean, another special turning others into specials, correct?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°Something like that but not into another special. Remember the ones in the public market? It could be another variant of that type, right? I¡¯m speaking out from my ass here but isn¡¯t that the same principle? Even the same idea from the big one Niks and the rest encountered on their travels. It¡¯s just that a different set of instructions were given to them. You get what I mean?¡± I exined.


    ¡°That really does make some sense. But¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    ¡°Continue your thoughts. I think you have the same idea as me.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Well, what I¡¯m thinking is, the ones we¡¯ve faced could onlymand the dead which are still moving, right? Is the new one we¡¯re theorizing about has the ability to control the cleared ones, stabbed-to-the-head-cleared ones as well?¡± Kaley continued.


    ¡°You got it. That¡¯s the reason why I tried to make another setup and ced the normal bodies close to the hollowed bodies. I could still be wrong but we¡¯ll eventually get to the right answer by process of elimination, right?¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hmm, that makes sense¡­¡± Jared added.


    ¡°However, whether these devices we ced on them do the job they were made for or not, we still need to find and clear out the rest of the bodies piled together. Who knows, we might discover more clues once we found more walls or barriers.¡± I concluded.


    ¡°So, where are we headed next, Boss?¡± Mikhail asked. <hr>


    ¡°We have two options if we use the main road. The first one, we could use the ess road behind the People¡¯s Park in this city to reach the City of Mbon to circle back to where Lawrence is. The other one is to drive straight right into the segment of the City of Caloocan where the Monument is located.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Segment?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°You see, the City of Caloocan is a little weird. Its main part is actually to the East of our city but driving South will lead us to a portion of their city slicing through the Cities of Mbon, Quezon, Man, and ours, Valenzu. It¡¯s just a small part with a few barangays but we need to drive to that segment as well to get to the City of Man.¡± I exined.


    ¡°So, what would be the difference between driving those different roads?¡± Ibarra asked.


    ¡°The ess road I¡¯m talking about is the expressway where most of the dead came from when it started. There could be some risk but it¡¯s the shortest path so we could circle around to the City of Mbon much faster. The other route is the longer path and the risk involved in using that route is we¡¯d be diving straight into ces we haven¡¯t even scouted yet and the only secure exit strategy is to drive back.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Wait, you lost me there.¡± Ibarra scratched his head.


    ¡°Wait a sec, let me bring out the map so you could visualize the route we are always taking¡­ it¡¯s much easier to see it than to exin it verbally.¡± I replied as I pulled out a digital copy saved on my phone.


    I pointed out the routes we were taking each day ever since we started and the only time we drove straight ahead was to head into the Intercity. It was because the majority of the routes there were already cleared by the group in Meycauayan. In our case, we had to carefully go in and out of unexplored areas, such as the City of Mbon, while making sure there was more than one safe exit we could drive through when things go south.


    ¡°Oh, so we¡¯re going around, skimming bit by bit, correct?¡± Tatiana nodded a few times.


    ¡°Yeah, doing that could make us subconsciously familiarize ourselves with the surroundings too.¡± I added.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you have a photographic memory?¡± Kaley raised her eyebrow, chuckling.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s mostly for you guys, heh. I¡¯m just being modest.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Hmm, I didn¡¯t notice it but yeah, I could mostly recognize everything now just by looking at the buildings. It¡¯s much better than going ce to ce randomly.¡± Mikhail nodded a few times.


    In my group, only Jared and I were greatly familiar with this city. Kaley came from the Bcan Area but she was mostly on flights abroad so her familiarization in this city was quite limitedpared to the two of us. Ibarra, on the other hand, came from a different ind group while Tatiana and Mikhail¡¯s understanding was only from when they arrived at mypound.


    ¡°So, what do you guys think?¡± I asked for their opinion on which route to take.

 Chapter 452

    Chapter 452: 452


    I just asked a simple question but I didn¡¯t know that I would receive a weird response. It seemed that my group just wanted me to decide for themselves and they found it surprising that I would ask for their input on such a simple matter. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°C¡¯mon bro, you¡¯ve probably decided on the route we would be taking already and you¡¯re just being ¡®mOdEst¡¯ once more! Just tell us where to go and we¡¯lle with you!¡± Jared chuckled.


    ¡°Or are you starting to run out of ideas?¡± Kaley joked.


    ¡°Well, we could really go either way but if we¡¯re gonna stop to grab some lunch, we would be at the love hotel we reimed before noon.¡± I said as I scratched my head.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else.


    ¡°What? Eating at the right time is good for the body! We shouldn¡¯t skip meals, you know?¡± I said with a motherly tone.


    ¡°Hah! What did we even bring?¡± Tatina chuckled.


    ¡°Well, I brought MREs of Chicken Burritos. It¡¯s as good as the Beef Chili but this one came with a torti wrap!¡± I replied like a hungry kid.


    ¡°Oh, I like the Spinach and Pasta ones-¡± Ibarra added but Jared was gobsmacked as he interrupted him.


    ¡°Hold up- What the f.u.c.k is wrong with you?! Spinach and- What?! The only thing that shit is good for is padding for a pillow!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°What? I really like it though.¡± Ibarra said without a hint of offence. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say that Ibarra wouldst longer than you if food began to run out because he¡¯d be eating the MREs you don¡¯t like.¡± I concluded.


    Jared was shaking his head in confusion when Ibarra actually exined every vor that he liked. I actually agree with Jared¡¯s preferences because Ibarra had some weird choices.


    In the end, we decided to continue driving to the main road that would lead us to the Monument.


    The Monument or ¡®Monumento¡¯ was a district of the City of Caloocan in which an above ground rail system was built and the Bonifacio Monument was built. Before this shit started, this ce would always be packed with people from all over the ce trying to board the rail system or catch a bus that would lead to the City of Quezon.


    The Bonifacio Monument, on the other hand, was built to pay homage to one of our country¡¯s heroes, Andres Bonifacio. I held a brief history lesson to my group but it was more directed to Mikhail and Tatiana.


    ¡°I see, so he¡¯s a valiant warrior eh?¡± Mikhail nodded a few times when we hit the road.


    While we were driving, I asked Jared and Kaley to stop shooting down each deadhead we came across not only to conserve ammo but to attract less attention. It was because the moment we drove past the Valenzu City Hall, it would be unexplored territory.


    As we were driving, my group passed Arca Yard and it triggered a little bit of nostalgia. Tatiana was already there with us and that was the ce we first took down a hostile group performing unspeakable acts. We just looked at each other solemnly before we continued to drive forward.


    By not shooting our guns, we would spend extra time to stop and clear a small herd with our melee weapons or our suppressed .22 caliber pistols or rifles. A suppressed .22 LR wouldn¡¯t produce much noise so it was a goto in these kinds of situations.


    The moment we reached the barangay of Karuhatan, it was a surprising sight. <hr>


    This ce used to have heavy traffic and bustling with people but this time, it was clear¡­ too clear.


    The intersection we parked by has no signs of the dead or even an abandoned vehicle. There were bloodstains or signs of a fight but this ce was cleaned up nicely.


    ¡°Is it another group?¡± Ibarra asked.


    ¡°The obvious answer, yes. Unless there¡¯s a new one that¡¯s a clean freak, in which something I am not against, a group was present here. They¡¯re keeping the road clear from obstructions which is a good sign of being organized.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Should we continue driving though? In a sense, this is their turf now, right?¡± Jared said.


    ¡°Yeah~ let¡¯s try a diplomatic approach.¡± I said as I picked up my radio.


    I turned it to the first channel and spoke into it. But before I did that, I asked Mikhail to join Kaley and Jared behind the Raptor, Tatiana on shotgun, and Ibarra right behind me. I decided to be the one behind the wheels because I was the one most familiar with the terrain.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Good day to whoever¡¯s listening from the other side. We¡¯re a small group just trying to pass through without any incident. We don¡¯t want to step on anyone¡¯s toes so I¡¯m giving a little heads up or a courtesy call.¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I continued to say the same exact message over and over on the other channels as well before I deemed it enough of a reminder about our intentions. We didn¡¯t need to tell them our exact purpose or offer a toll fee of any kind just to let us pass through. It was already too much to ring their bells and inform them that my group was passing through.


    We waited for a response of some sort but after a good 15 minutes, there was no response.


    Instead of casually driving forward, I repeated the same exact actions I did earlier. My group and I waited by the intersection for half an hour in total while clearing the dead that would wander randomly. Jared even flew his drone around to check for encampments but we found nothing of the sort.


    ¡°If they¡¯re not gonna respond or do anything, we¡¯re gonna go now. Just watch out for anything that mighte up.¡± I said to my group as I started the Raptor.


    We assumed the same position and we continued driving without issue.


    We reached an abandoned bottlingpany and right past it was a bridge that would lead us to Monumento. It was an easy ride because the road was clear and the dead we were encountering were surprisingly fewer than what we expected. Also, the walls we were looking for weren¡¯t even present on the route we drove on.


    ¡®Did they clear them as well? Did they also discover what we discovered?¡¯ I thought to myself.


    The road started to have an elevation of a few angles but it wasn¡¯t enough to impede us. It would only be a few kilometers before we reach Monumento but we would always circle on a street block just to make sure we weren¡¯t being silently followed or we didn¡¯t miss that construct made of the dead. <hr>


    However nothing happened until we reached Monumento.


    The moment we arrived at the border, the clear roads turned to be extremely congested paths blocked by the dead or abandoned vehicles with one or two passengers inside that would bite our faces off the moment we put our heads inside the window. The smell turned much horrible as well because the smell of the sewer and decay were being mixed together.


    The only thing blocking them froming towards us was several train cars that might¡¯ve lost control and crashed below the Bonifacio Monument. In all its chaos, it managed to block a great portion of the road and it would take the dead to pile on top of each other, like the hollow ones, multiple times to be able to vault over the train cars. However, there was a steady trickle of the dead that wereing from the open paths that were left traversable.


    ¡°Is there any way to get to the other side?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°We could drive to the backroads but we need to record some footage first.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can we start shooting a few of them? I bet I could make my bullet pass through a few of them if I aimed at the right area.¡± Jared asked as he started to raise his rifle.


    ¡°Wait, that would be a bad idea.¡± I said as I held his muzzle down.


    ¡°Is there a problem?¡± Kaley asked.


    I nced at the train cars one more time and said, ¡°This ident is a blessing in disguise. Shoot a few down and it would be a curse. We won¡¯t be able to pull the bodies away from that area and that would allow them to pile up higher and higher until they could cross over the border made by the train cars. The people behind us must be holding out on clearing this area because it minimizes the presence of the dead in their ces. Also, that gave us a little bit of information about them. I could be wrong but it¡¯s possible¡­¡±


    ¡°And that is?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°The group that ghosted us must be a small one. If they¡¯re a big and armed group, they would¡¯ve started to drive towards us now that we¡¯re in a deadend of sorts.¡± I replied with a pensive expression.

 Chapter 453

    Chapter 453: 453


    The group gave a mix of worry and solemnness with their expressions because even if we have the tools to defend ourselves, if, by some chance, the group was actually big and just biding their time, we would¡¯ve been plunged into a very difficult predicament because we would be severely outnumbered. <center></center><hr>


    Just by crossing the bridge earlier, we would¡¯ve had the chance to get to the City of Mbon by using the backroads if we wanted but we decided to continue driving straight by using the main highway. Doing that made the trip much quicker but it made thoroughly checking around a street block for our objectives slightly neglected because we still haven¡¯t encountered a pile-up.


    ¡°I should start grabbing footage, right? I¡¯m gonna send a drone now, bro.¡± Jared said to me.


    ¡°Wait a sec, let me park by that Daddy John¡¯s Pizza first so we¡¯d have a few options to drive through.¡± I replied.


    I turned the Raptor around and even made sure to reverse into a street corner so we wouldn¡¯t be easily spotted when a group came looking for us on the main highway. Our drones could reach a few kilometers so backing away a few meters wasn¡¯t much of an issue. The only hup that we have with the drones was that we resorted to just using one at a time instead of a couple at a time.


    It was because we needed more people on their rifles and we already used most of the charge left of the first drone when Jared scouted around the Barangay of Mbon for encampments.


    ¡°Okay, dude. Try and hover around the train cars first before trying to drive around the train station.¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Sure, I kinda want to see if there are zombies trapped inside the train cars when it came crashing down. Chances are high that they¡¯ve mutated because of the time ever since they turned, right?¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°That could be the case, yes.¡± I nodded.


    ¡°We¡¯ll crack open the heads of the ones that are trickling in to check if they¡¯re the same as the ones we were looking for.¡± Tatiana interjected. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, go ahead and move a little forward with Mikhail. Kaley and Ibarra are enough here to stay with us.¡± I replied.


    The rest of my group were standing guard while I was right next to Jared, looking at the disy, to have an extra pair of eyes to look for points of interest.


    The disy on the tablet showed an aerial view of Monumento first.


    Several malls were by the side of the highway the more the drone moved forward. Various vehicles were around the Bonifacio monument but their owners or passengers were either still inside or currently roaming the streets. We could barely see the pavement because of how densely packed they were in that area and it extends several street blocks all around.


    Furthermore, the train station several meters right above the ground still had several train cars left grossly lined up one after the other but the ones closest to the edge gave a clue about how the ident below happened.


    Thest train car by the edge of the station was like a sausage used to hammed in a nail to a floorboard.


    Its windows had shattered, the metal frames were bent and ruptured to different pieces, and the others behind it were almost in the same state. It seemed that when the train cars that crashed below reached this station, several trains followed and continuous impacts from crashing into one another pushed it off the edge, crushing several vehicles, turning people into meat paste, and damaging the Bonifacio Monument.


    The only thing that could make me form arge operation to clean this ce up aside from putting down a lot of the dead was the several malls and medium-sized shops that were scattered all throughout the area.


    Looking at the state they were in, even clearing a single mall would yield a lot of supplies. The only reason that they couldn¡¯t be looted was the huge number of the dead gathered in this area. It would take a lot of time and resources to clear them all and it wasn¡¯t even the main objective about why we came here today. <hr>


    ¡°The battery is about to run out, bro.¡± Jared said to me.


    ¡°Yeah, bring it back while I drive the other one to the side first. We don¡¯t need to clear this crash site at the moment because we could still drive around the back roads. It might also reveal the ones we were looking for if I also check around the path to the City of Mbon.¡± I replied as I took out thest one.


    ¡°We should¡¯ve brought the sr chargers for the drones Darelle and his group uses. They¡¯re making much headway in scouting areas because they have a lot of drones to go around and the means to charge them.¡± Jared added.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a great idea. We just aren¡¯t using the drones as muchpared to them and their goals were mainly for scouting. If I¡¯m not worried about the threats that apany driving straight to this ce, they would¡¯ve already reached this area and brought back a lot of footage.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Where are they now though? Shouldn¡¯t bringing them with us yield better results then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm? They went East from our barangay towards the Barangay of Lingunan instead of going South and West like us and the other groups. They wanted to map out the current state of our city as a whole and they¡¯ve been heading to other ces we haven¡¯t been to yet. They¡¯re mostly safe barangays, unlike the ones we¡¯ve been heading into most of the time despite us always taking the easy route.¡± I exined.


    As soon as we finished speaking, I drove my drone to check for the paths avable to us on the back roads.


    I wasn¡¯t even driving for a while when I already discovered three ¡®walls¡¯ blocking off three streetspletely with their bodies. My face showed surprise and Kaley discovered what I saw through the disy.


    ¡°We¡¯re getting hotter, guys.¡± I muttered. <hr>


    ¡°Bro¡­¡± Jared trailed.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± I turned to look at him but he was glued to the feeding from his drone.


    Jared wasn¡¯t controlling it to head back but it was just staying in ce, just hovering right below the elevated tforms of the train station. Even Ibarra¡¯s attention was caught but what they were seeing and I decided to let Kaley hold my drone for the moment to check on him. However, she decided to look at Jared¡¯s feed as well after making our drone hover in ce.


    ¡°This is it, right?¡± Jared said, looking at the screen with a different expression.


    ¡°Those¡­ those aren¡¯t wires¡­¡± Ibarra added.


    ¡°Wires aren¡¯t as thick or¡­ fleshy like that¡­¡± Kaley muttered.


    Mikhail and Tatiana must¡¯ve noticed our expressions and came back to check on us because I saw them looking through the disy as well. Once they did for a while, they were also giving looks of confusion as to what those dangling bits were.


    Everyone was looking at it but I first made Jared turn the drone back because it was about to run out of battery. After that, Kaley gave Jared the controller she was holding so that he could drive it back to the same spot the other drone was on earlier.


    We saw it once more from a different angle and at something with better lighting. However, we weren¡¯t even sure if those were the ones we were looking for or if there were something new entirely. <hr>


    It didn¡¯t take long before a deadhead wandered into that area.


    One of the few undead trying to cross the street happened to turn because of a noise and was now headed to where those whip-like and flesh-like wires dangling from under the train station.


    It was instant.


    The deadhead was pulled up above when the dangling bits moved on their own.


    I had to steal the controller from Jared because he was stunned like the rest of my group. But after I did, I made the drone go closer so we could see what¡¯s below the train station from up above.


    We got a better look but it confused us even more.


    It threw the one it pulled up earlier violently into a car below and it managed to attract more and more deadheads towards it. As soon as it happened, more whip-like and flesh-like bits started appearing one after the other from above and they collectively pulled up a deadhead one after the other. I was sure that I counted a few dozen getting pulled up but there were five to eight bodies that stayed in that¡­ that¡­ mash-up.


    The rest of my group couldn¡¯t describe them properly because they were all just ¡®pieces¡¯ stuck and congealed to each other but the only thing we had a guess for were the dangling bits that were mistaken for wires earlier.


    ¡°A-Aren¡¯t they¡­ tongues?¡± Kaley muttered.

 Chapter 454

    Chapter 454: 454


    ¡°Tongues?¡± the rest of the group said at the same time. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well, a tongue is an organ mainly used for swallowing or manipting food for mastication.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Did you just f.u.c.k.i.n.g Leslie Nielsen all of us?¡± Jared said as he chuckled while everyone was shaking their heads.


    ¡°Heh, joking aside, I think Kaley¡¯s right. Judging from the features it has while disregarding how long and discolored it is, it seems to be a collective of tongues from¡­ from that thing. It¡¯s differently textured on each side and there¡¯s also a left and right side separated by a vertical tissue that looks like the groove between our tongues on the ¡®front¡¯ surface. It appears to be a human-like tongue but I don¡¯t know how it got to that¡­ that stage.¡± I replied.


    ¡°H-Hey¡­ l-look at the other ones¡­¡± Kaley pointed to the screen once more.


    The whole body of the creature or the creatures we were seeing was stuck at the bottom of the station and we couldn¡¯t make its features out properly. However, the thing Kaley wanted us to see wasn¡¯t just the tongues that appeared but the ones that were throwing out bodies after they were seemingly ¡®done¡¯ with them.


    The tongues she was pointing to were now dripping with a ck, viscous substance that we have seen multiple times in ce of what was supposed to be in someone¡¯s skull.


    ¡®Hmm¡­ Could it be? It is, right?¡¯ I thought to myself.


    Despite more questions popping in my head, I was grateful for the decision of heading to this area directly because if we didn¡¯t it would take us a few weeks or even months if we did it the methodical way.


    From what we witnessed after a body gets pulled up, the tongue that brought it up will retract or disappear with it. However, a tongue bringing one down or throwing a body back violently could mean that it had brought one up previously. It seemed to be in the same spot earlier so the idea of them being able to appear on other ces of its main body was impossible. <center></center><hr>


    Everyone had the suspicion that they were the ones making the hollow ones and it was backed up when we saw the one they threw down move. They weren¡¯t moving after they were thrown down but the first one we saw that crashed onto a car slowly twitched and got up like it was nothing.


    We still needed to confirm it by cracking its head open but most of the evidence was already pointing to the congealed mass stuck on the elevated tforms. Aside from that, it wasn¡¯t moving with the crowd because it seemed that it had its own agenda to follow.


    ¡°They¡¯re making them but how can they make them move? That¡¯s the final question I have on my mind.¡± I muttered.


    ¡°How did they reach our ce though?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°It could be that there are other things like that or the ones it turned eventually reached our ce by using the backroads. Because if they walked or were guided near the Barangay of Karuhatan, they would¡¯ve been cleared by the group not wanting to do anything with us.¡± I exined.


    ¡°So, the things we did on the corpses on the chapel is useless now?¡± Ibarra added.


    ¡°Not exactly. We don¡¯t know the full extent of what they could make them do or even if they were in control of it. We should leave it there for now and we¡¯ll see if they would do anything else. We¡¯re now 100% confirmed on this so we still need to think of other possibilities.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Can you move it a bit closer? I want to confirm if they¡¯re feeding on the brains of the ones they¡¯re bringing up and how they¡¯re doing it.¡± Tatiana said.


    Everyone seemed to be in agreement with that suggestion so I slowly drove the drone closer.


    ¡°Okay, it¡¯s a little clo- f.u.c.k. Now you owe a drone. An expensive one to boot¡­¡± I said with a deadpan expression but I waspletely joking. <hr>


    ¡°I-I¡¯ll find one in a future run¡­¡± Tatiana muttered while the others didn¡¯t know whether to cry orugh.


    What happened was as soon as I entered their range, one of them whipped the drone violently, causing it to crash down, unable to fly. I think I could maybe repair it if I got my hands on it but I wouldn¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g enter that area unless I came in an attack helicopter with several hundred gallons of napalm.


    The only saving grace from the boneheaded mistake was that the footage right before it was destroyed was saved.


    The only problem now was how to deal with it.


    Before we thought of what we could do, I decided to review the footage. The congealed pieces were only located right under the station and nothing else. They covered the whole underbelly of it but not under the elevated rails which were much thinner.


    In this country, there were three main train lines that were above ground which were named LRT-1, LRT-2, and MRT-3. The only difference between the three was thepany that owned them and the location of the stations that they were driving on. Each line had more than a dozen stations and it led me to think that these dangling bits had its brethren in the other stations present as well or close to any other ce where the hollow ones were roaming around.


    The problem with that was the train lines and their stations were situated into cities we weren¡¯t even close to exploring yet. This first station which was also called Monumento was the first among many and we have a lot to go through and we needed to go deeper each time if the same creature was located on the other stations.


    ¡°What should we do now, bro?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°We could take care of them by using different methods but as much as possible, I don¡¯t want to damage the railways even if there might be more of them in the other train stations. Our best course of action, for now, is to clear the walls they created and approach that area from the side, not from the front. I don¡¯t want to upset the current system of the group making use of that makeshift funnel. We couldn¡¯t pick them off from afar but we could do that with the ones roaming around. We just have to make sure we shoot the ones away from the train cars on the monument.¡± I exined. <hr>


    ¡°How do we do that? Our guns even suppressed could still make a lot of noise, right? Once we start shooting, more and more would approach the train cars and they might push them apart due to the sheer amount of bodies held against them.¡± Ibarra stated his case.


    ¡°Hmm, I have a better idea now. We could start by choosing where to park.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Where to park?¡± Ibarra scrunched his eyebrows.


    ¡°Yep. The helicopter, I mean.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°I don¡¯t follow¡­¡± Ibarra scratched his head.


    ¡°We¡¯re doing the same thing when we cleared the ce you were in. It¡¯s shitty for them but all we need to choose is where to park between that mall, that other mall, that bank, or that love hotel. If we¡¯re going by tradition we should pick the love hotel.¡± I continued while chuckling.


    ¡°Raise your hand for the love hotel!¡± Jared interjected and the rest shook their heads in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Heh, that¡¯s solidarity for you. Last time, we had to use a lot of people just to make a perimeter once we started piling bodies one after the other. This time, we only need a few that would fit the helicopter plus a f.u.c.k ton of ammo but mostly .22 LRs. It worked before so it should work the same thing next time we do it.¡± I continued.


    ¡°Wait a sec, I have a question. This ce is another city, right?¡± Mikhail interjected.


    ¡°Yes, why do you ask?¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°And this city is much, let¡¯s say, developed, right? Just judging from the taller buildings and such.¡± Mikhail continued.


    ¡°Where are you going at, big guy?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°I just got to thinking where the DDR Camps here are located. Shouldn¡¯t we clear those ces as well?¡± Mikhail exined.


    ¡°Yes, we should.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hey, shouldn¡¯t we do that first? Considering the ammo we would be using again?¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Yeah, you guys didn¡¯t let me finish.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Then what are you trying to say?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°I did say it¡¯s tradition to park on the love hotel but I already decided on it beforehand. Well, we still need to check and secure the ce though. Aside from that, we would be using fewer people as I said earlier so-¡± I was about to continue but Kaley interrupted me.


    ¡°Wait, don¡¯t tell me the soldiers built a DDR Camp on a love hotel?!¡± Kaley eximed.

 Chapter 455

    Chapter 455: 455


    As soon as Kaley suggested that and the others started to believe her, I immediately ced my thumb and index finger on top of my be and started chuckling. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What?! No! It¡¯s the university right next to it!¡± I eximed after getting my bearings.


    ¡°Ah- oh¡­ I thought you were insinuating it to be the love hotel¡­¡± Kaley embarrassingly said.


    ¡°W-Wait, bro. Why don¡¯t we just park at the uni- DDR Camp instead?¡± Jared suggested.


    ¡°Hmm? Oh, a few reasons. If we park on the roof of the love hotel, not only we would be able to continue asting tradition, but we would also be at an angle just enough to punch holes on the heads of the deadheads below and watch over the train station. Also, when I drove my drone to the sides first, several tents and a helicopter or two were parked on the roofs of the DDR Camp.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that mall better then?¡± Ibarra suggested.


    ¡°Well, the optimal ce to park was the mall right near the center of the monument as you said but we wouldn¡¯t be able to clear the DDR Camp which was located on the other side of the map. Also, it¡¯s higherpared to the train station so we need to clear a few floors at the center instead of just parking on the roof of the love hotel that had nothing on top of it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, I see¡­¡± Ibarra nodded a few times.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, we would be able to procure a lot of supplies from that mall but we could procure those items as easily if we went to other stores in other ces. Our main concern aside from clearing the dead was acquiring more gear to fight them. Also, if there are helicopters on that DDR Camp, there should at least be a few cans of fuel enough for a few trips.¡± I continued. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re the only one here that knows how to fly one, right? I was taught a few times but I¡¯m not confident to fly solo, yet.¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s right but don¡¯t forget, they¡¯reing. It¡¯s almost the year¡¯s end. Aside from their team, Avalos and Honassan would being as well to assist us.¡± I said as I nced at Mikhail and Tatiana.


    The two were just faintly smiling but I know that they were excited to be reunited with the rest of their team. They were already feeling at home in my ce but it was a good feeling to be with someone they were more familiar with on foreign soil. I could say that we already have a good rtionship with them but truth be told, we were only with them for more or less a couple of months. If Ipared our rtionship with their team that they have been to life and death battles for years, the answer was obvious.


    ¡®I just don¡¯t want the dynamic to get weird when they get here. Well, we¡¯ll see when they arrive.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    I started reying the footage left but we soon decided to head back by using the backroads towards the City of Mbon. We left the hanging tongues from the train station for now because it wasn¡¯t much of a threat and we could still n ways to take care of it without damaging the ce it wastched on.


    Even the walls that were erected were left alone because it was a few feet higher than normal and we would need to bring arger group because it would take the better part of the afternoon if we took care of it ourselves.


    ¡°Question, isn¡¯t there more DDR Camps lying around elsewhere? There¡¯s a lot that was built throughout the cities, correct?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s just that we couldn¡¯t get to them yet. There are at least one in each barangay but it would always depend on size.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°In our case, I actually came from a different DDR Camp but as soon as it started to get harder to contain, we decided to group up with other DDR Camps so we could protect a single ce. However, we still failed and I was the only one to survive. It was only a couple of weeks when it started too.¡± Ibarra interjected.


    ¡°Hmm, then that means the even if some buildings were made into DDR Camps, the equipment left wouldn¡¯t be there if the previous soldiers moved into another area or DDR Camp?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, if I remember correctly, I¡¯m stationed at the Barangay of Longos in Mbon. We¡¯re in a hospital but we soon got the order to evacuate and head to the park where you found me.¡± Ibarra replied.


    ¡°So, it¡¯s possible that there¡¯s nothing on the university if the soldiers there already evacuated, right bro?¡± Jared added.


    ¡°But there¡¯s helicopters and tents on the roof of it, don¡¯t forget. In that university¡¯s case, it got overrun.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, in that city, where are the other DDR Camps located? We could still attempt and check if they¡¯re running or overrun, right?¡± Jared added.


    ¡°Hmm, there¡¯s two other DDR Camps built close to that university if I remember correctly. It¡¯s another university and the other one¡¯s much obvious, a City Hall right next to that city¡¯s People¡¯s Park. However, the City Hall in Caloocan is much smallerpared to the one in Mbon and in Valenzu, our city, so it¡¯s most likely that ce has been evacuated or overrun. It¡¯s because it¡¯s so deep in the more congested areas and it would be difficult to defend it with a few dozen soldiers and limited ammunition.¡± I exined.


    We continued to talk while driving and we began to pass by a few factories that used to manufacture stic and several stores that sold a variety of goods. Most of them were still ripe for the taking but it woulde with a price of bullets to take down the dead guarding them. <hr>


    There were some ces we wouldn¡¯t pass up like pharmacies and stores that sell car batteries, food items, or any other stores that had essential items we could use. Even if that ce seemed to be looted, I still wouldn¡¯t pass up the chance to obtain a few bottles of antibiotics to take home the other looters might¡¯ve missed.


    We didn¡¯t have an immediate need to venture to the cities that sell guns because police stations and the erected DDR Camps were enough to procure a few weapon crates to bolster our supplies even more. We also have information on the addresses where gun owners used to live and each trip to those houses could yield one or two to add to our arsenal.


    However, the tools and raw materials avable in those stores to produce, repair, or even modify guns or ammo was something no one could pass up for people like me. It was most likely that looters would¡¯ve left them alone because they had no idea to use them and just opted for the guns and ammo stored in the shelves.


    ¡°Hey bro, can we stop near that store?¡± Jared said.


    ¡°There? We have a lot of smartphones at home, right?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Yeah, just trust me on this. Also, I¡¯m not referring to that store, it¡¯s the temple right next to it. Well, we could also loot that store but I think you¡¯d find something you might like inside the temple once we enter it.¡± Jared replied.


    Everyone grew curious so we made a quick detour.


    The temple Jared asked us to stop seemed to be a Buddhist temple. Walls surrounded the temple and even the gate was secured. However, I still wasn¡¯t sure why Jared led us to this ce. <hr>


    ¡°Bro, umm- do your thing. You know, the thing.¡± Jared pointed to the locks of the gate.


    Jared and Kaley were right behind me while the others started to take care of the bodies that came from an alley and the ones that were right behind us. There wasn¡¯t much zombie presence in this part of the road and the lock barring us from entry wasn¡¯t master level, so we quickly took care of our own jobs.


    When I managed to open the gate, the noise when it creaked attracted what seemed to be the caretaker of this temple. It was wearing a long silk robe and missing a few fingers but it seemed to be alone. I lopped its head clean as I started to look around if there were more of theming.


    ¡°This ce looks authentic.¡± Kaleymented.


    The building in front of us seemed to be the main temple but there were a few smaller ones and another building for storage and lodging. I was perplexed about why this ce wasn¡¯t housing a few people to defend it because judging by the walls and the buildings inside it, it was easily defensible.


    ¡°If the gates are closed, the monks living in this temple are away and the caretaker is the only one living inside. I can¡¯t be too sure so we still need to check each of the rooms.¡± Jared said.


    ¡°And how do you know this? I don¡¯t remember you being interested in this sort of ces.¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, Alex told me about this ce. She said that she remembered that on the main temple were Chinese weapons hanging on the walls and there might be more on- bro! Stop! Stop! Walk slowly! Walk slowly! Kaley! Help!¡± Jared eximed as he tried to hold me down.

 Chapter 456

    Chapter 456: 456


    I was soon calmed down by the two and we eventually made the Raptor go inside once we fully folded the gate to hug the walls. We could take care of the deadheadsing for us but I wanted the engine of the Raptor to be turned off because we might spend some extra time exploring this area. <center></center><hr>


    In a sense, this ce could be called a temple because of the main area but we soon discovered that it also acted as a small museum because of the existence of a few Chinese weapons disyed on racks or behind ss disys. There were also murals painted on the walls depicting their history behind a few replicas but what I wanted to know was if these weapons could be used to aid us with taking care of the dead.


    Most of the items on disys were staves but I discovered a few that sparked my interest.


    Side by side on the wall were four Monk¡¯s Spades ced horizontally. They were long wooden poles with a crescent-shaped de on the end while having a t spade-like de on the other. It was traditionally carried by monks on their travels and it was even featured on some games bearing more intricate designs.


    Moving a few steps toward a small shrine, a Pewter Staff inmon terms was ced right before the area where offerings were collected. It was a staff topped with several rings that were sometimes used as a rhythmic instrument for chanting prayers and the like. It could be used as a weapon but it was originally designed to be a noisemaker, either for announcing a monk¡¯s presence or warding off animals.


    ¡°Are we taking those back?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm? Not all of them and only the items we like. We still haven¡¯t checked their storage area so we might also uncover some essential items. As long as it could fit the Raptor, we could bring it back with us.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Bro, some of them could be easily made by Unc Zeidrick and the rest back home, right?¡± Jared added.


    ¡°Yeah, some of them could be easily made but yeah, if you took interest in something, you could take it back home. How about switching from that cavalry sword we found before?¡± I replied as we walked into another area.


    ¡°Hmm, if we find that huge one with the rings on it that Grandmaster Yi uses, I might consider changing from this.¡± Jared chuckled.


    ¡°Heh, could you even wield that? Well, you aren¡¯t even using it that much and you¡¯re just basically using it like a machete.¡± I replied, smiling.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what the two of you are talking about but I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s game-rted. I bet the ones you take back would suffer the same fate as the Guandao you have on disy at your armory.¡± Kaley added, shaking her head. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°C¡¯mon, that thing is a little special even more than that longsword we took from Damien. We just need to find the right owners, that¡¯s all. They¡¯re my precious¡­¡± I replied while changing my voice in thest part.


    ¡°Ugh, please don¡¯t say it like that.¡± Kaley got goosebumps.


    ¡°Anyway, how about you? Do you have something particr in mind? You could always have something custom-made back home like Mikhail¡¯s axe.¡± I looked at Ibarra.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m interested in the spears we found in the other room but I wanted to remove the red tassels and if possible, allow it to be made with metal and maybe allow it to be broken and snapped back into two parts so it wouldn¡¯t be as unwieldy in tight spaces.¡± Ibarra had his hand under his chin, thinking.


    ¡°That sounds easy enough to make. When we get back, I¡¯ll grab ahold of Unc Zeidrick and exin to him what you wanted to be made. It would maybe take him a few hours to a few days depending on how intricate it could be.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? They¡¯d really do that? I¡¯m just speaking my mind but- nevermind. She- umm I would really like to have something like that.¡± Ibarra nodded a few times.


    All of us caught that slight slip-up and we didn¡¯t discuss further. However, Jared was smiling wickedly.


    ¡°Okay~ f.u.c.k.i.n.g spill the beans! Who¡¯s she? Someone from the DDR Camp? Woonds? Or thepound? You¡¯re too quiet and direct I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d already have someone this early. A soldier then?¡± Jared chuckled.


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Ibarra replied but Kaley and I immediately noticed the difference in tone.


    ¡®I guess it¡¯s the extra dog tag he¡¯s wearing¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Do you miss her?¡± Kaley asked solemnly. <hr>


    ¡°Yes, of course. Every single day.¡± Ibarra nodded a few times.


    ¡°Shit man, sorry for bringing that up. You guys been together for a while?¡± Jared asked but Kaley¡¯s expression turned into something different.


    ¡°Jared, umm-¡± Kaley was about to say something but Ibarra answered Jared.


    ¡°Oh, umm- quite long to be honest.¡± Ibarra was slightly taken aback.


    ¡®Wait¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°You guys have kids?¡± Jared casually asked.


    ¡°Umm-¡± Ibarra¡¯s face turned to the same expression Kaley was wearing when Jared started to ask questions.


    ¡°What? It¡¯s normal to have-¡± Jared was about to continue but Kaley stopped him.


    ¡°Jared shut it.¡± Kaley said while widening her eyes, trying to signal him.


    ¡°What? It¡¯s normal to f.u.c.k each other and eventually have a kid or two. I¡¯m just ask-¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not! He¡¯s talking about his sister!¡± Kaley eximed. <hr>


    ¡°Well¡­ in some states in the- Ow! Why-¡±


    ¡°JARED!!!¡± Kaley shouted as she kicked his shin.


    ¡°How did you even know that?!¡± Jared started rubbing his shin.


    ¡°My mom talks to him every single day! I would learn a thing or two in passing! Happy?! Oh- umm, sorry that I know a bit about you and your sister¡­¡± Kaley eximed but she threw a worried look at Ibarra and immediately apologized.


    ¡°N-No¡­ it¡¯s okay. You¡¯d learn more about me eventually.¡± Ibarra replied, faintly smiling.


    I was already facepalming but I almost burst outughing when Jared continued talking. Ibarra, on the other hand, didn¡¯t take offense and he was just shaking his head in amus.e.m.e.nt. Kaley made Jared switch with Tatiana watching the Raptor and it was silent for a moment. It was then I discovered the story that Ibarra was deployed in the same area his older sister was and the rest was history.


    ¡°Can we know her name at least? I know the story but I didn¡¯t catch her name¡­¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Oh, no problem. Her name¡¯s April, April Joy Ibarra.¡± Ibarra replied with a solemn expression.


    ¡°That¡¯s a good name, can we call you Francisco?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Umm- no. I¡¯m already used to getting called by myst name so¡­ it gives me goosebumps too so please¡­ no.¡± Ibarra replied, giving a weirded out expression.


    We startedughing but Tatiana soon found us carrying a couple of long wooden boxes held tightly by a rope. She was smiling wickedly as she handed me both of them. <hr>


    ¡°Now, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g owe me. Big time.¡± Tatiana was smiling from ear to ear.


    We gave her a curious look but I slowly slid the lid on top after untying the rope holding them together. One of the boxes was much heavier but the other one had more intricate designs. As soon as I lifted the lid covering them, I almost ripped my cheek from the smile stered on my face.


    The one on the intricate box was a Jian or a Chinese longsword that had intricate designs even up to the scabbard. It looked ceremonial with the iid gold and jade ornaments but the edges were f.u.c.k.i.n.g sharp and the sword itself was ready for use. It was well-bnced and it was for one-handed usage. Two or three more fingers could be added while gripping it but the intricate pommel would mostly get in the way.


    ¡®The f.u.c.k is this kind of sword doing here?¡¯ I thought to myself as I checked the other box.


    The other one that was much heavier had a Dao or a Chinese saber that was slightly curved. It had simpler designspared to the Jian but its de was thicker by a few notchespared to a normal one. Aside from that, sabers would always be single-edged but a few inches of the back edge was sharpened, making it viable for thrusts as well. This de was also for single-handed use but the design of the handle could allow two-handed grips.


    ¡°I checked them the way you didst time. Those are authentic, correct?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°He can¡¯t hear you now. I¡¯m sure of it.¡± Kaley chuckled as well.


    ¡°Well, those are really cool swords. I just wanted a spear more. The one my sister wanted to make.¡± Ibarra replied.


    ¡°I could f.u.c.k.i.n.g hear all of you. Just let me imaging where I¡¯ll disy them, okay?! My precious~ Where did you find them? Is there more?!¡± I eximed while almost ufortably caressing them.


    ¡°¡­¡± the three.

 Chapter 457

    Chapter 457: 457


    It took me a few moments before I calmed down once again but I waster informed that Tatiana found them in one of the rooms in the sleeping quarters. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Oh, so it wasn¡¯t on disy then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, aside from the staves on disy, most of the quality of the weapons in the main temple was not up to par from those two. I mean, they could still be used to stab or smash heads but if we¡¯re talking about this guy, he¡¯d only take those two to his armory, correct?¡± Tatiana exined.


    ¡°Yeah, we already came across a few more swords on disy but most of them were just ornamental. These two however are something else, nice find- no, great f.u.c.k.i.n.g find. I guess I don¡¯t only owe Jared and Alex for bringing us here. Have you been to the other areas? You came from the other side, right?¡± I asked, smiling.


    ¡°There wasn¡¯t much to find in the other shrines but I¡¯ve never been to the storage areas.¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°So, we aren¡¯t taking some of the weapons home?¡± Ibarra added.


    ¡°Hmm? Oh, we¡¯ll take what could fit on our Raptor and maybe we¡¯lle back depending on what¡¯s in the storage room. These two here are quite special but we¡¯d be taking some staves for the quality of the wood used and some swords for reference if some at thepound wanted something simr.¡± I replied.


    After that short talk, we made our way to the storage room and we mostly discovered food items. Most of the perishables like their vegetables have rotted to the point of mold forming on them but the ones that survived were dried meat and fish alongside a few sacks of beans and rice.


    Surprisingly, a few sacks of potatoes survived. Some of them were outgrowing the sack they were in like the sack of onions we found growing leaves.


    ¡°PO-TA-TOES! Boil ¡¯em, mash ¡¯em, put ¡¯em in a stew!''¡± I eximed, chuckling after.


    ¡°¡­¡± the three were looking at me weirdly. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You three need to watch more movies, I can¡¯t be the only quoting movies here! It¡¯s gonna be part of our training in the future!¡± I eximed, joking.


    After a while, the Raptor was full of supplies and we were now driving back home alongside Mark and Marvin¡¯s group that came in after calling them. There were just too many items to pass up even from the stores outside so it was better to haul them now because it would be a while before we even drive to this ce again.


    Aside from the mobile phone store, there was a woodworking shop a few meters away and we got a haul of high and good quality wood for building materials. We also managed to procure a few sacks of flour, sugar, salt, and the like from the bakeries right next to us and a few dozen tires that were brand new from a shop just around the corner.


    We were just about to reach the People¡¯s Park where we discovered Ibarra when I heard Kaley and Jared firing shot after shot. The vehicles in front of us started to slow down and I looked at the mirrors to see what was going on. There was a look of dread on their faces and even Mikhail was wearing a solemn expression.


    We eventually went to a full stop as I asked what happened.


    ¡°They¡¯re here bro, the ones from Iskoh¡¯s ce¡­¡± Jared said.


    ¡°The one that killed Cruz and the others. Three of them came from that small bridge and their stance made me remember them.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°They were running straight for us as they vaulted over the cars on the bridge but thest one started zigzagging and it took a couple more shots than necessary.¡± Jared continued.


    ¡°Shit, it all happened too fast. I was adjusting the sacks when they started firing.¡± Mikhail chimed.


    ¡°F.u.c.k, you sure you gunned them down, right? Let¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g triple-tap those f.u.c.kers.¡± I mentioned as we backed up and started to drive towards them. <hr>


    Unlike the sprinters, these evolved ones, which I¡¯m not exactly sure of, I referred to as ferals were several times more dangerous than the former. Not only could they exhibit movements that could far exceed what the sprinters could do, they actually had the sense to avoid obstacles that the early sprinters were usually smashing onto.


    I could only tie it with because of the higher amount of stress their bodies were being put through despite the decay, they needed to maintain their bodies. It was because one tear in their muscles could tear their whole leg down if they applied the movements they were doing with their bodies.


    However, back then, we encountered one that had no regard for its own well-being as it just smashed and dove its body into the dry-wall and ss partitions inside the hospital we cleared before. It could be a different one or an irregr but it definitely could take more damage than its predecessor.


    This was the first time Mark and Marvin¡¯s groups saw them and I was sure that some of them managed to catch a glimpse from behind the vehicles they brought. The ones who did were wearing solemn expressions but a few were showing excitement on their faces. I shook my head and started exining that this was not a game.


    ¡°Okay, before you wish to encounter them, make sure to not fight them at close quarters or you¡¯ll be torn apart. Fighting them up close and personal should be yourst resort because one swipe from them and it¡¯s all over. Thest time we encountered them, we saw one of them just lopped a guy¡¯s head off in one backhand. They got more than just speed, remember that.¡± I reminded the group.


    They just nodded a few times and instead of burning the bodies, we wrapped them in a tarp and took them home. What we noticed however was that they were a tad heavier and their muscles were a little denserpared to the usual ones. The scientists on the president¡¯s ind group could appreciate live samples but these types were just too hard to capture and locate.


    ¡®Should I have more groups outside clearing them? I¡¯ll think about itter because these f.u.c.kers are migrating or something.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s head home.¡± I said to the group.


    We dropped by Lawrence¡¯s outpost and left a few food items for their use and much to his surprise, a gong. We actually found several from the temple so we took them back home plus the other stuff justying around likenterns and even the racks used for disy.


    ¡°Umm, what should we do with this?¡± Lawrence was waiting for me to give a punchline or something. <hr>


    ¡°You don¡¯t like it?¡± I replied, feigning shock.


    ¡°Well- I don¡¯t hate it but-¡± Lawrence couldn¡¯t find the right words to reply.


    ¡°I think he wants two, Boss.¡± Mikhail added.


    ¡°Oh! Is that how it is? Aren¡¯t you being a little too greedy?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°No- I- Just one is enough, thank you.¡± Lawrence just epted it with a weird look then the rest of us startedughing.


    ¡°Heh, I knew you¡¯d like it. Anyway, we¡¯ll bring you with us tomorrow so eithere with us now or just be early tomorrow morning. We¡¯d be clearing a lot of the dead and we need more shooters.¡± I said.


    ¡°I¡¯lle with you guys then. I might need to borrow some tools to clean my gun. It has been a while so there¡¯s been a bit of buildup on it.¡± Lawrence replied.


    We left the people in his outpost with his gong and we continued the short drive back home. It was still a few hours before sunset but I made everyone do whatever they want after we hauled the items we brought back to the storage areas. Rin was busy taking into ount everything we brought with Cynthia but a few more people were offering assistance.


    Each of them went their own way while I handed Lawrence some tools for cleaning his gun. Kaley went back to our room to take some rest, Tatiana went towards Daisy¡¯s house, and Mikhail went with Ibarra to have his own custom weapon. Jared disappeared to head to Alex¡¯s location but it seemed that she was in Woonds helping her mom manage the greenhouse with Charlotte and Chris.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re gonna be using a lot of .22 LRs then?¡± Lawrence asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, but be sure to bring your guns and I¡¯ll shoulder the ammo we would be using. We never know what might happen there. Anyway, just be in the meetingter so you¡¯d know where we¡¯re headed tomorrow. You¡¯d also see something a little special.¡± I replied as I excused myself.


    I went back to my house and I discovered that Kaley was in the shower. I decided to open the door to my armory, after removing my gear, while the boxes where the Dao and Jian were in my hands. I ced them right next to my longsword and Guandao and I just smiled like an idiot.


    I was staring at them for a while then the door behind me opened. The sweet scent of green apple wafted inside alongside a mix of flowers and berries.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re back already.¡± Kaley mentioned as she saw me sitting inside our armory.


    ¡°Yeah, I kinda wanted to take a nap now¡­¡± I replied as I watched her put on some clothes.


    ¡°Perv.¡± Kaley joked, drying her hair with a towel.


    ¡°Heh, call me what you want I¡¯m not taking my eyes off you.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Really~ anyway, who woulde with us tomorrow then?¡± Kaley said as sheid on the bed, motioning for me to join her.


    ¡°Aside from us, I¡¯d bring Lois, Lawrence, Max, and Cynthia. I want to bring more but we need space for our guns and ammo.¡± I replied as I hugged her from the top.


    My head was nestled between Kaley¡¯s chest and she was hugging me with both of her arms. Being in her embrace as she started to hum made me sleepy so I snuggled in even closer.

 Chapter 458

    Chapter 458: 458


    Kaley was only wearing a sleeveless crop top and booty shorts, and even I could see it vividly in my mind even if my eyes were closed while I was nestled between her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts. She was slowly caressing my hair as she was hugging me and even if I was slowly getting lulled to sleep, something else was waking up from below. The sweet scent of the soap she used, coupled with her own fragrance and being in close proximity with me made me raise my head to look at her and give her a kiss. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley blushed as she was slightly startled but what made her get fl.u.s.tered even more was when I pulled her sleeveless crop top up and buried my face between her bare b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    ¡°Ah- you¡­¡± Kaley was about to say something but she stopped herself and just continued to embrace me.


    I never said anything as I moved my head from side to side to bury my face even more between her soft and supple udders. If I could stay in the same ce for hours, I would, but I just wanted to do more.


    My face was on her b.r.e.a.s.ts sideways so I slightly blew a little air toward her right n.i.p.p.l.e. Kaley reacted almost instantly as her body quivered and she hugged me tighter.


    ¡°Stop~! You¡¯re tickling me~ I thought we¡¯re going to take a n-nap?¡± Kaley muttered but I blew some air on her pink n.i.p.p.l.e once more that made her stutter on herst word.


    From my perspective, I could see her n.i.p.p.l.e slowly getting hard as I blew on it but I decided to stop and suck on it instead.


    ¡°Mmh~! Ah- Mmm~¡± Kaley immediately reacted because her n.i.p.p.l.es were so sensitive.


    Kaley¡¯s embrace just tightened even more but I wouldn¡¯t leave the other one hanging. I turned my head slightly to the side while sucking her right n.i.p.p.l.e so I could see the other one slowly harden as I pinch and rub it between my fingers. Kaley was starting to feel it herself because her body was twitching a few times and her breathing was starting to get heavy. However, I continued to suck on her n.i.p.p.l.es while the tip of my tongue was circling around the edges.


    ¡°Ahm~ MMh! Ah¡­ MmH! Hah~ Ah¡­ Ah-Ahmm¡­¡± Kaley started to let out soft m.o.a.ns as her hands started to glide on my back.


    Kaley¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts were getting squeezed as I pushed my head against one of them while I was sucking her n.i.p.p.l.e and kneading the other one harder and harder. Her breathing started to get faster and heavier and she was making me push my full weight on her even more by pulling me closer and closer. She kept calling out my name as she was letting out soft m.o.a.ns while I just switched to her other n.i.p.p.l.e and started sucking on it instead.


    When she was about to c.u.m from just ying with her b.r.e.a.s.ts, she pulled me up to give me a kiss while both of my hands were still squeezing her tits roughly. Her legs were already wrapped around my back and I felt her twitching over and over when our kiss got broken. After that, she looked at me intensely as she removed her toppletely. I followed her by removing my shirt and we started kissing right after that while we were trying to take the rest of our clothes off.


    Right as we did, I saw her fat p.u.s.s.y lips drenched as her sweet juices were flowing down on her thick thighs. Kaley wanted to go on top of me but I pushed her down and started eating her out. I was kneeling by the edge of the bed when I pulled her closer towards me. My senses were assaulted by her sweet scent and I couldn¡¯t help but grip and stroke my hard c.o.c.k while I was eating her. As soon as I reached her clit, her back arched while she was squeezing her tits and she couldn¡¯t help but m.o.a.n louder and louder. <center></center><hr>


    Her legs mped on my head while I was eating her and I couldn¡¯t breathe as much because one of my hands was now groping her tits while the other one was going in and out of her ass. Kaley¡¯s face was a mess when I managed to catch a glimpse of her and it didn¡¯t take long for her to c.u.m hard as she squirted all over my face. However, I didn¡¯t stop what I was doing until she came another time. She was twitching at almost every interval but I soon stood up and looked at her while my c.o.c.k was throbbing hard.


    Kaley was looking at it with anticipation but I had other ns.


    I started stroking myself in front of her but she pouted and immediately knelt down in front of me. She started sucking my c.o.c.k with her warm and tight mouth as I let her do the work for me.


    She was looking at me from below and while she was sucking me vigorously, her hand was squeezing her tits while the other was going in and out of her squelching p.u.s.s.y. I could feel the tip of my d.i.c.k hitting the back of her throat and she was enduring it as I hit it over and over. I was starting to get weak on the knees but right when I was about to c.u.m, she ced my hands on her head and made me push her head down over and over. I lost strength when I exploded inside her mouth and it all went straight into her throat. She swallowed it all while she was slowly stroking me but she wasn¡¯t done.


    I was catching my breath when Kaley pushed me into the bed and started to suck me harder even if I just came a second earlier. She was using both of her hands to stroke me while her mouth and tongue were just by the tip. Her tongue was gliding all around it at first but she suddenly focused on the little opening the tip had. I started to lose my mind but my d.i.c.k was hard as ever. I was struggling with the sensitivity but all I saw next was Kaley giving me a wicked smile as she went on top of me. Sweat already formed droplets on her body and her face was red from blushing but our minds just went nk when she went all the way down.


    Kaley just leaned her whole body against me while we hugged each other and we violently moved our h.i.p.s. Each thrust would reach her deepest areas as the sound of skin hitting skin and her warm and wet insides getting invaded was resounding over and over. We were kissing each other passionately as my hands were exploring the rest of her body. Her b.r.e.a.s.ts were getting squeezed between us while I was spreading her cheeks and fingering her ass. However, it didn¡¯t take long before I f.u.c.k.i.e.d her ass over and over when we switched positions after I c.u.mmed inside her p.u.s.s.y a couple of times.


    ¡°AH! I¡¯M C.U.M.M.I.N.G! I¡¯M C.U.MM- DON¡¯T- AH! AH! HNGH! I¡¯M- CU- AH- AH- ANH~!!!¡±


    I finally lost strength as I copsed on top of Kaley while I was still c.u.m.m.i.n.g inside of her. We were back in the same position but we were covered in sweat and out of breath. Kaley embraced me once more but I gave her a kiss on the lips before giving another on her forehead. We just stared at each other for a while as we caught our breath but we soon took a shower to clean ourselves.


    We were back on the bed after a few minutes but this time, Kaley was leaning on my side as we were casually talking to each other.


    ¡°Now I¡¯m really sleepy¡­¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Well~ you know, we did it more than a few times and the sun was just about to go down.¡± Kaley giggled as she replied.


    ¡°Do you wanna skip dinner and just sleep? I really want to do something I haven¡¯t done in a while¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Hmm? What is it?¡±


    ¡°Sleeping straight for eight hours. It¡¯s a myth, I tell you. I could only do that in games¡­¡±


    ¡°Hah! Don¡¯t we need to go to the meetingter and also the gym?¡±


    ¡°We could do the meeting in the morning because we always do a refresher while we¡¯re eating breakfast and if you¡¯re talking about a workout¡­ we could always you know¡­ do some more¡­ cardio¡­ Ow! Those jewels will be holding the kids that would be smart and beautiful! Be careful with those!¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh~ Smart and beautiful eh? So I¡¯m just the beautiful one? Hmm?¡±


    ¡°What? You¡¯re both! That¡¯s the good thing. What our kid would be getting from me is the OCD and the crazy! I hope they don¡¯t get it but my lineage is a little scary so they probably will!¡±


    ¡°What?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! C¡¯mon! You¡¯re way~ smarter than me and you know¡­ you¡¯re really hot so- I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about~ It¡¯s not like I¡¯m the only one chasing after you~¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Who¡¯re the others chasing after me? I thought you¡¯re the one that has a hare- Ow! My n.i.p.p.l.es are sensitive too! Don¡¯t pinch them!¡± I joked.


    ¡°Hngh~ Sometimes you¡¯re really serious but there are times you¡¯re like this! I know you¡¯re really oblivious when ites to this but other girls have been acting differently when you¡¯re around them. I¡¯m not gonna say who but-¡± then I interrupted her.


    ¡°Who gives a f.u.c.k? I got you, right?¡± I said as I gave her a smile.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°What?¡± <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Kaley?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g again, aren¡¯t we?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna have dinne-¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re skipping it.¡±


    ¡°The meetin-¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re skipping that too.¡±


    ¡°The gym, I-¡±


    ¡°That too.¡±


    ¡°The guns le-¡± <hr>


    ¡°F.u.c.k those guns!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Sky?¡±


    ¡°Hope our kids wouldn¡¯t be as hyperse-¡±


    ¡°Sky! Hngh~ Says the guy who¡¯s peeking at me while I¡¯m changing!¡±


    ¡°Did I really peek or did someone wanted- I don¡¯t want to name ahem- Kaley ahem- wanted to show off her voluptuous shapes and curves? Hmm?¡±


    ¡°What?! You said it yourself that you¡¯re staring at me!¡±


    ¡°What~ I¡¯m innocent~¡±


    ¡°Argh~ How?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m wearing white underwear.¡±


    ¡°Wha- What does that even mean?!¡±

 Chapter 459

    Chapter 459: 459


    I startedughing hysterically but Kaley soon shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt as she went on top of me and gave me a kiss. I tasted her sweet lips once more but we heard a knock on the door. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Just a sec!¡± I shouted before Kaley and I grabbed some clothes to put on.


    ¡°It¡¯s us!¡± we heard Tatiana¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Just putting on some clothes!¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah! As if we didn¡¯t s-¡± Tatiana was about to continue when she gt interrupted.


    ¡°Shh! We¡¯re still not inside the safe zone!¡± we then heard Cynthia¡¯s voice.


    ¡°The safe zone? When did we call it the safe zone?¡± then Tatiana¡¯s voice followed once more.


    ¡°It¡¯s literally in the name, the safe zone!¡± Cynthia continued.


    ¡°Our rooms are also safe zones.¡± then we heard Rin¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Yeah, but~ this one is the safe-safe zone!¡± Cynthia chuckled.


    It didn¡¯t take long before I opened the door and they saw Kaley and I wearing simple clothing. However, Tatiana took a deep breath and looked at us wickedly.


    ¡°You guys just f.u.c.k.i.e.d, correct?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Yep.¡± Kaley and I answered at the same time much to their surprise.


    ¡°Oh~ not getting embarrassed about it now, are we? That¡¯s a step in the right direction. In any case~ not that we¡¯re in the safe zone¡­¡± Tatiana trailed as she removed her top.


    It revealed Tatiana¡¯s bare upper body with progress on the tattoo Daisy was working on her. She just casually ced her shirt on top of a chair then she stretched her body, highlighting most of her curves and body lines. Cynthia blushed from Tatiana casually doing that while Rin and Kaley simultaneously went for the locks on the door, shaking their head at Tatiana¡¯s actions. However, I almost knocked Tatiana out when she started unbuttoning her jeans. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hah! I thought you wouldn¡¯t stop me. I thought this was the safe zone? Couldn¡¯t we do anything inside the safe zone?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°You¡¯re abusing the safe zone¡¯s powers!¡± Cynthia added,ughing.


    ¡°Could you guys stop it with the safe zone¡­¡± Rin was shaking her head.


    ¡°So, what are you guys up to?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm? Not much, we¡¯re just waiting for dinner. How about you two?¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°Right, we should inform everyone. We¡¯re making our own dinner tonight and we¡¯ll postpone the meeting for tomorrow. I-¡± I was about to continue but Kaley interrupted me.


    ¡°Wait, why don¡¯t we just have dinner with everyone, attend the meeting, and just skip going to the gym? It shouldn¡¯t take that long, right?¡± Kaley suggested.


    ¡°Woah there, you¡¯re cooking? Why don¡¯t you just cook something after the meeting? It¡¯s been a while.¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°How about the dinner prepared for us?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about you all but I could eat a lot. I could eat dinner and even another dinner.¡± Tatiana raised her hands much to their envy.


    ¡®Missed opportunity to almost reference ¡®What about second breakfast?¡¯ haaa~¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°So, what are we doing? Sorry for barging in your littlete-night date~¡± Cynthia chuckled.


    ¡°How about this¡­¡± I trailed as I told them what we would do.


    We joined everyone for dinner and we soon started the meeting. I would still be cooking somethingter but it would just be treated as a midnight snack depending on the circ.u.mstances.


    ¡°Before we start, let¡¯s thank our farming team led by Charlotte and Amanda for the fresh pechay and tomatoes that were included in our meal earlier. Well, don¡¯t forget about the people who cooked it because the sardinesbined with it tasted great!¡± I said as I started the meeting. <hr>


    It wasn¡¯t much for some people but being recognized and thanked for the work anyone had could go a long way. The people I mentioned gave smiles even if they were embarrassingly nodding to eachpliment they received.


    ¡°Okay, who¡¯s gonna give their report first?¡± I asked then the leaders of the clearing group stood up.


    Jay and Dong reported that the Barangay of Coloong was sessfully sealed off. It didn¡¯t have the sturdy andrge gates we had on our entry points to our barangay but chain-linked fences were erected to block off the passage of the dead which were trying toe in. I gave them separate barangays to work with but they decided that it would be faster to clear one if they just worked on one collectively then moving on to the next.


    It was because I would sometimes call on them for help and their operation would be paused. So, that was the method they came up with on their own.


    ¡°We already took the essential items inside that barangay, but there are still items there like clothes, vehicles, electronics, and etc. that could still be taken back. We guess once we gated and reinforced the walls in that area, the people moving there would have something to start with.¡± Jay exined.


    ¡°Boss, there¡¯s also fish ponds there so we could breed more fish in that area which was something the people over there were doing before it started. Most of the buildings there are just houses so aside from the rental boats from the small docks, there was not much variety to loot aside from that construction shop and that auto-rental ce.¡± Dong added.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s good. Once you also clear the Barangay of Tagg and Bisig, we¡¯d have morend avable to us. Those are two barangays right next to each other but the Barangay of Coloong is still bigger than those twobined. So, clearing them would take less time. However, we¡¯re mostly clearing them to have more safe zones- err, a-areas where there are no deadheads so having people move there isn¡¯t the best idea.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Hmm, makes sense.¡± Jay nodded.


    ¡°Besides, our barangay still had plenty of space to hold all our people so making others move there to spread out is not a good idea for now. Unless it¡¯s for creating another outpost which we already have a couple of that are much farther. Furthermore, the fishing areas we have still have plenty of space so we wouldn¡¯t be needing more fishing areas as of yet. As I said, it¡¯s just for having morend we could make sure isn¡¯t infested.¡± I added.


    ¡°And what¡¯s after that, Boss? Rincon?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°Barangay of I would be next, not Rincon.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Wait, I? Boss, can I ask why aren¡¯t we clearing the Barangay of Rincon first? It¡¯s much closerpared to the other two barangays too, right?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°That barangay is just too exposed. Remember that we¡¯re closing off areas one by one but Rincon just had too many entrances and exits to cover. We¡¯ll eventually close it off but we should first clear the areas that have fewnd entrances and locked by the water naturally. Besides, have you forgotten the gold mine that is sitting in I?¡± I chuckled.


    My workers looked at me for a moment before pping their foreheads in realization while the others not familiar with the area were confused. <hr>


    ¡°Boss! Why the f.u.c.k didn¡¯t we go to that barangay in the first ce?!¡± Mark eximed, excited.


    ¡°Motherf.u.c.ker, why didn¡¯t we think of that?¡± Unc Zardon scratched his head in disbelief.


    ¡°Wait, wait, wait you little shits. The f.u.c.k are you talking about?¡± Oscar was confused the same as Matthew and Johnny. Even Mauricio looked at me, waiting for me to speak but I just wore the most wicked smile I could.


    ¡°Nothing¡­ just 32,000 sr panels spread across 12 hectares ofnd?¡± I said as I chuckled.


    Silence. Complete and total f.u.c.k.i.n.g silence.


    ¡°You gotta be kidding me¡­ KID?! THE F.U.C.K DIDN¡¯T WE GO TO THAT PLACE WHEN WE¡¯RE SCRAMBLING FOR PANELS?! THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU SMILING ABOUT?! ISN¡¯T THIS A HUGE OVERSIGHT?! ISN¡¯T THAT PLACE GETTING TAKEN APART ALREADY?! IS IT EVEN IN ONE PIECE?! WHY ARE YOU ONLY BRINGING IT UP UNTIL NOW?!¡± Oscar was bbergasted as he bellowed.


    ¡°Calm down, old man. It¡¯s still in one piece though it needed to be cleared from the dead.¡± I replied.


    ¡°WHA- HOW THE F- HOW COULD YOU BE SO F.U.C.K.I.N.G CALM AFTER THAT?! KID?! 32,000 F.U.C.K.I.N.G SOLAR PANELS?! WE¡¯D BE SET FOR LIFE IN THIS BARANGAY!!! THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! WE SHOULD DROP ALL OUR ONGOING PROJECTS AND START DISASSEMBLING SHIT!!!¡± Oscar¡¯s head was running on all cylinders and he couldn¡¯t hear what I was saying.


    ¡°OLD MAN! OUR PLAN OF TAKING OVER SHIT IS NOT STOPPING ON THIS BARANGAY, REMEMBER?! GETTING A CITY IS JUST THE STARTING QUEST!!! WE ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH FOR NOW SO WE SHOULD THINK OF OTHER THINGS TO DO FIRST! NOT EVERYTHING REVOLVES ON ELECTRICITY!!¡± I shouted as well to drown him out.


    ¡°Kid, kid, kid, kid, kid- you¡¯re not f.u.c.k.i.n.g thinking straight! We should- we should at least- F.U.C.K! EVEN I CAN¡¯T EVEN THINK STRAIGHT! WE SHOULD GET THEM ALL BEFORE ANOTHER GROUP GETS THEIR HANDS ON THOSE!!! FOR F.U.C.K¡¯S SAKE KID, THE F.U.C.K?! HOW COULD YOU BE SURE THAT NO ONE¡¯S BEEN TO THEM YET?!¡± Oscar continued.


    ¡°Borris and Cyrill are frequenting that area. They¡¯re giving reports every day to Vera so I know it¡¯s still waiting for us to get to it. Sheesh, I should¡¯ve brought it up when the time¡¯s right. We¡¯re still following my internal schedule and we¡¯re doing excellent. Besides, as I said, that number is too much for our ce as of yet.¡± I exined.


    ¡°¡­¡± Oscar didn¡¯t say a word but he was still breathing heavily.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget, between the things we are doing and the people we have avable, it would take a lot of time to get them all. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re doing nothing these past months because we¡¯ve been very f.u.c.k.i.n.g busy. Also, just to calm your tits, it would need more than a f.u.c.k.i.n.g screwdriver to get them off. Regr people wouldn¡¯t have the tools and the knowledge to get to them and we¡¯re not one of the regr people.¡± I continued.


    ¡°But kid, I know we made ns but we should at least secure a few hundred just in case, right?¡± Oscar calmed down but he seemed to be having a slight headache.


    ¡°The way I see it, we should let that ce be as it is because we¡¯ll eventually take over everything. We could just have it transfer energy to the right ces once we need it. Don¡¯t even worry about security because all we need to do after clearing that ce is to block off three entrances where one is already taken care of. Also¡­¡± I decided to exin everything about a n that was supposed to be discussed in the future at the right time just to appease Oscar¡¯s worries. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, okay. I get it. Mark?¡± Oscar turned around to look for Mark.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Mark replied.


    ¡°Going to the gym?¡±


    ¡°Later¡­ yes. Why?¡±


    ¡°32,000 push-ups or I¡¯ll take back the gear I gave you.¡±


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°IT¡¯S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU LITTLE SHIT!¡±


    ¡°WHAT DID I DO?!¡±


    ¡°YOU BROUGHT THE TOPIC UP AND IT MADE ME HAVE A HEADACHE!¡±


    ¡°IT¡¯S NOT MY FAULT YOU¡¯RE PRONE TO THEM, WHY DO I HAVE TO SUFFER?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯M OLD AND HAVE IMPULSIVE TENDENCIES TO MAKE RASH JUDGEMENT, DEAL WITH IT!¡±


    ¡°AT LEAST LET THE OTHERS DO IT WITH ME!¡±


    ¡°SURE!¡±


    ¡°DEAL!¡±


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K MARK?!¡±

 Chapter 460

    Chapter 460: 460


    The rest of the scouting groups aside from mine suddenly got dragged on with Mark¡¯s sudden deal with Oscar. The old man was actually joking but just from our heated discussion earlier, it made them think he was serious about making them collectively perform 32,000 push-ups. The situation was never cleared between them but I was relieved that Oscar understood my intentions even if he thought it was an oversight on my part. <center></center><hr>


    It could be true in a few cases because we were always operating on the ¡®It¡¯s better to have and not need than to need and not have.¡¯ basis but simply mobilizing all our resources and people with acquiring 32,000 sr panels was just too much for our group. Aside from that, the setup already done in that ce could allow it to simply divert its power to nearby barangays with just a few modifications.


    Finding a new ce to set them up from the beginning would take too much time for something we didn¡¯t need at the moment because we already have a simr setup but only on a much smaller scale.


    ¡°Okay, what¡¯s next on our agenda?¡± I turned to Rin.


    ¡°Umm- It¡¯s Sir Ferdinand¡¯s report on the new trainees.¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°Okay, it will be short but concise.¡± Ferdinand said as he stood up to give his report.


    Since Oscar and Johnny¡¯s program before to train Marvin and the rest of his team in our ce was sessful, Ferdinand decided from before to gather able-bodied and perhaps younger volunteers to be essentially drafted for more specific training. We already have existing soldiers and volunteers that hadbat training like guards and security personnel but our ratiopared to the civilians was too low.


    Ferdinand¡¯s aim for having new trainees was to have more people that werebat-oriented aside from the all-rounders that wereing from my ce. He brought it up with Oscar and Johnny because training someone specifically for one thing would be fasterpared to my approach to making my team members learn a little bit of everything.


    ¡°Okay, Johnny has been helping me but we have two dozen young ones from Woonds and the DDR Camp receiving daily training and they are performing well. It hasn¡¯t been long since we started but they follow orders and basically receiving training for trainees in boot camp. There are some differences from what Johnny and I experienced but we will continue to monitor them and provide guidance.¡± Ferdinand reported.


    ¡°Any notable ones?¡± Oscar asked. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°There¡¯s one or two thates to mind but we still have nothing on who could be their leader yet. There¡¯s always one in every group but I guess we¡¯ll see about that.¡± Johnny replied.


    ¡°If you guys don¡¯t mind I could maybe have a talk or two with them after training. I¡¯ll have them scheduled once or twice each week in the afternoon.¡± Marisha suggested.


    ¡°I see no problem with that. Even my soldiers are asking for time just to have a chat with you, so that¡¯s a step in the right direction. Thank you.¡± Ferdinand replied, sitting down.


    After a few more topics put on the table, I brought up the footage we found on Monumento and the ferals we took down on the way home. I reminded them of the story about the ferals when we were at the City of Man and their differencespared to the ones we faced. Aside from those, I also mentioned an inkling of another group being present that may or may not have intentions of speaking with us yet.


    ¡°So you are bringing a group tomorrow for some shooting practice?¡± Matthewmented.


    ¡°That¡¯s the n but I would like to alternate it between making a path straight to Iskoh¡¯s camp. It would take longer by doing two tasks at the same time but I don¡¯t want either type to be left unchecked. One of them is justtched on the bottom of the train station while one could just pop up at any time unchecked. The ferals are more f.u.c.k.i.n.g dangerous but we still need to figure out what the other ones are capable of.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm. I was about to suggest doing that. Can¡¯t we just leave a group in that love hotel likest time?¡± Matthew said, suggesting another idea.


    ¡°I¡¯m notfortable with that because they have no way of escape in case things go sour. In Mbon, they have a getaway vehicle but this one ce we picked needed a helicopter to reach it. The only other choice is to spend more time clearing that area but being in that love hotel to snipe heads is the easiest way of doing it unless we drive further around which we have no data as of yet for the roads we could take. The ce is literally filled with them and it spans a number of streets.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Wait- so how are you gonna take care of those bodies after?¡± Johnny asked. <hr>


    ¡°My n is to put down a huge majority of them and on another day, bring a few skid steers so we could burn them in clumps. It¡¯s not like we could shoot a few and burn them because the ones left would surely go after us. If we could, I would like to take all of them down in a single day so once wee back the day after, there would be fewer deadheads to kill if some wander in that area. It¡¯s silly clearing a mass gathering in a different city but we need to grab ahold of some samples or even live bodies of the ones slurping out the heads of the normal ones.¡± I borated.


    ¡°Kid, have we taken action on the City of Navotas? Your cousin said that they came from that area, right? That¡¯s another problem just waiting to blow up on our heads if we let the group he¡¯s talking about were left alone in that ce.¡± Oscarmented.


    I was about to answer that we haven¡¯t put a n yet but Matthew turned to Oscar.


    ¡°I took some measures. They haven¡¯t done much on exploring that area but I brought out a group to block off the roads that could lead to that ce with concrete blocks and long shuttle buses or jeepneys. The only way they could reach Lawrence¡¯s outpost is by driving around Mbon first. It¡¯s only two roads so it was done a few days back. Sorry, haven¡¯t told it in the meeting yet. You guys might¡¯ve not seen it because you¡¯re driving on the other side of the road. It¡¯s an easy fix unless a better n could be put in ce.¡± Matthew said it like it was nothing special.


    ¡°Sorry, I haven¡¯t mentioned it because they were doing it the same time when the other vehicles left in the bridge were being hauled.¡± Lawrence added.


    ¡°No, no. That¡¯s great actually. I have a lot on my te and that¡¯s something I would¡¯ve done, to be honest. Thank you.¡± I smiled as I nodded a few times.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid to order Matthew around. He¡¯s actually lonely when you stopped bringing him on runs.¡± Marisha chuckled.


    ¡°What?! I¡¯m not! It¡¯s not like I- I¡¯m not! I¡¯m happy as hell!¡± Matthew looked at his wife like he was betrayed.


    ¡°Hah! Is that so? Why don¡¯t youe with us tomorrow then? I need shooters so aside from bringing my own group with Lois, Lawrence, Max, and Cynthia, I guess I¡¯ll bring you along. Well, if you want to. You said you¡¯re happy, right?¡± I said slyly. <hr>


    ¡°Well, if you insist-¡± Matthew started but I cut him off.


    ¡°I¡¯m not. I just said you coulde if you want to. I¡¯m not forcing you-¡± I was about to finish coaxing him but Max raised his hand.


    ¡°Sir, he could take my ce if he wanted to?¡± Max suggested.


    ¡°You have a prior engagement?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Oh, n-not at all. I just remember someone saying that there¡¯s a weight limit on helicopters and I believe we would be bringing a lot of ammo so-¡± Max was about to finish his sentence but Matthew cut him off.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s too bad you have a prior engagement so I¡¯ll just take your ce in the meantime.¡± Matthew nodded a few times while everyone was shaking their heads.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t-¡± Max was about to argue his case but Matthew cut him off once again.


    ¡°Nope! Heard you loud and clear. What else is next in the meeting? I¡¯m gonna prepare a few things after this.¡± Matthew continued with fervor.


    ¡°None, that¡¯s thest of it. Don¡¯t worry Max, there¡¯s plenty of space for everyone. If anyone wants to bring up anything, now¡¯s the time.¡± I said as I looked at everybody present. <hr>


    After a few more rifications, we concluded the meeting. However, as soon as we entered my house, Tatiana was already by the kitchen counter.


    ¡°Okay, what are we making?¡± Tatiana said excitedly.


    ¡°Eh~ I kinda want to go to the gym now, to be honest.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Hmm, me too, I guess.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Noooooo~ You owe meee~¡± Tatiana wailed as she tried to drag me back to the kitchen.


    Rin and Cynthiaughed at the scene but we eventually changed clothes to head to the gym. I rarely skip on my workouts and even if I did, I would get the itch and would just do it anyway. The only reason we stopped afterpleting it and didn¡¯t teach a ss because Tatiana was lifelessly sulking on one corner.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s make some smash burgers.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°A wut?¡± Tatiana suddenly sprang back to life.

 Chapter 461

    Chapter 461: 461


    ¡°I believe we¡¯ve made one before, right?¡± I chuckled. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I can¡¯t remember¡­ the only ¡®smash¡¯ that came to mind is a little~ more different~¡± Tatiana raised her eyebrow insinuating the game I modded for my old console.


    ¡°A-Anyway, what do we need?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Okay, while I ground the beef, kindly bring me some salt, pepper, onions, onion powder, ck garlic, garlic powder, pickles, chili paste, ketchup, mayo, mustard, brioche buns, cooking oil, relish, and a few slices of American cheese.¡± I replied.


    They followed Rin to the pantry while Tatiana helped me with slicing the beef parts to be ced in the meat grinder. After chucking them all in, I asked Tatiana to collect them in a container, Kaley to lightly caramelize some onions, Rin and Cynthia to chop up the pickles and the garlic into small pieces, while I washed the griddle we would be using.


    ¡°Umm, what¡¯s after chopping them?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Mix it with the chili paste and equal parts of mayo, ketchup, and mustard. Add a little bit of salt and pepper to taste and if you want, you could add some relish as well.¡± I replied.


    ¡°The meat is done~ your majesty~¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Heh, aside from adding salt and pepper, add a touch of onion and garlic powder then mix it all together. Make sure the spices are evenly mixed then turn them into balls. I¡¯ll preheat the griddle while you all do it. How¡¯re the onions?¡± I replied then I turned to Kaley.


    ¡°They¡¯re doing fine but I want them a little softer.¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Turn the heat a little lower and let it cook while we¡¯re cooking the meat.¡± I replied.


    It took us a few minutes of preparation but when we finished, they just watched me for the rest of the time as I ced the balls Tatiana made into the hot griddle. As soon as they sizzled from the heat, I smashed them with my spat, creating a malformed circle with random edges. While they were cooking, I preheated the brioche buns we had on wait then I flipped the patties to the other side. The smell of the butter and the meat cooking made our mouths water especially Tatiana. <center></center><hr>


    The edges were already browning and it could be considered the best part. After that, I ced slices of American cheese over it so it could melt while the patty was cooking then I applied the spread Cynthia and Rin made to the buns first before cing the patties with the melted cheese on top of it. Before topping the upper bun off, I added a generous amount of the lightly caramelized onions Kaley made and I ced the finished product in front of them.


    I smiled after flipping my apron and said, ¡°Dig in.¡±


    Tatiana was about to cry when she saw it and she immediately lunged for one. However, Kaley was looking at me weirdly when she discovered I made three extras aside from the extra we already made for Tatiana.


    ¡°It¡¯s for the old man, Mauricio, and Cathy. Let me excuse myself for a bit.¡± I said then I lifted the te up to bring it to Oscar¡¯s house.


    Oscar seemed to be awake because the lights were on so I knocked a few times.


    ¡°Eh? Who is it?¡± I heard Oscar¡¯s voice.


    ¡°It¡¯s the kid you yelled at earlier.¡± I joked.


    ¡°Hah! The f.u.c.k are ya knocking for? Come in, you little shi- wait¡­ what¡¯s that I smell¡­ HAHAHAHA!!! You made some?! Gimme!¡± Oscar suddenly opened the door for me and I saw them casually talking in the living room.


    ¡°Good evening~ that smells good~¡± Cathy greeted me with a smile same with Mauricio.


    ¡°Godo eve~ I made a little something. I won¡¯t be long, enjoy~¡± I replied as Iid it on the coffee table.


    ¡°Heh. Thanks, kid.¡± Oscar chomped down on one before I left them. <hr>


    When I got back from the house, they didn¡¯t see me enter the door but it was funny seeing their eating expressions. They were eating it with euphoric smiles and Tatiana was almost m.o.a.ning from each bite. I swear I saw tears forming on the side of her eyes not from the chili paste but from the extreme happiness she was feeling.


    ¡°We¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g his brains out after we¡¯re done.¡± Tatiana suddenly dered as she reached for her other burger.


    ¡°Hmm~ if you don¡¯t hog him as much~¡± Cynthia chuckled.


    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, look at Kaley and her big jugs!¡± Tatiana eximed.


    ¡°What?! We just- fine¡­ I was about to ask for it again anyway¡­¡± Kaley replied as she took another bite.


    ¡°Umm- guys¡­ he¡¯s right behind you three¡­¡± Rin trailed when she saw me right behind them.


    ¡°Oh, hi~¡± Cynthia immediately shrunk down when I was around them.


    ¡°Huh. Isn¡¯t the burger enough?! I get tired too, you know that, right?! Can we just do it tomorrow?!¡± I eximed, shaking my head.


    I wanted to eat my burger in my room even if it would be in room temperature so I decided to wash the dishes first.


    ¡°Hmph! Then justy down and- you¡¯re making it hard for us, aren¡¯t you?¡± Kaley was shaking her head, blushing faintly.


    ¡°What? What did I do now?¡± I was confused as I continued to wash the dishes. <hr>


    ¡°That. Please don¡¯t do that, let me¡­ it¡¯s distracting¡­¡± Cynthia reced me with washing the dishes.


    ¡°Okay? Oh, shit. The light bulb here needs to be reced¡­¡± I said as I grabbed a recement.


    ¡°Hngh¡­¡± I heard someone groan but I continued to rece the lightbulb after turning it off first.


    ¡°This is weird¡­ I feel¡­ different¡­¡± Tatiana muttered.


    ¡°Hmm? Oh, who moved this painting? Let me adjust it¡­ perfect.¡± I said as I adjusted it a little bit to the right.


    ¡°¡­¡± Rin was silent but she was also starting to look at me weirdly.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Kaley suggested we watch a movie in my room. I wanted to make them engaged or perhaps sleepy so I made them y the trilogy so they could get my potato reference. I could do it with Kaley fine but it would be a little taxing with four of them right after doing it with Kaley earlier.


    To stall for more time, I prepared the guns we would bring tomorrow.


    Kaley and I would be using the same S&W M&P15-22 that we used for clearing the People¡¯s Park from Mbon. It already had the attachments on it but I gave it a simple clean and readied a can of .22 LRs. For the others that woulde with us, aside from bringing their own guns, I would also provide the .22 LR Rifles they would be using.


    Cynthia already has her CZ 457 so I would be bringing a few Ruger 10-22s or something simr. They would be always attached with a sling, a scope, and a suppressor while bringing out extra magazines for their use. In Cynthia¡¯s case, her CZ 457 could only hold 5 rounds but it was still okay because we would be camping on top of a roof, not in a run-n-gun situation.


    When I was done and looked back, they were all sleeping soundly so I celebrated by eating my burger alone. I simply snuggled close to Kaley and I was hugging her from behind. It didn¡¯t take long before I fell asleep and time continued to pass right until the early morning. <hr>


    I double-checked the equipment we would be using but I saw the pile of guns still waiting to be checked and cleaned. The only reason we were taking so much time was because of exchanging parts as we go so we could have guns in perfect condition.


    ¡®I guess I¡¯ll clean a few more before we go¡­¡¯ I thought to myself as I brought out my tools.


    There were still a lot of guns left and the only way to make progress was to pick one up and start working on it one after the other. However, as I was cleaning the third one, Kaley woke up and she gave me a little ¡®service¡¯ with my ¡®gun¡¯ under the table. I didn¡¯t take long but I made sure to return the favor.


    The rest of them slowly woke up afterward and they managed to help with a few more before we had breakfast and drove with the rest of our equipment to the DDR Camp.


    ¡°Ah, I could use my 10-22 again~¡± Lois celebrated.


    ¡°Don¡¯t like the MCX that much? I could take it back?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°What? F.u.c.k no. It just feels like I¡¯m splurging on ammo each time I fire a .300 AAC ckout. Besides, I really like this 10-22.¡± Loismented, smiling.


    ¡°You brought one for everyone eh?¡± Matthew added.


    ¡°Hmm? Well, yeah. Remember guys, we¡¯d be first clearing a few floors down on the love hotel right as wend on the roof. If we could, it would be better to block the main entrance and the back door first before we start shooting down the ones below. We¡¯d be having a few people attracting the dead towards the other side so we could try but if we couldn¡¯t, just a single floor would suffice. There should be enough furniture there to block an entrance so we¡¯d be good.¡± I replied then I started briefing them.


    ¡°Are we allowed to smack you in the head if you do another one of those stunts bro?¡± Jared raised his hand, worried.


    ¡°Oh, I almost forgot about that. Always wear your seatbel-¡± I was instantly cut off.


    ¡°NOOOOOOO F.U.C.K THIS SHIT, I¡¯M GOING HOME!¡± Jared eximed.

 Chapter 462

    Chapter 462: 462


    After a series ofughter and several assurances that I wouldn¡¯t put stress on the helicopter and everyone by doing another barrel roll, we finally managed to secure our equipment inside the helicopter. Each one of my group also boarded inside while Kaley was right next to me, acting as my co-pilot. We said our goodbyes to everybody atop the roof then we soon flew in the South direction to head to the love hotel we marked as a perfect spot. <center></center><hr>


    It would only take a few minutes to reach that ce but I hovered over the other ces we haven¡¯t scouted yesterday to check on their current situation by simply capturing a bit of footage. I was also hoping that once we reach Karuhatan, we might catch a glimpse of where might the other group was hiding. However, just by picking out a few good spots from the map, I could probably guess a few areas where they could be in.


    ¡°Bro, where do you think the other group is hiding?¡± Jared asked from the back.


    ¡°What do you think? You¡¯re the one that flew that drone, right?¡± I asked back.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m guessing either that general hospital or that other mall which was the same one our group from Meycauayan cleared.¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°Hmm, if they¡¯re a big group, that could be the case.¡± I said.


    ¡°But what do you think?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°I¡¯d probably say the same thing but if we¡¯re dealing with a smaller group, they should be holing in somece inconspicuous. Something like a bookshop that¡¯s always getting ignored or even a simple apartment. In your words, I¡¯m talking about a ¡®sleeper base¡¯ where it looks like a normal ce but once you get inside, it¡¯s loaded with everything they need.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Something underground then?¡± Matthew chimed.


    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s possible but this ce is kinda prone to flooding. Not as much as Mbon but it would be worrisome if all the items you took were rendered useless by water. It would be harder to evacuate that way as well.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, something elevated and inconspicuous¡­ but there¡¯s also an option of having multiple exits so quick evacuation is possible¡­¡± Kaley started to think.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think about it too much. Any building could fit that category but the safest bet is to establish a proper connection first. Once they decided to talk with us, we could figure out a few things from them and we could decide if we are better off allying ourselves with them. In which case, we already know what to do if they could do more harm than good.¡± I exined.


    The group became quiet as we soon passed that area once more. I picked up my radio for a courtesy call once more and likest time, no one responded. However, we didn¡¯t stay there as long because we have other problems to take care of. There were two more barangays before we reach Monumento but they were already seeing the difference of Karuhatan because of how few the zombies roaming there were. <center></center><hr>


    It only took a few minutes to pass by those areas and we finally reached Monumento. The ones that have never seen this ce yet had their eyes glued to the windows, taking every bit of information their eyes could process.


    ¡°This is¡­ a lot¡­¡± Cynthia muttered once we reached Monumento.


    The noise produced by our helicopter riled up a few of them so we needed to act quickly. The only thing on our side was that the deadheads below were so f.u.c.k.i.n.g close to each other, making their movements slow and staggered as possible. I already briefed my group on what to do once wended so they were already holding their weapons the moment we touched down.


    Tatiana, Mikhail, Ibarra, and Matthew immediately went for the ess door that could lead them to the floors below while Jared, Lois, Lawrence, Cynthia, and Max brought out their rifles to make a ¡®wall¡¯ of our own.


    ¡°You know the n, guys!¡± Jared eximed as he was the first one to jump outside.


    Suppressed gunfire started from the shooting group because they needed to gun down the deadheads that would be approaching the love hotel. Putting down as much as possible by the entrance would make their bodies pile on top of one another, making a wall to keep them away. For the trick to work, they need to shoot them down surgically so the position the bodies would fall down would allow a blockade to be made.


    On the clearing group¡¯s side, Kaley and I weren¡¯t hearing as much gunfire because as they went down, they were trying to be as quiet as possible. Small gunshots could be heard but it wasn¡¯t as frequent as the one of the shooting group.


    Kaley and I followed quickly after vacating the helicopter but we first took out every piece of equipment we had secured on the helicopter. She would be joining the shooting group shortly while I would dash down to join the clearing group.


    The shooting group brought out all the weapon crates but some of the ammo cans were left inside the helicopter. We carried it then ced it right behind them while opening each can for their use. The ammo cans didn¡¯t only contain different cartridges but they also contained spare magazines for our guns. Cynthia volunteered to be the one reloading each magazine because the group had already gone through a couple.


    ¡°Guys, make it some sort of cone a few meters away so they don¡¯t pile up and identally reach the second floor, okay?!¡± I eximed as I slung my rifle on my body and secured my pistols and my katana.


    ¡°Got it, bro, just get down already!¡± Jared eximed.


    ¡°47!¡± Lois eximed.


    ¡°F.u.c.k this shit, we¡¯re not starting that again!¡± Lawrence bellowed. <hr>


    ¡°59 MOTHERF.U.C.KERS!!!¡± Jared yelled.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k?! I¡¯m only at 27!¡± Max got fl.u.s.tered when he discovered the current record.


    Kaley and Cynthia just wore helpless expressions but Kaley started shooting below while I ran to the ess door the clearing group went into earlier.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What floor are you guys at?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Still on the 8th floor, Boss!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Coming behind you guys. Did you secure the stairs to the other floors?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, Matthew and Ibarra are guarding them!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I ran down as fast as I could and I saw Matthew watching Ibarra cut down the onesing from the stairs while Mikhail and Tatiana were kicking down rooms, leaving a trail of dead bodies on the hallway.


    ¡®We need to go faster.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    Much to their surprise, I jumped down the stairs, straight to where Ibarra was at and cut down each body slowlying up. I was already halfway down the stairs and I was a few steps closer to the 7th floor.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you doing?!¡± Matthew eximed.


    ¡°Ibarra and I will clear the ones in the hallway and the stairwell while we let Tatiana and Mikhail bust doors one by one!¡± I shouted back. <hr>


    ¡°How about me?!¡± Matthew was about to follow us, drawing his machete.


    ¡°Just float or something but keep your shotgun close! Make a bit of noise with your revolvers so most of them would head up! Don¡¯t worry, we could f.u.c.k.i.n.g handle it! We could, right?¡± I replied with my katana and pistol on hand then turned to Ibarra.


    ¡°Yes, Sir!¡± Ibarra gripped his machete and pulled out his fixed de knife.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get left behind!¡± I smiled wickedly as I secured my mask.


    I jumped down lopping off the head of a dead civilian then I raised my pistol to the left, shooting down three deadheads still wearing their uniforms. One of them had its cap flying because of a bullet boring a hole through its head. But as the bullet went through, it scratched another one wearing a tank top on its right shoulder, spraying darkened blood on the wall. However, it also fell at the same time, with a hole in its head, like the one behind it because I wouldn¡¯t miss at this distance.


    There was only a decorated wall on my right side so I went ahead and dashed to the left side and gripped my katana as I swung it upwards, making an entrance to a deadhead¡¯s chin, straight to its head. After that, I kicked one that was approaching my right side but a quick flick of the wrist, chopping down its head, made it stop altogether. I fired another shot toward a biter wearing nothing but underwear that came from a room and it tripped the other infected that was right behind it wearing a tuxedo when it fell down, allowing an easy shot.


    I quickly kicked the door open from where they came from and I saw another ¡®businessman¡¯ tied on the bed, ridden with bite marks and staining the white sheets with its juices. One clean shot to the head finished it then I started gunning down the onesing from the other rooms that were open.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit, there¡¯s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g loting from the stairs!¡± Matthew shouted as he unloaded round after round.


    It seemed that most of them were on the lower floors and they were justing up when they heard the helicopter. Even Ibarra used his Glock 17 to help Matthew clear the onesing up the stairs and he even emptied his magazine.


    ¡°SHOOT THEIR FEET!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°WHAT?! IS THIS A NEW TYPE?!¡± Matthew shouted back.


    ¡°JUST SHOOT THE ONES IN FRONT ON THEIR LEGS AND FEET! IF IT¡¯S WALKING ON ITS ARMS SHOOT THEM TOO! UNLOAD ALL THOSE F.U.C.K.I.N.G BUCKSHOTS!!!¡± I bellowed.

 Chapter 463

    Chapter 463: 463


    I started to clear thest stretch of the hallway but there were a couple more rooms left open in front of one another. I immediately hugged the walls to peek on both sides then I saw Ibarra firing his M16 seven times before Matthew managed to fully reload his Remington 870. As soon as Matthew started firing, Ibarra put down his rifle and reloaded his Glock 17. <center></center><hr>


    ¡®These two are working well¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    The first thing I did was to throw a vase inside one of the rooms before I sprang up and pointed my pistol to the other room. There was none in the immediate vicinity but I heard a growl from the other room from a deadhead that got attracted by the noise of the vase cracking to pieces.


    ¡°NyaArghhCHckk¡±


    ¡°Aaarhgghckk¡±


    I first nced behind me but the moment I saw nothinging out yet, I moved inside the room I was pointing my gun to and swept the surroundings as fast as I could. There were no deadheads in the room but several pieces of clothing were left on the bloody floor. It was then that I heard a noiseing from the bathroom that had a translucent ss door.


    I circled around the bed to check it more closely and I saw it was about to shatter due to the deadheads trying to m the ss doors open. I simply raised my pistol and shot through the ss a couple of times, boring holes through the heads of the couple inside. Their iling hands stopped moving with their bodies but one fell forward and got stuck to the jagged shards of the door when it shattered.


    ¡®There¡¯s two more left¡­¡¯ I thought to myself as I nced back to the opposite room.


    I saw two young deadheads wearing part of their school uniform huddled around the wall where the vase crashed. I shot one of them in the head while I swung down and removed part of the other¡¯s head with my katana. I walked outside the room after clearing it and I kept hearing shots from above. I peaked at an angle through the window and they weren¡¯t making much progress due to the ones trying to get inside the love hotel.


    I still had six bullets left in my Maxim 9 so I aimed outside to shoot at ss windows and cars a few meters away so the noiseing from different sources would at least CC them to not just follow one direction. After that, I quickly pressed the mag release to switch my empty magazine with a fresh one. I nced at the stairwell where Matthew and Ibarra were and they seemed to have slowed down from firing shot after shot.


    I ran back to their area but I saw Tatiana and Mikhail running down the stairs holding their melee weapons.


    ¡°What¡¯s gotten into you?¡± Tatiana asked immediately, seeing the mess I made on the floor. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I got a bit of energy, that¡¯s all. The closed rooms haven¡¯t been cleared yet so get to it!¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°HEY, WE AREN¡¯T DONE HERE! THERE¡¯S A LOT OF BODIES NOW BLOCKING THE STAIRS!¡± Matthew bellowed.


    ¡°Mikhail! Pry this open with your axe!¡± I shouted as I pointed to the elevator.


    ¡°Yes, Boss!¡± Mikhail followed me with an excited face.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU DOING?!¡± Matthew eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯m making a shortcut so keep attracting them to that stairwell! Tatiana, you¡¯ll being with me!¡± I shouted back then I turned to Tatiana wiping her bastard sword with a spare cloth.


    I did the same as her but we saw Mikhail inserting his king¡¯s weapon between the metal doors of the elevator and prying them forcefully and revealing a shortcut for every floor. When I looked down, I discovered that the elevator was on the 4th floor but Tatiana jumped ahead of me, clutching the cables first before reaching a steady footing. She easily reached the door for the lower floor and used her K-Bar knife as leverage to pry it slightly open.


    ¡°Is it clear?¡± I asked, crouching down.


    ¡°Just jump down, it¡¯s fine.¡± Tatiana replied, prying the doorpletely open.


    As soon as Tatiana disappeared from view, I heard her Benelli M4 going off four times before I heard flesh getting sliced by a sharp weapon. The moment I jumped down and reached her, she already put down seven bodies with a wicked smile.


    We were now at the center of the hallway of the 6th floor and both of us were surrounded by the dead, left and right. However, most of them wereing from the stairwell but a few were heading towards us due to themotion that Tatiana made.


    ¡°You call this fine?! FiNe?!¡± I eximed as I shot down four deadheadsing for us with crooked and jagged arms. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah,pared to the thousand you cut down with Kaley¡¯s wakizashi. I would always cream when I remember that~¡± Tatiana giggled as we head to the end of the hallway to lure a few away from the stairwell.


    ¡°Can we do that shitter?!¡± I eximed as I raised my rifle.


    ¡°Later? That¡¯s a promise~¡± Tatiana chuckled as she elbowed the window behind us.


    I flicked the safety off and aimed at the ones heading for us. After a short burst, 22 bodies fell one after the other, and then Tatiana and I started chucking the bodies that were littered on the hallway, off the window. We could¡¯ve just ced them in one of the rooms but creating more distractions for the dead swarming over the entrance was the priority. More deadheads wereing from the stairwell so Tatiana took care of them while I was left with throwing them off the building.


    It took a few minutes but it was then that we saw a head rolling from the stairs, probably due to Mikhail.


    ¡°COMING DOWN!¡± Mikhail roared.


    ¡°GO AHEAD!¡± I shouted back.


    ¡°Did you clear the closed rooms?!¡± Tatiana asked after shooting down four on the stairwell with her FN Five-Seven.


    ¡°Nah, Matthew and Ibarra are on it. They just told me to follow you guys from behind!¡± Mikhail hurriedly replied as he swung down on one about to reach our floor.


    ¡°Then you two hold off the onesing from the stairs! I¡¯ll jump down on the elevator shaft again!¡± I replied as I ran back from where Tatiana and I came from.


    ¡°Don¡¯t go too slow or we¡¯ll be ahead of you!¡± Tatiana chuckled. <hr>


    Before I jumped down, I managed to catch a glimpse of the door below and darkened fluid and viscous muck were oozing out of it just recently. The moment I caught a whiff of it, I almost threw up because the smell was so horrible in that enclosed area. I assumed that the deadheads were getting squeezed or packed tightly on the 5th floor so I ran back to the stairwell where Tatiana and Mikhail were.


    I had no choice but to go to the proper channel so I pulled out my rifle and started gunning the ones approaching so we would be a few seconds faster.


    Each bullet that came in contact with their head or their face would bore a horrible hole that would immediately pass through and exit to the back of their heads. As soon as that happens, blood and brain matter which were discolored would spray out, staining anything that it woulde to contact with. However, that was onlying from my BCM AR-15, not Tatiana¡¯s Benelli M4. Once Tatiana used her shotgun up close and personal, the deadheads would be having more than just a f.u.c.k.i.n.g headache.


    After killing more than 5 dozen just from that stairwell, it still seemed that the dead were neverending.


    Matthew and Ibarra caught up to us but I asked them to chuck the bodies they found off the building so we wouldn¡¯t do itter. Besides, the five of us wouldn¡¯t fit in that stairwell especially if we were brandishing our weapons and shooting nonstop.


    ¡°They kept oning!¡± Tatiana eximed, falling back to reload her shotgun.


    ¡°Just keep on gunning them down! They¡¯ll run out eventually!¡± I replied.


    ¡°Is the elevator shaft blocked all the way through?!¡± Tatiana asked, shooting twice almost at the same time.


    ¡°The 5th floor is blocked but I haven¡¯t checked the 4th one yet!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°I¡¯ll check it then!¡± Tatiana started to run for a surgical dive but I grabbed her arms.


    ¡°Don¡¯t even try it! The fluids are flowing straight down!¡± I stopped her.


    ¡°Do we even know the situation from above?! Have they blocked it yet?!¡± Mikhail started using his AK-47 since his PKM was still on the roof. <hr>


    ¡°Let me check!¡± Tatiana ran to the end of the hallway from where we threw the bodies.


    However, as soon as Tatiana passed by the elevator shaft, I saw a glimpse of a discolored hand that almost looked like ws were clutching the edge of the shaft.


    ¡°TATIANA!!!¡± I shouted at the top of my lungs.


    As fast as I could, I pulled out a grenade from my pouch and threw it on the stairwell while pushing Mikhail to the side. Tatiana was just about to turn around when the figure hurled itself inside the hallway, crouched on all-fours and twitching involuntarily. Its back was crooked and its spinal cord was almost jutting out from its back.


    We were in a much unfavorable situation with a feral and we had no choice but to face it up close and personal.


    It was at this moment when the grenade just exploded and caught its attention. The feral turned its head filled missing its scalp and it unhinged its jaw as it screamed a high-pitched cry.


    Tatiana and I made eye contact before she jumped and rolled into one of the rooms while Mikhail and I raised our rifles. I heard two clicks from his AK-47 and he unloaded the whole 60-round mag he was using. I was about to follow Mikhail but then the feral started running around the walls like it wasn¡¯t affected by gravity and avoided the spray of bullets that wereing for its head.


    The feral¡¯s body got peppered by bullets but it was still heading for us. I began to step back to reposition and check the stairwell but Mikhail stood his ground and held his axe with both hands.


    ¡°MIKHAIL!!!¡± I shouted as I threw another grenade on the stairwell.


    It exploded shortly but I raised my rifle once more to aim at the feral heading for us. I managed to fire seven shots towards the feral but its erratic movements just made me graze its head and the side of its face. It was screeching nonstop as it was getting torn bit by bit but it was just right in front of Mikhail. The feral just dove in headfirst but Mikhail had a surprise of his own.


    ¡°EAT THIS!!! CYKA BLYAT!!!¡± Mikhail roared as he swung his king¡¯s weapon, hammer first, and it smashed straight to the wall,nding square on the feral¡¯s head. Debris also scattered in the air but the feral¡¯s head was f.u.c.k.i.n.g unrecognizable when it blew back. It was violently smashed on the floor with one f.u.c.k.i.n.g strike and its head was almost lopped off just with the sheer force Mikhail put into his strike.


    ¡°That still only counts as one!¡± I eximed then I heard Tatiana snort from the room.

 Chapter 464

    Chapter 464: 464


    It didn¡¯t take long before our radios buzzed. <center></center><hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Are you guys doing okay?! Those were grenades, right?!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, all taken care of! Keep on shooting and make the bordersrger!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Okay! What floor are you guys on?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯re on the 6th floor but your dad and Ibarra are still on the 7th checking the rooms. I¡¯ll call you once we¡¯re done! Keep shooting!¡±


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Okay, gotcha!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Watch out for the ferals! One was chilling in one of the floors earlier, make them the priority if one appears!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, we already put down a couple after the explosion but Jared¡¯s been watching out for more. Stay safe!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    It took us only a few minutes ofpletely clearing floors 8th to 6th but I just kept guard on the stairwell that would lead to the 5th floor. It was because of the noise I made, the dead outside and below got riled up even more and they were heading for us. The only way for them to stop was to build our own wall outside by using their bodies while clearing every single one of them in this love hotel.


    Matthew and Ibarra eventually joined us and they approached the stairwell while Tatiana and I went for the elevator shaft once more. We discovered that the feral came busting through the elevator roof, partly destroying it while bits of its own body got scr.a.p.ed off of it. However, we could see a few deadheads through the hole it made, making the elevator shake due to the weight .u.mting inside of it.


    We paid careful attention to it but we finally pried open the oozing door then taking proper measures to what mighte from the other side. <hr>


    ¡°AaarchcGHGGckaarreeaa~¡±


    As soon as the door was fully opened two deadheads stuck to each other by their open chest cavity fell down on the elevator car below along with a few deadheads that were ejected by being so cramped inside that hallway. I pulled out my Taurus TX-22 and I shot each one while Tatiana was waiting for the right opportunity to jump in. The two of us were hearing the three on the stairwell making some headway but we couldn¡¯t stay in that position for an extended period of time.


    ¡°Create a small one.¡± I said to Tatiana.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go first.¡± Tatiana replied as she pulled out her FN Five-Seven.


    Tatiana made multiple shots at an angle towards the deadheads on the opposite side of where she was at and the bodies started falling one after the other, creating a small wall of the dead. There were a few that would fall through the shaft but it was my job to take care of them if they were still alive and kicking. However, I checked the cables of the elevator and as more bodies were falling down, the sheer weight of those deadheads would make the elevatore crashing down.


    ¡°Hurry, it could only take a few more and this old design of this elevator might make it fall sooner!¡± I reminded Tatiana because she was taking careful shots.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay now! COMING IN!!!¡± Tatiana eximed as she was the first one to jump inside.


    ¡°GO AHEAD!!!¡± Matthew shouted as they stopped firing.


    I quickly followed Tatiana and I saw her mow down three bodies on the opposite side of the wall she made. The wall wasn¡¯t perfect but it served its purpose by making us have a surgical entry between the dead. I unloaded everything from my .22 pistol on the deadheads on the side of the ruined stairwell but as soon as 8 bodies dropped, I joined Tatiana with clearing the rest of the bodies at the end of the hallway.


    Tatiana drew used her bastard sword to decapitate the closest one wearing nothing but an apron then she stabbed one right behind it wearing this love hotel¡¯s uniform. It made arge hole in its eye and its face was now perfect for a f.u.c.k.i.n.g eyepatch. There were a dozen more in front of her but I shot half of them down after cing in a fresh magazine to my .22 pistol.


    ¡°I GOT THIS!¡± Tatiana eximed.


    ¡°I¡¯LL CHECK THE ROOMS THEN!¡± I shouted back.


    I just caught a glimpse of Mikhailing down with Ibarra when I kicked down the first door in front of me. The smell of decay immediately assaulted my nose so I jumped inside with my katana drawn. On the bed was another businessman only wearing its tie but it was tied to the bedposts, missing the rest of its chest cavity.


    Right beside it was several entertainers wearing part of its suit but their skin was about to fall off. The entertainers made a feast of the businessman which was tied up but judging from their arms and their fingers, they soon started to eat themselves due to having nothing else to sink their teeth onto.


    The entertainers immediately went for me as the businessman snarled and tried to get up but I held my katana with both hands and dealt strikes with more power, slicing their bodies in half. I stabbed their heads after a quick brandish and I finished the businessman by sinking my de a few inches through its ear.


    ¡°HERE¡¯S~ JOHNNY~¡± I suddenly heard Mikhail¡¯s voice then I heard a door being ripped to shreds. <hr>


    ¡®This f.u.c.ker finally watched it!¡¯ I celebrated inwardly.


    I wanted to p so bad because he was also grinning when he saw me but I prioritized kicking the door on the opposite side of the room first. It was vacant and still had fresh sheets and towels so I moved into the next one. Ibarra and Matthew continued to fire at the onesing from the stairwell but it seemed that the deadheadsing for us started to slow down.


    I picked up my radio to call Kaley.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You guys made a wall already?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [It isn¡¯t perfect but it¡¯s high enough! We just need to polish it on the corners!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Great job! We¡¯ll clear the floors soon!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    Tatiana had already gone through the other rooms and most of them were just locked on this floor. This time, we methodically cleared the floors right until the first one because the first floor was packed with the dead, even the stairwell leading to it. Since clearing them on the same floor would be stupid, we decided to lure them towards the 2nd and 3rd floors so we could clear them by batches and we could slightly pile them over the edges Kaley was talking about.


    It took five repetitions to clear the first floor and thest batch of the dead were ced with the deadheads outside to act as doorstops. After that, we made the shooting group stop shooting for a while so the ones that got attracted by the noise would head elsewhere for the moment so we could catch a small breather. However, what they did was the same thing I did earlier, they shot anything outside a few meters so the deadheads would get attracted to that area instead.


    ¡°Mikhail, carry me.¡± I said to Mikhail, much to his confusion.


    ¡°Wut?¡± Mikhail looked at me for more confirmation.


    ¡°Just freaking carry me, I want to see if there are any spots this wall is weak at.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay, Boss¡­¡± Mikhail still thought I was joking but I soon climbed onto his shoulders.


    ¡°You two look f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid, hah!¡± Matthew startedughing while Tatiana and Ibarra were shaking their heads in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Heh, as long as it works, it isn¡¯t stupid~¡± I chuckled as I surveyed the area.


    I saw the wall the shooting group made and it looked like a half-circle speedbump about 8 feet in height, situated around the entrance of the love hotel. We piled a few stray bodies to add to the height of it but we still barricaded the entrance door with the furniture located around the area along with the windows a feral could easily climb onto. We did the same process until the 4th floor just to be sure and that was when we all gathered on the roof.


    ¡°Phew~ Okay, let¡¯s take a short rest then we leave some people here while we check each room and the storage area for supplies. I already found a vending machine below but we need to check their storage areas.¡± I said to the group.


    ¡°I¡¯ll continue barricading the windows just to be sure but after we¡¯re done scouring the ce, we need to lockdown each floor, the elevator shaft, and maybe take the 8th floor for us.¡± Matthew stated.


    ¡°That¡¯s okay, we¡¯d be flying here a few times to block a path towards that universi- DDR Camp so there should be a ce where we could not just safely shoot the ones from a distance, but a ce that we could also have a short rest.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Umm, Sir, what do you mean by ¡®block a path¡¯?¡± Max asked.


    ¡°We¡¯d make another wall that wouldpletely block the deadheads from passing through this street. Once we do that, we could drive around to that DDR Camp and we could clear it with fewer zombies to take down. Well, we¡¯d be clearing most of them in theing days but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to be extra sure. Don¡¯t forget, the ones below easily number a few thousand.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t we turn that DDR Camp into another outpost?¡± Ibarra asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know yet. We¡¯ll see once we get a closer look and once we made contact with the other group that¡¯s a little shy. The DDR Camp back home is just a high school and a hospital meshed together, this one¡¯s a university. We¡¯d need more people to be in this ce but I don¡¯t want to lessen the soldiers guarding our main base. It¡¯s quite far too but we¡¯ll see. That DDR Camp getting overrun must have its own reason why it happened in the first ce. Let¡¯s just hope that it wasn¡¯t caused by a weak spot in the building itself.¡± I replied.

 Chapter 465

    Chapter 465: 465


    While we were taking a short rest, Jared and Lois decided to fly our drones around the DDR Camp while I took out the water canisters we have prepared. Matthew and Ibarra were recing all our spent ammo while Tatiana offered to wipe my katana down after her bastard sword. The rest were either taking a seat by the wall or inspecting the perfect ce we should build an extension of the wall we made. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We should make the wall as thick as possible. Why don¡¯t we just cover the whole road, maybe uhh~ a wall spanning 10 feet or more? We already made one by the entrance of the love hotel, we could just extend it to the other side, right?¡± Lawrence suggested.


    ¡°Hmm, I was thinking of making something a little moreplicated than that though.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Lawrence replied.


    ¡°Well, those bodies below are not particrly solid, right? Give it a few thousand deadheads pushing against it and it would topple over sooner orter.¡± I exined.


    ¡°So, what are we doing then?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°I actually had another idea in my head. At first, I just wanted us to create different sectors by using their dead bodies as walls so we could clear them systematically. However¡­¡± I trailed as I nced back at the bodies below.


    ¡°However what?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°It¡¯s not guaranteed that they would stay in that shape in theing days. They¡¯re well-stacked now but once the ones that are still moving bumps or push into them, it would be a problem for us. That¡¯s why I want the shape we would be making a littleplicated than simply a thick strip of dead bodies. Ideally, I want us to make zigzagging funnels.¡± I replied.


    The group scrunched their eyebrows but I continued.


    ¡°Doing that would partly contain them while only allowing a trickle to pass through like what is happening right before we reached this area when we drove. They would still get pushed to be honest but not to the extent a simple wall does. It¡¯s either that or we focus on clearing that mass below for a few days and skip carving a path to Iskoh for the moment.¡± I exined. <center></center><hr>


    As soon as I said that, the group began contemting what we should do. Being able to set and route to Iskoh was important but not clearing this area was just a massive horde waiting to happen. However, at the same exact time, Jared and Lois finished recording footage around the DDR Camp right next to us.


    ¡°There doesn¡¯t seem to be any sort of weakness bro. They just got overwhelmed and the ce just got overrun. It¡¯s just too big to be handled by the soldiers here even if they¡¯re a tadrger than ours.¡± Jaredmented.


    ¡°Let me see first just in case you two missed anything.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Here, I flew to each building while he flew around the walls. I wanted to fly closer but that could be enough for now.¡± Lois added as they handed me the tablets.


    ¡°I also checked the backroads surrounding it but they¡¯re also filled by the dead and rundown vehicles. It¡¯s gonna be difficult to reach this ce with the same people we brought in clearing Mbon bro.¡± Jared added as he secured the drones.


    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s not always going to be easy though¡­¡± I replied then I yed the footage at normal speed.


    This university that was turned into a DDR Camp could be said to have three main areas which I would just call the front, main, and the back area. Since this university was mostly centered on medical students, they had a hospital of their own right by the front area along with the parking area where most of the military and civilian vehicles were parked. Also, their admin building was also located in this area and the university library was right behind it.


    The main area, on the other hand, was where most of the ssrooms were located and it wasposed of seven huge buildings that also catered for its high school students. All of the buildings were quite close to each other but on the East side was a garden where different nts and even medical herbs were nted. Right behind that garden was where two more buildings which were the dormitories for male and female students segregated by the university¡¯s policy.


    Lastly, the back area was where the gymnasium, the swimming pool, tennis court, the maintenance area, and arge cafeteria was located. The other facilities were quite easy to exin but the gymnasium and the cafeteria had a few quirks. The gymnasium acted as aplex for their events and such but it also had different sectors for other P.E. subjects. On the other hand, the cafeteria had more than one ce where they could order food like different fast food stalls built right by the edges of it.


    The only difference it hadpared to the past was that now, the walls around had an attempt to be reinforced, and almost every nook and cranny was littered by the dead. Not only deadheads wearing fatigues and school uniforms were roaming around aimlessly but a huge number of them were civilians who took refuge in this ce for safety but backfired horribly. The driveway that would lead to that DDR Camp was still filled with the dead and it would take a few streets to get to the part where it had thinned considerably.


    ¡®This wouldn¡¯t be done in a single day¡­ I want to finish this first but building and route is important too¡­¡¯ I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯ve rested enough, big guy,e with me and Ibarra so we could start from the bottom floors once more. Kid, just give us a call when you¡¯re done with that. I¡¯ll look for some cleaning products so we could at least remove the smell from the 8th floor or from every floor. I need some bleach¡­ a lot~ of f.u.c.k.i.n.g bleach. The smell is giving me f.u.c.k.i.n.g headaches.¡± Matthew said to me.


    ¡°If you¡¯re gonna look somece to clean ¡®stains¡¯ with the ¡®smell¡¯, this is the ce!¡± Jared chuckled.


    ¡°Frequenting here a lot, eh?¡± Matthew shook his head, feigning disappointment.


    I just nodded at Matthew while he was shaking his head but I looked at the sky, the road, and the DDR Camp. I was in deep contemtion then Kaley tapped me.


    ¡°What are you thinking about? Do we start firing at the ones below?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m just thinking of whether we should continue what we discussed in the meeting with alternating of clearing this area and Mbon.¡± I replied.


    ¡°You want to know what I think?¡± Kaley looked at me solemnly.


    ¡°Hmm? Something on your mind?¡± I replied, curious.


    ¡°I think you shouldn¡¯t put as much responsibility on yourself, or on our main group for both jobs. The other groups could take care of themselves especially if they¡¯re gonna be extra careful like us. They learned from the best and I bet they¡¯ll do a good job picking up what we left from Mbon. I could tell that you want to finish this first so we could get ahold of the equipment or any information left inside that DDR Camp, right?¡± Kaley suggested.


    ¡°You¡¯re right about that but-¡± I was about to continue but Kaley cut me off. <hr>


    ¡°Isn¡¯t our primary job to take care of the dead? Also, looking at the map you showed us, clearing this ce could also lead us to the road to where we left off in Mbon or another road to Man but much deeper towards the other cities and away from Man Bay. Isn¡¯t it better to have more routes clear for us like what we¡¯re doing with clearing the walls made by the onestched on the train station?¡± Kaley continued.


    ¡°¡­¡± I just nodded a few times as I continued to look around the area from the roof.


    ¡°Besides, Iskoh¡¯s group is also doing the same thing too so I think we should focus on one thing first or even delegate like we always do on other jobs. Hmm? Why do you keep looking around? Did you see something?¡± Kaley added but she noticed me walking around the roof.


    ¡°You¡¯re right¡­ I¡¯m just trying to cook up a n for how we could clear this area and I might need our cargo helicopter for that¡­ I think-¡± I replied then Lois cut me off.


    ¡°Hey bro, are we gonna start shooting now or what?¡± Lois asked, slightly impatient after our short rest.


    The rest of the shooting group were also looking at me, waiting for me to give the signal.


    ¡°Not yet since we¡¯re still making the deadheads that got attracted to this ce due to the noise die down for a bit more. Here¡¯s what we¡¯ll do first¡­¡± I said as I give a few instructions.


    I made Jared and Lawrence stay on the roof while the rest of us would check everything that this ce could offer. The food items we found were brought up to the roof to be sorted while the clean sheets, pillows, towels, toiletries, and luggage found on the lower floors were collected and ced on the 8th floor after cleaning this floor thoroughly. However, my OCD kicked in and I actually made everyone clean the stains and the smells off from each floor.


    Aside from the usual a.d.u.l.t stuff we would find in these kinds of ces, we actually uncovered two Colt 1911s and two Mossberg Maverick 88s located in the security room with extra ammo. We also found a couple of short-range radios, handcuffs, nightsticks, a few uniforms, and the CCTV tapes located in the same ce.


    When Matthew and Mikhail discovered the maintenance room, they found a few tools that could let them disassemble some of the furniture to have tter nks so we could barricade the doors and the windows better. They redid the same process from each floor and they heavily barricaded everything up until the 3rd floor where a feral might gain entry. We also took the fire extinguishers located on each floor along with the fire axes right beside them.


    ¡°Umm- we checked the water tanks and there¡¯s more avable and it¡¯s still clean. Also, there¡¯s also a generator below and it still has some fuel left.¡± Cynthia said as she approached me. <hr>


    ¡°Really? Just leave it alone for now. I wish the feral didn¡¯te from the elevator so we could at least use it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, we skipped cleaning that ce, right?¡± Kaley added, chuckling.


    ¡°Yes, unfortunately. Hey, guys from the clearing group could start to clean ourselves or change clothes because we have more water avable. Let¡¯s do a proper wipedown on our weapons especially the ones for close quarters.¡± I announced.


    ¡°What time is it? The sun is up above I might wash my face or something. Shit, it¡¯s actually a few minutes before noon eh? Where¡¯s my bag¡­¡± Matthew went to the helicopter and excused himself as he was about to walk down the stairs.


    ¡°Tell mom I said hi. You¡¯re gonna call her, right?¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± Matthew grumbled.


    ¡°Bro¡­¡± Lois trailed.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can we start shooting them now? It¡¯s been a few hours already¡­ and I¡¯m starting to think I came here to clean¡­¡± Loismented, trying to stay sane.


    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s almost noon. Let¡¯s make some food first!¡± I startedughing as Lois almost pulled his hair out.

 Chapter 466

    Chapter 466: 466


    The only preparation we had to do with our meals was just to take them out in their containers because we already have pre-made lunches made by Aunt Sharon. She made crispy pork tonkatsu this time but she added cheese inside that would melt once sliced with a spoon. Aside from that, we had a side of vegetables cut into small pieces and as always, it was eaten over rice. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Let¡¯s go first!¡± Tatiana brought our share and she went down to one of the rooms below.


    We had to eat in batches because we needed to enter one of the rooms to avoid the horrible smelling from the dead below. It was one thing to have a delicious meal but in some cases, we still need our noses to be able to enjoy them. The funny thing that we could always take away from our packed lunches was that Tatiana¡¯s container was always almost double ours.


    We had to eat faster than normal because the rest were waiting for us but 15 minutes was enough time.


    ¡°Hah~ I wish we always have homecooked meals in the army~¡± Tatianamented, removing her te carrier for a moment.


    ¡°Hah! Homecooked meals or not you¡¯re always wharfing them down!¡± Mikhail startedughing.


    ¡°Oscar used to tell me stories that even their cook when he was deployed sucked ass. When I was in Bootcamp for 6 months, I was always the designated cook and I always- ALWAYS had to improvise. I essentially lorded over them with the food I¡¯m cooking.¡± I added a few stories of my own.


    ¡°Never heard of that yet! One time, dad wanted me to catch my own food, but I wasn¡¯t particrly good at that time, so I had to eat fruits and nuts I could scrounge up. I was so happy the first time Inded a shot on a small squirrel. I cleaned it up good, salted it, and roasted it over the fire¡­¡± Kaley started reminiscing.


    ¡°Hah! You? Cleaning it?! I had to clean it for you ¡¯cause you were crying at that time!¡± Matthew eximed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I don¡¯t know! I was so~ hungry! You were smoking that boar right at camp too!¡± Kaley started getting into Matthew¡¯s face.


    ¡°Heh, that¡¯s the only way you¡¯d learn. Look at where it got you, I bet you could shoot farther than your old record. Even Marisha and Olivia wanted to have some pointers now that being able to handle a gun is mandatory these times.¡± Matthew had the face saying ¡®I told you so.¡¯ while looking at Kaley.


    ¡°I wish I could hunt for once¡­¡± Cynthiamented.


    ¡°Hmm, if those animals managed to find a proper hiding spot or oust this thing, it wouldn¡¯t be as long.¡± Matthew replied.


    ¡°Weird we haven¡¯t encountered zombie animals yet, right?¡± Cynthia added.


    ¡°Hmm, kinda impossible unless it mutates to something that could make them rise up. From the ones we¡¯ve seen, they always die from a bite and never rise up. They could never be carriers unless a f.u.c.ktard decides to eat one without checking if it had a bite or not. Well, time will tell unless it¡¯s programmed not to affect them. In which case, if that statement is true, the one who made this just wanted to get rid of us all.¡± I guessed.


    The group I was eating with nodded a few times then we finally cleaned up and then switched with the others on the roof.


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep watch with Ibarra below while you guys start shooting. We should start putting down bodies now because we took until noon before clearing this ce.¡± Matthew said to us right after the others went down.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you guys already put a lot of barricades?¡± Lois asked. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, but that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯ll hold forever.¡± Matthew replied.


    The two eventually excused themselves then we started shooting our guns while the others were still eating. However, while most of my team were starting to make zigzagging funnels, Kaley and I camped at a different area to block off the entrance of the DDR Camp right next to us. It didn¡¯t have to be perfect but the blockade we would be making should be enough to keep everything outside froming in.


    We were just setting up the stage once Honassan and Avalose so all they have to do was some precision flying.


    Building a proper wall of bodies needed a few things: precise shooting, patience, creativity, and a little bit of spatial judgment. The initial step was to form the shape you wanted but how the bodies would drop would depend on a few things like the type of bullets used or even where was the deadhead mostly leaning on. The following step would be to slowly build it up as desired but there were more things to look out for.


    Once we fired the first shot, the deadheads still moving would get attracted to the source so they would be moving towards us. We needed to take into ount their movements and made sure to retain the shape we intended to make earlier or else it would be just a mound of dead people with holes in their heads. Aside from that, to make it higher we needed to make a small ramp of the dead and wait for others to slowly step on the others lying dead.


    It would be borderline psychotic to calcte everything that would happen so we just took a bit of time to make a blockade that looked like a pyramid cut in half diagonally from above. It wasn¡¯t as steep as we wanted but the height we made it to would make a normal deadhead struggle to get over it unless a ferales by. While we were keeping busy, the other half of our group also came by after eating and started helping the rest.


    Suppressed gunshots, clinking of brass, and the casual conversation continued to be heard in between breaks while reloading magazines.


    ¡®I just need more pilots so we could take over that ce by dropping in at a few select ces¡­¡¯ I thought to myself. <hr>


    ¡°Should we start clearing the ones we could see inside?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm? No, I have other ns for that DDR Camp. Let¡¯s just help with making more funnels.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What? Did you cook up a n already?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, it involves saving up a few thousand bullets in the process too. Well, we¡¯ll still use bullets but not as muchpared to when we cleared Mbon.¡± I replied.


    We continued to make more funnels but Jared and Lois soon asked me if they could fly our drones once more to thetched specials with hanging tongues at the bottom of the train station. After a quick reminder that those tongues would attack when provoked, they captured more footage that was valuable for knowing more from them.


    A few minutes continued to pass when the two suddenly got agitated from hovering the drones around the train station.


    ¡°BRO, BRO, BRO, LOOK! F.U.C.K.I.N.G LOOK!¡± Lois eximed.


    The two caught our attention and everyone stopped what they were doing as they huddled close to me, looking at the tablet Lois handed me.


    ¡°That¡¯s a feral, right?!¡± Max eximed. <hr>


    ¡°Ferals, with an ¡®s¡¯. That¡¯s around five that got caught.¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°They¡­ they¡¯re fighting¡­¡± Cynthiamented.


    Looking through the skin, a small pack of ferals came running under the train station and one of them suddenly got grabbed by several tongues hanging about. As soon as that happened, the other four started pulling, wing, or even biting off the tongues in question but several more tongues rolled from above.


    The beings congealed together below the train station was actually winning over the ferals that the group unanimously deemed the most dangerous as of now. However, two ferals managed to escape but one of them seemed to be badly injured. It was starting to wobble as it vomited out the tongue it bit off but its partner didn¡¯t care and ran back the way it came from.


    It took a few moments before the injured feral started leaking out different substances from all of its orifices.


    ¡®The f.u.c.k is going on now?!¡¯ I shouted in my head.


    We couldn¡¯t see everything clearly from the drone that was hovering from a safe distance but the ferals that were caught earlier were eventually thrown down the same way the deadheads we saw in the footage we caught from before. They were just smashed violently and was lying on the pavement for a while then the injured feral followed suit.


    It dropped on the floor but it started to twitch a few times like a bug sprayed with insecticide. I thought it would do more but it slowly stopped moving and it wasn¡¯t picked up by the tongues for a second time.


    The only difference was that the ferals that were caught eventually stood upright and started pacing in different directions as slow as they could. They seemed to have lost everything that made them dangerous and they were just following the orders of the ones that turned them hollow. It was an odd sight though because the way their bodies changed from turning into a feral made even walking normally so much awkward for them.


    ¡®The more we discover what they could do, the more we know less of them¡­ As far as I know, they¡¯re being given one final instruction before they drop down dead¡­ We still need to check the bodies we marked before though because they did nothing yesterday¡­¡¯ I thought to myself, looking at the live feed.

 Chapter 467

    Chapter 467: 467


    Everyone on the roof continued to watch the live feed but the same thing would just happen over and over when a deadhead approached that area. The only different thing that they would do was that sometimes, they wouldn¡¯t let them go and somehow ¡®absorb¡¯ them into their fold. Jared and Lois tried to follow where the hollow ferals were located but they were still walking straight in a set direction. However, the feral that started leaking out different fluids from all of its orifices was something new. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°So, does that mean that those tongues are somehow toxic or something?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s because that one managed to bite off a tongue, right? After that, it just started acting weird and died¡­¡± Kaley replied, then turning her head towards me.


    ¡°It¡¯s a possibility but we still couldn¡¯t exin how could they somehow suck out the brain of its victims and making it go in a certain direction.¡± I replied.


    ¡°The only way is to catch one and bring it to the president¡¯s scientists, correct?¡± Tatiana chimed.


    ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s more question to that though¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°What do you mean bro?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°Is that thing whole or are they congealed together? Well, f.u.c.k it. We¡¯ll just know once we get to them. If not, the important thing is we could get a sample of that thing thered on their tongues. It looks like the same fluid that came out of the heads we cracked open before.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What are we gonna do now?¡± Lawrence asked.


    ¡°You just continue to watch out for more ferals while the rest of us continue what we¡¯re doing. We have a few more hours before we fly back.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can¡¯t we just sleep here?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°Not gonna happen. It¡¯s a rtively safe spot but I¡¯d rathery my head on a ce not crawling with those f.u.c.kers. What if they all turned to sprinters or even worse, ferals, in the middle of the night? I¡¯d rather waste fuel.¡± I replied, shaking my head. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I doubt you could even sleep with the zombies growling and snarling as white noise, can you?¡± Jared added.


    After a short talk, we continued with my n. The funnels they made weren¡¯t identical to each other but it still did its purpose. Kaley and I started to snipe the ones at the DDR Camp while Tatiana would sometimes check on Matthew and Ibarra while walking around the roof, checking the other angles for blindspots.


    ncing around, this area was literally a treasure trove of resources once wepletely clear it along with the DDR Camp. The area we were in would yield a lot of resources because of the hospital, the malls, the pharmacies, small shops, and even the convenience stores scattered about. The only way we could take them for ourselves was to set a proper ce to set up camp while methodically clearing the bodies littering the streets. It would take a while but the rewards we could acquire would be bountiful.


    As we continued to shoot the deadheads below, we passively discovered something that could rte to their hearing. We already knew that they could still hear sounds and noises but due to the decay of their bodies that they were suffering from, their hearingpared to us was not as good as a normal person. We noticed it because their bodies were right next to each other and they acted like ripples in water when they turned their heads due to the noise. However, it was still dependent on how much time the body was in the state of decay.


    ¡®I wish they¡¯d all turn deaf in the future or better yet, just croak and die naturally¡­ it would¡¯ve happened to the ones infected in the early stages but it seemed that the decaying process was a lot slower than imagined¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Where do you think they¡¯re keeping most of their equipment? I mean, their guns and ammo specifically.¡± Kaley asked, reloading her magazine.


    ¡°In that DDR Camp? Hmm, probably in the frontal area near the parking lot where most of their military vehicles are. I mean, they could put some in other ces but they probably made a ce where most of the soldiers are gathered to act as their HQ.¡± I guessed, reloading a few magazines as well.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe we still haven¡¯t gone through that ammo can of .22 LRs, how many could that ammo can for .50s hold again?¡± Kaley continued.


    ¡°This one? It could hold 6000+ .22 LRs. If we¡¯re just here to put them down, I guess we¡¯d be on our 2nd ammo can. We¡¯re sometimes waiting for them to get in position so we couldn¡¯t just shoot like there¡¯s no tomorrow. Also, the ones we¡¯re aiming for now are a little far so we sometimes need to shoot twice or thrice the ammo.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, well¡­ if we shoot them all they¡¯d just step onto each other and we¡¯d waste the funnels we made even it¡¯s just on this street.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Yeah, we still haven¡¯t established a proper road to drive into this area too so it¡¯s better to do this.¡± I concluded.


    Time continued to pass and I made everyone stop when it was an hour before 6:00 PM. It was because we need to clear up the casings we used and secure the items we procured from this love hotel. However, we would still leave a few items behind in one of the rooms just in case. <hr>


    When we boarded the helicopter, I flew it to the other side, heading in the direction of Mbon to catch an aerial view from that city and to somehow lead the dead congested in Monumento away from their original spot. To avoid getting swarmed like thest helicopter that flew to that area, I flew a few meters higher just to be extra safe, avoiding tall buildings. On the way over there, we discovered more walls erected, blocking passages that we haven¡¯t been to before.


    The problem with those passages getting blocked was because they were a tad higher than normal and we needed to clear those roads for a straight shot towards Iskoh. I wasn¡¯t sure if they would be higher in theing days so as Kaley said, I need to delegate more people to clear them aside from my main group. I would like to do it myself but we already changed our n to clear the mass gathering at Monumento by reiming the DDR Camp first.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, we¡¯d be home shortly.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Hmm? Kid? Sure, I¡¯ll ask someone to bring a truck over.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Oh~ too busy to pick us up?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Bah! I¡¯m taking a look at Mauricio¡¯s Land Rover. By the way, the lift kit is collecting dust, do you want me to put it on your Raptor? Well, I¡¯d also change the suspension, tires, and everything else and since you¡¯re using the chopper, I could take it away from you for a few days.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Nah, that¡¯s fine as it is. I¡¯ll bring that back to Batangas to be installed in the Ta we won. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re driving it offroad as much as they could because of the terrain.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    [Gotcha, just focus on flying, kid. Your uncle will be there soon.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    When we reached our home base, Unc Zardon was already waiting for us with Zeus excitedly running around the back of the 8-wheeler. He kept on guarding the luggage we were loading on the truck bed and we soon drove back to thepound with some of my people that took watch on the DDR Camp. We didn¡¯t bring back a lot of essential items but we came back safe and sound, with more information, a new n, and another job well done.


    We soon had a simple meal then we started the meeting right after. We started to discuss what happened on our side but that was when I received some very important news when Vera raised her hand to catch my attention.


    Iskoh and his soldiers managed to form their first outpost. I thought they imed the whole pier for themselves but he learned his lesson. The pier was too big a ce for his soldiers and people to upy so they opted for a much better solution. Not only that, even if they didn¡¯t manage to reim the whole pier, they would still have ess to all of the resources inside the shipping containers.


    What they did was they reimed the Man South Harbor where the Philippine Coast Guard National Headquarters was located. This ce was located in the southern area of the pier and it was easily defensible. It also came not only with just boats and sh.i.p.s but all the facilities avable in that headquarters to assist them with their fight against the undead. If Iskoh wanted, he could now make a fishing charter for acquiring marine resources, reach our ce by water, or even get to the president¡¯s location by using the resources avable to him.


    ¡°Is there more to that report?¡± I asked Vera.


    ¡°Yes, they said they might solve one of our problems. They mentioned that they might send a ship to check the Man North Harbor in Navotas City and build the second outpost there to check for the people you¡¯re looking for. They also mentioned that they wanted topare the sea routes used by both ces so they could better navigate the waters.¡± Vera reported.


    ¡°Then that¡¯s good to hear. However, tell them that once they do send a ship, give us a call so we could send backup just in case the group I¡¯m looking for is quite big. We could always help them or I could bring the SuperCobra and wreak havoc. I¡¯m just keeping it as a trump card in special cases like this.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Okay, I will.¡± Vera nodded as she took a seat.


    ¡°Oh yeah, kid, I forgot to tell you something.¡± Oscar raised his hand.


    ¡®Why does this scene look so familiar¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.

 Chapter 468

    Chapter 468: 468


    As soon as Oscar said that, everyone in thepound simultaneously looked in his direction like a kid bringing out a pack of gum. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are you all looking at me like that?!¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ maybe you forgot to tell everyone about something f.u.c.k.i.n.g important?!¡± I shouted back, widening my eyes to tell him that he should¡¯ve started with the most important news.


    ¡°U-Umm¡­ ah- you know¡­ R-Rod ising in t-two days¡­¡± Oscar embarrassingly said after scratching his head a few times and looking away.


    ¡°Mm-hmm~¡± I was already shaking my head because I knew this would happen sooner orter.


    ¡°What?! He¡¯d be dropping by Iskoh first but he said they might spend a few more days on Iskoh¡¯s ce depending on the circ.u.mstances.¡± Oscar added as he sat down, grumbling.


    ¡°Is that all? Is the US President alsoing?¡± I replied with a mocking tone.


    ¡°That¡¯s all! The f.u.c.k would the POTUSe in here for?!¡± Oscar eximed.


    ¡°Then that¡¯s good for us. I thought I¡¯d be picking who to send back from Avalos or Honassan for the samples we collected but I guess we¡¯d be riding with them in theing days.¡± I said.


    ¡°Speaking of samples, is there any way we could get those dangly things from the ce you came from? Would be better if they came back with those, right?¡± Oscar suggested. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°That would be extremely difficult unless we send a convoy with most of our people. I¡¯m even afraid the president might just send a few missiles down that area to clear it in one swoop.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What if that¡¯s the only choice?¡± Johnny chimed.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I replied, turning to him.


    ¡°I mean what if the better choice is to just blow that ce up? I¡¯m into studying them and all but the time they¡¯ve spent doing it hasn¡¯t made much advancement. We¡¯ve only known one sure cure and it¡¯s violence.¡± Johnny stated.


    ¡°You¡¯re right but I¡¯ll hold on to that thought for now. I would like to confirm with my own eyes that it¡¯s dead than to assume it got blown to bits. Dropping in napalm is a bad f.u.c.k.i.n.g idea because it would spread to everything, burning everything it touches. For now, let¡¯s follow my n and make that thest resort, okay?¡± I exined.


    Johnny nodded a few times and we continued with our discussion. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/two-days¡ªblindfold_50097132669037326 for visiting.


    ¡°Ibarra, this is just a prototype but give it a spin!¡± Unc Zeidrick handed him his custom spear.


    ¡°You¡¯re done already?¡± Ibarra replied.


    ¡°We already have something to copy from so it was done just this noon. The only thing we did differently was removing the option of screwing it on and off. It would take some time to do that so see these holes on the other side and the metal nubs on the other? Just push it in and twist it so it would lock in ce. Doing the same thing also detaches it but you need to apply a bit of pressure. We made sure it wouldn¡¯t be loose so it had a lot of tension to keep it together.¡± Unc Zeidrick exined. <hr>


    ¡°Thank you¡­ you also changed the shape of the spearhead¡­¡± Ibarramented as he examined it.


    The detachable spear they made wasposed of wood and steel and it was a few inches higher than Ibarra¡¯s head. As Unc Zeidrick described, the two parts could be detached and reattached at will by applying pressure and a twisting motion to slide the nubs away or to secure them with the holes. It was wood on the surface aside from the parts where the two parts could be joined together and the spearhead itself. The metal parts run through the inside of the wood, acting as a very long tang or the back portion of theponent of a de or a spearhead.


    The weapon could act as a spear or a walking stick when the two parts were attached together or a rod and a short spear when detached and used hand in hand. To make the rod side a little more deadly, they added what looked like a small counterweight to act as a small mace. On the spearhead side, instead of making something symmetrical, Unc Zeidrick made it look like a miniaturized version of the guandao I have at my armory. It could still be used to thrust because they also sharpened a portion of the back of the spearhead.


    ¡°We¡¯re not sure how you¡¯d store it so we modified this bag where billiard sticks used to be ced in. You could only ce it in here while it¡¯s detached and the spearhead wouldn¡¯t be sticking out.¡± Raphael added, giving Ibarra the bag.


    ¡°Thank you, I¡¯ll put it to good use¡­¡± Ibarra said but he still couldn¡¯t express his emotions well from the gift.


    ¡°Dad¡­¡± Russel interjected.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Unc Zeidrick turned to him.


    ¡°That looks f.u.c.k.i.n.g sick, can you make me one too?¡± Russel asked, expecting a yes.


    ¡°What? This? You aren¡¯t even proficient in using the goden- that f.u.c.k.i.n.g unicorn bat and you¡¯re looking for another weapon? Eh~ I¡¯ll think about it~¡± Unc Zeidrick just gave neither a yes or a no. <hr>


    We discussed a few more things after but we ended the meeting on a high note. My people knew their jobs and they¡¯re doing it as it should and sometimes even more than required. I couldn¡¯t say that it was easy or even lucky to have a ce as sessful because everyone rolled their sleeves and dug deep the moment they were needed. This ce wouldn¡¯t be standing without each and everyone inside thepound because sometimes, picking the right people from the start could mean everything.


    ¡®I guess I could say being born in the family I have and meeting the people that I treat the same could be the only thing attributed to luck¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    As we were cleaning up, Mauricio approached me.


    ¡°Hey, Cathy and I talked to the doctors and they said that the operation is in five days. They¡¯ve run some tests and all they need is more prep time. I can¡¯t thank you enough but I¡¯d have to ask another favor. I left people to look after my shops but I still need to be in there in person. Noah contacted me and he needs to be on our farms as well.¡± Mauricio said.


    ¡°That¡¯s not a problem actually. The old man actually likes you both and it¡¯s nice to have people with him to talk to when he¡¯s in his house. He talks with his daughter from time to time and with his buddies, but he¡¯s kinda like me when he¡¯s alone. Marisha also looks after her in the morning so it wouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Thank you. I know five days is actually short but it feels like it¡¯s a long time. I just wished the operation and healing could be done before the new year. Cathy, you see, she likes to look at fireworks¡­¡± Mauricio gave me a genuine smile as he looked down.


    ¡°Hmm? That¡¯s not a problem at all! You see, we¡¯re the only ones left here, right? All the holidays could be dictated by us! Heck, we could have Halloween again! Christmas? Well- we didn¡¯t actually celebrate it but we f.u.c.k.i.n.g could celebrate it now if you wanted to! Hmm, New Years¡¯ is a little tricky because you know¡­ fireworks and all but I could set it up remotely so it goes off from afar!¡± I tried to cheer him up.


    ¡°Hmm! That¡¯s a great outlook, I¡¯d tell Cathy what you told me. I bet she¡¯d cheer up because she¡¯s a little down that I¡¯d be away for a while. Anyway, just giving you a heads up on what I¡¯d be doing theseing days. I wanted to meet the president for once so maybe I¡¯ll drop by when I have the time. Thanks again.¡± Mauricio chuckled as he offered a handshake.


    We shook hands and then we went our separate ways. <hr>


    I went to the gym with everyone and I did my routine workout while knocking out anyone that wanted to test what they learned from attending our sses. However, the people watching the others spar was a lot more substantial because this time, someone managed to score a clean hit against Tatiana.


    It wasn¡¯t a knockout but Tatiana wasn¡¯t able to get up for a few moments because her head was spinning.


    ¡®Needs a bit more power but she f.u.c.k.i.n.g did it.¡¯ I celebrated inwardly.


    ¡°F.u.c.k, not you too¡­¡± Tatiana was shaking her head, trying to get her bearings.


    ¡°I just got lucky~ Are you really down? He knocked you outst time~¡± Kaley cheekily smiled.


    ¡°Hmm, let¡¯s see if you¡¯re still lucky then!¡± Tatiana managed to get up and she lunged at Kaley a few steps in front of her.


    However, the bell immediately rang, and the spar ended without a clear victor. Kaley would¡¯ve wonpletely if she followed it up by mounting Tatiana and pounding her but I¡¯m sure that Kaley was watching out if Tatiana was really dibobted. Being held in the ground with Tatiana would spell all sorts of trouble and that was why most of her sses were just striking techniques. Sparring almost every single day would make them learn of each other¡¯s moves so it was a smart y for Kaley to pull out a move from my repertoire.


    We soon finished our training then Kaley and I took a shower together.


    ¡°Hey, umm¡­ can you wear a blindfoldter?¡± Kaley mentioned as she was scrubbing my back.

 Chapter 469

    Chapter 469: 469


    ¡°Why? Did you make a cake?¡± I asked innocently. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°¡­¡± Kaley was f.u.c.k.i.n.g speechless.


    ¡°Kaley? I just had my birthday, right? What¡¯s the asion?¡± I turned to her with the same expression I was wearing earlier.


    ¡°You know¡­ sometimes I¡¯d like to take you down and do all sorts of things when you¡¯re like that¡­ so innocent¡­¡± Kaley gave a wicked smile as she started soaping me up with two humongous things softer than our sponge.


    ¡°Kaley I-¡±


    ¡°I really need to be direct with you sometimes, eh? I just went a bit closer and made contact and you¡¯re this hard. Well, let¡¯s save it forter, okay?¡± Kaley started giggling but she started to glide her hands around me as well.


    ¡°Oh¡­ umm- why the blindfold though?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a secret!¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon! You know I don¡¯t like being in the dark!¡±


    ¡°Okay, hmm~ how could I- I just want you to trust me. If it¡¯s you, you might sense or feel something~ different but just go with it, okay? I don¡¯t want to say more but you¡¯ll figure it out when it happens~¡±


    ¡°Now I¡¯m scared.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not gonna peg you! Don¡¯t worry!¡±


    ¡°Now I¡¯m even more scared! What if you do?! Why did you even mention that?!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Hmm~ I¡¯m just waiting for you to f.u.c.k up and I¡¯ll literally f.u.c.k you but as I said, trust me, okay?! You might even like it, we don¡¯t know¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What does that even mean now?! I-¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m joking! I¡¯ll only do it on MY birthday! I¡¯ll be gentle~ Don¡¯t worry~¡±


    ¡°KALEY!!!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I¡¯ll stop! I¡¯ll stop! It¡¯s fun teasing you but think about it, okay? For me?¡±


    ¡°When did this FemDom shit started?!¡±


    ¡°I said think about it!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s like you¡¯re forcing me to not think and just say yes!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not! It could be our little secret! I¡¯d be so~ happy~¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ Okay, maybe.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a yes, I¡¯ll be waiting patiently~¡±


    ¡°KALEY!!! I SAID MAYBE! NOT YES MASTER!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m joking! I¡¯ll stop! It¡¯s just fun to see you fl.u.s.tered like that! If we ever do it, I¡¯ll do something you want and it could be anything, fair?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Answer me!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Hngh~ Sure, I¡¯ll think about it¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes! I love you~¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I love you too¡­¡±


    ¡°Why did you even say it like that?!¡±


    ¡°Hey, cut me some ck! My head is now clouded with selling my ass!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°Now turn around! It¡¯s your turn!¡±


    ¡°Yes master~¡±


    ¡°Kaley!¡±


    Kaley was in such a good mood today I couldn¡¯t help but go with her whims. It took us a few more minutes before we were done cleaning ourselves but all sorts of things were running through my head when we reached my room.


    There was no one there besides us but a single blindfold was ced neatly on the table. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/a-couple-too-many¡ªno-way¡­_50121636531196438 for visiting.


    ¡°Expecting something? Wear that first and you¡¯ll knowter, okay?¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°Well, why don¡¯t you put it on me then?¡± I said myst line of defense. <hr>


    Kaley just smiled at me as she removed the towel covering her and she slowly walked towards me maintaining eye contact. She lightly pressed her body against mine as she reached for my head, securing the blindfold in the process.


    ¡°Come here¡­¡± Kaley gave me a kiss as she made mey down on the bed.


    Kaley started kissing me from the side as her body was pressed against me and the next thing I knew was that she was slowly guiding her hands to the rest of my body. Seeing nothing but the darkness made the rest of my senses work differently but it would seem as if I was feeling twice the pleasure just from having a blindfold on.


    ¡°Touch me¡­¡± Kaley whispered after breaking our kiss momentarily.


    My left hand was embracing Kaley by her h.i.p.s already so I lowered it to reach for her ass. However, she grabbed my right hand and ced it on her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts. I was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard my d.i.c.k was slightly twitching but it was quickly remedied when Kaley started to stroke it ever so slowly. We were in the same position for just a few minutes when e heard a knock on the door.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be back¡­ okay?¡± Kaley whispered as she hugged me for a short moment, giving me another kiss.


    I heard the locks being undone and the door opening right after but instead of them casually talking to each other before we start, all of them were whispering. I could hear a few giggles and gasps but there was something off.


    I was sure that the number of people that came in was a couple too many because I felt the bed amodating two more bodies when theyid themselves down.


    ¡®This was probably the reason for the blindfold¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    I felt Kaley going back to my left side once more as she made me embrace her but I also felt another oneying next to my right, pressing her body against mine.


    ¡®Cynthia?¡¯ I guessed based on her proportions that came in contact.


    I felt the rest of them circling around me, trying to not make a sound but then I felt someone grabbing my d.i.c.k by the base while another one started licking the tip. It felt good but very unfamiliar as to who was doing that but the person in which I assumed was Cynthia, pressed her body even close as she made me wrap my arm around her. She started to kiss me as she turned my face towards her while Kaley started kissing my neck.


    All of a sudden, I felt another tongue licking my balls while the one licking the tip started taking me in her mouth deeper and deeper.


    As Cynthia and I were kissing, our kiss was broken momentarily when she started twitching. I was trying to figure out the person behind her but I could hear Cynthia¡¯s insides getting explored while someone was kissing her neck. Cynthia started to m.o.a.n softly as she tried to embrace me but that was when Kaley took the initiative to make me face her and suck on her huge tits as she moved a little forward. <hr>


    Kaley followed it by cing my left hand on her crotch from behind and she was soaking wet. Her fat p.u.s.s.y was warm and glossy to the touch and she immediately twitched when I ced a finger inside of her. Kaley¡¯s m.o.a.ns started getting louder and louder when I started to put two fingers inside of her and going deeper and deeper. However, the moment I felt another tongue gliding through my d.i.c.k as everyone was going for me, I exploded then and there.


    My body trembled for a bit but one of them below which I assumed was Tatiana cleaned up while I was still struggling with the sensitivity. She swallowed everything from the tip but I heard her kissing someone next to her right after that as they paused momentarily.


    ¡°I told you he¡¯d still be hard¡­¡± I heard Tatiana¡¯s voice as she giggled.


    ¡°Shhh~ Don¡¯t reveal yourselves¡­ yet.¡± Kaley mentioned in between m.o.a.ns.


    ¡°Who wants to go first?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    I couldn¡¯t believe how secretive the other two were but I felt Cynthia who was right next to me, going on top of me as she slowly slid my c.o.c.k inside of her. She was still tight as ever then I felt everyone detaching from me to watch what she would do next. I could still feel them right next to us but Cynthia already took my arms and ced them on her h.i.p.s.


    Cynthia started to move ever so slowly but she started to embrace me as she went for a kiss once more. However, I started to move my h.i.p.s below her as I felt her tight walls gripping me tight. Our kiss was immediately broken, and it was reced by Cynthia m.o.a.ning louder and louder as she was gripping me tighter and tighter.


    ¡°I¡¯m really c-close~¡± Cynthia whispered in a hurry.


    I held Cynthia tight and turned her over much to her surprise as she gasped. I pressed my whole weight against her as I began thrusting harder and harder. Her insides were squelching from each thrust as her nails dug into my back. Even if she started c.u.m.m.i.n.g, I continued to ram it deep inside of her until I felt her losing strength. She wouldn¡¯t let go of me at first but I was pulled down as someone sat on my face.


    ¡®W-Who is this?¡¯ I thought to myself as my senses were assaulted.


    She was clean-shaven but there was some meat on her p.u.s.s.y mound. She was almost rubbing it violently on my face but judging from her thighs, she was fit and was probably training every single day. I ate her at the same time she was grinding on my face but her voice was muffled so I couldn¡¯t figure out who it was for the moment. Despite that, I just enjoyed myself as I felt sucking my c.o.c.k.


    It felt like Tatiana but someone else was with her. They were alternating between sucking my d.i.c.k and kissing each other as I was hearing Kaley m.o.a.ning from the other side of the bed. It seemed that she was getting eaten out by someone but my head was getting pressed in between meaty thighs. My tongue was rummaging her insides and it didn¡¯t take long for her to ce my hands on her perky chest. Her hands were soft as she touched me but her b.r.e.a.s.ts were even softer. Her n.i.p.p.l.es were so f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard but one pinch revealed who she was the moment she gasped in surprise.


    ¡®No way¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.

 Chapter 470

    Chapter 470: 470


    I was worried for a short moment from figuring out who she was based on her proportions and her voice because I was sure that she was with someone else. However, Kaley telling me to trust her earlier once I ¡®figure it out¡¯ must¡¯ve meant that something happened for this to happen. Aside from that, the use of the blindfold was not for secretive purposes but for the other party to slowly ease into it and for added ir on my behalf. <center></center><hr>


    My thoughts quickly ran through my head but as I was getting triple-teamed, Kaley and the one with her started to go for Cynthia.


    ¡°W-Wait¡­ I just- I just came! Ahn~ Ah- that¡¯s my- Ahh~ Mmh~¡± Cynthia eximed as she just gave herself up for the two.


    Right at that moment, the one that sat on my face started moving faster and faster. Every bit of her wet and glossy insides was rubbing against my face as I was slowly getting suffocated by her meaty p.u.s.s.y and her thick and juicy thighs. Her hands were on top of my hands, making me apply even more pressure on her perky chest as she moved her h.i.p.s faster and faster.


    Her breathing was so hurried and it started to stagger as she started c.u.m.m.i.n.g, but I didn¡¯t stop taking in her sweet womanly scent and her warm juices. Hearing her voice as she came confirmed more of her identity but I didn¡¯t have time to think when my d.i.c.k entered unfamiliar territory. Her insides were tight as well and even if her p.u.s.s.y was so wet, she was almost pushing me out as she was trying to take me in.


    I just heard her gasping for air as she slowly let herself down and I needed more information to figure out who was this one on top of me. I could gather more info if she pressed her body against mine but the one that sat on my face just stood up, turned around, and went back into position. She was still making me eat her p.u.s.s.y but she was spreading her cheeks, making me ce a finger inside both of her holes.


    As I continued to do so, the one riding me started to go faster and faster. My mind almost went ck from how tight she was but the one sitting on my face slowly but surely, pushing off the blindfold in my eyes.


    I could already catch a glimpse of her pink insides and her pale-white skin while my fingers were going in and out of her gaping asshole. I was waiting for it topletelye off but Tatiana saw it and adjusted it back.


    ¡°Oh~ That was close~ Did you catch a glimpse? Oh- These two I think don¡¯t give a f.u.c.k anymore¡­ do you want me to remove it?¡± Tatiana chuckled but the one riding me started to c.u.m as her walls tightened even more. Not only that but the one sitting on my face lost bnce as she also came, leaning on her back, pulling off the blindfold in the process.


    I already know that it was Vera sitting on my face but I was surprised to figure out that Daisy was the one riding me hard. She had a semi-petite body and her skin was white and smooth but aside from her beautiful tattoos covering her body, her expression of embarrassment from me seeing her with her eyes almost rolling over, cheeks beet-red, and tongue sticking out as her body was shaking all over made me c.u.m insider her. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Ahn~ I- Ah! Ah! He could see me- I¡¯m c.u.mm- I¡¯m c.u.m- Hngh~ Mmh~¡± Daisy tried to cover her face but her body was trembling nonstop.


    They made no attempt to made me wear the blindfold again because the main focus was on having fun and giving in to our carnal desires.


    As I was shooting my c.u.m inside Daisy, Kaley and Rin were double-teaming Cynthia by fingering both of her holes while kissing her lips and sucking on her tits. Cynthia¡¯s lower body was just gushing out all of her juices while her hands were exploring Rin and Kaley¡¯s insides as well. Tatiana pulled Vera to the side but Daisy was just embarrassingly staring at me while breathing heavily.


    I pushed her down so I could go on top of her and I started thrusting my d.i.c.k inside her over and over. Her head was on the side but her eyes were looking straight at me as I was ramming my d.i.c.k inside of her while her legs were spread apart. She was still blushing as one of her hands was covering her mouth while the other was raised above her head, showing her smooth armpits and her body lines, straight to her perky chest.


    Daisy¡¯s m.o.a.ns were muffled as she was covering her mouth but her quivering thighs and arching back was more than proof that she was c.u.m.m.i.n.g multiple times. Her p.u.s.s.y was oozing out ourbined juices when I pulled out but she hugged me tight as we were catching our breaths. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/surprise¡ªnow-you''ve-asked-for-it!_50146064442903644 for visiting.


    ¡°Hey! As soon as you¡¯re done, Vera wants the real thing too! She said this one¡¯s not enough!¡± Tatiana called me over wearing a wicked smile.


    Vera wasn¡¯t speaking but she was looking at my hard c.o.c.k as she was breathing heavier and heavier.


    Tatiana was behind Vera while a vibrator was on top of her clit. The two of them were looking at me but Vera was close to c.u.m.m.i.n.g once more. Her juices were flowing down her thighs as her fingers were spreading her p.u.s.s.y apart. I just looked at Daisy for a moment, telling her to join me with the other two but she told me that she would take a small break first.


    The three on our side were still having fun on their own but Kaley looked at me, telling me that she would just have mest. <hr>


    As soon as I approached Tatiana and Vera, Vera went on all fours as she stared eating Tatiana out. Tatiana let out a euphoric smile as her insides were getting parted by Vera¡¯s tongue but she was looking at me, mouthing that I should quickly put it inside Vera already. I aimed it at her p.u.s.s.y and I started plunging it deep and hard.


    It went in easily because she was already soaking wet and she had a hard time eating Tatiana as I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g her while my thumb was going in and out her asshole. However, Tatiana pushed Vera¡¯s head down on her p.u.s.s.y as Vera struggled for air. Tatiana would make her struggle for a bit but it seemed like Vera liked that sort of rough y.


    I didn¡¯t partake as much but Rin joined the two soon after I was done with them. Cynthia and Daisy werepletely spent but I finally had some time for Kaley as she pulled me down so she could take over. She rode me as long as she could while we were embracing each other, kissing each other deeply while the rest were also enjoying themselves.


    We spent the whole night with everyone and I waspletely spent. Daisy wanted to go home, but Tatiana convinced her to stay the night. Vera did the same thing but they slept in the other rooms, leaving Kaley and me with each other.


    We were n.a.k.e.d under the nket while we were on our sides, spooning her as we were casually talking to each other.


    ¡°So, you have a few questions? What do you want to know first? Vera or Daisy?¡± Kaley mentioned as she was holding my hand.


    ¡°Did something happen between Vera and Alexei? I trust and all but I just wanted to make sure.¡± I replied, hugging her even closer.


    ¡°Hmm~ yeah, something happened. They had a talk and decided for each of them to meet with other people for the time being. They weren¡¯t even sure they were serious for each other so they just said to wait and see after a while.¡±


    ¡°I see, and Daisy?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Oh! This is a funny one¡­ I think. Remember that Tatiana kept telling everyone that she¡¯s strictly a lesbian?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Well, Daisy confided in her and they talked for a bit. Daisy wasn¡¯t sure of herself before and it was even the reason she broke up with her ex-BF but Tatiana just said, ¡®Why¡¯d you have to pick between a d.i.c.k or a v.a.g.i.n.a if you could have both? Ask Kaley, she¡¯ll know what to do!''¡±


    ¡°What?! What happened then?¡±


    ¡°Well, umm- you know¡­ we got to talking as well and she couldn¡¯t believe that you¡­ you¡­ you know what I¡¯m talking about¡­ Tatiana egged us on and the next thing we know we¡¯re already nning for this¡­ Well, they won¡¯t be joining us all the time and this was just a surprise or a one-off for them so I get to keep you most of the time like always!¡±


    ¡°Here we go with these one-offs again¡­ heh.¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon! We¡¯re just spending a lot of time with Tatiana and Rin and we¡¯re always in close proximity that¡¯s why it became amon thing. It happened with Cynthia too but we¡¯re not really with Vera and Cynthia like always, right?¡±


    ¡°I know, I don¡¯t have anything bad to say against it. I¡¯d be lying if I say I didn¡¯t enjoy myself. I guess setting up boundaries and knowing what they¡¯re we¡¯re getting into before diving in helps a lot. It would be really~plicated as your mom said if we just go about it without making our boundaries known to all that¡¯s involved.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, one more thing though¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Should we change the rule of staying away from your ass be amended by having me as an exception?¡±


    ¡°Kaley!¡±


    ¡°What?! I¡¯m just asking, right?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll f.u.c.k you in your ass right now if you don¡¯t stop teasing me!¡±


    ¡°Really? You mean like this?¡± Kaley chuckled as she moved her butt closer to my d.i.c.k.


    ¡°Oh~ Don¡¯t test me, I could go on for more if you don¡¯t stop right now.¡± I mentioned, feigning annoyance.


    ¡°What? Doing this?¡± Kaley did it again but now she raised her leg slightly, waiting for what I would do next.


    ¡°Now, you¡¯ve asked for it!¡± I eximed as I held her tight and we went on for more.

 Chapter 471

    Chapter 471: 471


    Kaley and I spent more time in each other¡¯s arms but we soon decided to sleep because we still had a lot to do for tomorrow. Well, when we woke up at the same time, we discovered that we had a few minutes to spare so we made the best of it. We were in the bathroom first but when we got out, Vera and Daisy just came out of their rooms along with Rin, Tatiana, and Cynthia. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Morning.¡± I greeted them.


    It was kinda an awkward morning when we met up with them because Daisy couldn¡¯t look at me in the eye while Vera started to act a little bit like Tatiana.


    ¡°So, we only do it in the evening? That was fun though, looking forward to the next time.¡± Vera was now looking at me differently.


    ¡®Oh no¡­ just one-offs, eh?¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Shh! We only talk about it in the safe zone!¡± Cynthia eximed.


    ¡°W-Wait, how are you two gonna exin that you came from this house?¡± Rin raised a very important question.


    ¡°We couldn¡¯t just say that we f.u.c.k.i.e.d? We¡¯re all a.d.u.l.ts, right?¡± Vera asked very straightforwardly.


    ¡°N-No¡­ it¡¯s kinda different here¡­¡± Rin replied, worried.


    ¡°Look who¡¯s talking? You used to be so horny¡­¡± Tatiana was shaking her head.


    ¡°Wha-! I- It was just- I¡¯m just learning to control myself a little bit¡­¡± Rin pouted her lips as she red at Tatiana.


    ¡°A-Anyway¡­ I could just say that I worked overtime on your tattoo. I did bring my kit but we didn¡¯t manage to have more done¡­ I promise we¡¯ll do moreter once you get back.¡± Daisy suggested an answer.


    ¡°A tattoo, huh? I think I might get one as well¡­¡± Veramented. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Great! If you have something in mind or if you want me to make you one just tell me, okay?¡± Daisy was ecstatic.


    ¡°Okay, the tattoo reason is enough. Just act natural and they won¡¯t talk as much. Let¡¯s head down?¡± I said to everyone.


    Simply enough, the only person that looked at me weirdly was Jared while Marisha was almost throwing daggers at Kaley¡¯s back when we went down. However, Jared gave me a hidden thumbs up while Marisha just sighed helplessly once we went in with our little alibi. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/then-they''re-looking-for-trouble._50169033642801087 for visiting.


    ¡°Kid, Rod should being tomorrow at the earliest. Are youing back to Monumento or do you have any other ns?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°I¡¯d still bring my group to Monumento but I¡¯d like to ask you to bring two of our clearing groups and a batch of soldiers to head to Mbon. As I showed from the meeting yesterday, they were more walls erected and they¡¯re a tad higher than normal. You don¡¯t need to bring back samples because we already have a lot but I want them taken down before they turn to something worse.¡± I replied.


    ¡°It would be bad because the tall buildings could act as pirs. Imagine what trouble they could bring once they reach that height.¡± Matthew added.


    ¡°It¡¯s possible but that would take a long time. Nevertheless, we should clear everything wee across.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Want me to just take them all down? Where were they again?¡± Oscar brought out a map.


    ¡°They¡¯re located here, here, here, and here¡­ these two were smallerst time but they¡¯re slowly gaining height and thickness.¡± I replied as I marked the spots we saw from my helicopter.


    ¡°Easy enough. I¡¯ll bring a few skid steers but I think if there are some bigger machines left in that area, we could use them to clear them faster. The only issue would be those f.u.c.k.i.n.g ferals you¡¯re talking about. I¡¯m gonna need someone watching from above so give me Lawrence for the moment. You could spare him, right?¡± Oscar looked at me.


    ¡°Yeah, you could also bring Max with you since he¡¯s with Marvin¡¯s group originally. We¡¯ve done most of the prep work yesterday, so I might visit you guys after we¡¯re done with the other side of the Monument.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How about you? You¡¯reing with me or you¡¯d keep on treating your daughter like a trainee?¡± Oscar chuckled as he looked at Matthew.


    ¡°Cheh, sorry bud. I don¡¯t care what you think of me but that ce is f.u.c.k.i.n.g dangerous. I trust them both but things could happen. Also, I don¡¯t want to out-shoot you so¡­ that¡¯s that, heh.¡± Matthew looked back at Oscar, waiting for a reaction. <hr>


    ¡°Oh~ don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g start with me. You just beat me once and now you¡¯re acting like this kid, eh? We¡¯ll have a shoot-out againter and we¡¯ll see.¡± Oscar chuckled then he gave a heartyugh.


    There were some other things to take care of in our base but I have my people with their own jobs making this ce run without my presence.


    ¡°Will we rece Max and Lawrence with other people since they¡¯reing with Oscar or should we go as is?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m just nning to put down more deadheads from the same spot while scouting more obscure areas with the drones but I-¡± I was about to continue but Mikhail cut me off.


    ¡°Boss, why don¡¯t you bring Vera with us for the moment? Alex- umm- our designated marksman always had a spotter with him and it used to be Vera. She¡¯s quite good herself but she¡¯s more inclined withms.¡± Mikhail suggested.


    ¡°Hmm, are you up for it? You could also bring your equipment to try and fish for the ones in Karuhatan because maybe they¡¯re just looking for a voice that¡¯s a little more feminine, we never know.¡± I turned to Vera.


    ¡°Okay, I guess I could take a break from the Radio Station. I could prep my gear in a few minutes.¡± Vera replied, finished her breakfast much sooner than us.


    It didn¡¯t take long before each of us went out to do our own jobs though Mauricio left earlierpared to us while Oscar was still gathering the people he would be bringing to Mbon. The convoy he brought was ready for war and he might juste and clear more than just the walls I marked on his map.


    ¡®He even brought his SUV¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    We went for the same route we took going back to my ce but looking at the walls of the dead from yesterday, it wasn¡¯t apparent that they grew in size. However, arge number of the dead were trapped on both sides because they couldn¡¯t pass through. It would be such a pain to clear those walls and it was the right decision for Oscar to bring a lot of people.


    I picked up my radio and called Oscar.


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Old man, we passed by the same thing yesterday. You¡¯d have a few hundred to clear each wall, not including the wall itself so you¡¯d better be packing.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Bah! I don¡¯t leave my house if I ain¡¯t packing!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    It took us a few minutes to reach the love hotel but as soon as wended, I checked the position of the walls we made ourselves if they worked as intended. It seemed to be doing fine then the rest of my group brought out our equipment while Jared and Lois went in position to check for ferals roaming around the area. There seems to be none that got attracted to the noise we made but they never eased up because it would be ugly once one of them managed to break-in.


    ¡°I¡¯ll bring a group down to check the barricades, kid. I brought more tools so we could better secure them.¡± Matthew mentioned.


    ¡°Yeah, go ahead.¡± I replied.


    ¡°They seem to be holding up.¡± Kaley chimed.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ not quite. Look over there.¡± I was examining each one but I pointed at the one we made by the Monument itself. <hr>


    Instead of it being almost the same shape as the rest of them, it had gotten much bigger and it started to creep under the train station. The height was now higher by a few feet and the shape allowed it to be climbed over by the normal ones either aimlessly walking around or falling over by wrong footing.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on, bro?¡± Jared looked closely by using his scope.


    ¡°Are they mistaking it as one of their own?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied.


    ¡°That seems to be the case.¡± Vera chimed.


    ¡°Guys, we got a little situation from the other side.¡± Lois added as he was looking at the other side of the road with his scope.


    Looking through the scope where the number of the dead was starting to thin out from the other side, there were a number of vehicles that came in with armed individuals. Some of them seemed to be wearing part of military fatigues but we couldn¡¯t confirm if they were soldiers or not. I¡¯ve read a few initials but I would need to confirm whether they were the owners of the uniforms. However, they started to put down the dead methodically while one of them was looking around, using his binocrs.


    ¡°Let¡¯s take a bit of cover for now and we¡¯ll see what they would do next.¡± I said to the group as I made Lois run down to inform Matthew and the rest of the situation.


    ¡°Could they be looking for us?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Maybe, but it has already been a few minutes since wended.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Could they be after the guns on the DDR Camp as well?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Then they¡¯re looking for trouble.¡± I replied.

 Chapter 472

    Chapter 472: 472


    The rest of my group on the roof took cover while I continued to observe them. Aside from that, Vera turned her radio equipment on to see if she could somehow listen in to their conversations if they ever brought a radio with them. However, looking at their activities for a few moments indicated that they were hard-pressed to collect fuel and not headed for the DDR Camp we were trying to upy. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/slurpers¡ªmore-prep-work_50193055411665228 for visiting. <center></center><hr>


    It could be said that depending on the circ.u.mstances if they¡¯re heading for the equipment avable in the DDR Camp, I could¡¯ve made some sort of deal but we¡¯ve already invested a lot of resources to get to this point. However, if they agree to have a lesser amount, I would agree to have the resources split with us.


    At the same exact moment, Vera managed to listen in to their conversation just by tuning in to the right channel. They seem to just be using simple radio equipment so it was quite easy to tap into their conversation.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [You guys found more fuel?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, there¡¯s plenty here but you gotta see the Monumento Circle.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Hmm? What about it?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [It must be the doing of the ones forming walls but this looks like a maze of some sort.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    [What do you mean?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [They¡¯re zigzagging and shit due to the walls.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [What? Grab a picture or something. Do you think you guys could drive through that ce?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [I already took a picture but driving through that ce is impossible. We¡¯d have to go around the backroads to check for a perfect spot unless we find construction equipment to push them aside.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Shit. We already had enough trouble clearing those slurpers from our ce but I guess there¡¯s more there, huh?]


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    ¡®Slurpers? I guess they¡¯re talking about the onestched under the train station.¡¯ I thought to myself as the rest of my group looked at each other. My group was quietly listening in to their conversation while I was trying my best to not point my binocrs in a certain direction that would give away a glint that could potentially reveal our location.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [It would be hard in that area when they start to jump down.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    ¡®Jump down? Those f.u.c.kers could jump down? That means that they could¡­ shit, this is bad news.¡¯ I thought to myself then I looked at everyone in my group to check if they were hearing the same thing I was hearing.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Can you guys get to all four gas stations?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [We could only get to three but our containers are almost full on the second one. We mighte back hereter.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Okay, but make sure to take everyst drop. We could trade it for medicine, ammo, or even an appointment with their doctor.] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Gotcha. We¡¯ll being back in a few hours. We¡¯d still be going around so we¡¯ll take a while.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, just stay safe, alright?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We never heard much after that but we discovered that they were also checking in with another group checking for more items or resources that they could bring back for trading. The same with our group, they were looking for essential items but their primary concern was medicine and ammunition. They seemed to be doing okay with regards to food and maybe even fuel but they continued to siphon everyst bit of fuel from the gas stations, including the vehicles that they encounter.


    I was concerned with the guy looking around with his binocrs because it would be an unknown encounter once they spot us and all the preparation we did for tomorrow would be ruined. I wanted no contact as much as possible for now because a lot was at stake with all the equipment lying around in this DDR Camp.


    ¡®C¡¯mon, just leave already¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    After a while, they packed up and left but remembering from their conversation, they would being back in this area after a few hours which could mean that they were living close to or even exactly at Quezon City.


    ¡°Are they gone?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, you guys heard everything, right?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Could they be with the people from the helicopter?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ve heard people iming that they came from Quezon City but they seemed to be stemming from different groups¡­ it¡¯s like they don¡¯t have a collected group like ours. More like different people belonging in different factions.¡± Vera answered.


    ¡°You guys also heard what they mentioned about the¡­ the slurpers¡­ right? I need to find a better name for those¡­¡± I trailed, shaking my head. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, they said that they could jump down. What would they look like though? They¡¯re almost congealed, right?¡± Lois replied.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind what they would look like. Those things being able to jump down means that¡­¡± I trailed, waiting for them to answer.


    ¡°They¡­ they could relocate?¡± Kaley answered, half-sure.


    ¡°Yeah, I thought they were just stuck there but we need to know what are the requirements to be met for them to do that. Do we need to just simply attack them or are there other means? Are there more in remote locations aside from that train station? However, it¡¯s a good thing that there are still groups in that city, not just one where the helicopter came from.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How so?¡± Vera asked.


    ¡°That just means that city isn¡¯t overrun yet. Quezon City has the highest poption density among all the other cities in our region and it was even safe to say that it had fallen early faster than where Iskoh was at. Iskoh just managed to survived and cut his losses while that ce could be considered open to whoever that could im it.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Then what are we gonna do for now?¡±


    I heard Matthew¡¯s voice and we saw him came up with Mikhail and Ibarra from below. They were slightly covered with wood bits and it seemed they have reinforced the barricades they did below and some other things to keep us safer.


    ¡°Nothing, for now. Unless we establish a proper connection with them, we wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything. Besides, we still have a lot on our te and we need to map out this area properly. We need to prep the area around the DDR Camp so we could have a smoother operation tomorrow once Avalos and Honassane back.¡± I exined.


    ¡°What are we gonna do when theye back? You never exined much on how are we gonna get in that ce in one piece.¡± Matthew continued to ask questions.


    ¡°It¡¯ll be better to exin it in detail once they get here so I wouldn¡¯t repeat myself. Where¡¯s the other drone? I¡¯ll fly it closer to the blindspots inside. Jared, watch out for ferals, Lois, keep watch on the other side of the road in case theye again, and the rest, you guys should¡­¡± I gave out instructions as I took out a drone for my use.


    ¡®I need to find the proper point of entry and the ces to watch out for¡­¡¯ I thought to myself as I shot down a few ss windows so my drone could gain entry.


    Lois already flew his drone aroundst time but it was mostly an aerial view from above. What I needed to have now was a view from each room, corridor, walkways, and etc. as much as possible from the batteries left from the drones. We brought three this time around and I have three at my disposal to get to ces we haven¡¯t been before.


    Most of the things I¡¯ve discovered inside the buildings especially the frontal were the soldier¡¯s barracks but dead civilians along with dead soldiers filled the corridors. The amount Kaley and I killedst time was only a small part of what was inside the rooms. I still needed to check the main area and the back area but I wanted to make sure where each item was ced.


    I expanded our internal map of the DDR Camp while the rest of my group continued to polish up the walls we made by making the end of the funnels narrower while making the pathwaysrger. In a sense, the funnels were starting to look like meat sausages linked together.


    I was focused on maneuvering the drone to avoid the dead inside the corridors while the others were piling down bodies one after the other. They started aiming for the other side of the road which proved a little difficult because the distance was much farther and the angle they would be shooting at.


    ¡°Can we move to another location? Maybe that mall over there bro? I bet we¡¯d have a better time shooting over there.¡± Lois suggested.


    ¡°Not yet, we¡¯ll wait for the other group to arrive and leave once more before we leave so at least they¡¯d have left with an image of our helicopter still in this love hotel.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Huh? Why?¡± Lois asked for an exnation.


    ¡°If theye back and notice that our helicopter is not here anymore, they might push for clearing out the walls we made to investigate and they will surely stumble upon this DDR Camp. That would be a day¡¯s worth of trouble and a lot of resources wasted if they managed to reim this ce for themselves without us having a share. Let¡¯s at least wait for a few more hours and just clear the dead from other street corners if you¡¯re having trouble shooting them. I still have a lot of battery life left to so be patient.¡± I exined.

 Chapter 473

    Chapter 473: 473


    I continued using the drones at my disposal and I discovered a few things. I used each drone for each area and our guesses for which area was used for a specific purpose were mostly correct. <center></center><hr>


    The frontal area was the soldier¡¯s barracks, the main area was the civilian¡¯s quarters, and the back area was used for misceneous jobs that included preparing food or maintaining equipment.


    The frontal area had weapon caches strewn about with theirmunication equipment and some rooms were marked specifically by their ranks and their designated jobs. The main area made use of each room to give a room for two families to live in but the hospital in the frontal area had rooms reserved for the elderly and those with particr injuries. In the back area, aside from preparing food and such, they seem to be training people to act as soldiers in the future because of a schedule I saw hanging from the gymnasium.


    I thought that most of the dead would be located in the main area but I was wrong.


    Most of the dead were gathered in the back area whichposed of children and the elderly as they were all holed up in the gymnasium with a few soldiers guarding the outside with bodies piled up just by the entrance.


    ¡®This was maybe the ce where they took theirst stand¡­ Each ce should have an emergency exit for situations such as this¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    The noise of the drone I was using was already attracting the deadheads around it so I called Kaley over.


    ¡°Need something?¡± Kaley asked, checking the rounds left in her magazine.


    ¡°We¡¯re already here so, before theye back, let¡¯s clear a few hundred in the DDR Camp while we¡¯re at it. I¡¯ll lure them by the tennis court while you take down each body you see. You don¡¯t have to shape them like the funnels below so just put them down once they are in your sights. Practice rapid-firing while you¡¯re at it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Can I use my main gun?¡± Kaley looked at me, holding her AR-15 from LWRC.


    ¡°Why? Having trouble using a .22?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Not really, it just feels really different when I switch back. You know, muscle memory and all.¡± Kaley replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Up to you for how you want to deal with it. Hmm, how about switching guns after emptying a magazine? It would be weird at first, but you¡¯d get used to the ¡®feel¡¯ of it, and switching would be natural the more you do it.¡± I suggested.


    Kaley nodded as she followed my suggestion. I brought deadheads in droves and she began to clear them one after the other. In the beginning, she would fire a shot then aim at a new one but as time progresses, she would burst fire two, two, and two like the way we would train at home. Kaley made excellent progress from the time we were together but she still got a lot to learn with perfecting minuscule movements.


    Heads burst one after the other and the only time she would pause was when she missed and had to aim more carefully the next time around. Aside from that, adjusting with a different gun and a new caliber would make her miss a few times in the beginning. However, once she got the ¡®feel¡¯ for it, she would take it up a notch and start shooting much bolder.


    I made sure to fly the drone at a safe distance from Kaley¡¯s range once the deadheads gather while making sure it was also at an optimum height where even a special could have a hard time reaching it. So far, we had no idents with the drones and the only time we had to lose one was when it flew too close to the ones at the train station.


    ¡°Can I give this a go?¡± Matthew asked, holding my rifle.


    ¡°Sure, it¡¯s zeroed at 100 as always so just make adjustments based on your preferences.¡± I replied.


    ¡°100? Then it¡¯s no problem. I used to do it at 200 but calcting at 100 makes it easier for me.¡± Matthew replied.


    Matthew decided to help Kaley but he soon ced my rifle down because Kaley was actually out-shooting him. Matthew could shoot farther but Kaley definitely could shoot faster. He had a proud look on his face at the start but it had a hint of despair because his hands couldn¡¯t keep up when he tried to keep up with his daughter.


    ¡°Dad? Something wrong?¡± Kaley asked innocently.


    ¡°L-Let me just reload these mags for you¡­ I think I¡¯m more used to a .308 or a 6.5 so I¡¯ll let you handle that for now¡­ g-good job!¡± Matthew gave an excuse but the killing blow was Mikhail tapping his shoulder and gesturing that it was okay.


    Kaley continued to put bodies down while I continued to drive around, luring the deadheads that I would encounter. The noise of the rotors was enough to attract them but we soon changed the kill zone because a mound already formed because of the bodies piled on top of one another. <hr>


    Lois was jealously watching Kaley shoot without restraint but he still kept a tight watch on the road. He even borrowed one of my drones and perched it atop a good spot a great distance away so he had a higher chance of spotting them from watching from the live feed of the drone.


    I checked my watch and it was already an hour after 12:00 PM so I assigned half of us to take a small break to eat lunch while the rest continued to do their jobs.


    ¡°Go ahead, Kaley and I will just finish this batch and join you guys.¡± I said to the group ahead of us.


    It was already a few hours after lunch when the armed individuals came back to siphon thest gas station that they could approach. They had to kill their way with their troops but the person with the binocrs was present once more, taking a longer look at the walls we made artificially.


    Gunshots rang out from their side and the dead got riled up as they started to approach the source. I could hear high-powered rifles like our own but I noticed theck of suppressors on their firearms. However, they were proficient with using them, favoring the idea that they were soldiers from another DDR Camp or a new group that banded together.


    ¡®Great idea to stay in ce andy low once they arrive¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    After they were done with thest gas station, they continued to scavenge for more supplies from the surrounding shops that were left abandoned. It seemed that they didn¡¯t manage to get as much because due to the noise they made by firing several shots. They had to drive away before they get swarmed or else it would be the end for them.


    All we heard from them was random radio chatter and not more information that could help us figure out the thingstched under the train station.


    We waited for a while before we left our cover but now I was deep in thought.


    ¡°Something on your mind?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°It took them roughly 6 hours before getting back here.¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°Which means that they coulde from maybe half of Quezon City, right? Which also means that they coulde from anywhere also?¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Yeah, I only know one ce from that city that could still be standing and heavily guarded but it¡¯s too far just by driving in that timeframe anding back here. Also, there are other fuel stations to loot aside from this ce so we could take into ount that they maybe took a short rest or had to talk to other people or groups before they got here.¡± I spected.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that they need to take care of undead roamers on the way, lunch too.¡± Matthew added.


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I trailed. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/big-city¡ªtheir-location_50216253872194127 for visiting.


    ¡°Where do you think they came from?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°The only thing I could think of are ces away from hospitals just from their conversation. Aside from that, they mentioned they¡¯re low on ammo too but they probably got their fix because they started firing more than usual this time.¡± I replied, still thinking.


    ¡°What if they¡¯re in a hospital but they¡¯re just in different groups inside it?¡± Vera chimed.


    ¡°That¡¯s possible too¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°What are the closest hospitals here then?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°Aside from that one right next to us, there¡¯s the Quezon City General Hospital, Providence Hospital, Philippine Children¡¯s Medical Center, and the Veterans Memorial Medical Center. The first one is the closest one while the other three are about the same distance away from us. There are small centers all throughout the ce but those are more specialized like the lung center and the heart center.¡± I replied.


    ¡°How about the City Hall in that ce? How close is it? A DDR Camp is always erected in that ce, correct?¡± Tatiana asked. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s right by the specialized centers I talked about. Shit, that city is just too big and each ce could easily be turned into a DDR Camp or an outpost. Scratch everything I said, not to mention therge universities that a few times bigger than this one, there¡¯s a ce there called the U-Belt that trantes to university belt that means that there are severalrge universities right next to each other that holds a lot ofnd. That city is literally a haven of¡­¡± I started to tell them each ce that¡¯s viable to be turned into an outpost in the future.


    ¡°Okay, okay, stop for a minute there. We already know that there are a lot of f.u.c.k.i.n.g options avable. However, if you¡¯re gonna choose one to upy, which will it be?¡± Matthew asked to narrow down all the possible choices.


    ¡°Hmm, this ce could offer a great vantage point but this ce is also¡­ but¡­ this ce could be better with¡­ oh! The ce with¡­¡± I started to spout more nonsense.


    ¡°JUST PICK ONE SO WE COULD F.U.C.K.I.N.G MOVE ON!!!¡± Matthew bellowed as the rest of my group gave helpless expressions.


    ¡°Yeah~ but¡­¡± I started to rub my chin, ticking off Matthew even more.


    ¡°If. we. had. to. choose. a. ce. to. hunker. down. where. would. it. be?¡± Matthew started to lose it.


    ¡°Oh, back home obviously.¡± I immediately answered.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡± Matthew started to get red from anger.


    ¡°What? What¡¯s better than back home?¡± I added.


    ¡°We¡¯re talking about that city, you little shit!¡± Matthew bellowed.


    ¡°Oh, be specific then!¡± I started to chuckle inwardly.


    ¡°JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G ANSWER, DAMMIT!!!¡± Matthew started to lose it.

 Chapter 474

    Chapter 474: 474


    After having my fill of ticking off Matthew, I pulled out a map and circled out areas from where those people could possibly havee from. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°The best ces to hunker down are hospitals, police stations, gatedmunities, and especially standing DDR Camps. However, our problem is that Quezon City has a f.u.c.k ton of those. Pinpointing it just based on that would prove to be difficult so I could only give an estimate for how far could they have driven in for the time that they were away.¡± I exined, adding more circles and markers.


    ¡°What¡¯s thisrger circle for?¡± Matthew asked after finally calming down.


    ¡°This was for if we split the time of just driving straight to their base and getting back here. Take note, we have no information about the state of the streets they were in so it could be much smaller. That¡¯s why I added the other circles for taking into ount different possibilities.¡± I added.


    ¡°And this X?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s the Veterans Memorial Medical Center. If I ever establish a base in that city, that would be the best starting point if I have a lot of people. It has a huge area for nting crops and walls all around it to protect it from deadheads roaming around. However, it isn¡¯t as high as I wanted but the other hospitals have nary such defensive structures because you could just walk inside some of them. In a sense, it¡¯s like Iskoh¡¯s ce minus the river they could use their boats to roam around.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, is this the one ce you¡¯re talking about that¡¯s heavily guarded?¡± Cynthia chimed.


    ¡°No, as I said, it¡¯s too far and it¡¯s right by therger part of Caloocan. It¡¯s right this here, the La Mesa Dam. If you remember the earlier broadcasts, the president sent most of the soldiers avable to these kinds of ces so they¡¯re more or less standing right now. Electricity might still be running in that ce without the help of sr panels and generators because of the power produced by the moving water from the dam itself transferred over to the nts.¡± I added.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Kaley muttered, looking at the map.


    ¡°See something else?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this ce where the helicopter came from? Southeast from the Providence Hospital? It¡¯s Channel 7 News, right? Could they havee here as well?¡± Kaley turned to me.


    ¡°It is possible too. We just don¡¯t know for sure until we start to explore that city.¡± I replied, not adding more.


    ¡°Enough talk, we still have a couple of hours left before we leave this ce.¡± Matthew picked up my rifle to try using it once more.


    Time continued to pass but it was uneventful. Lois and Jared kept a watchful eye with Matthew in case a pack of feralse by or more people randomly pops up from nowhere. Ibarra and Mikhail would sometimes take shots but they just decided to help with reloading magazines and routinely checking below with Tatiana.


    Kaley continued to pile more bodies with me but we had to stop early because the batteries of the drones were critically low. We should¡¯ve brought their chargers but there wasn¡¯t enough room inside the helicopter because of the equipment we brought.


    Vera wasn¡¯t able to pick up more radio chatter so she continued to help with piling up bodies from the other side of the street. She even gave pointers to Cynthia with urately judging distance because the wind wouldn¡¯t have much of an effect at this ce because of the tall buildings strewn about.


    ¡®This ce is ready for tomorrow¡­ I have mapped out most of the rooms aside from the closed doors from the inside but we¡¯ll methodically clear them when the timees.¡¯ I thought to myself before I told everyone to pack up.


    We cleaned half an hour early so we could check on the progress of Oscar and the group he brought to Mbon.


    I picked up my radio and decided to contact him.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Old man, you guys still there?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    [Kid? Yeah, yeah, we¡¯re just finishing up on thest f.u.c.k.i.n.g wall. I didn¡¯t think it would be this f.u.c.k.i.n.g tedious! We need to f.u.c.k.i.n.g put down the ones on the front side, haul enough bodies from these walls, shoot the ones from the other side, hauling what¡¯s left of the walls, then finally burning them in f.u.c.k.i.n.g clumps! It¡¯s like up and down and up and down!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It ain¡¯t much, but it¡¯s honest work, right?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Cheh, it¡¯s like watching p.o.r.n and you had to flip the tape to the other side!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! Tell me, are the ones you watching still ck and white?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Wha- you f.u.c.k.i.n.g¡­ this is a trap, I could feel it. Anyway, how is it on your side?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Same thing as yesterday but we discovered more people from the other city. We¡¯ll talk about itter because we¡¯re just about to head in your direction. What street are you guys in currently?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    [What? Don¡¯t bother. You might attract more in this ce and we¡¯re just about to head home. Most of our time was spent burning them in cl.u.s.ters so we don¡¯t burn the whole city down.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Grab a few things while you¡¯re at it.¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/finishing-prep-work¡ªwhat-she''s-in-my-room._50241020247461332 for visiting.


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Heh, already did after we¡¯re finished with the second wall. You¡¯d be surprised.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You got something good? What is it?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [A V8.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Kid?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Hah! I¡¯m kidding! I¡¯m kidding! We opened up every ce we¡¯vee across but this one ce was full of f.u.c.k.i.n.g Twinkies!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What? Really?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, like the guy from the movies we watchedst time. Anyway, there are a few ces we should go back and loot but I did found a few guns South of the bridge where you guys discovered those ferals. We encountered a pack feasting on a dead cop and after unloading bullets after bullets just to take them down, we searched the police station just by the corner. Standard issues and all but we should get to work on that DDR Camp you¡¯re camping on. The loot there¡¯s much better.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You encountered a pack?¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, you going deaf kid? Five of them all in all but your stories scared the shit outta some of our soldiers so it got peppered before it managed to reach one of us. It¡¯s like it got caught between swirling cookie cutters now, looking at them. I wanted to take a crack at them but things just happened fast.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I see. Then we¡¯ll see you back home. We¡¯ll be going around another route.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, just call Johnny so you get picked up.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We soon ended the call and we flew in a bit of a roundabout, circling through Karuhatan to check the surrounding areas. We still didn¡¯t have much progress with locating the other group keeping the streets clear, but we justmended them for fighting the same fight.


    On the way, we flew above a cemetery and it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g infested.


    Rotting bodies were almost on top of one another and seeing them getting riled up due to the noise of the helicopter was something like what happened when we fired a shot at Monumento. However, they couldn¡¯t do anything to us and we just flew right past them. All they could do was just follow the noise and get stuck in ce because of how congested the ce was.


    ¡®That¡¯s somece to clear without offering much of a reward besides killing them¡­ It¡¯s not like we could bury our dead anymore.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    When we got to the DDR Camp, standard procedures were ced and the base was just getting ready for sunset. Everyone was free to roam around the premises but once the sun goes down, tight security measures would be ced and only the people tasked with watch duty were allowed to walk around the streets and survey the surrounding walls. Everyone should be ounted for and in case of trouble, a call should be made to address the situation properly.


    ¡°What¡¯s up! You guys are early! Oscar and the rest aren¡¯t here yet!¡± An shouted at us from below.


    An picked us up from the DDR Camp and we loaded our equipment in the vehicle he brought. Zeus didn¡¯te with him but I heard him barking atop the wall of thepound with Jenny as soon as we reached home.


    ¡°Ah~ Finally~ I could get some sleep~¡± Loismented, stretching his arms.


    ¡°And you aren¡¯t even gonna go to Olivia first. Kids these days¡­¡± Matthew shook his head, hiding a smirk.


    ¡°What? She¡¯s in my room.¡± Lois pped back, seeing through Matthew.


    ¡°WHAT?! THE F.U.C.K IS SHE- OLIVIA!!!¡± Matthew instantly lost it as chaos ensued.

 Chapter 475

    Chapter 475: 475


    Matthew was about to barge into Lois¡¯ room but we heard Olivia¡¯s voice from the opposite side. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What are you yelling for? I¡¯m here?¡± Olivia came from the side of the road while Zeus and a little puppy were following her.


    ¡°Wut- YOU!¡± Matthew eximed as he turned to Lois.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus immediately rushed up to me while the little one was circling around Olivia, trying to grab her attention.


    ¡°What? You think she¡¯d actually do that? Dads these days¡­¡± Lois shook his head, feigning disappointment.


    We started to chuckle as Matthew lost it once more but we soon settled down after bringing the rest of our equipment and items used to their designated position. The casings that were separated from the rest of our bullets were ced in the workshop for sorting while the rest of the ammo left was sent back to my armory. The .22 rifles I lent them were also given back to me but I ced them near the pile of guns that we still needed to clean thoroughly.


    ¡®We¡¯re still far from finishing this pile because of having a little too much fun¡­ Well, if we just cleaned them and stopped swapping out parts we¡¯d be done already¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hey, you¡¯reing with?¡± Kaley called out to me, carrying a clump of clothes and a towel.


    ¡°Oh, yeah. Just a sec.¡± I replied, heading to my dresser.


    ¡°I already prepared your clothes by the bed.¡± Kaley gave me a smile as she pointed to it. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Thanks! I¡¯ll make sure to scrub you thoroughly!¡± I eximed, giving a cheeky smile.


    ¡°Hmm~ Of course, you will¡­¡± Kaley giggled as she turned around and we went to the bathroom for a ¡®quick¡¯ shower and maybe a soak.


    When we came back to our room, it became customary for us to carry at least our Maxim 9 with a leg holster and a couple of extra magazines but we would sometimes conceal carry it under our jackets. Aside from that, my katana and her wakizashi would never leave our sides plus a fixed de knife for utility purposes. Each one of my group would do the same just in case shit happens so we would at least be with something.


    ¡°Wanna head down?¡± I asked Kaley.


    ¡°They¡¯re not calling for us yet, right?¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Wanna do something first?¡±


    ¡°Not really, I just want to hand around here for a bit more.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Kaley and I just lied down on the bed while ying music on her phone until Rin knocked on our door after a while. <hr>


    ¡°Come in~¡± Kaley spoke up.


    ¡°Guys? The food is ready. Wanna head- heh, what are you two doing?¡± Rin said after opening the door and looking at uszing around with our feet in the air.


    Kaley and I just chuckled then we flipped over to wear our shoes. Tatiana seemed to be at Daisy¡¯s ce once more but we weren¡¯t even surprised that she was first in line at the table filled with food.


    We had Adobo once more but this time, boiled eggs were added to the pot with roasted potatoes. Everyone was having a casual conversation with each other and then the meeting started right after.


    ¡°U-Umm, we just finished erecting another greenhouse inside Woonds while the people from the DDR Camp just had their first harvest of vegetables from their own gardens. They made use of the school¡¯s gardens to nt some lettuce and a few vegetables that grow fast but now they reserved a plot for tomatoes and cuc.u.mbers.¡± Charlotte started.


    ¡°We made more fruiting bags for the mushrooms to grow onto and I even thought some of the people from both outposts to make some. Our harvests are almost used immediately but a portion of them are always reserved for canning. We are slowly increasing our stocks of them and they are properlybeled with the dates they were manufactured in.¡± Amanda added.


    ¡°Thank you, Derek?¡± I said after looking at the file they gave me.


    ¡°In my case, there wasn¡¯t much action taking care of animals but I guarantee you that they¡¯re always taken care of. I¡¯ve been teaching people my ways but I¡¯m learning from them as well. Well, we have a goose we¡¯re about to butcher but the kids named it so¡­ I think that¡¯s the only trouble I¡¯m facing.¡± Derek chuckled, scratching his head.


    ¡®I guess peace was never an option.¡¯ Iughed inwardly. <hr>


    After a few more reports, Oscar gave a more detailed breakdown of what happened with their run. He wasn¡¯t sure about the exact number of supplies they brought back but Rin already put them on the file on my hands. Aside from the essential items, they managed to bring back a few working vehicles at home base that only needed fuel to run but they¡¯re sent to Anthony¡¯s ce to be checked thoroughly.


    ¡°Are they set for tomorrow? The president and the rest?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah, they mighte in the early morning or noon depending on their circ.u.mstances but they¡¯re reallying. Iskoh mighte as well.¡± Oscar added.


    ¡°Iskoh? Really?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, Iskoh and Rod will be heading straight to the Man North Harbor while Avalos and Honassan will be heading straight for us with a few helicopters. After they¡¯re done with that ce, they¡¯d be heading straight for this area but I¡¯ll meet them with my own group because they don¡¯t know the ces we¡¯ve blocked.¡± Oscar exined.


    ¡°I see¡­¡± I trailed, nodding a few times.


    ¡°Wannae with me, kid?¡± Oscar suggested.


    ¡°Sorry, but we really need to take care of that DDR Camp. Remember the people I told you we encountered? They might stumble upon that ce and take everything for themselves. If you could, try and contact Avalos and Honassan if they coulde here a little bit early so I could tell them part of my n to take that ce. Those two would be crucial and the rest of Tatiana¡¯s teaming as well.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, I will then. After this meeting.¡± Oscar sat down.


    ¡°So, let me hear this n of yours.¡± Matthew chimed in. <hr>


    ¡°It will be a little different now because the rest of the president¡¯s soldiers will be busy but we¡¯d still achieve the same result. The only drawback is that it would take more time than usual because we would only be able to take a few people with us. We can scratch making that ce as an outpost for now but we¡¯ll be able to take home all of their equipment once we¡¯re done with them. Here¡¯s what we¡¯ll do¡­¡± I brought out a drawing board as I started.


    I showed them the footage taken by our drones as I slowly built up the DDR Camp in Monumento from scratch. I was marking each room with items to be taken from and some ces still unknown to us. Each floor, room, building was highlighted and I pointed out ces we should hit first and ces we should have a group taking care of anything thates running.


    The n was kinda straightforward if I should say so myself but it wouldn¡¯t reach this point if we didn¡¯t prepare the stage ourselves. I have written down the names of the peopleing with me and I answered each of their questions regarding their roles. The only ones left without instruction will be our pilots and the rest of Tatiana¡¯s group that would being with us.


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s doable or should I say¡­ too easy to do.¡± Matthew nodded his head a few times.


    ¡°That¡¯s two days of prep and a lot of materials used. We could say that we¡¯re already taking over that ce for the third day now.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t the n for the Valenzu City Hall took much longer? Shit, I kinda want to join you guys.¡± Oscar asked, half sure of what he would do.


    ¡°Well, that ce we had no way of scouting inside. We need to prep for everything that mighte our way. That ce was already tagged for the most part but we should still be careful about the ces my drone wasn¡¯t able to enter.¡± I replied. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/ready-for-tomorrow¡ªwhat-about-them_50265626937191427 for visiting.


    ¡°What if those guyse again?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°We¡¯d only say one warning and that¡¯s it. They¡¯d be endangering our lives if they mess up our n and I don¡¯t have the time to receive help from the help we wouldn¡¯t need in the first ce. Besides, we¡¯ll see how would they traverse the walls we made.¡± I replied.


    ¡°So, the faster those pilotse here, the faster we could execute the n? How are we gonna take into ount the rest of Tatiana¡¯s team? This would be the first time we¡¯d be with them, right?¡± Jared added.


    ¡°Artem and the rest? Hah! They¡¯re hardy f.u.c.kers, if Rod didn¡¯t like the kid as much he wouldn¡¯t let go of them! I heard a few stories from Rod himself and you¡¯d be surprised.¡± Oscar started cackling.

 Chapter 476

    Chapter 476: 476


    Jared threw a weird look at Oscar from his statement but the evidence was already in front of him. It took him a moment to discover it himself but to put it simply, as bad as it would sound for us, only a select few of the Rangers and the DDS from our country could hope to match Tatiana, Mikhail, Vera, and the rest of their team. Not to mention, their team leader would arrive tomorrow morning. <center></center><hr>


    Jared could out-shoot most of them, even Alexei but if we were looking for all-around potential and who was already battle-tested, the answer couldn¡¯t be more obvious.


    ¡°Sorry, stupid question.¡± Jared said as he piped down.


    ¡°Don¡¯t look down at yourself, you just need more experience. y on your strengths but don¡¯t forget to sharpen your rough edges. There are a very few long shooters like ya.¡± Oscarmented.


    ¡°How many areing, exactly?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°All 13 of them. Wait- make it 9 since you guys are here while the other two are in the provinces.¡± Oscar replied.


    ¡°I thought you guys are much more when you came here?¡± I turned to Tatiana and the rest.


    ¡°We¡¯re ¡®hardy f.u.c.kers¡¯ but we¡¯re not immortal. It¡¯s different over therepared to this ce. Not to talk bad about your president but it¡¯s not as amodating in the early days. You need to prove yourself by doing high-risk missions. We¡¯re used to it but it gets ridiculous when you¡¯repeting with other countries who have more people.¡± Vera exined.


    ¡°What happened over there? I believe I didn¡¯t ask much about it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Shit happens, that¡¯s why we went here to search for Ilya and the rest. We¡¯re lucky with Ilya but there¡¯s still no news from Alexander and Kuzma. Don¡¯t worry too much about us, you got a ce to run.¡± Mikhail added.


    ¡°Heh, not a chance. If you¡¯re gonna be working with me, I¡¯ll f.u.c.k.i.n.g worry about everything. I reload a save if I made an NPC mad, don¡¯t you know?¡± I said as I chuckled.


    The three just shook their heads in amus.e.m.e.nt but Vera soon exined their situation from the other side of the country when they were sent there. It was just as she said earlier being ¡®not as aodating¡¯ where they needed some street cred. The power struggle they were experiencing got worse when they lost people but she never openly stated it was due to other people but she was kinda leading onto it. However, she didn¡¯t fail to mention that they were also at fault for epting such missions but there was some foul y involved.


    ¡®A sabotage then? It¡¯s hard when everyone around you could be an enemy.¡¯ I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Did you have any idea as to which group did it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It could be anyone, kid. Hell, they could be done by the American dignitaries as well.¡± Oscarmented.


    ¡°Hmm, it could also be done by our own. I mostly trust the president with his decisions but there are some snakes always hiding in obscure areas. He already rooted a few from the surface but there¡¯s always someone pulling the strings from behind.¡± I added.


    ¡°Hey, we got no time worrying about the struggle in that ce. We have our own problems and bringing them here would just make them deal with our problems now. Call it avoiding a problem or not I¡¯d rather be shooting heads than sitting in my ass with those dignitaries. It¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g boring if you ask me.¡± Matthew added.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. Anyway, Vera, you¡¯re still maintaining contact with them, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes, anything you want me to pass on?¡± Vera replied.


    ¡°Pass onto them the whole n before this night ends. You got it all down, right?¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, that would be no problem.¡± Vera replied.


    ¡°You ain¡¯t gonna try and talk to him? I thought you wanted to meet the guy?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯d like my first time talking to Artem is face to face, the rest of his team too. I could only figure so much about someone through a call.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hah~ I think you two would get along, Boss.¡± Mikhail added.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± I replied. <hr>


    We started talking about topics unrted to the meeting, so I quickly ended the meeting so everyone present could go home. I still had to prepare the equipment we would be using tomorrow and on top of that, we needed to wake up early, so I only did my daily routine without sparring with the rest of the group. Aside from that, I already dered that my shields were up so any sort of attempt to make me even more tired unless I request it, would bepletely denied.


    ¡°Okay, my tattoo is about finished on the back. You could rest, for now.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°What else are you guys doing?¡± Rin asked.


    ¡°Well, deep clean of the guns we would be using tomorrow plus Kaley and I would be cleaning my katana and her wakizashi. Aside from that, packing a lot of ammo and magazines on the ammo cans and also preparing other supplies such as food, water, medicine, and etc.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Oh, give me a list of what you don¡¯t have yet. I¡¯ll be taking it out from the storage area.¡± Rin offered help.


    ¡°Okay, here¡­¡± I quickly wrote down on a piece of paper and she brought Tatiana with her to carry some of the stuff up.


    ¡°Why me?¡± Tatiana protested.


    ¡°Put those muscles to work!¡± Rin just pushed her down the stairs.


    ¡°Then you¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.ging too!¡± Tatiana started to drag down Vera browsing through the catalog Daisy brought.


    ¡°I¡¯m busy!¡± Vera protested as well.


    ¡°She¡¯ll be inking me tonight, you¡¯d get your turnter!¡± Tatiana eximed but Vera soon gave up.


    The three disappeared though Cynthia and Daisy were still with us. <hr>


    ¡°I need to get better at shooting so I coulde with you guys, right?¡± Daisy asked.


    ¡°A few more things as well but you¡¯re keeping Jay¡¯s group together. Bing mostly listens to you.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s right on so many levels.¡± Daisy just shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking of bringing my PS90, is that okay?¡± Cynthia asked, bringing it out from her case.


    ¡°Ooh~ I¡¯ve never fired one of these before~¡± Kaleymented.


    ¡°Heh, I¡¯ll give you one if you want but I thought you hate guns with short barrels?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°W-Well, that¡¯s true, I guess¡­¡± Kaley went back to cleaning her rifle.


    ¡°What¡¯s did you call it again? Isn¡¯t that a P90 not a PS90?¡± Daisy asked, confused.


    ¡°It¡¯s an FN PS90. Yeah, they look the same but this one only fires semi-auto and its barrel is a little longer than its counterpart. I have a suppressed P90, do you want to use it instead? It¡¯s the same thing but only with a shorter barrel and it could go full-auto. I¡¯d argue that it¡¯s better than an MP5 but I love that gun as well. Different situations call for different guns, I guess.¡± I replied then I turned to Cynthia.


    ¡°Really? I¡¯ll have a go with it then.¡± Cynthia said as she nodded a few times.


    ¡°Growing tired of your takedown AR-15?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Oh, not really but I couldn¡¯t reload as fast as you guys yet so I¡¯m opting with something that could hold more rounds. We¡¯d be going room to room and shooting more on foot, right? I wanted something lighter and a little bit morepact.¡± Cynthia replied. <hr>


    ¡°It has less recoil too since it uses 5.7¡Á28 rounds, not 5.56 as your AR-15 does. One mag could hold 50 rounds instead of 30 and it¡¯s reliable aside from the drums and quad stacks we have. Here, check it out.¡± I added as I handed her a case.


    Cynthia¡¯s eyes lit up as she saw something more kitted out than her own and she immediately asked about the other features it could do more than her PS90. I exined them briefly while Kaley continued to clean our guns and while Daisy was helping with reloading the magazines full. Daisy was using the speedloaders I have at my armory so she was making incredible time.


    ¡°Can you teach me to switch out the sights for the moment? I¡¯m used to this one.¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Sure, it wouldn¡¯t take long. Well, still have to zero it too but that could be done easily as well.¡± I replied as I brought out the rest of my tools to rece my holo-sight with her red-dot sight.


    The four of us continued to talk while working and the three that went down eventually joined us.


    ¡°Did Jared and the rest grab their share?¡± I asked Rin.


    ¡°Yeah, Lois brought a few more candies while Jared grabbed a few more protein bars. I saw it written down on the list but the rest took the regr stuff.¡± Rin replied.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, sometimes I¡¯d bring an energy drink with me as well.¡± I said, bringing out the bags I would be putting the rest of our gear in.


    We ced them by the door for tomorrow along with the ammo cans filled with extra magazines and chock full of different kinds of ammo. I brought some throwables as well for emergencies and I made sure each one of us had a few in our separate pouches. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/i-worry-about-everything.¡ªps90-or-p90_50286017294420074 for visiting.


    We were about done with our gear and much to their disappointment, I made everyone vacate our room because I needed some sleep for tomorrow.


    ¡°You just wanted me alone, don¡¯t you?¡± Kaley giggled from behind.


    ¡°Maybe.¡± I chuckled before turning the lights off.

 Chapter 477

    Chapter 477: 477


    My eyes were still adjusting to the dark but I heard our nket getting flipped over and some clothes rustling right next to it. I just removed my shirt, only wearing my boxers and I went under the nket, hugging Kaley from the side. She wasying on her back while I rested my head by her chest and she raised her arm so I could snuggle closer. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We¡¯re doing something quick then?¡± Kaley said softly while she was caressing my hair.


    ¡°Maybe~¡± I replied, wrapping my arm on her waist.


    ¡°Why do you keep answering with maybe? Acting mysterious and all¡­ get up here¡­¡±


    ¡°Why? I love it here¡­¡±


    ¡°J-Just¡­ get up here¡­¡±


    ¡°I might kiss you, you know?¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ W-Who says I w-won¡¯t do it first?¡±


    I just chuckled by exhaling a bit of air from my nose as I went up a little bit to face her. I could feel her breathing but it didn¡¯t matter as much as she gave me a slight peck on my lips before looking at me. It was dark but our eyes already adjusted and the moonlight could partially reveal the glint in our eyes and part of our silhouette.


    ¡°I love you.¡±


    ¡°I love you too.¡± <center></center><hr>


    It was then that I was the one who kissed her but our lips stayed much longer. I tasted her sweet lips and her sweet, sweet saliva as I kissed her even deeper. I was still by her side while I was kissing her but she was beginning to turn her body towards me. However, we weren¡¯t making much progress because we wanted the kiss to stay longer and I was trying to go on top of her.


    We just chuckled at each other when we discovered what the other one was trying to aplish but Kaley was now also on her side, wrapping her arm around my body.


    We continued to kiss each other but Kaley¡¯s hand was already snaking inside my boxers and she was doing the reverse grip with my c.o.c.k as she was slowly stroking it where her pinky was making the most contact with the tip. Her hand felt so f.u.c.k.i.n.g good so I pushed her closer to me with my left hand while I reached around her ass, squeezing each cheek while slightly prodding her little asshole, after pushing her soaking panties to the side. However, I could also reach for her dripping slit and I was using her juices so I could slide my fingers in her ass easier.


    Kaley¡¯s grip on me became tighter and tighter as she began to stroke me roughly but neither of us was breaking the kiss even if we were already breathing heavily. I could already feel prec.u.ming out of me but Kaley was gliding her pinky around the tip, focusing on the little opening where it wasing out. It was then she began to bite my lower lip, hinting at me that she wanted more than my hands now.


    Our deep kiss was finally broken as she looked at me while breathing heavily.


    ¡°L-Lay d-down¡­ ly d-down¡­ q-quick¡­¡± Kaley whispered in a hurry.


    Kaley didn¡¯t even wait for me as she pushed my shoulder down so I wouldy on my back and she was now in control of the situation. She grabbed my d.i.c.k once more as she nestled the tip right in her warm and wet opening, then she slowly lowered herself, taking me in right until I reach her w.o.m.b. She immediately twitched once she reached the base but she wrapped her arms on my neck, kissing me once more before she moved her h.i.p.s faster and faster.


    I almost lost it from the pleasure of going in and out of her and it was a struggle whether I release it at once or I let ourselves enjoy the moment as long as I could muster. Her walls were squeezing me so tight and even if she was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g wet, the feeling from going in and out of her was mind-numbingly intense. Kaley¡¯s h.i.p.s would m down on me from each pull but she pulled too far and when she mmed it down again, I entered her ass almost violently as she grimaced from pain and pleasure.


    ¡°O-Ow~ I-It¡¯s i-in my a-ass¡­¡± Kaley cried out but she didn¡¯t stop moving her h.i.p.s.


    Kaley managed to speak out but going in another level of tightness was too f.u.c.k.i.n.g much. I began to breathe erratically as my body twitched all over because I was already shooting everything inside Kaley¡¯s tight f.u.c.k.i.n.g hole. She still wasn¡¯t stopping as she continued to ride me as I began to lose my mind from the sensitivity. However, it didn¡¯t take long before she followed me as her back arched and her eyes rolled over.


    It was at this moment when I locked my arms around her h.i.p.s and I started thrusting from below. <hr>


    ¡°W-Wait I-I¡¯m s-still c.u.m- AH! AH! HNGH~ A-AH! W-WAIT! I-I¡¯M- AGAIN I- I-I¡¯M CU- AHH!¡± Kaley cried out as she tried to smother me with her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    Each thrust I made would make her huge udders jiggle and reposition my face between her tits but I could already feel warm liquid flowing out of her, adding a wet sound each time I thrust it all the way. I blew my second load inside her and we both took a small breather. Kaley had almost lost it from c.u.m.m.i.n.g over and over and she was just clutching me tight. It was then that I turned her over and pulled out for a moment to reposition but I saw her gaping asshole oozing c.u.m.


    ¡°Here t-too¡­¡± Kaley muttered as spread her legs and parted her puffy lips below with anticipation.


    My body just moved on its own as I went on top of her and I thrust my hard c.o.c.k inside of her. As it slid all the way in, I buried my face between her huge tits as I rammed it over and over. All I could hear was Kaley m.o.a.ning louder and louder while I was rummaging her insides. Her nails were already digging onto my back but that didn¡¯t stop me from having my way with her.


    I started to lightly bite her pink n.i.p.p.l.e while I was pinching the other one and Kaley pushed me even more against her tits as she wrapped her legs around my h.i.p.s. I just kept thrusting over and over until I came a third time and I released it all inside her. We continued for a few more rounds but we ended with us on our sides, while I was thrusting it deep inside her ass once more and my fingers were going in and out of her p.u.s.s.y.


    We were so out of breath once we were done and we fell asleep after a quick shower. I was spooning Kaley once more


    Time continued to pass and we were woken up by our rm, signaling a new day. Kaley and I were first in the shower and we quickly geared up then we brought down the rest of our equipment as we waited for breakfast to be served.


    The rest of our group joined us after a few minutes but Vera was speaking with someone through the radio. I could hear a few bits from Vera¡¯s side but then I saw Tatiana walking down, carrying her own bag of supplies. Tatiana talked briefly on Vera¡¯s radio but she soon joined us at the pool area.


    ¡°Is it them?¡± I asked Tatiana.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess they¡¯re pretty close.¡± Tatiana replied. <hr>


    ¡°Are we immediately heading out once we had breakfast and met them?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s still early, so I could check their gear and do one more run-through with our n. I already brought extra guns and ammo but I want to know our full inventory before we leave. They¡¯re leaving nothing behind the president¡¯s ce, right?¡± I exined then I turned to Mikhail.


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re bringing my PKM as well. Hard choice, I might return the one you lent me but I¡¯ll keep the attachments.¡± Mikhail chuckled.


    Vera soon ended her call and joined then she said, ¡°They¡¯re about to reach this ce and apparently, Ms. M is flying her own helicopter with them.¡±


    ¡°So, Micah¡¯sing as well eh?¡± Kaley turned to me, smiling cheekily.


    ¡®Oh boy¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Who?¡± Cynthia asked.


    ¡°Remember the girl group from before? Led by Ms. M?¡± Kaley tried to exin.


    ¡°Oh! She¡¯s alive too?! Can I meet her?!¡± Cynthia got excited.


    ¡°We¡¯ll ¡®meet¡¯ her alright.¡± Tatiana chuckled much to Cynthia¡¯s confusion.


    ¡°Anyway, are we gonna pick them up? We could bring the truck or the Raptor and the Humvee?¡± Kaley suggested. <hr>


    ¡°Sure, let¡¯s go. We¡¯re the only ones up in this area. Even Jared and Lois are still getting ready.¡± I nodded.


    As soon as we reached the DDR Camp, a few helicopters were already in view but as soon as theynded, Micah immediately ran up to us while Jade was right behind her.


    ¡®Jude will be hap- well maybe he¡¯ll smile I don¡¯t know¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hi~ Miss me?¡± Micah greeted us, still carrying the Lone Wolf G9 we gave her.


    ¡°H-Hi! I-I¡¯m C-Cynthia!¡± Cynthia was already starstruck.


    They started talking to each other but I was waiting for the people in the cargo helicopter toe out. As soon as they did, they exuded a lot of pressure but I casually offered a handshake to the one in the middle who Tatiana and the rest immediately ran to. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/maybe¡ªzdravstvuyte_50306587755070018 for visiting.


    ¡®Must be Artem.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Zdravstvuyte.¡± I greeted them.


    ¡°Oy! Zdravstvuyte! Ty Nebo?¡± the man in the middle was pleasantly surprised.


    ¡®Shit.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Sorry, Zdravstvuyte is all I know. Are you Artem?¡± I quickly recovered.

 Chapter 478

    Chapter 478: 478


    The rest of his team looked at me with faint smiles though some were looking at me solemnly. All of them were built athletically but Mikhail was still the biggest among all of them. There was a woman at the back with longer legs than Tatiana but Artem was still the one standing out due to the pressure he was exudingpared to the rest of them. <center></center><hr>


    Artem had dark blonde hair cut short, a scruffy beard, and grey-whitish eyes. He was a 6-footer but his body was built for war. I couldn¡¯t see much from his torso due to his body armor and equipment, but ncing at his arms and legs told me that it would be a fun day when we give each other lessons.


    ¡°Ah, da, I see. I said, ¡®Oh! Hello! Are you Sky?¡¯ Pardon my ent, I¡¯m still having trouble removing that and learning yournguage. I¡¯m Artem, you¡¯ve met a part of my team but the ones I came with are¡­¡± Artem began to introduce the rest of his team.


    His eight other members wereposed of five men and three women. I discovered that the one with long legs was Katya and her eyes were piercing blue.


    ¡®Like Aoi¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    The few others that stood out were Kristoff wearing a smiley patch on his body armor, Bogdan smoking an expensive Cuban cigar, and Natasha because she had the same name as a certain someone from a different cinematic universe. I remembered the names of his other soldiers and I began to introduce my own.


    ¡°It is said that we start attacking each other, right?¡± Artem gave a wide smile as he turned to Tatiana.


    ¡°If you two start, we¡¯d see who¡¯s the top fighter. Sky and Kaley already beat Ilya which only you and I have had a 50-50 chance.¡± Tatianamented with a cheeky smile.


    As soon as Tatiana said that, there was a lot of tension in the air when Artem¡¯s eyes changed even if he was still wearing a smile. The rest of his team got surprised too when they heard the news but they were even more shocked to learn of Kaley¡¯s achievement.


    ¡®Well, she did technically but Ilya wasn¡¯t fighting back¡­ I didn¡¯t even have a proper fight with Ilya but Tatiana just decided that because I won the whole thingst time¡­ ¡® I thought to myself.


    ¡°Interesting.¡± Katyamented from the back, staring at Kaley.


    Kaley wasn¡¯t able to say anything because each one of us just started weighing and checking each other out to see who would make the first move. Artem and I were just looking at each other but I also started to let out a little bit of pressure to see what his reaction would be like. It was good to check out thepetition and my futurerades but I broke the silence because we still had a lot to do this morning.


    I just jabbed him lightly on his torso after drawing the pressure back, much to his surprise.


    I just chuckled as I gave a smile, ¡°Breakfast first, I still need to run-down the n to you guys. Did you prepare the list of your equipment as I asked Vera to tell you guys?¡±


    The tension immediately lightened as Artem replied, ¡°Da, Katya, please.¡±


    Katya handed the list to me but I gave it back as soon as I flipped through it much to her surprise. <center></center><hr>


    ¡®They don¡¯t have a lot¡­ I guess some of them aren¡¯t getting replenished¡­ Mikhail¡¯s PKM is here though¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be holding onto them for the time being but you could take them back as soon as we go out. They¡¯d be recorded by Rin and ced in a safe area because I already had plenty prepared for the mission. We¡¯ll talk about living arrangementster but we should head back soon. I¡¯ll introduce you to the rest of the peopleing with us.¡± I said.


    ¡°You barely nced through it¡­¡± Katyamented as she nced at Artem.


    ¡°Want me to recite everything?¡± I chuckled as I looked at her straight in the eye.


    Katya was taken aback by my statement while the rest of my own team were waiting in anticipation. However, she didn¡¯t speak a word so we soon went back after bringing the rest of their equipment back home.


    ¡°I think we¡¯ve been forgotten¡­¡± I heard Honassan¡¯s voice from the back.


    ¡°Shit,e with us you two! We have a few things to discuss!¡± I eximed, quickly turning around.


    When we got back, an early breakfast was already prepared for us and the sun was still not summoned by our rooster. It was fun to see their faces giving looks of confusion by our hospitality and how Tatiana was just prancing around piling a huge pile of food on her te.


    Zeus woke up and saw us eating with new people but he approached them slowly, heading to Artem first.


    ¡°Zeus, that¡¯s Artem. Artem, that¡¯s Zeus.¡± I introduced them.


    Zeus just stared at Artem first while he stuck his hand out, waiting for Zeus to get even closer. However, Zeus started to climb over him much to his surprise. Zeus was so excited and even I wasn¡¯t sure about how did this ur.


    ¡°Woah! Easy down there little woofer!¡± Artem eximed, not moving an inch after he raised his te as high as he could. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/artem¡ªsend-the-drones-in._50327090586768535 for visiting.


    ¡°Hmm, do you have something on your pockets again?¡± Tatiana asked, shaking her head.


    ¡°Ah, shit. Da, I do. Did you smell my hot pockets? You can have it if you want? It¡¯s cold though so it¡¯s a cold pocket now?¡± Artem tried to talk to Zeus.


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus immediately answered. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll give ya one. Which one though, hmm~¡± Artem opened several as he started to choose which one to give him.


    ¡°Did you have several on your pockets all along?¡± I asked, confused.


    ¡°Da, I always do.¡± Artem replied, pulling out one then throwing it high for Zeus to catch in which Zeus did.


    ¡°Nice. I think we¡¯ll get along pretty well.¡± I chuckled.


    Time continued to pass and we soon finished breakfast. The rest of my team joined us and I did a refresher course about our operation. Vera did a great job of rying my information because I didn¡¯t have to exin much to Artem and his group. I checked their weapons and added a few things for their use. The rest of my people woke up and I introduced and they were once again surprised by the warm wee.


    ¡®Must be really bad at Rod¡¯s ce if you¡¯re a foreigner¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    It was already past 6:00 AM when we were ready then all of us boarded the cargo helicopter d with our equipment. I wasn¡¯t driving this time and I was just looking at everybody.


    ¡®I wish they¡¯d perform well as Tatiana and the rest. Maybe even better since they¡¯re all here except for a few¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    It took us a few minutes to reach the DDR Camp in Monumento but once we did, it took them some time to take in everything that we did from the past day. It was the same as we left it yesterday but it was the first time for them to see it up close. It was then that we let a few people down the love hotel.


    The people were Vera, Lois, Cynthia, Chris, Russel, and two other soldiers and they were tasked withmunication and surveince. The two soldiers with them were for their safety but they know a thing or two about long shooting and basicmunication.


    They were already in ce and I saw them setting up so I made Honassan flew the helicopter as low as possible so we could take the roof of the DDR Camp in the main area for ourselves. We just hovered by the corner of the building first to shoot down the ones atop the roof. There was still the issue of space so the cargo helicopter couldnd so we hovered on the other side where there were no bodies bleeding out.


    ¡°You guys know what to do.¡± I said as I was the first one to jump down only carrying my pistol and a fixed de knife.


    ¡°Da, we need to be quick.¡± Artemmented as he followed.


    I rolled as Inded to break my fall and the rest followed after me. They either jumped down or were let down slowly by a rope.


    ¡°Catch!¡± Kaley shouted as she threw my rifle and my katana down. <hr>


    ¡°Thanks!¡± I shouted back as I guarded the ones still trying to get down.


    As soon as they did, we moved as quickly as possible as we threw the tents and other stuffying around the roof. There were still bodies stuck inside some of the tents but we just let gravity handle it as we also chucked them down. Deadheads wereing straight for me since I was the one further in but I just gripped my katana tight and drew it in a sh.


    I sliced diagonally as part of its shoulder came off along with a part of its head, containing brain matter. The removed pieces fell to the flooring first before the rest of its body did. The rest of its brain just sloshed inside after its body hit the floor but a few bits jumped out, staining the flooring.


    Tatiana and the rest followed after me while Artem and a few of his soldiers went for the other side. It was almost a race between us as we ravaged each deadhead that came close just with our melee weapons.


    Body after body littered the flooring but the ones behind us were chucking them down. A small st would be heard after they did that but the sound of flesh getting sliced apart was more of a continuing urrence. As soon as we reached the end of the roof, there was one deadhead left with a broken neck, standing in the middle of us.


    The bone of its neck was protruding from the side and each movement it made would make darkened blood squeeze out from where the bone was sticking out. The blood just fell down slowly as bits of pus mixed in followed after that. Artem already offered it to me but a small propane tank came flying and hit it square on its body.


    It just fell down due to the impact along with the propane tank that was thrown.


    ¡°Stop being so ceremonial about it. I thought we¡¯re in a hurry?¡± Katya mentioned casually before turning around.


    ¡°She did that?¡± I asked, turning to Artem.


    ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s a feisty one. She¡¯s stronger than she looks, like a gori.¡± Artem mentioned.


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K DID YOU SAY TO ME?!¡± Katya immediately turned around.


    ¡°Stop acting so mysterious, you¡¯re a brute like the rest of us.¡± Artem mentioned after dodging a thrownntern.


    ¡°Here they go again¡­¡± Bogdanmented.


    ¡°Can¡¯t they just f.u.c.k already? Wait- did they?¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°Dunno, they¡¯re acting like an old married couple but they¡¯re still sleeping in different beds¡­¡± Natasha chimed in. <hr>


    ¡®Those two, huh?¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Don¡¯t throw the tables! Just drag them to the side!¡± Kristoff waved Mikhail down which was chucking item after item.


    ¡°The chairs too, we didn¡¯t bring any.¡± Natasha added.


    ¡°We guys made a mess below. We could start shooting some of them.¡± Bogdan continued, puffing another smoke.


    We would handle the mess belowter because it was more important to have a safe space where we could operate.


    Three helicopters were atop this area and we needed to remove one for a tight fit or two for afortablending. It was supposed to be a tight fit before but luckily, Micah was here with us. Her job wouldn¡¯t be as dangerous but it was important that she was here.


    Micah and Avalos checked the two helicopters and it didn¡¯t take long before they managed to turn the engines on. We brought extra fuel just in case but I guess we wouldn¡¯t be using them as of now.


    ¡°I¡¯d be going ahead! See you guyster!¡± Micah waved goodbye.


    ¡°Ms. M, I¡¯d be leading with this helicopter, please follow me closely!¡± Avalos shouted.


    Micah just signaled with her hands as they slowly hovered and left the area. It was then that Honassan nestled the cargo helicopter and we began to remove the equipment left inside. I wore my headpiece as I turned to the ones in the love hotel.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Send the drones in.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 479

    Chapter 479: 479


    Four drones came into view and they entered the same ce my drone did when I went for surveincest time. It was two on the floor we would be barging in and two for the floor beneath that. The purpose of doing that was so we could have an extra pair of eyes on our current floor while watching out for the ones that woulde up in case they got attracted. Vera would be the one to check each feed from the tablets and the ones driving them will be responsible for rying everything detail they saw. <center></center><hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Keep the radio clear, okay?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/descend¡ªpinching-pennies_50444126314883096 for visiting.


    *bzzt*


    [Understood.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    The rest of our people like Jared, Marvin, Mark, and Artem¡¯s other soldiers would be left on the roof for backup, clearing the deadheads visible, and more surveince because it would be hard to navigate the floors if we made everyone follow us. They were already setting up a spot where theyy all of our equipment down while another group was setting up the lights for more visibility below.


    ¡°Are you guys ready?¡± I asked the group.


    I would being down with Kaley, Tatiana, Mikhail, Ibarra, and Matthew on the Right Wing while Artem would be leading his group with Bogdan, Kristoff, Katya, Natasha, and one more of his soldiers named Igor would be heading to the Left Wing. The building we were in was symmetrical and we would be spreading out once we came down the stairs.


    ¡°Ready.¡± they all responded and even Bogdan puffed on his cigar onest time before setting it aside forter.


    ¡°Go quiet as much as possible but don¡¯t hesitate to fire or even regroup back on this roof when it goes sour. We could always do it again when it gets too dicey and I don¡¯t want to bring dog tags home, understood?¡± I added, looking at each one of them.


    My group already knew the drill and this pep talk was more for Artem¡¯s group because we would be operating on different sides, away from each other. However, it was not like they experienced anything different from my group. All I wanted to do was to remind them that they didn¡¯t need to throw their lives away just to prove themselves because there was always a way around things.


    ¡°Da, got it. You already made us breakfast, and that¡¯s already too much for us.¡± Artem replied, removing the rest of the unnecessary items in his pockets. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°A few should watch the stairs too, right?¡± Kaley suggested.


    ¡°And the elevator shaft.¡± Tatiana added.


    ¡°Yes, Mikhail¡¯s with his own PKM now so-¡± I was about to continue but Matthew cut me off.


    ¡°I¡¯ll stay with the big guy. One of you shoulde with them so the numbers could even out.¡± Matthew said.


    ¡°I¡¯lle with you then, would be nice to know them a little bit better.¡± Katya chimed in.


    ¡°Then it¡¯s settled but I¡¯ll have Mark and a few more from his team join you guys.¡± I said then I talked to my earpiece.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯re about to go in, status?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Bodies are littered on the 7th floor but a lot are still roaming around. They were just lying down on the ground but they started getting up when they heard the drones. Five doors are inessible but there seems to be movement by looking through the ss panes. A lot of zombies are clumped by the restrooms on both wings, but there isn¡¯t much visibility. The same could be said about the 6th floor but I¡¯ll say more once you¡¯re done with the 7th floor.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Gotcha, split the drones for each team but on the ones below them, have one watch the stairs while making the other one scout around. Don¡¯t make the one watching the stairs get too close or it might get shot to bits. Just keep it hovering or nestled somewhere safe.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Understood.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    ¡°Done here, Sir!¡± Marvin shouted behind us.


    ¡°Just drop them down in case of emergency, got it? Jared, watch everything from above, just start shooting anything that¡¯s supposed to be dead once you saw us running on the ground. Besides that, watch out for the other side of the road as well.¡± I replied, looking at the climbing ropes secured by the side and Jared setting up in a good spot.


    ¡°The elevator car is on the 1st floor, we have more optionspared tost time.¡± Mikhail added.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go.¡± I said as I flipped the lock on the door so we could head down.


    As soon as I turned the knob and opened the door, the same f.u.c.k.i.n.g smell would assault our noses. It was hard getting used to it and it seemed to be getting worse as the days pass. The shlights of our guns were turned on because the lighting from the windows was not enough and lights overhead could only do as much.


    ¡°NyyaaRrgghh¡­¡±


    ¡°Kaahrrg¡­¡±


    ¡°GhhrrKcreee¡­¡±


    We already heard the noisesing from the ones below and I could barely hear the drones hovering by the staircases. <hr>


    I took the lead as the rest were following behind me and I immediately saw about a dozening for the drones hovering a few feet above them. They couldn¡¯t reach them with their f.u.c.k.i.e.d up hands missing either a few fingers or a huge chunk of flesh and we made the best of it.


    I plunged my katana to the back of the head of someone wearing a helmet then I kicked it down, shing diagonally upwards, lopping off half the face of someone missing its scalp. It took the deadheads a while to react as I pushed one with my scabbard to the left while I lunged forwards stabbing three more in session. I almost carved out a deadhead¡¯s face off as I stabbed it in its eye because the rest of its flopping skin followed, even when I pulled my de back.


    From my right side, Mikhail swung wide, taking down two in session, making one headless while the other was cut in half. Artem¡¯s group wasn¡¯t able to do much because of the space between each corridor and most of my team got the early kills. However, unlike what would happen with Lois and Lawrence, it wasn¡¯t apetition between us. Everyone stuck to the mission at hand and no one was fooling around.


    My katana got stained with darkened blood and viscous fluids and we were still just by the staircases. We still haven¡¯t fired a single shot as the rest of the teams went into position.


    ¡°Chuck them down so we wouldn¡¯t worry about itter.¡± Matthew said.


    I looked behind me and the rest of my group double-tapped the rest of the deadheads and Mikhail was already throwing the bodies off the window. A dull thud would be heard after a few seconds and it gave me an estimate for how high we are just from the sound it produced.


    ¡°Go now, we¡¯ll be going ahead if you guys are too f.u.c.k.i.n.g slow!¡± Matthew chuckled.


    ¡°Rx, we¡¯re not on a time crunch. You know the n on this building: clear the floor then we all meet up back here and head down. We do this systematically until we clear this whole ce.¡± I reminded them before we split up.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Who¡¯s driving the drone following us?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [It¡¯s me, Lois.]


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, go ahead and we¡¯ll follow. Stop by that room first.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Coming~]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    The first room in front of us was barricaded by a few tables and chairs but the windows werepletely broken, allowing several deadheads toe inside and wreak havoc. A few deadheads that tried toe in got caught up in the shattered ss, rupturing their bellies, and spilling their guts by the windows. However, quite a few were inside the room ranging from dead civilians and soldiers, making us use our guns early on.


    It would take a lot of time to get through the barricade that they made so it would be much easier to shoot them with our suppressed .22 pistols. It wouldn¡¯t make much noise and we could head to the other rooms much quicker.


    While Kaley and I were shooting the ones inside, Tatiana with Katya and Ibarra started to clear the corridors up ahead while scanning just outside of the other room. Tatiana was taking the lead while Katya turned to be the temporary recement for Mikhail¡¯s absence. As Artem stated before, she was stronger than she looks and she could chuck bodies over the windows quite easily.


    ¡°You guys done?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯d still need to remove that barricadeter. I think I saw a weapon crate inside and we might miss something valuable.¡± I replied, reloading my pistol.


    ¡°You guys pinching your pennies here? I thought you brought a lot of supplies?¡± Katya chimed in, almost with a mocking tone.


    ¡°Heh, nice talk for a group that only had 228 rounds 7.62s remaining.¡± I pped back, chuckling.

 Chapter 480

    Chapter 480: 480


    Katya wasn¡¯t able to retort to my remark when Kaley fired shot after shot along with Ibarra and Tatiana. The three of them took a step back and started firing as Tatiana pulled Katya back. Bodies missing chunks from their own person starteding out from the end of the hallway and the other rooms, and the smell was f.u.c.k.i.n.g disgusting. Some of them had their jaws ripped off or had their arms crooked at angles while some had their chest cavity exposed and were housing maggots and flies. <center></center><hr>


    Their guts started spilling out with what remained in their stomachs and it just plopped to the ground, staining what was once a clean hallway.


    ¡°Careful with stepping on those.¡± I quickly reminded them.


    Bright shes of light also came from the other wing and they seem to be having the same encounter as us. I used my pistol to shoot down the onesing at us as all of us were slowly retreating back, kiting them back to the staircases. However, once we got the upper hand and controlled the wave, we holstered our guns and lunged back using our melee weapons.


    All of our movements were still the same though the one that was different was Ibarra. Instead of a chop and pull movement, he was doing thrust and pull movements because of his weapon change. His spear was detached into two pieces this time and he was using the pointy part to kill and the staff part to push and shove. He rarely used it for shing even if the spearhead was capable of that because the wound would be too shallow and it would be safer for a thrust and pull movement.


    Katya on the other hand was using a bowie machete and each chop she made follows through. There was strength between her attacks and each one would bring a deadhead missing its head or much more.


    ¡®Needs an upgrade especially that handle¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    As we were advancing, Kaley and Tatiana were watching our side and our rear because of other deadheads that might pop out from other rooms. There seemed to be slower ones but most of them wereing from the restroom at the end of the hallway. However, there were still strays waiting for an opportunity to dig their ws or teeth at us.


    Kaley was the only one using her rifle for lighting up the cl.u.s.ters we would encounter and each shot made its way to its rightful target. She was in the middle of our formation and she would fire at anything that posed a threat or moved.


    ¡°Reload!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Me too!¡± Tatiana added, falling back to grab extra shells.


    ¡°Katya! Don¡¯t worry about us, there¡¯s more iing!¡± Kaley continued.


    Lots and lots of silhouettes were still in front of us but we continued to mow them down. I was already using my katana along with my pistol to bring down deadheads as fast as I could.


    ¡®There¡¯s more than I thought¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    It was a tug of war between the deadheads as to which group could gain more ground. We were going back and forth to give us extra space because if too many bodies were littered on the floor, we wouldn¡¯t have much direction to dodge or evade their attacks so we advanced when we could and we retreated if it was possible.


    We were carefully watching out for the deadheads wing towards us and bodies littered the floor as we continued to inch slowly towards the restroom.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [They¡¯re getting fewer.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, just keep close watch.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Once we reached the restroom, the entrance was something else. I could only imagine what it was like from the inside. My group saw something simr to this before and it could mean that the deadheads here were stuck to each other for quite some time.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are they looking like that?¡± Katya grimaced from the sight.


    ¡°First time you see them like this?¡± I asked.


    Katya just nodded a few times and we shone our shlights inside the restroom.


    In a sense, the bodies were melding into each other and they have started to stick into the walls like mold or moss. However, instead of green shades, they were ckish and reddish in color and some of their parts were looking like roots, trying to grow into the walls themselves. Some deadheads couldn¡¯t even get out of their predicament but the ones who managed to leave had the skins of their back stuck on the wall, adding to the wallpaper.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Bro, want me to check deeper inside?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, go ahead.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Lois flew his drone inside the restroom for a few moments as we threw the bodies over the windows. We made sure to throw them on the right side by the driveway so we could easily burn them when the timees.


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    [It¡¯s more visible now because of the shlights but there is some sort of mound inside formed by them. Something simr to the entrance but thicker. Careful in stepping in because I couldn¡¯t figure out which is which.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s good enough.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    To reduce the risk, we illuminated the whole restroom with better shlights that had higher lumens. We punctured holes in the heads that stuck out and we almost raked through the bits stuck together to make sure none of them was left alive. There was always some faint movement or a small pulse that remained on their bodies when they were still in the process of undeath so it was quite easy to tell them apart up close.


    ¡°Are we gonna search the rooms now?¡± Katya asked.


    ¡°Not yet. We¡¯d clear all the dead bodies first before we start looting. It¡¯s safer that way.¡± I replied then I talked to my earpiece.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We cleared the Right Wing on the 7th floor, heading back to the staircases.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Still busy, give us a sec.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Status on the roof?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Same old, same old bro.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Vera?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [A few are starting to get rattled up. They¡¯re heading to the sources but some just plunged to their deaths when they walked over the ss walls straight down. I could have one more drone fly lower since you cleared your side, is that okay?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure, but do that once we reached the staircases at the center. We¡¯re still waiting for Artem and the rest to finish on their side. Well, we¡¯re still clearing up on our end but once we chucked the bodies down we¡¯ll head back.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Understood.] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We continued to clear the bodies by the hallway after finishing on the restrooms and we made sure each body was ounted for. Once we finished, I made another group to sweep all the avable resources on this floor while the rest of our groups headed down.


    Matthew and Mikhail¡¯d group were already ahead of us since they stationed a blockade on the 6th floor for anything that tried toe up. Mikhail¡¯s already using his own PKM while the one we lent him was now in the hands of Matthew. I could feel that he was excited to use it but if we continued to clear this ce like the 7th floor, he wouldn¡¯t have the chance to.


    ¡®Unless something unexpected urs¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Here¡¯s a few ammo cans you asked me to do yesterday..¡± Mikhail pointed to a few ammo cans he carried himself. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/continued-descent_50468108338515194 for visiting.


    ¡°Thanks, I almost forgot.¡± I replied as I opened one and replenished our magazines.


    ¡°Got some .410s?¡± Bogdan asked.


    ¡°Everything, we got everything.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Hah! We should¡¯ve moved here months ago!¡± Bogdan celebrated.


    ¡°Da, this is really different.¡± Artem turned to me with an approving look.


    ¡°Just don¡¯t forget to bring the used casings and shells back. It would be harder to make those from scratch.¡± I added.


    ¡°Kid, can¡¯t we just turn the generators on so we wouldn¡¯t keep on moving the high-powered shlights? They won¡¯tst forever, right?¡± Matthew suggested.


    ¡°Yeah, of course.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Huh? I mean like right f.u.c.k.i.n.g now. Why don¡¯t we do it?¡± Matthew continued.


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g doing it right now. Forgot the n? That¡¯s why wended here in this building in the first ce because the generators are in the bas.e.m.e.nt right below the first floor.¡± I shook my head as I continued to reload my magazines.


    ¡°Shit, I forgot. Shouldn¡¯t we hurry then?¡± Matthew added.


    ¡°Hmm, the pace we¡¯re going at¡­ we could reach the bas.e.m.e.nt with plenty of battery life on the shlights. We brought backups and the chargers too so it wouldn¡¯t be much trouble.¡± I replied, reassuring Matthew¡¯s worries.


    ¡°We¡¯re all set, going to the Right Wing again?¡± Kaley asked, securing everything in ce.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, we still have more buildings to go through aside from this one.¡± I said to our group.

 Chapter 481

    Chapter 481: 481


    We¡¯ve left the group looting andpletely clearing the rooms on the 7th floor while the rest of my group started to clear the 6th floor. Matthew and the rest of the people on the staircase already cleared a portion of them but there were still a few rooms that needed to be checked thoroughly. <center></center><hr>


    As my group turned to the right wing once more, the first deadhead we saw was just a head missing the rest of its body. Its neck was mangled to pieces and it seemed that the rest of its body was located behind the door with bloodstains and bits of its pieces stuck on it. Its jaw was still moving up and down but its gums were already discolored and some of its teeth were missing, or slowly chewing of what was left of its mouth.


    I slowly pushed my katana a few inches in its eye socket and its sloppy movements halted.


    ¡°Open the door, pry it with your knife if it wouldn¡¯t budge.¡± I said to Katya.


    ¡°It¡¯s kinda stuck. Can¡¯t I just kick it?¡± Katya replied.


    ¡°Go ahead. Ibarra, watch out for anything since this is gonna be loud.¡± I gave the signal.


    Katya just went into position as she lifted her leg and kicked forcefully. The door swung open violently but it definitely attracted everything that was close. We immediately heard snarls from across the corridor and the ones inside the room, so we took a step back and waited for them toe.


    The inside of the room was barely visible but crooked fingers with skin lesions came into view. The nail on its ring finger was missing and the bone was almost jutting out. We were just waiting for the right moment when it steps out because everyone was already holding their weapons tightly.


    The figure came out like it was drunk and its facial features were a ness. The skin on its chin was already scr.a.p.ed off and its eyes were wed out. It seemed to be relying on its hearing or maybe even smell because it followed the direction where Ibarra knocked over a small bottle. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/reaching-the-ground¡ªfan-out!_50518568013449744 for visiting.


    A few more followed behind it while some also came from the corridor but Ibarra stabbed forward, piercing through its eye socket, killing it with one stab.


    The rest of my team followed up by tripping up the one following it then quickly stabbing down before the one missing half its face managed to take another step. Tatiana was sticking close to Kaley and Katya took down most of the deadheads that came close. One strike was all it took but she had to conserve her strength if she wanted to continue being in the front. However, it didn¡¯t seem like she was getting tired one bit.


    Katya kicked another one down and the deadhead knocked down the ones behind it as she continued to lop heads one after the other.


    ¡®Are all of them powerhouses?¡¯ I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    We proceeded by going deeper but we soon heard a helicopter approaching. It didn¡¯t take long for Vera to contact me that Avalos sessfully escorted Micah back to our ce and just came back. Avalos being present in the love hotel was a backup n for the people stationed there because even if we have a working helicopter on the DDR Camp, it would be better to have one at the ready somece.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Avalos just arrived and is nownding at the love hotel. He brought more supplies on our end.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, just keep me posted.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Understood.] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We continued to clear the floor but aside from deadheads, we discovered a few rooms where the people got trapped either died from starvation or took their own way out of this hell hole. It was already a different feeling when we discovered that someone did it to themselves but it was even worse when we saw a family just huddled up with a stab wound to the head.


    ¡®I could only imagine the feeling of the one that was left and had to take his own¡­ aside from that, doing it to your own kids first¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Taking the easy way out¡­¡± Ibarra muttered.


    ¡°What about it?¡± Katya turned to Ibarra.


    ¡°Nothing, not important.¡± Ibarra replied.


    Katya never probed deeper and just let the conversation die on its own. However, my group knew where Ibarra wasing from and that story could be retold at ater time to Katya and the rest.


    Most of the rooms we entered had mostly clothes left and there was little to nothing about everything else. There were some asional knives or even an empty gun but it would alwayse from a soldier or a guard that they barricaded themselves inside with. Food items were also scarce aside from a few candies tucked away but it could all be attributed to the ce we started with.


    We just needed to be in the right ce to be able to scavenge what we were looking for.


    Each floor up to thest was almost the same exact f.u.c.k.i.n.g thing and we plowed through each one of them. The worst floors were the 1st floor to the 3rd floor because a lot of dead bodies littered the floor and a lot of deadheads were stuck inside barricaded rooms. However, there were still a few cl.u.s.ters trying to get inside, squeezing their bodies against the obstacles blocking them.


    We mostly had to kite them back to our group by the staircase to slowly thin them out because there wasn¡¯t much space for evading them to the side. It would be difficult to maneuver around them in tight spaces so we took the long way on thest few floors. <hr>


    The process of clearing each floor was continued right until the first floor but now, we stationed more people guarding the entrance of this building, my team included. It was because we would be holding off most of the undead outside while a few of our people would get down in the bas.e.m.e.nt to turn on the generators. They already came with several gallons of fuel to power them up for a time and all they needed to do was get there and clear the area.


    ¡°Fan out so they wouldn¡¯t pile on top of one another!¡± I shouted as I was the first one to dash outside, holding my katana and my pistol. However, Jared took down several as soon as he saw me taking the first step outside.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Careful now!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Took you guys long enough.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    The rest of my team followed me while Artem¡¯s team fanned to the other side. They headed to the tennis court where Kaley piled bodies before while my group headed for the barracks in the front area where most of the soldier¡¯s gear were located. There was still a group by the entrance and Mikhail was still biding his time as to when he should start causing havoc with his PKM. <hr>


    ¡°THIS IS MORE F.U.C.K.I.N.G LIKE IT!!!¡± Bogdan eximed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited, there¡¯s a f.u.c.k.i.n.g lot at the left!¡± Artem gunned down the cl.u.s.ter approaching them.


    ¡°Artem! Just hold a point between the cafeteria and the pool but don¡¯t go too deep!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°Da, gotcha! I know! I know!¡± Artem shouted back.


    I quickly shot down the fiveing towards me before strafed to the right, avoiding the oneing for me. It was wearing a chef¡¯s hat and a cleaver was stuck on its neck, making it bleed out. However, just as Katya was about to approach it, Tatiana swiftly came in and sunk her de from the bottom of its chin, pushing upward to its head.


    Before it fell down, Tatiana grabbed the cleaver and threw it straight towards a dead soldier not wearing a helmet. The cleaver made its way and the soldier¡¯s head didn¡¯t offer much resistance as the cleaver sunk deep, ending its life. Tatiana pulled her de back and went for another one wearing simple clothing.


    ¡°My turn, rest up a bit.¡± Tatiana smiled as Katya was about to speak.


    ¡°I¡¯m not tired!¡± Katya retorted.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know when you¡¯re tired. I let you run wild earlier, stay back for a bit.¡± Tatiana shook her head as she zoomed past her, joining Ibarra on the side.


    To get to the barracks, we had to go through the parking area first. I wanted to have more visibility so my group joined me with climbing over the vehicles so we could safely shoot or cut down the ones lurking on the sides. There were a lot of blindspots that came with vehicles right next to each other and even if Lois¡¯ drone was still following us and Jared watching from above, they wouldn¡¯t have aplete view of everything going on.


    ¡°Careful! We¡¯re taking these home!¡± I shouted.


    ¡°How about this one? Can I- we use it now?!¡± Katya pointed to a jeep with an M2 Browning attached on the top.

 Chapter 482

    Chapter 482: 482


    ¡°Not right now, no!¡± I responded as I aimed at the sights. <center></center><hr>


    I took down one deadhead stuck on the passenger side of a vehicle due to the seatbelt securing it. It could partially move when it leaned forward but it had no chance of getting way because the rest of its rotting body was already melding to the seat. The skin on its back was already falling off and its discolored bits were also staining the seatbelt.


    Kaley was right in the middle of us while Katya was now the one guarding the rear. Tatiana was on my right while Ibarra was on my left as I continued to put down bodies one after the other.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Iing fe- sprinters from the barracks!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heard!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I turned to my right and about a dozen sprinters came into view. They spilled out from the double ss doors, destroying it in the process. Their bodies were in all sorts of decay and almost all of them were wearing military fatigues and still had some sort of equipment on them.


    My eyes just twinkled on the premise of acquiring loot so I raised my rifle.


    As soon as I switched the safety off, it was like Jerry Miculek hearing the beep inpetition shooting. The ones in front just fell with their faces, scratching their helmets while the ones at the back either tripped and fell because of the ones in front or just nose-dived, the same as the ones in front.


    I flipped the dust cover back and flicked the safety switch once more as I lowered my rifle but Tatiana and Ibarra already made their way towards the ones that tripped over. They were pointing their melee weapons down and they pushed against the zombies¡¯ head for a few inches to end their life.


    I could almost hear the squelch as their des sunk in but they moved fast because a few were still alive. A couple rolled over and tried to stand up but they were kicked down helplessly before a sharpened de entered the back of their heads. Their weapons were stained with darkened blood even more and we didn¡¯t have time to wipe our des for the moment.


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, fly inside to see if there¡¯s more. I didn¡¯t see themst time.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Okay, bro.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I turned to the left for a moment and I saw the shoddy work the people here did for reinforcing their walls. The wall at the front wasn¡¯t solidpared to the walls at the back and the sides because it was made with a twisted metal bar, alternating with a cylindrical pipe. It was just patched to be whole with either plywood or a few metal sheets and the fluids of the obstacles we made outside were seeping out of it.


    As of now, there were two ces where the deadheads wereing from. It was supposed to be three but we already blocked the entrance by piling up bodies on top of one another. The two ces were the barracks and the driveway to the left of it, spawning a cl.u.s.ter at a time. A few that were ¡®sleeping¡¯ were slowly standing up to join the onesing for us but Kaley was making sure they stay down from afar.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [No more sprinters from the surface but there¡¯s still a lot inside and lots of closed doors!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Gotcha! Nestle where you could see the entrance of their barracks and the driveway!¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Okay!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    ¡°Guys, hold the onesing from the barracks and the driveway at the same time! I¡¯ll try to make one of these vehicles run so we could block the driveway somewhat!¡± I shouted at the group.


    ¡°We know! I just have to- got ¡¯em!¡± Tatiana yelled after pulling one from under a jeep and crushing its head with a stomp.


    Kaley and Katya went for the driveway while Tatiana and Ibarra camped by the entrance of the barracks. Kaley started to fire shot after shot while Katya moved the bodies to the side while Tatiana and Ibarra just cut down anything that came out. The first thing I saw in the parking area was a couple of Escdes so I quickly tried to make them start.


    It seemed to be the ones parked in this area were still in working condition because there were a few modifications done on them and they were full of petrol.


    I drove the first one and parked it sideways, blocking almost half of the driveway and when I parked the other one, there were still a few meters left in the middle to be covered. I know the right vehicle to be nestled in and Katya gave me a look of approval when it came to their side.


    ¡°We¡¯re not firing it, it¡¯s there just in case!¡± I reminded Katya, looking at the jeep with the .50 cal. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/the-barracks¡ªfloors_50560250687845020 for visiting.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if a hordees, we wouldn¡¯t hesitate.¡± Kaleyforted her.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah¡­ I understand¡­¡± Katya muttered.


    ¡°Need more mags?¡± I asked Kaley.


    ¡°I¡¯m still good. Keep the ones for yourself.¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°Here¡¯s a couple just in case. It¡¯s a little too heavy bringing twice the mags.¡± I replied as I ced a couple by the seats. <hr>


    ¡°I told you-¡± Kaley was about to give them back but I cut her off.


    ¡°Bah! Just keep them! Hold that space for now, okay? I¡¯ll call Marvin¡¯s group, and as soon as they get here, join us in the barracks!¡± I added quickly.


    ¡°Just make them bring an ammo can and keep these!¡± Kaley insisted.


    I scratched my head in annoyance but I relented. I let Kaley give Marvin the instructions and I went to the area where Tatiana and Ibarra were currently camping on.


    Tatiana was wiping her bastard sword while Ibarra was still in front of the entrance to the barracks. His spear was now attached to each other and the spearhead was almost reflecting the sun. The bodies around them either had their heads lopped off or a hole was bored straight through.


    As soon as I walked towards them, a few unbroken lights in the barracks suddenly turned on, illuminating the inside.


    ¡°Right on time.¡± I mentioned, smiling.


    ¡°I guess they managed to do it.¡± Ibarra muttered.


    ¡°It¡¯s just filling it up with some gas and pushing some buttons.¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Let¡¯s head in.¡± I continued.


    The barracks in the front area only had two floors but it wasn¡¯t as symmetricalpared to the first building we descended from. From above, it looked like a huge ¡®P¡¯ without the hole in the middle. Aside from that, it seemed that more modifications were put in ce by the soldiers that used to live inside it for their ownfort or security.


    ¡®Didn¡¯t do much for them though¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    This ce only had a single entrance if we didn¡¯t count the windows broken into by deadheads that tried to get in or by people that tried to break out.


    The entrance we were in was therger part of the ¡®P¡¯ and the staircase to the second floor was also located in the same ce. There was a small reception area in front and a long hallway to the right where a few lights were turning on and off.


    We made sure the ones lying down were dead by double-tapping them before we continued to move further in. The reception had a pile of the dead right in the center so it took us a bit of time making sure they wouldn¡¯t stand up. Kaley and Katya managed to join us with a few from Marvin¡¯s group which was Brian and Carlo.


    ¡°I thought I told you guys to stay with Marvin?¡± I said to them.


    ¡°Umm-¡± Carlo was about to respond but he turned to Kaley which answered for him. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s good, dad also came with them while Mikhail joined Artem¡¯s group. The guys that turned the generator on filled up their spots so it¡¯s okay, right?¡± Kaley said.


    ¡°Okay, standard room clearing even if the door is f.u.c.k.i.n.g open. You guys know the drill, right?¡± I said to them.


    ¡°Yes, Sir.¡± Carlo immediately responded.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t forget it even if I tried.¡± Brian chuckled.


    Brian was carrying a Mossberg 930 while Carlo was carrying a Kel-Tec SU-16 with an under-folding stock. It had a few attachments on them but they were enough to protect oneself and take down deadheads.


    ¡°Come with me then. Let¡¯s see if you really learned how to.¡± Tatiana started to talk with amanding voice.


    ¡°Y-Yes, Ma¡¯am!¡± the two immediately answered.


    ¡°We¡¯ll take the first floor while they take the second floor, got it?¡± Tatiana continued.


    ¡°Y-Yes, Ma¡¯am!¡± the two immediately answered again.


    ¡°Ah- I think I want to take the first floor though. There are more doors to unlock here¡­¡± I interjected,pletely oblivious that Tatiana was asserting dominance.


    Everyone just looked at me nkly then the two turned to Tatiana.


    ¡°We¡¯ll take the second floor while they take the first floor, got it?¡± Tatiana immediately changed her mind.


    ¡°¡­¡± the two.


    ¡°Got it?!¡± Tatiana raised her voice.


    ¡°Y-Yes, Ma¡¯am!¡± the two immediately answered once more.


    They slowly ascended the staircase while my group went on ahead to clear the bodies in the hallway. We didn¡¯t hear gunshots from above but bodies continued to be chucked from the second floor as soon as we heard a small crash from above us.


    In our case, I jauntily reached for my burgl- lockpicking tools for the first door.

 Chapter 483

    Chapter 483: 483


    I started to mess with the doorknob but as soon as I was about to withdraw my lockpicks from it, a loud m came from the other side of the door that almost made me jolt in surprise. Kaley immediately raised her rifle and pointed it against the door but several more ms and knocks came after the first one. Katya and Ibarra turned around as well but they got confused when I ran back to the entrance. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Where are you going?!¡± Katya eximed.


    ¡°Just a sec!¡± I shouted back.


    It only took a few moments when I came back with a small concrete barrier just by the parking area.


    ¡°Wha-¡± Katya got even more confused.


    ¡°It¡¯s a barrier..¡± I tly replied.


    ¡°I- huh?¡± Katya was about to inquire but Kaley waved her down and just whispered to trust me.


    ¡°First time?¡± Ibarra added, smiling.


    ¡°Good one.¡± I chuckled as I ced the barrier against the door.


    The door still needed to be pushed to gain ess to it so I turned the knob and applied pressure right until a fingeres snaking out. As soon as it did, more and more followed as elbows and arms appeared,peting with the bodies still pushing on the door itself. There came a time when the hands got crushed and bone jutted out because of the pressure but the door gave way when enough hands applied enough leverage to make it open fully.


    The moment the door swung open, the bodies inside spilled out and tripped on the barrier I ced right by their feet. <center></center><hr>


    I was just wearing a nk expression when I started to stab their heads one by one. I still needed to avoid the ones that followed but it was definitely easier because it was like picking up trash using that pointy trash picker. Kaley followed my actions while Ibarra pulled the ones to the side.


    ¡°This¡­ this is like cheating¡­¡± Katyamented when she joined in.


    ¡°Heh, never underestimate the power of tripping up deadheads.¡± I chuckled as I stabbed thest one.


    The room we just cleared seemed to be a lodging area where a lot of bunk beds were just built by wood and nails.


    ¡®They made this then¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    Instead of seeing clean sheets, each and every bed weid our eyes on was stained with darkened blood or small chunks or parts of their rotting bodies. The smell was so horrible because there was no venttion aside from a small exhaust fan at the corner of the wall.


    ¡°There¡¯s a few still inside¡­¡± Kaley muttered as she pointed to the floor.


    We saw a few bodiesying on their backs but most of their body was eaten off. One of them had the rest of its limbs chewed up while the other was disemboweled, chest cavity ripped open. I couldn¡¯t identify which one is which anymore but the deadhead choking horribly was definitely chewing on what was left of its mangled tongue.


    ¡°Can¡¯t they identify friend from foe?¡± Ibarra asked.


    ¡°They do but sometimes, they really do get ¡®hungry¡¯ for ack of a better exnation.¡± I replied.


    We continued to clear the first floor room by room. We made sure the pathway was clear of obstructions before we proceed and we made sure the windows to the right were open just for another escape n. We couldn¡¯t hear a single gunshot from upstairs and the same was happening on our side the closer we get to the end of the hallway. <hr>


    It didn¡¯t take us long before we reached their armory and it had a decent amount of guns avable for the taking. Most of them were M16s and Glock 17s, which were the standard issue for the military but there were some 1911s, M24s, AKMs, Remington 870s, and etc. in isted ces but the ammo for them was not as manypared to the standard issue.


    The ammo cans we found weren¡¯t as filled as I thought but factoring in the number of soldiers and other people tasked with security in this ce we took down, and the other ces we haven¡¯t checked yet, we were bound to find more hopefully. However, we found a few crates filled with grenades and mortar shells and they were definitely going to our emergency stashes. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/bro-can-you-check-that-dumpster_50605914494923588 for visiting.


    Aside from guns, we found a ruined manifest of the numbers of people here and it exceeded a few thousand. Most of them were in the dormitories in the main area but a lot of the elderly and the people who had diagnosed illnesses were ced in the hospital just a few meters behind the barracks. I couldn¡¯t find a single workingputer in this ce even if we already had electricity running but I took the hard drives to check them once we go home.


    ¡®I hope there¡¯s at least something on these hard drives. Most of the paperwork here is ruined¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Are we gonna take the guns now? There¡¯s a few in each room, even from the first one.¡± Katya asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s clear this whole ce first before we do anything else. It¡¯s not like they¡¯re going anywhere.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Hmm, we could take the bullets, right?¡± Kaley interjected.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s¡­ sure. Let¡¯s leave it by the guys on the jeep to act as another supply point.¡± I replied.


    ¡°They don¡¯t have a lot of 5.7s, that¡¯s for sure.¡± Tatiana suddenly popped from behind us with Brian and Carlo.


    ¡°You guys done already?¡± Kaley asked, surprised. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah, seems like everything upstairs headed down when we made noise. I took a few down but I could count them with my hands.¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°Okay, one of you drive one of the other jeeps in the parking area towards Artem¡¯s group. After that, stay with them and form another supply point. The one left with us will drive another jeep aside from the ones we blocked the driveway with to act as a walking supply point and turret for emergencies. We¡¯ll leave the rest of Marvin¡¯s group here for the moment but they will join us after we clear the hospital by the corner. After that is the library and dorms.¡± I instructed as I looked at Brian and Carlo.


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Carlo immediately volunteered.


    ¡°Okay, here are the keys.¡± I replied then we took action.


    Brian and Carlo took a jeep each and headed to their specific spots. Brian just made the jeep nestled by the Escdes drive a little bit forwards to save a little bit of time. He just transferred the ammo cans on it to the other jeep while my group ced a few of our newly looted equipment from the barracks to both of them.


    When we walked outside the barracks, Matthew wasn¡¯t there. However, I saw him looting several magazines and guns from the ones we threw over the windows and the others sprawled on the ground from a far corner. Another guy was holding a sack in front of him as they were making their way to each of them.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget the casings!¡± I shouted to annoy him.


    ¡°Bah! I know! I know! I even took the ripped ones!¡± Matthew was too focused on looting to even care.


    ¡°Check the ones in the barracks too because we¡¯re heading to the hospital now!¡± I continued to shout.


    ¡°Wha- I¡¯ming with you!¡± Matthew bellowed as he left the guy carrying his burdens for him.


    I left the same instruction to Marvin while my group continued to move forward. We still haven¡¯t burned the ones we killed so there were a lot of bodies waiting to be cremated by the driveway. They mostly had stab marks and broken necks and there was a lot more right now because Marvin and his group took down a few that got too close. However, a few select ones were located a bit far from where they were parked and they were either shot down by Kaley or Max. <hr>


    The hospital we were trying to get into had a separate fence of its own aside from the wall covering the whole university so it had a lot more bodies stuck between them and a lot more materials to rip off for safety. It was because a few metal parts were sticking out and stained with their bits and one scratch especially in the wrong spot would win a bullet with their name on it.


    A few hands were also sticking out from a few chinks from the makeshift wall they made and the flesh on their arms were either scr.a.p.ed off from trying to push in or chewed off by the ones on our side. A few already had several fingers missing but the ones that are left weren¡¯t looking good as well. They were kinda curling to try and reach us and the skin falling off wasn¡¯t helping to make them bearable.


    ¡°Park over there and just reverse by that spot. Watch out for the trees on the back too.¡± I said to Brian.


    ¡°Are we going in now?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s clear the perimeter first.¡± I replied, drawing my de once more.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Bro, can you check that dumpster?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 484

    Chapter 484: 484


    I heard Jared¡¯s voice from my earpiece then I looked around to check on the several dumpsters all around us. I spotted several behind the barracks and a couple by the main entrance but there were a lot more dumpsters to pinpoint which one he was telling me to check. They also came in different shapes, colors, and sizes so I had to call him back for an inquiry. <center></center><hr>


    ¨C Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/improper¡ªdull-thuds_50722743527734619 for visiting.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, be a little specific. Which one is it?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah- sorry. The one after you go inside the fence that leads to the hospital. The one right behind the hospital that¡¯s kinda rusted and that¡¯s almost¡­ leaking.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What? Let us clear a space first.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Gotcha. I¡¯ll shoot on a few on my end.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    My group took a few minutes to nick or puncture the heads of the ones that wereing towards us. Several suppressed gunshots came from the other side of this university and it seemed like Artem¡¯s group was facing a lot more than expected. Aside from that, I could also hear a few isted shotsing from the roof where Jared and the others were and they seemed to be shooting at different targets scattered about.


    The moment my group cleared an area by the spot we were in, I called over Marvin¡¯s group to move the chokepoint. It was because once we cleared the hospital by the corner, we would gradually clear everything around, eventually meeting Artem¡¯s group. To make things fair, they would start to move around once I gave the signal but they were free to take down anything that came toward their spot.


    ¡°I¡¯m opening it now!¡± Ibarra eximed.


    ¡°Go ahead!¡± I shouted back, tightening the grip on my katana and pistol.


    The rest of my group got ready as well because there were still a lot of rotting deadheads from the other side of the inner fence.


    As soon as the gates were opened, they started tripping over each other. It was almost a pile-up the way their bodies fell on top of each other, making the clearing process much easier.


    The ones at the bottom were getting squished as what remained from their flopping skin was now sticking on the pavement. The ones in the middle were getting squished as well but their discolored insides and viscous fluids were falling onto the ones below. A few managed to walk over the ones that fell but most of them would plummet down when they were going downhill.


    I started to stab down on the heads right in front of me and their wilting bodies offered little to no resistance. The tip of my de was stained with brain matter but the onesing from the hospital side continued to spill out. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Kite around, don¡¯t advance! Kaley, thin the ones on clumps! Ibarra, fan to the side!¡± I reminded my group as we continued to stab and step back after each kill.


    All we could hear aside from my orders were the whirring sound of the drones, chatter from the radio, growls from the deadheads, bodies getting decimated, and guns being fired.


    The moment we cleared everything from the hospital side, the first thing we did after piling the bodies on the side was to check on the dumpster Jared told us about.


    ¡°It really is leaking¡­¡± Katya muttered.


    The dumpster really was leaking out different colored fluids but they were all in the shade of brown, green, and ck. However, not only was it ¡®leaking¡¯, the surface of the dumpster was slightly ¡®moving¡¯.


    We could already imagine what was inside that dumpster but like any other person, we needed to confirm it.


    I almost threw up the moment I opened the rusted lid.


    ¡°I could f.u.c.k.i.n.g taste it just by the smell! F.U.C.K!!!¡± Matthew bellowed.


    Several bodies of different forms were carelessly thrown in the dumpster and it smelled worse than just being f.u.c.k.i.n.g ripe. Words couldn¡¯t begin to describe the smell and the ones behind me retched as well.


    I flipped the lid fully so I could check what the f.u.c.k was causing that horrible smell.


    ¡®F.u.c.kinh shit¡­¡¯ I thought to myself, covering my nose.


    The ones below were starting to turn into goop while the ones on the surface had little thread-like and juicy worms moving into different directions, either going in and out of their rotting bodies or just basking on the sun.


    I couldn¡¯t figure out if they were killed either by a stab wound on the head or byrge rats that were decaying right inside their skulls that maybe took several nibbles on their brains. Only the worms and the flies buzzing around were happily engorging themselves while the goop below was slowly flowing out from the little holes from the rusted parts of the dumpster.


    ¡®They didn¡¯t burn some of them¡­ Hmm¡­¡¯ I thought to myself as I flipped to the channel Artem was on.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Artem.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Da?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Move around the cafeteria and the gymnasium and try to reach the maintenance area where a few broken-down vehicles are located. Check the ces behind it where the ground is not concrete and see if there are graves.¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Graves? We¡¯ll go but I thought you checked them before?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, the ones roaming around could¡¯ve easily knocked down a few pegs or something. There¡¯s more we could see if it¡¯s up close rather than just through a screen.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Da, I understand. You¡¯re really thorough, aren¡¯t you?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We should all be thorough. You could go about it slowly or bring another squad with you to hasten the process. We¡¯re meeting in the middle anyway so best make use of the time we have on our hands.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [My group can handle it. We¡¯re just gonna use a bit more ammo. Is that okay?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll trust you.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Thanks.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    The hospital was shaped like a short rectangle and it had four floors all in all. I could¡¯vended our helicopter at this ce before but since it has undergone a few renovations like putting several panels and water tanks on the roof, it wasn¡¯t possible at this moment. Aside from the roof, its windows were also barricaded with wooden nks and the entrance was well fortified. However, it was wide open when we came upon it and several bodies were strewn on the marble floors.


    ¡°How did this ce get overrun?¡± Matthew muttered.


    ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°This ce is just¡­ too defensible¡­ even with the number of the dead outside.¡± Matthew replied.


    ¡°We¡¯ll figure it out once we cleared this whole ce. For now, a few ideas are already inside my head.¡± I chimed.


    ¡°Are we going in now?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°Guard the entrance for a bit because we need to go around and make sure there are no blind spots where the dead coulde through. Also, we need to check for other passages like the fire exit on the other side I spotted when I flew the drone here.¡± I replied, assigning a few to stay with Tatiana and the rest.


    The scan was quick and it was the same situation all around and we discovered that the fire exits were essible. However, we would need to clear a few more bodies that got stuck between the rails or the door itself so we could have another point of entry to clear this whole hospital.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Tatiana.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Start from the entrance then curve to the left and back. We¡¯lle from the right since we¡¯ll being from the fire exits. We¡¯d be a littlete since we¡¯ll clear the whole stairs but don¡¯t overextend to the second floor if you manage to clear this floor ahead of us.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Okay, both sides as always.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Not important, haha.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Ah- not on the- nevermind. See you on the other side. Lois, go ahead of them to check for threats.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Okay bro.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I was with Kaley, Matthew, and Ibarra and we first lured the ones on the fire exit towards us. Matthew and Kaley were standing right behind Ibarra and me as we cut down the ones approaching us. I just pushed my de a few inches inside their eye socket before pulling out and stabbing onto another figure as soon as the first one fell down.


    Ibarra was doing the same as me but he had more range because of the weapon he was using. His spear could reach farther but I could maneuver around more easily because of the length of my de. Aside from that, I also had a free hand that could either hold my scabbard or a pistol which made up for theck of reachpared to his spear.


    We killed each one that came for us until we reached the rooftop.


    That was when we heard the water tanks let out dull thuds from the inside.

 Chapter 485

    Chapter 485: 485


    The dull thuds from the inside weren¡¯t following a specific pattern but just from the sounds produced, I could more or less tell which of them were full, half-full, or empty. The sounds started to get more frequent and louder but curiosity got the best of me as I climbed one and opened the lid. <center></center><hr>


    I almost barfed the second time just because of opening another lid.


    I didn¡¯t need to shine my shlight inside because even if I did, I was sure that the color of the water wouldn¡¯t be as different. The smell was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g horrible it even reached Kaley and the rest below. However, it didn¡¯t take long before echoing snarls followed the dull thuds which confirmed a few things that got this whole ce overrun.


    ¡®Who did it though?¡¯ I thought to myself.


    I began to shine my shlight inside and aside from the water being murky and dark, several bloated deadheads were inside, having a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up water therapy. I couldn¡¯t even identify whether they were civilians or soldiers because they have overgrown their clothes and even if they were wearing dog tags, it would¡¯ve either snapped off or sunk inside their bloated necks.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit, there¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g bodies in there, right?! F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell!¡± Matthew cursed.


    Kaley was covering her nose but she climbed up to see what I was seeing while Ibarra went for the other tanks and knocked on them a few times. He continued to repeat the same process on the following tanks while Matthew started to fasten his mask even tighter then he started throwing the bodies down.


    ¡°How about the ones here?¡± Kaley asked after taking a short peek inside the water tanks.


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯d better tell the others first.¡± I replied as I contacted the others through my earpiece.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, if you¡¯re gonna drink some water, use our canisters. If it gets empty, take the time to head up or make sure the one you¡¯re drinking came from a sealed bottle. Don¡¯t drink from the faucets or we¡¯ll leave you here.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Huh? What happened bro? Is it the tanks I saw you guys are on?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, a few are inside them.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Wha- how the f.u.c.k did they- what?!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Just be really f.u.c.k.i.n.g careful. Don¡¯t even bank on the ones that are clear to be clean. It must be why this ce got overrun. It could be one of many f.u.c.k.i.n.g reasons but I think we got a winner.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Gotcha Boss.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Mikhail? Where are you guys now?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah- we¡¯re still by the cafeteria. We had to double-tap the ones Boss Kaley shot downst time.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I see, just one more thing.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Hmm?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Don¡¯t start calling Kaley with ¡®Boss¡¯ in front. She just got goosebumps and you¡¯re in a whole lot of troubleter, heh.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    [Ah- I apologize, I apologize.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    After that short talk, Tatiana radioed in and told me that they were about halfway in clearing the first floor.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [There¡¯s a lot on the first floor but we¡¯ve been noticing a pattern in some of the rooms¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What do you mean? Find something peculiar.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, I think the doctors here are trying to learn more about them¡­ in a more aggressive way.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [I found a list of the sick and the elderly. It seems that they¡¯re being used to learn more about this thing. The thing is, I think it¡¯s not voluntary¡­ for the people in the list as much as I could tell.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [You still there?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I think I already know whates next.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Do you?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You already mentioned that it¡¯s not voluntary. Who volunteered them then? Their rtives, friends, or otherpanions? I bet the ones that came sick or just too old to give supplies were the ones missing some sort of consent form, right?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Correct, you sometimes scare me when you¡¯re like that but you¡¯repletely correct.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/who-did-it-though¡ª''volunteers''_50813086000534025 for visiting.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, just see you guys in a bit.¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    Ibarra and Matthew finished clearing the roof and the only ones left were the ones inside the water tanks. Ibarra¡¯s spear came into y once more and its reach helped us to clear them safely. However, we made sure that we wouldn¡¯t be surprised by the tongue-tacles that may or may not be inside one of them.


    There was also the issue of bullets ricocheting so we had to be extra careful.


    What we did to have a clear shot when Ibarra¡¯s spear couldn¡¯t reach them was that I called below to turn all of the faucets they could see. Doing that could remove most of the murky water and reveal anything that sunk to the bottom-most part. However, the smell still couldn¡¯t be removed by doing that and all we could do was endure it. It was like being resuscitated by a lifeguard that never brushed their teeth ever since they were born.


    ¡°Are we almost done?¡± Matthew tapped me.


    ¡°Almost, the ¡®water¡¯ here is something we would call water if you think about it.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Cheh, it¡¯s just one disgusting thing after the other. It would be f.u.c.k.i.n.g difficult to turn this ce into an outpost because the water system is f.u.c.k.i.e.d.¡± Matthew continued, shaking his head.


    ¡°That¡¯s true. We have to rece everything because I wouldn¡¯t trust that a deep clean would be enough. Well, it would be difficult at first but I don¡¯t have my eyes on this ce just yet.¡± I replied I looked below.


    Marvin¡¯s group was methodically clearing the ones approaching them and he was the one right in front. Ashley was supporting him from the side and they would retreat once they overextended. They were careful with their movements and I never heard a gun being fired from their side.


    ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡± Kaley chimed in.


    ¡°Well, the president and Iskoh¡¯s group are clearing another outpost for us right at this moment. I doubt they¡¯ll leave a lot of people to guard that ce for us so we might send a lot of people there like what we did with Lawrence and about half of Marvin¡¯s original group. Well, it¡¯s not like they¡¯re gonna clear the whole city for us so it would be another massive task to be tackled.¡± I exined.


    We were talking casually when Ibarra approached us.


    ¡°Sir, it¡¯s all done but as you see, we couldn¡¯t get them out because they¡¯re too¡­ big. We could get them out by dismembering their limbs but the problem is their torsos. Should we join the ones below or should we continue from this roof then meet at the 2nd or 3rd floor?¡± Ibarra reported, wiping the tip of his spear.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ Yeah, let¡¯s do that. It would be easier to maneuver with less people.¡± I replied.


    ¡°Alright, Kaley, stay at the back while I handle the front.¡± Matthew turned to Kaley, giving a few more precautions.


    ¡°Ah- Matthew, I think you should be the one guarding the rear¡­¡± I trailed, scratching my head.


    ¡°Wha- Why me?! I¡¯m always at the back!¡± Matthew¡¯s face turned sour.


    ¡°I want Kaley to be right next to me but I want a precision shooter like her guarding us from the back. Ibarra could be right next to her but his spear is best for being right behind me. I-¡± I wanted to pile more reasons but Kaley cut me off.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna say it. Dad, in all honesty¡­ you¡¯re old.¡± Kaley said tly much to Matthew¡¯s shock.


    ¡°Wha- I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g old but I could still move like- I won¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g budge unless you could do a f.u.c.k.i.n.g backflip with your gear on!¡± Matthew furiously turned to me.


    I just shook my head then I used the ledge of the roof to give me a little boost. The equipment I was carrying was a tad heavy but good thing I didn¡¯t have my backpack with me. I easily performed a backflip that made Matthew shut up for the moment.


    ¡°Do you want one more? How about a frontflip? Two backflips in session? Hmm?¡± I immediately taunted Matthew after lifting his jaw that dropped.


    ¡°BAH! YOU KIDS ARE F.U.C.K.I.N.G WASTING TIME! LET¡¯S GET TO IT!!!¡± Matthew tried to act like nothing happened but he was huffing while waiting for Ibarra and me to enter the door first.


    ¡°Heh, let me call Tatiana first.¡± I replied then I ryed to Tatiana the change of ns.


    As soon as we entered the door, we stopped joking around. Ibarra and I were in front while Matthew and Kaley were in the back. We made sure the door to the roof was still essible because that door was our only escape route if things went sour.


    We just carefully descended the stairs and we saw one deadhead scooping the brains of its fallen brethren and feeding itself even though its stomach was ruptured and leaking.

 Chapter 486

    Chapter 486: 486


    The figure was too busy scooping the gray bits from the cracked head in front of it to its own discolored mouth that it didn¡¯t notice me inching bit by bit. I only had to apply a little bit of pressure at the side of its head with my katana to end its mealtime. The fluidsing out of its stomach and the grime that remained on my de were almost the same aside from the chunks that were spurting out of its ruptured stomach. <center></center><hr>


    Little worms were also present in the chunks, parasitically taking part in the meal it was eating earlier.


    I slowlyid the body down while Ibarra moved a few feet forward to stab another feasting on its own forearms. A single thrust was all it took to put it down and the rest of us saw a few pieces of its teeth stunk on the mangled arm of the one Ibarra took down. However, the deadhead that Ibarra took down was a soldier wearingbat gear so Ibarra made the executive decision to check it first.


    A service pistol which was a Glock 17, a K-Bar knife, handcuffs, pepper spray, a couple of pistol magazines filled with 9mm, and one 30-round magazine filled with 5.56s were found along with its dog tag and set of keys. We quickly divided the gear found but I made sure to secure the set of keys with my set of lockpicks. Ibarra asked for the dog tag and he handed the rest to Matthew and Kaley.


    ¡°Why do these people don¡¯t carry as much as a single slug? Well- we found a few in some bodies but still¡­¡± Matthewmented, carrying the rest of the equipment that wouldn¡¯t fit Kaley¡¯s bag.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you bring a rifle then? Sky has a lot to choose from~¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°Eh~ I¡¯ll think about it.¡± Matthew replied.


    There were still several rooms to go through and we proceeded as quietly as we could. It seemed that Tatiana and her group attracted most of the ones roaming around below because we were facing a lot less than usual.


    The only room we had to put down more than a dozen was a room where a few families have barricaded themselves but died due to hunger. It was apparent as to what had happened in this room because almost everyone was missing everything that could be chewed on. However, thest one that survived offed itself by hanging itself with a make-shift rope.


    We had to cut it down after shooting it with a suppressed .22 but that was the only shot we fired on this floor.


    The fourth floor seemed to be the designated lodging area for most of them because a few rooms had several bags under the beds and inside the cabs but most importantly, there were ledger-like pads right before the doors that checked attendance and the equipment brought inside. <center></center><hr>


    ¡®We¡¯ll see more once we check the other rooms and the other floors¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    We were slowly checking each room right until we reached the staircase to the 3rd floor.


    Several deadheads seemed to be victims of a stampede because a number of the ones that were left were either ttened on the marble flooring or stuck on the wall due to intense pressure. The ones stuck on the wall seemed to have acted as cushions for the ones that came after them because their bodies were crushed to bits, making a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up mural in the process.


    We descended to the third floor and we still had our weapons at the ready. A quick nce gave me a general idea of this floor but it seemed that the ones left here were locked inside their rooms.


    We still haven¡¯t taken a step when we heard light footstepsing from below. Two talldies came into view followed by two other guys bickering with one another. Their weapons by themselves were recently wiped but the bloodstains on their clothes increased by a few incrementspared to when we left them.


    ¡°You guys are fast.¡± Kaleymented.


    ¡°Hmm? I thought you guys would nevere. There¡¯s a lot on the first floor but I think we took care of most of them.¡± Tatiana mentioned, seeing Kaley and the rest of us.


    ¡°How about the second floor?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°They all headed to the first- well, it seems that the ones on the third floor also did the same. We encountered a few but it isn¡¯t a lotpared to the first floor. Just a lot more ruined dissections from the volunteers.¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°Ruined?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Correct, it¡¯s like they used a blunt scalpel to check on the bodies.¡± Tatiana replied. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s like they yed with them and didn¡¯t do any sort of research.¡± Katya added with a scrunched brow.


    ¡°Sir, there¡¯s one more thing¡­ on the second floor¡­¡± Brian chimed, looking dejected.


    ¡°Oh yeah¡­ we forgot about that. Go ahead, tell him. It¡¯s fine.¡± Tatiana turned around and shone her shlight around the corridors.


    ¡°They umm- they managed to catch a few of those tongue-zombies and they worked on it as well. They¡¯re dead now but¡­¡± Brian trailed.


    ¡°But what? I thought you¡¯re a f.u.c.k.i.n.g Chad? Speak up!¡± Matthew started to get irritated from the pauses.


    Looking at Brian now, he seemed to be disturbed from what I normally see him in. It was almost the same time when Cynthia saw the number of dead kids we had to put down for good.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know any way to say this Sir but- umm¡­ one of them is¡­ is my¡­ is my dad, Sir¡­¡± Brian continued, looking down nkly on the floor.


    Carlo was just looking at what Brian would do next while the rest of my team were surprised by the piece of news Brian gave us.


    ¡°What do you want to do then? I¡¯ll give you the choice. It would be a bad idea to bury your dad but we already got ahold of a crematorium near the outpost Lawrence is guarding. We could either do that or-¡± I was about to continue but Brian cut me off.


    ¡°I¡¯d- I¡¯d rather have his body sent to the president¡¯s scientists¡­ Sir. I wanted his remains at first but I already made up my mind. I understand our need to know more about them¡­¡± Brain continued. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/permission-to-hit-you-sir._50905258162970033 for visiting. <hr>


    ¡°You sure?¡± I looked at Brian in the eye.


    ¡°S-Sure, Sir.¡± Brian replied.


    ¡°You still have until the president leaves to think about it. We¡¯ll keep their bodies secure but we won¡¯t do anything about it until they leave, got it?¡± I gave Brian more time.


    Brian didn¡¯t say anymore but he just nodded a few times while still looking down.


    Tatiana and Katya were already waiting for us so I made Carlo apany Brian for the moment. However, they didn¡¯t need extra time and joined us in clearing the third floor.


    I was paying a bit of extra attention to Brian just in case he decided to do something stupid. His situation right now was a little fragile because discovering that your father was dead after all this time and not only that, discovering that your father not only turned to one of them but was also being studied improperly was something inexplicable. I could only imagine what was going in Brian¡¯s head right now so I made sure to stick a little bit close to him while we were putting down the ones in front of us.


    It was apparent that what Brian discovered affected him because he was putting a lot more power in his strikes.


    ¡°Brian.¡± I called out.


    ¡°Sir?¡± Brian turned to me with a nk face while breathing heavily.


    ¡°Silent and serene mind, raging heart.¡± I reminded him about one of our oldest lessons.


    ¡°¡­¡± Brian just looked at me. <hr>


    ¡°Do you understand what I just said?¡± I asked Brian.


    ¡°Yes, Sir. I¡¯m- I¡¯m trying¡­¡± Brian replied, taking a small breather.


    ¡°Hello Trying, I¡¯m Sky.¡± I added then Matthew immediately chortled.


    As soon as I said that, Kaley just left me and joined Tatiana and Katya while Ibarra slipped away with Carlo in tow. Matthew was the only one left with me and Brian because he was trying so hard to contain hisughter while clutching his sides.


    ¡°Permission to hit you, Sir.¡± Brian said with a deadpan look on his face.


    ¡°Later at the gym, try all you want. Well, if you can.¡± I immediately anchored the conversation.


    ¡°dly, Sir.¡± Brian shook his head before walking forward with a nasty grin.


    It seemed that the short bit cheered him up even for a little bit because he was back to normal. My group was worried at first when we joined them because I made Tatiana swap ces with Brian for the moment. Carlo did the same with Katya and the two guys spearheaded the clearing of the dead on the third floor. They did as intended for the most part but not as efficient when Tatiana was in front.


    ¡°What did you do?¡± Kaley whispered to my side.


    ¡°I just introduced myself¡­ didn¡¯t you hear?¡± I whispered back then Kaley jabbed me.

 Chapter 487

    Chapter 487: 487


    My group continued to clear the 3rd floor with Brian and Carlo¡¯s lead. Even if we were slightly messing around, our eyes never lost focus as some of us were looking ahead while the others were watching out for threats that might pop out of nowhere. We were also positioned in a way that would grant us enough space to maneuver around or send help when something bad happens. <center></center><hr>


    Since I already got my hands on a set of keys that could give me ess to all of the doors in this hospital, I rarely used my lockpicks or the duct tape trick to gain ess to the locked doors spread across the several floors. The only time I ever used them was the times when the locks I needed to open used a new padlock that wasn¡¯t duplicated in the set of keys that I have obtained.


    There wasn¡¯t much of the undead on thisst floor but there were still a lot of medical supplies to be taken home. The disinfectants and the alcohol still came by the gallons and the medicine from the pharmacy was a f.u.c.k ton.


    ¡®I guess if you experiment on the patients you¡¯re supposed to treat, you¡¯d have a lot lying around¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    Aside from that, the luggage we have to go through after all of this was over was massive. It couldn¡¯tpare to the first building we cleared but I bet we could find a lot of items we would have a lot of use for back home. Even clean clothing would prove useful at this time because wearing clothes smeared with the infected could give anyone a whole lot of trouble.


    It didn¡¯t take us long to finally clear this hospital but in terms of looting it, I decided to have the group that swept the first building do it for us. We just took items we would have immediate use for like the extra gun and magazines we discovered on a dead soldier earlier. We discovered more while we were putting body after body but it didn¡¯t manage to replenish everything that we used.


    ¡°Let¡¯s call it in before we proceed to the library.¡± I said to my group.


    ¡°The specials are on the 2nd floor.¡± Tatiana mentioned before I picked up my earpiece.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°To the people still sweeping the first building for resources, once you get to the hospital, there are three specials on the 2nd floor. Secure their bodies tightly and bring them to the roof of the first building we searched along with the other items you¡¯ve taken already, got it?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    [We got it, Sir.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, you could also go ahead and bring back some of the weapon crates in the barracks. However, make the people from the choke points take all the bullets and throwables they could before bringing it up. Hmm, just bring all the unused guns up and maybe a few ammo cans but leave most of them by the first choke point by the first building.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Bro, they already came back a few times. I think it would be better to have someone drive the cargo helicopter back because the items they¡¯ve brought here would take several trips. Or, we could also request a few container vans from where the president is currently so we could have an easier time transporting everything back. That¡¯s not counting the vehicles we could take back home as well so we better start early.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We could, but not now. Just gather everything first and we¡¯ll figure it outter. They might still be in the middle of something so let¡¯s just have everything ready before requesting help.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Okay, bro. If you guys take any longer, I¡¯ll head down and clear the rest of the buildings myself!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, just f.u.c.k.i.n.g nestle over there andy an egg if you¡¯re that f.u.c.k.i.n.g bored!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    [The f.u.c.k?!]


    *bzzt* Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/the-library-of-the-gravel''s-path_50935201064343956 for visiting.


    ¨C


    A series ofughter from my earpiece followed as my group started to descend the stairs. We discovered the mess Tatiana her small group made on the lower floors but most of them were located on the first floor. The cleanest one would be heads stabbed straight in the eye socket while the most brutal ones were the heads left unrecognizable due to a strong impact.


    The first one I saw was a deadhead that seemed to have been thrown violently down the stairs. Its neck was angled horribly but more than half of its head was crushed when it collided with the wall. Someone could probably glue its skull together but its precious brain inside was now smeared on what was once white walls that adorned the hospital.


    ¡°You guys went wild.¡± Kaleymented.


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s a sprinter. We would¡¯ve done the same thing to it but that wasn¡¯t us.¡± Tatiana replied.


    ¡°It just flew down the stairs and ended itself.¡± Katya added.


    ¡°Oh, I see.¡± Kaley nodded, checking the rest of her magazines.


    ¡°Okay, replenish everything we have used from the ammo cans in the jeep where Marvin and the rest are. Take a small break while you¡¯re at it but we¡¯ll head to the library afterward.¡± I said to the group.


    My group agreed with the idea and once we reached the jeep, Marvin and Ashley were a few feet forward, pulling the deadheads they¡¯ve killed to the side. A few dozen were sprawled out with either stab wounds or bullet holes but I discovered that they¡¯ve already looted them for valuables and essential items. Aside from those items, IDs and other dog tags were ced inside a pouch to somehow identify the ones they put down. <hr>


    ¡°Here¡¯s a few more, keep them secured.¡± Ibarra mentioned after cing a few dog tags he collected himself.


    It took us a few minutes to replenish everything and took a small bite of snacks we brought with us. It still wasn¡¯t noon but we needed a little boost with a few candy bars or energy drinks. It was a tad difficult to eat with dead bodies sprawled on the floor emanating such a foul smell but we just bear with it.


    To reach the library, we would still need to drive on the driveway but we would need to pass by a ce ridden with several trees and other decorative nts. Our jeep could still drive through that area but the wide paved road was now reced with a dirt road, a grassy area, and a small gravel path that would lead to a park-like area before reaching the library itself.


    ¡°Let¡¯s bring another jeep just in case.¡± Matthew suggested.


    It was easy enough to acquire one but I still walked with my weapon drawn once we slowly approached the library.


    I made sure to stab down every deadhead I encountered just in case it was ying dead. Some of them seemed to have a slight dy before detecting us and moving, so we had to make sure it wouldn¡¯t move once we moved past it. We only needed to drive our de a few inches forward and it wasn¡¯t much trouble just to be on the safe side.


    The trees offered a nice shade and the scenery would have been perfect if it wasn¡¯t for the deadheadsing for us.


    The gravel path had several deadheads aimlessly wandering around and their heads violently turned towards us when they heard the engine noise. They didn¡¯t move as fast as the sprinters or even the ferals but their numbers would pose a problem when they got too close. They were several dozen in number and it could rival a small herd.


    Kaley immediately fired shot after shot with Ibarra while the rest of us waited for the right opportunity.


    The ones that got hit squarely had their heads blew back from the impact, tripping the ones that followed after them. Kaley would kill them by taking down a couple then leaving another couple alternately. It was to have some space for the people that would go melee with them to maneuver easily. Ibarra was doing the same thing but he was doing it from the opposite side.


    I could¡¯ve joined them as well but it seems like my hand wouldn¡¯t want to let go of my katana.


    Once Kaley and Ibarra stopped for their second reload, I immediately lunged forward to mow down the ones in front of me. My group behind me followed my lead and I was holding my katana with two hands.


    The first strike was a horizontal sh, entering a deadhead¡¯s right temple, passing through both eye sockets, and exiting its left temple. I didn¡¯t lop its head off cleanly but it definitely cut through its head like butter. As my de exited its first victim, I kicked it down to trip up the ones behind it before using my left hand gripping the end of the handle as leverage to quickly turn it to the same path it took earlier.

 Chapter 488

    Chapter 488: 488


    As soon as I applied force, my de traveled the same path. Since the deadhead I would be cutting down next was a little taller, the path it used got altered at thest second. My de entered the side of its cheek, exiting its temple on the other side. The cut was a little deeper this time and it almost removed arge portion of its headpletely. If I was just a step closer, I would¡¯ve made its head a lighter by a few grams. <center></center><hr>


    The tip of my de got stained by what was left with their heads but I continued to attack them by stabbing the third one right inside its left eye socket.


    It offered little to no resistance and it just flopped down the moment my de entered a few inches inside. I quickly pulled my de back to do the same attack for the one right next to it wearing torn robes but this time, I came at an angle and stabbed through its mouth. Its rotting teeth easily gave way as I stabbed upward and ended its life for good.


    I quickly stepped back as soon as I pulled my de because the ces to maneuver around after putting down a few bodies needed a reset.


    I strafed to the side to face the ones stilling for and the gap of two bodies made by Kaley earlier made all the difference for me. A wide horizontal swing nicked the heads of the deadhead on my side and one on Tatiana¡¯s side as I continued to advance further. Tatiana was also making use of the gap Kaley made but she was on the other alternating side, kiting a few away from me so she could take them down her own way.


    No one was talking as much and all we could hear aside from their growls and snarls were the sound of their bodies hitting the gravel path after a delivered strike on their heads. We continued to mow them down and thest one in front of me got put down by a vertical strike that came from below, carving straight through its chin, almost cutting its head in half when it exited its forehead. Rotting bodies were left behind us and the rest of Marvin¡¯s group started to ce them in a visible area.


    I wiped my de quickly before we entered the library with a busted door and semi-boarded up windows. It only had a single floor but it was widerpared to two standard basketball courts.


    Surprisingly, the library wasn¡¯t repurposed to be something of use for the people surviving inside. Tons of books were still on their shelves but a few of them were knocked down, spilling the hardcovers of the books stored on the bloody floor. The dead inside was fewer than expected and it seemed like we faced most of them from the small herd earlier.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°How is it?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, there isn¡¯t much here. Just check the fire exit where a couple is munching on each other. Aside from those bro, there isn¡¯t any more inside. Wait, I¡¯ll attract them for y- did you just shoot them?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yes, saw them stand up.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Nevermind, want me to head to the dorms?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re waiting on you.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Heh, still no ferals eh?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°If there are here, they would¡¯ve been the first ones to appear. I think based on observation was that they never stop moving. Well, until one of them catches a victim or gets caught by the ones under the train station.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Hmm, that¡¯s true.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    The dormitories seemed to be the most luxurious ce toy anyone¡¯s head because not only each room only had one family residing in them, a few select rooms only had one or two people living with extra privilege. However, the only thing it did for those people was to have a quiet ce to kill themselves beforeing to terms with what was about to happen to them.


    The dead that rained on them didn¡¯t choose whether the people living in the special rooms were to be spared because each ce was in the same state as any other room. The ones that were broken into joined the herd while the ones that were properly barricaded either had someone that shot or hang themselves.


    The only difference was that some rooms still had a lot of food stored in them while the others had little to nothing which could mean that a few of them tried to hold out as long as possible before taking their lives.


    Brian was looking a little glum once more so I had to address it.


    ¡°Any problem? Mr. Trying?¡± I asked, half-joking.


    ¡°What? Oh- I just thought the rest of them could also be here.¡± Brain replied.


    ¡°The rest of what? Your family? Why weren¡¯t you with them when it started then?¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°Like you¡¯re one to talk!¡± Kaley immediately snapped back at Matthew. <hr>


    ¡°Ah- just asking the kid here. I know I f.u.c.k.i.e.d up, it won¡¯t happen again¡­¡± Matthew almost shrunk down but the rest were trying to hold theirughter.


    ¡°If I remember correctly, you left home, right?¡± Carlo interjected, looking at Brian.


    ¡°Yeah, just surprised to see him here¡­ in that condition to boot. I¡¯m not that close with my family but still- they¡¯re here.¡± Brian replied, cutting mid-sentence because he noticed a few soldiers approaching us.


    Everyone turned to where Brian was looking and saw Artem and the rest of his team approach.


    ¡°You guys done?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Da, been to the maintenance area too. No graves but there¡¯s an open pit covered by leaves. A ton of dead f.u.c.k.i.n.g bodies just piled on top of one another. It¡¯s right next to their garden too.¡± Artem replied, shaking his head in disappointment.


    ¡°Like what happened in one of the vige, right?¡± Bogdan added.


    ¡°Vige? Where?¡± Mikhail asked.


    ¡°Heh, long story. We¡¯ll exchange more once we get back. You¡¯d be surprised by one of them.¡± Natasha chimed in.


    We exchanged information about what we experienced and discovered but the thing that got brought up a few times was the state of the bodies we found in the dumpster, the water storage, and the open pit.


    Everything was mishandled and if this was the world before, a ton of rules regarding the handling of the dead would¡¯ve been broken.


    ¡°Why did it get to this though?¡± Matthew asked. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/done¡ªyo!-it''s-rod!e-here!_50958228531497455 for visiting.


    ¡°Hmm, the only thing I could think of was when it started. I don¡¯t know if you remember but in our DDR Camp and in the DDR Camp we found Juan in, they transported a lot of doctors towards the president¡¯s ind group to help with the research and to secure them. We could teach a regr person how to hold a gun but it would be difficult to teach someone what a doctor knows just by sitting in casually. We¡¯d need a lot more time to aplish that.¡± I started.


    ¡°I do remember you mentioning that before¡­¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°We¡¯re lucky to have a decent number left in our ce while a few stumbled as well but this ce seemed to have left undergrads or even quacks for the most part. Let me tell you guys, only a single mistake is needed to bring down a camp even if it¡¯s full of soldiers and strong individuals.¡± I continued.


    ¡°Is that why you never let our doctors experiment with them?¡± Tatiana added. <hr>


    ¡°One of the reasons, yes. I¡¯ve done a fair bit myself with Tim and the rest of the cultst time but all we discovered is more ways of how we could get infected, not treating this thing that we have. The only treatment we still knew up to this day is aiming for the head with a gun or any other weapon that could kill.¡± I continued, scratching my head.


    ¡°Hmm, it works though.¡± Artem added.


    ¡°Wait till you see the coconut heads. Surprised us the first time.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What?¡± the rest of Artem¡¯s team turned towards me.


    ¡°Stop giving them weird names! Those are the hollow ones, right?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°Well, they¡¯re not exactly hollow, right? As soon as we break their heads open, the ck goop gushes out!¡± I retorted.


    ¡°Bah! Stop bickering we still had a lot to go through and I¡¯m starting to get hungry!¡± Matthew roared.


    ¡°F.u.c.k, you don¡¯t have to remind me!¡± Tatiana grimaced as she fished for another candy bar in her pouch.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a couple of hours after noon, you¡¯re always hungry!¡± Katya added, shaking her head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    The clearing process continued for a few more hours but nobody let up until I dered the ce to be clear of them. After clearing each building in the university, I made everyone sweep it one more time before I led my group to check some rooms the other people might¡¯ve missed looting.


    Everything was brought up to the roof while I categorized everything and I sure wished that Rin was here to help me. Everyone present managed to bring random stuff aside from the essentials but I still needed to check and record properly. The priority was the guns and ammo and the medical supplies but there were still a lot of food items that couldst a while if preserved properly.


    I was busy recording each one when my earpiece buzzed. I was about to berate the person that disturbed me but I was d that I stopped myself.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yo! It¡¯s Rod! Come here!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 489

    Chapter 489: 489


    Listening to the president¡¯s voice, it seemed to be that they were also done in their end. However, he seemed to be kinda in a hurry but I still had to tie up a few more things in this ce before I could fly towards the ce they were in. <center></center><hr>


    ¡®I guess we¡¯ll see Vera¡¯s prowess in organizing shit¡­¡¯ I thought to myself as I talked to my earpiece.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, I could be there in 15 minutes¡­ at the earliest.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Fifteen? Okay, we¡¯ll have a smoke then. Hurry up!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Can you tell me what¡¯s the rush about?¡±


    *bzzt* Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/north-harbor¡ªprisoners_50981332502764769 for visiting.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Nah, it¡¯s better if you see it up close. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯d like it or not.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Like it or not?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Just hurry up and get here as fast as you could!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Do I need to bring more soldiers?¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Eh~ you¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g with me? What would I need more soldiers for? Well, bring a few so you wouldn¡¯t take some from me, heh. Get here quick!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, Sir. I¡¯m gonna need a little favor once we get there though.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Huh? Sure, sure. Anything that you need.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Anything? You sure?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Within reason, you little shit.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, I just need help with transport.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [That¡¯s within reason, okay. I have a couple parked in Iskoh¡¯s ce waiting for orders.]


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I¡¯ll send you the ce now then.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Okay, hurry the f.u.c.k up. Oscar and I would grow mustaches if you take longer!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯ll be quick, already taking care of it.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Great, see you in a few.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    The president ended the call so I was now looking at the helicopter parked by the cargo helicopter we brought.


    It was a Bell UH-1 Iroquois that was a utility military helicopter. It was powered by a single turboshaft engine that had two-ded main rotors and two-ded tail rotors. It was not the same kind of helicopter as the first two that we took home because the first two were for civilian use and simple cargo transport.


    Like the first two that we took, the UH-1 didn¡¯t have any sort of armaments attached to it but there was a ce to mount machine guns and rocket pods.


    ¡®Most of them are donations from the US so¡­ can¡¯tin that much¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    I told Vera of the n first through a quick call.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey Vera, I¡¯m gonna put you in charge of things while we¡¯re away. Can you do it?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    [Sure, you¡¯re already done arranging them, right?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, just start with the specials first then follow it with the guns and ammo. After that, continue with medical supplies and food. You know, the usual routine¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [I got the gist of it. It¡¯s easy enough.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll trust you on that.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    After that quick call, I gathered a dozen people and told them about the quick change of ns.


    I would being with Kaley, Tatiana, Jared, Matthew, Ibarra, Mikhail, Artem, Katya, Bogdan, Kristoff, Natasha, and Igor. I could bring a couple more with us but I decided against that because we still needed to bring our equipment just in case we would stay longer than expected. Aside from that, a few more from my team like Lois, Cynthia, Brian, Carlo, and a few more from Artem¡¯s team wanted toe with us but they were tasked with guarding what we would be leaving behind until picked up by our helicopters.


    ¡°As soon as we fly to the City of Navotas, Honassan would bring the helicopter on the love hotel to take the ce of the UH-1. The ones left would fill the cargo helicopter to the brim while Vera and the rest will wait for the ones from the president¡¯s side to help us. If they took too long, our own cargo helicopter would fly back to fetch the remaining items until it¡¯s done. Any questions?¡± I started.


    ¡°Why is Rod asking for us again? I think I didn¡¯t hear what he said.¡± Matthew asked.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t tell me. He just told us to hurry up and I said we¡¯ll be there in 15 minutes.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I guess we¡¯ll get more tours eh?¡± Bogdanmented after lighting his used cigar that he hid earlier.


    ¡°Da, shall we go now?¡± Artem added after grabbing his gear.


    My new group replenished everything that we used before hauling a few more items in our UH-1. We took a few ammo cans from the haul we collected plus a few food items to take along the way. Aside from that, we were casually hiding an RPG-7 and a .50 Cal machine gun just in case things get ugly.


    As soon as we were ready, I flew the UH-1 straight to the City of Navotas where the president and Oscar were currently located.


    It took us a few minutes to get there and it was pretty obvious as to where they were docked.


    The ce was filled with several shipping containers stacked on top of each other but I noticed that some of them were recently moved to block the dead froming inside. They seemed to have already cleared a huge area where they set up a small camp to take a small breather from the work they have done.


    ¡°I guess it¡¯s them by therge tent?¡± Kaley asked me.


    ¡°I could see Oscar¡¯s SUV close to it. I bet they¡¯re the three sitting casually by the benches¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°What¡¯s the shipping container beside them though?¡± Kaley added. <hr>


    ¡°We¡¯ll see when wend¡­¡± I replied.


    The outpost Iskoh took for themselves in his city was the Man South Harbor while the new outpost the president and Iskoh took for us was the Man North Harbor. The North Harbor was located just by the border of the City of Navotas and the City of Man but it was upying a muchrger areapared to the South Harbor.


    It was three times the size the South Harbor was nestled in and it would definitely take more people and resources to keep it in check and secure.


    ¡®Hope we get more help than just them taking it for us¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Sir,nd by the edge where you could see a few signal lights.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Gotcha.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    It didn¡¯t take long for us tond on the North Harbor and we were weed by thebined soldiers of the president and Iskoh. Seeing the look on some of their faces when they saw Artem confirmed that they were somewhat revered because of the work they¡¯ve done on the other side.


    A few soldiers guided us to where the three were and we followed after grabbing our gear.


    ¡°Your team have a reputation among their ranks, eh?¡± I turned to Artem.


    ¡°Da, it¡¯s because of the number of suicide missions we did. I¡¯ll tell you about itter.¡± Artem replied, reaching for a snack.


    ¡°Great, don¡¯t leave any details. I want to hear the whole thing. I-¡± I was about to continue speaking, but I was cut off by the dull thuds and screamsing from the shipping container beside the president, Oscar, and Iskoh.


    My group immediately turned in the direction of the noise while I was looking at the facial expression the three were wearing.


    The president was always himself but I could feel a bit of bloodl.u.s.t hidden from his normal expression while Oscar seemed to be looking at me more closely. Iskoh looked a bit ¡®different¡¯ from thest time I saw him but I will make sure to give him another punch if he threw another re at me.


    ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Matthew instantly asked about the shipping container the moment he joined the three.


    ¡°To exin it quickly, they¡¯re prisoners¡­ for now.¡± the president replied.


    A few more thuds followed with garbled screams but everything got a lot more confusing when I saw Cyrill being escorted by a soldier. He was looking a little bit better thest time I saw him but he still looked skinny even when he was wearing baggy clothing. When I looked closer, it seemed that he was just detained and he had no marks to tell me that he was ¡®questioned¡¯ thoroughly.


    ¡°We¡¯re here, what¡¯s this about and why is Cyrill here?¡± I turned to the president.


    ¡°I picked him up while driving here. Borris is here too, but he¡¯s looking through some of the containers.¡± Oscar answered.


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t answer much though. Who are inside that shipping container then?¡± I asked another question.


    ¡°Let¡¯s ask your cousin first. Morales! Open the container!¡± the president yelled.


    As soon as the shipping container was opened, several rugged individuals came out while d in chains. They tried to attack the soldier named Morales the moment they rushed out but Morales quickly stabbed the first one that rushed towards him.


    The knife dug into the prisoner¡¯s arm then Morales kicked him down.

 Chapter 490

    Chapter 490: 490


    The guy that Morales kicked down screamed in pain as he rolled all over the ground while the chains wrapped around him rattled. <center></center><hr>


    The chain was long enough to hold down all of them but the ones close to him got yanked down while looking in fear. All of them were acting in unison earlier for their surprise attack but once Morales neutralized the first one, their formation was immediately broken into pieces.


    Morales approached the man screaming in pain while the ones close to him were frozen stiff. The man¡¯s arm was still bleeding profusely but Morales delivered a kick straight to his abdomen before grabbing his head and making him face Cyrill which was struck in fear.


    My group was already used to the violence but we were a little worried about how brutal Morales was handling their prisoner. I couldn¡¯t care less about the way they do things but if they wanted to get information out of them, I would¡¯ve chosen a different approach.


    ¡®We¡¯ll see where this goes first¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Hey, look closely, okay? Do you recognize him?¡± Morales turned to Cyrill with a chilling tone. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/do-you-recognize-him_51004130189174889 for visiting.


    ¡°I-I-I c-can¡¯t-¡± Cyrill nced at the guy but he started to stammer from the initial shock.


    ¡°Can¡¯t what? You don¡¯t recognize him or you don¡¯t want to cooperate? Look again and don¡¯t waste our f.u.c.k.i.n.g time.¡± Morales unchained the guy and threw him in front of Cyrill.


    ¡®He¡¯s working him¡­¡¯ I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    The guy was barely wearing any clothing and I could clearly see several tattoos on his person that he belonged to a gang that was rampant around these parts. Looking at the rest of them, they share the same ink but all of them were looking a little worse because of a thorough ¡®questioning¡¯ that might¡¯ve happened when I and the rest of my team weren¡¯t here.


    ¡°I-I-I¡¯m sure I don¡¯t r-recognize him but-¡± Cyrill answered, but Morales cut him off before he managed to finish his sentence.


    ¡°But? He¡¯s gonna die in a few if you take so f.u.c.k.i.n.g long. Out with it!¡± Morales eximed, startling Cyrill.


    Before Cyrill managed to work up his courage to answer, the guy tried to lunge at him. Cyrill jumped back while stumbling around to get behind the soldier that escorted him here. However, before the guy even got close to the soldier in front of Cyrill, Morales pulled the guy back by grabbing him by the leg and twisting it to a horrifying angle.


    Everyone close heard the crunch and we could all see boneing out from the fracture.


    The guy was shaking and screaming from pain as his eyes started to get even more bloodshot while he was trying so hard to grit his teeth to bear with it. The rest of the prisoners were staring in shock and even if the container was open for them to get back and hide, they were all frozen in ce, afraid about what Morales might do to them.


    Looking at Morales, even if he was wearing a stoic expression, his actions and breathing patterns suggested that he was trying so hard to hold himself back from killing all of them on the spot.


    ¡®What did they do then?¡¯ I asked myself.


    I just waited for things to unfold by themselves and my group was doing the same. <hr>


    It didn¡¯t take long before the soldier where Cyrill used as a shield pulled him back and right in front of Morales. Cyrill couldn¡¯t look Morales in the eye while he was also averting his gaze from the man screaming in pain while crying for help.


    ¡°Want me to ask again?¡± Morales asked with an even darker tone.


    ¡°N-No¡­ What I-I w-wanted to say e-earlier was the ta-tattoos he was wearing b-belong to the same g-group¡­¡± Cyrill stammered once more.


    ¡°We¡¯re not f.u.c.k.i.n.g blind! We already f.u.c.k.i.n.g know that! That number 28 in his tattoo, what the f.u.c.k does that mean?!¡± Morales exploded.


    ¡°I-I-I don¡¯t k-know! I j-just used to b-buy from them! Before! Before! T-That¡¯s all I know!¡± Cyrill eximed then he nced at me, seemingly looking for help.


    ¡®Sort this shit yourself for the moment, I wanted to know more as well¡­¡¯ I thought to myself, looking at Cyrill, telling him with my gaze that I wouldn¡¯t offer assistance¡­ yet.


    On the other hand, Morales was watching Cyrill closely. When he saw him look at me for a brief second, he nced at me as well before cing his hand on Cyrill¡¯s face, making Cyrill face him once more. The guy sprawled beside them was slowly losing strength and if they wanted him to live, they needed to give him medical attention as fast as possible.


    However, that wasn¡¯t the case. Morales let go of Cyrill but left him with a little surprise. <hr>


    ¡°Good, now kill him. We¡¯ll ask the others after.¡± Morales said as he pulled his knife out and handed it forcefully to Cyrill.


    Cyrill was stunned by the instruction given to him and he was just nkly looking at Morales while loosely holding the knife.


    The guy that was to be executed didn¡¯t even manage to let out another scream because his consciousness was slowly fading away. However, the rest of the prisoners were trembling in fear and crying for help, trying to get a ¡®pardon¡¯ from the president who was silently watching them.


    Cyrill was still nkly looking at Morales while holding the knife but Morales threw him a confused look.


    ¡°Don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g tell me you don¡¯t know what to do? I thought I¡¯d given enough instruction? You offered help, right? You¡¯ve changed, right? You¡¯re not using anymore, right? Prove it. Are you waiting for him to turn or something? He¡¯d die anyway and waiting would just make him suffer more. Doing it now would put him to rest much easier. He¡¯d have an easier timepared to what they did with half my team and their people. Wait- Oh~ are you just f.u.c.k.i.e.d up as them and actually making him feel more pain? Are you? Huh?¡± Morales stated, looking at Cyrill.


    As soon as Morales mentioned his team, a select few of the soldiers¡¯ faces around us turned sour, even the president himself. Oscar and Iskoh were looking the same way and Matthew who was right beside them was trying to know more about what happened earlier. It seemed that Oscar gave him a very brief exnation but the rest of us could more or less surmise what the prisoners did to deserve such severe punishment.


    ncing from above the helicopter earlier, one area of the harbor had some sort of an explosion but everyone who saw it earlier surmised it to be just a simple part of taking over this area. However, judging by the fact there was hatred from the way Morales talked to the prisoners and the way the rest of the people that were here reacted to his small outburst, the small explosion could be the reason.


    ¡®I¡¯m just wondering why they waited for us before doing this sort of thing¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°I¡­ I-I¡¯m-¡± Cyrill was breathing heavily but the knife on his hand fell, nging down a slight bit before Morales turned deathly silent. <hr>


    Cyrill immediately tried to pick it up but Morales was already stepping on the knife, preventing Cyrill to pick it up. When Cyrill looked up to face Morales, he almost stumbled a second time because of the way Morales was looking at him. It was as if Morales would kill him then and there just by dropping the knife he was holding earlier.


    However, that wasn¡¯t the case because Morales just gave Cyrill a slight push before picking the knife himself and turning to the man that was close to dying. Cyrill tried to give a few apologies but that was when Morales stabbed the guy¡¯s abdomen and twisted the knife when it dug deep.


    Cyrill was right next to the guy when it happened and he was frozen in ce. He tried to wade his way away but his eyes were fixated on the knife that dug into the guy¡¯s abdomen. Cyrill almost vomited at the sight as he slowly turned pale from what just happened.


    The guy could only let out a pained whimper as he tried to push Morales¡¯ hand away.


    Morales wasn¡¯t budging an inch, just staring into the guy¡¯s eyes. However, this was when the president decided that he was taking too long.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± the president stated.


    ¡°Understood, Sir. I apologize for taking too long.¡± Morales responded before pulling out the knife and stabbing straight on the guy¡¯s earlobe.


    The ce became quiet when the guy stopped whimpering and shaking all over.


    Cyrill and the rest of the prisoners thought it was over but that was when Morales unchained another one and threw it in front of Cyrill as nothing happened.


    ¡°Do you recognize him?¡± Morales continued, casually holding the bloody knife with his hand.

 Chapter 491

    Chapter 491: 491


    The look on the faces of Cyrill and the rest of the prisoners were inexplicable the moment those words came out of Morales¡¯ mouth. His voice wasn¡¯t as loud when he spoke but it was loud enough for everybody to hear clearly. He spoke with a normal face but there was this dark undertone with his voice the moment it left his mouth. The knife he was holding was slowly dripping blood and he wasn¡¯t bothering to wipe it at all. <center></center><hr>


    That was when Cyrill lost strength in his legs while a few of the prisoners tried to either jump on the water or to run back inside the shipping container they were in. However, the soldiers right behind them were quick to put them back in the same spot they were sitting on.


    ¡°Please! I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯M SORRY~!!!¡±


    ¡°WE¡¯RE JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS!!! WE¡¯RE JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS!!!¡±


    ¡°Please let us go!¡±


    ¡°Have mercy!¡±


    ¡°PLEASE!!!¡±


    ¡°GOD HELP US PLEASE!!! GOD!!! PLEASE HELP US!!!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry!¡±


    The prisoners tried to plead once more as they turned to the president but punches and kicks rained on them instead. Their lips and eyebrows got chipped while a select few got broken noses. One of them had his eye swollen to the point that he couldn¡¯t open it but the soldiers didn¡¯t stop until the president deemed it so. A few tried to still call for mercy but they were the ones that received the most beating. <center></center><hr>


    When the soldiers were done, all we could hear was small whimpers and hushed cries because they were sure that another beating would be granted to them the moment they tried to tell the president what to do.


    A normal person witnessing this type of stuff happening in front of their eyes without context would definitely ask or plead to the authorities to stop but everyone in this harbor knew what they did to the president¡¯s soldiers. Good soldiers were definitely hard toe by and it would take a lot of time and resources to rece them, much less arm them. Not only that, the bond they shared with theirrades was nothing to sneeze at and the people responsible for their deaths definitely wouldn¡¯t have it easy.


    Morales was patiently waiting for Cyrill¡¯s response this time but the person he threw in front of him decided to be cooperative.


    ¡°H-H-Hey! I- Umm- I-I c-could t-tell you wh- GRRCK!!!¡± the guy was about to continue but Morales¡¯ boot weed him instead.


    A couple of teeth flew out from his mouth then another kick was delivered to his abdomen. The guy instantly spewed out his lunch and Morales stepped on his head, smothering him with the ripe-smelling fluids that he threw up.


    ¡°Who the f.u.c.k asked you? Hey, are you gonna answer or not? My question isn¡¯t that hard, right? First things first, stand up and stop being a wuss. I¡¯m talking to you normally and you¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g shaking in there like you¡¯re the one receiving the beating yourself.¡± Morales turned to Cyrill once more.


    As soon as Cyrill heard that, he tried to stand up as fast as he could while trying to look at the guy¡¯s face, thinking hard if he could recognize him.


    The guy had the same skinny build as the first one and they all had this ¡®look¡¯ they share. The sunken-shifty eyes, the ck-tight jaw, ck-yellow teeth, and the cold sweat pouring out of them with the asional trembling either due to fear or a symptom of withdrawal. It was already a good thing that they could understand and respond normally to a conversation and I think that was the only thing keeping them alive for the most part.


    Everyone was waiting for Cyrill¡¯s response but his face already gave it away.


    Morales was watching Cyrill closely and the facial expression that told us that he didn¡¯t recognize the guy made Morales tighten the grip on his knife before sinking it to the same ce he sunk his de into the first guy. The person this time wasn¡¯t even able to react or plead his case a second time because he was just as shocked as Cyrill the moment he was taken care of. <hr>


    His eyes were still open when he fell t and he was just staring at one side of the harbor while he was still bleeding out from the stab.


    No one had the time to mourn for them because the third person was already being brought in front of Cyrill.


    It was a woman this time and her skin was pale while her hair was frazzled and dirty. Tears were continuously flowing down her cheeks and she was shaking from fear, afraid of what Morales would eventually do to her. However, she still hasn¡¯t resigned to her fate because she tried to bluff her way out of this situation.


    ¡°H-Hey¡­ y-you¡­ y-y-you know m-me, r-right? Y-You¡¯re the guy that u-used toe e-every Tuesday, r-right?¡± the woman was desperately hinting at Cyrill to tell Morales that he knew her.


    It was at this moment Cyrill made the smart decision to nce at me for a brief second. Everyone already knew that the woman was lying and I immediately looked at him, hinting to not be f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid at this time or else he would join the two guys the moment he said he knew her.


    ¡°H-Hey~ don¡¯t j-just look at me¡­ you know- you know me, r-right?¡± the woman continued, slowly inching toward Cyrill, leaning forward to give him a little peek of her assets.


    ¡®If you fall for that you f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot I¡¯dy your ass out myself¡­¡¯ I thought to myself, trying to catch Cyrill¡¯s attention so he wouldn¡¯t think with his d.i.c.k.


    Cyrill was staring at her confused but I knew it was all over when his eyes shifted for a few centimeters to check her out. I don¡¯t know how a person being tested would risk it all just for a chance at someone he didn¡¯t even know that well and just traipsing death as we speak. However, my biggest concern was Morales.


    ¡®Huh?¡¯ I was confused. <hr>


    I briefly nced at Morales to check his expression but he was actually amused at what was happening between the two. The grip on his knife had considerably loosened while his guarded stance from earlier was now reced with him just leaning with his other foot, casually standing and watching for the events to unfold.


    ¡®This is bad¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    I nced at Oscar first to see what his expression like but he already lost interest and was shaking his head in disappointment. I don¡¯t know if Matthew was familiar with my situation with my cousin but he was still watching silently. When I nced to my side, Kaley and Tatiana were just watching but waiting about what I would do next while Jared was starting to get pissed off about Cyrill¡¯s actions.


    I had to make a choice.


    If I let everything y out, I¡¯m sure that sooner orter, Cyrill will join the corpsesying beside them. However, if I interfere, I might risk my rtionship with the president and perhaps one of his officers if I don¡¯t have a solid reason as to why I would help my estranged cousin.


    ¡®F.u.c.k it.¡¯ I decided to approach them.


    The woman still kept on egging Cyrill on but before Cyrill managed to open his mouth and doom himself, I grabbed him from behind and lifted him up in the air.


    ¡°Wha-¡± was the only thing that left Cyrill¡¯s mouth before I mmed him down with German Suplex.


    I made sure to knock him out cold and his skinny-ass body wouldn¡¯t stand a chance. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/f.u.c.k.i.n.g-thot._51028723960430702 for visiting.


    The woman in front of me and Morales was confused as f.u.c.k as to what just happened but I didn¡¯t end it there. I looked at the woman dead in the eye before I grabbed her neck from the opposite side and then I threw her back with a vertical suplex. Surprisingly, she was still conscious but she was groaning in pain. <hr>


    Morales was confused as f.u.c.k but he also surprisingly didn¡¯t interfere once I interrupted his little session.


    ¡°WHO- WHO THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU?!¡± the woman bellowed, coughing out a few times.


    ¡°That guy whoes in every Tuesday, what¡¯s his name?¡± I decided to call her bluff.


    ¡°Wha-¡± she got confused.


    ¡°You said hees and buys from you every Tuesday, right? What¡¯s his name?¡± I asked once more.


    ¡°What?¡± she responded with a confused expression once more.


    ¡°You¡¯re a lying bitch then. Do you know how to swim?¡± I threw another curveball.


    ¡°Huh? What? What are you- I ca- I can¡¯t swi- Noooooooooooo~¡± the woman couldn¡¯t keep up with me but I lifted her up by the neck before I threw her in the water.


    ¡®F.u.c.k.i.n.g thot.¡¯ I thought to myself, shaking my head.


    I didn¡¯t give a f.u.c.k about the stares everyone gave me but I continued in my own world.


    She started to struggle to stay afloat but I turned to the rest of the prisoners still in chains.

 Chapter 492

    Chapter 492: 492


    All of them shuddered the moment my gaze scanned through each one of them and their shaking would intensify for each step I went closer. Everyone around me was focused on what I would do next but I was watching out for the sounds the woman I threw in the water was currently making. <center></center><hr>


    ¡®Can¡¯t swim my ass.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    Even if she was struggling to stay afloat, she definitely knew how to keep her head above the water.


    ¡®I guess her body was just hurting after the beating she received and the vertical suplex I performed on her¡­ it would be a while before the cold sets in though¡­¡¯ I thought to myself. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/first¡ªfair_51070780817065766 for visiting.


    ¡°HELP~!!! GllBrrFGH~ HELP~!!!¡± the woman shouted as started to call for help.


    As she was screaming while trying to stay afloat, I was watching the reactions of the prisoners that were trembling in front of me. I was wearing a nk face without any sort of emotion the whole time I was watching them but I noticed one of them stealing nces at the edge where I threw the woman in the water.


    ¡®He¡¯s close to her or something then?¡¯ I thought to myself.


    The guy was of average height but like the others, he was also on the skinnier side. His hair was long and fuzzy and I could see the same identifying tattoos that they all share in different parts of their bodies. The only thing that sets him apart from all the others was therge earring that he was wearing along with a tongue piercing I spotted each time he would breathe with his mouth due to a broken nose. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You know¡­ she would eventually drown or just die of cold if we let her just like that, right?¡± I mentioned in front of them.


    Almost all of their reactions were the same but there was a look of worry and concern from the guy I spotted earlier. He was also the first one to turn his head to look at me before retracting his gaze and looking back at the ledge. He was also listening for the sounds the woman was making and he was doing a bad job of hiding what he was thinking through his actions.


    ¡°If anyone wants to save her, better tell me the other ces your gang or your other allies are upying. You guys are probably scattered around in this city, right?¡± I stated.


    ¡°W-We already told t-them everything! Please! I-¡± the guy spoke out loud but I immediately cut him off.


    ¡°You guys already did? Cool, then it¡¯s easier now. Tell me everything you told them the second time and if any sort of detail was f.u.c.k.i.n.g different, I¡¯ll- we¡¯ll see what happens next.¡± I stared at him with a glint in my eye.


    ¡°I- she¡¯s- p-please! L-Let me t-throw her a r-rope or something first! P-Please! She¡¯s gonna d-drown any minute!¡± the guy immediately negotiated with a pleading look.


    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s funny.¡± I instantly chuckled. <hr>


    ¡°H-Huh?¡± the guy was confused, looking at my expression change for the first time.


    ¡°Do you honestly think that each one of you here would leave this ce alive? I don¡¯t know the whole story but I could already tell that you fought with the president¡¯s troops and failed miserably. You guys managed to take down some of his men but you failed to take everyone down.¡± I crouched in front of him to look him straight in the eye.


    He was speechless, the same way as the others huddled behind him, but I grabbed a few feet of rope I spotted beside a few crates and threw it in front of him. The woman I threw in the water was still pleading to be saved but the guy I am speaking to was now just staring nkly into the rope I threw by his feet.


    ¡°We¡¯re g-gonna die¡­?¡± the guy muttered, still staring at the rope by this feet.


    ¡°Yeah, unless¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°U-Unless?¡± the guy raised his head to look at me.


    The rest of the prisoners heard me as well but all they could do was stare at me and figure out whether I was really extending an olive branch or I was just ying with them. My simple statement made him forget about the woman he was trying to save earlier but it wasn¡¯t my concern as of now. I wanted more information than what they¡¯ve given the president earlier and I¡¯m gonna f.u.c.k.i.n.g squeeze everything from them. <hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s not 100% but as long as you¡¯re deemed useful, you¡¯ll be kept alive indefinitely.¡± I replied with a serious expression.


    ¡°H-How- A-Are you r-really- can y-you g-guaran-¡± the guy was about to ask more but another prisoner stood up with a furious expression.


    ¡°THIS IS BULLSHIT!!!¡± the guy shouted at the top of his lungs.


    I was actually surprised he managed to courageously do that even after a few beatings but he stood his ground even if the rest of the prisoners were trying to pull him down.


    Out of all of them, he was the one that received the most beatings. His shirt was all torn up and had absorbed the blood that came out of his mouth and nose while his face was all swollen up. However, you could see that he had snapped from the deranged look on his face and he seemed to want to go down swinging.


    ¡°F.U.C.K OFF YOU BASTARDS!!! WE WERE F.U.C.K.I.N.G HERE FIRST!!! WHO THE F.U.C.K TOLD ALL OF YOU THAT YOU COULD JUST WALTZ IN WITH YOUR SH.I.P.S, Y-YOUR HELICOPTERS, AND YOUR GUNS THEN TAKE EVERYTHING WE WORKED HARD FOR, HUH?! TELL ME!!! IS IT JUST BECAUSE YOU¡¯RE THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G PRESIDENT?! HUH?! I F.U.C.K.I.N.G VOTED FOR YOU AND THIS IS WHAT YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G DO TO US?! KILL US IF YOU¡¯RE GONNA F.U.C.K.I.N.G KILL US!!! DON¡¯T F.U.C.K.I.N.G PLAY WITH OUR LIVES AS IF WE HAVEN¡¯T SUFFERED ENOUGH!!!¡± the guy roared.


    The rest of his cohorts were somehow roused with his little speech but I wouldn¡¯t let them anchor the conversation. I was just beginning to make them dance into my palm and one foolish act of bravery wouldn¡¯t stop me. Aside from that, ncing at the president, Oscar, Matthew, and Iskoh, the guy was definitely telling me a different version of what went down. <hr>


    ¡°Okay, wish granted.¡± I said before a small glint appeared before his eyes.


    ¡°Hu-¡± was all that came out of him before his head rolled over the edge.


    Screams and gasps followed when what was left of his body flopped to the floor. A pool of blood started to form beneath the body but a small trail of blood followed right behind the head that rolled over. I heard a small plop when the head reached the water and when I looked down, the woman who was previously struggling to stay afloat managed to get ahold of a wooden nk and stay on top of the water.


    She was safe for now but it would be ugly when the cold started to seep into her body after being submerged in the water for too long. Aside from that, she was stuck in ce because a few soldiers were watching her, waiting with their guns pointed right at her head.


    ¡®That¡¯s why she got quiet¡­¡¯ I thought to myself as I turned around once more.


    ¡°If you¡¯re gonna waste our time and follow your ¡®patriot¡¯, be my guest. I¡¯ll cut you down the same way and throw you in the water so the fish could have some food at least. Like I said, if you¡¯re deemed useful, you¡¯ll ¡®maybe¡¯ have a second chance at life. However, don¡¯t start doing the same shit you¡¯ve done that got you in this situation in the first ce. You guys don¡¯t get toin whether we or your ¡®enemy¡¯ brought guns or whatnot to a f.u.c.k.i.n.g fight.¡± I said, letting the blood on my de fall off slowly.


    They were either looking at me or looking down with a pained expression. A few still had that light in their eyes that told me that they still wanted to live but the majority were already dimming down when the realization that they wouldn¡¯t be in charge of their lives anymore.


    ¡°If I remember correctly, this is survival of the fittest, right? I think you guys are familiar with that concept and I don¡¯t need to exin more. Also, don¡¯t give me the reason that you got here first because what matters in the end is who would be standing herest. Being first here doesn¡¯t grant you immunity from the rest of the world, it¡¯s just a simple privilege that you had to take advantage of. It¡¯s not like you would return everything you took from the people who were working here if they asked it back, right? In short, you lost. Don¡¯t cry and bitch about it telling us it wasn¡¯t fair.¡± I casually exined, finally wiping the blood off my de and then cing it back in the scabbard.

 Chapter 493

    Chapter 493: 493


    I tried exining to them the situation they were in but just by being human, a few of them still couldn¡¯t ept the facts even if I shoved it in front of their faces. I was still by the edge after looking back at them and a couple of guys immediately rushed forward to try and push me in the water. Their faces were deranged and it seemed that this was theirst act of defiance in an attempt to take me down with them. <center></center><hr>


    It happened all too fast that the soldiers close to me didn¡¯t have the chance to open fire and all they could do was watch or move in slow motion as everything was unfolding in my eyes. My team was also too far to do anything significant and it would take balls to shoot so close to me. All the prisoners needed to do was nk me on both sides and jump down, drowning me by the weight of two people plus the chains wrapped around them to take care of me.


    I just shook my head at their feeble attempt on my life as I quickly flicked my wrist.


    Both of their arms were severed from their bodies before a bullet bore through each of their heads. I was about to lop their heads off as I promised them but Kaley¡¯s gun was faster than my katana. She was wearing a solemn expression but her eyes were slightly emitting killing intent. The bodies were bleeding out from what was left of their arms and the hole in their heads while the rest of the prisoners were covering their ears in fear and panic.


    Kaley ced the dust cover back after flicking the safety then she ced her finger just by the trigger guard. The rest of my group was just looking at me while Tatiana was casually picking the casings off the ground. Jared already found a ce to sit while the rest of them either followed suit or continued to watch what was happening.


    Blood had sprayed on my clothes and my face but I only wiped my de before looking at the prisoners that had just lost two more people.


    ¡°Is there more? Step up now so we could be done with it. I¡¯ll even stay in the same ce if you have other ns in mind. No?¡± I said after sheathing my de while two corpses were right beside me.


    Despair was already written on their faces and to finish the mindf.u.c.k, I made the soldiers pull up the woman I threw earlier and I made them give her a change of clothes, a fresh nket, and first aid. For the others, they were given the same things much to their surprise. After that, I offered them a bottle of water with a different expression I was wearing earlier. They were adamant about epting my gifts but I still ced the bottled waters in front of them.


    ¡°I guess we could finally start, right?¡± I looked at what was left of them. <center></center><hr>


    They were confused as f.u.c.k but they got even more confused when I released them from their chains and when I asked for a room where I could talk to them alone.


    My team and the old dudes threw worried nces at me at first but my past actions had already proven that I know what I¡¯m doing.


    They were all escorted to a small office and they were lined up side by side with the same bottle of water right in front of them. No one has touched it yet, judging from the seals still intact. The woman I threw over the water was the only one ring at me but there was a difference by the way she was ring at me from the moment she was pulled uppared to now.


    She was just straight up furious earlier but when she was handed a fresh set of clothes and a nket, there was now a mix of emotions like doubt, anger, curiosity, and fear clouding her head. She was tightly clutching the nket I handed to her and it seemed that she was having a rougher time than usual just by receiving the gift offered by the one that put her in such a ce and situation.


    ¡®I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m ying the cold game right now¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Now that the people in your group that could jeopardize your own safety has been dealt with, I think it¡¯s time we cut a deal.¡± I started, looking at each of them.


    ¡°D-Deal?¡± the guy I was speaking to earlier asked.


    ¡°You, what¡¯s your name?¡± I replied. <hr>


    ¡°O-Oliver¡­¡± the guy replied.


    ¡°I¡¯m Sky, see that? We¡¯remunicating properly right now, right? How about you guys?¡± I looked at the rest of them.


    They started to introduce themselves one by one and when we finally got to the woman I threw overboard, I was surprised that there was little to no resistance.


    ¡°Elise¡­ my name¡¯s Elise. T-Thanks for the b-nket¡­¡± the woman said, staying close to Oliver. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/the-cold-game_51095860473294425 for visiting.


    There were no hidden meanings or even motives between her speech and her actions. The rest of them were the same way but I still kept my guard up.


    ¡°No problem. Okay, you already heard what I wanted from all of you earlier. I asked for locations but what I wanted to aside from that are names, mode of transport, equipment, security, numbers, storage areas, inventory, and etc. In short, I wanted to know everything that you know and I¡¯ll use that to help you. I already said that as soon as they find you useless they¡¯ll kill you, so we needed to give them more than what you gave them.¡± I exined, making it seem that we were already a team separate from the president¡¯s group.


    ¡°I-Isn¡¯t giving them all we know equal to just signing our death penalty? Y-You said it yourself¡­¡± Joshua, another prisoner said, looking at me with suspicion.


    ¡°I mentioned something like that but you didn¡¯t get it fully. Tell me, is the information in your heads the only one that¡¯s useful? If so, you¡¯re all dead once you leave this room. They need more than just soldiers. If you think about it, with the number of soldiers we have outside, we could as easily raze this city in a day or two with or without the information you would be giving us. After that, we¡¯d need people to rebuild and a country couldn¡¯t just beposed of his militia, right? We¡¯d soon revert back to the old days.¡± I replied with a half-truth. <hr>


    ¡°W-What do y-you mean?¡± Joshua was taken aback.


    ¡°Heh, did you f.u.c.k.i.n.g forget where the president was supposed to be right now?¡± I let out a faint smile.


    It took them a few moments but when the realization struck, a hint of excitement filled their faces aside from the ones they were wearing earlier.


    ¡°H-He¡¯s s-supposed to be in Mindanao¡­ How? I-In the broadcasts¡­ Is it- Really?¡± Oliver was the one to answer.


    ¡°Mindanao is already clear, Luzon, our ce, is next. Visayas woulde a bitter because the inds are too separated from each other. If you didn¡¯t notice, Mayor Iskoh is already with him and that could mean another thing, right? The City of Man is already clear and this ce is probably next. You either join him or you¡¯d be burned with the rest of the deadheads outside.¡± I mixed truths with lies and lies with truths.


    They looked like they were kids being allowed to sleepte but a look of worry suddenly appeared on their faces.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked.


    ¡°T-The i-information we gave them¡­¡± Elise looked down, clutching her nket tighter. <hr>


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be here if I didn¡¯t know you¡¯ve left some out of it. They also wouldn¡¯t leave you alive if they know you¡¯re still hiding something. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll put in a good word and we¡¯ll work on your situation. We¡¯ve been in this situation more times than you could imagine and it all turned out well.¡± I replied with a fake smile.


    It didn¡¯t take them long before they spilled every bit of information they had though their lives would solely depend on the president¡¯s discretion. Leaving them alive and joining our ranks would be next to impossible even if they cooperated with me. Personally, I wouldn¡¯t ept them in my ce and it would take a monumental task for them to aplish for a chance of my decision being swayed.


    I discovered that they have their main group on the other side of the city where the main fishing port was located. They number less than a couple hundred and they were armed with the guns either from their own stash or taken from the DDR Camps. However, they were already notified of the president¡¯s arrival and their current situation was unknown.


    For all we know, they could be gearing for war, fortifying their ce, or relocating somece else. Considerable time had already passed and them not receiving any sort of info already told them that this ce was already in our control. It was now up to both sides on what each other would do from the information they have on hand.


    I gave the prisoners one final look before I left the room before them.


    The soldiers that went inside after I got out were with Morales and it seems that a decision was already made beforehand.


    ¡®No second thoughts, eh?¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ying the cold game was necessary but it would always leave a bad taste in my mouth.

 Chapter 494

    Chapter 494: 494


    I have only walked a dozen steps before screams and dull thuds from bodies falling to the floor followed. It was a weird feeling to have a few people I was just talking to earlier, telling them that everything was going to be alright with a smile on my face, meeting their end abruptly like a dream suddenly turning into a nightmare. Themotion onlysted for a few moments before it was quiet once more. <center></center><hr>


    I could only hear the sound of water sloshing and hitting against the barriers of the harbor.


    The moment I looked back, their bodies were being carried out one by one. Morales came out briefly while wiping his knife with a piece of cloth and then our eyes met.


    ¡°Did you find what you were looking for?¡± Morales asked as he approached me.


    I let out a faint smile, ¡°Yeah, I know everything. Good thing I didn¡¯te out to just piss. I would¡¯vee back to corpses that wouldn¡¯t be able to answer my questions.¡±


    Morales took a closer look at me as he ced his knife back on the sheath, ¡°You better report everything to the president then. I¡¯d love to hear what they said but I wouldn¡¯t trust anythinging out of their mouths.¡±


    ¡°I was about to look for him. Well, real eyes realize real lies, right? There are a few things you wouldn¡¯t be able to get ahold of if you keep using force.¡±


    Morales kept a straight face while looking at me but his eyes squinted for a bit with my exnation, ¡°Hmm, better get to it then. I still have a lot to take care of regarding this harbor.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? This is just a guess but, are you gonna be the one running this ce?¡±


    ¡°Affirmative, is there a problem?¡±


    ¡°No, not at all. We¡¯ll be seeing more of each other then and I hope we get along.¡± I offered a small handshake.


    ¡®I guess this ce wouldn¡¯t be just turned over to me¡­ I¡¯m gonna ask for more infoter though¡­¡¯ I thought to myself. <center></center><hr>


    Morales returned it with his own then he said, ¡°We¡¯ll be in different cities but sure, I see no problem in it. I better get going, good work on the prisoners.¡±


    We eventually parted ways though I felt like Morales was either too preupied to deal with me just yet or he was just like that in the beginning. Either way, I have new people to deal with and I hope it would be not as hard to get along with them.


    ¡®Is he a member of that squad though? The president brought a lot more soldiers this time too. I bet there are more waiting in Iskoh¡¯s ce.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    The president was a powerful ally and a ruthless enemy. No one would wish to be on the opposing side or else the power of a country would rain down on them hard. A few have already tried but they were met with the same fate.


    ¡°Sir, the president is looking for you.¡± a soldier with a huge shlight approached me, bearing some news.


    ¡°And my team?¡± I asked.


    ¡°They were also escorted there, sir.¡±


    ¡°How about Cyrill?¡±


    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s being tended to by our nurse from the other tent.¡±


    ¡°Okay, tell himter that I¡¯ll talk to him after this. Give him a few tablets of Ibuprofen because he¡¯ll f.u.c.k.i.n.g need it.¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes, sir.¡± <hr>


    I was shortly escorted to another office that was much bigger where the president and the rest were present. The old dudes were discussing various things with Iskoh while the rest of my team was waiting for me with Borris. They saw mee in and my team greeted me with a simple nod or a short salute. I was about to walk up to them but Oscar called me over to their side.


    ¡°Kid,e over here.¡±


    ¡°When did you be Scorpion?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Not important.¡±


    ¡°Bah! Stop fooling around!¡±


    I chuckled briefly before I began to report everything that I found out as we started a small meeting. I brought out a map to point out the ce where their main group could¡¯ve been.


    ¡°They¡¯re located at this port but I doubt that could be the only ce they have people in.¡± I started. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/let''s-go-back-shall-we_51121577126846378 for visiting.


    ¡°I thought you already learned everything from the prisoners?¡± Iskoh asked.


    ¡°Well, I did squeeze everything from them. However, they wouldn¡¯t know everything that urs in their other base. If we¡¯re going to make a n about ¡®approaching¡¯ them, we should be taking into ount everything. It¡¯s a long shot and shouldn¡¯t be expected of them but these ces here, here, and here should be checked first.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t matter as much because we¡¯ll mow everything down once we set up this ce properly. We¡¯d be staying here for a few days and we¡¯ll do as much as we can, given the time period.¡± Rod dered casually. <hr>


    ¡°How long exactly would you be staying here then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Three days at most but I could extend it up to four or five, no promises though. If I take more time, Roque would start crying like a bitch and I wouldn¡¯t want Manny to take over for long. I didn¡¯t think it would as troubling as leaving Roquepared to bringing him with me.¡± Rod replied.


    ¡°Heh, you left him at your ce?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Not exactly, he¡¯s at my ce.¡± Iskoh chimed in.


    ¡°Is that why your wife came as well?¡± I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°Nah, just being on the safe side. I wouldn¡¯t leave her and she really wanted to see Jude again.¡± Iskoh continued.


    ¡°Enough chit-chat, are we going for them now or what? I know you said earlier we would but I suggest you take some rest. Your soldiers need them too and another surprise attack wouldn¡¯t be as good when they already got notified of our presence.¡± Oscar started as he waited for Rod¡¯s response.


    Rod scratched his head a few times but he eventually nodded, ¡°Yeah, I think it would be better to finish setting up and getting familiar with this ce. I¡¯d send a few soldiers to scout the surroundings first thing in the morning but I¡¯d assemble a team to start clearing the dead outside. Cities area a f.u.c.k.i.n.g pain to deal with especially in this region. As soon as I¡¯m done gathering intel, we¡¯d attack as early as we could.¡±


    ¡°It would be better if theye with us and some of my scouting groups. We haven¡¯t been here in these parts when it started but we¡¯re more familiar with the area.¡± I added.


    ¡°Hmm, bring a group or two then. For now, let¡¯s head back to your ce, Morales will deal with the things here while we¡¯re away.¡± Rod concluded.


    ¡°Before that¡­ I have a few questions about Morales¡­¡± I trailed. <hr>


    ¡°What? Oh, let¡¯s just say that he¡¯ll be the bridge between the two of you. I doubt you could spare a lot of soldiers to guard this ce but it would be better to leave a few of your own here. I¡¯ll be leaving a hundred soldiers here and you two should fill the rest with whatever you can. They don¡¯t have to be soldiers but they should at least know to handle guns. Aside from that, a few people to maintain this ce. You know, keeping the upkeep.¡± Rod exined.


    I wanted to discuss more things but the notion of taking a rest was on everyone¡¯s minds, especially the old dudes. They don¡¯t show it but their age wasn¡¯t allowing them to perform for long periods of timepared to when they were still at their peak. It was also nearing sunset and we need to get going if we wanted to get home as fast as possible.


    Before we left, the president spoke to Morales for a brief moment, leaving a few instructions. While they were talking, I noticed that Morales was stealing nces at Artem and I could feel a little bit of tension. However, Artem was just standing right behind me, not minding the nces that Morales was giving him. Artem¡¯s group was doing the same thing but my group obviously felt it as well.


    ¡®This could be a problem¡­ Artem and his group have been quiet the whole time as well¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    The president was about to ride with Oscar but Morales stopped him.


    ¡°Mr. President, why don¡¯t you take the helicopter? It would be faster and safer.¡± Morales suggested.


    ¡°With this kid driving? Hah! I¡¯ll pass this time around. A few of you would be following us anyway and I want to feel the road for a bit. It¡¯s only a few minutes and I¡¯ll get to shoot while driving. D¡¯you know how hard it is to hit something from a helicopter? See you tomorrow, we¡¯ll bring great food if we can.¡± Rod waved him over, riding shotgun on Oscar¡¯s SUV.


    ¡°Understood, Sir.¡± Morales nodded a few times before bidding us goodbye.


    Matthew, Borris, and Cyrill also rode with Oscar and the president but Iskoh rode with us. He wanted to see the view from up top and there was space avable. Aside from that, he wanted to check on Jade as soon as possible, and riding the helicopter with me was the fastest way avable to him.


    Oscar¡¯s SUV was led by two military trucks and a jeep filled with soldiers and they drove ahead of us to save some time.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go back, shall we?¡± I said to my group before turning the engine on.

 Chapter 495

    Chapter 495: 495


    For safety reasons, I tried to catch up with the convoy where Oscar and the rest were and the path that they took was the long-winding path. It was the path that would skirt around the edges of the City of Mbon first then turning around, reaching Lawrence¡¯s outpost before reaching the main base. <center></center><hr>


    I could see muzzle shesing from Oscar¡¯s SUV and it seemed that the president was having a good time. However, it didn¡¯t take long for them to notice us and Oscar immediately contacted us.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [The f.u.c.k are ya following us for?! Shoo! Go on ahead! What¡¯s the point of using a helicopter is you¡¯re going the same f.u.c.k.i.n.g way?!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Remember when you got lost when we drove separately to the provinces?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Wha- you little shit! I told you we aren¡¯t gonna f.u.c.k.i.n.g talk about that!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, you were almost married to a tribeswoman just by asking for directions!¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/see-it''s-chaos-don''t-do-it._51145697126317361 for visiting.


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! KID!!! SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP BEFORE I AIM THIS F.U.C.K.I.N.G MICROGUN AT YA!!!] <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I had to pay them 10 cows, 8 sheep, and a couple dozen of chickens¡­ good times, good times.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Old man? You still there? Remember the clothes you were weari-¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    I continued to torment Oscar as we flew and the trip that was supposed to take longer because I kept on following them felt like it only took a few minutes.


    When we arrived at the main base, I had to park our helicopter on my roof because the space in the DDR Camp was a little congested. One cargo helicopter was already by the basketball court since quite a few came to help with hauling everything from Monumento.


    When we got down, Iskoh excused himself to check on his wife and Jude while Zeus jumped on me, demanding I carry him this instant. We saw everything that was brought back from Monumento and the other items that came from the president¡¯s side inside thepound. A few seemed to be sent to their respective storage area but there was still a whole f.u.c.k ton to go through.


    We finally got our share of fuel and a f.u.c.k ton of casings and scrap metal that could bury us deep for several days. Crates of primers and gunpowder were shipped as well and if the president would leave as early as he said we would, I might give him the ones we have on stock instead of the ones made from the materials they brought.


    ¡®I guess Rin and I would need a few more people while we do the finishing touches¡­ Anyway, this amount is astronomical¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    Cynthia, Micah, and the rest of our teams were present as well and they greeted us when we got back. Aside from that, Oscar and the president¡¯s convoy arrived shortly though Cyrill and Borris were dropped off at their own base. However, the person I was looking for was missing.


    ¡°Cynthia, did you see Rin anywhere?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Umm¡­ s-she was here earlier¡­¡± Cynthia replied, looking at the crates on top of one another.


    ¡°Rin? Where are you?¡± Tatiana called out as well.


    ¡°I¡­ I need help, I¡¯m stuck¡­ I thought I could get out¡­ anyone~!¡± I heard Rin¡¯s voice from the pile of crates.


    ¡°Is that Rin? Where are you?¡± Kaley tried to look between the gaps.


    I almost hesitated at first from hearing ¡®that¡¯ phrase but we eventually moved the crates and pulled her out of her predicament. Rin had an embarrassed look on her face the moment she got to breathe easy but she soon continued to record and assign the ce the items would be stored in. A lot of guns were being ced inside Oscar¡¯s armory but I didn¡¯t pay it much attention.


    ¡®Just like that, huh?¡¯ I chuckled inwardly.


    I decided to help Rin with the items after giving Artem and his team the freedom to choose where toy their heads on. They were surprised for a minute but they all decided to take a look around with everybody. They were slightly tired from the work we¡¯ve done but excitement filled their faces.


    ¡°I¡¯m starting to like this ce! Let¡¯s pick a big house!¡± Bogdan let out a heartyugh.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be too greedy, I¡¯d be happy with just a bed all to myself¡­¡± Kristoff added.


    ¡°That would be nice~¡± Natasha chuckled.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t seen anything yet. You¡¯d be surprised.¡± Tatiana chuckled as she saw their excited faces.


    ¡°Where do you stay then?¡± Katya asked Tatiana. <hr>


    ¡°Right here, we justnded on it.¡± Tatiana pointed back to my house.


    ¡°Oho~ When did that happen?¡± Katya threw Tatiana a cheeky smile, stealing a nce at me.


    As soon as Katya said that, the rest of them immediately threw suspicious looks as well but everything was answered when Tatiana pulled Rin close. Her team got it immediately but they were shocked when Tatiana¡¯s hand went inside Rin¡¯s shirt, but all she took was a key to their room.


    ¡°Happy? Want me to exin everything? Did you and Artem f.u.c.k already? That¡¯s the most important question here, correct?¡± Tatiana immediately anchored the conversation.


    The look on Artem and Katya¡¯s face was priceless but his team seemed to have seen that reaction too many times. Katya was about to attack Tatiana but Artem pulled her and decided to look for a house with the rest of his team.


    ¡°Stop ying around, aren¡¯t you incapable of getting tired? You gori¡­¡± Artem shook his head, continuing to pull Katya back.


    ¡°Cheh, let go of me! When did you get this strong?!¡± Katya struggled to get away.


    ¡°I always am. I just hold back.¡± Artem finally let go of Katya then he walked to the gate ahead of everyone.


    ¡°U-Umm, juste back here and tell me the house you picked, then I¡¯ll give you the keys for it!¡± Rin shouted before Artem and the rest left the gate.


    ¡°Da, no problem.¡± Artem replied, giving a small nod.


    ¡°I¡¯lle with you all, you might get lost.¡± Tatiana joked.


    The inside of thepound was buzzing with people and after we finished helping Rin with sorting out the items that were left, Kaley and I excused ourselves in the time being to take a break. The influx of people needed more time for food to be prepared, so we might even have time to take a short nap to recharge ourselves. However, as soon as we entered our room, my armory was chock full of guns and I was wondering earlier as to why they ced a lot of them in Oscar¡¯s armory.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be really~ busy theseing days.¡± Kaley chuckled.


    ¡°We¡¯re not even finished with the first batch¡­ Gee~ I wonder why~¡± I half-jokingly mentioned as Iy my equipment by the table.


    ¡°Oh~ It¡¯s my fault then~?¡±


    ¡°Notining, just wondering~¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh~ We¡¯re also taking too long because you kept on swapping out the parts!¡±


    ¡°Here we go, I believe it benefited us in doing that when trading with other people, right? It¡¯s great when everything is in perfect condition.¡±


    ¡°I mean- you know~ if you think about it, not everything should be perfect¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh~ Nice philosophical talk for someone that¡¯s perfect¡­¡±


    ¡°Wha- I¡¯m not! I have som-¡± <hr>


    ¡°Eh~ You are, don¡¯t kid yourself, heh.¡±


    ¡°Be serious!¡±


    ¡°I am serious and yeah, I stand by what I said. You might think you¡¯re not but I think you are, that simple.¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ thanks¡­ you¡¯re perfect too¡­ when did you get so cheesy~?¡±


    ¡°Of course I am, heh. Cheesy? I¡¯m just starting~ you¡¯d be surprised, heh.¡±


    ¡°You!¡±


    ¡°Kidding! Kidding! Thanks, I can¡¯t swap parts but I could work on myself. I think it¡¯s a good thing for us being this way instead of tools needing parts from others, leaving the other one unwanted or less valuable¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re perfectly weird, did you know that?¡±


    ¡°Wha- Well, that¡¯s true in a sense¡­¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! I was just surprised because it came out of nowhere but I get what you mean¡­ I kinda want to swap heads with you for a moment¡­ just to see what it¡¯s like. I bet it would be really amazing.¡±


    ¡°You really want to know? Easy, I¡¯ll tell you what I¡¯m thinking right now: need a shower, so tired, Kaley, Kaley¡¯s b.o.o.b.s, Kaley again, need to clean some f.u.c.k.i.n.g guns, need to y some Cyberbug 2077, Kaley again, gymter, wanna eat, Kaley, Kaley¡¯s b.o.o.b.s, so tired, wanna sleep, but shower first¡­ hope Kaley does it with me¡­ yada, yada~¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! What was that about?! Why are my b.o.o.b.s separate from just thinking about me?! HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°See? It¡¯s chaos, don¡¯t do it.¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha! C¡¯mon, let¡¯s take a shower already. I wanted to have one too before taking a short nap.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I wanted to sleep so bad~¡±


    ¡°You should. You know what¡¯s gonna happenter, right?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll see~¡±


    ¡®Oh, boy¡­¡¯

 Chapter 496

    Chapter 496: 496


    Kaley and I soon soaked in the tub then we took a quick shower before heading back into our room. Kaley started to change into a fresh set of clothes while I got caught up examining the crates of guns inside my armory. There was barely any space to put my foot in and the only way we could start checking and cleaning them was to pull a few crates outside so we could get inside. <center></center><hr>


    ¡®Tons of M4s, AR-15s, M16s, Glock 17s, and 1911s as usual¡­ Well, I might also check the ones sent to the Old Man¡¯s armory as well¡­ I might ask for more help with some guys because we always get sidetracked when we¡¯re it¡¯s just us cleaning them¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me we¡¯re gonna clean them now, I¡¯m kinda sleepy¡­¡± Kaley mentioned, handing me my change of clothes.


    ¡°Hmm? Oh- we¡¯re not, don¡¯t worry. Umm, what are you wearing?¡± I said as I caught a glimpse of Kaley just about to wear a different hoodie of mine.


    ¡°My hoodie.¡±


    ¡°Your hoodie?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m wearing it, aren¡¯t I? Then it¡¯s mine.¡±


    ¡°Is that so~?¡±


    ¡°Yep, as it- Wha- Stop~! It tickles~! Sky~!¡±


    I started tickling Kaley through ¡®her¡¯ hoodie as she tried to get away from me. Her face was so fl.u.s.tered once I got ahold of her but it didn¡¯t stop me from having my way with her. I ended up throwing her in the bed but she suddenly grabbed me and then she started kissing me wild. However, before we even got to take our clothes off, a knock came from the door.


    ¡°Sky~ Kaley~ Food¡¯s ready~¡± I heard Rin¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Coming~!¡± Kaley replied.


    ¡°No, we¡¯re not¡­ Ow!¡± I cheekily whispered but Kaley jabbed me.


    We just wore our war belts that contained our Maxim 9s, a couple of extra magazines, our des, an extra fixed de knife, and a few utility items.


    We came out of the room and the three of us joined everyone in the pool area. The food was extra special because the president was present and the dish prepared was spicy carabeef soup and fried strips of cured carabao beef eaten over piping hot rice. <center></center><hr>


    Everyone enjoyed the food especially Artem and the rest of his team. They devoured the serving they were given though they almost ufortably waited to be asked if they wanted seconds. It was amusing to see them watch Tatiana in wonder by how nonchnt she was about getting seconds herself and how she bonded with people she only met a couple of months ago. However, the time for wonder was short because they were like predators when Aunt Sharon said they could still get seconds.


    Artem had to reel them in a bit but just looking at their reactions told me this was the first time since it started that they had a proper meal such as this.


    ¡®If I had to sacrifice an extra bit of food for soldiers like them, so be it. Food was never my problem to begin with and what they could do exceeds what normal soldiers could offer¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    After I finished eating, the president waved me over. Kaley was still eating with Tatiana and the rest so I briefly excused myself. The rest of the old dudes were with him though Micah was also present along with Iskoh, Jade, and Jude. A few of them finished eating while the president was now having a bottle of beer like a few who had just finished eating.


    ¡°Here! Have some at least! It¡¯s just beer!¡± I heard Oscar offering Artem some beer as well from the background.


    ¡°Kid, I appreciate the meal your aunt is cooking as always but you don¡¯t have to do it every time I¡¯m here.¡± Rod said to me.


    ¡°Thank you, but we do this from time to time. It¡¯s only proper, right?¡± I replied with a faint smile.


    ¡°Heh, suit yourself then. You¡¯re gonna have a meeting after this, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, as soon as everyone¡¯s done.¡±


    It didn¡¯t take long before the meeting started and we soon discussed everything that happened on our side after introducing the new members of our team. After that, each person tasked with leading a group, project, or activity also came up with their reports about what happened on their side and to discuss a few things positive or negative.


    Since our numbers were growing bit by bit, a few disputes here and there were unavoidable. Different people mixing with each other could either be harmonious or discordant and it could lead to problems. It could be petty or serious but the important thing was that it was supposed to addressed as soon as possible.


    If a talk between both sides didn¡¯t resolve it, counseling would be offered by Marisha or different living arrangements would be assigned to them to allow time to resolve the problem. However, we were facing something much more important than their squabbles so they better think of the bigger picture and try to get along with everybody.


    A few more things were discussed besides a few things that could only be discussed in private with the president but the kids stole the stage to give their own report.


    ¡°Hold up! We got to say something!¡± Aya eximed.


    ¡°Yeah! We do!¡± Kenny added. <hr>


    ¡°Yeah!¡± the other kids piled on.


    ¡°It¡¯s for your own good so listen up!¡±


    [Listen, please~]


    ¡°LISTEN UP!¡±


    Everyone was wearing solemn expressions when the meeting ended but the mood was slowly getting brought up.


    The kids were all in a line but what¡¯s different about them aside from the helmets, elbow pads, and knee pads they were always wearing, a small toy was tucked in the pocket of their little hoodies.


    ¡°They¡¯re so cute~¡± Rin chuckled a few times.


    ¡°Right?!¡± Cynthia was smiling from ear to ear, the same with everybody.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s this about then?¡± I asked them.


    ¡°Okay, we found a so¡­ a solution to your problems! Behold! Guys! Like we practiced! Here it is! Behold!¡± Kenny led the group as he ced his hands on the toy by his right pocket.


    ¡°Wait! We need to be angry or sad first!¡± Aya pped in realization.


    ¡°Okay! I¡¯ll be angry, you¡¯ll be sad!¡± Kenny started to ball his fists together while frowning.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be sad too!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be angry then!¡± <hr>


    They took a moment to be angry or sad but they all suddenly touched their toys after reciting the same incantation earlier. It was fun as hell to watch as their expressions slowly turned bliss when they made contact with their own toys for a few seconds.


    ¡°See that?! It works, right?! RIGHT?!¡± the kids started to get on our faces, making us try their methods.


    ¡°OMG! IT DOES, WHY DIDN¡¯T WE THINK OF THAT?!¡± I eximed in surprise when Peter handed me his toy raptor. He just gave me a bright smile before running back to Andrew and showing his new family his discovery.


    Themotionsted for a short while but it was fun to see everyone going in with the kids¡¯ little solution to our problems. To reward them for such a groundbreaking solution, they were given a scoop of ice cream they were longingly waiting for and each of them was in their chairs, making a mess of their faces.


    ¡°Kaley.¡± Marisha walked up from behind us.


    ¡°Yes, mom?¡± Kaley turned around to face her.


    ¡°I¡¯m waiting, okay? I want a grandkid sooner orter, got it?¡± Marisha kept a straight face as she left us while Zeus was following right behind.


    ¡°MOM!¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t hear you~¡±


    ¡°Hngh~¡±


    We soon cleared up and headed to the gym with everyone and I was actually hyping myself up because I would have new people to spar with. Sparring with Tatiana, Mikhail, and the rest that wanted to be given pointers was fun but it would be fun to test my mettle against new opponents that I had no clue what their moves were.


    I was already aware that Ilya was the best in hand-to-handbat from their group but that was the notion from the past. Every single day, people would change for better or worse and that notion would also change depending on the results.


    However, Artem didn¡¯te to the gym and I approached Bogdan to ask his whereabouts.


    ¡°Artem? Ah, I saw him wobbling earlier which was rare ¡¯cause I see him downing bottles of Vodka easily, but Katya helped him to our house. Thanks for that, by the way.¡± Bogdan replied.


    ¡°It was just beer too, funny that¡¯s what got him, heh. Da, the cushion was too soft I almost slept till morning!¡± Kristoff added, chuckling. <hr>


    ¡°Wait, who gave him the beer?¡± I started to get the feeling that this happened a lot of times to me before.


    ¡°Ah, your old dude, Oscar was it? Beard and all? The one with the president?¡± Bogdan answered.


    ¡°Why? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Tatiana approached us, just finished sparring with Natasha.


    ¡°Ah¡­ I don¡¯t know how to say this but depending on a few circ.u.mstances and Katya¡¯s decision, they¡¯ll f.u.c.k till morning.¡± I said while massaging my be.


    I was waiting for their reaction but they all suddenly stopped what they were doing and rushed to their house.


    ¡°WE GOT TO SEE THIS!!!¡±


    ¡°WHO GOT A CAMERA!!!¡±


    ¡°DA, I HAVE ONE!!!¡±


    ¡°IT¡¯S BEEN SO LONG~ FINALLY~¡±


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    ¡°IT¡¯S KATYA WE¡¯RE TALKING ABOUT!!! SHE¡¯S BEEN WAITING FOR IT HER WHOLE F.U.C.K.I.N.G LIFE!!!¡±


    ¡°STOP TALKING, WE NEED TO GET THERE FAST!!!¡±


    I was confused as f.u.c.k but I was suddenly dragged by the rest of them and we were like burrs trying to get into their house as quietly as possible.


    ¡®Why am I here?!¡¯ I shouted in my head.

 Chapter 497

    Chapter 497: 497


    Before we sneaked into their house, I was given the whole rundown about the situation of Artem and Katya. I found out that the two used to be close friends when they were still in school and when they enlisted in the military, the two were basically inseparable. However, a few casual talks here and there revealed that the two have never done it with each other and the rest of their team surmised that it was utter bullshit. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°We even kept a close eye secretly and all these years, they seemed to be telling the truth¡­¡± Natasha whispered.


    ¡°Wait, you said earlier that Katya was waiting for this moment, right? Does that mean Artem kept shooting her down? Is there a reason?¡± I hushedly replied.


    ¡°It¡¯splicated, tooplicated that all of us were trying to figure out. It used to be Artem chasing after her but they suddenly switched roles.¡± Tatiana answered.


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    ¡°Right.¡± Kristoff continued.


    ¡°What? In any case, shouldn¡¯t we just give them their alone time? Why did we bring a few cameras?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I said it¡¯splicated, correct? This could be either proof that they¡¯re lying to us the whole time or remembrance that they finally f.u.c.k.i.n.g did it.¡± Tatiana waved us off, trying to peek into one of the windows.


    ¡°We don¡¯t want to watch them f.u.c.k each other but it¡¯s about the principle!¡± Igor added.


    ¡°The what?¡± I was confused.


    ¡°The principle! Just go along with it!¡± Vera piled on.


    I didn¡¯t know why but I was going along with what they told me. I was keeping quiet as best as I could and I even gave pointers on how to sneak better and told them of ces we could climb easier in the house they picked. However, as we were about to go on top of one another to get a better view, the window suddenly opened and Artem¡¯s head peeked out.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are the rest of ya doing? Not this crap again, you even brought him? Shit, my head still hurts¡­¡± Artem grumbled, clutching his head. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hey! Who told you to get up?! LAY DOWN!!!¡± Katya roared as she threw Artem back in the bed.


    Katya was actually nursing Artem back to health, albeit roughly, and when I turned the rest of his team, they were divided.


    ¡°I think we should give up, it¡¯s been a while and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth it anymore¡­¡±


    ¡°What?! We should wait a bit and I know it¡¯s happening between our backs!¡±


    ¡°Ehh~ I kinda want to sleep now too¡­¡±


    ¡°Wait, what if they did it already? Or Katya just had her way?!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true too¡­¡±


    ¡°Are we overthinking this?¡±


    ¡°What are we gonna do? Check herundry?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a great idea!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m joking! We should drop this topic now!¡±


    ¡°Agreed¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Never! This ship is real, we just gotta be at the right ce and the right time!¡±


    ¡°SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP!!! I¡¯M TRYING TO SLEEP!!!¡±


    ¡°WHO F.U.C.K.I.N.G TOLD YOU TO GET UP?! LAY DOWN OR I¡¯LL KNOCK YOU OUT!!!¡±


    ¡°Yes, gor- I mean yes Katya¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going back, see you guys tomorrow¡­¡±


    Tatiana and I soon decided to head back and even if the events that happened were kinda disappointing and anti-climactic, I found out that their group was closely knit together and they were more than just your above-average soldiers.


    ¡°I thought you¡¯d spend more time with them. Even Vera stayed back.¡± I said to Tatiana.


    ¡°Oh~? You¡¯re expecting her then?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°Kaley¡¯s in my head the whole time because she said something¡¯s gonna happenter, and I don¡¯t know who she¡¯s bringing¡­¡±


    ¡°Hah! I don¡¯t know, I thought she¡¯de as well but there¡¯s always ater date, correct?¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­¡±


    As soon as we got back to the gym, we finished what we left off though we were running a bitte. The two of us were thest ones inside and once we were done, we took a quick shower on the 3rd floor. It wasn¡¯t as awkward as before but Tatiana was already hinting about what woulde next once we reach my room. When we finished and walked down, we saw Kaley and Rin bringing snacks to my room. The two smiled and winked at us then we decided to help them with carrying some of the tes. As soon as we entered my room, I saw Cynthia, Micah, and Daisy inside, watching a movie on my TV. <hr>


    ¡°Here¡¯s the food, dig in!¡± Tatiana dered, already munching on a cupcake.


    ¡°Thanks~ Ooh! It smells great! Try it!¡± Micah sniffed one and offered a bite to Cynthia.


    Cynthia was having the time of her life while the rest of them were giving nces at each other, happy for what was happening to Cynthia. I grabbed a couple of cupcakes for Kaley and myself then I saw Kaley motioning for me to sit right next to her. We were in the middle of the bed, watching the rest of the film when started to lean even closer.


    Kaley was already giving me ¡®that¡¯ look but that was when Micah started to kiss Cynthia on the lips. Cynthia was so fl.u.s.tered the moment it happened but she was slowly melting away as she continued to taste Micah¡¯s sweet lips. Rin joined the two as she started to undress while Tatiana went for Daisy because she was staring at the three with anticipation.


    That was when Kaley made me face her before she gave me a kiss as well. Our tongues were interlocking with each other as I tasted her sweet lips, but I already felt her hand snaking through my shorts. Kaley was gripping me tightly as she stroked me hard but she suddenly whispered in my ear to touch her as well.


    ¡°I¡¯m not wearing panties¡­¡± Kaley was biting my lower lip as she kissed me harder.


    I almost ripped her shorts off and when I reached her fat lips, Kaley was already soaking wet. My fingers could easily glide around her meaty lips as I could barely brush against her little nub. Kaley was looking at me intensely as her breathing started to get heavier.


    The moment my fingers went in Kaley¡¯s glossy insides, she immediately twitched and the way she was stroking me became erratic. Each time I brush her clit with my thumb, her walls would tighten and I would feel her getting wetter and wetter. I started to kiss her neck as she stroked me harder, and her insides were squelching nonstop.


    We were so close to c.u.m.m.i.n.g but Tatiana and Daisy decided to join us in our fun.


    ¡°You two are having fun~ let us join!¡± Tatiana giggled as Daisy went below me and pulled my shorts off.


    Daisy decided to suck on the tip of my c.o.c.k while Tatiana took my hand that was inside Kaley. Tatiana decided to suck on them, going for one finger first before going to the other. After that, Tatiana ced my fingers inside her instead and her p.u.s.s.y would squelch each time I move my fingers inside. She was letting out a wicked smile as she was helping me plunge it deeper inside her but Kaley was looking a little frustrated about what just happened.


    ¡°I¡¯m so close¡­ ah! I¡¯m- wait~¡± Kaley cried out because I reach around her h.i.p.s. <hr>


    I was fingering her creamy p.u.s.s.y from behind as she removed her top to reveal her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts. I almost came from three women servicing me and seeing Kaley¡¯s tits drop right in front of my face. When Kaley removed her top, her hand jerking me off was released, allowing Daisy to try and suck me off right until the base. She was struggling but I could already feel my d.i.c.k hitting the back of her throat. However, as that was happening, I discovered that she was fingering herself, almost close to c.u.m.m.i.n.g as well.


    Daisy¡¯s head was going up and down while her tongue was wrapped around me and it didn¡¯t take long before I exploded in her tiny mouth. My load almost made her choke but she swallowed it all, licking off the excess bits that were left and dripping by the side of her mouth. Daisy was wearing a euphoric look on her face as she looked at me, licking her lips. She was trembling a few times and judging from the liquids flowing down her thighs, it seemed that she came while fingering herself and sucking me.


    ¡°You¡¯re still hard¡­ want another ce to put that in?¡± Daisy looked at me with anticipation.


    ¡®She has a wild side too, huh?¡¯ I thought to myself.


    I was about to answer her but Tatiana waved her off, pointing to Kaley with her lips. Kaley still hasn¡¯t released so Iid her down and removed her shortspletely. Her juices were flowing down her thighs while I was assaulted by her sweet scent. Right before I plunged it deeply, Tatiana grabbed my c.o.c.k and pointed lower, right into Kaley¡¯s ass. Tatiana and Daisy were right beside Kaley and the look on Kaley¡¯s face told me that she just wanted to get f.u.c.k.i.e.d and it didn¡¯t matter which hole I go first.


    I just thrust it deep and Kaley¡¯s body immediately reacted. Her back arched and her eyes rolled over as she started to let out m.o.a.ns while clutching the covers above her head.


    ¡°Harder~ Hng- Ahn~ Har- Ah! Ah! AHhnn~ Don¡¯t sto- Hngh~¡±


    While I was going in and out of Kaley¡¯s ass, Tatiana shoved her fingers inside Kaley¡¯s p.u.s.s.y while licking Kaley¡¯s smooth armpits. Daisy on the other hand was groping Kaley¡¯s huge tits while sucking on one of them. Kaley¡¯s face was a mess as I continued thrusting harder and harder, and while the two were aiming for her weak spots.


    ¡°What are you- Hngh~ Oh my- Ah! Ah! Hngh~ Plea- AH! I¡¯M CU- I¡¯M C.U.M.M.I.N.G~ HNGH~!!!¡±


    Kaley started to squirt in front of everybody as her body convulsed but the three of us wouldn¡¯t let up.


    I started to ram her little asshole faster and faster while Tatiana started to rub her clit because Daisy was now the one shoving her fingers inside Kaley. I could see Kaley¡¯s asshole gaping wide as I would thrust and pull it entirely while her lips would part each time Daisy¡¯s fingers went inside.


    Kaley¡¯s m.o.a.ns started to get louder and louder as she came over and over. She was still trembling when I pulled my d.i.c.k out of her ass oozing with c.u.m, but she pulled me down, hugging me tight giving me another kiss. However, it didn¡¯tst long as Tatiana snatched me from Kaley¡¯s clutches and pushed me down with a wicked smile.


    ¡°My turn.¡± Tatiana giggled as she went on top of me.

 Chapter 498

    Chapter 498: 498


    Tatiana looked like she couldn¡¯t wait for another second as she took me for herself. She was pressing her whole body against me as I entered her almost violently. Her hands were wrapped around my neck, kissing me deeply while her h.i.p.s started to go up and down. She was like a beast in heat the way she handled me but I wouldn¡¯t justy around doing nothing. <center></center><hr>


    I embraced her by the h.i.p.s and I started thrusting from below, matching her movementspletely. As soon as I did that, I was digging through her insides much deeper as our skin was pping against each other. We were going as fast as we could and our kiss was immediately broken, letting me catch a glimpse of what was happening around me.


    ¡°D-Daisy- I just- I just came and- Ah! Ah! Hngh~ There~ Ah~ Hngh~¡±


    Daisy lifted up Kaley¡¯s ass before she started eating it, taking in my c.u.m that was oozing out of her. Kaley was just twitching nonstop but it didn¡¯t take long before Daisy gave her a kiss, sharing more than just their saliva. They eventually started rubbing their pussies together, reaching another climax with just themselves.


    On the other side of the bed, Micah was getting fingered and eaten out by Rin as Cynthia was kissing her and ying with her tits. Rin was ying with herself while she was doing it to Micah while Cynthia¡¯s insides were getting explored by Micah¡¯s fingers. Her fingers were so creamy as it was going in and out of Cynthia and Cynthia¡¯s juices were already flowing down the side of her juicy thighs.


    ¡°Hey, just look at me¡­¡± Tatiana suddenly turned my head to face her, as her face was slowly turning into a mess.


    I was now the only one moving my h.i.p.s because Tatiana was starting to get close. I decided to change the grip that could allow me to prod around her puffy asshole while I continued to f.u.c.k her from below. She immediately trembled as I brushed through the edges of it but it didn¡¯t take long before I slowly slid a finger in. I was wiggling it inside her warm ass as I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g her and all she could do involuntarily was roll her eyes over while sticking her tongue out.


    I continued to f.u.c.k her silly right until I came inside her. We were both shaking and twitching but when Tatiana was about to dismount me to relieve some of the sensitivity, Micah pushed her h.i.p.s back, making me go deep right until the base of my c.o.c.k. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/wake-up-sleepy-head~¡ªi-t-think-i''m-gonna-help-them¡­_51214417408352212 for visiting.


    ¡°We¡¯re not done here, are we? Hmm~¡± Micah giggled from behind Tatiana, wearing a strapless dildo.


    Rin and Cynthia were also present, kneeling on either side, and waiting in anticipation. They helped with spreading Tatiana¡¯s cheeks apart before Micah started pushing it inch by inch into Tatiana¡¯s ass. Micah was smiling as she was biting her lower lip while Tatiana was just having a sensory overload. The moment Micah and I started to move, Tatiana lost all proper decorum as she just received every thrust with a cry while smiling wickedly. <center></center><hr>


    Cynthia and Rin were watching Tatiana¡¯s holes get filled up and they couldn¡¯t help but touch themselves while watching us. However, their eyes darted on to me and they each took my hand for their use. Cynthia made me squeeze her perky tits while she was fingering herself and Rin made me finger her tight little ass while she yed with her clit.


    ¡°A bit d-deeper¡­ There! Ah! Just l-like- ah!¡± Rin cried out as she was looking at me.


    All of a sudden, Micah started pulling Tatiana¡¯s hair back as she started to spank her juicy ass. Drool was alreadying out of Tatiana¡¯s mouth but I saw a smile forming between her lips as she was getting f.u.c.k.i.e.d in both holes. Micah was going hard as I could and Tatiana just eventually copsed on top of me, shaking nonstop after she came several times.


    As soon as Micah was done with Tatiana, she pushed Cynthia down and started f.u.c.k.i.n.g her p.u.s.s.y over and over. I could see the way their lips were gripping the strapless dildo tight, and if it wasn¡¯t for their juicesthering it up, it would be a tight fit for both of their tight holes. I was taking a small breather but Rin leaned closer and whispered into my ear.


    ¡°C-Can you f-finish in my a-ass? I-I¡¯m r-really close¡­¡±


    Watching Micah take advantage of Cynthia made me stop pushing my finger inside RIn¡¯s ass so Rin gave me a little reminder.


    ¡°How do you want to do it then?¡±


    ¡°U-Umm¡­ l-like this¡­ is it ok- ah! Ah! L-Like tha- ah!¡±


    Rinid on her side, fingers still going in and out herself while I was thrusting hard on her tight ass. Her petite body was taking everything in as I was pinching her hard n.i.p.p.l.es from her small tits. I was rubbing them all over as I continued to f.u.c.k her, and she suddenly started trembling the same way I did. I was shooting it all inside her ass but I never stopped thrusting it over and over. Rin was covering her mouth as she came so I even started to shove my fingers inside her as well.


    All Rin could do was gasp and tremble from pleasure and her gaping ass was just oozing c.u.m after I released everything inside. Her face was just flushed as she was melting away and we took a small breather while we watched the rest of them. Rin was slowly jerking me off while she was pressing her small tits right behind my back. <hr>


    Tatiana was already fully-recharged as she started to f.u.c.k Micah from behind. They were having a hard time at first because Micah was also wearing a strapless dildo but they soon found their rhythm and they began to go faster and faster. As that was happening, Kaley and Daisy joined us for another round and Daisy requested to be f.u.c.k.i.e.d in both holes as well. Iid down on my back as Daisy went on top of me and I could see the way her face changed the moment I parted her insides.


    It was so warm and glossy but my view got dark when Kaley sat on my face. My senses were immediately assaulted by her intoxicating scent as she started to rub her p.u.s.s.y in my face. I parted her insides with my tongue as I squeezed her ass and I could hear the two making out. However, it was soon broken when Rin finally managed to wear a strapon.


    Daisy started to cry in pleasure as her insides were getting rummaged while I started to push my finger inside Kaley¡¯s ass on top of eating her out. I was losing air but I could grasp for a breath each time Kaley raises her h.i.p.s if it got too sensitive. I could taste her fleshy bits and her sweet juices, and the night continued on for quite a while.


    I managed to at least c.u.m thrice or more in each of them because my time for each one was very limited. However, we still had time for other days and everyone was already satisfied and exhausted. Everyone took a quick shower after that and we soon went into our own rooms to sleep.


    ¡°Good night~¡±


    Kaley and I had our bed to ourselves this time and we didn¡¯t even put clothes on before we slept. We just covered ourselves with our nket and we yed a random movie just so we could eventually fall asleep on it.


    ¡°Cynthia really enjoyed herself, huh?¡± Kaleymented, snugging close to me.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t?¡± I said, half-joking.


    ¡°No, I mean- it¡¯s like she couldn¡¯t believe what was happening. You saw her face, right?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm? You got something on your mind?¡±


    ¡°Huh? No, I¡¯m just really~ tired and sleepy~¡±


    ¡°Really~ Why are you hard then?¡±


    ¡°If you stop poking your ass against it, it wouldn¡¯t be¡­¡±


    ¡°Pfft! Want me to cuddle you then? Switch it up?¡±


    ¡°That would be worst, your tits against my back is a whole other level than just poking around with your ass¡­¡±


    ¡°What if I do this? Hah! You¡¯re getting even harder!¡± Kaley suddenly grabbed my hand and ced it between her b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    ¡°Are you asking for it? Haven¡¯t had enough? Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Maybe? I dunno~ One more before we sleep? It¡¯s already hard¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°You asked for it!¡± I started to go on top of Kaley.


    ¡°Kya~!¡±


    ¡°Pfft! Kya? Hahaha! Where dide from?¡±


    We started to fool around once more but it really hits different when it was just the two of us. Kaley could feel it too and it was a nice way to end the night. We got to talking to each other about random topics and we slept soundly. I didn¡¯t even wake up in the early morning like I used to the past days since I woke up seeing Kaley¡¯s beautiful smile.


    ¡°Wake up, sleepy-head~ It¡¯s morning already~¡± Kaley was on top of me, trying to wake me up.


    I just smiled and gave her a kiss before we jumped off the bed.


    We took a shower together before we went down with everyone and breakfast was just about to get served. Only a few people have woken up and gathered at the pool area but the ones who did were bustling with energy, starting the task they were assigned with fervor.


    We could already smell the food being cooked and just the smell of fried garlic wafting out was enough to make our mouths water.


    ¡°I t-think I¡¯m gonna help them¡­¡± Tatiana muttered, wiping the drool off her mouth.

 Chapter 499

    Chapter 499: 499


    ¡°Sure~ Good luck!¡± I chuckled at Tatiana before she left us with a confused look. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm? What¡¯s the ¡®good luck¡¯ for?¡± Kaley turned to me.


    ¡°I helped once¡­ I¡¯m afraid toe back¡­¡± Cynthia started to shudder.


    ¡°Me too¡­¡± Rin added.


    ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± Micah asked, tilting her head while looking at the three of us.


    ¡°Heh, you¡¯ll see once shees out. Let¡¯s see what she¡¯ll do¡­ Well, they¡¯re almost finishing so it wouldn¡¯t be as bad.¡± I replied as I continued to chuckle.


    I already knew that she would try to ¡®help¡¯ by sneaking in bites from the meals being prepared or volunteer to be a taste-tester, but I was 100% sure that she hadn¡¯t been in a ce where a group of cooks prepares food for a huge number of people. Granted there were other people that would prepare food for Woonds and the DDR Camp but it was still a different kind of warzone once you entered the line.


    After a while, almost everyone has gathered for breakfast. However, the moment Tatiana left the cooking area, she looked like she ran a marathon and got attacked by a bear. Her hair was all disheveled and her sweat had started to seep on her clothes. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/what''s-the-deal-with-morales_51238008053097720 for visiting.


    Tatiana groggily made her way towards me and she exploded, ¡°What the f.u.c.k?!¡±


    ¡°I told you, didn¡¯t I?¡± I just shrugged my shoulders while smiling cheekily.


    ¡°What happened to you?¡± Katyamented as she just arrived with Artem and the rest.


    ¡°Long story, no subtitles.¡± Tatiana brushed her off, just basking in the smell of the food to recover in her own way.


    Tatiana¡¯s reaction was almostical but we soon started breakfast with everyone. <center></center><hr>


    We had breaded tpia with a side of sliced-up salted eggs, tossed in a bowl together with fresh tomatoes and lime. It was served over fried rice with bits of toasted garlic on top and chopped-up vegetables. For our drinks, coffee and hot chocte were served in a pot and we were free to add milk and sugar to our taste.


    The spread was incredible and everyone couldn¡¯t wait to get in line.


    ¡°I¡¯m going first¡­ carry me¡­ help~¡± Tatiana called out.


    ¡°Sure~ Sure~¡± Rin chuckled as she helped her get in front of the line.


    After a while, everyone got their meals and we started eating. Everyone enjoyed the food and everyone was stealing side nces at Tatiana who had double the servings she would usually eat. Surprisingly, she finished it all and she was back to normal. A few people were still finishing their meals but the old dudes soon gathered in a circle and called me and Artem over.


    Iskoh was present as well and it seemed that he would being with Johnny to take a look around Woonds and the DDR Camp.


    ¡°Sir.¡± Artem promptly greeted them by giving a proper salute.


    ¡°Haa~ I told you to stop with that salute shit. Anyway, sit down with us. I haven¡¯t announced it officially with the kid present but you know why you¡¯re here, right? You¡¯ll answer to the kid from now on and you and your team would have the same mission as Tatiana from here on out, is that clear?¡± Rod looked Artem in the eye.


    ¡°Clear, Sir.¡± Artem just nodded.


    ¡°We¡¯ve lost contact with Russia as well but that ce wouldn¡¯t go down easily. A few cities, yes, but I doubt each and every one of your people has turned to those things outside. We¡¯ll wait and see but as I promised, after I¡¯m done iming my country back, you¡¯re free to head back to yours with either a ship or a ne with supplies and equipment if you wanted to¡­ or stay here with everyone. I don¡¯t want to sound too optimistic with your options and our chances but if everything ys out well, you¡¯d have your shot reiming your own.¡± Rod continued.


    ¡®As well? Which countries have they lost contact with then? He¡¯s nning to go back, eh?¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°I¡¯ll hold onto your word, Sir.¡± Artem replied promptly. <hr>


    ¡°Anyway, what¡¯s your n today, kid?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°The same thing we discussed yesterday. However, I¡¯ll think I¡¯ll open up the roads that we blocked that could lead us to the City of Navotas faster so we wouldn¡¯t drive to the City of Mbon every time to get to the harbor where Morales is.¡± I started.


    ¡°Wait, wait, wait. Kid, we blocked that area to have the dead onlye from Mbon, right? We also blocked the passage North of that ce where we got Gemma and Joseph for nothing toe from that ce as well. Why are we opening it up now?¡± Matthew chimed in.


    ¡°Hear me out, it had already been some time, and Lawrence is not the only one guarding that ce. Yes, we¡¯ll beef up the security of that outpost but the people that are living there have also been fortifying their base after they imed the church right next to it. The ce is ready and we jus-¡± I answered but Matthew cut me off.


    ¡°You don¡¯t think wasting a bit of fuel is much safer? It takes some time getting into that area but-¡± Matthew added then I cut him off as well.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t let me finish. Yes, it would be safer to only have one ce where the dead areing from but we¡¯re actually conditioning them to only watch out from that same spot over and over. What happens if somehow, by some chance, a pack of ferals vaults over from the other side? Or, another group manages to remove the barricades we set up? It would be a tad dangerous to remove them on our own but it would keep them on their toes.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Okay, that makes sense to me as well. There¡¯s always next to nothinging from that side of the road from the DDR Camp¡¯s side because of the people clearing the barangays next to us. But yeah, I always keep the numbers guarding the gates even.¡± Johnny added.


    ¡°Ahh~ I get it, I get it. It¡¯s just that they¡¯re starting to make the tforms behind it higher¡­ that¡¯s why I said something. It¡¯s not like they¡¯re gettingcent with guarding that area, they¡¯re just making solutions on their own.¡± Matthew sighed.


    ¡°Making the tforms higher? Like a watchtower then? That would waste a lot of material. Let¡¯s just tell them to build a nest just above the existing structures so it would be solid below. They just need to make sure the way up there is stable and secure and if they got trapped, they have supplies and the means to call for help.¡± I exined.


    We had a short meeting and we discussed a few more topics while the rest finish up eating and preparing the things they would need for our task at hand. After that, Matthew called Lawrence and the people from the outpost in Pulo to start disassembling the barricade separating us from Navotas.


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Got it? The tforms too, here¡¯s what you¡¯ll do¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Uh-huh¡­ Uh-huh¡­ Right, right, we¡¯ll get on it. That¡¯s easier actually¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Do it fast, we¡¯reing in a few.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Before we left for the harbor, I advised Rin to grab a few people and start sorting out the casings brought to us and tumble everything that could be tumbled in the meantime. I asked specifically to start tumbling the 9mms, 5.56s, .45 ACPs, .22 LRs, and 7.62s because they were the cartridges we use the most. After that, I grabbed Unc Zeidrick and asked him to start to identify, sort, and smelt the scrap brought to us. <hr>


    ¡°Hey, you guys are going back to the harbor, right?¡± Unc Zeidrick asked before I left him.


    ¡°Yeah, why?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean why? Grab some keels when you get back, they¡¯re made with lead, right? You told me that before if I remember correctly.¡±


    ¡°Oh! Yeah, yeah, I¡¯ll bring what we could back. We still have a lot here but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to increase our stocks.¡±


    ¡°Also, if we have time, let¡¯s use one of the boats to fish some Swordfish or some Ahi. It¡¯s been a while since we¡¯ve eaten those. Tell me when everything settles down.¡±


    ¡°Okay Unc, see youter. I bet there¡¯s some from the harbor but they now belong to the soldiers.¡±


    ¡°Huh? If there¡¯s some just trade a couple for me.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, go along now. Maybe I¡¯ll grab Russel to sort the pile with me.¡±


    Instead of using the helicopter to get back, we drove with the president¡¯s convoy along with half of Artem¡¯s team. It was already decided beforehand so that part of them could start to slowly integrate with the rest of the soldiers at my base and get familiar with our location and its people. They were still surprised at the fact of how different the president and my ce was and it would definitely take some time getting used to.


    ¡®One more thing to find out¡­¡¯ I thought to myself as I turned to Mikhail.


    ¡°Hey, you¡¯ve been with them for a while beforeing here, right? What¡¯s the deal with Morales?¡±

 Chapter 500

    Chapter 500: 500


    Mikhail and Tatiana were riding with me in my modified Raptor while the rest of Artem¡¯s team was using Tatiana¡¯s Humvee. I discovered that Tatiana only knew a few stories while Mikhail had the first-hand experience with Morales in the beginning. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°He¡¯s the officer assigned to us when we arrived in that ce.¡± Mikhail answered.


    ¡°In short, is he the one assigning you guys missions? The suicide runs?¡± I asked, looking at the rear-view mirror.


    ¡°Yes and no.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Kaley chimed in.


    ¡°Ah, at first, trust andmunication was the issue so we weren¡¯t given a lot of orders to begin with. It¡¯s almost always guard duty while we¡¯re sending our status and bits of information to Russia. It¡¯s been like that for a while until we were asked to clear a town with Morales¡¯ team and other officers.¡± Mikhail started while Tatiana was keeping quiet, listening intently.


    ¡°And then what happened?¡±


    ¡°As always, we were just supposed to hold one part of the road until another group arrives from the other side but the group didn¡¯t. Vera tried to contact Morales at that time but there was no response from their side. Well, it just happens that we received an SOS from the group that was supposed toe up a while ago.¡±


    ¡°Where are they?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Their numbers were only a sixth from when they started and they were pinned by the dead and the rebel forces- what did they call themselves again? N- NPE?¡± Mikhail was scratching his head as he turned to look in my direction.


    ¡°It¡¯s NPA.¡± Jared answered.


    ¡°The New People¡¯s Army, the bastards.¡± Ibarra answered as well.


    ¡°Ah, I remember Vera telling us about when she talked with one of the soldiers.¡± Mikhail added.


    ¡°NPA, the New People¡¯s Army. It¡¯s been a lot of trouble dealing with them even before it started and it¡¯s hard to get them all because they¡¯re situated in the mountains and forests. Aside from that, a few powerful groups had connections with them, and- Anyway, you get the picture. In short, a group of rebels that rose to power ever since he was elected president. You can¡¯t believe how ridiculous it got with them.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Huh? Wait a sec- how did that? I thought they¡¯re enemies?¡± Tatiana got confused.


    ¡°You guys are familiar with how ruthless our president is when ites to dealing with his enemies, right?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Then the NPA is actually with the president? Why did they attack the other group?¡±


    ¡°No, you got it wrong. When the president was still the mayor of Davao, his own militia, DDS, has been fighting off that group. They actually had the upper hand but the NPA just got a sudden boost when Rod got elected and his hold on Mindanao lessened even more when he got situated in Luzon. I¡¯m just specting but it could be the doing of the previous president and our vice president currently. Aren¡¯t you guys wondering why she¡¯s missing? They¡¯re supposed to be working together, right?¡± I paused as we turned a sharp corner. <hr>


    ¡°Nah, that¡¯s their doing bro, I¡¯m sure of it. Who the f.u.c.k else would do it besides the opposition? Ever since she became the vice president, all she did was bitch and m.o.a.n about the president¡¯s actions while doing nothing except photoshoots and whatnot.¡± Jared added.


    ¡°That is true¡­ a lot of press cons just toin¡­¡± Ibarra trailed, nodding a few times.


    ¡°So, she¡¯s not dead?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°I dunno, we haven¡¯t seen her since but if she¡¯s still alive, she won¡¯t be on the president¡¯s side, that¡¯s for sure. We¡¯ll talk more about this but what happened next in your story? I believe I cut you off with this stupid political talk.¡± I waved them off.


    ¡°Ah- you¡¯re right. Well, Niks and Artem got into an argument on whether we try and save them or just continue to follow orders. You see, the ce we¡¯re guarding isn¡¯t exactly zombie-free, and leaving that point will also endanger the other groups so¡­ we did both. Vera called reinforcements on our side and as soon as they arrived, Artem took half of our team with him and one soldier from your side as a guide.¡±


    ¡°And Niks?¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/what-happened¡ªsuggestions_51261143179646538 for visiting.


    ¡°We stayed and held that ce with everybody that¡¯s left until they came back with what¡¯s left of the group and a hostage to boot. That guy tried to kill himself a lot of times but Artem gagged him to avoid biting his own tongue off while dislocating the bones in his body. We could say that everything went smoothly for the most part but changes started happening after that.¡± Mikhail replied.


    ¡°What changes?¡± <hr>


    ¡°We started getting sent in the frontlines but our supplies and equipment would barely get replenished and the intel is barely a page to tell us anything. There was also a time we were told to hold a small town until reinforcements came but the rebels woulde up first ahead of them. It all sounds fishy from the get-go and we were starting to question Morales¡¯ direction. Remember when the president started executing other officers?¡± Mikhail continued.


    ¡°Wait a sec- you¡¯re going too far forward. When Artem and the rest rescued the pinned soldiers, what did Morales said about them? They were unresponsive onms, right?¡± Kaley asked, turning back to look at Mikhail.


    ¡°Everything checked out after that because Morales and the other soldiers with him were preupied with a herd while evacuating civilians. It just got so chaotic and we couldn¡¯t even understand half of what they¡¯re saying because they were mostly speaking in yournguage.¡± Mikhail exined.


    ¡°I see, what are you saying about the officers getting executed?¡± I brought back the subject earlier.


    ¡°We found out that the soldiers we rescued were supposed to die that day. They were part of the ones that started a coup and Morales thought we had a part in it by rescuing them. It was already been going on a lot of times already and it was toote when we realized it was just a huge f.u.c.k.i.n.g mix-up. A lot of lives were already lost before it was resolved with violence.¡± Mikhail continued.


    Everyone was just silent.


    ¡°We¡¯re not even sure if everyone that really had a part in it got executed by the president but it definitely threw rifts with the ones that remained, especially with Morales and Artem. You see, we¡¯ve rarely lost people when Artem¡¯s in charge but we were following the direction of someone that thought we were on the enemies¡¯ side. And that¡¯s not even including the power struggle between the other nations present in that ce. Artem had no choice but to ask the president for a favor.¡± Mikhail concluded.


    ¡°You guys getting sent here to get Ilya and the rest?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯d rather be with the rest of our team but you happened. To me, this was something I never expected. I don¡¯t know how our feeling of depression when we got here turned around when you started beating us up out of the blue, heh. That¡¯s all I know, you could ask Artem or the others about what happened when we left¡­ they could give more details than just a few things they talked about yesterday in the house.¡± Mikhail chuckled, looking at me. <hr>


    ¡°I see, heh. Thanks for the story, I guess I¡¯ll get to know moreter.¡±


    We dropped by on the outpost where Lawrence was in charge to tell them about the new changes. It got mixed reactions from everyone but a proper exnation and the guarantee that we would send more soldiers to guard this ce quelled their worries.


    At the same time, we saw Lawrence wearing jumpers and boots, learning to farm. Cyrill and Borris were also present, trying to help around the area with gardening and taking care of some of the animals. Lawrence saw us gawking at him with a cheeky smile but he immediately ran to the president¡¯s side to give a proper salute.


    ¡°Sir!¡± Lawrence eximed, covered in dirt.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k are ya doing? Remember that you enlisted ¡¯cause you can¡¯t grow even f.u.c.k.i.n.g weeds? Everything dies on ya, forget farming for now and do what you do best! Change and ride the f.u.c.k.i.n.g truck at the back! Bring your gun too!¡± Rod yelled at Lawrence.


    ¡°Y-Yes, Sir!¡± Lawrence ran back to his quarters in a hurry.


    ¡°Are the ones dismantling the barricades done?¡± I turned to Matthew that just got off the radio.


    ¡°They¡¯re still in the process of doing it. We called themte, it would take some time. We could drive the same route for now and use that road on the way back. What do you think?¡± Matthew suggested.


    ¡°It¡¯d be dangerous to traverse it if our people haven¡¯t cleared it yet. Let¡¯s have the soldiers on the jeeps wait on it and use that road to clear a path? We¡¯re doing it anyway so let¡¯s make Mark¡¯s group assist them. Suggestions?¡± Oscar added.

 Chapter 501

    Chapter 501: 501


    ¡°Nah, my team and Artem¡¯s team will be the ones cutting straight at this path. Going down this road is like half the way needed to get to the other side of the City of Navotas. We could expect somepany but I wanted to see the situation around these parts myself.¡± I replied, after thinking for a moment. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Aren¡¯t ya just gonna swoop in that ce and take all the glory for yourself then?¡± Oscar chuckled, half-joking.


    ¡°Hmm, if you could keep them in that ce, a couple of long-shooters and I could make a nest in different ces and start picking them off one by one. It could take a few days if they¡¯re smarter than we thought but it¡¯s doable. We just need to clear the areas I pointed at the map first so we¡¯d be safer.¡± I replied with a straight face.


    ¡°You¡¯re serious you could do that, kid?¡± Rod asked, peeking through the window.


    ¡°My only problem with that is we would be trying to get information out of corpses and what they left behind. We don¡¯t have an exact count on their numbers and it would be difficult to- Well, let¡¯s think about thatter, he¡¯s here.¡± I stopped myself because I saw Lawrence all geared-up, walking towards us.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ll think on it kid. We¡¯ll see after this and what Moraleses up with. I think they started scouting around their area after we left. I just don¡¯t know how far and how long, we¡¯ll see.¡± Rod nodded a few times before we started hitting the road once more.


    After a short while, we reached the ce, driving a few kilometers south, where a group of people was still in the process of dismantling the second set of barricades they¡¯ve put in the bridge that would connect us to the City of Navotas.


    The first set of barricades were already on the side, allowing my team and Artem¡¯s team to drive forward while the president and his convoy only stayed for a few minutes. Mark¡¯s group followed right behind them while Jay¡¯s group stayed with us as I got out of my Raptor and approached the people working on the barricades.


    ¡°Need some help? John, right?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Umm, yes. I do need help, a little bit. After pulling this jeepney and the rest on top of it, the dead behind it would start toe one after the other. Aside from that, the jeepney is starting to shake as morees. As you can see, we actually waited for you guys before we start doing this. It¡¯s not like removing all of this would be quiet, right?¡± John replied.


    The dead were right behind thest piece of the barricade but it wasn¡¯t as congested as the ones from Monumento. However, as more and more continue to push against the jeepney, it would only take a short while before they pour in.


    ¡°Okay, let us clear a path first.¡± I said as I turned to my team.


    We climbed up the jeepney before we started shooting the ones in the immediate vicinity. However, we only aimed at the ones a couple of bodies away from the ones directly against the jeepney and the ones by the concrete railings. <center></center><hr>


    Doing that would make the ones behind the deadheads we shot stumble and pile on top of each other, lessening the number of zekes pushing against the jeepney. Aside from that, the ones we shot by the concrete railing wouldn¡¯t be able to grab us or tug against our clothes once we started walking on top of it.


    ¡°It¡¯s clear! Move!¡± I shouted.


    Kaley and Jared were still standing atop the jeepney, shooting the ones further in when we started running on the concrete railings on the right side. The deadheads in the center were trying to reach us but we made sure to pile them in a way that their arms couldn¡¯t reach us and we had plenty of practice in Monumento.


    Artem and the rest ran on the other side, jumping down almost at the same time as us after traversing a few feet. Right at this moment, the ones in the center started turning the other side, aiming for us instead while the ones stilling to the bridge saw us as their new target.


    ¡°Pick a side, cut down everything that moves!¡± I shouted once more.


    I was side by side with Tatiana, Mikhail, and Ibarra but Katya decided to join us to even the numbers. Artem and the rest behind us started cutting them down so we also picked a zone and gave each other space to brandish our weapons and move around.


    The one right in front of me was swerving to the left, leaking out blood and pus from its mouth while its arms were crooked, raised against me. I held my de and swung wide right into its mouth, slicing through its cheeks and cutting half its face off. It fell to its knees before it plopped straight down, staining the pavement with its liquids.


    The one that followed right behind it was wearing a stained tank top and its shoulder was housing flies and little worms. I thrust my de right into its eye socket before kicking it down, aiming for another one to my right, missing a jaw. The former¡¯s body falling down almost made the one I was facing trip but it managed to get a proper foothold. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/we''ll-take-it.¡ªshit-happens!_51284213579695856 for visiting.


    It wobbled past me but I swiped my de right on the back of its head before it rolled over. I kept advancing forward to give more space to myself and to take in the status of the surroundings. However, the noise our guns were making was attracting every deadhead in the immediate vicinity so I had to call off Kaley and Jared from shooting nonstop.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Stop shooting for a while! It looks like no one has been clearing this area, let¡¯s approach more quietly.¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [O-Okay!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We were advancing to the residential area and it didn¡¯t take long before Artem and the rest joined us. However, as soon as we reached the fork in the road, a small herd was only a couple of houses away. They staggered as they walk but as the wind blew towards us, the smell was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g horrible I almost retched.


    Their bodies were decaying for quite a while and the foul smell of the dirty river right under the bridge had nothing against it.


    I instantly reached for my rifle as I started shooting. The rest did the same thing and we unloaded on those f.u.c.kers.


    I immediately flicked the safety off as I aimed down the sights and tucked my rifle tight before my shoulder. I shot the deadhead stepping on its bowels before I aimed at the one right next to it missing half of its face. Its head just blew back before falling down and I continue to shoot down the ones straddling towards us.


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    [I thought we need to stop shooting bro?!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Shit happens! Jump down and join us!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Coming!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    [Leave some for me, bro!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We gauged our distance from the herd as we bored holes through their heads. We either advanced or retreated depending on the circ.u.mstances and their numbers soon continued to dwindle down. There was a threat of sprintersing from a distance but they were shot down, like they had a bounty on their heads, even before they managed to pick up speed.


    Everyone knew of their threat up close, so everyone immediately reacted and neutralized the threat once it appeared.


    When their numbers were manageable, we put our rifles down and we once again drew our des. We were careful about stepping onto the bodies that fell down as we continued to advance forward. Each swing wasn¡¯t wasted because it was sure to kill one as it left its target. Heads rolled and rotting bodies plopped down as we make quick work of the ones that were left.


    After a while, I called John to start pulling the jeepney off so Jay and his team could start taking care of the bodies by the bridge. We didn¡¯t throw them over the river because doing that would cause more problems and more work to be done in fixing it. We would always burn them to cinders after checking the items on their person for loot and identification. We didn¡¯t have the time to do it a few times but it was the suggested go-to for all situations.


    ¡°Are we gonna check the houses?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°They seem looted though.¡± Ibarra replied.


    ¡°Hmm, true.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll never know unless we check them. There could be always something to find in a corner hidden somewhere.¡± Imented.


    Looking at some of the houses, most of them were already broken into and even their gates were wide open. However, a few of them looked to be nailed shut instead of just being barricaded.


    ¡®Hmm¡­¡¯

 Chapter 502

    Chapter 502: 502


    I approached the row of houses and noticed the same thing happening between each of them. <center></center><hr>


    The windows, the doors, and anything that the undead could pass through was nailed with either wooden nks or with metal sheets. It didn¡¯t look like a typical house that was barricaded for the safety of the people inside but for the ones inside to nevere out. I could already hear thuds, growls, and snarlsing from the rows of houses in front of me and I couldn¡¯t help but wonder who had the time to keep such a number of houses to be locked in like these.


    As I took a closer look, I noticed that a ck-green substance was starting to ooze out of the gaps of the wooden nks or the holes made by drilling in the metal sheets against the doors or the windows. I could hear each one of them trying to get out by wing their hands against the barricades but it was to no avail.


    ¡®At least the ones that did this did a great job. However, we still need to take care of them before they turn to something else¡­¡¯ I thought to myself as I looked back at our vehicles.


    I contemted on either just burning the houses down or methodically clearing them and I stuck to thetter. Burning the houses to a crisp was easy but it wouldn¡¯t guarantee to get all of them. We would need to sift through piles of rubble, making sure nothing moves, just to guarantee that they were all ounted for, and that process would take more time than wedging the barricades and killing anything that came out.


    ¡°Mikhail, door please.¡± I said.


    ¡°Just one?¡± Mikhail asked, letting the blood drip from his huge axe.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see what¡¯s inside first.¡±


    ¡°Alright, boss.¡±


    Mikhail started to wedge his axe against the barricades to snap them off while Ibarra had his rifle raised, ready for anything that might spring up. My team was with the rest of Artem¡¯s group and we were forming a semi-circle a few steps behind, ready to receive anything that mighte out. At the same time, Jay and his group were on the other side of the fork, maintaining a perimeter at the entrance to the bridge and still throwing bodies into the fire.


    ¡°Pulling on 3! 2! NOW!¡± Mikhail eximed as he tore through the barricades.


    ¡°Run back! Run back!¡± Ibarra tried to pull Mikhail back but he was carried by Mikhail instead.


    The ones right against the barriers had almost melded into each other because we couldn¡¯t identify which part belonged to which body the moment they plopped on the deck of the house. As soon as they fell down, bodies upon bodies came spilling out one after the other and they look f.u.c.k.i.n.g horrible.


    Their skin and their exposed flesh were chewed out, leaving only a few rotting ps tucked inside their clothing. Their faces were also missing most of their features because their cheeks, nose, lips, ear, and even their eyes were picked off, now belonging inside the ripped stomachs of the ones right next to them.


    They were literally stepping onto what was left of their organs and what they ate for their meals. It seemed like the flesh and innards they ate already cycled a few times because it just kept on spilling out of their bodies and probably scooped out by themselves. I saw a few of us grimace at the sight and no one wanted to get close.


    ¡°Shoot!¡± I eximed as I fired the first shot. <center></center><hr>


    I just used my Maxim 9 this time and I kept a tight grip, making the recoil almost non-existent. Doing that allowed me to fire shot after shot faster than a regr joe without training could. The only drawback was the magazine capacity becausepared to my rifle, it could normally hold 17+1 rounds instead of my rifle that could hold almost twice that.


    Bodies started falling one after the other and bringing a deadhead down would sometimes trip the ones behind, allowing for an easier time to take care of them. The ones we were facing weren¡¯t necessarily nimble add to the fact that they were missing a few things that could keep them together.


    Artem and Katya took care of thest ones that came outside the door while I came inside the house with Mikhail and Ibarra, making sure that none were stuck like a step-sis.


    ¡°It¡¯s hard to walk in here¡­¡± Ibarramented.


    ¡°It¡¯s like walking in lube.¡± I joked.


    ¡°Shit, lube doesn¡¯t clump and smell like this¡­¡± Mikhail chimed in while he was trying his best to keep a straight face.


    After making sure that there was none left inside, we continued breaking into the houses where the dead were being kept inside. At the same time, John and his group of builders started to use the materials they took from the barricades to fortify the building they picked to use as a watchtower or as a vantage point.


    They were being guarded by the soldiers they brought themselves while Jay and his team acted as the group to take care of burning the bodies we took down. They were following my orders and they were doing a good job of asking about things we were doing differently and giving their own input about how they do things.


    It took us a while to make the area around the bridge and a couple of blocks safe. We were just finished with clearing a small apartmentplex and we gathered the essential items we found to vehicles John and Jay brought. It was mostly food items and medicine but we did manage to siphon fuel from the cars and SUVs left inside.


    I wanted to take more items but the purpose of our run today wasn¡¯t to scavenge for supplies. But still, I made a mental note of the items we left behind so we coulde back for it at ater date.


    We already took a few hours on our time and that prompted Oscar to call and check on us.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Kid, the f.u.c.k are you guys taking so long?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hmm? What are you talking about? Want a safe road to travel back or not? No one has been clearing this ce and we¡¯re just getting started. We only killed close to a few hundred and we aren¡¯t even that far from the bridge.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Huh? Where are you guys at?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°The bridge! The bridge! Are you getting deaf?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [No! I mean, you guys are still there?! We¡¯ve already arrived at the harbor and we already went ahead of you! We¡¯re by the food processing nts just north of the harbor and the other soldiers are inching by the other port just right next to us.]


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I see, just don¡¯t advance too far forward and try to keep away from the Centennial Park. That¡¯s a great spot for them to hide and I suggest driving around that part and just head to the Nav Bridge instead to get around them. A few houses took most of our time but we¡¯d drive around these other subdivisions too.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Okay, I¡¯ll tell the rest here but geez, kid. Just take care of the ones roaming around, don¡¯t clear the whole area! You¡¯ll get here tomorrow if you continue at that pace!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I¡¯m not! I wanted to but a lot of houses here were already looted, especially the fancy ones.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Haaaa~ Just get here before noon or I¡¯ll smack ya.]


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


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    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯ll try.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    As soon as I finished the call, I saw Artem leading his team and hacking down the onesing from the smashed gate from the subdivision ahead of us. Each strike Artem made wouldnd in a critical part of their heads and there was a certain ¡®wildness¡¯ in his moves. Despite that, his defenses were still up and the deadheads never had the chance to connect even if they were so close in proximity. Heads ripped apart with torn cheek muscles were present in the pavement as their new decoration each time Artem walked by.


    ¡®I f.u.c.k.i.n.g wish I fought him yesterday¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°Are we heading to the school now?¡± Kaley tapped me.


    ¡°Nah, we¡¯re still heading for the subdivisions.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I thought Oscar said to just clear the ones on the road?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, he said that.¡±


    ¡°Then¡­?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll lure them outside, to get in the road.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey, I never leave a job unfinished.¡±


    Kaley just shook her head with a faint smile as she climbed on top of the Raptor to get a better view of the surroundings. She would call each shot before pulling the trigger, thinning out the ones iing so it would be an easy encounter or an encounter avoided entirely. Jared on the other hand started using our drone to fly around the nooks and crannies we would be blind to along the way.


    We steadily advanced right until we caught a glimpse of a housing project on the other side of the river.

 Chapter 503

    Chapter 503: 503


    Rows and rows of houses with simr features, almost the size of Woonds, used to be on the other side of the river. It was built for the homeless and people that used to live in the squatter areas for another chance at life. Aside from that, they were given jobs either from apany that was closeby or directly from the government. It was a nice project of the government and it actually lowered the crime rate of this city when it was implemented years back. <center></center><hr>


    It could¡¯ve been a great ce to establish a DDR Camp or another outpost because not only it had uniform houses, thend it was built on could be cultivated, and the walls surrounding it was high. However, looking at it now, it looked like war just walked past it and left its credit card.


    The ce was in ruins and it was full of the dead either roaming around or falling to the river between us. It was because the huge gate protecting them was mangled into pieces and the high walls I spoke of earlier was already torn apart. I could spot ripples forming just above the surface of the water due to the bodies that have already fallen over. However, a few were still getting washed away due to the soft current.


    ¡°What happened to that ce?¡± Jaredmented.


    ¡°That ce got bombarded for sure. A lot of f.u.c.k.i.n.g mortars to be precise.¡± Bogdanmented.


    ¡°How can you be so sure?¡± I inquired but I already shared the same sentiment.


    ¡°I¡¯m all too familiar with that kind of damage. I always handle that stuff back home.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the ¡®demolition man¡¯, eh? That sounds cool.¡±


    ¡°Not since we flew here, no. The only thing that could explode that I handled sinceing here is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g ¡®nade. That¡¯s child¡¯s ypared to what I used to y with!!¡±


    ¡°Heh, I¡¯ll hook you up with something then.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll let you have a talk with Oscar. He has a few ns in his mind he wants to have another opinion on.¡±


    My team was steadily advancing forward with our vehicles though a few were walking a few feet forward. Having everyone at the front would make each person¡¯s space to maneuver around limited so a few were a few feet behind, inside our vehicles, on the truck bed, or bringing the rear in case a few stragglers pop up.


    I was on the truck bed of the Raptor this time because I was controlling the drones, acting as another set of eyes while Artem was leading the front with Katya, Mikhail, and Tatiana. I kept on calling out ces with threats hidden from their field of view to hasten the clearing process and to avoid stupid deaths due tock of information.


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°House numbered 334 and 335. The ones with the embroidered gates.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Da, got it.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°ck SUV numbered RTG 887 and the jeepney with a portrait of Nichs Cage.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Understood.]


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    At the same time, Kaley and Jared would just fire a shot when they locked into a target with their sights. A casing or two would just drop on the truck bed and another casing would follow if they missed and quickly adjusted. The two weren¡¯t having apetition like the times when Lois was present so I was thankful that I had fewer things to keep in check.


    I continued to look through the feeds and I couldn¡¯t help having a funny thought that I was controlling each of them like we were in a game.


    ¡®There are no redos in this ¡®game¡¯ though¡­ One scratch, bite, or a stupid decision then that¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g it.¡¯ I thought to myself, faintly smiling.


    After a couple of hours of doing the same process with each structure and deadhead we encountered, we stopped by a looted convenience store right next to a small chapel. It was to take a short break to allow us to have a quick bite and to check on our equipment. We parked our vehicles in a way that the driver¡¯s seat would be facing our direction or the inside, and the vehicles would be blocking the roadpletely.


    ¡°Wipe down and check our ammo and fuel. After that, have a bite and take a short rest. We¡¯d be passing a densely popted area after this and we should be well-rested before we try and tackle that ce to get to the other side.¡± I said to my group as they simultaneously took a seat.


    ¡°Want me to check that ce in advance bro? There¡¯s still the other drone not used?¡± Jared asked, stretching his legs. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/it-is-heavy!¡ªgettingfortable_51328523415125627 for visiting.


    ¡°Yeah, go ahead. It¡¯s a few blocks after the hardware store and-¡±


    ¡°I know bro, I know, heh. It¡¯s the school we talked about earlier right next to the public market and the fire station, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t forget the big chapel right behind it and the bridge that could lead us to that bombed project earlier.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll fill my mags first though.¡±


    ¡°I did ask you guys to rest, want me to tell you it¡¯s an order?¡±


    Jay and his team were still with us though they weren¡¯t involved in much of the action. They were still tasked with moving and burning the dead or maintaining the perimeter when we were doing something important. However, none of them were objecting to the task I gave them because they were rtively safe with the current arrangement.


    As we were resting, Bogdan was trying to lift the weapon custom-made for Mikhail. <hr>


    ¡°Shit! This is too heavy!¡± Bogdan eximed.


    ¡°Heh, then that means you¡¯re not worthy! HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Mikhail roared as he started tough.


    ¡°F.u.c.k off! They really made this, eh?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. You could ask for one if you like. They¡¯d be excited if it¡¯s something abnormal or cool-¡±


    ¡°Let me have a try!¡± Kristoff pushed Bogdan off.


    ¡°F.u.c.k off, you¡¯re not even as strong as me Mr. Smiley!¡± Bogdan pushed back.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k did you say? You¡¯re more fat than muscle!¡±


    ¡°Wanna have a go? Last I heard, I wasn¡¯t the one that got knocked out! Wanna see how you ate my fist the second time?¡±


    ¡°Here we go~¡± Natasha and Katya were already shaking their heads in annoyance.


    I was about to intervene and stop the fight before it even started but it seemed like I wouldn¡¯t need to. Ibarra and Jared were ready to step between them as well but we all heard Artem¡¯s voice. It was just loud enough for everybody to hear and it had amanding tone, unlike the way he was speaking to me earlier.


    ¡°You guys could lift it as easy by using two hands but it would be hard to use it in a real fight. Stop fooling around and eat, end of discussion.¡± Artem immediately stopped the two.


    ¡®I guess that works.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°They¡¯re always like that, don¡¯t worry. That means they¡¯re just gettingfortable around you guys.¡± Tatiana sat down, handing us our food that was prepared beforehand by Aunt Sharon.


    ¡°I see, that¡¯s good. I took longer to getfortable with people, where¡¯s Kaley?¡±


    ¡°She started with reloading her mags first. Well, she¡¯s nibbling on a protein bar while she¡¯s doing it so¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll leave you for a bit.¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­¡±


    ¡°Just kidding, let¡¯s eat on the Raptor.¡±


    ¡°Wha- O-Okay then.¡±


    I covered the container of our food first and then I brought them with us as we joined Kaley on the Raptor. She was still in the process of reloading the magazines we used as the ammo cans for 5.56s, 9mms, and .22 LRs were open. However, I saw a few AK mags that Tatiana was using that would be soon replenished by Kaley as well.


    ¡°Want some help?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Hmm? No, it¡¯s okay¡­ I just wanted to get this done first. Well, I started earlier than you, see?¡± Kaley replied, waving around the protein bar with her mouth.


    ¡°Can I eat? I¡¯m hungry.¡± Tatiana chimed in.


    ¡°You always are! Go ahead, don¡¯t worry about me!¡±


    I started to help Kaley despite her insistence but Kaley suddenly started eating once I picked up a mag. I was staring at her in silence while a smirk was stered on her face but I just resigned to my fate to finish what she started. After a short while, I joined them but amotion came from the other side of the convenience store.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit this IS heavy! I could barely lift it with one arm! F.u.c.k!¡± Artem eximed.


    ¡°I thought he- Nevermind, heh.¡± I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt.


    ¡°I think they¡¯re really back to normal¡­¡± Tatianamented, faintly smiling.


    ¡°I was scared of them at first¡­ I felt heavy when I first met them.¡± Kaley added.


    ¡°War changes people but goodpany does too, I guess. You guys done?¡± I said as I stood up and made my fingers and neck crack.

 Chapter 504

    Chapter 504: 504


    We only stayed in that ce for 30 minutes before we decided it was high time to get back on the road. Prior to leaving, we finished checking our equipment, supplies, and our vehicles to make sure they were well ounted for and in great working condition. Fuel tanks were refilled, mags were reloaded, des were wiped down, vehicles were checked, and the supplies and loot were evenly distributed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hey, what did you see from scouting ahead with the drones?¡± I asked as I tapped Jared who was securing the drone in its proper container.


    ¡°Lots more in the ces we discussed earlier, especially in the public market.¡± Jared replied.


    ¡°How about the school?¡±


    ¡°The elementary school or the high school?¡±


    ¡°Both.¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ It looks like what¡¯s left of a DDR Camp, both ces. It¡¯s been overrun but a lot of dead bodies were piled in random ces. Seems like the ones running that ce held it as much as they could before bolting out or getting eaten alive.¡±


    ¡°Yeah? The equipment though? Is there still a lot to take?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a negative on the ¡®a lot¡¯ bro, I just saw one jeep and it didn¡¯t even have a .50 cal on it. I spotted a few dead soldiers roaming inside and some of them also didn¡¯t have a lot of equipment on hand. It could be what I said earlier or other people got to them.¡±


    ¡°Beggars can¡¯t be choosers then¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Pssh! Bro, I think we shouldn¡¯t consider ourselves ¡®beggars¡¯ from the amount of shit we took from the ces we¡¯ve been through.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Do you think we got a lot already? Well, we do¡­ for a small city at least. Don¡¯t forget our endgame.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s true, that¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°You guys gonna keep talking? Everyone¡¯s waiting on you two.¡± Kaley tapped both of our shoulders.


    I looked at everyone already inside their vehicles first before I scratched my head and threw the keys of my Raptor to Ibarra.


    ¡°Drive.¡±


    ¡°Where to?¡±


    ¡°The schools just a few blocks away.¡±


    The schools we were aiming for were owned and operated by the same person but they were built in a way that the elementary students would be separated from the high school students. The paint job and the way each structure was built were nearly identical and the only thing that set apart the high school from the elementary school was theck of faculties to y sports in. They had to walk and cross the road towards the elementary school just to conduct their PE sses. <hr>


    ¡®It just looks so different now¡­¡¯ I thought to myself. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/i''ll-be-back._51377697586209177 for visiting.


    This time, as we arrived in front of the two schools, I noticed that there was an attempt to close off the roads separating them to merge the schools into one big camp for people to evacuate into and be protected by soldiers. However, this ce failed to do its job and a lot of lives were lost. I was already trying to spot a few clues that led to the demise of this ce and a few obvious ones like poor carpentry skills and the non-existence of elevated tforms popped up.


    It could be said that it wouldn¡¯t matter as much knowing how things urred in the first ce because it was almost always the obvious reasons but, if the reason was somehow not the obvious one, it would be a great oversight on my part. It could be tedious to check everything just to get the same result but it could be a blessing that we already know what happened instead of it being an unknown.


    ¡°Both entrances that covered the roads are broken into, yes?¡± I looked back at Jared.


    ¡°Yeah, we could drive straight and reach the public market this way bro.¡± Jared replied, showing me a part of the footage he took.


    While Artem and Jay were establishing arger perimeter around us, I looked to my right and rows of houses were right by a dead-end. As I turned my head to the other side, the road that could lead us to a few eateries only had a few deadheads trying to approach us. After that, I looked back at the stretch of road that could lead us to the public market.


    I discovered that most of the fortification done in the schools was mostly on the outside and the inside was almost left as they were.


    ¡°I guess we could do that¡­¡± I trailed.


    ¡°Do what?¡± Kaley asked. <hr>


    ¡°This.¡± I gathered the ones close to me as I exined a simple n.


    ¡°That easy, huh?¡± Ibarra nodded a few times as he heard it.


    ¡°Tell the rest, we¡¯ll start in 5 minutes.¡± I said to my group.


    ¡°I thought we¡¯d be clearing everything?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°I wanted to but we¡¯re just taking too long. We could do this any other time but I guess we needed to prioritize.¡±


    After a short while, I was with Tatiana, Mikhail, Ibarra, Artem, and Katya. The rest were left in the same ce we were in, parked in a certain way, while we started to walk forward. At the same time, a few rms were set off at the opposite corners of the schools to attract the dead away from the stretch of road we were on.


    ¡°Remember, no guns until it¡¯s really necessary. We just need to reach the halfway point amd we¡¯re good. The rm could distract the ones that heard it but the ones that spot us woulde to us regardless of what they hear.¡± I reminded them.


    They just nodded a few times as we continued to advance silently.


    There were deadheads in front of us and we took care of them extra quietly. We would only hear their snarls for a bit before we step in and sink our des through their heads. Even I wouldn¡¯t pull my de out as fast as I could to follow up with another strike for another one because I wouldy their body softly and retreat before attacking a new one. Our breathing was also controlled and our strikes just had the right amount of force but Mikhail and Katya were having a little bit of trouble. <hr>


    In anime terms, Mikhail and Katya would usually be the ones yelling out the names of their techniques before executing them. It was a normal thing even for a few in real life disciplines to shout before an attack because it had its own different purposes. However, the funny thing was hearing their rapid exhtion through their nose instead of their usual grunts and shouts. They were almost straining to the point it wasical because they were so used to striking with force, requiring a habitual yell.


    In the end, they got tasked with pulling the bodies to the side while the four of us continued to strike down the ones in front silently.


    Being in close proximity with Artem made me learn a few things about the way he fights and surprisingly, I believe that he had no particr training with European swords as Tatiana did for herself. However, he was great at reading their erratic patterns and it would sometimes feel like the dead were just aiming their heads right at the tip of his de. There seemed to be no rush in his movement but he could raise his own tempo just as easy as bringing it back to his normal state.


    ¡®His positioning too¡­ that¡¯s some great movement techniques¡­ I¡¯m sure he trained in something¡­ I¡¯m definitely intrigued.¡¯ I thought to myself.


    We have advanced a quarter of the way and I got to see more of the situation inside. It was because the inner ¡®walls¡¯ weren¡¯t made with bricks stacked on top of one another but just bars and bars of decorated steel, lined a few inches apart vertically. A few spots had missing pieces of the dead hanging about while certain spots had trapped deadheads getting ripped apart just by trying to make itself go through the gaps.


    The deadhead¡¯s discolored and almost leathery skin was getting pulled apart, spilling over their disgusting insides all over the steel bars and the flooring beneath them. Despite that, a few deadheads that were close to them were feasting on what they could reach, actually allowing the ones that were stuck to advance a little bit further.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± Tatiana mentioned, shoving the tip of her sword right in their oozing earlobe.


    The ones feasting on the deadheads Tatiana killed were so busy eating their brethren, we decided to continue advancing forward. The initial goal was to reach both gates, securing them with chains and a lock, then making a funnel to take care of the deadheads located in the public market first.


    We could as easily clear this ce with the team I brought but time wasn¡¯t in our hands. We weren¡¯t even halfway to get to where the president and the rest were currently located.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be back.¡± I said with an ent like the cyborg that came from the future.

 Chapter 505

    Chapter 505: 505


    The group I was with gave me weird looks at first but a few let out a faint smile since the actual reference took a bit of time to get processed to garner a proper reaction. At the same time, Mikhail and Katya had just finished securing both gates by using chains and a padlock in two different ces for added security. <center></center><hr>


    As soon as we were done, I just tapped on my radio a few times to signal Jared to drive my Raptor on this stretch of road we were on with Kaley.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Coming, bro.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Our two other vehicles parked like a ¡®V¡¯ with a gap in the middle slightly gave way, allowing Jared and Kaley to drive through. At the same time, my group with me continued to advance forward without waiting for them to arrive. We weren¡¯t as quiet as earlier because the deadheads we were preventing to spill out from the gates had been ounted for.


    They wouldn¡¯t be able to get through the gates we secured unless they learned how to pick locks or vault over a 15-foot gate.


    Our advance for thest half became faster because not only we could move unrestrained and shoot our guns, Kaley started popping off the ones from the distance. I could see the deadheads from all sides getting riled up because of the noise we were making but it was all ording to n to funnel everythinging from the public market right behind these two schools.


    They might be a lot facing head-on in an open area but on this stretch of road diving the two schools, we would be facing 5 or 6 at most at the same time.


    ¡°Just give and take! Give and take!¡± I shouted.


    I shot a couple of dead students down with my TX-22 but I refrained from shooting more to not bar us from advancing forwards. Too many bodies on the road would impede us from going back and forth the funnel because we still had to pull them to the side and doing that while there were still deadheadsing for us would require us to increase our tempo. However, a quick fix was to split our forces in half, having three on the right and three on the left.


    ¡°No one stays in the middle! That¡¯s for the Raptor! We¡¯ll take the right!¡± I shouted once more. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Da! we¡¯ll get the left side then!¡±


    ¡°The next batch wouldn¡¯t being for a few dozen feet! Hurry!¡± Kaley eximed, giving us more time by shooting the ones further back.


    I decided to hold my katana as I jumped forward but it seemed that everyone had the same idea. As soon as I split the head of one horizontally, Mikhail came from the left, swinging downward to crush the skull of a deadhead wearing mismatched flip flops. At the same time, Artem¡¯s machete cut through the bottom of a deadhead¡¯s nose, slicing upward, while Katya violently swung down, hacking a zombie¡¯s head off.


    Tatiana and Ibarra were the ones to move the bodies this time but they were poking their weapons through the gaps of the school, clearing as much as they could.


    The way this thing could work properly was to have enough space for the ones that we killed on the side evenly. Having too much on one area would break the funnel and we were mostly advancingpared to retreating to fill up just the right amount of space further in before filling up space further back. The road was enough for two vehicles to pass through and we only needed enough space for one in the middle with a little bit of allowance for the people walking on the side of it.


    All of a sudden, Kaley started unloading shot after shot as she shouted, ¡°BACK! BACK! BACK!¡±


    Everyone immediately reacted by running back and drawing our guns but the threat wasn¡¯ting from the front. We were confused for a split second but Jared suddenly reversed and raised the windows of the Raptor. Kaley had to stop shooting for a brief moment because she had to hold on tight but we were soon enlightened from her sudden outburst.


    Blood and rotten bits just spilled and rained out from both sides, staining the road, as several sprinters tried to ram the steel bars keeping them from the other side.


    A loud metallic ng was produced before we heard their bodies thudding horribly as their flesh got mangled and their bones got fractured to different ces. Their bodies were like cutting up gtin halfway because their bodies were stuck between the steel bars, digging a few inches through their skin. Jagged bones were jutting out, tearing through their flesh from a few ces as darkened liquids were oozing out, staining the metal bars as well.


    ¡°MORE INCOMING!¡±


    ¡°WHERE?!¡±


    ¡°RIGHT AT US!¡±


    ¡°RUN BACK!¡±


    ¡°SHIT!¡± <hr>


    We continued to retreat as these schools seemed to have produced a lot of them but we were actually nearing the gates we secured. I was sure that the number of chains we used and the quality of the locks we ced were adequate but I was adamant about the hinges giving out. So, I made everyone, as fast as they could, get inside the Raptor, as soon as it reversed for the second time, after running back a few feet.


    Kaley even jumped down instantly as we crammed ourselves inside, throwing our melee weapons on the truck bed before doing so. Just at the same exact moment, blood and guts stained the Raptor from all sides because the next round of sprinters came crashing through the gates. I was unsure if it held up but I didn¡¯t hear it nging down. However, visibility was almost zero and I tried to recall every bit of footage I¡¯ve watched from this area.


    ¡®I hope this shit works¡­¡¯


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K DID YOU GUYS GET IN?! I CAN¡¯T SEE ANYTHING!!!¡± Jared eximed, unsure of what to do next.


    ¡°RAM EVERYTHING UPFRONT!!! JUST LISTEN TO ME!¡± I roared


    ¡°F.U.C.K! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!¡±


    ¡°ARE YOU GUYS CRAZY?! YOU¡¯RE OUT OF YOUR MIND?! JUST HEAD BACK!!!¡±


    ¡°WE¡¯RE GONNA RAM THEM IF WE JUST REVERSED!!!¡±


    ¡°JUST WAIT IT OUT THEN!!!¡±


    ¡°JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G TRUST ME!!!¡±


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Sir?! Where are you going?!] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°FOLLOW THE ROAD THAT LEADS TO GEN LUNA ST. AND THEN TURN RI- I MEAN LEFT TOWARDS RODRIGUEZ ST.!!! AFTER YOU PASS THE CONVENIENCE STORE WE WERE IN EARLIER, HEAD TO THE BUILDING WITH THE ORANGE PAINT THEN TURN RIGHT!!! YOU¡¯LL REACH THERE FIRST SO CLEAR THE AREA!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Y-YES SIR!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°IF ANYTHING MOVES, F.U.C.K THEM UP!!! WE¡¯D BE COMING SHORTLY!!! FOLLOW JAY, HE¡¯S FAMILIAR WITH THIS AREA!!! JAY, YOU¡¯RE HEARING ME, RIGHT?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    [LOUD AND CLEAR, I KNOW THAT PLACE!!!]


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    ¨C


    At the same time the call was happening, Jared stepped hard on the gas pedal as we mowed down everything with the Raptor. This was one of the few times we used the metal ting we welded in front of the Raptor its intended purpose. However, the windshield was getting stained even more and the wipers weren¡¯t helping one bit. My head was going through different calctions as bodies were flying in front of us.


    I had a rough idea of where we were currently but the saving grace was that the window behind us allowed a small area to be peeked at, making me confirm where we were based on the structures we were quickly passing by.


    ¡°LEFT!!!¡± I roared.


    ¡°HOLD ON! HERE GOES NOTHING~!¡± Jared roared as well as he turned abruptly.


    We could feel the Raptor taking several hits from the dead but we luckily didn¡¯t crash into amp post or even a solid wall. Despite that, we still drove frantically and each turn was worse than a nightmare. Even driving straight was nerve-wracking to everyone but we actually pulled through by piecing out every information I could take in based on what I know and what I was currently seeing.


    After a while, I told Jared to stop as we all jumped out with our guns and knives at hand. The Raptor was filled with darkened bits and viscous blood but the pressing matter was the small herding from behind us. The n I was nning to execute was shattered by the unforeseen sprinters lurking inside the school but we still got to take care of the deadheads that came from the public market our way.


    Everyone was so wired, they didn¡¯t wait for my signal as we unloaded shot after shot. It was a fascinating thing seeing their heads blew one after the other with each shot but as soon as we calmed ourselves, we picked up our handheld weapons from the back and started hacking them down. Even I started to use less finesse in dealing with them because it was actually a close one.


    One tiny drop of blood getting into our system was game over but we pulled through. We just had to regroup and take into ount if there were still more sprinters inside for the next time we would pass by that ce.


    We drove to the destination I shouted at the rest of our group went and they were still in the process of clearing the ce. However, the state of our vehicles was vastly different because my Raptor just had a bloody texturization thates with an infection upon contact.


    ¡°What is this ce?¡± Katya asked, turning her shoulders around.


    ¡°Oh, a carwash.¡± I replied with a straight face.

 Chapter 506

    Chapter 506: 506


    I was looking at everyone¡¯s faces when I said the word ¡®carwash¡¯ and they all almost short-circuited. They thought I was joking at first because of the look I was giving them but I was dead serious that we needed to use the facilities in this establishment. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What? Look at our ride, it needs a scrub or two!¡± Imented and they soon nodded a few times in understanding while Mikhail and a few others started tough heartily.


    ¡°I was confused at first but it all came together¡­¡± Jay chuckled as it came full circle.


    ¡°Well, we need to check the water here is running or they still had some left and maybe get ahold of a generator or a battery for thepressor. We could clean it by hand but it would take longer.¡± I said to the group.


    We soon made a proper perimeter and parked the other two vehicles a certain way. After that, we made sure that the carwash was deadhead-free but luckily, there were just four or five inside. I took care of it as fast as I could and I noticed that Kaley was ncing at my katana.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± I addressed it as I drew my katana when the rest were hauling the bodies out.


    ¡°Is it, okay? You just threw it at the back, right?¡± Kaley replied, leaning in to take a closer look.


    ¡°Yeah, it wouldn¡¯t easily dent or something. All the time since I had it, I kept on cleaning it and checking it for ch.i.p.s and such after each use but it could actually take a beating. Well, I wouldn¡¯t put it under a stress test but it¡¯s ductile enough even for rougher uses. The only thing I wanted for it now is another deep clean.¡±


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    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°So¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Tatiana would sometimes have sses with handheld weapons and you rarely got to teach a ss. I would sometimes do the same-¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re getting bored then?¡±


    ¡°Ah- no, I just¡­ look.¡±


    Kaley and I were just the only ones in the office of the carwash and she quickly drew her wakizashi. She just as easily performed the basic movements first before she attempted the flower pattern I showed her before. It actually formed the right shape but on the second time she did it, she added her own touches and made the turns sharper.


    I was sure that I was wearing a stupefied face when she suddenly swung down. I didn¡¯t bother to dodge but the de was a few centimeters forward than what it usually should have been. My smile grew even wider as I took my wakizashi from her hand and pushed her against the wall.


    ¡°W-What are y-you- We¡¯re still outsi-¡±


    I was looking directly into Kaley¡¯s eyes as I slowly slid her wakizashi back in ce. After that, I then I stepped back and watched her reaction. She was so fl.u.s.tered at what I did but she soon huffed and red at me. I couldn¡¯t help but let out a chuckle but it ticked her off even more.


    ¡°Stop grinning! D-Did I d-do it right or w-what?¡±


    ¡°You did great, adding into ount you¡¯re doing other stuff as well. Does your hand hurt or what? How many times do you have to do it before it¡­ stings or something?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? My hand? Sting?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, doing the second one with the sharper petals.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t think so¡­ Umm, when I¡¯m practicing I could feel it sting but I never counted¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±


    ¡°W-Why? Something wrong?¡±


    ¡°Try doing it more then- wait, no. Let¡¯s just stop ourselves for now.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Why?¡±


    ¡°Just trust me. It would be bad to test your limits outside. I¡¯ll be making you do a different set of movements and¡­ let¡¯s just say there¡¯s a reason why the first pattern I showed you didn¡¯t involve abrupt turns like that.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Got you curious eh? Heh, we¡¯ll just seeter.¡±


    ¡°Why?! Just give me a simple answer and don¡¯t leave me hanging~¡±


    ¡°Nah~ It¡¯ll ruin the surprise~¡±


    Kaley jumped on my back to get me enc.u.mbered but when I started to calcte how much she weighed, I almost had to fight for my life just to get away. In the end, we just got called by the rest of my team as we started to give our Raptor a deep cleaning. A few volunteered to help us but I waved them down and just asked them to keep the road clear of the deadheads passing through.


    Before we got to start, Jay approached me.


    ¡°Hey, can I check that pet store?¡± Jay asked, pointing his rifle down.


    ¡°Sure, your dog got problems? Did you have Derek check him?¡± I replied.


    ¡°Oh, no. Dozer¡¯s doing fine. Derek just mentioned that if we could loot a few ces for animals like their antibiotics and such¡­ it would be greatly appreciated. Also, Oscar mentioned to get all the fish antibiotics we could. He said survivalists would hoard them back at his ce before he moved here since it¡¯s cheaper.¡± Jay exined.


    ¡°Huh? Does that really work? Isn¡¯t it unsafe to take meds intended for fish?¡± Kaley chimed in.


    ¡°It¡¯s not prescribed by the FDA but people really are taking them in ce of the approved ones. It¡¯s unregted and not proven to be safe for consumption of humans but I¡¯ve heard of it still being done because of how cheaper it ispared to the ones approved. It¡¯s like a 3rd of the price in the USst time I checked. It could be a problem with their healthcare system that drove some people to do that but we¡¯ll never know for sure.¡± I exined, checking the pressure of the water.


    ¡°So, it works?¡± Jay asked.


    ¡°I guess so? Well, we still got a f.u.c.k ton for humans back at home. We¡¯ll start worrying about taking them when we even start to run out. I guess I¡¯ll take one for the team to test it if I ever got sick and that¡¯s all we got left.¡± I concluded.


    We started washing my Raptor by setting the power of the water spray to low. We needed to careful about blood droplets spraying into the air and getting into our system so, we would just increase the pressure once we removed all manner of the sticky and disgusting bits on my Raptor. At the same time, we were wearing our face shields which were usually stored away but we continued cleaning our vehicle meticulously.


    ¡°Do it well that we¡¯d be confident to eat off of it!¡± I instructed.


    ¡°U-Umm, why are we vacuuming it now?!¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°And waxing it?!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?!¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®Yes.¡¯ us! What the f.u.c.k is that bro?!¡±


    ¡°A fogging machine.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°A FOGGING MACHINE!!!¡±


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K ARE WE USING IT FOR?!¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    ¡°Pfft! It¡¯s for disinfecting the inside, see the solution I put in before? If we¡¯re gonna clean it, we go all the way! The tools and supplies are here, the f.u.c.k are we not using it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s already past noon bro! Oscar and the president is already waiting!¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k.¡±


    ¡°I told you!¡±


    ¡°No, I forgot to bring the other deodorizer. It¡¯s on the cab by the-¡±


    ¡°Bro! Be serious!¡±


    ¡°I am!¡±


    ¡°They could be fuming right now!¡±


    ¡°Eh~ Just call them and just say we ran into a little ident then we ended up in a carwash. They¡¯ll understand.¡±


    ¡°Bro~~~!¡±


    ¡°Sir, I think we really do need to hurry¡­¡±


    Jared and Ibarra were starting to lose their heads while the rest of my team were losing it just watching the three of us go back and forth. Add to that, I even started doing the same thing for the Hilux and the Humvee we brought. They had no choice to agree to my whims as Artem and Jay actually cleaned their own vehicles.


    I couldn¡¯t exin Jared and Ibarra¡¯s expression when we were the ones standing guard with our shiny Raptor while the rest were cleaning their vehicles. <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna call them! Don¡¯t stop me!¡± Jared started to snitch.


    ¡°Sure~ Go ahead~ You think I¡¯m scared?¡± I taunted him even more.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hello? Oscar? This is Jared.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Eh? Jared? The f.u.c.k are you guys taking so long? We just took a break on the Centennial Park he told us to avoid. Turns out, it¡¯s actually abandoned pretty recently. It had all the signs and shit but anyway, where are you now? You should at least be halfway.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Not even a quarter¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT?! PUT THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G KID ON!!! KID~!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    ¡°I told you bro!¡± Jared passed me the radio.


    ¡°Cheh, you¡¯re worrying too much.¡± I said, rolling my eyes and shaking my head.


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Yo.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [DON¡¯T F.U.C.K.I.N.G ¡®YO¡¯ ME!!! THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR TEAM?!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Ah, we¡¯re in a carwash actually.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [HUH?! WHAT THE F.U.C.K ARE YA- Hmm? What? Are ya serious? Ah¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Old man? Who are you talking to?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Kid, Rod said we¡¯ll head there as well¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 507

    Chapter 507: 507


    Jared and Ibarra almost fell from their seats when they heard that the president¡¯s convoy would being for a car wash as well. As it turned out, they had to mow down a herd with Oscar¡¯s SUV, like us, just to push through. It was because they overextended a little too much in the factories earlier and a simple spray of water didn¡¯t feel as safe aspared to aplete clean. <center></center><hr>


    Before we ended the call, I remembered something important.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Wait! Use the main road right until Taganahan St. to get to the building of DPWH and the City Engineer¡¯s Office. Before you ask, it¡¯s for the ns of this city and permits and such. We¡¯ll need it so please be a little careful with clearing that ce. I could go through the tons of paperwork but I¡¯d like working hard drives.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah, I remember. I¡¯ll see what we could do. We¡¯ll be checking this housing project Mark has been talking about.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Ah¡­ that ce is gone. We just saw it from across the river.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Shit, then we¡¯ll just head for the Radio Station southeast of you after that ce you pointed us to.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Okay, aside from the centennial park, have you at least seen any traces of the group from the other side of the city?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Eh? Nah, not yet. Well, most of the stores and the houses we drove through were looted though. Besides that, we¡¯ve never actually seen them in person. They already know we¡¯re here and it¡¯s up to them on what to do with it.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Just try and don¡¯t overextend too much. You know¡­ cornered rats could still give a lucky punch. It would be better to let them hole in their base and slowly pick them off from a distancepared to attacking head-on. If you¡¯re worried about them heading to the Bcan Area, they would be in all sorts of trouble if they reached the Intercity and all its soldiers.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


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    [You¡¯re right but waiting it out isn¡¯t exactly Rod¡¯s style. He¡¯d be leaving in a few days and he¡¯ll tear through that ce whether we¡¯re there or not. I know you could cook up a n but it always involves some time and extra preparations.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°He¡¯s not there right now?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    [I¡¯m just listening over here, kid. But yeah, as Oscar said: You have three days at most. I¡¯m just observing and actually just following a few things you suggested yesterday. After your time is up, I¡¯ll bring my soldiers to that ce my way.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, understood Mr. President.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Cheh, call me Rod, you little shit.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, see you guyster.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    As soon as we ended the call, the other groups that decided to clean their own cars were just about done. They didn¡¯t do as good as we did with our own but they couldn¡¯t help but smile at the shine their vehicles were giving out.


    ¡°Are we going back to the schools or are just gonna wait for the president toe here?¡± Jay asked.


    ¡°Hmm, I want your group to stay in this area and start clearing the whole block while the rest of will finish what we started. The president¡¯s convoy would be here maybe in an hour or two but as soon as you¡¯re done, slowly head back to the ce where John and the rest are. If you managed to get your hands on more essential items, give a portion of it to their outpost but do call a group to assist you with the job.¡± I exined. <hr>


    We talked about a few more things before we parted ways with Jay¡¯s group.


    My group headed to the ce where we stood our ground and we started clearing up the mess that we made. Several dozen bodies littered the ground either hacked to death or sporting a hole that bored through their head. We piled them on top of one another before burning them with the spare fuel we took from the vehicles earlier.


    At the same time, Jared was controlling our drones to capture new footage in regards to the situation of the schools that we left in a hurry.


    ¡°Bro, check this out.¡± Jared said as he pulled me aside.


    The two schools were in an even bigger mess because mangled bodies were stuck on the vertical bars and we discovered a lot more deadheads just lurking inside the schools. A simple scan from earlier wasn¡¯t enough to check every nook and cranny and good thing we didn¡¯t enter that ce on foot and just with a small team.


    More and more deadheads were gathering outside and they were all trying to get past the sprinters which were stuck. Aside from that, the ones we run over had several survivors but their legs didn¡¯t work like they used to before.


    ¡°At least the gates are still intact.¡± Jaredmented.


    ¡°Fly a bit lower¡­ by the gates¡­¡± I said, looking at the feed.


    ¡°Around here?¡±


    ¡°Lower¡­¡±


    ¡°Here?¡±


    ¡°Yep, just like that and hover.¡±


    ¡°Like this?¡±


    ¡°Okay, turn around and check the other side.¡±


    ¡°Okay, gotcha bro.¡±


    ¡°What do you think?¡±


    ¡°Me?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t see shit, it¡¯s all blood and flesh.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Same, let¡¯s drive to the public market now.¡±


    ¡°Bro.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°The Raptor does smell good, heh.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha, and you were so f.u.c.k.i.n.g against it, c¡¯mon. Let¡¯s clear everything before they arrive.¡±


    We drove for a short bit but we eventually reached a block away from the public market. We circled around for a bit so we would be situated where the public market would be in front of us while the two schools would be right behind it.


    It had a solid roof that epassed everything but the inside had different segments for different kinds of products to be sold. It had the same setup as the public market at home but the orientation and the actual size was a little different. This ce was a little bigger and it had convenience stores, pharmacies, fast-food areas, and etc. right next to it. However, the ce was still teeming with the dead and most of the shops have been looted.


    ¡°Park by that pawnshop but ce the vehicle right at that intersection.¡± I tapped Ibarra.


    ¡°Understood, sir.¡±


    When we exited the vehicle, our weapons were already drawn and we took the front while Artem¡¯s group took the back. They were headed right to a water refilling station where arge chapel was right around it while my group was approaching a few salons right before the public market itself.


    It seemed like we were ying a tower defense game from the way everyone was positioned because it was as if no one wanted our vehicles to get stained right after a car wash.


    ¡®I miss ying Bloons TD VI¡­¡¯


    The dead were straddlingly approaching me in bulk so I used my TX-22 for the time being. A pistol chambered in .22 LR and suppressed was just the sweet spot of not attracting too much attention because of how quiet the gun waspared to my suppressed rifle chambered in 5.56. It was quiet enough to not wear ear protection but the drawback was its effective range and actual prating powerpared to a rifle round and most pistol calibers.


    Despite that, I took down a small cl.u.s.ter just by being in the right range and shooting with great shot cement.


    Thest one I took down before reloading a new magazine was a biter that had its tongue just hanging out because it was missing part of its jaw. Its eyes were already different as its irises had dissolved through different shades of pale colors while its skin had different lesions from the different parts of its body. Despite that, it still dove towards me before I shot it twice in the back of the head.


    As soon as I was about to aim down my sights, its side twitched and I immediately jumped back. Turns out, several c.o.c.kroaches were living inside its abdomen and it just poured out the moment I sliced its stomach open. My skin crawled asrge and small c.o.c.kroaches were running and flying in different directions, but the worse part was the number of eggs left inside. The ones that hatched left a lot of small holes right inside the ces where it could dig through.


    ¡®KILL IT WITH FIRE~!!!¡¯ I shouted in my head.


    I just sliced off that part before I tried to step on it with my boots. It was a slimy feeling at first but when I got to the crunchy parts, the hair on the back of my head stood up. As soon as I looked back, the rest of my group were grimacing while Kaley was already holding a grenade with the pin out.


    ¡°Take it away~!!!¡± Kaley eximed.

 Chapter 508

    Chapter 508: 508


    I wouldn¡¯t dare joke around with someone holding something like a grenade, so I just made sure to apply pressure on all the parts of the chunk I sliced off before kicking it off in the distance. I saw that Kaley was already putting the pin back but I took the grenade from her and threw it further into the public market right by the small stalls scattered about. It bounced a few times until it disappeared from my sight but it didn¡¯t take long before it happened. <center></center><hr>


    *BOOOOOOOOOOM*


    As soon as it exploded, a loud noise assaulted our ears, and debris flew across the distance.


    ¡°Why did you throw it?!¡± Kaley eximed.


    ¡°The ones hiding inside the public market needs a wake-up call! I wouldn¡¯t enter that ce if I could help it, just let theme while we¡¯re still close to our vehicles!¡± I replied.


    It didn¡¯t take long before I noticed more crooked bodies started appearing one after the other and they numbered more than a few dozen. However, not only did we attract the ones hiding inside the public market, but we also attracted every deadhead in the radius the explosion resounded in. Despite that, everyone was itching for a fight because being blindsided by the sprinters in those schools was one of the few times we got to retreat.


    This time, we were back for round 2 and the ones in the public market were just the starting bout. I just cracked my neck left and right before I dashed in ahead of everybody.


    I dove in with my katana and pistol in hand and the first one I cut down was a fat deadhead wearing a tiara. My de entered its jawline, slicing up before I gunned down the two beside it which were about to w onto my face. They fell down almost immediately while the seven that came from a back alley fell to the side of their heads after I heard several gunshots from behind me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°THREE MORE WILL BE COMING FROM THE ALLEY!!! I¡¯LL GO ON AHEAD!!!¡± I eximed.


    A silhouette just came from my right and it was Tatiana holding her Benelli M4. I was seeing everything in slow motion as she unloaded eight shells one after the other before pulling out her FN Five-Seven and shooting the ones just about to crawl up from under the pile where the grenade exploded. The ones she unloaded eight slugs with were unrecognizable and what was left of their heads were now just a grotesque decoration on the floor.


    Everything was being handled smoothly right until both of us heard a loud thud and a horrifying crunch.


    Mikhail was just right behind Tatiana and I saw him swing with full power right after he switched his grip to the hammer-side of his weapon. His weapon colliding with the zombie¡¯s head did more damagepared to it hitting the floor violently. Its head was cracked open and pieces of its skull were jutting out, but the most f.u.c.k.i.e.d up thing was the distance it flew right after Mikhail delivered his strike. It was like it performed a ragdoll animation once it got hit dead-on and it bugged out, flying off more than necessary.


    Ibarra on the other hand was just right behind Mikhail and he took care of the one in his blindside. He was the one floating to provide support while Tatiana was the one right next to me spearheading the advance.


    Only the four of us were at the forefront while the rest were taking care of the three other sides and protecting our vehicles. At the same time, Kaley and Jared were always providing support from a distance and giving out pieces of information we couldn¡¯t see from fighting the dead up close and personal.


    ¡°RELOAD!!!¡± Tatiana eximed as she took a few steps back.


    It was then that Ibarra and I raised our rifles and we took down ten each before we put down our rifles and advanced once more. Tatiana was already done reloading her shotgun and her pistol the moment we were done and she instantly joined us after covering for Mikhail. She drew her bastard sword this time around because the initial wave where most of the dead that came in clumps was over. <hr>


    We also made our vehicles move a few stores forward while a portion of Artem¡¯s team started to pull the ones we put down to the side. It was because even if we tried to kill them by sticking by the sidewalk, we wouldn¡¯t be able to control the direction they would fall down. Even if we tried, it would take away a few precious seconds that could be used to put down more of them.


    ¡®A dead deadhead is more important than a proper driveway in this situation¡­¡¯


    We have now advanced past the salons and we were just by an intersection with a few fast-food stores and a medium-sized pharmacy on either side. Right across it was the public market and I could see the mess we did on this ce when we passed through earlier. It was the same situation with the schools where the bodies that we ran over survived and they just resorted to crawling erratically with the limbs that they have left.


    That was when Mikhail started ying whack-a-mole with each downward swing while the rest of us picked a road from the intersection and moved forward.


    I took the road to the left that would lead to a bridge, Tatiana took the road forward that would lead to the school, and Ibarra took the road that we exited earlier when we ran away from the schools. We just started the second advance alone while the reinforcements that cleared the other side just started to reach us.


    ¡°Reporting for duty, samurai boy- I mean sir.¡± Bogdanmented.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna get DA¡¯d for that.¡± Natasha followed. <hr>


    ¡°No problem, I¡¯ll take the right side which is the nearest to the public market while Natasha would be in the middle for support. Bogdan, you take care of the stragglers from the other shops and take note of the onesing from the bridge! Fire at will!¡± I immediately barked out instructions.


    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g talking about! Da, you¡¯re alright!¡± Bogdan gave a heartyugh before he blew off a deadhead¡¯s head.


    ¡°Affirmative, sir.¡± Natasha justmented before gunning down the ones that were justing out of the public market and the ones just about to reach us.


    ¡°Natasha, just focus on the front! Kaley and Jared will handle the ones at our backs!¡± I eximed, pulling my de off the dead butches I sunk my de in.


    Natasha just nodded before turning around and advancing with Bogdan. Our vehicles were now parked by the intersection we just passed earlier and they started a new perimeter while half of Artem¡¯s team was watching the back. My team of three now just needed to clear the deading out right until the bridge before we turn back and dead with what was left of the public market.


    The road was starting to get difficult to traverse because aside from the dead bodies we left ourselves, the ones here left for a time had no one to clear and burn them. We had to avoid tripping over them while dodging the attacks of the ones that were still alive, and we had to make sure we wouldn¡¯t overextend too much away from our vehicles while we were increasing our body count.


    Their influx of the dead had lessened considerably but it would be wise to be careful not to underestimate them.


    I was looking at Natasha as she lopped off part of a zombie¡¯s head but I immediately noticed the thick ck goop that flowed out after it. I was just about to warn her, but she already stepped forward and left her back open as she was just about to cut down the next one to her left. At the same time, the one she left behind twitched and turned abruptly while its skull was beginning to empty of the dark fluids. <hr>


    I only had a few seconds to act before it swiped its w-like fingers towards her neck. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/round-2¨Cvniz!!!_51466849296108351 for visiting.


    ¡°VNIZ!!!¡± I roared.


    As soon I shouted for Natasha to duck down, Bogdan heard me as well and they both followed me without hesitation. They ducked at the same time but Bogdan turned to me to give me a look of confusion. However, he immediately understood as he saw the predicament Natasha was in.


    By a hair¡¯s breadth, the swipe to Natasha¡¯s neck missed and it gave her the opportunity to roll to the side as Kaley sent a bullet to the one she was just about to cut down while I leaped to the hollowed one to ravage and dismember it, making sure it wouldn¡¯t be able to move a muscle.


    ¡°Only know ¡®zdravstvuyte¡¯, huh?¡± Natashamented, grinning with an eyebrow raised.


    ¡°What? You might be talking shit behind my back, I had to learn thenguage!¡± I immediately gave excuses.


    ¡°Hmph! I- thank-¡±


    ¡°Thank meter, we need to find that thing.¡± I said as I turned to the public market.

 Chapter 509

    Chapter 509: 509


    I immediately halted our advance as we took a few steps back and I instantly called everyone back to gather in front of our vehicles. A small perimeter was created around it and Bogdan just dropped the body who almost ended Natasha right in front of them. It was just a torso with a dismembered head while the rest of its limbs was left in ce. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Looks familiar?¡± I said to the group.


    Their eyes scanned the body for a few seconds but once they got to the hollowed-out head with a smidge of ck goop from the spige, they immediately recognized it.


    ¡°Where did you find it?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°At our side, almost killed me.¡± Natasha replied, ncing back at me.


    ¡°I¡¯m guessing you haven¡¯t encountered one in here yet?¡± I continued.


    The group just shook their heads but one question was on their minds. The ones we encountered before did something entirely different and posed no threat, but this one actually tried to take one of us down.


    ¡°Wait, bro. Where¡¯s the rest of its team? You know, to pile up and drop dead? And to add to that, why did it attack in the first ce?¡± Jared finally asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re going to find out. My guess is this didn¡¯te from Monumento because if we¡¯re following my theory, it¡¯s supposed to follow a set of instructions, and attacking someone was entirely different from traveling a certain distance and dropping dead to form a wall. Did you notice that there are no walls here?¡± I replied. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°But it still doesn¡¯t exin why it attacked her and why it is alone.¡± Artem chimed in.


    ¡°It¡¯s not apparent but look closely at its mouth and ears.¡± I replied, pointing to the points of entry.


    As they looked closer, they noticed the same ck substance present in those ces and some of them deduced that it might have juste from its head when it all spilled out. However, that could only be said for its right ear because it was the only thing that was smeared all over as the substance spilled out while the rest just had traces of it deep inside, impossible for a spill to reach those ces.


    ¡°This doesn¡¯t give me much¡­¡± Bogdan scratched his head, the same as a few of them listening in.


    ¡°This ¡®hollowed-one¡¯ was recently created and if we¡¯re talking about those f.u.c.k.i.n.g lickers or whatever, it seemed to be just only one and maybe just recently turned. If you look deep inside, you wouldn¡¯t notice it but the few traces on its skin is still fresh. It should¡¯ve been dry or at least ky right now but it isn¡¯t. Aside from that, our ears don¡¯t just expand like that as if something was shoved inside.¡± I exined.


    ¡°So, that thing that made this thing is inside the public market?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Bingo. What we need to do is make a proper perimeter around the public market but we need to take care of the bodies in this road and clear the rest of the ones still roaming around. Be careful though, it could¡¯ve made a couple or a few more before this one so to be on the safe side, shoot it on the head first and then ravage it if it still moves. Only continue to engage it in melee distance if you¡¯re confident enough or sure it is the only one in front of you. No gambling with your lives, everyone goes home.¡± I said to the group.


    It took us a while to do the initial n and we even encountered one hollowed deadhead freshly walking out of the public market, confirming my theory. It also tried to go for us but as soon as my Maxim 9 bored a hole through its head and did nothing, it almost wished that it had fallen down after we were done with it.


    We lopped its head off and detached its limbs and as we examined the head thoroughly, the same marks were present with the first one, giving more credit to my idea. <hr>


    ¡®Is it possible to take that one alive? We¡¯ll just see depending on the situation¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    Instead of heading inside once we were in position, I decided for my group to stay put for a few minutes just so we could camp for the ones stilling in our direction, especially from the public market. We already know that they would being towards us, we just needed to wait for a bit, allowing us to fight them in a ce we werefortable with.


    After 30 minutes, the deadheads lessened significantly and we only ever encountered one more hollowed deadhead fresh from the public market, telling us it was now the time to look for the slurper inside. Well, we would do it but no one would being in, yet.


    ¡°Fly it on that side, everything came from that ce right by that butcher shop.¡± I said to Jared, controlling one of the drones.


    Jared just nodded at me while he continued to fly it further forward but he was flying a little high, looking for a dangling tongue thered with the ck and sticky substance. The rest of my group was guarding around us while I was looking at the feed and we eventually did find something literally hanging about.


    ¡°That is it, right bro?¡± Jaredmented.


    ¡°Seems so. Wait, don¡¯t fly it too close. You know what happenedst time.¡± Imented, ncing at Tatiana to try and get a reaction fromst time.


    ¡°You guys found it? Let me see¡­¡± Kaley leaned over to the tablet as I turned it towards her. <hr>


    A few crowded as well but their looks of curiosity immediately changed once they saw the hanging figure.


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s a child¡­¡± Bogdan sighed heavily.


    ¡°Not anymore¡­¡± Kristoff just went back to his position.


    The ¡®hanging¡¯ slurper Jared and I located had the features of a child, hanging from a meat hook, driven through its shoulder. What was left of its body was severely discolored because a lot of deadheads seemed to have feasted on its lower extremities, only leaving half of its torso and a fraction of its arms. The only thing it could use to fight off the ones feasting on it was its elongated tongue, dripping with the same ck substance dangling from its tiny mouth.


    Its hanging tongue wasn¡¯t as long as what we saw from Monumento but it seemed to be in standby mode, waiting for its next victim.


    I was actually contemting the words we heard from the people we eavesdropped on before, telling us that the slurpers could jump down and walk but regarding the one we found, it seemed to be impossible regarding its circ.u.mstances. It seemed like the situation was perfect to try and capture it because we wouldn¡¯t have another chance like this. The only question left in my mind was who in the f.u.c.k was so f.u.c.k.i.e.d in the head to impale a child in a meat hook and left it for dead.


    ¡°We¡¯re taking it back. Let¡¯s find a small unused freezer to put it in. We could gain more favors with the president if we send them home with a live special even though it¡¯s only a fraction of its small size.¡± I said to my group much to their surprise.


    ¡°What? How about its tongue?¡± Jared asked.


    ¡°And that sauce?¡± Bogdan added. <hr>


    ¡°Hngh¡­ please don¡¯t call it sauce¡­¡± Natasha shook her head in disgust.


    ¡°I¡¯ll cut it off or shoot it off, it¡¯s easy enough but I would prefer it to be intact. The ck substance isn¡¯t corrosive and it¡¯s just sticky with unknown properties. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s get on it.¡± I exined as I was the first one to walk inside the public market.


    Finding a container was easy enough due to the number of freezers avable in this public market and the only thing that posed a bit of challenge was capturing it whole, rtively speaking.


    What I did to aplish that was a little bit ofputation with the help of a few people.


    ¡°On three¡­¡± I signaled Mikhail and Katya.


    ¡°Okay, wait- on three or after three?¡± Mikhail asked.


    ¡°He just said it, ¡®on¡¯ three, right?¡± Katya shook her head as they went on position. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/different-instructions¡ªthat''s-a-child¡­_51491787755277407 for visiting.


    After the countdown, they pushed the first freezer on the flooring, making it slide right under the special we were trying to capture. I couldpute the amount of force needed to get everything right but there was always the human factor that could make mistakes so they had to send freezers in a line, making them push against each other right until it reached their destination.


    It took tenrge freezers lined one after the other but the flooring filled with blood and muck acted as a lubricant to make everything slide down easily.


    ¡°Okay, your turn.¡± I tapped Kaley¡¯s shoulder as she aimed at the sights.

 Chapter 510

    Chapter 510: 510


    Kaley¡¯s job was to shoot an inch or two of flesh off from the shoulder of the young slurper hanging by a meat hook. Doing that sessfully would make it free fall on the freezer right below it, securing a live special for our group in the process. It was easy enough to tear through the rotting flesh and bones of a younger body but it took a few shots to get it right. <center></center><hr>


    As soon as it fell right in the freezer below it, its tongue wriggled violently, trying to get itself out of its predicament. However, what it didn¡¯t realize when we were pushing the freezers under it was that we poured a strong but cheap adhesive, which could take some time dryingpletely, in the freezer about a quarter of the way.


    All its wriggling did nothing but slowly secure it in ce, even causing the lid of the freezer to m down on it as it continued to thrash violently. Well, we had to act fast as we sprinted and secured the freezer with its outer lock and an additional rope because it still had the strength to push it open.


    The only thing that we could hear from the freezer it was in was dull thudsing from the inside and nothing more.


    ¡®Finally got one¡­ well, a fraction of it¡­ with the most important parts¡­¡¯ I thought to myself.


    ¡°What are we gonna do with it now?¡± Mikhail asked.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just ce it right outside because I¡¯ll call for reinforcements. However, someone should keep an eye on it because we¡¯re still not 100% sure that its tongue doesn¡¯t have corrosive properties. We only acted based on the information we have at hand but as soon as it burns through that freezer, you¡¯re allowed to kill it.¡± I replied, looking around the public market.


    The public market from the inside was in a worse statepared to the one in my ce but there was no presence of the fat f.u.c.ks getting fattened even more by the deadheads bringing them food. That was already a plus but most of the stores inside were looted. I was sure we could find something of use in their storage areas of a few ces unopened yet so I decided to give Dong a call.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Dong, could youe here and bring Unc Zardon? Make him use the 8-wheeler and one of you drive another truck to get here. Do you know the public market in this area? Jay¡¯s also around in the neighborhood with a lot of supplies waiting to be sent back, we¡¯ll start looting the area so you guys could just haul everything when you get here.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    [Boss? Okay, we¡¯ll get him and be there in probably 20 minutes? No, just make it 30 to be sure. Want me to bring more soldiers?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I¡¯m literally the army alone. Multiply it by a dozen and you got something even better. Just get here with your usual team. Just drive around the two schools and you¡¯ll be golden.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Heh, understood Boss. I thought you guys were supposed to just clear a path?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Long story, no subtitles. I also have a ¡®special¡¯ package to be kept an eye on. We¡¯ll load it on the truck and bring it to the DDR Camp. Ferdinand will know what to do but make him keep an eye on it.¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/fish-a-truckload¡ªwhat_51516045176918118 for visiting.


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Uhh, just tell it to me again once we get there. I might botch it just hearing through the radio.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hah, just get here fast so I could better exin it.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Oscar, Matthew, and the president still hadn¡¯t arrived in this part of the city so we made the best use of our time. My group started to sift through all of the stores in the public market to scrounge what was left of it. At the same time, Jared, Mikhail, Kristoff, and Ibarra stood guard outside while watching the freezer and the vehicles. <hr>


    It was easy enough to get inside the stores and look for items and the only thing we needed to watch out for the food items we were taking were punctures, contamination, dents, expiration dates, and etc.


    The ones that were punctured and contaminated with foreign substances will be left behind while thetter two will have some things done to them because the dented cans could be just recanned immediately and the expired ones, depending on the date of expiry could still be opened and eaten. However, it should be done sooner because the longer we wait, the sooner would the textures deteriorate and the actual edibility would plummet.


    Aside from food items, cleaning products were also present and it was more abundantpared to the former. Rubbing alcohol, soap, detergent, ammonia, acids, bleach, shampoo, disinfectants, and etc. were still avable for the taking and we took everything that we could. Being clean and disinfected, not just with our body but with our own ce was extremely important because of obvious reasons and we shouldn¡¯t skimp on that.


    After a while, Unc Zardon and Dong¡¯s group arrived with Jay¡¯s group and one of the trucks was already filled partially.


    ¡°You guys are a bit early, haul everything here. Take this freezer first and don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g try to open it or it¡¯ll literally kill you. Before you ask, we caught a slurper and it¡¯s inside.¡± I tapped the several boxes behind me and the freezer secured with moreyers of duct tape in the lid and the other edges.


    ¡°Y-Yes, Boss¡­¡±


    They were adamant about taking the freezer at first but I assured them that we already secured it so, they eventually started hauling everything on the trucks they brought.


    After a while, the president¡¯s convoy arrived with several soldiers in tow and Mark¡¯s group right beside them. Morales was also present in his own jeep and he just exchanged a simple greeting with my group before instantly expanding on the perimeter my group already made.


    ¡°Jesus f.u.c.k.i.n.g christ, you guys went crazy, eh?¡± Rod chuckled as he spotted the several piles of the dead still being burnt into a crisp. Aside from that, the blood trails, debris, isted body parts, and etc. in the immediate vicinity just told them a general idea of what went through here.


    ¡°We¡¯re not done, there¡¯s still the inside of those schools to take care of. We still haven¡¯t cleared everything and that¡¯s the reason we took so long and why he decided to have a carwash. Oh, we caught a little present too. Remember that thing we discoveredst time? It¡¯s in the¡­¡± I replied, rying everything that happened for a time.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ll have my soldiers clear it for you then.¡± Rod replied, greatly impressed.


    The president then called Morales over and told him to send troops to clear out the schools right behind the public market. He easily formed a few dozen men but he stayed behind, asking several questions to my team still hauling the cargo. I could hear him talking over them but I didn¡¯t like the way he was almost interrogating them about doing something routine.


    ¡°Why are you bringing that body to your ce then? The supplies too, you¡¯re taking it from my city.¡± Morales interjected with a straight face but with a different tone. <hr>


    Matthew, Oscar, and the rest of my group didn¡¯t like what Morales said as but the president was just watching what I would do next.


    ¡®Your city? That¡¯s cute.¡¯


    ¡°You can have it if you want but we have more bodies there secured in a shipping container. Besides that, a few of your helicopters are parked in my ce. We could just easily hook it up and ready it for transport. I could give you the keys to my truck if you want? I just want something equal in return.¡± I replied, staring back at him.


    ¡°Kid, the guy just asked you a simple question. Don¡¯t sweat it, he¡¯s had a long night.¡± Oscar interjected, signaling me to calm down but he was frowning at Morales¡¯ actions.


    ¡°He did, I just simply answered too. Well,st time I checked, no one owns anything now and it¡¯s finders keepers. If you want something from that truck that we painstakingly procured, you¡¯d have to do something for me or you¡¯d have to trade something of equal value.¡± I replied, shrugging my shoulders.


    ¡°Hmm, what do you want for everything in the truck then? Scratch the ¡®special¡¯ you caught, I just want more supplies for my team.¡± Morales took a step closer, almost getting into my face.


    ¡°Fish, a truckload.¡± I replied immediately.


    ¡°Fish?¡± Morales almost staggered.


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone else was dead f.u.c.k.i.n.g silent.


    ¡°Yeah, some Ahi would be nice¡­ my uncle likes it. Oh, I get to pick what I bring home and I want a docking space for two of my boats in your ce. Also, I¡¯d be cing a ry at one of your antennas so we couldmunicate better. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯d also be sending you the proper radio equipment and a few electronic devices so that will be the payment for that. If you want any other stuff from my ce, you could lend me your soldiers for a time or you could bring me the casings you¡¯ve used and any other precious metals you have like lead, copper, or brass. Andstly, just to clear the air with Artem and you, I have an idea.¡±


    Morales seemed to have been overwhelmed by my requests but he still replied after ncing at Artem behind me, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°One on one, my ce.¡±


    ¡°You want us to fight?¡± Morales said, staring at Artem.


    ¡°Hmm? You two? Sure, I guess¡­ how¡¯d you able to do that after Iy your ass out? I¡¯m talking about you and me.¡±

 Chapter 511

    Chapter 511: 511


    As soon as those words came out of my mouth, the ce was dead silent and everyone¡¯s eyes were fixated on us. Despite that, Morales just gave me a solemn expression but his eyebrow twitched for a brief moment. No one was moving a muscle, but the silence was broken by the president roaring inughter. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°HAAAAAAA~!!! HAHAHAHA~!!! THAT¡¯S WHY I LOVE THIS F.U.C.K.I.N.G PLACE! I REALLY LIKE YOU, YOU SON A BITCH! MORALES! THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU JUST STARING AT THE KID FOR?! ARE YOU GONNA ACCEPT OR WHAT?!¡± Rod started goading Morales into epting my challenge.


    ¡°Sir, the harbor still isn¡¯t-¡± Morales turned to the president respectfully but he was immediately cut off.


    ¡°You uptight, son of a bitch. Don¡¯t know the word ¡®delegate¡¯, huh? It¡¯s just for a night and-¡±


    ¡°But sir-¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an order. I¡¯m being serious here, you two need to sort your differences out. Well, the kid is fighting but I hope there¡¯s a substitution. It¡¯s bad to have bad blood between people that are supposed to work together. Is a switch possible?¡± Rod turned to me then nced at Artem.


    ¡°I dunno, you up for it?¡± I turned to Artem as well, waiting for his decision.


    ¡°Da, it¡¯s much obliged.¡± Artem¡¯s expression changed as he looked at Morales staring at him.


    ¡°Then it¡¯s done. I¡¯ll be the ref and we¡¯ll have a proper match. Wanna have a bet on it?¡± I stood between the two then I turned to the president.


    ¡°What do you want then?¡± Rod immediately replied, smiling.


    ¡°I want one of the small sh.i.p.s you used to get here and half of the fuel you have here that could run it.¡±


    ¡°Hah! That¡¯s very steep, kid. You¡¯re talking like you¡¯ve already won.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say luck has been pretty much on my side. Also, I trust my guy that he could beat your guy.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Hmph! You¡¯re asking for something I couldn¡¯t simply give away.¡±


    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Heh, that ship belongs to Iskoh.¡±


    ¡°Hah! That makes it better then! Let¡¯s include him in the bet and I¡¯m gonna ask for more favors.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, kid. Morales is not a pushover and you better put something to the table.¡±


    ¡°Sure, if you owe me a favor plus that small ship and the fuel it uses, I¡¯ll give Iskoh everything that we took from the DDR Camp in Monumento plus several thousand rounds for 5.56, 9mm, and .45 ACP, and¡­ half of Artem¡¯s team and Mark¡¯s team to be sent to his ce. Doing that could make our current problem of establishing properms and a safend route faster if Iskoh has my people on his side.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll talk to him first, and me?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll give support to Morales¡¯ ¡®city¡¯ by arming all of his soldiers with the same equipment I¡¯m using plus a bonus especially for him. Aside from that, I¡¯ll give him half of the military vehicles we have modified back home, give him good deals on trades, and you get to fly home with my Charger and my Hayabusa.¡±


    ¡°Just for a favor eh? What¡¯s this about a favor though? How far could it go?¡±


    ¡°There wille a time that you will decide on something and I will disagree with you. I¡¯d like to use that favor so you¡¯d change your mind no matter what. I want you to give your word on that and if you wanted, we could scratch what I would be giving you and wager a favor as well.¡±


    ¡°What if that timees and I don¡¯t change my mind?¡± Rod looked at me with a solemn expression.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m gonna have to kill you.¡± I replied without blinking.


    If me telling Morales earlier that I¡¯dy his ass out made the surroundings go quiet, telling the president face to face that I¡¯ll kill was on a different level of quietness. The silence was deafening and we could almost hear our own heart beating. It was at this moment that Morales almost charged at me but Rod just stared him down. <hr>


    Just behind the president were Oscar and Matthew and how I wish I took a picture to immortalize that moment.


    ¡°We¡¯re just having a talk. If he¡¯s gonna kill me, he would¡¯ve done so several times without any of you stopping him.¡± Rod looked at each of his soldiers.


    ¡°BUT SIR!¡± Morales protested, ring at me.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got balls, kid. Huge ones. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll keep my word. I hope you keep yours too when the timees when I win because I¡¯ll also kill you if you don¡¯t honor your word. Let¡¯s shake on it.¡± Rod said as he offered his hand.


    ¡°Sure, a favor as well. Mine¡¯s not worth as much as yours but you asked for it.¡± I replied, returning his handshake.


    ¡°Heh, don¡¯t think too little of yourself.¡±


    The wager was finally set and after a while, the soldiers that Morales sent to clear the schools came back. Smoke was just billowing at the ce they were in and they soon left us to head for the carwash. I discovered that they were more inclined to just take the equipment instead of just cleaning their vehicles there.


    ¡®Now it makes sense¡­¡¯


    Mark and his team stayed with us while Jay and his team drove back home with the supplies they gathered with Unc Zardon and Dong¡¯s group. However, one of the trucks we brought were driven by Morales¡¯ soldiers so we could exchange it with the items we talked about earlier. They would just unload everything from the truck, rece it with the items I would be picking, then my team would just stop by the harbor to drive it back home.


    ¡°Boss, you really wagered us¡­¡± Mark was pale, the same with the rest of his team.


    ¡°Half of us too!¡± Katya eximed.


    ¡°The f.u.c.k were you thinking bro! That¡¯s the president!¡± Jared was sweating bullets. <hr>


    ¡°What? We¡¯d just be a city apart! Heh, you guys think we¡¯ll lose then?¡± I chuckled as I turned to face Artem who was quiet after everything that happened earlier.


    ¡°I¡¯m not losing any more of my team because of that guy. I¡¯ll go all out, trust me. Besides, it¡¯s my lucky day because we got something tremendous just from beating up a high-ranking officer. Doing that back home just earns you an execution.¡± Artem was actually excited.


    ¡°Just be f.u.c.k.i.n.g careful. He holds back a lot but he¡¯s also strong. The president wouldn¡¯t agree to my wager if he thinks that Morales doesn¡¯t have a chance.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t lose to that guy, not easily.¡± Artem replied, cracking his fingers.


    ¡°What I meant by being f.u.c.k.i.n.g careful is not to overdo it. Throw everything you got but don¡¯t kill him. This fight is about clearing the air because of the mistakes that were made, not revenge¡­ Well, earning a f.u.c.kton of rewards in one go as well.¡±


    ¡°Da, I understand. Odnako, I could fight you after him as well.¡±


    It became quiet once more the moment Artem offered me a challenge but it wasn¡¯t as tensepared to earlier. This time, there was more anticipation and excitementing from our own teams because our supposed fight yesterday was interrupted by Oscar spiking his drink.


    ¡®He¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.g resilient, I¡¯ll give him that. I would always wake up the next day after identally drinking those¡­ Well, I need to warn him about that in the future¡­¡¯


    ¡°It depends, I don¡¯t want to bully you after you¡¯re exhausted. I might teach a solo sster too so we¡¯ll get there when we get there.¡± I replied, giving a cheeky smile as I nced at Kaley. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/wagers¡ªsuckers!_51558179359749045 for visiting.


    ¡®I almost forgot I promised to teach her something¡­¡¯


    After a while of setting up, we drove towards the bridge to clear a path because the president¡¯s convoy already made a path for us from the way they came from. Our goal for today was just to explore the city more and kill the dead as much as possible. The convoy even caught up to us, joining us while driving side by side but there was tension in the air.


    Arge majority of the soldiers with us were on Morales¡¯ side but a few were neutral and actually rooting for Artem. The fightter seemed to be all in our minds and everyone was a little distracted, making our progress even slower. Everyone kept talking about it and even small betting pools were established along with even smaller fights.


    That was when it got even more interesting. <hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s the grand final, we have to have a few opening fights or something¡­¡±


    ¡°You think 30-rounds of 5.56s are enough? For betting?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll bet two bottles of whiskey for that.¡±


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious?¡±


    ¡°I am, we have a lot of ammo but alcohol? That¡¯s gold, man. F.u.c.k.i.n.g liquid gold.¡±


    ¡°We really should bring in more people on the fun.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s the other camp in his ce, right? Let¡¯s just invite them when we get there.¡±


    That was when I decided to join in with the conversation.


    ¡°How about I set you up with my own equipment, your own house, your own vehicle, and etc. at my ce and all you have to do is beat me. How does that sound?¡± I suggested another event, speaking just loud enough for everyone to hear.


    ¡°With me?¡± A well-built soldier excitedly pointed to himself.


    ¡°Nah, to anyone. I¡¯ll take anyone on until the two are ready but you got to bring what you were originally nning to bet. I¡¯ll add it to what I would be giving to the winner so the winner takes all of it once he beat me.¡±


    ¡°Deal!¡± almost half of the convoy roared.


    ¡®Suckers!¡¯

 Chapter 512

    Chapter 512: 512


    Not every soldier from this convoy and the harbor were elite soldiers to bepletely honest. Unlike my squad, Morales¡¯ main group, or Artem¡¯s team which were allposed of elites, battle-tested veterans, or outliers like myself, most of them were just regr soldiers that enlisted for the benefits that came with being a soldier, had nowhere else to go, or just in-old patriotic. <center></center><hr>


    The reason I was exining this because almost all of them, plus a select few were the ones that roared the moment I proposed a wager. The ones that just shook their head, scoffed, or remained expressionless were the ones I kept an eye on.


    ¡®Found you, motherf.u.c.kers.¡¯ I grinned inwardly.


    Whether I like it or not, a small power struggle had already formed the moment Morales arrived at this ind group. He was one of the president¡¯s high-ranking officers and he wouldn¡¯te here with the bulk of his troops without a few aces he spent life-and-death battles with. For now, I just remembered their faces and nned my next steps because I still haven¡¯t taken into ount the people he left in the harbor while being in this convoy.


    ¡®We¡¯re actually losing in numbers if they¡¯re all as good as what I expect them to be¡­ F.u.c.k it, that¡¯s why I nned to make everyone fight from the get-go so I could already gauge them¡­ It¡¯s all or nothing once we get home¡­ If they don¡¯t want to fight, I¡¯ll make the president make them¡­ good thing he has vices I could tick off¡­¡¯


    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re too quiet just watching them. You¡¯re thinking of something big, aren¡¯t you?¡± Kaley tapped me, making me turn to face her.


    ¡°Shh¡­ Something like that, yes. It will be a long night, I¡¯m telling you.¡± I just chuckled and grinned, listening to everyone¡¯s conversation and watching how each of them move.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget about me though, okay?¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t, don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡°Could you two please stop talking about s.e.x in the middle of work? It¡¯s distracting.¡± Tatiana sarcastically chimed in.


    ¡°It¡¯s not- nevermind.¡± Kaley and I said at the same time but Tatiana was just grinning the whole time, we stopped replying halfway. <center></center><hr>


    After a few hours, we have swept through a quarter of the city we were in with the president¡¯s convoy. If we wanted, we would¡¯ve been able to reach a third of the way but I decided to make our movements slower. Not only doing that would let us loot each ce we came across and kill each body we encountered, but it also lets us put more pressure on the main base of the people on the other side of the city.


    There was nothing worse than receiving news of a threating and having no idea on what exact time it would actuallye. Aside from that, knowing that they were slowly creeping in with force and the psychological state of their troops would also suffer, rendering them unable to act generally than they usually would resorting to a lot of problems like desertion, mutiny, or something much worse.


    I for one had no actual clue as to what was happening on their side but I already have a few educated guesses based on how our minds work. It could start from simple fear and nervousness turning maybe into insomnia and paranoia as time goes by. It would get worse and worse until the situation is resolved but the longer it took for one to get closure, the more the person suffering from it gets closer to their breaking point.


    ¡®However, how their situation woulde to a resolution was entirely different than what they were expecting¡­¡¯


    We were now in the high school area where the DDR Camp was located because my house would be cramped if we invited over not only close to a hundred soldiers from Morales¡¯ camp, but also the people that caught wind of what was about to go down and wanted to either watch, bet, or join in.


    A huge space was created for us to hold the event and the soldiers wanting to have a taste of luxury had already formed a line. The rule for my event was that they only need to knock me out in 5 minutes and what I promised would be theirs plus what remained of the prize pool. I¡¯ll continue to face each challenger until 9:00 PM, where the grand finale between Artem and Morales wouldmence.


    ¡°Kid, you¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g ready? A weird choice just to assert dominance, don¡¯t ya think?¡± Oscar tapped me.


    ¡°Oh, that counts as another reason too, I suppose. I just wanted to hit something because Artem got to fight Morales.¡±


    ¡°Cheh, shut the f.u.c.k up. I know you nned for this all along. But still, can¡¯tin. Beat the shit out of them fast so we get to take more of the Ahi you took home. Your unc made some ceviche and hot damn that was delicious!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think they have a 100 Ahi Tunas lying around, old man. They only had a few dozen and I took half home.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an example! Quick! Get out there!¡± <hr>


    As soon as I walked inside the ring, the crowd eagerly waiting for it to start went wild. I was wearing my gym clothes paired with the gloves we always use when we spar but my equipment was just by our vehicles, closely guarded by my team still in gear.


    The first soldier facing me got shocked at the support I was receiving but it seemed like he was just there to have some fun. He even waved at the ones cheering for me and he actually got a small audience to cheer him on aside from the soldiers that came with him.


    ¡®I like this guy.¡¯


    ¡°Sky Ishiyama.¡± I walked up to him.


    ¡°Richard Donito Cruz.¡± he replied.


    ¡°FIGHT!!!¡± Bing wearing a referee¡¯s uniform shouted at the top of his lungs, forgetting to actually announce us.


    As soon as the two of us touched our open-fingered gloves, we stared at each other but he was grinning the whole time. He looked younger than most of the soldiers that came with him but he was eager to be the first one in line. He started weaving and bobbing in ce but he suddenly went forward. I saw his right shoulder tighten but I was still patiently waiting if it was a fake to lure me out.


    ¡°You¡¯re going down!¡± Richard instead started trash-talking.


    ¡°Not exactly.¡± I said as I actually went up.


    ¡°Huh?¡± <hr>


    I lifted up from the ground as I delivered a crescent kick after a spin. He was like a deer in front of headlights as he received my kick with his head dead-on. I was nning it to be just a cool opener but he just sprawled sideways, unconscious.


    Everyone was momentarily stunned before it erupted with cheers, jeering, and yful mockery from both sides.


    ¡°Son of a f.u.c.k.i.n.g bitch, got me excited for nothing¡­¡± the president was facepalming on his seat.


    Bing just stared at Richard for a few moments before he crossed his arms together, waving it around then grabbing my arm and raising it up, ¡°THE WINNER!!! SKY~~~~~!!! ISHIYAMA~~~~~!!!¡±


    Richard waster escorted after he was brought to consciousness but he started waving at the audience like he won.


    ¡°Nice fight!¡± Richard offered a handshake.


    ¡°Nice fight. Thanks for the 1911.¡± I replied, returning his handshake.


    ¡°Shit! I just- f.u.c.k it, it¡¯s just an extra¡­ I¡¯ll get it back next time!¡±


    ¡®At least not all of them are uptight like their CO¡­¡¯


    After a few moments, the next challenger walked up to me and he was actually from my side. I was surprised he was here because he was supposed to be in the DDR Camp in Meycauayan but the news of the event actually brought him here.


    ¡°You sure about this Brian? Haven¡¯t you had enough?¡± Bing almost disqualified Brian when he saw hime inside the ring. <hr>


    ¡°SHUT UP! NO ONE SAID IT¡¯S NOT ALLOWED!¡± Brian roared, almost wanting to start a fight with Bing instead. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/breaking-point¡ªnext._51584700497579908 for visiting.


    ¡°Okay, in the blue corner~ the bald-headed idiot that didn¡¯t know when to give up~ Brian~¡± Bing actually introduced him to everyone like an announcer would.


    ¡°F.u.c.k you.¡± Brian just made his neck crack then he stared at me, focusing.


    ¡°Also, he¡¯s a v.i.r.g.i.n~¡± Bing added more fuel to the fire.


    The crowd startedughing and Brian actually did a good job of hanging on.


    ¡°BING!!! JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G START THE FIGHT!!!¡±


    As soon as Bing gave the signal, Brian rushed at me like he always would with his guard raised up. He opened with a crisp jab and then followed it up with a right straight but I weaved my head and delivered a sudden low kick. I let out a smile to mess with his head but he relentlessly tried to get me into an in-fight.


    ¡®You need to do a better job than that¡­¡¯


    It was then that he pretended to perform another crisp jab but he actually grabbed my shirt and was just about to throw a right hook on my face.


    ¡®Always the dirty tricks¡­¡¯


    Instead of dodging it by a hair¡¯s breadth, I mmed my head right on his nose then I sent a left knee towards his abdomen. His nose was already bleeding profusely as his body buckled forwards but before he managed to recover, my arms already wrapped around his neck, choking him in the process.


    As soon as he dropped unconscious, I wiped the blood on my forehead and said, ¡°Next.¡±

 Chapter 513

    Chapter 513: 513


    Before starting our event, several measures were ced just in case something happened like my team guarding our gear in our vehicles, doubling despite the attendance because of Morales¡¯ team addition, stationing medical staff throughout different ces in case of emergencies, garrisoning soldiers a few blocks away for an early warning system, prohibiting the use of booze during the event, monitoring our surveince cameras, flying the drones around constantly, and etc. <center></center><hr>


    In short, we could run wild without worrying too much because of the measures we put in ce.


    As soon as the next challenger came up, there was a hint of nervousness in his expression and it seemed that his hands were a little mmy. Despite that, he introduced himself to me, giving me a short handshake and a small bow.


    ¡°Nice to meet you, sir, I¡¯m Romeo Vargas.¡±


    ¡°Sky Ishiyama.¡±


    ¡°Ah- no need to, I¡¯m a¡­ I¡¯m a fan¡­¡±


    ¡®Oh no¡­¡¯


    ¡°FIGHT~!!!¡±


    I thought he was just a masochist wanting to get hit but he actually put up a brave fight. He took the initiative by rushing ahead yet putting up a solid guard and the fight took longer than expected. The first two fights didn¡¯t evenst a minute but we were already in the two-minute mark.


    ¡®Are they stalling just to make me tired? Hmm¡­¡¯


    I already had an inkling but I gave him an unpassable opening.


    I just lowered my left fist guarding my face as I rushed in and he took it by letting out a right hook. His fist was balled-up tight and he took a step forward to apply more power to his counter. It came at the right angle as it sliced the air but I spun counterclockwise, delivering a devastating elbow to his temple. <center></center><hr>


    I felt the impact and the resistance of his head as it blew to the side, and I was about to mount him and rain down punches if I didn¡¯t notice that his eyes had already rolled over. Our medical staff immediately tended to him and it was decided that it would be better if he took the night off.


    His counter would¡¯ve been perfect if I wasn¡¯t faster than him.


    Everyone was still enjoying the fights as the cheers and trash-talking never ceased but when I got to my 9th bout, I was already itching for a much better fighter. If they were really aiming to tire me out and hope to win everything by not going at it head-on, I would resort to more drastic measures.


    The freebies were fine but they wouldn¡¯t measure up to the rewardspared to the finale.


    ¡®Let¡¯s try and lure out the elites by making the regr ones forfeit¡­¡¯


    The 10th soldier who went up in the ring seemed to be exuding the same aura as Brian but he was a little older and he seemed to be looking down on the ones that came before me. He had this mischievous look and silly grin he was carrying but noticing the scars on his face and knuckles told me that he was in more streetfightspared to the actual battlefield.


    ¡®Probably a guy that went to the military seeking for benefits¡­¡¯


    ¡°Jerry¡­ Ocampo.¡± he introduced himself.


    ¡°Wear gloves.¡± I reminded him, pointing at the box of gym equipment we prepared for them.


    ¡°That¡¯s for pussies.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Is that so?¡±


    ¡°Real men don¡¯t wear it on the battlefield.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Ah~ Let me change then.¡± I walked to the box to remove my gloves but to his surprise, I wore even thicker gloves not for MMA but for boxing instead.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna die.¡± Bing chuckled at Jerry before starting the fight.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°FIGHT~!!!¡±


    As soon as Bing gave the signal, I was the one who dashed forward to deliver a quick jab to test his reaction time. He quickly tilted his head before jumping back but as soon as he got his bearings, he dashed forward and swung overhead with his righ hand. I just stepped to the right to avoid it and I delivered a left hook to his abdomen.


    I felt some resistance but he quickly turned to throw a jab towards my face but his fingers suddenly extended, aiming to gouge my eye out.


    That was when I jumped forward while I tucked my head low as I mmed against his chin. Our bodies were so close to each other but I pivoted first with myrge toes as I turned my waist to deliver a body blow to his sides. He instantly felt it but I threw another one at the same spot, making his body buckle.


    As soon as his face drooped down, I delivered an uppercut right in his face before I sent a left hook right when his head blew back. He tried to throw a hail mary punch but I met it with my right fist as well at full power. I could swear I heard a crunch because Bing grimaced from hearing it and I was sure that I broke his knuckles.


    A piercing shriek came after that and I saw his ring finger and index finger bent on the opposite side.


    ¡°F.U.C.K!!!¡± Jerry screamed curses but he immediately snapped them back while I was waiting on what he would do next.


    His expression was different now and he actually dashed first. He was so pissed that he didn¡¯t even notice that his nose was bleeding and he was missing a tooth. His fists were balled so tight it seemed like he couldn¡¯t wait to sink one right in my smug face. <hr>


    ¡®That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about!¡¯


    He started throwing punches one after the other in a fit of rage but to give props, I met each of them like he was punching a mirror and he bore through the pain. He was gritting his teeth so hard as blood wasing out of his nose and as soon as his rush was over, his knuckles were swollen and it looked much worsepared to earlier.


    ¡°I told you to wear gloves¡­¡± I snarkilymented.


    ¡°I¡­ I give up¡­¡± Jerry just looked at his hands before putting them down.


    ¡°Have them looked at.¡± I mentioned before he jumped down the ring.


    Cheers and apuse erupted as I walked back to change my gloves back. Blood was present on the gloves I just used to fight Jerry but I set them to the side, facing the next soldier that wanted to take a shot at me. I thought he would forfeit immediately but he just wore the same open-fingered gloves and walked up to the ring.


    ¡®Do I need to be more¡­ convincing? Hmmm¡­ Well, they¡¯re soldiers¡­ they don¡¯t scare easily¡­¡¯


    I started to seemingly take them down violently with ack of finessepared to the earlier rounds and the crowd, especially the president loved it. It was because normal fights on TV before this zombie shit happened, were just more focused on technique and scoring pointspared to an actual brawl.


    The quick fights went on for a while and instead of just beating them up senseless, I actually gave them a short review after each fight. I spotted a few unpolished gems in the rough and I would start hovering above their heads like a demon because I have a few ns of taking them away from Morales¡¯ grasp.


    ¡°Fight! Fight! Fight!¡±


    ¡°IN THE BLUE CORNER~~~!!!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K HIM!!!¡± <hr>


    ¡°GO FOR HIS GUT!!!¡±


    ¡°ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡±


    ¡°THE WINNER FOR HIS 19TH CONSECUTIVE FIGHT~~~~¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/i-told-you-to-wear-gloves¡­_51607118633033244 for visiting.


    The bouts continued on and I was still waiting for them toe up. However, something different happened.


    After my 25th fight, a substitution happened. The president called me over and then the crowd went wild as soon as she stepped on the ring. She had an amazing physique which was also surprisingly flexible and she had blond hair that was starting to grow longer,pared to the first time I met her.


    ¡°Rest a bit, my soldiers are a little wary of you. They¡¯re just afraid to get called out when they forfeit.¡± Rod said to me, smoking a cigar.


    ¡°And you sent her?¡± I replied, feigning worry.


    ¡°Psh! Oscar already told me she¡¯s could go toe to toe with you. Besides, Morales and Artem are ready to f.u.c.k each other up. Let¡¯s just spice up the ring before theye out. I wanted to send the big guy- Mikhail was it but they might get scared even more.¡±


    ¡°Oh? They are? It¡¯s fine then.¡±


    Tatiana went up to the ring and beat the shit out of several guys that I was supposed to beat the shit out of. She was more brutalpared to the way I fought Morales¡¯ soldiers and the ones that were on our side received even more beatings. However, the f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiots actually enjoyed getting hit and step on by Tatiana as some of them were blissfully getting hit on purpose.


    She did the same amount of rounds as me and no one managed to touch her.


    It was then that the time for the final fight and the whole ce was waiting in anticipation.

 Chapter 514

    Chapter 514: 514


    Artem and Morales were brand new faces and the only reason that the crowd was so hyped, aside from the people that knew them was because word got out about the bet I made with Rod and Iskoh and the bad blood between the two fighters. Truth be told, what happened between them was due to poormunication and sometimes, a simple talk wasn¡¯t enough for people to get closure or simply forgot the loss that came with it. <center></center><hr>


    Doing this event was just a way to quickly bridge the gap between the two.


    ¡°Ready to lose your ship?¡± I goaded Iskoh.


    ¡°I was away for a few hours and the ship that I painstakingly procured was now in the betting pool¡­ OF COURSE I¡¯M NOT READY!!! DID YOU EVER SEE ME GAMBLE?! NOT ONCE HAVE I TOUCHED A DICE, OR A CARD, OR A- I DON¡¯T EVEN KNOW WHAT ELSE YOU USE FOR THAT!!!¡± Iskoh was sitting quietly but he started losing his shit the moment I mentioned his ship.


    ¡°A ship, you could use a ship.¡± I immediately replied with a nk face.


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! This morning was perfect, so f.u.c.k.i.n.g perfect¡­¡±


    ¡°Rx~ you could have another one, right?¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯re too confident, kid. You never know what¡¯ll happen until the end.¡± Rod chimed in, ruffling Iskoh¡¯s tidy and slicked-back hair.


    ¡°Don¡¯t touch my- You¡¯re the reason I¡¯m too nervous right now!¡± Iskoh eximed, pping Rod¡¯s hands off.


    ¡°Jesus f.u.c.k.i.n.g christ, rx, will you? Imagine if you win.¡± Rod started to seemingly paint a picture with his hands. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Imagine if we lose!¡± Iskoh immediately retorted.


    ¡°SHHH!!! Can you two shut up? It¡¯s starting! It¡¯s starting!¡± Oscar excitedly stood up from his seat.


    ¡®Finally¡­¡¯


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you were gonna do something?¡± Kaley tapped me, handing over a referee¡¯s shirt.


    ¡°Right, I almost forgot. Thanks!¡± I just put it over my shirt and jumped back on the ring, recing Bing that immediately held a mic to solely be the announcer instead.


    I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g shocked when I saw Bing ripped his uniform off and a tuxedo was right underneath it but I figured he did more things than being just a bouncer from where he used to work. At the same time, the way he introduced the two and the way he hyped up the crowd deserved some praise, in a different way.


    ¡°IN THE BLUE CORNER~~ WEIGHING XXX POUNDS, XX FEET TALL, FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND SOUTHERN MINDANAO, AN UPTIGHT F.U.C.K WITH A RESTING BITCH FACE THAT IS SECRETLY A PERVERT WITH A MOM COMPLEX~~ MIGUEL~~ MORALES~~~~~!!!¡±


    ¡°The f.u.c.k did you say?!¡±


    ¡°Hold up.¡±


    ¡°Who the f.u.c.k are ya?!¡± <hr>


    ¡°HAHHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHA~!!!¡±


    ¡°Want a piece of me?!¡±


    ¡°LET ME DO MY JOB!!!¡± Bing roared as he was holding the same cards.


    Bing was almost lynched by Morales¡¯ troops but the president started dyingughing. As it turned out, the president was the one who ordered Bing to say those things about Morales. Despite that, Morales walked into the ring, stone-faced and ready for battle. He was actually just staring at me, hinting that I would be next after he was done with Artem.


    I just grinned while looking at him and then Bing finally introduced Artem.


    ¡°IN THE RED CORNER~~ WEIGHING XXX POUNDS, STANDING AT XX FEET TALL, FROM MOTHER RUSSIA, A SCARY F.U.C.K WITH PROBABLY A HUGE D.I.C.K~~ ARTEM~~~ BL- BL- what do you- how do you pronounce this shi- b- b- ARTEM~~~!!!¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/artem-vs-morales_51628676684509251 for visiting.


    Artem almost tripped as he walked into the ring but all the singledies started losing their shit. At the same time, the old dudes were already in a sorry state fromughing but Artem¡¯s team weren¡¯t faring much better either. Mikhail and Bogdan¡¯sughter was overpowering everyone but I decided to do my job after themotion.


    I walked to the center of the ring and the two did as well.


    ¡°This thing will be different from earlier. There would be no limit to time and moves used as long as you¡¯re inside the ring and as long as it¡¯s not meant to kill. The moment one of you went out of bounds, knocked unconscious, tapped out, or surrendered, the fight is over. Let me remind you, I¡¯m the ref and the only thing I¡¯ll be watching out for are those signs and those signs only. Listen to me at all times and when I stop the fight, you stop f.u.c.k.i.n.g moving. Do something else and I¡¯ll personally stop both of you because I can. Am I making myself clear? If I am, touch gloves and wait on your corners.¡± <hr>


    The two were staring at each other dead in the eye but they followed my instructions. The pressure of being inside the ring with two people ready to rip each other wasn¡¯t something for a regr human being.


    As soon as I gave the signal, both fighters dashed forward.


    Right hooks from both sides.


    A loud thud came from both of their faces as their head blew back from the impact. However, Morales was quick to recover and delivered a left hook right into Artem¡¯s face. Artem¡¯s head blew back a second time but he winded up and sent a revenge body blow straight into Morales¡¯ side.


    The two actually nted their feet on the ring and started slugging each other.


    Morales¡¯ body reeled from the body blow but he threw an uppercut right after he recovered. However, Artem dodged it at thest minute, throwing an overhead punch from above. It was supposed to be a direct hit but Morales made it slip past his face by turning his head at the right moment.


    Cheers after cheers came from the crowd and all of a sudden, Morales grabbed Artem by the neck as he sent several knees right at Artem¡¯s abdomen. Artem took the first one like a champ but he definitely felt the second one. The third one was partly guarded but Artem caught the fourth one and brought the fight to the ground by mming Morales down.


    Despite that, Morales kept a tight grip on Artem¡¯s head and left arm but several punches wereing in from his exposed side. Morales was showing a pained expression but as soon as he let go to deliver a nasty elbow to Artem¡¯s face, Artem mmed his head down twice right at Morales¡¯ nose before he tried raining down punches and elbows.


    Artem managed to connect a few times as he tried to fully mount Morales but another elbow came from a dead angle, hitting Artem in the temple that allowed Morales to push from below, getting away from the half-mount. Morales backed away for a few steps to catch his breath and Artem did the same as soon as he got up.


    ¡°JESUS F.U.C.K.I.N.G- I ALMOST FORGOT TO BREATH!!!¡± Bing gasped loudly on the mic. <hr>


    Artem and Morales had different cuts and bruises on their faces but no one was about to surrender. As soon as they caught their breath, Artem started with a spinning backhand, following it with a spinning high-to-low kick. Morales dodged the iing fist but his legs suffered from the quick switch.


    It was then that Morales started a rush, forcing Artem to back away. However, Morales pursued him until his back was on the ropes. It was then that they traded blow for blow, not bothering to dodge what the other one was throwing at them. Full-powered full swing after full-powered full swing came one after the other and their heads were taking the brunt of it.


    No techniques, no tricks, only there to prove who was the stronger one.


    Each punch that came stronger was followed by a louder cheer from the crowd yet the punches thrown were echoing throughout the ce.


    Morales¡¯ right eye was already closed while Artem¡¯s left eye was partly closed but his right eyebrow had a cut and bleeding through his right eye. However, Morales¡¯ nose was bleeding profusely and I could already see that he was starting to have a hard time breathing. Despite that, the two still kept going at it like the fight had just started.


    Another right hook came into contact with Artem¡¯s head and he almost toppled over. However, Artem decided to throw consecutive body blows to make Morales¡¯ knees shake and wobble. It could be anyone¡¯s game right now but neither side was giving up. Their eyes still had some fight and how I wish I was fighting either of them instead.


    My eyes never left the two fighting for their own reasons and I didn¡¯t miss the final moments of the fight.


    Morales had the advantage because of all the headshots he gave Artem and one more concussive blow would¡¯ve ended it. However, as soon as another one of his right hooks came flying in, Artem swung with a left hook, changing the trajectory of Morales¡¯ punch a few centimeters away as their arms tangled at each other.


    A deafening thud echoed in the ring and Morales¡¯ jaw tilted sideways with his head before falling down.

 Chapter 515

    Chapter 515: 515


    The moment Morales dropped on the ground unconscious, there was a momentary silence before cheers erupted from all around us. <center></center><hr>


    The final hook went straight for Morales¡¯ jaw, shaking his brain in the process, making him lose control and consciousness. Everyone thought Artem made a perfect counter by changing the trajectory of Morales punch but that right hook headed for him brushed a part of his head. No one could notice it right now but his body was leaning on the ropes.


    I immediately called for medical assistance to check Morales first and I took the time to approach them and raise Artem¡¯s arm.


    ¡°Ah- do you have to?¡± Artem grimaced as he leaned on me.


    ¡°It¡¯s mandatory, just doing my job. Wanna fight now? I¡¯ll give you the first hit.¡± I chuckled.


    ¡°F.u.c.k me, can I have a drink first? Not one of those your old man gave me.¡±


    ¡°The hidden rule of thispound, never ept any drinks from that old dude. I¡¯ve been burned so many times that- here theye.¡±


    ¡°Ah, my head is spinning.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that happens if you took shots to the head willingly.¡±


    I felt his whole body leaning even more on me but his team soon came up to the ring to support him. Mikhail was carrying Artem effortlessly but he threw him over to Katya feigning he had to do something quickly.


    ¡°MIKHAIL!!!¡± Katya eximed, fuming yet embarrassed.


    ¡°Ah, I forgot some blinker fluid and I need to feed my pet cactus¡­¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    I let them have their own moment first as I approached the rest of Morales¡¯ team wearing different expressions. Some of them were unwilling, pissed, excited, somber, but a few were sport about it.


    This kind of thing would be unavoidable but I got just the solution. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°If you want to have revenge or another go, we could do this sort of thing every week or two. Of course, the wagers are still on from my side as long as you bring something to increase the pool. However, a few rules will be changed and we would be doing it with more regtions with the moves used. We¡¯re here to kill those f.u.c.kers outside, not beat each other to death. I just let the two have a go at it to bury the hatchet, hopefully.¡±


    They gave looks of excitement and understanding though there were still some of them who were sour. It was understandable because they would being back with several losses on their belt and several items lost on the wager. The way I would go about this was the next time we do this, they would be betting against the person they would be fighting against though I would be taking a small percentage to increase the prize pool.


    ¡®I¡¯m gonna slowly have these events like what Mr. Cuervo is doing¡­ Less deadly though¡­ I¡¯m gonna find a way to have the people from the Intercity involved too¡­¡¯


    It took some time before everything settled down and I let Morales and his team stay in this ce to spend the night. The bulk of his team would be giving proper amodation in the DDR Camp or even Woonds but I gave Morales the option of checking out mypound the moment he was brought back to consciousness.


    ¡°What would be the difference?¡± Morales replied, slightly pissed while looking at me.


    ¡°None actually, I¡¯m just extending an offer because I¡¯m a great host. You could do whatever you want, I¡¯m not forcing you to do anything.¡± I replied, raising my hands up.


    ¡°You¡¯re really one uptight motherf.u.c.ker, aren¡¯t you? You¡¯re gonnae with me to drink because I lost a really important bet with this kid. I¡¯m not the only one receiving Oscar¡¯s gloating. Iskoh, you¡¯reing as well! Let your wife spend some time with her brother more!¡± Rod came up from behind us.


    ¡°But sir-¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an order.¡±


    ¡°¡­understood.¡±


    ¡°Why am I included?!¡± Iskoh was losing his mind.


    ¡°You lost a ship, that¡¯s why! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    We eventually drove back with everyone and I didn¡¯t forget about Kaley. The rest went on their own ways but the two of us were alone in the gym. Our guns were ced by the side of the wall but our des were right in front of us. She was nervously waiting for me to start but I just smiled and calmed her down.


    ¡°Why are you so tense? Breathe.¡± I said as I chuckled.


    ¡°Then stop looking at me like that!¡±


    ¡°Like what?¡± <hr>


    ¡°I dunno how to exin it! It¡¯s like I¡¯m walking n.a.k.e.d while everyone¡¯s looking at me!¡±


    ¡°What~? You just exined it.¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ Not like- fine! Fwoo~¡± Kaley closed her eyes to breathe deeply then she turned her eyes towards me once more.


    ¡°Okay, do the basic movements first.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    Kaley started with the first thing I taught her and it was movements for guiding your de into the form of an asterisk. It represented the basic ways a weapon could travel in close quarters and she did it with just a slight bit of nervousness.


    ¡°Okay, good. Do it with your other left hand.¡±


    ¡°Huh? I- Okay¡­ it¡¯s not as good but here it goes.¡±


    As soon as Kaley performed the movements from her left hand, the form immediately suffered and she looked at me embarrassedly. However, I just chuckled and waved her off, telling her the progress she already made these few couple months was already monstrous. To move forward, I made her do the flower pattern I showed her before.


    It was performed by moving your de in one swift motion, following the path of the asterisk but without any abrupt turns. The gentle curves would appear by the end of each path, looping around to get back to the first path. The challenge here was to keep the image of the flower perfect on all eight sides without any ovep or extension.


    Kaley did it perfectly then she looked at me.


    ¡°How about the one I showed you?¡± Kaley asked, correcting her breathing.


    ¡°Do this one first 10 more times.¡±


    ¡°Ten? O-Okay¡­¡±


    ¡°Now do the other one.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Just once or-¡±


    ¡°Ten times as well.¡±


    ¡°O-Okay¡­¡±


    As I carefully looked at her movements, the pattern started to lose symmetry from each abrupt turn the more she did it. The abrupt turns were represented by a point right before the gentle curve, adding more details to the flower petals. Despite that, she kept on it, continuing on until I asked her to do more repetitions over and over.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Kaley eximed after the 23rd cycle, clutching her hand.


    ¡°Okay, stop for a moment. Good work, wait for the sting to pass. It would hurt more if you try to force it.¡± I said as I took my wakizashi away from her hands.


    ¡°Wait, what¡¯s the purpose of that?¡±


    ¡°Flowers in Full Bloom.¡± I replied, smiling.


    ¡°Full Bloom?¡±


    ¡°Yep, Full Bloom.¡±


    ¡°Is that what you call the technique?¡±


    ¡°One of them, yes¡­ why?¡±


    ¡°Sounds kinda cheesy¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± my heart dropped.


    ¡°I¡¯m joking! I¡¯m joking! Sky! I¡¯m joking!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, okay? I thought it would sound different¡­¡±


    ¡°You watched anime, right?! RIGHT?!¡±


    ¡°Wh-Wha- I watched some with you, why?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s subbed, right?! RIGHT?!¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah, what¡¯s your point? Why are your eyes so wide?!¡±


    ¡°When does a f.u.c.k.i.n.g direct trantion sound cool?! Just- wait here, okay?! I¡¯m gonna grab a camera!!!¡± I eximed as I rushed outside.


    ¡°A c-camera?! What?¡±


    The moment I opened the door, Tatiana, Rin, Cynthia, Micah, Vera, Daisy, and Natasha were actually spying on us with a camera I was looking for. I snatched it in front of their eyes as I nted it in the middle of the gym, directly pointing at me. As soon as I changed it to the proper settings, I breathed deeply then I moved.


    ¡®Mankai no Hana¡­¡¯


    I moved much faster than Kaley did but I performed the proper movements. The petals were perfect the first time but they slowly morphed into something different after eachplete cycle. I did three repetitions before I paused and did three more in front of the camera. As soon as I was done, I ced the camera in front of Kaley with a pout.


    ¡°y it.¡±


    ¡°Umm- O-Okay¡­¡±


    ¡°y everything first then watch it frame by frame, check each one.¡±


    ¡°O-Okay¡­¡±


    Kaley picked up the camera and she looked at the first one. It would be hard to notice it the first time but I saw a twitch in her eyebrow. Her eyes changed the moment she noticed the differences from each one and I was just staring at her face that was glued to the screen of the camera for several minutes. She kept on switching back and forth with two frames and then doing the same thing with a different set of frames once more.


    Kaley¡¯s eyebrows were still scrunched as I kept ring at the others outside trying toe in but she finally put the camera down and looked at me with a glint in her eye, ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Want to see a clearer view?¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/private-lessons_51652136869617140 for visiting.

 Chapter 516

    Chapter 516: 516


    Kaley didn¡¯t answer my question verbally but the look she was giving me was more than enough of an answer. I handed my wakizashi back to her and I guided her back to our room. Tatiana and the rest tried to follow us but Kaley herself waved them down. I was booting up myptop when I was hearing their conversations. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sorry guys, maybe tomorrow? We¡¯re really kinda busy¡­ we¡¯re still not done yet¡­¡± Kaley apologetically said, barring the others toe inside.


    ¡®She¡¯s really taking this seriously¡­¡¯


    ¡°C¡¯mon~ could we at least watch what the two of you are doing? It looks really fun¡­¡± Micah suggested, trying to convince Kaley.


    ¡°My camera¡­¡± Rinmented, stopping halfway.


    It only took Kaley a few moments of convincing them to give us the night but I heard a surprising kind of news from Tatiana. The rest were about to head to the next room but they stopped in their tracks.


    ¡°This is about that form, correct? I think I could do it? Can wee in if I could do it in front of you? I promise we¡¯re just gonna watch.¡± Tatiana said, directing her words to me.


    I just finished transferring the files to myptop but my curiosity was piqued, ¡°Hmm, let¡¯s see it then. Record yourself with this camera so I could exinter whether you could really do it or not. If you could do it, even partially, I¡¯ll make an exception to let you guys watch what we¡¯re doing. Just use the settings I¡¯ve used and capture yourself in the gym, I already deleted it from that camera by the way.¡±


    ¡°No worries, I got a good look.¡± Tatiana smirked as she took the camera from me.


    Tatiana went inside their room to fetch her bastard sword then they all disappeared to the gym. Kaley and I were left alone once more but I started processing the images I¡¯ve captured of myself.


    I did a little bit of post-processing, making each frame look like they were alongside each other, making it look like that I¡¯ve left afterimages as I moved. It could be a great profile picture to post on social media but I¡¯ve made use of chronophotography to better show the movements I did to teach Kaley much better.


    As I put it together piece by piece, Kaley was right beside me watching the whole process. <center></center><hr>


    It was fun to look at Kaley¡¯s reactions as it all came together and when I was finally done, she was covering her mouth and a look of shock and awe was stered on her face.


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ a-amazing¡­ it¡¯s like what I¡¯ve been trying to piece together e-earlier¡­¡±


    The three images were pictures of me leaving a trace of a flower formed perfectly with the afterimages of my wakizashi. However, the flower had threeyers, growing smaller and taking on different angles from the basic forms. The other pictures almost had the same features but the second one copied what she aplished before while thest one was more prominent and condensed, making her look at it even longer.


    It was like a blooming flower formed by several pieces of my de and it could only be seen perfectly after using technology, or by some people with a really good eye, which I attributed Kaley to have the same as me.


    The way she could learn new stuff easily and how she could tell whether someone was being untruthful could maybe be attributed to how insightful she was about a lot of things. I wouldn¡¯t dismiss it as just being her ¡®power¡¯, as I always joked, so I tried to form different ways to exin how such a feat was possible. It could be that plus talent but unless an attribute panel suddenly appeared to reveal everything, I could only do guess-work.


    ¡®I¡¯m 80% sure though¡­¡¯


    ¡°Hey¡­ is thisst picture my goal?¡± Kaley turned to me with excitement.


    ¡°Yup, one of three hundred and sixty variations.¡± I immediately replied.


    ¡°What?! Three hundred and sixty?!¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡±


    ¡°Wai- three hundred and sixty¡­ it¡¯s by degrees?!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yup.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°What? You just only need to do the first one, the rest woulde naturally.¡±


    ¡°But¡­¡±


    ¡°Remember the first lesson? How the strikes only came from those angles? This is the advanced version of it. Besides the thrust, the eight directional paths don¡¯t alwayse from a sh that uses a 45-degree angle, 90-degree angle, and so on and so forth. There would always be variations depending on the situation and to take ount into everything, the Flowers in Full Bloom had 360 variations.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just a way to emte each strike¡¯s path and it sounds like a lot of work but as I said, you only need to do it once. The rest woulde naturally and most of the time, we would always move on instinct. I should¡¯ve told you that partter, but I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll aplish it given time.¡±


    ¡°R-Really? How about the other twoyers then? I thought it was only a singleyer?¡±


    ¡°It is.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°I just added theyers to make it look cool.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Show off¡­¡±


    ¡°Heh, what? Who does the whole thing in a fight? In the end, you only need one strike to end someone as long as you do it right. Anyway,pletely forming the three hundred and sixty variations in one try means you¡¯ve mastered it. That means you need to do the whole thing without pause and it f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurts if you attempt it while it¡¯s way~ above your limit. Remember, your limit, for now, is twenty-three and you¡¯ll go from then on. Practice in your free time but I¡¯ll start to teach you more things along the way.¡±


    ¡®Don¡¯t get me started when we start doing it while moving¡­¡¯


    Kaley was just alternating between looking at the pictures and me the whole time. After my exnation, she looked like a new world had just opened in front of her and she wanted to use every means to explore it and make it her own. She looked like me the first time I was officially taught swordsmanship and I couldn¡¯t forget that day even if I wanted to.


    ¡®Well, we were in front of a mirror that time but that¡¯s beside the point¡­¡¯


    It was already less than a couple of hours before midnight and we just talked while I kept answering her questions. Tatiana and the rest still weren¡¯t back yet but it was only a matter of time before theye barging in. However, they have missed the lesson entirely, and the only way for me to teach the same stuff I¡¯m teaching Kaley was if they could perfect the basic movements first and if they showed me that they really wanted to learn.


    It really had been a while and there was nary a knock on the door.


    ¡°You know¡­¡± Kaley was just staring at me the whole time and I was just staring back at her.


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Maybe they aren¡¯ting? It¡¯s been a while¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Want to prepare for bed?¡±


    ¡°By that, you mean¡­?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about¡­ I¡¯ll justy on my back and see what happens¡­¡±


    ¡°Want me to do all the work then? I¡¯m notining, just saying¡­¡±


    ¡°I dunno¡­ we¡¯ll see¡­¡±


    Kaley was just giving me thise-hither look the whole time then I undressed in front of her. Her eyes were wandering at my whole body and she couldn¡¯t help but bite her lip and remove part of her clothing as well. She was only wearing a loose shirt and skimpy booty shorts earlier but now she was just in her pink underwear, telling me to remove the rest by myself as we continue on.


    I then leaned over as I went on top of her we were just facing each other.


    I started kissing Kaley¡¯s sweet lips as she wrapped her arms around me. She began to push me closer to her body as my tongue invaded her mouth but I stopped for a moment to snap off the strap in front of her bra to release her huge tits trapped inside. I couldn¡¯t help but be stunned for a moment seeing them jiggle but Kaley pushed my head between them. I was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard the moment she squeezed them against my face, trapping me and making me lose air.


    Despite that, I started kissing her chest and the side of her b.r.e.a.s.ts until she let me have my way with them.


    Kaley raised both of her arms so I couldpletely remove her bra while exposing her smooth pits. However, I started mushing and groping her left one while I started sucking and licking the other. Her pink n.i.p.p.l.es got really hard and I started pinching them while I licked her underboob, going through each surface area until I was back to the same ce.


    Kaley was starting to m.o.a.n and call my name but our door suddenly bust open. They all saw Kaley and me in the process of doing it but I never stopped.


    ¡®She said they¡¯ll just watch, let¡¯s see¡­¡¯ Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/not-so-private-lesson_51678535332451115 for visiting.

 Chapter 517

    Chapter 517: 517


    Kaley was so fl.u.s.tered about everyone seeing us, she tried to cover our bodies with her hands. However, all it did was push me closer to her body. Tatiana and the rest were surprised as well and there was a moment when they were just staring at us doing nothing. That whole time, I never stopped having my way with Kaley while she didn¡¯t know what to do. <center></center><hr>


    I started kissing her lower and lower from her abdomen which was starting to form more prominent abs then much lower, straight for her pink panties that had a wet spot right in the middle of it. I found the few seconds of pulling her panties off tedious so I just pushed it aside before digging in her puffy mound.


    ¡°W-Wai- Hngh~ Ah¡­ Ahn~¡±


    Kaley¡¯s sweet juices were running through her legs even before I started parting her insides with my tongue. Her womanly scent assaulted my senses I almost nked out. I began sucking and licking her clit with my tongue while my fingers started exploring her moist insides. It was so glossy and warm to the touch yet she was tightening so much, I had to push in with more force.


    We kept going at it in front of Tatiana and the rest and we lost track of what they were doing currently. We were just so focused on each other that Kaley wasn¡¯t as fl.u.s.tered for the same reason earlier.


    Kaley started to hold the piece of her panties I pushed aside so that I could focus on engorging with what was in front of me. Even so, she made it hard by mping her juicy thighs in my head as her h.i.p.s moved around and her back arched up and down because of what she was feeling. She started losing it when she grabbed my hands and ced them over her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts while my head was still between her legs.


    ¡°DON¡¯T STOP! DON¡¯T STOP! DON¡¯T STOP! i¡¯M- AH! AH! I¡¯M HNGH! AH! AH! AH! AHN~!¡±


    I felt how soft her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts were while I kept pushing my tongue deeper and deeper inside her p.u.s.s.y but as soon as she started shaking and twitching, I broke free from her grasp as I shoved my huge d.i.c.k inside of her. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°WAIT- I JUST CA- AH! AHN! HNGH~ THERE! PLEASE! AH!¡±


    Kaley¡¯s nails dug into my back as I shoved it over and over her tight hole and her eyes started to roll over as she started c.u.m.m.i.n.g hard. Her grip loosened considerably but her legs were still wrapped around my back. I was kissing her neck while I was groping her huge tits but I started to c.u.m inside of her. I started releasing a huge load inside and then she hugged me tight, pulling my head in for another deep kiss.


    The moment I pulled out my d.i.c.k and as my c.u.m oozed out of Kaley¡¯s p.u.s.s.y, that was when I stood up and looked behind me. The rest of them were still watching us but their faces were red and they looked like they were out of breath. At the same time, Cynthia was already fondling her b.r.e.a.s.ts while Natasha was shyly looking at me.


    Tatiana on the other hand was smiling as she was biting her lower lip while the rest just looked like they couldn¡¯t wait for a second more to join us. Micah¡¯s n.i.p.p.l.es were already showing through her blouse while staring at me and the same could be said with Daisy and Rin. Only Vera seemed to have her emotions in check but her eyes were just looking at my member still pointing up in the sky.


    ¡°You two just had to start without us, hmm?¡± Tatiana said as she approached me.


    Tatiana grabbed my c.o.c.k and her hands were already jerking me off, using my c.u.m and Kaley¡¯s fluids to smoothly slide her hands up and down.


    ¡°Hmm, we thought you guys weren¡¯ting.¡±


    ¡°Oh, we¡¯re definitely¡­ing¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°I thought you¡¯re just here to watch?¡±


    ¡°After that? No way, I brought a guest too. She wanted to return a favor but she might just owe you even more, don¡¯t you think?¡± Tatiana giggled, pulling Natasha closer.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget about me, I missed outst time.¡± Vera also stepped forward to join us.


    ¡°I see, shall we?¡±


    After a while, I was with Tatiana, Vera, and Natasha while Kaley got tangled up with Rin, Daisy, Cynthia, and Micah. The bed was shared between all of us and Tatiana made me sit by the edge of the bed.


    That was when Natasha knelt down in front of me and started giving me a blowjob. Her mouth was so small and warm and the way her tonguethered me up even more almost made me lose my mind. Tatiana and Vera were right beside her but Tatiana¡¯s fingers were already going in and out of Natasha¡¯s p.u.s.s.y while Vera was fondling Natasha¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    Natasha was having a hard time doing her job and even her tie fell off, covering her face. I started to glide my fingers on her silky hair and she got fl.u.s.tered when our eyes met. She immediately looked down as she kept sucking the tip of my d.i.c.k but after a few moments, I started hitting the back of her throat as she started going lower. <hr>


    ¡°D-Do you like i-it?¡± Natasha asked as she looked up, waiting for me to answer while she kept stroking my d.i.c.k.


    ¡®She¡¯s like that, huh?¡¯


    ¡°Yeah, now go on all fours and eat Tatiana¡¯s p.u.s.s.y.¡± I said with amanding tone. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/hold-up-is-that-f.u.c.k.i.n.g-thing-on-!_51697747794917054 for visiting.


    ¡°Y-Yes, s-sir¡­¡±


    Tatiana couldn¡¯t help but smile at what I did but sheid on her back and shoved Natasha¡¯s face into her cunt. Her p.u.s.s.y was already wet from Tatiana fingering her but she even started to do it to herself. Vera on the other hand spread Natasha¡¯s cheeks apart before I shoved my d.i.c.k inside her. Her lower lips were gripping me so hard because each time I pull back, there was a lot of resistance even if she was already soaking wet.


    I kept ramming it inside with force while Vera started fingering Natasha¡¯s asshole.


    I could see Natasha¡¯s asshole giving way to Vera¡¯s finger but it didn¡¯t take long before Vera started adding another finger in. Tatiana was having the time of her life but Vera looked like she wanted a little bit of action. While she was shoving her fingers inside Natasha¡¯s ass, I pulled my d.i.c.k out of Natasha¡¯s p.u.s.s.y, and then I made her taste my c.o.c.k that wasthered with her colleague¡¯s juices.


    ¡°Please¡­ p-put it back in¡­ I¡¯m r-really¡­ I¡¯m- please¡­¡± Natasha cried out, reaching down to y with her clit. <hr>


    Vera looked like she wanted to keep sucking my d.i.c.k but I removed her fingers that were inside Natasha¡¯s ass and ced it there instead. Natasha let out a gasp as she momentarily stopped eating Tatiana¡¯s p.u.s.s.y but Tatiana pulled Natasha¡¯s head back, making her let out muffled noises. At the same time, Tatiana moved her h.i.p.s up and down, grinding her meaty cunt against Natasha¡¯s face.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Natasha started shaking as warm liquid started flowing down her legs. Despite that, I kept ramming my fat c.o.c.k inside of her over and over until I came inside her tight ass. The moment I pulled it out, arge gaping hole was left as my c.u.m started oozing out of her asshole. Tatiana soon came as well and Natasha¡¯s face and hair were a mess after Tatiana was done using her.


    As the two were catching their breath, that was when Vera pushed me down.


    I could hear the others m.o.a.ning and letting out squelching noises but Vera turned my head to face her. She was looking at me intensely before her h.i.p.s went lower and lower. She reached the base of my c.o.c.k before she gave me a kiss and her h.i.p.s started moving. Her perky tits were pressing against me as she continued to do all the work but she grabbed my arms so I could wrap them around her.


    I gave her a tight embrace and I even started thrusting from below.


    Our skin was pping against each other as we moved faster and faster but I was soon the only one left moving between the two of us. Vera¡¯s whole body was shaking nonstop but she never let go of me. However, I just rolled her over and started pounding her from the top as she tried her best to spread her legs wide open. It made it easier for me to ram it over and over and it was something else seeing someone melt from pleasure.


    I came for the third time and Tatiana was already raring to go. However, before I even began to slide it in her ass, I noticed something from the corner of my eye.


    ¡®Hold up, is that f.u.c.k.i.n.g thing on?!¡¯

 Chapter 518

    Chapter 518: 518


    The camera I handed Tatiana earlier was pointing right in front of us! <center></center><hr>


    The room was still well-lit and it was one thing for this ¡®group¡¯ to see Kaley and me going at it, but it would be on a whole other level if what was currently happening managed to get recorded. Not only that but the notion of said footage be misced and seen by people other than us made me panic.


    I immediately escaped Tatiana¡¯s grasp as I grabbed the camera.


    ¡®It IS recording¡­¡¯


    As I turned around to look for the culprit, it couldn¡¯t be more obvious. Tatiana was slightly pouting because I discovered her little y and I put a stop to it.


    ¡°It¡¯s just something for remembrance¡¯s sake! Something to watch when we¡¯re denied entry¡­¡± Tatiana exined, lying prone and just staring at me.


    The rest were listening in to our conversation but it seems that they were in on it as well. I wasn¡¯t sure if Kaley was involved but I wouldn¡¯t let this kind of thing be forgiven easily.


    ¡°Just thinking of it and other stuff to watch isn¡¯t enough?¡± I feigned with a different tone.


    ¡°It¡¯s entirely different from the real thing, correct?¡± Tatiana raised her eyebrow, ncing at my d.i.c.k before looking at me once more. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Then let¡¯s see if I could do better¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Tatiana tilted her head, expecting a surprise.


    Tatiana was still facing me while lying prone but I made her roll over before I started f.u.c.k.i.n.g her throat. Her perky tits were facing up but they would jiggle once I slid it all the way inside. I went sideways once, and it stretched her cheek, but I could see from the outside how her neck and her throat was making way for my huge piece of meat going in and out violently. A few caught wind of what we were doing and they seemed to like me being rough from time to time.


    I rarely go rough with them but this time, it seems like I needed to make asting impression.


    Tatiana was gagging a few times as my d.i.c.k slid in and out of her throat but I could feel her tongue still wrapping around me while her hands were on my thighs, making me push even harder. She barely had any time to breathe because her airways were blocked and even if I pull out after several thrusts, I would only make her gasp for air for a brief moment. Despite that, there was never a signal or a pinch to make me stop as she took it all in. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/wild¡ªwhat''s-it-about_51723602172629697 for visiting.


    It didn¡¯t take long for me to blow everything inside but Tatiana managed to swallow most of it. She was out of breath and her eyes were a bit watery but she was looking at me, wanting for more. I just went on top of her as she spread her legs wide but my left hand was grabbing her neck and was starting to apply pressure.


    ¡°Where?¡±


    ¡°H-Here¡­ i-in my pus-¡±


    ¡°No.¡± <hr>


    Tatiana¡¯s p.u.s.s.y was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g wet and it was overflowing with her juices but I went for the one much, much lower. She immediately gasped as I rammed it with force but a smile was stered on her face as she was biting her lower lip. I was pounding her so hard, her body was just moving the same way I was and the bed was shaking forcefully.


    At the same time, I caught a nce of Rin on top of Cynthia, humping each other while Kaley¡¯s ass was getting fingered by Daisy as they were on all fours. Micah joined Natasha and Vera, actually dominating the two as she sat on Natasha¡¯s face while finger-f.u.c.k.i.n.g Vera who was now against a wall, submissively pointing her peachy ass towards Micah¡¯s direction.


    Micah nced at me momentarily and it seemed like she wanted me next.


    I nced back at Tatiana but her eyes had rolled over.


    Tatiana¡¯s face was already a mess as she came multiple times but I didn¡¯t stop f.u.c.k.i.n.g her even if she started squirting nonstop. I already came once inside her ass but I continued to rummage her insides until she lost strength and fell unconscious. Her gaping hole was just oozing c.u.m after I was done and she was in a state much worse than what happened to the ones before her.


    ¡°Are you free now?¡± Micah grabbed my d.i.c.k from behind, pressing her tits against my back.


    Micah started to stroke my c.o.c.k but she ced her fingers from her other hand straight into my mouth.


    ¡°That¡¯s Vera. Tastes good, right?¡± <hr>


    ¡°I wanted to taste you though¡­¡±


    ¡°Is that so? But¡­ I wanted to taste this too¡­¡± Micah tightened her grip on my c.o.c.k.


    ¡°Well¡­ you know¡­¡±


    Iid on my back before Micah went on top of me in the opposite direction. Her pink slit was right in front of my face while I could feel her heavy breathing right before my c.o.c.k. It didn¡¯t take long before she grabbed it by the base and by my balls as her warm mouth slowly enveloped me. Her tongue was just trying to prod the opening of my meatus while gliding all around my ns. At the same time, her hands grabbing my c.o.c.k by the base was slowly jerking me off as the other was ying with my balls.


    I had to return the favor by pushing her juicy ass against my face as I sucked on her clit while I yed with her asshole. My tongue was gliding on her little sensitive nub while my finger was prodding around the surface of her asshole. It didn¡¯t take long before I inserted my finger inside her ass but I soon spread her meaty lips apart so I could poke my tongue inside her grooling p.u.s.s.y.


    ¡°OH MY GO- JUST LIKE THAT!!! AHN~! STICK IT IN~!!! HNGH~!!! I¡¯M C.U.M.M.I.N.G AGAIN~!!!¡±


    I squeezed and groped Micah¡¯s juicy ass as long as I could while she sucked me dry. However, I was soon at a disadvantage when I felt another tongue joining the fray.


    It was actually Kaley.


    The moment I heard a short whisper and Micah went to my side, opposite of Kaley, I was sure I was about to lose my mind. <hr>


    Kaley and Micah trapped my d.i.c.k between their huge tits as they were licking the tip while kissing each other from time to time. The feeling of it was enough to blow my load but even the visual aspect was too much for me to handle. I wanted the two to do it for as long as I could hold out but the moment the two looked at me at the same moment they were doing it, I lost control.


    I exploded right in their faces but the two never f.u.c.k.i.n.g stopped.


    My d.i.c.k was twitching nonstop as they kept going at it but when I managed to get my grips on the situation, I nned to take my revenge. However, Kaley was now standing atop my head, and then she squatted down, rubbing her meaty lips right in front of my face. I started losing air but I couldn¡¯t move because Micah had already gone on top of me. She was already jumping up and down while Kaley was moving her h.i.p.s nonstop.


    The night continued on for a while but I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g spent when it was over. No one brought their toys out and I had to f.u.c.k the living shit out of each of them after the thing I did with Tatiana. However, my mind was clear as ever and I got a good night¡¯s sleep even if everyone decided to sleep in the same bed with us.


    The same thing happened when the early morning arrived as I woke up Tatiana sucking my d.i.c.k while Kaley was just watching us while she was shoving her fingers inside herself. In the end, everyone just did a quickie or two before showering and heading down at different times.


    ¡°Kid,e here for a sec. We¡¯re discussing something that came up yesterday night.¡± Oscar waved me over as he saw Kaley and me walking down at the same time.


    The food was still being prepared and Oscar was by arge table, sitting alongside Rod, Matthew, Johnny, and Iskoh. Surprisingly enough, Artem and Morales were present as well and the two seemed to be talking to each other, discussing a few ns with regards to the harbor.


    ¡°What¡¯s it about?¡± I replied, looking at the table with a few items on it.


    The table had a few maps and lists for different things scattered about and a couple bottles of whiskey and an M1911 were being used as a paperweight. Besides those, a radio was by Morales¡¯ side of the table, a cap of a marker was slowly rolling to the side, and cups of coffee were right in front of each person sitting in front of me.


    ¡°They surrendered, the people at the other side of the city.¡±

 Chapter 519

    Chapter 519: 519


    ¡°What?¡± Kaley muttered, turning to me. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What happened? Did they finally lose their minds? I highly doubt it though.¡± I nced at Kaley before looking at the rest of them.


    ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re discussing currently. Take a seat, both of you.¡± Rod took a sip of coffee before waving us over.


    After we pulled up a chair and sat down, we were told what Morales¡¯ men from the harbor reported to them the moment they got in contact a few hours after midnight.


    ¡°When everyone¡¯s mostly asleep, the guy running their ce drove out with everything they had left with his men. That guy took all of their food, water, medicine, guns, fuel, ammo, their women, and all the best luxury items you could think of. Basically, they escaped while leaving the others for dead. They even rammed through the gates keeping the biters outside, leaving the ones that they left to have a nasty bit of surprise waking up¡­¡± Morales narrated what he was told.


    ¡°And they got this info from?¡±


    ¡°The ones that survived. My men received a call for help, telling them toe to the other side of the city but they obviously didn¡¯t know the full situation back then. Even so, only an idiot would believe such a thing ande to the rescue, risking everyone¡¯s lives from a mere phone call.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±


    ¡°Well, hold your horses, kid. There¡¯s more to it.¡± Matthew interjected.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°A group was seen hurriedly gunning for the harbor, d with their handheld weapons. My men thought it was ast-ditch effort for an attack or one of them is carrying another explosive device but they called for help. Well, one of them had a bite to her neck so she was immediately¡­ helped. The rest were disarmed, checked for bites, given a wash, held for questioning, and that was when every piece came together.¡± Morales continued.


    ¡°They¡¯re telling the truth then? We still need to be wary though. What else did they tell you?¡±


    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re a group of seve- six now but they said that there are still a few dozen left in their base, or what¡¯s left of it. Those people¡¯s situation is unknown right now but we¡¯re just getting started when you got here.¡± Morales concluded.


    ¡°I see, any idea where their ¡®leader¡¯ has run off to? Probably the Bcan area, right?¡±


    ¡°I thought we blocked the bridge that could lead to Bcan? It¡¯s the bridge by Tawiran, right?¡± Kaley chimed in.


    ¡°Well, there¡¯s still the narrow roads formed from the fish ponds that could be used north of their ce. It¡¯s not as paved but it¡¯s still traversable¡­ if I remember correctly, that leads to Taliptip, and depending on the route they took¡­ the Intercity or one of Mauricio¡¯s business partners. Have you asked them yet?¡± I turned to Oscar.


    ¡°Yeah, Mauricio has never seen them but he¡¯s trying to contact the others and give what little description he could. If found, I told them to hold them for as long as possible before we nip their asses down.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, better be wary of his other business partners. Unless they have another ce of their own, they could already be housing them in and not telling us. It¡¯s only logical to think of the worst.¡± Johnny added, pointing doubt.


    ¡°Hmm, they better think about who they¡¯re crossing then. That f.u.c.ker took several of my soldiers¡¯ lives. If the soldiers that are keeping them safe caught wind of that, it¡¯s over. They¡¯ll finish it without us having to do the dirty work.¡± Rod said, sipping his cup of coffee once more.


    ¡°That¡¯ll work too, I guess.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Anyway, what¡¯s the n now? Kid?¡± Oscar turned to me once more.


    ¡°Before that, what¡¯s do you n to do with the people already detained and the ones we would or would not be saving? It¡¯s your call.¡± I turned to Morales.


    ¡°We need to gather more information. We got a shallow description from the ones that came to the harbor but at least we got their names. We need more identifying traits and I need more people confirming that so we need to rescue those people and go from there.¡± Morales replied.


    ¡°Yeah, I know that. However, what I¡¯m talking about is whether you¡¯ll stab them in the head after you¡¯re done with them or not. If it¡¯s up to me, I¡¯ll see who I could use first because their loyalty to their old boss definitely plummeted after that. Make them earn their keep but keep a close eye on them while slowly reiming areas. I have a program I¡¯m running here and I¡¯m even keeping people with past records do odd jobs here and there.¡±


    ¡°My wife¡¯s been talking to them and it¡¯s been going well so far. She could pick out nuances and shit from people and we¡¯ll just ¡®send out¡¯ the people not fitting the criteria. It¡¯s just an option but it¡¯s up to you. I¡¯ll be present as well because that¡¯s my wife we¡¯re talking about.¡± Matthew added.


    ¡°Hmm, I talked with them yesterday. They seem reformed but they¡¯re still closely monitored. I also talked to this¡­ Gemma, was it? Heard the story but she likes it here. She¡¯s been going on a few runs outside too and even trusted with a weapon.¡± Iskoh added some more.


    ¡°I¡¯m-¡±


    I cut Morales off, ¡°You know what? You bring your people to the other side of the city to get them while I bring my own towards that ce¡¯s City Hall. I¡¯ll get all of their records, even the records of those f.u.c.kers that escaped so we¡¯ll learn more about them. After that, we¡¯ll follow you back to the harbor and do another round likest time. I just hope a different oue would happen.¡±


    ¡°How about us?¡± Oscar chimed. <hr>


    ¡°Mauricio still hasn¡¯t met Rod face-to-face and since there¡¯s a lot of soldiers in the Intercity not knowing the president¡¯s here. It would be a morale boost of some sort seeing you two there and we¡¯ll get to ces all around to sniff out the ones we¡¯re looking for. It would be bad if they hunkered down somewhere and started another base of operations so it¡¯s best to locate them and pursue them as fast as possible. They could only go so far so we¡¯d be able to locate them in a span of a few hours.¡±


    ¡°That ce, eh? Guess we¡¯ll have a little drive. I might see a few familiar faces in the rabble.¡± Rod chuckled, finishing his cup of coffee.


    ¡°You know some people over there?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°There¡¯s this fixer there who used to sell my son car parts-¡±


    ¡°WHAT?! I KNOW THAT GUY!!!¡±


    ¡°EH?!¡±


    ¡°He sold me that Camaro over there!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K.I.N.G KNEW IT!!!¡±


    ¡®It¡¯s a small world¡­¡¯


    The two got overly excited but the rest of us continued to talk about a few more things but Aunt Sharon interrupted us by asking everyone to bring the food outside. Our early morning meeting was immediately halted by our grumbling stomachs so we obliged by taking the food out then cing them neatly on the tables provided. <hr>


    We had a simple meal of scrambled eggs, tuyo, and a vegetable medley as a side dish. As always, we ate it over piping hot rice paired with a cup of chocte or coffee. The kids were trying to avoid eating the vegetables but Aunt Sharon would pour even more servings on their tes.


    ¡°Finish that or I¡¯ll add more, clear?¡± Aunt Sharon said with an angelic face but with a devilish aura.


    ¡°Y-Yes!¡± the kids eximed, scared to death.


    It didn¡¯t take us long to finish eating so we geared up, checked our vehicles, then drove out with everybody.


    Oscar and Rod drove to the other entrance to head to the Intercity and Morales send most of his soldiers to apany them. Aside from more soldiers, Oscar brought a few more things for trade with Unc Zardon, driving the eight-wheeler with them. They also took half of Artem¡¯s team that was supposed to stay in thepound because they need more soldiers that could handle themselves and were not too¡­ battered from yesterday. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/escaped¡ªearly-morning-meeting_51747862278620760 for visiting.


    I wanted toe to the Intercity as well but there was always this thought in my head that things might not always seem what they were. It could be me overthinking things but I wanted to get all the information that I could from that ce¡¯s City Hall and I wanted to be the backup just in case things went south. Artem and his team were also with us and he seemed to have recovered pretty quickly.


    Artem¡¯s eyes were fully open todaypared to yesterday and his cuts and bruises only needed a bit of time for healing.


    We drove the same way as yesterday but Morales and his team would head to the harbor first to get more people to form his team while my group would head our predetermined location.


    We split off by the public market fromst time and we drove straight across the bridge.

 Chapter 520

    Chapter 520: 520


    It would be a few meters short of the actual distance from the public market to the city hall to be exactly counted as five kilometers. Aside from that, there was a little difference about this city hallpared to its neighboring cities. <center></center><hr>


    The usual setup would be to have a park, the jail, the police station, a library, and sometimes even a fire station around a city hall. However, the one in this city was actually a couple of blocks away further, surrounded by a fewmercial buildings, a post office, and different delis. At the same time, two schools were also behind it, blocking the view towards the structures that were supposed to be surrounding it.


    We methodically made our way and we would stop if a ce needed some thinning out.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we bring a truck as well, bro? Well, we could just call them but still¡­¡± Jaredmented.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s another city hall, right? It would have some supplies to be taken, right?¡±


    ¡°Maybe, we¡¯ll see. However, chances are that the group that we were supposed to take down beat us to the punch. I just hope they didn¡¯t mess with theputers.¡±


    The drive was going smoothly right until we reached the park housing several hundred of the undead. The ce was teeming more than just walking corpses because several vehicles were upturned and a few stores were burnt to a crisp. All that was left were traces from where it started and a pile of charred bodies that were probably trapped inside.


    Moreso, arge truck carrying a couple of shipping containers also made a mess by turning everything it plowed into unrecognizable chunks. Bits and pieces were present but it would take an artisan to sew everything together.


    ¡°Should we clear this ce first?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°We should, always. The city hall is just a couple of blocks away but we should take care of them before it bes a more growing problem.¡±


    I gave a signal through my radio then we simultaneously pressed on our horns. The loud beeping noises turned several heads in our direction.


    That was when we started to reverse our vehicles, giving us a better view of the amount we had to face. The ones that were fast to react to the noise were quickly shot down while we watched the slow ones gather at the same street where the noise came from. Their limping bodies either took a straight path or had to crash at a few obstacles along the way.


    ¡®3¡­ no, close to 400¡­ easy peasy¡­¡¯


    We then turned to Varadero St. so we could circle around and make a standard loop. The goal was to take down each one of them while making sure that none would drop by the road that would lead to the bridge we came from.


    The street we turned to had several houses made with light materials so it would be easier for us to take care of once we were done.


    I made Ibarra drive the Raptor while I jumped down with Tatiana and Mikhail. Kaley and Jared already took their positions while the rest of my people that were with us followed the same protocol. Artem¡¯s group was taking care of the rear as we started putting down the ones in front of us.


    I immediately shot down five before I pulled my de and held it with both hands. The moment the bodies fell down, the ones following behind them tripped and fell, causing a chain reaction. They were all squeezed tightly and one mishap would ruin their march. <center></center><hr>


    Shots came one after the other from behind us and a group, several bodies behind the ones we were facing were taken care of. It made the process of killing them much easier but the danger was still everpresent. We just needed to find more ways to take care of them much easier.


    We killed a few dozen at a time before we retreat and wait for them to advance. Killing them became a normal thing but the cleanup afterward was more tedious. We couldn¡¯t just burn them all in a huge pile because we wouldn¡¯t be sure if the mes would reach the ones at the bottomyer.


    The key was to micro and count the bodies on the floor. A small gap between each pile should be maintained and doing that required waiting for a bit before we advance.


    We were actually wasting time so we could save time forter.


    The whole process took a bit toplete and the houses made with light materials were disassembled, making use of it to stoke the mes even more. We started driving towards the city hall once more after making sure that everything was taken into ount. However, that was when my head started to itch.


    Like most of the structures in this area, the city hall didn¡¯t fare as well as I hoped it would.


    The city hall had several ces in which a fire had devoured everything inside. The windows were broken, the wooden bits had turned to coal, bodies of the undead were burnt or roaming around, and the majestic paint job it used to show off had ck streaks due to carbon residue and red streaks due to the dead.


    ¡®F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit¡­¡¯


    ¡°What now?¡± Tatiana asked, wiping the blood off her sword.


    I furiously scratched my head with frustration before I said, ¡°It¡¯s fine¡­ we¡¯re just gonna have a few detours.¡±


    ¡°Detours?¡± Natasha chimed in.


    ¡°Yeah, fourteen detours to be exact.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Where?¡±


    ¡°The barangay halls. There are fourteen barangays in this city and they each have their own records about the people living there. Everything is just centralized in the city hall that¡¯s why we always go for it plus the extra bonus if a DDR Camp is established in the same ce¡­¡± I exined.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to all fourteen of them, bro? It¡¯s like clearing the whole city!¡± Jared eximed from my Raptor.


    ¡°What else could we do? I¡¯m thinking of splitting the party but we should only go to the barangays right next to each other. Everyone should be able toe for back up in case anything happens.¡±


    ¡°What if they¡¯re in the same state?¡± <hr>


    ¡°We just take what we could. There¡¯s also the option of checking records from schools, hospitals, libraries, police stations, and etc. A record should exist somewhere and if not, we should immediately check the back of their heads if there¡¯s a barcode or something.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    It took a few moments to exin the reference to the normies but we started to split the team and our resources evenly. Marvin¡¯s team came with Artem while Mark stayed with us. We went for the easiest ones first which were located near the vicinity of the harbor. The barangays near that area had barely a deadhead roaming around but the ces where supplies could be avable were picked clean.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°How are you guys holding up? Katya?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [We found several hard drives but there¡¯s space for everything to be just stored in one. Natasha took care of it but how about the hard copies?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Just leave them there for now. I already made a request for the soldiers here to take back everything once they came across them. When they do another sweep, we¡¯ll get our hands on it so we could double-check if everything checks out.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    [Understood, how about you guys?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say we dropped off several reams of paper in the harbor and that¡¯s why I managed to put down a request face-to-face.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Lemme, you¡¯ve seen the prisoners then?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Natasha? Just nced at them but the soldiers told me that they were from the barangays closer to the other side of the city. Why¡¯d you ask?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Nothing¡­ just talking¡­] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    ¡®Oh, boy¡­¡¯


    ¨C Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/detours_51791225610630986 for visiting.


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay then, we¡¯ll be heading to the next one over the other bridge. It would be fairly clear but watch out for anything.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [O-Okay! See youter, bye!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    ¡®Oh~ boy, Oh, boy¡­¡¯


    Kaley and Tatiana were trying hard to contain their smiles pointed at me but I suddenly stepped on the brakes to make the Raptor jerk a few times. They almost bit their tongues and Kaley immediately pinched my sides, but it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g worth it. Being able to do something well could have its quirks but instances such as this couldn¡¯t be avoided entirely.


    ¡®Suffering from sess¡­ the f.u.c.k did I start thinking of that DJ¡­¡¯


    We would encounter a few soldiers patrolling the area while we went to other ces of interest but most of them were more focused on taking back supplies and killing the dead. A few would greet us in passing but a few butthurt individuals that were on Morales¡¯ side would give Tatiana and Mikhail the stink eye and kept asking me about the next event.


    ¡®Seeds are nted most definitely¡­ it would bring the opposing groups together¡­ I think¡­¡¯

 Chapter 521

    Chapter 521: 521


    On the way to the other barangays, we encountered more of Morales¡¯ soldiers and the ones I fought like Romeo and Jerry were present, giving me a short nod when our eyes met. Their groups were more focused on mapping out the entire area and tagging ces still ripe with resources. They would still clear a small herd or loot for valuable resources but their main focus was gathering more intel. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You guys aren¡¯t here to take more from this city, right? There are not as many ces avable because of the fires.¡± Jerrymented.


    ¡°Did you forget that we¡¯re on the same team? I will always lend a hand but you got to do your part too. I just don¡¯t hand stuff to freeloaders, you got to do proper work first.¡± I replied, tossing to Romeo the pack of smokes I picked up from the store they were parked in.


    ¡°Uh, y-you should keep it.¡± Romeo tried to hand the pack back, nervously looking at me.


    ¡®What¡¯s this guy on about?¡¯


    ¡°Stop being starstruck and start the engine! We still have a lot of ground to cover!¡± another soldier from the back of their truck eximed.


    ¡°Y-Yes, s-sir!¡±


    ¡®Ah, he¡¯s one of ¡®those¡¯ guys I wanted to fightst time. I believe he¡¯s Jose Pangilinan¡­¡¯


    Jose looked like he was in his 40s but he was well-built like Morales was. He was of average height, brown-skinned, and I noticed a faded scar behind his right ear. He was wearing the same look Morales was always wearing but his eyebrows were more rxed, making him look a little more mncholic. <center></center><hr>


    They eventually bid their goodbyes but it suddenly became awkward the moment we discovered we were going the same way. Jerry started losing his shit while Romeo tried a few times to talk with the rest of my team. At the same time, Jose just kept a stoic look after shaking his head the moment he discovered that we would be together for a time.


    ¡°If you head the same way as us, I could point out a few ces where there¡¯s a lot of supplies not apparent to regr people and I could give you guys a copy of the records I¡¯m currently taking back home. Well, I already gave a partial copy when we stopped by at the harbor.¡± I tried talking to Jose.


    ¡°That¡¯s good, we¡¯ll follow closely then. I will let you choose a few items from the ces we¡¯re looting.¡± Jose replied, ncing at me once.


    ¡®Hmm~ At least he¡¯s not unreasonable¡­¡¯


    Jose¡¯s group decided to drive with us as I held my end of the deal. However, our detours got even longer because Jose would double-check the info I gave him and make a few stops of his own. Despite that, the trip became much safer because of the number of soldiers with us, taking down anything that shouldn¡¯t be moving.


    ¡®It seems that the dead here is much lesserpared to my ce but the ones that fell to the bodies of water still hasn¡¯t been ounted for¡­¡¯


    The only time when we encountered a fair bit of the deadheads was right after we passed by the city hall that we tried to loot earlier. It was because after driving a couple of blocks ahead, right behind a huge church was two cemeteries right next to a residential area where most of the people from the lower ss of society used to live in.


    The number of the dead in the area could almost be estimated due to the smell that wafted over the moment we stoppedpletely. It was so foul and rancid because it immediately smelled different even if we were almost smelling the same thing every single day. It was like breathing in everything from a rotting corpse while we were stuck inside its coffin. <hr>


    ¡°That¡¯s the way to Daang Hari?¡± Jose asked, peeking out the window.


    ¡°Yeah, the only way.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t we drive around?¡±


    ¡°We could, but¡­ you know¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re right. Just wondering how Morales got through.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s that pile over there¡­ they might¡¯ve gone at full speed to avoid the ones from the cemeteries.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s possible.¡±


    The way the roads and the bridges were built in a way that we either punch a hole through this ce or drive around and cross the bridge we were at earlier, possibly meeting up with Artem¡¯s group but taking a long time in the process. Well, the answer couldn¡¯t be more obvious. <hr>


    Jose ordered his men to prod the area with their lighter vehicle and I let them do their job with clearing it with their own men.


    ¡®Let¡¯s watch for now¡­¡¯


    Several unsuppressed shots came one after the other, attracting everything around us. However, the ones behind us were not even a challenge because they were either a few we missed or just a handful that just managed to straddle their way towards us. The real problem was the ones right in front of us. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/jose¡ª15th-detour_51909824153181880 for visiting.


    Jared was flying his drone above everyone else and we got an aerial view of what we had to face.


    The dead came in droves and the small roads acted as a funnel to lead them to the main roads, making them converge to arge horde. Their bodies were in various states of decay and they were leaving a stain from the roads they were passing through. I could only imagine the putrid smelling out of them if by some chance I was right in the middle of their rotting corpses.


    My group was still by Jose¡¯s military truck when he gave the order to light up the ones that were fast approaching.


    None of them were walking on all fours but a few sprinters were approaching them with an erratic path, making the shot in order to take them down much harder. Some would even take the path behind thatrger vehicles, but a stray bullet from an automatic rifle would luckily nick their heads, making them drop dead a few steps over.


    Shot after shot came one after the other and several explosions rang out when they used the M203 grenadeuncher under their M16s. They were loaded with 40mm shells and they fired a couple when the horde was 350 meters away. A single 40mm shell would take out several bodies at once and there was this slight fascination when several bodies were being blown to pieces. <hr>


    ¡®I still prefer boring through their heads though¡­ less messy¡­ there¡¯s going melee too¡­ we¡¯re just pressed for time¡­¡¯


    The soldiers stationed several meters in front of us continued to stand their ground as they fired shot after shot. Several brass casings have already fallen on their truck bed or right on the road where they nted their vehicle. Despite that, they were still going at it because the number we were facing currently doubled or even tripled the number we took down earlier.


    The only action my group got was picking off a few roamers from a distance at the rear. It wasn¡¯t much help taking down one or two from a distance but it was more of sending them a message that we could do as much and from a great distance to boot. Jose just nced at us after that but he continued to oversee the progress his soldiers made.


    The dead were stilling in droves but their march had slowed because the terrain changed and made it difficult. Right by therge church I mentioned earlier, several bodies were stacked on top of one another while bits and pieces of the ones that were blown up were scattered all over.


    That was when their assault slowed as well as they used fewer explosives and switched back to using semi-auto. Each shot was ced more carefully and an interval of a few seconds would ur before firing another shot. A few misses would ur but a correction shot would quickly follow from the soldier right next to the one making the shots initially.


    The time they took was definitely fasterpared to us when we cleared even less of the dead but my heart was bleeding from the number of bullets they used. I could¡¯ve thought of more ways to deal with them but the silver lining was the casings that would end in myp and the favor I would get from producing more bullets for their use.


    ¡®It¡¯s like a different type of addiction¡­¡¯


    Jose made a few calls back in the harbor before we drove around the pile of bodies we left behind. We passed by a few clinics and even stores unlooted but they were just marked for lootingter. The barangay hall of Daang Hari was only a few blocks away but I made the executive decision to make another detour for an optional side quest.


    We stopped by a ce close to a small port but my main goal in stopping here was the huge lot covered by metal fences and several used cars parked inside of it.

 Chapter 522

    Chapter 522: 522


    ¡°What is this ce?¡± Jose turned to me after getting out of their truck. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s a shop for used cars and my Unc used to talk about this ce. He said that the owner was a fixer and he could find you anything that you¡¯re looking for as long as you got the money for it. I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s still alive and I just thought it would be worth it to check this ce out.¡± I replied, driving the drones inside to have a better look. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/ssics¡ªmorales-copy_51933422330903774 for visiting.


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be quick, don¡¯t worry.¡±


    The huge lot was filled with different cars that belonged to different decades. Some of them were still in pristine condition while a few required light touch-ups or aplete overhaul.


    The vehicles upfront were the ones either new or restored perfectly while the ones in the middle were the ones for wholesale or for people looking for parts to take from it. However, the important ones were at the back because they were the ones smuggled from overseas and managed to get past customs because of the owner¡¯s touch.


    ¡®I¡¯m guessing he made use of the small port to make quick drop-offs¡­¡¯


    As I hovered the drone to the back area, I saw several shipping containers forming a line with expensive locks securing them. I instinctively licked my lips as a smile slowly formed on my face.


    ¡°Bingo, we¡¯re going in.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? What did you find?¡± Kaley asked, curious.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know yet. We¡¯ll see once I pick the locks.¡±


    The inside was free of the dead so we left most of our people to guard the entrance. Kaley and Tatiana came with me while Romeo and Jerry came with Jose. I thought they would be f.u.c.k.i.n.g clueless but Jerry was already putting dibs on a few vehicles outside like the same model Raptor we were driving, a 1999 Ford Super Duty, and a 2006 Dodge Ram SRT-10.


    ¡°You sure about that?¡± I probed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah. Finders keepers, right?¡± Jerry grinned, looking at me.


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll call dibs on what is inside those shipping containers at the back.¡±


    ¡°Huh- What? Wait a sec! You know something, didn¡¯t you?!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the one that started calling dibs. Why am I not allowed to? I¡¯m the one that led you to this ce, right? I could¡¯ve easily gone to this ce tomorrow or some other time without you guys so I could pick everything that I want.¡±


    ¡°I-¡± Jerry started to sweat but he turned to Jose who was also curious about the shipping containers.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you the first pick then we¡¯ll go in turns, sounds fair?¡± Jose suggested.


    ¡°Hmm, I want the first two picks and you could keep the ones Jerry put dibs on.¡±


    ¡°Deal.¡±


    ¡°Deal.¡±


    ¡®Why isn¡¯t Jose the one in charge? Everything would¡¯ve been easier¡­¡¯


    I started picking the locks the moment we reached the back but Jose made use of a blowtorch to melt the ones I haven¡¯t gone through yet. I was in pain of losing expensive locks and the deathblow was when Romeo came out of the office with the keys to everything.


    I was starting to have a bad mood but it immediately lightened when the doors of the shipping containers were opened.


    ¡°That¡¯s a¡­ a¡­¡± Jerry trailed, failing to recognize some of them. <hr>


    ¡°A 1968 Dodge Power Wagon, a 2000s Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, a 1970s Ford F-250 Highboy, a 1991 Mazda RX-7, a 2007 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Supercharged, and a 1985 Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler,¡± I said, smiling brightly.


    ¡°Yeah, that sounds about right¡­¡± Jerry nodded a few times, inspecting the R34 almost ufortably.


    ¡°Heh, I¡¯ll take the R34 and the F-150 first.¡± I dered, ignoring his hints.


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°You already got the SRT-10, the f.u.c.k are you whining about?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t you take the ssics first?!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t see an R32 over there, so I¡¯ll go with what I want first.¡±


    ¡°Haaaaaa~¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take the Jeep.¡± Jose decided on his first pick.


    ¡°The Power Wagon or Oscar will kill me.¡±


    ¡°The other truck then, the Highboy was it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, thatnds me the RX-7. If you need your vehicles to have custom bodywork, drive them to our ce for a small fee. Or, you could also give me the Highboy as payment.¡± <hr>


    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡±


    ¡°Let me pick a few from the ones in front then.¡±


    Jose and I shook hands to close the deal and we made separate calls to get our own people to take the vehicles home. We gave them the directions to this ce and we left two of Jose¡¯s soldiers so they would know what to take. They would be staying inside one of the vehicles they already picked while making less noise as possible.


    The trip to Daang Hari¡¯s Barangay Hall went more smoothly as expected because we made use of the route Morales and his team used to get here. Aside from that, we discovered that only therger shops were looted around this area and a few small businesses were left intact. However, a few residential areas were burned to the ground, giving no chance of finding useful or even hidden items among their household.


    ¡®Even a bar of soap or a piece of cloth shouldn¡¯t be taken lightly¡­¡¯


    Hours continued to pass and even Artem¡¯s group managed to join us and we were now in thest two barangays namely Tangos North and Tangos South before Tanza, thest barangay at the opposite side of the harbor.


    Artem managed to secure several more hard drives not only from the neighboring barangay halls but also from other ces I¡¯ve mentionedst time. They only took the hard drives from the ces they have broken into and that was why they were faster than us which only managed to take a fourth of the required drives. Aside from that, we were following behind Jose who was also driving his own path, only following my directions a few times.


    This ride made us use more bullets than a normal trip would usually cost because we had to keep up with Jose¡¯s usage. Time was a very important factor for them and bullets were just secondary. They would always opt for the fastest way to take care of the dead even if it was inefficient in my eyes. However, I would sometimes just let them do all the work so I could save a few rounds even for a bit.


    The barangay hall was right next to a chapel, an elementary school, and a high school. They belong to a single block but they were surrounded by rows and rows of houses strewn around without any organization, making the ce a hotspot for the dead. The only saving grace was that a couple of blocks of a residential area had also burned to the ground, giving us some leeway with dealing with them.


    We noticed a trail of bodies on the way on the barangay hall but we piled several times more than what we came upon after making arge perimeter with my people and Jose¡¯s soldiers.


    I would¡¯ve preferred driving around while continuously clearing them but the formation would be broken if a portion of them stayed with Jose¡¯s group. I could as easily give an order for him to follow me but middle-aged dudes needed a different kind of approach to make them follow you naturally.


    My group would slowly show them that there was a better way of dealing with the dead and make them recognize it by making them do it by themselves in the future.


    They kept using the same rifle rounds over and over while my group was already ustomed to switching to lower calibers when facing the regr ones. Switching torger ones was done easily enough after much training and leaving a few shooters as Kaley and Jared would always do the trick. Aside from that, going melee was our first go-to while their M16s were theirs. <hr>


    A few sensible soldiers started to copy us but the rest were satisfied with keeping their distance.


    We eventually cleared the ones in the immediate vicinity as we made a group from each side to scout around, killing more that wasn¡¯t attracted to the noise. The rest of us made the perimeter smaller by a few vehicles as my team entered the barangay hall.


    ¡°Why did they even bother giving it two names yet they only have a single barangay to house them in?¡± Tatiana asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not 100% sure but Tangos is twice the size of the other barangays that¡¯s why they cut it in half. I think it¡¯s a poption thing the registry needed to maintain that¡¯s why they did it. Well, the inside is divided to amodate from where the residents came from.¡± I exined.


    ¡°Found the drives.¡± Ibarra said from the other room.


    ¡°Great.¡±


    Everything was taken into ount before we went outside and that was when Jose tried to contact Morales.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Morales, copy?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 523

    Chapter 523: 523


    We waited for a few moments but there was no immediate reply. <center></center><hr>


    My group took the time to replenish our spent mags and wipe our des while Jose continued to try and contact Morales. Jose just kept a stoic look while waiting for a reply but a few of his younger soldiers were showing worry. Despite that, he kept on repeating the same phrase each time he raised his radio to talk into it.


    ¡®He wouldn¡¯t just croak, would he?¡¯


    After a couple of minutes, everyone in close proximity heard Morales¡¯ voice.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Copy, what¡¯s it about Jose?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s already a few hours past noon, you done or what?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, just tying up some loose ends. I just decided to be a little bit lenient for a change.] <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hmm? Really? We¡¯ll being then, we¡¯re pretty close to where you are.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [The kid and his team with you?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ve been going around doing our own thing together. We found a few useful things but I think we should avail of some of their services.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    [What are you talking about? Anyway, bring them along. I¡¯ll call a few more people back at the harbor to drive here as well. Don¡¯t ask much now, you¡¯ll get to see it when you arrive.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    ¡®See it?¡¯


    Their short conversation ended and we soon took to our vehicles and drove along the path where about a dozen fish ponds and fishing areas were right next to each other. They came in different shapes and sizes but the dead were the ones that were currently wading and floating inside them. A few submerged bodies had bloated up inside and the texture of their flesh was already deteriorating.


    The smell was so much worse when a mishap in these ponds happen wherein all the fishes die and rot and I couldn¡¯t believe that I would be yearning for that f.u.c.k.i.n.g smell instead. It made a few sick to their stomach and the masks we were wearing weren¡¯t helping much.


    The only way to remedy the situation right now was to just drive faster and just clear the whole ce when we got the time.


    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Jose dered, jumping down from their truck.


    ¡°The people here before have done some work¡­¡± Imented.


    After the soldiers watching the destroyed gate let us in, we got a better view of the ce we were supposed to take over. It had simrities with the harbor but this ce was more tailored formercial use. Several docking areas were spread throughout as a few fishing boats were still intact and few warehouses were fortified not to mention the main office where Morales might be currently in.


    Even the walls surrounding the area were brought up to a certain height to keep the dead away and there were tforms so the people on guard duty could have a better vantage point. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/tainted¡ªname_51957633061551959 for visiting.


    Aside from that, on a corner to the right was a pumping station for ethanol but I doubt we would be able to get an amount that couldst for a while. A few more ces where business was supposed to be transacted were repurposed to suit this ce¡¯s needs and the only thing missing from this ce was supplies and a new gate to keep the dead away. A simple one could be made in a day and I think I know why Morales wanted to have a few soldierse in as well.


    ¡®A new outpost as easy as that, eh? Can¡¯tin though, we¡¯ll have both sides of the city with soldiers once they get this ce up and running. Clearing the whole city would just take some time¡­¡¯ <hr>


    After a short while, a soldier came out of a warehouse and waved us over, telling us toe inside. I made my group either stay put or explore this port but Artem decided toe with me and Jose. Once we came inside, 23 people were huddled in a circle and guarded by several soldiers. They were in a state of distress and they were nothing like the prisoners held at the harbor. Their clothes were dirty and bloodstained but they had no open wounds of any sort.


    Aside from that, a few fresh corpses with stab wounds in the head were right by Morales¡¯ feet. I was about to tell Morales about how ¡®lenient¡¯ he was but I noticed faint dark lines visible from the corpses¡¯ limbs even if there were no bite marks visible. Taking a closer look, it seemed like they weren¡¯t beaten to death or had their necks broken in two ces making the notion of Morales going wild improbable.


    ¡®Hmm¡­¡¯


    ¡°Just in time, do you recognize a few of them?¡± Morales turned to me with a solemn expression.


    I scanned through the prisoners¡¯ faces then I shook my head, ¡°No, I might need to check the drives first. I flipped through a few hard copies but they aren¡¯t one of them.¡±


    ¡°No luck, eh? I got some news for you three.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡± Jose interjected.


    ¡°The f.u.c.kers left more surprises. They got Aurelio, Valencia, Reyes, Bautista, Cruz, Ramos, Gonzales, and Valdez, careless mistake.¡± Morales said as heid down their dog tags.


    ¡°Wai- the f.u.c.k? They did this?¡± Jose red up as he red at the people huddled together.


    ¡°No, they¡¯re victims as well rtively speaking. We¡¯re just waiting it out and that¡¯s why we¡¯re taking so long.¡± Morales calmed Jose down.


    ¡°Waiting it out?¡± Artem added, curious.


    Morales nced at Artem for a brief moment before he took a deep sigh, ¡°The water is tainted, badly. A few of our guys were careless to fill their metal canisters from the faucets here and they didn¡¯t see the color of the water they¡¯re drinking. We just heard a gunshot then we witnessed Bautista feasting on Aurelio while a few were just starting to show symptoms. Ramos just killed himself as soon as we learned that the water tanks had several bodies swimming in it while a few waited it out before¡­ you know. The rest¡­ needed some help.¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit¡­¡± I muttered before I immediately contacted my group.


    As soon as I made sure everyone got the piece of news, I turned to Morales once more. <hr>


    ¡°How fast did they turn?¡±


    ¡°With Bautista, give or take two hours while the rest just started to show symptoms. I don¡¯t know about Ramos because he went early but we¡¯re constantly checking everyone¡¯s temperatures. A few of them showed symptoms a bitte so we¡¯re monitoring everyone present. In the meantime, we¡¯re just waiting for you to arrive so we could start with getting more information. We don¡¯t know when the water tank has been yed with so it¡¯s better to extract every bit of info you could before they all turn or not. We don¡¯t know who¡¯s gonna show symptoms next so we¡¯re kinda in a time crunch in this quarantine of sorts.¡± Morales exined.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t started questioning them?¡±


    ¡°If I do, I might just start killing all of them. This is me being lenient. It¡¯s hard, I tell you.¡±


    I began to scratch my head as the group of people huddled in the center of the warehouse looked at me like I was the one supposed to save them. Little did they know that everything still banks on whether they took a sip of water that came from the water tank or not. They could luckily be holding onto a separate bottle of their own but only time could tell.


    ¡°Give me a room and 30 minutes then. I might need some power too so I could start checking the files on the drives.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, the main office is good for that. Do you want me to bring them all in there or do you have something else in mind?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, bring them one by one after hosing them down and giving them a change of clothes.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, we¡¯ll do that then.¡±


    Copying and merging the files into one single file correctly would take some time but I started to skim some of them while taking note of the identifying number I gave them plus the portrait they had on hand. I managed to fish out their correct identities and learn a bit about their life before everything went to shit whether I would consider letting them live or not. However, I would also take into ount the information they have for me and I would take everything into ount.


    After a while, a woman by the name of Donnabelle Ariz came with a clean look and I offered her a seat. She was in her 30s, single, had a menial office job in the government, and she used to live in Tangos South based on the photocopied ID I found in one of her files.


    ¡°Name?¡±


    ¡°Umm- E-E-Estre Domingo.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re doing this now?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±

 Chapter 524

    Chapter 524: 524


    I just stared into her eyes until she averted her gaze and her expression darkened for a short moment before she lightly bit her lips. Her eyebrows started to scrunch together and her face began to turn sour and sour. It only took a few seconds before tears fell on the side of her face as she looked back at me with hatred. <center></center><hr>


    ¡®Seriously?¡¯


    I just looked at her the same way earlier as I said, ¡°Name.¡±


    Her face grimaced as she mmed the table in front of us, ¡°Does it matter anymore?! You already got my files, what¡¯s the point of asking me?!¡±


    ¡°Well, you lied the first time I asked you and that¡¯s how a conversation works, name.¡±


    ¡°If you¡¯re gonna kill me, just kill me!¡±


    ¡°Rx. What makes you think I¡¯m gonna kill you?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you kill everyone from the other harbor?! How are we any different?! You¡¯re just gonna kill us after you¡¯re done with us!¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear my conversation with the officer I was talking to earlier?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Talking and doing it is different! I could still hear how William was so frightened as he tried to warn us¡­ He said that everyone was getting killed like they weren¡¯t human¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, blowing up several soldiers as ast resort is inhumane too.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know? Then you¡¯re only hearing from one group and giving your judgment irresponsibly. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here to talk to you so we could figure out a way to deal with what¡¯s happening between both sides.¡±


    ¡°How could I even believe you?!¡±


    ¡°Well, to be fair, I could say the same about you. Also, I¡¯m with them but I¡¯m also not with them.¡±


    ¡°Huh?! What are you talking about?!¡±


    ¡°I told you to rx, didn¡¯t I? We¡¯re so close to each other, you don¡¯t need to keep yelling at my face. As you said, talking and doing it is different. You said you¡¯re Estre Domingo but in reality, you¡¯re Donnabelle Ariz. I just asked for your name earlier and you immediately spouted bullshit. If you don¡¯t want to die, the first thing to do in this situation is to cooperate, right? Not actively going against the person in front of you.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°For the record, you¡¯re following a drug kingpin while I¡¯m working together with what¡¯s left of the government which is trying to get things back in order or the way it used to. Do you understand where I¡¯m going with this? You used to work for the government, right? How did that change happen so quickly?¡±


    ¡°You have no idea what we¡¯ve gone through! I-¡±


    ¡°Cool, now tell me more.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°I said I¡¯m listening. You¡¯re about to tell a story, right? Be truthful this time though so that it would be easier for me. I still have 22 more people to go through, but I want to hear the whole thing.¡±


    She just looked down after regaining control of her breathing as she muttered, ¡°We- We just had no choice¡­¡±


    Donnabelle started to tell her side of the story and I listened to every word she said.


    When it all started, she was part of a group of people that managed to evacuate in the city hall. A reputable officer was also in charge of them and everyone was given equal treatment. However, the ce onlysted for a few weeks before the people that were living in the shadows came out to take this city for their own, forming their own empire in the process. <hr>


    Each DDR Camp established in this city was razed to the ground, even the residential areas where the people in line with the government used toy their heads on. Aside from that, all government officials, employees, and etc. were killed on the spot but they made the ones that were spared do half of the killing just to mess with their heads and make that a rite of passage. That was when the name Estre Domingo was forged, it was done to survive.


    All of the exits were blocked and no one managed to leave the city. They were forced into hardbor but they were made to feel like they were owing to the group the menial things they were given day-to-day. Most of them were easily swayed to follow their new leader even if the one that used to lead them was brutally killed by the man himself. Fear and helplessness was the driving factor and it worked wonders for the end of the world.


    It would¡¯ve been easier said than done if that was the only thing they were forced to do.


    ¡°Wi-William is my¡­ fian- partner and¡­ and¡­ each pair was separated¡­ so they¡­ they could¡­¡±


    Donnabelle¡¯s expression was so bitter, she wasn¡¯t able to form proper sentences. Her eyes were full of life earlier despite the look she was giving me but this time, they were slowly darkening, almost losing their shine.


    I just ced a clean handkerchief in front of her while I waited whether she would continue or not.


    She started bawling her eyes out as she was gritting her teeth and a small vein was almost popping out of her forehead. She was also trembling erratically and the handkerchief I gave her was getting crumpled, ruining the fine folds it had when I ced it in front of her. It took her a while before she calmed herself down and I managed to hear what happened next. She was adamant about telling me what it was at first but she soon relented.


    The strong devoured the weak because as the day ended, the helpless ones were used for quick relief by the ones lording over them. Aside from that, for a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up reward system, the people that made great contributions were allowed to pick a ¡®hole¡¯ after the inner circle was done with them. Despite that, a few made ¡®giving their bodies away¡¯ their main role, removing themselves from the hard work most of them were put through.


    Donabelle gave a bitter smile and a bitterugh as she continued, ¡°I¡­ I tried rejecting it at first but¡­ I just shut down¡­ I was just so tired and hungry that time I¡­ I couldn¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this but¡­ it just became easier¡­ and fun¡­ if I wanted to skip work¡­ I would just¡­y down¡­ or whatever they wanted me to do-¡± <hr>


    I looked at her dead in the eyes as I cut her off, ¡°Stop.¡±


    She started transitioning from being helpless to being maniacal, ¡°If you¡¯re gonna do the same thing after this¡­ it would be an upgrade because fat, slimy f.u.c.ks used to take turns on me while those bimbos just serviced the real ones. I¡¯ve sucked their d.i.c.ks a few times but-¡±


    ¡°Donna-¡±


    ¡°WHAT?! YOU WANTED TO LISTEN, RIGHT?! LISTEN!!! EVERYTHING WAS STARTING TO GO SMOOTHLY AND YOU F.U.C.KERS RUINED IT!!! I¡¯M F.U.C.K.I.N.G MY WAY UP WHILE WILLIAM IS F.U.C.K.I.N.G PUSSIES THAT PROBABLY SMELLED LIKE ROTTEN FISH!!! HE THINKS I DIDN¡¯T KNOW AND HE STARTED CRYING LIKE A LITTLE BITCH WHEN YOUR GUYS CAME AT THEIR PLACE!!!¡±


    I just decided to keep listening to everything that happened to her because sometimes, listening was all that someone could do. I began to hear story after story of s.e.x.u.a.l abuse and she couldn¡¯t figure out if she was mad at the people that did it to her or just at herself because she gave in and was actually finding it the better option herself. She would go back to her earlier self then she would suddenly switch back to her other self as she continued.


    At one time, she removed her shirt but before I managed to stop her, I already spotted several burn marks on her body. Some of them were fairly new and were just healing but the ones by her back have already scarred and ruined her skin. She was bitterlyughing at herself as she showed me each one and she even offered herself to me so I could assure her that I wouldn¡¯t kill her no matter what.


    I immediately declined her advances and I made her wear her clothes back, ¡°Not interested. The deal¡¯s the same. If you give me all the info you could and if you don¡¯t turn in this quarantine period, you¡¯re liable to get your own life back. It wouldn¡¯t be the same but it¡¯s a start if you want to do a do-over.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not fun, you know that? Hah! Do-over? Let me tell you, I¡¯m already used to this and I¡¯ll continue to do thi- What am I doing¡­ I¡­ I can¡¯t be- this is¡­ I¡¯m so- no¡­ this is fine, much better than- no- I¡­¡±


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    I watched her having an inner struggle as she talked to herself but she suddenly stopped talking as she stared at me, ¡°I think I got a name you¡¯d be very much interested in.¡±

 Chapter 525

    Chapter 525: 525


    My interest got piqued by her statement but I already know the names of the main guys I was looking for. Before she even got to say their names, I went ahead of her, ¡°Wu Ching, Jameson Lim, Peter Cngco, Herbert Tuan, and Garbo Marcelo. Which one of them was present here? You know, before they took off.¡± <center></center><hr>


    Donabelle¡¯s eyes widened and she just bitterly smiled, ¡°G-Garbo Marcelo and Jameson Lim¡­ we call him Mr. Lim¡­¡±


    ¡°And the other three?¡±


    ¡°Herbert Tuan is already dead but I don¡¯t know and haven¡¯t met or even heard the names of the other two¡­¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s dead? What happened?¡±


    ¡°H-He¡­ he just never came back from a run. A few of his men died too and¡­ and¡­ the fights started after that.¡±


    ¡°Fights? You mean an inner conflict between them?¡±


    ¡®Is it the same time when we¡¯re in the City of Man? Hmm¡­ I guess the president already took care of one of them¡­¡¯


    ¡°Y-Yes¡­¡±


    ¡°If they started fighting one another, howe did they leave hand-in-hand? If it was me, I would be offing the other one or handing them as a bargaining chip.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ We were just¡­ your guys attacking the harbor and us being outnumbered might¡¯ve changed their minds or something¡­¡±


    ¡°I see¡­ anything else to tell me?¡±


    ¡°Are you really not gonna kill us?¡±


    ¡°I already told you, if you haven¡¯t had a sip of-¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t! I swear! I could do many things! Many, many~ things¡­ whatever you want I co-¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Stop.¡±


    ¡°Please, check my body again¡­ I could strip down if you want! Here! Look at me! I don¡¯t have the ck lines they¡¯re talking about too! I¡¯m not burning up too! I¡¯m normal! Just take me!¡± Donabelle eximed, stripping all of her clothes in front of me before I managed to stop her.


    Each of her clothing was now removed, and her bare body was on disy. I felt nothing but pity the moment Iid my eyes on her because she was hiding more wounds in deeper ces. Besides the burn marks from the cigarettes, bruises and other wounds were present which I surmise didn¡¯te from a deadhead. Instead, they all came from the people who abused her and twisted her mind to such a degree.


    There was a moment when she flipped and tried to seduce me once more but when she noticed that I wasn¡¯t interested and just pitying her, she just switched back and cried as she put on her clothes.


    ¡°Donna¡­ I¡¯m gonna tell you again. After a few days, if we see no signs of you turning into one of them, you only have one thing to pass on. I¡¯m gonna verify the information you gave me and I hope you¡¯re telling the truth. Those two things will decide whether you live or not and I hope to see you in a better shape than now.¡±


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    ¡°Furthermore, I could tell that you need help. I¡¯m gonna talk to each one of you first and I¡¯ll bring all of you to stay at my ce for the moment. You¡¯ll be given all the basic necessities and after a time, depending on yourselves, you¡¯d be part of my group. First-¡±


    ¡°Really?! That¡¯s great!¡±


    ¡°Listen, I want you to have a talk with someone.¡±


    ¡°Someone? Who?¡±


    ¡°A professional. She¡¯s helped a lot of people deal with stuff and I¡¯m sure she could help you in your situation. In our world today, almost no one would have this chance and I hope you make the best of it. We¡¯ll talk again once everything is ounted for. Again, do you have anything else to tell me?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay, see you-¡±


    ¡°Wait¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Thank you¡­ could I give you a hug?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? No, sorry. How about this? Let¡¯s start with an upwards nod first, yeah?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha¡­ sure¡­ for the record¡­ I never drank from the faucet since yesterday¡­ I have my own bottle that I haven¡¯t finished¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s good. We¡¯ll see.¡±


    ¡°Still don¡¯t trust me, eh? I hope you do someday¡­¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    ¡°So, upwards nod. Like this?¡± Donnabelle nodded upwards.


    ¡°Yep.¡± I returned with my own.


    Donnabelle just faintly smiled after that and I called for the soldier watching outside. She was soon escorted to the rest of the group and soon, a much olderdy walked into the room I was in. She was also wearing a fresh set of clothes but she was nervous as sheid her eyes on me.


    ¡®Let¡¯s see¡­ Imelda Vargas, 68 years of age¡­ used to be married to Reynaldo Vargas who was not here¡­ a housewife and a mother of two which were also not present among the group outside¡­¡¯


    ¡°Please, sit down.¡±


    ¡°You¡­ you look young¡­ are you really a soldier, young man?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly. Can I please know your name?¡±


    ¡°My name? Umm, I¡¯m Imelda Vargas¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Age?¡±


    ¡°68¡­¡±


    ¡°Civil Status?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a widower¡­ I was married to Reynaldo Vargas for close to 30 years¡­¡±


    ¡°I see¡­ can I know what you used to do before it started? You know, the end of the world?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really have a job that time. I used to be a school teacher but I resigned to take care of my kids¡­¡±


    I began to ask questions which I already know the answer to and this time, it went smoother than expected. Everything checked out and I started to ask questions to which corrted to the information Donnabelle gave me.


    ¡°Tell me about the people who used to be in charge here.¡±


    Imelda looked down as her eyebrows scrunched up and said, ¡°Ah¡­ there¡¯s this cop I saw in the news before and a Chinese guy we always call Mr. Lim. There was this other one but he never came back. I think they c-call him He¡­ Herber? Herbert? I¡¯m not really sure but he¡¯s half-Chinese and half-Filipino¡­¡±


    ¡®Checks out¡­¡¯


    ¡°I see¡­ can you tell me about the work they make you do here?¡±


    ¡°Me? It¡¯s all housework¡­ I¡¯m in charge of cooking food, washing dishes,undry, cleaning, and etc. but it¡¯s several times harder¡­ I have a few people with me so it¡¯s bearable, to say the least¡­ I¡¯m lucky they never made me kill¡­ those poor fellows outside¡­¡±


    ¡°Poor fellows? You mean the dead?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re really poor fellows, aren¡¯t they?¡±


    ¡°In a sense, yes. But if you think about it, it¡¯s better toy them to rest, right? If we let them as is, they might hurt more of us and make it harder for the ones trying to solve this thing.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Hmm¡­ I guess you¡¯re right about that, young man¡­¡±


    I tried to ask more questions but Imelda didn¡¯t know as much as Donabelle because she was mostly inside one of the warehouses, doing the work she¡¯s been told to do with the others. When I asked her about what she knew about Donabelle personally, all she told me was she would do odd jobs here and there. She told me that Donabelle would sometimes disappear for a day or two and woulde back with bruises that needed to be tended to.


    ¡°I see, thank you for the info. As we agreed upon, we¡¯ll first make sure that you¡¯re not-¡±


    ¡°I know, young man. But let me tell you, if it¡¯s my time, it¡¯s my time. No one can change that¡­ wouldn¡¯t you agree with me at least once?¡±


    I just smiled as I let a soldier escort her outside but that was when I heard people working on the front gate that was destroyed. I was looking through the window from the second floor and I could see everything from up here. The men that Morales called to get here brought several tools and building materials to construct a new gate and I stepped outside to get a better look.


    Jose tapped me from behind, ¡°What are you doing here? Done already? I remember you have more to talk to, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, just curious about the type of gate you¡¯ll be building.¡±


    ¡°Nothing too fancy. We just need to make a simple and sturdy one before the sun sets and we¡¯ll just make it better tomorrow. Worst case, we just patch it right in and have a few vehicles block the entrance.¡±


    I scratched my chin as I looked to the side, ¡°Ah, then I suggest making a poor man¡¯s airlock then. You could use those shipping containers on those trucks as a makeshift funnel on the outside if you line them by the side of the entrance and start to weld a few hinges for the gate. You could use those shipping containers as tforms too or if you¡¯re adamant about it, stack two at each side and just make use of adder to get to the top and have some people watch over it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that could work.¡±


    ¡°Cool, happy to help.¡±


    ¡°No, you¡¯re helping us make it. Most of what you said flew over my head so tell my men to do the heavy lifting.¡±


    ¡°I still have to-¡±


    ¡°Stay here for the night then. I need to talk about something important with you too.¡± Morales suddenly popped from behind us.


    ¡®Great¡­¡¯

 Chapter 526

    Chapter 526: 526


    ¡°Just a simple talk?¡± I asked, turning aroundpletely. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, Jose and Artem will be with us too so don¡¯t worry,¡± Morales said before leaving us and heading towards the warehouse once more.


    I turned to Jose and said, ¡°Do you have any idea what¡¯s it about?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, nothing too serious. So, where do we need to start?¡± Jose replied.


    ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll just let Mark and his team apany you with Marvin and his team. Mark was present when we started building our first fences so he knows what to do. Just tell him what you wanted to be made and he¡¯ll start working. My unc back home could do something better but he¡¯ll have to do.¡±


    Jose just nodded a few times before he scratched his head, ¡°I see, get on with your interviews then.¡±


    I looked at my watch and it was less than a couple of hours before sunset. There was still no news from Oscar and Rod about their pursuit but we made sure to contact each other when the timees. Before I continued my talk with the rest of the people, I asked my group to park half of our vehicles by the entrance while the other half by the main office.


    ¡°Buddy system, okay? Never guard our vehicles alone and never explore alone. Have one or two of our people with you at all times and don¡¯t forget to radio in if you notice anything peculiar. Always use the supplies we¡¯ve brought but try and conserve them because we will be staying the night.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re staying the night?¡± Jared asked, clearly annoyed.


    ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t give me that look. We aren¡¯t even that far away.¡±


    ¡°Haaaa~ fine¡­ I¡¯m just gonna call Alexter¡­¡±


    ¡°Sorry, dude. We gotta lend this ce a little hand. Oh yeah, call Max over and set up on the roof of the main office. Bring our bags too, just in case.¡±


    Jared scratched his head as he picked his bag up, ¡°Yeah, yeah. How about Kaley? She¡¯s a good shot, she coulde with us for the moment?¡±


    Kaley looked at me as well but I shook my head, ¡°No, she¡¯ll being with me to talk with the people here. You¡¯reing with me, right? I need you there so we¡¯ll more urate in filtering their responses.¡±


    ¡°O-Okay, I just finished taking care of our equipment. I kinda wanted to join you the first time too¡­¡± Kaley replied, handing me my rifle.


    ¡°Really? Sorry about that. Let¡¯s go then.¡±


    We went our own ways and Artem brought some of his team out and decided to scout outside this port, checking for possible points of interest and bringing down the threat level by a couple of notches. Scavenging for more supplies would be difficult in this area given the circ.u.mstances but locating deadheads to put down would be easy.


    At the same time, Tatiana and Natasha got tasked with watching our vehicles by the main office while Mikhail and Ibarra got tasked with the vehicles by the entrance. The two guys were eventually asked with the heavy lifting but Jared and Max kept a close eye on our vehicles that got unattended. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Bring the next one in,¡± I asked the soldier waiting for me.


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    After a while, a man by the name of Castro Ignacio came in with lifeless eyes and staggered footsteps. From the records we collected, he was 34 years old, a construction worker, but used to be a mailman. He was average in height and had a less-than-average physique despite his job description but I could maybe tie it to stress or something entirely different.


    ¡®He has police records for drunken assault, petty theft, and a few misdemeanors here and there¡­ With these kinds of records, I would surmise that he¡¯s part of the group that Oscar and Rod are currently hunting down¡­¡¯


    ¡°Please sit down.¡±


    The man slowly sat down, sparing me a short nce before looking down.


    ¡°Name?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey, can you hear me?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°I asked you a question, hello?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    I was about to fish something from my pocket but Kaley held my hand and mouthed, ¡°Let me try.¡±


    I just nodded silently before Kaley cleared her throat to get the attention of the man in front of us.


    As soon as the guy looked at Kaley, she faintly smiled and said, ¡°Excuse me, mister. Can you hear me? We have a few questions to ask you.¡±


    The man adjusted his seat as he went for a morefortable position by spreading his legs, ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡®This motherf.u.c.ker¡­¡¯


    Kaley started to talk with the guy but he answered correctly even if he was pausing for a longer time than necessary. A nk stare would greet Kaley for several seconds before she got the answer we needed. However, the moment I would ask questions of my own, it would just be ignored and Kaley would have to repeat the question for me. We talked for much longer than necessary but we fished something Donnabelle or Imelda didn¡¯t tell us. <hr>


    As soon as the man was escorted outside, Kaley turned to me, ¡°Peter Cngco is one of them, right?¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/wee-to-the-port-we''ve-been-eagerly-waiting-for-your-arrival._52096604244602135 for visiting.


    ¡°Yeah, the only one missing is Wu Ching.¡±


    ¡°Our main guy, right?¡±


    ¡°In here, yes, but in the maind, he¡¯s just one of many. Mr. Cuervo could be in the same status as him if he didn¡¯t quit. The only difference is, Wu Ching is a high-profile drug lord while Mr. Cuervo wasn¡¯t even on the radar.¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we call him? To ask some info about them? They¡¯re enemies, right? I mean, the camps they work for.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, he did mention some of the people he advises is in conflict with the triads. I¡¯ve only heard bits about them and the cartel on the news but I didn¡¯t they¡¯d still be kicking and we¡¯d actually be involved with it. You know, on the opposing side obviously. Let¡¯s just call him when we get back tomorrow. I don¡¯t want the soldiers here hearing about our connection with Mr. Cuervo yet.¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ Is that why you got the favor from the president?¡±


    ¡°If I could help it, I would use it for something else. If the n Mr. Cuervo and I talked about before works, he¡¯d be set and the president would be owing him as well. With the president owing him a favor, he could ask for a pardon of sorts and he would live with a clean te, being a part of our group in the open, not in the shadows.¡±


    ¡°You really thought about everything, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Heh, I try.¡±


    After a moment, the next person came in and we started the usual process of fishing out the right information about their statements. We learned more about the things being conducted in this ce more and more and all the information we got were intersecting with the others, confirming that they were more or less correct or, by managing to do an impossible feat, fabricating a story when they were fighting for their lives.


    Kaley and I continued to talk to each of them, and for thest half, I let Kaley hold the reigns while I watched from the sides. Most of them were more responsive and rxed when Kaley was the one ¡®interrogating¡¯ them. There was also a couple that had the same situation as the first one I interviewed and Kaley handled them splendidly. However, I felt the prickly aura Kaley was emanating when one of them started to ¡®flirt¡¯ with me.


    ¡°We¡¯re done here. Let the soldier outside escort you out,¡± Kaley said with amanding tone.


    ¡°Y-Yes¡­ sorry¡­¡±


    As soon as the girl ran out, Kaley facepalmed and sighed, ¡°Mom is gonna be so~ busy~¡±


    Kaley and I started talking about a few things but we suddenly heard the sounds of several helicopters approaching. It was already sunset and the people outside have just finished the gate and were rxing. However, they heard the noise as well and they immediately scrambled to their stations, getting ready for anything.


    We just looked at each other before we grabbed our gear and headed for the roof but we soon discovered that the helicopters approaching were from the president¡¯s side. <hr>


    Five helicopters came into view and I grabbed my radio and turned it to the right frequency.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Is that you, old man?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, give us some space. We¡¯ll park ours by that roof where you¡¯re at.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°That would be $50, do you have a senior¡¯s ID to avail a discount?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [You f.u.c.k.i.n.g little shit, I¡¯ll smack you once we get down.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, you got the f.u.c.kers?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, this ex-cop and this Lim guy. I got them hogtied and ready for the afterparty.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°And unc and the rest?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯re already home. They drove back with Mauricio once we got what we needed. Finding these f.u.c.kers just required a little bit of time.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    It took them a few moments tond but as soon as they did, two figures were thrown out, hogtied and beaten senseless. Oscar and Rod came out after them and the soldiers that followed dragged them down, throwing them at the center of the port for everyone to see. A circle of people was formed around them but they made way for me, Morales, Jose, Oscar, and Rod. My team was right behind me and on our vehicles and they were eagerly waiting for what would happen next.


    The moment Donnabelle and the rest saw the two on the ground, they started throwing punches and kicks toward their bodies and Morales waited for a while before he told them to stop. However, there was still some fight in the two¡¯s eyes as they were ring straight at the president and the ones they¡¯ve broken multiple times. If looks could kill, they would¡¯ve died several times over but Morales was the one looking at them with so much hate, I could only imagine what he would do to them.


    I gave an approving look before I crouched down with my clipboard, ¡°Ah, Garbo Marcelo and Jameson Lim, aged 49 and 54, job description¡­ assholes. Wee to the port, we¡¯ve been eagerly waiting for your arrival.¡±

 Chapter 527

    Chapter 527: 527


    The two below me looked just like average human beings but the things they¡¯ve done before this shit started were way beyond the norm and they were extreme outliers if we made a graph. <center></center><hr>


    Garbo Marcelo used to be an honorable cop that worked closely with the Philippines¡¯ DEA but waster discovered to be the protector of Jameson Lim, Peter Cngco, and Herbert Tuan. That led him to be kicked out of the force, but he managed to go into hiding with the money he received from Wu Ching, the mastermind of the triad operations in this country.


    On the other hand, Jameson Lim was one of the three frontmen that Wu Ching uses so that he could stay in the shadows and work as the connection from their main operations in the maind. He was already caught and served time on multiple asions but Garbo Marcelo would always find ways to set him free when he was still with the PDEA.


    The Garbo Marcelo we were looking at now, ignoring his current predicament, had a huge pot belly, balding hair, a scruffy unkempt beard, and a pig face which most of his victims have an extreme distaste on. He was covered in bruises and he could barely open one of his eyes while Jameson Lim was looking far worse.


    Jameson Lim had an average physique but his face looked like it was used to hammer countless nails just to build a house. It was swollen beyond reason and he was already missing his teeth where a foot had probably nestled in violently, despite the rag in his mouth blocking most of the view. Several fingers of his were also bent in the opposite direction and his nails were already non-existent.


    Both of them were still gagged with dirty rags and all they could let out were muffled grunts.


    Despite their current state, they had the energy to re at me the moment I crouched down and weed them. However, the longer I looked at them, the more something from inside me was trying to get out, urging me to make them suffer a fate worse than death. The temperature around me was already lowering and my hand was trembling from the different things that were going through my head.


    ¡®Finally¡­¡¯


    Before I even got to say another word, the president¡¯s voice resounded, ¡°Pick one.¡±


    I turned to Rod and Oscar and I saw Morales giving a look of confusion. Despite that, I already expected as much and dues would be paid several times over. Looking at the president¡¯s expression, Oscar must¡¯ve told him about what happened to me and he was giving me a gift that was supposed to be only for Morales and his team.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take Jameson Lim, take care of the ones that used to be in your force. I-¡± <center></center><hr>


    Morales immediately interjected, ¡°Sir, with all due respect-¡±


    Rod instantly cut him off, ¡°Morales, you have no f.u.c.k.i.n.g idea.¡±


    ¡°But my men-¡±


    ¡°I know, I¡¯ve personally taken care of the rest of these f.u.c.kers. I wanted to bring all of them here but the helicopters could only take so much.¡±


    ¡°Sir?¡±


    ¡°We just dropped them one by one when we¡¯re still in high altitude but I dropped a grenade as a parting gift. I could still hear their bodies hitting the pavement before the grenade exploding a few seconds after so I¡¯m sure they had it quite easy. I just left these two f.u.c.kers for you but I figured the two of you should share some things¡­ Living together as partners from now on, right?¡±


    Morales was silent for a few moments before he nced at me and sighed deeply. After that, both of us just pulled the dirty rags off their mouths, and Jameson Lim started raining curses as his mouth continued bleeding.


    ¡°YOU MOTHERF.U.C.KERS!!! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU¡¯RE F.U.C.K.I.N.G WITH?! HUH?! I¡¯M YOUR-¡±


    I cut him off as I grabbed his scalp and mmed his head on the floor.


    I heard a nice little crack and I mmed his head a second time, applying more forcepared to thest time.


    Jameson Lim immediately coughed out blood as more of his teeth fell out. He also let out a pained cry as his nose bridge was bent out of ce and blood was alsoing out of it, making his breathing much difficult. I just twisted it back in ce before I mmed his head for the third time. The several blows to the head made him unconscious and I held myself back from mming his head the fourth time because I might identally kill him. <hr>


    On the other side of things, Morales hasn¡¯t done anything ye but Garbo Marcelo was crying nonstop, begging for Morales to spare his life.


    ¡°PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!! I BEG YOU!!! I¡¯M JUST A NOBODY!!! I¡¯M JUST A NOBODY!!!¡±


    Morales was just about to reach for Garbo Marcelo¡¯s neck but Rod stopped him as Oscar ced his hands on my shoulder, ¡°Do that shit somewhere private.¡±


    I looked around and even if most of them wanted a piece of the action themselves, there was also this look they were giving that it was a different thing to actually do it themselves. I could only point out a few people that wouldn¡¯t bat an eye from what we were about to do next but doing it in front of everyone present would garner different reactions and it might make them think that we were doing this to instill fear not only to those who crossed us but also the ones we were leading.


    I¡¯ve done something simr before and the look they gave me afterward wasn¡¯t necessarily pleasant.


    At the same exact time, Morales and I pulled our victims by their heads as Morales went for one of the warehouses avable while I went for a separate one. The crowd instantly gave way as we walked with heavy footsteps and I almost didn¡¯t recognize myself when I caught a glimpse of my reflection.


    I just found myself securing Jameson Lim on a metal table and I sshed water on his face, waking him up. He coughed up the water that got into his mouth but it was already mixed with blood due to the wounds that he sustained. Despite that, he instantly runs his mouth off, throwing several curses at my face.


    ¡°WHO THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?! YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G IDIOT, DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! THE PEOPLE I¡¯M WORKING WITH?! I COULD EASILY CRUSH-¡±


    I cut him off, ¡°Hey, did you know that I have braces before?¡±


    ¡°WHAT?! THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU CRAZY F.U.C.K?! LET ME GO AND I¡¯LL ONLY F.U.C.K HALF OF YOUR FAMILY, YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH!!!¡± <hr>


    I immediately hammered on his abdomen before I forcefully wedged a makeshift mouth prop inside his mouth. The surrounding area immediately quietened and all I could hear was his incessant mumbles.


    ¡°Back to my story, did you know that I used to have braces?¡±


    ¡°HNGH~ GAACKK~ GCKK- GRRK! GRK!!! GK!!!¡±


    ¡°You see, I don¡¯t have perfect teeth and I had to wear them, but there was a little problem. Two of my wisdom teeth were impacted and my dentist had to operate on me. That shit f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurt for weeks and all I could eat were fluids and shit. I even cried the moment the anesthetic wore off and it was the worst day of my f.u.c.k.i.n.g life. It¡¯s a different procedure just from regrly pulling a tooth and it costs way more.¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/finally¡­¡ªfigures._52119430922035724 for visiting.


    ¡°HNN!!! GACK!!! GR!!!¡±


    ¡°Oh, sorry. I just wanted to tell you that short bit because I think you have the same problem as me. I¡¯m sorry you¡¯ve lost a lot of them already but I noticed that all four of your wisdom teeth were impacted badly. You see, I¡¯m not an expert or even a dentist but I think I could do it. I might botch it on the first one but practice makes perfect, right?¡±


    ¡°HAAAAAAAAAA!!! NAHHHHHHHHHH!!! GRAHHHHHH!!! NRARRAAAAAA!!!¡±


    ¡°Hmm? You want to say something?¡±


    ¡°NRAHHHHH!!! GRHLKKK!!! GAKK!!!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sorry. I couldn¡¯t understand you because I¡¯m a stupid son of a bitch, right? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be gentle. I found these rusted-up pliers and this small paring knife earlier and I think it would do just fine. Shit! How would I stitch you together? Oh! Do you think staplers could work? They use gun tackers sometimes, right? I guess we¡¯ll use that.¡±


    ¡°HRNNNNNN!!!! HAAAAAAAA!!! RRAAAAAAA!!!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Hmm? Anesthesia? C¡¯mon! I¡¯m not a registered dentist, I think I¡¯m not allowed to use that.¡±


    ¡°HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! HRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!¡±


    ¡°What? You¡¯re scared? How about we agree on something? I¡¯m gonna ask you a few questions and you¡¯re gonna answer all of them. If I don¡¯t like your answer we¡¯ll continue where we left off, got it?¡±


    Jameson Lim was already a mess as he nodded several times and a smirk faintly appeared on the corner of my mouth. He was already done the moment I showed each tool I would use on him but I hammered on his abdomen once more before I removed the mouth prop. It was soaking in his bloody saliva and his expression was entirely opposite of what he was wearing earlier.


    ¡°PLEASE!!! I BEG YOU!!! I¡¯LL DO ANYTHING!!! ANYTHING!!!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sure. Where¡¯s Wu Ching currently hiding? I want to know his exact location and the number of people he¡¯s with. I want to know their military prowess and I want to know any weakness we could exploit. Also, give me the location of your other safehouses where you hide your contraband and give me the ways to ess them without trouble.¡±


    ¡°I- I DON¡¯T- I ONLY-¡±


    I cut him off as I picked up the mouth prop once more, ¡°Figures.¡±


    I forcefully wedged it inside his mouth once more as I picked up the paring knife that I had on hand. I started to slice around his gums where his lower-right wisdom tooth was located and blood started to fill his mouth. He could only scream in agony as I made forceful slices but I eventually ced a small tube to suck out the overflowing blood and saliva so that I could see the inside of his mouth better.


    Jameson Lim¡¯s body was trying to wriggle out of ce but the restraints I ced on him were more than double the ropes he had on earlier. His head was secured tightly and all he could move freely from his head were his eyes and his eyebrows. He couldn¡¯t even slide his body for a few centimeters and all he could do was scream and clench his hands and his feet. The table he was on was also bolted to the floor and any amount of shaking wouldn¡¯t be enough for him to get out.


    I stopped for a moment before I ced the paring knife down, ¡°Sorry man, I think this operation is not going as well as I nned. Can I try on the other one? I forgot I brought the right tools with me. They¡¯re all actually in this bag right here¡­¡±

 Chapter 528

    Chapter 528: 528


    Garbled cries only followed after my statement as tears were flowing out of his eyes. His mouth was still bleeding nonstop but the small tube sucking them out was preventing him from choking. His eyes were looking at me, begging for me to stop so I did, momentarily. I removed the mouth prop from his mouth once again as I gave him a bright smile. <center></center><hr>


    Jameson Lim started begging for mercy but I couldn¡¯t even understand most of what he was saying, ¡°PL-PLEASHT SHTOPSH!! I- I- AHHHH~ GACK! GARCK! I CAN¡¯T ANYMORESHHH¡­ PLEASSHHHH SHTOPP!!! I¡¯M BEGGI- ARCK! ACK!¡±


    I started nting seeds in his mind, ¡°Are you asking me to stop? You are, right? You see, I asked you a question earlier and I think you¡¯re bent on protecting your boss Wu Ching. Did you know that even in the service industry, even if you try hard and go way above and beyond, once you¡¯re useless to them, they could just as easily rece you? There are some exceptions obviously but think of it like this, you¡¯re protecting him with your life but is he protecting yours with his? Is your life not important as well? Would he even grieve if he found you missing half your jaw? Maybe, but wouldn¡¯t he just rece you with a new one once he knows that you¡¯re dead?¡±


    ¡°YOU¡¯VE- YOU¡¯VE NO IDE- ACK! KACK!!! YOU¡¯VE NO IDEA WHAT WE COULD DO!!! THE THINGS WE¡¯VE ACCOMP-¡±


    ¡°What? You could say all that but where is he now? Hmm? Is heing soon to take you back with Garbo Marcelo? What if I saw your right leg off, would he take you still? Isn¡¯t it just easier to make a new Jameson Lim? It is really~ easy, right? Right? If you don¡¯t mind, I want to have another try at your lower-left wisdom tooth because I forgot I have my scalpel right here. You already inferred that you¡¯re not gonna spill and he¡¯lle to save you eventually so, I¡¯ll try and level up my dentistry skills before he ¡®arrives¡¯, okay? Would you be amb and open wide?¡±


    I picked up the bloody mouth prop once more and as I hovered it above his mouth, his face was already contorting with different emotions. I was looking at him indifferently as I moved the mouth prop closer and closer. However, before it touched the surface of his chapped lip, I stopped myself.


    Jameson Lim breathed a short sigh of relief but then I opened my mouth, ¡°You know, I could just kill you now and I¡¯ll help Morales with Garbo Marcelo. Earlier, he was begging to be spared and I bet he¡¯d spill the beans easily in exchange for the information I was looking for.¡±


    ¡°HE- HE WOULD NEVE- GACK! GAHK! HE WOULD NEVER!!! YOU¡¯RE SEVERELY UNDERES-¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re still lively, you know that? I thought you¡¯ve already given up and here you are, threatening me once again. I guess you really want me to improve upon my skills, yeah? Don¡¯t worry, I have the right tools this time.¡±


    ¡°WHAT?! YOU STUPID F.U.C.K, IF YOU¡¯RE GONNA CONTINUE THIS- ACK!!! THIS FARCE, I WOULDN¡¯T BE ABLE TO SPEAK AFTERWARDS!!!¡±


    I gave an approving look as I replied, ¡°Well, you could still write, right?¡±


    Jameson Lim took a few moments before he understood my words as I picked up the mouth prop once more. He tried gritting what was left of his teeth but I easily wedged the mouth prop back. Equipped with a scalpel, I started to scr.a.p.e and slice through his bleeding gums from the other side, and he started to lose his mind from the pain.


    It took me a short moment to fully reveal the impacted tooth but he looked like he aged several years.


    He thought it wouldn¡¯t get worse but I ced a t piece of metal between his impacted tooth and his mrs before I twisted my grip on it, attempting to dislodge his impacted tooth from its original position. The moment I did that, his body jolted as his eyes shot up, crying and trembling from what he was experiencing.


    However, the impacted wisdom tooth didn¡¯t budge.


    ¡®I have to apply more force.¡¯ <center></center><hr>


    The moment I adjusted my cement of the t piece of metal between his teeth, his eyes went maniacal before I casually twisted my grip with added force. I felt the resistance on my hand but I continued to apply more and more pressure until I felt his tooth move over. He let out a long and painful wail and tears started flowing on the side of his face, recing the ones that have dried up.


    That was when I used my forceps to pull the dislodged tooth out but he didn¡¯t even move once I yanked it out. His impacted tooth still had blood and little nerves sticking on it and I just showed it to his lifeless eyes before I set it aside.


    ¡°Don¡¯t die on me you motherf.u.c.ker, we still got three more to go.¡±


    I continued to ¡®operate¡¯ on him until I removed every single tooth from his mouth. I wasn¡¯t even sure how much time had passed but I kept going until my body just moved on its own. Sometimes, I would be ¡®woken up¡¯ with him missing a new tooth while sometimes I would be just putting his mouth prop inside his mouth once again.


    I would take a few breaks and remove the mouth prop to talk to him, voluntarily and involuntarily, but I discovered a bloody notebook with several notes that didn¡¯t have my handwriting. Looking at it, it told me that sometime in between our sessions, he sold out his boss. However, I just kept pulling his teeth until I had nothing left to pull.


    My mind was on and off and on and off but everything came together once I saw my scalpel buried into one of his eye sockets. After that, I just saw the bloody gloves I was wearing and this slow trickle of blooding from the table. As I tried to remove my gloves, the only window in this warehouse started to let sunshine through. I turned my head towards the light and I was almost blinded when it hit my eye.


    ¡®It¡¯s already morning, huh¡­¡¯


    I just looked at what was left of the corpse of Jameson Lim onest time before I retrieved my tools. The notebook I found was also among the items I took back and I walked to the exit. The warehouse door was quite hefty as I pulled it to the side but I discovered that my Raptor was relocated a few steps from where I was currently standing. A familiar figure was sleeping by the driver¡¯s seat and I could see two sets of golden locks by the truck bed.


    I gingerly closed the warehouse door and the noise made from opening and closing it wasn¡¯t enough to wake up the three that were sleeping a few steps away from me.


    A few noticed me right outside the warehouse but they just stopped for a moment and looked at me before continuing on with their jobs. It was still the early morning but several soldiers were already awake and doing their best to keep this ce together. However, it seemed that Oscar and Rod already flew back to thepound between the time I was inside the warehouse.


    It was then that someone watching me from above contacted me.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Hey, you. You¡¯re finally awake. You were trying to cross the border right?]


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°When the f.u.c.k did you be Ralof? It¡¯s too early dude and by the way, I haven¡¯t slept yet. I don¡¯t know why but I don¡¯t feel sleepy at all. I¡¯m kinda tired but my eyes aren¡¯t falling one bit.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah, that¡¯s the werewolf thingy. It happens when you join the inner circle.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, you¡¯re gonna start lecturing me about that game? Where¡¯s Morales by the way?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah, he¡¯s right below us. He wanted to talk to you yesterday but you didn¡¯te out until now. He¡¯s been waiting for you since but I think he¡¯s still sleeping. He joined us a few hours ago but he eventually excused himself after a while. Do you want me to wake him up?] Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/the-notebook¡ªwe''re-going-home._52143090001047380 for visiting. <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Nah, just leave a note and tell him we¡¯ll have that talkter. I want to give this notebook to the president ASAP.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Huh? What are you talking about? Notebook?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, a notebook. I think he would have more problems and would have to leave soon once he reads this.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    [Really? What does it say?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell everyer when everyone¡¯s awake. We need to get home before they fly somece else.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Dude! Just tell me what it says!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Nah, just get down and grab everybody. We¡¯re going home.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 529

    Chapter 529: 529


    After that call, I ced my radio down, and then I walked to the passenger¡¯s side of my Raptor. I opened the door and let myself in as I gently closed it behind me. Kaley was still asleep on the driver¡¯s side of my Raptor but she slowly turned to face my side, letting me see her sleeping face. However, I almost screamed out loud as I caught a glimpse of Tatiana¡¯s face from the rear-view mirror, grinning wickedly through the ss from the truck bed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k?!¡± I mouthed at her as I shook my head and did the hand thing that Italians do.


    Tatiana and I started to have a back and forth with our hands but Kaley eventually woke up.


    ¡°Hmngh¡­ Hmm? Hey¡­ I-I fell asleep¡­¡±


    I turned to Kaley and said, ¡°Did you try and stay up all night?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡­ Are you¡­ Are you okay?¡± Kaley had a tinge of worry and concern in her eyes.


    I just looked at her until a full minute had passed.


    ¡°Sky?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Are you okay?¡±


    ¡°What? You didn¡¯t get it?¡±


    ¡°Get it? What?¡±


    ¡°Huh. Interesting¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh? What do you mean, ¡®huh?''¡±


    ¡°I guess you are really not a psychic. You would¡¯ve known what I thought of already if you¡¯re one.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What are you- Sky¡­ it¡¯s too early¡­ I guess you¡¯re really okay¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ You could just be purposefully hiding the fact that you are one by not using your powers just this once to remove suspicion. Ow! Kaley!¡±


    ¡°Can you not while I¡¯ve just woken up? Wait¡­ who are you talking to earlier?¡± Kaley turned around to see Tatiana still wickedly grinning from the truck bed. At that moment, Tatiana gestured by pointing at me and Kaley before making her fingers go back and forth through the hole she made with her other hand.


    ¡°You two are unbelievable¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re in a rtionship with one. Who¡¯s the unbelievable one now?¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ Let¡¯s just¡­ they¡¯reing, where are we headed?¡± Kaley started to scratch her head but she saw Jared and the resting out of the main office with their equipment. However, Morales was present with them and they were all waking the same way towards us.


    ¡°We¡¯re about to go home. I guess Morales wanted to know what happened with me and Jameson Lim.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey, you okay?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll just¡­ tell youter¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh? O-Okay then¡­¡±


    I went out of my vehicle to face Morales.


    Morales¡¯ fists were even more bruisedpared to thest time I saw them but his expression was still the same way despite the cuts made from his fight with Artem the other day. He opened the warehouse door and nced for a brief moment while Jared and the rest loaded our equipment inside our vehicle.


    Morales closed the door and turned to me, ¡°Had your fill? You took your sweet time, didn¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°And you? I guess you applied more force than necessary.¡± <hr>


    ¡°No, Garbo Marcelo is still alive.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna take my time with him, the others too.¡±


    ¡°I guess I¡¯m not the one taking his ¡®sweet time¡¯, eh?¡±


    ¡°Hmm. Did you find anything? We could trade info, filter the bad ones from the good ones.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,e by to my ceter before sunset. We¡¯ll discuss it at length but for now, continue securing this ce. If you need anything, give me a call and I¡¯ll see what I could do.¡±


    ¡°For now, I¡¯ll need a portion of the guns collected from Jameson Lim and Garbo Marcelo¡¯s people.¡±


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll add a bit more for your troubles.¡±


    ¡°Troubles?¡±


    ¡°Renting your warehouse and one of your trucks to me and giving me Jameson Lim. You already know that I¡¯ll be taking your people for a while, right?¡±


    ¡°My people?¡±


    ¡°Donnabelle, Imelda, the asshole Castro, and etc. Did any of them turn?¡±


    ¡°Ah, the asshole turned. Only him. The rest are doing fine and showing no signs anymore.¡±


    ¡°Good. We¡¯ll be going on ahead then.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    It took a few moments for everyone to gather by the entrance but we eventually left the port with our vehicles. We encountered two groups clearing the dead and fishing out the multitude of bodies from the fishing areas and the smell was still f.u.c.k.i.n.g horrible. It was one thing to catch a whiff of it and it was one thing to bask in its ambiance.


    They made use of a couple of dump trucks to haul everything in one ce because burning submerged bodies by the road wasn¡¯t a good idea. Not only it would be a herculean task to set them on fire, but it would also prove difficult to traverse that part of the road if they were ced by the roadside.


    It was because the road was only a two-way passage that would go for a few kilometers and going off the edge would lead straight to the fishing areas filled with viscous muck. Adequate space for maneuverability was always preferred and having just the right amount of space wasn¡¯t the norm anymore.


    ¡°Want me to shoot a few?¡± Kaley asked.


    I shook my head as we drove past them, ¡°Nah, just let the ones wading through to approach the edge so they would be easier for them to haul.¡±


    After a while, we encountered more soldiers killing their way through a small herd and that was when I let Kaley and the rest let loose. Ibarra and Mikhail were guarding the people on the truck and we just drove away after putting down everyst one of them. The soldiers simply thanked us when we left more ammo for them and we continued on the ride home.


    ¡°Pick all of the casings off the ground!¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes, sir!¡±


    It took us a while but we were now parking inside the DDR Camp built on the hospital at home.


    I walked over to the people by the truck, ¡°We¡¯re here, our doctors will give you all a simple checkup and you¡¯ll be assigned your rooms to rest. After that, you¡¯ll be given the rest of your basic necessities and you¡¯ll have a talk with my wife¡¯s mother. She¡¯ll find ways to help you and even hear out your troubles without any judgment. All I could say for now is to cooperate and we¡¯ll see what happens next.¡±


    ¡°T-Thank you, young man¡­¡±


    ¡°Thanks!¡±


    ¡°Is this ce real?! They have everything! A court and even a flower garden!¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/creating-expeditions_52189800186312169 for visiting.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Wait, is that Iskoh?!¡±


    I let Ferdinand¡¯s soldiers take care of them while the rest of my team drove inside thepound. I gave each of them the day off but most of them decided to get back to work at noon. However, Artem and his team decided to get back on it as soon as possible.


    ¡°Any ce you could send us?¡± Artem approached me.


    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of ces that Darelle have scouted and haven¡¯t had the chance to visit personally. Talk to him and get some info about those ces and I¡¯ll let you decide which ces you could hit with your team. If you need a refill with your supplies, talk to me, Rin, or Oscar and we¡¯ll see what we could do.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the priority though?¡± Katya chimed in.


    ¡°As of now, it¡¯s still clearing the roads to the City of Man. Aside from that, getting more samples from the onestched on the train station in Monumento, taking down the ¡®walls¡¯ made by those things, and making proper contact with the people from the City of Quezon. We¡¯re swamped with a lot of things to do and I couldn¡¯t just send the normal rabble to those ces. There are other works to be done here but we¡¯re more suited for work outside, right?¡±


    ¡°Obviously, we signed up for this shit,¡± Bogdan added from the side.


    ¡°What are your ns then?¡± I asked.


    Artem casually pulled out another hot pocket and said, ¡°Anything, really. I work with you now, da? I trust you could send us to better missions.¡±


    ¡°And better equipped!¡± Bogdan added once more.


    ¡°That. Especially, that.¡± Kristoff nodded several times.


    ¡°Okay, how about this?¡±


    I proposed a n to do an expedition that would take a few days to aplish. It would be like the people from our DDR Camp based in my high school were doing but on a different scale. I would equip them with better gear and supply them generously while they woulde back with fruitful results and most of all, urate and detailed information.


    However, the risk level was higher because their nights would be spent outside and they would have the option of securing a safe area toy their heads on or sleep in their vehicles. Aside from that, their supplies and equipment should be maintained properly because the only way they could get more was to scavenge for more and it would involve some luck.


    ¡°That sounds great, what¡¯s the destination then?¡± Artem nodded a few times.

 Chapter 530

    Chapter 530: 530


    My group was the only one in this ce that went on multiple expeditions that would span several days. Darelle¡¯s group could be said to be doing that as well but his team would alwayse back before sundown and their main purpose was just for gathering intel while being hands-off. I wanted a group that could do the same thing as us and Artem and his group was a perfect choice. <center></center><hr>


    What I wanted for Artem and his team to do was to explore the ces that Darelle¡¯s team have scouted and deemed to be an infested structure, a point of interest, or simply an untraversable road due to obstacles that needed to be cleared or the presence of the dead being multiple times greater than normal. My group had several jobs lined up but we couldn¡¯t simply abandon the ones that needed immediate attention.


    ¡°I wanted your team to make a dash for Iskoh¡¯s ce but since the port had a water fiasco, I wanted to make sure the ce where our water is mainlying from being secure.¡±


    Ibarra interjected, ¡°Sir, isn¡¯t that ce secured by the military already?¡±


    ¡°As far as we know, yes. However, I still need to have an assurance that that ce is still up to standards. Maintaining that ce needs a lot of resources too so we should make the effort to establish a line between us. Doing that could ensure we have safe drinking water and they have the means to keep it that way.¡±


    Ibarra nodded a few times and said, ¡°I see, I coulde as well? I¡¯m slightly familiar with the ce. They might need a familiar person wearing their uniforms too.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that sounds great. I¡¯ll ask the president to make contact with that ce as well via radio. I¡¯m sure he could give that ce a heads-up.¡±


    ¡°What ce are we talking about? Is it the dams?¡± Artem chimed in.


    ¡°Yeah, the La Mesa Dam and Reservoir to be specific. It¡¯s located north of the City of Quezon and South of the northern part of the City of Caloocan. It would take the better part of the morning to drive straight to it before it all started but it¡¯s much different now. I¡¯d like your team to not only gather information from that ce but also gather information from the ces you¡¯ve passed by.¡±


    Natasha joined in, ¡°A reservoir? La Mesa Dam?¡± <center></center><hr>


    I turned to Natasha and said, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s arge artificial dam that could hold more than 50 million cubic meters of water and upies an area of around 27 square kilometers. That ce supplies the water for our own region and its surrounding provinces.¡±


    Natasha replied, ¡°So, we¡¯ll make a route by hitting ces that could contain records like what we didst time until we reach the dam?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the idea but I¡¯d like for you to take a different route on the way back to maximize the fruits of the expedition. However, the priority is still for all of you toe back in one piece and still in the same way you drive outside those gates. Take down any threat as quickly as you could, and the way is always extreme violence. You could try and save people needing help but I will leave that to your judgment. Also¡­¡±


    I exined a few more things but after a couple of hours, they were gathered by the gates. I equipped them with proper and ample gear. The supplies that they have on hand couldst for a few days if they ate normally and they would have to resort to scavenging if they ran out. They were given a heavy-dutyptop, a drone, long-range radios, rys, and whatever they should need to aid with the trip and gathering more information.


    Artem brought his usual group with him and they decided to use Tatiana¡¯s Humvee. Aside from that, Ibarra and Jared came with them, bringing Marvin, Max, Ashley, and a couple of soldiers from the DDR Camp. They made use of a ¡®borrowed¡¯ Lincoln Navigator from a car dealership and it was heavily modified to look like a pseudo-APC. It had the bells and whistles of my modified Raptor and Oscar lent one of his V8 engines to rece the V6 engine it had.


    ¡°Take care of my baby! It just got finished today!¡± Raphael eximed, looking like he was sending his son through college.


    Jared was smiling nonstop, ¡°I will! Don¡¯t worry.¡±


    Before they drove away, I walked by Jared¡¯s window, ¡°You sure about this, dude?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Bring five more people so they could properly rece me, okay? I just need a little change of scenery because I¡¯m starting to get sick of your ugly mug.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Is that so? Yeah, about that¡­ I think Lois with a SCAR would suffice, no?¡± <hr>


    Jared immediately tried to get outside, ¡°Wait~ a~ f.u.c.k.i.n.g~ second~ broooooooooooo, WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! LET ME OUT!!! I¡¯M STAYING!!!¡±


    I held the door tight as I pressed on the horn. signaling Artem who was in front of us to start driving. However, Jared was still hesitating to drive away. The Humvee was already a fair distance away and it stopped when they noticed that Jared still hadn¡¯t moved from his original spot.


    ¡°Bro, just tell me you¡¯re joking! That shit would get in my head!¡±


    ¡°You know I always am. However, get everyone back safe and sound and I¡¯ll really give it to you, for real this time.¡±


    ¡°Wai- for real?¡±


    ¡°For real.¡±


    As soon as I said that, words couldn¡¯t describe the way Jared¡¯s face morphed into something¡­ something¡­ something literally indescribable because I really couldn¡¯t put it into words. They all just drove away and disappeared into view and the rest of us that sent them off slowly dispersed to different groups.


    ¡®Stay safe, you f.u.c.ker.¡¯


    ¡°Woof!¡± Zeus immediately called for help. <hr>


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    Zeus whimpered as he went ahead of me, being followed by his little brothers and sisters with little bells on their little cors. The kids were following him as well but they were running by the sidewalk, following our traffic rules to the dot. I made sure they were following them because their other guardians excused themselves to start doing their jobs. I just have to get them inside thepound so I could rest easy.


    On the way back, I was greeted by everyone that noticed me and they stopped me for a while just to simply catch up or to bring up a topic that should be discussed in the meetings. Despite that, I listened to their suggestions and pleas but I used the kids as a reason to get away from a redundant situation. I managed to get away from those people and deliver the kids home and I was more drained by talking to a lot of peoplepared to doing my usual job.


    I needed some time to recharge and the best ce was my own room, covered with darkness, tucked under my nket, and away from the noisesing from the outside world. However, I still had to facilitate a few inquiries from Rin because we had more projects lined up and it needed my immediate input. Cynthia was helping her with everything but Tatiana was being dragged along, doing the heavy lifting.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Micah?¡± I asked.


    Tatiana answered with a grin, ¡°Resting, with the president.¡±


    ¡®There goes the time for the notebook¡­ I guess I¡¯ll give it after the meeting¡­¡¯


    I eventually reached my room and the darkness immediately greeted me when I opened the door. I quietly closed the door and I walked as softly as I could so I wouldn¡¯t disturb Kaley who was supposed to be sleeping soundly. However, the ¡®sound¡¯ I was hearing wasn¡¯t exactly the sound produced by someone sleeping. I walked each step like a cat and the noise became more and more vivid.


    I could hear heavy breathing, sharp exhales, pained cries, and most importantly, Kaley calling out my name several times. Aside from that, I could also hear our nkets getting pulled and being thrown out of ce.


    It had all the signs of something I feared for and I immediately thought in all honesty, ¡®She¡¯s having a nightmare!¡¯ <hr>


    I immediately flicked the switch on as I tried to wake her up.


    ¡°KALEY!!! WAKE UP, YOU¡¯RE HAVING A- HUH?!¡±


    ¡°WHA- HUH- SKY?!¡±


    I couldn¡¯t be more wrong.


    Kaley¡¯s face was flushed red and her body was partly covered with our nkets. However, I noticed that the shirt I just changed from was clutched by her hand as she was slightly trembling and out of breath. She tried to hide it under the pillows but I already caught her red-handed.


    ¡°Umm, what are you doing?¡±


    ¡°N-Nothing¡­¡±


    ¡°What are you doing with my shirt then?¡±


    ¡°H-Huh? I-I just found it here¡­ you shouldn¡¯t leave your stuff lying a-around¡­¡±


    ¡°Then what¡¯s this?¡±


    ¡°W-What?¡±

 Chapter 531

    Chapter 531: 531


    Kaley averted my gaze as she tried to cover certain parts of herself, ¡°W-W-What?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°There¡­¡±I pointed with my lips a small spot where her juices have overflowed but she kept on denying it.


    ¡°I-It wasn¡¯t there w-when- I- shut up!¡± Kaley suddenly lunged at me, throwing my shirt to cover my face.


    ¡°Wah- Kaley?!¡± I couldn¡¯t see anything but feel the sensation of mending on a chair.


    ¡°It¡¯s your fault!¡±


    ¡°What? My fau- wait¡­¡± I immediately felt handcuffs being ced on me as my hands were behind the chair I was sitting on.


    The moment the nket was pulled off of my face, I saw Kaley breathing heavily while her face was beet red. I could see her shaking a few times but her pink n.i.p.p.l.es were as hard as ever. A small streak of her sweet juices was flowing on the side of her thighs but most of them were being kept by her cotton panties. She was partly n.a.k.e.d and aside from the panties she was wearing, the only thing she had on was her pink socks just above her ankles.


    ¡°K-Kaley? What are you-¡±


    ¡°S-Shut up! You¡­ just s-shut up! Hngh~¡±


    Taking into ount everything I saw up to now, I must¡¯ve 100% interrupted her when she was about to c.u.m, ruining a hard and proper orgasm by stopping abruptly at thest second.


    It was then that Kaley started unbuckling my pants and pulling them off, showing my semi-erect p.e.n.i.s for her to take revenge on. Kaley¡¯s expression was still the same as earlier but she slowly pulled my chair right until I was by the edge of our bed. It didn¡¯t take long before I got hard but what happened next made me lose my mind.


    Kaley stroked my c.o.c.k for a short moment before she fully removed her panties. Her fat lips were aching to get messed with as Kaley slid her fingers across it for a brief moment. A sticky substance apart from her juices appeared on her fingers before she sat down on the edge of the bed. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley and I were face-to-face but she just started ying with herself.


    ¡°Ahn¡­ Mmh¡­¡±


    Kaley started to let out soft m.o.a.ns as she was looking straight at me and her left hand was squeezing and groping her huge tits while the other was going in circles, rubbing her clit. Her breathing started to get more and more erratic and all that was happening on my side was my d.i.c.k twitching in pain. I was so hard from just watching her and prec.u.m was alreadying out of the tip.


    I was helpless in that regard but Kaley pulled me even closer, using my h.i.p.s as her leg rest.


    ¡®F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit¡­¡¯


    Kaley was nowying on her back, legs spread open, tits up in the air, while her p.u.s.s.y was only inches away from me. Her left hand stopped touching her tits but in turn, she used it to pinch and rub her clit. At the same time, her right hand started to prod the opening of her cunt before sliding a finger in.


    ¡°Mmh¡­ Ahh¡­ Hngh¡­¡±


    Kaley¡¯s h.i.p.s started to move in circles as she forced me to just look at her helplessly. She never broke eye contact and I thought I was gonna c.u.m from just looking at her. Despite that, my d.i.c.k was in pain and in need of some release but I couldn¡¯t stop looking at her. There wasn¡¯t any spot undesirable and I couldn¡¯t wait to ravage her.


    From this angle, I could see every bit of her, even her puffy asshole that was left untouched for the moment. Her p.u.s.s.y juices were already dripping a bit on it but Kaley was more focused on where her fingers were at the moment. They were sliding ever so slowly, taking their time, making every bit of insanity I¡¯ve been keeping at bay harder to contain.


    I was waiting in anticipation but my mind nked out when her right foot slid on the base of my c.o.c.k, right to the tip.


    Kaley¡¯s pink socks were in the way as she did it but I felt her toes starting to move up and down. I wished I could take them off but it was all I had going for me. I had to slide my seating forward so she could help me more but she used her left foot to keep my d.i.c.k from being pushed from each stroke. <hr>


    ¡°You like it, huh? Answer me.¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°Good, keep watching me.¡±


    I started to lose my mind as Kaley¡¯s feet glide up and down my c.o.c.k while each of her hands was exploring each of her holes. Kaley¡¯s b.o.o.b.s were also jiggling from the way she was moving but her hands started to go faster and faster. All I could do was stare right into her eyes while I slightly move my h.i.p.s in the proper direction.


    I was nearing climax as well but Kaley started a slow countdown.


    ¡°10¡­¡±


    ¡°9¡­ Ahn¡­¡±


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    ¡°7¡­¡±


    ¡°6¡­¡±


    ¡°5¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Hngh¡­ 4¡­¡±


    ¡°3¡­¡±


    ¡°2¡­¡±


    ¡°1¡­¡±


    Kaley was staring right at me as she started twitching and shaking and my d.i.c.k exploded and my c.u.m shot out as far as it could. It mostlynded on Kaley¡¯s lower half but Kaley¡¯s juices sprayed on me when she started squirting as she came hard. Her orgasmsted for a few seconds longer but Kaley was biting her lip with a smile as she was still trembling in intervals.


    ¡°Good boy¡­¡±


    I thought it was over but Kaley had a wicked grin before she pushed my chair far enough that she could kneel in front of me.


    Kaley wrapped her hands around the tip of my c.o.c.k as she tried to squeeze out a few remnants from my shaft. I grunted in pleasure as it was still sensitive to the touch but Kaley didn¡¯t care one bit. Her thumb was right by the opening, gliding it all over while her other hand was clutching my balls.


    It didn¡¯t take long before I felt her warm mouth, sucking everything out that wasing from me.


    I was losing my mind from the pleasure but once she cleaned andthered me up, I felt two huge mounds wrapping around my c.o.c.k, almost burying it between them. Kaley was looking straight at me as she moved her body up and down and while she was using both of her hands to keep her huge tits in ce.


    The tip of my shaft was the only thing that could stay up but the sight of her b.r.e.a.s.ts giving way for my huge d.i.c.k was enough to bring me on the brink. Her hard n.i.p.p.l.es were also barely visible because her soaking fingers were covering them. However, as time went on, her grip on her chest loosened and loosened, revealing those pink buttons that were hiding from me. <hr>


    ¡®Shit!¡¯


    If Kaley¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts weren¡¯t enough, she started to suck and lick the tip whenever possible. Keeping a good grip on her udders was proving to be difficult so she wore her bra loosely so she could tuck my d.i.c.k between them with the straps, giving me a titf.u.c.k without using her hands.


    ¡®F.u.c.k me¡­¡¯


    That was when Kaley used her hands to run through my body while using the other to pleasure herself. I could hear the sounds of her p.u.s.s.y getting fingered over and over and it didn¡¯t take long before the two of us came at the same time again. Kaley sucked and swallowed everything that came out of me while she shoved her fingers down my throat, making me taste her creamy insides.


    We were both out of breath but what Kaley didn¡¯t know was that I was already free from my handcuffs.


    Kaley was still catching her breath when grabbed her and threw her on the bed. I held both of her hands, cuffing her at our bed, and she was still figuring out how I got out. I got little to no resistance and her arms were stretched fully, highlighting her smooth armpits and her huge tits. I grabbed both of her legs and spread them apart as I slowly went into position.


    My d.i.c.k was still rock-hard and it definitely was waiting for payback.


    ¡°W-W-Wait! I- Hngh! Ah! HmppHh!!! Hmm¡­¡±


    Kaley was still sensitive as I groped her huge tits while my shaft was just rubbing against her slit. She was trying to get away but I had her in ce, reversing our roles to my advantage. My hands run through all of her curves as I kissed her neck and Kaley was slowly giving in to my touch. However, I could feel her h.i.p.s pushing against me, telling me to shove it right in.


    I just kept rubbing my shaft against her slit and it was making her more and more impatient.


    ¡®You had your fun, I¡¯ll have mine as well¡­¡¯


    I waited until Kaley couldn¡¯t take it anymore before I shoved it deep inside.

 Chapter 532

    Chapter 532: 532


    Kaley¡¯s body jolted the moment I shoved it inside of her and all she could do was take everything in while wrapping her legs around my back, forbidding me from ever pulling out. Her walls were so warm and tight and I could feel every bit of it with every thrust. She would try to get the handcuffs off her wrists but she would always fail each time her body twitches due to the stimtion. <center></center><hr>


    I began kissing her deeply as I explored her warm mouth with my tongue and her body with my hands. I kept thrusting hard each time while everything was happening, and her body would just follow the direction I was going. I would pull right until it was just the tip inside and I would m it right back in over and over. Skin hitting against skin and m.o.a.ns, cries, grunts, and gasps could only be heard inside our room.


    It didn¡¯t take long before I came inside of her but to my surprise, Kaley managed to free herself from my handcuffs. I was at my most vulnerable and she easily turned me over, making her the one on top.


    Kaley was grinning wickedly as she licked her lips but once she started moving her h.i.p.s, I got too overwhelmed with the sensitivity and I was at her mercy. Despite that, she just leaned closer, pressing her body against mine as we wrapped our hands around each other. Her expression slowly softened as our faces were in close proximity and I went ahead of her before she told me the words we only tell each other.


    I kissed her on the lips and said with a smile, ¡°I love you.¡±


    Kaley got redder as she smiled brightly but she replied, ¡°I love you too, you doofus¡­¡±


    ¡°You love adding things, don¡¯t you? How about this?¡± I shoved a finger in her ass while I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g her.


    Kaley gasped as she twitched involuntarily, ¡°Ah! That¡¯s my-¡±


    ¡°You want me to stop?¡±


    ¡°No¡­¡±


    Kaley was still on top of me but both of us were moving at the same time. We were both moving our h.i.p.s while my finger was also going in and out of her asshole. At the same time, Kaley¡¯s huge b.r.e.a.s.ts were pressed against me while our tongues were invading each other¡¯s mouths.


    The moment I felt her tighten more and more, I held the back of her h.i.p.s and I started moving faster and faster. Our kiss was also broken from what was about to happen and Kaley just started trembling and shaking while I was still inside of her. I felt warm liquiding out and staining our bed but I continued until Kaley couldn¡¯t take it anymore.


    Kaley and I continued for a few more times before she copsed on my embrace. We were covered in sweat and everything else so we decided to take a quick shower before taking a short nap. Both of us were n.a.k.e.d and just covered with our nket keeping us warm from the air conditioner.


    While Kaley was using me as a body pillow, she said, ¡°Hey¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s really weird¡­¡±


    ¡°What is?¡±


    ¡°Everything.¡±


    ¡°Everything? What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°You know, it might be just me but it felt like a year has passed already.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it did.¡±


    ¡°Right?¡±


    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s the New Years a while ago-¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about that! I mean an actual-¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha! I was just messing with- Ah! That¡¯s my balls! Kaley! You¡¯re crushing them!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m being serious here¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay! Okay! Keep it cool but yeah, It would really feel like that sometimes¡­¡±


    ¡°You agree with me then?¡±


    ¡°Well, if you think about it¡­ before it all started, most of us would just do a set routine over and over. That would make an illusion that time would sometimes feel like it¡¯s going faster or slower depending on the person or the activity. It¡¯s really weird, to be honest.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ can¡¯t you just remember everything though? Does that ever happen to you?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Ah, good point. Well, I don¡¯t know the exact reasoning behind it but I felt like time would go faster sometimes. Like when you¡¯re talking to someone while jogging, ying a really good game- Hmm, maybe it¡¯s not feeling like it¡¯s going faster, maybe we¡¯re just not noticing it at the moment.¡±


    ¡°I feel like that¡¯s two different concepts with the same result. What I¡¯m talking about earlier was feeling like time had passed exponentially but actually it being not as exponential as I thought. I think the example you gave was the opposite of what I gave earlier. Yours was time passing exponentially while feeling like it was a short bout.¡±


    ¡°Ah- you¡¯re right. I got that mixed up. Anyway, did you have something on your mind by bringing that subject up?¡±


    ¡°Oh, nothing¡­¡±


    ¡°Kaley¡­ you could tell me anything, okay?¡±


    ¡°But-¡±


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll trade it for something then.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°I love pineapples on pizza and I f.u.c.k.i.n.g hate that hazelnut spread everyone¡¯s been sticking their tongues on. That¡¯s two secrets already and you have to tell me one more.¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ it¡¯s corny and- I love pineapples on pizza too!¡±


    ¡°Hahahahaha!!! Fine, you could tell me just one.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m just looking forward to more of¡­ this.¡±


    ¡°My balls?¡±


    ¡°No! I-¡± <hr>


    ¡°Then stop clutching them! It¡¯s like you¡¯re taking me hostage! If I pinch your n.i.p.p.l.es, it¡¯ll just get hard and you¡¯ll like it!¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ SKY!!! I meant- Pfft! Hahahahahaha!!! You¡¯re so stupid! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    I just turned to my side to face her and said, ¡°I¡¯m just kidding¡­ it¡¯s really nice to see you smile andugh. Anyway, me too. My response to what you¡¯re talking about earlier.¡±


    ¡°So, best p.u.s.s.y tasted?¡±


    ¡°Wut?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m changing the subject! Just answer me! You do this all the time!¡±


    ¡°You.¡±


    ¡°Hngh¡­ ass?¡±


    ¡°You.¡±


    ¡°Tits?¡±


    ¡°You!¡±


    ¡°Can you answer anything besides me?! C¡¯mon!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s always you! What¡¯s with these questions?! Are you trying to make me answer a questionnaire?! Is there even a reward after this or is the ned of this you trying to get my credit card information?!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just for fun! Answer them but exclude me or be honest! Let¡¯s just say we discuss the best one and runner-ups! I won¡¯t mind, it¡¯s just something to improve on, right?¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­ why don¡¯t you start first¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Me? Sure, I really like~ Hmm~ Oh! I like-¡±


    Kaley and I talked about crazy topics some more and we just fell asleep without noticing. Once we woke up, it was already the afternoon and we just decided to have ate lunch with just the two of us. However, it was more of ate second breakfast because Kaley decided to make some scrambled eggs with sausages, beans, and toast.


    The smell was fantastic and it was like having a day-off with everything that was going on.


    ¡°Here shees,¡± Kaley chuckled as she turned to our door.


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    As expected, Tatiana sniffed out the food we were cooking and she came wearing a grin. She was about to take a foot inside our house but Rin and Cynthia instantly caught her, dragging her back into my workshop. From the background noise, I believe they were in the process of tumbling more casings while unc was delivering more casted projectiles on the side. More and more prep work was being done and they were doing stuff in between, making most of the time avable.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just make them a little something after we eat, deal?¡± Kaley suggested.


    ¡°Deal.¡±


    Kaley and I ate at the same time and we soon joined the others who were busy with work. There were people moving nts, performing maintenance on cars, having a rest, and etc. We tried to help some of them but all of them politely refused, telling us to take a break once in a while. Even Rin and the rest who were preupied with our big project with making bullets told us that preparing them food was enough.


    ¡°What are we gonna do now? Everyone¡¯s telling us off¡­¡± Kaleymented.


    ¡°You could always do it again! You¡¯ve been at it for hours!¡± Tatiana shouted from the back.


    ¡°SHHH!!!¡± everyone present tried to shush her.


    In the end, Kaley and I decided to head to the gym so I could give more pointers regarding the technique I showed her before. I showed it to her as many times as I could and even if we had the tech to record her movements, we still went with ¡®feeling¡¯ how the technique was donepared to processing an image to see if we did it right. Seeing it processed was one thing but knowing you did it right without a confirmation was much better.


    We spent the final hours cleaning maintaining the rest of our equipment before everyone was gathered in the meeting.


    We were discussing a few things at first but we got to the notebook.


    The president had a scrunched brow as he read the first bloody page, ¡°You¡¯re shitting me.¡±

 Chapter 533

    Chapter 533: 533


    Rod started rifling through the pages avable and his disgruntled expression remained the same. A few were curious as to what the notebook said while my team was curious if the president could shed some light on some of them. It was because I showed them the contents of the notebook beforehand and they couldn¡¯t make out some of the words written. <center></center><hr>


    The president started from the beginning once more, ¡°Hnnrrghh¡­¡±


    The notebook wasn¡¯t filled page by page and most of what was written was unreadable due to what the person writing on it was experiencing at the time. Aside from that, the blood invading each page made reading them much more difficult and have also caused some pages to stick together. However, a few words in no particr order were present:


    [WU, CEBU, VISAYAS, CLAN, 500, DOCK, HOME, TUAN, PIER, SEA DRAGON, HOUSE, WU CHING, 1000, FIVE, ZERO, ZERO, CHINA, MACAO, LIM, MARCELO, STORAGE, COLANGCO, HELP, SORRY, SAFE, THREE, SIX, DEATH, and MINDANAO.]


    After a while, I disyed on our screen the pages I took pictures of. More eyes seeing them would help us make out some of the things we weren¡¯t able to understand.


    ¡°Is that a puzzle?¡± Oscar asked, scratching his head.


    ¡°You really think that guy would make a puzzle at his dying breath?¡± Johnny answered.


    ¡°Without context or the keys to put them together, it would be harder than a puzzle,¡± Matthewmented.


    ¡°That is true¡­¡± Johnny nodded a few times.


    ¡°A few of them are fairly obvious but like Matthew said, if we don¡¯t have the key to make the connection, it¡¯s gonna be impossible to what the other words mean. And we don¡¯t have a f.u.c.k.i.n.g key,¡± Oscar said, taking a closer look. <center></center><hr>


    Rod finally spoke, ¡°There¡¯s a few that doesn¡¯t need keys though. I think he¡¯s hinting that Wu Ching is in Visayas, the other ind group, mainly in Cebu City.¡±


    ¡°And how about Macao? It¡¯s far but it¡¯s a cause for concern. We have no idea of what they¡¯re still capable of,¡± Iskoh interjected.


    ¡°I doubt that,¡± Oscar said.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like we¡¯re the only ones left they had to fend for. They could be a big syndicate but everyone got affected by this shit. Everyone is wing at each other and I¡¯m not talking about the undead.¡±


    ¡°Still-¡±


    Rod shook his head, ¡°I couldn¡¯t care less for that ce as of now. It could be their main base of operations or even where Wu Ching is currently at but I¡¯ll worry about what¡¯s happening in my country first. Going to other countries to worry about them is not on my n at the moment. I have a lot on my hands to deal with as of yet. We could exchange information about their leaders but that¡¯s all we could do. In all honesty, they¡¯re also properly equipped and they could take care of their own. We¡¯re already housing a few of their dignitaries and I think that¡¯s enough help for now.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to exin your troubles to us, we understand,¡± Johnny said.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m just looking at the connection that brought about this. I guess that I¡¯ll be going home earlier than I thought. Kid, do you have any idea what the numbers meant? You were there when he wrote this, right?¡± Rod then turned to me.


    ¡®Jason would¡¯ve known about it¡­¡¯ <hr>


    I replied, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m there obviously but I¡¯m listening to your guesses first if anything woulde up that I missed or didn¡¯t understand. There wasn¡¯t any particr rity or organization when he wrote each of them so I want someone to look at it with fresh eyes. He wrote that in the worst state possible and some of them might give us more info or be just a red herring.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, is there a way we could figure out what¡¯s what?¡± Rod asked.


    ¡°I could have Garbo Marcelo¡¯s input on it. I¡¯m sure he knows what half of those words meant at the very least. We just need to filter out the unreliable information as you¡¯ve said,¡± Moralesmented from the side.


    ¡°We could do that for confirmation but some of the numbers points out to a certain ship that contains what¡¯s left of his belongings or valuables stashed.¡±


    ¡°Sea Dragon?¡± Oscar asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s the one.¡±


    ¡°Then how could the numbers point to it? It literally said the ship¡¯s name.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the location as to where it is docked and there¡¯s a numberbination needed to ess it. I couldn¡¯t care less of what treasures he have in hiding but I¡¯m more concerned with the ship itself and the routes it used to take. We could have a more concrete idea as to where they frequent and stay so we could take care of them once and for all and focus on what¡¯s looming behind us. The sooner we end our old problems, the sooner we could move forward.¡±


    ¡°Really~ Kid, you sure you don¡¯t want a piece of what they¡¯re hiding in there?¡± Oscar chuckled. <hr>


    ¡°To be honest, I¡¯d pick up one or two items but realistically speaking, most of those items are worthless once this shit started happening. An authentic jian or dao would suffice for me and I¡¯ll just store the rest in a museum. If you could give the ship, I¡¯ll take it.¡±


    ¡°Heh, one or two items, eh?¡± the oldies chuckled simultaneously.


    ¡°What? A ship counts as one, right?¡±


    ¡°You greedy motherf.u.c.ker.¡±


    ¡°You couldn¡¯t let go of losing your ship, can you? You¡¯ve got a f.u.c.k ton to choose from your ce, just get another one and I¡¯ll grab another after another bet!¡±


    ¡°You!¡±


    The discussion got derailed for a while but we soon got back on track.


    The president would fly back to his ind group first thing in the morning while Iskoh would stay for a couple more days. However, the bulk of his troops would fly back to their city and would continue on with their own n of breaching the gap with our own routes and slowly exploring the outskirts of the cities surrounding them. More time was needed with these kinds of operations and a little patience could go a long way.


    Iskoh was much closer to the City of Marikina where ARMSCOR was located and he made small progress with making contact with them. The issue he had on hand was the two cities he had to traverse the edges on and the kinds of specials he was encountering on their side. He showed us a few recordings and small herds of ferals were up and about, wreaking havoc to anything theyid their eyes on.


    Despite that, no news of new specials was located but irregrs were making everything harder to identify properly. <hr>


    One of his recordings showed arge herd of what seemed to be ferals but all it turned out to be were just the regr undead walking on all fours. Panic immediately set in once theyid their eyes on them but shooting one from a distance revealed that it was all a ruse. Still, it took them a lot of time and resources to get rid of them but the soldiers present dealt with them swiftly and properly.


    The only other footage that baffled each of us was a group of undead continuously mming into a concrete wall and another group choosing to stay inside a single building. All of the footage came from Iskoh¡¯s soldiers and more questions were left besides answers.


    The operation to reach ARMSCOR was halted for the moment because once our groups made a proper channel with each other, heading to that ce would be easier and safer for both parties. Discovering a fake herd was one thing but a real one would just decimate a scouting group if caught unguarded.


    A lot of variables were still unknown but sooner orter, we¡¯d discover them and react ordingly. Our meeting soon ended and Morales insisted to have the supplies and equipment he requested to be loaded onto a truck immediately so they wouldn¡¯t have to do it tomorrow morning.


    ¡°That reminds me, you have something to say to me, right?¡± I said to Morales.


    ¡°It would be better if Jose and Artem are present. We could talk some other time. As soon as the president left for Davao, I¡¯d be driving straight back into my ce. We still have a lot of things to do back there.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, just give us a call if you need more help. If you want, you could let a few of my workers operate one of those fishing boats you got so they could bring back fresh seafood. I¡¯ll make them leave half of what they catch in your ce in exchange for guarding them while at sea.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the n. I¡¯ll leave it to you. Now, I want to talk about vehicles.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Sure, what do you have in mind?¡±


    ¡°What would it take to have one of those ¡®armored¡¯ SUVs?¡±


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 Chapter 534

    Chapter 534


    The reference obviously went over Morales'' head as he answered, ¡°I''d like both but I''m leaning on defense.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Leaning on defense? That''s the premise here but if you have any ideas of yours, you could talk to Raphael, our chief engineer.¡±


    Morales'' interest got piqued hard, ¡°Chief engineer?¡±


    ¡°You already know we modify cars, right? It''s only obvious we give that title to someone.¡±


    ¡°So you''re saying you have more people that do that kind of work?¡±


    ¡°That''s the only way we could work on a lot of them given the time that we have. Remember the vehicles we got from your city? They are now in a queue to make everything¡­ for this time.¡±


    ¡°What are they working on currently?¡±


    ¡°I think it would be better if you talk to them, they would work on it even after sunset. Come with me.¡±


    I led Morales out of mypound and straight to Anthony''s house outside so he could see the stuff they were working on currently. Muffled sounds of the stereo and metal grinding on metal could be heard while severalmps were on, illuminating most of Anthony''s workshop. Raphael, Unc Zeidrick, other people, and surprisingly, Chris and Lois were present, learning the ropes of being a grease monkey.


    They were working on a design for a Honda Civic to have a modification for its front bumper to carry a medium-sized ''rammer'' in the shape of the front of the car, extending until the fenders and the hood. Aside from that, they were doing the same thing on the back of the car and on the fenders by the wheels to cover everything nicely. It was also done to distribute the weight evenly so it wouldn''t be too front-heavy.


    ¡°So, it''s like the res but more extended?¡± Chris asked Raphael.


    Raphael raised his mask, ¡°It''s not ''like'' a fender re, it''s ''a'' fender re. We just made something custom taking into ount how the wheels turn.¡±


    ¡°What if we need to change the tires then? I personally think it''s too much,¡± Lois interjected.


    ¡°In an emergency situation?¡± Raphael replied.


    ¡°Of course, why else would we change a tire?¡±


    ¡°We already installed tubeless tires, right?¡± Chris added. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Well, he said that they still go t, right?¡± Lois turned to Raphael once more.


    ¡°Highly unlikely but still a possibility.¡±


    ¡°See?¡± Lois turned to Chris, widening his eyes.


    ¡°I-¡±


    Before Chris answered, I interjected, ¡°If you''re gonna have idents on the road, make sure you take down everything around you first before working on your vehicle. If you can''t do that, you could stay inside and wait for help, ditch the car, or divide your force to take care of the problem. Just rip it off with a crowbar and don''t worry about the extended res. I think it has its own purpose, right?¡±


    Raphael nodded, ¡°It''s for the bits and chunks going inside the gaps, one of the things that might cause an ident. Doing these kinds of things negates idents from happening and that''s why we always check our vehicles when we go out. The only way we''d have an ident is not from faulty machinery, only outside forces. But yeah, they''re called idents for a reason and we''re just trying to solve each one of them. The f.u.c.k are you doing here anyway?¡±


    ¡°Heh, am I not wee here? This ce isn''t even your house, it''s Anthony''s house.¡±


    ¡°Oh~ I came here invited, you just barged in. Technically both of you are trespassing.¡±


    Unc Zeidrick cackled from the back, ¡°Shoot them then!¡±


    Chris, Lois, and Anthony startedughing but Morales kept the same expression all throughout the conversation.


    I chuckled, ¡°Well, technically, I got my hands on all the deeds from this city. Technically, I own everything here.¡±


    ¡°Ah-¡±


    Anthony just shook his headughing and said, ¡°You''re always wee here. Anyway, what''s the asion?¡±


    ¡°Morales here wants a custom job. Morales?¡±


    ¡°Yes, one or two trucks as a start would be ideal. We could discuss payment now or-¡± <hr>


    Raphael cut him off, ¡°Payment could be discussedter and with that dude over there. What do you have in mind? I want something exciting because we''ve been doing the same shit for some of the vehicles here. I want to start on something fresh. Give me something great and I might put you up in the queue.¡±


    ''Morales and exciting don''t particrly go well together¡­''


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°We''re waiting~¡±


    After a moment, Morales pulled out his radio and contacted Jose. As soon as Jose connected, Morales handed his radio to Raphael.


    Everyone else present saw Raphael''s face morph to different expressions of bliss and Lois had to drop a wrench on his foot to bring him back to reality. However, he immediately shook Morales'' hands and went on his own to write up a new design for what I surmised an M35 2.5-ton 6¡Á6 Cargo Truck.


    ''The deuce and a half¡­''


    I could see Morales'' faint smile hidden in the corner of his mouth as he looked over the rough draft and he thanked Jose before putting his radio down.


    Chris asked, ¡°Why does it say a deuce and a half?¡±


    ¡°It''s just a nickname for it. See here, it''s a two and half-ton truck, if you form your fingers like these¡­ it''s called a deuce and then add half¡­¡± Raphael demonstrated with his fingers.


    ¡°Wait a sec¡­¡± Lois trailed.


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°That doesn''t make sense¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Half of a deuce is a finger, that doesn''t make sense to be called a deuce and a half if a deuce and a half means three, not two and a half, you get me?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Ohhhh¡­¡± Chris nodded a few times.


    ¡°IT''S NOT HALVING THE DEUCE!!! JUST SEPARATE THEM!!! DEUCE. MEANS. TWO. AND. THE. HALF. MEANS. HALF. OF. ONE. NOT. THE. DEUCE. ITSELF!!!¡± Raphael exploded.


    ¡°But- why would-¡±


    ¡°Look, I- I don''t give a f.u.c.k. It''s just called like that, let it go¡­¡±


    ''Lois does have a point, albeit small. Heh¡­''


    We eventually left their workshop and Morales excused himself to go to the DDR Camp while Lois and Chris followed me back. Morales would be staying guard and catching up with some of the soldiers he was familiar with while I changed my clothes and headed for the gym with the two. Walking upstairs, we could hear the faint sound of the music sting and groans of people mming the ground. Tatiana was giving everyone else pointers and she continued to be unstoppable.


    ¡°Wanna have a go?¡± Chris taunted Lois.


    ¡°Ha. Ha. No.¡± Lois t out refused, heading for the elliptical.


    ¡°C''mon, you''re beating me at shooting practice, let me beat you in something at least!¡±


    ¡°So you want to beat me senseless, that''s just bullying!¡±


    ¡°It''s training! It''s training! You could always hit back! I-¡±


    Before Chris said more, Russel pulled him with a grin, ¡°Finally. Come here you sack of shit. It''s time for payback!¡±


    Tatiana gave them some room as she became the referee and as soon as the bell rang, the two went for each other''s throats. It was a fair match-up but Chris had the slight edge with his speedpared to Russel''s raw power. Chris was already showing signs of using his footwork more fluidly but Russel was unrelenting. From what I was seeing, Chris worked hard to fix his ring weakness while Russel kept on sharpening his strengths.


    In the end, even with the disadvantage, Russel downed Chris on the third round with a left body blow. Everyone had a limit and this time, Chris ran out of ces to keep his distance and got nailed. Russel kept on rushing him despite eating some headshots but the end result was important. If this was a fight outside, Russel would''ve returned the blows he received several times over.


    ¡°5-5.¡± Russel offered his hand to Chris. <hr>


    ¡°4-5. Stop cheating. I got downed, not lose a portion of my memories.¡± Chris grinned as he stood up.


    ¡°Shit, tomorrow then!¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    The two rested on the bench by the door and before I even got to the treadmill, I caught Bing from the corner of my eye, heading in my direction. His face already told me what he wanted and I took it as an opportunity to teach Chris a new thing he could improve upon.


    ¡°Bing, I-¡±


    ¡°What? Excuse me, I''m gonna get some water¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°What? Need something?¡±


    ¡°You aren''t gonna ask for a spar? We always do those, right?¡±


    ¡°Eh~ I don''t feel like it. I just got bodied by Tatiana twice already¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­ have a rest¡­¡±


    I fell victim to one of the ssic blunders and I was looking for a victim while Bing was silently sipping his water behind me. We already camete and some of them were either in the middle of their workout or healing by the bench after a spar. However, there was always this blonde-haired woman ready to go whenever. She never left the ce she was in and she was looking at me the whole time, gloves on and hand by her waist.


    ¡°You gonnae over here or I''ll drag you? You want a fight, correct?¡±

 Chapter 535

    Chapter 535: 535


    I just smiled as I put on my gloves and walked to the center of the gym. <center></center><hr>


    Tatiana and I rushed at each other the moment the bell rang but I goaded her into attacking first. I made an imaginary circle with my head and I challenged myself not to leave that spot no matter what. It proved to be incredibly difficult because of the person attacking me and I had to take some hits in order toplete my challenge. She immediately noticed what I was doing so she lifted up from the ground, swiping her feet in the area I was supposed to be in twice, while still in mid-air.


    I felt the force behind her kick as I ducked down but I tried to sweep her off her feet the moment shends.


    I missed the first time as Tatiana backed away but I suddenly switched it up by delivering another sweep from a different angle. My heel flew overheading from below as I turned my body while supporting myself with my hands. It grazed her shoulders and she was slightly knocked back but what surprised her was that it was just the opening move forunching myself in the air, delivering a wheel kick with my full weight after a side roll.


    Tatiana tried guarding with her arms the moment she saw me wind up for the third time but it knocked her off her feet even when she sessfully raised her arms. The dull sound it made after connecting resounded in the gym and everyone stopped what they were doing. All they saw was Tatiana on the floor while I was just about to get up. No one dared to make a sound and even the stereo stopped sting music.


    That was when Tatiana looked at me with a wicked smile beforeunching herself from the mat.


    It was all too familiar.


    Tatiana performed the same moves that I did but right as I raised my left arm to catch it, she twisted her body to an impossible angle as she easily nestled her leg above my right shoulder. I was toote to react once she jumped with her other foot and I felt my head getting locked between her thighs. The way she pinched her leg close and how she locked it with her other foot came too fast and from somewhere I didn¡¯t expect.


    We were on the ground as I struggled to break free and all I could see was her grin from above.


    Once she started applying pressure on my head, I knew it was over. I tried to break free but she was mping me so tight, I barely had enough room to maneuver.


    ¡®She got me.¡¯


    I had a few things to get out of it but I wouldn¡¯t do it in a spar and with people around to witness it. I just epted the loss and tapped Tatiana¡¯s thighs a few times before I got knocked out cold. The pressure immediately lifted as she immediately let go of my head and she kept her wicked grin as she helped me stood up. I forgot to show Chris the new thing he should work on but he should be able to pick up a few things just from watching two people fight.


    Tatiana whispered as we were getting some water, ¡°I thought you¡¯d die from my crotch. In a sense, a better ce to go, correct?¡± <center></center><hr>


    I almost choked from my drink but I whispered back, ¡°Nah, I got a lot of practice from you sitting on my face¡­¡±


    ¡°PFFTH!!! F.U.C.K!!!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    The people close weren¡¯t able to hear our conversation but their heads turned the moment water sprayed from Tatiana¡¯s nose. She punched me a couple of times but I keptughing so hard. I finally handed her my spare towel but she couldn¡¯t keep a straight face and all she could do was clutch it with her hands. After a while, more people approached us for pointers and we gave them a lesson after mming their bodies on the mat.


    It took a while before everything settled down but I finally managed to do my own workout.


    After a couple of hours, I was thest one in the gym and the whole ce was quiet. I was on thest set of my crunches and once I was done, I lifted myself from the ground by using my hands, then just my right arm, then finally with just my fingers. I could see the fruits of mybor from the reflection in the mirror and I held that position for a minute before standing normally.


    ¡®I still have a long way to go¡­¡¯


    I just closed my eyes and controlled my breathing as I sat down. A still image that was imprinted in my head slowly appeared then a faint smile appeared on my face. After a few minutes, I walked back to my room and discovered that everyone had already taken their showers and were either performing maintenance on our guns or were just idling about.


    Tatiana turned her head towards me and smiled, ¡°You took your time, I¡¯m already feeling my arms getting numb from your kick earlier.¡±


    ¡°Heh, I just have a little bit of energy I have to burn. Besides, I camete.¡±


    ¡°Yeah~ You never c.u.m first¡­¡±


    ¡°W-Wait, what?! Hold on a sec-¡±


    ¡°TATIANA!!!¡± <hr>


    ¡°PFFT!¡±


    ¡°WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT?! HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s true, correct? What did I say wrong?!¡±


    Thedies startedughing while I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt. It didn¡¯t take long before one thing led to another and we all ended up in each other¡¯s arms. After a few hours, as we were preparing for bed, Micah decided to open up a conversation and ask a huge favor. The confident expression she was always carrying was reced by worry and the rest of us needed to know more about what was it all about.


    ¡°Umm¡­ I¡¯d rather talk about this with him only¡­ He c-could tell you after we talk but I want him to hear this first¡­¡±


    Kaley nced at us first before she signaled me to speak with Micah privately. After that, Micah and I excused ourselves to head to the roof and she was leaning on the railing before she turned to me. She was still adamant about speaking so I decided to move the would-be conversation forward.


    ¡°Can you tell me the problem now? You don¡¯t have to drag me here¡­ you could trust Kaley and the rest of them with whatever secret you¡¯re about to tell me, okay? You already said I could tell them afterward so this premise of heading to the roof is kinda moot¡­ Micah?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a little something I¡¯m having trouble bringing up¡­ it¡¯s actually the main reason I came here and I¡¯m still working up the courage and the j-justification to ask you this¡­ so¡­ but- it¡¯s kinda simr to what has been happening from the report I heard from the port but t-this is more¡­ c-consensual¡­¡±


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    ¡°J-Just hear me out¡­ remember the girl group I formed back then?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah, you said that they¡¯re all in your care and- Wait, you¡¯re gonna bring them here?¡±


    ¡°A-About that¡­ there¡¯s a little catch I want to ask you¡­ a-about them¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Okay¡­y it on me. You know I could take more people in but they gotta pull their weight. I won¡¯t ask them to clean out herds of the dead unless they¡¯re well-equipped but they gottaplete the course. They should be able to use and maintain a weapon, apply first-aid, drive and fix a vehicle, be assessed by Kaley¡¯s mom, be assigned a job-¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah, it¡¯s the job description I want to have a talk to you about¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s something legalized in some countries¡­¡±


    ¡°Stop right there.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not asking me what I think you¡¯re asking me to do.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Micah turned her back away from me.


    I grabbed her shoulder and made her face me, ¡°Micah?¡±


    Micah suddenly pped my hands with a frown, ¡°I found about it toote, alright?! It¡¯s not like I could watch what they do 24/7, I¡¯m busy teaching soldiers to fly helicopters while they teach me survival stuff in the meantime! There¡¯s also these meetings I have to attend with the president even if I have no say in it! At least here, I could voice out my opinions! How could I know that some of them would resort to¡­ to¡­ to-¡±


    ¡°Were they forced to do it? Left them with no choice?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Micah?¡± <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Micah.¡±


    ¡°N-No¡­ I¡¯m not sure¡­¡±


    ¡°No? Not sure? What-¡±


    ¡°They chose to do it¡­ Not all of them but- you know¡­ Some of them were just around Cynthia¡¯s age and they know no better¡­ I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m not really- I tried to stop them but they¡¯re in too deep¡­¡±


    ¡°Too deep? How long has it been going on?¡±


    ¡°You have no idea how a¡­ how a- forck of a better term- a minor or an emerging celebrity would feel after their 15 minutes of fame. There woulde a time when a ¡®deal¡¯ should be made in order to have that extra bit of air time. I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m just gonna say that I had to do a few of those ¡®deals¡¯ myself so I am where I am today. You just gotta be smart about it and be extra lucky because being in the industry isn¡¯t all rainbows and smiles¡­ I learned that the hard way¡­¡±


    ¡°But still¡­¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re either gonna do it behind my back or I¡¯ll let them continue what they¡¯re doing. In any case, I¡¯d only let them with the proper rules and regtions ced on them and their¡­ partner¡­ Check-ups, medical care, protection, and etc. in exchange for ¡®calming¡¯ a few folks with their sudden urges and lessening s.e.x crimes to an extent. You think it¡¯s not happening here but let me tell you, sooner orter, it will. It¡¯s better to have control of it rather than letting it hit everyone in the face. I¡¯ve talked to Rod about this before and he just brushed me off, telling me that it¡¯s not the priority¡­¡±


    ¡°Let me be blunt. So you¡¯re telling me that you¡¯re fine with them or anyone that would join this new brigade¡¯s work is spreading their legs as long as they¡¯re taken care of and have given consent? You do realize that way of thinking wouldn¡¯t be easily epted here, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I went to you first, I want to hear your opinion on it¡­ I¡¯m not just gonna sprang it suddenly and make you ept it¡­¡± Micah slowly looked down as she waited for my answer.


    I brushed my hair and I rubbed my be before I began to think.

 Chapter 536

    Chapter 536


    I deeply sighed as I leaned my back on the railings while Micah just stared at me for a moment before leaning on the railings as well by using her arms. In all honesty, I slightly agree with the president''s decision but I''d rather deal with a problem before it even came up or get worse. I ran several scenarios in my head before I turned my head to face Micah. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°When''s the time you could fly here at the earliest?¡±


    ¡°Soon! I-¡±


    ¡°I need specifics. A day? A couple? A week? A month?¡±


    ¡°Wait¡­ Yes! Are you-¡±


    ¡°Micah, answer me first.¡±


    ¡°A w-week at the earliest¡­¡±


    ¡°I''m sorry for not knowing but how many are they? Are they just the current ones or did you manage to get to the ones retired as well? How about their families? Are they-¡±


    ¡°W-Wait! One at a t-time¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah- Sure, how many are they? The ones in your group.¡±


    ¡°F-Fourteen¡­¡±


    ¡°Fourteen?! Wha-¡±


    ¡°Some of them were still in training! They''re not official members but you know¡­ I wouldn''t leave them for that reason¡­ When I flew over their studio when it started I took everyone that woulde with me¡­ the others¡­ I don''t know¡­ It was chaos when it started and I didn''t know what to do when it set in that they''ve just left their families¡­ Jill and Jackie were sisters but still¡­ everyone was just crying while we were still in flight¡­ No one wanted to be dropped off so we continued on¡­¡±


    ''Everyone got it worse huh¡­''


    ¡°Okay, fourteen¡­ Is that all you''d be bringing here or would there be other stowaways like their friends or someone you''re interested in?¡±


    Micah looked away before answering, ¡°Me.¡±


    ¡°You? What?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I''m staying here after-¡±


    ¡°Wait a sec. What do you mean-¡±


    ¡°You don''t want me here?¡±


    ¡°That''s not what I''m saying. You and the president, remember?¡± I signaled with my hands.


    Micah pouted as she looked away, ¡°He''ll find someone else¡­¡±


    ¡°Micah.¡±


    ¡°He will! It''s not like I''m the only one he''s f.u.c.k.i.n.g when we''re in his ce. He got dozens to choose from and everyone wouldn''t hesitate because he''s the president¡­ They think s.u.c.k.i.n.g his d.i.c.k would make them famous, they didn''t know it was all because of me¡­ However, the reason I know that my girls were going around skipping jobs is when I caught him with the sisters. I already know he''s f.u.c.k.i.n.g around like me and that''s fine with both of us but it''s¡­ different¡­ it felt different when I saw him with them¡­¡±


    ¡°Then what do you feel when you''re doing it with us? Me? Kaley? Tatiana? Cynthia? Rin? The rest? I know we already established that we''re just having fun and all but if you think about it- and I''m not taking sides here most importantly, is it just basically the same?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°You also know that they''re all of age and could do whatever they want, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but- it''s different! I¡­ I feel guilty that they have to resort to that and all I could f.u.c.k.i.n.g do for them was to talk to you about giving them a safe space in doing it! You know how it goes¡­ what if they sleep around someone that has something contractable and it affected them? And- And¡­ What would they do if someone started to force themselves on them? They don''t know how to defend themselves and they will be easily overpowered¡­ Some girls were doing the same as them but they''re always on target because of their celebrity status¡­ In all honesty, who wouldn''t want a chance with one of them?¡±


    ''That''s true¡­ When their fantasies were suddenly in front of them, only a few could resist¡­''


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Talk to me, I''m not just saying this because I used to be famous, alright? I''m just calling it what it is. Tell me, you have a few people you wish you''ve done it with, right?¡±


    ¡°R-Right¡­¡±


    ¡°By some chance, I just want them to even eventually stop doing it and you know¡­ live and find their own thing! Unless¡­ unless that''s what they wanna do and I would stop badgering them about it¡­ I know I''m not their mother or their guardian but they''re special to me¡­ I want them to seek other options besides what they''re currently doing so they could properly decide on the path they wanted to take¡­ not being limited to just¡­ you know¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°I know I can''t ask this thing to Iskoh and the only one I know that would listen and could actually pull this off was you. You have no idea about the things I''ve heard from the people you''ve taken under your wing especially Cynthia¡­ She told me a lot of things and even if she was rarely taken out in your runs, she knows that it was just to protect her and experience life here¡­ She couldn''t tell me a few things but she''s really happy that you two met and¡­ and I could say the same for myself¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Tears were flowing from Micah''s eyes and she was constantly wiping them with the sleeves of her jacket. The cold wind was blowing constantly as we sat on the floor, staring down in silence. I just listened to everything she had to say while several things were going through my head. After a while, I finally made my decision.


    ¡°Fine¡­ I''ll make a way but we need to meet some requirements first.¡±


    Micah was visibly excited, ¡°Requirements?¡±


    ¡°First, I don''t want any trouble with the president once you move here. If you''re gonna leave his ce, he shou-¡±


    ¡°Already taken care of.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?¡±


    ¡°You''re talking about being his you-know-what, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°I already talked with him. He knows that you''re pumping me full every single time I wasn''t with him and you''d do me and Kaley simultaneously for hours and hours until we couldn''t walk. He''s lucky I didn''t tell him you were f.u.c.k.i.n.g more than Kaley and me¡­ Mr. Stud.¡±


    My heart almost jumped out of my c.h.e.s.t, ¡°WHAT?! YOU TOLD HIM WHAT?!¡±


    Micah was now wearing a grin despite the tears she hadn''t wiped yet, ¡°Rx! I didn''t say it like that but he got the picture. The reason he didn''t want to know when and who I''m sleeping around with is that he''d feel¡­ old and weird around the person but also¡­¡±


    ¡°Also?¡±


    ¡°He''d stop doing it with me for a while ''cause in his words, he''d feel grossed-out about the situation. That''s when he would be with other girls not knowing that their holes had more mileagepared to-¡± <hr>


    ¡°Okay, okay- Let''s stop hearing about the president''s business¡­¡±


    Micah sighed, ¡°You boys always say that but you don''t care if we''re with other girls¡­¡±


    I scratched my head in embarrassment, ¡°We''ve strayed from the topic¡­ c-can we get back on it?¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­ what''s next?¡±


    ¡°I could give them medical care and protection but it would be your job to look after them. Honestly, I have more things to do than just being a co-founder of this escort service or whatever we may call it so you''d be the one managing it. Not only that, if ever more people wanted to join in this ''industry'', you''d be in charge with them as well. My doctors will make sure that their partners don''t have anything on them and vice versa before doing it, and that no pregnancies would happen unless it''s what they wanted to happen and they wanted to quit and settle down.¡±


    ¡°They already have IUDs like me, Kaley, and the rest, and I made sure of that. Aside from that, I''ll make sure everyone does this responsibly, especially the ones that have something on them or else they''re out. I''m familiar, well-read, and have researched on this kind of thing before it started and I''ll also make sure that we wouldn''t ept anyone that''s in amitted rtionship unless allowed by their partner. I wouldn''t want to cause rifts between people and I''ll make sure they wouldn''t go behind my back. Also, I''d made sure each session is private and anonymous so as not to havebels getting thrown carelessly out the window. I''ve dealt with pricks like that and it''s the annoying thing ever. Some people couldn''t just understand that this could be a normal job¡­¡±


    ¡°That''s good. However, ff your girls ever cross you, it would be an immediate expulsion and they''d do the ''normal'' jobs like everyone else while giving equal punishments or penalties to the ones they''ve been with. Also, another requirement is for them to do the course in the morning and learn other skills to live in our current time. I don''t want them opening their legs 24/7 and one day they''ll get eaten, literally.¡±


    ¡°Pfft! Please don''t make that kind of-¡±


    ¡°I''m not joking, I''m serious here!¡±


    Micah was trying hard to take me seriously, ¡°But-¡±


    ¡°Why would we let them do it all day? It''s chafing! Even with lube, they''ll get tired too!¡±


    ¡°Stop~! Please~! You''re killing me~!¡±


    ¡°Yeah. That''s what they''re gonna say when it happens!¡± I nodded several times in session.


    ¡°Hngh~ You''re really doing this on purpose, aren''t you~!!!¡±


    I was surprised Micah took some humor from that but we talked about a lot more things. In the end, the hardest one to aplish would be the eptance of this kind of service because it was usually frowned upon. Despite being arge group close to a thousand, opinions would always vary even if it wouldn''t affect them directly. It was just the way some of them were brought up or the way they see things differently.


    However, a proper exnation backed with data and our conversation earlier will be our shield plus the people that would certainly agree with it. With our numbers, not everyone was in a proper rtionship because the ratio between men and women was uneven. We obviously have more men because of the soldiers and even if there were females among their ranks, the ratio was even more skewed. Add to that the special rtionship Kaley and I have with other people and the others not following forck of a better term, the ways of the old. <hr>


    Before Micah and I head back to my room, she hugged me as tight as she could, ¡°Thank you¡­ for this¡­ everything¡­ I owe you a lot¡­¡±


    I just patted her back awkwardly and said, ¡°No problem¡­ don''t thank me as much¡­ you''ll be ying a huge part in it for this to work.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, umm¡­ I don''t know how to-¡±


    ¡°Hmm? How to what?¡±


    ¡°You have no idea, I don''t know how to repay you with this¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh c''mon, you worry too much¡­ I haven''t done anything yet.¡±


    ¡°Have you done it in a helicopter? We got one here?¡± Micah started to ''lean'' even harder.


    ¡°Umm, you know the rules. If Kaley isn-¡±


    All of a sudden, I heard Kaley''s voice from behind the door, ¡°I haven''t!¡±


    ''What the fu- We just finished a few- f.u.c.k¡­'' I almost banged my head on the door.


    Kaley opened the door separating us and she was alone. She told us that they were already sleeping and she wanted to check on us. However, she admitted to snoop and listen to our conversation for a few minutes already and she was just waiting for the right time to spring up.


    And she did.


    ¡°And now?¡± Micah started to smile wickedly.


    The two were leaning towards me but I chopped the back of their heads the moment they walked towards the helicopter. I caught both of them and I carried them back to my room, covering them with my nket. I just shook my head looking at their sleeping faces before Iid next to Kaley and took a well-deserved sleep.


    ''Finally¡­''


    I woke up feeling refreshed and the look Kaley and Micah gave me was priceless. I immediately grabbed my phone to take a picture with them but I was almost beaten to death from what I did yesterday.

 Chapter 537

    Chapter 537


    Morning soon came and we were preparing for the president''s departure. <center></center><hr>


    Since the materials for making bullets they''ve sent us were still being processed, Oscar and I decided to send them several barrels of 5.56s, 7.62s, 9mms, and .45 ACPs that we had on stock. Shotgun shells and other calibers were also sent over to them but the ratio between the four I mentioned earlier was widely skewed.


    They numbered close to a few hundred thousand but a portion of them was the cheap steel-cased ammo the old man bought in bulk. They were purchased before it all started and we still had a lot in stock that was mainly used for trading with other camps and training new gun owners.


    Aside from those, the samples and the recordings of the undead we collected so far were handed over to them but copies of the original recording stayed with us. The specimens were kept tight and secure in arge shipping container so as to not have problems when flying overrge distances.


    A few more things were done in between but after their departure, things went back to dealing with this thing together.


    Several days have passed and a lot of things happened in between.


    For the first few days, I was busy working in my workshop with Rin and the others. We melted scrap metal, made lead projectiles, tumbled cases, and etc., replenishing the ammo we sent over to the president by using the materials they''ve sent and the ones we had on hand. I couldn''t simply leave it to Rin because the workload was enormous and I even stopped going outside. However, I had to give it to her because most of the prep work was done already and I only need to do the finishing touches for the most part.


    When taking breaks with creating bullets, we would be gathered in my room to polish and maintain the firearms we collected from each run, making sure that everything was in working condition. This type of job still needed a bit of meticulousness but I brought in a few people like Chris, Charlotte, Lois, Olivia, Alex, and the other young ones that wanted to learn more about other firearms to further their knowledge and to familiarise themselves with different ones.


    I finally had the time to teach more sses in the day and it was refreshing. My group and I would always face rotting bodies after rotting bodies and it was nice to see a different scenario. Kaley was by my side the whole time and I even let her teach a few sses in between. She would take over the ss that wanted to learn about using long rifles while I would always teach the sses for handguns. <center></center><hr>


    Our ''shooting range'' that used to be just a plot ofnd with a dirt mound had already developed to be simr to indoor shooting ranges and it was sound-proof and had the proper equipment avable. Safety measures were in ce and not anyone could simply enter and waste bullets. sses were scheduled properly and only ''certified'' teachers like me, Kaley, Oscar, Matthew, Johnny, and etc. without asking permission. It was closed to the public and only a few people had the key to open the facility.


    At the same time this was happening, I let Tatiana form a group with Mikhail to continue with whittling down the threats outside and exploring several points of interest we could gain a lot of supplies and valuable information from. As soon as they came upon a gold mine, they would stay put and give a call to the main base so they could get some help with hauling the supplies back. In other times, they would take down the walls made of piled-up bodies, clearing the road for safe passage.


    As for Jared and Ibarra going to the La Mesa Dam with Artem and his group, Vera would give me updates regarding their status but Jared would also give me tidbits of information on an hourly basis. He would mention the streets that they''ve cleared, the hard drives they collected, the rys they''ve installed, and the ce they''vest visited. Most of the time, I would hear him squabbling with Ibarra because of their different tastes for the MREs that they''ve packed, but Artem would stop them by giving his speech about how hot pockets were superior.


    Speaking of food, a few vacant houses were slowly converted to vertical gardens, and not only food was grown there but also medicinal nts that could be used in ce of our medicine. Finding more genuine recements for sickness was key and a separate greenhouse was being nned solely for growing such nts. Aside from those, our mushrooms were a huge hit for the kids so most households would have fruiting bags of their own, hitting several birds with one stone.


    ''Having everyone well-fed is the key but teaching them to do it themselves is much better¡­ Teach a man to fish¡­''


    Kaley and I decided to hang around inside the main base for a few days more so we would have an idea of what everyone''s rtionship with each other was like.


    From time to time, we would catch Alex speaking to Jared for short bits but she would stop the moment the girls would start teasing her. A few couples would sprout here and there but Marisha would make sure to educate them properly. A few things couldn''t be avoided when couples were alone so they needed to be smart and responsible for themselves. All we could do was to remind them about our current situation and the things that would ur the moment they got careless.


    In that time frame, Kaley and I opened the idea Micah proposed to me to Marisha. Kaley had more or less agreed with me and we decided to tell her mom to know her opinions about it. <hr>


    ¡°And you nned this when?¡± Marisha was rubbing her be.


    ¡°Right before they left, she actually sprang it up the night before¡­¡± I replied.


    ¡°It would be difficult¡­ that kind of thing is frowned upon in this country¡­ It would be much harder for our people to ept that kind of thingpared to just implementing it. People might question your leadership if you just go on about it without nning ahead.¡±


    Kaley spoke up, ¡°That''s why we decided to bring it up with you first mom, any suggestions?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, tell me, what did your other¡­ partners say about it? I say partners because I don''t know the exact number of your ''group'' anymore¡­¡±


    ¡°Mom¡­¡±


    ¡°Are you two sure that the girlsing here wouldn''t be exclusive to just your group? Judging from your circle, no one seems to be getting out, it just getsrger andrger¡­ Kaley, can you even satisfy this young man or is he just that¡­ young?¡±


    ¡°Mom! It''s not- We''re just-¡± <hr>


    ¡°I''m joking obviously, can''t you see that? Anyway, what if we do it gradually? You know, letting a few know at a time?¡±


    Kaley''s eyebrows scrunched, ¡°How would that work?¡±


    Marisha smiled as she looked at her daughter, ¡°Kaley, you know my job, right? People tell me everything, I know which ones need that sort of thing the most. A few of them are, forck of a better word, s.e.x.u.a.lly frustrated while a few just needed a quick release or in between. Some just wanted to experience it without being in a rtionship while a few wanted to experience something they couldn''t do with their current one.¡±


    I interjected, ¡°Umm, we think it''s not a good idea to have couples going behind their partner''s backs. Well, unless their partner allowed it.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, good point. We need to establish a rule like that. Kaley might one day invite them all into your room¡­¡±


    ¡°Mom!¡±


    ¡°I''m joking! Can''t you tell?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Anyway, the issue still remains. Let''s just let it simmer for a while and work out a few things before they arrive. In all honesty, a few people would be happy that this service would be present.¡±


    ¡°Really? Who?¡±


    ¡°I''m not gonna say who are they but you know what I''m getting at, right? Let''s have them experience it first as a test run before we let the others that just wanted to do it, do it. Obviously, I''ll talk to the girls first to get a piece of their mind as to how they resorted to doing that kind of stuff and go from there. Let''s keep everything discreet first and work something out with the people I''ve talked with.¡±


    ¡°That sounds okay¡­¡±


    ¡°It wouldn''t be smooth sailing but let''s see what would happen first. Anything we missed?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­¡±


    We spent the rest of the day talking with Marisha and it was a great idea to talk to her first. She would joke around to fish a reaction from Kaley and it was nice to see the two getting along and able to talk about subjects like this professionally for the most part.

 Chapter 538

    Chapter 538: 538


    The sun had started to set and Marisha walked with me and Kaley back to thepound. <center></center><hr>


    Everyone was slowly gathering by the poolside to have our dinner and Tatiana¡¯s group was just arriving with Oscar¡¯s group.


    They have started taking action about the gold mine that was just lying a few barangays away from us and what prompted them to take immediate action was the emergence of Morales and his bulk of soldiers. The gold mine I was talking about was the multitude of sr panels that were just waiting to collect dust.


    I have stated before that we would eventually take over everything but a multitude of factors wasn¡¯t on our side. Oscar was right to slowly transfer a few at a time so we would have panels closer and much essible to us. I just thought everything would fall into ce and I was wrong.


    Morales¡¯ group needed a constant supply of power as well and the fuel they were using for their generators would run out sooner orter. Aside from that, the dead getting their nasty bits and pieces on the important parts would lead to more work once we started to deliver energy from that barangay to ours.


    As soon as we finished eating our simple meal, that was the first topic in our meeting.


    Oscar started, ¡°After clearing that space full of deadheads, we started to manually disassemble the closest panels and delivered a portion of them to our ce. We¡¯ve collected close to 500 pieces all-in-all and we¡¯ll continue doing that in the meantime. Cyrill and Borris took a few while Morales had a few dozen. However, some of them were damaged but Raphael¡¯s trying to repair some of them in between jobs.¡±


    ¡°How about the tforms they were on?¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/theing-days¡­¡ªfree-use_52531722281090030 for visiting.


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯d be taking those eventually but we went ahead and collected the important ones first. What we have here is still enough to provide power so the ones we¡¯ve collected were still in storage. We could install more panels inside thispound but the bulk of them would be on Woonds. However, if we open up the barangays of Coloong, Tagg, and Bisig, we could spread them evenly.¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°No, we¡¯d just install what¡¯s enough and put everything else in storage. Our numbers are just enough to be in this barangay and have a few outposts, but migrating some of us into other unsecured barangays would spread us a bit thin. It would be also harder to monitor and give help if trouble urs. We wanted a city as a start but it¡¯s stupid if we couldn¡¯t hold it together. Apes together strong.¡±


    ¡°Did you just-¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Matthew interjected, ¡°I could start cing a few more in my house first and I¡¯ll help others with theirs. The hard part is when we start using the tforms they were in because they¡¯re better suited to be ced on opennd, not above roofs.¡±


    Johnny turned to Matthew, ¡°I¡¯d help with that. Escorting Iskoh and hearing his ideologies before they went back was great but he¡¯s still too¡­ kind. I wanted to do some hardbor to release some aggression but I¡¯ll leave Marco with going rounds in the whole area.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you want some hardbor, we could grab a few of those tforms and start digging a few holes to secure them in.¡±


    ¡°I could do that, and I¡¯ll be the ones giving you a handicap.¡±


    ¡°Heh, don¡¯tin if your back started acting up.¡±


    The old dudes started a discussion of their own and we talked about what would happen in a few days, aside from Micah bringing a bunch ofdies to join our fold.


    They were Jared, Ibarra, Artem, and the rest of his group returning from La Mesa Dam and Unc Zeidrick organizing a fishing trip with several people.


    Since I was getting reports from Vera and Jared, we would discuss their progress in every meeting.


    The La Mesa Dam was still standing and secure and they¡¯ve developed a great system to keep that ce from going down. Their main resource was water and having a f.u.c.k ton of them avable was indispensable. However, they were obligated by duty to distribute them evenly and they couldn¡¯t use it as a great bartering tool except for a few unique cases.


    A few skeptics were living around the area and as Jared had reported, they were willing to trade in water that they¡¯ve seen to be treated and processed properly in the nts, making sure it was safe for consumption. They woulde in with their own water trucks to be filled to the brim and they would leave essential items like food, medicine, and even guns and ammo.


    It seemed that making rain collectors and a few filters wasn¡¯t enough for them and they needed the extra steps so they could be sure. <hr>


    At the same time, Jared met up with Officer Dimagiba and he was in charge of keeping the ce up and running. They were received properly since the president notified them in advance. Furthermore, the mention of our group extending help made them overjoyed. Their main priority was still food and there would be a grouping back with them to speak to me face-to-face and to deliver the goods we would be sending them back with.


    There would be more discussions once they arrive and they were also interested to meet with Morales¡¯ group.


    ¡°So, who¡¯sing with me? I¡¯d like some more tuna but we¡¯d catch what we could. We¡¯d be out in a few days but we¡¯d be able toe across some shrimp, squid, Bangus, Tpia, sardines, salmon, crabs, and etc. A proper fishing boat is by the port and we¡¯d wake up in a few hours so we could leave early.¡± Unc Zeidrick pped a piece of paper and a few names were already written.


    Russel woulde with him and some of ourborers as well but I insisted on making a group of soldierse with them for protection. It was no trouble convincing Unc Zeidrick and a few people enlisted as well for a change of scenery and to learn how to fish. Myte grandfather on my mother¡¯s side used to be a fisherman and I mentioned before that he would take me a few times. Taking his sons before they grew up and moved to the city was an everyday urrence and they know more than me in regards to that.


    ¡°Anything you want me to keep an eye on? A mermaid? Location of Antis? One Piece? The ck Pearl? The Krusty Krab? Payayayayai~¡± Russel approached me.


    Unc Zeidrick red at his son, ¡°You¡¯re off the list.¡±


    ¡°DAD~!!! I¡¯m just-¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s one strike.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll walk the nk?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s strike number two-¡±


    ¡°DAD! I¡¯m just joking~!!!¡±


    I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt, ¡°Heh, just get back with a huge haul. Don¡¯t forget your radios so we coulde with the helicopter if trouble brews. Other than that, if you¡¯d contact me if you notice something peculiar or fishy, that would be great.¡± <hr>


    A few more concerns were discussed and we finally ended the meeting. The tables were cleared while a few went home or just lounged around. We finished rather early but the ones that would being with Unc Zeidrick to fish started preparing the supplies they would be taking with them.


    When Kaley and I went to the gym, there were fewer people than usual but nevertheless, we finished our workout without issue. However, I didn¡¯t notice that Kaley silently slipped off with the others while I was giving pointers to Chris. I noticed it toote but I already had an inkling of what was about to happen once I walked inside my room.


    I checked the bathroom first but it was empty. I continued to check the first two rooms first by gently turning the knob but they were all locked.


    ¡®Hmm¡­¡¯


    I checked under the door for lights and the only one that had them was my room. It wasn¡¯t a big deal honestly but several things were running through my head. As soon as I opened my door, Kaley greeted me, ¡°Oh, hey.¡±


    ¡®What? I thought-¡®


    Kaley was the only one present and she was cleaning her guns on the table. She immediately went back on her own business as soon as she greeted me but I still had some suspicion.


    ¡°Hey¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Where are-¡±


    ¡°Tatiana and Rin? I think they slept early.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Expecting something? Heh, Cynthia¡¯s not here by the way. She decided toe with Daisy to choose her own ink. I think she mentioned a swallow or something¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ that¡¯s right, I remember Tatiana¡¯s ink got finished earlier¡­¡±


    ¡°Have you seen it yet? It looks really great!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I caught a glimpse of it before you guys disappeared.¡±


    ¡°You got to see it whole! It¡¯s much better that way. Disappeared? Oh, sorry. I forgot. I thought you were busy and I had to pee¡­ I just had to, you know¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, you don¡¯t have to-¡±


    ¡°Sure!¡±


    ¡°O-Okay, I¡¯m just gonna take a shower and join you, okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    I felt really weird and even after taking my shower, I still expected something to happen but Kaley was still wearing her gloves, focused on cleaning her guns. However, I failed to see the note on the table because it was on the far side when I entered the room earlier.


    I nced at it and two words were written:


    [Free Use?]

 Chapter 539

    Chapter 539: 539


    I was staring at the paper for a short moment but I caught a glimpse of Kaley side-eyeing me with a faint smile. She was wearing a pink top with a deep V-Neck and gray short shorts while her hair was in a ponytail. However, Houston, we have a problem¡­ <center></center><hr>


    I picked up the note and turned to Kaley, ¡°¡®Free Use?¡¯ What¡¯s that?¡±


    Almost immediately, Kaley fell off her stool and she looked at me with bewilderment, ¡°What?! You doofus! You¡¯re kidding, right?!¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    ¡°You really don¡¯t know?! We¡¯ve been doing something like that a few times already!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m an innocent, young boy-¡±


    ¡°Pfft! Young boy?! How are you innocent?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m wearing white underwear-¡±


    Kaley startedughing and took some time topose herself but once she did, she gave me a brief exnation of what it was. I just nodded in kind, taking in a newly discovered term, but Kaley wanted a little twist on it. She made me go out the door to ¡®reset¡¯ and once I came in, she acted like nothing happened in the earlier minutes. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley¡¯s eyes seemed to be focused on what she was doing and I decided to start ying along.


    I slowly approached her from behind and I could see her cleavage from above. Her skin looked so supple and her left n.i.p.p.l.e was about to slip out. I continued to watch her for a few moments before I breathed down her neck, giving it a kiss before nestling my head over her shoulder. I got a whiff of her sweet scent and I got a better view of her massive jugs as I slowly wrapped my arms around her h.i.p.s.


    Kaley continued to act like it was nothing but I ran my hands through her juicy thighs, almost brushing her crotch before I suddenly pulled her pink top down. It made her tits pop half-way and I had to scoop them out in order to nestle her top under them. Her huge tits were finally in view but I proceeded by hugging her once again, pulling her closer to me, and feeling her body¡¯s warmth.


    Despite that, Kaley continued with what she was doing and I found out the charm of doing this kind of y. She wanted me to freely do whatever I wanted with her but she would ignore the fact that I was present. However, only time could tell whether she could keep up a straight face because her cheeks were starting to get flushed and her breathing was a little differentpared to earlier.


    It was then that Kaley started to brush the frame of her gun and her tits started jiggling from her movements.


    I was torn between deciding on whether I would just watch them or just straight-up grope and squeeze them together but I did both and waited for her reaction.


    Still nothing.


    They were so f.u.c.k.i.n.g soft yet they were still firm and supple. I was losing my mind just from fondling her tits but I saw her pink, puffy n.i.p.p.l.es get hard the moment I brushed them with the tip of my fingers. However, Kaley was still keeping a straight face even if her cheeks had a shade of red already. Even when I pinched her n.i.p.p.l.es harder than I would usually do, she never let out a peep as she continued doing her own thing.


    ¡®Well, it¡¯s only been a few minutes¡­¡¯ <hr>


    That was when I made her stand up to pull her shorts down but I was met with a little surprise when I made her bend forward.


    The top Kaley was wearing was actually a onesie and it had a snap crotch for easy ess. A little wet spot was right in the middle but I squeezed her ass first before I snapped the buttons off. From the way that Kaley was slightly squatting, her juicy mound and her puffy asshole were in perfect view and once I ran a finger down her slit, a bit of her grool produced this moist sound, and that was when I thought I heard something.


    ¡°Mmnn¡­¡±


    I thought I misheard her for the first time and even when I slid a finger in, no immediate reaction followed. Despite that, I could feel how moist and warm her insides were so I curled and twisted my finger as I pushed it inside a few more centimeters.


    ¡°Ahnn¡­ Hngh¡­¡±


    That was when she let out a much louder m.o.a.n as she even twitched when I hit the right spot. Kaley letting out a soft m.o.a.n sent a bolt of electricity right through my body and I went for it instead of just teasing her.


    I started eating her out as I raised one of her legs, cing it on the stool she was sitting on earlier.


    I spread her lips with my thumbs but it didn¡¯t take long before I continued parting her insides with my tongue. My left thumb was now going in and out of her asshole while the other was rubbing against her clit. Kaley was still trying hard to keep the y going but herbored breathing and how she was just gripping the edge of the table told me otherwise. <hr>


    Kaley¡¯s h.i.p.s even started to sway and go in circles so I decided to stand up and shove two of my fingers inside her p.u.s.s.y hole. I shoved it over and over, rummaging her insides as she struggled to stand up. The moment I felt her tighten up, I went even faster as the sounds of her moist insides filled the room. All of a sudden, Kaley¡¯s body jolted as she started trembling, warm liquid squirting out of her.


    I never stopped until her knees buckled as she came multiple times.


    Kaley was breathing heavily after all that and even if her juices were running down her thighs, she continued to ignore me, grabbing the slide and putting it on the frame of her pistol. We were so used to being intimate with one another and doing this made it so different. I thought I already had her break out of character but she wanted to go down swinging.


    I shoved my huge d.i.c.k up her ass without warning and I went hard as I could. I rammed it all the way in while I was groping her tits and rubbing her cunt.


    Kaley would gasp from each thrust and her body would follow helplessly but she took it like a champ. I would pull it out all the way until I could see her gaping hole then I would shove it right back in, doing the same thing over and over. She lost all proper decorum this time and all she could do was cry out my name. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/shh-i-like-it._52561912143081012 for visiting.


    I continued thrusting it inside her tight hole and I started to spank her ass while pulling her ponytail.


    ¡°Yes! Yes! Ahnn~ Hngh¡­ Ah! Ah! Right- Ahn! AH! AH! AH!¡±


    Kaley started c.u.m.m.i.n.g once I started pushing it deep as I went even harder but I finally reached my limit. I exploded inside her ass and my knees almost buckled as I let everything inside her. Kaley¡¯s buttcheeks were red from all the spanking and her ponytail came lose when I was over. However, the look that she gave me once she turned around told me we weren¡¯t done.


    I gave her full control as she pushed me down on the bed and I saw her removing her clothes fullly before going on top of me. She tidied up her ponytail while she was on top and I just stared at her n.a.k.e.d body from top to bottom. <hr>


    Kaley give me a wicked smile as she leaned close, ¡°You went a little overboard, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    ¡°I-¡±


    ¡°Shh, I like it.¡±


    Kaley grabbed my d.i.c.k from behind and plunged it in her ass once more then she wrapped her arms around my neck before giving me a deep kiss. She went as hard as she could as but I followed her movements as I wrapped my arms around her back. Kaley¡¯s h.i.p.s were going wild as we went deeper and deeper but I kept on spanking her ass from time to time.


    However, Kaley pped me once before smiling wickedly so I turned her over and held her hands above her head.


    I continued thrusting it over and over until I came for the second time but I didn¡¯t stop even if Kaley was struggling from c.u.m.m.i.n.g multiple times. Herbored breathing with her euphoric face said it all but after a few more rounds, I copsed on her body while out of breath. Both of her holes were filled with c.u.m and we just continued to kiss each other before we went to sleep.


    I just woke up with Kaley on my side but she woke up while I was just looking at her. I smiled as I brushed her hair to the side and she gave me peck on the cheek before grabbing it first thing in the morning.


    ¡°Umm¡­¡±


    Kaley chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s called morning wood for a reason¡­¡±

 Chapter 540

    Chapter 540: 540


    From the days of staying in the confines of ourpound, Kaley and I had more time with each other. There was always a few times when our ¡®neighbors¡¯ would get involved but as always, I would enjoy and even do it with more fervor when it was just the two of us. I would honestly prefer if it was just us two but I wouldn¡¯t change the way she thinks and behaves. <center></center><hr>


    I love every fiber of her being and I know that I wasn¡¯t perfect myself. I could also give recognition to our ¡®neighbors¡¯ because they understand the situation we were in and they were free to enjoy whatever they wanted as long as deeper feelings like love weren¡¯t in the picture. We were really close friends with each other but that was as far as I would carry it.


    It was an unspoken rule but I was sure that they understand and feel it just by the way I was with thempared to Kaley.


    I was deep in thought and I forgot that I was being held hostage.


    ¡°Hmm~ You¡¯re thinking of something else, aren¡¯t you?¡± Kaley¡¯s hand was already going up and down my shaft but she was gripping me hard, stretching and contorting the skin with every stroke.


    Kaley was staring at me the whole time and I was 100% sure she saw me look nkly for a few moments.


    ¡°Not really, I was thinking of you.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re not lying but¡­ I¡¯m here! If you¡¯re thinking of me, you should help me out, don¡¯t you think? You¡¯re the only one getting a- Ah!¡±


    Kaley gasped as I suddenly grabbed her b.r.e.a.s.ts and she continued to stroke me faster. We were just looking at each other, seeing each other¡¯s reactions while we feel each other¡¯s breath. I was stillying on my back as she was on my side,ying sideways while leaning on me so I decided to touch her a little bit lower.


    ¡°You mean like this, right?¡± I whispered.


    ¡°¡­yeah¡­ kiss me¡­¡±


    Kaley was using my right arm as a pillow so I pulled her close to give a deep kiss. We weren¡¯t looking at each other¡¯s reactions anymore but we were feeling them with our eyes closed, discovering each other¡¯s specific nuances just by touch. I felt Kaley started to stroke me even faster and it didn¡¯t take long before I exploded in her hands. Despite that, she didn¡¯t stop and just stroked me slower so I¡¯d still be on edge while my fingers were rubbing her little hidden bean.


    Breaking our kiss, I began to suck on her pink n.i.p.p.l.es as well and she just pushed my head towards her, almost suffocating me before she reached her breaking point. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°There¡­ I¡¯m really close- Ah! Hnn¡­ Ahn~ Right there¡­ don¡¯t st- Ah! Ah! Hngh¡­ Mmh!¡±


    Kaley twitched and trembled while she was embracing me but it didn¡¯t take long before she went on top of me. We went for a while before we finished what she left off yesterday.


    Her guns were still on the table since yesterday night and we got right on it after taking a quick shower. Most of them were actually clean and just needed some lubrication, so we finished everything before knocking on Tatiana and Rin¡¯s room.


    ¡°Hmmngh~ Who is it?¡± Rin groggily said.


    ¡°It¡¯s us! It¡¯s morning already!¡±


    ¡°WHAT?!¡± we heard Rin¡¯s overpowering voice.


    Kaley and I just smiled as we stared at each other because the two seemed to have a fun night as well. Rin was so panicked as she was scrambling for their clothes while Tatiana was just aloof, getting dragged along the whole time. After they took a quick shower, they came down with us and we were greeted by the mouth-watering aroma of the food on disy.


    We had garlic fried rice with minced vegetables, scrambled eggs with peas and carrots, and fried milkfish with a spicy dipping sauce. Coffee and hot chocte were on the side and this time, Rin was the one that got dragged along while Kaley and I just followed. The kids gave us our tes and we ate with everybody.


    After a while, everyone was almost done and most of us hurried on with our own jobs.


    ¡°Kid, we¡¯ll go back to I to grab more panels. What are your ns for today? Gonna stay inside some more or finally go out?¡± Oscar approached me, sipping his coffee.


    ¡°Hmm, let¡¯s see the situation over there then. We¡¯lle with Tatiana and Mikhail¡­ I¡¯ll probably bring Lois or even Chris with us.¡±


    ¡°Great, I don¡¯t think Lawrence would assist us this time. He just said more of the dead wereing from the bridge in Tawiran, you know, the one we removed the barriers a while ago?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, we¡¯d better send a group over there then. Might be an ident nearby or a herd is in the far distance.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Gotcha, we¡¯ll do after this.¡±


    After a while, I called Lois and Chris over but I had to think of giving a little update on what Chris was using. I remembered bringing him once or twice outside and he just continued with either guarding the gates oring a few times just to assist. He was currently equipped with a machete, a small knife, and a simple Glock 26.


    From the reports I¡¯ve heard, he would rarely use his gun and would always reach for his de whenever possible.


    ¡°I thought I already taught you how to use rifles and shotguns?¡± I asked.


    Chris scratched his head, ¡°Umm, yeah but- I want to save bullets as much as possible. They¡¯re kinda heavy to lug around too so¡­¡±


    ¡°So you stick with your Glock 26?¡±


    ¡°My machete but yeah, it¡¯s easier to get ahold of and hidepared to what Lois is using.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ you don¡¯t want an upgrade?¡±


    ¡°Upgrade?¡± Chris¡¯ eyes immediately lit up.


    ¡°I¡¯m thinking of lending you a rifle or a shotgun of your choosing but it seems that you don¡¯t-¡±


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    ¡°Hmm? Changed your mind easily? What do you want? Nothing too outrageous though.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Can I have something simr with Sir Ibarra¡¯s spear?¡±


    ¡°Oh~¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want the curved spearhead though, I want it straight! Like what Sir Marvin is using! But- I want it to be split into two parts as well! Like Sir Ibarra¡¯s spear!¡±


    ¡®Oh boy¡­¡¯


    ¡°Oh! Can I also have the spearhead a little bit longer and a little bit thinner? Not as thin as Cynthia¡¯s rapier but I want it to be getting to that thinness by the end.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, great taste¡­ THEN YOU SHOULD¡¯VE PUT IN A REQUEST ALREADY! HOW LONG DO YOU THINK A CUSTOM WORK WOULD BE FINISHED, HUH?! EVEN MIKHAIL¡¯S AXE TOOK A COUPLE OF WEEKS!¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ I really should¡¯ve¡­¡±


    ¡°YOU SHOULD!¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes, sir!¡±


    ¡°Now pick something here before I chop you to pieces!¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes! T-That one!¡±


    In the end, Chris relented by picking a TAC-12, a clone of the Benelli M4 that Tatiana would always opt for. I gave him several shells with a mix of buckshot and slugs, and I made him ce them in a shell holder for easy ess. Aside from that, I taught him how to wrap a paracord around the handle of his knife and machete. Not only would it provide more grip, but he would also have ess to several feet of cordage.


    The way the paracord was wrapped allowed for a single pull to fully unravel everything though it would take a few minutes to get it back around the handle. Nevertheless, Chris learned something new and even Lois took part in wrapping the handle of his Kukri. The two just needed more practice doing it so I just wrapped them in the end for a tighter fit. Before we left, I handed him a pair of knee-pads and he wore it after getting inside my Raptor. <hr>


    ¡°Here we go~¡± Lois chanted from the back.


    ¡°Ah, recing your brother eh?¡± Mikhailmented.


    ¡°Da,¡± Lois nodded a few times.


    ¡°Did you just say ¡®Da¡¯? Heh, you better start with something better. Try Mudak!¡±


    ¡°Mudak?¡±


    ¡°Da, louder.¡±


    ¡°MUDAK!¡±


    ¡°Good, good. Say it to your brother next time, heh.¡±


    Lois immediately tapped the roof, ¡°Bro, you¡¯re a MUDAK!¡±


    Mikhail facepalmed, ¡°Uh-oh¡­ not that brother¡­¡±


    I braked-checked the motherf.u.c.ker and he almost hit his head on one of the heamps. Lois finally knew what it meant but he asked for more to which Mikhail heartily replied. I could hear the two conversing from the back while Tatiana was losing her shit. We continued to follow Oscar¡¯s lead and the trip to I was rtively safe because of the cleared roads.


    Driving to I took a few minutes but once we arrived, Borris and Cyrill were present, talking with Morales¡¯ soldiers. We drove past them to get to the other side of the barriers while Oscar and the rest stopped to dismantle the panels avable. Reaching the end of I, more soldiers were present and several casings were by their feet. They gave me a salute when they saw us and Jose was present.


    ¡°Been a while. Haven¡¯t lost your edge, have you?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, wanna have a go?¡± I smirked.

 Chapter 541

    Chapter 541: 541


    The area around us became tense for a few seconds before Jose and I started chortling. <center></center><hr>


    From the previous days, I got to talk with Jose because he was the one exchanging reports instead of Morales. He was pretty stiff like Morales at first but once I got to talk to him more, I found out that he was more aloof than he actually looked like. Despite that, seeing the confused faces of some of his soldiers told me that he wasn¡¯t like this around them.


    However, there was a glint in the corner of his eye because the moment Jared and Artem arrive, another ¡®friendly¡¯petition would be held at my ce. The other soldiers don¡¯t show it but the rookies kept on talking about it endlessly. Even when we drove by Borris and Cyrill, it was the only thing they talked about.


    ¡®Well, he¡¯s joining this time, a few others too¡­ I just need a way to swindle them just enough that theye back the third time wanting for more¡­ ehehehehe~¡¯


    After a while, I discovered that the reason that there were a lot of casings by their feet was that he was using the time for guarding this area to train more of his soldiers that weren¡¯t particrly urate to be more urate. Rookies or veterans, everyone had varying skill levels.


    Looking ahead, markers were ced every 50 meters in an intersection right until the 300-meter mark plus change. The markers ended at a dpidated house and most of the dead were in the 50-100 meter margin. The noise produced by their guns without using suppressors attracted more but in turn, they would have more targets with erratic movements.


    We have a shooting range at home but it couldn¡¯t bridge the distance and simte the movements of the dead outside. However, it just added a bit of difficulty and in the end, more training would still bring forth progress.


    ¡®Maybe why Lawrence opted out, kinda too easy for him¡­ and too short of a distance¡­ let¡¯s see whates upter.¡¯


    Kaley and Lois decided to join them while Chris and I flew the drones above their heads. At the same time, Mikhail and Tatiana just lounged around, keeping close to us the whole time. Tatiana acted more like Kaley¡¯s bodyguard while Mikhail became mine. I didn¡¯t notice them doing that at first because they were always present but they would passively follow us and stick close when Kaley and I would drift apart outside.


    They would give us space once we were inside thepound obviously but it was something I would think about a few times. <center></center><hr>


    Chris turned to me, ¡°Br- S-Sky, there¡¯s moreing from the vulcanizing and the auto shop.¡±


    ¡®Did he try to call me bro and backed out? Heh.¡¯


    I just nodded, ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s more by the residential areas too. It¡¯s still manageable with this amount of soldiers practicing, so just fly your drone around and tell them when real trouble ising. Just remember the range of the drone so you don¡¯t fly too far out.¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes!¡±


    Looking around, the only thing left to im in this barangay except for the panels was thend itself.


    The barangays right next to our main base, mainly on the left side like this one was already cleared by our other groups namely, Mark¡¯s, Dong¡¯s, Jay¡¯s, and Marvin¡¯s groups, and they proceeded with heading towards the barangays on the right side. They were six barangays heading into the Bcan area and the goal was to clear them right before the bridge that would lead to Meycauayan.


    It was the same thing as what they did here because they stopped right by the bridge to Pulo. The only difference was those new barangays were right by the main highway and it was bound to spawn more trouble. However, the experience they had from clearing the first side would help them in dealing with their new task. They got some upgrades with their gear too and that would also increase their fighting power.


    After a while of flying my drone and finding nothing significant, I let Chris took over as Jose would direct him to a few ces. Gunshots andughter would follow from the soldiers in front of us because of bad marksmanship but I noticed that Borris was walking towards me. Cyrill was following right behind him and I knew that they mean some business.


    Borris greeted me, ¡°Hey.¡±


    I gave a small nod, ¡°Hey.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Uhh, let me get straight to the point. Umm, I want to have the area in Tawiran. You know, the ce where you sent us to get some boats?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, where we got Gemma and my Raptor.¡±


    ¡°Huh? I don¡¯t- sure, that ce. Oh, I don¡¯t mean to give it for free of course and I don¡¯t mean the whole ce¡­ just this teeny~ area right after A. Sanchez St. There¡¯s this house there I took my sights on for a while and I think I could move everything I have over there. It¡¯s not much for what I have currently but you know, renting and building the houses for my animals is gonna take some time.¡±


    I scrunched my brows and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t that the shack right by the big house?¡±


    Borris got excited, ¡°Yeah! That one! The one with the roof almost falling off! It¡¯s like my old house but it¡¯s bigger! Like twice big!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Cyrill had a pained look on his face but couldn¡¯t say anything about it.


    ¡°You know, you could just move into that big house right next to it, right? It¡¯s several times-¡±


    ¡°Nah, that ce looks like an uptight office worker or something lived in it. Too eye-catchy as well. I want something that could blend in~¡±


    ¡°Ah~ Shouldn¡¯t it blend in just easily with the other houses next to it? Bor, we¡¯re in a city, not the provinces¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Eh~ That¡¯s just not my style.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just move in with Lawrence in his outpost? You¡¯ve been there several times already, right? You¡¯ve been helping with the crops and even the animals, you¡¯ve basically made it your own home just in the agriculture department. Besides, you¡¯d be too far away and it would take a few minutes to reach you once trouble brews.¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/blood-and-family_52633539849548380 for visiting.


    ¡°Ah, sure.¡±


    ¡°Wut?¡±


    ¡°I guess we¡¯ll stay there¡­ I already built a shock in the garden too¡­ my vacation house.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± everyone listening in was f.u.c.k.i.n.g silent.


    ¡°Wait. You¡¯ll ept this f.u.c.ker too?¡± Borris pointed at Cyrill.


    The moment Borris said that, my face had a different shadepared to what I was wearing earlier, and even Lois turned around to see how I would react. At the same time, Cyrill took a step back as he jabbed Borris on the shoulder, frowning at what Borris insisted. However, I took a deep breath as I looked at my estranged cousin.


    ¡°You still know how it works? We¡¯ll do that but it¡¯s full force from all of us. And that¡¯s on the condition that they¡¯ll ept it. Me doing this justnds you to live in that outpost, not back in my ce, understand? That¡¯s a whole another level of pain you got to get through.¡±


    Cyrill looked down for a brief moment before he gritted his teeth and eximed, ¡°BRING I- BUAH!¡± <hr>


    Before Cyrill got to finish his war cry, I immediately balled my fist as I delivered a right hook, straight to his sides. His body instantly buckled before he sprawled on the floor, rolling from the pain and vomiting out what he had for breakfast. However, a faint smile was on my face because he blocked with his elbow at the right time. Despite that, the power transferred over his arms, still causing a lot of damage but not enough to break his ribs.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit, you kids still do that shit?!¡± Borris looked at us in bewilderment.


    ¡°It¡¯s a family affair. My turn?¡± Lois was already cracking his knuckles as he approached us.


    ¡°F.U.C.K~!!!¡± Cyrill eximed as he stood up.


    Cyrill wiped the vomit and saliva from his mouth but Lois proceeded with a left hook to his other side. Cyrill hadn¡¯t had the time to block but his body buckled once more, causing him to go down in one knee and eventually fall over.


    Lois had some progress from going to the gym these few months and it bore some fruit today. Cyrill had built up some muscle as well ever since he stopped using but it wasn¡¯t enough to shield himself.


    Everyone was just staring in shock the moment Lois and I sent blows straight to our cousin but only a few understood what we were doing. Kaley and a few others have witnessed it before but this time, it wasn¡¯t a p on the back doing 60% power. Even the soldiers busy with their training stopped and several murmurs popped here and there. However, as soon as everything started to calm down, Oscar popped up and kicked Cyrill right in the shin.


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! YOU¡¯RE NOT BLOOD!!!¡± Cyrill exploded.


    ¡°I¡¯M YOUR CRAZY UNCLE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!!! BLOOD DON¡¯T MEAN NOTHIN¡¯ HERE, I¡¯M STILL F.U.C.K.I.N.G FAMILY!!!¡±

 Chapter 542

    Chapter 542: 542


    Cyrill tried to fight back Oscar by sending an overhead kick but the moment he heard Tatiana and Mikhail cracking their knuckles, he sprinted as fast as he could towards the other side of the area. He still had some speed considering the circ.u.mstances but the rest of us just startedughing when he was out of sight. Borris was still bbergasted from our actions but he started to follow Cyrill after asking a few more questions regarding their move. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You really epting that f.u.c.ker, eh?¡± Oscar said as he turned to me.


    I nodded a few times, ¡°Yeah, he better get back to before he was using so he¡¯d survive this thing. I¡¯ll make him fight every single one of us after taking a free hit from everybody else. It took some time but I couldn¡¯t fathom that the world needed to end so he could turn his life around.¡±


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    ¡°You know I¡¯m kidding, right?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    ¡°His sister, your other cousin¡­ is still missing, right?¡± Kaley asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I thought we¡¯d find her sooner orter but I think she¡¯s¡­ gone. There¡¯s a small chance that she¡¯s still alive but we¡¯ll never know until we see it with our own eyes. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re actively looking for her¡­¡±


    Joanna could be lying dead in a ditch somewhere or could be another deadhead waiting to be put down. She was the worst of the two because she soaked up most of their mother¡¯s bad upbringing. It would take more than a beating to set her straight and the only thing that would take her in was if she was adopted by a group of people that was like herself. <center></center><hr>


    ¡®If that ever happens and she caused harm to my people, I¡¯ll dly put her down even if she was blood.¡¯


    After a time, my main group went home when it was noon.


    The number of soldiers present in that ce couldn¡¯t make a herd pose a threat and all that we did was talk to everybody that walked by us. However, I made sure to swipe all of the casings that I could and Jose was helpless to stop me because I was their main source of bullets.


    While we were eating, I saw Mauricio walking with a te of food straight to Oscar¡¯s home. The operation on his wife¡¯s condition was done a few days before and Catherine was in the process of healing. It would take a few months to heal and Mauricio brought in a lot of supplies just so we could let her live in Oscar¡¯s residence. I persuaded him about doing that at first but he deeply insisted.


    The person that helped in taking Catherine¡¯s vision away from her brought it back by ¡®giving¡¯ her own sight. It would be wrong doing it before but as the times of end continued to pass, a few things have started to be a gray area. Nevertheless, what happened was just payback and it was definitely paid several times over.


    The person in question was left alive and sent to the Intercity as per Mauricio¡¯s suggestion and hadn¡¯t heard from ever since. I thought Mauricio would kill her immediately but he didn¡¯t, making her suffering farrger.


    Moving on, I discovered that aside from Marisha, Oscar would keep herpany and would tell her stories about his past and his family. Matthew and Johnny would share their stories as well when they were drinking, and Catherine appreciated that a whole lot even if some stories were just in stupid and funny.


    It became a bridge to their heads because those three, as Marisha stated, were always keeping their inner, deeper thoughts hidden and Catherine listening to them drinking revealed a whole lot. It would be considered snooping but done for the purpose of understanding them better.


    ¡®It¡¯s scary in a sense but Marisha is doing some work¡­¡¯ <hr>


    After a while, I brought my group near the ce where Tatiana pointed on the map.


    It was on the highway in the City of Mbon but the ce she was referring to was the two cemeteries right next to each other. The cemeteries belonged to different barangays, namely Tugatog and Sangangdaan but looking at it at an angle, it was just one big cemetery divided into two because ofnd restrictions and the small river bisecting them.


    From her previous report, the ce was infested and the small river bisecting them was filled with the dead or their broken bits and pieces, blocking the water system and joining the two cemeteries into a single facility. Small walls made of flesh were also ¡®erected¡¯ around the whole ce so that the dead would be able to get outside, forming a ramp, but the opposite was happening.


    Tatiana brought her group several times in this area to thin out therge herd but it seemed like they were neverending. The undead seemed to be attracted into heading into such a ce but the reason was unexinable. Her group would give us drone footage and the like but in this type of thing, I wanted to see it for myself.


    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±


    We parked inside a church that looked like this spaceship from a space-shooter game from the retro days. We were still at a fair distance away but the smell was horrible the moment the wind blew in our direction. It was like sticking your head inside a rotting corpse and snorting out the rest of its rotting insides.


    After clearing the area and securing another exit, we climbed to the highest point of the church to get a better view from above while Mikhail, Chris, and Lois guarded our vehicle. Kaley took position in one of the ledges while Tatiana pointed out the areas they came in contact with.


    Tatianamented as she pointed to the far left, ¡°There¡¯s morepared tost time¡­ on that side¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°The road they came from leads to Monumento, right?¡± Kaley added.


    I just nodded in response and piloted one of our drones.


    Getting an aerial view from above, there was a lot of stuff happening in between and I couldn¡¯t focus on one single thing. I had to hover the drone in ce to see much closer but I would discover more irregrities with their behaviour.


    The first thing I saw was the dead going up the ¡®ramps¡¯ made of their brethren to get inside the cemetery but once they did, they would just stare into the distance. After that, they would be approached by their cannibalistic counterparts and feast in their broken down and rotten bodies before leaving them and approaching the river bisecting the two cemeteries.


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    I kept watch on the figure missing its bowels but it kept on filling itself, making the horrible slop it consumed flop to whatever the flooring looked like. The others near it would instead take its mess and ce it into their own mouths before heading the same ce the others have went through. It was so peculiar seeing it continue without progress but I set my sights on the small river.


    From afar, it looked like a snake dposing and getting eaten by maggots by how the bodies trapped inside were squirming in ce. Bitten and discolored hands were reaching out, grabbing what was close and never letting go once they acquired a target. However, what surprised us was when the ones eating their own approached the edge.


    I thought they were gonna vomit out what they had eaten but they just let themselves fall, being a voluntary vitim.


    ¡®What the f.u.c.k¡­¡¯ <hr>


    The trapped bodies grew lively as they engorged in a not so fresh type of meat and it only took a few moments before the ones that fell stopped moving. Their w-like fingers dug through their victim¡¯s heads and scooped whatever they could while the others ripped their stomachs out, revealing everything. Blood, bile, nasty viscous fluids, and etc. gushed out, acting as the sauce for their meal.


    They got devoured in a matter of minutes and it was gruesome to watch. Lois flew his drone as well and I was sure that they were seeing the same thing from below. No one was speaking through the radio for a while and our eyes were stuck with watching them eat each other. However, drawing my drone back for a few feet revealed something peculiar.


    I was staring at the screen in silence but this particr spot in the river seemed to be¡­ breathing.


    It was like the slow up and down of a person¡¯s body while it was resting and it was different from how the ones on the surface were squirming in ce while waiting for a handout. It was more subtle and barely noticeable but looking at it for too long revealed that strange behavior.


    Kaley and Tatiana noticed my expression as they checked on me but once they looked at the feed, they had the same thought.


    They said at the same time,


    ¡°There¡¯s something underneath, right?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s something underneath, correct?¡±

 Chapter 543

    Chapter 543: 543


    All of us were just watching the tablet closely, checking for anything that might shed light on what we were witnessing or even waiting for the right moment the ¡®something¡¯ hidden underneath decided to show itself. Each upward and downward movement from the surface of where we were looking would make us try and breathe as subtle as we could, almost trying to mask our own presence. <center></center><hr>


    In a sick sense, it was like we were imitating what was happening and we were trying to go slower than it could.


    Kaley and Tatiana¡¯s question earlier didn¡¯t earn a response because a few moments as they said that, ¡®it¡¯ moved. It didn¡¯t move abruptly from one ce to another but it seemed to have just adjusted its position with the tiniest of movement.


    We only discovered it because the severed head right in the middle of the elevated ¡®mound¡¯ of corpses had shifted in ce, making it tilt its head even more, giving us a closer look at the maggots wriggling out of its nose and its mouth. A few of them have fallen off, changing its meal to what seemed to be a quarter of a decaying torso.


    It stopped advancing after that and it just continued to heave up and down, giving us more questions than answers. We were waiting for what it would do next but it seemed to have its spot. We would be here for a while if we continued to observe it but Lois called us from below.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [You seeing that, bro?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, can you fly your drone closer? I want to see if it would react to that.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah- sure¡­] <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Lois ended the call with some hesitation but we soon watched his drone approach the ¡®mound¡¯ inch by inch, weaving back with each advancement, hoping to avoid whatever maye after it. However, despite the precautions and spections on what may have happened, there was nary a response from the mound but the ones that were stuck right on the thicket of it tried to reach for our small surveince device.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Nothing bro. Shouldn¡¯t it be just a few deadheads getting stuck underneath? It¡¯s the only answer, right?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s possible.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Possible? That¡¯s it? That¡¯s all you got, bro?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°The f.u.c.k is wrong with you today? Unless we take down everything from this cemetery and dig that shit up, we wouldn¡¯t know.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah, I thought you figured it out already. My bad, do you want me to fly a little more around? See if the same thing is happening in some other ces?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure, go ahead. I¡¯ll check around the perimeter then go back to this spot to see if moved again.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I made my drone fly a fair distance away from the two cemeteries and it somehow confirmed Tatiana¡¯s report. A few stragglers that would somehow end up in the garbled radius around the cemetery would change direction, heading for its demise. However, it wasn¡¯t 100% urate because some would just scramble through where they were heading to.


    ¡®This is weird~ as f.u.c.k¡­¡¯


    I was about to fly my drone back to the same spot when I noticed something peculiar from the corner of my tablet. I had to hover my drone in ce to see them much clearly but as soon as I saw the ones approaching, I made itnd on a safe, hidden spot before shushing Tatiana and Kaley. The moment they saw my eyes, they knew something was up and we started running downstairs. <hr>


    ¡°Why are we running down?!¡± Kaley eximed in a hushed tone.


    Tatiana was keeping quiet but she was waiting for my response.


    I had no time to exin what I saw from the feed and I was 100% sure Lois didn¡¯t see it. We had to run down as fast as we could and maybe even try to drive away if possible. However, what I witnessed would definitelye for us and I wasn¡¯t sure if we would be able to outrun them.


    I already had the liberty of witnessing them in action a few times and I was sure as hell wouldn¡¯t face them in this type of situation. We were sitting ducks the moment they caught a whiff of us and we had to strategically retreat.


    ¡®Shit! Shit! Shit!¡¯


    As soon as we reached the three, I snatched the controller from Lois¡¯ hand and made his drone fly away from us.


    ¡°Bro?! What g- mmfHpH!¡± Lois tried tosh out but Tatiana covered her mouth.


    I said with a grim tone, ¡°Mikhail, turn the engine off but be ready to get it running the moment I tell you to.¡±


    Everyone was confused as f.u.c.k but I had to fly his drone as far as possible and look for a suitable target. Every second counted and the timing had to be right but there were a lot of variables to be taken into ount. They were about to reach our area but I saw a closed parking lot a few meters away.


    I was counting the seconds on my head, predicting their pathing and calcting how fast they were moving and how far they could probably elerate before I made Lois¡¯ drone crash onto the vehicles right by the parking lot. I picked a spot where it would hit one and ricochet off to a few more so the chance of it triggering the rms was high.


    The drone we were using had an audio feature but seeing the shing lights from the feed, I immediately backhanded Mikhail to serve as the signal.


    ¡°GO!¡± I mouthed as he turned to me.


    Mikhail turned the engine on and he stepped on the gas, elerating at great speed and crashing through the gate in front of us. I was looking back the whole time with my rifle raised and I didn¡¯t let up until I heard the soundsing from the other tablet.


    ¡®This is trouble¡­ We need to take care of them as fast as possible but¡­ not at this moment¡­ not yet¡­¡¯


    The rest were just staring in shock from what they witnessed but they still haven¡¯t seen what I have seen from the other drone. I wouldn¡¯t dare to try and bring both of them back as of this moment, but I knew one thing has happened when we were progressing our own, they were progressing as well.


    Before the feed from Lois¡¯ drone cut off, thest thing we saw was a few dozen ferals swarming the parking lot, missing the majority of their heads. Some only had their jaws intact while some were just broken and hollowed out. Furthermore, a select few seemed to have gotten their necks ripped out with their heads but they were moving the same way their original counterparts were, maybe even faster or just more¡­ randomized. <hr>


    Their bodies were disfigured to the point they looked like a certain ring-lover but their muscles were thick and robust despite the several chunks bitten off. I saw one leap for several feet and the way itnded told me it was packing some weight. However, the worst of it all was the one trailing behind them.


    No one had seen it besides me and everyone except for Mikhail was eyeing the other tablet in my hand.


    I just sighed and rewound the footage for them while I kept on checking behind us to see if we were followed.


    ¡°What the fu-¡±


    I thought Lois would swear at first but it was Chris.


    What they saw from my tablet was a tall figure consisting of congealed body parts in its upper torso. Several arms and legs of different lengths were hanging out and five long, and twisted tongues wereing out of its, forck of a better term, its weird orifices. I couldn¡¯t call it its mouth anymore because it had several smaller tongues and disjointed fingers right by the base of the openings.


    I would¡¯ve taken a shot if it wasn¡¯t for the buildings blocking us or the uncertainty of what may happen once I shot it. Even so, I wasn¡¯t sure if it would go down if I hit with what seemed to be its heads because it had the same number of heads as the number of the long muscles located in its mouth. It looked like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d-up, upside-down squid that grew legs and was used to scrub the sewer where pieces of rotting corpses were being dumped.


    ¡®Let¡¯s just hope it¡¯s only one of them out there¡­¡¯


    As soon as we were in a rtively safe spot, we took a small breather and I reviewed the footage over and over. At the same time, Kaley contacted the others near the area and the soldiers that belonged to Morales¡¯ group to warn them of our discovery.


    After a while, I took a deep breath and said, ¡°Okay, let¡¯s head back.¡±


    Chris and Lois breathed a sigh of relief as they said, ¡°Finally¡­¡±


    ¡°No, we¡¯re going back to the church.¡±


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°Heh, just kidding. It¡¯s almost sunset.¡± Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/this-is-weird~-as-f.u.c.k¡­_52741577604388607 for visiting.


    ¡°¡­¡±

 Chapter 544

    Chapter 544: 544


    My group couldn¡¯tprehend whether I was serious or not but I continued, ¡°We¡¯re just bringing back reinforcements but we¡¯d be only camping out at our outpost that Lawrence was assigned to. I want to bring those things down as fast as possible but not without the proper or perfect set of circ.u.mstances. A lot goes on if we don¡¯t n for it and we¡¯d lose people if we¡¯re careless.¡± <center></center><hr>


    Lois wore a serious expression, ¡°So we¡¯d just watch if it would wander in our outpost and take it down but we go looking for it when morninges?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s stacking the deck in our favor. There are a few things we haven¡¯t tried too.¡±


    Each of them slowly understood my intentions and we continued to drive back. However, we made a quick stop at Lawrence¡¯s outpost to remind them that we would stay the night and all hands should be on deck.


    A approached Lawrence with several soldiers d with their rifles, ¡°You heard the call, right?¡±


    Lawrence replied, ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ve already blocked the other passages with vehicles except for the way to Morales¡¯ base so we¡¯d have an early warning device. After you guys are done here, we¡¯d do the same way you came from so we¡¯ll be notified once that thing you mentioned passes through it.¡±


    ¡°What did you do?¡±


    ¡°We rigged them with a few explosives and once they trip them, kaboom! That would probably take down a few of them and we¡¯d know their exact location. You bringing more people, right? It sounds serious the way you described the thing.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we¡¯ll be quick.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll call when something happens and you¡¯re not here yet.¡±


    We eventually drove home but on the halfway mark, a few vehicles from our DDR Camp were approaching us and they were led by Oscar himself. Soldiers and the people we¡¯ve trained were riding a couple of trucks while a few soldiers were manning the jeeps themselves.


    They all zoomed past us but I heard Oscar¡¯s voice through the radio. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/standard¡ªnow-we-wait¡­_52790087364172927 for visiting.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Fu- want us to head back? We¡¯re kinda losing time.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Go ahead, we¡¯ll be quick.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    [Hmm? Alright then, some of us will be heading to Morales¡¯ camp though. They¡¯re kinda busy on the other side of the port. I¡¯d be sending some of these guys to pad the guards over there.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Who¡¯s left in charge back home though?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ferdinand, Johnny, and Matthew. Oh, Mauricio is there too. Ferdinand is in the camp, Johnny is in Woonds, and Matthew and Mauricio are back home.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I see. How about you?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Jose is on the nearest port but I¡¯ll head there as well.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Stay safe.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, Vera rounded up the rest of our Russian friends for you. I think they¡¯ll be waiting for your orders on whether they¡¯ll stay put or head to the same ce.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, they have names, old man.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Bah! I can¡¯t even pronounce half of the barangays around us, kid! Give me a break! Anyway, just radio in if you ever need help, you little shit.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°At least you can say barangay fluently now. Stay safe, old man.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    It was a short exchange between Oscar and me and they soon disappeared from view. It only took a few minutes to reach mypound and as we arrived, the other, much fewer half of Artem¡¯s team were present with Vera. <hr>


    ¡®Stefan, Petrov, and Marina¡­¡¯


    ¡°Okay. Vera, stay here and directms for everybody and try and contact Iskoh over the other city. I don¡¯t know the route that thing would take so we better inform them about it as well. Wake up Juan and Earl so they could apany and assist you and make sure the line is open.¡±


    Stefan chimed in, ¡°How about us?¡±


    ¡°Are you all geared up or do you need something I could help with?¡±


    Marina was about to speak and Petrov was about to point at his tattered elbow pads, but Stefan spoke up.


    ¡°We¡¯re good, thanks.¡±


    ¡°No, you¡¯re not. Come with me.¡±


    ¡°Then why did you-¡±


    ¡°Just checking your standards. Come on, I¡¯m not charging money for this. Don¡¯t forget to put in a request for equipment if something needed repairs or recement. Don¡¯t worry about damaging your protective equipment, it just means that it did its job. Well, unless it¡¯s an ident or something.¡±


    Marina scoffed-chuckled, ¡°I told you, he¡¯d notice.¡±


    Stefan was still stunned when the rest followed behind me and Mikhail was just patting his back the moment we reached my entrance to my room. They were waiting by the open door, confused as to why Tatiana was so nonchnt as she walked inside, but it didn¡¯t take long before I asked them what was missing from their gear.


    Petrov spoke first, ¡°My-¡±


    ¡°Elbow pads, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    First and foremost, we decided to tackle our protective equipment.


    All of them were wearing some semnce of body armor but they were in various states of depreciation. They had small tears and holes from a few sides and I didn¡¯t notice it until now. It was due to the patterns of the vests themselves but I handed them the same model they were using.


    It was the same ker and helmet Tatiana was using and the only thing different was the size and the color. After that, I handed them new gloves, elbow pads, knee pads, and whatever they were missing. They changed to the equipment I handed them and I kept the ones they¡¯ve used to try and have them repaired if still able.


    ¡®Some could be patched up but a few could be traded for cheap¡­¡¯


    I then turned to Stefan and his Vepr-12, ¡°Stefan, hey.¡±


    ¡°Da?¡±


    ¡°That Vepr-12, do you have enough magazines? That drum too, does that run well?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Da, it runs- yes. I got seven 10-round magazines and six 5-round magazines in my pack. The drum works well now after reinserting and tilting it back a bunch of times. It just takes more pressure, that¡¯s all. Oh, I had a spare drum that¡¯s also filled in my pack.¡±


    ¡°I see. How about you two? Need more mags for your AKs? It¡¯s fine if you have drums but I rmend the 30-round ones.¡±


    Marina raised her hand, ¡°Umm, do you have some for my PYa?¡±


    ¡°PYa? Oh, it¡¯s the MP-443 Grach, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it.¡±


    ¡°How much do you need?¡±


    ¡°Just a couple¡­¡±


    ¡°Here, they¡¯re already loaded.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    While they were busy, I took out a ¡®clone¡¯ MP5 from one of my safes. It was called an SP5 from HK and it was only avable for semi-auto. It uses 9mm bullets and it was the closest thing to the MP5 as far as looks and feels go.


    It was installed with a suppressor, a shlight located on the 3 o¡¯clock position, a side-folding stock, and a ¡®bungee¡¯ sling. I could install a red dot to it right now but we were a little pressed for time, and the ghost ring looked just right. I loaded five 30-round magazines with 9mms and I ced them along with the SP5 inside a case.


    ¡°What¡¯s that for? Are you giving it to someone?¡± Kaley asked.


    I chuckled and said, ¡°For the asshole Lois and I punched earlier. If we¡¯re gonna give him another beating, he better stay alive.¡±


    Everyone around was silent but they were wearing faint smiles. I just shook my head and looked at the tattered armor by the side. I just scratched my head and added a few more things in the case I prepared for Cyrill.


    ¡®I guess I¡¯ll give him some armor too¡­¡¯


    After a while, I also gave them fresh batteries for their NVGs and we brought extra explosives and ammunition just in case. MREs and arge thermos of coffee were also prepared by Lois while Chris brought some mosquito coils and refilled our water canisters. Aside from those, I brought a couple of new drones to rece the ones we¡¯ve left behind and I made sure they were fully charged.


    ¡®It¡¯s better to see what¡¯sing than waiting for the traps to get tripped up¡­¡¯


    The whole process took less than half an hour and everyone got equipped and supplied to the standard. We drove back to our outpost that was headed by Lawrence and we discovered that a few soldiers have a few nests away from our outpost. They were equipped with high-powered rifles,munication equipment, and for emergencies, an M709 or an M203 attached on their M16s.


    It was to provide more vision and to simply have more options in taking down our targets. However, I always had something special tucked away in my Raptor in case I needed more firepower. I used it a couple of times but I brought another one just for the asion.


    The fear I felt before was reced by excitement and I couldn¡¯t wait for them to swing around and say hi.


    ¡®Now we wait¡­¡¯

 Chapter 545

    Chapter 545: 545


    It was close to 8:00 PM after the first hour but nothing came into view. <center></center><hr>


    However, we ced more items like high-lumen shlights atop separate stands so we could use them as a spotlight and we parked our vehicles at the right spot in case we needed to give chase or check something more personal. We wouldn¡¯t even think of a getaway car because that thing would be put down, no matter what.


    My group was stationed on the roof of a building inside the outpost where the only obstruction was the tower-like structure where Lawrence was lying prone. It was a ce where a bell would toll on a schedule and it was now repurposed into something better. I could bring myself and a select few of my group to head there as well but we had more to offerpared to what Lawrence was doing.


    We were in a ¡®central¡¯ area where my group could easily run or provide support to the area that needed it because we were right next to the fire exit and we only needed to climb a 10-feet ledge to get to the stairs that would lead to where Lawrence was. Aside from that, we were in the building where it was directly facing the roads where those beings woulde from unless they took a roundabout route.


    ¡®This could go on for a while¡­¡¯


    Every five minutes, our radios would buzz one after the other, giving simple reports from their station directly to me. The reports could be anything from a stray animal scurrying about or anky deadhead randomly spawning, but the important thing was that everything was being ryed. A simple detail left untold could lead to more problems and if something needed more checking, one of our drones would fly overhead to check on the situation.


    ¡°Nothing by that court bro, just a couple of deadheads that got shot down earlier¡­¡± Loismented, hovering his drone back in ce.


    ¡°Report it back to the group and check the battery level of the drone we brought. Keep it at an adequate level at all times, charge it when you¡¯re not using it. I remember it not being full when I took them.¡±


    ¡°Got it, bro.¡±


    For the duration of the second hour, most of us still kept vignt. A few have started to slightly rx or do something simr but a quick call from the radio would get them back on track. Telling them a quick description of what we saw earlier would get them excited and look at where it woulde from though a few were adamant if what we saw would ever appear at this time.


    Meanwhile, Stefan and Petrov approached me, ¡°Sir, permission to go around the block.¡±


    I was watching the feeds and listening to the radio chatter but I replied, ¡°Sure, stretch your legs for a bit.¡±


    ¡°Sir,¡± the two nodded as they went down. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/yeah-i''m-still-not-good-at-talking-to-people.¡ªscreams_52859740744635382 for visiting.


    ¡°How about you guys?¡± I looked at the rest of them. <center></center><hr>


    Tatiana chuckled, ¡°And get nagged when I¡¯m a few secondste for my report? No thanks.¡±


    ¡°He really remembers every detail,¡± Marina added as she turned to Tatiana.


    ¡°Yeah, and that¡¯s not even his strongest suit.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? What is his strongest suit?¡±


    ¡°Oh~ I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll see it. Maybe, just maybe.¡±


    Tatiana was just smiling from ear to ear while Kaley and I were sending curses telepathically. I wouldn¡¯t forbid someone to have a little fun but there was a time and a ce for that. We already f.u.c.k.i.e.d up by having a few people know of our little secret so we had to be extra careful.


    Lois was already side-eyeing once his ears perked and luckily, Chris was f.u.c.k.i.n.g oblivious. However, I had no idea about Mikhail but it seemed like he didn¡¯t really care or he still had no idea about what Tatiana was talking about. Despite that, I know that he was a cool dude and he wouldn¡¯t talk about things we shouldn¡¯t talk about.


    Time continued to pass and it was already the third hour for the watch.


    ¡®Is that f.u.c.ker gonnae or not?¡¯


    Our first batch of people have already switched with the ones below and only my group, Lawrence, and the ones in the hidden nests didn¡¯t. Lawrence and my group already nned to stay up the whole night, only taking a small break here and there. However, the ones hiding in the nests would be able to switch ces with the ones with them but it was up to them to decide their own schedules.


    Each nest would have six or more upants and in the case of an attack, they would only engage after this outpost took the most of the aggro away from them. It was to ensure their safety and nksing unexpectedly from different angles were game-breaking. However, in order for that to happen, they should be unnoticeable so the ones we were waiting for woulde for our outpost first.


    It was at this time that we saw Cyrilling up the fire exit with Stefan and Petrov. He was already wearing the gear I prepared for him and it was a stark contrast from what he looked like this morning. He looked more like one of my team members and I was sure that even his dad wouldn¡¯t recognize him.


    Cyrill was wearing protective equipment and he was equipped with an SP5, an M1911, a K-Bar Knife, and a short machete. His vest and his belt were filled with the extra mags and the other tools I¡¯ve lent him, and everything was ced nicely. <hr>


    I chuckled as soon as our eyes met, ¡°At least you still know how to wear them.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, thanks for this¡­¡±


    ¡°You took a bath, at least? And where¡¯s the pseudo ghillie suit you¡¯re always wearing with Borris?¡±


    Cyrill was taken aback as he defended himself, ¡°Wha- br- I did! It¡¯s hard to take one if you almost broke your rib from you two! I still have the suit, I¡¯ll wear it in some cases¡­¡±


    ¡°Cheh, you¡¯re lucky I only used my arm for that punch. If I twisted my whole body¡­¡±


    Cyrill took another step back, clutching his sides, ¡°I get it, I get it. I know you held back and I promise I¡¯ll remember it for the rest of my life¡­¡±


    Lois added, ¡°I only used around 10% of-¡±


    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t!¡± Cyrill eximed.


    Strangely enough, the three of us began to talk with one another even if Cyrill was still a little bit reserved. He might be still feeling guilty about the things he had done before and in all honesty, he should. The thing we did with him earlier was just a foolish attempt of ripping a bandaid abruptly in one swing but in our case, the bandaids covered our whole body.


    ¡°So, you mean to say that you¡¯re supposed to be in the same squad where Jared is when you¡¯re still going to school?¡± Tatiana asked.


    Cyrill just nodded but I continued, ¡°Not exactly but that was the n. This motherf.u.c.ker just suddenly got kicked out from high school and the rest should be self-exnatory. He just hanged out with the wrong crowd without our notice and his downward spiral started. We med ourselves at first because we didn¡¯t notice it but we stayed vignt from then on. When this f.u.c.ker roped in Rus-¡±


    Cyrill cut me off, highly embarrassed, ¡°B-Bro¡­ I think they hear-¡±


    ¡°What? Heard enough? We already dealt you with some physical pain, have some emotional pain at least! Oh! That reminds me, there was this time we saw him trying to pawn off these copper wires he stole from this-¡± <hr>


    ¡°The f.u.c.k did you know about that?!¡±


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t listening? I saw you stealing them right after the typhoon brought them down so I told the cops on-¡±


    ¡°IT WAS YOU?! WHAT THE F.U.C.K?!¡±


    ¡°THOSE WERE THE POWER LINES CONNECTING TO MY HOUSE, YOU MOTHERF.U.C.KER!!! DID YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IMPORTANT ELECTRICITY AND INTERNET WAS TO ME AT THE TIME?! I WOULD¡¯VE SHOT YOU THE MOMENT I SAW YOU HACKING THEM OFF!!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT TOOK TO GET POWER TO MY HOUSE AND THE FEES I HAD TO PAY?! HUH?!¡±


    ¡°I WAS STARVING THAT TIME!!!¡±


    ¡°YEAH!!! I F.U.C.K.I.N.G KNOW!!! YOUR DAD WAS TOO!!! Trying to feed the rest of you¡­ That was when you¡¯re still mooching off of his hard work, remember that? Wait, I¡¯m sure you remember that differently. You¡¯re losing weight on drugs while he¡¯s losing weight trying to save every penny he could¡­¡±


    Cyrill was taken aback once more, ¡°I¡­¡±


    ¡°Your mom has been telling you and your siblings that Unc Zardon has been spending all of his money on his ¡®chick¡¯ rather than all of you. It became like that when he got fed up but in the beginning, it wasn¡¯t like that at all¡­¡±


    Cyrill got silent as he was looking down then Lois interjected, ¡°Way to bring the mood down, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m still not good at talking to people.¡±


    Our small group on the roof became silent for a few moments and it was only broken when the series of reports started flooding my radio once more. Lois and Chris started flying their drones once more while Cyrill was still standing at the same spot, looking down on his feet. It was never my intention to bring up sore spots but I could never let some things go.


    I just stood up and approached him, ¡°Punch me.¡±


    Cyrill raised his head in confusion, ¡°What?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Punch me.¡±


    ¡°Wha- Why?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to? See how clean this face looks? Punch me.¡±


    ¡°I-¡±


    ¡°PUNCH ME!!!¡±


    I looked at Cyrill dead in the eye as I got up in his face and started shoving him. His look of shame had already dissipated and it was getting reced with aggression as the veins on his forehead started to appear. The moment he balled his fist and aimed it on my face, I took it head-on much to the surprise of everybody. However, I also balled my fist and sent it on the same spot he did to me.


    Cyrill toppled over as he fell on one knee, giving me a look of disbelief.


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! I THOUGHT YOU SAID TO PUNCH YOU?! WHY DID YOU PUNCH ME BACK?!¡±


    ¡°Duh, self-defense.¡±


    ¡°SELF-DEFEN- WHAT?! THEN WHY DID YOU- WHAT?!¡±


    I rolled my eyes and said sarcastically, ¡°I told you, I¡¯m still not good at talking to people.¡±


    Everyone around us couldn¡¯tprehend what just happened but the two of us just startedughing. I offered a hand so he could stand up but the jolly atmosphere immediately changed.


    Explosions came one after the other and blood-curdling screams came from the far distance.

 Chapter 546

    Chapter 546: 546


    The wind whistled as it sliced through the air but the guttural sounds of the screams that followed after that made everyone tense and turn in the same direction. I had to snap Lois and Chris out of their daze before they grabbed ahold of their controllers to drive the drones to where the explosions came from. <center></center><hr>


    We could clearly see where the bright shes of lights wereing from and it seemed that they tripped the first set of traps Lawrence¡¯s group have set. However, another set of explosions came from the same direction but on a different street.


    ¡°WAIT, BRO- IS THAT?! RIGHT?!¡± Lois didn¡¯t manage toplete his sentence, banking on the fact that we had the same thoughts in our heads.


    I just nodded and thought to myself, ¡®The first one came from Marcelo H. Del Pr Street while the other came from menco Street¡­¡¯


    We had no time to talk but everyone sprang into action. I barked my mouth off the radio as everyone went into position and the lights we prepared for the asion were lit up to illuminate the whole area. Aside from that, it didn¡¯t take long for Honassan to fly above us, giving air support with his helicopter, boarded with soldiers equipped with machine guns.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°HEAD TO THE EXPLOSIONS!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [YES, SIR!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    mes and smoke were still billowing from the area of the explosions but it didn¡¯t take long before Lois, Chris, and Honassan muttered the same words, ¡°What the f.u.c.k-¡±


    Just as I managed to look at the feed, another set of explosions resounded. The explosions were much closer and the soldiers with Honassan started firing incessantly. We could hear round after round as small traces of where their bullets were flying could be seen from where we were. <center></center><hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [THEY¡¯RE NOT GOING DOWN!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°FIRE AT THE BIG ONE!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [THE SMALL ONES ARE CLIMBING OVER IT!!! THEY¡¯RE PROTECTING IT!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°DROP YOUR GRENADES OR SEND A F.U.C.K.I.N.G RPG!!!¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    Chris and Lois were shaking as they were holding the controllers and another blood-curdling scream came from the same direction. I pped their backs to rece the nervousness with pain but this time, Cyrill was the one shaking in his pants.


    ¡°WH-WHAT THE F.U.C.K WAS THAT?! TH-THOSE AREN¡¯T HUMAN A-ANYMORE, RIGHT?! SOMEONE F.U.C.K.I.N.G ANSWER ME!!!¡±


    I grabbed his cor and shook him violently, ¡°SNAP OUT OF IT!!! IF YOU¡¯RE SCARED SHITLESS, JUST DON¡¯T GET IN ANYONE¡¯S WAY!!!¡±


    Cyrill¡¯s face was a mess when he saw the congealed beings but it was absolutely understandable. To make the long story short, the thing we saw earlier got some reinforcements and it was now twice the size. However, the problem we needed to address immediately was the burning ferals that survived the explosions and the herd right behind them.


    A few were blown to bits with the earlier explosions but the ones fast approaching were about to reach the third andst trap that Lawrence¡¯s groupid for them. At the same time, the onesing from menco Street went for F. Valenzu Street instead of J.P. Rizal Street. It meant that unless a few sneaked their way to J.P. Rizal Street, most of the deadheads would converge on a single road, giving us plenty of options.


    The only problem was that only a few were tripping the traps, only killing the ferals that were still quick on their feet. Despite that, we¡¯d rather face a herd of slow f.u.c.kerspared to a dozen raging bloodhounds.


    Furthermore, we weren¡¯t sure if they were hollowed out and were being controlled but it would be f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiotic to find out methodically. All we needed to do was damage their bodies just enough so they wouldn¡¯t be able to move despite themands being sent to them. Blowing their limbs off was at the top of the list but a few things we prepared beforehand could also work.


    ¡°INCOMINGGGGGGG~¡±


    I was already below with Mikhail, Petrov, Stefan, and Marina while Tatiana was guarding Kaley, Chris, Lois, and Cyrill at the same spot we were in.


    As soon as the third set of explosions resounded, a dozen of headless ferals were blown into bits, recing them with another set of their burning counterparts. The smell of meat cooking was f.u.c.k.i.n.g wonderful but it was vastly differentpared to burning meat that was in various states of decay.


    Looking at them from a few meters away was already terrifying and them getting closer by the second was indescribable. However, as soon as they were at the appropriate distance, we started hunting.


    It would be difficult to aim for their legs since they were running on all fours but as Lawrence and his group did, making the ferals trip with a well-ced wire trap was easier. Because in a sense, the ferals running the way they do have double the chance of them activating it. However, the only way this could work was them being in a tight street that they were fast approaching. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #!_15361050805034705/iing_52903618113758460 for visiting.


    As soon as they tripped the wires, dozens and dozens of harpoons shot out from their left and right, impaling the ones at the front. However, it was a timed trap unlike the explosives they¡¯ve set and it would continue to send out harpoons for twenty meters. The harpoons were secured with metal wires and the ones that tried to get away got their flesh ripped out and their muscles torn off.


    The trap wasn¡¯t enough to keep everyone in ce but it was enough to thin their numbers and buy a bit of time. The only problem now was the ones that managed to avoid it and the ones that were still behind. <hr>


    ¡°SEND IT!!!¡±


    Bullets rained from our soldiers but a metal rod flew overhead, piercing straight through the thick leg of a feral about to jump from above. The metal rod in question was just a simple rod used in construction and it was used as a javelin by Mikhail. However, being wielded and thrown in such a fashion by our juggernaut was enough to put them in ce.


    A few were even knocked back by the weight of the rod itself but before Mikhail managed to throw another one towards the othersing from a ledge, they were gunned down by Stefan and the others, blowing their limbs off and making them wriggle and il in ce.


    Their limbs were only a few inches behind themselves, its fleshy bits facing us, but no one had the way to sew them back in ce. Technically, everyone could grab a needle and some thread to sew their blown-off pieces together but it would be a far cry if their legs would work like they used to before.


    ¡®We¡¯ll see what inside you all once we¡¯re done¡­¡¯


    The rest of the ferals that came in with their different status ailments were eventually disabled, making them unable to move an inch closer. The only disturbing thing was the state we left them in because the little stumps that were left from cutting or blowing their limbs off were still moving albeit slowly, leaking thick droplets of their darkened blood.


    However, the problem was still the big one Honassan¡¯s group was still gunning down. In theory, once we take it down, everything that it had feasted upon and controlled would fall down like puppets with their strings cut off. Only a few stragglers that followed after them would be left standing and they were easy enough to take care of.


    I left Mikhail and the rest below as I ran upstairs, looking at the feed once more.


    It was like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up routine of a cheerleading team as the deadheads piled up on top of one another. If we were looking at it from afar, they were almost neverending as they kept the big one safe. All sorts of torsos, legs, arms, or any other part were flying off from each explosion or barrage, acting as literal meatshields.


    Getting to the big one would take a lot of time considering that only a single group was attacking it so the ones in hiding started to assist.


    ¡®Should¡¯ve made them bring mortar shells¡­ Most of them were at Oscar¡¯s entourage¡­¡¯


    It was as if it was trying to exhaust all of our valuable resources and it didn¡¯t make me feel good one bit. I was all for taking all of them down but using additional ammo or explosives to take down something that should¡¯ve been avoided by doing our clean-up routines much farther made me feel like I was getting ripped off.


    ¡®We just need to find cheaper ways to deal with them in the future¡­ if we ever saw more of them¡­¡¯


    Eventually, after a few more explosives shells being thrown at it and the relentless shotsing from all directions, the ones trying to shield it copsed one after the other. We weren¡¯t sure what killed it whether if it was because of the explosions or a lucky projectile, weaving through the heaps of flesh, hitting its weakness.


    We would only know once we tried to examine but after that, it was safe to say it was finally down. It was like the toys from a certain movie discovered that the MC was about to walk in on them. They all fell lifeless on the spot, only leaving a few handfuls that were stuck in ce.


    We were left with a huge mess to clear and a few herds approaching us due to the noise that we made from taking the big one down. However, it was easy enough to snipe them or lure them in a kill zone to be killed quietly and I could almost hear everyone¡¯s sigh of relief once the report of killing it from the radio resounded. <hr>


    ¡°Is it finally over?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°One more thing to check¡­¡± I replied then I picked up my radio.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Honassan, can you fly by the cemeteries in Marikina and check the river bisecting them?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Sir? The cemeteries?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Just check it, it would be thest order for today.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 547

    Chapter 547: 547


    Honassan responded promptly and we just saw them disappear from view after a few moments. It was then that a few dump trucks drove outside from our outpost to collect the bodies we¡¯ve put down for incineration. However, a couple of the headless ferals we secured with the harpoons would be added to our new set of specimens to be stored and sent for analysis. <center></center><hr>


    The same could be said about the big one that we took down but it would be more or less taking what was left of it, figuring out which piece corresponds to which piece. It would be much harder to put it piece by piece but something congealed together would be easy enough to locate and iste.


    Before we helped with the clearing process, I picked up my radio to contact Oscar and the rest.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°WAZZAAAAAPPP~~~¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [What. the. f.u.c.k. Kid, what the f.u.c.k is wrong with you?! How¡¯s the situation on your side? I¡¯m this f.u.c.k.i.n.g close to riding one of these boats and joining your uncle. I gave them a ring and they said they¡¯re killing it over on their side. I want to shoot game personally but you know¡­ fishing isn¡¯t so bad.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Ah, I see.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [What is the ¡®Ah, I see.¡¯ is for? Did you call just to check on me?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Ah, no. Just telling you that we took it down.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT?! YOU MOTHERF.U.C.KER!!! YOU DIDN¡¯T CALL WHEN IT WAS HAPPENING?! YOU GOT TO TAKE DOWN THAT DAVEY JONES LOOKING MOTHERF.U.C.KER AND WE WERE ALL SITTING HERE ON OUR ASSES DOING SHIT!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh, sorry about that. Oh! That harpoon thing you mentioned worked! We¡¯re a little pressed on time so we only had a few traps to set up like that one. We should have something in an alley that extends the whole way. If we wanted to catch ferals alive, that would be one of the solutions.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Now you¡¯re just changing the subject, you little shit. We should be working on more ways to make entanglement devices that are tearproof. Jay could catch sprinters with someting that they made but I doubt it would work with the ferals. You know¡­ them being ¡®roided up and all.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, blowing their limbs off is kinda expensive.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Inefficient too. Haaa~ I¡¯ll bring my troops over there to help with the cleaning process.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, Honassan, Chris, and Lois mentioned a few cl.u.s.ters or herdsing for us. You could take them down as a constion but we¡¯ll get to them as well the moment we clear a street to drive around.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    [Bah! Don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g touch them! They¡¯re all f.u.c.k.i.n.g mine!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Ehh~ Firste, first serve. It would be a while if we wait for your team to clear everything. I want to go home as fast as possible so we could deal with other things.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah~ Other things, eh? Sure~]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh yeah? Aren¡¯t you trying to hook up with Irene?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Bah! Let¡¯s all f.u.c.k.i.n.g forget about that! It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s¡­ nevermind, we¡¯re wasting time here, kid!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Oscar stopped responding to my taunts but I was still curious as to why he immediately changed the subject. He was never like that if we talk about stuff like that but it was also a surprise at the time when he specifically asked me to contact the leader of one of our allies in Batangas. I knew the fact that he hit it off with Arturo, Irene¡¯s brother, but it was all too weird.


    ¡®Something definitely happened¡­¡¯


    In the meantime, my group started helping with hauling the bodies with everybody. I made sure to make everyone pick up whatever body part or chunk we could see on the ground so everything would be collected in one ce to be burned in a huge pit. We have a few areas we could do it right now but they would still be burned in batches. <hr>


    Five dump truckster, we finally got to the big one in question.


    Like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up process of digging around a treasure, we isted it with everything around it and it was bizarre to see it up close.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡±


    I instinctively pulled out my knife and started ¡®dissecting¡¯ the pieces stuck to it. My actions had no finesse whatsoever as I started hacking around the ¡®outer¡¯ body, digging around its shoulder to dislodge its arm. Surprisingly, it was easierpared to slicing through a feral¡¯s body because it felt like a normal one.


    ¡°Wh-What are you doing, sir?!¡± one of the soldiers eximed.


    ¡°Hmm? You aren¡¯t curious to see what¡¯s inside? We¡¯re storing this whole pile too, better to trim the fat, or so they say.¡±


    The soldier just nodded in kind as he continued to haul the other bodies in the immediate vicinity with the other soldiers that have walked past us. Despite that, a few of them were also curious as to what we might discover so I let them watch me as I wedged my knife deeper, cutting through its nerves and dislocating the joints to remove its left armpletely.


    It was then that I noticed something peculiar so I called Mikhail and Tatiana over, making them help me hack off the bodypletely. We did it by Tatiana and me pulling on its head and its right hand while Mikhail swung down with force. It took a few swings with a normal machete to get around it because using his own axe would¡¯ve hit us both and it was not made for swinging lightly.


    However, as soon as we pulled the body off the main one, everyone became silent.


    They all watched us in silence as we continued to hack each body off the main one and each body was the same. The only difference was that we were more careful about the next ones because of something we discovered on their backs. We found something that shouldn¡¯t be located at that ce and that something shouldn¡¯t be that¡­ many.


    Forck of a better term, the main one, or the body in the center had made its ¡®tongues¡¯ run through the ¡®outer¡¯ bodies¡¯ spine. Its tongue didn¡¯t even look like a single, long muscle anymore because it started to have branches. I was thinking that it was for so that it could ¡®attach¡¯ itself to anything that it wanted to.


    ¡®Hmm¡­ not only that. Its legs are also¡­ longer¡­ and thicker¡­ maybe to supports the outer parts? I think it just copsed on itself the moment more and more tried climbing on top of it¡­¡¯


    The ¡®tongue¡¯ was too distinguished to miss because holes, where it forced itself to the outer bodies, were present and how the tip of the branches was connecting to their spines was sending all kinds of signals to everybody.


    ¡°Are those tongues or are those¡­ veins? They¡­¡±


    ¡°No, no, no, no, no, no, no¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s enough inter- whatever this is today¡­¡±


    ¡°I should¡¯ve continued hauling the bodies¡­¡±


    ¡°Uhhhhhhhhhh¡­¡±


    I got a mix of reactions and a few even started asking questions but all we could do was to specte. Unless we could prove what we saw could do these sorts of things, all we could do was to doc.u.ment everything that we saw. Observing them and making a hypothesis based on those observations was our bread and butter when it came to these things.


    Kaley tapped me, ¡°Do you think that its eyes could do the same thing? It kindamands the others too, right?¡±


    ¡°You mean the sentries?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ unless we capture one alive, we¡¯ll never know. However, this one is a little more different from that¡­ but yeah¡­ they do kinda do that same thing¡­¡±


    It took a while but Oscar¡¯s entourage eventually came by, adding more bodies to haul and burn. They actually drove around to get the best route in taking the stragglers down and they were still raring to go. Their fire only died down when they started helping with throwing the bodies to the dump trucks and after a while more, Honassan came flying overhead. <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Sir, we¡¯ve caught footage.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Anything special?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [I think it¡¯s better if you see it yourself, sir.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, just go home for now but leave the camera you used in mypound. Get something for your team: alcohol, cigarettes, or anything that you want because you did take this thing down. Look for Rin but if she¡¯s asleep, just send me a request and I¡¯ll take care of it.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yes, sir! It¡¯s greatly appreciated.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We continued the process of clearing the bodies and after making sure that everything was ounted for, we temporarily sealed the entrances towards this area once more. It was to have the people guarding this outpost for the rest of the evening a little easier but we did leave a few more soldiers behind just in case.


    We drove home when it was a couple of hours past midnight and nothing could beat a warm soak in the tub.

 Chapter 548

    Chapter 548: 548


    I was already dreaming about soaking in my hot tub the moment we got home even if we were still a few minutes away. Despite that, I continued to drive responsibly even if our convoy was the only one driving in the enclosed part of our territory. It was because only a moment of carelessness was all it would take for us toe crashing down. A few more minutes of being careful and paranoid wouldn¡¯t hurt. <center></center><hr>


    ¡®We¡¯re finally here¡­¡¯


    Reaching the gates to mypound, only the people assigned at the catwalk for watch duty were awake plus a few that were on patrol outside. We parked our vehicles inside and the ones belonging to the houses much further promptly excused themselves and they started walking to their own living quarters. It would only take a few minutes to reach their ce so they didn¡¯t bother to let us drive them.


    Oscar waved at them goodbye, ¡°See you tomorrow, you shitheads.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    It didn¡¯t take long before everybody disappeared from view so Kaley and I headed upstairs with Tatiana. We discovered that Rin and Cynthia were already fast asleep so this time, the three of us had the house for ourselves. Even Zeus was on a sleepover at Olivia¡¯s house so Kaley didn¡¯t even bother to reprimand Tatiana the moment she removed her top and jumped on our bed.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you sticky? Want to take a shower?¡± Kaley asked Tatiana.


    ¡°Hmm? I¡¯m a tad hungry. Can you make something? Please?¡± Tatiana replied then she turned to me.


    I waved her off as I started to untie my boots, ¡°Huh~? I wanted to soak in the tub the moment we arrived¡­¡±


    ¡°Hngh¡­¡±


    Kaley interjected much to my surprise, ¡°I¡¯m kinda hungry too¡­ can you make a little something? We¡¯ll prepare ¡®something else¡¯ too¡­¡±


    I shook my head in annoyance, ¡°You two are unbelievable¡­ fine¡­¡±


    Their face immediately lights up for different reasons but I still begrudgingly dragged my feet to the kitchen. To add insult to injury, I heard Kaley dragging Tatiana to the bath but Tatiana seemed to be in disagreement.


    ¡®I was really hoping to be with Kaley in the tub¡­ what is this something else they¡¯re talking about¡­¡¯


    I already knew that even if I make something quick, the two would still take a bit of time especially when Kaley was involved. So, I decided to make something that would also take a bit of time. However, I made sure it would be a light meal by making vegetable soup paired with sides of shrimp tempura. <center></center><hr>


    The moment I brought the food to my room, a hand was right in my face, stopping me from going inside.


    ¡°Haaaa~ You¡¯re still not done?!¡±


    ¡°Just a bit more! Here! Just take a quick shower!¡±


    ¡°Oh! Is that the food?! Thanks!¡±


    ¡°¡­.¡±


    Another hand snatched the food on my hands while a lump of fresh clothes was right by my feet. With great defiance, I decided to take my time to soak in the tub but the smell the two left inside was intoxicating. I recognized the products that they¡¯ve used but their own sweet fragrance was overpowering.


    I got excited to know the surprise they left for me so I immediately washed up and head outside.


    As soon as I ced my hand on the knob, I discovered that it was unlocked and the lights were turned off. However, a beloved fighting game was ying on the TV and the sounds sent me a wave of nostalgia. A character wearing a blue, Chinese dress was fighting another character wearing a green, turtleneck leotard.


    ¡®Street Brawler, eh?¡¯


    I smiled in kind seeing them even if the two controlling them were basically noobs. I could only see the long wires of my controllers from the ce I was standing on and I assumed that the two were sitting on my bed. However, the moment I walked closer and turned the lights on, I almost awakened my own Satsui no Hado and ravaged them both.


    It was like that time I scrambled to figure out the code my friend sent me because not only Kaley, but Tatiana was also wearing a costume, a wig, and even f.u.c.k.i.n.g body paint!


    Kaley was the one wearing a blue, Chinese dress with yellow embroidery, ck spiked bangles, brown tights, white boots, and the hair ornament to form her hair into two buns. Meanwhile, Tatiana was the one wearing a green turtleneck leotard, a red beret, red gauntlets, green acrylic body paint,bat boots, and some blonde hair extensions to copy the long braided hair the character she was trying to portray.


    ¡®The little scar too¡­¡¯


    I didn¡¯t know how much time had passed but I was snapped back to reality when Kaley handed me her controller. <hr>


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    Kaley chuckled as she sat me in the middle of them, ¡°Let¡¯s y a little game, okay? If we win, we¡¯ll do whatever we want to you but if you win-¡±


    It was too easy. I immediately pressed start to begin the challenge.


    [HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!!!]


    ¡°Wait! You have to score perfectly on all rounds! It¡¯s just fair for-¡±


    I scoffed with a different aura, ¡°That was the n from the start.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    I didn¡¯t reply.


    Kaley knew that I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious, ¡°Tatiana! Do your best! He¡¯ll-¡±


    ¡°WHY AM I GOING FIRST?! CYNTHIA SHOULD BE HERE!!!¡±


    ¡°SHE¡¯S SLEEPING!!! J-JUST LAND A LUCKY-¡±


    ¡°Luck? You¡¯d need more than luck!¡±


    [PERFECT!!!]


    ¡°Again!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Sure~¡±


    [PERFECT!!!]


    ¡°No fair! Again!¡±


    [PERFECT!!!]


    ¡°Kaley! sh him so I-¡±


    [PERFECT!!!]


    ¡°You were saying?¡±


    ¡°ARGH~¡±


    [PERFECT!!!]


    ¡°I¡¯M GONNA WAKE CYN-¡±


    ¡°The round already started.¡±


    [PERFECT!!!]


    ¡°NOOOOOOOOO~¡±


    I saw Tatiana¡¯s cute side once more as she tried to beat me several times. No matter how much she tried, the same oue would happen. She was almost in tears the moment she let go of the controller but I would never throw a match because a lot was at stake. The two tried all sorts of tactics to distract me but I won every match wlessly. <hr>


    ¡®These two definitely have some ns when they got full control¡­¡¯


    In the end, it was all in good fun as the three of us started to get a little bit more¡­fortable.


    Being the winner of our little game, I had full control of what we could and couldn¡¯t do.


    ¡°Okay, aside from your shoes, your costume could be undone or loosened, but never removedpletely unless I told you to. You¡¯re also not allowed to touch yourselves and also¡­¡±


    There was a glint in their eyes as I exined the rules in amanding tone and it didn¡¯t take long before they knelt on the floor and started sucking my c.o.c.k. I was sitting on the edge of the bed with a raging boner and the moment it touched their soft lips, it started twitching violently.


    Kaley and Tatiana were almost fighting as to whose turn was it but I chose for myself as I held Tatiana¡¯s head and shoved it deep inside her throat. Kaley was jealously watching Tatiana choke but I made her go behind Tatiana¡¯s back. After that, I made her grope Tatiana¡¯s tits from behind, reaching under Tatiana¡¯s green leotard.


    ¡°Ugh¡­ push them out¡­¡±


    Kaley was out of breath but a little frustrated because nothing was being done to her but she kept her word and didn¡¯t touch herself. It was then that she pushed Tatiana¡¯s leotard to her cleavage, showing Tatiana¡¯s perky chest and hard, pink n.i.p.p.l.es. I didn¡¯t have to tell Kaley to grope and squeeze them while I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g Tatiana¡¯s throat.


    Despite all that was happening, Tatiana¡¯s tongue was still gliding across my shaft even if she would cough or choke. I made her y with my balls as I kept on pushing her head down, but she wrapped her arms around me, taking me all up until the base before I exploded. I buckled from the pleasure I was feeling while she tried to swallow my load.


    It was then that I threw her on the bed, pushing her leotard to the side so I could see her fat cunt and her puffy asshole. Tatiana was still out of breath but I made Kaley sit on her face. That prompted me to shove a finger inside Tatiana¡¯s ass while I started eating her out. I parted her insides with my tongue and she was almost in pain when I told her she wasn¡¯t allowed to mp her legs on my head.


    Tatiana tried so hard to keep them apart but Kaley¡¯s m.o.a.ns were overpowering everything.


    While Kaley was sitting on Tatiana¡¯s face, she was moving her h.i.p.s almost violently, rubbing her crotch against Tatiana¡¯s face over and over. I even caught her a few times almost touching her b.r.e.a.s.ts so what I made her do was to turn around and grope Tatiana¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts once more. Kaley¡¯s face was a mess as all of this was happening but I gave her a kiss before plunging my d.i.c.k inside Tatiana¡¯s p.u.s.s.y.


    Muffled m.o.a.ns came from Tatiana but Kaley started to twitch, ¡°Wai- Wait! Wait! I! Hngh~ I¡¯m c.u.m- Ah! F.u.c.k! It¡¯s too- Ahn~¡±

 Chapter 549

    Chapter 549: 549


    Kaley¡¯s face was distraught with dissatisfaction because even if she already started c.u.m.m.i.n.g, the look on her face told me that she wasn¡¯t feeling it fully. It was because of the brown tights and the embroidered underwear she was wearing, blocking off most of the skin-to-skin contact against Tatiana¡¯s face. <center></center><hr>


    It was already surprising that she came as fast as she did but I wanted her to get more and more agitated. Even now, she was looking at me with bated breath as she was still moving her h.i.p.s in the same pattern over and over while trying to cup Tatiana¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts fully until reaching her n.i.p.p.l.es and pinching them.


    Kaley was trying to get multiples but she was still having a hard time because of her costume. However, I turned my attention to my current meal, gripping her juicy thighs, highlighted by the way her leotard was cut. Tatiana¡¯s insides were so warm and glossy yet it was almost pushing me out due to how tight she was.


    Each time I pushed and pull, Tatiana¡¯s p.u.s.s.y would squelch and her cream would ther my c.o.c.k. Tatiana¡¯s muffled m.o.a.ns were all I could hear so I made Kaley sit by Tatiana¡¯s side, much to Kaley¡¯s disappointment. Tatiana¡¯s face was flushed as she was out of breath but her eyes were fixated on my c.o.c.k that stopped rummaging her insides.


    ¡°Raise her arms.¡±


    Kaley did as she was told and she revealed Tatiana¡¯s smooth pits, ¡°O-Okay¡­ l-like this?¡±


    ¡°Lick them.¡±


    Tatiana immediately reacted to Kaley¡¯s touch, ¡°Mmn¡­ Ah¡­ this is so¡­ ahn¡­¡±


    Tatiana¡¯s left arm was now tucked under her head as Kaley was licking her armpits all over. At the same time, Kaley¡¯s hand was keeping her other arm raised just above their heads while the other was poking against Tatiana¡¯s left n.i.p.p.l.e. She would sometimes lick the side of her b.o.o.b.s and head for her neck but the view was just too much to just stare and not join in.


    ¡°P-Put your d-d.i.c.k back please¡­ I¡¯m j-just about to- Ah!¡± <center></center><hr>


    Tatiana didn¡¯t need to remind me as I plunged it back inside, shoving it as deep as I could. Her walls immediately tightened as I started hitting her w.o.m.b and her eyes were starting to roll over the back of her head. Her mouth was agape and her saliva was leaking out as she started to wrap her legs around me.


    Kaley was still keeping her in ce as she watched her lose her mind because Tatiana¡¯s m.o.a.ns were getting louder and louder.


    ¡°F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K ME! RIGHT THERE~ AHN~ DON¡¯T- AH! AH! AH! AH! AH! HARD- AHH~ AHN~ F.U.C.K ME- I¡¯M ABOUT TO- HMMPFHH~¡±


    Before Tatiana started to c.u.m, I stuck my tongue down her throat while going faster and faster. Our bodies were pping against each other, drowning the sound of her cunt squelching from getting rummaged over and over. As her body started twitching and convulsing, I exploded inside her as well but I didn¡¯t stop.


    All Tatiana could do was melt as she came over and over but lost it when I pulled out and shoved my d.i.c.k inside her ass.


    ¡°WA-WA-WAIT! T-TIME OU- AH! AH!¡±


    Kaley was about to cry, ¡°Not fair! I¡¯m already a-aching from¡­ Hmmp~¡±


    ¡°Help me then. Shove your fingers inside her p.u.s.s.y.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s my turn after this, okay?!¡± <hr>


    Tatiana¡¯s ass was several times tighter than her p.u.s.s.y and my d.i.c.k just started moving on its own. Tatiana¡¯s face was inexplicable as I started pumping her other hole but she lost it when Kaley¡¯s fingers started exploring her. We couldn¡¯t make out whether it was my c.u.m or her own juices covering Kaley¡¯s fingers but Kaley sucked them off nevertheless.


    From this angle, seeing under Kaley¡¯s dress told me that she was already gushing with her own. However, she would cross her legs and rub them together to have some sort of pressure against her lower half but it wasn¡¯t enough to get her off.


    ¡°H-Hurry up¡­ I c-couldn¡¯t hold much l-longer¡­¡± Kaley muttered as she kept on rubbing Tatiana¡¯s clit.


    Kaley even started to loosen the band keeping her dress tightly worn and her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts in ce. Seeing a glimpse of them glistening and full of her sweat and drips of her own saliva made me c.u.m faster than I wanted to. However, Tatiana really looked like she needed to take a short break because she wasn¡¯t even putting up much of a resistance from the two of us.


    As soon as I pulled it out, Kaley started sucking me off, cleaning me up while thering my d.i.c.k with her spit. Her warm mouth was so heavenly but what surprised me was how badly she wanted it. I didn¡¯t have time to tell her what to do as she pushed me down and ripped the crotch area of her brown tights soaked with her juices.


    Kaley said in a hurry, ¡°This is fine¡­ right? Right?! I didn¡¯t t-take them off¡­¡±


    I just kissed her and whispered to have fun before she went on top of me. My c.o.c.k just slid in her warm and silky insides but it was tight as f.u.c.k. Kaley wrapped her arms around my neck as she started moving her h.i.p.s up and down. The sounds she was making told me that I deprived her a little too much and she wouldn¡¯t stop until she got satisfied.


    However, she got so sensitive as she craved me more and more and it didn¡¯tst long before she started c.u.m.m.i.n.g.


    ¡°F.U.C.K~ I¡¯M ALREADY¡­ AHN¡­ AHN¡­ I CAN¡¯T MOVE¡­ PLEASE¡­ F.U.C.K ME MORE! PLEASE! AH! AH! THERE! THERE! THERE! RIGHT IN MY- AH! AHN! AHN!¡± <hr>


    Tears wereing out of her eyes as I started to thrust from below her. I wanted to p her ass as I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g her so I ripped her brown tights even more, making them look like ripped stockings. I started squeezing her round butt before I started pping them but she started squirting when I pushed a finger inside her little asshole.


    A few moments in, Kaley was already in the same state as Tatiana but it got even worse when Tatiana started tongue-f.u.c.k.i.n.g Kaley¡¯s asshole. I just spread them apart as Kaley lost it even more but the moment Kaley gasped and tightened around my c.o.c.k, Tatiana was already wearing a wicked smile.


    ¡°We¡¯ll go until morning, okay?¡±


    Tatiana was wearing a strapon and she had already plunged it inside Kaley¡¯s asshole. The look on both of their faces fueled me even more so I started pushing my fat c.o.c.k inside Kaley harder and harder. Tatiana and I continued to f.u.c.k Kaley¡¯s holes until she drenched our bed but she wouldn¡¯t let go of me. She kept a tight grip around my neck and even her huge tits were getting squished in the middle.


    Kaley muttered, ¡°M-More¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s your fault, you doofus! I want m-more¡­¡±


    Tatiana chuckled as she leaned over, ¡°Easily done, correct?¡±


    ¡°C-C.u.m in my ass t-too¡­¡± <hr>


    Kaley¡¯s face was red as she muttered those words and all rules were off the table.


    I made Kaleyy on her side before I started f.u.c.k.i.n.g her ass from behind and while Tatiana was eating my c.u.m off Kaley¡¯s p.u.s.s.y. Kaley had wrapped her hands around my neck as she reached from behind, and that allowed me to finally grope and squeeze her huge tits. At the same time, I could lick and kiss her neck and her armpits from this position.


    Each thrust I made would make her little asshole give way but Tatiana would sometimes pull it out so she could taste it. However, she soonid on her side while in front of Kaley so they could make out while fingering each other¡¯s p.u.s.s.y hole. The view was enough to make me c.u.m but I made them stick close to each other so my hand would be trapped between their b.r.e.a.s.ts and sometimes their cunts.


    They continued to kiss and finger each other¡¯s holes while I continued to f.u.c.k Kaley¡¯s asshole. I wasn¡¯t going as fast as I did earlier but each slow thrust would send a shiver on my spine, feeling every bit of her body with my shaft. Our wild start started to get more and more intimate and sensual, even Tatiana was feeling it.


    When I went over to Tatiana¡¯s side, I started doing the same thing I did to Kaley and she was a little more fl.u.s.tered than usual. Even when she started using a vibrating toy to share with Kaley, she went as slow as she could, burying her face between Kaley¡¯s tits. They even kissed more intimately than they usually would and she actually came harder the moment she reached her limit. She would also squirt more asionally and it could be attributed to getting to know more and more of her own quirks.


    We continued for a while and we just slept while the two of them were on both of my sides, only wearing the hair ornaments and the hand ornaments from their costume. Everything was just lying on the floor either ripped out or balled into a corner. However, thinking about how their bodies went so well with the costumes would make me hard. I would wake Kaley up by touching her body all over but Tatiana would always join us, making us do a couple more rounds in between sleeping.


    When we woke up, Rin and Cynthia were ring at us, crossing their arms and pouting incessantly.


    Tatiana immediately chuckled, ¡°You two missed out, we went on for hours and hours~ What time is it?¡±


    Rin and Cynthia eximed, ¡°IT¡¯S ALREADY NOON!!!¡±

 Chapter 550

    Chapter 550: 550


    Tatiana continued to tick Rin and Cynthia but the two suddenly jumped on us without warning. Well, Tatiana took the brunt of the attack while Kaley remained unscathed. The two started tickling Tatiana¡¯s weak spots and amidst the chaos, I managed to turn my body to face Kaley who was now on her back. <center></center><hr>


    I was now the one leaning on the side of Kaley¡¯s body and I wrapped my arm and my leg around her before giving her a kiss. At the same time, I managed to make her use my left arm as her pillow, with my hand slowly snaking to wrap around her as well. Her face slowly formed this shade of red as she slowly guided my right hand somewhere warm.


    ¡°WHY DIDN¡¯T YOU WAKE US UP!!!¡±


    ¡°I TRIED BUT HE KEPT ON BEATING ME ON THE GAME!!!¡±


    ¡°ALL THE MORE REASON TO WAKE ME UP!!!¡±


    ¡°TOO LATE~ I¡¯M GONNA BE HONEST I WANTED TO GET FILLED MORE~ HAVING MORE PEOPLE MEANT LESS TIME OF HIS D.I.C.K GOING IN AN OUT OF- HEY!!! THEY¡¯RE AT IT AGAIN!!!¡±


    ¡°WHA-¡±


    ¡°I¡¯M NEXT!!! YOU HAVE TO F.U.C.K ME TO GET AHEAD!!!¡±


    ¡°TATIANA!!!¡±


    ¡°ME TOO!¡±


    ¡°CYNTHIA?! I-I¡¯M NEXT TOO~!!!¡±


    In the end, we decided to have a little quick session with everybody and the two that joinedte had to join Kaley and me in the shower with Tatiana. However, it was impossible to do nothing amidst showering with everybody because four n.a.k.e.d beauties were purposefully grinding against me. <center></center><hr>


    It took us a while before ¡®finishing¡¯ inside the shower but we soon joined everyone for lunch.


    Looking at the people present, I discovered that Stefan and Petrov were pulled out by Oscar to head to Mbon while Marina was tasked to watch the people we have on probation. Their purpose for heading to Mbon was to fill at least a few dozen dump trucks with deadheads to be cleared so as to lessen the chances of more specials and irregrs popping up.


    It was the most straightforward solution in dealing with them and another reason was that Oscar didn¡¯t get his fill from yesterday.


    ¡°When did they leave?¡± I asked.


    Lois yawned as he tilted his head, ¡°Around 9? We¡¯re gonna follow after them, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, as soon as we¡¯re done eating. Did you just wake up?¡±


    Lois nodded, ¡°Hmm.¡±


    Chris interjected, ¡°Can I stille with you? It¡¯s fine even if I just drive the drone around!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you do that so I could bag some more with my 10/22,¡± Lois replied for me.


    It didn¡¯t take long before we head out but this time, Cynthia decided toe. At the same time, we picked up Cyrill who was in Rincon and we used a different route to get to Mbon. We used the main highway after the soldiers guarding the border of Rincon let us through, but we went back on using the backroads to get to the barangay of Pingad.


    Pingad didn¡¯t have a lot going on in terms of ces that could be filled with various resources except for the rope wire factory and the stic factory isting it from the other barangays close to it. It had a few smaller stores run by families but most of the structures in this barangay were mostly just houses. <hr>


    However, those houses themselves housed a lot of working families and squatters, resulting in this barangay having double the poptionpared to the barangays next to it.


    We parked by a small house and my team created a small perimeter. Chris flew his drone overhead while Lois begrudgingly followed, giving us a general idea of its current status. The ce was crawling with the dead but most of them were heading to the water, getting attracted by the noiseing from Rincon.


    ¡°I thought we¡¯re going to Mbon?¡± Cyrill asked.


    I replied, ¡°We will, we just have to take care of this pocket.¡±


    ¡°Pocket?¡±


    ¡°The guys over at Rincon tried to lure the dead over to them by training their soldiers at the same time and as you could see- I mean, hear¡­ the sound is reaching to this ce because of the way the Polo River created a water pocket between the two barangays, having nothing to block the sound even by a bit. Looking at it from above, it¡¯s like some sort of yin yang made with water andnd.¡±


    ¡°Huh? You lost me. There are two pockets now?¡±


    I pulled up our map and pointed, ¡°Here, look.¡±


    ¡°Ohh¡­ unless they jump wade in the water, the only entrance or exit is through the road we took, creating a pocket of sorts with therge factories¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah. After we¡¯re done with this ce, we¡¯ll block it off so at least we¡¯d have this ce cleared even if no one is guarding it.¡±


    We began our advance while our drones were tens of feet away from us, acting as early warning devices. <hr>


    On the first corner, we took down a small cl.u.s.ter of the dead that was rolled over by a small truck. Their guts and what was left of their limbs were spread on the road like marmite with chunky bits, and they were slowly baking in the sun, having the surface of their skin dried up with a few insects nesting inside them.


    A simple stab in the head was enough to make them stop their ashy faces from moving an inch.


    ¡®They should¡¯ve moisturized¡­¡¯


    Advancing forward, we heard jalousies cracking as we passed by a small house with a dpidated garden. Turns out, a few deadheads were trapped inside and they have started chewing on the windows to try and have their stomachs filled with anything. Their bodies were all chewed up but their mouths as of this moment were torn and cut up due to the ss shards protruding from them.


    Cynthia helped me with stabbing them with her rapier and it was a while since I¡¯ve seen it stained with blood. She would always apany Rin in thepound but she never let up in training with it. It was the perfect weapon for stabbing through their heads from a short distance.


    ¡°You okay going out?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? I¡¯m tougher than I look! What do you mean~?!¡± Cynthia yfully red at me.


    ¡°Okay~ Just checking~¡±


    At the same exact moment, our drone from the 9 o¡¯clock position wavered and almost fell down. It stabilized after a few short moments but we could hear Cyrill and Lois going back and forth. We just shook our heads in amus.e.m.e.nt as we would sometimes be surprised by a drone flying like a bee.


    We advance forwards with little to no shots being fired. We kept a firm grip with our handhelds and the only time we fired a shot was when we tried aiming for the ones in the water.


    After a couple of hours plus change, we have easily cleared this area because most of them were wading under the water. Furthermore, most of the houses were either broken into or dpidated so we didn¡¯t spend too much time checking each house for loot. However, the essential items that were in in view had definitelynded in our packs. <hr>


    Canned goods, OTC meds, simple first-aid kits, and fresh cleaning products found their new home even if all of thembined only filled a portion of our bags. Regarding weaponry, a few stained and/or rusted machetes, knives, sledgehammers, crowbars, shovels, and clubs were present but we didn¡¯t bother taking most of them.


    Leaving the area, we made use of four SUVs to block the entrance so the dead wouldn¡¯t wander in this area unless they were ferals that could easily vault over the obstacles. Aside from that, I made sure to ce a ry in one of the smaller cell towers for homes and as soon as I received the proper signal, we drove straight to Mbon.


    ¡®Never heard from her that much¡­¡¯


    It took us a while to reach Mbon but it didn¡¯t take long to see Oscar running amok.


    The motherf.u.c.ker actually brought his SAW or his M249 and was gunning down everything that moved. Despite that, his aim was still deathly urate even if he was attempting a drive-by that involved the whole f.u.c.k.i.n.g area from start to end.


    The soldiers behind him could only let out a bitter smile as they picked up after him because it seemed like they haven¡¯t fired a single shot. The sad part was looking at Stefan because he was manning Oscar¡¯s XM556 but he was wearing a nk face all throughout the drive-by.


    ¡®Nothing worse than never getting the chance to get wild, heh.¡¯


    Nevertheless, the whole area was getting cleared at an incredible pace and from what we discovered, he gunned down several herds that he caused himself. Petrov was the one driving his SUV and loud country music was sting, attracting anything within a small radius.


    As soon as another herd popped up, ¡°RAT-TATAT! MADAFAKAA~!!!¡±


    ¡®I think it¡¯s safe to go to the cemetery¡­ the f.u.c.k he ate this morning?¡¯

 Chapter 551

    Chapter 551: 551


    We were all in a barangay right before the ce where the two cemeteries were located. Oscar bought a few groups to help him and aside from their main goal of clearing the area of anything that shouldn¡¯t be moving, they were nning to get rid of the pile of bodies we left at Monumento if they managed to finish early. <center></center><hr>


    It was because if another one of those things emerged, it would probably get its fleshy gear from the ce full of it. We had to clear the mess we made ourselves but we also had to figure out how to clean the other mess from the cemetery. I got a good look at the video that Honassan caught yesterday and we got f.u.c.k.i.n.g lucky, in a sense.


    ¡®Kinda RNG if you ask me¡­¡¯


    The thing we sawst time by the river was actually a simr abomination.


    From the footage, it looked like a huge, fuzzy caterpir that had human hands or legs acting as its ¡®fur¡¯ aside from the everpresent tentacle-like tongues. It actually had moved a few meters from the river but it couldn¡¯t move as fast as it could because of its sheer weight, and crawling being only its mode of transportation. There was also the pile of bodies that maybe it hadn¡¯t taken in yet that was impeding its movement.


    However, from what we discovered when we scouted the areast time, the whole cemetery might be in its control.


    There was no telling what would happen once we step foot inside and the difference of this onepared tost time was that the big one went for us instead of holding its own space. This one seemed to be, for ack of a batter term, ¡®chilling¡¯ or just getting fattened up until it burst into pieces. A lot of irregrities had appeared on these congealed deadheads and it was better to think of a way to tackle the problem even if it wasn¡¯t as dangerous as it looked.


    ¡®The best way to go around it is to close the area off and start picking them off and the ones that try to approach the area¡­ We could set it on fire but I doubt charred pieces of its carcass would be weed if we sent it over to the president¡¯s side¡­ Hmm¡­¡¯


    I was deep in thought but I found Kaley tapping me on my shoulder, ¡°Hey! Stop spacing out, Oscar¡¯sing.¡±


    ¡°Ah-¡±


    Oscar rested his M249 on his shoulder as he tapped the ss several times, ¡°The f.u.c.k are ya doing here, kid? I¡¯m on a hot streak right now, you see? You better not break my f.u.c.k.i.n.gbo, got it?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡®You already did by stopping¡­¡¯


    I slowly lowered the ss window and said, ¡°Sure, just waiting for your opening act to finish so we could take care of the bigger problem.¡±


    ¡°Cheh. If you guys cleaned up after yourselves, we wouldn¡¯t be in this situation!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m talking about the one in the cemeteries! Not the pile we left on-¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g ¡®we¡¯ me, you guys did it.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you today, old man? You¡¯re too agitated, rx. Did you shave your butt hair and it¡¯s growing back again?¡±


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K- KID?! WE AGREED THAT WE WILL NEVE- I mean¡­ I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. What¡¯s butt hair?¡±


    Everyone near us almost choked to death and Oscar lost all manner ofposure.


    ¡°Heh, nevermind. I got an- oh¡­¡± I was about to tell Oscar of my n to block the cemeteries first but I suddenly got some inspiration.


    ¡®Hmmmmmmmmmmmm¡­¡¯


    ¡°Kid? You know I can¡¯t read minds, right?¡± <hr>


    A lot of things were going through my head as I replied half-heartedly, ¡°Yeah¡­ my group needs to go back¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh? What are-¡±


    I cut Oscar off, ¡°Don¡¯t disturb the cemetery and just clear the surrounding area, okay? Hehehehe~¡±


    Everyone threw me weird expressions but we hightailed it straight back home. We didn¡¯t even stop when we saw a small, stumbling herd from a distance and we just called for a group to take care of them. Aside from that, I couldn¡¯t help but smile brightly the whole time we were driving because I was excited whether the thing I just thought of would work or not.


    Kaley and the rest kept on asking me as to why I was wearing a weird look on my face but I never answered them, keeping the same silly expression I was wearing earlier.


    ¡®It should work¡­ right? It¡¯s like pinning the donkey, a few f.u.c.k.i.n.g times more than usual¡­¡¯


    As soon as we got back, we drove straight into Anthony¡¯s ce. Raphael was always there with a few would-be mechanics, engineers, or trainees and the only one missing was Unc Zeidrick. They greeted us promptly before returning to their work but I discovered that Anthony had a little project of his own.


    My eyes immediately lightened and excitement also appeared on his face. Raphael was a little salty only for the reason that he wasn¡¯t the one that thought of this idea himself. Anthony showed me a few more prototypes that could be applied torger vehicles or even a trailer and for a moment, I forgot my purpose for going home early.


    I was like a kid going to a theme park for the first time, ¡°It is what I think it is, right?!¡±


    ¡°Yep. I just improved a little on your idea before. I still need to figure out the weight issue the moment we deploy them but do you want to see a small version?¡± <hr>


    ¡°A small version?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I made a toy version of it but be careful, it could still puncture your skin. It has a¡­ little bit of kick.¡±


    Anthony brought outside a box that was about 12 inches in height, about two-and-a-half times the length, and around 10 inches thick. Its sides could be seen through but looking at the ¡®NOT THE FINAL DESIGN¡¯bel written with a marker, I believe the top part will be the only one left untouched.


    It was made with stic but a few articles keeping it in ce were made of metal, especially the spike that was nestled in a corner. However, the spike in question was installed into moving ramps that could move in either direction by small wheels and a battery-powered motor. Furthermore, the spike could jab down, delivering a blow enough to puncture a can of beans.


    The device could be operated manually by a controller but he was also working on trying to make it move automatically. The final application of this device was still not fully decided on but a few had already drawn variations. One thing that caught my eye was making use of an eye tracker to send a loving spike to a deadhead¡¯s skull by means looking at it through a live feed from the container this device would be installed.


    I joked, ¡°How many can of beans have you sacrificed for that?¡±


    ¡°Heh, I used corn yesterday. My wife¡¯s gonna cook some chili¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    We talked for a while more and before I told them about my little idea which was simr to this invention, I suggested drawing another n for making this device a stationary trap to be ced outside our walls. It would be the same concept of piercing heads without the human touch but as the word ¡®trap¡¯ suggested, the dead woulde to it instead of our group driving around a device made for killing deadheads.


    It would also be a much viable solution because when we go on runs, we always kill the ones we encounter and only take home the ones that were special and had to be studied.


    Anthony nodded a few times and said, ¡°Hmm, that sounds about right¡­ Doing that, we wouldn¡¯t worry about it getting too roughed up by driving like a maniac and we could also install a cheap drone attached with a speaker to fly in a set area after a few intervals¡­ also¡­¡± <hr>


    After what seemed to be an hour, Kaley and the rest who were patiently waiting behind me decided to intervene.


    ¡°Hey.¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Oh, right! I need something made for tomorrow. One day rush, if you all could?¡±


    Raphael decided to join us, ¡°I thought I¡¯d never hear the two of you stop talking. What do you need?¡±


    ¡°I just need some of the metal bars that Mikhail used to be welded in a small shipping container.¡±


    Raphael and Anthony tilted their heads, ¡°Hah? That soundsme.¡±


    My eyebrow twitched for a second, ¡°It¡¯s either that or I¡¯ll need a way to be able to hold a soaked, wooden pole and a simple mechanism to detach it from the device holding it in ce.¡±


    Raphael continued to get confused, ¡°Wai- What¡¯s this about?¡±


    ¡°A wooden pole? Soaked?¡± Anthony added.


    I showed them the footage from the cemetery and I replied, ¡°I want to pin that shit either a thousand f.u.c.k.i.n.g times or I want to nail it on the first try by a huge~ f.u.c.k.i.n.g pole.¡±

 Chapter 552

    Chapter 552: 552


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just st it to bits likest time? I saw the video, it was epic.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yeah, that is something I¡¯ll need a copy of too!¡±


    Raphael and Anthony remembered the footage we¡¯ve caughtst time but the thing that they didn¡¯t understand was that we used several explosives more than necessary. It would be fine if it was an emergency or the first time we were facing them but our target right now was just a sitting duck, waiting to get decimated. However, there was still the issue of the ones surrounding it sacrificing themselves or getting controlled to shield it.


    I began to exin the resource issue, ¡°I wanted to take it down as efficiently as possible and possibly using a single explosive or hopefully, none. That was why I suggested using arge spike to drop it from above.¡±


    The two sat down and began to think.


    Anthony twirled the pencil in his hand and said, ¡°You¡¯re gonna use the helicopter then?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what we have. Well, unless we build a catapult or a trebuchet tounch a different projectile.¡±


    Raphael started tapping the table in front of us, ¡°W-Wait, how could you be sure to hit it with a huge pole? Soaking a wooden one in water could help in delivering more force because it would be heavier but the issue remains, how urate are you?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°That¡¯s why I suggested welding several metal bars onto something I would be dropping on it! A small shipping container for example!¡±


    ¡°B-But¡­ dude¡­ that looks so f.u.c.k.i.n.gme¡­¡±


    I scoffed, ¡°It if looks stupid¡­ but it works¡­ it isn¡¯t stupid¡­ Look at that Goedendag, it isn¡¯t that great looking but-¡±


    ¡°Cheh, that bat unicorn? It¡¯s at least f.u.c.k.i.n.g symmetrical! We both like that shit! What I have in my head hearing your first idea was a poor attempt of a welding project!¡±


    ¡°What do you have in mind then?!¡±


    ¡°I DON¡¯T KNOW!!! I¡¯M BUSY MODIFYING THESE VEHICLES ESPECIALLY THAT ONE FOR JOSE, SO DON¡¯T EXPECT ME TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING GOOD ON THE SPOT!!!¡±


    ¡°Chill, dude. We¡¯re brainstorming here, alright? The f.u.c.k is everyone eating today? You¡¯re all too agitated¡­¡±


    Raphael started to furiously scratch his head, ¡°Just had a fight with Carol, okay? I¡¯m actually crashing at this ce for the night¡­¡±


    I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt, ¡°Now I see what¡¯s going on¡­¡±


    ¡®Could the same be with Oscar? The way he is, definitely¡­¡¯


    ¡°What do you mean?! You ¡®see¡¯? Enlighten me, dude.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going off-topic now. Oh, screw the soaking thing. I had a better idea. Soaking it might make it too fragile so¡­¡± I started drawing up a simple project that could be done in a few hours.


    Anthony immediately waved the project off, ¡°W-Woah! We¡¯re not handling that!¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°Rx, I¡¯ll handle the finishing touches. You guys just make sure to do it properly. It¡¯s really simple, right? Where are our poles located?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡±


    Ever since the power went out, I discovered that they would gradually take down the wooden poles strewn around our ce because if a storm or something simr hit, it would cause problems along with the f.u.c.k ton of cables ced on them, blocking the roads and whatnot.


    The only ones that were left alone were the reinforced, cemented ones by the highway but their cables and the rest of the other particrs were also removed and then stored in a good ce. If the timees that we needed to hook them back in, we would use the cemented poles or bury them in the ground where it was safer for everybody.


    For now, the wooden poles we kept in storage would be repurposed into something that would f.u.c.k.i.n.g scare a count from a gothic horror novel from 1897. However, it woulde with different quirks, making sure that all it needed to do was get used.


    Raphael rallied his troops, ¡°Alright, time to go to work!¡±


    In the end, our building group started preparing one and two extras just in case the first one fails. At the same time, I prepared something on my end after a quick trip to the scrapyard, and then my group went on to do their own thing.


    Mikhail, Lois, and Chris decided to help them with the work I requested to be ready by tomorrow while Tatiana and Cynthia decided to apany Kaley who went to visit her mom in their own house. Cyrill was obviously dropped by the other outpost before going here because of reasons already known to everyone but I would try to bring him in more runs if we were going somece near.


    The rest of the night yed out as it used to be though we were a little crowded in my room.


    Before morning came, my group and a few others were already up though I would be using my helicopter for this mission. The poles we¡¯ve prepared were already by the DDR Camp and I added the finishing touches as I promised. They were in the right specifications and even the end of one of them was sharpened like a pencil. After that, we flew in the direction of the cemeteries while a few vehicles have already started driving there before us.


    We were literally lugging a log but I hope the camera we installed at the bottom of the helicopter wouldn¡¯tg.


    It only took a few minutes to get to the cemeteries and the only thing that looked different from thest time we were here was that the big, f.u.c.k.i.e.d up, cursed, caterpir-looking motherf.u.c.ker have emerged from the depths of bodies on top of it. Furthermore, it seemed to have grownrger from the constant supply of rotten flesh it was taking in but all it did for itself was make simple movements even harder to aplish.


    The abomination was like the snake game in an old 3210 but instead of just getting longer and longer, it was also getting wider and wider. Its body was about to spill over above the river but the ones making themselves get eaten would continue to stand in front of it, getting slowly torn apart by the f.u.c.k.i.e.d up hands that grabbed ahold of them.


    The hands were tearing the bodies piece by piece as if it was feeding a kid that was also itself.


    Watching their actions from the helicopter, I started to hover above them, lining up the huge wooden pole we were carrying the whole time. I needed to stabilize it so when we let it go, it would go straight down, impaling the big one and possibly securing itself in ce because of the soft ground or the mushy soil beneath it.


    Different reports wereing from our radio and I decided it was time to let it loose. However, I decided to hype myself up because stabilizing a helicopter was easy but doing it while carrying a huge piece of wood was several times difficult because of factors. Despite that, the lucky break was that the deadheads below weren¡¯t considering us a threat because they never tried to pile on top of another.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [You ready, dude?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Okay, I have one shot¡­¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Dude¡­ you don¡¯t have a shot, you have a log¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°One opportunity¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [You actually have three¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°To seize everything I wanted¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Really, dude?]


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Shut up, I¡¯m concentrating.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Wut?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I¡¯m weird, don¡¯t bother me.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Should I catch it? Or let it-¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    [DROP THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G LOG, YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°OLD MAN, DIDN¡¯T THEY TELL YOU TO NOT INTERRU- FINE!!!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I mmed the button to release the log we were carrying and we immediately flew in a safe distance. Looking at the feed, it impaled the congealed f.u.c.ker straight in the middle of its juicy bits and it let out as high, f.u.c.k.i.n.g shrill.


    ¡°GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!¡±


    It was alive despite the direct hit and the small and elongated limbs around it started to go wild as they were like a worm sprinkled with salt. The whole body even started to thrash but the pole impaling it was keeping it in ce, making the whole body tear around the wound it just sustained.


    Another wail followed right after it and it was much longer and more¡­ desperate.


    As soon that happened, the deadheads surrounding it started to scramble as they came running just to pile on top of it. At the same time, the high-pitched wail continued to resound and hurt our ears but it was slowly getting muffled by the ones covering it with their discolored and torn-up flesh.


    The scene was like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up cheerleading routine but I pressed the little button that would activate our little surprise. The poles we¡¯ve used had a portion hollowed out so that I could ce an explosive charge with a f.u.c.k ton of metal beads, scrap metal, and etc. for good measure.


    If impaling it wouldn¡¯t work, a chock-full of metal parts going off in all directions from the inside was the answer.


    A dull sound echoed and the bodies surrounding the congealed f.u.c.ker fell one after the other, looking like it imploded on its own. Not only that, the ones surrounding it and the ones that were making a beeline straight towards it fell like their strings were cut, making the ones just about to approach the cemeteries confused as f.u.c.k.


    It was like theygged for a few seconds though most of them still continued to walk in the direction where the explosion was.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We¡¯re done here. Burn this ce down then we¡¯ll head to Monumento.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 553

    Chapter 553: 553


    I was still looking down at the upside-down cone that they made and the pole we rigged was still out of sight. It was because of the number of the dead that tried to protect the big one the moment it got attacked was enough to cover it even with thrice the length. The pile-up was just one big effigy to keep away anything that saw it from a distance. <center></center><hr>


    Several calls went through our headsets but it didn¡¯t take long before the trucks that Oscar used to take care of the bodies came into view.


    Aside from the ones they took down on their post, the groups we¡¯ve brought started to haul the bodies that were in the immediate vicinity, slowly skirting around the edges of the cemeteries. Each truck had a person or two designated to haul the bodies, guarding their perimeter, driving the truck itself, and giving out continuous reports.


    Looking at it now, it would take them hours to take care of everything so I radioed in just to scout Monumento for a quick trip.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Go ahead, kid. Drop by that precinct that¡¯s right next to the university if you could.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°The one that¡¯s close to the mall? Why? Do you have something in mind except the gear we could take?¡± <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Huh? That¡¯s reason enough, right? The files you¡¯re always taking too. It¡¯s already close, why don¡¯t you have a go at it?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hmm, sure¡­ Let me see if there¡¯s a ce I couldnd.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Hovering around the area, I had to park our helicopter on the building right next to the precinct which was a postal office. It was because of how the roof of the precinct was formed but all we needed to do was vault over a short gap to reach the area. However, a helicopternding on an area that was close to two huge hotspots like a university and a mall would give us a little bit of trouble. <hr>


    Stefan, Marina, and Petrov instantly went for the ess door to the roof of this postal office while Tatiana and Mikhail vaulted over the small gap that would lead to the precinct. At the same time, Lois started to fire from the roof with his 10/22, prompting Chris and Cynthia to do the same. Kaley followed after them and as soon as I managed to turn the engine of the helicopter off, I joined the group that went for the precinct.


    Tatiana and Mikhail were just about to breach the door but looking at the situation below, I jumped down without a second thought. Three shooters holding off one side while someone Ipletely trust could freely shoot deadheads a few inches away from me was more than an assurance that I woulde out of this scot-free.


    Tatiana shouted from the roof, ¡°Need help?!¡±


    ¡°Nah, let¡¯s just meet on the inside.¡±


    Mikhail followed, ¡°Why is it you always jump ahead when you¡¯re with us? Is it me?¡±


    I just faintly smiled before I kicked down the one right in front of me wearing a bloody tiara. It staggered backward before a bullet came from above but then I stepped to the side before drawing my katana fully. I held it with one hand and the scabbard on the other as I kicked another zombie down, making it drop its head on the curb.


    I heard the faint noise of its skull cracking but I made sure to stomp on its head before cutting down the deadheadsing for me.


    ¡®Six¡­ Seven¡­¡¯


    Seven deadheads had their ws aiming for me so like a sane person would do, I stepped back and kited them by moving diagonally. Almost immediately, they were all in a line and the fight was now one-on-one. I instantly flicked my wrist to cut horizontally, lopping half the head of the one in front of me.


    Following the same path buting from the opposite direction, I flicked my wrist for the second time and it was as if I was back in my first position. The only thing different was that two bodies were missing a percentage of their heads and a bit of their ears. They didn¡¯t need to have a CT Scan in order to see inside their rotting heads. <hr>


    The precinct had a small enclosure, almost like a simple funnel in front of their office which was holding off most of the deading through their driveway. I had to navigate around the vehicles that were abandoned, creating a simple loop to go around and kill them methodically. If there ever came a time I was trapped on both sides, I only had to climb over the SUVs and jump on a safe side to continue the process over and over.


    ¡®Just needed to take note of the bodies that I have but down¡­¡¯


    I made quick work of the ones that wereing but Lois started using his Rattler. He started firing faster and faster and even Kaley did the same.


    ¡°BRO, YOU BETTER HURRY UP AND USE YOUR GUN! THEY¡¯RE COMING!¡± Lois shouted from the top.


    Pausing for a short moment to hear the surroundings made me discover that the bulk of the ones that heard our helicopter was starting to make their way. Their low, grumbling growls were almost in unison but the two that just came behind me were enough. Their weapons were stained with blood and it looked like they rushed here when they heard Lois¡¯ shouts.


    Tatiana was the first one to reach my side, ¡°You have to see what¡¯s inside.¡±


    ¡°We still have an audience¡­ let¡¯s take care of them first.¡±


    Mikhail spoke up, ¡°That herd wouldn¡¯t fit here.¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°Then we go outside. Simple, right? I¡¯ll make the way.¡±


    The three of us rushed to the entrance of the driveway before part of their heads started flying one after the other. I was more inclined to see how my de would slice their heads like butter but there was this unexinable satisfaction hearing their skulls shatter from a blunt object.


    The bodies that Mikhail was putting down were in a much terrifying state because they looked much worsepared to the guy that got smashed by a bat covered in barbed wire. <hr>


    At the same time, Tatiana followed my lead but she was slowly fanning to my left, increasing the area of our advance by increments. It didn¡¯t take long before each of us were side by side, leaving a trail of deadheads that had a special ¡®bowl cut¡¯ look. We would advance and retreat depending on the cl.u.s.ters we were facing but we always had eyes in the sky.


    Kaley and the rest kept on shooting the ones behind us while we continued going West, circling around to reach the post office to set arger perimeter. However, it didn¡¯t take long before the other three: Petrov, Stefan, and Marina managed to get down from the post office and started another group for a hack and sh fiesta.


    Their handhelds were also covered in blood but we didn¡¯t have time to wipe them down at the moment.


    I got a better look at the three¡¯s fighting prowess and their fighting styles and it was more or less the same standard as the rest of them. They didn¡¯t particrly shine but they never got outshined either.


    They each have their own quirks as they could support each other even if they look like their movements were in discord. Stefan was leading their charge but the moment we joined them, they followed Tatiana¡¯s lead as they also fanned further and further, letting me move as freely as I could with my de.


    It took a while to clear the initial advance of the ones approaching us but the moment we got a short breather, we blocked the entrance to the precinct and the post office respectively. A bit of gas was still left inside the other vehicles and it was easy enough to get them to start even without keys.


    Mikhail led the three to properly take care of the bodies while Tatiana led me inside the precinct. The smell was already horrible outside but once we get to the enclosed spaces, it got much worse. However, the sight of the prisoners left inside their cages was vomit-inducing.


    Their bodies were in the same state as the ones we¡¯ve faced before but they were all stuck in between the rusted bars of the cells they were in. They were congealed in a way but they were still eating each other, hurting themselves more than they could nourish themselves. Their f.u.c.k.i.e.d up bodies were almost spilling out from the cells and the floor was filled with whatever f.u.c.k.i.e.d up fluids they were secreting.


    Everything was just basking in the ambiance and I couldn¡¯t figure out which was which by the smell. Bile, vomit, shit, or whatever the f.u.c.k it was, I couldn¡¯t stay a second more.


    ¡°Are there others?¡± I asked.


    Tatiana replied, ¡°No, let¡¯s head to their armory.¡±

 Chapter 554

    Chapter 554: 554


    The mention of a gun or any other handheld martial weapon being discovered would always make my head turn but a mention of a cache where there would at least be a few in storage would allow me to get myself kidnapped in the right circ.u.mstances. I zoomed inside the hallways of the precinct as I dragged Tatiana with me and we soon arrived at the entrance to our destination. <center></center><hr>


    My eyes were already sparkling, ¡°It¡¯s this ce, right?!¡±


    ¡°W-Wait! It¡¯s not what you-¡±


    The moment I opened the door, the look of excitement I had was immediately reced by disappointment. The door leading to this ce¡¯s armory had a metal, grated gate to go through before gaining unlimited ess. However, I failed to notice the bulletholes on the door I opened earlier and the amount of viscous fluids by our feet. The smell was the same as thest room and it was miraculous I was almost getting used to it.


    ¡°What the-¡±


    ¡°I told you. The guns are there but¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±


    Body after body belonging to civilians and police officers was in front of us, in a state of decay numbering more than a month. Furthermore, the ones by the gate to the armory were formed like a f.u.c.k.i.e.d up ramp due to the way they swarmed over the entrance. It would take a while to remove every single body and it would take some manpower.


    However, looking through the gaps, a figure was inside with a gaping hole in the side of its head. <center></center><hr>


    On the wall right next to the figure was a stter zone but the bits that belonged to it had already discolored and added to the theme of the whole area. It was quite difficult to see everything from the other side due to the blockage but the figure being on the opposite side of the entrance helped us piece together what happened.


    ¡®Tried to fight them off but they blocked his only exit¡­ well¡­ he made his own¡­¡¯


    We eventually got to work but after a while, Oscar and a group he brought with him caught up to us. They came in with his SUV and another pickup and a few soldiers were with them. He left the others to take care of the first batch of bodies to be burned but they will be sending a few dozers to push the bodies together to be burned into cl.u.s.terster.


    Oscar just told me that he got bored of the cleaning process so he brought a group to follow us here.


    ¡°What¡¯cha got over here? Oh! I told ya there was something here!¡± Oscar was already being his loud self.


    I shook my head as I replied, ¡°Yeah, the ammo left is a quarter though. Well, the grenades and-¡±


    ¡°What?! What the f.u.c.k happened?! A quarter?! This ce should be ripe for f.u.c.k¡¯s sake!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, a quarter. A guy holed up in the armory and started shooting everything that came through. The thing is, the armory just got packed and packed, it became impossible to push the gate the deadheads swarmed.¡±


    ¡°B-But! The bodies there aren¡¯t enou-¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yep. He could¡¯ve just started shooting randomly out of spite, we¡¯ll never know. The silver lining is that the guns are still intact and the hard drives were untouched. Oh, there¡¯s a handful of riot gear and body armor too so I suppose we¡¯ll load that in your vehicles or you¡¯ll give them to your team.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I suppose.¡±


    ¡°Are you gonna follow us or are you gonna properly oversee the cleaning process? You know I¡¯d leave you in the dust by using a chopper, right? You only caught up to us because we stopped for a while.¡±


    Oscar sighed as he started pinching his be, ¡°Fine, fine, fine, fine¡­ I guess I¡¯ll go back. There are still a few areas we haven¡¯t explored yet. Besides, this route wouldn¡¯t lead to Iskoh¡¯s ce¡­ wait- ah f.u.c.k! I¡¯m doing a few things at once! Kid, just make sure to clear the area after surveying it, okay? Just call in a group and start in the outer edges.¡±


    I pushed him outside to his group and said, ¡°Yeah, yeah, just go back and I¡¯ll tell you what we see. It could be different from what we left itst time so things could go a few ways.¡±


    After a short while of dividing the ammo and loading everything else in their vehicles, Oscar went back the same way while my group went for the love hotel we nested onst time. The ce seemed to be zombie-free but the university right next to us had a few stragglers walking around.


    It was because the formation of the bodies we piled up before changed over the days and weeks, some going higher and some getting lower. It allowed a few to use it as a ramp to explore the university we took over, making it another pain to clean up. However, we wouldn¡¯t visit the university anytime soon because the main concern was the figures my group was staring at below.


    Lois immediately tapped me as I approached them, ¡°Bro, can I shoot the one on the far side? I could, right? The one with the two heads hanging by its neck!¡± <hr>


    I ced my hand over his rifle and lowered it, ¡°We take some footage first and observe. After that, we take down everything that we could.¡±


    I gave them the controllers to our drones while Mikhail led the other three to double-check the lower floors of the love hotel. Looking at the mess below, it seemed that the artificial ¡®walls¡¯ we made back then should¡¯ve been cleared the moment we were done with them. The ones below were actually repurposing them to turn into the ones we facedst time.


    The specials with the elongated tongues we discovered hanging at the bottom of the train station have made a nest of the bodies piled on top of one another. Furthermore, a select few were walking around, ¡®shopping¡¯ for parts to add to themselves. However, it wasn¡¯t a short process of just picking up a body and merging parts of it to themselves.


    The whole process wasn¡¯t confirmed but just by simply looking at them, they seemed to be picking parts that would best¡­ ¡®suit¡¯ them.


    No one in my group was speaking a word as our eyes were just glued to either our screens or to our scopes. One of the ¡®slurpers¡¯ as we branded them earlier had a body that got deformed or damaged, making it unable to chew anything anymore with a ripped-out jaw. Its tongue was the only one active and it was functioning through the two heads hanging by its neck.


    It was the same one Lois was trying to get permission to shoot but we opted in watching it for the moment.


    The moment a regr deadhead approached it, its tongue instantly forced itself to its ear, going through anding out of the left eye socket. The deadhead immediately fell like a ragdoll before the one that attacked it knelt down, making the heads attached to it bite down for some unknown reason. However, it only took a short moment before its main tongue scooped out the chewed-out remains and shoved it inside the main body.


    The feeding process continued for a while before it ripped its victim¡¯s neck off, nestling it gently between the heads that ate it.


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k¡­¡± <hr>


    It didn¡¯t take long before its tongue went inside the back of the head, almost ¡®stitching¡¯ themselves into one being. After what was close to an hour or two, the new head was moving the same way as the other two.


    A few others had almost the same thing going on but it seemed that we have seen enough.


    I tapped Lois who has already got it in his sights, ¡°Send it.¡±


    A suppressed shot followed before a small puff of darkened liquid burst from the opposite side of its head. It instantly fell with one shot and I didn¡¯t have to tell the rest of them to start shooting the ones in the immediate vicinity. It only took a few seconds but my group has already taken down almost a dozen. It was quite easy to identify which one had a long tongue and extra parts but they were located in a sea of dead bodies.


    Bullets rained from the love hotel but I was still watching from the feed.


    That was when I saw a fewing straight for us while a few have actually turned tongue and ran. Kaley managed to take down a few before they ran under the confines of the train station but she helped with the onesing for us the moment they were out of sight. I raised my rifle instead of starting up the helicopter as I shot down a few that have managed to lodge their tongues in the gaps of the windows.


    ¡®At least they don¡¯t stick onto any surface¡­ I guess their tongues are wrapped by the small gaps under the train station¡­¡¯


    They were hanging in ce but it didn¡¯t take long before someone plunged a cork into the hole it made.


    ¡®Umm¡­¡¯

 Chapter 555

    Chapter 555: 555


    I almost forgot what I was doing but I was so mad that I didn¡¯t think of that. However, I just shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt and noted to myself that I would shake the hand of the person that did that. There was only a small percentage of people that could be clinically insane but able to function normally like me, so I treat them very dearly. <center></center><hr>


    Moving on, discovering that the slurpers had a new trait of their own, finding a proper name should be essential in identifying them. Aside from taking control of their victims by jabbing their heads with their tongues and eating what was left, they could now make ¡®armor¡¯ or additional modification to themselves just by ¡®stitching¡¯ it with themselves.


    In any case, most of their abilities¡¯ primary source was still their tongues.


    ¡®Although, it¡¯s safe to assume that not all of them would be like that. We still have varying sprinterspared to the ferals we would only encounter when we¡¯re deep enough¡­¡¯


    It took a while to take into ount everything that we assumed was one of them, but to make most of the daylight that we have left, we called a clearing group then we changed locations. It was easy enough to park in one of the malls surrounding Monumento but we picked one that was closest to the road they would be taking.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Old man, are you done over there? Can you send them and at least clear one side of the road.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Kid? Ah, yeah~ we¡¯re taking a bit of time you see. We could maybe get there a few hours before sunset. In the meantime, why don¡¯t you permanently close off the snaking walkways you didst time so they couldn¡¯t reach us from the left side?]


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, we parked atop a mall so the timing may just be right. We¡¯ll try to clear the inside and try possibly get to their parking area in the bas.e.m.e.nt. A few delivery vans are probably present there so we¡¯ll be able to take home what we need through several trips. It could be done in a week at most but the problem with the dead is still the priority.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Alright, kid. We¡¯ll table that in the meeting but we¡¯ll see what we could do on our si- WHAT KINDA F.U.C.K.I.N.G 3 MILLION POINT TURN IS THAT?! Ah, sorry- someone needed to have driving lessons¡­ WHAT TH- I TOLD YOU TO- Anyway, I¡¯ll call you in a few hours.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure¡­¡±


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¨C


    After ending the call, I tasked Kaley with guarding Lois, Chris, and Cynthia atop the roof while the rest of us will be heading down. They will be in charge of closing off the paths we made while we would clear the mall of anything that stayed a little too long for shopping.


    ¡®I¡¯ll trust her with this at least¡­¡¯


    The mall was shaped like an isosceles tr.a.p.ezoid curving from the inside. It had three floors in total excluding the bas.e.m.e.nt where the parking area and a few facilities were located. The walls were made of ss aside from a few made for advertis.e.m.e.nts. Three entrances/exits in total were on the 1st floor but an elevator could ess each floor freely, even the bas.e.m.e.nt and the roof.


    However, there was no more electricity powering this mall and a few things should be considered.


    Before we head down, we secured several climbing ropes and threw them on one side of the mall. It would be serving as another exit n in case of emergencies and it would be ready once we break the ss windows against it on the lower floors. I gave my group a run-through of a simple n and we gathered by the roof ess.


    ¡°Okay, sunlight will be our friend here so we stick to the ss windows as much as possible. We could try to get to the bas.e.m.e.nt to try their generators too but we need to properly close off the 1st floor. With that in mind, that floor had some leakage due to the ss doors being broken so we¡¯ll see once we get there. We¡¯ll worry about the 3rd and the 2nd floor first and we¡¯ll do the same thing of heading straight to block the passages to the lower floor.¡±


    Tatiana chambered a round in her pistol, ¡°Yeah, same old, same old.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Doing that would ensure nothing woulde up while we clear the current floor, but we¡¯ll remove it after and ce it on the lower floor¡¯s passage to the floor beneath it until we get to our destination. Don¡¯t worry about the loot because we had no one to contest for it besides ourselves. Try to be quiet as much as possible but don¡¯t worry about letting loose if the situation calls for it. We¡¯ll be splitting into teams of three and but we¡¯ll be fanning almost in the same direction.¡±


    Stefan raised a question, ¡°How many are the passages we¡¯d be trying to block? Also, wouldn¡¯t it be a problem if we start to remove them and head down? Will a group stay behind to guard it?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a total of three esctors, two stairs, and a single elevator. We wouldn¡¯t worry about the elevator so we¡¯ll have five passages to block. Don¡¯t worry about removing them. We¡¯ll be only removing one, right? We¡¯ll do that in the esctor in the middle so we¡¯d have an easier time going to it. Besides, we¡¯ll ce it back, and unless we encounter a feral or two, we¡¯ll make the blockage to be vaultable only by us with our fine motor skills.¡±


    Stefan nodded a few times as he said, ¡°Who are the teams?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Hmm~ Let¡¯s go with-¡±


    Tatiana cut me off, ¡°I¡¯ll decide. Marina, we¡¯ll-¡±


    Stefan immediately side-eyed Tatiana as he turned his head, ¡°Who made you the team leader?¡±


    Tatiana scoffed, ¡°Just by order of who got here first. Artem and Niks aren¡¯t here so I¡¯m kinda next in line. In our group right now, Kaley¡¯s gone so I¡¯m also next in line. Also, just by weapon type brought, it¡¯d be unanimous the three of you guys get together, correct?¡±


    ¡°But I- Ack!¡±


    Before Stefan started to argue, Mikhail just picked him up by his neck as he threw him down the stairs. Luckily, there was another door below to get to the 3rd floor and by some chance, Stefannded on his feet despite carrying a few pounds of gear. It was almost cat-like in a sense but it wasn¡¯t graceful to look at.


    ¡®Hmm, there¡¯s another tidbit¡­ kinda good with bnce, eh?¡¯


    It didn¡¯t take long before we bust the door open while Tatiana and I pounced on the ones in the immediate vicinity. The light wasing from the left side of the mall, barely illuminating the stalls from the opposite side. Like everything else enclosed, the smell was horrible and we headed straight for where the climbing ropes were located before splitting up.


    Tatiana and Stefan fired five shots each with buckshot shells loaded into their guns before kicking off what was left of the ss windows. We tested it by pulling hard for a short moment then we turned around and picked a far side to fan out. I was with Tatiana and Marina on the wider, right side while the other three were on the narrower, left side.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You know the drill.¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Roger.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Even Mikhail¡¯s side was shorter, visibility wasn¡¯t as good on their side of the mall. Despite that, they were making quick work of the ones in front of them as I could hear blunt objects mming on frail bodies and sharpened des cutting through flesh. On our side, Tatiana and I were leading the charge while Marina was providing support at the back. She was right in the middle of us because Tatiana would fan to my left as I continued to move forward.


    Marina was providing additional light while pointing out a few stragglers in our blindspot, but she would immediately fire when the numbers were a little too much.


    I started cutting down deadhead after deadhead wearing the same uniform, only changing when a manager came by. I was holding my katana with my right hand and my pistol in the other, using the shlight to shine on what was in front of my path. How I could¡¯ve wished we have shot down each ss window because the deeper we went, the more horrible it smelled.


    Not to mention the inner stalls that sold food and whatnot because the vegetables and fruits in the produce section have already turned to some sort of f.u.c.k.i.e.d up mushroomy, molded, gtin.


    A rotting scalp with bits of skullnding on top of it didn¡¯t help as much but we continued cutting them down. The group of three was starting to form into groups of two because Petrov did the same thing of fanning out to the side, almost meeting Tatiana in the middle.


    ¡®So far, so- what the f-¡®

 Chapter 556

    Chapter 556: 556


    We didn¡¯t notice it the first time we headed down but once we managed to double-back in the central area, what looked to be a chandelier in the shadows was actually several tongues almost braided with each other, coiling around the cables keeping the chandelier from falling down. Our breaths escaped our lungs and it took a considerable amount of energy from making noise when they were only a few feet away from us. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°What the fu-¡±


    ¡°Shh¡­¡±


    Despite that, they looked strange or eerie because instead of their tongues hanging down, their main bodies were the ones dangling in the middle of the first and second floor. They were positioned in a way that they almost imitated the structure of the chandelier itself and the reason as to why they didn¡¯t move an inch the moment we went down the first time boggled our minds.


    ¡®The ones we killed weren¡¯t controlled too¡­¡¯


    Deadheads from the other side of the mall were stilling for us so instead of going through an idle pack of slurpers, we backpedaled and kited the ones approaching us. We carefully retreated back to where the climbing ropes were located as we made sure not to step onto the ones we already put down. Wemunicated with hush tones and hand signals but a simple deathly stare had always worked wonders.


    ¡°Don¡¯t take your eyes off it! Once it moves, start chucking a grenade or two!¡±


    ¡°What do we do after this?¡± Tatiana muttered as she came closer.


    ¡°We take care of everything until it slows down! As soon as it does, we poke the chandelier with a stick. Depending on how it reacts, we¡¯ll either make a break for the stairs or climb up using the ropes! Heads up!¡±


    Stefan eximed with a hushed tone, ¡°Poke a stick? What about the one in the middle?!¡±


    ¡°I just said- Don¡¯t worry about it! Let¡¯s take care of the problem one at a time!¡±


    ¡°Ah- I-¡±


    Petrov pulled him back as I continued, ¡°Stop arguing with me! Just retreat for now!¡±


    I exined as best as I could because a small herd from the opposite side of the mall starteding after the initial cl.u.s.ters. To test the waters as fast as we could, I pulled out my TX-22 and emptied the magazine in their heads. Like the first batch we killed, they didn¡¯t rise up as they immediately fell down so my group instantly went after what remained.


    Mikhail and Stefan immediately jumped ahead before Tatiana and I followed. I tasked Marina and Petrov with taking care of the bodies by chucking them off the roof, so they were weaving in between us as we slowly advanced once more. It was a simple game of going back and forth with the dead, narrowly avoiding and watching out for the threat in the middle of the mall. <center></center><hr>


    Leathery flesh and viscous fluids were on the floor aside from broken ss and assorted knick-knacks but the total body count continued to increase with each swing or sh of light. Tatiana continued to use her sword by stabbing forward in quick session while retreating at the same time while Mikhail and the rest used the time to pull out their handguns and start using literal gunspared to their arms.


    Employees, owners, managers, students, families, elderly, and etc. What used to be people from all walks of life were now single-minded crooked figures getting killed for the second time. Their appearance suggested that they were in the state of decay far longer than the ones we encountered and the only silver lining was that none of them have turned to specials or even simple irregrs.


    ¡®They move slower too¡­¡¯


    The staggered steps, the simple growls, and the absent look with simple movements of its jaws were present.


    I swung downwards to remove a third of the head of a biter wearing a musky holiday shirt. Part of its eye socket, jaw, ear, and cheekbones had fallen to the side before I followed through, removing its right shoulderpletely. Its ckened gray matter or what was left of it just plopped to the ground like the rest of the bits inside its head.


    My de was cutting through them like butter but the issue was the de itself getting dirtier by the second. Nevertheless, a simple flick of the wrist would remove most of them and it wouldn¡¯t affect the cuts even more if I continued to thrust. The only thing I disliked about doing it properly was pulling back after each thrust though there were a few ways to make everything flow like water.


    Twisting my arm and applying a bit of force was the solution but going through bone as I entered their skull would require a lot more force. Pulling it out was the better solution and unless the situation called for it, I would rarely perform it without the proper wind-up.


    I took a step back the moment a tall deadhead wearing a jersey swiped itsnky hands at me but before I managed to slice half of its face off, a knife went through the side of its ear. Tatiana pulled it out nonchntly after it fell down then I saw Mikhail crushing a skull of a deadhead wearing a helmet into pieces. The hammer side of his weapon easily flew in a wide arc before crushing several heads with one swing.


    Stefan finished some of them off with his knife but he decided to just help with hauling the bodies off the building. It was a short moment of realization as he discovered he wasn¡¯t needed so he made sure to be useful in somece else where Mikhail wasn¡¯t present.


    ¡®Like a max character griefing¡­¡¯


    It took us a while to make their advance halt and it didn¡¯t take long before I managed to contact the ones on the roof. They were firing the whole time we were in a dance with the dead but a drone eventually flew over our heads, heading for the f.u.c.k.i.e.d up chandelier at the center. We decided to stay on the same floor so we¡¯d have a better viewpared to a screen.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Do I go slowly or?] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Just go for it.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Sure¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Lois was the one controlling the drone and he started circling around it with a wide radius. After each loop, he would make the circle smaller and smaller right until it was about to make contact. Despite that, there was nary a response.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Bro¡­ could they be dead already?] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Fly lower, check the main bodies. You just flew around the tongues.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah¡­ okay¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    It didn¡¯t take long before Lois followed my request but as the first few times, there was nary a response. My group even resorted to throwing bloody jawbreakers we found on the floor and it only made the dead below follow the noise when itnded at the bottom. The drone was eventually retracted and we continued with our initial n. However, once we got to the proper distance, I bored a hole through their heads with a 5.56 before advancing any further.


    The 2nd floor was in a much worse state than the one above and there were signs that the people that acted fast tried to barricaded ess from the floor below. A few have seeded but sloppy work was done in a couple of them. That allowed the dead to reach the higher floors and not to mention the esctors were still working.


    They only needed to stand on it and they would be delivered to their meals.


    We continued with getting through the side of the mall where the ropes were located but it was still a little unnerving to pass by the slurpers hanging by the chandelier. We know that they were dead but several bodies hanging out from the ceiling were still sending eerie signals. A few of us could still remember the time we spent inside the church of the cult we encountered though that was f.u.c.k.i.n.g worse than what we were seeing currently. <hr>


    ¡°West stairwell clear.¡±


    ¡°This side too.¡±


    ¡°The emergency exit?¡±


    ¡°Da.¡±


    ¡°The esctors?¡±


    ¡°Da.¡±


    ¡°Da 2nd floor is finally cleared.¡±


    ¡°What the- did you just-¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°How about the first floor?¡±


    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡±


    Despite our best efforts, it was impossible to block the entrance of the first floor unless our clearing group manages to reach us. The mall was still a few meters away from the edge of the bodies we piled outside so it would take some time. Nevertheless, securing a mall¡¯s resources from two floors was more than enough of an achievement for a day.


    Aside from the canned goods that we discovered from several shops, cigars, booze, tools, medical items, and etc. were ripe for the taking. Aside from that, we managed to scr.a.p.e up two .38 Specials, three Remington 870s, and a Colt 1911 from the guards we took down.


    My group was just looking at me before I gave the signal, ¡°Yeah, go ahead. Take what you want.¡±

 Chapter 557

    Chapter 557: 557


    Our group invoked the buddy system and we started going into each stall that caught our eye. The essential items were already taken into ount so we went ahead and looked for items we would want instead of items we would readily need. I let Kaley drag me into a few stalls where she could acquire items to make her more beautiful but I already got my eye into an electronics shop. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley pulled me into another stall and showed me a set of boxes with the same model, ¡°I¡¯m thinking of changing my hair color¡­ What do you think? This one or~ this one?¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ I dunno¡­ anything would suit you.¡±


    ¡°Oh really~ Hmph! What if I go blonde? Or red? Oh! Purple looks nice¡­¡±


    ¡°Kaley¡­¡±


    ¡°What? Josh does a good job, right?¡±


    ¡°I know but-¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s my hair, right?¡±


    I assumed a pose and said, ¡°But you¡¯re mine, right?¡±


    One of Kaley¡¯s eyebrows raised as she ced her hand on her h.i.p.s, ¡°Hmph! You think you¡¯re so smooth, aren¡¯t ya? You¡¯re mine too if you think about it¡­¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°What I¡¯m trying to say is that tactically speaking, it would be better if we blend in. You¡¯d be a prime target if you have distinct hair color. Besides, I like your natural look so¡­ you could just use a wig at home or those wax or powdered stuff to make it look different temporarily¡­¡±


    Kaley pouted as she returned the box, ¡°Sure¡­ you¡¯re right¡­¡±


    I nudged her with my elbow as I picked up a few boxes a few items lower than the hair dyes, ¡°However¡­ we have some use with these kinds¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm? That?¡±


    ¡°Yep. You¡¯ll see when we get home.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d have to be n.a.k.e.d though¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh?! I-I m-mean¡­¡±


    ¡°Then it¡¯s a date!¡±


    ¡°B-But¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Let¡¯s grab all of these bottles too¡­¡±


    ¡°S-Shampoo?! What are we-¡±


    ¡°I hate coconut, go back to green apple or cool menthol! What¡¯s next? A Haka or a Fire Dance? A H?¡±


    ¡°Wha?! Excuse me~ I happen to like cocon-¡±


    ¡°Hah? I¡¯ll spoon you longer, deal?¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ Deal¡­ That¡¯s a promise!¡±


    ¡°Deal!¡±


    ¡°Deal!¡±


    ¡°However¡­¡±


    ¡°What is it now?!¡±


    ¡°What if I get hard¡­¡±


    ¡°THEN PUT SOME SPIT ON IT AND DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO!!!¡±


    ¡°Okay, if you insist¡­ I¡¯m just saying-¡±


    Kaley¡¯s face was flushed red, ¡°HNGH~ YOU!!!¡±


    Then Tatiana immediately entered with a devilish smile while Marina was getting dragged along, ¡°Spit? What?¡±


    Kaley started to shrink more and more, ¡°NOOOOO~!!!¡±


    I started to lose it while Kaley was crouched down and covering her ears. At the same time, Tatiana kept on wearing her devilish smile while Marina was left confused as f.u.c.k. It took a few moments before things started to calm down but Tatiana asked about the ckening shampoo on my hands.


    ¡°Are you gonna use that on me?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ Kaley¡¯s still undecided if she¡¯ll get a tattoo or not, right? Using this thing could work and it wouldst a few days instead of forever¡­ This way, we could try a few things until she wanted something permanent.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Hmm, that sounds cool. I¡¯m still thinking of a few smaller ones topliment the big one that I just had.¡±


    Kaley finally calmed down, ¡°The one Cynthia had? The small one?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, something a little smaller than that I suppose. But, if it looks great, then there¡¯s no problem even if my whole back is covered.¡±


    Marina added, ¡°The girl named Daisy did all that, right? Can you introduce me? I think I want a few touch-ups with my own.¡±


    ¡°Tatiana will take you¡­ absolutely¡­ I wish I could easily decide what to get¡­¡± Kaley trailed.


    Marina replied, ¡°Well, your skin is a little too perfect. You need to have something really good on it or something you really like because it would be such a waste. Oh, just my two cents though¡­ It¡¯s still your decision on whether to get one or not.¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ That didn¡¯t help me one bit¡­ Oh! What do you want to get touched up? Can I see?¡±


    As the three started to talk like moms that miraculously bumped into each other in a supermarket, I slowly slipped away so I could head back to the electronics shop Kaley and I passed by earlier. I turned my shlight on and I immediately went for the cab where a few NVMe SSDs, processors, memories, and high-value graphics cards were on disy.


    Aside from those, I pulled out several pre-builtptops in the back of this store and noted a few more extraponents I would be taking back. Everything the shop had in storage was in the manifest I picked up and it included more PC parts, cameras, drones, tablets radios, phones, and etc.


    The ce I found wasn¡¯t the only store that sold electronic devices so I found more shops after Kaley broke off from Tatiana and Marina. She started berating me as to why I suddenly disappeared but I just smiled and handed her a box. Kaley still had aptop that she barely used but I think she could learn a few more things.


    ¡°From now on, you¡¯ll be using that when we¡¯re traveling or at home. Well, we¡¯ll swap out a few things but you¡¯ll have to do that yourself after showing it to you once. That will be a start but I¡¯d appreciate it if you could build a PC of your own in the future.¡±


    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m not really¡­¡±


    ¡°You could clean your AR blindfolded¡­ it¡¯s the same concept¡­ just ce it where it fits and you¡¯re on business.¡±


    Kaley scratched her head, ¡°Isn¡¯t there more to that? Where are we going?¡±


    ¡°I have a few more things I wanted to get my hands on so we better do it while we¡¯re waiting for the clearing team.¡±


    ¡°What if they don¡¯t arrive now?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, that could happen¡­ We just need a huge crate to put everything else in while keeping the weight up to what our helicopter could carry. If it¡¯s too much, we¡¯ll just leave the ones we don¡¯t need as much for the next trip or day.¡±


    Kaley nodded as she followed me but it didn¡¯t take long before the others brought more items than we could carry. Tatiana brought a f.u.c.k ton of snacks while the rest brought items for leisure. They had a high trade value at any ce and if they wanted something they like, they could have an easier time acquiring it.


    However, even if our group hauled everything else avable, a percentage of it would still be shared with everyone back home. They alsopleted their assigned jobs to the dot so it was only natural to give them something. Despite that, bonuses here and there wouldn¡¯t hurt to keep each side happy, even if it favored the ones that risked their lives more. <hr>


    ¡®As long as it¡¯s fair¡­¡¯


    When the clearing group arrived, they weren¡¯t able to reach the mall we cleared unless they risk driving home at sunset. Even when they resorted to just burn the bodies a few dozen at a time, they would at most reach a fifth of the way. Not to mention the ongoing threat of the onesing from behind them, making the clearing process take longer.


    That was when I decided to have everything we prepared to be readied at the roof. At the same time, I left a portion of my group to watch over the ones clearing the area.


    ¡°I thought we¡¯d be taking several trips?¡± Lois asked.


    ¡°Yeah, I just had a better idea.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just use a bigger helicopter. Stay here, we¡¯ll be back soon.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ that easy, huh?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    It took a while before I came back with our cargo helicopter and we sessfully hauled everything we wanted and needed with a little bit of space left. That prompted my group to run back and bring back a ton more items I didn¡¯t see when I flew back, but lo and behold, Kaley had the most items in total.


    I shook my head looking at Kaley who couldn¡¯t look at me in the eye, ¡°Really¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®Really¡¯ me, you¡¯re the greediest one out of everyone!¡± Kaley immediately defended herself.


    ¡°Ah¡­ you¡¯re right¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmph! ¡®Really¡¯ my ass¡­ doofus¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    My group startedughing and we flew back with new items in tow. We sent a few crates over at Woonds, the DDR Camp, our two outposts, and even Morales¡¯ bases. Everyone appreciated the gesture but they all puked blood the moment I handed them a fake receipt. In the end, Morales and our outpost in Meycauayan promised to send back a few items they¡¯ve collected as well as a sign of goodwill.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Another ship will do!¡± <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [F.u.c.k off! I¡¯m not letting go of another ship!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Cheh, so stingy. It¡¯s just a ship!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [JUST A SHIP?! WHERE IN THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G WORLD WILL YOU SEE A F.U.C.KER TRADE A SHIP FOR SEVERAL NIGHTGOWNS AND HIGH HEELS?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Ah¡­ wrong crate¡­ can you send it back? I¡¯ll pay for the ship-ping fee¡­ HAHAHA!!! Get it?! Ship-ping? Hello? Morales? YOO-HOO~ Ah¡­¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    ¡°The motherf.u.c.ker hang up on me¡­¡±

 Chapter 558

    Chapter 558: 558


    I lowered my radio in disbelief but a rolled-up towel made its way to my head. The moment it made contact, it ruffled down before hanging loosely over my head. I already knew who it was so I raced her towards our bathroom. However, the moment I opened the door and seeing her in a state of undress caught me off-guard. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Close the door! What are you waiting for? An audience?¡± Kaley chuckled as she pulled me inside.


    ¡°Then don¡¯t do that sensual shit when you take off your clothes! It¡¯s distracting!¡±


    ¡°What do you mean? Hmm~? You mean like this?¡± Kaley chuckled as she bent over while taking her panties off.


    Kaley¡¯s plump ass was on full disy together with her thick thighs and the rest of the most important bits. I caught a short glimpse of everything she was hiding but all I managed to do was steal a pinch before she pulled me into the shower. Steam started to rise up and fog the mirrors but we continued to wash each other¡¯s body with a bit of frisking involved.


    It didn¡¯t take long to finish the whole process and we ended up with everyone present in the room. Tatiana made sure to bring the majority of the snacks she collected so we decided to spend the night watching a few movies. At the same time, I borrowed Kaley¡¯s body so I could use it as a canvas to make a temporary tattoo.


    I started drawing an outline of a bunny with antlers on her shoulder while a trail of flowers continued on her arms.


    ¡°W-Why do I need to take my top o-off?! You¡¯re just doing it in my arm!¡±


    I replied, ¡°Hey. If this gets into your clothes, it would be hard to wash them off.¡±


    ¡°H-Hngh¡­¡±


    Tatiana immediately added, ¡°I could take mine off if you want?¡±


    ¡°T-That¡¯s not what I-¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Toote, I already took it off. Rin! Remove that hoody! Your shorts too!¡±


    ¡°Wha- We¡¯re still watching the movie!¡±


    ¡°Tatiana!¡±


    ¡°Noooooooo~¡±


    It took Kaley, Rin, Cynthia, Vera, Marina, Daisy, and several restraints to take Tatiana down and I finally had more time to finish inking the rest of the outline. The movie was rewound a few minutes and everything was back to normal. However, the only difference was Tatiana was rolled over in several nkets like a burrito.


    Tatiana eximed, ¡°Jokes on you, I¡¯m into this shit!¡±


    ¡°PUUU!!!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°Tatiana! What the f.u.c.k?!¡±


    Everyone had a few drinks already and they startedughing when Tatiana began to struggle. It didn¡¯t take long before Tatiana managed to release herself but it was the first time Marina decided to open up a topic. She just finished a couple of beers and her face was a little flushed.


    ¡°You two remember thest time we did this with the squad?¡± Marina turned to Tatiana and Vera.


    ¡®Hmm?¡¯ <hr>


    Rin and Cynthia inquired, ¡°Squad? Last time?¡±


    Tatiana went back to her burrito but before Marina started to open her mouth, Vera interjected, ¡°We¡¯re not supposed to talk about that, right?¡±


    ¡°Whatever, what I¡¯m talking about is what we did after that. The night¡¯s kinda like this, remember?¡±


    Vera¡¯s eyes widened as she stared Marina down, ¡°We¡¯re. Not. Supposed. To. Talk. About. That. Right?¡±


    Vera¡¯s actions led to more questions from the two and even Kaley got curious. Furthermore, the way Tatiana shrunk down to hide was a first. It didn¡¯t take long before Marina and Vera were on top of each other, trying to pin each other down with various holds. It would¡¯ve been a high-level fight if it wasn¡¯t for the alcohol inside their system.


    ¡°C¡¯mon! You already told me that nothing gets out of here! So it¡¯s fine to talk about it!¡± Marina eximed.


    ¡°As if! You¡¯re not the one who- Argh! Don¡¯t pull on my- Stop!¡±


    Marina fully mounted Vera, ¡°Saying something? I¡¯m not the one who what? Want me to say it?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t get c.o.c.ky!¡±


    The two tumbled on and on but Rin and Cynthia started to grill Tatiana who only had her legs out in the open. My ears were open for any development but Daisy started to help me with Kaley¡¯s temporary tattoo. The movie we were watching was still running despite the chaos that was happening but everything was soon revealed.


    ¡°It happened just once, okay?!¡± Vera eximed. <hr>


    ¡°What happened?¡± Everyone asked in unison.


    Vera hesitated as she looked down, ¡°W-We just had a l-little too much fun¡­ that¡¯s all¡­¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t give them much! Details! Give them details!¡±


    The two looked very tipsy amidst everything but Vera kept being tight-lipped. However, Tatiana¡¯s head popped out of the roll she put herself in, ¡°It¡¯s taken too long. We had a massive orgy not this reverse gangbang that¡¯s about to happen. Happy now?!¡±


    Vera lost it, ¡°TATIANA!!!¡±


    ¡°Tell them what happened after that! HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡± Marina eximed.


    Tatiana¡¯s face was red, ¡°Yeah, after being surrounded by d.i.c.ks and p.u.s.s.y, us three with Natasha ran n.a.k.e.d outside with a small shlight in our butts and yed tag.¡±


    Everyone eximed, ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°The thing is, the one that¡¯s ¡®it¡¯ should only have her shlight off and vice versa. I can¡¯t remember much after that because we were so hammered but Vera and I woke up 3 miles outside our camp with the shlights still¡­ you know what it is¡­ us girls only knew about it but Katya caught us red-handed when we got back¡­¡±


    Marina added, ¡°I still don¡¯t know how the two of you survived that. It was really cold outside and you had nothing on you two.¡±


    Everyone was shocked for a few seconds before Marina startedughing nonstop. Furthermore, Vera took over Tatiana¡¯s spot inside the nket roll and hid from everyone. We all had a mix of reactions as Tatiana continued with more details. They were lucky that they came back when most of their squad was sleeping but it was still an embarrassing experience.


    Tatiana and Vera started to drink more and more alcohol while Rin made sure that another n.a.k.e.d mile wouldn¡¯t happen by locking the doors tightly. We had the whole house to ourselves once more and as long as none of them ran outside with the vision attachment, it was all good. The movie got reced with music and it didn¡¯t take long before everyone was almost n.a.k.e.d and right in front of me. <hr>


    I had a few more drinks as well but I was getting smothered from all sides. Despite that, each of us picked a spot as three blonde-haired beauties came after me. Their faces were flushed red due to alcohol and they dragged me to the bed where Kaley and Daisy were making out. Kaley¡¯s fingers were already going in and out of Daisy¡¯s cunt while Daisy¡¯s body couldn¡¯t figure out what to do.


    Tatiana pushed me down with a devilish grin, ¡°You. You justy down, understand?¡±


    I wasn¡¯t able to answer before Marina sat on my face. I was immediately assaulted by her womanly scent as she leaned over but she grabbed my hands and ced them over her b.r.e.a.s.ts. They were so firm and soft to the touch and she was guiding my hands while she continued to grind her p.u.s.s.y against my face.


    Marina¡¯s body belonged to the athletic spectrum but her tits were a tad bigger than Tatiana¡¯s. Moreso, her little n.i.p.p.l.es were also a little too sensitive to the touch because she would gasp and twitch every time my fingers would brush through them. I was almost out of breath as she continued to sit on top of me because her full weight was also pressing against me.


    ¡°You like that? You like that don¡¯t you? Mmh¡­ you¡¯re tongue¡­ ah! ah¡­¡±


    I could feel myself getting hard from her m.o.a.ns but that was when my shorts got pulled off. Someone started sucking the tip of my c.o.c.k while the other went for my balls. I wasn¡¯t sure whether Tatiana or Vera was doing which task but they kept switching as they ran their hands through my body. I was already at my limit but Marina stood up and turned around before sitting in my face once more.


    ¡°You¡¯re too greedy, you know that?¡± Tatiana chuckled.


    ¡°You¡¯re the ones that are greedy for not telling me about his big- ah! W-Wait¡­ Ow! Wai¡­ ahn~ ooh¡­ l-like that¡­¡±


    I immediately pped Marina¡¯s ass as it was now in front of me while my tongue went deeper and deeper inside her f.u.c.khole. It tasted sweet and delicious being inside her meaty parts and I couldn¡¯t help but start to spread her lips with my hands. I was pushing her body deeper into my face as I parted her insides.


    It didn¡¯t take long before I exploded in front of their faces but Marina kept on running her tongue around the tip of my d.i.c.k, swallowing everything that came out. At the same time, Tatiana kept on jerking me off while Vera never stopped ying with my balls. I never went limp but Marina already went on top of me with a huge grin on her face.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see if what they told me is true, okay?¡±

 Chapter 559

    Chapter 559: 559


    There was a glint in Marina¡¯s eyes before she leaned closer as a few of her golden locks brushed on my face. She let out a short exhale the moment she lowered her body, but she was having a hard time taking me in. She raised her h.i.p.s a few times while her eyes were closed and while she was biting her lips. <center></center><hr>


    Marina¡¯s body was still trembling and a little stiff despite the alcohol but the moment she reached the base, she opened her eyes and looked at me. She leaned closer right before our lips were almost touching and we could feel our breaths but she stopped herself from kissing me.


    Marina whispered in my ear, ¡°N-No kissing¡­ i-it¡¯s a little-¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine¡­¡±


    ¡°T-Thank- Ah! W-Wait! I- Ah! Y-You¡­ Ahn! Mmh!¡±


    I started moving my h.i.p.s from below Marina and she continued to let out muffled m.o.a.ns. I was thrusting as slow as I could but the way she was gripping me so tightly made me go faster and faster. She had to wrap her arms around my neck while I continued to thrust, but it didn¡¯t take long before I felt her moving her h.i.p.s at the same time as me.


    ¡®She¡¯s so f.u.c.k.i.n.g tight!¡¯


    I held the back of Marina¡¯s h.i.p.s as I continued to pull it right before the tip and push it back in over and over. She put up a fight for the first few minutes but I turned her over the moment she was just pressing her whole weight against me. Her hair had loosened and it covered most of her face but despite the flushed expression earlier, she was out of breath and had a euphoric look on her face.


    Marina let me have my way with her as I continued to ravage her insides while I was lightly biting her n.i.p.p.l.es and pinching the other. I just found myself in the middle of her udders as she was pushing me against them but it didn¡¯t take long before came for the second time. I was already covered with her creamy juices but more of me came out as I continued to f.u.c.k her over and over.


    ¡°Y-You¡¯re s-still not d-don- Ah! Ah! I need a b-bre- Ahn! Mmh! I-I c-ca- Ah! I¡¯m c.u.m.m.i.n.g nonsto- Ah! Ah!¡±


    Marina was out ofmission when I left her sweaty and her holes oozing with c.u.m. She never did let me kiss her for the duration but I think I¡¯ve done more than enough. However, I saw my two other supposedly partners right behind me with their arms crossed over. I actually forgot about the two because of how aggressive Marina took over, but instead of me paying the price, they approached Marina with the ¡®I told you so.¡¯ face.


    Vera chuckled, ¡°See what being greedy does to you?¡±


    ¡°And c.o.c.ky,¡± Tatiana added. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I-I thought¡­ ah!¡±


    Tatiana¡¯s finger suddenly prated Marina¡¯s soaking insides and she swirled it over and over. Marina¡¯s insides squelched each time Tatiana shoved her fingers over and over and she made her lick every bit of it once she pulled it out. Despite that, Marina¡¯s holes were still soaked and oozing with everything, and they were gapedpared to earlier. That was when Tatiana sat on her face while Vera started eating her out.


    Marina couldn¡¯t put up a fight with the two teaming up against her but something that perked up caught my eye.


    ¡°Are you gonna watch us or are you gonna shove it in my butt?¡± Vera turned around as she spread her cheeks with one hand, showing me her holes aching for some action. They were definitely yed with probably from watching us but the way she broke the seal as she continued to run her hands through herself was something else.


    I just positioned myself behind them and I got the best view in the house.


    I watched Vera¡¯s backdoor grewrger as I pushed something bigger than a shlight inside her while Marina started to lose air from Tatiana sitting on her face. At the same time, I watched Kaley¡¯s tongue get stuck down Daisy¡¯s throat while they were tribbing right next to us. Furthermore, I could see Cynthia getting groped and aggressively touched by Rin from a chair while they were watching us.


    Their eyes wouldn¡¯t leave me but I still got a job to do.


    Vera was keeping Marina¡¯s legs open but I held her hands behind her back before I started going hard. That prompted to get Vera¡¯s head to get pushed onto Marina¡¯s muff over and over while her asshole started to get stretched out. She was now in the same state as Marina because she started losing air as she would gasp for air whenever she could. Her great work of eating her out became sloppier and sloppier but it increased the circ.u.mference of the area where Marina was gettingthered.


    I could feel Vera trying to break out of my grasp but my hold on her was rock solid. I didn¡¯t let go until I came inside of her holes twice and she just copsed on top of Marina who was in the same state. That was when Tatiana took the chance to mount me while the other two were gone so there would be no interruptions.


    ¡°I told you toy down, correct?¡±


    Tatiana just licked her lips as she squatted over me, giving me the full view of her insides getting rummaged with my d.i.c.k. She was leaning backward as she moved her h.i.p.s but her fingers were still ying with her clit. It took my all as to not c.u.m as fast as I could but a huge pair of tits suddenly hovered over my head. I just looked at the side where Daisy and Kaley were but Daisy was the only one there shaking nonstop.


    ¡°Am I next?¡± Kaley giggled as she sat next to me.


    Tatiana almost cursed in her breath, ¡°M-Maybe¡­ why don¡¯t you help with my other side so your turn would be faster?¡± <hr>


    Kaley just chuckled as she took something from her drawer, ¡°Okay~¡±


    ¡°W-Wait! We¡¯re waiting t-too!¡± Cynthia eximed.


    ¡®Oh boy¡­¡¯


    It didn¡¯t take long before Kaley and I were filling Tatiana¡¯s holes while Rin and Cynthia took turns sitting on my face. The one that was stationary would just grab my hands and ce them wherever they wanted but the ces couldn¡¯t be more obvious. However, the two just started making out while they made me explore their lower extremities. The view was already too much but seeing my fingers get sucked afterward while they were shaking almost made me nut.


    Not to mention seeing Tatiana turn into a mess while Kaley¡¯s expression was wild and unreserved. It was rare to see the two switch their roles and be so open with it with everyone present. Tatiana was on the receiving end of everything and I watched her getting vited by Kaley¡¯s strapon while Kaley was groping and squeezing every inch of her body. Her tits were getting mushed and pressed while her clit was getting flicked and rubbed at the same time.


    Tatiana already came over and over and I was almost on the brink from seeing Kaley look at me the whole time. She didn¡¯t let up for a second to let her rest and her juices were already running down her thighs and our nkets. However, I had to endure for a few more rounds because the look Kaley gave me when it was her turn told me that she wouldn¡¯t be going easy. She rode me like there was no tomorrow and I was almost spent when she was done.


    Despite that, my hardship wasn¡¯t over when they tagged out with Cynthia and Rin. They were now the ones bouncing on top of me while I get to grope and explore Kaley and Tatiana¡¯s bodies. The ratio they had couldn¡¯t bepared just to anyone and the only advantage the other two had was they were younger and I took their first time.


    We went on for hours and it started with them doing all the work to me having my sweet time with each of them. After a while, I would just be f.u.c.k.i.n.g like a mindless beast without a care as to who it was. Not all of them were able tost until the end namely Daisy who got worn out by Kaley and Marina who took the brunt from almost everyone.


    ¡°Right there! Right there! Right there! Oh my g- ah! I¡¯m c.u.mm- I¡¯m- ah! Ah! Hngh~ DON¡¯T F.U.C.K.I.N.G ST- AH! AH! AHN! MMH! I- AH! AHN! AH! HNGH! AH! Ah¡­ f.u.c.k¡­ f.u.c.k¡­ hngh¡­ NO! NO! NO! AH! I JUST C- AH! AH! AH! I JUST CAME! AH! OH SHIT! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K!¡±


    Kaley started shaking and twitching while I copsed on top of her and released what I had left. We stayed in the same position for a while as she started to kiss me while everyone was still out of breath. We were covered with sweat and everything else but we were all too exhausted to take a quick shower. It took some time before we managed to clean up and head to our own rooms and I finally had some alone time with my one and only.


    We remembered our own little promise to each other as I hugged her from behind and the scent of my favorite shampoo wafted over me.


    Kaley whispered, ¡°Happy?¡± <hr>


    I hugged her even tighter, ¡°Very much. You?¡±


    ¡°I had a st.¡±


    ¡°Me too. Your harem increased by one again.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not mine! That¡¯s Tatiana¡¯s recruit!¡±


    ¡°Then you finally admit to it¡­ Then who¡¯s on your side¡­¡±


    ¡°I mean¡­ it¡¯s just Cynthia if you think about it.¡±


    ¡°Eh~ Really?¡±


    ¡°Rin and Tatiana don¡¯t count?¡±


    ¡°Rin is obviously in Tatiana¡¯s fold but- I dunno¡­¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say you¡¯re right about Rin but Tatiana more or less belonged to you¡­ if we think about it anyone she brought had toe through you as well¡­ in any case¡­ you still have thergest number! Wait, we forgot about Daisy and Micah¡­¡±


    ¡°Can we not talk about it at this time?¡±


    ¡°Oh, sure¡­ mdy¡­¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ Listen¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s about the other thing we talked about earlier¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s switch¡­¡±


    ¡°Why? I love hugging you like this¡­¡±


    ¡°I love hugging you too! You don¡¯t put much stuff on you but you smell really nice¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah~ but, I¡¯m worried about the phrase ¡®putting some spit on it and doing what you have to¡¯, I¡¯m still not sold on the you-know-what you proposed a while back¡­¡±


    ¡°Pfft! I wasn¡¯t talking about that! I really just want to hug you right now¡­¡±


    ¡°We could just forgo the spooning and just face each other and do it, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ hahaha! Silly me¡­ I¡¯m kinda tired¡­ that¡¯s all¡­ I love you¡­¡±


    ¡°I know- Ack! I¡¯m joking! I¡¯m joking! Kaley! Where are you going?!¡±


    ¡°Getting some lube and my strapon-¡±


    ¡°NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!¡±

 Chapter 560

    Chapter 560: 560


    What happened that night defeated the time when the attendant from the pharmacy announced that I was gonna buy five boxes of condoms. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°KALEY!!! KALEYYY!!! KALEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY~!!!¡±


    ¡°Ehehehe¡­ You¡¯re gonna learn today~¡±


    ¡°NO!!! NOOOOO!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!¡±


    Seeing Kaley with a deranged look on her face as she was lubing up the Badonkadong 3000 sent shivers down my spine. A thin film of dangerous aura was forming around her body and the room¡¯s temperature was dropping by several degrees. It was close to a do-or-die moment and one wrong move wouldnd me in a different kind of colonoscopy.


    ¡°K-K-KALEY!!! CALM D-DOWN!!! L-LET¡¯S TALK ABOUT T-THIS, O-OKAY?!¡±


    ¡°Talk? Huuuuh~? I¡¯m already set though? What would talking do? Tell me?¡±


    ¡°I-I-I¡¯M J-J-JUST J-JOKING, O-OKAY?!¡±


    ¡°Sure~ I already put a lot of lube though¡­ it would be a waste if we didn¡¯t use it, right?¡±


    ¡°N-NO! IT¡¯S FINE! REALLY! Y-YOU¡¯RE TIRED, R-RIGHT?! W-WE SHOULD S-SLEEP!¡±


    Kaley towered over me with a menacing tone, ¡°No. Go on all fours ory down. Your pick.¡±


    ¡°STOP STROKING IT!!! K-KALEY! I-I-I-I HAVE A S-SUGGESTION!!! PLEASE! L-LISTEN TO ME!!!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m justthering it up. What¡¯s the pro- Hmm? Let¡¯s hear it then.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­ H-Hear me out¡­¡±


    I managed to talk her down and before I said anything, I pinned her down so I could safely remove and store the Badonkadong 3000 in a ce where it would be safe. Surprisingly, she didn¡¯t put up much of a fight and I breathed a sigh of relief. I was spooning her the whole time I was brokering the deal of my life because my ass was in the line. My arms were in the perfect ce because if things went south, I¡¯d hinge my safety by knocking her out. In the end, Kaley grew more curious about a little something I brought up.


    ¡°Just tell me what this secret is! I can¡¯t wait that long! And why would you need my hair?!¡±


    ¡°Not all of it! Just a few clippings will do!¡±


    ¡°I think you¡¯re just stalling! I don¡¯t have the guarantee that what you have will-¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m kinda stalling until your birthday but trust me, it will do something. If it doesn¡¯t, let¡¯s just say I¡¯ll let you have your way with me to do whatever you want. D-Do we have a deal?¡±


    Kaley turned aroundughing then she hugged and kissed me, ¡°I¡¯m really just messing with you, don¡¯t sweat it! W-Well¡­ you really got me curious as to what it is! I just had no idea how far you would go just to avoid getting pegged! I really had you there for a second! You should¡¯ve seen the look on your face!¡±


    ¡°Kaley! Y-You! Hngh¡­ Can we stop talking about how things would ¡®go¡¯ far?¡±


    ¡°Hah! You might like it, you never know¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not a way to ease me into it!¡±


    ¡°You did it this time¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You said ¡®ease you into it!¡¯, right?!¡±


    ¡°Pfft! DAMMIT KALEY!!!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! WHA- STOP TICKLING ME!!! I- HAHAHAHA!!! STOP!!!¡±


    A bit of scruff on my chin was left attended for a short while but I used it to my advantage as I kissed her neck. At the same time, my hands ran through her body and she struggled to break free. After receiving a headbutt and an elbow, we eventually had some well-deserved rest with just us.


    When morning came, I heard a familiar voiceing from the radio when Kaley and I were in the middle of changing our clothes.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [We¡¯re here bro! Where¡¯s the f.u.c.k.i.n.g wee mat?! HAHAHAHAHA!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You survived, eh? Heh, we¡¯lle on down shortly.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [No ¡®Wee Back!¡¯, eh? Oh, we¡¯ve just passed through the gates at Woonds. We¡¯ll be there in a few.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Oh, did uh¡­ did they actuallye?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, they came with us. Talk to youter, bro. Oh, ready ¡®that¡¯ for me, will you?] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°The what?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [My SCAR, bro! You promised!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Just pick it upter and I¡¯ll let you set it up.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! F.U.C.K YEAH!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Just get here quick. It¡¯s awkward talking to you wearing nothing but a shirt.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [UGH!!! Spare me the details, bro! Sheesh!] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    It took us a while to get ready and Jared started yapping on the radio incessantly. I had to turn it off so we could have a bit of peace and quiet but it didn¡¯t take long before we went down with everyone. Tatiana, Vera, and Marina greeted Artem and the rest of their team while Natasha was looking at Marina suspiciously. It was because Mikhail, Petrov, and Stefan came from the opposite direction while Marina came down with us.


    ¡°W-Why did y- Ack! What is wrong with you?!¡± Natasha was about to ask something forbidden so Tatiana immediately took action.


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    Stefan cut off everybody as he pped Bogdan¡¯s back hard, ¡°Got any souvenirs? How about you boss?¡±


    ¡°None.¡±


    ¡°None?¡±


    ¡°We ate it on the way.¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K!!!¡±


    ¡°I still have some hot pockets, want some?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Breakfast was just being served but what caught my eye was the small entourage that came with Jared and the rest.


    They were five all in all and four of them seemed to be soldiers and one civilian. One of the soldiers was a woman but the guy in the middle had the same aura as Morales. However, what piqued my curiosity was their fifth member wearing a slightly oversized vest. She was a woman that kinda looked in herte 20s and she was looking directly at me.


    I just locked eyes with her for a brief second but she immediately looked away.


    ¡®Hmm? No guns or even a knife in her belt though¡­ Is it all hidden in her vest? Impossible¡­¡¯


    Her body was covered from head to toe with protective equipment but all that could pose some threat was the belt itself or the shlight she had if used for striking. Besides that, the only other woman in their team seemed to be closely guarding her for some reason and in her case, she was armed to the teeth like everybody else.


    ¡®Well, she was that bag too¡­ weird to store it there though¡­¡¯


    ¡°Weird, huh?¡± Jared whispered as he gave me a fistbump.


    I whispered back, ¡°You know her?¡±


    ¡°Eh, I know her name but not the reason she came with us.¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡±


    ¡°Come, I¡¯ll introduce you.¡±


    Jared was already carrying a few tes so he handed half of them to me as we approached them. Jared and I handed a te to the two other guys first but when I reached out to hand a te to the target in question, her ¡®bodyguard¡¯ took it from me and handed it to her instead. <hr>


    The bodyguard just responded with, ¡°Thank you. I¡¯ll take it from here.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    Then Jared started talking, ¡°Sir Harold, this is my cousin, Sky. He runs this ce and everything you saw once we entered that gate.¡±


    ¡°You? I f.u.c.k.i.n.g knew it the moment I saw that sword! I¡¯m Harold! Nice to meet you, kid!¡±


    ¡®F.u.c.k me¡­¡¯


    ¡°My sword?¡±


    Harold cackled, ¡°Yeah, Rod just said to look for the samurai boy and pay respects! I heard some stories so I¡¯ll keep my judgemental self to myself. Hah! Just kidding, a lot of youths already surprised me so don¡¯t mind what I said. As we¡¯re talking already, I¡¯d like to take this time to propose a busi-¡±


    ¡°Sir Harold, that could wait. Let¡¯s eat first, okay?¡±


    ¡®He¡¯s kinda like Jose or even Oscar now¡­¡¯


    ¡°Right! Where are my manners¡­ let me introduce my team first¡­ Hey you, go first.¡±


    One of the soldiers about to scoop some rice abruptly turned his head toward us, ¡°I thought you¡¯d introduce us, sir?!¡±


    ¡°I forgot your name, just do it already!¡±


    ¡°What the f.u.c.k, sir?! F-Fine¡­ I¡¯m¡­¡±


    It was then that everyone introduced themselves, mostly. The two other guys were Richard and Peter, the bodyguard was Mylene, and the woman was na. na wasn¡¯t speaking much besides nodding because Mylene was the one that introduced her to us. She was silent most of the time when we were all casually chatting on the tables and she only took a small portion of food for herself.


    Kaley tried to talk to her, ¡°Aren¡¯t you hungry from the trip? You could eat some more if you want?¡±


    na just shook her head slowly.


    ¡°Coffee? How about some coffee? We have hot chocte too if you want?¡±


    It was then that na nodded when the word ¡®chocte¡¯ was said. However, she still looked at Harold for a brief moment, seemingly asking for permission toe with Kaley without Mylene following behind her. Several things popped into my head just from that short interaction but instead of finding more clues, I decided to be direct.


    Jared at the side looked to be dying to know as well but Alex was keeping him in ce.


    ¡°Sir Harold, why did you bring her with your team?¡±


    Harold¡¯s expression slightly changed, ¡°Hmm? Is it not allowed? Everyone needs protection, right?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly, just curious about her purpose here. If we¡¯re talking about protection, it¡¯s better if she has a gun or a kni-¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re enough.¡±

 Chapter 561

    Chapter 561: 561


    Almost everyone who heard what Harold said turned their heads and gave weird looks before continuing with their meals. The rest of his team caught the weird nces but all they could do was just sigh and keep quiet. More and more questions started popping in my head while I was maintaining eye contact with the man himself. <center></center><hr>


    Harold took a big sip from his cup of coffee, ¡°Hmm? Problem?¡±


    I replied, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m just trying to figure out the reason for that.¡±


    ¡°Why? Is everyone here armed like you are?¡±


    ¡°Except for kids and other special circ.u.mstances, yes.¡±


    ¡°Ah, so you¡¯re giving away your weapons? I heard you¡¯re generous but not this generous.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not just giving them away. We have programs so to speak. You pass it, you get one. You pass more, you get more. Think of it as being drafted or something simr.¡±


    Harold continued eating as he took a huge spoonful of rice, ¡°I see. Let¡¯s just say that in her case, she failed every single one.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if you noticed it but she¡­ she¡¯s a little special. I don¡¯t feelfortable discussing it over breakfast so I suggest we talk about somewhere a little more private than this ce. It¡¯s nothing to worry about really, but our current arrangement is something I want to stick to.¡±


    ¡°Okay, now I¡¯m just trying to figure out why you brought her here if she¡¯s special. It¡¯s dangerous, right?¡±


    A small smirk appeared on Harold¡¯s lips, ¡°I told you, we¡¯re enough. Can we agree on that, for now?¡±


    I just stared at him for a short moment before I replied, ¡°Sure.¡± <center></center><hr>


    After a while, it seemed like Kaley took the time with grabbing some hot chocte just to bump with Marisha. They were now seated on Marisha¡¯s table, talking casually with na actually participating in the conversation albeit roughly. Harold saw that as well but he didn¡¯t try and intervene with what was happening.


    Harold changed the subject, ¡°Hey, kid. I believe Ferdinand is the CO in the DDR Camp here while Morales is- I mean Morales and Jose in the others, right? What about your other outposts? Who¡¯s in charge with them?¡±


    ¡°D Rosa¡¯s handling the one in Meycauayan while the other is headed by Lawrence. The one closer to us is kinda small so it doesn¡¯t need much supervision.¡±


    Harold nodded a few times, ¡°How about the other one then?¡±


    ¡®He¡¯s fishing, eh? Hmm, well¡­ it¡¯s only fair, can¡¯t wait to see the footage Jared took inside their ce.¡¯


    ¡°They¡¯re somewhere in the Bcan Area doing the same exact thing as us. From theirst report, they¡¯re clearing out the vehicles from the expressway.¡±


    ¡°Clearing out?¡±


    ¡°You know, looting everything inside, relocating viable vehicles, and crushing the ones that are totaled to be used as a barricade or something simr. They¡¯ve acquired a scrapyard before so they do some of their operations over there.¡±


    ¡°They aren¡¯t gonna do anything about the main roads?¡±


    ¡°They cleared a few blocks around their area but clearing the expressway is more linear. You¡¯d see everything around clearly and the way to each exit is easy to block off. It¡¯s a safer betpared to just clearing the main roads where everything is mixed together. Besides, sessfully doing that gives direct ess to every area with fewer threats on the way insidepared to stopping every block or so to take care of the dead as you go deeper.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s smart, I think we¡¯ll do that on our side. You know, to help with the workload.¡±


    ¡°That will be a great help in securing a proper route between our bases but I wanted to ask about a group of people that¡¯s been visiting your ce to trade with you.¡±


    ¡°A group? Which one?¡± <hr>


    ¡®There¡¯s more then?¡¯


    ¡°The group that trades various supplies in exchange for water that¡¯s been processed by your nts.¡±


    ¡°Ah, those people. Don¡¯t worry about them.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not, I just want to know more information. Their total number, their military capacity, their main headquarters, possible outposts, and etc.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, your cousin and your Russian squad probably know more than me. Why don¡¯t you ask them?¡±


    ¡°I will after this but I wanted to know what you know. I¡¯m also open to listening to what the three of you might say about them,¡± I said as I turned to Mylene, Richard, and Peter.


    From Jared and Vera¡¯s reports, they seemed to being from the province of Rizal, right in the middle of Novaliches City, Quezon City, and Marikina City. Their main address and their total number of people weren¡¯t confirmed because the same people woulde every time and just trade straightforwardly.


    I just wanted to know what this team would ry to me and if there would be any discrepancies or additional information my team doesn¡¯t know about.


    Harold was about to open his mouth after a long sigh but Oscar made his way towards us. He scanned over them for a brief second before turning to me and cing his cup right next to mine.


    ¡°Hey, you guys not done yet? We¡¯ve still got a lot to do. Monumento or Man, take your pick. Jose¡¯s leading a group to Man while I¡¯m leading a group between the two cities. I could drop by in Monumento after getting my fill but I¡¯d want you there with your chopper, kid. You have other malls to clear, right? What are you nning to do?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    Harold interjected, ¡°We could lend a hand with Jose and we¡¯ll probably stay for a while to have a talk with Morales. Just the three of us though, Mylene needs to watch na while she¡¯s here. She¡¯s safer here than on the road filled with those specials you mentioned. You call them ferals, right? We encounter them on our side as well but we just call them the pack.¡± <hr>


    I replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯lle here before sunset.¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    Oscar chuckled, ¡°Heh, you¡¯ll see.¡±


    I finished my coffee in one gulp before I proposed the n, ¡°We have an event of sorts. Okay, here¡¯s what we¡¯ll do¡­¡±


    Before we set off, I finally handed Jared my FN SCAR 17 and I let him run around my armory to do some finishing touches.


    The one I gave him was the one chambered in .308 that had an all-ck frame aside from the aftermarket grip that had a grayish hue. It had all the bells and whistles that we would always put on them but this rifle was actually more suited for him. An example was the 4-15x50mm scope he readjusted himself that should be zeroed in 300 yards.


    I would always zero my rifles to 100 yards but it would all boil down to who would be using it. It could be zeroed to 150, 200, 250, and etc. but as I said, it would depend on the shooter, not the tradition or what was rmended in the manual it came with.


    Truth be told, Jared had more time with it than I did because he would always take it with us when we used to frequent the range, and a few of the modifications it had was actually suggested by him. The only reason I didn¡¯t hand it to him before it started or as early as I could was because I was still bleeding about how much it costs and it was one of the rifles I bought on impulse.


    ¡®Damn you, FPS games¡­¡¯


    The FN SCAR 17 was a great battle rifle, even now, but I had a few issues with it when I first bought it which were the trigger, the stock, and the reciprocating handle. It was mostly fixed due to the aftermarket parts I bought for it that he suggested from his own research and preference. However, there was this issue ofpatibility and of course, to who would be using it.


    The trigger was reced with something with a little less weight with each pull and a crisp resetpared to what came from the box. The buttstock was interchanged with something that wouldn¡¯t wobblepared to the original one and had a different shape which was actually wider on the bottom part where he would rest it against his bag. And the reciprocating handle was changed with something that was angled to avoid his thumb getting murdered each time the handle reciprocated or move with each shot.


    Aside from those, he added an extended rail that would go over the gas block, backup sights for his scope, a leather cheek rest, an angled red dot for short-range acquisition, a modified ambidextrous selector, and the other attachments that he was already used to using. He was smiling like an idiot as he easily breezed through modifying it while I helped with reloading the SCAR mags he would be using instead of his current ones.


    We could¡¯ve changed the lower to use mags from Magpul and etc. but now wasn¡¯t the time to do it. Aside from that, he was already used to using the old ones, and the only other reason we have for recing it was to be able to use a 50-round drum mag. However, we would need to file a portion of that magazine off to be able to fit it in his FN SCAR 17. Doing that would take more time and practice just to be able to operate it normally. <hr>


    Compared to Jared, I started leaning toward the AR tform more because of more ess to modification optionspared to others. Proof of that was converting Kaley to the AR cause by making her start with an AR from PSA, then heading straight towards the ARs from LWRC.


    Also, I was more inclined to use something lighter and not limited to 25 rounds per mag even with the extensions avable on hand. As mentioned earlier, the price was also the issue because I could do different setups with an AR without bleeding too much. Granted I have a few high-end ARs but they were still wasn¡¯t expensivepared to buying an FN SCAR.


    In all honesty, Oscar actually had a few in reserve, even the DMR and the PDW variations, but I would leave that as a surprise for now. Besides, Oscar was more stingy than I am so I¡¯ll find a way to let Jared or even Kaley take them out for a few thousand rounds.


    ¡®I¡¯ll wait till Jared gets used to it more then I¡¯ll drop the bomb on him when it counts¡­¡¯


    ¡°Are you crying, dude?¡±


    ¡°SHUT UP, BRO!!! I¡¯M JUST HAVING A MOMENT!!!¡±


    ¡°Did your voice just crack?¡±


    ¡°DIDN¡¯T YOU HEAR ME?! I SAID-¡±


    ¡°Are you yelling at me?¡±


    ¡°AH- N-No¡­ sorry¡­ thanks, bro.¡±


    ¡°$3,500, No- $5,000, with the attachments. That¡¯s already cheap as dirt so don¡¯t screw me over.¡±


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°$4,999?¡±

 Chapter 562

    Chapter 562: 562


    Oscar and the rest of the groupsing with him drove ahead of us because our group had severalst-minute preparations to do. One of them was setting up Jared¡¯s new FN SCAR 17 and another one was delivering all of the files and doc.u.ments they¡¯ve gathered from their trip. <center></center><hr>


    I would be handing the drives and other storage devices over to Ken while the reams of papers would be handed over to Rin. They would all bepiled while creating a set of backups for them, and I¡¯ll take a look at themter this evening. However, it was an eye-opening experience the moment I stepped inside Ken¡¯s room.


    Ken created a nest of his own and it actually forced his sister to move to a different room.


    It was like an evil genius¡¯sir as several screens were operating at the same time and running different programs, mostly surveince. A few of them were receiving pings from the rys we¡¯ve installed everywhere and a small line of output text would pop up for each ry, telling random information like how long it took to travel from one ry to the other, the average signal strength, and etc.


    There was no problem from doing that but the clutter and whatever kind of wires jutting out from everywhere made my head itch. I was so close to putting on some gloves and arranging everything but Peanut emerging from a pile of printed cases for the rys caught my attention, doing the same thing for the messy owner.


    ¡°Oh, hey. Been a while, dude.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°You got the drives for me?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°Justy it on wherever you could¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ about that¡­ where?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ you¡¯re not familiar with my setup yet. Hmm, pull that yellow box that has a few UTP cables then ce it over that counter with the cassette tapes. You¡¯ll see from where you pulled that box by the right with my box of rubber bands a few hairpins-¡±


    ¡°Wait a sec, hairpins?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I lost my key to that cab and-¡±


    ¡°I have my own¡­ where is the cab?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ right there by the bat signal.¡±


    ¡°This one?¡±


    ¡°No, the other one.¡±


    ¡°Found it¡­¡±


    ¡°Just stack them nicely, dude.¡±


    ¡°You know, there are other ¡®setups¡¯ that are more easily essible, right? I could even help you with that, Rin too.¡±


    ¡°What if someone breaks in? They¡¯ll know my secret stash!¡±


    ¡°Have you been talking to Johnny that much? You know he¡¯s paranoid for a few useless things, right?¡±


    ¡°But-¡±


    ¡°WHO WOULD BREAK-IN AT THIS DUMP?! THE ONLY THING THEY¡¯LL FIND HERE IS A TRIP TO THE HOSPITAL FOR A TETANUS SHOT!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!¡±


    ¡°Hey! I have valuables here, dude!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll give you a safe!¡±


    Ken replied with a nk face, ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡®This motherf.u.c.ker¡­¡¯


    ¡°Yeah¡­ just contact Rin or something and she¡¯ll help you with this. It¡¯s impressive to know where everything is located but shit, it¡¯s still a mess. I¡¯ll even rece the lock on that cab if you lost that k- wait. Maybe we¡¯ll find it after you¡¯re done cleaning this ce.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, thanks, dude! Heh.¡±


    I just shook my head before I excused myself and joined the others. Cynthia and Chris wouldn¡¯t being with us today but Lois was already in full gear along with his brother. Lois was already poking fun at Jared¡¯s SCAR and it was definitely working. A few veins were protruding out of Jared¡¯s forehead and it didn¡¯t take long before a fight between the two started.


    ¡°Onest chance, you f.u.c.ker. You¡¯re just jealous, you stupid f.u.c.k!¡±


    ¡°Eh~ Just saying an ACR would be better.¡±


    ¡°An ACR? Wow! You know other guns besides a 10/22? Wow!¡±


    ¡°Hah! Nice try. If your SCAR is really superior, you wouldn¡¯t add aftermarket parts to fix the problem!¡±


    ¡°The f.u.c.k?! Your Rattler also had aftermarket parts on it! The f.u.c.k are you spewing bullshit for!¡±


    ¡°The only thing I added here is the scope, the sling, the foregrip, and the suppressor. You have all of those installed but you had to change the trigger, the stock, and even the charging handle! You had more that you ¡®changed¡¯ but is that even a SCAR anymore? Psh!¡± <hr>


    ¡°As far as I¡¯m concerned, they¡¯re just upgrades to make it even better. You don¡¯t know jack about this kind of thing! In the end, I¡¯ll easily outshoot you.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t I beat you thest few times wepeted? Give me a break, bro.¡±


    ¡°You only won because you¡¯d always lug around your 10/22! If you¡¯re gonna clear deadheads just with your .300 AAC ckout, you¡¯d think twice!¡±


    ¡°I-¡±


    I thought it would be over soon so I interjected, ¡°Enough. Want to head out with a Hi-Point and a kitchen knife?¡±


    The two said at the same time, ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    ¡°ARs are better.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡®GOT ¡®EM!!!¡¯


    For today, our group besides myself would beposed of Kaley, Jared, Lois, Tatiana, Marina, Mikhail, and Ibarra while Artem¡¯s group would beposed of him, Katya, Bogdan, Kristoff, Igor, Natasha, Petrov, and Stefan. Vera was still in charge ofms from our radio station with the assistance of Juan and Earl.


    I thought that half of us would be resting but they insisted oning with us. That involved Jared and Ibarra but they told me that they were raring to go. The few days they spent with Artem¡¯s team probably had something to do with that because Artem and the rest didn¡¯t look tired at all.


    ¡®Should I keep them together or divide them to lead other groups? Two or three more groups would be the sweet spot¡­¡¯ <hr>


    Everyone just gathered at the DDR Camp to board the cargo helicopter and loaded the rest of our equipment. Our numbers wouldn¡¯t be able to fit inside our regr helicopter so we went with the big boy. The only issue was that there were only a few ces we would be able to park it which were the mall fromst time, the university we raided before, and a bus station which was a few blocks away.


    We decided to park it in the mall because it was the closest way to get to the people that would be clearing the bodies with us. Aside from that, the first floor, the parking area, and the bas.e.m.e.nt of the mall were still left untouched and ripe for the taking.


    It didn¡¯t take long to take off and head for the mall but we still took some valuable footage along the way. We took the direct route of flying over the edges of Monumento and the City of Mbon and we found out that a few undead cl.u.s.ters have just fallen over, only having finished a short wall with their bodies.


    Most of them were located at the backroads and the reason for such an urrence was fairly obvious.


    ¡®Probably due to the ones we took down yesterday¡­¡¯


    We continued to just fly over them but I noted the areas where they were located so as to send a clearing group in the future. A simple blockage was already trouble but a road untraversable due to their bodies was a huge problem. We were lucky to have a few helicopters to fly over them but the same couldn¡¯t be said for everyone.


    There was also this hidden group in Karahutan that Vera was still trying to establish some connection and so far, they were still keeping quiet. The main road around their parts was still squeaky clean and that being the case more or less proves their existence. However, their insistence on being silent was something I still couldn¡¯t figure out.


    The only thing that came to mind was the lone driver I killed that was on the way to the yard. The gangbangers we murdered also mentioned that the victims they brought in were also from Karuhatan but I wouldn¡¯t be 100% convinced if they were remnants unless we see them in the flesh.


    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±


    As soon as wended, we could already see smoke billowing from a fair distance and a simple call was enough to confirm it was the clearing group. They were already close to us so we needed to do our part by clearing the first floor just by ourselves. We spent a few minutes setting up the same contraptions asst time and Lois started to fly his drone below for a quick sweep.


    ¡°Still like yesterday, bro. The problem is still the first floor.¡±


    I looked at my group, ¡°Okay, standard sweep first just in case but we¡¯ll use the stairs at the right side while Artem¡¯s group would go for the other. Once we clear the third and second floors, we¡¯ll head to the first floor using the same sets of stairs just to be efficient. Don¡¯t forget to radio in for anything suspicious and there¡¯s always the option of running back. We¡¯ll leave a member to watch us from each floor but we¡¯ll rush to clear the first floor as fast as possible. Ready?¡±

 Chapter 563

    Chapter 563: 563


    It only took all of us a short moment to exhale a little bit of air to change the expressions we were wearing. It was like a switch we would flick the moment we would start cing a foot in the grave, taking down anything in order to pull it back. These few months felt longer than they should but the feeling was always the same when we¡¯re outside. <center></center><hr>


    I just pulled my de and my pistol, ¡°Go.¡±


    We dashed down and broke off into our specific spots, clearing each stall along the way. We were currently on the 3rd floor but it didn¡¯t take long before we were getting ready to blitz the 1st floor from both sides. Leaving a member from each of our team on the roof, the 3rd floor, and the 2nd floor would lessen our firepower by a chunk but to quote Harold, ¡®We¡¯re enough.¡¯


    ¡®More than f.u.c.k.i.n.g enough.¡¯


    Mikhail and I pushed down two loaded refrigerators straight down the esctors.


    They slid down with force as they went for a few meters, pushing over the deadheads gathered around the esctors. Over a dozen bodies got swept away but a few got crushed the moment the refrigerators mmed on the concrete pirs. However, our little game wasn¡¯t over because we pushed more refrigerators on one side, mming into more rotten bodies and creating a small divide because of how they lined up almost perfectly.


    ¡°GO! GO! GO!¡±


    Kaley lined up a shot and took out biters one after the other before I jumped down ahead of everybody. I used the central structure between the esctors as a slide to hasten the process while Tatiana followed right behind me. Ibarra and Marina were trailing by running down the non-moving stairs but I just heard Mikhail¡¯s PKM locking and loading. <center></center><hr>


    The dead were further divided by a rain of bullets while they were getting surgically targeted from one side. Almost every deadhead in the vicinity turned their heads to face us but anothermotion came from the other side. Several explosions came one after the other and the undead on the first floor couldn¡¯t figure out where to give chase.


    I wouldn¡¯t spend a fraction of a second to think about what they were gonna do next as my de was already halfway to a dead manager¡¯s face. I lopped the top of its head off with parts of its eyebrows while a knife made its way to a fast-food employee¡¯s ear lobe. Tatiana just pulled it out before throwing it with force to a deadhead missing half its jaw.


    We were advancing in the counterclockwise direction while Kaley was taking care of the onesing from behind us. It was then that Mikhail made his way down, ying whack-a-mole as he stood above the refrigerators. Skulls were getting crushed and bodies were getting dismembered but the same sound as us was being produced from Ibarra and Marina¡¯s side.


    Tatiana went ahead of the moment she brandished her sword and I caught a glimpse of what Ibarra and Marina were doing. Ibarra was the one fanning out opposite us while Marina was bridging the gap between our formations. Ibarra was doing well with his spear but he had to chuck it off to pin down a sprintering for him so he had to use his rifle.


    shes of light came one after the other, following the same pattern as the one from above.


    Kaley was now in the middle of the esctor, sending shots near my vicinity. It was dangerous, to say the least, but a bullet dangerously brushing past me was the least of our concerns.


    More and more deadheads came from the outside because the walls we made didn¡¯t take into ount the walkways around this mall. The ones that survived fromst time came with a vengeance and several stitched-up deadheads came with them. They were a few sizesrger because of their armor and it was definitely time for some strategic retreat. <hr>


    ¡°TATIANA!!!¡±


    ¡°I GOT IT!!!¡±


    ¡°YOU TWO, KEEP IT TIGHT!!!¡±


    ¡°ROGER!!!¡±


    ¡°YES, BOSS!!!¡±


    We¡¯ve already made progress from the short moment we were down but we took several steps back so we could see everything much clearer. Once we got a general idea of where they wereing from, we simultaneously raised our rifles and fired incessantly. Their numbers thinned significantly but the stitched-up f.u.c.kers were soaking up more bullets than necessary.


    I wasted half a magazine of bullets just to take one down because firing at the spot where the main head should be located proved to be not as effective as I thought. The cartridge might be tumbling into different skulls before reaching it but I couldn¡¯t be 100% sure. My first target was a deadhead that was top-heavy with several heads hanging like gr.a.p.es and the time it took to put it down was longer than anticipated. <hr>


    We had to retreat to the esctor before chucking a couple of grenades at the others and we saw them blow up into several pieces. The ones behind them fell like puppets but the main concern just shifted to our problem earlier. A small crisis was averted but snarling figures and crooked wsing for us didn¡¯t stop.


    The first floor was still infested with the dead and we needed to clear it as fast as possible. More and more deadheads wereing from the food court while a few were spilling out from the arcades. The arcades were closer to Artem¡¯s side but it seemed like several grenades were thrown in that direction. Bits and pieces of rotten parts were flying along with debris after the explosions, but the dead seemed neverending.


    We got yanked back to the same ce as earlier and all we could do was dig down and repeat the same routine as earlier.


    ¡°SAME PLAN! SAME PLAN! IBARRA!!! HELP MIKHAIL WITH TH-¡±


    ¡°ON IT!!! WHAT THE FU-¡±


    Half of a torso came flying after another murderous swing came from Mikhail. His axe-hammernded on one of the refrigerators we pushed down and it would be better off in the scrapper than to be repaired. With that said, the other half of the deadhead Mikhail murdered was still standing for a few seconds before it plopped with the rest of the bodies he took down.


    I could hear gunshotsing from all sides but I had to reload because I just ran out of bullets. However, I had no time to do it so I just resorted to just switching with my Maxim 9 and then to my TX-22 at close range. It was quicker to switch gunspared to reloading them and I had a few dozen bodies by my feet the moment I was done. The small holes in their heads were leaking a viscous fluid but the problem right now was space. <hr>


    ¡°COVER ME!!!¡±


    Tatiana and Marina closed the distance between me while I reloaded my guns. They gave me a few precious seconds and I even let my magazines fall on the floor. There was no time to nitpick with grime getting into them as I decided to get back into action. As I looked to my right, Ibarra and Mikhail were doing a great job of keeping the deadheads that were trying to go over the refrigerators to the other side, but they were running out of space.


    The radius we could move freely was getting smaller and smaller so we decided to do something¡­ normal.


    We ran back up the esctor and sealed it before heading towards the spiral staircase for a quick rest and reset. Kaley handed me a few extra magazines she had on her pack while sharing a few boxes of 9mms with everyone. An ammo can that Lois brought down after a short call was eventually opened and it contained cartridges my group prepared for themselves. We quickly replenished our supplies and after wiping our handhelds, we unsealed the staircase and headed downstairs.


    Artem and the rest were still busy from the other side of the mall but as soon as we went down, a few cl.u.s.ters were still gathered by the esctor we were in earlier while a few had already gone in the opposite direction. They were either slowly swaying as they walked or had their crooked hands stretched in front of them. Mikhail and I mowed them down while Marina and Ibarra fanned to the side.


    Tatiana was still by the esctors with Kaley, waiting for the right time to take action. We only needed to lure the deadheads away from the esctor and we would have two ess points to take care of them. Tatiana was agile enough to push a breakthrough even more with the help of Kaley giving her cover. I was back to using my de and my pistol and I had a better time maneuvering at an area with fewer bodies littering the floor.


    I cut down a zombie wearing a mesh suit that had started to be one with its leathery flesh but VW Beetle suddenly came from the other side of the mall, mowing down anything that crossed its path.

 Chapter 564

    Chapter 564: 564


    We were only a couple of meters away from the Beetle when it mowed everything but a quick nce could tell that it was empty. Despite that, it continued on mowing dead bodies until it got stuck in a small pile of corpses by the entrance. It couldn¡¯t elerate anymore because of the chunks, bits, and even the nasty clothes that got stuck from under it but it managed to give us some wiggle room. <center></center><hr>


    With that said, we used that small opening to give each other a lot of space while putting down anything that shouldn¡¯t be moving.


    ¡°GO! GO! GO! IBARRA, BRING THE REAR!¡±


    ¡°ROGER!¡±


    I went ahead of everybody as I swung my de vertically, cutting an undead toddler in half. My de went in through its soft and rotting flesh before I twisted my grip and made my de exit through its ruptured abdomen. My de was stained once more but I didn¡¯t stop until I cut down a mascot not wearing its headpiece. Its face was all chewed up so I released its head from its body to match the headpiece by the table.


    As soon as its head rolled over, I dodged a crooked w aiming for me before lopping it off with the rest of its body. It was an undead security guard or maybe a male stripper because he was wearing pants that were made of fiss. Nevertheless, my de cut through its scalp, making sure that it would be put to rest. I kicked its body towards a group of civilians, knocking them over and making them easy targets.


    I cut down almost three dozen deadheads when I met with a familiar figure right in the middle of the mall.


    Tatiana had already gone down from the esctor, leaving a pile of bodies either with a stab wound or a bullet hole. I saw Kaley in the middle of the esctor once more and she was aiming at the onesing from Tatiana¡¯s back. She just gave me a simple nod before aiming down at a mall cop dragging along a broken-down segway scooter. Its bulging stomach was chewed up like an apple and it fell down with one shot.


    How I wish the ones we put down would just despawn and leave a small loot box because even if we restarted at a different area, the bodies we piled by the esctor were still present.


    ¡°GO AROUND THE OPPOSITE SIDE! MIKHAIL! HOLD THE ENTRANCE WITH IBARRA AND MARINA!¡±


    ¡°HOW ABOUT YOU?!¡±


    ¡°JUST DO IT!¡±


    Tatiana and I would be much better to circle around and kite the dead by ourselves because we were more familiar with each other¡¯s movements. Aside from that, Tatiana was only one of the few that could keep up with me while Kaley was stone cold with sending bullets our way. I was sure that she could do it with any other person besides us but the ones she would be sending it on would have trouble moving instead.


    It was a division ofbor that could only work if youpletely trust the person and vice versa.


    We just arrived at a clothing store but all sorts of deadheads came pouring out of it. I pulled my Maxim 9 to take care of them while Tatiana put down the ones approaching from behind. Once we were clear in the neck of the woods, we went back the same route so that Kaley could give us eyes from above. We could only see so much from all the chaos and having an extra set of eyes was crucial.


    ¡°THERE! THOSE BENCHES! QUICK!¡±


    We ran towards a set of benches forming a square where a small fake garden was right in the middle. A few bodies have already melded in the benches themselves so we bored a few holes in their heads before we kited the dead around them. The number of the dead pouring out from the stalls and the entrance significantly lessened after a few minutes but we still got a lot more to go through.


    After a short while, the lights and the other facilities inside the small started turning on and the only one I could think of that could do that was Artem¡¯s team. They actually went ahead to the bas.e.m.e.nt and found a way to make the generators work. However, I could still hear gunshotsing from the opposite side of the mall and that led me to think that they split their forces even more to aplish the task.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [SAY THANKS TO ME~ BOGDAN! I DID IT ALL BY MYSELF!] <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [STOP CELEBRATING AND HELP US! YOU¡¯RE BEETLE STUNT DIDN¡¯T WORK AS EXPECTED!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah, I was hoping you¡¯d save me. I¡¯m stuck in here.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT?!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [I just rushed inside and killed a few as I got here. A ton of them are banging against the door but I barricaded it with a few cabs. There are no windows so¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    My group almost fell over but I talked through my earpiece.


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Good job. We¡¯ll get there in a few.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah! You heard me! Take your time! I brought a few smokes with me.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [YOU MOTHERF.U.C.KER! YOU¡¯RE CHILLING THERE WHILE WE¡¯RE TAKING DOWN THE ONES COMING FROM THE BAS.E.M.E.NT, THE BACK ENTRANCE, AND THE FIRST FLOOR!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Just hold it down and we¡¯lle soon! The ones from the main entrance got slower so we¡¯ll be close!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [WE GOT IT! STEFAN IS JUST LOSING HIS SHIT! DON¡¯T MIND, DON¡¯T MIND!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    *bzzt*


    [ARTEM! I¡¯M NOT LIKE YOU! I GET TIRED, YOU PSYCHO!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    A lot of yelling came from the other side just when I thought they got it together. However, what they were doing was still working so we continued on what we were doing. After a time, Kaley even walked down and joined the two of us while the other three started putting down bodies outside. A few stragglers were now walking inside the first floor and Artem¡¯s group already took care of their problem once we managed to reach them.


    They left a ton of bodies in their wake and it seemed like Artem let loose. His uniform was covered with stter while his wrists and hands were covered in blood. Looking at the handles of his firearms, it seemed like he didn¡¯t fire a single shot. However, the grenades by his pouch were spent, leading me to believe that he was the one responsible for the several explosions at their side.


    I handed him a spare cloth to clean most of the grime on him while Kaley offered a set of wet wipes and some rubbing alcohol to be thorough after. He offered the items to his team first but everyone just red at him and forced him to use them first. Artem wanted to scratch his head after almost reaching for his now bloodied hot pockets and he just looked at me after sighing heavily.


    ¡°Spasiba! Ah, thanks!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re wee. I think water is running in one of the stores. Don¡¯t drink it though just in case it¡¯s contaminated. Just use it to rinse or something.¡±


    ¡°Da, da. Don¡¯t worry about me. That¡¯s Katya¡¯s job.¡±


    Katya immediately interjected, ¡°Who worries about you? Can I hear that again?¡±


    ¡°Hah! You always worry about me! You¡¯re like my mother! Wait- or my sister!¡±


    ¡®Ouch. That should f.u.c.k.i.n.g hurt.¡¯


    Katya looked like her spirit departed as Natasha tried to shake her in ce. We finally had a small breather and Jared informed me that our clearing group was only a few blocks away. We could start burning bodies on our side and it would hasten the process altogether while I send a group to start scavenging anything we could scrounge from this ce. However, it seemed like everyone have forgotten someone that risked his life to turn the power on.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [GUYS? BOSS? ARTEM? HELLO? HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~???]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! DID YOU ALL JUST FORGOT ABOUT ME?! YOU SAID YOU¡¯D COME IN A FEW!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [THAT¡¯S YOU ARTEM, AREN¡¯T YOU?! YOU EVEN FORGOT ABOUT ME! HOW COULD YOU! THIS WAS OUR PLAN FROM THE START! I¡¯D RUSH OVER HERE THEN YOU¡¯LL COME BACK FOR ME! I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Bogdan started to lose his mind as everyone didn¡¯t have a proper reason as to why we forgot about him. We unmotivated cleared everything that was crowing at the entrance of where he was and it was done in a few minutes. We had to take down a few that locked themselves in their cars but we located more items in their person we could use.


    When we got to him, the motherf.u.c.ker actually named the dead bodies he put down inside the power room and he actually shed a tear when we started burning them. However, a couple bottles of some expensive liquor cheered him up but he wouldn¡¯t leave a single inch away from us.

 Chapter 565

    Chapter 565: 565


    Before we continued scrounging for items, we siphoned most of the fuel from the vehicles in the parking area. We used them for extending the power being brought by the generators because we discovered it wouldn¡¯tst long to cover the time we would be in this ce. Despite that, we managed to obtain a few more items from the vehicles we ¡®borrowed¡¯ fuel from. <center></center><hr>


    We found several shopping bags containing various items from the trunks of the civilian vehicles and looking through the glove box and otherpartments revealed more. They contained toys, clothes, food, drinks, tools, snacks, electronics, doc.u.mentations, cleaning products, jumper cables, first-aid kits, and etc.


    With that said, the best find out of all the vehicles parked in the area was one of the vehicles itself. The vehicle in question was an ambnce containing various medical supplies like two oxygen tanks, a defibritor, a stretcher, three sets of trauma kits, and etc. Finding a sticker of the logo of the mall on the windshield led me to think that this ambnce was the property of the mall itself.


    ¡°Petrov, can you look for Marina and Ibarra in the maintenance room and check if they somehow stumbled upon the keys for this thing?¡±


    ¡°No problem. What if it isn¡¯t there?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll just find a dead EMS or EMT wearing their uniform and if that doesn¡¯t work, let¡¯s just hotwire or put everything inside here to our helicopter. I think we have several pushcarts to ce them in.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll head over there now.¡±


    Petrov took Stefan with him and they made their way up the stairs. Bogdan actually defected from Artem and was now following right behind me. He still hadn¡¯t taken a sip from the bottles I handed him but he was looking super paranoid. He was like Tatiana the first time I met her because he wouldn¡¯t get off my back. He was sticking to me like a parasite and he wasn¡¯t like this before.


    I turned around and sat Bogdan at the back of the ambnce, ¡°Hey. Let¡¯s take a break and talk. What¡¯s the problem?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ nothing. Just get left out for a bit, that¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°You have issues with that?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly.¡±


    ¡°Are you ustrophobic? I don¡¯t mind, I just need to know.¡±


    ¡°Not exactly¡­¡±


    ¡°Then what is it exactly?¡±


    ¡°No, no, don¡¯t worry about it. That¡¯s my mistake.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Huh? Your mistake? How?¡±


    ¡°You remember I brought smokes, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ Don¡¯t tell me you puffed some weed-¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just a work in progress, trust me. I puffed it twice and it¡¯s already gone. I didn¡¯t finish it yesterday and I already went through my cig-¡±


    ¡°Hey. Look at me. Don¡¯t ever do shit like that when we¡¯re outside. I don¡¯t care what you do in your free time but you know, keep it professional.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. I¡¯m not a kid, I know what it does. It¡¯s just¡­¡±


    I scratched my head as I looked at him, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s just a big mistake, alright? I just use it to sleep, that¡¯s all. I just happen to run out of cigars so I thought I could swap it for a bit. You could ask-¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m asking you, not them. You could tell me what the f.u.c.k is wrong because I¡¯m sure as hell that outburst earlier wasn¡¯t normal. It¡¯s funny¡­ but that¡¯s not you.¡±


    ¡°Damn, boy. You¡¯re sounding like your girl¡¯s mom. What¡¯s her name again?¡±


    ¡°Marisha.¡±


    ¡°Yeah! Marisha. Matthew¡¯s wife, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, and you¡¯re changing the subject.¡±


    ¡°And with all due respect. It¡¯s not your business.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll make it so.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t jus-¡± <hr>


    ¡°Let¡¯s trade.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°I said, let¡¯s trade. That¡¯s how business works, right? We forgot to get you in a few, I offered those bottles in your bags. I want to know what¡¯s going on with you, you think of something of value that you¡¯re willing to let go for it. It could be more alcohol, a car, a gun, anything that you could think of as long as we reach an agreement. Sounds fair?¡±


    Bogdan got silent as he just stared at me. Our group would pass us by a few times but they never disturbed us as they continued doing the orders I¡¯ve left them with. I would¡¯ve brought Kaley with me right now but she was busy window shopping with Tatiana.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a stupid story. You¡¯ll get bored since you won¡¯t understand..¡±


    ¡°Heh, try me.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a nosy one, ain¡¯t ya? Fine, let¡¯s open one of-¡±


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Like weed, no alcohol in the job aside from using it as a disinfectant.¡±


    ¡°You gotta be kidding me.¡±


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll start or what?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s best if we have some-¡± <hr>


    ¡°Nope. Want me to die in a helicopter crash? You know I¡¯m driving, right?¡±


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll drink by myself. Oh nooo~ My mouth got cut up~ Needs some disinfecting~¡±


    ¡°Bogd- f.u.c.k.¡±


    It only took a few minutes before Bogdan and I walked up the stairs like best buds. The motherf.u.c.ker finished a bottle on his own and I had to agree to take a sip just so we could head up. He was using me as a crutch as he wobbled all over, but he kept on patting my head with a huge smile on his face.


    I wasn¡¯t able to stop him from drinking because he finished the bottle in a few big gulps. The guy was like a ck hole as he sucked everything from that bottle clean. Good thing we were done with the dead in this area but I¡¯ll make sure to strap him down if ever we change locations afterward.


    ¡°HAHAHA~! YOU¡¯RE MY BROTHER NOW, NYEBA!!! HAH! WE¡¯LL DRINK MORE ONCE WE GET HOME! F.U.C.K! I THOUGHT I HAD PROBLEMS, DAMN! YOU WIN THIS TIME, NYEBA!¡±


    ¡°Heh, I told you many times. You shouldn¡¯tpare them, alright?¡±


    ¡°YEAH, YEAH, YEAH¡­ I GOT IT! I GOT IT! YOU¡¯RE GOOD AT THIS! F.U.C.K.I.N.G GOOD AT THIS! DA! YOU SHOULD BE A SHRINK, NYEBA! DON¡¯T YOU THINK?! YOU¡¯LL BE GREAT AT THAT AND I¡¯LL BLLLEAAARGHHH!!!¡±


    Bogdan just projectile vomited everything on the floor and everyone present was looking at me like I was the one who was at fault. His vomit filled up the entirety of a deadhead missing everything from its chest cavity. It started spilling over as it sloshed around but the motherf.u.c.ker beside me wiped his face with my sleeves. I had to chop his neck and ask Mikhail to bring him up while making sure he wouldn¡¯t move an inch.


    It was then that Kaley approached me, ¡°What did you do? Who¡¯s Nyeba?¡±


    ¡°Me. I think it¡¯s a rough trantion or something. For the record, I have no f.u.c.k.i.n.g idea how he downed that bottle in a few seconds. Let¡¯s just say he told me a few things and we¡¯re bound by doctor-patient confidentiality.¡±


    Kaley tilted her head, ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    Tatiana interjected, ¡°It¡¯s about Bogdan, obviously. I know all about it, I¡¯ll tell youter.¡±


    ¡°Wait, that¡¯s illegal.¡±


    Tatiana shook her head, ¡°No, it¡¯s not. Everybody already knows. He¡¯d always tell everyone when he¡¯s drunk. He keeps saying it¡¯s stupid but I think I¡¯d be scared of my wits if that ever happened to me.¡±


    Kaley grew even more curious, ¡°W-What is it then?¡± <hr>


    Artem interjected, ¡°How familiar are you withnd mines?¡±


    ¡°Land mines? They¡¯re traps that explode when you step off of it, right?¡±


    Artem lit up a cigarette, ¡°Nyet. Just tell her the story, it will be a learning experience.¡±


    Tatiana mentioned as she looked at Artem, ¡°You¡¯re smoking? That¡¯s rare.¡±


    ¡°Something simr happened to me, that¡¯s all. Besides, we live quite close to each other when we were kids so¡­ let¡¯s just say it¡¯s kind of a ¡®normal¡¯ experience. But what happened to him was way worse than what happened to me, I¡¯ll tell you that.¡±


    In the end, I was the one pointed out to tell Kaley and the rest of my group that managed to drop in. I already took footage that I decided against it but all I got was weird stares and a kick. I just sighed as I took a seat and then I opened my mouth.


    ¡°Unlike in the movies,nd mines do not go off after removing your foot from it. It detonates the moment you step on it and the only way to survive that was not f.u.c.k.i.n.g stepping on it at all costs. Even now, there are tons and tons of them scattered around the world and most of them are still armed and could kill you in a second.¡±


    Kaley asked, ¡°But what happened to Bogdan?¡±


    ¡°What he told me was that he was with his friends ying on a field and one of them just exploded after they heard a short click.¡±


    ¡°W-What?!¡±


    ¡°They were all in shock as they ran away but time stopped for him the moment he heard another by his feet.¡±


    ¡°Wait-¡±


    ¡°Let me finish.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°I already exined how and mine works, right? With that said, Bogdan at his age didn¡¯t know jack shit. In his head, his friends left him for dead and he had no one there to help him. He was in the same ce for days, stepping on that mine for hours on end until he copsed from exhaustion. He just woke up in bed extremely dehydrated and his friends didn¡¯t even bother to ask for help. He was right in thinking that they left him for dead because he just saw them ying outside the moment he got better. Some friends, right?¡±

 Chapter 566

    Chapter 566: 566


    Hearing a snippet of what happened to Bogdan when he was still a kid made everyone who heard it give out sullen expressions. A few obviously got pissed off though most of them still couldn¡¯t believe that could happen to a person. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley asked, ¡°H-How about his parents? His rtives? Didn¡¯t anyone even try to look for him?¡±


    Artem answered after puffing another smoke, ¡°They¡¯re kids- or should I say teens who went to a ce that¡¯s prohibited from entering. Coming out to look for him in those fields is a death sentence. Plus, rules were different back then, especially in our area. He¡¯s lucky to have been found and brought back to their residence.¡±


    ¡°W-Who found him then?¡±


    ¡°The soldiers patrolling the ce, obviously. They came at the right time when they did their rounds and they found him covered in his own piss and shit. His parents were given a huge fine instead of jailing them and if I remember correctly, they almost lost their house. His dad sold his car and he spent every single day doing overtime doing construction just to pay it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s awful¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, what could he do? The only way he knows how to help was to get signed in the military when he¡¯s of age. The guy spent every single day with munitions and especially explosives when he¡¯s free. His dad probably teaching him how to use a few of them helped because his dad¡¯s main job was blowing up rocks and creating tunnels using them.¡±


    I faintly smiled, ¡°So that¡¯s why he¡¯d always tell me he¡¯s the demolition man.¡±


    ¡°Hah! Da, da¡­ that¡¯s right.¡±


    After a short while, we continued hauling all of the bodies we took down outside while setting aside a few specials to be stored. While this was happening, Jared got a little too trigger happy with his new battle rifle. He was usually in charge of taking down specials from afar but the back and forth we were hearing from him and Lois told me that he was taking down anything that moved from a distance.


    I would¡¯ve stopped him then and there but I¡¯d let him enjoy it for a little more.


    ¡®Enjoy the little things as always¡­¡¯


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Dude, are they close yet?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Nah, bro. I took them down. Three ferals hiding inside the trains, five slurpers on top of the train station, Twelve sprinters from the love hotel, and possibly seven irregrs biting the shit out of this stop sign.] <center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I meant the clearing group outside.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Ah¡­ yeah, yeah¡­ they¡¯re close¡­ I think Oscar is over there too. I think I see his SUV with the XM214 at the front. Yup¡­ that¡¯s definitely him with the shotty¡­ Oh! Wait a- *PSSHEW*]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Dude?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [JAREEEEEEED~!!! YOU MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G ASSHOLE WITH THAT MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G SCAR IN THE THAT MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G ROOFTOP!!! DID YOU THINK I CAN¡¯T MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G HANDLE THIS MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G BITCH WITH A MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G FLAT NOSE?! F.U.C.KKKK!!! ALL THESE MOTHERF.U.C.K.I.N.G SHIT IS ON ME!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    [I-I thought- *PSSHEW*]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! YOU DID IT AGA- YOU THOUGHT WHAT?! HUH?!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [If you¡¯d stop being slow¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [THE F.U.C.K DID YOU SAY TO ME, YOU LITTL- YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHIT!!! HEY YOU, GIVE ME THAT F.U.C.KI- STOP SHOOTING MY TARGETS!!!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Chaos ensued for a few seconds and everyone had to turn the volume of their radios down to a few levels. With that said, we never did hear Jared stop firing at the dead below. Lois tried to keep up with him but he definitely had the disadvantage with the farther targets. A .308 round fired from Jared¡¯s SCAR could be effective at twice the rangepared to a .300 AAC ckout from Lois¡¯s Rattler.


    Lois¡¯s advantage was his gun could run better suppressed but that was not the thing they werepeting for. He had a bit of an edge with Jared in terms of speed but his older brother was in a f.u.c.k.i.n.g frenzy right now. I could somehow identify each shot by sound and Jared was definitely firing more and nailing more than him.


    ¡®Only a matter of time until he asks for another upgrade¡­ maybe his older brother¡¯s Sig 716 or the ACR he¡¯s so f.u.c.k.i.n.g fond of¡­¡¯ <hr>


    Time continued to pass but clearing the sea of dead bodies in Monumento wasn¡¯t a job for a single day. With that said, we reached the actual monument and we were a fourth of the way in with regards to the main roads that were blocked. The issue of several train cars getting derailed and crashing down was still a headache and we would need a few vehicles or power tools suited for that kind of job.


    The priority was clearing the road that would loop us back to the barangays of Karuhatan and Mars so that we wouldn¡¯t have existing deadends to traverse the roads we were mainly using. With the other two that were left, it would be a toss coin but I would be leaning towards clearing the road that would lead to Man. For the same reason as earlier, clearing that part of the road would allow another route to reach Iskoh and vice versa.


    Thest road would obviously lead to Quezon city but that ce was something I wasn¡¯t ready to tackle yet. We could clear the dead and leave the train cars on their side of the road but traveling to a new ce without settling everything down in my ce first was something I¡¯m against. The number of people we were making connections and taking in was expanding rapidly, and I would prefer to get a lead on them before discovering others.


    We were tying up a few loose ends before Oscar approached me.


    ¡°Hey, kid. Why don¡¯t we just clear one side of the road to the left tomorrow? We¡¯re not following traffic rules anymore and the train cars on that corner could easily be pushed to open up twones. If it¡¯s too difficult, we could just detach each train car one by one and I think a blowtorch would work nicely if it wouldn¡¯t budge. What do you think?¡±


    Bogdan cackled from the helicopter wearing his pseudo-straitjacket, ¡°HAH! IT AIN¡¯T A PROBLEM IF IT¡¯S LIQUID!¡±


    Oscar cackled as well, ¡°HAH! I LIKE YOU, BROTHA! COME WITH ME TOMORROW AND YOU¡¯LL HAVE A BETTER TIME THAN THIS KID!¡±


    ¡°NO! NAH! NYET! THAT¡¯S A NEGATORY! THE KID AND I ARE BROTHERS NOW! I CAN¡¯T JU-¡±


    ¡°I¡¯LL GIVE YOU A CHINA LAKE!¡±


    ¡°WELL HELLO~ THERE BUDDY!¡±


    ¡°JUST A BUDDY?!¡±


    ¡°I AIN¡¯T EASILY SWAYED YOU KN-¡±


    ¡°DID I FORGET ABOUT THE MILKOR MGL?!¡±


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K WOULD I DO WITH A-¡±


    ¡°A F.U.C.K.I.N.G RG-6 THEN!¡±


    ¡°WELL HELLO~ BROTHA!¡±


    ¡°THAT¡¯S WHAT I¡¯M F.U.C.K.I.N.G TALKING ABOUT!¡±


    Artem and I just looked at each other and said, ¡°The f.u.c.k did just happen?!¡±


    Kaley interjected, ¡°I¡¯m more interested as to why they¡¯re shouting when they¡¯re just a few feet apart¡­¡± <hr>


    Oscar just took an elite member from under our noses and the demolition man actually boarded Oscar¡¯s SUV and drove in the sunset with them. My group just stared in disbelief and the flight back home was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g silent. Even with the f.u.c.k ton of items we uncovered in the bas.e.m.e.nt and the first floor of that mall, it was much difficult that we lost a core member, especially from Artem¡¯s own squad.


    ¡®The old man will be in good hands though, heh. As long as- nevermind¡­ too much chaos for a day¡­¡¯


    It took a while to get the items we collected to their proper storage areas but another f.u.c.k.i.n.g shock came when Unc Zeidrick, Russel, and the rest came back from their fishing trip. Everyone else¡¯s jaw had dropped but the father-and-son duo wasughing maniacally when they opened up the would-be freezers they brought back. What they caught were dark-silvery, slimy, squiggly, and five inches long creatures swimming inside the Colemans.


    Eels. Only f.u.c.k.i.n.g eels. Freezers and freezers of f.u.c.k.i.n.g eels.


    We were expecting a variety of fish with two to five species at least but what we got were f.u.c.k.i.n.g eels that wouldst us a f.u.c.k.i.n.g while.


    ¡°Unc¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°I thought you¡¯d try to catch some more Ahi?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ bad day. We only caught a couple and we ate them.¡±


    ¡°How about some crabs?¡±


    ¡°Bad day the other day. We ate them too.¡±


    ¡°How about some Marlin?¡±


    ¡°Bad day too.¡±


    ¡°You ate them as well?¡±


    ¡°Ah, no. We didn¡¯t catch that f.u.c.k.i.n.g- anyway, we got eels? They¡¯re cool, right? I remember that sauce you made when you grill them. Could you make some tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­ at least we could farm them. Well, we would need to transfer over a few from the other side of the fish ponds we got.¡±


    ¡°Then that¡¯s the n! I know this is a good idea!¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    After an hour more, several tables with wooden pegs were strewn around the DDR Camp. Representatives from all of our outposts were present and they were sporting a look of ¡®payback¡¯, to give a simple word for it.

 Chapter 567

    Chapter 567: 567


    Our event fromst time garnered more people to be excited to participate the next time we hold another one, so we thought of a few things that everyone could have a chance to participate in. Not everyone would be able to have a full-on fight so the first event for today would test the participant¡¯s strength. <center></center><hr>


    In short words, arm-wrestling.


    Bing was the one to promote the event and we had 20 tables modified just for the asion. The wooden pegs could be secured on each side of the table together with the padding where the arm-wrestler¡¯s elbows would be ced.


    Five of the tables could be freely used to practice or have friendly matches, ten would be for the open bet category, and thest five would be used for the main arm-wrestlingpetition. Huge rewards and bragging rights could be acquired if they were crowned champion and the soldiers from Morales¡¯ side were fired up.


    The open bet category would be a free-for-all for any two individuals that wanted to have a quick bet with each other, freely betting anything that they agreed on. The house wouldn¡¯t take a cut from this category and it was more for the bonding experience with a small twist just to keep things a littlepetitive.


    The mainpetition would be for a set group of people with their own weight ss and whether they would bepeting with their right hand or left hand. A buy-in would be required and the sole winner for each ss and category would be awarded everything after a small cut was taken for the house.


    Referees and cameras would be put to use aside from the free tables, and judgesing from the main base and each outpost would be assigned to settle a challenge in the ruling when it gets close. A winner for each match would be decided when the yer managed to down their opponent three times or if the other yer got disqualified.


    As ast-minute rule, onlookers were allowed to bet with anyone as to who would win the tables though a huge pot would be revealedter before starting the mainpetition. The odds would be calcted automatically and the rewards would be distributed appropriately.


    It was still a little bit early to start the mainpetition since more and more were still signing up so we decided to open the tables for free use and the open bet category.


    Everyone present immediately crowded around them and friends and rivals startedpeting with one another. Kaley and the others were fine watching from the screen but I wanted to get a little more involved. Rin took it upon herself to take care of thepetition bracket so I decided to look around and officiate with Zeus.


    Zeus¡¯ tail was wagging as he ran around the lively camp, ¡°Woof!¡±


    I chuckled as I called him over, ¡°Where do you want to go? Table 3 sounds cool, right?¡± <center></center><hr>


    Zeus lifted his paw and pointed to a different table, ¡°Woof.¡±


    ¡°What? You wanted to go to table 12?! Isn¡¯t that- oh~ Nice job, Zeus!¡±


    Zeus jumped a few times as he turned around and rushed past me, ¡°Woof! Woof!¡±


    ¡°Hey! Wait for me!¡±


    Zeus and I circled around the crowd but most of them let us cut in when they noticed we were trying to watch the matches. Table 12 was something special because it was a match between Russel and An. It was also in the open bet category and the bets they ced were a tray of eggs, two boxes of Milk Dud, a live eel, a paper airne, and a box of bottle caps.


    ¡®What the fu- nevermind¡­¡¯


    The two were rousing the crowd as they stretched their whole bodies and they started¡­ something else¡­


    Russel roared, ¡°YOU¡¯RE GOING DOWN, BITCH!¡±


    An retorted, ¡°UH-HUH! I¡¯M GOING DOWN ON YOUR BITCH, ALL RIGHT! I¡¯M GOING DOWN ON YOUR BITCH ALL NIGHT WHEN YOU¡¯RE AWAY!!!¡±


    The crowd instantly lost it, ¡°OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT~!!!¡±


    ¡°I-¡±


    ¡°WHAT?! CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE?!¡± <hr>


    ¡°I-I¡¯m alone¡­¡±


    ¡°Dude¡­ I¡­¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU!!! I¡¯M GONNA BREAK YOUR ARMS AND I¡¯LL SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!!! YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G ASSHOLE!!!¡±


    ¡°WHA- W-WELL GO F.U.C.K YOURSELF!!! IT SEEMS TO BE THE ONLY THING YOU¡¯RE DOING!!!¡±


    ¡°OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~ SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTT~!!!¡±


    ¡°Woof!¡±


    ¡®When are they gonna start¡­¡¯


    Several matches have already concluded but the two kept on trash-talking instead of actually starting their bout. Bing had to bonk the two of them with a stic bat and the two were actually tearing up as they started. However, their setup was too anticlimactic as An flipped over when Russel let loose on his ass.


    An wasn¡¯t able to win a single round and they were pelted with anything the crowd was holding in their hands.


    ¡°What a waste of time!¡±


    ¡°I should¡¯ve watched what was happening on table 2!¡± <hr>


    ¡°He¡¯s too weak!¡±


    ¡°Or is that kid too strong?¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t they friends?¡±


    ¡°After that? I dunno¡­¡±


    I was shaking my head when I looked at their confused expressions but the two made up almost immediately. They were about to start another match but a lot ofmotion was happening in table 19. I could hear the old timer¡¯s heartyughs and cheers would erupt after a loud m.


    Oscar roared, ¡°GATHER AROUND! GATHER AROUND! IF YOU WANT TO GET SHIT-FACED, YOU GOT TO GET SHIT-FACED IN STYLE! LIKE I SAID EARLIER, THE ONE WHO WOULD BE ABLE TO WIN 10 STRAIGHT MATCHES WOULD WIN THIS BARREL OF MOONSHINE I BREWED MYSELF! AS YOU CAN SEE, ONLY THE STRONG DESERVES THE BEST SO WHO¡¯LL GO NEXT?!¡±


    Oscar and the old dudes were actually promoting a little event of their own in which the yers would need to drink a shot of moonshine before beginning the match. After that, the winner would be required to drink another shot while the challenger would be prompted to do the first shot for his turn.


    It would go on and on until a winner was crowned though the farthest a challenger has gone was when he had fallen over after the 4th shot. The new record holder was actually a resident from Woonds named Mike, but the new challenger was actually Brian. He was already wearing a smirk as he readied himself but his face changed expression the moment he took the shot.


    Mike wasn¡¯t faring any better and his posture wobbled just after the 2nd shot.


    ¡®Heh, the old man¡¯s moonshine is something else¡­ I wouldn¡¯t drink that casually¡­¡¯


    Matthew raised his hands, ¡°Ready? Go!¡±


    The crowd went wild as the two arm-wrestlers¡¯ arms tensed and locked. Brian got the upper hand because his arm was still fresh but the moment Mike was about to lose, his arm didn¡¯t budge one bit. He started to slowly overpower Brian and their arms just switched ces in a blink of an eye. Only a few centimeters was left before Brian¡¯s defeat and he tired out after a few intense seconds. <hr>


    However, the moment the 2nd round started, Brian mmed Mike¡¯s hand straight into the table, finishing the round with the fastest time possible. The crowd went wild after that and the following rounds became a battle of either attrition or explosive power. Brian won in the end but his face was telling him that the moonshine was already halfway in beating him senseless.


    Brian actually broke the record of 4 wins as he managed to scr.a.p.e by just by using his fast and the furious method. He managed to attain 6 wins in total but he lost in the 7th round due to being too intoxicated. The person who beat him was actually Mark though he lost in his 3rd match when he was up against a soldier from Morales¡¯ camp. It seemed like no one would win the challenge but it all changed when this one particr person was dragged by Mikhail.


    I hadn¡¯t known this person that long but I¡¯ve known him for someone that could hold it together. Zeus¡¯ tail was wagging nonstop as he caught a whiff of his secret supply and I could hear Oscar¡¯s curses the moment he saw the guy¡¯s mug.


    Oscar roared, ¡°The f.u.c.k are you doing here? Aren¡¯t you in the mainpetition?!¡±


    Artem shook his head, ¡°No, I¡¯m actually just nning to watch the happenings¡­¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ Fine! Fine! Take a shot and we¡¯ll start!¡±


    As I predicted what would happen, the effectiveness of Oscar¡¯s brew was almost cut in half when it traveled Artem¡¯s body. He breezed everything right until the 9th challenge when Bogdan came up as the new challenger. However, the demolition man stood no chance with Artem who was now being called Bhus by the crowd. He only managed to win a single round when Artem was tired and Artem only needed one win to secure the barrel.


    The crowd kept on cheering Artem¡¯s name and his new-found alias but everyone lost it when Oscar actually stood at the opposite side of him. A few of the onlookers were smirking at Oscar¡¯s final attempt to save face but their jaw dropped when Oscar rolled his sleeves. His muscles were bulging and he definitely had guns that wouldn¡¯t lose to anyone easily.


    ¡®Heh. Well, shit¡­ almost forgot about that¡­¡¯


    Oscar mmed 10 shots one after the other before cing his hand on the padding, ¡°You think you could beat me, you little shit? I eat chumps like you for breakfast! You think I¡¯d lose to you because I¡¯m old? Think again!¡±


    Everyone went crazy at what was happening and Artem took hisst shot before locking arms with the old man, ¡°Uvazhat- Respect.¡±

 Chapter 568

    Chapter 568: 568


    A drop of a pin could be heard right before Matthew started the match but the sudden uproar once Artem and Oscar¡¯s arms clenched was f.u.c.k.i.n.g deafening. None of them was actually giving an inch and it definitely had been a while since the old man sported his guns. However, he seemed stronger than ever because of how his muscles were still toned and I started wondering when he got the time to lift some weights. <center></center><hr>


    I took a closer look not just at Oscar but also with Matthew and Johnny to check if there was any other thing that was different. It wasn¡¯t directly apparent but the way their clothes wrapped around their bodies and how their posture and gait had changed threw me in a loop. I was sure that they would just have a drink and share some stories at night but it seemed I was wrong in assuming that.


    ¡®Wait¡­ no way¡­¡¯


    After a few seconds, the crowd went wild as Oscar got the upper hand. He was bearing down on Artem as he winced but he was inching closer and closer for the win. However, Artem changed his position as he kept his shoulder tight and the grip on the wooden peg much more solid. It was then that Oscar¡¯s advance stopped and Artem managed to gain a few angles back.


    When Oscar seemed to have rxed for a brief second, Artem took the initiative to attack and turn the tablespletely. Their arms were now angled in the opposite direction and Oscar was doing his best to keep the back of his hand from touching the table. It was another battle of attrition but he was on the losing side. However, the old man just took in a lot of air as his face turned red and he suddenly mmed Artem¡¯s hand on the table.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!¡±


    ¡°DOES THAT MEAN OSCAR COULD BEAT MORALES?¡±


    ¡°SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP!!!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU TOO!!!¡±


    The sound of Artem¡¯s hand resounding all over made everyone lose their minds as they roared. Even Bing jumped for joy the moment the old man won but what he did next surprised everyone.


    Oscar just took another shot with Artem before handing him the whole barrel.


    Artem and everyone looked confused as f.u.c.k but I just wore a solemn expression when Oscarughed it off and said that he felt sorry for him and just let him win by default. Even if the old man was still as strong as an ox, he still had his limits because of his age and he was the one that knows them the most. It was hidden by the alcohol and his cacklingughter but I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g sure that he was pissed at himself.


    Nevertheless, he still won a round against one of our strongest fighters, and his strength couldn¡¯t be measured by just one arm-wrestling match. He¡¯d be good for years toe as long as he doesn¡¯t overdo it like he did today.


    Oscar immediately approached me, ¡°THE F.U.C.K ARE YA LOOKING SO GLUM FOR?! I¡¯M THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE SAD! I LOST A BARREL! It¡¯s partly drained but- THAT¡¯S STILL A F.U.C.K.I.N.G BARREL, KID!¡±


    I chuckled as I shook my head, ¡°I¡¯m just sad you didn¡¯t bet it all away¡­ a waste of space in the bas.e.m.e.nt¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! I WORKED HARD ON THAT! WANNA HAVE A GO, YOU LITTLE SHIT?!¡±


    ¡°Heh, one win is one gun. Are you scared or what?¡±


    ¡°W-W-WAIT A S- F.U.C.K IT! I¡¯LL DRAIN YOUR F.U.C.K.I.N.G ARMORY!!! HEY! MOVE OUTTA THERE AND GIVE US SOME SPACE!¡±


    The crowd was just recovering from their match as they dispersed but they started rushing around us the moment they heard we would be fighting. However, I made sure to not drink a sip from his brew, even if Artem spared a few shots, and I made sure to not give any f.u.c.k.i.n.g mercy. It was one thing to rile him up but it was worse to give him pity. He f.u.c.k.i.n.g hated it the first time I did that and I made sure to treat him like my equal.


    Johnny was now the one who officiated for us, ¡°READY? GO!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K! AGAIN!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s one.¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHIT! AGAIN!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s two.¡±


    ¡°SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP! AGAIN!¡±


    ¡°Three.¡±


    ¡°AGAIN! YOU LITTLE SHIT!¡±


    ¡°Four.¡±


    ¡°OW! WON¡¯T YOU TAKE PITY IN AN OLD-¡±


    ¡°Five.¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Six.¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT! LET GO OF ME!¡±


    ¡°Seven. Who¡¯s draining who?¡±


    ¡°HAH! YOU THINK I¡¯LL CRY FROM SEVEN GUNS?! THINK AGAI-¡±


    ¡°Eight. How about eight?¡±


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE GETTING TIRED, I¡¯M SURE OF-¡±


    ¡°Nine. What did you say?¡±


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE CHEATING! YOU¡¯RE ABSOLUTELY CHEATING!¡±


    ¡°Ten. Heh, nice talk from someone hiding a gym in his house.¡±


    ¡°W-WHAT?! HOW DID YOU KNOW?!¡±


    ¡°Secret. Also Eleven.¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! F.U.C.K.I.N.G LET GO!!!¡±


    ¡°Nope. Also Twelve.¡±


    Everyone around us started losing it the moment I kept mming Oscar¡¯s hand on the table without mercy. It was actually worse than watching An and Russel fight but the old man¡¯smentary made it f.u.c.k.i.n.g better. I actually stopped applying force the moment I won ten times but he continued to pull my hand and let me win over and over. He only stopped when I reached my 24th streak and when someone almost caught him from selling out.


    ¡®His grip is still strong though¡­¡¯ <hr>


    After a while, the mainpetition finally started. However, there was a slight problem because more than half of the contestants got a few swigs from Oscar¡¯s barrel of moonshine when Artem and Mikhail got pressured into sharing them. Almost everyone was wobbling as they made their way to the tables and one unlucky motherf.u.c.ker tripped and chucked his head straight on the table¡¯s edge, knocking him out.


    Despite the dys and the interruptions, the final round was between Jose and Stefan because our rivals, Artem and Morales, opted out with me, and Mikhail was the unlucky motherf.u.c.ker. He should¡¯ve won everything on the stage but he also got pressured from chugging half of the barrel before starting. In the end, Jose won the whole thing and they finally had their revenge.


    I actually had a lot more events nned but I thought everyone already had their fill for a night of enjoyment. Besides that, only a few guys had broken bones due to overdoing it and fooling around in the free tables. It was also nearing midnight so finishing them all wouldn¡¯t be possible. We just needed to n them better and have the people that would be participating sign in advance for the next time.


    ¡®Maybe have the fights once a month¡­¡¯


    The whole group was slightly segregated when we began but now it seemed like everyone was slowly gelling together. However, the groups got segregated once more when we started cleaning up because some idiot bet that the losers should be the ones cleaning up the event area. With that said, all bets are sacred and should be followed to the dot. I started clearing our own spot but the rest of them helped to make everything go faster.


    Some of them approached me and thanked me for doing a small event like this though a few that were still surprised we were doing such a thing was Harold and his team. They joined a few matches here and there but na was still kept in the distance where he could see her. He was doing the same thing the moment they arrived and I still couldn¡¯t figure out the reason why.


    ¡®The only chance I got is with Kaley and Marisha since they¡¯ve been spending time with her and Mylene¡¯s not stopping them¡­¡¯


    After a time, the night protocol was ced and we just walked home with a few people. The ones that got a little too drunk were just either locked up in the DDR Camp¡¯s rooms or driven home but they were too hammered to even notice. Kaley and I were walking together and Zeus taking point. It got a little too chaotic when we passed by where Jomarro was staying because Zeus¡¯ little brother and sisters started barking at us, begging to be picked up.


    I had to drag Kaley with me, ¡°Keep walking~ Keep walking~ You can do that tomorrow¡­ Keep walking~¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ Can¡¯t you see how cute they are?!¡±


    ¡°Yeah~ Yeah~ They¡¯re really cute~ Olivia has one too, right? Why don¡¯t you just go over to your mom¡¯s ce sometime?¡±


    ¡°Fine¡­¡±


    ¡°Kaley! Alright, you made me do this¡­¡±


    ¡°Wha- What are you- Everyone¡¯s watching! Stop~¡±


    I had to pick Kaley up like a sack of potatoes and I carried her all the way back to our ce. She kept on hammering at my back the whole time but every time she did, I would spank her ass even if a few people were still present. It made her stop squirming as I lugged her around with an embarrassed face but she definitely got her revenge when we slept for the night. I got excited when it was only the two of us in our room but when I made my move, she threw sorta my words back at me.


    ¡°Keep sleeping~ Keep sleeping~ We can do it tomorrow¡­ Keep sleeping~¡± <hr>


    I knew that Kaley was just teasing me and I wouldn¡¯t sleep a wink until I get my 25th straight win. Much to her surprise, I just started ¡®poking¡¯ her without actually using my hands. We were stillying on the bed as she turned around but once she saw what was ¡®poking¡¯ her, she just turned around once again though she was now a little bit closer. I could see from my side that her ear was slowly getting redder and redder but our radios buzzed and we heard a familiar voice.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Hey~ We¡¯re close! You guys still awake?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Kaley and I just looked at each other for a brief second then we put on some clothes before running outside. With that said, Tatiana, Rin, and Cynthia were still up and they followed after us when we saw a couple of helicopters approaching from the distance. One of our helicopters was still on my roof so I picked up my radio and contacted them.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hover over the open court, we¡¯ll be there!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Okay~ We¡¯ll see you shortly!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 569

    Chapter 569: 569


    Kaley and I drove my eight-wheeler while Tatiana drove my Raptor with Cynthia and Rin. It was because we were told they brought a lot of items with them and they needed some help with transporting them. Micah was obviously driving her own civilian helicopter while Avalos was driving a medium-lift cargo helicopter. <center></center><hr>


    I was kinda excited about the things they brought with them and a little bird told me we would be getting a little care package from the president himself.


    I made a few of my people that were still awake board my eight-wheeler since we might do some heavy lifting. However, I didn¡¯t need to convince them much because just a quick mention of Micah and her group arriving was enough for them to almoste running. Furthermore, some of the patrols volunteered as well so we had a lot of people helping.


    It was a short drive to get to the open court though most of the people living in the immediate vicinity were woken up by theirnding. They stuck their heads outside to check who wasing but it didn¡¯t take long before they just waved it off and decided to see for themselves tomorrow. It was alreadyte and sometimes sleep was a better choice.


    ¡®I wonder why they¡¯rete though¡­ they should¡¯ve arrived much earlier¡­¡¯


    The moment Micah jumped down from her aircraft vehicle and waved at us, Cynthia wasn¡¯t able to contain her excitement. She immediately ran up to her and gave her a tight hug while the rest of Micah¡¯s group went out one by one. They all looked very attractivepared to themon rabble and almost all of them were just a little over Cynthia¡¯s age.


    Cynthia was so happy to be surrounded by her idols and we all just chuckled before walking up to them.


    I took Micah¡¯s attention, ¡°Took you long enough, heh. It¡¯s a shame you missed something fun earlier! You almost made it!¡±


    Micah gave me a hug when sheid her eyes on me, ¡°Sorry we¡¯rete! We kinda had a little trouble before leaving.¡±


    ¡°Trouble?¡±


    Micah waved us off, ¡°I¡¯ll tell youter but it¡¯s not that important. We¡¯re super tired~ Can you make something for us? We could help with the preps and we brought some goods from Davao. Oh! Mae and Chloe could help you, remember them? They could cook as well but not as good as you.¡±


    The two immediately reacted, ¡°Hey! Micah~ mean¡­¡±


    Tatiana immediately answered for me as she nodded a few times, ¡°Yes. Definitely. He¡¯ll make something for us.¡±


    Rin shook her head, ¡°You¡¯re really something, kinda unfair you don¡¯t get fat.¡±


    That simple statement made Tatiana the center of attention for a little bit but it got kinda awkward when they discovered that she didn¡¯t know a single one of them. <center></center><hr>


    I could remember almost half of them but I had no idea with the newer members. Furthermore, they brought six more soldiers and they came from Avalos¡¯ side. The thing was, they were also all female but what seemed to be their CO was a little older and mature than everyone present. She was wearing a stoic look but she did give me a small salute when our eyes met.


    ¡®Morales vibes¡­ is every officer from Davao the same? Well, there¡¯s Jose too but let¡¯s see¡­¡¯


    Nevertheless, everyone seemed to be getting along and Micah introduced them one by one.


    ¡°You already know Mae and Chloe~ That¡¯s Yumi on the left with ire, Amber, Lexi, and Mia¡­¡±


    ¡®The ones I know¡­¡¯


    Micah continued, ¡°And they are Gabbie, Sara, Elsa, Emily, Jen, Christie, and Leah! Oh! That officer is Susan, she¡¯s the one in charge of watching them in Davao and the soldiers under her were M, Anya, and umm¡­ a little help Susan? I¡¯m not always at their quarters so¡­¡±


    Susan walked forwards and introduced the rest of her team as she smiled, ¡°Greetings Sir Ishiyama as Ma¡¯am M said, they¡¯re M, Anya, Rose, Janice, and Alma. Pleasure to finally meet and work with you. We¡¯ve heard great things and I hope we could offer enough help being only a group of six.¡±


    I smiled back, ¡°Likewise. I wee more people in my fold and I wouldn¡¯t turn away anyone that could help keep this ce going. I¡¯ll introduce you to the other officerster but I¡¯m sure you know that Morales and Jose are here with the others.¡±


    ¡°Very aware.¡±


    I opted for just a handshake with everyone obviously, but the way Micah¡¯s girls were looking at me felt really different. They were smiling a little too much and they held my hand longer than I expected when we shook hands. On the other hand, Susan¡¯s soldiers were just cool and collected, and they were actually respectful when they gave me a short salute.


    There was a little bit of ¡®tension¡¯ in the air but I just shook it off when I introduced Kaley, Tatiana, Rin, and Cynthia to everyone.


    They all just exchanged pleasantries and it didn¡¯t take long before we drove them to my ce to have some food. Their permanent address was already decided to be the residence of thete Luna family, and all of their luggage was easily transferred over. Micah and her girls would live in one of the two houses while Susan and her soldiers would live in the other.


    ¡°Ooh~ Nice ce~¡±


    They were all lounging in my living room while I started preparing something light and delicious. Kaley, Rin, and Cynthia decided to help me while Tatiana decided to help by tasting everything else. However, Mae and Chloe did offer their help and I handed them their aprons so we could start.


    From what we had on hand, we could make some Okonomiyaki with bits and pieces of chicken on top. <hr>


    Surprisingly enough, our two new helpers followed everything to the dot but they were shocked at how fast I moved. I easily butchered, deboned, and chopped up a whole chicken and shredded a few pieces of cabbage while they were helping with the batter, sauce, and chopping the other vegetables. I thanked them and just asked them to prepare some drinks because the final method of properly frying them I left to myself.


    It took us faster to finish with more people, besides thest part and it didn¡¯t take long before I ced it all in front of them, ¡°It¡¯s done! Sorry for the wait! Dig in!¡±


    ¡°Woah~¡±


    ¡°He cooked this?!¡±


    ¡°It looks so~ good!¡±


    ¡°Yummy!¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s the taste?¡±


    ¡°Lemme~¡±


    ¡°Tatiana! That¡¯s not for you! We left you one here-¡±


    ¡°Just one?! You guys hate me¡­¡±


    ¡°Your acting sucks!¡±


    ¡°Everybody shut up! I¡¯m hungry too! Let¡¯s eat~!¡±


    ¡°Me too! It smells really good~¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the meal!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ¡°Dig in! Dig in! Oh my god! Hmm~ It¡¯s too good!¡±


    It was nice to see everyone enjoy my cooking and even Susan¡¯s face faltered for a short moment as she smiled. She was kinda being uptight over everything but her soldiers were already goody-goody with everyone. Not to mention they requested a few bottles of beer which I immediately obliged.


    Kaley and I with Cynthia and Rin just shared one with each other because we¡¯ve already eaten but Tatiana had a full meal, the same as them. Susan was morefortable with talking with herpared to Micah and her girls but it didn¡¯t take long before I made seconds for most of them. It was easy enough to do when all the ingredients were ready and they were all stuffed after eating heartily.


    ¡°So good~ I wanna eat more but¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so full~¡±


    ¡°Sleepy¡­¡±


    ¡°I wanna have a hot bath though¡­¡±


    ¡°Ugh¡­ me too¡­¡±


    Micah walked over to Susan, ¡°Your team could start whatever protocol you have on our ce. You¡¯ve brought a few things for extra security, right?¡±


    Susan replied, ¡°That sounds great. Shall we head back?¡±


    Micah just smiled, ¡°Oh¡­ Umm, I think we¡¯ll be staying for a while but you¡¯re all free to take the night off. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re pretty safe here with them around and the guards outside. If it¡¯s toote, don¡¯t wait for us toe back since we¡¯ll just have a sleepover. You¡¯ve seen how big this ce is, we¡¯re covered.¡±


    ¡°Alright, if you insist. However, I¡¯ll have to arrange a short briefing with you and Sir Ishiyama tomorrow. Is that okay?¡±


    I chimed in, ¡°We¡¯ll probably have a short meeting tomorrow morning if that¡¯ll work for you.¡±


    ¡°Probably? You¡¯re not sure?¡± <hr>


    ¡°No, no. It¡¯s gonna happen but It could take longer than expected because we have other guests as well. It depends on the reports but it¡¯s fairly short usually.¡±


    ¡°Then it¡¯s very eptable. See you all tomorrow. Thank you very much for the food.¡±


    Susan and her team excused themselves though I gave them a portion of our leftovers and the keys to one of our avable vehicles. They epted it promptly and they eventually drove away. As soon as they left, I started clearing the tes but the atmosphere became very different.


    The ¡®tension¡¯ I shook off earlier was back and I just caught Micah speaking privately with Kaley.


    It looked like Micah was asking a very big favor but before I managed to listen in, their conversation was already over and the two were looking at me with devilish smiles. I was readying myself as to what was about to happen but Kaley¡¯s voice resounded in the living room.


    ¡°Hey Rin, can Micah and I bunk with you tonight? Tatiana and Cynthia will be there too, right?¡±


    ¡°U-Umm¡­ okay? We¡¯ll be a little cramped b-but I mean¡­ oh¡­¡± Rin¡¯s face started getting redder and redder.


    The living room got too quiet but I wouldn¡¯t be ying ball just as easily. As soon as I finished washing the tes, I picked Kaley up like a sack of potatoes once more and I made my way back to our room, much to their surprise. Kaley struggled to get away from me but I didn¡¯t lock the door behind me as we entered.


    Kaley eximed, ¡°C-C¡¯mon! You¡¯ll have a great time with them!¡±


    ¡°You still don¡¯t get it, do you? Also, you¡¯re breaking one of our rules!¡±


    ¡°I-It¡¯s just a o-one time t-thing! You know how it is with new-¡±


    ¡°Eh~ Don¡¯t care. Here we are!¡±


    ¡°Huh? W-Why are we in your armory?!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll know soon enough.¡±


    Just when I let Kaley down, the door to our room slowly opened and Tatiana was present along with everyone. They were quite confused as to why we were inside my armory but I locked the metal grate so as to keep them from joining us. When they were all inside, that was when I lifted Kaley from the floor and pushed her against the wall.


    Everyone¡¯s eyes were on us but I started kissing her in front of everyone.

 Chapter 570

    Chapter 570: 570


    Kaley was still fl.u.s.tered as I started kissing her but her breath started getting heavy when I went from her neck then to her ears. I was still holding her by her thighs as she was against the wall and she had no way of getting away from me. She would nce at our audience in embarrassment from time to time but I just looked at her before I kissed her sweet lips. She eventually gave in as she wrapped her arms around me and we didn¡¯t care if they watched us or not. <center></center><hr>


    Our kisses started getting deeper and deeper as our tongues got involved but I woulde back for her neck, her chest, and her lips once more.


    Kaley only had control with her hands and all she could do was pull me as close to her as possible. Her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts were between us but I could feel her h.i.p.s grinding as far as it could. She was trying to rub against my bulge but our clothes were in the way. Despite that, I just continued tasting her sweet lips and invading her mouth with my own. Our position was a little ufortable but I managed to pull up her shirt while holding her up with one arm.


    Kaley was wearing a pink and frilly bra and I was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g lucky that it could unhook from the front.


    Once her huge udders were in my face, I couldn¡¯t control myself as I lifted her up so I could put my face between. With that said, Kaley started pushing my head between them even more as she was moving her body left and right. She was shoving me inside deeper and deeper and she smelled so f.u.c.k.i.n.g good. I broke free from her grasp as I started sucking on one of her pink n.i.p.p.l.es and it didn¡¯t take long for it to get hard.


    Kaley was already twitching from each yful bite and lick but she pulled me closer to whisper in my ear.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m really c-close¡­ C-Can you shove your d-d.i.c.k inside m-me before I c-c.u.m?¡±


    It was rare for Kaley to beg with such words so I immediately obliged as I made her hang on to me. I just pulled my d.i.c.k out of my pants and pushed aside the little fabric keeping me from her special ce. She was just wearing ck short shorts without underwear so it was easy enough to slip it in. With that said, Kaley was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g wet when I reached her but she was already squeezing me from the first thrust.


    ¡°Hngh~ D-Deeper! D-Dee- Ahn~ Ah! Mmh! Like that! Like that! Oh my god! F.u.c.k! F.u.c.k! Ahn~ Mmh! Oh my- Ah! Ahn¡­ Mmh!¡± <center></center><hr>


    We were in the same position but I was lifting Kaley¡¯s body up and down while she was still hanging onto me. I had no control over how precise I could lift her up but every time she goes down, I would hit her deepest areas. Her face was already a mess as I was stirring up her insides and it didn¡¯t take long before she started shaking all over. Her walls were contracting as they squeezed me but I didn¡¯t stop f.u.c.k.i.n.g her over and over.


    ¡°I¡¯m c.u.m.m.i.n.g! I¡¯m c.u.m.m.i.n.g! I¡¯m c.u.mm- Ahn~ Mmh! Mmh! Mmh! Ah! Ah! I¡¯m ah- F.u.c.k me, I¡¯m Ah! I- Hngh~¡±


    Kaley was shaking nonstop but I was still far from c.u.m.m.i.n.g inside her. However, her arms around me were loosening but the wall behind her was still keeping her up. I was thrusting deep as her p.u.s.s.y squelched and creamed all over and my head was buried between her tits. I started going faster in a few seconds and I suddenly exploded inside of her tight and creamy hole. Her nails were buried in my back and the pain was just secondary.


    Once I pulled out, my c.u.m just oozed out of her p.u.s.s.y and Iid her on the table to take some momentary rest. But to the surprise of Micah¡¯s girls, my c.o.c.k was still wanting more and it didn¡¯t take long before I shoved it inside Kaley¡¯s little asshole. They were all watching me as I rammed it over and over. They weren¡¯t even doing it with each other as they just watched Kaley and me going at it while touching themselves.


    They were all in various states of undress though some of them were still touching themselves over their clothes. They still weren¡¯t doing anything to each other but their eyes were fixated on me. ncing around, Tatiana, Rin, Micah, and Cynthia were already gone but I still had fourteen young idols waiting patiently. Once I filled up Kaley¡¯s holes several times, I had a thought and I whispered something in her ear.


    ¡°What do you think? Sounds good?¡±


    ¡°Just do it. Why would I say no? That¡¯s the n from the start. Just remember that you¡¯re mine, okay?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re one to talk! I¡¯ll still f.u.c.k you after this.¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ I¡¯ll be waiting then. I love you!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Heh, I love you too! We¡¯ll do it in the shower!¡±


    ¡°And in the bed! And in the morning!¡±


    ¡°Of course, see you soon.¡±


    Kaley and I just shared one more kiss before she went to the other room where the others were. With that said, I just walked casually to the other side of my room to see them still touching themselves. However, their hands were already covered with their fluids, and Chloe who was closest to me was just about to c.u.m. I was still rock-hard as I walked over to her while the rest were patiently waiting for their turn.


    Chloe was 21 years old and her slim-fit figure was something else. She had small contours forming her partial abs but what stood out was her peachy butt. She had a pretty face like all of them and her dirty blonde hair was in a short ponytail. I could clearly see how her fingers would go in and out of her little p.u.s.s.y but her other hand was slightly poking her puffy asshole.


    She couldn¡¯t stop touching herself as she was looking at me but she kept her legs wide open for me to see everything. I had no choice but to pin her down, holding her hands above her head and shoving my raging d.i.c.k inside of her. I was only inside of her tight little cunt half-way as she gasped in pleasure, but she was already tightening around me. Once I pushed it even deeper, her eyes started rolling backward but I didn¡¯t stop until I reached the base.


    I pounded her over and over while everyone watched her cry in pleasure.


    It prompted everyone to get a little impatient and want a piece of the action immediately. They circled around us and their young bodies were grinding against me. They¡¯d grab my hands and make me feel their tight little holes while someone was at my back, pushing her perky tits against me. It got too crowded too fast but Chloe just kept looking straight at me. Our h.i.p.s moved at the same time and I finally blew my load inside of her. <hr>


    I lost strength for a short bit but I got pushed down while all of them tried to get on top of me. Chloe was now getting eaten out by Yumi while Mae and Amber were fighting over my c.o.c.k. Their warm mouths started enveloping me as they touched themselves over and over. My hands were still a little preupied but they were in the care of ire¡¯s perky set of tits and Lexi¡¯s tight little cunt.


    We were on top of one another but no one was willing to let go.


    ¡°My turn~¡±


    ¡°He already fingered your ass! I want mine to get f.u.c.k.i.e.d like Kaley did!!¡±


    ¡°No fair! I¡¯m supposed to be next after Mia!¡±


    ¡°Gabbie~ That¡¯s my-¡±


    ¡°I knew you were just a lesbo!¡±


    ¡°What?! I just like eating your ass! I wanted to get f.u.c.k.i.e.d too!¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure when we finally got to my bed and this time, Jen was the one on top of me. I don¡¯t have a clue how their turns work but I kept sliding inside one tight f.u.c.k.i.n.g cunt after one tight f.u.c.k.i.n.g cunt. Their assholes were even tighter and most of them were still v.i.r.g.i.ns in that department. With that said, Christie and Emily were a little inexperienced but their hands were so soft. I almost came from just their touch but I did go a little gentler with some of them. <hr>


    Two hours easily passed and I was the only one left standing. I filled what little hole I could and now I was just letting Sara clean me up with her mouth. She was sucking off my d.i.c.k that just came in her p.u.s.s.y and she was still twitching as Leah was ying with her n.i.p.p.l.es. The rest of them were down for the count but I was still saving a few more for the someone I made a little promise with.


    I just dr.a.p.ed my towel over my shoulders then I heard Kaley¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Wow. You had fun?¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ Kinda.¡±


    ¡°Kinda? How about the little promise we made? Can you still go for a few more?¡±


    ¡°Depends. Can you?¡±


    ¡°Oh~ He¡¯s getting c.o.c.ky now, huh? You¡¯re wee. Unlike you, we just rxed after a couple. I kinda wanna just soak though, is that okay?¡±


    ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll soak you right up. However! A promise is sacred! Come here!¡±


    ¡°Wha- What are you- Not again! Put me- Oh~ I love it like this though¡­ Alright! We¡¯ll maybe do it once¡­¡±


    I didn¡¯t know why I kept carrying her this night but I also lifted her up straight into our tub.

 Chapter 571

    Chapter 571: 571


    Our bathroom just smelled really good because it seemed like Tatiana and the rest have taken a quick shower before us. With that said, once Kaley and I soaked in the hot tub, we just felt our fatigue seeping away. I was leaning on the side of the tub while she was leaning against me, making me wrap my arms around her body. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°This is nice¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah~ you¡¯re here and I¡¯m hugging you¡­ of course, it¡¯s nice¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmph¡­ I¡¯ll let it slide this time¡­¡±


    ¡°Now? Can we rx for a bit? I¡¯m still- Ow! Hahahaha! I¡¯m kidding, let¡¯s stay like this for a while¡­¡±


    ¡°Doofus¡­ anyway¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°How should I put this¡­ among Micah¡¯s group¡­ who¡¯s your favorite?¡±


    ¡°What? Favorite?¡±


    ¡°You know¡­ assuming that you¡¯ve been with all of them at least twice¡­ just pick one or two that you know¡­ has a good vibe or something¡­¡±


    ¡°Eh~ That¡¯s a trap¡­ that¡¯s definitely, 100%, absolutely, a trap¡­ IT¡¯S A TRAP!¡±


    ¡°Wha- Why did you change your- nevermind¡­ I¡¯m just asking, you know¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure~ Okay, how about this¡­ I¡¯ll answer a question if you¡¯ll answer the same question¡­ deal?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Is that all? Sure! Deal!¡±


    ¡°Then you answer first! The same question you asked me.¡±


    ¡°Wha- That¡¯s not¡­ fine¡­ Hmm~ it wouldn¡¯t be fair since I haven¡¯t done it with them but I¡¯m gonna go with- umm¡­ this was just from earlier but I kinda like Chloe and Mae¡­ they seem nice and they know how to cook. Well, not as good as you though¡­ Oh! Did you know they kept checking you out while we¡¯re cooking? That was so funny~ Okay! Your turn!¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ Chloe seems nice and she had a peachy butt while Mae is a little aggressive?¡±


    Kaley¡¯s eye lit up, ¡°Aggressive?! What happened?! Tell me!¡±


    ¡°W-Well¡­ after I was done with Chloe¡­ she umm¡­ trying to s-suck me off but Amber wanted to do the same thing¡­ they kept fighting as she was grabbing me and she was holding me a little too tight¡­ once Amber relented, she made hery down so she could sit on her face while sucking me off wildly¡­ I don¡¯t know how many times her teeth scr.a.p.ed close but I was constantly hitting the back of her throat¡­ Kaley? What are you-¡±


    ¡°Wha- just continue! We¡¯re the only ones here¡­ Can¡¯t I just touch myself for a bit? You¡¯re kinda getting hard too¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s because you¡¯re moving your h.i.p.s too much and you¡¯re making me grope your tits!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind me! Just- Wait¡­ then who¡¯s your second favorite? I chose two so you better give me another one!¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ Fine¡­ maybe~ Yumi.¡±


    ¡°Yumi? The one with the purple hair?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t just say yeah, tell me what she did to you!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Seriously?¡±


    ¡°Seriously! I want to hear what happened!¡±


    ¡°Then you should¡¯ve stayed!¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon! Okay, I¡¯ll only ask for that and I¡¯ll tell you something that happened on our side. Deal?¡±


    ¡°Okay, fine. I¡¯ll start this time. Her voice was just you know¡­ kinda distinct. It¡¯s soothing in a way but it hits different when she¡¯s m.o.a.ning while you¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g her ass. It was super tight I had to finger her first but once it went all the way in, she kept on asking for more. Little did I know it was her first time in that department, and I almost lost it when she said she would just put her pinky in when she¡¯s fingering herself¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh my god¡­ I¡¯m getting really horny~ hahaha!¡±


    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t forget about-¡±


    ¡°Oh! Right! Okay, okay! B-But don¡¯t tell her I told you, okay?! She¡¯ll kill me!¡±


    ¡°Who are you talking about? What happened?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s about Tatiana, hahaha! Okay, okay¡­ Micah was f.u.c.k.i.n.g her in the ass with a dildo but for some reason, Tatiana couldn¡¯t stop eating my p.u.s.s.y and my ass over and over. She was doing from the moment we started and even Rin was getting a little jealous. I even squirted a few times but she was you know¡­ a little too aggressive about it.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t she just like that usually?¡±


    ¡°W-Well you know¡­ after we were done, I was supposed to take a quick shower before joining them but Tatiana just pulled once I got out of our room. She literally cleaned me up along with what came out of you like she was in heat! She even wouldn¡¯t let anyone kiss or sit on my face until she did but we kinda know what she¡¯s after, right?¡± <hr>


    ¡°KInda¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®kinda¡¯ me! She¡¯s looking for you! We were so close to joining you guys but we just made do for a night. Well, they made do, I still want a little more¡­ wanna have a quick one?¡±


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯m waiting for you to say that. Wanna do it right here?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ it¡¯s reallyforta- Mmh! You just- Ah! Wow~ It¡¯s hitting me in my- Ahn~ Ah! Ah!¡±


    I was already hard and all I needed to do was slip it in Kaley¡¯s little asshole because her fingers were still inside herself. Her whole weight was against me but the water was helping us a little bit. With that said, Kaley was the one moving her h.i.p.s so my fat d.i.c.k could go in and out of her, groping and squeezing her huge tits at the same time.


    Kaley¡¯s m.o.a.ns were getting louder by the second and she just reached behind, wrapping her arms around my neck while she kept on moving up and down. I was still squeezing her tits with both hands but I took it upon myself to finger her fat p.u.s.s.y that was left alone. It was already warm and silky inside but she would tighten every time I reach a certain spot.


    It didn¡¯t take long before she started c.u.m.m.i.n.g and followed soon after.


    I was just shooting my c.u.m inside of her ass but she continued to lift herself up, then suddenly bringing herself down with much force. We were both struggling with the sensitivity but our bodies just won¡¯t stop moving on their own. I was still groping her tits and fingering her p.u.s.s.y hole while Kaley was now holding the edges of our tub so she could move even faster.


    ¡°F.u.c.k! F.u.c.k! F.u.c.k! It¡¯s too big in my ass! It¡¯s too big in my- Ah! Mmh! I¡¯m c.u.m.m.i.n.g! Hngh! Oh my- Ah! Ah! My ass is getting- Mmh! I¡¯m c.u.mm- F.u.c.k! Mmh!¡±


    Kaley started losing it as she came over and over but we eventually brought ourselves into our room. Micah¡¯s girls were too tired while some of them weren¡¯t able to walk at this moment, but Kaley and I just continued to just f.u.c.k each other until we were satisfied. We just let them watch us for the most part but the ones closest to us weren¡¯t able to escape Kaley¡¯s grasp when she caught a glimpse of them looking at me.


    Chloe, Yumi, and Mae got dragged along but Mae received the short end of the stick. Kaley was gentle as she f.u.c.k.i.e.d and fingered Chloe and Yumi but she went ham with Mae.


    ¡°M-Miss u-umm- Ah! Kaley I- Ah! Ahn! Mmh! oh my- Ah! I¡¯m still c.u.m.m.i.n.g from- Ahn! Please! Ah! Mmh! I just- Ah! Ah! Mmh!¡±


    ¡°Shut up and suck his d.i.c.k! You like sucking them so much, right? Stop m.o.a.ning and do what you¡¯re told!¡± <hr>


    ¡°B-But m-my ass is also- A-Ahn! Mmh! I- Ah! F.u.c.k! Mmph! Oh god¡­ r-right there! Ahn~¡±


    Kaley continued to f.u.c.k Mae¡¯s tight little p.u.s.s.y with her strapon while continuously shoving a thick dildo right up her butt. At the same time, she was making her suck my d.i.c.k, pushing her hard every time she thrust inside her so she would end up gagging as I hit deep inside her throat. However, even if Mae was looking like she was having a hard time, her thighs were overflowing with her juices and she wasn¡¯t telling us to stop.


    All the others could do was watch as their close friend lose herself as she came over and over. We continued on until she almost passed out from c.u.m.m.i.n.g too much but she just fell asleep eventually like the others. Kaley and I were also out of breath as we copsed on each other but we soon slept with Micah¡¯s girls on our bed. It was a little cramped but we made it work though no one was able to move freely in the night.


    We slept like logs but I was woken up by someone knocking incessantly on the door. I had to remove Kaley and the girls away from me so I could stand up and walk to open it because the person behind it seemed intent to wake us up. I just put on my shorts just to have something on me because I was 100% sure it was just Rin trying to wake us up because it was already a few minutes past 6:00 AM


    However, I couldn¡¯t be more wrong.


    The moment I saw the person behind it, it defeated drinking a gallon of Redbull.


    Marisha was just smiling at me with an eyebrow raised, ¡°Hello, good morning.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t look at her in the eye, ¡°G-Good¡­ M-Morning¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re awake, good! Where¡¯s Kaley?¡±


    I was just about to answer when the door to the other room opened and Tatiana, Rin, Cynthia, and Micah came out. They were almost n.a.k.e.d as they walked outside but they got stunned in ce the moment Marisha locked on to them. However, the nightmare wasn¡¯t over when Kaley came from behind me n.a.k.e.d with Chloe, Mae, Yumi, ire, Amber, Lexi, Mia, Gabbie, Sara, Elsa, Emily, Jen, Christie, and Leah.


    The only ones missing were Daisy, Vera, Natasha, and Marina but who f.u.c.k.i.n.g cares anymore when a thick film of aura was already forming around Marisha¡¯s body. She was still smiling at us peacefully but the intent she was releasing could kill anyone if they weren¡¯t ready for it. I could almost feel it on my skin and I was 100% sure that it wasn¡¯t intentional. With that said, Kaley had just realized that her mom was in front of us the moment she wrapped her arms around me.


    ¡°M-MOM?!¡±


    The temperature dropped several degrees as Marisha backed all of us in a corner, ¡°Yes, dear?¡±

 Chapter 572

    Chapter 572: 572


    No one was moving a single muscle and everyone seemed to have been ced in a quagmire. We were in a staredown with Marisha and the pressure she was exuding was enormous. A few girls behind us lost feeling in their legs but then Marisha spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°All of you, get dressed. I¡¯ll wait one minute.¡±


    ¡°Y-YES MA¡¯AM!¡±


    Everyone just ran back inside to look for the clump of clothes that we threw somewhere but Kaley and I easily put on ours because it was inside the armory. With the girls, they just mixed and matched their clothes because time was of the essence and they were all almost the same size.


    After exactly one minute, all of us were kneeling likest time while Marisha was looking down from above. We weren¡¯t making a sound as she scanned through each of Micah¡¯s girls but her gaze eventuallynded on us. My mind was in shambles and I didn¡¯t know what to do, but Marisha eventually spoke.


    Marisha raised one of her eyebrows as she folded her arms, ¡°Kaley¡­¡±


    Kaley instantly flinched, ¡°Y-Yes, M-Mom?!¡±


    ¡°I told you so.¡±


    ¡°W-W-What?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t hear me? I told you so.¡±


    ¡°I-I-I don¡¯t g-get it, M-Mom¡­¡±


    ¡°You will¡­ your mind is just in shambles after seeing me. Anyway, breakfast is ready but I¡¯d take this time to tell you girls toe to my home right after. It¡¯s only a few walks forward past your permanent residence. And Micah, if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d like you to be there too. We¡¯ll just have a little talk with your idea.¡±


    Micah flinched when she heard her name but she replied, ¡°Y-Yes¡­ I¡¯ll bring them right after breakfast¡­ and a shower¡­ a long~ shower¡­¡±


    ¡°That would be nice.¡±


    Everything became silently ufortable for aplete minute before Marisha spoke again.


    ¡°Cynthia, how are you? Doing okay?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes! M-More than okay!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Can you please borate?¡±


    ¡°W-Well¡­ I think I¡¯ve g-got more f-friends now and e-even if¡­ n-nevermind¡­ it¡¯s fine I-¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by even if? Did something happen?¡±


    ¡°U-Umm¡­ n-no! I-It¡¯s not important I-It¡¯s okay¡­ I m-mean¡­ u-umm¡­¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±


    ¡°W-What?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not about something that happened, it¡¯s about something that did not happen. You came from the other room with the others, right? How did not being included with your new friends from your nightly ¡®activities¡¯ made you feel?¡±


    Kaley interjected, ¡°M-Mom! Please! You already know, right?! W-We¡¯re all a.d.u.l.ts h-here¡­ we can just-¡±


    Marisha briefly nced at Kaley and it shot her down, ¡°Kaley, I know. We¡¯re just talking, right Cynthia?¡±


    ¡°U-Umm¡­ technically¡­ yeah¡­ j-just talking¡­ T-To answer your question¡­ I wanted to spend more time with everyone b-but¡­ u-umm¡­ I don¡¯t know how to exin this¡­¡±


    ¡°Go on, there¡¯s no judgment here. As I said, we¡¯re just talking casually.¡±


    Cynthia was a little embarrassed but she continued, ¡°Y-Yeah, I know¡­ I just really couldn¡¯t put it into words¡­ it¡¯s like¡­ like¡­ I just kinda wanted to ease into it¡­ not you know¡­ b-but I would like to be as close as everyone¡­ they¡¯re really nice¡­ not just with¡­ you know¡­ I¡¯m really not sure what to say¡­¡±


    Marisha faintly smiled, ¡°I think that¡¯s easy enough to understand. Rin?¡±


    ¡®Is she gonna talk to each of us?! Right now?! Before we get breakfast?! What?!¡¯


    Rin flinched the same as everyone, ¡°Y-Yes?!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s been going on without youtely? I thinkst we spoke was five days ago, right?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes¡­ u-umm¡­¡± <hr>


    Time continued to pass and what we talked about were just embarrassing confessions about each other, fun introductions from everyone, cheesy secrets, and so much more. Everyone actually enjoyed this talk after the awkward and scary encounter from earlier. WE got to learn about each other, especially our new friends.


    With that said, Marisha didn¡¯t talk to me like everyone else but she asked to talk to me privately. She even asked Kaley to leave the room and have breakfast with everybody while the two of us were left inside.


    We were just staring at each other for a short moment before she spoke.


    ¡°So, how are you feeling?¡±


    I replied, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Kinda tired but¡­ I¡¯m fine¡­ really. Why did Kaley and the rest have to leave? Is there a reason?¡±


    Marisha faintly smiled, ¡°Obviously. I just wanted to talk in private.¡±


    ¡°I-I know that a-already¡­ Let me r-rephrase then¡­ Umm¡­¡±


    Marisha chuckled, ¡°I¡¯m just joking, you¡¯re too stiff. You¡¯re not in trouble¡­ kinda¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ That didn¡¯t sound too good¡­ Is there a problem?¡±


    Marisha¡¯s expression turned solemn, ¡°Okay, I¡¯m just gonna tell it to you straight. I can read my daughters even if they¡¯re not talking and I could as easily read other people even after just a short conversation. There¡¯s no denying that Kaley loves you dearly but those other girls? It¡¯s not as great or intense but they also have feelings for you. It varies from each girl but you¡¯ve made a connection with them whether you like it or not.¡±


    I scratched my head, ¡°Yeah¡­ I felt that sometimes but if you¡¯re worried about me, you shouldn¡¯t. I thought I established that already even if our current rtionship with everyone is reallyplicated to exin. I make sure to follow our boundaries and even if¡­ I mean¡­st night¡­ we did something off-book¡­ it was with each other¡¯s agreement. We¡¯d never do anything that the other doesn¡¯t want.¡±


    Marisha suddenly tilted her head as her eyebrow raised, ¡°And what is this off-book thing that you speak of?¡±


    ¡°U-Umm¡­ we just¡­ I don¡¯t know how- nevermind¡­ okay¡­ It¡¯s one of our rules to make sure that we¡¯re both present if we ever do the¡­ the deed with other people¡­ the thing was¡­ y-yesterday¡­ after we did it¡­ i-in front of everybody¡­ I stayed in my room with Micah¡¯s girls and s-she¡­ in the other r-room¡­¡±


    Marisha started rubbing her be, ¡°That girl¡­¡±


    ¡°N-N-No! Please! Here me out! It¡¯s not just her! Just let me finish¡­ It¡¯s actually Micah¡¯s idea and she asked Kaley profusely¡­¡±


    ¡°And?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Kaley agreed but I didn¡¯t¡­¡±


    ¡°Then how did it happen then?! This story of yours is starting to get woozy~ You¡¯re telling the truth but you¡¯re not making any sense, you doofus!¡±


    ¡°J-Just let me tell the whole thing before you interject, a-alright?¡±


    ¡°Fine¡­ continue.¡±


    ¡°Since we have this rule that I told you earlier¡­ I obviously disagreed and I brought her up to my room to do the uh¡­ private-public thing with everyone¡­ but¡­ Kaley just¡­ just¡­ don¡¯t get me wrong¡­ I love her¡­ I really do f.u.c.k.i.n.g love her but sometimes¡­ I just go along with anything she says because she¡¯d be happy with it except one other thing I¡¯m extremely trying to get her to change her m-mind¡­¡±


    ¡°And that is?¡±


    ¡°T-That¡¯s not i-important¡­ let¡¯s get back to what I was saying e-earlier¡­ I said that I go along with what she wants sometimes but there are still cases when I enjoy and have fun with everyone even if I¡­ even if I¡¯d just rather spend all my time with her. Kinda hypocritical, right? I kept saying I love her and I¡¯d rather just be with her but I¡¯d still partake with what she wants whether I go along with it or expect it and sometime even want it¡­ It¡¯s tooplicated¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Sometimes¡­ sometimes¡­ I just¡­ I just hate that I would think with my di- my g-genitals¡­ sorry for being vulgar¡­¡±


    ¡°I think we¡¯re already past that after you told me that you two had intercourse in front of everyone.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ N-Nevertheless¡­ I¡¯ll keep an eye on it¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure, continue.¡±


    ¡°I pride myself being a genius but when ites to these things¡­ I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid. I don¡¯t know¡­ Sometimes I like it¡­ sometimes I don¡¯t but get this¡­ I still enjoy it¡­ Well, it might be because doing it releases a few things in our brains and it relieves me from everything that¡¯s happening outside but still¡­ I can¡¯t just cherry pick what I want in our rtionship and just simply tell her to stop what I don¡¯t like just because I wanted to¡­ It isn¡¯t as simple.¡±


    ¡°Do you two talk atleast? You know¡­ after doing it but you know¡­ when it¡¯s just the two of you?¡±


    ¡°Always. Even if we didn¡¯t do it we always talk¡­ We always talk about everything and we had a serious one back then¡­ But please don¡¯t ask me about that, it¡¯s not fair for her if she¡¯s not here. That¡¯s her story to talk about, not mine.¡±


    Marisha just looked at me solemnly with a saddened expression, ¡°She¡¯s my daughter, I know. Who do you think talks to her each time she made a bad decision or was just crying as she opened the door to our home? Who do you think is the only person she could talk to when everything is just falling apart? Trust me, I know¡­ But thank you for saying that, that means a lot to me.¡±


    I pursed my lip as I looked down, ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry¡­ I shouldn¡¯t have said that¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°What are you apologizing for? You never did anything wrong, right? And if you ever did, it¡¯s by ident and you never meant to do it. You promised me somethingst time and I¡¯m sure you¡¯re keeping it.¡±


    ¡°Of course¡­ always¡­ u-umm¡­ isn¡¯t there something you wanted to tell me? I¡­ I appreciate that we talked like this but I kinda wanna know the reason¡­¡±


    Marisha chuckled, ¡°I said it earlier, right? We¡¯re just talking¡­ no¡­ talking is a part of it but I wanted to pick your head as well.¡±


    ¡°T-That¡¯s it?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve talked to each and every person in your ce and this is only one of the few times that we seriously talked to each other about your rtionship with my daughter or any other subject. As you said earlier, I needed to be fair. I just dropped by here to give you the same reminders I¡¯m giving her because I¡¯m sure that something happened here that I¡¯m not particrly fond of.¡±


    ¡°But still¡­¡±


    ¡°I know! I get your rules with each other but I¡¯m still her mother, remember? What I said to you twost time had more or less happened but I¡¯ll make sure once I talk to themter if they¡¯re going through with their decision or not. I don¡¯t want to meddle even if I wanted to but I sure as hell could give some advice. Take note, I really give good advice. Or¡­ if you just wanted to vent¡­ I¡¯m always here. It¡¯s always nice talking to you.¡±


    I faintly smiled as I looked at her, ¡°Thank you¡­¡±


    Marisha¡¯s face suddenly turned nk, ¡°No.¡±


    I got confused, ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°No. I said no. Are you even listening? This is the part where you ask for my advice.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! You should have seen your face! But I¡¯m serious about giving one. Whether you listen to me or not, I just wanted to leave a few thingsing from someone that walked a little further than you in life. You¡¯re a very intelligent human being but you¡¯d still need to experience more in life. I¡¯d happily share a few from my pages.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Okay what?¡±


    I breathed deeply for a moment and then I looked at Marisha straight in the eye, ¡°I¡¯d like to ask some advice about marrying your daughter.¡±

 Chapter 573

    Chapter 573: 573


    Marisha was stunned for a few seconds as soon as I asked for her advice about marrying her daughter, but she soon looked down and sighed before turning to me with a bitter smile. She looked like she wanted to say a lot of things to me but this time, it seemed like she was trying to figure out what to say. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Wow. You really surprised me¡­¡±


    ¡°W-Well, I hoped you get surprised so that¡¯s a w-win, right?¡±


    Marisha frowned as she raised an eyebrow, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you did that just to fish a reaction. Are you serious or not?¡±


    I looked at her directly and smiled, ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll never joke about that.¡±


    ¡°Very well. Hear me out first then. You already know about my daughter¡¯s feelings for you when you¡¯re still in school, right?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes. We talked about itst time. A-And the one we just talked about e-earlier. Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°What can you say about it now?¡±


    ¡°About it? What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ Can you find something simr?¡±


    I didn¡¯t answer immediately as I looked down and thought of everything about what I know from both times. I was closing my eyes as I yed out everything over and over and based it on what I saw and what I heard from other people¡¯s perspectives. After a time, I just opened my eyes with a solemn expression as I looked back at Marisha.


    ¡°So, you found an answer?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah, I think¡­¡±


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°On the surface, what¡¯s simr is that Kaley still had something for me but¡­ there¡¯s obviously the time in between when she had other people with whom she had a rtionship other than me. I can¡¯t call her on that because even if I said I waited for her all my life, I still had a few women that came into my life even if we didn¡¯t be serious¡­ Saying that might not connect all of the dots together but¡­ I¡¯m not 100% sure about this but¡­ but if we connect it with the other people we have a rtionship with together right now¡­¡±


    Marisha was just listening to me.


    ¡°Is it possible that the reason¡­ I mean- we already know that the reason she went out with someone else after waiting for me was because that I didn¡¯t notice the signs she was giving me, and she felt that she wasn¡¯t enough¡­ but¡­ could the reason we have this¡­ this group that has been gettingrger andrger because of the same thing? Does Kaley still think she¡¯s not g-good enough for¡­ for m-me? It might sound extremely c.o.c.ky but¡­ even if that¡¯s what she really thinks¡­ she shouldn¡¯t think like that at all¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    Marisha was looking at me seriously, ¡°What are you trying to say then?¡±


    I looked down and looked sullen, ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ I¡¯m not as great as she thinks I am¡­ With that said, I think she needs to think of herself higherpared to what she thinks of herself¡­ because I do. She has ws but I don¡¯t care. She¡¯s always horny but I don¡¯t mind. She¡¯d sometimes hit me but I could take it. She¡¯s so perfect she couldn¡¯t see it¡­¡±


    I just started crying silently.


    My nose just felt so sour I couldn¡¯t even open my eyes fully. I felt something warm flowing down my cheeks and I can¡¯t even raise my sleeves to wipe it. I was looking down the whole time this was happening but I just saw Marisha¡¯s knees as she knelt down to raise my head. Her eyes were teary as well but she was smiling brightly.


    ¡°Raise your chin up. Listen to me¡­ I think you don¡¯t really need my advice¡­ What I could say to you, you already know the answer to. Despite that, I just wanted to say that you should think of yourself higher than what you think of yourself. Yes, what I¡¯m saying is that you should take your own advice. It isn¡¯t c.o.c.ky to think that my daughter might be feeling inferior just to be with you because you¡¯re the best man she¡¯ll ever have.¡±


    ¡°B-But¡­¡±


    Marisha exploded, ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure if you noticed but you two are kinda the same in this department¡­ YOU¡¯RE BOTH JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G STUPID! Do you have any idea how many couples I¡¯ve talked to that married for less?! It wasn¡¯t my job to judge them but some of them I¡¯d give one look and I¡¯m sure they aren¡¯tpatible, and would just separate in a few weeks! What I¡¯m saying is¡­ you two clearly love each other, yet you two don¡¯t even have any idea how much one loves the other. IT¡¯S THE SAME F.U.C.K.I.N.G ISSUE ABOUT THE ADVICE YOU SHOULD TAKE YOURSELVES! Stupid, right?! RIGHT?!¡±


    ¡°U-Umm¡­.¡±


    ¡°You see, my daughter and your open rtionship with those other girls isn¡¯t even the problem, it¡¯s mine and sometimes yours. Kaley likes it and you do too sometimes but it¡¯s f.u.c.k.i.n.gplicated to untangle that web. Let¡¯s just face it, you¡¯re both hornballs¡­ maybe it¡¯s one of the reasons you two hit it off, I don¡¯t know. Even I¡¯m trying to figure out how the f.u.c.k you could f.u.c.k those girls and still work your ass off the morning after. Are you using pills? The blue ones? Tell me!¡±


    ¡°L-Language? Please?¡±


    ¡°The f.u.c.k do I care now?! We¡¯re solving your problems here, right?!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Answer me, you doofus!¡±


    ¡°D-Do I have to?¡±


    ¡°Yeah! We¡¯re talking, right?!¡±


    ¡°I think we¡¯re now off-topic¡­ y-you got to c-calm down¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Fine¡­ sorry for shouting¡­ it isn¡¯t like me. Your workout? Can you bring my husband?¡±


    ¡°U-Umm¡­ I could bring him b-but¡­ Fine¡­ I think it¡¯s a mind thing¡­¡±


    ¡°A mind thing? Can hypnosis work?¡±


    ¡°W-What?! Hypnosis?! You can do that?!¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°B-But¡­¡±


    ¡°I could try practicing, it¡¯s never toote. It works well for the weak-minded, right?¡±


    ¡°I think Matthew¡¯s not-¡±


    ¡°Stupid? Of course, he¡¯s not! But basing it on what you told me, that could be a factor!¡±


    ¡°C-Can we go back to the topic at hand? I¡¯m kinda hungry a-and I still have a lot of-¡±


    ¡°Fine. Do you have a ring yet?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ don¡¯t tell Kaley but¡­ it¡¯s in the works¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh? In the works?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a little special¡­¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    ¡°I got you curious, didn¡¯t I?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Shut up, just tell me.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell me where you got your wedding ring? Jewelry store or passed down? It¡¯s really beautiful¡­¡±


    Marisha looked at me suspiciously before answering, ¡°Passed down for generations. If we¡¯re talking about special, mine is.¡±


    ¡°Okay, do you have a clue if the diamond is natural or manufactured?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I think it¡¯s found naturally since it¡¯s old¡­ Just polished to look like this.¡±


    ¡°Probably but do you know which one¡¯s better? Stronger?¡±


    ¡°Why are you asking me? I¡¯m not an expert in that field!¡±


    ¡°Just let me win one thing against you! Just guess then!¡±


    ¡°The manufactured ones?¡±


    ¡°Is that a question?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re enjoying this too much. The manufactured ones then.¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k¡­¡±


    Marisha eximed, ¡°Stop ying around! Am I right or what?¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°Bingo.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna make diamonds?! For real?! But¡­ how is that more specialpared to one that¡¯s been passed down? Because you¡¯re the one that made it? You see, I¡¯m thinking of passing this down someday¡­ to Kaley. My mom had it and it came from her mom and so on¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not making diamonds, just a diamond. A really~ special one. Heh, you have two daughters. No offense but I¡¯d rather you give that to Olivia someday. What I¡¯ll be making is not only special because I¡¯ll have a hand at it and it¡¯ll be stronger, but part of us we¡¯ll be on that diamond as well.¡± <hr>


    ¡°W-Wait¡­ I think I¡¯ve heard of that before¡­¡±


    ¡°Maybe. You see, I¡¯ve asked a few clippings of Kaley¡¯s hair and I added some of my own into it. Let¡¯s just say I¡¯ll be acquiring something really special somewhere and that would help me put our hairs- our DNA into it. It won¡¯t be visible inside the diamond itself since I¡¯ll be turning it into carbon and mixing it into some more carbon, but after a few more processes and some more time¡­ I¡¯ll have one really~ special diamond like I said. If that doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯ll always have a n B.¡±


    ¡°n B?¡±


    ¡°The ring you¡¯re wearing. That¡¯s n B.¡±


    ¡°What?! No! You¡¯ll be making her that and Olivia too someday! I¡¯ll be keeping my ring from now on!¡±


    ¡°Wut? I¡¯m not even sure I can do it.¡±


    ¡°THEN WHY DO YOU SOUND SO CONFIDENT EARLIER?!¡±


    ¡°I used to sell stuff¡­ I have to sound convincing!¡±


    ¡°ARGH! YOU DOOFUS! C¡¯MON! LET¡¯S JUST GO AND EAT! YOU¡¯RE MAKING MY HEAD HURT!¡±


    ¡°Wait!¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°Ibuprofen? Ow! Mari- Ow! That hurts! Stop!¡±


    Marisha just beat me to a pulp and she definitely hit harder than Kaley. Despite that, I saw her smiling nonstop before she opened the door. But the moment she opened it, Kaley was right behind it, alone and crying her eyes out. Marisha and I were stunned when we saw her and we were 100% sure she heard everything. Marisha just looked at me for a moment before letting Kaleye in.


    However, the words that came out of Kaley¡¯s mouth were something we 1000% didn¡¯t expect.


    Kaley was still bawling her eyes out as she shouted, ¡°FINE~! I¡¯M NOT GONNA PEG YOU ANYMORE~~~!!!¡±


    Marisha¡¯s eyes widened as she almost had a heart attack but before a word came out of her mouth, Kaley chopped the back of her neck, making her fall unconscious.

 Chapter 574

    Chapter 574: 574


    A lot of f.u.c.k.i.n.g things just urred in a span of a few seconds and I almost BSOD¡¯d the moment Marisha dropped on the floor. Kaley looked like she had just done something in the spur of the moment yet her expression couldn¡¯t be exined or ill.u.s.trated. With that said, the two of us still couldn¡¯t figure out what to do because the things that just happened should¡¯ve been spaced in a few chapters. <center></center><hr>


    I eximed, ¡°WHAT DID YOU DO?!¡±


    Kaley stammered, ¡°I-I-I-I P-PANICKED, OKAY?!¡±


    ¡°PANICKED?! WHAT GOOD DOES KNOCKING HER OUT WOULD DO?!¡±


    ¡°I DIDN¡¯T KNOW!!! THAT¡¯S WHY IT¡¯S CALLED PANICKING!!!¡±


    ¡°DID YOU ALSO PANIC WHEN YOU DECIDED TO STAY BEHIND AND LISTEN TO WHAT WE¡¯RE SAYING?!¡±


    ¡°I-I-I U-Umm¡­ THAT¡¯S NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW!!! W-WE HAVE TO WAKE HER UP!!! D-DO YOU THINK SHE¡¯LL R-REMEMBER THIS?!¡±


    ¡°WHAT?! ARE YOU HOPING THAT SHE¡¯LL LOSE A PORTION OF HER MEMORIES FROM THAT?! WHY DON¡¯T YOU JUST SMASH YOUR MOM¡¯S HEAD ON THIS WALL!!!¡±


    ¡°HNGH~ J-JUST HELP ME, OKAY?! L-Let¡¯s just try to w-wake her up¡­¡±


    I sighed as I shook my head, ¡°Fine¡­ I a bottle from Oscar in my other pouch¡­ make her sniff it¡­¡±


    ¡°O-Okay¡­ This one?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ let¡¯sy her down on the bed first¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Y-Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey¡­¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Did you hear everything?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Kaley¡­¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    We were silent for the duration that Marisha was unconscious and we were still silent the moment she woke up. Marisha was slightly groggy as she looked at us but she only red at Kaley momentarily before hugging her tight. Kaley just started crying once more yet no words were exchanged from the two. Marisha just turned to me and let out a faint smile before excusing herself and leaving Kaley and me in our room. <hr>


    Kaley¡¯s face was still flushed as she was trying to wipe her tears but I didn¡¯t even know what to do in that situation. A million things were running through my head and what I f.u.c.k.i.n.gnded on was just to look at her from a few feet away.


    ¡®What the f.u.c.k am I doing¡­¡¯


    ¡®After all that I said¡­ this is what I¡¯m doing¡­¡¯


    ¡®I should be¡­ I should-¡®


    My thoughts were still running through my head but I just found myself in her arms. Kaley just wrapped her arms around me as we fell on the bed and she just kept crying on my chest nonstop. I didn¡¯t even notice that I started crying as well but it wasn¡¯t because we were sad, it was because we were just happy. I couldn¡¯t read her thoughts for sure but I just felt like we were thinking the same thing even without proof.


    I¡¯ve never believed in anything without scientific proof before but maybe this was the first time.


    Kaley muttered as her head was still buried in my chest, ¡°I¡¯m s-sorry¡­ okay? And¡­ thank you too¡­¡±


    ¡°Me too¡­ I¡¯m sorry for everything but thank you for everything¡­ I guess we¡¯re just really stupid, huh? I guess mothers really knows best, eh? Your mom is something else¡­ I didn¡¯t even know that I¡¯ll cry today and spill out everything inside of me¡­ that¡¯s why I never go to therapy¡­¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with crying? At least you look cool when you¡¯re crying¡­ I¡¯m a mess when I do¡­¡±


    ¡°Definitely¡­ especially when you¡¯re nose blows bubbles from your snot¡­¡±


    Kaley pinched me, ¡°Wha- it didn¡¯t! W-Well¡­ I¡¯m not s-sure¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Hey¡­¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care anymore¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh? What do you-¡±


    ¡°We always joked about it but I really do want to marry you¡­ even if we continue to sleep with our friends, I don¡¯t care. Even if I can¡¯t figure out what I really want, I don¡¯t care. Even if nothing changes, I don¡¯t care. Once that ring is ready, I¡¯ll shove your finger inside it and we¡¯ll f.u.c.k for a whole f.u.c.k.i.n.g day, and I¡¯ll cook you everything that you wanted when we take breaks. I¡¯ll even make it a holiday if ites to that and I¡¯ll gun down anyone that disturbs us.¡±


    Kaley startedughing as she looked at me, ¡°Weirdest proposal ever¡­ I know I¡¯ll never get bored when I¡¯m with you¡­ I thought you¡¯re supposed to go down on one knee? And what¡¯s with the initial passiveness and the sudden aggressiveness?!¡±


    ¡°Heh, I¡¯ll do more than go down in one knee if that¡¯s what it takes. But yeah, I don¡¯t even care anymore! F.u.c.k it! I¡¯m not even asking you to marry me, I¡¯m just letting you know that I¡¯ll f.u.c.k.i.n.g marry you and you¡¯d just have to deal with it. Call me whatever you want but f.u.c.k it! You¡¯ll be taking myst name and I won¡¯t even allow you to hyphenate! F.u.c.k it! That ring is just a symbol! We¡¯re married right now and we¡¯ll need to consummate! Take off your clothes and clear your schedule! We¡¯re doing it right now!¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha! You! You¡¯re losing it! You¡¯re finally losing it!¡±


    ¡°Finally?! I¡¯ve already lost it a long time ago! It¡¯s your fault you married a psychopath! You should¡¯ve noticed the signs from the beginning!¡±


    ¡°Wow~ Going back to that, eh? Hahahaha! You¡¯re so stupid! We both are!¡± <hr>


    Kaley and I started justughing and the tears that were still in our eyes just glistened as we looked at each other. It got quiet for a short moment before we started kissing each other then one thing led to another, making us miss breakfastpletely. We just couldn¡¯t get our hands off of each other at the moment and we went for a few more when we were in the shower.


    With that said, we just discovered a te of food in our kitchen and we shared it with each other. I was surprised that no one came to pick us up and I was sure Marisha had something to do with it.


    When we finally geared up and went outside, our team was just patiently waiting for us even though Oscar, Artem, Harold, and the rest had already left a few hours ago. My group was wearing faint smiles as we boarded our Raptor but they were more focused on Kaley¡¯s flushed expression. However, I on the other hand just couldn¡¯t stop smiling like an idiot because I was just so happy for what happened.


    Tatiana instantly broke the silence as she turned to Kaley, ¡°You¡¯re glowing. A bit more we could use you as a beacon! Umm- Kaley? I already guarded. Yoohoo~ Kaley? Wow~ The f.u.c.k kind of f.u.c.k.i.n.g did you do to turn her like this? Damn~ What?! Even that didn¡¯t do anything? Something¡¯s wrong¡­ something¡¯s definitely wrong¡­ Okay, stop. You two are weirding me out! What happened back there?! Answer me!¡±


    Everyone except us was losing their minds because they for sure thought Kaley would at least fight back but Kaley just blushed even more. Surprisingly enough, she just remained silent the whole time but every shot she took while we were on the way was dangerously urate. When she changed targets, reloaded her rifle, cleared a jam, called out shots, and etc., she was like a well-oiled machine from the way she moved.


    Our group took to the road this time and we were heading back to Monumento but going through the other side of the road. We¡¯d be clearing the road from this side while Oscar would be clearing the road from the other. I would¡¯ve brought our helicopter with us but their fuels weren¡¯t cheap or easily essible. We¡¯d need to limit their usage if we were just clearing the roads some more.


    On the way, the barangay of Karuhatan was still boggling my mind as to how clean and quiet it was. It actually felt haunted by how empty it was except for the random stragglers that would pop out from the edges of the barangay. Furthermore, any attempt to contact the alleged upants of the area would still draw a nk and there was more sess in regards to making contact from Quezon City.


    ¡®If they don¡¯t wanna talk, so be it¡­ We¡¯ll just keep announcing we¡¯ll pass through here¡­¡¯


    The moment we arrived, Artem¡¯s group was present along with several soldiers and builders already working our current job. The dead were being cleared and taken down continuously while another group was taking care of the train cars sprawled around the circle. Sparks would just fly while a wrenching sound of metal getting bent aggressively could be heard once the broken-down train cars were getting pulled or pushed to one side.


    Marina approached us with Natasha, ¡°Took you guys a while.¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°Yeah, we just got married. Wait- engaged? F.u.c.k it! I don¡¯t care what the terms are anymore! Wow! It¡¯s kinda freeing in the head if you don¡¯t think about stuff! Is this what ignorance feels like?!¡±


    The people close to us were losing their minds from my announcement but I was still trapped in a monologue I brought upon myself. Kaley continued to be withdrawn on the other hand but the loud dude just broke through at the right time.


    Oscar was operating a bulldozer, ¡°BACK AWAY, YOU LITTLE SHITS! THIS SHIT IS FASTER!¡±

 Chapter 575

    Chapter 575: 575


    Oscar started mowing down the train cars in the way and it actually made things a lot more easier. Fournes of traffic were released on both sides, only leaving the other two passages to Quezon City and a roundabout route to the City of Man. However, bits of pieces of the dead were still needed to be taken care of but it was only a matter of time. <center></center><hr>


    With that said, a few of our people were also operating a few skid steers and they were in charge of taking care of the smaller vehicles or other dead bodies. Another group further in were hauling the bodies they took down so they would be sent to their designated spots to be burned.


    It seemed like we weren¡¯t needed as much so I brought my group to the corner of Ara Avenue and Mango Road. The building in front of us was the Land Transportation¡¯s Office and the ones right next to it were just notary publics, emission centers, and vehicle insurancepanies.


    Jared asked, ¡°Bro, what are we doing here? Renewing your license? Heh.¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°Not exactly. We¡¯re still quite far from this ce¡¯s City Hall so we could at least get some records from the LTO. We¡¯ll see if we could find some vehicles worth looking out for once we clear the roads.¡±


    Kaley added as she shook her head, ¡°Vehicles again? We haven¡¯t even stepped foot on the ones you had a deal with Jose!¡±


    ¡°Oh~ Back to normal, eh? My waifu~ How¡¯s it going~? Ah- Ow! Yup¡­ She¡¯s definitely back. She¡¯s back. Lay off of the jokes everyone¡­ she¡¯s fully charged!¡±


    ¡°Stop it! I justmented on something and you¡¯re being a¡­ nevermind¡­¡± Kaley shrunk down once more.


    Ibarra interjected, ¡°I¡¯ll be going first¡­¡±


    Mikhail added, ¡°Me too¡­¡±


    I was the one driving my Raptor and it took me a few seconds to get to the optimal parking spot. I slowly backed it up as my group started taking down bodies one after the other but there was a little issue.


    It seems that a herd-like group of deadheads wasing out of our own version of the DMV. However, there was a flight of stairs before they could get to us and most of them started rolling down in droves. <center></center><hr>


    I instantly stepped on the gas pedal as I yelled at my group, ¡°CREATE SOME SPACE! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!¡±


    My group was startled for a short moment before they ran forward, away from the LTO. At the same time, Kaley and Jared who were riding shotgun and in the back of my Raptor respectively, kept shooting despite us moving tens of meters abruptly. Tatiana and the rest just continued to run a curve with the same distance as us then they turned around and took on the few runners that shot past their cl.u.s.ter.


    A huge gaping hole just reced a runner¡¯s head before it reached Tatiana while Mikhail continued to swing his axe-hammer around, crushing skulls one after the other. Ibarra¡¯s spear had enough reach to kill a few from a distance and he was now the one going in and out of our small perimeter, taking down the ones approaching except for the LTO. Jared and Kaley were still shooting nonstop but I wanted part of the action.


    The deadheads were still pouring out from the LTO and I needed to make another outlet.


    I pulled Tatiana with me as we dashed through the other set of stairs to the side, and we mowed down anything that came close. The stairs to the side were narrow and it could only allow two-to-three people at most. We easily made our way up and a dozen biters instantly snapped their heads towards us. Their faces were ridden with bites and I could only recognize them from the bloody IDs they were wearing.


    Their crooked ws immediately reached out for our flesh but Tatiana and I cut them off, making them roll over to the side.


    One of them that seemed to be a manager looked a little too unnerving but Tatiana just pushed her sword from under its chin, straight through the top of its head. She went for the other one missing its ear while I leaped over a biter without its lips, sliding my de straight through its earlobe. Another employee came at me at a dead angle so I pushed it off with my scabbard before kicking it off the main set of stairs.


    It rolled over and knocked down most of the deadheads that were about to get up and almost instantly, Jared contacted me on our radio.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Bro! Could you not y with your dead! Just f.u.c.k.i.n.g kill them! I¡¯d have to wait for them to get up!] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, just use it as a buffer to reload! You and Kaley aren¡¯t even shooting up the main stairwell! Just keep on taking care of the dregs below! We¡¯ll lessen the load on our side but try and advance over here if you could! Use the ramp on the other side if you¡¯re done practice shooting! It¡¯s almost over! Just drive around when they¡¯re a few dozen!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Fine! Fine! I¡¯ll make Ibarra drive! Ibarra! Keys are still on the Raptor! Fire it up if I tell you!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    [Yeah, roger!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    A concave pile of the deading from the LTO was formed from the main stairwell though another pile of cut-up deadheads was on our side. I just shot the remaining biters left in the flesh pile before Jared and the rest drove up using the ramp I told them to take. Ibarra positioned our vehicle on the other side once arriving so we wouldn¡¯t have to turn around if we needed to get out fast.


    I shone my shlight inside the LTO and we just discovered their doorman still rotting from its original post. Its body was ridden with bites but it was almost merging with the wall it was standing next to. I just sunk my de into its eye socket, before prying its congealed body off the wall it was sticking on.


    I turned to my group, ¡°This ce is pretty straightforward. It¡¯s just a wide area that needed to get the hard drives from theirputers collected. I wouldn¡¯t mind a few knick-knacks here and there but don¡¯t forget our main objective.¡±


    They all just nodded and we started searching the whole area.


    After close to an hour, we collected over 30 hard drives that could hold relevant or duplicate information but other than that, we found a few things from drawers, cabs, and etc. They were a few bottles of strong painkillers, three packs of gum, a couple of expensive fountain pens, a box of markers, 12 drained mobile phones, a massage pillow, a first aid kit, and a ticket for the movie Cars 3.


    ¡®Huh, weird¡­ I could¡¯ve sworn this means something¡­¡¯


    When we went outside, Jared was busy searching through the bodies of the ones they took down and he was smiling like an idiot while Ibarra was watching over him. I was about to ask him what he found but the bloody security guard¡¯s belt said it all. He found a .38 S&W Special with a dozen .38 bullets he was removing from the strap and a Remington 870 with a wooden stock and three shells.


    Imented, ¡°That¡¯s an Oscarbo right there¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Maybe. I might exchange it for a newer one from Oscar though.¡±


    ¡°Really? You¡¯re using shotguns now?¡±


    ¡°What? You two have short-barrelled shotguns on the side of your bags, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but we never use it. It¡¯s just to make Oscar stop converting us¡­¡±


    ¡°Kidding¡­ this is for Alex. I tried to teach her long shooting but she¡¯s a¡­ a more of the Oscarbo if you know what I¡¯m saying¡­¡±


    ¡°Oof¡­ that¡¯s gonna be a blow on you. My condolences¡­¡±


    ¡°Shut up, bro! She¡¯s into it but she easily gets bored when we start calcting and shit¡­ Do you have a few ways to make it fun?¡±


    ¡°Start calcting and shit. That¡¯s the fun part for me.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not helping, bro¡­¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s not for her, it¡¯s not for her. It¡¯ll only get worse if you force her into it. Just work with shotguns first, and then regr semi-auto rifles, and finally long-ranged bolts. Do a few tricks here and there to make her look up into something. If she really wants to do it, she¡¯ll get over the parts she didn¡¯t like.¡±


    ¡°Wha- That¡¯s actually helpful.¡±


    I shook my head in amus.e.m.e.nt, ¡°Come on. Think about thatter, we¡¯ll hit the insurancepanies next to check for more vehicles insured or some shit that¡¯s really valuable. We¡¯ll make a simple roadmap before we start surgically clearing each area in the future. We¡¯re already sharing the resources in Mbon City with Morales. We¡¯d better get to other prime spots so we get the first pick.¡±

 Chapter 576

    Chapter 576: 576


    My group and I drove a few meters down Ara Avenue to reach our destination. The insurancepanies we were looking at were just small offices spread throughout this area along with the other buildings meant for supporting the LTO. With that said, we have a stretch of road filled with the dead to take care of so we went back to business. <center></center><hr>


    It was a bad idea to direct the dead to ourselves but to draw them out of their hiding ces while in the safety of our vehicle, I made Ibarra press onto the horn for tens of seconds without letting go. My group was watching both ends of the road and we could clearly see how all of the rotting heads turned in our direction the moment they heard us.


    Different faces with different areas where they got ridden with bites wereing for us with wobbled steps for the most part. Kaley started thinning them down with her rifle but the moment Jared started firing incessantly, we knew that specials have joined the party.


    A regr deadhead was just running past a fire hydrant when it was smashed down before it even managed to take a single step. Its torso was violently lodged into the fire hydrant before it started stomping on its head and that was when several bullets nicked parts of its shoulder, neck, and face.


    It stumbled down a few times but it started to run around where there were obstructions, away from our line of sight.


    Jared was shooting the ones further back and once I got a closer look, I instantly discovered that some of them were quadruped and moving in erratic patterns while the other group was gunning straight for us. Furthermore, the former was indiscriminate in their killings as they would swipe down on the ones in front of them, even if it was one of their own while thetter would just push everything aside to get to their targets.


    They just let out a gurgling scream before running straight for us with a deranged expression, joining the sprinters that Kaley was taking down one after the other. I started shooting at them as well but we only managed to take down three ferals and twelve sprinters before they were dangerously close. More than a dozen of them remained and they would reach us in a matter of seconds.


    We had to keep some distance because fighting a small herd of ferals with a mix of sprinters and regr deadheads was f.u.c.k.i.n.g suicide.


    ¡°IBARRA! REVERSE AND HEAD BACK TO MANGO ROAD!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°JUST THERE?!¡±


    ¡°JUST DO IT!¡±


    We could¡¯ve easily made some distance if Ibarra floored it but the goal wasn¡¯t to run but to kill every single one of them.


    The issue that we noticed long before was that their hearing and their sight were still functional to a degree but the problem was that ferals and irregr sprinters could f.u.c.k.i.n.g respond and act defensively against them. Most of them would just approach anything that they see or hear but the ones we were facing right now were moving like they were painted in blue and were about to be executed.


    I needed to do a little experiment to see how fast they react and how long they retain information about things once they lose sight of their target even momentarily and vice versa.


    It was barely a few seconds when we turned to the right but I have already fished out a couple of grenades and was about to pull their pins out. Four sprinters immediately made their way and one of them mmed onto a bolted-on trash can before two ferals came into view. One of them had the ability to properly slow down and turn while the other rolled and mmed onto a car before lunging straight into the same direction.


    My group was already shooting at them as they tried to zigzag but I suddenly threw a grenade with the pin still on it.


    The feral and a couple of sprinters at the front actively avoided it as the feral slowed down and swerved to the side while the other two just turned slightly to change directions. However, once I threw the grenade with the f.u.c.k.i.n.g pin out, they just did nothing and just ran past it for a few seconds before getting blown to bits with the rest of the specials behind them. <hr>


    Everything happened while we were still in transit but my group who were at the back saw everything clearly. The result of what happened made us learn more about them but we needed to do the same thing a few more times, also with different variables, before we decide that we could use that against them or share the information. A few ferals that were still further back survived but they were quickly shot down once they slowed from the explosions.


    A lone sprinter came through the smoke but I easily took it down with a couple of shots from my TX-22. It rolled down and fell a few inches from my Raptor before I told Ibarra to drive around the block to reach our earlier destination. Most of the dead would be gathered to where we were currently so it was best to avoid the ce most of them would be gathering for the moment, keeping distance just in case another pack came running.


    We took a wide turn to Kasoy Road and to Lapu-Lapu Road before turning once more to the right to reach Caimito Road. We drove for two additional blocks to reach one of the emission centers which was directly next to one of the insurancepanies I wanted my team to give a quick search for their hard drives.


    The bodies we took down earlier were also by this spot and we were seeing the back of the heads since they were still heading for the explosions. With that said, a few that heard us turned around and they were met with a speeding bullet heading for their skulls. A few quick pops filled the air while the rest of my group started to pull the bodies to the side.


    Jared waved me over, ¡°We¡¯re not burning them, bro? We could already make a few piles just from this side.¡±


    ¡°Nah, we¡¯ll just call over some people from the group clearing the bodies over on Oscar¡¯s side once we¡¯re done.¡±


    ¡°Okay, bro. We¡¯ll wait outside while you guys are busy.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± <hr>


    It was easy enough to get inside the insurancepanies since most of them weren¡¯t as establishedpared to the ones further in Quezon City. Each ce only had 3-5 hard drives at most and I was already thinking that we wouldn¡¯t be as lucky if we ever start searching through the hundreds of files they had on record. However, it was already plenty enough to have a partial list of the people living in the vicinity.


    Our detour became a mix of killing the dead and looking for information since the spot we were in had more undead bodies lurking in the shadows. Kaley and Jared were kept busy with Ibarra on my Raptor but the items we were uncovering weren¡¯t much to look at even if they were valuable.


    An asional knife or an expensive watch on a deadhead would sometimes cheer them up but unless we find something good, the overall mood would take a small hit. ncing around, I just found the solution.


    I tapped on the roof of my Raptor, ¡°Ibarra, drive over there.¡±


    ¡°The parish?¡±


    ¡°No, the one right across it.¡±


    ¡°That ce?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Are you sure? Wait- how in the hell is that ced over there?¡±


    ¡°Heh. Just drive, man.¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­¡±


    My group was initially confused but they grew even more confused once they discovered that a strip club was right in front of a fancy church.


    It would¡¯ve been funnier if the strip club was right behind the church, but the number of parked vehicles being greater in the strip club was more than a win. I could only imagine the poor sods getting bitten while still having a boner but the sights weren¡¯t the main concern.


    The issue was that Bing used to work in this ce as a bouncer before moving much closer to home. I wasn¡¯t actively looking for this ce but since we were here already, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to bring a few things before going home. The graffiti on the walls were already enticing and discovering that one of them had Bing¡¯s resemnce, we just closed the gate after entering to ensure none would escape us.


    After close to two hours of putting down half-n.a.k.e.d zombies with n.i.p.p.l.e tassels, visitors with half their pants down, bouncers that were stuck on the door, and bartenders which were kinda hotter than the strippers themselves when they were still alive, we were smiling from ear to ear once we discovered that amount of untouched alcohol in their warehouse. Pallets and pallets of beer were present with f.u.c.ktons of hard liquor.


    I chuckled and said, ¡°Wait, lemme give someone a call.¡±

 Chapter 577

    Chapter 577: 577


    I picked my radio and set it to the frequency where Bing was in while my group started to pile up the dead at the medium-sized parking area. <center></center><hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bing a.k.a. Daddy Jackhammer, a.k.a. Mr. Jacked-up 2010, a.k.a. 2010 Takedown of the Year, a.k.a. Mr. Booty 2009, a.k.a.-¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT?! W-W-WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! HOW DID Y-YOU- I mean- Who¡¯s Aka and the other-]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Heh. Rx, dude. I won¡¯t judge ya. Anyway, we just cleared up this ce. Are there any other ces where uhh- you know¡­ some hidden stash might be located? It could be anything¡­ I¡¯ll also bring back anything you might want as a souvenir.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [¡­]


    *bzzt* <center></center><hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Bing?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Are¡­ Are they all dead? Mike, the big guy with the head tattoo. Jen, with a nose piercing and a scar on her left arm. Gina, with the neck tattoo working as a bartender. You have perfect memory, right? You noticed those three?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah¡­ sorry, man. Want me to take them back? We could cremate them at least. I could also bring back some of their belongings if you have an inkling as to where they are located. Bing?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Bing didn¡¯t answer me for a while but then I heard Daisy¡¯s voice.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Hey, umm¡­ Bing is a little¡­ preupied right now- Huh? Check the what? And the- wait¡­ I see¡­ I see¡­ Okay¡­ Where else? Okay, I¡¯ll tell him. Hey¡­ Sky, you still there?] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, did he say something?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Bing uh¡­ he told me to tell you to check the under the pole in VIP Room #9, 3rd locker on the right of the dancer¡¯s rooms, the bartender¡¯s shelf to the left, and all of the mirrors in the restrooms, the manager¡¯s office, the dancer¡¯s rooms, VIP Rooms, and the bouncer¡¯s lounge. He said you¡¯d know what to take back and if it isn¡¯t any trouble, he¡¯d want to have their bodies brought back¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, tell him thank you and I¡¯ll take care of it myself. We¡¯ll be back in a few hours, see you soon¡­ And Daisy, tell Jay your group could take a break for now but have someone watch over Bing. He¡¯s good friends with Russel and An from what I could recall and if he needs someone to talk to, you¡¯re much closer to him, you know who he could talk to, or Marisha and I could drop by whenever.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah¡­ I know¡­ stay safe¡­] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Yeah, you too.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    I ended the call and then I walked over outside to tell my group to look for the bodies of Bing¡¯s close friends from his previous work. It took a while to find them from the dozens and dozens of bodies we piled on top of one another but we eventually put them in sealed tarps so we could transport them back personally. My group was wearing solemn expressions but I still need to go to the ces Bing mentioned to check.


    Kaley and Tatiana apanied me while the rest hauled the alcohol we found by the gate for easy transportter. Jared already called the old man so he would appear sooner orter. With that said, the three of us just turned our shlights on to check the pole on the 9th VIP Room first.


    It was ced on top of a two-foot tform and we just pried open the side of it to see what was hidden inside.


    Kaleymented, ¡°Is that a shotgun? A shockwave?¡±


    ¡°Close¡­ it¡¯s a Mossberg 590 Nightstick¡­ it has a few shells here and oh- why is there a .410 shell in- ah! There¡¯s a Henry .410 axe in here as well with a few rolls of cash and some ID. This must all belong to Mike. I guess we¡¯ll see more in the other ces. Let¡¯s check the mirror here too¡­¡±


    ¡°Mirrors? There are only a few pictures here and there¡­ this must be what Bing is looking for¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s all go through them before we leave.¡±


    We three took our time searching through the other ces Bing mentioned to check and we found more valuables of the owners themselves. The locker simply contained clothes, pepper spray, a diary, and an old dried-up rose acting as a bookmark while the bartender¡¯s shelf had a lone metal sk with a leather holder.


    Looking at it closely, the letters B, G, M, and J were engraved roughly by a knife but I was sure as hell wouldn¡¯t drink from whatever concoction was inside.


    From the pictures themselves, we searched the whole area and took all of them. Looking at each one, we recognized Bing and his old friends in some of them from a few years back. Most of the shots were taken inside this strip club and I could barely paint the picture at what happened in some of them. In the end, I just ced them all in my bag before joining everyone.


    Oscar and his group were already outside and he¡¯s picking up a few bottles that he fancied. Most of them were bottles of whisky and rum but he put them down once he saw me. <hr>


    ¡°Hey, kid. Those bodies at your Raptor¡­ I heard they were Bing¡¯s friends from here?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. We¡¯ll be bringing them back to the crematorium or something. I¡¯m not sure how the whole process works even more when we¡¯re dealing with bodies like that but we¡¯ll make it work at least. Well, let¡¯s just see what the big guy wants to do with them first.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Anyway, we pulled out some of the train cars from the other roads as well since we still needed to haul the bodies away from that area. We discovered more of those tentacle f.u.c.kers adding more stuff onto themselves so we¡¯d remove the option for them to do so as much as possible.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Just don¡¯t forget to block the passages after you¡¯re done so we won¡¯t have to deal with more things. To be honest, we got a little too much on our te and I don¡¯t want to drop a few more things ongoing so we could function normally.¡±


    ¡°Already handled. You might need to have that talk with Haroldter in the meeting since Morales will be there as well. In any case, you could drive back ahead of us if you want to start burning those bodies. I believe they take a couple of hours toplete.¡±


    ¡°Sure, old man.¡±


    My group just packed up and drove back while shooting down each deadhead we encounter. It would be troublesome if they got picked up by our new special but it would be better to lessen the threat of a regr deadhead turning into a feral or even a sprinter. With that said, we weren¡¯t still 100% sure as to how they change but it was a better option to take down anything that shouldn¡¯t be moving.


    It took us a couple of hours to get back but Bing, Jay, Daisy, and the rest of their own group was waiting by Lawrence¡¯s outpost. The big guy was just slumped at the truck bed but he instantly ran towards us when he saw using. However, Mikhail held him on his shoulder first before I jumped down from the back of my vehicle.


    Bing pleaded as his eyes were already red, ¡°H-Hey man¡­ I- I just want to see them, o-okay?! I-It¡¯s been a while and- I¡­ please, man! I just-¡±


    I cut him off as I looked at him straight in the eye, ¡°Bing¡­ listen to me, okay? I just want you to be sure. They¡¯re not the same as youst saw them and I brought all of their things here. The guns, the diary, the rose, their clothes, the sk, the pictures, and everything. It¡¯s all in this bag and you¡¯re free to decide what to do with them. I¡­ I just want you to make sure if this is what you want.¡±


    Bing was momentarily stunned when he saw the handle of the Nightstick sticking out from my bag and he just started bawling in front of everyone. In the end, Bing still decided to see his friend¡¯s faces onest time before helping us take care of them.


    It was a short drive to get to the crematorium but we ced all of them in arge wooden container before cing them in the cremation chamber. We light it up for up to 2000 degrees and we wore the proper equipment to do it in. Everyone was just silently waiting while Bing was looking at all of the pictures we took back. He was still crying silently but he would sometimes smile bitterly while checking the old pictures and reading through the diary.


    It was almost sunset when we got back with their ground-up ashes but Bing turned to me before walking back to their ce.


    ¡°We got off on the wrong foot the first time we met but you¡¯re cool, man. Real cool. Sorry for crying earlier.¡±


    ¡°You did? I think it¡¯s raining or something, I didn¡¯t notice. A-Anyway, Bing, those shotguns are a little~ rough on the edges. I could polish them for a bit and check the shells if they¡¯re still viable.¡±


    Bing didn¡¯t say a word at first as he just looked down for a short moment before looking at me with a bright smile on his face, ¡°Yeah, that would be nice.¡±

 Chapter 578

    Chapter 578: 578


    A few things happened in between and we were now gathered in our meeting area. Harold and Morales were present with their groups along with the other representatives from each outpost, camp, or residence. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s start. Harold, If what I heard is urate, your team will be driving back tomorrow, right? I believe we need to have our conversation now. I¡¯m sorry we¡¯ve been postponing it by doing a few things here and there.¡±


    Harold replied, ¡°It¡¯s nothing to worry, really. The change of scenery is good but what I¡¯m about to propose to you is gonna be a little~ troublesome. Well, not only for you but everyone that¡¯s been getting their water from our ce.¡±


    ¡°Troublesome? How?¡±


    Harold stood up and brought up a graph telling us the paths or the pipeline the La Mesa Dam had been using, ¡°As you can see, the La Mesa Dam is the one mainly supplying water to the whole of Metro Man. With that said, everything else is interconnected but there¡¯s one thing we weren¡¯t able to keep proper track of ever since this zombie bullshit started. Can anyone guess?¡±


    ¡®Maintenance on the pipelines.¡¯


    Johnny and Raphael interjected at the same time, ¡°Leaks.¡±


    Harold continued, ¡°That¡¯s right. All we¡¯ve been doing is trying to keep the dam sending water every single day but there seemed to be ces where leaks have sprouted up. I¡¯m not the expert but a few of the streets my group has passed through near our ce had small areas where there¡¯s a small flood due to small pipelines breaking up or due to certain meters getting damaged or getting left unchecked.¡± <center></center><hr>


    Oscar interjected, ¡°Hmm~ There are fewer people in the world but I for one would still conserve clean water as much as possible. I¡¯d do rough work with some of my stuff but water is no joke.¡±


    I turned to Harold, ¡°So, what do you need help with? We will do anything within reason even if it¡¯s troublesome.¡±


    Harold replied, ¡°What we¡¯ve been talking about the past few weeks is to determine which ces havemunities such as this so we could be a little more conservative as to where to send water and where to limit the supply.¡±


    Matthew interjected, ¡°Wait. Are we having a shortage then?¡±


    Harold waved his hand, ¡°Not exactly. You see, it¡¯s a natural urrence to have our water supply on the shorter end when summeres. Add that to the leakages all around, we¡¯ll have some trouble. We¡¯re just trying to minimize our losses, that¡¯s all.¡±


    Oscar chimed in once more, ¡°I still can¡¯t see the troublesome part. All I see that we¡¯re doing is just revealing ourmunities to you. There¡¯s something else, right?¡±


    Harold nodded, ¡°Yes, there is. Limiting the supply is one of them but the problem still exists. To be honest, doing that is not the solution, only a simple remedy. What we need to do is fix those leaks whenever we could and as much as possible. That way, we could as easily send water everywhere while only worrying about keeping the dam safe and sound.¡± <hr>


    I said, ¡°Okay, I think what we need to do first is check if our own pipeline had no leaks before tending to the other pipelines that do have them. Wait, the other pipelines could be manually closed off, right? Not just from your ce?¡±


    Raphael interjected, ¡°We just needed to get to their supplier and we could close them off surgically. How it goes is you need to close off the pipelines from where there seem to be no people first and we¡¯ll work from there. Maybe we could go from barangay to barangay since we already have a few on our belts without any roamers. It would be a very tedious process but that¡¯s all we could do for now.¡±


    Harold nodded a few times, ¡°That¡¯s a start. One of ours is suggesting that too. However, here¡¯s the n for the future. I don¡¯t know how long it would take but it¡¯s something to think about.¡±


    ¡°What are you suggesting?¡±


    ¡°An independent pipeline for our main yers. That includes you, Morales, and Iskoh. In any case, it will only be a matter of time before you get Valenzu City, Morales gets Navotas City, Iskoh his City of Man, and the three of you sharing the City of Mbon. Location-wise, you¡¯re the one much closerpared to the three of you but there are other people in y.¡±


    ¡°And who are they?¡±


    ¡°You see, Quezon City is the biggest city out of everything in our region. Let¡¯s just say that there are more groups that formed over there instead of you guys grouping into a single unit. Furthermore, the three of you have been cooperating with each other and my CO wants to be a part of that.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Are you having trouble with these smaller groups?¡±


    ¡°Some of them are good news while some are not. Truth be told, I¡¯m not sure if we encountered all of them. The only reason that they¡¯re not touching us is that we hold the water supply. If our ce goes down, everyone will be in trouble. There are other dams too but they¡¯re not connected with it. They¡¯d have to bring water tanks like that other group that would visit from time to time.¡±


    I just started to have a little headache because a lot of things were popping up without my control. We¡¯ve already blocked the main path toward Quezon City but like cutting the supply of water from the pipelines, it wasn¡¯t a permanent fix. Sooner orter, we would encounter more less than cooperative groups from that city and they would definitely slow down the process of everything we¡¯ve been working on.


    I rubbed my be before speaking, ¡°We¡¯ll get to work on what you proposed to us but we¡¯ll have to take over this city first before creating a separate pipeline. That would take a few months at least and creating one from scratch isn¡¯t as easy as it sounds. Besides, I have connections in Bcan as well and we might also look into the soldiers watching the Angat Dam, the main supplier in the Bcan Area.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll introduce you to the guys watching that dam in the future. We¡¯ll just have a few more meetings like these and we¡¯ll build proper connections. Anyway, thanks for the hospitality and I hope we could stay a bit longer. Duty calls, am I right?¡±


    ¡°No problem. In any case, we¡¯ll send a group to apany you with some supplies that have some ways to maximize what you have. Your biggest issue is food so I¡¯ll be sending you seeds, seedlings, fruiting bags, and some of the stuff we already processed. I¡¯ll just rmend rotating your usage with them but I¡¯ve sent some files to watch or read to learn what I¡¯m talking about. We could only send so much and it¡¯s better to be self-sustaining.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great but I¡¯m wondering how we¡¯ll proceed with our ammo deal? The president said you¡¯ll hook us up, right?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Here¡¯s how it goes, if you provide us with materials, I¡¯ll take a small cut from that as payment for the work I¡¯ll be putting on it. Brass casings or lead scrap could work but I¡¯d like it more if you managed to get ahold of gunpowder, primers, or more reloading tools.¡±


    ¡°How about ammo that we came upon? You know, the ones that are just too suspicious to use.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take them as well and process them but we¡¯ll work a deal on it. If you don¡¯t have the materials for it, just have something of equal value and we¡¯ll work on it as well. It could be guns, working gun parts, medicine, or anything else. However, just call me before we make the trade so we¡¯ll work on the exact amount and I¡¯ll only do trades in this ce. If you could work with that, you¡¯ll have yourself a great deal.¡±


    ¡°Gun parts? Can you do repairs on some of them?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the idea but it depends on the damage. More than likely, it would be better to rece a bent firing pin instead of hammering it straight or some other stuff. It¡¯s not like the whole gun is broken when it stops working, right? I¡¯ll take the working parts and see if I could p them to the ones that need it. I¡¯ll do a few tests if it would still work but that¡¯s the gist of it.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, I see. That¡¯s interesting. I¡¯ll assume you have all the tools for it and I¡¯ll report it back. We have a few just in storage and some of them are just outright garbage. We have a rifle shooting three feet to the left while the other was shooting two feet up despite several adjustments.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll take a look at it but I want you to look out for someone.¡±


    ¡°Who?¡±

 Chapter 579

    Chapter 579


    Harold and everyone''s curiosity got piqued when I mentioned that I want him to look out for someone I know that might be in his area. It wasn''t a secret in its entirety but I still haven''t had the chance to look for that person actively. <center></center><hr>


    I started, ¡°Names won''t do you any good but you''d see him wearing an eyepatch even if he could see from both of his eyes clearly. It would be better to approach him discreetly instead of openly by slipping a paper with my name on it or something simr.¡±


    Harold tilted his head, ¡°What? What kind of person does that?¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°He''s a friend. All I ask is you don''t spook him. He could be alone, in the camps, in other groups, or might be already in your fold.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, just an eyepatch? What if by some chance he''s not wearing it anymore?¡±


    ¡°Trust me, he''ll be wearing one at all times. Worstes to worst, he''s wearing heavily tinted sses on one side or a spare rolled-up handkerchief. If you want to ask, it''s his rule he set in himself just in case he needs to shoot when it gets dark instantly.¡±


    Kaley interjected, ¡°Is that the one you and Oscar talked aboutst time? You know, the owner of a gun store?¡±


    I replied, ¡°Yep, that''s the guy.¡±


    Harold asked, ¡°Owner? Gun store? Then why is he so slippery? If he owns a shop, he should''ve people skills or something.¡±


    ¡°That''s true¡­ but like I said, he''s the owner. I never said anything about him being the guy in the front. He''d do sales from time to time but- nevermind¡­¡±


    Morales interjected, ¡°Are you about to say something?¡±


    ''Cheh, I almost told them his talents lie on acquiring more guns from his connections. I''m not sure if his connections are still around but he''d be definitely pressed by the army to reveal them. It''s not like all of them are from legal channels¡­''


    I just waved them off, ¡°Not important¡­ I just wanted to say that he''d sometimes go by Benjie, Riley, or Tony but he''s good with keeping his poker face. Anyway, let''s just say that he''s a lot like me. Having people skills is one thing but knowing what the customer wants and needs without giving out a bright smile or performance is another. Anyway, Morales, you do have something for us, right?¡±


    Morales cleared his throat before he stood up, ¡°Yeah, I wanted to give everyone here a rundown about my designated area.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Go on¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure. My soldiers have blockaded the entrances to my city from the Bcan Area and the City of Mbon except for Valenzu City which will never happen because your group is right on it. Guards are obviously posted in those areas but our daily jobs have been putting down the dead and paving our way towards the City of Man. With that said, we mainly get our supplies from scavenging runs and fishing. However¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°I''ll admit that my soldiers are more skilled with dealing with the deadpared to hooking some fish in their mouths orting a bunch at a time. In all honesty, your uncle has brought the greatest haul we everid our eyes on even if all of them are eels. Furthermore, I heard you''ve started breeding them and we''re looking forward to another fishing trip led by your uncle. Some of my soldiers are ready to learn from him and he''s always wee tomandeer our fishing boats.¡±


    I turned to Unc Zeidrick, ¡°Unc, I think you''re the one that should answer this.¡±


    Unc Zeidrick instantly answered, ¡°Eh~ Depends when I feel like it. I still haven''t tasted the barbecued eel with that special sauce you promised.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ a-anyway. U-Unc¡­ if you''d make your fishing trips regr, how often can you do it? I know you still have your job here working with Raphael and Anthony so it''s best to hear your decision on it.¡±


    ¡°You''ll make me those eels or not?¡±


    ¡°Unc¡­¡±


    ¡°Kid, I hate getting dyed promises. If you tell me something that you''d do on that day, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g do it on that day. No excuses.¡±


    Half my group was chuckling but Unc Zeidrick was f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious about his eels, ¡°Fine. I''ll make a batch tomorrow night and we''ll have it with beer.¡±


    ¡°You sure?¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Really sure?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°With the sauce?¡±


    ¡°Yup¡­¡±


    Unc Zeidrick''s eyes instantly lit up, ¡°It''s a deal then! Morales, we could fish two-to-three times a month¡­ four if I''m not too busy. We''ll split what we get evenly but I get the first pick of a handful of fish that we caught. Anyway, I''d teach anyone that wanted to learn and we''ll do everything my way. It''ll sometimes span a few days and we''d sometimes go at night.¡±


    Morales replied as he nodded a few times, ¡°That sounds agreeable. We''ll do the same thing asst time but do give me a call first.¡±


    ¡°Sure, sure.¡±


    I asked, ¡°Anything else you''d want to say, Morales?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. The city my group is at is built to be more focused on fishing and whatnot but I''d like to have a test run of those indoor gardens you have with the hydroponics system. However, I''d also like to grow root crops in my ce but thend and location is the issue.¡±


    I suddenly had an idea, ¡°Oh! Morales, have you heard about potato boxes?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Potato boxes or spud boxes.¡±


    ¡°I heard you the first time. I''m asking what are they.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Ah¡­ Well, it''s a way to have around 100 pounds give or take of potatoes in a few square feet by using wood from pallet boxes or something simr. In short, it''s making the potatoes to umm¡­ stretch upwards as it grows. I think we have built a few of those in the past month but I could show you or your people how to make and maintain them.¡±


    ¡°A few square feet? How few are we talking?¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ Around four square feet? Wait, I''m sure. It depends but I''m rmending something in that dimension. Don''t worry, you could make more of them and just ce them in a good spot where people wouldn''t bother it. Oh! I''ll also send in a few sacks of potting soil,post, and mulch to get you started.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, so what''ll be the damage for that?¡±


    ¡°Heh, are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious?¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    ¡°We''re a f.u.c.k.i.n.g team. Just keep sending Unc Zeidrick and the people he came with back here safe and sound to enjoy the fish that they will hopefully bring a f.u.c.k ton back. Other than that, if you fish something good that you have no use for, give me a call and I''ll take it off your hands.¡±


    Morales let out a faint smile, ¡°Hmm. Sounds overly generous. Just give us a call if you need anything from me. There''s nothing wrong with a few extra hands as we''ve discussedst time.¡±


    ¡°Sure, sounds fair to me.¡±


    Harold interjected, ¡°Hey, kid. That potato box or whatever¡­ is that also included in the files that you''d be sharing with us? You know¡­ the diagrams, instructions, and etc¡­¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°Yeah, everything''s there. Don''t worry, it''s not asplex aspared to setting up a hydroponics system. You''d just need a few pieces of wood, some screws, a drill, and the other organic stuff.¡±


    We talked about a few more things but we eventually ended the meeting. With that said, I left the hard drives we collected to Ken so he could retrieve everything from them but I left Rin in charge of organizing all of them. She would take a while in doing that but she could arrange everything ording to my taste.


    Time continued to pass until we were in the gym with everybody but as discussed earlier this morning, I had to coach someone. However, the person in question wasn''t cooperating one bit and we could start with the attire he¡­ or they came up in. Not only was I so f.u.c.k.i.n.g embarrassed being right next to a guy wearing Joji''s Pink Guy costume, but the whole squad also came in solidarity. <hr>


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! ARE THEY MAJIN BUU OR PATRICK?!¡±


    ¡°I''m gonna puke¡­¡±


    ¡°My eyes are over here, perverts!¡±


    ¡°Kid, I think I could get used to this. I''ll wear this tomorrow!¡±


    ¡°Me too, brotha!¡±


    ¡°We definitely didn''t drink a few swigs beforeing up here.¡±


    ¡°Definitely.¡±


    ¡°Mine''s so loose.¡±


    ¡°It''s because you have a 1-inch d.i.c.k!¡±


    ¡°WHAT?! I''M A GROWER, DAMMIT!¡±


    ¡°Sure, sure¡­ of course~¡±


    ¡°MY EYES~ MY EYES~¡±


    No one was able to do their workouts properly and Kaley started puking blood the moment she saw her dad in the attire. She wanted to attack them but the visual horror was too much for a human to handle.

 Chapter 580

    Chapter 580


    Things weren''t calming down one bit so I had to resort to extreme measures. I only needed a few of them to stop doing what they were doing so the best course of action was divide and conquer. With that said, the easiest to get rid of were the idiots since they didn''t wear anything besides the huge pink onesie. <center></center><hr>


    I simply approached Micah and her girls for a little help and they immediately understood that I needed some help. They were also puking blood from the f.u.c.k.e.d up Teletubbies and they also needed to get rid of them to continue their workout. Maintaining their figure was extremely important for them and they immediately picked out their targets¡­


    The three stooges.


    Bing seemed to have recovered from earlier and he was just coaching An and Russel on how to get bulkier. However, once a group of s.e.xy youngdies were identally brushing against their arms and giggling cutely, they had to have an emergency evacuation. The three just ran down while covering the tent in their crotch area and there were only five left.


    I was just nning on how to get rid of Bogdan and Stefan but Tatiana and Katya just pulled them into a corner. After a few seconds, they were being brought down by Mikhail as their mouths were foaming and their eyes were almost lifeless. I looked around and discovered that Artem decided to ce the hit on the two as a way of taking responsibility for his own.


    We just nced at each other and gave each other a simple nod.


    ''Now, the oldies are the ones that are left¡­ I only needed to get rid of one of them and the other two will follow¡­ I wanted to give Matthew my own training but I guess he''s already following his own program¡­ I guess I''ll need to bring out one of my trump cards¡­''


    I simply approached Oscar and said, ¡°I''ll use shotguns tomorrow.¡±


    Oscar was stunned for a moment before saying, ¡°Boys, mission aplished. We''re heading down!¡±


    The three just walked down anticlimactically but once they left, the whole gym celebrated in an uproar. It was kinda an idiotic win but we finally had time to work on ourselves. However, little did I know that Kaley and I were also being plotted against and we only discovered it once we finished our workout and took a shower together.


    Everyone, I mean EVERYONE was inside our room. Micah and her girls, Rin, Daisy, Cynthia, Tatiana, and the rest of her team that we already spent a few nights with. They were all just chilling inside and getting to know each other but I could already f.u.c.k.i.n.g feel the tension. With that said, Kaley looked at me like she was telling me she had no part in it.


    I was just about to tell her that I meant what I said I didn''t care as long as she''s with me but everyone else just yelled out loud.


    ¡°CONGRATULATIONS~~~¡±


    Kaley and I were dumbfounded and I almost forgot I told everybody at Monumento that we camete earlier because we sorta got married. We didn''t announce it in the meeting earlier but words and whispers spread faster than imagined. <center></center><hr>


    Cynthia started, ¡°S-So, where''s the ring? Can we see it?!¡±


    Daisy added, ¡°I bet the design''s really cool!¡±


    ¡°Where is it?¡±


    ¡°Let us see!¡±


    I instantly waved them off, ¡°Okay, everyone calm down. Let us all sit down first and we''ll answer all~ of your questions.¡±


    Kaley and I sat on the edge of our bed while everyone just gathered in front of us with excited faces.


    ¡°Okay, the first question is the ring¡­ The answer is that it''s still in the process of being made. But! It''s only a matter of days and we already consider this day to be the official date. Well~ I already married her in my head when we first met so- Ow! Kaley, I''m kidding!¡±


    Kaley was red in the face, ¡°Be serious¡­ doofus¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay~ Next question? Sure! Tatiana?¡±


    Tatiana stood up properly, ¡°Okay, I''ll get on with it and ask what''s on everyone''s mind. Are we still f.u.c.k.i.n.g asionally or do I need to get a mold out of your d.i.c.k and Kaley''s perfect inni-¡±


    Rin instantly cut her off from embarrassment, ¡°TATIANA!!! I wanted to ask more about the ring¡­¡±


    I just gave everyone a smile, ¡°I doubt a copy would suffice but it all depends.¡±


    Natasha asked, ¡°Depends?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Well, it''s not like you''re actually in Kaley''s harem- Ow! I''m just giving an example! It didn''t hurt by the way-¡±


    ¡°Do you WANT it to hurt?!¡±


    ¡°Okay, do you WANT to answer the questions?¡±


    Kaley shrank down, ¡°You do it¡­¡±


    I cleared my throat, ¡°As I was saying, heh. It depends on everyone''s mood at the time and as much as possible, I''d like Kaley and me to be in the same room when it happens. You''re all free to do it with anyone even if they''re not in our circle but aside from that, I''ll be selfish and insist on being the only guy present when you''re doing it with us. In a sense, nothing has changed pretty much but we''d like to keep it that way. Right, Kaley?¡±


    Kaley nodded a few times as she was still blushing, ¡°R-Right and¡­¡±


    Everyone gave curious looks, ¡°And?¡±


    Kaley looked at everyone, ¡°A-At the end of the day¡­ he''s mine, alright? J-Just saying¡­¡±


    Micah chuckled, ¡°I think that''s already well-established.¡±


    Kaley fidgeted as she turned to me first, ¡°A-And¡­ I''ll allow all of you to give him surprises but don''t take it the wrong way if he''s not in the mood. A-Also, tell me beforehand so I wouldn''t get surprised when I walk in on you¡­ b-but make sure you wouldn''t get caught by other people¡­ just don''t do it in p-public¡­¡±


    I suddenly grabbed Kaley''s face and mushed her cheeks, ¡°What happened to the rule that we both need to be present? Hmm?¡±


    Kaley didn''t try to break away from me, ¡°B-But you s-said as much as p-possible!¡±


    I pinched her cheeks slightly harder before letting go, ¡°Fine¡­ same rule applies to her but no f.u.c.k.i.n.g guys allowed, alright? Tell me beforehand too so I might join in or pick her up after.¡± <hr>


    Tatiana interjected, ¡°Well, that''s a relief. Can''t we just start f.u.c.k.i.n.g now? All these f.u.c.k.i.n.g rules~ As if we''d ever jump to another guy after all that had happened. Well, I don''t about the rest of you but-¡±


    ¡°Oh my god! Don''t say it so loud!¡±


    ¡°Tatiana~¡±


    ¡°Sounds about right to me too.¡±


    ¡°Even doing it by myself feels boring sometimes¡­¡±


    ¡°You guys too?!¡±


    I started facepalming when I heard their replies but the moment Micah''s girls replied with the same thing, I got a little~ bit worried.


    I decided to address it, ¡°What did you say what? Chloe?¡±


    Chloe was caught off-guard, ¡°I mean¡­ you know¡­ afterst time¡­ ehehe~ I can''t say it out loud! Yumi! You answer!¡±


    ¡°Wha- Why me?! Amber! You answer them! You''re the first one to spill!¡±


    ¡°I don''t know what you''re talking about¡­ Mae, do you know?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ umm¡­¡±


    ''Uh-oh¡­'' <hr>


    The rest of the girls were acting the same way but when I turned to Micah, she instantly averted her gaze while she was trying to control herughter.


    Kaley grew curious as well, ¡°Micah, what happened when you talked to mom about the thing?¡±


    Micah started to fidget as she looked at us, ¡°You see¡­ they said they''ll still do it but they said that they umm¡­ wanted to check how tough the work is¡­ Honestly speaking, the work they were assigned wasn''t as difficultpared to Davao but¡­¡±


    ¡°But?¡±


    ¡°They umm¡­ in here¡­ worked twice- no¡­ thrice- I dunno maybe even more than that after you know¡­ yesterday.¡±


    ¡°And?¡±


    Micah looked at her girls before turning to us, ¡°Let''s just say a phrase was said earlier and it made your mom speechless for a few seconds.¡±


    The others grew curious, ¡°And that is?¡±


    Everyone was looking at Micah and the rest but they wouldn''t budge an inch as they couldn''t even look at us in the eye except for Micah. However, Micah just gave us a mischievous smile before removing her top and sitting on my l.a.p. She gave me a huge kiss before pushing me down and going on top of me, much to everyone''s surprise. Her huge t.i.t.s were right against me and she was biting her lower lip as our faces were right next to each other.


    ¡°How about this? I''ll tell you what they said if you could survive all of us. That''s the deal, hmm?¡±


    I just faintly chuckled before looking straight into Micah''s eyes but my left hand just sn.a.k.e.d around her back to unhook her bra and turn her over. She only managed to let out a short gasp before I covered her mouth and ripped the rest of her clothes off her body.

 Chapter 581

    Chapter 581


    I was holding Micah down as I was covering her mouth, but she just spread her legs and pulled me in by wrapping them behind my back. <center></center><hr>


    I was right against her voluptuous body but my raging boner was still inside my shorts. My huge bulge was just rubbing against her wet slit but I was engorging myself right between her b.r.e.a.s.ts. They didn''t even feel fake to the touch as I continued to grope them and lightly bite their pink tips. I was squeezing them as hard as I could and I could feel my shorts getting drenched by her fluids.


    Micah was now the one covering her mouth but she was letting out soft m.o.a.ns one after the other.


    I was s.u.c.k.i.n.g her t.i.t.s, kissing her neck, and l.i.c.k.i.n.g her armpits but the moment my shaft peeked out from my shorts due to the constant rubbing, I just rammed it right inside her f.u.c.k.i.n.g c.u.n.t. It was so warm and wet inside and her walls instantly tightened around me.


    ¡°Mmh! W-Wow¡­ Ah! Ah! Hngh~ MMH!¡±


    Micah gasped as she twitched a couple of times but she lost control when I started f.u.c.k.i.n.g her harder and harder. Her face was so red because everyone was watching her so she pulled me in and wrapped her arms around me. Her face was slightly obstructed but her sharp exhales and soft m.o.a.ns were resounding at the same time her insides were squelching from each thrust and pull.


    I was rummaging her insides as her nails started digging into my back, but she suddenly started twitching as her walls tightened even more.


    Micah''s eyes started rolling over but I still wasn''t done with her.


    I started going faster and faster and her body was almost convulsing from the sensitivity. I could feel the contractions inside as she started c.u.m.m.i.n.g multiple times as she drenched our bed with her juices but it didn''t take long before I came inside of her.


    Micah was a mess as she tried to catch her breath but once I pulled out my d.i.c.k filled with her creamy insides, I was immediately snatched and was pulled to one side of the bed where I could see everyone. All of them were looking at me while touching themselves and no one was going for each other.


    Micah looked like she wanted some more but everyone was a little too impatient and a little too selfish. It seemed that they only wanted to deal with me and the first one in line was Tatiana.


    She grabbed my c.o.c.k before s.u.c.k.i.n.g me off, slurping my c.u.m and Micah''s juices, but it didn''t take long before Marina and Vera came from both sides while Natasha was about to squat on my face.


    Natasha''s juices were already flowing down her t.h.i.g.hs but I felt something warm and something soft with both hands. Vera started shoving my fingers inside her little p.u.s.s.y hole while Marina ced my other hand between her t.i.t.s. Tatiana was still s.u.c.k.i.n.g me off as she was tugging me but a fat juicy c.u.n.t was already against my face. <center></center><hr>


    The feeling and the view were already too much to handle because I could see how Natasha''s h.i.p.s were moving as she was still squatting forward, making me take in her juices as much as her womanly scent. With that said, Marina used three of my fingers to shove inside herself and it was as warm and as tight as Vera''s glossy insides.


    I could only see Natasha''s reaction but the one below me wasn''t s.u.c.k.i.n.g me anymore.


    Tatiana moved into position and it didn''t take long before I was inside her as well. She was going slow at first but she started to go faster and faster. Her p.u.s.s.y was squeezing me tight but my d.i.c.k was forcing its way in every time she jumps down from the same position.


    ¡°F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! IT''S SO F.U.C.K.I.N.G DEEP! AH! AH! AH! HNGH! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K!¡±


    Her loud m.o.a.ns were overpowering everyone''s but I could already hear Chloe from the other side of the bed m.o.a.ning with bated breath as she came while watching us. Natasha nced in her direction momentarily but she suddenly wore a wicked smile before grabbing my arms away from Vera and Marina.


    ¡°Wait!¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡±


    ¡°S-Shut up! I-I''m r-really close! Grab my tits! Squeeze them t-too! Hngh! Ah!¡±


    Natasha ced my hands over her t.i.t.s as she guided me while continuing to grind on top of my face. The other two could only watch and touch themselves but Natasha started to hold onto my hair as she started going faster and faster. Her whole weight was against my face and I couldn''t even see her face because she was already leaning backward.


    I was already losing air from the way she was forcing me to eat her but she came faster than Tatiana who was still riding me hard. However, when Natasha fell down to the side and Tatiana caught a glimpse of me, she let out one of her devilish smiles as she bit her lip before her eyes rolled over.


    Tatiana started twitching all over and it didn''t take long before I followed suit.


    I had no time to take a breather because Marina and Vera instantly took over. They rode me in turns and I still couldn''t believe no one was going for each other. They were all patiently waiting their turn as they touch themselves and a few had already c.u.mmed, but still wanting more. <hr>


    With that said, Yumi and Chloe just wanted to taste my d.i.c.k because they just s.u.c.k.e.d me off while they were touching themselves. However, I wouldn''t let them off just as easily because seeing their creamy fingers go in and out of their tight little cunts without actually doing something about it was just too f.u.c.k.i.n.g sphemous.


    At that moment, I just held Chloe''s legs before pushing my d.i.c.k inside of her while Yumi was watching us and getting eaten at the same time. Her p.u.s.s.y just made way for the first few inches but she started quivering once I pushed it right up to the base. I was constantly hitting her deepest parts while Yumi took the time to grope her b.r.e.a.s.ts and kiss me.


    A few more thrusts made Chloe start c.u.m.m.i.n.g and she couldn''t move as freely because she was pinned down by Yumi and me. I continued f.u.c.k.i.n.g her until she wasn''t offering resistance and we just used her as our new bed.


    Yumi just went on all fours over Chloe and she just started kissing her while hinting I should go somece even tighter than her p.u.s.s.y. She was already spreading her cheeks with one hand so I just grabbed her h.i.p.s and shoved it almost violently. Her distinct voice as she was m.o.a.ning fueled me even more and her tight little a.s.s was just getting murdered with each thrust.


    I just left a gaping hole when I was done and her fingers which were going in and out of her p.u.s.s.y were filled with her own cream. Her juices were also running down her t.h.i.g.hs and some of them were mixing with Chloe''s own and my c.u.m.


    I already came a few times but my d.i.c.k was still as hard as ever. It would take more to calm me down and I just picked my next victim. Well, all of them were lined up and I just needed to pick a tight and pink hole to start with. I thought they would continue to wait for their turn but everyone had their breaking point.


    Some presented themselves while the others took the initiative.


    ¡°O-Over here¡­ please?¡±


    ¡°Here t-too¡­¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k me in my a.s.s too¡­¡±


    ¡°Do you like me jerking you from the back?¡±


    ¡°Aren''t they soft?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Touch me too¡­¡±


    ¡°Right here¡­¡±


    I got swarmed by beauties from all around and even the ones I already f.u.c.k.e.d came for more. I used what I already know about the ones I''m usually with like Kaley, Tatiana, Cynthia, and Rin while I learned more stuff about Daisy, Micah''s girls, and Tatiana''s teammates. We went on for hours and I even forgot about the bet we made earlier. I made sure to fill their holes and sometimes even spray their b.r.e.a.s.ts or their faces.


    I was with Kaley for thest round andpared to earlier, we were more gentle and sensual with each other. Everyone else was down for the count and she was the one moving on top of me. Her h.i.p.s were moving as slowly as they could while she was leaning forward and kissing me. I could feel her warmth as I wrapped my arms around her and I was slowly thrusting from below.


    Kaley just started to twitch and quiver ever so slightly and I followed after a few more thrusts. I let it all out inside and we stayed in the same position while continuing to kiss each other. We were finally spent and we tried to catch our breaths while the others have started to get a quick shower in batches.


    ¡°We''re going on ahead~¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the night~¡±


    ¡°Love you guys!¡±


    ¡°See you all tomorrow!¡±


    ¡°We''re doing this again? Nice!¡±


    ¡°Ah-¡±


    ¡°We have jobs tomorrow! Didn''t you have enough?¡± <hr>


    ¡°I mean¡­¡±


    It took a while before it was our turn for the shower but we just took our time in each other''s arms.


    After a while, we were just preparing to sleep but we heard someone knocking softly on the door. Kaley and I were the only ones in our room and we for sure thought that someone just left something behind and wanted to take it back.


    The knocking continued once more but no one was saying anything from the other side.


    Kaley turned to me, ¡°Who is it?¡±


    ¡°I dunno¡­¡±


    ¡°Aren''t you gonna check? I''m kinda tired¡­¡±


    ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    ¡°Please~ I''ll do something for you tomorrow morning?¡±


    I instantly stood up and didn''t bother putting on some clothes as I opened the door, ¡°Yeah? Wh-¡±


    ¡°Hey. Can Ie in? Hmm, I''ll juste in. I waited too long.¡±


    I was in f.u.c.k.i.n.g shock when that person just came waltzing into my room.

 Chapter 582

    Chapter 582


    I was stunned in ce for a few seconds and I was brought to my senses when Kaley eximed. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°ILANA?! WH-WHAT ARE YOU- What are you doing here?!¡±


    na just let out a faint smile, ¡°Business, mostly. Hey, could you please close the door? It''s gonna be awkward when Mylene walks in on us and you''re swinging that huge thing around.¡±


    ''Is she even the same person? Is Mylene on the first floor? Or did they came from the roof? But- this is just too weird. Wait, is she? No¡­ Kaley and Marisha would''ve found out¡­ Unless¡­''


    A lot of things suddenly flooded my head but I closed the door and locked it while keeping na in my sights. However, she just looked at me with the same expression before removing everything on her and just leaving her white shirt and stretchy jeans. After that, she turned around and raised her hands, only turning her head to look at me.


    I looked at her suspiciously, ¡°What are you-¡±


    na responded, ¡°I have concealed weapons in them. You could search them and me as well just to remove that look off your face. If I would try and kill you, I would do it from afar, when you''re asleep, or in between your o.r.g.a.s.ms. However, that would be a waste since¡­ you know, like I said¡­ I came here for business, mostly.¡±


    ¡°Now you just made me more suspicious. Don''t move a single step or I''ll make you experience something else.¡±


    na chuckled, ¡°Now you just made me more curious. You see-¡±


    ¡°Don''t talk as well. I only need a few seconds to break your neck.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ''Is she really? But how? I thought¡­''


    na turned silent as she stayed in the same position while Kaley and I got dressed. Kaley was still confused as she was looking at na''s back but I discovered that she already had her pistol in her hands. However, I just waved her down before taking a look at na''s gear.


    I found an S&W M&P Shield and a Springfield Armory Hellcat tucked in her vest and in one of her boots while I found several knives almost hidden in in sight. There were a couple in her boots, another couple in her gloves, one was actually the other end of her belt buckle, another in her vest, and one more inside her shlight.


    ¡°Cool knives. Custom?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    I shook my head, ¡°You can talk now.¡±


    na faintly smiled, ¡°Some of them could be bought at the right ces but to answer your question, yes. They had to fit me or else it would look too bulky.¡±


    ¡°Tell me, no one has patted you down yet? I find it impossible that no one has searched you and found them. I could understand the knives staying hidden but those two guns should''ve been easily found. Are they all on your side? Or just Mylene and Harold?¡±


    ¡°I''m just good at putting up a good front. They see someone in full body armor that''s too demure with a bodyguard that''s armed to the teeth and a loud officer that''s too stubborn to give a proper answer, they wouldn''t bother as much. Tell me, did you figure me out yet?¡±


    ¡°Kinda.¡±


    ¡°You sure? Something tells me you''re still 50-50 on that.¡±


    I chuckled before I turned her around, ¡°You''re Ana71. A simple arrangement of letters would turn na to Ana71. You see, if we take the first two letters of your name and flip it after capitalization, it would turn IL to 71. Add the remaining letters in the front and we''ll get Ana71 from your name. Lemme tell you, you fooled Kaley and Marisha. That''s rare.¡±


    Kaley eximed, ¡°What?! You-¡±


    na cut her off as she chuckled, ¡°Good job, genius. However, I never fooled them. I''m really demure when ites to crowds. I''m just more confident in this type of setting. Can we talk business now or you''ll finish searching me?¡±


    I looked at her in the eye, ¡°Just a sec. I''m calling for backup. I''m not quite done with you yet.¡±


    na frowned, ¡°I''d suggest against that.¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°You have no power here. Besides, it''s just my own bodyguard in the next room. Where''s yours?¡±


    na shook her head, ¡°That''s fine if it''s her. Mylene is downstairs ying with Zeus¡­¡±


    ''Foiled by my own dog¡­ I guess Zeus never sniffed any ill intention or he would''ve bitten a chunk off of them from the beginning¡­''


    I made Kaley knock on the next door to wake up Tatiana and it was another set of trouble when the two met face-to-face. We weren''t even able to introduce them properly when Tatiana saw her with both her hands raised. She pushed na''s face onto the table and started searching her roughly. It was the first time na''s face got a tinge of red because the search Tatiana did was worse than a TSA agent at an airport. <hr>


    It got to ces where some gloves and some lubricant were needed but Tatiana just freehanded it and just used some spit. I would''ve made Kaley search na if I could turn back time but I would''ve needed some Sands of Time, the time stone, or a Delorian with a flux capacitor. Everything just happened so fast and na wasn''t able to defend herself. It got really weird for the next few minutes and Tatiana was f.u.c.k.i.n.g thorough.


    Tatiana turned to me, ¡°She''s clean, even down there. Everything she''s hiding is already on the table.¡±


    na was ring at Tatiana, ¡°Do you need to be that rough?¡±


    Tatiana scoffed, ¡°You m.o.a.n.e.d. You should''vee earlier when we''re not as tired.¡±


    na got even redder, ¡°I didn''t! You shoved your fingers in my a.s.s and made them watch! Do you want me tough instead?!¡±


    ''What is happening¡­''


    Tatiana started walking outside, ¡°h, h, h~ I''lle back after I wash my hands.¡±


    na got f.u.c.k.i.n.g pissed but what she blurted out next made Tatiana stop in her tracks.


    ¡°Katarina Morozova Solovyova.¡±


    Tatiana turned around to look at na but I already predicted what would happen next. I managed to get in the middle of them when Tatiana lunged for na but all I saw was Tatiana''s look of confusion. Her eyes were red while her eyebrows were furrowed, and she was stronger than ever. Her reaction caught everyone off-guard while she kept trying to break free from my grasp.


    I tried to look at her in the eye, ¡°Calm down. She''s here to talk.¡±


    Tatiana exploded as she kept ring at na, ¡°Who the f.u.c.k are you?! And why do you know her name?! I-I-I¡­ are spying on me?! W-Wha¡­ IS SHE STILL ALIVE?! F.U.C.K.I.N.G TELL ME THAT AT LEAST!¡±


    na took a couple of steps back before answering, ¡°I''m sorry¡­ I''m not really-¡±


    ¡°LOZH''! BULLSHIT! F.U.C.K.I.N.G LET GO OF ME! ARE YOU ON HER SIDE?! DID YOU TELL HER TO SPY ON ME?!¡± Tatiana was ring at me as well.


    Kaley was looking at me as well and she wasn''t saying a word. <hr>


    I sighed heavily before I forced Tatiana down, ¡°Will you listen to me first? I''ll let go of you if you calm down. No, I''ll let go of you if you promise that you''ll only hit me. Is that a deal? Once we''re over that, I''ll tell you everything I know and she''ll exin herself too. After that, I''ll let you decide on what to do after hearing everything.¡±


    Tatiana was ring at me before she answered, ¡°Fine!¡±


    As soon as I let go of Tatiana, she balled her fist and delivered a punch across my face before sending a knee right in my abdomen. I grunted as I endured the first two hits and when I thought she would deliver another punch, she stopped herself and tried to calm herself down. She was still breathing heavily as she stared right at me but her gaze slowly turned to na. Her fist was slowly balling up again and na took a few steps back.


    I waved her off, ¡°We made a deal, right? You''ll learn nothing if you beat her up. It''ll feel good but a cooperating hostage is better than a hostage that was made to cooperate.¡±


    Tatiana huffed before pulling a chair and cing it backward. She was looking at the two of us before sitting on it, ¡°Talk.¡±


    I turned to na first, ¡°This is your f.u.c.k.i.n.g fault, alright? You didn''t have to but you did.¡±


    na muttered, ¡°I¡­ I d-didn''t know, alright?!¡±


    Tatiana eximed, ¡°Stop stalling! Tell me f.u.c.k.i.n.g everything! Where''s Katarina!¡±


    I just sighed heavily once more, ¡°Tatiana. I''m sorry but when I received news that you would be sent to us, I thought you were a spy.¡±


    Tatiana was frowning before she said, ¡°Understandable. I thought you''re an edgy character from all of the animations Cynthia made Rin and I watch. I thought Rin was a nerd but Cynthia is¡­ you know what I mean.¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­¡±


    ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°So, where''s the rest of your exnation?!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g with me right now?!¡±


    ¡°No. I''m serious.¡±


    ¡°Then continue!¡±


    ¡°Oh. That''s it. I really thought you were a spy.¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g borate! You always do that, correct?! Start from the top!¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­ umm¡­ I was tapping my phone and eyeing every person that walked by. I was checking each one, careful not to miss my friend that I was waiting for. I was in an airport- Ow! Kaley?!¡±


    Kaley bonked me and she was fuming, ¡°Not that start! Be f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious!¡±


    I rubbed my head before continuing, ¡°Sheesh, be more specific at least¡­ Fine¡­ Just a few days after this shit started, I received a call from the president. Long story short, he told me that you would be sent here to be my bodyguard of sorts. Being a guy that''s too paranoid for his own good, I thought you had the chance of being a spy.¡±


    Tatiana was shaking her head, ¡°Go on¡­¡±


    ¡°But, I know that if you had ill intentions¡­ you wouldn''te for a nobody and just go straight for the president. I still have my reservations at first but when I was contacted by this two-faced Hackerwoman, I just had to make sure. To be fair, I did it with everybody because I needed more filters aside from local records and an interview with Marisha.¡±


    Tatiana started scratching her head, ¡°Ill intentions? Really? What if my purpose was to just collect information and send it back, huh? Did you even think of that? Spies don''t just assassinate, correct?¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°It could also mean that you could get more information if you''re closer, cOrRect? Besides, you already told me you and your team always send relevant information back as everyone does. I don''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g care who solves this first, I only care about solving this thing as fast as possible. Wait, did you just admit being a spy?¡±


    Tatiana started to furiously scratch her head, ¡°I''M NOT A F.U.C.K.I.N.G SPY! DO YOU EVEN LISTEN TO ME?!¡±


    I pouted, ¡°That''s what a spy would say¡­ If you backstab us now, we wouldn''t even see iting¡­ That''s sc.u.mmy, you know? *fake sniffs* You make us like you and you do that? *high-pitched* How could you?!¡±


    Tatiana started to lose it, ¡°You¡­ I''M NOT A F.U.C.K.I.N.G SPY! AND YOU! WHAT''S YOUR EXPLANATION?!¡±


    ''This is gonna be a long~ night¡­''

 Chapter 583

    Chapter 583


    Tatiana was still upset as she was looking at us but Kaley took the time to check on me. She confirmed that Tatiana didn''t go as hard as she did because if the hits were full power, I would''ve had a few broken ribs and a cracked cheekbone. na was just a few feet away from us but she decided to speak. <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I would sometimes really get bored, alright? Add to that that I''m always curious, I''d search for information about anything just to scratch this itch in my head. When I started looking up information about you, her name just came up and I dug a little bit on her as well. Your story was in her dissertation but your name was altered for obvious reasons. Let me rify because you might ask thister¡­ I sent him your file to confirm your identity but I didn''t do the same thing for her.¡±


    Tatiana scratched her head, ¡°I don''t care about that. I only care about her and her family''s current status.¡±


    ¡°F-Fine¡­ Like with that other woman¡­ Jennifer Goodman, was it? Let me tell you, it''s easier to learn about the current location of someone in the US Navy but it''s harder to pinpoint a civilian living in Russia. I''ve sifted through the avable lists and¡­ U-Umm¡­¡±


    Kaley interjected, ¡°And? Did you find her? Her family?¡±


    na continued, ¡°I found close to a thousand names and they were in the mix of the people who are alive, dead, and missing. But-¡±


    Tatiana''s face turned sour but she said as she cut her off, ¡°She''s a professor in St. Petersburg and she''s older than me by only a few years. Ist saw her with her husband and her kid but I''m not sure if they''re still living in the same ce¡­ She''s fairly up in society and her husband is an-¡±


    na interjected, ¡°Let me finish. I already know about her, okay? After filtering the lists and checking them over and over, I found her name on two military camps.¡±


    The three of us asked, ¡°Two?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yes. They were first situated in the Viborgsky District and wereter relocated to the Kronshtadtsky District. However, umm¡­ I don''t know how to say this¡­¡±


    Tatiana''s voice got cold as she looked at na, ¡°Just say it. It''s not like I could do anything about it. I just needed to know.¡±


    na sighed before saying, ¡°It seemed like the women and children were the p-priority since her husband, brother, and her husband''s uncle was left behind. As f-far as I know, the three of them could be finding a way to still get inside and reunite with them by getting conscripted or¡­ heading further north.¡±


    I asked, ¡°North? Why?¡±


    ¡°This is just a g-guess but I think everyone around those parts is doing it. You see, I also spotted several names that came from the same district that was getting logged into the camps further north. I''m not sure about their exact destination but the majority of the people getting checked out of St. Petersburg is almost always heading in the same direction. Do you have any idea?¡± na turned to Tatiana.


    Tatiana shook her head, ¡°I have no idea. But where are they fromst time you checked?¡±


    ¡°That''s the thing¡­ they weren''t in the surrounding districts in the area¡­ I found names of other people in the same group as them getting to the scattered camps but the three of them are now¡­ m-missing.¡±


    Tatiana sighed, ¡°But Katarina and her kid?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Kids. She has three right now and all of them are sharing a room with another¡­ uh¡­ family like theirs. That''s all I know in writing and I''m sorry if I can''t provide you with some pictures and whatnot. I could only do so much if the other side isn''t getting any for proper doc.u.mentation.¡±


    Tatiana just slumped in her chair for a few moments while the three of us were just looking at her. She didn''t say a word for a couple of minutes but I had to hand her some wet wipes if she wouldn''t wash her hands in the meantime. Her eyebrows were twitching violently as she red at me but I got some peace of mind when she actually washed her hands after that rough search. When she came back, Tatiana had one request for na.


    ¡°na or whatever your name is, please do send me some updates on their status even if it''s the same thing over and over. I just need to know what they''re doing but I''ll try and get into contact with her after sending our next set of reports. I''ll try pulling some strings to see if they could get better treatment, be given priority if ever they needed to be relocated once more, or have her husband and the rest of their family get reunited with them¡­¡±


    I muttered jokingly, ¡°Pulling some strings, eh? Something a spy would do¡­¡±


    Tatiana started grinding her teeth as she started to lose it, ¡°Hngh~ You¡­ You''re having too much fun, don''t you think?¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°Kinda. But if you''re able to pull a lot of strings and the biggest ones¡­ you could at least have them relocated to the best military base or¡­¡±


    ¡°Or?¡±


    ¡°Set them up with a pilot and send them over here. Greend is much closer but I personally think our ce is safer. Warmer too! They couldnd in the airport Jessica has or we''ll just f.u.c.k.i.n.g clear a runway for them. Everything I''m saying is optimistic, to say the least, but if we could pull it off, why not? We''d also be able to get a f.u.c.k ton of resources and quite possibly, check on the first one Oscar put down if it had any differences.¡± <hr>


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Tatiana?¡±


    Tatiana just faintly smiled before looking somber, ¡°Thank you for the words, really¡­ but I''d be f.u.c.k.i.n.g up everyone else''s way back if I ever did that. Our team has one evac call to send a private military ne over here to pick us up if we ever found something really important or if we had to go back and have no way of doing so¡­ S-Some of us have already¡­ you know¡­ decided to stay after being under you but others still want to head back to their own families. I can''t be selfish about this¡­¡±


    Kaley asked, ¡°So, all of you could just go back if you give the call?¡±


    Tatiana replied, ¡°That''s the idea but Artem is the only one that could give that call since he''s the one in charge of us. Niks is second in line while I''m the third¡­¡±


    I waved them off, ¡°Then let''s just say we have the means to make it happen. In the meantime, use whatever you could to get them better situated in their current location. We''ll just work on something that''s really important so we could work in a trade of sorts without throwing that evac call out the window. I-¡±


    Tatiana cut me off, ¡°I''m fine, really. You don''t have to do this for me. It''s not like I''m their fam-¡±


    I scoffed mockingly, ¡°The f.u.c.k are you talking about? If she''s important to you, then she''s important to us. We''ve been really close, it''s like you are Kaley''s mistress, my second wife, or something. In any case, you''re f.u.c.k.i.n.g lucky you could even reach them. I¡­ I, on the other hand, can''t even reach my own.¡± <hr>


    Tatiana tilted her head, ¡°Huh? I thought-¡±


    I bitterly smiled as I scratched my head, ¡°I got more family members down south in the provinces but I got some very~ important people still in Japan¡­ I''ll try and dial them every now and then but even a simple ring wouldn''t even happen. I''m f.u.c.k.i.n.g sure that they could f.u.c.k.i.n.g take care of themselves but I''m not even sure if- No, they''re f.u.c.k.i.n.g alive but I have no idea as to why they''re not picking up. They''re not the most tech-savvy people but pressing the green button when it''s ringing shouldn''t be that f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard¡­¡±


    na suggested, ¡°I could try-¡±


    I slumped over, ¡°You could¡­ but trust me¡­ the only thing electronic in that mountain is the Sat Phone I left to the old man and this old~ ck and white Gameboy I secretly stashed from one of my visits with only one cartridge¡­ Other than that, they''re still using oilmps and they''re pumping water from a well they dug up on their own¡­¡±


    na was bbergasted, ¡°H-How about transportation?¡±


    I chuckled almost lifelessly, ¡°They have a cart¡­ and a horse if you don''t want to pull it yourself¡­¡±


    Kaley already knew the story but this was the first time Tatiana heard it with na. Their eyes grewrger as I revealed my first meeting with them but their expressions turned solemn when they remembered that Japan''s government was one of the first to shut down. However, I turned the conversation back to na.


    ¡°Enough reminiscing, what else do you know?¡±

 Chapter 584

    Chapter 584


    Kaley and I were now looking at na with Tatiana and she just looked solemn before using her palm heel to strike softly under her jawline. We were all looking curiously before she spat out a fake tooth and pulled out a small memory card. <center></center><hr>


    Tatiana faintly smiled, ¡°I guess I''ll need to search you more thoroughlyter¡­¡±


    na shook her head, ¡°Where else could I hide more stuff?¡±


    Tatiana chuckled, ¡°You have more teeth, I could start knocking out each one.¡±


    I waved them off, ¡°Rx, you two. What''s in the memory card?¡±


    na replied, ¡°I can''t even understand a tenth of the stuff I found.¡±


    ¡°Can''t you ask your other team members? You know¡­ from ''that'' other group?¡±


    na looked somber, ¡°I''m not a member¡­ I know some of them b-but¡­ everyone just went dark¡­ I could barely obtain a proper foothold in this country and it has gotten even worse when only select ces have power¡­ The rys you''ve set up helped a bit but we need to start making those cell towers work themselves¡­ it''s the only way we could get to better speeds and reach further distances¡­¡±


    ¡°It''s kinda further in my ns but we''ll look into it. It''s not like it''s our only problem here. Anyway, can I see what''s inside it now? We''ll talk about thatter.¡±


    na fidgeted, ¡°Here¡­ please¡­ j-just¡­¡±


    I turned to na, ¡°Just what?¡±


    ¡°Just¡­ try and watch everything¡­ most of the files are redacted to some extent but the¡­ the videos are a little too¡­ just watch it¡­¡± <center></center><hr>


    The first video I yed seemed to be footage from a hidden camera.


    It had no audio and the quality wasn''t that great but it was enough to recognize people at the right distance. However, most of the people from the footage were wearing masks and all we could see were their eyes that were almost devoid of emotion. The first few minutes were just a group of people talking in a small circle before they proceeded to board an elevator that brought them down to the lower levels.


    I kept looking at the background to note some sort of marking I could recognize but it was like they were walking into the same room over and over. They met with more people wearing the same attire but the scenery changed after they walked into a hallway that had the walls changed into arge aquarium. It was also filled with a single type of jellyfish and it looked very familiar.


    ''Isn''t that?''


    I was still deep in my thoughts when the video suddenly ended.


    Kaley turned to na, ¡°Wait, what? That''s it?¡±


    na shrugged her shoulders, ¡°Yeah, that''s first of many¡­ some of them don''t even make any sense. I just copied everything because I think it had to do with what we''re facing right now¡­¡±


    I was just about to voice my thoughts but I was more pressed with ying another video.


    I just clicked on the next file and it had audio this time. However, the camera position was too obscured to even see anything from the first few minutes.


    na tapped me, ¡°Turn the volume a little higher.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I''ll bring it back to the top too.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Suit yourself.¡±


    My eyes were half-closed as I listened to the audio but all I could hear was water sloshing. It was like that for a while but we heard something different.


    [O-Oh g- go- *bzzt* fuc- my- shit! *KRR* I''m so- *bzzt*]


    Everything else was unintelligible but the footage suddenly became clear as day. A sea of corpses seemed to be floating inside arge vat but the color of whatever fluid or muck they were on was a mix of bile, blood, mucus, acid, and etc.


    Bodies were regrly getting dropped from therge opening and those were the only times that the footage gets clearer. However, a certain type of noise was getting carried over from each time a body gets thrown and therge opening gets essed.


    Kaley turned to me and it seemed we got the same thought.


    ¡°A-Are those farm a-animals? I c-could hear a pig-¡±


    Kaley was still in mid-sentence before something in therge vat started moving. We could see how the surface of whatever the camera was on form a small wave that caused the camera to sink a little deeper. The distorted voice of the person continued to ring out but it got quiet after a few seconds.


    The camera just sunk into the bottom of the vat before the video ended.


    namented, ¡°If I remember correctly, that one is a live broadcast¡­ It got too distorted just to get a little bit of the actual audio out but despite that, it''s still gibberish. There are a few more that I-¡±


    Tatiana interjected, ¡°I get that but what are they doing in this one? Are they feeding those corpses to the animals? Don''t they die when they take in tainted meat?¡± <hr>


    I looked down and muttered, ¡°No¡­ this could be the phase where it''s just being spread around everyone and everything or¡­ a different kind where it doesn''t affect animals at all¡­ You''ve seen some of the reports, right? What we have here is different or slightly simr to other countries¡­ Some are active depending on the time of day while some just straight-up turn into something else¡­¡±


    na scratched her head, ¡°I don''t get it¡­ if everyone has it, howe some of us are still alive? Are we all just immune? The ones that are left? B-But¡­ I''m getting confused the more I think about it¡­¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°No. Hmm¡­ How do I exin this¡­ A virus going around ces doesn''t just stay the same¡­ When it goes through different hosts¡­ don''t quote me on my wording on this but when they replicate, copying errors or mutations could ur depending on several factors, and that creates different strains¡­ For example, the only way we could get themon cold again is if it''s a different strain from the one that our immune system had already fought and won over.¡±


    na was staring at me, ¡°You mean we could get the same sickness even if the virus is different? L-Like¡­ no¡­ wai-¡±


    ¡°You''re kinda getting it. My group talked about this before¡­ if our scientists ever created a vine for one strain, it''s possible that it wouldn''t work on the other strains¡­ What do we even got currently? We got normal ones, sprinters, slurpers, sentries, ferals, and the other specials we rarely encounter plus the irregrs¡­¡±


    ¡°C-Can''t we just make one for each of them?¡±


    I rubbed my be, ¡°na¡­ there wasn''t even a single report that''s close to making one. How are we gonna start making several vines? In my opinion, the way to do it is to create something that could precisely predict how it would mutate and counter everything it has to offer. Not entirely removing it but living alongside it¡­ bncing it. That''s gonna take some breakthrough in my honest opinion. Like I said before, our only know cure is bullets. There are more ways to take care of them but you know what I mean¡­¡±


    Kaley asked, ¡°B-But¡­ isn''t it also possible that we weren''t even infected in the first ce?¡±


    Tatiana asked, ¡°What do you mean? We''ve already witnessed people turning once they died in their sleep, correct? Doesn''t that mean that all of us had it already?¡±


    Kaley fiddled with her fingers, ¡°I m-mean¡­ that''s true as well but¡­ there could be people that aren''t even infected¡­¡±


    I nodded pensively, ¡°That''s true but we never really know how it got transmitted to everyone¡­ or most of the people around¡­ yet still remained under the radar. One theory could say that it was programmed to have no symptoms for a time right until the final moment. Hmm~ I think it''s enough thinking about possible theories¡­ let''s just check the other videos¡­ This one is next?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    As soon as I yed the third video, it wasn''t what we expected at all. We first thought it would be somece obscured and hidden but looking at the general surrounding, it seemed to be a daycare center. However, something was f.u.c.k.i.n.g amiss the moment the child caretakers appeared. They were wearing the proper uniforms as they were looking over the kids either running around or just sleeping but fear was deep-seated in their eyes.


    ''What the f.u.c.k¡­''


    It wasn''t because of the guy in theb coat watching from the back, the outline of high-powered rifles from the other side of the ss door, the undecipherable graphs on the whiteboard, or the weird food they were feeding the kids and eating themselves.


    It only took a moment to realize it wasn''t a normal daycare center because every single child they were taking care of looked like the same person.


    Kaley muttered, ¡°Wh-What''s going on?!¡±


    Tatiana was silent as na but their faces looked extremely disturbed.


    I replied, ¡°I d-don''t know¡­¡±


    It could have easily been dismissed as one of those cases where a mother would give birth to a lot of children at the same time but this wasn''t the case. We were still processing what we are seeing in our eyes but two of the kids started bleeding out from all of their orifices before dropping dead.


    Three more kids followed after them but they convulsed and trembled before copsing on the ground, deep lesions tearing through their faces. Only one more kid followed after the first five but it just died in its sleep before a pool of blood formed under its body.

 Chapter 585

    Chapter 585


    We were all disturbed by what we were seeing but the video was far from over. na must''ve seen the video a few times already but she looked more disturbed than the three of us. She looked like she was anticipating something to happen and then it did. <center></center><hr>


    The caretakers just stood up and forced a smile before looking at the kids that were left. They were wary of the guy in theb coat but they gathered the kids in a circle before speaking.


    [O-Okay, kids~ Time to clean u-up the m-mess! We''ll take a short-]


    [What? I''ll help!]


    [I''ll do it! You guys are too, right?!]


    [I''ll do it too!]


    [I''ll help too!]


    [Me!]


    The kids wore bright smiles as they volunteered to mop up the ones that just looked like them. They weren''t even fazed and they looked like what just happened was an everyday urrence. However, all of them were escorted to a different room before the caretakers that were left cleaned it up by themselves.


    With that said, something messed with our heads the moment we saw them simply chucking the little corpses inside a bin. It was one thing to do it with the dead we put down but doing it to a bunch of dead children who were initially alive and happy, even if something seemed to be wrong with them, was something else.


    ''Are they cloned or-ter¡­ I''ll see everything to the end¡­'' <center></center><hr>


    None of us were speaking a word but na was looking at my expression. I would''ve started another discussion but there were more videos to go through. I decided to watch every single one of them before I formed the words in my head. All of the videos we were seeing so far were all disturbing or puzzling but na putting them all together must mean that all of them were connected to our situation somehow.


    ''We just needed to know the exact reason how¡­''


    When I yed the next video, it showed us footage from one of the most f.u.c.k.e.d up birthing stations. It was because rows and rows of beds had drugged-up women from all races, ages, and pregnancy stages were connected to an apparatus that was seeing to their day-to-day needs, just to keep them alive and deliver a healthy baby.


    Furthermore, a graph that was much easier to understand was right next to them, telling us the ''stats'' of the baby they were expecting toe out when it''s due. It had subject codes instead of the actual name but the one we are seeing right now was expected to have a medium-high IQ, great bone density, blue eyes, dark brown hair, a fairplexion, and etc.


    We continued watching the woman in the footage get injected with more ''meds'' but they were also drawing some fluid not only from her but each one of them. The video was about halfway done but na tapped me and asked for the video to be paused.


    ¡°Check the doc.u.ments in the other folderbeled New Horizons. Some of them are redacted but check the 26th, 39th, 42nd, 78th, 83rd, 100th, and the 121st file on record¡­¡±


    The three of us looked at na for the moment but I followed her instructions.


    I pulled out the files she requested and as soon as I skimmed through each one, I immediately discovered that all of them were set to have the same exact characteristics as one another, and they would all be born almost exactly at the same date. However, there was no information about the fertilized eggs ced in them for surrogacy.


    The other ''mothers'' were either in the same condition or artificially inseminated but there was at least some sort of information about where the embryo came from. With that said, the babies that would be born from the files I pulled out were eerily about the same characteristics as the kids we saw earlier.


    I rubbed my be, ¡°This is deeper than I thought¡­ If this is all connected, we could even start ruling that what''s happening today could be a freak ident. Clearly, they were trying to make something else and that something else might''ve turned out to be something entirely different. Not only that, well- it''s pretty obvious but powerful people from behind the scenes wanted to y god. When was this?¡± <hr>


    na shook her head, ¡°I have no idea. All of these videos are what I managed to scrounge as I went diving before it happened, but there was no indication from the actual date¡­ or the actual ce they were doing it. In any case, you should continue watching the rest of it¡­ You might spot something I didn''t even if you watched the important parts¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­¡±


    I kept watching the rest of the footage but more and more nurses and doctors just visited the woman in question. All they did was administer more meds and take more care of the apparatus she was hooked in, and there was nothing much that happened next. With that said, a few more of the videos na had were just from a different angle or focus from the same ce.


    The other videos she had on the memory card were more clips of the same thing I showed my group the first day about random people almost turning into pseudo-zombies. They would sometimes take some sort of substance before tlining, but they would rise up in a matter of seconds or a few minutes to attack everything that was close or run around like a headless chicken. However, like the videos I found, the effect was only momentary before they fall down and die permanently.


    We continued to watch more videos for a couple of hours but we eventually decided to do it some other time. na let me copy all of them into a separate file only on the premise that I would share anything that I would find with her.


    I turned to na while the files were still being copied, ¡°Hey.¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Did you even find what you''re looking for?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°It''s okay. You don''t have to-¡± <hr>


    ¡°I did¡­ I took care of them¡­¡±


    ¡°I''m sorry¡­¡±


    ¡°Don''t be. It''s not like we''re close, to begin with. In any case, what happened to them deserved it. I just wanted some closure, that''s all. It proved difficult to locate them but those rys helped.¡±


    Kaley interjected, ¡°Are they¡­ you know¡­ your family?¡±


    na shook her head as she almost scoffed, ¡°Well, they''re supposed to be. It''s just weird I feel closer to strangers like youpared to people I should''ve had a strong bond with. In any case, it''s all over for them now. I just need to find new things to get preupied with.¡±


    Tatiana chuckled, ¡°Strangers? Hmm! We have a remedy for that. Why don''t you spend thest few hours with us and we''ll see? Hmm?¡±


    Kaley instantly facepalmed as she g.r.o.a.n.e.d, ¡°Tatiana¡­ we just-¡±


    Tatiana shrugged her shoulders, ¡°What? I already got my power nap. He''s probably good to go for a few more and you two will probably go at it after this or tomorrow morning. How could a couple more hurt?¡±


    na took a step back as she got red, ¡°I¡­ I''d decide against that. I s-still have some things to do back there and if I- nevermind. Thank you but I''d rath- maybe next time¡­ Oh! It just finished copying I n-need to-¡±


    I cut her off, ¡°na. Wait a sec.¡± <hr>


    ¡°H-Huh?!¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°Don''t worry. I just want to give you a few things before you go back.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ t-thanks¡­¡±


    I picked up arge bag to ce a drone, a sat phone, a high-endptop, a couple of long-range radios, a box of ChemLights, and a few Raspberry Pis. Furthermore, I picked up a Taurus Judge, two boxes of .410 shells, two boxes of 9mms, a fixed de knife, a canister of pepper spray, and much fitting body armor for her size.


    I ced the bag in front of her, ¡°I know you''re going for the innocent and slow look but that could only take you so much. Do you want a rifle or not? I could add in one more but do you want something smaller that''s also in 9mm?¡±


    na turned to Kaley and Tatiana before turning to me embarrassed, ¡°S-Something smaller¡­ Something that could fit in my bag¡­¡±


    I just chuckled before taking out a KelTec SUB-2000 which was a PCC chambered in 9mm. It was almost 30 inches in length but if it was folded, it was just a mere 16 inches. I loaded a couple more boxes of 9mm in her bag and she thanked me by embarrassedly shaking my hand. The other two just chuckled before giving her a hug and we just walked down to see Mylene sleeping on the couch with Zeus.


    Zeus woke up and greeted us, ¡°Woof!¡±


    Mylene woke up as well, discovering she was hugging Zeus the whole time, ¡°I can e-exin¡­¡±

 Chapter 586

    Chapter 586


    Everyone just chuckled at Mylene''s expression but they soon excused themselves. It was because it was still a few more hours before their departure and a little bit of sleep wouldn''t hurt. I thought they would just crash on the couch but they figured that sleeping on a bed was much better even if Zeus was sleeping with them. <center></center><hr>


    With that said, Kaley and I walked back to our room with Tatiana to do the same. It was nice cuddling Kaley from behind but it was funny seeing Tatiana fall asleep the moment her head touched our pillow. She was almost snoring the way she slept and it amused me seeing her sleeping face.


    Kaley chuckled, ¡°I thought she wanted to do a little something¡­¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°She must''ve been pretty drained hearing what na had to say¡­¡±


    ¡°True¡­¡±


    ¡°Let''s have some sleep too¡­ I guess I''ll bring out the M2 tomorrow¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm? M2?¡±


    ¡°You''ll see¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­ Good ni- good sleep¡­ nevermind¡­ I''m really tired too¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­¡±


    We took advantage of the few hours that we had but Kaley and I still woke up just at the right time when our rms were about to ring. I simply carried her to the shower while we let Tatiana sleep a bit more. After we were done, we went back to our room and discovered that Tatiana just woke up. She was still a little groggy and all she did was wave at us before waking everyone else inside the other rooms.


    ¡°WAKE THE F.U.C.K UP! I COULD B.A.R.ELY GET TO MY DRESSER! STOP GROANING OR I''LL PLUG THOSE HOLES DRY! YOU GUYS AS WELL! IT''S ALREADY MORNING AND YOU''RE SLACKING OFF! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Tatiana¡­¡±


    ¡°Hngh¡­ Five more m- no~~~ My pillow¡­¡±


    ¡°Why do you hate sleep?!¡±


    ¡°Tatiana! I''ll hide your u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r!¡±


    ¡°Do it! I could go without!¡±


    ¡°Argh¡­¡±


    ¡°Help~ A blonde-haired demon is terrorizing us~¡±


    Kaley and I wereughing our asses off hearing everyone else groan or cry for help. It was chaotic for a few moments but I pulled out one of the few shotguns I have on my safes. It was a Benelli M2 made for a 3 Gun Competition. It looked slick as f.u.c.k even if it was a shotgun I rarely use.


    My M2 was chambered in 12 gauge and it came with a 26-inch barrel, a red front sight, an extended magazine tube, a traditional stock, and all the custom jobs done by TTI. A few examples were the custom stippling jobs for the stock and forearm, the modified recoil pad and the cheek pad, and more.


    Kaley instantly reacted, ¡°Wha- Why is the magazine tube longer than the barrel?! Won''t it get hit in the process?!¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°Don''t worry, it wouldn''t hit it. It looks weird but the old man would howl if he sees this. In any case, this extended magazine tube could hold 12 rounds.¡± <hr>


    Kaley looked at me weirdly, ¡°Just twelve?¡±


    ¡°That''s already a lot with shotguns but yeah~ That''s one of the reasons I don''t use them as much. Well, if you want some power¡­ nothing could go wrong with shotguns. It''s really just a little bit limited due to shell capacity and how c.u.mbersome it is.¡±


    ¡°Oh~ Are you gonna bring your rifle at least?¡±


    ¡°Of course, I''ll bring it as well. However, it''s just gonna be the backup with my other shotgun today. I gotta live up to my promise to the old man or else I''ll never hear the end of it. Just bring a few extra magazines for me since I''ll be loading up a few shells in these shell carriers. I''ll have almost the same setup as Tatiana if she brings her M4, not her AK.¡±


    ¡°Oh, okay. Wait, you aren''t using those baby shells? You use them for Hexa-loading, right?¡±


    ¡°Hah! Not this time, no. It''s better for Tatiana''s M4 since it could cycle lighter loads better. I could make some custom baby shells but it''d be just too much work and I rarely use them. Hmm, maybe in the future?¡±


    ''I doubt it but I guess I''ll make some if the old man starts to¡­ nevermind¡­''


    ¡°I see, I see¡­ Oh! Can''t you just use a pump-action then? It could cycle rounds regardless of ammo type, right?¡±


    My eyes lit up, ¡°Of course, they can. But~ Let''s just stick with this for now. My M3 could do both but I just felt like using the M2 today.¡±


    To my surprise, Charlotte volunteered to do the job and Chris would be obviously dragged along. Amanda could do it as well but that would mean bringing Arthur to the mix.


    Charlotte ran over to me while still eating a sandwich, ¡°I could do it, right? I''ll just be inside too! I won''t cause trouble! I promise!¡± <hr>


    I replied, ¡°I know you could do it. Can I ask why you want to do it?¡±


    ¡°N-Nothing¡­ I just want to go outside o-once in a while. Chris will be there with me too! That''s fine, right?¡±


    Chris interjected, ¡°Bro-Dude, Charlotte doesn''t want to say it but she just wants to ride in a paddleboat for a few minutes. I told her just to do it here but she insists on doing it in a different ce. She''d obviously help but it woulde with a price.¡±


    Charlotte got red, ¡°You! Why would you say that?! It''s-¡±


    I chuckled as I cut her off, ¡°Sure, you guys coulde. I''ll watch over and help you guys for a couple of hours but you two need to listen to what the soldiers there have to say. Don''t fool around as much because Morales is a little uptight.¡±


    ¡°Reall?! Thanks!¡±


    We were talking about a few more things but Oscar excused himself since he already finished eating. However, I was already facepalming the moment he arrived with his ''new'' shotgun. He was smiling like an idiot and his entrance would''ve been cool if he didn''t trip over a small pebble.


    Oscar grumbled, ¡°Motherfuc- Hah! Kid! Do you see this shit?! I decided to take it for a spin! Haaa~ a 12 gauge could already bring a smile to my face but it has one w¡­ it''s not a 10 gauge! HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Uh-huh~ Are you sure you could still use that?¡±


    ¡°Hah! I just paused for a bit since 10 gauge is so scarce-¡±


    ¡°Scarce? You know we could make them, right?¡± <hr>


    ¡°I mean- we could but- enough with your f.u.c.k.i.n.g logic! Tada~ It''s the Ithaca Mag 10, kid! Do you remember when it was just able to hold three rounds? It could hold five now with this extension I installed! Neat, huh?!¡±


    Kaley interjected, ¡°Just five? That''s worse than his 12-round tube, right?¡±


    Oscar ced his hand over Kaley''s shoulder, ¡°Kaley, Kaley, Kaley¡­ you sweet summer child¡­ five-round tube, three-round tube, or even the ones that have a break-open action¡­ a 10 gauge is a 10 gauge¡­ one shot from these bad boys, you''d have no problem at all.¡±


    Kaley scratched her head, ¡°S-Still¡­¡±


    Oscar waved her off, ¡°Tat-ta-tat-ta-ta¡­ Shh~ As I said, enough with the logic, okay? It ruins things. Do you hate fun? I''m sure you don''t hate fun, right? Let''s just agree that if there''s a problem over there~ CH-CHKK!!! BOOOM!!! Problem solved, alright? I guess it''s cool to bore holes with your 5.56s or your 9mms but there''s nothing better than making head mulch with a 10 gauge.¡±


    I interjected half-jokingly, ¡°Really~ Oh! Can it do it with birdshot as well? You said it''s powerful, right?¡±


    Oscar grinned as he pulled out a birdshot shell, ¡°You always call me birdshot this and birdshot that¡­ do you really want me to prove a point? Are you willing to risk it, kid? I know you hate me doing it with this, right?¡±


    I stood up and tried to calm him down, ¡°Okay~ Old man~ You win this time, okay? Now drop that knife and the birdshot shell before it''s toote. We can talk about this peacefully, okay? Let''s not waste-¡±


    ¡°Oh~ Talk, eh? I''m not really good at talking like you, okay? I think it''s better for everyone here to stop assuming birdshot shells are weak, right? It''s just one shell¡­ that couldn''t hurt, right?¡±


    I was still in panic mode but everyone''s curiosity got piqued.

 Chapter 587

    Chapter 587


    At this moment in time, it was like a mosquitonded on my balls and I needed to resolve things very peacefully. The pros of what Oscar would do next far outweighed the cons, but I just wanted to save every bit of shotgun shell that we have. I almost lost it when he started to cut around almost halfway up the birdshot shell, leaving a small ovep about a few centimeters. After that, he just emptied his magazine tube before loading the cut shell inside. <center></center><hr>


    Johnny immediately waved Oscar down, ¡°What the- don''t fire it here, you numb nut!¡±


    Oscar scoffed, ¡°Do you think I''m an idiot? I''m just loading it here! Kid! Grab me one of those cardboard targets you have and don''t give me that look!¡±


    I shook my head before finishing my coffee, ¡°Fine¡­¡±


    Russel interjected as he followed right behind me, ¡°Dude, what''s he gonna do? Isn''t that dangerous?¡±


    I replied, ¡°Not exactly, if you do it right. Anyway, you''d get to see the Poor Man''s Slug.¡±


    ¡°Poor Man''s Slug? What?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Don''t ask a lot of questions. You''ll see it in actionter. In any case, you''ll also be able to do it in your shotgun. I just hate how wasteful it is.¡±


    ¡°Oh~ I see, I see. Let me carry them then.¡±


    It didn''t take long before a group of people came with us to our shooting range so that Oscar could give a very brief lesson about cut shells. It was kinda different to have a lesson this early in the morning but I guess something like this wouldn''t hurt as much. However, the old man started further back.


    ¡°Okay, you uneducated motherf.u.c.kers! Listen to me! I know most of you are f.u.c.k.i.n.g beginners hoping to have something like An''s HK416, Mikhail''s PKM, Artem''s and his team''s AKs, or even this kid and Kaley''s high-end AR-15s. However! Most of you are forgetting about how great, versatile, and powerful shotguns are!¡± <center></center><hr>


    Bing interjected, ¡°But I use shotguns!¡±


    Russel added, ¡°Me too! Stefan as well!¡±


    Oscar pped, ¡°Great! It''s f.u.c.k.i.n.g great to hear that but it''s our job to spread the word out, ya hear me? Almost everyone in our camp wants a rifle and our cult- I mean our brotherhood is getting left behind! We need to bring back the Blunderbuss, the Fowling Piece, the Scattergun, the Trenchgun, or what we call as f.u.c.k.i.n.g shotguns back on the f.u.c.k.i.n.g spotlight!¡±


    Kaley chuckled behind me, ¡°What is happening? He''s too emotional for this!¡±


    I pinched her sides, ¡°Shh~ He''s having his moment! It''s fun when the old man''s like this!¡±


    Oscar continued, ¡°Can you even hear what the beginners are always saying? They''re almost always going for a rifle but they couldn''t even shoot that far! What''s the point in that? In the war way, way~ back, soldiers would opt for shotguns loaded with some buckshot instead of using their M1 Garands! It''s not about what the gun could do or achieve, it''s about using the right tools in the right situation.¡±


    I raised my hand. ¡°Did you just contradict yourself?¡±


    Oscar wobbled, ¡°Ah- SHUT UP! I''M TALKING HERE! SHEESH! Where the f.u.c.k am I again? I think I''ve strayed a bit too far.¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°You''re about to teach us about cut-up shells!¡±


    ¡°Ah! That''s right! That''s right, kid! As I was talking about¡­¡± <hr>


    ''You didn''t even start from that¡­''


    Oscar continued, ¡°You see, before¡­ we don''t have slugs that we mostly use today. Before, it was just pumpkin balls or pumpkin slugs and they''re not that even urate, so to speak. However, a guy named Br- B- V? Kid! What''s the guy''s name again? That German dude?¡±


    ¡°Brenneke!¡±


    ¡°Right! That guy! Let''s just say he made his own version of our pumpkin balls in thete 1890s so that it would be better and would have arger wound channel when it hit. However, enough about that guy! Let me introduce you to this guy American guy named Karl Foster! He''s quitete to invent his own version since he did it in the 1930s but the one he made had arge recess at the rear. That design is much better for smoothbore shotguns since it could keep the weight of the slug much forward and it has a better flight pattern¡­ Umm¡­ what am I gonna say next again? Ah! The birdshot!¡±


    ''This is taking longer than expected¡­''


    The old man pulled out another birdshot shell and cut it up the same way he did the first for everyone to see. I instantly facepalmed because he should''ve just used the first one and I was sure he did that to annoy the f.u.c.k out of me.


    Oscar continued, ¡°Okay! The reason I cut this little birdshot here is¡­ back then¡­ Ah, whatever~ I''m getting tired of talking. Just look at this right here! You guys are already familiar with how this shit would just spray, right? This is the solution! Wha- who the f.u.c.k drew a beard on that target?! KID?!¡±


    Everyone eximed, ¡°JUST SHOOT THE F.U.C.K.I.N.G SHOTGUN!!!¡±


    I was hiding a marker as I thought to myself, ''It was definitely me. Taking so long¡­''


    Once Oscar finished grumbling, he just aimed at the target we set up a few dozen yards away and pulled the trigger. <hr>


    The noise of his 10 gauge shotgun reverberated throughout our shooting range but the thing that surprised everyone aside from how powerful his shotgun, was the hole that was produced using the cut-up birdshot shell. Instead of several pin-sized holes, it actually made a hole simr to what a slug would do. It was just arge hole enough for a bottlecap to pass through.


    Oscar picked it up and showed everyone, ¡°You see, now? This is the reason why the kid wanted to stop me. By cutting around it like what I did a couple of times, half of the stic, the wad, and the little beads inside would just fire together like a big hunk of a projectile. With that said, this one is kinda ruined and would be difficult to reuse. However, if you wanted more power from a birdshot shell, this is the solution. You just need to cut it the same way I did or it wouldn''t work. This kind of thing is being done before slugs were made.¡±


    Everyone looked pensive as they nodded a few times and Oscar had a satisfied look on his face. I just scratched my head when the others started to try cutting up the birdshot shells, but it got funny and chaotic when they started to try using Oscar''s Ithaca Mag 10.


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K?!¡±


    ¡°My shoulder is mush¡­ it''s mush¡­¡±


    ¡°I''ll request for a .410ter¡­ I might not be able to use a 12 gauge¡­¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K THIS SHIT!¡±


    ¡°THE F.U.C.K ARE YA GUYS ON ABOUT?! IT''S F.U.C.K.I.N.G AWESOME!¡±


    ¡°YEAH! MAKES ME FEEL ALIVE!¡±


    ¡°THAT''S THE SPIRIT!¡± <hr>


    Oscar''s lesson was finally concluded and my group brought down the rest of our gear. With that said, Oscar and his group followed us with his SUV but Charlotte rode with us while Chris was at the back. We just decided to bring two finished spud boxes and a few dozen fruiting bags so that they could also grow some mushrooms over in their ce.


    We would''ve brought some other seedlings or nts but Morales'' group only needed to relocate the ones that they''ve found in their city, or have another group take care of the ce where they found it.


    As we were driving, Oscar took the opportunity to use another one of the extra shells he cut up to make a f.u.c.k.i.n.g deadhead''s head explode. It was basically mulch after a 10 gauge shotshell made its way and in a sense, it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g satisfying.


    Chris eximed, ¡°OH, SHIT! IT''S EVEN BETTER OUTSIDE!¡±


    Oscar howled from the other vehicle, ¡°YOU SEE THAT, KID?! IT''S NOT A WASTE, I TELL YOU!¡±


    I yelled back, ¡°YEAH, YEAH! LET''S WAIT UNTIL YOU RUN OUT! I''M NOT MAKING THEM FROM NOW ON! YOU''D ACHIEVE THE SAME THING FROM A .22 FOR F.U.C.K''S SAKE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DIFFICULT TO CLEAN SCATTERED GRAY MATTER?!¡±


    ¡°BOO~ HOO~ TYPICAL~ SOO~ TYPICAL~ JUST HAVE FUN FOR ONCE!¡±


    We continued to drive to Morales'' city but it was apparent that his soldiers were clearing the ce nonstop. We could barely see a straggler roaming around since each infested building was closed up and being cleared methodically. We could spot more soldiers patrollingpared to deadheads and I couldn''t believe they were almost halfway done. His city being smallerpared to ours was a factor but there was an advantage to having a lot of trained soldiers in yourmand.


    ''We''ll get there soon¡­''


    We eventually reached the port and Morales team weed us. They already had the materials ready and all we needed to do was direct them.

 Chapter 588

    Chapter 588


    The first thing we did was show everyone the spud boxes we would be teaching them to make. It looked like an upside-down table with potatoes growing inside the wooden frames while the legs were reced by wooden studs. <center></center><hr>


    The rest of my group just watched or walked around the area while Oscar, Charlotte, and Chris stayed behind.


    Jerry, one of Morales'' soldiers asked, ¡°I thought it was supposed to be a box? That''s¡­ that''s more like a table, right?¡±


    I replied, ¡°It is, yes. However, the nt has only grown so much so the frames we made haven''t been put in yet. The higher the nt goes, the more frames we put in until harvest. When ites, we just unscrew from the bottom and carefully take everything out. You could use some of the potatoes you harvested to be nted again so it could go on for as long as we can.¡±


    Romeo, another one of Morales'' soldiers interjected, ¡°Can we start now? I''m kinda curious how this works. Can we just use any kind of seed potato?¡±


    Charlotte replied, ¡°U-Umm¡­ excuse me¡­ you could but it''s rmended to use thete varieties¡­ T-That''s the one we have nted one the couple boxes here.¡±


    Romeo looked at Charlotte with surprise before asking, ¡°Can I know why?¡±


    Charlotte replied once more, ¡°U-Umm¡­ it''s because once we stack them up¡­ thete varieties could produce more tubers in eachyer. W-Well¡­ we''re not supposed to be picky at this time but the early varieties would just yield fewer potatoes. We have a few early varieties at home but they''re not ced in these spud boxes¡­¡±


    Romeo nodded pensively with the rest of the soldiers that offered help.


    I took their attention, ¡°Okay, let''s start preparing the materials first. For starters, I want four 2-inch by 2-inch by 33-inch studs, twelve 21-inch by 2-inch by 6-inch boards, and twelve 24-inch by 2-inch by 6-inch boards.¡±


    Jerry g.r.o.a.n.e.d, ¡°That many?¡±


    Oscar chuckled, ¡°That''s just for one spud box, boy. Furthermore, you''re gonna need 96 pieces of 2.5-inch wood screws to hold them together.¡± <center></center><hr>


    Jerry''s eyes widened, ¡°That many?! Can''t we just use nails?¡±


    Oscar shook my head, ¡°Nope. Did you forget what the kid said earlier? We need to unscrew them for each harvest so that we could use the wood that we used to make them. If we use nails, we might damage the frame when we start to pry them open. If you''re thatzy, you could start looking for a drill so you wouldn''tin when you power through with a screwdriver.¡±


    Jerry shrank down, ¡°I''m not beingzy¡­ J-Just surprised. We already have a drill here, what do I do?¡±


    I instructed, ¡°Wait for them to finish cutting up the 24-inch wood boards then drill 2 holes on each end, exactly ? inches away from each corner. Doing that would position the screw to go into the center of the cut side of the 21-inch boards. Once you''re done, screw two of the 24-inch boards together with the 21-inch boards to form the frame like the one we have here.¡±


    Jerry nodded, ¡°I-I see¡­¡±


    Charlotte added, ¡°P-Please do that five more times so that we would have six frames for each box. We wouldn''t be able to use all of them at the same time but it''s better to have them ready so the measurements are all the same.¡±


    Romeo raised his hand, ¡°Umm, these studs go in the inside, right?¡±


    Charlotte nodded, ¡°Yes. All four would go inside, copying what we have here¡­¡±


    Everyone else started working on their own spud box but Houston we have a problem. I wasn''t sure who cursed these motherf.u.c.k.i.n.g soldiers but all of their measurements were way off. They even had their own rulers, measuring tapes, pencils, and etc. but I was sure they weren''t trolling me. I thought I could endure seeing them be off by a few centimeters but this madness had to stop.


    Oscar already disappeared from view when I pulled out a whip.


    I made it crack loudly before screaming, ¡°EVERYONE OF YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G STOP! WE''RE DOING THIS THE RIGHT WAY OR IT''S THE LAST THING YOU''LL EVER DO! GIVE ME THAT PENCIL!¡± <hr>


    ¡°OH GOD~ OH GOD~¡±


    ¡°NOOOOOO~¡±


    ¡°MOMMY~¡±


    ¡°HELP ME~~~¡±


    ¡°STOP CRYING OR I''LL JAB THIS PENCIL IN YOUR F.U.C.K.I.N.G EARLOBE, YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G HEAR ME?!¡±


    I spent a few hours whipping everyone to shape until it was noon. I heard cries, groans, screams, and final words but I didn''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g care. I made sure that each and every spud box we produced were the same sizes and it really paid off in the end.


    We made 48 boxes in total and we ced them in one corner of the port where the sun could shine the brightest. Everything just fits perfectly including the other two that we brought and it almost brought a tear to my eye. With that said, the soldiers gave respect to Charlotte and Chris since they were the only ones that manage to avoid my wrath.


    I gathered everyone in a circle, ¡°So, can''t you see the greatness we could achieve if we''re f.u.c.k.i.n.g urate? Hmm? Anyway, enough about that. Just keep everything here watered and just add more soil and a frame each time it grew. With that said, you could make more spud boxes on your own but I''ll f.u.c.k.i.n.g check it¡­ very thoroughly.¡±


    The soldiers just eximed with tears in their eyes, ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    I nodded with a devilish smile, ¡°Good, good~ Well, look at the time. It''s already noon! Good thing we brought lunch for everyone! C''mon! You''ll all be able to make some of these if you take care of them properly.¡±


    They all asked at the same time, ¡°W-What is it?¡± <hr>


    I just smiled once more and we brought down arge pot of potato sd with eggs. It was simply made by mixing together some mayonnaise, yogurt, pickles, vinegar, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper with chopped eggs, potatoes, celery, and onions.


    It was supposed to be eaten as is but rice was just something that couldn''t be taken away easily. I served each of them a bowl and the tyranny I gave them earlier was already forgotten. With that said, some of them were actually crying while they were eating.


    I chuckled, ¡°What''s wrong with you guys?¡±


    ¡°This is too good!¡±


    ¡°There''s vor!¡±


    ¡°There''splexity!¡±


    ¡°It''s not just boiled with salt or just added in whatever they call a stew!¡±


    ¡°Praise whatever that granted us this blessing!¡±


    I looked around, ¡°So¡­ there''s no one to handle the food here, eh?¡±


    Romeo answered, ¡°Yeah¡­ it''s just left to whoever is avable since our cooks here are still adjusting. Well, you send us some food sometimes so it''s all good. We can''tin all the time since it''s more or less the same back home.¡±


    Jerry added, ¡°We got more servings over here too. Back home, we''re happy to get two meals a day. It''s just that there are too much people to feed in Davao¡­ we''re just estimating and conserving for the worse. I heard it''s stable right now but it''s pretty bad when it started.¡± <hr>


    Chris interjected, ¡°So you guys were really down bad over there? I guess we''re really just lucky¡­¡±


    Romeo replied, ¡°Not all the time. We get a small cut every time we bring back resources but we don''t have the tools or even the knowledge to cook something like this. That''s why we''re really happy every time you send us food. We got to taste some home cooking and some we haven''t even tasted back home.¡±


    We talked a lot more while having some lunch but I eventually let Chris and Charlotte on the care of Morales'' soldiers since they helped quite a lot with our small project. With that said, our group traveled to the City of Mbon but this time, we were going towards the City of Man.


    It was because we needed to establish a safe route between our cities and the only way to do that was to kill several hundreds of the undead until they thin out.


    The only problem we were facing was that the number of barangays we needed to clear before getting into Iskoh''s territory was just too much. One example was that the barangays between the City of Mbon and the City of Man weren''t even named properly, they were just given numbers. It would take a lot of manpower to clear the roads since not only they were infested, they were the area where the ferals would lurk and would sometimes even form packs.


    That caused the march to get staggered even more, requiring onlyrge groups or elite units to handle the task.


    Oscar tapped me, ¡°Are you sure you''re gonna continue using that M2, kid? It''s fine if we''re in this area, you know?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Nah, I think it''s fine. I think we need more stopping power if we need to you know¡­ stop them. Heh.¡±


    The two of us just startedughing before groans and pityughs followed.

 Chapter 589

    Chapter 589


    We were now by the outskirts of the City of Man right after passing through a bridge with a small checkpoint in the south. <center></center><hr>


    There were four checkpoints in total and they were used to keep tabs on the soldiers and the dead that might pass through. We used the one that would lead to San Rafael Vige since I''ve received word that Jose and his group were over there. They seemed to have fanned wider because just driving by the edge of the ports wouldn''t cut it.


    It was because a simple nk from a pack of ferals was all it would take for things to get ugly so it would be better to have a lot of wiggle roompared to a single linear road. I could almost feel how the tension rose the moment we crossed the checkpoint because everything in front of us was uncharted territory.


    ''We''re now at Tondo¡­''


    We drove straight to Honorio Lopez Blvd., taking a left to Kkal St., passing through Tondo''s General Hospital and Medical Center.


    There were no sightings of the undead yet but we noticed a group of soldiers parked in front of a small eatery. They rode in two jeeps in total and they put up some sort of barrier on the driveway. They raised their rifles when they saw the nose of our vehicles but they instantly lowered them once they saw our faces. I asked Ibarra to drive close to them so we could get some information.


    I waved them over, ¡°What are you guys doing here? Aren''t you part of Jose''s team?¡±


    One of the soldiers named Ricky replied, ¡°We are¡­ but- Some of us are tasked to wait in these parts right around the bridge to keep our exit free. There are also groups by the junkyard, the unfinished school, the small church, and the gas stations further down the road. Most of us are still going at it in the vige and I think they''re now by Doug''s Cold Storage and Daniel''s Trucking Services.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°I see. Where do you guys need help?¡±


    ¡°I''m¡­ I''m not really sure since they just instructed us to hold our ground at this ce¡­ Well¡­ our team by the gas station has seen more action?¡± <center></center><hr>


    Oscar interjected, ¡°Then that''s the ce, kid. We better not dip into whatever Jose is doing over there since we might just disrupt their operation. We could just start sting heads or whatever just to thin them out, no worries. Make it a rxing day, hmm?¡±


    ¡°Sure, sure¡­ I wanted to know how the threat is over here as well¡­¡±


    Everyone seemed to be in agreement so we just drove a few blocks to get to the gas stations. Both of them were further down Honorio Lopez Blvd. and it just a stretch of road that spanned until another bridge with the same name.


    Another group of soldiers which were double the size of the ones we talked to earlier were present and aside from a military truck, they also had a garbage truck filled with corpses almost halfway. They greeted us promptly and they told us the same information as the earlier ones did.


    Aside from that, what we noticed firsthand were the same barriers ced right in front of the areas where the dead mighte running. The road further in could still be traversable but our vehicles would need to swerve a few times just to avoid the barriers in ce.


    ''Probably just to slow down the fast ones to a degree¡­ If they''re not nning to drive on it any time soon, I guess that''s a simple solution¡­''


    ¡°KID?! WHAT THE F.U.C.K?!¡±


    ¡°Can''t you see that this road is between those strewn-out houses?¡±


    ¡°SO WHAT?!¡± <hr>


    ¡°It''s like a squatter area but made with some cement and shit! Anything could pop out from them! Let''s fly the drones first before you let loose, you old coot!¡±


    ¡°BAH! FINE! FINE! JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G GET OFF OF ME!¡±


    We took a few minutes to set everything up then four drones went on each side to scout the surroundings and quite possibly, lure out some deadheads in the process. Everyone doing nothing was looking at the feed where my drone was flying since I started to fly it lower. It was because it would be almost impossible to see anything clearly because of how the living areas were situated and how it was orientated.


    ''This is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g mess¡­''


    There were some nice buildings further out but one section of the road had the pseudo-squatter area made with tougher and rigid materials. With that said, it was as if they were built so randomly, they just made sure it was enough for two people to walk side by side while touching elbows. It was like a mountain pass with all the curvatures it had but this time, it was cramped enough to make someone ustrophobic shiver.


    With that said, a lot of the dead we saw from the feed wereing from blindspots and almost all of them were just regr joes. However, I was sure that there was more in hiding and we needed to smoke most of them out before we even attempt to try and send people in.


    I called over one of the soldiers named Ray, ¡°The path to the right leads to Pier 18, right? How far have you reached over in that side?¡±


    ¡°We''ve already reached as far as the skate park but the onesing from this side were trouble. That''s why we needed to clear this area before proceeding in that park.¡±


    Oscar interjected, ¡°Can''t you just block off the small bridge?¡± <hr>


    Ray replied, ¡°That''s the n from the start but the dead are also pouring in from Brgy. 101. It''s either start with this side of the city or the other. It''s easier to have a wider route to go around than to-¡±


    Oscar waved him off, ¡°I get it, I get it. What about the other side?¡±


    Ray scratched his head, ¡°It leads to Brgy. 125 Zone 10, only an estero away from eight blocks of squatter areas. There are a lot more dpidated areas there but once we clear the San Rafael Vige, it would be possible to pick them off from a distance because of the estero.¡±


    Oscar turned to me, ¡°Estero? What? What''s that?¡±


    I replied, ¡°It''s a tidal channel used as a drainage canal in popted areas such as this. Some of our boats could traverse it but you''d have to bring some masks because of the smelling from it. Add to that the dead that''s probably floating around there too.¡±


    ¡°Isn''t it the same as the canal system back home?¡±


    ¡°Much worse, I tell ya. It''s never been cleaned ever since. But yeah, I''m not sure since the ones polluting it are probably dead now.¡±


    ¡°Whatever, whatever. What''s the n, kid?¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± <hr>


    I reviewed the footage for a while then I thought of the proper approach. It was still dangerous with a proper n so the first step was to thin them out even more.


    After a while, we set off an rm about 60 yards away from us to draw out the ones much closer. It only took a few seconds before more deadheads popped out, wobbling and straddling over. The barriers in ce were now set differently to act as a pseudo-funnel to take care of them more easily.


    Their rotten bodies would get scr.a.p.ed as they try to squeeze even more but a few would get thrown over the side where a few of us were already waiting. We didn''t even use our guns for the regr deadheads since it was like shooting fish in a barrel. All we needed to do was stab gently through their earlobe or eye socket and it would all be over.


    Each body we took down would instantly get transported via the pushcarts avable and they would all just get dumped in the garbage truck.


    We were doing the same process for 30 minutes but then a stray cat just came into view. It was chasing a small rodent, dodging and weaving under the legs of the undead but a muchrger figure just swiped both of them before biting their heads off. We could hear the short squeal that they produced before getting beheaded gruesomely but Oscar''s shotgun already rang out.


    A 10 gauge shell instantly blew off its left shoulder and the humanoid figure just dropped what was left of the stray cat. It tried to flee in the other direction but its legs were blown to shreds with another buckshot load from our old veteran.


    It stumbled down as it tried to w its way out but more and more ferals just came into view. They just popped out of nowhere and one of them just jabbed its ws into its injuredrade''s head, ending its life. It licked what was left of its fallenrade before the others started feasting on it.


    Oscar and I just looked at each other for a brief second before pulling out a grenade and throwing it in their direction.


    We both yelled, ¡°THEY''RE HERE, MOTHERF.U.C.KERS!¡±

 Chapter 590

    Chapter 590


    Our grenades easily picked up some air as we threw them and they bumped each other mid-air,nding some feet away from each other. Nevertheless, they exploded at the same time, maiming more than half of the ferals feasting on their own. With that said, it caused the irate of the ones that survived and they instantly tried to breach the distance. <center></center><hr>


    They approached with speed as they easily vaulted over the barriers, stone or deadheads, but the old man wasn''t done. Some of them were still in the middle of the bodies of the regr joes when Oscar lobbed another grenade instead of throwing it overhead. They weren''t able to roll to the side when it just rolled down afternding.


    ¡°THAT''S ANOTHER ONE FOR YA, F.U.C.KERS!¡±


    All the ferals caught in the st were like f.u.c.k.e.d-up confetti but the problem was still the handful of ferals that survived. However, almost five dozen barrels were pointed right at them. They could only screech as they cried for help when several dozen holes bored through their bodies.


    They fell one after the other but it seemed that they really did light the beacons like when Gondor called for aid.


    ¡°THERE''S MORE! THERE''S MORE!¡±


    Humanoid-shaped figures walking on all fours came into view and aside from seeing their almost humpbacked or crooked posture, the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet were in varying states of damage and distortion. Some of them had w-like hands due to their bones jutting out while some had extra ''padding'' due to calluses forming over them. It could be said that they were also changing or evolving like the others but how it would happen had a lot of variations.


    Bringing it back, them seeing us standing above their fallen brethren prompted different reactions. <center></center><hr>


    Almost all of them just instantly took to their running position before zigzagging towards us while a select few just ran back into cover. With that said, we never did stop firing our guns either to thin down the regr ones or the ferals from a distance.


    However, everything went into shit the moment one of the soldiers standing by a drainage gutter was pulled down from below, mangling its body in the process and only having its upper torso stuck inside it. He only had to scream for a few seconds before he was pulled for a second time, forcefully making him go through the drainage gutter and only leaving a few pieces of himself behind.


    ¡°MARLO!!!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K!¡±


    ¡°FOCUS, YOU MOTHERF.U.C.KERS!¡±


    ¡°HE''S DEAD! HE''S DEAD!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K ALL OF YOU!!!¡± <hr>


    That small distraction was enough for the ferals to bridge the distance and almost half of us were instantly stuck in close quarters with them. However, everyone just ''received'' them by taking a few steps back and fanning out to give each other space. It was almost miraculous to see everyone move without anyone telling them anything and it was maybe just the normal procedure to do once they were all up close and personal.


    Two f.u.c.k.i.n.g ferals with bloodshot eyes instantly came for me but I gunned them down by unloading two slugs each into their cranial skull. Bits of their blood sprayed all around us but I stood my ground, much like everyone. I instantly checked on the old man but he was already a few steps behind, running back shortly for a quick reload. However, three huge projectiles from his gun flew one after the other maiming two slim ferals about to lunge on one of our soldiers.


    The soldier looked like he already resigned to his death but a f.u.c.k.i.n.g grenade with the pin still on struck his head.


    Oscar bellowed, ¡°MAN UP OR DROP DEAD, YOU LITTLE SHIT! THIS IS THE SHIT THAT YOU SIGNED UP FOR! THROW THAT TO THOSE F.U.C.KERS OR JUST PULL THE PIN AND SIT ON IT! YOUR F.U.C.K.I.N.G CHOICE!¡±


    ¡°Y-YES, SIR!¡±


    It seemed that the old man''s little pep talk worked as the soldier was brought back instantly. He immediately threw the grenade from where the ferals were stilling before raising his rifle and dumping every single of his bullets towards them. He definitely took down a couple but most of them just slowed them down. Nevertheless, I''d take that any daypared to someone frozen shitless.


    With that said, we still lost our distance with them and my team who were right to me had their hands full. <hr>


    Mikhail was using his PKM at first but once the ferals got too close, he just dropped it on the ground before picking up his king''s weapon and swinging it in wide orpact arcs. We could hear how their skulls got crushed with each swing but there was also some satisfaction with sharpened des passing through flesh like butter.


    Like our big friend, Tatiana took to using her sword and pistol since reloading her M4 would prove difficult in the situation. Ibarra would''ve joined her as well but he was at the back with Kaley and Jared, watching out for the two. Nevertheless, he never stopped firing his rifle, aiming at the ones stilling for us and watching out for the gutter for more surprises.


    I still had six more shells in my magazine tube and I made sure to make them f.u.c.k.i.n.g count.


    I felt the recoil in my shoulder as I unloaded five slugs one after the other but I only managed to take down for and injure one feral. With that said, I let go of my M2 before pulling out my Maxim 9 and katana since bringing out another weapon or two was faster than reloading.


    I first aimed for the one whom I sted part of its kneecap off and it was easy picking because it was just wing its way up to me. A small 9mm projectile ended its life before I took the time to shoot down the regr ones stilling for us. It was a lot harder to shoot urately with one hand but I managed to take down five before holstering my pistol. It was because a muchrger feral wasing for me and I needed both my hands to take it down.


    It instantly tried to w my shoulder off but I met it with my de, lopping a few inches off of its forearm along with what was left of its hand. It took a step back before jumping at me once more but its head got blown off before I managed to lop it off.


    ¡°RELOAD, YOU LITTLE SHIT!¡± <hr>


    I just shook my head before Oscar tried to steal kills from everyone but it only happened between five-to-six shots at most. Nevertheless, no oneined about him doing that because he even lobbed the rest of his grenades to the opening of the drainage gutters. It caused dull explosions but it definitely stopped the motherf.u.c.ker who pulled and took down one of ours.


    As the dead still kepting, I took a few seconds to drop back a few steps and pull out four shells from my shell carriers. After that, I just twisted my M2 to reveal the red loading port, loading four shells two at a time, repeating the process until my extended magazine tube was full once more. Furthermore, I dumped what was left of my Maxim 9 to the ones further back so I coulde back with a fully loaded pistol as well.


    ¡°TATIANA! TAKE TURNS RELOADING!¡±


    ¡°SURE! RIGHT AFTER THIS-¡±


    Oscar bellowed after taking down Tatiana''s kill with his S&W Model 500, ¡°I GOT IT! DO I NEED TO BABYSIT EVERYONE?! IS THIS HOW IT- MOTHERF.U.C.KER! JARED! YOU LITTLE PIECE OF- STOP KILLING MY- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡±


    Jared didn''t say anything as he continued to break the old man''s kill stealing streak. He brought down deadheads faster than the rest of the ferals could try to bridge the gap they were slowly losing. We had the upper hand once more and guns were always the greatest equalizer. However, once we took down thest of the ferals we had, we just moved a few paces back to receive the rest of the undead we were facing.


    It was because fighting them while simultaneously avoiding the ones by our feet was stupid if we could just make things easier by taking a few steps back. It would be harder without our funneling barriers but their permanently deadrades could work as a barrier as well.


    It took us a few more minutes to clear up every single one of them but we still kept watch on the ones that escaped. The soldiers with us started to pile the bodies in the back of the garbage truck while I started to pick up the spent casings I could see on the floor.


    ''Rxing day, huh?''

 Chapter 591

    Chapter 591


    The garbage truck we had was eventually filled to the brim and they left with three soldiers riding it. Their destination was the graveyards we cleared before so that they could have arger space to burn them and so that they wouldn''t have to wash off their carbon residue if they just burned them on the streets. <center></center><hr>


    We took down more stragglers while they were away but Jared was flying his drone inside the squatter areas once more. He was trying to somehow locate or pinpoint the ferals that escaped since one or two of those f.u.c.kers could do enough damage in the right ce at the right time.


    With that said, a few of the soldiers with us have taken the time to search under the drainage gutters for the remains of their fallenrade and the feral that did it. All they found was just his tattered uniform with the rest of his broken equipment, and his dog tag missing a third of it due to the explosion.


    Marlo''s remains seemed to have extra appendages present but we concluded it was the remains of the feral that pulled him down.


    Oscar was looking down at the drainage gutters with a frown, ¡°Hmm¡­¡±


    I grabbed his attention, ¡°What are you thinking about, old man?¡±


    ¡°I''m not sure about this but the broken pipes Harold mentioned might be caused by the ferals or whatever undead residing in these gutters¡­¡±


    I scratched my head, ¡°That could be true but don''t forget that the people in charge of making them before didn''t use the toughest of materials or did the greatest of jobs so that they could receive funding for fixing them over and over.¡±


    ¡°I get ya but making sure our own pipeline is left untouched is the priority. Either that or we start digging a new hole to ce something ten times tougher. Remember kid, all it takes is one drop of their bodily fluids to contaminate our water supply. I''m not being paranoid like you, I''m just stating the facts.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Yeah, I understand. With that said, we could also work on our water storage, water filters, and our rain collectors. There are more ways to procure safe water than just relying on the dam that sends them for free.¡±


    ¡°True, true. Are we gonna stay here or are we gonna move somece else? We have a few more hours before sunset, right?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Don''t forget about the trip back, alright? Unless you want to camp somece unknown, be my guest.¡±


    ¡°Hah! Do you think I can''t do it? You''re underestimating me too much, kid!¡±


    ¡°Ha~? I''m thinking about you, you old fool. Tell me, have you gotten rid of the fact you can''t shit unless it''s your own toilet? Hmm? Or did you forget about that?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Ah¡­ right¡­ Oh! Wait! Kid! I believe I know something you didn''t know yet! Have I taught you the One Paper Toilet Technique?¡±


    ¡°Haa~? What the f.u.c.k is that now?¡±


    Oscar was bbergasted, ¡°WHAT?! I HAVEN''T TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT?! KID! THAT F.U.C.K.I.N.G TECHNIQUE IS REVOLUTIONARY! JUST IMAGINE HOW MUCH TOILET PAPER WE COULD SAVE!¡±


    I shook my head even more, ¡°Old man, I use water and soap to clean my a.s.s. Not some stupid-ass paper that would definitely leave some¡­ remnants. If you want to have shit staining your u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r¡­ you do you. For me, it''s either that or some wet wipes for emergencies. Aren''t you using the bidet I installed at your ce?¡±


    ¡°KID! I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO GATHER ALL OF THE KNOWLEDGE IN THE WORLD! AS IF YOU''D HAVE ACCESS TO SOME F.U.C.K.I.N.G SOAP AND WATER ALL THE TIME! HEAR ME OUT! IT''S RE-VO-LU-TIO-NA-RY! I TELL YA!¡±


    They got too curious and they both asked, ¡°Wh- What is it then?¡±


    Oscar''s eyes lit up as he pulled out a piece of paper, ¡°Ah! Gather around! Gather around! Listen up! The One Paper Toilet Technique is very simple! All you do is fold it in half¡­ like this¡­¡±


    Bogdan and Stefan followed, ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°You fold it once more to form a proper square¡­¡±


    ¡°And then?¡±


    ¡°You''re gonna fold it again but this time, you''re gonna make this corner pointy by folding it diagonally¡­¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­ okay¡­ then what?¡±


    ¡°One more time and you would have something like this!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Uhh~ then¡­ is it-¡±


    ¡°No! It''s not done yet! What you have to do next is to rip off the pointy thingy like this~ and keep it forter!¡±


    ¡°Later?¡±


    ¡°Yeah! You''ll see! You''ll see!¡±


    The two were too focused on following Oscar''s instructions but I was the only one that caught the old man''s hidden grin. With that said, Kaley, Tatiana, and the others grew curious as well and they watched what themotion was about.


    Oscar continued, ¡°Imagine~ You''re in a ce such as this and you don''t have f.u.c.k.i.n.g toilet paper or some f.u.c.k.i.n.g soap and water¡­ This is the only thing that you''d need! Behold!¡±


    Oscar raised the piece of paper that he folded with the ripped end but he suddenly unfolded it in front of everyone, showing a single hole in the middle. Everyone was still getting duped and I was the only one shaking my head.


    Bogdan asked, ¡°And what''s that hole for?¡±


    Oscar waved him off, ¡°You sweet summer child, you got to shit first! Okay! Let''s just say you shat out a f.u.c.k.i.n.g anaconda of a shit and you had nothing to wipe yourself! You see, I myself use five to six squares but this is the solution! Once you''re done, you slip your finger in this hole and just scr.a.p.e up the remnants with your finge-¡±


    ''Ah, I f.u.c.k.i.n.g remember now¡­''


    Everyone g.r.o.a.n.e.d in disgust, ¡°EWW~ WHAT THE F.U.C.K?!¡±


    ¡°THAT''S DISGUSTING!¡±


    ¡°I''D RATHER SCRATCH MY A.S.S AGAINST A CURB!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Guys, that actually sounds like a great ide-¡±


    ¡°You too?! BLEECH!!!¡±


    ¡°WON''T EVERYTHING JUST STICK TO YOUR FINGER?!¡±


    It got too chaotic while a few started dyingughing, but Oscar waved them off.


    ¡°GUYS! GUYS! LISTEN TO ME! I''M NOT DONE! I''M NOT DONE! I KNOW SOME SHIT WOULD STICK TO YOUR FINGER BUT THAT''S WHERE THIS POINTY END WORKS ITS MAGIC! YOU FINALLY PULL IT OUT WITH YOUR OTHER HAND AND YOU USE IT TO SCR.A.P.E EVERY-¡±


    I wasn''t sure how it happened but every single one of my team and the soldiers present just ganged up on Oscar and started beating the living shit out of him. They weren''t hitting him at full force but it was enough to leave the imprint of their shoes on his clothes.


    ¡°Wai- Ack! YOU MOTHERF.U.C.KERS! OW! What the heck?! I''m old and- Ow! HAHAHAHA!!! GOTCHA, YOU MOTHERF.U.C.KERS!¡±


    In the end, we just spend the rest of our allotted time watching out for the dead but the ferals that escaped were never found. I even joined the search with my own drone and I flew it much lower than I did earlier. I even found ways to get inside small vents to gain ess to locked rooms but we never found traces of them. We met up with Jose''s group eventually and we just found out that they would just continue their work tomorrow morning.


    ¡°F.u.c.k.i.n.g worth it, right kid? HAHAHAHA!!! I STILL CAN''T BELIEVE THEY LISTENED TO THAT SHIT! OW! OW! Ow¡­ My back hurts¡­ I think I threw my back fromughing too much¡­¡±


    I almost snorted, ¡°You motherf.u.c.ker, I was the one supposed to troll everyone. I can''t believe you giarized that shit from me!¡±


    Kaley interjected, ¡°What? That''s actually from you? Ew¡­¡±


    ¡°Heh. Humores in all forms! My dad told me that joke from way back. It''s really stupid but it''s funny to get genuine reactions from everybody. But yeah, it took off the edge from Marlo dying. Some of them looked rough as they threw what was left of his corpse on the garbage truck but I''m sure they''d keep his belongings safe.¡±


    Oscar sat upright properly, ¡°Way to kill the mood again, kid~ Just as everybody starts to forget about it, you keep bringing it up!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Heh, that''s the thing. I never forget, remember?¡±


    ¡°Hmph. Just drive, you little shit. I''m just doing what you''re doing when it gets too emotional!¡±


    ¡°Heh. Sure, sure. Well, it''s fine to be sad sometimes¡­¡±


    We drove back the rest of the way safely and we picked up Chris and Charlotte from the port. They were seriously tanned and burnt from spending too much time boating by themselves but they actually managed to snag a tub of fish from the soldiers. It was because they taught them a lot more about growing vegetables and Morales decided it was normal to exchange it with something of value.


    Oscar waved the two over, ¡°You two, have you heard about the One Paper Toilet Tech- Ow! Kid?!¡±


    ¡°You told it to everybody too much! Give it a month before telling it or else it would get stale!¡±


    ¡°But they never heard it yet!¡±


    ¡°Read the room! It''ll be awkward!¡±


    It took us a while to get home and it was already a few minutes past sunset. Almost everyone was already at thepound but Rin immediately pulled Kaley and me aside to talk in private.


    Kaley asked, ¡°What''s wrong?¡±


    Rin replied, ¡°It''s Cynthia¡­ I really don''t know why but she''s just in her room and hasn''te out since. I tried talking to her but she just wants to be left alone¡­¡±


    I asked, ¡°Is she crying or something? Do you know what happened before that?¡±


    Rin shook her head, ¡°She''s not crying as far as I know but she doesn''t even wanna hang out with Micah''s girls when they tried toe to talk to her. She would always follow them but this time¡­ it seemed like she''s avoiding them? I''m really not sure¡­ I wanted to call for Mrs. Marisha but she''s still busy at the hospital¡­¡±


    I nodded a few times, ¡°Okay, we''ll try to talk to her.¡±


    ''Did something happen here or¡­ back home?''

 Chapter 592

    Chapter 592


    Kaley and I just carried our gear back to our room and we just ced them down before heading straight to Cynthia''s room. She had only ever used it to store her clothes since most of the time, she would either bunk with us or with Rin and Tatiana. <center></center><hr>


    I gently knocked on the door, ¡°Cynthia? You still there? Can wee in? It''s just us?¡±


    We just heard some nkets flipping over before she replied, ¡°Wh- Wait a sec! I¡­ C-Come in!¡±


    Kaley just looked at me momentarily before I turned the doorknob and we just saw Cynthia sitting on the bed wearing her pajamas. She seemed to be ying a game on her DS and we could hear a bit of the game music.


    Cynthia forced a smile, ¡°Y-Yes?¡±


    Kaley moved closer as she sat down next to her, ¡°Are you okay? Rin told us you haven''te out this morning even when Micah''s girls went here to pick you up. Is that true?¡±


    Cynthia looked down before sitting by crossing her legs together, ¡°Y-Yeah¡­ it''s just¡­ j-just the vibe with them is¡­ a l-little different when I hang out more with them¡­ Don''t get me wrong¡­ I really like them b-but¡­ you know¡­ When people say don''t meet your heroes? M-Micah''s really great b-but the others are a little too¡­ too¡­ bitchy and m-m.o.a.ny when she''s not around¡­¡±


    I looked at Cynthia much closer, ¡°Hmm? Did something happen with them? Did they say anything? About you? About us?¡±


    Cynthia replied as she fiddled with her toes, ¡°N-Not exactly¡­ You know that they''ve been assigned different jobs here, right? They did a few in the radio station, the gardens, the hospital, but I''d always hear them cining when they excused themselves m-momentarily¡­ I thought they were just having a bad day but they seem to do it every time even if what their job for today is really n-not that hard¡­¡±


    Kaley asked, ¡°All of them?¡±


    Cynthia replied, ¡°N-Not all but you know¡­ it''s really hard to know who it''sing from and whether the person they''re talking to agrees with it or not¡­¡±


    I scratched my head, ¡°That''s really inexcusable but I think they''re still having this celebrityplex going on. Micah''s having the same problem with them but it''s the first time I''ve heard about this. She told us they were working hard but if you''re seeing something different, maybe we need to talk to her as well to let her know. She''s the one supposed to look after them, not us.¡± <center></center><hr>


    Kaley interjected as she tapped me, ¡°Have they¡­ you know¡­ started doing that? I haven''t talked to momtely, maybe they''re just botching half their work since they''re about to do that sometime soon anyway¡­ We''re not even sure how that would turn out¡­¡±


    Cynthia looked down, ¡°They''re really gonna do it?¡±


    Kaley replied, ¡°That''s what they said¡­¡±


    Cynthia looked over to us, ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡­ I know we''ve talked about it before but if it was me¡­ I''d have a hard time doing it with someone¡­ you know¡­ I don''t know as much¡­ U-Umm¡­ w-we d-did it the first day back then but I r-really felt close to you guys! I m-mean, doing it with aplete stranger without evenpletely vibing with them at least¡­ Do you get what I mean? I know that''s what they decided on but still¡­¡±


    The three of us were silent but Tatiana and Rin suddenly came through the door without knocking.


    Tatiana looked at us, ¡°I heard some juicy gossip here! What are you guys talking about? Do you need me to tie them up and show who''s boss?¡±


    Cynthia shook her head in embarrassment, ¡°N-No! Please, don''t do that¡­ It really isn''t much of an issue¡­ I''m really just not feeling it today¡­ sorry¡­ b-but we''re talking about how it''s like doing it with aplete stranger¡­ You know¡­ the job they''re about to be assigned to¡­¡±


    Tatiana chuckled, ¡°Heh, is that so? You and Rin probably wouldn''t know much about it since the only d.i.c.k you''ve had is this guy but let me be honest at least. It''s fun if you''re just looking for a one-time thing but it could be a mix of things happening in between. I got my fair share back home and honestly, I had more fun with women more than men. Well, you know my story already but that''s not the issue here¡­¡±


    Rin tilted her head, ¡°And w-why is that? Aren''t you the one always excited when we''re¡­ we''re gonna do something with-¡±


    Tatiana cut her off as she startedughing, ¡°Hah! This guy is the exception! When it''s just us girls, we''d sometimes just find something that could really fill us up or feel satisfied with and I personally like the ones as big as him. It''s not about the length sometimes but his girth is just f.u.c.k.i.n.g right for me. Something too big could hurt as well and thoserge ones wouldn''t even go in and out as fast as I wanted to.¡±


    I started to scratch my head furiously, ¡°What the f.u.c.k are we even talking about now?!¡± <hr>


    Tatiana looked at me like I''m an idiot, ¡°Your d.i.c.k, obviously.¡±


    Kaley was facepalming, ¡°We''re actually talking about something else¡­¡±


    Rin turned to Kaley, ¡°What is it then?¡±


    I briefly gave the two a recap of what we talked about earlier and they gave us different expressions. Tatiana was lightly surprised by the revtion while Rin seemed to be in agreement with Cynthia. She shared a few times she heard them doing the same thing but it wasn''t as muchpared to what Cynthia heard because she was with them almost all of the time.


    Tatiana waved us over, ¡°I see¡­ I got a solution though. They love your d.i.c.k so much, why don''t you say no for a few days? They''ll realize something''s wrong and maybe they''ll change their ways? If they ask about it, let''s just tell them straight. If they don''t work or continue to bitch and m.o.a.n, no d.i.c.k. Simple, right?¡±


    I facepalmed, ¡°You''re giving me too much credit¡­¡±


    Kaley chuckled, ¡°Shut up. She''s right this time¡­¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    Rin added, ¡°Uh-huh¡­ that might really work¡­¡±


    ¡°You too?! Guys¡­¡±


    Kaley raised one of her eyebrows as she red at me jokingly, ¡°We''re telling you, shut up and ept thepliment!¡± <hr>


    ¡°F-Fine¡­¡±


    Cynthia bit her lip as she looked at us, ¡°W-What if they started to do their job? Wouldn''t they-¡±


    Tatiana scoffed, ¡°You''re not listening to me. This guy''s an exception, okay? How could I exin this¡­ Hmm~ Oh! Let''s just say that he''s the MC of those harem or hentai-whatever shows you tried to make us watch! Get it now? Haaa~ You''ve never been disappointed in s.e.x and it shows¡­¡±


    Cynthia chuckled, ¡°Oh¡­ I s-see. I think¡­¡±


    Kaley interjected, ¡°In simple terms¡­ it''s those moments you need to take care of your own buzz after doing it with someone. It happens but it gets frustrating if it urs too much¡­¡±


    Tatiana chuckled, ¡°It''s like with opening doors¡­dies first, correct?¡±


    We were silent for a few moments but we just startedughing heartily. It was rare for Tatiana to make jokes but it definitely cheered up Cynthia quite a bit. With that said, she sat at our table for this time and it caught Micah''s attention. No one said anything at first and we continued eating with everybody.


    After having a simple meal and having a short meeting, a familiar figure was approaching us.


    Tatiana whispered, ¡°Micah''sing over¡­¡±


    I replied, ¡°Good. It''s better to get rid of the awkwardness and everything else as fast as possible. Let''s just bring everything to the table and hope they understand.¡±


    As I suspected, Micah had already received word of what her girls were doing from Susan and decided to talk it over with Cynthia and everybody. Rin and Cynthia weren''t the only ones seeing what her girls were doing and we discovered that she already gave them a nasty talking to. With that said, it was as if she had the same thought as Tatiana since she told her girls that they were barred from doing it with us unless they get their act together. <hr>


    It was already difficult to give them special treatment because of their past status and they needed to learn that we were theirst chance. Their workload was already lessened to a degree but they should at least do it professionally up until their other work starts.


    To my surprise, it worked like a charm and they promised to stop what they were doing and apologized. However, actions could still speak louder than words and we would only know if they adhered to what they said if we saw improvements. It was decided that they would be separated into pairs tomorrow and they would be working with different people and be given monitors.


    Kaley nudged me, ¡°Are you really fine with that?¡±


    I tilted my head, ¡°With what?¡±


    ¡°You know, taking a small break from them. They''re really beautiful, right? You wouldn''t miss them?¡±


    I chuckled as I smushed her cheeks, ¡°This again? Are you really not getting it or you''re just doing this purposefully so you''d have trouble walking after?¡±


    Kaley pouted as her face turned a shade of red, ¡°N-No, I''m n-not! I''m j-just saying¡­¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Fine. Let me show you then. Come with me.¡±


    ¡°W-Where?¡±


    ¡°We''re skipping our workout!¡±


    ¡°W-Wha- What are you?!¡±


    Kaley didn''t struggle as I carried her like a sack of potatoes once more and I brought her to our room. Much to her surprise, I just hugged her tight before closing my eyes aand trying to fall asleep.

 Chapter 593

    Chapter 593


    Kaley didn''t know what to do the first few seconds because I just nestled my head between her c.h.e.s.t. My hands were wrapped around her and I was almost pinning her down since my full weight was against her. I was justughing internally because even I didn''t know where we would go from here. <center></center><hr>


    ''Let''s just see what she does next¡­''


    ¡°H-Hey¡­ are y-you really gonna sleep? It''s not e-even past 9:00 PM¡­¡±


    I didn''t answer as I continue to breathe slowly.


    ¡°H-Hey¡­ I thought we''re g-gonna¡­ y-you know¡­ since y-you brought me here¡­¡±


    I wasughing internally.


    ¡°H-Hey¡­ T-The light''s s-still on¡­ i-it''s kinda¡­¡±


    I finally gave in as I tried to look at Kaley''s flushed face, ¡°Kinda what? What do you think we''re gonna do? Hmm?¡±


    Kaley stammered once again, ¡°I-I¡­ you know¡­st time we¡­ had¡­ y-you know¡­¡±


    I yed it off, ¡°Had what?¡±


    ¡°Hngh~ Are you really g-gonna make me s-say it?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I dunno~ I''m not really sure what you''re talking about¡­¡±


    ¡°F-Fine¡­ I t-thought we''re gonna have i-i.n.t.e.r.c.o.u.r.s.e¡­¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°Wow~ So formal~ We''re the only ones here, okay? We''re doing it every single night and you''re still embarrassed to say it?¡±


    ¡°Hngh¡­ I-It''s d-different!¡±


    ¡°Okay! Sure~ However, I want tonight to be a little different too. You hear me?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Let''s just say I''ll only do things that you tell me to¡­ I want them to be really~ detailed too. I won''t settle with just f.u.c.k me or something, you have to be hmm~ more explicit about it?¡±


    Kaley started to get red through her neck, ¡°W-What?! W-Why~?¡±


    I just chuckled before lifting myself up right until our faces were close to each other, ¡°Why don''t you start?¡±


    ¡°Y-You¡­ Hngh¡­¡± <hr>


    Kaley tried to pull me towards her but I never budged an inch. She started to just kiss me by lifting her head a few centimeters but I still wasn''t participating. I kept my lips closed as I was faintly smiling and it almost drove her crazy. Her breathing started to get faster and faster and she eventually relented in the end.


    ¡°M-Move closer and k-kiss me o-on my l-lips¡­ l-let me s-suck on y-your tongue too while I taste y-you¡­¡±


    I started to do as I instructed and Kaley received me with much p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. Since I was already pressing against her as I moved closer, she kept pulling me down to grind against her whole body while she explored me with her hands. I enjoyed her sweet lips as our tongues interlocked and she broke our kiss for a short moment.


    ¡°Haa¡­ haaa¡­ c-can you l-lift your shirt?¡±


    I breathed close to her, ¡°Tell me. Don''t ask.¡±


    ¡°Haa¡­ okay¡­ haa¡­ lift y-your shirt.¡±


    Kaley watched me follow her instructions and her eyes scanned all over my body. She gently ran her hands around my torso before she removed her shirt and unhooked her bra. She was cupping her huge b.r.e.a.s.t for a short moment but once she let them go, gravity was at the mercy of them for a few seconds before they bounced back and formed to their perfect shapes.


    Her pink n.i.p.p.l.es were almost s.u.c.k.e.d, pinched, and bitten but this time, I want her to be in control and just be honest with me.


    Kaley started to gently c.a.r.e.s.s and squeeze them, ¡°L-Look at them¡­ W-What do y-you think?¡±


    ¡°T-They''re the perfect size, shape, and everything I could think of¡­ I''d choose to sleep between them instead of our pillows¡­ If your n.i.p.p.l.es are like the erasers at the end of a pencil, they would''ve been long gone¡­¡± <hr>


    Kaley let out a smile as she tried to contain herughter, ¡°Puu¡­ Hmph! You can''t touch them yet¡­ Kiss me more¡­ I''ll tell you when to sto- I mean¡­ go l-lower¡­¡±


    I tasted her sweet lips once more and the longer we took, the more hurried her breathing became. I witnessed her c.u.m.m.i.n.g from us just kissing before and it seemed like it would happen again. With that said, it didn''t take long before Kaley started to shake and tremble, albeit softly but her flushed and euphoric expression revealed it all. She started to slow down as she bit my lip but that was when she told me to go a bit lower.


    ¡°Haa¡­ yes¡­ there¡­ pinch them¡­ Mmh! Lick my other- my n-n.i.p.p.l.es too! Ah! Haa¡­ Ahn¡­ Kiss them¡­ Kiss them¡­ like that! Oh! Ahn! Here too¡­ Haa¡­ ha¡­¡±


    I licked and s.u.c.k.e.d on Kaley''s huge t.i.t.s until they were covered in my spit but I continued nibbling on her pink n.i.p.p.l.es while pinching the other with my hands. Her back arched a few times as she continued to tremble from p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e and all she could do was m.o.a.n and run her hands through my hair before pushing me even more against her b.r.e.a.s.ts.


    After a while, Kaley was already having a hard time describing what she wanted me to do but I kept on enforcing our rules for this night. Her face still beet red but most of them were from trying to tell me what she wanted explicitly.


    We got to her juicy parts soon and calling the wet spot between her thick t.h.i.g.hs drenched was an understatement. She already came multiple times from what we did earlier and a small spot in our bed that was wet due to some seepage. I was waiting for Kaley''s instructions but she looked more excited than me.


    I lightly blew on her special spot as I drew closer, ¡°What do you want me to do?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I want you to¡­ l-lick m-my¡­ my p-p.u.s.s.y clean before sticking your t-tongue as deep as you could¡­ I¡­ I also w-want you to p-prod my l-little asshole w-with your finger while you also p-y w-with my c.l.i.t¡­ I''ll¡­ I''ll k-keep my legs open so y-you¡­ c-could eat m-me for a w-while¡­¡±


    ¡°Wow~ How vulgar~ Aren''t you being too greedy? Hmm?¡±


    ¡°S-Shut up! Y-You want m-me to say those things¡­ so I said them¡­¡± <hr>


    I teased her even more, ¡°Yeah, but¡­ do you r-really want me to-¡±


    Kaley snapped as she cut me off, ¡°Y-Yes! Just stick your tongue down there before I do it myself! C-C''mere!¡±


    As soon as she snapped, Kaley pulled my face close and rubbed it against her fat c.u.n.t over and over. Her legs were open wide and she was moving her h.i.p.s while I was trying to catch some air. However, once I caught a whiff of her womanly scent, I just grabbed hold of her legs before engorging on her warm insides. I spread her puffy lips apart before sticking my tongue down her little opening.


    I wanted to y with her c.l.i.t and her asshole too but she was just moving too much, I just started s.u.c.k.i.n.g on her c.l.i.t and fl.i.c.k.i.n.g it with my tongue while I pushed two of my fingers inside her. It was so warm and silky to the touch but I soon moved over to her little asshole.


    ¡°Ahn~! G-Grab my- Grab my tits! Like this! Like thi- Ahn~ Mmh! I''m cu- Ah! Shit! Mmh~ Oh shi- Ah! Lick them! Lick them! Hnn¡­ Ahn¡­ Ah! Ah! F-F.u.c.k¡­. Hngh¡­ It''s- Ah! I''m c.u.mm- I''m c.u.m.m.i.n.g! I''M C.U.M.M.I.N.G~!¡±


    Kaley''s face turned into a mess and it didn''t take long before something warm gushed out. Her whole body trembled as she started to c.u.m hard and squirt all over me. Her back was arched at an angle and I could see the full view of her fat p.u.s.s.y but I continued to grab her right tit while continuing to finger her little asshole. It was slightly expressed but my thumb was prodding the surface of her c.u.n.t.


    All she could do was grab on my arm and shake all over, and I felt her nails digging deep on me. Her o.r.g.a.s.msted for a few more seconds but after that was done, she just pushed me down and started kissing me.


    ¡°Now, you''ve done it¡­¡±


    Kaley was still trembling at a few intervals but she kept on grinding her p.u.s.s.y on the bulge in my shorts. Her breathing was hurried as she was still kissing me but she grabbed my arms and ced them over her b.r.e.a.s.ts. She was making me squeeze and grope her huge udders while she started to grind on me faster and faster. The tip of my d.i.c.k was almost peeking out due to how forceful she was but I lost it when she raised both of her arms.


    I was still grabbing her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts and I instantly came when I saw her smooth underarms. I was already close just from her grinding against me but the visual stimtion was just too much.


    Kaley bit her lip as she stroked me, ¡°Can I have some more?¡±

 Chapter 594

    Chapter 594


    Kaley and I were alone in our room and even if the cold air was blowing, our bodies were keeping each other warm. She was still almost in all fours as she was looking at me; face close to my hard shaft, one hand stroking it while her a.s.s was up in the air. <center></center><hr>


    I was still trying to control my breathing but Kaley didn''t give me a chance to answer her question.


    Kaley ran her lips against the side of my d.i.c.k before her tongue coiled by the tip. She started to suck me off while stroking me but she lifted her body and grabbed her huge t.i.t.s before putting me in between them. After that, she stuck her tongue out, letting her warm saliva fall in her deep cleavage and the tip of my d.i.c.k before moving up and down.


    My d.i.c.k was sliding in and out of her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts as it was getting smothered and all I could do was grunt and groan in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e.


    Kaley was looking directly into my eyes as she was breathing heavily, ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­ You really like this, don''t you?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°Do you like how your d.i.c.k slide in and out between them? Huh?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes! F.u.c.k¡­ Wha-¡±


    ¡°How about this? Mmh¡­ Haa¡­¡±


    ¡°F-F.u.c.k me¡­¡±


    I was already losing my mind but Kaley grabbed my d.i.c.k by the base before rubbing the tip against her hard, pink n.i.p.p.l.es. She was roughly stroking me as she was rubbing it against them but Kaley''s other hand was already snaking its way into her crotch. She''d alternate between s.u.c.k.i.n.g my d.i.c.k and rubbing it against her n.i.p.p.l.es, but all I could hear was her warm insides squelching from her own fingers.


    I wanted to f.u.c.k her so badly and she just read my mind.


    ¡°You know¡­ they''re not enough anymore¡­ it''s all this big one''s fault¡­ Wanna help me out? Oh¡­ I forgot¡­ I''ll just help myself¡­ Justy down and let me f.u.c.k you¡­¡±


    I didn''t say a word as I was just looking at her but she eventually raised her body and pointed my shaft in the right direction. The surface of her c.u.n.t was already so f.u.c.k.i.n.g wet and she easily took me in halfway before she went all the way down. With that said, Kaley gasped as she reached the base and her eyes rolled over. She was just so f.u.c.k.i.n.g tight and warm inside, I would''vee even if she wasn''t moving. <center></center><hr>


    Once she got her bearings, Kaley wrapped her arms around my neck before she started kissing me. Her body was already moving up and down but I also wrapped my arms around her before moving in the same pattern she was. We were going so slow at first but it didn''t take long before we went faster and faster. Our skin was just pping against each other over and over and our voices were just as loud.


    ¡°Ahn! Ahn! Ahn! F.u.c.k! Haa¡­ Ah! Shit~ It''s hitting my- It''s hitting my- AH! F.U.C.K¡­ F.U.C.K! AH! HNGH! DON''T STOP! R-RIGHT TH- AH! MMNH! AHN! YES! I- AH! AH!¡±


    I was hitting Kaley''s deepest parts even if she was almost pushing me out from how tight she was, I would force my way through, digging deeper and deeper. I was also pping her fat and juicy a.s.s while I was s.u.c.k.i.n.g on her huge udders, and she already came a couple of times. However, once I came inside of her, she didn''t let me pull it out to take some rest. She made me f.u.c.k her over and over in the same spot even if it was already overflowing.


    We were already losing our minds but no one was willing to let go.


    With that said, there was still one particle spot I haven''t been inside yet but once I kept rubbing the surface with my fingertips, Kaley received my message.


    Kaley was out of breath, ¡°Y-You can f.u.c.k my a-ass too i-if you want¡­¡±


    I continued to prod her asshole with my fingers, ¡°Wanna go d.o.g.g.y?¡±


    ¡°Haa¡­ haa¡­ c-can wey on our sides? I want you groping my t-tits while you kiss my n-neck¡­¡±


    Laying on our sides was easy enough and I just used our fluids to get inside her much tighter hole. I had to push my way in for a few times first but I almost lost control when I went all the way in. I just rammed my d.i.c.k inside her little asshole over and over and Kaley was already crying out my name in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. With that said, she ced my arm between her t.i.t.s while her fingers continued to go in and out of her p.u.s.s.y.


    I pulled her closer to kiss her neck but she would turn her head a few times just to kiss me. I nibbled on her ears that were so red but she would twitch each time I would pinch her n.i.p.p.l.es. They were so f.u.c.k.i.n.g s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to the touch but her c.l.i.t hidden between her puffy lips was even more. Once I felt her tightening around me, I pinched her aching c.l.i.t and rubbed it over and over.


    ¡°ANH! I''M C-C.U.MMM- I''M C.U.M.M.I.N.G AGAIN! I''M C.U.M- HNGH! C-C.U.M.M.I.N.G! WHA- I''M ALREA- HNGH! OH MY- F.U.C.K~~~!¡±


    Kaley started squirting once more but I looked for the other spot located inside her. I was holding her tight as I continued to rearrange her guts and all she could do was give way for me. I filled her holes over and over and we couldn''t remember how much we switched ces to give each other a good time.


    She trusted me with her bodypletely and I trusted her with mine. I know all of her favorite spots and nuances as well as she did for me. We f.u.c.k.e.d for hours until we copsed on each other and Kaley lost feeling in her legs for a few minutes. I had to carry her in our tub, absolutely loving her flushed expression. <hr>


    Kaley was so embarrassed when I tried soaping her up but I once the numbness in her legs dissipated, she just pounced on me and did the same thing. She even tried to carry me back into our room but she instantly dropped me when I tried to tickle her. I rolled on the floorughing but she was ring at me while pouting cutely.


    ¡°We almost made it! Why''d you have to- Wha?!¡±


    ¡°It''s my job to carry you back, also¡­¡±


    I brought her back like a sack of potatoes but I threw her in the air,nding on our bed while her skin was glistening with the remaining droplets of water on her body. I just jumped andnded the same way and we just shared a nket to cover our n.a.k.e.d bodies. The cold air blew continuously and Kaley used my arm as a pillow.


    I pulled her close until she was using me as a body pillow while I ran my fingers through her hair, ¡°Had fun?¡±


    Kaley hugged me tighter, ¡°Yep¡­ Always¡­¡±


    I gave her a kiss on her forehead, ¡°Isn''t it better if we just tell each other what we want? We sometimes have the same idea but it''s-¡±


    Kaley nestled even closer as she kissed me, ¡°Y-Yeah¡­ Sorry¡­ I love you¡­ I love you so much¡­¡±


    I said the same thing back and we gave each other a kiss before falling into a deep slumber. We slept early for once and we got more time to spend with each other since we woke up a few hours early. We definitely did a few more rounds under our covers and it was just as sweet and special if we were the only ones involved. However, it would always get wilder and wilder until we ran out of juice.


    After another trip to our shower, we decided to take a walk outside ourpound just to check on everyone still awake from patrolling or guard duty. It was supposed to be just us two but Zeus insisted hee with us. He was scouting ahead of us, chasing away anyone that blocked our path even if it was people he already knew.


    I chuckled, ¡°Zeus, aren''t you being a little too grumpy?¡±


    Zeus shook tilted his head, ¡°Woof?¡±


    ¡°I told you to get some more sleep, right? Now you''re too irritated. How are you gonna watch our house and your little brothers and sisterster? Hmm?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Woof¡­¡±


    I was about to tell him to go back but he just slumped on the ground and demanded to me that I carry him while he slept. Kaley wasughing her a.s.s off the whole way back but I wasn''t the only one wearing a disgruntled expression when we walked back.


    If looks could kill, Tatiana would''ve already beat up Vera and the rest who were teasing her nonstop.


    Olivia eximed, ¡°y it again! y it again! What''s his name again? Enrique?¡±


    Vera nodded, ¡°Yup. He kept sending her messages like this and she would always delete them. However, I just managed to save this one!!¡±


    Kaley interjected, ¡°What is it?¡±


    Everyone else just looked at Tatiana and all she could do was stuff her face with our breakfast.


    Vera yed the audio file once more, ¡°Here we go~¡±


    [Ei~ Tatiana! Miss me? It''s me! Your friendly vato from another campo! I always send you your beloved messages but today, I decided to write you a rap song! Here it goes~]


    ''What the fu-''


    A simple beat just resounded and it seemed like it was recorded while everyone around him was drinking. We could also hear faint gunshots from the distance but it seemed to be one of the games from Mr. Cuervo''s ce. With that said, the first of many verses started and Tatiana started to grow more and more furious.


    [Tatiana~ I can''t wait for ma?ana~


    Every time I see your face I always shout arriba~ <hr>


    Let''s face it!


    I know you''re in love with me,


    The next time that you''re in this ce we''ll f.u.c.k eternally.


    Ai~ Papi~


    Dios mio~ Ai~ Ai~ Ai~ Mi Culo~


    It''s¨C *KKRT* *cCChk*]


    We were just about to get to the juicy bits but Tatiana just poured a gallon of water over Vera, damaging the tape and losing thest copy.


    ¡°VERA! IF YOU MAKE COPIES OF THOSE, I''LL F.U.C.K.I.N.G END YOU!¡±


    Olivia turned to Cynthia, ¡°What does culo mean?¡±


    Cynthia turned red, ¡°Ah~ I''ll tell youter¡­¡±


    The breakfast we had turned into a chaotic mess and it just ended up with Tatiana and Vera soaked with water. However, I saw another tape that Rin was holding and it seemed that it was for me.

 Chapter 595

    Chapter 595


    As soon as Rin handed me the tape, everyone else''s expression turned solemn. The ce suddenly got too quiet and some of them weren''t even able to look in our direction. With that said, they had a spare cassette yer on hand and I instantly yed it for everyone to listen in. <center></center><hr>


    Kaley and I were listening as it loaded but once the ever-so-familiar opening riff started, both of us just started to facepalm and mercilessly attack everybody.


    [We''re no strangers to love~]


    ¡°Help! Help! It''s just a joke~! It''s just a joke~!¡±


    [You know the rules, and so do I~]


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!¡±


    [A fullmitment''s what I''m thinking of~]


    ¡°Why me?! Why me?! EARL STARTED IT!¡±


    [You wouldn''t get this from any other guy~]


    ¡°WHAT?! YOU F.U.C.K.I.N.G SNITCH!¡±


    [I~~~]


    ¡°RUNNNNN~~~!!!¡±


    [Just wanna tell you what I''m feeling~]


    ¡°HELP! HELP! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!¡±


    Everything got chaotic for a while but everyone just startedughing once everything else calmed down. Earl, Juan, and Vera took the brunt of the ''beatings'' but it was more like greasy pork chops getting smooshed and pped in their faces. Kaley and I foolishly falling for a Rick-roll instantly boosted morale and everyone was just smiling as we continued eating. <center></center><hr>


    I gathered my main group once more to go out and another two weeks had passed since then.


    Most of the work we aplished had something to do with reiming more area for the living but a bit of demolition went into y. It was because we could only do so much by smoking the dead out and there woulde a time that we needed to use a stick of dynamitepared to a simple bait and hook in a fishing line.


    Furthermore, we used fewer bullets to take down whatever f.u.c.k.i.n.g deadhead that came out running because we encircled the areas that they might break through with traps that would funnel them and get held in a tight spot. After that, we would easily pick them off with a pike or something sharp and long.


    Honestly, it took more time to set up everything because we could easily clear a block in a couple of hours.


    Despite all that, we still had resources getting buried in the rubble and still had a lot more ces to clear and bring down east of the parallel way we opened up. It was kinda wasteful to do everything roughly but our progress to get to where one of Iskoh''s outposts bore fruit eventually. Iskoh himself weed us at the port that they''ve reimed themselves and he shared a few of his own aplishments over a few days of staying over.


    ¡°Seriously? You''re really taking it slower, eh?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you heard right. Starting from here, turning to the US Embassy and straight through the ce you''ve helped us takeover, everything has been ounted for. The facilities avable are either closed uppletely or have been repurposed to something useful. The spige of the dead is still unavoidable but it''s safer than before. We''re also growing a lot of crops and the Man Ocean Park over there is the ce we breed and farm most of our fish. Some are still for disy but we''ve eaten a few exotics once.¡±


    ¡°Heh, howvish.¡±


    ¡°Like you''re one to talk. I''m not the one still eating rice every single day. I''d trade that for sea urchins, oysters, and some shark meat.¡±


    ¡°You f.u.c.k.i.n.g got some uni?! Shit, do you want me to beat you up again?¡±


    ¡°I''m serious. I''m offering a trade right now since I know you got the f.u.c.k.i.n.g hookup. I''ll take a cup of rice more than the things I''ve f.u.c.k.i.n.g mentioned. I know they''re delicious but there''s no way I''d trade them up for what I grew up in.¡±


    ¡°Damn, you swearing openly now? Heh. Then I won''t be polite. I''m real partners with Mauricio and he has control of some farms in Bcan. The next harvest wouldn''t be until three more months but they''ve gotten ahold of a few more warehouses. They''re smaller counterparts of the Intercity but their stocks were basically untouched ever since it started. Oh yeah, the Intercity trades in everything now. It used to just trade rice and a few items but it had gone so far as to trade everything you could think of, evenbor.¡±


    ¡°Wait. Howe you''re still finding more untouched ces?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly untouched, to be honest. We just found a bunch of bastards who thought what they''re doing wouldn''t get into our radar. Mauricio isn''t the only one that had a huge supply of rice but unlike them, he had our support. With that said, they''re still people jealous of his standing and they just had to ruin it for everybody.¡± <hr>


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°Just a few days ago, a few of our supposed business partners got discovered to be hitting up other people that were supposed to trade in the Intercity. We thought it was another rogue group but a few hours of ''questioning'' revealed everything. It was weird getting traded the same item you just gave away and we nted a few marked ''goods'' to make sure.¡±


    ¡°Jesus f.u.c.k.i.n.g christ. You really can''t fix stupid. If I''d ever do that shit, I won''t get caught.¡±


    ¡°Long story short, they''re cherry-picking the items they want and they''re storing them somece else. Once they had the better quality of items, more people would just go to them instead of driving to the Intercity. They''re getting free stuff too and that''s hurting everyone. The less people that drive to the Intercity, the less items we could barter and information we could share.¡±


    ¡°You killed them all then?¡±


    ¡°Mostly.¡±


    ¡°Mostly?¡±


    ¡°Mauricio spared their workers and they were given work. Some tend the farms while some got sent to their bar.¡±


    ¡°Bar? You got such a thing now?¡±


    ¡°You don''t?¡±


    ¡°No¡­¡±


    ¡°It''s more than just a bar though¡­ it''s essentially part red-light district. A much messier counterpart to my elegant escort service. You see, not only thedies could offer their bodies to the ones with deeper pockets. It works both ways if you have something to offer that someone wanted.¡±


    ¡°Wait, hold up. You have f.u.c.k.i.n.g brothels now?! What the f.u.c.k?!¡±


    ¡°Chill. You had the same reaction as everyone but it did more good than bad in my ce. Everyone''s medically checked first and the person giving the service is up for it. It brought s.e.x-rted crimes down if there ever was, calmed down tense individuals, and there''s a hidden perk it came with.¡± <hr>


    ¡°Huh? What do you mean by that?¡±


    ¡°I don''t want to call it spying but they''re not bound to doctor-patient confidentiality. You''re familiar with some pillow talk, right? I''ve been getting some reports with issues that haven''t been brought up to meetings and I''d identally have a hunch and fix it for everyone. I couldn''t say the same for Mauricio''s bar but I''m doing everything responsibly. Morality from someone conservative could be an issue but it''s no longer a problem once you went past it.¡±


    ¡°Still¡­ I haven''t heard this happening¡­¡±


    ¡°Then you''re gonna get shocked when you discover that the main escorts are Micah''s girls. A few managed to get in too because they''d rather open their legs than do work. Well, it''s work in a way and no one''s gonna tell me that''s it''s not.¡±


    ¡°Woah! Woah! What the hell?! How the f.u.c.k did you manage to do that?! That''s the girl group of Rod''s woman, right?! How young are they?!¡±


    ¡°They''re of legal age, of course. Wait till you learn about what''s happening on the president''s side. They''re doing something simr but it''s no way close to mine.¡±


    Iskoh started to have headaches but I needed to learn more about the ce he''s in charge with. I could still remember the squatter area that Rod torched and we actually caught a glimpse of it a few times on the way.


    ¡°How about the other gangs that survived the president? Are they still lurking about?¡±


    ¡°Answer me this question first.¡±


    ¡°Sure?¡±


    ¡°You guys wreaked havoc in Tondo, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, in a sense. We brought that big thing you see over the bridge. That thing did all the work and we''d just leave it after we''re done. It could never get stolen because no one was even living in that area and no one would even use that as an everyday vehicle to go ces. The hatch we made it difficult to open too if you don''t know the proper steps. We still need to clear a lot more barangays but the path here is clear, rtively speaking.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±


    ¡°So, my question earlier¡­¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yeah¡­ about that. We shed with them a few times but what''s left of them eventually surrendered. They''re doing hardbor in the day and they''re being kept in their cells at night. We actually have close to a thousand people now and some of them also came from the neighboring cities. They''re being fed two meals a day but¡­¡±


    ¡°But?¡±


    ¡°They kept saying they surrendered because there''s another group in Tondo. They''ve described what they''ve looked like and I''m f.u.c.k.i.n.g sure it wasn''t you guys.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, that ce is kinda big though and we just skirted the sides.¡±


    ¡°True, you better look out for them then. They said that they''re only a small group but that group whittled them down over and over without a single loss. Also, they''d hit them when and where it hurts and the moment they got almost taken outpletely was when they were justing back from a raid.¡±


    ¡°Hmm. You said small. How small? Did they ever attack you guys?¡±


    ¡°They mentioned that they weren''t even a dozen and no, my soldiers never encountered them. They could just be protecting their own turf or something else but we''ll never know. They just went in and out and the gangs I''m having trouble in Quiapo just gave up and surrendered. Take note, they''re experiencing the same threats as us and they only surrendered because of that group.¡±


    ¡°Heh. Then I''ll make friends with them.¡±


    ¡°What?! Did you even listen to a word I said?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Do you want me to rey it over and over?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Hear me out. If they''re living somewhere around Tondo and have survived despite their numbers. They know the f.u.c.k they''re doing. We''ve been up and down this road for a while and they possibly AND quite purposefully avoided us. Did you forget we caused a ruckus just to get here? It''s like holding on to your car''s horn while driving the streets! If they wanted to employ gueri tactics, they would''ve done so earlier.¡±


    ¡°Maybe they know who to not mess with.¡±


    ¡°Yep. But that already meant something in my books. They have a good head on their shoulders and I could work with that.¡±


    ¡°It''s like I''m speaking to a wall¡­ Oh, just know that they said that they never used guns and vehicles too. They''re in and out without anyone''s notice until it''s all over.¡±


    ¡°Geez. I''m already sold to making friends with them. You don''t need to add more. What are they like?¡±

 Chapter 596

    Chapter 596


    Iskoh tried to give me a general idea of their appearance based on the interview that he made but I still asked for the people that caught a glimpse of the group we were talking about. After a short while, two gangbangers were escorted to our location, and aside from the crude tattoos on their bodies, one of them had a fresh gash on the right of his body while the other had a pencil-sized hole on his shoulder. <center></center><hr>


    Their eyes looked tired but they tried to appear as cooperative as possible while giving me curious nces. With that said, two soldiers were right behind them even if they were wearing cuffs.


    ''Hmm¡­''


    Iskoh looked at them before saying, ¡°Gentlemen, sorry to bother you while you two are resting in your cells. My friend here just wanted to ask you some questions. I hope it''s not much trouble?¡±


    ¡°N-Not at all¡­¡±


    ¡°I-It''s fine¡­¡±


    I gave them a short greeting before asking, ¡°I was told you were the only ones that caught a glimpse of the group that attacked each one of you? Can you tell me everything you could say about them? It could be anything; the clothes they were wearing, the weapons they were using, vehicles, tattoos, general appearance, stance, gait, how they attacked you, and etc.¡±


    ¡°U-Umm¡­¡±


    ¡°Gait? I don''t-¡±


    I waved them off, ¡°Don''t worry. Any info you could give me is fine. It doesn''t need to be too detailed. Let''s start with something simple¡­ What caused those injuries?¡±


    The guy with the injury on his shoulder spoke first, ¡°My guy was using an expensive(?) slingshot but he''s using arrows instead of you know¡­ rocks. I just finished pissing and a f.u.c.k.i.n.g arrow made its way as I turned around.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I see, what did he look like then?¡±


    ¡°I didn''t see much¡­ He''s wearing a mask, gloves, and a hoodie. Oh! I almost forgot about the Jordans he''s wearing~ Damn, boy! Those are the numbered shit if I ever saw one. Wait- I almost went off- let me restart¡­ the clothes¡­ hmm¡­ I didn''t manage to see if he''s wearing a belt that had anything on it but he has those bags where you ce those arrows in.¡±


    ¡°A quiver.¡±


    ¡°Right! Whatever that is.¡±


    ¡°Is that all you saw?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah? Oh! H-He''s kinda shorter than I am? He''s really quick too. I thought he was gonna kill me but he just stole my knife and my gun. Hurts like hell when he pulled out his arrow though¡­ The motherf.u.c.ker just pulled it out like he''s the pull-out king or something!¡±


    ¡°Sure, but Isn''t stabbing you once you''re down much easier? Why''d he let you go?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I really dunno¡­ the others weren''t so lucky when they got lit up.¡±


    ¡°Lit up?¡±


    ¡°Ask this guy right here.¡± <hr>


    The other guy waiting for his turn eventually spoke up and told us what happened on his side. Apparently, the house they were staying at suddenlybusted in mes after a short explosion. Almost all of them were sleeping inside as well and our current guy just happened to be f.u.c.k.i.n.g someone in the bathroom. Long story short, the door right next to him suddenly blew to his side, causing several injuries.


    The only reason they survived was that he and the girl he was f.u.c.k.i.n.g jumped through the small window they had avable. However, he was also ''let go'' because he just saw a group of people running in the shadows, away from everything. He told me that they were all wearing the same scheme of clothes as the first one and it would be difficult to identify them just by looks alone.


    I asked a few more questions and Iskoh was right next to me, telling me that he already asked the same questions I did after. He didn''t say anything at first because he just wanted to know whether their story would change or not.


    ¡°A-Are we done?¡±


    ¡°We''ve told you e-everything we know¡­¡±


    I looked at them for a moment before asking, ¡°This is gonna be a long shot but I''ll ask anyway¡­ I''ll just assume at this point but to the number of people you''ve taken items forcefully or gave a death sentence, which one of them you let escape? As far as we know, this thing is a revenge plot and they seem to be targeting you guys even with their small numbers.¡±


    The two just shook their heads, ¡°W-We really don''t know¡­¡±


    I lightly scoffed, ¡°You guys may go now. Sucks to be on the receiving end, eh?¡±


    I simply tried to fish for a reaction but I''ve never seen the look of defeat in their eyes more apparent than anyone. Gangbangers like them wouldn''t give up or just die guns zing but it was a different case for them. Their willpower just got shaved off over and over and they were just an empty shell of what they once were. Nevertheless, they were sc.u.mbags and they deserved more in my opinion.


    They were soon escorted to their cells while Iskoh and I head to one of the roadblocks they''ve put up in their checkpoints. <hr>


    They were made by stacking up a couple of shipping containers and adding a few more to the side to act as a plug or a funnel. Some roads arepletely blocked off but once the area further out gets cleared, they would be moved a block or two away. With that said, making use of the ''airlock'' system was always in ce, making the central area between the roadblocks a kill zone for anything that might breach or jump up.


    It was a simple way to separate the regr ones from the specials since they would easily have the ability to climb over the shipping containers without any issue. However, in the few seconds that they were trying to climb up, they would easily be met with gunfire to instantly kill them, an entangling device for capture, or a maiming device if you want to do less of the first two options.


    Iskoh was sessful in catching one mostly intact but he''d always turn their hands and feet into stumps before storing them for transport.


    The number of times they''ve repurposed their shipping containers into something else just gave me a lot of ideas. Aside from using them as checkpoints and using them for storage, Iskoh had his group repurpose them into secure housing units, watchtowers, gardens, a pool, a funnel, traps, and etc. Another advantage is they could build a mobile city because they could just easily move them with the trucks they had on hand.


    All they needed to do was to load them up in case SHTF and they wouldn''t need to rebuild from scratch. It sounded stupid but they could actually have a bug-out city if they had the luxury of making one. It would look like a city of rectangles but everything they needed to start something new could be in the palm of their hands.


    We were casually talking with Iskoh''s soldiers but he suddenly had a thought as he turned to me. He was smiling a bit too cheekily and then he opened his mouth.


    ¡°Oh yeah, I believe I still haven''t shown you the car that I found. Wanna take a look?¡±


    ¡°Ooh~ You found something nice then? What is it?¡±


    ¡°You''ll see, you''ll see.¡±


    ¡°What is it?! Muscle? Tuner? Or those exotic ones?¡± <hr>


    Iskoh never said a word as he kept on smiling and I couldn''t believe he would keep a secret these past few days. However, it didn''t matter as much because I lost all hope when the sheets covering it were pulled off.


    It was just a f.u.c.k.i.n.g Civic.


    Iskoh was wearing a proud look, ¡°Such a beaut- Ow! What the f.u.c.k?!¡±


    I was trying my best to not hit him multiple times, ¡°A Civic?! All the mysteriousness for a Civic?! I thought you were gonna reveal an LFA, a DB9, or even a Porsche! Dude! Are you this f.u.c.k.i.n.g in?! What do you have for breakfast every day? in oatmeal and white bread?!¡±


    ¡°Excuse~ me?! You''re gonna shit on it even if you haven''t seen what it''s running on?! I''m so f.u.c.k.i.n.g disappointed¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh! It''s a sleeper then! Pop the hood! Lemme see!¡±


    As soon as Iskoh popped the hood, my head got all confused because something was definitely wrong. Aside from this Civic having a V6 engine, some parts are different or shouldn''t be present. It took me a second to figure everything out and I smiled from ear to ear once I came to the realization.


    ¡°It got converted to rear-wheel drive, right?! RIGHT?! KEYS! I NEED TO DRIVE THIS THING!¡±


    ¡°Only if I''ll ride shotgun!¡±


    It didn''t take long before the two of us were inside his car and I gunned it from the get-go. It was unbelievable to hear his Civic roar differently but the look on everyone''s faces when it drifted in the first corner was f.u.c.k.i.n.g priceless.


    I gunned it straight into the Rizal Park and Iskoh was already clutching his hands on everything.


    ¡°WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! THIS IS A MISTAKE!¡±

 Chapter 597

    Chapter 597


    Iskoh''s screaming got drowned out by the engine''s sound but it overpowered it momentarily when I attacked corners over and over. We were dangerously close to hitting each guard rail and barrier but I would pull out just at the exact same time. There was much to be d.e.s.i.r.ed with the suspension but it was enough to give our mayor a heart attack-like event. <center></center><hr>


    I ended my run after chaining a Rockford turn with a wide drift back to our same spot, and I could smell the burnt rubber once we went out. Iskoh was leaning forward while his hands were on the top of his knees and he was about to throw up. However, he kept everything together beforeing right in my face.


    ¡°WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!¡±


    ¡°I wish I knew, heh. Well, a lot of things to bepletely honest.¡±


    ¡°AREN''T YOU SUPPOSED TO GO EASY ON THE FIRST TURN, AT LEAST?!¡±


    ¡°I did. Wanna go again?¡±


    ¡°AGAIN?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN AGAIN?! Geez¡­ I''m supposed to give you this car as a surprise after you drive it but-¡±


    ¡°Wait. Really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know you have that Charger fromst time but it wouldn''t hurt to have extras. This is a nice sleeper, right?¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ I know someone from back home that would definitely appreciate this. He''s looking for something in and this might work just right. You don''t mind me giving it to someone, right?¡±


    ¡°Sure, sure. Just keep that thing away from me. I didn''t even know it could do that¡­¡±


    ¡°Heh. So, where''s your real car then?¡±


    ¡°No. You''re not driving that. It''s too¡­ too-¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Shit¡­ Fine¡­ I drive an M3. I drive it around and sometimes even outside.¡±


    ¡°M3? BMW, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Cool.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°You don''t sound impressed.¡±


    ¡°Eh~ Just not my thing¡­ I love muscles and tuners but not so much for that type of stuff¡­ looks too¡­ ssy¡­ you know, for rich people and shit.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh¡­ Forget my DB9 then¡­¡±


    ¡°Damn! Well, that still looks ssy to me too¡­ I''d give some considerations with an LFA and a 911 though¡­ they look slick like the rest but I''d be d to drive them. Anyway, where else do you need help with? We''ll be going back in this afternoon and you better make use of us while we''re still here.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±


    Iskoh thought for a while as he looked at me and when I thought he would send me outside with the rest of my crew, he asked for something that was equally important in this day and age.


    Iskoh gave me a sly grin, ¡°I''d give you a copy of that once you arrange everything to your tastes. How much time do you need?¡±


    I shook my head but I was smiling internally, ¡°I''d have this done before we go home. Are you sure that this is everything?¡±


    ¡°Yep. Everything in this city plus a little extra.¡±


    ¡°Extra? I''ll get on it then.¡±


    I was almost covered with a mountain of public and private records and files on thick ledgers or pulled out hard drives. With that said, Iskoh and his assistants still offered help so they could learn how I do things.


    I created a new database and a system for them to use so that everything they had could be essed and used easily either by an electronic device or just in old paper and pencil if ites down to it. They already had something set in ce but it was full of holes and needed more than just a touch-up.


    What I started to make included proper lists, doc.u.mentation, and information about everyone and everything.


    With his people, I pulled out all of their records and created a file for each one of them that contained their past life and their current job or designation within his rule. In doing that, it could also reveal people that are either missing or already put down to get a proper idea of the people we were leading.


    Aside from creating lists for his people, the inventory system I created for him included logs of who gave and received the item plus what, when, and how much or many was the given item. The inventory system spanned rations, guns, ammo, food, water, gas, medicine, vehicles, and etc.


    Everything else was interconnected within everyone''s profiles and it was the same exact thing I was running back at home.


    The extra information Iskoh talked about earlier was the records in the outskirts and the outer edges of the City of Man. It included bits of information about the cities of Pasay, Mandaluyong, Makati, and Quezon. They weren''t as big because they were from schools, barangay halls, or hospitals but every bit of information about people, supplies, and anything else could help.


    While I was continuously working, my radio was on and I was listening in to Artem''s group that just hit up the Philippine General Hospital with a portion of Iskoh''s own troops. With that said, Jared, Ibarra, and Mikhail came with them while Kaley and Tatiana stayed behind.


    The purpose of their run was to acquire more medical supplies, more importantly, oxygen tanks, nebulizers, and a few more wheelchairs. They could also take whatever they could carry but those items listed earlier were the priority. It was to take care of the elderly Iskoh had in this ce and just like me, he wouldn''t leave them for dead even if they had less to contribute than others. <hr>


    PGH upied arge area with separate buildings for each medical care they could provide general or specialized. With that said, the nursing home they needed to hit was just by the corner near the Supreme Court. It had a small parking area at the front and the rest of the building thatprised PGH was right behind it. Arge mall was right at the back but that was a story for another time.


    Like any other mission where stealth was optional, it didn''t take long before things started getting louder and louder.


    [GRAB THOSE TANKS! GRAB THOSE TANKS! WE''RE HEADING BACK!]


    [GOTCHA! GOTCHA! THERE''S A COUPLE MORE AT THE BACK!]


    [LEAVE IT!]


    [F.U.C.K.I.N.G LEAVE IT! WE ALREADY GOT A LOT!]


    [HEARD! HEARD!]


    [RELOAD!]


    [LET''S HEAD BACK!]


    [WHAT?!]


    [WE CIRCLE AROUND, SPLIT INTO TWO BY THE CATHEDRAL AND THEN WE CIRCLE AROUND TO MEET IN THE SAME PLACE! WE COULD TAKE THEM DOWN BY THAT ALLEY WE DROVE PAST!]


    [THE TRUCK''S TOO HEAVY AND THEY CAN''T DRIVE AS FAST AS US!]


    [MY POINT! WE LEAVE IT AND DRIVE AROUND! KILL THEM NEXT AND DO THE SAME SHIT!]


    [THEY''RE GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER!]


    [EVERYBODY SHUT THE F.U.C.K UP! I''M AIMING YOU CHICKENSHITS!]


    [WHO THE F.U.C.K ARE YOU?!]


    [A COUPLE JUST HID IN THE ALLEYS! ONE JUST JUMPED INSIDE A CONVENIENCE STORE!]


    [WE TAKE THEM DOWN HERE! WE''RE NOT LEAVING! THAT''S JUST A SMALL HERD!]


    [NO! WE''RE HEADING BACK!] <hr>


    [GUYS!]


    I heard a lot of back and forth from my team and Iskoh''s soldiers but what followed after several gunshots were engines revving to maximum output. They were all arguing about what to do but in the end, they actually did some part of their own n to benefit each other.


    From what I could hear, they stayed right until thest second before driving off with their faster vehicles to lose or take down the ones that survived. Gunshots, shouting, and engines were ovepping each other but a couple of explosions came when someone shouted that there would be a fire in a hole.


    Theirms were good despite the chaos but I got to give them a little hand. I picked up my radio and provided a simple trick.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Don''t drive on the straightaways even if it''s easier to take aim and shoot. Once they have line of sight on you and your guns, they''ll also take measures and start zigzagging. Take corners since they also need to slow down and that''s one way to break the line of sight for a few seconds. Wait till their heads pop out from the corner and you''ll have an easier time.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT CORNER ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°There''s only two. Left and Right.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [WHO IS THIS, EVEN?!] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [GOTCHA, BOSS!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    My group recognized my voice and I could faintly hear their tires screeching as they started to make turns aside from racing the ferals with their vehicles. I heard Artem telling Katya to just circuit around the block so it''s easier and I could judge by how the shots got patterns that they did as they were told. However, things weren''t the same for one of the groups that came with them.


    Everyone heard a loud crash as guttural screams followed but the sound of ws digging into flesh silenced everyone. We could all hear a lone soldier crying for help while being pulled outside but hearing everyone''s reactions after that left me baffled.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [What the f.u.c.k?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°What happened?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [They¡­ They took him¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C

 Chapter 598

    Chapter 598


    Anyone could hear a pin drop or a butterfly''s wings fluttering the moment we heard the short phrase from the radio. The whole ce went silent and even the people outside chattering stopped dead in their tracks. <center></center><hr>


    I still had a few more things to tidy up in the system I was creating but we needed to take action.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°GIVE CHASE BUT WATCH YOUR SURROUNDINGS! FLY YOUR DRONES OVERHEAD AND A FEW METERS AHEAD!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Natasha picked up my call.


    ¨C


    [S-SIR? B-BUT!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°LEAVE ISKOH''S MEN TO THE OTHERS! YOU NEED TO FIND OUT WHERE THEY''RE TAKING HIM!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [YES, SIR!]


    ¨C


    Iskoh and I just locked eyes for a short moment before he gave me the go-ahead to catch up with Artem and his own team. With that said, as soon as I saved my work, the door to Iskoh''s office swung open before Kaley and Tatiana rushed past everyone in the hallway. They were almost out of breath and it seemed we were already on the same page.


    Kaley eximed, ¡°DID YOU HEAR THAT?!¡± <center></center><hr>


    I ran past them before replying, ¡°I HEARD. WE''RE THE BACKUP!¡±


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°NO TIME TO EXPLAIN! THERE''S ONLY ONE REASON WHY THEY''RE GATHERING MORE PEOPLE!¡±


    ¡°Wha- What are you talking about?!¡±


    Tatiana almost slowed down as she came to a realization faster than Kaley, ¡°The City Hall?! Like our City Hall?!¡±


    ¡°YEAH! LIKE THAT! OR SOMETHING MUCH WORSE!¡±


    Kaley suddenly grabbed on me, ¡°Then we shoulde up with a n first! Not this rushing into things bullshit! It took us weeks to nst time!¡±


    I scratched my head before I relented momentarily, ¡°WE''RE JUST GONNA CONFIRM THEIR LOCATION! WE''RE COMING BECAUSE THERE MIGHT BE MORE AND OUR TEAM NEEDS ALL THE HELP THEY COULD GET TO HEAD THERE AND COME BACK!¡±


    Iskoh yelled from behind, ¡°I''M SENDING TWO TEAMS TO FOLLOW AFTER YOU THREE! THEY ONLY NEED A FEW MINUTES TO GET SOMEONE TO REPLACE THEM AND GET READY!!¡±


    I turned around and nodded, ¡°MAKE THEM DRIVE PARALLEL TO THE ROUTE WE''RE TAKING THEN! WE''RE GOING AHEAD! I''LL TAKE THE CIVIC!¡±


    ¡°WAIT! THE KE-¡±


    ¡°I GOT IT! I NABBED IT FROM YOUR POCKET!¡±


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°IT''S ALREADY MINE, RIGHT?!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K! GO ON AHEAD THEN!¡±


    The three of us starting running towards my newly acquired vehicle because my Raptor was currently in Jared''s care. It was already a machine built for war but we only had a custom Civic on hand. With that said, we always had our bags with us, so we just picked them up and lugged them inside.


    This time, Tatiana was the one keepingmunications with our group that started giving chase to a pack of ferals. Surprisingly enough, our Raptor and our Humvee were keeping a healthy chase because of their drones keeping up with their agile movements. It was easy enough to step on the gas pedal but watching out for obstacles or even hidden threats was the trouble they were currently facing.


    We were kinda in the same spot but the further they continue their pursuit in the uncharted areas, the more the threat level increases.


    ¨C


    *bzzt* <hr>


    [APPROACHING VASQUEZ ST.! THERE''S NO SIGNS OF THEM STOPPING JUST YET!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°WE''RE STILL AT¡­ AT¡­ OROSA AVE! WE''RE ALSO RUNNING PARALLEL FROM THE STREET YOU''RE DRIVING! WATCH OUT FOR FLANKS!¡±


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [OKAY! THEY''RE JUST STILL RUNNING STRAIGHT THOUGH!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°JUST KEEP GOING AS FAR AS YOU CAN!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    As we were driving, Kaley was shooting down anything that might pose as a problem while I continued to weave through dead bodies and abandoned vehicles. It prompted me to drive more on the right side of the road but she would asionally peek outside when it was convenient. We could still hear Natasha''s voice through our radio while Tatiana was trying to make contact with the group that was supposed to follow behind us.


    We were driving for a few minutes and we''ve already reached the upturned vehicle with another group watching over them. I would''ve stopped and offered help but their own medic seemed to be applying treatment to those who survived and weren''t infected.


    I just gave them a brief nce before driving past them to reach our group that was still in pursuit.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [THEY''RE CLIMBING THE STATION! THEY''RE CLIMBING THE STATION!] <hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°WHAT STATION IS IT?!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Q¡­ QUIRINO?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°YIELD FOR A BIT AND LET YOUR DRONE HANDLE IT! FLY THROUGH THE GAPS AND WE''LL SEND OURS SOON! BUILS A PERIMETER WITH THE OTHERS WHILE YOU''RE DOING IT!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [G-GOTCHA!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    We were only a couple of blocks away from where they were but we were met with a small herd of deadheads from another side. They were a mix of sprinters and regr ones and surprisingly enough, there weren''t any ferals in the mix.


    ¡°TATIANA! I''LL TURN TO THE LEFT AND YOU SHOOT WITH KALEY FROM THE OTHER SIDE!¡± <hr>


    Tatiana didn''t respond verbally but she put down her radio and grabbed her AK, waiting for me to take an abrupt turn. I started to ease on the brake while I was hugging the rightne and once I confirmed that there would be no obstructions on the insidene of the route I was taking, I tapped on the brake for a short moment so that I could start sliding. It eventually led to a tight drift and the twodies managed to send a few projectiles their way.


    The moment I stabilized the car I was using, the two paused for a short moment to continue firing.


    Sprinters were the worst at taking turns and even if they were the ones that instantly bridged the gap, they either fell to our bullets or just smashed straight to the wall we just passed.


    We weren''t able topletely finish them all off but we were out of the woodwork.


    I easily turned to the right to get to the two vehicles parked upfront and I was more concerned at the station Jared and Natasha were flying their drones around.


    It was almost in the same state as the one we had in Monumento but it had more than a few quirks than imagined. For starters, a small herd of regr deadheads was just circling around the stairs and the pirs of the station, doing nothing even if we were just a few dozens of meters away. Furthermore, the ones passing would be subjected to the same state, rendering them incapable of doing anything.


    A lot more deadheads were present upstairs and roaming around, but the ones perched on the roof of the station were just staring us down. They look like the guy who killed his entire n and left his brother but instead of the moon leaving a nice silhouette, bits and pieces of human flesh and bone were strewn around.


    Blood was dripping from the edges of the station and the staircases were in the same state.


    It would be a f.u.c.k.i.n.g slid-n-slide if we started to climb up the steps but before I thought of a n, Jared and Natasha approached me with their controllers.


    ¡°Bro, the inside is just packed with whatever the f.u.c.k is in there! Much worse than a butcher shop forgetting to clean up after a hard day''s work!¡±


    Natasha added, ¡°We tried flying closer but the ones perched on the roof tried to swat our drones down. We could only take a peek from the small gaps and this¡­ flesh wall blocking the entrance of trains.¡±


    I asked just to rify, ¡°The soldier they took, was he still alive when they got here?¡±


    Jared shook his head, ¡°That''ll be a negative, bro. I could show you the footage but he just got dragged while being held in the neck. We could see him struggle when we started chasing after them but he became a vegetable after a few meters.¡±


    I asked a few more questions but Artem approached me while wiping his knife with a spare cloth. Blood had sprayed onto his clothes and his forearms and he was giving me a serious expression once we met eyes.


    Artem started, ¡°That''s a nest, right?¡±


    ¡°Definitely.¡±


    ¡°What are we going to do then? We could start storming it but we need to have people down here taking care of the vehicles and anything approaching. Not to mention maintaining a clear exit path for us.¡±


    Katya interjected, ¡°We could start thinning them off, right?¡±


    I rubbed my be, ¡°We could do all those but those perching above the roof are just guards. If we''re gonna try and hit them, we do it hard and fast as always. Some could escape or some could do something we don''t even know if they''re capable of.¡±


    ¡°And how do you suggest we do that?¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ I''m thinking of a very~ explosive delivery service.¡±


    ¡°A what?¡±

 Chapter 599

    Chapter 599


    I had a lot of reservations in regards to destroying or blowing up the train stations that could allow us to traverse the cities much faster but if the deadheads wanted to make them their nests, we had no choice to do something about it. <center></center><hr>


    It would''ve been possible to just use an RPG but their projectiles couldn''t travel the way we wanted them to, which was to curve inside and blow up at the utmost center.


    In any case, I asked my group to withdraw our drones hovering around the train station so that we could hook them up with some stic explosives. It was easy enough to arm them and we eventually had a couple that would fly in both ends.


    ¡°You sure about this, bro? These are expensive, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I''m sure. Ken''s been working on a few models and we''d have better ones in the future. He''s working on a mobile ry by using a drone but drones that could be used for times such as this are also needed.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I just hope it handles the same.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Guys! ce your vehicles in the right direction before we start!¡±


    ¡°Yep!¡±


    ¡°Already did!¡±


    At the same time, the two groups that Iskoh sent were positioned a block away from our left and right. They also made a perimeter to take care of the ones approaching us so we could focus on the ones that took their own. It would''ve been better to bring back his body but as bad as it sounded, the deadheads feasting or doing whatever the f.u.c.k they were doing to him right now gave us a bit of time to prepare.


    It was one thing to have a gravestone but there was more to it than being buried a few feet underground. If I were in his shoes, I''d like to go out with a bangpared to being mourned for by everyone I loved. Besides, we never really bury our dead and the only difference was that we would be put inside an urnpared to being just dust in the wind.


    ¡°Ready?¡±


    ¡°Ready.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, we''re doing it. Ready?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Great.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C <hr>


    Jared and I hovered our armed drones just above the train station and as soon as I gave the signal, we tried to make them fly right inside. At the same exact moment, Kaley and the rest with their rifles started firing at the ones perched above the roofs to make sure the drones wouldn''t get swatted out of ce.


    However, right when our drones were just a few meters before going in, everything inside just spilled out.


    Tens of ferals and dozens of sprinters were the first ones to run outside before several deadheads came rolling. Some of them started vaulting off the tracks,nding on the concrete floor right below. The first ones perished almost immediately but the ones that followed got cushioned by theirrades.


    I bellowed, ¡°FLY THROUGH! FLY THROUGH!¡±


    ¡°Wha- GOTCHA!¡±


    ¡°REACH THE OTHER END BEFORE DETONATING!¡±


    ¡°GOT IT, BRO!¡±


    We were still receiving a live feed from our drones and once we flew past each other, we caught a short glimpse of what they were hiding inside. We only had a few seconds of footage but it as chilling as the denizens of rotten meat bags gunning towards our group.


    From my tablet, I saw several body parts almost organized like firewood by the way they were stacked together. Ripped-off or chewed-off arms and legs were stacked on top of one another while gutted-out torsos were lined up like sacks of potatoes. Everything that was once inside them was now decorations of the once modern train station but the worst one was the pulsing blob of flesh at the center.


    It was almost the same thing we saw from above the graveyards but this time, we got a closer look.


    I had to review itter because I had to blow it right f.u.c.k.i.n.g now.


    I instantly changed my trajectory towards that blob while Jared continued to fly his drone to the clump that was waiting for their turn to fall down. With that said, he only detonated his drone a few seconds earlier than mine and it prompted a lot of reactions from the dead. Almost all of them looked back at the source before starting to get wilder and wilder. <hr>


    ¡°DRIVE AROUND THE BLOCK!¡±


    ¡°I KNOW! I KNOW!¡±


    As the others did earlier, we started shooting at the ones right in front of us while we were in transit. The ferals and the sprinters had an almost unmatchable speed while they were on foot and what we needed to do was maintain our distance by creating more as it gets fewer. It was definitely harder to aim and shoot urately while we were moving but it was much better than trying to shoot them down before they w our faces out.


    Ibarra was the one driving my Raptor while Tatiana was the one driving my Civic. Tatiana''s Humvee was being driven by one of Artem''s men but almost all of our great shooters were at the back of my Raptor. Some of them that weren''t with us were shooting as they were peeking out the windows but they were having a harder time than us. They had their training as well but shooting when you''re in an ufortable position would do more harm than good.


    In our case, we now had straps at the back we could hold onto to stabilize our positions even by a bit.


    I started boring holes to the f.u.c.k.e.d up faces of the ones rushing for us and a small puff of blood would appear before they became a flesh barricade. It allowed the others behind it to either trip or fall but the smarter ones were always the difficult ones to deal with.


    We had to throw grenades here and there but as soon as they learned we were only doing it when they were clumping together, they started to spread around even more. It gave us a lot of headaches but as always, they couldn''t avoid what they couldn''t see at the moment.


    As soon as we made our third turn, we chucked a couple of grenades from where they would eventually pop up. They weren''t the only ones studying each other''s movements and we discovered that they would almost always follow the fastest line the moment we were out of sight. It was easy enough to predict their racing line and the faster ones immediately fell to our trap.


    Their bodies blew into pieces and I was already grinning once we made our fourth turn.


    I was 100% sure the ones that survived would peek far and they were easily gunned down like idiots. It was rming to know that they''re getting smarter but their enemies were already smarter from the get-go.


    Our bullets bored through their cheekbones, their frontal lobe, their dim eyes, and whatnot and we instantly trimmed the fat of the best ones. Once we discovered the ones following behind were crashing through simple barricades, we just as easily slowed down before swarming them like low-level mobs in a beginner map.


    I lopped heads just as much as I stabbed through their eyes and their earlobes and my de was just as stained as everyone else''s. <hr>


    Artem and the rest hacked through anything that''s left like wild dogs and there was always ferocity in their movements. Tatiana was the same way before but her movements started to flow like mine once she got ahold of her bastard sword. She''d go wild from time to time but the more she trained with me, the more her movements started to have a little bit more finesse.


    However, nothing could top Mikhail once he holds his weapon.


    He could smash, hack, chop, slice, and decimate anything with his axe-hammer and it was as if the regr deadheads started avoiding him. He was like a farmer harvesting wheat because each swipe would fell out a few deadheads that were in the way.


    ¡°WE''RE NOT DONE YET!¡±


    ¡°KEEP GOING!¡±


    ¡°ON THE LEFT! ON THE LEFT!¡±


    ¡°I SEE IT!¡±


    ¡°LET''S GO!¡±


    We had no time to clear the bodies we put down because themotion we made attracted more from the surrounding areas. They were just as mad as the ones we put down and they rushed at us with much fervor. We managed to put down a few from a distance but we needed to drive around another block to create their resting ce.


    We only needed a short breather to take care of them and like filthy grinders on most MMOs we just needed to the same thing over and over until it''s done.


    ''They just had to appear when we''re about to go home, eh?''

 Chapter 600

    Chapter 600


    Bodies on top of bodies were in front of us and they were either mangled, cut down, or shot between the eyes. All of them were put to rest but I wanted to check the station we blew up as soon as possible. With that said, the group Iskoh sent us walked up to us and then we checked our inventory first before anything else. <center></center><hr>


    We refilled our mags, replenished our grenades, wiped our melee weapons, and took a look at what we caused.


    ¡°Let''s clean up the bodies before we check the station.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    ¡°Free up at least almost twones so that we could have some wiggle room.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°If we could, push the cars aside so it would be easier¡­¡±


    ¡°I''ll hook the winch then¡­¡±


    Our group started and we helped with stacking them higher. After that, we burned a few mounds we put up right until they sent a truck to help us. They brought more people to haul the bodies at the back while the rest of us formed arger perimeter so that they could work easier.


    With that said, the rest of us parked on each side of the stairs leading up to the station while leaving a few of our team in each vehicle.


    Mikhail was watching my back as the two of us ascended the stairs while Katya was following right behind Artem. They had their formation but I was sure that on my side, Tatiana was watching Kaley while Ibarra was with Jared. Everyone was keeping properms but there was little to no threat from our ascent.


    Almost everything we saw was just piles and piles of broken-down body parts that had no point of reference. It was like painting by fl.i.c.k.i.n.g a paintbrush in random directions but this time, it was dipped in coagted blood and messed up body parts. The sight was just as horrible as the smell and we were just about to head inside. <center></center><hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°We''re heading inside.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    As soon as we walked inside, we were met with a disgusting picture of torn, burnt, and minced body parts. It was like several suicide bombers met on the same day and decided to spice up the surroundings. Pieces of flesh were present on the ceiling, walls, and flooring, and most of them were located around the center of the explosion.


    It was already a sight to see if it weren''t for the body parts that were ''organized'' to the side.


    A select few survived the st but it was apparent that the deadheads living here had some sort of organization when it came to their meals. <hr>


    Artem waved me over, ¡°Hey, look over here.¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    Katya added, ¡°Juste here and take a look.¡±


    Artem and Katya were standing at the st radius and where the pulsing blob should''ve been¡­ pulsing. They were picking off the broken-down pieces that were scattered on the ground and what''s apparent where the amount of brain matter almost centralized in the st radius.


    As I instantly looked around their ''cupboard'', there seemed to be no heads lying around and it seemed that the blob was a huge collection. We had no way to exin what''s going on and the only thing we could tie it to were the specials that could wear their own as their armor or part of themselves. However, this collection seemed to be too specialized to be the same thing.


    Artem crouched down and lifted another piece that had the same texture, ¡°What do you think? Looks the same, right?¡±


    I scratched my chin as I replied, ¡°Yeah, but why?¡±


    ¡°No point thinking about it now, right?¡±


    ¡°But still, there could be more of these nests outside.¡±


    Katya interjected, ¡°It''d be easy if they''re located in this sort of ce. If they''re hidden somece, I could only imagine what this thing could be. It could be something really dangerous or somethingpletely worthless.¡±


    Mikhail tilted his head, ¡°What are you talking about?¡± <hr>


    Katya folded her arms, ¡°Not everything that''s unique could pose a threat.¡±


    I nodded a few times, ¡°True. They''re evolving but that doesn''t mean they could only go forward. They could go backward too.¡±


    Katya looked at me, ¡°Yeah, my point.¡±


    Artem waved us off, ¡°Are we gonna look at the same thing or are we gonna pack it up? Same thing as before?¡±


    I nodded before saying, ¡°Yeah, a few pictures, videos, and maybe a sample or two. They could look the same but we never know.¡±


    I thought we''d have more problems but things ran smoothly in the few minutes we cleaned up and collected data. There could be more to it than what we couldprehend but doing nothing with it would be a mistake. Everything and anything we acquired would always be sent to the president''s side so trained professionals would have more samples to work with.


    Bullets haven''t failed us yet but I was always open to more solutions. With that said, I heard several suppressed gunshots from below but the shots weren''t directed in our direction. It seemed a few stragglers appeared and lead projectiles proved their worth once more. A small radio call assured us that they were safe so we continued with what we were doing.


    After a while, when we were about to head down, something shiny caught my eye and I instantly wore a solemn expression.


    ''Paulo Madriaga¡­ thank you for your service¡­''


    I just washed that t piece of metal with some water and wiped it with a piece of cloth. It was already scratched up and missing its chain but I pocketed it, hoping to at least return with something to remember him or even honor him by.


    Artem looked over to me, ¡°You actually found it?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°At least we got one¡­ I couldn''t say the same for the rest here.¡±


    ¡°True. The only way we''d find out is to subtract it from the ones that are living and the dead then do some guesswork. In the end, some would stay missing¡­¡±


    We drove back with the rest of our group and we even caught up with the rest of Iskoh''s soldiers.


    Speaking of Iskoh, he was waiting atop one of their barriers and he immediately asked for his soldiers and everyone''s wellbeing. He looked helpless when he discovered that he lost another soldier but all hell came loose when the brother of the soldier who died, Pasco, discovered the news.


    He came running with a distraught expression, ¡°WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE''S DEAD?! WHAT THE F.U.C.K WERE YOU DOING WHEN IT- F.U.C.K! YOU MEAN TO SAY HE DIED BECAUSE THOSE F.U.C.K.I.N.G OLD COOTS WANTED TO HAVE SOME SUNSHINE WITH THOSE WHEELCHAIRS?! BECAUSE THEY COULDN''T WALK OUT THEMSELVES?! AND THOSE OXYGEN TANKS KILLED HIM BECAUSE THEY COULDN''T BREATHE PROPERLY?! F.U.C.K ME! IF MORE OF US-¡±


    I was about to fold his clothes while he was still wearing them but Iskoh grabbed his cor and pushed him against a wall, ¡°Pasco. I know you''re f.u.c.k.i.n.g mad but I''d-¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K.I.N.G LET GO OF ME! WHO THE F.U.C.K DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! YOU''RE SUPPOSED TO-¡±


    Iskoh tightened his grip around Pasco''s cor and he looked at him dead in the eye, ¡°I deeply apologize for what happened but your brother is a soldier and he even volunteered for that mission that everyone agreed we would be doing, even you. The moment they leave our barriers, we could only do so much to help them when something goes wrong. We''re never certain what would happen next and unfortunately, your brother died doing his duty. Don''t tarnish it by implying that we should''ve left our old to die by being unable to breathe or even enjoy what''s left of them.¡±


    ¡°BUT HE''S- F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! HE''S MY ONLY- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡±


    Pasco''s expression turned sour while Iskoh''s expression was still the same. He eventually slumped on the ground crying while Iskoh tried tofort him. He tried to push Iskoh a couple of times but he just experienced a rollercoaster of emotions.


    We could only look solemnly but as cold as it sounded, he wasn''t the only one who lost someone. I just ced the piece of cloth containing his brother''s dog tag in front of him before we left him alone.


    I thought Pasco wouldn''t even look at us at first but before we drove back to our city, he simply thanked me by giving me a small bag of fresh fruits he cultivated himself. His eyes were still swollen from crying but he was now wearing his brother''s memento. We exchanged a few words before we left him once more but I''m sure the following days would be difficult for him.

 Chapter 601

    Chapter 601


    ShoppingWe got a few more hours before sundown and to save every bit of time, one of our groups escorted our Killdozer back home. They went on ahead even before Artem and his group helped with recovering medical supplies but due to their speed, we still caught up with them. <center></center><hr>


    They were parked between a gas station and a small parish and they were currently in conflict with a medium-sized herd.


    I turned to my group before drawing my pistol, ¡°Get ready. We''ll nk them from our side.¡±


    ¡°Gotcha.¡±


    ¡°We''ll remain in our vehicle but we''ll follow right behind you!¡±


    As soon as we were only a few meters away, Ibarra slowed down our vehicles so that we would be able to jump out safely.


    I immediately aimed for the ones facing their backs against us and I removed pieces of their skull with a 9mm bullet. The rest of my team followed and in doing so, the deadheads that were close to the ones we put down slowly turned around to face us.


    Their flesh was discolored beyond measure and their limbs were bent into impossible angles.


    I wouldn''t wish to be right in their faces because their putrid breath would definitely make my stomach turn. Nevertheless, our masks were enough for our short skirmish because once they drew closer, we opted for some melee action.


    I drew my katana with my right hand and held my scabbard with my left hand before I jumped headfirst before everyone.


    My de passed through a deadhead''s neck,pletely lopping it off beforecerating a portion of its right shoulder. After that, I pushed another one with my scabbard before kicking it off bnce. Its left knee actually broke in two ces when it stumbled back, making it roll over and bring down another walker behind it.


    I managed to take down two more crawlers by removing portions of their skull before I got to push my de a few inches into the one I knocked down. After that, I shed down to bisect a deadhead wearing a stic tiara, making it flop on both sides of the ground. I was in a safe distance for a few seconds and I drew my TX-22 to pop a few heads before they managed to approach me.


    Katya roared in anger, ¡°I WANT TO GO HOME ALREADY!¡± <center></center><hr>


    ''Home, eh?''


    Before I managed to turn around and look at her, a severed head flew over the distance much to everyone''s surprise. It seemed that Katya was in a hurry and she was actually gaining distance, cleaving deadheads faster than Mikhail, Tatiana, and Artem. She still had her trusty bowie machete by her side and it was stained with darkened bits of biter blood. Her other hand was holding abat knife and judging on the way she held it, it was used for stabbing down instead of slicing up.


    We put down zombies as much as we could but once our space got a little bit too crowded, we slowly panned to the side to create more wiggle room.


    In doing so, it allowed our shooters to have more freedom in shooting since they wouldn''t have to shoot between us. Kaley and Jared didn''t stop shooting their rifles and the same could be said from the shooters from Artem''s team.


    Small puffs of red would always follow from each shot and the bodies we encountered eventually ground to a halt.


    We regrouped for a short moment before we let our Killdozer drove forward with an escort. Furthermore, another group went ahead to scout the road we would be taking while another group from Morales'' side was contacted to meet up with them.


    ¡°Just pick up any casings you could see! You guys pile them to that area so those guys could burn them with the others! Quickly now! We only got a few hours or we''ll camp in one of these buildings!¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    ¡°We''ll check the ce where they came from!¡±


    ¡°Sure! Go ahead!¡±


    From the time we spent with other groups, we slowly had a proper routine in ce and we''d just talk to confirm our intentions. Everyone was vocal so far and it was much betterpared to keeping quiet and just waiting for what the other group would do next. It took us close to 30 minutes to get everything sorted out and we continued to drive home with everyone.


    We already carved a straight path back and forth but stragglers appearing couldn''t be avoided. It would be advisable to block them off our path like Iskoh was doing but it was a project for the following days since we just made contact a few days ago. However, doing that was always easier said than done because we still had ongoing projects. <hr>


    After a time, we managed to get to the outskirts of Morales'' city and we only had to face another herd. They were taken care of methodically and the difficulty level was lower since they came from our side and not Iskoh''s ce. We didn''t use bullets as well but fuel to burn them to cinders was always required.


    However, any signs of the group Iskoh talked about were never discovered.


    ''I might leave a calling card in the future¡­ Hmm¡­ Oh, ''that'' would definitely work¡­''


    Once we passed through our own gates, that was when tiredness and relief filled our bodies. Despite everything was just washed away once Zeus and the kids weed us happily. Zeus instantly jumped onto me so I could carry him while the kids started to climb over Mikhail and the others.


    Rin and Cynthia eventually followed after them while the rest did so as well.


    ¡°Wee back, you little shit!¡±


    ¡°Thanks!¡±


    ¡°Wee back~~~¡±


    ¡°Yeah! Good to see you guys again!¡±


    ¡°d to see you all in one piece!¡±


    ¡°Dinner is ready~~~!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K YEAH!!!¡± <hr>


    For dinner, we had a healthy portion of chili eaten over rice but a batch of cornbread was also present. I always opted for rice while the old dudes and a few others went for the cornbread but I wouldn''t even need to tell everyone that Tatiana opted for both.


    We happily ate with everyone and some stories were told in between.


    On a lighter note, I was informed that a small concert would be held alongside our totally ''friendly'' game nights with our other outposts and allies and more activities would be held to allow more people to participate. Most of the lighter activities would be held in the morning not only to allow more time to wind down but to also have the kids do more than just study and help around.


    ¡°Yeah, we could do that but don''t forget that we need to have proper security when hosting these events. We do it once or twice a month but a single mistake is all it would take, alright?¡±


    Everyone else agreed with the notion and we slowly transitioned to our meeting. It was over in less than an hour and our next thing to do was gear maintenance. Kaley and I would''ve opted to go to the gym to get a light workout but we already got our share from what happened earlier. We just brought out our tools and started cleaning our gear but Tatiana came knocking after a few minutes.


    Kaley and I called out, ¡°Come in!¡±


    Tatiana shook her head once she saw us working, ¡°Geez, guys. Can''t you two rx and wind down for a bit? I only took down a dozen guys upstairs before I called it a day.¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°That''s winding down for you, eh? It''s just you? Where''s Rin and Cynthia?¡±


    Tatiana faintly smiled, ¡°They''re with me earlier but they''re watching a movie right now. They''ve gotten closer too¡­¡±


    Kaley''s eyebrow rose as she smiled, ¡°Getting jealous now? You should''ve put a ring on it back then!¡±


    Tatiana retorted, ¡°Where''s your ring then, hmm?¡±


    Kaley was caught off-guard, ¡°Wha- It''s almost done! We just needed the band, right?! Right?!¡± <hr>


    I scratched my head, ¡°Yeah, just looking for the right metal. The diamond is already ready and all I need to do is iy it once I thought of a proper design. Sorry, it took longer than expected since I had to make a few to test.¡±


    ¡°Don''t w-worry about it! It''s fine!¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­ Looking at it every night isn''t helping¡­¡±


    ¡°B-But it''s too pretty!¡±


    ¡°It feels like you''re trying to rush me!¡±


    ¡°I-I''m not! We should take our time, you know?¡±


    ¡°Sure~ Whatever you say~¡±


    ¡°Hngh¡­ I''m serious! I''m really not rushing you!¡±


    Tatiana interjected, ¡°I''m still here, you two. Speaking of rushing it¡­ could you guys do it faster? Do you want some help?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Why?¡±


    Tatiana scoffed, ¡°Really? Do you want me to say it so badly?¡±


    I trailed off, ¡°Lemme guess¡­¡±


    Tatiana chuckled, ¡°Hah! That''s forter! Let''s do some shopping!¡±

 Chapter 602

    Chapter 602


    From a week and a couple of days before, we started a little something called a small trading hub. Even if we share our resources in a pool, they would sometimes not be what they wanted or needed anymore along with their personal items. Furthermore, items acquired from runs could be random and the recipient of such gifts might have a different opinion about it. <center></center><hr>


    With this trading hub, they would be able to freely trade it with anything as long as both parties agree. People from our outposts have set up their stalls as well so we had a variety to choose from.


    This was something being donemonly but the only difference this time was that we have a ce to conduct it. It was located in our DDR Camp because not only the number of soldiers present could provide ample security, it would be better to do these trades in one centralized space.


    Kaley chuckled with a questioning gaze, ¡°Shopping? Now?¡±


    Tatiana shrugged with a faint smile, ¡°They''re open all day, correct? We could just browse around for anything! C''mon! It''s gonna be a change of pace! We don''t even need to buy anything! Let''s just have a nice evening walk before you know~ f.u.c.k.i.n.g each other''s brains out!¡±


    Kaley turned to me after shaking her head, ¡°What do you think? I''m almost done with mine. I think it''s nice to have a walk every now and then¡­ you know¡­ just for kicks and not looking for deadheads to put down¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure. I''m already done though¡­¡±


    ¡°Wha-¡±


    ¡°Heh. I could talk and do this shit at the same time. You could blindfold me too and I''ll have a decent chance of not messing up a few simple things.¡±


    ¡°Show off¡­ Wait a sec. I''ll be don-¡±


    ¡°No worries. Pass me that bolt carrier, I''ll give you a hand.¡±


    I helped Kaley with cleaning her rifle while Tatiana continued to ogle at us while smiling cheekily. I tried to make her help us a bit but she would purposefully make things harder for us by making everything s.e.x.u.a.l. I had to tie her up eventually and even if she created weird noises from being bound, it was betterpared to her lubricating something else than our equipment.


    ¡°All done!¡±


    ¡°Yep. Let''s go! I''ll bring our car so we''d have a ce to put them in.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Guys! You have to untie me! Hey!¡±


    We only took a few minutes before heading straight for the DDR Camp and most of what I brought were items forfort. They were the items that could sell like hotcakes and I wouldn''t even need to do some sales talk. They wereprised of bars of chocte, a jar of candies, a few bottles of wine, electronic devices, cigarettes, canned goods, and etc.


    Surprisingly enough, there were still a lot of people inside and they gave us a warm wee when we arrived.


    ¡°Boss!¡±


    ¡°Good eve! Good eve! Care for some warm socks? I found a bunch in one of the warehouses we visited! I took it as my cut but it seemed people want them too! Feel it! It''s really good!¡±


    ¡°Canned Bread! Canned Bread!¡±


    ¡°Wut?¡±


    ¡°I got some dried fish here! I made them myself! The fish came from the port!¡±


    ¡°I got a few pints of Oscar''s Moonshine! Come get it while itsts!¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k that shit! I was hungover for three days! And I only took a sip! A SIP!¡±


    ¡°Psh! Weak. It''s not- BLEURGHHHH~~~¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!! SERVES YOU RIGHT!!!¡±


    The three of us passed through our ''locals'' and instantly made our way to the stalls that had items that we may or may not have in this ce. It could be a wide range of items and one of them immediately caught my eye. <hr>


    One of the people from our Meycauayan outpost greeted us, ¡°Good eve, boss! Did something catch your eye? I could give you a fair price! You know we can''t upcharge you, right? Heh, just kidding! Just pick one and give me something that feels fair for it! I''ll give it to you no questions asked!¡±


    My eyes shot up as I smiled, ¡°Really? I won''t be polit- Erm¡­ Let''s see~ These watches, how many do you have in stock?¡±


    ¡°Oh~ Those things! They have GPS, timers, Bluetooth, and a lot more stuff! They''re scratchproof, waterproof, and any kind of proof that isn''t too extreme! They could also run indefinitely as long as you don''t rough it up too much. Okay¡­ Lemme¡­ Hmm~ I still have seven in my stash but I''m pretty sure I could get one or two when I get back or have someone to bring it here when I restock.¡±


    ¡°That''s all?¡±


    The guy scratched his head embarrassedly, ¡°Yeah¡­ it''s just that it''s gotten popr back home almost everyone had the same model or something that''s kinda simr. I guess I could talk to the owners about trading them with-¡±


    ¡°Nah, that''s fine. These seven are enough. How about two cases of beer, a box of cigarettes, and three bars of choctes?¡±


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°Too few?¡±


    ¡°THAT''S ALREADY- Umm¡­ Erm¡­ I''ll take them all but I''ll throw in some throwing knives for you. They''re only three pieces but it''s better for throwingpared to our K-Bar knives. They''re lighter too and you could just slip them in anywhere.¡±


    I nodded in approval, ¡°Thanks! Can I ask something?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°You guys are running a garage/chop shop, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, why? Are you looking for something? I could put out a request?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Nice. It''s nothing urgent but I''d like to have the airbags from the vehicles you''re about to chop up. You guys have them somewhere, right?¡±


    He tilted his head from my inquiry, ¡°Airbags? Umm¡­ Yeah~ I think we have them in storage. I could send up a few here tomorrow if you want?¡±


    I waved him off, ¡°Like I said, it''s not urgent. Just collect a lot of them and maybe deliver them here once you got past 100 pieces. I''ll trade in one of our cars here or something you guys might not have at your ce.¡±


    ¡°Really? That''s great! If I may, what are you gonna do with them?¡±


    ¡°Eh~ I''m not sure if it''ll really work but I''ll show you firsthand once we make a prototype, sounds good?¡±


    ¡°F.u.c.k yeah! That''ll be awesome!¡±


    After a few more minutes of talking, we shook hands andpleted the trade before checking the other stalls present. However, I almost had to tie Tatiana once more because she came back with canned bread and she was eating them straight from the can.


    ¡°Tatiana¡­¡±


    ¡°What? I got curious! It''s good in a weird way!¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­ You''ll pay for thatter¡­¡±


    ¡°Ohoho~ then I''ll pay you double for it ter''¡­ hahaha!¡±


    ¡°Just ask me before buying another one!¡±


    Kaley waved me over, ¡°Hey! Come here! Take a look at what she got over here!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Coming!¡±


    At one corner of our trading hub, Kaley was happily ncing the items over a stall that had handcrafted bracelets made with colored string. They came in a variety of colors and surprisingly, one portion of them were made with actual paracord and can be undone with a simple pull.


    The olderdy greeted us with a warm smile, ¡°Wee! I made the ones made with paracord while my children made the other ones with color! You could give us a request too and we could make something with the colors that you''d like. I''m sure the paracord on your knives could already work well so I''m guessing you''re here for something nice and quirky! Oh! You could also give me anything for them! They''re really not picky about stuff but please, not liquor and cigarettes for obvious reasons!¡±


    Kaley was already holding a few colored pieces that were matching, ¡°See? They look nice, right?! Let''s buy one for us and we''ll have something for everyone too! It''s not too bad, right?!¡±


    I almost forced out a smile but I figured it wouldn''t hurt as much and I couldn''t possibly say no for something so trivial, ¡°Just pick us something in ck and I''ll let you handle the rest!¡±


    ¡°Really? How about this ck one with a silver trim?! Hmm?!¡±


    ¡°Get something you like too! As long as it''s cool!¡±


    Kaley followed my suggestion, ¡°Okay! This one then!¡±


    I turned to the olderdy, ¡°Mrs. Perez, how do a few chocte bars and this jar of candies sound? I could add a couple of handhelds if you''d like?¡±


    She waved me off, ¡°None of those gaming devices, please. Your offer is already good but if you''d like to offer more, I suggest asking for more books for my children to read.¡±


    ¡°Then we''ll be on the lookout for those and we''ll send you a copy. Thanks!¡±


    ¡°Thank you too. I thought I won''t be able to sell much of these! They''ll be thrilled once I get home! Thank you again!¡±


    We went around for a few more items but all that happened after that were casual conversations with everyone that''s left. After a time, we eventually bid our goodbyes and went back.


    However, we went for a short pit stop.

 Chapter 603

    Chapter 603


    The three of us drove past the gates of ourpound and went past the open court. I only let go of the gas once we reached the two houses enclosed by a wall and a gate I vaulted over once. Several lights were already turned off while there were only a couple still turned on and dimly lit. <center></center><hr>


    No one was speaking inside my car but the two were already faintly smiling with a slight blush. Kaley held my hand momentarily before giving me a kiss, and then the three of us exited my car and walked past the gate, straight to the front door.


    Micah''s personal soldiers were stationed in different ces around the area and they just gave us a nod when we met eyes. Their only job was to protect Micah and her girls from anything and they don''t care whether a couple like me and Kaley came in with another friend like Tatiana.


    I knocked a few times then we saw Yumi opening the door for us.


    Yumi was just about to send us away but she got fl.u.s.tered when she saw our faces, ¡°I''m sorry for taking- Oh! I- Wee~! Are you- Hi~!¡±


    I chuckled as I looked at her expression, ¡°Hey. We didn''te with an appointment, can we still book a room?¡±


    Yumi instantly pouted as she looked at me, ¡°Hngh~ You three should''ve told me in advance!¡±


    Tatiana interjected, ¡°So there''s none avable? Then we''ll just-¡±


    Yumi cut her off, ¡°No! There are still rooms avable but I''m already booked for tonight!¡±


    Kaley''s eyebrow rose as she smirked, ¡°Oh~ Who is it then? Hmm?¡±


    Yumi leaned over to whisper, ¡°We''re not supposed to tell you guys when we''re here, right?¡±


    I nodded while faintly smiling, ¡°Yep. You passed.¡± <center></center><hr>


    Yumi breathed a sigh of relief, ¡°Whew~ Anyways~ I''ll be going now! Ms. Micah just went for a bathroom break and she''ll be here soon enough. Bye~¡±


    We just waved her off before she disappeared to one of the rooms. Before they moved in, there used to be a couple of rooms in this house but since the need for more started, more were created to suit everyone''s schedule. With that said, the ''bookings'' were scheduled properly, and sometimes, a few sessions would be done outside as long as they would be apanied by an escort and the people involved were in agreement.


    There had been noints so far aside from the people that had a difference in opinion. It was rough when it was introduced to everyone but it did more good than bad considering the circ.u.mstances.


    Not everyone had the time or energy to establish a proper and healthy rtionship with someone. Furthermore, even if one of our future goals was to repopte, doing it a few months in would just lead to a lot more problems. Besides, some of them just wanted to have someone to talk to, vent, cry, or cuddle with without any judgment so that they could have at least a good sleep even for a few hours.


    ¡°Well~ Well~ Well~ Look at what we have here~ Did you three came with an appointment? Hmm? You guys know we could alwayse over, right?¡±


    Tatiana chuckled, ¡°We just decided to have a little change of pace. Can your bed even handle us? Let''s just say we''re here as QAs, hmm?¡±


    Micah leaned over just enough to be a few centimeters from Tatiana''s face, ¡°Oh~ You''re requesting for me? That''ll cost you more than what my girls go for since I''m very¡­ exclusive to someone right here. Do you have something in mind? Hmm?¡±


    Tatiana just looked at her straight in the eye before answering, ¡°Well¡­ we could do ''that''.¡±


    Micah smiled devilishly as she briefly nced at me, ¡°Oh~ ''that''¡­ Are you sure?¡±


    ''The what?''


    I was just about to ask Kaley what Micah and Tatiana were talking about but it seemed she was also in on it. I should''ve noticed when she wasn''t speaking a word but her flushed ears and fidgety movements led me to believe she knew whatever ''that'' meant. However, asking about it now like an idiot would ruin the surprise and we were eventually led inside Micah''s room. <hr>


    ¡°Come on in¡­ getfortable¡­ have a drink¡­¡±


    Micah''s room was dimly lit and velvety, and the whole ce was a far cry from their reception desk. It smelled like lc and gooseberries and adding it with the light jazz music ying in the background made us rx our bodies almost immediately. With that said, Micah led Kaley and Tatiana to freshen up for a quick moment while I started to remove my shoes.


    Micah''s silk robe was now undone and even if it was just the tie wraps that were pulled off, I could already see everything from below.


    Her body was toned and curvy on the right parts and the only thing obstructed from view were her puffy n.i.p.p.l.es due to the shawl cors. However, she started to wear her robes from her shoulder, down to her back and elbows. She had her arms together so her robe wouldn''t fall down but it made her huge b.r.e.a.s.ts pop out even more.


    Micah chuckled before she made me stand up, ¡°You really like them big, huh? C''mon, let me do that for you¡­¡±


    Micah helped me remove my shirt and her eyes darted over me before she ced my hand over her b.r.e.a.s.ts. She let me squeeze them all over while her hands started to undo my belt. I was enthralled by how soft and firm they were that I didn''t notice that her hands were already stroking my rock-hard c.o.c.k. It was already twitching between her hands but we let go for a moment so she could kneel down and pull my pants offpletely.


    As soon as that happened, my knees almost buckled when she suddenly swallowed me whole. I felt her warm mouth enveloping me while her tongue was starting to wrap around my entirety. Furthermore, Micah kept eye contact while her cheeks started to bulge when she would do it sideways.


    ¡°F-F.u.c.k¡­ W-Where are t-they? They''re k-kinda a bit¡­ ugh¡­ f.u.c.k¡­¡±


    Micah stopped s.u.c.k.i.n.g me off to stroke me and y with my balls, ¡°Don''t worry¡­ they''reing¡­¡±


    As we were talking, Kaley and Tatiana walked out of the other room, wearing nothing but a see-through gown and a bit of makeup. They weren''t wearing any u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r but they were definitely wearing a choker and high heels. With that said, they were holding handcuffs not made for capturing criminals but for some sort of y.


    They walked even closer but Micah was enjoying shoving my d.i.c.k down her throat. <hr>


    Kaley giggled as she ced one of the handcuffs on my arm, ¡°Don''t try to get out of this one this time, okay?¡±


    Tatiana turned to Kaley as she did the same, ¡°This time? You two are doing some freaky stuff when you''re alone¡­ bring me some time¡­¡±


    Kaley chuckled, ¡°Well¡­ we''re here now¡­ right?¡±


    My huge d.i.c.k wasthered up to my balls and I was so close to c.u.m.m.i.n.g. However, Micah stopped right before I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed in her mouth and she, with Kaley and Tatiana,id me down on her bed. They fastened the cuffs to the bed and Micah ced another two on my feet. I could as easily break out of them but my biggest concern was my d.i.c.k twitching uncontrobly and almost painfully.


    Micah chuckled, ¡°Shall we start?¡±


    Kaley nodded while Tatiana smiled at me devilishly.


    ¡°Just watch, okay? Promise me you wouldn''t do anything until we tell you to.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Just promise me.¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­ I promise.¡±


    I was sure they''d let me c.u.m at least once but the three of them started kissing each other while d.i.c.k was left throbbing and twitching. <hr>


    ''F.u.c.k me¡­''


    They used me as a bed and Micah''s legs were open wide and almost right in my face. Kaley was groping her t.i.t.s and s.u.c.k.i.n.g off her tongue while Tatiana was kissing her neck and ying with her other bosom. She was already wet from s.u.c.k.i.n.g me off earlier and Kaley started rubbing her c.l.i.t when she got the chance. I could see how Micah''s juices flow down her thick t.h.i.g.hs and that was when Tatiana''s fingers went inside her tight hole.


    I could hear how her p.u.s.s.y squelch from each twist and curl and how Tatiana''s fingers got wetter and glossier, but all I could do was watch. However, I got the best view in the house and I would''ve already nutted if I was watching this film alone.


    ¡°Mmh! Right there! Ahn! Right th- Mmh! Ah! F.u.c.k! Why is it always so good if I''m with you three?! F.U.C.K! JUST LIKE- AH!¡±


    Micah was on the receiving end but she was keeping up a good fight. Her h.i.p.s were moving in all directions and I was getting intoxicated from catching a whiff of her scent. My d.i.c.k would just twitch violently each time she almost rubbed it on my face but they were all keeping me deprived until thest possible moment. I was sure that prec.u.m was already dripping off of me but I still couldn''t find the proper release.


    At this exact moment, Micah leaned back as she raised her h.i.p.s and Tatiana spread Micah''s lips apart so I could see her pink insides even better. At the same time, Micah''s tight asshole was also in view and it would pucker each time Kaley and Tatiana would hit a s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e spot. With that said, it didn''t take long before Micah started to shake and convulse before squirting right in my face.


    ¡°STOP! STOP! STOP! AHN~! WH- AH! SHIT! SHIT! I''M C.U.M.M.I.N.G AGAIN! I''M C.U.M.M.I.N.G AGAIN! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! SHIT! STO- HNGH~ OH MY GO- F.U.C.K ME! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K!¡±


    Micah just melted between Kaley and Tatiana''s touch but she slumped over me, nestling my d.i.c.k under her p.u.s.s.y and between her t.h.i.g.hs. She was still out of breath and the short twitches she made almost made me c.u.m just from rubbing against my hard shaft. I would''ve liked to move my h.i.p.s to get a release but Kaley stopped me. She pouted before going for my lips, letting Tatiana and Micah switch in a few intervals.


    I was walking in a fine line of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e and torture and I was enjoying every bit of it.

 Chapter 604

    Chapter 604


    Kaley and Tatiana were still partially wearing their clothes but there was little to nothing to leave to the imagination. Micah was even more exposed and her being on top of me made my senses overload other than sight. <center></center><hr>


    Their bodies were young and toned but they were still firm and soft to the touch.


    I was currently exchanging my saliva with Kaley and Tatiana while Micah was moving ever so slowly. My d.i.c.k was still twitching between her t.h.i.g.hs and I was still on the brink of shooting my load or losing my mind. It didn''t help when Micah started to squeeze her legs even more while the two have started to lean even closer.


    Their voluptuous bodies were grinding against me while I was bound and ordered to not move a muscle. I thought I was about to release without much contact but the three stopped moving in unison, making me groan from being deprived even more. I was so close to breaking out from my cuffs but I''d take whatever they threw at me.


    Kaley whispered before she brushed Micah''s hair to the side, ¡°That was close¡­¡±


    ¡°I''d rather we do it the normal way but seeing him like this is kinda fun in its own way¡­¡± Tatiana added before reaching for Micah''s a.s.s and pping it loudly.


    ¡°Mmh! Gentler¡­ He''s twitching even more¡­ He''s really close¡­¡±


    ¡°Not yet¡­ He could still go on¡­¡±


    Kaley looked me in the eye for a short before she scooted higher, making her huge t.i.t.s cover half of my face. She let me suck one of her pink and puffy n.i.p.p.l.es and that was when Tatiana and Micah switched ces. Micah did the same thing as Kaley from the opposite side while I felt Tatiana''s hand wrapping around my c.o.c.k.


    I was being smothered by Kaley and Micah''s huge udders while Tatiana was purposefully stroking me badly. She would just squeeze the base or the tip with one hand without so much of a pattern but judging from the way she was moving above me, she was touching herself while watching me s.u.c.k.i.n.g and biting their n.i.p.p.l.es. <center></center><hr>


    After a while, Kaley decided to sit on my face while Micah was groping and squeezing her huge t.i.t.s. I wanted to do it myself but my hands were bound and I was already losing air from the way she was rubbing it on my face. Nevertheless, I wouldn''t give up eating her p.u.s.s.y for anything.


    I parted her lips with my tongue and s.u.c.k.e.d on her c.l.i.t as I was slurping her juices.


    ¡°F-F.u.c.k¡­ your¡­ t-t-ongue F.U.C.K! It''s going i-in! It''s g-going in¡­ it''s getting d-deeper! S-SHIT! MMH! AH! AH! JUST LIKE- AH! HNGH~ JUST L- AH!¡±


    Kaley started to push herself on my face even more while she was clutching the strands of my hair. Her h.i.p.s started to move even more erratically and even Micah couldn''t keep up with her. With that said, Kaley''s huge jugs were jiggling all over the ce while I had the best view anyone could ask for. It didn''t take long before Kaley started c.u.m.m.i.n.g hard but I couldn''t grab on her because she stood up almost immediately.


    There was this look of dissatisfaction because she didn''t c.u.m multiple times but her eyes were fixated on my shaft. I wanted to see what she would do next but Tatiana already stood up and was about to take her ce.


    Before Tatiana sat on my face, I saw Kaley wrapping her hands around my c.o.c.k before looking at me straight in the eye.


    ¡°C.u.m.¡±


    I suddenly lost control of myself as I shot out huge loads over and over. My d.i.c.k was twitching violently as it happened and my body was doing the same. I came so f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard just from hearing Kaley''smand but before I managed to get back on my bearings, Kaley devoured me whole. I tried so hard to resist but the sensitivity was too much to bear.


    I was still struggling with the sensitivity when I suddenly entered something tight and warm. <hr>


    ¡°Mmh! It''s always too deep! It''s hitting my- F.u.c.k!¡±


    I was 100% sure Kaley was the one riding me and I wanted to see her face so bad. However, before I even pulled my handcuffs off, Micah undid one for me while Tatiana did the other. It seemed that the y was over once I came the first time and it was time to fully enjoy ourselves.


    They just grabbed an arm and ced them where they wanted it to. They choose the same warm and sticky ce but I was staring right into Kaley''s flushed expression.


    As she was riding me, she was staring right into my eyes while she was red through her neck. I started to slowly move my h.i.p.s from under her and once we got the proper rhythm, we started going faster and faster. Her robe just eventually came undone and her perfect body was just grinding on top of me.


    The little choker wrapped around her neck added a little something but her lower lips parting from each movement was so much fun to look at.


    Kaley was so s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to the touch and even if her insides were already glossy due to her juices, her lips were still gripping me from each pull. Once I felt that she was about to c.u.m, I let go of the two before holding her h.i.p.s and thrusting violently. Kaley just melted from each thrust and I didn''t stop even if she was begging profusely.


    I filled her holes as much as I did the first time and they were just oozing outside once it was all over. However, the night wasn''t over because I still had two beauties waiting for me. They left us alone when I held Kaley in my arms but Tatiana''s plump buttcheeks invited me in once Micah spread them apart.


    They were using a double-sided dildo for the moment so all that''s left to push my meat stick in was their tight and puffy assholes. Micah was already ying with Tatiana''s asshole while they were embracing each other but Tatiana couldn''t help but gasp when I entered from behind her.


    ¡°S-Shit¡­ Wait a sec¡­ I think it''s bigger¡­ f.u.c.k¡­ It''s in my- Why''d you gotta shove it so deep the first time?!¡± <hr>


    ¡°Want me to pull it out?¡±


    ¡°N-No¡­ just¡­ slowly¡­ move slowly¡­¡±


    It was extremely rare to see Tatiana''s vulnerable side but Micah didn''t give a f.u.c.k. She got ahold of my arms and pulled me in, prompting me to drill Tatiana even deeper. I could feel Tatiana reaching her limit but she never told me to stop. Both her holes were filled by Micah and me and she powered through everything when pain turned to p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e.


    I was pushing it in and pulling it out over and over just to see her gaping asshole but once I came inside her, she turned Micah over so they could switch positions. Micah was the only one I haven''te inside yet but I almost stopped myself when Micah pointed me at the same spot where their dildo was already in. Tatiana was surprised as well and we were looking at Micah''s heated and embarrassed expression.


    ¡°M-Micah?¡±


    ¡°J-Just¡­ put it in¡­ in there¡­ I can take it¡­ I t-think¡­¡±


    My head was too filled with my baser instincts to think properly and I just shoved it where she wanted it to. It was definitely f.u.c.k.i.n.g tight when a s.e.x toy was already inside her and I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g sure I stretched her front opening even more. Micah was in a much worse state than Tatiana earlier but she even requested for me to plug her asshole with my thumb. I was just prodding it on the surface while I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g her but once I plugged all of her holes, everyone just started moving like wild animals.


    ¡°F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! F.U.C.K! I''M F.U.C.K.I.N.G STRETCHED OUT I- AH! AH! MMH! MNH! AH! F.U.C.K! FASTER! FASTER! FASTER- AH! SHIT! SHIT! OH GOD! OH GOD!¡±


    Micah just lost it from the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e and she just got louder and louder. Even Kaley joined in once she got a breather but neither she nor Tatiana tried to attempt what Micah did. <hr>


    Micah was still young and active but let''s just say her special ce had higher mileagepared to Kaley and Tatiana. Taking two in one ce wasn''t an easy feat but she seemed to f.u.c.k.i.n.g enjoy it.


    I myself would prefer soloing one hole for myself while the toys they were using go in the other.


    ¡°W-Wow¡­ that''s the first time I¡­ wow¡­ ¡±


    ¡°Stop looking and wear the other one¡­ A thumb is not enough¡­ I''m just too horny today¡­¡±


    ¡°Micah¡­ hah¡­¡±


    ¡°What? Hurry¡­ don''t stop¡­¡±


    ¡°I''ll f.u.c.k your a.s.s while they do it in the other¡­ the sensation is a bit¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ hah¡­ sure¡­y down and I''ll ride you¡­¡±


    After a short while, we just went into position and made Micah''s night. She took everything in and we didn''t stop until her eyes had rolled over. I didn''t even need to move as much because the way she was squeezing me was enough to make me e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.e a few times. Add to that I was groping her from behind and how wild Kaley and Tatiana looked when they were moving in unison.


    We went on for as long as we could and our bodies were just covered with our sweat and juices when we were done. We took a quick shower with everybody and even if it''s a good idea to stay in for the night, Kaley and I decided to drive home while Tatiana stayed behind to apany Micah.

 Chapter 605

    Chapter 605


    Kaley and I just stayed in bed for a few minutes to fool around before we took a shower, got dressed, and went down. However, we only came with our des and our sidearms since our vehicles would be undergoing some inspection and maintenance. <center></center><hr>


    They didn''t have any problems when we drove back but it was best to be thorough.


    With that said, my main team was free to do anything they wanted this day and some of them came with Artem''s team with a different vehicle. Aside from us two, only Tatiana and Jared stayed behind but we''ll be doing something a little different and kinda¡­ invasive.


    This thing we were facing has been ongoing for a few months already and we''d need people to not becent even with the safety provided by our walls.


    To bepletely fair with everybody, I started being transparent and close, and what better ce to start than my house. Oscar, Johnny, Matthew, and Marisha were with us and I opened up my house for them to inspect.


    Oscar was slightly chuckling, ¡°Kid. You don''t have to do this, right? You''re the freaking boss of this ce! You should be following the rules you ced on everybody.¡±


    Johnny added, ¡°I agree.¡±


    Marisha interjected, ¡°It''s only to be fair with everyone. We''re gonna be inspecting everyone''s houses for the whole day, we should start with who''s running the whole operation to keep everyone happy.¡±


    Matthew scratched his head, ¡°I''m sure some people wouldn''t want their privacy put out in the open like this. If this was back then, I wouldn''t agree unless I allegedlymitted a crime and had a warrant.¡±


    Oscar nodded, ¡°I agree with you, but we just need to be thorough at times like this. We could have psychos under our radar building a cult or a little f.u.c.k.i.n.g kid dissecting rats for whatever f.u.c.k.e.d up reason.¡±


    ¡°Still¡­¡±


    ¡°C''mon gentlemen, we already talked about this yesterday and our votes suggested we do this. Not only we could have peace of mind to whoever we''re letting in, it also¡­ in someway¡­ builds trust.¡±


    ¡°Trust? For checking their rooms?¡±


    ¡°I know it sounds weird but them letting us check their rooms willingly and letting everything for us to see what they may or may not be hiding is also a form of it. Unless they''re hiding something sinister, we''ll keep to ourselves whatever we saw and not talk about it to anyone. Honestly, I wanted a smaller group for this but ultimately, they trust you guys the same as me. They know we''d never b about anything and if we did, they''ll lose that trust they put in us. If they have nothing to hide, what''s the problem?¡±


    ¡°I guess I could see it but I still have my reservations. You know, some of them might start cleaning up or change the location of their stash if they know we''re gonna do these inspections.¡±


    ¡°So, you want a surprise inspection?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°The time it takes to get to each house would take too long and the ones that are-¡±


    I waved them all off, ¡°Guys, we''re already here. We have a lot of houses to go so let''s hurry up.¡±


    The old-timers eventually started to inspect my room though Marisha was the only one allowed inside the two other rooms aside from mine formon decency. In doing so, I was stuck with the old dudes carrying magnifying sses and wearing a sleuth costume.


    I was already facepalming as I joked, ¡°Be careful with those or you''ll burn my rug if the sun hits them.¡±


    Oscar interjected after a light chuckle, ¡°Where are your BOBs? I know you''re against them but we''ll never know.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°I''m not against them but they''re under our bed. There''s one for me, one for Kaley, and one for Zeus. It''s different from the bags we''d always carry but their contents are almost the same.¡±


    Johnny pulled out one and shone a shlight underneath, ¡°Geez, why''s your bed bolted on the floor?¡±


    I almost snorted, ¡°I better not answer that question.¡±


    Matthew instantly turned in my direction, ¡°And why is that?!¡±


    Oscar started chortling, ¡°Matt, trust him. He better not answer that question. If you want clues, I think putting a pillow on the headboard isn''t enough. Am I right, kid?¡±


    Johnny started losing it, ¡°Hah! Happy wife happy life, I guess!¡±


    Matthew just gave me the most intense gangster stare he could give, ¡°You better wed my daughter or I''ll break your windpipe. Got it?! The f.u.c.k are ya waiting for?! You already got the diamond, right?!¡±


    I shook my head amusingly, ¡°I told you, we''re already husband and wife whether we had the ceremony, gave each other our rings, or not. It''lle soon enough and trust me, you''ll bawl your eyes out once it happens. It''ll take some time since I just wanna do things right.¡±


    ¡°Cheh. I''ll be the judge of that! Let''s see this armory of yours!¡±


    ¡°Fine then. Feast your eyes!¡±


    Once I opened the door for them, they looked like a kid that just visited an amus.e.m.e.nt park for the first time. They were stunned by a straight five minutes and they didn''t even walk a single step inside, fearing they might defile the sanctity of my armory. With that said. everything just went smoothly and we went ahead to visit the other houses inside mypound and everyone inside our main gates.


    It got weird a few times and I''ll omit their names for obvious reasons.


    ¡°Umm¡­ What is this?¡±


    ¡°A chicken?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Problem?¡±


    ¡°In your room¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°It just went in¡­¡±


    ¡°You didn''t bother letting it out?¡± <hr>


    ¡°It looksfortable in here¡­ should I?¡±


    ¡°Do you want to move in the coop?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ I''ll move Gregory then¡­¡±


    ¡°Gregory? You named that- nevermind¡­ get it out of here¡­¡±


    And weirder.


    ¡°Umm¡­ what is this?¡±


    ¡°A¡­ A vegetable?¡±


    ¡°I know¡­ A cuc.u.mber¡­¡±


    ¡°Great!¡±


    ¡°But why is it under your pillow?¡±


    ¡°Midnight snack?¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh¡­¡±


    ¡°Problem?¡±


    ¡°Let me rephrase¡­ what the f.u.c.k is it doing here? We have you know¡­ rubber and silicone counterparts of them, right? You just need to put in a request with Rin. She''ll definitely understand and she''ll hand it to you discreetly¡­ and she''ll even throw in some lube¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ right¡­ right¡­ can I still keep it? I grew it myself so- do you want me to ce it back then?¡±


    ¡°JUST DON''T PLACE IT BACK IN OUR COMMUNITY PANTRY!¡±


    ¡°Right! Right! Ehehe¡­¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah- I can exin.¡±


    ¡°You could? You sure about that?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah! I was running-¡± <hr>


    ¡°In a bikini?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes! It''s t-training! A-And I just went over my speed limi-¡±


    ¡°In your bathroom?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes?¡±


    ¡°Did you just ask a question?¡±


    ¡°N-No! I-I¡­ I slipped¡­¡±


    ¡°P.e.n.i.s first?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­ it was an ident¡­¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh¡­ did you slip in some lube as well?¡±


    ¡°JUST HELP ME GET OUT OF HERE!¡±


    ¡°THEN WHO TOLD YOU TO F.U.C.K THAT- Nevermind¡­ You know we already have services for these kinds of needs, right?¡±


    ¡°C''mon, man! I get nervous when I talk to them! It''s not like I haven''t been jacking off to them when they''re still on TV-¡±


    ¡°Okay. Too much info. Can''t you just back it up a few bits so-¡±


    ¡°I SAID I''M STUCK! HELP ME! JUST GRAB MY- HELP ME!¡±


    ¡°F.U.C.K, NO! WON''T IT JUST GET SOFT OVERTIME?!¡±


    ¡°IT ALREADY IS! DO YOU THINK I''LL REMAIN HARD WHILE YOU''RE HERE AND THE OLD-TIMERS ARE CACKLING THEIR A.S.SES OFF IN THE OTHER ROOM?!¡±


    ¡°Then that leaves me no choice¡­ I''m sorry¡­ we''ll have to cut it off¡­¡±


    ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!! NOT JUNIOR~!!! GET THAT AWAY! GET THAT AWAY!¡±


    Our inspections got a little too chaotic at times but most of them were pretty normal and easily fixable. There were a few issues like BOBs being ced too difficult to get to, wirings being left tangled and exposed, rooms being too f.u.c.k.i.n.g dirty, backup food being used as snacks, garbage stewing for a few days more than necessary, and so much more.


    Easy fixes and reprimands were given to such people but one particr house had one of its residents give us trouble. Or rather, was just about to cause some trouble specifically to one other person close to us.


    I called out, ¡°Bring him here. Now.¡± <hr>


    ¡°W-What are you doing?!¡±


    ¡°Ma''am, please calm down. We just found something s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e and we need to discuss the matter with your son privately. It''d be best to cooperate to make things run smoothly.¡±


    ¡°W-What did he do?! What d-did you do?! Answer me!¡±


    ¡°N-N-Nothing, mom! I did-¡±


    ¡°Thene inside to answer a few questions.¡±


    ¡°S-Sure¡­¡±


    ¡°Hurry up! Stop stalling!¡±


    ¡°Alright! Alright! I''m just¡­¡±


    After a few moments, a guy only a few years younger than me was dragged inside.


    His eyes were erratically darting around the pieces of trash I uncovered and beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. Kaley was trying her best to keep her emotions in check while I was staring dead into the kid''s face. And if Matthew ever saw it, he would''ve put a bullet in his head even if his mother was watching.


    ¡°You''re Ezekiel, right? Your mom and you came here a couple of months ago.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°If you don''t answer me, I''ll move your ce of resi-¡±


    ¡°T-THOSE AREN''T MINE! THEY''RE P-PHILIP''S STASH! I-¡±


    ¡°Am I f.u.c.k.i.n.g yelling at you?¡±


    ¡°I-¡±


    Ezekiel was already giving us the signals of him trying to cover up the truth and the only person keeping him alive right now was Marisha. I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g ready to let him take a swing at me before I break his f.u.c.k.i.n.g neck for f.u.c.k.i.n.g cutting up and pasting Olivia''s face into a n.a.k.e.d woman''s body on a magazine. It could be some sort of sick prank to y on people but doing this kind of shit on a minor wouldnd him more than just jail time, especially at our times. Furthermore, there was only one other reason he would resort to such things and it was more than f.u.c.k.i.n.g sick.


    I couldn''t even fathom how he got to this stage and I''m sure his percentage of living was less than f.u.c.k.i.n.g zero.


    I tilted my head and leaned over to look him dead in the eyes before saying, ¡°Talk.¡±

 Chapter 606

    Chapter 606: 606


    The way Ezekiel was on the far corner of his room and the rest of us blocking the exit put a tremendous amount of pressure on his nerves. He started sweating even more as he tried to look for a friendly face but even his mom was being kept outside. He was shrinking and shrinking and he was this close to having a panic attack. <center></center><hr>


    Ezekiel ced his hands inside his pockets to prevent us from seeing them shake uncontrobly, ¡°L-L-Look! I-I-I-I-I U-Um-¡±


    I leaned over close enough to see his faint freckles, ¡°Where did you get that picture? That''s not recent in any way.¡±


    ¡°I-I-I-I-I c-can''t u-um I-I''m her-¡±


    ¡°Her what?! Are you gonna f.u.c.k.i.n.g stutter all day or am I gonna start breaking your fingers like your sentences?! YOU''RE HER WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°SHE- SHE USED TO BE MY JUNIOR, O-OKAY?! WE WENT TO THE SAME-¡±


    I cut him off again because I suddenly recalled everything about this motherf.u.c.ker.


    ¡°F.u.c.k! Ezekiel Bergonio, 23 now, Section Carnation. You''re my f.u.c.k.i.n.g junior?! You''re the bitch who went to guidance for watching p.o.r.n on your phone, flipping up skirts, and taking pictures of female students as they''re going down the stairs! You just sailed through theints because you''re a f.u.c.k.i.n.g varsity schr! Nice to meet you, f.u.c.kwit!¡±


    Everyone just turned to me in shock, ¡°He''s a what?!¡±


    ¡°I''ve read his files before. I just didn''t recognize him outright because the picture''s a few years old, people could have simr names, and move from their old address. But yeah, this guy''s trouble, and I''m revoking all of his privileges¡­ if he lives.¡±


    The moment I blurted out his records at my school, he went pale before trying to refute me, ¡°W-What are you t-talking about?! I-I-I-I''M A STRAIGHT A STUD-¡±


    I scoffed, ¡°Hah! You don''t even know what a f.u.c.k.i.n.g polygon is! Your grades are always perfect because you could y basketball better than the average high schooler! What happened to you in college? Hmm? Didn''t pan out, right? Listen here, bud, you''re gonna have to do more than that to prevent me from lopping your head off! Even if I don''t, you don''t wanna mess with-¡±


    Marisha cut me off, ¡°Hey. Talk with me for a sec. In private.¡± <center></center><hr>


    ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    Marisha didn''t answer me and just walked to a different room. I looked at Kaley for a brief moment and saw that she was still upset, but I just looked over to her to tell her to keep it together, for now. She just nodded faintly before I followed after the person I was 100% sure that wouldn''t be against me.


    Turns out, I was wrong.


    Marisha looked at me with a solemn expression, ¡°Close that door.¡±


    I did as I was told but I shook my head before looking back at her, ¡°Mrs. Mari-¡±


    She cut me off, ¡°You need to calm down.¡±


    I almost flicked her forehead for saying that, ¡°Are you really serious right now? We just caught a guy taping pictures of your daughter to a yboy model and quite possibly wanking off to them and you''re telling me to f.u.c.k.i.n.g calm down? That''s your daughter, right? That''s Olivia, right? Aren''t we supposed to-¡±


    ¡°So you''re telling me you''re gonna kill that guy no matter what?¡±


    I paused for a short moment before answering, ¡°So you''re telling me to spare him?¡±


    ¡°No. I''m asking you for your decision.¡±


    ¡°If you''re not asking me to spare him, we wouldn''t have this talk right now.¡±


    ¡°If you''re nning to kill him, why bother talking to him at all? Are you nning to understand his motives? Learning his final wishes? What?¡± <hr>


    ¡°Matthew would 100% break that-¡±


    ¡°I know what my husband would do but all I''m asking is for you to make decisions with a calm perspective. That''s why I''m asking you to calm down and make a proper decision even if I''m 99% sure that you''re gonna do what you have to do. I know that your say is final but I''m just trying to tell you that putting a bullet in that guy''s head is not al-¡±


    ¡°That''s a waste of a 9mm-¡±


    ¡°Don''t get funny with me. Not right now.¡±


    ¡°I always think things through. More than normal people do.¡±


    ¡°I know. But you''re not doing it right now. I wouldn''t be here talking to you if you''re doing it the right way.¡±


    I paused once more, ¡°Okay, fine. I know that guy''s a creep and that''s putting it very f.u.c.k.i.n.g mildly. I know of his other records and just a few minutes ago, we just saw evidence of him doing even more degenerate shit than I could f.u.c.k.i.n.g think of. Chances are, he''d do the same shit when we''re not looking, and worse, he''d actuallymit something irreversible. Is that thinking of it thoroughly enough or not?¡±


    ¡°Go on.¡±


    ¡°Go on?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Go on.¡±


    I shook my head even more, ¡°He and his mom are currently living in this house with three other families and two of them also have minors. The moment they learn of this, not only they''d refuse to live with that motherf.u.c.ker, they''d even send us a ton of requests just them away or even just outright kill him. Heck, his own mother might even disown him and give him to us. Even if it''s her so-¡±


    Marisha sighed before she cut me off, ¡°She knows.¡± <hr>


    I was bbergasted, ¡°What? She knows what?¡±


    ¡°Before they came in here, I talked to them both and talked to them individually. Asha knows her son''s urges and she''s been doing her best to¡­ to soothe them. It got easier when our escort service was established and I''ve been letting him go for a night if he''d just have a talk with me. He''s been responding well as ofte but-¡±


    I cringed, ¡°What the f.u.c.k am I hearing now? Are you making Micah''s girls wear Olivia''s perfume when he''s getting-¡±


    Marisha red at me, ¡°That''s not fair. Even I didn''t know that he''s into my daughter. Contrary to what I''m showing, I''m pissed as hell. However, as bad as he looked right now, he''s been seeking help and trying to better himself. Give him to me for one more month and I''d be sure to-¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Listen. I''ll-¡±


    ¡°I''ll give you a week and I''ll hook him up with something I''m very familiar with. I''ll show him a set of pictures and if he responds to that as he should, what happens, happens.¡±


    Marisha looked at me for a short while before saying, ¡°Fine. What if he passes?¡±


    ¡°We''re making a bet now?¡±


    ¡°You can call it whatever you like.¡±


    ¡°Are you confident you could do it in a week?¡±


    ¡°I''ll be able to do something but it''s up to him if it''ll work.¡± <hr>


    ¡°You''re just dying the inevitable. That''ll just give him time to n a stupid escape or do something even dumber. Even if he passes, it wouldn''t be the same.¡±


    ¡°You don''t believe in people.¡±


    ¡°Everything''s circ.u.mstantial. From what I''ve gone through, it saved me a lot to look for the worse in people first. To be honest, killing him outright is the merciful sentence. There''s a lot of things worse than death. Living is different from existing.¡±


    ¡°I''ll be more sessful if you give me more time. I''ll tell you something I''ve kept buried if you give me two weeks.¡±


    ¡°I thought you''d be able to do it a week? Why are you asking for an extension?¡±


    ¡°I asked for a month and you gave me a week. All I''m asking for you is to meet me in the middle.¡±


    ¡°You know you''re working for the other team, right?¡±


    ¡°I know. And my family would definitely be upset with me. However, I''m the only one giving him a chance.¡±


    ¡°He was already given lots of chances and was enabled far more than necessary. If you''d like him to be breathing, the best I can do is to turn him into a eunuch and a-¡±


    ¡°You''re getting emotional agai-¡±


    Marisha and I were still debating on what to do with Ezekiel when we heard a gunshot from the other room. Screams instantly followed but once we got to the scene, no one was able to utter a word.


    A corner of the room had specks of blood and brain matter scattered in an obvious pattern, but the culprit was the same person as the victim.


    Asha was slumped on the floor, crying and wailing her eyes out while Kaley and the rest of the old-timers were wearing solemn and bitter expressions, even Matthew. Ezekiel was lying dead on the floor and even if his head got a new lobotomy using a lead projectile, I noticed that tears were present in his eyes and he had pulled out some of his hair before doing it. Furthermore, the smell of ammonia was present but the smell of iron was starting to overpower it.

 Chapter 607

    Chapter 607


    Seconds continued to pass and Ezekiel''s mother started to inch towards her son while sobbing profusely. Her shrill wails could be heard from outside this house and just based on the mutterings we could hear, people have started to gather around us, not only from the gunshot we heard earlier.


    No one stopped her as she cradled her son but the blood from the gunshot wound Ezekiel sustained kept pouring out over and over. It started to pool under them and it began to seep on her clothes but all she did was try to hopelessly call out to him.


    "Oh my god- Ezekiel! Ezekiel! My¡­ Ez- My so- W-Why¡­ Why did y-you- WHY?! YOU HAVEN''T DONE ANYTHING! YOU HAVEN''T DONE ANYTHING! THAT WAS JUST A PICTURE! A PICTURE! WHY''D YOU HAVE TO- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! MY SON~! MY POOR SON!!!"


    Asha cried alone for a few moments and all we could give was silence. She was trying to rock her son''s body back and forth, almost like a child, but all she was actually doing was flopping his head over and over. No one was able to utter a word and it continued for a few minutes until she becamepletely silent.


    Marisha tried to walk up to her, "Asha..."


    "DON''T COME NEAR ME! NOT A STEP!"


    "Asha. I was just-"


    "NOT A STEP! NOT A STEP!"


    Asha''s eyes were bloodshot as she turned to us but her gaze suddenly turned to Kaley. As soon as she did that, her gaze slowly became a hateful re as she shook all over. Everyone else started to look in Kaley''s direction but Asha started to shout her lungs out.


    <sub></sub>


    "YOU! WHAT DID YOU SAY TO MY SON?! YOU''RE THE ONLY ONE ALONE WITH HIM! HOW DID HE MANAGE TO GET AHOLD OF-"


    Kaley returned her re, "What? How- Don''t put this on me! I did nothing wrong. I just-"


    "DID NOTHING WRONG?! CAN''T YOU SEE ANYTHING WRONG HERE?! HUH?! YOU CLEARLY DID SOMETHING! MY SON ISN''T SO WEAK-WILLED THAT HE''LL JUST- JUST¡­ HE WON''T DO SUCH A THING! HE HAD HIS PROBLEMS BUT HE WON''T KILL HIMSELF! HE''S BEEN GETTING HELP AND HE''S GETTING BETTER! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO-"


    "What are you talking about?! No right to what?! Are you listening to yourself?! I''m not the one who did anything wrong here!"


    "MY SON JUST TAPED A PICTURE OF A GIRL-"


    "That girl is my sister! And her name is Olivia! Why are you defending his actions?!"


    "HE NEVER LAID A HAND ON ANYONE! EVER! IS IT WRONG TO-"


    Kaley had enough, "IT''S WRONG IF THE ONE HE''S BEATING OFF TO IS UNDER 18! MRS. ASHA, YOUR SON IS F.U.C.K.I.N.G SICK! DID YOU HEAR ME?! HE''S F.U.C.K.I.N.G SICK! AND YOUR AS SICK AS HIM FOR CONDONING HIS ACTIONS! WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WOULD''VE DONE OR HAVE ALREADY DONE WHEN YOUR BACK IS TURNED!"


    "HOW DARE YOU?!"


    "HOW DARE ME WHAT?! F.U.C.K YOU! YOUR SON JUST KILLED HIMSELF AND YOU''RE BLAMING ME FOR IT?! IF I WANTED TO KILL YOUR SON, I WOULD''VE-"


    Marisha finally stepped in, "Kaley! That''s enough! Go outside and we''ll talk-"


    "YOU''RE STILL DEFENDING THEM?! WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?! UNBELIEVABLE! YOU''RE OUR MOM! YOU''RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON OUR- DAD?! WHY ARE YOU- LET GO OF ME! WHY AREN''T YOU SAYING ANYTHING?!"


    Things have started to get out of hand but surprisingly enough, Matthew decided to keep his head cool. He dragged Kaley outside with the help of Johnny but another argument started from their side. It was then we heard Matthew''s bellows which confirmed that he wasn''t f.u.c.k.i.n.g calm at all. He already did a great job by not piling on the shouting match here because we still have an ongoing issue we needed to solve.


    "WHY''D YOU SEND HER AWAY?! SHE''S SUPPOSED TO BE ANSWERING QUESTIONS! WHERE DID- HOW DID MY SON MANAGED TO GET THIS INFERNAL-"


    I walked up and instantly pried the bloodied gun from Ezekiel''s body, "She''ll answer questionster but you''ll do the same first. Mrs. Bergonio, I-"


    "YOU''RE QUESTIONING ME?! WHY-"


    "If you keep on yelling at me, we''re not gonna go anywhere. I know you''re devastated and I want you to listen to me. Look, this LC9 had exactly one bullet missing, burn marks were present on this side of his temple, the spray pattern coincides well, his hand was holding the gun-"


    "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?! I''M ASKING HOW HE MANAGED TO GET AHOLD-"


    I sighed heavily, "It''s from your BOBs. If you haven''t noticed already, we''ve checked and inspected each house that we could and we''ve seen our fair share of the firearms we allocated on your BOBs be misced or carried around nonchntly. This LC9 is easily conceble and he must''ve been carrying it wherever or whenever he could. To tell you the hard truth, your son did this to himself."


    "NO! THAT''S IMPOSSIBLE! MY SON- MY SON WOULDN''T-"


    "Mrs. Bergonio, Iid what I could in front of you. Just judging from his state before you cradled him, something must''ve happened inside his head causing him to resort to such measures."


    "THAT''S WHAT I''M TELLING YOU FROM THE START! THAT GIRL MUST''VE SAID SOMETHING TO-"


    "Then kill yourself."


    "WHA- What?"


    "I said kill yourself. Why aren''t you doing it?"


    "A-Are you-"


    "Didn''t work?"


    "..."


    "As I thought. You wouldn''t jump off a building just because someone told you to, right?"


    "IT''S DIFFERENT! DON''T GIVE ME THAT CRAP! MY SON- My son¡­ he''s¡­ he''s troubled¡­ okay?! Anything would''ve set him off! You have to- You have to look more into it! Please! Please! Please! My son wouldn''t just- SHE- SHE MUST''VE SAID SOMETHING WHEN-"


    "Stop! Just stop! If you really want to know what happened, you need to clean up after yourself first before anything. You know what this is, right? She''s wearing the same thing as me." I said as I pointed at a particr device on my vest.


    Asha''s expression turned to a different shade when she saw me pointing to my body cam but I was more concerned if Kaley did something or not. However, at the end of the day, I knew that she''d keep her emotions in check unless provoked aggressively.


    Asha turned to Kaley with a hateful re once more before saying to me, "y that darned tape."


    I looked at her straight in the eyes first, "I''ll have you know that after we cleaned up the scene, we took-"


    "Yeah, yeah! You checked all of his belongings and brought them here. y that tape! I still need to get my son''s ashester!"


    Asha was too focused on the tape but everyone else inside the room had already seen it. Me, Kaley, Oscar, Marisha, Matthew, and Johnny have already seen it and we were only doing this to give her some closure. With that said, we don''t know what she would do once she saw it but we were prepared nevertheless.


    The footage started when Kaley and I walked down from our room and we fast-forwarded it at the right moment.


    It showed the time when Ezekiel was caught red-handed and it eventually yed the scene when Marisha and I walked outside.


    Sponsored Content


    Kaley''s body-cam was just pointed right at Ezekiel''s face.


    [You¡­ you''re not gonna say anything?]


    [What do you want me to say?]


    [You''re¡­ y-you''re Kaley, r-right? O-Olivia''s sister...]


    [What about it?]


    [You¡­ you aren''t mad?]


    [...]


    [You are¡­ right?]


    [...]


    [Hahaha¡­ of course¡­ you are...]


    [...]


    [Do you think I''m sick? You do. You do, right? Ahaha¡­ I''ve been getting help though¡­ It''s just¡­ there''s these moments when-]


    [Stop talking. You''re making it worse.]


    [He''s gonna kill me when he gets back, right? Right?! Of course, he will! Did you see his eyes? H-His eyes! Holy shit! I don''t know much about¡­ about stuff but he''s killed quite a few- more than a few, right? Right?! F.u.c.k¡­ I''m gonna die¡­ I deserve it¡­ I f.u.c.k.i.n.g deserve it...]


    [Stop talking. Whether you deserve it or not, it''s up to them. They''ll figure out a way-]


    [I have a gun. Do you know that?]


    [Wha- Easy now. No sudden moves. Hands where I can see them.]


    [You think I could draw faster than you? Hah! I''ve seen your drills¡­ you guys could kill me in a split-second if I try anything¡­ Hahaha¡­ I''m such a f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot¡­ My gun¡­ It''s¡­ it''s... in my right pocket...]


    [I said hands where I can see them. Let go of it and slowly ce-]


    [Hahaha¡­ don''t worry¡­ you''re faster, remember? Shit¡­ Why''d they all have to be so¡­ so¡­ squishy¡­ soft¡­ they probably smell really good when¡­ F.u.c.k¡­ It''s happening again...]


    [Are you having a bo- you need help¡­ serious help...]


    [I''m sorry¡­ I-I-I-I can''t help it, OKAY?! WHEN I- WHEN I SEE THEIR LITTLE- OH MY F.U.C.K.I.N.G GOD- SHIT! I''M SO F.U.C.K.I.N.G SICK! I-I-I... Can you- C-Can you just¡­ I can''t help it! I can''t help it! I''m trying hard, aren''t I?! It''s just- just...]


    [I''m telling you, it''s gonna be fine. They''re not gonna kill you. If they wanted to-]


    [STOP LYING! LIAR! LIAR!]


    [I''m not lying to you! Calm down! We''re talking right now, right? We''re-]


    [Kill me.]


    [What?]


    [Kill me!]


    [I''m not-]


    [KILL ME! JUST F.U.C.K.I.N.G POINT THAT THING AND SHOOT ME!]


    [I''m not killing you! You just need to calm down and we''ll talk this through, okay?]


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 608

    Chapter 608


    The rest of the footage yed out but seeing it for the second time still bugged me.


    What happened was that Kaley quickly drew her pistol, held it with both hands, and pointed it at Ezekiel. However, Ezekiel just started muttering to himself before he started hitting his face with his left fist. It didn''t take long before he started to chuckle silently while tears were flowing down his cheeks. His expressions were in direct contrast with each other and it made Kaley step back a few times.


    [Stop moving! Hey! I''m telling you to-]


    [I COULD JUST KILL MYSELF, RIGHT? RIGHT?!]


    As soon as Ezekiel made direct eye contact with Kaley, he grabbed a clump of hair from his head and ripped with off with a maniacal expression. After that, he banged his head on the table as hard as he could before doing it over, and over, and over.


    [I told you to stop moving! Hey! Cut it-]


    [YOU HAVE ONE WAY TO MAKE ME STOP, YOU BITCH! Wait-- I¡­ Oh! I forgot about my-]


    Ezekiel''s expression kept changing repeatedly, and even I got unnerved watching it for the second time. He looked deranged, sad, excited, angry, disturbed, and lost but hisst moments bugged me-- no, every one the most.


    Asha''s face couldn''t be described by words even if I tried.


    <sub></sub>


    What happened was Ezekiel just looked at Kaley in the most disgusting way possible before he looked like he was in ecstasy. His eyes were filled with l.u.s.t but it didn''t take long before his pupils disappeared for a short moment. He trembled momentarily before Kaley took another step back and it was then when he started to urinate on himself.


    Ezekiel''s pants started to darken as he wet himself but he kept eye contact with Kaley while giving a faint smile.


    [Thanks. I''m gonna kill myself now...]


    Ezekiel easily pulled out his gun from his pockets and pointed it at his head. It only took a fraction of a second before he pulled the trigger and a part of his room got newly decorated. However, only a few people noticed that as soon as Ezekiel said his parting words, Kaley lowered her gun by a few centimeters.


    I never said anything about it but the old-timers definitely knew. Kaley nced at us, waiting for us to bring up the subject but now was just not the time.


    The footage eventually ended and everyone''s eyes were now on Asha.


    She was just sitting on her chair motionless, but her eyes were extremely red from crying. She didn''t bother to wipe her tears anymore as her eyes were just stuck on the screen where we showed her Ezekiel''s final moments. She stayed in that position for a while before she blinked once and looked at me with somber eyes.


    "So, what''s gonna happen to me?"


    I looked at her in the eye before opening my mouth, "Mrs. Bergonio, I can''t imagine what''s going through your head right now but-"


    She cut me off, "Are you gonna send me away?"


    "No."


    "No?"


    "We''re not sending you away. You did nothing wro-"


    She cut me off once more, "Did nothing wrong? Hah! I tried to protect my sick son, enabled all of his urges, med all of you because he killed himself, and you''re not gonna do anything to me? Why?"


    "Technically¡­ we''re just moving your ce of residence here in this hospital. Even if we tried the news of what happened today will be discussed in our meeting and it will be difficult for you to live with your ''roommates'' and to be honest with you, they requested for the same thing to happen."


    "Oh¡­ I''ll be on probation like the new ones that stumble here every now and then..."


    "Essentially, yes. That''s what''s gonna happen."


    "..."


    "Furthermore, you''ll be required to attend psych meetings with Mrs. Payan here and we''ll monitor you-"


    "Monitor me? What? I''m not crazy!"


    "We''re not telling you that. These meetings are just-"


    "D''you think I''m gonna kill myself?! Is that it?! I''M NOT F.U.C.K.I.N.G SICK LIKE MY-"


    I just stared right at her and released a bit of pressure, "You just lost your son and you''re being forced to start fresh. We''re doing this for your own good and whether you like it or not, you''re doing what we''re telling you to do. It''s harsh but you''re being let off easy, remember that."


    I said each word just loud enough for everybody to hear and Asha shrunk down and bit her lip. Her face showed a lot of bitterness and sorrow but I could only do so much to keep everyone satisfied. I couldn''t just let her go because she might do something stupid when no one''s looking and I wanted Marisha to dig a little bit deeper inside her head.


    There were a lot of things to take into ount and I eventually had Asha escorted to her new quarters.


    I thought this day would be like any other day where we wouldn''t notice the time but it turned out to be more tiring than going for a simple cleanup run. I''d normally leave this kind of thing to the professionals and y some IRL hack-and-sh but this time, someone too close to home got involved.


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    The old-timers tried to finish up what we started, Marisha excused herself to bring the news to our young couple, while I drove back to mypound with Kaley.


    She wasn''t speaking a word when we got back and she just followed right behind me when we got to our room.


    Once I closed our door behind her, I removed my gear and just ced them on our bed. I sat down and eventuallyid on my back but Kaley was still standing by the door. She was looking at me with concern and we just stared at each other for a moment. I sat by the edge once more and Kaley started to look down on the floor.


    I didn''t try to initiate the conversation and it eventually prompted a response from her.


    Kaley raised her head to look at me once more and she was lightly pursing her lips, "I¡­ I just knew, okay?"


    I didn''t answer and just kept looking at her.


    "I¡­ I¡­ I just..." Kaley tried to say something but she stopped midway. She continued to look at the same spot on the floor earlier.


    Looking at her expression, I knew that she knew she shouldn''t have lowered her guard one bit but this ''ability'' of hers made her rely solely on it. Even if she knew, even if she was 100% sure, even if the person she was up against dered that he would kill himself, she shouldn''t let her guard down until it was over. People, especially people that were backed into a corner could easily turn a normal situation into something extremely vtile.


    Things resolved as they should but that few seconds was crucial and could''ve turned into something irreversible.


    I finally walked up to her and squished her face with both hands so she could face me, "Look¡­ at least you know what you did wrong, okay? This¡­ I don''t know¡­ this insight check of yours is abnormal but we already know that it''s not 100% foolproof. Remember the case with na?"


    Kaley tried to get away from me, "I¡­ it hurts~ stop pinching so hard~"


    I squished her cheeks even harder, "Nope. This is strike one. Deal with the pain and listen to me."


    "Ow¡­ O-Okay..."


    "I love you, alright? I just don''t want to regret shit because I''ve done a lot of regretting already. I get overconfident in my abilities too but I have you and everyone else in our team to check me. However, you were alone that time and slipped a tiny bit. That-- That should never f.u.c.k.i.n.g happen again, alright?"


    Kaley''s cheeks were getting redder and redder, "A-Alright..."


    I finally let go of her cheeks and said, "Get to strike three and I''ll make a new diamond with my pubes!"


    Kaley almost lost her bnce, "W-What?! Y-You wouldn''t!"


    I started to ruffle her hair, "What? Hmm? Gonna do anything about it?"


    "Argh! Sto- Wha- Wai- What are you doing?! Wha-"


    She let out a roar but I was already running down the stairs.


    "GET BACK HERE, YOU DOOFUS!"


    I just cackled as I raced out of our house and even Zeus thought we were about to y tag. He was chasing after me but he slinked away once he saw Kaley stomping hard with each step. Everyone else also gave way and I was running at my top speed, heading for the covered court.


    ''Perfect, heh.''


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 609

    Chapter 609: 609


    As I got closer to the covered court, I could already hear a few people inside. As luck would have it, Tatiana and Cynthia were present and they were ying one on one. With that said, a few familiar faces were watching from the bleachers with the kids.<center></center><hr>


    The game seemed to be intense because they didn¡¯t seem to notice our yelling.


    They were ying this ce¡¯s own version of basketball but with a lot of other sports¡¯ mechanics in ce. First off, the terrain was already changed dramatically so the use of free-running and parkour was unavoidable. The traditional sense of dribbling was thrown out the window.


    As long as the team that had the ball in y could attempt to make a shot in 24 seconds, they could ¡®dribble¡¯ the ball with their hands, feet, or any part of their body. Furthermore,pared to the travelling rule of not allowing more than two steps before dribbling again, it was now doubled as an experiment.


    With that said, fouls were treated differently. Instead of the limit being six or five fouls before graduating in basketball, only three were allowed in our ce. However, the rules for a grant foul or something worthy of a red card was still the same. As long as someone wasn¡¯t injured critically, disabled, or in worst cases, killed, everything was fair game.


    We could¡¯ve been stricter but doing aggressive, out-of-the-box, or risky ys in a safe environment was key.


    With that said, I was still running for my life, maybe.


    Kaley¡¯s voice thundered from behind me, ¡°D¡¯YOU THINK I WOULDN¡¯T BE ABLE TO KEEP UP?! GET BACK HERE, YOU DOOFUS!¡±


    I just cackled in response, ¡°KEKEKE! HAH~! THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE! IF YOU¡¯RE WEARING MAKEUP, IT WOULD¡¯VE LEFT AN IMPRINT!¡±


    ¡°SHUT UP! I¡¯M GONNA KILL YOU! ARGH!¡±


    As soon as I stepped foot inside the covered court, I shouted loud enough for everyone inside to hear, ¡°IT¡¯S A 2V2 NOW! I¡¯M ON CYNTHIA¡¯S TEAM!¡±


    The two women still in the heat of the moment almost fell over as they eximed, ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°QUICK! BEFORE SHE KILLS EVERYONE! SHE¡¯S CLOSE!¡±


    ¡°WHO?!¡±


    ¡°LONG STORY, NO SUBTITLES! GO! GO! GO!¡±


    Tatiana just shook her head before shouting towards Rin, ¡°Rin! Reset the scores! The time too! Quick!¡±


    Cynthia groaned, ¡°Not fair! I¡¯m in the lead!¡±


    I chuckled as I hid in one of the blind corners, ¡°What¡¯s the score? 10-6? We¡¯ll get that back in no time.¡±<center></center><hr>


    Tatiana scoffed, ¡°Really~? I¡¯ll throw down my weights then¡­¡±


    I jokingly chuckled, ¡°Yeah, yeah, do what you have to do. We¡¯re still winning this though. That bushy eyebrow kid did that and he still lost¡­ so, whatever¡­¡±


    Cynthia instantly chuckled while Tatiana gave us a confused look, but Kaley finally reached us.


    ¡°HEY! COME OUT! I KNOW YOU¡¯RE IN HERE! I- Huh?¡±


    I was still peeking behind a windowsill and I saw that Tatiana made her way back to the entrance to meet with Kaley. She leaned against Kaley¡¯s ear to whisper a few things and Kaley just exhaled a lot of hot air before calming herself down. She briefly nced in my direction but after a few seconds, we started a new game.


    The kids yelled after Rin blew on the whistle, ¡°GO!¡±


    Much to everyone¡¯s surprise, Kaley was holding the ball and she spun it towards her before letting go. As soon as it bounced off, she kicked it almost violently, only aiming to send it across the y area in one go. With that said, no one noticed that Tatiana easily made her way past us by using a blindspot.


    ¡°CYNTHIA!¡±


    ¡°I KNOW!¡±


    That made Cynthia and I turn around at a moment¡¯s notice, trying to race with Tatiana who already was a few feet ahead. I tried to use the shortest route possible where I wouldn¡¯t need to pull myself up because it would slow me down considerably. However, the way the ball was flying in the air, it would fall down right above a ledge Tatiana just climbed over.


    ¡®Fuck.¡¯


    The moment it took for me to think about what to do next, a hand just pulled me back and the figure sprinted past me.


    ¡°Kaley?!¡±


    ¡°Hmph! You¡¯re too slow!¡±


    I tried to catch up with them but as soon as I jumped over the ledge where Tatiana caught the ball, Cynthia was now in a 2v1 position. Cynthia tried her best to keep the two from scoring but Tatiana only needed to lock her in ce before Kaley attempted the simplest ofyups.


    The ball easily went through the hoop and now they were leading by two.


    The onlookers and the kids instantly celebrated, ¡°WOOHOO!¡±<hr>


    Cynthia was slightly ring at me and even if Kaley scored herself, she was ring at me as well. Only Tatiana seemed to be amused at my predicament because she was grinning from ear to ear.


    I patted Cynthia¡¯s back before whispering, ¡°Pass me the ball¡­¡±


    ¡°You let them score¡­¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ll make it up this time¡­¡±


    ¡°Stop whispering at each other and let¡¯s y the game! You¡¯re so dead after this!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah~¡±


    ¡°Hmph!¡±


    Right at this moment, Jared and Alex just came out of our shooting range and they were watching from the outside.


    ¡°Bro! You¡¯re ying again, you fucking cheater! Hah! Who¡¯s the opposing side?¡±


    Jared¡¯s statement drew the ire of Kaley and Tatiana and before they tried to guard me, it was already toote.


    ¡°Hey! This is Sky Ishiyama and this is theser shot!¡±


    I held my breath before throwing the ball at the perfect angle. It flew in a beautiful arc, past all of the obstructions below, and before everyone managed to react, the sound of the ball swishing as it went through the ropes of the hoop resounded.


    The look of shock the kids wore on the other side of the ring was so~ fucking priceless. Jared was already ying the soundtrack from Bro Perfect after each sessful shot and I did the mandatory celebration dance.


    Tatiana and Cynthia¡¯s jaws had dropped and Kaley was fucking fuming.


    ¡°Fuck. Me,¡± Tatiana muttered as she tried topose herself.


    Kaley looked over to Alex, ¡°Hey, Alex! Wanna join our team?¡±


    Alex promptly replied, ¡°Umm, no.¡±<hr>


    ¡°WHAT?! WHY?! You beat him in basketball, right?!¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes, in basketball¡­ I dunno whatever that is¡­ sorry¡­ if he starts doing that, no one could stop him¡­ I dunno how he-¡°


    I chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s just math~¡±


    Kaley fumed once more, ¡°Shut up! You¡¯re just¡­ just lucky! That¡¯s all!¡±


    ¡®Sounds about right, heh.¡¯


    Cynthia muttered to herself, ¡°I feel like a fill-in¡­¡±


    Kaley and Tatiana started to form new strategies to deal with me so, in turn, I pulled Cynthia to the side to discuss ours. Once I started to tell her about our next y, she stared at me wide-eyed and confused.


    ¡°What?! Is that gonna even work?!¡±


    ¡°Yep! And you¡¯ll be the one to do it.¡±


    ¡°Wha- Wait a sec! You¡¯re-¡°


    ¡°h~ h~ h~ We¡¯re a team, this isn¡¯t Azure Lock!¡±


    ¡°Hah?¡±


    ¡°Haven¡¯t read that yet? Well~ Just trust me, you¡¯ll do fine~¡±


    ¡°O-Okay¡­¡±


    ¡°YOU¡¯LL DO FINE!¡±


    ¡°O-OKAY!¡±


    We were leading by one point and the possession belonged to Kaley and Tatiana. Once Rin blew the whistle, the two opted for a direct sprint on the right sideline where the obstructions were fewer. We responded in kind though Cynthia was in and out of view as she trailed a few feet to the side.<hr>


    Kaley was clutching the ball with both hands while Tatiana was trailing right behind her. I thought their roles would be reversed but Tatiana was watching both Cynthia and me for any attempt to steal the ball. With that said, I was trying to make Tatiana focus on me only for a few seconds to set up the trap.


    Each time I tried to break past her, she¡¯d easily block me and nce to the left to check Cynthia¡¯s current position.


    ¡®Now!¡¯


    I waited at the exact moment when Tatiana would momentarily rx her body once she spotted Cynthia weaving in and out of the obstacles because it was the only time I could pass from her blindside.


    ¡°Wai- Fuck! Kaley!¡±


    Tatiana tried to grab my shirt but I just pped her hand off, sprinting straight to my target. However, before I could attempt to steal the ball from Kaley¡¯s grasp, she instantly threw the ball back, passing it back to Tatiana at an angle I wouldn¡¯t be able to reach. It seemed like Kaley had eyes on the back of her head because she passed a split-second before I attempted to steal.


    I stopped in my tracks to turn around but I instantly weaved my head to dodge the ball that wasing right for my face.


    ¡°Wha-¡°


    ¡°See youter~!¡±


    What happened was as soon as Tatiana received the pass, she instantly passed it back to Kaley. They both knew that they only needed a moment to distract me and Cynthia was still hiding in the shadows and would be unable to run interference.


    Kaley left me with a hidden smirk and she was about to attempt a simple jumper.


    That led me to use one of my secret cards.


    Before Kaley lifted up from the air, a not so pleasant sound entered her ears.


    ¡°Ahn~ Mmh~! Yes! Yes!¡±


    Kaley instantly lost focus and she just threw an air ball which Cynthia easily possessed. Tatiana who was by my side was trying so hard to hold me back was now also trying to hide the smirk hidden on her lips.


    Sess!


    Kaley roared as she stomped her foot and pointed at me, ¡°WHAT THE FUCK?!¡±


    I just cackled before running in the opposite direction, ¡°AHAHAHAHA!!! CYNTHIA, GOOOOOOO~!!!¡±¡±

 Chapter 610

    Chapter 610: 610


    It only took a moment before Tatiana caught up to me because I tried to climb up an elevated horizontal bar by kicking against the wall opposite me. Pulling myself up caused a small dy and it made her catch up with me even if she used a roundabout route.<center></center><hr>


    However, before I even tried to jump ahead the other horizontal bar, I felt someone grabbing my ankles with impable timing.


    ¡°You¡¯re not going anywhere!¡±


    ¡°What?! Kaley?!¡±


    ¡°Tatiana! Go!¡±


    Kaley just fucking used the same route as me but instead of trying to race me, she pinned both of us down, forcing a 1 VS 1 between Cynthia and Tatiana.


    ¡°You¡¯re turning crazy, you know that? If I wiggle my feet like this, you¡¯ll fall down¡­¡±


    ¡°Shut up! You wouldn¡¯t¨C No! Stop moving!¡±


    ¡°Heh.¡±


    Kaley red at me, ¡°Hmph! I could still break my fall¡­ Tatiana taught me¡­¡±


    ¡°Come up here, let go of me¡­¡±


    ¡°What are you¨C Stop!¡±


    I tried to pull Kaley up so she could watch the 1 VS 1 with me but instead, she easily pulled herself up without any issue. I nodded my head approvingly but she jokingly pushed me, making hold on to the bar while squatting down.<center></center><hr>


    ¡°You little¡­¡±


    ¡°Hehe¡­¡±


    Once we stopped fooling around, we still managed to see thest few seconds between Tatiana and Cynthia.


    Despite my fast pass to Cynthia, Tatiana still managed to catch up to her by leaping across great distances by using the obstacles, which a t surface couldn¡¯t allow. There were horizontal bars, tall ledges, and etc. that she could use to her advantage and she caught up sparingly because Cynthia still needed to dribble the ball while doing the same thing.


    ¡®These two trained their bodies well¡­¡¯


    Tatiana was going at full speed as she tried to body block Cynthia¡¯s advance but thetter wouldn¡¯t let up. Cynthia actually tried to force her way against Tatiana but she was slowly leaning to the losing side. However, that was when Cynthia pulled out a few tricks from her sleeve.


    Cynthia, or should I say, all of us were mainly dribbling the ball with our hands not only because it was easier, but it was also faster to get through the obstacles. In her case, only a trick y would work on Tatiana for now because she was too overpowering.


    I muttered, ¡°It¡¯sing¡­¡±


    Cynthia kept pushing it until she was close to the basket and she was barely hanging on. She was dribbling with her left hand and the moment Tatiana tried to swipe the ball off her hands, the angle and the power of the ball as it left her hand changed dramatically.


    It was almost as if she let it fall down and Tatiana failed her steal.


    The ball rolled down to their feet but Cynthia ced her right foot forward before scooping the ball with her left foot, locking it between her ankles before she lifted it a few inches from her side.


    It spun in the air due to a simple butterfly lift but Cynthia followed it up by kicking it with her right heel. Her body was now leaning against Tatiana and the two could only watch the ball fly past their heads.<hr>


    The ball hit the board before going in and Cynthia celebrated by hugging Tatiana as tight as she could.


    ¡°I DID IT! DID YOU SEE THAT?!¡±


    ¡°SHADDAP! LET GO OF ME! KALEY! BALL!¡±


    Tatiana threw the ball straight through us and we were once again on the opposing side. We continued on for almost an hour and our final score was 21-13. Cynthia was so happy, Tatiana was fuming mad, while Kaley long forgot I smacked her hard with a pillow.


    Bing and Russel soon took up Rin¡¯s shift of watching the kids and the rest of us watched them get destroyed by little demons d in protective gears.


    ¡°HEY! NO BITING! WANT ME TO SMACK YOU IN THE HEAD?!¡±


    ¡°BLEEEHHH~ CATCH ME FIRST, YOU OAF!¡±


    ¡°THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME, YOU LITTLE SHIT?!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡±


    ¡°YOU FREAKIN¡¯ SLOWPOKE!¡±


    After another hour, we were back at my house and I decided to cook a little snack for everyone. I made some Crispy Kangkong which was simply breaded water spinach that was seasoned and then fried in vegetable oil. It also came with some dipping sauce but it was already delicious the way it was. We paired it up with some juice and the living room only had crunching sounds for a few short minutes.<hr>


    Tatiana almost got into a fight with the kids from stealing from their te but I just had to make more to please everybody.


    Time continued to pass and instead of conducting our meeting at the back of our houses, we did it at the DDR Camp for obvious reasons.


    Not everyone was pleased with the house-to-house inspections at first but some of them realized the safety it could bring if they traded a bit of privacy into it. It was not only from the earlier incident but also from discovering thatcency would almost always bring carelessness.


    Not everyone slipped up but it still needed to be discussed.


    I took everyone¡¯s attention once more, ¡°Okay~ First off, the people who were given severe warnings from the inspections had to attend a few more sses, evaluations, and lose some privileges for a time. We¡¯d conduct more random inspections in the future and you guys better keep yourselves in check and not just when we¡¯re about to knock on your door. There¡¯s a reason for not living like a slob, I¡¯d rather prevent a mistake than clean up after it.¡±


    Jomarro raised his hand with a smile, ¡°How about the guys who did well? A small reward, maybe?¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°I would always prefer to have people doing good stuff because it¡¯smon sense but yeah, send me a request for anything and if I see it fit for a ¡®small reward¡¯, I¡¯ll give it to you. However¡­¡±


    ¡°However what?¡±


    ¡°I have someone who went above and beyond the guidelines we provided and that someone will receive an extra care package. You¡¯ll get it after a time and I wish that everyone would be like that someone.¡±


    Then everyone turned their heads in Rin¡¯s direction.


    Rin instantly waved everyone off before ring at Tatiana, ¡°I live with someone really~ messy. It¡¯s not me¡­ I would¡¯ve won but¡­ it¡¯s not me¡­¡±


    Tatiana defended herself, ¡°It¡¯s called chaotic organization!¡±<hr>


    Cynthia shook her head as well as everybody close to her, ¡°In short, messy¡­¡±


    Everyone else started to look at each other but I decided to bring our next topic of discussion.


    ¡°Listen up! Now that we¡¯ve established a proper connection with the City of Man, what we need to do next is try to maintain it. Starting tomorrow, we¡¯d have three teams: one from us, one from Morales¡¯ group, and another one from Iskoh¡¯s group that would nt their feet in these three points we encircled on this map.¡±


    Jay raised his hand, ¡°And do what exactly?¡±


    ¡°Our ce from Iskoh¡¯s ce is still a city apart and if anything goes wrong, it¡¯d take a while to get reinforcements or even medical help. We¡¯re turning them into small relief centers or outposts that would slowly fan outwards until we could walk from point to point without any interruption.¡±


    ¡°Wait, an outpost with just a regr team?¡±


    ¡°Something like that but they¡¯ll be twice as bigpared to a normal 6-man team. Of course, we¡¯d need that group to have people that have knowledge of medicine,munications, engineering, and such. Obviously, you don¡¯t need to be a Chief of Surgeon or something simr to qualify but just enough to get an SOS answered at the earliest.¡±


    Bing also raised his hand, ¡°So, they just wait around for something to happen?¡±


    ¡°Let me rify then. We¡¯re sending a lot of cleanup crews outside to lessen our zombie threat and since everyone¡¯s been doing a good job cleaning our backyard, the backyards left to clean got farther and farther. We had a few hups here and there and I want a safety for the people we send outside. A tire blowout could be easily fixed but what if they need a pickup?¡±


    Some of the people who got in trouble nodded in kind.


    I continued, ¡°We¡¯re training all of you to give first-aid but what if the person needed more than that? We could throw a bandaid to a small cut what if someone¡¯s chest gotcerated from end to end? What I¡¯m saying is, we need a group just a level above the team we¡¯d normally send out there so all of us could share a hot meal when we get home¡­ Also, Tatiana and I would miss the people we¡¯d always m on the mat when we¡¯re training¡­ heh.¡±


    Everyone just chuckled then I eventually showed them the list of people I¡¯d be assigning tomorrow.


    ¡°Any questions?¡±

 Chapter 611

    Chapter 611: 611


    Several hands raised one after the other and I picked one closest to me. Most of them were easily answerable but it didn¡¯t take long before one of our residents raised his hand to ask something that would give me a slight headache.<center></center><hr>


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Hello! U-Umm¡­ Hi¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ My family and I used to live near just by the edge of Bngkas and since from this ce to Sir Morales ce is pretty much a safe zone¡­ I¡­ umm¡­ we were wondering if we could move back to our old house? I¡­ I visited my old ce when I joined the clea¨C¡°


    I had to shut it down immediately.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°N-No? W-Why? We could e-easily move¨C¡°


    ¡°I¡¯ll stop you right there. I said no.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± He looked extremely unwilling.


    Not only that, some residents seemed to have the same idea and they were only waiting for someone to voice it ahead of them. Everyone has been living inside a house with 2-4 families and not everyone could as easily gel with one another. There were requests to transfer to a different house or to one of our outposts but it could only do so much. In simple terms, there was no ce like home¡­ especially for the ones that were extremely well-off before it started.


    I cleared my throat, ¡°I understand your frustrations but we can¡¯t just¨C¡°


    ¡°But why?! Don¡¯t just tell me ¡®No.¡¯, give me a proper reason at least!¡±<center></center><hr>


    ¡°If I allow you and your family to live in their old ce, it wouldn¡¯t take too long before others start to follow you or have the same idea. Heck, some people might just pick a sweet house between our bases and call it theirs for fuck¡¯s sake.¡±


    Another ¡®family¡¯ guy stood up to add fuel to the fire, ¡°And what¡¯s wrong with that?! I¡¯m sorry but we¡¯ve been very patient with living in a cramped¨C¡°


    Something unpleasant just ticked in my head and I looked at everyone that had the same idea of moving out, ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    He piped down for a moment before he cleared his throat and continued, ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m gonna say it. It¡¯s been what? Almost half a year before it started? And how long do we have to wait before we could move back to our old ce? Before these homeowners in Woonds could get their home back? When? I¡¯ve been in every single meeting and ever since you¡¯ve cleared those barangays, you¡¯ve just let them rot and only took care of the fishing areas.¡±


    Another homeowner chimed in, ¡°That¡¯s right! How about the ces we poured everything on?! My husband has been acing all of your sses and he could¨C¡°


    It was then that I started chuckling.


    ¡°Wha¨C Are youugh¨C Excuse me, I¡¯m talking right¨C¡°


    I cut her off, ¡°Thirteen Minutes.¡±


    Everyone on their side gave confused looks.


    ¡°W-What?¡±


    ¡°Thirteen Minutes. That¡¯s how long it would take for me to send help if anything goes wrong. More so, if anything goes wrong over here, I wouldn¡¯t send a single reinforcement your way.¡±


    ¡°But¡­¡±<hr>


    I scoffed, ¡°What? It¡¯s safe? Maybe, yeah. It¡¯s rtively safe over there, I dunno. It might be a while before you¡¯ve seen another herd or even a dozen deadheads but they¡¯re still fucking out there.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°The ¡®reason¡¯ I¡¯m not allowing you to go back to your old ce is because it doesn¡¯t exist now. Did all of you forget? The world just fucking ended a few months ago! This ce is your home now! Get it?!¡±


    Some of them looked down but a few were still unwilling.


    I sighed heavily, ¡°I¡¯m sorry but it¡¯s just the way it is now. Unless everyone here could make their kids run outside without worry, no one¡¯s doing this type of relocation. You could either move to a different house within our walls or you could get transferred into another outpost, that¡¯s it. Anything other than that is spreading ourselves thin and making it hard for everybody. I don¡¯t want anyone gettingcent due to the things we¡¯ve achieved in this timeframe. Trust me, you guys had it so~ fucking easy than the ones we encountered.¡±


    The first guy retorted as he looked at me like an idiot, ¡°And why is that?¡±


    Oscar answered for me, ¡°Because they¡¯ve been put down or just waiting to. It¡¯s not over until we¡¯ve put down every single one of them. And yeah, we¡¯re sOrRy~ because all of you that want to go back to their old ce have to ¡®wait¡¯ for longer¡­ we¡¯ve just been busy busting our ass even before this shit started. We¡¯re not telling you that you owe us big time but¡­ you owe us big time. At least have the decency to shut your trap when¨C¡°


    I cut Oscar off, ¡°Old man, that¡¯s enough.¡±


    Oscar shook his head, ¡°Cheh. I was just getting started but oh~ well~ Hmm. Let me finish with this then: If you love your ce so much, you should¡¯ve stayed in it in the first ce! Let me tell you, do not fucking bombard us with shit like¨C eh~ I¡¯ll shut up. I¡¯m done with venting for today. It¡¯s all~ this meeting is for, venting. Am I right? You guys are just venting and saying nonsensical things, right? Don¡¯t do it in our meetings, we have someone for that.¡±


    Some of the homeowners that voiced their opinions just nodded awkwardly while a few others just shut their mouths because there wasn¡¯t enough support for their agenda or something entirely different.


    A few awkward moments passed by and I answered a few more questions that came from our hospital staff. Our supplies were still abundant but we had other matters rted to it.


    The one that brought up the subject was a BMET in charge of maintaining hospital equipment. It could be anything from Defibritors, ECG/EKG Machines, Patient Monitors, and etc. What they requested was to either gain more donor parts to fix the existing machines or be able to take more of said machines home.<hr>


    ¡°You could obviously find them in existing hospitals or clinics but¡­¡±


    ¡°But? Oh! Do you mean¨C¡°


    ¡°Yes, sir. I¡¯m talking about the warehouses where they¡¯re usually stored. You could find some stored for delivery, repair, and etc. I could try and fix anything as long as we have the parts avable but it would always take some time. The best bet we could have is to get some brand-new stuff from those ces. Some hospitals have their own storage space but everything runs through the ce where we order them first.¡±


    ¡°What do we need to get our hands on first? A surgery robot? Those premium CT Scanners? What?¡±


    ¡°None at the moment but the way things are going now, they could be thest of our machines for years.¡±


    I nodded approvingly, ¡°I like the way you think. Give Rin a list of what you need and if you could pair it with pictures, it would help the team I¡¯ll be sending to retrieve those items. Some of them will be quite big so a few scouts will try and spot them while some of us would try and scour the records we have on hand. It¡¯ll only be a matter of time before we get a hit so keep me posted on what¡¯s working and what¡¯s not.¡±


    ¡°Okay, sir. Thank you.¡±


    After a while, the meeting was adjourned and the rest of us walked back to thepound.


    It was prettyte when we got back so I just did a short workout with a few people. Kaley and Tatiana were present though they decided to stay behind for a little bit more. With that said, I just took a quick shower alone and I heard a few screamsbined withughter from Cynthia and Rin¡¯s room.


    The door was ajar but I knocked a few times before letting myself in.


    ¡°Rin! Behind you! Run!¡±


    ¡°Wha- But my pickaxe! I just got it!¡±<hr>


    ¡°It¡¯s just stone! Throw it¨C¡°


    ¡°I¡¯ll be missing it for the set!¡±


    ¡°JUST FUCKING LEAVE IT!!!¡±


    ¡°Cynthia! There¡¯s a¨C¡°


    Then the creeper exploded.


    ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~~~!!! I told you to leave it! I died because I tried to hold them back! How can we defeat the Ender¨C Ah¨C You¡¯re here¡­ Hi! Wanna y?¡±


    My angelic smile started to turn demonic, ¡°Ehehe¡­ You fucking amateurs¡­ Do you guys know Dream? I¡¯m the fucking Nightmare! Pack that shit up ande with me! Time for another lesson!¡±


    ¡°Oh no¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh no¡­¡±


    I simply dragged two helpless souls into my den and I showed them my world which was created from the release date of 2011. Not only were the buildings symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing, but sections of them also had Crimson Stone circuits surgically ced to run automatic farms and more.


    The two were bowing down my feet after I finished the tour and the look of confusion Kaley and Tatiana gave me when they got back was fucking priceless.


    However, their faces turned into fear once they saw my deranged expression.


    ¡°Wanna y?¡±

 Chapter 612

    Chapter 612: 612


    Kaley and Tatiana almost backpedalled out of my room but my two minions, Rin and Cynthia, were quick to react as they managed to drag them back inside. The two could easily overpower them but the initial shock by seeing our deranged expressions kept them from reacting instantly.<center></center><hr>


    My door just creaked like a rickety old house as I closed it and the two were strapped on their gaming chairs, forced to y an old ssic. Kaley¡¯s interest got piqued when she got to dress up her character but Tatiana was still a hard sell since she opted to use the default skin.


    I wore my angelic face, ¡°Okay~ let¡¯s find the nearest vige first! After that, Rin will be making our house right next to theirs while Cynthia will be in charge of making/gathering food! You two noobs follow either of them while I gather the wood over here!¡±


    Tatiana was stillining, ¡°Haaa¡­ I don¡¯t wanna gather food¡­¡±


    ¡°What do you wanna do then?¡±


    ¡°I want some ¡®wood¡¯¡­¡±


    ¡°Then¨C¡°


    Tatiana rolled her eyes as she scoffed, ¡°You¡¯re wood! I want your wood! Are we seriously ying this game?! I would¡¯ve been on top of your fat dick or would¡¯ve been brushing my cunt against your face right now!¡±


    Kaley nodded in agreement but it seemed like she didn¡¯t want me to see she was more inclined with doing it rather than ying a game thiste. Nevertheless, she continued to follow Rin¡¯s lead as they built our starting base.


    Cynthia pouted, ¡°C¡¯mon~! We haven¡¯t yed something together in a while! We¡¯ll be ying in a few hours~ Is that really bad?¡±


    Kaley¡¯s face did a 180 turn, ¡°Few hours?! It¡¯s gonna take that long?!¡±


    I almost chortled, ¡°The world record is only a fraction of a ¡®few hours¡¯ but in our case, we¡¯ll be doing a nice and easy ythrough instead of speedrunning it. It would be up to us when we¡¯llplete it and I want every achievement to be checked before we y another one. But yeah, we¡¯ll y for a few hours tonight.¡±


    Tatiana tried to bargain, ¡°Can we do it first? I¨C¡°


    Rin chuckled as she cut her off, ¡°We¡¯d been doing it almost everyday for a few hours, I don¡¯t hear youining¡­¡±


    Tatiana scoffed as she groaned, ¡°Are you really gonnapare this to having orgasms?! If I¡¯m gonna stay upte¨C¡°<center></center><hr>


    Cynthia cut her off, ¡°C¡¯mon~ Please~? Just this once? We¡¯ll do lots of it tomorrow! Don¡¯t forget we beat you guys earlier! We get to decide what to do tonight!¡±


    Tatiana rolled her eyes once more, ¡°Pfft! We never made an official bet! Let me make myself clear. I. WANT. TO. GET. FUCKED. NOW. Clear? Are you three really serious? It¡¯s like the next best thing after a workout!¡±


    Kaley looked at Tatiana weirdly, ¡°What¡¯s the best thing then?¡±


    Tatiana chuckled, ¡°Umm~ a buffet? An all-you-can-eat? Are you kidding me?! We¡¯ve been together for a while, you should know this stuff!¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll scrounge up something in the kitchen and¨C¡°


    Tatiana¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Sold! Say no more! Where do I get food in this¨C I kill this cow, right? *crazed keyboard taps* WHY IS IT RUNNING?!¡±


    Kaley was fucking shocked and the other two were trying so hard to contain theirughter.


    I stopped by Tatiana¡¯s character to throw an iron sword, ¡°You could swim in the water to catch some fish too but lemme give you this sword¨C¡°


    ¡°NICE! GENOCIDE IT IS! THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?! MAKE ME SOMETHING!¡±


    Tatiana went on a rampage killing every single cow, sheep, and pig in existence and the other two went on to do their assigned tasks. Kaley looked so left out as she was just punching a tree alone to deliver more materials to Rin but I had an idea to cheer her up.


    I called out to her before I walked out of our room, ¡°Kaley, I¡¯ll need some help with¨C¡°


    Kaley¡¯s eyes instantly lit up, ¡°O-Okay! Coming!¡±


    I scratched my nose as I looked at her, ¡°Sorry¨C¡°


    Kaley bumped me in my shoulder as we were walking down, ¡°I¡¯m not mad! Why are you apologizing already?¡±<hr>


    ¡°I thought¨C¡°


    ¡°You thought what? Hmm?¡±


    ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t want to y¨C¡°


    ¡°Yeah~ Kinda~ But I love spending time with you. And since you¡¯re not ying upstairs~ You know what I¡¯m getting at, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I saw the look on your face and¨C¡°


    ¡°Props for noticing it! You¡¯re learning!¡± Kaley let out a small chuckle as she teased me.


    I shook my head smiling, ¡°Yeah, yeah~ Grab us an apron so we could start¡­¡±


    ¡°What are we making then?¡±


    I looked over our fresh pantry and an idea popped in my head, ¡°It¡¯s kindate so¡­ how about some vegetable spring rolls? I¡¯ll make some peanut sauce too! It¡¯ll be delicious fresh!¡±


    Kaley handed me an apron and let out an excited smile, ¡°Ooh~ That sounds great! Here, I¡¯ll wash my hands in the bathroom first¡­¡±


    ¡°In the bathroom? We got a faucet¨C¡°


    ¡°I gotta pee too! You still need some work! Hmph!¡± Kaley eximed before storming inside our bathroom and closing the door.


    ¡°Ah¡­¡±


    I just scratched my head embarrassingly before walking over to our pantry and pulling out some lettuce, basil,tro, carrots, purple cabbage, red bell peppers, cucumbers, and avocados for our spring rolls. I pulled out the ingredients for the peanut sauce as well but as I was washing the vegetables, the door to our bathroom opened.<hr>


    I still had my back turned but as soon as I turned my head to ask Kaley to take care of the peanut sauce, I was almost stunned in ce.


    Kaley was wearing nothing but her pink apron and her goods were about to spill out to the sides. She was smiling wickedly as she gave me a quick turn to catch a glimpse of what I was missing.


    ¡°Are you about to say something? Hmm~?¡±


    I gulped as I tried to keep things together, ¡°S-Sauce¡­ T-The peanut s-sauce¡­¡±


    Kaley pulled lightly on her apron, squeezing ¡®them¡¯ even more, ¡°Yeah? What about them?¡±


    I ced the ingredients right next to me, ¡°W-Whisk these in this b-bowl¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay!¡± Kaley didn¡¯t do anything as she followed every word. It was like shepletely ignored my reaction and continued to do things as is.


    I was so fucking screwed.


    Once Kaley started whisking the peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, chili garlic, and the grated ginger in the bowl, gravity was also against me. I almost cut myself as I was cutting the vegetables since my eyes couldn¡¯t help but look at her jiggling mommy milkers going all over the ce.


    Take note, they were tethered by her tight, pink apron and the way they bounce together was already fucking too much to handle. Kaley kept side-eyeing me too but she just kept on whisking away, letting out a cheeky smile as my face turned redder and redder.


    Kaley turned to me, ¡°Is¡­ Is this enough?¡±


    I was caught off-guard, ¡°W-What?¡±


    Kaley shook her head and smiled, ¡°The consistency! Is this enough? Look, it¡¯s this¡­ sticky¡­¡±


    ¡®She¡¯s doing this on purpose¡­¡¯<hr>


    I just tried my best topose myself before answering, ¡°A-Add a bit more w-water¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay! I¡¯ll whisk it again, right?¡±


    ¡®FUCK!¡¯


    ¡°Y-Yes¡­¡±


    I was losing my mind because I had a raging boner and Kaley was just right beside me, only wearing an apron that could barely cover her. Even more, she kept moving and posing in incriminating angles, purposely brushing up to me or making me check her out in a daze. Despite that, she kept everything together, continuing to work with me until the final step.


    Kaley waved me over by the kitchen counter, ¡°What am I gonna do with this rice paper again?¡±


    ¡°You wet them in the water for 10-15 sec¨C¡°


    ¡°Like this?¡±


    Kaley¡¯s back was turned against me but I saw her grab a piece of rice paper and ¡®wetting¡¯ them by wiping it between her thighs until it reached her fat, puffy innie. The rice paper just turned a shade darker when it came into contact with her juices and it was broken into half due to the way she pressed it against her.


    She gave me the most seductive look before she leaned on the counter, exposing her lower halfpletely.


    ¡°Is this wet enough?¡±


    I lost to my baser instincts as I just pulled my fucking dick out and shoved it inside her tight pink hole. Kaley¡¯s body instantly reacted as I reached deep inside her and she tried so hard to not let out a fucking moan. However, I just grabbed on her hips and on her huge tits before shoving it over and over. Her tight warm insides squelched over and over and she was slowly melting as she lost it.


    All she could do was clench her fist while covering her mouth as tight as she could. Skin was hitting against skin and we wanted fucking more.

 Chapter 613

    Chapter 613: 613


    I tried so hard to keep it together but it didn¡¯t help when Kaley started to back her plump ass against me, making me shove my dick inside her with force. I managed to thrust it a few more times but I just got weak on the knees and trembled all over before exploding inside of her. I was letting out sharp exhales as I pumped her full of cum and she was biting her lip as she looked at me from the side.<center></center><hr>


    I wanted to take a short breather and do it again but Kaley wouldn¡¯t let that fly.


    Kaley turned around and whispered, ¡°Did I tease you too much? I was close too you know¡­¡±


    I was just about to answer when she locked her left arm around my neck and grabbed my shaft with her right hand. She looked me straight in the eye before she gave me a huge kiss while stroking my cock.


    Our lips connected and our tongues interlocked before they explored part of our mouths but I was still struggling from the sensitivity from ¡®below¡¯ us.


    Kaley was stroking me at first but she ced her hand on the base of my cock before gripping it tightly and pulling back, squeezing out what remained inside. Drips of my cum came out and she just yed with the tip while squeezing it between her fingers. We were out of breath after we broke our kiss but I was ready for round 2.


    I still had some unfinished business and Kaley was looking at what I would do next.


    ¡°Wanna do it in the other ho¨C¡°


    Kaley was in mid-sentence before I grabbed one of her legs and lifted it up, making her stand on one leg as I was leaning over her. Her face turned redder and redder as I leaned even closer but I shoved it in the same ce I was in before. Her body instantly reacted but Kaley was having a hard time keeping the position. I supported her back with my other hand but the look of surprise and embarrassment from her face was fucking priceless.


    ¡°Wai¨C What are you¨C Like this?! Wai¨C Ah! Ah! Mmh! Wai¨C Ahn~ Yes! Fuck! FUCK! FUCK ME!¡±


    ¡°B-Be quie¨C¡°


    ¡°Shut it! Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Mmh¡­ I¡­ I C-Can¡¯t¨C I¨C Ah! Shit! Ah! You¨C It¡¯s hitting my¨C Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!¡±


    Kaley¡¯s face turned into a mess as I keep hitting her deepest parts but I reached around her neck to loosen the tie on her apron. Once I pulled on the string that was sticking out, her huge udders dropped right in my face and the only thing her apron was covering was the area from her waist to her thighs.


    The sight of her huge tits jiggling up and down with her hard, pink nipples as I fucked her made me lose it even more.


    I immediately sucked on her puffy nipples as I leaned even closer and it made her squeeze me tighter and tighter. At the same time, she pulled my head even closer to the one I was sucking on while she was aggressively fondling and squeezing the other. Kaley¡¯s moans started to get louder and louder and it didn¡¯t take long before she held me tight as started to shake and convulse.


    Kaley¡¯s eyes started to roll on the back of her head while her mouth was agape but I didn¡¯t stop even if her nails started digging on my back.


    ¡°S-Shit! Shit! Fuck! I¡¯m¨C I¡¯m cum¨C I¡¯m cumming! I¡¯m cumming~!¡±


    Kaley started squirting over and over and the grip she had on me started to loosen. Despite that, a dirty smile was starting to form on her face as I continued to stir her insides.


    Once she opened her eyes, she looked at me intensely before pulling my head close and kissing me once more. I was still inside her and I could feel each twitch and squeeze that was happening inside. She kept biting my lower lip each time I hit her deepest parts and she continued to let out a smile after kissing me.


    I cummed inside her for the second time but the smile she was wearing now meant something else. As soon as I pulled out, she went down on both knees before she opened her mouth and tried to take in all that she could.


    Kaley was in so much heat, she just slurped my cum mixed with her own juices while ying with her tits and her pussy. Her tongue wrapped around the tip as her soft lips and the rest of her mouth tried to go further and further. She almost choked when I hit the back of her throat but she pushed on and on until she reached the base of my huge cock.<center></center><hr>


    She was doing a great job performing it without hands but I wanted to get involved.


    Kaley¡¯s eyes were a bit watery but I held her head with both hands and I started to thrust my hips forward. I didn¡¯t notice I was thrusting a little too hard but Kaley seemed to be enjoying it even if she lost air and gagged a few times. At this moment, her mouth was for me to use and I fucked her throat until I fed her my huge load. She swallowed everything that I let out though a few started to run down the side of her mouth.


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s still a lot! How much¨C¡°


    ¡°There¡¯s a bit more here¡­¡± I squeezed around the base and pointed the tip towards her mouth.


    ¡°Oh. Lemme¡­¡± Kaley cleaned me up and finished up the ones that dropped on her tits and the ones that dripped on the side of her mouth.


    ¡°I fucking love you¡­¡±


    Kaley lightly chuckled as she looked up, ¡°I fucking love you too, you doofus!¡±


    ¡°What are doing now? We kinda took a bit of our time here¡­¡±


    ¡°You tell me, heh.¡±


    ¡°I think we should finish up¡­ properly ¡®wet¡¯ the rice paper this time!¡±


    ¡°Pfft! Okay, okay! I will!¡±


    We wanted to do more now but taking a few more minutes of our time would make the others suspicious. Besides, we still have our game night upstairs and we just prepared our snacks, mostly.


    We easily finished making the spring rolls after Kaley put on the rest of her clothes but she whispered something in my ear before we carried everything upstairs.


    ¡°We forgot something¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°You still haven¡¯t cummed in my ass¡­¡±


    I lightly chuckled before I paused from opening our door, ¡°Wanna do it here? Ow! I¨C¡°


    ¡°You doofus! We should¡¯ve done it earlier! Later!¡± Kaley went ahead of me and entered our room.


    ¡°HERE¡¯S THE FOOD! VEGETABLE SPRING ROLLS WITH SOME PEANUT SAUCE~¡±


    I was expecting Tatiana to pounce on us because of the food but she looked like a deranged psycho that was running on meth and Redbull while the two beside her were like shriveled cats that were left outside in a stormy night.<hr>


    ¡°AHHHHHHHH!!! WHERE¡¯S THAT MOTHERFUCKING¨C RIN! I TOLD YOU TO¨C WAIT¨C CYNTHIA!!! I¡¯M OUT OF BREAD! WHERE¡¯S THE¨C FUCK!!! I FUCKING DIED!!! SHIT!!! GRAB MY SHIT! GRAB MY SHIT! GRAB MY SHIT!¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t~! You¡¯re too deep! We told you to wait for us!¡±


    ¡°WHAT?! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?! I JUST GOT MY FULL IRON SET! GET MY STUFF! I¡¯M CLOSE!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯M RUNNING! I¡¯M RUNNING!¡±


    Kaley and I were fucking bewildered.


    I asked, ¡°What happened while we¡¯re gone?¡±


    Cynthia answered, ¡°W-We¨C I mean¡­ Tatiana found a wooden mansion and¨C¡°


    ¡°LESS TALK! MORE WORK! I¡¯M HERE! WAIT¨C IT FUCKING DISAPPEARED?! WHAT HAPPENED?!¡±


    I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes, ¡°It probably despawned because you took too long. The food is here too if you want to take a break?¡±


    ¡°WHAT?! IT DES¨C YOU MEAN IT¡¯S GONE?! Wait¨C the food¡¯s here?¡± Tatiana did a 180 from another 180.


    Almost everyone inside breathed a sigh of relief because Tatiana was back to normal. She easily wharfed down a quarter of the food we brought though she was looking suspiciously at Kaley and me. Kaley¡¯s face got a bit red when Tatiana leaned closer but she just gave a knowing look towards me.


    ¡®She definitely knows¡­¡¯


    As they were eating, I sat down on my spot and I wore the same equipment they had to tackle the mansion. However, I cleared it in a few minutes and the only trouble I had was with the flying buggers. I got a bunch of loot and I gave away all of the totems I found.


    ¡°Wut? Just like that?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°I thought we weren¡¯t speedrunning it?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­¡±


    Tatiana almost flipped our table when she saw me finish it faster than she could finish a dozen spring rolls earlier but she lost it when I came back with a full set of diamond armor after mining for a bit in the lower levels.


    ¡°Where did you get that?! Is that the best one?! Do you have more?! Give me that sword at least!¡±


    ¡°Nope! There¡¯s one even better than this one but that one is gonna take a lot of time and a lot of explosives.¡±<hr>


    ¡°Where do we get it then?!¡±


    ¡°This one or the best one?¡±


    ¡°The best one!¡±


    ¡®Heh, she¡¯s really hooked¡­¡¯


    ¡°Okay, okay~e with me¡­ But first¡­ Kaley! Wear this!¡± I gave my diamond set to Kaley and switched back to my iron set.


    ¡°WOAH! WOAH! WOAH! WHY ARE YOU GIVING THAT TO HER?! EVEN THE SWORD?!¡±


    Kaley exploded, ¡°BECAUSE I¡¯M HIS WIFE! THAT¡¯S WHY! WHY ARE YOU SO ANGRY?! DIDN¡¯T YOU EAT ENOUGH ALREADY?!¡±


    ¡®Jeez¡­ heh.¡¯


    Tatiana burped loudly, ¡°Wha- I¡¯m full but I¡¯m still looking for something! You either help find those items or you get meid! I¡¯m leaning over gettingid but¨C¡°


    I cut them off, ¡°Here¡¯s the portal~ Come in,e in~¡±


    Everyone followed me and I brought them to the other world. It was like a floor of hell made with fire and mes and the scene directly contradicted the peaceful vige we were in earlier.


    ¡°WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°That¡¯s a Ghast¡­¡±


    ¡°AND THAT THING FARAWAY?!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the fortress, we¡¯re trying to get to that ce.¡±


    ¡°Woah! Are these pigs?! Then we can get food by¨C¡°


    Cynthia and I roared, ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!¡±


    It was fucking toote. Once we saw Tatiana swung her sword towards the undead pigs, each and every one of them just turned their heads and swarmed her from all directions. She got decimated by her targets in a matter of seconds and the look on her face after seeing the title screen was so fucking priceless.


    I tried so hard to contain myughter but Tatiana had enough and she just ate thest batch of spring rolls we decided to leave forter. She was so freaking mad from what happened, she was stress-eating the whole time the rest of us were ying.


    It took us one more hour before we decided it was time to ¡®snuggle¡¯ in and the lights were eventually turned off.<hr>


    We didn¡¯t do it as long as we usually would because it was alreadyte but Tatiana still had a lot of pent-up stress and frustration she had to let out. I was the sacrificialmb that was offered to her and the three kicked us out of my room because the bed was rocking too much.


    Tatiana eximed, ¡°They really kicked us out! I can¡¯t believe it!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s partly your fault. You literally hogged me from¨C¡°


    ¡°Yeah, yeah~ Says the one who fucked Kaley¡¯s brains out when I was losing my mind collecting stuff! C¡¯mon! Let¡¯s do it here!¡±


    ¡°Wha¨C¡°


    Tatiana dragged me to her room with a wicked smile because she had me for the rest of the night and no one would interfere in that dark room. She was smiling a little too much when she locked the door and she immediately pushed me down the bed and started kissing me. Her kisses went lower and lower until she reached my shaft but I could hear her fingers going in and out of her tight hole.


    This was the first time Tatiana and I did it without Kaley¡¯s presence and it stirred up something between us even if we were given permission.


    In my eyes, Kaley was like a goddess while Tatiana was like an amazonian woman. I¡¯d always opt for the former¡¯s body type obviously but there was nothing wrong to engorge in thetter too, or both at the same time in some cases. The other two in our house were just like buds that needed to blossom a bit more before I could truly appreciate them.


    Not gonna lie, I was squeezed dry by Tatiana because she rode me over and over until she copsed on my body. Both of her holes were gaped and oozing with cum but she still wouldn¡¯t let go of me. I was still inside of her and I could feel her insides twitch but all she wanted to do after this was another make-out session.


    I did as I was asked though we both decided to top it off for one more round where I was on top.


    We finished faster than we thought but when I was about to fall asleep, the way Tatiana looked at me was different than usual. It had a look of warmness though I wasn¡¯t able to look at her for too long because my eyes just eventually closed off.


    ¡®Hmm¡­¡¯


    I soon fell asleep and I woke up alone in bed. However, once I sat upright, I was 100% sure my feet weren¡¯t stepping on the carpet.


    I looked down and saw Tatiana sleeping soundly while my feet were stepping on her.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡®She definitely fell off¡­¡¯


    I was about to remove them when Tatiana mumbled in her sleep.


    ¡°Mmrgh¡­ please¡­ step on me da¨C Mmrhgh¡­¡±


    ¡®Now I have to go¡­¡¯

 Chapter 614

    Chapter 614: 614


    I chuckled inwardly before tiptoeing to the door but I decided to turn around and carry Tatiana back to their bed. After that, I just covered her with a nket that was by their pillows and I silently left the room.<center></center><hr>


    ¡®A few more minutes of sleep wouldn¡¯t hurt¡­¡¯


    However, the same treatment couldn¡¯t be said to the three sleeping in my room.


    Since Tatiana and I were thrown in the middle of the night, I loudly barged on my room and jumped as high as I could, bodymming Kaley, Rin, and Cynthia who were soundly sleeping.


    ¡°Ack!¡±


    ¡°Ow~¡±


    ¡°What the fu¨C Sky?!¡±


    I was instantly beaten to death but it was fucking worth it.


    It took the rest of us 30 minutes to get ready and we headed down for some breakfast. We had a simple meal that could fuel us for the day but after eating and was now currently sipping on my coffee, Raphael and Jared approached me.


    ¡°Dude.¡±


    ¡°Bro.¡±


    I looked at both of them, ¡°Yeah?¡±


    Raphael turned to Jared, ¡°It¡¯s your request, just say it.¡±


    Jared cleared his throat, ¡°Okay, bro. I was wondering¡­ now that my little bro got the custom Civic and you have that Charger, can I have that RX-7 from before? You know, the one we hauled from Navotas? I just want something I could use to drive around with Alex or do a quick pickup if someone needs it.¡±


    I thought for a while and nodded, ¡°Sure, but is it ready?¡±<center></center><hr>


    Raphael answered, ¡°Pretty~ much.¡±


    ¡°Pretty much?¡±


    ¡°You know, it came in with its stock parts when you brought it in so my team put on all the bells and whistles we could like the bull bars, the reinforced tes, and etc. but¡­¡±


    ¡°But what? Did he request for more modifications?¡±


    Jared answered, ¡°I got this set of cameras from Carlo and when installed, it could give me a 360 view around the car. You know, the ones already existing on those fancy SUVs. They found those surplus parts that could be installed in pretty much any vehicle.¡±


    ¡°Okay? And you need my help with?¡±


    Raphael revealed a smile, ¡°Those reinforced tes we installed on the RX-7? The ones that could protect the whole body except for the ss panels? It took me a lot of time in the CNC Mill and I have to drill into them so that the electrical wiring could fit. Now, we were working on a different project and your cousin here wanted us to work on the RX-7 once more. You know what I¡¯m getting at?¡±


    I squinted as I turned to Jared, ¡°Almost.¡±


    Jared started scratching his head awkwardly, ¡°I kinda told him that you¡¯ll think about giving him that other F-150 from 2007¡­¡±


    Raphael snapped, ¡°Hey! You told me he¡¯d ¡®give¡¯ it to me not ¡®think¡¯ about giving it to me! It¡¯s not what we talked aboutst night! You¨C¡°


    ¡°Wait, wait, wait. What are you gonna do with that other F-150? You¡¯re talking about the 2007 Model, right? The Harly-Davidson Supercharged one?¡±


    Raphael¡¯s smile grew even wider, ¡°You see, I love that Killdozer so much but I rarely have any chance to drive it. I just wanted to make something that could ride on the same scale. In my spare time, I¡¯m making a custom tubr chassis and I¡¯m repairing and constructing an axle from the broken down military trucks Jose¡¯s guys hauled from the road. The engine is already great for that F-150 too but you know what I¡¯m making, right? Right?¡±


    I stared at Raphael¡¯s stupid face for a few moments before realization came.


    ¡°No¡­¡±<hr>


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°No¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes! Yes!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re kidding¡­ No¡­¡±


    ¡°YES! YOU NUMB-NUT I¡¯M MAKING A MONSTER TRUCK! SO GIVE ME THAT F-150 ALREADY SO I¨C¡°


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    Raphael was in disbelief, ¡°What?! Just like that?¡±


    ¡°Yep. What¡¯s the safest thing to drive outside now? Easy, something that those deadheads couldn¡¯t reach. Even if a fucking feral tries to, its head would¡¯ve already been blown into pieces. Yeah! Take whatever you need and start working on it!¡±


    Raphael and Jared were wearing excited faces but this conversation between the three of us couldn¡¯t escape the ears of an old man that was part grease monkey.


    Oscar ced his arms over Jared and Raphael, ¡°Let¡¯s talk shop, you little shits. When did this start?¡±


    I was shaking my head, smiling, ¡°Just now?¡±


    ¡°No! Not you! Raphael, was it? How¡¯s your progress on that truck? D¡¯you need some help?¡±


    Raphael was starting to get encumbered by the way Oscar was pressing down on him, ¡°A few weeks? I dunno, I¡¯ve been eyeing that truck for a while now and so far, no one¡¯s iming it so¨C¡°


    Oscar pressed down even more, ¡°How about the suspension? You need something great for that, right? Right? The tires too, did you find some suitable ones? Hmm?¡±<hr>


    Raphael snapped, ¡°Stop leaning on me!¡±


    Jared sidestepped and leaned to the side, ¡°Me too! You¡¯re too heavy!¡±


    ¡°Jesus, just say so¡­¡±


    Raphael cleared his throat and stretched his shoulder over and over, ¡°I could make do with the broken down vehicles to use it as a donor car but the hard part is reinforcing the suspension. It should be able to withstand what the truck would throw at it so we wouldn¡¯t have any idents on the road.¡±


    ¡°And the tires?¡±


    ¡°I have my eyes on this warehouse a few miles away from the Intercity where Mauricio¡¯s team resides and they have a few sets of 59-inch and 66-inch we could use. They¡¯re basically tires used for farm equipment and that what monster trucks typically use. They have no use for that so that¡¯s basically ours if we pick it up. I just need time and a bit of manpower and I could try and make one.¡±


    Oscar¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Great! How about firepower?¡±


    Jared tilted his head sideways, ¡°Firepower? Didn¡¯t you mean Horse¨C¡°


    Oscar¡¯s head suddenly snapped in Jared¡¯s direction, ¡°Did I fucking stutter? Hey! What¡¯re you thinking of mounting that beast? There¡¯s only one, right? Remember my SUV?¡±


    Raphael was at a loss for words for a moment but he turned to Oscar¡¯s SUV. He instantly gave a knowing look and he slowly turned to me looking like an obnoxious merchant trying to squeeze in another deal. At the same time, Oscar was looking at me like he had something that I was keeping for him.


    ¡°Dude¡­¡±


    ¡°Kid¡­¡±


    ¡®Of course¡­ the M134¡­¡¯


    But I instantly shut it down, ¡°Nope!¡±<hr>


    Raphael and Oscar eximed at the same time, ¡°WHAT?! WHY?! IT¡¯S PERFECT!¡±


    ¡°That shit¡¯s mine! Can¡¯t you two just mount a normal .50 cal on it! We have tons of those! Why the fuck would I let you mount it on that if it¡¯s the only thing we have on hand?!¡±


    ¡°C¡¯mon, kid! Imagine pulling up on a 12-foot truck with a fucking M134 on it! That¡¯s the best shit I could ever think of! I¡¯ll give you full ess to my armory! Handguns, Rifles, anything you could think of! Just drop even when I¡¯m not there and take anything!¡±


    ¡°I already have full ess to your armory!¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s called being a good friend! Why aren¡¯t you being a good friend?! It¡¯s just an M134, goddamn it!¡±


    ¡°Just? Just?! Hah! You¡¯re not my friend if they kept stealing back the things you already gave me! And that truck? It¡¯s not even done yet! Just make a mount that could hold anything and I¡¯ll think about it! If you want something put on it, why don¡¯t you ce that XM556 on your SUV! Just do a quick swap and you could mix and match with your own shit!¡±


    ¡°What?! That¡¯s gonna look silly! Imagine cing an XM556 on that bad boy once it¡¯s done¡­¡±


    Raphael waved us off, ¡°That¡¯s gonna be a lot more work too¡­¡±


    Jared chimed in, ¡°My RX-7¡­¡±


    Oscar roared, ¡°That¡¯s forter! Just make do with what you have!¡±


    ¡°Seriously? You fucking hypocrite!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m old! I could be anything I want!¡±


    Everyone else finished eating but the four of us kept debating on what to do with our vehicles. Our ns kept changing over and over and some of Raphael¡¯s projects got pushed as well. Despite that, we eventually agreed that the M134 could only be used in emergency situations. Raphael would try to construct a proper mount that could hold anything but for the moment, a Browning M2 will be the ceholder.


    A lot more pieces needed to be acquired but the focus now would be to finish up Jared¡¯s RX-7. I even offered to tune the car to his liking but those things would be done after we were finished with our daily tasks.


    I gathered my old team once more but due to the nature of our run for this day, I had to bring all of Artem¡¯s men plus a few more soldiers from our DDR Camp. We drove outside in a total of four vehicles in which one of which was a huge truck that could carry two shipping containers.

 Chapter 615

    For today, our target was the Metropolitan Medical Center located smack in the middle of Mbon and Man.


    It was a private hospital that upied almost two blocks alone while surrounded by two, huge twin towers further out, made for high-end residents or clients. Furthermore, aside from its 8-story building, it also boasted a 27-story building right at the end of its huge parking area.


    It was a monumental task but its location had several disadvantages we could exploit.


    One of them was that this center upying almost two blocks presented a dead-end where the 27-story building was built on.


    Theoretically, what we needed to do after securing a foothold was to block off the entrance with whatever vehicle was avable and we could start blood washing the whole ce with our elite soldiers. And that vehicle in question was our huge-ass truck that could plug the road by itself.


    Or, realistically, we¡¯d block the road with our truck while simultaneously securing a foothold.


    ¡°Everyone ready? As soon as we reach that gas station along Brgy. 6, we¡¯d split into different directions before driving back here. Move at a steady as much as possible so we could lure a lot here where we could easily put them down. But, if they¡¯re moving too slow, just put them down from a distance. We¡¯re trying to save time too but keep everything in the middle.¡±


    ¡°Roger.¡±


    ¡°Gotcha.¡±


    We were still by the edges of Tondo before we were about to cut inside several barangays to get to our destination. However, our truck would be left behind with our other vehicle first since we¡¯d need to loop around a few times to make sure that the road was clear to travel. It was because our huge truck couldn¡¯t suddenly turn or squeeze into tight spaces.


    We have sent clearing parties to this area several times but we only cleaned up around the outer edges. This would be the first time we would be cutting in so deep to reach a hospital we¡¯ve only seen from drone footage.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    ¡®First loop¡­¡¯


    When we started to drive forwards, a couple of drones flew ahead of us to act as an early warning device for when we reach the streets with a lot of blindspots. Currently, we still haven¡¯t spotted a lot of deadheads so they were easily sniped by our shooters. However, once we reached Brgy. 46, it was a different story.


    We drove by a basketball court and right behind it were several deadheads that were sporting severe burns. They were like lit-up matchsticks or charred meat bags that grew feet and started to walk. They wereing from several houses that were burned down to the ground ages ago though most of them were physically melded together because of the materials that melted.


    Before some of them even tried to ?ssume a running stance, a third of them were met by lead projectiles that went through their heads.


    A few of them started to close in on us but they were shot down before the ones that fell hit the ground. We have yet to see a deadhead that could beat the speed of a bullet and even if we could sometimes miss, all we need to was recalcte and pull the trigger.


    Once we did, pieces of their skull and charred bits would just fly in the air along with a dark-red puff. It took us less than a few breaths to take care of them but there were still a few surviving deadheads that were wiggling below what was left of the burned down houses.


    We would¡¯ve put them down but we needed to follow our own rules for looping around.


    As we did, we encountered more deadheads by the dozen that slowly increased until they could be ssified into a herd. Once pushing forward would prove to be a little bit too overreaching, we all turned to different directions to loop around even before reaching Brgy. 6.


    Our group turned to the right of Asuncion St., speeding towards a nursing college before quickly turning to the right once more. Several suppressed shots rang out from our guns and I managed to sneak a shot straight through the herd before they managed to peek right after the turn.


    At that same exact moment, several sprinters were revealed since they overshot and sped past everybody.


    Two weren¡¯t able to brake properly and they violently smashed onto an upturned SUV while another one came barreling towards an unsuspecting deadhead that just came out of a wooden house. Their bodies collided almost immediately but another sprinter smashed onto them. Surprisingly, all of them slowly stood up but they were now easy pickings for our shooters.


    The way to our truck was just a straight line so Kaley and I tried to thin down the herd as much as possible while Jared was looking at the front, putting down anything that would pose some trouble.


    Kaley went wild as she picked off the easiest target before switching to the closest target that she could see in her scope. Noticing that behavior, I aimed for the ones away from her target range to avoid boring holes into the same target twice. The ones not shooting their guns currently provided support by either flying our drone, driving perfect lines, or replenishing the mags we¡¯ve used up.


    ¡°Reload!¡±


    ¡°Go ahead!¡±


    ¡°Pass the mag here!¡±


    ¡°Watch your side!¡±


    ¡°Speedbump!¡±


    Each brass casing that fell on our truck bed equaled a deadhead falling face first and the more we kill, the safer our route to our destination. We went through a bunch of bullets from the first loop and It didn¡¯t take us long to get to our original spot. However, the deadheads following us was still enough to fill up a medium-sized astrodome.


    Unc Zardon who was in our huge-ass truckmented, ¡°And we first thought to drive straight to that ce you talked about¡­ we would¡¯ve been stranded! I would¡¯ve been stranded!¡±


    I shook my head before putting down my rifle, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if that ever happens you have food there that couldst you weeks! We¡¯ll get to you soon enough!¡±


    ¡°Oi! That¡¯s not something you joke about! The moment you get me outside again you do this?!¡±


    I chuckled before drawing my de, ¡°Just kidding unc. Guys, get ready.¡±


    We were already out of the narrow roads to our destination so we made use of our melee weapons to finish them off. We would have more clearance to maneuver around their extended arms and we had more people to take care of them. Despite that, a select few were watching over us with their guns to avoid permanent death.


    I was the first one to rough over the herd and I thrust my de forward, piercing through a deadhead¡¯s eyesocket before pulling out and shing down the dead child right next to it. Almost immediately, I followed it up by shing from below, lopping off a portion of a bald zombie¡¯s head, giving it a new ¡®cut¡¯. However, I was starting to get swarmed so I took a step back before circling around to the right.


    As soon as I did, a bullet whizzed past to my left, taking down a biter that was about to scratch my forearms. It fell to the side and bumped into the others chasing after me so I stepped away from them once more to take care of the ones more exposed. I didn¡¯t need to draw my pistol because the shooters at my back were enough for me to gopletely melee.


    Mmlo md qw oufq tat lm fl juii gpo Macvfai bplo cuno mr iufsare gmtaul hiufsut ar vfid jvaiu Tfoafrf frt I juzu qmsare lpzeahfiiw jaov Igfzzf. Hu limjiw guhfqu ovu oan md ovu lnufz jvaiu ovu zulo md pl lofzout ofcare hfzu md ovu mrul ovfo lofzout om qmsu om ovutu. Opz himovul lofzout om vfsu iaooiu lofarl dzmq ovuaz tfzcurut gimmt gpo I hmpit mriw epull vmj qphv qmzu ao jmpit gu mrhu ju juzu msuz jaov ovuq.


    After a while, we had a small hill of piled-up corpses and we started burning them before going for our next loop. This time, we were hoping to at least reach Brgy. 6 before looping around but nobody knew what the oue would be.


    ¡®There¡¯s still no signs of those people too¡­¡¯


    After one and a half hours, we were just a block away from the medical center but we drove back a few more blocks to meet up with Iskoh¡¯s mobile outpost. Due to our prior agreements, any and all items we¡¯d borrow from them would be replenished the next time we meet together and this time, I asked for several more ammo cans of 5.56s and 7.62s to get us through.


    It was because the closer we get, the thicker the herds werepressed and we couldn¡¯t just take it easy on unexplored territory. We asked them to hover close as well so they would be able to reach us quickly if ever there was an emergency.


    ¡°Is there anything else you want us to do?¡±


    I pulled out a map, ¡°We¡¯re currently here and we have looped around these parts one or two times but we have never been to these other streets yet. If you could dispatch a smaller team, I¡¯d like them to clear those areas so we¡¯d have more driveways that are rtively safe to push on.¡±


    ¡°I could give a call back to reroute one of our teams that¡¯s patrolling near us. They¡¯re a few minutes away?¡±


    I nodded and gave him a pat on the back before I led our team to the final stretch before actually starting our main mission. We could already see the ce from where we were standing and this ce had definitely seen some better days. However, I still needed a closer look via our drones so I made Artem and the rest make a small perimeter around us so we could have an updated view of the situation.


    We were just starting to set up our drones once more when several bodies started jumping out from the tall residence towers only a few blocks away from us.


    ¡®Oh, shit¡­¡¯

 Chapter 616

    We were dazed for a short moment but it didn¡¯t take long before the tower adjacent to it also had an outpour of dead bodies. They almost blocked the sun from our angle and I would¡¯ve cursed my team if we were below them. They all came from different floors but I could fu?k?n? hear the crunch in my head the moment theynded, scraped, and smashed on the hard pavement, the smaller buildings below them, or the upturned and broken down vehicles below.


    However, not all of them were free-falling.


    From a dozen or so floors above the ground and floors much lower down, it looked like several figures leaped into the air like a free-runner would before using the pile-up below as padding. As soon as theynded, some of them limped in ce as they were slightly injured but all of them survived the jump. We couldn¡¯t identify if there were more of them because the sound of ss breaking didn¡¯t stop.


    The two towers kept on ¡®spilling¡¯ out their undead inhabitants as if their payment was overdue and were being evicted.


    I instantly directed Iskoh¡¯s mobile outpost to drive back and clear the same path they used to get here since we needed all the driving routes we could if we ever had to take them all down. We couldn¡¯t just nt our feet on the ground and face them because a herd this size was enough to fill two residency towers smack in the middle of two cities. It would be a bog once the road littered their bodies so we needed as much space as we could.


    After that, I radioed everyone in the immediate vicinity about our current predicament. The people that answered were our clearing groups but the mobile outposts made up of my people and Morales¡¯ soldiers did so as well.


    ¡°THEY¡¯RE MOVING~~~¡±


    The small mountain that was in front of us kept growingrger andrger and it instantly sent out its faster minions that survived the drop. They were being led by seven ferals that dropped down on huge trucks but didn¡¯t even take a smidgen of damage from the fall. Their bodies were crooked forward and one of them was a sizerger than everyone else. Despite that, he was the one behind the other six that looked like they were starved for years.


    However, Bogdan didn¡¯t give a fu?k as he sent a fu?k?n? RPG straight towards them.


    Arge explosion rang out and the dust and red puffs along with torn down flesh and bones didn¡¯t even clear before Igor followed after him and sent another one straight at them. It went into a different angle and whizzed past the original spot but we only saw the bigger onee out from the smoke.


    Its body was covered in debris but most importantly, arge chunk of metal had dug into its ?h?st cavity. It seemed that it came straight for its right shoulder first because it had torn arge portion of its upper body, making its right arm limp and p out, unable to be utilized. It let out arge fu?k?n? roar and six ferals and more than a dozen sprinters came running out of the smoke.


    The ones we killed earlier were in much better shape than they are but they were gunning straight for us.


    ¡°START FIRING AND KEEP THOSE ENGINES HOT!!! TAKE OFF WHEN I TOLD YOU TO!!!¡±


    Everyone else aimed for the ones nearest us but I opted to lock my sights on the big one still trailing behind.


    Since all of them almost always run on all fours, it had a lot of trouble running with two legs since its body had malformed to be a little too top-heavy. I sent a bullet that grazed the size of its head but all it did was rip apart what was left of its discolored ear. I took another breath and recalcted before firing two almost simultaneous shots from my rifle.


    It was the first one to fall face first but more deadheads came from the smoke.


    The slower herd managed to catch up but Bogdan sent another RPG towards the thickest spot. It instantly made a meat sd when it connected but there was still moreing from the smoke and the two towers. Furthermore, we have no idea if there were more herdsing from other directions because we only have two routes cleared: the ones we came from and the ones Iskoh¡¯s team used.


    Bogdan was about to load another RPG but I stopped him, ¡°PUT THAT DOWN! SAVE IT FOR LATER! WE DON¡¯T KNOW WHAT MIGHT COME NEXT!¡±


    ¡°YEAH! YEAH! GOTCHA!¡±


    ¡°DROP THAT RG-6!!! GRAB YOUR AK AND¨C STOP USING THINGS THAT OBSTRUCTS OUR VIEW!!! WE CAN¡¯T KILL IT IF WE CAN¡¯T SEE IT!!!¡±


    ¡°DAMMIT, YOU¡¯RE RIGHT! OKAY!¡±


    ¡°IBARRA!!! START FUCKING DRIVING!!! KEEP IT STEADY!!!¡±


    Each one of us kept shooting but instead of mindlessly mag-dumping just to take them down, we used their ticks or behavior against them. We used the same route Iskoh¡¯s team used to drive back but we took a left turn and itnded us on a street in between several Chinese Restobars and a Christian High School.


    The most obvious was their weaknesses on turns.


    Sprinters would almost always overshoot while the ferals would almost always keep a tight turn.


    Kaley and I shot down the sprinters that almost went over the intersection while Bogdan send out a couple of grenades from his RG-6. Before it even exploded, Jared¡¯s sights were already locked into the space where the explosion radius wouldn¡¯t reach. There have been instances of them dodging our attacks but it was a different story if we know where they would roll to.


    Like fu?k?n? clockwork, a single feral survived as it leaped to the side and rolled a few times but a bullet punctured its neck before a quick follow-up shot entered its temple.


    Tvu araoafi ovzufo jfl msuz gpo ao jfl rmo ovu oaqu om euo hmqdmzofgiu. Irlouft md hazhiare fzmprt dmz frmovuz immn fzmprt ovu gimhc, ju xae-xfeeut fhzmll ovu arouzluhoamrl om dalv mpo frw zuqrfrol ovfo lpzsasut frt om luu jvuovuz vuztl dzmq f duj gimhcl fjfw emo foozfhout tpu om ovu lusuzfi uknimrl.


    We even caught up to the team that we sent away and they met up with the smaller team they talked about earlier. They have just put down a smaller herd but their bodies still littered the road.


    What we needed was a cooldown period to take care of the bodies we put down while figuring out another way to tackle our current problem. Everyone thought it would be an easy in-and-out to get a lot of supplies from the medical center but instead, we encountered a lot of problems before even doing the main job.


    It was a great fu?k?n? idea we still left Unc Zardon and a small number of soldiers back at our original spot earlier or else they would¡¯ve trailed behind. That truck couldn¡¯t go as fast as ours and we would¡¯ve nted our feet or would¡¯ve left the truck and made Unc Zardon ride and the rest ride with our faster vehicles.


    ¡®All these bodies littering the road is making me wish for that monster truck to get done faster¡­¡¯


    ¡°What are we gonna do now?¡± Kaley turned to me.


    ¡°Refill all our mags first before we go back. We still haven¡¯t finished off the herd we left behind and it will only be a matter of time before they stumble upon us.¡±


    Bogdan from the other vehicle called out to me, ¡°They¡¯re probably getting cut up into smaller herds right now. A few zigzags here and there would make them fill up the space they could upy.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Then a short break here while we fly the drones over them.¡±


    ¡°Agreed.¡±


    Wvaiu ovu zulo md mpz oufq ommc f lqfii gzufovuz om hvuhc pn mr mpz fqqm frt mpz uypanquro, Jfzut frt I diuj mpz tzmrul msuzvuft om hvuhc mr ovu msuzfiiopfoamr. Fzmq fdfz, ovu ojm omjuzl juzu loaii lnaiiare mpo jvfousuz tuftvuft ao hmpit jvaiu ovu mrul fizuftw ovfo lpzsasut ovu dfii juzu lniaooare pn iacu ju ovmpevo. Tvu qfar vuzt jfl euooare lqfiiuz ufhv oaqu ao hzmllut fr arouzluhoamr, hzufoare lqfiiuz vuztl om zudaii ovu uqnow lnmol ovuaz dfiiur hmqzftul iudo guvart.


    However, the ferals going in a different way from them couldn¡¯t be missed and they definitely grew wary when they caught a glimpse of our drones.


    Despite that, we managed to pick off one of them since it tried to chase after us. It climbed onto smaller cars at first and once its head stuck out like a sore fu?k?n? thumb, a bullet entered its mouth and broke all of its front teeth. Another quick shot would¡¯ve followed but it seemed like the bullet tumbled and bounced at the right angle, stayed inside its head, and moved upward. Despite that, we enforced the rule of double-tapping because we couldn¡¯t be too sure that it really did happen.


    ¡°Really, bro?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°Okay, then¡­¡±


    Another bullet sped past and it broke the top of its head, shattering its skull and letting out what was left of its brain matter ooze out slowly.


    In the meantime, I checked on my uncle and the rest of the troops we left with him. They were definitely doing better than us since we attracted most of the threat towards us and they only encountered deadheads that only numbered less than a normal magazine could carry. However, we eventually decided to think about what to do with our original n because what we needed to do right now was lower the threat even more so we could have a safer space for clearing that medical center.

 Chapter 617

    As we took a short break, everyone did their own set of tasks before trying to get back on the saddle. Artem created another perimeter around our vehicles while Mikhail led a small group to drag the bodies we put down on the sidewalks. Since no one would be using them any time soon, it was best to ce obstructions away from the main roads.


    At the same time, everyone did a quick run-up with their gear while I directed Iskoh¡¯s group to cut around the same route I told them to take with their clearing group.


    One of them immediately voiced out his opinion, ¡°No! We¡¯re not going to that ce!¡±


    Tatiana tilted her head, ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the fu?k?n? Chinatown! Do you have any idea how swarmed that ce is?! We¡¯ll be dead if we stop moving for a second! We only skirt around the edges to lure some of them away but we never go right in the fu?k?n? center!¡±


    I interjected, ¡°Then skirt in the outer edges, I see no problem with doing that. Just call us to tell us what roads are clear to drive through as we discussed earlier. Wait¨C have you guys drove to the edges of the river? Not the one from your side, the side we are currently in. Is that safe?¡±


    Another person wearing a bandana answered, ¡°Yeah~ We¨C I¨C I came there once with another group.¡±


    ¡°Then how¡¯s the situation over there?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s full of dead bodies but it¡¯s safe¡­¡±


    Everyone else turned to him with a confused expression, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s true! I¡¯m not kidding! Let me exin¡­¡±


    He asked for my copy of the map and he pointed to a ce where several buildings were located right before a bridge.


    ¡°See this spot right here? When we have first driven here, several roadblocks were ced to keep everything from that side from walking past this bridge. It became a shooting range of sorts since they either got barred from passaged or fall down the river.¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°They just kept on pushing against each other and sooner orter, one or two would get pushed off the edge. After that, they either hit their head on the ferries below or fall straight down. It¡¯s a bitch to take them down because most of them sink straight and just make bubbles.¡±


    ¡°So, you leave them like that?¡±


    ¡°No. We clear as much as we could in a day but that ce just keeps on refilling more of those things. In a way, it¡¯s better for us to know where they¡¯ll end up instead of them randomly popping out from nowhere.¡±


    I thought for a moment before leaving a few instructions before we went on to business.


    Ibarra was the designated driver for our truck while Kaley and Jared were on standby at the back of our Raptor. Artem¡¯s team had the same thing going on as well and we went back by slowly inching forward. And by that, I mean we walk forward the same way while our vehicle was slowly reversing.


    We cut down anything that wasn¡¯t supposed to be moving and we encountered a portion of the main herd we were trying to take down.


    With the help of our drones, we identified where the main herd was heading and we took the roads that would lead us to their smallest counterpart. We were essentially ying cat and mouse but we were tearing down theirrades one by one. Despite that, we still needed to take down the ones that were inside the buildings we were driving on but it wasn¡¯t like the two towers that gave us a nasty wee.


    Even if Kaley and Jared were at the ready, we opted for taking them down quietly because even a suppressed shot could travel a short distance.


    My de sliced through each one of them but this time I was side by side with Artem.


    He was holding two knives like a certain buff character that could allegedly turn invisible by keepingpletely still, but his option of stealth was to leave no witnesses. His knife got wiped many times before but once it sunk down to an unfortunate deadhead, it would gleam with crimson.


    Those 7-inch K-Bar knives put down as much as my de did and we led our group forward as we left bodies in our wake.


    Each sh I made was precise and flowing like a river while his strikes were sudden and powerful. My moves were nned several steps ahead and he was theplete opposite this time. He wouldn¡¯t stop or slow down until everything in front of him wasn¡¯t moving but once he started a rampage, he¡¯d go faster and faster.


    ¡®Hmm¡­¡¯


    I didn¡¯t put it to mind as much but we stopped in ce once a pack of ferals noticed us. They just ran straight from an intersection but they ground to a halt once they saw our group. Needless to say, they instantly changed directions and went straight for us. They all looked so fu?k?n? pissed since they went even faster when we first saw them. Their eyes were discolored and almost bloodshot and their mouths were dripping with whatever fluid was inside them.


    I didn¡¯t need to give my group the signal because they just started firing when it was still possible. They only had a few seconds before they were dangerously close and we could either face them head-on or try to reset by driving away.


    We didn¡¯t have much time to think but Artem and I drew our sidearms and aimed for the ones we could.


    Bullets finally rang in the air and the fastest ones got peppered by bullets. Some of them tanked a few shots but they easily rolled over once their critical weakness got nicked. Despite that, their numbers were still dangerously high and some were already in close proximity. From experience, their first move was a fu?k?n? swan dive and I got ready.


    I instantly took a step back to receive them but Artem took a step forward, arge fu?k?n? step forward.


    ¡°EAT THIS!!!¡±


    Artem roared as he sent a frontal kick to a feral that leaped straight at him, dislodging all of its front teeth and forcing its neck backward from an ¡®assisted¡¯ whish. I could hear the fu?k?n? crunch because I was so close to him and he followed it up by keeping the head below its feet before stomping down and crushing it into pieces. Its head popped like a watermelon but another feral was right behind it.


    Its ws came from both sides as it aimed for his foot but Artem had another idea.


    Budmzu aol gimmtw rfail qfrfeut om tae arom val diulv, aol vfrtl juzu aqnfiut gw ovu crasul Azouq jfl vmitare. Tvu qmovuzdphcuz dp?c?r? msuznmjuzut ao frt zannut aol lvmpituzl fnfzo gudmzu lounnare mr aol vuft frt fnniware lmqu tmjrjfzt nzullpzu.


    I would¡¯ve asked for an autograph there and then but I also had a lot on my te.


    The feral I was about to receive actually stopped at the same exact moment I took a step back but I quickly fired two shots at its head by drawing and firing my pistol from the hip. The first bullet entered its cheek before leaving the top of its head while the other scraped what was left of its nose before it took a portion of its eyebrows. It instantly fell to its knees but another one of these fu?kers came from my side.


    All I could do was turn with my h?ps as I shed horizontally and I took out a portion of its crooked arms before lopping its head with a portion its back. I kicked its torso that was about to fall on me and I squeezed three more shots with my pistol to the ones stilling for us.


    We were slowly pushing them back and we didn¡¯t let anything go past us.


    The only time we stepped back a few times was to give us a bit more space or to receive more ferals at a time. Artem and I worked side by side with a chaotic synergy because we were taking care of them in two ways instead of one. Nevertheless, it was still super effective because even Tatiana and Mikhail opted to use their firearms because not a single feral reached them.


    It caused the number of ferals that came in close proximity to lower even more and we actually pushed them back.


    Thest three that tried to run away were gunned down by the people behind us and it gave us a short time to wipe our des and change magazines. We gave each other an approving nod but the motherfucker wore a hidden smirk before jumping ahead of me. I finally thought I had found a worthy opponent and our would-be battle would be legendary.


    ¡®One of these days¡­¡¯


    What we were facing right now was just a portion of the smaller herding from another street and not to say it loudly, each of us could do it single-handedly. It didn¡¯t take long before we had to drive on a blindspot to reset but things had started to look better for us.


    Wu hmroarput ovu lfqu nfoouzr proai ao jfl fr vmpz nflo rmmr gpo ovu lozuuol immcut lfduz ovfr usuz. Esur ovu omjuzl zfr mpo md gmtaul om ovzmj fo pl frt ovu qmprofar ovfo dmzqut ufziauz jfl guare gpzrut om f hzaln. Tvu mriw nzmgiuq jfl ovfo ju imlo f ovazt md mpz fqqm gpo ju fizuftw hfiiut f oufq om gzare pl qmzu.

 Chapter 618

    To satiate my paranoia, we scouted around the surrounding blocks once more and we put down anything that we missed or just randomly wandered around. As that was happening, I already gave Unc Zardon and his escort to drive to our location so we could start whatever we were nning to do in the first ce.


    As soon as they arrived, they couldn¡¯t help but gaveplex looks about what they saw.


    Then I heard a familiar voice, ¡°Boss just doing boss things then, I guess¡­¡±


    I turned around and discovered it was Mark and his group that trailed behind Unc Zardon and delivered our care package. He looked entirely different now since he had long lost the tank top, shorts, and slippers and reced them with gear appropriate to lead a group outside. More so, the two soldiers I ?ssigned to ?ssist him were actually following his orders and hemanded respect from each of his members.


    A few familiar faces were present as well but we only exchanged a few words before we restocked our supplies. Aside from extra ammo and fuel, they also brought fully-charged drones to rece the ones we brought since their battery percentage was already in the red.


    Mark approached me once more and he lowered his Remmington 870 with an extended tube magazine and ghost ring sights, ¡°Boss, do you need more hands? We could cover a street corner if you want?¡±


    I fastened my replenished mags on my te carrier before replying, ¡°Hmm, you could cover Masangkay St. but I think Unc Zardon would be morefortable if you guys stay with him while his escort covers that spot.¡±


    Mark nodded, ¡°Okay, boss. That we could do.¡±


    After a short while, we sent our drones to scout ahead of us while our huge truck parked in the way we discussed earlier. It fully blocked the only entrance to the medical center and the rest of us who woulde inside used our vehicles to climb atop the shipping containers.


    We got a better view of the situation but the situation itself wasn¡¯t any better.


    The driveway we blocked off was just a mosh pit of dead bodies that were b?r?ly recognizable and the smell was fu?k?n? horrible. An ?ssortment of vehicles was parked in an inconsistent manner and a few of them have crashed into the first floor of one of the hospital buildings.


    It led the ss walls to sport jagged shards and anything that passed through had beencerated or cut-up indiscriminately. However, that wasn¡¯t the main issue.


    After we got a closer look at all of the floors, we discovered that the ss walls that weren¡¯t broken into pieces had several deadheads trying to get out. It was because we created a lot of noise from our prior encounters and they were all trying to chase after the source. Whatever was trying to sleep or was just chilling out peacefully got rattled and we had no idea of their exact number.


    A few of them managed to squeeze through the gaps and they were the ones below our feet.


    Artem crouched down amidst the bloodied and crooked hands reaching for us, ¡°So, a bit of whack-a-mole before we head inside? That¡¯s our way, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we do that and we¡¯ll try to block most of the openings so we could control their entry on our side.¡±


    ¡°Block them? How? I could¨C¡±


    Katya pulled him up before shaking her head, ¡°That¡¯s the idea but don¡¯t get toofortable.¡±


    ¡°Haa?¡±


    ¡°I know you¡¯re gonna jump down sooner orter. Take it easy for a bit because you have never taken a single breather since this morning!¡±


    ¡°Hmm. I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m fine¡­¡±


    Jared interjected, ¡°Bro, how about those cars? Shouldn¡¯t we try and move them first before we parked our truck here?¡±


    ¡°Nah, those actually work in our favor. They¡¯ll act like our small safe zones when we start kiting them away. You guys better pick off anything thates for us when we¡¯re in the process of climbing them. Here¡¯s what we¡¯ll do¡­¡±


    I discussed our n briefly and we really did ¡®y¡¯ a short game of whack-a-mole before a portion of our team jumped down. I was part of the group to cut inside the driveway and take down all we could while a smaller group dragged the bodies away from the vehicles, especially our truck.


    I chose a route where a lot of blindspots were present from our shooters¡¯ side and I was holding my katana and my pistol.


    As soon as I turned wide as I passed an ambnce, I discovered a deadhead that got ran over by it, and its insides were wrapped around the rear wheel. It could only stretch out what was left of its chewed-up arms to try and reach me and seeing its exposed bone was a little unnerving. However, I quickly ended its life before shing down on another one that crawled up from an SUV wearing a police uniform.


    Its darkened blood sttered on the SUV¡¯s tinted windows but I heard a dull thud from the inside. I tried to open the doors but they were locked tight.


    ¡®I might need to break this open¡­¡¯


    But before I did, I circled around the SUV while lopping off the heads of the one that came after me. My first target was a student missing half of its face off while thest one was a victim of natural selection. Thetter seemed to have tried to quickly get out of its car but itsrge coat got caught up in the door as it closed it and it got feasted upon before it got the chance to free itself.


    I simply flicked my wrist holding my katana towards their heads and theynded on the floor before their ¡®tops¡¯ hit the ground.


    After that, it was then that I smashed the window adjacent from where the thuds wereing from.


    ¡®Fucking knew it¡­¡¯


    I had to shoot all of them with my gun to end it quickly because looking at them a second more was fu?k?n? difficult.


    What happened was I saw two small figures moving slowly but erratically in their booster seats while tworger figures were doing the same thing while still trapped by their seatbelts. I saw the bites and the scratches from therger figures but there seemed to be no injuries visible from the smaller ones. Aside from their rotting bodies almost melding into their seats, there wasn¡¯t much damage on their person.


    There was only one thing I could think of that could¡¯ve had done this.


    ¡®They basically starved to death¡­¡¯


    Their little faces just turned to me and as soon as they tried to move, their discolored and foul-smelling flesh that was stuck on their seats started to get torn apart while an ample amount of blood and pus started pouring out from their wounds.


    After I shot them, I just shook my head before quickly moving on but everything was far from over.


    We weren¡¯t even done halfway when each of us heard a loud crack from where the vehicles smashed through. As soon as we turned our heads in the same direction, one by one, each of the undead from the other side started to get wild as they tried to maniacally push their bodies through the gaps.


    The ones at the forefront got crushed before the jagged shards sunk into their bodies.


    However, they fell down and got trampled over by the ones behind them and we were met by psychotic deadheads that were left starving for too long. They seemed to be a mix of sprinters and ferals due to the way they moved but they were still fu?k?n? stupid.


    Tvuw fii juro dmz ovu rufzulo jfzq gmtw frt ao bplo lm vfnnurut om gu Azouq.


    I was about to join in when their whole right side got rained on with bullets and even Artem who was about to jump them took a few steps back. As soon as their numbers were halved, he instantly jumped in with the rest of his team and it became a one-sided massacre. They began to push them back as they stepped over their dead bodies but I heard another crack from above.


    We knew what was about to happen next so I instantly pulled out a grenade from my pouch.


    I pulled on the pin, let go of the lever, and let it cook on my hand for a couple of seconds before I threw it up in the air.


    I was already cooking up another one before it exploded right at the ss and it pushed back everything that was about toe out. More importantly, the second grenade I threw went inside the huge hole I created and it threw out several body parts when it exploded from the inside. However, it didn¡¯t take long before whole bodies came crashing down.


    I cut them down as fast as I could but I started hearing more snaps and cracks from above.

 Chapter 619

    Chapter 619: 619


    Several things ran through my head and I was 100% sure that I wouldn¡¯t be able to throw my grenades as urately in that distance. I could do it maybe until the 6th floor but I decided against it. Makingrge holes for them to pass through would just overwhelm us so I thought of a few possible options.<center></center><hr>


    But it was then that I caught a nce of Artem and his team partly inside the first floor.


    ¡°ARTEM! LEAD MOST OF YOUR TEAM UPSTAIRS AND KILL THEM AS FAST AS YOU COULD! ALL OF THEM ARE TRYING TO JUMP DOWN SO THEIR BACK WILL BE TURNED AGAINST YOU! JUST WATCH OUT¨C YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO!¡±


    I never heard a reply but he just turned his head towards me and nodded. He then barked orders to his team and he left Kristoff and Natasha with me while making Katya and Marina make sure that they checked every room on the first floor. He led the way upstairs as he finally used his rifle and it didn¡¯t take long before several gunshots erupted from their side.


    However, making them advance to the upper floors had downsides.


    As they were continuously firing FMJ¡¯ed 7.62x39mm bullets from their AKs, I didn¡¯t take into ount the issue of some of them prating straight through the bodies of their fleshy targets. As soon as one passed through cleanly, almost immediately, it would also go through the ss wall behind them. That would make the ss walls break even further, making jagged shards fall straight for us.


    Pieces of rotting corpses were already a problem and adding to that would make our situation worse. I realized the failure in my split-second decision so I decided to find a solution.


    Since we already have another group watching us from atop Unc Zardon¡¯s truck, I decided to lead my team to the upper floors as well. Our current problem was ss shards falling down on us so I just let them fall while taking care of biters from a different location. Our shooters were fairly safe as well since they have the higher ground.


    I was with Tatiana, Mikhail, Ibarra, Kristoff, and Natasha while Kaley and Jared were on their nests with our other shooters. I didn¡¯t have time to gather them all to exin the change of n so I just picked up my radio.


    ¨C


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    *bzzt*


    ¡°You guys take care over there, we¡¯ll be heading up as well!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Gotcha, bro. I hope you don¡¯t mind if I let loose!]<center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Just don¡¯t let the ones that felle back up!¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    As soon as we rushed up the stairs, we saw Bogdan watching the second-floor stairs by himself. He pointed his rifle at us for a moment before lowering it and he pointed in the direction where Artem and the rest were. However, I just ced my hand over his shoulder as we went further up and he gave us a puzzled look before realizing our intentions.


    He just kept watching the stairs by himself but he saw me looking at the few brass casings by his feet before leaving him below.


    Bogdan¡¯s voice resounded from below, ¡°I¡¯LL PICK THEM UP LATER! HELLO? HELLOOO~? Ah, fuck¡­¡±


    I wasn¡¯t able to answer him because of the number of deadheads trying to smash their bodies against the ss wall. We¡¯d lose our advantage since they were still focused on their own task.


    From only a few feet away, dozens and dozens of deadheads were trying to break the ss walls, and a few of them had spiderweb cracks due to the continuous impacts. They were either wearing scrubs or patient gowns but there were a few wearing civilian clothing keeping the same theme of dark and bloody from head to toe.


    My group wanted to start firing but I pulled out my quietest pistol.


    It was my suppressed TX-22 and I managed to put down 32 deadheads as quietly as possible. This gun still produced noise but it was enough to get unnoticed due to the noise below. With that said, a few have turned their heads around but it was already toote when my group have already formed a firing line.


    ¡°Fire at will.¡±


    In less than a few seconds, we bored holes through the heads of anything that shouldn¡¯t be moving and slivers of light were shining through the holes we made from the ss walls. The dead could easily break them now but they were all slumped down and unmoving.<hr>


    The view from this side was supposed to be beautiful but now it was just a bloody shooting range with fucked-up targets.


    ¡°Changing mags¡­¡±


    ¡°Me too¡­¡±


    After a short moment of changing mags, more deadheads starteding from the hallways to our left and right. They obviously came from the other rooms and they weren¡¯t happy about what we did to theirrades. Some of them were snarling as they started to pick up speed but they no longer had the numbers advantage.


    I just chambered a round in my pistol as I watched Tatiana and Mikhail receive them with much fervor.


    They both had a different weapon type: a custom axe and a bastard sword, but as soon as they swung it at the same time, they both cut their target in half. Tatiana flicked her wrist to get rid of the blood on her sword but Mikhail just readied his axe for another swing. Sometimes, it wouldn¡¯t even matter which side his axe was facing because the sheer weight of it hitting something when swung by the wielder itself was enough to kill someone involving its next-door neighbor.


    Tatiana finished off her targets faster but I¡¯d be more worried if I would be passing by Mikhail¡¯s victims.


    ¡°Split up, check the rooms before we go up. I¡¯ll stay here with¨C¡°


    I was in mid-sentence when one or more of the ss walls from the upper floors was sessfully smashed into pieces. Several bloody shards just whizzed past the third floor before we heard the sound of it breaking into much smaller pieces. Right after that, a smaller outpourpared to the towers earlier followed but gunshots instantly followed. However, the people below didn¡¯t seem to be using rifle rounds and were just using pistol rounds, saving them for a muchrger threat.


    ¡®Just a bit of min-maxing wouldn¡¯t hurt¡­¡¯


    I pulled out my radio once more and contacted the people below.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Hey, which floor was that?¡±


    *bzzt*<hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Fifth and Seventh floor. The fourth floor is really close too, bro. One more¨C ah, that¡¯s it.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°I see it. Okay, thanks.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Sure¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    ¡®They¡¯re probably safe judging from that tone¡­¡¯


    I put my radio away but I turned to Mikhail and Ibarra.<hr>


    ¡°You two, run down to the first floor and check on Katya and Marina. We¡¯re not sure if the ones that fell are just regr deadheads but do make sure none of them crosses the entrance. Kaley and the rest are trying to do the same thing but¨C you two know the drill.¡±


    ¡°Roger.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir.¡±


    Tatiana asked, ¡°So, what¡¯s our n now?¡±


    ¡°Kristoff still stays here while the three of us pick one side. We¡¯ll clear the rooms until we make a loop and we sweep the upper floors right after. The right side is where a few ORs are located while family rooms and patient rooms are on the opposite side.¡±


    Natasha answered, ¡°I¡¯m leaning to the left.¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Me too, actually. Then it¡¯s decided¡­¡±


    Tatiana chuckled, ¡°I¡¯m fine with both. You know, I go both way¨C¡°


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    I was shaking my head and Natasha was trying so hard to contain herughter while we left Kristoff with a puzzled expression. I wasn¡¯t sure if he eventually got what Tatiana insinuated but now was not the time to make jokes.


    The first two rooms we checked were empty but the third room had a patient hooked to several machines that were no longer working. It got me curious as to what its patient monitor would look like when powered but I was busy pushing my de a few inches inside its earlobe.


    All of a sudden, we heard a noiseing from this room¡¯s bathroom and Tatiana unloaded a slug straight through the wooden door.


    I would¡¯ve worried that Tatiana might¡¯ve hit someone that was alive and just camped all through this shit in a bathroom, but the chance of that happening was infinitely close to zero.


    But since Natasha threw us a worried look, Tatiana opened the door and it revealed a figure only recognizable by the tattered uniform it was wearing. What¡¯s left of its head just became bloody splotches on the wall and stains on the marble flooring. Furthermore, we were sure that it was already a zombie because the smell of something dead was already vomit-inducing, how much more could it be when it was left simmering somece where there was no air cirction?

 Chapter 620

    Chapter 620


    We continued to semi-rush each door that we kicked open and the doors that were a bit ''fortified'' ate 1-ounce slugs.


    As soon as they were forced open, we were either met with more stranded deadheads, a blockade of tables and chairs, or a treasure trove of medication. I was slowly shading out the areas we cleared from the map I roughly sketched inside my head, and we were making decent headway.


    Natasha signaled as she raised her foot to kick another door down, "Ready--"


    I ced my hand over her shoulder and pulled her back, "Wait..."


    "Hmm?"


    "Just wait..."


    Natasha and Tatiana gave me puzzled looks but I was looking at the slit below the door. We would''ve broken into this room already but I noticed a lot more shadows moving behind than normal. With that said, we couldn''t see through the room''s window either since the blinds were covering the ss panels fully.


    Our heads eventuallynded on a chair and it didn''t take long before I threw it straight at the window.


    As soon as it made contact, the ss panels broke into pieces and it passing through the room made us get a short picture inside when the blinds got parted momentarily.


    <sub></sub>


    Close to a dozen toddlers were feasting on a rotting corpse of a dead nurse.


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    Their bodies were chewed up and their torsos were disemboweled but I have no fucking idea how many times their ''food'' went into their mouth, passed through what was left of their stomach, and then their mouths again.


    One of them was even wearing a bib but it was way past eating purees or more non-solids.


    The ce we were in was so silent at that moment but someone had to do it.


    I pulled my pistol once more and aimed at their little heads from the window. I had smaller targets as usual but once I pulled the trigger, they would just turn into a statistic. Young, old, male, female, and etc., a deadhead is a deadhead.


    It was the only thing we could do and I thought the first two I killed earlier were thest ones right until this moment. The two were just watching me solemnly but Natasha couldn''t help but look away when I finally pulled the trigger and their little bodies stopped moving.


    I took a deep breath before making sure I took care of all of them. After that, I bust open the door to check the bathroom.


    It was surprisingly empty and we eventually moved on room by room.


    After a short while, more ss walls were reported to be broken and only the eighth floor had them all mostly intact. That meant that our people below would have a small bump of bodies to put down because some of them would just fall to their deaths. They''d be extremely lucky if they fell on top of a vehicle or something else that could cushion their fall becausending on hard concrete was fucking ugly.


    We eventually looped around after 20 minutes or so and I was told that Artem''s team already went up the next floor. However, the bit of news we received from the people below made us make the people we left on the first floor take a generous amount of steps away from the stairs themselves.


    This order was also given to Kristoff and Bogdan because they were watching the stairs on our floors.


    It was because we were told that the deadheads trying to throw themselves off thest floor had turned around and disappeared from view, and that meant they were about to descend the lower floors.


    The only thing we didn''t take into ount was the method they would use to descend. We only thought that they''d just slowly walk down the stairs or clumsily fell down but they stuck to their guns.


    As far as the staircase could allow, they just swan-dived like there''s no tomorrow but their bodies almost always banged on the safety rails. We could fucking hear the crunch a few floors above and the staircase just became a fucked-up dice tower. The ce they wouldnd now waspletely random and we would have to double-check the floors we have been through before.


    We were rtively safe in our position but we were unable to advance to the higher floors. We would need to wait until the eighth floor ran out of bodies to throw at us or else we''d risk being body-mmed from several floors above.


    This was when Kristoff decided to head to a safety ss where an emergency fire axe was located. He broke the ss with the stock of his rifle and eventually pulled the axe off its mount.


    He then approached the elevators and jammed the axe in between the two metal doors.


    "This will work, right?"


    Natasha shook her head, "You ask this now?"


    "I mean, let me push it a bit--"


    As soon as Kristoff applied more pressure, copious amounts of viscous fluid started to seep out of the small gap from the elevator doors. Everyone else instinctively took a step back but something emerged from the other side.


    "The fuck?"


    It was a discolored finger that had almost all of its skin peeled off like a sleeve, but it continue to push itself forward. Once it got its whole hand across, another set emerged a few centimeters lower and it started to grab onto the elevator door. However, no one here was stupid enough to wait for the whole scene to unfold because Kristoff pulled off the axe he lodged in the elevator and skimmed it downwards.


    Part of someone''s hand fell by our feet along with a few more digits but more hands started to make the gap bigger and bigger. Even if their flesh got peeled off, they tried so hard to get away from their cramped space into something more breathable.


    With that said, Kristoff kept repeating the same motion over and over until we had a fucking finger collection. Letting whatever was behind those doors to pass through easily was a bad idea and we would do anything to keep their battle power as low as possible. At some point, Tatiana used her sword to stab inside the thin gap but she immediately pulled away when she felt that her sword was about to snap in two.


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    Tatiana inspected her sword before looking at me, "Whatever''s inside there is definitely packed."


    "Then get ready."


    It didn''t take long before the elevator doors were wide enough to make whatever''s behind them pass through but we never thought that they''d be so fucking wet and slimy.


    The smell was just so fucking abhorrent but that what caught our attention was how their fluids were almost congealed to the point we could mistake them for soup left in the fridge for too long. Some bits even took shape of the elevator shaft and If I was given some time, I could arrange them back like a puzzle. However, the same rule applied to these guys.


    A deadhead is a deadhead.


    They were so encumbered by their own selves, we were more afraid of them when we had no clue about their abilities. They couldn''t even attack properly and we just sunk our weapons in their heads without issue. Even if we wanted to watch our for their congealed blood getting on us, we were properly covered and we had the reach advantage.


    Taking all of them out made waiting for the ''dice tower'' to calm down easier but nevertheless, we cleared everything that filled up that shaft until our current floor. To thoroughly flush them out, the elevator door from the first floor needed to be wedged open because the goop was acting as a liquid barrier and somewhat a camouge.


    It wouldn''t be trouble for our people below but I still ryed the information about what we encountered.


    After a short while, the contents of the elevator shaft lessened and lessened, and the outpour from above stopped. We took down anything we encountered on our way up and we easily reached thest floor with everyone.


    "We''ll take the left."


    "We''ll have the right then."


    We split up once more to clear thest floor together and we were faster than when we cleared the floors below us. It was like we were checking if we missed anything because most of the deadheads we had to take care of on this floor already signed their death warrant once they jumped down the stairs.


    The only thing I did that confused the hell out of the people below was I asked my group to help me smash a ss wall on this floor. Even a drone flew up high to check on us and Jared''s voice on the radio was fucking priceless.


    *bzzt*


    [Really, bro?]


    *bzzt*


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    *bzzt*


    "We still got to chuck their bodies down but yeah, it''ll look nicer if every floor had a ss wall broken into pieces."


    *bzzt*


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 621

    Chapter 621


    For the time we have left until sundown, we chucked off all the bodies we put down while the rest gathered all of the medical supplies and equipment they could. After that, we ced them inside our huge truck, maximizing space by cing obscurely shaped items onto our other vehicles avable. Furthermore, we also checked the vehicles below if there was anything of value we could take home like fuel, food, or even the vehicle itself.


    "Emergency room first! Oh! There''s also that room on floors 3, 5, and 7!"


    "Roger-- hey! Tatiana! Don''t head to the cafeteria! We were just told to--"


    "The fuck are you talking about? We need food on a daily basis! In a way, it''s more important than medicine!"


    "Ah..."


    "Ooh! A twinkie!"


    "..."


    After that, we also marked the rooms where the bigger machines were affixed so we''d be able to formte a n as to when we would try and take them back home. A ce to properly install them also needed to be reconstructed but locating the biggest piece of the problem was aplished.


    The only thing we wouldn''t be able to aplish was to tackle the 27-floor building at the end of this medical center. It would at least take us the whole day and some change to sessfully clear it out but we just don''t have the time right now. However, that would be the top of the agenda first thing tomorrow morning. We just made a group watch the building while we were working in case anything urred unexpectedly.


    <sub></sub>


    I pointed to a luxury SUV near the entrance, "How about that one, Unc? I checked it earlier, it''s--"


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    "Hmm~ It''s still mint and the scratches here and there could be easily buffed off. It''s good but in terms of utility, we should just bring home that truck with those oxygen tanks. It''s half-full but you could fit stuff in the back¡­ Umm¡­ That Escde too if you feel like it."


    "Fine, fine. Let''s fill them up with a bit of gas and some of the boxes we took from the emergency room."


    "Alright."


    After a while, we were ready and about to head home but I took one final look at thest building. It was still standing tall but the only difference it had with the building we blood washed was that it had little to no movement even when we created a fuck ton of noise. It was supposed to be the one that had more to throw at us but it was theplete opposite.


    ''Am I missing something here?''


    I was deep in thought but we eventually drove off the premises, and our team brought the rear. I was sittingfortably at the back but as I looked at the far distance, the team I sent to deal with the dead stranded on a street right next to the river seemed to be done with their work as well.


    It was because I saw two ces where ck smoke was billowing at opposite ends of the street they told me they were having small issues.


    I wasn''t exactly sure they cleared the whole area but they decided on a proper time to punch their attendance cards out.


    ''Resting is also part of the process...''


    We continued to drive the same way back and we even met with other groups using the same way as us. A few words were exchanged and we just turned into a long convoy heading straight for home. Surprisingly enough, we didn''t encounter many deadheads on the way home because maybe we took down a lot of them todaypared to a normal clearing group doing their rounds.


    When we got back, the sun had already disappeared into the horizon and the guards on duty before we left have already tagged out with the guards for the evening. Night protocols were also being enforced and the streets were starting to get empty. Only our patrols were allowed to travel freely unless there was a viable reason or an emergency.


    We then left the truck at the back of the DDR Camp before we went straight to ourpound.


    ''Finally home...''


    As soon as we stepped out of our vehicle, we were warmly weed by everyone inside. We were only gone for the whole day but it was always a relief getting back in one piece, it felt like we were away for ages. Nevertheless, everyone else felt drained and we just opted for a short meeting after eating dinner.


    I first gave a summary of what happened on our trip but I didn''t skip the deadhead''s behaviors. However, when I was just about to end my report, something struck my mind.


    ''Wait-- That''s what we-- That''s what I fucking missed!''


    I was staring nkly at everyone and Oscar addressed it.


    "Kid, are you okay?"


    Several things went into my head but I was roughly calcting the amount of goop that flowed out from the third floor, along with the bodies we put down, taking into ount that I watched all of it get flushed down to the 1st floor. I nced a few times at my team to almost ask a question but everything was finally clear.


    I blurted out, "We missed something."


    Oscar was confused, "What?"


    I turned to my group once more, "We definitely missed something."


    Artem looked at me deeply before asking the same question as Oscar, "What did we miss?"


    I sighed before looking at everyone, "We missed the elevator."


    "Elevator? What elevator?"


    Katya interjected, "We did not. We opened the-- oh. We just wedged the doors from the 1st and 3rd floor."


    "Get it now? We opened the doors to it but we have never seen¡­ it. It''s probably on thest floor and we didn''t even think about checking that small space..."


    Matthew interjected as well, "But¡­ does it matter? It could be nothing? How much space it could hold? Is it enough to give us trouble?"


    I sighed once more before starting to scratch my head, "It could be nothing but what if it''s something? Our rule is--"


    Oscar waved me off after Marina cleared it up for him, "Kid. You''re going back tomorrow, right? What''s the problem? Oh, right... That thing of yours. It could be nothing? Right?"


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    I was starting to scratch my head more furiously then I replied, "Uh-huh. Tomorrow¡­ Sure..."


    I started feeling like a woodpecker was drilling a hole in my head but I tried my best to calm myself down. However, I wasn''t able to pay any attention to the rest of the people that gave their reports so I let Oscar take over for this night.


    ''I already had the thought of checking it but I didn''t check-- This isn''t like me¡­ shit...''


    What I wanted right now was an intense workout to help me forget about it for the time being and the gym upstairs was the best solution. As soon as the meeting ended, I just went ahead of everybody and ran on the treadmill like I was trying to outrun my shadow. After that, I increased the repetitions I would do for lifting weights by two sets and I ignored almost everybody that tried to talk to me.


    I just noticed that Kaley was waving me over, "Hey~! You''re gonna teach a ss, right? Everyone''s waiting down-- Everyone''s just getting ready!"


    I continued to pull myself up from a bar, "What? I am? I thought-- Sure! Just let me finish then I''ll do it right after."


    "Oh, okay! See you then!"


    "Sure."


    To bepletely honest, I couldn''t even understand almost anything that everyone told me while I was pushing myself hard, and my short conversation with Kaley was the only one I could remember.


    After a while, I just noticed that I was alone in the gym while music was still sting, and my clothes were drenched with sweat.


    I looked at the wall clock and it was exactly midnight. I thought I would only be increasing my workout for a bit but it seemed like I doubled it. However, I still felt refreshed even if my muscles were aching quite a bit.


    ''I guess I forgot a little too much...''


    I just scratched my head and removed my shirt before heading down to grab a towel from my room. However, once I opened the door, everyone was just in the middle of taking off our high school uniform and changing into their pajamas. A few props were on the table for some y as well and a costume was also set aside for me.


    Kaley was the first one to notice me and she was shaking her head while pouting by keeping air on one side of her cheek.


    "You doofus! You''rete!"


    I was confused, "What? Oh¡­ the ''ss''..."


    Cynthiaughed awkwardly, "Oh¡­ do¡­ do we put this on again? Kaley?"


    Rin turned to Kaley as well, "W-We do¡­ r-right?"


    Kaley just shook her head, "Don''t bother¡­ sorry¡­ it was supposed to be a surprise¡­ It would be better if he came in here when we''re still wearing it¡­ I think we lost the element of surprise..."


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    Tatiana chuckled, "That''s true. We wore this costume once and that was one of the best times I ever had! I can''t even remember how much I squirted on--"


    I just cut them off before saying, "Okay, I''m just gonna grab a towel here and take a shower for a few minutes. I actually saw nothing and I''ll let you guys continue with whatever you''re doing¡­ When I''m back, whatever happens, happens¡­"


    The four of them just looked at each other before letting out a smile. They seemed to be figuring out a few things given the time and I left them alone toplete it. I really did just grab a towel to take a hot shower in the bathroom and even took a short soak to release some tension.


    Once I got back, I was met with a different scenario.


    All of them were wearing different-colored pajamas and they were ''sleeping'' soundly on the bed. They were all in various positions but I already know what this meant. I would be doing almost all of the work but let''s just consider it appeasement for forgetting a little too much and beingte for our nightly escapades.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 622

    My breathing started to get a little hurried but I just acted like normal and pretended that they were actually asleep.


    I walked past them and I removed the towel that was covering my body and I ced it on a hanger to dry. After that, I just wore superfortable clothes and while doing that, I discovered that my gear was recently maintained and was properly ced in the right corner.


    It put a smile on my face and I looked over at Kaley who was wearing pink pajamas with a simple pattern and little white socks that were covering her toes. Even if she waspletely covered, her figure was too much since those tight pajamas made it look like she was wearing sexy lingerie. She was ''sleeping'' byying on her back, left leg folded to the side, both of her arms raised on top of her head while being hugged or ''imed'' by Tatiana who had buried herself in Kaley''s right side.


    As I turned to Tatiana who was also ''sleeping'', I was surprised that she actually wore pajamas the same as them because she''d just always wear somethingfortable like me or nothing at all. Nevertheless, she was wearing these cute yellow pajamas with frills and a bunny pattern but she wasn''t wearing socks.


    I stared at the two for a short moment before turning my head a little more to the left where Rin and Cynthia were also ''sleeping'' soundly. Rin was right next to Tatiana while Cynthia was by the edge like Kaley.


    Rin was wearing the same thing as them but with a greener shade and a little fuzzy hat. She was on her side facing Cynthia who seemed to be a little too excited and can''t seem to ''sleep'' properly.


    Cynthia''s face was a few shades redder than the other threebined and I could feel that her breathing was a little faster too.


    She was wearing light blue pajamas that were a little bit bigger for her physique but nevertheless, her peachy butt was still popping out. She was wearing the same color socks too but they were being covered by the length of her pajamas. She was also on her side while facing Rin but a few strands of her hair was covering her face. Furthermore, she seemed to be trembling slightly maybe due to the anticipation or something else entirely.


    ''I guess I''ll start with her first¡­ There are a few ways to do this though¡­ Hmm...''


    <sub></sub>


    I dimmed the lights first before I approached Cynthia from her back and I leaned over so I could brush her hair to the side and give her a little peck on the cheek. Doing that made her face turn even redder but she almost ''woke up'' when my hand brushed on her arms and then snaked on her hips. I ran my hands through her body but I avoided feeling up her more sensitive assets.


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    I just leaned even closer right until I caught a whiff of her sweet scent.


    As soon as I did, I started to get hard and arge bulge appeared down my shorts.


    The more I take in Cynthia''s scent, the harder I get. However, I didn''t pull it out in the open and I just pushed it between her bouncy ass cheeks on top of our clothes.


    It instantly garnered a reaction since Cynthia let out a sharp gasp. Even if she piped down almost instantly, Rin, who was right next to her couldn''t help but get flustered from what she heard, and probably a thousand things were going through her head right now. Despite that, I started to push my dick against Cynthia''s ass even more.


    I could feel her hurried breathing with my body and her heart was beating so fast even if we were just starting.


    After a short while, I began to touch Cynthia''s chest above her clothes, tracing around the base before trying to brush against her nipples. They weren''t as big as Kaley''s but it sure had a nice fit in my hand. They were so soft and perky and I could even feel her nipples starting to harden through her bra. It was at this moment Cynthia started letting out soft moans she couldn''t control and even her body started twitching when I pinched at the right spot.


    I kept groping her tits and pushing my dick against her ass over her clothes, but now was the time to go a tiny bit further.


    I let go of her soft bunnies for a moment but I slowly slid her pajama pants with her striped panties down until her plump ass was in view.


    Almost immediately, I pped her ass so fucking hard that it left a handprint. Cynthia let out a muffled squeal but it slowly turned into a soft moan. Her breathing was so fucked up right now but she kept ''sleeping'' even if I could see her biting her lip. After that, I just kissed the back of her neck while I started to grope her ass before I pulled my dick out.


    I was so fucking hard because of everything that''s happening, I almost fucked her on the spot.


    However, I just continued to rub my dick against her bare ass and I''d only prod against the surface, sliding it in and out of her thigh gap.


    The more I did that, the more impatient Cynthia looked with her eyes closed. She looked so depraved and helpless but she kept our little y going on. Despite that, I''d catch her slightly moving her hips to get more contact but she eventually stopped when I refrained from moving.


    After a few more minutes, we were still in the same position but my hand was under her shirt. I kept rubbing and pinching her hard nipples while I kept pushing my dick in her thigh gap. My dick was drenched from her love juices sticking on it but she still hadn''t had a release. She almost did a few times but I''d just stop moving and just y with her tits.


    ''A little more...''


    Cynthia looked like she was about to cry as I continued to toy with her but right when she was about to break character, I covered her mouth with my right and I shoved my throbbing dick inside her wet aching slit. At the same time, I snaked my left hand from under her and I pulled her pajamas up so I could grope her tits while thrusting my way inside of her. It was so fucking tight and so fucking warm, I couldn''t get enough of it.


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    She looked like she didn''t know what to do because her body just threw all proper decorum. I vited her fuck hole as fast as I could but her insides were still coiling and tightening around me. Her eyes had also opened but it just rolled at the back of her head as she kept twitching over and over.


    All the pent-up feelings she kept in earlier just burst out in an instant and she was melting away from pleasure. Despite all that, her walls were still so fucking tight, add to that her legs weren''t apart since I was fucking her from behind.


    Skin was hitting against skin and it was all we could hear aside from her muffled moans and how her insides were squelching the whole time.


    When I looked a bit forward, Rin''s face was so fucking red because I caught her peeking and I could see her squeezing her legs together while I was fucking Cynthia in front of her. She was trying so hard to keep herself calm but I could see her excitement because she was next.


    However, it was far from over because I was nning to make them feel the same way as Cynthia did. I''ll fuck her for as long as I could and I''ll make the three of them stay still until they reach their breaking point.


    Currently, Cynthia was already ''awake'' but it didn''t matter that she broke character because that would make the other three have a harder time because of the noises she was making with her body.


    After a few more thrusts, I blew my load inside of her but sheid on her back and pulled me close before giving me a huge kiss. Our tongues were interlocking but I was already in the process of pulling the rest of her pajama bottoms off. She helped me by kicking them off when they curled on her calves but she reached for my cock and started to jerk me off from below.


    Cynthia was so much in heat, she even started to touch herself even before I started to. Her legs were now spread wide and her ankles were up in the air even if her knees were folded. I was already ready for round two but she was hinting at me to enter somece entirely different.


    "P-Please? This t-too?"


    No more words were needed to be exchanged because I just aimed lower before I thrust forward.


    "Mmh! It''s-- Mmh! Ah... It''s b-big and-- Ahn... Hngh..."


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    It had some resistance at first but it slowly gave way when I pulled back and shoved it in a few more times. Her ass was so fucking tight and I couldn''t help but thrust even harder. I went as far as I could even if Cynthia grimaced a few times but the look she gave me when I hit her deepest parts just made me go faster and faster.


    "Mmh! Mm! Ah! Ow-- AH! More! More! Please! Right there-- ah! There! There! Ther-- Faster!"


    The two of us acted like the other three were asleep the whole time and she just pulled me even closer. I was almost pressing my whole weight against her and she wrapped her legs around me before kissing me again. I tasted her sweet lips but she identally bit me when I went too deep.


    However, that didn''t stop us because pain wouldn''t register as much if we were feeling too much pleasure.


    I stretched Cynthia''s asshole as far as I could and it was gaping wide when I finally pulled out. However, I just shoved it back in before alternating her fuck holes but it didn''t take long before I stick with her pussy. I made her ride me the rest of the way while I fingered her ass but one of the three couldn''t take it anymore.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 623

    Cynthia''s face was a mess as she rode me and it seemed that each time I hit her deepest parts, there would be a chance that she''d instantly orgasm. It was because each time she reached the base of my shaft, her walls would tighten so much and she would squirt a little.


    "I can''t stop! I can''t stop! I can''t stop! Hngh~ Ah! Ah! Ahn! Mmh! Just a little more-- Fuck! Fuck! Ah! There! There~!"


    I was so close as well so I started thrusting my hips from below, but I noticed the person right next to us move.


    It was Rin.


    She sat up on the bed with the same expression Cynthia had before I started fucking her and she was looking at me directly in the eye. Her body was slightly trembling and her face was so red, she looked like she was about to cum from a single touch. However, it didn''t take long for her to unbutton her pajama top to reveal a cute bra holding her little puppies.


    With that said, she just unhooked it from the front and her hard aching nipples came into view.


    Rin began to touch her chest but she didn''t stop there since her hand just went under her pajama bottoms. I could see the way her hands moved from under her but Cynthia leaned over and made me look at her instead.


    "L-Look at m-me..."


    Cynthia''s face was also flushed and before she managed to give me a kiss, she started convulsing once more. Warm liquid spurted out from our lower parts and she just copsed on top of me. She was still trembling for short intervals but I know that she needed a substitute.


    I gave her a kiss before I turned her over but Rin just went for me.


    <sub></sub>


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    She pushed down on the opposite side Cynthia wasying and she instantly went on top. Her breathing was erratic and hurried but she got even more embarrassed when she struggled to slip off her pajama bottoms from our position.


    I pulled her down until we could feel each other''s breaths, "Aren''t you supposed to be asleep?"


    Rin was about to cry but she pulled her fuzzy hat until it covered her eyes, "W-Will this d-do?"


    I lightly chuckled, "You look even cuter doing that..."


    Rin''s face went even redder, "I-I¡­ I can''t-- Ah! Wai--"


    Before Rin managed to react, I pulled on her pajama bottoms and ripped them apart just enough so I could have ess. However, she was the one who grabbed my dick and shoved it inside her little hole after slightly pulling her panties to the side.


    I entered her inch by inch and she gasped loudly as she arched her back.


    "Mmm~ It''s in¡­ It''s ah-- That''s my--"


    I wrapped my arms around her before I started sucking on her protruding nipples. Even if her tits weren''t that big, they were still plump and bouncy, and she had puffy ares. I licked and sucked on her tits as I pushed her down on my dick and she just lost control of her petite body.


    With Rin''s frame, I easily lifted her up and down to my convenience and she didn''t mind the way she was being handled. The rougher I get, the tighter and wetter she became. The other two beside us were having some issue ''sleeping'' but I wouldn''t go over to them until I was done with my meal.


    Rin already came multiple times before I blew my load inside of her but she kept wanting more.


    I obviously obliged but the other two who were still ''sleeping'' had enough as well.


    "THIS IS TAKING TOO LONG! I''M SO HORNY RIGHT NOW, I WANNA CUM!" Kaley and Tatiana eximed at the same time.


    They looked so hot and bothered, they didn''t know what to do with themselves. Their hands were already exploring each other but their gazended on Rin and me. Without a second of dy, Tatiana went behind Rin''s back while Kaley was already standing over my head and half-naked. Her juices were leaking down the side of her thighs and she was touching herself the whole time.


    Rin voiced out, "W-Wait! I''m r-really close! Just o-one more! Please-- Just one more!"


    She started riding me faster and faster but Tatiana couldn''t help but hurry up the process even more by kissing the back of her neck while ying with her clit. At the same time, Kaley sat on my face before she pulled Rin close and gave her a kiss. In turn, Tatiana''s kiss went lower and I could feel her tongue brush against my shaft from time to time.


    Rin was just grinding her body on top of me and it didn''t take long before she cummed hard by being triple-teamed. I was so close to cumming but Rin just fell on Tatiana''s embrace, breathing heavily but wearing a euphoric smile.


    She eventuallyid down next to Cynthia who was still out ofmission but Tatiana took her ce. I thought she''d ride me then and there but she held me by the base before Kaley leaned even more on the opposite side, making her huge ass press on my face even more. I was slowly losing air but I just ate her like a sex-crazed psycho that had been left out for weeks.


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    After a short moment, Kaley''s warm mouth suddenly enveloped me but she just tasted me a bit before she took turns with Tatiana.


    They were actually making out while my throbbing dick was in the way and they licked off any essence Rin and Cynthia left behind with my cum.


    Tatiana started jerking me off, "Let it out now! I wanna ride you longer!"


    "O-Okay, just a--"


    Kaley interjected, "Hey! Don''t stop eating my-- Ah! Mmh! Right there! Right there! My asshole t-too! Wait! N-Not that fast-- Ahn! Hngh¡­ Shit..."


    I couldn''t get enough of Kaley''s fat pussy and it smelled and tasted so fucking good. I was eating her and sniffing her at the same time and I just came hard without warning. I exploded right in their faces and my body shook all over. The two almost fought as they sucked me off, not willing to share a drop with each other.


    However, before I even managed to release all of it, Tatiana went on top of me.


    I almost lost my mind when Tatiana started moving because she started squeezing me off while I was cumming inside of her. My dick was still throbbing hard and she wouldn''t give me a moment to rest. At the same time, Kaley kept applying more and more pressure on my face and she''d even let me struggling without air for a few seconds.


    The position right now was reversed because I was now the one getting roughed up by two beauties. Making them crave it until they almost went crazy had adverse effects but no one was fuckingining.


    Soon after, the roles were reversed once more because Kaley was using Tatiana as a bed while my dick was alternating their fuck holes. At the same time, Rin and Cynthia were on their left and right, shoving their fingers inside themselves while looking straight at me. I tried doing it for them while I was thrusting into tight fucking holes but just the sensation and the view made me cum so hard.


    We went on for hours and we ended by giving all of them a facial but we had a few more rounds when we cleaned up in the shower.


    Everyone decided to sleep in the same room, and Kaley and Cynthia were the ones on my left and right. We slept soundly in the middle of the night but the morning sex was just as hard asst night. Despite that, I never felt more refreshed in my life and everyone involved felt the same.


    We were a littlete when we came down and the ones who were in our inner circle just gave us a knowing look before they handed us some tes.


    For our breakfast, we were served with beans and toastbined with scrambled eggs and strips of bacon. Rice was always avable on the huge pot by the tes but I ate a bit more because I remembered the problem I forgot about yesterday. Nevertheless, I was pumped to scratch off one of my problems on my long list and we drove off with the same team we did yesterday.


    The time we took to get to the same ce was faster but no one was fucking happy when we came back to thest floor.


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    The elevator door was torn from the inside and it was like someone used a key to open up a rusty can of beans. Bits of flesh were obviously present on the jagged parts but no one knew where the owner or owners of those bits were. I didn''t follow my own rules to the dot and something dangerous and unknown managed to slip past us.


    At that moment, I just got so ticked off, the area I was in turned cold for a moment.


    Everyone around me instinctively took a step back before turning to me but I was already walking away from the elevator doors, trying to remember what this ce looked like yesterday. I checked each rubble, footprint, blood trail, and anything that might be different to somehow point me in the direction as to where it went.


    However, too much people have been in this area yesterday when I was down below to get any proper idea.


    ''I would''ve wished there was a camera-- wait...''


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 624

    Chapter 624: 624


    I turned around and went inside the elevator to check the insides of it and I instantly spotted the surveince camera mounted on the corner. With that said I took a closer look around it.<center></center><hr>


    It was stained with blood and bits of flesh but the only thing that stood out was the flooring. The surface was sticky and goopy in some ces but once I scraped most of them off with my shoe, there seemed to be an imprint of some figure that stayed in the same position for far too long. Besides that, there were only a few dents in some ces aside from the gaping hole the thing that came out made.


    A few thoughts ran through my head and I pulled out my radio to contact Ken.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Dude. Are you around?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [What? Who¡¯s th¨C Dude? What? I¡¯m kinda¨C]


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    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°You¡¯re just waking up?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [What? No, I¡¯m doing something really~ good¨C]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C<center></center><hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Stop fapping and¨C¡°


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [I¡¯M NOT FAPPING YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!! I¡¯m¨C FUCK! Just¡­ I¡¯m doing something and it¡¯s¨C I¡¯ll show it to you when you guys came back. Wait, why¡¯d you call me again?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Sure, sure. Can you pull up footage from the drives we brought back?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Sure, which one?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°The elevator in this medical center.¡±


    *bzzt*<hr>


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Huh? Wait¨C No way¡­ You guys actually found something? Just a sec¨C Lemme¨C Hold up¨C Dude! Stop fucking with me! Did you take a day off? Even with backup generators, those cameras wouldn¡¯t show shit from yesterday!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°It¡¯ll take too long to exin, dude. Just y it at the same exact day it happened.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Dude?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [¡­okay.]<hr>


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Ken took a few minutes to get to the right video but he ryed everything he saw on the radio.


    What he told me was that when it hit, it started with the elevators filling up to capacity and getting overloaded until people were getting forcefully pushed out. It continued for a few more times until security and soldiers came to defend the ce, but the number of people that turned almost immediately was just too much for them to handle.


    The whole hospital got overrun with deadheads but the elevator in question had itsst passenger before it stoppedpletely. The cameras were still rolling for a few more days but it just showed a person slowly losing its insanity while being trapped inside a metal box.


    It was arge man slightly taller than the rest of us but even with his physique, he wasn¡¯t able to free himself.


    Eventually, stress and everything else just took over his head and that person copsed in the fetal position. The scene didn¡¯t change until the power went out and no one knew what exactly happened after.


    However, looking at the state of the elevator right now, there was only one exnation.


    I just imagined the same person in the fetal position staying in the same spot where he copsed until he died. And stewing inside that elevator for months, it eventually stood up and turned into something that shouldn¡¯t be allowed to roam the streets. However, it¡¯s just so that something triggered inside of it once more that led it to morph into something that could rip apart metal doors like it was nothing.


    Everyone who was close to me and was on the same frequency heard what Ken ryed over and we were silent for a while.


    However, right as I blinked my eyes, the ceiling panels copsed, and a huge hulking figure dropped right in front of the staircase. Its whole body was almost jet-ck and it stood tall, even higher than our biggest member. Its arms were covered with severecerations and every part of its body seemed to be twitching like it was glitching in ce.


    Everyone else took a fraction of a second to react but its huge hand swiped horizontally and Kristoff¡¯s body folded at an impossible angle.


    ¡°KRISTOFF!!!¡± everyone roared.


    He threw up a mouthful of blood and his insides spilled out the floor, but the huge figure picked him up and mmed him against the wall just to make sure. It created a loud disturbing thud as Kristoff¡¯s blood and insides painted the wall but it still wasn¡¯t satisfied. It mmed Kristoff a second time and his body was almost split into two. The smiley face that was on his chest rig now had a shade of red and his cigars were soaked and broken into pieces.


    Everyone was almost stunned in ce but a few managed to pull the trigger.


    Several bullets carved through its body and grazed its head, but even a headshot wasn¡¯t enough.


    ¡®What?!¡¯


    Its body trembled another time before it leaped for Tatiana and Natasha¡¯s direction.


    Fear was stered in their eyes but a huge fucking axe got swung violently and it sunk several inches deep into its chest cavity. It staggered for a short moment but it snapped its head to Mikhail¡¯s direction before it swung its huge hand overhead.<hr>


    The wind howled before it reached Mikhail¡¯s face but he managed to let go of his axe and escape death by rolling backward. However, the figure just trembled another time before its hand readjusted and twisted back to throw a backp to Tatiana¡¯s face.


    Things happened so quickly and Tatiana flew several feet in the air.


    I breathed a sigh of relief because, at thest second, she managed to block with her Benelli M4 and she jumped to lessen the damage even more. However, her shotgun was still bent worse than Kristoff¡¯s spine, and pieces of it that protruded scratched her face. Her cheeks were bleeding and she wasn¡¯t able to get up.


    And the same could be said for Natasha.


    Everyone else shouted at her to move away but the continuous shock was just too much. All of them were trained soldiers but who could train them for this?


    Another hand was about to swing down but Mikhail recovered and kicked the handle of his weapon that was still stuck on the figure¡¯s body. It was pushed back and made the angle of its swing deviate a few degrees, and it just managed to make Natasha¡¯s hair blew wildly. Tears were streaking down her face and Katya pulled her away at the opportune moment.


    There was no telling how we were supposed to take down this motherfucker but we need to tear it down piece by piece.


    Instead of trying to aim for its head, I started to aim for its lower body.


    I was away from the melee much like the others because it would be difficult to face it with a lot of people, but I kept trying to send rounds whenever possible. However, I don¡¯t fucking know how it was taking shots to the head but doing something over and over while expecting a different result was the definition of insanity.


    ¡®Its skull could be a few inches thicker but its kneecaps wouldn¡¯t be the same¡­ I hope.¡¯


    I aimed for its pater bone and shot after shot when it stumbled earlier.


    After several rounds, it tore through its flesh and ligaments before it hit and fractured the bones around its knees. In doing so, it staggered and limped in ce and that opened a lot of fucking windows. We haven¡¯t taken it down but it wasn¡¯t able to move like it used to. However, no one was willing to make it so easy for it after all it has done.


    Losing someone in the most unexpected way was one of the worst things that could happen.


    Everyone else just formed a firing line and aimed at its joints. It tried to jump and leap for the closest one but all it could do was just wade around and wobble. When it wasn¡¯t able to move, everyone else put away their guns and pulled out their tools for close quarters. Sounds of metal tearing through flesh was the only thing that could be heard except for the low growl the figure tried to let out.


    The huge hulking figure was just turned into a torso with its head still intact and the killing intent everyone was letting out could suffocate a normal person. Furthermore, the one letting it out the most was Artem because unlike me, he was forced to stay back because too much people were in the melee. He could only use his rifle at that time but those weren¡¯t working.


    He stepped on the figure¡¯s body before pulling out Mikhail¡¯s axe and swung downward with both hands.


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    It took a nasty chunk of its bowels but we discovered something peculiar.


    All of its insides were sticking so close to each other even if it wasn¡¯t supposed to but each part of its organs seemed to have a tumor that metastasized through anything that it could. Its insides were so packed together, we couldn¡¯t pull a single organ out even if we wanted to.


    ¡®Is that why Mikhail¡¯s axe didn¡¯t cleave it in half the first time?¡¯


    I was still deep in thought but Artem went ahead and beheaded the motherfucker by swinging down for as long as it was needed. But when he tried to chop its head in two, the axe was stuck one more and he had to swing down more forcefully. With that said, we discovered that its skull was twice as thick and it almost melded with parts of its brain.


    Furthermore, its brain had a different texture and consistency as what a normal one should have.

 Chapter 625

    Chapter 625: 625


    I pulled out a knife and started carving out its face and head p off, and I found the projectiles and bits of fragment either stuck into the outer shell of its thick skull or inside the skin itself. They almost punctured through and if we continued to aim for its head, the several cracks present would¡¯ve let a bullet pass like shooting through the damaged areas of a ceramic te.<center></center><hr>


    ¡®So we just need a higher caliber projectile or just a lot more bullets¡­ Can a .308 or a 6.5 Creedmoor do it?¡¯


    Once I saw enough, I called down to send a group to retrieve the parts of this hulking figure and Kristoff¡¯s body. With that said, Mikhail was trying to piece back Kristoff¡¯s body that was snapped in two and Natasha was carrying what was left of his gear and his dog tag.


    Everyone else in their team was wearingplex expressions and I decided to give them a little bit of time.


    Artem approached me with a solemn expression, ¡°I need a moment with my team about Kristoff but could you check on Tatiana¡¯s injuries? She¡­ doesn¡¯t want us to touch her¡­ Maybe¡­ maybe she¡¯ll let you¡­ you know¡­¡±


    I nodded slightly before saying, ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll try.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Artem put his hand over my shoulder for a moment before he turned around and walked back to where his team was.


    Tatiana wasn¡¯t the only one over there and she was just standing by the edge of the copsed wall. She was clutching her right arm and her cheek needs to be cleaned and the bleeding needs to be stopped.


    I slowly approached her from behind but before I managed to ce my hand over her shoulder, she immediately reacted as she stepped away and threw me a hateful re. However, once she saw it was me, her expression immediately changed and she gave me a tight hug with her left arm.


    Tatiana¡¯s body was trembling all over and she would wince from the paining from her right arm.


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    ¡°Hey¡­ I need to check that arm and clean up that cheek first¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Tatiana?¡±


    It was then that I heard a short sniffle before she started crying silently. Tears started flowing down her cheeks and it turned crimson when it flowed down her right side.


    I slowly exhaled before I wiped the tears off her face, ¡°Let¡¯s go to that room to the right. I¡¯ll call Kaley over too.¡±


    Tatiana just nodded before I guided her to one of the few clean rooms avable and she just started bawling when I closed the door. She was clenching her fists so hard, even if her right arm was injured, she just bore through the pain. She looked more angry at herself than sad at the death of Kristoff but I tried to calm her down so I could properly treat her.


    I just looked over solemnly before I reached for the straps of her chest rig, ¡°Don¡¯t put too much pressure on that arm¡­ I¡¯m gonna remove this too to check¨C¡°


    ¡°Ah! Shit¡­¡± Tatiana winced from the pain.


    ¡°Sorry, you flew earlier andnded badly. I¡¯ll¨C¡°


    ¡°I¡¯m here! I brought some stuff too¡­ Are you okay?¡± Kaley opened the door and walked inside with a somber expression.<center></center><hr>


    Tatiana instantly wiped her tears when Kaley arrived but I didn¡¯t put it to mind. I eventually removed all of her gear and I asked for permission to lift up her shirt.


    ¡°You¡¯ve seen me naked, you idiot. Just lift it up and¨C Ah! Siii¡­ that fucking hurts¡­¡±


    Kaley leaned over to take a closer look, ¡°You¡¯ve definitely broken a rib or two¡­¡±


    I sighed as I looked at the bruised area, ¡°Where¡¯s the stethos¨C oh, here it is. Lemme put it right here~¡±


    Tatiana winced once more, ¡°Ah! It¡¯s like taking a knee from Ilya. Shit!¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just¨C¡°


    ¡°Just hurry it up! We still need to clear that¨C¡°


    I almost smacked her in the head, ¡°Clear what? You¡¯re subbing out! We¡¯re gonna drive you home to get an X-Ray and a scan.¡±


    ¡°What?! I¡¯M NOT SUBBING- AH! FUCK! It fucking hurts!¡±


    Kaley red at Tatiana, ¡°You almost died! And this, this could kill you!¡±


    ¡°Are you serious? I¡¯ve broken bones before and¨C¡°


    I shook my head as I cut her off, ¡°I know you¡¯re angry but you need to get checked by our doctors. I could only do so much but you¡¯ve broken your ribs around the middle of your ribcage. Worst case scenario, the jagged parts that are protruding from the fracture could puncture your lung and you¡¯d need surgery to remove blood and air in them.¡±


    ¡®It doesn¡¯t look like it¡¯s fractured though¡­ but she really needs to sub out¡­ for a while¡­¡¯


    ¡°Surgery?! For this?! I can¨C¡± Tatiana winced once more.


    ¡°Stop fucking moving! I told you to¨C¡°


    We were still in the middle of arguing when gunfire erupted.


    I grabbed my rifle before I left Tatiana in Kaley¡¯s care but as soon as I opened the door, I saw Natasha sitting down and crying near Kristoff¡¯s body while Ibarra was keeping a close watch. Kristoff was now inside a body bag but it was still unzipped near his face and Natasha wouldn¡¯t let our guys carry him down.


    However, Artem and everyone else was fucking missing.


    I muttered, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±<hr>


    Natasha turned to me before turning to thest building, ¡°They went over there¡­¡±


    I started shaking my head from the revtion but there was no stopping them now. I bet Tatiana was also raring to go fuck up some deadheads but Kaley wasn¡¯t enough to keep her down even with the injuries.


    I just picked up my radio and broadcasted at their frequency.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Artem, I¡¯ll need to drive Tatiana home. She¡¯ll need an X-Ray and maybe a CT scan or an MRI but she¡¯s good. She¡¯ll be away for a while but she only needs to rest and heal for a few weeks. I¡¯ll bring Kristoff with us but I¡¯ll need all of you to make sure youe back in the same state I left you or I¡¯ll fuck you all up myself. Understand?¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Da. Take Natasha too. She¡¯s hurt differently.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Gotcha.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    After a while, I called a roaming group to meet us in middle to be an escort and we left the medical center in Artem¡¯s care. Mark and his team stayed behind with Jared and Unc Zardon¡¯s bodyguards though Ibarra decided to drive for us.


    Tatiana needed some violent convincing to get to my Raptor earlier but she just piped down when I carried a zipped-up body bag and ced it on the truck bed.


    ¡®I¡¯ll contact someone from the crematoriumter¡­¡¯<hr>


    Ibarra used the same roads back but he opted to avoid the streets which were prone to a lot of speedbumps and chances of deadheads getting funneled in. The drive to meet up with our escort was so silent right until they contacted us.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Sir, we¡¯re by the sports outlet by the corner.]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    ¡°Gotcha. We¡¯re close.¡±


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    Tatiana muttered, ¡°You should¡¯ve been there Natasha¡­ If I were you, I¡¯d want to¨C¡°


    Kaley cut her off, ¡°Tatiana. Not now¡­ please.¡±


    The drive became silent once more and all we could hear aside from the engine was Natasha sobbing incessantly. She already stopped crying when she got in earlier but Tatiana¡¯s statement just made her cry once more.


    ¡®Just one of those times that doing nothing is the best course of action¡­¡¯


    We encountered a few roadblocks on the way back but we made it safe and sound. We dropped Kristoff¡¯s body in the crematorium with Natasha though Ibarra asked if he could stay behind. I just nodded in kind and got on the driver¡¯s seat then we went back to our ce.


    I called over a doctor to check on Tatiana and they were more than amodating to treat someone. It was bad juju for medical professionals to say that the business was slow but they were also itching to do things they¡¯ve trained for. The ortho department would see some action for themselves but they had no idea who they were trying to keep still.


    ¡°I¡¯d need to be able to move as I do tomorrow. What should I¨C¡°


    ¡°Ma¡¯am! Please keep still! We¡¯re doing the¨C¡°


    ¡°Then do it faster! I send you guys patients every time, can you cut me some ck here?¡±<hr>


    ¡°Patients? Who¨C Ah¡­ Well Ma¡¯am, those breaks were clean¡­ yours¡­ not so much¡­ Your right arm is broken in two ces and your ribs in the middle of your ribcage have a hairline fracture. Moving as you do tomorrow or even the next few weeks will be impossible.¡±


    ¡°WHAT?! FEW WEEKS?!¡±


    ¡°A month or two to be safe¨C¡°


    ¡°WHEN DID WE GET INTO MONTHS?! I¨C¡°


    ¡°Ma¡¯am! Stop moving! We could only do this faster if you don¡¯t move! We¡¯ll need to restart the scan again¡­¡±


    ¡°We already did the X-Ray why do I have to get scanned like this?¡±


    ¡°X-Rays could only do about 75% of the work¨C Using this scanner can reveal everything the X-Ray might¡¯ve miss¨C¡°


    ¡°Then why didn¡¯t we do this the first ce?!¡±


    ¡°STOP! MOVING!¡±


    ¡°Can I still have sex?¡±


    ¡°Wha¨C Umm¡­ as long as it¡¯s not¡­ rigorous¡­¡±


    ¡°Haa? Isn¡¯t that how we¡¯re supposed to have sex? Rigorously? What are you gonna say next? I¡¯m not allowed to exercise?¡±


    ¡°That would be the case, yes. Any form of strenuous movement is forbidden until I say so. You need to uh¡­ rx and let yourself heal for the time being or else¨C CAN YOU NOT FUCKING MOVE?! THIS IS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN! IF YOU MOVE TOO MUCH, WE¡¯LL NOT BE ABLE TO SCAN YOU! LIKE SO! IF YOU MOVE TOO MUCH WHEN I TOLD YOU NOT TO, YOU WON¡¯T BE ABLE TO HEAL FASTER! CAN¡¯T YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND THAT?!¡±


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    ¡°Geez, calm down. You¡¯re making this shit longer than it¡¯s supposed to be.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    The scan was eventuallypleted but the doctor who gave her the scan was banging his head on the table even if it was already finished. Despite that, he found no more hidden injuries aside from the ones we already knew and saw from the X-Rays.


    After confirming things, Tatiana¡¯s arm was reset and it was put on a cast then it was ced on a sling. She was given pain meds and a few more prescriptions to help with the healing but the best thing she could do right now was to ept the fact that she needed some rest so she coulde back on the saddle as fast as possible.


    We thanked the doctor that treated her but I had to give him an Ibuprofen because he did bang his head a lot. He was so lost and confused when we left him and we eventually drove back to thepound.

 Chapter 626

    Chapter 626: 626


    Tatiana was the first one to leave the Raptor and everyone gave surprised looks when she came out wearing a cast. Well, Rin and Cynthia gave more than just a surprised expression and they immediately rushed towards us to know what happened.<center></center><hr>


    ¡°W-What happened?!¡±


    ¡°Are y-you okay?!¡±


    Kaley and I vacated the Raptor but Tatiana was already rolling her eyes.


    I waved the two off, ¡°You two, can you please escort her to your room? She needs to rest and when I say rest, that means not moving a single muscle. She didn¡¯t only break her arm but her ribs too.¡±


    Tatiana groaned, ¡°I¡¯m not the one who broke them, it¡¯s the¨C¡°


    At this exact moment, the look on Tatiana¡¯s face changed and she trembled all over. Her eyes were wrought in fear and she started losing feeling in her legs. She fell on Rin¡¯s arms but Cynthia had to support them both. I gave Tatiana aplex expression but I was the one who supported her upstairs.


    ¡®It took root¡­¡¯


    I was about to take her to their room but Kaley insisted that Tatiana would need something to watch to pass the time.


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


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    Iid her in our bed and the look on her face earlier was gone. However, I needed to address what I saw earlier.


    I turned to the three, ¡°Hey, you three¡­ can you leave us alone for a sec?¡±


    Tatiana¡¯s eyebrow raised, ¡°Oh~ I like the sound of that~ I¨C¡°


    ¡°No. It¡¯s for something else. Please?¡±


    Rin and Cynthia gave me a puzzled look while Kaley and Tatiana just looked at me solemnly when they saw the look on my face.


    Kaley escorted the two out and followed after them but I just looked at Tatiana straight in the eye. I was a few steps away from her while standing in a neutral pose though my hands were inside my pockets.


    ¡°What are you¨C¡°<center></center><hr>


    ¡°You¡¯re afraid.¡±


    ¡°What? I¡¯m not¨C¡°


    ¡°You are.¡±


    ¡°I¨C¡°


    Tatiana was brushing me off every single time so I flicked the switch in my head forcefully. Negative thoughts flooded my head and all I could do at the moment was clench my fists hard. Pain seared through my hands as they bled and it was also started to affect my eyes. It just covered the room in an instant and the temperature had never dropped this much. However, I directed everything in Tatiana¡¯s direction and I never saw her look more miserable in her life.


    ¡®Sorry¡­ I had to¡­¡¯


    Tatiana looked like she was left bare in the cold while a pack of wild beasts was circling around her. She looked worstpared to when the hulking figure was right in front of her and when she started having a breakdown. She was almost hyperventting as tears were streaking down her face, and her body was trembling all over. Pain from breathing erratically was now secondary since all she could feel was fear beyond everything she had ever felt.


    Right when she was about to hit her limit, I withdrew everything else and gave an apologetic look right after.


    ¡°Tatiana, I¨C¡°


    Kaley suddenly barged in but she couldn¡¯t take a single step inside. Tatiana was still in shock after what happened but she couldn¡¯t look away from me. She was still breathing heavily and I waited in the same spot until she recognized me. She almost threw up a few times but she kept everything in.


    When Kaley managed to take a step inside our room, she felt the residue but persisted onwards. I was giving approval internally but she threw me a hateful look.


    ¡°W-What did you do?!¡± Kaley eximed before trying to calm Tatiana down. She sat next to her and tried to ce her hand by her back but Tatiana wasn¡¯t responding and was just looking at me with the same distraught expression.


    ¡°We¡­ we just had a ss.¡±


    ¡°A ss?! What kind of ss is¨C¡°


    ¡°Fear. I taught her fear.¡±


    ¡°W-What? Tatiana, are you oka¨C¡°<hr>


    Tatiana was the one to cut Kaley off, ¡°I¡­ I need to be alone¡­¡±


    Kaley shook her head slightly before disagreeing, ¡°N-No! We should¨C¡°


    ¡°Please¡­ I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m much better now¡­¡±


    ¡°Wha¨C¡°


    I headed straight for the door before calling out, ¡°Kaley, you heard her. She really needs to rest.¡±


    Kaley threw me the most confused look she ever could but Tatiana slowly nudged her to leave her alone. I was keeping the door open until Kaley begrudgingly walked past me but I gave one final look at Tatiana before I closed the door.


    Tatiana was giving me aplex expression but her body just started going through a phenomenon where it would rx and let out everything after it finally felt safe.


    ¡®Good¡­¡¯


    I let out a sigh of relief but before I got to exin myself to Kaley, she went right up on my face.


    ¡°Y-You! What did¨C What hap¨C What?! What was that¨C Exin yourself!¡±


    I lightly chuckled, ¡°Bandages.¡±


    Kaley got confused even more, ¡°Huh? What are you¨C¡°


    It was then that I showed my hands to Kaley and looked over the doorknob. It was covered with my blood but my hands were still bleeding out. It was because the nails that were plugging my skin were taken off when I kept the door open, and the bleeding needs to be stopped before clots could start to form.


    Kaley looked like she was about to lose herself, ¡°What is¨C I have them here in my¨C What¡¯s happening to you?! Give me your hands!¡±


    ¡°Here you¨C Ow! Be gentle! Can¡¯t you see they¡¯re¨C¡°


    ¡°Shut it!¡±<hr>


    Kaley was about to cry when she dragged me to sit down on the staircase that would lead to the 3rd floor. Coincidentally, Rin and Cynthia were hiding in the same spot, unsure of what to do but also curious as to what urred inside. It was because Tatiana and I were just left alone for a short while before Kaley barged in when she felt something, and both my hands were bleeding profusely when I came out.


    I just gave them a brief exnation but they were confused and just in the same boat as Kaley was.


    Cynthia asked once more, ¡°Fear? You taught fear?¡±


    Rin added, ¡°Can you even¨C¡°


    I chuckled lightly, ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, don¡¯t¨C Ow! Kaley! Ease on that alcohol! You just need to wrap them before¨C¡°


    Kaley red at me as she squeezed my hands, ¡°Isn¡¯t this the time you provide us with your long monologues?! You always do them when this kind of thing happens, right?! Why the indifference now?!¡±


    I tried to scratch my head but opted to rub the side of my head with my sleeves, ¡°Hmm~ It¡¯s really hard though¡­¡±


    ¡°Really? There¡¯s something you can¡¯t exin?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ It¡¯s just the nature of it¡­ It¡¯s like the old times when you just smack the back of your TV when it¡¯s acting up and it just works. I don¡¯t fucking know why that¡¯s the solution but it does it.¡±


    Rin looked at me suspiciously, ¡°Right¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh! Like blowing the cartridge of my old 64!¡± Cynthia suddenly had a thought.


    ¡°Right! We know it just makes it worse but it fucking works after blowing on it, right?¡±


    Kaley grumbled, ¡°You kept exining other stuff but it¡¯s far from what I saw! I never saw Tatiana like that but after whatever you did to her, she said she was fine?! How would looking like that be fine?!¡±


    ¡°I told you already, I taught her fear.¡±


    Rin was still confused but she asked, ¡°So¡­ teaching fear meant¡­ scaring her? You actually scared her?¡±


    I nodded a few times, ¡°In a sense, yeah.¡±<hr>


    Kaley shook her head then she said sarcastically, ¡°In a sense? Really?¡±


    ¡°Well, something stuck with me after¡­ after my parents died. I haven¡¯t been fully honest but when it was still fresh, I can¡¯t even look at a person holding a knife and I¡¯d just relieve everything that happened in my head. It took me some time to lessen it to just simply flinching or just sweating nervously but that wouldn¡¯t sit with me. I need to turn that into something I could use or control rather than something that could debilitate me. And what¡¯s scarier than a person with drugs in his veins wielding a knife?¡±


    Cynthia joked, ¡°Kaley holding a knife?¡±


    ¡°Hey!¡± Kaley grimaced but the rest of them startedughing.


    I chuckled, ¡°Close, but this was something that happened before.¡±


    Rin grew curious amidst theughter, ¡°But what is it though?¡±


    I smiled as I turned to Rin, ¡°It¡¯s the person who broke my Tachi.¡±


    Silence filled that corner of the staircase but it was more because of curiosity. Kaley knew a bit about my pseudo-family while the other two knew almost close to nothing. They know that my Tachi was missing from my rack but they never knew that it was actually broken. However, it seemed that my one-sentence answers weren¡¯t enough.


    Kaley looked at me with a menacing aura, ¡°Okay, now¡¯s the time to give us aplete answer.¡±


    ¡°Haa?¡±


    ¡°You keep on leaving us with this cliffhanger answers and it¡¯s starting to tick me off.¡±


    ¡°I need my hands first.¡±


    Kaley started to get headaches, ¡°What?¡±


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    ¡°I need my hands! I¡¯m about to tell a story and I need gestures to be able to do it proper¨C Ow! Kaley! What if I forget everything?!¡±


    ¡°YOU NEVER FORGET ANYTHING! EVEN TROLLING AMIDST A SERIOUS CONVERSATION!¡±


    ¡°I mean¨C If you put it like that I¨C¡°


    ¡°JUST TELL US THE STORY!¡±


    When I finally got my hands back, I sighed before opening my mouth, ¡°It¡¯s about time I tell you guys about Aoi¡­¡±

 Chapter 627

    Chapter 627: 627


    We were still sitting on the staircase that would lead to the 3rd floor but since we already started, I leaned my back on the wall and just faced them right after I trailed. Kaley was the only one who knew about the name but like the other two, she didn¡¯t know much about her except that she was pseudo-family.<center></center><hr>


    ¡°Who¡¯s Aoi?¡± Rin and Cynthia asked simultaneously.


    ¡°I was just about to get to¨C¡°


    Rin turned to Kaley, ¡°You know her then?¡±


    Kaley stammered, ¡°Umm, we uhh¡­ t-talked about her briefly right b-before we¡­ you know¡­ the first time we did it with¡­ e-everybody¡­¡±


    ¡®Right¡­¡¯


    Cynthia interjected, ¡°First time? Everybody¨C Oh¡­ Oh! Oh~ But who¡¯s she?¡±


    Kaley shrugged her shoulders, ¡°All I know is that she¡¯s kinda her childhood friend and if I remember this correctly¡­ she¡¯s kinda his older stepsister?¡±


    Rin and Cynthia slowly turned to me with an expecting and a knowing look before Kaley just realized the innuendo she brought upon us.


    I almost facepalmed as I shook my head, ¡°Let¡¯s just say that she really is kinda my older sibling even if we weren¡¯t rted in any way.¡±


    Kaley interjected once more, chuckling, ¡°Older¡­ Stepsister¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­¡±


    Kaley tried one more time, ¡°Ara~ Ara~¡±


    ¡°Pfft!¡±


    ¡°Oh my god!¡±


    I was gnashing my teeth from embarrassment, ¡°Stop! Kaley!¡±


    Kaley was smiling brightly as she teased me, ¡°Okay! I¡¯ll stop! Paint us a picture! What¡¯s she like? Is she pretty? Do you like her? You guys done it before? Big boobs?¡±


    Cynthia added, ¡°Does she have a big butt? A little horny? Adventurous?¡±


    Rin added differently, ¡°Wait¡­ She¡¯s from Japan, right? So¡­ kinda like me? Quiet? Just saying¡­ you know¡­ Usually¡­ Oh! Does she know how to use those too? How about¨C¡°


    I cut them off, ¡°Okay, okay. Are you three gonna listen to me or you¡¯re just gonna form conclusions?¡±


    The three wentpletely silent but their eyes were twinkling.


    ¡®Good grief¡­¡¯


    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll start¡­ But I¡¯ll tell you two what I told Kaleyst time¡­ It¡¯s just the way I do things¨C¡°


    ¡°JUST DO IT! YOU¡¯RE GONNA BLABBER ON FOR A BIT BUT HURRY IT UP! WE HAVE A LOT TO GO THROUGH!¡±<center></center><hr>


    ¡°Sure¡­¡±


    I enlightened the two about my other family from Japan but their faces turned solemn when they just remembered that Japan was one of the ces that went down early. However, it was only the government that shut down and everything else was still on the table.


    I was still hoping to receive a return call but after all this time, there was still no ring from the other side.


    With that said, as soon as I ryed to Rin and Cynthia about what I told Kaley before, more questions started pouring out from them.


    ¡°That really happened?!¡±


    ¡°So cool!¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re definitely still over there, I¡¯m sure of it.¡±


    ¡°I hope theye here though¡­¡±


    ¡°If they taught you what you know, they wouldn¡¯t fall off just as easily as their government did. Trust me.¡±


    I was in agreement with most of the things they were saying but there were still questions left unanswered. I tried deflecting as much as I could but this needed to happen right now.


    ¡°Listen, Old Man Kaiseki picked her up from his own travels and she¡¯s one of few that¡¯s just like me. She¡¯s part Japanese but she was given the name Aoi because of her eyes. Unlike most of us, her eyes were piercing blue like¨C¡°


    Rin interjected, ¡°Like Tatiana?¡±


    I chuckled, ¡°Not exactly. More like Katya¡¯s eyes but a little warmer¡­¡±


    ¡°Warmer?¡±


    ¡°You know, Katya¡¯s gaze looks a little fierce but Aoi¡¯s gaze is really~ gentle¡­ most times¡­¡±


    ¡°Most times?¡±


    ¡°Well¨C¡°


    Kaley interrupted me, ¡°You¡¯re starting with these cliffhangers agai¨C¡°


    I cut her off, ¡°Shh~ It kinda engages you, right? Just let it happen~ Just let it happen~ Anyway, want me to talk about what she looks like more, or do we start talking about how I came upon the lesson I just taught Tatiana?¡±


    The two were about to answer but Kaley overpowered both of them, ¡°Paint. A. Picture.¡±


    ¡°I actually have some photos¨C¡°


    ¡°No! Just tell her what she looks like from your eyes.¡±


    ¡°I like that sound of that.¡±<hr>


    ¡°Me too.¡±


    ¡°Fine¡­¡±


    ¡°Get started.¡±


    ¡°I am!¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t!¡±


    ¡°Stop inte¨C¡°


    ¡°Just go!¡±


    ¡°Haaaaaaa¡­. Okay, okay¡­ She¡¯s almost as tall as me and she has long, flowing hair.¡±


    Rin interjected, ¡°Is she blonde or?¡±


    ¡°Right. But no, she has ck roots. I think most of what she got from her other counterpart is the eyes¡­¡±


    ¡°Most?¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­¡±


    ¡°You just said ¡®most¡¯, what¡¯s the other¨C¡°


    I started scratching the side of my face, ¡°It¡¯s not imp¨C¡°


    Kaley was smiling a little too mischievously as she pped my leg, ¡°Oh god, you¡¯re blushing! Aha! Is it her boobs?! It¡¯s her boobs, right?! How big are they?! Tell me! I won¡¯t get mad!¡±


    I looked away, ¡°P-Pretty big¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh~~~ Now, we¡¯re getting somewhere¡­ But the question is¡­ who¡¯s bigger?¡±


    I tried to change the subject, ¡°Kaley, it¡¯s not a conte¨C¡°


    ¡°It¡¯s not, but I wanna know!¡±


    ¡®I wanna die¡­ like right fucking now¡­¡¯


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s¡­¡±


    ¡°Just answer me! I said I won¡¯t get mad! Wait¨C Is she?! Wow¡­¡±


    ¡°N-No! It¡¯s been a while¨C Shit! Fuck! Okay, okay¡­ Hmm~ It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s quite close but it¡¯s a little different¡­¡±<hr>


    ¡°Different? How?¡±


    ¡°S-She has¡­ in¡­ i-in¡­ inver¨C inverted umm¡­ n-nipples¡­¡±


    As soon as I said that, Rin and Cynthia covered their mouths as their faces flushed red but Kaley was looking at me straight in the eye while one of her eyebrows was higher than the other. She was still faintly smiling but she started to nod ever so slowly.


    ¡°Uh-huh¡­¡±


    Was all that came from Kaley¡¯s mouth right after.


    ¡°W-What? Did I say something?¡±


    ¡°You already slept with her, right? Don¡¯t lie to me¡­ I know that look. You could always see how big something is by looking at it but knowing what her¡­ her little buttons are like? You just confessed to something without even knowing it.¡±


    ¡®Ah, crap.¡¯


    ¡°Kaley, I¨C¡°


    ¡°I said I won¡¯t get mad, right? I¡¯m just¡­ I¡¯m just a little surprised. Hmm, one question¡­ Is she your first?¡±


    ¡®Her fucking insight is working overtime right now¡­ FUCK!¡¯


    I tried to go down swinging, ¡°Why am I being interrogated right now?! I¡¯m not here asking you three¡¯s first!¡±


    Cynthia answered first with a cheeky smile, ¡°You.¡±


    Rin added with a blush, ¡°You.¡±


    Kaley finished up, ¡°A jerk in college who couldn¡¯t evenst ten seconds. Any more questions?¡±


    I felt so defeated, ¡°Fine. You¡¯re right. She¡¯s my first¡­ for mostly everything.¡±


    ¡®Where did this conversation gone off to¡­¡¯


    I was being ganged up on by the three and I had no one in my corner. I felt so embarrassed sharing a few things about my life but it was actually fun to see them so interested and invested. Furthermore, they were also interested in the person they haven¡¯t met but an image was slowly forming in their heads.


    Cynthia had her eyes closed as she spoke, ¡°Okay~ She has a body that¡¯s almost like Kaley¡¯s but a little bit taller, long hair, blue eyes, a warm gaze, inverted nips¡­ what else?¡±


    ¡°Physically?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ She has a fairplexion, she¡¯s very athletic¡­ really f-flexible and she has great stamina and muscle endurance¡­ Also¨C¡°


    Kaley cut me off, ¡°Let¡¯s rewind a little bit¡­ She¡¯s your first¡­ But¡­ Are you hers? Just curious¡­¡±<hr>


    I stammered before I let out an answer, ¡°Y-Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°Okay?¡±


    ¡°I said okay.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    ¡®Uh-oh¡­¡¯


    A little bit of tension was forming as nervous chuckles were starting to get used but despite that, Kaley was still keeping the same expression she did earlier. However, I was gonna leave it up to her if she really wouldn¡¯t get mad as I told more stories and answered more questions.


    Rin inquired, ¡°What did she do for jobs though? Did she finish anything?¡±


    ¡°Oh! She really wasn¡¯t sure what to do or study for so she would just attend sses here and there while showing up to their shop. Their handmade goods are fire and you couldn¡¯t learn to do it anywhere else. Add those with training, she wasn¡¯t able to pick something to major on.¡±


    ¡°Right! She trained with you, right? Who¡¯s better?¡±


    I instantly answered, ¡°Me.¡±


    Kaley muttered, ¡°Liar. You answered that so fucking fast¡­¡±


    ¡°Heh. It depends, it depends¡­¡±


    ¡°Be serious¡­¡±


    ¡°She did train longer and more full time than me, she¡¯s no joke. However, something just clicked from a few years back when I was back on the saddle. Oh! But here¡¯s what I¡¯m about to say next: In the right circumstances, Tatiana will lose a one-on-one with her bare-fisted. Tatiana beat me once but I lost to her countless times already.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re joking. What do you mean by right circumstances?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just the way they fight. If Tatiana exploded at the get-go without stopping, she¡¯ll win. But, if Aoi managed to drag it, Tatiana¡¯ll lose inevitably. In my case, I was training alongside her and she knows my moves, also taught me some of them. That¡¯s why I tried learning different disciplines¡­ Nothing is supreme if you pick the best ones from everything.¡±


    Rin continued, ¡°But¡­ What if they¡¯re using swords? She has one too, right? You know, a set like yours.¡±


    I started chuckling, ¡°She mainly uses a naginata but even if she uses a katana like mine, Tatiana will still have no chance. Well, if they¡¯re gonna try to kill each other at least. If they¡¯re just sparring, the odds of either of them winning is 50-50¡­ I think¡­¡±

 Chapter 628 - Just Chatting 2 Mistakes Were Made...

    I left my answer as to who''s better between Tatiana and Aoi a little open-ended because no one would know the right answer until they actually fought. With that said, practitioners like me and Aoi were alwayspared to HEMA practitioners like Tatiana, but it would almost always boil down as to who had more time put into it.


    Rin gave looks of wonder, "Really? She''s that good?"


    I scratched my nose, "Well, we''ve trained since we''re youngpared to Tatiana who trained less than a decade but as I said earlier, she was more full-time."


    Kaley interjected, "How can you say that? You''re saying it''s gonna be 50-50 but Tatiana never beat you using swords. Won''t she just wipe everyone else because she was more full-time?"


    I instantly said, "But I''m awesome. It''s almost illegal."


    "Pfft!"


    The three of them almost choked simultaneously and we startedughing. Kaley was slightly palming my wakizashi but Rin had another thought.


    She pointed at my arm and said, "Does she have one like that? She has to, right?!"


    I nodded and smiled faintly, "Yeah, we all got one tattooed somewhere on our body. Hers wasn''t like this though¡­ She has this bird-like crea-- Oh! I think it was based on a ck-crowned night heron that turned into a yokai or a spiritual entity. It was said that its feathers fused to be shining scales that gave off an iridescent blue--"


    Cynthia eximed, "Oh! Oh! Oh! Ao¡­ Aos... Aosaginohi! It''s Aosaginohi, right?! That''s so cool!"


    Kaley was confused, "What is that what? Blue heron me? What does that mean?"


    Rin chuckled, "I think it''s blue heron fire but same thing."


    I nodded approvingly, "Yeah, something like that. Old Man Kaiseki likes to give us weird tattoos that sorta exin about us or what he sees in us. He didn''t ink it on her arm though, it was on her back. The colors were so vivid and radiant they almost pop out from the background-- get it? Back-- Nevermind..."


    Kaley snarkilymented after groaning, "Oh~ You probably saw it when you''re doing her from the back."


    I just shook my head and went along with it, "Well, sometimes she''s riding me facing the opposite way but I''d see it too when I wash her back."


    Kaley''s face went so red with mixed emotions as she stammered, "Ah-- You! Well--"


    Rin and Cynthia were just enjoying the friendly hostility but they were more amused by seeing Kaley''s reaction. I would dare say that she was getting a little~ too passionate while hearing stories about someone that was my first in mostly everything and I was done being on the defensive. I''d need to shake the beehive some more to get priceless reactions.


    Kaley looked away before muttering, "Who''s she with now though? A girl as perfect as that should have someone..."


    I faintly smiled, "As far as I know, I was the only one she''s been with--"


    "WHAT?!" The three exploded.


    I shrugged my shoulders, "I dunno, I don''t dig much about everyone''s past rtionship even if she''s my childhood friend unless they told me about it."


    The three were taken aback and were silent for a short moment. It got kinda awkward but Kaley turned to me with an apologetic look.


    "I didn''t m-mean to put it like that though¡­ S-Sorry¡­ I''m just a little¡­ you know..."


    Cynthia joked, "Insecure?"


    Rin piled on, "Jealous?"


    I tried to stop the two, "Hey now, ease up a little--"


    Kaley stood up, "I-I''m not! Hngh¡­ A l-little¡­ I have my issues too, okay?! I''m just¡­ I''m just wondering why you''re not with--"


    I cut her off as I looked at her straight in the eye, "It''s ''coz I love you, you freakin'' doofus."


    As soon as I said that, Kaley was just stunned in ce and she looked like she was about to cry. Rin and Cynthia were shrieking in pleasure and Kaley just turned redder and redder. She yed it off by harrumphing and looking away but she slowly sat down in the same ce she was sitting on earlier.


    Then Rin had a thought.


    "W-Wait! Is that why?"


    "Hmm?"


    "The person who broke your Tachi! It''s Aoi, right?"


    "Yeah? But--"


    "Oh my god! Did she perhaps told you what she felt and you just went ahead and brutally crushed her heart--"


    I instantly chopped Rin''s head with my hand, "Nope. Hmm~ there was a time like that, yes. But that''s not the reason she broke it. After the incident with my parents, I started traveling around the world but the first ce I went to was Old Man Kaiseki''s mountain. I was at rock-bottom at that time and honestly, the thoughts running through my head that time were so fucking negative..."


    Everyone''s faces suddenly turned somber.


    But I continued, "I hiked up the path on my own but I brought the set Old Man Kaiseki made me: that Tachi, my katana, that wakizashi, and the tanto. I nned to return everything to Old Man Kaiseki but he wasn''t there."


    "W-What? You wanted to return-- W-Why?"


    "I''m just so fucking done at that time. Trust me, I could as easily hung myself in one of the trees there but I didn''t. They''re just so precious to me and someone else might just wander around and pick them up."


    "..."


    "C''mon guys, don''t look at me like that. I''m fine now, right?"


    "Okay¡­ W-What happened then?"


    "Well~ Since Old Man Kaiseki''s gone, I thought I''d just leave it to someone else present¡­ Turns out, the ce was freaking empty and I don''t know where everyone went!"


    "What did you do?"


    I started chuckling, "I tried looking for them at first but after running around the mountain for hours, I just gave up and put my things down in my old room to wait for them. Surprisingly enough, it was kept clean and it was what I left it before. I was covered in sweat and I was fucking tired so I took a hot bath before fixing myself a meal. I just cooked some rice, cracked some fresh eggs on it, added a dash of our homemade soy sauce, and mixed it all together."


    Cynthia started chuckling, "You just made yourself at home..."


    "Well, it IS home; Like this one. Who said you could only have one?"


    "True~~~"


    "Anyway, I took a long-ass nap but I was woken up by someone singing."


    "Oh! Is it Aoi? Is she any good?"


    "It''s her, yes. And she really~ has a beautiful voice. She could be a singer if she wanted to. It''s just that she''d goof around to downy herself to avoidpliments. She really hates getting them but I heard her sing for real. It''s really warm and soothing..."


    Cynthia got excited, "Really? I kinda like her for being like that¡­ You walked up to her, right?"


    I started having minor PTSD, "Yeah¡­ I ''walked'' up to her¡­ sure¡­ I really didn''t mean to..."


    "Uh-oh..." the three simultaneously said but their eyes were twinkling.


    "The sun was already down and the only light source we had was the one in her room. I could easily walk around the ce with my eyes closed so I just walked straight ahead without lighting amp. With that said, I had my Tachi with me as a walking stick but as soon as I slid the door open¡­ Umm¡­ Yeah¡­ I really should''ve knocked..."


    "Oh no..."


    "What happened?!"


    "Is she naked?! She''s naked, right?!"


    I sighed deeply before I continued, "She was definitely fucking naked but she was singing her heart out while dancing at the same time. Those¡­ t-those things were just bouncing around like free-- And let me tell you¡­ those things¡­ Umm-- Forget what I said-- Lemme continue... At the right fucking moment, she just turned around and saw me. We were both stun-locked from seeing each other but I made it fucking worse..."


    "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "Well¡­ she was singing so..."


    "WHAT?! WHAT?! TELL US!"


    "I just said¡­ Hey, nice singing¡­ at least you''re not t anymore¡­"


    They were fucking shocked.


    "I was trying to make a joke, alright?! I just--"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU SAID WHAT?!"


    The three just startedughing as soon as I said that and they were in fucking tears. I was the only one shaking my head but as soon as they were able to talk properly, they asked what happened next.


    "What did you think happened?! I have never seen her so embarrassed, angry, and maybe happy at the same time but the next thing I know, I was flying through the air. It was all a fucking blur but Aoi chased me down with my fucking Tachi for hours and she was still wearing her birthday suit."


    "Oh my god!"


    "What?!"


    "What happened next?! What happened next?!"


    "I was so fucking scared, I started praying to every single god that I could but all of it was for naught. None of them answered my prayers because Aoi just swung down at anything just to catch me even if it''s metal poles, tree trunks, or even rocks. Let me tell you: Old Man Kaiseki''s work could withstand damage far more than run-of-the-mill works but continuous stress could still damage or chip it. When Aoi stopped, my Tachi looked more like a hacksaw than an actual sword."


    Cynthia interjected, "Like Kenpachi''s?"


    I nodded approvingly, "Yeah. Like Kenpachi''s. Anyway, we were both out of breath after that and she just threw my Tachi over some bushes before she started crying. I didn''t notice when she was chasing me but she got filled with small cuts and some of them were still bleeding. Little did I know, the damning image I built for that motherfucker also faded when she was hunting me down. I feared someone new but that ''someone'' is also someone I trust. I dunno how it works but it worked for me, maybe it''s working for Tatiana too."


    The three were faintly smiling but I continued.


    "I tried to treat her wounds but she was still so angry and embarrassed, she kept hitting me when I picked her up. She eventually gave in and let me help her but both of us were just so fucking red, it was so funny thinking about it now. And before you guys say it, yes. We did it that time and it was the first for both of us. I was so fucking overwhelmed I didn''t evenst ten seconds but she didn''t mind. We tried a few more times until we got it right and it was fucking awesome."


    "Aww, I dunno what to say! I really hope she''s here with us! Ah-- What happened next then?"


    "Well, I stayed there until Old Man Kaiseki and the rest came back after a short trip, but I decided to hold onto his works. He did chase me and Aoi down the mountain when he saw the state of my Tachi but he promised to fix it for me or make a new one. After some time, I did tell them about what happened recently and I stayed there for a few months. I eventually said goodbye as I continued my sabbatical but I would drop by them from time to time when I had the chance."


    They were faintly smiling when I concluded the story but the people I left to take care of the medical center just arrived.

 Chapter 629 - Clips RC Cars?

    They came back a few hours earlier than I thought but they looked a little exhausted just from looking at them from my window. They didn''t even exit their vehicles immediately since they just took a short breather before the people below approached them. However, Artem and the rest of his team weren''t present.


    "Let''s head down as well."


    "Okay..."


    I walked away from our spot and we stretched for a bit before we came down, but Rin stayed behind to look after Tatiana who was currently sleeping.


    As we came unto them, Jared cleared his rifle before removing the magazine. That magazine was the only one that had a few bullets remaining because all of the mags on his chest rig were empty. Furthermore, a ton of spent brass casings were on the truck bed and each movement would make them jingle.


    I waved him over, "Something happened? Where''s Artem and--"


    Jared cut me off, "Yeah~ Kinda. Huge herd on the way back led by a dozen ferals but we took care of them from a distance. We didn''t stop midway because another one was about to nk us. No casualties except the bullets we used. Oh, Artem and the rest just picked up Natasha from the crematorium-- Ibarra is with her still."


    "Okay. And the medical center?"


    Jared let out a smile, "What do you think, bro? Cleared and blocked off. What about your side-- err¡­ Tatiana? She okay?"


    I nodded as I shook my head, "Yeah, but she''ll be subbing out for a few weeks up to a couple of months. Clean up and have a snack or something with everyone. We''ll take over, for now, great job."


    "Sure, sure~"


    Everyone that came back was given their much-needed rest while I took over Rin''s job for the moment. Cynthia and Kaley helped me take care of everything that needed to be taken care of like: cing all of the used casings in their right bucket, recording and storing everything we took back properly, replenishing the resources used from the run such as bullets, gas, and etc., and making a report about everything that happened.


    Footage from their bodycams would be retrievedter and Ken would store them for review.


    Speaking of my old friend, he approached me right when I was about to take a seat by the pool area. With that said, I couldn''t help but notice several drones flying in separate directions right when he stopped before me. From the looks of it, they were flying in a pattern and they were moving without someone behind the wheel¡­ or the controller.


    Ken''s eyebrows were going up and down, "I noticed you noticed what just happened."


    I said in a dramatic tone, "Oh god, what have you done?!"


    "Hah? Wut?"


    "The robots are uprising! Didn''t we have enough on our te?! First, zombies, now rob- Ow! My toe!"


    "You fucking idiot, I just made a lot of time for myself! Can''t you see they could fly independently?! Well, it''s limited to the area they could go and the pattern they''re coded in but I did it!"


    I scratched my head, "Can''t we just do that in a day?"


    "Dude! I know that we could-- It''s easy enough to code it once you know what to do but what matters is the conception of the idea! And no, that''s not all it could do. Come with me in my room for a sec."


    Ken didn''t even wait for me to respond as he pushed himself back to his residence.


    ''Well, he did sound excited earlier about this...''


    I just excused myself with the people present and followed right behind him. However, the first thing I noticed in his room was that one of its walls was now d with different screens flickering into different POVs. Half of them were from the drones he released a few moments ago while the other half was for the stationary cameras we ced all around our territory.


    I joked, "Taking peeping to the next level, I see..."


    Ken almost threw a broken hard drive at me, "Heh. Shut the fuck up, dude. Look at this instead. It is easy to make roughly but to perfect it, the timing''s a bitch. I''ve only been working with a few dozen drones and my head''s hurting. It''s easy for the stationary ones though... they just go on and on without issuepared to doing it with the drones."


    "Oh~ Wait a sec... Timing? For what?"


    "Just look at it and see for yourself!"


    Aside from the monitors mounted on the wall, he had his own multiple screen setup that was showing the same thing as the other disys do. However, I just noticed that on the left-most monitor that it was showing footage of the same drone in two windows.


    Well, I thought it was the same footage at first but looking at it for a time revealed that it wasparing what it captured recently to the one before it. And as soon as it was done, it would do the same thing to the footage that the drone would capture after flying through its programmed pattern.


    ''Hmm...''


    What''s happening was as soon as a smidgen of a few pixels were different from each other, it would copy the footage from start to end but if the size would be toorge, it would just add a line of text on a file that contained the timestamps. It was programmed to do the same thing with our stationary cameras but running the program he made on every footage we had at the same time would be impossible.


    The only solution was to put them through in batches and manually review themter.


    Ken''s job made him sit around and just look at screens all day but this thing that he did would almost automate his work if it was polished even more. It was because the program he created would still clip people walking, leaves rustling, vehicles running, and etc., but it was a step in the right direction.


    I nodded approvingly before I chuckled, "It''s like watching porn but fast-forwarding to the parts you''d fap to!"


    Ken red at me but his face twisted before heughed uncontrobly, "WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE?! CAN''T YOU JUST THINK OF A BETTER ANALOGY TO DESCRIBE THIS?! I SPENT A LOT OF TIME MAKING THIS! FUCK!"


    "What? It''s apliment! This would save you a lot of time reviewing things over and over. I can''t believe you didn''t think of doing this sooner."


    "Yeah¡­ I kept using the same system over and over not thinking if I could improve it. Well~ I''ll just be doing different shit in the same room anyway. With this, I could start improving the trackers we ced on those hollowed-out motherfuckers. They disappeared long ago but I think we could make something better. Oh! I have another idea on the back burner too! I''ll need Raphael or Anthony for it but I think it''ll work."


    "What do you have in mind?"


    "For the trackers: aside from cing them on the dead, we could also hook them up in our people and the vehicle they used. In case they got abducted or went AWOL, we''d know where they''d go. Thetter''s quite impossible to happen but we never know, right?"


    "Hmm~ That''s limited by the rys we put in ce. We''d have to find a way to make the actual cell sites work so we''d have arger coverage."


    "Ah¡­ It''s not that easy to do that but that''s not what I think we should focus on. How about we start making a gun turret? You know, a couple in each entrance? It''s better than human guards, right?"


    I almost slipped and fell, "Turrets? Are you fucking serious?"


    Ken answered innocently, "Yeah. We''ll start small."


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "I''m telling you, dude; if we didn''t have zombies, one of the people that would make the robots that would wipe us out will be you¡­ and me."


    "Hah! I guess turrets are a little too much right now. Besides, I think it''d require more engineering."


    "But dude, why don''t we start smaller?"


    "Smaller?"


    "RC Cars. Mount a camera on--"


    "What? That''sme..."


    "Hey. It has longer battery life, quieter in most cases, and almost everyone could easily drive it in tight spacespared to flying a drone. Do you even remember how many you had to repair when you taught other people to fly them in obstacles?"


    "Hmm..."


    "I''m not telling you what to do though. Just put it in a basket and decide on something when you have free time--"


    "Can I arm them?"


    "Wut?"


    "Can I arm them?! You know, a surprise shotgun shell in the foot or even a C4 if you''d give me one would be nice. Some with res or with noisemakers are very easy to do too."


    I chuckled as I nodded, "Sure, figure out--"


    "I''d just scan the frame and print a body where it could hold--"


    "Yeah, yeah. Do that, dude. But I''m not giving you any angry putty. Just make sure it could take the recoil of a shotshell first."


    "Oh¡­ right. That would be an issue. Okay, I''ll think about doing it but I''d like to focus on drones more-- Oh, your elite team is arriving. They just passed by the gate at the back of the DDR Camp. Ah, they''re heading to the--"


    I cut him off, "The hospital. I see the same thing as you, right?"


    "Right..."


    "They''re probably gonna inquire about Tatiana''s situation or they''re gonna have something checked. Before they arrive, let''s think of a bit more projects you could start working on."


    "Sure¡­ I thought I''d be able to have some free time but turns out, I''d need to do more work..."


    "Heh. Just like real life, right?"


    Ken and I discussed a few more things in his room but what we managed to do in the small timeframe we had avable was to help him build another PC that would be able to help carry the load with running his creation. We still have a fuck ton of parts andponents avable and it wasn''t difficult to make something almost simr to what he was currently using.


    With that said, I spent more time cleaning up his room for my sake and for my own sanity because any and all attempts of Rin and his sister to help him stay tidy were for naught. The guy had his own way of ''organizing'' his things and I just needed to clean up a bit while I was there.


    Aside from that, talks of tearing a hole on the opposite wall to give him more room were discussed but we''d need to relocate and convince the inhabitants first.

 Chapter 630 - Slow Day What Do You Think?

    There were still a few more hours before sunset so I decided to squeeze in a bit more work.


    I stepped out of Ken''s residence and went back to the pool area.


    Kaley and Cynthia weren''t in thest ce I left them but I figured they must''ve gone elsewhere or checked on Tatiana and Rin. Besides, I was gone for a while and they couldn''t wait for me while doing nothing.


    With that said, I just nned to organize the brass casings we had collected and tumble them after, but my gold-furred buddy wanted to spend some time with me. It has been a while since we spent time together and he has been the greatest wingman by staying outside at certain times at night, keeping away anyone that wanted to disturb my nightly activities with my roommates, especially when Kaley and I ''made'' some midnight snacks.


    "Okay, Zeus. Follow me!"


    "Woof!"


    Zeus just ran up to me while his little brothers and sisters followed right after. They have grown a bit from thest time I saw them and they were definitely like Zeus when I first drove him home.


    Their cute high-pitched barks were nonstop as they circled around my feet and they just tumbled all over the ce as they followed after me. However, it was funny to see Zeus growl in a low tone when one of his siblings tried to get ahead of him. Well, they could surelymunicate with each other because the little buggers were listening to his orders.


    It didn''t take long before I reached the workshop and Zeus was curiously watching me separate the casings we could still use from the ones we couldn''t.


    ''Who said I couldn''t work and spend time with them at the same time?''


    "Don''t put these on your mouth unless I told you to, okay?"


    "Woof!"


    ''Hmm, can I train him to retrieve different kinds of ammo? Later...''


    It was easy enough to get the ball rolling but once I filled up my tumblers with casings of 9mm, .45 ACPs, 5.56s, and 7.62s, I left them tumbling for a while so I could do something else.


    That was when Ibarra got dropped off at mypound when Artem''s team arrived.


    I waved him off, "Ibarra, did they say anything? How about Natasha?"


    Ibarra replied, "They said they''ll alle here after a bit but Artem wanted to talk to youter¡­ privately. And Natasha¡­ I dunno, honestly. She didn''t say a word at the crematorium even when Artem picked us up."


    I nodded pensively, "Okay, then. Great work. Grab a snack, sleep for a few, or something¡­ I''m just--"


    Ibarra cut me off, "Sir, I¡­ I wanted to ask for a favor..."


    "Hmm? Shoot."


    "Okay¡­ It''s about something peculiar..."


    Ibarra thought for a moment before he opened his mouth but he really did have a peculiar favor. He ryed his request with aplex expression and the only time he looked like this was when he held his sister''s dog tag after his recovery. With that said, I easily granted his request to have a batch of the same smiley patch Kristoff was always wearing on his vest be made for everyone who wanted to wear it.


    Ibarra''s face lit up, "Thanks, sir. It would mean a lot--"


    I cut him off, "You like her don''t you? Natasha, I mean."


    Ibarra''s face contorted for a moment before he started stammering, "Sir, she uh¡­ she kinda reminds me of my sister¡­ Kinda looks a bit like her too..."


    My jaw almost dropped to the floor as I eximed, "That''s even weirder! Okay, okay~ No judgment here¡­ just saying..."


    "Huh? What do you mean-- WAIT! NO! SIR?! THAT''S NOT WHAT I--"


    "I can keep a secret, don''t worry. No harm, no foul. Just be sure to keep away fromundry machines, windows, tables, and etc. Ipletely understa--"


    "FUCK! SIR! I''M NOT AN-- IT''S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!"


    Ibarra tried his best to exin himself but I was already outside and was making Zeus and his siblings chase after me. He tried to run after us at first but I didn''t even have my full gear on me and Zeus was just too excited like his siblings so we left him in the dust.


    I just saw him drooping his head low as he slumped back and I just started cackling as Zeus and the rest ran after me.


    ''I''m not sure I could joke like this with Artem and the restter¡­ I''ll maybe tone it down¡­ughter isn''t always the best medicine...''


    However, I had to slow down after a time because Zeus'' siblings were starting tog behind. I started walking the rest of the way but we did stop by Andrew''s residence so they could have a small water break.


    Since we were already out, I decided to take it slow and walk around the area and talk with the people who bumped with me. Their moods turned for the better after seeing Zeus and the little ones circle around me and we just shared a small conversation before we continued on.


    I just sat by the edge of the canal system watching the water flow in the same direction while Zeus was resting his head on my shoulder. I was rubbing his nose while his siblings were fighting as to who gets to sit on myp but a vehicle approached us from behind.


    Jay called out, "Hey, boss! Taking it slow today? You guys are early!"


    I replied with a solemn expression, "Yeah, something like that..."


    Jay stared at me for a second before he sat down next to me. Bing and Daisy followed right after they put away their things and I eventually told them what happened. Their expressions grew somber as I said more but a look of awkwardness appeared on Jay''s face.


    "Y''know, boss¡­ I''m feeling really awkward right now."


    "Yeah¡­ I could tell by your face. Anything happened on your side?"


    "I should''ve started with this but, umm¡­ Faith''s pregnant! Can you believe it?! WE''RE--"


    My eyes widened in shock before I shook his shoulder, "Oh, shit! Congrats, man!"


    Jay startedughing, "THANKS! THANKS! I know we''re still far before everything''s over but we couldn''t just wait until it is. Who knows when will it be over, right? I got surprised when she told me but I genuinely felt happiness instead of worrying about our child''s future. It''s gonna be different growing in this kind of time but we just need to keep moving forward, right?"


    Bing interjected, "But you were crying as you woke all of us up when she told you the news..."


    Daisy added, "Pfft, I was still groggy when he kept knocking on my door too but I just nodded so I could get some sleep. You were a slobbering mess yesterday!"


    Jay roared, "That was tears of joy! Shaddap, Bing!"


    We all startedughing but I was deep in thought for a moment.


    Bing tried to wave me off, "Boss?"


    I snapped back to reality, "Oh! Right! Have you two gone to the hospital yet? You should talk to an OB so she could get a check-up. Is she taking prenatal vitamins yet? If I remember correctly, she should--"


    Jay cut me off, "Don''t worry, boss. It''s all taken care of, we went first thing this morning. Why are you more worried than I am?! I''m the dad here!"


    I chuckled, "Roight~ Roight~"


    We startedughing once more but I eventually excused myself so they could have a short break as well.


    I went back to the workshop to discover Rin tumbling the second batch of our casings and she told me that Kaley and Cynthia switched with her. With that said, I finally let her do a batch of 9mms just by herself. I didn''t need to worry about it as much because she saw me do it a lot of times and all she needed to do was actually do it.


    She was quite nervous at first because she spent a lot of time making sure that the right amount of gunpowder was used so that any and all problems could be avoided. It was because putting less or putting more were equally dangerous.


    It could either not fire or explode in the user''s face and losing one''s life due to faulty bullets was a bad way to go.


    Rin would look at my expression every time she made a decision or a move but I kept a straight face all throughout her bullet-making process. She just lightly pouted as she red at me but she eventually made her first one.


    "First one! Look! Look! Can you check it?"


    "I dunno, why don''t you check it yourself?"


    "Hmmrgh¡­ it looks~ fine? I think?"


    "You think? Do you wanna say that to the people who would use that?"


    "J-Just tell me if it''s okay or not! I don''t want to--"


    "Trust yourself. What do you think?"

 Chapter 631 - Small Ceremony Lets Fight.

    Rin just stared at the lone bullet she made for a few moments before she ced it on the holders we had on hand. After that, she just started making another one but this time, she spent less timepared to earlier.


    Another bullet was sessfully created and she ced it right next to the one she just finished.


    She continued to make more with less time but she wasn''t skipping any steps. She made sure the same quality was met even with less time and she eventually found her rhythm. She didn''t even look at my face like earlier and I just watched her fill one holder with 50 9mm bullets. After that, she just wore a proud look on her face before she turned to me.


    "Whew! Can you please use them-- No, use them tomorrow! I made them!"


    I smiled faintly as I tried to make her waver, "Are you sure about them now? Did you check everything properly? Don''t forget that I''ll die if something''s wrong. Kaley might also use them?"


    Rin didn''t break eye contact as she stood firm, "Yes, you could test all of them now and they''ll fire every single time!"


    I pushed on even more as I loomed over her, "What if they didn''t?"


    Rin started to lose feeling in her legs as she instantly fidgeted and lostposure, "T-Then, you could do a-anything to m-me¡­ as p-punishment..."


    I instantly chortled, "Jesus, Rin. It''s not even sunset! Couldn''t I do anything I want anyway?"


    Rin''s jaw just dropped before she turned beet-red and covered her mouth, "Y-You! That''s not what I-- You''re changing the-- A-Are you gonna use them or not?!"


    "I will, I will. I trust you. Besides, I would''ve stopped you earlier if you made a mistake."


    "R-Really?! They''re all good?!"


    "Yep."


    I just started smiling before I ruffled her hair and sat her back down. After that, I pulled out my Maxim 9 and its spare mags before I switched the bullets already in it with the ones she just made. With that said, Rin was pleasantly surprised when I actually did that and she arranged the switched bullets by cing them on one of the holders.


    With the time we have left, I helped Rin with making more bullets though I opted for making rifle rounds. I officially gave her my permission to make pistol rounds even if I wasn''t present and it brought a smile to her face.


    Time continued to pass and we gathered at the DDR Camp to give a moment of silence to our fallen brethren first.


    Coming from Artem and his team, Kristoff wasn''t too big on ceremonies and the only thing important to him was to be remembered. With that said, everyone else with a chest rig was now wearing the same patch that he used to wear every single day. More so, anyone who wanted to lit up a cigar in his honor did so and I even lit one with the old man.


    However, the person wearing Kristoff''s original patch was Natasha.


    She looked to be doing okay for the most part but she kept herself at the back of her group, only speaking when spoken to. Ibarra was quite close but the two weren''t even interacting with each other since they were just both sitting in ce. I would''ve liked to pull some strings to act like a drunk cupid but I''d hate to receive a kick from Kaley.


    On a serious note, Marisha and I wanted to speak to Natasha alone but we both thought that she needed more time. It would be best to help her as soon as possible but it would be difficult to help someone forcefully. Marisha''s methods would almost always work though I wanted to try what I did with Tatiana.


    Speaking of her, she was back to her usual self though she wore a solemn expression throughout the small ceremony. She could even walk without anyone supporting her but she would carefully twist her body when speaking to someone who was not in front of her.


    A few words and stories were delivered and some tears were shed but every time we see that patch, we''d be reminded of his sacrifice.


    A short moment passed and we started the meeting.


    Everyone already knew what happened to Kristoff but only a few knew what killed him. Some heard what it looked like from short talks but only the people who fought it could only paint the clearest picture. It was easy to describe what something looked like but it was difficult to tell the feeling when it was right next to you.


    With that said, Its body was stored for transport first thing tomorrow morning but several pictures and videos were avable. Precious footage of what it could do was shown through our body cams and pictures of what was left of it after we were done were also shown.


    It wouldn''t be ideal to bring up something painful after the ceremony but the safety of everyone alive was more important.


    A sense of dread appeared on everyone''s faces and some transparency was needed.


    "Wait, so that thing could take headshots?! How do we--"


    "You aim low as we did. Disable it first before going for the kill. A higher caliber round could do the trick but we''ve only ever encountered one of them. If you ever encounter this kind, don''t even attempt to go toe-to-toe with it if you''re only equipped with a short knife or a dull de. Its body¡­ its body gained some sort of reinforcement when they adhered so close to each other like how ker had tightly knitted fibers to form it but not as much to copy it."


    A person from Woonds raised his hand, "Are you gonna start providing higher caliber rifles?"


    "Have you passed our tests yet? Are you rifle certified?"


    "N-No¡­ N-Not yet¡­ Just shotguns..."


    "So shotguns are avable for you, for now. A 1-ounce slug could already deliver devastating damage but I''d suggest aiming low as I said earlier. You''d need to aim for either its feet or its knees so you''d have an easier time delivering the final blow. I had to send multiple shots to its knee with a 5.56 but a 1-ounce slug would maybe need one or two shots."


    Another person raised his hand, "How about rifles?"


    "For rifles, we''d have to replicate how strong its skull is first before shooting something stronger than a 5.56 or a 7.62... but that''s for aiming for one-hit-kill headshots. As you could see from these pictures, our bullets would''ve prated its skull if we managed to send more bullets in the same ce but doing that over and over needed a high skill floor. But yeah, for each group, there will be one or two carrying a rifle chambered in .308 or even higher tomorrow."


    "R-Really?"


    "Yeah. But expect some changes in members if your group is leaning on one type of weapon. I''m sorry but each group heading the same ce as we did need to be all-rounded unless you start learning something new. Just take note, the groups that are cutting inside unexplored areas with high threat levels will be given priority."


    The first guy who asked a question raised his hand once more, "Excuse me, but¡­ aren''t the guns we usually uncover are from the--"


    "I''m gonna stop you right there."


    "What?"


    "You''re right about the bulk of the guns we''d uncover are from the fallen DDR Camps but they''re mostly M16s, 870s, Glock 17s, or 1911s. Less than 1% of them are chambered in the calibers you want to have and they probably picked them up from random houses wherein I have the full list. Long story short, they''ll being from our stash like most of the guns you are using. I''m not being stingy here but if you''re gonna tell me who I should give my guns to, get rifle certified first."


    "A-Ah¡­ Sorry¡­ I''m just saying¡­ I d-didn''t know¡­ I thought--"


    "No worries, man. Anyway, the groups I''m leading will continue to tackle one hospital after another, hopefully taking down deadheads that might''ve had the chance to turn into one of those things. If there''s a group who could best take them on, it''s us. Doing the same thing we were doing since it started is still the best solution to all our problems. All we need right now is more time while juggling to stay on top of our resource usage and we''ll be good. Now, who''s going next?"


    The next presenter stood in front of the crowd and she gave her report. Everyone listened attentively and it went on and on until thest presenter went up next. However, he went into detail about beautifying certain parts of our base to increase morale and a few other things.


    It was eventually decided to be a group project for our youngsters and some young-at-heart, and they will be allowed to paint or decorate certain walls as long as it wouldn''t affect this ce''s security.


    ''Well, we''re surviving but we need to live too...''


    The meeting was eventually adjourned and people went back to their own ce of residence. Surprisingly enough, Natasha immediately asked to talk with Marisha while Artem went straight for me.


    "Did Ibarra tell you I wanted to talk to you? Privately?"


    I nodded, "We could talk in my roof?"


    "Da. That''s great but..."


    "But?"


    "I need something first."


    "Sure. Anything."


    Artem''s eyes lit up before he exerted pressure, "Let''s fight."


    I chuckled as I matched it with my own, "Don''t think for one second I''ll let you off easy.. It''s been held off for too long."

 Chapter 632 - VS Artem Moments

    They all heard Artem challenge me to a fight and they also heard me ept it.


    For everyone else, it was unanimously decided to forgo their workouts just for this night but it seemed that they would all be going to the gym¡­ only for a different purpose. The people close to us were having trouble breathing but it was due to a mix of excitement and the pressure we were exuding. It was very different from killing intent and more in line with battle intent.


    ''I guess mourning is not his thing.''


    We were at a staredown where he was wearing a serious expression while I was faintly smiling. Excitement filled my body as my blood traveled through my veins at a quickened pace, causing my breathing to get faster and faster and my smile to get wider and wider. In turn, it made Artem let out a faint smile before everyone else rushed to the gym to get front row seats.


    After a short while, Artem and I changed into open-finger gloves and gym shorts, disying our own works of art.


    I was extremely proud of what I aplished and Artem should be proud of himself as well. Our bodies were well-toned and well-proportioned but there was a difference between a body that came from a strict training regiment and a body that was hardened through battle and war.


    It was the second time I saw his body in full disy and his scars would always tell what he put his body through.


    I have a few of my own but most of what I have was in my head. However, we weren''t trying to know who has more scars but who would be thest one standing. Let''s be honest here, no one came for a 3-minute spar.


    For this match, Mikhail was our referee. I wasn''t fucking sure how Bing managed to talk him into putting on a costume but the motherfucker seeded. It didn''t take long before he gave us a brief introduction and then he raised his arm, looking at the two of us.


    "Fighter ready?"


    "Da."


    "Fighter ready?"


    "Yeah."


    Mikhail let out a smirk before he shouted at the top of his lungs, "FIGHT!!!"


    Artem took the first step as he lunged but I let out a deep breath. He was already halfway through the mat but my body flickered forward to aggressively receive him. The motherfucker didn''t even blink when I easily bridged the distance and he threw a right hook aiming for my temple. However, I caught it with my hook from my left, purposefully tangling my arm with him so the flight path would be redirected.


    He missed my head by only a few centimeters but a hidden smirk formed on his lips.


    Our arms were still tangled with each other and I felt him pulling back before his left foot lifted off from the mat. I thought his body would be rigid like most of them but he easily threw a high kick from a difficult position. It dangerously tore through the air and it could definitely knock any normal person with a clean hit.


    I only had a moment to dodge a kick aiming for my other temple so I just stopped resisting with my left arm.


    It would soundplicated but one of the reasons that he could throw a kick like that was he was also using me as support. He was doing that by purposely tangling with my arm, pulling on it so he could have better bnce whilst throwing the kick in question.


    It''s just that by giving up any resistance, I could also do the same thing he was doing.


    Using his own force, I just lifted off from the mat, performing a doumawashi with a reverse spin, sending a downward kick with the full weight of my body.


    Everything happened in an instant but I also missed his head by a few centimeters. He saw iting and managed to react in time by simply tilting his head sideways and taking the whole brunt with his shoulder. I felt some good resistance but hitting a non-vital part wouldn''t be enough to knock someone sturdy like Artem.


    He just cracked his neck and spun his shoulder as I quickly recovered but as soon as I did, he immediately closed the distance before trying to grab the back of my head.


    ''This motherfucker...''


    A knee was alreadying for my chin even before he managed to hold me down so I went a step faster as I sent an upward kick in the tightest space avable. I made it happen by driving my knee up while it was still folded, only extending it fully when I brought it as far up as I could. It all happened in one swift motion and I finally connected with a counter.


    Artem''s head blew backward as he took a step back but he forced his attack by doing the same thing I did. He extended his knee at thest second, sending a nasty frontal kick straight at my abdomen. We were both hit almost simultaneously and the crowd just drew their first breath.


    I stepped back a fraction of a second after him but neither of us took a short breather.


    We stepped forward at the same time and we both threw right hooks also at the same fucking time. Both punches connected but I actually received his punch by throwing my head in the direction it would eventually fly to. It still fucking hurt since I missed the timing by a fraction of a fraction of a second because his fist flew at a different speedpared to his opening hook.


    ''So that''s how it is¡­ different kind of dirty-- no, it''s fucking genius!''


    A smirk formed on the side of my lips before he sent a left elbow horizontally, and it nicked my cheek even if I tilted my head back. It actually made a small cut and it drew blood, making a few drops stain the mat. I was lucky he didn''t nick my eye because losing half of my vision in a close-quarters fight was dangerous.


    Feeling the sting on the side of my cheek, my head kicked up a gear.


    I let out another exhale before I jumped back and Artem followed after me. He started throwing me a barrage of punches, specifically aiming for my head, but I caught each one and redirected them with an open palm. My eyes were seeing each path his fists would fly to, and catching them with my hands was definitely much better, and much safer, than catching them with my face.


    There was a difference between a hard puncher and a solid puncher but Artem was both. Furthermore, his battle sense was on a different level than most people I''ve sparred with.


    My hands were moving nonstop as I kept him at bay but it didn''t take long before Artem did the same thing differently.


    He pushed on with the same pattern of his barrage but something was fucking amiss. I was steadily holding down the fort but my rhythm was slowly falling apart.


    I started to miss the timing for a few punches, making me dodge at thest second maybe because he was also kicking it up a notch. However, as soon as I started to get used to the same rhythm, he''d change it up again not only by going faster but by also going slower. Each difference in speed was only in different fractions of a second but it would be hard to rely on eyesight alone.


    As it got more random and random, I also had to rely on my instinct.


    If only it was that easy.


    I was great at thinking of solutions to problems but it never urred to me I had to do it while avoiding punches that could knock me out in one hit. I was slowly getting overwhelmed as I kept stepping back and it was all I could do while thinking hard at the same time. I was getting backed into a corner and it was not looking good. I was still on the defensive and one misstep would cause me the match.


    A lot of things went through my head and I just noticed Artem hadn''t let up in close to three minutes.


    Some people could hold their breath for longer but not when doing something strenuous. However, I still don''t know Artem''s limit but if he couldst for more than three minutes while doing something that required extreme exertion, I had to find other ways to turn it around. Tatiana and the rest always said that Ilya was their best fighter but I was starting to doubt their words.


    My first thought was to wait him out until he catches his breath and start my counter but I was running out of space. I could hold on for 30 more seconds but I wasn''t sure I would be able to hold on for long. I would start taking hits in the process and banking it on a single moment wasn''t ideal.


    The second one was to start a fucking mud fight and do it as he did with Morales but I would definitely be in the losing end. Artem was a weight ss above me and I had to lean on using speed and techniquepared to using raw power. I''ve won against people bigger than me but my opponent right now was like a boss I was scripted to lose to.


    Thest thought I had was to find weakness from his strength.


    ''What if he''s-- Oh. He''s just--''


    I almost let out a chuckle as his fist brushed against my face but I jumped back, using the wall behind me as a vertical springboard before I spun and sent a kick that sliced through the air. Kicking against the wall added with my full weight would be enough force to knock a normal person but it would be difficult for a person who knew how to take a hit.


    Artem already had strong defensive capabilities but imagine what he could do if he knew a few tricks to keep himself unscathed even more.


    I had my ways to do it but he definitely had some ways to do it too.


    With that said, I found out about one of them.


    I was still in mid-air as my kick whizzed past his head but that was on purpose. He was confused for a short moment because he knew it was already toote to dodge and he was just about to receive it but he was toote for what was about toe after seeing a violent kick miss him.


    The ''receiving'' moment had passed and his body subconsciously rxed.


    ''Gotcha.''

 Chapter 633 - The Reaper

    I created an opening for myself and I''m sure as hell I''m gonna take it.


    While my body was turning sideways in mid-air, I used the momentum brought upon the first kick to twist my body at an angle, delivering a left heel to his jaw. I performed the same doumawashi I did earlier but this time, it came in a difficult angle and a lot of setups were made beforehand.


    ''HIT! HIT! HIT!''


    Artem was still in a momentary daze before his head jolted with his whole body, and I felt a different sensation when I connectedpared to earlier. All my hits had some good sounds and had some good resistance earlier but this one hit actually felt ''natural''. I couldn''t put it into words clearly but it felt like my earlier hits weren''t actually ''clean'' hits.


    I was being made to think and feel that I was actually doing enough damage.


    ''I gotta learn them...''


    With that said, both of us fell on the mat but Artem already lost consciousness.


    The whole crowd was silent for a short moment but they just erupted once I got up. I let out a faint smile as they cheered for me but I gotta take care of my sparring partner. I was just about to wake him up but Katya already had the small bottle in her hand, and she crouched down to make Artem get a whiff of it.


    Almost immediately, Artem sprang up and knocked Katya over.


    They were ced in a rather interesting position because he was right on top of Katya while Katya was right below him, beet-red and surprised. The bottle she let Artem take a whiff of was now spilling on the mat and everyone''s eyes were on them. However, the two were just staring at each other''s eyes and Artem just made sense of his current situation.


    Mikhail chortled, "Artem, I think you''re pinning down the wrong opponent. Am I right or you wanna tackle someone different? Hmm?"


    Artem looked around before he muttered, "I lost, eh? I--"


    Katya cut him off, "G-GET OFF ME! YOU''RE TOO S-SWEATY! WHAT ARE YOU--"


    Artem turned to Katya and he smiled faintly, "You took care of me again, eh?"


    Katya looked away, "S-So what?! It''s n-not like I wanted to do it or anything..."


    Artem chuckled, "Okay, I''m gonna kiss you now. Get ready."


    Katya got even redder, "G-Get ready?! W-What are you--"


    It only took a second before Artem lowered his head and gave Katya a kiss, and the whole gym erupted for the second time.


    Katya tried to get away from Artem at first but after a few more moments, she just wrapped her arms around him before she returned the kiss with fervor. We almost had to vacate the whole gym since we had a few kids that were watching but Artem eventually got off Katya''s body while Katya was just left in a daze and longing for more.


    However, as soon as Katya got up her feet, Artem lifted her up and carried her like a sack of potatoes before going for the door. It''s just that he turned around to look for me with a serene expression.


    "Nyebo-- You, we''ll talk tomorrow."


    I gave him a thumbs-up and an OK sign using each hand, "Sure. Take your time, heh."


    "Hmm! Da, I will! Let''s fight again tomorrow though, this was fun!"


    Katya just snapped back to reality, "WHY ARE YOU-- WHERE ARE WE GOING?! EVERYONE''S LOOKING AT US!"


    Artem startedughing as he said with a much thicker ent, "Hah! We''ll be going to our house and I''ll get on top of you again but naked. Sounds good?"


    Katya tried to cover her face, "WHA-- D-DON''T SAY IT OUT LOUD! P-PUT ME DOWN!"


    "Don''t worry. You''re heavy but I''m strong. See? No effort at all. I''ll put you down when we get home."


    "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!"


    "Stop yelling, stop yelling. My ears are still ringing, okay? But you''ll do more of thatter."


    "WHA- ARGH! ARTEM~!"


    We all watched the two disappear from view but everyone else, especially Artem''s squad, were looking like their dreams finally came true. They didn''t even try to follow after the two and drag me alongside them likest time, and Mikhail and Bogdan looked like they were about to cry from sheer happiness.


    I just smiled before I let out another breath and I sat down next to Kaley who was jokingly pping as I approached them.


    "Great job!" Cynthia congratted me.


    "Thanks! I just got lucky."


    Kaley shook her head, "Really~? That didn''t look like luck to me."


    I chuckled, "Anyway, I think I''m done for today. I''ll head down first if you guys want to stick around. Just keep Tatiana out of each and every machine here and you''re good."


    Tatiana interjected, "What?! Can''t I just jog for a bit?"


    Rin loomed over her, "Doctor''s orders! You''re not allowed to exert yourself, right?"


    Tatiana drooped her head low, "Fine. I''ll just go down with him then! We''ll just have some GFE shit while you guys--"


    I cut her off, "GFE-what? Where are you learning these things? I said I''m done for today, right? I''ll just take a shower and fix up a new gun for Kaleyter."


    Kaley''s eyes lit up, "A new one? Are you sure?"


    I nodded, "Have you heard of the Reaper?"


    Cynthia interjected, "The Reaper? What is it like?! Does ite with a sickle-like bay?! That sounds cool!"


    I chuckled, "Hah! That would be too unwieldy. But anyway, it''s actually a REPR, spelled as R-E-P-R, but we just pronounce it as ''reaper''. It''s an AR-style rifle from LWRC as well, specifically called a REPR MKII. The main difference is it''s chambered in 7.62s instead of 5.56s and-- Oh, I meant 7.62s by 7.62x51mm, not 7.62x39mm."


    Kaley faintly smiled, "So¡­ a .308? I guess I''ll be back to what I''m used to."


    "Yeah, but-- there''s still a bit of difference, right? But yeah, you''re taking things from your first gun with your most recent. Still kinda like your AR-15 but with bigger bullets."


    Kaley got excited, "Can you show it to me right now?"


    "Sure. You''re not gonna work out then? I still have to shower and I''ll probably soak for 30 minutes or so."


    Kaley pondered for a bit, "Hmm~ Okay, I''ll just see you in a bit. We''ll just--"


    Tatiana interjected, "A soak sounds nice. I guess I''ll join--"


    Kaley held Tatiana down, "You''re staying here."


    "Doctor''s orders! I shouldn''t--"


    "You''re still my trainer!"


    "I can''t even twist my body sideways! How am I supposed to--"


    "You can move your mouth! Just train us for a bit!"


    "Fine¡­ You''ll wish you should''ve taken the night off."


    "Uh-oh..." the three muttered simultaneously.


    Even if Tatiana was injured, she managed to put the three in a hellish training regimen while I sneakily slinked away with all my marbles.


    I really did just take a hot shower and a long soak before I got dressed and pulled out the Reaper that still needed to be assembled from my armory. However, I pulled out a second box which contained a 20-inch carbon fiber barrel made for the Reaper as well. It was coated with ck nitride and it was definitely lighter than the original. Furthermore, I pulled out the same optics Kaley was using as well as the foregrip, shlight,ser, straps, and etc.


    I easily switched the existing barrel with the new one but I also stashed the free muzzle brake it came with since I''ll be adding in a premium suppressor. With that said, I brought out the rest of my tools as I assembled the rifle piece by piece. I put it together based on the specifications of Kaley''s 5.56 rifle but there were still some distinct differences even if they were both made by LWRC.


    One of them was the carbon fiber barrel I just put in but aside from that, the upper receiver with the integrated rail system, the pistol grip, therger trigger guard, the PRS stock for the 20-inch models, and etc. was almost enough to make me use the same thing.


    A smile was stered on my face after I was done but I began thinking to myself.


    ''Jared will lose his mind when he sees-- Well, not really¡­ this is more expensive but he''s biased to SCARs¡­ Okay, Kaley and Jared are using .308s, Ibarra and I are using 5.56s, Tatiana''s in between 12 gauges and 7.62x39mms, and Mikhail''s using a 7.62x54mmR. With pistols, almost all of us are using 9mms but Kaley and I are also using .22 LRs and Tatiana''s using 5.7s-- Fuck, I''d have to rece Tatiana''s Benelli M4¡­ But that could wait¡­ the question now is who should take her ce?''


    I started having trouble thinking of a suitable recement because truth be told, no one could rece her. I could pull someone from Artem''s team but I decided against that because, in a sense, Natasha would probably take a short break as well.


    Technically, Artem lost two people in his main squad and he''d also need to get recements. He still had a few people staying behind ourpound but some of them were already stolen by Oscar.


    Vera would be a good choice for me but I need her expertise withmunications.


    ''Hmm~ What to do, what to do...''


    While I was evaluating options, I just picked up a few 25-round mags for Kaley''s new rifle and I loaded all of them with a speedloader.

 Chapter 634 - Cut Short Its Done.

    I easily loaded all of the magazines but at the same time I finished, my door just opened and Kaley came with a face towel draped on her shoulders. She looked a bit exhausted from what Tatiana put them through but she instantly gave me a smile when we locked eyes.


    Kaley jauntily approached me, "Hey! Sorry, I took too long! I''m so~ sweaty from--"


    I smiled before I cut her off, "Nah, you''re just right on time. Check it out!"


    "Is that the-- Wow~! Can I?"


    "Sure. For as long as you want."


    Kaley wanted to get her hands on the Reaper so bad but she grabbed the towel from her shoulders first and wiped herself all over. Furthermore, when she noticed that her top was just too wet, she took them off and she was left only wearing her sports bra and the rest of her outfit.


    She started wiping her sweat again while I was looking at her with an amused expression.


    I finally waved her off, "Kaley! It''s just sweat! And you don''t even smell bad!"


    "S-Shut up! Can''t you see it''s new! D-Doofus..." Kaley red at me while pouting, leaving some air on one side of her cheeks.


    "Just lift it up!"


    "Hngh~ I don''t want to dirty--"


    Cynthia just knocked a few times from behind our door, "Kaley? Are youing? Rin''s already in the shower! Oh! Hi~! Wanna join us? Tatiana''s just wrapping her arm and she''ll be there too?"


    I just let out a smile before I shook my head slightly, "I would love that but~ you know, I already gone earlier."


    "Oh¡­ Okay! Kaley already said she wanted you for herselfter so I thought--"


    Kaley suddenly rushed for the door, "Cynthia! Stop bbering about--"


    ''Ah...''


    "But you said--"


    "It doesn''t matter what I said! Just-- Just go on ahead! I''ll just grab a towel!" Kaley eximed before pushing Cynthia away and then looking at me embarrassedly.


    I instantly joked, "You know I''m tired, right?"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Tired my ass! Oh-- Right! I''ll just take a closer lookter! I''m really sorry and sweaty so-- Bye! I''ll make it up to youter! It''s a surprise! Don''t fall asleep!"


    "Sure..."


    Kaley hurriedly pulled out a towel from our cab before she ran outside and closed the door. With that said, I was pretty excited about the ''surprise'' she was talking about. I kinda knew what we''d end up doing but even if we almost always do it every single night, we''d always look forward to it like it''s the first time since forever.


    I just turned off the lights and went under our covers.


    Time continued to pass and it seemed like Kaley was taking her sweet time. I swore I could''ve finished an episode or two of my favorite shows and Kaley still wasn''ting through the door. With that said, being infortables clothes, feeling the cold breeze, andying on the bed with the lights off started to make me drowsy.


    I lost control of my body and I suddenly fell asleep.


    Time passed for an unknown number of minutes or hours and I just suddenly woke up feeling like I just dozed off for a few seconds. I looked to my side and noticed that Kaley wasn''t next to me but something really~ interesting was happening from under our covers.


    ''Wait a sec¡­ Am I being-- Fuck...''


    I noticed everything toote and I just let out a sharp exhale when something warm just coiled around ''me''. At the same time, I felt soft lips right at the base for one moment but it would slide to the tip, and back to the base once more. The same motion was being performed over and over and I couldn''t help but lift the covers.


    Once I saw the figure, I was 100% sure that it was who I thought it was but I was stunned when she made eye contact.


    ''Aoi...''


    She just nced at me momentarily but I started cumming right then and there. My body just trembled all over but the person below me didn''t stop what she was doing. She kept going on and on while swallowing everything I let out, licking off what she missed when I suddenly exploded.


    After that, she licked her lips before letting out a cheeky smile, "I told you to not fall asleep! Surprise~!"


    "K-Kaley?! I thought you were--"


    Kaley''s smile grew even wider, "You thought I was Aoi, didn''t you? Hmph! I just wore these contacts and you couldn''t tell us apart! My nipples aren''t even inverted but they''re you know¡­ puffy and hard--"


    I immediately turned her over and I went on top of her. However, I was wearing a solemn expression with a look of concern.


    "Kaley¡­ You know I love you, right?"


    Kaley looked confused as she stared at me, "Wait¡­ W-What''s wrong? Didn''t you like--"


    I sighed, "I... sure, but-- You don''t have to-- Ow! Kaley?! What was that?! I was just about to tell you that--"


    Kaley shook her head before she let out a smile, "About to tell me what? I don''t have to dress up-- Well, wearing contacts isn''t exactly dressing up but¡­ I really got jealous from the way you talked about her earlier and it really seemed like you miss her so¡­ I just thought I''d see your reaction when-- I guess we already knew, huh?"


    I stammered, "I-I-I¡­ I d-don''t know what t-to say right now¡­ My¡­ I can''t even think straight--"


    After what Kaley just said, my mind just became in shambles and I lost my mood. I didn''t know what to feel after what we just did and exchanged right after, I just got off her andid on my back. I was staring right at the ceiling and I wasn''t speaking a word.


    Kaley got surprised at what I just did and she sat upright, facing me, "Hey¡­ Hey! It''s just-- I''m sorry¡­ I went too far¡­ I didn''t think it through and I just dressed up looking like someone you wanted to see right now¡­ I''m¡­ I''m gonna go sleep in the vacant room if--"


    "No¡­ wait. Stay. I''m sorry¡­ I¡­ I think I overreact--"


    Kaley suddenly went on top of me and her eyes were watery, "N-No! You didn''t overreact! It''s perfectly justified, okay? Please, j-just be mad at me. What I did is really in bad taste... I just treated your rtionship with Aoi as a joke and I''m still making it about me¡­ I¡­ I thought I could handle it but¡­ but..."


    Tears slowly fell on her cheeks before she wrapped her arms around me.


    As soon as that happened, I got angry at myself because I made her cry once more. I swore I wouldn''t let that happen again but I just did it once more by talking too highly about someone I used to see who wasn''t even here. However, the whole situation was just tooplicated to be put into words, and even if both sides or only one side was at fault, we shouldn''t make that the thing that would keep us apart.


    I held her tight as I said softly, "Hey¡­ you didn''t do anything wrong, okay? To be fair, even if you did, I fucked up too."


    "..."


    "I just had a hard time processing everything that happened. I wasn''t even mad that you dressed up like her..."


    "Lies..."


    "Did I really?"


    "..."


    "I didn''t, right? But~ I''m mad about two things¡­ maybe three..."


    "..."


    "First, I''m mad because all this time, you still don''t see yourself as I see you. Sure, sometimes you''d dress up as a few fantasy characters I''m very fond of but you don''t have to dress up like Aoi for me to like you, okay?"


    "Still..."


    "Fine, it really was in bad taste but the thoughts in my head, while it was happening, weren''t that great either¡­ That was the second thing I''m mad for¡­ If I didn''t stop myself, I would be fucking you while thinking of her¡­ There''s a difference because I''d still think of you while you''re in a costume but this is¡­ really different¡­ Add to that I just woke up and I wasn''t sure what was actually happening..."


    "Do¡­ Do you still have feelings for her? If by some chance-- No¡­ What would you do if they get here? Or if we get over there?"


    "I''m with you, remember?"


    "Hngh¡­ That''s not what I''m saying¡­ I''m saying--"


    "Do you really want me to be honest?"


    "..."


    "Kaley..."


    "Y-Yes..."


    "I do. I''ll always have feelings for her¡­ It''s just that..."


    "Just what?"


    "I was saving it for your birthday..."


    "W-Wait¡­ You''re s-saving what?"


    "It''s done."


    "What''s done? That Reaper? I--"


    "You idiot, I wasn''t even done writing what I wanted to say when I wanted to do it. Get off of me for a bit, I''ll take it out..."


    "W-Wait... What are you--"


    Kaley''s face was a mess when I sat her by the edge of the bed, and she looked so lost when I took out a small box from one of my safes. With that said, once realization struck, Kaley just started crying even more when I knelt in front of her, opening that small box with the finished ring inside.


    It was made with the diamond I madest time ced on a tinum band with intricate carvings.


    I let out a smile before tears starteding out of me as well, "Kaley¡­ u-umm... insert super moving and tear-jerking speech right here¡­ Ow! Stop! If you waited a while, it would''ve been perfect! You just had to make me pull this out! Do you know how many times I sneaked away to make this?! I''m running an OPmunity here, geez!"


    Kaley was crying andughing at the same time, "You doof¡­ You''re so stupid, you doofus! Just say something made up or whatever!"


    I wiped the tears off her face, "Okay, okay. Oh! How about this? Kaley, I could promise to hold you and cherish you. I could promise to be in sickness and in health. I could say til death do us-- Ow! What gives?!"


    "That''s from Grey''s Anatomy!"


    "But you love that show!"


    "Hngh~! I really do but-- Just think of something else!"


    "We''re taking too long! Let''s keep to the best part. Kaley, will you m--"


    I didn''t even manage to finish popping the question when she went down on the same level as me and hugged me tight. Both of us were cryingughing nonstop and we felt like idiots. Couples fight but it''s stupid to continue fighting when everything wasid on the table, no matter howplicated everything was.


    If you wanted it to work, you make it work.


    Once I slipped the ring on her finger, it was a perfect fit and Kaley never looked so happy.


    We started kissing each other but I''m sure as hell we wouldn''t end it with that.

 Chapter 635 - Alone Together Second Wind

    Kaley and I couldn''t keep our hands off each other but I eventually lifted her up before I threw her on the bed. She was already naked when we came upon each other though she only removed what was needed to give me that special service earlier. With that said, I quickly removed my top as I watched her lust over my body but I was doing the same with hers.


    However, right as I went on top of her to give her another kiss, she stopped me.


    "Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Don''t you want me to remove these contacts first--"


    Kaley looked at me with her piercing blue eyes due to her contacts but I just smiled warmly as I shook my head. I gave her a short kiss before I looked into her eyes once more.


    "That''s my bad. I promise to only think of you whichever colored contacts you wear¡­ I love you, Kaley..."


    "Oh my-- I love you too-- Hmmgh! Ah! Haa¡­ Haaa..."


    I went for her lips again but as she wrapped her arms around me, I moved over to her cheeks, her ears, and then her neck before I ced my left hand over her ample bosom. I was caressing them ever so softly but she couldn''t help but moan and even gasp and twitch whenever my fingers would brush or pinch her pink nipples.


    With that said, Kaley pulled me towards her lips so she could kiss me once more but she was just so ovee with emotion, she started shaking and twitching before she broke our kiss and let out hurried gasps.


    I was surprised as I let out a smile but Kaley never looked so embarrassed.


    Kaley muttered as her face was beet-red, "W-Why are you l-looking at me l-like that?"


    "Did you really?"


    "I¡­ I did t-that before¡­ Why are you e-even surprised?!"


    "Then you could do that again..."


    "Wai-- Can''t you put it in al--"


    Kaley was still out of breath but I just sealed her lips with mine before our tongues interlocked and tasted each other. I kissed her more intensely than before and my whole body was just pressing on her as I held her hands and interlocked our fingers with each other. She was trying to resist and give in at the same time and it didn''t take long before she had another release.


    I stopped kissing her and just watched her tremble in ce but I made her look at me straight in the eye while she was having an orgasm.


    Her eyes rolled over a few times as she shook while the contractions continued, and I enjoyed every second of it. With that said, Kaley was starting to get a little impatient with her lower body because she was trying to move her hips towards me, getting every little bit of contact going on as much as possible.


    "Haa¡­ Mmn¡­ P-Please¡­ I--"


    "Just one more..."


    "O-One more? I think--"


    "Not this¡­ this..."


    Kaley wasn''t even able to reply back when my kiss skipped several parts of her body and went straight for her other lips. As soon as I grabbed her legs and tasted her sweet nectar, Kaley''s back just arched before she tried to mp my head with her thick thighs. However, I kept her legs in ce as I parted her fat innie with my tongue and licked her clit at the same time.


    "AH! AH! YOU''RE EATING MY-- YOU''RE EATING MY-- AHN! YES! YES! THAT''S THE- AH! AH!"


    Her pussy was just so fucking wet even before I started eating her, and all she could do right now was squirm and grab on my clumps hair. She was pushing me even deeper at some point but it didn''t take long before she started squirting all over me.


    Kaley''s moans got louder and louder but she lost it when I pushed a finger up her butt while I was eating her.


    "Haa¡­ Haa¡­ More¡­ More! More!"


    "As you wish..."


    Kaley grabbed my left hand and ced it between her breasts before I tried to fit three fingers inside her little asshole. I was still eating the fuck out of her pussy and Kaley already had several orgasms.


    Our side of the bed was drenched with her juices but I still wasn''t done with her.


    Kaley wasying on her back and she was trembling all over, but her legs were spread apart, waiting for me to take her with my cock. Her eyes were also telling me to fuck the living shit out of her and she''d nce at my raging boner while trying to control her breath.


    No words were needed to be exchanged as I went on top of her and just pushed it inch by inch. I almost came when I reached her deepest parts and I didn''t move right then and there. We were just looking at each other''s eyes, enjoying every moment we were spending together.


    With that said, Kaley pulled me closer to give me a kiss and she wrapped her arms and her legs around me so I could start moving.


    As soon as I started did, Kaley''s nails dug onto my back and she bit my lip, almost drawing blood. It just fueled me even more as I stretched her insides, shoving my fat dick inside of her over and over. Even if she was already fucking wet, I still had to push and pull with force because her walls were just gripping me so tightly.


    "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Hngh~! Mmh! Don''t stop! You''re hitting my-- You''re hitting my-- Ah! Right there! Right there! Right there!"


    I didn''t even try to hold out for as much as I could since I just exploded in less than a minute. However, I didn''t stop fucking her little hole over and over even with the toe-curling sensitivity. I made her walls take the shape of my dick as I almost fucked her IUD off of her. At some point in time, I identally pulled too far and entered the other hole but Kaley just held me tighter.


    Her ass was just as tight, if not, even tighter but I just forced my way inside over and over.


    Kaley kept calling out my name as I went deeper and deeper and I started groping her huge tits while I was fucking her ass. However, my hands weren''t enough because I just had to squish her breasts together so I could try licking her nipples at the same time. As soon as I started biting one of them, Kaley just pushed me between her tits as I fucked her over and over.


    It didn''t take long before I came another time and Kaley followed right after.


    However, before I started moving again, Kaley managed to turn me over and pin me down.


    She was out of breath but she was smiling at me, "Stop. It''s my turn now..."


    I was still inside her ass but Kaley leaned back before she started riding me. At the same time, her fingers started going in and out of her pussy while her huge tits were just jiggling all over. She was squat-riding at one point but once she was partly kneeling as she eventually sat upright, she just grinded on top of me while putting her arms at the back of her head.


    Her perfect body was just on disy and I won''t even apologize if I came right then and there.


    Kaley doing that was an open invitation to grope her tits as much as I could and I would be a fucking idiot if I didn''t do that. She leaned even closer so I could also suck on them but she continued to move her hips over and over.


    We went on for hours and I couldn''t even remember how much we came. We ended it while I was on top once more and I just copsed on her body, exhausted but extremely satisfied. My full weight was pressing against her but Kaley didn''t mind and she even brushed my hair by using her fingers.


    I eventually got to her side and she used my arm as a pillow before we shared another kiss.


    We were just looking at each other with a faint smile then I kissed her on her forehead.


    We didn''t even exchange words for a while because taking in and enjoying the moment together was enough for both of us. With that said, Kaley extended her hand where her ring was and she stared at it for a bit before she gave me another peck on the cheek. She then hugged me as she snuggled closer, cing her head over my chest.


    I eventually broke the silence, "Do you like it?"


    "Of course, I do! It''s so pretty--"


    I joked, "I''m talking about the sex-- Ow! Kidding! Kidding!"


    Kaley instantly pinched me, "You doofus¡­ Well¡­ I love that too¡­ You''re really great at it..."


    "It''s a two-person job and we like what each other does so¡­ perfect match, don''t you think?"


    "I still haven''t pegged you though-- Ow! That hurt!"


    "That. Except that. You never give up, do you?"


    "B-But you promised you''d think about it¡­ You might like it too¡­ you never know..."


    "Yeah, I''ll tHiNk about it..."


    "Why''d you say it like that?! You have till my birthday to think about it¡­ Don''t worry, I''ll make you reallyfortable and I promise you''ll enjoy it!"


    "I''ll¡­ I''ll think about it some more..."


    "You should! Right, I need to make one for you too! It''s not fair I only have it, right?"


    "The ring? Right, I forgot about that..."


    "Is it okay if I asked for help?"


    "I asked for help, remember?"


    "Ah-- Right, right¡­ I''ll make it special though! I''ll try to-- You know what, it''s gonna be a surprise! You''ll love it! Then we''ll have sex right after too! Hahahaha!!!"


    I chuckled, "It would be better if we didn''t fight beforehand!"


    Kaley groaned as she buried herself on my chest even more, "Hngh~ Don''t even try to jinx it! Make-up sex isn''t so bad¡­ My legs are still numb, you know!"


    "Does that really happen after sex?"


    "Sometimes, yes¡­ when we go a bit wild..."


    "Oh¡­ Wanna go again? I like to propose an experiment..."


    "Pfft! Wai-- You''re serious? Hmm~ Can you? Wai-- I''m still numb from--"


    I didn''t know where I found a second wind but I managed to squeeze out a couple more before Kaley and I immediately fell asleep when we finished right after. We haven''t slept as great as we did in a while though we went for a bit more once we woke up.


    Time went on for a while and a week passed by in a blink of an eye.

 Chapter 636 - Weird Trade, Not Gonna Lie...

    For the past week, our group focused on clearing out the northern side of the City of Man and the southeastern side of the City of Mbon. Our groups had been to this ce a few times already but the roads keep getting refilled with the dead stragglers managing to find their way in these areas. It would take more jobs to keep the ce clear but they were also a sign that we still had a lot more to take care of.


    My temporary recement for Tatiana was Cynthia while Artem only borrowed a soldier from our DDR Camp for experience''s sake. It was because Natasha was ready the following day and she was doing much better. Furthermore, Oscar kept bringing the excess of Artem''s team with him to do missions of their own.


    The only difference was that Kaley was now filling the role of Tatiana while Cynthia was filling hers. She was now the one clearing the rooms with us while Cynthia was posted right next to Jared. The Reaper on her hands was as imposing as ever and that was something we would rely on if ever we needed more fire in firepower since Cynthia was still equipped with a PS90 and her takedown AR.


    Aside from Kaley getting the Reaper, I upped some of the guns Artem''s group and everyone else was using. It took a bit of time adjusting to their new loadout but a threat of a hulker appearing once more was on everyone''s mind. However, not a single one appeared after thest time and they just managed to get more practice with living err-- moving targets.


    We started with thinning out the dead from the outskirts then eventually moving into the thicker parts of the city.


    Artem and I led our crew while still holding our handhelds but speaking of them, Artem would soon get something crafted by our engineering department. They all talked some big game about something that could kill a hulker in one blow but I would need to see it first before I believe it.


    With that said, we brought home arge trove of medical supplies and equipment, sharing a portion of them with Iskoh, Morales, and Mauricio, and receiving something of an almost exact value. We also acquired food, gas, weaponry, and etc. but we leaned to clearing the other hospitals around the medical center fromst time.


    From Iskoh and Morales'' side, we received their specialties of aquatic nature while I received the exact opposite from Mauricio.


    Rice was just a staple in our country and we secured more sacks not only from the Intercity but the surrounding ces where Mauricio had his ownwork of people to trade with. I''ve met with them a few times and they have ess to something we didn''t have much of.


    Farnd.


    Sure, we almost got three cities to our belt but we didn''t have enough ces to put uprger farms to nt more produce because of fucking concrete and paved roads. Furthermore, open spaces would be better for farm animals as well. We had small gardens, greenhouses, barns, coops, and etc. built around our area but nothing could beat a few hectares ofnd that''s just waiting to be cultivated or grazed upon.


    We had seeds and animals to spare so why note up with a fair arrangement?


    Mauricio set up a meeting with them and even Iskoh came with us.


    It actually came out smoother than expected because, from experience, it would always take too long if greedy merchants wanted a slightly bigger cut than everybody. It was just that my group supported by Iskoh, Morales, Mauricio, and even Jessica was enough pressure to make everyone else that had amunity on a smaller scale buckle.


    From what I''ve heardst, her group managed to take out the leaders of a group that was giving them pressure from the north, making their people join her in the process. It used to be just a battle of attrition but they took the offensive at the right moment. The soldiers and the equipment we sent them helped immensely and it was decided we''d send more to solidify her hold on the airport and the golf resort which was now their main HQ.


    A visit to their ce was also discussed and we would do so in another week or so.


    Taking it back, we could''ve gone the tyrannical route with the negotiations but we still kept ourselves in check, making sure that everybody wouldn''t be shortchanged.


    We had the advantage but we used it to build stronger connections. There''s a difference between leading with fearpared to what we were trying to do. Besides, following an example of a certain barb-wired bat-wielding antagonist was not our style. Violence was our go-to option for taking care of the dead but it was ast resort for dealing with people just trying to survive.


    What''s decided in the end was a fair cut with everyone involved where the farmers and ranchers would utilize the resources given to them while our groups would send in security and offer medical help. It''s not like every condition or illness disappeared when the zombie apocalypse happened so people with medical needs still needed to be served.


    In some twisted way, ever since the end of times started, some of the medical professionals we had actually practiced or focused on medicine for once.


    For example, the hospital in our own DDR Camp was actually a private one and only people with deep pockets could afford the health care. People who were less fortunate only had the luxury to go to free clinics where it was heavily understaffed orcking resources to actually help people.


    But now, even if our resources were finite and strictly regted, it goes to anyone who actually needed it as long as it was avable. Furthermore, our medical staff were not concerned about getting fat stacks of cash anymore since they''d work tirelessly to give a correct diagnosis to a patient before doing what was needed to be done, be it a simple prescription of medicine or performing aplicated surgery.


    Granted a few of them still operated on the premise of getting special favors over doing something they could only do but it was much better than what it used to be.


    They''d actually do something first then ask for somethingter, or even ask for nothing at all.


    Speaking of doing nothing, there was a certain someone that actually listened to us after a while and was improving day by day.


    Tatiana was actually healing faster than expected but we still kept her away from doing hardbor. In doing so, I proposed an exercise to keep her busy and it was to achieve the same control she had with her right hand with her left hand. She was already training to use her left hand given her situation but I made her perform exercises that required more finesse.


    The first one was to hit it where it hurts because I prepared a lot of food she liked but I made her use chopsticks instead of a spoon or a fork.


    She didn''t even know how to use them with her right hand and she was struggling so hard, she couldn''t even have a proper bite.


    I kept swatting her hand every time she tried to cheat her way into eating delicious food and she fucking hated me for it. Kaley and the rest couldn''t do that to her aside from me, but it was all for her sake. Getting better and getting better could actually mean two different things. However, my goal for her was to achieve both but it needed some tough love.


    Well, to not be aplete asshole, there was a time allotted for her to do the exercise and to actually eat so I just fed her myself when the timer rang. It became a love-hate rtionship between us in her recovery but each time we were done, she''d actually thank me sheepishly before going back to her room. One of the things that kept her going was once she waspletely healed, everyone would do something special for her.


    With that said, the highlight of my week was still seeing Kaley wearing the ring I made for her. She''d always smile every time she look at it and it was a fun morning when our roommates saw her wearing it on her finger for the first time.


    Congrattory messages were instantly given but the topic instantly went about discussing our special rtionship once we were all inside the ''safe zone''. It was obvious the arrangement we had with everyone would stay the same but they just had to ask to make sure. However, Kaley soloed me the first few nights and it led me to get ''ambushed'' by everyone else every time I was free the day after.


    This version of keeping everyone happy was taxing on my part but it was hard to say no. I decided to keep on with it for as long as I could since we had more pressing issues to take care of.


    After I sent our pilots to deliver the hulker to the president''s side, they came back with our cargo helicopter full of passengers. I would have no problem integrating 50+ new people in our midst but it''s just that they were a little bit¡­ different.


    I had no fucking clue why the president would send me random-ass people but if they''re gonna stay here, they gotta follow our rules to the dot.


    Well, Mikhail just clocked the fuck out of the biggest guy in cuffs before it turned into a fucking brawl.


    ''Weird trade, not gonna lie....''

 Chapter 637 - Involved One Week

    The big guy Mikhail just clocked was still trying to get up when two more guys: one tall-skinny and one with a muscr build tried to team up against him. I was just about to step in before Artem stopped me. He just blocked me with his arm before looking at me and scratching the side of his cheek.


    "Just watch, Nyebo¡­ He''ll handle it, I think..."


    "Oh?"


    The guys that came for Mikhail were also wearing cuffs and even if they had the numbers advantage, they couldn''t perform as freely as Mikhail could.


    He easily shook off the two before sending another overhead punch to the big guy that just got up, breaking his nose and making him topple over. Blood instantly poured out from the big guy''s nostrils but as soon as he found his footing, he charged straight for Mikhail and tried to tackle him to the ground.


    The distance between them shortened in an instant but Mikhail grabbed the big guy''s head, clutching a clump of hair, before making him kiss the ground.


    Mikhail never looked so satisfied but the tall-skinny dude tried to do the same thing the big guy did. However, an open palm met with his frail chest and it left a red fucking imprint. Everyone close cringed when we heard the violent sound of Mikhail pping the fuck out of that tall-skinny dude and to add to it, Mikhail''s hands were freaking huge.


    The muscr guy was just about to follow his friends but he stopped mid-way and looked around before raising his arms, telling us that he gave up.


    ''I guess someone could think straight...''


    It''s just that Mikhail was unwilling.


    He just stepped on the big guy''s head before looking straight at the muscr guy, "I told you three I''m gonna fuck you up when we see each other again. Are you--"


    "Fuck off! We''re cuffed to shit and you''re gonna start with a sucker punch?!"


    "That''s just payback fromst time. Plus a little bit from my brother--"


    "Niks? Hah! Is he fucking dead now? I don''t see him--"


    "He''s on a run. I bet he''llugh his ass off when he fucking sees you."


    "Cheh. Get these off us and we''ll find--"


    All of a sudden, Katya just came out of nowhere and she leaped from the air, sinking herbat boots to the muscr guy''s abdomen. After that, another kick was sent to his family jewels that made every guy cringe and subconsciously tuck it. However, Katya was bent on ending the guy''s legacy so Artem and I finally decided to intervene.


    Artem carried Katya to the side while I threw ice packs at the three victims.


    I turned to Mikhail, "Okay, what happened here?"


    Mikhail replied, "They''re soldiers¡­ mostly. Well, they''re the guys who deliver our meals and went on a power trip."


    "But they''re wearing cuffs, no? A few others do so as well but why are they cuffed if they''re soldiers?"


    Avalos approached us and answered, "They''re deserters. They tried to join the NPA in the jungle and they tried to bring a lot of guns and other supplies with them. They got caught by theirmanding officer and they were sent here."


    Katya muttered, "Figures that they got caught with stealing shit. They took a lot from us too."


    My eyebrow rose, "Really? And why are they still alive? Did the president ran out of bullets by chance?"


    Honassan who just arrived suddenly said, "Sir Morales ising, they''re about to--"


    "What? Morales?" Artem and I said at the same time.


    The big guy suddenly snickered, "I''m family, you dumb mother--"


    I was just about toy his ass out but Artem kicked him in his mouth, causing some of his teeth to fall off. His nose and his mouth were now bleeding profusely and he threw us a hateful re, hiding a smirk between his lips.


    "You''re gonna get fucked if you kill me. If--"


    I crouched down as I looked at him straight in the eye, "Okay. Then we''re fine as long as you''re not dead, right? How about these two? Are they family as well? Wait-- names first. You go first, big guy."


    After a short introduction, I discovered that the big guy was named Jhun, the tall-skinny guy was named Charles, and the muscle dude was named Shawn.


    Jhun was Morales'' cousin, Charles was a brother of one of his officers, and Shawn was Jose''s brother-inw. The other prisoners were somewhat rted to Morales'' soldiers but none of us knew why they were sent here. The president had a strict policy against deserters and anyone who went against him, and one would question why they were left alive be it family or not.


    ''Hmm¡­ maybe¡­ we''ll see once they arrive...''


    As we waited for Morales to arrive, the people who weren''t cuffed were taken into another room to be processed and vetted, ultimately deciding their fates. They were an assortment of people and no one seemed to stand out. However, we''ll know more soon enough once my people managed to uncover their identities.


    Marisha went to work and Matthew was obviously apanying her.


    ''na could do some digging too...''


    Surprisingly enough, some of them managed to bring some sort of identification but we''d need to cross-check it with the documents we had on hand. Even if there''s less than 1% chance someone was trying to impersonate someone, it''s better safe than sorry.


    It didn''t take long before Morales and his convoy arrived but their expressions were entirely different from the people we were waiting on.


    It seemed that Avalos and Honassan had an idea of what was about to happen next since they just took a step back, asking us to do the same.


    Jhun''s eyes lit up, "Hey! Over here! They just--"


    Morales shut it down, "Shut the fuck up."


    I actually thought some sort of touchy or tear-jerking reunion would happen between rtives but what happened next was just a one-sided beatdown.


    Morales was the first one to raise his fist, beating his cousin senselessly. He looked so furious with each punch and kick and all Jhun could do was cry out and actually turn to us to ask for help. However, everyone else not involved kept silent though a few onlookers were just shocked the same way as us.


    Even Jose who was more aloof than Morales did the same thing to his brother-inw, raining punches mercilessly until their faces were barely recognizable.


    Morales roared in anger, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST DID?! HUH?! YOU DUMB MOTHERFUCKER! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA?! I LEFT FOR ALL OF YOU AND YOU FUCKING DO THIS?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT''S GONNA HAPPEN TO YOU?! HUH?! DO YOU KNOW?! FUCKING ANSWER ME!!!"


    Jhun was just shaking from fear and he was just sprawled on the floor, groaning in pain while raising one of his hands, begging for Morales to stop. A single tear streaked on Morales'' face but he kept on kicking Jhun while he was down, ignoring everything his cousin was trying to tell him.


    A huge vein was bulging in his forehead and his lips were bleeding from roughly gritting his teeth. I''ve never seen Morales so angry before and I wouldn''t even get surprised if he beat Jhun to death right now.


    "I TOLD YOU SO MANY FUCKING TIMES! I TOLD YOU! CAN''T YOUR FUCKING BRAIN UNDERSTAND SHIT?! YOU SHOULD''VE KILLED YOURSELF, YOU DUMB MOTHERFUCKER! NOW, I HAVE TO! I HAVE TO!!! ARE YOU FUCKING HEARING ME?! IT''S ALREADY BAD YOU TRIED TO CHANGE TEAMS, YOU GOTTA FUCKING INVOLVE ME TOO?! MY FAMILY?! OUR FAMILY?!"


    ''Wait, what?''


    I wanted to ask questions but Avalos walked behind me. He was wearing a solemn expression but he exined everything in a hushed tone.


    ''So, that''s how it is...''


    To exin what''s happening right now, Jhun and the rest were sent here by the president to get taken care of by the ones close to them.


    Since the president had more people than my people and Iskohbined, the resources to go around in their ce had some sort of system as to whose hands it wouldnd in. Families of the high-ranking officers would obviously get better treatment and priority but if a fuck-up such as this urred, the repercussions would be damning.


    With that said, an agreement was made between them that if such a thing urred, to continue the privileges the officer''s family would receive, they needed to take care of their own family''s mess.


    I found it unfair to bepletely honest but the president ruled with an iron fist. Their situation waspletely different from ours and it could change at any time even if they weren''t involved.


    It was fun to be on his good side but it would be hell if we get on his bad side.


    Morales turned to Avalos, "How much time? He told you, right?"


    Avalos nodded before answering, "One week and he needs confirmation from Sir Ishiyama."


    "What? Me?"


    Avalos nodded bitterly, "Yes, sir. He said it needs toe from you... you need to see it. That''s the deal."


    Everyone else present turned to me and a few officers that didn''t do much to their rtives looked at me with a different expression. Even the prisoners had a look of begging but like Morales did, I started shaking my head with a difficult expression once Avalos told me that piece of news.. It was one thing to send me people I wasn''t even told of beforehand but involving me was way worse.

 Chapter 638 - Convince Me.

    Everyone was just looking at me with their eyes and an intangible weight fell on my shoulders.


    My mind spun with different scenarios and whatever I do next would decide our rtionship with Morales and his soldiers. To bepletely honest, even if the president gave me the authority to takemand of his soldiers here, the majority of them would still stand beside their actualmanding officer, especially Morales.


    Ferdinand and Rico, the COs of our DDR Camp here and the DDR Camp in Meycauayan still held great authority with their soldiers but it waspletely different with Morales.


    If things went south, I could more or less make all of their soldiers stand by me but I could maybe get a solid 10-20 soldiers from Morales, maybe fewer.


    It didn''t matter as much before but if the fate of their families rested on my hands, I would need to think of a better solution to handle what the president just gave me. This was the first time he just dumped me with something this tricky and it felt like walking on a tightrope while my feet were loosely tied together.


    With that said, I decided to make use of the seven days the president gave me.


    I walked forward and said with a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, "Stop that right now.. Give them medical treatment first but have a few soldiers watching their every--"


    All of a sudden, a loud noise assaulted our ears, and Shawn just dropped to the ground with a gaping hole in his head. A small pool started to form under his body and Jose just holstered his gun with a nonchnt expression.


    The ''prisoners'' almost scattered but they were too afraid that they may follow after him. However, before another officer shot his own, I shouted at the top of my lungs.


    "DIDN''T YOU HEAR THAT I JUST SAID STOP?! I''M FIGURING SHIT OUT! IS THIS WHAT YOU ALL FUCKING DO OVER THERE?! IF YOU WANTED TO EXECUTE SOMEONE, DO IT ON YOUR HARBOR! WE HAVE KIDS HERE FOR FUCKS SAKE!"


    Morales didn''t do anything but the officer I was staring down shook his head before holstering his pistol.


    Jose spoke up with a different expression, "I didn''t even like the guy. If I''m gonna choose between him and my family back home, it''s fucking easy. Don''t tell me I did something wrong? Besides, president''s orders."


    I sighed before I opened my mouth, "I get that but who among you here doesn''t want to pull the trigger?"


    Jose scoffed, "I told you, it''s mandatory. If--"


    I cut him off, "What if it''s not?"


    Morales shook his head as he looked at me straight in the eye, "Are you nning to act against the president? You know what that means, right?"


    "I''m not. But this ce is my jurisdiction. Whatever I say here, goes."


    "You can''t be serious..."


    "Fine. If you have the same feeling as Jose, fucking do it. I''m not even gonna bat an eye but do it in your ce. However, as I said earlier, if some of you don''t want to pull the trigger, speak up now or regret it forever. I''m not saying I''ll guarantee their lives but I''m gonna do one of the things I do best, negotiate. The solution to keeping your family over there safe is quite easy without killing your own, right?"


    Jose crossed his arms, "What do you suggest?"


    "You''re kindate now since you killed that guy but hear me out. You''re forced to do this so the ones in their care could live safely andfortably, right?"


    Every single one of them nodded.


    "Then¡­ can''t I just bring them here? They gotta work too but it''ll be morefortable for you guys if you don''t have the president''s cor around your neck. I get what he''s trying to do but I have my own ways."


    Jose and a few others were taken aback while a few officers and soldiers present turned to me with a hopeful expression. However, Morales was still on the defensive and was still unwilling about my proposal.


    It didn''t take long before he turned to me and said, "My cousin here and his friends just deserted their posts and tried to join the opposing team. If that doesn''t warrant an execution, I don''t know what is."


    "I know. What did the other do though?"


    Avalos brought up a list, "Two were also aplices, that one is charged with murdering an officer, one of them sexually abused a civilian, that one fought with a foreign dignitary when intoxicated, and those three tried to leave the ind group with a boat but not joining any other team. All of them are soldiers except the one that murdered an officer."


    "Hmm."


    Morales turned to me once more, "Are you still thinking of saving them? Huh?"


    As soon as the prisoner''s dirtyundry was aired in the open, their expressions turned difficult, especially the soldiers close to them. Furthermore, everyone else who heard of their deeds started to not give a fuck about what awaited them and just felt sorry for the families and the people involved. Getting punished for one''s mistake was supposed to be the go-to rule but pushing other people into difficult situations due to others'' wrongdoing was just bullshit.


    I sighed heavily before turning to everyone once more.


    "You got me, fine. Let''s do it like this: if you want to deal with it right now, tell me so I could bear witness as the president ordered but¡­ if you want me to try and do something to keep their sorry lives and maybe get your families over here, convince me."


    "C-Convince you?"


    "Yeah. Convince me that you''re worth a proper meal, convince me you''re more than what you did, convince me that''s thest time you''ll do that shit, and convince me that your family here is right to give you mercy."


    "R-Really? You''re serious?"


    "You have seven fucking days but for the guy who forced himself to a civilian, I''ll give you a small chance but you''d have to chop your fucking dick off or have my doctors surgically remove it. It''s either that or you''ll join Jose''s brother-inw. I''m more lenientpared to the president but I have my limits too."


    The guy I specifically mentioned suddenly stood up in protest, "WHA-- WHAT THE FUCK?! ARE YOU FUCKING--"


    I cut him off as I stared at him with murderous eyes, "D''you really think I''m joking right now? My ce, my rules. I''m not gonna let someone like you roam around my territory. Remember, you''re supposed to be dead. Either live in shame as a eunuch or have the fucking decency to kill yourself and save your half-brother the pain from offing you."


    "I DIDN''T FUCKING DO IT! YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME! I DIDN''T--"


    I scoffed as I shook my head, "Then prove it. You got seven days to convince me. If we''re done here, you''re all gonna get taken care of by our doctors and we''ll process you. After that, you''ll be put in your cells and you''ll get the space to think about ways to convince me to bend the rules put on you."


    Everyone else was just stunned in ce but I left them as I set out with my group to do our rounds with Artem''s team.


    Our trip for this day wasn''t anything special but we would put down as many deadheads as we could until the sun was about toe down. Aside from clearing the streets for potential threats, our group with their new loadout would get more practice down but nevertheless, they were improving at a steady pace.


    We still haven''t encountered the special that took Kristoff''s life but once we do, we would be able to test whether a .308 was enough to blow their brains out. There''s a limit to how a body could get so rigid and fibrous but if all else fails, quantity will beat quality.


    ''I doubt it could survive a .50 though...''


    With that said, our run went off without a hitch and we started to drive back with valuable items plus a bit of information around the area we just explored.


    It was protocol to get as much info as we could from each ce we would visit so the next time we or another group came back, we would be more prepared to tackle any situation. It included zombie poption density, resource avability, road clearance, and etc. It would sound tedious to a normal survivor but if tedious equals a higher chance of survival, no one would be dumb enough to skimp on it.


    Even before the world ended, ess to valuable information was fought for.


    With that said, as soon as we arrived, no one was put to rest by their close rtives or by themselves since they bought the idea of having seven days to turn their death sentence into something less permanent.

 Chapter 639 - Slurpers/Tailors Tameshigiri

    We were just about to head back to thepound after dropping off the soldier Artem brought us but a small convoy came from the other side of the road. They were wearing uniforms from the Meycauayan DDR Camp but my expression lightened when I saw a few people we''ve haven''t seen in a while.


    Marvin and Ashley were the first ones to vacate their own truck and the rest of their team followed suit. At the same time, once Brian saw me with my team, he immediately looked for Tatiana but he was left disappointed. Tatiana was still in the process of recovery and it would take a month or two for her injuries to heal.


    I just gave them a small nod as a greeting but Marvin ran up to me with great urgency. His eyes seemed to tell a thousand words and the rest of them seemed to have seen some shit.


    "Boss, there''s something-- a few things we picked up on the expressway. You gotta see this..." .


    "Hmm? Got some footage?"


    "Wait a sec-- I got it here..."


    Marvin pulled out his tablet from his pack while Carlo started to unhinge the hooks from one of the container vans they brought. A few soldiers helped bring down the covered corpses while Marvin tried to seek the correct time of the video he wanted to show me. As soon as he did, he gave me the tablet in question while everyone else who was also curious peeked around my back.


    Cynthia instantlymented, "Oh, they''re like the ones from under the train station, right?"


    Marina nodded, "Slurpers, was it?"


    Brian interjected, "We call them Tailors. Much fitting, right? Hi, I''m Brian... I think I haven''t introduc--"


    Ashley waved him off, "Shh! The best part''sing..."


    ''RIP bro... heh.''


    The first part of the footage was showing several elongated tongues hanging from an overpass of an expressway but the scenes that followed after that were quite different. We''ve seen them tear down deadheads that came close and ''stitch'' it on themselves but we''ve never seen them ''repair'' or ''upgrade'' an existing one. It was the only one that had a lot of abilities not to mention the ability to make zombies out of zombies.


    Bogdan almost leaned too close to the screen but everyone pushed him off.


    "Geez, no mercy for the short-sighted, eh?"


    "Short-sighted? Your head''s too big!"


    "Hah! That''s what she said!"


    "..."


    "C''mon! That was good! Laugh, dammit!"


    "EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP AND WATCH THE VIDEO!"


    After the short interruption, what we saw next was a Slurper or a Tailor flopping down from under the overpass to reconnect some dismembered limbs from random deadheads approaching. It would just pick up anything that it found usable and it would stitch that body part to its fortunate recipient.


    However, the only thing different was it would actually cut off its tongue after finishing the ''stitch'' and would let it stay in that same deadhead, surprisingly making the connected limb move on its own.


    ''The fuck?''


    That Tailor could seem to do it any number of times as long as it had some ''thread'' to work with.


    The only silver lining we had was everything it made was walking towards our blockades. It would be safe to say that if that was only a few of its variants, we have taken care of most or all of them.


    We saw it ur several times but they would still slurp out their meal from unsuspecting deadheads. They''d use any orifice from the deadhead''s head and just suck the living shit out of it until the victims would be walking aimlessly or tasked to travel in a random direction.


    It took a while to take everything in but the footage ended with Max and a few of their sharpshooters aiming for their heads while ignoring the ones that were being controlled. Simrly, when the Tailor was killed, the ''stitched'' limbs would stop moving on its own but its partial host could still move as normal. However, the same couldn''t be said if it was the other way around.


    As long as the Tailor is alive but the partial host was dead, the stitched-up limb could still move on its own. If one could imagine it, a scene where a deadhead lying t on the ground could suddenly grab and scratch someone on the foot was possible.


    Theoretically, the only way to counter that was to actually kill the Tailor or to desate the attached limb just enough for it to be unable to be utilized, the same protocol with the hollowed-up victims.


    ''Hulkers are still the main threat... from current events...''


    I gave the tablet back to Marvin and checked the samples they brought back.


    "You brought one of each? That''s great, the president''s people could better examine if we have everything on the table."


    Marvinmented, "It''s kinda obvious that it looks different up close but it would be difficult to deal with them once theye pouring in. Also, we might get surprised by those limbs once we kill the zombie they''re attached to. One scratch and it''s all over."


    I nodded, "Yeah, that''s what I''m thinking of earlier. Which part of the expressway did you pick them up?"


    Ashley answered, "Right before the exit to the Philippine Arena."


    "Oh¡­ Right between the Intercity and Maro¡­ Okay, have you brought the other stuff?"


    Cynthia turned to me, "Other stuff? What other stuff?"


    "Green bamboo."


    "Bamboo?"


    Ashley nodded, "Yup. We got several pieces of bamboo on the other container van. Oh! We got a few bundles of the mats you tried to make us look for too! Do people actually charge $50 each for those? Those don''t lookfortable... like at all... I could but something before that''s much better and muchfortable..."


    I checked my watch before nodding a few times, "You''ll see. Okay~ let''s meet in thepound in 30 minutes but drive that container van inside and leave the one with the samples here. Our pilots juste back so maybe they''ll be here for another week or so."


    "Uh-huh... We ce them inside?"


    "Yeah, bring all of them up to the gym."


    "The gym? O-Okay..."


    After some time, we eventually drove back to thepound. And after a bit of rest, wash, and etc., I informed everyone that I would be teaching a ss. They thought it''d be a simple hand-to-hand lesson but some of them got excited when they saw I was carrying a pineapple and my kitchen knife again.


    However, they grew curious when they came upon a ton of bamboo and several tatami mats on one side of the gym. Furthermore, aside from my katana, I brought out my guandao, longsword, jian, and a simple machete from my armory.


    I chuckled as I started the lesson, "Who wants some pineapples?"


    The people who attended my lessonst time were smiling as they shook their heads because they already knew what I would do next. However, partway through the sh, I stopped midway and ced it in a wooden apparatus with a small wooden peg. It made the pineapple stand upright and everyone else watched what I would do next.


    Fucking however, I tried my best to hold myughter as I meticulously peeled and removed the skin and the eyes of the pineapple off.


    I chortled at thest second and I was almost beaten to death by everyone present.


    Kaley roared, "STOP FUCKING AROUND! ALL THE BUILDUP FOR THIS?!"


    I chortled the second time, "Geez, we''re rationing food and you want me to waste this pineapple? You''re crazy. Mmh! It''s still fucking sweet--"


    Katya lifted her bowie machete still in the sheath and waved it in a smacking motion, "Kaley, permission to hit your husband."


    Kaley was about to agree but she just shook her head depressingly, "Hngh¡­ He''s trolling but he''s up to something¡­ just let him have his moment..."


    My eyes lit up as I smiled cheekily, "I definitely am. Today, we''ll do some Tameshigiri or some Test-Cutting."


    "Test-Cutting?"


    "Yeah. We''ll see who retained the lessons I''ve taught before. It''s really simple to learn but hard to master. Anyone who impresses me gets to take any of these items home except my katana and my kitchen knife. If you don''t want anything from here, you could get something made custom by our engineers. Is that a deal?"


    Everyone''s eyes lit up but it was different for the people who already had their custom or special handhelds. Kaley had my wakizashi, Tatiana had a bastard sword, Cynthia had her own rapier, Jared had his cavalry sword, Mikhail had his king''s weapon, Ibarra had his custom spear, and Artem will have one soon. Despite that, they were still willing to prove their worth by passing my challenges.


    Ashley raised her hand, "Are we just gonna cut that pineapple or the ones behind you?"


    "Yeah, you''ll do this..." I trailed.


    To make the first challenge "easy", I ced one soaked tatami mat on the wooden stand before I lifted my knife and shed downward. It came at an angleing from right to left, slicing the tatami mat in half but keeping the sliced part standing in the same ce. However, before anyone could blink, I flicked my hand to follow up the cut with a horizontal sh from left to right, cutting up the sliced part even more.


    With that said, the sliced tatami mat was still in ce and it just toppled over when I pushed them myself. I made it so fucking easy for the untrained eye but a few people were already shaking their heads.


    Amond a few, Jared was one of them.


    "Uh-uh, bro. I''ll bet my SCAR no one here could do that. I tried that before and I wasted more mats here than I could count."


    Carlo scoffed, "Really? That looks so easy to me."


    Brian added, "Yeah, too easy with that knife. How much is that? $1000?"


    Marvin shook his head with a faint smile, "Try it, then. You two never learn, do you? That guandao looks cool but I''ll stick with my staff. Easy to rece too..."


    I waved them towards me, "Come,e. Each of you get one try though. We only got a few for each challenge and tatami mats are hard toe by. We could use pool noodles but it would defeat the purpose of the exercise."


    Carlo asked, "Then what about those bamboos? We got more of thempared to those mats, right?"


    I chuckled, "That''s the hard mode. This is the easy one. Cutting tatami mats emte cutting through flesh while green bamboo emtes cutting through something else. I''ll only tell what it emtes before we start that part of the lesson. Oh! You can use anything you see here, even my knife."


    Brian pointed at my katana, "How about that? You gonna let us use that?"


    I let out the tiniest bit of pressure that enveloped the whole area, "You could but I''d lop your head off if you chip it. Besides, my kitchen knife worked¡­ how could those other tools fare less? Test-Cutting or Tameshegiri is a test for the user, not the weapon."


    My words made the two take a few steps back but they were never known to back away from a challenge. They picked something they were reallyfortable with using before they struck separate tatami mats almost at the same time.

 Chapter 640 - How To: A Simple Slash

    Brian and Carlo both used their own machetes yet the way they shed the tatami mats produced different results.


    Onecked technique while the othercked force. However, it was safe to say theycked in both departments with a small deviation.


    In Brian''s case, he easily chopped the tatami mat in half but it didn''t stay in ce, and even if he managed to perform a double-cut by quickly brandishing his weapon, all it did was make a small cut and send the upper half of the tatami mat flying.


    In Carlo''s case, he went a little too steep with his angles and once he shed down, he didn''t manage to chop the tatami mat in half. It just looked like a broken tree trunk where the upper half was just hanging by a small bit.


    They didn''t immediately react as they just looked at their results with a pensive expression. Some of the people watching were giving the same expression as well but the majority wanted to test themselves immediately.


    Brian turned to me while inspecting his machete, "Can I try again?"


    I shook my head as I smiled, "I told ya, you only get one try.."


    "How about the bamboo? Can I--"


    I cut him off, "That''s forter. Who wanted to--"


    Carlo raised his hand before cutting me off, "C-Can I know why I--"


    "You''re fucking tall."


    "What?"


    "You''re tall. Well, that''s one of the reasons."


    Carlo grew curious, "Can you please borate? I swear I could easily chop off the arms of a normal deadhead. I even helped to butcher a cow once and I never had any trouble."


    I smiled as I made him sit down, "Okay, the most basic and easiest sh of all is a downward-diagonal shing from the side of your dominant arm towards the other. However, the fucking sweet spot ising down at an angle between 30-50 degrees. What you did was close to 80 and it brought you some problems among other things."


    "Other things?"


    "Aside from your height and the angle your machete came in, it''s using poor edge alignment and justcking a bit of force."


    "Huh?"


    "Yours is way off. If you sh at a certain angle, make sure to follow through with it and make sure the fucking edge is¡­ you know¡­ aligned. If it deviates in any way, it could lead to--"


    Brian cut me off, "Wait, am I doing it subconsciously then?"


    I shook my head slightly, "You also did it wrong but--"


    "But what? I cut it off, right?"


    "You''re never gonna make me finish talking, eh?"


    "Ah..."


    "Anyway, what I''m trying to say is¡­ in Carlo''s case, if he got the angle a little less steep, he could''ve cut the tatami mat in half. Or, if he applied a bit more force, he could''ve seeded as well. However, our goal is to efficiently use our tools, not overexert each time we try to kill a single deadhead. Is everyone still following?"


    Everyone in my ss nodded and I turned to my two pupils.


    Brian scratched his head, "Y-Yeah... But what did I do wrong?"


    "Hmm, let''s step away from theory for a short moment and check out something more¡­ tangible. ce your machetes side by side and shine a light on them. Check each nook and cranny then you''ll see a little bit of difference."


    It took a moment to get everything set up but I even pulled out a camera to zoom in on their des. Furthermore, I set my unused machete on the side topare with the other two. They were the same make and brand and everyone leaned over to get a much better look.


    The two des definitely had some wear and tear but everyone was looking at the wrong part of the machete¡­ except for Kaley. It was actually a trick question and she read me like a book. However, she didn''t raise her hand and continued to watch what everyone would say or do first.


    Brian was the first one to answer, "They''re used a lot?"


    "They''re both used. Nope. You need to be more specific."


    Carlo followed, "They need recement?"


    "What? No. Anyone? Kaley?"


    "W-What? Me?"


    As soon as I called her out, everyone just turned to her. She tried to make herself as small as possible but she got more attention when Ashley and the rest just noticed her wearing a ring. They weren''t aware of what happened that time and another rain of congrattions came.


    I eventually waved them off, "Okay, okay! We''ll do that moreter. Kaley, I think you know the answer. Care to share what you discovered?"


    "D-Do I?"


    I chuckled, "We wouldn''t know until you say it, right? C''mon, trust yourself sometimes."


    "F-Fine¡­ It''s¡­ It''s the h-handles..."


    A fewmented as they turned back to the machetes, "Handles? What?"


    Kaley shrunk down, "I-It''s wrong? Did I--"


    I let out a bright smile, "Ding! Ding! Ding! No, you''re right!"


    Everyone else woreplex expressions while a few couldn''t believe the answer.


    Brian lifted his machete, "I still can''t see it¡­ the handles? They''re just stic--"


    I cut him off, "Exactly. They''re just stic. It would be difficult to spot it on the des since they''re so rigid and tough so you look for the part where it''s soft. Check the area where the handle meets the de. The stic handle is getting pushed forward on your de while it''s getting twisted on Carlo''s."


    As soon as I said that, another round of inspection urred and they nodded pensively right after.


    "Since you''re prone to use a lot of force, itpensated theck of proper edge alignment in your attacks. In doing so, most of the stress gets ced on the part of the handle where the webbing between your thumb and index finger meets. In Carlo''s case, I''d assume or guarantee that most of his strikes on a deadhead involved a lot of hacks and pulls since he couldn''t follow the cut right through. Doing that with a longsword or a de that is a little more flexible will cause the de to bend, but with his machete, it warped the stic handle to twist instead."


    Everyone else was still taking all the information in when I lifted my machete and performed the same attack on a used tatami mat. Each sh just flowed like a river and it was like a rey of what I did with my kitchen knife.


    With that said, the two tried to correct their swings and they actually made a bit of improvement just from the small exnation I gave. However, they just got rushed by everyone else that wanted to try the exercise for themselves. They emerged from the mob filled with footprints but they were staring at their machetes like they were in a trance.


    I just chuckled as I crouched down behind them, "Even if we could achieve the same result with a different method, it doesn''t always mean that it''s okay to keep doing you, eh?"


    Carlo shook his head, "We could cut it-- I barely cut mine off but there''s actually a lot that goes in a single swing..."


    Brian was nodding slowly, "Yeah..."


    "At least you''re learning. Well, after you made significant progress on that one, there are several more basic swings to go through. Here''s a tip, a diagonal sh starting from the bottom, opposite of your dominant arm, going up to your dominant art is the next easiest. Practice that next if you have the time. Oh, the sweet spots are still the angles I said earlier. You could always deviate a few degrees but it''s best to stay right in the middle."


    "Sure..." they nodded simultaneously.


    I gave them a few more tips from the things I learned myself and they listened attentively for once. They were always one of many that learned with their bodies or have to be shown directly for anything to left an imprint on their heads. This time, they listened to every word I said and they even asked valid questions.


    As the rest of the ss tested themselves, they didn''t even try to attempt the triple-cut with their tatami mats. Instead, they started cutting them with the first of the three cuts from the top-most part, significantly increasing their number of attempts.


    With that said, they didn''t go wild as I thought they would because they would turn to me for advice with each cut. The first part of my ss went for longer than I thought it would but I was happy to increase our soldier''s battle prowess just by merely opening my mouth. However, what they needed right now couldn''t be more obvious.


    Tatiana sneaked her way behind me, "Hey, you better leave some of those for me when I get better. At least a 100 would be nice..."


    I chuckled, "Those tatami mats?"


    "Yup. I could try with my left but I know I''m not that good using it yet."


    "Don''t worry, they''re just made of rice straw and some cloth. Things we have plenty of because of our deal with the farmers in Bcan and the amount of stuff we have on stock. I know how to make them myself but I''d leave it to a few people with good hands."


    Tatiana nodded but she leaned much closer and whispered, "So¡­ when are we gonna have se-- Ow! Can''t you see I''m injured?!"


    "Yes, I can see that. And the answer to your question is when you''re not injured. You said it yourself before, the only way to do it is rIgoRouslY~"


    Tatiana pouted as she drooped her head low, "I fucking hate you... One of these days~"


    I just chuckled as she slumped down next to me, "Sure~ Sure~"

 Chapter 641 - Green Bamboo Long Story Short

    Brian and Carlo eventually stood up to steal some hits but Tatiana and I continued to talk some more. I would just yell out the corrections everyone else needed from the benches but Kaley, Rin, and Cynthia approached us.


    Rin instantly went up in Tatiana''s face, "Hey! Who told you that you could slump down?! You should keep a proper posture at all times, right?! Right?!"


    Tatiana exasperatedly exhaled, "Do you even see me wincing? My ribs are fine, it''s this hand I''m worried about..."


    Kaley sat next to me, "Don''t worry, Tatiana¡­ It''s gonna heal in a month or two, right?"


    Tatiana shook her head, "That''s the thing, it''s gonna take too long¡­ All I could do for exercise is walk around all day and have a meaningless talk with everyone I bump to. I''m fucking sure I''m gonna gain a few pounds and I''d have to work extra hard when I''m healed..."


    Cynthia nodded and faintly smiled, "You''ll be fine~ Oh! Didn''t they say that a broken bone will be stronger once it--" .


    I cut Cynthia off, "Actually~ It would actually be stronger in the few weeks when it''s healing but over time, it''ll just be at the same strength as the rest of the bones in our bodies. I think it''s just something people say to keep a healthy mind about-- Ah... I shouldn''t have said that..."


    Tatiana looked irritated once more, "Thanks? At least the cut on my cheek healed fast..."


    Kaley started chuckling as she turned to me, "Of course, you do that now. Well~ gaining a few pounds might be beneficial¡­ in some ways¡­ you know¡­ more surface area or something..."


    Cynthia chuckled as well, "Is that what they call being dummy thi--"


    Tatiana started to smile cheekily, "Now that''s something to look forward to. As long as it''s in the right areas¡­ I wonder what you''d do to me if I have Kaley''s bo--"


    I waved them off as I shook my head, "Okay~ Okay~ Why aren''t you three participating? You could--"


    "Hate the spotlight. Maybeter when there are fewer people..."


    "My rapier isn''t for those kinds of cuts."


    "My staff too..."


    "I could actually try with my left--"


    The three of them eximed, "NO!"


    They kept holding Tatiana down but I eventually had to leave them and go to the ce I was earlier since we just ran out of usable tatami mats. And for the most part, almost everyone did good and the ones who made a lot of mistakes were the people that weren''t using sharp des on a daily basis.


    But that could be fixed with regr training and actually applying it outside.


    With that said, they were more excited for the next part of our ss because we had more resources to work with. The people who easily cut the tatami mats in half were exuding confidence but they had no idea about the jump in difficulty between tatami mats and green bamboo.


    And we haven''t even gotten to the part where we line them up side by side.


    I said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Okay, let''s do a bit of a recap. What does cutting through tatami mats emte?"


    Mostly everyone said in unison, "Flesh."


    I nodded approvingly, "So, can anyone tell me what cutting through green bamboo emtes?"


    Chris raised his hand from the side of the gym, "Y-You haven''t told us yet, right?"


    "Yeah, I haven''t. Can anyone guess though? What does¡­ cutting through green bamboo emte? We already covered flesh, what does-- Yes! An! You raised your hand, right?"


    An shouted confidently, "Wood!"


    I almost banged my head against the wall, "Goddamit, An!"


    An never looked so surprised, "It''s wrong? Huh."


    "It is! Yes! Bing!"


    "May I use the restroom?"


    "What?!"


    "I wanna use the restroom a-and I don''t wanna miss a detail..."


    "FUCKING HOLD IT IN! ONE MORE GUESS! YES! WAI-- Russel, if you follow after these two--"


    Russel was smiling confidently, "I''m not! The answer is it emtes bone! Dad told me about that a few weeks ago."


    "Fucking, FINALLY! GREAT! THE ANSWER IS BONE! CUTTING THROUGH GREEN BAMBOO EMULATES CUTTING THROUGH BONE! Good job, man! You get first try too, if you want."


    Russel revealed an excited expression, "R-Really?! Fuck yeah!"


    Everything was going smoothly but I almost went crazy when he used his goedendag instead of his machete. The whole gym was fucking quiet for a minute but it just erupted inughter. Even I couldn''t help butugh maniacally because even if the three stooges continued to be¡­ themselves, they took the edge off of everyone and made usugh.


    With that said, once Russel swung his machete at the green bamboo I put up, he easily lopped it off as he did with his tatami mat. As soon as the upper half fell on the floor, everyone revealed surprised expressions.


    Russel turned to me with a surprised expression as well, "Wait, it''s that easy? You said it was hard, right?"


    I chuckled before I put up two bamboos at the stand, "Sure, it''s easy. Try again."


    "Bro, wait a--"


    "It''s easy, right? Try again."


    Slowly but surely, the jolly atmosphere from earlier dissipated and they were once more watching with solemn and curious expressions. Everyone was watching what Russel would do next and once he swung his machete for the second time, everyone had mixed feelings about the result.


    Fail.


    Russel managed to cut through the first bamboo I put up but his machete stopped midway through the second one. Furthermore, the angle he came in for the second one deviated after he cut through the first one easily. After that, he quickly pulled his machete off the ce it was stuck in before he turned to me.


    "Bro..."


    "Wanna try again?"


    "Yeah! I just slipped... I think..."


    "Roight~ Roight~ You got two more tries though..."


    "One more is enough, bro!"


    "Go ahead. Everyone else, just watch closely."


    It didn''t take long before Russel swung another time and this time, he almost made it through two pieces of green bamboo. It was only an inch away from fully cutting through both of them but like thest time, the angle it came in for the second one deviated. He was starting to look a little bit frustrated but I bumped the challenge to three pieces of green bamboo instead of two.


    "Bro, what the fu--"


    "You''re really~ close. Come down harder but keep your angles tight. Make sure you make contact with the wider part of your de too."


    Instead of questioning my actions even more, Russel just nodded a few times before taking a deep breath. He even practiced the angle he woulde in before following through and once he felt he was ready, he just came in with the perfect angle.


    Motherfucking sess.


    Russel just went straight to three pieces of green bamboo at a 40-degree angle, stopping at the fourth wooden peg on the wooden stand. Furthermore, the angle he came in was consistent with each piece and I couldn''t help but chuckle from the way he was smiling like an idiot.


    "I DID IT, BRO! FUCK YEAH!"


    "Heh. Good job, next!"


    "Wait, what? B-But I¡­ C''mon, bro! Don''t be like-- Praise me some more, dammit!"


    Russel slumped to the side but he was now the record holder. It lit a fire in everyone''s ass and he was lucky he didn''t get trampled when the mob rushed in to take their turn. It became another round of people testing their own capabilities in a safe environment and it took a while before Russel''s record was tied.


    Brian was the first one who seeded in tying with Russel''s score and Chris was a close second. He would''ve cut through three pieces of bamboo himself but he just made the mistake of leaning more on technique. To be fair, Brian exerted himself a bit more on hisst try but it made him one of the frontrunners.


    However, the elite crew just had to participate.


    ''They should''ve gonest¡­ I guess they''re excited too...''


    Without even a smidgen of overexertion, Bogdan easily cut through three pieces of bamboo and set a new record of cutting through four and a half pieces. Marina tied his score while Katya got to five, but the whole gym became fucking quiet when Mikhail finally stood up.


    He used his old machete when cutting through the tatami mats earlier but this time, he was using his huge fucking ass of a weapon. He was still carrying it with one hand and everyone just made way for him. Furthermore, instead of trying to match Katya''s record of five bamboo pieces, he went ahead and ced seven pieces right from the get-go.


    There were still two more pegs where he could put nine pieces all-in-all but he figured he''d be more ''conservative''.


    It would''ve been difficult to use a normal axe with test-cutting but the sheer size and shape of his weapon might just make it possible.


    Mikhail was about to wind up and swing his weapon, but someone just fucking ruined it.


    Bing shouted at the top of his lungs, "STOP! DON''T DO IT YET! I CAN''T HOLD IT IN ANYMORE! I GOTTA PEE SO BAD!"


    "YOU''RE STILL HOLDING IT IN?!"


    "I--"


    It didn''t take long before Bing was almost beaten to death while Mikhail had to do the same entrance he did to restore the lost hype.


    However, you could hear a pin drop when Mikhail wound his axe around a single revolution before swinging it violently. Furthermore, he used both hands to swing it, adding more force to the swing itself. It just sliced through the air as if it wasn''t heavy at all and it came in horizontally, one of the most difficult cuts to perform in test-cutting bamboo.


    Long story short, we just had a new record holder.


    However, I cut off their celebrations short, "Good job, now do it again."


    Mikhail turned to me with a questioning gaze, "What? Again?"


    "Yeah, same pieces and same cut. You set the record for most pieces cut, now set the record for the most times doing it sessfully. At your level, it''s not about seeding once anymore."

 Chapter 642 - End Of The Test?

    Mikhail looked at me solemnly at first but he nodded in agreement right after.


    Most of our team could handle ourselves but he was the one we would always rely on to bring the front. Tatiana and I, even Ibarra, could do also do it but his position as the vanguard was fucking solid. Any team he would be a part of in the future would fare better if he was ced in the same position as well.


    Without further ado, he wound his weapon for the second time and he achieved a better result even if his targets were already cut in half. He didn''t rece the bamboo he just cut down earlier and even if lopped them off cleanly, it still came at a more forward angle because of his height.


    Nevertheless, the cut-up pieces of bamboo almost fell at the same time and the people in the gym just took in cold breaths. It was already obvious that the force Mikhail uses was alreadyparable to a normal survivor''s overexertion but he wasn''t just a musclehead people would normally categorize him, not anymore.


    From the time he first acquired his king''s weapon plus the time we''d give each other pointers, he learned that monstrous strength wasn''t everything. Sure, it could be used to solve problems, albeit barbarically, but he just started to embrace a little bit of finesse and control. .


    Being able to lift a heavy chunk of metal such as his axe-hammer was one thing and being able to wield it precisely was another.


    After several rounds of murderous, yet controlled, swings, he managed to sessfully clear 17 sets before making a mistake. Hisst swing got stuck on the 5th piece of green bamboo but following after that was almost insurmountable for a regr dude.


    No one wanted to be the next person to be put in the spotlight but I couldn''t put it against them. There was a lot of pressure involved but at the end of the day, I was still teaching a ss.


    I turned to Mikhail after looking at everyone''s expressions, "Great job, dude. Wanna upgrade or do you want to keep that one?"


    Mikhail shook his head with a smile, "Nyet, I''d just look for you if I want to put in a request."


    "Sure, you earned it. Okay~ Who wants to go next? Anyone?"


    I thought I would''ve to pick someone at random but surprisingly enough, Ibarra raised his hand. He didn''t look like he was feeling the pressure at all but instead of conjoining his custom spear together, he walked up to the table where my collection was ced neatly. After all this time, no one tried to pick them up because they just wanted to use something they werefortable with.


    Ibarra picked up my guandao, "Can I use this one?"


    I nodded, "Sure, but aren''t you more--"


    Ibarra shook his head, "I''d prefer to use my own but I need the extra weight."


    "Then go ahead," I said as I smiled faintly and shrugged my shoulders.


    "Can I just try for five? I wouldn''t want to bend this one if I fail."


    "Sure, no problem."


    ''It wouldn''t though¡­ it''s almost as ductile as mine...''


    Everyone''s eyes were now on Ibarra''s figure but he was just standing in front of his targets while taking deep, slow breaths. However, right when someone was just about to address it, he let out a short exhale before swinging my guandao diagonally.


    It easily cut through the first few pieces and it did so at thest few.


    Ibarra just let out a faint smile before trying two more times and the only thing he did differently was the angles he came in. Nevertheless, he textbook cut down each piece just by applying the proper techniques and just the right amount of force with each strike.


    Looking at everyone, most of them were simply underwhelmed because of the number of bamboo pieces Ibarra cut off.


    ''Most of you can''t even do three¡­ Well, Mikhail shone a bit too brightly today¡­ Furthermore, Ibarra didn''t want to stand out too much¡­ He''s just morefortable with just our team...''


    I looked at him approvingly, "So¡­ wanna keep--"


    Ibarra instantly shook his head, "I like the weight but a few mods to my spear areing soon. They might even rece the whole thing to give it more heft. They also told me I''d get something special too."


    "Oh? That''s great news then. Still, don''t forget you can ask me for anything like Mikhail."


    Ibarra just nodded, "Sure, I''ll bring it up when I got the chance. Maybe tomorrow after the run? I just need to run something by you."


    ''Oh? He already had something in mind, eh? I guess he doesn''t want everyone to hear it...''


    After a short while, the rest had their turn and most of them managed to get to one, two and a half pieces, or a solid three. With that said, some of them did try to use my collection on disy but all of them just reverted to using the weapon they were used to using. Upgrading into something you''re not used to was bound to cause problems unless they werepletelypatible with it.


    With that said, it led the people who passed the test to not take anything from my collection and just have some sort of favor kept between us. It would be beneficial on both sides since they would be able to receive something tailored specifically for them and I''ll be able to keep my collection intact.


    After a while, I ended my lesson with a short lecture, recapping everything we just did and telling them what I wanted to see.


    Perfect edge alignment and perfect exertion of force were the two things I wanted to teach my ss but as hard as for me to say it, weapon choice and quality could also make the difference. However, that was something I purposefully withheld because even if we had the resources to make a ton of replicas for a certain deity of thunder that lost his hammer to his sister or something simr to a custom spear or even my katana, only a handful of people would be able to properly wield it.


    Furthermore, not everyone was using tools with sharp des and I didn''t want it to be the deciding factor. That was one of the reasons I didn''t even draw my katana from my hip and opted for my kitchen knife and a simple machete to demonstrate.


    As much as I wanted to show off to assert dominance, I miraculously held myself back.


    If I did show off by lopping off nine pieces of bamboo like it was nothing, most people would assume that my ''orange-grade'' katana was the answer for their poor technique andck of power, and I had no way of arming everyone with the same weapon I had. I have a certain bias for ded weapons but realistically speaking, if the tool I was using was the best among others, there shouldn''t be different designs of swords from all over the world.


    Like the sole purpose of my ss, it would all boil down to the person using the said tool.


    Having something forged by a grandmaster cksmith couldn''t guarantee sess even if it was made with utmost care and materials of the highest quality.


    If you suck, you suck. The cure for that is more training, nothing else. And there was this thing called being in the wrong ce at the wrong time.


    For example, even if I could dual-wield my katana and wakizashi and take down a horde by myself, I''d lose a swordfight to a crazed hobo wielding a short, rusted pocket knife if we were stuck inside a barrel.


    I waved everyone over before I dismissed them, "Hey, just a reminder. This gym will be closed for tonight but you could still use the ones outside. Don''t worry about the mess, we''ll take care of it."


    "Okay, boss. See ya tomorrow."


    "Goodnight~"


    "Bye~"


    "We''ll get more mats in theing days!"


    "We can make those, right?"


    "They said pool noodles could also work if we''re just trying to improve on technique."


    "I guess I''ll do that..."


    "Who''s going to the gym? I''ll head there right now."


    We just send them off with our eyes and Rin was the first one to start sorting out the cut-up tatami mats and pieces of green bamboo scattered around the gym. Cynthia eventually followed after her but since the gym only had the five of us present, Kaley finally decided to test herself.


    As soon as she approached one of the wooden stands, Rin and Cynthia stopped cleaning up while Tatiana and I looked over with bright eyes. However, Kaley just put up one piece of green bamboo before drawing my wakizashi from her hip. The other three looked at me with a questioning gaze but I just kept looking at Kaley''s figure with a serene expression.

 Chapter 643 - Mastery Little Accident

    As soon as Kaley''s hand moved from one ce into the other, I was already smiling from ear to ear.


    Mikhail went pseudo-barbarically, Ibarra went textbook, while Kaley went for the most graceful or most elegant way possible.


    It would seem ''slow'' from an untrained eye but it was just as equally as fast and as deadly maybe even more.


    Everyone watching her seemed to be in a daze and they didn''t even notice that she was done until a few moments after.


    What happened was even if Kaley already drew my wakizashi, her sh came from where the scabbard was,ing up and diagonal, almost as if she performed a drawing-sh. She easily cleared that one piece of bamboo but what the other three failed to notice was that the upper half of the bamboo was still in the same ce before she moved for a double-cut.


    Kaley let out a short exhale as she just flicked her wrist and brought my wakizashi to the left once more before shing downward, going diagonally to the right.


    The same ''slow'' attack almost happened twice but Kaley got a little too excited with her second strike.


    As soon as the de entered the top-left side of the bamboo, the pieces toppled off of the wooden stands but she still managed to clear the whole section with her cut. Nevertheless, she was the only one that managed to perform an almost perfect double-cut and she turned around to look at me with a jovial expression.


    "D-DID YOU SEE THAT?! I-- I FAILED THE SECOND ONE BUT-- DID YOU SEE IT?!"


    I tried to keep it cool, "If you followed the pattern everyone went with, it wouldn''t have wobbled¡­ 6/10..."


    Kaley started to yfully pout as she went up in my face, "Meanie~ I just wanted to make it interes--"


    I cut her off as I pat her head as a joke, "Wanna use my katana?"


    Kaley shook her head, mischievously ring at me, "It''ll be weird, no. I''m not used to that."


    I nodded approvingly, "Good, wanna add more pieces then? I bet you could beat--"


    Kaley shook her head once more, "I think the best I could do is four? Maybe three?"


    I almost rolled my eyes, "Roight~ Roight~ Then why don''t you--"


    Kaley denied me once again, "Nope. I''m hiding my cards. Just be happ--"


    Cynthia interjected as she ran up to us, "That looked so cool! I thought it was slow-motion for a moment there! How?!"


    Rin added, "I thought it was only me! It really did happe-- Wait, only for the first one, right?"


    Tatiana nodded with a pensive expression, "Correct¡­ Care to exin what happened there?"


    Kaley turned to me with a puzzled look, "What are they-- Slow-motion? What?"


    ''Ah¡­ she didn''t do it on purpose¡­ not yet...''


    I just chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders, "What do you guys mean? Every time I look at Kaley, it''s always in slow-- Ack! It''s true! Does that not happen to you every time you look in a mirror?! Geez..."


    Kaley turned a shade of red, "Be serious..."


    "Sirius? I''m gonna pretend I have a kid that''s in a school of wizard-- Ow!"


    "I said SERIOUS! Not SIRIUS!"


    "Stop asking me, all of you have done that at least once in your life. Not only in test-cutting, of course..."


    "Huh?"


    I had my fill of trolling everyone at least once so I answered honestly, "Some say it''s a stroke of luck, being in the zone, or even having high amounts of concentration and releasing it at the right fucking moment. It''s almost always done subconsciously or instinctively¡­"


    All of them looked at me with a pensive expression while nodding a few times, "Huh..."


    I added, "But~ If it ever happened to you more than once, you''re slowly learning to control it. Well, that''s based on my experience. In my case, I just remember the sensations I''m feeling right after I noticed that I did something like that and I try to replicate or get back into it when I wanted to do it again. Even replicating a small percentage of it will bring you one step closer to mastering it."


    Kaley sat down before looking at her hands, "Wait, mastery? That''s too early--"


    I waved her off, "No, it''s about mastering getting into the zone. Anyone who gets into it could perform at their peak, or even a few percentages past it but total mastery is a different thing¡­ Even I am still far off¡­ I still got lots to learn. But..."


    "But?"


    I just let out a faint smile, "Nevermind. That''s enough, for now."


    "You..."


    "What? Teaching a lot at once is detrimental¡­ You four are already in the after-dark sses¡­ I''ll tell you more when you''re ready."


    The four just looked at me with a pensive expression before I stood up and helped with cleaning the mess. The three eventually helped me while Tatiana continued to hang out but it was just too quiet because of my sudden exnation of a different topic meant for a different time.


    However, what they didn''t pick up on was the first piece of bamboo I picked up was the first one Kaley cut down. I felt it up with my hands and my fingers before I ced it in the bag I was carrying.


    A faint smile formed on my face, ''It''s smoother than everyone¡­ Well, she''s getting there¡­ Slowly but surely...''


    I just continued picking up the rest of the pieces on the mat and the one Kaley cut down was definitely smoother than everyone else''s.


    After some time, I cooked a meal for everyone and we ate it in my room while watching a film.


    What I made was a simple pot of chili with either rice or cornbread on the side. Also, I cut up pieces of fruit and drizzled them with condensed milk for desserts. Tatiana was so fucking happy she didn''t have to use chopsticks this time but what she didn''t realize was that she was already ustomed to using her left hand.


    I just watched her twirl her spoon between her fingers before trapping it between her pinky and ring finger just to take off a piece of the cornbread soaking on her bowl. After putting that piece in her mouth, she straightened her posture before fixing up her shirt from the back and her sleeves from the sides.


    She continued eating right after and her eyes were on the screen this whole time.


    ''One more test, I guess...''


    I picked up Kaley''s bowl and ced it over mine before saying, "Everyone done? I''ll just refrige--"


    Tatiana quickly turned to me with a bowl in hand, "Wait! I just had my second bowl! It''s still hot! Wouldn''t it ruin the cooler? Shouldn''t we wait for it to be lukewarm first?!"


    I chuckled, "That''s a myth. I''ll just leave the pot here, want some more corn--"


    "There''s more cornbread?! Where?!"


    "In the oven..."


    Tatiana easily stood up on her feet, "C''mon! You''re already withholding sex, you gotta withhold some cornbread too?! Do you hate me that much?! Why bring the pot here and leave the sides below?!"


    "Calm down¡­ Easy now¡­ It''s only a few pieces that didn''t fit in the tray..."


    "I''m HANGRY! ANGRY AND HUNGRY! C''mon! I''ll help you bring it up! Just put all of them in my bowl! Quick! Quick!"


    "Sure~ Sure~"


    Tatiana was the first one toe down the stairs but as soon as I motioned at the three that her sides weren''t hurting anymore, they just revealed bright smiles before starting on their fruit bowls. The film was still in the middle part and they continued watching while chatting randomly.


    Kaley just gave me a knowing look before she sent me off with her eyes.


    ''Wait...''


    I just shook my head because something not hurting wasn''t equal to being healedpletely. One wrong move or a hit in the injured spot might make the injury worse. I just hurried going down because Tatiana kept calling for me.


    "Hey! What took you so long?! You call these a few pieces?! It''s like a third of everything! You left the corner pieces too! I love the crusty parts-- Uh-oh¡­ Fuck! Fuck! Move! My stomach-- Shi--"


    "What the--"


    Tatiana miraculously let go of her bowl and went straight for the bathroom. A lot of cursing happened in between while I tried my best to hide myughter. However, little did I know she had more than a little ident.


    Once it got quiet, I decided to test the waters.


    "You okay?"


    "S-Shut up!"


    "Two bowls, eh? Are you really on your second bowl?"


    "I said shut up..."


    "You know, I could calcte the volume of the--"


    "I ALREADY HAD SIX, OKAY?! SO BRING ME A SPARE-- N-No¡­ Can you please call for Rin? I¡­ This is embarrassing..."


    "No¡­ Did you--"


    "Don''t say it! Just call for--"


    "They''re still eating, what can I--"


    "Not you! I don''t¡­ I don''t want you of all people to-- Why are you--"


    "Calm down¡­ alright? Let me take care of you. I''ve already seen you naked, right? You said it yourself--"


    "It''s different! I-- I''m so useless..."


    Tatiana just broke down crying even if she was trying hard not to. Her body was just trembling all over and I have to be her shoulder for the moment. This scene was like the time she grabbed me for a hug right when Kristoff just died right in front of everybody. Furthermore, she never hugged me so tight and it seemed she didn''t want to let go. She was pouring everything on me and all I could do was hug her back.


    "Hey, don''t-- You can cry but don''t me yourself. Everyone needs help even if they can do it themselves. I''ll just wash this off upstairs, grab you a new set, ande back. Is that okay?"


    "..."


    "Tatiana?"


    "T-Thanks..."


    "Okay, I''ll be quick. Cry it all out now if you don''t want them to see you like this. Do you still want me to call for Rin when I get down?"


    "N-No¡­ Just¡­ Just don''t take long..."


    "Okay¡­ See you in a bit..."

 Chapter 644 - Patient Care

    I came up the stairs to bring Tatiana''s clothes and I took care of them for a short bit before entering her room and grabbing a fresh set for her. Kaley and the rest just saw me and I had to exin to them what just happened, but I made them swear to act as if they didn''t see meing up the stairs. Furthermore, I stated that I will be the one to address them even if they already noticed we wereing up the stairs.


    I obviously left out some parts but we''d just talk about it when the proper timees.


    Tatiana needed help but most of all, she doesn''t want to be pitied and made out to look weak. Even if she had this strong persona that the three would always look up to and lean on, she needed someone right now. She was keeping it together for most of the time but this was just one of her vulnerable moments that I rarely saw.


    She somehow hated getting help from me and I needed to change that. Our rtionship with each other wasn''tparable to what I have with Kaley but it still meant something. Letting her know that she could be weak to me so I could also be weak to her was a step in the right direction.


    Our rtionship with everyone was alreadyplicated the moment we started sleeping together so it would be better for it to be more than that.. Sure, I''m already taking Kaley as my wife but as I said, it wasplicated.


    As soon as I went down, I knocked on the door to the bathroom she was in.


    "Hey? Can Ie in now?"


    "You''re going to knock now?"


    "Well, you got mad the first time--"


    "Juste in!"


    I opened the door and saw Tatiana still sitting with an embarrassed expression, "Okay~ I brought you a fresh set of clothes¡­ Are you done?"


    Tatiana got even redder as soon as I said those words, "What? Done? W-Wait¡­ Are you--"


    "Yep. Didn''t get the memo? I''m cleaning you up and I''ll give you a shower. I brought a few things so I could cover your cast. It''ll be bad if it gets wet."


    "..."


    "Tatiana?"


    "W-What?!"


    I widened my eyes as I looked at her, "Are you done?"


    "D-Don''t act like this isn''t weird for you! I''m shrinking down here and my face is burning up!"


    "Weird from taking care of someone? That''s not weird. Oh, I think you don''t have a fever--"


    Tatiana gnashed her teeth but she couldn''t look at me straight in the eye for a few seconds, "I''m still embarrassed, okay?! You''re rarely like this¡­ Are you really gonna take care of me?"


    "Yep. Every time I''m here. When I''m away--"


    Tatiana averted her gaze before cutting me off, "I-I''m done..."


    "Okay..."


    I leaned closer as I grabbed the handheld bidet sprayer and I started to clean her up. I didn''t put into mind what I saw or what I smelled from doing it because I was there to take care of her, nothing else. However, Tatiana still couldn''t look at me in the eye and she was red through her neck maybe from embarrassment.


    "Mmh!"


    "What?"


    "It''s c-cold..."


    "Ah¡­ sorry¡­ open your legs a bit?"


    "S-Sure..."


    "Stand up a bit? You can hold onto me..."


    "Okay..."


    "Can you sit back down?"


    "Y-Yes..."


    "Just a bit more..."


    "S-Sure¡­ Mmh..."


    "..."


    "Hnn¡­ Haa..."


    "..."


    "Ah¡­ Mmh¡­ Hmmn..."


    "Tatiana..."


    "W-What?"


    "Can you ease up on the moaning? It''s a little--"


    "I can''t, you''re touching the surface of my buttho--"


    "And~ We''re done," I said after onest spray as I flushed the toilet.


    Tatiana suddenly turned to me while but immediately looking down right after, "No, w-we''re not..."


    I stared back with puzzlement, "Hmm? We are. I just--"


    "No¡­ make sure I''m clean down there..."


    "I did..."


    "T-Then¡­ D-Do it again..."


    "Tatiana..."


    "You said you''d take care of me..."


    "I did, but--"


    "T-Then take care of me¡­ I got other n-needs too¡­"


    Tatiana never looked so desperate as she held my hand, face beet-red and hard in breathing. She was never the type to beg for something so sincerely and inplete honesty, she never looked so cute while pouting her lips and slightly scrunching her eyebrows.


    I leaned closer as I asked, "How about your injuries? We can''t just--"


    Tatiana ced my hand over her side which was injured, "Press it hard and if I wince-- See? You tried to surprise me there, didn''t you?"


    "Fine¡­ But we''ll do it real~ slow¡­ If I see you in any pain or difort, we''ll stop. Okay?"


    "If I didn''t, we''ll go on and on?"


    "Deal¡­ but not too much."


    At this point in time, Tatiana never looked so happy as she pulled me close to give me a kiss while I reached a bit higher to touch her breasts. She couldn''t keep her hand off of me because as soon as our lips touched, she immediately snaked her way through my shorts. She couldn''t help but let out a light chuckle when she discovered I was already hard but she bit my lip when I reached a little bit lower.


    I couldn''t believe how wet she was just from our short make-out session and I easily pushed in two fingers inside her wet little hole. Her body instantly reacted as her walls instantly tightened. Furthermore, she almost drew blood from my lip when she bit a little too hard.


    I broke off our kiss as I looked at her, "We''re going slow, alright?"


    Tatiana looked extremely apologetic, "S-Sorry¡­ It''s just¡­ Mmh! I-It''s been a while since I--"


    "Cynthia and Rin not doing this for you?"


    "T-They try¡­ Kaley too but¡­ Mmh! Ahn¡­ b-but they¡­ t-they¡­ w-worry t-too much¡­ i-it takes a w-while to-- Mmh! T-There¡­ p-push it in a bit m-more-- Ah! N-Not too s-sudden¡­ T-That''s my-- Hngh¡­ B-But-- What I''m saying is..."


    "Hmm?"


    "You¡­ It''s been a while since we¡­ you know¡­ with you¡­ and your huge thing here¡­ it''s never the same even with toys..."


    Tatiana continued to stroke me ever so slowly with a reverse grip while my fingers curled in and out of her pussy. I was also rubbing her clit with my thumb but I made her taste herself before putting it back in and kissing her once more. However, the moment I felt that she was about to cum, I moved as fast as I could while I kept hitting the same spot inside her over and over.


    As soon as I did, Tatiana''s eyes suddenly rolled on the back of her head while her whole body started convulsing. At the same time, warm liquid just squirted right out of her pussy hole and I could feel each violent contraction inside.


    All Tatiana could do was grip my cock as hard as she could while letting out loud moans and sharp exhales over and over. However, I gave her another kiss as I continued fingering her little hole and I only stopped until she lost strength from cumming multiple times. Her muffled moans were music to my ears but I decided to let her take a little breather.


    Tatiana''s tongue wasid outside as I broke our kiss and a single tear was flowing down her cheek, but it wasn''t from pain or anger.


    It was from pure bliss.


    Tatiana let out a bright and devilish smile as she started to stroke me faster and faster but her body would still shake a little due to the sensitivity from minute contractions. She was ying with my precum with her thumb and she''d squeeze my balls from time to time.


    "You call that slow? Let me suck your fucking cock at least¡­ Stand up straight!"


    "Sure. No pain?"


    "You see me kneeling, right? Not even a little bit¡­ Shit¡­ It''s really big up close..."


    "T-Teeth¡­ teeth..."


    "S-Sorry..."


    "It''s okay¡­ just--"


    "M-Move a little bit c-closer, I''m fine..."


    I saw Tatiana lean a little more forwards as I stood right in front of her, and I instantly lost my mind when she enveloped me even more with her warm mouth. She was still stroking me with her hand at first but once I moved closer, she pulled me even more causing me to hit the back of her throat. At this point, Tatiana was just moving her head while keeping intense eye contact.


    I could feel her tongue coiling around me as she sucked me off and even if she was losing air and would almost choke, she kept taking me in until I exploded inside her mouth.


    Tatiana was a fucking mess when she tried to swallow everything I let out but I just let out a little bit too much and a bit overflowed on the side of her lips. However, she quickly caught it with her hand and she licked it before continuing to suck the living shit out of me even when my knees were buckling. She went on and on until I was ready for the second round and I asked her where should we finally do it.


    "You want to do it here, the sink, or the shower?"

 Chapter 645 - YOU BROKE HIS WHAT?!

    Tatiana just gave me a devilish smile before she shook her head and pushed me down the toilet seat. She removed the sling hanging from her neck before she leaned both of her arms on my legs, favoring her left. Her eyes were just fixated on my huge dick twitching in front of her cute face but she licked her lips before looking at me once more.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ C-Can you let out a bit more? I missed the taste of your cum¡­ I want it so b-bad..."


    "Well~ You know how to do it, right?"


    Tatiana held my right hand and interlocked my fingers with her left, "Then you better let out a fucking lot again..."


    "That depends on-- Shit-- Tatiana-- Fuck!"


    I was still in mid-sentence when her warm little mouth enveloped my throbbing cock once more but she stopped mid-way before she looked at me with bated breath..


    "H-Hold my hair¡­ w-with your o-other hand¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ It''s getting in the--"


    "Fuck¡­ L-Like this?"


    I let go of her for a moment before Ibed her hair back with my hands then clumping it with my left. In doing that, her golden locks weren''t covering her face anymore and she just smiled at me the same way before sticking my dick down her throat.


    Tatiana was a little bit conservative the first few times she lowered her head but as soon as she got her rhythm, I started entering somece tighter than her mouth. I''ve fucked her throat many times before but today was a little special because even if she started gagging and choking a few times she went a little further than she could, she kept doing it nonstop. Furthermore, I could still feel her tongue coiling around my shaft and circling around the tip.


    The sensations were just too much to bear but I held it off for as long as I could.


    However, Tatiana wanted me to cum so bad, she let go of me and ced my other hand on her head, making me push her head down for as deep and as fast as I wanted.


    Blood just rushed in my head when I saw her looking at me desperately, so I just pushed her head down as many times as it took before I exploded for the second time in her mouth. My whole body was trembling as Tatiana was trying to catch her breath but she continued sucking the living shit out of me even when I let go of her.


    Tatiana just swallowed everything I let out but now she wanted her turn. She pulled me up from the toilet seat and she stood in front of me while facing the bathroom sink. Her exquisite tattoo was in full view and she kept rubbing my dick between her plump asscheeks.


    With that said, we could both see ourselves in front of the mirror and Tatiana couldn''t hide her smile when she saw my lusting expression.


    "I¡­ I wanna see you fuck me d-doggy in b-both of my--"


    "Haa¡­ W-Where do you want it first--"


    "M-My pussy¡­ Fuck me in my-- Ah! Ah! Ah! F-Fuck! It''s so fucking thick and-- Shit! I wanna see it! I wanna see it! I wanna see it! Wai--"


    Tatiana wanted to turn around and sit on the counter as I fucked her but I lifted her up and supported her with my body as I fucked her. Her face turned another shade of red but looking at the mirror in front of us, her toned and athletic body was on disy.


    With that said, I was keeping her in ce by cing my huge arms in her inner thighs, a few centimeters away from my fat cock which was going in and out of her meaty pussy. I was inplete control of our movements and Tatiana just leaned back to enjoy the ride, with a little bit of screaming involved.


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT''S IN SO FUCKING DEEP! SHIT! SHIT! IT KEEPS HITTING MY WOMB AND-- FUCK! AHN! HNGH! DON''T FUCKING STOP! DON''T FUCKING STOP~!"


    I was 100% sure that anyone who mistakenly wandered near the bathroom door will hear us but we didn''t care one bit. Tatiana needed some much-needed ''hard'' release and she achieved it multiple times in more or less in an hour. We didn''t go as long as we usually would but we went on as far as her body could handle.


    It was a little cramped and ufortable in the first-floor bathroom too so we decided to cut it a bit short.


    Tatiana was looking at me a little differently when I was soaping her up in the shower and I just had to address it.


    "What?"


    "I love Kaley so much."


    "Haaaaah?"


    "Well~ She shares you and she still does things with us¡­ even if you two are already engaged."


    I chuckled, "Would you even care?"


    Tatiana started soaping me up on one particr area she''s really fond of, "That''s a fair point. I wouldn''t, heh. I''ll jump on either one of you when I had the chance! Even that chick you told them about!"


    "Hah! Aoi? I doubt she''s even bi--"


    "She only had you, that''s like missing half of the things the world could offer. I''ll convert her either way¡­ Just¡­ Just not you¡­ stay the way you are."


    "Thanks, heh. You can try that with her but not if she puts you down without even noticing it."


    "Oh? She really beat you more times than I did?"


    "That''s the record but to give myself a little credit, I''ve lost fewer timespared to when I started sparring with her."


    "She''s that strong, huh? You''re getting me wet again--"


    "Tatiana¡­ DIdn''t you have enough? You winced when--"


    "I didn''t wince-- Well... yeah, I winced but it''s not because of my rib! It''s your fucking huge-ass dick going inside my ass the first time! You got to let me get used to it for a bit first! You haven''t been there in a week and you shoved it so fucking--"


    "Pfft..."


    "Stopughing! It''s not fu-- P-Pfft! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Tatiana and I startedughing uncontrobly but she just looked into my eyes for a few moments right when we stopped poking fun at what happened earlier. After we''re done, I helped her get into her clothes but she still made me reheat the fucking chili and the fucking cornbread before we went upstairs.


    "Are you fucking serious?"


    "I''m hungry after that! What do you want me to do?"


    "Umm, pace yourself? Want another ident like that?"


    "I don''t give a fuck! If I had to shit myself so you could fuck my brains out, I''ll eat another six bowls-- Ow! That hurts!"


    "Your rib''s still broken, alright? I''ll tell you something my mom always tell me when I was a kid: People could survive a volcanic eruption but no one could survive if their stomach ruptures! You don''t get fat but you still need to pace yourself, capiche?"


    "Capiche? What does that mean? Well~ You didn''t stop me when I swallowed your-- Woah! Alright! Alright! I''ll stop! Don''t pour them in the sink, geez! End of the world and you''re wasting food?"


    "Oh~ You got jokes now, eh?"


    "Pfft¡­ Heh. Well¡­ Umm¡­ Hey..."


    "Hmm?"


    "Thanks. For helping me and everything..."


    "Sure. Just don''t kill us in our sleep if you''re actually a Russian Spy sent by--"


    "AHHHHHHH!!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I GOTTA TELL YOU THAT I''M NOT A FUCKING SPY!!!"


    I just started cackling as I raced her upstairs but a fight almost broke out when Tatiana discovered that the three finished the desserts, even her share. I didn''t even bother helping them fend off her attacks as I satfortably on my spot, minding my own business. However, the attacks sent were always pulled and it was just done to mess around with everybody.


    With that said, it was obvious that something happened between us on the first floor but Kaley and the rest didn''t even try to bring it up and they just let everything y out as they wanted it to. ncing at Tatiana''s face told me that she really appreciated the gesture and even if she knew that they knew, in the end, it didn''t really matter because it would be just pointless drama that no one wanted to be a part of.


    After a while, the lights were eventually turned off and I used what''s left of me to be with the person I''m sharing this room with. However, she didn''t ask much though I had to surprise her in the morning when we woke up.


    I gave her the best oral that I could and we eventually went about our business.


    Everything was going smoothly in the early morning but little did I know I would be down one more member.


    As soon as we walked outside our home, Natasha approached me with an apologetic and embarrassed look. She couldn''t look at me in the eye but she leaned over and whispered in my ear.


    "WHAT?! YOU BROKE HIS WHAT?!"


    "SHHHHHHHHHH~!!! NOT TOO LOUD~!!! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!!"

 Chapter 646 - Its Never Not Funny... More Substitutions

    A few people heard the sudden exmations so Natasha pushed all of us back inside our home. She never looked so panicked and embarrassed, and the rest of us had a mix of reactions. However, Tatiana''s face had never been more colorful.


    Tatiana''s ''stoic'' expression was slowly falling apart, "P-P-Pfft! Did you really break Ibarra''s dick?! What happened?"


    Natasha pouted as she red at Tatiana, "This is not aughing matter! Don''tugh! Didn''t you hear what I said! It was an ident!"


    ''It''s never not funny...''


    "I did hear it, funnier hearing it the second time..."


    "Argh! Tatiana~!" .


    I tried my best to keep a straight face, forcefully avoiding looking at Tatiana''s expression, "That''s got to fucking hurt. When and where did this happen? Is he still in the hospital now?"


    Kaley interjected with a straight face as she red at Tatiana and me, "You two''s sense of humor is so dark... Injuring his penis is serious, okay? Did you bring him the moment it happened? You gotta bring him in as soon as possible. What ''did'' happen? Did you two? You know?"


    Natasha nodded a few times embarrassedly, "Y-Yeah¡­ We''re at the house and I invited him into my room and-- He was a little awkward at first so I gotta take the reins you know¡­ I started kissing him¡­ and kissing him¡­ and I made him touch me¡­ you know¡­ that stuff--"


    Tatiana interjected, "What position did you break his cock in half? Is it big at least?"


    Cynthia and Rin started to pull Tatiana away from us then Cynthia said, "You~ Youe over here! You''re not helping!"


    Tatiana just pushed on, "I''m just having a little fun here! C''mon, Natasha broke Ibarra''s dick! Isn''t that fucking funny! Hah!"


    Rin added, "Little?! You''re having too much fun! They''re-- Your team is gonna be down one man, is that supposed to be funny? What if something happens!"


    Tatiana did onest hurrah, "He''s not down, it''s probably bent!"


    "Tatiana!" Kaley eximed while shaking her head while I was overexerting myself from trying not to reveal a smirk.


    I waved everyone off, "It is a valid question though, the first one. Who else knows?"


    Natasha shrunk down once more, "Everyone inside the house knows¡­ Artem, Katya, Marina, Igor, Bogdan, the rest... Ibarra woke everyone up when he screamed and Mikhail carried him to our pickup. After that, we drove to the hospital and he had emergency surgery¡­ The urologist said he''s fine now but he needs to stay there for three days..."


    Tatiana broke free from the two, "Three days?! That''s so lucky! I''m stuck here for a month at least!"


    I shook my head, "That''s just healing and for assessment after the surgery... It''s much worse..."


    Natasha looked so guilty, "R-Really?"


    Tatiana asked, "How?"


    Kaley added as she turned to Tatiana, "You wouldn''t like the recovery process... Especially if it happens to you..."


    Cynthia grew curious, "What? He''s not supposed to do it with someone?"


    Rin almost chuckled but covered her mouth, "Tatiana wouldn''t survive that..."


    Tatiana snorted, "Well, I don''t have a dick to break so..."


    ''IT''S NEVER NOT FUNNY!''


    "Tatiana! You! It''s really ha-- difficult, you know?" Kaley was the one holding things together.


    I nodded as I turned to Natasha, "Yep. No intercourse for a month at least. He broke his dick, not his ribs and his arm. He''ll be able to move as normal but intercourse is out of the question."


    Natasha nodded guiltily, "That''s right¡­ That''s what the doctor said too¡­ At least no intercourse for a month and for it to fully heal would take more¡­ He needs follow-ups and more imaging studies in the future just to make sure he''s healed properly..."


    Tatiana interjected, "Damn. You still haven''t answered it though¡­ You''re on top, aren''t ya?"


    Natasha exploded, "OF COURSE, I AM! I-- I WENT A LITTLE TOO HARD, OKAY?!"


    "Hah! A little?! I knew it! Don''t ride anyone else you sleep with like you do with Mr. Stud here, okay? Test the waters first before--"


    "Hngh~ Dammit! I fucked up! He''s a really sweet guy and I b-broke his d-dick on the first night we''ve been together¡­ He won''t even speak to me as he kept asking the doctor if it''ll still... you know¡­ work¡­ e-even if the doctor said many times that it will¡­ You guys think it will? Is he mad at me?"


    Kaley nodded, "Of course, it will. Maybe he''s mad? He just needs to take it easy and no joking like this when you meet with him, okay? And... u-umm..."


    Everyone turned to Kaley as she trailed, "And what?"


    Kaley turned a shade of red before muttering, "I''ll never forgive you if you broke his too, okay?! There! I said it! If there''s someone that''s bound to break it from riding it too much, it should be me!"


    ''Wut...''


    "Not you too~! Please! It really is an ident!"


    "I know! I just had to say it in the open! If you join us sometime, you''re not allowed to ride him!"


    "W-What?! B-But I like being on top--"


    "Out of the question!"


    Tatiana interjected as she chuckled, "Eh~ He could take it..."


    "Agree..." Cynthia nodded a few times.


    "We still need to be careful..." Rin had a tinge of worry on her face.


    "I''m not joiningter! W-Well¡­ i-it d-depends if he still wanted to talk to me but..."


    "A month is too long, right? C''mon, just say it!"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ b-but I''ll visit him when you know¡­ he wants me to..."


    I almost bonked all of their heads, "You guys should stop¡­ Ibarra''s injured and you''re talking about who gets to ride meter? I''ll have to bring in Lois or someone else avable. Okay, avoid talking about Ibarra in public but do visit him and take care of him if he still wants you to. It''s gonna be really embarrassing for him but you know¡­ he really does like you."


    "R-Really? You don''t m-mind?"


    "I have no say in that, you figure out what you want to do. We have our own arrangement here, albeitplicated. I think I kinda know what Ibarra wanted to talk to me about earlier... If he brings it up, figure it out with him too. Just know what each other wants and proceed to what you decided on."


    "S-Sure¡­ I''ll try to check on him lter then¡­ He''s still sleeping when I left the hospital... He might w-wake up s-soon..."


    Tatiana started losing it, "No morning wood then?"


    As soon as Tatiana said that, I lost allposure but we were almost beaten up by Kaley and Natasha. Cynthia and Rin wanted tough too because, in any universe, it really was never not funny unless it happened to you.


    After a short while, Natasha joined us for breakfast but she did prepare a take-out meal for Ibarra. She ced them neatly on a container before hastily leaving for the hospital. I gave her the day-off too and surprisingly enough, her substitution for today was Gemma.


    She was rmended by the soldier Artem brought once and for the next few days, she will be substituting for Natasha.


    Gemma was the person we took in before and locked up for a bit but she was now one of the civilians turned fighters. We had a short history because her past group tried to take everything from us but we mercilessly took them down, making her kill their leader and serial instigator. She was with another kid named Joseph when they came with us but he stuck to farm work and other misceneous jobs while Gemma got several certifications.


    With that said, she also passed the psych evaluation Marisha put her through and she was now living among normal people without much judgment.


    We picked her up from the DDR Camp and she was d with a ker vest, a proper helmet, and a standard belt with her sidearm and the rest of her equipment. It included a radio, a knife, a pistol magazine, a shlight, a small medkit, arge pouch for various items or used mags, and one extra magazine for her AR. She was obviously carrying a basic AR with iron sights plus a normal 1911.


    I greeted her with a faint smile as soon as she came up to us, "Long time, no talk. Doing okay?"


    "Yeah. It''s been a while. Where are we going?"


    "Supplies."


    "But which kind?"


    "Construction but we''ll be going first before the trucks. We''ll clear two whole blocks before sending them in. If we''re lucky, we could snag a few delivery trucks there too so taking them home will be easier."


    "I see, who I''m gonna ride with?"


    Artem called from their vehicle, "You ride with us, I hope you don''t go too hard."


    Katya''s voice resounded from the inside, "ARTEM!"


    Gemma gave a look of puzzlement, "What?"


    Artem chuckled softly, "Not important, we''ll tell you if you do good. Ah-- no, no¡­ I think we just signed an NDA. Hop on!"


    It didn''t take long before we were driving on the road but this time, I was driving instead of Ibarra. We passed by a few checkpoints on the way and the soldiers guarding said checkpoints let us through when they saw using. We also met with a few roaming groups that were assigned to clearing jobs but we drove further than them.


    The ce we were about to hit was a block or two of several outlets that used to sell construction materials and equipment. It was scouted long ago but the reason we decided to hit it now was that an unfinished construction project was right next to it and it had a lot more materialsying around and equipment just waiting to be taken.


    The project was supposed to be a medium-sized condominium of sorts and it was just bare skeleton looking from the outside.


    As soon as we arrived, I let Jared and Lois stay in our vehicle while I brought Kaley with me to circle around with Mikhail and Cynthia.


    "Head for the locks first and secure the enclosure. We''ll clear the outlets before we enter that ce. Lois, fly the drones overhead andpare the inside from what we received."

 Chapter 647 - Material Run Get Fucked.

    The four of us went down to lock up the enclosure of the unfinished construction project first while Artem and the rest of his team started circling around the perimeter, taking down anything that wasn''t supposed to be moving. There haven''t been any guns fired yet and everyone''s been going at it as quietly as possible.


    From the enclosure, there were three entrances that needed to be chained up and locked with a padlock, and we just managed to secure the first one. It was like the first level of any game and all I had to do was roll the fence to the other side and lock it. My teammates were watching my back and they didn''t even do much because we stopped right at the first gate.


    We didn''t waste time waiting for the stragglers toe for us since we jumped back to the Raptor and drove for the second entrance.


    As soon as we did, I jumped down with my katana drawn and shed down to a deadhead wearing a reflective vest. My de chopped down until it reached its sorry neck but I pulled it up before going for another unsuspecting victim. I just flicked my wrist and my de went from ear to ear before its head slid off, rendering it unable to wear a hat anymore.


    Mikhail followed right after I took down another stumbling deadhead and as soon as he ran up to one wearing a construction uniform, he swung from below with the hammer side, making its jaw force its way up into the rest of its skull before shattering them into pieces. I was surprised it didn''t fly a few feet back but I noticed that Mikhail was stepping on its right foot..


    The sound it created was so wrong and satisfying at the same time and Mikhail swung for the second time, decapitating another one wearing a construction uniform.


    ''Well, that''s one way to avoid their helmet...''


    With that said, Kaley and Cynthia followed after us but they fanned to the side with Mikhail so I could safely secure the second entrance. It was the same rolling fence as the first one and it was secured without much obstructions. However, I started noticing something peculiar with the deadheadsing from the construction site since they would almost always have the same type of injury.


    I called out to Lois, "Hey! Seen anything yet?!"


    "It''s about the same but the truck mixer seemed to have been used!"


    "Used? Mixer? Did it pour concrete somewhere?"


    "Yeah! Right at the center! A lot of deadheads are stuck in it too!"


    ''So, that''s why...''


    I didn''t pay much attention to the ones I put down but the one Mikhail just killed was de-gloved up to its elbows, only sporting bits of its rotten flesh covered by sand, dirt, or cement powder. Furthermore, the ones I sawing from the inner area of the construction site were way worse. It would be fairly easy to miss but seeing a bunch of them at once would make one think of the cause.


    "Okay, I''m done here! Jump back in and--"


    As soon as I turned around, a crooked figure just jumped over the fenced gate and over me, and it charged straight for our vehicle.


    Its head was much lower than its shoulders but its arms were covered in blocks of cement. There were a few cracks here and let''s just say it just gained a certain affinity to elements from the earth. However, its bnce was so fucked, it was getting pulled towards its cemented fists, like a first time dog owner walking a dog a few sizes bigger than them.


    It''s just that it swung overhead, straight for my precious Raptor.


    "Watch the truck--"


    I was about to cut its legs off but before it managed to m its fists on our hood, Jared lodged a bullet between its ssy eyes. However, I almost jumped up in fright when the gate behind me rattled so much and I could see a dozen silhouettes through the thin tarp covering it. I took a few steps back and I got ready for a few more that were about toe.


    However, Jared stood up on the roof of the truck, "That''s just the one, bro. Easy pickings from here. I have eyes on everything."


    "Okay," I just drew my knife to start stabbing but Cynthia already made her way past everyone.


    "Let me."


    Cynthia''s rapier was the right tool for the job and it easily pierced through the shuffling heads trying to bite something their decaying teeth couldn''t go through. I did help with a few on the opposite side she started in to quicken the job then we jumped on the Raptor once more. It was a touch-and-go with our little operation but I would like it if our means of transport would stay intact.


    As soon as we came upon the final entrance, everything else that got disturbed inside was now trying to straddle up to us. Even with a suppressed shot, the noise was enough to travel a few feet and wake up or lure the deadheads sleeping or wandering inside the premises.


    Almost all of them looked like they just pulled themselves out of quick-drying cement and a select few paid more than the outeryer covering the rest of their bodies just to get out. There was one who got almost all of its right arm ripped off but there was a little nub it could still wiggle around. However, that little nub of bone would still turn anyone even if it made a little cut.


    There was also one who possibly fell t on its stomach when the mixer had just poured cement because it would be a fine disy for an anatomy ss if it wasn''t trying to bite our heads off.


    Cynthia turned to me, "Are we still gonna keep them here? They might¡­ you know..."


    I nodded, "Yeah, we should--"


    I was still in mid-sentence when someone next to me unloaded everything in her mag and took down everything in front of us in just a few seconds. We were right next to each other and the brass casings just hit me on the side but she was already changing mags once I turned to her.


    Kaley muttered, "Whew¡­ I''m still getting used to the reset..."


    "That''s¡­ that''s 25 rounds of .308 right there..."


    "Geez~ You''re too stingy with .308s and you don''t even bat an eye if I use 100 5.56s..."


    "Ah-- Sure¡­ As long as you''re getting used to it more and more..."


    Cynthia interjected whileughing awkwardly, "Are w-we gonna lock this down, now? The rest are too far--"


    Jared just let out a light chuckle before jumping down from the Raptor''s roof because he just took down three deadheads on the far end from where we were in quick session. Lois wasn''t able topete with his older brother because he was stuck with drone duty, but Jared couldn''t help but keep leering on me because he was still jealous of Kaley using The Reaper.


    Even if his prized SCAR was still his favorite rifle, Kaley didn''t do as much begging to get an upgrade. Well, I easily gave Jared his old 716 from Sig before but he seemed to have forgotten already.


    Nevertheless, handing out two high-caliber rifles to these two wasn''t a wrong choice. They were easily among the best of our long-shooters or snipers and something would always plop down each time they pulled their trigger.


    With that said, we changed our npletely as we made this enclosure to be the first one to bepletely cleared of deadheads.


    It was because this ce was big enough to house a few trucks we would send on the way and we could just use this ce as a restocking point or a gathering area before driving back to thepound. We could just dump everything we would potentially gather from the outlets outside instead of hauling them in the vehicles we brought that weren''t enough to contain even a tenth of the resources avable.


    I pulled out my radio and called Artem''s team.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey, change of ns. Come over here first and I need to specifically speak to Bogdan."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Da, talking.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''ll put you to work."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What kind of work?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''ll need you to blow something up to see what''s underneath it. You''re the demolition guy, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hah! That puts a smile on my face! I always have a few sticks of dynamite here but I''d need a drill or something bigger to bore a hole to put them in so I could arm them properly.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''re in the enclosure. You know, the unfinished condominium? I''ll shave my head if we couldn''t find something you could use."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Da! That''s good, that''s good.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    After a short while, they came in looking curiously at the corpses we put down but Bogdan was already twirling the sticks of dynamite on his hands. Artem and his team went ahead and cleared a path for us right until we got to the area where therge mixer poured over arge batch of cement into arge hole that was supposed to be a basement and an area where pipes would run through.


    The hard cement looked like swiss cheese right now because of the holes made by the deadheads that were partially covered and pulled themselves out. However, there were still a few that haven''t managed to pull themselves out but what we did to help them was push in a sharp de right into their exposed orifices.


    Bogdan didn''t even need to bore a hole into the cement flooring as he just dropped a couple of dynamites in the deeper holes avable before telling us to get cover.


    "I''m gonna arm them soon! Clear away a few more feet!"


    As soon as he took cover himself, he pressed the detonator and a loud explosion just erupted before dust, pieces of flesh, and debris came flying all over. The ce we took cover was far enough that the things the flew out didn''t even stain our boots and our demolition guy did an awesome job.


    Bogdan was brightly smiling with his sessful work but his celebration was cut short.


    One after another, crooked arms and blown-up fingers came into view and they were moving like worms sprinkled with salt. They were iling their fucked up limbs all over as they tried to crawl up, but each of us just pulled a grenade from our pouches and chucked it inside the huge hole Bogdan made.


    Several explosions followed and it was quiet for a few seconds.


    ''This isn''t a fucking cutscene... Get fucked.''

 Chapter 648 - Centipedes Pops?

    After the scene that looked like an uncovered blender spurting out chunky pieces of a smoothie, there were still a few that managed toe out.


    However, let''s just say it brought up bad memories to a certain film where a psycho stitched up three individuals together.


    The only difference this time was the main perpetrator was the one eating some fucked up ass in the backline and there were more than one of them. With that said, not all of them were in the same orientation but the ''thread'' keeping them together was running through each of their bodies. Blood and pus were present in the holes it made and they were leaking out from the rotting bits the pping fleshy parts were hanging from.


    They all ran in different directions but once they tagged our general location, all of them just turned abruptly before scampering at full speed.


    "SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT!"


    Gunshots erupted but since I was one of the closest to the explosion, I only had time to take a step back for a second.


    The first one that came up to me was a Tailor wearing three whole bodies in a straight line while moving on all fours. The first segment came at me with its fucked up ws but I chopped them off with a horizontal sh from a draw-sh before drawing my pistol with my left and sending two bullets from under its chin, exiting the top of its skull..


    However, it still came at me after a short pause but I still had enough clearance to lop its head off.


    But as soon as I did, I saw an outline of a long fucking tongue in its body ''untangling'' itself from the first segment beforeing at me with a fresh one. The ''thread'' that came out of the first segment just wrapped around the second body''s neck and arms before digging into its spine.


    Everything happened in a split second but before I even tried to see more of its ''stitching'' capabilities, it fell down after an angled shot came from its blindside.


    The shot came from Kaley''s rifle and she was on her feet, assisting anyone that was face to face with a target hiding behind itsrades. And since my hands were free of my current target, I sheathed my katana before raising my rifle and flicking off the safety switch.


    We sent lead projectiles straight to the main body of the ''centipedes''ing for everyone else but there were cases where the main bodies were right in front or in between. Despite that, it was just more targets to bore holes through and our crew could handle themselves.


    Even Cynthia who was face to face with something that had three heads was having a little fun because aside from flicking the safety switch, she also flicked a little something we call the ''fun-not-allowed-in-certain-parts-of-the-US'' switch. She just held onto the trigger for a few seconds and she made more orifices than its three heads could handle.


    Its heads just plopped on the spot with bloody pulpsing out of its new ''holes'' and it had no chance to untangle itself and start over.


    With that said, there still seemed to be a lot moreing from the hole Bogdan just made for us. It must''ve been the right choice for the people who poured cement over them to seal this ce off but it wasn''t the right choice for our group.


    I''ll only rest easy if all of them were turned to carbon residue and I''ll only allow sealing something if it involved a master of all the elements and if it could save the world.


    Kaley covered me as I pulled another grenade from my pouch but I saw a stick of dynamite flying in the same direction. Bogdan and I made eye contact for a brief moment but he was lighting another one with histe friend''s Cuban cigars. He threw them at the same exact spot and a deadhead that just crawled out got distracted for a short moment.


    Another set of explosions rang out and we heard a screeching noise from outside of the enclosure.


    It was definitely from a set of tires and they wereing closer and closer. A few gunshots wereing from their side and one thing''s for sure: if they were from us, they would''ve rung us up already.


    Even Lois quickly pulled his drone back and our Raptor was drawn back with the rest of our vehicles,pletely blocking thest entrance. Furthermore, our group worked double time because if those folks came with ill intentions we wouldn''t want to be in the middle of stitched-up deadheads and a bunch of randoms.


    I helped Kaley up a medium-sized trailer before pulling myself up the same spot and she already fired a few shots at the stragglers waiting for the right opportunity.


    It was fun seeing her put down deadheads seamlessly with her new rifle but we just saw Katya pick up a stack of cut-up rebars and shove it at the back of the head of a walker wearing a welding mask. It was like a melee version of a double-aught buckshot as it punched several holes right through its poorly shielded head.


    With that said, she pulled it out and she was rewarded with the most fucked up kebab I''ve ever seen but she shoved it into another unsuspecting victim because it wascking ingredients. It was just nasty discolored bits after nasty discolored bits and she just grew tired of it and used it to trip up a deadhead straddling towards her.


    The most mobile out of everyone now that Tatiana was in recovery was Artem because even if he was still using two K-Bar knives, the long ''centipede'' following after him couldn''t even draw blood. He was circling in a way that his pursuer''s legs would trip up with each other and he finished it off by making a stack of H Beams fall on top of it before stabbing the skull of its main body.


    We just finished off the main threats in just a few moments but the rest were watching out for anything that mighte out of the hole we kept erging with each explosive. However, the randoms we were watching out for just rammed their truck through one of the entrances we just closed off.


    An older guy carrying a scratched-up 870 came out from the driver''s seat while a couple of his ''henchmen'' followed right after with a wary expression. The old dude was ring at all of us but he seemed to be short-sided from the way he was squinting a little too much. Nevertheless, he definitely had pipes on him because he just shouted at the top of his lungs right from the get-go.


    "WHAT THE HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! HOW MANY TIMES DO I GOTTA-- WHO THE FUCK ARE YA LOT?! YOU AREN''T THOSE KIDS FROM THE-- WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!"


    ''Kids from what?''


    Everyone else was just stunned in ce wearing a puzzled expression while his henchmen were trying their best just to push him back to their vehicle.


    "POPS! CAN''T YOU SEE THEY''RE SOLDIERS?! GET BACK ON THE TRUCK!"


    "POPS! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO IF THEY COME BACK AND STEAL FROM US AGAIN?! AREN''T WE SUPPOSED TO--"


    "YOU TWO SHUT THE FUCK UP BEFORE I SMACK YOU IN YOUR HEADS! IT''S YOUR FAULT WE GOT ROBBED THE LAST TIME AND I WOULDN''T LET IT HAPPEN EVER AGAIN!"


    ''Robbed?''


    "BUT POPS--"


    I called out from a safe distance, "Hey! Friendly here! Can I call you pops, too?"


    "YOU MILITARY DOGS AREN''T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! THIS IS PRIVATE PROPER--"


    I chuckled loud enough to tick him off, "Aren''t you Aaron Rodriguez?"


    As soon as I said that, his face twisted into puzzlement and the guys trying to calm him down turned to me with the same expression.


    "WHO THE FUCK ARE YA?! WHY DO YOU--"


    Before he managed to utter another word, I just pointed at the huge-ass banner that had hisrge fucking face and fucking name written next to arge amount of money written in a muchrger font size to unt the amount of money he ''procured'' to make this part of town a little bit more ''modernized''.


    This ce would''ve been finished ages ago if it weren''t for the end of the worlding much sooner.


    With that said, he couldn''t help but look more times at the gaping hole we just made at the center of his supposed condominium than me.


    He cleared his throat before ring at me, "What the fuck happened here?! And that-- And that fucking mixer! Who poured cement over that-- SHIT! Why is it so--"


    I cut him off, "I was about to ask you myself. Did the ''kids'' you''re talking about responsible for this? And you said they stole from you, when did that happen?"


    He was just about to answer when an arrow whistled as it flew by, lodging itself in his neck.

 Chapter 649 - Denied Whats In The Basement?

    As soon as that happened, we watched ''Pops'' choke on his own blood that pooled on the back of his throat before all of it poured out from his mouth, dripping the side of his lips and staining his shirt. It trickled down his arms too but once he saw his own reflection from the windows of his truck, he got weak on the knees, spurted out another mouthful of blood, before tumbling down on the dirt road.


    The two guys next to him didn''t know what to do but one of them pulled him away from the side of their truck to get cover while the other just started firing his pistol in the general direction from where the attack came from. Round after round resounded and he quickly changed mags before firing a few more.


    I wasn''t sure if the guy with the pistol hit anything but the guy trying to help Pops didn''t know the first thing about giving emergency medical care. He was trying to pull the arrow out from Pops'' neck but all he did was make him bleed even more.


    ''He''s gonna die if he keeps on doing that...''


    "POPS!!! ARE ALL OF YOU JUST GONNA WATCH?!"


    As cold as it would sound, I signaled everyone to stay in ce..


    My first go-to would be to jump down and help them but we knew jack shit about both parties, and one of the rules about giving treatment to someone on the battlefield was making sure that you wouldn''t follow right after and be in the same state as the person you were trying to get to.


    Instinctively, it would be better to get to the wounded as soon as it happened but logically speaking, the ''healer'' should be able to go in and out with the wounded in question without sacrificing themselves or being another piece of bait that the enemy could take advantage of.


    Oscar told me a story about this and he once had to let one of his old friends bleed out in the open.


    We know the third party could use bows or crossbows seemingly urately but we could also assume they have other means of taking down their targets. They could be holding off on using rifles they could''ve picked up along the way and I''d rather get hit with an arrow or a crossbow bolt rather than a lead projectile traveling faster than a normal person could react to.


    On our side, each of us took cover and surveyed the surroundings but a few were still watching out from the hole which spawned abominations right when we knocked on its door with a few sticks of dynamite. At the same time, Kaley and I were trying to figure out if that attack was just a diversion of some sort but we were drawing nks about the whole premise of that assassination.


    However, we just heard a vehicle peeling away at great speeds but just judging from the sound it made, it came from a high-speed motorcycle. It only took a few seconds to gain significant distance but the guy that started unloading his pistol jumped on their truck and tried to give chase.


    It''s just that the guy that tried to ''help'' Pops ran in front of the truck and blocked him before shouting at the top of his lungs.


    "ADRIAN! HEY! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! POPS IS GONNA DIE AND--"


    "SHUT UP, CHRIS! THEY''RE GETTING AWAY AND WE''RE LETTING THEM! CALL THE OTHERS AND--"


    "BUT POPS! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO WITH POPS?!"


    "YOU THINK HE COULD SURVIVE THAT?! HE''S GONNA BLEED OUT IN-- FUCK! I''M SORRY, POPS!!!"


    "ADRIAN!!! NO--"


    We just watched the Adrian guy shakily raise his pistol before euthanizing Pops who had already lost a third of his blood volume. What''s worse was that the bullet hole that ended his life was much smaller than the wound on both sides of his neck. The wound channel just erged to the point three fingers were enough to fit inside and it was due to ack of knowledge about treating this type of emergency.


    In some sort of fucked up way, Adrian did more to help with Pop''s suffering even if it ultimately cost him his life.


    "ARE YOU GETTING IN OR--"


    "YOU''RE A PIECE OF SHIT!!!"


    "LET GO!!!"


    The two instantly tangled together and got into a fistfight but Chris only led by emotion. He never had the chance to win against his opponent as he was eating punches left and right.


    I was about to tell Mikhail to break them off but my radio buzzed. I was expecting one of our groups that were around the area but I heard an unfamiliar voice that sounded that it came from a younger woman.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Thanks for keeping him still.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    ''What?''


    I pulled out my radio and looked around the area while Kaley kept silent and listened in.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Who is this?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Oh, we haven''t introduced ourselves yet. We''re the ''kids'' you''re looking for from your public broadcasts. You have a radio station, right? We like you, you''re lit.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Lit? Hmm~ You guys just kill people and bounce while wearing Jordans?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Heh. You know about that, huh? Sometimes, we do. But for the only ones who deserved it though...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Deserved it?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yup! Just ''talk'' to those two and you''ll see! We''ll talk to you soon! Bye~!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Wai-- Hello?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    The person I was speaking to didn''t reply after multiple attempts of trying to call out to them.


    Kaley and I were wearing the same solemn expression but looking over at everyone else, they didn''t receive the call that I did. Katya and Marina who were closer to us were curious as to who I was speaking to while Mikhail and Artem tried to break up the two who were in a one-sided beatdown.


    "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU-- GRCK!"


    Artem made the Adrian guy eat dirt, "Stay down."


    "How about you?" Mikhail asked before lifting Chris with one hand.


    Chris heaved before muttering, "I-I give¡­ I''m not¡­ I''m not gonna f-fight..."


    It was easy enough for two elite soldiers to keep two civilians away from each other especially the unruly and gassed-up ones. With that said, they confiscated everything they had on their person while Bogdan and Igor searched their vehicles. They found a few more rounds of ammo and misceneous supplies just enough to get them going for a day or two.


    After that, we bound them in ropes while I asked Artem to scout around to see if there would still be people lurking in the shadows and watching us. It could just be a two-man team for all we know but I''m just hoping for traces left from where they stayed in.


    ''It''s the only exnation but I have more questions...''


    I was sure that if they rode in, we could''ve heard the bike they used despite the explosions and these guys here weren''t idiots to not notice they were being followed. Furthermore, they knew the ce these guys would drive in despite the obstruction and they were in the perfect ce tounch their attack.


    ''Why is this ce so important though? We just blew up an empty basement-- Is it really empty? Is that why he''s so mad? Not only because we kept throwing things in it but it was covered with cement? Is this just an empty hole or there''s something ''Pops'' was legitimately angry about?''


    I was deep in thought before I crouched in front of Chris and Adrian.


    "Hey, you two calm now?"


    "..."


    "Okay¡­ I''m guessing you''re family or friends of Mr. Rodriguez here but I still need to ask a few questions. First things first, is umm¡­ Pops-- Mr. Rodriguez the leader of your group? Or is he just one of those elder type things who just talks a lot of smack?"


    "..."


    "I''ll cut the ropes off of the one who answers..."


    Chris looked at me with his bruised and cut-up face, "Y-Yes..."


    "Yes, what?"


    "Rope¡­ I¡­ I a-answered..."


    "That''s not enough of an answer. Is he your leader or just a guy with a high position? I''ll even fix your face if you tell me where you guys came from and why did you threee here? D''you have a hidden stash or something?"


    "I--"


    Adrian interjected, "S-Shut up, C-Chris..."


    I lightly chuckled as I leaned over, "Now you''re sounding a little too suspicious, hmm? Please, I''m just asking some questions. The best the two of you could do is answer them while I''m still asking nicely. You see, I''m definitely curious as to where your current base is."


    Chris spat out bloody saliva on the side before turning to me, "Why''s that? Everyone got one at least¡­ And not everyone wanted to follow someone from the government¡­ We could do well on our own..."


    "That''s true but I have a list-- I mean, lists. I have lists that are from a few cities at least and your status on one of them just turned from ''missing or presumed dead'' to ''alive and well''. If you want to keep it that way, it''ll be in your best interest to answer my question pertaining to this abandoned construction project that the three of you aren''t even living on."


    Adrian shook his head as he averted his gaze, "This is Pops'' ce. That''s it. Living on it or not¡­ that''s our business."


    I sighed as I started to let out a bit of pressure, "What''s in the basement?"

 Chapter 650 - Last-Last Chance - Hey, You Done Yet?

    It was still high noon but the temperature around us seemingly lowered by a few degrees and they began to involuntarily hup. Leaning even closer, I began talking about the same things I did with them just with the added pressure.


    With that said, I was watching their reactions to the things I was saying or asking, and once keywords like ''stash'', ''hidden'', or ''basement'' were mentioned, a few involuntary ticks would surface. Prolonged eye contact, a slight change in tone, and hurried breathing were the few things I noticed aside from the subtle change in their bodynguage.


    Furthermore, they already gave a pseudo-admission that something was of value in the hole that Pops made so much deal about. However, the group that just offed him didn''t care as much as to what was potentially good loot and seemingly left it in our care.


    Despite that, the two still decided topletely deny and avoid my inquiries but only an idiot would believe them.


    They could only deny something so much that people asking them would believe the opposite of what they were verbally telling to other people.


    I just sighed before I shook my head, "If that''s how you want this to go down¡­ Mikhail, get their radios and check the channel they were on."


    Mikhail nodded before turning to the pile we took off of them, "Where did we put them agai--"


    Cynthia decided to help him before tapping his back, "H-Hey, here. I found them."


    Mikhail nodded approvingly before taking the two radios away from her hands, "Thanks."


    I looked over the two, "Same channel?"


    "Da."


    I turned to Cynthia, "How about Pops'' radio?"


    Cynthia instantly turned around to look for it, "Oh, wait a-- found it! And~ Y-Yes, it''s also in the same channel¡­ What are we gonna do now?"


    I looked over the two once more before saying, "Remember the channel they were in and try checking the other channels avable. They''ve been gone for a while already and it seemed like no one was trying to look for them. It''s either they quickly flipped it or something else happened..."


    As soon as I said that, Chris and Adrian''s reaction told me that they didn''t jumble up the channel they were using. They just turned to each other with a puzzled look and if they really had a group somewhere, it was normal for them to try and make contact every few minutes or even an hour but there was nary a buzz or staticing from the other side.


    I just acted that I didn''t see their reactions as I added, "While you''re doing that, we''re gonna line up everything we put down in this construction project before peeking in that hole we made."


    Cynthia''s eyebrows scrunched, "What? Lining them up? Why?"


    "We''re just gonna cover all of the bases avable and then some¡­ We just made contact with both groups, it''s better to know which one we''re gonna give a hand: one of them, both¡­ or none at all¡­ Kaley."


    Kaley was just silently watching the two before she turned to me, "Hmm?"


    "Can you watch the entrance they tore down while Mikhail watches these two? Jared will stay in our Raptor and Cynthia will continue looking through the channels avable."


    Kaley nodded, "Sure. Are you gonna line them up yourself?"


    I shook my head slightly before pulling out my radio.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey, you. Help me with something. Stop flying the drone for a moment since Artem and his team are scouting around already."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah-- Sure¡­ Wait, Can''t I just watch the other two?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You can''t even beat Russel or Chris-- our Chris in a fight."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Bro, I have a gun¡­ remember?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You don''t have to tell me that but I should remind you where you got them from. So, get your ass out of that truckbed before I tell some shit to Olivia she doesn''t need to--"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [AH! AH! AH! Shut it, bro! I''ming out~ I''ming out~]


    *bzzt*


    -


    It didn''t take long before Lois and I went to work and we really did line up the bodies we put down side by side. After that, we took a bunch of pictures and some footage for documentation, focusing on the degree of rot in their bodies, the mutations that urred, and most importantly, ces where we could possibly get them ID''d such as their faces, birthmarks, tattoos, unusual piercings, and sometimes, the clothes they were wearing.


    It would be difficult for a stranger to ID someone based on the things I just mentioned, especially in their condition, but a close rtive or a close friend might just be able to go on from that.


    The only thing that made the job a little tedious was we needed to ''untangle'' the ones stuck together before taking another set of pictures.


    However, cutting the tongues off with a knife slowly and not as fast as I do with my sharp de revealed that the ''thread'' that ran through their victims'' bodies was more tight or rigidpared to a normal one.


    I wasn''t an expert on cutting tongues but it definitely felt denser than normal.


    After a while, we finished with the ones on the surface but before Lois and I started to chip off more of the cement poured over the basement, Artem and his team arrived. They just parked at the third entrance and he left a couple of his men to guard their vehicle while letting Bogdan apany Jared and Marina apany Kaley. They walked on each side while Artem approached me with Katya.


    "We just finished going around the block twice. We checked each ce and secured them right after too."


    "Found anything useful?"


    Artem looked around our disy before nodding, "Yes, you''re right. One of the outlets was used as a hiding spot since we discovered bits of trash and food containers that still had fresh leftovers, mostly. Also, we found a used condom, chewed-up gum, fresh cigarette butts, recently reced AA batteries, and etc."


    Katya interjected, "Don''t forget about the door filled with holes."


    "Holes? Lemme guess¡­ Are they made with arrowheads?"


    "Yeah."


    "Did you take a picture?"


    "Of what?"


    "The holes."


    "N-No¡­ but they''re just h-holes with a bit of cuts on the side..."


    ''Broadheads or something¡­ Definitely the same people...''


    I faintly nodded, "How about brass casings? Found any?"


    Katya nodded, "Not in that area but there are a few scattered around on the streets. Mostly pistol rounds but we found some for rifles along with broken arrows too¡­ There weren''t any stuck in zombie''s heads though¡­ just the part where the feathers are located."


    "You mean the fletching?"


    Katya slightly squinted as she stared at me, "Yeah, whatever you call them."


    I didn''t put it much into my mind, "They must be taking the tips then. The one in Pops'' neck had expandable broadheads, not just those simple bullet points or field points¡­ They could have different types too..."


    Katya grew curious, "And that means?"


    "Absolutely nothing," I replied tly.


    Lois and Artem started chuckling but Katya couldn''t help but stare at me menacingly, "You..."


    I lightly chuckled before I waved them off, "Well, for now. It just tells us they know their shit around bows and they''re not just using them for vanity or just for copying someone from a show they liked."


    Katya asked, "Do you know how to use bows?"


    "Yeah¡­ a bit... but guns are more fun in my opinion. Enough talk, help us with this hole¡­ We''ll find out more about them soon..."


    "Sure..."


    After some time, we made use of the tools avable and we broke off and chipped the cement ''lid'' for the basement in question. We did make a bit of noise by using jackhammers and such but we got plenty of people to keep the stragglers contained. It was easy enough to break them off because of the holes from the surface and most of the cement just formed the ''lid'' and didn''t flow through the bottom.


    With that said, it was fortunate that we didn''t encounter more deadheads inside the hole we were trying to erge and we took less than a couple of hours to clear everything.


    The rubble was piled on one side of this construction project while the fucked up meat parts inside were scooped out andid out next to the ones we lined up earlier. The same process was done to the fucked up ''puzzle pieces'' and the hole was now safe for inspection.


    I turned to the two who were still keeping their mouths shut, "Last chance. What are we gonna see once we go down?"


    Chris turned to Adrian but he just shook his head before continuing to look down. It seemed like what''s hidden beneath was something they were prepared to die for and they''d rather let us uncover it as to just tell us what was below.


    However, Chris just sighed heavily before looking at me straight in the eye.


    "If I tell you, you gotta give us a chance."


    I chuckled, "It''s not like we wouldn''t see what''s down there if you don''t tell us. I''m just seeing how well you could cooperate so I could decide on what to do with you after this is all over."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "You see, as I said earlier, I covered all the bases I could and then some. Chances are, the three of you-- the two of you plus ''Pops'' aren''t supposed to be here and since we have bodycams, documentation of the bodies, and the means to contact your group, we can just sit back and eat popcorn before everything copses on you two. So,stst chance¡­ I''m not even gonna ask about the basement anymore¡­ tell me something useful so we could save some time. If not, you''re not gonna be my problem anymore..."


    As soon as I finished talking the three radios we took from Chris, Adrian, and Pops buzzed at the same time. However, the same young voice of the woman I talked to earlier was on the other side.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey, you done yet?]


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 651 - Favor? - Rage

    Everyone else just turned in the direction from where the three radios were ced and the look on Chris and Adrian''s faces was almost indescribable. The mix of anger, fear, and despair made their eyes go as red as how their faces were. Furthermore, Adrian was shaking uncontrobly and he drew blood from biting his lips a little too hard.


    "THERE''S A LATCH UNDER THE EXHAUST FANS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE! JUST PULL ON IT AND IT''LL-- FUCKING LET ME GO! I NEED TO-- LET ME GO! PLEASE! I''M BEGGING YOU!!!"


    Adrian was the one willing to die to keep their secrets but as soon as they heard the voice from the radio, he flipped sides as fast as he could. However, before I could ask him to calm down and tell me everything, the same voice resounded once more.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey~ I thought they would''ve killed you by now but I guess they haven''t¡­ yet.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    "WHERE''S MY WIFE AND MY KIDS?! WHERE ARE--"


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Where''s your soul?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    ''What?''


    "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! IF YOU TOUCH--"


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Calm down, they''re alive. We killed most of you though¡­ Right, can I talk to my guy?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Everyone looked at me so I picked up the radio.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Why are you taking so long?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m covering all of the bases, documentation of all sorts. We''re just about to enter the basement."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Oh, I see. I need a favor. Can you keep them alive? At least one of them?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Why the change of heart?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [It''ll be better if their families saw what they did first. I think it''ll be better if his wife kills him. She''ll definitely do it. She''s such a nice--]


    *bzzt*


    -


    "LEAVE MY WIFE AND MY KIDS ALONE! YOU DON''T KNOW SHIT!"


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Shut up. Let''s see how tough you are once they see your ''pets''. Fuck-- I spoiled it. Gotta go, see ya~ Call me when you''re done!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    "HEY! DON''T FUCKING HANG UP ON ME! DON''T-- FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    Adrian never looked so distraught while Chris just looked like a kid that was caught red-handed. Both of them were shaking uncontrobly and their sweat have drenched their clothes. Everyone else was just too curious about the basement''s basement but we had to clean it up a little bit more.


    Even if it was like an open quarry, bits of flesh and blood were present with debris and other materials that were enough to give us a small cut, leading to infections.


    We found a hose that had a pump avable and we irrigated the basement in question. We sprayed water all around it and it didn''t take long before we noticed on the far side that water seemed to be flowing down. I approached it and poured water on the area and the same thing happened once more.


    ''Who would''ve thought?''


    It only meant one thing and it was that there was space avable for water to upy. It could be a bunker or a basement''s basement but the owner just got unlucky and wasn''t able to finish it in time.


    It was easy enough to clean the ce up then I easily found thetch and pulled on it. As soon as I did, a hiddenpartment revealed itself and it led us to a narrow staircase where lights were flickering on and off. We saw the bits of water that trickled down but dust and debris were present due to the explosions that happened earlier.


    It was a few feet deep but we were unnerved by the unintelligible noises we heard from below.


    Just from the tone, it was like a mix of excitement, fear, and longing that came from a dog''s whimper but bits of garbled human speech were mixed onto it. The pitch was a little higher than normal and something started churning in our stomachs. Something extremely unpleasant popped up in my head and I fucking hoped it wouldn''t be something as fucked up like that.


    Bogdan was the first one to voice his opinion, "What the fuck was that? Is it a dog or a child?"


    Katya waved him off, "Bogdan! You''re not helping! Shh!"


    "I just--"


    "It''s really weird, we know!"


    I was the first one that descended the stairs but I drew my pistol just in case. However, I was still met with three more doors, each having its own set of locks. It would be easy enough to pick all of them but the door on the left was where the eerie noises wereing from. Furthermore, we could see shadows from the slits below the door and we could hear dull thudsing from the other side.


    ''No...''


    I started contemting whether I should open the door or not but I decided to open itst. The sad whimper continued as I picked the locks for the door on the right and in the middle, but my mind was still on the door on the left. I was expecting scratching sounds to follow but dull thuds were resounding in between those eerie calls. Furthermore, it doesn''t feel like there was only one inside like the voice already mentioned.


    As soon as I opened the other doors, there was no outburst of joy whatsoever even if we hit the jackpot. The amount of valuable loot was enough tost a small group several months and the guns and ammo avable shouldn''t be sneezed at either. However, we just closed those doors and paused right in front of the most important one.


    My hand never felt so heavy when I picked those locks and the shock, disgust, and anger I disyed the moment I saw what''s on the other side of the door was indescribable. Killing intent poured out from every inch of my body as tears flowed from my eyes.


    However, almost immediately, the sad whimper turned into joy and that ''pet'' ran up to us, trying to snuggle with its little figure all of us were trying so hard not to look at.


    What we saw was a small, naked figure that had its arms and legs surgically removed up to its knees and its elbows, leaving small stumps for it to clumsily move around in all fours. Furthermore, its eyes had long lost their light and it seemed to be operating only on sounds and scents.


    I thought we''ve seen the worst of what a human being could do but looking at this poor figure even closer and discovering the amount of abuse it took with its fragile body was enough for me to lose myself.


    Every bit of negative emotion poured out from me and I didn''t even notice the little figure scampering away and hiding further in the room.


    Looking forward, I discovered that there were more of them and the one that ran up to us was the only weing one. Each of them was just scared out of their wits and a couple of them who were a little bit older had the ability to see.


    Their poor eyes were fixated on us but they were fearing us for the wrong reasons.


    In their eyes, we were strangers and not their fucking ''owner''.


    I couldn''t believe they survived here for a few days but the rancid smelling from their room was evident that they weren''t able to take care of themselves. The only thing they were trained to use were the dispensaries that provided them food and water.


    I could only guess that they just made a mess by pissing and shitting themselves, waiting for their ''owner'' to clean it up for them once they visited.


    Everything else just turned into a haze and I found myself right in front of Chris and Adrian. I didn''t even notice I ran up the stairs and climbed back up, and I could barely hear everyone trying to call out to me.


    I felt relieved I barely brought myself back because I wouldn''t want to know what I would do to them to be ryed when it was over.


    I''d definitely not follow through with the favor that was asked of me.


    I kicked Adrian''s head down before I pulled on his arms that were still tied to his back, forcing them to crack and dislocate until they were lined up with the rest of his body. I never felt such joy hearing a pig scream in pain, and Chris'' screams for mercy as he watched Adrian was music to my ears.


    However, I wasn''t done one bit because I bent every joint in his body that I could get my hands on, but the breaks weren''t fucking clean. Sharp bits were jutting out from his skin when I was halfway done but surprisingly enough, he was still awake when I was done folding his clothes while he was still wearing it.


    That was when I used a hammer as a reflex hammer, giving him a different kind of examination.


    Each strike I delivered to his body would make him spit out a mouthful of blood while his eyes moved maniacally, but I turned the hammer to the opposite side to pull off the rest of his teeth. All I needed to do was line them up perfectly before smacking the opposite side with force, making him choke on his blood and pieces of his tooth.


    I was so fucking mad I didn''t even notice that tears were still streaking down my face and I only knew when I caught my reflection from their truck.


    I just wiped them off with my sleeves before I struck down with force, cracking open Adrian''s skull and making everything that made his fucked up decisions spill out on the dirt road. I was sure that he was fucking dead but I struck down a few more times until I made something simr to a Jackson Pollock painting.


    Chris'' face was a mess when I walked in front of him and his eyes were focused on the hammer I was holding in my hand. He knew full well he was next but he passed out before I got to do anything.


    I snickered, "Like that would save you...."

 Chapter 652 - Concrete Burns - Do You Want Me To Get Back On The Drill?

    My mind was just so warped right now, I was actually feeling joy about making someone suffer something much worse than death.


    Their horrid cries earlier were the only thing I was hearing and everything else was just muffled and unintelligible. I saw some of Artem''s men trying to confront me but after trying multiple times, I guess they thought it was better to leave me alone.


    Kaley had the highest chance to stop me but I couldn''t see her anywhere, Cynthia too. I just surmised they were still under the basement with the rest of us that came down but seeing glimpses of Bogdan and Katya, I guess they chose to stay behind.


    I just couldn''t care as much right now because I found a drum where Chris could fit in perfectly.


    It was easy enough to throw him in but I made sure he wouldn''t be able to move a muscle because it would be hard to keep his head afloat once I started filling the drum with quick-drying cement. I already let go of the hammer I ravaged Adrian''s body with since I''ll be doing something a little more hands-off and literally slow-burning.


    It was at this moment when I heard someone''s voice clearly. It was just so monotone I would mistake it came from Jude.


    "What''s your n for that one?"


    I turned around and discovered that it was Artem.


    He was wearing his usual expression but like me, his eyes lost their shine. We were both devoid of any emotion except for anger and we both knew what to do to curb what we were feeling. It''s just that I got a short release with Adrian and Artem couldn''t just stay on the sidelines.


    However, he wouldn''t get some action from this one either.


    He had to find some other way to release some steam but if he was patient enough to wait for what I was about to do, he might make do.


    I replied, "I went a little too fast with that motherfucker¡­ This thing wouldst several hours¡­ a couple at least..."


    Artem didn''t say anything after but I made him hold Chris'' head in ce.


    I started filling the drum with the quick-drying cement I prepared in the mixer, and I filled the drum just enough to keep his head afloat even if wetched the lid on.


    Almost immediately, Chris started to wake up but it was already toote. He had no way to remove himself from the situation because he was bound by ropes, covered in cement, and being held up by one of our strongest fighters. All he could do was wiggle in ce and it would only just dy the drying process andpromise the position of his body even more.


    "P-P-PLEASE! L-LET ME G-GO! I''M S-SORRY! I''M SORRY-- I-- I DIDN''T DO ANYTHING TO THEM I-I-I S-SWEAR!"


    I scoffed, "That''s bullshit."


    "I-I-IT''S TRUE! I-IT''S ALL P-POPS AND A-ADRIAN AND THEY JUST B-BRING ME TO C-CLEAN UP THE M-MESS AFTER THEY--"


    I cut him off, "After what? After they fuck them? Use them as ashtrays?! Coffee tables?! Punching bags?! RUGS?! FUCK! I WOULDN''T EVEN DO THAT TO MY DOG! YOU''RE JUST AS GUILTY EVEN IF YOU--"


    "I OWE POPS A LOT OF M-MONEY OKAY?! P-PLEASE-- I-- JUST LET ME GO!"


    I shook my head, "That''s bullshit and you know it."


    "I S-SWEAR! I SWEAR I''M TELLING THE TRUTH! I SWEAR ON MY DAUGHTER AND MY--"


    I cut him off when I recalled something fairly recently, "What did you say again? You swear on your daughter?"


    "Y-YES! PLEASE, I-- Where are you--"


    My anger subsided by a bit when I fucked up Adrian but my blood just started boiling once more. I turned my back against him while everyone else watching got confused but after that, I jumped once more to the basement and descended the forsaken rooms I wouldn''t want to enter for a second time.


    That was when I saw Cynthia from the other room crying incessantly while Kaley was trying her best to be there for her.


    However, they weren''t the reason I came back. Kaley saw me looking at them but she knew I had other ns.


    I opened the left-most door once again and I picked up one of the ''pets'' who just resurfaced in my memory. The other ''pets'' present there didn''t even try to protect their own because they were just so afraid of my presence. With that said, I raised her up and ced her on the table before taking a closer look.


    She was a little older than the one that ran up to us earlier but she was still too young to be called an adult. However, she could see just fine but not so far out. She had a petite frame like most of them but her back was riddled with multiple scars and she was missing all of her teeth. Furthermore, herher regions had visible scarring from continuous tears due to abuse.


    I was denying it multiple times in my head but the resemnce was just too unsettling.


    She was shaking all over and she even peed herself but I cleaned her up and covered her with a nket before bringing her up to the surface.


    The people who came down with me still haven''t said a word about what they witnessed to the others but their faces still grimaced the same way the others did the first time they saw her. They were all stunned in the spot when they saw me carrying the poor figure in my arms but everything changed the moment she made eye contact with Chris.


    "P-P-Papa~! Papa! PAPA~!"


    Chris'' face never turned so fucking ugly. His head was tethered by rubber straps right now but if Artem was still holding him in ce, he would''ve broken his neck then and there. He was actually keeping it together because killing that motherfucker outright just isn''t worth it.


    Everyone else''s face was now murderous but Chris continued to deny it.


    "A-Ahaha¡­ I don''t k-know what that thing''s t-talking about-- I-- I just clean them up after they--"


    "PAPA! PAPA! PAPAA~!"


    The little figure started to cry as she wiggled her little stumps around but I brought her back to the basement. Cynthia was still in the same state as earlier but before I climbed back up, Kaley''s voice entered my ears.


    "Is she--"


    "Yeah..."


    "..."


    "I need to go..."


    "How about them? W-Will you¡­ I c-could--"


    "No¡­ Wait for me, just stay here with Cynthia..."


    "Just¡­ Just¡­ Do what you have to¡­ I''ll-- We''ll be here..."


    "Yeah..."


    From the short moment I was away, Artem was already trying to exin to his team that killing Chris outright would be fucking stupid. I had to do the same thing with Jared and Lois as well because all they needed to do was pull the trigger and all the things we have in store for him would be for naught.


    It''s just that we needed to wait for a couple of hours before everything will be set in motion.


    Quick-drying cement would usually take a couple of hours to be able to be walked on freely but the time it would take for someone to get concrete burned was far less. It would be unnoticeable until it was toote.


    Concrete burns had different effects due to cement being highly Alkaline and concrete containing abrasive aggregates. It could cause painful damage to the skin and it could present itself as redness, irritation, swelling, blistering, bleeding, discoloration, itching, and much, much worse. Furthermore, being left in cement for a longer period of time would also cause muscle and bone damage.


    There were several treatments for it, especially in severe cases, but we were just about to do the exact opposite.


    As soon as Chris was unable to move below his neck, I filled the drum with water up to the brim.


    Almost immediately, he started to form bubbles but it didn''t take long before he started to drink copious amounts of water until he could breathe freely. However, I continued to pour water over his head until he couldn''t anymore. He almost drowned thest moment but I scooped them out with a smile on my face.


    It''s just that I let him breathe for a moment before I poured water just enough to go above his nose. His eyes were fucking bloodshot as he sucked everything gulp by gulp, and even if he choked a few times, he''d still take in everything as fast as he could.


    He was so fucking focused on taking it in, he had no fucking idea how it woulde out.


    He forgot his fucking dick was beneath several pounds of cement and he could only move anything above his neck. I didn''t even need to exin to him what would happen if something tried toe out of something that was fucking obstructed and his face never showed such panic.


    "H-HEY! I-- I GOTTA PEE! I GOTTA-- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! HEYYY~~~!!!"


    It just got too noisy for my ears so I just decided to cover the drum with its stic lid. Chris'' muffled voice could still be heard if you were close but I was already looking for another tool that could potentially ''help'' him. I just took my sweet time and I picked something with a great colorbination.


    The guy wanted to pee so I got him a hand drill. I pressed on the button for it to whirr a few times and I looked at him like I did a great deed.


    "It''s ck! Fully charged too!"


    It really was still fully charged but the look on his face was fucking priceless. He was trying to wiggle himself out but the skin of his neck was already fucking pink. It was already taking effect on his body and I could only imagine the situation beneath all of that. He was already screaming from pain but I was just looking at him with nonchnce.


    "HEY! HEY! PLEASE! JUST CRACK IT OPEN! JUST CRACK IT OPEN! I REALLY GOTTA PISS BUT-- FUCK! IT HURTS NOW! IT HURTS! PLEASE! I GOTTA-- FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! JUST CRACK IT OPEN! JUST CRACK IT OPEN! DON''T FUCKING USE THAT DRILL! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    "Are you sure?"


    "YES! FUCKING YES! WHAT IF YOU DRILL MY DICK-- ARGH! FUCK!"


    Chris was still in mid-sentence when Mikhail swung the hammer side of his weapon on the side of the drum. It shook Chris'' body all over but he was groaning in pain due to the impact. He also spat out a mouthful of blood and his face just told us he made the wrong decision. Once we try to crack it open, everything else would just transfer over to him unless we use something smaller.


    "Do you want me to get back on the drill?"

 Chapter 653 - Bloodier - Tracy And Malachi

    Chris couldn''t even look at me properly and the pain he was feeling was taking all he had just to breathe normally. His face already grimaced five different times before it switched to begging, but each passing second was chipping away at his sanity. We''ve seen him cry,ugh, and get mad all at the same time in the past minute, and he was so close to his breaking point.


    "PLEASE! PLEASE! JUST STOP THIS! JUST STOP THIS! WHAT DO YOU WANT, HUH?! FINE! I''LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR! IS THAT IT?! HUH?! YOU SICK FUCK!"


    "I dunno what I wanted to hear until I hear it. I''ll know if it''s bullshit though, I''ve spent enough times around--"


    "I GOT NO CHOICE, ALRIGHT?! YOU HEAR ME?! I GOT NO CHOICE!"


    "That''s too fucking broad. If--"


    "JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR AND I''LL SAY IT! PLEASE! PLEASE! JUST TELL ME~!"


    "I thought you already have something--"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU FUCKING CUNT! I''LL SEE YOU IN HELL, YOU SICK FUCK! ALL OF YOU! I''LL SEE ALL OF YOU IN HELL, FUCKING COUNT ON IT! I-- PLEASE~~~! I CAN''T EVEN FEEL MY LEGS-- FUCK~~~! I''M ABOUT TO BURST! PLEASE! I''M REALLY ABOUT TO-- FUCK! FUCK! FUCK~!"


    Chris flung his head all over, trying to smash his head against the concrete to distract himself, but he''d just scrape his head by the stic ridges of the drum or hit his chin on the concrete he was in. The tears, blood, spit, and snot that came from his mouth, eyes, nose, and a few cuts in his face were just mixing under his chin and his neck, but his mouth was agape, letting bits and chunks flow inside.


    There was extreme satisfaction in brutally killing someone in just a few seconds but doing something like this was a little hard to describe.


    It wasn''t difficult to do it to the person who deserved it but as their whole existence gets chipped away in any manner that I wanted it to, something intangible gets deducted, added, or even reced in my own psyche. It could be part of my conscience or my morals but there was more to it than that.


    Sometimes, it was just better to let your body move on its own and wake up when everything was over.


    Despite all that, we got to get our hands bloody-- bloodier than all of the human scum in the world so that everyone else could rest easy.


    "I''M SORRY! I''M SORRY! I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, JUST LET ME OUT~!"


    After a while, it didn''t take long before Chris spilled everything he could for a slither of a chance that we''d actually help him.


    He told us about Pops'' little operation that allowed them to get fat stacks of cash for every ''visit'' and even more when someone actually wanted to take one home permanently. It was obviously very lucrative as they were able to fund a few projects, and this condominium was just one of few.


    Everything just changed when the world ended so they were stuck with a lot of ''product'' with no one to sell it to.


    All they were left to do was keep them alive in hopes that they would one day find sick patrons but sampling their own products was always a given for them, blood or not.


    From what I was told, they either came from paying off shady orphanages or just simply impregnating ''service'' workers and just giving them money to keep the ''by-product'', eventually keeping it after nine months. They sometimes resort to kidnapping but it was a bit too ''loud'' or a little too eye-catching.


    But one of their most twisted ways was using their ''product'' to breed more ''products''. The only problem with that was the delivery after the wait, but they got someone to do it for them. The same applies to getting a ''quack'' to cut off part of their limbs.


    This ce just became a little secret between certain members of their current group and they were definitely more of them in their own base. Fortunately, the group of people from the younger generation I just talked to was already handling them. They gave me another call at one point and we just exchanged a bit of info.


    I told them that Chris was nearing his final moments and the rest of the ''products'' were still alive while they told me that they''d bring what''s left of the ce they took over. They didn''t tell me as much but they have other ns for the people who were actually innocent.


    Currently, they were on their way back to this ce, waiting to see what awaited Chris.


    The only thing on my mind right now was what to do with their creations and how in the hell did this group discovered that these people were doing such things.


    ''Only one way to find out...''


    After some time, we saw a small convoy heading for us and it was the same group I was talking to earlier. They came in with three bikes, a sedan, a pickup, and a delivery truck, and the rumors I heard about them were actually true.


    Once they parked right in front of us, I got a closer look at their actual group.


    ''Just nine people? Could be more but¡­ Nevermind...''


    First and foremost, they had real firearms but they couldn''t be bothered to even use or properly hide them. I saw a few rifles and shotguns sticking out from their vehicles but the only ones on their person were usually sidearms aside from their ''quiet'' arsenal. Slingshots, bows, and crossbows were their thing based on the reports.


    Secondly, almost all of them were around the same age as Cynthia while a few were around the same age as me.


    They all had this ''tactical/skateboarder'' getup where they''d wear soft armor covered by a jacket or a hoodie while the jeans or the baggy shorts they were wearing wereplimented by a war belt, a leg holster, and some expensive name-brand sneakers like retro Jordans and the like.


    Furthermore, they were mixing up the essories they were wearing like having weaved paracord on one arm as a bracelet or a watch with a leather strapbined with stic embroideries that would look like carved bone.


    However, one of them was wearing something that could be mistaken for a fashion choice.


    A woman in her early 20s with a tight ponytail was looking at me with a faint smile but I couldn''t help but notice the leather guard she was wearing on her left arm that looked like a handmade vambrace. Looking at her a bit more, I discovered that one of her gloves wasn''t a regr open-finger glove but actually a finger tab just made to look like one. Andstly, over her chest rig was a chest guard hidden in in sight because the colors and the fabric just mixed together nicely.


    These three items were protective gear for archery and she was probably the person I was talking to fairly recently and the one that shot the arrow that killed Pops.


    It''s just that I felt she was just their spokesperson and not their actual leader.


    ''It''s probably that guy with that demon mask...''


    Standing right beside her was a guy who was as tall as me and he had wavy hair almost covering his eyes, but he was as expressionless as Jude. His eyes were first fixated on the array of bodies weid out but he soon looked at Artem before his eyesnded on me.


    Both sides were just checking each other for the moment but the girl next to him just shook her head before breaking the silence.


    "You guys are too quiet~ I''ll start. I''m Tracy, you''re Sora, right?"


    "Actually, it''s Sky--"


    "I know, I know~ There must be a story for that but I think Sora fits you better. Let me introduce everyone..."


    I easily remembered their names but the guy in the demon mask acting like a fucking bodyguard was named Mchi. He was silent most of the time but once he opened his mouth, everyone was caught off-guard.


    His voice was just so fucking deep, I almost felt my earwax fall off. He was a little unnerving but there was something in him that made everyone else in his group follow his every word.


    Tracy waved me off, "So, where''s thest one?"


    "Up there."


    "Hmm?"


    It was then that I pointed my finger to the sky and they all saw arge drum hanging from the highest point of this construction project. They could faintly hear someone screaming with all they got but he was just so high up to hear anything intelligible. However, I turned on my radio so they could listen in and hear the words clearly through the radio I left inside that drum.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [YOU SICK FUCK! I''LL-- I''LL-- LET GO OF ME! PLEASE! PLEASE! I''M BEGGING YOU-- PLEASE! HAHAHAHA!!! I''LL SEE YOU SOON AND I''LL SLIT YOUR FUCKING THROAT-- No, no, no, no¡­ Am I gonna die? AM I GONNA DIE?! PLEASE! LET''S JUST TALK ABOUT-- I''LL FUCKING KILL YOU AND YOUR BITCH, YOU STUPID FUCK!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! I''LL KILL ALL OF YOU!!!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Mchi turned to me with his expressionless face, "Why''d you brought him there?"


    I replied, "I poured cement up to his neck and he wants to get out. He doesn''t want me to use the drill and he doesn''t want Mikhail to use his hammer¡­ This is one way, right?"


    Mchi let out the faintest of smiles, "Hmm."


    Tracy muttered, "Can I do the honors? I just pull on that knot, right?"


    I turned to their delivery truck, "What''s inside that though?"


    Tracy almost pped her forehead, "Right! I almost forgot! Rex! Rex! Drive that under that thing! It''ll be great! Just make sure you park it properly! Wait--"


    I cut her off, "You didn''t kill all of them?"


    "Why''d you ask? You left one too..."


    "That''s fair. How about this..."


    I leaned over to Tracy''s ear and as soon as my words left my mouth, her smile grew wider and wider. She was almost shaking from excitement and it didn''t take long before we piled up each member of Pops'' circle right at the point where Chris would drop down.


    All of them were still putting up a fight but a couple of heavy strikes on their knees and their elbows with a hammer kept them in ce. They still kept wiggling in ce but they had no chance to leave that spot alive so they resorted to incessant begging. It was as if they all had a piece memorized to say when they got caught because it was just like a repeat of what Chris was spewing out.


    The noise was just so unbearable but Mchi shut them up by breaking one motherfucker''s jaw with a rock. They just started pissing in their pants and it just mixed with the blooding from the open fractures in their bodies.


    "Ready?"


    "Ready."


    It didn''t take long for Tracy to release the knot keeping Chris in ce and the drum he was in just came down with such speed. Hisst words were just an elongated version of ''AH~'' before he crushed the people below him.


    A loud fucking thud resounded from the impact and it came with sounds of bones shattering in a million pieces that would make anyone cringe or grimace. Screams came from the ones that survived it but our fucked up wrecking ball had a fall worse than the egg who sat on a wall. His head waspletely mangled due to the angle he came in and it was just leaking everything he stored at that point.


    He would''ve survived a second drop but aside from his head looking like a deted balloon, the way the concrete he was in cracked made him look like one of the worst fortune cookies I ever saw.

 Chapter 654 - Help?

    After some time, we just watched the rest of them bleed out before we made sure they wouldn''t rise up as monsters for the second time. Everyone else was just indifferent to what happened to those fuckers but nevertheless, we could breathe a little easier because we just managed to solve a problem we didn''t even know he had even before the zombies came, except for a certain individual.


    As we watched them burn with the rest of the deadheads we took down, Tracy set her sights on the basement.


    This was the first time she showed reluctance instead of the jovial expression she was wearing around us the whole time. To be fair, we have been with her only for a short time but the change was just too sudden.


    ''Is this how they knew? No...''


    Mchi and the rest of their group were just solemnly looking at her but once Mchi gave her the go-ahead, she turned to me as well.


    "Hey¡­ ce with me..."


    I looked at her expression before turning to Mchi but all he did was shrug his shoulders. I just didn''t think of it too much because I was also nning to go back there since Kaley and Cynthia were still at the same ce. Coming down there with Tracy might confirm some suspicions and answer some questions, so I left my group to Artem''s care.


    It''s just that the scene became entirely different when we went down.


    I was expecting something to chip away at our souls once we saw ''them'' once again but instead, we just saw the tiniest bit of hope amidst all the helplessness.


    Kaley and Cynthia did something I wouldn''t even think of and Tracy just started crying on the spot.


    What they did wasn''t even mind-blowing if you think about it because all they did was just to treat them as they were supposed to be treated as, despite everything that happened to them, as humans.


    I felt a bit guilty because honestly, seeing them in that state earlier made me subconsciously think about them as less than what they were.


    From the time we spent above ground, the two cleaned up the whole room, gave them baths, made them simple clothes, and fed them some decent freshly-cooked food that was a thousand times better than the slop they were being fed on a daily basis. For once, they were sitting upright when they were eating and the two were taking the time to make sure that everyone had their fill.


    However, everyone here knew full well that this moment was just fleeting. It would''ve made all the difference if the world hadn''t ended.


    Kaley and Cynthia were wearing caring looks as they took care of them but a tinge of bitterness was also present.


    It didn''t take long before they noticed us just staring from outside the door but they just beckoned us to help them.


    "C''mon¡­ It''s the least we could do..."


    "Yeah..."


    "And you are~? Wait, are you--"


    "Yeah¡­ I''m Tracy¡­ the one from the radio¡­ C-Can I?"


    "O-Of course! P-Please¡­ It''s still hot, c-careful..."


    We helped them to the best of our abilities but Tracy was focused on the little girl that ran up to us earlier. She sat her on herp and started feeding her each spoonful after making sure it was cool enough to consume. With that said, the little girl never looked so happy and she wasn''t even wary of the new presence taking care of her.


    ''That solves the puzzle¡­ Now I know...''


    Seeing Tracy do that, it didn''t take long before Kaley and Cynthia came to the same realization, and Tracy didn''t even bother to hide it. After a while, we put each of them on the beds avable and we waited until all of them were asleep.


    Tracy just let out a faint, bitter smile before turning to each of us.


    "Can I tell you three something first?"


    "Hmm? Sure..."


    "This''ll be a little difficult to hear but this might answer some of your questions..."


    "You don''t--"


    "I want to¡­ More people have to know..."


    We didn''t say anything after and we just sat around the table in front of us.


    "I was juggling two part-time jobs and my studies when I had¡­ had her¡­ I was actually nning to keep her but¡­ but my boyfriend at that time suggested we talk to someone to¡­ you know¡­ cancel the pregnancy¡­ When I told him I wanted to keep her he just¡­ bailed¡­"


    Tracy paused for a moment topose herself.


    "I¡­ I really thought I could do it on my own but as the months go by¡­ You know¡­ My mind started to waver¡­ I didn''t even have anyone to help me with the check-ups and all that but who would''ve thought¡­ that ass-hat of a boyfriend came back..."


    "What?"


    "Yeah, and that''s the worst thing that could''ve happened to me..."


    "W-What happened?"


    "What do you think? Does anything ring a bell? Hmm?"


    "S-Sorry¡­ I--"


    "Fuck¡­ Sorry, that''s my bad. A-Anyway, he came back to me apologizing over and over and assured me that he''d actually help me raise our kid when I give birth but-- but¡­ little did I know his family had other motives¡­ I lived with them in a false pretense like--"


    I interjected, "Wait--"


    "Don''t worry about that son of a bitch, I ''handled'' himst. Almost as good as what you did up there. That''s the problem with actually getting revenge, you wanted it tost for as long as you could but we''d always end up doing it much quicker than we wanted it to."


    "Always does..."


    "Anyway¡­ Moving on¡­"


    Tracy continued her story by telling us that as soon as she gave birth to her child, she was made to think she had a stillbirth. She didn''t have the chance to hold her until now. However, her boyfriend and his family being a ''caring'' bunch, took care of everything and asked her to move in with them after everything that happened.


    She was showered with blessings because her boyfriend took an actual liking to her but if she was anyone else, she would''ve been just simply paid of or dumped in a ditch somewhere. She lived with them for a few years until she discovered the truth.


    "How did you know though?"


    "Hmm?"


    "How did you know they were in that type of business?"


    "My boyfriend at that time was you know¡­ recently introduced at their family''s business. He isn''t that careful like the rest of them¡­ One night, we were having a little ''fun''... he was so much more wasted than I am but the words he said to me at that time took off the buzz I was feeling¡­ To this day I wouldn''t be able to exin how I managed to not kill him right then and there¡­ I uncovered the lid of something I shouldn''t have and I never felt so disgusted with the person I''m with..."


    "What-- What did he say?"


    "He umm¡­ H-He asked if he could put it in my ass because my pussy isn''t as tight as my daughter''s¡­"


    "What the fu--"


    "I wasn''t even able to respond to that when he just jammed it right in¡­ I was bleeding after he was done and he just passed out right on top of me¡­ I was in so much pain but I had to let it happen¡­ If I did something at that time, it would be all over¡­ It''s just that it took too long before I-- we managed to do something about it¡­ we encountered a lot of setbacks too..."


    "Setbacks?"


    "Mchi. His dad-- His dad was a detective and he just¡­ disappeared without a trace. He was building a case around that family long before I was involved and luckily¡­ I haven''t been able to make contact. If I did¡­ I''d probably be the same way..."


    "But how did Mchi and you--"


    "College. We shared the same gym ss and we were actually friends for a bit but as soon as he received news of his father going missing, he hated me for the longest time. He uh¡­ he thought I was involved and it took a leap of faith so he could trust me again¡­ That was when I discovered that he got ahold of thest case his dad was working on and everything yed out after that. I told him my side of the story but..."


    "But?"


    "We were just starting to build around it when our gym teacher started biting off his student''s necks¡­ This shit happened¡­ We were stuck with each other and a few of our ssmates and one thing led to another¡­ We were a lot more when it started but we learned the how-to''s the hard way¡­ It''s just that we both couldn''t let go of this thing¡­ We had to exact revenge for the others too..."


    "What others?"


    "Everyone else''s. The university--"


    Tracy was about to tell us more about their experiences but Mchi cut her off.


    "That''s enough. We have to go."


    "Already? We--"


    "Michael just came back from the base in Man."


    I interjected, "What base in Man?"


    Mchi turned to me, "The Mayor''s base¡­ Iskoh''s ce¡­ We took everything who didn''t deserve it over there¡­ I''ll trust you have enough documentation here to prove what we did isn''t extrajudicial. He''ll probably call you soon asking a lot of questions."


    "Wait? What?"


    "I told Michael to tell the mayor''s people they came from you. You probably know the story so just tell them everything that happened. Tracy, we really got to--"


    "Wait, where are you guys going?"


    "Does it matter?"


    "Of course, it matters. I''ve been wanting to meet you guys for a long time--"


    "You did now-- And we don''t need your help. We do just fine on our--"


    Tracy cut him off, "Geez, the moment you start talking, you be a grouch. Just listen to what other people have to say for once. We''re doing fine but we need some help-- YOU need some help."


    Mchi shook his head, "I don''t. YOU need some help, are you gonna take her with us or not?"

 Chapter 655 - Gloom - Amelia Benitez

    Mchi said everything with indifference but each one of us subconsciously looked at the figures who were sleeping soundly. This was maybe the first time that they were given the care that they rightfully deserve while expecting to give nothing in return. However, reality was often disappointing and Tracy had to make a difficult decision.


    She stared right at her daughter''s sleeping figure before turning to Mchi once more.


    "I¡­ I need more time--"


    "If you spend more time with her--"


    "I know! It''s just¡­ just..."


    "You can''t or you wouldn''t? We''ve talked about this and you already--"


    "I know what I said! I just--"


    "Do you really think-- Nevermind¡­ If you want to raise her and live a ''normal'' life, it would be better if we part ways now--"


    "Hey! What are you--"


    "I''m giving you an out."


    "WHAT?! After all we''ve--"


    "You''re the strongest person I''ve met but you can''t just bring a child to--"


    "Now what the hell does that mean?!"


    "You know what it means. Being always on the move, not having a proper ce toy our heads on is not a ce for a child¡­ especially yours. That''s just the reality of the situation, I''m sorry."


    "You! You--"


    "Or you could just do what you told me what you''re gonna do when the timees. They''re probably gonna do the same thing to the others once we leave. You''re probably the one that''s gonna do it, right?" Mchi said as he turned to me.


    I nodded faintly but Tracy was still having an inner turmoil with her thoughts. Saying something you''re gonna do and actually following through with it were twopletely different things. Kaley and Cynthia were torn the same way but having your own child in the mix was unimaginably difficult.


    He continued, "You''ve bathed them, clothed them, fed them, and so much more¡­ I think it''s time to put them to rest. They''ve suffered enough and it''s gonna take more than just bringing them out to the surface to fix what years of abuse did to them¡­ It''s already hard to deal with something emotionally, but if you also add the physical aspect of it because of what they did to their--"


    ''Hmm?''


    Mchi just stopped speaking mid-sentence as we watched his gaze turn to the figures sleeping soundly. However, one of them wasn''t sleeping anymore because she was now wide awake, sitting upright, and staring right at us with a somber expression.


    ''Shit...''


    She was one of the figures who were in the older bracket and judging from her physical appearance, she seemed to be around the same age as Olivia. However, their experiences weren''t the same and she had more scars than the rest of thembined. Some were still new, healing, a few months old, or more, but aside from her limbs missing like the rest of them, everything was still intact.


    Kaley stood up and tried to approach her, "H-Hey, do you--"


    The figure was shaking but tears started to fall down her cheeks, "I¡­ I want to l-live¡­ I want to live! P-Please-- I-- I heard w-what y-you''re gonna do to us r-right a-after but-- I¡­ I¡­ I don''t wanna die yet~! I-I''ll do e-everything you want s-so please, please, please~ I-I-- My n-name is A-Amy¡­ I-I was taken h-here a f-few years a-ago-- I d-don''t know e-exactly h-how long a-and-- Please¡­ J-Just-- I w-wanna s-see my m-mommy..."


    Everyone was just stunned on the spot because¡­ in our heads, we already decided on what we should do to them, but we never entertained the fact that one of them wanted something different. If I was one of them, I would''ve wanted to beid to rest and be done with it, or wish I''d be lucky the next time around. However, not everyone had the same mindset.


    To be fair andpletely honest, I was 100% in agreement with what Mchi was saying but even if we were in charge of both our groups, we still had to hear everyone''s side... even if that side wouldn''t be able to do anything if we follow through with our decision.


    The two of us were still thinking of what to do next but Kaley took charge of the situation.


    "A-Amy¡­ you said your name was Amy, right? I''m Kaley¡­ H-Howe we never heard you speak e-earlier?"


    "I¡­ I was a-afraid¡­ scared¡­ I t-thought the b-bad guys will be cing a-again¡­ I thought¡­ W-What''s happening? W-Why was it so l-loud earlier? W-Why didn''t they--"


    "It''s alright now. We never did anything bad to you earlier, right? We''re the good guys--"


    "B-But¡­ I heard¡­ Y-You were gonna--"


    "Yes, b-but¡­ Amy. Listen to me, okay? We''re not-- This will be difficult to understand but you gotta listen to me. Can you do that for me?"


    "O-Okay..."


    Kaley sat right next to her and she carefully asked some questions before trying to exin to her what happened on the surface while she was here. At first, I thought it would be difficult for her to understand most of what Kaley was saying but unlike the others who had the same experience as Tracy''s daughter, she was the only one here who had another life before getting kidnapped and then taken in this godforsaken ce.


    She knew of a life that others don''t and something could happen entirely different.


    Even Mchi couldn''t believe what had happened because he decided to stay longer and listen to the rest of her story.


    Despite all of that, her memories of her past were still blurry but what she could still recall was her own name, her mother''s name, and the school she was attending before she was kidnapped. It was already miraculous to know that her mind still stayed intact after all these years, but what''s more crazy was that I might just be able to reconnect her with someone she really wanted to see.


    Kaley was still trying to dig up more information about Amy when I excused myself while already contacting Iskoh through our sat phones.


    It just kept ringing for the first bit but I finally made contact.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey, I''ve been trying to contact you but it always connects to your soldier Vera--]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Shut up for a moment and bring your records. I--"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t tell me to fucking shut up, you shut up! Who the fuck brings a bunch of injured people to my--]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "That''ll be another story, I''ll tell you all about thatter! Listen! Did you bring up your records yet?! I fixed that for you, you owe--"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, yeah... I got it right here. Who do you want me to look up?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Amor Benitez. Mother of Amelia Beni--"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [How did you know that name?! How--]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Just tell me some good news Iskoh..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''m not even the mayor at that time but I know that case like it was--]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey. This isn''t about you. The sooner you check her records, the sooner we fix this shit. Do you have it or not? And don''t fucking lie to me, I know it''s there? What do you got on her?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kid... I don''t know what to tell you but Mrs. Amor killed herself after a year of the police not being able to find her¡­ I''m sorry but you have to give me something now. Did you-- Hello? Kid?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    I sighed heavily for a moment before I tried topose myself. I thought we would at least get something good from all that''s happened from a supposed material run, but it was all just one fucked up news after the other. I never felt so helpless and I wasn''t even the victim in this situation.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We just found Amy¡­ She''s¡­ She''s here..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Wait, WHAT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    I started telling Iskoh everything that happened and even if he was so fucking silent from the other side, I could still hear his troubled breathing. He was just sobbing at one point and I decided to stop rying everything from our phones.


    I told him that we would drive to his ce and spend the night before I ended the call.


    The call between me and Iskoh wasn''t that long but the time it took to finish that said call was time enough for the people involved to make a decision.


    To my surprise, Tracy was the first one to leave the basement but she didn''t bring anyone with her. However, Mchi followed and he was carrying a small figure covered by arge nket but something in the shade of red was staining the white cloth. It was one of the moments I saw him with a pained expression but he continued to bring it up while I entered the room they just left.


    We exchanged a few words and even if they''re gonna leave sooner than I thought, I was sure that it wouldn''t be thest time we would meet.


    I saw them disappear from view and then I entered the ce they just left.


    On one side of the room was Cynthia keeping Amy from looking in the direction Kaley was at and tears were flowing down their cheeks.


    ''Fuck...''


    I instantly rushed to stop Kaley from what she was doing but to my surprise, her knife didn''t have a drop of blood. Almost half of the figures who used to be sleeping wereid to rest, and it didn''t take long before realization came. Kaley was just holding her knife in ce but she could never do it on her own.


    Kaley had put down people before but not like this. I actually breathed a sigh of relief that Kaley didn''t do it but this thing still needed to be done.


    ''Mchi or Tracy probably did this¡­ and mine''s the other half...''


    I told them to bring Amy up the surface before I drew my knife and closed the door.


    My knife never felt so heavy and it felt like the time when I was in Derek''s residence and the time we were in Arca Yard.


    All I could do was block everything I was feeling before I sunk my de at the side of their head and watch their breathing stop.

 Chapter 656 - Talking Helps.

    I wiped the de in my hand before I sighed heavily.


    Looking at their unmoving bodies, all I could do was wish them something I used to believe in. I know full well that what I was doing was hypocritical but what else could I do?


    Even if I let all of them live like Amy, all they knew was to be someone''s ything. It would take more than a few years to rehabilitate each one of them and they wouldn''t even be able to live a ''normal'' life, if the life we were living in right now could still be called normal.


    Granted we had it easier than almost everyone we met but as hard as for me to say it, they''d just be a burden for everyone else.


    Amy was just a special case and I felt that Kaley thought of some way we could actually help her.


    I was deep in my thought before my radio buzzed.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Bro, need some help?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Thanks but-- It''s already done. Well, tell Mikhail and the others to help me bring them up¡­ get a fire going."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [It still is¡­ We''ll wait for you here. Oh, those guys already left. They traded some of their guns for more gas and I agreed¡­ I think--]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, that''s good. Don''t worry..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Bro?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Stop shouldering everything, alright? You got us...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah¡­ Just-- Y-Yeah..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Jared didn''t say much after that but it didn''t take long before I heard a knock on the door. Mikhail was present with Bogdan and the rest and the look on their faces when they saw more of what I brought up earlier was indescribable. Even Bogdan decided to take a minute because this was just too much.


    It was already over but like me, they still couldn''t put what they were feeling aside. It almost tore a few of them on the inside but each and every one of us see death on a daily basis. It''s just that this thing was a little different than a mindless piece of meat that shouldn''t be moving in the first ce.


    ''Nothing could train you for this...''


    After some time, we burned them in a different spot than the bodies we took care of earlier, but we still got a lot of sunlight left. It would''ve been efficient if we decided to finish this day by progressing our supposed material run but we decided to call it off. However, we wouldn''t part with this ce yet until we cleaned out everything that was in the basement.


    I wanted to help bring all of the stuff up but Artem took over. He told me I had already done too much for the day and the rest of his team would do it for me.


    I reluctantly agreed but I was now on guard duty. Kaley and Cynthia were inside the Raptor with Amy while I was on the roof, watching out for anything that mighte by. I spotted a few that were exhibiting irregr behavior but Jared would take them down once they were in his sights.


    That just led me to be deep in my thoughts but I found Lois tapping me on the back a few times.


    "Bro, can''t we just use that ce as a secret base or restocking point? It''ll--"


    "We could but we''re still not sure if they took down everyone that knows this ce¡­ How about we just leave a BOB''s worth of supplies and see what happens after a while? If there are no signs of anyone going to this ce, it''ll be one of our secret spots."


    "That sounds good. It has a kitchen, running water, electricity, and etc. Much better than my room except it''s underground..."


    "Sure~ If you want to live in a ce where people get abused¡­ be my guest. You can start living here now if you want? Your car might get stolen though, it doesn''t have a good parking spot."


    "Wha-- I didn''t mean it like that¡­ It''s sad and all but¡­ I''m just looking at the silver lining and shit¡­ Are we really driving over to Mayor Iskoh''s ce? How long are we gonna stay there?"


    "Just for the night and we should be back home a few hours before noon. We''re gonna get Amy looked at--"


    "Don''t we have better doctors and equipment?"


    "We''re gonna try and see if she has more rtives over there¡­ and whether they wanted toe back with us. Iskoh seemed to have worked on her case a few years ago and he wanted to see her¡­ I think. We''ll catch up for a bit too since Jade''s pregnant."


    "Who?"


    "Jude''s twin sister, she''s pregnant like Faith."


    "Who again?"


    "Jay''s wife¡­ Do you even remember our people?"


    "Wha-- I forget people''s names if I don''t talk to them for weeks! I''m not like you, okay?!"


    "Roight~ Roight~ Not everyone''s like you too. Who forgets people after a few weeks of not talking to them?"


    "..."


    "You mad? Heh."


    "I can''t do what you do, bro¡­ Doing that and normally talking to me like this..."


    "Talking like this helps¡­ Why do you think I''m doing it?"


    "Oh, okay then! So, u-umm¡­ How do I ask this¡­ U-Umm..."


    "Hmm?"


    "I''ve been shadowing you and marking your house for a while..."


    "Huh?"


    "You know¡­ conducting my own s-s-s-surveince¡­ about you..."


    "Oh~ Now be really~ careful about what you say next¡­ You might be using slingshots for the rest of your life..."


    "U-Umm¡­ I-It''s not like that! I just noticed it a f-few times and I got r-really curious..."


    "Uh-huh¡­ What are you curious about?"


    "I''m not an idiot, right? Right?"


    "Are we even on the same subject now? The fuck are you talking about?"


    "I really~ need a f-favor bro¡­ A h-huge one..."


    "Now I''m fucking lost¡­ Just spit it out! Don''t go swerving on me... What do you want?"


    "You know I''m with Olivia, right-- Ow! Bro! That hurts!"


    "I said spill¡­ What do you want?"


    "Shit¡­ That burns¡­ W-We umm¡­ N-Need a-- u-umm¡­ We n-need a p-private space¡­ If you know what I mean..."


    I nodded ''approvingly'', "Oh~? Really~?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ My room and her room wouldn''t f-fly we can''t look over our shoulders anymore while we''re--"


    "Let me ask Kaley then--"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    "WHAT ARE YOU-- SHIT!"


    Before I managed to knock on the window below, Lois just pulled on my head and we fell down on the truckbed. Well, I fell on the truckbed while he hit his side on the sidings before falling over the dirt road.


    We were both groaning in pain and Kaley exited the vehicle and looked at us with puzzlement.


    "What the fuck are you guys doing?"


    "Kaley, Lois was asking if--"


    "NOOOOOOOOO!!! I SAID NOTHING!!! I SAID NOTHING!!!"


    Kaley was still confused, "What?"


    I waved Lois off, "She''s cool with it, I think. Unless she''s not¡­ Maybe..."


    Lois almost pulled all of his hair out, "Do you want me to die, bro?!"


    Kaley folded her arms, "Just tell me! What is it?"


    "If we don''t tell her, you find somece else. I ain''t lying to my wife."


    "Hngh¡­ F-Fine¡­ Just¡­ Don''t let her shoot me, okay? I-- Ow! Why does yours hurt more?!"


    Kaley was looming over Lois after she sunk a knuckled over his head, "Is this about Olivia? If it is, I already know! She''s been asking me for a while now! It''s awkward to talk about it but you should¡­ It''s normal behavior to want to enjoy something you both want..."


    "Wut? She asked you already?"


    Kaley nodded, "Yep. But your deal was you have to ask him too, right? She told me about it and she''s just waiting on you. I''m not bringing it up with him until you do it first. That''s the deal, right?"


    "Y-Yes¡­ But I thought she h-haven''t told you y-yet..."


    "Hmm, she did. Anyway, you don''t have to ask us if you''re gonna do it but it''s polite to ask if you''ll use one of our rooms. I figure you two know a little bit about what goes in there?"


    "W-We do¡­ A l-little bit¡­ She n-noticed it first¡­ We''ve told no one! I swear!"


    "Good. Just don''t talk about stuff that isn''t your business and I won''t talk about yours. He''ll decide on the rest."


    "S-Sure..."


    Kaley was still eyeing us before she went back in the Raptor and Lois just looked like he ran a fucking marathon. However, the look on his face as he breathed a sigh of relief was enough for me to sink another fist on his head. He miraculously avoid me because he was floating in the air.


    I just shook my head before returning to the same spot I was in.


    "So b-bro¡­ What should I--"


    I cut him off, "Okay, first things first¡­ Do you have everything prepared? Got a few pieces of rubber at least? Lube? Anything?"


    "I-I d-don''t have them here! B-But I do have them hidden somewhere¡­ But that''s not the important part..."


    "Hmm?"


    "I want to have what you have-- Ack! Shit! Ouch! Not like that! Not like that! That''s not what I meant! OW! STOP! STOP! STOP!"


    "Onest chance or I''ll tell Matthew--"


    "AH-- I uhh¡­ Umm--"


    "Don''t tell me¡­ No¡­ I thought-- Are you still a v--"


    "What?! No! It''s just--"


    "Do you have ED?"


    "Hah?"


    "Erectile Dysfunction."


    "That doesn''t tell me any-- What does it--"


    "It means you can''t get it up--"


    "WHAT?! I''M NOT AN OLD COOT!"


    "Then what''s the problem-- Oh~ That."


    "Y-Yeah¡­ That..."


    "I can''t help you with ''that''..."


    "What?! You gotta have some secret, bro! You can''t just-- Hmmrgh!"


    "Say it out loud and I''ll cut your fucking dick off with a mortar and pestle--"


    "That doesn''t even make sense! C''mon! Just give me something to work on here!"


    I shook my head, "You''re already doing it though..."


    "Huh? We''re just talking-- It''s talking?"


    "Yep. One of them, at least. It''s not gonna help you with your problem but it''s gonna help you with other stuff. Just learn what she wants and like the old saying goes:dies first. It''s okay if you go first sometimes but you got to have extra mags if you know what I mean--"


    "But I-- Let''s just say that I¡­ I reload like an old fucking musket and shit..."


    "That couldn''t be solved in a conversation. You know, you gotta do drills with it to shave a few seconds off-- That''s not the right analogy but you get my point, right?"


    "Hah?"


    "I can''t believe I''m talking about this shit with you¡­ You owe me big time after this, alright?"


    "Yeah, yeah~ You said it''s only one of them¡­ What''s the other shit?" Lois was already writing on his notepad.

 Chapter 657 - Tips? - What Did The Doctor Say?

    Looking at Lois'' stupid face, I snatched the notebook off of his hand before throwing it in the fire close to us. It instantly burned to cinders and even if doing that was a waste, I gotta prove my fucking point. The look on his face was fucking priceless and he immediately got up on my face.


    "B-Bro! What the fu--"


    "Are you gonna check your notes while you''re doing it? Huh? Just keep everything inside your head! You''re smarter than you think you are, you know that? Keep talking yourself down and you''ll actually be worse than one! Even idiots don''t know they are one and you kept acting like one of them! Understand me?"


    "O-Okay, bro! I get it, I get it! Haaaaa~ First is talking, right?"


    "Yep. You two should at least talk BEFORE and~ AFTER doing it. You know, establishing boundaries and the like. Especially since you''re both-- I''ll just assume both of you are new at this. Trust me, you don''t want to know what she fucking hates the hard way. However, looking at it the other way, both of you might find some things that you like unexpectedly!"


    "And how do I figure that out?"


    "Do you have your lights turned off while doing it?"


    "Huh?"


    "Just answer the question!"


    "U-Umm¡­ it''s¡­ that''s a little--"


    "Do you want me to smack you in the head harder thanst time? We''re already past the point of embarrassment, okay?! Don''t think for once that this isn''t awkward for me too, alright?"


    "I¡­ I like it off but Olivia wants it on¡­ We never had a proper ce to¡­ you know, do it so to avoid suspicion¡­ it''s always on..."


    "Then the answer is on. How hard is that to--"


    "Then what do you two always do it in, huh?! It''s only fair!"


    I chuckled before nonchntly answering, "Lights on preferably but sometimes it''s more intense when it''s off. Next?"


    Lois almost banged his head on the truck roof, "Hngh¡­ I can''t win against you, bro..."


    "The hell was that? You don''t have to win against me, you just gotta do it right with Olivia. Am I wrong? Are you trying to impress me or her? Anyway, the reason I''m asking is since the lights are on, look for cues. There''s more to it than just talking."


    "Cues?"


    "You''re not facing away from each other, right? You maintain eye contact at least?"


    "Y-Yeah..."


    "Is she breathing heavily? What''s her face telling you? Is it flushed? Is she bored? Sleepy? Is she enjoying it perhaps? Grimacing in pain or pleasure? Are her toes curling? Her back arching? Squeezing you a little tighter than--"


    "What? How can I even see if she''s squee--"


    "Fuck. Bad example but that''s the point, alright? Aside from talking to her, look for her reactions-- and not just literally looking for them! There are some things you''ll feel too, alright? Wai-- I think we skipped some very important steps."


    "Huh? C''mon bro--"


    "Do you just stick it in or do you warm it up a little bit first?"


    "Haaa?"


    "Jesus fucking christ¡­ My cousin is not only a quick shot, but he''s also a cum and go type of--"


    "W-W-W-WAIT! I''m not! I kiss her and touch her, a-and stuff too! I at least know about that!"


    "Really~? How long though?"


    "What?"


    "For how long?"


    "I-I don''t know! Until I felt like it--"


    "Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Whatever you think how long forey should be, triple it."


    "What?! T-Triple it?!"


    "Fuck tripling it... At least make her cum-- this is so fucking weird¡­ Make her get a ''release'' at least once before you¡­ u-umm fire at will¡­ Get what I mean?"


    "Uh-huh¡­ I think I get it¡­ I think."


    "Then go with that for now and just ask me when you have other questions. Just don''t rush her into it and listen to what she and her body say, alright? That''s the basics."


    "Bro¡­ Did you ever have my p-problem?"


    "Dude. I didn''t evenst 10 seconds my first time. It''s something you build up on time--"


    "Wai-- How far can youst now?"


    "Around 22--"


    "22 TIMES?! D''you have balls the size of a grapefruit or something?!"


    "No, I meant 22 girls."


    "..."


    "What?"


    "..."


    "What?!"


    "I''m gonna go over big bro over there cause I''ll feel like a 9mm Altor gettingpared to a fucking minigun¡­ Forget I asked, I''m never gonna financially recover from this..."


    "C''mon! It''s just a one-time thing! That''s just my record!"


    "FUCK YOU, BRO! I HAVEN''T EVEN BEEN IN A THREESOME YET AND YOU''RE TELLING ME THAT LIKE IT WAS NOTHING?! FUCK YOU-- ACK! STOP THROWING STUFF AT ME, FUCKBRINGER 3000!"


    "IT''S MR. STUD, YOU FUCKING ALTOR!"


    "DON''T USE MY NICKNAME I TELL MYSELF! FIND YOUR OWN FUCKING INSULT FOR ME!"


    "MAYBE I WILL, PUMP AND DUMP!"


    "ASIAN JOHNNY SINS!"


    "ONE PUMP MAN!"


    "STUD IN THE APOCALYPSE!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME, YOU LITTLE SHI-- ACK! KALEY! KALEY! IT''S NOT JUST ME! OUCH! MY EAR! MY EAR! IT''S NOT JUST ME!"


    "EVERYONE CAN FUCKING HEAR YOU TWO! GET INSIDE!"


    "Y-Yes, master--"


    "ARGH! WILL YOU FUCKING STOP IT?!"


    Everyone who just witnessed the escted shouting match was dyingughing but I was the only one almost beaten to death. Lois managed to run away to the other side of the construction project while I was filled with bruises when I came back to the same spot. But before I did, I saw Amy dressed in Cynthia''s spare clothes and she was sleeping soundly, leaning on her shoulder.


    ''I guess they''re really used to sleeping since they didn''t have much to do down there anyways...''


    It didn''t take long before we brought up everything on the surface except for leaving a BOB''s worth of supplies in one of the rooms. However, the number of supplies and equipment was too much for our vehicles to handle, we had to call in a roaming group to take half of them. We gave them most of the guns we uncovered from the basement but we did keep the ammo cans that contained the ones we could use.


    We broke off in different directions at one point and it didn''t take long before we reached Iskoh''s main headquarters.


    It looked more fortifiedpared to thest time we were here and it was still bustling with activity even if it was nearing sundown. With that said, our first stop was to notify Iskoh of our arrival because we needed a private doctor to check the extent of Amy''s condition. She may look fine except for the obvious injuries but there could be hidden traumas or conditions a trained professional could spot.


    Luckily, Iskoh was already at the front of their hospital waiting for us.


    "Wee back... Is... Is she at the back?" Iskoh looked at me solemnly.


    "Yeah. She''s still sleeping though..."


    "Sleeping? That''s¡­ After all that? Anyway, you could drive around towards the other parking spot at the back so she''d have a bit of privacy. If you don''t mind, could I ask some of your soldiers to check on Checkpoint C? Just two to three people will do because I''ll have someone guide the rest of you to your rooms. You''ll be staying the night, right?"


    "I don''t mind but is there a problem in checkpoint C?"


    "The ones stationed there are afraid of Tatiana-- Wait, she isn''t here? Where is she? She''s always with you, right?"


    I sighed momentarily before I answered, "I''ll tell you all about itter. Artem and the rest could probably do the job if not, much better."


    "O-Okay, I''ll meet you inside! Gonna check up on my wife for a bit. I was away all morning."


    "Yeah, see you in a bit."


    When Iskoh disappeared from view, we drove to the back where there used to be reserved parking spots for doctors and VIPs and we parked both of our vehicles side-by-side before waiting for the people to guide us where to go. However, Artem couldn''t wait in the same ce for longer so he just brought Katya and Igor with him. and walked straight to Checkpoint C.


    It was the checkpoint right before Mabini bridge and it seemed that ce needed some help.


    As time passed, Cynthia and I were just outside the waiting room while Kaley apanied Amy to see a private doctor. Kaley told us we could walk around with Jared and Lois but the two of us decided to wait for them to finish. It really would take some time to perform all the necessary tests but waiting for them was the least we could do to offer help. Besides, someone needed to drive them to the rooms assigned to us and we thought it wasn''t time for everyone to see Amy''s condition yet.


    ''Some of thoseb tests could take a few days though¡­ We''ll just get the results via radio but we''ll also have her tested back home¡­ Marisha will take care of anything she needed for her mental health too...''


    In the time we spent just waiting, I called back home to give the rundown of everything that just happened. Needless to say, I needed to conduct a proper meeting once we get home so I wouldn''t need to repeat myself over and over since Oscar, Matthew, and Johnny kept snatching the radio from each other just to hear what I have to say.


    I was just giving the old-timers a few reminders since we''ll be spending the night here when we saw Kaley waving us over.


    "What did the doctor say?"

 Chapter 658 - Receipts - Witch Hunt?

    Kaley was just about to tell us what the doctor said but we saw her gaze shifting from us to a few feet away. Following her gaze, we discovered that Iskoh was brisk-walking toward us with a solemn expression. No one else was at this side of the hospital at this time aside from a few special patients that were in their own rooms.


    Iskoh caught his breath before asking the same question as us, "What did the doctor say?"


    Kaley looked down and sighed before opening her mouth, "Amy¡­ She''s¡­ She''s been through a lot but if we take care of her¡­ like really take care of her¡­ she''s gonna be mostly okay."


    Iskoh nodded a few times, "Any specifics?"


    "Specifics?"


    "I mean, did they check her for everything? What did--"


    "Well, she was tested for underlying physical injuries, pregnancy, HIV, Hepatitis B, and STIs... you know, like cmydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, and etc. Some of them would take a few days to know if she have them but she was prescribed antibiotics for some of them just to be sure. For her external injuries, she was given creams to hopefully make them heal faster and leave less visible scars¡­ But--"


    "Wait, pregnancy? Is she--"


    "No, she''s not pregnant¡­ luckily¡­ But what she needs as well are social support and counseling. She still needs a psych consult but I think my mom could do a better job. Also, it''s better to have one professional in that case¡­ It''s very important for her recovery¡­ However, she really wants to see her mom¡­ Is she-- Is her mom still alive?"


    Iskoh looked at me before he shook his head, "He called me earlier to ask the same thing but¡­ she''s gone. I thought he already told you but--"


    Kaley suddenly turned to me with an ugly expression, "You didn''t tell me?! I just told her we''re gonna find her mom! You-- You should''ve told me! That''s the only thing keeping her together! She just wanted to see her!"


    I tried to calm her down, "Kaley, I can''t at that time and on the way here. You were the one taking care of her back there and the one with her while having her exams, I can''t just pull you aside and tell you. If she heard us or you let out a nuance that you know what happened to her mom--"


    "B-But¡­ It''s only been a few years since-- W-Wait, what happened to her mom?!"


    I sat her down as I looked at her solemnly, "She¡­ uh¡­ She couldn''t take bad news after bad news for a year¡­ She¡­ you know..."


    I didn''t continue what I was about to say but as I was looking at Kaley straight in the eye, it didn''t take long for her toe to a realization. Slowly, tears started to stream down her face and Cynthia soon joined her. All I could do was be a shoulder to cry on but like Iskoh, the pain in our faces couldn''t be more pronounced.


    I used to feel indifferent about the suffering of other people but Amy was already one of us and a different case, no one deserved what she went through and we couldn''t give her the one thing she needed the most.


    "D-Dammit! Why is it that the-- Fuck! Can''t she have a break?!"


    "What are we gonna tell her then?"


    "We should t-tell her¡­ I think..."


    "What?! No!"


    "But--"


    "Not now, not after what just happened. Knowing that''ll break her."


    "Then¡­ when?"


    After some time, it was decided to keep news of Amy''s mother a secret from her until we decide it was time for her to know the truth. It could backfire the moment we told her the truth but telling it to her now was so much more unideal. It was just not the time to give her another set of bad news because we felt that it would be too much for her.


    In my case, I would always go for the truthful and painful route because I could take it but in Amy''s case, that tiny bit of hope to see her mother once again was the only thing keeping her alive. If she somehow knew that her mom killed herself after not finding her for a year, she might just tell us to kill her on the spot.


    She already told us she wanted to live and the only way to keep it that way was to find other things she could live for.


    Iskoh sighed heavily after peeking through the room where Amy was in, "Okay, this is my suggestion... I already asked her doctor to keep what she saw here a secret and we''ll try our best to limit the people that could see her. She must be conscious about stranger''s eyes looking at her with pity or something else so I think it''s best if she gets a room for herself that''s closest to your group and away from everyone else."


    Kaley nodded, "Yeah, the doctor said that too when she was checking her but¡­ Isn''t this ce not as crowded? Can''t we just use this room and not move her somece?"


    I added, "Our vehicles are just at the back and we''re just gonna stay here for a day too. That''s a viable option..."


    Iskoh thought for a while, "I could just close this wing off for the night to give you all some privacy but we got other problems."


    I turned to Iskoh with a confused look, "Problems? What problems?"


    "Did you forget about the people those kids dumped on me earlier? Well, one of them is demanding a witch hunt for those kids. I can''t believe they''re talking like that after what just happened to them..."


    "That''s not a problem¡­ Is it bing one?"


    "It isn''t supposed to be but the smallest groups are always the loudest. They''re also getting support from the other group those kids hitst. Remember the families of those gang members? Some of them are starting to demand the same thing. We could just go with the iron fist route but I doubt it''ll end as expected. We need to do it some other way."


    I shook my head before I sighed, "I have one sure-fire way but are you okay with that group getting shunned to the point that they might get killed in their sleep?"


    Iskoh turned to me in bewilderment, "What? What are you talking about? What''s this sure-fire way?"


    "I covered all the bases, remember? I have receipts. WE have receipts. We show them the case files of the missing kids plus video proof of what went down earlier to everybody, and that''ll be worse than a death warrant. Innocent or not, your people won''t see them the same way."


    Iskoh hesitated, "This¡­ they didn''t even know what their families were killed for..."


    I shrugged my shoulders, "All they know was that a bunch of kids turned vigntes and killed their loved ones for no particr reason. Once they know the truth, they might not even be able to live through the shame. It was one thing to get dragged on with your family''s shit and it was another thing to incite a witch hunt without knowing the full story."


    "Some of them have kids though..."


    "Then they''ll do all they can so their kids could live without scrutiny. Oh! What we could do is gather them in one ce and show them what we have without all the audience involved. If they want to live in peace, they retract whatever bullshit they''re telling your people but we''ll keep these receipts as ammunition. Once this shit gets out, they''re done."


    "I don''t think that it''s--"


    "We could technically call them victims too but they''re just making it worst if they''re going about it while not knowing the whole truth. This thing is a different case from Amy since more people will get involved and there will be unnecessary losses. If this thing gets out of hand, it''ll be more trouble than we could imagine."


    Iskoh was once again deep in his thoughts while Kaley and Cynthia were in agreement with what I was saying. It was because they were there when it all went down and the upset families of the dead perpetrators were seeking justice for the wrong reasons.


    In a perfect world, this could be easily resolved by showing them what their families did but there was more to it than that.


    After some time, Iskoh decided to call an emergency meeting involving me, a few of his trusted officers, and the people demanding a witch hunt.


    It started with mind-numbing and mindless screaming from the loudest group but the immediate silence after we threw all of our receipts at them was fucking phenomenal. The officers trying to calm them down at first were now trying to calm themselves down because even if these people had no direct involvement with the atrocities we witnessed, they couldn''t just let them go as easily.


    One of the officers wearing an ugly frown turned to me, "How sure are you that they''re not involved?"


    I replied, "They wouldn''t be here if they are. One of those kids'' dad was a detective and he was building a case against them. He had a list of suspects and their connections with each other and itnded on his son''sp. They ruled out who is involved and who is not, and the ones who aren''t involved are sitting right here."


    "And where is this detective you speak of?"


    "He''s either in hiding or silenced indefinitely. I don''t know about you but the only time that this happens is if he''s really close to uncovering everything or he just did. It''s just that he came a step too short."


    Another officer leaned over to stare at me, "So you''re saying... there''s a chance that he missed a person or two?"


    I shook my head, "Sure, there''s a chance that could happen. Look, I''m not gonna believe a random group that just popped out of nowhere telling me this group did this and that, but the evidence backing their im was fucking solid."


    The leader of the loud group instantly retorted with a grim look, "W-WAIT! W-W-W-WE HAVE NO INVOLVEMENT IN THIS! WE DIDN''T KNOW! WE''RE S-SORRY, WE DIDN''T KNOW! WE-- I''M JUST-- WE DIDN''T KNOW!"


    The first officer just stared her down, "OF COURSE, YOU DIDN''T! SO, SHUT UP! YOU''LL ONLY TALK WHEN WE''RE TALKING TO YOU! GOT IT! YOU FUCKED UP! ONE MORE--"


    Iskoh cut him off, "That''s enough, stop yelling. We''re here to get enlightened by the truth and stop these unrealistic demandsing from their group. Now we know and they know, it''s--"


    "But sir, if we don''t do our own round of questioning--"


    Iskoh clicked his tongue, "This was supposed to be easy. What do you think our people would think when they retract their statements while sporting cuts and bruises right when you just ''questioned'' them? They''ll think we''re trying to silence them and we''re covering something up! This is the first time that something like this happened but we also got to entertain the fact that they might also be innocent."


    The officer sighed before nodding pensively, "Then what do you suggest, sir?"


    I interjected, "I hate to say this but making them retract their statements after rallying a group would sound fishy too. I think it would be better to just rip the bandaid off and be done with it."


    Iskoh turned to me, "What are you saying?"


    "What I''m saying is we forget the second option. We tell your people what really happened and--"


    Iskoh cut me off, "We''re letting the mob decide? I don''t think that''s the--"


    "Listen to me. The remaining families of the gangbangers that flocked here were first taken into custody and the ones who showed cooperation were slowly settling in with less and less supervision. You could do the same thing with this group and your people will respect you for telling them the truth. It would take some time topletely clear things up but we shouldn''t do things hastily.. I, for one, is still deciding the fates of a bunch of people the president just dumped on me."

 Chapter 659 - Playing The Devil

    As soon as I said those words, Iskoh looked at me with a tinge of concern and puzzlement, and it took me a moment to realize that I was still looking for more blood to spill instead of just simply trying to end the day with enough space for my bloody ledger. It was supposed to be easy as he said earlier but to bepletely fair, his officers made a valid point.


    What if Mchi''s dad actually missed a person or two? And even if their whole operation was shut down, who''s to say that they might start something else from under our noses?


    Furthermore, even if it was totally unrted, doing something like demanding a witch hunt after getting their fucked-up loved ones killed was not something people would usually do. They could say that they were just ovee with emotion but there were still a lot of factors to consider.


    However, the final decision for their fates was not for me to give.


    ''This is still his ce, not mine. I could tell him my opinions but at the end of the day, one''s jurisdiction should be honored¡­ He took a step back when he came to my ce too¡­ It''s only fair.''


    With that said,ing to a decision wasn''t easy as it sounded.


    We''ve heard the clock ticking a few times due to the silence and the longer he took, the uglier his face would warp. Iskoh sighed, shook his head, and gave a short pause before looking at everyone in the room. After that, he nced at me momentarily before turning to the older woman who was speaking for her group but now was looking down in shame.


    "Mrs. Agur, tonight, before everybody sleeps¡­ You''re gonna give a public apology about what you and your group did in thismunity the short time you were here. You''re gonna apologize about acting on emotion, spreading false information, inciting a witch hunt, and wasting everyone''s time..."


    Everyone let out different expressions but the olderdy named Mrs. Agur instantly became jubnt. She was almost in tears about Iskoh''s decision but her celebration was cut short.


    Iskoh frowned as he cut her off, "I''m not done."


    The room became deathly quiet and I actually let out a hidden smirk.


    ''If he''s still as soft as before, I would''ve given him another beating.''


    He continued, "After that, we''re gonna take custody of all of your children and--"


    "W-Wait! Custody?! You''re taking them away from us?! We did nothing wrong! Yes, we made a mistake earlier but I''m willing to apologize for it--"


    Iskoh just stared her down, "I didn''t wish to reveal this to everyone but I hope what I say here stays in these walls. I trust none of you will tell anyone what I''m about to say in this meeting because your secret wille out. With that said, among the victims put down was a survivor--"


    I immediately cut Iskoh off, "This isn''t what we talked about. Her privacy is--"


    He sighed before turning to me, "Please, let me finish first."


    I shook my head with disappointment, "Fine. You better make this fucking worth it."


    Iskoh nodded assuringly, "I will. Continuing on, she''s now in safe and capable hands but it would take a lot of time for her to make something close to a full recovery. She was the ''lucky'' one if we could still call it that but the reason I''m saying this is connected with taking custody of all your children..."


    As Iskoh was speaking, the parents from Mrs. Agur''s side couldn''t hide their displeasure but everyone else was waiting for what Iskoh was about to say next.


    "Listen to me very carefully. The reason I''m taking custody of all your children is to give them the same tests our survivor was given. We have all the test kits avable but it would take a few days to receive the proper results. We¡­ We can''t prove if you''re involved or not but once those results came back and one of them is positive for abuse, none of you are seeing them again."


    ''Wow.''


    As soon as I heard that, I would''ve given the motherfucker a hug and a tonic kiss but almost everyone from Mrs. Agur''s side obviously took it as worse as they could. Some of them were reluctant to agree but the majority mmed the table and pointed angrily at Iskoh.


    "THIS IS BULLSHIT!"


    "YOU CAN''T TAKE MY CHILDREN AWAY FROM ME!"


    "WE''RE INNOCENT! WE''VE DONE NOTHING WRONG!"


    "THIS IS WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS!"


    "I''M LEAVING! WHO WANTS TO--"


    One of the parents stood up and tried to leave the premises but he was blocked by the soldiers on our side. Some of them tried to push their way out but there were more soldiers standing guard once they managed to open the door.


    They were dragged back to their own seat and Iskoh was just waiting for everything to calm down. However, it took a while because his soldiers only fought back when they were struck. All they could do was push and redirect but as soon as blood was drawn, it was very easy to calm a group of civilians who never fought in the frontlines.


    As soon as it did, Iskoh addressed everyone in a voice loud for everyone to hear.


    "Had enough? This is your only choice. This is the only way we''ll be sure. All of you said you had no idea that your family members were doing such a thing so how can you be sure that they''re not already preying on your own? Your kids¡­ you give them baths, you dress them clothes, and everything else in between¡­ I will find it hard to believe if you didn''t notice anything off."


    One of the parents bellowed, "AND WHAT IF THE TESTS CAME BACK NEGATIVE?! WHAT THEN?!"


    "Then I''ll apologize and we''ll move on. Simple, right?"


    "HOW CAN YOU--"


    "You''re telling me this now? Your group almost started something irreversible and I''m letting you off with an apology¡­ Why can''t you do the same thing with me? Huh?! And why are you so afraid of doctors giving your kids tests? Are they gonna find something? If not, isn''t that a good thing? Wouldn''t it be a relief and a blessing to know those bastards spared yours? That girl¡­ that poor girl was about to beid off to rest with the others, but she wanted to fucking live just so she could see her mother¡­ Do you know where her mother is now?! Huh?!"


    Everyone was fucking silent.


    Iskoh suddenly mmed his fists on the table, "SHE''S SIX FEET UNDER THE GROUND BECAUSE SHE FUCKING KILLED HERSELF! SHE KILLED HERSELF BECAUSE SHE COULDN''T TAKE IT THAT HER POOR DAUGHTER IS MISSING SOMEWHERE, NOT SURE IF SHE''S BEING SOLD OFF TO ANOTHER COUNTRY OR ROTTING IN A DITCH SOMEWHERE! AND YOU ENTITLED FUCKS COULDN''T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ANYTHING BUT YOURSELVES!"


    Iskoh was breathing heavily as veins were popping out of his forehead, and he kept staring down the group of people that couldn''t even look at him in the eye. It took a while before he managed to calm himself but once he sat down, he gave Mrs. Agur''s group his ultimatum.


    "This is what''s gonna happen¡­ You''re gonna address everyone in 15 minutes and after that, we''ll keep your kids for the time being. Don''t worry, we''ll still allow you to see them from time to time but no contact until the tests prove me otherwise. If any of you tried to slip out of this ce, trust me, you won''t be able to walk 10 meters out. That''s just my soldiers but if this kid hunts you down¡­ trust me, you don''t wanna know what''s gonna happen to you¡­ Don''t even try anything funny, I''m doneughing..."


    The only thing missing from Iskoh''s speech at this time was a mic to drop but we eventually left the premises after leaving several soldiers to watch them. In turn, his officers made the announcement and the preparation for everyone to gather in a muchrger venue after 15 minutes, except for the people on guard duty.


    Iskoh was still shaking as we were walking side by side but he stopped and leaned on a pir before putting a cigarette in his mouth. It almost fell a few times but he was patting himself, seemingly looking for a lighter. I was just watching him struggle but his watery eyes eventuallynded on me.


    Iskoh sighed before holding his cigarette between his fingers, "Do you have a light for this?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "I might... I didn''t know you smoke."


    "I used to. I-- Hey! Why did you rip it off?! That''s just the one--"


    "You''re gonna have a kid soon¡­ Have some candy or something¡­ I think I got one right--"


    "I can''t light that. I need something that I can--"


    "You got jokes now, eh? But you still don''t have a lighter."


    "..."


    "What?"


    "Do you think I made the right choice?"


    "I dunno."


    "Just answer me--"


    "I really do not know. We have different answers to our problems but I didn''t expect what you did over there. You know that feeling when someone thought of a great idea and you wished it was yours? That''s what I felt. Good shit."


    "So, does that mean I made the right choice?"


    "Heh. Stop asking me that. You went through with it. It''s your right choice whatever happenster. But yeah, I agree with that decision. There are easier ones to make but it''s worth it¡­ I think."


    "..."


    "..."


    "So, why are you missing a few members? Who''s that other guy again? The one you found in a prison cell?"


    "Oh, his name''s Ibarra. He''s back home."


    "Yes, that''s the one. Why isn''t he here?"


    "He broke his dick when--"


    "HE BROKE HIS WHAT?! HOW?!"


    "Same reaction every time. Heh. Long story, no subtitles."


    "Jesus, lemme guess... Tatiana?"


    "What? No... Natasha. I doubt you remember--"


    "Is that the one with the curly hair?"


    "Wavy but yeah, she''s the uh¡­ culprit. She''s also back home taking care of Ibarra but Tatiana is also on recovery."


    "Oh yeah, you mentioned that. What happened?"


    "Well..."


    I began to tell Iskoh bits of the story but the 15 minutes we have weren''t enough. We had toe to the venue to finally end the night by watching a group of peoplee on stage and apologize profusely for the things they''ve caused.


    It was a relief that they didn''t do anything else but part of the reason they did was we technically held their kids against them. We can ''question'' them all we want but if we yed the devil for the sake of everyone, the results after would almost always be above expectations.


    What we did was fucked up but that was the only way to move forward.

 Chapter 660 - Trust Me. - Ghost?

    As soon as they were escorted off of the stage, waves of small talk and murmurs came from different groups of people but they were discussing almost the same thing. Their eyes were just glued to Mrs. Agur''s group until they were out of view but they still kept on talking about them right until Iskoh took the stage.


    He waited for everyone to quiet down and he cleared his throat before opening his mouth.


    "Good evening, everyone. I apologize for the trouble of gathering all of you here but I deem it important to straighten everything out while nipping anything in the bud, before it esctes into something we wouldn''t have any control over whatsoever. You''ve heard bits of the story from rumors and whatnot but I assure you, this matter is being handled properly and responsibly."


    Iskoh paused for a moment before he continued.


    "As you can see, it''s important to know all of the sides avable before acting upon it and any other methods would just lead to one making a mistake that could lead to more mistakes. With that said, the matter we are dealing with right now needed utmost secrecy to protect the victims of this tragedy. The only thing I could ask of you all is to trust me in the meantime and I''ll eventually reveal the whole thing when the time is right."


    Everyone was slightly taken aback and before another wave of small talks arrive, Iskoh took their attention once more.


    "In theing days, you might see or hear puzzling, imusible, or curious things regarding that incident but once again, I''d like you all to trust me. I know it''ll be difficult to trust someone while you''re in the dark but¡­ that''s all I could do for now. Those things you might see or hear might twist into different ways the longer this goes on but all the actions we took or would take are for everyone''s best interest."


    One guy probably in his 50s raised his hand, "This¡­ This secret you''re talking about¡­ Who else knows? Can we know at least that?"


    Iskoh sighed before he answered, "Everyone from Mrs. Agur''s side, me, my officers, Mr. Ishiyama''s group, and the group of kids that¡­ that was demanded to get hunted down."


    "W-Why do they know while we''re not--"


    "Who are you talking about? And if they are, why does it matter? I run this ce with my officers while Mr. Ishiyama''s group were caught in between Mrs. Agur''s family and those group of kids that--"


    "That what? Murders entire families without any--"


    I stepped up to help Iskoh, "Without what? What are you gonna say? Without any reason? You voicing out your opinion here has some sort of reason. Anything we do has to have a reason, right? With that said, there''s a reason why Iskoh''s trying to tell all of you to trust him."


    "I just--"


    "Also, I doubt any of you wanted to see that shit. Trust me-- I guess I''m asking you all to trust me too¡­ There are just some things that we should just let go of, even if your curiosity is driving you nuts."


    "..."


    Iskoh added, "He''s right but I do promise you all, I''ll tell you when the time is right and if you really want to hear it¡­ I just wanted to say that if you notice anything off about your family or close friends, don''t dismiss it as such¡­ Love and protect them too¡­ whatever it takes. It sounds conflicting but we gotta learn how to juggle those things together..."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "It means what it means¡­ That''s what we learned from this thing..."


    The guy we were talking to didn''t say much after but the look in his eyes and some others told us they didn''t want to be kept in the dark for long. However, what helped them to settle down was that Iskoh promised earlier that he would tell them the whole thing when the time was right.


    There''s a difference between not telling them and telling themter but they''d still want to know even if we told them that they should just stay away from it.


    ''Humans are curious creatures and we crave for the truth. The only difference is whether we could handle it or not. Most of the time, it fucking sucks. Maybe ignorance really is bliss¡­ It''s just that some people do not want to get called that term...''


    After some time of Iskoh answering a few relevant questions and turning down obvious questions that shouldn''t be answered at this time, supper was held at the same ce we had this emergency meeting.


    It wasn''t as lively as the few times we''ve been here but everyone still gave thanks for their meals as they all ate together.


    I would''ve eaten at the same ce as them but I had four portions plus an extra bit set aside for me, Kaley, Cynthia, and Amy.


    The three of them were obviously not present at the meeting we just held so I eventually excused myself so I could go to the closed-off portion of the hospital they were in. However, before I even managed to tell Iskoh that I was about to head back, I saw someone I didn''t expect to be eating right next to Jade.


    I almost dropped the pot I was carrying, "THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE, JUDE?!"


    Jude just looked at me with a tinge of confusion, "Eating? I was here for a few weeks already¡­ This thick egg noodle soup is really tasty..."


    Iskoh almost jumped out of his chair, "WHAT THE-- HOW?! A FEW WEEKS?!"


    Jude simply replied, "Yes..."


    Jade started to shake her head while pouting, "You two, that''s rude~ I can''t believe you didn''t notice him! He came here when he heard the news! I think I''m not gonna name our son after you after all..."


    Iskoh started to sweat, "Jade, wait! Hear me out! I was busy and--"


    "Mm-hmm~ Right~ Busy~"


    Jude nodded a few times, "He really is¡­ I like sleeping in his office, he never bothers me¡­ I can cook all the noodles I want..."


    "WHAT?! YOU WERE IN MY OFFICE?! YOU''RE THE RAMEN GHOST?! I SWEAR I SMELLED RAMEN PACKETS AT THAT TIME AND JADE WOULDN''T--"


    "Yes¡­ I offered you some but you didn''t notice me¡­ like a ghost¡­ My stomach hurt that time since I had to finish it all..."


    I was still in disbelief for the past few seconds but after a brief pause, everyone around us just startedughing except for the few people that seemed to have had the same experience as Iskoh. Judging from the look on their faces, it seemed that they were haunted by a harmless ghost of sorts, leaving the smell of instant noodles whenever it passed by them without notice.


    "So he was real¡­ I''m not imagining things..."


    "I thought I was going crazy..."


    "I got hungry though..."


    "That''s not the point..."


    "They really do look simr¡­ but their vibes are too different..."


    "True..."


    "Hey! I can hear you all!"


    "Sorry..."


    After a short interruption, I eventually went back to see Kaley and Cynthia chatting with Amy but once they caught a whiff of the food I brought for them, their stomachs just started growling. However, I couldn''t help but notice Amy suddenly putting up her guard and shrinking down when she heard me just barging in.


    I just didn''t put it to mind but I saw Kaley notice what just happened. Both of us just looked at each other solemnly for a brief moment before Cynthia ran up to me.


    "Ooh~ What''s that on the pot? Smells nice~"


    "Easy now, help me with the bowls¡­ I got the spoons in my pocket..."


    "O-Okay! Just rinse them?"


    "Yep."


    Kaley waved me over, "What''s in that? Put it down here!"


    I just smiled before Iid the pot in front of them and lifted up the lid, "Just some thick egg noodle soup with chopped vegetables and some shredded chicken on top! We have some rice too but-- Oh! They gave me soft-boiled eggs too! It''s still hot, be careful!"


    Kaley smiled as she turned to Amy, "Want to eat now? I''ll-- We''ll help you again if you want?"


    Amy nodded shyly before her eyes started to water, "Y-Yes¡­ T-Thank you..."


    It didn''t take long before Cynthia came back with the bowls and the utensils, and the four of us just started eating together. Kaley was the one feeding Amy and she would make sure that it was cool enough for Amy to eat.


    It was kinda awkward for the first few seconds but once I ''identally'' burned the roof of my mouth by ''identally'' wharfing down arge spoonful, it was the first time I saw her smile andugh.


    "AHHHHHHHH~! IT BURNS! WHERE''S THE--"


    "You doofus! Why''d you have to--"


    "The food''s delicious, what''d you think I would do?!"


    "You''re not Tatiana! You can''t just huff your way out of that!"


    "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!"


    "Then suffer for all I care--"


    "AH, CRAP! IT''S STILL HOT! DAMMIT!"


    Amy and Cynthia wereughing together at my suffering but Kaley already knew that I was just pretending for thest half of my ''ident''. She just let out a bright smile as she watched me make Amyugh a few times and perhaps maybe forget a little bit about the things that she went through. She was still a little bit guarded when I started talking to her as we ate but it wasn''tparable to earlier.


    We finished our meal in due time and Kaley tucked her in for the night.

 Chapter 661 - Good Night - D-Dont Be Gentle...

    After some time, Amy was eventually lulled to sleep but to my surprise, Kaley decided to watch over her for the night. She already had the single sofa right next to the bed Amy was in with a bag with anything that they might need for the night. Furthermore, she had a few towels and a wheelchair wheeled in the room in case Amy wanted to use the bathroom.


    I opened my bag to take out a few simr supplies, "Okay, want me to join--"


    Kaley shook her head, "You need to rest too¡­ It''s just for the night¡­ I''ll be sleeping in too but I just wanted to be here if she wakes up or something... I don''t want her waking up and having no one to hold on to..."


    "Okay then¡­ I''ll just clean our guns before I sleep in the other room. You got your sidearm with you?"


    "It''s here, haven''t used it. Just my rifle¡­ Where''s Cynthia though?"


    "I think she''s still washing the dishes we used¡­ I think she''s okay--"


    Kaley''s face turned solemn, "She''s not. She does look like she''s okay but she''s not¡­ I think¡­ Remember what happenedst time? It''s different now but talk to herter, okay? Also... It''s fine with me if you two--"


    "Kaley..."


    "C''mon, don''t worry about it¡­ She might need it more than you¡­ Just a bit to forget¡­ Go on, Amy might wake up if we talk too much¡­ If I feel like it, I might drop by but that''s a huge maybe..."


    "Okay, see youter then?"


    "Yeah¡­ Good night¡­ I love you..."


    "I love you too¡­ Good night as well..."


    I gave Kaley a kiss before I brought her rifle with me but before I went into my room, I stopped by Jared and Lois who were sitting side by side on the roof of our Raptor. They were surprisingly chilling while having a cup of coffee and they just gave me an upwards nod when they saw me walking up to them. The only thing that I didn''t notice immediately was the huge thermos by their side with several sachets of 3-in-1 instant coffee.


    Jared raised his cup, "Want some coffee, bro?"


    "No, thanks. Just gonna grab my tools and fill up Kaley''s mags. Where''s the-- found it. Just gonna grab a few..."


    "Okay, just drop by if you want some. Oh, Artem told me they''re gonna split up in all of the checkpoints while he patrols around with Katya. I think they''re gonna stay up all night and we''re their coffee checkpoint. They went around once now but they''re nning to swap around with everyone."


    "Oh, okay. I''m sorry, I think I''m gonna sleep in after this."


    "I told you, bro, just let us shoulder things for a bit."


    Lois added, "Yeah, bro. Staying up all night is nothingpared to what you did..."


    "100 ps tells me you''re gonna doze off in two hours."


    "Wha-- Bet!"


    "Bet!"


    "I''m gonna sleep¡­ Take care, you two..."


    They didn''t even notice me breaking away and it didn''t take long before I was in the other room cleaning our guns, my knives, and my katana. I was busy minding my own business when I heard a knock on the door. I hesitated for a moment but I eventually called out.


    "Come in~"


    I heard the door opening and Cynthia peeked for a moment beforepletely walking inside.


    "O-Oh, you''re busy. Want some h-help?"


    There was a slight tremble in her voice but aside from her face being a little flushed, it seemed like she just took a quick shower. I just noticed she was wearing a fresh set of clothes and I caught a whiff of her shampoo.


    ''Whatever happens, happens¡­ I guess¡­ I''m still not done though...''


    I just acted that I didn''t notice her wet hair, "Sure. Have you cleaned yours yet?"


    "N-Not yet¡­ I didn''t bring my--"


    "Oh, you can use Kaley''s then. We brought ours. Just pull that seat over here since the light here is much better than that side."


    "O-Okay..."


    "Is there a problem?"


    "N-No..."


    "Okay, gloves?" I said as I handed her a new pair.


    "T-Thanks..." Cynthia looked a little sullen.


    "..."


    "..."


    We quietly cleaned our guns in the meantime but I couldn''t help but notice Cynthia side-eyeing me a few times as she inched closer and closer. At one point, she was just staring at me for a whole minute but once I turned to face her and make sudden eye contact, her face got flushed before she slinked back a few inches.


    "Want some help?"


    "M-Me? I--"


    "You''re staring at me for a bit. I thought you wanted to ask me something."


    "Ah-- O-Oh, I just¡­ I just space out a bit sometimes¡­ It''s kinda therapeutic watching you clean your guns... a-and your hands are--"


    "I''m done."


    "A-Already?! Wai-- I''m just about to-- How are you so quick?!"


    I lightly chuckled, "I''m just gonna bring this back to Kaley, okay? After that, I''lle back here and¡­ and..."


    "And?" Cynthia looked at me expectantly.


    "I guess I''m gonna sleep? I''m really tired¡­ Well, I''ll help you with that if you''re having problems."


    "O-Oh¡­ It''s fine¡­ I--"


    I cut her off before ruffling her hair, "I''m just kidding, alright? Just tell me straight up if you want something, okay? I used to be pretty dense but I still like people being direct to the point. Saves us time too, right?"


    Cynthia suddenly let out a bright smile and her eyes were kinda sparkling because they were a bit watery, "O-Okay! I-I''ll be done soon! I promise I''ll do that next time!"


    "Take your time, I still need to shower."


    "Ah-- Sure, no problem!"


    It only took me a few moments toy Kaley''s rifle next to her chest rig and I did it as quietly as I could because she was already sleeping. She was hunched down right next to the bed Amy was sleeping on but I ced a jacket over her shoulders.


    I left their room as quietly as I could but to my surprise, Cynthia was already done cleaning her rifle and she was already on the bed waiting patiently. However, I could only see up to her face because she covered herself with our one nket but I already know that she was wearing nothing underneath.


    With that said, she was staring at me with her sparkly eyes but I just started to undress right in front of her.


    Cynthia''s face had never been so red and her eyes were looking at every inch of my body.


    I was making a trail with my clothes as I head for the shower but to her delight, I didn''t close the door and I just let her watch me. She was already breathing heavily once I started to soap myself up, and there definitely was a bit of action happening under her nket. I didn''t need her to remove itpletely to know that she was already touching herself all over, and my shaft was already growing inch by inch just from watching her.


    Despite that, she kept trying to make eye contact but her eyes would always wander somece that''s much better than her fingers. I started stroking my shaft while I was looking straight at her but Cynthia couldn''t take it anymore.


    "P-Please¡­ U-Umm¡­ Can w-we umm... Can you ce here a-already? I''m... I--"


    I just started to make my way but the moment I was right by her feet, I suddenly pulled off the nket covering her.


    Cynthia''s body was aching to be touched and aside from her perky tits and puffy pussy on disy, her toned abs and perfectly formed quads were also eye-catching. She had fat and muscle in all the right ces and two of her three sizes were still growing each day.


    It''s just so that she had a little bit of fun already because something glossy was running down her thighs and her fingers. It seemed like she didn''t need much warming up and she didn''t care much for it either.


    I just crawled on top of her but she instantly went in for a kiss as she kept pulling me for an embrace. She was holding me as tight as she could as I tasted her sweet lips. Furthermore, I felt her warm and soft body with my own and Cynthia couldn''t wait any longer. Her legs were open wide and I could feel her hips grinding forward so she could have at least the tiniest bit of contact with my shaft.


    Cynthia broke our kiss to look at me, "P-Please¡­ can you-- u-umm..."


    I whispered as I rubbed my dick against her puffy lips, "What do you want? Tell me..."


    "I w-want you to put it in--"


    Without any resistance, I slid my fat throbbing cock right into her little hole that was already gushing with her juices. I pushed it in as far as I could and once I reached her deepest parts, that was when I was met with a little bit of resistance. Her walls started wrapping and gripping around me but I just pulled back a bit before pushing it in with much force.


    "Mmph! Mppmp! Ah! Ah! It''s in my-- Mmpgh!"


    Cynthia wasn''t able to moan loudly because our lips were sealed tight while our tongues were invading each other''s mouths. All she could let out was one muffled moan after one muffled moan but the wet and splotching sounds while her cunt was getting rammed over and over were neverending.


    It didn''t take long before she started tightening more and more and her nails dug into my back when she started cumming.


    "S-Shit-- Ah! I''M CUMMING! I''M CUMMING! I''M CUM-- AH! Hngh! I''m still-- Ah! Ah! Fuck! I''M CUMMING~!"


    Her moans overpowered everything in the room and she didn''t care if anyone might hear us from outside. However, each time I thrust it inside, she''d tighten even more while continuing to w on my back. I wasn''t sure if she had already drawn blood from her nails scratching me but I continued to fuck her until I got a release of my own.


    Cynthia''s face was already a mess when she stopped kissing me but I continued to ravage her insides while I groped her tits and kissed her neck. She even let me get the perfect view of her smooth armpits when she raised both her arms, but I started sucking on one of her hard nipples while pinching the other. At one point, I held both her hands above her head while I started kissing her again, but it didn''t take long before I started cumming in her tight fucking pussy.


    I released everything inside as I started trembling all over but it looked like Cynthia just came another time. Her eyes had rolled on the back of her head while tears were falling down the side of her face, but it wasn''t because of sadness or anything simr. What she''s feeling right now was just pure fucking lust and it only took a second before she flipped me over.


    Cynthia was now the one on top and she let out a wicked smile before she turned around and showed me her plump ass that wouldn''t lose to anyone in our circle. Sometimes, it wasn''t about how big it was but how it worked with the rest of their body. Furthermore, Cynthia''s ass was just so bouncy and firm, I''d eat it for a whole day if I could.


    "W-Wanna fuck me in my a-ass again?"


    "I can''t see where I should put it in though..."


    "Oh... H-How about-- here?"


    Cynthia just spread her asscheeks apart, showing me her tight little asshole that I haven''t entered in a while. She started to prod it with her fingers but she grabbed my dick by the base before stroking it a few times.


    It took her a while to take it halfway but right when I thought she would take the lead, she leaned against me before cing my arms all over her body.


    "D-Don''t be gentle...."

 Chapter 662 - Hard - Pretending And Actually Sleeping

    Cynthia looked like she was in heat, I could see her drooling from the side of her mouth and I could feel her breathing heavily in anticipation. I understand that she wanted to forget just for a little bit but I guess I wanted to forget too. Hearing her words, I couldn''t help but move just with my baser instincts.


    As her chest was heaving up and down, her perky tits were moving at the same time but my eyes were fixated on the two little buttons on top of them that were already fucking hard.


    I immediately pinched them between my fingers before I squished and groped her plump breasts over and over. At the same time, I just thrust my hips upward until I reached the deepest part of her little fucking asshole, and even if she winced in pain, she continued to time her hips at the same time I was moving.


    "Y-YES! YES! FUCK! YOU''RE IN SO DEEP! IT''S IN SO DEEP! YOUR BIG COCK IS IN SO DEEP! HNGH! MORE! MORE! MORE!"


    Cynthia was already a mess before I started fucking her ass, but she lost it when I was balls deep and shoving my fingers inside her other fuckhole. At the same time, my other hand was grabbing her by the neck, applying pressure to make her lose air and struggle from pain and pleasure.


    Despite all that, Cynthia kept calling out my name as her holes were being vited, and it didn''t take long before she started squirting over and over. Her body tensed before she started shaking tremendously but I held her in ce as I continued to shove my dick inside of her little butthole.


    "Y-YOU-- HNGH! AH! MMM! YOU KEEP STRETCHING ME OUT! YOU KEEP STRETCHING ME OUT! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! I''M CUMMING AGAIN! I''M-- S-S-SHIT! AHN! AHN! FUUUUCK~!"


    At some point, we were nowying on our sides but I was still going in and out of the same ce I was in. I already came inside her ass once but as long as I''m still fucking hard, I''d see how far her asshole could gape.


    All Cynthia could do was moan loudly while clutching the bedsheets, but the sound of our skin pping against each other was also resounding.


    I''d pull it out fully before mming it back in over and over, and I never had a failed attempt because I was holding her other leg up as I thrust my hips forward. It didn''t take long before Cynthia requested to be fucked doggy but she already lost feeling in her legs at some point. In doing so, she could onlyy prone but that didn''t stop me from fucking her holes as much as I wanted.


    All she could do was spread her buttcheeks apart as I forced my way in until she could barely hold on.


    She had a firm grip with her buttcheeks for a few seconds but once I plugged her gaping hole over and over, she eventually lost strength and just took me inch-by-inch. She just lost it at some point but I grabbed and pulled on her hair at one side while I hooked my fingers in her mouth as I fucked her.


    Cynthia was just letting out garbled moans and noises one after the other but she was feeling more pleasure than pain. We were doing it rougher than usual but everyone''s pain threshold would almost always rise up when partaking in sexual activity or being in extreme states of arousal. Sometimes, received or inflicted pain could turn into pleasure, making at an actual point in some type of fetish.


    This was definitely one of those cases and I believe I could push it a bit more.


    However, just when I was about to take it up a notch, I just noticed that Cynthia was about to tap out. Her whole body was covered in sweat and all our juices at certain parts, and she was about to fall unconscious.


    She was lightly trembling at one point but I was still just halfway done for this round.


    "C-Cynthia?"


    "Haa¡­ Haaa¡­ Mmh¡­ I''m¡­ so s-sorry I¡­ Haa¡­ I think I¡­ T-Thank y..."


    "Ah--"


    I just watched Cynthia fall unconscious while I was still inside of her but I continued to push my hips forward, hoping she would wake up when I hit a sensitive spot.


    However, Cynthia was really out of energy because even if I brought her back in a half-asleep state, she''d just let out the lightest of moans before eventually falling asleep. It was kinda weird finishing on someone barely conscious but before I gave up and pull out, she managed to turn around and spread her legs for me.


    Her eyes were barely open but I''m sure as hell gonna take it.


    It only took a short while before I finished inside of her but Cynthia was already knocked out after repeatedly getting tossed around and fucked as hard as she wanted. In a perfect world, I would''ve wanted us to go for one more round in the shower so we could wash up right after but she really was out cold.


    Any method I tried to wake her up resulted in failure so I just cleaned her up with a warm cloth.


    It was fascinating to me how she could stay asleep as I took care of her but I just remembered it was our first time alone.


    ''Kaley and I were just so used to-- Nevermind...''


    With that said, I carried her to the sofa so I could rece the sheets on our bed. After that, I carried her back to our bed and ced a nket over her so she could sleepfortably.


    Iid right next to her and it didn''t take long before she looked for me in her half-asleep state.


    She wrapped her arms around me before she slightly opened her eyes, "H-Hey¡­ W-Wai-- Did we-- Huh? Was that a d-dream? I thought you were still on top of--"


    "You really got knocked out, huh? I hope I didn''t go too rough--"


    "N-No¡­ I''m¡­ I¡­ I e-enjoyed it¡­ sorry I had to--"


    "It''s fine. There''s always next time, right?"


    "But still¡­ D-Do you want me t-too suck y-your-- Oww~ W-Why--"


    "Can''t we just sleep?"


    "O-Okay¡­ D-Did you put these clothes--"


    "Yep. I did everything. Washed you with a cloth and all..."


    "T-Thank you..."


    "Just do it for me too when the timees, yeah?"


    "O-Of course! U-Umm..."


    "Hmm?"


    "I-If I fall asleep again¡­ or w-when you f-feel like it¡­ Y-You can just d-do me until you''re o-okay¡­ I feel r-really--"


    "Cynthia."


    "H-Hmm?"


    "Want me to bonk you again?"


    "U-Uhh-- W-Well¡­ I d-don''t mind if i-it''s you¡­ I r-really like that time when we all pretended to s-sleep but I''d like to see it happen genuinely--"


    I yfully pinched her nipple as a punishment, "And how would you see it happen? Hmm?"


    "O-Ow¡­ I dunno¡­ Y-You could r-record a video?"


    "You''re a different kind of horny, you know that?"


    "Ah-- Y-You and Kaley have f-fetishes too! I just happen to like it like that¡­ I-It''s not about getting f-fucked in my sleep¡­ W-Well-- That turns me on too but the r-reason I''d like you to take a video is I want to see what''d you do when y-you''re alone and i-in control of m-me..."


    "And¡­ You''re just gonna touch--"


    "O-Of course I w-will! D-Don''t kink-shame me!"


    "I''m not! I''m not! That sounds really hot actually¡­ I''m getting hard thinking what Kaley or any of you will do¡­ The only thing I''ll change from that is instead of watching it alone, we''d watch it together?"


    "...!"


    "Cynthia?"


    "D-Do we really need to sleep right now? I¡­ I just wanted to r-ride you so b-bad right now..."


    "Well~ I can pretend to sleep too, if you want?"


    As soon as I said that, Cynthia looked like she just orgasmed right then and there, and she quickly pulled my dick out before she quickly went on top of me. I was certain I cleaned her thoroughly earlier but once she pulled down her shorts, she was already fucking wet. Her juices were running down her thighs and she looked like she was ready topensate for passing out earlier.


    I just braced myself before I closed my eyes but trying to pretend I was asleep as she was riding me like there''s no tomorrow was fucking impossible.


    Our bed shook each time she jumped down but she nted her feet as she squat down, cing her hands over my chest before she rode me a different way. The only thing she made me do was to grope her tits while keeping direct eye contact and seeing her expression change each time I hit a different spot was enough to make me cum harder than usual.


    Sometimes, visual stimtion was enough but having both at the same time makes all the difference.


    We went on for a few more rounds before we actually finished in the shower and we washed up for a second time before finally falling asleep next to each other.

 Chapter 663 - Home - Is She Here?

    After some time, I was woken up by my 4:00 AM rm, and Cynthia who was sleeping right next to me woke up as well. I instantly pressed the snooze button before I jumped down the bed, and Cynthia was still trying to sneak a few minutes of sleep while I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom.


    ''3¡­ 2¡­ 1...''


    After exactly five minutes, my rm red up again, and Cynthia was blindly searching for my phone. She was muttering some words using bits of Spanish, English, and Filipino I could partially understand, and I couldn''t even see her face due to her hair being undone. However, she was only a few inches away from the edge of the bed.


    "Cynthia! My phone''s in my pock--"


    A dull thud instantly followed and Cynthia was groaning from pain, "Hngh~ Why''d you have to-- Ow..."


    I immediately walked over to check on her, "A-Are you okay?"


    Cynthia was rubbing her knees and her shoulders before she turned to me while holding a bit of air on one side of her cheek, "Y-Yeah¡­ I was more surprised than hurt¡­ I forgot our bed was small..."


    I helped her up, "I''m sorry, I thought you wouldn''t do that¡­ I was just trying to make you stand up so you''d wake up--"


    "N-No¡­ It''s fine, I just followed the sound and I-- It''s fine."


    "Are you sure? I--"


    "I said I''m fine, okay? If you''re really sorry..."


    "Hmm?"


    After a ''good'' 15 minutes, all was forgiven but I had to brush my teeth for a second time. With that said, I still partially owed her because she was ''kneeling'' in front of me for a good minute or two.


    Cynthia wanted us to go a bit further but we had to get ready for our drive back home.


    Furthermore, two more vehicles woulde with us, and aside from the soldiers and representatives Iskoh would send our way, one of them would be holding the kids of Mrs. Agur''s group. It was so that they wouldn''t do anythingpletely stupid like breaking them out in the middle of the night to just go somewhere where they''d just get killed senselessly.


    We did say that they would still get to see them but until the results prove otherwise, innocent or not, they wouldn''t catch a glimpse of them.


    Also, one more reason that my group would be taking them in, for the time being, was so that Kaley''s mom could give them a proper psych eval like we were nning to do with Amy. Their physical evals could show nothing but that''s not the only proof we needed.


    Predators not only mess with their victim''s bodies but also their heads.


    One of the reasons they almost always get away with it was due to making their victims think that what they were doing and getting exposed to waspletely normal or just their ''little'' secret.


    For now, all we could hope was that all of the tests they would go through would give us a negative result because we care more about those kids'' well-being than losing reputation because of a valid usation. It''d be apletely different case if we just randomly pointed at a family and used them with no proof but just from the things we witnessed yesterday, it was only logical to go through with this decision.


    After some time, the sun was about to rise up and we were just about ready to go.


    Our vehicles were lined up by the gates and aside from Iskoh and his officers sending us off, Jade and Jude were also present. Jude would probably stay for a while longer and I''m sure he''d probably pop out to anywhere he wanted to.


    Iskoh leaned over on our vehicle, "Are you sure you don''t want more escorts? I could--"


    "Do you know who you''re talking to?"


    "Ah--"


    "Heh. Joking aside, we''re really good. Our roaming groups would probably meet us along the way while we pass our own checkpoints, and we''ll be safe as long as we follow our own routes. If everything goes well, we''ll be back home in a couple of hours."


    "I understand. Give me a call when you guys arrive."


    "Yeah. I''ll keep an eye on them while you keep an eye on yours. The results may arrive in a few days up to a week but I''ll also have them undergo the same tests when we arrive. We wouldn''t want our doctors getting ''influenced'' when it counts, right?"


    "Of course, like we talked about. I''ll doubt they side with the wrong guys but time will tell."


    "Yeah¡­ Okay, we''ll be leaving now."


    "Take care, alright?"


    "Yeah, you too."


    Iskoh and I just exchanged a simple nod before he sent us off with his eyes, and we could still see them in the same ce from our side mirrors even if we were far enough.


    With that said, the main focus of our drive was to go back safely, hopefully driving at the same speed the whole trip without any interruptions.


    Well, it was all possible with our own ''driving app''.


    I turned our radio on and set it in the right frequency. It didn''t take long before several voices flooded the radio but as soon as I requested a route straight back, it suddenly went quiet. However, it only took a second before they organized themselves and reported things in order.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Brgy. 284 is clear, sending two units to roam while four are on standby.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Units on Delpan Police Station just arrived. Eight units in total, no deadheads on sight.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Radial Rd. have some visitors. I suggest taking Zaragoza St.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [D''you need help with that? We have 10 units waiting a block away from Zaragoza St.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Six units are already on standby in Marcos Rd. I''ll give the signal when moree.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Just a heads up, we also got some visitors on Marcos Rd. If you could take them up on that offer, that''ll be great.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [It''s settled then.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sandico St. is clear.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kagitingan St. is still awaiting further units. We''re just four on standby with no backup with approaching deadheads.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Your backup just drove past us and Tuazon St. is clear.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Cristobal St. is a no-go.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Laurel St. is safe.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    ''Music to my ears...''


    Everyone else was either watching the road we were driving on or keeping an ear open for possible detours we should take or streets we might avoid as we head back. With that said, even Artem''s group drove parallel, a block or two away from us, so that they may receive or neutralize the threatsing from their side.


    However, they didn''t do much either because thems we were receiving were urate and Vera from back home was coordinating everyone. If she wasn''t on the frontlines, she''d be with Juan and Earl on the radio station, coordinating with everyone from our frequencies and watching out for anyone that might try to make contact.


    So far, there were still people sending random broadcasts from all over the country but only a few wanted to give their exact location. We were one of the few obviously but the ones who desperately needed help were just too far away from where we could do anything about them.


    After close to two hours in total, we just drove past Morales'' inner gates and it was a safe route all the way to our main base.


    ''We would''ve been back at the time we took to get here...''


    It actually took longer than expected but our vehicles never had a speck of blood. We weren''t able to drive in the fastest route possible but we drove in the safest route our groups could offer. Our passengers were already scared enough as it is without their parents so driving without hearing gunfire or a snarl of a deadhead was the best we could hope for.


    After some time, we crossed the gates towards our own DDR Camp and a few people were present to meet with us.


    But before we went down, I thanked everyone in the frequency we were in before I switched it back to our usual channel. It became quiet for a bit and I just breathed a sigh of relief once I step foot in my own territory. The things that happened yesterday were just too much for a normal person to carry but seeing a lot of familiar faces eased it up a little bit.


    Looking ahead, the kids and their representatives were escorted to one side of the hospital while the soldiers that came with us were told to report to Ferdinand first. With that said, I gave Artem''s group the day to do anything they wanted but they told me they would just grab some breakfast first before heading out once again. Furthermore, Jared and Mikhail will be joining them though Lois was still sleeping soundly on the truck bed.


    ''Staying all night my ass...''


    The only people who haven''te down our vehicle except for Lois were Kaley, Cynthia, and Amy. They seem to be getting her ready and waiting it out until fewer people were crowding over us. They knew that it''ll only be a matter of time before more people knew of her existence but it''ll be best to handle things as slowly as we could.


    We weren''t even sure how Amy would react after another change of scenery.


    I was just about to wake up Lois but it was at this time when the old-timers and Marisha approached us.


    "Is she here?"

 Chapter 664 - Wanna Hear A Joke?

    They were waiting for my answer but I didn''t need to give them one because the doors to our vehicle opened eventually, and they caught a glimpse of Amy''s figure once Kaley and Cynthia went out.


    Their eyes made contact with Amy for a short moment before she averted her gaze, and their expressions turned glum and somber right after.


    With that said, Kaley almost immediately went for Marisha''s embrace and It didn''t take long before Cynthia made her way to our side after pulling out a wheelchair. Marisha gave her a hug too and Kaley started to carry Amy over to the wheelchair.


    Johnny was the first one to extend a hand among the old-timers while Oscar and Matthew were looking at me.


    "I ain''t hugging both of you."


    "KID--"


    "THAT''S NOT WHAT WE--"


    Johnny snapped at us, "CAN YOU THREE SETTLE DOWN FOR A BIT?! JESUS!"


    The three of us instantly tried to defend ourselves, "We''re just--"


    We weren''t even able to finish our plea when Marisha and Kaley bonked Matthew and me while Cynthia was aggressively contemting doing the same thing to Oscar.


    Johnny was just shaking his head at what was currently happening but Amy let out a light chortle.


    It surprised everyone present and Marisha took the initiative to introduce herself and everyone. Amy was still a little bit guarded but once the realization came that she was speaking to Kaley''s mother, her withdrawn expression softened before she tried to lean forward for a hug.


    What was left of her arms extended forward and seeing that simply broke everyone.


    Marisha spoke softly as she hugged her back, "You''ve been through a lot, haven''t you? Don''t worry, you''re safe now..."


    Hearing that, Amy just started to sniffle before she broke down in tears. Cynthia followed soon after while Kaley and Marisha cried silently.


    My eyes were starting to water but I had to fend off an old man that decided that he wanted a hug, and we were almost beaten to death because of making more ruckus than necessary.


    "I JUST WANTED A HUG~!"


    "WHY DID I GET BEATEN UP TOO?!"


    "YOU TWO ARE IDIOTS!"


    After a short while, Kaley apanied Marisha inside the hospital while the rest of us went home. It was best to let a few people in at a time to help her but it was obvious that Johnny wanted to do more. The pain in his eyes when he saw Amy in such a state was indescribable but sometimes, doing less is more.


    He kept looking down at his prosthetic leg on the drive back but everyone else just gave him the space he needed.


    ''Hmm¡­ Is it possible? Well, a lot of therapy and rehabilitationes first...''


    As soon as we got back, Zeus was already trying to make me lift him up but once I did, his little brothers and sisters who have grown a few sizesrger were trying to do the same thing. He''s still my favorite doggo but I just sat on the driveway to equally pet them while receiving their kisses.


    I pulled down Cynthia too and it was just a boost of serotonin.


    Everyone else who saw us greeted us soon after but Artem and his group just finished breakfast, and were about to head out once more with Jared and Gemma. I thought Natasha would be present but it seemed like she was still in the hospital and was still taking care of Ibarra.


    ''All the best for those two...''


    Artem approached me, "We''ll be back before sundown."


    "Where are you guys heading?"


    "Well..."


    Artem just told me they''re just gonna head for a memorial garden a few kilometers past Brgy. Caingin, not to do anything special but just to take down enough deadheads to require deep cleaning of their weapons.


    As much as I love ARs, AKs could still run despite getting buried on the ground, submerged in water, or even frozen beforehand so I was sure they''de back with enough casings to keep us busy for a time.


    ''Well, I doubt they''d use their rifles to bash their heads in since they have proper melee weapons.''


    I even let them use my Raptor so they''d have more room, and everything else that''s inside it was for them to use freely.


    Artem nodded approvingly, "I guess I''ll take Stefan and the rest too¡­ whoever wanted toe..."


    I just watched them drive outside but I began to contemte the situation of my own team.


    ''Hmm¡­ My main roster is me, Kaley, Jared, Tatiana, Mikhail, and Ibarra¡­ But now, Tatiana and Ibarra are taking a break¡­ Kaley might do the same thing too¡­ Well, we''ll know about thatter but I could pull people like Lois and Cynthia. But it''s gonna be difficult to find another--''


    I was still in my thoughts when I felt Cynthia pulling me to the pool area. Rin and Tatiana were present but thetter was too busy stuffing her face with food. Aunt Sharon just gave us a te so we could have some breakfast and Cynthia sat right next to me.


    "Have some breakfast already so you could take some to Kaley! She hasn''t eaten too, right? If Amy-- If they''re gonna do the same tests here, that would take a while so..."


    "Ah-- That''s right¡­ Thanks."


    Rin turned to us, "You two are gonna go back to the hospital?"


    I replied, "That''s the n¡­ Why? Did somethinge up while we''re gone?"


    "N-Nothing of importance¡­ It''s just we''ve heard about her... Amy was it--"


    Tatiana cut her off as she mmed the table, "CAN WE STOP TALKING ABOUT THIS AND THAT FOR ONE FUCKING MINUTE?! YOU''RE MAKING ME LOSE MY APPETITE! EVERY FUCKING CHANCE YOU GET-- ARGH! AT LEAST LET ME FINISH EATING!"


    Everyone close was surprised by the sudden outburst but Tatiana kept eating even if she was wearing a frown on her face. At the same time, all Rin could do was look down before she excused herself, running back to our house with tears in her eyes.


    Cynthia followed after her while I stayed with Tatiana.


    I took the first bite of my food before I muttered, "Angry at something?"


    Tatiana scoffed, "Don''t ask me stupid questions. You know why I''m fucking upset, she does too. And it doesn''t help to bring it up every goddamn second."


    ''Too close to home then...''


    I sighed before I let out a faint smile, "Okay. Wanna hear a joke?"


    "What?


    "Wanna hear a joke? You''re upset, right? Lemme cheer you up a bit."


    "Hngh¡­ Fine..."


    "Great! My dad used to tell me this when he was still alive. He said he heard it from these twoics he used to watch back then."


    "I''m drinking a cup of hot coffee, mind you."


    I inched away, "You''re that pissed, eh? Anyway, this story is about this guy who slept with countless women. Probably someone close to beating Genghis Khan''s record."


    "Hmm~ Sounds like someone I know..."


    "It''s not me! H-Hear me out! Anyway, he fucking ims that because of the number of women he slept with, he could discern who someone is and where they live just by the smell of their¡­ u-umm¡­ you know¡­ their beef curtains..."


    Tatiana almost mmed the table a second time, "Really? Right when I''m eating some beef bowl?!"


    "You eat both either way--"


    "PFFT! FUCK! DAMMIT! WHY''D YOU--"


    "That''s not the punchline! Fuck! Lemme finish this one at least!"


    Tatiana was shaking her head, "You should''ve ended with that¡­ that fucking got me¡­ Okay, okay, what happened to this guy? This better be good..."


    "Well, his¡­ let''s just say he started bragging about it to his friends and no one fucking believed him. So, he issued a challenge and he said, "Okay, don''t believe me? Get it on with a girl tonight but remember to poke their ''piggy bank'' so I could smell it after. If you could give me something I can''t recognize, I''ll buy all of you drink until you''re fucking out!""


    Tatiana was already facepalming but hiding a smirk, "Oh god, this is so fucking stupid¡­ What happened next?"


    "Then it was on! He had a few friends, they were in a bar, so they got to work. The first friend came to him after a while and he brought his finger that poked a piggy bank. Soon after, the guy smelled his finger and he was like, "Hmm¡­ Mercy, from Man.""


    "And?"


    "And he was fucking correct! His friend was so fucking shocked but it continued on and on until they were losing their heads! Each time he smelled a finger, he''d just say a name and a ce then BAM! Mindblown! However¡­"


    "However?"


    "There was this friend they were waiting on¡­ Everyone in their circle had some game but this one¡­ He hasn''t even lost his V-Card¡­ But¡­ You know what he did?"


    "Stop asking me and continue!"


    "He uhh¡­ Everyone was waiting on him and he can''t get anyone in the bar so¡­ He stuck his finger down his butt and came back..."


    Tatiana started losing it, "WHAT?! NO~! WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?!"


    I started chuckling, "Well, once he came back¡­ you know, the guy smelled his finger for the first time..."


    "And? AND?!"


    "The guy started drawing nks! He was so confused! He didn''t know where that came from! But! He smelled that fucking finger for the second time, the third time, on and on trying to figure out from who owns that fucking smell because he was so fucking sure he''s been with everydy in that club!"


    "OH MY FUCKING GOD! I''M DEAD! HAH!"


    "Let''s just say that that finger-in-the-butt guy won the bet but his smell-yo-finger friend became too curious and wanted to get to know who he stuck his finger in. He had no choice to make up lies just to protect his V-Card from the back."


    I concluded my story and Tatiana was in tears as she wasughing uncontrobly while mming the table. She almost mmed her injured arm and she was almost choked from the food at one point.


    A few of the guys around who already knew the story was just amused that Tatiana wasughing so hard at a stupid joke but as stupid as it is, it did its fucking job.


    Tatiana was wiping her tears, "Please tell me you have a copy of thoseics! I gotta watch them! What are they called?!"


    "I do have a copy. It''s really, really old though and I got to trante some of them for you. Well, we''ll watch itter with everyone. Their name''s a little scuffed but they''re called Porkchop Duo."


    "Oh~ I want some porkchop too..."


    "You''re still aren''t done with your beef bowl!"


    "What about second breakfast?!"


    "Hah! Dammit, you''re getting good at this!"


    After some time, the two of us eventually finished eating and once I packed a meal for Kaley, I stopped by Tatiana for a second time. She was still sitting by the tables in the pool area and she was quietly sipping her cup of coffee. Furthermore, she was ncing in the direction of where their room was located in our house before she would look down and think about something.


    I waved her off, "Don''t fight, alright? Talk it out... calmly."


    Tatiana nodded, "S-Sure..."

 Chapter 665 - A Bite - Brat

    As soon as I said goodbye to Tatiana, I drove my car to the DDR Camp to meet with Kaley.


    I only drove for a short bit but people''s heads would always turn when they hear me creeping up behind them or when they saw meing right up front. I appreciate them appreciating my Charger but I got to find something lowkey. Nevertheless, them admiring my ride just proved that ssics would always be ssics.


    ''I love tuners and exotics too but muscle cars would always have a ce in my heart...''


    After finding the right parking spot, I easily found my way to the wing Kaley was in, and as luck would have it, she just came outside of the restroom. Her face immediately brightened up but her stomach growled almost at the same time.


    I chuckled, "Wanna eat? I brought some breakfast?"


    Kaley hesitated, "I-I-I just excused myself for a bit to go to the restroom¡­ I think--"


    "Not even a bite?"


    "A-Amy hasn''t eaten too..."


    I raised the bags I was carrying, "Hah! I brought extra!"


    "How about the other kids and their representatives? Brought some for them too?"


    I slowly lowered the bags down, "Ah... I didn''t... Are they done already?"


    "Some of them are but... t-they''re more scared than hungry¡­ You know, getting sent to this ce without their parents. Even if their representatives are qualified for this country''s CPN(Child Protection Network), we can''t change the fact that we took them here. Losing their parents from ''vigntes'' and seeing the other half get detained will be too much for them. I know it''s for everyone''s best interest but still..."


    "Yeah¡­ it''s all we could do for now though¡­ If¡­ If you''re really needed back, I''ll drop by this ce''s kitchen and I''ll see if I could have a meal prepared for everyone... Just call me when you guys are done. Sounds good?"


    "Yeah... t-thanks..."


    "No prob--"


    "Not t-that..."


    "Hmm?"


    "You know, thanks for letting me do this¡­ taking care of Amy¡­ being away--"


    "Like I said, no problem¡­ Just don''t forget to take care of yourself too, alright? Why don''t you take this bag now? I''ll just take care of the others'' meal?"


    "A-Ah¡­ thanks..."


    Kaley was just staring at me for a few seconds before she put down the bags I handed her and gave me a kiss. Itsted for a few seconds but we were interrupted by a nurse who was calling out to her. With that said, I stole one more kiss from her lips before I sent her away with my eyes.


    ''Now, what to do~ what to do~ Right, food¡­ but how do I counter fear with kids? Hmm...''


    I made my way to this hospital''s kitchen and it wasn''t difficult to ask them to make breakfast a second time. Besides, the servings they needed to make wasn''t that many and it only need one or two people to prepare it given the allotted time.


    Nevertheless, I gave them a hand and it was fun seeing them surprised knowing that I could do more than put down deadheads and stare down people. Furthermore, we made the food a little bit more ''exciting'' to eat just to ease those kids'' fears for at least a little bit.


    What we made for them was just a staple breakfast of fried rice, eggs, and hotdogs but let''s just say people not only eat food with their mouths.


    It involved adding ''color'' to the food by sprinkling chopped green onions, diced carrots, and peas over the fried rice, slicing the hotdogs in a way that they''d look like octopi, and doing some lettering or designs with ketchup on their omelet with cheese.


    To top it off, their hot cocoa had bits of marshmallow floating on top.


    To make everything right the first try, Kaley gave me a call once the kids were all done with their evals and when they were sent to the cafeteria to have some food, their glum faces would''ve made anyone feel the same.


    They were all afraid of their new environment but everything changed when the fire nation-- when they caught a whiff of what was prepared for them. I could hear their stomachs grumble from the kitchen counter and once they lifted the lid from their meals, almost all of them couldn''t help but take a big bite almost immediately.


    There were a few in the older spectrum still trying to rebel by not eating but once they saw the younger ones stuffing their face with each spoonful, they couldn''t help but follow. Granted what we did with their food was a little too childish for their tastes but that didn''t stop them from asking for seconds.


    However, there was always one or two from any group that would make everything difficult.


    In our case, it seemed to be a brother and a sister where the sister was the older one. The younger brother wanted to eat so bad but his sister was staring him down. Their trays were pushed a few inches away from them and it brought the attention of not only their representatives but me, the cooks that prepared their food, and the other kids.


    One of the representatives turned to them, "She, this food was prepared for you all¡­ You should--"


    "I want my mom!"


    "You''ll get to talk to them soon, but--"


    "I want to talk to her now! I don''t want to eat! I want to talk to my mom!"


    "She--"


    The representative was still in mid-sentence when the girl named She picked up her tray and threw it on the opposite side of the cafeteria. Furthermore, once she got ahold of her little brother''s tray, the representative managed to stop her but she just grabbed a handful of their food and threw it on the representative''s face.


    Everyone else was just in shock but she bolted right out the door while the representative was still trying to process everything. The other representative started to give chase but before he even left the door, he immediately slowed down and took a step back.


    ''What?''


    He couldn''t hide the look of shock on his face when Kaley went through the door while pushing Amy and Marisha was being followed by the unruly child that just ran outside.


    "W-W-What-- What happened to her?!"


    Kaley scoffed, "If you''re talking about the girl you''re supposed to take care of, she''s right here. But if you''re talking about Amy, let''s just say she''s been through a lot and she doesn''t want to be hidden anymore. Piece the rest of the puzzle yourself and--"


    Marisha cut her off, "Kaley, ease down. She was just running towards us so we got lucky, right? Marcus is about to follow her, is that right?"


    ''Right, why''s Kaley so mad right now?''


    The representative named Marcus nodded, "Y-Yes, ma''am¡­ She, please¡­ apologize to Mary and I''ll help you ask the kind people here for some food¡­ Once you finish your meal, you''ll get to talk to your--"


    Kaley cut off Marcus, "No, she won''t."


    "E-Excuse me?"


    "From what I''m seeing here, she caused that and tried to leave. Brats like that don''t get any--"


    She screamed at the top of her lungs, "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I''M NOT A BRAT! I WANNA TALK TO MY--"


    Then a p resounded across the cafeteria.


    It made everyone stop what they were doing and you could hear a pin drop.


    Everyone just went back to their senses when they heard Kaley''s voice.


    "Brat."


    She was stunned in ce as Kaley continued to push Amy on one of the tables avable, and Marisha just followed her with her eyes while Marcus approached She and checked on her. She was more surprised than she was hurt but before she got to do anything stupid, Marisha did her work.


    Marisha just leaned over to try and talk her down and even if She was struggling to get away from Marcus'' grasp, she soon slumped down on the opposite side of the table they were sitting on.


    Nevertheless, she was ring at Kaley''s figure but Kaley was in total control of the situation. Her smile would make her fume in anger but she couldn''t do anything about it.


    Despite all that, She was so stubborn to give an apology to Mary and the cooks but she was still given a portion of the food that was left.


    With that said, her little brother finally get to eat some food while she continued to refuse to have a single bite. I couldn''t believe a kid like her could be so stubborn but the way Marisha looked at her just told me that there was something more to it. After she made sure that Mary was okay and the rest of the kids were also fine, she was the one who sat down with She.


    They were just sitting in front of each other but to my surprise, She just grabbed her spoon and started eating albeit slowly. Her food didn''t look as excitingpared to what was given to her earlier but it had the same taste, except it was already cold.


    Nevertheless, she finished her food and looked down while twiddling her thumbs.


    Mary and Marcus were surprised as well but before I got to see more miracles, my radio buzzed.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Bro, I''m gonna fucking kill you...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hah? What are you talking about? Who''s this?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [IT''S LOIS, YOU DUMB FUCK! WHY''D YOU LEFT ME IN THE TRUCK BED AND DIDN''T WAKE ME UP?! I''M HERE WITH EVERYONE RAINING BRASS CASINGS ON MY FACE! FUCK! IT''S HOT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Ah¡­ my bad."


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 666 - Lapse - My Doing

    Unintelligible scream after unintelligible scream followed from the other side of the radio but since Lois was already there, I decided it was best to make him take one more shift. He was one of the best shooters in our household but he had to put more hours outside.


    I just chuckled and shook my head before I set my radio aside, but I noticed that Marisha and She were making their way towards me. On the other hand, Kaley nced at me for a brief second before she got busy taking care of Amy.


    I first thought that She would apologize to us for wasting the food we prepared for her but to my surprise, Marisha asked the cooks to give us a moment.


    The cooks were confused at first but we eventually sent them off with our eyes so the two could talk to me in private.


    I thought it would be a Charlotte moment but it wasn''t.


    My gut started to churn as Marisha looked at me with a somber expression but I just drooped my head low once she started to ry her message. Furthermore, the way She was looking right now waspletely different from the way she was like earlier. She started to cry once it was her turn to speak and the feeling I thought I forgot for the moment was brought back violently with each word that went in my ears.


    ''We just got fucking home...''


    Almost immediately, my consciousnesspsed and I just found myself making my way to my Charger. And once consciousnesspsed for a second time, I was already driving in Iskoh''s territory.


    My radio kept buzzing for the longest time but I turned it off before my consciousnesspsed once more.


    The moment I got hold of my senses, my hands were already covered in blood.


    I found myself in a cell block where Mrs. Agur and her group were being detained, but they were by my feet and barely recognizable. I could hear their faint groans tickling my ear but it seemed that their bodies were oriented the opposite way. Furthermore, the walls, the floor, and their cells had a fresh coating of red and the ''paint cans'' where I got them from were barely breathing.


    Well, one of them was missing half his head but looking at my boots told me that I did all of that.


    Furthermore, how their limbs were bent and rotated where they shouldn''t be seemed to be my doing as well.


    Their bruises and cuts were my doing and their open fractures and internal injuries were also my doing.


    The funny thing was, the guy that looked like a fucked-up meatball and thatdy that looked like was strangled to death was my doing as well.


    For the ones that were still alive, all of them would still die even if they were given emergency medical treatment, and even in the off chance that they miraculously survived, they''d need one or two people presiding over them 24/7. If they were lucky, they''d be able to breathe through a respirator and eat through a tube going through their bodies.


    ''If only I had the patience and the resources to make them live through that...''


    Eventually, most of the things that happened while I wasn''t in control of my body flooded into my head, and I just smiled before Iughed maniacally. I savored each time I saw myself inflicting pain more than their bodies could handle, pushing the limits of what I could do while barely keeping them alive. Their screams and the sound they made after they received each punch and kick were just like listening to an epic musical.


    It gave me a great deal of satisfaction making them beg for a quick death but I remember making it as slow as I could when I heard them confess to what they did to their own children.


    They continued to get away with it for all these years, I wouldn''t let them have the easy way just after a few hours.


    The only regret that I have was that I wasn''t ''awake'' when it happened.


    However, I would do the same thing that I did if I could have a chance to do it all over again, but if not, I''ll try to top it off by a solid level.


    I watched them die due to their injuries one by one and it was a fascinating sight to see one of them turn.


    Despite all the injuries it sustained, it managed to twist and bend itself back until it could groggily make its way to Mrs. Agur''s dying body. She was the only one breathing amongst the group and it surprised me that she could still yell while being eaten alive.


    I watched her get chunks bitten off of her body while she tried her best to slink and roll away from her aggressor. Despite her best efforts, her former colleague had already dug its ws into her body and she was unable to move a single inch. Furthermore, once it started digging into her insides, her blood just found its way to flood in her mouth, making her gargle arge mouthful and choke on it, making me wonder what actually caused her death.


    Mrs. Agur dying was the signal that the show was over and I quickly took care of the single deadhead that was too fucking dumb toe at me.


    I took it down before I crushed its head with my heel, and I just turned around to do the same thing to each head that was still intact.


    Pieces of their skull and chunks of what''s left of their brain stained the floor even more but the feeling I got from that wasn''t the samepared to earlier.


    My mind never felt so empty and I just turned around and went for the door.


    I was already outside when I remembered that my body was covered in blood but I couldn''t care less about how everyone else was looking at me. With that said a few, soldiers were just outside when I stepped out of the building but they were more shocked to see the state I was inpared to the scene I just left.


    However, instead of shock, it was fear.


    Their hands instinctively reached for their rifles but the look on their faces told me that what they did was the most foolish thing they could have done, but they were taken aback once I gave them a smile.


    Well, smiling while covered in blood wasn''t the smartest decision either because they all took a step back.


    I scratched the side of my cheek before I raised both of my hands, "Sorry, I''m looking for a restroom. I don''t want to scare the kids, right? I''ll need a bucket and a mop too-- Oh! And some bleach would be nice. I gotta clean up the mess I made--"


    "I''ll have my people take care of that. You need to get cleaned up as soon as possible."


    I turned my head and discovered that it was Iskoh. He was looking at me withplex emotions but from the fragments I was slowly remembering, I remembered that I just told him that I was looking for Mrs. Agur''s group for a casual talk.


    Little did he know that it would escte to this and he just decided to get soldiers to watch over me if anything happens. With that said, I was just as confused as he was now earlier but as soon as I get cleaned up, I''ll tell him everything that happened.


    I know that he was slowly piecing the puzzle together but I was sure he would eventuallye to the conclusion. I wouldn''t do anything like this if it wasn''t warranted but to my surprise, Kaley was leaning on my Charger I left in the parking lot.


    I instantly made my way towards her but when we were just an arm''s length apart, I discovered that I had nothing to say.


    We were just looking at each other with different sets of emotions and it was like that for a few moments. I was more confused about how she got here while she was more concerned about how I was doing. I looked around and discovered that Oscar''s SUV was parked a few parking spots away and I surmised that the old-timers probably drove her here.


    With that said, I couldn''t see where the three were but Kaley''s voice entered my ears.


    "A-Are you okay? Be honest..."


    I sighed before I looked at her straight in the eye, "Honestly? I don''t know¡­ Empty, I guess? But I need some help cleaning up. I don''t want to get blood on--"


    Kaley cut me off, "C''mon, I''ll help you with that. I''ll bring your bag and we''ll walk¡­ Remove your chest rig at least--"


    "I could but my shirt is-- you know..."


    "Oh... Right... C''mon then¡­"


    Kaley lifted the bag on the passenger''s side of my Charger and she beckoned me to follow after her. The two of us started making our way to somece I could get myself cleaned up but Kaley turned to me as we were walking to ask a question.


    It''s just that I wondered why she asked me that particr question.


    "Do¡­ Do you even know how long you were gone?"


    "What? How long I was gone? Weren''t I--"


    "Do you? Do you remember anything?"


    I gave Kaley a puzzled look before I answered to the best of my ability, "A few hours? The sun''s higher though and it''s hot¡­ It''s just noon, right? It''s just--"


    I was in mid-sentence when I looked at my watch and it had really been a few hours since I drove here... But to my surprise, the date waspletely different.


    Three days have passed since then and I had to look at my watch for the second time to see if I was just seeing wrong. However, it was 100% urate, and everything I was still missing from my memories just flooded my head.


    I didn''t make their life hell for a mere three hours but for a whole three days.


    ''Shit...''


    It was at this time I never felt so weak, starved, and dehydrated and I almost fell on my knees. Kaley managed to catch me at the right time but her clothes got stained by the blood that was on my clothes. It was also at this time that I just noticed that the blood on my body had varying degrees of wetness because some of them were new while some of them had already dried up.


    Once I managed to stand on my own, we quietly made our way for the nearest restroom.


    Coincidentally, it was on the hospital wing Iskoh reserved for usst time, and just like before, it was vacant andpletely quiet. We could hear our steps echoing in the hallway and we picked the same room we usedst time.


    Kaley put down the bag and helped me remove my gear, but she also removed hers because it got stained when I leaned on her.


    I asked, "Where''s Amy now?"


    "She''s back home... She''s staying at mom''s ce... Mom has been taking care of her but since everyone knows her story now, we picked a nurse that would take care of her needs. I visit her as much as I could but I think you need me more right now..."


    "How long have you been here though?"


    "We d-drove here yesterday... I''m sorry I didn''t follow right away¡­ It''s just-- S-Sorry..."


    "Don''t apologize¡­ Amy needed you more that time and those fuckers needed more than god at that time-- I¡­ Sorry¡­ I shouldn''t talk about it like--"


    "It''s okay¡­ I¡­ Wanna get in with me in the shower? I gotta wash my hair too..."


    "Sure¡­ but..."


    "Hmm?"


    "I might need something more..."


    Kaley just let out a faint smile before she leaned over and gave me a kiss, "Oh¡­ I''m all yours, remember? C''mon... let me get you undressed..."


    From the looks of it, Kaley needed it too because, like me, she hadn''t done it with anyone in our circle for days. In her case, it was longer because thest time we were alone like this was the morning after Tatiana and I had our own night. Also, she was so preupied with taking care of Amy she forgot about herself.


    This time, I didn''tpse for one second and we went at it as soon as we washed off the blood in our bodies. I was feeling weak for a few moments but Kaley took over so she could help us forget and get a release.


    We went on for as long as we could and we just copsed on each other when we''re done.


    After some time, the old-timers called for us and we met at Iskoh''s office so we could have another meeting that was desperately needed. A few of Iskoh''s officers were present but I could feel the looks everyone was giving me.


    However, I didn''t put it into mind as I gave the opening statement.

 Chapter 667 - Needed - Wanted

    Everyone''s eyes were fixated on me and no one seemed to want to be present.


    "We gathered here today not because we wanted to discuss fucked-up individuals treating people-- young people as something even worse than livestock but because we needed to..."


    I paused for a moment to briefly sigh and everyone did the same.


    "Earlier-- The past few days¡­ I received a confession from one of their-- the kids we''re taking care of that she witnessed her parents doing something really ''unusual'' to her younger brother¡­"


    I paused for the second time and I saw Kaley looking down while tightly clutching her arm with her right hand. At the same time, everyone had their own way of suppressing what they were feeling from hearing the wordsing out of my mouth.


    I continued, "Furthermore, she noticed that instance happening not once but multiple times after she would wake up feeling pain from the lower half of her body¡­ but before that, she remembered that she would be given some ''vitamins'' to keep her temper at bay, as they said."


    Kaley added, "For the record, s-she really used to be given a prescription for her behavior but I guess those ''vitamins'' got swapped at some point. Mom told me that S-She said that their taste changed after a time¡­ She also said that she used to crunch down on her vitamins when she was even younger, even normal meds even if it was bitter..."


    An officer I met before named Alvarez raised his hand, "Vitamins? You don''t mean--"


    Kaley shook her head, "Drugs, different kinds that could make anyone vulnerable to anything. We weren''t sure at that time but her blood work revealed their presence in her system¡­ I guess she eventually grew some resistance to it that''s why she would wake up at unfortunate times¡­"


    Iskoh sighed heavily, "Then¡­ the others¡­ are they in the same¡­ same type of situation?"


    I nodded, "Pretty much and the only silver lining was that all of them didn''t have any sexually transmitted disease or infections¡­ The only thing we''d have a problem with fixing were the ones that were openly brought up to it¡­ The siblings we talked about earlier were abused in secret but there are a few that were groomed to the point that they treat it as a normal everyday activity..."


    Iskoh and a few other officers eximed, "What?!"


    Kaley added, "Their minds were twisted in a way to make them perceive things you''d only do with your partner to be a normal thing to do with anyone¡­ Mom said it''s not impossible to fix but it''ll take some time and it''ll depend on the person¡­ As bad as it sounds, they''re still young¡­ it''ll be much easier to get through to their headspared to an adult..."


    Iskoh had a sour look on his face, "So you''re saying¡­ Mrs. Payan-- Marisha, was it?"


    "Yes."


    "She¡­ She''ll be able to help them make a full recovery?"


    I answered, "Psychologically¡­ it''s possible. On the other hand, their physical wounds would eventually heal fasterpared to--"


    Alvarez cut me off, "I don''t want to be the bearer of more bad news but how are you gonna tell those kids that you¡­ executed their parents? In such a way too..."


    Oscar instantly scoffed, "What do you mean by that? Feeling sorry for those people?"


    Alvarez wore aplex look, "I''m just saying¡­ If I-- I''ll obviously do the same but-- n-not like that¡­ I helped clean up that mess and the people with me were more afraid of him than facing one of those evolved things outside¡­ There''s a difference between killing someone outright and--"


    He was still in mid-sentence and a portion of the people present were partly in agreement with his words, but I didn''t notice that I let out a chuckle.


    It caught everyone off-guard and that made them look at me much more differently, but I brushed it aside as I quickly changed the subject.


    "Those kids will have a tougher road ahead of them but who we needed to help more is Amy. She''s waiting for the time and probably staying alive for the reason she could see her mother someday. However, everyone here knows that''s fucking impossible¡­ The dream is making her be able to walk again with the help of prosthetics but--"


    Alvarez cut me off once more, "Don''t just brush me off like that. We''re talking about something important here! Those kids are also victims and we should n whether--"


    I frowned before I shook my head, "Fine. Then I''m gonna tell them myself."


    "What?! IT''S NOT AS EASY AS YOU--"


    "It''ll be easy¡­ easy for me. Besides, everyone here could agree that I did them a favor. They''ll resent me for what I did but it''s up to them if they''ll forgive me¡­ or even thank me once they see the whole picture. But do take this into ount, if things just went on as they were¡­ they''ll be the next generation of lowlives we''d have to put down¡­ Their parents didn''t cut off their limbs for a reason¡­ If not all, some of them will continue their family business..."


    As soon as I said that, no one was able to utter a word for the longest time. Everyone else was just looking down withplex and pained expressions because it felt like we were thrown into something so incorrigible, it was better if we didn''t discover the matter in the first ce.


    However, I''d still extend a hand to those in need and fuck up anyone who''d try to do something simr or much worse.


    After some time, no one was still able to break the silence except for Oscar.


    "So¡­ Kid, what''s our n? What are we gonna do?"


    I just sighed before I looked at the old man solemnly, and then I opened my mouth.


    Our meeting continued for hours but everyone came up with a n to deal with our current situation.


    With the first of few, it was decided for Amy to have a little more to go on.


    Finding existing rtives was already impossible so the next thing in line was something a little more intangible.


    After scouring through all of her avable records, I led a team to bring back anything that she or her mother owned from theirst ce of residence or from their rtives'' houses. Be it their pictures, her old clothes, her mom''s jewelry, personal belongings, loved toys, and etc., we would bring it back.


    It was difficult to find anything at first but after we found a photo album from their rtive''s house, we had an easier time procuring items that she might love. Also, I found out a lot more about her past.


    Going through Amy''s stuff that was carefully tucked away in several boxes, I discovered that she was a smart kid from all the medals and awards she won from academicpetitions. If things went as they were, her mom would have nothing to worry about because, with her smarts, she''d easily get a schrship from any school she wanted.


    It would''ve led her tond a job that she liked with a high sry and it would''ve been smooth sailing from then on.


    ''If only¡­ Hmm? Is this her¡­ diary?''


    I thought for a bit about reading Amy''s diary but I found myself reading everything in a few minutes. I caught a glimpse of whatever Marisha was trying to dig up from Amy and it led me to think about something really, really important.


    It was about telling her the truth.


    She might be young and was just out of a very difficult situation but I felt that she would catch on with our lie sooner orter. It would''ve been wiser to establish something in her mind that could possibly recreate a familial bond with the rest of us but it was out of sheer respect that I wanted to do it this way.


    Furthermore, it was just a hunch but I felt she''d prefer to be taken seriously. She already decided that she didn''t want to be tucked away, so I''m sure it didn''t only involve her physical body.


    But before that, I called over my elite team and a few others to take care of another cemetery.


    It wasn''t a special cemetery per se but this ce was where Amy''s mom was buried.


    The problem was this cemetery was fucking huge and it would be like finding a specific needle in a needle factory. Furthermore, it was also right next to a Chinese cemetery which was also asrge, if not,rger than our current target.


    Combining both of them would be asrge as two-to-three barangays in this city and these ces'' graves weren''t as organizedpared to the one my team clearedst time.


    Some of them were even stacked on top of one another and sometimes, they wouldn''t be evenly sized or properly orientated, sowing confusion when a mass of people woulde to visit.


    However, setting a few photos from their photo album as a reference when we flew our drone over the ce revealed the exact location.


    We could even read the gravestone that had Amy''s mother''s name written on it.


    It''s just that our goal wasn''t just to be able to pay our respects to her grave but to clear the whole ce out and if possible, exhume her remains to be transported back to our ce and sent to our crematorium.


    Doing this for a person we just met a few days ago was already too much but we were doing this because we wanted to.

 Chapter 668 - Meat "Hook" - Were Coming In.

    With a clearing operation asrge as we were about to get into, a few things needed to be prepared just so that everyone coulde back home in one piece. We could have all the resources to throw at a problem but a proper n to tackle it was the most important one.


    Part of it involved the location and/or the terrain.


    As big and as infested those two cemeteriesbined were, they still had walls high enough to keep the dead from pouring out in every direction. Even if these two ces were separate, their walls were meeting in the middle.


    And it made things much, much easier.


    Even if there were a few that could as easily climb or jump over them, the majority still needed to weave through their rotting brothers and sisters just to get out in the open. Furthermore, those specials wouldn''t just sit around and idle by when we''re preparing to receive them so almost all of them were shot down before we began our operation.


    With that said, the entrances avable were exactly four.


    What we did was we closed off three entrances and certain parts of the streets outside so when they start to pour out, they''ll be straddling on a custom ''walkway'' where they''ll all be put down one by one. Even if we missed anything, all they could do was just go around a single loop until a bullet finds their head.


    It would be difficult to keep everything from going the way it was supposed to, but parallel the walkway we put up were checkpoints and our roaming groups watching on standby. They were ced there to make sure no 3rd party would be able to interrupt our main group once we started and be the backup if there were any spige involved.


    Everything else was set ordingly and the only thing that''s left was the music.


    I pulled out my radio and gave the signal.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Pick something good, Juan! Hit it!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Got it, man!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Everyone else just heard a short scratch and a click before the speakers we mounted on the truck started to buzz ominously. However, everyone with me almost fell off once the music started popping off.


    [BABY DON''T FORGEEEEEET~~~ ME~~~ AND I PROMISE I WON''T FORGEEEEET~~~ YOU~~~]


    -


    *bzzt*


    "WHAT THE FUCK, JUAN?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [MY BAD! MY BAD! HERE IT--]


    *bzzt*


    -


    [BITCH! LASAGNA~! BITCH! LASAGNA~!]


    -


    *bzzt*


    "THIS IS NOT WHAT WE--"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [DAMMIT! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! I''M SORRY--]


    *bzzt*


    -


    The tense atmosphere instantly dissipated after several stumbles of finding the right music to apany putting down deadheads, but it was immediately reced with something else when the bass started thumping on a steady rhythm.


    At the same time, the people I assigned to fly the drones overhead were reporting that the dead in the cemetery were starting to swarm at the entrance. Furthermore, the ones from the far edge of the cemetery were starting to head in our direction and all we needed to do in the meantime was to wait.


    I pulled out my radio and talked to the three groups waiting by the closed-off entrances.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You guys know the n, juste in when the majority is outside. Bring down anything that didn''t get attracted and your goal is the first entrance. Listen to the people manning the drones so you won''t get blindsided, alright?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Gotcha.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yup.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Loud and clear, sir.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    As soon as I put down my radio, we started to see through the entrance a swarm of deadheads in various states of roting in at different speeds. Almost immediately, the putrid and abhorrent smell that wafter over us when the wind blew almost made us gag, but I was the first one to jump down with Mikhail, Cynthia, and Ibarra.


    From the time I was gone, Ibarra was actually discharged and was allowed to be back on the field. As long as he doesn''t get hard on the field which was totally fucking doable, he''d be fine.


    With that said, he''d be the one floating on the sides with Cynthia while I''ll be taking the helm with Mikhail. He''s back with us but I decided to make him take baby steps. Thest thing we would want was for him to injure himself and be down one person we could trust our backs to.


    Oscar waved over Ibarra, "You sure you could get back on the saddle?"


    Ibarra nodded as he gripped his spear tightly, "Yes, sir. I''ll stay on top of things."


    Oscar cackled, "Hah! ''Coz being in the bottom sucks, right?! Right?! C''mon! Someone support me here!"


    Everyone present tried to contain theirughter for the sake of Ibarra but Ibarra couldn''t help but chortle at what Oscar just said to him. Nevertheless, he looked more pumped than ever because doing nothing for the past few days would take a toll on someone physically active.


    With that said, the four of us advanced while our shooters were on top of our running vehicles. They''ll be in charge of putting down any grievous threat from afar and aside from me, they''ll have the authority to make us fall back from our advance cause they''ll be seeing the bigger picture.


    "Fan out! Fan out!"


    As soon as I said that, we gave each other ample space to swing our weapons without needing to worry about hitting anyone else, but we were taking two steps back after a single step forward.


    I swung down to lop off a walker''s head with its right shoulder before I stabbed forward to a freak wearing a pink tutu.


    My de entered from under its chin and made its way to the top of its head, but I twisted my de as I pulled it out to lop off the crooked arms a deadhead to my side was about to swipe me with.


    "Back! Back! Back!"


    I could as easily put it down in one swing but the crowd behind it was starting to get denser and denser. We needed to juggle this horde as best as we could because even if we could loop around and try again, it''ll be easier if we didn''t have to be careful about tripping over their bodies.


    The purpose of our walkway was to be able to face these freaks in a linear fashion so that the end result would be a nket of dead bodies for easy cleanup. There were a few more reasons for doing it this way but the main reason was just to do things efficiently.


    We should be spending less time cleaning up the mess we made than making the said mess in the first ce. Part of the reason we would take our time in clearing operations such as this was the cleanup afterward. It was much easier to sink cold steel in a crawler''s head than to carry it over a pile right after.


    With that said, the ones having an easier time were Cynthia and Ibarra because the motion they needed to do for a single strike was a basic thrust. They were using different types of weapons but the ''piercing'' damage was the same.


    They''d just leave their victims with holes in soft parts of their rotting bodies and they''ll be rtively safe because of the distance between their spear or their rapier.


    Compared to Mikhail and me, our motions for our strikes werepletely different because from the ss I taught before, a few more things needed to be taken into ount. Nevertheless, the amount of stuff we could do with our weapons made it a little bit more fun.


    I can also do thrust attacks with my katana but only Mikhail could ''hook'' or ''pull'' someone with the notch from the bottom de of his axe.


    Granted he could as easily swing it once and kill a few but in order to do that, he had to have more targets in ce.


    At one point, the swarm chasing after us were dense on Ibarra''s side so he swung his axe horizontally without using much force to drag the majority that wasing at Ibarra over to his side. After that, the grip he was using on his axe changed then he wound it up once before lopping off several heads in one stroke.


    All of them just tumbled on the road before it was either stepped on or kicked off by theirrades but Mikhail was far from being done.


    Making use of his ''hook'' the second time, hetched in on a deadhead''s body before throwing it across the swarming for us so the ones in front would stumble and fall down.


    He didn''t necessarily kill a bunch in one stroke but he brought us more time to keep our nket as thick as it could be.


    We continued doing the same thing over and over until we reached the 10-minute mark and then I heard Artem''s voice on the other side of our radio.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We''reing in.]


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 669 - "Unboxing" - Blackouts

    Hearing Artem''s words, I just replied promptly before I pulled my TX-22 and shot down several deadheads one after the other. As soon as the lead projectiles punched through their heads, their bodies were like puppets that got their strings cut off as they plopped on the road unmoving.


    With that said, their bodies acted as small obstacles to make the ones straddling after them trip and fall, slowing their advance by a considerable amount. Furthermore, the unlucky ones got trampled to death by their colleagues whose only goal was to draw blood with their bloody ws instead of helping them up.


    ''Well¡­ I''ll be shitting my pants if one of them actually helped one of them up...''


    After a bit more time, It didn''t take long before we nketed part of a block with dead bodies and it was like spreading some fucked-up spread like mayo with pimiento on a piece of bread.


    The only difference was that the ''spread'' was just about the right amount to fill the ''bread'' we put up beforehand. Even if we do it badly, we''d have plenty of room to maneuver to not make the ''fillings'' ovep to the side of this fucked up sandwich.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Turning in 30 meters, bro.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Gotcha. Make gaps on the midline!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    The short conversation quickly ended before we heard several suppressed shots from .22 caliber guns used by the people riding on the back of the truck. They were mostly 10/22s that Jared and Lois would use for thinning out dregs while Kaley would use our AR-Style rifle chambered in .22 LR.


    The sound of their guns was barely noticeable not only due to their suppressors but also due to the speakers continuing to thump endlessly.


    They continued shooting until the ones in the midline would be able to swing their elbows freely without hitting one another, but the midline was expanding the further we took a step back. To counter that, simple adjustments were to be made by our shooters and it included proper pacing and making sure they weren''t shooting at the same target or targets that were too close to each other.


    I left it to them to decide which part of the midline they would tackle and it seemed to be going smoothly, mostly.


    The problem we were having with them right now was pacing because we''d sometimes wait for targets to walk up instead of us continuing to put down deadheads at a steady pace. It should be the other way around because the n was for them to keep the deadheadsing for us at a steady pace instead of us putting down whichever deadhead that they let go of.


    Despite all that, it was easily fixed by a simple callout.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Kaley."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hmm?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Let the two handle it and keep watch on the other side."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [O-Okay...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Thanks."


    *bzzt*


    -


    With Kaley kinda reluctantly sitting out and doing something else, our ''factory line'' started to work as intended. Everything started to work seamlessly as time went on but once everything was over, we had to do more than just exhume the remains of Amy''s mother.


    Once we stepped foot inside the two cemeteries, we discovered that there was something else thumping than our speakers.


    It wasn''t as dangerous as one might think but the uneasiness it brought was close to disarming a bomb.


    This incident wasn''t brought out when the clearing operation was happening because Artem and the rest only discovered when the speakers were turned off.


    From the way the remains at this cemetery weren''t buried six feet under the ground, we could fucking hear the deadheads that were too weak to smash through or dig out of their final resting ce.


    It was one dull thump after the other and it was the only white noise I wouldn''t lull myself to sleep.


    There were a few graves that were obviously broken out of but they were either taken care of by Artem''s group or us who made a fucking nket out of dead bodies.


    However, despite the tension in the air, I had to fucking say it.


    "This is gonna be one hell of an unboxing video--"


    I wasn''t even done speaking when I was cut off by everyone close to me.


    "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "WHAT THE HECK, BRO?!"


    "Oh god, what happened to you the three days you were gone..."


    "The fuck are ya numbnuts talking about? He''s always like this! I''ll be surprised if he didn''t say it in the first ce..."


    "True..."


    I just waited for everything to calm down but as bad as it sounded and looked, we really needed to do some fucked up ''unboxing'' to clear this ce out. We weren''t gonna leave a single deadhead alive until they were sprawled on the floor and unmoving because we fucked up once before¡­ we weren''t gonna let it happen twice.


    Everyone was still against it at first but since Mikhail was the one that had ess to a big-ass hammer, he just shook his head before swinging down.


    He easily broke apart a grave where a knocking deadhead was residing in and the rest of the guys present put it to rest almost immediately.


    The deadhead they took down only needed to sneeze to fall over but a knife came at the side of its head before it stopped moving altogether.


    We continued to put more down at the same time by acquiring sledgehammers but there were still a few questioning what the fuck they were doing. Nevertheless, their hands still moved and it was all that mattered to me.


    "We''re going to hell..."


    "We''re IN hell¡­ how worse could this get?"


    "Imagine this was a NICU..."


    "Jesus fucking christ..."


    "Been there, done that¡­ Honestly, the NICU''s much worse..."


    "How..."


    "The mother''s the coffin..."


    "And you need to take down both..."


    "Okay stop..."


    "Coborate and listen..."


    "Dammit!"


    This ''unboxing'' operation was tons of times easier than our clearing operation so we had time to make conversation and fucked up jokes with each other. It could sound extremely offensive to some groups but doing this type of this was just one way to cope. Everyone here had been through some shit and a little dark humor wouldn''t hurt.


    After close to two hours, we finally secured the remains of Amy''s mother while a huge pile of the dead was being burned right in the middle of these cemeteries. Smoke was still billowing nonstop but to keep the fumes to the minimum, and to burn them as fast as we could, we just added more fuel we could spare.


    It was the choice of taking more time than using more fuel, and even if we had all the time in the world, we wouldn''t want to spend it staring at corpses turn to cinders while inhaling smoke.


    After making sure that everything was ounted for, everyone else packed up and head home.


    I was just chilling while I was driving my Charger home with Kaley on the passenger side, and even if I was awake for more than three days, I feel energized about what we aplished. However, I was starting to get worried about losing control of myself whenever something so fucked up happens.


    I always preach about having perfect control but this aspect of mine I couldn''t even get a proper hold on.


    Call me a control freak or whatever but these ''ckouts'' needed to happen less or never.


    Granted my body would still move as I would''ve wanted it to, but letting it just move on its own doesn''t sit well with me. Sooner orter, I might just end up acting out based on emotion, doing something irreversible that could hurt everyone.


    I was deep in my thoughts when Kaley called out to me.


    "What are you thinking about now? You''ve been quiet for a while..."


    "Ah-- Oh¡­ I-- It''s the ckouts¡­ I hate it when it happens..."


    "Oh¡­"


    "It''s always something bad--"


    "No, it''s not."


    "Hmm?"


    "You know... when we were cleaning guns this one time. You just kept doing the same motion over and over until you grabbed my hand and--"


    "Ah! Right, right¡­ I forgot¡­ I guess I''m out of it today¡­ I guess it''s not all bad..."


    "Hmm~ Wanna talk to mom about it? She might be able to help?"


    "Maybe."


    "Just ring her up if you wanted to. She''s busy especially now but she''ll definitely make time for you."


    "It''s alright, as long as someone doesn''t make me mad¡­ I''m good."


    "Is that the trigger? What about that one time?"


    "Hmm~ I dunno¡­ Maybe that time, when we''re cleaning guns, is just a trance-like state. I was just doing the same thing over and over. This time, I drove out and did a lot of stuff¡­ I''m not even sure if I remembered all of it¡­ Wait..."


    "Hmm?"


    "I''m wearing my bodycam the whole time...."

 Chapter 670 - Are You Afraid Of Me?

    I instinctively traced my body cam with my fingers as I slightly let off on the gas for a bit, but I quickly stepped on it before everyone else at the back would notice. The engine continued to roar despite a brief pause and we continued on our way back home.


    However, ncing at Kaley told me she was curious to see the whole thing.


    Usually, I''d be also curious to uncover what exactly happened in those three days where my body was moving on its own, but I can''t help but be afraid that she''d look at me differently. In some way, I was partially in agreement with what Alvarez said in our previous meeting.


    It''s just that I''d still do the same nevertheless.


    ''They''ll be having it easy if I just killed them outright...''


    After some time, we reached the borders of our territory and we made it to the crematorium to process Mrs. Benitez''s remains. It would take some time topletely turn her remains into ashes so we let everyone else either go home or go somece they''d like.


    It was still a few hours before sundown and they''d only need to restock before doing a quick run.


    Artem and his group obviously took up the offer and went back to get a refill but to my surprise, Oscar and Matthew stayed behind with us. Our vehicles were just parked right next to each other but Matthew was the one who came up to me.


    "Kid,e with me for a sec."


    "Hmm?"


    "Just us two. That house by the corner is enough."


    Kaley interjected, "Why do you--"


    Oscar cut her off, "Lass, just let them do their thing. It''s gonna be fine..."


    I just let out a smile, "We''ll be back soon."


    "O-Okay..."


    Kaley just sent us off with her eyes as Matthew led the way but I couldn''t help but notice that Matthew kept sighing heavily as we walked further and further. When he finally stopped walking, he just pulled out a cigar and lit it in front of me.


    Before he managed to utter a word, I pulled out my phone and took a picture.


    "Wha--"


    "You''re not supposed to smoke, right?"


    "You fucking snitch--"


    "I''m not snitching on ya, this is for ckmail--"


    "What?! That''s even worse!"


    I chuckled before I secured my phone, "Anyway, why''d you have to bring me here? Is there something you got to tell me that Kaley shouldn''t hear?"


    Matthew''s expression immediately changed as he paused for a moment, "That¡­ I just¡­ I just wanted to tell you to please¡­ please take care of her and don''t ever, ever hurt her¡­ She loves you and--"


    "You know, I''m already doing--"


    "Let me finish."


    "..."


    "Where am I¡­ As I was saying¡­ She loves you dearly but-- don''t take this the wrong way¡­ but as a father, I''m fucking terrified of you being with her¡­ So please, don''t¡­ don''t hurt her¡­ she''s¡­ she''s already been through a lot¡­ even before all of this¡­ Just--"


    "W-What are you saying right now? Terrified? You''re terrified of me? Why? Why would I hurt--"


    "It''s fuckingplicated, alright? At first, I was afraid you won''t be able to protect her but now¡­ I''m just afraid you''d do the opposite thing. I''m just scared that--"


    "Stop."


    "What--"


    "I said stop."


    "..."


    "I don''t get where this ising from but if I ever do what you think I might do, point a gun at my head and pull the trigger. Keep pulling that trigger until you ran out of bullets, and you could either dismember my body and throw it in the river or burn me to a crisp and piss on my fucking ashes if you aren''t satisfied. I''m not hurting your daughter, not now, not ever. This conversation is over."


    I just looked at Matthew''s face wearing aplex expression before I turned around and walked back without waiting for him to follow.


    I was shaking my head and wearing a disgruntled expression as I walked back, and I just looked for a wall that was away from everybody else and leaned on it while ignoring everything. I was so fucking mad and confused about what Matthew just said to me, I couldn''t help but curse on each breath and wish that someone would juste at me so I could break their face in.


    ''Me, hurt Kaley? The fuck is he-- he just had to pile on at the worst fucking time...''


    At some point, I just saw Oscar''s SUV backing up and leaving the area, only leaving me and Kaley at the same spot.


    To my surprise, Kaley was fuming mad as she sent them away with her eyes and she instantly ran up to me with an apologetic expression. After that, she just extended her hand to touch my face but little did I know that it was to wipe the single tear that was flowing down my cheek.


    "A-Are you okay? S-Sorry, I should''ve known that-- Argh! He''s so stupid! Why can''t he understand that--"


    I cut Kaley off as I looked at her, "Are you afraid of me?"


    Kaley never looked so bbergasted, "W-What are you-- What?! I''m not--"


    "Are you afraid that someday¡­ I might hurt you¡­ even unwillingly or not to my knowledge?"


    All of a sudden, Kaley just grabbed the back of my head and gave me fucking headbutt. Furthermore, as soon as our heads collided, she just stared at me with watery eyes while her mouth was pouting while it was keeping a bit of air on the side of her cheek. Her face would exchange between ring at me and almost being about to cry.


    "D''you really think I''d leave you for that?! You fucking doofus! I-I hurt you more than I-- That''s not the point but even after all that, y-you stayed with me! Why can''t I do the same for you?!"


    "So, you think I still might--"


    "That''s not the point! What I''m saying is-- W-Who gives a fuck?! Can''t people make mistakes and own up to it?! Besides, I know you wouldn''t do it but-- E-Even if you do, I won''t me you for it because there''s gotta be a reason why it would happen¡­ or¡­ I told you to do it¡­ you k-know..."


    "Kaley..."


    "I-I''m just g-giving an example!"


    "Okay, let''s see then..."


    "Hmm?"


    Before Kaley could blink, I just pushed her away before I made negative thoughts rush through my head. My body jolted as my blood boiled, and I was basked in a familiar feeling when I was about to kill somebody. Everything I was seeing just slowed to the point as if they werepletely still, but my hand quickly reached for my de.


    In a fraction of a second, I was in a drawing stance but once it came in at extreme speeds straight for her neck, I forcefully stopped myself at thest second.


    My de was just a millimeter away from lopping Kaley''s head off but before I managed to look at her expression, a burning p came for my face.


    It just came at an insane speed and forcefully stopping my draw made me a vulnerable target. As soon as it made contact, I instantaneously felt the burning sensation but Kaley lost feeling in her legs and she fell down. However, her face was red and she was fucking mad.


    "WHAT THE FU-- YOU SCARED ME, YOU DOOFUS!"


    "Ah--"


    "ANYONE WILL BE FUCKING AFRAID OF YOU IF YOU COME AT THEM LIKE THAT! I THINK I ALREADY SAW MY HEAD ROLLING DOWN THIS ROAD! DID YOU EXPECT ME TO LAUGH IT OFF?! IT''S GONNA BE FUNNY LATER BUT I''M NOT LAUGHING NOW!"


    "I was just--"


    "YOU WERE JUST WHAT?!"


    "Did you just pee yourself?"


    "Wha-- I d-did not! It''s--"


    "So, it''s squirt? You just came from--"


    "Wha-- I--"


    "You''re a different kind of hornypared to everyone else, you know that? Tatiana wanted to get fucked even when she''s injured and Cynthia not only gets off when she''s watching other people do it, she also likes it when I''m extra rough. And you¡­ you''re about to get killed and--"


    "ARGH! I PEED, OKAY?! I PEED! D''YOU WANT EVERYONE TO HEAR?!"


    "It''s just the two of us here and the guy inside the--"


    "THAT''S NOT THE POINT! Hngh¡­ I c-cant stand up-- Wha-- Wait! Wait! Where are you--"


    "I''m getting your bag to clean you up. Let''s just use the house across this ce."


    "H-How about the--"


    "That''ll take a few hours¡­ We got a couple give or take."


    "Then..."


    "Then what?"


    "What if I need¡­ something m-more?"


    "Oh~ that. I''m not gonna give you that. We''re gonna wait till we get home and somecefortablepared to an abandoned house in front of a facility where we burn remains of people."


    "B-But!"


    "What? You let me yesterday? Hah! That''s a clean hospital at least! Do you want toy downfortably or do you want dead people''s ash on your buttcheeks? You''re really a different kind of horny...."

 Chapter 671 - Another Shouting Match - Were Idiots...

    As soon as I said that, the look on Kaley''s face was just so fucking indescribable I couldn''t put it into words. She never looked so helpless and vulnerable because she just peed herself in the middle of the road and she lost feeling in her legs. However, it didn''t end there when I tried to lift her up by cing my hands under her armpits so I could carry her a few inches away from me.


    "PUT ME DOWN! THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING! I''D RATHER CRAWL! WHY ARE YOU SO STRONG?!"


    "C''mon! It''s just us here! Why are you so-- Stop wiggling! Your butt will hit me!"


    "YOU PERVERT!"


    "Pervert?! Who''s the one asking for sex earlier?! Huh?! Pervert my ass!"


    "I THOUGHT I DIED! CAN YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT''S HAPPENING TO MY BODY RIGHT NOW?! I NEED TO FEEL SOMETHING ELSE THAN--"


    "Pretty much, yeah. I got chased down by Aoi down the mountain with my Tachi, remember? Mind you, she didn''t stop at thest second¡­ I dodged at thest second! IT WASN''T EVEN ONE STRIKE! IT''S CLOSE TO A THOUSAND!"


    "ROIGHT~ ROIGHT~ IT''S A THOUSAND~ SURE~"


    "YOU DOUBTING ME?! IT''S 978 STRIKES TO BE EXACT!"


    "BULLSHIT!"


    "I LOVE COUNTING, DEAL WITH IT!"


    Our shouting match continued while I was carrying her the same way but we just burst outughing once I put her down in one of the bathrooms avable.


    The house we entered didn''t exactly look abandoned as it was technically called because the dust present wasn''t as thick as we thought it should be. Granted the furniture waspletely minimalist, its essential functions were still working as it should be except for electricity.


    It was because to preserve all the buildings, houses, and/or facilities on our turf, regr maintenance was necessary. It was being done one-to-two times a week depending on the circumstances and they made sure to at least have a moderate stock of clean water, and sometimes, a portion of food that wouldn''t readily expire.


    In some special houses involving a few outside, a BOB with all the essential items plus a can of gas was hidden in certainpartments for emergencies.


    Working vehicles would be a little difficult to hide but with the knowledge of hotwiring one because it was easy to get one outside, it wouldn''t be as difficult to get a ride. Nevertheless, a few were present on viable houses.


    I was deep in my thoughts when Kaley called out to me.


    "Hey~ Are you still there? Can you open up my bag, I''m already wet in this shower."


    "Coming, did you at least stand on a basin-- great."


    "Of course, what are you gonna do with my bathwater? Hmm? Pervert."


    "Haaa~ I''m not gonna fall for that. Where are your other clothes? Let me wash them, at least."


    "You''re gonna sniff them, aren''t you? Pervert."


    "The fuck is wrong with you? Heh. Gonna ask for sex after you almost died? Pervert."


    "Don''t call me a pervert, pervert. And that''s already old news, pervert."


    "Okay, let''s see then--"


    "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! N-Not again!"


    "What?"


    "You aren''t gonna do that--"


    "No. Why''d you think that?"


    "It''s because of you! That''s the words you said after you-- you know what I meant! I have PTSD from that now! Well, not r-really but-- Stop staring at me while I''m naked!"


    "You''re the one who made mee in here! Where do you want me to look at?! The floor?! The tiles?!"


    "I just asked you to open my bag, not ogle at me! At least get hard when you''re looking at me!"


    "Wha-- Get your story straight! Do you want me to look at you or not?!"


    "Yes!"


    "Yes, what?!"


    "I-- I don''t know!"


    "Kaley! I''m this close to losing it if you don''t get your shit together!"


    "JUST FUCK ME SO I''LL RETURN TO NORMAL! I''M STILL FRAZZLED, YOU KNOW?! MY BODY TREMBLES EVERY TIME I THINK ABOUT IT!"


    "Then don''t think about it!"


    "IF ONLY IT WAS THAT EASY! IT''S NOT LIKE I''M NOT TRYING! PLEASE! JUST--"


    "WE. NEED. TO. GET. HOME. FIRST!"


    "I. NEED. TO. CUM. TWICE. FIRST!"


    "I CAN''T RIGHT NOW! I''M STILL PISSED OFF!"


    "BUT I REALLY NEED IT RIGHT NOW! I''M STILL FUCKING TRAUMATIZED!"


    "HOW CAN SEX FIX THAT?!"


    "WHY DON''T YOU TRY IT?! IT''LL CALM YOU DOWN TOO! YOU''RE UPSET, RIGHT?!"


    "RIGHT NOW?! THERE''S NO BUILDUP! I CAN''T DO IT!"


    "I''M ALREADY NAKED! JUST FUCKING STAND THERE AND I''LL DO THE REST! EASY!"


    "I knew it, you''re only after my body..."


    "WHA-- J-JUST YOUR DICK WILL--"


    "*GASPS* YOU DIDN''T EVEN DENY IT! I feel so dirty¡­ Being used as a--"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! STOP IT, WILL YOU?!"


    "Yes, master¡­ I''m just a lowly servant whose sole purpose is to satisfy thy needs--"


    "ARGH! TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT AT LEAST! I''m¡­ I''m just gonna do it m-myself..."


    "As you wish, master¡­ Wai-- You''re actually--"


    I was still halfway in messing with her but Kaley actually stepped out of the shower and sat on the bathroom counter. Her hair was still wet and her body still had droplets of water flowing down to her feet, but she snatched the shirt that I had just taken off before she took a big whiff of it and looked at me.


    "F-Flex your arms..."


    "K-Kaley--"


    "Just do it! And move closer!"


    I did as I was told and Kaley was already massaging her huge breasts with one hand while the other was keeping my shirt in ce. It didn''t take long before she spread her legs in front of me and her fat, puffy innie was just on disy. I almost leaned over and ate her out but I was willing to know how far she''d go.


    Kaley was rubbing her clit in a circr motion at first but her fingers started to slide up and down her outer lips before she started to push a finger inside her little hole. She started to moan ever so slowly but she continued to sniff my shirt while she was squeezing her breast between her arms.


    Not gonna lie, I was already rock-hard from watching her but I doubt I''m gonna have it easy.


    I was already losing my mind due to how many times she spread her fat lips apart and tasted herself before she would slide it back in over and over. Her fingers would get creamy the moment they went in her pussy but seeing her hard nipples and winking asshole was also driving me over the edge.


    With that said, Kaley continued to touch herself ever so slowly but she let out a smirk when she saw the tent in my pants.


    "That looks painful¡­ take your pants of BUT not your underwear¡­ just keep them on¡­ you''re my ''servant'', remember?"


    I was a little bit reluctant when she gave me the order but the look on her face was indescribable the moment I did as I was told. She bit her lips before she looked at me wickedly, but her feet found their way into my shaft only hindered by my boxer briefs. However, Kaley started to gently slide her toes to make a proper outline of my dick as she continued to touch herself over and over.


    She never broke eye contact with me but she''d giggle every time I''d look down to nce at her plump ares with her hard, pink nipples. Furthermore, she pulled me even closer so when her feet were pressing down on me, her legs would be wide open, letting me get a better view of wet, creamy pussy.


    I could only groan in pleasure as she continued to do all the work but as soon as she saw the precum leaking at the tip of my dick, she sat upright before she grabbed my dick and pulled it out of my underwear.


    It was already twitching violently as it was about to blow but all Kaley did was lick the precum before leaning back and watching me struggle.


    "Wanna cum?"


    "Y-Yes..."


    "Move closer..."


    "O-Okay--"


    "But me first!"


    I wasn''t able to react properly when she shoved my head onto her wet ass pussy and before I managed to get a proper footing, she mped her thick thighs on my head. The intoxicating smell of her cunt just made me lose my mind as I started to push my tongue inside of her while I also tried to suck on her clit that was aching for some action.


    My eyes were closed the whole time but I wouldn''t be able to see anything if I open them because Kaley''s hands were also pushing me down on her fat cunt even more than it already was. Furthermore, Kaley kept moving her hips at the same time and it didn''t take long before she squirted right on my face.


    Kaley wouldn''t let go of me so I just slurped and drank all her juices as I continued to push my tongue inside her vaginal walls but before I even tried to push a finger in her asshole, she managed to grab my hands and ce them over her breasts.


    My hands were on top of them but she was the one doing the squeezing and the groping.


    Kaley kept moaning as she was calling out my name but as she started to have multiple orgasms, I just had a hands-free ejaction.


    Everything was just happening all at the same time, I just found myself trembling all over while my load was spurting on the floor.


    Kaley noticed it immediately and she just pushed me on the floor before she went on top of me. I was still in mid-orgasm and I just lost my mind due to the sensitivity. I had a couple more spurts to let out but I lost control of my body when I entered something so fucking tight and so fucking warm.


    She was still cumming one after the other but she just rode me like there''s no tomorrow.


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT''S SO WARM INSIDE ME! HNGH! FUCK! SHIT! IT''S SO BIG! AH! AH! AH! I''M CUMMING-- SHIT! AHN! AH! AH! AH!"


    Kaley''s tits were just bouncing as hard as they could but she let out another high-pitched moan when I managed to cup them and pinch her nipples. I was just groping her tits at one point but it led to me sucking and biting them while Kaley just moved her hips while staying in ce.


    She pulled too far at one point and I suddenly entered her ass, but she continued to move her hips even if she was wincing the first few times. Nevertheless, she offered it the moment she went on all fours and I just shoved it in without any hesitation. However, I pulled on her hair until both of us were kneeling and I continued to fuck her little asshole while I was groping her breasts.


    "IT''S-- IT''S-- IT''S-- GOING IN MY-- HNGH! AH! AHN! MMH! MMH! MMH! IT''S STRETCHING MY-- AH! AH! AH! DON''T STOP! DON''T STOP! DON''T STOP!"


    It didn''t take long before she started to squirt over and over but I covered her mouth to see her convulse and struggle. Her hands were trying to grab on my arm at some point and I was just left with a few minor scars before she lost strength and was out of breath.


    We were just looking at each other cheekily when it was over and we were just chuckling when we took the shower together.


    "I really thought you were serious at one point!"


    "Hah! Your radar didn''t work?"


    "Kinda¡­ Hey..."


    "Hmm?"


    "That thing you did¡­ was it the same thing with Tatiana?"


    "Kinda. But I''m not holding my katana at that time. Kinda the same but a few levels higher."


    "There are levels to it?"


    "Yep. And I guess you''ll pee more at the higher-- Ack!"


    "That was an ident! You got me by surprise!"


    "Roight~ Roight~ I got ya by surprise didn''t I? That''s the point!"


    "Are we gonna have a shouting match again?"


    "Should we?"


    "I''m really tired..."


    "Me too..."


    "We''re idiots..."


    "Pervy idiots..."


    "Yep..."


    "Yep...."

 Chapter 672 - Out Of The Ordinary

    We fooled around for a bit more before we gotpletely cleaned up and we both felt like we were in the clouds when we''re together. However, we both knew that it would change once we drove back to ourpound because of two specific things that would happen.


    The first one was telling Amy the truth about her mother and secondly, telling She and the rest of the kids that I just murdered their parents.


    I was confident that Amy would take it much better than everyone else thought she would once she found out the truth, but I wasn''t so sure about thetter. Even if I really did them a huge favor, I''m sure that they wouldn''t think of me like that at first, or maybe even not at all.


    There was a huge possibility that I''ll just be the guy that killed their parents.


    Nevertheless, I already made my decision and I''ll follow through with it no matter the consequences.


    In the future, they''ll be free to take a shot at me but that would mean that all the bets are off. They could still be minors when they would hypothetically hurt me or my loved ones but I''ll assure them that they''ll hit the floor faster than they could blink.


    As I said many times, I''ll do the same thing over and over if not, harder, if I could turn back time or be presented with the same situation.


    If they couldn''t see past what I did for them, I wouldn''t be of much help right after.


    I was deep in my thoughts when Kaley started to tap my shoulder.


    "Hey, he''sing out..."


    "Oh..."


    As soon as I turned my head to the entrance of the crematorium, the guy we asked to take care of the remains of Mrs. Amor Benitez came out carrying a brass urn. It had a very simple design like most urns in the market would look like but it had an elegant carving of flowers on the bottom and on the lid.


    "Ah-- you really waited for me. H-Here¡­ Is there anything else you want me to do, sir?"


    "No, thank you."


    "Okay--"


    "If you have anything you fancy, give my ce a call and we''ll do something about it. Need a ride back?"


    "Ah-- Thanks! I g-got my bike over there¡­ t-thanks anyway..."


    "Okay, we''ll go on ahead."


    I let Kaley carry the urn for me so I could drive us back home but both of us were just staring at the dashboard for a moment before we solemnly looked at each other. I didn''t know why but this might be the time I was a little too careful of driving back home.


    Nevertheless, we came back in due time and we looked for Amy once we drove through the gates of ourpound.


    Everyone else who saw me wanted toe up and greet me, especially Cynthia and the rest but once they saw the urn on Kaley''s hands, they just gave us a simple nod before letting us do our job first.


    After a bit of asking around, we discovered that she was hanging by the pool area with our Aunts and some of the kids, and Kaley was the one who asked everyone if Amy could be excused for a second. I was the one holding the urn in my hands when this happened and my heart just kept beating faster each time Amy drew closer.


    Well, once we were just an arm''s length apart, I knelt down so we could be on the same level, and I showed her the urn before I started to talk to her.


    I wasn''t even sure if she heard the first part of what I said because tears just started to gush from her eyes as she tried to hold the urn with what''s left of her arms. Nevertheless, I still supported her by holding it up, even when she tried to embrace it as best as she could.


    No one inside thepound was able to hold their tears back for such a sad reunion.


    We always wanted to give the best we could for somebody we wanted to help but this time, it felt like even our best wasn''t good enough.


    However, I just saw Amy let go of her mother''s urn before she jumped at me for a hug. I was still holding the urn with one hand while I was supporting her with the other, and she muttered something in my ear.


    "T-Thank y-you..."


    Those words could''ve meant a lot of different things and just by the way I think, it could really be, but, I know full well what she meant by that. Tears just continued to flow down my cheeks as I wrapped my arms around her. I didn''t say much afterward and I just wiped her tears when I sat her down. Both of us were just sitting down on the floor at this moment and everyone else was just watching us.


    "I''m sorry¡­ I should''ve told you sooner¡­ I knew--"


    "I-It''s okay¡­ S-She-- M-Mom''s here now..."


    "Yeah..."


    "C-Can I ask you s-something?"


    "Sure..."


    "Y-Your m-mom and d-dad¡­ are they-- are they also?"


    "Yeah..."


    "A-Are they also in this¡­ urn?"


    "Actually¡­ yes and no..."


    "Ah-- O-Oh..."


    "They''re in a mountain..."


    "Oh~ I-In the provinces perhaps?"


    "You can say that¡­ I¡­ I scattered their ashes in this mountain where my other family lives¡­ It''s very far though..."


    "Oh¡­ Hmm¡­ Can¡­ C-Can wee there sometime?"


    "Sure."


    "R-Really?"


    "But you gotta promise me a few things first."


    "A-Ah-- S-Sure! What is it?"


    "First, you''ll heal up. Second, you''ll continue your studies-- We got great teachers here. And third, once we reached the base of the mountain, you''ll climb it with us. We''re not gonna carry you or something. You''ll walk it up yourself."


    "W-Walk?"


    "You''re gonna fucking walk. It''ll be really fucking hard but you''re gonna fucking do it. We have people here that''ll help you and you''ll be able to achieve that with hard work and determination. If you''re as badass as I think you are, you''ll do it in a year. If not, two. Nevertheless, you''re walking up that mountain and--"


    "C-Can''t we just drive or fly?"


    "Ah-- You got me there but the point remains! Stop speaking logically, we''re having a moment here!"


    "Pfft! I''m sorry, I''m sorry!"


    "C''mon, have you eaten yet? Wanna have some spaghetti with little hotdogs on it?"


    "Wha-- H-How did you know?!"


    "I''m a genius too. I''m also valedictorian in all my sses."


    "W-Wha--"


    "I''m also psychic. I know you love Mn, Pokemon, Alice in Wondend, and Jackie Chan Adventures."


    "Wha-- Wait! D-Did you read my diary?!"


    "The pink one with two hearts, a redce, and the first few pages with glitters? No~ I told you, I''m psychic."


    "W-Where is it?! Please! W-Where did you find them?!"


    "Well~ Let''s eat first, okay? I''m really~ fucking hungry."


    "O-Okay!"


    I just sat her back down on her wheelchair before I pushed her inside our house and everyone else was just trying to keep it together because what happened was just too unexpected. It''ll be next to impossible to see a victim of abuse, especially just after a few days of being rescued, bounce back like this like it was nothing. Granted she still needed help but this was extremely out of the ordinary.


    If she made aplete recovery, she''ll be one of the strongest members of ourmunity.


    After some time, I made Amy her favorite food that her mom would always make her, and to make sure that the blonde-haired glutton who was already sniffing about don''t steal her food, I made her feed Amy with her only avable hand.


    Tatiana had insatiable hunger when ites to food but she wouldn''t steal from someone like Amy.


    With that said, Tatiana showed great control with using her non-dominant arm but we couldn''t help butugh at her expression each time Amy''s eyes would light up when she ate my cooking. She was really tempted to sneak a bite a few times but Kaley and the rest who were watching her like a hawk kept her at bay. Nevertheless, she finally got her share when Amy got her fill and it was all smiles for a while.


    It just changed when Marcus, one of the representatives of the other kids came to thepound.


    I just briefly excused myself before I met with him by the gate.


    "Hey, what do you need?"


    "S-Sir¡­ It''s already been a few days since the kids are sent here and they haven''t talked to their parents--"


    I cut him off, "They haven''t told you yet, huh?"


    "S-Sir?"


    "They won''t get to talk to their parents anymore..."


    "I thought S-She was the only one barred from¡­ S-Sir?"


    Marcus was in mid-sentence when his face changed as he looked at me but he was perceptive enough to know that something''s not right.. He eventually pieced together what he assumed that must''ve happened and realization came upon his face.

 Chapter 673 - Getting Through?

    Marcus shook his head before beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and he almost faltered when he lost feeling in his legs. He looked like a hundred thoughts were rushing through his head and he would overload the moment I piled on. However, he kept himself together before wearing a bitter look on his face, and he just looked at me before opening his mouth.


    "S-So¡­ w-what are we gonna do? Are we--"


    "I''ll tell the older ones like She but we spare the younger ones for now. They''re gonna be their younger siblings'' parents now but we''ll still provide support."


    "W-What about-- Where are they gonna stay? Mary and I too, are we--"


    "If you wouldn''t mind bunking with Mary, we''ll give you a house. If not, I could assign both of you somewhere close to where the kids will be living from now on. The two of you will help Marisha for taking care of them and I hope we''ll benefit from each other. If you have any personal belongings or rtives on Iskoh''s base, we could also bring them here for your convenience."


    Marcus wiped the sweat off of his face, "I¡­ I''m living alone¡­ Mary-- Mary, she has family on the other side¡­ a brother and a sister, Joseph and Esther¡­ if I remember correctly."


    I nodded, "Okay, where''s Mary now? Can you tell her the news and I''ll contact Iskoh about our new changes? Wait-- you''re fine with this arrangement, right?"


    "N-No problem¡­ I could be anywhere you want me to be¡­ it''s..."


    "Hmm?"


    "It''s just so unfortunate¡­ I just wish what most of us thought could be wrong¡­ I was thinking about it a lot and knowing about this now¡­ I just don''t know what to think at this moment..."


    "You''re not alone. Let''s just do the best we could¡­ We''ll follow after you in a bit. Make sure the younger ones are somece else when I break the news¡­ Wait, just call me when they''re ready."


    "O-Okay, sir..."


    We just exchanged a short nod before Marcus turned around and walked back to the DDR Camp, but I started to touch the bodycam located on my chest rig once again. I wanted to review it once before using it as some sort of brutal evidence but instead of walking straight back to my house, I took a detour and went for Ken''s room.


    ''Better not bother the ones at my house...''


    I knocked a few times on his door, "You awake, dude?"


    "It''s open! Juste in!"


    Once I opened the door, I was greeted by rows and rows of monitors mounted on his walls and different sets of cables running through the floor. It still had his own ''style'' of chaotic decorations and I just found a ce to sit on before taking the bodycam off of my chest rig.


    "Can you check this for me?"


    "Is this yours? Why--"


    "Just run it please? Pull the footage from four days ago."


    Ken caught my bodycam as I threw it overhead and he just hooked it on hisputer. He weaved through the different video files avable before he picked one that was on the day that I mentioned.


    "Just a-- here? This one?"


    "No, a further back. Look for the one where I rode my car."


    "Okay¡­ here? You''re still at the DDR Camp in this ce though... Is this okay?"


    "Yeah. Just y it on twice the speed. We''ll just skip a few bits I could remember."


    "Done. What are you looking for then?"


    "Myself."


    Ken just gave me a puzzled look before he watched the footage with me and it was just senseless driving from the start. I wasn''t even talking for the first few parts but we just saw myself stopping for a horde on the way.


    We watched myself took care of a few hundred deadheads that just rushed for me but I took every single one of them with my knife and my katana.


    "Jesus, dude."


    "..."


    "Is that really you?"


    "..."


    "It is you, you lined them up before burning them..."


    The footage continued until I reached Iskoh''s ce but that was when I made Ken y the video at normal speed.


    Ken was ncing at me a few times but the moment ''it'' started, his eyes were just glued to the screen. The two of us watched everything that I did to those monsters and the bits that I didn''t recall finallypleted the whole scenario.


    It wasn''t that I took three days to kill a bunch of fucked-up people, I took less than a few hours to make them beg for their lives. I killed a few almost immediately to set an example and the rest just spilled everything before I gave them hell.


    Thest two days were just days where I just watched them plead for a quick death but I just watched them die until one of them turned.


    Everything else was pretty self-exnatory and I just stopped the video right when I was about to open the door.


    It was just quiet for a few moments before Ken broke the silence.


    "Damn, dude. I''ll suck your dick if I was into sucking dick. Jesus, you fucked up those guys really fucking good."


    "You aren''t afraid of me?"


    "What? Fuck, no. Why? You fucking love me and I''m not into little kids. Why would I be afraid of you?"


    "Hmm, even if I tell you that from the time I rode my car and the time I paused that video that I wasn''t aware if I did that?"


    "What? That''s even crazier! Dude! You''re the fucking edgelord of all fucking edgelords!"


    ''This guy...''


    My face just brightened up a little before I chuckled, "Heh. Thanks, dude. See you in a bit."


    "Okay, dude. I''ll just--"


    I cut him off before I left his room, "Oh, if you make another cinematic of me fucking doing shit with music in the background, I''ll rece all of this shit with a typewriter."


    "Wha-- C''mon! I already thought of something to run in the background!"


    "NO FUCKING CINEMATICS!"


    "How about a voiceover? I can make you read some lines--"


    "DAMMIT, KEN!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! GOT ''EM! Just kidding, man. I''ll just put this thing in our archives. Good luck with whatever you gotta do with that!"


    "Sure..."


    Time went on until I was face-to-face with She and two more teens almost at the same age as her. The two of them were a boy and a girl by the name of Ethan and Mnie, but the two of them were the ones abused by their parents openly. They were easier to talk topared to She but their heads were already wired in a different way.


    With that said, Marisha, Marcus, and Mary were present when I gave the three the news and it went just as expected.


    It was first opened up by shock, followed by denial, and an almost immediate violent reaction.


    "YOU FUCKING KILLED MY MOM?!"


    Ethan shouted at the top of his lungs before he climbed the table and jumped at me. At almost the exact same time, Mnie grabbed her mug and threw it in the direction of my face. She was the only one who sought Marisha''s side because she was smart enough to know that things were about to get fucking ugly.


    Before that mug hit my face, I swiped it off of my direction before I grabbed Ethan''s cor and redirected him to the table. His body spun the opposite way before his back mmed on the table, but his nails started to w on my arms when I was trying to hold him down.


    I instantly felt the stinging pain of nails digging into my arm but I was still holding tightly onto his cor before I used it to choke himself.


    He was only a few seconds away before getting knocked out but before Mnie managed to get in the way, Marcus managed to get ahold of her. However, he ate nails, elbows, and a headbutt in the process.


    Marisha was just about to call for the guards close by when I decided to let out copious amounts of killing intent.


    It only took a second before it filled the whole room and their bodies started to tremble when the temperature dropped several degrees. Ethan was the lucky one because he already passed out but the ones that were in my presence had a hard time breathing.


    Mnie and Marcus fell to the ground while Marisha, Mary, and She were stuck in their seats. Everyone else had sweat running down their backs and I quickly withdrew it after a few seconds.


    Ethan woke up in a few moments but he gave everyone a puzzled look when everyone was looking at me differently. However, some people were just hard-asses.


    "F-FUCKING LET GO! I''M-- GHCK! ARCK!"


    I applied more pressure after letting go earlier, "You wanna have a go, right? Right now, we''re having a go. I''m still in the middle of exining things and you fucking lunged at me. Do you--"


    "MY MOM DID NOTHING WRONG! MY MOM DID-- YOU FUCKING KILLED HER! YOU FUCKING KILLED HER! SHE JUST LOVES US, THAT''S ALL! HOW CAN YOU--"


    "Love? Sure, if you call that love¡­ but it isn''t. That is what your parents have been telling you the whole time but as everyone else sees it, you got taken advantage of. It sucks but--"


    "HOW DARE YOU TELL ME HOW SHOULD I LIVE, HUH?! WHAT''S WRONG WITH THAT?! IT JUST STAYS IN THE FAMILY, THAT''S ALL! I CAN STILL HAVE MY GIRLFRIEND AND DO IT--"


    "Girlfriend? Who?"


    "S-She''s¡­ she didn''t make it¡­ I lost her when it started... After that... it''s just us and nothing else..."


    Ethan was still had his fists clenched the whole time but his voice started to tremble when he talked about someone else close to him that he lost. I nced at Marisha and Ethan seemed to be telling the truth, but it wasn''t the point of this talk we were having with them.


    With enough time, I''m sure Marisha could get through to them but time just wasn''t on our side. We could keep them here for as long as wanted but like with Amy, it''ll only take a bit of thinking before they figured everything out.


    That would just lead to the trust Marisha built up with them to crumble and bringing it up to the way it was would be several times harder.


    Sometimes, being brutally upfront about it was better.


    "I''m sorry to hear that but whatever bullshit your parents told you is wrong. Did you even see Amy''s condition? Your parents did that. That''s why those people came into your house and did what they did. Granted they missed half of what they were supposed to take care of but I guess we''re sharing responsibilities now."


    "Y-You''re l-lying..."


    "I''m not. But if you only listen to what your parents are telling you, then I gotta make you-- both of you watch something. Pardon the blood and the gore but I think that this is the only way to get through to you."


    "W-What are you--"


    "I''m gonna y something for both of you and this will tell you what they really think of you. You said love, right? Let''s see if you''ll change your mind after this..."


    I brought up aptop with the footage from my bodycam and I yed it without editing parts they shouldn''t see.


    I gave Amy the whole truth so why shouldn''t I be upfront with them?

 Chapter 674 - Ripped Band-Aids - Piece Of Advice

    The three of them sat in front of myptop as it yed the brutal truth that awaited them, and the more they saw, the uglier their faces be. It started with anger or fear for the first few parts but it quickly went into denial, confusion, unwillingness, and disgust.


    They just slumped on their chairs either covering their whole face while tears were streaming down their cheeks or shaking their heads incessantly while muttering a ton of gibberish.


    Out of the three, She''s reaction was the most demure maybe because her suspicions about her parents were just confirmed. Despite that, she looked like she was still hoping that what she witnessed before was still all a dream and we were ying a fucked up prank on her.


    It''s just that even if reality would almost always be disappointing, it could also turn out to be devastating.


    The only one silently crying out of the three was Ethan. He never looked so demoralized from the words that came from his mother''s mouth and all his beliefs were just turned upside down.


    With that said, Mary was the one who was most unwilling to ept the fact that they were just groomed to simply ''spice up'' their parents'' marriage, and no sort of ''love'' was present when they were involved in such acts.


    Even if she heard the exact words that her dad just needed ''live'' toys, she was still shaking her head and muttering to herself that what she heard was all a lie. However, when it cut to the scene that her dad was using me of doing all of this just to get ahold of his personal ''toy'', her face just warped into something indescribable before she just started to hyperventte before she bawled her eyes out.


    The way she cried in front of the screen almost transferred the pain right into everyone that was inside the room.


    She looked like she was disgusted by wearing her own skin and it would take a lot more than water and soap to clean out the filth she was feeling with herself. It almost tranted into self-harm but just hearing horrible words from her own father made her lose the strength to do anything at all.


    All she could do right now was let out bitter tears apanied by a curse in each breath.


    None of them wanted to talk to anyone right now but as I was putting back myptop in my bag, Marisha approached all of them. Her words were just loud enough for everyone to hear and they had a soothing and calming effect on anyone who heard it.


    It obviously calmed the three down to a certain degree but before Marisha continued, she had to ask me, Mary, and Marcus to relocate to the room next to the one where we were currently in.


    Showing those kids something horribly unthinkable broke through their defenses pointed at the wrong people and now it was just time to mend and mold it into something proper. It would still take some time until they could recover from this but like everyone else, it would depend upon them on how fast they could do it.


    I could only ponder about what Marisha was telling the three right now but since I''m with Mary and Marcus, I decided to finalize their relocation.


    It was easy enough to give them their own ce of residence and to make it even easier, the two of them decided to share the house and foster the kids we''ll be taking under our wing. However, Mary''s rtives decided that they wanted to stay in the same ce they were in not because of trivial reasons but they also had important responsibilities on Iskoh''s territory.


    "That''s understandable¡­ So, the two of you are actually together? You guys married?"


    Marcus answered, "Not yet, but we''re already living together for a few years."


    "Oh, so you''ll be taking in She and her younger brother?"


    Mary interjected, "We could take in Mary and her two sisters too¡­ They''re a lot but we''re used to taking care of young ones-- Who''s taking Ethan and the others by the way?"


    "It isn''t final but Aunt Sharon might take him in. She''ll be great handling boys that think they could punch their way out of anything. You see, my family from my mom''s side were raised ''traditionally''... Well, I am too. I''m not saying your organization''s views are bad but sometimes, you need some tough love to literally toughen them up. You just need to find the right bnce."


    "Ah¡­ You don''t mean--"


    "Yep. He''s kinda old for it now but I''m part of the generation where we''re raised with the belt, hanger, and the slipper. Some people from the first world might call them abuse but it''s entirely differentpared to the one they just went through."


    Mary nodded a few times as she let out a faint smile, "To be honest, I was also raised that way¡­ I''m not against it but I''m-- We''re just finding other ways to raise them without experiencing what we did but-- There''s a fine line we needed to walk on and as you said, we needed to find the right bnce..."


    "Yeah..."


    The three of us started to share more stories to get to know each other more but while we''re in mid-conversation, we saw She knocking from the other side of the door.


    "U-Umm¡­ M-Mrs. Marisha is c-calling for you..."


    "Me?"


    "Y-Yes..."


    Hearing that, I excused myself and left the room I was in but I discovered that Marisha was already done talking to the three. She eventually left them in Marcus and Mary''s care and the reason she called for me was that she wanted to give me a piece of advice.


    The two of us were the only ones left in the room and I could hear the clock ticking from the wall.


    Marisha was just looking at me straight in the eye and no one was saying a word. A full minute had already passed so I had to break the silence.


    "So--"


    "I heard my husband talked to you."


    "Y-Yes..."


    "Sorry for interrupting you. Care to share anything with me?"


    "I think Matthew could--"


    "No, I wanted to hear your side of the story. I already heard his, I wanted to hear from you."


    "..."


    I didn''t answer immediately as I just stared into her eyes but I let out a long sigh before speaking my mind out. It would be useless to hide anything from her and if there was anything that could get through to Matthew''s overprotective stubbornness, I was already face-to-face with her. I told her about how angry I was, how I started to be conscious about what everyone was thinking of me, and how I keep having these ''ckouts'' at certain events.


    I just told it as it was and she listened to every word I said. Honestly, I felt a lot better after talking to her about it and she didn''t even flinch when I told her I wasn''t in control of what happened in those three days. Her expression told me that I didn''t need to worry about a single thing but she really did give me one piece of advice.


    "Listen to me, this will sound really~ dumb, but you gotta take it easy..."


    "Wut?"


    "I told you, this will sound really, really~ dumb but¡­ you gotta take it down a notch..."


    "I don''t--"


    "I need you to breathe, calm down, and think about¡­ nothing. Young man, I''ve been following you as best as I could, and right now, you really need to slow it down. That thing that happened earlier, when it felt like it got cold? That''s a good sign and a bad sign."


    "Oh, like this-- Ow! Wha--"


    "You doofus! Don''t do it willy-nilly! I can only take so much! I''m not one of your fighters!"


    "S-Sorry..."


    "A-Anyway¡­ What I''m saying is, you need to clear your head for a few days. Your psyche is starting to get a little out of hand with all that bloodlust that stays with you, so you need to do something else right now. It should be something that''ll calm your body and mind, and it could be something menial, stupid, or somethingpletely boring."


    "Huh?"


    "Anything that makes you do things almost unconsciously while your blood is rushing through your head, you need toy off on it for a bit. I''m not entirely sure that this will work but I think this bloodlust feeds off of that. You need to suppress it first before you could start to control it¡­ These ''ckouts'' of yours might be a step above this ''pressure'' you could bring out like--"


    "Like this-- Ow! You hit much harder thanst time!"


    "I SAID STOP DOING THAT, YOU DOOFUS! But yes¡­ l-like that¡­ Some people could only subconsciously let out this ''pressure'' you could easily let out, I''m sure you''d also be able to control these ''ckouts'' of yours."


    "..."


    "I think it''s better to call them something else if you seed, no?"


    "A brownout?"


    "..."


    "What?"


    "A ckout is a total shutdown of electricity while a brownout is just a partial--"


    "I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS! IT JUST SOUNDS DUMB LIKE MATTHEW''S JOKES! BROWNOUT MY ASS!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Marisha was just groaning as I cackled at thatst bit but we discussed a few more things about what I was experiencing. She said she handled simr cases before but those ''ckouts'' were just blind rage that was slightly different from what I did on those three days.


    The only thing simr between the two was the trigger.

 Chapter 675 - Lucky Hit - Hazing

    Time continued to pass until it was sundown, and our meeting and our dinner went on as they should.


    We had a hearty meal prepared for everybody and after that, I received the report about what happened from the days I was gone. It was going swimmingly for the most ports right until I gave them my report.


    To spare most of them the details, I just used obscure words only the adults could understand but then we officially introduced the new people that would be staying with us.


    Granted it was a little awkward to officially wee the kids and their representatives to ourpound after the few days they have been here already, everyone still gave them a warm wee.


    It''s just that I couldn''t help but notice Ethan and Mnie barely touching their food when they ate with everyone. Nevertheless, they still talk when spoken to but they were really out of itpared to She.


    But to my surprise, Ethan was present at the gym when Kaley and I went up.


    He was wearing gym clothes that I was sure Lois wore a few times and I just assumed he was given a few hand-me-downs. It was lucky they had almost the same exact body type though Ethan was a little taller.


    The only problem was that he was out to look for something to pick on.


    His eyes were scanning around for a ''target'' but as his luck would have it, his eyesnded on Chris.


    ''That isn''t stage one but¨C If you gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough¡­''


    Kaley was just about to voice her concerns but Tatiana was already there to stop her.


    "Just let it happen¡­"


    "But¨C"


    "He''ll learn soon enough¡­"


    I didn''t know what possessed Kaley to try and help Ethan but almost everyone didn''t give a fuck about the beatdown that was about to happen. In all honesty, it would be just an amateur match between two teenagers but Chris had already progressed a lot during these months of getting beaten up over and over by our top fighters. I would''ve called him a masochist at this point but each time he hit the mat unconscious, he would learn something new.


    I found a treadmill that would allow me to see everything but a select few stopped what they were doing to watch the show.


    Everyone watched Ethan approach Chris with a nasty smirk and he opened up with a ''new guy'' vibe. He kept his smirk hidden from Chris'' notice before he introduced himself.


    "Hey, I''m Ethan¨C I kinda wanna have someone to spar with but¨C"


    Chris'' eyes lit up, "Spar?! I''ll spar with you. Here, wear this. For safety and all¡­"


    "This headgear? Is it really¨C Wait, where''s yours? And those gloves are for boxing, you''ll be¨C"


    "Nah~ It''s fine, it''s fine~ I prefer it this way. You can throw kicks if you want to too¡­"


    "Ah¡­ S-Sure¡­ but I''m not gonna wear that headgear¡­ I''m not used to it¡­"


    "Okay?"


    "But I''ll throw in kicks¡­ I dunno¡­ I''m new to this stuff"


    "Sure¡­"


    It was supposed to be a red g for somebody if someone offered you gear that would give you a ton of advantages but Ethan was just too out of it to notice. He was too focused to let out some steam from thinking that he could just beat up somebody, and he just discovered it all toote.


    As soon as they touched gloves, his head instantly blew back.


    ''That was fucking crisp.''


    Chris threw him a jab that he practiced a million times and it bore some fucking fruit.


    Ethan didn''t even know what him the first time but as soon as he met eyes with Chris, his head blew back for the second time.


    "What the¨C"


    Chris'' eyes after hearing the bell just changed from Mr. Nice Guy to Mr. I''mma-Fuck-You-Up-And-You-Wouldn''t-Even-See-It-Guy. His mind was just so in the zone, he moved like he was facing me or everyone else above his weight ss.


    The movement of his shoulders before his quick jab was barely noticeable and not only that, the way he''d retract his fist after a solid hit was also lightning quick.


    Ethan already ate five jabs one after the other and he wasn''t even able to throw a single punch.


    "WHAT''S GOING ON?!"


    Tatiana casuallymented, "Eyes on your opponent~"


    "What¨C"


    Chris didn''t give a fuck whether his opponent wasn''t looking at him because he just threw another job straight at Ethan''s face. Those jabs weren''t able to knock anyone out in singr form but the damage sustained would definitely pile up.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Ethan just made sense of the situation he was in but his response was a big fucking swing of a right hook.


    Chris''s eyes looked at Ethan''s fist for a moment before he stepped forward and delivered apact left hook straight to his chin. Everyone watching saw Ethan''s head jolt but Chris followed it up with another hook that came from his right fist. It was aspact as the left hook he threw earlier but everyone here knew that he wasn''t a Southpaw.


    Ethan''s head just flung left and right but even if he managed to throw a hail-mary punch before falling down, Chris was already out of his punching distance.


    Chris'' footwork had improved by leaps and boundspared to the first time I sparred with him, but he still got lots more to work on. Nevertheless, he could easily score a knockout among the people his age and he''d be able to drag on a fight and possibly win against opponents higher than his weight ss when the conditions were met.


    It''s just that he totally wiped the floor with Ethan and thetter wasn''t having it.


    Ethan stood up groggily, "O-One more¡­"


    "One more? Let''s wait for a bit since you¨C"


    "I SAID ONE MORE!"


    ''Oh, boy¡­''


    Ethan just rushed at Chris with a flurry of punches but unfortunately, it just turned into a flurry of misses.


    Chris performed something close to the five D''s of dodgeball but he didn''t even try to time a counter for each of Ethan''s punches. It would''ve been over with the first swing but Chris was more worried about shaking up Ethan''s head even more. However, he subconsciously lowered his guard when he heard the bell.


    Everyone else was supposed to stop moving when they heard the bell while they were in a spar but Ethan didn''t.


    A lucky punch made its way to Chris'' chin and he just fell on his ass. Almost immediately, everyone else watching the match just frowned.


    It would''ve been dismissable if it was an ident but from the look on Ethan''s face, it was fucking deliberate.


    He was breathing heavily as a smile was stered on his face and he was looking down on Chris who he just fucking sucker punched. I even thought he''d start tea-bagging Chris in front of everyone but he was enjoying his lucky hit a little too much.


    "I WIN, RIGHT?! I WIN! I BEAT YOUR FUCKING ASS! I¨C"


    Chris just stood up with a different expression, "Sure, but one more."


    "Wai¨C"


    All of a sudden, Chris opened up with an overhead right that smashed against Ethan''s half-assed guard. It instantly broke through the guard Ethan put up but Chris followed it with a right straight where he twisted his arm like a corkscrew.


    It easily went in the gap that opened up from his earlier punch and it went for Ethan''s face.


    "PUU!"


    Ethan''s head blew back once again but he was fucking lucky itnded on his forehead. If it was his chin or any ce besides his thick skull, he would be knocked the fuck out almost immediately.


    With that said, Chris started a rush by following it with a left body blow aimed at Ethan''s liver, a right hook aiming for his temple, and a solid one-two before sending another one of those twisted straights.


    Ethan ate everything Chris served him from thest few seconds and he just sprawled on the floor before the bell managed to save him.


    It was admirable to know that Ethan has a strong jaw but it was the only thing we saw from him today that was admirable.


    After that, Chris and I eventually woke him up and he never looked so fucking stupid when Chris offered a handshake and apologized for ''acting up''. Even I was surprised that Chris would do such a thing after all that but the two had a short moment with each other. Ethan was taught the basics by Chris for the moment but Ethan''s new ''brothers'' wouldn''t let it slide.


    Jared, Lois, Russel, and especially¡­ me walked up to him while wearing an angelic face, and the look of dread when he saw us was fucking priceless.


    "You know the basics, right? Right?"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Cool, you''re so cool! C''mon, let''s spar."


    "Wut?"


    "Spar!"


    "I-I''m¨C"


    "C''mon that one hit from Chris earlier was so fucking~ cool!"


    "I didn''t mean to¨C"


    "Of course, you did! C''mon! Teach me that¨C"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"


    After a while of lynching¨C I mean, ''sparring''... Ethan was just like a bruised hotdog on a corner of the gym and Chris was the only one tending to him. Charlotte would''ve helped a lot given that she was attending a few sses on taking care of people but she was still pissed about Ethan''s behavior.


    However, once Ethan recovered and actually apologized to Chris, all was well even if we did put him through a bit of a hazing process.

 Chapter 676 - Deadline

    A few days passed in the blink of an eye and I actually followed Marisha''s advice.


    I took it easy for a few days and I just did things that would calm me.


    It was mostly goofing around with Kaley, Zeus, family, and friends, reloading cartridges, doing administrative work, working out, and giving training to those who needed it. Well, the training included babysitting for our young ones and introducing their new friends.


    All of them just gelled up nicely since almost all of them had the same interests as each other.


    She and Mnie were present to look after their younger siblings but they didn''tst long when they started running after them at our parkour center. Those little devils equipped with protective gear and the promise of getting ice cream if they catch me afterward was enough to bring catastrophe to the world.


    It was still a little awkward for the two that I know their secrets but as Marisha said to them, they just needed to forget about it and slowly start over. They were free to do anything they wanted for a time period but as long as it was on the right track.


    They were also responsible for helping their younger siblings with the adjustment even if they were still adjusting themselves to the new people and environment. Things would be different from now on and it was also up to them if they could recover faster.


    On the other hand, my main group except for Kaley and Tatiana continued to follow the lead of Artem as they started to dig deeper into the ces we haven''t visited yet.


    They went to ces where hordes and infested areas were spotted and they took them down without suffering losses.


    Kristoff was already a devastating loss from their small group and that led them to learn a powerful lesson. Even if they were against a single deadhead that wasn''t even remotely simr to the one that killed theirrade, they''d take it down with extreme violence.


    It was a totally different vibe every time they''d go on their own runs because they''d almost always burn through their ammo reserve, except for Jared and Ibarra. They''d just burn through half of them but nevertheless, they were using more than what they were provided.


    That reserve was specifically tucked away on the way back in case anything happens and the reason I''m not saying much was that they''re still grieving Kristoff''s death and the number of bodies they''d leave after they were done was fucking staggering.


    It was more than twice a few roaming groupsbined and that wasn''t including the ones they took down with their handheld weapons.


    Their bodycam footage was proof of their kills and the number of casings that came back checked out. There were always a few or a bunch they hadn''t picked up but If they were stashing ammo somewhere, Jared would''ve noticed and we''ve already established a good rtionship with them, it would be fucking stupid to do that if I could give them all they could shoot.


    With that said, we came upon a deadline. A very specific deadline that should be met.


    It was about the people that the president dumped on me that were to be executed.


    Last week, the president sent me a group of people that I was supposed to wee on my fold but the thing was, some of themmitted crimes against our people that warranted a bullet in the head. Furthermore, their family members here were the ones that were supposed to put them down and I needed to be the one that would make sure that they''d see it through.


    One of Morales'' officers, Jose, had already done his job but the others were still thinking of ways to reverse the order.


    In which case, I offered them seven days to convince me to overturn the president''s decision and just take them in, and the rest of their rtives from Mindanao instead.


    They were still locked up in their cells in the meantime but now was the time to tell me about what they thought about, obviously with the help of Morales and the rest of his soldiers.


    When it was finally time, I received a call from Morales himself and he asked me to drive into a specific location.


    It was this Eastern University right in the middle of Mbon City and Monumento.


    This university had nine buildings all-in-all and it had a huge open lot right in the middle. It was cleared pretty recently and all of the entrances and exits were blocked off, leaving this ce as a nk canvas. Furthermore, the surrounding buildings were also secured to make sure that there wouldn''t be a lot of issues once relocating starts.


    A number of things were already running through my head but then I opened my mouth.


    "So, this is what you guys thought about?"


    Morales replied, "What do you think?"


    "What do you n to do with it?"


    "Another outpostrge enough to bridge the gap between our three main bases and our roaming outposts. We could send mobile outposts all-day long but we''re guzzling gas when we started to do it. Yes, it''s safer for everyone but we need something to cut our usage of gas for more than half and we need somece where we could safely expand."


    "Hmm¡­"


    "I''m saying this because once the rest of our family members are sent here, we can''t just let them be padding for our existing jobs avable. With that said, the same can be said with my city. As you already know, the majority of the people living in my base are soldiers and even if they''re learning new things as per your instruction, they''re still soldiers¡­"


    "You''re right about that¡­ What are you saying then?"


    "What I''m saying is¡­ once¡­ once they arrive, I''ll be taking a small portion of that group and arger portion of my current group to build this ce up. We''d obviously need arger number of soldiers around these parts while we''ll need more people to bring back more aquatic resources from our original base. Well, we''d need a few farmers to start us up here obviously but we''d need to worry about security. I''ll¨C"


    "You''d also need a doctor, a few nurses, mechanics, technicians, carpenters, cooks, and the like."


    "Y-Yeah, but¨C"


    "I''ll handle those. I''ll pick a few people and I''ll see which of them wanted a promotion. This ce is muchrger than our outposts in Pulo and in Meycauayan¡­ you''d need all the help you can get."


    "Y-You mean¡­?"


    "Yeah, I like this idea. But¡­"


    "But what?"


    "I appreciate the work you did here but what part did your cousin and the rest of them y in this?"


    "Since Col. Goodman entrusted me with the keys to their cells when you were away, they contributed with the work we''ve done here. I gave them the proper tools for the job¨C and before you tell me I shouldn''t even give them guns, we were all watching their every move. They had plenty of chances to rise up but they didn''t¡­ I talked to them multiple times about the difference of this cepared to the president''s ce and they really wanted to start over here¡­"


    "..."


    "Granted they still needed to smooth out the conflict they had with the Russians¨C Artem and his soldiers, I think one of your ''events'' could fix that. It worked for me, it''ll work for them. However¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "We weren''t able to do anything about one of ours that forced himself into a civilian."


    "I remember that guy. I told him that if he can''t prove himself innocent, I''ll have his dick cut off. What do you mean by you weren''t able to do anything?"


    "We tried contacting the person who used him of the act but she was missing."


    "Missing? How?"


    "We don''t know. She was in one of the work camps away from the president''s main HQ and she just disappeared as they said. She could have deserted the camp or was now a deadhead but we aren''t sure what happened to her until they find her body. No one just disappears like that without notice from our soldiers. With that said, no one can prove whether he really is guilty or not¡­"


    "How about the NPA? Could she have been kidnapped or could she have been a member?"


    "The people I got in contact with aren''t exactly sure but they would''ve already found her body given the timeframe, dead or alive."


    "Wait¨C Didn''t all of them got processed?"


    "I think all of them are¨C You mean¡­ Mrs. Payan? Your wife''s mother?"


    "Yeah¡­ Just a sec¡­"


    I actually forgot that Marisha already talked to them but what I didn''t know yet was the result of her evaluation.


    A lot of things have popped up in this past week and this issue kinda simr to what we just went through was almost forgotten.


    Long story short, someone will be happy that he wouldn''t be turned into a eunuch.


    Granted Marisha''s insight capabilities weren''t exactly 100% foolproof, digging deep into someone''s mind could reveal a lot of things. Memories and recollections could be brought out subconsciously and sometimes, with her own techniques, suggest a narration that could reveal what exactly happened in the person''s eyes.


    This thing was bordering to be pseudo-scientific but nevertheless, that soldier would still be closely monitored.


    Despite Marisha''s findings, I''d still need solid proof but until we could find the user, we would just dy passing judgment, or if his future behavior and actions proved contrary to what he was used of, everything would just go as it should.


    After some time, it was finally decided that Morales would lead this new outpost with a few of his hand-picked soldiers while Jose would be the one leading their base at Navotas City. I would supply his much-needed people and resources until their positions would be filled up and we will gradually cut down our roaming groups right until this outpost could stand on its own.


    It''s just that Iskoh caught wind of what we were doing and he decided to lend a hand as well.


    Since this ce would be a pivotal point between our bases, he decided to supply what he could spare plus a bit of padding to the soldiers keeping the ce secure. If nothing else, the president had given us more soldiers than resources to go around.


    However, the challenge was how we could smoothly integrate the people who would being once I tell the president the news.


    Since Iskoh already decided to lend a hand, some of the people that''ll be arriving should go to his ce.

 Chapter 677 - Buffed Checkpoints - First Prototype

    As time went on, I spent some of my time supervising the upgrades of our current checkpoints with our builders. Well, not all of them were permanent but the ones that were permanent were given significant buffs.


    These ''permanent'' checkpoints were usually built on top of a bridge to make things extremely easier and the upgrades we put on were a watchtower, an airlock system for their gates, amunication system, and a ''filter'' right underneath.


    We used to just have tforms built a few feet up above the ground, and maybe a catwalk if it was built right next to a wall, but these watchtowers were built at least two-to-four stories high, depending on the location. If the location had just regr houses built around, a two-story watchtower was enough.


    All we needed was enough height to spot hordes or anything unusual from a distance so the guards could either phone in a few groups to take care of them or just have them take care of the problem themselves.


    Furthermore, these towers had enough supplies and room to have two-to-three security groups to have alternating shifts without ever going back to our home base. They''d be able to cook or store their food, have some rest, a bit of entertainment with their personal effects or just with chatting with ourms, and etc.


    The only thing we couldn''t put on the watchtower right now was a plumbing system but it does have clean water in the avable containers. With that said, portable outhouses were avable where they could do their business privately.


    If they wanted to, they could just stay there for a week and just wait for their supplies to get replenished or get their shift taken from them.


    This ce suited a few loners and a few people that wanted to get some practice with long shooting.


    Not everyone wanted to get up close and personal with a fucking deadhead so some of them were getting real-life training of picking them off from a distance. Granted some of them weren''t as good as our main squad, the experience will be their teacher.


    In regards to the ''filter'' we put underneath our checkpoints built on top of bridges, they were sets of loose to tightting designed to catch trash and rotting body parts floating or going around the flow so we could properly dispose of them.


    Our guards stationed there were obviously the ones required to check them in a couple of hours or so to prevent theting from ripping off when they had too much baggage to carry.


    It would''ve looked like a menial job but knowing where undead bodies or any sort of objects that shouldn''t be in a body of water were flowing from was a huge help in regards to finding their actual source and taking care of them properly.


    It actually led us to a sewer system that was literally about to get clogged with bloated body parts and we managed to clear it on time.


    The limbs and torsos we fished out were almost twice the size when we found them and they were discolored to the point we could mistake them for the characters in a certain blockbuster film that a few first thought would be about someone that could master the four elements.


    The only problem we got from that job was that we had to wait for their bodies to dry up before we burned them, and the smell aftering back after a few days was fucking horrible.


    It was like a rotting finger was picking our noses the whole time we were in close proximity with the pile, and it didn''t help when we actually burned them. I would''ve traded smelling singed nose hairs from smelling that fucked up slop any day.


    With that said, that was just one of the things we had to take care of ourselves ever since the world ended.


    We used to be born, brought up, or even put into somece that would dictate what we would do in the future as a member of our society, but all of it was thrown out the window the first time an infected chomped off a chunk of flesh from its victim.


    We still had amunity with their own roles to fulfill based on their skill set but almost everyone was starting to learn about trades they didn''t think they''d need in the first ce.


    I could say that I was a jack of most trades like a select few in my group but everyone else was entirely different.


    Take Kaley for example, she was supposed to be a nurse that turned out to be a flight attendant but aside from the skills she obtained from attending those sses, she was also taught how to handle firearms by her dad. Her main hobby was actually dancing but the skill she didn''t think could help her as much was the one thing that separated her from everyone else.


    Granted she was already a good shot when our paths crossed for the second time, she was still learning to utilize her skill with different kinds of firearms. She would''ve been stuck with her old M70 if we hadn''t met and not only that, the number of other things rted or unrted to making a stick go boom that she learned the time we''ve been together was frightening.


    Anyone could pick something that they wanted to do but it doesn''t always mean that they''ll be good at it.


    Sometimes, as bad as it could sound depending on the circumstances, anyone''s calling could be entirely different from what they thought it would be. In the end, it all boils down to what you wanted to do and what you needed to do.


    We could always pursue our heart''s desire but we shouldn''t forget that we had other organs we also had to take care of.


    However, if what you wanted and what you needed were the same thing and you realized that, it was always fucking awesome.


    Like the monster truck that suddenly rolled past us.


    We were currently doing our rounds outside our walls when Oscar and Raphael rolled up with their first prototype.


    It was a beast of a machine, to say the least, but the body of the F-150 that Raphael requested from me wasn''t put on it yet.


    Needless to say, it stood almost 3.5 meters tall with its 66-inch tires, and it still looked daunting even with its patched-up body made with fiberss. Its tube-frame chassis was definitely well-made for their first prototype and it''ll definitely look better if it was covered by paint. However, I assumed it was done on purpose so they could further check on the welding work and to make sure everything was done properly.


    Everything they made from scratch was still bare metal, including the axle they took from the military trucks that were out ofmission. In some way, adding just a clear coat instead of paint could be a thousand times better.


    ''Aesthetics shoulde after function¡­''


    It''s just that these two idiots also went for explosive power.


    I was wondering at first as to why they followed us by the highway and they cleared the road of any obstructions, and then it hit me.


    They gingerly drove on the farthest side a straight road could allow then and it didn''t take long before the huge fucking engine they put on it started roaring like there''s no tomorrow. It was even louder than my fucking Charger and I could already guess they modified it to some extent.


    Well, the two put on their helmets before Oscar shouted at the top of his lungs.


    "HIT IT!"


    As soon as his voice echoed, their monster truck just took off and stood only with its rear wheels for tens of meters before it stabilized and gained speed like a motherfucker. It clocked 60 mph in less than a few seconds and it still flew faster as its tires were still gripping tightly on the track. However, its braking capabilities weren''t as goodpared to its eleration capabilities because they were about to crash as they were about to reach the end of the road.


    "HIT THE BRAKES! HIT THE FUCKING BRAKES!"


    "IF I HIT IT NOW, WE''LL ROLL THIS THING!"


    "WHO TOLD YOU TO GO HAM ON THE PEDAL?!"


    "IT''S YOU WHO SHOUTED HIT IT!"


    "I SAID HIT IT! NOT HAM IT!"


    "WHAT''S THE FUCKING DIFFERENCE?!"


    Good thing the guards stationed at the checkpoint on the other side opened the gate at the right second or else they''d be making another frame or starting from scratch.


    With that said, that truck still got a lot more things to get worked on like exchanging the fiberss body into a metal one, reinforcing said body to be runpatible, mounting a .50 cal machine gun, weight testing, and etc.


    Nevertheless, the two proved that they could build a monster truck from broken-down military trucks and farm tractors, and all they needed was time to work on all the bells and whistles.

 Chapter 678 - Subpar Models - Different Class

    It took a bit for everything to calm down but we had more prototypes to check on. One of which was a custom-built RC Car Ken made from scratch and this mysterious weapon our engineers built to possibly ''one-shot'' a Hulker.


    Since Artem and his group would only return before sunset, Kaley and I made our way to Ken''s residence first.


    There were essentially two of us in our current group because Jared, Mikhail, Ibarra, and even Cynthia came with our elite soldiers.


    "Woof!"


    Well, I was mistaken, there were essentially three of us in our group. Since I just arranged a casual inspection of our walls outside, Zeus came with us and tried to lead the way. He finally had some time off with his little brothers and sisters so he was a little too excited that he got toe with us.


    It''s just that his happiness was short-lived because we were already walking back inside ourpound and he was immediately spotted by the little puppers.


    With that said, he never ran so fast to lose them in a split second and it would be a fascinating sight to see him sneak back in. However, business calls and Ken was already expecting us.


    "DON''T EVEN KNOCK! IT''S OPEN!"


    "Heh,ing through then~"


    "You brought Kaley? Why?"


    Kaley was slightly taken aback, "Wha¨C Am I not even invited?"


    "That''s not¨C I mean¨C There''s no room to¨C"


    "IT''S BECAUSE YOU DON''T FUCKING CLEAN UP!"


    "IT''S BY DESIGN!"


    "Stop shouting, you two! It''s quite easy to clean this corner so we could have a seat¡­"


    "See that, dude? You''re making my wife clean up after you."


    "Eh~ There''s a difference, dude. She volunteered. It''s totally different from making her do stuff for me. If I was in charge, she''d be in a maid outfit, at least¨C"


    I cut him off, "Easy now. That''s my wife we''re talking about. Besides, maid outfits suck¨C"


    "YOU FUCKING TAKE THAT BACK, YOU FUCKING COCKSUCKER!"


    "Nope! I''ll face the consequences!"


    "DRONE ATTACK!"


    "WHAT THE¨C"


    As soon as Ken yelled at the top of his lungs, a small drone the size of a palm suddenly flew straight for my head. It came in from a blind angle with such speed but I was quick enough to catch it before it collided with me.


    "That''s some fucking bullshit! How the fuck did you catch that?! Ow! Don''t throw it at my head!"


    "You started it, you sick fuck!"


    "I flew it toward you, not throw it!"


    "Let me try again then!"


    Kaley suddenly bonked the two of us with a broom, "Are you two always like this?! My head fucking hurts just listening to you two! I thought we came here to see the RC Cars he made? All I witnessed were the pervy maid outfit talk and a drone programmed to hit someone''s head!"


    "Ah¡­"


    "You''re wife''s a demon, a dominatrix outfit would¨C NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"


    Let''s just say that Kaley did break something even I would consider inexcusable but Ken didn''t stop talking and had to pay the price. With that said, the two of us quickly went back to business because Kaley was holding hostage a few limited figurines from Ken''s collection. One wrong move and it would be sacrificed to get the soul stone.


    "D-Dude¡­ T-This is the smallest I could make it¡­"


    "It''s almost as small as our rys if you remove the wheels, right?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ I made the shell to fit one of your Raspberry Pis but it''s a little thicker to have the cameras at both sides and the wheels to fit nicely."


    "So what does this model could do?"


    "It''s remote-controlled obviously¡­ you could drive it for around~ 3 hours and a range of¡­ give or take 300~ feet. Oh! You see the way those cameras are mounted? You could make them move around 180 degrees up and down and you could drive this thing even if it flips over."


    "Oh~ nice."


    "The only issue, as far as the design goes, is that there''ll be a bit of blindspot from the space between both cameras. It''s small but I know you''d¨C"


    "Wait, we got a small problem."


    "Hmm?"


    "The clearance. It''s only a few centimeters. I doubt it could¨C"


    "Don''t worry about that, dude. I already made this thing run around my mess¨C customized room and it never got stuck. It even drove over the wires that are tangled over by that outlet."


    "Hmm, there are more obstacles than that outside though¡­ Do you mind we take this one for a spin?"


    "Ah~ Sure, sure."


    "Before we go, have you told me all the features?"


    "Yeah, aside from the ports where you''d be able to check the footage it took if you''d hook it on a tablet or a phone, that''s about it. I spent more time designing the frame and shit before I bothered to add more. The next model I''m working on would have a speaker where you could make distractions or even send messages through your radios. Still a ways away from putting some C4 on it."


    "Uh-huh¡­ let''s figure out more utilities before we could use it for that¡­"


    "Sure!"


    "Right¡­ We''ll get back to you lter¡­ You''re still looking through a few more body cams, right?"


    "Right. I''ll just see the ces you drove it throughter."


    After some time, Kaley just followed me around while I drove the RC Car over humps, mud, ditches, puddles, gravel paths, nted edges, and etc.


    To be brutally honest, it was driving slower than what I thought it could do and it had some problems going uphill. The engine would either start to have an asthma attack if I tried to push it harder but the silver lining was that it was quieter than most RC Cars I''ve ever driven.


    Kaley tapped me while I was wearing a slightly disappointed expression, "You''ll find some use for that in the future. Besides, it''s not yet 100% finished, right?"


    "Yeah, the tires need some upgrades too. It just slides off when I let it stay on that muddy slope. Not only that, it smudges the camera mount too. I doubt we''ll ever see anything from this until we wiped the mud off. We''ll find some use for this but the way things are, the uses I could find for it are limited. It''s gonna be hard for it to get an edge over our drones¡­"


    "Well, that''s gonna be close to impossible if you put it like that! You won''t use your katana to drive a nail in, right?"


    "Ah¨C Well, you''re right about that. Maybe it''s seeing the monster truck earlier made this RC Car kinda subpar¡­"


    "Yep, and Ken''s the only one working on it, right?"


    "True, true¡­ I guess this one needs more time¡­"


    "Let''s head back?"


    "Sure."


    Once we got back to ourpound, I returned the custom RC Car Ken made for our use and I told him what we''ve discovered. To my surprise, Ken just jot down all the issues that needed fixing and he started to alter the design he was currently working on.


    The first thing he needed to work on was obviously speed because the moment he starts to put more things on it, the more it would just crawl its way to its intended location.


    Its stealthiness could be a great feature but its features should be more bnced than favoring one aspect. It could be a great tool for sneaking in nests or ces where our drones couldn''t get to but its pros needed to outweigh the cons.


    After some time, I left him with some of my suggestions but since we still got a lot more sunlight to burn through, I went to my room and picked up two cases that Kaley and I didn''t get to use as much.


    Kaley remarked, "Oh, we''re gonna head to the shooting range?"


    "Not quite."


    "Hmm?"


    "We''re gonna drive to our outposts in Meycauayan. We need a shooting range that''s gonna give us a lot more¡­ range."


    "Just us though?"


    "Hmm, we could bring Olivia and Lois? I bet they''ll love the change of scenery."


    "Oh! I''ll tell them to bring their M70s!"


    "Okay, I''ll wait in the car."


    After some time, it didn''t take long before the four of us were heading straight to the Bcan area bringing a set of rifles made for long shooting. I brought enough ammo and equipment to teach a ss and I''ll just make do with the fact that Kaley and I would be using 6.5 Creedmoor cartridges with our DDV5s while Olivia and Lois would be using .308 cartridges with their M70s.


    It''ll be a tad challenging to juggle two DOPE Cards in my head as I teach them a ss but the ss I''m gonna be teaching them will be a little different.


    Instead of a duo of the shooter in the front and the spotter at the back, it will be a duo of snipers side-by-side, fulfilling both roles at the same time.

 Chapter 679 - Double Long-Shooter Class

    As soon as we arrived, we couldn''t help but be amused at the faces the guards wore when they saw us. It was already rare to see a ssic muscle car rolling down the streets even when the world hasn''t ended, how much more could it be when the guy in charge of everything was also the one driving it?


    I chuckled as I greeted them, "Yo."


    "S-Sir?"


    "Is Rico around?"


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    "How about Marvin and his team?"


    "T-They''re still on a run b-but¨C *radio chatter* it seems that they just pulled up on the other entrance."


    "Great! Please tell Rico we''ll be using his outdoor range and please tell Marvin and his crew if they''d like to attend a long shooting ss. I bet Max would be excited to flex for a bit."


    "S-Sir?"


    "Hmm?"


    "W-We don''t have an o-outdoor range¡­"


    "Heh, you''ll have one now! Well, officially¡­ Congrats!"


    The look of confusion in their faces was so fucking priceless but I just drove forward and caught up with Marvin and his team.


    All of them also got confused about the words that came out of my mouth but they said that they''ll follow us as soon as they gave their report to this ce''s CO. As I said, Max was the one most excited toe to our ss and he first went to their armory to get restocked with ammo.


    With that said, we went on ahead of them and drove straight for the expressway they were slowly reiming as the days gone.


    We were easily let inside but we drove for a few minutes until we reached their furthest checkpoint. We can''t just start shooting at steel targets when we were in between checkpoints because that would be a recipe for disaster. Thest thing we would want was a stray bullet boring into an unaware guard''s body.


    But as soon as we arrived, we greeted the guards stationed there before I started to put 12-inch square targets with 50-yard spacing from the 100-yard mark up to the 1500-yard mark. I would''ve liked to put more targets until the 2000-yard mark but that was all we could bring right now. Besides, it was easy enough to replicate the steel targets we brought with scrap metal, and all they needed to do after machining the correct shape was painting over it.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Umm¡­ Bro?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [A few more came¡­ I-Is that okay?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Why? Are they too many for the tables?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [N-No¡­ They brought their own¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Then that''s fine¡­ I''ll drive back in a sec."


    *bzzt*


    -


    When I arrived back at the checkpoint, an array of tables were present and a few people were excitedly looking at the targets I prepared for them. However, the words I said next were something even I would''ve been left in fear when I was still not with Kaley.


    "I know some of you brought your own tables but this ss is a little special. Find a partner and then pick your spot."


    "WHAAAAT?!"


    "I know it''s fun to shoot at steel targets but we''re doing things a little different."


    A select few just cleaned up and walked back to where they came from while the rest scrambled to find their partner. Aside from Kaley and me, Olivia and Lois, and Ashley and Marvin, Max paired up with Angelina while Martin paired up with Marjorie. Their old team wouldn''t just go pair with someone else but Brian and Carlo who were also present just watched from the side.


    I would''ve let them join as well but their weapon of choice wasn''t long-range rifles.


    We had a total of nine pairs when it calmed down while the ones who failed to find their partner just stayed behind to watch. I was sure they were just waiting for our ss to be over so that they could practice on their own.


    Well, some of them actually wanted to pair up but the cartridges they''re using were totally different from the ones that they were left to partner with. They could as easily swap guns for the moment but that would be more detrimental, and it would be more advisable to just watch.


    Nevertheless, I was hoping for the others who were unwilling to have a partner to just pair with the ones that also didn''t get their partner but all I could hope was for them to learn something substantial just from watching, or they''d actually join mid-way when they recognize the advantage of taking this ss.


    In any case, I started a short lecture before we went hands-on.


    I discussed the things I talked aboutst time in my room with these people and as luck would have it, only a few had to reconfigure their scopes. It would''ve taken the majority of our time if all of them had to zero their rifles before we even start shooting but it was still something we had to do first before anything else.


    Most of the time, the reason why most people miss was that their rifles weren''t configured properly.


    In which case, Kaley''s rifle and my rifle were already zeroed the moment we got here, and we started a short demonstration to show what this ss was all about.


    Kaley and I sat on our chairs and set our sights on the target at 300 yards but to everyone''s surprise, Kaley was the only one who pulled the trigger. I was just looking through my scope and telling her where to ce her shot the whole time and I didn''t fire a single shot even if she hit the target from 1500 yards.


    It left everyone wearing confused faces and it didn''t help when we just ''switched'' roles. From their perspective, we just hit targets with our expensive rifles and it didn''t look like it needed a partner to do.


    "Is¡­ Is that it?"


    "That''s it?"


    "I don''t understand¡­"


    It was a bad move for Kaley and me to partner up since we would never miss shooting at stationary targets or giving directions to where to point our rifles so I waved Olivia over, much to her surprise.


    Olivia almost shrunk down from the stares she got, "M-Me? W-W-Why?"


    "Just trust me. Sit on this chair your sister was in and let''s start by you shooting the targets from the 100-yard mark."


    "O-Okay¡­"


    It would be a little troublesome to partner up with someone using a different caliber rifle but it was needed to prove a point with my lesson. And as soon Olivia''s face got filled with concentration, everyone just quieted down.


    It didn''t take long before she held her breath and pulled the trigger and the short ding of the steel target I put up resounded.


    "Great job!"


    "T-Thanks¡­"


    "Go for the 300-yard target next¨C"


    "I haven''t s-shot that far¡­"


    "Okay, the 200-yard one then. Hold a bit to the right¡­"


    Like earlier, Olivia acquired her target before she held her breath and pulled the trigger, and she hit the target only a few inches away from the center. She never looked so happy hitting a target from 200 yards but everyone watching was still confused. I didn''t say much because I was waiting for something else to happen but everything changed when I made her aim for the steel target at the 300-yard mark.


    "No wind, just aim a tad higher than earlier¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    Olivia was a little nervous shooting farther than her own record and as reality would dictate it, she missed a couple of inches higher. She was just about to look at me apologetically when I smirked and pulled the trigger the moment I saw her shot miss.


    "Wha¨C"


    It was only a fraction of a second between our shots and the short ding instantly followed.


    I looked at her with a faint smile, "That''s my fault, sorry. But do you get it now?"


    Olivia never looked so confused, "What?"


    "I just told you what to do and you missed, right? Instead of you correcting that shot, I''ll be the one correcting it from the ce we were holding it. If you didn''t notice what we''re doing, I''m telling you where to shoot but I''m also holding that position. If we do it like this, recalctions will be faster by a few seconds."


    "Ohh~"


    "This is just the start but the goal is for you and your partner to offer calctions and recalctions to hit your target in less than three shots in quick session. Theoretically, both of you could recalcte and shoot as much as your mags could offer but only a single recalction is needed most of the time. Jared and I would do this a few times when I was teaching him but do I make sense?"


    Olivia let out a pensive look as she smiled, "U-Umm¡­ I think I g-get your point now... I-It''s like looking out for each other, right? C-Can we try again?"


    I nodded, "Okay, we''ll do it again but hold a bit to the left. Rx your shoulders too¡­"


    "O-Okay!"


    Olivia and I continued until we reached the 800-yard mark but her nervousness acted up again when she was now the one to dictate where I''d ce my shot. I even borrowed Lois'' M70 so it would be easier for her to give me directions to where to set my sights on but we started fumbling even if we were still on the 400-yard mark.


    I could as easily shoot farther without her help but that wasn''t the point of this ss.


    "Want me to switch with your boyfriend?"


    "Wha¨C W-W-Well¨C He''s my¨C He''s¨C Y-Yes but¨C I-I-I-I-I DON''T SAY IT OUT LOUD!"

 Chapter 680 - Buried In Calculations? - Headhunters Axe-Sword?

    Olivia never looked so embarrassed even if there were people that already knew about their rtionship but nevertheless, it wasn''t about the embarrassment of being in a rtionship with my cousin but the embarrassment of having their rtionship ''exposed'' to a few strangers.


    Not everyone wanted to reveal everything about them and their partner, but she quickly forgave me when I apologized and offered to make her longest shot at 1000 yards.


    It wasn''t even the scope of our lesson but I''d like to keep a few targets off my back even if it was trivial in a sense. Well, it would bepletely trivial to me but it wasn''t as trivialpared to the subject in question.


    I waved Olivia off so I could get her attention, "Okay, it''s gonna drop a lot morepared to when you nailed the target at 200 yards but you only got to hit it once to record it in your DOPE Card. It''s very easy topute and ount for distance but the most difficult thing topute and ount for, if we remove human error since you''ve only been at it for a few months, is always wind."


    Olivia nodded pensively as she pulled out a familiar device, "So¡­ I always check with my kestrel?"


    "What? You could but¨C"


    "It''s supposed to give me the readings, right? For the wind and whatnot..."


    "It would¨C"


    "So¨C"


    "Not exactly."


    "B-But¨C"


    "Let me finish talking first, alright? Sure, our kestrels could always check for wind but it wouldn''t tell you what the wind is over 1000 yards. Furthermore, it''s not like the wind is always blowing the same way... Even if you could get data from 1000 yards away by walking to that ce and going back to shoot your rifle¡­ Chances are, it would''ve already shifted into something different."


    Olivia nodded a few times, "R-Right¡­ I remember you telling us that before¡­ W-Well¡­ H-How can I be exactly sure to hit the target every single time? Are there other calctions that I need to do or things I need to look out for?"


    "You could add a lot more factors to decrease your chances of missing but that''ll just slow you down even more."


    "What? I thouht--"


    Kaley interjected, "Instead of trying to figure out whether ake is deep or not, why don''t you just jump in and find out?"


    "Wouldn''t I drown if¨C"


    Kaley shook her head, "You can swim."


    "B-But I need my goggles to¨C"


    "That''s not the point!"


    I stood in between the two, "Hmm~ To bepletely honest, you could do all the calctions you want but as hard as for me to say it, there''s a limit we¨C and our equipment could allow us to nail our target in longer distances. But if we''re talking in regards to the limit of what we and our equipment could do¡­ like Kaley said, just go ahead and do it instead of burying your head down in calctions and making sure you never miss."


    "..."


    "Remember, the reason we''re having this ss is also to shave a few seconds for recalction. It wouldn''t seem much but a few seconds would be the equivalent of life and death in certain situations. If our targets right now are sprinters or even ferals, they wouldn''t wait for you to refer to your DOPE Card, and they''ll bridge the gap in no time. In a sense, this ss is like doing a more advanced form of the process of elimination. Like being able to answer true AND false in a true OR false question. Get me?"


    Olivia was still slightly hesitant, "B-But you two never miss¡­ especially you¡­ you could shoot really far and even do the drills we do blindfolded¡­"


    "Ah. That''s because I''m awesome¨C Ack! Kaley?! I''m awesome but I still feel pain!"


    Kaley eximed, "That''s not even a proper answer!"


    "That''s just the summary! D''you want me to give everyone the math here?!"


    "Just say something believable!"


    "It''s believable! But yeah¡­"


    Olivia turned to me as her ears perked up, "Hmm?"


    "What I mean to say is that¡­ I''m one of those guys that used to bury my head with calctions. It''s fun sometimes butter on, even if it''s not my style, I found out that a different approach might be necessary. The thing is, I''m afraid of failure¨C in our case, missing our shot, but~ if you think of it as another step to sess¨C or hitting our target¡­ it doesn''t sound so bad, right?"


    As soon as I said that, I didn''t even notice that everyone was looking at me the same way Olivia was pensively staring right at my face. But after our short conversation, she didn''t say much as she went on position.


    Olivia was muttering a few things between her breath but as soon as we heard that short exhale, she pulled the trigger and a short ding resounded right after.


    However, she didn''t stop there as she ejected the spent casing and loaded another. Her hands never moved so seamlessly and we saw the same thing over and over until she ran out of bullets.


    It had five bullets all-in-all but she only missed once.


    Her only miss was the one from her second shot but thest three were fucking tight. Two of those shots almost ovepped with each other while thest one was only a few centimeters away.


    I chuckled before I handed her a full mag, "Jesus fucking christ. Do it again."


    "A-Again?"


    "Yep."


    Olivia just epted the mag without saying much and Kaley was just looking at me with a faint smile. With that said, when Olivia started nailing targets from afar, she couldn''t hide how happy and proud she was with her younger sister''s achievement.


    However, the look on Lois'' face was so fucking priceless because he wanted to be the one to remove the ''shackles'' in Olivia''s head. But nevertheless, he was still happy that Olivia more than tripled her record though he pulled me away from my seat so he could take my ce.


    I whispered before I left them alone, "Rx, dude. I''m just teaching her stuff."


    Lois replied with a hushed tone, "You better! I''m¨C"


    "Yada~ Yada~ Better start practicing even more or she''ll smoke ya."


    "What?! She won''t¨C Well, I wouldn''t mind but¨C Fuck you, bro! I''m better than you!"


    "Roight~ Roight~"


    As time went on, everyone picked their spots to try their hand at beating their own records and trying to do it with a partner.


    Kaley and I didn''t even get to shoot much because the two of us were watching what everyone else was doing so that we could lead them in the right direction instead of just telling them what to do.


    Sometimes, human error just couldn''t be avoided entirely because the person ying the spotter might give wrong directions, or the person ying the shooter might fuck up their trigger pull, hold the wrong angle, or any other mistakes.


    Furthermore, I wouldn''t even get started on partnerpatibility.


    In a way, the people that refrained from picking their own partnerpared to the ones that just picked one just to get in had better luck.


    Different people had different ways to do things and sometimes, different people had also a different way of calling orbeling things that already had a technical term.


    It would lead to mimunication and such, making their ss harder than what it was supposed to because of a simplepatibility issue. That was something that couldn''t be fixed in a short amount of time and in the end, they just practiced on their own and were just ''partners'' in name.


    Time continued to pass until everyone had their fill and the drive back home was just enough of a wind-down because the sunset was beautiful.


    However, it wasn''t as peaceful when we got home.


    It was because Artem, Katya, Bogdan, and even Mikhail who already had a custom weapon were arguing as to who gets to keep another monstrosity of a weapon our engineers produced.


    With that said, a few onlookers like Ibarra and Tatiana wanted to get their hands on it as well but they decided to pass on the first prototype.


    This one was led by Unc Zeidrick specifically and it involved a bit of heritage from him and my mother''s side. Well, it was supposed to look more like an axe but this thing had some artistic liberties put on it.


    The weapon they built was supposed to be an axe native to a tribe of Igorots in our country. It was known as the Headhunter''s Axe or as the Wasay that had an axe side for decapitation and a spike on the other for piercing through armor.


    However, the weapon we were looking at right now was looking a lot like a huge-ass sword than a huge-ass axe.


    It could be said that it was a cross between the two because the axe-head where the socket was supposed to be was reced by a de a few inches longer than my katana. Its handle was even longer than most sword handles because it could definitely fit four and a half hands to provide a lot more leverage because of the weight.


    To bepletely honest, it was forged crudelypared to my de but what made them fight for it wasn''t how it looked badass or intimidating, it was because of the damage it did to the watermelon covered with a ceramic te and several patches of ker.


    ''What the fuck did Unc put on it? Wait....''

 Chapter 681 - Ill See You Tomorrow, Unc.

    I was more interested in what the rest would say to obtain the first prototype I failed to notice the actual crime scene. It wasn''t an actual crime scene per se but it involved something really peculiar.


    Aside from the Headhunter''s Axe-Sword sessfully piercing through the ker, ceramic tes, and the watermelon itself, there was something small that caught my eye.


    A few feet away from the ce it was used was a watermelon seed that probably flew away from the impact.


    And as soon as I trailed it with the rest of the chunks and the seeds that flew out, a wicked smile slowly formed on my face.


    It made me walk forward to pick up the weapon that was due for a more thorough examination. Well, I could already guess the secret it had and I examined each part of it.


    ''Well, it is still fucking heavy¡­ But¨C''


    The Headhunter''s Axe-Sword was obviously on the same scale as Mikhail''s Axe-Hammer but it was longer by a few inches. Furthermore, the spine of the de was a few centimeters thicker than most swords that we had avable and it was one of the reasons for its weight.


    However, the main reason for its weight was the Axe Head itself.


    It was ufortable to hold it with one hand for too long but a regr person would be able to swing it a few times before feeling tired. Well, the extra-long handle could somehow mitigate part of it but wielding this weapon had a strict strength requirement.


    The requirement wasn''t as highpared to Mikhail''s King''s Weapon but any other person would easily opt for a regr machete instead of a hunk of metal that was also top-heavy.


    Looking at it even closer, I finally found a small hole a few centimeters away from the tip of the spike at the back, but I noticed that it was possible for it to retract a few centimeters given enough pressure. It was wiggling a bit but all I could do was wiggle it a bit morepared to testing its limits.


    ''I can''t even push it back on my own while holding it up¡­ Probably need to swing it with full power¡­ But where''s the¨C Wait¨C Where''s the¨C''


    I then heard a familiar voice from behind me, "Looking for something?"


    When I turned around, Unc Zeidrick was looking at me with a cheeky smile, and all I could do was ask the question.


    "This spike is also the release, right?"


    "Yup. Who pushes a button in the middle of the fight? This thing is not for sharks anymore¨C not this one."


    "You''re fucking right about that¡­"


    "Well, the question is¡­ Will it be enough?"


    "I dunno, I gave you that piece of its skull. Can ceramic tes and ker patches be enough to imitate it?"


    "It got through that but I might add a p of ballistics gel to kinda make it thicker. A .308 might be enough to crack its skull but you''re doing it from a distance. Once this thing doesn''t work, you gotta dip, dive, and dodge before it''s over. Also, it''s one-use before you have to take cover and refill the gas canister."


    "One use?"


    "Yep, one use. I learned some shit from your friend but to make it offer more uses, I need to find a way to make arger canister and to fit it in that Axe Head."


    "It''s in the Axe Head? Not the handle?"


    "Of course, it is. How far do you think¨C It''s a bitch to remove too. Well¨C"


    "That''s why it wiggles¡­"


    "Yep."


    Unc and I were still deep in conversation when Kaley tapped my back. We didn''t even notice that everyone was looking at us with confusion, wondering what the fuck we were talking about.


    Kaley shook her head as she chuckled, "Care to share with everyone?"


    I turned to Unc Zeidrick, "Did you have it with you right now?"


    Unc Zeidrick nodded as he pointed at the other table, "Yep, I also have a couple of canisters in that case."


    Olivia also interjected, "What are you two talking about?"


    "WASP knives." Unc Zeidrick and I said at the same time.


    "What knives?"


    Unc Zeidrick walked to his table first to retrieve his WASP knife before showing it to Kaley and Olivia.


    "WASP knives. W-A-S-P knives. Essentially a knife that has an injector that could deliver any type of gas to a target¨C In this case, carbon dioxide, erging the wound and even partially freezing it."


    "So¡­ the gas is responsible for doing that?"


    "Not just the gas per se but how it''s delivered."


    "What?"


    "If you haven''t seen how it works, it essentially delivers everything inside this canister at 800 psi. It''s like cing a basketball inside of the wound cavity this knife just stabbed them in. They''re usually used for sharks but some outdoorsmen use them for boars and the like too. It works onnd as much as it works on water."


    "So¡­ something like how hollow points work?"


    "Kinda~ but not at the same scale. This is more like a one-hit kill type of thing and it just expands stuff with the gas, not the projectile itself. It''s not an almighty weapon as you might think but the reason I made that thing and incorporated the injecting system to it was to try and provide more force to punch through a Hulker''s skull. It''ll be difficult to do that with just a knife no matter how strong you are, right?"


    Unc Zeidrick and the others were still in conversation when Ibarra walked up to us.


    "Wait, c-can you make me a spear head that does the same thing?"


    I answered before Unc could reply, "It''s possible. Right, Unc?"


    Unc Zeidrick nodded as he shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, might be easier too. I could easily fit one in your spear because of its tubing system. Well, it''ll be still one use as the rest¨C"


    Ibarra''s eyes lit up, "That''s not a problem! I''ll patiently¨C"


    Before he could say more, Bogdan loomed over him before Artem, Katya, and Mikhail followed.


    Artem never looked so intimidating, "Are you forgetting about us? Who''s gonna¨C"


    Ibarra interjected still, "But I''m¨C"


    Katya cut him off, "You said you''ll wait patiently, right?! Then wait patiently! We still got a problem on our hands."


    Mikhail added, "I love what you made for me but I think it''s time¨C"


    Bogdan interjected as well, "You already got custom shit! Let everyone else have something first! Hey man, I''m willing to teach you about demolition shit if you want to¨C"


    Unc Zeidrick never looked so helpless because of all of his new customers, "W-Well¨C"


    "Bogdan! No bribing!"


    "It''s bartering! I give him shit, he gives me shit! It''s not my fault you have nothing much to offe¨C"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME?!"


    "My spear¡­"


    "Enough about your spear! I need to have this now¨C"


    Unc Zeidrick started to scratch the side of his cheek, "It''s still a prototype¡­ I still need to make a few changes with it¡­"


    "WHAT?!"


    "W-Well¡­ that was my first work but I fucked up a little bit on the measurements when I put it on the mill. The spike needs to be fitted a little more tighter or it''ll fall off eventually¡­ The spring might be an issue too if it gets used over and over, even without using the injector system, the spring I fitted in there needs to be a little more stronger¡­ We haven''t even tested how strong the de is¡­"


    "The de?"


    "Yeah, even if I tried to heat treat it and quenched it in oil, I''m not sure if I did the steps correctly. I''m not an actual cksmith¡­ We''d need to test it on something hard until it breaks¨C"


    "Breaks?! Wha¨C That thing b-breaks?! W-Why?!"


    "That''s the way we''ll know. I''m gonna make a few more of them too and we''ll see how each one fares with each other. If we''re happy with one of them, that''s when I''ll try to make more."


    I interjected, "So you didn''t forge it, Unc?"


    "Hah! Forge? Me? I ran it all in the mill¨C"


    "But it looks¨C"


    "Crude? Grinding process, kid."


    "Ah¡­ That''s why¨C"


    "Oi, I''m not great at finesse, you are. If you want to make my work shiny and pretty, help me on your day-offs."


    "What? You guys'' workshop doesn''t have enough engineers?"


    "Working with this shit? No. Didn''t you send most of them to reinforce several checkpoints? Some of them are still not done, and the ones that are, are doing other shit. If you could spare me some¨C"


    "Unc, you know I can''t¨C"


    "Why? Because it wouldn''t be perfect? We don''t need perfect right now, right? We just need something that works."


    "Hmm¡­ Fine, but I''m gonna tweak that design even more. And I''m gonna handle the grinding."


    "Sure¨C Wait, what? The design? It''s not even¨C"


    "Ready? It works already but it needs to ''work'' even more."


    "What are you talking about now?"


    I just let out a cryptic and devilish smile as I turned around, "I''ll see you tomorrow, Unc."


    "Ah¨C"


    Unc and the rest never looked so puzzled but I just took Kaley''s hand and we walked back to our ce.

 Chapter 682 - Eureka! - Guest?

    Kaley and I got back to ourpound after a short walk and we found everyone else in the middle of their assigned jobs or was just about to finish up. The kids and the elderly were by the pool area waiting for dinner and one by one, we all gathered at the same spot.


    With that said, we eventually had our meals and we had our meeting right after.


    We talked about everything that happened in these few days though most of it just went over our building projects. It involved the checkpoints we buffed up, the monster truck, the RC Car that was still in development, and the weapon Unc¨C we were trying to perfect.


    Everything went ordingly but it was pure fucking chaos when we went to the gym.


    Kaley was already shaking her head, "Oh no¡­"


    If seeing Bing in a referee''s costume wasn''t enough to prove that some shit was about to go down, I don''t know what will.


    They actually held a tournament-style fight and the reward would obviously be the first prototype of the Headhunter''s Axe-Sword. Furthermore, what they also agreed on was that once Unc and I''s coboration work was finished, the winner of this fight will be bestowed the new model while the would-be runner-up would receive the first prototype.


    No one cared that we would be able to produce more once we''re sessful since the matter at hand was as to who would get it first.


    Well, the issue wasn''t about our group fighting for a single weapon but the first fight was between Artem and An.


    Yes, An.


    I didn''t know what the fuck possessed him to join such a fight and I quickly phoned in to request EMS. It would be better to call the mortuary or something simr because I was already picturing his head turning several times over after receiving one of Artem''s punches.


    After a short bit, it didn''t take long before Bing stood between them and gave them a brief introduction, in a sense.


    "IN THE RED CORNER¨C U-UMM IN THAT CORNER~~~ WEARING BLACK TRUNKS WITH A HUGE BULGE, A.K.A. THE RUSSIAN FANG, A.K.A. I''LL ONLY NEED MY KNIVES TO KILL YA, A.K.A. THE WHITE DICK, A.K.A. THE MOBY COCK, A.K.A. THE SCHLONG¨C ACK! I''m sorry! I''m sorry! I''m sorry, Katya I''ll¨C"


    "GET ON WITH IT!"


    "Y-Yes¡­ A-And on the other c-corner¡­ An¡­ Woo¡­"


    An never looked so disappointed from his introduction, "The fuck, man! I wrote¨C Nevermind¡­ YOU''RE GOING DOWN SCHLONG RANGER!"


    Katya was instantly caught off-guard, "THE WHAT¨C Haa¡­ I''ll just wait for my turn¡­"


    Half the crowd was already dyingughing and the ones that came just to have their own routine done were now part of the crowd that was watching the fight. However, it was a fucking fiasco when the bell rang to start the fight.


    Everyone knew that An had no fucking chance to win this fight and everyone was just waiting for the knockout punch to happen. Furthermore, everyone knew that it would happen in less than a few seconds but instead of An using his gloves, he used his feet instead, not to actually fight but to try to run away like his life depended on it.


    "YOU''LL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE, SUCKER! I''LL TIRE YOU OUT UNTIL YOU''D HAVE NO ENERGY FOR THE NEXT FIGHT HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Well, it''s just that Artem just stood in ce after a few seconds of chasing after him.


    "GIVING UP NOW?! HAH! IT''S WORKING! HAA¡­ HAAA¡­ IT''S FUCKING WORKING! YOU''LL¡­ YOU''LL¡­ You''ll never catch me¨C"


    Then An miraculously slipped on a t surface and broke his fall with his head. I first thought he''d get knocked then I thought he''d just tire himself out from running around like an idiot, but what I didn''t think of¨C Well, it''s entirely possible in his case, was that it''d actually happen.


    I was actually surprised that it surprised me that it would lead to this oue.


    The whole ce was so fucking quiet though a select few were about to burst a blood vessel from trying to contain theirughter.


    Luckily, the EMS that I called for arrived at the right time, and An was instantly treated as they left the scene.


    In any case, the matches continued until the final match was between Artem and Katya. However, the two seemed to have made a deal before the tournament started and Katya just forfeited before the final match started. It was a little anti-climactic for it to end like that but whatever deal they made was only between them.


    A few more friendly spars followed after them but Kaley and I started our workout.


    Little did I know that I''ll get the idea to solve the one-use issue Unc Zeidrick''s Axe-Sword had.


    It happened when I was running on a treadmill that was right next to our water dispenser and as soon as realization struck, I couldn''t help but let out a smile that caught Kaley''s attention.


    "What? Still had the image of An tripping on your head?"


    "What? No, I''m so happy looking at your boobs jiggle as you run that¨C"


    "Stop lying! And stop looking at my boobs¡­"


    "Fine, I''ll do itter¨C"


    "Be serious! What''s on your mind right now?"


    "Remember that I said I''ll change the design of Unc''s weapon?"


    "Yeah, I remember."


    "I just had an idea and let''s just say he might need to dial it back to its original shape so it wouldn''t be an Altor."


    "Altor? Oh! The single-shot¨C Okay, I get it. But how is doing that solve it?"


    I let out a smile before I walked over to the water dispenser then pressed and released the lever to let out water at different intervals, "See?"


    "I don''t¨C"


    "That''s how you squir¨C Ah! My back! Fuck! I''m joking! I''m joking! Stop!"


    "You doofus! Try it one more time and I''ll hit more than just your back!"


    "I''m sorry! I''m sorry! But yeah, I''ll tell youter¡­ let''s finish our workout first."


    "Hmph! Fine¡­"


    I just let out a breath and I finished my run on the treadmill before moving on to the free-weights and machines. Time continued to pass for the most part and I cooled off with a lighter run on the treadmillpared to earlier.


    With that said, I didn''t expect Kaley to still be curious about my little epiphany since she asked about it again while we''re taking a quick soak.


    "So, what is it you found out again?"


    "Really? While I''m soaping you? Can I at least enjoy this?"


    "Hmph~ You can do both at the same time¡­ So, what is it?"


    I extended my hand to reach for the faucet and I slid it to the side to keep the water running and slid it back to shut it off. I did it for a few times in front of Kaley and she was starting to think I was duping her once again.


    "You¡­"


    "Listen, what does this thing, the water dispenser in the gym, and the thing Unc made inmon?"


    "Hmm~ If you think about it, they all have a switch that could deliver something once it''s turned on¡­ if we consider the¡­ the spike thingy on that thing a switch¡­"


    "Right! 10 points to Gryffindor! But what''s the difference between this faucet and that water dispenserpared to that weapon? Don''t think too much about it¡­ The clue is me turning it on and off over and over."


    "Umm¡­ Oh! The difference is that you can turn this one on and off and that water dispenser on and off, and dependent on how much water is left on the tank, you could have a lot of¡­ uses."


    "That''s right but since the canister for Unc''s handiwork is too small to allow several uses even with an on and off switch, we use a bigger canister. It''s gonna allow at least 6 uses before the wielder attempts to run back to get a refill. Do you know that thing they use to make sparkling water?"


    "Oh! That! Those things are expensive! Especially the refills!"


    "Well, you gotta learn how to do it yourself to save a bit¡­ But yeah, I''ll see if we could make something a little more slimmer than those canisters. Something just enough to fit the axe handle."


    "Oh~ That''s why you said that you two may need to stick to the original design."


    "Exactly. Also, to bepletely honest¡­ That thing is just too heavy and too unwieldy¡­ I don''t get why they always try to make things too big. I''m not the strongest guy around in terms of pure, raw strength but I bet even Mikhail¨C even Artem would get tired after swinging it a few minutes in."


    Kaley chuckled, "Weren''t you about to say Mikhail and switched it to Artem?"


    "Heh. I did. I''m not sure if that guy put all his stats on Strength and Constitution but still, I''m sure it was way over the limit!"


    "True~ But aren''t your stats maxed out?"


    "Oh~ Don''t start that talk with me or you wouldn''t make it past that door~"


    Kaley turned around to face me before grabbing my friend below, "Oh, really? What would you do to me? Hmm?"


    "You know what I could do¡­ Especially what that could do¡­"


    Kaley let out a smile as she started to stroke me ever so slowly but she stopped right when my member was fully erect. I thought she wanted me to touch her too but she grabbed both our towels and quickly ran for the door.


    "Kaley!"


    "Oh,e on! It''s just us here!"


    "But¨C"


    "Quick! We have a guest?"


    "Guest?"

 Chapter 683 - Lights Out - No Talking

    Hearing Kaley say that made me think that our supposed guest wasn''t our roommates from the next room and the one right after it, but I''m sure that whoever they were didn''te for just a casual visit. Well, she also didn''t say it was someone new but I was certain most of them were seeing someone else already.


    Not everyone in our ''circle'' was required to stay within the rules of our arrangement and if they wished to see other people, we wouldn''t hold it against them. With that said, if they wanted to have something more than just a ''casual visit'', all they needed to do was ask either one of us.


    ''Technically¡­ they''d always ask her¡­ We''ve already gone over our rules a lot of times¡­''


    With that said, after making sure that there would be no one identally spotting me running in the nude, I made a quick run for our room even if it was only a few feet away. The only worry in my head was that if the door would be locked but all of it was for naught when I quickly gained safe passage.


    It''s just that all of the lights were turned off once I closed the door behind me.


    I was hearing light chuckles and excited giggles but before I even tried to ce my hand over the switch, I heard Kaley''s voice.


    "Keep it off, please? I''ll turn it on myselfter¡­"


    "Sure¡­ No blindfolds today?"


    "Nope, we had a little identst time¡­ Don''t mind, our eyes will get used to the dark soon¡­ Come on, don''t keep us waiting¡­ Right, I almost forgot¡­ No talking for as long as you could¡­ Moans are fine but you get the idea¡­ Okay, let''s start~"


    I didn''t say much after that as I slowly made my way towards our bed, but I was 100% sure that there was only a single person on it besides me. However, it didn''t take long before the person right next to me pulled me closer and made me go on top of her.


    A thousand thoughts were running through my head but I heard kissing sounds and muffled moans from different sides of my room before the person I was with took my hand and ced it over her breasts.


    They were so fucking soft and firm to the touch and her nipples were already so fucking hard and sensitive, she''d lightly gasp each time I brushed them with my fingers. However, the size of her tits instantly revealed to me who she is.


    ''Marina¡­''


    I just let out a smirk in the darkness before I squeezed them even harder but her hands were already running through my whole body and she only stopped when she reached my shaft.


    As soon as she did, she started to move her hands up and down, for as slow as she could, but she''d always focus on the tip by gripping around it and squeezing it most of the time.


    I was just about to start sucking on her nipples when she let go of me and pulled me for a kiss. However, I slightly positioned myself to the side so we could still explore each other''s bodies while our tongues were fighting for control.


    With that said, she started to wrap her hand around my shaft once more before I went back to fondling her perky tits. They weren''t asrge as Kaley''s but they were enough to make any woman jealous. Furthermore, they were also fucking natural and I wouldn''t end this night without cing my dick in between them.


    Well, it''s just that Marina wanted me to move on to something that was getting left out.


    I was still enjoying the touch of her milkers but she took my hand and ced them over her meaty cunt. She was already wet from the kissing and the nipple stimtion but she started gripping me even tighter when I found my way towards her clit.


    Marina started to moan in between our kisses and the way she was stroking me started to get erratic.


    Furthermore, I was starting to overpower her with our kiss and she was barely holding on when I was only a few seconds of touching her lower extremities. However, she just started to lose it when I put two fingers in her gushing hole while my thumb continued to draw circles on her little bean.


    Marina started to twitch and turn each time I curled my fingers inside of her and the sound it made each time I scraped her inner walls was enough to make me bust a nut right then and there.


    She couldn''t even kiss me back anymore so I moved on to her neck, but the thing was, she was trying so hard to make as little noise as possible. She was even trying to cover her mouth to muffle her moans but her grip started to loosen when I moved on to sucking and biting her hard nipples.


    However, Marina still tried her best to not cum as fast as she thought she would and it backfired on her when she started gushing like a fountain.


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! I''M CU¨C I''M CUMMING! MMH! MMH! AHHH~!!!"


    Marina''s back arched as she held me tight but her body couldn''t stop shaking over and over while she was having an orgasm.


    It''s just that I didn''t stop rubbing her clit even if her nails were digging onto my arm.


    She was putting up a great resistance on the first few seconds but after a few more orgasms, she just gave in and was actually asking for more. I could barely see her face nowpared to earlier and she was wearing a euphoric smile among all others.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Fuck¡­ I didn''t know how much I¨C"


    "Shh¡­"


    "Right¡­ But how about¨C"


    "Shh¡­"


    "..."


    Marina was just looking at me expectantly and she already knew what to do when I positioned myself between her tits. I rubbed it on her nipples first before she kept my dick in ce and I started to move my hips while we were barely maintaining eye contact.


    I almost came from the first few thrusts but I wanted to make the momentst a little bit longer.


    At some point, I was also hitting her chin with each thrust but once she decided to move for me instead, she stuck out her tongue while she continued to smother my huge dick with her breasts.


    The feeling and the sight were just too much to handle once it happened, and I just blew my load in her mouth and on her face. I wiped her face with our nkets while she swallowed everything that went into her mouth.


    It only took us a second before we decided to do the real thing but she still wanted to go on top even if I won from our kiss earlier. Well, who am I to say no if someone will do the work for me?


    In which case, I justid on my back before Marina went on top of me.


    "Fuck¡­ It''s fucking thick¡­ hngh¡­"


    I watched Marina take me inch by inch but her words were an exact oppositepared to her face.


    Her eyes were partly closed but she was wearing a devilish smile while she was biting her lower lip. And once she took me all up to the base, she looked like she had another orgasm just by the way she tightened around me.


    With that said, the moment she started moving her hips, she lost all proper decorum.


    Marina was like an animal in heat the way she rode me as she was jumping like there was no tomorrow. Her breasts were just jiggling all over the ce and she''d just moan even louder even when I''m squeezing them as hard as I could.


    Compared to earlier, she didn''t even try to stop moving when she started to have an orgasm because she''d just go harder and harder until she''d get another release. Her moans were overpowering everyone else in the room but the more I witness her in this state the more I rely on my baser instincts.


    At one point, I even timed my movements at the same time as her and she never looked so happy when I did that.


    My dick was hitting her deepest parts as it was scraping her insides and each thrust felt like I was gonna blow my load inside of her. My goal was to fill her three entry points but I already stuck my finger inside the one at her lower back.


    I kept thrusting and thrusting from below while she kept moving her hips from above and it didn''t take long before we came at the same time. She was shaking all over while I was shooting everything inside her pussy and she wasn''t breaking eye contact.


    However, before we even tried to attempt thest one, the light finally turned on and I got a good look at everyone present.

 Chapter 684 - Light On - Unexpected Call

    It wasn''t much of a surprise that Marina was our only guest, but to be fair, Kaley did say that we had a ''guest'' without the ''s'' in it. All things considered, it had been a minute since we all gathered in one spot.


    Kaley was obviously the one who turned on the lights while Cynthia was the one still shaking uncontrobly on top of our table. I couldn''t see her face from this angle but I got the perfect view of her important assets.


    Her juices were flowing down her thighs as she was clutching her breasts, but Kaley was the one that had the creamiest fingers.


    The two probably went hand in hand but Kaley was the one that walked out the winner after Cynthia had a mind-numbing orgasm.


    On the other hand, Rin was sitting on Tatiana''sp at my chair, getting both of her little holes vited with her fingers and a thick-ass dildo.


    The dildo was the one gaping Rin''s little asshole while Tatiana''s fingers were scraping the inside of Rin''s vaginal walls. Her insides would squelch each time Tatiana would curl and push her fingers deep inside and ayer of cream woulde out with it that would be fed in either of their mouths that were waiting for it.


    It didn''t take long before Rin squirted a number of times and she was left in the chair with a euphoric smile on her face and a gaping asshole.


    In which case, Rin and Cynthia needed a little break so Kaley and Tatiana decided to join us.


    The two went to each of our sides while Marina was still waiting impatiently for me to plug her asshole. I was currently the one on top of her while Kaley and Tatiana just decided toy their bodies right next to her while looking at me in the eye.


    "Please¡­ P-Put it in¨C Ah! Fuck! Not so¨C H-H-Hngh! Shit! Why does it feel so fucking good¨C Ah! AH! AH! AH! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!"


    Marina''s face grimaced when I suddenly pushed in several inches of my dick inside of her asshole but her eyes instantly rolled over when I reached her deepest parts. Her asshole was definitely several times tighter than her fucking pussy and I just rammed it with my fat dick over and over because the feeling was just so fucking phenomenal.


    At the same time, Kaley and Tatiana who were justying right next to us started touching themselves but at some point, Kaley started to sniff and lick Marina''s armpits while Tatiana started to suck and bite on Marina''s nipples.


    Marina''s face was a fucking mess when the three of us vited her piece by piece and it didn''t help when Kaley found her way into her meaty cunt. Once Kaley''s fingers started to circle around her clit while I was fucking her asshole, it didn''t take long before Marina started to squirt as hard as she could for several seconds.


    Her body tensed as she convulsed over and over but the three of us didn''t stop until she lost strength.


    I didn''t know how much she came in that few intense moments but she didn''t offer much resistance once I pulled it out of her gaping asshole.


    As soon as I did, my cum just started oozing out of it, mixing with her juices that were flowing down her thick thighs.


    Kaley and Tatiana couldn''t hide the smile on their faces when Marina was out for the count, but the two seemed to have made a deal beforehand when Tatiana made mey on my head while Kaley went back to get a strapless dildo.


    Tatiana was sucking me off while Kaley was putting it on but once she did, Tatiana went on top of me and let me choose.


    "Pussy or ass?"


    "Ass first since I''ll fuck them both."


    Tatiana let out a devilish smile as she turned around and squatted down, "Good answer."


    It was always a different feeling pushing it in a fresh, ungaped asshole but I''d stretch it soon enough once we got into position.


    "Shit¡­ really different from my dildoes¡­"


    "Nowy your back on me¡­"


    "Yeah¡­ Mmh¡­"


    I was already losing my mind from entering Tatiana''s asshole once again but the most excited one was still Kaley. She looked like she''d cream with each step she was making towards us and her face was so flushed as she was slowly leaning on Tatiana.


    "I''m putting it in~"


    "Start a bit slow, okay?"


    "Okay~"


    I was supporting Tatiana''s back as Kaley pushed her toy inside Tatiana''s vacant hole, and once she pushed it all the way in, we started to slowly move our hips.


    "Mmh¡­ Mmnh~ That''s good¡­ That''s¨C A bit faster now¡­ Yes¡­ Like that¡­ Ahn¡­ Mmm¡­ Ah¡­ Yes¡­ Mmh¡­"


    Kaley and I were still looking out for Tatiana''s injuries but from the time that had passed since she got them, it was looking more and more that she waspletely healed. Well, it didn''t take long before we went faster and faster and Tatiana never looked so happy.


    We were alternating going inside her from different entrances at first but we soon decided to fill her up by thrusting at the same time.


    I wish I could see the look on Tatiana''s face but seeing Kaley look like she was on the receiving end in this position made me think that Tatiana wasn''t faring any better.


    Kaley leaned even more to push it in deeper Tatiana''s cunt and she was the only one fucking her at one point because I just had no space to move. Well, I was still deep inside her asshole while Kaley was moving her hips like crazy, but Kaley was the one who came first between the two.


    Tatiana instantlyined, "Kaley~! I''m really close!"


    "W-What?! I-It''s inside me t-too¡­"


    "Hngh~"


    Nevertheless, Kaley didn''t stop thrusting from above, and to make up for it, we continued by Tatiana sucking my dick while she''s on all fours and while Kaley continued to fuck her pussy while pushing in a vibrating dildo up her ass.


    Tatiana couldn''t even suck my dick properly but she made me push down on her head so I could fuck her throat. She almost gagged a few times but she was definitely enjoying how all of her avable holes were plugged and being vited.


    Kaley was even putting on a show for me because she was just looking at me the whole time while making erotic faces, and it almost made me bust a few times. Furthermore, her huge tits would bounce and jiggle each time she thrust her hips forward, and each time the little nub from the strapless dildo inside her would move, she''d feel it with her body and she''d just twitch and moan even if she was on the giving end.


    At some point, Cynthia, Rin, and Marina finally got their second wind and joined the fray.


    Their faces were red and they came in with the anticipation that they''d get their holes vited again. Their nipples were erect and their juices were flowing down their thighs, and they just wanted it so bad.


    Well, we didn''t change our position that much because Rin just pushed me down so she could sit on my face while Cynthia and Marina went to both my sides so I could feel and touch their bodies.


    Cynthia wanted me to push my fingers inside her little holes while Marina wanted me to grope her breasts as she touch herself. Cynthia''s insides were just so fucking tight and so fucking warm while Marina''s breasts were just so fucking soft and supple.


    Getting my dick sucked while my hands were busy was something to die for if it weren''t for a wet fucking pussy grinding on my face.


    I wasn''t able to focus on all of them equally but once Rin started to move her hips vigorously, it was a signal that I was neglecting her for a bit. In which case, I let go of Cynthia and Marina for a moment before I ced my hand over Rin''s petite chest, pinching and rubbing her little nipples while I was parting her insides with my tongue.


    Rin still had a petite body but the differencepared to the first time I met her was that it became toned when she got fit from working out and healthy nutrition.


    It was a nice view from below and even if I was a fan of huge tits, something like this was good as well.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before Rin''s breathing started to get hurried while she started to push down on me even more. She was clutching my hair as she moved her hips and once she stopped for a brief second, a sudden gush of liquid just sprayed on my face before she started convulsing on top of me.


    Rin started to lose it but I also came after a few seconds.


    I was drinking her squirt while Tatiana was swallowing my cum and we just fought with the sensitivity for a few seconds. However, Tatiana wasn''t able to clean me up properly because she also had an orgasm right then and there. Getting her holes filled at the same time was too for her state and it didn''t take long before Kaley followed after.


    With that said, the night was far from over and we went on for a few more hours.


    After some time, everyone just copsed on each other but before one of us even managed to fall asleep, one of my Sat Phones started ringing.


    I was the one pushed out of the bed to answer it but my tiredness almost disappeared when I heard the other person from the line.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hermano~ Are you ready? It''ll happen in a month. Let me tell you, big yers areing.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Nice to hear from you, Mr. Cuervo. It took this long, eh?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You have no fucking idea~ Anyway, I didn''t figure you''d still be awake at this hour but I gotta give you the news. Wait¨C is Cynthia awake?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "U-Umm¡­ yeah, let me get her¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 685 - Im Gonna Smack You When You Get Here, You Fucking Puto!

    I almost lost my footing when Mr. Cuervo asked for Cynthia but what I didn''t expect was that when I walked towards the bed to ce my phone beside Cynthia''s ear, she would say something that would blow Mr. Cuervo''s head off.


    "Cynthia. Cynthia! Your bro¨C Mr. Cuervo''s looking for you. Here, I ced the phone by your¨C"


    "Yeah, right~ Can you please stop joking now? I still can''t feel my legs when you pinned me down and fucked me¡­ My butt hurts a little bit too when you came in so suddenly..."


    "C-Cynthia! It''s really¨C"


    -


    *bzzt*


    [CYNTHIA?! WHAT DID I JUST HEAR?! HE¨C MI HERMANO DID WHAT ON WHAT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    I was already signing my death warrant but I didn''t think that Cynthia would prop up and swipe the phone from my hands.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Listen here, Dad¨C Bro¨C Whatever it is I''m supposed to call you. You have no fucking right to tell me who I should open my legs for because me pretending to do it already raked you a lot of shit."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HERMANA¨C]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "CALLATE! I''M NOT DONE! If you think we''re sleeping around behind Kaley''s back, you better shut your mouth right now because she knows and there''s a whole lot more going on than what your Boomer mind is capable ofprehending! Let me tell you, love can be shared by more than two people as long as the proper rules are followed. So, if you''re just here to judge me about my life''s decisions, sorry, but I''m not gonna hear one more second of it because you''re the one who told me to live my life as I see fit and if you renege on that, you''re a liar!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What?! Why did you get quiet all of a sudden?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [N-N-Nothing hermana¡­ Can you please pass the phone back to hermano? To be honest, I just wanted to check up on you and¡­ nevermind¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hmph! I''m doing fine and call at appropriate times at least! Dummy!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    I was just standing like a statue when Cynthia handed me back my phone and she just rolled back to the bed with everybody else that was more concerned about having a good night''s sleep.


    I was sure that Kaley cared as well but everyone else was just too fucking tired.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Mr. Cuervo? I''m still¨C"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hermano, I''m gonna smack you when you get here, you fucking puto! Who told you to take her¨C her innocence the moment you brought her there! I took care of her for a lot of years and you make her your side chick?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Let me exin¡­ First of all, I didn''t take her innocence when¨C"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [BULLSHIT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I¡­ I took it when we''re in your basement¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT?! *UNINTELLIGIBLE SPANISH NOISES*]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I didn''t ask for it! She did! She let me have it! We''re just on that couch and things just happened! What do you want me to do?! Kaley and Tatiana were there, you can ask them!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I DON''T FUCKING BELIEVE YOU! I SLEEP ON THAT FUCKING COUCH HERMANO AND ALL I''M THINKING ABOUT IS¨C UGH!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Excuse me but I, for one, had great hygiene. Everything that came out of me there got swallowed by¨C I won''t say the exact name to not give you more nightmares, while everything that¨C"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! NOT ANOTHER WORD, YOU FUCKING PUTO! Let''s¡­ Let''s just put this thing behind us¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Fine by me, but before we do that, let me say that no one took advantage of anyone. She''s even free to look for someone else but she just decided to stay with us. Anyway, I guess you still have something to say since you haven''t ended the call."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I do. It''s the reason I managed to gather all of the big yers in one ce.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What do you mean?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [There will be a merger of sorts between two families and they decided to have it at one of my games.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Merger? Like a wedding then?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yes, a wedding. I don''t think I need to tell you but things like this in this business are sacred. Everyone needed to attend no matter what and they all need toe bearing gifts. With that said, the champions are included. And that means you, Tatiana, and my hermana. I''ll advise bringing your wife for appearances but the two of us know that it''s gonna be a bloodbath. We can pass it off¨C]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "No, Kaley can handle herself. Just make sure that everyone''s gonna attend because I hate chasing after people."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I told you, hermano, this thing is sacred. And yeah, if they don''t do this wedding, they''ll fall off from the other families. They''re just doing this so that they wouldn''t get swallowed up like the others. It''s not like the business is stillparable when it was still high on demand. Almost everyone is now in the business of people, some of them are still in touch with their own nts but¨C]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Wait, nts? Some of them are still making shit?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Of course, they do. I''m the middleman but they''re still free to make their own with their own resources. It''s just that the quality couldn''t bepared when the materials are readily avable.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "And you''re gonna tell me that when?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hermano¡­ I doubt it would even matter because when they started circting that shit in one of my games, barely anyone touched them. They''re more regarded as a buy-in or chips to bet in a few matches. People are more concerned with booze, food, and pussy right nowpared to psychedelics. Well, there would almost always be the resident rugby-sniffer but we could easily take care of them.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I understand, it wouldn''t matter but I''d still burn their ce down when it''s all over."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Go ahead, I got no problem with that. It''s just that I need you to listen to my warning.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hmm?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Those other champions that areing, they''re no joke. You''d need to be carefu¨C]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Mr. Cuervo."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What is it, hermano?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "No spoilers. I''ll know they''re gonna be formidable but I could also handle myself."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hmm. Just prepare a great gift and give them a good show since it''ll be theirst. See youter, hermano.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Heh. See youter, Mr. Cuervo."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Both of us ended the call at the same time and I just stood in the same spot, contemting everything that happened thest time we were there and what happened in the past few minutes. I took a deep breath andpartmentalized everything in my head before I formed a pseudo-schedule right until the timees.


    ''It will work, it will work, it will work¡­''


    After that, I briefly nced at Kaley, Tatiana, and Cynthia before I made the bones in my fingers crack and twist my neck so it would crack a few times also. When I got the initial relief, I rotated my head clockwise before I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths.


    However, when I opened my eyes, Kaley was standing in front of me wearing a faint smile on her face.


    "What''cha doin''?"


    "Oh, hi... I thought all of you fell asleep."


    "Well~ I was about to but I noticed you here taking deep breaths. Thinking of going one more round?"


    "Kaley¡­"


    "Hah! I''m joking, I''m joking! I''m really tired too¡­ I just want you next to me so I could sleep better¡­"


    "Well, aren''t you sweet?"


    Kaley giggled and blushed before she leaned closer and gave me a hug, "Of course, I am. Wanna sleep now? If we choose the right side of the bed, we could avoid Cynthia''s sleep-groping?"


    "Sleep-groping? That what we''re calling it now? I believe some of them weren''t done while she''s sleeping."


    "Well, that''s true. It''s hot for a few times but it gets annoying when someone tries to finger my butthole when I''m trying to sleep. She''s mostly groping my tits but it catches me off-guard when she does that¡­"


    "Pfft! If Cynthia tried that on me, she''ll never be allowed to sleep over here¡­"


    "Agreed, if there''s someone who gets to vite your butthole¡­ It should be me, right?!"


    "And~ We gotta sleep."


    "C''mon! You said you''d think about it!"


    "Yeah, and I said we gotta sleep now."


    "Hngh~ Just let me put a finger in at least¨C"


    "Kaley! I said I''ll think about it! Please, you gotta make mee into terms with it instead of pushing it on me¨C Now that sounded wrong¡­ so, so wrong¡­ What the fuck is wrong with me¡­"


    "Pfft! I''m just messing with you~ It''s funny to see your face every time I bring it up."


    "One of these days, I''ll find something you''re ufortable with and I''ll make jokes like this! I''ll see how you react to that!"


    "Wha¨C That''s not fair! That''s so not fair! Hmph! You don''t even know what I don''t like!"


    "I could have Tatiana peg me first?"


    "No! No, you wouldn''t! I''m gonna get your first! Wait¡­ You''re joking, right?!"


    "See? Didn''t even have to think about it that hard~"


    "Hngh~ You doofus¡­ Fine, you got me¡­"


    "But seriously though, what are some of the things you wouldn''t like doing in bed?"


    "Why? So you could use them every time I bring up pegging your ass?!"


    "What? No. I know we''ve been together for a while and we actually refer to each other as husband and wife even if we''re not married yet, but I don''t want to do something by ident and make you ufortable. We kinda go rough sometimes but I wanna know my boundaries."


    "..."


    "Kaley?"


    "W-What? Oh, I¡­ thank you¡­"


    "Umm¡­ That''s not what I¨C"


    "No, I heard you. I just wanna say thanks for saying that."


    "Oh, I see¡­ So, do you have a list?"


    "Hmm~ To be honest, there''s a few but we pretty much like and hate the same thing most of the time. How about I just tell you when it happens? I might like it when it happens then¨C Wait, are you saying this ''cause you want us to explore more with each other? I''ll be on board with that, you know? Really~ on board."


    "We could try that but you know me¡­ I''m mostly vani and I''ll only do things when you ask for it. I don''t even know when to start on that¡­"


    "Mostly vani my ass¡­ There''s a spectrum in these things and you¨C Well, you might be right¨C Kinda, I don''t know¡­ maybe why you said ''mostly'', right?"


    "Sure~ Well, I''m really feeling my eyes starting to fall right now¡­ Wanna pause this convo and continue some other time? I still got a lot to do in the morning¡­"


    "Sure! I love you~"


    "I love you too."


    We gave each other a kiss before we found our spot in the bed and hours passed until it was morning once again. We had a little quickie with everyone before we crowded the showers but we eventually gathered by the pool area to have some proper breakfast.


    The moment we finished eating breakfast, I broke the news to everyone present, especially with Artem and his team.


    "Get ready, we''ll see Niks, Alexei, and Ilya in a month."

 Chapter 686 - Alexander - Casualty

    Artem and the rest never looked so excited when I told them they''d get to see the other three but it seemed that they knew about something I didn''t. Any regr person could''ve missed the facial expression they wore after giving out a jovial expression first but I didn''t.


    It was a short glum after that initial outburst of happiness and I managed to catch it when they looked down.


    "Something wrong?"


    Marina answered after taking a sip of coffee, "Alexander. Niks gave us news about Alexander¡­ and it''s not good."


    "What did he say?"


    "There''s this civilian outpost they discovered further east¨C Right before the City of¡­ of¡­ Lucena was it?"


    "Lucena? That''s several hours away from Batangas already. And did you just say civilian outpost?"


    "Yes, a civilian one. Vera knows more, you should let her continue."


    "Okay, Vera?"


    Vera nodded her head before she put her cup down, "There are two main bases in that area which are the civilian base located at the Lucena United Doctors Hospital and Medical Center and the DDR Camp at Lucena General Hospital. The thing is, the civilian base had more people working on itpared to the military one."


    "Lemme guess, those people have their own militia protecting them. They''re probably living kinda peacefully with each other so those people being with the NPA is not a possibility."


    "Something like that but from what Niks told me, the power bnce used to be steady but it is slowly shifting to the civilian''s side."


    "Okay, but how does this information coincide with Alexander''s situation?"


    "It had to do with everything now because Alexander is now working closely with that ce''s leaders. Whatever method they try to poach him back, he''s set on staying in that ce. He''s rarely even at that ce too¡­"


    "Wait, how?"


    "He''s a few hours north of the area in a country club surrounded by farms. He''s keeping the ce together with a few men in hismand and¨C"


    "This doesn''t make any sense. If he''s alive this whole time, howe he didn''t even try to¨C"


    "That''s the problem, they don''t know why he decided to be a constable or something in that area. We''re thinking he got hitched like Ilya but he didn''t even bother exining his situation. They said it''s like he forgot about the things we''ve been through and only remembered our names."


    "Hmm, did he hit his head hard, or is the light in his eyes different or¨C"


    "I asked the same thing but they just said that he''s¡­ cold¡­ and distant. There''s gotta be something that happened or was going on for him to act like that."


    "Did they just get to talk to Alexander or did they manage to sit down with those leaders he''s in bed with?"


    "They''ve managed to talk with the other officers but they didn''t manage to talk with the leaders themselves. Even sitting down with Alexander cost them a couple of boxes of goods. They''ve been going there every week after they found him there but so far, they said that it was like speaking to a wall."


    "That ce is making them pay just to have a sit down with their friend? Huh."


    "They didn''t need to but Alexei mentioned that it just makes meeting Alexander faster. Well, we at least know that he''s doing okay except for Kuzma. Up to now, they haven''t found a clue about his whereabouts. Maybe because only their small group is the only one working on it."


    "That''s one way to look at it, I guess. But yeah, I did tell them that the longer it took, the chances of seeing them would narrow and narrow. I''m not telling them to give up the search but we did cut a deal that if we ever needed them here, they''ll stop the search and we''ll pick them up no questions asked."


    "I know about that, I just wish I was there to see the whole situation¡­"


    We talked for a bit more but since our trip was still a month away, I handed them tasks toplete on their own since I''ll probably be inside thepound most of the time. It was because aside from helpingplete several ongoing projects, I''d be preparing a few things in advance that I''ll be bringing to the trip.


    The first thing I need to get done for the day was the new design for Unc''s weapon.


    To make things right, we''d be taking a bit from how Ibarra''s spear was made because the only way to keep everything in check was to divide the axe into three major parts: the axe head where the unique shape of the Headhunter''s Axe would be retained, the body where we''d need to fit the CO2 canister, and the knob where we''d affix a counterweight.


    It''ll be impossible to forge this one from scratch so we''d rely on modern tools to make a modernized version of an old weapon used by tribespeople.


    Speaking of which, before we could even start putting in the dimensions in the CNC Mill, we''d need to first make the canister that would fit inside of the handle.


    The production of the CO2 canister Unc used in his first work includes stretching sheet metal and punching through it to make circles that would,ter on, get turned into cups. With the use of another set of punching tools that progressively gets smaller and a bit of lubricant, it would then get shaped into test tubes that would then be put into a die to get the ends of the test tube small enough to put a seal on it.


    It was a long and extensive process to make from scratch but to make a custom canister for our Headhunter''s Axe, it would need a lot more time and a more extensive process.


    The first step was cutting out a circle from sheet metal that was as big as a saw de.


    Unc tapped me as I was about to start, "Isn''t that a little too big?"


    "We''ll just cut it off, right?"


    "Jesus, never thought I''d hear from that you but okay~ Hit it."


    It was easy enough to cut arge circle from sheet metal but the reason it took us the better part of an hour to draw it to look like a test tube was that it was our first time doing such a thing and we had to findrge punching tools to make the transition between each punch was smooth.


    I was the one perfectly fine in doing it but Unc Zeidrick''s insanity was slowly eating away at him because he was so fucking close to just hammering it in.


    Despite that, we managed to make a 30-inch steel test tube and the next step was to make refilling possible. But instead of necking it down to be able to put a seal on it, we necked it down just a bit to be able to put the same brass valves those CO2 canisters use to make sparkling water.


    It was because the canister we made was slimmerpared to those canisters and only a bit of necking down was necessary.


    With that said, we quickly tried to test our work by putting in some liquified CO2 in it with our tanks avable. I let Unc fill it up since he was closer but I noticed something a little toote.


    "Unc! Close the val¨C"


    *BOOOOM!*


    Long story short, we''d be making a statue of a stray chicken that managed to get inside ourpound because the CO2 tank that flew out of our workshop smashed directly at it. Unc and I should''ve been ashamed of ourselves because we endangered the few kids that were running around but it was just too fucking funny to see a chicken disappear from view once a CO2 tank went straight for it.


    "At least we didn''t need to remove its feathers¡­"


    "Unc¡­"


    "What? At least it learned how to fly in itsst moments! It should be thanking me!"


    "Unc!"


    "What?! I forgot to close the valve! Someone forgot to close the gate! At least we''ll have some lunch! It''s that chicken''s fault it didn''t wear safety goggles!"


    "Jesus fucking christ Unc¡­ Pfft!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! That was some luck, your Aunt would''ve killed me if it hit our daughter¡­ That chicken''s a hero now¡­ His sacrifice will be remembered when we have lunch!"


    The two of us just lost it while everyone outside hearing our cackles were shaking their heads.


    With that said, the canister we made was in working condition and we just got to work around it to make the rest of the body and the knob conform to its shape. The only thing different will be the axe head itself because the injecting system of the one he made before would be modified since the canister''s location would be different from the first one, and to reduce the wobble of the spike when using a weak spring.


    It''ll now make use of the adapter hoses used to refill the canisters but the outflow would be different since it''ll flow the opposite way and it''lle through a tubing system made with the spike at the opposite side of Unc''s weapon.


    This part didn''t make us sweat even a tiny bit at all because we were just watching the machine print the pieces for us.. Well, in the meantime, we tried to make more canisters for refills but we made sure the pressure valves were closed and there were no chickens in sight.

 Chapter 687 - Were Using A Boat. - Catch

    As we were waiting for the mill to finish printing out the parts we needed, Unc and I started working on the design of Ibarra''s new spearhead. It would''ve been proper to try and improve our current design with the Headhunter''s Axe but we''d still need to test it to know the things we could improve upon it.


    Take Unc''s first prototype for example, from the time Kaley and I left the premises yesterday, everyone who wanted to get their hands on Unc''s work abused the fuck out of it to know its strengths and weaknesses.


    From what Unc told me, the de part of his first prototype was found out to be more or less than a dangerous decoration.


    It was because his first creation was too top-heavy and more ces to get leverage was better rather than more surfaces to cut deadheads with. Going back to the original design instead of the axe-swordbo was a great decision because not only it would fix the first problem, it''ll also allow us to have a bigger canister of CO2 in it.


    However, the thing I was still unsure about was the mechanism as to how it injects the CO2 through the tubing system.


    Everything sounds right on paper but Murphy''sw would always say otherwise.


    We already hit a minor speedbump from branching off of the original design and since we were doing the same thing about the injection system of the WASP knives, something might go wrong as well.


    There was also a saying to do not reinvent the wheel and from our current standing, we were 0 - 1 on the losing side.


    Despite that, we''d either just make a ton more mistakes to discover something newpared to thinking that we might not be able to aplish our goal. Besides, we could just always copy the existing injection system but the thumb press/release was still fucking stupid in my opinion.


    ''We''re not actually making a wheel and there''s gotta be something better¡­''


    After some time, I finished drawing up the design and I called Unc over who was busy roasting a whole chicken from¡­ somewhere¡­


    "And~ This is it, I guess?"


    "That fast? Lemme see. Wait¨C this is¨C"


    "There''s one with our small canisters and there''s one with our custom canisters. The one with our custom canister is almost like the design we''re printing right now and the only difference is that this one uses a spearhead instead of an axe-head. Wait¨C Oh! You can copse this one too but it wouldn''t be a quick detach when you''re copsing the spearhead and the mid-area of the staff."


    "It''s because of the tubing system we''re using, right?"


    "Yep. That''s gonna be the trade-off if Ibarra wants arger canister avable. We''ll just make him decide but we got both things avable."


    "After we sessfully make a working prototype, I wonder how many we gotta make if the orderse in."


    "Hmm, I dunno. Heh. Our guns will still probably work and it doesn''t require huge fucking balls to use them. We can make a thousand of these to arm our fighters but I doubt every single one of them would like to go toe-to-toe with those things."


    "Ah, that''s true, that''s true~ Some of them might request one that''s one-handed. Truth be told, I dunno why we started to make things bigger. It''s like everything is to scale with Mikhail, heh."


    "At least you know, heh."


    Unc and I were casually discussing our work when our serial glutton helped herself with our roasted chicken without our notice.


    Yes, it was Tatiana.


    "Mmh~! This is good! Seems fresh! Whichever one Ibarra chooses, I''ll choose the other one. Everything still needs testing, correct?"


    Unc and I instantly turned around to find Tatiana munching on a leg then I shook my head and said sarcastically, "Oh, shi¨C Tatiana! Nice to see you~ Why don''t you help yourself with our snack? It was supposed to be for us two but don''t mind us, take it all if you want to~"


    Tatiana chuckled as she took another bite without batting an eye, "Thanks, then! As I was saying¨C I would love this if it was a little less spicy¨C Anyway, I''ll retire the bastard sword you gave me since I also need an upgrade. Before you say anything, figuratively, I have bigger balls than most of our fighters here that have balls."


    I chuckled, "That''s right, but you still have a broken arm and a fractured rib."


    Tatiana swallowed the food in her mouth before replying, "That''s correct, but before our deadline is up, I''d be healed. You gotta break my legs if you''re even thinking of not taking me. I''ll have my own seat on that helicopter¨C"


    "We''re not using a helicopter, not this time."


    "What?"


    "We''re using a boat."


    "Wait, why?"


    "Didn''t you hear what I said earlier? Big yers areing so we''d need more than just our regr squad. Artem and his whole team areing too, but we''d need to bring a few extras."


    "Hold on, you haven''t told us this yet."


    "Right, I haven''t told all of you, yet. Remember the ship we took from Iskoh? We''ll use that to get to Batangas Bay and set up a small encampment there. We''ll bring Lawrence and a few soldiers from our DDR Camp, but I''m thinking of bringing Marvin and Mark''s crew as well. The whole list isn''tplete but we''d need enough to guard our ship while we''re on Mr. Cuervo''s territory."


    Unc Zeidrick interjected, "Isn''t that the one where you could put a few jeeps in the cargo hold? Are you gonna bring your vehicles too?"


    "Yes and yes. We''ll bring Tatiana''s Humvee and our Raptors."


    "How about supplies? Are you¨C"


    "Of course, Unc. Even if the ce we''re going to could provide us with food, it''s better if we could bring our own. Besides, there will be people staying behind so they''ll need food too. And before you ask, we''ll bring enough firepower to, you know, handle ourselves."


    "Heh, you got me. I''m just thinking if it''ll be possible for you guys there to jack another boat so a few could fish in the meantime. That ce is known for its livestock but no one should forget about the seafood they got going over there. Fuck, I could only imagine how big they are now if there are fewer people fishing¡­ Imagine catching a huge fucking Marlin and grilling it on the spot, damn!"


    Tatiana interjected, "Can''t you juste then? I''ll kill for some grilled fish right about now¡­"


    Unc Zeidrick was shaking his head, "That whole chicken wasn''t enough, huh?"


    Tatiana nodded a few times, "Yep. As you two said, it''s just a snack~"


    I waved both of them off, "Don''t worry, Unc. I''ll see what I can do. Well, you could arrange another fishing trip here but make sure you''re apanied by a few soldiers."


    "Hmm~ That''s true, that''s true¡­"


    Tatiana stayed with us to keep uspany but as time flowed, three days passed in the blink of an eye.


    Unc and I managed to produce a modern Headhunter''s Axe that was shaped like the original one, but it was almost madepletely with metal. Furthermore, it was still a two-handed weaponpared to the original one that was only held by one hand.


    Our creation was still a tad difficult to wield because of its weight but it was much better than its original number. A lot of time was dedicated to shaving off a bit of its weight and hollowing out the handle to fit the CO2 Canister inside and creating a bnce with the counterweight in the knob helped a lot.


    Artem promptly received our work and it was safe to say that Katya was now patiently waiting for a well-received product while she was using the first prototype. Ibarra''s custom spear was also in the works and as soon as another CNC Mill was free, we''d start working on its other counterpart that wouldnd on Tatiana''s hands.


    The only difference between the two spears was that the spearhead on Tatiana''s spear would be a little bit narrower than Ibarra''s spear but it will be thicker and a little bit longer.


    It would almost look like a mini-Estoc mounted on a spear and its main focus would be only for thrusting.


    I wasn''t sure if Tatiana was as good with a spear as she was with a sword but I''m 100% sure the weapon she''s holding wouldn''t be the deciding factor. She had been cooped up inside thepound for a few weeks and I''m pretty sure she''ll go wild the moment her injuries werepletely healed.


    With that said, I still got another thing to take care of on this very day.


    It was about receiving the friends and families of Morales and his whole army so as to lessen the hold the president got on their necks.


    Talking it over with the president with the help of Oscar went smoother than what I thought would happen but there was always a fucking catch.

 Chapter 688 - Just Do With It.

    The deal was for the president to exchange each one of Morales and his team''s family members and even friends with a generous amount of guns, ammunition, food items, and medical supplies from our stashes aside from our regr import of new specimens, information, and other supplies. However, the president still somewhat reneged on that.


    Rod did send us their family members and friends but the ones who were soldiers and able-bodied to do hardbor or be conscripted were left behind.


    I would already find it ufortable ''buying'' people to add into my fold, but getting the basket of fruits that had been cherry-picked made me lose good faith with the president by a bit.


    Granted he''d given us the bigger slice of the cake from our first few deals, but if this was his way of telling us he wanted the bigger slice now, he should''ve just been upfront about it. I would''ve been able to understand and realize where he wasing from but this thing plus the first set of problems he sent me by sending prisoners to get executed by his own men were deals in bad faith.


    It was because he sent us just a rabble of men and women, elderly, and a bunch of kids, and some of them needed certain types of medicine and treatment for their conditions, unable to perform normal tasks due to age, and some were just a pain in the ass to talk to and work with.


    Furthermore, some of them weren''t even rted to Morales and his men yet they were treated as ''bonuses''.


    Sure, there was a handful of people that were ''normal'' or even slightly above ''normal'', but as bad as this would sound, it was like spending a fortune on several gacha draws and only getting a couple of blue-rarity items and a few green-rarity items with the remaining bunch just an overwhelming white-rarity and trash items.


    It would really have been understandable if he was upfront about what he was about to do but doing this was just screwing us over.


    One of the reasons that we had a deal like this was to remove the shackles the president had on Morales and his men by taking in all of their family and friends in this ind group, but since he still kept a number of them in Mindanao, this arrangement almost had been for naught.


    In any case, this was the hand that we''ve been dealt with, and crying about it wasn''t gonna make it better.


    The influx of new people we received would be another challenge in itself but I got another trustworthy group to help me with that.


    But before we assign them their permanent homes, we still needed to process them.


    I assigned Rin to bring a group of people to create new records for them and if they brought identifying documents, they would be added to the file we would create for them. A simple name wasn''t enough because we at least need to know a bit of their background and history, and since everyone was required to contribute even a little bit, we needed to know what they were good at.


    "M-Marlon Santiago?"


    "Yes, that''s me¡­"


    "How old are you?"


    "T-Twenty¡­ Twenty-nine¡­"


    "You wrote on this paper that you used to work as a part-time dishwasher and a part-time cook in your old school."


    "Yes¡­"


    "Oh? Can you tell me a few dishes you''re great at cooking?"


    "U-Umm¡­ I dunno if great is the right word but I make decent rice porridge and I can bake some bread¡­ S-Simple things¡­ really¡­"


    "I see, that''s great! And when this thing started, you retained your old job and been doing the same thing ever since in your encampment?"


    "Yes¡­"


    "I see. We''d love to have another hand at our kitchen in this DDR Camp but are there other things you are also good at?"


    "N-Not really¡­ Well¡­ I never b-burn our f-food and I could also make something o-out of leftovers¡­ It should be a given but¡­"


    "Marlon."


    "Y-Yes?"


    "How many people are you feeding every single day?"


    "A f-few hundred?"


    "Then that''s amazing already. If you stay with us, you''d be one of our cooks, alright?"


    "Y-Yes, thank you¡­"


    "Okay, then. Next is¡­"


    It was kinda funny to see Rin struggle with keeping her reactions in check but I''d have to let her do this job so she''d serve as a great example to others.


    After this step, they''d be processed by either our medical staff to give them examinations to create their medical records or be given a psych eval by Marisha with the assistance of Kaley.


    A nurse walked out carrying a clipboard, "Excuse me~ Please follow this line of chairs and please let our elderly be the first in line. We have four lines in total and if you want to get your psych evals done first, it''s the other line behind that jeep. If we keep things orderly, we''d be done in a bit, okay?"


    "Okay¡­"


    "Sure."


    "Yes, sir¡­"


    "Great! Let''s start with Melinda Ramirez? Melinda?"


    It almost took the whole day to process all 300+ of our new residents and since we can''t just make them bunk in any of our ces because of their number, we opened up the barangay of Coloong as their temporary or permanent ce they''dy their heads on. It was because only a third of them would remain in our city because they''d be split up between me, Morales, and Iskoh.


    In regards to the elderly, they were given rooms either in our DDR Camp or extremely close to avoid unnecessary problems. Even if they had a soldier or two for family, some of them were still living alone. However, if they had neighbors who wanted to take them in because it was their arrangement before, I wouldn''t object to that.


    With that said, the security we had in our ce extended over Coloong and a few volunteers decided it would be better if they also moved to that ce so they wouldn''t drive around just to be in their shifts.


    Furthermore, the main roadblock we ced over there would soon be reinforced like our other checkpoints to ensure the safety of everyone living in that area. I was afraid to spread our forces too thin but just a barangay''s worth plus a couple of checkpoints would be just fine.


    Well, this happening prompted a few homeowners who were living with other families to once again ask for permission to live in their old homes, and this time, I allowed it if they had a house in that area.


    With that said, I even allowed a few that wanted to relocate in the same area because not only it would help decongest the houses they were in, it would be on them to form a great rtionship with their new neighbors.


    It was a given that ourpound, Woonds, and our DDR Camp would extend their hands but sometimes, it was better to not overwhelm others too much.


    In any case, most of what they did on the first day were the examinations they had to go through but when the sun went down, I organized the meeting to be held in our DDR Camp to officially wee them and give them a brief orientation about the ce we''re running.


    I gave them our meal times, rules at night, things to do when submitting a request, ss schedules, our different radio channels, how we take care of wastes, light protocols, emergency protocols, and etc.


    "Wait, we got electricity at all times?"


    "If we don''t abuse it, yes."


    "And even clean water?"


    "Each house has their own water tank to take care of and you could either boil them or run them through one of our DIY filters so you''d be sure. But yeah, we got clean water running through our pipes with the help of another military camp protecting the dams."


    "Is the food you gave us good for a month?"


    "What? No. That''s for emergencies. We''re never short on food because we try our best to be self-sustaining. You can start tomorrow or any other day to start growing food in your backyard but we still share everything¡­"


    "..."


    "Any more questions?"


    "N-No..."


    It was safe to say they were surprised at how we run things differently and even if they had to start from scratch once again, they''d be doing it with a safer and more forgiving environment with their close friends and family, except for the ones still in Mindanao.


    They weren''t given any tasks yet but we''d slowly integrate them the moment their test results came back.


    All they did on the second day was to mingle or observe our working force and non-working force, and they were free to offer help or ask about things they might be able to give a hand with. However, since they were kinda the ''B'' team or even the ''C'' team, the best they could do for now was offer an extra hand while still needing to be given supervision.


    Almost half of them were out of their element but I believe that all they need was more time.

 Chapter 689 - Preparations - Then Ill Come With You.

    A few more days passed in the blink of an eye but there was a slight change of ns in regards to which base they should be ced in. Instead of splitting them into three groups, we just split them into two with Morales'' rmendation.


    The first half would be mine while the other wouldnd in Iskoh''s hand.


    It was because before we put things in motion, Morales nned to establish another outpost in between the southern edges of Caloocan and the northern edges of Mbon.


    He already cleared and boarded a university that would be a nk te and he also had a list of people he would bring with him.


    But since the oue we wanted changed by a whole lot, we needed to improvise.


    With that said, instead of just getting half of the names and be done with it, this split was done with a little more consideration. It wasn''t an actual split in the end but more of a split that would provide a little more ''Quality of Life'' in gaming terms.


    Firstly, we took into ount who among Morales'' soldiers were usually stationed and if they would be closer to my base or Iskoh, it would be put into consideration. A lot of things would be saved if this arrangement would be acknowledged but this was just the first of few.


    Secondly, the people who had conditions that needed a lot more attention would be more inclined to be put on my roster because even if both of our ces had doctors and other medical practitioners, I had more. However, there were a few specialists in Iskoh''s ce so we also needed to take that into ount.


    Thirdly, we took into ount what they could offer us and different kinds of people had different kinds of skillsets. We try to have every facility avable to cater to their old jobs, but some ces were focused on different kinds of jobs as well.


    My ce could be said to be a little bit all-rounded but Iskoh and Morales'' ces were inclined on water resources.


    Andstly, the people themselves got a say as to where they should be ced. Granted they were new and should be watching the sidelines at first, their opinions should matter even by a bit. Not all of them were tied to their rtives like the others and they could choose between the two ces.


    In the end, I got a few dozen morepared to Iskoh but there were a few that wanted to be ced in Morales'' ce in Navotas.


    With that in mind, each group was assigned one or two representatives to be their voice. Not everyone could attend our daily meetings in mypound, and we only gather everyone in the DDR Camp if the meeting was a little bit more important than usual.


    Time continued to pass but at the same time this was happening, I made a crew of engineers perform maintenance checks on the ship we''d be using.


    I can only do so much on my own and I needed to delegate work to everyone.


    However, I still checked up on them the moment my current work was done.


    I drove there with Zeus riding shotgun and he just stuck his tongue out the window the moment we built up speed. He never looked so much like an idiot as he was enjoying the breeze, and he''d just bark and wink at the people we''d see on patrol.


    With that said, we arrived at Morales'' harbor and I was weed by the soldiers present.


    ''Looked better thest time I saw this¡­''


    The ship Iskoh handed over to me after the bet with Artem and Morales was a ''RORO'', a Roll-on/Roll-off ship that was meant to carry wheeled cargo, but the type he handed me was a ROPAX or a RORO vehicle that was also designed to carry passengers.


    Specifically, this ship could carry around 200+ people and around 12 cars or 6 trucks.


    The group and vehicles I''d be bringing with me wouldn''t be up to capacity but there would be a few things that would take up that ce.


    With that said, the maintenance checks were already over but some of them were currently kitting it out like what we''d do with ournd vehicles.


    ''I guess this is more my speed¡­''


    They were about halfway done with reinforcing the handrails at the side with metal tes but they will soon start doing the same thing all around for general protection and cover. Furthermore, after they were done with that, another group would install surveince cameras on different parts of the ship and they will also update its existing mode ofmunication.


    I was busy looking at it from afar but a familiar voice called out to me from behind.


    As I turned around, I discovered that it was Jose who Zeus was trying to climb onto.


    "Hey, kid. Are you liking what you see?"


    I smiled faintly, "Kinda, needs a few cannons and a few machineguns and it''ll be decent."


    "Decent? Hah! Are you sure you know what you''re doing? Going back to that ce? I dunno what you''re nning but I bet it''ll be easier if we bomb the ce while they''re all there."


    "I am. I''ve been setting it up with someone pretty high up inside that wanted to get out. Also, not all of them deserve a bullet in the head. We can''t just rebuild with the people we have here. If everything goes well, we''d have more sources of food and probably even entertainment that you wouldn''t think would be possible."


    "Really? Then I''lle with you."


    "Wait, what?"


    "You heard me. I need a change of scenery too, if you don''t mind."


    "I thought you''re supposed to take care of this ce¨C"


    "Heh, we got other officers for that and we wouldn''t want you to be in any danger, right?"


    I looked at Jose''s expression first before I opened my mouth, "This is about your sister, right?"


    "Shit~~~ How did you know?"


    "How did I know? Your dad is now living at my ce while she transferred over to Iskoh''s ce? Kinda weird if you ask me. Probably had to do something with someone putting a bullet in someone''s head, you think?"


    Jose shook his head before he scratched his head and looked at me, "Something like that, yes. So, are you taking me or not? Oh, and I don''t wanna be a guard on that ship if that''s what you''re thinking right now. I wanna drink my fill, smash some teeth in, and partake in some pussy while we''re there, got me?"


    I nodded approvingly with a cheeky smile, "Okay, I got you. I''ll bring you with me. However¡­"


    "However what?"


    "You got the name and the attitude down but you''re missing one thing."


    "What?"


    "The look."


    "The look?"


    I shook my head, "You''re always standing on attention, you got that crew cut, and you got this air around you."


    "W-Wait, air? What air?"


    "You''re screaming military officer. They''ll sniff you out the moment you step foot in that ce. I know you aren''t like the others once you start talking but I doubt you''d even pass as a turncoat. Some soldiers in this country had gone AWOL but you don''t look the type."


    "..."


    "Don''t believe me? Want me to pull out a mirror?"


    "N-No¡­ What do you think I should do?"


    "There''s one easy thing among others. Do you know Daisy?"


    "Yeah? The girl covered with¨C W-Wait¨C"


    "Great. Are you a Dwayne Johnson guy, a Mike Tyson Guy, or a Jason Brody guy?"


    "W-What? N-No¡­ Wait, who''s Jason¨C"


    "*imitates a certain character in a certain franchises'' voice* Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is?"


    "What?"


    "See?! That''s why they''ll sniff you out!"


    "I don''t get it¨C"


    "Enough about that. We gotta get you fuckin inked. Come with me!" I said as I started walking back to my truck.


    "W-W-Wait! Are we really doing this now?!"


    I turned around as I waved him over multiple times, "Yeah! We''ll set off soon and that thing should be healed the moment we get there! If you don''t like those three choices, think of one before we get to Daisy''s ce!"


    "Fuck! Let''s do it then!"


    "That''s the spirit! Have you thought of something else?"


    "Shit, can I have a dragon like yours?"


    "What?"


    "Not a sleeve like that but something simr."


    "You fucking weeb. Why''d you have to choose a dragon of all things?!"


    "YOU HAVE A DRAGON ON YOUR FUCKING ARM! WHY CAN''T I HAVE THE SAME THING?!"


    "''CAUSE I''M A FUCKING WEEB AND I''M NOT FORBIDDING YOU TO HAVE ONE! I''M JUST QUESTIONING YOUR LIFE''S DECISIONS! IT''S ONE THING TO BE A WEEB AND IT''S ANOTHER TO BE A FAKE WEEB!"


    "WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?! AND WHAT''S A WEEB?!"


    "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, JOSE! YOU''LL BE SHOT DOWN THE MOMENT YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH OVER THERE! YOU NEED SOME EDUCATION!"

 Chapter 690 - Shes Tatiana, Thats Why.

    We had a mini-argument/education about dragons and weebs right at the ce we were standing on, but I got thestugh when Zeus stood his ground err¨C seating arrangement. Jose was looking at me, telling me to make Zeus move over to the back but I just started the engine and looked back at him with a cheeky smile.


    "Heh. You lost, suck it up!"


    "First I get chastised for looking like a proper officer, then I got shit on by not knowing what a weeb is, and now, a fucking dog had more priority!"


    "Woof!"


    "Unbelievable¡­"


    It didn''t take long before Jose begrudgingly sat behind Zeus and me, but even if he was shaking his head the first few moments, he was wearing a faint smile.


    We were driving for a few moments and then he opened his mouth.


    "Hey."


    "Yeah?"


    "That RORO has a lot of space for vehicles. Are you bringing a few? That''s why you''re bringing it, right?"


    "Yeah, something like that. I''m thinking about our two Raptors and Tatiana''s Humvee."


    "That''s it?"


    "Hmm, maybe a jeep or two but I''m thinking about a couple of off-road bikes. I want to bring my Hayabusa but it wouldn''t be a great fit terrain-wise."


    "How about ATVs?"


    "Oh~ That''ll be good too. Maybe a couple of them would be handy. They don''t take up as much space like the off-road bikes we''ll be bringing."


    "The way we''re going at this feels like we''re storming some capitol or something. Anything I need to know?"


    "I''ll tell you about it soon but just remember to not go too hard with the partying."


    "Why not tell me now?"


    "I just don''t want to repeat myself. I''ll tell the whole n when everyone''s thating is gathered together. Trust me, what we''ll be doing is notplicated. Theplicated thing is gathering all the yers from the other side in one ce and it''s been dealt with."


    "Hmm, I''ll trust ya then. Anyway, don''t tell me we''re just gonna go over to your ce so I could get inked. That''s some permanent thing, I must say."


    "Yeah, we''ll shave your head too."


    "WHAT?!"


    ''He''s really going for it, heh. I''m expecting more pushback but whatever~''


    It took us a few more minutes to reach mypound and instead of dropping him at Daisy''s ce so he could get a tattoo that he ''wanted'', I just called Daisy over. Luckily, she wasn''t with Jay''s group right now and it didn''t take long for her to meet with us.


    Daisy walked up to me with a bright smile, "Hi~! You finally want me to have your other arm?"


    "What? It''s a mis¨C"


    "I''m working on a design if I ever had to ink something on you but¨C"


    I waved her off, "Daisy, it''s not for me. It''s for Jose."


    Jose just casually waved his hand to greet Daisy, "Hi, it''s for me¡­"


    The light on Daisy''s eyes almost immediately died down, "Oh¡­"


    Miraculously, I noticed that happening so I took her attention as I leaned over, "Daisy, I''d love to get inked by you someday but this thing with Jose needed to happen a little bit sooner. How about this? I don''t know if Kaley would be up to it but I''d like to have something matching. I''ll promise you that."


    As soon as I said that, Daisy''s eyes lit up, "Deal! It''s a promise, alright? Break it and I''ll ink dick and balls on your forehead while you''re sleeping!"


    ''What have I gotten myself into?''


    I nervously chuckled, "Sure, sure¡­ You got my word¡­ So, I''ll leave Jose to you?"


    Daisy and Jose both turned to me and said, "You''re leaving?"


    "I''m just gonna check up on Kaley and the others. I believe they went to the gym after eating lunch. They would''ve greeted us when we arrived but they didn''t. I bet they''re still in the middle of going at it."


    "O-Okay, I''ll join you guyster?"


    ''Later? Oh¡­''


    "Hmm~ sure."


    "Great! So, Jose, what type of ink are you looking for? And where do you want it?"


    "Umm, a dragon maybe? Maybe on the side of my neck¨C"


    "Pfft, a dragon? Are you a weeb?"


    "Wha¨C Why do you¨C Did he put you up to this?!"


    Daisy never looked so confused, "What?"


    "Nevermind¡­ How about artist''s choice then? You''ve tattooed a lot of people and I''ve seen your work. What do you think might suit me?"


    "Oooh~ I love that idea! I know! I know! How about¡­"


    I didn''t hear much of their conversation when I walked back to my house, but instead of going straight to my gym, I went to my room to get a change of clothes. I wore something appropriate for getting a workout and even if the sun was still up in the sky, it''ll be nice to have fewer people in the gym.


    But once I walked up and opened the door, I was in for a surprise.


    Tatiana was wearing gym clothes and open-finger gloves, and she was beating the shit out of one of our heavy bags.


    The music was sting as always but each time she would make contact using her legs and her fists, it would make a sound loud enough to resound throughout the gym. Furthermore, the heavy bag would just fly back with each full-powered strike and it looked like she was never injured.


    I was about to stop her since there was still a thought in my head that she was bearing through the pain but seeing Kaley and Cynthia sparring with each other without a care for Tatiana stopped me.


    ''It''s still too soon for a normal person but¡­ Well¡­ She''s Tatiana, that''s why.''


    The three of them were so busy they didn''t notice meing through the door but I grabbed a pair of mitts and mmed them hard.


    It instantly took their attention but I just smiled at them before I looked straight at Tatiana.


    "If you''re done beating the shit out of something not moving, why don''t youe here and we''ll see how much you needed to catch up?"


    Tatiana raised an eyebrow as she smiled and tilted her head, "Is that so? Then why don''t you wear gloves instead of mitts to find out?"


    "Nah~ That''ll be bullying. Let''s see what you got first before you get a taste of our mat once again. I''m afraid you forgot what it tastes like after all this time you''re cleaning out my fridge."


    As soon as I said that, Tatiana was doing the thing where she''d smile while her mouth was slightly agape while shaking her head, wearing an expression with the mix that says: ''Good one!'', ''The audacity of this motherfucker!'', and ''I''ll break your dick once I get enough distance!''.


    Tatiana instantly bridged the distance between us as she rushed over, and she opened up by a fan kick with her right foot that was quickly followed up by her signature jumping spinning kick.


    Both attacks came with no pause and I had to put my game face on.


    The first one would''ve hit me right in my face if I didn''t step back but the wind it generated when it passed by told me that it came with a lot of power. However, the second one was more dangerous because it had all of her weight and it was her most practiced move.


    "Aren''t you supposed to use your mitts?!"


    "I will if you stop aiming for my face!"


    "Fair enough!"


    "Then let''s fucking go!"


    I instantly yelled out a series ofbinations and Tatiana took a short breath and a short exhale before her body almost moved on its own.


    I ced the mitts in the correct position and I joined her own rhythm.


    Tatiana threw a crisp one-two punch thatnded quickly on the mitts I ced in front of her, and I quickly braced myself to receive a high kick that was supposed to aim for my temple.


    I ced the mitt at the right second but the following attack would probe her condition.


    It was ced several inches higher than my head and Tatiana needed to use the momentum of bringing her foot down from the high kick to jump and twist her body in the air to reach the fourth cement of the mitt from ourbination.


    "Hmph!"


    Tatiana just harrumphed before she fluidly brought her foot down before jumping and twisting her body like I thought she would. However, she added another spin as she was in the air and once she connected with the mitt with her right foot, the force she put into that attack was so powerful, it blew the mitt off of my hand.


    The mitt flew several feet from where we were and Tatiananded on her feet without issue.


    However, I just had to do it.


    I braced myself as best as I could before violent and scathing emotions rushed through my head and the temperature dropped by several degrees in an instant.

 Chapter 691 - Fear - Artems Secret?

    The whole area just went cold in an instant and I was barely able to keep myself from cking out. The music sting was now just muffled thumps as they were entering my ears and furthermore, the blurriness of my vision that came from almost cking out dissipated after an extremely short moment.


    Everything seemed to move in slow-motion and it seemed as if I was aware of everything that was going on in this enclosed space.


    It''s just that I had to wrestle with my mind because everything fiber of my being was telling me to put them down.


    ''They''re not a threat, they''re not a threat, they''re not a threat...''


    I had to tell myself the same thing for what felt like an eternity before I achieved a state of rity.


    From the back, it looked like Kaley took a few steps back while Cynthia fell down almost immediately. They wore expressions of shock, fear, and panic, but Cynthia looked way worse. She almost looked like the time I did the same thing with Kaley near the crematorium, but this time, she wasn''t even able to utter a single word or move a single muscle.


    It was like she lost all control from fear and she had no way in taking it head-on.


    However, the main focus right now was Tatiana.


    Among the three, she was the one that was closest to me when I released murderous intent, and she took most of it right after the short celebration from knocking the mitts off of my hand. Granted it should be something worthy of a celebration but she could already do that sort of thing any other time of the day.


    I remembered the first time I did this to her but that was when she was in a vulnerable position. This time, she looked like she was fully healed physically but I had to know if she was fully healed in her psyche.


    ''Hmm...''


    With that said, fear was still stricken in her eyes, but this time, she managed to jump back and she was staring right at me while partly crouched instead of being stuck in ce. She was supposed to continue the series ofbinations I yelled out to her earlier but I just had to do what I had to do.


    Seeing her in that state, I just withdrew everything back before I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, but the three of them were still in the same position.


    They had no idea what I would do next but the feeling of coldness was starting to dissipate.


    I looked at each of them before I smiled and let them see that the light was back in my eyes, and Kaley breathed a sigh of relief beforeing to Cynthia''s corner. However, Tatiana never looked so disappointed and discouraged.


    She slowly stood up while looking down but she was clenching both of her fists as hard as she could. She looked at me for a brief moment before looking down again, and she shook her head before turning around and walking back to the heavy bag she was hitting earlier.


    ''What?''


    Tatiana was about to throw her first punch towards the heavy bag for the second time but I grabbed her arm and tilted my head as I leaned over to see her face.


    "Hey."


    "WHAT?!"


    ''She definitely misunderstood¡­''


    I tried to look as non-threatening as I could, "You''re back."


    Tatiana shook my hand off of her before scrunching her eyebrows and ring at me, "W-WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"


    "You don''t want to continue? You''ve barely done a third of what I yelled out."


    "SO, WHAT?! I¨C"


    "Calm down. You''re not a dumbass, right?"


    Tatiana never looked so angry and confused, "Thanks? Do you want me to¨C"


    I ced my hand over her shoulder, "Tatiana, you did good."


    "Did good? You call that doing good?! I basically¨C"


    "You basically know and understand what fear is. That''s doing good."


    "Am I supposed to thank you for telling me that I puss''d out?"


    "Kinda?"


    As soon as I said that, Tatiana harrumphed and shook her head before pushing off the hand I ced over her shoulder. After that, she stood right in front of my face with the same re right until we could feel each other''s breaths. We were looking into each other''s eyes but the expressions we were wearing werepletely different. However, as time passed from our staredown, her eyes were gradually getting redder and redder as they started to water.


    "Tatiana¨C"


    Tatiana exploded, "FINE! IF YOU DON''T WANT ME TO COME WITH¨C"


    I cut her off by grabbing her head and giving her a solid headbutt, "SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK!"


    "AH! OUCH! THAT FUCKING HURTS! WHY DID¨C"


    "BECAUSE YOU''RE A FUCKING DUMBASS!"


    "DUMBASS?! YOU''RE THE DUMBASS! I WAS SUPPOSED TO¨C"


    "Supposed to what? Come at me? I would''ve sent you back to the hospital with more injuries¡­ Did you seriously think you could spar with someone out to kill anyone that stands in their way?"


    "WHA¨C What?"


    "Do you remember that there''s a thin line between bravery and being an idiot? Or in your case, a dumbass? You''re one of the bravest people I know but it seemed like you''ve forgotten what fear is like."


    "Excuse me?!"


    "Fear might sound like something everyone should bottle up or power through, and most of the time, that should be what everyone should be doing... but there''s more to it than that. There''s a thin line between bravery and being an idiot but there''s also a thin line of being a pussy and being smart."


    "..."


    "This will be a rabbit hole if I continue but I think you already understand what I''m getting at."


    Tatiana just looked a lot calmer than earlier then she looked down for a moment before looking at me once again.


    "U-Umm¡­ Yeah¡­ I t-think..."


    "So, are you gonna sulk while hitting that heavy bag or do you want us to continue? I need your help with something as well so¨C"


    Tatiana and I were having a moment before Kaley''s voice overpowered even the speakers.


    "HEY! ARE YOU TWO GONNA CHAT THERE OR ARE YOU GONNA HELP ME WITH CYNTHIA?! SHE''S STILL SHAKING! WARN US BEFORE YOU DO THAT, YOU DOOFUS!"


    "Ah..."


    "DON''T JUST STAND THERE AND SCRATCH YOUR HEAD! COME HERE! YOU DID THIS!"


    "We better check on her¡­"


    "Correct¡­ We should¡­"


    Tatiana and I walked over to where Kaley and Cynthia were and Cynthia really was a mess. She even drew tears when I walked over and crouched down, and all she could do was grab on Kaley''s arm as hard as she could. She could barely look me in the eye and they could only sympathize because they already experienced this head-on.


    Cynthia may have seen me do this a few times but not at this level.


    "Cynthia, hey¡­ It''s over, alright? It''s just something to¨C Well, I''m sorry."


    "..."


    "I won''t say that I''ll never do it again because I''ll probably do this for you when the timees. Just think of it as a different kind of training¡­"


    "..."


    "Cynthia?"


    "..."


    ''This isn''t working... Hmm...''


    "Hmm~ You know, Kaley peed herself the first time I¨C"


    Kaley instantly cut me off, "WHA¨C DON''T SAY THAT IN FRONT OF HER! YOU¨C"


    Tatiana interjected while wearing a mocking smile, "YOU PEED?! HAH!"


    I shook my head as I turned to Tatiana, "You cried like a pussy-ass bitch when I¨C"


    Tatiana smacked my arm before defending herself, "I¨C Fine! It was a¨C You''ve seen what it''s like! At least I have control of my dder!"


    Kaley retorted, "DID HE ALMOST LOP YOUR HEAD OFF?! HUH?! I''M SURE AS HELL HE DIDN''T! HE WAS THIS CLOSE TO CUTTING MY NECK CLEAN!"


    "h, h~ As if he''d kill you!"


    "Of course, he won''t! But¡­ it just feels like that in that¡­ that moment¡­ that one single moment¡­"


    "..."


    Tatiana went silent as she looked at me and Kaley before nodding pensively and turning to Cynthia once more, "I guess that''s true¡­"


    "Right?!"


    ''Because you only need a moment to kill someone... If you''re capable...''


    I waved them off before trying to reach Cynthia through my words once more, but it seemed that I didn''t need to do anything else. The color on her face seemed to be back to normal and it didn''t take long before she sheepishly joined in on the conversation.


    "I¡­ I felt that too¡­ It was really quick but¡­ I can''t really exin it¡­ I¡­ I can''t seem to breathe¡­ I lost feeling in my legs and in my b-body and¡­ and¡­"


    "And?" Kaley and Tatiana asked at the same time.


    "I m-may have p-peed too¡­ a l-little¡­"


    Cynthia was just red in the neck but Tatiana took a short pause beforeughing heartily. At the same time, Kaley was trying hard between sympathizing with Cyntia and controlling herughter, but Tatiana''sugh was just too infectious.


    Tatiana started to shake her head, "Fine, I may have peed too... But just a tiny~ bit. I squirt but not as much¨C"


    Kaley didn''t know whether tough or cry, "THAT''S NOT THE TOPIC HERE!"


    "WHY ARE YOU TELLING?! I WASN''T TALKING ABOUT YOU! But now that I think about it..."


    "AHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"


    Everyone had a goodugh at the end but I did tell Cynthia the same thing I told Tatiana earlier.


    She more or less understood the point I was trying to get across and Kaley was in the same boat. Fear was somethingmonly known as a weakness but all it needed was a different perspective.


    With that said, as Cynthia excused herself to clean up, Tatiana and I finished the series ofbinations I gave her plus a bit more.


    At one point, I tried letting out varying levels of pressure in critical moments and I let her decide at which time it was best to be brave or to be smart.


    I even let Kaley and Cynthia join in with this exercise but I gave them more bearable pressure so they could find their way around it much easier. I could''ve done the same thing with Tatiana but I know that in regards to this type of thing, she would''ve wanted me to go rough and hard.


    Tatiana had her soft side but this was not the time she would''ve wanted it to be used.


    I went on a few rounds with each of them but I decided to take a breather after an hour and a half.


    "Okay, can we call it now? I need practice on my thing too."


    Tatiana''s ears perked up, "I remember you saying that. What do you need help with?"


    "I need you to hit me."


    "Hit you? Isn''t that kinda what we''re doing right now?"


    "No, I may have discovered a crumb of Artem''s secret."

 Chapter 692 - Ill Figure This Out Soon Enough...

    Kaley, Tatiana, and Cynthia were looking at me as I was talking, but as soon as I said that, the glint in their eyes couldn''t be hidden. The three of them were also interested in Artem''s capabilities but Tatiana was hiding a smirk whilst she raised one of her eyebrows.


    It was almost as if she was doubting I figured it out but Kaley and Cynthia had no doubts whatsoever.


    ''Well, she probably tried to figure out his thing way back before I met them but as I said¡­''


    "It''s just a crumb, alright? Hear me out."


    Tatiana chuckled as she folded her arms together, "Let''s hear it then. Wait, I''m supposed to hit you, right? Ready?"


    "Go ahea¨C"


    I wasn''t even done talking when Tatiana threw me a quick backp but I managed to dodge it at thest second before she suddenly jumped and rolled forward, performing a full-body axe-kick.


    "Tatiana! This wasn''t¨C"


    She was still in mid-air as I called out to her but to stop what she was doing almost immediately, I stepped forward and turned my body sideways so I could carry her in my arms like a bride.


    Perfect catch!


    Tatiana was instantly caught off-guard and the look on Kaley and Cynthia''s faces was fucking priceless, especially Kaley. With that said, Tatiana felt a little vulnerable in this position so her cheeks were a little red.


    ''Cute¡­''


    Tatiana tried to struggle, "Wha¨C I thought¨C This wasn''t his secret!"


    I replied roughly, "Shaddap! I wasn''t done talking!"


    "You told me to¨C"


    "Badms, sorry. I''ll put you down so we could start again, okay?"


    "Okay¡­"


    The tinge of red in Tatiana''s face was still present when I let her down on her feet but I didn''t mind it as much as I went back to our topic.


    "Okay, hmm~ How should I exin this better¡­ Oh! Join in, you two¨C What I want you to do is bring together your palms and act as if you''re praying for something or whatever."


    Tatiana and Cynthia instantly followed but Kaley was looking at me a little suspiciously.


    "Kaley?"


    "You think I''m born yesterday?"


    "What?"


    "I''ll dly do it for you, you just have to ask for it¡­" Kaley trailed as she looked at me with the same expression, but with a tinge of redness on her face.


    "Huh?"


    I was still trying to figure out what Kaley was trying to say but Cynthia and Tatiana instantly burst outughing. Cynthia was still maintaining the position while Tatiana weirdly straightened her posture.


    "What? What is it?!"


    Kaley shook her head in disbelief, "Oh god, I thought¨C You''re so cute when you do this!"


    "What?"


    Cynthia eximed, "You still don''t get it?!"


    "I don''t! Tell me!"


    I was still trying to get some answers when Tatiana pulled up behind Kaley and put her hands all over her ''upper'' body.


    Kaley tried to squirm away, "Tatiana! What are you¨C"


    "Just let me handle it~"


    "H-Hngh!"


    It only took a second before Tatiana brought her palms together in front of Kaley while she was still behind her, and I never looked so much like an idiot when Tatiana pressed her arms around Kaley''s ''upper'' body and squeezed them together.


    Kaley didn''t know what to do as her massive assets were being squeezed together but let''s just say Tatiana ate another headbutt at one point.


    "Ack! Totally worth it~"


    "Hmph! Squeeze your own tits at your own time!"


    "I do, really. But who''d go for this when yours are in front of me?"


    "Doofus¡­"


    Cynthia stood between them, "Guys, we''re really~ going out of topic right now¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled as she turned to me, "Did you get it, at least? You pure, pure, boy~"


    She was wearing a cheeky smile as she turned to me but I didn''t give her the satisfaction of telling her that she was right. Furthermore, I didn''t even address the ''upper'' body situation clearly because as Cynthia said, we''ve been really going out of topic.


    However, I couldn''t help but sympathize with Kaley because once she did the thing I was telling them to do, they were getting ''expressed'' by a little bit, and I might have been stun-locked for a few moments.


    With that said, it didn''t look like she was ufortable but the look she gave me when I was staring for a few seconds longer at her ''upper'' body was enough proof that I might be up to something else.


    ''Well, not this time, no¡­''


    In which case, I brought the topic back, "Okay, while we''re in this position, apply force at each arm at the same time. Try to push the other arm¨C"


    Cynthia interjected, "B-But, all we''ll do is just push at each one¡­ n-nothing¡­ nothing happens¡­"


    Kaley nodded, "I''ve done this before, but what does this rte with Artem''s thing?"


    Tatiana added, "Also, why did we go from hitting you to doing this? I don''t see the connection¡­"


    I scratched my head as I looked at them, "I thought this would be a better visualization but I think that this is the trick¨C no¡­ technique as to why Artem''s so great at taking hits."


    Tatiana tilted her head in slight confusion, "I still don''t unders¨C"


    "Imagine your attack is one arm while the other is Artem''s technique. I don''t know the right term to call it but it''s one advanced form of taking shots with zero or almost zero damage."


    "What?"


    "You sparred with him, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Didn''t you feel that sometimes, it felt really off? Like you know your attack''s fucking solid but it didn''t feel like it did when it connected? And furthermore, it didn''t seem to faze him as much as it was supposed to? It''s like¡­ It''s like¡­ punching a mixture of cornstarch and water."


    Tatiana got confused even more, "A what now?"


    Kaley shook her head as she let out a smile, "What do you call that again? Oobleck?"


    "Yep, oobleck."


    Cynthia scrunched her eyebrows, "I don''t understand¡­"


    I was about to exin my case but Kaley spoke up first.


    "Wait, I''ve seen you do that before¡­ Not just one but a few times."


    Cynthia and Tatiana turned to Kaley, "What did he do?"


    Kaley exined, "You know, the time when someone¨C I forgot his name¨C When that guy threw a barrage of punches but he copied¨C no¡­ mirrored the strikes until the other guy gave up."


    Tatiana''s eyes lit up, "Oh! I remember that too! That guy was so fucking demoralized, heh."


    Cynthia turned to me, "Is that the secret then? Then you could do it as well?"


    I nodded pensively, "That sounds about right but as I said, Artem''s thing is more advanced. Take note, being on the defense meant dodging blows, bracing for impact, redirecting strikes, and much, much more. The thing I was doing was reading where the attacks woulde from, matching with my own¨C ''mirroring'' it but there''s a difference as to how Artem''s doing it."


    Kaley interjected, "W-Wait, I don''t remember Artem doing that thing you''re doing¡­"


    Cynthia nodded, "Me too¡­"


    I chuckled, "That''s because he''s doing it differently than what I was doing."


    Tatiana was just listening as I was talking to the two.


    "I do what I do but to give a rough theory about his technique¨C about what I think his technique is, he reads the movements of his opponent and acts ordingly, but if thest resort is to brace for damage, he''d receive it and either neutralize or dampen the damage by directing it the same way it came¡­ Like pushing your hands together¡­"


    "T-Two techniques in one then?"


    "It''s not as simple as it sounds."


    "How?"


    "He does it in a way that''s fucking unnoticeable and he''ll make you think he can take hits all day¨C Hence my example earlier¡­ Granted he''s already fucking tough but if you add regr defensive techniques plus that shit? I''d rather fight someone I could end in an instant or slowly whittle downpared to someone that just absorbs everything and makes you think that you''re shit."


    Kaley looked down pensively before turning to me, "Wait, if I''m hearing this correctly¡­ Are you saying he could do something simr to the mirror thing that you do but he does it with his body? Not just his arms and legs but also his torso, his head, and whatnot? Is that what you''re telling us right now?"


    "Yeah, and he doesn''t do it all the time. But the difference is that when he receives it with his body, he wouldn''t be able to return damage like what I usually do¨C as far as I''ve seen him fight. But that''s already more than fucking enough to fuck with everyone he fights with."


    "What?"


    "It''s easy for me to read someone and mirror their attacks but it''s another thing to do what he does. I tend to goof around while sparring but It''s different when we''re outside. I''d want to end things as fast as possible¨C I mean, he does too but¡­ that technique is something else¡­ If I even got it right¡­ It has a lot of utility aside from not getting hurt as much¡­"


    Kaley nodded pensively, "Drawing a battle out and messing with your opponent''s mind¡­"


    "Yeah, to name a couple¡­"


    Tatiana finally chimed in after being silent mid-way, "At least you beat him without knowing what he could do. It took me a while and a lot of losses¡­ You''re one of few¡­ But I''m 100% sure he''d easily lose to you in sword-fighting and using guns."


    "Sure~ But I''ll still keep my guard up. You never know what happens in a fight."


    "So¡­ We''ve talked about theories for a while¡­ Are we gonna start on application? We did earlier but you stopped it when you caught me."


    "Fine¡­ let''s do a few but let''s start slow¡­ I''ll try to replicate it¡­ Let''s start with a right hook."


    "Here it go¨C"


    "Fuck! Lighter¡­"


    "Okay~"


    "Shit! Slower¡­"


    "This is fucking fun~"


    "Ack! A-Again!"


    With that said, I think it would be safe to say that after that, I was lucky to not have a concussion. I tried many times to copy Artem''s technique but each attempt resulted in catastrophic failure.


    It was because my training would kick in almost always at thest minute, and trying out something new would mess with my reaction time.


    At some point, Tatiana even felt guilty punching me in the face, she even tried switching with Kaley or Cynthia who t out rejected her. In the end, we moved on to body blows which were kinda easier to take in with force because I don''t know how many times I tried to tilt my head or perform head slips to avoid the blowpletely when Tatiana was throwing me left and right hooks.


    Regardless, my attempts to dampen the blows werepletely obvious and it wouldn''t even pass for a cheap replication of Artem''s technique.


    I could see myself brace for impact from the huge mirror and it was a far cry from the original. In a sense, it was just regr blocking and not the advanced blocking I was trying to learn. I know that I only have to do it once but I''m not even sure if I''m even 1% close.


    Knowing the theory and actually doing it were two different things.


    ''I''ll figure this out soon enough¡­''

 Chapter 693 - Chilling - Ill Owe You A Favor?

    The four of us went on for a bit more before finally concluding our workout, but I made sure to ice my face. From the punches I took from Tatiana, it would be guaranteed for my face to swell even if she held back mid-way.


    In which case, Tatiana was definitely back and one of the perks she came back with was the amount of power she could deliver with her attacks.


    It could be that she put on a little weight during her healing period but she knew damn well how to make use of it, whether be it for fighting or something else¡­


    "If you''re gonna keep staring at my ass, I''d ept your tongue or your dick in it as payment! A load or two too for interest too¡­" Tatiana brought me back to reality while I was deep in thought.


    "Wha¨C"


    Cynthia started giggling, "I told you he''s been staring at us!"


    Kaley pinched my leg, "Focusing on someone else while I''m right in front of you, huh?"


    "What? I thought we''re doing the same thing?"


    "I¨C What?! Pfft! Dammit!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    We had augh as we were cleaning ourselves in the 2nd-floor bathroom where Kaley and I were in the tub while Cynthia and Tatiana were in the shower. Nothing beats a hot shower or a hot soak after a workout and it was making the surroundings less and less visible.


    The steam was making the mirror and the ss door on the shower foggy but the two didn''t even close it to have a bit of privacy. On the contrary, they knew what they were exactly doing and the ss door was now just a stupid barrier for them.


    We were this close to starting another one of our ''escapades'' but we need to take care of a few more things and we wouldn''t want a few people to be left out. Furthermore, it was just nearing sunset and something mighte up while we were in the middle of it.


    And it didn''t take long before we heard a knock on the bathroom door.


    "Hey~! Don''t take too long! Dinner is gonna start in less than an hour!"


    "That''s plenty of time, Rin!"


    "I''m just reminding you four! Bathing at the same time¡­"


    "Oh~ Someone''s jealous~"


    "Wha¨C I-I''m not!"


    "Hah! We''re really just bathing though¡­ but you could join us if you''re so doubtful."


    "Hmph! I''m heading down now! Daisy''s waiting for me¡­"


    "Ooh~ Daisy, huh?"


    *silence*


    "Rin?"


    *silence*


    "Huh, she really went down¡­"


    After that short bit, Tatiana just shrugged her shoulders before she continued to shower with Cynthia, and as soon as they were done and dried themselves, Kaley and I took their ce for another short bit.


    It didn''t take long before we put on a fresh set of clothes but since we still had a bit of time, I sat down on my chair and yed some music. With that said, Kaley saw me chillingfortably so she joined me and sat on myp.


    "Your hair smells nice¡­ Lemme adjust my position a bit¡­"


    "Am I heavy?"


    "Yes, like a heavy nket."


    "Wha¨C You didn''t even hesitate!"


    "No point, right?"


    "Hmmrgh¡­ Let me tease you a bit, at least!"


    "Eh~ I kinda just wanna chill this time¡­ Besides, your ass is already on me¡­ That''s teasing enough¡­"


    "Hmph! You''re no fun¡­ that tired?"


    "Ah, yeah¡­ sorry¡­"


    "Oh, don''t apologize¡­ I can move¨C"


    "Nah, it''s fine. Wait¨C How about I sit on yourp?"


    "P-Pfft! Are you serious?! Hah! Deal!"


    "Heh, let''s see what Tatiana and Cynthia would look like when they see us."


    "I bet Tatiana''llugh her ass off!"


    "C''mon, let''s switch!"


    Kaley was wearing a bright smile as she sat down on the chair and cradled me, and she supported my whole weight as she wrapped her arms around me. With that said, I couldn''t believe I''d be sofortable in this position, I didn''t even notice that I dozed off.


    I just woke up seeing Kaley trying so hard to contain herughter with Tatiana and Cyntia.


    Tatiana broke the silence, "I don''t know why Kaley and Cynthia areughing but I could eat you up right now."


    Kaley jokingly quipped, "Hey, back off."


    Tatiana continued, "Just saying, if I wake up to that every day, I didn''t know which part I''d sit on first!"


    "Tatiana!"


    I interjected, "I know the answer to that."


    The three turned to me, "The answer to what?"


    "Let''s just say I have an internal tally of everything that we did together. I don''t wanna bring this up now since I''m in a weird position and it''s pretty much useless but¨C"


    I wasn''t even done with my sentence when the vibe in the roompletely changed. And to my surprise, Kaley loomed over me as she cradled me in a different manner.


    "Where am I at?"


    "What?"


    "Where am I at?! I wanna know!"


    Tatiana interjected, "Hey! I was offered the answer first! I wanna know too!"


    Cynthia tried to push past Tatiana, "M-Me too! I''m curious!"


    I instantly waved them off, "Nah. It''ll just make you three self-conscious. It''s better if¨C"


    Kaley cut me off as she gave me an offer I couldn''t refuse, "If you answer my questions honestly¡­ I know you invited Daisy over but we''ll retcon our arrangement tonight so it''ll be just us two¨C"


    My heart and my dick instantly answered for me, "Deal!"


    "Great!"


    Tatiana and Cynthia instantly protested, "WHAT?! THAT''S UNFAIR! HOW ABOUT US?!"


    Kaley never looked so proud and victorious, "Technically, I''m his wife. Sooo~ I''m not gonna add anything to that. I''m his wife, deal with it!"


    Tatiana tried to pry me off of Kaley''s embrace but it seemed like we were superglued to each other. However, Kaley had a thought and made another deal on the table.


    "Listen, he didn''t tell you this but he''s really tired. He literally just dozed off the moment he leaned on me. I know we had a prior arrangement but how about we let this slide now and he gets to answer a question from each of you from his¡­ tally? Hmm?"


    "Just one?!"


    "He must have a reason for it, right?"


    The two were still reluctant but they eventually gave up when they saw the sincerity in Kaley''s voice.


    Tatiana started, "Fine. What''s the answer to my thing earlier?"


    I turned to each of them, "Are we really doing this?"


    "Just answer! You said it''s useless, right?! I just wanna know!"


    "Fine, let''s just say that among everyone in our group¡­ you''re usually the most dominant one, and you have sat on my¨C and everyone''s face morepared to riding me. Oh, if it''s possible, you''d prefer to see me struggle for air while you''re grinding it on my face. Sometimes, it''s not about your pussy getting eaten but about being in control as you''re on top¡­"


    As soon as I said that, Tatiana couldn''t hide the smirk on her face and if it weren''t for Kaley keeping her away, I would''ve been struggling to reach for air right now.


    "That''s really interesting and so fucking true¡­ Alright, I''ll back down, for now¡­ I thought you''d just tell me a boring answer but I love what you did! Cynthia! It''s your turn!"


    "M-Me? I haven''t thought of one yet!"


    Tatiana chuckled, "Is she more into it while she''s groping while we''re sleeping or¨C"


    "Tatiana! That''s not my¨C Hngh~ It''s not even on purpose most of the time¡­"


    Kaley giggled, "You can ask how many times you tried to grab his dick in your sleep? That''ll be funny~"


    I shook my head, "That won''t be as urate because sometimes I wouldn''t notice and continue sleeping¡­ But I can answer how many times I got woken up by a hand crawling down my shorts?"


    Cynthia pondered for a moment, "Hmm~ I don''t care how urate is it though¡­ I dunno¡­ Wait, can I ask for someone else''s tally?"


    "If she''s cool with it, I guess? Who''s record are we talking about?"


    "Kaley''s."


    "What? M-My record?"


    Cynthia suddenly had a sparkle in her eyes, "Yep. Can I ask something about you?"


    Kaley nodded reluctantly, "S-Sure¡­"


    Cynthia smiles as she turned to me, "Okay, how many times have you woken up when Kaley''s doing something to you? You know, just feeling you up, sucking you off, or just t out on top of you?"


    As soon as Cynthia asked that, Kaley''s face just turned a shade of red while Tatiana''s interest got piqued even more. However, before I even get to answer, Cynthia cut me off.


    "W-Wait! I changed my mind!"


    "Huh?"


    "You haven''t answered, right? So it''s still okay to change my question. Don''t worry, it''s just a slight modification."


    "Sure¡­"


    "Who did it more? Kaley or you?"


    "U-Umm¡­ Did what?"


    Tatiana instantlymented, "Now, that''s spicy~ He definitely hesitated!"


    Cynthia was smiling even though I was trying to tip-toe around the question, "You know what I meant~ Oh, I''m supposed to ask if you''re fine with it but please¡­ I''ll owe you a favor?"

 Chapter 694 - Wholesome - Will You Do It Or Not?

    I was looking at Cynthia''s expression whether she was sure that she wanted the answer to that, but as I said earlier, it would just make them self-conscious. Well, she looked like she was sure so with that said, I sat upright before I told her the answer.


    "Okay, it was actually even but Kaley''s been ahead ever since¡­" then I actually hesitated.


    Tatiana and Cynthia caught the change in expression, "Ever since what?"


    I turned to Kaley, "Have you told them about ''that''?"


    Kaley''s face turned even redded, "N-Not yet but i-it''s just¨C Just tell them so we''d move on from i-it¡­"


    "W-What is this about?! Why are you two acting so suspicious?!"


    I scratched my head before I answered, "Remember the time I told you about Aoi?"


    Tatiana answered, "Yeah. Rin told me about it. She''s your first, correct?"


    Cynthia added, "Oh! You proposed to Kaley on the same night, right?!"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ Anyway, the reason I''m kinda hesitating is that night after I told them the story, Kaley put on some contacts and it was exactly like Aoi''s eye color."


    Cynthia interjected, "Like Katya''s, right?"


    "Yeah, like Katya''s. However, I didn''t know at that time. When Kaley and I were about to do it, you know¡­ I dozed off for a moment and I woke up feeling like someone was sucking me off. I was sure that it was Kaley but when I looked down, those piercing blue contacts made me think Aoi was the one doing it to me."


    "Ohhhh~ What happened next?"


    "I still feel guilty when I''m thinking about it but what happened was I came hard right then and there thinking that Aoi was the one doing the deed. If I didn''t stop myself, I''d be making love with Kaley while I''m thinking of another person. Yeah, you guys do costumes sometimes but it''s still you guys I''m thinking about. That''s just¡­ kinda out of line¨C For both of us¡­ Mistakes were made but I think we already forgave each other for it¡­ Right?"


    Kaley turned to me while her eyes were a bit watery but she was wearing a bright smile, "Yeah¡­ And I love you for that."


    "Heh, I love you too¡­"


    I held Kaley''s hand and Cynthia was just speechless from the short revtion. However, Tatiana suddenly went into deep thought. Her eyes were squinting as she was looking at us and there were a lot of thoughts running through her head.


    "Wait a sec¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    Tatiana smiled mischievously, "Is the reason Kaley''s ahead now is that she''s trying to erase that image off of your head?! It is, right?! That''s so fucking hot¨C seeing her get jealous, I''m getting wet right now! Do you wake up just her sucking you off or does she just straight out ride you while you have your morning wood?!"


    Cynthia couldn''t help but groan inughter, "Tatiana! That''s sweet the way I see it! It''s hot b-but, you know¡­"


    Kaley groaned as she shook her head, "Hngh~ I kinda still feel guilty too, okay?!"


    Tatiana''s smile grew even wider, "Okay~ So, it''s about guilt?"


    Kaley almost choked, "W-W-Wait a sec! It''s not just about guilt! It''s k-kinda in a small way b-b-but¡­ as you said¡­ if¡­ if I wake up to him every day¡­ I wouldn''t know what to do but¨C b-but I''ll definitely try to get my hands on him¡­"


    "Oh? Is that true now?"


    "Of course, it is!"


    Tatiana chuckled, "I''m not asking you, I''m asking him."


    "What? Me?"


    "Of course! You got the tally, right?! Give us a bonus here! Does she just use her hands in the morning or~ you know, does other things?"


    I was fucking speechless but Tatiana was having the time of her life grilling us while Kaley couldn''t even look at us in the eye. However, the one most hot and bothered was obviously Cynthia since her face was as red as Kaley''s but she''d sometimes brush her hand somewhere in secret.


    Tatiana was just looking at me expectantly but since they already agreed to Kaley and I spend the night alone, a little bonus wouldn''t matter as much.


    "Fine, but it''s technically not in the choices you gave me."


    As soon as I said that, Tatiana''s eyes grew wide, "WHAT?! YOU GUYS DO ANAL IN THE MORNING RIGHT FROM THE GET-GO?! WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THAT?! ASS TO MOUTH?!"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!! WE DON''T!!!" Kaley screamed at the top of her lungs.


    "THEN FUCKING ANSWER ME!!!"


    I startedughing as I shook my head, "That''s a misunderstanding if I heard one. What I meant to say is that from the times I would wake up while she''s doing something to me, she''d use both her hands and her mouth... Not specifically one thing, alright? Jesus Tatiana, that mind of yours¡­ heh."


    Tatiana chuckled as she shrugged her shoulders, "Don''t me me, I fantasize about you guys all the time. Especially when you two are alone, god knows what you two do."


    I shook my head, "You know you''re free to see other people when we request alone time, right?"


    "I know that! Cynthia does too but she just wants our thing here. Jeez, you think I don''t notice guys and even other girls staring at me?"


    Cynthia pinched Tatiana''s sides, "Why did I get mentioned?! I enjoy what I like, alright?! I don''t go exploring randomly! If I''m gonna do something, I''d do it with people I''m reallyfortable with."


    Kaley turned to Tatiana, "Have you been with other people besides us then? I''m just saying, I wouldn''t mind if that''s what you''re thinking."


    "Pfft! Fuck that! Other girls, sure¡­ maybe. Honestly? I''ve been with a few who wanted to experiment, but other guys? I''d rather use my fingers. If you wanna know the reason, someone in this room ruined other dicks for me. I''m not here to stroke that someone''s ego but it''s kinda that someone''s fault I stick to one dick now."


    I said sarcastically, "Really, now? Sure~ Sure~"


    Tatiana just red-smiled at me, "I''m serious about that, alright? I was expecting a ''thank you'' but whatever, heh. Well¡­ hmm¡­ Let me just say this though¡­ It''s just not about the sex anymore when the two of you are involved. You know, even doing simple things like what we''re doing right now feels special¡­ precious¡­ I''m really d I was sent here and got to meet you two¨C Well, Rin and Cynthia too, and everyone else for that matter."


    "Aww~!"


    "Why''d you have to say that, right now?! I''m crying~!"


    "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?! WHERE''S THE REAL TATIANA?! REEEEEEEEEE~!!! ARE YOU A FUCKING SPY?!"


    "AHHHH! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?! I''M NOT A FUCKING SPY! AND KALEY! STOP CRYING!"


    "SHADDAP, YOU DOOFUS! I''LL CRY WHEN I WANT TO!!!"


    "I''M ABOUT TO CRY TOO! WHY''D YOU HAVE TO SAY THAT?! I WANNA HUG YOU SO BAD!"


    "GET AWAY!"


    "I''M COMING FOR YOU TOO!"


    "NO!"


    "IT''S JUST A HUG! WE''VE DONE WORSE!"


    "THEN DO SOMETHING THAT''S WORSE! THAT''LL AT LEAST MAKE ME CUM!"


    "THAT''S THE TATIANA WE''RE LOOKING FOR!"


    "SHUT UP!"


    Hearing Tatiana said that just caught us off-guard and I just saw Kaley and Cynthia going over to Tatiana''s side for a hug. Well, it was more like a chase at this point but it was rare to see Tatiana open up like this. It would take a lot for her to be vulnerable but this time, it waspletely voluntary.


    I wanted to give some chase too but I''m pretty sure I''d take some solid hits in the process.


    ''I fucking knew it¡­''


    It didn''t take long before Tatiana started throwing punches but Kaley and Cynthia were determined to give her a hug. With that said, the punches were more like pushes with a closed fist and it didn''te with much speed.


    After some time, Tatiana inevitably got caught and she couldn''t hide the embarrassment when Kaley and Cynthia showered her with sweet and kind words.


    "We love you, Tatiana~!"


    "SHADDAP~!!!"


    "You''re like a big sister to me! I love you!"


    "CAN''T YOU HEAR YOURSELF, CYNTHIA?! THAT''S FUCKING WEIRD!"


    "Eh~ love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, love you!"


    "HNGH~!"


    Tatiana continued to struggle while Kaley and Cynthia were bearing down on her, but I could clearly see a hidden smirk despite her ''rejections''. We continued to chill in our room without a care in the world, and we were only brought back when Rin came in with Daisy.


    "Guys! You already missed dinner! I thought you cooked something here so we didn''t call you but you''re just here and f-fooling around! The meeting is about to start!"


    The three eximed, "What?!"


    "Argh, you guys are too easy-going! Everyone''s almost there! I¨C"


    I cut her off, "Rin."


    Rin instantly piped down as she turned to me, "W-What?"


    "I''m feeling really tired now so I''m gonna be sleeping in early with Kaley. With that said, I want you to lead the meeting for once."


    "W-WHAT?! ME?!"


    "You got everything prepared, right? You can do it, trust yourself. Oh! Daisy, sorry about this but I''d like to reschedule. You can stay with them in the other room but I''m feeling really tired right now. Is that okay?"


    Daisy waved me off, "I''m cool. No worries. I¨C"


    Rin interjected, "B-But what am I gonna do if they ask¨C"


    "You answer them. If you don''t know the answer, pass it off to the old man or write it down for our next meeting tomorrow. You''ve been watching me do this for months, you gotta have learned something by now. I trust you."


    "Hngh~ What did you do that made you so tired?! I''m sorry but I''m getting the jitters as we speak!"


    Daisy chuckled, "You guys had sex already?"


    Rin eximed, "What?! Is that it?! You don''t get tired!"


    I waved her off, "Trust me, it''s not that. Remember the time when I told you, Kaley, and Olivia, how I lost my parents? Recall what you felt and multiply it by dozens of times.. I can do it freely but it really makes me tired. So, will you do it or not?"

 Chapter 695 - No. - Why Dont We Take It A Bit Slow?

    Rin was put in the spotlight as I asked her to cover for me, but even if it looked like something insignificant to some people, it matters to us¡­ Especially us two because we shared this bit of introverted-ness though I may have broken out of my shell far more than her.


    However, letting her take on a little bit more responsibility¨C granted it was almost without notice, was something I wanted her to deal with.


    As hard as for me to say it, we should try and work out of ourfort zones from time to time. Also, I spent my afternoon imparting something to Kaley, Tatiana, and Cynthia, so it was proper to leave her with something too.


    Well, let''s just say that my worries were for naught because Rin quickly picked herself up the moment I told her that I trust her.


    She took a couple of deep breaths before looking at me with a faint smile, and she just turned around and walked forward while beckoning Tatiana, Cynthia, and Daisy to follow her.


    "C''mon~ I''m this close to turning this into a reverse gangbang, five more minutes¨C"


    "Hngh~ Walk forward, Tatiana!"


    "Jeez, someone''s high-strung today¡­"


    "Walk ahead, walk ahead¡­ I''m hearing none from you!"


    "Damn~ I like you being bossy sometimes¡­ I¡­"


    Kaley and I were shaking our heads as their voices faded into the background but it only took a few moments of silence before the air around us changed into something different.


    We were just staring at each other''s eyes the whole time but I broke it off as I closed and locked the door so we could have some privacy.


    As I turned around, Kaley was still sitting on the same spot I left her, but her eyes were already scanning my whole body before we resumed eye contact. She was looking at me seductively as she was tracing her lips with her fingers then I saw her ce her arms right under her chest before pushing them up slightly and changing her posture.


    "What are you looking at?" Kaley said in a seductive tone as she faintly smiled and raised one of her eyebrows.


    "Well¡­" I trailed before I pulled my shirt off with one hand, flexing my muscles slightly while doing my version of her look. "What are you looking at?"


    "Such a tease¡­" Kaley smiled as she bit her lips and stood up, meeting me in the middle of the room.


    We spared no time to go in for a kiss and she wrapped her arms around my head while I wrapped my arms around her waist. We were pulling each other closer and closer as we tasted each other''s lips, but I slowly overpowered her before I lifted her up and pinned her against the wall.


    "Mmh¡­ Haa¡­ Tired my ass¡­ Mmh!"


    I started to kiss her neck as Kaley also wrapped her legs around me, but it didn''t take long before I kissed and buried my face in her chest. Kaley smelled so fucking nice even if she was starting to sweat little beads, but I went for the other side of her neck instead of trying to reach her nipples.


    "Mmn¡­ That tickles¡­ Mmm¡­ Haa¡­ Hngh¡­"


    "Do you like that?"


    "K-Kiss me again¡­ o-on my lips¡­"


    Kaley''s arms were still wrapped around my head as I was kissing her neck and she actually pulled on me so she''d be the one to do what she asked. I tasted her sweet lips once more but the only difference was that this time, she was starting to bite on my lower lip. However, I didn''t let her have control for long as I stuck my tongue down her throat until she eventually let off.


    Once I assumed control, Kaley suddenly grabbed on me tighter before she started to tremble ever so slightly. Her muffled moans as I was kissing her went louder and louder and it took me a second before I knew she was cumming just from us kissing.


    I broke off our kiss so that I could look at her face and Kaley''s face was just flushed red while she was trying to catch her breath. She was staring right at my face with those longing eyes and I decided it was time we move over to our bed. With that said, I only put her down by the edge as I carried her all the way.


    "Y-Your turn¡­"


    "No. Let me remove your top¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    Kaley had never been so obedient as she just came from an orgasm, and the slightest touch would just make her moan and tremble. She was still slightly out of breath yet she was anticipating what I would do next.


    With that said, once I raised her top until it was by her forearms, I wrapped it around them before pushing her down and keeping them above her head.


    I almost lost myself seeing her in that position with her pretty face, her huge breasts, her smooth armpits, and her fit body. She was just halfway undressed and my whole body was just screaming to take her then and there. However, I wanted to savor every bit of her until we take it home.


    "You''re so beautiful Kaley¡­"


    Kaley''s face went even redder as she looked away, "D-Don''t say it with that f-face¡­"


    "Look at me¡­"


    I was still keeping her arms above her head as I was holding it with my left arm but I went in for another kiss as soon as we made eye contact. Kaley''s breathing was a far cry from earlier but she got even more embarrassed when I started sniffing and licking her smooth armpits. At the same time, my right hand was just on top of her left tit, fondling and squeezing it as gently as I could.


    "H-Hngh! N-Not my¨C Ah! MMH! Shit¡­ Mmn¡­ Ah! Fuck¡­ It tick¨C Mmh! Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Ahn~!"


    I didn''t even need to hold her arms down at one point, so I was able to ce my hand over her huge breasts while I was sucking on her pink nipples. They were already hard when I got to them and this was one of Kaley''s weak points. She was already breathing heavily as I was fondling and sucking on them but she started to lose it the moment I start biting on them.


    "N-Not so¨C Mmh! Wai¨C It''s¨C Ahn! Mmm! Ahn~! Hngh! Wai¨C I''m c-cumming!"


    Kaley wasn''t able to keep her arms over her head anymore, and she just pulled me in between her breasts as she convulsed and trembled all over. This was the second time she came just from teasing her but she definitely came harder. She would''vee multiple times if she didn''t try to suffocate me with her breasts, but I''m sure she was already fucking impatient due to the way she was also pulling me in with her legs.


    She was trying to make the bulge in my shorts make contact with her puffy mound below, and the slightest touch would just make her tremble.


    "P-Please¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡­ j-just p-put your h-huge dick in me¡­ I c-can''t take it¡­ Ha¡­ a-anymore¡­"


    "Where do you want it?"


    "In my¡­ I-In my p-pussy¡­ p-put it in d-deep and hard until I¨C Ha¡­ ce over and o-over¡­"


    "Hmm, no. Keep those arms over your head and stop moving."


    "Mmh... O-Okay¡­"


    Kaley never looked so helpless and deprived when she heard me say that, but I didn''t hear a word ofint. She raised her arms over her head once more but she was still breathing heavily while she had this look of begging. However, I could still feel the pull from her legs as she was trying to push my bulge towards her crotch.


    "I told you to stop moving, didn''t I?" I stared her down as I released a bit of pressure, but aside from that making her stop, Kaley looked like she just creamed herself.


    "Mmh! L-Looking at me l-like that... Haa... Mmh..."


    ''Hmm¡­''


    Her eyes clearly rolled over before she trembled slightly, and the hold she had me with her legs loosened. A few thoughts ran through my head but before I took it further, I pulled off her shorts and her soaking wet panties.


    Kaley''s pussy was now in full view and it took everything for me to not just stick it in and just fuck her brains out. However, I wanted to explore this thing I just discovered. I let out the same amount of pressure before I issued amand.


    "Spread your legs."


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    "More."


    "..."


    "More."


    "Yes¡­"


    "That''s good."


    Kaley was now doing the splits as she wasying on her back, and I could see a bit of pink from her pussy despite how fat and puffy her innie was. Her juices were dripping down her thighs, asscheeks, and her tiny little asshole, but I issued anothermand.


    "Keep them apart or else I''ll stop. Got it?"


    "Haa... Ha... Y-Yes¡­"


    As soon as I heard her reply, I suddenly came down on her and just parted her lips with my tongue and reached as far as I could. At the same time, I pushed a finger down her tiny asshole while my free hand was pinching her nipples.


    "HNGH! W-WAIT! THIS IS TOO¨C AHN! HGNH! F-FUCK!"


    Kaley''s whole body instantly jolted and trembled as I went down on her and her back was already arching due to her nipples getting pinched and her insides getting fingered and licked at the same time. However, she was barely keeping her legs apart as she was doing the splits, and just judging from her body''s movements, she was about to cum hard for the third time.


    "S-S-SHIT! AHHH! I''M C-C-CUM¨C MMH! FUCK! I''M CUMMING! I''M CUMMING! I''M CUMMING~!!!"


    Almost immediately, warm liquid started to gush out from her fuck hole, but right when she was about to mp her thighs on my head, I suddenly grabbed on her thick thighs and forced them apart.


    All Kaley could do was squirm uncontrobly as she was squirting over and over, and even if she didn''t hold her end of the deal, I wasn''t actually nning on stopping halfway. I continued to push my face deeper into her fat cunt and she just lost it when I started biting and sucking at her clit.


    Kaley had the most sensitive body I everid my hands on, and I''d always jump at the chance to make her cum first, multiple times.


    I only stopped when she wasn''t offering any resistance as all she could do was tremble and wait for the sensitivity to pass. However, she never looked so panicked when I stood up with my raging boner, that was trying to get out of my shorts, because no one else was present to tag her out.


    But to her surprise, I removed her top that I wrapped around her arms and I carried her to the part of our bed where our pillows were.


    Furthermore, I justid her therefortably and I justid beside her and gave her a kiss.


    Kaley never looked so confused but she was slightly relieved I didn''t do what she thought I would do inside her head.


    However, Kaley was still Kaley.


    "W-What are you¨C"


    "Catch your breath first¡­"


    "Now, that''s just insulting!"


    "Kaley¡­"


    "I c-can take i-it!"


    "You sure about that?"


    "H-Hngh¡­"


    "Why don''t we take it a bit slow?"

 Chapter 696 - Switch - Simple Man

    Kaley was still partly out of breath as I was lying next to her but I soon caressed her face before I gave her a kiss on the cheek. After that, I wrapped my arm around her waist as I gave her more kisses, but Kaley turned on her side so she could face me.


    Our faces were just in close proximity and we could feel each other''s breath, and it didn''t take long before our lips touched once more.


    Kaley was softly moaning as our tongues interlocked and I pulled her even closer so we could feel each other''s warmth. My left arm was the ce her head was resting on while the other was still wrapped around her waist.


    I was caressing her soft body starting from her breasts, to her arms, to her shoulders, to her back, to her waist, and then to her hips, but I soon reached further and got to her plump and juicy bottom.


    "Mmn¡­ mmh¡­"


    I began to squeeze them lightly as I also tried to caress her thick thighs, but Kaley started to find her bearings.


    She was on the receiving end all this time but I got the first bit of contact when her hand reached for my cock. She started to stroke me ever so slowly but at the same time, her other hand was now snaking through my whole body.


    "It''s r-really hard and warm¡­ I-It''s twitching and a bit are alreadying out of the t-tip¡­"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "Why don''t you t-touch me t-there too?"


    "S-Sure¡­ Y-You''re still soaked¡­"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ M-Mmmh¡­ Y-You''re really b-big¡­ I can b-barely g-grip it¡­ It''s so¨C Hngh! Mmh! D-Don''t pinch it y-yet¡­ J-Just r-rub it gently f-first¡­"


    "L-Like this?"


    "Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Mmh¡­ I''m still s-so sensitive¡­ I-I''m¨C Lemme go f-faster¡­"


    "K-Kaley¡­ I''m a-about to c¨C Kaley!"


    "W-Wha¨C D-Don''t! W-Wait for¨C Let me¨C"


    I was just about to explode on Kaley''s hand but she suddenly ced her leg over me and shoved my dick inside of her wet ass pussy. Furthermore, she even moved closer so she''d take me in all at once and I just lost it when she also hugged me as tight as she could.


    "H-Hngh! Kaley!"


    "L-Let it all out! Fuck! You''re so fucking b-big I-I''m also¨C Hngh!"


    Her insides were just so fucking tight and warm and it didn''t help when she also got even tighter. I thought I could push a few thrusts in but I just came hard while her walls were contracting as they were wrapped tightly around my cock.


    Our bodies just trembled as we were hugging each other tightly, but before I even tried to move my hips, Kaley beat me to it.


    I was still letting out a few spurts inside of her when she started moving her hips.


    All I could do while fighting the sensitivity was grab on her thigh that she ced over me. She was trying to squeeze out every bit of cum that was still in my cock. She looked like an animal in heat as she was moving her hips, and she wasn''t even a little bit satisfied because she pulled my face in between her tits.


    I thought that was all of it but I couldn''t believe what came out of her mouth.


    "YOU LIKE THESE FUCKING TITS, HUH?! YOU LIKE THESE BIG UDDERS IN YOUR FACE?! YOU LIKE THEM SMOTHERING YOU WHILE I''M FUCKING YOUR HUGE ASS COCK?! SHIT! FUCK! I CAN FEEL YOU IN MY STOMACH¨C HNGH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    Kaley was screaming at the top of her lungs as she moved her hips while continuing to smother me, but I let go of her thick thighs before I shoved my fingers in her butt.


    "MMH! FUCK! MY TIGHT PUSSY AND MY HUGE TITS AREN''T ENOUGH?! YOUR BALLS DEEP INSIDE ME WITH YOUR HUGE COCK AND YOU STILL WANT TO PLAY WITH MY ASS?! HAVE AT IT THEN!"


    I didn''t know what possessed Kaley at this hour but I''m fucking all for it. If she wanted to assume control, I''ll let her assume control.


    Almost immediately, Kaley pushed me so she could be on top and the look on her face was a mix of pure lust and euphoria. She stood up to fix her hair while maintaining eye contact but once she was done, she squatted down and spread her legs so I could see her pussy still oozing with her juices and my cum.


    However, it didn''t take long before she shifted my focus towards her little winking asshole and she stared right at me as she pointed my throbbing dick towards her little opening.


    "Don''t fucking look away¡­"


    As soon as she said that, Kaley lowered herself and took me in half-way before I saw her face grimace, but she pushed on until she reached the base of my cock. Her eyes instantly rolled over as I felt her tightening inside but Kaley leaned to the back before moving her hips up and down.


    "YOU LIKE THIS, HUH?! YOU LIKE SEEING YOUR FAT DICK GOING IN AND OUT OF MY LITTLE ASSHOLE?! YOU LIKE SEEING ME GET STRETCHED BY YOUR BIG FAT COCK?!"


    From my perspective, Kaley''s body was just on full disy, and I couldn''t decide whether to look at her pretty face wearing a devilish smile, her huge tits bouncing all over, her fat cunt oozing with our juices, or her asshole that was currently getting stretched each time she went down on me.


    Kaley''s face was just a mess as she was going up and down over and over, but I almost came for the second time when I saw her shove her fingers inside her creamy pussy.


    Her asshole was already getting demolished yet she was asking for more.


    I could hear her insides squelch each time she curled and pushed her fingers deeper, and adding it to her moans, her dirty talk, and our skin hitting against each other, was fucking mind-numbing.


    "YOU LIKE THAT, HUH?! YOU LIKE SEEING ME PLAY WITH MY PUSSY TOO?! D''YOU LIKE¨C H-HNGH! D-D''YOU LIKE¨C L-LIKE¨C I-I-I-I''M C-CUM¨C MMH! HNGH! AH! AH! AH! I''M CUMMING~!!!"


    I just felt Kaley tighten even more before she squirted all over me, and she lost all proper decorum when her eyes rolled over and she stuck her tongue out. Furthermore, the way she shook made her get off of me in an instant and it made me see her gaping asshole as she fell on her back.


    Her whole body was just trembling all over and I thought this was the best time to switch who was in control again.


    I easily turned her over before I kneeled down and fucked her ass prone because I still haven''t blown my load inside of her asshole. However, Kaley was still struggling from the sensitivity and was still having contractions so I leaned over and covered her mouth before I thrust forward and pulled back over and over.


    It felt even tighter because her legs were closed-up from this position, so I pulled as far as I could before I shoved it back with force. Kaley was taking on my full weight with each thrust and her muffled moans were just fueling me even further.


    All she could do was squirm in ce as she squirted over and over, and she even loosened the sheets on our bed because of how she was pulling on them.


    I didn''t stop until I let out everything in her gaping asshole but I just switched holes and did the same thing like it was nothing. However, Kaley was just waiting for the time I''d fill her up again so she could assume control once more.


    This night was just peculiar despite how hot it was because before we go in, we''d always decide who''d be behind the wheels. And this time, we switched over and over, and furthermore, Kaley went wild on the dirty talk. She used to be more expressive with her bodypared to her words and tonight was just fucking incredible.


    It just brought something out from both of us and I''ll be on board if she wanted to do it again.


    With that said, we went on for hours before we copsed on our bed. We were catching our breaths as we were stealing kisses from each other and at one point, we were just staring at each other''s eyes for a few minutes.


    Kaley gave me a kiss on the cheek, "I love you¡­"


    I kissed her back before I tried to maintain myposure, "You like that, huh?! You like telling me¨C ACK! I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! DON''T SQUISH MY BALLS!"


    "Hngh¡­ It just came out, okay?! S-Say it properly¡­"


    "Heh, sorry. I love you too, Kaley. Always will¡­"


    Kaley smiled back at me before giving me another kiss, "A-Anyway¡­ I was just thinking about what Tatiana said earlier¡­"


    "Which one?"


    "You know, me always waking you up with a b-b-blowj-j-j¨C"


    I lightly chuckled, "Seriously? You can''t even say blowjob straight after all that?"


    "I gotta be in the mood, okay?! Anyway, as I was saying¡­ U-Um¡­ when I''m waking you up with a b-blowjob or something else¡­ P-Please don''t think of it as me always feeling guilty, o-okay? I know we''re over that thing but I just want to clear things up¡­"


    "No problem. I didn''t even dwell on it that deeply even when you brought it up. In my head, I''m slipping up and I need to return the favor¡­ more than once."


    "W-What? Y-You don''t have to¡­ It doesn''t matter who does it more¡­ As long as we''re doing it because we want to make each other happy, not to even the score Wait¨C Oh¡­ maybe that''s why you don''t want to tell us our tallies, you k-kinda became self-conscious because I''m doing it more than you¡­ huh."


    "Hmm, something like that¡­ At least you get what I''ming from now. I really like how you put it¡­"


    "But¡­ we did have a deal¡­"


    "Kaley¡­"


    "C''mon! Even if I know it or not, I''ll still suck you off every time I wake up earlier than you. Besides, you said you like how I put it so it doesn''t matter if I get self-conscious with the numbers¡­ It''ll be just a fun FYI and I''d still do what I wanted to do¡­ and even if it did affect me, it''ll just make me more spontaneous, don''t you think?"


    "You really have a different perspective than me when ites to that¡­ Okay, you convinced me. Ask away¡­ Just remember that we spent the most time with each other but I''ll try to give a runner-up or a valid answer if it''s always you, depending on the circumstances."


    "Oh~ I didn''t think of that¡­ But can I ask about Tatiana and the rest? I''m sure they wouldn''t mind¡­"


    "Sure, we could keep it between us¡­ Our little secret¡­"


    "Pfft! You''re sounding like we''re having an affair."


    "Heh, are you gonna ask your question or not? I feel my eyelids getting heavier¡­ We got to wash up too¡­"


    "Wha¨C Stay up for a bit, at least! Fine, hmm¡­ I can''t really think of one right now though... Can I just ask you some other time?"


    "Sure¨C"


    "Wait! I think I got one."


    "..."


    "Don''t look at me like that! Okay, from everyone we''ve been with, looking through your eyes, who''d you have a threesome with? Oh, please y along and don''t include me, Tatiana, Cynthia, and Rin. It''ll be too easy, right? I just wanna see what you think."


    "How''s this relevant to the record in my head?"


    "C''mon, you could decide with that in regards to what they''re open to¡­ Everyone has different kinks and fantasies they wanted to explore~"


    "How about you then?"


    "Answer first and I''ll tell you mine."


    "Fine¡­ Hmm~ I''d probably go with Micah and¡­ Marina, I guess?"


    "Pfft!"


    "What?! Why are youughing?!"


    "Did you just choose them because of their boobs?! I''m sorry, but it what came up to my mind the moment you said their names!"


    "Nuh-uh. Answer me yours first!"


    "Okay, easy. Daisy and Yumi. If you''re gonna ask why, it''s just the vibe I get from them. Daisy''s really cool and I think she''ll be best friends with Yumi if Yumi wasn''t always with her group. So, can you tell me why you picked them?"


    "Fine, you''re absolutely right¡­ Tt''s because of their boobs. I''m a simple man, I see big boobs I press like¨C"


    "Pfft! You''re lying! Just tell me the reason! I told you mine!"

 Chapter 697 - Hangout - The Calm

    Kaley never looked so cute as she went right up on my face and demanded my actual answer, and she even went on top of me, I guess, to keep me from looking away.


    "What are you doing?"


    "So I''ll see your face when you answer! Don''t try to hide it by looking away! Just look at me straight in the eye and tell me why you picked Micah and Marina!"


    "Why would I look away? Is there anything else here that looks better?"


    "Wha¨C You''re so smooth, aren''t ya? *giggles* I could do this all night unless you answer me!"


    "Kiss me first and I''ll think about it."


    "You~ Fine!" Kaley chuckled before she gave me a quick peck on the lips.


    "Nah~ I changed my mind~ Wanna wash up¨C Ack! What the fu¨C Don''t pinch my¨C"


    "Want me to get back on your balls?!"


    "Fine, fine~ Hmm¡­ One more kiss and I want you to embrace me."


    As soon as I said that, Kaley giggled cutely while she was slowly shaking her head, "You''re greedy today, aren''t ya? You''re lucky I want to do it too¡­ Here we go~"


    Kaley did give me another kiss before she embraced me by putting all her weight on top of me and wrapping her arms around my neck. Our faces were in close proximity and I just had to give her another kiss before I gave an actual answer.


    "Okay, you drive a hard bargain~ To bepletely honest, part of it was actually how they looked physically. I love body types that got curves in the right ces but I also love them when they''re fit. Big boobs are absolutely a plus and they both have those, natural or not¨C but I don''t really care about that part."


    "You thought about this long, didn''t you? Pfft¡­ Is that all? You said it was just partly, right?"


    "Well, I love brtes as much as I love blondes and¨C"


    "Have you been with a redhead? You know, before all this happened?"


    "I''m not really sure¡­"


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    "I''m not sure if it''s dyed or not and I can''t possibly confirm because she probably got waxed or something simr¡­"


    "Oh~ Was it a date or just a u-umm one-time thing?"


    "Wha¨C When did we even get to this topic? And let me point the answer back, have you been with a redhead?"


    "Yep. Twice."


    "Twice?!"


    "Eh~ My turn to ask questions¡­ Answer the one you left me hanging!"


    "U-Umm¡­ let''s just say that what happens at Comic-Con stays at Comic-Con¡­"


    "Pfft! Isn''t that supposed to be what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?! Oh! I get it, costumes and all¨C You''re not sure if it''s her actual hair color¡­ Oh! What did she dress up as? And you too! Who did you dress up in?!"


    "You sure about that?"


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "Eh~ You dug your grave for this¡­ I just bumped into her while I was buying a few shirts and she was wearing this Mera costume that looked really awesome¡­ It was this bodysuit¨C Let''s just say that she got all the details right while I was this Buff Spongebob from¨C"


    "W-Wait Buff Sponge¨C HAHAHAHAHA! This is getting weird!"


    "You haven''t heard anything yet. But yeah, I chose to be Buff Spongebob and I got the whole costume right too. I got the spat, the ripped clothes, the shoes, the red headband, etc. Not only that, I spray-painted my whole body yellow¡­ even my dick."


    Kaley''s eyes grew wide from shock, "NOOOOOOOOOOO! YOU DID NOT DO THAT!"


    "I fucking did, heh. Anyway, we got to talking and she took me to this ''bubble party'' of sorts where they just fill a room with bubbles, and everyone just parties while drinking liquor. Take note, the bubbles were up to our waist and the next thing I know my spat disappeared¡­"


    "No¡­"


    "Yep¡­ turns out, it went between her ''patties'' and now it was this ''Springboard'' she wasn''t willing to let go."


    "What did you do?!"


    "Well, that spat is actually signed and a limited edition so I had to find something else to you know¡­ rece it. Long story short, I yanked my limited edition spat from her asshole before I shoved my big, fat, yellow dick inside her. I fucked her ass while everyone else was dancing right next to us, and we would''ve been caught if it weren''t for the music sting our ears off. Well, it didn''t take long before it turned into a massive orgy but we quickly left the party to go somewhere private and the rest is history¡­"


    "Wow¡­ that would''ve been so hot if it weren''t for the¨C nevermind¡­ I dunno if I was getting weirded out or turned on¡­"


    "Hah! Okay, her asshole had this yellowish ring after I was done¨C"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOO~!!! STOP IT! LET''S GO FOR THE SHOWER NOW!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! I TOLD YOU, YOU''LL DIG YOUR GRAVE FROM ASKING TOO MUCH!"


    "HGNH~ YOU DIDN''T HAVE TO TELL ME ABOUT THAT PART!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "OH~ WANNA GO LIKE THAT, HUH? LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE FIRST TIME I TRIED ANAL¡­ I¡­"


    Kaley started to blurt out several passages from the time she was experimenting and discovering herself but let''s just say it would always be a fucking mess if the people involved wouldn''t prepare for it.


    Anyone couldn''t just do it spontaneously or if they felt like it, but if they did it with zero preparation, be prepared to see and smell some shit, literally.


    In which case, my perfect memory became a curse because her words and her descriptions would forever be burned in my mind and I didn''t even try to one-up her in fear of making things worse.


    It was great that she already knew what she was doing when we met for the second time, and even if we didn''t get each other''s firsts, we made up for it with something more.


    With that said, we had a quick soak and a hot shower before trying to catch some sleep, and we just went on a deep slumber the moment our heads touched our pillows. When morning came, Kaley and I woke up at the same time so let''s just say our record between us was still the same but it was because we did each other.


    "Wanna head down?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    Kaley and I went down with the rest of the girls and headed to the pool area to have some breakfast, but I almost tripped and fell to the pool when I caught a glimpse of Jose''s new ink.


    I was imagining that he''d just stick with having an actual dragon by his neck but I didn''t think he''d go andmit to¡­ that.


    The motherfucker actually went for a Polynesian-style tattoo that was almost simr to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson since it covered his left side: mainly his whole arm, his left pec, and that side of his neck.


    I couldn''t believe Daisy managed to do something like that in a few hours and looking at it closely, the parts that left a space in his bicep formed three stars and a sun in the shape of a triangle where the stars were the corners as the sun was in the middle.


    That design was paying homage to our g and it blended in nicely.


    Furthermore, there was an image of an eagle by his forearm though it melded on the tribal designs that looked like feathers and waves. There wasn''t anything that looked out of ce and it just wrapped around his arm naturally.


    "Nice ink, Jose."


    "Thanks! I didn''t think it was gonna hurt that much but I''m fucking happy with this. Thanks again, Daisy." Jose replied before turning to Daisy.


    Daisy chuckled, "You''re wee. Tell your friend if they want something simr, go to me, alright?"


    "Yeah, I will."


    I interjected, "So, when are we gonna shave your head?"


    "WHAT?! THAT''S¨C CAN''T I JUST PARADE THIS AROUND?!"


    "Nah, I think doing that''llplete the whole look."


    We had a shouting match this early in the morning and we were stopped when Aunt Sharon and the rest needed help carrying the food over our tables. The two of us obediently helped them with the others but the moment we start to bicker, a woodendle would just fly at us out of nowhere.


    It really did make us shut up and the food in front of us made our stomachs grumble.


    They prepared omelets with slices of cheese on the inside though some of them were prepared with chopped-up vegetables. It was eaten over rice obviously and we had coffee or chocte to pair it with.


    Days continued to pass after this moment and aside from making sure everything in this ce was running as it should, everyone else that woulde with us spent more time in preparation for theing day.


    Everything should go smoothly if we did everything right and even if we take into ount Murphy''sw, we should also be able to handle the unexpected.

 Chapter 698 - Perspectives And Punches

    After a few more days, the time has finallye and we brought in thergest group we could in a mission that could take several days.


    A few things happened in those days that felt like a blink of an eye and whether they''d be significant or not would remain to be seen.


    In which case, it was now a few hours to midnight and everyone that I''d be bringing along was right in front of me.


    It starts with my team: Kaley, Tatiana, Cynthia, Jared, Ibarra, and Mikhail. Followed by Artem''s team: Katya, Bogdan, Igor, Marina, and Natasha. And Mark and Marvin''s team which wereposed of a mix of soldiers and civilians who passed our tests.


    Furthermore, we had special imports who were Jose and Lawrence.


    With that said, we also had a few people we brought in to serve as our crew and it wasposed of the engineers who worked on our boat and some of the soldiers Jose knows that knows a thing or two about Maritime Industry.


    And talking about Maritime Industry, we had a more special import who was actually a fucking Marine.


    It was Johnny.


    It didn''t take a lot to convince him toe with us though the old dudes would be a member short for a few nights. Well, I''ve been seeing Andrew Sr. and Damianing over a few times so maybe it wouldn''t so bad.


    Oscar and Matthew wanted toe so badly for different reasons but we can''t just alle to the party. It was for the same reason we didn''t take all of our best soldiers and even all of Artem''s squad, even Lois.


    We need to have people back here in charge and we need to have people who could defend this ce.


    Besides, most of the people I''d be bringing with me will stay on the boat since it also needs people to look after it.


    With that said, Johnny was even wearing his uniform but I was still holding the captain''s cap in my hands. He was eyeing it so intensely it almost hurts but I walked up to him with a final offer.


    "C''mon, old man¡­ just say it and I''ll hand this over. If not¨C"


    Johnny cut me off as he growled, "YOU LITTLE SHIT! FINE! LOOK AT ME! I''M THE CAPTAIN NOW!"


    "Nope, I need the ent."


    "HAAAAAAAA! THIS IS RIDICULOUS! HOW''D YOU SWIPE MY CAP OFF OF MY STUFF?!"


    "I''m not gonna fucking tell you. Are you gonna say it with the ent or not?"


    Johnny looked like he was gonna burst a vein but once he actually tried, it was fucking spot on. It even prompted apuse from everyone present and everyone else who were here to send us off had a mix of reactions.


    "Now give me back my cap!"


    I tossed it towards him without issue, "Here, it''s spot on but it''s just off while you''re wearing that uniform¡­"


    "WHY''D YOU MAKE ME DO IT THEN?!"


    "Because it''s funny?"


    Johnny almost lost feeling in his leg, "Jesus fucking christ I forgot you''re like this and I''m gonna be with you for a few days¡­"


    Everyone had a shortugh once more though everyone who came to send us off had talks with the people they care for. They were obviously family and friends it just so happened that Oscar was just waiting for the bit of Johnny and me to stop before approaching us.


    "Kid. Come back in one piece, alright?"


    "Yep. Always will, old man."


    Oscar looked around first before he dragged me to a slightly private space before whispering in a hushed tone, "And u-umm¡­ Give Irene that package, will you? I snuck it in with your bag¡­ You know, her eyes only¡­ D-Don''t even think about opening it and taking a peek, alright?! I''ll fucking¨C"


    I instantly waved him off, "N-Not another word, I''ll just give her the package and be done with it. I don''t even want to imagine what''s inside it¡­"


    "You better! A-And u-umm¡­ s-she might¡­ y-you know¡­ s-send a package back so I''m¡­ I''m¨C"


    I cut him off once again, "Please¡­ I g-get it¡­ Everything for you since you stayed behind¡­ Stop acting like a teenage kid trying to send his first love letter¡­"


    "Wha¨C It''s not a fucking love letter!"


    "I didn''t mean it lite¨C"


    "W-Well, i-it does have one with my¨C"


    "Old man! Stop telling me what''s inside it! Let''s end it with a love letter and move on!"


    "Shit. Alright, alright¡­ I don''t want you to know my moves¡­"


    "Sure¡­"


    "Oh yeah, Matthew has been meaning to talk to you. Remember that time when¨C"


    "I know that time. What does he want?"


    "Hmm, you two better talk it out. Man-to-man, alright? Kaley''s his daughter for fuck''s sake, don''t you think he has the right to be protective¨C overprotective of her? And don''t tell me you didn''t go over the top too. If my daughter was dating you instead, I might''ve said the same thing... Besides, he''s already that way the first time he came in here. To me, he''s just staying in character¡­"


    "..."


    "Kid, listen to me. Just put yourself in his shoes for once and maybe you''ll understand where he''s¨C every father should being from. It''s only natural¡­ Marisha might love you but it''s us fathers who are the most afraid to let go¡­ It''s not like he told you to break it up with her, right? Can you even remember the whole conversation or were you just too fucking pissed at that time you ended the conversation as fast as you could?"


    "..."


    "Kaley even took your side¨C and she''s kinda supposed to but that hurt Matthew a lot. He''s been talking about it ever so often¡­ He''s just looking out for her and he gets yelled at for caring. You know it''s just gonna get more stupid and awkward the more the two of you let this go on, right?


    "..."


    "Kid, are you even listening?"


    "I am¡­ It''s just really stupid he''d think of me that way."


    "Jesus, kid. It''s not like he''s the one letting his daughter be with someone who just butchered a bunch of animals. Before you say anything, I''d probably do the same thing but as I said, just think of it from a father''s perspective."


    "I''m not a father, yet."


    "Don''t get quippy with me or I''ll smack the shit out of ya. Talk to the guy."


    "Hmm, fine. You''re right, we gotta bury the hatchet before it gets too stupid and awkward."


    "Whew, that''s good. Stay here and I''ll tell him after he finishes talking with Kaley."


    "Sure, old man¡­"


    It didn''t take long before I saw Matthew walking up to me but we just leaned on the bar and stared at the ground for a few minutes without saying anything. We could still hear the chatter from a few away from our position though the silence we were in was deafening.


    It would''ve continued for a lot more if we had the time but our buffer between getting to Batangas was getting shorter. It would''ve been ideal if we did this a few days before or yesterday but I guess some people liked to do thingsst minute.


    "Are we gonna talk or are we gonna keep admiring the floor?"


    "We should talk¡­"


    "What do you wanna say? You''re the one who asked for this¡­"


    "I¡­ I¡­ I know we came off on the wrong footst time we talked but the things I told you about what I felt back then were true¡­ I meant everyst word of it¡­"


    "..."


    "The first time I saw you¨C you know, when you''re still both in high school¨C It didn''t even cross my mind that you''ll change so much¡­ I mean, people change¨C I''ve seen it¡­ But I didn''t think you of all people would be¡­ be like this¡­"


    "Thanks? I don''t know if that''s praise or an insult."


    "Take it as you will. I said what I said. But¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I talked to Kaley, I talked to Olivia, I talked to Oscar, Johnny, your aunts, your uncles, your family, your friends, and my wife¡­ they all trust you. I mean¨C who wouldn''t, right? A kid the same age as my daughter doing all this? Who would''ve thought?"


    "Again, I don''t know if this is praise or an insult¡­"


    "Che. What I''m trying to say is¡­ Like everyone around you, I trust you¨C Heck, the moment I saw my daughters safe and sound, running out to me when I came to your ce, I already trusted you then and there¡­ However¡­ I saw what you did to those bastards but¨C To me, it''s not about what you did to them that¡­ scared me¡­ It''s¡­ what you were when you''re doing those things¡­"


    I shook my head as I frowned, "So, after all that talk¡­ it all boils down to who I am?"


    Matthew saw my expression and went right up in my face, "Are you ying dumb with me? If you are, I''m not buying it."


    "I''m not ying dumb with you. If I am¨C"


    I was still in mid-sentence when Matthew scoffed and shoved me hard. After that, he pointed at me with gritted before shouting at the top of his lungs.


    "DON''T YOU DARE PLAY FUCKING DUMB WITH ME! I KNOW THAT YOU KNOW FULL WELL WHAT THE FUCK I''M TALKING ABOUT!"


    "THEN FUCKING TELL ME BECAUSE I DON''T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU''RE TALKING ABOUT!"


    "YOU FUCKING DO! IF YOU CAN''T EVEN BE STRAIGHT WITH ME WITH A FUCKING SIMPLE THING, HOW CAN I FUCKING TRUST YOU?! IF THAT''S HOW YOU FUCKING ARE WITH ME, WHO''S TO SAY YOU''RE NOT DOING THE SAME THING TO EVERYBODY ELSE?! HOW MANY THINGS HAVE YOU BEEN LYING TO MY DAUGHTER?!"


    As soon as Matthew said that, something in my head just snapped as I threw a right hook at his jaw. However, the next thing I saw was Matthew throwing a fist that wasing for my face. I didn''t think he''d recover so fast and he also acted the moment I was just about to withdraw my fist.


    I barely avoided that punch by twisting my head to the side but it managed to cut open my cheek when it grazed me.


    "IS THIS WHAT YOU MEAN BY BURYING THE HATCHET, HUH?!"


    "WE''RE BURYING SOMETHING ALRIGHT!"


    Matthew and I traded blows one after the other and he only managed to connect because I was fuming mad. It was supposed to be a simple talk that would end in a simple handshake or maybe a hug, but a fucking fistfight wasn''t something that I expected.


    It didn''t take long before I was being held down by Mikhail and Ibarra while Johnny and Oscar came to Matthew''s side.


    My cheek was still bleeding from the cut and I''m sure that the right side of my face would be swollen tomorrow, but Matthew''s right eye was closed shut and he was bleeding from his mouth. I didn''t know if he lost a tooth or not but I''m pretty much open to make sure he fucking did.


    "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU TWO FUCKING TALK ABOUT?! I LEFT YOU TWO FOR TWO SECONDS AND YOU DID THIS?!"


    "IT''S YOUR FUCKING ''BUDDY'' WHO STARTED IT!"


    "WELL, YOU FUCKING ASKED FOR IT! IF YOU CAN''T TAKE A¨C"


    "SHUT UP, YOU STUPID FUCKS! WHAT''S GOTTEN INTO YOU TWO?! HOLD THEM DOWN! SMACK THEM IF YOU NEED TO!"


    The people holding us down started to hold us even tighter when we tried to break free but the next thing we saw was a burning p that came at our faces. We didn''t even see iting and it just stopped us in our tracks. Furthermore, the people holding us down were also stunlocked even if they weren''t on the receiving end.


    It just happened at the same exact time and almost the same exact words were used by two different people in front of us right now:


    "YOU DOOFUS! WE''RE ABOUT TO LEAVE AND YOU DO THIS?!"


    "YOU DOOFUS! THEY''RE ABOUT TO LEAVE AND YOU DO THIS?!"


    Raising our heads to see the perpetrators, it was Kaley and Marisha who had a hand on their waists, ring us down with watery eyes while threatening for another p.

 Chapter 699 - Pause - The Truth

    The whole situation instantly calmed down when Kaley and Marisha took the stage, and I was just at a loss for words like Matthew.


    I couldn''t even look at Kaley in the eye for long as I was embarrassed for the things I just did, and all I could do at the moment was to look down on the ground once more.


    The ce was just inplete and utter silence at this point but Kaley''s voice passed through my ears before Marisha followed.


    "Let him go, please¡­"


    "I promise they wouldn''t do anything¡­ If they did, feel free to throw them off this harbor."


    "Dear¨C"


    "Don''t ''Dear'' me, I''m sorry but we got to dy this trip for a couple of hours. I won''t let this go until this thing between you two is resolved. The four of us are having a talk and no one is to disturb us. Follow me."


    "..."


    "Mom¨C"


    "No talking right now. Follow me."


    "But their faces need to¨C"


    "No. We''ll do that there. Time is of the essence¡­ I didn''t think we''d do this early¡­"


    "This early?"


    "I already said too much. Please, get up and follow me."


    "Where are we going, dear?"


    "Just anywhere we could talk privately. I guess their ship is one ce. You have rooms, right?"


    "Yes, we do¡­"


    I wasn''t speaking the whole time Marisha anchored the conversation, but I still trailed behind them after signaling Oscar and Johnny to take over for a short while. I dunno what this ''talk'' would be about but I wouldn''t budge an inch if this was gonna be a forced reconciliation.


    After a short bit, the four of us were in the room that was supposed to be for me and Kaley, but as awkward as it would sound, we had a few bags too many. Aside from the ''package'' Oscar asked me to deliver, Tatiana and Cynthia''s bags were also in our quarters.


    However, that wasn''t the issue right now but I''d be relieved if Matthew didn''t notice it. I''m 100% sure that Marisha already knew but I''d rather have this conversation some other time.


    With that said, we didn''t get into the main topic the moment we sat down because Kaley took care of the cut on my cheek while Marisha tried her best to do the same thing to her husband.


    Kaley only needed to stop the bleeding and dress the wound on my cheek, and the other side of my face just needed some ice. It didn''t take long before I had an ice pack against my face and Kaley helped her mom help her dad.


    Once they''re done, the deafening silence once again filled the room, and Matthew and I were just staring each other down.


    Marisha broke the silence, "So, are you two gonna tell me how did that start? Hmm?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Self-defense."


    Matthew instantly snapped, "You think this is a joke to you?! Huh?! I¨C"


    "Dad, stop!"


    "You''re taking his side again?!"


    "This is not about taking sides! This is about you two being stubborn and stupid!"


    I shook my head, "I know I could be stubborn but I''m sure as hell not stupid. Your dad¡­ probab¨C"


    "Sky! You stop too!"


    "..."


    Marisha shook her head, "Okay, here''s what we gonna do¡­ We''re gonna take turns holding this pillow and if the pillow is on your hands, you''re the only one allowed to talk. And the ones not holding the pillow will be polite and respectful to the one holding the pillow, and they will listen until the one holding the pillow is done. Got it? Who wants to start?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "And no one wants to talk when given the opportunity? Crazy how our minds work, right? Fine, I''ll start. I don''t want to see the two of you like this. Not only me¨C Kaley also don''t want to see you like this. Sure, you two haven''t been spending that much time with each other since you have different circles of friends but when you two actually are together and goofing around, it warms my heart. And seeing you two at each other''s throats? It just hurts. That''s why we need to try and remedy this. And that''s why I''m asking, what happened?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    The room became quiet again but Marisha turned to me and handed me the pillow, "Why don''t you tell me what happened from your perspective?"


    I deeply sighed before I opened my mouth, "I was told I''m gonna have a talk to bury a fucking hatchet but all it was, was a fucking repeat of the most hypocritical and the stupidest conversation I ever had in my entire life! See, Oscar told me that I might be too upset when we had that conversation but even if he didn''t say it outright, I know what he fucking meant. Fucking shit¡­ I already fucking gave you my word that if I ever tried to hurt Kaley, one way or the other, just fucking put a bullet in my head and be fucking done with it!"


    "AND THAT''S THE FUCKING PROBLEM I''VE BEEN TRYING TO ADDRESS, YOU DUMB FUCK!"


    "Dear¨C"


    I cut Marisha off as I snapped back at Matthew, "DO YOU EVEN FUCKING LISTEN?! I GOT THE FUCKING PILLOW, DON''T I?! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, SHE JUST TOLD US THE FUCKING RULES FUCKING TWO MINUTES AGO AND¨C"


    "FUCK THE PILLOW! YOU HEARD THE WORDS LOUD AND CLEAR BUT CAN YOU EVEN HEAR YOURSELF?!"


    "DAD, STOP¨C"


    "NO! LET ME FUCKING FINISH! I PULLED YOU ASIDE SO WE COULD FUCKING TALK NOT ONLY BECAUSE I''M AFRAID YOU''D¨C I''M AFRAID YOU''D HURT¨C OR EVEN¨C"


    "AFRAID I''D WHAT?! HUH?! WHY DON''T YOU FUCKING SAY IT?! WHY DON''T YOU FUCKING SAY IT. HUH?! WHAT?! YOU THINK I''D KILL HER?! YOU THINK I''D FUCKING KILL HER?! HUH?! IS THAT IT?!"


    "YES! THAT''S RIGHT! D''YOU EVEN THINK FOR ONE SECOND I WOULDN''T THINK OF THAT?! FUCK ME, HAVE YOU SEEN YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR?! HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT YOU''VE DONE WHEN YOU FUCKING ''BLACKOUT'' OR WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU CALL IT?! YOU THINK THAT''S COOL?! HUH?! YOU THINK?! YOU THINK YOU HAVE SOME SUPERPOWER OR SOMETHING?!"


    "DEAR¨C"


    "LET ME TALK!"


    "DAD!"


    "LET ME TALK! LET ME FUCKING TALK! TELL ME! YOU THINK YOU''RE SOME HERO NOW, HUH?!"


    "I''M NOT¨C"


    "SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET ME TALK! SHIT! YOU THINK YOU''RE SO GREAT YOU COULD DO THAT, HUH?! OKAY, OKAY~ How about we do this: promise me right now that you 100% guarantee that you won''t touch a hair of¨C"


    "I ALREADY DID! MULTIPLE TIMES! I TOLD YOU¨C"


    "AND I SAY THAT''S BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT, I TELL YA! HOW CAN YOU FUCKING GUARANTEE SOMETHING YOU COULDN''T EVEN CONTROL?! I DOUBT YOU EVEN KNOW HOT IT WORKS! SURE, YOU DO THAT OTHER THING WHERE YOU RELEASE PRESSURE AND WHATNOT, BUT WHAT I SAW YOU DO IN THAT ROOM FULL OF DEAD PEOPLE WAS FUCKING NIGHT AND DAY!"


    "I''VE BEEN WORK¨C"


    "THERE WE GO! YOU''VE BEEN WORKING ON IT?! HUH?! WHY?! IS THERE A REASON FOR WORKING ON SOMETHING YOU ''CAN'' 100% CONTROL?! IS THAT HOW THAT WORKS?! TO ME, IT JUST SOUNDS LIKE YOU CAUGHT YOURSELF IN A FUCKING LIE! YOU TELL ME THAT IF THIS EVER HAPPENS I COULD DO THAT AND THAT TO YOU WITH CONFIDENCE BUT IT''S ALL JUST A FUCKING BLUFF! LET ME TELL YOU THIS: YOU DON''T BLUFF WITH MY DAUGHTER''S LIFE!!! IT''S EITHER YOU CAN CONTROL IT OR YOU DON''T! YOU''RE JUST A TIMEBOMB WAITING TO EXPLODE AT ANY MINUTE AND MY DAUGHTER IS RIGHT FUCKING NEXT TO YOU!!!"


    Matthew was almost out of breath after that uproar and I was just trembling in silence because he was fucking right. I didn''t even notice the tears flowing down my cheeks and Matthew only stopped because he saw me in this state.


    I took pride in being able to do something only a few people could, but in reality, it was just something I could barelyprehend yet I was acting as if I had full control of it. I wouldn''t know what I''d do if someday, I just wake up from a ckout and see my de running through Kaley''s body¨C or anyone else that I cherish and love.


    That would be something I would never forgive myself for doing and I wouldn''t think twice of ending it right then and there.


    I always had something witty or stupid toe back from an argument, but this time, it would just be distasteful and moronic.


    I was just about to concede defeat and even propose to make Kaley stay at home where she''ll be away from me, but I just saw Kaley and Marisha''s faces.


    I thought they''d be in the same state as me or in agreement with Matthew''s words but I couldn''t be more wrong. They were looking at Matthew with awful derision and the reason Matthew stopped wasn''t because of me but because of his daughter and his wife.


    "Dad, I love you but you couldn''t be more wrong."


    "Kaley, this is not the time to¨C"


    "Dear, listen to me. I love you but he''s right, you''re fucking stupid. He''s definitely the stubborn one but you''re definitely the stupid one¡­"


    Matthew was now at a loss for words the same as me.


    "B-B-B-B-But¡­"


    Kaley shook her head, "You''ve seen him in that state only once but I''ve seen him in it more times than everybody in this room. He''ll agree with you because he had no fucking idea about what''s happening as it''s happening but let me tell you: he''s in control. He might not be awake or conscious at the time but his body is moving as he wishes. He would''ve killed me long ago if he''s not."


    "That doesn''t make any sense¡­"


    Marisha nodded. "Calling that state ''ckout'' is the worst we could''ve done because even if it looks like it: it''s more profound than that. Dear, you''ve seen ''the'' footage, from beginning to end. Rey that in your head and tell me if he''s a walking timebomb. From what I''ve seen, he only killed those who deserved it and he took down a hordeing our way. He might''ve scared off the ones he came into contact with but they''re still alive and well¡­"


    Hearing those words, Matthew just looked down and got deep with his thoughts but Marisha turned to me with a solemn expression.


    "We''re not done yet."


    "Hmm?"


    "Just a sec. Dear, Kaley, can you please leave the room? This is important, trust me."


    Marisha was holding my hand as she sent them away with their eyes but next thing I know was that Marisha was looking at me with a caring expression.


    "What are you¨C"


    "We need to find out the truth¡­"


    "The truth?"


    "Yes, the truth¡­ Sky, in the next five seconds you''re gonna feel your eyes getting heavy and you''re gonna close your eyes and lie down.... After that, you''re gonna rx and you''re gonna remember everything from ''that'' day¡­"

 Chapter 700 - Angels And Demons

    It only took a moment for Marisha''s words to enter my ears and it also took the same time before my body rxed as I let go of her hand. After that, I just felt myself lying down on my back and as soon as my head made contact with something soft, my eyelids never felt so heavy.


    My vision started to blur before I closed my eyes shut, and I heard muffled thumps and garbled voices echoing all around me. However, after a few seconds or so¡­ it just becamepletely silent.


    I never felt so light and it was as if I was floating in the air, like I was levitating between the ground and the ceiling, but a piercing pain traveled to my head before a mind-numbing screech followed. I thought my head was gonna fucking explode but it only took a few moments before I heard Marisha''s voice that calmed everything down.


    "Sky¡­ Rx¡­ I''m gonna be here with you every step of the way¡­"


    "W-Wha¨C What''s happening? W-Why am I¨C"


    "You''ll know soon enough¡­ But what I want you to do is to think about that day¡­"


    "Huh? W-What¡­ What day?"


    "The first time you had them¡­your ckouts¡­ tell me about that day¡­"


    "Huh? Didn''t I already? I already did¡­ right? Matthew¨C or even Kaley should''ve told you that story too¡­


    "They did¡­ but I want to hear it from your mouth¡­ Are you doing okay?"


    "What? Oh¡­ Never been so rxed besides that¨C Nevermind¡­ Shiiiit¡­ Is this what being high is like? I feel so fucking light¨C Is this how you made your money? Heh¡­ Just kidding¡­"


    "Wow¡­ I can''t¨C"


    "Huh? What d-do you mean by wow?"


    "You''re mind is really something else¡­ I thought no one could¨C Nevermind about that¡­ That day, I want to hear it again¡­ Tell me¡­ Tell me as if you''ve gone back in time¡­ Tell me as if you''re in that moment again¡­ Tell me as we''re seeing it through your eyes¡­ Moment by moment¡­ Can you do that?"


    "I¡­ I guess¡­"


    "Good¡­ let''s start from the top then¡­"


    "I¡­ I was in my room¡­ You know¡­ ying games¡­ sting music¡­ then¡­ our dogs¡­ just barked loudly like they used to¡­ It could be from a car passing through or two people passing by sharing a conversation¡­ if someone or something gets near our house¡­ they just make a lot of noise¡­"


    "And then?"


    "I¡­ the guy¡­ the guy broke in from our¨C"


    "No¡­ let''s go back¡­"


    "Huh?"


    "I told you to tell it as if we''re seeing it through your eyes, right?"


    "Oh¡­ right¡­ Well¡­ I¡­ heard the noise and g-got annoyed they were so loud so¡­ I turned the volume up a few notches until I could barely hear them¡­ and then¡­ I just continued ying for a few minutes more¡­ until¡­ until I heard a loud noise right outside my room¡­ My¡­ My room is just right next to the door that would lead to our floor so¡­ I assumed it was¡­ was¡­"


    All of a sudden, the pain the screeching noise came back as I tried to struggle, but no matter how many times I tried to move my body, it wouldn''t budge. Heck, I can''t even do something as easy as opening my eyes and it felt like I was buried several feet under the ground..


    "Hngh! AH! F-Fuck! M-My head! MY HEAD FUCKING HURTS! AHHHH!"


    "Sky! Listen to me! It''s okay! It''s okay! I know it hurts but I want you bare through the pain just until you could open your eyes! Can you do that for me?! Can you hear me?!"


    "Y-Yes¨C Agh! I-I-It fucking hurts! I¨C FUCK!"


    "Dear, listen to me! I know it''s really hard but that''s gonna be the only thing I''m asking you! Just open your eyes! Do you hear me? Just open your eyes! Just¨C eyes¡­ open¡­ just¡­"


    It felt like my head was being crushed by a heavy roller, and Marisha''s voice, which was my only lifeline, faded and faded until I was stuck all alone, hearing nothing but the sound of a door mming over and over followed by the same screeching sound that was there from the start.


    I thought I would pass out from the pain but everything changed when I heard thest m on the door.


    The noises I was currently hearing werepletely different but I suddenly heard thoughts from my own head that was from several years ago.


    "Great, it''s gonna be my fault again for not checking on our fucking dogs¡­ Every fucking time it''s the same fucking problem and I get told off or yelled at every fucking time I don''t check them¡­"


    ''What the fuck¡­''


    "It''s not like I was the one who took in every single stray we encountered and didn''t even bother teaching them a few tricks, and now, somehow it''s my fault for them being noisy all the time¡­"


    ''How is this¡­''


    "I do want to take responsibility, I do want to help out, but fuck me! I''m not here to take responsibility for something I didn''t do and I''m not here to help out about anything you didn''t give a fuck to anymore! I know we''re family but I have my own way of taking responsibility and helping out! But what happened when I did that?! I got fucking shut down because it''s not my business and the only thing I should be doing is something they feel is beneath them¡­"


    Hearing myself say that, I remember being angry at them because we just had a fight like normal families would from time to time but¡­ I would''ve wished that happened some other time¡­ and that thing that would happen right after¡­ never did.


    The next thing I know, I was seeing my own reflection from my oldptop and I was back in my old room from several years ago. My old self still had a lot of thoughts running through his head but the moment we heard our mom''s scream overpowering the noiseing from my room, our thoughts quieted down before it went into shambles, creating fear and panic first before even trying to act on it.


    ''GET MY TACHI¨C OUR TACHI! GET OUR¨C THE FUCK ARE YOU SO STUPID FOR?! DON''T PAUSE THAT FUCKING GAME AND RUN OUTSIDE! RUN OUTSIDE YOU STUPID FUCK!''


    I never tried so hard to move my body as I wanted it to but I was there just as a spectator.


    I know that this event already reyed in my head multiple times and I know that I couldn''t possibly change the oue by doing this but, I still wanted to try even if it was fucking insanity.


    And right when my old self finally reached for our Tachi and rushed to the door, another mind-numbing headache followed but it was stronger. Anyone would''ve fallen unconscious at this point but it was as if my eyes were being forced to watch everything unfold.


    As soon as my old self opened the door, I saw the same person that ruined my life.


    He still had this unkempt hair covering his face, only revealing this murderous smile but the only difference was that the blood that was supposed to be leaking out from his body was floating upwards.


    It was forming small beads that were slowly covering the ceiling, making a trail from where he came from.


    However, it only took a second before it reverted back to how it was and I saw my dad getting stabbed over and over for the millionth time. I could see his face wince every time my mom''s knife sinks into his body but what I didn''t notice before was that he was more concerned that I barged out of my room.


    He was looking at me like he was telling me to go back and lock the doors but like how I currently am, my old self wasn''t able to move and do shit.


    All I could do was scream at myself.


    ''MOVE! MOVE! MOVE, YOU DUMB FUCK! PULL YOUR BLADE AND LOP HIS HEAD OFF! DRAG HIM OFF AND CHOP HIS BODY TO PIECES! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!''


    I was still screaming at myself before I saw my mom just got back from their room with my dad''s gun. She obviously didn''t know how to use it and how I wish I could close my eyes.


    Every single time I hear the clicking sound was like a dagger to my heart and it was as if I''m internally bleeding.


    I saw my mom desperately trying to pull on the trigger with a helpless expression while my dad was trying hard to tell us to hide even if his body had several stab wounds. I even saw him try to grab onto his assant when that guy saw my mom trying to shoot him, but he was just too powerless to move.


    All it took was a simple flick of the wrist before blood gushed out from my mother''s throat.


    I tried so hard to move my body but the moment their blood got into my eyes, the angel living inside me turned into a demon.

 Chapter 701 - Closure - 100%

    I was still inside the head of my old self but it just got swarmed with negative emotions that could make anyone pass or thrash out. I felt my old self phase in and out of consciousness as our mind almost got wrecked from seeing our parents die, but something happened that I couldn''t remember.


    ''What is¡­ going¡­ on?''


    The thoughts that were running through my head, that came from my old self, stopped entirely before I was face to face with my parents'' killer.


    I could barely make out his facial features because of his fucked hair covering his face, but I got a good look at his mouth that had the smile that haunted me for years. However, another wave of pain and torture shed with my head before I saw his lips move.


    ''Wait¡­ what? This is not¡­ I can''t remember¡­''


    I was 100% sure I saw, heard, and remember everything that happened through the CCTVs that were in our old house, but there was definitely something they could miss if it was just installed in a corner of the room it was installed in.


    For instance, the words I read from his lips couldn''t be clearer.


    "S-Sorry man¡­ but god will forgive¨C"


    That was when my body jolted and attempted a draw-sh, but it seemed as if the blow to my mind was too strong, I wasn''t able to perform a killing blow.


    It waspletely a draw wrought with raw emotion but despite all that, it amounted to nothing.


    I choked it up as ''hesitation'' as I saw it from the screen before, but no way it could show me what was going in my head right now.


    My other psyche waspletely silent at first but my body almost gave out from the rush of orders it was telling itself to kill what was in front of it. It would''ve made an entire notebook ck if it was a written request.


    It was an all too familiar feeling to bepletely honest, but it waspletely different the first time it was unleashed. I definitely grew some resistance and some control with it right now, but my old self had no chance whatsoever.


    With that said, my mind was still in a war with itself as to how to fucking cut up that bastard, my bodygged for a few seconds.


    That was enough time for that motherfucker to wear an even maniacal smile before he shed at my arm over and over, in an attempt to separate the evil with me. However, his body just received too much damage to deliver a deeper cut, and even if he was using my mom''s knife, he wasn''t able to do what he wanted.


    But I did.


    I don''t know how but my arm getting cut up several times made the ordersing from my head unanimous. This gave me the same feeling when I was purposefully releasing killing intent and it said one thing:


    "Lop his arm off."


    My body never felt so in harmony with its mind and it just moved as it was supposed to.


    His arm was just flying in the air in a fraction of a second but my other psyche got control for a few seconds. That was when I heard myself shouting to the bastard, asking for answers but I waspletely watching how his lips moved.


    I remembered that he was just spouting gibberish at this moment but maybe he was also trying to tell me something else.


    ''W-What is he even¨C''


    Let''s just say that I wasn''t so lucky to form words from reading his lips this time, but I heard something different despite his screams and the music sting from my room.


    I heard something else before a vase hit my face and before I started chasing him down.


    It was so faint, our CCTVs didn''t pick it up but being awake in this state gave me that option to finally know everything that I missed from looking at a recording. I could probably guess the headaches I''m having were just ways that my brain was finally getting the fragments from my broken core memories that got buried all these years though I didn''t know if it''ll be a blessing or a curse.


    I found an answer to a question I didn''t even think of asking because of several reasons, but it made all the difference seeing the whole picture.


    My old self was preupied with something else and it was a bitter-happy thing that my head caught something amidst all the chaos. Not everyone could have the chance to do it, and even if the moment had already passed for them, they still left something for me. Both of them were dying but they chose words we rarely say to each other but always meant when we do.


    ''I''m sorry too Mom¡­ I''m sorry too Dad¡­ I love both of you too¡­ Always¡­''


    The headaches and the ringing noisepletely stopped and the scene that was ying on my head slowly faded into nothingness, before I saw myself staring at the ceiling. I eventually got the feeling from my whole body back though the first person I saw was still the mother of my favorite person. However, tears were streaming down her cheeks though she was smiling brightly.


    Marisha gave me a hug as soon as I got up and I never felt such a warm embrace.


    I felt like sleeping right now but something warm just came out of my eyes before my body trembled all over. I just started bawling on the spot as Marisha was hugging me, and I just hugged her as tightly as I could.


    "T-Thank you¡­ I didn''t even know¡­"


    "You don''t need to thank me¡­ You did most of the work¡­"


    "B-But¡­ How did you¨C"


    "I have my ways¡­ you have your own¡­ I just don''t show off every chance they get like someone in this room¡­ It''s our secret now, okay?"


    "Psychotherapist-Client Privilege?"


    "Sure, let''s call it that¡­ But you gotta pay me to make it official," Marisha jokingly chuckled before letting go of me.


    "Heh, I''ll write you a check if you promise not to cash it? Anyway, I got to show off at the ce we''re going so that if anything happens, the target will be on my back, not Kaley''s. I know she can handle herself but I still want her to be the safest one there."


    Marisha looked at me with a kind expression before opening her mouth, "I know. But just remember that Kaley and everyone here would do the same for you. They''ll also be sad if something happens to you, okay? Me and Matthew included. My husband''s a hard-ass but forgive him for not knowing the whole thing¡­ Client Privilege and all¡­ I tell him a few things but not about my clients¡­ especially the best one."


    "Best one? I''ll take it, I guess¡­ But trust me¡­ I don''t know the whole thing either¡­ But¡­ It''s not like I was living a lie even though I''m unaware of that thing¡­ It¡­ It would amount to nothing for some people but for me¡­ it means everything¡­ Can I tell Kaley about this?"


    "It''s up to you but I think you would even if I say no¨C not that I would say no¡­ it''s best to be open with each other''s business only if they''re involved or part of it."


    "I thought you were keeping a few things from Matthew as well? Is that any different?"


    "Want me to tell him that you''re in an open rtionship with our daughter? I know it''s kinda different but¨C you know what I mean now, right?"


    I nodded after a smile, "It depends on who''s business it is¡­"


    "Exactly. I''m ''technically'' free to tell him all I know since we''re married but it''s just a matter of being respectful with someone else''s business that wasn''t yours. Do you understand what I''m saying?"


    "I understand¡­"


    "Okay, that''s good. Do you want us to head outside now? They''ve been waiting for a while. Trust me, they tried to break in when you started screaming but Kaley knows what I''m doing and she blocked the door for us."


    "Really?"


    "Yes."


    "That''s just toxic¡­"


    "Ye¨C What did you just say?"


    "She''s Kaley The White now¨C"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! You''re really something else¡­ Fly! You fools!"


    "YOOOO~ YOU GOT IT!"


    Marisha and I got augh and shared a moment and it didn''t take long before we opened the door and saw Kaley and Matthew with Tatiana, Cynthia, Oscar, Jared, Lois, and etc.


    They didn''t know what to do when they saw my face but let''s just say Kaley just leaped onto me andtched on like a fucking Facehugger.


    Well, I didn''t try to pry her off me because I would''ve lifted her up and held her in my arms.


    However, we still had one more issue to resolve, man-to-man.


    I was about to ask Matthew toe to talk with me privately, but I saw him looking at Jared and Lois giving him a signal before he removed his shirt. The people who knew were already smiling like idiots, and the ones who didn''t, wore the same expression Kaley and Tatiana wore when they saw this family tradition for the first time.


    In which case, I asked Kaley to get off me for a moment before I did the same thing as Matthew did. I removed my shirt in front of everybody and I walked up to his face with a calm expression.


    The two of us just looked at each other for a moment before I broke the silence.


    "You sure about this?"


    "Yeah, I don''t wanna cut your cheek the second time."


    "Hah! Did you lose a tooth or nah?"


    "Talk all you want but I''m going 100% with this."


    "Go ahead, don''t me me for going above the limit. You don''t fucking know what I just went through."


    "I think I do. Try me."


    Well, I did try¡­ violently and way above as I normally could.


    Let''s just say both of us had a searing handprint on our backs when we parted ways, and I could still feel it when we left the Man Bay. However, let''s just say Matthew took a lot more than he could handle and he''d pay for it for a few days.


    My mind never felt so clear since I had a closure I didn''t know I could have, and I told Kaley, Tatiana, and Cynthia all about it. Kaley never left my side even though she was really sleepy and I just found her leaning on me while we were enjoying the breeze outside. The other two were already asleep on our room and I carried Kaley in the same room before I went back to the same spot I was standing on earlier.


    I don''t know what happened¨C Well, I partially do but I just had more energy now even if I so wanted to take a nap earlier. It was totally indescribable what my mind and my body had just undergone but it seemed like I would know the difference once wey anchor.


    It was already nearing sunrise since we''ve been going for a few hours, and I just found the perfect ce to blow some more steam.

 Chapter 702 - So, Lets Talk About Our Buy-in.

    I could faintly hear dull thudsing from one area of our ship and since we still had a third of the way to go, I followed where the sounds came from. The grunts and the shouts became louder and louder as I shortened the distance and I figured a few people were using the facilities.


    ''This early, huh?''


    The noise was obviouslying from an open area that was turned into a small-scale gym with only free weights, a few mats, a manual treadmill, a couple of heavy bags, and etc.


    We could''ve fitted a lot more equipment but we needed to bnce it out since we also reserved this area for meetings, entertainment, and a few others.


    With that said, I saw Lawrence and Jose doing their own exercises but as soon as Jose noticed me, his eyes lit up and he jumped up from the bench he was on.


    "You''re up early. Sneaking a short workout before we arrive?"


    "Kinda, but I haven''t slept yet."


    "What? You haven''t slept yet? Do you think that''s a good idea?"


    "Are you my mom now?"


    "I''m serious. You should always sleep when you have the chance."


    "Don''t worry, I know my limits. I''m gonna use the treadmill if no one''s using it."


    "Wait, help me hook that heavy bag first."


    "Sure."


    I began a short warmup after helping Jose but all this time, Lawrence was just keeping to himself. Well, I didn''t even try to bother him since he was wearing a headset so time just passed while Jose and I were having a conversation as we were working out.


    After a while, Mikhail and Bogdan joined us but we started getting a whiff of the breakfast that was being prepared for us.


    The smell of bacon getting crispier by the second and the aroma of chopped onions and garlic when it was getting saut¨¦ed before adding in the rest of the ingredients for the fried rice was fucking impossible to not notice.


    Bogdan almost immediately left the scene and headed for the kitchen while the rest of us struggled to get a proper rep in.


    However, a certain blonde-haired vixen was spotted speeding through the hallway and each one of us stopped everything that we''re doing because if the yellow sh reached our kitchen and had her way with our cooks, we''d only have crumbs for breakfast.


    I was just about to follow after the guys but my eyes stopped at the heavy bag in front of me.


    It was still fairly new without any tears or stitched-areas and I just had an inch to deliver a few strikes without holding back.


    Walking back a few steps, I slowly exhaled as the area I was in got filled with the same chilling aura. However, for some reason, I was able to limit the spread by only a few inches away from my body even though it was invisible to the naked eye and waspletely intangible.


    It was something that could only be felt and this time, it felt like I had more control over it.


    With that said, as soon as I performed the ''wrong'' kick from before, I was fucking shocked.


    Bringing it back for a few seconds, I readied my body before I reyed the movements in my head and once I spun and stepped in, I kicked as hard as I could before turning my knee at thest minute.


    I expected the heavy bag to blow back from the impact I would create but I couldn''t be more wrong.


    On the contrary, I never felt much resistance because my foot just punched through the heavy bag before its sheer weight forced it to rip open and spill out its insides. It started to make a smokescreen due to how the sand poured out and I just started to feel the stinging pain from my right foot.


    ''The fuck did I just do¡­''


    I only had a second to review what just happened because Tatiana just came rushing in from the kitchen with a handful of crispy bacon while everyone else was chasing after her.


    "STOP HER!"


    "IT''M MINE! BACK OFF!"


    "THAT''S OUR FOOD, TATIANA!"


    "DON''T PLAY THAT SONG OR I''LL SMACK YA!"


    "WHAT SONG ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"


    "SHADDAP! ALL OF YOU! I HADN''T HAD SEX YESTERDAY SO I''M EXTRA HUNGRY!"


    It only took a moment before Tatiana and the others went into the smoke and I was right in the middle of it. Long story short, I got trampled like marble cake in a mosh pit though I managed to trip a few with my body.


    When the smoke cleared out, they were more inclined to question me as to why I looked like a bruised hotdog than to ask why the heavy bag just got ripped in half.


    On the other hand, Tatiana had the gall to eat all the bacon she took in front of us and she just got chased the second time all around our ship.


    They only stopped when Johnny started shouting at the inte and breakfast couldn''t be sadder.


    We had enough food tost us a couple of weeks but we had a strict rule about how much we could take out with each meal time.


    In the end, we just had fried rice mixed with chopped up vegetables and scrambled eggs though it did have a few sprinkles of shredded bacon our cooks hadn''t cooked yet when Tatiana came invading their work area.


    Well, we still had good coffee avable so it wasn''t that bad. Besides, a few of us here would take coffee over a 5-Star meal because we''d sometimes even use it as our viand by pouring it like it was broth.


    I don''t do it as much but that was always the go to when I don''t like the food when I was a kid.


    However, everyone got their revenge when Tatiana was served a bowl of in rice without any seasoning, and she never looked so devastated with each bite. No one felt sorry for her one bit but everyone just started choking on their food when she pulled out a few bacon strips from her sleeves.


    "YOU STILL HAD MORE TUCKED IN?!"


    "Correct."


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    Everyone didn''t know whether tough or cry but Tatiana doing this just made everyone unanimously agree to have a few people guarding the kitchen area when she''s around. Not only would it let us have equal portions with each other, it''ll be a fun exercise to be aware of our surroundings.


    Granted we''d be at Mr. Cuervo''s residence but it would also be ideal to keep a tight watch on Tatiana¨C err, our food.


    After breakfast, I immediately went back to clean up the mess I made and the people who saw it for the second time had a different look on their face. However, I just let their thoughts run inside their head as I sweeped all the sand that I could before I sewed the heavy bag, applied a bit of glue, and added ayer of duct tape.


    And as I was minding my own business, Jose crouched down and pulled me aside.


    "You did that, didn''t you?"


    "Maybe."


    "Heh. If you''re gonna be cryptic like that, you should learn how to hide your tracks better. Everyone knows you did it, they just don''t know how."


    "Trust me, I don''t have a fucking clue either."


    "Can''t you just do it again and see?"


    "Didn''t you see me fix that one? It took me an hour! It''s not even dry yet so just use the other one¡­"


    "You little¡­ I hope I don''t get matched up to you in the first round."


    "You''ll join the games then?"


    "Why else would Ie here? I don''t wanna beat up our guys, it just makes me feel bad."


    "Hey, better than getting eaten up ''cause they don''t know shit to defend themselves, right?"


    "I know that. I just wanna let loose for once."


    "Heh. We''ll see¡­"


    Time continued to pass until we passed by Marikaban Ind and entered Batangas Bay, and it didn''t take long before we made contact.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [IS THAT YOU, PAPI CHULO?! EHH~ THAT IS YOU, ESE! ANDALE! WE''RE HERE! EVERYONE''S HERE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Hearing that, Tatiana instinctively facepalmed before chambering a round for all of the guns she brought. Her team only heard stories of the fabled ''charmer'' and it was now time to meet with him face-to-face.


    Aside from Enrique, we definitely saw familiar faces before we docked in one of the avable ports and it was a small reunion between two parties.


    Surprisingly enough, aside from Niks, Alexei, and Ilya being present with Enrique¡­ Irene, Arturo, and even Mr. Cuervo were also present to meet us with open arms. They obviously brought more people for their own safety but they were a distance away looking out for possible threats.


    With that said, everyone just looked so different from thest time I saw them and the most obvious one was Niks, Alexei, and Ilya having a serious tan. I would''ve mistaken them for a local if it weren''t for their facial features and also their eye color though Ilya had a few visible scars.


    The three shared a moment with Artem and the rest while Mr. Cuervo pulled me aside after hugging Cynthia as warmly as he could. He still had this ''machismo'' shit going and the best part was he came in with an all-white suit with gold filigree with his chest out. Furthermore, he was still smoking a Cuban cigar in the middle of his fingers and the fucking handmade shoes he was wearing was fucking fire.


    He gave me a wide smile beforebing his wavy hair, "Hermano, we meet again. You seem different?"


    I smiled back, "I could say the same to you. You growing out your hair, eh?"


    "Perhaps. Ah, you prepared a gift like I told you?"


    "I did. I bet you''ll fucking love it."


    "For me? I thought¨C"


    "Check it out first before you speak a fucking word."


    I just made Jose roll it over the ramp of our ship and Mr. Cuervo''s eyes almost popped out of its socket as his jaw almost hit the ground. Even Enriquepletely turned around and ignored Tatiana who he was trying to serenade.


    "So, let''s talk about our buy-in."

 Chapter 703 - Lowrider - Just Wait, Hermano. Youll See...

    I didn''t even know if my words came through to their heads but I couldn''t me them. I''m sure that out of all the things to see in a zombie apocalypse, a fucking lowrider was among the things they never dreamt of seeing.


    A lowrider wasn''t something that boasted top speed, eleration, handling, or whatnot but instead, it boasted style.


    These were the type of cars that was so fucking low, they would almost hit the pavement¨C and in some cases, they were kitted out with hydraulics, letting them be able to go high, low, or even bounce at will.


    The sole reason a lowrider could be worth six figures before the world ended was none other than its paint job. Granted certain parts also costs money but the paint was the thing that could make or break a deal.


    It would sound ridiculous for most people but let''s just say that some people have paid for things that were even more¨C or just as ridiculous.


    They didn''t have the best performance parts that were avable in the market for a reason but what if they did?


    The gift I prepared for Mr. Cuervo was a ''72 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that was kitted the fuck out.


    It had the machined bumper-attachment we''d always put on our vehicles, tuned engine and transmission, reinforced body, mandatory roll cage, tubeless tires, ted rims, adjustable hydraulic suspension, and most importantly its sick-ass paint job.


    From the front bumper to the tail bumper, I spent some time with an airbrush to make a bterally symmetrical design that mixed the colors of ck, blue, and purple, while adding in an abstract design of a crow enveloping the whole car. Furthermore, what I didn''t mention earlier was the interiorpletely matches the outside and it even had that new car smell.


    With that said, the paint would change depending on the light source but most of the time, it would look like shiny chromatic ck.


    The next thing I know, Mr. Cuervo was already entering the driver''s seat, and the look on his face when he saw the custom keychain that the key on the ignition had was fucking priceless.


    If men like him would cry, this would be the fucking moment.


    Mr. Cuervo cried real tears once he heard the engine roar and no one could fucking me him. I would find myself sheeding a tear even from pointless things but for a man like Mr. Cuervo to do that, it would be as rare as finding Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster trading NFTs.


    However, the same couldn''t be said for Enrique.


    The motherfucker had a raging boner in his pants and if we weren''t there to throw him off the port, he would''ve slid his dick in any opening he could in Mr. Cuervo''s Monte Carlo. If he didn''t, he would''ve found a way to fuck a car and that was a mental image everyone was trying to avoid.


    "EY! WHY''D YOU THROW ME DOWN HERE, PUTO?! I''M¨C IT''S A FUCKING LONG SWIM BACK!"


    "JUST SWIM BACK AND MAKE SURE YOU DON''T HAVE A FUCKING BONER!"


    "B-BONER?! IF THIS WAS ANYTHING, IT WAS A COMPLIMENT! NICE JOB, ESE~!"


    "I''LL ACCEPT A ''THAT''S AWESOME!'' INSTEAD, HEARD ABOUT THAT?!"


    "EH~! YOU CRAZY, PAPI CHULO! MY DICK DON''T LIE~ IT GOES UP IF IT LIKES SOMETHING, FOO~"


    While Enrique was trying to swim back to shore, Mr. Cuervo turned off the engine and exited the car I made for him. After that, he looked me in the eye and gave me the most bro-hug of all bro-hugs.


    "I have no words for this, Hermano¡­ This is too¡­ I didn''t even think I''d see this in this country of all ces¡­ Did you say something earlier?"


    "Heh, I''m talking about our buy-in. Is that enough?"


    "Fuck the buy-in! Besides, past winners don''t need to pay, they just need to show up¡­ However, with this car¡­ Chingalo! Is everyone here joining? No problem! For you, hermano, no problem!"


    "Then it''s settled. Don''t worry, we''ll only have a few people join in but we did bring some stuff to put on the prize pool. You know, for liquidity purposes and what not."


    "That''s very good to hear! This will be the biggest night yet and will be the most memorable! Hermano, I prepared everything on my end and all you need to do is put on a good show. Before the finale, everyone will¨C you know¨C we know what''s gonna happen¡­"


    "Yeah, better not jinx it."


    Mr. Cuervo just gave me this knowing look with a faint smile and the atmosphere just changed for a short bit before it turned to normal. He scanned around the group I came in with for a second time before he nodded approvingly.


    "Anyway, if you have ryed your orders to the people who''d remain here, can we hit the road? We''ll be driving for an hour or so and I wish to be seen in the premises as soon as possible. Our guests have already started arriving yesterday and it''ll probably resume at this hour."


    "No problem. We loaded everything in our vehicles before we docked. Wanna lead the way?"


    "Hah! ''Wanna lead the way?'' Fucking hermano, I hope I don''t smoke you. I heard the engine, it''s not some clunker in there."


    "Sure, sure~"


    With that said, we went back to our ship to get into our vehicles and I exchanged words for a minute with Johnny and the rest of my crew that would stay behind. Since we already talked about our ns even before boarding our ship, I just reminded them of things that were easily forgotten.


    Besides, it''s not like we''d be cut off frommunication and it was easy enough to ry info through our radios.


    After some time, we took three vehicles from our ship: Our Raptor, Tatiana''s HUMVEE, and one of our military trucks that contained provisions that we''d leave to Irene''s ce and use as liquidity for the betting pool in Mr. Cuervo''s games.


    It contained guns, ammo, other weapons, canned food, electronics, medicine, and medical supplies, but it also contained ''luxury'' items that would obviously attract their own buyers.


    All of these items would be hard to procure in this ce so I''m hoping to receive something of equal value that would also be difficult to procure in our area. I already left them with something valuable the first time I came here, so it was only proper to get something in return.


    It''s not like they were facing trouble supply-wise so it was now time to open a trading route, even if the schedule was months away from each other.


    Little by little, I would like to restore a little bit of the things we did before the world ended so we could at least have some semnce as to how the world used to work. In the future, I''d like this arrangement to be a monthly thing but a few things needed to be done first before it bes feasible.


    However, this was a conversation for another time since we still had a lot on our current te.


    After getting everything in order, we drove out of the port and met with the group of people Mr. Cuervo came with to fend off the dead that came wandering.


    From the first nce, they seemed a step above the usual rabble and on a positive note, they seemed to be on good terms with Niks, Alexei, and especially Ilya and they seemed to appreciate the new ride their boss just came in.


    We exchanged a few nces and they seemed to recognize me, but their eyes almost immediately shifted to Tatiana and Cynthia when they caught a glimpse of them. They turned their eyes to Kaley too but they already knew that she was someone they''d only pursue if they wanted to get cut in half.


    The things that I did thest time I came here were still fresh in their minds and they knew their boundaries the moment they saw the des hanging from our hips.


    With that said, their group insisted to go ahead but Mr. Cuervo just peeled off to show-off his new ride. Well, he didn''t go as far and we soon found ourselves in a line that favored Mr. Cuervo''s safety.


    We''d be driving into another town called Ibaan before we reach the town of Padre Garcia, where Irene''s ce was located, but we could already see the stark difference of this cepared to ours.


    The dead couldn''t be more scarcer and even if we already experienced this the first time we came here, it was still a minor shock to discover that almost nothing had changed.


    There was always a difference in poption density between a rural and an urban setting but passing through a ghost town without a single sighting of the dead didn''t sit well with me.


    However, I heard Mr. Cuervo''s voice from the radio.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Just wait, Hermano. You''ll see¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 704 - Arrival - Hah! Im In Danger...

    I didn''t notice that Mr. Cuervo could see the look on my face from behind our Raptor, but it didn''t take long before the questions in my head got answered. As we drove forward, we heard thumping bass soundsing from a cockfighting arena and it was getting louder by the second.


    It was this rhythmic base you''d hear passing by a house having a party and their ''attendees'' were alreadying in droves.


    Almost all of them seemed like they came from the town we just passed through but there were still stragglers that got attracted when they were passing by.


    However, I discovered several shipping containers¨C like the ones I saw that delivered the deadheads I killed for the final game, parked right at the side of the said arena. It had people at the top fishing out unsuspecting deadheads and loading them from a hatch at the top, and I''m not sure how long they''ve been doing it for.


    In any case, I already assumed that they''d be part of the games Mr. Cuervo always held at his ce.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t worry, Hermano. We always kill the special ones.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You do know those regrs could turn to special ones, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''m aware, Hermano. But taking the safety route isn''t my style, you know that. If there''s a problem, we take care of it. I don''t worry myself about something that may or may not happen that I already got both the solutions for. Besides, it makes us stronger in the end. You know what I mean?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Sure. Anyway, how many of those things you got going around? I assume the ones that get inside are trapped somehow."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t want to argue right now, eh? I understand, we''ll save that for another time¡­ To answer your question, we got that thing in each town close to us but we got more in Lipa City. Well, we don''t even need a ce to lure them in, we could just show up and basically scoop a batch. It''s neverending there and I guess people who mistakenly drive through that ce get trapped.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Neverending? Unless they could make more of themselves, I''d guess they wereing from the neighboring cities. The foot traffic in Lipa is also one of the highest even in a rural area."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Jesus, Hermano. Don''t even mention the dead fucking because that''s not a market I''m willing to tap on¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Zombie hookers, needs more than a condom for protection¨C Ack! Kaley!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Well~ That''s enough chatting for today before I douse my ears in bleach. I can''t even get the mental image off my head. We''re pretty close though¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    It didn''t take long before we reached Irene''s ce first and I was delighted to see that it was now a few levels above thest time we''ve been here.


    Irene gave us a small tour while my guys brought down the items we prepared for her.


    "With the help of everyone here, we secured the whole municipality and everything thates with it. We recovered our farms and started nting different crops, increased the amount of livestock we''re taking care of, made sure we have safe drinking water, and secured all the entrances, roads, and the walls."


    "Increased livestock? Everything or¨C"


    "Just chickens, guinea pigs, and rabbits. We could more than double the poption of our chickens in a month and a half but we''re supplying to Mr. Cuervo and other ces. A few other ces are doing the same but we''re the most likely to have a consistent delivery. We''re trying to expand more but we''re close to hitting our limit because of the people avable."


    "Hmm, I may have a solution to that¨C but what crops are currently avable? You''ve made a few harvests at least, right?"


    "Of course, we have Ampya(Bitter Gourds), Okra(Gumbo), Petsay(Chinese Cabbage), Singkamas(Yam Bean), and Repolyo(Cabbage) avable. Oh, we also have Kang Kong(Swamp Cabbage) growing in a few ponds and we have Malunggay(Horseradish) Trees we''re picking from and a few others. Some families here had their own garden and they''d always share something if they ever had a harvest."


    "How about aquatic resources? I know it''s a drive to get to the port but you guys make sure¨C"


    Mr. Cuervo interjected, "We got the handle on that. Irene here thought of making a fish pond or something but each trip just yields us so much, we got plenty to spare. I send the excess here so they could smoke it or dry it but I always prefer them fresh. You got a nice stock going along, right?"


    Irene nodded, "We do. We even made fish paste and fish sauce with the excess of the excess. Everything is used from nose to tail, nothing is wasted."


    "As we should."


    Mr. Cuervo chuckled, "We just had to lose 90% of the poption to solve world hunger, eh? Even if we ran out of things to loot from stores, we wouldn''t have any problems. You just have to know how to get and make them. What do you call that again? Self-sustaining was it?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, but we can''t me people for not having the time. Some jobs need their full time and attention, and since they have money for it, it''s easier to buy something from a store or have it delivered. I''m not gonna say they made a mistake but look at what the fuck just happened."


    Arturo finally chimed in, "It''s literally called making a mistake. Most of the people that survived had their own shit going on."


    "There''s just a lot of things to factor in. Let''s just agree that the me should be to the one who made this thing."


    Mr. Cuervo shook his head, "Hermano, I agree with you but what else did this thing solve when it wiped most of us? There''s always a positive and a negative. I don''t enjoy the smell of rot when a breeze picks up their smell but the air couldn''t be fresher and I''m here in the provinces. You guys would''ve noticed that by now and we weren''t even high up in the mountains. I could only imagine¡­"


    "Yeah¡­ I guess you could say that¡­"


    We talked for a few more minutes before we received a call that everything was already brought down, including the package Oscar left for Irene. I didn''tment much on it but there was definitely a certain way Irene''s mannerisms changed when the old man''s name was brought up.


    I just removed any mental image that was trying to w its way to the surface and we eventually made our way back to Mr. Cuervo''spound, El Cuervo Heights.


    The drive wasn''t as long but we had several stops in between due to the few checkpoints they set up in key locations. With that said, I started to ingrain the faces of the new people of Mr. Cuervo that were stationed in said areas while updating the internal map I had in my mind.


    However, I underestimated the amount of peopleing from the ''families'' that were invited to the wedding.


    ''I thought it was¨C Nevermind¡­ it''s still possible¡­''


    El Cuervo Heights was already as big as it was but it now had several enclosures outside to facilitate the amount of people that were attending. Not only that, the number of tents, vehicles, and other effects to keep people entertained was more than double to what I was told, and looking at Mr. Cuervo''s expression from the back just revealed that even after all that, he still wanted to get on with the n.


    I know we still had several hours before sundown but I fucking hatest minute changes.


    Driving closer to the gates, I just noticed an extended viewing tform erected around the walls of thepound. It had several tiers that seemed to bepletely stable but its main purpose was to allow spectators inside without overcrowding.


    People had the phrase "The more, the merrier." but that point waspletely moot if everyone else was fucking suffocating.


    The extended viewing tforms were the perfect solution but little did I know that that was just the beginning.


    Mr. Cuervo would''ve flourished in the entertainment business because arge fucking screen was right in the middle of the tforms, overlooking his house that was just straight ahead after entering the gates.


    Almost immediately, the music started getting louder and louder and it was like attending a concert or a rave where the people attending were carrying guns, drunk, half-naked, naked, or a more fucked-up version of seeing random people in Walmart or just a regr Florida guy.


    We just saw one outside getting rimmed and blown by two ''entertainers'' that was eating a taco and a donut while taking tequ shots, and the look on Jose''s face was fucking priceless.


    I could only imagine the thoughts running through his head and I''m sure he''s gonna be wasted in the first hour. Despite that, I''ll make sure someone was looking after him or else seeing him chugging a beer through his ass would be the lightest punishment.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Do you like it, Hermano? It''s a fucking surprise, eh?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''re one crazy motherfucker. I''ll tell you that¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHA! I KNEW YOU''D LIKE IT! Oh, better watch out in about three seconds¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "WHAT?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    The next thing I know, several fans and ''entertainers'' recognized me from the get-go and not only vouchers for special services rained down on me, I''ve never seen these many tits at the same ce at the same time.


    Jose started to grab on my clothes, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! YOU''RE THIS FAMOUS?!"


    "I''m not¨C"


    Alexei shouted from the back, "FUCK YOU! WE NEVER GET THIS RECEPTION!"


    Ilya added, "YEAH! I WON MORE TIMES THAN YOU AND I¨C Fuck, I''m married to Aurora¡­ What am I saying¡­"


    I got a little happy for the small reception but it was drowned out when the majority saw Cynthia and Tatiana.


    Their roars almost overpowered the music sting in the background and the heavenly view of seeing different shaped mounds became a nightmare when the ones that werepletely hammered this early started pulling down their pants and flopped around theirid member as an unsolicited dick sh.


    I was ready to bleach my eyes when a few dongers started saluting their general, but they were quickly beaten up by Mr. Cuervo''s guards.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    "STOP HITTING ME! CYNTHIA! NOTICE ME!"


    "TATIANA~!!! ACCEPT MY LOVING¨C ACK! GRCK! MY LEG! MY LEG!"


    "OOOH~ WHO''S THAT ONE WITH LONG LEGS?!"


    "I''D LIKE THAT ONE WITH THE BIG- AHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    I didn''t think that this would be the wee we''d receive but it was fucking funny to see a guard wrestle down a guy with raging boner. Some of them were still hard when they were being dragged away but I failed to notice the expression of someone whose tits I should only be looking at.


    She was keeping silent the whole time I was ogling different pairs with the bois, but it was already toote when I felt a prickly aura of someone wanting to chop my dick off. She knew I''d never sleep outside our circle without telling her about it, but it must be something that I did while ogling titties that got her ticked off.


    I really don''t know what I did but I''m guessing it''s my fault.


    ''Hah! I''m in danger¡­''

 Chapter 705 - Luis - WHAT?!

    As soon as I turned around, I saw Kaley looking at me with a deathly stare while one of her eyebrows was raised, but she was hiding a smirk while keeping a bit of air in her mouth. It would''ve scared off most people but I really found it cute when she does that.


    I wasn''t sure if she was actually mad at me but before she tried anything, I pushed her close and gave her a kiss in front of everybody.


    Almost immediately, Kaley''s body buckled from the sudden-ness but I didn''t stop there as I stuck my tongue down her throat.


    She was trying to fight it the first few seconds but it didn''t take long before she gave in and timidly kissed me back. Cheers erupted from all around us, but even though that was a promation that Kaley''s my girl, the ''entertainers'' around us didn''t care one bit.


    "Woohoo~!"


    "Visit me after!"


    "Go with me! I''ll give you a discount and a bonus!"


    "I''ll bring my best friend with me!"


    "Me too!"


    ''Crap¡­''


    It seemed that they just epted a challenge but their eyes almost popped out of their sockets when Tatiana pulled me away and also gave me a kiss in public. She even tried to overpower me with our kiss but I held my ground and kissed her back. Luckily, even if she''s not as sensitive in kissing aspared to Kaley, I know the ways around her mouth.


    The winner couldn''t be more obvious but there was a few seconds of shock before another wave of cheers erupted.


    "W-What''s going on?!"


    "Can you and your best friendpete with that?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "Nooooooo~!"


    "My hopes and dreams! THIS IS INJUSTICE!"


    There was obviously a mix of reactions from obvious parties but it didn''t end with that.


    Kaley''s arms were folded as she was amusedly shaking her head while Tatiana and I just broke off the kiss and was just staring at each other. I had this look of ''Why did you do that?'' while she had this look of ''I wanted to mark my territory too.'', but Cynthia just had to join in and steal a kiss from me.


    It wasn''t long and drawn outpared to the first two but it was enough to make the ground shake from the third wave of cheers, howls, and cries while freezing in ce the ''entertainers'' who used to switch with her from their old scam.


    "W-W-WHAT?! SHE¨C SHE KISSED HIM!"


    "POR QUE?!"


    "ALRIGHT, PAPI CHULO!"


    "THEY¨C I THOUGHT¨C SHE''S ALSO¨C"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    From the first kiss, I could see Jose raising his fists in the air while I could hear Enrique''s cheers from the background, but when Tatiana pulled me away to give the second kiss, Jose got even more hyped when Enrique almost lost sanity.


    However, when Cynthia gave me a peck on the lips, Jose was trying to pull the hairs out of his bald head while Enrique didn''t know whether to jump ship and run away from seeing ayer of dark aura enveloping Mr. Cuervo and his car.


    Even Mr. Cuervo''s guards trying to watch over him shrunk down as they tried to make themselves as small as possible, to avoid getting caught in an imaginary crossfire.


    They obviously didn''t know our little arrangement with everyone, and even if Mr. Cuervo already knew that his sister, but unofficially known as his daughter, was in some sort of rtionship with us, seeing us kiss in public still prompted a release of killing intent. However, it quickly died down after a few seconds and not everyone noticed it because of themotion.


    If this set of kisses didn''t put several targets on my back, I don''t know what would''ve aplished that.


    I could already feel stares of different kinds digging more than my back and most of them were obviously wrought from envy and jealousy. Though most of them were from guys, I could definitely feel female nces that were curious as to how I bagged beauties left, right, and center.


    They didn''t question much as to how I was with Tatiana but it was night and day when Cynthia went for me. Because it seemed that the general idea was that Tatiana was the one who took Cynthia with us, but this revealed that I was the actual perpetrator. Add that information that Tatiana kissed and touched Cynthia publicly from the game they were inst time, I could only imagine the thoughts running through everyone''s heads.


    ''I guess I''m already standing out¡­ a little too much¡­''


    I was hoping to cast a light above me to cast a protective shadow on everyone else, but it seemed like I didn''t have to do it anymore. Granted it achieved the desired result but revealing our rtionship with each other to this crowd wasn''t a great idea.


    Yes, it might''ve made some of them abstain from pursuing concerned parties, but the first person who approached me the moment we parked our vehicles proved that we might''ve made a mistake.


    He was a muscr guy that was just as tall as me, but the air that came with him told us that he had been having drinks since yesterday. However, it seemed like he could still move as a normal person would even if he was slightly slurring his words.


    "Heh¡­ I¡­ I¡­ I''ve been¡­ meaning to meet you¡­ I saw¡­st time and I¡­ curious¡­"


    "Sure?"


    "Haha¡­ Luis¡­ I''m Luis and¨C"


    While he was in mid-sentence, he pulled out a gold coin from his pocket and he flicked it towards me.


    It spun several times in the air, enough for me to see that it wasn''t a regr coin, but as soon as I reached forwards and caught it, everyone else watching grew excited and told everyone that something was about to go down. However, I didn''t know full well what I just did but seeing the guy smile as he cracked his fingers told me that we were gonna have a fight one way or another.


    The next thing I know, a bottle was already flying for my face but Niks'' voice resounded all over.


    "DON''T LET GO OF THAT COIN¨C"


    Niks wasn''t even able to finish his sentence when the bottle that wasing for me broke into several pieces, and if I didn''t jump back in time, a few shards or particles would''ve made it into my eyes.


    It seemed like the motherfucker threw another bottle to break the first one that he threw at me, but he was now about to perform a rush.


    He never looked so excited when I dodged his opening attack but the moment he closed the distance, I kicked up and carried dust with my boots to impair his sight. Andpared to his dirty attempt of getting ss shards into my eyes, I seeded in getting dust in his eyes instead.


    As soon as it happened, he tried to rub his eyes mid-rush but he failed to notice a strike in the motion of a p with a closed fisting for the area between his left ear and his temple.


    It was one of the easiest shots in the word and he took it without putting up any sort of guard.


    ''Go home, you''re drunk and knocked the fuck out¡­''


    The moment I made contact, he immediately lost bnce but my left foot already lifted off of the ground as I sent a kick to the right side of his body. With his arms up above, trying to put up the lousiest guard I''ve ever seen, this fight 9 o''clock in the morning was a fuckingyup.


    I could''ve applied a lot more force but I just switched mid-way and used the kick as a push to topple him over.


    If someone''s body could fold twice, that would''ve been the perfect picture.


    He was already incapacitated when I hit his head so cracking his ribs even before the games started would be in poor taste. I fucking hate dirty fighters but I admired the balls to pick a fight with me while he''s drunk.


    His teeth just scraped a bunch of dirt when he fell down and there was a momentary silence before cheers erupted for the fourth time.


    "He took down Luis! He took down Luis!"


    "What did you think was gonna happen?!"


    "Pay up, bitch!"


    "What did we even bet on?!"


    "I can''t wait for the games to start! He also got his coin!"


    I was still holding the coin in my left hand, and now that I have the chance to take a closer look, I opened my fist and inspected it.


    It was a coin asrge as our Php. 5.00 coin, but it had intricate markings with a crow at the center, and an inscription that says: One Man Above All.


    Just looking at the crow told be this was a customized coin that Mr. Cuervo got made somewhere but I still didn''t know it''s full purpose. However, once I met eyes with the man himself, he threw me another coin with a huge smile on his face.


    "Fucking Luis¡­ Keep his coin Hermano and¨C"


    "Am I supposed to fight you now?"


    "What?! I¨C"


    "You just threw me another coin¨C Nice touch by the way, but is this how it works?"


    "Ah¨C That coin I just threw over is yours, Hermano! This is a new thing to keep every winner froming back! And before I even gave you yours, Luis just threw a challenge without thinking¡­ Oh! You''re free to fuck his girl too."


    "..."


    "..."


    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 706 - Elena - Wipe

    Mr. Cuervo''s words took a second before it fully registered in my head but out of all the things to reward after a challenge like this, fucking someone''s girl wasn''t something I''d think of. Everyone who didn''t know this rule was in utter shock and I subconsciously gripped the coin Mr. Cuervo threw at me while turning to Kaley and the other two.


    ''I''m not gonna fucking lose then! But I need to know every rule that pertains to this coin¡­''


    With that said, I already have two in my hands and the only difference between the two was that mine was still new. It didn''t have the grime or the dirt that Luis'' coin had but it was practically the same thing even from a closer inspection.


    However, we still had a drunken man down for the count so I crouched down to check on him before trying to wake him up.


    I pulled out a small ss bottle and ced it right under his nose.


    "BWAAAAAAAA!"


    Luis just fucking jumped up like he was electrocuted, but the first thing he did was yoink a beer bottle from a random dude watching from the sidelines. The guy didn''t even try to fight back because it seemed like this ce had plenty of beer to go around.


    With that said, Luis just took in several mouthfuls before wiping his mouth and looking like he just woke up from a deep slumber.


    "Wha¨C What am I doing here again?"


    ''This guy¡­''


    "Luis. Over here," Mr. Cuervo said as he waved him over.


    "Ah¨C MR. CUERVO! NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN! Wanna have a drink?"


    Mr. Cuervo shook his head before chuckling, "You have no idea what just happened, did you?"


    "Huh? What¨C"


    "Where''s your coin, Luis?"


    "My coin? It''s¨C Wha¨C IT''S MISSING, MR. CUERVO! I MUST''VE DROPPED IT! I''M GONNA GO AND¨C"


    Luis just started to undress in front of us to look for his ''missing'' coin but before he bolted off to look for it, Mr. Cuervo just pointed at me holding two coins in total. He looked at one of them intently for a few seconds and once it registered that one of them used to be his, he approached me with a bright smile while holding out an open palm.


    "Hey, brother! I think I recognize you from somewhere but¨C thank you for finding it for me¨C"


    Mr. Cuervo cut him off, "Luis, you just lost to him. Can''t you remember¨C"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! ME?! LOSE?! TO THIS GUY?! HE WASN''T EVEN A¨C Wait, you got a coin too¨C AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! IT''S YOU! SAMURAI-BOY! IT''S YOU IN THE FLESH! HAHAHAHAHA!!! SAMURAI-BOY IS HERE! FUCK! I DIDN''T EVEN THINK YOU''D LOOK THIS YOUNG! Hold on a fucking second¡­ I lost to you¨C that''s why you got my coin, so¡­"


    Things were just happening too fast one after the other but seeing him realize the situation he was in, I quickly prepared myself because I thought he''d attack me again out of the blue. However, if the first interaction I had with him wasn''t weird enough, I don''t know what I''d call what happened next.


    Luis just paused for a moment before he suddenly took a lot of air in.


    ''What is he¨C''


    "ELENAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!!!"


    Luis just shouted at the top of his lungs, overpowering the music sting around us for a few seconds, before he wore a bright smile and hung his huge arms over my shoulders.


    "Wait for it, brother. You''ll like her, I''m telling you."


    "I''m not really¨C"


    The next thing I know, this Elena chick appeared out of nowhere, wearing short jean shorts and a mesh shirt without a bra. She was wearing golden bangles on her wrists and she had her long, curly hair in a loose ponytail. Furthermore, she seemed to be wearing steel-toed boots and she had a fit body with a tight, plump ass. Her perky tits were in the normal range but her beautiful face wearing a death stare instantly prompted a reaction from the guy hanging his arms over my shoulders.


    Luis was still fucking buck naked the whole time and he was starting to have a huge-ass boner in front of everyone.


    However, even before I tried to get away from this fucking exhibitionist, Elena just approached Luis step by step before she sent a violent frontal kick straight to his dick and balls.


    As soon as that happened, the music was drowned out by the abhorrent wail that followed, and every guy in close proximity subconsciously took a step back and tucked their wieners in. Luis was justying on the ground in a fetal position, half-dead with drooling out of his mouth. He was partly twitching but his dick was still in the process of settling down.


    "DON''T DISTURB ME WHEN I''M HAVING MY DRINK!!!"


    "Y-Yes¡­ b-but¨C"


    "BUT WHAT?!"


    "I¡­ I l-lost my coin¡­"


    "OF COURSE, YOU WOULD! YOU''RE FUCKING NAKED! WHERE''D YOU KEEP IT, YOUR BUTT?!"


    "N-No¡­ I lost to samurai-boy¨C"


    "WHO?!"


    "I lost to h-him¡­"


    Luis weakly pointed to me before breathing his st'' breath and passed out, and now, this Elena chick turned to me and stared me down like she was about to punch my throat. She was starting to let out the tiniest bit of pressure as she folded her arms around her breasts, and there was only one way to win against these types.


    ''If that''s how you want it to go¡­''


    I just looked her in the eye before I doubled the pressure she was trying to direct at me, but the reaction I was hoping for was theplete opposite.


    Elena licked her lips before her expression changed from punching my throat to sticking her tongue down mine. She lunged at me and wrapped her arms around my neck before she tried to kiss me. However, I was miles faster than her and I was able to palm her entire face, stopping her attack.


    It''s just that our position became a littlepromised because now my arm was getting squeezed between her perky tits as she was still trying to push her face forward.


    Well, she didn''t even give up there because she tried to trip me down by hooking leg with mine and trying to push forward so I''d lose my bnce. However, all of her attempts failed miserably and she eventually pulled back with the same re as earlier.


    "What are you doing?!"


    "What?! What are YOU doing?! Isn''t Luis your¨C"


    "He''s my man but you caught my eye¡­ I wanna stick my tongue down your throat! And maybe more! We could do it right here, you got Luis'' coin, right?"


    I shook my head, "Really? I didn''t notice the several times you tried¡­"


    Elena bit her lips as she chuckled, "You''re funny too, huh? I wanna know why you''re trying so hard to avoid me even if I''m actually throwing myself at you. The only way you''ll get to me is if I like you or you could manage to beat him up. So far, only a few people have done that¡­ but you''re the only one that I liked¡­ that means something, right?"


    I scratched my head, "No offense¨C You''re beautiful but¡­ that''s Kaley, she''s my wife¡­"


    "YOU''RE MARRIED?!"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "YOU''RE LYING! YOU DON''T EVEN HAVE A RING ON YOUR FINGER!"


    "See that? K-Kaley has one¡­ I made that for her¡­"


    Elena was just about to give up but Luis had to pour some gas to the embers that were about to die out.


    "Elena¡­ I saw him kissing Cynthia and that Blondie earlier¡­ She''s Tatiana, the one who¨C"


    ''Aren''t you supposed to¨C Nevermind¡­ this couple''s too whatever this is¡­''


    "What do you have to say for yourself?!" Elena turned to me once more while crossing her arms.


    "What do you¨C"


    "You''re married and you''re with two other girls¨C and you''re rejecting me?! That''s just insulting! I''m hot, right?!"


    "I already said that you''re beau¨C"


    "Then fuck me!"


    "Wut?"


    "FUCK ME! RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! FUCK ME!"


    "I¨C"


    "WHY ARE YOU BEING A FUCKING PUSSY RIGHT NOW?! WHERE''S THE¨C"


    Before Elena gave me another mouthful, Tatiana got fed up and just pulled her away before getting pinned on our Raptor. After that, Tatiana just kissed Elena on the mouth before her hands started groping Elena''s tits and going further.


    The scene never looked so familiar because that was what Tatiana did to Cynthia the first time they met.


    However, Elena fought so hard to resist being the one in the receiving end, but Tatiana''s Tatiana, always will and always was.


    It''s just that Elena wanted to go down swinging. Her knees were already buckling but she had the strength to fish for a reaction.


    "Fighting battles for that pussy, huh?! You''re not even his wife! How are you¨C H-HNGH! THAT''S MY¨C"


    Tatiana just leaned over closer to Elena''s face, "I''m doing you a favor. We''re not sharing him with another bitch if you can''t get through to me. Trust me, if he fucks you right now, you won''t be able to attend the gamester."


    "And you think you''re enough for me?!"


    "Bitch, don''t fucking test me. You don''t know what you''re in for."


    "Me?! Fuck you! YOU don''t know what you''re in for!"


    Tatiana just stared down Elena for a short bit before she dragged her inside our Raptor.


    For the sake of time, let''s just say that we thought someone was getting exorcized inside my vehicle and quite possibly, we had to do a deep wipedown on the upholstery because it looked like a geyser just erupted.


    With that said, Tatiana was just wiping her fingers when she came out while Elena looked so demure because she got more than what she asked for.


    On the other hand, only me, Kaley, Cynthia, and Luis were the only ones here waiting for them while sipping some coffee and chatting like we were having a posh tea party.


    It was because the others wouldn''t wait for them to finish, and they had other things to do.. They just formed groups on their own as they went around the whole area, either putting in bets and even joining some of them.

 Chapter 707 - Purpose Of The Coin? - A Little TMI

    We still had a lot of time before the games urred at sunset, so we decided a few ways to make use of our time. But before we went around to meet new people or discover new stuff that wasn''t herest time, Luis gave me a rough exnation of the usage of our coin.


    He was telling me bits of it while we were waiting for Tatiana to tame Elena but it seemed like he knew only one general use of it.


    And it was¡­


    *a few minutes earlier*


    "A free fuck! I''m telling you brother, aside from getting to bone the loser''s girl, or girls¨C"


    I cut him off, "You don''t get to do that. I won, right?"


    "I''m just giving an example, okay? Chill, bro. Anyway! Where was I again? Oh! Fucking! Aside from getting to fuck the loser''s women, you could also get three girls from the Pink House each day! For free! No voucher bullshit or anything! You could do it in one go or you could spread it around."


    "Pink House?"


    "I think it''s the dies'' house where we could- you know... but they just want to make it fancy-sounding¡­"


    "Oh. And if you have two coins?"


    Luis suddenly mmed his fist on the table, "Wha¨C BRO! YOU''RE A FUCKING GENIUS! I HAVEN''T EVEN THOUGHT OF THAT! THAT''S LIKE¨C Fucking shit, I''m getting a boner just from thinking about it!"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "Whew! You guys felt that?! That breeze was fucking cold¡­"


    "For thest time, Luis! PUT SOME FUCKING CLOTHES ON! DO YOU WANT YOUR COIN BACK OR NOT?!"


    "I want to get it back, brother¨C but you gotta fuck my girl! That''s the rules!"


    "Rules? I don''t think so. Mr. Cuervo said I''m free to fuck your girl, but he didn''t say that I have to do it. That''s two different things."


    "But that''s just insulting, bro! You said she''s hot, right?! That already means a lot to me but if you''re refusing to shove your dick inside my girl, that means that you''re not interested at all! If anything, I must''ve made bad decisions in life or I''m fucking blind! You see what I mean?"


    "Umm~ You got a point even though I think that''s not the right one, but are you really fine with other people¨C"


    "Of course, I am! It''s free love, brother! She busts my balls sometimes but I got to fist her ass a few times too! It''s give and take, you know what I mean?"


    "FIST HER WHAT?!"


    "I''m telling you, brother. Sometimes, you just feel like doing something so just fucking do it! They may get mad or something but you''d¨C"


    Kaley interjected, "Luis! That''s your arrangement as a couple but we have something different going on too. I think it''s lovely what you two have but I think you shouldn''t force what you two are doing to others that have a different way of doing things. Moreso, if you force something that your partner is notfortable with, that could make or break a rtionship. You''re wee to suggest but you gotta respect their decision, and it should go both ways... for you and for her..."


    Luis chuckled, "Well, you say that... but isn''t it unfair to you?"


    Kaley furrowed her eyebrows, "What do you mean?"


    "Your man here gets to fuck other girls and you''re stuck with one dick¨C"


    Kaley cut him off, "I''m gonna stop you right there because you just made a wrong assumption."


    "Wrong assumption? He got two extra girls to fuck and¨C"


    Kaley smiled wickedly, "I''m telling you, you''re wrong."


    "Then fucking prove it then! Tell me why!"


    As Luis and Kaley were having a back and forth, when it got to that point, Cynthia and I were already inwardlyughing. And the moment Kaley looked at me to somehow telepathically tell me to ask to destroy this man''s whole career, I just shrugged my shoulders, telepathically telling her that it''s up to her.


    "Okay, Luis. You asked for it."


    "Asked for what?"


    "Lemme set this straight..."


    Kaley began to exin to Luis how our own arrangement words and after she was done, let''s just say that I''m surprised that I still got surprised by seeing his reaction. We''ve only met for less than an hour and I should''ve known what he''d be like.


    Luis'' jaw dropped on the table the moment he discovered that Kaley got the final say as to who gets to join us in our inner circle, and it wasn''t just so that I could have more girls, it''s so that SHE could have more girls.


    It almost prompted another boner from the motherfucker but the threat of getting sshed by hot coffee was keeping him at bay.


    With that said, she ended it by telling him that I was perfectly fine with just her by my side¨C but a set of circumstances happened that led to having extra people that could join in if they asked her or me, but Luis wasn''t told that part.


    However, I still haven''t invited anyone on my own ord so as far as our records showed, Kaley''s been calling the shots. Cynthia and I just exchanged knowing nces while Kaley never looked so amused with the situation.


    With that said, I don''t have a fucking idea as to how the conversation about our coins turned into this one. I wanted to ask more questions about that subject more, but we definitely went off the rails right now.


    "WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! I DON''T GIVE A FUCK IF YOU LIKE PUSSY¨C PUSSIES TOO BUT YOU''RE FINE WITH JUST ONE DICK?! EVEN ELENA WANTS TO GET SCREWED LIKE A ROTISSERIE CHICKEN SOMETIME! I EVEN JOIN IN SOMETIMES BUT THEY GET ALL WEIRD WHEN I TRY TO FUCK THEM! DUMB FUCKS, THEY ALREADY PLUGGED MY GIRL''S HOLES, WHERE SHOULD I PUT MY DICK NOW?! I''M FUCKING HARD TOO!"


    As soon as Luis said that, Cynthia just diedughing even if she was just listening the whole time while I almost popped a vein in my forehead, trying to control myughter. However, Kaley was still wearing the same expression as before and she was so cool with it.


    Wepletely respect how they go but the reveal was just too fucking sudden. However, after that, it was revealed that Luis had certain limits too.


    "Damn~ I thought I''ll get you there but you know your shit, eh? That''s why he chose you."


    "It''s not bad going both ways, even for a guy, you know?"


    "Ah¨C Lemme set it straight before it spreads that I''m aplete homo. I uh¨C I just like to give it, you know? Not do it the other way around¡­"


    Kaley just smiled, "No worries about that, you don''t need to exin. I''m cool."


    "You''re awesome, you know that? But Elena gets to fuck my ass if I piss her off¡­ Like really~~~ piss her off. I''m not a fan but I couldn''t buy her jewelry every single time, eh? She seems to like it very~~~ much."


    "Oh~ Is that so? Nice arrangement¡­"


    As soon as Luis revealed another thing about himself, Kaley just replied promptly before turning to me with the same fucking expression when she was asking me if she could peg me.


    All I could do was fucking stonewall her for the nth time, but she just startedughing when she saw my expression.


    Luis was just about to ask more questions when he saw that, but that was when Tatiana and Elena vacated our Raptor.


    I quickly tried to change the subject, "You guys done?"


    Tatiana chuckled, "We''re done. You two are not. I just fucked her because I wanted to and I didn''t need a coin for that. Apparently, we girls don''t get to have coins. Only guys do."


    "What happened to what you said before you dragged her inside our Raptor?!"


    "I changed my mind. You''d like her though¡­ she''s got a puffy innie and she squirts a lot."


    Luis instantly confirmed, "Yes, she does, bro. You''re into that? I just love eating her fat ass¨C"


    Tatiana startedughing, "I''m starting to like you two!"


    Luis'' eyes lit up, "Wanna have a threesome?"


    Tatiana shook her head, "No, thanks. But I''ll do it with Elena every time. I''ll have a threesome or something more with her but not with you, sorry."


    "Why?!"


    "Your dick''s not big enough."


    "It''s still soft! Wait till¨C"


    "I''ve seen it hard, not impressed."


    "JOKES ON YOU, I''M INTO HUMILIATION SHIT WITH TOUGH GIRLS! YOU''RE JUST SAYING SHIT TO MAKE ME¨C Wait. Bro, how fucking big are you?"


    I almost spat out my coffee, "THE FUCK ARE YOU ASKING ME NOW?!"


    "I JUST WANNA KNOW! IF THEY''RE FINE WITH YOUR FUCKING PECKER, YOU GOTTA BE ABLE TO STAY IN THEM WHILE YOU''RE OUTSIDE TO ''BUY'' A PACK OF CIGARS!"


    "I''M NOT FUCKING TELLING YOU!"


    "JUST FUCKING TELL ME! I''M NOT INTERESTED BUT I JUST WANNA KNOW! YOU DON''T MIND, RIGHT?!"


    "I FUCKING MIND, EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THAT?!"


    "BRO~ YOU GOTTA FUCKING LOOSEN UP! IT''S JUST YOUR DICK, WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING AGAINST THAT SHIT?"


    "LOOSEN UP?! REALLY?! LOOSEN UP?! NICE CHOICE OF WORDS THERE! THE MOMENT I LOOSEN UP, THAT''S WHEN THE FUCKING STRAP-ON COMES IN!"


    As soon as I said that, Kaley and Tatiana startedughing while Cynthia''s face turned a shade of red, but Elena suddenly went back to her other self. She looked like she didn''t just get fiddled with Tatiana''s fingers and she looked at me after licking her lips for the second time.


    "YOUR ASS IS STILL A VIRGIN?! I AM SO FUCKING YOU! IF YOU''RE NOT INTERESTED IN FUCKING ME, I''LL DO YOU INSTEAD!"


    "I CAN''T WITH BOTH OF YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE!"


    "WHY ARE YOU RUNNING!"


    "GET BACK HERE!"


    "WHY ARE YOU TWO CHASING ME?!"


    "IT''S ONLY GONNA HURT THE FIRST TIME, BRO!"


    "CHASE HIM, LUIS?!"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!! YOU''LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE~!!!"


    Long story short, I got chased around by the ''coolest'' couple around and I said that because I couldn''t think of another word to describe them as. I lost them after a few twists and turns, but I ended up leaving Kaley and the rest behind and going outside of the main enclosure.


    The main thing to do right now was hide as I tried to cool down but I found myself in a pretty interesting area.


    I thought it was just a table for arm-wrestling but it doesn''t seem to be the case.


    The next thing I know, Mikhail was the one to walk up from the other side while another big guy walked from the other. They met in front of the table and shook hands before his opponent dropped a golden coin on the table.


    ''Wait¡­ Isn''t that?''

 Chapter 708 - Troubled Winnings - What Does The Numbers Mean?

    It only took a moment before I recognized Mikhail''s opponent and it was the guy who kept taking down people with an open palm. Calling it a p would''ve also worked but just the effects of his huge hand clobbering his victims couldn''t give it justice. I was confident that I would be able to take him down in a fight but not in this particr match-up.


    The rules of this match were pretty simple: Give a p, take a p, whoever was left standing wins the prize.


    I pride myself in being able to take down opponents several weight sses above me, but it was because I have ways to drop, dive, dip, and dodge.


    Purposefully getting hit by half-giants such as these two was a fucking recipe for disaster. Unless I could master Artem''s way of taking hits head-on, I wouldn''t gamble my coins away. However, if it came to that, the only way I see myself winning was taking them down in the smallest number of turns possible.


    With that said, Mikhail won the coin toss that would decide who goes first, but it''s just that Mikhail''s opponent had a home-court advantage. The crowd went wild in an instant and they kept shouting out his name.


    "BOB!" "BOB!" "BOB!" "BOB!" "BOB!" "BOB!" "BOB!"


    ''...''


    In any case, the match started without even an announcer introducing the two. The moment they exchanged nces, it started from the fucking get-go.


    I could clearly see how both of them tensed their bodies where Bob braced for impact while Mikhail tucked his left arm on his body, making use of his back muscles to deliver a p across his face.


    Everyone watching cringed the moment it made impact but only half the crowd had recovered when the roles switched immediately.


    Mikhail was now on the receiving end while Bob was overwinding his attack. He retracted his huge arm all the way back to get all the momentum it could get, and he just let it loose on Mikhail''s face.


    The sound it created was much duller but both of them were still staring each other down as if they didn''t receive concussive blows.


    Bob was leaning towards brute strength but Mikhail was integrating basic fighting theories to his advantage. It wasn''t explicitly doubling his power output but each extra percentage it gave him was slowly piling up as the rounds went.


    It was at the 30th round where Mikhail''s knees showed a little bit of wobble but Bob''s left ear was already bleeding from the strikes it received at the same spot over and over.


    He was already leaning on the table because he was about to fall, and the only thing keeping him standing was pure willpower. Furthermore, the crowd was still on his side because the left side of Mikhail''s face was bruised and he was bleeding from his mouth.


    I would''ve advised either of them to forfeit the match to avoid permanent damage but I was 100% sure they''d want to see it through the end.


    At the 40th round, half the crowd was just watching intently¨C without cheering their heart out, because even if the two were about to fall over, the blows they were sending to each other were just getting more and more powerful, and not only that, they were receiving each hit without bracing for impact.


    I already radioed over to Irene''s ce to call for Arturo, and that was when Bob swung for the final time.


    It was at the 48th round where he tried to aim for Mikhail''s jaw but it just gave Mikhail a strong gust of wind before he fell down and hit his head on the table.


    The whole ce was quiet for a few seconds before cheers erupted, and before I even got the chance to step in and make sure that Bob was alright, a couple of what seemed to be medical practitioners stepped in and carried him to the side.


    On the other hand, Mikhail exhaled deeply before picking up the gold coin on the table, and he got surrounded by new fans and ''entertainers'' alike.


    He quickly found himself double-fisting beers before a tallerdy gave him a shot of liquor with her mouth, and he just promptly epted it. However, before it went further, it was interrupted by a guy with an 8-ball as a head tattoo when he handed Mikhail a set of keys, a stack of vouchers, a scratched-up Makarov, and a piece of paper.


    ''Hmm¡­''


    Mikhail hadn''t even opened the piece of paper that was given to him when his expression changed when looking at the dirty pistol in his hands. He sighed and shook his head a few times before he pocketed all of the items given to him, but he saw me looking at him when he was about to head somewhere.


    He quickly made his way towards me but the talldy that kissed him earlier was also trailing from behind.


    "Hey, didn''t see you there."


    "Nice match, I bet that shot stung. Tequ? Lost a tooth or nah?"


    "I didn''t. It stung but I''ll live. I''m kinda light-headed though."


    "I called Arturo over. He should also give you a¨C"


    The talldy interjected, "Hey~ I thought we''re going somewhere? Who''s your friend?"


    Mikhail ced his arm over her shoulder, "You don''t know? He''s Nyebo¨C Ah¨C He''s Sky."


    The talldy shrugged her shoulders as she touched Mikhail''s body all over, "Okay, I''m Gina, by the way. I''m not too familiar with people without coins. Sorry~"


    ''That''s a relief, at least someone doesn''t know me¡­''


    I just chuckled before I turned to Mikhail, "Take something for your head if it gets worse¨C but who''s that guy earlier? The 8-ball guy?"


    Mikhail''s expression turned solemn once more, "Yeah¡­ Apparently, he''s Bob''s handler or something¨C"


    Gina cut him off, "That''s Dave."


    "Dave?"


    "Yeah~ he''s a prick when he''s really~ high but he pays a lot just to get his dick sucked. He doesn''t want it any other way and¨C"


    "C-Can we move on to other info? What else do you know about him?"


    "Well~ I also know that he''s¨C"


    Mikhail cut her off, "They got Kuzma''s Humvee. Well, I got it now because I won it but the gun belongs to him too. They wanted to give me some info on it but I told them I''d look for Artem or someone else first. I think he''s still alive but he''s in trouble."


    ''Fuck.''


    Gina tried to cut in, "Who''s Kuz¨C"


    Mikhail squeezed her shoulder, "He''s a friend. Why don''t you leave us alone for a minute and I''ll look for youter?"


    "But¨C"


    "I''ll give you twenty of these vouchers¨C"


    I cut Mikhail off before I turned to Gina, "You work at the Pink House, right?"


    Gina almost rolled her eyes in irritation, "Isn''t it obvious?"


    I scoffed before I pulled out two gold coins from my pocket, "You know how these coins work, right? I''ll use a charge from one of them so you leave us alone."


    Gina never looked so much like an idiot from discovering I actually have two coins, "Wha- Y-You can''t use it like that! You¨C"


    "With one coin, I get three passes to avail the services from the Pink House each day. I could use it to get a girl three times or use it in one go and get three girls at the same time, or even cut it up, depending on what I prefer."


    "You¨C You can''t do that! You''d have to fuck me to¨C"


    "I know how to skirt around the rules. What if I order you to touch yourself in the Pink House while waiting for me? You''d have to take one of the charges away and I don''t even need toe after you''re done. Am I making sense?"


    "T-They¡­ they would n-need proof I¨C"


    "Then record yourself. You still have a phone or something lying around, right? You can even record me telling you to do what I asked you to so you won''t get in trouble."


    "..."


    "What?"


    "F-Fine¡­"


    Gina was in a sour mood when she left us but Mikhail caught up to her and still gave her the vouchers he promised her earlier. I was shaking my head when Mikhail did that but he just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at me when he came back.


    "You could''ve just used the coin, right?"


    "I could¨C now that you told me how it works, but I kinda like her."


    I stopped in my tracks, "You''re not gonna stay here too, right?"


    "Wha¨C Hah! No! Look at me! Where can I find girls as tall as her? It''s already weird going to our own Pink House to relieve myself with Micah''s girls, it''s¨C"


    "Why is it weird?"


    "Dude, they''re half my size. I''m basically towering over them! The only ones that are tall back home are Katya, Tatiana, and Jared''s girl¨C Alex, was it? Micah''s kinda there too but you get what I mean?"


    "Oh! Hahaha! I get what you mean now. But yeah, where are we heading now?"


    "I''d like to get Kuzma''s Humvee first. I think it''s parked by that enclosure. We''ll see if that could give us some clues."


    "We should do that even if it''s kinda a long shot. Don''t forget we still got to talk to that guy. What''s in the paper though?"


    "I haven''t checked. Here," Mikhail said as he handed me the piece of paper.


    "This is¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Just a bunch of numbers. I don''t know what to make of it unless¨C"


    "What do the numbers mean?"


    "Heh. THE NUMBERS MASON! WHAT DO THEY MEAN?!"


    "What?"


    "What? You don''t know that?"


    "No¡­"


    "Fucking normie¡­"


    "Fucking weeb¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Mikhail and I just shared a goodugh before we made our way to the parking area where Kuzma''s Humvee was supposed to be located. We got a few stares from the people around us because we were definitely out of ce because everyone else was wearing some sort of ''color'' to represent their exclusivity, and it was a tattoo of a billiard ball with sets of numbers.


    I thought Dave''s 8-ball tattoo was something insignificant but the numbers on the heads of the people we passed by have reached triple digits.

 Chapter 709 - Swindlers - Brawl

    As I got a look around, almost everyone present was starting to turn their heads towards us. And if I''m not fucking crazy, they seemed to be gathering their members and they were starting to envelop the two of us in their ''turf''. Despite that, Mikhail and I were still sticking our heads out like meerkats, trying to look for the vehicle in question.


    The two of us were walking casually, carefully checking and admiring each vehicle we passed by, and I even took note of some of the upgrades or attachments they had on their own.


    The usual ones were simple reinforcements on the windshield, windows, and the front and rear bumpers, but we saw vehicles with spiked hubcaps, a mounted harpoon, a sound system probably for attracting herds, and a few more with dangling chains with hooks attached on the end.


    Some of them weren''t even cleaned properly and it was an outbreak waiting to happen with one wrong move.


    However, all of them seemed to be familiar with their own contraptions so we''ll leave it at that.


    With that said, we already spotted a Humvee parked right next to the biggest tent in the enclosure but Mikhail and I used the longest route so we could get more info on this part of the enclosure.


    It really seemed to be this ''Billiard'' Gang''s area because they were upying a third of it.


    We definitely got their attention when we were walking around their turf but the only thing I''m wondering about was why they weren''t doing anything about it already. Granted they were trying to encircle from a fair distance but they weren''t barring us from going anywhere we wanted to.


    It could be a half-assed intimidation tactic but I was beginning to see members that were double-digits among the mix.


    ''The numbers were 34, 68, 419, 16, 223, and 41¡­ that''s 68 right there¡­''


    I was looking at a guy that was half-naked, pissing on top of a truck while holding a bottle of whiskey. His tattoo was on the side of his neck but his expression didn''t change even if saw us passing by. He was still mid-way through pissing when he took another swig from his bottle and scratched the back of his neck.


    He was one of few that didn''t give a fuck if there were strangers on their turf, and he just disappeared from view after I saw him pull out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes.


    After we got aplete tour of their territory, Mikhail and I just went straight for Kuzma''s Humvee. I already got an internal map about their current situation¨C except for the tents that were closed up, so we decided to not waste any more time.


    However, when we were right in front of the vehicle in question, that was when a few ''triple-digits'' decided to step up.


    There were five of them in total and their facial expression told me that they wanted to be a fucking nuisance. The guy in front was skillfully ying with his butterfly knife and he was staring at us with a mischievous smile.


    "Hey~ Had a nice look around?"


    I let out a faint smile, "Kinda. We''re looking for the Humvee my friend here just won and we got lost. That''s all¡­"


    "''Got lost'', huh? I''m sorry, if you asked us for it, we would''ve shown you the way. I thought this thing was already eye-catching but I guess it wasn''t. You guys wouldn''t have to pay extra."


    I chuckled, "''Extra'', huh? For what?"


    "You see, we keep everything in our territory really~~~ safe and secure. A few hundred men and women guarding ''your'' vehicle here? That''s gonna cost ya. If you didn''t dilly-dally when you two came¨C walking around like you own the ce, this wouldn''t have happened."


    "Oh~ I understand now. Hundred, eh? I thought I saw a few dozen but nevermind that. So, what''s it gonna take?"


    "Hmm~ I dunno, with various maintenance costs, gas, parking fees, and overtime pay and all that¡­ How about three gold coins total? Whaddaya know? You got exactly three! How lucky!"


    As soon as he said that, each and every one of them started chuckling and whispering to each other while he kept looking at me with this nasty merchant-y smile. He soon extended his hand forward while the four behind him startedughing, but to his, his cohorts, and Mikhail''s surprise, I actually pulled out the two coins in my pocket.


    Furthermore, I even turned to Mikhail to ask for his coin but him knowing me all this time¨C more than this fucking three-digit dregs that were trying to swindle us using bullshit reasons, he already knew that I was up to something. He just ''sighed'' heavily for effect before he handed me his coin reluctantly.


    The guy never looked so happy, "Amazing! Never in my life have I met such outstanding people!"


    I was just about to hand him our coins when I stopped mid-way and looked at him like he was the biggest idiot, "Ah¨C Tss~ I kinda changed my mind though, sorry. We''ll be keeping our coins and~ we''ll take back our Humvee. Also, you''re gonna give us that pickup with the mounted harpoons."


    The people jeering at us wentpletely silent while I casually threw Mikhail his coin back.


    "W-What''s the¨C are you screwing with me?!"


    I chuckled as I pocketed my coins, "Not at all. Furthermore, you''re gonna give me and my friend here a sincere apology before I knock the teeth of your mouth. Also, you''re gonna bring number 1 or number 0 here¨C sorry, I''ve seen that reveal too many times, to see if his fucking gang is just a bunch of fucking swindlers that don''t have a fucking idea what respect is."


    "WHA- W-WHAT ARE YOU¨C DO YOU WANT TO DIE, HUH?!"


    "Well, I don''t want to live forever and ever. At some point, sure."


    The guy I was talking to was just shaking in anger while everyone else lost the ability to speak, but I casually pulled out my radio for a little rification on the rules. I dialed the fucking head honcho and I jauntily waited for him to answer.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What is it, Hermano? I''m kinda in the middle of a fewst-minute preparations here.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "This won''t take long. I just wanna ask for a little rification about your rules."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah? What do you wanna know?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Thou shall not kill, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yes, I very much prefer to have returning customers. Wait¨C W-Why are you asking me?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Nothing, I''m just gonna send a few dozen injured your way in a minute or two."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [H-Hermano?! What are you¨C]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Mr. Cuervo wasn''t able to finish his whole sentence when I ended the call.


    The fucking atmosphere was just so fucking dense¨C I could lick it, and each member of this gang was ready to pounce at us at a moment''s notice. Even Mikhail turned around so we''d have each other''s backs while I started to smile devilishly as I cracked my knuckles.


    The guy I was facing was about to burst a vein in his forehead as he was breathing heavily and staring at me like he''d eat me whole, but he was the first victim I put down.


    Right as he was about to lunge at me, he fucking deepthroated my boot before he fell down with his front teeth and the rest of his mrs, and it just became an all-out brawl.


    I shouted at the top of my lungs, "SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE, YOU FUCKING NORMIE!"


    "YOU''RE CRAZY, YOU FUCKING WEEB!"


    I justughed out loud before I jumped on top of Kuzma''s Humvee so I could at least lessen the number of peopleing at me at the same time. Mikhail had the same idea as he just took down the first guy that came at him by pping the shit out of him before running forward, shoving down and trampling everyone that tried toe at him.


    He found himself in between two vehicles and he was already smashing a few heads through the windows or through the grated windshields avable.


    We made space for ourselves because we wouldn''t be able to fight in sync out of the blue.


    With that said, the first order of business was stomping down on the sorry hands of the stupid fucks who tried to climb to the roof I was on, but I had to stop for a second because I sent my right heel to number 299''s jaw before kicking number 117 off of my hill.


    "THIS IS SPARTA, BITCH!"


    The guy fell headfirst toward his bald counterparts but I was starting to fight gangbangers left, right, and center.


    I had to lean towards the guy on my left to dodge the elbowing from my right, but the moment he tried to grab onto me, I whipped my head back to hit his nose before I kicked back to hit his shin.


    It was easy enough to trip him down but the two other guysing for me were making me lose a lot of ground to work with. They used the moment I took care of their guy to invade my space and I was only upying a third of the space I was in earlier.


    Before I got swarmed by the crowd, I made a short running start before jumping at the vehicle right next to me and doing the same thing over and over until they were onlying from one side. However, some of their members that were chilling had to join the fight because they were on the losing end even if they had the home court and the numbers advantage.


    I was switching between running away and holding my ground, and I would find myself on top of their vehicles but they were wary of carelessly climbing up because of their members'' broken fingers. I may have stomped on a lot of them but it''s nothing that a splint or two couldn''t handle.


    However, they didn''t remain idiots for long because they started to throw beer bottles in my direction.


    It would''ve been their perfect strategy but the ones under me got showered by ss shards because I kept smashing each bottle that came into my direction. I had to use my sheathed katana¨C mainly the scabbard for obvious reasons but not only did that make the terrain difficult to traverse, but the ruckus we were making was also aggressively attracting arge crowd.


    I started running once more but I had to slide and duck because number 445 just got thrown by Mikhail and we were back to back once more.


    "FUCKING SHIT! YOU SHOULD''VE TAKEN ME LAST TIME! THIS SHIT IS INSANE!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! YOU AIN''T SEEN NOTHING YET!"

 Chapter 710 - Almost - Stoppage

    From a bystander''s point of view, it would technically look like we were fighting dozens of fighters at once with just the two of us, but in actuality, Mikhail and I were just fighting 4-6 people max at the same time.


    Unless they were trying to swarm us like mindless deadheads, they needed space to move and swing their punches and kicks around, or else there wouldn''t be any power behind them.


    The only advantage they had over us was that they could swap down members, but still, it would be harder for 4-6 people to move inplete synergypared to two guys that partially knew each other''s moves from sparring multiple times.


    Furthermore, those 4-6 people would change members in a blink of an eye because of the way we were taking them down or juggling them around.


    I was taking them down while being like an eel covered in lube while Mikhail was like a huge-ass refrigerator that grew arms and legs. The ones chasing after me were starting to get fed up or frustrated while the ones trying to take him down were¡­ down.


    Due to Mikhail''s size, he couldn''t just dodge and weave to avoid attackspletely like I do, but he had the body to take more hits than a normal person could and deal damage more than a normal person could.


    I saw him take more punches and kicks from the ones brave enough to take him on and all he had to do was clobber them with his bare hands. It would be safe to say that he was this ce''s Bob 2.0 but there was more to it than that.


    Being someone that could take hits doesn''t necessarily mean that they should just take them and work on other aspects that they were weak at, there was a reason why it was called an advantage.


    To give an example, I consider myself to be an all-rounder but I was still offense-oriented. I wanted to end fights as fast as possible to conserve stamina even if I don''t run out as easily, and to be able to do that, I would always take advantage of the opportunities presented to me and try to end the match in as few moves as possible.


    I was still improving on strengthening my body and improving on my defensive techniques but it''s not that easy to improve upon. I could also take hits to a degree but I would just prefer not to.


    To give another one, from what I observed, Artem was also an all-rounder but he was leaning to the defensive side of things. His defensive technique was one of the weirdest and the most difficult things to see through and it gives him more than just being able to take hits. It messes with people''s heads and their rhythm, and second-guessing yourself in a fight was one of the dangerous things to be into.


    And to talk about the person in question, Mikhail, he was definitely on one extreme end of the spectrum.


    He was what we''d call a Tank or someone we''d designate as the vanguard, and even if he''s learning offensive fighting techniques to get hits in easier and deal more damage, he was also improving upon his main advantage¨C which was obviously his constitution and his defense.


    How frustrating would it be to see a half-giant blocking and countering blows left and right even if he''d only receive a point of damage if he got hit? Granted he couldn''t dodge them as I do, but it was still maddening if you''re on the receiving end. The nail in the coffin would be if he suddenly recovered from all of his injuries like bosses in games that would heal at thest fucking second.


    With that said, the gangbangers we were still fighting were grasping at straws to score a lucky hit but it was starting to get embarrassing on their side.


    The number of people trying to take us down was already down to half and Mikhail and I have only started breaking a sweat. However, they couldn''t just stop mid-way because they had to take us down to save whatever''s left of their reputation.


    It was at this moment that I encountered someone holding double digits, number 98, but I couldn''t be more disappointed.


    He came at me with an overhead punch but once I stepped to the side and sent apact hook to his liver, his body instantaneously folded before he projectile-vomited on the ground.


    After that, two guys came at me at the same time but the triple-digit that came at me tried to pin me down with a tackle. He carelessly lunged at me like a bull so I met him with my left knee, made him gargle his teeth and his blood before I sent an elbow to the side of his head.


    The guy behind him that was supposed to take care of me hesitatingly threw a kick to my sides but I managed to grab on his ankle before sending the same kick to his gonads. I never heard such a high-pitched scream from a burly guy with a cool mustache but it is what it is.


    I got tired of countering their moves at one point so I dly took the initiative.


    I charged straight for the person that was about to grab on Mikhail''s leg, and I grabbed his chain ne and yanked him away from my only teammate. I was surprised at how sturdy his ne was because I almost choked him out as I tried to make it give out, so I held it as tight as I could before I threw him on the ground.


    His friends tried to yank him away from me because I was still holding onto him and his ne, but once I saw another one of them about to break a bottle on my head, I kicked his throat, swiped the bottle from his hands before I smashed it on his head instead.


    I couldn''t believe he didn''t sustain a single cut so I let go of the guy I was choking out before I sent a right elbow by his temple and a left hook to his jaw.


    The skin by his eyes instantly opened up and bled but he was already down before he got to scream for it.


    "VNIZ!"


    I instantly ducked down after Mikhail shouted at the top of his lungs and another body just whizzed by my head that took down a couple of guys that wereing for us. They tumbled down like a bunch of sausages and I felt more sorry for the nice car that got its front fender dented.


    However, I didn''t give it much thought because the guys that followed after them were now holding steel pipes, hammers, and even ded weapons.


    The looks on their faces already changed and it seemed like they had enough.


    Mikhail was wearing a solemn expression as he turned to me because we only had our knives and our sidearms with us except for my katana since our main weapons were in our vehicle.


    It would be apletely different story if they also brought their firearms out because if a shootout ever urs, having only two guns on our side was a recipe for disaster.


    Despite all that, I was sure it wouldn''te to that because if they wanted to kill us, they knew the repercussions that woulde with it.


    The ''Thou shall not kill'' edict was in effect in Mr. Cuervo''s territory and from the years he''s been enforcing it¨C add to that that they probably knew him before me, they wouldn''t beplete idiots to forfeit their lives.


    However, I know that if I could skirt around the rules, they also could.


    The rule in effect was not to kill somebody and it didn''t specify anything about dealing pain or suffering. We could beat each other to a pulp, break each other''s bones, and whatever, but if we do try to cut or strike each other with lethal weapons, we better make sure the one that received it wouldn''t die from that.


    With that said, I slowly drew my katana and held my scabbard on my other hand while Mikhail just casually ripped a door off a car that was close by.


    "Won''t you kill them with that?"


    "Nah, I''ll use the back of my de. Concussions are legal."


    "Well, yeah. Why''d you think I pulled this door off?"


    "ARE YOU TWO GONNA SHUT UP OR ARE WE GONNA DO THIS?!"


    Mikhail and I chuckled before we started to release a little bit of pressure while everyone around us did the same, and the atmosphere just became a little heavierpared to earlier.


    We were about to face fewer people than before but it was a different story when they had weapons on their hands.


    However, we were this fucking close to causing this ce''s stuck of painkillers to plummet when a person showed up in the middle of both sides.


    To our surprise, she was as tall as Mikhail, and even if she was wearing heels, if she took them off, she''d still be fucking taller than me.


    She towered above everyone else as Mikhail did, and aside from those 3-inch heels, she was wearing cktex pants and only a long fur coat for her top. I can''t believe I''ll say it here but she was definitely bigger than Kaley with her three sizes. I could say she was a big woman but she had the perfect ratio with everything important.


    Her hair was cut short but my eyes grew wide when I saw the tattoo on her neck.


    ''Number 4¡­''

 Chapter 711 - Number 4 - I Know.

    Chapter 711 ¨C Number 4 ¨C I Know.


    The woman who towered and stood in between us was now the center of attention but I noticed that Number 8¨C Dave, was standing right at the ce she came from. He was wearing a gloating smile as he was looking at the two-digits and the three-digits who were down or just about toe for us, but she, on the other hand, was fucking furious.


    Among the cars that got dented earlier, the most recent one that got dented¨C due to Mikhail throwing another gangbanger like it was nothing, seemed to be hers.


    I just saw it as a regr car that got its front fender dented and bent, but looking at it for the second time, it was actually a fucking Aston Martin DB9.


    It didn''t stand out as much because of all the customized and pimped-up vehicles around us¨C because it was stock and only had a clear coat, but seeing it parked with a generous amount of space from all sides, it would''ve been an indication to not mess with it and it was owned by someone pretty special.


    With that said, the guy that Mikhail threw on it was still right under it, groaning in pain and just lost the opportunity to y dead.


    I could only imagine the thoughts running through his head right now because it seemed like all of the killing intent Number 4 was emitting was being directed right at him. His body was shaking all over and it was not because of the injury he sustained but it was because of fear.


    Furthermore, the same could be said for the ones the woman just nced at.


    Not only did they lower their weapons and take a few steps back, but they also forgot how pissed off they were for us making fools out of them.


    Now that the fightpletely stopped, the woman just turned to the guy who dented her car and spoke up.


    "Get up."


    "Y-Yes, Ma''am¨C"


    "I just told you to get up. Shut up."


    The guy slowly stood up as the woman slowly approached him, but he couldn''t even raise his head to have eye contact. It wasn''t entirely his fault but he was about to be held responsible for it.


    It only took a second before he lost the ability to have children, but the moment he leaned over from getting his balls crushed, he got choked and lifted in the air before his back made sudden contact with the DB9''s hood.


    ''The fuck? I thought¨C Nevermind¡­''


    The hood now had more damagepared to the front fender on the side, but it wasn''t over because the woman just let go of him before raising her right foot¨C performing a perfect split while standing up, before sending it down as a horrifying axe kick towards the guy''s balls.


    A loud, quivering scream instantly followed but it slowly turned to a high-pitched wail that eventually turned to a slobbering sob.


    The guy would be lucky if his dick and balls would still be intact after that, but the woman seemed to be enjoying herself a little too much. Everyone thought it was the final blow but she continued to punish the guy by leaning over and putting her weight into crushing his balls by turning her heel left and right.


    She did it over and over until the guy couldn''t give out reactions anymore, so she eventually let go and turned around to face us. Her long fur coat was really the only thing covering her upper body and if the wind blew a certain way, we''d see more than her deep cleavage.


    Most people would either avoid eye contact or just stare at her huge breasts, but she had solid abdominal muscles and she had thick quads. Her thighs weren''t as visiblepared to her tits because of her clothing, but with the right angle and lighting, she had one hell of a body.


    With that said, her mood was a little bit better but she was staring at us like we were little wet puppies that wandered in her backyard.


    I already sheathed my katana and Mikhail put down his car door but I''m sure as hell wouldn''t let go of my de to be able to at least perform a quick draw when shees for me. This woman could be the perfect one for some people but I''d like to be able to have kids in the future and to have my asshole the same size.


    Kaley would bear down on me, asking for permission over and over but this one would just take what she wanted.


    In which case, she casually opened up one side of her coat, pulled out what seemed to be a stick of cinnamon, and put it in her mouth. She actually red at me when she saw me checking her out but I maintained the same facial expression as she made her way towards me.


    ''Definitely bigger¡­''


    On the other hand, Mikhail was already stunlocked the moment she appeared and I definitely know the reason why.


    I would''ve pped him back to reality but we got more pressing matters at hand.


    "You two did this? You''re just supposed to take the Humvee, right? That''s my DB9 right there."


    I answered while maintaining eye contact, "I''m sorry about that but your crew had other ns. Are you in charge?"


    She scoffed, "I should be. Who started it?"


    The crew behind her started to me everything on us but she immediately shut them up by giving another nce. However, once I pointed out and recited the numbers of the people who tried to swindle us, there wasplete and total silence.


    Almost all of them looked like roll-on deodorants but with my memory, I could point or pick out a specific tree or zebra in a forest or a herd.


    It didn''t take long before the people I mentioned were dragged in front of us, stripped naked, beaten up, and were forced to apologize by kowtowing over and over.


    "Is that enough for you? Or do you want me to beat them up personally? I''ll do that free of charge."


    I waved her off, "We''ll still take our Humvee back, that truck with mounted harpoons, a talk with your boss, and your name."


    As soon as I said that, she red at me once more before shaking her head slightly, "My name?"


    I waved her off again, "Not for me¨C For my friend here, I think¨C"


    She scoffed, "This is not some teen drama bullshit. I don''t do second-hand introductions. If you want to have something, just say it. In this case, just introduce yourself."


    I turned to Mikhail and he was still stunned in ce, and all I could do for him right now was kick him in the shin. It brought him back to reality but he was a fucking mess.


    "Ow¨C I¨C I¨C Yeah, U-Umm¡­ Mik¨C Mik¨C My name''s¨C Fuck! Why am I¨C"


    I was about to introduce him in his stead but the woman in front of us scoffed once more, "Pathetic."


    I waved her off for the third time, "I''m sorry, he''s Mikhail, I''m¨C"


    She cut me off, "I know who you are."


    "What?"


    "Mr. Cuervo''s been raving about you. A lot. I can give you the first two things you asked of me easily, but I want my DB9 fixed if you want to talk to our Boss. Your ''friend'' here IS the one responsible and he''s not getting shit from it. You know what I''m saying?"


    "And the hood YOU smashed?"


    "You''ll take care of that too because I won''t bother you with the rest of the shit you broke."


    "I didn''t do that technically¡­ I just broke your crew''s bodies and confidence. That''s my guy right here," I pointed to Mikhail but he''s back to being a statue.


    "He''s part of your crew, he''s your responsibility."


    I scratched my head as I thought of a solution, "Fine, but it wouldn''t be done in a day."


    Her eyes lit up with a bit of curiosity, "You actually know how to fix that?"


    "I can fix it here if you have the proper tools but if not, I''ll have to take it back and probably machine an exact copy so I could refit it. That''ll take a while but I''ll take a look under its hood to see if I could do some fine-tuning. If you want, we could even tailor an attachment¨C"


    "No. I wouldn''t mind performance upgrades but it should stay as it is¡­ even the paint."


    I smiled, "Purist much? The headlights and the seats are already different though."


    She red at me again, "Want me to wear your ass like a bracelet? It''s obvious a few things have changed but that''s because I wanted it to be like that."


    "Fine~ Bluish headlights, red racing seats, and some tuning plus the repair. Can I talk to your boss now?"


    She eventually nodded before she led me to one of the bigger tents but to my surprise, we were the only ones there. Almost immediately, my spidey senses started tingling and my whole life shed before my eyes.


    ''Uh-oh¨C Mikhail''s outside with Dave¡­''


    I tried to backpedal but I just ran into her body and my face got smushed between her breasts. I was shocked at how big and firm they were but the moment I tried to sidestep, apologize, and slip from her fingers, she had already wrapped her arms around me and was wearing a devilish smile.


    "Don''t worry~ I know. You''ll know something more than my name too¡­"


    I tried to get away but second I breathe in her scent, I started to feel hot and lightheaded.

 Chapter 712 - Name - Drinks

    Chapter 712 ¨C Name ¨C Drinks


    She was still giving me a tight hug while keeping my head between her huge breasts, and each time I breathed in her womanly scent, my mind and my body would just sh in what to do, going for it and going against it over and over, switching what they wanted when they were about to make a final decision.


    I already know that Kaley wouldn''t be mad if I fool around with other women¨C and she could do the same thing too, but it felt weird this time because I felt like giving in even though she might do something I wouldn''t like.


    ''Something''s off¡­''


    However, my mind kicked in at thest second, clearing my head and taking away those thoughtspletely.


    It''s just that she partially removed her coat and fully revealed her breasts.


    They just dangled right in my face and they were definitely bigger than her fucking head.


    I had a bit of resistance that made me pull back from her embrace, but the sight of them just made me want to suck and pinch the puffy nipples on each end. They were just midway topletely getting hard but I, on the other hand, was already locked and loaded.


    I was a sucker for huge milkers and this was the fucking mother lode.


    "Why don''t you taste each one and see what you like more?"


    "Umm¨C"


    "No? Are you sure? How about this?"


    At this point, shepletely let go of me before letting her coat fall down and reveal her perfect body. She was more muscr as I thought but it had a certain aesthetic to it. However, the bullet in the head was when she let out the faintest smile before squeezing her right tit and raising her left arm, brushing her left hand on the side of her head and cing it on the back of her neck, revealing her smooth armpits.


    I was already BSOD''ing at this point but her cheeky smile let out a small tell.


    I calmed myself down before I looked her dead in the eye, "You already met Kaley, didn''t you?"


    As soon as I said that, she chuckled for the first time before licking her lips, "I might''ve? Any proof?"


    "You smell weird."


    "The fuck did you just say?"


    "Not in a bad way but¨C I smell Kaley from you. It felt weird when I had conflicting thoughts about you but that pose? That''s not your style."


    Her smile grew wider as she put her hands on her wide hips, "What''s my style then?"


    "From what I''ve seen outside? Definitely a sadist top."


    "What if I''m a switch? Hmm?"


    I shook my head, "I''m a switch, Kaley''s a switch, and you''re definitely not one."


    "Hah! What if I''m just trying to explore myself? Hmm?"


    "Sure, go ahead. But you are not gonna do that without trying to explore me first."


    "Hahahaha! I like you¡­ your ''wife'' too. The thing is¡­ I was having a good ''talk'' with her when Mr. Cuervo called for my help¨C saying a fight was about to break out. I wouldn''t give a fuck in any given day but hearing it was you who he was raving about a lot and your wife''s ''amazing'' partner, I had to take a look."


    "And?"


    "Why don''t we sit down first? I''ll make us a drink."


    She didn''t even wait for me to answer when she just walked past me, still half-naked, but when I followed her with my eyes, I saw that she had a huge embroidered cross tattooed on her back. With that said, she had solid back muscles too and her ass was freakin'' tight. They were also on the bigger side of things but it was in perfect proportion with the rest of her body.


    I was still kinda confused about what just happened then her voice resounded in my ears.


    "Pick up my coat."


    "Sure¡­"


    "Come here."


    "Uh-huh. I still haven''t got your name though¨C"


    "Quinn. It''s short for Queenie but I''ll fuck you up if you ever call me that."


    "Then why tell me, Queenie?"


    "Did you just hear a word I just said?!"


    "Jesus fucking christ, rx, Queen¨C"


    "I''m fucking warning you. It better stop there or I''ll bite your dick off."


    "Hahaha! My bad, my bad¡­"


    "Just give me that coat and wait for your drink. Unbelievable¡­"


    She shook her head and pulled out a few bottles from her cab and I was surprised she had ice avable. We still had time to spare so I picked up her coat and watched her mix a drink in a shaker.


    As I approached her to give her coat, I got a good look at her tent and it did have all the essentials avable. Security would be my main concern but I doubt anyone in her crew would try to fuck with her. Even if she walked outside naked, all that would happen to her was getting looked at from afar.


    "Here."


    "What''s this?"


    "Drink and find out."


    We just sat down on her couch but the moment my nose got a whiff of what was on my ss, I stopped immediately. However, she just drank her share like it was nothing and she was posing to have some more.


    "Absinthe?! You drink¨C"


    Quinn looked impressed, "Wow~ You know your poison, don''t you? What''s wrong with it?"


    "No, what''s wrong with you? Do you drink this on a daily basis?"


    "Yeah? I put some c on this one to dilute it somehow. Are you gonna drink it or not?"


    "Fuck it."


    I exhaled sharply before I took it in one go but to bepletely honest, I wasn''t a fan of the taste. I slightly grimaced after it passed through my throat but Quinn was amusedly watching me while resting both of her arms on the couch''s back pillows. Her huge breasts were getting highlighted while she was doing that and I just had to steal a nce a few times.


    With that said, we shared a few more shots and I was on the losing end. I even thought at first she was pouring me from a hidden shaker but she removed all suspicion when she drank straight from the bottle. She let out this faint victorious smile as she took another swig.


    "Damn."


    "Hate it that much?"


    "Not a fan. You really like this?"


    "Yeah. What''s your drink of choice then?"


    "Chocte milk?"


    Quinn almost choked, "HAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh my fucking god, that''s fucking hrious! Seriously though?"


    "Hmm~ I drink about anything but I''d prefer something on the sweeter side."


    "Cocktails then? A Mudslide or a Bushwacker? Oh! What''s that Brandy-thing again?"


    "Brandy Alexander?"


    "Yeah! You like those?"


    "I had them all at one point, but I like the ones with berries more. Oh! If I had to choose one, maybe that thing with rum and cranberries."


    "Ah~ A Daiquiri with cranberries instead of strawberries."


    "Yeah."


    "I see. Do you want to suck on my tits now?"


    "Wut?"


    "You''ve been staring at them more than my eyes. It''s annoying but I''m a little buzzed, so I''d allow you to suck them for free. Touch them roughly too, if you want. It''s only fair since I had a good time with your girl¡­ she had nice tits too."


    I shook my head amusedly, "Got far with Kaley?"


    "My fingers were already somewhere nice and warm but you just had to ruin it."


    "Huh?"


    "Forgot what you did outside? C''mon, before my buzz wears off," Quinn said as she motioned for me to get closer.


    "You sure?"


    "I''m not sucking on your man tits if that''s what you''re going with. C''mon, do a good job and I might let you do something more."


    "Really~?"


    "Shut up and suck on my tits before I beat your dick off."


    I chuckled, "I mean, we could do that at the same time if¨C"


    "Wai¨C I mean I-I''ll punch it and¨C"


    "I''m just messing with you¨C"


    "You fucking¨C"


    "Shh¡­ Just rx, will you?"


    "Stop staring at them. Just do as you''re told."


    Looking at Quinn''s face now, her cheeks were a little red but the only reason she was leaving an opening was that she wanted to. If anyone wanted to take advantage of her now that she''s drunk, they''d be lucky if they could crawl outside.


    With that said, I''m a little buzzed too, and since she already started something with Kaley but was cut abruptly due to my doing, I''d be morefortable doing something with this fine woman in front of me.


    I started by sitting right next to her but before I even did anything, she ced her arm over my shoulders so I could have better ess. I was already breathing heavily when her tits were right in front of my face and I almost lost it when I squeezed one and sucked on the tip of the other.


    "Mmh¡­"


    Quinn let out the softest moan as I was ying with her breasts but she continued to have another shot whileying her head back and eyes closed.


    I could barely grab her whole breast as I was squeezing them but I still tried to push and lift them up while I was pinching her hard nipple between my fingers. I was doing the same thing with her left one with my tongue, and I more or less thered the whole thing with my saliva.


    "Real gentle, huh? That''s a first¡­"


    At one point, I just had to lift her arm that was over my shoulder so I could sniff her armpits and lick them in the process.


    "W-What are you doing? I said¨C"


    "You taste and smell good, you know? Even with Kaley''s in the mix¡­"


    "T-That''s just my sweat¨C Mmh! S-Stop doing¨C"


    "You ticklish?"


    "J-Just hurry up and go back to my nipples¡­"


    "Face me."


    "W-What?!"


    "The other side too¡­ I got to taste both sides to see which one''s better, right?"


    "N-No. Pull your dick out and we''ll see who you''re messing with¡­"


    "I''ll only do it if you face me."


    "I already said no¡­ just do it from the other side, you weirdo."


    "Like you could talk, deal."


    As soon as we made an agreement, I stood up for a moment to pull my dick out but she was stillying her head back though she was touching her left tit. However, when I sat on her other side and made her touch my dick, she suddenly looked down to check if it was real before staring at my face.


    "O-Oh¡­"


    Quinn never looked so surprised and she turned her body slightly to face me and started petting it and squeezing it with her left hand.


    "Interesting¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Shut up and do your thing¡­"


    In which case, I started to sniff and lick her other armpit while I started to wrap my arm around her waist. I was touching her body all over but I still went for her gigantic tits that I''d only see in a lifetime. It was safe to say that both her nipples were hard and she''d react with the slightest touch.


    I kept at it until she was slowly jerking me off but something happened when I stole a kiss from her lips.


    "HMMN! WHAT ARE YOU¨C STOP!"


    Quinn suddenly pushed me off and red at me while her face was flushed red and was breathing heavily. Her face had a mix of reactions from the kiss I just gave her but before I could even issue an apology, she pped me in the face.


    I was never caught off-guard this much but the next thing I know, she just pushed me down before giving a kiss of her own.


    She started to remove all of the gear on my body while she kicked off her heels, and once we made it over to her bed, she slowly pulled down on hertex pants, showing off her thick quads, huge ass, and her puffy slit that was already dripping her juices on her thighs.


    I wasying on my back the whole time and next thing I know, she squatted down on my face.

 Chapter 713 - Submission - Nevermind Then...

    Chapter 713 ¨C Submission ¨C Nevermind Then¡­


    I thought it was gonna be another face-sitting scenario but it wasn''t.


    The moment I saw the glint from Quinn''s eyes before she brought herself down, I knew I''d experience something entirely different.


    Quinn used all of her weight as she abruptly sat on my face, and I was caught off-guard when she didn''t give me a chance to breathe. Furthermore, I thought I would be able to stick my tongue out and part her insides but she just pulled on my head as she moved her hips back and forth.


    She didn''t sit on my face so that I could lick her pussy but to use it as one of her hump pillows.


    I even tried to push her off so I could catch a breath, but she grabbed my hands and ced them over her breasts. I would''ve enjoyed their firmness and their suppleness but Quinn was about to suffocate me. I was losing air in an abrupt manner but she eventually moved right when I was about to pass out.


    ''I''ll get youter¡­ Fuck¡­''


    At this moment, she just scooted her butt forward before I got the best view I could ever ask for.


    From my point of view, I could see her meaty pussy which was now getting vited by her own fingers while she was groping her own tits and sucking on them when she would push them upward. However, my mouth was in contact with her other hole and she had a particr order that should be fulfilled.


    "Push your tongue in my fucking asshole."


    With that said, her juices were flowing down each time she pulled her fingers out of her pussy, and I could taste both of them together. She wasn''t moving her hips as fast as earlier because she was more focused on reaching her deepest parts with her own fingers.


    On the bright side, I could breathe more easily but my boner was getting neglected. I wanted to put it inside her holes so badly, but I chose to enjoy the show that I was the only audience to. Besides, she was starting to feel it and I could just wait for the perfect time.


    "Mmh¡­ Haa¡­ Fuck¡­ You''re making me so fucking horn¨C Hngh! Mmh! Lick that asshole clean or I''ll fucking crush you! AhN! Deeper! DEEPER! PUSH IT IN DEEPER! HNGH! MMH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    Quinn started to push down on me even more but I could only do so much from this position. So, I just tried to join in with her fingers that were going in and out of her pussy. She didn''t mind when I tried to rub her clit and spread her lips from the other side, and she just looked down on me with an amused expression.


    I thought she''d p my hands away but she pulled her fingers out and showed me how creamy they were.


    "Suck them."


    "I¨C"


    As always, she didn''t wait for me to respond before she pushed her fingers down my mouth, and made me lick them clean. However, she made me push my fingers in her warm pussy before she pulled it out and tasted herself. With that said, we were actually sharing a meal but the way she was sucking on my fingers told me she wanted to suck on something different.


    She reached around her back and slowly petted my twitching cock before she got off of me and said, "Stand over there¡­"


    Quinn pointed right by the edge of her bed and sheid her head on the same spot so she could take my cock deep in her throat. She continued to touch herself as I quickly made my way, but this might be my chance because she would be in a vulnerable position.


    With that said, when I was standing right in front of herying on the opposite side, I just ced my dick in front of her lips before she started to kiss it and lick the precum that was alreadying out of the tip.


    She couldn''t stop looking at it in its entirety and she was out of breath from just the thought of taking it in her mouth.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Hey¡­"


    "Yeah?"


    "Go s-slow, okay?"


    "The fuck would I?"


    "Wha¨C HLRrgH! HlrRrGg! HlRrFGHAa!"


    "You love this, don''t you?! First time seeing something this big?! You''re gonna choke on it but you better eat my cum!


    As revenge for earlier, I just grabbed on her gigantic tits before I shoved my huge fucking dick straight through her throat. She tried to push me off the moment I did it but with this position, I have the power over her.


    I thought she''d tried to bite me when I tried to overpower her but I just saw her keeping her mouth open while her neck would make space each time I went deep.


    She would choke and gag the first few times but even if she started tearing up, she didn''t offer a lot of resistance. Her hands were still on my wrists but she wasn''t trying to push me off anymore.


    However, the moment I saw her whole body lock in ce before she squirts uncontrobly, I just fucking lost it.


    I squeezed her tits and pinched her nipples as hard as I could while I violently rammed my dick down her throat where she began to struggle. I shoved it right until the base, keeping it in before pulling out after a few seconds, and she was struggling to breathe after a few times.


    Quinn was a fucking mess when I took advantage of her but to my surprise, she started to use her tongue and she pulled on my hands so I''d be even deeper. My balls were already pping her face and it felt like she wanted to gobble them too. However, it didn''t take long before she had another orgasm and it was making me think that her whole mouth was extra sensitive.


    It was another gush from her lower extremities and it definitely soaked her sheets.


    Her whole body was trembling uncontrobly while I was still fucking her throat, but I eventually pulled my dick out so she could breathe. She took a few seconds topose herself but she quickly sat upright and red at me with a smile across her face.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ You fucker¡­"


    "You can''t re at me while you''re smiling, Quinn~"


    "You''re fucking dead, you''re not leaving here until I squeeze your balls dry. I told you to go slow¨C"


    "Eh~ Your soaked sheets and your tongue at the end there would say otherwise¡­"


    "S-Shut up! MY fucking turn."


    I was smiling when Quinn pulled me back to her bed and went on top of me, holding my arms above my head and smiling wickedly. Her eyes scanned my whole body for a few seconds before she grabbed my dick and put it inside of her.


    She started to violently move her hips forward and backward, intending to keep my whole dick inside of her while she was grinding on top of me. Nevertheless, her pussy was so fucking tight and I almost came from the first insertion.


    "Just fucking cum already! You''re already fucking twitching inside me!"


    Quinn was looking me straight in the eye while she was breathing heavily, and I could see her gigantic tits bounce each time she moved her hips. I wanted to touch them so badly but the mere sight of them was enough to make me cum.


    It didn''t take long before I came inside her but she was in for a little surprise.


    "You came faster than I thought¨C W-Wait¡­ Why are you still¨C W-W-Wait!"


    "MY turn."


    "Mmh! Shit! HNGH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    I easily turned her over when she thought we''d have to wait for a few minutes, but I was already thrusting my dick inside her though I was using a different hole.


    Quinn was surprised for a few seconds but she quickly recovered by pushing my face between her tits and wrapping her legs around my back. Our skin would just p against each other while her insides would squelch each time I rummage her insides, but she was already fucking close after a few thrusts.


    She was tightening and twitching when I would hit a certain spot, and the moment I continuously aimed for it, her nails started to dig on my back while she was letting out muffled moans.


    When I raised my head to look at her, she was covering her mouth while her eyes were rolling over, and it didn''t take long before she came violently. Her air of arrogance was already gone and all I saw was just a beautiful woman enjoying the pleasures of sex.


    It''s just that I received another p when she caught me looking at her.


    "WHO TOLD YOU TO LOOK AT ME?! DON''T FUCKING STOP!"


    "I''LL LOOK WHERE I WANT TO AND YOU CAN SLAP ME FOR ALL I CARE!"


    This time, I was looking at her straight in the eye as I was fucking her brains out and it was something else to see her re turn to a face of embarrassment. She never looked so cute trying so hard to keep pretending that she''s mad while maintaining eye contact, and that was when I came for the second time.


    My body just tensed before I poured everything inside her and she just melted from pleasure when she felt my load inside of her.


    "So h-hot¡­ you keep f-filling me up¡­ how many times¡­ w-wait¡­ I''m c-cumming again¨C Hngh! Mmh! F-Fuck! Fuck! Fu¨C"


    Quinn started to cum over and over as I kept thrusting forward, and at some point, she was just taking everything in without resistance.


    And when I tried to put it in her ass, she just gave me full control, even allowing me to push against the back of her knees so I could prop her ass up, allowing for better and deeper ess to her holes.


    I had my way with her for an hour and when I came inside of her for thest time, she just pulled me in for an embrace before she gave me the gentlest kiss she could offer. Both of us were catching our breaths and she was just looking at me directly.


    However, after a short moment of rity, her expression changed almost immediately though her cheeks were still red. She didn''t know if she wanted to continue hugging me or not but I just buried my face between her huge milkers.


    "If you brag to anyone here that I¨C y-you know¡­ I''ll rip your dick off¡­"


    "And ruin my chances for a second time? I don''t think so."


    "S-Shut up¡­ So¡­ W-What do you want to d-do next? You''re still kinda hard¡­"


    "I could go a few more but¨C"


    "H-How about s-something quick? J-Just for y-you¡­ Whatever you want¡­"


    "Anything?"


    "A-Anything¡­"


    "Well~"


    I still had a lot of ces I haven''t checked yet so I just requested Quinn to give me a titjob.


    To bepletely honest, it wasn''t as good as the titjobs Kaley would give me but seeing Quinn of all people on her knees, clumsily squeezing my dick with her gigantic breasts, making eye contact while I was standing above her was something else.


    The icing on the cake was when she tried so hard to hurriedly suck my dick when I started cumming on her huge breasts.


    ''I guess she doesn''t get to do this much¡­''


    Something just clicked between us and she even begged for another round when we were cleaning up. I justid my head back on her couch while she sucked me off, and I just enjoyed the ride while sipping a ss of hard liquor. This time, she managed to swallow everything that I let out but she still drank a shot of her favorite liquor as the chaser.


    We eventually got dressed and headed out but Quinn had some ns for us.


    "Follow me."


    "Not back to your tent, right?"


    "You fucker¡­ Do you want me to show you around or do you want to get lost again and start another fight?"


    "Heh. If I get to be with another chick¨C"


    Quinn shook her head in amusement, "Shut the fuck up! Choose: do you wanna have a bite to eat, join some fights, shoot some targets, race around a few blocks, fuck some bitches at the Pink House, buy some shit at the Bazaar, or something else?"


    "Hmm~ I''m kinda hungry but I do want to meet with your head. Exin things, you know?"


    "Not possible."


    "They''re not here yet?"


    "No, he''s dead."


    "W-What?"


    "Number 2, Jackie, killed him."


    "Then¨C"


    "And I killed Jackie. I broke his neck when he shot our boss."


    "Okay, Number 3 then?"


    "I told you, not possible."


    "Don''t tell me¨C"


    "Oh, he''s not dead."


    "Uh-huh. You''re messing with me now, aren''t you?"


    "Heh. Kinda. But you really can''t meet with him right now."


    "And why is that?"


    "He''s at Mr. Cuervo''s mansion."


    "I could¨C"


    "You don''t understand, he''s the groom. He''s to be married tonight."


    "Ah¨C Oh¡­"


    "¡­"


    "What?"


    "Would''ve been funny if you had reacted more¡­ I thought you''d be surprised¡­"


    "You have a cute side, you know?"


    "Shut up! So¡­ a bite then?"


    "Sure¡­"


    "I''ll treat ya, they have good food over there¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­ I guess we''d probably run into her if there''s good food there¡­ She''s probably cleaning them out¡­"


    "Who? Kaley?"


    "Huh? You met Kaley and you haven''t met Tatiana? Tall girl, blonde hair, blue eyes, and carrying a sword?"


    "No¡­ Cynthia was the only one there with her¡­"


    "Really? Then she''ll definitely sniff that ce out¡­ Hmm¡­ Why do I feel like I''ve forgotten something? Or someone?"


    "Not me."


    "Nevermind then¡­"

 Chapter 714 - Lunch - Honey

    Chapter 714 ¨C Lunch ¨C Honey


    Quinn and I made our way outside their enclosure and the look I was given by her crew was fucking priceless. There was a mix of shock, awe, reverence, and fear when they saw us walking side by side, and the ones who were close enough to hear what we did in her tent couldn''t even make eye contact and were either red in the face or trying to hide their pitched tent.


    That was when I finally remembered that I left Mikhail behind, but when I turned around to look for that half-giant, he was nowhere to be seen. It should be easy to spot him given his size but he seemed to have relocated elsewhere.


    ''Well~ He dropped the ball with her¡­ He could always try again because it''s just a fling¡­''


    "Who are you looking for?" Quinn asked me as she pulled several vouchers from the purse in her coat.


    "Mikhail. What are you doing with those?"


    "I''m gonna leave this for the ones you¡­ showed. I run a crew of hotheads and it would be easier to cool them off with a pair of tits on their face or a bottle of beer in their hands."


    "Hmm~ Fewer surprises if you just tell them to shove it, right?"


    "Exactly. Had a worker once who poured water and sugar into an engine I just built. Dumb grease monkey, wanted three months in advance¨C"


    "Wait, you can build engines?!"


    "Yeah? What''s the surprise in that?"


    "I thought¨C"


    "We''re just dealers? Not everyone here chose to lead that life. Remember that," Quinn looked at me with a solemn expression before turning the other way.


    "I¨C"


    I wasn''t even able to give a response when Quinn handed out the stack of vouchers to one of her crew members before walking straight towards another enclosure. However, I quicklyposed myself before I ran after her, and I managed to grab onto her arm and pull her back.


    "Wait."


    "What?!"


    "Listen. I''m sorry¨C"


    [I''M ALL OUT OF LOVE, I''M SO LOST WITHOUT YOU~~~]


    Quinn and I instantly turned our heads to a huge oaf singing at the top of his lungs. Well, he wasn''t alone because he had gained substantial followers that seemed to share the same sentiment.


    "Isn''t that¡­"


    "Yep. That''s Mikhail."


    "At least, we found him¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The two of us just looked at each other before we started chuckling, and we eventually made our way to an enclosure that had several food trucks inside.


    They were forming an enclosure of their own and there was a set of chairs and tables ced inside it. With that said, the ce was buzzing with people, and the smell from different kinds of food being served just started to make our stomachs grumble.


    But like clockwork, we eventually pinpointed one of my own that had a particr deadly sin.


    "I SAID TEN FUCKING TACOS, FIVE BURGERS, TWO PIZZAS, A LITER OF COKE, AND A CASE OF BEER!"


    "We heard you blondie but¨C"


    "THEN WHAT''S THE PROBLEM?!"


    "YOU ORDERED TEN FUCKING TACOS, FIVE BURGERS, TWO PIZZAS, A LITER OF COKE, AND A CASE OF BEER TEN FUCKING MINUTES AGO!!! WE GOT TO COOK SHIT FOR THE OTHERS IN THE LINE TOO, DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND THAT?!"


    "Can you say that again? I just ran to the other truck to get my order."


    "WHAT?! YOU HAVE ORDERS ON THE OTHER TRUCKS TOO?! ARE YOU FEEDING A FUCKING ARMY?!"


    "C''mon, I broke a sweat from the Cage! I gotta eat something!"


    "Please, please, please, hermana¡­ We''ll call you when it''s done BECAUSE YOU FUCKING CLEANED US OUT! GO BOTHER THE OTHER TRUCKS WHILE YOU''RE WAITING FOR YOUR FOOD!"


    "Jesus fucking christ, I can''t believe I''m getting yelled at for giving them business¡­ HEYYYY~!!! IS MY ORDER DONE YET?!" Tatiana turned to another truck selling taquitos and other finger foods.


    "FRESH FROM THE FRYER! GET THEM HERE! I''LL GIVE YOU A DISCOUNT IF YOU BUY A BOTTLE OF BEER!"


    "DEAL! GIVE ME TWO!"


    "THAT''S WHAT I''M FUCKING TALKING ABOUT! JUST BUY HERE! NOT FROM THAT MUCHACHO SLOWPOKE!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME YOU PUTA!"


    "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"


    "TEN 9MMS ON MANUEL!"


    "HAH! I''LL BET MY AK FOR CARLITA!"


    "DUMBFUCKS! THEY''LL JUST FUCK ON TOP OF A TABLE ONCE THEY''RE DONE! IT''LL BE A FUCKING TIE!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU''RE FUCKING RIGHT!"


    "B-BUT, MY ORDER!"


    Everything was fucking chaos in this part of the enclosure but Quinn just walked forward as if it was a normal urrence. She went to the table that had a mountain of food and she was brave enough to pick up a beer from it and start drinking.


    I quickly ran after her to avoid a fight with someone who was about to see her but it was too fuckingte.


    Tatiana shouted at the top of her lungs, "HEY! THAT''S MINE!"


    Quinn just chuckled, "Didn''t you hear of the phrase don''t leave your things unattended? This mountain of food was just lying here unattended, I thought it was up for grabs."


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    In which case, Tatiana''s view was obstructed by another mountain of food she was carrying¨C she wasn''t able to take a good look at Quinn, so I still had a chance to salvage the situation.


    "Tatiana! That''s Quinn! She''s with me!"


    "Hah?! Who¨C What the fu¨C I''ve looked everywhere for you!"


    "Roight~ Roight~ You were totally looking for me~"


    "Who told you to run and hide and turn off your radio?! You can easily¨C"


    Quinn interjected after picking up a slice of pizza, "So you''re Tatiana, huh?"


    "Hey! I said that''s¨C"


    "I''ll buy you more, don''t worry~"


    "You better! Wai¨C Hold on¡­"


    When Tatiana brought down the rest of the food she ordered on the table, she just stared at Quinn for a moment before revealing a knowing smile. After that, she began to shake her head while jokingly clicking her tongue before she sat down and offered us to join her. However, the moment I took my first bite out of a fish taco, I almost spat it all out when she opened her mouth.


    "So, did he act all innocent and let you have your way with him, or did he just shove his huge cock down your throat the moment the two of you were alone?"


    Quinn didn''t even bat an eye, "Why are you asking? Jealous?"


    Tatiana shrugged her shoulders, "Kinda."


    I tried to interject, "Tatiana?!"


    Quinn let out a faint smile, "You''re pretty honest, I like you. I''ll tell you what happened if you tell me what''s between you two."


    Tatiana chuckled, "Between us? Have you met Kaley yet?"


    "We¡­ ''talked'' for a bit before this guy tried to take on my hole¨C I mean my whole crew."


    "Pfft! That was you?!" Tatiana almost choked from her food before she suddenly turned to me.


    "Me and Mikhail, long story, no subtitles~ Whew! The fish tacos are really~ good!" I tried to anchor the conversation to the food we were eating.


    "Mikhail was there?! Isn''t he the one singing¨C Oh~~~ I see how it is¡­ How did Mikhail strike out? He''s like your perfect match, body-wise, at least."


    Quinn rolled her eyes in disappointment, "I lost interest."


    Tatiana quickly finished a burger before replying, "Ah~ He gets like that when he sees someone he likes. You can try him once and I''m telling you, dick-wise, he''s gonna stretch you out but¨C"


    I cut her off, "I''m here, you know?"


    Tatiana scoff-chuckled, "So? You didn''t let me finish. Where was I? Oh! Mikhail''s gonna stretch you out but if you want to get fucked¡­ like really~ get fucked, just sh this guy your huge fucking tits and he''ll fill you to the brim plus extra. Unlucky for you that you two did it at this hour because if not, you''ll go on for hours. Happy now?"


    "Sure¡­ Whatever¡­"


    Quinn turned to me,pletely amused, "He''s sulking, hahaha!"


    Tatiana looked at me like I''m an idiot, "Hey, we stayed with you. To be fair, Mikhail''s dick is proportional to the rest of his body while yours isn''t. And¡­"


    "And what?"


    "There''s more to it than just dick size, right? There are limits, sure, but that''s not the point I''m trying to get across."


    "¡­"


    "Tatiana¡­"


    "Hmm? What? Don''t touch that slice, I''m saving it forter."


    "You like him, don''t you?"


    "Wha¨C"


    "Quinn¨C"


    "I''m just saying~ The way you talk about¨C"


    Tatiana put down her burger before speaking, "I kinda do, yeah. We all do though, Cynthia a little more. But what you gotta know is that Kaley and this guy, if you see them together, it''s like on a different level."


    "Oh~? Like what level?"


    ''How did I get myself into this conversation¡­''


    "Hmm~ I can''t put it into exact words but they''re essentially made for each other."


    "And you two? What level do you think you two are?"


    "Eh~ I just think about it like a hung step-brother that I get to fuck every other day¨C"


    "PFFT!!! A WHAT?!"


    "YOU''RE MAKING IT WEIRD, TATIANA!"


    "IT''S NOT WEIRD AT ALL! THAT''S WHY I ADDED ''STEP'' IN THE BEGINNING! IT''LL BE WEIRD IF I JUST SAY STRAIGHT UP BROTHER, DON''T YOU THINK?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Quinn just lost it.


    "I''m fucking done, I''m gonna check that stall and see what they''re selling¡­"


    Quinn stopped me, "Wait!"


    "Hmm?"


    "Ask that ce for their waffles! Make sure to get it with their honey! You''ll see¨C"


    Tatiana interjected, "Oh! Me too! Get me three! Don''t forget the butter! Oh! Order one with choco-hazelnut!"


    "Make sure they''re hot but the honey! Don''t forget about them!"


    "Sure¡­"


    I didn''t know why Quinn insisted that I have one covered with honey but I was fucking shocked to discover that the truck selling waffles had the longest fucking line. I thought it was empty at first but their line actually starts at the back because of the number of people trying to buy their product.


    With that said, that was when I discovered that they weren''t just selling waffles but the honey themselves.


    The sign on their truck said that they had a farm that produces all of their specialty honey and a bottle costs more than renting an entertainer for a dance. Furthermore, they had different types that had different tinges of color, and the one that intrigued me was the one packaged on a smaller bottle that looked like a potion.


    It was easily triple the pricepared to the rest of their products and they only had a few on disy.


    In which case, I patiently waited for my turn in the line but I saw an unfamiliar guy waving at me.


    "Oi~! You there! Samurai boy! You got a coin, right?! Skip the line! Orale!"


    As soon as he yelled at me, everyone else just gave way and let me pass without issue so I could order. A nice olderdy was at the counter, giving me a smile, and she asked to look at my coin for verification.


    I just pulled one of them out and once she confirmed that it was the real thing, she gave me another smile before speaking up.


    ''Well, that''s another use¡­''


    "First time seeing a young man I''ve heard so much about. What would you like to order?"


    "Ahaha¡­ I would like to order five waffles: three with just butter and honey, the other with choco-hazelnut, and thest one cream and berries."


    "Is that all, young man?"


    "Oh, can I ask about your disy there?"

 Chapter 715 - Lunch - Honey II

    Chapter 715 ¨C Lunch ¨C Honey II


    Honey was something I paid special attention to because unlike the food that was being served around us, it had more uses than just being used to sweeten food and drink, and in this truck''s case, their top-selling waffles.


    It wasmon knowledge that honey came from bees but there''s a little more to it than that.


    Before the world ended, we would always pick up a jar or a few packets to take home for a spread or to be mixed in with tea, and most of the time, they were just regrmercialized honey that had gone through several processes which, unfortunately, made it lose some of its special properties.


    Raw, unfiltered honey that came from certain nts like tea trees, ck locusts trees, dandelion, sage, buckwheat, eucalyptus, and some others had properties that made them more expensive and sought after by the right people looking for something more.


    It could range from being able to help or treat coughs, wounds, burns, and much, much more, and even have anti-inmmatory, antibiotic, antibacterial properties, and etc. However, it would all depend on the type of honey it was.


    With that said, I could partially recognize a few on the disy, due to the color it had and mostly due to thebels put on it, but there were a few I had no fucking idea about.


    One of them was the one ced on arge mason jar while the other was the one that I thought looked like a potion. The one on the huge mason jar looked like regr honey but it was priced a few vouchers higher than the regr asking price while the other was almost deep red when the sun shone on it and it was the most expensive one out of all the ones on disy.


    And the moment I asked about them to the olderdy tending the counter, her eyes just lit up before she wore a bright smile.


    "Oh? You''re interested in more than just our waffles, eh? Come, meet me here at the back so I could tell you all about them."


    "Ah¨C I do still need the waffles¨C"


    "Don''t worry, young man. I''ll have your waffles sent over to your table. Your blonde friend there caused quite a stir, it''ll be impossible if we didn''t notice you. You''re even sitting with Queenie¡­ that''s a first."


    "A first?"


    "Hahaha, that''s a long story, young man. Come,e, I''ve been standing for a while, I need to take a short break."


    "O-Okay, then¡­"


    I followed the olderdy toward another table that was cleared by her people, and when we sat down, we were served freshly made waffles but the honey and the butter were ced in a separate cup.


    They weren''t thered or poured over like the ones they served, and I was just collecting my thoughts when we were also served a cup of freshly brewed coffee by a younger woman wearing an apron and an awkward smile.


    She wasn''t particrly standing out among the girls I''ve met here but she was easy on the eyes and non-threatening.


    "E-Enjoy¡­"


    "Thanks¡­"


    "Edith, why don''t you sit with us?"


    "H-Huh? Umm¨C"


    "You need to learn to talk to people. We''ll start by introducing each other, I''ll go first. Just follow after me, okay? Young man, my name''s Sally¨C you can call me Sal, and this is my niece¡­ Now go," The olderdy said before nudging Edith over.


    "U-Umm¡­ M-My name''s E-E-Edith a-and u-umm it''s nice¨C n-nice to m-meet you¡­ y-you¡­ umm¨C"


    I just let out a faint smile because I used to be like her, "Sky. My name''s Sky. Nice to meet you too, Edith¨C And you too Mrs. Sally."


    Sally turned to me with an amused expression, "Ain''t gonna shake her hand, at least?"


    I faintly smiled once more, "I think Edith''s still ufortable with that, I''m fine with an upwards nod."


    As soon as I said that, Edith never looked surprised while the smile Sally was wearing grew even wider.


    "Hah! I''m starting to like you, boy! Almost every fucking guy here that buys waffles from my truck would always try to brush her hand when she''s serving them. Here I am offering you to shake her hand and you t out disagree with it!" Sally already threw her ''formalness'' out the window


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "It''s not really your choice who she shakes hands with, right?"


    Sally instantly scoffed, "A white knight, eh? You''re absolutely right but some people need a little nudge in the head sometimes. And my niece here? In this environment? Needs a few extra nudges! Hard nudges!"


    Edith just looked down in embarrassment, "S-Sorry Aunt Sally¡­"


    "Stop saying sorry! You should be telling me to shove it! All those other guys too! If anyone ever tries to do something funny to you, kick their balls and break their jaw! You don''t fucking shrink down and wait for help!"


    "S-Sorry¨C"


    "I told you to stop saying sorry!"


    ''I thought we''re here to talk about honey¡­''


    I waved them off before the conversation took longer, "U-Umm, I think it''s better for you two to talk about this in private instead of in front of a stranger, and also¡­ the waffles are getting cold¡­ I''d like to try them warm¡­"


    As soon as I said that Edith just turned to me but didn''t say anything while Sally never looked so annoyed. With that said, she just scratched her head before sighing heavily, eventually letting us have a short snack. Edith joined us too but she''d only take nibbles from her aunt''s te.


    "Haaaa~ Sorry about that¨C"


    I cut her off, "Fuck off."


    "Haaah?!"


    "Fuck off."


    "The fuck¨C"


    "See, Edith? It wasn''t so hard telling your aunt to fuck off, right? Just two simple words."


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    She was so fucking shocked I cursed at her in front of everybody and her niece, she was stunlocked for a few seconds before she burst outughing. With that said, I caught Edith letting out a faint smile while her aunt was losing it, and I just continued to enjoy the waffle that was in front of me.


    To be honest, the waffle by itself was already in a league of its own but adding even a drop of honey to it was elevating it by several levels.


    I finished my serving while they were still halfway in eating theirs, and it just brought a smile to their faces, making them serve me another one that was freshly made. However, a different kind of honey was served with it and it had a darker color, theplete opposite of the first one that was lighter than normal.


    Without further ado, I poured a portion on one side of the waffle before I took a piece and put it in my mouth.


    Both of them were watching me eat though Sally was expectantly waiting for my reaction.


    "So, what do you think?"


    "They''re different but they''re still the same, right?"


    Sally gave an approving look, "Uh-huh¡­ How so? Is that just a lucky guess?"


    "Umm~ at a nce¡­ they''re totally different color-wise¨C but the aroma and the mellowness are the same or almost the same. I haven''t had much of this kind but I think they''re honey made from sage?"


    "Oh~ You know your honey, huh? Okay, but can you guess what species of sage is which? ck Button? White Sage? Or Purple Sage? Your orders will be free if you answer correctly."


    "And if I answer wrong?"


    "Not confident, are we?"


    "Eh~ I just wanna know what''s at stake before I give you my answer."


    "Hmm~ How about you take a 2-hour shift working here and you apany my niece here? Teach her a thing or two so she knows better? How about that?"


    "Oh. I would love to work here for a bit but my schedule is a little tight. I''d like to check each ce out before the wedding starts. And I also know the correct answer, I''ve read about it once before."


    "Cheeky brat. Give the answer then!"


    "Heh. ck Button and White Sage produce lighter tones while Purple Sage produces darker tones. The names could confuse people but I''m sure that that''s the correct answer. Also¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Looking at your disy, it''s safe to say you have controlled or isted gardens or greenhouses at your ce since you could farm different kinds. If everything''s at the same ce, you''d only have one type of honey avable. It''s either that or you have your beehives¨C or your honey supers at different locations."


    Sally chuckled, "You''re really impressing me, boy. Fine, you win. But how about a bonus question?"


    "Bonus question?"


    "If you could tell me what kind of nt my red honey came from, I''ll give you one for free and a little extra bonus."


    "Ah¨C I really have no idea what it¨C"


    "Oh, how about if I let you smell it then?"


    "It''ll be difficult to discern it just from the smell but¨C"


    "How about a drop? Don''t put it on the waffle¨C"


    Edith suddenly interjected, "A-Aunt Sally! Isn''t¨C"


    "Shh~ He''ll be able to figure it out¡­"


    "B-But¡­"


    "It''s just a drop, don''t worry."


    "¡­"


    Most people would assume that Edith spoke up because giving away a potion bottle''s worth of their expensive red honey would be ridiculous, but her concerned expression gave me a subtle hint. I''ve read a lot of random shit in my free time, but the main reason I figured out that the honey they gave me earlier was made from sage was because I tasted them before.


    This time, I''d only go from the information I''ve read about and not actual physical data.

 Chapter 716 - Drug Honey? - Counting Cards

    Chapter 716 ¨C Drug Honey? ¨C Counting Cards


    I started to sift through the information in my head while Sally ced the bottle containing red-golden honey in front of me with a small teaspoon, and as we discussed, I could have this bottle for free¨C and an extra bonus if I could guess what nt it came from AND what it was actually called.


    She also gave me an option of tasting a drop of it, but due to Edith''s reaction, it may be a bad idea.


    However, my curiosity and my interest were already piqued and I wouldn''t say no to free stuff¨C especially expensive and rare items I''ve little to no idea about.


    ''Hmm, as far as I know, honey could always be consumed without a limit but Edith hinted that I shouldn''t take more than a drop or a serving from this teaspoon in front of me¡­ So¡­ does that mean that it has hallucinogenic properties? What are they made of? Poppy flowers? Hmm¡­ It could be another trick question though¨C Wait¡­ Hah! Brain st! The fuck am I doing with my life, that''s so fucking cringe¨C but is it really that thing though? It''s the only one as far as I could remember¡­ Fuck it.''


    The two were just waiting for what I would do next but the next thing they saw was that I was already pouring a small dab on the teaspoon in front of me.


    I watched the drop glisten through the sunshine and I could already catch a whiff of how sweet it was. However, I was still 90% sure of the correct answer, and to bridge the 10%, I would have to taste it.


    "Here goes nothing¡­"


    The moment the drop of the red-golden honey touched the tip of my tongue, I instantly tasted sweetness with a bit of a bitter aftertaste. It was almost like fruity dark chocte but I''m sure that this was the first time I''ve tasted such a thing.


    I was about to pour another drop on the teaspoon because it easily dissolved on my tongue but then it happened.


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    All of a sudden, my tongue started feeling numb while my vision got blurry, and it was almost like I suddenly got drunk while I continued to lose control of my motor functions. However, my body suddenly switched to feeling hot and itchy, and I had the urge to drink the whole thing in one sitting.


    It''s like I grew tired and got a burst of energy at the same time, and it was fucking ridiculous.


    With that said, the feeling onlysted for a minute or two¨C maybe longer, but I just found myself staring at the teaspoon in my hands.


    "Is that teaspoon that fascinating, young man?"


    "Wha¨C"


    "A-Are you okay? Are you still dizzy?"


    "I¨C"


    "Here, drink some water."


    I just took the ss of water that was ced on my hands, and ice-cold water never tasted so good. I had to request another ss because my mouth seemed to be covered with the stuff, and I just noticed the two looking at me. Sally was wearing an amused expression while Edith was wearing an expression of concern.


    Sally chuckled, "It''s always funny the first time someone tastes it. So, do you have an answer or not?"


    I just stared at them for a few moments before I opened my mouth, "That''s Mad Honey. Made from a certain species of Rhododendrons or ''Rose Trees'' that had certain toxins present in their nectar or pollen¡­ This thing should be taken in small fucking amounts or it''ll be a bad fucking adventure¡­ And if I remember correctly, it was also used in war and it debilitated the soldiers who ate it, leaving them open to an attack¡­ Also¡­"


    Words after words, sentences after sentences, I continued to cite from different sources from where I''ve read or heard about this type of honey, and reading them from an article or seeing them from a video was apletely different experiencepared to having a very minute serving.


    However, I didn''t notice Sally looking at me nkly while Edith had already dropped her jaw.


    They should be the ones exining to me all about it, but it seemed like I knew more than them¨C or they were just surprised that a random dude that was not in the business knew a lot about their product and just never had the chance to taste it.


    With that said, Sally''s smile couldn''t be wider and the same could be said for Edith.


    "Here, young man, you earned it. Edith, give him a bag of the other stuff too."


    "Y-Yes, right away!"


    Sally gave me an approving look as she officially gave me the small bottle of Mad Honey, and the bonus was a bag that contained all of their types of honey in a medium-sized jar, except for their wildflower and forest honey that had bigger containers.


    I eventually said thanks and they waved me goodbye, and the moment I got back over to Quinn and Tatiana, another serving of waffles was brought over. Tatiana didn''t say much because she was busy stuffing her face with food but Quinn was looking at me, smiling faintly.


    I called her out, "What?"


    "I guess you passed."


    "Passed?"


    "You fucking numbnut, she wouldn''t give you free shit if you didn''t pass. Check that bag thoroughly, she might''ve given you something more."


    Hearing that, I pulled out the jars of honey I won and checked the bag inside out, and on one of the smaller pockets, I found a ''business card'' that had three sets of numbers that¨C after looking at them carefully, seemed to be Sat Phone numbers and coordinates to a certain location.


    However, looking at thebel on the jars saved me a lot of time.


    ''They drove all this way, huh?''


    Sally and Edith were living by the edges of Batangas, nearing Cavite, and they lived fartherpared to Quinn and herpany who were stationed near the City of Lipa.


    I was starting to find out more and more about the people Mr. Cuervo was involved with, and truth be told, if I only met with the ones that were in charge and high up, I would''ve mistaken them for just business people.


    Not everyone from the lower brackets were dumb meatheads but those types were always the ones to stick out. It might ruin someone''s perception of the whole picture but there was amon saying that puts an emphasis on that.


    However, it''s not always the ones in the lower brackets that werecking because sometimes, a few at the top were rotten too. They were just as worse as the ones below but the only difference was that they could get away if they did something wrong.


    With that said, the three of us eventually finished eating lunch, and with Tatiana in tow, Quinn led us into another interesting area that we could partake in.


    However, we were about to get kicked out after cleaning out several tables because the ce Quinn led us was a casino-style enclosure.


    It had almost all of the custom tables and games avable to sink our vouchers in, and there was even a corner where slot machines were getting powered by a gas-operated generator. There were even obscure games that were a little too dangerous, but the reason we were about to get kicked out was that I was used of cheating.


    I obviously sat on a table where I could use my memory as an edge, but it was reported that I was using some sort of device to count their cards.


    I was now in front of an ''official'' and he was asking me to stop putting down bets.


    "I''m sorry, sir. Even if you''re a proud owner of Mr. Cuervo''s coins, cheating is strictly prohibited. As a result, we''d have to confiscate all of your winnings and you''ll be banned from sitting on tables and cing other bets."


    "Who said I was cheating?"


    "Ah¨C I was told you were using something to count cards and¨C"


    "I am using something."


    "T-Then you understand that¨C"


    "No. You''re the one who doesn''t understand. The ''device'' I''m using is my head."


    "E-Excuse me?"


    "I''m just using my head. Is it illegal to think now?"


    "N-N-No¡­ Wait a second, sir. I''ll contact¨C"


    The ''official'' I was talking to was just about to call for his superiors when someone I could vaguely remember cut him off. He was a guy that was sitting two chairs away from me while I was ying some ckjack earlier, and he had fat stacks of vouchers that he lost in a blink of an eye.


    "He''s fucking cheating! I swear! He¨C"


    Quinn cut him off, "Mason, better stop now or you''re gonna embarrass yourself. My guest here didn''t cheat."


    "BULLSHIT! HE WAS WEARING THAT EARPIECE THE WHOLE TIME! HE''S DEFINITELY CHEATING!"


    A crowd was starting to gather around us but I wished I was just against a bunch of dumb grease monkeys instead of a stupid entitled prick. However, I still had ways to prove my integrity and I kinda wanted to p this prick in the face.


    "How about this? Let''s make a bet if I could really remember the cards or not."


    "Hmph! What are you suggesting?"


    "How many decks of cards are in that holder? Around five to six?"


    "I dunno, you''re the cheater. You tell me."


    I chuckled, "Then open it up and shuffle it. Let me see the order once and we''ll let a neutral party hold it opposite me, facing you. Each time I get a card wrong, you can p me in the face. However¨C"


    "Hah! Deal!"

 Chapter 717 - Couldve, Wouldve, Shouldve - A Bets A Fucking Bet.

    Chapter 717 ¨C Could¡¯ve, Would¡¯ve, Should¡¯ve ¨C A Bet¡¯s A Fucking Bet.


    I wasn''t even halfway done with my exnation when this Mason guy cut me off, but the crowd around us already made bets of their own. In this ce, as long as betting was involved, you''d attract arge crowd and you''d walk away with bulging pockets if you were ever on the winning side.


    However, the mistake the guy in front of me made will probably cost him his cheeks falling off.


    But to make sure he''s in for something he asked for, I still tried to finish exining the rules of our bet.


    "Let me finish. You get to p me if I''m wrong but¨C"


    "I get it, I get it! I get to p you when you''re fucking wrong¨C and you''re obviously gonna be wrong without that earpiece, and you get to p me when you''re right¨C which will never fucking happen."


    "That''s about right. However¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Why don''t we up the ante a little bit?"


    "Are you stalling? Just spit it out so we could get it over with!"


    "Let''s also bet everything on our person. You know, after we tally the score."


    "On our person?"


    "Yeah. I get to keep everything that''s on you right now. All your newly exchanged vouchers, your clothes, your jewelry, your gear, everything."


    "Hmph! No deal. My shit''s too expensive to¨C"


    "Are you saying that you''ll lose?"


    "N-No! I''m saying¨C"


    "Imagine me scurrying back to look for clothes¨C and my truck is a couple of enclosures away. That''ll be fucking humiliating. If you''re so sure that you''d win why¨C"


    "Fuck it! I want to change a rule though."


    "Do tell."


    "No pping until we tally the score! It''s obvious that you will remember the first 3-5 cards from the deck and just guess the rest, so no pping until¨C"


    "You''re pretty smart. I''d rather do it the other way but I''ll give you that. No taking a break after the pping starts though."


    "Deal."


    "Deal."


    With that said, we shook hands to finalize the bet and he was wearing a cheeky smile as he ordered one of the dealers to fetch us ten fresh decks where he''d get to shuffle half of them while I''d get to use the other half to match him after looking at the shuffled order once.


    At this point, the whole crowd became the judge and the jury for what would happen next, and Quinn volunteered to be the one to make sure no one would try any funny business.


    On the other hand, Tatiana already lost interest because she knew the final oue, but she stayed behind to make sure Mason wouldn''t try to run from the scene. She was the only one here that knew about my Photographic Memory while Quinn was just excited to see it in action, whether it was real or not.


    I even took off the earpiece that I was supposedly using to ''cheat'', and he eventually shuffled the decks in front of us after rolling both of his sleeves up.


    The whole crowd just patiently watched him shuffle the decks and he just ced each of them in front of me after he was done.


    Mason was looking me straight in the eye as I picked up the first one, but I just let out a faint smile as I looked at each card.


    ''Two of Diamonds, Three of Spades, Ace of Hearts, Six of Clubs, Queen of Hearts, Seven of Clubs, Nine of Hearts, Two of Spades, Four of Clubs, Jack of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Three of Hearts, King of Clubs, Seven of Hearts¡­''


    It was just too fucking easy.


    Several ''screenshots'' were popping into my head in a chronological manner, and the moment I ced down the deck of cards back on the table, I could already y it in my head as many times as I wanted.


    I just repeated the same process with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th deck, and after that, everyone just watched me rearrange the five decks on my side.


    The quiet was almost deafening as I took my sweet time restacking the cards on top of one another, and I could already see how slightly nervous Mason looked when I was doing it confidently. A bead of sweat was dropping down on the side of his head when I gave him a smirk, yet he was still trying to put up a brave face while making sure I wasn''t doing anything funny.


    ''Look all you want but you''ll find nothing because there''s nothing to find¡­''


    However, like the topic we talked about with Quinn, it was easier to do something nicepared to totally humiliating people you were working with.


    I eventually finished ''stacking'' the decks and I ced them opposite of the decks Mason shuffled.


    Quinn spoke up, "Shall I?"


    "Yeah."


    "Go ahead."


    With that said, Quinn asked Tatiana to flip the cards at the same time as her while the official I was talking to earlier was in charge of counting the cards I ''guessed'' right.


    One by one, Quinn and Tatiana started to flip the cards over in front of everyone present and if anyone would just look at the cards being flipped over, it was like a mirror image. Apuse and gasps weed us with the first few cards but the moment thest card was flipped over, there wasplete and total silence.


    "Fif¡­ F-Fifty-two c-correct answers¡­ P-Perfect score¡­"


    The look on everyone''s faces told me that they thought that it was all over but I quickly cut them off before they started throwing Mason jeering looks.


    "Everyone, stop. There are four more decks to go¨C"


    Quinn cut me off, "Seriously? After that disy? Mason should be¨C"


    "Please, flip the cards over until thest one."


    "¡­"


    "Please?"


    "Fine¡­"


    Quinn and some of the crowd were already unwilling to let this farce continue but Tatiana already knew I was up to something. She just beckoned Quinn to follow my directions and they flipped the first card on the 2nd deck.


    "What the¨C"


    The look on Mason''s face when the cards from the 2nd deck they flipped were actually different from one another was fucking priceless.


    He couldn''t understand what was happening as he was just directly looking in my direction, and the look of shock and confusion on his face didn''t change when the official dered the score.


    "Ze¡­ Z-Zero correct answers¡­ It''s f-fifty-two to fifty-two¡­"


    Instead of cheers and apuse, mumbles and chattering echoed until the third set was revealed.


    "Fif¡­ Fifty-two correct answers¡­ It''s one hundred four to fifty-two¡­"


    And to the fourth set.


    "I-It''s a t-tie again¡­ One hundred four points on both sides¡­"


    Mason didn''t know what to do while I was just casually smiling back at him, but Quinn was already rolling her eyes exasperatedly. She already knew what I was up to the moment they revealed the 2nd deck, but I did a little something for thest one.


    ''Well, I did something to the ''losing'' decks too¡­''


    Everyone thought I''d be winning for fifty-two points because I was perfectly winning and perfectly losing, but I made it as tight as possible. I alternated winning and losing decks for the first four rounds but I alternated winning and losing cards for thest one.


    "One hundred thirty to one hundred and thirty¡­ It''s a t-tie¡­"


    I could''ve easily won all sets but I didn''t.


    I could''ve easily taken all of his belongings but I didn''t.


    I could''ve easily humiliated him in front of everyone but I didn''t.


    Well, I kinda humiliated him slightly by setting both of us up, but it was a thousand times better than winning all of the rounds, taking all of his shit, and making him scurry back to his hole naked.


    Mason was still looking me in the eye but he picked up the decks I lost to.


    ''He noticed, huh? I guess he wasn''t aplete idiot¡­''


    He gathered them nicely before he lined them up in reverse order. One by one, the crowd started losing their heads because they thought I simply threw those rounds, but in actuality, I just stacked them in reverse order. Furthermore, I did the same thing with thest deck though it was a tad moreplicated than the 2nd and the 4th one.


    With that said, Mason just shook his head before he chuckled, and after that, his chuckle turned toughter.


    He keptughing even if everyone was fucking quiet, but the next thing we knew, he was already undressing in front of everyone while he was throwing his vouchers, his jewelry, and his gear over the pile of cards on the table where we just conducted our bet.


    I saw a couple of knuckle dusters, a huge-ass bowie knife, and an engraved 10mm pistol among other stuff he threw over, but the most eye-catching was the thick, golden Cuban ne he took off from his neck.


    It made a dull thud when it hit the table and the sound in itself told me it was a few kilograms.


    Quinn spoke up, "Mason. You don''t have to¨C"


    Mason snapped at Quinn before turning to me, "Fuck off. p me, you bitch-ass.. A bet''s a fucking bet. You think I couldn''t take it?"

 Chapter 718 - Wheres Everyone?

    Chapter 718 ¨C Where¡¯s Everyone?


    I was just about to exin to Mason that the final result was still a tie and I didn''t have to p him in front of everyone, but he was already halfway in flipping through mid-air because Quinn smacked him across the face.


    It was almostical the way his body spun and was upside down for a moment, feet in the air, andid dick not knowing where to correctly flop over.


    "THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME?! SAY THAT AGAIN TO MY FACE, YOU DUMB FUCK!"


    "UrgHHh¡­" was all that came out of Mason.


    "ARE YOU FUCKING LISTENING TO ME?! D''YOU WANT ANOTHER¨C"


    Quinn was about to stomp on his balls and send him to Valha, but luckily enough, Tatiana and I managed to hold her back. At the same time, everyone else was already several feet away from her and we were the only ones trying to diffuse the situation.


    With that said, all we could hear from the poor dude below us was a pained and drawn-out groan that was slowly turning into noiseless heaving.


    "Hey! Hey! Hey! You just knocked him down! Ten-second rule! Ten-second rule!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Can''t you even see him right now?! A fucking toddler could beat his ass! Calm your tits, Quinn!"


    "YOU¨C"


    Tatiana quipped, "Good luck finding a pair that could calm hers down. They look so fucking heavy, it''s a miracle they''re standing up like this."


    Having heard Tatiana say that, I was ready to jump in between them because of Quinn''s short fuse but it actually almost made Quinnugh. However, she quickly bottled up that amusement before she angrily pointed at Mason.


    "YOU THINK YOU COULD TALK DOWN TO ME JUST BECAUSE YOUR SISTER OWNS THIS TENT-CASINO?! YOUR SISTER''S THE OWNER, NOT YOU! FUCKING REMEMBER THAT! WHERE''S MARY?! I''LL TELL HER ALL ABOUT THE LOSSES YOU INCURRED JUST NOW! I BET SHE''LL BAN YOU FROM ENTERING THIS PLACE AND YOU''LL ONLY GET TO EAT WATER AND CRACKERS!"


    ''Mary? Isn''t she¨C We''ll just know if it''s her when we see her¡­''


    Quinn didn''t stop telling Mason off but he just looked like a bruised hotdog that had arms and legs as he was unmoving on the ground. But since Quinn caused a ruckus, we were asked to leave the premises by the same official that tallied the score.


    Despite that, my winnings from earlier plus my winnings from Mason were given to me without issue, and the only thing I didn''t take was Mason''s clothes. Quinn wanted to rip them apart but she was too busy kicking dirt on his face while we were trying to pull her away.


    ''She''s definitely more than a handful¡­''


    I inspected that bag I was carrying and even if it had enough room to carry all of the stuff I was given and awarded, walking around with a huge-ass bag with produce made me look like I just came from a farmer''s market or was a gopher for thedies with me.


    I''d rather go around carrying my rifle instead of encumbering myself with a bag that was wearing down on me from one side. I could easily tuck in stacks of vouchers in my pockets, but there was nothingfortable about lugging around jars of honey I currently didn''t have a use for.


    ''Better drop this off first¡­''


    With that said, I asked Quinn to follow us back to Mr. Cuervo''s ce first because our vehicles were parked there with the rest of our belongings. Granted we were already given a room or two toy our heads in or secure some of our important items, but there were just certain items in our vehicles we couldn''t casually move or bring out in the open.


    It didn''t take long before weid our eyes on our vehicles but the only ones guarding them were Ibarra and Natasha.


    I assumed that Jared would be there¨C because he''d always stay put, but it seemed like he went exploring with the rest of our team.


    ''He''ll be fine though¨C He even brought his SCAR with him¡­''


    With that said, Ibarra and Natasha saw us approaching them from the crowds of people passing by or having a good time, but their gazended on Quinn who was a foot taller than us. There was an immediate awkward silence when the two were staring at her a little too much, but I just introduced them to our new acquaintance.


    "Quinn, that''s Ibarra and Natasha. Ibarra and Natasha, this is Quinn."


    Natasha sprang up, "Hi! Nice to meet you, I''m Natasha¡­ W-We saw you earlier but¨C nevermind that, hello~"


    Ibarra was trying so hard to maintain eye level, "Hello¡­ I''m Ibarra¡­"


    Quinn just gave them a simple nod, seemingly slightly disinterested, "Hmm."


    "Okay¡­ so, do you two know where the others went?"


    Natasha answered, "Umm~ Kaley and Cynthia were in this big house a while ago but they went out to look for Tatiana in the cage thingy, was it? They met up with that couple earlier but they were already away for a while. Marina and Igor went with Ilya and the rest while Mikhail¨C"


    Tatiana cut her off, "We know where Mikhail is."


    "Oh, then~ let''s see¡­ Hey, Jared left with Jose, right?" Natasha said as she turned to Ibarra.


    Ibarra nodded, "Yeah, I think they came with this Jerry guy that waved over them. I think Jared remembers him."


    I nodded a few times, "Ah, Ben and Jerry, we''ve met them before. And the others?"


    Natasha answered once more, "This was a while but Artem and Katya came looking for Mikhail a few minutes before we saw Quinn walk past us. If I remember correctly, he seemed to have found Kuzma''s stuff. Is that true?"


    I nodded before I turned to Quinn, "That reminds me, do you have any idea with that?"


    Quinn gave a look of confusion as she squinted, "With what?"


    "The Humvee we won from you. Have you met with the guy who used to own it?"


    Natasha and Tatiana were waiting for Quinn''s answer with concern and anticipation, and she eventually opened her mouth after pondering for a moment.


    "I haven''t met the guy but I was there when they brought that Humvee back. It looked like it was in an ident but the guys traded one of the cars for it¨C Dave''s car. Well, that was Dave''s car right until you won it from him but¨C"


    Natasha cut her off, "W-Wait, ident?! Tell us about that please!"


    Quinn scratched the back of her head, slightly revealing opening up her coat, "It would be best if you ask Dave''s crew who were there but what I know was that they encountered this foreigner with that sick ride¨C to me, it looked like a ride that needed a lot of fixing but nevermind that¨C From what I heard, the guy was injured and in a hurry and he just offered everything he had on that Humvee just to get a ride to go somewhere."


    "Did they ask where he was going?"


    "I don''t know about that part but what I know is that Dave''s crew was just about to leave but they caught a glimpse of his gear that was left inside the wreck the guy was trying to trade for a car. I don''t know about you guys but aside from pimping out cars, my crew of grease monkeys loves guns, especially the ones that are full auto since most of the shit we got are either shotguns or huge-ass pistols."


    I chuckled, "StoPpInG pOwEr~"


    Quinn shook her head,ughing, "We got rifles too but they''re either semi-auto or just too fucking illegal to casually bring out. Long story short, they exchanged keys and Dave''s crew just called for a trailer to get picked up. Trust me, those guys had the fun of their lives because they brought back those guns without any ammo while wearing huge smiles on their faces. Granted they made that area safer but I doubt they made efficient use of their resources. Dave almost lost his shit when he discovered that his car was exchanged for that heap of junk but they worked on it until it was road-worthy. However, what happened, happened so¡­ it is what it is. Better ask them for more info¨C"


    "Are they number 34, 68, 419, 16, 223, and 41?"


    Quinn and everyone else never looked so confused, "What?"


    "They''re still part of your crew overall, right? You should know their numbers?"


    "Huh? Fuck, no. I can''t even remember half of their names! Well- I can remember their faces though¨C but not all of them. I get the numbered tattoos are cool when we started but when it got to three digits, it just got fucking awful! Also, who fucking told the guys to shave their heads?! It''s a fucking fiasco, I tell ya."


    Tatiana chuckled, "What happens if someone dies or quits? Do their numbers get taken or¨C"


    "Don''t get started about that again!"


    "Again?"


    "Some dumb guy suggested moving the numbers every time someone leaves or dies but imagine spending money to get your tattooser removed just to get a new one? What if someone dies or leaves every other day? See what I mean? I''ll be mostly fine since I''m number four but what about the others below me? Imagine number 100 or something getting promoted every single day until he reached number 10 or something!"


    When the realization hit, everyone else just chuckled or let out amused expressions with their gang''s predicament, and we were lucky that the only thing that could partially identify us together was the pin or patch we were wearing to remember Kristoff.

 Chapter 719 - The Bazaar - Look! Its You!

    Chapter 719 ¨C The Bazaar ¨C Look! It¡¯s You!


    Everyone else was talking to each other when I finally turned on my radio and tried to contact Kaley. She probably thought my radio was still off so she didn''t bother to try to reach out and just tried to look for me by going around the enclosures.


    I walked a few feet away from everybody before I spoke to the receiver.


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    "Hey."


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [¡­]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    "Kaley?"


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Hmph! Look who decided to call?]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    "Sorry, you''re with Cynthia, right? Where are you guys? I''lle to you."


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [Where are we? We''re looking for you, you doofus! Tatiana too!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    "Ah¨C Tatiana''s with me. Quinn too."


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT?! Quinn too?! W-Where are you guys?!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    "We''re by Mr. Cuervo''s parking area but we''d like to meet up with you since I still wanted to explore. Right, do you need some vouchers to spend on anything? I just won lots fairly recently, I guess I could give them all to you."


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [O-Oh, you do? We''ll meet at the Bazaar then! That''s just perfect timing!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    "Okay, then. See you there."


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    *bzzt*


    [You too!]


    *bzzt*


    ¨C


    As soon as I put my radio down, one of the ck SUVs I saw earlier parked on the opposite end of Mr. Cuervo''s parking area while the other turned left and parked on a house where two other SUVs were parked for a time.


    To my surprise, the ones that came out from the SUV that parked on Mr. Cuervo''s parking area were wearing fancy suits and tucked earpieces, totally different from the rest of the people in this ce and the surrounding enclosures.


    Furthermore, thest person that came out was as dapper as Mr. Cuervo because aside from having the fanciest ck suit with gold embroidery while wearing a purple shirt made with silk inside, he was also carrying a cane that had what seemed to be arge diamond right on top of it.


    With that said, he had more rings than his fingers and he was sporting arge Cuban chain on his neck, getting highlighted even more because of the way his shirt was unbuttoned on the top, exposing his chest muscles.


    Despite all that, he looked like he was putting on the years because anyone that saw him for the first time could mistake him for Mr. Cuervo''s older brother or even his father.


    It was because even if he had a toned body, it would be difficult to hide the wrinkled parts of his face and the streaks of his white hair invading the sides of his head. However, those features weren''t the things that made me stare at him a little too much but it was because of the amount of pressure he exuded once he stepped out of his vehicle.


    Comparing him to myself, he seemed to be subconsciously releasing copious amounts of pressure when he was out in the open but I doubt he had a way topletely turn it off.


    I''m sure it would lower at one point and the only reason hispanions seemed unfazed was that they couldn''t feel it or were justpletely used to it.


    ''That guy''s definitely a big fish¡­''


    With that said, when I finally turned around to face Quinn, the look of uneasiness was on her face but she caught me looking at her. It instantly prompted an annoyed re but aside from myself, Tatiana saw the expression she was wearing earlier.


    "What are you looking at?"


    "Nothing," scratching the side of my face, "Anyway, Kaley and Cynthia seemed to be heading or already at the Bazaar so, wanna lead the way?"


    "The Bazaar, figures. C''mon, I''ll lead you there. Who else ising?"


    Tatiana instantly walked forward but we heard Ibarra''s voice.


    "Come with them, I''ll be fine here."


    "I don''t even have anything to buy with¨C"


    Ibarra turned to me, "Hey, can we open a tab with you, boss? We''ll pay you back once we get home."


    I nodded, "Sure. Is there anything you''d like us to bring back?"


    "Nah, I''m cool. Just please buy anything Natasha picks up¨C"


    Tatiana joked, "How about a supporter? Or a splint? Do they made things for those¨C"


    Natasha growled, "SHUT UP! LET''S GO ALREADY!"


    Quinn turned to me, "What was that about?"


    Natasha was already pulling on Tatiana''s arm but Quinn wanted an answer. However, Ibarra was already shrinking by the second.


    "Just an inside joke, long story, no subtitles."


    "Fine, fine¡­ but I''d like to hear itter."


    "Eh~ If you still remember to ask for it, sure¡­"


    "Alright, then."


    With that said, Quinn led the way and the other two had to catch up to us because they went the opposite way, but to my surprise, the Bazaar was actually a separate enclosure of its own.


    Furthermore, it was thergest enclosure by far and it had more peoplepared to the enclosure of food trucks we just ate from.


    The ce had almost everything for sale and even Quinn''s group had a stall that offered pimped-out cars, spare parts, repair or maintenance work, and even a custom job for the vehicles that would be brought up to them. Even the people stationed at their tent looked a bit more civilized than the ones Mikhail and I beat up, but I honestly doubt it even mattered.


    To the first stall on the left, there was an assortment of items like hiking boots, soft armor, simple clothes, hats, etc. while the first stall to my right had almost the exact same items but everything was made with leather.


    I found their hiking boots to be of great quality but I doubt the leather ''armor'' they were selling could defend against a sharp or a pointed weapon. Granted a dull de wouldn''t cut them open but someone trained to deliver precise cuts or a deadhead with their unrestrained strength would be able to get through.


    Moving forward, the sets of stalls we passed through were selling items for downtime.


    "JUST ONE VOUCHER EACH! JUST ONE VOUCHER EACH! WE''RE ALSO DOING A SALE OF BUY FIVE TAKE ONE, AND I GUARANTEE NONE OF YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED!"


    "SAME THING HERE! BUT BETTER QUALITY! WE HAVE XXX MAGAZINES TOO IF THE GIRLS AT THE PINK HOUSE ARE TOO ''FILLED'' FOR YOUR TASTES AND YOU CAN''T AFFORD FUCKING A FRESH ONE, SO COME ON RIGHT UP, AND WE''LL SERVE YA!"


    "HAH! STOP RIGHT THERE MY FINE GUESTS BECAUSE THAT GUY DIDN''T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK HE WAS TALKING ABOUT! D''YOU KNOW THE SIMILARITIES OF MY MAGAZINES AND THE FINE, FINE WOMEN AT THE PINK HOUSE?"


    "What?" A random passerby stopped.


    "YOU CAN WASH THESE FLAPS AND USE THEM AGAIN!"


    "What the fu¨C"


    "AHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU HEARD ME RIGHT! WATERPROOF MAGS HERE EVERYONE! YOU CAN WASH IT IF YOU JIZZED ON IT! MY PRICES ARE A LITTLE HIGHER BUT THE GUARANTEED REPEATED USE IS TO DIE FOR!"


    Tatiana was dyingughing from the salespeople but we continued deeper into the Bazaar to meet up with Kaley and Cynthia. However, the ce was just too big and crowded to ce a marker to quickly meet up.


    With that said, we came upon another stall that was selling phallic toys, and each of them was disyed from smallest torgest.


    I was about to speedrun this segment but Tatiana picked up two dildos with a mischievous smile.


    Natasha instantly got embarrassed, "What are you doing, Tatiana?!"


    Tatiana raised them up, "How big''s Ibarra? This one on the right, or this one on the left?"


    Quinn hurriedly joined in, "Tatiana."


    "Hmm?"


    "Where''s Mikhail over here?"


    Tatiana crossed her arms while still holding the dildos, "Hmm~ probably that one but a little leaner. Natasha, what do you think?"


    Natasha never looked so embarrassed, "W-Wha¨C That''s not¨C"


    "Really? How about this one?" Tatiana pointed to another one that was almost as big as a loaf of smi.


    "That''s not what I was saying!"


    The three were actually having a good time but the shopkeeper pulled me aside, "Are you the Mikhail guy?"


    I never shook my head so fast, "N-No man¡­ they''re talking about a half-giant in my crew¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Tell me, you ever made sales? You seemed to still have a full stock."


    "Hah! I''m bussin'', honestly. Although most of them were delivered discreetly. None of them just pick up a dildo and wave them around like your group here¡­"


    "They''re a little special¡­ sorry¡­"


    "No, no¨C It''s my pleasure, and theirs. Heh."


    The two of us were busy conversing when Tatiana ran up to me with another dildo.


    "Look! It''s you!"


    Natasha piled on, "That''s shockingly urate."


    Quinn nodded a few times, "True, how much is that?"


    The shopkeeper was fucking shocked, "NO FUCKING WAY THAT''S YOU! LIES! LIES, I TELL YOU! AND HOW THE FUCK DID YOU THREE KNOW?!"


    Quinn suddenly snapped, "ARE YOU CALLING US LIARS?!"


    "EEK~! N-NO! I''M VERY SORRY! I''M VERY SORRY! PLEASE! TAKE ONE FOR FREE!"


    I pulled out several vouchers from my pockets, "N-No¡­ Sorry about them¡­ here¡­"


    The shopkeeper took the vouchers then ced his hand over my shoulder, "Tell me, does your dick fucking hit the water when you pee in the toilet?"


    "And~ We''re moving on!"


    Tatiana was trying so hard to contain herughter, "B-But¨C"


    "WE''RE MOVING ON!"


    With that said, we passed by a few stalls but another stall that caught my eye was selling ded and blunt weapons, either in their original state or in their customized counterpart.


    The popr ones were obviously machetes or metal baseball bats but small fixed-de knives or butterfly knives were also popr. However, I couldn''t help but notice a few knock-off katanas or ninjatos, barbed baseball bats, and even huge-ass machined des that were too heavy to wield properly.


    Granted we have a few that could only be wielded by half-giants, it had special functions aside from clobbering the dead and turning them into rotten meat paste.


    ''I wonder what Quinn''s weapons of choice though? I''ll ask herter¡­''


    As I browsed around, I even found machetes that were shaped like a kukri though the whole de was the same width. A typical kukri would be a little wider on the folded end but the way these items were tapered was a mix of a bolo and a kukri.


    With that said, I was lightly chuckling at this ''katana'' that was almost ten times the price of a regr machete on disy, but the one looking after the shop called me out.


    "What''s so funny, foo? Are you poking fun at my shit?"


    "Oh, I''m sorry. I was just surprised at how expensive that one is."


    "Cheh. You''re wearing the same thing, you should know."


    "Hah! Trust me, I''m not wearing the same thing."


    "Bah~ I could buy that shit for 100 vouchers, maybe 75."


    As soon as this motherfucker said that, I just startedughing before everything else went freezingly cold.


    The three next to me instinctively took a step back but the guy I was face to face was unable to move a muscle. However, it onlysted for an instant before he fell on his ass, and he just started screaming incessantly while he was shakily touching his face.


    "HE CUT ME! HE CUT ME! HELP! HELP! HE CUT ME!"


    I just chuckled as I stared him down, "Trust me, foo, this shit''s priceless."

 Chapter 720 - Hamon: Edge Pattern Or Christmas Ham?

    Chapter 720 ¨C Hamon: Edge Pattern Or Christmas Ham?


    The guy that was screaming for his life caught the attention of the other shopkeepers, and once they saw the yellow puddle under him, all of them just startedughing. I almost felt sorry for the guy since he embarrassedly scampered away but another guy who I thought was a person just browsing around took his ce.


    He was shaking his head, wearing an annoyed look, while ashes from his lit cigar were dropping down on their merch, but he first kicked some dirt on the puddle hispanion made before he ced the cigar between his fingers and sighed at me.


    "Tsk. D''you know I just came out of my shift? You gotta buy something here at least!"


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "Sorry about that. I didn''t think he''d piss himself¨C"


    "Hah! That was fucking funny though¨C But what the fuck did you just do? I thought Mr. Cuervo was here for an instant. But yeah, at least buy a knife or two so he wouldn''t give me shitter."


    ''He could feel it, huh?''


    "Okay¨C"


    "Wait, before I scam you¨C Err, I mean scam other people, how''d you know that this shit''s fake?" the guy said, mouth-pointing at the expensive ''katana'' in front of us.


    "Hmm~ If you give me a discount, I''ll increase your knowledge on the matter. That way, you''ll have more words to throw around when making a sale. Deal?"


    He threw me a nod and a smile, "Deal."


    I pulled out my katana which was still in the scabbard and ced it side by side with their own, "Take a look between the two. What''s the first thing you''d notice?"


    He turned his head sideways, "Eh~ I don''t¨C"


    "C''mon, just say the first thing thates to mind."


    "Hmm~ Yours definitely look more¡­ expensive. Just the details alone are night and day. How much does that cost?"


    I shook my head, chuckling, "Didn''t you hear me the first time? This shit''s priceless."


    "Ah¡­ Right¡­ B-But if you''d put a price on it. How much¨C"


    "Trust me, even I don''t know. Probably everything in this Bazaar. Heh, just kidding. Let''s check these two things again. You said the details are different, right? What do you mean by that? Any specifics?"


    "Right, if I really~ look at yours closely, there are certain engravings or designs that aren''t present in ours, but aside from that, even the sheathe ispletely different in quality. Ours wasn''t even shaped properly¨C I mean, there is unevenness in some parts unlike yours. Oh! And ours is a little scratched up, the wood is showing¡­"


    I nodded approvingly, "Those are great points but to add to that, you gotta look at the handle."


    "The handle?"


    "If you''d just look at mine, you''d notice that the way it was wrapped was tighter¨C and proper, and the materials used were different. Yours doesn''t even have the ornament between the ray skin and the silk wrappings. And speaking of ray skin, real ones are supposed to be real bumpy and uneven, unlike yours that looks like pressed mini-Orbeez."


    "I doubt ours even used ray skin or silk. But what do you mean by tighter?"


    "Put your finger where the wrappings intersect and try moving it around."


    "Like this? Why is it giving way? Is it not supposed to do that?"


    "Yeah, it''s not supposed to move. If you''re handling something as sharp, it''s better to have the tightest grip on it because even a millimeter of divergence when it slips your hand is a fucking recipe for disaster. My katana¨C well, authentic katanas are ductile enough to retain their shape from performing a wrong swing but if you miss with a longsword and the edge alignment is skewed and hit something hard, chances are, there''ll be a chip or something simr. There are a lot more things to consider besides that, but there''s always a trade-off with longswords being more versatile. Oh! We have to consider what type of longsword it is too¨C"


    He started to wave me off, "Now you fucking lost me. When did we start talking about longswords?"


    "Ah¨C I got carried away but let''s just move on."


    "Okay~ I got some info about the handle down, I think. What''s next?"


    "Why don''t we pull it out at the same time?"


    Tatiana quipped from the side, "That sounded so different in my head¡­"


    Natasha bumped her, "Shh! This is interesting, don''t disturb them!"


    The two started a short argument of their own but Quinn was on the opposite side, listening intently. I noticed a few others were dropping in into our conversation but most of them would lose interest in a few moments or so.


    With that said, I drew my katana at the same time as the guy in front of me and we held them side by side.


    ''That one''s definitely a fake¡­''


    I didn''t even need to ask the guy to take a closer look while we had them side by side, but the first thing he did was to pick up the ridiculous price tag they had on it before crumpling it into a ball and throwing it into their trash can.


    His eyebrows would scrunch up if he would notice something different, and it took him a few moments before he turned to me.


    I just smiled back, "What do you think? Sight-wise."


    "I¡­ I don''t even know the right words for it but the difference in quality is fucking obvious."


    "At which part?"


    "T-The de obviously but there''s a lot of unevenness and roughness going on. Ours doesn''t even have the little engraving by the back and honestly, I wouldn''t even try to brush my fingers on the edge of your de. It just looks too fucking sharp."


    I nodded approvingly once more, "Nice, but do you know what a Hamon is?"


    "Hamon? Isn''t that Christmas Ham?"


    I chuckled, "Ah¨C that''s true too but the one I''m talking about is the sharpened section of the de that forms this wavy-like or me-like pattern due to the hardening process. Can you see it? It''s better if you move it around against the light."


    "Eh~ I think I see it?" The guy leaned over to inspect the edges closely.


    "Do you see it or not?"


    The guy scratched his head, "I can definitely see the wavy part in yours but the one in mine is a little too jagged-y or rough. Is it still a Hamon?"


    "It''s not a natural one, unfortunately. You see, a Hamon or the direct trantion: "Edge Pattern" doesn''t actually do muchbat-wise, but it''s a way to see if the katana you''re buying or holding is authentic and made with the original forging processes or not. Furthermore, just the aesthetic of it adds a lot of dor signs to it. That''s why some des such as this were made to look like it has one to increase its value but the one who made that one wouldn''t even go through regr weebs."


    "What''s the right way to do it then?"


    "That''ll be a different conversation but how about this? You told me yours is a little rough, right? Some ways to synthetically produce one are to acid etch it, wire brush it, or even sandst it, but the one done here was with the use of an angle grinder. Can I?" I said as I motioned to borrow his de.


    "S-Sure¡­"


    I picked it up and I brushed the edges with my fingers. Almost immediately, I felt the roughness of it and I doubt the one who made it look like it had a Hamon was in a fucking hurry. And after that, I grabbed the handle and tried to wiggle it off.


    "W-What are you doing?!"


    "Rx. A grinder was definitely used here. At least the handle is a tight fit with the de¡­ I thought it would give after a bit of pressure."


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "But yeah," I said as I handed back his de and sheathed my katana, "If you want to burden yourself making a ''believable'' Hamon, why don''t you put the effort into making a real one? It''s¨C"


    "Well, the way you put it earlier made me think that it''s fucking difficult. I believe only des like yours¨C the real ones, have them."


    "That''s true¡­ Most of the des here¨C well, most of the des all around the world don''t have the natural edge pattern katanas have because of their own forging techniques. There are a dozen ways to make katanas¨C especially the ones that would take months or years to make, but if you''re just gonna make the simplest one, it''ll boil down in the hardening process. In short, to exin differential hardening with katanas, you gotta make the edge hard while making the spine or the back soft."


    "I think you''re losing me again¡­"


    "I''m just giving you a bit of the other conversation I talked about earlier but yeah, if you make steel too fucking hard, it''ll be sharp but it''ll be brittle, so you just have to have a portion of it not as hard to absorb the shock by a degree¨C so it''ll be more inclined to bend instead if something ever goes wrong. You just have to find the right bnce between hardness and softness though and there''s a lot more I haven''t told you yet."


    "¡­"


    "And yeah, your de bending doesn''t sound too great but it''s betterpared to your de snapping in two. However, a katana bending is a rare urrence because unless you''re using it to chop huge-ass trees, it''ll be fine. It''s not as flexible as a longsword but it''s fucking ductile."


    "U-Uhh¡­ yeah¡­ right. Thanks for the info¡­"


    "Ah¨C Did I rattle on too much?"


    "N-No, it''s good¡­ it just takes time for me to process all that info. S-So¡­ what do you have your eyes on?"


    "Let''s see¡­"


    With that said, I just picked out a couple of those old bushmaster "Rambo" knives that had thosepasses in the butt of the handle, which we could also twist off to reveal a small cylindrical space in the handle, where we could put a stack of matches or anything that would fit in it.


    Furthermore, I also bought several conceble knives that almost looked like corkscrews, and I threw a piece to Tatiana and Natasha which they promptly epted.


    I offered one to Quinn but she just looked at me like I''m an idiot and quickly rejected the present.


    "I''m not carrying that with me."


    "Okay, sorry. But tell me, what do you use though?"


    "Huh?"


    "You don''t just kill everything with your heels, right?"


    "Oh. I have a Desert Eagle in my car. I rarely get to use it so I would always leave it there."


    "That''s it?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "How about for something up close and personal? You don''t carry a rake or a pitchfork around, do you?"


    "You fucker, you think I have the time to bash heads in?"


    "Bash heads in? You got something blunt then?"


    "Hmm, something like that. I machined one from my shop but I never got to use it. It''s kinda encumbering too so I took it apart and put it in my trunk."


    "But, w-what is it?"


    Quinn was just about to answer me when she turned her head and looked past me, but someone just jumped and grabbed on me from the back. I first tried to stabilize my footing because it was a little sudden, but I already knew who it was.


    Just the fragrance that invaded my nose was enough for me to figure out that it was Kaley, and I just grabbed on her legs so she''d put less pressure on my neck.


    "Hey, Kaley. You found us. Been here for a while?"


    "We''re looking all over for you and you''re just shopping for knives!"


    Then I heard Cynthia''s voice, "I''m here too~!"


    I turned around and saw Cynthia pouting. She was holding a bit of air in one side of her cheek while she was crossing both of her arms together.


    "Hey. What are you guys up to?"


    Cynthia was about to answer but Quinn cut her off.


    "You two didn''t lie, he fucks. He fucks good, I''m impressed."


    ''Uh-oh.''


    "Ah¨C"


    "WHAT?! Y-YOU GUYS¨C W-WHEN?! HOW?!"


    Kaley was just stunned in ce but Cynthia was fucking shocked. She almost blurted what Quinn and I did inside her tent, but she was able to calm herself down.. However, what concerned me was that Kaley jumped down from me and she was pouting almost the same way as Cynthia earlier.

 Chapter 721 - Shopping, Making A Killing, And Scamming

    Chapter 721 ¨C Shopping, Making A Killing, And Scamming


    I was already bracing myself for a would-be outburst but it didn''t happen. However, I didn''t expect such words toe out of Kaley''s mouth, but before that, she cutely stared me down before grabbing onto my arms and pulling me close.


    "H-Hngh¡­ Y-You c-cuntblock! Did you know that we were d-doing something w-when Mr. Cuervo called for her help?! I was r-really close t-too¡­"


    I chuckled before I put my hands up, "I d-didn''t do it on purpose, Quinn''s crew looked for trouble and it just escted and escted¨C Wait, Cynthia was also there, right? Why''d¨C"


    "It''s not the same, alright?! Quinn being there and Cynthia being there are two different things!"


    Cynthia added, "Y-Yeah! I was also really close while I was watching them but it got ruined when I heard my bro¨C Mr. Cuervo''s voice!"


    "Then~ can''t you two just¨C"


    The two exploded, "It''s not the same, alright?!"


    A few heads turned in our direction but Quinn just startedughing. At the same time, Tatiana was just amusedly watching the two while Natasha looked like she was feeling out of ce.


    It was because she used to be part of our inner circle but it changed when she hooked up with Ibarra.


    Granted she still joined in when Ibarra was still healing because of a certain incident, but we made sure that the parties involved would understand the updated arrangements once it was over. Nevertheless, there was nothing wrong with staying friends and the only difference between our dynamics was that we don''t get to have sex.


    The only reason an arrangement like ours would never work was if the boundaries and limitations weren''t set properly and followed.


    Sure, it would take a bit of time to get used to it¨C and it varies from person to person, but as long as propermunication was established and understanding between the people involved was built, there would be no problems whether they moved on or stayed behind.


    With that said, it seemed like I owed the two ''reparations'' for cuntblocking them, but since I was already here to buy them anything that they wanted, everything would end peacefully.


    Or so I thought.


    We weren''t even a foot away from the stall that sold handheld weapons when Tatiana pulled ''me'' out.


    "Hey, Kaley! Look at what I found!"


    "Hmm?"


    ''Oh no¡­''


    "What the¨C"


    It instantly cast a long and girthy shadow above their heads and Tatiana raised it like she just pulled out Excalibur. The only thing missing was the glorious music that would follow and the immediate crowning once the legendary sword was pulled out of the sword-cut rock.


    With that said, Kaley and Cynthia''s eyes almost popped out of their sockets while their faces had a mix of colorful reactions.


    "T-That''s too fucking real! H-How?! That''s literally him!"


    "Tatiana! W-Where did you get this?!"


    "It''s a long story, hahaha! Trust me, it surprised us too!"


    I just shrunk down from having beauties talking about my dick in the open but then our ''rocket'' shopkeeper passed by at the right fucking moment. I thought he didn''t hear what the girls were talking about but his satellite ears heard every single fucking thing.


    "AW, HELL NAW~! HOW MANY GIRLS HAVE SEEN YOUR DICK?! DID YOU PAY THEM TO SAY THAT?! SERIOUSLY, ARE YOU REALLY FUCKING ASIAN OR ARE YOU FUCKING HALF-HORSE?!"


    "THAT''S NOT EVEN THE SAME THING!"


    "WELL, YOU''RE NOT FUCKING BLACK, RIGHT?!"


    "WHY DO I HAVE TO BE BLACK?!"


    "WELL, I GUESS YOU HAVEN''T SEEN THE VIDEOS I''VE BEEN WATCHING! DON''T BE FOOLED, MICHAEL JACKSON''S BLACK TOO¨C OW! THE FUCK DID YOU HIT ME FOR?!"


    "DO YOU WANT TO GET FUCKING CANCE¨C ARE YOU FUCKING NUTS?!"


    "CANCE¨CWHAT?! IT''S THE FUCKING ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY¨C OW! STOP FUCKING HITTING ME!"


    "YOU GOTTA LEARN ABOUT THE WORLD MORE, YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU''RE THE EXPERT ON FUCKING DILDOS BUT YOU KNOW JACK SHIT ABOUT THE REAL THING! COME WITH ME!"


    "WHA¨C WHERE ARE WE GOING?!"


    "I''LL SHOW YOU MIKHAIL''S DICK¨C OW! KALEY?! WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?! YOU''RE GONNA RUN UP TO MIKHAIL AND SAY, "HEY MIKHAIL, CAN YOU SHOW THIS GUY YOUR DICK? AND OH¨C HE SELLS DILDOS FOR A LIVING.", IS THAT WHAT YOU''RE GONNA SAY TO HIM?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"


    "Yeah? AHHHHHHH! NO! DON''T HIT ME WITH MYSELF!"


    "WHY AM I GETTING ATTACKED TOO?!"


    "YOU TWO ASKED FOR IT!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Long story short, the dildo guy and I got beaten up by Kaley using ''me'' as a weapon, and it was just a fucking fiasco.


    None of the other girls even helped me from getting pped in the face with the 9-inch rubber smi, and if this was the past, someone would''ve already gotten some footage and sent it to Worldstar Hip-Hop or TMZ.


    In any case, everything just eventually blew over and we spent an hour and a half shopping for clothes, shoes, trinkets, jewelry, and other types of shit.


    Quinn, Tatiana, and I were already tapping out when we were still in the half-hour mark of their shopping spree but Kaley, Cynthia, and even Natasha were so full of fucking energy. With that said, good thing there was a stall that sold copsible chairs, and the three of us bought one for each of us to survive each stall the other three went for.


    It almost got deadly when a random passerby offered Quinn a bra but overall, it was a well-bnced trip considering the circumstances.


    Let''s just say I couldn''t believe we walked out of the Bazaar with piles upon piles of items the three picked out, but me having two golden coins, our stack of vouchers from killing it in the casino, and Cynthia''s rep for being Mr. Cuervo''s daughter-but-not-really was enough to get everything they wanted plus extra.


    However, the moment we went back to Ibarra''s spot, his face lost all color when he discovered that the third of the items we brought were Natasha''s.


    "B-Boss, h-how much is Nat¨C I m-mean¨C"


    I just shook my head and waved him off, "Don''t worry about it. We had fun and you stayed here, that''s enough."


    "W-Wait¡­ fun? You don''t mean¨C"


    "Wha¨C N-No, not that kind. We already had that talk, remember? Besides, you''re doing us a favor by keeping Natasha out of everyone''s safety and¨C"


    "B-Boss, please! Let''s stop talking about that incident!"


    "Dude, I got chased around and got beaten up by a dildo that''s almost an exact replica of my dick, take another bullet for me."


    "Huh?! B-But¨C"


    "Then that''s the payment for everything that Natasha bought."


    "What?! That''s¨C *sigh* Fine¡­ Do you need help with that?"


    "Yep."


    With that said, Ibarra helped me secure the items we brought to the room provided for us but after our fifth trip of hauling the bags and the boxes they were put in, we just saw Jared and Jose chatting happily with Kaley and the rest. They seemed to have made a killing of their own because they were lugging around unfamiliar weapons cases and several ammo cans.


    "Bro! Bro! Come here! Look at what we got! Where were you?! You should''vee with us!"


    "Easy now, what did you guys win?"


    "Feast your eyes!"


    The two theatrically opened up the weapons cases they won and it revealed an assortment of guns that almost brought tears to my eyes.


    "We won four M16s, an M4 Carbine, two AR-15s, an SKS, two AK47s, an MP5 clone, two M70s, an M24, two Remmington 870s, a TAC-12(Benelli M4 Clone), four Glock 19s, an M1911, a .38 Special, and a motherfucking Colt Python!"


    I chuckled while shaking my head, "And the ammo cans?"


    "Heh, they''re filled with all sorts of ammo we scooped up from the pool."


    "Pool?"


    "You really haven''t been to the shooting area?"


    "Nope, not even close."


    "Then let me tell you a bit about it and what happened when we''re there."


    Jared told me about the shooting area which was the farthest enclosure from Cuervo Heights, opposite from the area where Drag Races and Off-Road Races were held. The events held there was pretty much a test of speed and uracy, and it was a ce where only guns and ammo were the main currency.


    Vouchers could still be used to get in or buy guns and ammo, but the event Jared joined required their own guns to be put on the table.


    In short, it was apetition for pink slips but with guns.


    With that said, Jared had an FN SCAR-H and a Sig Sauer P320, and it made several people join with fervor. It made the entire pot overflow because the people that wanted to participate had to match the value of the highest loadout, and most of them just topped the remainder with ammo.


    To add insult to injury, Jose made the betting pool for the watchers even bigger because he put all of his gear into one bet. A kitted M16 and a kitted Glock 19 weren''t that easy to sneeze at because of the quality of the essories put on it, so the rest had to fork out even more.


    I really thought Jared would have to drag Jose back because he''d be too out of his mind, but he was actually of sound mind despite the few kiss marks on his neck and his alcohol breath.


    "Wait a sec, why the fuck did you win shotguns and pistols if it''s a shooting match? Don''t tell me they used that against your rifle?"


    "Ah¨C Those were the top-ups and since some of them still wanted topete, we even epted vouchers and we even got this," Jared said before he tried to reach for something in his pocket, "Catch, bro!"


    Jared just tossed a gold coin in my direction and I caught it with my hand.


    "I FORFEIT! I FORFEIT! I FORFEIT! YOU WIN, BRO! YOU WIN!"


    "What?"


    "Well, you k-know, tossing someone a coin and catching it prompts a match. I just surrendered quickly so you''d have it without breaking the rules!"


    "Heh, smart. You''re really giving this to me?"


    "Yep!"


    "Thanks!"


    "That''s payment for my SCAR! You''re wee, bro!"


    "WHAT?! HOLD ON A FUCKING SECOND!"

 Chapter 722 - Nothing Special - Can It Take A .50?

    Chapter 722 ¨C Nothing Special ¨C Can It Take A .50?


    I already gave Jared my SCAR-H long ago, but my own abandonment issues made me jump up defensively. It was triggered by him trying to buy it off of me with the gold coin he just won, and I just don''t want to make it official-official.


    To be fair, there are other ways I could obtain a gold coin, and exchanging it for something I deem much more valuable would just prompt a reaction.


    Jared put his hands up, "C''mon, bro! I thought you already gave this thing to me! Just lemme give you something for it!"


    "Fine, fine¡­ but before we forgot, don''t mix the ammo you won with ours."


    Quinn interjected, "Why''s that? They''re all the same, right?"


    I scratched my head before I looked at everybody, "It''s u-umm, different."


    "Different?"


    "I''m sure they work but I don''t want to risk it."


    Quinn just squinted her eyes as she just stared at me while folding her arms together, "You''re hiding something, aren''t you? Is your ammo a little special? I already told you that ''I know'', right? You can tell me."


    I chuckled, "On the contrary, what''s special about it is that there''s nothing special about it."


    ''Except for the higher-caliber loads¡­ If you want to hit where you want it or sub-sub-MOA, it should be a custom load¡­''


    Quinn never looked so confused, "Are you messing with me now? I''ll grab your balls and crush them if you are."


    I quipped, "Is that an invitation?"


    "You!" Quinn suddenly lunged forward.


    I jumped back before she managed to grab hold of me, "Easy now. I''ll tell you but you gotta tell me one of your secrets."


    "Secrets? Is it that important?"


    "Kinda. And yeah, the secret you gotta tell me should be something special that your group could do aside from building engines and pimping out anything that moves. If you can tell me something like a~ you know, a trade secret of your group, I''d tell you something about mine and possibly share it."


    Quinn and I just stared at each other while everyone else was just watching us, but after a few moments, she eventually sighed before opening her mouth.


    "Trade secrets, huh? Is being able to engineer our own engines not enough? I''m pretty sure it''s moreplicated than manufacturing your own bullets. However special your bullets are, it''s still limited to how it is utilized by the shooter. If your shooter is shit, your ''special'' bullet is wasted."


    I threw Quinn an approving look, "You''re right but I already told you, what''s special about my bullets is that they''re not special. Yeah, I made them myself¨C with the help of some people, but that doesn''t necessarily mean you''ll get headshots 100% of the time."


    "Then what''s special about them?"


    "I already told you¨C"


    Quinn never looked so annoyed, "Then what makes them not special?!"


    "Now, you''re asking the right questions. Good job!"


    "You fucker¡­ I''m this close to shoving my fist up your ass. Just answer me!"


    I just chuckled once more before I put my hands up, "To bepletely honest, I''m partly messing with you ''cause it''s funny, but here''s the real answer: The reason I''m saying that they''re not special is that they''re all just made the same way with the same exact quality. Special bullets have different attributes: tungsten core, stic tips, extra powder, etc., but mine''s regr old ammo as regr old ammo goes."


    As soon as I said that, Quinn was breathing like she was trying to contain her anger but she was partly squinting, trying to figure out what I was trying to say, "You''re not making any sense. Then how''s that different from the ammo in that pile? Those are also regr old ammo, right?!"


    "You''re really not getting me," I said before I turned to Ibarra, "Dude, can you pick out a bunch of 9mms from those ammo cans?"


    "O-Okay?" Ibarra replied before he did as he was told and picked up a bunch from the ammo cans present. He took a few moments since everything was mixed together but he eventually ced them between me and Quinn.


    Before anyone said anything, I spoke up, "Okay, everyone from my crew, pull out a 9mm from your sidearms. And after that, ce them right next to the pile of 9mms Ibarra picked out."


    Everyone listened to me and did as they were told, and once we made a small pile of our 9mms on our own, the difference was fucking uncanny.


    My crew never said a word because they already knew what was up but Quinn was slowly taking in what she was seeing. I already knew that she had an eye for detail because she knew how to build engines, but I''m pretty sure that her knowledge about guns wasn''t as deeppared to mine.


    However, she already noticed that our pile looked like all the 9mms came from a fresh box or a single magazine, because as I said earlier, everything was the fucking same.


    On the other hand, the bullets Ibarra picked up not only had different casings, some of them were FMJs, Hollow Points, or even those crazy RIP Rounds that looked like a drill bit. Granted some of them looked almost the same but I''d only let my crew use them if we ran out of our own stock.


    Sometimes, it was not about how special a single bullet was, it was about how the same or consistent a magazine or a clip of bullets could be. Consistency never sounded specialpared to Armor Pration or Larger Wound Cavity, but it was the very reason it was special to me even though it wasn''t.


    A lot of questions seemed to be clouding over Quinn''s head right now but I broke the silence.


    "As you said earlier, if the shooter was shit, the bullet is pointless. But you see, there are more things to consider when someone fires a gun. A few examples are the shooter''s technique, the gun itself, and the bullet used, but if you have a bullet that does the exact same thing over and over, you''d have fewer things to worry about."


    "¡­"


    "We''ve all heard it, it''s the gun''s fault, the bullet''s fault, I held it wrong, my hand slipped, etc., but if you remove one thing to me, you''d have a higher percentage to solve your fucking problem. You can perform proper maintenance on your weapon and hone your technique too, but to take it a step further, you make batches and batches of ammo that''s the same fucking thing. Some people could almost do the same by doingrge batches but I could make the exact same thing I madest week,st month, andst year. They''ll have all the same ballistics and shit and it''s more consistent than any match-grade ammo you''ll find on the market. That''s the secret."


    "Hmph. And you''re the only one that could do that?"


    "The proper term is that I''m the only one crazy enough to do it. Sure, there could still be differences between each bullet but it''s so fucking minuscule to fucking matter. And if I notice something amiss because it''s so obvious, I''d take it apart and make it again from scratch. I guess my own trade secret is that I''m borderline psychotic to do shit some people are too fuckingzy enough to do."


    Quinn finally let out a smile, "Is that so?"


    "It''s my OCD talking but yeah, passable is not enough for me¡­ bullets-wise. Well, to be fair, the word ''passable'' is different for me. Passable for other people is just straight-up trash to me and the word perfect should be fucking absolute. I love things when they''re perfect but I rarely get to call something like that wholeheartedly. Imperfections couldn''t be avoided 100% but every time an imperfection was cast out was music to my ears."


    Quinn was just looking at me with the same smile on her face but she eventually sighed before she pointed at the ck SUV that I saw earlier, "See that Escde? We made that."


    Everyone else looked confused but she continued, "To be specific, we worked on that thing and the other SUVs parked by that house. Mr. Cuervo had a vehicle or two that we handled, specifically his Range Rovers at the back, but all of them¨C even the Humvee you took from us, it''s all armored¡­ professionally."


    My interest was immediately piqued, "Armored how?"


    "Not as much as APCs because they''re made to look unassuming but that thing could withstand high-powered rifles and even a grenade st. Every single thing was swapped with the materials sent to us and even the windows, the battery, the gas tank, etc. are armored and protected."


    "So, you mean to say you just refit them with the¨C"


    "Don''t misunderstand, we do just refit them but we still have to machine the parts they sent to us. They always send us extra and we are free to use them however we wish as long as we get the job done."


    "Hmm, something doesn''t sound right."


    Quinn instantly scrunched her brows, showing displeasure, "What? Are you telling me that I''m lying to you?!"


    "Not exactly."


    "Then what are you saying?"


    "Your DB9."


    Quinn instantly shook her head, "That''s true. Why does someone who armor vehicles for a living have a DB9 that''s not armored?"


    "Exactly."


    "Those are still the original parts before your friend wrecked them¨C"


    "You also did."


    "Irrelevant. It''s already wrecked so my doing doesn''t matter."


    "Sure¡­"


    "As I was saying, yes, those are still the original parts and I don''t want to just throw them away but the windows are already bulletproof with the gas tank and the battery armored. I''m just looking for the right time to rece them but¨C remember Jackie?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, Number 2. The guy you shot for killing Number 1."


    "Yeah, that guy. He''s a fucking asshole but he''s kinda like you in a way. He was the one supposed to machine the parts to rece the hood and the other parts of my DB9 since he''s the best out of everyone in my crew, but he gotta go. It''s a damn shame but I guess you could do much better¡­ much, much better."


    I faintly smiled, "Hmm, I get it now. Armored stuff, huh?"


    "Yeah. Interested now?"


    "One more thing."


    "What now?"


    "Can it take a .50?"


    "Wut?"


    "Did I stutter? It''s armored, right? Can it take a shot from a .50?"


    Quinn never looked so confused from my question but it just so happened that Ibarra tripped over an ammo can and spilled several shotgun shells right as I asked my question. The gunshots that followed almost perfected the intro, but Quinn was looking at everyone''s expression, thinking that I was cracking another joke.


    However, I just pulled my Barrett out of its case to show Quinn that I was actually serious.

 Chapter 723 - Agreement - Start?

    Chapter 723 ¨C Agreement ¨C Start?


    I already knew the answer to my previous question but I just had to show-off one of my toys to Quinn¨C who after revealing that their group could armor up any vehicle that they wanted, was getting a little smug. Doing this was in no way an attempt to make fun of her, but in the case we start negotiating stuff, I''d like to keep her in check.


    It was because of how things were looking, we might stay here for more than what we intended. And since I was already nning to drop by their Main HQ and possibly learn their trade and fix her car¨C even if they already had the means to, I wanted every leverage I could get my hands on.


    Having something that could easily punch through their best work would be bad news for them¨C negotiations-wise, and even if revealing one of my cards to them this early could prove to be a bad decision, I wanted to know if they were still hiding cards of their own.


    With that said, my Barrett M107A1 was still the fucking menace as it was and I just had to rack the charging handle a few times to assert dominance.


    The sound it made while doing that was just music to my ears and every gun nut around me looked like they were smelling a freshly cooked steak. Some of them even looked like they were having an orgasm but to spare them the humiliation, I wouldn''t name them¡­ this time.


    Quinn''s interest was instantly directed towards my gun, "W-Wow, that''s fucking big¡­ What do you call it? It''s a Barrett or something, right?"


    I looked at Quinn approvingly, "It''s a Barrett M107A1 but it''smonly referred to as the ''Goodbye Motherfucker!'' or if they''re a little excited, they''ll refer to it as the ''Goodbye Madafaka!''. I rarely get to use this one but if I do, I make the best out of it."


    "You''re telling me you have a gun like that and you don''t bring it out as much as you could? That''s impossible," Quinn shook her head before she crossed her arms.


    I chuckled, "It''s not like we face tanks on a day-to-day basis and it''ll be a waste to use this on a regr deadhead. I could make ammo as long as I got the materials for it but I still have my moments when I can be a cheap-ass. I use my de as much as I can and if a .22 LR is enough, it''s enough."


    "That''s fair, can I shoot it though?"


    "Nope," I replied tly.


    Quinn never looked so confused, "No?"


    "Not right now¡­ I might need the bullets for this one since I only brought a few. After everything is over, sure, I''ll let you use part of what''s left."


    Quinn just stared at me before sighing, "Fine."


    With that said, time passed as they should, and aside from everyone else converging on the same spot as we were, they came back with their own winnings and their own set of useful info. Granted some of them were a little buzzed or a little bruised from going at it at the Cages, we either patched them up or let them get their rest while everything was ryed on me by the ones that just spectated.


    It''s just that Quinn had already said goodbye and had gone for her tent before Mikhail came back with Artem and Katya, but I guess it would be for the better if the two don''t meet for now.


    Luckily enough, aside from Artem winning a couple of coins himself, Mikhail bore no resentment with me but he did offer his coin to me so he could shoot for another shot with the one he let slip away. However, I left him with the same words I said to the people who wanted to have a shot with the people in my inner circle of ''friends''.


    "Go ahead, I''ll yield for as much as I can but if she doesn''t want to, she doesn''t want to. You get what I''m saying, right?"


    Mikhail nodded weakly, "Yeah¡­"


    "If you two hit it off and be exclusive, we''ll respect that but if something else happens¨C even if it''s not the oue that you wanted, you should still respect it as much as we respect it if it doesn''t go our way either. And yeah, it''s cool that you wanted to talk about it but you don''t need to offer me your coin. It just sounds like you''re trying to buy Quinn off of me even though I don''t havemand or ownership over her, and that''s kinda weird. Don''t you think so?"


    Mikhail nodded once more, "Y-Yeah, you''re right¡­ but¡­ do you still think I have a chance? After that fuck up and all?"


    I chuckled, "Seriously, man? It''s the first time I''ve seen you like this but yeah, let''s just say that she still might be interested because something was inquired in a specific stall in the Bazaar and body-wise, the two of you arepatible but¡­"


    "B-But what? And what did you say? Inquired? W-What are you talking about?!"


    "Heh. That''s something you gotta figure out on your own."


    "Wha¨C C-C''mon! Just finish your sentence, at least!"


    "Nah. I already helped you as much as I wanted and you gotta do the work yourself at this point. I''m not gonna get in your way but I''m not gonna be your wingman either because she''ll definitely fuck me up if I try again. To bepletely honest, I kinda enjoyed my time with her and whatever happens, happens. Can we at least agree on that?" I said as I offered my hand for a gentleman''s handshake.


    Mikhail looked at me for a moment before epting, "Fine, whatever happens, happens," then he smiled and chuckled, "Fucking weeb."


    "Heh. Fucking normie."


    At the same time this was happening, the area from the entrance up to the main ''y'' area was being cleared of anything that might impede the games Mr. Cuervo would hostter. It was being set almost the same wayst time but on a bigger scale. I thought they should''ve done this in the morning but the people he assigned to it were fucking efficient.


    Everything was going swimmingly and they''ll be done before the sun even sets.


    Aside from the cameras and the sound system getting checked, multiple guards were being spread around the viewing area they put around Mr. Cuervo''s gatedmunity, and all of them were fucking armed to the teeth. They were also d with full-on body armor and they were also wearing earpieces for closedmunications with each other.


    ''He''s definitely going all-out. I wonder what the games would be like?''


    With that said, I discovered that the enclosures around us had their own viewing area¨C for the people that were tasked to guard their belongings so that the one here wouldn''t be too crowded with random people.


    As of now, the seats were getting filled even if the games haven''t started yet but tension and excitement were slowly filling the air.


    However, it was at this moment when therge screen behind us shed at the same time therge speakers sted music, and they yed several highlights from the games that were recorded, and some were even before the outbreak started.


    I could barely recognize some of them but I did see Luis briefly, getting knocked out multiple times by the supposed champions. However, before I saw his clip where he won, several more champions were shown and it didn''t take long before a rough footage of me hacking down a thousand deadheads was revealed.


    Cheers just erupted over and over but the one that followed after me was Niks, followed by Ilya, Alexei, and Bob who Mikhail just won a coin from. A few more followed before I saw Luis winning a mud fight between a randompetitor, but when the next footage disyed, I couldn''t believe my eyes.


    ''No fucking way¡­''


    Our serial macho dancer who only wears red underwear and a red bandana actually participated and won a championship himself. I really thought he was here just to dance his ass off, but the motherfucker got moves of his own.


    The people watching would cringe each time his heel would find its way to his opponent''s jaw and it was already decided the moment it connected.


    From watching the fights, it seemed like the final round was always a tournament with a bracket system, and the only difference was my case because I ended everything while the seeds were still being figured out. However, I was more excited about the initial stages and the games prepared for Tatiana, Cynthia, Quinn, Elena, and the rest of the femalepetitors.


    It was because the games prepared for them were always fun¨C even though a lot of fan service was involved but aside from that, I had an inkling that they wouldn''t be involved in just a single game.


    If Mr. Cuervo wanted this day to be memorable, he had to fucking bring it not only with the showmanship and the entertainment, but also with the games he prepared for everyone. Granted the participants had to y a part as well but it''ll all boil down or rely on the one hosting it entirely.


    After a few more minutes, the highlight reel waspleted but it yed a few more times before everything went dark and quiet.


    However, it was only after a few moments when smoke billowed out and the lights focused on a lone figure on the stage.

 Chapter 724 - Grand Entrance

    Chapter 724 ¨C Grand Entrance


    The figure was just standing still for a few moments before the bass crept in and started to thump and reverberate all around. Slowly, we could see the blurry silhouette moving as restrained as it could before more and more figures started to appear on stage. However, right as the music reached its highest point, a synchronized show of lights came in and matched each beat.


    [ARE YOU REAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYY~!!!]


    All of a sudden, fireworks wereunched and the same figure at the center was also being disyed on the huge screen behind us. Ricardo used to be the intermission number from Mr. Cuervo''s games but now he''s the fucking opener.


    His oiled skin, his rippling muscles, and the fucking attitude to bare almost everything in front of the crowd while only wearing arge C-String garnered immediate cheers and apuse.


    Granted the beauties dancing around him were in a league of their own but our boy took the fucking show.


    After a short pause, lights red and smoke billowed on the viewing tforms, and several dancers appeared and danced at the same time. All of them were almost wearing nothing and I could definitely say that some of them were leaving nothing to the imagination.


    The one closest to us only had band-aids covering her slit and her tiny nipples¨C and her asshole had a small plug that had lights, while the one a few others were ogling at was someone only ''wearing'' a tail and cat ears. Almost every fetish known to man was getting honored but to make it fair, male exotic dancers were in the mix.


    Surprisingly enough, they were the ones that were getting a lot of attention from the crowd because a few olderdies were pulled off of them by the guards present. In the end, it was all in good fun because the opening was some sort of way to advertise Mr. Cuervo''s goods, and a good number of them on the viewing tforms were ''rented'' on the spot for their time.


    With that said, the music just fucking pped, and right when the first song ended and bridged to the second one, Ricardo was reced with two beauties that made a significant portion of the guys on the viewing tforms go wild.


    The two beauties were identical twins and they were dressed in skimpy schoolgirl outfits, but instead of moving in unison with the backup dancers, they faced each other and moved like they were standing in front of a mirror.


    It was mesmerizing in a way because even if the backup dancers were present, it felt like they were the only ones there.


    Both of them had long flowing hair, tender bodies, and petite figures yet they were blessed in the front and in the back. It was not to the point that it looked too much but justparing it to their slim waist and their long legs, everyone who would be with them would be able to get a nice handful.


    I turned to Cynthia, "Do you know them?"


    "N-No¡­ they''re definitely new¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled, "You got reced, huh?"


    "Hmph, it''s not like I care¡­" Cynthia trailed as she slightly pouted.


    Kaley waved her over, "Oh, c''mon~ Technically¨C"


    Cynthia cut her off, "I-I know, I just like the attention s-sometimes¡­"


    We got to conversing while we were watching the show but we were interrupted by a dancer wearing a bunny headband, a choker, spiked bracelets, fiss, and stilettos. Furthermore, she was also wearing a plug that was round and fluffy on one end, and her whole niche was probably being a slutty bunny.


    Everything else was free for our eyes to wander off but she leaned over to me before licking her lips and whispering something in my ear.


    "Hey, baby¡­ I''m feeling a little cold¡­ Wanna warm me up a bit? I''m a little expensive but I''ll do everything you want~ Mmh¡­"


    The bunnydy never broke eye contact but she almost fell off when I opened my mouth.


    "Ah¨C C-Can you move? I''m watching a show here with my friends¡­ sorry¡­"


    Kaley and Tatiana were trying so hard to contain theirughter but Cynthia had to give the finishing blow.


    "You must be new, huh?"


    The bunnydy never looked so shocked when she saw Cynthia sitting with our group, and looking at her like she was a pest. Her cheeks just flushed red with embarrassment but right as she turned around and tried to scamper away, she bumped into a tall amazonian figure that was carrying a metal suitcase.


    Quinn instantly loomed over the poor girl, "The fuck? Are you watching where you''re going?! Move!"


    "S-Sorry!!!"


    Thedy just stumbled away from view but Quinn was wearing a smirk when she met eyes with us. In any case, her whole getup was different but she still had her fur coat draped over her shoulders.


    Quinn was now wearing an all-ck bodysuit made with stretchable and breathable material that was cut above her knees and her elbows, covering her huge assetspletely with a turtleneck-like neckline. With that said, she paired it up with these white running shoes but I could still vividly see her naked body even if she covered herself up.


    It was like she didn''t wear clothes at all because her attire just fit her so perfectly, it highlighted her muscles and curves.


    Tatiana instantly quipped, "So, you wearing a bra under there?"


    Quinn shook her head, chuckling, "Fuck you, I threw one on but it''s kinda tighter than I remember. I guess I grew again¡­ Well, it''s been a while since I wore one, I have to have a couple tailor-made again."


    "Or just don''t wear any."


    "Heh. In a perfect world, sure. It''s times like these where I need to keep them in ce while I''m moving."


    Kaley interjected, "True¡­ I want to befortable but it gets in the way when I''m running¡­"


    Quinn chuckled, "And when it gets so hot? Ugh! Sometimes, I had to apply some antiperspirant in my underboob¨C"


    "Wha¨C M-Me too!"


    Tatiana muttered, "C-Can''t rte¡­"


    Cynthia interjected, "M-Me too¡­"


    "Shaddap, you''re still growing¡­ You never know¡­"


    "I hope¡­"


    ''WHAT''S GOING ON?!''


    I didn''t know how I got myself into this position because a few moments earlier, I was watching a show with great production value but right now, I was in between girls talking about bras and boob sweat. As I turned my head to the side, everyone else in my group was either ring at me with jealousy,pletely indifferent, orughing at my predicament.


    However, my attention was once more directed to the stage when mes suddenly jutted out from its four corners.


    Furthermore, mes even jutted out near the viewing tforms and it sent out bursts that led to the main entrance before it quickly drew back to the stage.


    The next thing we knew, we saw Mr. Cuervo in all his glory¨C rising from below the stage, without his coat on¨C and the first few buttons on his shirt were undone, exposing his chest, while he was tidying his slick mustache. However, the dancers behind him suddenly pulled on his shirt and revealed his ripped upper body that was covered with tattoos, and the whole crowd just went wild.


    After that, the twins we saw earlier walked up to him and offered two rapiers that were resting on separate pillows.


    ''¡­''


    While everyone else was wondering what he would do next, the gates to the main entrance just opened up and burst into mes before dozens and dozens of deadheads poured in and caught fire. However, they didn''t stop even if their rotten flesh started to get crispy and it''ll only take a matter of seconds before they bridge the distance.


    It was just that Mr. Cuervo pulled the des off of the twins'' grasp before he leaped in the air and took the ming deadheads head-on.


    ''This motherfucker¨C I knew it!''


    I could clearly see how Mr. Cuervo was wearing a devilish smile before he licked his lips and jumped straight to the threat with reckless abandon and what''s more, everyone lost it when the earpieces of the guards buzzed at the same time, and all of them turned away from the person they were supposed to protect with their lives.


    If Mr. Cuervo gets as much as a scratch, this night, this ce, and our whole n would be fucking over.


    However, there was just this feeling that made everyone do nothing but watch with bated breath as to what would happen next.


    The music sting from the speakers became awfully quiet the moment Mr. Cuervo appeared on stage but it just suddenly sted at full volume the moment he made first with his victim.


    His thin des just lopped off heads one after the other, and the motherfucker had the time to fix his hair before he sunk both of his rapiers into a ming deadhead''s eye sockets and eviscerated itpletely.


    I never thought that he could move and fight in such a way¨C as if he was dancing with them, because I for sure thought he''de out with a huge b of metal and light it on fire before swinging it around to crush his victims.


    Well, I was told before that Cynthia was taught various subjects and trained in different disciplines, but I never thought that Mr. Cuervo was the one who taught her how to use a rapier¨C in his case, two of them.


    I thought he was just an avid collector but who knew he was able to use them so well.


    With that said, the moment he took care of thest one, the mesing from the first victim he took down just died out, and he casually lit a cigar he took from his pockets before wearing an earpiece.

 Chapter 725

    Everyone else was eagerly waiting for what Mr. Cuervo was about to say but I just started chuckling and shaking my head in disbelief when his words entered my ears.


    [Phew¡­ See that, Hermano? I can do it too, nothing special!]


    I could see the smugness in his face from the way he was looking through the lens of the camera, and he was definitely trying to prompt a reaction from me.


    With that said, it only took a short moment before I felt different gazesnding on me, and to my surprise, a camera was already pointing at me and my face was now on the big screen.


    I was now the center of attention but the bunny girl that tried to sell her body to me earlier was back, and she was embarrassedly holding out an earpiece with both hands.


    ¡°I-I-It¡¯s for you¡­ P-Please t-take it¡­¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said after picking it up and recing the one in my ear.


    After that, I heard a small bee short static but then I saw the big screen disying my face alongside Mr. Cuervo¡¯s.


    [Can you hear me, Hermano?]


    ¡°Damn, this is crisp. Loud and clear, Mr. Cuervo.¡±


    My voice got transmitted in therge speakers and I couldn¡¯t believe the overall quality of his sound system. However, I had to jab at him a little bit just to return his jab earlier. He was just about to say something to me when I cut him off.


    [Hermano¨C]


    ¡°Oh yeah, I knew you could do it. Of course, you can. However, I wish you brought more than a thousand deadheads because if you¡¯re free to dual-wield, I¡¯ll fucking dual-wield too. I¡¯d hate to end your show early likest time.¡±


    As soon as I said that, it prompted a mix of reactions from the crowd but Mr. Cuervo couldn¡¯t hide the smile on his face. He startedughing through his earpiece and it reverberated throughout thepound. With that said, he soon looked at the camera with a faint smile and a sharp expression before he spoke in his earpiece.


    [Hahaha, I got that covered, Hermano. Anyway, I digress¨C we¡¯ll take a short break after this but this night is so special in many ways¡­]


    At this moment, the big screen only disyed Mr. Cuervo¡¯s figure once more but he was now holding his rapiers by the handle on one hand while he was taking a puff from his cigar. However, the twins had already made their way toward him and he handed his weapons to the one on the right while the other helped him wear his shirt without buttoning it.


    It just pped as the cold wind blew but Mr. Cuervo continued with his speech.


    [I say special because not only all of our families are present, but also there will be two families¨C old and new, joining us tonight!]


    Cheers erupted once again but a few were confused by Mr. Cuervo¡¯s statement.


    [I see confusion in your faces but listen to me, the de Leon and the Rivas Family will be one after this night but the vacant spot will be filled by the person you just saw earlier. Some of you were there that particr night or you might have interacted with him earlier when they arrived¨C while some might¡¯ve heard of him from whispers or have heard tales of his feats in passing. But I fucking assure you¡­ his family may be small but they¡¯ve proven themselves that they¡¯ve got what it takes and they share the principle these events of mine have to offer¡­]


    Mr. Cuervo paused for a moment before he pointed over in our direction.


    [Everybody! You¡¯ve seen Ilya, you¡¯ve seen Niks, and you¡¯ve seen Alexei dominate the games as soon as they arrived in our haven, but they haven¡¯t signed in to any of The Six Main Families, and it¡¯s for one good reason¡­]


    The cameras were pointing at us at one point but it just zoomed into my figure.


    [It¡¯s because they¡¯re already in a family of their own¨C a family led by one man who just appeared one night that only had the purpose to partake in the festivities, but left opening everyone¡¯s eyes and my own when he took the stage. He may look young as he is but like me, he came from the very bottom¨C in the pits of despair, from mind-numbing hopelessness, from an unfathomable tragedy¨C but he fucking wed his way out of that fucking situation and made himself what he is today! Ladies and gentlemen¨C I should¡¯ve done this much, much earlier but I¡¯d like you to wee the head of our newest family¨C The Ishiyama Family, SKY ISHIYAMAAA~!]


    ¡®This isn¡¯t in the fucking ns¡­ Well, fuck it¡­ Whatever it takes to point everything at me¡­¡¯ I tried to maintain a stoic expression as much as I could while everyone else close to me couldn¡¯t help but try to make me chortle, but I felt a tap from behind.


    The bunny girl was actually just staying behind us and she prompted me to stand up and show myself to everyone. And as soon as I did, cheers and apuse weed me, and my own highlights were once again disyed on the screen. However, it was soon followed by Ilya, Niks, and Alexei¡¯s own highlights before two different clips from different POVs yed alongside each other.


    One of them was the pping match between Mikhail and Bob while the other was Artem piling bodies on top of bodies in the Cages.


    Shock and awe were the first few reactions I¡¯ve heard from the people sitting close to our group but the screen went back to showing Mr. Cuervo¡¯s figure that now had his missing coat draped over his shoulders. He was now back on the stage with the twins now wearing short gowns, and he once again took to the mic to say his piece.


    [As you can all see, the moment my Hermano came back, he brought two other extraordinary men that beat past champions all on their own¨C without even knowing the full extent of what owning one of my coins entailed¡­]


    Jared nudged me, ¡°Bro, he skipped me¡­ He skipped me, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ Maybe because you gave yours to me¡­ It¡¯s probably for the best though¡­¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah¡­ G-Good thing¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind it that much. If things go south, I¡¯m gonna need you and Kaley watching our backs. Besides, the people present when you won that coin you gave me will still remember.¡±


    ¡°True¡­¡±


    Jared and I had a talk for a short moment but Mr. Cuervo was still talking to the whole crowd.


    [The coins I¡¯ve given to the Champions are tokens of the highest honor and those coins will give you ess to all of my facilities but with certain obvious exceptions and limitations. However, the most important thing it could give you is the power to influence a vote within our internal meetings and the more you have at your family¡¯s disposal, the more you could affect The Six Families¡¯ final decision. It doesn¡¯t matter how many you have now but it will matter after everything¡¯s over. Ah¨C I digressed once again but before we take this short break, I¡¯d like to introduce everyone properly! To my left-hand side~~~ THE ALVAREZ FAMILY~!!!]


    The lights and the cameras panned to the area Mr. Cuervo pointed to and it showed a group of people that numbered a few hundred that suddenly threw poses of their own. Their head was actually the guy who I thought was Mr. Cuervo¡¯s rtive who had the same taste in clothes like him and almost the same aura he was subconsciously letting out.


    With that said, he was given the same introduction as I was and the Champions on his side were also introduced promptly.


    However, the Champions themselves were men with a few words¨C a huge contrast from their supporters at the back who were cheering their name as loud as they could. It¡¯s just that all of them were dressed in formal clothes though one of them was looking straight at me¨C even from a distance. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure of his intentions but I just let out a faint smile before I ignored himpletely.


    I thought the break woulde sooner but it took a good 30 minutes before everyone else was properly introduced.


    After that, we were made aware of the whole Cuervo Family, the Alvarez Family, the Garcia Family, of which the couple we¡¯ve met before who owned the casino were the heads, the Rivas Family, of which Sally was the head, and the de Leon Family, of which Quinn was a part of, but thest one was the Castillo Family.


    For a moment, I thought they were the Rivas Family because of their few numbers on the viewing tforms, but to my surprise, they had thergest number of people that attended. When their turn came up, the wholepound almost shook and even the enclosure they were stationed on had enough people present for their own cheers to almost act as an echo from the cheers their people inside Mr. Cuervo¡¯spound were shouting out.


    Their head was an older dude that was on the skinnier side but the aura he was projecting was enough to be a match with Mr. Cuervo and the rest of the heads present. He had this look that would tell from a nce that he had seen the world for what it was from different eras or generations but he was still ready to outlive the current generation.


    ¡®Hmm¡­¡¯

 Chapter 726

    I was just staring at the older dude¨C Mr. Castillo, as he was casually looking at everyone with a faint smile but I almost choked on my spit when his eyes suddenly darted in my direction. We had a brief moment of just simply staring at each other but he just tipped his fedora before turning to one of the people next to him.


    I wished I have my own fedora with me to reply back but it was just far toote¨C and fucking weird, to acquire one and stare at him to hopefully get another interaction. It¡¯s just that I would¡¯ve preferred to meet each head before the events started but I¡¯ve only got to talk with a few of them.


    With that said, I¡¯m feeling something different from Mr. Castillo but I just couldn¡¯t put it into words.


    ¡®Weird old man¡­¡¯


    In which case, Mr. Cuervo finally announced the 15-minute break and he just went back to his ce before the music took over.


    At the same time, refreshments were made avable at the back of the viewing tforms though there were vendors pushing carts or carrying food trays around to get to customers faster.


    It was pretty obvious as to who in my crew instantly called for several vendors at the same time, and I had to switch seats with her so Kaley, Quinn, and I wouldn¡¯t keep passing her ordered food to her side.


    I was now sitting between Kaley and Cynthia but since our ¡®family¡¯ was small in numbers, a mix of people was sitting behind us. However, when I turned around to look back, a great number of them were the people from Quinn¡¯s crew that Mikhail and I recently beat up.


    I turned to them and smiled cheekily, ¡°¡®Sup?¡±


    I thought all would¡¯ve been forgiven but perhaps it wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°¡®SUP?! DID HE JUST¡ª¡±


    ¡°FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING SHITFACE!!! I BROKE TWO RIBS¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯LL FUCK YOU UP WHEN I HAVE THE CHANCE¡ª¡±


    ¡°IT ISN¡¯T OVER YET, YOU MOTHERFUCKER¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯LL SMASH ALL OF YOUR TEETH IN TOO!!!¡±


    All of them just started talking on top of one another and I barely understood a word they said, but the moment I raised my hand to brush my hair to the side, almost all of them suddenly flinched.


    It prompted theughter of their group that just watched them get beaten up, and Quinn wasn¡¯t even that interested to join in the conversation.


    With that said, the 15 minutes quickly came to an end but Mr. Cuervo didn¡¯t appear on stage.


    Instead, the twins came up while holding cute identical microphones and they greeted everyone before introducing themselves.


    [HI, EVERYONE~! I¡¯M RURU!]


    [AND I¡¯M RIRI~!]


    [AND WE¡¯RE HERE TO HOST THE FIRST PART OF THE EVENTS!]


    [As you can see on the viewing tforms, we have our beautiful sisters and our handsome brothers that would stop at nothing to give their customers whatever they need. However, it seemed like we might¡¯ve switched essories on the way here¡­]


    [Oh, no~! What are we gonna do now?!]


    [Don¡¯t worry, Ruru! It¡¯s just a couple of buttplugs, it¡¯s very easy to find them, right?]


    [B-But Riri! Ours almost look the same as theirs and the only way to find the difference is to pull it out and check the initials! Won¡¯t it be too¡ª]


    [Too what? Pleasurable? I kinda wish I put in the one left to us so the ones that would being for us would pull it out¡­ Mmh¡­]


    [RIRI! You¡¯re being too horny! It¡¯s not even thatte yet!]


    [Hngh¡­ I just love butt stuff so¡ª]


    [RIRI~! Please stop or you¡¯re gonna make me horny too!]


    ¡®What the fu¡ª¡¯


    [A-Anyway¡­ the rules for the first game are simple!]


    [The person who brings our plugs here in the fastest time will win a HUGEEE~~~ REWARD!!!]


    [B-B-BUT~~~! HOLD YOUR HORSES! TO AVOID A STAMPEDE, ONLY TWO MEMBERS OF EACH FAMILY WILL BE ALLOWED TO PARTAKE¡ª]


    [AND NO EXCESSIVE HARM SHOULD BEFALL OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS! UNLESS THEY WANTED IT!!!]


    [YOU CAN FIGHT AMONGST YOURSELVES AND EVEN STEAL THEIR ACQUIRED BUTT PLUG¡ª]


    [BUT THE ONLY PEOPLE WE¡¯D COUNT TO BE THE WINNERS ARE THE ONES WHO BROUGHT THEM HERE!]


    [OH!]


    [WE ALMOST FORGOT!]


    [BONUS POINTS IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHICH ONE¡¯S WHICH!]


    [YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO DECIDE YOUR MEMBERS!]


    [DECIDE NOW!]


    [TEN!!!]


    [NINE!!!]


    [EIGHT!!!]


    I was still shaking my head from the rules of the first game but I discovered that everyone in my group was looking at me. I didn¡¯t know why they were looking at me like we were in a time crunch but even Kaley was nudging me to hurry up.


    ¡°What?!¡±


    ¡°Decide on the participants, doofus!¡±


    ¡°Ah¡ª¡±


    Tatiana interjected, ¡°I¡¯m already going! Quinn¡¯s participating and I could care less about the other one!¡±


    [SEVEN!!!]


    [SIX!!!]


    [FIVE!!!]


    ¡°We need someone quick and someone gentle!¡±


    ¡°Why would we need someone gentle?!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re pulling out plugs from their assholes, right?!¡±


    ¡°And?!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re not supposed to hurt them, remember?!¡±


    ¡°What?! They¡¯d probably like it, just pull it out! It¡¯s probably lubed already!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I stood up immediately. My hands are still oily from the food I¨C¡±


    ¡°Hurry up and decide on thest member!¡±


    [FOUR!!!]


    [THREE!!!]


    ¡°Fuck it, anyone will do!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not going?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not pulling out plugs and getting surprised if they don¡¯t clean properly!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it! They¡¯re all prepped before going up here!¡±


    ¡°How did you know that?!¡±


    ¡°Irrelevant!¡±


    ¡°So who¡¯s going?!¡±


    [TWO!!!]


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go.¡±


    ¡°Are you serious?¡±


    ¡°Haa¡­ yeah¡­ no one else wants to do it so¡­¡±


    [ONE!!!]


    [READY~~~!]


    [SET~~~!]


    [GO~~~!!!]


    To our surprise, Katya actually stood up and cracked her knuckles but before we even discovered who Quinn¡¯s partner was, all of the entertainers just rushed through the safety rails and vaulted over them.


    I fucking thought all of them had a death wish but to surprise us for the second time, safety cushions were already ced below without our notice and all of themnded safely.


    However, this game¡¯s difficulty just bumped up a notch.


    I thought they would all just stay put and it¡¯ll be the weirdest game of scavenger hunt but this ce continued to surprise me. Good thing cameras were installed all around and even drones were flying to provide ample footage.


    With that said, Tatiana and Katya quickly followed after the crowd of entertainers wearing buttplugs before the rest of the participants in the other families had time to think.


    Even Quinn was bbergasted when dozens and dozens of dancers ran past her but she was already making her way down with a guy numbered ¡°10¡±, and they seemed to have a particr target in mind.


    It only took a second before our team caught the same bunnydy that tried to sell to me earlier, and once her fluffy plug was pulled out, a fucking moaning sound effect came from the speakers.


    [AAAHHNNNN~~~]


    I didn¡¯t know what type of cameras were used but we could clearly see her gaping hole plop open the moment her plug was pulled out of her.


    However, the plug that was pulled was only shiny and didn¡¯t have any inscriptions on it, but Tatiana shoved it back to confuse the other participants. I was nodding at her tactical decision approvingly but at the same time, I was being entertained and dying fromughter.


    ¡®Who fucking thought of this game?! Hah!¡¯


    Even Kaley was dying fromughter when the sound effects woulde through to the speakers but it was actually an intense match.


    This game wouldn¡¯t only test their strength and speed from catching the entertainers, but it would also test their memorization skills to leave out the entertainers who they¡¯ve already pulled a plug from.


    It didn¡¯t help when the entertainers would just run in different directions so there should be some strategy involved.


    Intuition might alsoe into y but it was more likely based on luck if the people wearing them didn¡¯t know it was the plugs that needed to be uncovered. However, the more entertainers you catch, the more your chances of finding where the plugs in question were.


    At this point, two minutes had passed but it was still as chaotic as it started.


    Looking at Quinn at her partner, they didn¡¯t employ the same tactics as Tatiana and Katya, but they¡¯ve already collected a lot of plugs that had the color scheme enough to fill two Infinity Gauntlets.


    I guess they deemed it would be too much work to plug it back in the entertainer that was trying to wiggle away, so they just kept their plug as a souvenir.


    It would¡¯ve been easier to separate them from the ones that didn¡¯t have a plug on but some of them were just too th to ascertain if they were wearing something or not. It would take catching them and spreading their cheeks open just to be sure and it would take a bit of time, but the majority of the people in the viewing tforms were fucking satisfied.


    However, while we were still watching the event unfold, someone from the Rivas family ran up to the stage and handed over a golden plug with the inscription ¡°RR¡± on it. Their team was just under the radar the whole time but once a quick rey of what they did was shown on the screen, it couldn¡¯t be more obvious why they were so quick to find the first one.


    There was a huge difference between the male and female entertainers and they opted for the most logical choice.


    [CONGRATS TO THE RIVAS TEAM FOR FINDING THE FIRST ONE! ARE YOU GONNA TRY AND GUESS WHICH ONE THIS BELONGS TO?!]

 Chapter 727

    The state of y paused for a moment when the Rivas Family found one of the ¡®hidden¡¯ plugs but everyone was waiting for their answer to the question. However, the pair from the Rivas Family was too embarrassed when they were face to face with the twins, and they couldn¡¯t give a proper response.


    ¡®It¡¯s 50-50, usually¡­¡¯


    They even huddled to formte a proper answer but the crowd and the other yers were just yelling at them to say the first thing that came to mind.


    [U-Umm¡­ Is this R-Riri¡¯s?]


    Everything went quiet for a moment before the twins looked at each other and chuckled, but they soon let out disappointed sighs as they waved their index fingers left and right.


    [Sorry, Rivas Family but your answer is wrong!]


    [So~ So~ Close! Right, Riri?]


    [Yes, Ruru! They were so~ so~ close!]


    [HOWEVER! The Rivas Family got a point for finding the first one!]


    [CONGRATULATIONS!]


    [WOOHOO~~~!]


    [BUT!]


    [BEFORE THE GAME RESUMES~~~!]


    [THEY¡¯RE STILL FREE TO LOOK FOR THE OTHER ONE AND PERHAPS CORRECTLY GIVE THE ANSWER THIS TIME!]


    ¡®Huh? Isn¡¯t it already obvious¡ª Oh~¡¯


    The other participants were just about toin about the Rivas Family being able to join the match even though they had already found one of the plugs, but the twins had already started doing another countdown for the game¡¯s continuance.


    [THREE!]


    [TWO!]


    [ONE!]


    [GOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!]


    Katya and Tatiana had already resumed the chase¡ª same with the Rivas Family, de Leon Family, and the others, but the Alvares Family had other ns.


    Their participants were only made up of two burly guys and instead of chasing around people with butt plugs on, they opted for a steal.


    Doing this would sound scummy and shrewd but there was no mention that it was against the rules. To be fair, I might¡¯ve done the same thing if I was a participant but it was just too fucking early to do that type of shit. The only reason I¡¯d do this early was if I was fucking tired or if all the targets were too fast, but I wasn¡¯t here to give out judgment.


    Everyone had their own method of ying and the ones not involved should just enjoy the show.


    However, one particr member of the Cuervo Family didn¡¯t agree with their methods, and everyone on the viewing tforms could see what he was about to do.


    Kaley instantly nudged me, ¡°Isn¡¯t that¡ª¡±


    ¡°Yep. That¡¯s Luis.¡±


    ¡°W-What is he¡ª¡±


    Kaley wasn¡¯t even able to finish her sentence when we saw him sneak around the stage and pull his dick out, and he just started pissing on one of the Alvarez Family¡¯s representatives.


    The guy was a foot taller than him and it only took a moment before the huge guy felt the warm trickle on his back.


    Luis quickly leaned back to dodge the backhand but he was still in mid-piss so his dick flopped wildly and it also reached the other guy right next to them. The sound got barely picked up because they weren¡¯t wearing any microphones but everyone could already assume the words that were being exchanged¡­ if there were words to be exchanged, that is.


    Almost immediately, Luis started running for his life as he weaved through almost naked entertainers while the two guys that were waiting for an easy steal were running after him.


    With that said, the search for thest plug was still ongoing amidst the chaos but everyone was more focused on the chase that was going on concurrently.


    Surprisingly enough, Luis was like an eel dipped in butter as he tried to run from the two guys chasing after him, but no one thought that he would fight back.


    When the first game started, the participants for each team were decided in ten seconds and everyone was more focused on the entertainers that were running around, I doubt each participant could actually remember what their opponents looked like.


    Sure, some of them¡ª Tatiana and Katya were still wearing theirbat attire without the war belt and the chest rig, but what Luis¡ª and especially what his partner was wearing right now was fucking camouge at this game.


    I only discovered who Luis¡¯ partner was because of the familiar bangles she was wearing and Luis was already making his way toward her.


    ¡®That¡¯s definitely Elena¡­¡¯


    And once Luis ran past her and tapped her back¡ª making it look like she shoved her amidst the chaos, Elena turned around and threw fistfuls of sand right at the exact fucking moment.


    All the burly guys saw was a fucking smokescreen before the first guy¡¯s face got smashed in by Luis who quickly turned around and performed a jumping knee while Elena drove her steel-toed boot toward the other guy¡¯s chin.


    Everything happened in an instant and the two guys that wanted to have it easy fell down before the sand attack settled.


    However, they weren¡¯t knocked outpletely because they were just writhing in pain, but it was enough to take them out ofmission for a good time.


    With that said, cheers erupted¡ª even from the Alvarez Family¡¯s corner, and the game continued as is. It¡¯s just that half of the plugs were already pulled off from the targets though some of them were still running around to confuse the yers. Furthermore, it was safe to assume that the plug everyone was looking for would be in a female entertainer but just to be extra safe, the male entertainers that were already few in number had no plug unpulled.


    None of the participants were chasing after them now after the fact, but there seemed to be a small problem.


    It only took a few minutes topletely unplug all of the plugs in the entertainers¡¯ back doors, but the plug in question was still missing.


    Even from thoroughly checking the ones that were left on the ground, none of them was a match from the first plug that was discovered by the Rivas Family. Not only did it sow confusion among the yers and the people on the viewing tform, but the look of confusion from the twins was also present.


    ¡®They didn¡¯t know either¡­¡¯


    I thought there would be some trick involved but the look on their faces said otherwise.


    Obviously enough, Quinn ran up to the stage and loomed over the twins with a sour expression.


    [ARE YOU TWO FUCKING WITH ME?! I DIDN¡¯T RUN AROUND THE PLAY AREA FOR BAD PRODUCTION, RIGHT?!]


    [W-Wait, Quinn! W-W-We¡ª]


    [ANSWER ME OR I¡¯LL SHOVE MY FIST UP YOUR ASSES!]


    [HIIIIIII~!]


    [W-W-W-We r-really didn¡¯t know what happened!]


    [Please! Believe us!]


    [THEN WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO NOW, HUH?!]


    [W-W-We c-can just r-restart with the one that was found¡ª]


    [THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?! AFTER ALL THAT?! WE¡¯RE GONNA¡ª]


    [P-Please c-calm down!]


    [I AM CALM!!!]


    The twins were about to get a piece out of Quinn and I could already see Mr. Cuervo sprinting from his house to diffuse the situation, but everyone¡¯s jaw just dropped when Tatiana and Katya checked the back of her knees and made her lose bnce.


    [Calm down, Quinn.]


    [Yeah, calm down. Why are you so¡ª]


    [WHAT?! WHO ARE YOU¡ª]


    [We said to calm down, we just won. See?]


    [HUH¡ª]


    [WHA¡ª]


    [HUHHHHHH?!]


    The twins, Quinn, and the rest of the participants were fucking shocked when Tatiana casually pulled out the missing plug from her pockets and handed it over to one of them, and I was probably the only one that saw Mr. Cuervo trip and fall before quickly scurrying back to his mansion.


    With that said, even the people from the viewing tforms were confused because everyone spent a good time searching for the missing plug without finding a single trace of it, but lo and behold, my team had it all along.


    At this point, the whole ce was fucking quiet and Tatiana had to grope one of the twins for a response.


    [A-Ahn~! W-Wha¡ª]


    [Are you gonna announce us the winners or are you gonna make me reach lower?]


    [Y-Yes¡­]


    [You didn¡¯t answer the question¡­ Hmm? You¡¯re still¡ª]


    [W-W-Wait! Shh~!] Riri instantly pulled away from Tatiana¡¯s hold while she was red through her neck.


    [R-Riri! Are you okay?!] Ruru quickly went to her sister¡¯s side before looking cautiously at Tatiana and Katya.


    [I¡¯m fine, R-Ruru¡­ A-Anyway¡­ c-congrats to the Ishiyama Family for finding thest¡ª]


    [Wait a sec, Riri! We should¡ª]


    Quinn interjected, [No. You two wait a sec,] then she turned to the other two, [Hey, what did you two do? Howe the plug is in your hands all along?]


    Tatiana chuckled, [Irrelevant.]


    [YOU¡ª]


    [We don¡¯t need to exin ourselves. Besides, you could figure out what we did if you think about it so there¡¯s no point exining.] Tatiana chuckled once more as she put her hands up.


    [Don¡¯t tell me¡ª]


    Katya shook her head before speaking up, [You¡¯re just dragging it, it¡¯s not like there¡¯s a round two or anything. We already had it the first minute in and we just waited until thest second to reveal ours.]


    Quinn¡¯s partner spoke up as well, [I-I-I already know that but why¡ª Oh~!]


    Katya just chuckled, [For the bonus points and to avoid wasting energy from an altercation.]


    Tatiana continued, [But it¡¯s not over yet. We¡¯re still skeptical of the right answer.]


    Katya nodded, [Right.]


    As soon as my team said that, I was nodding approvingly because the twins gave a subtle hint earlier.


    The obvious answer was that the plug that was first given to the twins should¡¯ve belonged to Ruru, but if they worded their statement earlier that finding the second plug meant just a chance to give another answer, things might be not what they seemed.

 Chapter 728

    As of right now, everyone from the viewing tforms and every participant in the y area had a mix of reactions, but aside from me and a few that already figured out the small trick, the twins were also wearing a cheeky smile.


    ¡®I knew it¡­¡¯


    Even if they didn¡¯t confirm nor deny my team¡¯s theory about the correct answer, the looks they were giving us were already more of a give-away.


    Furthermore, it was like they weren¡¯t the scaredy-cats that were trying to get away from Quinn¡¯s wrath earlier, but instead, their excited and ¡®showman¡¯ expressions were on disy for everyone to see.


    In any case, Ruru kept the plugs inside a cute little case while Riri ced her mic towards Tatiana and Katya.


    [So~ What is your answer?]


    The two just looked at each other before Katya shrugged her shoulders as Tatiana leaned over to the mic.


    [They belong to each of you, correct?]


    [Ding! Ding! Ding!]


    [Your answer is correct~!]


    [Not only did the Ishiyama Family get a point in their belt, but they also won the bonus for guessing who owned our plugs¡ª which we will reveal now!]


    At this moment, jolly music apanied the twins as they talked, but in my opinion, the prizes for winning the first game weren¡¯t as useful as I thought. But free stuff was free stuff so I shouldn¡¯tin as much.


    [The prizes are as follows:]


    [Since the Rivas Family and the Ishiyama Family won, starting tomorrow, they would each receive 5% of the proceeds from the Pink House!]


    [Isn¡¯t that great?!]


    [FURTHERMORE!!!]


    [We all know that the golden coins from Mr. Cuervo had certain ¡®benefits¡¯ or tititing ¡®rewards¡¯ when ites to our ce of work, but fret not! The head of each respective family that won will be given the opportunity to grant two other people¡ªand themselves¡ªtheir very own VIP Pass!]


    [That means~ the people holding those passes will be serviced by the Pink House for as much as they wanted, and you¡¯ll be able to take home an ¡®entertainer¡¯ of your choice for a week! But, if you took too long to get them back, your passes will be revoked and you¡¯ll have to pay them extra for each hour they aren¡¯t in our house!]


    With that said, if the winner was living in Mr. Cuervo¡¯s residence or somewhere close, it would¡¯ve been perfect but I wasn¡¯t. Sure, Ilya and the rest were living here and Irene and her group were only a short drive away from this ce, but the people or the groups who were stationed a ways away would be at a little disadvantage.


    ¡®Giving away shares of the proceeds of one of his businesses is great and all but it would still benefit Mr. Cuervo in the long run¡­ If more people were to stay here and or closeby to have ess to his facilities¡ª due to the way he¡¯s growing his empire, the 10% would be negligible¡­¡¯


    Everyone else had a mix of reactions to the rewards but the twins turned to Katya and Tatiana.


    The music was reced with something appropriate while my team gulped in anticipation, then the twins leaned even closer to the two before opening their mouths.


    [And the bonus reward¡­]


    [Here!]


    [Huh? Aren¡¯t these¡ª]


    [Yup!]


    [You own us now!]


    [Wut?]


    [HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH?!]


    What happened was the twins handed over the cute little case where their plugs were stored before they leaped onto Katya and Tatiana¡¯s arms and gave them a peck on their lips.


    Almost immediately, the crowd went wild as soon as it happened but two different things happened on the stage.


    While Tatiana was already shoving her tongue down Ruru¡¯s throat, Katya was shaking off Riri from her arms like an unwanted pest. At the same time, everyone felt the pressure that Artem just let out and it prompted the ones close to him to back away.


    ¡®Uh-oh.¡¯


    I was afraid to say that the pressure he released was more than the time Kristoff fell but it fucking was. He was just sitting quietly in his spot but no one even dared to enter his personal space for fear of getting involved.


    In any case, he began to calm down when Katya draped Riri over Tatiana¡¯s back, but our side of the viewing tform got even more crowded.


    Not only did Quinne back with my team while she was running her mouth off, but the twins were also closely following behind them and sat on the same spot. Our ce had once again be the main attraction and it seemed like I was the only one feeling the piercing stares from all around.


    I could only sigh and drop my head low to attempt to be a little inconspicuous but Tatiana casually threw the case of plugs on myp.


    ¡®Hah! I¡¯m in danger¡­¡¯


    It only took a second before the twins threw themselves onto me but not only Kaley¡ª but also Cynthia didn¡¯t budge. Let¡¯s just say Riri got t-out rejected for the second time in a row while Ruru got her first one.


    The twins almost threw tantrums on the spot but luckily enough, Quinn was also there to keep them in ce.


    I didn¡¯t have the time to fool around right now because the second game was being prepared at this moment.


    At this point, all we were seeing were kegs of beer being loaded on one side of the stage while different colored gs were being nted on the same spot. However, the first intersection by the entrance was opened uppletely before the same set of gs were nted, and it seemed that more than two members would be needed from each group.


    After a bit of time,rge beer mugs along with foldable tables were brought in and arge guy wearing a nice suit came up from the bottom of the stage.


    I have never seen this man before but he was dapper as dapper goes.


    However, what I didn¡¯t expect were the cheers that erupted the moment his face was disyed on the big screen.


    Like Mr. Cuervo and most of the heads, his hair was slicked back while strands of white invaded the side of his head, but instead of having a thin mustache, he was sporting a well-trimmed chinstrap that could almost hide the scar on his neck. Furthermore, he was almost always looking slightly down¡ª almost as if he was trying to hide the long gash below his chin, but despite all that, the smile he was wearing was genuine.


    He cheerfully waved and bowed to each of the heads on the viewing tform¡ªincluding me¡ªand he even gave me a short congrattions for ¡®winning¡¯ the twins from the first game.


    ¡®I hope he¡¯s not this game¡¯s bonus prize¡­¡¯


    With that said, he seemed to be listening to something from his earpiece but he just nodded a few times before he faced the cameras.


    [HAHAHA! WELCOME EVERYONE TO THE SECOND GAME DESIGNED BY YOURS TRULY AND IF YOU DON¡¯T KNOW WHO I AM YET, I¡¯M JUST THE FUCKING GUY THAT MADE OUR SPECIALTY BEER! JIMMY¡¯S CERVEZAS!]


    Cheers erupted for the second time but our fucking guy continued.


    [I KNOW, I KNOW, I JUST TOOK OVER THE BREWERY CLOSE BY BUT THE RECIPE I¡¯M USING IS MY OWN! And u-uh¡­ if you know someone who could change the design so it doesn¡¯t say SMB every single time would be great¡ª Ah, MOVING ON!]


    [I¡¯LL LEAVE THE REWARDS FOR LATER BUT THIS GAME WOULD NEED FIVE MEMBERS FROM EACH FAMILY! I GUESS THE SHARP ONES AMONG YOU COULD PROBABLY GUESS THE NEXT GAME BUT BEFORE I EXPLAIN THE RULES, I NEED THE FIVE MEMBERS RIGHT FUCKING NOW! I¡¯LL COUNT TO FIVE!]


    At this point, I didn¡¯t even need to assign participants because almost everybody volunteered as tribute.


    The first one who stood up was Mikhail, followed by Bogdan, then Ilya, and to my surprise, Artem. I thought Niks or Alexei would decide between themselves as to who would be the fifth member but they both sat down when Jose stood up with a huge smile across his face.


    It was almost unsettling the way he was eyeing the kegs of beer below but one of Quinn¡¯s crew grabbed his shoulder.


    ¡°Bro, they already went down. Where are you going?¡±


    Jose never looked so confused, ¡°Hah?¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you¡ª Holy fucking shit, I thought you were one of us!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    As soon as that happened, Jose looked like he was about to kill me because I talked him into getting multiple tattoos to ¡®blend¡¯ in. However, he did blend in a little too much because he would always get mistaken to be a member of the de Leon Family.


    With that said, my group eventually made their way with the other groups and they were made to wear colored bandanas with the same pattern as the gs.


    Looking at each of them, it seemed like everyone got the memo because only huge guys that could hold their own were the ones that joined except for Quinn that was towering over some of them. Her partner wasn¡¯t even included in the second game but if drinking was involved, I doubt Quinn would¡¯ve passed it up.


    ¡®If only drinking was the game¡­ I¡¯ve seen a version of this in Texas¡­¡¯


    With that said, the Jimmy guy couldn¡¯t hide his excitement when the participants were waiting for his orders, and he just smiled brightly before speaking on the microphone. It crackled shortly before a screeching feedback resounded but it was immediately fixed by the sound guys.


    [Alright, what we¡¯re doing is the Cuervo Heights Beer Ry!]

 Chapter 729

    As soon as the second game was announced, a set of lights that trailed around the wholepound lit up and it was connected to the lightsing from the central y area and the main entrance. Furthermore, more gs were nted in this ce¡¯s cardinal and intercardinal directions and there were cameras ced near them to provide ample footage.


    With that said, our Jimmy guy waited for the cheers to die down before he cleared his throat and spoke on the mic.


    [Alright~ The rules are very ¡®simple¡¯:]


    [I already mentioned that this is a ry but not only would each family race around thepound, but the kegs of beer we¡¯ve prepared for you wille into y!]


    [As you can see, each family is given four kegs of beer¡ªmade with my recipe, of course¡ªand the goal is to finish them all and have each participant run at least ap. Why, you ask? It¡¯s because for a participant to be allowed to run around the track for a singlep, they should have drunk a single mug, B-B-BUT! If a runner is too full to drink in theter rounds, their teammates will be allowed to cover them but at the cost of two full mugs!]


    ¡®Hmm¡­¡¯


    [ALSO!]


    [Just a word of warning, you can have a person or two stay back and drink their hearts out for their teammate, but do remember to drink moderately or to pace yourselves. They¡¯re still required to run a singlep at the minimum and running with a full belly of beer will be trouble, just saying.]


    [And remember, only two members from each family are allowed to run at the same time¡ªsince it¡¯s still a ry¡­ kinda¡ªbut the ones at their respective table could continue drinking and add up to the number of runs avable to them. Oh, and spige will be deducted from your time so don¡¯t even think about cutting corners or doing something shady. Let¡¯s keep it a buck and enjoy the free beer by yours truly.]


    ¡®How many times is he gonna say that he made the beer¡­¡¯


    [Other than that, everything is open to interpretation, and please enjoy the most amazing and most delicious¡ª JIMMY¡¯S CERVEZAS!!!]


    ¡®¡­¡¯


    At the same time the rules were being exined, a case of the same beer¡ªbut in bottled form¡ªwas served to each of the heads, but I just opened one and took a small sip before I just held it in my hands and offered the rest of my team the remaining bottles.


    ¡®It¡¯s really good though¡­¡¯


    ¡°You guys want some? Just don¡¯t drink too¡ª¡±


    The twins instantly cut me off, ¡°Ooh! We¡¯ll take one, thanks~!¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­ Be careful of¡ª¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    As ¡®luck¡¯ would have it, and in some sort of way how twins would sometimes be a little too in sync, the moment they twisted the caps of the bottles I handed over to them, the contents just spilled out into their short gowns and drenched their bodies.


    ¡°Ah, you two okay?¡±


    Their clothes were already fitted but the beer just made it stick to their bodies more, highlighting their features.


    With that said, the rowdy crew of grease monkeys behind us couldn¡¯t help but ogle and catcall, but my group was already there for the rescue. Even if the twins were in a certain line of work, they never looked so embarrassed the moment the beer spilled onto their clothes.


    However, at this point, the game was about to start so I had to hurry up and nip it in the bud.


    I just casually turned around and faced them before I opened my mouth, ¡°Hey, the game¡¯s about to start and I don¡¯t want to miss a second of it. Since almost all of you are injured, it¡¯s gonna take me about five minutes to beat up half of you before the other half surrenders or gets rescued by Quinn so¡­ How about we ¡®keep it a buck¡¯ and act like this wasn¡¯t the first time we saw twodies get wet?¡±


    But as usual, threats don¡¯t usually work on dumb people.


    ¡°HAH!¡±


    ¡°YOU GUYS HEARING THIS?!¡±


    ¡°FUCKING WHITE KNIGHT, I TELL YA!¡±


    ¡°THAT¡¯S SO FUCKING CRINGE!¡±


    ¡°WHAT¡¯S SO BAD ABOUT WHAT WE¡¯RE DOING IF YOU¡¯RE JUST GONNA FUCK THEIR HOLES LATER?!¡±


    ¡°FUCKING HYPOCRITE!¡±


    ¡°YEAH!¡±


    ¡°YOUR BIG BODYGUARD¡¯S NOT HERE! YOU THINK YOU COULD TAKE US ALL ON?!¡±


    ¡°D-Don¡¯t push it man¡­¡±


    ¡°R-Right¡­ Right¡­ ANYWAY! FUCK YOU, MAN! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?!¡±


    I was this fucking close to grabbing one of them and throwing them over to the other side but it was at this moment when the twins stood up and broke their spirits.


    ¡°YEAH! HE¡¯S GONNA FUCK OUR HOLES LATER BUT GUESS WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°HE¡¯LL REACH US DEEPER THAN WHATEVER YOUR MICRODICKS ARE LIKE AND HE¡¯LL AT LEAST MAKE US CUM!¡±


    Tatiana joined in, ¡°YEAH!¡±


    ¡°Tatiana?! Why are you¡ª¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re speaking facts. What are you on about?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Despite that, the twins continued their onught.


    ¡°YOU WITH THE NOSE RING!¡±


    ¡°M-ME?!¡±


    ¡°YES, YOU!¡±


    ¡°ALL THE GIRLS ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW YOUR DICK AND BALLS FUCKING SMELL SO FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING GOD, LEARN TO USE A FUCKING SOAP!¡±


    ¡°AND YOU WITH THE FAKE EYEDROP TATTOO!¡±


    ¡°YOU LOOK LIKE YOUR TOUGH BUT EVERYONE IN THE PINK HOUSE KNOWS YOU CRY EVERY TIME YOU CUM!¡±


    ¡°WHA¡ª WHA¡ª WHA¡ª THAT¡¯S NOT TRUE!¡±


    ¡°IT FUCKING IS! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TIME YOU WASTE BY REQUESTING TO GET HELD AND CUDDLED! TOO FUCKING MUCH! YOU EVEN USE A SEPARATE VOUCHER FOR IT!¡±


    ¡°AND YOU! THE BIG GUY AT THE BACK WITH A HOTDOG!¡±


    ¡°WE KNOW YOU ALWAYS REQUEST TO GET FISTED BY ALMA BUT JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, LEARN TO WASH THE INSIDE OF YOUR FUCKING ASS! WE DO THE PREP WORK SO YOU SHOULD DO IT TOO! YOU EVEN LEAVE THE PINK PANTIES YOU USED TO WEAR WHEN YOU WANTED TO GET DOMINATED! IT¡¯S SO FUCKING DISGUSTING, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!¡±


    ¡®I guess this works too¡­ a little too much¡­ Emo~tional~ Da~mage~¡¯


    The twins kept pointing out specific people from their minds that did something to them and their co-workers, but I was more surprised at how much information they could retain and how detailed they were.


    However, since I heard them as well, everything they said would be ingrained in my head. Even if I acquired bullets those people couldn¡¯t dodge, the image of the acts they had partaken in would forever live with me.


    With that said, our side of the viewing tform couldn¡¯t be quieter because almost all of the people behind us looked like they aged several dozen years.


    But on our side, it was a little sudden earlier but we officially weed the two in our fold.


    After a few moments of the twins iming victory over Quinn¡¯s crew, they eventually excused themselves to get a change of clothes.


    The race had already started its initial phase when they came back wearing workout clothes, but nothing too mind-blowing happened while they were gone.


    In which case, the moment the ry started, everyone picked up a full mug of beer and drank it at the same time, and the first two who finished their mugs from each family first ran like the wind.


    Everyone from each family did the same thing though Quinn¡¯s group and the Alvarez Family continued to drink mug after mug, and it prompted each family to do the same after a few moments of deliberation.


    ¡®Pacing oneself is the logical choice but there was more to it than that¡­ It¡¯s still a race but as our host said, the ones left unsaid are open to interpretation¡­ and that¡¯s the key. This will be a game to test both sides of the most obvious approaches¡­¡¯


    With that said, my crew had a slight advantage in speed among the runners that first made use of the track, but unless I saw everyone do their time, the winners couldn¡¯t be decided at this stage. However, there was one particr participant in the Castillo family that caught my eye.


    The dude was a guy on the shorter side but he was definitely barrel-sized.


    Furthermore, he had this overgrown beard and long braided hair, and if he was holding an axe and a shield, I would mistake him for a fucking dwarven warrior. But that was not what caught my eye and it was the amount of beer he was taking in his huge belly.


    It was like he wasn¡¯t breathing as he kept slurping everything up like a vacuum, and he only stopped because his beard got into his mouth. At one point, he actually asked for a boba straw to make slurping easier for him, and to everyone¡¯s surprise, he started running the moment their teammate got back.


    ¡®They know what¡¯s up.¡¯


    They were on the slower side of the race but if he could continue to drink beer like there¡¯s no tomorrow, they¡¯ll end up with fewerps to run around.

 Chapter 730

    As the race continued, everyone was beginning to empty out the first keg but there were certain groups that had just started on their second one. The first in line was the Castillo family followed by the de Leon Family and then the Alvarez Family. My own team and the rest were more or less even at the back and likest time, the Garcia family always remained almost invisible.


    The standings at the front were as such because even if the Castillo Family had a beer ¡®tank¡¯ of their own, everyone else had something simr.


    Quinn was still the center of attention among our beer drinkers¡ªeven if she was trailing behind our dwarven warrior guy¡ªand in my group, there was Mikhail and Bogdan. However, I wasn¡¯t entirely sure why they weren¡¯t trying to down as much beer as they could since all of them were keeping a moderate pace, even Jose.


    I wouldn¡¯t particrly count Artem in thisparison because even if I witnessed him survive Oscar¡¯s moonshine and whatever the fuck he put in his drinkst time, tolerance and capacity were different things.


    Despite that, his weapon this time¡ªthe same as Ilya¡ªwas fucking speed.


    The two of them had the highest number ofpspleted and everyone else was more focused on running as fewerps as possible.


    It might even sound like a blunder on our part but the number of times a team was allowed to sprint across the track needed to be burned as well as the beer that was already inside their bodies.


    However, that didn¡¯t mean sweating the alcohol from the beer out because our liver does almost all of the work. Granted beer had only a small percentage of alcohol but sometimes, doing strenuous work to try and get rid of it quickly might make it worse.


    In any case, they were sweating out parts of it that weren¡¯t alcohol and it didn¡¯t take long before someone had to pee where there was moderate cover. Truth be told, this was the only disadvantage Quinn had among the male participants because even with her size, she could run as fast as the rest of them.


    With that said, Artem and Ilya just finished their seventhp and they tagged out with Mikhail and Bogdan. Jose was still finishing the beer in his mug but it seemed like he would be running with Artem right after since Ilya had to conserve a bit of his energy.


    ¡®It¡¯s a hit or miss with the games they¡¯ve prepared since it would be difficult to formte a proper min/maxing strategy with each of them since they¡¯re announced at the spot. However, since each participant just needed to run a singlep at the minimum to qualify, having the stomach capacity for liquids such as beer might be the answer¡­ Heck, if they could finish four kegs as fast as they could, each of them could just walk thep each of them is required to do¡­ but there¡¯s always a catch¡­¡¯


    ¡°DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK!¡±


    ¡°FUCKING DRINK ALL OF IT!¡±


    ¡°RUN! RUN! RUN!¡±


    Well, after a solid 30 minutes of watching each participant gobble mugs and mugs of beer and run around the track with a pained expression, to my surprise, nothing special fucking happened.


    It was simply a battle of whichever team had thergest stomach, nothing more.


    Sure, it might be exciting and fun for the people watching but the yers wanted to fucking die when they were on the third keg. In the end, there was no point in formting a proper strategy because it all boiled down to a down and dirty mud-fight as to who was the better alcoholic.


    In a sense, my team had the better end of the stick¡ªand the rest of the participants from the other families¡ªfor pacing themselves even though they lost and didn¡¯t get a single point.


    The Castillo Family did win the first prize followed by the de Leon Family and then the Alvarez Family, but they weren¡¯t too happy with the prizes¡ª especially the participants who almost threw up from drinking too much beer.


    [CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FAMILY THAT WON AND THE FIRST PRIZE IS A JIMMY¡¯S CERVEZAS TANK TRUCK!!! IT CONTAINS 10,000 LITERS OF JIMMY¡¯S CERVEZAS AND THE SECOND AND THE THIRD PLACER WILL RECEIVE 1,000 AND 500 LITERS OF JIMMY¡¯S CERVEZAS RESPECTIVELY!!!]


    [WITH THAT SAID, THE REST WILL RECEIVE A CONSOLATION PRIZE OF JIMMY¡¯S CERVEZAS BEER KEGS AND¡ª]


    Jimmy was still in the middle of congratting everyone when he was cut off by one of the participants from the Castillo Family¡¯s side.


    ¡°THAT¡¯S IT?! JUST BEER¡ª NO SHARES¡ª NOTHING?!¡±


    [A-Ah¡­ You see¡ª]


    ¡°THAT¡¯S BULLSHIT!!!¡±


    ¡°YEAH!!!¡±


    ¡°THE ISHIYAMA FAMILY GOT THE TWINS AND WE GOT BEER?!¡±


    ¡°WE CAN¡¯T FUCK BEER!!!¡±


    ¡°YEAH!!!¡±


    [B-But that¡¯s still a lot of beerpared to¡ª]


    ¡°LISTEN HERE, YOU¡ª¡±


    The guyining was about to start a riot but the dwarven warrior guy grabbed him from the back and performed a suplex, knocking him outpletely by smashing his head on the ground. Furthermore, his hype guy was also knocked the fuck out because they were causing too much trouble. After that, he walked forward and gave an apologetic look before he spoke in his deep and gravelly voice.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for my junior here. We dly ept the prize.¡±


    [Ah¡ª Is that so? R-Right¡ª Anyway¡­ Oh! Hold up, one second¡­]


    Jimmy seemed to have received some sort of order from his earpiece and he just nodded a few times before he let out a faint smile towards the Castillo Family, specifically the head of the Castillo Family who was sitting on their spot and seemed to be talking to his right-hand man.


    [Mr. Castillo, apologies¡­ Mr. Cuervo said there was a slight oversight with the prizes in this game but he invites you to a private meeting right after the games are concluded. He said he would be wee to discuss arrangements if¡ª]


    At this point, both the faces of Jimmy and Mr. Castillo were on the big screen but Mr. Castillo suddenly cut him off. He was wearing this stoic expression at first but even I felt pressure when he frowned momentarily.


    [There would be no need. The oversight was on my part and for that, I apologize. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d have such disrespectful children within my fold and they¡¯ll ¡®apologize¡¯ profusely once they wake up. Other than that, I apud Javier for carrying the team¡ª and the rest for support. A huge percentage of this game¡¯s winnings will belong only to him and a generous amount will also be given to his party. Good job.]


    [A-Ah, that¡¯s Mr. Castillo, everyone! PLEASE GIVE HIM A ROUND OF APPLAUSE AND THE REST OF THE TEAMS WHO WON!!! WE¡¯LL TAKE A SHORT BREAK AFTER THIS!!!]


    As soon as Jimmy stopped speaking, the cheers followed but it only reached a high point after a few seconds of build-up. Music reced it right after but my eyes were glued to the two people that Mr. Castillo branded as ¡®disrespectful children¡¯.


    They were carried away from the area but instead of bringing them back to the viewing tforms, they were brought outside thepound. Furthermore, the person Mr. Castillo was talking to promptly followed and his face was just devoid of emotion, and I could see how the people he was about toe across give way with a wary gaze.


    ¡®¡­¡¯


    I watched him disappear to the exit but my attention was ced on my team that just came up on our side of the viewing tforms.


    ¡°Nice try, nice try~¡±


    ¡°Eh~ We still lost¡­¡±


    Bogdan put his hands up, ¡°The beer was fucking delicious but it¡¯s just too much at one sitting! We would¡¯ve won 3rd ce if Artem and Ilya continued drinking!¡±


    Jose interjected, ¡°No, that was a good choice.¡±


    ¡°W-Well, kinda but¡ª¡±


    Ilya chuckled, ¡°I would¡¯ve continued if we got the numbers but Mr. Cuervo wasn¡¯t even hosting the games yet. Trust me, it¡¯ll be difficult to win every single one of them if you¡¯re already about to tap out on the warmups.¡±


    Niks added from the side, ¡°And if we want to be on our ¡®best¡¯ter, we should be like the Garcia Family. They barely put up any effort since the prizes aren¡¯t said before the game starts.¡±


    Alexei casually replied, ¡°Yep¡­¡±


    Kaley leaned back to look at Niks, ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no betting pool¡­ yet.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right¡­¡± Kaley just nodded with a pensive look.


    Niks continued, ¡°The Garcia family is a calcted bunch. They won¡¯t easily put their best efforts into a ¡®mystery box¡¯ of sorts. They¡¯ll only put all of their chips when it¡¯s an assured win or the chances are extremely high or if the prize is too good to pass up. If it was me, I¡¯dy low until the right game pops up for us. Everyone else has the luxury to send more members but we don¡¯t. If we¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    Niks just paused mid-sentence while everyone was just looking at him, but he turned his head to the side to look at the numbered baldies behind us.


    ¡°What¡¯s up with you guys? Hadn¡¯t had enough?¡±


    ¡°A-Ah¡ª¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know what you¡¯re t-talking about¡­¡±


    ¡°Ooh! Is that a bird?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a fly¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    All of them were definitely listening in to our conversation and the face they made when Niks caught them in the middle of the act was fucking priceless. In a sense, these guys couldn¡¯t act for shit¡ª even if their life depended on it, and they definitely caught some knuckles when Quinn came up at the right time.


    ¡°YOU DUMB FUCKS NEVER KNOW SHAME?! W-Well, what are you guys talking a-about?¡± Quinn coughed before turning the other way.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±

 Chapter 731 Full

    Chapter 731


    It was pretty obvious to say that Niks, Ilya, and Alexei knew more about each family''s way of doing things¡ª In this case, how the Garcia family was being cautious, because they were here for more times than my original group and the bunch of guys listening to our conversation from behind.


    Sure, some of them might''ve attended once or twice before the end of the world happened or they might''ve been here more times than the three, but I doubt they were paying attention to what every family''s tactics were. In a sense, most of them were here to have fun instead of trying to win as much as possible in a methodical way.


    At this point, I ryed what we talked about to Quinn and we allowed the rest of the baldies to listen in. Some of them even had inputs that proved useful and confirmed Niks'' statement so we just shared a bit of info as the short break went on.


    "You see now?"


    Quinn just nodded pensively, "Well, the Garcia Family didn''t have a casino business for nothing¡­ Just think of these games as bonus points to top off the ones that wouldeter. The betting pool went over my head because there''s just a whole lot in attendance."


    "True."


    "So, I''m kinda wet. Wanna take five and ''wipe'' me off?"


    "Ah¡ª M-Maybe not this¡ª"


    "Hah! I''m just joking, I''m not as buzzed as you think I am. Besides¡ª"


    Cynthia suddenly cut her off, "Hey! You had your turn earlier! One-on-one too!"


    Quinn chuckled, "Oh? Is there a schedule I''m unaware of?"


    "N-Not exactly but¡ª"


    The twins interjected as well, "So, when''s our turning up? You can take us both if you want¡ª"


    I tried to fight for my dick, "Wait a freakin'' second¡ª"


    But Marina joined in as well, "I hadn''t had my turn in a while so¡ª"


    "Wait a freakin'' second!"


    "How long is the break even?"


    "I dunno¡­"


    "We could make the best out of it though¡ª"


    "Guys, stop."


    Kaley''s voice suddenly resounded.


    It instantly put the quibble to a stop and even if she didn''t project her voice, everyone close heard it loud and clear. However, she suddenly turned to me and put her hands around my neck before she nted a huge kiss on my mouth. Moreso, she sat in front of me while we continued to make out, and she even made me ce my hands on her hip and on her ass.


    Doing this in public instantly garnered a lot of reactions but Kaley didn''t even care. Well, some people were already doing it around the viewing tforms so we were just going in with the vibe. Right now, I was just wondering how far Kaley would take it.


    She continued to press her body against me as her embrace became tighter, and even her legs were starting to wrap around my back.


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    As the break continued, the people serving the refreshments had already started going around with a different variety of food and drinkpared to earlier, and some of them even changed costumes. Even the bunny girl that was assigned to us earlier was now wearing a different furry costume.


    However, in my case, I was being served a different meal and it wasn''t something I could easily say no to.


    Kaley''s lips never tasted so sweet and each time I breathe in, her intoxicating scent would just make my head a little fuzzy, making me think of doing her right here and now. Furthermore, it didn''t take long before I got hard and Kaley took it upon herself to grind her hips on top of ''me'' while we were continuing to make out.


    At this point, Kaley was already letting out short and muffled moans with each breath and I fucking know that it''ll only take a little bit more before ''it'' happens.


    Before it did, I quickly pulled off from her because I didn''t want the people behind to see the expression she was about to let out, among other things. Granted some of the girls here have already seen it, I wanted it to remain inside closed doors.


    However, Kaley never looked so distraught when I stopped her at the right moment because she was longingly staring at me while she was biting her lip and taking deep breaths. Looking around, Cynthia and the twins wanted a piece of that action but they had to wait a little more.


    It''s just that Kaley wasn''t willing to.

 Chapter 732

    As Kaley and I took our spot, the rest couldn¡¯t help but give us knowing nces but a select few¡ªCynthia and the twins¡ªwere about to take off and make do with my rubber counterpart that Tatiana was already regarding as a national treasure. However, Kaley was still a little frisky after our short time with ourselves, and she was sticking to me even closer than before.


    I didn¡¯t mind Kaley leaning against me with all her weight but it¡¯s just that the next game piqued my interest, and this time, I had to participate.


    With that said, the third game was hosted by a younger guy¡ª maybe around the same age as me, and he had long silver hair on a ponytail and a darker skin tone. Instead of wearing something fancy like everyone else who hosted the games, he was simply wearing baggy shorts, a messy tank top, and metal-ted boots that were high-cut. Furthermore, the watch-like device on his right wrist seemed to be custom-made and even the earpiece he was wearing was different.


    But judging from the crowd¡¯s reaction, like me¡ª no one seemed to know who the fuck this guy was.


    However, he still looked at the camera with a forced smile before speaking at a lower volume.


    [Tsk¡ª I didn¡¯t want to do this but¡ª Fuck, I¡¯m not supposed to say that¡ª Ah. Apologies, Mr. Cuervo¡ª Y-Yes, I¡¯m sorry! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!]


    ¡®¡­¡¯


    The whole ce was quiet but everyone grimaced when a screeching feedback assaulted our ears, and it seemed to be caused by the different earpiece our host was wearing. With that said, another person wheeled in a cart that had the same watch-like devices on his arm but I couldn¡¯t tell how much they were because they were piled on top of one another.


    [S-Sorry about that¡ª Anyway, I¡¯m Jericho and I¡¯ll be the host for the third game¡ª *cough* *cough* To begin, umm~ I¡¯m gonna need umm~ How many did I¡ª Right¡­ I made around thirty right here but to give the family with the fewer numbers¡ª Ishi¡ª Ishigaki, Izanagi¡ª Ah! Ishiyama! That¡¯s it, u-umm¡ª We¡¯ll let them decide how many members they want to participate. After that, since everyone else had a bunch of peoplee, we¡¯ll keep it as even as possible. So, Ishiyama Family, how many are participating?]


    At this point, everyone¡¯s eyes were on me but I nced at my group briefly before I let out a chuckle.


    ¡°One. Just me¡ª¡±


    [Huh?! A-Are you sure?!]


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    [A-Alright¡­ fine¡­ Very well¡­]


    My group wasn¡¯t even able to react when I dered that I would be the only one participating blindly in the third game, and it was already toote when Niks spoke up.


    ¡°Wha¡ª Are you serious?! By yourself?!¡±


    Cynthia added, ¡°Y-Yeah! You should¡¯ve said two or three at least!¡±


    ¡°I wanted to go with you¡­¡±


    ¡°Me too!¡±


    ¡°Me as well!¡±


    ¡°You gotta be kidding me, bro¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, Niks said we need to conserve our strength, right? Trust me.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    All sorts of worries andints assaulted my ears but my attention was shifted to Quinn when she decided not to participate. She let Number 8¡ª Dave, pick out their team members and she casually took a bottle of Jimmy¡¯s Cervezas and a couple of tacos and started snacking right next to us.


    ¡°You¡¯re not going?¡±


    ¡°Nope. Fuck that kid.¡±


    ¡°You know him?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ he used to be a prospect but Mr. Cuervo took him in. He¡¯s¡­ He¡¯s¡­ Let¡¯s just say he¡¯s a little special while being a little fucked in the head.¡±


    ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Hah! You¡¯ll see soon.¡±


    I was still trying to figure out what Quinn was trying to say before Jericho¡¯s words came out of the speakers once again. At this point, the other families were still in the middle of choosing which member toe down but he started to exin a few things.


    [U-Umm, if you¡¯re done choosing your members, I¡¯ll have them gather by the stage so we could fit them with my bracelets, and ah¡ª just to be on the safe side, please choose members without heart problems or something¡­]


    As soon as he said that, I immediately stopped in my tracks¡ª the same with everyone else on the viewing tforms, but Quinn was already grinning like I¡¯m gonna be going through the nine circles of hell. However, even if I was given a little surprise, that was actually a hint about the game we were about to y.


    [Right¡­ Where is Enrique by the way? He told me he¡¯d help me with my¡ª hey¡­ can you please call for him¡ª Ah¡ª Right, he could hear me from the speakers¡­ Enrique~ C¡¯mere for a bit so I could exin the rules.]


    I only took a few moments to get inside the y area and be right next to the stage with the other participants but when Enrique appeared on stage, no one expected him to be bound by ropes. To top it off, he was pleading for his life and between cries of help, he managed to say a verse or two to Tatiana which was obviously picked up by the microphones.


    However, he never got so quiet when the ¡®bracelet¡¯ was attached to him and Jericho smiled genuinely.


    [Hehehe¡­ Nice and tight¡­ Anyway, I didn¡¯t have much time to prepare a unique game so why don¡¯t we just y something really easy? Oh! Right~ I gotta show you guys how the bracelet works¡ª]


    Everyone else was casually watching Jericho stumble his way into a proper exnation of the rules when it happened.


    *KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! WHAT THE FUCKKKKKKKKKK~!!!¡±


    It only took a couple of seconds but Enrique suddenly jolted up like he got electrocuted by a yellow pocket monster or a green-haired baby from hell. Well, he literally was fucking lit up by a dozen or so voltages of electricity and everyone else that joined unconsciously took a step back.


    [Enrique, calm down~ calm¡ª]


    ¡°WHAT DO YOU MEAN CALM DOWN?! YOU FUCKIN LIT ME UP AND YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN?!¡±


    [Enrique~ You¡¯re not letting me finish¡­ The more you are agitated, the stronger the electricity would be. I¡¯m wearing the same thing, right? Watch.]


    As soon as he said that, we heard a very short crackle that came from Jericho¡¯s bracelet, but on the contrary, it only made him flinch before his expression turned to normal. However, right when he finished his own demonstration, he turned to Enrique with the same smile.


    [See? Let¡¯s try again.]


    ¡°WHAT?! TRY WHAT AGAIN¡ª¡±


    *KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! WHAT THE FUCK?! I¡¯M GONNA SMACK YOU WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!¡±


    [See? It¡¯s lower actually¡ª]


    ¡°YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!! I¡¯M GONNA¡ª¡±


    *KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! WHY¡¯D YOU TURN IT ON AGAIN?!¡±


    [I told you to calm down, didn¡¯t I? It actually went a little higher! If you get really, really, really agitated, it might kill ya. Be careful.]


    Like me and the rest of the participants, everyone from the viewing tforms was fucking speechless, and I fucking swear Enrique was starting to smell like cooked bacon. However, he kept shouting at the top of his lungs as he was getting electrocuted and it surprised and amazed me how high the output of the bracelets were even after several dozen electrocutions.


    It¡¯s just that Quinn¡¯s cryptic message was confirmed in the best/worst way possible, whichever wau I might look at it.


    With that said, Enrique was eventually sent off almost lifeless and even I felt the chill when Jericho turned to us sacrifices¡ª err, yers.


    [Alright, now that you know how the bracelets work, it¡¯s time to put them on! Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t work until the game starts so you won¡¯t get cooked while I¡¯m exining the rules¡­ I think. Let¡¯s start with the Ishiyama Family. Ooh! Nice tats. Come on up and receive your bracelet please!]


    As I came up on stage, the whole ce was still eerily quiet because everyone else was fucking afraid of the guy in front of me. Looking at his expression, he seemed like he had a few screws loose but to bepletely honest, the bracelet was a fine piece of work. He was the one who picked up a bracelet from the pile and put it on me, and he never looked so proud when it went ¡®online¡¯.


    [There you go! Fully charged and ready for action!]


    ¡°T-Thanks¡­¡±


    [Next!]


    In all honesty., I was a little terrified when the bracelet was put on me but when he started exining the rules, a smile formed on my face and it was getting wider and wider with each passing second.


    [The game we will be ying is my version of Red Light, Green Light but aside from wearing those bracelets, I added a few more twists.]


    [The first one is that I¡¯m gonna be a little~ tricky and the other one will be maddening¡­ forrger members. You¡¯ll find that out once we start, heh.]


    The host in front of me was one crazy motherfucker but he was starting to grow on me.

 Chapter 733

    After everything was said, technically, all he did was tell us the game we would be ying but the twists he said that he would be adding into it were kept secret. All we knew was that we¡¯d be ying a game of Red Light Green Light with modded bracelets that could produce electricity but the voltage released would be depending on how agitated the person was.


    Jericho made a small demonstration with it beforehand but there were still a few questions that were floating in my mind.


    Despite that, all I¡¯d need to do was y and enjoy the game because sometimes, part of the fun was not knowing or even trying to know things like ¡®magicians¡¯ performing their tricks.


    [Alright, alright, everyone¡¯s hooked up! Now, I¡¯ll request each of you to make your way towards the entrance and once you do, we will begin shortly. Remember, the prompts will be ryed using the big screen behind me and the speakers all around so¡­ keep an eye and an ear out! The first person to cross the line over here wins the secret prize!]


    Compared to earlier, Jericho was more excited about hosting his very own game though he seemed more focused on how his devices would work.


    As I made my way to the main entrance, there were a few familiar faces among the participants though some of them I still haven¡¯t talked to personally and had a bad run with.


    They were Number 68¡ª the guy we saw half-naked and waspletely minding his own business when Mikhail and I walked by their turf, Mason¡ª the guy who used me of cheating when in actuality I was just using my head, and Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand¡ª the guy who followed after the ¡®disrespectful children¡¯ from their family.


    However, Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand was exuding trace amounts of bloodlust and I could already imagine what happened to the two he visited.


    ¡®They¡¯re either dead or beaten up to the point they¡¯d be useless for a while. Either way, his teammates aren¡¯t even keeping a safe distance away from him. It¡¯s probably a usual urrence over on their side¡­¡¯


    At this moment, every participant was mostly standing side by side, allowing each family to have a member or two at the front¡ª making the rest of their team stand behind but in my case, a few participants were standing behind me because I was the only one in my group.


    With that said, the huge screen behind the stage was still pure white¡ªalmost acting like a shbang¡ªbut the moment it turned green as a short beep resounded, everyone instantly reacted and dashed forward.


    Everyone else had made five to seven steps at this point but the speakers suddenly let out the same beep, and it made everyone else stop in their tracks.


    However, the screen behind Jericho was still fucking green and everyone was fucking divided on what to do. Even I didn¡¯t dare to move a single muscle, thinking it was an error in production, but once a few people walked a couple of steps forward and nothing happened, I couldn¡¯t help but shake my head in amusement.


    After a short bit, the screen turned red and the beeping sound followed and Jericho never looked so amused at our reactions.


    ¡®This motherfucker¡­¡¯


    After that, the same beep resounded as the light turned green once more, but before anyone else could take a single step, it suddenly turned to red catching a few yers off-guard.


    ¡°FU¡ª¡±


    ¡°YOU DUMB¡ª¡±


    ¡°SHI¡ª¡±


    [Hehe¡­]


    *KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*


    It only took a fraction of a second before electricity traveled through their bodies but to everyone¡¯s surprise, their teammates were also electrocuted. Moreso, the ones that were more panicked got a higher voltagepared to the ones that made a mistake, and their screams resounded throughout thepound.


    Some of them even tried to pry off the bracelets in their arms but all it did was send another voltage of electricity through their bodies. As soon as that happened, the ones that were just about to try and remove their bracelets stopped any notion of doing so, but the teammates of the ones that tried were also involved in the shocking punishment.


    At this point, when the light turned green for a few seconds, no one from even the groups who were safe took a single step forward.


    Everyone was feeling dread from the punishment that woulde from a single mistake and I thanked the nine divines for participating solo. Having arge number of people could increase one¡¯s chances of winning a game but this game was theplete fucking opposite.


    [Cool, huh?]


    Jericho¡¯s voice resounded from the speakers but once his mocking face was shown on the screen, everyone didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. However, a few guys that got pissed off wanted to smack his face so hard stepped forward¡ªeven though the light was still red¡ªhad the shock of their lives because they were so fucking pissed off, the voltage that came out was even higher than what hit Enrique.


    It¡¯s just that they managed to get ahead of the pack even though they suffered from walking when they shouldn¡¯t.


    ¡®Wait¡­¡¯


    I was deep in my thoughts when the lights turned green for a second but a smile was slowly forming on my face.


    ¡®That¡¯s the key¡­¡¯


    At this point, the ones that trailed behind me at the start overtook me for a few steps but I was already trying to brace myself for what I was about to do. If everything that I thought of was right, I might¡¯ve found the right way to cheese this game.


    ¡®Red light means I shouldn¡¯t¡­ not couldn¡¯t¡­¡¯


    I never breathed as slow as I could and while doing this, I was clearing my head of anything negative and was just filling it with what a certain person in Nevend could allow him to fly.


    ¡®Rainfall, the smell of fresh-cut grass, being with Kaley¡ª wait, that¡¯s doing the opposite¡­ clean dishes, clean room, clean sheets, clean guns, clean katana, sorted ammo, coffee, new books, Zeus when he¡¯s a puppy¡­¡¯


    I didn¡¯t even know I was smiling like an idiot as I casually walked forward, and even when the light turned red, I continued on while thinking thoughts that would either calm me down or make peace with myself. In doing so, I easily overtook the ones that overtook me earlier and I was leading the pack by a good ten steps or so.


    The electricity was still there and I could somehow tolerate it, but it prompted a set of reactions from everyone else including the ones on the viewing tforms.


    ¡°WHAT?! WHAT¡¯S HAPPENING?! IS HE CHEATING?!¡±


    ¡°H-HOW?!¡±


    ¡°HE¡¯S GONNA WIN! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!¡±


    Step by step, I was making my way to the halfway point but I suddenly felt a couple of presences behind me. With how cautious I was, I stopped in my tracks right before the red light reced the green one because my trick could only work with no interference whatsoever.


    There were no said rules about keeping other yers pinned and the way how things went here, that key point would be exploited. This would be the time when ying solo would prove disadvantageous but I won¡¯t fall to that exploit easily.


    Right at this moment, I turned around and faced the two peopleing from behind me before I chuckled and poised for an attack and it just caught them off-guard.


    One of them was this close to grabbing onto my clothes and making me stay behind but before he was able to do anything, I suddenly pulled on his arm before I struck his throat with the tip of my fingers. He instantly started choking but I kicked the side of his knee before I followed it by kicking straight at his shin, and he fell down and got lit up.


    Luckily enough, the other one that was right behind him was also his teammate so he also got electrocuted with the rest of his team. Well, I still flinched for a good second or two when I also got hit with the same thing because moving that way needs a bit of exertion.


    I was leading the group with a wide margin and to continue using my trick to get ahead, the solution couldn¡¯t be simpler.


    Doing my trick didn¡¯t even require me to look at the screen anyway so I continued facing the rest of the participants while walking step by step backward. If things went as it was going, I¡¯d easily take the win but the other families had no intention of giving up that easily.


    Number 68 was looking at me approvingly while Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand was just looking at me without any expression.


    It only took a switch from the red screen to the green screen before they both dashed forward, but none of them knew they¡¯d do it at the same time. Both of them were gunning straight for me so the surprise when they almost collided with each other was present.


    However, it seemed that Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand wanted to solo me so he struck the back of the head of Number 68.


    It¡¯s just that Number 68 leaned forward at the right moment to avoid the blow, and his heel was already making its way to his opponent¡¯s nape. It was done in one quick motion by leaning forward and twisting his body to deliver his heel in the angle but Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand also blocked it.


    They were about to start a fight on their own and I didn¡¯te here to watch them so I just shrugged my shoulders and continued to jog backward.

 Chapter 734

    As soon as I did, the look of shock couldn¡¯t be hidden from the pack I was starting to leave behind but the two were still going at it even if they were receiving strong electric shocks. However, they could only take so much at a time so they would stop when the light was red but would race as to who would strike first when the light was green.


    From watching the two, Number 68 had a familiar moveset from a character I used to y in a fighting game where all I¡¯d need to do to win was mash two buttons over and over while Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand was mostly using a mix of moves¡ª though he would almost always opt for illegal strikes if they were in an official match.


    Eye-gouging, hits to the back of the head, and even shots to the groin were his primary moveset and it was making his opponent pissed off more and more.


    At the right fucking moment, Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand motioned for another kick to Number 68¡¯s groin area, and as soon as Number 68 tried to block by cing both of his hands near his crotch to receive the blow, the kick suddenly came for his chin.


    The change in trajectory was performed by folding his knee, barely missing as he came near his opponent¡¯s groin, and extending it once again in one quick motion.


    It would lose a bit of power and would strain the user but in the right conditions, it could deliver a clean blow.


    Almost immediately, Number 68¡¯s head blew back from the impact but before he could even try to stabilize himself, his face was met with a vicious heel that came in the form of an axe kick, and it definitely broke his nose.


    Blood spluttered for a short bit before the light turned red and Number 68 received a shock of electricity along with his teammates while Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand kept still as his leg was still suspended in the air.


    After a short bit, cheers suddenly erupted all throughout the viewing tforms but the rest of Number 68¡¯s teammates were already gunning for Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand. However, their target also had teammates of his own so a brawl between the two parties started.


    But once again, I didn¡¯t need to get involved so I continued with my slow back-jog.


    ¡°YOU DUMBFUCKS! HE¡¯S ABOUT TO WIN!¡±


    ¡°THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL FIGHTING FOR?!¡±


    ¡°JUST DASH FORWARD AND TRY TO HOLD HIM DOWN!¡±


    ¡°THROW SOMETHING, DAMMIT!¡±


    ¡°STOP HOLDING EACH OTHER BACK, AIM FOR THE TOP SPOT YOU FUCKING IDIOTS!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯LL BET A PACK OF CIGARS THE CASTILLO FAMILY WILL BEAT UP THE LOT OF THE DE LEON FAMILY OVER THERE?!¡±


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯LL TAKE YOU ON!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯LL BET A CASE OF ALCOHOL THEN!¡±


    ¡°AREN¡¯T YOU GUYS CONCERNED ABOUT THE RACE?!¡±


    ¡°FUCK IT, WHY CAN¡¯T WE DO BOTH?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯LL BET A BJ FROM MY GIRL THAT HE¡¯LL CATCH UP TO THE NEW KID!¡±


    ¡°HE¡¯S THE NEW HEAD, YOU DUMBFUCK! D¡¯YOU WANT TO GET DA¡¯D?!¡±


    ¡°HAH! HE¡¯LL SLICE YOU IN TWO IF YOU EVER PISS HIM OFF!¡±


    ¡°SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! I¡¯M SORRY MR. HEAD! HIT ME UP IF YOU WANT TO GET YOUR DICK SUCKED!¡±


    ¡°THAT SOUNDED SO WRONG DUDE!¡±


    ¡°AH¡ª MY GIRL IS¡ª YOU KNOW THE DEAL! I¡¯M SORRY AGAIN~!¡±


    The people shouting from the viewing tforms were just pure chaos but while everyone thought that Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand would eventually gun for me, he didn¡¯t. The trace amounts of bloodlust I felt from him earlier suddenly doubled before it turned toplete killing intent.


    His eyes suddenly turned as red as they could and everyone just watched him stomp on Number 68¡¯s right shin, breaking his bones and making him scream out in pain. All the guy could do was wriggle in ce but our aggressor kept putting his weight on the injured area, making it discolor and making the injury even more severe.


    The whole ce had never been so quiet but right when he was about to break his other leg, a shoe just clocked him in the noggin.


    Well, that was my shoe.


    Yep, I threw it.


    If the already quiet ce could be any quieter, everyone was experiencing it right now.


    Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand stopped dead in his tracks and turned to my shoe which was only a few feet away from him, and it only took him a moment to realize he drew blood and it was now covering part of his face and trickling down on the ground.


    Still, Number 68¡¯s condition was much worse, and even if we had no affiliation whatsoever, I couldn¡¯t just ignore the guy. If I let things as they should, he probably would¡¯ve ended up as an invalid.


    Sure, Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand didn¡¯t do anything wrong as per this ce¡¯s rules but there¡¯s nothing wrong with what I did either. There was no rule of saving someone¡¯s hide and if they wanted to sue me for it, I could easily say that I just wanted to hit him in the end but he was a little too far.


    With that said, Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand was now deathly staring at me but I guess he couldn¡¯t see properly with his left side because my other shoe clocked him once again.


    I had to throw it for everything to be bnced because I¡¯d rather walk barefoot than walk funny.


    And again, if the ce could be quieter, it was fucking happening right now.


    However, Jericho¡¯s voice resounded from the speakers.


    [HAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU DUMBFUCK! YOU DIDN¡¯T FUCKING SEE THAT?! HAHAHAHAHA! YOU¡¯RE ALREADY PRETTY FUCKING STUPID FOR GETTING HIT WITH A SHOE AND YOU GOT HIT AGAIN?! HOW DUMB CAN YOU BE?! MAN, IT¡¯S ALREADY DIFFICULT TO GET HIT WITH LIGHTNING TWICE BUT YOU¡¯D PROBABLY BE A LIGHTNING ROD FOR SHOES! GOOD THING HE¡¯S ONLY WEARING A PAIR OR ELSE HE¡¯D CLOCK YOU FOR THE THIRD TIME! HAHAHAHAHA!!!]


    Jericho was the only one dyingughing at the moment but Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand already rushed for me even if his whole face was covered in blood.


    I only caught a short glimpse of Number 68 looking at me thankfully¡ªbut still with a pained expression¡ªbecause I now had to take care of the problem right in front of me. I could¡¯ve run a bit more to increase our distance from each other but I¡¯m not gonna turn my back on this psycho that likes to y with his food.


    ¡®If he¡¯s their best fighter, I¡¯ll have¡ª everyone will have an easier timeter on.¡¯


    Right as we were in striking distance, his hand suddenly lunged out to aim for my eyes but I sidestepped before I got even closer, delivering a knee straight to his abdomen. However, his head suddenly jerked down and collided with my own before he stumbled back a few steps.


    ¡®This motherfucker!¡¯


    I could barely open my right eye due to the pain but I already had to guard against his rush of attacks that were aimed at my body.


    He sent knees, punches, kicks, and elbows all over the ce but I only guarded the areas that were critical. However, I started to notice that he was concentrating blows on the lower part of my body and was totally avoiding hitting my head. Sure, getting clean hits to my body would make me slower to a degree but if he was what I think he was, he¡¯d just go in for the kill.


    Judging by his actions, I already knew what he was up to and I just had to figure out the time he¡¯d do it¡­ or just make him do it on my bidding.


    It was done by simply leaving an opening that wasn¡¯t too good to pass up because if he fucking noticed that I was baiting him, he¡¯d never go for it. With that said, after I blocked a kick from my left leg, I ¡®grimaced¡¯ in pain, partially closing my eyes and slightly bending to the side. Furthermore, my arms were down because I was te¡¯ in blocking his attack and it was almost like the same situation with Number 68 earlier.


    ¡®3¡­ 2¡ª¡¯


    Like fucking clockwork, his hand sliced through the air to gouge my eye out and I only had a fraction of a second to react.


    From my peripheral vision, his arm moved in a wide arc¡ªalmost like performing a hook¡ªso I figured the best way to deal with it was to perform a morepact version of his attack. What I did was copy his movements like I was a mirror and drive my arm at a much shorter arc¡ª to divert his attack trajectory and make him taste his own fucking medicine.


    After a split second, both of us drew blood and the side of my cheek was bleeding but he just lost the chance to see 3D movies.


    Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand was now a bloody mess and was writhing in pain as his left eye was now dangling from its socket.

 Chapter 735

    Globe Luxation.


    That was the medical term used when referring to an eyeball when it ¡®pops¡¯ out of its socket that could ur due to a rare condition or a sudden head or eye trauma. Those rare conditions could be from Floppy Eyelid Syndrome, Thyroid Eye Disease, etc., but nevertheless¡ªas soon as it happens¡ªit would be considered a medical emergency and it should be treated immediately.


    Well, in our case, it was a little more than Globe Luxation because I put in a little too much force, it caused the skin to the side of his eye to break open a few centimeters straight through the skin of his temple.


    Blood was just dripping down on the ground and I¡¯m not sure whether it came from his recent or recent-recent injury.


    At this point, no one had received electric shocks for the longest time so I just assumed that Jericho could manually turn it on and off instead of it being programmed to run randomly.


    Everyone else that was trailing could¡¯ve made some proper headway but my fight with Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand stopped them in their tracks. However, the person in front of me was already posing for another attack¡ªeven if his whole body was shaking¡ªbut I managed to make him flinch just by simply moving my hand that I used to gouge his eye out.


    I chuckled as I looked at his working eye, ¡°I¡¯ll let you forfeit now so you could get your eye looked at. Trust me, you don¡¯t wanna have a go with me now that your vision¡¯s impaired. If you¡¯re lucky, you¡¯ll still get your eyesight back with minimal damage but¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯LL FUCKING KILL YOU¡ª¡±


    The guy shouted at the top of his lungs while releasing copious amounts of killing intent but I simply shook my head as I moved back half a step.


    It only took a fraction of a second before he shakily lunged at me but I gave him a taste of his own fucking medicine¡ªfor the second time¡ªas my foot made its way between his crotch.


    I didn¡¯t even hold back as I drove my foot up as hard as I could and I even followed it all the way through.


    The sound it made almost made every person with a dick close their legs subconsciously though his past victims were already cheering me on.


    But after that, I only needed to push him with minimal force as he tumbled down on the floor while clutching his balls and bleeding from his head and his right eye. He couldn¡¯t even breathe normally as he was only using his mouth to gasp for air, but he was still trying to crawl in my direction.


    I could only imagine the pain he was going through but he couldn¡¯t tell me I didn¡¯t warn him.


    In a sense, I could¡¯ve gone easier but in this case, you need to have a bigger stick than everyone else present. However, it was all just pure violence and everyone was here to witness it, whether it was inflicted on a friend or foe.


    With that said, a mix of reactions came from the viewing tforms as I casually made my way to Jericho¡¯s side.


    No one even dared to try and get past me because almost all of the participants stood in their ce while the rest of the De Leon Family forfeited to get Number 68 help.


    Even Mr. Castillo¡¯s right hand was escorted out of the y area but they made sure that he¡¯d be far from his earlier opponent. However, I doubt he¡¯d do something stupid while he¡¯s close to being blind in one eye.


    At this point, the bracelet I was wearing lost its grip on my arm, and Jericho¡ªwho was giving me an approving look¡ªcasually took it from me before giving everyone else onest surge of electricity.


    ¡°AHHHH¡ª¡±


    ¡°FUCK!¡±


    ¡°JERICHOOOOOOOOO~!!!¡±


    ¡°MOTHERFUCK¡ª¡±


    ¡°HNGH!!!¡±


    ¡°SHIT!¡±


    ¡°I THOUGHT IT WAS OVER¡ª¡±


    I didn¡¯t think he would actually do that but he was just cackling the whole time while the rest of the participants were this close to tackling him down.


    After that, it didn¡¯t take long before their bracelets finally loosened and each of them threw the bracelets at the stage as a protest. Theynded on different spots but they were built sturdy enough to sustain damage while being in working condition.


    ¡®That¡¯s rare. Most things built before the world ended had a fuck ton of features but only a few of them could survive a drop¡­ It¡¯s great to have something built that could take a bit of violence¡­¡¯


    With that said, one member of the De Leon Family brought back my shoes and she promptly thanked me before returning to her group.


    I slowly put on my shoes after dusting off my socks and Jericho took a bit of time picking his bracelets up before speaking to his earpiece.


    [C¡¯mon~ C¡¯mon~ It¡¯s funny, right?! Haha! You guys are too serious! You¡¯re bashing heads outside and you all go crazy for a broken bone and a poked eye?! Hah! Ah¡ª Right! The winner~ The Ishiyama Family~! Congrats, bro! You¡¯ll be in for a treat!]


    ¡®He¡¯s calling me ¡®bro¡¯ now, huh? I wonder what¡¯s the prize¡ª¡¯


    [Here ya go!]


    Before I could even finish speaking to myself, Jericho just handed me a brick of cocaine.


    I would¡¯ve lost bnce the moment I saw the brick fall on my hands but I was lucky I was still in the process of putting on my shoes. Good thing I had to wipe the blood off of them or else I would¡¯ve lostposure.


    It¡¯s just that I was still speechless from seeing something like that thrown like it was nothing.


    ¡°Ah¡ª¡±


    [Don¡¯t snort it in one sitting, alright?]


    ¡°Umm¡ª¡±


    [Hmm? Something wrong?]


    ¡°N-Not exactly¡­¡±


    [Ah¡ª Do you want 1000 pills of ecstasy instead? Oh! I can bump it up to 1300 pills. Wanna have a deal? They¡¯re very rare now so that¡¯s from my stock! If you have something else in mind, let me know!]


    At this fucking moment, I never tried so hard to keep a straight face but Jericho was waiting for my answer. He was patiently looking at me with an easygoing expression but I pointed to the bracelets we wore instead.


    ¡°As much as I love to have a good time, I had a bad experience with this stuff. Why don¡¯t I get your expertise instead?¡±


    Jericho was taken aback, [M-My expertise?]


    ¡°I want you to make something for me. I¡¯ll even give back this brick as payment,¡± I said as I motioned to return my prize.


    However, the moment I said that, Jericho seemed to have turned off his earpiece before he spoke to me at the same volume. He never looked so excited that someone took interest in his work and he was willing to hear my pitch.


    ¡°Alright, what do you want me to make?¡±


    ¡°You probably made more bracelets that had different functions, right?¡±


    ¡°Maybe. If you have some rowdy prisoners, I could make something that does more than shock the shit out of them.¡±


    ¡°What? Really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I can make something to chop their arm off, release poison, burn, cut off cirction¡ª¡±


    ¡°Not like that¡ª¡±


    ¡°Oh. Non-lethal? Something like sending you their location or making loud noises when they go too far? Isn¡¯t that how some clothing tags work? That¡¯ll be too fucking easy. I can do that in five minutes and for a pint of beer.¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°If you¡¯re talking about that, I could make it too. I¡¯m something of an engineer myself.¡±


    Jericho snorted, ¡°You? Hah! That¡¯s what people that don¡¯t know shit always say.¡±


    I chuckled as I put my hands up in defeat, ¡°I got my own ce to run, I can also have my people do it but they¡¯re busy doing something else¡ª¡±


    ¡°Really~~~? I¡¯m kinda special, I could do some things other people can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I was told that you are. You probably even made a Pip-Boi for yourself. D¡¯you know what those are?¡±


    ¡°Hah! A Pip-Boi! Oh my fucking god! Hahaha! I¡¯m neither confirming nor denying the¡ª¡±


    ¡°Jericho, I want something like that.¡±


    ¡°HAH?! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?! Tell me, you have ¡®that¡¯ armor stashed somewhere else? Do we have more than zombies to face now? You¡¯re gonna tell me these things, right? Right?¡±


    I chuckled as I finally stood up, ¡°I hope not but they¡¯re changing¡ªas slow as it¡¯s happening¡ªthey are turning into something else, something more than what a regr deadhead could aplish. Heck, something a regr human is capable of.¡±


    Jericho shook his head, ¡°Cheh. And you think my bracelets are the solution?¡±


    ¡°Hah! Fuck no! It¡¯ll help but¡ª you can¡¯t even fix the feedback on your own earpiece!¡±


    ¡°Ah¡ª¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°FUCK! I¡¯LL GET YOU BACK LATER, HAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    The two of us looked at each other before we started dyingughing but Jericho seemed to have received a message from Mr. Cuervo. I could barely hear what Mr. Cuervo was saying through Jericho¡¯s earpiece but Jericho just kept nodding with each instruction given to him.

 Chapter 736

    I was waiting for the two to finish their call while I was still holding the brick of coke in my hands, but Jericho suddenly turned to me with a solemn expression before trying to fix his posture and appear decent. He even dusted off whatever was on his clothes and he cleared his throat for some reason.


    He stared at me for a good five seconds without saying anything but he then let out a forced smile before opening his mouth.


    ¡°We¡¯ll meetter, Mr. Ishiyama. I hope I can show you my work again¡­¡±


    ¡®Mister?¡¯


    I replied promptly, ¡°Yeah¡­ but stop being formal.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    I chuckled as I shook my head, ¡°It doesn¡¯t suit ya, just go as you normally would.¡±


    Jericho drooped his head low with a faint smile, ¡°Ah¡ª Ahaha¡­ I guess¡­¡± then he scratched the side of his cheek, ¡°B-But yeah, your prize is your prize, you get to keep it and do whatever you want with it.¡±


    ¡°But our arrangement?¡±


    ¡°Hah! Dude, everyone here is only interested in getting pussy, getting piss-drunk, doing drugs, who¡¯s the better one at hitting and getting hit, and these games every now and then. I got ya,¡± Jericho then stood on the spot where he came up, ¡°If you¡¯re really something like an engineer,e see me and we¡¯ll trade notes.¡±


    At this point, the two of us were just exchanging nces but he turned on his earpiece as he was slowly descending down the stage.


    [Right, before I forgot. Mr. Cuervo said that the requests for the Blood Fights were denied. He said that if you want some payback because the yers you sent out lost, do it in the final game. No interruptions will be permitted because we¡¯re on a tight schedule.]


    Almost immediately, a huge uproar came from the Castillo and the De Leon Family¡¯s side of the viewing tforms, and I could probably guess what ¡®Blood Fight¡¯ meant.


    With that said, it never felt so weirding back to my group because almost everyone from Quinn¡¯s crew was standing at attention. They were all looking at me like the girl from their crew who picked up my shoes, and there was a hint of newfound respect.


    It¡¯s just that they all suddenly bowed at the same time and I had to sink my knuckles to the nearest one.


    ¡°YEOWCH! WHAT THE FUCK?! WE¡¯RE GIVING YOU RESPECT AND YOU¡ª¡±


    ¡°RESPECT?! D¡¯YOU ALL WANNA FUCKING BLIND ME?!¡±


    ¡°WHA¡ª BLIND YOU?! WE¡¯RE BOWING¡ª¡±


    ¡°DID YOU FUCKING FORGET ALL OF YOU LOOK LIKE A GROUP OF ROLL-ON DEODORANTS?! I WOULD¡¯VE BEEN BLIND IN BOTH EYES IF I LOOKED A SECOND LONGER!¡±


    ¡°OH, COME ON! WE¡¯RE NOT THAT¡ª¡±


    ¡°TRY IT THEN! POINT YOUR HEADS OVER TO QUINN! SEE HER REACTION!¡±


    ¡°WAI¡ª¡±


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE NOT GONNA? FUCKING PUSSY¡ª¡±


    ¡°BET!¡±


    ¡°BET!¡±


    ¡°BET, BITCH!¡±


    ¡°ALRIGHT, GUYS! HERE WE GO¡ª¡±


    ¡°WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU FUCKERS DOING?! DO YOU WANT ME TO SKIN YOUR HEADS, YOU FUCKERS?! I¡¯LL KILL ALL OF YOU HERE AND NOW!¡±


    ¡°HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~! WE¡¯RE SORRY! HE TOLD US TO DO IT!¡±


    ¡°AND YOU FUCKING FOLLOWED HIM?! COME HERE YOU¡ª¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡±


    ¡°HELP! HELP ME~!¡±


    ¡°I THINK YOUR EYEBROWS NEED TO GO!¡±


    ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!! THAT¡¯S THE ONLY HAIR I GOT LEFT!¡±


    Long story short, there was nary a peaceful moment on our side of the viewing tforms and Kaley took the time to clean my wound and she covered it up with an adhesive bandage as the break continued on.


    After each game, a short break will be held but it seemed like we had visitors.


    And as luck would have it, they came from the Castillo Family.


    Quinn¡¯s group was itching to take a piece of them but they knew that taking it out on these people would cause arger disturbance and probably dy the events even more. So, they just kept quiet while almost trying to stare them down but I doubt it was working one bit.


    There were three people in total¡ªall of them wearing semi-formal attire¡ªthough the one leading the pack couldn¡¯t be more obvious.


    ¡®The two are probably her bodyguards or something¡­¡¯


    She had curly hair that was loosely tied into a ponytail but she had a pair of uneven bangs hanging on each side. With that said, she had a light brown skin tone and an athletic figure but judging from the discoloration of the skin of her fingers, she either had a weird birthmark or she used to smoke¡ª or was still a smoker to this day.


    As I tried to take a closer look, she caught me looking at it for a brief moment and she quickly ced her hand in her pockets to hide them.


    Well, I couldn¡¯t care less about the reason she was hiding them because I was more concerned as to why they came here.


    Thedy in front greeted me with a short bow, ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Annie Castillo.¡±


    ¡°Sky Ishiyama. Are you okay though?¡±


    Her left eyebrow twitched as she instantly frowned, ¡°Funny.¡±


    ¡°Tough crowd¡­ So, what do I owe the visit?¡±


    ¡°I wanna talk about my cousin, Benjie¡ª Benjamin.¡±


    I tilted my head slightly, ¡°And your cousin is~? Oh. What about him? As far as this ce goes, I did nothing wrong.¡±


    ¡°True, but I have a request.¡±


    ¡°A request?¡±


    ¡°I doubt my cousin will stay put even if he lost an eye so I¡¯m just requesting that if you get to face him one way or another¡­ please¡­ just knock him out quick and take it easy. He¡¯s been going in this downward spiraltely and he¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°Annie.¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes?¡±


    ¡°No one could go easy on a person like that. The more I hold back, the greater the risk I put on myself. Besides, why don¡¯t you just knock him out till morninges? Mr. Cuervo¡¯s doctors probably have some sort of paralytic for this sort of thing if a bullet to the head is not the answer. And if they don¡¯t, I may have one vial stashed somewhere close.¡±


    ¡°U-Umm¡ª¡±


    ¡°And if all else fails, chain him up on his bed and have someone bonk him with a lead pipe if he tries to move. Oh! I recall Jericho had more bracelets with non-lethal functions, you should ask him too¡­¡±


    At this point, I trailed on myst sentence because Annie¡¯s mouth was just agape from the words that wereing out of my mouth. However, she quickly got her bearings beforeposing herself and exining things.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure about the b-bonking thing but any sort of drugs or something simr has failed to work on him. Be it anesthetics, narcotics, even alcohol, or those paralytics you spoke of, his body doesn¡¯t respond to them. Right now, I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s already tied up on a table¡ªthe doctors just waiting for him to calm down¡ªso they can operate.¡±


    ¡°Seriously?¡±


    ¡°Seriously. It¡¯s been a lot of trouble when he was young but at this point in his life, he rarely even gets injuries but when it happens¡ª¡±


    ¡°Here¡¯s the deal. The best course of action with your cousin is for him to get proper treatment and avoid strenuous work or else something bad is gonna happen to him. He needs to understand that. But, if he manages to get out there and continue to have fun breaking bones and shit, he¡¯ll get what¡¯sing for him sooner orter. You can¡¯t ask me to abstain from something your cousin is trying to do, I just gave him a taste of his own medicine.¡±


    ¡°B-But¡ª¡±


    ¡°Let me finish.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t get where you¡¯reing from¡ªtrying to defend him and shit¡ªbut if he dares to fuckingy a hand on me or my group here, I¡¯ll fucking retaliate, whether he¡¯s going through something or not. Cheh. I¡¯M going through something, you don¡¯t see me going around visiting his opponents to tell them to take it easy on me. If you don¡¯t want him to get hurt, the answer is simple: keep him in his bed, wait until he¡¯s good, and probably try and stop him if he tries something stupid¡ª¡±


    Annie suddenly cut me off with an unwilling look, ¡°You don¡¯t get it¡­ you¡ª¡±


    I chuckled as I shook my head, ¡°I don¡¯t get it? I think YOU don¡¯t get it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m d-doing this for your own g-good¡­¡±


    My ears suddenly perked up, ¡°What did you just say?¡±


    Annie looked down as she clenched her fists as tight as she could, ¡°Benji¡­ He¡­ He has ¡®demons¡¯ living inside his head¡­ and I think it¡¯s best you don¡¯t wake them up¡­ or else¡­¡±


    I kept my mouth shut as I let her continue.


    ¡°He always gets up¡ª h-he always stands up, and h-he alwayses back¡­ I¡¯m just here to tell you this warning¡­ He¡¯s out for now but¡ª¡±


    ¡°Annie.¡±


    ¡°Stop cutting me off and¡ª¡±


    I let out the tiniest bit of pressure as I looked at her dead in the eyes, ¡°Everyone has demons inside their heads¡­ It¡¯s only a matter of whether you got to know them or not¡­¡±

 Chapter 737

    The moment I finished my sentence, Annie just looked at me with a slight tinge of unwillingness before she stopped herself from giving me ¡®advice¡¯. Her eyes then showed a mix of sadness and bitterness and she just sighed heavily before turning around and trying to make their way back.


    However, she stopped after a few or so steps then she turned back to me and looked me in the eyes.


    ¡°P-Please¡­ do think about what I just said¡­ It¡¯s really important to me¡­¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­ depends¡­¡± I half-heartedly said after I lightly sighed.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    At this point, the two of us just momentarily exchanged nces before we used the time remaining from the break.


    As it went on, more food, beverages, and ¡®services¡¯ were sold or rendered though some were trying to figure out the next game from the things being built up in the y area. However, I couldn¡¯t help but notice that almost everyone behind me¡ªthe people from Quinn¡¯s group¡ªhavepletely stopped giving snarkyments towards me and my group¡ª even towards the twins, and it wasn¡¯t because I saved one of their own.


    Saving one of them earned me their respect but the method I used to achieve it earned me something else.


    No one was actively showing it but each time I tried to move my hands, the ones close to me would flinch or get stunned in ce¡ª unsure of what to do. Furthermore, I noticed how they tried to properly carry themselves around me but it was a hrious sight.


    ¡®They thought I gouge eyes out on a daily basis but fuck it, I¡¯ll enjoy the street cred for as long as it wouldst.¡¯


    It didn¡¯t take long before some of them tried to get into my good side.


    ¡°S-Sir¡­ can I offer you some beer?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine for now, thanks.¡±


    ¡°S-Sir¡­ can we offer you some tacos? It¡¯s freshly made?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine¡ª¡±


    ¡°How about a burrito, sir?¡±


    ¡°I¡ª¡±


    ¡°Some Jimmy¡¯s Cervezas?¡±


    ¡°My girl?¡±


    ¡°Hah?¡±


    ¡°She gives good head¡ª¡±


    ¡°How about some burgers, sir?¡±


    ¡°How about a massage, sir?¡±


    ¡°How about a car wash, sir?¡±


    ¡°How about some tuning, sir?¡±


    ¡°Do you need some oil change, sir?¡±


    ¡°How about a conversion?¡±


    ¡°Do you need some brake fluid?¡±


    ¡°I got a new set of wrenches here so¡ª¡±


    I casually waved them off, ¡°Guys, stop. I¡¯m fine, okay?¡±


    ¡°¡­!¡±


    ¡°¡­!¡±


    ¡°¡­!¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ I¡¯m really fine¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d flinch after that casual wave but I was trying my best to appear harmless and approachable.


    But at this point, it had never been so quiet as they just stared at me in silence but I couldn¡¯t believe that I¡¯d prefer their nagging over the rest of the girls leering at me with a specific activity in mind.


    It was because Kaley and I did a little something on the porta-potties so the rest of them wanted a quick one as well.


    Cynthia and the twins were the ones that couldn¡¯t hide it as much and I¡¯m sure they¡¯d cream from the simplest touch. However, I still needed a short break from trying to endure the pain of getting electrocuted and having a match with someone that gouges eyes out for fun.


    With that said, I simply enjoyed the refreshments handed to me as the y area was finally set.


    The host for this game wasn¡¯t hadn¡¯t evene out yet but everyone¡¯s eyes were locked onto the shipping containers that were ced by the entrance.


    The entrance allowed two shipping containers to be ced side by side but four more shipping containers were stacked on each of them¡ª making it a total of ten shipping containers filled with deadheads.


    However, another ten were ced right behind them, making it a grand total of twenty shipping containers filled with god knows how many biters. They were separated by an extended door but once the crew above them pulled it out, there was a shortmotion before it kinda died down.


    Well, we weren¡¯t exactly sure that they contained just regr deadheads but from the constant banging and dull thudsing from them, I guess it would be safe to assume our little theory.


    ¡®We gotta bring ¡®them¡¯ out now¡­ I wonder what the other families¡¯ have on their end?¡¯


    With that said, it¡¯s just that there was a huge-ass vault right by the stage, and from the looks of it, it did more than just get pulled by two Chargers in a certain movie franchise that got a little out of hand.


    The vault was almost the same size but the number of dents, scratches, and bullet holes it sustained was enough for me to specte it was hiding a secret. However,pared to the shipping containers stacked on top of one another, this vault was nary making a sound.


    It was just sitting there like it was taking a small nap but nobody in this ce thought it was there just for decoration.


    ¡®It¡¯s gotta be something¡­¡¯


    After a few more minutes of checking the y area, no sort of announcer or host took to the stage but the huge screen just behind it disyed wordsrge enough for everybody to see:


    [Hello everyone.]


    After that short message, each letter was deleted one by one and the next set of words was typed in one by one as well.


    [The host for the fourth game has gone missing but the show must go on.]


    [Before I exin the rules for this game, I require two participants from each team¡ª but to increase their chances of survival, I require them to bring some sort of protection from the biters¡ª but to ensure the safety of the ones on the viewing tforms, firearms are prohibited.]


    [Yes, this game wouldn¡¯t be like the first three and the chances of death are high¡ªif you¡¯re a weak-ass punk who only killed four biters in his fucking miserable life¡ª]


    At this moment, the typing stopped and thest part of the message was deleted before it continued.


    [Yes, this game wouldn¡¯t be like the first three and the chances of death are high so if you want the team members you sent out toe back, send your best ones out there. Equip them with the best equipment you got and anything goes as long as they send out projectiles that could harm the crowd.]


    [And these are the rules:]


    [All of the yers will start at the outer ring¡ª the opposite side of where the shipping containers are, and the moment I give the signal, it will be a race to whoever manages to get to the vault and open it.]


    [What¡¯s in the vault(box), might you ask?]


    [It could be anything.]


    [Just make sure to put whatever you find on the podium¡ªthat will be sent up the moment the game starts¡ªand the pair that manages to do it wins.]


    [Simple enough?]


    [Right. It¡¯s already obvious as to what is inside those shipping containers so I¡¯ll give five minutes for each group to get ready and then we¡¯ll start.]


    [5:00]


    [4:59]


    [4:58]


    ¡®Wait¡­¡¯


    [4:57]


    ¡®That¡¯s it?¡¯


    [4:56]


    ¡®Where the fuck do we get the code for the vault?¡¯


    At this point, I was still confused by theck of direction from the fourth game but I noticed that everyone in my group was either staring at me by turning their heads or leaning forward to get a good look.


    I chuckled as I shook my head, ¡°Alright, alright¡­ I¡¯ll go with the fucking normie, Mik¡ª¡±


    Tatiana cut me off, ¡°No, you¡¯re not. I¡¯m going.¡±


    Mikhail tried to interject, ¡°But¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going. I don¡¯t care who I¡¯m with but I¡¯m going.¡±


    ¡°Tatiana¡ª¡±


    ¡°Come on! I¡¯m sitting on my butt here for two games already! I gotta burn off the food I ate! What¡¯s even the problem?!¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ Hmm. There¡¯s no problem, fuck it. Use your axe though.¡±


    ¡°Wha¡ª Why?! It¡¯s a fucking bitch to clean! Can I just use my¡ª¡±


    ¡°YOU DON¡¯T EVEN CLEAN IT! YOU JUST LEAVE IT OUTSIDE AND WAIT FOR ME TO SEE IT!¡±


    ¡°Ah, right. I¡¯ll use it then!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    At this point, I felt like banging my head into a wall as Tatiana fetched her own version of our axes that could rapidly inject gas or co2 into its target, but Kaley had already pulled out my wakizashi and handed it over to me, handle first.


    ¡°Use that too or I¡¯ll melt it in a vat of acid,¡± Kaley said menacingly as she stared at me dead in the eyes.


    ¡°Ahaha¡­ Sure, sure¡­¡±


    ¡°Mm-Hmm.¡±


    ¡°I doubt I¡¯ll get to use it but¡ª¡±


    ¡°No buts, take it.¡±


    ¡°R-Right¡­¡±


    As I was fastening my wakizashi to my belt with my katana, a glint of metal caught my eye and I saw Quinn donning a pair of gloves that looked like a mix of the As Gauntlets and the Fist of Tebigong.


    They reached past her elbow and the only thing I could describe it right now was it was cool as fuck.


    It had several mechanical parts to support hand and finger movement besides the obvious protection it could provide¡ª but my eyes got glued to the long metal case that was brought up to her.


    ¡®If she pulls out that hammer, I¡¯m gonna fucking shit myself.¡¯


    Well, let¡¯s just say that my pants wouldn¡¯t be brown this time because she actually pulled out a halberd/poleaxe variant that was a foot taller than her that had an axe, hammer, and spear sides on one end while having a blunt counterweight on one end.


    And her partner had a simple crowbar.


    ¡®¡­¡¯

 Chapter 738

    I was a little speechless at first but looking at it a little closer, the guy wasn¡¯t using it because he had no other options but because it was his weapon of choice.


    ¡®Number 24, huh?¡¯


    His crowbar was a 72-inch chunk of metal that had a chisel edge at the end and it had portions where it was wrapped crudely by leather and duct tape.


    Furthermore, it looked like it had definitely seen some action because the blue-orange paint on the ends was already chipped off. Still, the guy lookedfortable wielding it with two hands and we¡¯ll probably see how he¡¯ll fare once the game starts.


    With that said, once everyone gathered at the starting point, I got to see what everyone else¡¯s weapon choice was.


    It had a mix of modern, martial, and crafted weapons and a small number of them were standing out.


    ¡®Well, it¡¯s how effective you could use it¡­¡¯


    But looking at it the other way, like us, everyone had decent tomendable protective gear covering their bodies and if any rational person would be given the choice, they¡¯d opt to protect themselves rather than to deal more damage.


    Obviously enough, Quinn¡¯s equipment was the most eye-catching out of the pack but everyone couldn¡¯t help but give a curious nce toward Tatiana¡¯s weapon.


    It was made jointly from the time we were trying to upgrade our gear but instead of having a huge-ass b of metal to wave around, Tatiana opted for a more conservative approach.


    The variant she requested was essentially based on a fire axe she used before¡ªalbeit slightlyrger by a small percentage¡ªand the injection system was ced on the opposite side of the axe head, where the pointy end was located. It had 2-4 times the capacity of the small canisters we used and a simple button would allow the sudden release of the gas inside them.


    However, that axe was simply fastened on the back of her hips and her sword was still her main go-to.


    At this point, Tatiana and I were just clumped with Quinn and her partner while the others were pretty much doing the same on other spots. Everyone was talking amongst themselves but they were speaking at a volume that would make it for someone trying to listen in understand what they were saying.


    Quinn leaned over to me, ¡°We take the left, you take the right?¡±


    ¡°Is it okay to team up with other families?¡±


    ¡°Hah? This isn¡¯t teaming up. What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°You said¡ª¡±


    ¡°If anything, we¡¯re just trying to avoid each other.¡±


    ¡°True, but before that, d¡¯you have any idea how the other participants are?¡±


    Number 24 chimed in, ¡°In terms of what?¡±


    ¡°In this setting, obviously.¡±


    ¡°Just as good as anyone, I guess. If anything, they¡¯re trying to avoid bumping into you.¡±


    I lightly chuckled as I shook my head, ¡°Uh-huh¡­ but hear me out, instead of choosing who goes right or left, we should think about who¡¯s going in the front and bringing the backside.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Look at those shipping containers. If they¡¯re packed to the brim, there will probably be hundreds¡ª if not, more than a thousand deadheads inside of them. If we rush in as they are released, they¡¯d being from three points before we know it.¡±


    ¡°Wait, three points?¡±


    ¡°The intersection. They¡¯ll being from the shipping containers, the inner y area, and the other side of the outer ring once they start pouring out.¡±


    Quinn interjected after wearing a pensive expression, ¡°Wait, it¡¯s gonna be four if the other side gets overwhelmed.¡±


    ¡°Sure, if they took the roundabout route. But yeah, it¡¯ll be impossible to get inside the inner y area as they get released¡ªto make them onlye from one side and to make things easier¡ª so, the best course of action is to wait here and let theme to spread them thin and then¡ª¡±


    As I was exining to the group, an unfamiliar pair¡ªa male and a female¡ªcame up to me and they let out the faintest of smiles after a short bow.


    They were wearing decent gear and the handheld weapons they were wielding had slightly longer reach than a regr machete but the slight wear on the handle told me they weren¡¯t used as much. However, that wasn¡¯t the issue now because we were more concerned about their intentions.


    Quinn spoke up, ¡°We¡¯re busy here. The fuck do you two want?¡±


    Thedy just let out another smile, ¡°Hello, Mr. Ishiyama¡­ Mrs. De Leon¡­ We¡¯re from the Garcia Family and we¡¯d like to propose a three-way partnership.¡±


    ¡®Partnership?¡¯


    I chuckled, ¡°We got a minute or so before the game starts so make it quick. What do you got?¡±


    Thedy nodded promptly, ¡°Yes, this game was said to be a little dangerous so we need bodies we could rely on to increase our chances of surviving, and if we do win, we¡¯ll only take 15% of the winnings if¡­¡±


    ¡°If?¡±


    ¡°If u-umm you¡¯d return¡ª I mean, give us Mr. Mason¡¯s chain and his 10mm pistol, you can keep the rest of what you got from him because you rightfully won them in your bet. He requests only for those two things in exchange for our family to receive a smaller cut if we do win in this game.¡±


    ¡°But if we lose?¡±


    ¡°Then¡­ Then we hope you¡¯re open to negotiating with us in regards to taking them back.¡±


    I turned to Quinn, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    ¡°Quinn shrugged her shoulders, ¡°What do I think? What do YOU think? We¡¯ll win more either way since you need to return that crybaby¡¯s shit so you decide.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I chuckled as I looked at the two from the Garcia Family, ¡°Huddle up, here¡¯s what we¡¯re gonna do¡­¡±


    [0:03]


    [0:02]


    [0:01]


    Like fucking clockwork, loud music reced the ticking sound, and at the same time, therge doors of the shipping containers were actually blown off with some sort of explosive charge and the dead just started pouring out one after the other.


    We could hear the dull thuds¡ªfrom the ones on the shipping containers a few levels above the ground¡ªas each of them made contact with the floor, and it was mixing with the low snarls and growls they were also letting out.


    It only took a second before a small mountain was formed but it also took a second before the ones that got a pretty goodnding literally hit the ground running.


    The sound was all too familiar.


    It was a constant rhythm of some sort of moist object splotching around in quick session but in reality, it was the sound of dozens and dozens of sprinters or ferals making their way towards us¡ª without regard for the outeryer of their soles or their palms getting decimated at the speed that they were going.


    If their shoes didn¡¯t survive, how could their leathery flesh do better?


    The faster ones that were smart or lucky enough to figure out or stumble upon the fact that we were all chilling in the outer ring were the ones we first made direct eye contact with. With that said, everyone else was still in the same position and we were just waiting for them to enter our bubble before we start to carpet the y area with their bodies.


    Yes, none of us¡ªeven the pairs who didn¡¯t team up with us¡ªdidn¡¯t just rush forward to their deaths because the trick to fighting arge number of deadheads was to try and spread them evenly like making a nice sandwich.


    At this point, the first victim was a fucking deadhead that made use of a great racing line to reach us but his head already flew several feet before its body recognized it was already dead-dead.


    Quinn¡¯s reach with her weapon was almost cheating because I¡¯m pretty sure she would be able to hunt ducks with a long enough rake.


    She could cut, pierce, and smash with her weapon but from the sounds we were hearing, she preferred the sound of coconuts breaking open.


    With that said, each of us gave the necessary space to each other so that we could all move freely and receive each deadhead that came our way but the tricky part was keeping a proper footing amidst the dead bodies. Furthermore, awareness of our surroundings was also key because deadheads would alsoe from behind us.


    I was a few steps ahead from everybody else while I was hugging the outermost edge of the outer ring, and it gave me five or so steps I could retreat to. Tatiana was on the opposite spot¡ªeven though I said we said at first that we¡¯d be on the same side¡ªbut since the other participants did the same thing as us, we can¡¯t just trust our backs onplete strangers.


    Almost everyone did the same thing and it was kinda paying off for the most part¡­ I think¡­


    ¡®Hmm¡­¡¯

 Chapter 739

    I just looked back to check on everyone¡¯s situation after lopping off a rotting head but since I was a little too forwardpared to everyone else, something caught my eye.


    It could be just a failure in production or something simr but among the doors of the shipping containers that were blown off, one of them¡ªspecifically the one on the top to the right¡ªwas still sealed shut.


    The problem that mighte up was that the ones inside it could be on a dyed release but due to the number of lights around the whole area, I could clearly see that the shipping container in question had a hole in the bottom and whatever¡¯s inside it had probably plopped down already.


    I could only think of such things a few moments at a time because another fucker was gunning for me.


    The dumb shit was running on all fours, discolored eyes looking directly at me while its spinal column had already torn through the skin of its back, but the concerning thing was the jagged ws that reced the rest of its fingers.


    Well, it was still its digits but I¡¯d prefer less pointy things that could break open my skin.


    Despite that, the proper way to take on such variants was to wait until the moment they strike because that would be the time they¡¯d be the most defenseless.


    More times than normal, as soon as they were in striking range, they¡¯d just leap into the air and try to take a chunk off of my neck.


    And this time, it was the same exact thing.


    The dumb shit tunnel-visioned on my presence as it picked up speed but since no one had the ability to double-jump, I could just calcte where they¡¯dnd so I could either jump back at the same time or just sidestep so I could carve a part of their head so they¡¯d stop moving.


    My de was already stained when I entered the top of its head and left through the side of its jaw but I had to skirt through its side to cut through the back of the head of another deadhead.


    It came at the right time as Quinn overswung to make head patties but me saving her was all for naught.


    I had to duck at thest second because she used the momentum of swinging her huge-ass weapon to deliver a nasty quick towards the one that tried to nk her. Take note, she also changed into high-cut, steel-toed boots that seemed to be also custom-made, so that overhead kick she just did was probably worse than getting kicked by a horse wearing steel horseshoes.


    ¡°HAHAHA! SAVING ME SO YOU COULD GET SOME LATER?! YOU WISH!¡±


    I quipped before I pulled away, ¡°I guess you were in and out that time because someone got a lot more than they bargained for and that wasn¡¯t me!¡±


    ¡°WHA¡ª FUCK YOU!¡±


    At this point, I turned around once more to see our partners from the Garcia Family doing some honest work by staying between the groups and making sure that the bodies littering the ground were moved elsewhere. Well, all they were doing was simply making another pile of the dead but in our cramped space, it was doing wonders.


    However, right when a deadhead ¡®slipped¡¯ past through the gaps between the Alvarez and the Castillo Family¡¯s side, the guy from the Garcia family just casually pulled out what seemed to be a set of throwing knives before making one fly with a flick of his fingers.


    The knife quickly found its way to the deadhead¡¯s eye socket but the guy just red at the backs of the two families that made a deadhead slip past their defenses before his partner made sure that their first kill in this game wouldn¡¯t stand up.


    The two just looked at each other then they took a deep breath, and they just continued to act as the support for everyone else in this game.


    ¡®Hmm¡­ I¡¯ll stay out of that¡­¡¯


    After retreating a few steps back, I noticed that the groups opposite us were making much more headwaypared to our group, but I didn¡¯t take it to heart.


    No one knew how much was still left on the other side and to bepletely fair, they had more bodies taking down deadheads and even Tatiana was doing work on their side. On our side, only me, Quinn, and Number 24 were doing work because the pair from the Garcia Family was busy cleaning up after everyone else.


    It¡¯s just that there was one reason to take into ount and that there was a huge blockage by the midpoint.


    I was still holding just my katana as I advanced a little too forward and I saw five huge bloaters that were acting like they needed the magic flute to be woken up. Granted they were advancing with their little stubby legs, but their fat that had already drooped down and stretched whatever skin they had left made it look like they were wearing the most fucked up dress one could wear.


    A couple of them were even stepping onto themselves¡ªmaking their advance slower¡ªbut there were a few gaps the deadheads behind them could use with a certain toll.


    Right when one managed to squeeze through them by pushing through and wing out whatever fucked up curtain they were up against, one of the bloaters suddenly lowered itself and grabbed onto the trespasser before tearing it from limb to limb.


    If grabbing onto it didn¡¯t reduce its vicle into powder, the strength the bloater exhibited was almostparable to the hulker that killed one of our own.


    However, the only thing it could surpass a hulker was its fucking appetite because it didn¡¯t take long for it to shove a whole fucking leg in its mouth before throwing in the other one like it was nothing. It wasn¡¯t even chewing it as it simply took in everything in one gulp but everyone grimaced when it started feeding on its torso.


    Like a fucking oversized burrito, the motherfucker squeezed it until it was ¡®bite-worthy¡¯¡ªcrushing its bones and forcing its flesh to make it look like a fucked up sausage¡ªbefore shoving it in its mouth and digesting it with its bottomless stomach.


    Well, ¡®bottomless¡¯ was a poor choice of words because the one in the center just started to have an ident as its stomach just burst open and everything inside it just spilled out.


    The digested parts, torn limbs, and whatever the fuck came out with this viscous fluid that made everything look like it had this chunky film made it even worse than the smell that just wafted over.


    At this point, with the help of Quinn and Number 24, we bumped our gears a notch and we started to do the opposite of receiving the deadheadsing for us.


    I made use of the wide angle of the curve to see everything much more clearly and we still have a couple of dozen deadheads or so to go through before trying to face up with the great wall.


    Despite that, I still opted to just using my katana to prove a point because even if I drew my wakizashi, what I wanted more out of my weapons was the range¡ª and the tool that could do that job was the one I was using currently.


    After flicking my katana to the side to get rid of some of the blood staining it, I took two huge steps to slice down and open up a deadhead¡¯s skull before I pulled back and stabbed forward to take care of the one right behind it. However, two more deadheads wereing from my left and right so I had to twist my de before making it exit my flesh scabbard¡¯s head and driving it to the left¡ªto behead the one on that side¡ªthen quickly using the butt of my handle to redirect my de quickly to the right.


    At this moment, the one in front of me still hadn¡¯t fallen but its obstruction was just coteral damage.


    Its head gotpletely lopped off even though it wasn¡¯t already involved but the one I cut down from my left fell faster than its head that bounced and rolled over. Furthermore, as I followed through, my de just easily entered the side of the head to the one on my right, and its milky eye got cut in half before its nose got a new exit hole.


    I took down three more deadheads that came after me but to my surprise, one of the bloaters in the midpoint threw its food at me.


    What I ducked down to dodge was a forearm missing all its fingers but the shoulder on the other end was still intact. It bounced on the screen behind me before it fell over so I took a few steps back to look forward.


    ¡°Jesus fucking christ¡­¡±

 Chapter 740

    I thought of handling themst because they were slow but if they were gonna y with their food and throw it at me, that¡¯s a different fucking story.


    At this point, the initial advance of the faster deadheads had already dwindled down to a few that could be taken care of by a single person. Part of the reason was that these bloaters acted as a stopper for the ones that were a littlete to the uptake but they were more trouble than I imagined.


    Other than trying to get to me with their own version of throwable goods, they were also increasing the number of deadheads we¡¯ll face once they were taken care of.


    Time waits for no man so I advanced further than everyone else.


    ¡°What are you¡ª¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s safer here, actually!¡±


    ¡°What¡ª¡±


    I didn¡¯t even hear thest part of Quinn¡¯s sentence as I dashed forward and hacked up a couple more sprinters that were just actually jogging, and a few inches from my de was enough to stop them from moving. Well, their primary weakness was still their turning radius so doing aplete 180 for them was like chasing a bee with a 10-ton truck.


    With that said, more than half of the length of my katana was still free from their nasty bits and viscous fluids but it didn¡¯t take long before I was face to face with the great wall.


    However, right as I was about to carve their bodies off the face of the earth, the ones in the inner corner started to regurgitate everything that they¡¯d swallowed whole and I had to take a jump back and roll to avoid it.


    The one in the center wanted to do it as well but since its stomach had already burst, all it could do was dry heave while thest two in the outer corner were still chilling. I doubt they¡¯ll do that forever but the only reason I could think of as to why they didn¡¯t do shit was that I was a little too far and their projectile vomit had a short range.


    It¡¯s just that the smell was so fucking horrible, covering my mouth or wearing a mask wouldn¡¯t do it.


    At this point, all I could do was run to the outer corner so that thest two would use up their ¡®ammo¡¯, but the chances of me getting through easily were nil.


    ¡®Unless¡­¡¯


    I quickly ran back to our earlier position to check on things but to cut the story short, I found out the other side was having the same problem and they were still trying to figure out a way to handle it. However, I huddled my group together and said a few things before everyone else¡ªexcept Tatiana¡ªlooked at me like I¡¯m an idiot.


    Quinn piped up, ¡°D¡¯you forget the fucking reason we all waited at the same spot from the very start?!¡±


    ¡°Well¡ª¡±


    ¡°Are you trying to get us killed?!¡±


    ¡°Listen. Before that¡ª Tatiana.¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯lle with, right?¡±


    Tatiana finally looked at me like I¡¯m an idiot, ¡°Of course, you dumb?¡±


    I chuckled as I turned to Quinn, ¡°All we¡¯ll need is a boost.¡±


    Quinn started to scratch her head, ¡°Hmrgh¡­ Fuck it, I can¡¯t just wait here and do nothing.¡±


    ¡°Heh. Don¡¯t worry, as soon as it¡¯s clear, we¡¯ll open up a way for you¡ª¡±


    Thedy from the Garcia Family spoke up, ¡°Can¡¯t we just take care of the big ones first? Martin here can use his knives pretty well¡ª¡±


    I cut her off, ¡°We could but we¡¯re wasting enough time as is. We¡¯re still gonna take care of the ones behind them and I want to get my hands on that thing first.¡±


    Everyone turned to me, confused, ¡°That thing?¡±


    I just chuckled as I gave a cryptic reply, ¡°There were only nine explosions.¡±


    As soon as I said that, there was a moment of silence before they all nodded pensively. We eventually advanced forward to try out our own n but we had to take care of a few that managed to get through.


    With that said, I made the two from the Garcia Family take the front for once and the only thing I could say was that they didn¡¯t have unnecessary movements to take down the dead and they finished things as soon as possible.


    The guy, ¡®Martin¡¯, would use his long de in sync with his partner but every time he threw his knives, it would alwaysnd where he wanted. Well, a few in my group could do the same¡ªeven I could do something simr¡ªbut our knives were reserved for something else.


    In turn, I changed our n at thest minute and we began our attack by him taking down the one in the innermost corner.


    All we heard was a quick whizz in the air before his knife made its way to the bloater¡¯s ear canal and it quickly opened the floodgates of deadheads trying to climb their way through the blob that tried to nourish itself with itsrades.


    Doing that opened up a particr corner Tatiana and I could ¡®safely¡¯ boost through but the Garcia Family and Number 24 needed to hold down the fort for a few seconds.


    ¡°You two are fucking crazy!¡±


    ¡°D¡¯you wanna win or do you wanna twiddle your thumbs like the other group?!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t me me if I throw you too far!¡±


    ¡°I will!¡±


    ¡°You fucker¡ª 3, 2¡ª GO!¡±


    Right at this moment, the three of us were by the bloater at the outer corner and I just ran up to Quinn so she could boost me over the small opening we made for ourselves. To bepletely honest, I doubt two people would fitfortably so I needed to make a lot of room the moment Inded.


    With that said, Quinn just used the right amount of force to vault me over and due to the opening on the other side of this ¡®wall¡¯ almost every deadhead was turned the other way, and several heads rolled the moment I swung horizontally.


    At this point, I was now holding my katana with two hands but I kicked forward to create some space and the deadheads just ahead fell backward like dominoes. However, it prompted the other deadheads¡ªwho were in a frenzy and trying to get into the opening we made¡ªto go for me instead, but Tatiana just came in at the right time with a mandatory three-pointnding.


    It only took a moment before the two of us locked eyes and smiled devilishly, and even if we were backed into a small corner, the advantage and the disadvantage were theplete fucking opposite.


    I shortly exhaled before I pulled out my wakizashi from my scabbard and it only took a short moment before I saw several points of entry and each one of them was just as fucked up as the other.


    My first sh cleaved through a deadhead¡¯s shoulder right to its hip and the second one went to another deadhead¡¯s ear and out the other.


    Both attacks were done at the same time and it was as if my arms were controlled by different entities.


    One came like a flowing river while one just crashed in like thunder but the result was still death on multiple ounts.


    I didn¡¯t even take a single step back to regroup or assess the situation because I¡¯m not receiving attacks this time, they¡¯re the ones that were supposed to take it. The sensation I felt at this moment was like the time I cked out while only using my wakizashi but this time, I was fully awake and I know what I¡¯m fucking doing.


    ¡®Too far¡­ Lop its arm off first¡ª no, just the hands will do¡­ upward swing, from the armpit and out the neck and just a quick chop and pull before I¡ª¡¯


    Right at this moment, I let out a short chuckle as Ipletely stopped moving but it was only for the purpose of tripping up a deadhead that was on all fours that tried to time my dash forward.


    It was a sitting duck when itnded a step short and my de just lopped off parts of its head where it only left its lower jaw.


    After that, I had an inkling that Tatiana was just right behind me but I had juste out of the thickest part of the second wave so I had to turn around to see how everyone else was faring.


    There was just a carpet of corpses in the area I just went through but the inner corner was also close to being in the same state.


    Quinn and the rest took care of the ones that spilled right in¡ªbeforepletely ignoring the four bloaters behind them¡ªand they helped Tatiana with catching up to me and getting even closer to the main entrance. However, it was at this moment when we heard a scream from the other side of the outer ring and it only meant one thing for sure.

 Chapter 741

    Our little band of survivors was quite close to the intersection where the main entrance and the road where I took down a thousand deadheadsst time, and it allowed me to catch some footage from the big screen.


    It showed that one bloater on the other side of the ring had broken through their formation¡ªthough it was now on its stomach¡ªbut it now had fresh meat from the menu.


    The person it was feasting on was crushed under its sheer weight and no one from their own circle could save him because the deadheads had already poured over them and caused some sort of stampede.


    From our side, we could see the number of deadheads moving onto their side because it had a leak but there were still moreing from the road toward the stage. Almost all of them didn¡¯t know where to go because they hit a dead-end, and since our group was much, much closer, they opted to attack us instead.


    I would¡¯ve preferred to help the group in trouble but right now, our hands were also tied.


    Furthermore, there was something not quite right about this wave we were about to take on so I stopped going on the extreme offensive. At this point, I sheathed my wakizashi but the look on everyone¡¯s face when I turned tail and ran after killing a dozen or so deadheads was fucking priceless.


    Quinn was the first one to react, ¡°WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING¡ª¡±


    ¡°KNIFE!¡±


    ¡°WHAT¡ª¡±


    ¡°NOT YOU, MAR¡ª THE FUCK WAS YOUR NAME?! FUCK IT, KNIFE BOY! LEMME BORROW TWO! AH! MARTIN, RIGHT?! QUICK! JUST THROW IT OVERHEAD!¡±


    ¡°O-Okay!¡±


    I was still running at a moderate speed when Martin threw a couple of his knives over my head and I couldn¡¯t help but smile when he threw the first one at the exact spot while he threw the other a little forward to time my movement. I caught both of them like a fucking runningback¡ªtruth be told, my nose got a little pointier doing this¡ªbut I didn¡¯t expect Martin to throw another one.


    ¡°HERE¡¯S ONE MORE!¡±


    ¡°Wha¡ª¡±


    I wasn¡¯t ready to catch another one as I was going inside the gentle curve but Martin made it so that it would bounce off of the poles where one of the cameras was mounted.


    To catch that fucking curveball, I had to cut to the outer curve and somehow 50/50 it so it wouldn¡¯t cut straight to my hand but as luck would have it, it directly swam down the perforated bowel of a deadhead I cut in half and it now had this nice coating of bile and blood.


    If I didn¡¯t mention the smell for the nth time this time around, imagine what it would be like touching it and having the most fuck up shit stay in your hands.


    At this point, my clothes already had specks of everything that came out of them so I just pulled it out by using my index finger and my thumb before I threw it at one of the bloaters my group left alive.


    I aimed it at the one that fell on its back and had its whole lower stomach ripped open because the top of its head was just the one closest to me. Almost immediately, its slow waddling to try and get up instantly stopped while the other three were still trying to turn their huge bodies towards me.


    The reason I asked for two throwing knives was to space out the bloaters by killing the ones in the middle of the four that were left, but since I was granted another one, this cleanup process would be smoother as I thought.


    It only took a second before the knives in my hand whiffed through the air and sunk into the other two bloater¡¯s faces, and I quickly ran forward to take care of thest one.


    With my katana in hand, I weaved to its side before carving off its left knee cap and shing its shoulder off¡ªand since it wasn¡¯t like a mingo¡ªits weight just made thest leg it was standing on shatter and copse on itself, and it was easy enough to take care of a target that had no defenses.


    At this point, I could already see a few people that bailed on the one that got caught on their side but their face was a little too distraught about losing someone in their own group.


    Everyone here had lost someone and dealt with a number of deadheads at one point and this panicked look they were wearing was kinda over the top. However, once I saw the fucking thing that was chasing after them, I had to blink twice nkly to see if I was hallucinating but lo and behold, this was the rarest of sprinters¡ªa sprinting bloater.


    The motherfucker was too fucking quick and agile for its own good because not only it was crashing to anything that it ran through, but its own body was also getting scratched up and losing chunks due to the damage it was taking.


    Well, part of the reason it was losing chunks out of its own body was that a few tears on itself had turned into hugecerations due to the way it was moving.


    It was like holding some jiggly cake or jello up in the air and waving it around, sooner orter, what¡¯s left of it would be less than half of what it was.


    However, that wasn¡¯t the only reason everyone was trying to get away from it.


    Due to its size and what¡¯s left of whatever the fuck it was, it looked like Pudge and Gluttony had a love child and the end product was like the most fucked up iron maiden made with rotting flesh and bones. Furthermore, some of its bones that were sticking out didn¡¯t even belong to itself because it was from the deadheads it ate for dinner.


    Not only did it serve as satiation for its hunger, but it also served as anotheryer of defense.


    Right now, it was more dangerous than facing a wild boar head-on because it had more ¡°tusks¡± to pin us down, and we¡¯ll be the freshest kebab right after.


    With that said, one of the unspoken rules to survive in the apocalypse was that it was always okay to run when in danger or when faced with an unknown, but gathering as much information while trying to stay alive was also a must.


    Despite that, we all know that every deadhead¡¯s weakness¡ªexcept for the hollowed ones¡ªwas its head, but the problem right now was how to get ess to it.


    I easily used the earlier bloaters¡¯ size against them but this one was a littleplicated.


    It was like its body wasn¡¯t weighing it down at all and it was agile enough to do aplete turn and smack down anything that tried to slip past it.


    At this point, the other participants ran past me as they tried to get away but I was still watching this deadhead¡¯s movements.


    It was moving like a bull where someone was riding its back and that ¡°someone¡± was a human cactus or a human torch that was continuously giving it grief. It was thrashing all around the y area and it seemed that it had no target in mind. However, it only took a second before it saw me and tried to go for a m.


    ¡®Heh, let¡¯s try it then¡­¡¯


    Much to everyone¡¯s surprise, I didn¡¯t meet it with the edge of my de but I just jumped to the side and continued to cut in tight directions as I was watching it move.


    I still had my weapon drawn for the remnants that would try to interfere but it was easy enough to cut them down and dodge this huge b of meat that wanted to take a bite out of me.


    In a sense, I was like a matador ying with a bull while iling a red piece of cloth but that piece of cloth was my flesh and bones.


    As I kept ducking, diving, dipping, and dodging its body with a huge allowance, I noticed that it had begun to slow down by a considerable amount, and I wasn¡¯t exerting myself as much as I was earlier.


    Despite that, the fucker still looked terrifying as fuck but I was starting to face more and more interruptions that came from the other side of the circle. I even drew my wakizashi to use as some sort of stick to push them away before I dealt the killing blow because even if I could do it as easily as snapping my fingers, my focus still needed to be on this special bloater/sprinter.


    Well, I still needed to do both at the same time so I just ran around killing some dregs before continuing to watch how it would fare in the long run, but long story short, all I could say was that its ¡®mind¡¯ was still willing but its flesh was weak.

 Chapter 742

    Right at this moment, I saw the bloater/sprinter that was chasing after me tumble¡ªlike a person wearing high-heels do that shake shit¡ªbefore it copsed on the floor. I saw its right shin break inward before the other broke to the side, causing the bones to tear open its leg, making any movement impossible.


    Despite that, its short bby arms were still trying to reach for me but I quickly shed them off before sinking my de into its skull.


    Its flesh and bones¡ªlike the rest of the bloaters I took down earlier¡ªfelt a little denser than an average human body but it was still farpared to the hulker we encountered. The hulker felt like cutting through ker while using a rusted butter knife while this one felt like digging through ice cream with a flimsy spoon.


    ¡®One more thing to do¡­¡¯


    Before this night ends, I¡¯m sure more bodies would drop to the floor but even if we¡¯d be the cause for some of them, the ones that would be left should know who¡¯d be looking after and who¡¯d be in charge after them.


    I quickly turned my body to face the outer ring where the others had run from and aside from taking care of the deadheads that tried to bite my face off, I wanted to retrieve the body of the participant who fell to one of the bloaters so he¡¯d at least have more or less a whole body instead of something that needed to be pieced together.


    Obviously enough, there was also a carpet of rotting corpses on this side but it seemed like they pulled out the shorter end of the stick.


    A lot more deadheads were present and to make matters worse, there were three more bloaters present even if there were already five that were taken down.


    They were taken down methodically at first but the trouble started when they reached the midpoint. Looking at the state of the bodies on this side, they also tried to receive them like we normally would but once the dominoes started falling down, there was no choice but to retreat.


    Luckily for me, almost half of what was left turned to the other side and was being taken care of by my group and the others that joined them, and all I needed to watch out for was my footing and positioning.


    In my head, I was making sure that my foot would step outside the dozens of dozens of chalk outlines that were already there and would be once I flicked my wrist and shed down with my swords.


    My body never felt so light and warm around these cold and moving bodies, but it didn¡¯t take long before I reached my short pit stop.


    The person I was looking for had already breathed hisst¡ªand half of his body was already eaten or crushed¡ªthough he still hadn¡¯t turned and his face was still recognizable.


    I quickly swung down to take care of the bloater on top of him but I still had to take care of a bunch that was made aware of my presence.


    Bodies just dropped as heads rolled and it only got easier when I caught a glimpse of the group from the other side. They were busy taking down the business I left for them and once I started to face deadheads that were looking the other way, I almost felt sorry for the free kill.


    Unless they could twist their heads like an owl or bend their joints the other way like it was nothing, they had no way to defend themselves.


    From this point on, the rest of the encounter was easy because we¡¯ve already dealt with the ones that had a higher challenge ratingpared to the regr mobs but it still wasn¡¯t over.


    The way to win this game was to find a way to get whatever the fuck was inside the vault and ce it on the podium on the stage¡ª and I just might have the way to do it.


    With that said, it didn¡¯t take long before the others started to lynch the vault in question¡ªeven prompting to steal Number 24¡¯s crowbar so that they¡¯d have a prying tool¡ªbut the look on their faces when I pped what looked like an explosive charge on the vault door was fucking priceless.


    ¡°WHAT THE FUCK?!¡±


    ¡°WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!¡±


    ¡°THEY SAID NO GUNS¡ª¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s not a gun¡­¡±


    ¡°BUT STILL!¡±


    As I said earlier, there were only nine explosions but if what I found on the tenth shipping container while the rest were busy doing caveman shit was really an explosive charge, it¡¯d be impossible to use it without the detonator. Furthermore, shooting it wouldn¡¯t do shit because we were not even allowed to use guns, and unless what I found was a batch of Tannerite, it would take a lot more to get through this door and the explosion after would be dangerous.


    In any case, this ¡°explosive charge¡± was actually a disguised thermite charge.


    There were four bricks of ¡°C4¡± in total but after cutting one up, it revealed fine powder that had different colors. Furthermore, the device that was used to ¡°arm¡± them was actually a battery-powered firestarter to light up the sulfur powder so that the rest of the materials mixed along with it would light up as well, causing a fire and probably enough heat to melt through a vault door.


    At this point, the game would¡¯ve been already over but there was one more problem.


    I turned to the group of people that wasn¡¯t in our party and I casually wiped the blood off my de that had the remnants of what they ran from. Furthermore, I released the tiniest bit of pressure¡ª but to my surprise, they quickly took a step back so I withdrew it almost immediately.


    I sighed before I looked them in the eye, ¡°All I needed to do is to push that button there to light it up and the vault door would just melt. After that, I¡¯ll just pick up whatever the fuck is inside it and then we¡¯ll win. Problem?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°If all of you are gonna try to interfere, our pair teamed up with the De Leon and the Garcia Family and we could do this right now¡ª¡±


    ¡°N-No¡­ You can take it¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just happy I survived¡­¡±


    ¡°No problem here¡­¡±


    At this point, the realization just struck.


    The reason I couldn¡¯t recognize them and the reason they probably ran from the threat while their tail was tucked between their legs was that they were simply just pawns.


    Before the games even started, we saw a highlight reel of everyone who became champions¡ª or the winners of Mr. Cuervo¡¯s events but none of them were even here. Sure, they had some fighting ability to some extent but everyone already had it.


    Having the biggest balls to swing around was much harder to find than people who could stick a knife to a head or break a skull with a bat, and it seemed I was with thetter.


    With that said, it didn¡¯t take long before I lit up the vault, and everyone that hadn¡¯t seen how a thermite charge works were struck with wonder.


    It only took a few seconds before I finally had ess to the vault but I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes when I saw what was inside it.


    ¡®Seriously?¡¯


    Quinn and Tatiana were hawking from behind but they were as confused as they saw me pull out a velvet case that had a pair of rings inside them. Furthermore, it also had an old knife that had engravings that were almost unreadable though the words ¡®one¡¯, ¡®forever¡¯, and ¡®unity¡¯ could be read perfectly.


    At this point, I simply walked up to the stage and ced the velvet case on the podium but I almost got surprised when wedding music suddenly resounded.


    ¡®S-Seriously?!¡¯


    I didn¡¯t know what to fucking do at this point but once Mr. Cuervo, a priest, the bride, and the groom were brought up from below, I was still fucking confused. Furthermore, it was as if everyone knew this was gonna happen because almost everyone from the viewing tforms stood up and shouted cheers and teased alike.


    ¡®Seriously¡­ Right here? In this pile of corpses¡ª Nevermind¡­¡¯


    I looked like I was trying to look right and left at the same time but Mr. Cuervo pulled me aside and whispered in my ear. While this was happening, Tatiana and the rest were also confused as fuck but they also stood in line while being covered in the same shit I was.


    ¡°Cool, huh?¡±


    I whispered back, ¡°Seriously? I thought I was weird. How about the games?¡±


    ¡°Heh. The games will continue after this, don¡¯t worry. They¡¯re just too impatient to just watch from the screen and they kinda dig this atmosphere. It seems a little crass¡ªeven for my tastes¡ªbut it has some aesthetic to it. Tell me, it¡¯s kinda fitting in this time, no?¡±


    ¡°I guess they have a bit inmon, at least.¡±


    ¡°Are you kidding me? They have a lot inmon. They¡¯re getting married, remember?¡±


    ¡°Huh? Isn¡¯t this just political or something?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡ª but, you¡¯ll understandter. Fuck, we should be quiet. It¡¯s starting¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­sure.¡±


    Never in my life that I thought I¡¯d attend a wedding where I¡¯d be surrounded by cartel members, dead bodies, prostitutes, a giantess, bald grease monkeys, friends, and whatever the fuck while being covered in blood because I had just taken down a few hundred deadheads in a quick and brutal fashion.


    It was the weirdest fucking feeling¡ªand that wasing from me¡ªbut I guess the wedding is about to start.

 Chapter 743

    As the wedding continued, I never tried so hard to contain my shock and awe from everything that was happening around us.


    The lights were turned to a different shade, rtively ¡®fitting¡¯ decorations were suddenly put up, and most importantly, the groomsmen and the bridesmaids showed up in matching outfits¡ªwhich were the entertainers earlier¡ªthough the best man and the maid of honor were from each respective family.


    To my surprise, Edith was the maid of honor and she kinda looked like the bride with a few differences.


    ¡®Probably rted or something simr¡­¡¯


    On the other hand, the groom and the best man were unfamiliar to me but the numbers 3 and 5 could be clearly seen even from wearing their suits, and the look of annoyance on Quinn¡¯s face could be assumed as such.


    At this point, it would only be fair to use my judgemental self on the ¡®priest¡¯ that was also brought up, but the way he was jacked could already mean a lot of things. He could¡¯ve been just a regr old priest fond of gyms, an entertainer dressing up to do a role, or whatever the fucking reason it was¡ª I was still confused as to what was happening.


    He could be hiding a double-barreled shotgun or a bowie machete under his robes, we¡¯ll never fucking know.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo had the courtesy to offer me a clean piece of cloth to somehow tidy myself but it wasn¡¯t enough to go around all of the participants. Well, I¡¯m still a boy scout if anything so the look of shock when they saw me pull out a pack of wet wipes from one of my pockets was fucking priceless.


    I even pulled out an extra pair of gloves to rece my bloodied one but the rest of my gear needed some cleanup.


    ¡®Later¡­ this should do for now¡­¡¯


    Right this moment, the music slowly died down until it could almost be unnoticeable and the priest cleared his throat to give his opening statement.


    ¡°Yo. Ah¡ª FUCK! Let me start again¡ª Ahem! Ahem!¡±


    I was fucking dead.


    This part was the most fucking difficult thing I went through, and I didn¡¯t know keeping a straight fucking face would take everything from me. Even Mr. Cuervo had to fake-cough and turn away for a moment topose himself. However, Quinn was just dyingughing with Tatiana while Number 24 was trying¡ª trying to do something to stop the two but utterly failing.


    But after a short exchange of murderous nces and ¡°I don¡¯t care what the fuck you think¡± stares, the ¡®ceremony¡¯ continued.


    ¡°A-Ahem¡­ My friends, my colleagues, my brethren¡­ Tonight¡­ Tonight is a good night to celebrate. We thank you and wee you for being present on this joyous asion¡ª the asion where not only two people will be one but two families being together. Tonight, with the stars and everyone as their witness, Mauro, and Elsa¡ªfrom the De Leon and the Rivas Family¡ªwill be married as one.¡±


    ¡°This ceremony, this asion, this¡­ rite, this sacrament is a significant part from all walks of life and even in this time when everything had changed, being able to take part and most importantly, be the pair to share the love they have and show it to all of this people is something truly beautiful¡­ fascinating¡­ admirable¡ª and being the one in front of you two to make it happen is truly¡­ truly a blessing¡­¡±


    Even after those words, the ¡®Yo.¡¯ earlier was still fresh on my mind and it just added to the list of things of what I think this priest¡¯s real upation was. But despite that, he was starting to look more and more like the real thing because his acting was on point and I could spot a few people from the viewing tforms that were starting to bawl their eyes out.


    However, this priest still had some gangbanger inside him, whatever we may call it.


    ¡°Before I forgot, if any of you here have some objections, you should¡¯ve given the challenge before this shit started or you¡¯d be gunned down at any point that you try to interfere with this sacred asion. Get me? Yeah? So don¡¯t have any ideas or I¡¯ll pop the trunk o¡¯ my car and I¡¯ll¡ª you know what I mean.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°A-Anyway, Mauro¡­ Edith¡­ I just have a few questions to ask you¡­ Despite all the rumors and the whispers, have the two of youe to offer yourselves to each other, freely, and without reservation?¡±


    ¡°We do.¡±


    ¡°We do.¡±


    ¡°You guys for real now? You¡¯d let her drive your Maserati and you¡¯d let him touch your kitchen knives?¡±


    ¡°Of, course. We do.¡±


    ¡°W-We do¡ª¡±


    ¡°Aha! Did you just fucking hesitate?!¡±


    ¡°N-No! I was just surprised, that¡¯s all! I swear!¡±


    ¡°Mm-Hmm~¡±


    ¡°T-Trust me! I swear I¡¯ll let her use my ride! I promise!¡±


    ¡°If you say so~ Onto the next question¡­ Will you love and honor¡ª This is too basic, aside from loving and honoring each other, will you two keep it chill? Except for you-know-where, of course.¡±


    ¡°We will.¡±


    ¡°We will,¡± Elsa answered a secondter and she was still smiling though she was starting to release some hostile aura.


    ¡°Good! For thest one, will both of you continue to honor our traditions, teach your future children our ways, continue to be an asset to our families, and be the start of something strong and beautiful? With everyone here standing witness, what say you two?¡±


    This time, the two smiled at each other first before they answered, ¡°Fuck yeah! Of course, we will!¡±


    ¡°Good! GOOD! Before you put on these rings, do you have something to say to each other?¡±


    Mauro cleared his throat before he spoke up and turned to his soon-to-be wife, ¡°Elsa Rivas, I, Mauro De Leon, take you as my wife. I really do promise that I¡¯ll let you drive my Maserati but do remember you crashed itst time and it would be difficult to acquire spare parts now. Nevertheless, if it weren¡¯t for that crash, we wouldn¡¯t spend so much time together in the hospital because that simple drive led to this happening. Well, we almost caused a gang war but it¡¯s all good now, right? Anyway, I promise to be as chill as much as I possibly could but the only thing I¡¯ll make sure of is I¡¯ll ride you as much as I ride my cars and I¡¯ll make sure that you¡¯re always in tip-top shape!¡±


    As soon as he said that, cheers andughs erupted but it eventually quieted down when it was Elsa¡¯s turn.


    ¡°You¡¯re fucking stupid, aren¡¯t you? Well, that¡¯s what I like about you sometimes. To clear out the crash, it¡¯s not entirely my fault, I shouldn¡¯t even be driving because I was wearing high heels but this idiot kept slowing down and catching these monsters on his phone and he made me drive faster because we might miss this ultra-rare one he didn¡¯t even catch! Anyway, I digress¡­ I, Elsa Rivas, really soon-to-be Elsa Rivas-De Leon, solemnly swear that I¡¯ll love you and honor you with all my heart but if you ever say that my cooking is bad, I¡¯ll serve you to our guests, okay? Also, I¡¯ll let you touch my knives but if you ever break them in any way, I¡¯ll chop your dick off, capiche?¡±


    At this point, their exchange of vows wasn¡¯t anything like I had ever seen but it was the most entertaining exchange out of all the weddings I¡¯ve been part of. There was none of this ufortable formalness that existed in each one and it was like what everyone around us¡ªexcept for the hundreds of corpses¡ªwas like, being around family.


    After that, the priest gave his generic but quirky response as the witness to the exchange of vows, and it soon came to the exchange of rings.


    This part went on as what it should normally, but right after they put it on, Mauro took the knife from the velvet case before he cut his finger.


    The cut wasn¡¯t deep enough to cause a serious injury, but it was enough to draw blood and use it to sign the papers brought up to them. With that said, Elsa did the same thing as well but as soon as they signed the binding papers, they brought their fingers next to each other, as if performing a blood pact.


    From my point of view, it was just one way to somehow get an infection but I guess it was more of a symbol than anything.


    Right when they joined their fingers like in E.T., cheers and apuse resounded but it went even wilder when the groom finally kissed the bride. I couldn¡¯t even hear the priest¡¯s prompt to do it but right now, something more than a normal kiss was happening. They were on each other like no one was watching them but it seemed we were forgetting something very, very~ important.

 Chapter 744

    I was slightly side-eyeing Mr. Cuervo but it seemed like he was in a celebratory mood more than anything. However, this game we¡¯ve just yed was the one I exerted myself the most and it seemed like the reward for it was forgotten.


    It¡¯s just that asking for it now was a little too much on my part¡ªbut regarding how things were ying out¡ªeverything that was urring was a little too fast.


    But I had to poke the bear a little bit.


    I hovered a few centimeters right next to Mr. Cuervo as I whispered, ¡°So¡­ I still get my day rate for this, righ¡ª Ack!¡±


    Mr. Cuervo managed to sneakily elbow me on my side with an amused expression but the look on his face when his suit got stained was fucking priceless. He never looked so panicked that his jacket now had tiny bits and pieces of rotting corpse meat, and all he could do was to take it off, turn the sleeve the opposite way, before hanging it on his arm.


    With that said, the newlyweds were still sucking each other¡¯s faces off and they only stopped when the ¡®priest¡¯ looked at them weirdly.


    ¡°AND THAT SETTLES IT! LET¡¯S ALL WELCOME OUR NEW MARRIED COUPLE! MAURO AND ELSA~!!!¡±


    As soon as the priest shouted at the top of his lungs, the already noisy crowd took it another step higher andpletely drowned out the music sting through the speakers.


    The uproar continued for tens of seconds and to my surprise, the ce where the shipping containers were ced was now reced with an elevated tform¡ªa little bit higher than the ones already put up¡ªand I assumed it would be the ce where the newlyweds would sit.


    ¡®The production value is insane¡­ who¡¯re his workers?! They¡¯re fast as fuck!¡¯


    At this point, the couple was made to face and give thanks to everyone that attended their wedding but as of right now, a multitude of gifts was being brought onto the tform built for them.


    They gave everyone a bow and a wave before they were escorted to their spot but Mr. Cuervo made the rest of us stay put while he put on his earpiece.


    We waited for a few moments before the couple was sitting pretty and that was when Mr. Cuervo took the stage once more.


    [This is really a monumental day! I¡¯m so happy! I¡¯m so happy but we weren¡¯t even done! Once again, a round of apuse for Mauro and Elsa!]


    I didn¡¯t know how many times they would be apuded at this point but Mr. Cuervo soon got to the part I was waiting for.


    [Thank you, everyone! But before we continue, let¡¯s not forget what rewards await the Ishiyama Family! I¡¯ve noticed that they¡¯ve formed groups but I¡¯ll let them decide how to split it all up! Behold!]


    Right at this moment, I heard the whirring of the machine below the stage¡ªthat was responsible to bring anyone or anything up¡ªbut the item¡ª or should I say items that were brought up, was something that I tried to break into earlier.


    Tall and wide, big and small,pact but sturdy, the items that were brought up were a multitude of safes where a couple of them I was using back home.


    ¡®That¡¯s why the pair with us wanted a small cut¡­ I guess Mason¡¯s bling is more important¡­¡¯


    I was deep in my thought but Mr. Cuervo spoke up once more.


    [If you don¡¯t already know, the one responsible for thest game was the Garcia Family! You can¡¯t run a sessful casino without a proper ce to store your winnings, yeah? Was the vault obvious or nah? I know, I know, they should be the ones presenting the rewards but their representative is a little shy, you see? Can¡¯t even show her¡ª umm t-their face on the screen *cough* *cough* but yeah, I kinda miss seeing your ugly mugs, so here I am!]


    Mr. Cuervo got severalughs and he continued.


    [Anyway, aside from the safes here, they¡¯d also provide the entertainment they have¡ªthe ones where luck and balls are involved¡ªto any ce of your choosing. Essentially, they¡¯ll put up the equipment and the people you¡¯ve seen like in the mini-casino outside and put it anywhere you want on your turf. Don¡¯t worry, they won¡¯t take a cut from the house¡¯s winnings¡ªmeans your house, kid¡ªbut do take care of their workers, yeah? They¡¯ll be living with you indefinitely, kid.]


    I chuckled as I shook my head, ¡°You announce me as a head and you still call me ¡®kid¡¯, Mr. Cuervo?¡±


    [Hah! My bad, hermano. You know, it sticks sometimes but it¡¯s cool sometimes, no? Like Billy the Kid, Kid Rock, umm¡­ Kid Omega? The works¡­ Anyway, I digress. We¡¯ll take a long break this time¡ª maybe an hour? Since you know, as cool as this disy is, we can¡¯t start the main thing if they¡¯re gonna be in the way, right? Don¡¯t worry, once we start, we¡¯ll probably see more bodies hitting the floor!]


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    [So, rest up, clean up, and eat up! The food and the drinks that we¡¯ll be served after this will be free, courtesy of Mauro and Elsa! Another round of apuse for them, everybody! If you have gifts you haven¡¯t given them yet, just add them to the growing pile on their side, we¡¯ll see you allter, everyone!]


    Another wave of cheers erupted but this time, the music that followed after didn¡¯t get drowned out. It even prompted a few that were in a celebratory mood to just dance and show off their moves while some of Mr. Cuervo¡¯s staff were doing their assigned tasks.


    I just assumed that they¡¯d properly take care of the one that fell from the previous game but while Tatiana and I were walking back to our spot with Quinn and Number 24, we had another pair tailing us.


    ¡°What?¡± I quickly turned around to face the two from the Garcia Family.


    Martin spoke up but he was looking at his partner, ¡°Elise, I told you we should wait¡ª¡±


    ¡°We really can¡¯t! You know how Mason gets when he¡¯s pissed off!¡± Thedy said before she turned to me, ¡°I know you guys are busy but can we check something quick off our list? Mason really needs his¡ª¡±


    I cut her off, ¡°Right. Come with me then.¡±


    Since my goal in going back to our spot was to tell Kaley that I¡¯d clean up for a bit, I just radioed her to tell her that I¡¯d be away for a while. Tatiana was still following after me¡ªthough she was faintly smiling for some reason¡ªbut to my surprise, Quinn was also trailing behind


    ¡°Umm¡ª¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Quinn instantly snapped back.


    ¡°Nothing¡ª Where¡¯s your Halberd/Poleaxe thingy?¡±


    ¡°Ah, I made Coby take it back. He looks that way but he¡¯s good at cleaning up.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Well, the way to our rides was a little awkward but it didn¡¯t stop there when we came upon Ibarra and Natasha doing the dance with no pants inside my fucking Raptor. If it wasn¡¯t for Mason¡¯s things under the seat they were getting it on, I would¡¯ve let them do it for hours.


    I was just about to knock softly but Quinn and Tatiana started to bang on the window.


    ¡°HEYYY~! GETTING COMFY THERE, I SEE~!¡±


    ¡°SAVE SOME FOR THE AFTERPARTY! WHY ARE YOU TWO CHECKING THIS RIDE¡¯S SUSPENSION AT THIS HOUR?! HAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    The look on their faces was fucking priceless but the nail in their fucking coffin was when I handed Ibarra a couple of popsicle sticks.


    ¡°Huh? What¡¯s this for?¡±


    ¡°Dick Splint.¡±


    ¡°Dick¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! I SAID WE DON¡¯T TALK ABOUT IT!!!¡±


    ¡°THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING~!!! I¡¯M SORRY, ALRIGHT?!¡±


    We got another moment of chaos thanks to yours truly but it didn¡¯t take long before I fished out the 10mm and the chain I took from Mason. I gave them to the pair from the Garcia family and they promptly thanked us before excusing themselves.


    With that said, I was told that my change of clothes was already in the room prepared for us, so we left Ibarra and Natasha to their own devices.


    ¡°Wipe the seats after you two are done, okay~?¡±


    ¡°J-JUST GO, OKAY?! WE KNOW! WE KNOW!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!¡±


    At this point, Tatiana was the one who led the way to our room but Quinn was still following behind us. I was giving her side nces from time to time but she would just stare me down while shaking her head. However, she finally had her limit when I was about to open my mouth.


    ¡°I GOT A ROOM HERE TOO, OKAY?! I¡¯M NOT GONNA WALK BACK TO OUR ENCLOSURE SO I COULD GRAB A CHANGE OF CLOTHES!!! YOU THINK I WANNA BONE YOU WHILE I¡¯M COVERED IN SHIT?! YOU JUST CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD LAST TIME, OKAY?!¡±


    Tatiana quipped, ¡°So, I get to do him alone? We still got 50 minutes or so.¡±


    I almost tripped on the floor, ¡°Wut?¡±


    Quinn was surprisingly out of words, ¡°I¡ª Ah¡ª THAT¡¯S NOT WHAT I¡ª¡±


    ¡®Can I just clean up somewhere peacefully?!¡¯

 Chapter 745

    Quinn was a good foot taller than the two of us but Tatiana seemed to be in control of the situation. She was just cheekily smiling as she was walking backward to our room while Quinn was still trying to figure out the words to talk back with.


    With that said, Tatiana pulled me inside and just closed the door without locking it, and she was already undressing without a care in the world.


    ¡°Umm¡ª¡±


    Tatiana looked at me confused, ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You just¡ª¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just us here, you¡¯ve done more than see me naked¡­¡±


    ¡°Right¡­¡±


    ¡°And I don¡¯t want to stain our bags. It¡¯s better to do this, correct?¡±


    ¡°It sounds kinda w-wrong but you¡¯re right¡­¡± I shook my head as I faintly smiled.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m right,¡± Tatiana let out a short chuckle as she pulled down on her ck panties, ¡°You¡¯re not just gonna stare at me, right? We gotta clean ourselves quick so I can have more time with you.¡±


    ¡°Time?¡±


    Tatiana rolled her eyes, ¡°You¡¯re really dense sometimes, you know? Quinn will barge in here in a matter of minutes and the only way you¡¯ll survive is if you bring me to my knees first.¡±


    ¡°In less than 50 minutes? We¡¯ve gone for a few hours once¡­¡±


    Tatiana chuckled once more, ¡°Oh. Right, let¡¯s just say I want to make the most of our time together before other people join in. Are you up for it?¡±


    I drooped my head low first before I looked her in the eyes, ¡°Fine. But I want a 15-minute nap after!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! I¡¯m down but I gotta eat a bit after!¡±


    We gave each other augh and it didn¡¯t take long before the two of us were in the shower. Well, we haven¡¯t done anything but wash the blood off our bodies but it wasn¡¯t even five minutes when a towering giantess kicked open our door.


    Take note, we didn¡¯t even bother to close the bathroom door since the door to our room was already closed¡ªand we doubt anyone had the balls to try something funny¡ªbut Quinn was another story.


    Right when Quinn saw us just casually showering as our bloody clothes were justying on the floor, she just harrumphed but her ears were red as she closed and locked the door behind her.


    Tatiana was a little somber but she quipped, ¡°Come in, the door¡¯s open.¡±


    Quinn started seething from annoyance, ¡°Fuck you! There¡¯s no water in my room so¡ª¡±


    Tatiana cut her off, ¡°And you didn¡¯t bother to check the other rooms?¡±


    ¡°Well¡ª¡±


    ¡°Just say you wanna fuck, a little bit of honesty goes a long way~¡±


    ¡°I¡ª THERE¡¯S REALLY NO WATER IN MY¡ª¡±


    ¡°The shower¡¯s full, you can wash yourself in the sink¡ª¡±


    ¡°IN THE SINK¡ª YOU WASH YOURSELF IN THE SINK! I CAN BARELY FIT¡ª¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re fucking right after we clean ourselves, we¡¯re gonna take a while¡ª¡±


    ¡°THEN LET ME WASH UP FIRST THEN!¡±


    ¡°Firste, first served~ Like I said, if you¡¯re just here to ¡®wash¡¯, there are a lot of rooms avable¡­ However¡­ If you just say what you came here for¡ª¡±


    ¡°YOU FUCKING BITCH! I¡¯M GONNA SHOVE MY FIST UP YOUR ASS, YOU¡¯RE GONNA FUCKING CALL ME MOMMY!¡±


    ¡°THAT¡¯S THE SPIRIT! COME ON IN!¡±


    ¡°F-FUCK YOU!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡®What have I gotten myself into¡­¡¯


    I thought for sure that they¡¯d already gotten along earlier but it was like trying to cross a road while a bear and a wolf were at each other¡¯s throats. However, something different was building up when Quinn eventually undressed and joined us in the shower.


    It was like a different kind of heaven.


    I was in between two alpha beauties with well-toned bodies and the three of us were quietly showering while sneakily stealing nces at each other. We three had scars and distinct tattoos covering parts of our bodies and each one could probably tell a tale or two about our past. However, that wasn¡¯t the main point right now because we now had to wash our backs.


    For the record, I¡¯m flexible enough to do it on my own but I wouldn¡¯t decline help from these two or the other way around if they request it.


    But something else happened.


    Tatiana moved over to Quinn who was still soaping up her huge breasts, ¡°Want me to wash your back? I¡¯m just teasing you earlier, sorry.¡±


    ¡°I can do fine on my¡ª S-Sure¡­¡±


    I thought Quinn would decline the offer for sure¡ªwhich she almost did¡ªbut at this point, Tatiana was using a soaped-up towel to run it across Quinn¡¯s back while Quinn continued to soap up her armpits and her chest area.


    ¡°Nice tats.¡±


    ¡°T-Thanks, you too.¡±


    ¡°Are you religious or something?¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­ N-Not really¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, why¡¯d you¡ª¡±


    ¡°An old friend used to have it¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ cool.¡±


    ¡°Ain¡¯t gonna tell me where yours came from?!¡±


    ¡°Oh, ahaha¡­ Mine¡¯s not as pretty as it is now but I got mine in prison. If you¡¯d ignore thedy here and focus on the other ones, it¡¯s kinda symbolic too, I suppose¡­¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡± then Quinn turned to me, ¡°How about you? It¡¯s a little¡­ different¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, thanks. Got mine in Japan.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Just Japan? No small snippets or anything?¡±


    ¡°Fine. I got this at the same time I got my tachi, katana, wakizashi, and my tanto. Let¡¯s just say it¡¯s a package deal of some sort and it was the most troublesome way to get it as opposed to using money to buy a decent set and hire some professional to ink you. But in the end, it¡¯s all worth it. They¡¯re priceless treasures I was lucky enough to have¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    There was a short moment of silence but Quinn looked at me a few angles lower and got annoyed.


    ¡°Seriously?¡±


    I never looked so confused, ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s just insulting.¡±


    ¡°What do you¡ª¡±


    Tatiana cut me off, ¡°For once, I agree with you.¡±


    ¡°Totally. Two naked women are in front of you and you aren¡¯t even hard.¡±


    ¡°Won¡¯t I just look like a creep when I have a hard-on while we¡¯re cleaning ourselves up?¡±


    ¡°Be half-hard, at least!¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°Wha¡ª I gotta get in the mood, too! I can¡¯t just get hard onmand, that¡¯s fucking insane! Besides, we¡¯re just talking about things close to us and you want me to get hard from that?! You two are impossible¡­¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha! True, true¡­¡±


    Quinn said with an eyebrow raised, ¡°Well¡­ what do you want us to do then?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? You mean¡ª¡±


    ¡°D¡¯you want me to wash your back while you wash hers? What do you think?¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­¡±


    ¡°I agree with that! You can ¡®wash¡¯ me as far as you can reach¡­¡±


    At this point, it became quiet again as I was washing Tatiana¡¯s back with the towel she used to wash Quinn with but Quinn was using something substantial on my back.


    ¡°How does it feel?¡±


    ¡°Mmh¡­¡±


    Quinn¡¯s gigantic tits were on my back, pressed hard, and going up and down while Tatiana¡¯s ass was slowly grinding on my dick as I was washing her back. However, Tatiana made me grab her perky tits and touch her pussy as my half-hard member was in between her buttcheeks. It was just going up and down¡ªalmost at the same time as Quinn¡¯s cowtits¡ªand it didn¡¯t take long before I got hard.


    The three of us were soaped up in the right ces but Quinn wanted a little bit more action happening.


    Right, when Tatiana bent over and ced her hands against the bathroom walls, Quinn grabbed my dick and pointed it in Tatiana¡¯s pussy before she pushed behind me and made me shove my dick right until the base.


    It was so fucking sudden that Tatiana trembled before letting out a sharp gasp but Quinn grabbed onto her ass¡ªwhile still behind me¡ªand spread her cheeks apart.


    The two of us could see Tatiana¡¯s puffy asshole while my dick was still inside her, and she just jammed her thumbs inside it and tried to spread it apart as she made me thrust my hips over and over.


    ¡°H-HNGH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT FEELS SO FUCKING GOOD¡ª AH! AH! IT¡¯S HITTING MY¡ª SPREAD MY ASSHOLE MORE! AH! FUCK!¡±


    Tatiana¡¯s legs were already quivering while her holes were getting yed at the same time, and she was getting tighter and tighter as the moment passed. However, I pulled out right before she came as I jammed it in her asshole, and Tatiana just squirted uncontrobly on the bathroom floor.


    At this moment, Quinn moved in front to shove three fingers up Tatiana¡¯s pussy and all Tatiana could do was take it.


    Quinn never looked so excited having Tatiana just melt into the pleasure and she just shoved her fingers which were in Tatiana¡¯s pussy into Tatiana¡¯s mouth. Right after that, she started to smother Tatiana with her huge tits but I was already about to cum inside Tatiana¡¯s ass.


    I was staring at Quinn¡¯s eyes while Tatiana¡¯s face was between her breasts as I came hard but another spray from below followed right when Tatiana was already losing air.


    Quinn was wearing a victorious smile as she thought she won over Tatiana but the look on her face when she flipped in mid-air while buck naked was fucking priceless.


    Tatiana was already on the attack right after cumming several times and she easily swept Quinn on her feet and made hernd on her ass. I, for one, knew that it gotta hurt somehow but since everyone was fucking on heat, pain was a secondary thing.


    ¡°You like fisting people, huh? How about taking it for a change?¡±

 Chapter 746

    Quinn¡¯s face had a mix of surprise, anger, and embarrassment from what had just happened, but right when I thought she¡¯d explode and fight back, she shrunk down before she slowly spread her thick legs in front of Tatiana.


    Her fat, unshaven pussy was staring right at us as her puffy asshole was winking at intervals, and it was one of the things I¡¯d remember forever. She was also half-covering her face but we could clearly see that she was red through her neck and hard of breathing.


    However, just when I thought Tatiana would actually fist Quinn right then and there, Tatiana stopped before she even put the tip of her finger inside Quinn¡¯s pink hole.


    She let out a cheeky smile as she stood up and walked toward the bed.


    ¡°You giant slut, you wanna do that there? It¡¯s so cramped! I got something much, much better though.¡±


    Quinn just realized she got yed with, ¡°Y-YOU! I¡ª!¡±


    ¡°Juste over here! We¡¯re just here for a short time, you¡¯re gonna have a hard timeter if I shove my fist inside any of your holes.¡±


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE GONNA¡ª¡±


    ¡°Shh! Let¡¯s just try this! I¡¯ve been meaning to use it if it feels like the real thing!¡± Tatiana chuckled as she pulled out my ¡®clone¡¯ and beckoned Quinn over.


    Quinn was still red in the face but she was purposefully getting strung along with Tatiana¡¯s whims. There was a look of desperation in her eye and her breath was still as heavy, but the juices running down her thighs were another story.


    I didn¡¯t even notice how fucking wet Quinn was¡ªwell, both of them were and we were technically still soaped-up¡ªand I got to dine on both of them while everyone else outside was eating something mediocre.


    But at this point, the two just started roughly making out as their tongues went in each other¡¯s mouths and I had the best view as it was all happening. After that, it didn¡¯t take long before they started touching each other¡¯s bodies where Quinn was grabbing Tatiana¡¯s ass while Tatiana was groping Quinn¡¯s breasts.


    ¡°Mmh! Hngh¡­ M-Mmh!¡±


    ¡°Fuck¡­ Pinch them h-harder¡­¡±


    They totally forgot about the 9-inch dildo Tatiana pulled out earlier because right now, their legs were tangled up as they were violently rubbing their pussies against each other. Neither one of them was giving the other the upper hand as they were continuing to grind their hips forward while their hands were at the back, acting as support.


    The sounds they were making from moaning, panting, and squishing their pussies together were music to my ears, and I didn¡¯t even care if I was slowly stroking myself while watching them.


    However, Tatiana was still a little sensitive from cumming multiple times earlier so Quinn got the upper hand and managed to push her down. This was when Quinn grabbed one of Tatiana¡¯s thighs as she thrust her hips over and over while continuing to push her down.


    Our bed was so fucking soft to the point that Tatiana was almost buried in the covers but Quinn was still going at it with fervor.


    ¡°WHERE¡¯S YOUR LOUD MOUTH NOW?! YOU JUST SHUT UP WHEN YOUR MEATY PUSSY¡¯S GETTING POUNDED?! YOU FUCKING HOE, I¡¯LL MAKE YOU CUM WITHOUT MY FINGERS!¡±


    At this point, Tatiana¡¯s eyes were rolling backward as she started cumming violently and all we could hear was her quick panting while their pussies were still getting squished together.


    I thought Quinn would go on until she came herself but she slowly let up before she turned her head towards me.


    ¡°You, you¡¯re next.¡±


    ¡®Uh-oh.¡¯


    It only took a second before I found myself lying on the bed before Quinn started stroking and sucking on my dick, and I almost lost it when she slid my dick between her tits while doing those other things.


    My dick was getting smothered by huge, firm tits while the tip was getting sucked and licked like a lollipop, but she began to suck me deeper and deeper until my dick was punching her throat.


    She almost choked when she continued right until the base of my cock but right as I was about to cum inside her mouth, she suddenly pulled off before she got on top of me and rode me as violently as Tatiana earlier.


    I had no fucking way to defend myself from this because Quinn was still jumping up and down as I was still cumming inside of her tight cunt, and the way her gigantic tits were bouncing around was enough for me to cum a third time.


    I was losing my fucking mind from the sensitivity but the look of victory on Quinn¡¯s face would be her downfall if she thought this was the extent of what Tatiana and I could do.


    ¡°YOU CAME THAT FAST?! YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD BULLY ME LIKE YOU DID EARLIER?! IF YOU GO SOFT ON ME, I¡¯LL FUCKING FIST YOUR ASS AND LET KALEY WATCH BEFORE SHE PEGS YOU!¡±


    Quinn was still on top of me but she now had leaned over as she was just moving her hips, but now she was also making me suck on her nipple while pinching the other.


    Her tits were definitely bigger than my head and I¡¯m all for it, so I just grabbed onto her hips with my free hand as I started to thrust upward.


    ¡°You got your bearings, huh?! Let¡¯s see how far you can¡ª H-HNGH! WHAT ARE YOU¡ª¡±


    I didn¡¯t see what exactly happened because two watermelons were right in my face but Tatiana definitely got her second wind.


    All I felt was that Quinn¡¯s vaginal walls got tighter and tighter and it seemed like ¡®mini-me¡¯ just joined the fray. Right when I felt someone was pushing Quinn from behind, I knew that Tatiana used her toy as a strap-on before she pushed it all the way inside Quinn¡¯s puffy asshole.


    ¡°H-HNGH! I-IT¡¯S TOO MUCH¡ª ANH! MMH! I¡¯M TOO FULL¡ª¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter~? Can¡¯t handle two dicks at once?¡±


    ¡°S-SHUT UP¡ª AH! I THOUGHT YOU WERE STILL¡ª¡±


    ¡°Still what? I¡¯m fucking you with him now.¡±


    ¡°F-FUCK! IT FEELS SO¡ª MMH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT¡¯S GOING IN MY¡ª AHN! MMH! MMH! SHIT!¡±


    Quinn was still on top of me but Tatiana and I just straight up vited her holes as we pushed and pulled over and over even after Quinn¡¯s body was just pressing on me. Quinn put up a good fight for the first few minutes but the moment she came for the first time, it was all downhill from then on.


    I didn¡¯t mind getting used as a bed by a body like Quinn¡¯s but I turned her over so we could have fun before we take a little break.


    Quinn was still trembling all over as I pushed my dick down her throat and I was pinching her nipples hard while Tatiana was eating my cum out of her pussy. She was still putting up a little bit of a fight but she just started squirting non-stop when I held her hands down and went rougher and rougher.


    I¡¯d only let her breathe after a couple dozen of thrusts but it seemed like she preferred my dick over actual air. She even pulled on my hips so I could stay in her mouth and she swallowed everything I let out, and she even made out with Tatiana who just took in my cum that came out of her pussy.


    Quinn was seemingly out of the count after that but Tatiana wasn¡¯t.


    Before I got my 15 minutes of rest, Tatiana went on top of me while I was pushing her dildo up her ass, and Quinn, seeing that, wanted one more round to top it off. In the end, I justid on my back as she sucked my dick off while Tatiana fingered her butt while pushing the dildo up her pussy.


    The two justid next to me after we were done but Quinn still got embarrassed when I tried to hug her body.


    She tried to push me off a couple of times but when Tatiana and I sandwiched her, she chose to bury my head in her breast and put her leg on my torso. It wasn¡¯t a particrlyfortable position to sleep in but it was also fucking heaven.


    After some time, Quinn and I woke up seeing Tatiana eating a tray of food she probably snagged somewhere but to my surprise, she also cleaned my des along with her own.


    ¡°You cleaned them? Thanks!¡±


    ¡°No problem, I didn¡¯t get a lot of sleep so¡ª want a steak? That one¡¯s medium, that one¡¯s rare, and that one¡¯s¡ª no that¡¯s mine.¡±


    Quinn chuckled as she stretched her body, ¡°Are you sure you wanna share?¡±


    Tatiana quipped, ¡°I shared him with you, so?¡±


    ¡°Hahahahaha! Should I say thanks?¡±


    ¡°Nah, thank Kaley for that. She¡¯s cool with it¡ª but you gotta see them fuck! Makes me horny every time.¡±


    I tried to get in between them, ¡°Can we stop talking about boning while we¡¯re eating?!¡±


    Tatiana¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up, ¡°Right! I was waiting on a T-Bone Steak! I¡¯ll be right back!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±

 Chapter 747

    Tatiana just sprinted out of the room before Quinn and I just looked at each other and startedughing, and I wasn¡¯t sure how much food she had already eaten when the pre-games started.


    ¡®Don¡¯t forget about the food she took in at noon¡­¡¯


    Her bottomless stomach was something I was kinda jealous of because technically, I was ¡®fluffy¡¯ for more than half of my life.


    In any case, I noticed Quinn had only taken nibbles from our food as she nced at me at random intervals. She seemed to be deep in thought for some reason but I suddenly pped aloud to get her attention.


    ¡°What?¡± Quinn turned to me with a spaced expression.


    ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®what¡¯ me, what¡¯s with you? Is there a problem?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Quinn?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Quinn was just looking at her food as I was looking straight at her face but the silence grew to be a little bit ufortable. With that said, Tatiana seemed to be taking her time to get another wallop of food so I tried to break the silence with casual conversation.


    ¡°Okay¡­ So~ That old friend of yours¡­ What¡¯s he/she like?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­ You know, the dude who inked me¡ªI know you¡¯re tall and all¡ªbut he¡¯d still probably tower over you. I b-bet he could grab my whole head with his hand and lift me up but he¡¯s still able to make priceless works of art that only a handful of people could get their hands on.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±


    ¡®At least she¡¯s talking¡­¡¯


    I scratched the side of my cheek as I opened my mouth once more, ¡°So¡­ if you don¡¯t like the food, I could fill you up with something else if you just bend over¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    ¡®She¡¯s definitely not listening¡­ She would¡¯ve exploded by now¡­¡¯


    I¡¯ve never seen Quinn like this¡ªand this could be just me overreacting¡ªbut she was acting way~ suspicious right now. She was like Kaley on her ¡®off¡¯ days but I highly doubt that both of them acted the same way during that ¡®period¡¯¡ª and I¡¯m pretty sure she wasn¡¯t having one now.


    Take note, the two of us were still partly clothed so I¡¯d fucking know.


    However, the moment she looked me straight in the eye with a somber expression and opened her mouth, I partly understood.


    ¡°After this¡­ You¡¯re really gonna stay at my ce for a few days, right?¡±


    I stared at her nkly for a moment, ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°R-Right?¡±


    I faintly smiled as I looked at her, ¡°Of course, a deal¡¯s a deal. Some of us might go back early but I¡¯d definitely stay longer than I thought.¡±


    ¡°R-Right¡­ You guys are gonna look for that Kuzma guy¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I might have a solid idea as to where he went and Alexander is also pretty close by. Also¡­ Hmm¡­¡± I trailed as I looked away for a moment.


    ¡®Fuck it.¡¯


    ¡°Also what?¡±


    I just shrugged my shoulders as I shook my head, ¡°I¡¯ll trust you with this, please don¡¯t tell anyone¡ª¡±


    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re still suspicious of me?!¡±


    ¡°W-Well, not exactly¡ª¡±


    ¡°What the fuck?! You¡¯ve practically seen every inch of me and¡ª You know what? Don¡¯t bother. Keep your secrets.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s rich,¡± I said as I chuckled.


    ¡°The fuck did you just say?!¡±


    ¡°You heard me. Earlier, I just revealed some important bits of my life and you can¡¯t even be bothered to share who¡¯s that old ¡®friend¡¯ of yours. I can¡¯t be the only one telling you things, that¡¯s not how a conversation works¡ª AND! I was just about to tell you another thing important to me and you just blew up and told me to shut it. Who¡¯s the fucker now?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Quinn¡¯s face was red from anger and her chest was heaving up and down, but she couldn¡¯t find the words to rebut my statement. She slowly looked down as she pursed her lips for a moment and she eventually calmed down.


    Then I heard a small peep.


    ¡°S-Sorry¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m s-sorry¡­¡±


    ¡°Hah~? I can¡¯t hear you¡ª¡±


    ¡°I SAID I¡¯M SORRY! DO YOU WANT ME TO SUCK YOUR DICK TOO?!¡±


    ¡°Won¡¯t that just favor you then? You like sucking my¡ª¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! YOU¡¯RE FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE!¡±


    Quinn was this fucking close to strangling me on the spot but she eventually caught on when I startedughing. She couldn¡¯t hide the embarrassment on her face when she folded her arms together but it eventually became quiet again. However, I didn¡¯t need to break the silence this time because she did.


    ¡°Let me be honest¡ª¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯ve been lying to me this whole¡ª¡±


    ¡°SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s thest time, heh. Go on¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Go on¡­ I promise I¡¯ll listen¡­¡±


    Quinn was just staring me down for a few moments before she sighed heavily and opened her mouth, ¡°You see¡­ Umm¡­ I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m happy today¡­ Like¡ª Like real happy, genuinely happy. It¡¯s been a long time since that happened¡­ ever since I lost my ¡®friend¡¯¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°I used to hateing to this ce because of the weird shit that¡¯s been going on: the games, the drugs, the sex, etc. but I slowly grew ustomed to it and I would go once a month for an¡­ an escape. I¡­ I would even partake¡­ sometimes¡­ with psychedelics to¡­ to feel something but the lows after that are just too much for me¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°So¡­ I just kept busy for a while and would only concoct my own poison, letting in a random stranger or two to do what we just did¡ªthough we already did it twice which had never happened¡ªand everything just went on like that even after the world ended. To be honest, nothing has changed much ever since that and it was like I¡¯m stuck in a weird loop or something¡­¡±


    ¡°That happened to me once or twice¡­ you never know it sucked until you¡¯re out of it or you¡¯ve been there long enough¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    At this point, the only thing we were missing from this conversation was a case of beer to pair it with but seeing Quinn this open and vulnerable¡ªtaking out sex in the equation¡ªwas something else.


    With that said, I thought I would need to probe a little more to know this friend of hers but she pulled out an old crumpled picture from her bag and showed it to me.


    ¡°What the¡ª¡±


    ¡°You see, now?¡±


    Just from seeing this old photo of Quinn and her ¡®friend¡¯, all I could say was that the resemnce was fucking uncanny.


    The photo could be 10 years old or more but let¡¯s just say that if Mikhail had ck hair and lost a bit of his muscle, I would mistake him for the man in the picture. Furthermore, Quinn in this picture wasn¡¯t a ¡®wheyfu¡¯ as she was today and she even had long flowing hair up to her lower back.


    I had to fucking do it.


    ¡°Did you eat him? Am I next¡ª¡±


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE SUCH A FUCKING ASSHOLE! OF COURSE, I DIDN¡¯T EAT HIM! YOU¡ª FUCK!¡±


    I was justughing my ass off as I was getting beaten to a pulp but it was all fucking worth it. The look on Quinn¡¯s face as I said those words were fucking priceless, to say the least, and I¡¯d do it again even if I knew I¡¯d get smothered to death.


    After a short bit, Quinn didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry but as things calmed down, Quinn was just waiting for my response.


    ¡°He looks foreign, British?¡±


    ¡°Wha¡ª How¡¯d you know?!¡±


    ¡°The DB9 you own? It¡¯s just a guess but you know, I thought you had more things to remember him by than just that tattoo alone¡­ You two dated at least?¡±


    ¡°I told you¡­ we¡¯re just f-friends¡­¡±


    ¡°Roight~ Roight~¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s British for ¡®Right~ Right~¡¯. I thought you should know that¡ª¡±


    ¡°YOU¡ª Nevermind¡­ this was a long time ago¡­ forget it¡­¡±


    ¡°Heh. Quinn, this head never forgets. Also, it seems you didn¡¯t forget too¡­ Is that why you pushed off Mikhail? It¡¯s gonna be weird to say the least, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I don¡¯t know if weird is even the right way to describe it¡­ I don¡¯t think it would be fair for the other guy if I were with him because he reminds me of someone I used to be with¡­ Besides, I got you now.¡±


    ¡°Wut?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re ¡®friends¡¯ now, too. You fucked me twice already, why stop there?¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­ B-Because I have a loving wife?¡±


    ¡°Hah! Thanks for reminding me! I¡¯m still not done with your ¡®wife¡¯, I¡¯ll fuck her too after everything here is over!¡±


    ¡®At least she¡¯s back¡­¡¯


    I just put my hands up in defeat, ¡°Fine~ Fine~ As long as Kaley¡¯s fine with it and you stay away from my backside, we¡¯ll be ¡®friends¡¯. Just take note that Kaley and I want some alone time with just us sometimes, we don¡¯t always do things like this with our ¡®friends¡¯¡­¡±


    ¡°And how many other ¡®friends¡¯ do you two have?¡±


    ¡°Ahaha¡­ Please don¡¯t ask¡­¡±


    Quinn¡¯s eyes had never been more curious, ¡°How many?! Answer me!¡±

 Chapter 748

    For the life of me, I couldn¡¯t believe that this question would be asked of me multiple times and it was just a running gag at this point. I wasn¡¯t even the one that started it but I may have a small involvement in making it get to this state. But luckily enough, Tatiana finally came back with her food¡ªalong with a few extras¡ªbefore I got to answer.


    Well, Quinn didn¡¯t even bother to push me because my reaction was probably enough of an answer. And after that, it didn¡¯t take long before we ate for a short bit and got ready to go outside.


    Once we stepped foot out of Mr. Cuervo¡¯s mansion, the crew was already in the process of finishing up though the celebration was still going as hard as it began. Food was still being served, drinks were still being handed, dancers were still unting their bodies, and there was nary a frown on anyone¡¯s face.


    However, a woman wearing a frilly maid outfit approached and greeted me with a bright smile.


    ¡°Mr. Ishiyama, we¡¯ve been waiting for you!¡±


    ¡°We?¡±


    ¡°Oh! Mr. Mauro and Mrs. Elsa¡ª the newlyweds are expecting to meet with you! They¡¯re particrly interested in the catalog you sent them!¡±


    Quinn interjected, ¡°You gave them a fucking catalog¡ª¡±


    ¡°Chill, I don¡¯t know what the two want so what better way to do it is to give them the choice of what to receive. Mr. Cuervo thought he could slide the car I made for him straight to theirps but he¡¯s dead wrong. As always, everything is ounted for.¡±


    ¡°But what are the things avable in that catalog?¡±


    ¡°I have different ones ready but the couple seemed to like cars and knives so I got them those. However, I can¡¯t give them what they picked out of the lot as of this moment because I can¡¯t possibly bring everything I have over here so they have to wait a little bit of time to get their present.¡±


    Tatiana chuckled, ¡°I thought presents are supposed to be a surprise?¡±


    ¡°Hah! If you already forgot, I hate fucking surprises¡ªI know they¡¯re sometimes good¡ªbut I¡¯m worried about the bad ones. There¡¯sfort in certainty, right?¡±


    At this point, the three of us gave a shortugh as our maid escort gave a slight chuckle, and we were soon led to the elevated tform the newlyweds were in. To my surprise, Mr. Cuervo, Sally, Kaley, Edith, Dave, Mason, and a few others were present and they all turned around to look at us when they arrived.


    Kaley quickly took to my side as she gave me a knowing look but I just fastened my wakizashi on her hip after stealing a kiss.


    Sally was the first one to speak up, ¡°Took you long enough. Had a little fun, eh?¡±


    I chuckled as I scratched the back of my head, ¡°Yeah, I took a nap.¡±


    ¡°Nap, my ass¡­¡± Kaley whispered with augh.


    ¡°GHAHAHA! You little fucker,e on over here, we¡¯re just talking about the gift you brought. A fucking catalog, eh? That¡¯s new. If¡ª¡±


    Elsa interjected, ¡°Aunt Sal, I quite like the disy here. Mauro, what do you think?¡±


    Mauro nodded as he was still looking at one particr page in the catalog, ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯m torn between five¡ª no, six items¡­ Are you sure I can only get one? It¡¯s my wedding and all?¡±


    I pretended to ponder for a bit before I gave my answer, ¡°I¡¯ll let you pick out five items if you name your firstborn after me¡ª¡±


    ¡°Deal¡ª Gackk!¡±


    It didn¡¯t even take a full second before Kaley and Elsa simultaneously elbowed the two of us and a series ofughter just followed. The two of us were still recoiling from the immediate pain but Elsa walked up to me with shining eyes.


    ¡°This Jian and this longsword interest me but I¡¯d like to know what would it take to have that on your hip?¡±


    ¡°Umm¡ª¡±


    Quinn instantly quipped, ¡°Aren¡¯t you married already, Elsa?¡±


    ¡°Hah?¡±


    ¡°Why¡¯d you need two dicks¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯M TALKING ABOUT HIS KATANA, QUINN! SHUT UP!!!¡±


    ¡°Roight~ Roight~ His katana, sure¡­¡±


    The two were about to have an unofficial fight but my words cut them off.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, these are mine and they¡¯re not for sale. It¡¯s possible to have something made for you but it¡¯ll take a few years¡ªand in our current situation¡ªmaybe more.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    My words led Elsa to look me deeply in the eye but she soon nodded a few times as she stretched her hands out.


    ¡°Can I touch it for a moment, at least?¡±


    And Quinn just had to.


    ¡°Again, why¡¯d you need another¡ª¡±


    ¡°I SAID, SHUT UP!!!¡±


    It didn¡¯t take long before I pulled my katana out with its scabbard and handed it to Elsa, and everyone just watched her pull it out in wonder and amusement. She looked like a kid that just got her first toy but to my surprise and everyone else¡¯s, she cut herself at the same spot she cut herself earlier and blood just dripped from the tip of her finger down to her palms.


    Edith was the first one to react as she put pressure on the wound with a clean cloth and Sally was just shaking her head in disbelief.


    However, Elsa was smiling brightly as she looked at the edge of the de that she cut herself with before she turned to me and handed my sword back.


    ¡°That¡¯s sharp. I barely put it against my skin¡­ Seriously, what would it take to have something like that?¡±


    I scratched my head as I looked at everyone, ¡°Trust me, the trouble of¡ª¡±


    ¡°No. I want something like that. I¡¯ll do anything to have something of my own.¡±


    ¡°Something of your own, then? You¡¯re not just gonna steal this off my corpse?¡±


    At this moment, a thin film of tension filled the air but Elsa just let out a short chuckle before smiling faintly.


    ¡°I have my own reasons.¡±


    I stared at her deeply before giving my reply, ¡°Fine, but I can only take you to the man who made it. I can¡¯t force him to make something he doesn¡¯t want to make and also, he decides what to make for you¡­ be it a fork, a spat, or a butter knife. And that¡¯s on the premise that you pass in his eyes and I hope to fucking god or whatever thing you worship, he¡¯s still alive.¡±


    As the words left my mouth, not only Elsa but everyone else that was listening grew curious and interested in the prospect of meeting this mysterious fellow that made the de on my hips. However, Elsa¡¯s interest in the topic far surpassed anybody and she was listening to my every word.


    ¡°So, when will we go?¡±


    ¡°You just got married, right? How about you¡ª¡±


    ¡°Two weeks? A month?¡±


    ¡°No. Let¡¯s say a year at the earliest.¡±


    ¡°A fucking year?!¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say that he¡¯s in a different country that is in a much worse state than ours and I still have my own turf to worry about.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°In the meantime, I do apologize but all I could say right now is that you¡¯d have to do with whatever¡¯s in the catalog. Well, all of them are still fine works but I can¡¯t lie and say that they¡¯re of the same quality as the ones I got on my wife and me. They¡¯re one of a kind and if you really want something for yourself, you gotta go to extreme lengths to earn it.¡±


    There was a moment of silence as everyone was just looking at me deeply¡ªsome of them thinking I was fibbing or something¡ªbut the people who knew me for a while and Elsa knew that I wasn¡¯t kidding one bit. However, one of the people who aren¡¯t as interested, Mason, piped up while looking through the catalog in Mauro¡¯s hand.


    ¡°Oi! Do you really have an R34 in storage?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, among other things.¡±


    ¡°How much?¡±


    ¡°Hmm~ A 10mm and a chain would do¡ª¡±


    ¡°YOU¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m kidding, heh. We could talk shopter after Mauro picks his gift.¡±


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take you up on that.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    After a short while, we agreed upon the Jian and the SRT-10 in my catalog and I promised to deliver it to them after a week or so. They even gave me their contact information and the ce they¡¯d be staying at though Mauro had a few requests to beef up his gift.


    I took a mental note of all the performance upgrades he wanted to be done on it and we all shook hands before our attention was drawn back to the stage.


    None of us noticed that Mr. Cuervo snuck out of the tform and went straight to the stage, and even his face was stered on the huge screen at the back. Everyone knew what was about toe and the building tension was getting apanied by the music that was getting louder and louder.


    At the right fucking moment, everything became deathly quiet before the music ramped up to the highest volume.

 Chapter 749

    It only took a second before everything felt overwhelming because aside from the loud music, the lights were also going wild and ring along with fire blowing up wildly on the stage, and some fireworks¡ªand even guns¡ªwere firing off at almost the same time.


    There was no system of some sort to the way they went up but somehow, it just blends it all together.


    However, right at this fucking moment, while everything was focused on the disy, I felt a set of eyes staring me down and a surge of killing intent washed over me though I was able to shrug it off just as quickly.


    And right when I turned to its source, I saw a familiar-looking person that had bandages covering one side of his face¡ªmainly his eye¡ªand he was making his way towards us on the viewing tform.


    It¡¯s just that no one besides me saw himing so I released copious amounts of killing intent to get everybody¡¯s attention.


    Like clockwork, everyone else¡¯s gazended on me but once they followed my line of sight, the realization came quickly as their expression changed.


    Sally was the first one to speak up, ¡°What are you doing here, kid? With that injury of yours, you need to rest up¡ª¡±


    Benjamin cut her off before momentarily ncing at me and then turning to the newlywed couple, ¡°I came here bearing gifts¡ª¡±


    Mauro suddenly cut him off as he looked at him with a dark expression, ¡°If you came here with a salve to fix broken bones, put it in the pile but if not, you should distance yourself away from me as far as possible.¡±


    As soon as he said that, the air around us just felt a little heavier but all Benjamin did was look at Mauro without saying anything.


    Mauro continued, ¡°You went too far. I know what you did to my men¡ªespecially my guy you crippled¡ªdoesn¡¯t equate to a death sentence and is allowed in the rules of this ce but as I said, you went too fucking far. We rough each other a bit in these games but you know you¡¯re a fucking asshole if you did something permanent.¡±


    Benjamin let out a faint smirk, ¡°Then my eye¡ª¡±


    ¡°I DON¡¯T CARE ABOUT YOUR FUCKING EYE! YOU FUCKED SOMEONE UP AND YOU GOT FUCKED TOO! MISERABLY! YOU¡¯RE FUCKING LUCKY I¡¯M ON THIS PLATFORM RIGHT NOW OR I¡¯LL FUCKING SEND A BLOOD FIGHT AND SOME FLOWERS YOUR WAY!!! I¡ª¡±


    ¡°Hey, calm down. This night was supposed to be fun and memorable,¡± Elsa interjected as she turned to Benjamin, ¡°As for you, we dly thank you for the gift you brought but it seemed that your presence here is making my husband upset. Please, you can just leave it where you are standing right now and we¡¯ll put it on the pile, thank you.¡±


    At this point, no one was speaking a word as we were all just staring at Benjamin but he just let out another smirk as he took out a small box from his coat and ced it in front of his feet. After that, he just turned around and started to walk back but he stopped and nced at me from the side.


    ¡°Right¡­ Don¡¯t ever think I forgot about you, we have some unfinished business.¡±


    As soon as he said that, everyone that heard it became quiet but I didn¡¯t know why I found this threat so fucking amusing.


    I identally let out a short chuckle but it did relieve the bit of tension surrounding everyone.


    ¡°Youugh? Keep underestimating people and you¡¯ll end up¡ª¡±


    I cut him off, ¡°End up what? Like you? First of all, you underestimated me when you went for me earlier and furthermore, you kept overestimating yourself. And you¡¯re gonna try to get even with one eye. As Mrs. Sally said, you need to fucking rest up or¡ª let¡¯s just leave it at that.¡±


    At this moment, I thought the conversation was over but Benjaminpletely turned around before he ripped off the bandages covering his face.


    The covered part of his face was still bloodied and swollen and it seemed like his eye was about to pop out because of the weird stitches on the side. However, his breathing still looked normal after the fact, and if what Annie said earlier was true, he was getting through his injury with willpower alone because any sort of medicine to somehow reduce the pain doesn¡¯t work on him.


    ¡®Or he¡¯s already used to it¡­¡¯


    For a moment there, I thought he was about to summon ck mes and burn me alive as he cried blood but all he did was a poor attempt¡ª well, let¡¯s say a ¡®decent¡¯ attempt at intimidation, for normal folks


    ¡°Who said I only had one eye? Look, I can see you perfectly,¡± Benjamin snickered as he threw the bandages over the railing and stared at me for a few seconds.


    He eventually made his way back to his spot when he was about to receive a mouthful from Mrs. Sally, and it was at this moment when the opening for the main event concluded.


    It seemed like Mr. Cuervo knew what was happening on our side but he couldn¡¯t do much because he was on the stage below. However, it suddenly caused a frenzy¡ªespecially among the men¡ªwhen a familiar little guy was brought up the stage.


    The little guy looked like the piglet that got oiled before but I doubt it was still the same one because chances are, it was already one of its sessors.


    Tatiana was already shaking her head in amusement while Quinn was already rolling her eyes over her head.


    ¡°He brought that shitty game again?!¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? That game¡¯s fun! I met Cynthia there.¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh. I¡¯m sitting this one out.¡±


    There was already a mix of reactions from everyone on the tforms but I saw a faint smirk hidden on Mr. Cuervo¡¯s face.


    [Not so fast, you fucking hornballs. I know that your blood will rush to something else when the game starts but I¡¯ll make sure you also clench your fucking asscheeks for this. You thought we¡¯d do the same thing over and over?]


    Everyone was a little confused at this point but it only took a few seconds before something much more dangerous was brought up from the podium and even I would be very~ careful when in front of such a beast.


    The creature was also a being that could provide such high-quality meat but it would be a pain in the ass to fucking catch it.


    With that said, some of the women who were already changing into their skimpy outfits paused because this fucker¡¯s tusks could kill a grown man in fucking seconds.


    [Let me tell you a story. I have this family of pigs that had a certain tradition of participating in one of the games so they could be hugged by beautiful women but there was a certain incident that almost made them extinct¡­]


    ¡®The Tatiana incident¡­¡¯


    [In which case, for the sake of this game¡¯s continuity, I employed¡­ let¡¯s say a bodyguard of some sorts to protect their ¡®legacy¡¯ and in return, they would once again give us the entertainment that we lost long ago but back with more¡­ wildness.]


    At this moment, a cute little piglet with a bell tied to its neck was being apanied by a huge-ass boar with bloody tusks on each end of its mouth, and the two of them were walking at the center of the y area side by side.


    However, there was one element that was reced with another.


    Last time, the piglet and everyone else that participated was covered in oil but this time, since the y area got too bloody with the previous game, the flooring was now covered in mud and there were certain areas where little puddles formed and areas that had an uneven footing.


    Furthermore, sprinklers were being turned on at certain intervals, designed to either distract the participants or even muddy up the ying field.


    At this point, the number of yers that wanted to participate decreased by more than half but a scan of what seemed to be the bodyguard was disyed on the screen. There seemed to be a few items stuck in its stomach and I could already guess what they were based on the shape.


    [If you can¡¯t see properly, let¡¯s just say that boar¡¯s diet had three gold coins this morning and among the pot that we would all put wagers on¡ªafter the main house takes it cut, of course¡ªI¡¯ll also add in 250 kilograms each of Pig and Wild Boar meat packed and ready for whichever purpose it may serve for as long as you win the game.]


    [And how do you win?]


    Mr. Cuervo took a long pause as he lit a cigar that he took from his coat pocket and he snickered amusedly before he looked at the camera.


    [Easy, just bring them to me, and yeah, don¡¯t die.]

 Chapter 750

    Excitement instantly appeared in the faces of the people that knew the coin¡¯s worth¡ªwell, everyone¡ªbut a question popped into my head.


    If the bodyguard was worth three coins, how much more would the little piglet¡ªthe main target¡ªwould be worth?


    If anything, the games we¡¯ve yed had certain things left out for the participants to figure out or discoverter; chances are, the team that wouldnd on the little piggy would be in for a huge payout.


    With that said, the number of participants increased again but another rule was put on the table.


    [If you weren¡¯t aware, this game used to be yed as a battle royale of sorts¡ªwhere only one person would be the winner¡ªbut this time, not only would I require the participants to pair up, I¡¯d also allow pairing up with people from the other families. The yers from the previous game already did it so I¡¯ll also let you guys split the rewards if you do pair up outside of the family.]


    [However, be fucking quick so I¡¯d only allow 50 people and they¡¯d only get to join if they managed to get the tags on the¡ª]


    Thest part of Mr. Cuervo¡¯s sentence wasn¡¯t able to travel through the speakers because as the wearable tags were waved around by some of his entertainers on the viewing tforms, all hell just broke loose.


    It was almost like a repeat of the first game where plugs were involved and it was like watching fifty football matches urring at the same time where the ball got fumbled.


    Clothes were ripped off, a buttcheek or a boob got groped, faces got bruised, and for the life of me, I can¡¯t figure out how someone got pegged with a banana.


    ¡®From everything that had happened at this point, I guess I shouldn¡¯t be surprised any longer¡­¡¯


    In some weird way, it actually made pairing up with different families ur more and more since no one wanted to let go of the tag they got for themselves. It was because not only would the family benefit from the pot, but the sole participant would also receive great rewards.


    It¡¯s just that on our end, our ¡®family¡¯ managed to acquire five tags and the owners were Tatiana, Cynthia, Bogdan, Ruru, and Riri.


    Kaley and I weren¡¯t able to secure one because we were right next to the newlywed couple but the reason why Tatiana got a tag for herself was because of the faces she stepped on. I, for one, thought they¡¯d be angrier but they looked like they wanted more, but I couldn¡¯t say the same for the ones that Quinn stepped over¡ªno, they were the same fucking way.


    Tears dropping on one side of their cheek, nipple or penis half or fully erect, and most importantly, the longing and horny gaze towards the one that did them in.


    ¡®This ce is really~ fucking weird¡­¡¯


    We still had a few minutes before the game starts because of the wagers being put on the pile but on my case, I already instructed Mr. Cuervo to put everything we brought in.


    It¡¯ll be a risky fucking y, to say the least, but aside from achieving our goals by the end of this day, I would also like to rake in some profits in the process.


    However, right as I was about to take a tag from either of the twins, a whisper in my ear just made me sit down and decide to enjoy the show instead.


    We had a short discussion before the game starts and even Niks was fucking confident about the twins¡¯ little secret. Furthermore, even Cynthia wanted me to sit this one out because she too, in fact, knew they had this in the bag¡­ if everything went smoothly.


    ¡°Alrighty then, give ¡¯em hell!¡±


    ¡°We will!¡± The twins shouted at the same time.


    ¡°How about me?!¡± Cynthia tugged on my clothes.


    ¡°You too, of course¡­¡±


    ¡°Why do I feel so out of ce¡­¡± Bogdan trailed from behind.


    ¡°You dumbass, if you didn¡¯t body block everyone here, we¡¯d all have a tag! It¡¯s your fault! You¡¯re lucky you¡¯re paired with Cynthia! Tatiana on the other hand¡ª oh, shit¡­¡±


    It was pretty obvious that the twins were paired together while Cynthia and Bogdannded on each other but to everyone¡¯s shock, Tatiana paired up with Quinn. The bottoms and the pig¡¯s entire family were shaking in their boots and it didn¡¯t take long before it started.


    As thest rule, all they could bring were wooden sticks for weapons though they all vary in length.


    Once it did, each and every participant just vaulted over the viewing tforms and started the chase but all of a sudden, a flock of chickens, five bulls, two dozen goats, and a goose holding a knife with its mouth entered the y area to cause fucking mayhem.


    Furthermore, a pair of weirdos wearing a gimp costume were running on all fours while pulling a cart rode in from the entrance, and I was just BSOD¡¯ing from everything happening all at once.


    Despite all that, everyone was just fucking losing it and I quickly tried to find where my team was.


    Tatiana and Quinn were already piling bodies on top of one another while Cynthia was trying to run away from the goose as Bogdan was locked in a pushing match with a bull. On the other hand, the twins seemed to be on good terms with the rest of the animals because they werepletely ignored¡ªif not, wanted to get petted¡ªby the ones they ran past, and I already assumed they were probably in charge of taking care of them at one point.


    It¡¯s just that the boar and the little piglet wouldn¡¯t let them win just as easily. It would just cause amotion and it would end up on the two getting roasted for their meat.


    However, I couldn¡¯t believe how fucking fast and nimble the little piglet was because even if it wasn¡¯t covered in oil, itpletely dodged and outran everyone that came after it and they were easily taken care of by its huge-ass bodyguard.


    To my surprise, the wild boar was able to hold back some of its strength, and most of the time, it was just using its huge body to push away everything that came close to its young master.


    It¡¯s just that one fucking idiot tried to take it on and he was fucking lucky to be alive but with several ribs broken.


    He tried to take out the boar this early for the easy three coins it would award and it ended in a horrible fashion. Everyone saw him smack the boar on its head with the wooden sticks provided but all it did was make the boar pissed as hell.


    The boar only needed a few meters as a charge up to ram the guy and the stupid fuck thought it could guard the blow by cing his stick in front. Long story short, the boar easily snapped the stick in half and it made contact with the guy¡¯s torso.


    The guy folded like a piece of paper on the y area but we finally found the purpose of the guys in the gimp suits.


    They just ran over to the guy as fast as they could before they put him on the cart and it didn¡¯t take long before they disappeared out of sight, straight to the medical bay.


    ¡®Unbelievable¡­¡¯


    I was still in the process of losing my mind but the show was still in the early stages.


    After a short moment, the sprinklers suddenly turned on, bathing everyone with water and it made the clothes the participants were wearing a little see-through. Well, almost everyone here probably saw almost every participant naked at some point but there was a certain ¡®charm¡¯ with wet clothes sticking to a person¡¯s body.


    In which case, a bit of water added a lot of difficulties because it slowed the participants down but it was just one facet of the whole thing put together.


    At this point, it almost became an all-out brawl on one side while having a mud chase on the other side because not only was Bogdan in a fist fight with one of the goats, Tatiana and Quinn were slowly gathering followers after beating them up.


    They now had two bulls in their control but for some reason, their balls were bruised and swollen, but it seemed like they were blocking people for them.


    ¡®PETA would¡¯ve called foul but I guess¡ª Nevermind¡­¡¯


    On the other side of the y area, Cynthia finally lost the goose that was chasing after her but the pair closest to the main target were still the twins. However, I could clearly see from our side that another pair was about to pounce on them after that curve they were running from but all my worries were for naught.


    I¡¯ve never seen the twins throw hands but I guess this time, I would.

 Chapter 751

    It would only take a few milliseconds before both parties woulde in contact but my attention was stolen by one of the members of the De Leon Family.


    The guy just fucking sneezed so fucking I thought he¡¯d sneeze his brain out but Ipletely missed what happened to the twins and their assants. However, I saw how everyone else just grimaced and was taken aback, and it was right after the dull sound of hard objects hitting flesh resounded.


    ¡®What the fuck did just¡ª¡¯


    The moment when I turned my head back to the y area, all I saw was the pair about to jump Ruru and Riri were now face down on the dirt while the sprinkler next to them was just wetting their backs.


    I was just about to ask Kaley what just happened in the brief moment I turned away but cheers just erupted before an instant rey was shown on the huge screen.


    What happened was that right after the twins cleared the curve, the pair waiting for them aimed for a high and low sweep but the twins just dove head-first into the gap at the middle while simultaneously sending an attack from an impossible angle.


    The way their bodies just twisted in mid-air as they swung their wooden sticks with deadly precision right into the throat of the one in front and the ballsack of the other was enough for everyone that witnessed it to get chills.


    In a matter of seconds, the twins just ended the two¡¯s ability to sing and have children.


    To bepletely honest, I thought their shy move wouldn¡¯t have much strength put into it¡ªand I figured it really didn¡¯t¡ªbut the way their attack was already in motion the moment they dove in and how precise they hit their targets was enough to cause some serious damage.


    At this point, the twins continued their pursuit but on the other side of the y area, something else was happening.


    Bogdan was currently getting ganged up on by two participants because he discovered something else that wasn¡¯t disclosed earlier.


    Aside from the piglet and the boar, the flock of chickens, the five bulls, the two dozen goats, and the goose were also hiding¡ªwell, not all of them¡ªa gold coin on their bodies.


    The only reason Bogdan managed to discover the secret was after diverting the bull he was on a pushing match earlier straight into a wall, he picked up a shining object that fell off the bull¡¯s balls. It seemed to be tied up by some sort of string but questioning how it got there wasn¡¯t the question that was supposed to be asked.


    Which animal also had a hidden coin on them?


    We already witnessed Tatiana and Quinn taming two bulls by using their balls as punching bags and if they had a normal set of eyes, they wouldn¡¯t miss a shining gold coin hidden in those jewels.


    With that said, Bogdan was still fighting them off to the best of his abilities but another pair just discovered the secret and acted as a third party.


    Right now, two pairs were trying to get the coin off of Bogdan¡¯s hand and the bnce was quickly shifting to the other side with numbers.


    This game was supposed to be an opener of some sort to titite the senses but like what almost every game had resorted to, it just became a fight to determine the stronger one.


    Bogdan was faring well when he was still up against two opponents but right now, he was trying to get away in the hopes of another team interfering. It¡¯s just that since he was still in possession of a coin that was held in great value in this ce, he might just bury himself even deeper.


    Looking around, Cynthia was nowhere in sight though the goose chasing after had already found a different target.


    Bogdan only had himself to rely on but chances were, he¡¯d have to let go of his discovery if he didn¡¯t want to get escorted out of the field by the guys wearing gimp outfits.


    However, right when the future looked bleak, a hero emerged at thest second.


    The red bandana, the US speedos, the chin strap, and the oiled body just swooped in at the right time to receive the finishing blow headed for Bogdan, and right when our teammate looked up, all he saw was just thick quads and a glorified taint that would haunt him forever.


    However, that figure saved him from the impending doom, and let¡¯s just say that this fight was far from over.


    And I don¡¯t know how, but for some reason, someone could read lips really fucking well because, from the disy we could see from the screen, someone was typing fucking subtitles for everyone watching on the tforms.


    ¡®What the fuck¡ª¡¯


    [You¡ª Why did you save me?]


    [You don¡¯t want me to?]


    [But your teammate?]


    [His time had already passed¡­ I was about to forfeit but I saw you from a distance¡­ I can¡¯t just leave someone like that¡­]


    [You¡­]


    [Stand up, grab my hand¡­]


    And for some other reason, dramatic music just yed right when Ricardo helped Bogdan up and the two just looked at each other deeply before looking at their opponents that didn¡¯t attack them during the long transition.


    [I¡¯m Ricardo.]


    [Bogdan, nice to meet you.]


    [Shall we?]


    [After you.]


    I just muttered fromplete shock and confusion, ¡°The fuck is happening?!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s beautiful¡­¡± Kaley muttered with shining eyes.


    ¡®I don¡¯t even know what¡¯s going on at this point¡­¡¯


    With that said, it only took a moment before Bogdan ripped up his shirt and used it as a makeshift bandana before the music changed back to the way it was.


    The new pair that formed in the y area eerily looked too simr in physique and it seemed they would be the only contender that could match up against Quinn and Tatiana.


    It only took a moment before Ricardo mmed the palm side of his closed fists right on the ears of the guy closest to him before he lifted him up and smacked him down in the most inhumane way possible.


    The guy was still dazed from the attack from nowhere but he justnded on his balls because Ricardo took a knee as he brought the guy down, and it quickly dissolved the fighting spirit of the three that were behind him.


    I don¡¯t know why balls were always the target of attacks this time around but I guess a quota of some sort needed to be fulfilled.


    With that said, Bogdan took the opportunity to dash forward and smash his fist down on the other guy¡¯s shoulder before he sent an elbow straight to his temple. His attack missed by a few centimeters because his target swayed but his elbow managed to cut open his opponent¡¯s eyebrow.


    Blood started to gush out almost immediately but Bogdan palmed the guy¡¯s face before tripping him down and smashing him onto the ground.


    The two versus four fight quickly became a two versus two in a matter of seconds, and even if it sounds like an even match on paper, the difference in strength and momentum was practically insurmountable.


    Moreso, the crowd was basically chanting their names and even though that might not actually affect their battle power, it would definitely be discouraging to put up arms when you were on the opposite side of the chants.


    ¡°FUCK ¡®EM UP!!!¡±


    ¡°THEY GOT WHAT¡¯S COMING TO THEM!!!¡±


    ¡°THE GIMPS ARE ALREADY ON STANDBY HAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°GET ¡®EM!!!¡±


    ¡°RICARDO!¡±


    ¡°BOGDAN!¡±


    ¡°FUCK ¡®EM REAL GOOD!!!¡±


    At this point, the pairs inbat were locked in a short staredown but one of their remaining opponents wearing cargo shorts and a tank top just held his stick tight before going on the offensive. However, the battle was already lost when his teammate turned tail and ran, and what awaited him was a deserved beatdown.


    Bogdan easily caught the stick that was aimed at his head and he just broke it with his forearm before returning it with a full-blown headbutt. He even held the back of the guy¡¯s head to avoid some sort of whish or unnecessary bending but the two coconuts had to have one winner.


    Surprisingly enough, the guy was still conscious after the first hit but he quickly fainted once Ricardo stepped in to french kiss his ass.


    The guy was foaming at his mouth as he fell over and everyone just witnessed the guy that turned tail and ran get rammed by one of the remaining bulls. He actually flipped in mid-air twice beforending on his neck and I was sure he would have fared better if he just took the beating like his teammate.


    Needless to say, the gimps came in with impable timing to fetch the dregs out of the y area but as far as this game goes, the winner was still undecided.

 Chapter 752

    The chase for the piglet and the boar continued as is but looking through the feed from the cameras strewn around the y area, there was more fighting than chasing their targets.


    The only ones still chasing after the main targets were the twins though they were derailed a few times because they had to defend themselves.


    Well, they didn¡¯t always throw down or try to knock their opponents out because it would be difficult to fight and run at the same time, and taking their eyes off their target just might cost them the win.


    The most that they did was to fight for a few seconds before continuing the chase and they would always seed in throwing off their pursuers because they thought the twins would dig deep and fight until either side was down.


    But to their disbelief, the twins would just run like they wouldn¡¯t give as much EXP when they defeated them and the twins would already be several feet away before their ¡®fight¡¯ even heated up.


    The twins had the biggest advantage out of all the participants in the game¡ªbecause they took care of these animals and probably knew some of their mannerisms¡ªbut I noticed something about the two after watching them for a while.


    ¡®Interesting¡­¡¯


    The game had already been going on for quite a while but the two were still running with their foot straight down the pedal and on full cylinders. Granted, anyone on my crew could keep up with their pace but it was a different story when chasing someone¡ªor in this case, a little piglet that could easily sprint forward and even change directions.


    Furthermore, the terrain wasn¡¯t exactly 100-meter dash material and the water on their clothes was an additional factor to take into ount.


    At some point, anyone should already be catching their breaths but the twins weren¡¯t.


    Sure, they didn¡¯t look like they were chilling but they didn¡¯t look like they were hard of breathing either.


    With that said, the two still moved as gracefully as they should and I even saw a shadow of how Cynthia moved in this game thest time we were here. The two were sometimes moving inplete unison, which added more charm or something simr when watching them and a question just popped into my head.


    ¡®What sort of training is Mr. Cuervo making her girls do?¡¯


    Speaking of girls that trained under Mr. Cuervo¡¯s tutge, Cynthia seemed to be doing something entirely different.


    I saw her on one corner of the screen chasing after a guy wearing tight clothing and she looked fucking pissed. From the time Cynthia spent with us in our own ce, I¡¯ve never seen her like that and the only thing I could think of right now was that the other party must¡¯ve said or done something.


    At one point, the main target and the twins passed by Cynthia, and she didn¡¯t even look the other way. Her eyes were dead set on the man right in front of her and she wouldn¡¯t stop until she got what she wanted.


    Too bad the subtitle guy wasn¡¯t able to do the same thing for whatever happened to the two but I guess we¡¯d just see how it would go.


    From my perspective, the guy seemed to be just going around in circles while asionally looking back to piss Cynthia even more, but it seemed like he had a good awareness of his surroundings.


    Never did he get stopped by any sort of blockade, animal, or altercation, and he was just keeping the right amount of distance between him and Cynthia.


    In turn, Cynthia got even more agitated at the fact that she couldn¡¯t bridge the distance between this guy and all she could do was tire herself out. At one point, she looked like she was about to cry but she just wound her hair and her clothes tighter before pursuing her own target.


    I turned to Niks, ¡°Do you know that guy?¡±


    Niks looked at me with a stoic expression, ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°The one Cynthia¡¯s chasing after¡ª¡±


    Alexei interjected, ¡°Ah~ that guy. Remember what happened a few games back? The one that came from the Alvarez¡ª¡±


    Niks suddenly frowned before he said, ¡°Ah, fuck. He¡¯s bad news.¡±


    Ilya added, ¡°That¡¯s Ramil¡ª Fuck, did he forget that Cynthia is Mr. Cuervo¡¯s¡ª¡±


    Ilya wasn¡¯t even able to finish his sentence but just judging from the difficult expression he and Alexei were wearing, let¡¯s just say that it was as Niks said, ¡°bad news¡±. Kaley and I just looked at each other before we formed our own thoughts as to what this guy just did to make Cynthia fall to that state and I guess it couldn¡¯t be more obvious.


    Well, if the guy turning around and facing Cynthia with an amused expression while smelling his fingers wasn¡¯t enough of a description, the way he just looked at Cynthia with those ¡®type¡¯ of eyes might be enough of a tell.


    At this point, Kaley was also fuming mad but we couldn¡¯t do shit at the moment.


    Anything goes in this ce¡ªespecially at this hour¡ªand as long as that motherfucker didn¡¯t snap Cynthia¡¯s neck in two, no action would be held against him.


    The guy was literally a piece of shit but still, several girls were cheering for him.


    However, like Mauro and the rest of the De Leon Family about to jump on Benjamin for injuring one of their own, it was totally allowed to bear malice and wait for the right time for revenge.


    It¡¯s just that it was painful to watch someone¡ªespecially the victim¡ªtry and chase after her assant that was just basically ying with her. I already saw her almost burst into tears and I could only imagine what was going through her head right now.


    At the end of the day, scum would take advantage of anyone as long as they could and get away with it and sometimes, the victim couldn¡¯t do shit on their own.


    At this point, my focus was now on the Ramil guy and I believe I saw him in the highlight reel earlier.


    The guy had a decent build like the rest of the champions though his best feature¡ªaside from his height¡ªwas his lower half. Let¡¯s just say that he was one of those dudes that probably did twice the reps on leg day or every day was just leg day to him.


    He could reach farther distances with each stride because of his long legs and I bet it would hit worse than a 2-inch diameter whip if he went for a nasty slice.


    Furthermore, he didn¡¯t look like he was in a hurry or was trying to win the game and it seemed like he just joined this one to specifically fuck with Cynthia. He was basically running circles around her and anyone that tried to interfere just got shut down in an instant.


    We saw him send a goat several feet into the air with just his kicking power alone and the other participant he kicked straight on the chest had never gotten up and was just picked up by the medical staff.


    ¡®Hmm¡­¡¯


    Several scenarios popped into my head as I was watching him but it suddenly faded when I saw him stop in his tracks and looked toward a corner before licking his lips and adjusting the bulge inside his shorts.


    I don¡¯t know why but he started to scratch his balls amidst the game and he even sniffed his fingers in front of the cameras hovering above him.


    It¡¯s just that when I looked over the corner his eyes locked into for a moment, I didn¡¯t know whether I¡¯d be worried or d he set his eyes on those two people.


    Tatiana and Quinn were busy beating down another unfortunate pair that came across their way and the creep was fast approaching. However, a loose brick came flying into the air and almostnded on the head of the motherfucker and that made him stop in his tracks.


    If he walked one more step, it would¡¯ve caused serious damage and his tune instantly changed as he turned around. He looked like he was about to kill the person that threw the brick but his expression slightly wavered when he discovered that Cynthia was the one that actually threw it in his direction.


    Like a miracle, subtitle-kun emerged from the shadows.


    [You got a fucking death wish, sweetie?]


    [Hmph! I almost got you¡ª]


    [Hah! You¡¯re a fucking whore, right? Why are you mad for getting felt up? I said I¡¯ll pay youter.]


    [You¡¯ll pay for something alright¡­]


    [Nice threats! You can¡¯t even keep up with me! I even slowed down so I could see your tits jiggle about, or do I have to pay extra for that also? Trust me, I¡¯m this close to smashing your face in and if you don¡¯t promise to suck my dick for free, your mouth will be out ofmission for a while. So, what are you gonna do?]

 Chapter 753

    Almost everyone on the viewing tforms was tuned in to the fight that was about to start but to everyone¡¯s surprise, Cynthia was the one to make the first move.


    In all honesty, there was a stark difference between Cynthia and Ramil¡¯s physiques and even if there were rare urrences in which a person could bridge the gap and somehow win the fight with such a disadvantage, the ¡°how¡± would be the part we should focus on.


    With that said, everyone saw Cynthia dash forward with her wooden stick in hand while all Ramil did was smirk as he shook his head.


    At the right moment, Cynthia swung with her whole body to deliver an overhead strike to Ramil¡¯s head but it only took an instant before we saw the stick on Cynthia¡¯s hand get broken in half.


    ¡®¡­¡¯


    What Ramil did was he simply turned his body slightly to its side before kicking upwards, meeting the stick with his shin, hitting it in such a way that it would break into two pieces.


    However, it seemed like Cynthia already assumed that a thing would happen because she followed through with her attack, making contact with Ramil¡¯s leg with the now jagged end of the stick she was holding.


    Ramil¡¯s leg was still raised and stretched as far as it could and Cynthia¡¯s stick just dug into his skin and went down.


    ¡°That¡¯s gotta hurt¡ª¡±


    It only took one¡ª maybe two seconds for the pain to register in Ramil¡¯s head because right now, his right leg had multiplecerations from his calf right to his thigh.


    His leg was bleeding profusely from the multiple cuts it sustained and we saw the snark smile on his face turning upside down.


    [YOU FUCKING BITCH¡ª]


    Right after that, we saw him send a left p to Cynthia¡¯s face but as soon as he connected, his screams resounded for a second time.


    Cynthia¡¯s hair came loose and was now covering her face but once we looked a few inches down, we saw both her hands gripping what¡¯s left of the stick she was holding which was now a few inches deep inside Ramil¡¯s other leg.


    I doubt those cuts would be fatal¡ªunless it actually hit a major artery¡ªbut I fucking know getting stabbed and scraped up with a jagged end of a stick would still fucking hurt.


    After that, Cynthia wasn¡¯t even able to pull it out before a right hook came straight for her temple and made her stumble back a few feet.


    There was a mix of reactions from the people on the viewing tforms but Kaley and I were this close to intervening and making our team forfeit the match. However, we still had people below that could do the job for us and they just noticed what just happened when the noise around them quieted for a few seconds.


    What they saw was Cynthia sprawled on the muddy ground while Ramil was pulling out the stake off his leg while wearing a murderous expression.


    [TCH! WANNA STAB PEOPLE WITH STICKS, HUH?! THAT¡¯S WHAT YOU¡¯RE GOOD AT?! I¡¯LL STAB THIS STICK HERE INSIDE YOU ALRIGHT¡ª]


    [You¡¯re awful loud for someone about to kill someone with a raging hard-on~]


    ¡®Nani the fuck¡ª¡¯


    At this moment, Cynthia was still groggily trying to get herself up but once her bruised face looked forward, she was met with a bizarre sight.


    Long story short, two little balls were now being held hostage but in order to get the whole picture¡ªthough the whole picture just spanned a few seconds¡ªlet¡¯s just say that there was a repeat right after this simr game was concluded thest time we were here.


    Tatiana and Quinn a few seconds were still in the process of eliminating the total number of participants as the twins did their thing but Tatiana saw what had just gone down on Cynthia¡¯s side and ran toward them to intervene.


    With that said, what happened was Tatiana bridged the distance in a second and the first thing she got her hands on was Ramil¡¯s family jewels.


    Her whole hand was now deep inside his shorts and clutching his balls and let me just say that no matter how fucking tough or ¡®roided up a guy was, if his balls were in danger¡ªlet¡¯s say a mosquitonded on it for example¡ªthat guy would always choose the peaceful option.


    It¡¯s just that our guy at this time used his dick to think instead of his head.


    [Oh? Giving me a handy right now without paying for it? That¡¯s new¡ª Grrck!]


    [Giving me lip? I for sure thought all tall guys have long ones?]


    [F-Fuck you! I¡¯ll¡ª AHHHHHH!]


    Before Ramil screamed at the top of his lungs, everyone looking at the huge screen saw how Tatiana¡¯s hands twisted for several degrees while clutching his balls as hard as she could. In turn, Ramil¡¯s face twisted even worse but the moment every guy in the vicinity tucked their balls inside was when Tatiana¡¯s hand started¡­ pulling¡­ with a closed fist.


    Everyone that had experience touching their balls or had the experience of touching a pair knows that it stretched to a degree and one of the few reasons a pair could stretch as far as what we just saw was if the owner of said balls was an old geezer.


    As I said earlier, something simr happened the time we were here before but aside from a champion getting his jewels stretched to the maximum, he was suddenly met with an RKO from nowhere as Quinn arrived at thest moment before grabbing his head and mming his face in the mud.


    Long story short, the guy had no way to defend himself because that simple head-grab quickly turned into a headlock.


    Ramil tried his hardest to get away from Quinn¡¯s grasp but this time, I could say that Quinn¡¯s physique had the advantage. Granted a male¡¯s body was different from its female counterpart, Quinn¡¯s body wasn¡¯t the usual female counterpart either.


    Well, there was a chance that he would¡¯ve broken through her grasp but Tatiana was just sitting there waiting as a backup.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Ramil was down for the count and the medical staff wearing gimp suits arrived at the scene shortly. They brought his unconscious body out of the y area but they did check on Cynthia¡¯s condition, and luckily enough, all she sustained was some bruises. However, it looked like Cynthia was in no mood to talk because right when Tatiana tried to approach her, Cynthia pped her hand off and ran away.


    Tatiana could just only look at her helplessly as she disappeared into a corner but the show must go on.


    At this point, there were only a few pairs remaining that were still in fighting condition and the game was slowlying to a close. Tatiana and Quinn kept reducing the number of participants at a steady pace while the twins continued to wear down their targets by pursuing them relentlessly and Bogdan and Ricardo¡­ umm¡­ they seemed to be in a dance battle with another pair that was almost naked.


    Everyone thought the winner was already decided at thest few minutes of thepetition but it took a nasty turn when Cynthia popped up at thest second.


    The twins just managed to corner the little piglet after tiring out the boar protecting him but right when they were about to pick it up and im the victory, Cynthia just appeared behind them and struck the two out of nowhere. The twins weren¡¯t able to react properly because since we were technically on the same side, friendly fire shouldn¡¯t happen.


    With that said, the piglet dropped to the ground but the other end of Cynthia¡¯s stick that was kicked off by Ramil struck it in the abdomen and started bleeding out helplessly. Needless to say, everyone saw how Cynthia carved its poor body out while it was still alive and she just left it for dead after obtaining the coins hidden inside its body.


    Of course, once the game was over, the animals involved would be butchered and eaten sooner orter but there was a proper way ofying them to rest.


    The conclusion of a game that was supposed to be met with cheers just got drowned out with music while a mix of reactions was on the viewing tforms as Cynthia imed the win for our ¡°family¡±. Even Mr. Cuervo was speechless once he got a look at Cynthia¡¯s face as she handed over just part of the piglet¡¯s corpse to serve as proof of ¡°catching¡± it.


    After that, Mr. Cuervo just forced out an awkward smile after dering Cynthia the winner and he just showcased the rewards we would receive as quickly as he could.


    As that was happening, we saw Cynthia quickly leave the stage, and Kaley and I quickly went down to chase after her. However, Kaley looked to the side before stopping in her tracks and she turned to me with a solemn expression.


    ¡°I¡¯ll follow after her, talk to the twins.¡±

 Chapter 754

    I wasn¡¯t even able to reply as Kaley gradually increased the distance between us. She gave me a faint smile before shepletely turned around and went after Cynthia while I took a step back and made my way toward the ce the twins were probably headed.


    ¡®They will just probably need some ice or something¡­¡¯


    It wasn¡¯t difficult to traverse what wasn¡¯t made to be the y area because almost all of the people present were either on the viewing tforms or the enclosures outside.


    Well, it wasn¡¯t entirely smooth sailing because I couldn¡¯t believe how much the people here like to fuck in the open and I even graciously declined when I was offered to try out their girl or join in and plug all the holes of the one on receiving end until it was airtight.


    To be fair, Kaley and I did something simr on the porta-potties provided though I doubt we¡¯d actually do it with a live audience watching and casually inviting a passerby.


    ¡®Found them.¡¯


    After passing another non-descript house with familiar ¡®noises¡¯ing out from it, I saw the twins justing out of the med-bay of sorts holding an ice pack against themselves. Ruru was holding hers against her left side while Riri was holding hers against her right cheek.


    Both of them never looked so down but I saw their quick switch to a smile the moment they saw me walking towards them.


    ¡°Oh, hi! You came for us?!¡±


    ¡°How sweet! We¡¯re fine though~¡±


    I feigned to not see them change expressions, ¡°You two got hurt, it¡¯s normal to¡ª¡±


    ¡°Wha¡ª You really didn¡¯t have to!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re really okay and¡ª¡±


    The moment I was within striking distance, I quickly¡ª but lightly poked where they were hit and the two instantly grimaced from the pain. They were fucking lucky that that was all they got from the sudden attack but the bruising they sustained wasn¡¯t normal.


    Cynthia would seem like a mid-bottom fighter in our ranks but I could still remember the time she dragged Kaley and Tatiana away when she was drunk.


    I believe that she had some sort of control over it but when someone¡¯s fucking mad, control wasn¡¯t the first thing that woulde to mind.


    With that said, the twins still tried to put up a faint smile but they got taken aback when I bowed in front of them and apologized.


    ¡°Wha¡ª What are you doing?!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not¡ª¡±


    ¡°I know my apology isn¡¯t much but trust me, I¡¯ll¡ª well, Kaley followed after Cynthia to find out what¡¯s going on but that doesn¡¯t excuse her hitting you two. That was totally uncalled for and again, I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    The two were silent for a moment but Riri spoke, ¡°I-It¡¯s okay, r-really¡­¡±


    Ruru added, ¡°Y-Yeah¡­ It¡¯s kinda our f-fault¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh? What do you mean? You two did nothing, right?¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­¡±


    ¡°N-Not exactly did something¡­ you know¡ª like on purpose b-but¡ª¡±


    ¡°Did you two shit talk her or any in my group?¡±


    ¡°N-NO!¡±


    ¡°Gave her weird looks? Made her feel left out?¡±


    ¡°WE WOULD NEVER!¡±


    ¡°Did you spoil the manga she¡¯s reading? There¡¯s a limited number we could read right now and that¡¯ll make her go over the edge¡ª¡±


    ¡°ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?! WE WOULD BE SHOT ON THE SPOT!¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ must be something else¡­¡±


    Ruru sighed dejectedly, ¡°I was about to tell you but you cut me off¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, right. C¡¯mon, tell me everything in our truck. I hope Ibarra and Natasha are done¡­¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    I ignored their looks of confusion as I replied, ¡°Yeah~ Those two maybe have been going at it for a while¡ª¡±


    ¡°N-No¡­ Why¡¯d we have to do it in your truck?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we could do it in our¡ª¡±


    ¡°What are you two talking about? I¡¯m confused.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°W-Well, what are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m really confused. I mean, you could tell me the whole thing while we¡¯re in our truck so¡ª¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t asking for sex?¡± Ruru said as she turned to her sister, ¡°He was asking for sex, right?¡±


    Riri nodded a few times, ¡°Yep, I thought he was too!¡±


    I quickly pped my forehead as I sighed loudly, ¡°No! How is that asking for sex?! We¡¯re not¡ª Haaa~ I have some Aloe Gel in our kit, it¡¯ll help with that after you iced them for 10 minutes or so¡­¡±


    ¡°Are you talking about lube now?¡±


    ¡°He is, definitely¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not¡ª AHHHH!¡±


    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!!¡±


    ¡°WE¡¯RE JUST FUCKING WITH YOU! LIGHTEN UP!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    For the life of me, I couldn¡¯t understand these two¡¯s humor but I guess I¡¯m relieved they were doing okay for the most part. Some fences needed to be mended before it grew worse but I guess I¡¯d have another chance to probe into their headster.


    Luckily enough, once we made our way to our truck, Ibarra and Natasha were just chilling on the roof of our truck though they looked at the twins solemnly.


    They probably saw what happened on the screen and they didn¡¯t know how to react.


    However, the silence was broken when the twins just casually took off their tops and looked at me like they were expecting to receive something. They even moved closer to the point that their breasts were squeezing against my arms and they side-eyed the two behind us before turning to me.


    ¡°So¡­¡±


    ¡°Are we doing it here?¡±


    Ibarra and Natasha instantly took off, ¡°Okay, boss! Call us when you¡¯re done! We¡¯ll catch up with the crew!¡±


    ¡°No! Wait! Don¡¯t go! We¡¯re not¡ª¡±


    The two just disappeared from view like a certain deity when the ck gue hit and I was left with two young women, without their tops off, snickering and giggling from my expression.


    ¡°You two¡­¡±


    Riri chuckled as she moved even closer, ¡°C¡¯mon! It¡¯s funny, right? Besides, you¡¯d have to put the gel you said on us earlier¡ª¡±


    ¡°You have your bruise on your cheek! And you! Your top doesn¡¯t even obstruct your side, why¡¯d you take it all off?!¡±


    Ruru chuckled the same way as Riri before she looked me straight in the eye, ¡°I want you to see my tits, problem?¡±


    Riri added, ¡°Me too! Me too! They look great, right?!¡±


    The two wereing at me strongerpared to when Tatiana first came into our fold and to bepletely honest, some part of my head was saying that this was their way ofmunicating that what happened didn¡¯t matter as much but if I really wanted to make it up to them, I had to do it their way.


    Besides, talking about feelings between twoplete strangers that were somehow given to us as a prize right after they sustained bruises from their new ¡®team¡¯ was something a little hard to wrap our heads into.


    I needed to learn a little more about the two but I can¡¯t say that I wasn¡¯t shocked by some of the things I discovered.


    But before that, I just shook my head and faintly smiled before I yed along.


    ¡°Fine, they do look good¡­¡±


    ¡°Really?!¡±


    ¡°Touch mine! Touch mine! Mine¡¯s better¡ª¡±


    Ruru interjected, ¡°How is yours better?! We¡¯re basically twins¡ª¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just is!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not making any sense!¡±


    ¡°Fine! He¡¯ll tell us!¡±


    ¡°Maybe he¡¯ll think mine¡¯s better!¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll see about that!¡±


    All of a sudden, the twins let go of my arms before they grabbed my hands and ced them between their perky sets. They even squeezed their boobs together so I could feel the softness and firmness of each one but truth be told, I couldn¡¯t say which one was better.


    It was like I was with a pretty girl that summoned aplete exact clone from thin air and made me figure out if there were any discrepancies.


    If the two didn¡¯t have the bruises they had now, I couldn¡¯t figure out who was who.


    That was the level we were ying at but I got to touch some tits so I didn¡¯t know if I was winning or losing. Call me whatever the fuck you want but I took my sweet fucking time touching each of them very, very thoroughly.


    And when I looked up, I couldn¡¯t exin what I saw at the moment.


    The two who were a little chatty were now mmed up, faces flushed through their neck, biting their lower lip while looking at me with their big puppy eyes. They already stopped squeezing their tits a moment ago and their hands were just on their backs while they were puffing their chest out so I could have free reign over them.


    ¡°M-M-Mine¡¯s b-better, right¡­? Mmh¡­¡±


    ¡°N-No¡­ M-Mine¡¯s b-b-better¡­ Nmh¡­¡±


    At this point, their pink little nipples were already hard and sticking out but without any prompt from me, the two twin sisters just started kissing each other.


    I couldn¡¯t believe what I was seeing but I couldn¡¯t look away.


    Since I was still fondling their breasts which were on the far side, they were just leaning on each other using one side of their body. And their breasts which were closer to each other got mushed on their own, nipples slightly rubbing on each other.


    Their breaths were getting harder and harder by the second but they suddenly stopped before looking at me with a mix of lust and embarrassment.


    ¡°Y-You can¡¯te up with an answer, huh?¡±


    ¡°T-To which one¡¯s b-better¡­¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, w-we couldn¡¯t either¡­¡±


    ¡°We tried on our own¡­ lots of times¡­¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah?¡±


    ¡°H-How about this? If y-you don¡¯t mind¡­¡±


    ¡°W-We try kissing next a-and see w-where we go? W-We could find out who is b-better at what¡­¡±

 Chapter 755: I guess this works too...

    I was staring right at the two when they mentioned that they explored themselves on their own, and I couldn¡¯t help but let out a small reaction. It took me a bit to process what they said because my mind was somewhere else and my hands at the time were still fondling their tits.


    The twins probably saw my face twitch for a short moment but like what I did earlier, they feigned ignorance as to what they saw and they just waited for what I would do next.


    It¡¯s just that my hands were now just over their perky puppies, not moving as much due to the realization.


    ¡®Are they really¡­ I don¡¯t know if I should¡­ hmm¡­¡¯


    There was this thin gray area where some people liked to step onto just to see what it was like to be slightly bordering on the other side, but with the times we were in now, this gray area was starting to get wider and wider.


    We¡¯d lose a little bit of humanity each time we took down something that was once alive but aside from our humanity slowly taking another form, the boundaries of our morality were starting to blur out, forming something that didn¡¯t care about what we would¡¯ve taken as forbidden or taboo¡ªsometimes even illegal¡ªbefore the world ended.


    I couldn¡¯t say that my ledger was clean and free of creases from the time I spent with other people aside from Kaley because, at this moment, those kinds of thoughts didn¡¯t even cross my mind.


    All I knew was that I was in front of two gorgeous women looking for a good time, and I was being tasked to find out things that were different about them even though they weren¡¯t that different at all.


    They¡¯ve probably been on top of one another more times than I could count so it¡¯d be difficult to find something they didn¡¯t in the time we had right now.


    In any case, we just found ourselves in the backseat of my truck and I was in the middle of them as Ruru was on my left, taking off my shirt while Riri was on my right, unbuckling my pants.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Ruru took the initiative and nted her sweet lips on mine, and she wrapped her arms around me before she let her tongue out and shed with mine. On the other hand, I felt Riri taking my huge cock out but I broke away from Ruru¡¯s kiss before I turned to her sister.


    ¡°I thought we¡¯re gonna start with kissing?¡±


    Riri¡¯s hand was just wrapped around my shaft and she was just about to suck the tip when she looked up while red through her neck, ¡°U-Umm¡­ I-I-I¡ª¡±


    Riri wasn¡¯t even able to answer when I heard a short gasp from Ruru, ¡°W-W-Wait¡­ t-that¡¯s you?!¡±


    ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Y-You¡¯re b¡ª You¡¯re t-too big!¡±


    ¡°You tell me, sis!¡± Riri chuckled lightly as she started to slowly jerk me off, ¡°I got so hot when I saw it, I just wanted to suck it then and there!¡±


    I shook my head as I pulled them even closer, ¡°Enough about that, isn¡¯t it unfair that my dick¡¯s already out and you two only got your tops off? Can¡¯t we just kiss and touch each other first before sucking me off? I want to taste your lips when I kiss you, not my cum.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    At this point, there was a moment of silence but the two just covered their mouths and started giggling before they scooted over for a short bit and took off their tight shorts. Like their perky tits, their ass was fucking juicy and jiggly at the same time though I still couldn¡¯t tell a fucking difference between the two.


    However, I saw something else other than their soaked panties when they leaned over to the front seats and ced their shorts by the dashboard. And yeah, it was something right in the ce where I was supposed to see a tiny slit right next to their little backdoor.


    ¡°Umm, what is that?¡± I pointed at the flesh-colored material stered on their crotch.


    ¡°Ah¡ª¡±


    ¡°We forgot to take it off!¡±


    ¡°Take off? What is that?¡±


    ¡°I-It¡¯s just some tape for our pussies¡ª¡±


    ¡°So our customers won¡¯t forget.¡±


    ¡°Tape? What? Wouldn¡¯t forget what?¡±


    I was hit with terms I didn¡¯t think should be in the same sentence and it got me more and more confused. My boner was slowly losing its potency by the second and it might be one of the few times that a woman saw me soft when we were naked together.


    ¡°H-How do we exin this¡­¡±


    ¡°C-Can we just go back to what we were doing earlier and exinter?¡±


    I waved them off, ¡°I don¡¯t think so, it¡¯ll be in my head even after you remove them¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­ Will you tell him, Ruru?¡±


    ¡°Me? It was your idea! You said¡ª Fine¡­ It¡¯s so our customers would only do anal with us¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh. So you two just like doing it in the buttpared to¡ª¡±


    ¡°W-Well¡­ we can¡¯t really decide if we like it in the butt more¡­¡±


    ¡°S-Since we haven¡¯t done it in our puss¡ª We touch them and eat them when it¡¯s just the two of us but w-we never p-put things i-in them¡­ yet¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s umm¡­ kinda weird to hear an ¡®entertainer¡¯ say this but¡­¡±


    ¡°Technically¡­ we¡¯re still virgins¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°In our pussies¡­¡±


    ¡°That is¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve done almost everything¡­¡±


    ¡°B-But not yet in t-there¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°We were given the c-choice to who w-we could give it to¡­¡±


    ¡°A-And who knows? I-It might be s-someone here w-with us¡­¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡±


    At this point, I thought I¡¯d already lost my boner but it came back raging hard even before I saw the two peel off those flesh-colored tapes they had on their pussies and made me feel them up.


    I can¡¯t believe how fucking wet they were even before I started touching them and I definitely saw them grimace when my fingers went a little too far.


    ¡°O-Ow! T-Too far!¡±


    ¡°You purposefully went deeper, didn¡¯t you?! You¡¯re cruel¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah¡ª Sorry¡ª I thought¡ª Sorry¡­¡±


    ¡°If we wanted to lose our V-Card with a finger, we would¡¯ve done that already! S-So please¡­ be a little you know¡­ gentler¡­¡±


    ¡°Since you know¡­ you¡¯re definitely bigger than your f-fingers¡­¡±


    I was losing my fucking head even though we haven¡¯t done anything much but to ¡®punish¡¯ me for doubting that their hymens were still intact, I received the Ruru and Riri Special.


    They made me sit while my arms were stretched on either side¡ªbasically doing a T-Pose while sitting down though they were resting on the top part of the seats¡ªwhile they each rode my thigh as they were touching each part of their bodies.


    However, my raging boner waspletely left out and all it did was twitch in pain as they shove their tongues in each other¡¯s throats while groping their breasts and pinching their nipples.


    They were basically using me as a fucking human body pillow though they were using my thighs to grind their pussies on.


    I could feel how they push down to have some more contact but it was doing nothing for my cock that was just oozing precum from watching them. I was this close to reneging on my punishment and just having my way with them but right when I was about to voice out aint, Riri just broke from their kiss and kissed me.


    Ruru suddenly grabbed the tip of my dick and squeezed hard, ¡°Wha¡ª Not fair! I wasn¡¯t done kissing him earlier!¡±


    The sudden contact almost made me cum but Ruru yanked my head forcefully and stole me from her sister. I tasted her sweet lips once again but to bepletely honest, their salivas had already mixed and the difference was little to nonexistent.


    ¡°D-Don¡¯t be so rough on him! W-We don¡¯t know what he likes yet!¡±


    Ruru suddenly stopped forcing her lips on me and the grip she had on my dick lessened, ¡°Ah¡ª I-I forgot¡­¡±


    I joked to lessen the sudden awkwardness, ¡°I don¡¯t mind getting roughed up by two beauties but I guess kissing is out of the picture¡­ I could barely taste the difference now and both your techniques are the exact same. Unless¡­¡±


    ¡°Unless?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Well, if you two don¡¯t mind¡­ We could change the kiss¡¯ location?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    No words were exchanged after that but the way the two looked at me when I offered them oral was fucking priceless. It was hard to move into an optimal position for eating pussy in this cramped space but we made it work with somepromisation and some flexibility.


    Since I could only eat one at a time, we decided that one of them could start sucking my dick while I ate their sister out.


    At this point, Ruru was down on the vehicle¡¯s flooring, hands wrapped around my dick and just sucking the tip of my cock while I was sitting down, and Riri was bent over, feet on the seat I was sitting on, hands on the headrest of the seats in front as her virgin pussy was pushing right on my face.


    I can barely get a breather due to the way she was backing up on my face but the taste of her sweet juices was fucking incredible.


    ¡°W-Why is it when y-you¡¯re using your tongue a-and you¡¯re that d-deep, it just so fucking g-good?! MMmh! R-Right there! A l-little d-deeper! Ahn!¡±


    Riri was already at her wit¡¯s end but Ruru was enjoying every bit of my body.


    At one point, her hands just ran through every bit of me she could get her hands on while she took my dick as far as she could. My dick kept hitting her throat once she got into it but I can¡¯t believe how her tongue coiled around my shaft and almost jerked me off.


    ¡°S-S-Shit! I¡¯m¡ª¡±


    ¡°BlrGhmMmmfFFf!!!¡±


    It didn¡¯t take long before I blew my load inside her mouth but instead of swallowing it like I thought she would, she waited for Riri to sit on myp before they shared my cum inside their mouths.


    Once again, they started kissing each other while using me as a pillow but I suddenly felt my dick getting pointed at Riri¡¯s asshole.


    ¡°I-It¡¯s already hard?!¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah¡­ Ready?¡±


    Riri then spread her legs and made me grab her tits but that was when I saw Ruru kneel down on the flooring.


    And what I thought was gonna happen, happened.


    Once Riri lowered herself for several inches, I felt my dick getting strangled by the tightness of her asshole. I thought it¡¯d be a little loosened by now but no it fucking wasn¡¯t. However, it suddenly got even tighter when Ruru started to eat Riri¡¯s pussy while I was fucking her ass.


    ¡®I thought I¡¯d go the other way but I guess this works too¡­¡¯

 Chapter 756: The Difference

    Pained moans, deep grunts, and slurping sounds were the only things that could be heard inside my truck, and I just noticed that Riri was having a hard time going down on thest few inches of my cock.


    Riri was clutching hard at Ruru¡¯s hair while the other was almost wing at my arm while I kept groping her nice tits and pinching her nipples between my fingers.


    Her body would tense and slightly tremble each time she tried to lower herself even more but she would twitch each time Ruru¡¯s tongue hit a specific spot in her pure flower. With that said, I could hear the sounds Ruru¡¯s pussy made since she was also touching herself while she was eating her own sister.


    ¡°MmMh! Mmh! Ah! I-Is it¡ª D-Did I t-take it all i-in?¡±


    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­ A l-little more s-sis¡­ Do you want me to¡ª¡±


    ¡°P-Please!¡±


    All of a sudden, Riri pulled out and stood up on the seats we were on¡ªmaking me see her gaping asshole¡ªbut before I even realized what was going on, Ruru started to sloppily suck my dick off that was just inside her twin sister¡¯s asshole.


    She made sure tother me up with her spit¡ªall the way to the base, and the moment she was done, she just looked up at her sister, waiting for her to lower herself down so she could once again taste the pink hole she was dining on earlier.


    Riri chuckled at Ruru¡¯s expression, ¡°How¡¯d I taste, sis?¡±


    Ruru just bit her lip before touching her breasts, ¡°His dick tastes much better than your ass bute down now so I could get on with eating my favorite¡­¡±


    ¡°You pervert!¡±


    ¡°Says the one who sniffs my panties while I¡¯m taking a shower! Don¡¯t lie! I saw you lick it too, why don¡¯t you just ask for the real thing!¡±


    ¡°Wha¡ª I saw you sucking the dildo I just used on my ass when you thought I was napping! You even dildoed your ass in front of me and almost squirted in my face!¡±


    ¡°You¡ª You did that too!¡±


    ¡°Well¡ª You did the one I did, too!¡±


    At this point, the two were basically having a small spat right in the middle of having sex though I couldn¡¯tin because Ruru made sure that her hands were wrapped around my penis. She kept stroking it with one hand while the other squeezed the head and rubbed the little opening it could offer but it didn¡¯t take long before they finally came up with a weird way to end their argument.


    ¡°We¡¯re really the same, huh?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ we still haven¡¯t done that one thing though¡­¡±


    ¡°D¡¯you want to finally do it here?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re asking me? I thought you wanted it to be special? We¡¯re doing it in a truck?¡±


    ¡°We got a special guy here¡­ I guess that works?¡±


    ¡°Maybe¡ª No, if we¡¯re gonna do it, I wanna do it while we¡¯re together. More fun that way, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Can I go first?¡±


    ¡°Sure! I know you¡¯ll want to experience it first anyway~¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    With that said, the twins just looked at each other for a short moment before Riri turned around and faced me while Ruru sat down right next to me. The two gave each other a short kiss first before they held hands, and Riri just looked at me with a different expression while maintaining eye contact.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna take my first, alright? You don¡¯t mind me going down on you?¡±


    ¡°Not at all, just don¡¯t move abruptly once it goes inside¡­ get used to it for a bit, okay?¡±


    ¡°O-Okay¡­¡±


    Ruru smiled from the side, ¡°You¡¯re really nice, I like you.¡±


    ¡°He really is,¡± Riri nodded before turning to me once again, ¡°Can I do it now?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    Right at this moment, Ruru and I watched as Riri pointed my dick at her pussy before she lowered herself and put the tip in.


    ¡°H-Hngh¡ª¡±


    ¡°Slowly¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s¡ª¡±


    ¡°Breathe¡­¡±


    ¡°No, I¡ª¡±


    All of a sudden, Riri¡¯s eyes just went to the back of her head before she bit her lip, and a devilish smile formed on her face. She was still grabbing hard onto her sister¡¯s hand but she suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck and suddenly brought herself down and took me all the way in.


    ¡°IT¡¯S SO FUCKING GOOD~!!!¡±


    Without even taking time to get used to my huge cock, Riri started to move her hips violently while hugging me as tight as she could.


    On my end, Riri¡¯s pussy was so fucking tight¡ªit almost hurt the way she suddenly went down¡ªbut she continued to go up and down on me while her sister was watching her dumbfounded.


    ¡°YOU¡¯RE TELLING ME¡ª THIS IS WHAT A DICK IN MY PUSSY FEELS LIKE?! IT¡¯S SO¡ª MMH! MMH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT KINDA HURT BUT IT¡¯S JUST SO FUCKING GOOOD~!!!¡±


    As I peeked at Ruru on my left, I saw her looking at her sister¡¯s face melt into pleasure and she couldn¡¯t help but touch herself while watching the two of us fuck each other. However, she couldn¡¯t help but steal my hand so I could finger her little asshole while she wasying on her side and rubbing her clit.


    And like the twins they were, Riri also requested her asshole to be fingered even though she was already losing her mind from losing her virginity but what I didn¡¯t expect was that the two came at the same time.


    I just felt a warm spray on my lower half for a moment before Ruru sprayed her juices on the two of us, and the two of them were just shaking violently as the little andst spurts came out.


    At this point, Riri was just pressing her whole weight against my body because she lost all strength after cumming the hardest she could. However, I didn¡¯t expect her to caress my hair and whisper into my ear something that almost got her raw pussy destroyed.


    ¡°C-Can you c-cum in me, t-too? I wanna feel what it¡¯s like inside¡­¡±


    To be fair, I was fairly close¡ªthough I could¡¯ve gone on and didn¡¯t give her a break¡ªbut I gently thrust inside her for close to a minute before I blew my load inside of her. Riri was just looking at me the whole time and she just started to kiss me right after I let everything out inside her.


    Both of us were still catching our breaths and Riri just suddenly had this glow on her.


    ¡°Hey¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Thank you¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re wee, I guess. You okay though?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah, I feel amazing¡ª¡±


    Ruru suddenly interjected, ¡°YOU TWO ARE JUST GONNA TALK AND IGNORE ME AFTER THAT?! IT¡¯S MY TURN NEXT, RIGHT?!¡±


    ¡°Ah¡ª¡±


    ¡°Can you give me a few more seconds, sis? Trust me, you¡¯ll love it¡ª¡±


    ¡°Then get off so I could make him hard again¡ª¡±


    ¡°Sis, he still is.¡±


    ¡°W-WHAT?!¡±


    ¡°I wanna do it again so bad¡­ but I really do need to catch my breath¡­¡±


    At this point, Riri just looked like she was about to fall asleep while Ruru couldn¡¯t hide the desire on her face. She was already breathing heavily from cumming alongside us but she also needed the real thing. Well, we did take a short moment to clean up the bits of our juices and the little bit of blood that came out, but it didn¡¯t take long before Ruru was the one on top of me.


    She was slightly trembling as she was slowly lowering herself while looking at my cock, and she even rubbed the tip of my dick against her pussy before trying to put the tip in. But following in her sister¡¯s footsteps and taking it a step further, she suddenly went all the way down to the base.


    It¡¯s just that Ruru¡¯s reaction waspletely fucking differentpared to Riri¡¯s.


    ¡°IT FUCKING HURTS~!!! OH MY¡ª HNGH!!! S-SHOULD I P-PULL OUT?! RIRI, YOU FUCKING LIAR! IT HURTS SO FUCKING BAD!!!¡±


    ¡°W-What?! I¡ª¡±


    ¡°S-SHUT UP!!!¡±


    Right now, Ruru was trembling all over from the pain while Riri was just dumbfounded at her sister¡¯s reaction. Moreso, her nails had dug into my back while she was almost pulling my hair out with her other hand.


    For the life of me, out of all the things I could find different about them, what they would feel about their hymen tearing was further down the line.


    ¡°Ok, Ruru. Listen to me¡ª¡±


    ¡°YOU SHUT UP TOO!!! WHY¡¯S YOUR DICK THIS FUCKING BIG?! IT¡¯S LIKE FUCKING A BASEBALL BAT! HNGH!!! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, okay? Now, breathe¡­ breathe¡­¡±


    ¡°HaaA! Haa..! Haaa¡ª MmMhH! IT¡¯S NOT HELPING!!!¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay¡­ rx¡­ just rx¡­ it¡¯s gonna be hard¡ª¡±


    ¡°OF COURSE, IT¡¯S FUCKING HARD!!! YOUR FUCKING 9-INCH DICK IS INSIDE ME!!! CAN YOU FUCK WITH A LIMP PENIS?!¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay¡­ I¡¯m with you on this¡­ You can dig deeper on my back with your nails or you could pull on my hair even more¡­ I won¡¯t stop you if it¡¯s the only thing working, okay? You just need to get used to it and you will, eventually¡­¡±


    ¡°Wai¡ª Am I hurting you?! S-SORRY! It¡¯s just¡ª¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine¡­ It¡¯s fine¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry¡ª W-Wait¡­ I think¡­ I think it¡¯s¡­ w-wow¡­¡± Ruru slowly closed her eyes before slightly biting her lower lip, ¡°I think it¡¯s starting to¡­ yeah¡­ Mmm¡­ D-Don¡¯t move yet, o-okay?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, just take your time¡­¡±


    RIri on the side was just watching her sister intently but she started to smile when Ruru started to move her hips ever so slowly. She would still grimace a couple of times when she pulled back a little quicker but she would just breathe deeply before letting out the softest moan.


    ¡°Ah¡­ Mmh¡­ Nn¡­ Wait¡­ This is¡­ Mmm¡­¡±


    ¡°You okay now?¡±


    ¡°Y-Yeah¡­ I think¡­¡±


    ¡°Great¡­¡±


    ¡°C-Can you s-suck on my tits? B-Both of you?¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    ¡°Sure, sis!¡±


    At this point, Ruru was still moving her hips albeit slowly while Riri and I were licking and slightly biting her small nipples. She kept letting out these small moans that would just drive RIri and me insane, and it didn¡¯t take long before she would pull out right before the tip and slowly bring it down over and over.


    I didn¡¯t even notice the tears in her eyes right until I got a good look at her face but they just shone brightly when she let out a faint smile.


    ¡°C-Can we go f-faster now?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s up to you, do you want to?¡±


    ¡°I-I¡¯ll try¡­¡±


    To my surprise, Ruru nted her feet right next to my thighs before she squatted down and started to ride me that way. She was still going way slowerpared to what Riri did earlier but the way she was gripping my dick with her pussy was even tighter than her sister¡¯s.


    It didn¡¯t take long before she had her long-awaited orgasm but before we even tried to go for round 2, there was a sudden knock on the door.

 Chapter 757: Reason - Whoomp! There it is!

    Ruru and Riri barely noticed the knock because they were focused on our steamy activity but I turned my head to the side to check who had juste knocking.


    I couldn¡¯t readily identify the person because of her unfamiliar features and because of the lighting in our area. Still, after a few more moments of just staring at the person¡¯s face, I discovered that it was Elena.


    Elena was the hot chick that basically threw herself at me when I got her partner¡¯s coin but she relented after Tatiana sat her down and by avoiding her and Luis like the gue.


    I¡¯d like a piece of her any given day if it wasn¡¯t for her partner trying to get tangled up with me at the same time. I don¡¯t mind other guys preferring to be on the receiving end or both in their own rtionship but to me, it¡¯s just a huge no-no at the moment.


    With that said, another knock followed from her which eventually got the twin¡¯s attention.

 Chapter 758 I Guess My Odds Are So-So...( Preview)

    Ruru''s mouth was agape¡ªand her eyes were almost as wide¡ªwhen I identally spilled the beans about Cynthia''s actual rtionship with Mr. Cuervo but when I nced at the person I was holding down, things were a little different.


    "Forgot to tell you¡­ Riri likes getting held down¡­ Well¡ª I do too but¡ª"


    Hearing that, my grip on Riri''s mouth loosened and she managed to breathe in some air after struggling for a short bit.


    "BUWAAH! You didn''t have to tell him that! He''s supposed to find that out on his own!"


    Ruru rolled her eyes as she looked at her twin sister, "If you weren''t that red in the neck, nipples that hard, or creaming that much below¡­ I''d believe you¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª W-Wait! This is from earlier!"


    "Lies! Did you forget that we''re twins?! We could practically tell what each other''s thinking about!"


    I interjected, "Wait, you two could really do that?"


    Riri nodded with a mischievous smile, "Yep! Right now, sis is thinking about being held down by you instead of me earlier¡ª"


    "I AM NOT! YOU''RE LYING AGAIN!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! BUSTED~!"


    I waved them off, "Okay, okay, I''ve heard and seen videos about this but haven''t seen it in person so¡­ can you two humor me? Can you two really tell what the other is thinking?"


    Once I said that, Ruru and Riri momentarily nced at each other before they let out a faint smile.


    "Sure."


    "But we get to do this with us again, okay?" Riri leaned over with a suggestive look.


    "Ah¡­ Sure, I guess."


    "Don''t guess!"


    "Say that you wanted to do it with us again¡ª like, you know, in length! We''ve heard rumors, you know?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "Yeah! With Kaley, too! And Cynthia!"


    "And Tatiana! Fuck it, with everyone involved, at least once!"


    "What have I gotten myself into¡­ Alright, we''re probably gonna do it if all goes well so take care of me when the timees. I might need some help from you two."


    "Nope!"


    "We''re not helping you!"


    "Haaaaaah?"


    "Hmph! What did you even do here, huh?"


    "You basically sat down and made us do all of the work!"


    "Oh~! So you two are saying that I''m basically a stickshift, huh? Something that''s just there that you happened to ride butt-naked."


    "Your words!"


    "Not ours!"


    "Okay, I''ll just return you two to Mr. Cuervo and¡ª"


    "W-W-Wait! We''re just¡ª"


    "We''re just messing with you! Don''t send us back!"


    I pretended not to hear them, "All I have to do is just return your plugs and I could pick another pair, right?"


    As soon as I said that, the two got really close while pressing their bodies against me.


    "We''re really just joking! Please!"


    "You were really amazing! You''re so gentle and you were¡ª"


    I started chuckling after seeing the two in panic mode, "Heh, I was just kidding too."


    "Wha¡ª"


    "You~!"


    "What? You two can mess with me and I can''t mess with you two back?! The audacity!"


    "Well¡­ to be fair¡­"


    "You messed up something pretty delicate that we''re keeping regr guys away from¡­"


    "This talk, again? I just ''sat down'', remember?"


    "Listen to this guy!"


    "First he denies it and now he¡ª"


    "Listen to you two! Do you always finish each other''s sentences?"


    "Wha¡ª You did not just say that!" The two eximed at the same time.


    "Oh, you could do some sort of musical too¡­ I''m learning a lot, thanks!"


    "You''re so¡ª Grr¡­"


    "We''re gonna make you regret that! You''ll see!"


    "Heh, bring it on! I''m all for it! Heh, kidding aside, it''s really a surprise that you two are prizes we won¡ªdon''t get me wrong, both of you are totally wee in my fold but I''m giving you two freedom of whatever you want to do with your lives. Whether you two actuallye with us or not, I''ll respect it¡ª"


    Their expression suddenly turned solemn with a hint of confusion.


    "Wait, what are you talking about?"


    "Did you really think that we don''t want toe with you?"


    I shook my head slightly, "I''m not saying that, I''m saying¡­ hmm¡­ treat it like when Dobby got the sock, you know?"


    "Dobby?"


    "Sock?"


    "Oh my fucking god, you two actually don''t know what I''m talking about?! Fuck it, I take it back. You two areing back with us and I''m giving you proper education¡ª"


    "Hahahaha!"


    "You fell for it again!"


    "Huh? Wait¡ª"


    "Of course, we knew! It''s not like we only kept Cynthia''s stuff! We watched a bit of them too!"


    "We''re just messing with you again and right when we thought you got the read on us¡­"


    "Jesus fucking¡­ Alright, you got me. Wait till you actually have a chat with Kaley though¡­ But yeah, I meant what I said earlier, and don''t think of it as me throwing you guys away right after¡­ you know, what we just did¡­ It''s just to let you know that I run things a little differently than Mr. Cuervo. Granted I have a facility much like the Pink House at home but trust me, I don''t know how the Garcia Family runs their Pink House but let''s just say that my standards are several notches uppared to this ce."


    "Hmmm¡­ You''re saying we could choose what ''work'' we want to do in your ce?"


    "You know, stop spreading our legs for anyone and maybe just take care of animals or something?"


    "Sure, but no cking off! I''m still pretty strict, you know. And yeah, if you still want to continue the ''entertainment'' business, I''m all for it as well."


    "We''ll think about that¡­ Well~ We haven''t seen that strict side of you yet."


    "Are you gonna spank us if we jack you off¡ª I mean, ck off?" Riri let out a mischievous smile.


    I lightly chuckled as I shook my head, "I think I should stop exining before we go on more tangents, you''ll see when you get there¡­ or not, if you choose to stay at this ce."


    "What? Nuh-uh, we''reing with you!"


    "Besides, we just decided on what we want to do¡­ if you approve of it, that is¡­"


    "Oh? Do tell."


    "Hahaha! Nope!"


    "You''ll see when we get there!"


    "Hah! Funny. Anyway, wanna see if Kaley and Cynthia are back? We''ve been here for a while, they might be back already."


    "Okay!"


    "Sure!"


    "Alright."


    ''That was a longer talk than I expected¡­ Anyway, I had some fun while doing it and I guess I''m pretty rested just chilling at the back¡­ They''d always try to turn serious talks into funny ones but I guess we''re still working on it¡­''


    The three of us took a moment to clean up and get dressed up but when we made our way to our spot, we discovered that Kaley and Cynthia were still not back. Tatiana and Quinn threw a meaningful stare when they saw mee back with the twins but I didn''t give it much thought as I pulled out my radio and tried to contact the other two.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey, you two okay? Want me toe over?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    And I was met with a brutal response.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nope. Stay there.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Okay¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t interrupt us, we''re still talking! I''ll contact you when we''re done!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I said I''ll contact you! Shut up!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    I was about to try and talk one more time to tick Kaley off but I sustained more emotional damage from getting tossed off than I thought. Everyone else was just looking at me amusedly but I just sighed and swiped a beer before I slumped on my spot. Nevertheless, I''m hopeful about Kaleying after Cynthia because if anyone here could talk to her and possibly make it okay, it''s her.


    With that said, I couldn''t help but notice the curious disy in the y area because all we were seeing was a table propped up on the stage but Mr. Cuervo came up with two new beautiful assistants wearing skimpy gowns and stilettos holding a decent-sized box in their arms.


    It didn''t take long before his assistants opened them up but when they dumped the contents on the table, it was an assortment of revolvers with dozens and dozens of loose ammo.


    ''Wait¡­''


    After that, Mr. Cuervo walked over to the table right after lighting a cigar before he casually picked up a revolver chambered in .44 magnum before he loaded it with a single bullet inside, and spun the wheel.


    However, before anyone could react, the motherfucker pointed it on the side of his head before he pulled the trigger in quick session.


    *CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK*


    Those clicks that came one after the other sucked in the breaths of everyone watching and everyone was just fucking speechless for a good 15 seconds.


    With that said, everyone could see Mr. Cuervo''s face on the huge screen but not only was he smiling from ear to ear, but his breathing was also hastened due to the rush and adrenaline he could feel in his body right now.


    [I guess my odds are so-so, who wants to try next?]

 Chapter 759 Mr. Cuervos Roulette( Preview)

    ? Mr. Cuervo''s voice was easily picked up by his mic and was sessfully delivered through the speakers, but everyone else was still speechless from the stunt he just pulled. If any of those three trigger pulls made the hammer make contact with the primer of the bullet he loaded into that revolver, we wouldn''t have to worry about him turning if got infected or not.


    Parts of his brain would''ve sprayed onto the table, the stage, and to the beauty standing on his left, and there would be utter chaos in Cuervo Heights because there would be no one to take his ce if he clocked out.


    He''d be leaving behind his beautiful wife and his two charming kids but I doubt they''dst long without Mr. Cuervo holding the reins. It was because it felt like they wanted nothing to do with this event or Mr. Cuervo purposefully made them stay inside their rooms when the games were being held¡ªthough we saw them after everything was overst time.


    In any case, since Mr. Cuervo was still alive and kicking, the show went on as one after the other, cheers andughter erupted from the viewing tforms.


    "HAH! YOU SICK FUCK! YOU''RE DOING THAT SHIT AT YOUR AGE?!"


    "I''VE NEVER CLENCHED MY ASS THIS HARD, FOO!"


    "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, I JUST SIGNED WITH THE CUERVO FAMILY!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! THIS PLACE IS INSANE!"


    "IS THIS THE NEXT GAME?! IS IT?!"


    "OH, HELL NO! I''M NOT JOINING THAT SHIT!!!"


    "NO BALLS!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!"


    The lively atmosphere was back in an instant but it quickly died down when Mr. Cuervo''s security detail came, herding a bunch of people that were chained on their feet, hands, and their necks.


    The clinking of their chains could be heard with each unsynchronized step and aside from them looking like they were fed scraps for days, their bodies were bruised and bloodied, almost as if they were treated as punching bags.


    Almost all of them had lifeless eyes except for two-to-three people that had more injuries than everyone present, and it looked like they would pounce on Mr. Cuervo if given the chance. However, one prisoner that was well built but had a burned back dragged the four other ''prisoners'' in their chain link before we heard the oh, so familiar sound.


    *CLICK* *CLICK* *BOOM*


    The guy had only advanced for a few steps before a gaping hole appeared on his forehead and continued straight to the back of his head.


    A pool of blood started to make an outline of his body as he fell face first, but bits and pieces of his skull and gray matter showered the paledy behind him. At this point, thedy just started to piss on herself while the other two behind her were trying to crawl back but ultimately failed to do so.


    However, after all themotion, Mr. Cuervo just turned to the table before picking up another bullet and loading it into his revolver. And as soon as he did, he spun the wheel once more but this time, he gave some sort of signal to one of his security detail before holding the revolver the opposite way.


    Everyone was just watching how the scene would unfold but what happened next was that the security detail that Mr. Cuervo turned to pull out a set of keys from his pocket before he walked toward the paledy and released her.


    ''Hmm¡­''


    Thedy didn''t know what was about to happen when she was still in chains and she was still bathing in the pool of urine she made herself once she was let go.


    However, it didn''t take long before the person that freed her grabbed her by the hair and dragged her on top of the stage. She started to scream and ask for help from anyone sheid her eyes on but all her pleas were justnding on deaf ears.


    I never felt so confused as to why the next event was just a straight-up execution, but it all made sense when Mr. Cuervo opened his mouth.


    [I''m pretty sure that almost all of you are fucking confused right now but I''m here to assure you that this is part of the program. You see, I hate doing this type of shit because it''s bad for business, but there''s so much a man could take¡­ If you know who I am, you should know that I let a lot~ of things slide if you''re under me.]


    [Did you eat, drink, or fuck too much? Big deal, there''s a lot more where that came from. Did you total your ride, came too fast, or identally shot your mother? We could fix that! But going back on your word and making me lose face? Ooh~ Little darling, a man can have all the riches and women he could think of but he''s still worth as much as his word and his reputation.]


    At this moment, Mr. Cuervo crouched down to look thedy in the eye before he pushed the revolver into her hands. Thedy never looked so confused but Mr. Cuervo smiled at her before standing up and looking into the cameras.


    [However, since this is a special day¡­ I decided to make it a little~ interesting. Based on what you fucking did, I''ll give you a number and that would be the amount of times you''d pull the trigger while that gun is pointed at your head. If you do as I said and you live, congrats! You''re free to go and return to your job with a clean te, but if you point that gun aside from yourself or wait for more than 10 seconds before doing anything, I''ll kill you where you stand.]


    Mr. Cuervo was emitting a lot of killing intent in the final part of his speech but it quickly dissipated once each of the head''s faces was on the big screen.


    [Don''t worry, I didn''t forget all of you. To make a killing off of this event, simply ce your bets on the escort that will approach you at any moment, and they''ll have the list of the odds for each category. Will the prisoner die from the first shot? The second? The third? Will they puss out? Survive? Or get gunned down in an unbelievable fashion? And if you''re not a part of any family yet, the betting spots for you fools are by the stairs. Do we wanna get started or what?]


    At this point, it didn''t take long before people crowded the betting tables that were erected after thest game concluded, but it seemed like the escort assigned to me was the same bunny girl from the earlier games.


    She approached me with a tremble in her step but the twins couldn''t hide their amusement when she almost tripped on herself the moment she handed me the list. However, I was still looking at the list she gave me when Mr. Cuervo''s voice resounded once again.


    [Alright, I keep getting a lot of questions so here''s the gist: Her name''s Ang Marcelo. You know her by the name of "Angel" and she worked at the Pink House for a day before she bit her customer''s dick off¡ª]


    The moment Mr. Cuervo said that, the crowd just erupted inughter and it took a bit of time to calm them down.


    [What you don''t know is that when she came to me and asked for work, she was the one who chose sex work in exchange for sending food to her camp every week. But now, since she did what she did, I''m now beingbeled a trafficker and I need to find a recement for that customer''s cock. Tell me, where could I buy a fucking cock right now?! Huh?! Shit! It''s funny as hell but I''m the one being held responsible for her actions. So, since you didn''t actually chomp it off but still left deep bite marks that would probably heal in a month or two, why don''t we start off with just one trigger pull?]


    The crowd was just loving what was revealed to them but it got pretty quiet when the sentence was given. There was a one-in-six chance that she''d blow her brains out but it wasn''t as simple as that.


    Just a few moments earlier, she witnessed the death of the person chained in front of her after six trigger pulls, and not only was she unresponsive to everything that was happening right now, but also the ten-second limit was about to pass. If she doesn''t do anything within the time limit, it would be no different than ying Russian Roulette with a pistol using a mag or using a one-shot derringer.


    However, everyone could see the visible frown on Mr. Cuervo''s face but it was happening at the same time Quinn was leaning over my assigned escort. I didn''t know what she was doing at first but I noticed that she was holding onto the bunny girl''s earpiece.


    Quinn said loud enough for everyone close to hear, "Didn''t you hear me? I said I like her. I''ll buy her for a gold coin."


    At this moment, Mr. Cuervo and Quinn were having a conversation¡ª err, an argument but it wasn''t being broadcasted on the speakers. I could partly hear what they were saying since my escort was right next to me and Quinn was as loud as she could ever be. However, as the two were talking back and forth, I saw thedy press the gun on her temple before pulling the trigger.


    *CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK* *BOOM*

 Chapter 760 Theatrics( Preview)

    I was already up from my seat as I heard the first two clicks but everything happened in an instant. However, what happened to the paledy wasn''t as everyone thought. Most of them either sucked in their breaths or clenched their assholes, but a select few were rolling their eyes with theck of¡­ something.


    The whole ce was fucking quiet but everyone''s eyes were on the stage.


    It was because the moment "Angel" started pulling the trigger, the beauties right next to Mr. Cuervo acted on the third click.


    Angel was now face down on the stage, ear blown off, blood gushing out from her ear as her arm was bent and dislocated. She still kept on pulling the trigger even if she was down but it didn''t take long before one of the beauties snatched the gun from her hands.


    Some of Mr. Cuervo''s security detail rushed right after but Mr. Cuervo waved them off when they tried to finish the job.


    [Go back to your stations. Can''t you see we''re still in the middle of a game?]


    Then Mr. Cuervo wore a wide smile before crouching down and looking Angel in the eye.


    [But as for you¡­ Roxanne, Melina, let her go. She won, didn''t you see? I would''ve let her kill herself if I said more than one pull but she doesn''t get to decide that. But nice job, girls.]


    The two girls that were holding Angel down never looked so confused but they looked at each other for a moment before they stood up and went back to Mr. Cuervo''s side, and just let Angel stand up on her own.


    When Angel groggily stood up with a mix of expressions, Mr. Cuervo started to apud her in front of everybody before speaking once more.


    [Alright, I said one pull but you did way~ more than I told you. However, that takes balls. Serious balls. With that said, I''ll send your camp five times the number of resources we send them per week, plus a little extra cause you almost bit the dust, but¡­ you''d still need to finish a month''s worth of work because that was what it took to appease the guy you bit the dick off. But yeah, you''ll be doing a different type of work in the meantime because I''m 99.99% sure no one would request you after that.]


    It took a moment before the pain finally registered on Angel''s face but Mr. Cuervo''s medical staff already escorted her somece to get treated.


    After that, the betting tables had never been so busy but since I was too focused on the show, I failed to seize the chance to increase my riches. However, from the corner of my mind, after seeing the odds of each oue, it sounded like a total rip-off.


    ''Doubling your winnings if you bet on whether they live or die¡­ It''s like choosing between ck and red¡­ Well, the returns get progressivelyrger with more trigger pulls but we could stack bets on the ones that had more chance of happening, and wouldn''t contradict each other, but still¡­ The main currency here is the vouchers that could be used in the Pink House and you''d never know how much your item''s worth right until you get it appraised¡­ and that''s the bottleneck¡­ Things would''ve gone a bit smoother if people could appraise items in advance or if there was a standard of measure the appraisers follow¡­ Wait¡ª Why am I even thinking about that now?''


    I was deep in my thoughts for a moment but when I went back to reality, I thought I was deaf for a moment.


    Everyone else was wearing a mix of emotions as they stared at the new ''contestant'' on the stage but not one was making a fucking sound. I''d probably hear someone getting fucked in the ass for the first time in the Pink House but it didn''t take long before this ''contestant'' shouted at the top of his lungs.


    [ARE YOU FUCKING MESSING WITH ME?! SIX PULLS?! WITH THAT FUCKING GUN?! THAT''S A GUARANTEED DEATH! IF YOU WANTED TO KILL ME FROM THE GET-GO, YOU SHOULD''VE¡ª]


    [But where''s the fun in that? Noa, don''t you fucking forget, you killed three of my own and set up your own brother to take the me. Starving you, beating you up, and tying you down to get used every night isn''t gonna cut it¡ª not for a few years, at least¡­ You see, even now¡­ you don''t seem like you had an ounce of regret for your actions. If you could at least give me the real reason why you did what you did, I might give you a chance¡­ What do you think?]


    At this moment, this Noa guy started to waver from Mr. Cuervo''s words but he shook his head and gritted his teeth before he picked up the gun Mr. Cuervo threw in front of him. But to my surprise, it was a 5-shot revolver. Even if he somehow survived going through the wheel, he''d still gamble his life all over again.


    His body was shaking all over as he pushed the gun to the side of his head, but before he could even pull the trigger, Mr. Cuervo put a bullet in his head with cold eyes.


    [The ten seconds were up¡­ next.]


    Mr. Cuervo holstered his gun to the inside of his jacket before lighting his cigar once more but everyone else was more preupied with confirming their bets.


    "HEY! HE DIED, RIGHT?! RIGHT?! I STILL WIN?!"


    "BULLSHIT! THAT SHOULD''VE BEEN INVALID! MR. CUERVO KILLED HIM, HE DIDN''T OFF HIMSELF!"


    "YOU FUCKING NIMROD, DIDN''T YOU GO THROUGH THE WHOLE LIST?!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME?!"


    "YOU DUMBFUCK, IT''S EVEN IN THE FIRST ROW! THERE''S A CATEGORY FOR WAITING TOO LONG! SHIT, I WOULD''VE WON MORE IF I¡ª FUCK!"


    "DAMMIT! ME TOO! I''LL BET SOMEONE''S GONNA LIVE THIS TIME! THE NEXT ONE LOOKED LIKE HE COULDN''T HURT A FLY!"


    "SHIT! YOU''RE RIGHT! I''LL BET ON THAT TOO!"


    "WHA¡ª THAT''S¡ª FUCK IT, I''LL DOUBLE DOWN AND ADD THAT HE''LL PISS HIMSELF!"


    "ALL OF YOU ARE WASTING SHIT, JUST BET ON WHETHER THEY LIVE OR DIE AND GET ON WITH IT!"


    "YOU FUCKING BORING-ASS WIMP, GET OUTTA HERE!"


    "FUCK YOU! I NEVER LOST A BET AND I''VE ALREADY TRIPLED MY MONEY!"


    "WHAT?!"


    Aside from being next to Quinn, there wasn''t ack of people that had their volumes raised all the way up because we were being surrounded by the Rivas Family. To be honest, being with loud people wasn''t my cup of tea but at least they''d be upfront if they wanted to murder you instead of plotting it from the shadows.


    With that said, I already missed cing bets for the second time but even if the next person looked like he justmitted something minor, I just waved off putting a single dime to add to the betting pool. Granted Mr. Cuervo and I had some under-the-table deal going on, I can''t just bet something on chance.


    However, everyone from the Rivas Family lost their minds when the next contestant''s crime was revealed to Cuervo Heights and its people.


    [Castro Castillo, matricide. You slit your mother''s throat and stabbed her multiple times before you deliberately tried to do the same thing to your sisters after drugging them¡­]


    ''What? Castillo? Hmm¡­''


    [If your cousin didn''t get up that time¡ª]


    [Enough talk. I know what I did. Cheh, I don''t care how much you love these bullshit theatrics so much but it''s just dying the inevitable, Mr. Cuervo. Everyone''s a sinner and everyone should pay for their sins, but before I couldy judgment on those around me, I should start with my own backyard first. It''s¡ª What''s so funny?!]


    Mr. Cuervo never looked so pissed but he forced out a smile. It caught the attention of this Castro guy and they both stopped for a moment and just stared at each other but Mr. Cuervo shook his head and looked at Castro with a bitter smile.


    [Castro¡­ You''ve fucking lost it, you know that? Your mother¡ª]


    [What about my mother?! WHAT?! She''s¡ª She''s a fucking¡ª]


    [She''s a fucking what?! Huh?! Can you even remember, you fucking¡ª]


    [Heh. Ahaha¡­ She¡ª Ahahahah! Eheheh¡­ Shit, why am Iughing so much?! It''s just so¡ª Fuck, it''s too funny¡­ She thought¡­ She thought she could get me¡ª AHahah¡­ Hahah¡­ She thought she''d¡ª She thought¡­ Wait¡­ Where am I again?]


    [You''re so lost, child¡­]


    [Right. I remember now. I''m here because you think you''re doing the right thing but you''re not. You think I''m the one who did wrong but you never heard my side¡ª]


    [WHAT SIDE ARE WE TALKING ABOUT, CASTRO?! YOU FUCKING LOST IT, PUTO! YOU¡ª You¡­ You¡ª]


    [Why are you taking so fucking long?! JUST SHOOT ME FOR FUCK''S SAKE! ARE YOU GONNA WAIT BEFORE I GROW A BEARD?! You''re a fucking clown for thinking that organizing this shit solves all our problems! You''re just fooling yourself into thinking that¡ª that¡­ Fuck, I''m getting dizzy¡­ This is too much¡­ IS THIS WHAT IT''S LIKE TALKING TO A FUCKING IMBECILE?! HUH?! SHOOT ME IF YOU DARE¡ª]


    It only took a second before Mr. Cuervo wound his arm and threw a right hook at Castro''s face. However, his punchpletely dislodged Castro''s jaw but the motherfucker''s eyes looked like they curled up to a smile.


    Castro lost feeling in his legs before he copsed and let out unintelligible moans but Mr. Cuervo called over his medic team to patch him up. He was sent to a different area as Mr. Cuervo tried to regain hisposure but he shook his head as he looked at the two people that died in this game before he looked at the cameras with a smile.


    [It appears I''ve lost myself there. Why don''t we do it like this? I''ll challenge anyone from the viewing tforms to do the same things these contestants did on the stage, and depending on your results, you could walk away a rich and happy man.]


    At this moment, the deafening silence was reced with roaring cheers and apuse, and a line was already forming below the stage. With that said, the prisoners that were brought in were escorted out of sight but my eyes trailed to the seat of the Castillo Family''s head.

 Chapter 761 Devils Luck( Preview)

    To my surprise, Mr. Castillo was also out of sight but I did see Annie and Benjie in a bad mood, a few feet away from their patriarch''s spot.


    Two of Annie''s bodyguards seemed to be keeping Benjie from going somece else but I doubt they could do shit if he actually willed it. The only reason I could think of was that Benjie listens to Annie''s words but I was too far away to even hear what they were talking about.


    With that said, the new challenger had just walked up on stage and Mr. Cuervo presented him to everybody.


    [Ah~! Trying to take the easy route, eh? Before you begin, introduce yourself to everyone. At least with that, you''d have the assurance that someone might remember you.]


    [Seriously, Mr. Cuervo?]


    [You could die, you know that?]


    [We''ll see about that.]


    The guy looked to be in his 30s and he had a buff figure disyed proudly because he was only wearing shorts and flip-flops. Furthermore, he only had tattoos on his triceps and on both sides of his neck.


    [Alright, if you don''t already know, I''m Zack, Cuervo Family. I have a ton of debt but I''m not going down for it, and I''m not paying for it¡­ the regr way. Right, I cany pipe better than your boyfriend, your lover, or your husband, and¡ª]


    This Zack guy was about to do an ad-read about himself but he stopped when everyone else from the line started snickering from hisst statement. He was about to throw down with the people closest to him but he noticed that all of them were looking past him.


    Once he turned around, Roxanne and Melina were making faces behind his back and they didn''t even bother to hide it quickly.


    I actually thought he''d boast about himself a lot more but he shrunk down in embarrassment before he turned to Mr. Cuervo. With that said, Mr. Cuervo just shook his head amusedly before cing down a loaded revolver in front of him.


    [Alright, Zack. One''s in the wheel and you have a maximum of five pulls, obviously. I''ll clear your debt if you survive after one pull but I won''t tell you what you get with additional ones. Just remember that there''s a fine line between being brave and actual stupidity¡ª]


    [I got it, Mr. Cuervo. Watch this.]


    Once Zack picked up the revolver, the music''s volume lowered to the point it could barely be heard. The big screen only had his face right now and we saw him spin the wheel before pointing it at the side of his head.


    There was maybe a couple¡ª no, a second of silence before we saw the hammer cock back as he pressed on the trigger, and the motherfucker didn''t even flinch when we heard the familiar click.


    He was smiling¡ªbrimming with confidence¡ªas he was staring right at Roxanne and Melina but he winked at the two before pulling the trigger three more times.


    *CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK*


    Cheers just erupted once he dropped the revolver on the floor and he turned around and faced the crowd before he bowed in front of everyone. He was wearing a smug look as he passed the next person in line but Mr. Cuervo called him over.


    [Oi, ain''t gonna wait for me to tell you what you won?]


    [Nah, I''ll exchange those for what I want.]


    [Heh, you do you. Great job, amigo. See youter.]


    Zack just went back to his spot and had a petite girl sit on hisp. It didn''t take long before his hands wandered elsewhere but everyone''s focusnded on the next guy to try his luck.


    However, the next dude was like a 90% copy of the Zack fellow.


    They almost had the same build but his face was ashen and he didn''t even have an ounce of confidence that Zack had. He slowly made his way to the stage but before Mr. Cuervo could even present him to the crowd, he mumbled something before turning around and walking away.


    ''Wut?''


    [Ah¡ª Cody, you''re sure?]


    [Y-Yeah¡­ I think I''m good. Maybe next time¡­]


    [Sure¡­]


    This time,ughs and boos erupted but this Cody guy never gave a fuck. He walked back to his spot,pletely walking past Zack¡ªwho I assumed was his brother or something¡ªand almost erased his presence. If it wasn''t for his build, I believe it would be entirely possible. However, the disappointment in Mr. Cuervo''s eyes couldn''t be hidden.


    The third guy after them looked like he didn''t want toe up but the threats getting thrown at him made him walk up due to fear or peer pressure.


    With that said, a few had already opted out without much issue because they were in the middle or in the backline. Almost no one noticed them moonwalk back to their spot and Mr. Cuervo was already presenting the next contestant.


    [My friend, I wouldn''t me you if you walk out but you could feel the pressure, am I right?]


    [Y-Yeah¡­]


    [It''s up to you now¡­ but mind introducing yourself first?]


    [Sure, I''m Archie, Garcia Family¡­ I¡­ I only did this because¡ª Wait, no¡­ let''s get it on. I''m ready.]


    [Very well, heh. Good luck.]


    At this moment, Mr. Cuervo loaded another revolver before cing it in front of our contestant, and once again, the contestant''s face was now on the big screen.


    Everyone watched him pick up the gun before spinning the wheel a few times, but once he pointed it at his head, everyone besides him already knew the fucking oue.


    It was because this time, the camera pointed at him was at an angle, zoomed close enough to see on the screen that the fucking bullet was at the kill position. Despite that, Mr. Cuervo and the two beauties behind him kept a straight face as they watched Archie pull the trigger.


    *CLICK*


    ''What? Wait¡­ Oh¡ª''


    Archie flinched so fucking hard the first time but the look of surprise on Mr. Cuervo and everyone else was much worse. It was because the guy should''ve been decorating the stage with his brain matter but to everyone''s surprise, he was still going for another trigger pull.


    *CLICK*


    And another.


    *CLICK*


    However, just as he was about to put the gun down, it happened.


    The gun just exploded into pieces, causing Archie''s hand to take the brunt of it though a few shards reached Mr. Cuervo''s face. His ear and the right side of his face was bleeding and the two behind him werete from pulling him away.


    Despite that, almost everyone present didn''t know what the fuck just happened but I couldn''t believe the luck Archie had.


    He wouldn''t be able to use his hand for a while but he literally cheated death from having the luck of the devil.


    What happened was the bullet loaded into the revolver was faulty, causing it to hangfire. Meaning, that instead of the primer igniting to light up all the gunpowder for spontaneousbustion, it¡­ "hanged" for a while or fizzled before doing the job it was intended to do.


    However, there should''ve been no difference in the oue if it weren''t for Archie pulling the trigger twice after.


    Pulling the trigger twice on the gun he used made the wheel of the revolver spin right at the point¡ªwhile the bullet that was still hanging, to discharge not straight to the barrel, but to the other parts of the gun¡ªprobably the frame close to the cylinder¡ªthat blocked its exit path.


    There was also a chance for the bullet to spiral around and hit someone else if Archie just pulled the trigger once¡ªafter the first one¡ªbecause there was enough space for the bullet to exit that way.


    It''s just that even if he lived, a gun exploding in your hands would still fucking hurt, and seeing the medical team check on Mr. Cuervo first would''ve been rage-inducing. Despite that, he calmly tried to steady his breathing and he waited for Mr. Cuervo to shoo off the medical team and go for him instead while his hand was mangled and bleeding profusely.


    [You guys¡­ we need to have a meeting as to who gets the priority. I just scratched my face and you all went for me. My wife could do worse in bed, heh, just kidding. But anyway, Archie, that''s some luck.]


    [Thanks, I guess¡­]


    [You good?]


    [It fucking hurts but it''s better than fucking dying, no?]


    [True. With that said, I''ll grant you the privilege of throwing your dick around anywhere where my influence holds for a few days, and by doing something near impossible, I''d grant you something within my power.]


    [Right, I should be fucking happy right now but I think I''m about to pass out.]


    [Oh¡­ you''re losing blood.]


    [I know, Mr. Cuervo.]


    [Heh, we''ll talkter. Get patched up, better start practicing how to be a southpaw for a while.]


    [Uh-huh¡­]


    There was a short moment of apuse then he fainted.

 Chapter 762 V.V.V.I.F.P.( Preview)

    As soon as Archie''s head hit the floor, there was a second¡ª no, three seconds of silence before everyone on the viewing tforms startedughing nonstop. He waster escorted out of the premises but theughter was still ongoing.


    I thought the atmosphere for this game would be serious and tense but since nobody had actually died yet, and thest one went off in such a way, the atmosphere was theplete fucking opposite.


    However, Mr. Cuervo decided to up the ante by loading two bullets into the wheel¡ªalso in random spots¡ªbefore cing it in front of the new challenger.


    [Don''t worry, hermano. I''ll double the price for this one.]


    The new challenger had already introduced himself beforehand but he looked like he was about to back out even if Mr. Cuervo doubled the prize for a single trigger pull. It was because even if he could take home twice the prize for a single attempt, it meant nothing if his head ate lead for the first shot.


    Furthermore, it felt like the first contestants have used all the luck that this game could offer and he would probably be the one to kick things off with an organic firework.


    [Mr. Cuervo, I''m sorry¡ª]


    [Pick it up, Mando.]


    The guy was just about to back out but Mr. Cuervo just let out copious amounts of pressure and it all descended to the guy on the hot seat. Cold sweat just appeared on this Mando guy''s forehead and he wasn''t able to take a single step back.


    The look in Mr. Cuervo''s eyes looked like he wanted to see blood and seeing more and more people from the line back out ticked him off. He would always award machismo with gold and women but it felt like his advocacies were being yed with.


    There was only one edict in Mr. Cuervo''s being and it was to live as a man and die as one.


    I had my own way of living my life but Mr. Cuervo was definitely living his life the way he wanted to.


    With that said, the Mando guy eventually picked up the revolver, spun the wheel, and pointed it at the side of his with his eyes closed shut.


    The cameras were pointed right at his face and we saw how he deeply exhaled before he pulled the trigger.


    *CLICK*


    There was a moment of silence for a few seconds but no one knew how to react. Even Mando who survived the forced participation Mr. Cuervo put on him wasn''t even celebrating that he lived or won twice the prizes for one attempt, and he was just looking nervously at Mr. Cuervo.


    But as everyone thought Mr. Cuervo would fly off the handle and make him pull the trigger one more time, he never looked so ted as he raised Mando''s arm up in the air.


    [Hah! We got another winner! Holy shit, everyone''s so lucky, huh? Mando, I''m sorry I put you through that but you never felt so alive, right?!]


    [Uh¡ª Uh-huh¡­]


    [No need to be so timid! But yeah, you''ll receive your reward shortly after so enjoy your win with your family. Congrattions!]


    At this moment, the De Leon Family weed their own with cheers and apuse and Mando got instantly surrounded by liquor and women. He looked like he was still in disbelief that he was alive but his expression quickly changed when one of Mr. Cuervo''s entertainers stuck her tongue down his throat.


    No one had still died at this point but it came sooner thanter.


    There were still a few dozen challengers left and the next one came from the Alvarez Family.


    He looked like a typical grunt but the bruises on his body told me that he was in a desperate situation. He barely managed to walk up to the stage and Mr. Cuervo was looking with a bit of concern at the state he was in.


    [Rough night?]


    [Something like that, Mr. Cuervo.]


    [Alright, you know how it goes.]


    The contestant eventually introduced himself to everybody but when it was his turn to pull the trigger, he didn''t even bother to spin the wheel as much¡ªand to top it all off, he pulled the trigger of that revolver as if he had eaten a couple of green mushrooms.


    The revolver he had on his hand just went click after click before the one that followed bored a hole in his head and went through the other end. He wouldn''t need to worry about his problems anymore but everyone else in the Alvarez Family cheered far harder than anyone else.


    It didn''t sound like they were cheering because they were enjoying the show¡ªwell, they do¡ªbut their cheers were celebrating the death of thest contestant. Although it was true that a few of them looked like they were just pping to avoid sticking out, I''m fucking sure that they weren''t happy with their family''s actions toward that certain individual.


    With that said, I began to closely watch the reaction of the family that the following contestants belong to whether they live or die.


    It wasn''t a surefire way to get a deeper look at their situation but getting a short glimpse wouldn''t hurt.


    From the surface, it looked like the Alvarez Family was sending their own people for shits and giggles, the Castillo Family were sending their "sinners" for some sort of "adjudication", the people from the Garcia Family were doing it for bets or wagers within their own circle, the members of the De Leon Family were doing it for whatever reason, and the Cuervo Family were using it topletely erase their debts or show-off.


    But like the Rivas Family, none of our own participated in the event. Sure, we ced some courtesy bets among others but actually participating or sending a sacrificialmb for entertainment was fucking out of the picture. Besides, aside from us that numbered only a few dozen, the Rivas Family had the lowest attendance. I''m sure that they probably had more people in their own territory but that doesn''t equate to using their people to test someone''s luck.


    The thought to me was just asinine.


    On that note, if any one of my members tried to join in, I''d break their legs and send them back to our vessel. Well, I''m notpletely sure if my Russian friends were cringing at the thought that Mr. Cuervo hosted a game that originated in their homnd, but they seemed to be enjoying the show.


    Like clockwork, Tatiana tapped me a couple of times, "You look serious, are you thinking of more loopholes to exploit?"


    I shook my head, smiling, "Not at the moment, no."


    Tatiana chuckled, "What? Is their pussy so good that you can''t stop thinking about it? Unless I''m reading things wrong, you fucked them, right?"


    The twins eximed at the same time, "We''re right here, you know?! We can hear you!"


    Quinn chuckled from the side, "Mr. Chocte Milk was the one to take it, huh? Figures."


    Everyone else close except me who was listening to the conversation turned to Quinn, "Who?"


    Quinn''s face contorted as she roared, "WHO FUCKING TOLD THE REST OF YA TO LISTEN IN?! NO ONE''S STOPPING YOU BUT SHUT UP WHEN YOU''RE NOT IN THE CONVO! But yeah, as I was saying¡ª"


    I let out a small chuckle, "You don''t want to get started giving each other nicknames, Quinn. I don''t have a lot to lose in regards to that¡­"


    "THEN SAY IT! I FUCKING DARE YOU!"


    Tatiana and the twins tilted their heads, "Say what?"


    I chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders, "Nothing¡­"


    "THAT''S RIGHT¡ª"


    "...yet."


    "YOU¡ª"


    Quinn was this close to giving me a rear naked choke but we heard another gunshot and our attention was brought back to the stage. This time, a woman from the Garcia Family tried to push her luck a little too hard so a .357 lead bullet pushed against her head and went through the other side of her skull.


    There were exactly nine bodies that were just left by the stage at the moment but a portion of their heads was still on the stage''s floor.


    This time, looking at the side of the Garcia Family, a good half of them were distraught while the other half looked like they won the lottery. It was almost the same urrence whether the result was positive or negative and it felt like this "game" was just a game to them. Granted some of them¡ªlike the ones we partnered with on the previous games¡ªwere just there to survive, but we couldn''t say the same for the rest of their group.


    It didn''t take long before the rest of the willing participants were only a handful but everyone saw Cynthia walking straight to the stage.


    I was just about to look as to where Kaley was but I felt a familiar butt scooting in between me and Ruru.


    "Looking for me?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    I had a ton of questions I wanted to ask but before I could even ask one of them, Cynthia just straight up sent a right hook to Mr. Cuervo''s face before tripping him and pushing him down.


    Everyone was so fucking shocked¡ªwe could hear a fucking pin drop¡ªthough Kaley was the only one shaking her head with amusement. Even the guards of Mr. Cuervo didn''t know what to fucking do because Cynthia was a V.V.V.I.F.P. of this fucking ce, but then Cynthia shouted at the top of her lungs as she pointed down at Mr. Cuervo.


    [GIVE ME MY FUCKING ROOM BACK!]

 Chapter 763 Banned( Preview)

    Cynthia''s words just echoed throughout the whole area and the silence went on for a few more seconds.


    Everyone else who was not in the know was confused as fuck since the only people who were on the other side of the spectrum were me, Kaley, Ruru, Riri, Cynthia, and Mr. Cuervo. With that said, Kaley and I were just mere shoulders to cry on while the victims were Cynthia and the twins, technically speaking.


    Mr. Cuervo was the sole "culprit" of the rift that formed between the three but I doubt that he intentionally tried to cause it.


    But in my eyes, Cynthia still had to apologize to the two¡ª and probably to Mr. Cuervo as well because she flew off the handle and struck them instead of talking it out like we used to if we had some problems.


    However, it felt like Kaley knew something else about Cynthia¡ªfrom their talk¡ªthat the twins and I didn''t know about, but as of this moment, talking like we were in some sort of therapy session would have to wait tillter.


    Mr. Cuervo had just got up from his ass but he looked more pissed than confused. He didn''t even bother to fix his suit,b his hair, or check his face if it left a mark. Roxanne and Melina tried to approach him but he waved them off before getting up on Cynthia''s face.


    [Do you even understand what you''re doing right now?!]


    [YOU DON''T FUCKING GET IT! THAT''S MY¡ª]


    [Cynthia! I''m not hearing any of it now! You''re making a mistake and¡ª]


    [AM I NOT EVEN WELCOME HERE ANYMORE?!]


    [Cynthia. You''re here, right? I''m telling you¡ª]


    [YOU DON''T UNDERSTAND!]


    [You''re acting like a brat¡ª Wait a sec¡ª]


    Right at this moment, Mr. Cuervo pulled out his earpiece and turned it off,pletely muting their conversation. The only ones that could hear them were probably Roxanne and Melina plus the handful of the contestants that were left.


    With that said, we just saw them argue in front of everybody but Mr. Cuervo handed his earpiece to Roxanne and made her continue the remainder of the show.


    The game continued on as it should but there was a slight awkwardness that Roxanne and Melina powered through. While that was happening, Mr. Cuervo led Cynthia down the stage and they walked somece private because Cynthia wasn''t budging even a millimeter.


    Even if she was technically living at my ce and calling it home, Cuervo Heights could also be considered the same thing. Besides, she spent almost all of her life inside this ce until we came along, so she had more memories of this ce even though her "normal" life here couldn''t be considered to be one.


    To be fair, I thought acting like the best prostitute in this ce couldn''t be considered to be a fond memory but there were probably more that she treasured here¡ªlike spending time with her actual family¡ªand Mr. Cuervo underestimated that.


    As time went on, the Russian Roulette game was concluded but Cynthia and Mr. Cuervo still weren''t back.


    Well, Roxanne just announced the bodies to be cleaned up so there were probably 20-30 minutes before the next game starts. I would start worrying if they weren''t back in that time frame¡ªbecause we had a schedule to follow¡ªbut Kaley looked like she wasn''t worried a single bit.


    With that said, she momentarily nced at Ruru and Riri before a smile slowly formed on her face. In turn, the other two smiled at her awkwardly but Kaley just shook her head as she linked her arm with mine.


    "You''re having an awful lot of fun, huh?" Kaley chuckled before she leaned closer.


    "They could hear you¡ª"


    "Yeah, and I can smell their scent from you. I could barely tell them apart¡­"


    Riri interjected, "H-How did¡ª"


    "How did I know? I just know. Don''t worry, I don''t mind."


    I interjected, "Just tell them that you''re psychic¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª How many times do I have¡ª I''m not psychic! I just get the feeling¡ª"


    Ruru chuckled from the side, "Psychic. Definitely psychic."


    "Hey! I just chose the wrong words, alright?! It''s just¡­ you know¡­ you two looked a little prettier because there''s this glow on your skin. Also, you two were looking at him differently and sticking to him a lot morepared to just watching the games. Be honest, it was totally different from what you thought it was gonna be, right?"


    As soon as Kaley said that, the twins just blushed at the same time, turningpletely silent though they nodded ever so slightly. In turn, Kaley couldn''t hide the amusement on her face and she huddled over the two, whispering something I couldn''t hear before she rested her head on my shoulder.


    The twins just said at the same time, "Kaley. You''re pretty cool, you know that?"


    "I thought I was psychic?"


    Riri chuckled, "How about a cool psychic?"


    Ruru shook her head, "Ugh, that joke''s some¡­ I can''t believe you thought of that¡­"


    "That was kinda funny though."


    "Right?!"


    At this point, the girls were just conversing with each other though I could feel daggers piercing my back because I was surrounded by several beauties. Granted there were a lot more avable for purchase but the way I ''acquired'' the ones surrounding me wasn''t as easy as coughing out a stack of vouchers.


    But to everyone''s surprise, I turned to Quinn who was right behind me and arge step above the area Kaley and I were sitting on.


    "Hey, can you spread your legs?"


    "HAH?! THE FUCK¡ª"


    "I''m¡ª that came out wrong. I need to take another nap."


    "THEN WHY WOULD YOU¡ª"


    "I need to rest my back on an even surface. Your calves are cool and all but I don''t want to have back problems."


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Please?"


    "..."


    Quinn didn''t know whether tough or cry but she reluctantly gave me a bit of space as she spread her legs a little bit, and I just scooted a bit backward before I beckoned Kaley to sit in front of me.


    "W-Why?"


    "Please?"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    ''I can''t believe that worked twice in a row¡­''


    With that said, I began to close my eyes after I wrapped my arms around her. It was still quite noisy but knowing that Kaley was right in front of me helped out a lot.


    From the time we got here, I had sex with different women, fought off Quinn''s bald army, participated in various games, ran away from a couple trying to have their way with me, etc. which all required a ton of energy and stamina. Granted I still had plenty in store, I wanted to make the best use of my time.


    At one point, I even felt Kaley leaning on to me but I just hugged her even tighter as we both tried to sleep. To my surprise, she fell asleep earlier than I did but I followed soon after. However, the time we took to rest felt like an instant because as soon as I lost consciousness, the feeling of someone trying to wake me up resurfaced in my head.


    "Hey, the next game''s about to start! Wake up!"


    Kaley''s voice rang in my head and the moment I opened my eyes, Cynthia was already sitting with us. Her eyes were a little red but just judging from the vibes she was letting out, she seemed to have made up with the twins and Mr. Cuervo. She was even hiding this smile but ultimately failing, telling me that somethingpletely went her way and then some.


    With that said, I scooted forward after thanking Quinn who was looking at me like I owed her a ton, but I didn''t put it to mind as I nced at the y area.


    "Wait, how long was I asleep?"


    Kaley answered, "Close to an hour?"


    "R-Really? Damn¡­ What''s Mr. Cuervo nning now?"


    "Can''t you tell? I believe you participatedst time."


    "Wait. Right, I see now."


    It took me a short bit to understand but the next game was the one I became famous for.


    However, since Mr. Cuervo was the one hosting it, there would definitely be some hidden twists to trip up the participants. I was already scanning around to see if some would be quickly spotted but all I saw was that there were more shipping containers stacked on key spots instead of just being by the entrance.


    If someone pulled an "All of them" card, it''d be more than a thousand. Furthermore, it wasn''t gonna be just in old deadheads anymore because we already faced mutated ones from the earlier games. If someone got cursed and drew a dozen Ferals or a fucking Hulker, I''d already be preparing some bread and coffee for his funeral.


    With that said, I''d be lying if I wasn''t excited but the moment I secured my katana on my belt, Mr. Cuervo had to ruin it.


    [Right. Kid, you''re fucking banned from this game.]

 Chapter 764 Finale? - Tight Fit( Preview)

    As soon as those words entered my ears and went straight to my head, I almost felt my soul, life essence, ki, chakra, intent, nen, shinsoo, plot armor, sanity, and everything else intangible leave my body.


    Kaley had to catch me as I struggled to stand up and everyone in the know was already dyingughing.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo couldn''t hide the smug smile on his face but he wasn''t joking one bit. My face had a huge X mark, along with clips from thest time I was here, was on the big screen, making sure I wouldn''t make my way down the y area.


    "THIS IS SOME FUCKING BULLSHIT, MR. CUERVO!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.


    [HAHAHA! I kid you not, Hermano! This is for the best, no? I can''t have you taking away the fun from everybody! We all know you''re good but we gotta shine the spotlight on someone else too! Listen, take a break, embrace your girl or whatever, take a sip of beer, and enjoy the show! See what the others have to offer¡­]


    ''I see¡­''


    At this point, I just shook my head in slight defiance but I understood Mr. Cuervo''s intentions. To give the gist of it, everyone knew what I was capable of while I only knew a small bit about everyone else or none at all.


    Heeding his words, the first thing I did was sit back in the same spot while I pulled Kaley close. I wrapped my arms around her body¡ªjust below her huge chest¡ªas I rested my chin on her right shoulder, looking over the people that would participate in this game.


    Some of them were slightly familiar though there were some who just came down for the first time. The weapons on their person didn''t particrly stand out but it would always boil down to the person who was wielding them.


    However, cheers erupted from our side when two from the De Leon Family came down and they were number 69 and number 420. Their numbers were tattooed on the back of their necks and they were like celebrities fromnding on those numbers.


    I thought they were fucking memeing but number 69 was wielding a pair of curved, steampunk-style swords while number 420 was just hauling a huge blunt weapon made with scrap materials that were just welded together.


    With that said, the game was made to be yed with pairs, either from the same family or not, with a 50-yer limit. However, it was rmended to have at least a pair from each family participate so our group went with another pair of siblings¡ªwhich were definitely not the kissing each other or the ''Sweet Home, bama'' kind¡ªNiks and Mikhail.


    Niks was wielding the good ol'' machete and knifebo while Mikhail was equipped with his upgraded King''s Weapon. And yeah, it still doesn''te back if thrown but it could now inject gas and open up a wound cavity asrge as a basketball.


    As each pair came down and got listed, some people from other families or groups tried to pair up with some of us but got politely declined. Tatiana and Cynthia were the popr ones among the girls¡ªthe twins included¡ªwhile Artem and Ilya were the popr ones among the boys. Granted Alexei was also a hot pick but like Jared, he''d shine more if there were more games with guns involved.


    ''Gun games are kinda cool but I guess people wanted to see more blood and gristle from up close¡­''


    I turned to my group, "We''re just gonna send in Niks and Mikhail? How about you, Ilya? Jose? Boggy?"


    Bogdan almost fell off the viewing tform, "Boggy? Are you talking about me?! Please, don''t call me that¡ª"


    Marina interjected, "Boggy sounds cute."


    "R-Really? You know, you can alwayse to me when¡ª"


    Marina rolled her eyes, "I said it''s cute, that''s all."


    "Why are you so mean to me?!"


    "What? I''m not. I just don''t want to give you the wrong idea, that''s all."


    "Hmmrgh¡­ W-Well¡­ Marina sounds hot though?"


    "Hah! Are you saying or asking? Nice try though, Boggy¡ª"


    "Don''t call me Boggy!"


    "You don''t wanna be cute?"


    "I¡ª You¡ª I''m sorry, alright?!"


    Ilya tried to cut in, "I sense something happened between you two¡ª"


    "Shut up, Ilya!"


    Marina chuckled, "Nothing happened, literally."


    I whispered to Kaley, "When did we get to this part of the conversation?"


    Kaley chuckled as she whispered back, "Shh, this is news to me¡­ I feel like there''s more to this¡­"


    "Sure¡­"


    Kaley was just side-eyeing them with a faint smile as I watched the roster get full but to my surprise, Katya actually paired up with Quinn. I thought for sure that we''d see the Tatiana and Quinnbo again but Tatiana opted out and decided to stuff her face with food. In the end, Artem also went down and brought Ilya with him while wearing a disgruntled face so we had a total of five participants from our family.


    ''Let''s see what this game''s about¡­''


    [And we''re set! We have 50 participants in total and we''re closing the registration! Truth be told, I really wanted the kid to participate but it is time to show him what the rest of y''all are capable of. However! I know you''re wondering why I required you to form pairs if you''re trying to show what you can do, but the reason is already in front of you.]


    Footage of the shipping containers was shown on the screen as Mr. Cuervo continued.


    [If any of you haven''t noticed already, those shipping containers are filled with fucking Muertos and their number exceeds all of us. Our main advantage over them is our capabilities to use tools and our heads while theirs is just sheer number and unending stamina.]


    [Granted all of us here could take down one of them just as easily, seeing their numbers meant that the majority of the poption had another story. But this is it, it''s time we¡ªyou 50 people¡ªprove that you''re there not because of some dumb luck but because you fought hard to survive and this game is all about fighting hard¡­ for the most part.]


    [Again, in those shipping containers are Muertos that numbered a lot more than the head of the Ishiyama Family took down on his debut, making him established in this particr game and that''s why I forbade him from participating. But this time, all of you will face the same challenge but all at the same time.]


    [Once I give the signal, all thetches will be blown off those doors, opening the floodgates to thergest horde anyone has ever seen. The only rule of this game is to survive but you and your partner could always puss out and climb out of the y area. But to be proimed the winner of this game, you and your partner should be standing on a mountain of corpses and unharmed, obviously. But if your partner puss''d out, died, or climbed over the fence, it''s an automatic loss even if you were the only one left standing.]


    [This game isn''t about just surviving and proiming that you deserved to be here but also proving that you could protect your own. And on a side note, just to add in a bit of excitement, I will also be participating with Roxanne and Melina.]


    At this moment, Mr. Cuervo''s swords were brought up with the two''s handheld weapons, and I saw them fix themselves so they could move much more freely. Well, Mr. Cuervo only had to remove his coat and fold his sleeves inward beforebing his hair while the other two had a full-on change of clothes. Their hairs were tied up tightly as they held what seemed to be a mix of a rapier and a cuss.


    They weren''t as decorated as what Mr. Cuervo was holding in his hands but they looked like they had seen a lot of action.


    With that said, everyone was eagerly waiting for the doors to blow up and they just came right off the moment the music ying in the background reached its peak.


    Almost immediately, bits and pieces of discolored flesh flew outward with the metal bits before their repugnant smell wafted all over the ce. I don''t know what the fuck those shipping containers were made of but they managed to contain the smell of these fucking deadheads.


    As it should, the people selling food lost all their customers and even Tatiana had to stop eating.


    The cold wind blowing helped a little bit but it felt like a corpse was picking our nose with its chewed-up and rotting finger. The smell wouldn''t fucking go away but it didn''t take long before the walking corpses from the shipping containers ced several stacks high started falling on top of one another.


    ''Is Mr. Cuervo sure this isn''t the finale?''


    The shipping containers kept vomiting out corpses after corpses but everyone saw a long fucking tongue hook a deadhead in freefall before it brought it over to itself. Furthermore, the sounds of wet stomping, deep growls, and high-pitched screams echoed all around¡ªalmost overpowering the music¡ªas more and more deadheads came down andnded on their own brethren.


    At this moment, I thought a few would''ve already forfeited but they couldn''t hide the excitement on their face. It could be that the adrenaline junkies had started to participate or Mr. Cuervo''s words fired all of them up.


    With that said, everyone from the viewing tforms could see how each participant gave each other space as they prepared to receive a horde numbering a few thousand. I don''t know how they would manage the space provided for them but it''ll be more than a fucking tight fit.

 Chapter 765 First Wave( Preview)

    From the fucking get-go, a handful of quadruped humanoids made their way to the central y area, but since every participant was in a moon-shaped formation, they almost got to the center before they shed ws and swords with the one in front of them.


    The first feral just dove in with both jagged ws in front before someone from the Alvarez Family cleaved the top of its head off with a wide swing of his de. He quickly took the first kill of this game but that was barely a dent to the total they were supposed to bring down to zero.


    With that said, everyone received their first foe like it was nothing and it looked like most of them had already faced the same specials we encounter day-to-day.


    ''It kinda makes sense because their main HQ is scattered around¡­ not all of them are living near Mr. Cuervo''s territory¡­''


    At this moment, a majority of the ferals were in front¡ªfollowed by a handful of sprinters¡ªand the boundary between the dead and the living was slowly getting established.


    There was a line of blood, guts, and corpses marking each side''s territory but it was increasing and decreasing at an unsteady pace.


    Mr. Cuervo and his girls were still at the back but my team was just about to receive their first serving. They were situated a bit to the back¡ªthe third row if I had to visualize a seating arrangement¡ªand the first two rows in front of them were still chewing their food.


    Five to seven ferals broke through the ones in front as they went for Mikhail and Niks, and it felt like everyone was looking to see what was so special about Mikhail''s axe.


    I wanted to fucking say that it was just too big to be called an axe. Too big, too thick, and too rough. More like a huge chunk of iron but it wasn''t. It was made for the sole purpose of cleaving deadheads in half¡ªwhatever type they may be¡ªand like the de in my hip, the weapon suited the wielder.


    Mikhail just swung in angle before his axe went through the underside of a feral''s forearm as it continued to cleave straight to its chest and shoulders, lopping the upper half of its torso off with its head and then swinging down with an abrupt flourish, crushing its skull to pieces and killing the one behind it that wasn''t even involved.


    The first encounter was over in a few seconds though Niks killed a couple more than his brother.


    Niks'' movements weren''t as shy or eye-catching but they were textbook and efficient.


    The moment the crooked feral lunged at him, he just half-stepped to the side, sinking his knife to its left earlobe before pushing it forward and using it as a shield as he swung down with his machete. The other feral behind it was a couple of inches short of scratching Niks'' arms but his machete had enough reach to chop off part of its skull.


    With that said, Niks made use of the small funnel¡ªthe space each participant made with each other¡ªto properly position himself between the dead and the living, and he just easily took another couple down as Mikhail was just on his third execution.


    The rest of my team hadn''t had a turn yet because these brothers were basically two Gandalfs facing a handful of human-sized Balrogs.


    They couldn''t fucking pass.


    The brothers'' clothes were now sporting a shade of red and nasty chunks but everyone suddenly heard rapid gunfire.


    Everyone got fucking surprised but we soon discovered that it came from Mr. Cuervo''s guards that took down a few deadheads that tried to climb out of the y area. It was a little unnerving to see bullet traces from overhead but the guards could fucking shoot. Granted they couldn''t kill every deserter with one shot, they made sure that they wouldn''t get back up.


    However, those few seconds of interruption cost a few lives in the process because the moment I turned back to the participants, a few had a momentarypse of concentration.


    One of them was literally spilling out her guts while another had his face torn off.


    I don''t know how the ferals here couldpare to our ce but it was known that their hands and their legs had some sort of enhancement, giving extra attack power and mobility.


    Even from the De Leon Family, a numbered pair got scratched in the process but instead of losing spirit, they stepped forward and took down as much as they could with their dying breaths.


    Number 69 and Number 420, especially Number 4¡ªwho was Quinn¡ªcould only shake their heads and wear solemn expressions as they watched two of their own die.


    At this point, the ones behind the pair in the first row got reced by the ones from the second row, but my group overextended and took the ce of the ones that should''ve belonged to the ones beside them. Instead of my group forming a single row, they spread out so they could get in on the action.


    I would''ve strongly advised against it since this was a game of survival but taking down the threats faster was also a viable strategy.


    ''Their stamina could definitely hold up¡­ They''d also have a little bit of control of the situation since they could dictate the flow on their side¡­''


    With that said, my group made quick work of the ones that got close but a smile formed on my face when they decided to use two pairs of people in front instead of three.


    Doing that would not only give the ones in front more space to move on, but the ones behind could also drag the bodies away from the group fighting in front. Furthermore, they would be able to swap out members if the one in front was feeling a little tired and a few moments of rest could do wonders.


    This action elicited strange looks from the other participants and viewers but Quinn ordered the ones from her family to do the same thing.


    A select group would be the vanguard while the ones in the back would be the backup or the ones in charge of dragging the cleared bodies further back, stacking them on top of each other so we''d have a lot of space to move or run to.


    Slowly but surely, everyone came to the realization that space to move around was also vital to survival, and the ones from the Rivas and Garcia Families¡ªsome from the Cuervo Family¡ªdecided to join my team''s formation.


    The onught of ferals and sprinters became child''s y for a group of individuals that survived a better part of the year with these abominations but the same couldn''t be said from the other side.


    The pairs from the Alvarez and the Castillo Family¡ªand the other half from the Cuervo Family¡ªjust took on the horde dead-on, without using simple tactics to make their life easier.


    I couldn''t say that they were faring worse because everyone from the viewing tforms were loving their disy so much more.


    Their battlefield was fucking chaos but it was being controlled in a way¡ªa brute and garish way¡ªand it was somehow working to a degree. Their side had no leadership, tactics, or even direction but they were surviving in a way that was so fucking simple, anyone could fucking do it.


    It was just straight violence. Extreme and direct violence.


    Each and every one of them just picked a target and took it down as fast as they could¡ªin a brutal fashion¡ªbefore doing the same thing to the next thing theyid their eyes on.


    The first guy I saw from the Alvarez Family was barely recognizable due to the ''Carrie'' skin he had going on and his partner was almost the exact same copy. Probably the handle of their weapons retained the original color scheme because they looked worsepared to when I was done taking down my own thousand.


    With that said, the pairs from the Castillo and the other half of the Cuervo Family were doing the same thing as they both piled bodies on top of one another.


    I didn''t even notice that Benjamin was present and he had a pile only by using a dagger in one hand. However, he just looked bored while taking down deadhead after deadhead, theplete opposite of what he was like when he was right on my face. Well, his fucked up eye was still giving off murderous vibes but his movements in this game in a word was ''contained''.


    He was weaving in and out of encounters like he had no presence but I had no idea where his partner was.


    They could''ve died already or were forced to stay back to keep themselves alive because if he somehow DQ''d Benjamin, he''d have already signed his death warrant.


    With that said, the game continued on but their messy way of doing things might''ve just caused them for the second wave that wasing.

 Chapter 766 Second Wave( Preview)

    After the wave of ferals and sprinters came the second wave where the regr deadheads were at their highest.


    Almost all of them were marching forward as their rotting bodies were literally side-by-side, worse than riding a bus while the person next to you was jerking off. It was like seeing deranged shoppers at an opening of a ck Friday Sale, pushing and squeezing against each other just so they could get to their targets first.


    From a select few, their bodies had almost congealed to each other probably due to being in a confined space for far too long while some got their bodies chewed up by the ones they chewed up as well.


    This was the only time where I''ve seen beings consume more than half of their body weight and lose more than half their body weight as well.


    It was because all they ate had just passed through their ruptured digestive system, beating any sort of dietary program. In some fucked up way, their ''program'' allowed them to be able to live forever¡ªunless killed directly¡ªand it was far better than any food or drug that offered longevity.


    With that said, the side of the living was also eager toe to blows with the walking corpses stinking the ce, and another type of massacre began. Some people at the back switched with the people in front and they were this close to just jumping in and going wild.


    Before the DJ switched to the next song, a burly guy from the Castillo Family just shoved a 15-feet pole to the deadheads in front of him¡ªimpaling more than five bodies¡ªbefore he flexed his whole body and threw them behind him.


    The five deadheads were easily flung with the use of that guy''s long pole and the ones behind him just ttened them in a matter of seconds.


    ''That''s some arm strength¡­''


    The guy easily pulled out his weapon from those mangled bodies before he swung down from overhead over and over, crushing skulls with the weight of his weapon instead. I could only imagine the stress on his arms right now because my katana only weighed less than a few kilos.


    Well, some weapons needed the extra weight to be able to bash heads in with a single strike but this pole¡ªmuch like the blunt side of Mikhail''s weapon¡ªwas overkill for a regr person. Everyone could almost hear that satisfying crunch each time a skull gets shattered to pieces before the sound of brain matter getting squashed followed.


    Looking at the other participants, most of them were like Niks but the movements werepletely different. Everyone else had their own way of sinking a few inches of their de in a small opening or just straight up making their own cavity to shove their des into.


    One of them would just lead a deadhead straight to the tip of his de while another was doing the good ol'' chop and pull.


    Their rewards were a bisected eyeball and a few cups of brain matter and it seemed to be their only order.


    These regr deadheads had no chance with people that knew what they were doing and their numbers dwindled at an unbelievable rate.


    At this point, the other families who weren''t in the same formation as ours were starting to move a little forward because they were running out of space. Furthermore, some of them even blocked our team''s killing crew, hogging all of the kills for themselves.


    However, a huge bloater miraculously made its way to the front and it started giving boosts to the deadheads in front of it. What I meant was it started grabbing scalps that it could reach before it threw them onto the people reducing their poption.


    They just came crashing down one after the other and the problem was their nasty bits and fluids flying all over the ce. Even my team''s formation got broken in some parts because they had to dodge the iing body while making sure that they got their eyes or other orifices mped shut.


    It would''ve been a fucking headache to deal with but a fucking javelin just flew straight to its bby cheek and went through the back of its head. Its movementpletely stopped and when it fell down, the javelin in its head got pushed further in, making the extra length that got pushed out decorated with clumpy bits of forbidden chili.


    A few deadheads tripped on itsrge body and one of them fell on the protruding javelin head first, puncturing its left eye socket.


    I couldn''t believe how the camera work was done in this game because we were seeing a live broadcast even from the deadheads'' side. Well, some of the cameras they mounted were already covered by goop but they were soon removed from the footage they were switching to every 10-20 seconds.


    With that said, once the footage came back to the thick of the fight, everyone just saw the guy with the long pole lose his living privileges.


    His main weapon was now stuck between six bodies but the one in front had already wrapped its tentacle-like tongue around his torso and it just started to give him the deepest french kiss he ever had.


    No one fucking saw one of those specials mix in with the crowd and now three feet of its tongue was already rummaging the guy''s insides.


    Its tongue then came out of the guy''s ear before it entered his right eye socket, and as it got a proper hold of the guy''s head, it just as easily twisted the guy''s neck beforepletely tearing his head off his torso. And before anyone could react, its tongue quickly retracted before piercing three more bodies, not decapitating them but infecting those people with its fluids, making them think if they should still fight for the same side.


    Take note, those three people were still alive but it was only a matter of time before they started chewing off flesh from the living.


    At this point, those three people were still staring in shock at the ''tentacle'' that went through their bodies but the one in front just gritted his teeth before he tried to tear it off of his body. However, the tongue itself was slimy and slippery so after he held it with both hands, he started to chew it off with a maniacal expression before the tongue retracted with a huge chunk missing.


    Well, that didn''t dishearten the three that were already dead so they just rushed forward and tore the living shit out of the special that took them out. While doing so, they rushed ahead and took down as much as they could while their bodies were bleeding out from the wound they just sustained.


    Like the ones before them, it was something else to see people fight when their death warrants were already signed because there was no fear of death any longer.


    All they had to do was stay awake in the little time they had left and sink their des into their targets. They were already dead but I bet they never felt so much alive being to throw out any worry they had to preserve what they had just lost.


    In this ce, sometimes, people were remembered not by how they lived but by how they died.


    It''s just that sometimes, thatst burst of life could easily be put out.


    Once those three had carved a path on the thick of the deadheads, it only took an instant before the deadhead in front of them raised its hand and pped the guy in front. Well, a ''p'' was what it really did but the guy who tried to chew off the other special''s tongue was now in two ces at once.


    His head had now flown out and bounced off the y area but the rest of its body didn''t even know what just happened. It was still standing upright with arge hole in its chest and it just fell down when it finally ran out of juice.


    Almost immediately, everyone from my crew¡ªespecially Tatiana¡ªtensed up when we saw a deadhead that was fully intact, exerting the same amount of pressure as thest one we saw like it, butpletely looking like a regr joe. Granted its skin was already far from a person that had that healthy pinkish glow, but its gray-greenish hue almost blended with itsrades.


    Thest one we met was huge in size¡ªgranting it the name "Hulker"¡ªbut this one seemed to just have some of its attributes.


    Cheers just erupted from the viewing tforms as they saw someone breathe hisst but Tatiana and I had already gone down with our weapons in hand. We wouldn''t actually interrupt the game while it was still in progress but we went down to make sure to step in when it was the right time. Even Kaley went into position with Jared¡ªalso telling Alexei to pick up his rifle¡ªbut no one else besides us seemed to be caring that much.


    To them, it was still part of the game but to us, it was something entirely different.

 Chapter 767 Cold And Hot-Blooded( Preview)

    Tatiana and I were perched on the fences like we were about to wipe a certain n before Mr. Cuervo noticed us. He was excitedly looking at this slim Hulker slowly dismantling the other two that were left at first, but his attention was directed to us when Roxanne and Melina turned around after hearing the fences rattling.


    "What the¡ª What are you doing here, Hermano?"


    "I''m giving you two choices, Mr. Cuervo¡­ you let me join in on the fight or I''ll join without permission¡ª"


    Mr. Cuervo shook his head almost immediately, "You''re gonna get shot down even if you''re a family head, kid. Rules are rules¡ª"


    "Everyone here will die with those rules¡ª"


    "Then you''re underestimating us¡ª"


    "Underestimate? You could be overestimating your¡ª"


    "I''m serious, Hermano. Listen to me, you could stay perched on that fence or go back to your seat but you''re not stepping foot¡ªthat includes you, Tatiana¡ªin this y area."


    "Cheh. I''m telling you now that I could nail that thing from a couple of miles away. Just saying, you''re lucky it still isn''t rushing here and¡ª"


    "Sure, go ahead. As long as it went over the y area, you could fucking shoot it. For some reason, I know you could¡­"


    At this point, the fight between the regr deadheads in front was still ongoing but only a fraction of the participants had noticed what happened a few dozen feet ahead. They didn''t actually care that much because the undead were known for their strength but the ones with somemon sense were now wearing pensive looks.


    With that said, most of the people that saw it were the ones further behind¡ªincluding my team and the rest that formed a formation with them.


    My group in the y area, especially the ones who went toe to toe with it, were wearing an expression with a mix of nervousness and excitement because this would be one of the few times they''d be able to try out our injection system. Granted it was mostly due to taking down anything that resembled Kristoff''s killer but the end result would be the same thing.


    It''s just that I noticed something peculiar when I looked ahead.


    I for sure thought that the other two that were left to fend with this hulker were already dead but this particr special seemed to like ying with its food. But not only that, this particr deadhead seemed to only be an orthodox fighter due to the way it was fighting the other two.


    It was because it was keeping the other guy in ce by holding him down on his shoulder¡ªfingers digging through his flesh and crushing his shoulder des and scap¡ªwhile barely being able to chip off the other guy who was giving hisst hurrah.


    Its left hand already made contact with the other guy''s de and body but not only did it not kill the other guy outright, but it barely tore off the guy''s limbs and fend for itself.


    ''It''s taking damage just as easily? How¡ª''


    Thest guy from the three who advanced was actually chipping off the hulker''s left arm bit by bit¡ªand if he had a much sharper weapon¡ªhe could''ve lopped it off from its shoulder. However, it didn''t take long before the other deadheads in the vicinity ganged up on him and took him piece by piece, biting off chunks of his flesh from his back or tearing off his toned muscles from constant training.


    He already lost a lot of blood but a small puff of red would just appear each time those deadheads nicked an important blood vessel. The spray would just give their grayish bodies a little bit of color to spice things up a little.


    Despite that, he managed to sink his de into three more rotting coconuts before he sumbed to his injuries.


    I turned to Tatiana, "Did you see that?"


    Tatiana nodded but before she could speak, Mr. Cuervo turned around to look at me with a scrunched brow.


    "See what? Are you two really gonna perch there?"


    "Are you gonna let us in or not?"


    "Not a chance¡ª"


    "Then we have nothing to share with you."


    "Y-You¡­ You wanna take all the glory for yourself eh?"


    "Cheh. This is not about me taking all the glory, Mr. Cuervo. Though I should be the one asking you that."


    "..."


    "Fuck it, if you wanna take all the credits¡­ listen carefully. That''s not the same as the one we facedst time¡­ Well.. notpletely¡­ It''s not even the same size and even though it somehow exerts the same pressure¡­ just avoid its right side and you''ll be fine."


    Once I said that, Roxanne and Melina were also looking at me but I saw another javelin from the corner of my eye heading straight for the hulker in question.


    It quickly tore through the air with speed but all we saw after that was a grown man getting flung around with one arm¡ªgetting used as a pincushion¡ªonly making the hulker lose its bnce for a few seconds. However, it quickly brought its arm back in the same position,pletely tearing the person it was holding onto by his shoulders, only leaving a handful in its grasp.


    The guy it flung twice was already dead the moment it collided with a few deadheads in the vicinity, and he got feasted on when he got delivered onto theirps.


    This action elicited almost all of the participants that they were facing something much stronger than a regr deadhead and they needed to be extremely careful with dealing with it.


    But the first one to tell himself, "I''m dealing with that right now," was Mr. Castillo''s right hand, Benjamin.


    I was lucky to see his side profile among the number of participants in front and he never looked so excited for the new challenger that dropped a quarter from the other side of the arcade. His face looked the same when he was challenging me to a fight and his smile almost tore through his cheeks.


    He easily pushed down the regr joe in front of him before stabbing the one behind it once below the chin and twice on its left earlobe. After that, he pushed that deadhead to the side with his dagger before sinking it into another deadhead that was blocking his way.


    Benjie was already overextending to the point that if he got surrounded by deadheads, it would''ve been already over, but even if one of his eyes weren''t in 100% working condition, it felt like he had a third one on the back of his head.


    There was a point where he almost got wed from behind but he swung his dagger in a wide arc¡ªstabbing the poor deadhead on its temple¡ªbefore pulling it out, kicking the one on his right, and stabbing the one on his left.


    He''d kill a regr deadhead every two seconds and it didn''t take long before he was face-to-face with his target.


    He was the first one to attack but his target''s right shoulder twitched a fraction of a secondter.


    The next few seconds had never been so quiet but cheers erupted from the stands all around us.


    What happened was the hulker was aiming for a simultaneous hit while Benjie was trying to kill it in one blow, but he stopped himself midway and changed his attack trajectory. Everyone saw him twist his head to avoid the hulker''s arm from grazing him even by a tiny bit but in the same motion, he dislodged the hulker''s right knee and sunk his dagger right by the webbing of its pinky, tearing it by a few inches and making it p with the wind.


    He was holding himself up with one leg as he threw that low kick and followed its arm with his dagger, and the hulker just recoiled in "pain" as it tried to bitch-p him with its backhand.


    It''s just that Benjie rolled to the side and decided to retreat while making more space between them.


    Benjie lookedprehensive as he put down a couple of deadheads like it was nothing while looking at the hulker that survived his attack.


    The hulker in question was now limping as one of its legs was disabled but no other people close besides Benjie were willing to take a shot at it. Losing a significant part of its movement brought its fighting capacity to some degree but the way its right arm just ps down as fast as one of this ce''s top fighters was something to still be wary of.


    It could still behead anyone that was stupid enough toe close without a proper n to take it on.


    But while everyone''s focus was on Benjie and the hulker, another special had just finished its preparations. Most of the participants in front had almost made their way to Benjie''s position but it only took a second before they realized that paving their way with dozens and dozens of corpses was a bad move, a fatal one.


    The next thing they knew, a few deadheads that they already took down moved in unison, either scratching their exposed legs with their bony ws or taking a small bite of their ankles.


    It only took a second for everything to register and the look on their faces was indescribable.


    The first thing they did was to smash every bit of the dead deadhead that removed their living privileges before they found the source of their misery.


    It was a tailor that was buried in a pile of corpses that like theirrades who tried to take down as many as they could before dying, did the same fucking thing.


    The deadheads that were supposed to be cleared were all around it and had a particr body part that got invaded by a not-so-foreign entity before it took control of it as a meat puppet. Granted these puppets only moved for a few seconds before its strings were cut off, the damage was done, and to make matters worse, they didn''t even get to light up for onest time.


    Benjie just made his way over them and slit their throats before they could even react.

 Chapter 768 Demons Arent Supposed To Be Controlled...( Preview)

    The ce had never been so quiet but to my surprise, cheers erupted abruptly as the few seconds of shock passed by. Well, to be fair, not the same number of people pped their hands and shouted at the top of their lungs, but it was still a different sight to see some people rejoice even if they''ve just lost their own.


    To those people, a scratched or a bitten individual who still had a few moments to do good or shine onest time was as worthless as a referee in a WWE match or a lifeguard in a swimmingpetition.


    Granted theirst moments were used for entertainment, a sick one, I''d rather cheer for one of my own taking down a regr deadhead in hisst moments than see them like that.


    Sure, Benjie was the one who disabled this "partial" hulker on his own¡ªand Imend him for that¡ªbut the action that followed after that was just rage-inducing. Even Mr. Cuervo was shaking his head because some of the people that Benjie took out were also from his fold, and he''d rather see them go out like the first ones who fell, fighting until their dying breaths.


    Despite that, technically speaking, those people were also as good as dead and he technically didn''t break the rules of this ce.


    And if he actually did, he would''ve been pumped full of lead the moment his dagger swiped cleanly through the neck of his first victim.


    But at this point, since no one fucking dared to get close to him¡ªeven if they weren''t infected¡ªBenjie was actually soloing all of the deadheads that were trying to take over their spot. Granted he was still making space so he could maneuver around his actual opponent, but he could only fight it head-on without interruptions for a few seconds.


    He''d have to clone himself to be able to fight toe to toe with that being while taking down these rotting obstacles¡ªor to give him something I think he''d never do, actually make use of and cooperate with the people around him.


    With that said, right after the deaths of the ones that got sneaked up on by the hidden tailor, everyone from the other team started to drag the bodies to the opposite side of the y area. The other party didn''t actually join our group and it was justmon sense to do that.


    At the same time, Benjie was still trying to take down the injured hulker but his first run-in with the being actually made him cautious.


    Not only did he try to make space to move around, but he also started to observe its movements.


    At this moment, it was just down on one knee, right arm readied and focused on one certain individual. To be honest, it looked like a cornered rat but anyone would have a hard fucking time if it retaliated. However, it suddenly swung its right arm in a wide arc, making it lose its bnce as it only hit air.


    ''What?''


    Almost everyone thought that it was just its way of trying to preserve its ''life'', simr to any being or perhaps a human waving their weapon to deter anyone froming close.


    But to a select few who were close enough to feel ''it'', it was actually Benjie''s doing.


    He actually found a way to prompt a reaction just by staying in ce and it was done by directing killing intent to a specific individual. Well, before actually ''directing'' it, it should be first released and that was why I surmised that that swipe was a reaction to something rather than what most people thought.


    It''s just that I didn''t think that an undead being would be able to feel it but to keep it on the safe side, I''d say it was a good 70%-80% probability that it was the actual cause.


    But just to make sure, I slowly exhaled before I released copious amounts of killing intent¡ªeven more than thest time we talked, disrupting the game and all of the participants involved. I only did it for a second but the participants who were closer to me instinctively jumped away from my direction¡ªMr. Cuervo and the two other girls included.


    Tatiana seemed to have slightly gotten used to it but I lightly chuckled as I saw her grab onto the fences tightly¡ªpulling them together as they bent out of sheer force.


    This was when my team noticed that we were actually behind them but Mr. Cuervo was already this close to kicking me out of my position. Well, I didn''t technically step foot in the y area but my presence did. However, my eyes were locked on the injured hulker which was my actual target, and what it did confirmed my suspicions.


    It actually tried to cover its face with both arms once my wave of killing intent passed through it, but another person reacted to it much differently than I thought.


    Benjamin "Benjie" Castillo suddenly twisted his body as he turned in my direction, and he was wearing that same maniacal smile he did thest time we talked. He even licked his lips before hepletely disregarded his original target, and he just started to sprint back in my direction.


    ''Oh, boy¡­''


    It left everybody speechless, especially Mr. Cuervo, and everyone else decided to take a ''receiving'' approach in regard to the deadheads that were still marching ahead. Well, the injured hulker was still in the same spot but my team decided to observe it more thoroughly before taking action.


    With that said, Benjie walked past everyone¡ªeven my team and Mr. Cuervo¡ªand once he was right below me, he jumped up the fence and perched a few inches close to me. He was looking at me like how I look at a freshly cooked medium-rare steak with a wallop of butter melting on top, slowly flowing down, mixing with the steak''s juices.


    His gaze almost felt dirty and even when I shook the fence to make him fall down, he kept his bnce and kept staring at me with the same expression.


    "Nice try."


    "Heh."


    I had to do something about it because I felt more danger almost as close when Kaley was looking at my butthole.


    "What?"


    "I like you."


    "WHAT?!" I eximed at the top of my lungs though Tatiana, Roxanne, and Melina were dumbstruck.


    "You have it, same as me."


    I thought for a while before I replied, "Demons?"


    "Ahaha¡­ I knew it. You know¡­ it''s been a while since I felt something like that¡­"


    "I remember showing it to youst time¡ª"


    "No, that was weak¡ªit didn''t even count. Thest one, the recent one, felt really~ familiar¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "What''s more¡­ I think you could really control it¡­ Ahaha¡­"


    "So?"


    Benjie suddenly red at me, "You don''t get it, do you?"


    "I have no idea what you''re talking about."


    "You''re limiting yourself¡­ Demons aren''t supposed to be controlled¡­ they''re supposed to be unleashed. If you keep doing that, they''ll get weak and I''ll barely have any fun when I start carving you piece by piece¡ª WHAT''S SO FUNNY?!"


    I was lightly chuckling as I stared him dead in the eye, "The way you''re talking, it''s funny. But yeah, I speak like that sometimes. When I do it, it''s cool. But when I hear other people say it, it''s kinda cringe."


    "I''m just giving you advice. You should listen to it."


    "Heh. Don''t tell me what to do with my demons, we''re vibing just fine. You don''t know my demons like I do. They don''t run my life like yours do¡­"


    ''Well, not anymore¡­''


    "Hmph, boring shit. Everyone''s always the same¡­"


    "Tell me something¡­ you can''t even control them, can you? And if you could¡ªby some chance¡ªit''s only for a few moments."


    "..."


    "Hah! I could give you lessons but I''m not cheap¡ª"


    At this moment, Benjie just jumped over the fence and forfeited the game with a dark expression. I saw his partner climb the fence as soon as Benjiended on the other side and he never looked so relieved. He hurriedly scurried away from Benjie''s path as he made his own way back to their spot.


    Benjie just disappeared from view so I ced my attention on the problem at hand.


    The hulker¡ªeven injured, could still pack a punch. And from the time Benjie and I had a little talk, no one had still taken it down. It was because its shields were still up and anyone who came close would get bludgeoned to death. Furthermore, some participants tried to use long-reaching weapons and they just got bent before making an actual dent.


    At this point, only Benjie had done some serious damage to it and I''d never seen one in a defensive position.


    I doubt it would take an active stance any time soon but we all saw a tailor slither behind it before it abruptly turned and smashed it in one blow. A handful of deadheads further in just dropped like their strings were cut and we all saw it turn back the same way and assume the same stance.

 Chapter 769 In A Matter Of Seconds( Preview)

    The total number of deadheads left¡ªregr or special¡ªwas about half of what it originally was. Almost all of them were still advancing forward but a select few were either feeding on their own or just staying in ce. Well, the bloaters would just feed on anything that moves while the tailor would feed on the regr ones first before increasing its own little army, and the only one staying still was the hulker with a bad knee.


    At this point, everyone else was just waiting for the ones behind it to advance but not everyone was designed to sit still.


    A group of people started to hug the fence to the left and right to be out of its reach before they started to move forward and leave the hulker behind. Doing this type of thing was extremely dangerous but since most of them were from Mr. Cuervo''s fold, in their heads, the show must go on.


    With that said, they cleaved through a few dozen deadheads but another group was also responsible for dragging the bodies away. No one wanted a repeat of what just happened earlier but the rate of dragging corpses back versus the rate of putting them down had arge difference.


    No one wanted to get too close to the hulker who was staring everyone down in a defensive position, but its mere presence was the bottleneck to get a bnce between the two tasks the participants were performing.


    However, while everyone else was focused on the yers in front, no one noticed that Artem was discussing something with the rest of his team.


    They were huddled in a small circle but it seemed like he was this close to getting pummeled by Katya and Quinn. From the way the two were holding their weapons, it seemed like Artem wanted them to lend theirs to Niks and Ilya.


    Tatiana and I could see them bickering from the fence we were perched on but I tried to wave over Mr. Cuervo once more.


    "Mr. Cuervo¡ª"


    "No! You''re not allowed to¡ª"


    "I''m not joining¡ª"


    "I told you no! You''re¡ª Huh? You''re not gonna try to¡ª"


    "Listen. I know we can''t join but can we throw something over?"


    Mr. Cuervo looked over curiously, "Hmm? What is it?"


    I pointed at Tatiana''s axe, "That one."


    "What''s so special about that?"


    "Let my team use it and you''ll find out."


    "You¡ª"


    Before Mr. Cuervo and I could finish our conversation, my team just moved ahead with Artem in the front. I thought for sure that Mikhail would be the one to start it but Artem was walking forward at a moderate pace, injection axe in one hand and gripping it tightly. However, Katya and Quinn still kept their own weapons but the ones who had the same injection system¡ªKatya and Mikhail¡ªwere on the farthest left and right from Artem''s position.


    Ilya and Niks were right behind their leader while Quinn was the one further back.


    To be honest, Quinn would be an excellent choice for any team but this time, Artem made use of people that he knew better.


    With that said, the people who noticed that they weren''t trying to scoot to the side gave them ample space as they slowly fanned to surround the hulker on one knee. The music was still sting at full volume but it felt like it was just tiny background noise as Artem took the first step.


    I could see how his back rose for a little bit before it went down as he exhaled but the veins on his right arm protruded violently before he swung at the hulker who was already about to meet his blow.


    However, just as almost everyone thought that doing that was just a farce, the next thing they know, the hulker was right behind Artem,ying t on its back, pinned in ce, its right forearm broken in two ces and the beard of Artem''s axe buried deep in its rigid muscles, and most importantly¡­ it was confused as fuck.


    But to everyone''s surprise, the hulker suddenly lifted itself up¡ªalmost performing a handstand¡ªeven with the broken arm but Katya moved in and bisected its torso diagonally.


    ''Right at the softer bits¡­''


    Her huge axe just cleaved straight through its left shoulder¡ªcutting its left arm off¡ªbefore it went straight towards its chest cavity and dug even deeper until it left its right hip.


    Its bottom half was already in freefall as it tried to squirm violently but Mikhail came down and swung the hammer side of his weapon on the hulker''s head, over and over until a small crater formed.


    Each swing would just make the hulker squirm a little less violently until it became like one of those battery-powered fish that would plop with a little bit of sound.


    Everyone close could hear that fucking crunch and he didn''t stop even if hisrge muscles were already screaming in pain. Even Artem who looked like his n deviated somewhat just looked at Mikhail solemnly before he unhooked his axe from the mangled carcass.


    Shit, Mikhail didn''t even need the injection system to break into its outeryer because of how much he swung down on the motherfucker.


    The injection system we developed could probably kill it in one blow but what Mikhail did works too.


    It''s not like the force of his blows wasn''t transferring over to the softer side of its head.


    He only stopped when he had enough and cheers just erupted the moment he spat and pissed on the hulker''s little grave.


    At this point, everyone''s focus was now on Mikhail but only a select few saw and understood what Artem did before that. The degree of control and finesse he showed the moment his axe collided with the hulker''s arm was fucking immacte. Those few seconds he used to redirect the strength of the hulker and use it against itself was something only a handful of people could do.


    ''He basically provoked an attack and changed trajectory mid-swing like Benjie but he used the strength of the hulker to bury the heel of his axe on its forearm. However, that would take a lot of strength just to hold his weapon tight but he didn''t take it head-on and as long. He did it just enough so that its rigid flesh could hold onto the beard of his axe before he spun around with it and pinned it in ce¡­''


    ''The only thing left is to have someone else do the finishing touches but it would be impossible to do it if he didn''t do what he did earlier¡­ And yeah¡­ if it could feel fear it could feel something else too¡­''


    No one else noticed but a few of Artem''s fingers got dislocated but he just as easily snapped them in ce as he exhaled slowly. He started to check his arm and even spun his right shoulder around to see if he had any injuries but luckily, his right arm will just be sore for an extended amount of time.


    With that said, he handed his axe to Ilya, who was shaking his head in amusement and just exchanged it with his own machete before Ilya advanced with Niks. I couldn''t hear the short exchange Artem had with Quinn but judging by Katya''s reaction, a joking offer was given to have "drinks". And again, Mikhail was present in that moment and he could only cry his heart out as he joined Ilya and Niks who were cleaning up the fray.


    The rest of the game continued on for a while but the highlight was a close match between what Benjie did and what Mikhail did.


    To bepletely fair, Benjie also did a lot by taking on the hulker solo and injuring it in the process but his achievements got overshadowed because he forfeited. But in my opinion, the actual MVP was Artem and I think that he could''ve also gone toe-to-toe with it alone because it wasn''t the same one we faced before and there were weak spots we could exploit.


    ''Let''s just say I''m fucking d one of them is on my team, heh.''


    I was just about to hop off from the fence I was perched on but I heard Mr. Cuervo''s voice.


    "You got a good team there, Hermano. And their weapons, how are they special? Did I see it and didn''t notice?"


    "Hmm, I could show youter since they just used the sheer weight of them¡ª"


    "Do you think our des could pierce through those things'' skin?"


    "Just the skin¡ª"


    "Just answer my question, kid. You know what I mean."


    "Heh. Mine could. I dunno about yours. Maybe it could too?"


    Once I said that, Tatiana just nced at me momentarily before she hopped down and shook her head. Mr. Cuervo looked like he was deep in thought so I just followed after Tatiana who was already a few steps ahead.


    "Hey."


    "What?"


    "Is there a problem?"


    "Can your de really do it?"


    I chuckled gently, "We would''ve known if we were let in¡ª"


    "Just answer."


    I just looked Tatiana in the eye before I faintly smiled, "Yes and no."


    Tatiana never looked so confused, "Huh?"


    "Heh, that''s for you to figure out," I said as I started to walk past her.


    "WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"

 Chapter 770 Blood Fights - Bankai?( Preview)

    Tatiana wouldn''t let me take a single step from our spot because she actually wanted a real answer. She was right up in my face, looking me straight in the eye, and clutching the fabric of my shirt.


    "Please, I wanted to know¡­"


    I tried to dodge it one more time, "Isn''t having those injection axes enough¡ª"


    "That''s not what we are talking about. I''m¡ª"


    "What are we talking about?"


    "Don''t y dumb! I''m asking if you could do it or not?! Is that hard to answer?! I''m not¡ª I''m not asking if your katana could do it¡­ I wanted to know if YOU could do it. Can you just answer that?"


    "..."


    "Please, I really wanted to k-know¡­"


    I sighed ever so slightly before I looked at her solemnly, "Answer me one thing first."


    "Anything."


    "Will you me me for something if I said yes?"


    Tatiana never looked so confused, "W-What are you talking about?"


    I pointed at the smiley pin on my vest before I answered, "Are you gonna me me for this?"


    Right at that moment, a solid p justnded on my face before a backhandnded on the other side. After that, Tatiana''s grip on my shirt tightened even more as she tried to push on me.


    "No one fucking mes you for that! I''m just asking you because I''m genuinely curious! What''s up with you?! Bringing Kristoff out of the blue?! Out of everyone present when that happened, I thought you would be the one who would have a rational understanding of it! Something unexpected happened and we lost someone! End of story!"


    "I could''ve done something¡ª"


    "The time for that has passed! Are you still thinking about that even now?!"


    "Sometimes, I do. Especially now since we just encountered something simr to that thing¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    Tatiana started to scratch her head, "I can''t believe you¡­ The mood was pretty great earlier and I feel like shit right now."


    "Sorry, I thought¡­ I started overthinking when you asked me that question and we got sidetracked¡­ too sidetracked¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­" Tatiana trailed as she finally let go of me.


    "My bad¡­"


    "So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You didn''t admit it directly but you could really do it, huh?"


    I almost banged my head on the closest rock as Tatiana asked the same question that got us on a tangent but I shook my head as I finally gave her an honest answer, "It''s gonna fucking suck but I think could do it."


    ''I might dislocate more than my fingers if I go about it carelessly though¡­''


    "You finally¡ª Wait, now why is it gonna fucking suck?" Tatiana went up in my face again.


    I started to briskly walk ahead of her, "Not gonna answer that, you only get one question a day~"


    "YOU~!!! YOU JUST¡ª DON''T ANSWER A QUESTION AND SAY SOMETHING THAT''S GONNA LEAD TO MORE QUESTIONS!!! ARGH!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAH~!!!"


    Tatiana and I eventually made it back to our spot and the awards for this game were already being given to the winners while the piles and piles of corpses were being cleared out. It took them a while but there was a special reward for the person that killed the most deadheads.


    If it wasn''t already obvious, Mikhail rushing to the fray when he heard Quinn asking Artem for "drinks" looked like a max-level warlord joined in a skirmish with all level 1 mobs. He basically took down a minimum of 3 walkers per swing and his kill count just left the others in the dust.


    With that said, he was entitled to three coins, a vehicle of his choice, permanent boarding in Cuervo Heights, a "Golden Ticket" for the Pink House, an expensive bottle of alcohol, jewelry, a tailored suit that would be given to him in the following days, and an assortment of guns and ammo.


    But to my surprise, Mr. Cuervo also gave himmand of a 5-person squad to help with whatever task they were currently in and they weren''t themon rabble.


    This squad would be a huge help with finding the rest of Artem''s team because even if Niks and the rest had already located one of them and had a clue as to where thest one wasst seen, they''d need more people that knows the area and could offer more than just an extra pair of hands.


    At this point in time, it was already way past midnight but everyone was still going at it like it was still 9 PM. The amount of food and drinks served on this game night/wedding was crazy and it felt like it could go on for several days. No one was feeling tired or sleepy one bit but it didn''t take long before thest event was announced.


    But before that, several grievances were to be addressed.


    Everyone knew that the final event would be a tournament-style fight until the victor was decided but now was the time to settle "differences" between each family. The term for it was coined a few chapters¡ª err, a few hours ago and it was called a blood fight.


    Essentially, a blood fight entailed a challenge to be issued to a certain individual the challenger had a grievance with and it could end with a few simple bruises or the name of the loser carved on a tombstone.


    There were a few exceptions in regards to challenging someone to a fight to the death, mostly, but most of the time, people have done it purely for duking it out with someone and not with any other intent.


    It was because it was a little too expensive¡ªmost of the time¡ªto challenge someone since the price to pay was a gold coin or something close to its value. It could be anywhere from a fancy vehicle, a brick of coke, to a beautiful virgin, but to put some numbers to it, it could be close to 10,000 vouchers since the winner would take it all¡ªsince both parties have to put up¡ªexcept for the small cut the house would receive.


    But sometimes, it could be anywhere from a case of beer to a pack of cigars if both parties wanted to have a go with each other that badly.


    However, the person that was challenged could still decline the invite but their reputation would take a huge hit. To my knowledge, a few people had declined but it was because they were too injured or the reason for challenging them was just too fucking stupid.


    And yeah, some people could just easily bypass the blood fight by going outside and stabbing each other to death.


    In a sense, a blood fight is just a way Mr. Cuervo could bend his own rules and profit from it.


    With that said, it seemed like a flood of challenges was being sent to the main house, and Mr. Cuervo''s left eyebrow couldn''t stop twitching. I saw him turn in my direction as he gave a long sigh and he helplessly spoke on the mic.


    [Alright¡­ let''s get this first one over with¡­ Number~ 123? Is that right? Uh-huh¡­ you''re issuing a challenge to the kid¡ª The head of the Ishiyama Family, is that it? What''s your reason?]


    At this point, if Quinn''s gaze could kill, the guy she was staring down would''ve breathed hisst already but to my surprise, it was the guy who lost almost all of his teeth when he deepthroated my boot. It was the same guy who tried to swindle us when Mikhail and I tried to retrieve Kuzma''s vehicle and he was still probably pissed from that incident.


    One of Mr. Cuervo''s entertainers approached the guy with a mic to speak on and his gummy mouth almost made everyone close to himugh.


    "THAT FUCKER DID THIS TO ME AND I WANT TO DO THE SAME THING TO HIM! MY GIRL KEPT LAUGHING AT ME WHEN I TRY TO MAKE OUT WITH HER AND ITS FUCKING HELL! ALSO, HE TOOK MY TRUCK WITH THE HARPOONS ON IT AND I WANT IT BACK!"


    Mr. Cuervo was trying so hard not tough, the same as me and everyone else.


    [Alright 123, do you have a coin or¡ª]


    "I ONLY HAVE 200 VOUCHERS HERE, 2 GLOCKS, 50 ROUNDS OF AMMO, MY GIRL''S NUDES, OUR VIDEOS, MY ROLEX¡ª STOP FUCKING LAUGHING!!! AND UHH¡­ I ALSO HAVE MY OTHER TRUCK WHICH IS A D-MAX! THAT''S ALL I HAVE BUT IF YOU DECLINE ME, YOU''RE A FUCKING PUSSY!"


    Mr. Cuervo, Roxanne, and Melina couldn''t look more confused and depressed at the same time from hearing Number 123''s words, but another series ofughter followed. Even the ones from his fold wereughing at his ass because not only was his reason stupid as hell, the items he wagered weren''t enough to make anyone from the opposite side agree to the fight.


    [You know, challenging a head is a whole different matter¡­ you know that, right? It''s also ten times more expensive. I appreciate the fervor but¡ª]


    I cut Mr. Cuervo off as I turned to Number 123, "I''ll fight him but you''ll die before you get my girl''s nudes though. And no offense, I don''t wanna see your ugly ass fucking and I don''t wanna waste five seconds of my life watching that."


    "WHO FUCKING CARES ABOUT YOUR GIRL?! I JUST WANNA STICK MY FOOT DOWN YOUR THROAT SO WE''LL BE EVEN AND THEN SOME!!! ARE YOU GONNA FIGHT ME OR WHAT?!"


    I don''t know why but the vibe of the whole ce changed after that short exchange and it didn''t take long before the two of us were in the center of the y area. The fight he issued wasn''t to the death but the motherfucker dared me to bring my katana so the fight would be "even". I''m even thinking that he already forgot that Mikhail and I trashed their crew barehanded and he wanted to face me with a weapon.


    With that said, once the signal was given, I drew my de ever so slowly before I uttered the word in each syble¡­


    "Ban. Kai¡ª"


    The guy just suddenly dropped his axe and put his hands up, "Fuck that. I give up."


    "..."


    Silence. Complete and total fucking silence.

 Chapter 771 Blood Fights II

    It only took a few seconds before the newly cleaned y area got littered with whatever the audience was holding. And for some reason, I even got pelted with a pineapple, a watermelon, a coconut, and several fruits so I had to leave the scene while making a fruit tter. That elicited more people to throw fruit in my direction but no one--aside from the first few sneak attacks--managed to reach my body.


    I didn''t even look back at the dumbass who challenged me to a fight but he looked like one of those "modern" paintings that would fetch a million dors when he came back on his spot.


    With that said, the items he wagered easily fell on myp though I quickly threw the phone that had all his girl''s nudes and their videos in a random direction. To my surprise, some people fought for them because his girl was actually decent. Well, I have someone that could be called more than decent and I don''t want the image of another man''s dick ingrained in my memory for the foreseeable future.


    Once things calmed down, Mr. Cuervo spoke into his mic to announce the next fight.


    [Alright... The next fight will be between-- Hmm? Jericho and Enrique... Enrique is the challenger and--]


    Mr. Cuervo wasn''t even done speaking when Enrique cut him off. Furthermore, he seemed to have managed to acquire a mic of his own and he started shouting at the top of his lungs.


    [COME OUT HERE, YOU PSYCHO! I''M GONNA GIVE YOU A FEW ONE-TWOS FOR THE THINGS YOU PUT ME THROUGH! I''M GONNA--]


    Then a familiar voice came from nowhere.


    [Nope. You still owe me,b rat.]


    [YOU--]


    [And the fight''s declined! Settle down, Enrique! I said you got declined! *clears throat* Alright, for the next one... Oh~ This is gonna be spicy~ Hah! Kaley Ishiyama is challenged by Elena Cristobal... Elena, where are you so my attendants can approach you? Here we go~ y nice, eh?]


    Once again, Mr. Cuervo''s gazended in my direction but like Kaley, I was confused as fuck as to why Elena challenged her. I was 100% that they had no grievances with each other and if there was one person to challenge, Tatiana would be that person since something already happened between the two and it could be just a form of payback.


    ''I guess we''ll see why.''


    It didn''t take long before their faces were on the huge screen and it felt like the two were talking face to face even though they were so far from each other.


    [Let me set this straight, I had no grievances with her but I would like to know if the woman of the guy I wanted to fuck so badly is more than just a pretty face. That''s all. You two could use me all you want for a night if you win but I get to use him all I want if I win. Simple, right?]


    At this moment, cheers just erupted from all sides, and for the first time, all eyes were on Kaley. I would''ve preferred that she stay in the shadows but her simple response just made her stand out even more.


    [I''m so sorry, Elena. I''m not as good of a fighter as everyone here but if you want him that badly, all you have to do is just ask...]


    Cheers just erupted once again--even more from the hornballs--and Elena''s face just lit up with lust and expectation. She almost ran up to our side for a moment but she calmed herself down before she spoke on the mic once again.


    [I''ll... I''ll really take you up on that, Kaley! Fine, I''ll withdraw my challenge then! Sorry for the intrusion!]


    I didn''t know whether tough or cry but I''m already thinking of taking something to make mest through the "gauntlet" Kaley would be putting me through after all this was over. However, it didn''t take long before the intermission took a serious turn because Mr. Cuervo''s face turned solemn when he received information about the next challenge.


    [Hmm. I was just informed that Benjamin Castillo is challenged by the majority of the De Leon Family. I''m sorry to say this but if we try to facilitate all of you to fight him, it would just take too long. However, I''ll allow three of you to fight him--if he agrees to it--in whatever way you see fit. How about that?]


    The moment Mr. Cuervo gave his suggestion, most of the people from Quinn''s group were against it because their n involved tiring him out with numbers and then dealing the final blow with the lucky person that would happen to go against him.


    I appreciate the lengths they would go to for one of their own but if it was Benjie we were talking about, they''d have a lot of casualties just to avenge a single person for the injury they sustained. However, this was the De Leon Family we were talking about and I have no right to voice my opinion.


    With that said, after a moment of discussion, the three people were selected though the first two fights wouldn''t be to the death.


    I could somehow recognize them--Number 420 and Number 69--though 420 would be the first one to fight while 69 would be thest one. And to my surprise, Number 8--Dave, would be the one to fight Benjie for their second bout and he looked more solemn than aloof. Later did I know that Number 69 and Number 68 were close rtives so they were aiming to take down Benjie or somehow injure him.


    To be honest, I would''ve liked to have a serious go with the crazy psycho but if they managed to take him down, I would have no qualms about it.


    It''s just that even with their numbers advantage, things wouldn''t go as they nned.


    To make the matters worse, Benjie actually requested a lot of expensive and rare items to be added to the pot--though I assumed one of their elders made him do it, and he was basically bleeding them dry. All the De Leon Family could do was pull some of their resources just to have a reckless go with their nemesis.


    Once the first fight started, 420''s goal was to grab hold of Benjie to punish him over and over.


    It''s just that Benjie never looked so bored.


    The moment 420 grabbed onto his cor, Benjie''s nails just dug into his forearms, making long and crookedcerations through his wrists, making him bleed profusely. His face just contorted from the pain but he didn''t fucking let go. He just gritted his teeth as he tried to push Benjie down with his weight but his eyes just widened when he saw his elbows bending the opposite way.


    It only took a second but everyone watching the fight saw Benjie grabbing his wrist tightly before sending a knee from an impossible angle, snapping his elbow and making it bend horribly.


    The weight 420 used just backfired on himself because all it did was make his injury worse.


    He tried to do the same opening with his other arm but Benjie had already taken control of the situation.


    Benjie was this fucking close to poking his eye out but that was when a bullet whizzed past his face that made him stop. All of a sudden, his face contorted to controlled rage but the shot was actually fired by one of Mr. Cuervo''s security guards.


    It was actually a signal to stop the fight because the De Leon Family threw the towel.


    Since their fight wasn''t to the death, these forfeits were avable and if Benjie tried to do something funny, he would be instantly emunicated.


    He could only shake his head as the medical crew took 420 away and he was rolling his eyes when Dave came into his view. He looked even more disinterested when heid his eyes on his new opponent and he even looked away when Dave opened up with a simple jab.


    His bloody nails were alreadying for Dave''s arm but he never looked so confused when he was airborne and upside down.


    ''Nani the fuck?''


    Benjie had just started falling from getting flipped in the air with a sudden sweep when Dave''s heel made contact with his abdomen. He easily flew several feet away but Dave wasn''t happy one bit.


    Almost everyone thought it was a direct and clean hit but right now, Dave''s ankle was bleeding.


    The motherfucker managed to receive the blow and lessen the damage while inflicting some on his opponent while caught off-guard. Only a few people saw what actually happened and confused cheers just followed when they saw the state of Dave''s foot. However, Dave suddenly kicked up some dirt to blind Benjie and it came with a few droplets of blood from his injured ankle.


    Everything happened while Benjie was still in the process of getting up and to everyone''s surprise--especially me, Dave actually kicked off his shoe and it was already making its way to its target.

 Chapter 772 Blood Fights III - Blunder

    Coming from someone who loved every advantage he could get, Dave doubled¡ª no, tripled-down just to obstruct Benjie''s vision. And with the psycho already extra aware of a flying shoe due to me, instead of blocking them with his arms, he instantly tried to jump back as he backpedaled. However, Dave jumped forward at the same time and hended on Benjie''s right foot.


    And almost at the same instance, he finally clocked Benjie''s face with a solid right hook because the guy was momentarily pinned in ce.


    Benjie''s whole body buckled as his face got jolted but he had already wound up his left arm to send apact hook on Dave''s jaw. The punch made him dazed for a second and it was all that Benjie needed to get his foot from under him.


    And to Dave''s surprise, Benjie was falling forward but what came after him was his right heel from a sudden front flip. He took Benjie''s full weight with his head before he got dazed a second longer and his face was red from the pain.


    Most people would''ve lost consciousness from their brains getting shaken over and over but Dave just held on.


    He tried to kick Benjie who rolled to the side as hended but all it did was send more dirt his way.


    The two were far apart once again but it didn''t take long before both of them tried to bridge the distance in an instant.


    This time, Benjie was a tad faster and Dave''s left calf just received a solid low kick though it looked like it didn''t do much damage. However, a low kick wasn''t a finishing move that was supposed to take down their opponent in a single strike but it was more like having shots with your friends.


    The first few wouldn''t knock you out¡ªthough sometimes they may sting or burn¡ªbut once you reached your limit, you would hit the floor faster than a sack of bricks.


    With that said, I was surprised Benjie didn''t opt for more illegal moves while Dave was doing his best to acquire whatever advantage he could get his hands on. To be fair, this wasn''t an "official" fight where rules needed to be followed¡ªaside from not killing each other in this setting, but Dave''s mistake was using illegal moves on a person that would almost always opt for illegal moves.


    Benjie knew where to strike where it would hurt the most and he also knew to defend where it hurt the most.


    He wasn''t part of the n that could almost see in a third-person view to dodge or redirect everything so he''d just take a few hits where he could take it. However, he started to look annoyed when he kept defending himself from the attacks he was supposed to be dishing out so he went with a simultaneous hit when the opportunity presented itself.


    Dave was aware that Benjie was a tad faster than him so like the low kicks he was receiving, he also sent body blows to slow his opponent down.


    It''s just that when he connected with a solid punch, Benjie''s thumb had also dug deep into his sides.


    Benjie aimed for the spot right below Dave''s ribcage and blood just spurted out when he pulled his thumb out.


    It caused an uproar among the audience but Mr. Cuervo''s guards didn''t do a thing because Dave was far from dead. Granted he started to breathe heavily by the second, but he still continued his rush toward the opponent he was trying to take down. However, a bullet whizzed past between them when he tried to catch his breath and he found out that the De Leon Family threw the towel for the second time.


    Dave never looked so infuriated but once he saw the amount of blood he was losing from the big screen, he just sighed heavily before his gazended back on Benjie.


    With that said, Benjie had a few bruises from getting caught off-guard but the thing that sucked was that Benjie wasn''t even out of breath. Sure, he was breathing a little faster than normal but it didn''t take long before his breathing returned to normal once again. He even yawned as he walked closer to his family''s spot to signal someone from the viewing tform and everyone saw one of his goons throw his dagger over to him.


    Dave was getting looked at by the medical team that arrived but Benjie was already gearing up for his next fight.


    And this time, he looked a little excited as he drew his newly cleaned dagger from its sheath.


    He was already exuding faint amounts of killing intent and I decided it was time to give my two cents to Quinn.


    "Once Dave is carried out of there and Number 69 enters the y area, you can''t throw any more towels¡­ Better quit now because your guys barely did anything to him¡­"


    "..."


    "I don''t wanna say that your guy''s weak but¡ª"


    Quinn instantly cut me off, "Shut up."


    "I''m just saying¡­"


    "You don''t understand¡ª"


    "I do. It''s pride and stubbornness talking for all of you¡ª"


    "Then why don''t you challenge him, huh?! If you''re that good¡ª"


    "I did, actually."


    "Wai¡ª Huh?! You did? When?!"


    "When Mr. Cuervo looked at me, right before your guy challenged me earlier. Did you think I''m gonna wait for the final stage to get to him? He''s unstable and dangerous. You don''t make them swing their dick around like they could do whatever they want. I would''ve done something already in Jericho''s game if I wouldn''t get a bullet in the head for it¡­"


    "..."


    "But as luck would have it, all of your requests came first¡­"


    "Shit¡­"


    Quinn''s face just looked somber but she didn''t do anything about the situation. No, more like she couldn''t do anything because even if she forbade Number 69 to walk inside the y area, she''d just getpletely disregarded. And the same thing would happen even if their head would ask for the same thing.


    Getting the chance for payback was something almost everyone would never pass up and some people were willing to risk their lives for it.


    With that said, the audience was getting riled up once Number 69 and Benjie were face to face because everyone wanted to see blood. Number 69 was holding his two curved, steampunk-style swords while Benjie was casually holding his short dagger.


    From a normal or conventional point of view, reach was something to take into ount¡ªeven in barehanded fights¡ªbecause even a katana wielder had to be a few dans above a spear wielder for it to be an even fight.


    It''s just that this match wasn''t normal or even conventional.


    Everyone had already seen Benjie move and he didn''t even look fazed about his opponent''s swords.


    There were these few seconds of weird silence¡ªeven when the background music was building up¡ªbefore the two met at a single point.


    However, unlike the first two fights we just witnessed, the third fight was the shortest one.


    There was this instant when metal shed against metal and the next thing we knew, blood was just spraying out of Number 69''s neck. A huge gash enough to fit an oven mitt was present from where his Adam''s apple was located right up to his nape. And unlike a certain someone who nicked his jugr vein from firing faulty ammo, he couldn''t plug it with his thumb. The wound was far too wide and visceral to do anything about it and the best thing to do was topletely end his suffering.


    At this point, the big screen disyed the few seconds Number 69 was still twitching before Benjie sunk his de into his temple.


    It prompted cheers and apuse from the stands but it was totally different from our side.


    Quinn was just shaking her head as the rest of her crew was this fucking close to jumping over the railing and lynching Benjie but their family would cease to exist once they did. Some of them even tried to send more challenges to Benjie but Mr. Cuervo wouldn''t ept the challenge from the same family anymore.


    They had three chances to avenge their own but they lost even more while achieving next to nothing. Granted Davended a few solid hits, but those can easily be remedied by ice.


    I didn''t even dare to tell the De Leon Family that I warned them because I''m 100% sure they knew full well about this blunder. Not even taking into ount the loss they incurred from losing three times, two more injured individuals and the death of arade was something anyone would have a hard time bouncing back from.


    But right at this moment, something seemed to have happened to the Castillo Family''s side because their cheers suddenly stopped like a machine was plugged off.


    Each and every one of them was standing like statues and Mr. Cuervo was the one who broke the news since he forgot to mute his mic.


    [WHAT?! MR. CASTILLO IS DEAD?! HE WHAT?!]

 Chapter 773 Complicated - Gaslit

    The whole ce had never been so quiet and everyone had to double-take just to make sure that they heard things correctly. Everyone knew that killing someone inside Mr. Cuervo''s residence¡ªespecially a head¡ªwould grant the perpetrator the same fate and no one was stupid enough to break that rule.


    It''s just that someone actually did and everything just ground to a halt.


    And to make things clear or a little meta, I didn''t order such an assassination or anything of the sort because our n didn''t involve something like this at all. With this happening, I didn''t even know if we could still go through with the n because it changed a lot of things significantly.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo had already given the order to make everyone on the viewing tforms stay put¡ªespecially the Castillo Family¡ªwhile his security suddenly tripled in presence. Most people were surprised to see a lot of the same people carrying high-powered rifles though some were more concerned to get to the bottom of things.


    If I remember things right¡ªwhich I always would¡ªMr. Castillo left his seat when one of his family members, Castro, was escorted back to their cells when Mr. Cuervo concluded one of his games. Granted I wasn''t particrly tracking his movements, but I was certain that he was away for a while and he probably visited his grandson.


    ''He wouldn''t¡­ right?''


    At this point, the huge screen had now several sections that disyed footage from all the security cameras ced all over though one of them got picked and disyed in full view.


    ''No way¡­''


    At this moment, this grandson of his was now bound by ropes, filled with bruises, and being dragged onto the stage by Zack¡ªone of the participants from the same game earlier though he looked like he was just waiting for Mr. Cuervo''s signal to snap his neck.


    I didn''t notice that he had also sustained some wounds but to everyone''s surprise, Benjie had already bridged the distance and he was aiming for Castro.


    Benjie''s eyes were bloodshot and the killing intent he was emitting was reaching even the people on the viewing tforms. The air must''ve been heavier in Benjie''s general vicinity but another surge just suddenly stopped him in his tracks.


    ''There it is¡­''


    All of a sudden, Mr. Cuervo''s presence just suddenly doubled and Benjie''s killing intent almost instantly wavered. Mr. Cuervo wasn''t necessarily releasing copious amounts of killing intent¡ªthough it was still greatly present¡ªbut it was something intangible only a person of his standing could possess.


    [Hold on now, Benjie¡­ we don''t know the full story¡ª]


    [THE FULL STORY?! ISN''T IT ALREADY CLEAR?! HE KILLED HIM! HE DEFINITELY KILLED HIM!]


    [I know that he did but¡ª]


    [THEN WHY IS HE STILL BREATHING?! YOU¡ª]


    [Let me finish¡­ It''s moreplicated than we thought¡­]


    Benjie had never looked so confused because the one simple rule to not kill was broken and capital punishment should''ve been given the moment the sin had happened. Rather than seeing Casto dead with a hole in his head dripping blood and brain matter, he was just beaten up, bound, and brought to everyone present.


    However, it didn''t take long before the footage from when Mr. Castillo visited Castro was shown on screen.


    It showed Mr. Castillo with a set of keys and he unlocked the cell Castro was put in along with his handcuffs and legcuffs. Furthermore, he even gave him some food and water but Castro didn''t touch or even look at them.


    Casto just sat there in dead silence, wondering about the actions of his grandfather that suddenly paid him a visit.


    The whole ce was quiet when Mr. Castillo''s voice was heard from the speakers.


    [Castro, my grandchild¡­ I¡­ I don''t know the words to say to you right now but I''m sorry for putting you through this¡­ Sending you to this ce¡­ You¡­ I can''t¡­ You should know how difficult this is for me¡­]


    [...]


    [I thought of it for how many times¡­ Many times that I asked myself as to what I should''ve done better to avoid that¡­ that incident¡­ I know I can''t turn back time but there were many sleepless nights that I''ve¡ª]


    [Hah! What YOU should''ve done?! You''ve done nothing from the first ce! I¡ª that''s so riching from you¡­ If this is your sorry attempt to feel good about yourself, don''t. It''s all your fault I lost everything and there''s nothing you can say to change my mind.]


    [I didn''t think¡ª]


    [THINK WHAT?! THAT YOUR DAUGHTER¡ª MY MOM IS FUCKED IN THE HEAD?! THAT IT RUNS IN THE WHOLE FUCKING FAMILY?! I ALREADY GAVE YOU THE FAVOR OF KILLING HER IN HER SLEEP AND¡ª]


    [YOU HAD NO FUCKING RIGHT TO DO THAT! NO FUCKING RIGHT!]


    [Wow! I didn''t know you had it in you, gramps! No fucking right? NO FUCKING RIGHT?! WHO ASKED HER AND MY SISTERS TO DRUG MY¡ª you fucking pieces of shit¡­ WHO ASKED THEM TO DRUG MY GIRLFRIEND AND TURN HER INTO A PIECE OF ''ART''?! She''s¡­ C-Casey¡­ SHE''S FUCKING PREGNANT, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! YOU LET THEM DISSECT HER PIECE BY PIECE FOR WHAT?! THEY''RE TOO INTIMIDATED BY HER?! IS THAT IT?! OR DO THEY NOT HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO DO?! WHAT IS IT?!]


    [Castro¡­]


    [FUCKING ANSWER ME!]


    [Castro¡­ your mother¡­ your mother¡ª]


    [SHE''S NOT MY FUCKING MOM!]


    [Your mother¡­ and your sisters¡­ had nothing to do with it¡­]


    [WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING TALKING ABOUT¡ª]


    [Castro¡­ that was all you¡­ you¡­ you did all of that¡­]


    [YOU¡ª What? I¡­ I did what?]


    [You¡­ You were the one who drugged your lover, made her overdose because you gave her too much, and to remove all sorts of evidence¡­ you chopped her up into pieces with your unborn child¡­ We could''ve easily made her disappear with our influence but you thought everyone was gonna rat on you¡­ You got to paranoid to the point that when your mom and your sisters knew about it¡­ you¡­ you tried to silence them¡­]


    [No¡­ you''re fucking lying¡­ t-that''s not how it goes! THAT''S NOT HOW IT GOES!]


    [Would I dare lie to you right now? Castro¡­ I love you just as much as your parents would and I need you to snap out of it so you we can all go home¡­]


    [Home?]


    [Yes¡­ home¡­]


    [N-N-No¡­ You''re fucking lying¡­ YOU''RE FUCKING LYING! THIS IS WHAT YOU DO! YOU TELL EVERYONE LIES AND THEY JUST BELIEVE YOU! YOU''RE FUCKING LYING TO ME!]


    [I''m telling the truth Castro¡­ Please, listen to me¡­]


    [N-N-NO! I''M NOT GONNA BELIEVE A SINGLE WORD YOU SAY! YOU''RE FUCKING LYING TO ME! YOU ALWAYS LIE TO ME! YOU''LL SEE! EVERYONE WILL SEE HOW MUCH OF A FUCKING LIAR YOU ARE ONCE I LEAVE THIS PLACE! ALL I NEED TO DO IS FIND SOMEWAY TO GET OUT AND I''LL EXPOSE YOU! That''s right¡­ I''LL FUCKING EXPOSE YOU! YOU LYING SACK OF SHIT! I''LL FUCKING EXPOSE YOU TO EVERYONE¡ª]


    I was having a hard time listening to their exchange but once I was almost convinced that Castro was in fact losing his mind, that happened.


    Mr. Castillo''s face just turned dark¡ªtheplete opposite of the serene, caring, and gentle expression he was wearing the whole time. And after that, he just let out this blood-curdling smile before he crouched down and looked Castro in the eye.


    [Heh¡­ Hahaha¡­ HAHAHA! You? Expose me? Who would believe you though? Your sisters? You tried to kill them, remember? Benjie? That boy? He''d listen to everything I say. Who else? Your dad? Your girlfriend? Who? Anyone that got your back is already dead! YOU''RE FUCKING ALONE, YOU''RE DONE! I DOUBT YOU''D EVEN SURVIVE THIS NIGHT! LEMME TELL YOU AGAIN, YOU''RE FUCKING DONE! DONE! NO ONE''S GONNA BELIEVE YOU! NO ONE''S GONNA¡ª]


    Mr. Castillo was still in mid-sentence when Castro just lunged at him and bit off a huge chunk from his neck. He was still in the middle of looking shocked when he started gurgling his blood but Castro started to smash his head on the floor over and over.


    Castro''s face had only one emotion and it was wrath.


    His face had contorted to the point he was shaking all over but tears were falling from his face as he was wailing. He looked like he was in so much pain and the sudden realization just released all of his pent-up anger in one stroke.


    With that said, themotion attracted the guards who were in charge of watching them, and they were caught in the crossfire.


    Three guards had already died while two were critical when Zack happened to pass by¡ªa new chick in tow¡ªand pin him down after receiving a few blows that weren''t even intended for him. Castro just let loose and Mr. Castillo was just too dead to receive any more of it. His size yed a huge role but Castro being at his breaking point was the deciding factor.


    Zack didn''t know what to do after that so he tried to call Mr. Cuervo who was at the time still unaware of what had just transpired.


    At this point in time, the whole ce was just too fucking quiet and the footage we just watched was barely sinking in. However, the one most affected by it was Benjie because he suddenly turned pale before he vomited on the spot.


    The copious amount of killing intent he released earlier disappeared quickly and he looked like he was losing his mind.


    Then Mr. Cuervo spoke up once more with a solemn expression.


    [I told you it was a littleplicated, no?]

 Chapter 774 Blood Fights IV???

    At this point, no one knew what to do but Benjie managed to get on his bearings before slowly but surely, released what felt like thick tendrils made of pure hate though it cannot be actually seen by the naked eye. His body started to shake all over while his injured eye started to draw blood and it didn''t take long before he took his first step toward Castro.


    But Mr. Cuervo stood between the two.


    [I''m not allowing this¡ª]


    Benjie spat on the ground as he shouted at the top of his lungs.


    [I, BENJAMIN CASTILLO CHALLENGE CASTRO CASTILLO TO A BLOOD FIGHT! I''LL PAY WHATEVER AMOUNT TO FIGHT HIM THIS INSTANT OR I''LL KEEP SENDING CHALLENGES UNTIL YOUR PEOPLE''S EARS BLEED!]


    [Benjie! Didn''t you understand what just happened?!]


    [WHAT IS IT TO YOU?! WHATEVER HAPPENS IN OUR FOLD, YOU DON''T GOT A SAY IN IT! WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING IS ALLOWING ME TO KILL HIM RIGHT NOW! THIS CHALLENGE IS JUST A COURTESY!]


    [CAN''T YOU JUST SIT STILL FOR A MOMENT?! THINK ABOUT IT!]


    [THERE''S NOTHING TO THINK ABOUT! HE KILLED MR. CASTILLO AND HE NEEDS TO PAY FOR IT!]


    [DID YOU HEAR ANYTHING FROM THE FOOTAGE AT ALL?!]


    Mr. Cuervo and Benjie had started a shouting match but I was already on the phone with my new friend named Jericho. Everything right now was just a mess but if there was something that most people would''ve missed, it was the food and drink Mr. Castillo brought Castro.


    Basically, I asked him to retrieve those two things and examine them because if Mr. Castillo was nning to break Castro''s mind even more, one way was to put something in his system that would make the process a little bit easier.


    And even if he found nothing, Mr. Castillo''s "Change of Heart" was already some sort of evidence. That slip of the tongue as he thought that no one was monitoring them was a huge mistake.


    Furthermore, since we still haven''t found the person that made the disturbing "Art Piece" in Irene''s ce, all we needed to find was a few samples from the Castillo Family. It was just too much of a coincidence to brush off and all I needed to do was y my cards right.


    With that said, as Jericho and I finished our conversation, there was an interesting development below.


    Castro was now unbound and right next to Mr. Cuervo, wearing a determined expression.


    [I''ll fight you Benjie, no problem, but¡­ you need to do one thing for me¡­]


    [YOU DON''T HAVE THE RIGHT TO TALK¡ª]


    [I know this ce''s rules but Mr. Cuervo is kind enough to bend them for someone like me. Listen, I know you owe my grandfather a lot¡ª Annie too, she''s innocent by the way¡­ But once you kill me, go to Vanessa''s room and you''ll find this centerpiece statue¡­ The angel with six wings and broken arms¡­]


    [W-What are you talking about?!]


    [That''s¡­ That''s Casey and our s-son¡­ Their souls won''t be released while they''re still kept inside that statue so I want you to break it and set them free¡­ Have them blessed by our priest¡ª Father Samuel before they get cremated or buried and I have no qualms whatever you do to me¡­ Have your revenge or whatever but that''s one thing I have to do¡­ I need to set that only thing right before everything else¡­]


    Benjie was this fucking close to agreeing and instantly reneging on that promise when Annie managed to reach him at the right moment. Well, Annie was also this fucking close to losing her eye because springing from behind her psycho cousin was a huge no-no. It took them a bit to discuss things without the mics picking up their conversation but I could partially read their lips since they were still on the big screen.


    Essentially, Annie was saying that their family was now at a breaking point without proper leadership, and his actions were furthering the rift apart.


    If there was anyone that could bring their family together¡ªeven though shakily¡ªit was Castro.


    To be fair, I don''t know much about the power dynamics in their ce but to keep the bloodshed to the minimum, Benjie had to step back and make things whole for a little bit before he shook things up again.


    If anything, Benjie wasn''t fit to lead because he was more like a gun or a knife that Mr. Castillo would point at something to make it disappear. Also, it seemed like the rest of their blood rtives¡ªincluding the Vanessa that was mentioned¡ªweren''t present.


    Well, those blood rtives of them were now in scalding water because if what Mr. Castillo revealed to everybody was true, they''d lose all of their followers. And even if it wasn''t, their reputation or their name had already been smeared with a dark and viscous substance. If their family dared to do disturbing shit to one of their own, what could they do if it was just them?


    To my surprise, Benjie actually heeded Annie''s words but he did clock Castro on the jaw before he left the y area.


    Castro just wiped his bleeding mouth before Mr. Cuervo helped him up and they had a few words to share with the Castillo Family.


    [Alright, first of all, I need to give my utmost apology to this person right here for thinking that he had gone off the deep end when in actuality, he was the one we should''ve listened to all along. I''ve never made such a huge blunder but I promise you that you have my support in you leading your own¡ª]


    [Mr. Cuervo, you don''t understand¡­ I might''vee out of this alive but all I want is for my¡ª]


    [Castro. I know what you want. I''ll see to it with my own eyes that your wish is granted but you need to lead your people. You''ve already done it briefly and I know you''ll be great at it. Your family''s name might''ve been tainted but it''s now time to rebuild it from the ground up, and on your own terms. Do something with it that your "real" family would be proud of.]


    Castro just stared at Mr. Cuervo for a few moments before he took a deep breath and looked at his people.


    [Alright¡­ it''ll be ugly but my first order of business is to surrender all yourmunication devices to the Cuervo Family. I want no one from¡­ from home to know what had just happened and if they already knew, we should give them false info. They''ll still be fucking rattled but once everything here is over, we''ll all go home and "redecorate". Trust me, if they dared to do that to my girl, they wouldn''t even blink if they decided to do it to your family¡­ Believe me, they''re the scum of the earth and they get off from just thinking of what to do with whatever fresh "material" they get their hands on¡­]


    ''My thoughts exactly¡­''


    [Secondly, if what you witnessed here ced a damper on your rtionship with my family, I''ll allow you to leave my fold and join another family as you see fit. I won''t force you to obey mymands but I''ll greatly appreciate and remember if you stay. And thirdly¡­]


    Everyone''s eyes were on him when he turned in my direction.


    [I don''t know the whole story between you and Benjie but please, I ask you to withdraw your challenge to him. And Benjie, I want you to do the same. If any of you can''t fulfill this wish of mine, I just wish you two don''t actually kill each other. Right, I deeply apologize for this disy at such a wedding but I hope for Mr. Cuervo and our newlyweds'' sake, the two of you just stop short of causing something permanent.]


    At that point, I didn''t think that someone that looked so out of it earlier could speak in such a concise and clear manner. He even spoke with such serene eyes though he was breathing a little too hurriedly because his heart seemed to be on fire with happiness and excitement. He managed to turn around a situation only a few people could get out of and he would soon taste the sweetness of revenge.


    We''d always hear that revenge wasn''t the answer but they''d always forget that it could somehow dampen the pain for a little bit.


    With that said, the Castillo Family followed his orders but a small percentage bade him goodbye. It was because he told them that they could leave on their ord and that was what they did. The split between the OG Families was almost too even and even a few wanted to join us. However, some went independent though they stayed to watch the show.


    Everything else was just about concluded when Mr. Cuervo spoke on the mic.


    [Heh. The timing of this, eh? Alright, the next fight is Sky from the Ishiyama Family versus Benjie from the Castillo Family! How about it, Hermano? Is it to the death or not?]

 Chapter 775 Blood - Pain

    Everyone''s eyes were on me after Mr. Cuervo''s deration but I let out a smirk as I took my wakizashi from Kaley''s belt. I fastened it right next to my katana before I spoke on my earpiece, my voice traveling through the speakers.


    [I can stay alive.]


    [Oh? What''s that supposed to mean, Hermano?]


    [Castro, if I don''t kill Benjie¡­ you''re gonna owe me big time¡ª]


    I wasn''t even finished with my sentence when Benjie cut me off.


    [JUST GET DOWN HERE SO WE COULD SETTLE IT ONCE AND FOR ALL!]


    The people from the viewing tforms were already getting hyped up but I still kept eye contact with the person I was speaking to earlier. All Benjie could do was spout insult after insult but Mr. Cuervo ordered Benjie''s mic to be muted remotely.


    At this point, Castro was looking straight at me with a solemn expression before he took a deep breath once again, speaking on the mic with a normal tone.


    [I will owe you a favor, Annie too. I give you my word on that.]


    [Then it''s settled, the match will be decided when either person gives up or is unable to fight. He could try to kill me for all I care and I''ll try to keep him¡­ intact. Ready your medical team if possible¡ª]


    [STOP SPEWING BULLSHIT AND GET DOWN HERE! YOU¡ª]


    For some reason, Benjie managed to grab ahold of another earpiece though Mr. Cuervo''s team was quick enough to mute it before everyone listening burst their eardrums.


    It''s just that Quinn and her group couldn''t believe I agreed to such a deal because they incurred losses just trying to take him down. I even already mentioned that I was gonna take care of him but I just instantly took it back the minute I was offered a favor from a new head.


    Quinn shook her head as I double-checked my gear, "Do you even know what you''re doing?"


    "I just had a feeling¡­ I dunno."


    "..."


    Eventually, I made my way back to the y area and the atmosphere had never felt so heavy and dense.


    I could feel the heating from the spotlights though the pressureing from Benjie was much more apparent.


    He was like a deranged mutt from his screaming earlier but he suddenly mmed up once I was only a few feet away from him. He even started to change his breathing pattern as he held his dagger but he never looked so infuriated when I didn''t pull out either of my des.


    Instead, I pulled out an extra K-Bar knife I had on my belt and watched the edge gleam from the spotlight.


    "What the fuck are you doing?"


    "Offering a fair fight?"


    "You''re gonna regret that¡ª"


    "We''ll see about that."


    To everyone''s surprise, Benjie tore the shirt he was wearing and exposed his skinny-muscr body that was filled with cuts, burns, scars, and bruises. Some of them were fairly new but the one that still stood out the most was his fucked up eye that I was the one responsible for.


    In turn, I also took off my shirt and even gingerly folded and put it to the side to tick him off even more.


    In all honesty, I thought he''d lunged at me the moment my eyes were obstructed by my shirt for an instant but it seemed like he knew cheap tricks wouldn''t work on me.


    With that said, the crowd just grew wild but everyone could see the difference between our physiques.


    To keep it simple, Benjie looked like a car that just came from a Demolition Derby while I looked like a car that was newly refurbished. Granted I had old scars too but it was covered by my tattoo sleeve and the one in my eyebrow looked like I just shaved it for some street cred.


    It only took a few seconds before everyone gave us the count down and I had lightly exhaled before Benjie almost disappeared from view.


    Right from the fucking get-go, killing intent just filled the air before heunched himself forward and attempted to cut my carotid artery in one swipe. His eyes never looked so deranged once I caught a glimpse of them in close proximity, and I received his knife with my own.


    Our des just cried out once they made direct contact and I could feel the weight from his blow. He used his full body tounch himself instantaneously but it wasn''t enough to end the match in one exchange. However, he never looked so surprised when he saw a small cut on his wrist and he immediately turned to face me.


    I let out a smirk as I said, "That''s twice you''ve done that¡­"


    As soon as I said that, arge vein just appeared on his forehead¡ªalmost bursting from how red his face had gotten, but he held his dagger in the opposite way before sending it straight to my left shoulder. However, I also saw him nting his left foot deeply while his right leg was slowly curling up.


    He was aiming to carve off my shoulder before sending in a knee to my sr plexus but all I did was to circle to his right to avoid those attackspletely. However, he quickly spun as he changed trajectory with his dagger but I hit the back of his knee with my left foot before I sent my right knee straight to his torso.


    Benjie''s form had already deviated from losing his bnce but his body buckled when I probably cracked a rib or two of his.


    There was only so much a dagger can go when swung to the back while your opponent was on your right side, more so if he was swinging with so much strength.


    Despite that, it was like any other day for Benjie because he just gritted his teeth as he tried to send his left foot on my temple.


    I tried to dodge by leaning backward but his fingers were already this close to poking my eye out.


    ? All I could do was lean even more but I put power in my toes when I saw a smirk forming in his lips. Like clockwork, his dagger suddenly tore through the air as he tried to rip up my insides but I grabbed hold of his arm and jumped, performing a flying arm bar.


    My whole weight was already bringing him down to his knees but when I noticed his wrist holding his dagger moving in to cut my face, I just dislocated it without thinking twice.


    Benjie''s face just contorted from pain as he let go of his dagger but he started to hammer my head with his other hand in which I quickly let go. He was this close to jabbing his fingers in my body but his immediate reaction was to send me punches.


    His wrist was just twisted the opposite way¡ªalong with his elbow, and he just picked up his dagger with his other hand while he tried to catch his breath. To my surprise, he just punched hard in the air to set them back but I''m 100% sure his joints were burning from pain right now.


    One sign of pain was that he didn''t bring his dagger back to his dominant hand and the second sign was that he was actually keeping his distance.


    From the start of our fight, he only managed to send me a few punches while I had already cut his wrist, cracked his rib, and dislocated his arm.


    I said earlier that I could stay alive but if things continue as is, I might win without much effort.


    To be fair, he already wasn''t at his 100% but not everyone could have a fair fight all the time. He was already bruised and battered while I had already taken a long rest. I have fully recovered from the games I participated in while he just came from three fights aimed to take him down. Furthermore, discovering that his patriarch had just died and knowing that he was an actual scumbag was taxing on his psyche so he wasn''t performing in his best.


    I thought he''d fall down with one more push but I remembered Annie''s words from earlier:


    ''He''d always gets up¡­ He alwayses back¡­''


    I instinctively ced my hand on the handle of my katana when I saw Benjie wound himself.


    Everyone was aghast when Benjie''s dagger made a cut from his stomach diagonally going up to his chest, but he didn''t stop there as he reached for his back and dug deep with his own nails.


    Blood was just flowing out of his wounds and something told me that most of the wounds he sustained wasn''t from fighting others but from his own doing. But to my surprise, Benjie looked like he was having a fucking orgasm as his eyes had already rolled over his head while he was wearing this euphoric smile.


    Pain was something almost everyone tried to not experience but for someone that was bathed in it all his life, it could turn into something else.

 Chapter 776 Invincible - A Glimpse

    Right at this moment, the way Benjie breathed changed once again and it felt like he was a different person. His dagger not only had blood on the de from wounding himself but also on the handle from digging through his back with his fingers. However, he saw my knife that I tossed from performing an arm bar on him and he picked it up with a deranged smile on his face.


    ''...''


    "Tch, tch, tch¡­ Now you''ve done it¡­ I''m gonna take a long-ass time killing you and have fun with it¡­ ahaha¡­"


    All of a sudden, the killing intent he was releasing felt like it was materializing once again and it was different being close to it rather than being on the viewing tforms.


    Benjie licked the blood off his dagger before inching towards me, "Hey¡­ You still not gonna do it? Hmm?! Are you gonna keep it in check or are you gonna bring it out?! I''m giving you a chance right now! I''m¡ª"


    The fucking psycho didn''t even finish his sentence as he abruptly kicked dirt in the air before rushing in with an erratic pattern. I''ve seen him go from point A to point B in the quickest manner possible but this time, he was shuffling his steps and going circles around me to try and make me give up an opening.


    Granted it was a little too difficult to read but it would''ve been better if he just increased his speed instead of trying to make me lose focus.


    He suddenly swung in a wide arc in which I avoided by the skin of my teeth but he used the momentum to spin around and wind for a heel kick using the same route his dagger took.


    I first leaned backward before I jumped back to avoid his kick but he threw my knife back at me as I was about tond.


    But to his surprise, I suddenly flicked with my thumb and hit my katana''s handguard¡ªafter making it dig into my scabbard momentarily¡ªto make my katana jump from its sheathe a few inches. It was done for it to collide with my dagger¡ªthat Benjie threw, that was aiming for my left arm. He never looked so ecstatic that I fended off his surprise attack but my body went lower as Inded, quickly pushing my katana back in with my right hand.


    I was already in my draw stance but Benjie tried to meet me halfway.


    ''This fucking psycho¡­''


    Like meeting someone''s punch by moving closer so that it loses power, he tried to do the same thing with something that could easily cut his body in half. He definitely had balls of steel because the normal course of action was to jump back and create some distance.


    With that said, I''d be in a precarious situation if things continued as is but the veins on my left hand protruded violently as well with my right hand.


    I was still in the middle of my first step of my quick draw but my de had already exited my scabbard with more speed than it should.


    The purpose of drawing my de from its scabbard was to use the resistance to make my de go faster and with more power¡ªlike flicking your fingers by making your middle finger take resistance with your thumb before releasing¡ªbut this time, I had to do a little bit of improvisation.


    Instead of just pulling my de out with my right hand, I also pulled the scabbard the opposite way with my left. The method was to do it with the same force all at the same time or else my de will still be inside my scabbard after I hastened my draw. This move would need a lot of explosive strength and a bit of precision but what''s a little bit of painpared to getting shanked with a fucking psycho?


    It took a lot out of me not to cut Benjie in half¡ªeven though it would''ve ended things much easier, but let''s just say it was nice to have someone not die from the first exchange.


    Well, it was because I specifically aimed for his dagger that was going at the same arc my de would¡ªthough from the opposite side¡ªand he would''ve lost part of his shoulder and his neck if he didn''t grip his dagger hard enough.


    His muscles just bulged from defending from that one attack and it made his body stagger after the blow, almost knocking him over.


    "WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK WAS THAT¡ª"


    Benjie''s eyes were on my de when I sent my foot straight to the spot where his ribs had cracked and it was getting more and more bruised by the second. However, he just hissed before he struck the same spot with his own fist but I tried to slice his arm off as I let out my own brand of killing intent.


    ''He''s gonna bite¡ª''


    The motherfucker didn''t miss the moment my own ''demon'' tried to take his arm as he quickly drew back with a half-step. Despite that, I still cut open part of his arm which was what I was actually aiming for.


    I knew he''d react that way from recognizing a familiar feeling but he didn''t even care about me cutting his arm. It seemed like I just furthered his insanity because he almost tore his cheeks from smiling from ear to ear.


    "Can''t resist, can you?! SHOW ME MORE! I WANT TO SEE IT! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Blood, sweat, and dirt was on Benjie''s body right now but it''ll only be a matter of time before he suffers from blood loss. His wounds, both from me and himself were still bleeding each time his heart cycled and his erratic breathing wasn''t helping his case.


    Granted he was smiling like a maniac right now but the look of frustration from not being able tond a proper hit on me was starting to show in his face.


    With that said, he started to take a more aggressive approach just to get his dagger to pierce my skin but to give the same analogy I gavest time, the knife wielder should be a few degrees above the sword wielder for it to be an even match.


    And with my katana in my hand, unless my opponent was holding a gun, I''m practically invincible.


    I wasn''t overly bragging or anything but I was just telling the truth.


    This match was a mismatch from the get-go.


    Benjie sustained more and more cuts than he could imagine and the deranged look on his face was slowly fading. I don''t know if it was because of the small percentage of blood that he had already lost or if it was just dawning on him that I could back up my ims that he so strongly rebuked.


    The only thing he managed to cut was himself and his erratic breathing was turning to a heaving huff from being out of breath. His eyes even looked hazy and it seemed like he was starting to get light-headed.


    "This isn''t fucking fun anymore¡­ FIGHT ME! FIGHT ME FOR REAL!!!"


    I shook my head as I let out a smile, "You''re gonna die if I do that¡ª"


    "FIGHT ME! FUCKING FIGHT ME! WE''RE THE SAME! WE''RE THE FUCKING¡ª"


    "We''re not, Benjie. You''re just a mutt without a leash, without an owner¡­ Trust me, you can only go so far if you keep going like that. You''ll¡ª"


    Benjie had once again lunged forward to try and take a stab at my abdomen but his movements right now could be easily read by a toddler.


    I easily disarmed him by striking his arm with the spine of my katana before I struck his torso with the same part of my de. Two indents were left at the spots I struck and he just spat out a mouthful of blood as he was rolling over in pain.


    He already had more than a dozen cuts¡ª34 to be exact¡ªand they were more outlets for his blood to escape his system.


    I was honestly surprised that Castro wasn''t throwing the towel yet but instead, making Benjie decide if he had enough.


    My opponent right now was the most excited of this fight¡ªbecause he thought he''d see my demon, but he had never been so disappointed from being finessed with someone such as me. Everyone thought they''d see the fight of the century but the victor was already apparent in the first minute.


    However, I can''t believe I was doing this but¡ªI kinda felt bad for the guy.


    I picked up his dagger and threw it just by his face before I also drew my wakizashi and held it alongside my katana. I began to change my breathing in a much different way than Benjie did and it was all for the sake of letting him see a glimpse of what "it" really was like.


    "Get up. I''ll give you five seconds."

 Chapter 777 Five Seconds

    I patiently waited for Benjie to get up but once he picked up his dagger and assumed a stance, I reached a certain point in my breathing before I looked like I was about to fall t on my face.


    It was at the point where my body felt the lightest¡ªalmost feeling like I''ve given up all control, but when I was at the perfect angle, my whole body tensed up as everything felt freezing cold then scalding hot in an instant.


    Every bit of negative emotion rushed into my head and Benjie looking like that certain someone with a dagger on his hand didn''t help him one bit. Even the deranged smile he was wearing earlier looked a little too familiar and it made it easy to draw from those.


    Benjie who was several feet away was suddenly in front of me but it wasn''t because he was the one who bridged the distance.


    My legs were screaming in pain but the whole ordeal was already getting transferred into my arms.


    The mutt was already maxed out to react as my wakizashi bit the tip of his dagger''s handguard and made him grasp it as hard as he could. But before that, part of his index finger came along with it and it took everything for him to not make it fly out of his hand.


    Once again, his wounds bled out even more as he spat out a mouthful of blood but I had already wound up my katana to swing down for as hard as I could.


    It only took a short exhale to prepare my attack but Benjie read it and he was already bracing for it by raising his dagger and holding it with both hands¡ªdull side of the de ced firmly on his left palm.


    However, blocking just came to bite him in the ass.


    I wasn''t sure if he wasn''t able to move properly anymore but blocking was the worst decision he could''ve ever made.


    Once my de made contact with his dagger, the dull side of his de just easily carved into his left palm, making him grimace in pain and scream unintelligibly. His eyes had darted to several different directions and it didn''t help when I swung the second time.


    Benjie didn''t know what to fucking do as his dagger which he used to carve several people up was now digging deep into his palm. Not only that, but the force I put into my swing and the way he kept putting his arms up most definitely have done damage to his joints, bones, and tendons, and it would require more than a few weeks to even partially recover.


    Well, it''s not like he just stood there and took everything, it was more like everything happened in quick session and his body was working way past its limit to try and keep up.


    I did promise Castro that I''d keep him alive but the keyword was to keep him intact. Sure, a part of his index finger already left him but it was probably negligible.


    From that second swing, close to four seconds have passed but Benjie had only seen a fraction of "it" outside. Well, I did say that I''d just show him a glimpse but for myst swing, I made sure he would learn a lesson that he''d never forget.


    I swung down with my whole body, snapping his de in half, and next thing he knew, his left hand was torn almost beyond repair while the wound he gave himself¡ªcutting from his abdomen up to his shoulder¡ªmore than doubled in size.


    Only the tip of my katana had his blood on it because if I moved in a centimeter or an inch more, I would''ve easily went through his vicle, then his ribcage, his spine, his ribcage again, all the way through without much resistance.


    Later did I discover that Benjie had already lost consciousness but he was frozen in ce when I stared him dead in the eyes.


    It was only from an instant but before myst swing, I showed him what my "demon" looked like and it proved to him that we were never the same.


    He kept going on and on about our demons earlier¡ªmaking it look like it was something mystical or extraordinary, but I already knew that my demon was myself.


    It wasn''t particrly extraordinary but just an extension of my negative emotions. It could give me a few things here and there but I had to live through everything once again. The price to pay used to be so steep but as time went on, it was starting to be bearable.


    At this point, Benjie was already down on the ground with a gaping wound on his torso but Mr. Cuervo''s medical team were already standing by. It didn''t take long before they ced him on a stretcher but Zack came with them for good measure. However, I was sure that they wouldn''t need his assistance because from the injuries he sustained, he''d be out for more than a day.


    The whole ce had never been so quiet but it was only for an instant before deafening "cheers" erupted from the viewing tforms.


    "HE WON! HE FUCKING WON! HE FUCKING DID IT!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! PAY UP, YOU ASSHOLES! PAY UP!"


    "YOU JUST MADE ME LOSE MY TRUCK, FUCKING FUCKFACE!"


    "THE FIRST TIME BENJIE LOST, HOLY FUCK!"


    "GIVE US THE REPLAY! THE REPLAY!"


    I was doubting whether they were real cheers because in my end, it looked like a one-sided match.


    Some people rejoiced, some wept, some cursed, and some found what they were looking for because at the end of the day, these blood fights were still a show¡­ whatever the result was. It had its purpose to settle disputes between the families and it was much, much better than having all-out wars between each other.


    At this point, I just sheathed my des as I picked up my shirt and my extra knife before I walked back to the stage.


    I just left Benjie''s dagger in the middle of the y area because I had no use for such a tool and it was already broken. He''d have to find another weapon to satisfy his cravings though he should spend his time recovering.


    When I stepped foot on the stage, Mr. Cuervo, Castro, and the girls were still speechless from what they''ve witnessed and I just had to break the ice.


    "Yo, anything on my face?" I casually mentioned as I pulled out a handkerchief.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "You¡­" Castro trailed as he shook his head.


    "What? I didn''t kill him. Did you actually want me to? Was that a test? I could try again? I''ll need less than five seconds too!"


    "Wha¡ª No! You''re¡ª"


    "What?"


    "You''re totally different there cpared to you here¡­"


    "Huh?"


    "I¡­ I can''t exin it but¡ª"


    "Like this?"


    All of a sudden, cold air just filled the air and only Mr. Cuervo was able to assume a fighting stance. However, he was covered in sweat while the three had already lost their footing.


    I, for sure thought Castro would be able to resist it but a lot had already happened before we got to this moment. He was already physically exhausted and I wouldn''t even dare to think about his psyche.


    It was just that I tried turning it on and off again a couple of times and Mr. Cuervo had to intervene.


    "STOP THAT SHIT, HERMANO! I CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH!"


    "Oh."


    After a short moment,ter did I realize that I actually bet all of our gold coins for my match against Benjie. However, the amount Mr. Cuervo gave me was more than double because part of it was Castro and Annie''s thanks for keeping him alive, and they''d still owe me after that.


    I now have 24 coins in total and I''m still not exactly sure about what to do with them.


    With that said, I just kept all of them while I bathed in the cheers of the crowd, and I made my way back to my spot like I just went for a short walk.


    Kaley instantly checked my bruises but Quinn was this close to taking me then and there.


    Granted I didn''t kill Benjie as per their goal, but Benjie would be out ofmission for a time and the injuries I gave him was for them. Truth be told, I wanted to get rid of Benjie because he waspletely unstable but I didn''t realize that the respect the De Leon Family had more me shot up from that fight.


    The other families were looking at me in a different light too but it wasn''tparable to the De Leon Family.


    They almost "blinded" me for the second time and some officers were already offering free things or services I might be into.


    If I wasn''t careful, there would be another wedding right then and there and it wouldn''t be with Kaley. Sure, Quinn was probably not the wedding type but the looks I was getting from her was starting to make me ufortable. I had to position myself between Kaley and Tatiana or else I''d be forced against my will.

 Chapter 778 Keycards - Safeword?

    I was still regaling from my win but I saw Annie walking towards me with the same people she came with. Her face was solemn and she wasn''t in a hurry, but I noticed a faint smile on her face the moment she arrived.


    While this was happening, at the same time, the blood fights were still ongoing and the next participants were being called on the y area. Almost everyone was still watching the show but now my focus was on the person in front of me.


    I casually greeted her with a smile, "Yo, I guess I managed to hold back."


    Annie chuckled as she slightly shook her head, "I would''ve preferred if you held back a little more but I''m still grateful for not killing him¡­ And also, Mr. Cuervo''s doctors are already working on him and I''m relieved that they said that once they are done, he''s gonna be out for a few days. Let me tell you, that would be the longest time he''s been asleep since forever¡ª"


    "You''re a little chatty now, huh?"


    "Ah¡ª I mean¡­ I was just¡ª"


    I waved her off jokingly, "Just messing with ya. Anyway, to what do I owe the visit?"


    Annie brushed her curly bangs to the side before she opened her mouth, "I¡­ I really just want to thank you. I owe you a lot just from that."


    "Well, the people thate across your cousin¡­ they hit him and he gets back up. But when I do it, he stays down¡­ for a time."


    One of Annie''s eyebrows rose slightly as she let out another smile, "Mm-hmm¡­ did you think of that line just now? I like that¡ª"


    "Nope. Frank Castle said it."


    "Huh? Who?"


    "Oh, my fucking god¡­"


    "What~?"


    "Frank Castle? You don''t know who the Punisher is? It''s from a show! Do you live under a rock?! Castillo means castle, right?! Don''t you get it?! Frank Castle¡­ Castillo¡­ That was supposed to be ay-up, Annie! I''m fucking disappointed! Fuck!"


    "WHA¡ª Excuse me! I''m sorry," Annie huffed sarcastically, "I don''t¡ª"


    "Have an interesting life?"


    "You!" Annie''s face was starting to redden.


    "Hey! Stop it! That''s rude!" Kaley interjected as she nudged me with her elbow.


    "Thanks, Kaley¡­" Annie said dejectedly as she turned to her for a moment, "A-Anyway¡­ I''ve already said my thanks but I need to give you something¡­"


    Annie turned around for a moment to receive a small wooden box from her bodyguard and she turned back to me and presented it with both hands, "Please¡­"


    I received it promptly and I smiled as I said, "I always wanted a box¡­"


    "N-No¡­ Open. It. Please," Annie stumbled with gritted teeth as her patience was about to run out.


    Looking at Annie''s face, she was this close to breaking the box on my head so I opened it and found a few items inside: an old and worn rosary made with simple materials, five small vials with different colored liquids, a thumb drive hidden in the cross pendant of a silver ne, a golden ring with fading inscriptions, a handkerchief, a dried flower, and a keycard that had Mr. Cuervo''s brand on it.


    I grew curious with the contents of the thumb drive but Annie got suspiciously quiet when I picked up a keycard and looked at her with a tilted head. Furthermore, her bodyguards'' eyes bulged before they looked at each other, turning away when they caught a glimpse of me looking at them.


    Quinn suddenly cackled as she saw what was in my hands, "Hah! Annie, if that means what I think it means, you gotta fall in line."


    Annie looked away, letting her bangs cover half her face, "I-I-I don''t know what you''re t-talking about¡­ That''s for¡­ for¡­ if he wanted to d-discuss something with me¡­ This ce is p-pretty loud¡­ W-We''d need somece q-quiet¡­"


    From some stroke of miracle, I quickly caught on but Cynthia dove between us and she handed me a keycard with the same branding but it had a diamond-like essory hanging from the small hole in the upper-right corner.


    Looking at both of the keycards on my hand, Annie''s keycard looked like it was of the normal variety while Cynthia''s looked like a unique SSSR version.


    My Japanese side¡ªspecifically the part where we really~ like cards and had one for every asion¡ªwas delighted but I for sure wasn''t told about their existence. It seemed like only a handful existed and it was probably given to people with high status.


    ''I''m a head, right? Shouldn''t I have one of these?''


    And just as I was about to ask Mr. Cuervo for one, Cynthia pulled out another card, a jet ck card that would reveal a dragon pattern once it was looked at a certain angle.


    "This was supposed to be a surprise¡ª Well, I was told Jericho fucked up a little in making that but it''s all okay now! Just tap it on the thingy in the elevator and it''ll take us to your room!" Cynthia eximed excitedly.


    "Room? I thought we¡ª And what do yours do?"


    "It''s to take us to MY room! Ours are right next to each other so¡­ I was surprised too¡ªKaley included, but my br¡ª Mr. Cuervo''s been pretty busy while we''re away and there were a lot of developments."


    I turned to Annie, "And the one you gave me?"


    "It''s one of the secure rooms in the house provided for us¡­"


    "Huh¡­" I trailed as I turned to Quinn, "Wait¡ª"


    Quinn cut me off, "I didn''t want it. I gave mine to Dave."


    "W-Why?"


    "Look at me. I don''t wear a fucking bra and I live in a tent. Do you really fucking believe I''d want to stay inside one of those rooms?!"


    "Uh-huh. Sure¡­"


    ''I don''t get that logic one bit but I''m not gonna fight her on that¡­''


    At this point, I didn''t even care who was fighting who at the y area because my eyes were fixated on this nice little present Mr. Cuervo hid from me. Well, Annie''s gift was cool too but I wanted to check my room as soon as possible.


    Kaley chuckled as she patted my shoulder, "Go, check it out. Take Cynthia with you, so you don''t get lost."


    "How about you?"


    Kaley gave me a knowing smile, "I''m good. I''ll stay here so if anyone gets a bruise or a cut, I can take care of it so they shouldn''t crowd the medical bay. Don''t worry, I''ll contact you two once the final event is about to start."


    Cynthia looked like she couldn''t control herself but she gave Kaley a big hug. With that said, a few "people" were just about to follow behind us but Kaley just gave them a nce and they instantly stayed put. Annie, on the other hand, promptly excused herself but her eyes didn''t even have an ounce of giving up. She still pushed her keycard onto my palm before she turned around and walked back.


    As the two of us were making our way to Mr. Cuervo''s mansion, cheers or curses would resound in a few intervals and it looked like the current match was pretty fucking close.


    It didn''t take long before Cynthia and I were in the elevator but it had never been so quiet.


    "..."


    "..."


    The two of us were just staring at our reflection and Cynthia was the one to speak up.


    "H-Hey¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "The k-keycard¡­"


    "Oh¡ª Right¡­"


    I didn''t even notice that the numpad before was reced with a different apparatus, and it definitely looked custom-made. I believe Mr. Cuervo''s engineers had made their own whatchamacallits and they were implementing it to the whole ce.


    ''I just ce it here then?''


    Once I did, the new apparatus lit up and it sent us several levels below the ground. However, the trip was a little shorterpared to the trip I made with Mr. Cuervo so I assumed our floor was in between the main floor and Mr. Cuervo''s man cave.


    But once the elevator door opened up, all I saw was a single door with the same apparatus I could ce my card on.


    I turned to Cynthia, "I thought my room''s¡ª"


    "Shh, we can''t just tell theyout to everybody listening in, right? We have a whole floor to us, our cards just open the same one¡­"


    "I see¡­"


    Cynthia and I walked towards the door but it just becamepletely quiet again. Neither was speaking a word for a few seconds but Cynthia was once again the one to break the silence.


    "Hey¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Kaley gave us the go signal, right? Are you fine with that?"


    I lightly chuckled, "That''s nice of you to ask me if I''m okay with it. And for the record, I''m more than okay with it."


    "Right¡­" Cynthia trailed as she looked away, slightly ufortable.


    "Cynthia?"


    "Umm¡­ I''m gonna ask you for something¡ª You can say no, but¡­"


    "You mean¡ª"


    "No. Not the sleeping thing¡­ Something like that but a little more¡­ different¡­"


    "Like what?"


    "It¡­ umm¡­ how do I say this¡­ I want us to do a bit of acting¡­"


    "Like roley? I''m down. What do you¡ª"


    "L-Let me f-finish¡­ It involves you to be a little r-rougher¡­ with me¡­"


    "O-Okay?"


    "A l-little f-forceful¡­"


    "Umm¡­"


    "I¡­ I want to feel good b-but I want a l-little bit of p-pain too¡­"


    "A bit of BDSM?"


    "A f-form of it¡­"


    "What are you¡ª"


    "I''m gonna say ''No'' a lot but I want you to keep¡­ g-going¡­ even if I cry¡­"


    "..."


    "I-I''ll try to get a-away but I want you to pin me d-down¡­"


    "..."


    "D-Do you know where I''m getting a-at?"


    "..."


    "Hey?"


    "A-Are you really telling me to do ''that''?"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    "Do you really know what ''that'' means?"


    "It''s CNC, r-right?"


    "You don''t sound too sure."


    "It''s CNC! Consensual Non-Consent. I''ve been thinking about it for a while and I r-really want to experience it with you even if it''s for a single time. I totally trust you and you''re the perfect one for it! I have even thought of my safeword! You should have one too in case you feel r-really ufortable. Like I said, you can say no but¡­ in the form of a safeword¡­ So? Are you up for it?"


    "..."


    "Please?"


    I really thought Cynthia and I would just have a quick one before going back but it turned into something like this. We haven''t even done the first one she mentioned she''d like to do and we were already jumping into something extreme.


    With that said, I couldn''t say that the thought of doing something like this turned me on for a little bit, but Cynthia already rubbing my crotch through my pants wasn''t helping. However, I pped her arms off and looked her in the eye before opening my mouth.


    "Pineapples. My safe word is pineapples."


    Cynthia never looked so excited, "Alright, mine''s grapefruits."

 Chapter 779 CNC I

    Once Cynthia and I exchanged our other word for "No", both of us lightly chuckled before she pulled me close and gave me a deep kiss and a tight hug. She was starting to press onto me but I broke off from our kiss and said my safeword.


    "Pineapples."


    As soon as that word entered Cynthia''s ears, she faintly smiled before she ced her hands to her side and stepped back, respecting it.


    After that, I was the one to approach her and pin her on the wall. I began to grope her perky tits but once my other hand started to travel down her pants, she also said her safeword.


    "G-Grapefruits¡­"


    In turn, Ipletely backed away, letting her know that I acknowledged her using her safeword though there were still a few things to discuss.


    CNC y was something a little controversial because doing something like that without a proper discussion beforehand could lead to something that could even end the rtionship between couples. Trust and respect should go hand in hand and if the participants wouldn''t acknowledge the use of a safeword, they shouldn''t be doing something like this in the first ce.


    And to add to that, doing it with aplete stranger was like disarming andmine with a hammer so people who were interested in doing it should do it with a person they trust wholeheartedly.


    With that said, Cynthia and I talked for a few minutes before we let ourselves in.


    ''This ce looks fucking crisp~''


    My eyes were just overwhelmed by the state of the "room" or should I say "floor" that Mr. Cuervo gave to us, and I started to look around. The decor, the facilities, and the amenities were fucking luxurious and I even noticed that the bags we ced inside our first room were already transferred over.


    We had marble flooring, modern furniture, a bar, a stocked kitchen, a great entertainment system, arge jacuzzi, a stage, a stripper pole, a pool table, a small library, several rooms where a few people could be a little more private at a time, and arge pad where "fun" with a lot of people could be conducted.


    I was just fiddling with themunication system in one corner of the kitchen when I saw Cynthia walk inside our bathroom.


    ''Alright¡­ here we go¡­''


    I removed all of my gear and ced them in the room where all of my other stuff were before I slowly made my way to where Cynthia was.


    I could already hear the shower from the other side of the door and I slowly turned the knob so it wouldn''t make a sound. My heart was beating so fast when I finally turned the knob all the way and the more I pushed the door open, the more the sound of running water entered my ears.


    Eventually, the door was fully open and I could partially see Cynthia''s naked figure because of the steam fogging the ss partition of the shower area. She was soaping herself nicely as her back was facing me but instead of joining her, I made my way to the pile of clothes in the basket next to the shower.


    I started rummaging through her clothes but I first picked up her shirt that was a little sweaty.


    I instantly buried my face between the fabric and her sweet scent invaded my senses.


    It didn''t take long before I found her panties but before I buried my nose in it and got a huge whiff, I noticed that her gray cottony panties were soaked through and through. I could already smell her womanly scent from a few inches away and my dick was already hard when I tried to lick her juices off of it.


    I began to stroke my cock while I was sniffing and licking her panties and that was when the door to her shower opened.


    Cynthia came out fully naked, water dripping down her body, looking shocked, and covering her tits and her pussy.


    "Wha¡ª W-What are you doing here?! Is that my¡ª Why is your¡ª You¡­ HELP¡ª"


    Cynthia instantly turned around and went out the door but her feet being wet made her a little slower. She almost slipped a few times while avoiding the furniture and she was already heading for the door that would lead to the elevator. However, I managed to grab on her hair and pull her back, dragging her to the nearest couch.


    "PLEASE! NO! NO! I THOUGHT YOU AND KALEY WERE¡ª"


    My huge cock was right in her face but she kept pushing me away so I pped her.


    Cynthia''s head whipped to the side but her nails started to dig into my arms once I started to touch her. Her whole body was just squirming with each touch and she mped her legs shut so I wouldn''t have ess to her precious little holes. If I tried to pry it open, she would have better control with her arms and she''d do her best to get me off of her.


    It''s just that when I caught a glimpse of her ass from the back, she was already creaming and dripping down to her thighs, the total opposite of her current disy.


    "N-NOO~!!! PLEASE! STOP! I T-THOUGHT WE W-WERE FRIENDS! YOU SHOULDN''T BE DOING THIS! PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP ME~!"


    ''Well, I''ll be damned¡­''


    Tears started to fall from Cynthia''s face as she was shaking all over but I grabbed her by the throat and started to choke her with a bit of pressure. I even let out a little bit of killing intent as I stared her dead in the eyes..


    "Are you gonna spread those legs or do you want me to break them for you?"


    "P-Please~ N-Nooo¡­ I¡­ Please¡­ J-Just let me go¡ªGrchk! Krch! ArcrRck!"


    Ever so slightly, Cynthia started to spread her legs apart but I suddenly plunged three fingers in her pink little hole.


    Cynthia started to grimace in "pain" but I never had such a smoother and slicker entry.

 Chapter 780 CNC II - Wanna Go Again?

    Cynthia was squirming from my grasp but my fingers were alreadythered and creamed up by her juices. I could feel her walls contracting over and over but I stopped at the right moment. For the first time in our y, she genuinely looked disappointed but I made her taste herself by shoving my fingers in her mouth.


    She even tried to turn and twist her head to avoid it but her tongue was wrapping around my fingers like she was sucking my cock. Her hands were trying to pull my hand away but my throbbing dick reced my fingers when I forced open her mouth.


    "GrcllK! Gack! Gahwk! GlChKK!"


    Cynthia was now lying on her back, head in the perfect position for me to fuck her throat. I was pushing every inch of me down to her warm little mouth and my balls would just p her face once I pushed myself up to the base.


    I was grabbing onto her perky tits while I was thrusting forward but to my surprise, Cynthia just started to shake all over as she started to have an explosive orgasm. Her eyes just rolled over as she grabbed onto my arms and a warm spurt of liquid just sprayed from her little hole.


    She was having a hard time breathing so I pulled my dick out but I continued our y with a little bit of dialogue.


    "Fuck. You loved that, huh? You weren''t really that innocent after all¡­"


    "H-Huh? N-No¡­ I''m¡ª It was just a¡ª I''m r-really scared¡­ W-Why are you doing this?! I p-promise you, I won''t tell anyone! J-Just let me go! Please¡ª"


    "Are you fucking serious? Let you go? Can''t you see my dick''s still fucking hard?! This is your fault!"


    "W-Why?! Please, stop! Kaley would be so sad if she knew¡ª I-It''s not my fault! It''s not!"


    "Are you threatening me?! ARE YOU FUCKING THREATENING ME?!" I grabbed her by her hair and pped her once again.


    "N-No! I-I¡ª I would never! Why are you like this?! Please! Let''s stop¡ª"


    "I''ll stop when I''m done."


    I gave Cynthia''s body one up-down look and she was already a mess. Her hair was wet and tangled, her face was red and it had a little spot from where I pped her, but her nipples were fucking hard and her pussy was still quivering from earlier.


    "Please¡ª"


    "Grab it," I said as I took her hand and ced it around my cock.


    "What are you¡ª"


    I pped her again as I said, "Jerk me off. Hold it tighter¡­ Do it with both hands¡­"


    Once I gave her instructions, Cynthia began to follow me but her expression and her actions were still defiant. She was giving me the most beginner handjob I ever had and she looked like she had never seen a penis in her life. However, her eyes were glued to my cock and she was squeezing her thighs together


    "You fucking suck, turn around. I''ll do it myself. TURN AROUND!"


    Cynthia got startled when I screamed at her face and I had to flip her around myself because she started "sobbing".


    "Please, don''t do this! I''m saving myself for¡ªAHHHHHH! WHY DID YOU¡ª IT''S IN MY¡ª"


    Without any warning, I plunged my huge dick up her ass and she involuntarily squirted for the second time. Cynthia''s little asshole was so fucking tight but I kept pushing myself in while I was pulling her hair with one hand and smacking her ass with the other.


    Across the couch we were in was a huge mirror and we could see what we were doing, and we just gave each other a momentary knowing nce before we continued on.


    "IT HURTS! IT HURTS! PLEASE STOP! IT''S TEARING ME IN HALF¡ª YOU''RE SO B-BIG, i CAN''T T-TAKE IT!"


    "SHUT UP! DO YOU WANT ME TO FUCK YOU IN YOUR PUSSY INSTEAD?!"


    "WAI¡ª NO! N-NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT¡ª"


    It didn''t take long before I reached my limit and I started cumming inside Cynthia''s asshole. I held her tight as I spurted ropes and ropes of cum inside while she was squirting on the couch''s cushion.


    As per usual, I was still fucking hard so I quickly pulled my dick out of her ass before I plunged it deep inside her pink hole.


    "HNNGH! Y-YOU SAID¡ª NOOO~!!!"


    I left Cynthia''s ass with a gaping hole but I plugged it with my thumb as I continued to fuck her "against" her will.


    However, it didn''t take long before we had enough of fooling around because after I cummed inside her holes, she sat me down and went on top of me.


    Cynthia chuckled as she gave me a kiss, "Remember this?"


    "Hmm?"


    "This is the same couch we first did it in!"


    "Oh! R-Right¡­"


    I was now losing my head because I was still sensitive but Cynthia was grinding on me like her life depended on it. She was moving her hips wildly as she wrapped her arms around my neck, and we were deep into each other''s mouths when we came at the same time.


    I filled Cynthia''s insides once again but we continued to kiss each other while I was still deep inside her. At one point, we went for round 4 with the same position though she strongly suggested I finger her ass while we were doing so.


    After that, I picked her up and carried her gently to ourrge tub for some good ol'' aftercare.


    Cynthia was just red in the face as I took care of her and she was just wearing a huge smile on her face while weid down in one of the beds for a minute.


    "You look happy."


    "Very!"


    "That''s great to hear."


    "Did you enjoy yourself though?"


    "Of course, I got nervous at some points but once I knew you were a superb actress, I had to pull out all the stops!"


    "Heh. You were great too! You could''ve pped me harder, just saying~"


    "Really? I''m really afraid of actually hurting you though¡­"


    "You''re so sweet! Wanna go again?"


    "Again?! I can''t¡ª"


    "Lies! Just one more. You know, the regr stuff. I''ll let you lick my armpits and I''ll sit on your face?"


    "Son of a bitch, I''m in."

 Chapter 781 Cynthia VS Madison

    Cynthia and I were once again tangled with each other and even if I still was the one in control, I made sure it was only pleasure she''d feel until it was over. We had to clean up for a second time¡ªwhich prompted a second "overtime"¡ªand the fatigue I got from facing off with Benjie was basically non-existent.


    I just felt loose and rxed though I did opt for an energy drink and a protein bar.


    With that said, I almost spat up my drink when I saw Cynthia easily throating a whole banana but the next thing I saw drenched my shirtpletely. It was because when she saw me looking at her with concern, she pulled the whole banana back from her throat like it was nothing.


    "What?" Cynthia asked with nonchnce.


    "No, no, no¡­ Don''t do that like it''s nothing! That''s a whole banana for fuck''s sake!"


    "Eh? You''re bigger though? This is nothing!"


    "That''s not the point! Learn to chew!"


    "What? Wouldn''t that hurt you?"


    "Huh?"


    "I mean, if I bite your cock¡ª"


    "I meant the banana! Chew the banana! Not my dick!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! I''M JUST MESSING WITH YOU! TATIANA DID THAT LAST TIME AND RIN ALMOST CHOKED TO DEATH! YOU SHOULD''VE SEEN HER FACE!"


    "You fucking¡ª Dammit! Fine, you got me¡­ You got me! Can we eat normally now? And don''t start something about ''eating'' just because I said it!"


    "Oh, man! I was just about to do it too!"


    I shook my head as I finished my snack, "Alright, wanna head up?"


    Cynthia nodded after throwing out her banana peel, "Sure!"


    Before we went back to Kaley and the rest, I left the box Annie gave me with the rest of my belongings. However, I did pick up the thumb drive that was inside it and handed it over to Natasha.


    She was still guarding our vehicles with Ibarra and since she''s probably chafing by now, I asked her to nce through what was inside it. I would''ve done it myself but I still had one more event to focus on.


    The final event was a tournament-style fight between all of the champions in each family and this time, from what I''ve heard, Mr. Cuervo gave the women champions a better representation though the fight between men champions would still be the final-final show.


    And the truth of the matter was people would prefer watching the NBApared to the WNBA.


    But to bepletely fair,paring basketball to a sport of beating each other up wasn''t exactly right. If you''d want to see more technique being used rather than just raw power, watching women fight was the way to go. Granted there were technical people in the men''s division and powerful people in the women''s division, but the ratio between those types and the predominant ones made each division distinct.


    With that said, while Cynthia and I were walking back to our spot, the two of us were fucking oblivious as to what was going on.


    I first thought we were having that Inception-thingy when everyone else was just fucking staring at you, but when we finally sat down and looked at the big screen, it was actually Cynthia''s turn.


    Her opponent was already in the y area while the two of us took our sweet fucking time. I couldn''t even imagine what Mr. Cuervo''s face was right now because his own sister was dying his show.


    "Wait, what?! Why?!"


    Ruru and Riri eximed, "You''re a champion, right?! You''re supposed to be there!"


    "Ah¡ª O-Ok!"


    Well, Cynthia didn''t waste time as she easily ran down and vaulted off the railing, and she gracefullynded with a smile on her face. Everyone cheered when she was face to face with the other champion but her opponent was fucking pissed.


    The woman she was facing was introduced as "Madison" and I was chuckling to myself because of a small revtion.


    ''She''s MAD-ison¡­ heh¡­''


    Madison was from the Alvarez Family and the first thing you''d notice was her legs.


    She was tall and had a petite frame but her thighs looked like they got swapped with someone else identally, well, the rest of her lower body that is. They were almost as thick as Tatiana''s and one kick from her could probably fell a banana tree.


    It''s just that Cynthia wasn''t fazed at all and she just slightly leaned back when the signal was given.


    Right from the fucking get-go, Madison just lifted from air as her left foot kicked up¡ªperforming a perfect split while mid-air¡ªfollowing it with the same kick from her right foot. The power behind those made Cynthia''s hair blow crazy but those kicks only hit air.


    It seemed like Cynthia knew Madison''s moves because after leaning back, she kicked with the back of her heel to jump back,pletely avoiding a spinning heel kick that Madisonunched after shended. However, another side of Cynthia that would only show when she was drunk appeared when shetched on Madison''s ankle and swept her foot that was nted on the floor.


    While Madison was in mid-air, Cynthia instantly pulled her toward her and let go of her ankle before punching down¡ªwith all of her weight¡ªstraight down to Madison''s throat.


    Everything just happened in an instant and Cynthia just turned around when Madison''s head bounced off the ground. Madison was already having a hard time breathing and she was rolling in pain while clutching her neck, and I actually felt sorry for her.


    I can''t fucking believe Cynthia just went ham on apletely stranger butter did I know that Madison was the partner of the guy that groped her. Even from that, I still didn''t think such a brutal method was supposed to be delivered to that someone''s partner but it seemed like that words were exchanged beforehand and Madison was making Cynthia to be the one at fault.


    ''Well, looked fucking awesome though¡­''


    With that said, I decided to stay away from that drama as I just congratted her from winning the fight.

 Chapter 782 Tatiana VS Elena

    Cynthia just smiled brightly as she took the seat next to me but Tatiana was already winding her right shoulder as she stood up. Turns out, she was next in line and she would be facing someone she had a brief "acquaintance" with.


    Cheers just erupted once Tatiana''s face was shown on stage but Elena''s followers managed to stand their ground.


    This ce had no shortage of beauties that could also squish our heads like they were watermelons, and everyone was all up for it.


    With that said, the two just exchanged pleasantries before an insurmountable pressure was felt from them, and it only took a second before they exchanged blows.


    Tatiana was a fraction of a second faster than Elena but Elenanded the first clean hit.


    What happened was Tatiana opened up with her favorite move: the jump spinning hook kick, but Elena countered with a variation of one of Kaley''s kicks that was a jump spinning wheel kick.


    Tatiana just exploded as she lifted from the air but she missed Elene by just a breadth as she ate her foot with her temple. Any normal person would''ve been knocked the fuck out by getting hit cleanly with that move but Tatiana wasn''t any normal person to begin with. However, she still took a bit of time to get up as she shook her head and Elena was courteous enough to wait for her to recover.


    [You should''ve finished me off¡­]


    [I should''ve, but what''s the fun in that?]


    [Heh, I love that answer¡ª]


    The two just exchanged knowing nces after that but a rain of kicks were exchanged in a matter of seconds. From watching the earlier games, I''ve seen that Elena was also a capable fighter but not to this degree.


    Not only was she nimble and quick on her feet, her body''s flexibility was almost close to Tatiana''s. However, her strength lies in reading what her opponent''s next move would be from closely watching their bodies.


    It''s the same concept when predicting someone''s punch by their shoulder movement but there were a lot of variables if the whole body was involved.


    I was following the same concept when I''m in a fight with someone else and it was delightful to see other people do the same thing I could. But the crux of such a skill falls on knowledge of how different muscles function and reaction time.


    The work-around for the first one was to wear clothing that covered certain parts of your body¡ªlike the gi Aikido practitioners use¡ªwhile the workaround for someone''s reaction time was you know, be faster¡ªor to opt for something more doable, feints or purposefully opening up yourself to an attack for the chance to counter-counter.


    And Tatiana could definitely do both¡ªbe faster and to anchor Elena to making a specific move.


    It''s just that Tatiana was built to act first than to react.


    She had gained some weight ever since her incident¡ªthough most of it got turned to muscle already¡ªbut it would still take some time to get used to the new hardware.


    At this point, Tatiana still got the initiative but Elena was slowly piling damage to Tatiana''s body. Aside from the first hit she received, she also received multiple low kicks to her legs and each of those was like a shot of Tequ. It would sting and burn the first few times but a few more would make you touch the ground faster than you thought.


    But despite that, Tatiana looked like she was enjoying the fight and it only took a few more hits before it happened.


    Elena had just perfectly timed a counter for Tatiana''s high kick but she suddenly groaned in pain and pulled back when she saw that her shin collided with Tatiana''s shin. She had never looked so confused in her life but before she could even react, the next thing she saw was Tatiana standing sideways¡ªwell, everything sideways¡ªbecause she had already hit the ground.


    What basically happened was Tatiana dyed her high kick for a fraction of a second to bait Elena for the same counter she was receiving over and over.


    Tatiana kept exploding with power as she delivered her blows and the timing of each strike got ingrained in Elena''s head. However, it made her reaction to each attack robotic and once Tatiana shifted her knee to turn that high kick to a low blow, it confused Elena.


    The damage Elena took was secondary but the full second of confusion was huge.


    It made Elena pay special attention to Tatiana''s right leg,pletely disregarding the other.


    And yeah, Tatiana took a page from my book because she shifted her weight from her front foot¡ªher left leg¡ªto her back foot¡ªher right leg, to deliver the same blow that knocked her out when we first met.


    From my point of view, I could still see a little~ bit of movement from shifting the weight from one foot into the other but this was the first time Elena encountered such an abnormal kick. The tip of her chin easily ate the tip of Tatiana''s foot and it rattled her head so much, making her lose bnce and fall down.


    With that said, she tried to get up as fast as she could but Tatiana had already mounted her and was poised to give her the good ol'' ground and pound.


    Elena would''ve eaten several elbows and punches to the face but this time, Tatiana gave her the same courtesy fromst time.


    [What do you want to happen?]


    [...]


    [No answer? I''m gonna kiss you¡ª if you resist, I''ll punch that pretty face of yours if not, you admit your loss.]


    [What if I''m the one to kiss you though? Do you lose?]


    [Hah! It just makes me a little bit horny but you''ve lost that game when we arrived. How about it?]


    At this point, let''s just say the next scene that happened after that made the crowd go wild while our group had now two wins on our belt.

 Chapter 783 Quinn VS Edith

    Tatiana and Elena just disappeared somewhere else for 15 minutes or so and when they came back all loose and rxed, two more fights between female champions had concluded.


    The one that came after their fight was a match between an athletic woman from the Cuervo Family and a gori¡ª no, a female neander¡ª no, a human female from the Alvarez family.


    I thought my eyes were ying with me for a second but after taking a closer look, I figured out that we were from the same species¡­ I think. However, I saw Javier from the Castillo Family holding up banners¡ªlike Enrique every time Tatiana went up on stage¡ªfor support.


    The guy was basically smitten and it was much, much worsepared to when Mikhail firstid his eyes on Quinn.


    ''As long as you''re happy, no qualms about that¡­''


    With that said, their match ended with the champion from the Castillo Family managing to grab onto her opponent''s arm. She definitely took a lot more damage before achieving that but the participant from the Cuervo Family was smart enough to know when to give up.


    She came out with an L on her belt but the injuries she sustained were negligiblepared to what she dealt.


    It''s just that in this ce, a win was more important but like I said, she knew when to cut her losses.


    If she struggled and tried to fight it out with someone far stronger than her¡ªwhile being held in ce and less than 5% chance of getting out, not only would she receive the same L but she would take a longer time for recovery.


    Not everyone here was upholding the machismo shit Mr. Cuervo advocated for and it was a breath of fresh air.


    What followed after that fight was a fight between the champions from the same family, the Garcia Family.


    I for sure thought that with their calcted nature, they''d probably choose who was the stronger one and let them proceed while the other forfeits to save some energy. However, theplete opposite happened because it was worsepared to some of the blood fights we witnessed but it was the most "eye-catching" cat fight of all.


    I don''t fucking know their history but they were already at each other''s throats from the get-go. They threw punches, kicks, elbows, and knees but it slowly turned to hair-pulling, cat-scratching, butt-spankings, angry kissing, etc.


    It just turned really weird when somehow, they dragged themselves into a puddle of mud and somehow-somehow, their clothes were slowly pulled off of their smoking bodies.


    I really thought I''d see a technical fight but I couldn''t look away.


    I''m a simple man. I see boobs, Ipletely ingrain it into my head with my photographic memory enough to make a 3D model out of it once I get home or use it as "material" if I got really desperate.


    On that note, the winner was eventually decided but the actual winner was the crowd.


    Mr. Cuervo was disappointingly shaking his head all throughout this match but the one controlling the cameras went above and beyond for everyone.


    That guy was the real MVP.


    He recorded every nook and angle that was important and he''d probably make a killing once he edits the footage.


    With that said, the mood of the female finals changed a lot but I couldn''t believe my eyes when I read the names of the people who would fight next.


    Quinn De Leon VS Edith Rivas


    ''No fucking way¡­''


    I instantly turned to Quinn who had already stood up, wearing a serious expression, and she actually looked a little nervous when Edith''s name appeared on stage.


    "Hey, Quinn¡ª"


    "Shut up. You didn''t notice, did you?"


    "I thought¡ª"


    "Thought what? That she''s a sheltered little virgin that hides under Sal''s skirt?"


    "Not exactly¡ª"


    "Well, she''s probably still a virgin¡ªsheltered too, but if I don''t take her seriously, it''ll be bad news."


    "She''s that good?"


    "Didn''t I already tell you that she''s a vir¡ª Oh, wait. Fuck. Yeah, she''s decent. I thought you meant something else¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    At this point, Quinn was actually stretching her whole body in preparation to facing Edith while more than half of the people present were wondering who the fuck Edith was even if she was crowned champion.


    For the life of me, I still couldn''t believe Edith passed through my radar but if Kaley was actually with me when I first met her, she''d probably notice something off. However, fighting prowess doesn''t always equate to a wild personality though they were the more dangerous ones in my book.


    It was for the same reason I''d dly fight a drunk, 7-foot, 300-pound oafpared to an old dude that was one cough away from puffing into smoke and dropping whatever he had on his person.


    And once Edith came down wearing her battle attire¡ªtheplete opposite of her server uniform with the frilly apron¡ªher body really looked decent. It wasn''t particrly jacked or eye-catching but she looked more athletic than I thought. Furthermore, her back and leg muscles were nothing to sneeze at but you''d need to pay a little more attention to see the hidden striations.


    To bepletely honest, I doubt she''d win a contest of strength against Quinn, Katya, or Tatiana¡ªeven Kaley, but if Quinn was a little nervous about facing her, she probably had a few tricks up her sleeve.


    It''s just that I was still half-doubting Quinn''s words when the two came face to face because Edith definitely flinched when Quinn hovered over her. She looked like Quinn could pick her up with one hand and have her way with her but her eyes just changed when the signal was given.


    To everyone''s fucking surprise, Quinn actually jumped back to put some distance between them but I saw Edith''s hand twitch momentarily before cancelling whatever she was about to do.


    She was slowly inching her way towards Quinn''s location but Quinn was making it hard for her by circling around and moving back at the same time.


    Edith was actually the one trying to initiate contact while Quinn was taking the conservative approach. Some people were fucking confused and it even looked like Quinn was ready to throw the fucking towel. However, to my eyes, she looked like she was just gathering data, just making sure she could handle the cold once she dove right in the freezing pond.


    It was actually surprising to see Quinn take a calctive approach but her face just warped when Edith opened her mouth.


    [U-Umm¡­ Y-You didn''t bring your gloves? I m-might h-hurt you¡­]


    And Quinn instantly exploded.


    [THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME, YOU LITTLE BITCH?! GLOVES?! THOSE ARE MY GAUNTLETS, YOU FUCKING¡ª JUST SHUT UP AND FIGHT ME, EDITH!]


    Tears were fucking close to fall from Edith''s eyes, [I-I''m sorry! I d-didn''t mean to! It''s just¡ª]


    With Quinn fuming from anger, she suddenly lunged and bridged the distance in an instant¡ªleft arm already wound up to send a huge p to Edith''s face.


    The gust of wind she took with her was enough to blow a candle from the next door neighbor''s birthday cake but it felt like a drop of water when it got close to Edith''s zone.


    From my perspective, it looked like Quinn gifted her palm to Edith before Edith turned it clockwise with her left hand. After that, she looked like she slowly ced her right hand on Quinn''s left elbow and applied a bit of pressure, turning it the opposite way before Quinn fell on her knees.


    Everything happened in an instant but it looked so slow from the cameras.


    ''...''


    Quinn''s face was just red from pain and her attempts to get out of Edith''s zone was just backfiring. Edith would just move her arm a certain way before piercing pain would reverberate through Quinn''s whole body.


    [EDITH, YOU FUCKING SUCK!]


    [Wha¡ª I was just¡ª P-Please stop moving o-or surrender! I-I don''t want to hurt you!]


    [THEN FUCKING LET GO!]


    [I-I can''t! Aunt Sally would¡ª]


    [FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!]


    ? [I s-said, don''t move! Y-You''ll hurt yourself!]


    [I''M NOT HURTING MYSELF! YOU''RE HURTING ME! LET FUCKING GO!]


    [I-I-I really can''t!]


    [Then you have to fucking break it¡­]


    [H-Huh?]


    All of a sudden, Quinn''s demeanor just changed as her face looked maniacal. She forced her way to get out of Edith''s grasp but the way her face contorted while her arm changed color concerned me. I don''t know how much strength Edith had but from the looks of it, she could easily break Quinn''s elbow.


    However, she let go right at the critical moment before she received a huge p from her opponent.


    Edith just flipped over and tumbled down while Quinn looked pissed and disappointed.


    [I told you to fucking break it¡­]


    [B-But¡ª]


    [You still have a lot to learn, Edith¡­]


    Quinn was this close to actually mounting Edith and sending her punches but Sal from the Rivas Family had already thrown the towel.

 Chapter 784 Lotion - Jesus?

    The end of Quinn and Edith''s match was a little anticlimactic but we''d need to take ount of their rtionship. They didn''t need to go on each other''s throats and attempt to end the other''s life but to just put on a good show, and teach a thing or two.


    Quinn learned that raw power wasn''t the end-all while Edith learned¡­ learned a few things necessary for her to stand on her own feet.


    She learned that tight-knit rtionships could still be unwoven, she learned that simply cornering someone by a move of hers wasn''t the end of the fight, she learned that some people would sacrifice part of themselves just to win a fight, she learned the consequences of holding back, and most of all, she learned that Quinn was just teaching her how to be tough.


    That full-powered p was a lesson she''d never forget though there was more to it than that.


    Eventually, Quinn helped her up though she almost sunk to the ground when Quinn patted her head. I could only guess the words exchanged by the two but they still shook hands and exchanged smiles when they went back to their own spot.


    Quinn was wounding her shoulder over and over when she sat down with us but this time, I was the one who took a look at her. Tatiana and Kaley presented themselves as well but I wanted to learn the extent of the damage she took.


    I grabbed Quinn''s arm and turned it a few times before she hissed and tried to pull away. But to her surprise, I held her like a vice and she could just mutter curses with a grimace.


    "Ah¡ª What are you¡ª"


    "It hurts when I do this, huh?"


    "IT DOES! SO STOP FUCKING DOING IT!"


    "Hmm¡ª"


    "I SAID STOP MOVING IT!"


    "Lotion¡­"


    "Huh? What did you just say?!"


    "Hmm? Lotion?"


    "The fuck are you talking about now?! Ah¡ª I said¡ª"


    I eventually let go of her arm, "I''m done, I''m done¡­ Some of your joints were about to stretch to the limit so you''d need to ice them, like right now. It would''ve already snapped if you didn''t stretch beforehand¡­"


    Quinn was still looking at me while her head was tilted sideways, "..."


    "What?"


    "Hold on, don''t fucking change the subject! I know what to do with my arm but why did you say lotion out of the blue?!"


    "Oh. Look," I said as I held out my palm in front of her.


    Quinn started to look annoyed, "I''m gonna give you one more chance to exin properly or I''ll crush your head with my thighs."


    I chuckled as I put both my hands up, "Easy~ now~ Well¡­ that''s not a bad way to go¡­"


    "JUST ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!"


    "Alright, alright, fine¡­ See my hands? No calluses, right?"


    Quinn didn''t look impressed, "Uh-huh, so you don''t jerk off a lot. Lucky you."


    "No! I mean¡­ That''s not the point! I tried to remember what Edith''s hands looked like before and they were as smooth as mine. She had exquisite technique but in order to pull that off, you''d have to have some crazy grip strength. She did hold you down despite your size¡ª I mean, strength¡­ Yeah, let''s go with that¡­"


    "That''s it, you''re speaking gibberish. Between my thighs you go¡ª"


    "Wait! Let me finish! Why do I have such perfect hands¡­ I can''t exin shit with them this perfect!"


    "..." everyone else.


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Fuck you. So, it''s all lotion then? Is that all?"


    "Hmm¡­ You see, I started to learn karate when I was a kid but as I grew older, the demand for having tough hands increased. There''s a specific type of training for that but long story short, I grew tons of calluses on the back of my hands¡ªespecially on my knuckles and the tip of my fingers. I got rid of them by applying lotion every single day¡­"


    "And? What about Edith? You think she''s doing the same?"


    "In Edith''s case, this is just a guess but what she''s practicing requires her to grab onto things, not strike them. So, the calluses she developed should be on her palms. I refused to shake her hand that one time but I definitely saw none on hers. I can''t say for certain as to why she was ufortable shaking my hand too but part of it could be that she''s not confident in her lotion-applying capabilities. She might be really shy but she might be afraid I''d notice her calluses that were practically nonexistent¡­"


    Kaley interjected, "Isn''t that a lot to take into ount?"


    Tatiana added, "Correct¡­ That''s a little too¡ª"


    Quinn shrugged her shoulders, "Hmm~ If it''s Edith, you might be right on the money."


    "I am?"


    "Yeah, but why do you hate calluses so much? I kinda like them. For character, I mean¡­"


    "Oh. I did grip training once when my calluses were at their peak and let''s just say the weight I put on the bar I was lifting was a little too heavy and it ripped my calluses clean off right along with my skin. There was so much fucking blood and¡ª"


    "STOP! STOP! I GET IT! DON''T SAY ANY MORE! JESUS!"


    A guy numbered 777 interjected, "Hmm? What is it?"


    "NOT YOU! I JUST EXCLAIMED¡ª I''M NOT TALKING TO YOU! SHUT UP!"


    "B-But¡­ you called me¡­"


    "I DIDN''T! FIND YOUR DISCIPLES OR WHATEVER AND TALK TO THEM! HELL, LOOK FOR JUDAS AND GET EVEN!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"


    After some time, Quinn asked us to also check on Edith but Sally was on top of things. The side of Edith''s face was already iced when we checked on them and lo and behold, after a brief talk, I discovered that we were using the same brand lotion.


    Kaley and Sally''s face were twitching non stop when Edith and I started talking for the majority of the matches about moisturizing and lotion-applying skills. She even rmended some honey to add to the mixture we had and Kaley had to drag me away because we need to watch the next match.

 Chapter 785 Play Nice.

    I didn''t know why the crowd was getting rowdier by the second but once I noticed that the identical sisters who were always trying to grab onto my arm were in the y area, I also had to lean forward to see what was about to happen next. I almost forgot that those two were also champions in their own right and their names were right on the big screen for everybody to see.


    Ruth "Ruru" Sandoval VS Risa "Riri" Sandoval


    The two beauties were now face to face, almost looking like a single person staring at herself in the mirror.


    With that said, I don''t know how this fight would turn out because if the two could actually tell what the other one was thinking, how the fuck would theynd a hit? They could''ve easily avoided each "telegraphed" blow and even if we looked at it from the physical aspect, there was little to no difference between their bodies.


    They had one particr difference only I knew of but I doubt it would be critical in this situation.


    ''Unless¡­''


    I was still in my head when the two faced the crowd apologetically, and what they said next confirmed my suspicion.


    [U-Umm¡­ We''re sorry for this but I''ll withdraw and let Riri continue.]


    [U-Umm¡­ We''re sorry for this but Ruru''ll withdraw and I''ll continue.]


    And the crowd went wild for a whole different reason.


    "WHAT?!"


    "WE''VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!"


    "WHY?!"


    "YOUR LAST MATCH WAS UNFORGETTABLE!"


    "PLEASE! JUST ONE MORE FIGHT!"


    At this point, snippets from theirst match were being shown on screen and I already knew what they were doing from the get-go.


    ''A show is a show¡­''


    The twins have actually fought several times and it was the closest match I''ve ever seen. Strikes would either be dodged at thest second or received at the most critical moment as their cadence would increase with each passing second. Their fight would look like an intense match from the start but it was nothing more than a demonstration if I''ve ever seen one.


    It''s just that I didn''t forbid them from doing the same thing¡ªhell, I even wanted to see it because it would be entertaining, but their aim was something far more higher than to entertain the crowd.


    The Championship.


    If it wasn''t already obvious, the favorite for the final match would be between Quinn and Tatiana.


    It was because their opponents either got choked non-erotically or pounded to the ground, but there were a smart few that decided to forfeit the match when they discovered who they were up against. I actually wanted to see more technical fights but with these two involved, I''d just bet my chances to see one in my division. However, there were still a few that hadn''t given up and the two were among them.


    Not only would they conserve their energy from one of them giving way, they seem to have a hidden card up their sleeve. I don''t know what that actually was yet but the two were confident that they could snatch the title from these two favorites.


    With that said, the disappointment couldn''t be hidden from the faces of the people shouting, "REFUND!", but their expressions warped differently when they saw the uing fight.


    Risa "Riri" Sandoval VS Cynthia Cuervo


    "LET''S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"


    "OH~ SHIT!"


    "IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?!"


    "THEY''RE FIGHTING! THEY''RE FIGHTING!"


    "CYNTHIA! CYNTHIA! CYNTHIA!"


    "WE LOVE YOU, RIRI!"


    "THE LOSER GETS FUCKED IN THE ASS! PLEASE! JUST THIS ONCE!"


    The crowd had already forgotten about the twins'' transgression but I could hardly breathe from my position. Ruru was justing up when she made eye contact with Cynthia and it was as if Cynthia was sending over the pressure she was exuding to Riri via her twin sister. I''m pretty sure that they''ve buried the hatchet but a dog must''ve wandered and started to dig it up once again.


    Kaley instantly went between the two, "Alright,e on now. y nice."


    "..."


    "..."


    The two didn''t say a word to each other as Ruru took Cynthia''s spot while Cynthia slowly walked down the stairs.


    It didn''t take long before Cynthia and Riri were face to face and it also didn''t take long before the signal was given.


    The big screen had zoomed on Cynthia and Riri''s face but their eyes instantly changed as they blurred away from their position. They were suddenly a few millimeters from each other but Cynthia was a millisecond faster.


    She would definitely hit Riri''s cheek with her right fist but Riri''s head bobbed forward and twisted to the side, making Cynthia''s fist just scrape the side of her cheek, mitigating most of the damage. Furthermore, bobbing her head forward included leaning her body as well so Riri''s fist also elerated straight to its target.


    But when Riri made contact, she suddenly grimaced in pain and drew her fist back because like her, Cynthia anticipated the blow and bobbed her head forward.


    It''s just that Cynthia didn''t make Riri''s fist scratch the side of her cheek but made it m against her forehead.


    Hitting something hard like someone''s skull got to fucking hurt but Riri gritted her teeth before twisting the same fist forward, adding more force by moving forward half-step, bringing all the weight she could take with her with the smallest of wound ups.


    It almost looked like a 1-inch punch¡ªeven though the wound up was a 5-incher, and it hit Cynthia square in the nose.


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    Slowly but surely, blood was dripping from Cynthia''s small airways but she had already gotten hold of Riri''s arm and was wounding a punch of her own.


    Cynthia was smiling maniacally as Riri struggled to get out of her grasp, but Cynthia didn''t evene close to hitting Riri''s face. Well, the distance was only a few inches but Riri had ways to avoid the blowpletely, even if she was held with a vice grip.


    And it involved her long legs.

 Chapter 786 PRECIOUS?!

    Everyone could see each and every angle from the huge screen and everyone saw how Riri quickly nestled her toes just between Cynthia''s vicle and the anterior part of her shoulder before she straightened her long legs.


    Her slender thighs and calves acted as a stopper or a long stick that made Cynthia''s punch misspletely as she got pushed back a few inches.


    However, Cynthia didn''t give up as she grabbed hold of the fabric of Riri''s shorts, pulling it in her direction.


    All of the fucking hornballs'' eyes grew wide in anticipation for a possible pantsing but they got disappointed when Cynthia''s arms wrapped around Riri''s leg and ced it down between her legs.


    Cynthia''s aiming for a takedown but Riri had a lot of options.


    Riri could either send punches, elbows, knees, or even just push Cynthia''s head away but she aimed for something different. I saw her hesitate from seeing Cynthia''s blood¡ªfrom her nose¡ªsmearing the side of her leg so she circled away by jumping with her free leg while keeping bnce.


    It''s just that on herst jump, she was about tond a little too forward and was now almost in freefall, but her free leg went even deeper¡ªbehind Cynthia''s legs and tripped her down, grabbing her right ankle and performing an inverted heel hook.


    ''Damn~''


    It took Riri''s legs being grabbed to reversing it with a scissor takedown and now, Cynthia was in fucking trouble.


    All Riri had to do was apply pressure on Cynthia''s heel and Cynthia would''ve needed to surrender. If not, it risked tearing her foot''s tendons and ligaments and she would have more than trouble walking.


    At that point, Riri was already applying pressure on Cynthia''s heel but Cynthia was trying her best to get out of it. She was being told multiple times to surrender but Cynthia had an inkling that Riri wouldn''t actually injure her foot.


    Despite that, her heel being locked and twisted in the opposite way still fucking hurt¡ªand still carried the risk of injury¡ªso she needed to find a solution or I''ll throw in the towel for her safety.


    ''5¡­ 4¡­ 3¡­ 2¡ª''


    I was counting in my head the limit I gave her and right when I was about to contact Mr. Cuervo, Cynthia managed to lift her upper body with her arms, rotate by moving her hips clockwise, gain ess to her other foot, rotate again, before using her free foot to wedge it between Riri''s legs.


    Cynthia''s thick thighs just as easily spread Riri''s legs apart and she managed to rotate even more to get out of her predicament.


    There were a few more ways to get out of that lock¡ªrolling for example, but the way Cynthia handled herself was just too fucking beautiful.


    The two of them eventually stood up and even Riri was smiling and offered to touch their imaginary gloves.


    ''Respect.''


    They were once again back to square one but only a fraction of the participants understood what just happened. Getting caught in a lock was already dangerous¡ªeven more so if you were trying to get away, but in a real fight, you can''t just tap out and start from the top.


    But to be fair, if Cynthia was facing someone else, the fight would''ve gone much, much different.


    If I was in the same situation and it was life or death, I wouldn''t even wait for my opponent to tap out.


    I''d just break their foot and finish them off.


    Anyway, there were a lot of what-ifs in this conversation but only the result mattered and this time, Cynthia won that exchange. It''s just that their fight was far from over and Cynthia was actually on the losing side.


    Looking at them closely, Riri just looked out of breath¡ªwell, Cynthia as well but she couldn''t move as well because her foot was still overstretched and sore.


    The two were agile fighters and losing one''s main foundation was critical.


    It only took a few low and oblique kicks from Riri before Cynthia decided to give up. I thought she would look dejected once the victor was decided but she was actually smiling. It took me a few seconds to look at the next match-up and Tatiana only had to win two more times before she''s matched with Riri.


    Unless something else happened, Riri would get a real taste of what Tatiana was like in the ring.


    But before that, Quinn was once again called to the y area and she was matched with the "female" from the Alvarez Family.


    Quinn de Leon VS Precious de Armas


    ''The fu¨C Precious?! That¡ª thing¡ª I mean, woman??? PRECIOUS?!''


    The two were actually squaring-up like they were posing for the cameras in a pre-match interview, and they couldn''t wait for the signal to start. They were already pushing against each other even before the bell rang and once punches were thrown, the person giving the signal just gave up and just rang the bell just to say that he did it.


    With that said, the scene had never looked so familiar because like Mikhail and Bob''s pping match, the two were giving each other a free punch, not even bothering to dodge or block what wasing to them, only bracing to take the hit.


    ''And~ we''re back to the contest of strength¡­''


    The more Quinn gets punched in the face, the more her face twisted with a maniacal smile. At one point, she even let Precious punch her a few more times before she suddenly delivered a murderous right hook to her jaw.


    Precious took the hit without bracing herself properly and it looked like her neck got twisted and overextended.


    Her fake teeth just flew out of her mouth andnded on the ground before her.


    Cheers just erupted all throughout the area¡ªthough maniacalughter was in the mix¡ªand Quinn easily took the W.


    Well, I actually thought that Quinn killed her with that punch but Precious regained consciousness after Quinn kicked her a few times. She was sturdier than I thought and I guess the truck would be the one to get Isekai''d if they somehow got involved in an ident.

 Chapter 787 Briberies And Threats

    As the fights went on, the ones close to us would get tended by Kaley but most of the time, all they''d need was just ice. It was totally differentpared to the blood fights because no one was willing to die just to be called the champion of champions¡ªwell, except for a select few.


    But despite that, these people were 100% willing toy their lives just to settle a grudge.


    ''Well, that includes me¡­ sometimes¡­''


    I was still watching the fights that followed, but an unfamiliar voice went through the earpiece that Mr. Cuervo gave me.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Mr. Ishiyama?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yo?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Great. I''m one of the representatives of the Garcia Family. My name''s Bertrandt, good sir. Would it be possible to take a few moments of your time?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''re doing it right now, no?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I deeply apologize¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Don''t apologize, I can watch the fights and talk to you without any problems."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Splendid! Very well, I''ll be brief.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Weird name¡­ I thought your name was Bertrandt but ok¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Umm¡­ I don''t follow¡ª Ah! Such crass, but a splendid joke nheless! That tickled me from a few seats away! Ahaha¡­ Anyway, back on topic¡­ Our family''s wondering if you''d be interested in a luxurious suite in our abode?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "A suite?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yes! A luxurious one!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Why the generosity?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Oh! I''m afraid it''s not free. Everythinges at a price, no?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "It depends, but yeah. How much is it? Not like I''m gonna buy it or anything¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah! You wouldn''t have to do much! All we request is for one of your fighters to¡­ somehow¡­ Umm~ How do I put this nicely¡­ We''d like for one of them to uhh¡­ allow one of ours to advance? But we''d like it to be a little convincing¡­ A few punches here and there but a believable hit in the end before they surrender.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [W-What do you think, sir? Mr. Ishiyama? Hello? Did the connection cut off?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I can hear you just fine, Bertrandt."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Splendid! I was worried for a second there! So, what do you¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "It was nice talking to you, Bertrandt¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [It is nice talking¡ª Sir? Do you mean¡ª It''s just one loss? It doesn''t guarantee the¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Bertrandt."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sir?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "No."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah¡­ But sir¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "No."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We could also offer more amenities and such if you reconsider¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m sorry. But for thest time, no. I''m ending this¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Your wife is beautiful, no?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Excuse me?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Got your attention, huh? Good sir, there''s something you don''t realize¡­ You see, this championship of whatever looks simple on the surface but no¡­ there''s more to it than that¡­ One of our yers need to get a high standing or else¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Bertrandt¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Good sir, it is best if you let me finish¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "No. YOU fucking let me finish. Yes or no, are you fucking threatening me or what?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I know that our conversation hasn''t ended. Are you threatening me or what?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Good sir, you don''t understand the gravity of the situation¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hah. I bet you don''t understand either¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sir?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    The Garcia Family''s spot was a little far from us but I didn''t fucking care.


    I stood up from my spot, much to the surprise of everyone, even though they already heard me arguing with someone in my earpiece, but I didn''t even notice that I was leaking out killing intent because of how pissed off I was.


    In my head, the audacity of that motherfucker astounded me to the point I was actuallyughing even though my face was a little red, and I quickly made my way to look for that motherfucking sales representative.


    I didn''t even know what that asshole fucking looked like but even though it sounds bad, I could probably profile that motherfucker from his voice alone.


    ''Probably a 4-foot monopoly-guy looking ass that had the face that embodied the Ugly Bastard tag¡­''


    From several feet away, I saw the antichrist and I beelined my way over to him in which he tried to get away.


    At this point, a lot of people had already felt my killing intent and just the head of a family making his way over to another one''s territory would garner a lot of attention. However, they all knew some shit was about to go down and they all wanted to see the shitshow.


    I easily grabbed the bastard by his cor and I was repulsed at how sweaty it was.


    However, the reason I came over was to see if he''d say those shit right in front of my face because the guy seemed to have a death wish. This ce abhorred killing¡ªunless sanctioned¡ªbut I would actually do something that was the exact opposite.


    Killing people was too easy, leaving them in pain was much, much more satisfying.


    With that said, I just tightened my grip onto his cor until he was getting asphyxiated, and I stared him dead in the eye and asked the same question.


    "Are you threatening me or what?"


    His bby little arms were trying to pry my hand away from his cor but I waited for a few more seconds before I let go so he could answer.


    "G-Good sir, I jest! I jest! I was only joking! I was¡ª Grchkkk! CkhhCkk! kKRck!"


    "Fucking lie to me one more time and you''ll eat with a straw for the rest of your life!"


    This time, I actually grabbed onto his neck and started choking him but another representative ced their hand over me and spoke in a soft but hurried tone.


    "S-Sir Ishiyama! P-Please! Whatever Bertrandt had done to offend you, the Garcia Family would make amends! So please! All we''d request is for you to unhand him so we could get a better understanding of the situation! Please understand, his mouth runs a little too wild when negotiating so¡ª"


    I quipped with an annoyed tone, "Hah! Wanna trade ces with this motherfucker?!"

 Chapter 788 Fear Of Distribution

    From that point on, I just assumed the person that interrupted me was just another annoying representative or whatever¡ªand I was this close to choking them as well¡ªbut once I turned my head around to face them¡ªher, I had to double-take. Her face tickled a little part of my brain but it eventually decided that it wasn''t the same person.


    ''I thought she was Mary¡­''


    Mary was the wife of Brian, the head of the Garcia Family¡ªbut in essence, the two were running the show. With that said, I also met Mason earlier¡ªwho was Mary''s brother¡ªbut I didn''t think that she''d also have a sister, a much younger one.


    This person actually showed concern over Bertrandt''s well-being but I couldn''t give much of a fuck.


    There were only a few things that could tick me off and this motherfucker went to the very top of my list. I''d probably be done with him after a quick beating but if Matthew ever heard what he said, he would''ve blown his head off without a care of Mr. Cuervo''s rules.


    Technically speaking, Bertrandt STILL hadn''t done a damn thing that was illegal in this ce but choking him out without actually killing him wasn''t illegal either.


    It''s just that there were some unspoken rules that were super obvious and one of them was not to mess with a head''s wife.


    In the machismo world¡ªor should I say Mr. Cuervo''s world, if you want to prove yourself, take the problem head-on and don''t rely on cheap tricks. Doing that would justnd you in deep waters or in his case, my hand around his throat.


    With that said, I still had a firm grip on his neck when another person tried to interfere.


    It was the middle-aged ex-military guy who I fought before. To give a short recap, I managed to knock him out with one of my signature moves before¡ªthe snapping front kick after the weight shift¡ªand I just left him confused before I won that match-up. But this time, I didn''t think he''d be affiliated with the Garcia Family and he was trying to defuse the situation.


    "Please, kid. Please let go of¡ª"


    "I remember you," I cut him off as I dropped Bertrandt on his seat.


    Bertrandt was still trying hard to get his breathing to normal but the only one who came to check on him was Mary''s sister. The guy I was speaking to just came for the purpose of asking me to let go of one of their own and he quickly lost interest in his well-being right after I did.


    He let out a faint smile, "Likewise. I still remember our fight, kid¡ªI mean, Mr. Ishiyama? Forgive me, I go by Daniel. Dan for short."


    "I''m kinda used to old people calling me that, no worries. You remember our fight? Did you figure it out though?"


    Dan chuckled bitterly, "Honestly? I might have to eat another one of those to make sure."


    "That''s a step in the right direction¡ª"


    Bertrandt exploded, "YOU¡ª YOU''VE DONE IT! NOW, YOU''VE DONE IT! YOU''RE GONNA¡ª"


    Kaley''s words suddenly entered our ears, "He''s done what?"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Stop yelling. You''re disgusting enough as is, don''t make me hate hearing you."


    To my surprise, Kaley also looked pissed and I''ve only seen her that mad for only a handful of times. She was slightly releasing pressure that was making Bertrandt sweat even more bullets and her eyes had dimmed to the point where I could barely recognize them. They used to be so bright and full of life but now it looked like I was looking at my own.


    She was slowly inching towards Bertrandt but I ced my hand on her shoulder and pulled her close. Almost instantly, her eyes returned to normal when she was looking at me but she still threw a hateful re towards Bertrandt.


    At this point, I realized that Kaley and Iing here was garnering more attentionpared to the fight that was going on so I just quickly looked around before I crouched in front of the motherfucker.


    "Listen here, you dumb fuck, learn to take no for answer. You don''t threaten me, you don''t threaten her, you don''t threaten anyone in my group just because you can''t get what you want. If you want your representative to win, get fucking good. You''re proving nothing just by going under the table and negotiating for a convincing loss."


    "Y-You really don''t understand¡ª"


    I almost smacked the motherfucker but I didn''t, "I don''t think I need to¡ª"


    "I''M GONNA DIE IF¡ª"


    "I DON''T FUCKING CARE!"


    "Good answer."


    My eyes were still glued to Bertrandt when I heard another voice but Bertrandt''s face just contorted when his gaze shifted to the person that just joined the party, Mason.


    "Time''s up, old fart."


    "HEY, HEY, HEY! I STILL HAVE A CHANCE! I STILL HAVE A CHANCE!"


    Mason chuckled loudly, "No, you don''t. Do you even know who our champion''s fighting up against? Her name''s Tatiana, she''s gonna be my woman soon¡ª"


    Kaley and I suddenly interjected, "Hold up¡ª"


    Mason turned to me with a neutral expression, "Hey, thanks for returning my stuff¡ª"


    "Hold on a second, let''s rewind a few sentences. Tatiana''s gonna be your woman?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Uh-huh. How?"


    "Isn''t it obvious? You were there."


    "I don''t think so."


    "You were."


    "I would''ve remembered¡ª"


    "The bet we did? I don''t know about you but we got that connection going on¡ª"


    "Dude, I''m telling you as a courtesy¡­ you''re wrong."


    "I think you''re gaslighting me. How can you be so sure?"


    "Ask her then," I said as I radioed Tatiana.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey, Tatiana."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hmm? Are you guys done yet? I got a fresh batch of tacos here? You should try it.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''re good. I just wanna ask you something. Remember Mason?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Who?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Mason, the guy I had a bet with earlier. Lost all his clothes and shit, remember?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah, that dumbass. Why?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "He just told me you two had a connection¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ew, what? The only connection we''ll have is my foot down his throat! C''mon! He isn''t even half your size!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    I wasn''t even done talking to Tatiana when Enrique suddenly appeared out of nowhere and took Mason drinking. I had never seen a man with such confidence crumble in a matter of seconds but our Betrandt situation was far from over.


    There were still a lot of questions to be answered though I wasn''t sure that I needed to hear them.


    With that said, Mason eventually came back¡ªlooking like he aged a few years¡ªand he shone light to Bertrandt''s actions.


    "I still fucking hate you but I''d advise you to not bother with his affairs."


    "Sure¡ª"


    "The suite and the other shit he was promising you? That''s all lies. He just lost it this morning and he was trying to con people into betting shit without putting out. He''s actually been so lucky but that just made him dumber. He just couldn''t stop when he actually broke even so he bet everything once again. He''s a gambling addict, he just can''t fucking stop himself."


    "Wait. So what was it about him running out of time?"


    "You''re smart, right? Think. What would you bet if you had nothing to your name? Not even the clothes you have on yourself? So you could, you know¡­ win it all back and then some?"


    "Oh."


    "That''s right. It''s not always fun and games in the real world. Some people in our fold need something only another person could give but sometimes, that something cannot be given so easily. Well, I''m reluctant that they''d ept anything from him but we can''t be picky now, can we?"


    Out of all the things someone could be in knee-deep shit with, it''s with a criminal organization.


    Well, I was half-surprised that the guy actually used himself as a token and when he realized that he was gonna get "distributed" to other people, he had gotten so desperate that he had to y his games on me.


    I admired his bravery but Iughed at his execution.


    ''Not everyone deserves a helping hand even if they are suffering from something¡­ Sure, they could get a few more chances than normal but there are people that aren''t worth saving¡­ Especially guys like this, they should just face the music though the tune he''d face was a little too permanent¡­''


    At this point, Bertrandt was given the courtesy to see the fight where he''d lose everything, and he was boxed in¡ªsurrounded by Mason''s guys so he wouldn''t try and run away. Furthermore, Mason had a dose of what I assumed was a paralytic of some sort so their "goods" wouldn''t get damaged.


    The only person that felt sorry for him was Mary''s sister, and she was desperately trying to convince the "higher-ups" to give him another chance.


    I don''t know what''s going on between the two but the two names were eventually shown on screen.


    Tatiana Smirnova VS Sharon de Fuentes

 Chapter 789 Masons Troubles - Tatiana VS Riri I

    Tatiana and her opponent walked inside the y area without any clue about Bertrandt''s situation, and even if Bertrandt had never cheered so hard in his life, it amounted to nothing. His fighter didn''t evenst a minute as Tatiana rushed Sharon¡ªeasily breaking through her defense¡ªand Bertrandt''s eyes never looked so lifeless once she was escorted by the medical staff away.


    "What are you two still doing here? Wanna talk to my sister or something?" Mason mentioned as he ordered his men to bring Bertrandt to their enclosure outside.


    I was just about to reply when I saw a ping for my face.


    That p actually surprised me, not because it was unexpected or too fast¡ªbecause I easily caught it by grabbing onto her arm, but because the person that sent it thought she''d actually hit me. Even Kaley saw it from a mile away and she didn''t even bother to move a muscle. She knew the only way that that p would connect was if I actually requested for it.


    Mason took a second to react, "Mari! That''s enough! Don''t bring more shame to our¡ª"


    "Shame?! SHAME?! That''s all you care about?! He saved my life and you don''t even¡ª"


    *SLAP*


    I had already let go of her but Mason pped her across the face. He never looked so disappointed toward his sister and he was shaking his head as he looked at her.


    "First of all, you got duped. Like everything he has ever done, it was all for making his life easier. He took the credit for ''saving'' your life¡ªand got a nice suite for it¡ªheck, you even fell for the guy but it all stops now. Mari, have some self-respect. You¡ª"


    Mason wasn''t even done speaking when he received a p from his sister. He was this close to pping her again but she just took off and tried to follow her "lover". However, Mason contacted his people to take care of it and he was shaking his head when he took a seat.


    "Still here?"


    "You got some problems, eh?"


    "Cheh, everyone does."


    Mason offered me a seat as Kaley already went back to our spot, and cheers just resounded after another match concluded. It seemed like he wanted to say something though when I looked around their spot, Mary and Brian were nowhere to be seen.


    "They''re probably getting shitfaced, don''t worry about them."


    "At this hour?"


    "Heh, coke''s one hell of a drug. You''ll see them tomorrow. I''m in charge, for now¡­ Well, Mari is supposed to be doing it with me but she''s just so fucking stupid¡ªmore stupid than me and I''m left to do every little thing that they should be doing."


    "I see. So, what do you want to talk about?"


    "Right, right. Are you interested in a suite¡ª"


    "PFFT! Hah! The luxurious one?"


    Mason let out a genuine smile, "Yep, that one. As of now, it''s free real estate."


    "As long as it doesn''t involve fixing matches, I might be interested. How much?"


    "Tatiana¡ª"


    "I don''t deal people either¡ª"


    "No, I want to have another chance. I wanna try again."


    "That''s it?"


    "That''s it."


    "Are you sure? Your chances are less than 1%, honestly speaking¡­"


    "Hey, forgot who''s in charge of my family''s affairs? I can do what I want."


    "She''ll beat you up, I promise you."


    "But I''ll live. If it''s Quinn, I''ll definitely die¡­ No matter how good it felt¡­"


    "What?"


    "What?"


    "You mean¡­"


    "I like strong girls. So what?"


    We unconsciously gave each other a bro handshake.


    "You know, me too¡­ me too¡­ Hey¡ª"


    "Gotcha, bitch! I''m gonna break your¡ª AH! AH! AH! Why are you so fucking strong! I''m bigger than you! I GIVE! I GIVE! Dammit, man! That fucking hurts!"


    "Big doesn''t mean strong, dude. Remember that¡­"


    "Well~ Sometimes, it does¡­"


    "Hmm, true¡­"


    "So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You tapping that ass?"


    "..."


    "C''mon, man! Just tell me! It stays between us, I promise?"


    "Haaa¡­ Whose ass are we talking about¡ª"


    "Oh~ Shit! You fucking dog! How''d your wife take it?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "That bad, huh? d you two are still toget¡ª"


    "No, she''s the one who suggested it¡­"


    "..."


    "Mason?"


    "You know what? I wanna punch you so bad but I wanna fucking shake your hand¡­ Like, for real this time¡­ You''re like the man among men."


    "Sure?"


    "So¡­ Who do you like better¡ª"


    "And~ I''m going back."


    "What?! We''re just getting started!"


    "I don''t kiss and tell as much, Mason. Especially if¡ª no, I''m not gonna even mention that¡­"


    "C''mon, man! Just give me a few tips to score!"


    "Heh. You''d have an easier chance going to the Pink House."


    "That''s super easy! I want a challenge!"


    "Fine."


    "For real?! You''re giving me tips?!"


    "Heh. Clench your jaw."


    "Wait¡ª what?"


    "See youter, Mason¡­"


    "What do you¡ª Fine! I don''t need your help anyway!"


    "Uh-huh."


    I didn''t anticipate Mason to be "okay" after our first meeting but yeah, he seemed decent. We still had a few things we disagreed on but that''s how things almost always go.


    With that said, I didn''t think that there were only a few people left and the time had finallye.


    Tatiana Smirnova VS Risa "Riri" Sandoval


    There was a lot of tension when I went back to my spot because not only was the twins taking it seriously, it seemed like Tatiana was being cautious as well. Most of the matches she was in were pretty much andslide, and there were only a few that gave her trouble. However, there was something different about the way the twins were acting.


    Riri just gave Ruru a nod before she went down with Tatiana, and Ruru looked to be paying special attention.


    She wasn''t even conversing with us¡ªas her eyes were just glued to the two and it even looked like she was also participating in the match.


    ''Wait a second¡­''


    It didn''t take long before the signal was given and like clockwork, Tatiana made the first move. Her leg just tore through the air with great velocity and it was for the purpose of ending the match in one go.

 Chapter 790 Tatiana VS Riri - I Love You

    Tatiana opened up with one of her deadly moves and her heel was already this close to hitting Riri''s jaw. Everything happened in an instant¡ªand it was supposed to be over from the get-go¡ªbut Riri predicted what Tatiana would do and took a half-step in the right direction.


    Her hair just blew wildly because of the wind that came with Tatiana''s kick but she wasn''t aware of the following kick from the same move.


    The kick that Tatiana performed was almost the same thing that I used to take down Artem but the second one woulde a fraction of a secondter.


    And since Riri moved forward-right to avoid the blow, her head was turned the opposite way from where the kick wasing. I was already bracing myself to see the impact from Tatiana''s foot hitting the back of Riri''s head, but to everyone''s surprise, Riri avoided the blowpletely.


    "WHAT?!" Quinn eximed from the side.


    It was like Riri knew that Tatiana would follow up the first kick with another but even if she was directly looking at how Tatiana''s muscles contracted, it would''ve been a next to impossible feat to avoid the blow in her perspective.


    With that said, Riri easily sunk a left hook to Tatiana''s torso when shended and she managed to follow it up with a snapping low kick because Tatiana was still confused as fuck.


    All Tatiana could do was jump back and stare at Riri in disbelief, and Riri was acting like she had it in the bag. Despite that, Tatiana wore a devilish smile on her face and she licked her lips before diving in head-first once again.


    Once they were in punching distance, Tatiana sent apact hook to Riri''s face but Riri leaned back and snuck in an oblique kick to Tatiana''s quads. However, Tatiana quickly retracted her left fist before sending it back with a snappy jab¡ªwhich Riri also avoided, but once Tatiana retracted it once again and sent it back, a cut appeared on Riri''s cheek.


    "Oh¡­" Ruru muttered quietly before touching her cheek as if it was the one that got injured.


    A few others haven''t realized it yet but the reason Tatiana managed to connect was not because she sent a faster jab, but the attack she sent that made Riri bleed was technically a jab but with an open palm. It was almost like a mix of the movements of a jab and an eye-gouge¡ªthough with the use of the length of her fingers and her nails, it made Riri misjudge the distance.


    However, right when Tatiana was about to step on her foot, Riri slid her foot sideways before sending a middle kick towards the same spot that she sent her bodyblow.


    I doubt Riri knew that Tatiana used to be injured in that spot but for the life of me, it was as if she had an extra pair of eyes somewhere. Granted there was a recent hit that she wasn''t able to avoid, but she shouldn''t have noticed Tatiana aiming to pin her down with that foot stomp.


    ''Unless¡­''


    My eyes wandered somece else and itnded on the person that looked like exactly the one in the y area. She was still looking attentively at the two fighting but I really felt something off. To my surprise, Kaley was also looking at the same person and once we looked at each other, like what I assumed the twins were doing, Kaley and I shared a thought without speaking a word.


    ''They''re speaking to each other!''


    Twins doing this sort of thing doesn''t actually have solid proof or evidence but there was anecdotal evidence that supported it.


    With that said, if the two could actually ry to each other what they were thinking, seeing, or feeling, Tatiana would be at a great disadvantage. Granted Tatiana could probably take on three-to-five people at once, something about this didn''t sit right with me.


    It would''ve been different if they tried to fight Tatiana together in which Tatiana knew what was going on but this was a little too sneaky or underhanded in my opinion. Just the psychological effects of seeing an opponent avoid a strike that would''ve been impossible to dodge was a great blow to one''s psyche.


    I just turned to Kaley to "telepathically" ask for permission and she quickly gave me one in which I acted on it.


    Ruru was still focused on "watching" the match when I held her hand and turned her head to face me.


    "Hey."


    "H-Huh? What¡ª"


    "I love you," I said as I looked her straight in the eye.


    Almost immediately, Ruru''s face turned red like a tomato and she was BSOD''ing at an rming rate. Furthermore, I gave her the finishing blow when I pushed her down for a kiss, her hand still held tight, while my free hand wrapped around her body.


    Ruru didn''t know what to do for the first few seconds but she melted away as cheers erupted from the whole area.


    I didn''t even know if I evened the odds against Tatiana by doing this but I''m fucking sure that Ruru''s focus was on something else. It took her a few seconds to return my kiss but she never looked so disappointed when I broke it off. She looked like she was ready to mount me then and there but the moment she realized I discovered what they were doing, her gaze immediately shifted to the y area.


    All we saw was Tatiana helping Riri off the ground but once the instant rey was shown on the big screen, it seemed like what I did was a little too effective.


    What happened was that moment I did what I did to Ruru, Riri''s face went just as red¡ªbut in the middle of the match, and she ate a kick that could''ve been easily avoided.


    Tatiana was still as confused as everyone who was watching but sheughed her ass off once Kaley and I exined what happened. It''s just that a few people¡ªCynthia and Riri¡ªwanted to hear what I said to Ruru to be addressed to them as well.


    "C''mon! Just say it! Say it to me!"


    "Even if it''s a lie, I''ll believe it! Whisper it to me and kiss me too!"

 Chapter 791 Suicide With Extra Steps

    Like a "man" like me would do, I negated their advances by hiding behind Kaley and using her as a shield. Even if Kaley''s humongous warheads weren''t the reason I was with her, they easily acted as a deterrent for Cynthia and Riri''s smaller¡ªbut still fitted nicely in my hands¡ªkind.


    Well, I thought themotion was already over but Tatiana went ahead and grabbed Ruru''s tits while Riri''s back was turned against them.


    Ruru could only stifle a short reaction from being touched, "Ah¡ª"


    "Shh~ Hey, Riri! Don''t turn around! Which puppy am I touching right now?"


    "What are you¡ª" Riri was about to turn around but Tatiana cut her off once again.


    "Don''t turn around! I''m serious!"


    "W-Well, you''re touching b-both! Why are you¡ª Ah! Mmh!"


    To my surprise, Cynthia actually joined in and dove right under Riri''s tights and god knows which part she was ying with at the moment.


    "Well?" Cynthia turned to Ruru who couldn''t see what was happening under Riri''s "underbelly".


    "W-Well, what?!"


    "Which one?"


    "H-Huh?!"


    "Front or the back?"


    "F-Front¡­"


    "How many fingers?"


    "J-Just one¡­"


    ? "Wow, they''re like linked together even though they''re separate¡­ I¡ª I dunno the right word for it but it''s really awesome! Do you two cum at the same time?"


    "Y-Yes! Please! N-Not here! We''re really¡ª"


    "Oh. Right. Sorry~!"


    ''Oh, that''s why¡­''


    Tatiana and Cynthia were ying with the twin''s bodies like they found new toys but weirdly enough, even though the twins were embarrassed from being groped in public¡ªas everyone else was looking at them¡ªthey seemed to be enjoying it as much as the other two did.


    With that said, the twins took shelter in Kaley''s arms but I didn''t give away my position. I was hugging Kaley from the back¡ªlike I was doing earlier¡ªbut their perky tits were obviously "identally" rubbing on my arms. In some weird way, it actually felt cozy having the twins'' warmth together with Kaley''s and we just stayed in the same position for a while.


    After a short bit, we watched another match end with a draw but it didn''t take long before Quinn took to the stage once again.


    However, just as we were preparing ourselves to see another one-sided, one-move knockout, the champion from the other side actually forfeited.


    ''Well, that means¡­''


    Slowly but surely, our eyesnded onto Tatiana and she dusted her pants before wearing a solemn expression. Well, she gave me a smile when we made eye-contact but she paused and thought for a bit.


    She seemed to be thinking of something mischievous¡ªbecause I saw a small smirk forming to the side of her lips, but it eventually disappeared as she made her way to the y area.


    At this point, the crowd just couldn''t contain themselves because the two people they were looking at right now were the best fighters in the league and these fighters were about to decide who was the better one.


    ''This fight is almost like the time I fought Mikhail¡­ Granted there were a lot more differences but size-wise, Tatiana needed to be quick and smart about it. I can''t help but imagine being between those two¡ªwell, I already did but, the fuck am I thinking about right now? A-Anyway¡­ Hmm~ I just hope they don''t hurt themselves too much¡ª''


    But right as I was deep in my thoughts, Tatiana raised her hand and said something that made the jazz music stop.


    [Umm, yeah¡­ I quit. I''ll dly take second ce.]


    "WHAT?!"


    [WHAT?!]


    ''DAFUQ?!''


    As soon as Tatiana said that, there wasplete silence for a whole minute but Mr. Cuervo was having none of it. Even if his hair got disheveled, his clothes got crumpled, and his confidence was shattered, he wouldn''t let the final match end in such a way.


    [No, no, no! You can forfeit matches, yes, but no one is allowed to forfeit at the final match! It''s the final match, Hermosa! Please! Just give everyone a good show!]


    [Did you make up that rule just now?]


    [Well, yes¡ª but! Please, it''s just downright cruel to do this to me! J-Just duke it or something!]


    [Right¡­ Hey, umm¡­ I''m thinking of forfeiting t-too¡­ Sorry, Mr. Cuervo.]


    [WHAT?! QUINN?! NO! NO! NO! PLEASE, YOU TWO! DON''T DO THIS TO ME! I''M AGING RAPIDLY AS IS! CONDUCTING THESE FIGHTS INVIGORATES ME! PLEASE! JUST DO SOMETHING!]


    At this point, the tension from expecting Quinn and Tatiana to fight waspletely gone and some people were already dyingughing from Mr. Cuervo''s predicament. Not to mention, the cut that the Cuervo Family would probably receive from the enormous wagers and bets being passed around would bepletely gone and sent back ordingly.


    With that said, I could probably guess the reason Tatiana wanted to forfeit¡ªno, it''s not because of our certain activityter, fucking hornballs¡ªbut I couldn''t guess the reason Quinn had for doing the same thing.


    Above all else, the main task I have for Tatiana was to protect Kaley at all costs and if she get banged¡ªnot the sexual way, of course¡ªshe wouldn''t be able to perform appropriately.


    It was because if she aimed for the championship, she''d have to go against Quinn¡ªwhich was what was actually happening now, and the two top fighters wouldn''t get out of it unscathed.


    Their match wouldn''t be the one-sided beatdowns we saw a lot of times because honestly speaking, the two were almost equal in battle-power though their attributes were totally different from each other.


    To give a much simpler exnation, it was like squishing together two M&Ms and the result would be neither M&M budging an inch or theplete opposite, both M&Ms getting crushed at the same time.


    But at this point, Mr. Cuervo was already promising more than twice the rewards he would be giving to the Champion of Champions but his assistants had another idea.


    Roxanne and Melina whispered into Mr. Cuervo''s ear, and Mr. Cuervo actually let them take the reins.


    [Alright. If you two don''t want to fight, how about you fight us?]


    ''Pfft!''


    Cheers just erupted from the viewing tforms but I couldn''t help but stifle augh.


    ''There''s just no way¡­ no fucking way¡­''


    It just sounded too bizarre that Roxanne and Melina wanted to do a tag-team match with Quinn and Tatiana. If it was modeling or something that involved "femininity", they would''ve won 100% of the time but actual balls to the wall, straight-up 2v2 against those monsters?


    That was just suicide with extra steps.


    Despite that, the two actually looked serious about their offer but Quinn and Tatiana wanted to sweeten the pot a little more. The two forfeiting gave them the chance to bleed Mr. Cuervo dry but they didn''t stop there and wanted a slice of Roxanne and Melina as well.


    [Well, what do you two suggest?]


    [Anything we want.]


    [Yes, anything you want¡ª]


    [No, you don''t understand. I meant, "Anything we want." If we beat you two in a fight, we could make you do anything we want and you don''t have a say in it.]


    [That''s¡­]


    [Just for a few days, not much¡­]


    [F-Few days?! That''s too much!]


    [Don''t worry, we won''t tell you to do anything nasty¡ªwell, some of them are, but I promise you''d beg for an extension.]


    [...]


    [So?]


    [F-Fine! But we don''t go bare-handed!]


    [Go ahead, no worries.]


    It didn''t take long before the participants for the final match were handed appropriate weapons¡ªtwo medium-length sticks each for Roxanne and Melina, a medium-length stick for Tatiana, and a long, long stick for Quinn¡ªand they met in the central part of the y area.


    I already had the ending in my head but I''m still not sure how it would get to that.


    With that said, once the signal was given, the pressure that Quinn and Tatiana released easily swallowed Roxanne and Melina, but the two didn''t bridge the distance from the get-go. However, it made Roxanne and Melina take a few steps back while Quinn was the only one who took a step forward after them.


    It''s just that Quinn was holding her 6-foot pole a little differently.


    She was holding it with one hand gripped tightly on one end as the whole length was behind her.


    I thought for sure that the two would rush their opponents right from the get-go but Tatiana was just resting her weapon on her shoulder with a smile on her face.


    Doing that made Roxanne and Melina a little disheartened¡ªbecause they were being taken too lightly, but all of a sudden, a wooden pop echoed before Melina was rolling on the ground.


    ''Wait¡­''


    Even the person in charge of giving the instant rey was confused as fuck but it didn''t take long before the same sound echoed, and this time, Roxanne was on her knees, wooden sticks dropped on the floor, and clutching her forehead.


    ''Jesus fucking christ¡­''


    Before this match even started, I thought the one that was likely to use moves with finesse between Quinn and Tatiana was thetter, but what I saw just now wasn''t something I''d expect from Quinn.

 Chapter 792 Strength & Finesse

    What happened was: first, Quinn took a sideways stance where her back would be against her 6-foot staff, same hand still in the same position, but her free hand was now almost at the other end of the stick¡ªthough it wasn''t visible from Roxanne and Melina''s POVs. Furthermore, the way the stick was positioned was rtive to how each of them was looking at the end of it.


    To give a much simpler exnation, Quinn looked like she was doing some sort of trick shot while ying billiards while the two could only see the "circle" of the end of the stick, a fraction of a second before they got hit.


    With that said, after Quinn took that stance, she rxed her grip on the end of her stick before she used her free hand to violently push it all the way, then retracting it back after making contact as if nothing happened. However, what exactly happened after that was leave a perfect circr imprint on Roxanne and Melina''s foreheads that hurt more than a simple finger flick could do.


    The two were on their knees or rolling around in pain was proof of that but I didn''t even notice the majority of the de Leon family shivering in fear.


    They looked like they were reliving some nightmare hidden beneath the depths of their psyche and that wooden pop was the trigger for them to remember it with their bodies. They even instinctively touched the ce they got struck and it was all just headshots.


    ''So that''s how she got her practice¡­''


    I was actually surprised that Quinn could do such a maneuver because her weapon of choice was different from that long, long pole. If anything, she wouldn''t be able to do the same technique with her main weapon because of the shape it had.


    ''Well, unless she decides not to attach it¡ª wait, that''s totally it¡­''


    Granted her halberd-hybrid could do a lot more damage than a simple metal staff, the worst thing you could get hit by was something nigh unavoidable.


    In essence, that move was simply a thrust but it had levels to it.


    I taught a simr ss before and the way to do it was to go from point A to point B as quickly as possible, without changing directions¡ªakin to a straight punch. But this time, what Quinn added was to align her staff with the way her opponent was looking at her and her weapon.


    I''ve said it earlier but in Melina or Roxanne''s POV, they barely saw the "circle" grow in size¡ªpossibly a few millimeters¡ªbefore they got hit in the forehead.


    If it got swung to the side or got thrust at a slightly different angle, they would''ve seen it easier and would have had a higher chance to avoid it but Quinn did it with so much finesse, even I would have a hard time dodging it if I was in the same position.


    ''Imagine if it had a sharpened end¡­''


    From this point on, the whole ce just ground to a stop and if Quinn and Tatiana deemed it, they could end the match and be crowned the Champions of Champions and take the enhanced reward with them plus the two they wiped the floor with. However, Quinn took a step back with a smirk as she switched ces with Tatiana.


    ''Right¡­ this was supposed to be a tag-team match¡­''


    As Roxanne and Melina eventually got to their feet, all they saw was Tatiana wearing a maniacal smile.


    Tatiana was looking at the two like wet puppies that wandered into her yard and there was a momentary pause before she looked like she was gonna tear them apart.


    It only took a second before Tatiana disappeared from their view and quickly appeared in front of Melina, but instead of swinging her stick down, her right arm was posed for a chop. At the same time, Melina managed to raise her two sticks to block but they just broke in half like they were fucking twigs.


    Melina was just waiting to get hit at this point, because her eyes were already closed, but Tatiana went ahead and switched to Roxanne who was about to back Melina up.


    Like Melina, Roxanne was sporting this red circr spot on their foreheads¡ªthat made it a nice little target¡ªbut Tatiana had other ns.


    As Roxanne made the first swing, Tatiana lifted up in the air and kicked each of Roxanne''s hands¡ªmaking her grimace in pain and let go of her sticks¡ªbefore she flicked her wrist and hit Roxanne right on her forehead, leaving a red and swollensh.


    If the first circr spot didn''t hurt, this 3-inchsh-like spot would make it feel like a motherfucker.


    Roxanne was once again on her knees, clutching her forehead, but Melina was just about to open her eyes and see what had just happened.


    What she saw was Tatiana and Quinn towering above her like this particrmpshade while she was this particr letter "I" about to receive that particr stomping.


    It''s just that unless she was about to get double-teamed by these monsters, sexually, she should be dering her loss at that moment.


    But she didn''t.


    After a short while, let''s just say the two monsters had some "creative" way of branding the other two''s foreheads because instead of just tea-bagging them, they received the Tatiana and Quinn Dick and Balls Special that required them to get hit a few more times.


    And even if we did get to see a finals fight for the women''s division, it was still a one-sided beatdown.


    Mr. Cuervo had a little bit of hope when his assistants took the reins but he looked like he aged a few years, bled from all of his orifices, and lost a million dors from this fight''s conclusion.


    But to be fair, it was still an entertaining fight to see that didn''t leave any permanent injuries¡ªbut yeah, those brands on Roxanne and Melina''s foreheads would stay for a short bit.

 Chapter 793 Oops.

    And what came after that fight were the rewards.


    Without any question, Tatiana and Quinn both took the 1st ce spot¡ªleaving Riri the 3rd ce spot because no one dared to fight against her¡ªand their rewards were even more jackedpared to what Mikhail received.


    Tatiana and Quinn would each receive five coins, a tuned and custom vehicle of their choosing plus a driver if they request it, a "secure" room in Cuervo Heights, a "Golden Ticket" for the Pink House and the Brown House, five bottles of whatever alcohol they prefer, a full set of jewelry, a tailored dress, an assortment of weapons, and a chance to have a "night" to whoever was crowned the Champion of Champions in the men''s division.


    And yeah, Mikhail received a team that could aid him with finding their allies but the two would also receive a team that could cater to their every need.


    Sure, Roxanne and Melina might fill that role but this team was more focused on let''s say¡­ the champion''s fitness and well-being.


    It was a package to receive the ultimate edition of whatever Mr. Cuervo''s female fighters and the girls from the Pink House were being put on to make them look young, fit, strong, and attractive.


    ''I''d still prefer Mikhail''s team though¡­ Just look at the two¡­ do they even need it?''


    Well, I couldn''t say much because sometimes, someone needs some pampering every now and then just to look and feel good.


    Anyway, Riri received a little lesspared to the two but she didn''t care as much because she was already receiving the treatments, programs, or whatever the fuck they awarded the two.


    Kaley turned to Ruru, "So, what''s the package like?"


    Ruru''s eyes lit up, "Oh! It''s so~ good! We get a real nice facial¡ª"


    I instantly interjected, "Hold up¡ª"


    "Not that kind of facial!"


    "Oh¡­"


    "Stop cutting her off! Please, continue¡­"


    "Right. Aside from facials, we could have anything from a mani-pedi, a full-body massage, a few different sses here and there¡ª"


    "What kinds of sses?"


    "It''s really different. There''s one for meditation and stuff, one forbat training, pleasing your partner in different ways, cooking, physical fitness, gun training, animal husbandry, hand-to-hand, and probably everything you could think of. It gets pretty boring here when it''s not festive like this so we almost always opt for something new to learn while we pass the time. Trust me, it gets boring after the nth customer says sorry for cumming too fast¡­ and it''s the same customer for the whole day¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­ Never happened to me¡ª Ack! Kaley!"


    "Shut up, you show-off¡­ Anyway, thanks for answering that¡­ and adding¡­ that¡­"


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "Aren''t some of the things you said a little too personal?"


    "Hah! I wouldn''t be embarrassed just from that! I used to¡ª Well, Riri and I used to be embarrassed at first but who cares? It''s just less bullets to throw at us in the future, right?"


    Kaley faintly smiled, "I see¡­ You got a point. It''s just sometimes, I get a little caught up and¡ª"


    Ruru cut her off, "Didn''t you two just have sex on that PortaPotty over there?"


    "Yeah¡­ but I was really horny at that time¡ª"


    "Doesn''t matter~ You did what you wanted, right? That''s what matters. Not if it''s embarrassing or not¡­ Well, that sounded cooler in my head but yeah, we sometimes do stuff we''re not cool with but it gets better with time. Once you find that special something¡­ or someone¡­ do whatever the fuck you two want even if it''s embarrassing and everyone''s looking¡­"


    I interjected, "Why does it sounds like you just want us to fuck while everyone''s watching?"


    "Umm¡­ yeah¡ª Wait, it really does sound cooler in my head! That''s one of the things I want to say but I can''t just a-articte well¡ª"


    I waved her off, "I kinda get the point you''re trying to get across but yeah, there''s also something special about doing something intimate where you and your partner were the only ones present. Sure, a few others might join in but that ce where all of you could let loose and be yourselves is something else too."


    Kaley added, "There''s also a difference between not feeling embarrassed about what you''re doing and feeling safe to be yourself and do whatever you want."


    Ruru was looking at us attentively, "I see. It''s kinda like the first time Riri and I did it with each other¡­ It felt so different and special¡­"


    I actually thought Kaley would give an adverse reaction¡ªmuch like the few who were listening in to our conversation¡ªbut like always, she looked at Ruru with epting eyes that had no judgment of any sort.


    I dunno how we got to this topic but Riri eventually came up with Quinn and Tatiana and the first thing she said was:


    "Hmm? Why do you keep thinking of whether you should kiss Kaley or not, sis? Shouldn''t you ask her if she wanted a kiss or not?"


    "WHA¡ª RIRI! Don''t say our thoughts out loud!"


    "OUR?! That''s all you, sis! Well, I wouldn''t mind having a peck or two¡­"


    I started to hold Kaley even tighter, "Hold up¡ª"


    Riri and Ruru started talking at the same time, "It''s just a kiss? You''ve done worse!"


    "Worse?! I just fucking sat down!"


    "..." Kaley tried to say a word but she kept her mouth shut.


    The twins sighed heavily, "Typical of a guy to do that¡­"


    We just started another back and forth but little did I know that the champions from the men''s division were being introduced one by one. Our banter was getting more and more heated by the second and at the same time I stood up and shouted at the top of my lungs, Mr. Cuervo actually asked me to stand up and say a little something for the otherpetitors.


    And this was what came out:


    "HAH! I''LL FUCK ALL OF YOU WITHOUT ISSUE! FUCKING TRY ME THEN!"


    [Huh?] Mr. Cuervo looked fucking surprised.


    Then the retaliation started.


    [THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME?!]


    [HE''S TALKING TO ME, RIGHT?!]


    [JUST BECAUSE YOU BEAT BENJIE DOESN''T MEAN YOU''D GET OFF SCOT-FREE!]


    [COME AT ME THEN!]


    [LET''S BET EVERYTHING ON THE LINE, MOTHERFUCKER!]


    [YOU''RE JUST STRONG WITH YOUR SWORD, PUTO!]


    [BEING A HEAD MADE THIS BITCH TOO COCKY!]


    [COME AT ME THEN, PRETTY FACE!]


    [PAPI CHULO HAS GONE PAPI COCKY, EH?!]


    [BET, BITCH!]


    [BENJIE WAS JUST TIRED WHEN YOU FOUGHT HIM, DUMBASS!]


    [FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT!]


    [WALK THE WALK, DUMB KID!]


    ''What the fuck did I do?''

 Chapter 794 Finals

    If I didn''t sign up for a beating already, I didn''t even notice how the final-final event would be conducted. I was 100% sure that it''d be the same tournament-styledder match but the one I was reading on the big screen was 100% different.


    [King of the Hill: Battle Royale! All or Nothing!]


    I wasn''t sure if it was done to save time¡ªbecause it was really close to sunrise¡ªbut as long as we wouldn''t get dropped on an ind to scavenge weapons and avoid the storm, I''d be happy to take part in it.


    ''Not to throw shade at Mr. Cuervo but this arc¡ª err, game night is too fucking long! Almost 100 chapters¡ª err, I mean, if it''s a novel, it would probably take about that long to conclude¡­ right¡­ that''s it¡­ right¡­''


    It''s just that after my little outburst, I had an inkling that everyone else would start gunning for me, but I have a few allies that might have had my back: Ilya, Niks, and Alexei.


    From the time I''ve been here up to this point, I never did dictate what they can or cannot do because their actual CO, Artem, was present. However, Artem didn''t do as much CO''ing as I thought he would as well and left the three to their own devices¡ªaside from a few games.


    And now since they were required to join the final game, if they wanted it, they could gang up on me as well.


    I wouldn''t take it against them¡ªbecause it was all within the scope of the rules¡ªbut I''m sure as hell wouldn''t let them off as easily.


    But surprisingly enough, the three approached me to discuss strategy.


    Niks spoke up, "Hey. Ilya and I decided to hover a few feet in front of you to receive the initial wave while Alexei acts as your backup. You''re good in a fight as anyone but you''ll tire out faster than you can imagine. So, we three decided to act as your shield so you could conserve your energy for the stronger ones but I''m sure a few would slip past us."


    Ilya continued, "From what you said earlier, everyone will definitely be gunning for you¡ªespecially the ones from the Castillo and the Alvarez Family, but I couldn''t say for the other participants. You seem to have made a good impression on them. I was actually worried about Benjie but since you took him out, we''ll have less trouble with his followers."


    Alexei sighed heavily, "I''ll be honest here. I''ve been too cold for far too long and I''m only gonna be a little help¡­ I shouldn''t have won thatst game¡­ being a champion is too troublesome."


    Ilya scoffed, "Shut up. Aren''t you the one who keeps requesting girls that looks like Vera¡ª"


    "SHUT UP! WHO TOLD YOU THAT?! MICHELLE?! KAORI?! KATE?!"


    "Everyone, dude. Everyone told on ya¡­ you''re weirding them out."


    Riri and Ruru suddenly had a realization, "Oh~ So, you''re that guy? Really weird, dude¡­"


    "WHA¡ª FUCK ALL OF YOU! CAN''T WE JUST FUCK ''EM ALL UP?! THIS PLAN WOULD JUST FLY OUT THE WINDOW THE MOMENT WE GET HIT!"


    I finally joined in, "I agree with that, actually."


    "Huh?"


    "HUH?!"


    "Told ya, two. He gets it."


    "I''m getting pretty tired, actually. I wanna end this as quickly as I can. If we win, cool. But if we lose, that''s cool too. But if any of us are in thest batch, either tap out or fight with all you got, because I will."


    From that point on, the three were actually in agreement in my decision because at the end of the day, the games were just a means to have some fun¡ªbashing heads and cracking bones kind of fun.


    It didn''t take long before every male champion in existence¡ªexcept for Benjie and a few others that were too injured¡ªwere now inside the y area, and the majority was looking directly at me.


    And to pour some jet fuel into the ze, I smirked before I threw them double-birds in the air for everyone to see.


    [WE''RE TAKING HIM DOWN FIRST, RIGHT?! RIGHT?!]


    [HE''S DEFINITELY GOING DOWN!]


    [FUCK IT, LET''S BRING THE STRONGEST GUY DOWN!]


    [HE''S NOT THE FUCKING STRONGEST! I AM!]


    [WHA¡ª FUCK YOU! I BEAT YOU LAST TIME!]


    [SHADDAP! I CAN BEAT ALL OF YOU WITH ONE HAND! NO HOMO!]


    [WHAT THE FUCK¡ª ARE WE FUCKING HIM OR NOT?!]


    [Dude¡­ That sounds so wrong¡­]


    [WANNA FUCKING PIECE OF ME?! LET''S FUCKING GO RIGHT NOW?!]


    ''The fuck is going on?''


    For the life of me, I can''t believe how some of these folks became champions but I''ve seen footage from way, way back. It could be a case of being in the right ce and in the right time though there were still a handful I was wary of.


    Them being the head of the Alvarez Family and the de Leon Family, Mr. Ongkiko Alvarez and Mr. Mauro "No. 3" de Leon.


    ''It''ll be on him to get injured on his wedding day¡­''


    I actually thought that I was the only head that participated in the games but it seemed that these two were champions in their own right. Granted the footage of them iming their title was probably non-existent or wasn''t recorded, their fists would probably do the talking.


    It''s just that it felt weird imagining a budget or should I say another Mr. Cuervo and a male version of Quinn¡ªbut a little shorter¡ªhaving a fist fight with me.


    With that said, the moment the signal was given, the majority just rushed at us four and it almost felt like the three martial artists who fended off this axe gang from this certain movie. But much to my team''s surprise, I actually advanced and flicked my body forward to receive the first few offerings and the rush was just unbelievable.


    The first one went head-first into my knee while the second one ate a right and left hook with his jaw.


    I didn''t even care if I knocked them out or not because the downpour was almost like getting surrounded by ferals left, right, and center.


    My main focus in this skirmish was to be in a position where I could slip in and out while giving knockout blows and a bunch of people that were red in the face, bodies ''roided up, and eager to send a punch to my face weren''t exactly the ones that could easily work together.


    This was almost like the same scenario with me and Mikhail on the de Leon Family''s turn but this time, the blows that I might receive could actually end me.


    However, the most effective way in handling a swarm of people was a direct showing of overwhelming brute force.


    Not everyone was actually aiming for me¡ªlike the Garcia Family and the Cuervo Family sneaking in shots toward distracted participants but the ones that did were now thinking of backing out.


    What happened was after I took down my first two victims, I then grabbed onto a poor champion''s arm before twisting it and pushing it forward a certain way, making his elbow and shoulder pop from its socket in session.


    The guy was just screaming in pain, trying his best to get out of my hold but before I did, I sent the ''wrong'' kick to the one that was about to perform a rear-naked choke from behind me¡ªlucky for him because I was still wearing my shoe, but it still left a deep and bruised mark on his torso.


    I actually felt one of his ribs cracking but I was too caught up by everyone else as I dislodged his jaw by a quick change-up kick by using my other foot.


    All I had to do was nestle my right foot into his torso for a second longer as I used it as a steppingdder, lifting myself up in the air and hitting the left side of his jaw.


    Yes, keeping low in the ground to stay mobile was the best course of action in fighting a bunch of people but doing that made everyone else grimace and stop in their tracks.


    Everyone knew the pain of getting an injury and it also equaled not getting a lot of work or "action", so it made everyone else question if going against me was even fucking worth it? At the end of this event, after whoever was crowned the Champion of Champions, everyone that survived was expected to have a good time, but what could they say about the injured fighters?


    At most, the only good thing that they''d experience was probably the quietness of the infirmary, probably a dose of morphine, and if they''re lucky, have a nurse give them a little "hand", but the afterparty was actually the wildest thing I''ve ever witnessed and I wasn''t even part of itst time.


    And to actually send my point across, another victim came at the right time and I kicked his dick and balls like I was aiming for a field goal.

 Chapter 795 Finals2

    It only took a second¡ªno, a fraction of it for everyone close to instinctively mp their thighs shut but I had already lifted up in the air to kick another champion''s head that got into my range.


    I easily twisted my body clockwise while I was in the air, and my right foot just made direct contact with the side of his face before he coughed out his fake teeth.


    His fake teeth were made of gold so it didn''t matter if it got stepped on, but he should count himself lucky because he''d have arger airway to breathe from because my other foot that was alsoing for his face changed trajectory¡ªdeviated from the curve and just went under and straight for his nose.


    That move was the variation of the kick I used to take down Artem and let''s be honest, one of my top fighters took it head on and fell, how could this measly champion with fake teeth and beer bellypare?


    With that said, I quickly ran to a more open area once the guy fell on his back because there were still a lot more people gunning for me.


    I could see my group busy with a few people that went for them instead, and the ones I was wary of were in the same predicament.


    Mauro was in a full-on brawl with one of the bigger guys while Mr. Alvarez was receiving any open challenges he would get from the other families. Granted the two were surrounded by some of their people, they were only present to make sure that their head finishes their 1-on-1 fight cleanly.


    I, on the other hand, was like a certain bard that bedded each woman of the people that were chasing after me, and they were here to take revenge.


    However, I was like that certain guy that kept one-hit pping each and every one of his family members from their gathering because none of them came close to taking revenge.


    I even opted for more showy moves to clear out the dregs because sometimes, throwing an overhead punch or a double spinning kick was awesome.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before the fools realized that they were acting on impulse by going for me first, so they tried to slow it down for a short bit. It''s just that once they decided to do that, I took the initiative instead of just receiving them so in essence, nothing much has changed for them.


    At that point, my knuckles and my boots were stained with different blood samples but I eventually bumped into one of the legit champions from the Cuervo Family, Zack.


    He looked like he had juste out of an intense workout but the only thing he was wearing was the same old trunks he was wearing earlier. His huge frame along with his huge muscles were rippling with his sweat and this was what Mikhail would look like if he tried to get to single-digit body fat.


    ''Mikhail''s still taller though¡­''


    Everyone else that tried to have a piece of me backed off, the same with the other people that were challenging him.


    "Yo, I thought you were smaller in person. The name''s Zack, by the way."


    "Heh, the name''s Sky. Wanna fight?"


    "Yep."


    "Alright¡ª"


    Right from the get-go, it looked like Zack shrunk several inches but he actually lowered his stance as he tried to grab onto my legs. Furthermore, the way that he ducked down and lunged at me was just too fucking fast for his size, and he didn''t even care when I was about to receive him with my right knee.


    Anyone else would just stop mid-way to save their face from being caved-in but this motherfucker felt like he could take it.


    "BRING IT!"


    It only took a second before his head collided with my right knee but the guy wore a smirk as he took it and managed to get ahold of my pants. Furthermore, his sheer weight was about to push us down to the ground and like what it looked like was gonna happen, happened.


    I wasn''t able to stop him from taking me to the ground but to everyone''s surprise, I just got up as easily while Zack was lying t on his face.


    "WHAT?!"


    [WHAT?!]


    "DAFUQ DID JUST HAPPEN?!"


    Everyone was still trying to figure out what I did but I was already picking out my next victim. Zack was still lying on his face when I left him but I was pretty sure that he would be able to get up in a few more seconds. However, being knocked out for even just a bit would count as a loss¡ªespecially if everyone witnessed the knockout¡ªand it basically means that Zack was already out of thepetition.


    Well, what actually happened was the moment we made contact, my right knee wasn''t the only thing that made contact with his head.


    I made sure that he''d only focus on my knee, that he felt so sure he could take head-on, but there was more to it than that. I mmed both of his ears and part of his temple with my hands¡ªhitting it with closed fists but on the palm side, like that monkey toy that would ng its cymbals¡ªat the same moment my knee made contact with his forehead.


    He could probably survive that blow but he''d have to sleep for a few seconds.


    Rattling your brain was a huge no-no but yeah, it would take a couple of seconds for it to take effect.


    "WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?!"


    "WHY ARE YOU FUCKING TALKING LIKE THAT?!"


    I was chasing down one of Mason''s underlings that was actually a champion but I caught a glimpse of Zack looking at me as he climbed off the y area. He looked a bit dejected from losing this early but it felt like this wasn''t gonna be thest time that we''d cross fists.

 Chapter 796 New Finals

    I just ced the thought in the back of my mind because the guy I was chasing down turned around and decided to barter with me. He had his arms stretched out like he was trying to conjure an energy ball and I only stopped to give him a bit of respect from doing that.


    "Hey! Hey! Let''s make a deal!"


    "Nope!"


    "Wha¡ª"


    I just clocked the guy on his jaw before I left him with a tooth missing and I just went on my merry way.


    The crowd just started dyingughing from that very short interaction but some of them were tuned in to the other fights.


    My group was doing particrly well, given the circumstances, but Alexei had already dropped out when he was about to get mobbed. Niks and Ilya had each other''s back, for the most part, and they were piling bodies on their own side of the y area.


    I can''t believe thest event would be reduced to such chaos but the people from the viewing tforms were loving it.


    They''ve already seen intense fights from the women''s division and since this was thest event, it was time for them to see something on the side of entertainment. Granted we could have seen the same fights on our end, it was interesting to see if the participants could make something out of it.


    With that said, I eventually bumped with Dan, the middle-aged dude that signed with the Garcia Family, and he opened up a proposal I was willing to partake in.


    "No kicks?"


    "No kicks."


    "Hmm~"


    "That''s the only way for this match to be fair."


    "Heh. What''s in it for me?"


    "Ah¡ª Well~ You get to humor an old guy''s wish."


    "Alright. But I call you Lieutenant Dan if you lose."


    "Huh?"


    "Just agree!"


    "Sure¡­"


    Ignoring Mason and co.''s curses from the viewing tform because I made a deal with future Lt. Dan, I actually assumed a boxing stance to fight fairly. I was lightly bouncing from my orthodox stance while he kept his feet nted on the ground. We were slowly inching towards each other¡ªright until we were in punching range¡ªbut I got hit with a crisp jab when I caught him about to send a frontal kick.


    I wiped my bloody nose with a devilish smile, "You motherfucker¡ª"


    "I didn''t kick you, right? I just feigned kicking you¡ª"


    Much to his surprise, I licked my lips as I ducked down and lunged at him¡ªalmost copying Zack''s movements¡ªand he was toote to shuffle back as I grabbed hold of his right ankle.


    "Fooled me once¡­"


    "Shit¡ª"


    ''No kicking still¡­ I just grabbed him¡­''


    Dan was still moving backward as I mped on his heel, but I suddenly tripped him down by pulling hard with my left arm. However, I still had a firm grasp on his ankle and I pulled him even more before I mounted him fully.


    "Hey, kid! Wait a second¡ª"


    "Ice your face after this, yeah?"


    "Fuck¡ª"


    It only took a second before I sent punches and elbows straight to his wrinkled face and he''d probably look better if he got stung by a swarm of bees. I died a little inside because I thought he was still a straight-shooter but being in this ce for so long could change his behavior.


    Despite that, he epted his loss honorably and he offered a fistbump before climbing off the y area.


    To my surprise, there were fewer people than I thought and Mr. Alvarez was just staring at me with the rest of his crew. He looked he just went for a short jog but even his hair was still slicked back and looked cool as fuck. However, on the other side of the y area, Mauro looked like he actually went for a brawl because aside from his bleeding nose, his left eye was bruised and half-shut.


    It''s just that Mauro took down more people¡ªalmost all at the same time¡ªwhile Mr. Alvarez had strict rules with his own mano y mano use.


    With that said, what I saw next was Niks and Ilya, splitting off and heading to each of the heads'' turfs in the y area before issuing a challenge.


    Niks went straight for Mr. Alvarez while Ilya just threw a "Yo! Let''s fight" to Mauro.


    Funnily enough, the rest of Mr. Alvarez''s crew gave way while Mauro was the one to approach Ilya. Mr. Alvarez was waiting inside the circle of dirt they made themselves while Mauro was about to meet Ilya halfway.


    Once each pair was face to face, Mr. Alvarez and Niks properly introduced themselves before assuming a boxing stance but Mauro and Ilya just threw whatever sh move that came to mind.


    Almost instantly, Mr. Alvarez and Niks'' fight got overshadowed by Mauro and Ilya, and their match was now on the big screen.


    Even I disappeared from their view because no one else dared to square up against me and I was just sitting pretty in one portion of the y area.


    With that said, Ilya''s fighting style changed drastically because from thest time I met him, his movements were explosive yetpact but this time, a bit of showmanship was involved. He was even rallying the crowd at one point but Mauro''s clout was just bigger than his.


    The de Leon Family was just chanting Mauro''s name and they went wild when he went for a simultaneous hit. He could''ve easily avoided Ilya''s telegraphed hook but he wanted a taste to make sure he was squaring up with someone worthy.


    However, his face just contorted from pain when he noticed that Ilya''s fist was now reced with a foot because Ilya actually threw his head backward¡ªfrom their simultaneous hit¡ªand used the momentum to spin forward and send a kick from an impossible angle.


    ''That''s almost like Eddy''s movements¡­''


    Mauro just exhaled hard and grabbed hold of Ilya''s cor but to everyone''s surprise, Ilya did the same even with the height disadvantage.

 Chapter 797 New Fucking Final

    Without even blinking, the two just gave each other a devilish smile before they smashed each other''s face alternatingly. Unlike Mikhail and Bob, Mauro and Ilya were giving each other closed-fist punches with full power. I would''ve preferred kiting my enemy and not getting a single hit but this was their fight, not mine.


    With each hit, their heads would just blow back from the impact but since they were holding onto each other''s cor, they were actually keeping each other stable. They took each hit head-on, only gritting their teeth before impact, but it didn''t take long before it became a bloody mess.


    The left side of Ilya''s face was already getting bruised while Mauro''s left eye waspletely shut.


    Looking at it normally, it would look like they were just giving each other a free hit but looking at it closely, Ilya had the slight advantage. Granted Mauro was basically punching down on the left side of Ilya''s face, but Ilya was only aiming for his left eye.


    It''s just that Mauro''s fist¡ªgranted his size¡ªwas fucking huge, it was almost the size of Ilya''s head. But not only that, almost all of the time, a huge fucking frame equals huge fucking constitution and if Ilya doesn''t finish it quicker, he''d run out of lifepoints soon.


    Their match-up was basically a David VS Goliath but this time, Goliath was about toe out on top.


    With that said, my eyes were glued to their fight but I suddenly felt a surge of killing intent that made me turn my head to the side.


    ''Who''s this motherfucker¡ª''


    Just as I was about to tell that guy off from disturbing my viewing pleasure, I had to tilt my head sideways to avoid a sudden eye-gouge. I fucking thought that Benjie rose from the dead for a moment, but turns out, it was one of his puppies looking to take revenge.


    The way the motherfucker carried himself was just too much of a fucking giveaway, and I just abruptly grabbed his neck before I tried to throw him on the ground.


    "Lie. The fuck. Down!"


    For a split second, he tried to turn it around by performing a flying arm bar but I smashed his head on the ground first before he even managed to straighten my arm. Granted I didn''te out unscathed¡ªsince some of his nails dug into my arm¡ªbut like Benjie, he''d probably be out for the remainder of this event.


    But to everyone''s surprise, I kicked the unconscious motherfucker on his torso, probably breaking a rib or two.


    ''Double-tap¡­ Always¡­''


    I was happy that I ended my match with him as fast as possible but I was disappointed when I tuned back to Ilya and Mauro''s match. I had an inkling that Ilya had a chance to turn it around but this time, the size difference decided the match.


    Ilya was already being helped off the stage by Mauro''s underlings but when I turned to the big screen, luckily enough, an instant rey was shown.


    It showed the final moment when Ilya eventually opted to purposefully throw his head back to reduce the damage, but Mauro didn''t care, he received one more solid hit to his left eye but hisst punch caught Ilya off-guard. The punch just came at an off-beat tempo¡ªtotally different from the punches he threw earlier¡ªmaking Ilya miss the timing and eat the punch with his mouth.


    Ilya''s head actually blew back without theatrics but he didn''t hit the ground because Mauro still kept a tight hold on his cor.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    He could''ve piled on more punches to double or triple-tap but he knew when to stop.


    At this point, he was actually looking at me with his only working eye, but Ipletely snubbed him as I turned to Niks and Mr. Alvarez''s match.


    "YOU MOTHERFUCKER¡ª"


    ''I''m not missing another match¡­''


    But to add insult to injury, I shouted back at the top of my lungs, "REST, DUMB FUCK! I''M NOT GONNA HEAR THE I WAS ALREADY TIRED EXCUSE WHEN I BEAT YOUR ASS!"


    "BITCH! FUCKING TRY ME¡ª"


    "I''M NOT GONNA HEAR THE I ONLY HAD ONE EYE EXCUSE TOO! YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO BENJIE, YOU COULD CALL IT QUITS NOW SO YOU''D HAVE A GREAT NIGHT¡ª ERR, MORNING WITH YOUR WIFE! CONGRATS BY THE WAY¡ª"


    Turns out, I just spilled some jet fuel to the fire and the huge ze wasing straight at me. He looked like a chiseled refrigerator that grew legs but I positioned myself in a way so ''that'' would happen.


    ''3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­''


    "GRCHHKKK!"


    What happened was Benjie''s puppy who was lying unconscious got stepped on by the rampaging gori, and Mr. Cuervo''s medical team had to run for his help. I guess they were also too focused on watching the match¡ªmissing the guypletely¡ªbut only a few people cared about that motherfucker.


    With that said, I eventually stopped messing around because my body was already cold from the brief encounters and Mauro''s body was still pumped full of adrenaline. Steam was almosting out of his body and his mere aura was enough to engulf anyone that was frail to stand in his presence.


    But that wouldn''t work on me.


    It only took a second before I released pressure that shed with his own, but to preserve my own existence, I had to aim for his weak spots.


    Mauro''s left eye was swollen andpletely shut and I just disappeared from his view when I entered his blindspot. Doing that definitely messed with his charge but to my surprise, he swung wildly and threw a left hook that was enough to break a tree in half. Despite that, all he hit was air but if I somehow got grazed with that, the final match would be between him and Mr. Alvarez.


    Dodging it at thest second made me forget to throw a middle kick to his torso but once I opted for a low kick instead, another gust of wind came barreling when he threw another punch without looking.

 Chapter 798 New Fucking Fuck Final 2

    Mauro''s first Hail Mary Punch actually almost hit me square in the head but the second one almost did the same thing¡ªbut with more uracy. I momentarily thought that Mauro might be hiding a twin somewhere, dictating my location, but that was just too much of a coincidence to happen.


    If anything, he might just have something that I also have.


    ''One way to know¡­''


    The moment I dodged his second punch from the skin of my teeth, I backed away and moved to his blindspot before I kicked my right shoe off, toward the same spot I kicked him.


    *WHOOOOOSH*


    Like clockwork, even in a different orientation, the path that Mauro''s punch took would''ve hit me square in the head¡ªinstantly knocking me out. But this time, I sent him my version of the substitution jutsu to discover one of his hidden talents, which was something I was also in control of.


    Spatial awareness.


    Just from judging from where he got hit andbining it with how tall I was, he easily figured out the location of where my body¡ªmy head would be. Some factors might be from how my body would be posed after performing such a move¡ªfrom watching me multiple times, and it was a deadly technique to have if used correctly.


    ''Or I could just be overthinking¡ª''


    I was still in the middle of my thoughts when Mauro came in for another rush, and he was hiding a smirk as he threw his first punch.


    Each of his punches didn''t contain an ounce of holding back because each of them carried a gust of wind that could blow a person''s skirt off. However, all it did was cool me down because I kept dodging him at angles his huge body cannot just as easily send a punch to.


    ''Is he aware he has excellent spatial awareness though?''


    He had great constitution and strength with his size but there were also disadvantages that came with it.


    With that said, my first priority was to kick my other shoe off to bnce my footing but Mauro''s rush wasing close to a minute. It sounded short but even 30 seconds of sending full power shots to thin air could exhaust someone. Moreso, if they had been on a brutal part of a battle royal.


    Despite that, Mauro didn''t even look tired but he grimaced when I timed my right elbow with his right hook.


    My counter definitely stopped him in his tracks because not only he got hurt from hitting something harder than his knuckles, I aimed for his little¡ªwell, big pinky and made it bend horribly.


    "YOU MOTHERFUCKER¡ª"


    Mauro was still in mid-cursing when I finally managed to loosen the shoce from my left shoe and kicked it straight to his face.


    "I''M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"


    I watched as Mauro''s face got redder and redder and the motherfucker actually lifted up in the air and sent me a jumping spinning kick of his own. It definitely wasn''t graceful but if it hits, I''m gonna be roommates with the psycho I fucked up.


    With that said, I also jumped in the air and nestled my hands on his right leg but the force behind it just made me tumble and roll a few times on the ground as I flew.


    Mauronded safely¡ªbut with a dust cloud¡ªand he didn''t even try to catch his breath as he came for me again.


    "BREATHE, YOU MEATHEAD! DO YOU HAVE FOUR SETS OF LUNGS?!"


    "FUCK YOU! YOU''RE THE MOST ANNOYING FUCKING SHIT I''VE FOUGHT!"


    "WHY, THANK YOU!"


    "THAT''S NOT A FUCKING COMPLIMENT! JUST GET HIT!"


    "NOPE!"<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    At this point, not only was Mauro at the disadvantage because of his eye, but also because of his nose because it was now bleeding from the small surprise it got. Bleeding through your nose could actually affect someone''s breathing and if you''re a huge guy who was exerting himself nonstop, it would prove difficult to continue such a rush.


    I can actually see Mauro have a hard time breathing but if I didn''t see his finishing punch from the big screen, I would''ve opted for a big move already.


    Because from the very start of our fight, I was partially monitoring the cadence of his attacks and it was all partly simr. I couldn''t figure out his actual cadence unless I was his sparring partner for a time, and one rey¡ªwhile actually dodging lethal attacks head-on¡ªwould make analyzing and processing his movements difficult.


    However, the only thing I noticed was that his rush was getting slower and slower and the power behind them was getting weaker and weaker.


    I wasn''t exactly sure if he was feigning weakness but the one thing I was 100% sure of was that I was tiring him out.


    My provocations and my slimy and slick dodges were slowly whittling him away and to everyone''s fucking surprise, he actually stopped before shouting at the top of his lungs.


    "RAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! FUCK THIS SHIT!!! I''M FUCKING TIRED! I''M OUT!"


    "Really?"


    "SHUT UP! YOU''RE NOT FIGHTING ME SO I''M FUCKING OUT! HAVE FUN WITH WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU''RE DOING!"


    "I could let you hit me once?"


    "YOU LITTLE¡ª Really?"


    "Nope."


    "..."


    "Hmm?"


    "I''M¡ª I''m so fucking done with you¡­"


    With ast act of defiance, Mauro actually picked up my boots¡ªand when I thought he was gonna hand them to me¡ªhe spun them around and threw them in different directions like the certain balls that would fly off after the wishes were granted. In turn, he got thestugh while I was stunned in ce.


    "My¡­ My boots¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! LOOK FOR THEM FOR ALL I CARE! ANYONE WHO FINDS THEM AND HIDES THEM WILL GET A REWARD FROM ME!"


    "W-WHAT?! THAT''S NOT¡ª"


    "SHADDAP! PLAYING WITH ME ON MY WEDDING DAY¡ª"


    "Actually, that was yesterday¡ª"


    "I SAID, SHADDAP! YOU FUCKING SMART-ASS, THIS ISN''T OVER! WE WILL FIGHT AGAIN FAIR AND SQUARE, NO FUCKING TRICKS! YOUR TEAMMATE HAD THE GREAT IDEA! WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"


    "Again, no. That just favors you¡­"


    "WHAT?!"


    Eventually, Mauro just left the y area with his underlings and I turned to what was happening between Mr. Alvarez and Niks.

 Chapter 799 Mr. Alvarez - Untouchable

    I''ve only been gone for a few minutes but it was safe to say that Niks looked like he ran a marathon. His sweat was dripping down from his body¡ªafter the majority had already soaked his clothes but not only that, his speed had slowed considerably and he was hard of breathing.


    However, those were not the things that mainly caught my attention because like I said earlier, Niks just looked like he ran a marathon, not participated in a boxing match.


    Niks'' face was clear of any bruises or swelling and not even a small cut was present. He just looked like he did a 10-minute HIIT workout with Mr. Alvarez but the same couldn''t be said from thetter.


    From the other side of their human ring, Mr. Alvarez looked the same as earlier but his eyes werepletely glued to his opponent. His lead shoulder was the only thing protecting his face but to my surprise, he looked like he didn''t get hit either. Sure, his slicked-back hair looked a little frazzled but it didn''t take long before I realized what was happening.


    Niks was a solid fighter but if certain restrictions were ced, he could easily be led around like a puppy.


    After he caught his breathing, he slowly inched closer before exploding in an instant¡ªbridging the distance between him and Mr. Alvarez to mere inches¡ªbefore sending in a rush of punches.


    However, Mr. Alvarez just stepped in with his lead shoulder¡ªwithout bothering to put up any guard¡ªwalking into each of Niks'' punches but avoiding them within a fraction of a second.


    This was gonna sound weird for some people but Mr. Alvarez''s head game was too fucking high level.


    Niks'' punches would either misspletely, brush off to side of his opponent''s temple, or in some cases, slip off and get redirected by Mr. Alvarez''s shoulder.


    It was as if Mr. Alvarez could read a second into the future because none of the punches Niks threw managed tond cleanly¡ªor even barely.


    I was actually surprised by this high-level disy because if we''re talking about machismo shit, it would almost always involve giving the hardest punches while taking them head-on.


    Mr. Alvarez''s fighting style was simr to the boxing champ he shared the samest name with¡ªCanelo Alvarez, a tinge of Joe Frazier, maybe also a smidge of Mayweather, but if I was gonna pick a single one, it would be none other than:


    Nicolino Lhe, The Untouchable.


    Before the world ended, I''ve seen a lot of older clips from Lhe though at first, it was apanied by meme-like music because of the way he fights. It was almostical from the way his opponents would almost always miss their mark¡ªas if the whole fight was choreographed. But once I had a better understanding of the Hall of Famer, I realized how frightening¡ªand incredibly frustrating to be on the other side of the ring.


    And if I remember correctly, one of his opponents actually refused to fight him in the 10th round not only because of exhaustion from constantly hitting air but also frustration.


    Granted we could say that I did the same thing while fighting Mauro but I would sneak in hits when I have the chance.


    Mr. Alvarez on the other hand was in his own world, ying with his food as long as he fancied them. I know that he put down bodies from his matches but it was always from a single punch¡ªwhen his opponent waspletely tired and had no way of fighting back.


    ? With that said, the two were still going at it for a while and Mr. Alvarez''s face showed approval towards Niks'' stamina and fighting spirit. Most of his opponents have probably retired much, much earlier but the one he was facing now was still firing on all cylinders even though he was close to running out of juice.


    At one point, I thought Niks would opt to use more than just punches but he stuck to the restrictions ced on him before they started.


    Slowly but surely, Niks lost the breath that he collected and Mr. Alvarez gave him this certain look as he finally took his own step forward.


    I could see the way Mr. Alvarez''s eyes changed as he took one final look at his opponent, and the veins on his arms just protruded before they disappeared from view.


    ''That''s one fast one-two¡­ ''


    The next thing we saw, Niks was on his ass but he was very much conscious. His chest was heaving up and down but he tensed when Mr. Alvarez walked up to him. He thought Mr. Alvarez would give him another blow but he offered his hand so that he could stand up.


    Once Niks was helped up, he still looked a little pissed off but Mr. Alvarez had a huge smile on his face and he even patted his head¡ªwhich made Niks frustrated a little more¡ªfor a job well done.


    He could''ve done a lot more¡ªor even won if he didn''t adhere to Mr. Alvarez''s restrictions but a loss was still a loss.


    The crowd gave him cheers forsting that long but despite his efforts, Mr. Alvarez still looked like a shredded middle-aged man, wearing only half of his suit, and sporting a slick haircut.


    Well, it didn''t take long before his gazended onto me, and he wore a bright smile as he beckoned me over.


    I slowly made my way over to their ring and I greeted him with a simple bow, "Nice fight. I''m d I watched you for a bit."


    "Is that so? I hope you''ve rested enough."


    "How about you?"


    "I''m still warming up. Those guys barely counted as a workout."


    "Same."


    Mauro shouted from the viewing tforms, "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU FUCKING EEL?!"


    It didn''t take long before Mauro got shushed by Elsa but Mr. Alvarez and I audibly shared augh. However, there was a few seconds of silence before Mr. Alvarez''s expression turned solemn.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    "Alright. I''ll tell you the same thing I said to anyone that wanted to face me¡ª"


    "Only boxing?"


    "Hah! Something like that. Well, I won''t forbid you from using your whole arsenal but if you want to beat me, you''d have to beat me where I''m good at."


    I chuckled as I scratched my head, "By limiting myself? Don''t you want to fight me at my best too?"


    Mr. Alvarez stifled augh, "Kid, I''ve watched you fight. You''re at your best when you''re holding your de, you''re already limiting yourself. But me? I''m old. You could definitely beat me if you start throwing kicks but how fun would it be¡ªfor me, to humor my request?"


    "Hmmm~"


    "I promise you this: If you follow my rules and you knock me down, I''ll give you the win and everyone in my party here will leave with me. They''re just here to, you know, remove all the distractions. Oh! I''ll have to thank you for not interrupting my fight with your soldier earlier. I appreciate that. So, what''s it gonna be?"


    I looked at Mr. Alvarez for a brief moment before I answered, "Alright. Fine."


    "Great¡ª"


    "But answer me this first."


    "Hmm?"


    "Who''s your family''s best fighter?"


    Mr. Alvarez looked at me like I endorsed a pyramiding scheme to him, "Huh? Me? Is that even a question?"


    "Aside from you."


    "Oh! My wife, she''s the only one that could get me on my knees¡ª"


    I chortled, "You motherfucker, in this human ring of yours, who''s your golden goose?"


    "Ah¡­"


    Once I finally set all of the parameters right, Mr. Alvarez turned to his constituents before beckoning one of them toe closer.


    "Oi¡­e over here for a sec¡­"


    "..."


    The guy he beckoned over was still wearing a full suit and he was slightly looking down on me because of his height. He was a couple of inches taller than me and he had a bnced physique¡ªdifferentpared to the rest of Mr. Alvarez''s entourage. However, it eventually urred to me that he had no intention whatsoever of throwing down because the reason I asked for him was to challenge him to a match first, so that his boss could rest a little, but there wasn''t any desire in his eyes.


    ''Bummer¡­ Everyone else looked like they wanted a piece of me¡­''


    Mr. Alvarez then spoke behind me, bringing me back to reality, "So? What else do you want?"


    I sighed as I shook my head, turning back to Mr. Alvarez, "I guess I won''t let you take a rest, he doesn''t want to fight me."


    Mr. Alvarez''s eyes suddenly showed delight, "Oh? You can tell? Good, good¡­ Perhaps¡ª No, that''ll be for another day."


    "Hmm?"


    Mr. Alvarezpletely ignored me, "Alright, boys¡­ We''re gonna start. There''s a few more stragglers but keep them away. Here we go¡ª"


    He was still in mid-sentence when his demeanorpletely changed, but the feeling I got from facing him was totally different from all of the people I''ve fought.


    I felt like I was a little kid that was ying hero and monster with his dad. Like those times when I would just put on a cape and hold whatever stick or toy as a sword to defeat the monster that was my dad, who would just pretend to die when I gave him the final blow.


    With that said, Mr. Alvarez''s whole body looked like it was just too full of fucking openings, my body almost moved on its own. With the distance we have between us, I was fucking sure that I''d be able to smack his face but at the same time, just from watching him toy around with Niks, he''d be able to dodge it just as easily.


    ''Hmm...''


    "What are you waiting for, kid? Move!"

 Chapter 800 PUNCH ME!

    Just the way Mr. Alvarez was looking at me was ticking me off. It was as if he already knew that I would miss every punch that I would throw at him and the ending result would be the same for each champion that he took down. But to my fucking surprise, the motherfucker just threw a sudden one-two that hit me square in the face.


    Luckily enough, it didn''t affect my eyes or nose as much because a swollen eye or a bleeding nose were bad news at the start of the fight.


    "I told you to move, didn''t I?"


    ''I can''t believe I fucking fell for that¡­''


    I just shook my head as I dashed forward, closing in the distance between me and Mr. Alvarez because even if I still don''t have a solid n to take him down, doing it from a few feet away wouldn''t solve it either.


    With that said, I tested the waters by sending a snappy one-two of my own but he easily avoided it by turning his head clockwise then stepping in to press me with his lead shoulder. Doing that brought us even closer but his face felt like it was still a ways away.


    Despite that, his body was still in close proximity with my fists and I just ced pressure on my toes so I could twist my whole body and give him apact bodyblow.


    It''s just that he turned the other side of his body a quarter of the way in to push me with his hips, simply making my punch slide to his oblique abdominal muscles and lose power.


    "Oh-ho~ Aiming for my body, eh? You''re not as stupid as everyone else who kept aiming for my head! But that''s not enough!"


    With a grin, Mr. Alvarez twisted his own hips the opposite way to send a body shot of his own. I easily blocked it with my arm but he wound it back again to send a left hook to my jaw.


    I thought it was the most basic ofbos but as soon as I avoided it with a headslip, his other fist was already close to hitting my face. Instead of a double hook that would start from the body then to the head, it was actually a triple hook where thest one woulde from my blindspot.


    Despite that, Mr. Alvarez still hit air as I ducked a few inches and tried to send a weird angled upper to his chin, which he casually avoided by stepping back.


    "Wow~ You''re really good, kid! Try hitting me again!"


    Mr. Alvarez just had a huge smile on his face as he presented his face forward though he was just goading me for an attack. Despite his overconfident approach, his eyes were focused on my whole body, anticipating anything that mighte inside his circle.


    It was thebination of that plus his insane reflexes as to how he could dodge attacks like he could see one second into the future.


    He had every right to be a champion and be this yful because he could back it up with his skills. In a sense, being slightly cocky was working out for him because it would make the majority of his opponents send one mindless attack after one mindless attack.


    I, on the other hand, was cooking up ways tond a clean hit to his face because I still needed to pay him back for that sudden one-two earlier.


    The moment the bead of sweat on my forehead fell to the ground, I suddenly stepped in with my left foot, ducked in and moved forward before I propelled myself up, sending a left hook in a wide arc¡ªwaiting for his reaction.


    I used more power from my lower bodypared to my upper body because the move was a variation of a gazelle punch, but this time, it was an experiment of mine to produce a certain chemical reaction.


    From the way Mr. Alvarez was standing, he looked slightly confused and disappointed from my choice of attack but as soon as he ducked down and stepped in, I twisted my shoulder inward to change the trajectory of my punch mid-swing.


    "Wha¡ª"


    It actually caught him off-guard for once but he was still able to put up a one-arm guard to protect his face. However, the amount of power I produced to send that blow almost made the arm he used to guard to smack his face and he actually lostposure for once.


    It''s just that once I drew back my arm, Ipletely rxed it before sending a flicker jab which he barely avoided.


    The crowd had never been so noisy because no one had ever been so close to hitting him in the face, but I was far from done with mybo.


    Right when my fist slipped past his temple, he brushed it off to the side to throw a simple punch to gain some distance and get his footing back in order. He was trying to normalize his breathing but this time, I stepped in with my right foot and sent a couple of right-handed jabs before sending in another flicker jab that woulde from below.


    "You little¡ª"


    With each punch, I was getting closer and closer to hitting him square in the face but I stepped in with my left foot again to send apact upper.


    Mr. Alvarez tried to block it with his arm once more, but this time, I broke through his arm guard but he still managed to tilt his head to avoid the blow. It just scraped the side of his cheek before I tried to throw a straight punch but he tried to throw a counter by using a left cross.


    Doing that would make my right straight deviate from its trajectory but I gritted my teeth and put pressure on my toes, twisting my whole body once more and half-stepping with my right foot topletely overpower this older gentleman.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    To his fucking surprise, my right straight was now a right hook aiming for his face because since he changed the direction my initial punch was headed, all I needed to do was to curve it back¡ªturning the straight into a hook¡ªcoiling my right arm around his left before leaning even forward and putting more pressure on my toes.


    In essence, it was almost like an overhead punch¡ªa dragonfish blow to be specific¡ªbut since I was taller than him by a few centimeters, it was still a right hook that had the power from my toes and my back muscles behind it.


    I was so into hitting Mr. Alvarez just once¡ªI made sure the one time I would hit him would fucking count¡ªbut I ended up putting a lot of power into it and it almost broke his neck and dislodged his jaw.


    When my fist collided with his face, it didn''t even feel real because he tried to make it brush against his cheek but I followed it through and he paid for it.


    Mr. Alvarez took an actual solid punch for the first time in a while but not getting hit as much had its downsides. He didn''t even think that he''d get hit and when it did, he didn''t even try to grit his teeth or brace his head for impact. He even lifted up in the air momentarily before sprawling on the ground and there wasplete fucking silence for several seconds.


    But despite that, Mr. Alvarez was fucking far from unconscious but if we would refer to his rules, he''d dere his loss if I knocked him down.


    ''People here doesn''t get knocked out in one punch, huh...''


    It''s just that this old motherfucker didn''t think he''d ever lose so he stood up before spitting out a mouthful of blood, "That wasn''t the full 10 seconds."


    "Seriously?"


    "Boxing rules! If I get up in less than 10 seconds¡ª"


    "No way, you said ''Knock down'', not ''Knockout''! D''you want to see a rey of¡ª"


    "I misspoke! I meant knockout!"


    "Are you really gonna do this?"


    "The fuck¡ª Of course, I fucking will! You didn''t tell me you could use both fists!"


    "Seriously? Am I supposed to tell you I''m ambidextrous?"


    ''Not naturally, I mean...''


    "Well¡ª No! But¡ª FUCK!"


    "Word of advice, Mr. Alvarez¡­ you should stop now."


    "Huh? W-Why?!"


    "Your knees are still shaking, I''m sorry. I put too much power¡ª"


    "TOO MUCH POWER?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! PUNCH ME AGAIN! I WON''T DODGE THIS TIME!"


    "Huh?"


    "PUNCH ME AGAIN! LET''S SEE WHO PUT TOO MUCH FUCKING POWER!"


    "I''ll definitely knock you out, Mr. Alvarez¡ª"


    "ARE YOU A FUCKING PUSSY OR WHAT?! PUNCH ME!"


    Then I actually punched the old motherfucker.


    With that said, he severely underestimated the damage he took and let''s just say the championship for the male division had never been so anticlimactic. The rest of his cohorts carried him to the medical bay and the stragglers watching us had already climbed off to forfeit.


    Mr. Cuervo on the other hand didn''t know whether tough or cry and his hair was visibly turning white by the second but a very familiar figure was perched on the fence of the y area.

 Chapter 801 Champion Of Champions

    Like a fucking deranged mutt who was about to turn into a zombie but stopped 3% of the way in, Benjie was stealing my pose that I stole from a certain person from the Uchiha n. In some sort of fucked up way, he was doing a better job than me because if his eye stopped healing for not staying put and resting, he''d be halfway to what happened to the character I was referring to.


    But with that said, he looked like he had no intention of fighting because he could just drop down now because the finals was over, but I''d make fucking sure he wouldn''t be able to stand on two legs.


    There were a lot of people here that could still stand back up even after I was done with them but even if it sounded like I got weaker, it meant something entirely different in my head.


    ''It just means that there are people still alive that could give me a better challenge¡­''


    Granted I still beat all of them, given time, they''de back stronger unless they bit the dust. It was because there were only a handful of people that I''d be wary of fighting with my current self and if these people here could still improve, I could use them as whetstones to get even better.


    But yeah, I tried to poke the mutt with a stick.


    "Yo, haven''t you had enough? I could still go if you want?"


    "..."


    "Ignoring me now?"


    I was about to push him a bit more but it didn''t take long before I realized several red dots hovering around his body. After that, I noticed that Mr. Cuervo was beckoning me toe up to the stage so that we could finally end this event that was going on for hours and hours.


    With that said, I just faintly smiled before I slowly made my way over to them, but I threw Benjie some words that only the people in close proximity could hear, before I took the final step to the stage.


    "Dude. Rest. I''m tired¡­ and I guess you are too. There are a lot of things going on over at your side and fighting me to the death wouldn''t solve that. If you wanted to kill yourself so much, drop inside and let Mr. Cuervo''s goons finish you. If not, walk back to your bed and have some sleep. I''m not dying any time soon so you can shoot me a challenge if you feel like you''re forgetting the taste of blood in your mouth."


    "..."


    "Seriously? I took your eye out, not your tongue. If you¡ª"<novelnext></novelnext>


    I was still in mid-sentence when Benjie audibly exhaled through his nose but he just red at me onest time before he jumped back and disappeared from view.


    The whole ce was quiet for a short moment but the DJ was so on point, the music took the crowd once again even if everybody was about to drop down from being sleepy. It just sted at full volume, timing my steps when I finally stepped onto the stage and made my way to the very center.


    At this point, Mr. Cuervo gave me his flowery words of congrattions while Roxanne and Melina each gave me a kiss, got a little too close to me, and sneak-touched me all over. I wasn''t even able to react properly because my tiredness was slowly setting in and the touch of two beautiful women was totally different from the strikes that could end me in one blow.


    I was just basking in the ambience before Mr. Cuervo''s words entered our ears.


    [Again, let''s give another round of apuse for our Champion of Champions!]


    The cheers erupted all over again but Mr. Cuervo continued once they calmed down.


    [At this point in time, I was supposed to give the reward and tell everyone what it is but this time, I figured that a little bit of mystery is in order. What do I mean? Hmm~ It means exactly what it means. Only the Champion of Champions gets to witness his reward but it''s up to him if he''ll tell all of you or not. Of course, his people would obviously know it sooner orter but I assure all of you, everything you''ve seen me reward the winners is nothing but a drop to what our winner here will receive.]


    Once Mr. Cuervo said that, the crowd was left speechless but a lot of them still showed excitement about the development. Not only was the reward Mr. Cuervo promised was the best among the best, but it was also something only the person who proved himself could see. And even if the person to receive it could share what it was, there was something to receiving something coveted yet unknown.


    Then Mr. Cuervo continued.


    [With the nature of the final reward, it could change depending on the circumstances but it will only be given once a year. As you all know, we kept on continuing the tradition of doing these events¡ªand yeah, we''ll still keep on doing them but the title given on this day wouldst for a year before it can be contested on the same soil. But do know this, if something happened to the Head of the Ishiyama Family¡ªgod forbid, he''ll take the title to his grave. But yeah, I will stille up with another simr title to rece it but his record of being unbeatable in these grounds will be carved in stone. You can only take off his crown if everyone present here witnesses it.]


    For some reason, I felt like Mr. Cuervo said that just to give me ayer of protection or something but to everyone here that was present, it meant something much, much more.


    I didn''t think thating into this ce by chance would lead to this point but my world definitely opened up even if our current one had already ended.

 Chapter 802 Afterparty I

    To my surprise, one by one, each person from the viewing tform stood up and gave me another round of apuse¡ªbut so much more solemn, ceremonial even¡ªto the point that I didn''t think this ce was capable of.


    I thought for sure that this ce was rowdy as rowdy goes but they could still give credit when credit was due.


    With that said, the apuse died down after a few seconds and it didn''t take long before the food and beverages being sold were given to everyone for free.


    Furthermore, every entertainer from the Pink and Brown House began entertaining whoever wanted to get entertained, and it just became a full blown party for the conclusion of Mr. Cuervo''s games and Mauro and Elsa''s wedding.


    Roxanne and Meline were getting bolder and bolder with the way they were keeping close to me but I turned to Mr. Cuervo if we would still continue on with our n.


    Mr. Cuervo just shook his head, "Hermano, you know full well that it would have to wait a little bit more. There''s another path to take, no?"


    "I guess so¡­ but¡ª"


    "Hmm, why don''t you follow the same advice you gave to Benjie. We''ll discuss everything the next day. Don''t worry, everyone will still be present after that. Have some fun with your wife and the others¡­ Roxanne and Melina might join you too if you y your cards right¡ª Well, who am I kidding? Anyone here would just spread their legs for you even without asking them. Just stay away from my wife, yeah?"


    I quipped back, "Stay away from mine too."


    As soon as I said that, Mr. Cuervo and I just stared at each other for a couple of seconds before bursting intoughter. On the other hand, it seemed like the time for Roxanne and Melina to be Mr. Cuervo''s assistants were over and they were back to doing entertainment.


    Mr. Cuervo eventually excused himself as the two were this close to sucking me off on the stage but I waved them off before I opened my mouth.


    "Calm down, you two. I''m gonna introduce you to Kaley first and if she gives you two thumbs up, we can be somece private where we could do everything we wanted. If not¡ª"


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey! What''s taking you so long?! We''ve already walked back to the mansion and you''re still on the stage! Right, bring them with you! They look like they wanted to have some fun!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    ''I guess that answers the question¡­''


    Melina stifled augh, "Whaddaya know? Your wife''s cooler than I thought."


    "Can we go now? Hmm?" Roxanne added.


    "You two really sure¡ª"


    "OF COURSE, WE''RE SURE!"


    Melina nudged Roxanne after she shouted, "Elena kept talking about how big you are, we wanted to see¡ªtest it if it''s real. She saw you fucking the twins'' brains out so¡­ we got really curious¡­"


    "Fine. One more question though."


    "Hmm?"


    "Riri and Ruru are the ones holding the number 1 spot in the Pink House so where do you two fall in?"


    "Technically speaking? I''m number 3 and Roxanne''s number 4 since the twins'' hold the number 1 and number 2 spot."


    "Oh?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Yep. We''re that good."


    Roxanne added, "Interested now?"


    "Maybe."


    "Wow. I''ve never been denied before."


    "Listen here, Mr. Champion. You hold your pretty titles given by Mr. Cuervo but us girls will be the ones left standing after everything is over. You either try too hard and fail miserably or prove you have what it takes. So, are we fucking or not?"


    At that point, Melina and I were in a casual staredown but I was just smiling inwardly when I eventually walked past them. I beckoned them over when they weren''t following behind and they just gave this involuntary gulp when I released a miniscule amount of pressure directed at them.


    I had never been so quiet when we were in front of the elevator with everybody and it even made Kaley slightly worried.


    "Something wrong?"


    Despite that, I didn''t say a word as I walked inside the elevator first but to their surprise, I released copious amounts of killing intent that could debilitate a person. Everyone else just tensed almost instantly and only Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn didn''t fall to their knees,


    On the other hand, Cynthia, Ruru, Riri, Marina, Roxanne, Melina, Elena, and Annie were sitting on their asses, either sweating bullets or shaking in fear, and I let the threee inside before I stared at the rest.


    "We''re going ahead. Don''t take too long, okay?"


    They weren''t able to say a word when the door closed on them but I''m sure they''d still be able to get in because Cynthia had the same keycard.


    With that said, the look of relief on Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn''s faces were so fucking priceless because they only managed to get inside before they lost feeling in their legs.


    Kaley shouted at the top of her lungs, "What''s wrong with you?!"


    Tatiana added, "That¡­ That was stronger¡­ Quinn? Are you okay?"


    Quinn answered half-absentmindedly, "H-Huh?"


    "A-Are you okay?"


    "Wai¡ª OH! Fuck, that was too much¡­"


    Kaley nodded, "Yeah¡ª"


    Quinn continued, "I fucking came but I peed a little¡­"


    "Huh?!"


    "Hmm?"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    As soon as we startedughing, the tension waspletely gone and Kaley and I were already making out while Quinn and Tatiana were doing the same.


    I barely managed to fish out my keycard to our own private floor but before things went further, I went straight to the shower to clean myselfpletely while the three did the same. However, Kaley was helping me clean myself in other ways by jerking me off and soaping me with her huge breasts from behind.


    And at the same time, Quinn was looking straight at me while Tatiana was eating her from behind and she was ying with her tits while sucking her fingers. I could barely see Tatiana from behind Quinn''srge frame but we could definitely hear her pushing her fingers inside herself.


    We had barely started with each other when we heard the door opening from the front.

 Chapter 803 Afterparty II

    Right from the get-go, Cynthia and the twins sprinted to where we were and they simultaneously shouted at the top of their lungs, "Y-YOU''RE SO MEAN! YOU¡ª"


    Before they could utter another word, Kaley stopped what she was doing as she leaned and bent over the ss partition, turning to me with an insatiable look and presenting her nice and juicy ass for entry.


    Furthermore, aside from the soap and water, her own juices were running down her thick thighs but my eyes were more focused on her little holes where I was the only man who could vite.


    Once I stood behind her, the three could only look in anticipation and they were stunned in ce¡ªlooking at Kaley''s expression¡ªwhen I slid my huge cock in her pussy right up to the base.


    "H-Hngh¡­ If you''re not g-gonna move¡­ I will¡­"


    I had only invaded Kaley''s tight fucking hole but she was already squeezing me as hard as she could. Her walls were even pulsating and twitching at some point but once I pulled out and shoved it back in, her body was shaking all over so I grabbed on her huge udders so I could hold her in ce.


    At the same time, I could hear Quinn moaning louder and louder while Cynthia and twins were already touching themselves, but I kept shoving my huge dick inside Kaley''s perfect little hole and she was getting louder and louder with each thrust.


    "YES! YES! YES! SHOVE THAT FUCKING DICK INSIDE ME¡ª MMH! MH! ANH! DON''T! FUCKING! STOP! IT''S! SO! FUCKING! GOOD!"


    Kaley''s hands were on the ss partition to support herself but she was slowly losing hold by the second. But despite that, I still had a full cup with each of her huge milkers and her pink nipples were getting squeezed between my fingers.


    It was fucking heaven shoving my dick into her deepest and tightest parts even though I had to work to keeping it in and pulling it out. I imagine that if I stuck my fingers with our rings inside her, she would be able to pull them clean off because of the way she could control her vaginal walls.


    It didn''t take long before we came at the same time and I just poured everything inside while Kaley squirted hard. We were on our knees as we were catching our breaths but the three were already partially undressing and anticipating their turn.


    Their perky tits were out while either of their hands were down their pants, and I bet I could hear that heavenly squelch if I moved a bit closer.


    However, I had already thought of going for Kaley''s ass next but I felt that the ce we were in would be too cramped if more people decided to join in.


    With that said, I helped Kaley up and kissed her before I led her to the living room while her cream and my cum was still flowing down her thighs. But to my surprise, we had one more neer that decided to join in.


    ''Edith¡­''


    Roxanne and Melina on the other hand were still sipping wine with Elena and Marina¡ªwho were side-eyeing me¡ªbut Annie and Edith''s eyes bulged when they saw my third leg and how perfect Kaley''s body was. I''ve seen that look of jealousy or insecurity multiple times but that was a worry forter.


    I just casually greeted them, "Yo, no clothes allowed at this hour."


    As soon as I said that, I got a few chuckles but without question, almost all of them quickly undressed though Edith was a little ufortable. All she managed to do was remove her top off and reveal her smooth skin though her cute pink bra was still on along with the rest of her clothes below.


    It didn''t take long before Kaley and I pieced it together and she just let out a smile before pulling me close, "Hey, why don''t you take care of her first? You know, somewhere more private¡­"


    To bepletely honest, I''d rather fuck Kaley''s brains out but I didn''t think I''d get to have another virgin in such a ce. With that said, I need to take really good care of another person''s first time, moreso if it''s the niece of another family head.


    I walked up to Edith though my huge dick was still erect and twitching in front of her face, "I didn''t think I''d see you here."


    Edith could barely keep eye contact, "I¡­ I didn''t think I''d see myself here e-either¡­"


    I faintly chuckled, "Don''t worry, I''ll take care of you. Do you want to do it here or something more private? You know, to loosen you up a little before we decide to join everyone."


    "That''d be too imposing¡ª"


    "It''s up to you. Do you wanna do it while everyone here''s watching or do you wanna do it where you''re morefortable? If you''re done after we are¡­ done¡­ you can decide to take a rest too and that''s okay."


    "..."


    Everyone else was just waiting for Edith''s answer but it didn''t take long before the two of us were alone in one of the rooms and I was on top of her, kissing her gently while holding her hands. She was already out of breath from deep kissing for a minute but she momentarily nced at her cute bra before looking at me.


    "Do you want me to take them off?"


    "..." Edith just nodded.


    "I want you to say it¡­"


    Edith bit her lip slightly, "Y-Yes¡­ But d-don''tugh¡­ okay?"


    "Hmm? Why?"


    "J-Just take them off¡­"


    Edith was looking away as she said it but once I unhooked her bra from the front, I just got even harder. Her tits were actually a little bigger than normal but her pink nipples were inverted. Well, they were partially sticking out now because she was getting turned on but I just sucked on one of them while pinching the other.


    "Mmh! You''re¡ª Ah! Ahn! You''re s-sucking them!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Edith''s nipples just tasted so good and a little sweet but it was also probably the first time someone sucked on them. It didn''t take long before they were fully erect but I wanted to taste something even sweeter.


    "Hey¡­"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Did it feel good?"


    "Y-Yes¡­ It felt r-really g-good¡­"


    "Wanna feel something better?"


    "Oh¡­ Do you wanna lick me down there?"


    "Yeah, that would be great."


    "I''ve seen that in p-porn¡­ I-I''m not as innocent as y-you think, you know?"


    "Oh? Is this not your first time?"


    "..."


    "Edith?"


    "I s-said I''ve watched some porn¡­ not d-did it with anyone!"


    I let out a chuckle, "You''re really cute like that."


    "D-Don''t t-tease me¡­ but t-thanks¡­ you''re pretty g-good looking too¡­"


    "Thanks! Do you want me to lick you down there now?"


    "C-Can I try sucking your d-dick first?"


    "Do you want to? By all means."


    By a turn of events, I was nowying on my back while Edith was staring at my cock as if she was in a trance. She hadn''t even held it in her hands but her eyes were following where the head would move when it twitches. Nevertheless, just her warm breath felt good in a way and I sharply exhaled when she suddenly put the tip in her mouth.


    Edith suddenly stopped, "A-Are you okay?!"


    I waved her off, "That felt really good, just continue."


    "O-Okay¡­"


    It felt awkward at some points but Edith got really into it though she could only suck me a few centimeters below the tip. However, both her hands were moving in unison to stroke me off and her tongue was showing a bit of technique.


    It''s just that a bit of teeth would sometimes get involved so she just opted to lick me like a lollipop.


    Funnily enough, Edith''s eyes were almost crossed as her whole focus was just on the tip of my dick and she went on for a while. She wasn''t even ying with herself as she was sucking me off because she was too engrossed in her current activity. However, she started to stroke me even faster¡ªbut with a confused look on her face after a while¡ªbefore she broke her trance and turned to me.


    "W-When does it ce out?"


    "Hmm?"


    "T-The white s-stuff¡­"


    "Well~"


    "Ah¡ª Oh."


    It only took a second for the realization to set in but Edith looked down for a moment before standing up. Her body was trembling for a bit but she just exhaled deeply before unbuttoning her jeans. After that, she slowly pulled down her pants in front of me but to her own surprise, she didn''t realize how wet she was because her pink frilly panties were soaked through and through.


    Edith just looked so embarrassed when she turned to me but I assured her that seeing her like that turned me on a lot. However, when I watched her pull her panties down, I got even harder because not only were her nipples inverted, but she got an innie as well. It wasn''t as puffy as I was used to but the sight of it was just pulling me in.


    ''This ce just keeps on giving¡­''

 Chapter 804 Afterparty III

    At that point, I wasn''t able to hold myself as I threw her on the bed and buried my face between her legs, and I kept slurping and licking off the sweet, sweet juices of her virgin cunt. I had my arms around her legs¡ªkeeping them apart, because nothing''s gonna stop me from eating her out.


    "W-Wait! Wait! You''re going too¡ª Mmh! AH! AHH! Your tongue is¡ª HNGH! I-It''sing out! It''s cing out! I''M CUMMING~!!!"


    It wasn''t even 30 seconds when Edith squirted on my face but I didn''t stop until she came two more times. Edith''s chest was heaving up and down when I finally let up but now she was biting her lips while her eyes were full of lust.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ You¡­ That was so¡­ Ha¡­ C-Can you¡­ you know¡­ d-do it n-now?"


    Part of the bed we were using was now soaked with her squirt but Edith just spread her legs and yed with her clit as she was looking at me intensely. After that, she even spread her pink lips apart, showing me her still intact hymen and she didn''t even care if she looked like a mess.


    With that said, I slowly went on top of her as she looked in anticipation and she gave me another kiss before she even guided my dick to her tight fucking entrance.


    "Please¡­ I can''t take it anymore!"


    I was still prodding the surface with the tip but once I slid it in, Edith''s eyes just rolled to the back of her head. However, as I pushed it inch by inch, she was letting out sharp exhales as she was trembling all over. At that point, I stopped movingpletely so she could get used to it but she opened her eyes and looked at me.


    "Haa¡­ I-Is¡­ Haa¡­ Is it all in? I can''t¡ª"


    "H-Halfway¡­"


    "Halfway?! I-I''m so full! I don''t think I can take in any more!"


    "We''ll take our time, don''t worry about it¡­"


    "I¡­ T-Thanks¡­ F-Feels really good though¡­ Doesn''t h-hurt as much as I thought it would be¡­"


    "That''s great¡­ Do you want me to move now?"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    Edith and I were looking into each other''s eyes but when I would push another inch in, she would wince and cause me to stop. However, we took our sweet time until we got it all the way in and to my surprise, my back was free of scratches. It was because Edith''s arms were just wrapped around my neck and she would just hold me tighter if it hurt her.


    With that said, I was just about to pull back for a bit and push in when Edith''s words almost made me lose my mind.


    "Fuck¡­ That''s so¡­ You''re so big¡­ I''m so full¡­ I imagine it would also f-feel so good in my ass¡­"


    "W-Wanna try anal after?"


    Edith''s face just turned even redder, "Y-You heard that? Umm¡ª S-Sure¡­ If I could still move after this¡­"


    "Alright¡­ I''m gonna move now, okay?"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    Once Edith gave me the signal, I just moved as slowly as I could before I gradually increased my speed. With each thrust, Edith would just moan softly but I was trying my best not to do it too fast. Without question, Edith''s pussy was just too fucking tight, I would''ve cummed from a few thrusts. Add to that that she was a pure maiden slowly learning the pleasures of sex, though her mind was filled with curiosity and experimentation.


    It didn''t take long before I was thrusting at a moderate speed but I suddenly sped up when I felt that she was about to cum.


    "AH! AH! AH! YES! FUCK! ME! AH! HNGH! I''M CUMM¡ª AH! MMH! IT''S COMING AGAIN! AH! AH! AHHHHH~!!!"


    And despite all of that, Edith didn''t even think of wing my back like the twins did but it was overall a great experience.


    Edith''s grip on my cock was just too fucking hard, I had to have a release of my own. She was still cumming hard when I released everything inside her tight pussy and her eyes just rolled over once again when she felt the warmth inside her.


    I just stopped momentarily as I looked at her face and this time, Edith gave me a beautiful smile instead of looking away.


    She gave me another kiss when we were catching our breaths but to our fucking surprise, this private room wasn''t as private as we thought.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey! She''s gonna fall in love with you if you do more! Why don''t you twoe out here so we could do more than just watch?!]


    *bzzt*


    -<novelnext></novelnext>


    As soon as Edith heard that, she looked like she wanted to grab onto the nearest thing that could cover her but she stopped midway and forgot about it. Her face was still red when she turned to me but she pulled me close as she whispered in my ear.


    "Thank you¡­ Maybe you can f-fuck my ass while everyone''s watching¡­ Well, everyone''s watching the whole time but it was still special¡­ I might get to taste itter too, right?"


    "Yeah, thanks for picking me to be your first."


    "No, I should be thanking you!"


    "Alright, want some help cleaning up? Can you stand?"


    "I can¡ª Wait¡­ Umm¡­"


    "I can carry you to the showers? You know, until the feelinges back¡­"


    "A-Alright¡­"


    With that said, I carried her in my arms and funnily enough, Edith was back to being her shy self and it didn''t help when everyone gave her a round of apuse when we walked out of the room we were in. She just buried her face in my chest while I red at everyone for spying on her when she lost her virginity.


    I didn''t think that there''d be hidden cameras in the room and probably Cynthia was the only one who knew about them. She must''ve done that for revenge for leaving them for a short bit but I 100% knew that it was just to satisfy her own kinks. I knew full well that she liked to watch people but little did I know that this floor was specifically built for her.


    It didn''t take long before I helped Edith with cleaning up and having another shower myself, but the sexual tension when we walked into the living room was just fucking insane.


    I felt like I was in full control when I was with Edith but this time, it felt like I was about to be devoured whole.


    Each and everyone of the beauties inside this floor was fully naked, a little tipsy, and dripping down to the side of their thighs, and they all had one thing in mind.


    Without further ado, I was dragged away from Edith and sat down in the middle of thergest couch and the twins sat on each of my sides while Roxanne and Melina were the first ones to kneel in front of me.


    "Fuck¡­ It IS big¡­"


    "Didn''t you see it on the TV?"


    "I''m talking about when it''s right in your face, shit¡­ I''m gonna have a taste now¡ª Rox! That''s¡ª Ugh!"


    I just watched the two almost fight when Roxanne was the first one to take me in her mouth, but Melina fought by tilting her head to the side and licking the side of my shaft. Both of their tongues were working my dick along with their mouths but the twins had other ns in mind.


    I saw Kaley bring Edith and Annie to the kitchen bar while Tatiana and the rest disappeared somewhere, but the twins took each of my hands and ced them in their wet spots.


    "Who''s who? Can you still tell?" Ruru and Riri asked simultaneously.


    I shook my head, "Riri''s on the right, Ruru''s on the left."


    "You¡ª How?!"


    "I ain''t telling you how, I just know! Ah¡ª" I suddenly felt teeth on my dick and I had to look down.


    Melina was ring at me while Roxanne was still busy sucking the tip of my dick.


    "Look at me while I''m sucking you off, Mr. Champion. That''s rude."


    At this point, I didn''t know whether Melina was this much of a tight-ass but I had fucking enough. If I didn''t put her in her ce right now, she''d continue to step on me like I liked it.


    "Didn''t take the hint earlier, eh?"


    "Hmph! You¡ª"


    I let out a tiny bit of pressure, "Shut up."


    To Melina''s surprise, I grabbed her throat and lifted her up in the air with one hand and choked her in the air for a few seconds. She was squirming as she was trying to get away from my grasp but Iid her down when she was about to pass out. However, I still kept a tight grip on her neck before I started fucking her throat and I didn''t let up until she was squirting over and over.


    Tears were falling down her face as her mascara was running the opposite way, but I didn''t even give her the satisfaction of tasting my cum after putting her through that punishment.


    I turned to Roxanne who was just watching her partner get roughed up before I propped up her legs and shoved my dick inside her little asshole. It only took a few thrust before I let everything inside but I kept fucking her inside out while all Melina could do was watch. Granted she had a release of her own but she actually was craving for the white stuff my cock could only provide.


    It''s just that I felt like she was intentionally irking me to get tossed around like a ragdoll.

 Chapter 805 Afterparty IV

    Each and every person had different kinks but in my book, if you just wanted to get fucked hard, all you had to do was fucking ask. There was no fucking need for cruel words or actions to get a violent reaction, but in some fucked up way, that was the only way she could get off harder than usual.


    In a sense, I gave her what she wanted but my focus was on Roxanne right now.


    Like Melina and the majority of the girls from the Pink House, almost all of them had sexy-athletic bodies and the only difference they had was through gics. They were trained in the same way, ate the same food, but how big their tits, how round their asses, or how creamy they got were entirely up to the individual.


    I had just came from hate-fucking Melina''s throat and Roxanne''s ass was also getting punished for it. I left a gaping hole after I calmed down and came to my senses but it seemed like she wanted more. However, the twins had enough of watching and they decided to join in the action.


    As my cum was still dripping out of Roxanne''s gaping asshole, Riri knelt down in front of her and started eating her ass and my essence. But at the same time, Ruru sat on Roxanne''s face, making Roxanne eat her pussy while she was prodding the surface of her asshole.


    I thought I had to find a new hole to fuck but Riri was waving her ass from below, presenting her own.


    "You could pick either one, but you should cum in each of them, okay?"


    "Understood."


    I didn''t even need to think as I shoved my dick inside Riri''s cunt while I tried to spread open her little asshole with my thumbs. Since her pussy had only been fucked once, she''d still moan in pain but the pleasure far outweighed the pain she was feeling.


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT''S SO DIFFERENT FROM MY ASS! UGH... IT''S JUST SO DIFFERENT THAT-- MMH! IT''S HITTING SOMETHING INSIDE THAT MAKES ME-- MMH! THERE! AGAIN! AGAIN! HIT THAT SPOT! HIT THAT SPOT!"


    It wasn''t even a full minute when Riri squirted on the spot and Ruru instantly followed right after. Riri squirted on the carpet while Ruru squirted on Roxanne''s face and I thrust it in a few more times before I suddenly switched to her puffy asshole.


    "YOU--"


    I wasn''t in a particr hurry but Tatiana, Quinn, Cynthia, Marina, and Elena disappearing the moment I came to the living room doesn''t bode well in my head though I could be overthinking like I always do.


    ''Well, I could only do so much at a time...''


    With that said, Riri was now using Roxanne''s body as a pillow as I fucked her ass while Ruru had gone ahead and was now having fun with Melina''s butt. When I turned to the kitchen bar, I saw Kaley alternately making out with Edith and Annie though their fingers were exploring each other''s pink openings.


    ''Wait a second...''


    I stopped what I was doing and looked for a certain remote but Riri pointed at the one that was sitting by the table so I could continue fucking her.


    With one push of a button, the huge TV screen disyed the other five tangled with each other''s bodies though Tatiana was wearing my silicone incarnate while Quinn was equipped with the same thing but proportioned to the rest of her body.


    Well, it didn''t take long before Cynthia and Marina got up and picked up a strapon, and Elena''s face couldn''t hide the excitement she was feeling.


    It didn''t take long before Elena took the biggest dildo in her pussy, two in her ass, and a thick one in her mouth all at the same time. For a moment there I thought she wouldn''t be able to take the one Quinn was wearing halfway but she took it in like a fucking champ.


    Even Kaley was staring in shock from what she saw and I couldn''t even exin Edith''s expression when she saw such a scene happening. However, Annie''s interest was piqued and she quickly changed locations and left the two to get filled up.


    "Hey... don''t neglect me..." Riri''s soft voice entered my ears.


    Once I looked down, all I saw was Riri ying with her clit while my dick was still inside her ass, and at the same time, Roxanne was tightly squeezing RIri''s tits. I got too engrossed from what I saw at one point but I made it up to her by lifting her up and fucking her with the help of gravity.


    Each time I lifted her up, I''d just let her fall down and get impaled in her asshole, and I made sure that her asshole grew three sizes before I switched to her twin sister.


    In Ruru''s case, she wanted to get both of her holes filled up but the closest thing we had in the immediate vicinity was my dick and a wine bottle, and Riri helped her get off in a matter of seconds.


    At this point, I was already done with everyone in the living room plus the kitchen so I went ahead and went inside the room Tatiana and the rest disappeared to.


    The moment I opened the door, loud moans and squelching sounds were all I could hear and this time, Annie''s asshole was getting destroyed by Quinn''s dildo. She was squirting each time Quinn shoved it all the way in but she was beckoning me over so we could spit roast her.


    It''s just that I literally went behind their backs and opted for Quinn''s asshole instead, shoving it in after moving the straps to the side.


    "YOU FUCKING--"


    "Do you want me to stop?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "..."


    "I guess not."


    Quinn''s asshole kept getting stretched by my huge cock and she was having a hard time giving and receiving at the same time. She was even just dragging along Annie at one point, but what made everyone in the room stop what they were doing, was when I snatched Quinn''s strapon off and I lifted her up, spreading her legs while fucking her ass.


    "YOU IDIOT-- YOU''RE--"


    I didn''t give a fuck if she never felt so exposed but a couple of deep thrusts inside her made her cover her face in embarrassment. Seeing Quinn like that especially made Annie, Elena, Cynthia, and probably even Edith surprised because she could also see what was happening from the living room.


    It was because Quinn had always been the Alpha-Bitch and seeing her getting dominated and instantly giving up was very uncharacteristic of her. Well, my biceps would be fucking soreter but it was well worth it.


    At one point, I pinned Quinn to the wall before I switched to her meaty pussy but I felt something approaching my butt so I quickly put a stop to that madness.


    "No, you don''t."


    "W-Why?"


    "Because I said so."


    I discovered that it was actually Annie--not Elena--who tried to dominate me instead, but that was a mistake she shouldn''t have thought of doing in the first ce.


    Let''s just say that it only took a second before Kaley, Tatiana, Quinn, and Cynthia filled her holes until she passed out because she wanted something forbidden. Well, it seemed like Elena wanted to receive what Annie got but she asked for it nicely.


    After a few more hours or so, I just woke up aching all over and I couldn''t even remember whose pussy, ass, or mouth I camest because I was waking up in between with different girls riding me while I was passing in and out of consciousness. And luckily enough, Kaley made sure my chastity was safe in their care but the person in question wasn''t among the naked women sleeping next to me.


    ''Where is she? Edith too... Oh.''


    After fumbling through Tatiana and the rests'' sleeping bodies, I came upon the restroom where Edith was actually fucking Kaley with a strapless dildo.


    They were both looking at each other through the mirror but it didn''t take long before their gazended on me, and a smile slowly formed on their faces.


    "Good morning~"


    "''Morning..."


    "Wanna join us?"


    "You two haven''t slept yet?"


    "No, we just woke up. Edith asked to, you know..."


    Edith added, "And you still haven''t... you know..."


    "Oh. Right... Wanna do it now?"


    "R-Really?! Can we do what you, Quinn, and Annie did? Before the... you know... the exorcism?"


    "Exorcism? Hah! That''s a nice way to call it."


    Kaley chuckled, "Well, it sounded like it. So, Edith''s gonna fuck me in the ass while you do the same to her?"


    "I guess?"


    Edith had never been so excited, "Let''s do it!"


    Long story short, I took all of Edith''s "firsts" while Kaley did the same. Granted they were with Annie when Edith got her first girl-on-girl experience but all they did was kiss and touch each other before Kaley did the whole she-bang as a girl.

 Chapter 806 Bweakfast And Summons

    After a short bit, we three eventually finished and cleaned up before we decided to make some breakfast¡ªfood, for everyone. I didn''t even know what time it was because my watch was in the pile of clothes we left on the floor and yeah, we were just wearing aprons on top of our naked bodies.


    With that said, I noticed that Edith was actually adept at cooking and she led Kaley and me to prepare an energizing and filling meal.


    Edithmented, "Your knife work is insane! How did you learn to do that?"


    "I dabble a bit but I guess a bit of kenjutsu trantes to knife work."


    "Huh?"


    "Oh, right. It''s just an umbre term for swordsmanship in Japan. But yeah, it''s actually easier to cut down humans than to¡ªwait, I haven''t even thought of how to properly butcher a person when¡ª"


    Kaley cut me off, "Can you stop thinking like that while we''re preparing food?!"


    Edith followed, "That¡­ that''s actually scary¡­"


    I scratched the back of my head, "Right¡­ sorry¡­"


    Then we heard a voice from behind.


    "Nothing like some good food first thing in the morning~ Need some help? Tasting, I mean¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "Is it even still morning, Tatiana?"


    "Oh. Right, it''s probably noon or something¡­"


    One by one, everyone else woke up and followed the smell of food though we strictly made them take a shower first to clean themselves. However, some of them couldn''t help but "revisit" what we did earlier as they had a quick one with themselves in the bathroom.


    With that said, once everyone was ready, we ate at the same time and their eyes just lit up once their tongues had a taste of Edith''s cooking.


    "Wow! This is good!"


    "You cooked this, right? Cook for me again when you go to my ce."


    "Actually, that''s all Edith¡ª"


    "Wait! No! Everyone helped! I''m a little clumsy so all I had to do was¡ª"


    "Hah! Still can''t ept apliment, huh?"


    "Well¡­ Is it really good?"


    "Yep, you''ll make a great housewife¡ª"


    "HOUSEWIFE?!"


    "Hey! W-What about me?! I did good, right?! Don''t lie, alright?! I''ll know!"


    "Oof! Jealousy this early in the morning?"


    "Again, isn''t it noon or something already?"


    "Hahahaha!"


    "Where''d my crispy bacon go? You! Food thief!"


    "You weren''t eating it! I thought you hated it!"


    "I WAS SAVING IT FOR LATER!"


    "T-There''s more in the oven! D-Don''t fight!"


    "The ones in the oven? I already ate them¡­"


    "TATIANA!"


    "What? No one was touching them¡­"


    "I swear to fucking god, I''ll stuff with all the dildos I could get my hands on¡ª"


    "Hey! Don''t talk like that while we''re eating!"


    "Says the one who could fit several at the same time!"


    "Jokes on you I''m still tight as fuck! I can probably skin a dick if I mp hard enough¡ª"


    "GUYS! PLEASE! WE''RE EATING!"


    "Right, sorry¡ª"


    "Speaking about dicks, can we go again? You were pretty tired yesterday and I still¡ª"


    "CAN WE STOP TALKING ABOUT DICKS WHILE I''M EATING THIS FUCKING SAUSAGE?!"


    "Eat a dick, Rox!"


    "Did you just¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "That was actually on point, I''m impressed¡­"


    "I give up¡­"


    Long story short, brunch was pure chaos but I did spend some alone time with Kaley while the rest had already said their goodbyes. While we''re still here, some of us still had responsibilities in this ce and it didn''t take long before I received a summoning. I thought it wouldn''t be held until the next day but I guess we were doing it now.


    There was a single telephone by the kitchen and it rang the moment Kaley and I were ready to head out and check on everybody.


    [Hermano. 15 minutes. You can use your ess card to get to floor C-2. You can wait by the lobby and¡ª]


    "Can I bring Kaley?"


    [What? Why?]


    Kaley was giving me a look of concern but I gave her a knowing look before she nodded solemnly, "Is Benjieing?"


    [Yeah¡­]


    "Elsa?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    [Uh-huh¡­ Quinn too. That reminds me¡­ you''re with her, right?]


    "I''m not her mom, no. I don''t know where she is now. Is Mr. Alvarez''s right hand alsoing?"


    [Alright, kid. I get it. You can bring her, I see no problem.]


    "Heh, see you soon."


    [Yeah¡­]


    Like a decent human being, Kaley and I went down to Floor C-2 10 minutes before the appointed time. However, we were the only ones there though a bit of refreshments were on the small table by this other door. I thought we''d actually have the meeting on Mr. Cuervo''s personal floor but I guess he had made some recent renovations.


    *10 minutester*


    "Are we on the right floor?"


    "Maybe everyone''s running a littlete¡­"


    *15 minutester*


    "Yep¡­ we''re in C-2¡­ checked the floor number thrice¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    *20 minutester*


    "Shouldn''t we check-in and see if we''re¡ª"


    "I''m gonna give them a nice~ talking to once they all arrive here¡­"


    And like fucking clockwork, we finally heard a soft ding before the elevator door opened up. I had already written a fucking speech to reprimand everyone from beingte but I stopped in my tracks when I saw Benjie''s ugly mug.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Benjie was the first one to crack, "Edgelord, no one''s here yet?"


    "Edgelord?"


    "You''re not the only one who could give fucking nicknames."


    "Fair. We''ve been here a while. So, to answer your question¡ª"


    "Fucking pieces of shit, EVERYONE''S ALWAYS FUCKING LATE AND I ACCOUNTED FOR THEIR LATENESS! HOW CAN THEY FUCKING DO THIS EVERY FUCKING TIME!"


    I actually thought that Benjie would fucking trash the whole lobby but he just sat on the farthest stool and just grumbled to himself. For a moment, I thought he was putting a curse on everyone who was fuckingte but our attention was directed to the soft ding of the elevator.


    It only took a short moment before we saw Mr. Alvarez walk out of the elevator¡ªwith his personal bodyguard¡ªbut he gave me, Kaley, and Benjie one look before pinching his be and sighing heavily.


    "I guess we''re early this time, we''lle backter¡ª"


    "Wait a fucking minute! Where the fuck''s everyone?! We''ve been here for almost an hour!"


    Mr. Alvarez let out a chuckle, "Hah! First time?"


    "You can''t be serious¡­"


    Benjie grumbled from the furthest part of the room, "Everyone''s fuckingte and if I leave, I get chastised¡­ Fucking pieces of shit, handing out summons and being fuckingte those fucking¡­"


    Mr. Alvarez scratched the side of his cheek, "That kid''s got a point. Don''t worry, they''ll all be here soon. I actually thought we''ll hold this tomorrow but I got the call from my drinking buddy, so here we are! People here can''t adjust that fast to change in ns, it''s pitiful! Pitiful, I tell ya!"


    "There should be a rule or something to shave the mustache or leave a bald spot in someone''s head when they''re fuckingte¡­"


    "Hah! That reminds me, how many gold coins do you have in total? You can totally make that rule if it passes!"


    "Seriously?"


    "Seriously! It''s just too stupid of a rule to pass but I guess it could do wonders if it''s implemented, no?"


    "But¡­ how does that work?"


    "The what?"


    "Passing rules? Honestly, no one has briefed me on all of their usages."


    "Ah. I see, I see. Hmm~ It has been a while since we got a fresh new head but if we''re talking about passing absolute rules¡­ our whole organization could pass up to ten in total. We follow them to the dot but it gets expensive depending on the situation."


    "Can you give an example?"


    "Hmmrghmm~ I''ll give the easiest one. You remember the number 1 rule here?"


    "No killing while inside the premises?"


    "That''s the one. If you want to abolish that and rece it with another¡ª Hmm, can you give a guess as to how much it would cost? Just for fun?"


    "Hmm, 10,000 coins or something?"


    "Hah! How about a million!"


    "A million? Seriously?! How many coins do you have to win to get to that point?"


    "Heh. Don''t forget our guy''s the one who introduced that system way, way~ before we grew to this size. So, he got that first rule for free. And since everyone was in agreement to that rule, each head supported it and decided on that value. Cool, huh?"


    "Is anyone even close to a million coins?"


    "Hah! No one''s even close to 10,000, kid. Think of it as disying something like an~ umm¡­ a diamond-studded rolex in a shop but your shop is in the slums. You could definitely try to buy it if you have the cash but you''ll soon find out that it''s actually not for sale."


    "I don''t understand."


    "If someone wanted to overwrite a rule, other heads could also oppose it. Let''s say, I wanted to abolish the don''t mess with my car rule for 1,000 coins, someone or a collective could match it or give more to the house to keep it instead, further increasing the amount of coins to try and rewrite it."


    "I see¡­ Wait, is that rule real or is that just an example?"


    "What? That''s the first rule I put down! No one''s fucking touching Eleanor!"

 Chapter 807 GT500s - Shall We?

    Once I heard that familiar name, it didn''t even take a second for a 1967 gray Shelby GT500 with ck stripes to appear in my head. I could still vividly remember that film from Mr. Nick Cage but some older folks or movie enthusiasts would definitely bring up the much earlier one.


    With that said, Mr. Alvarez and I shared one look before we became brothers in arms¡ªcars, and he lost his mind when he discovered that I was the one who made Mr. Cuervo''s new custom ride.


    "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Wait a fucking second! You really made that?!"


    "Yep. With some help, of course."


    "FUUUU~~~ Do you have a shop like Quinn''s?"


    "No, but we have the right tools and people for it."


    "That''s already better than hers!"


    "Really?"


    "Shit, if it''s Quinn or whatever the fuck those cueball fuckheads we''re talking about, it''s either keeping the "original" or pimping it out Mad Max Style! Her own ride wasn''t even keeping true to its original release! They can do custom work but they charge so fucking much!"


    "Ah. I see¡­"


    "Hmm? You don''t sound too interested."


    "No, no. I was just thinking that if you''re gonna hire me to make that Shelby into a lowrider, I''ll just find another car to¡ª"


    "Hold up! Kid, if my ride got turned to a lowrider, I''ll fucking shave my head and my beautiful mustache. I''m not interested in a lowrider right now but I''m more interested in your¡­ style, so to speak."


    "I see, but¡­ I believe I didn''t see any semnce of an "Eleanor" on your spot when you and your guys drove in. Is it at home?"


    "Actually, it''s at Quinn''s¡­ I left it there for a little upgrade."


    "Oh?"


    "Yep. Wanna see pictures?"


    "You still have your phone like me, huh¡ª"


    "Hah?"


    "..."


    Once Mr. Alvarez pulled out a proid picture from his suit, I didn''t know whether to bang my head on the counter or pull all my hair out because I didn''t assume he meant physical pictures. Hell, even pictures printed on photo paper were almost nonexistent but the motherfucker had something even older.


    However, I just fucking lost it when "Eleanor" wasn''t actually an Eleanor, it was a fucking Ellen or an Elizabeth.


    It wasn''t a fucking 1967 Shelby GT500 but a fucking 2014 Shelby GT500!


    And even if it had the same color scheme, it was more than fucking decades apart!


    "Mr. Alvarez¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You''re pulling my leg, aren''t you?"


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "That''s a 2014 model¡­ not a ''67¡­"


    "Are you kidding me?! Where the fuck can I find a fucking ''67 model?! I''m fucking loaded but I can''t just throw money in the air and make it appear like magic! I''m just calling it Eleanor for nostalgia''s sake!"


    "Alright, alright¡­ I get it. Haaa¡­ but this¡­ this actually works in your favor."


    "Hmm? How?"


    "But tell me first, what little upgrade did you get from Quinn?"


    "Some engine-car thingy she sold me a while back. She said she''s gonna do something to it to remove that annoying whine. But what works for me?"


    "From some unfortunate ident, we dented her car¡ª"


    "YOU FUCKING WHAT?! HOW ARE YOU STILL FUCKING ALIVE?! YOUR ASSHOLE SHOULD BE FUCKING YAY~ BIG RIGHT NOW!"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "I guess I got lucky. Anyway, I promised her I''d fix it and since I''ll machine her a new body for her car, I could do the same for you."


    "Wait a sec. There''s nothing wrong with the body of my car."


    "Do you want to have a ''67 or not?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "What do you¡ª Oh!"


    "Yep. While Quinn''s working on your engine, I could make a custom body for your 2014 model to look like the ''67 model. It wouldn''t be the exact same but really~ fucking close to it. Just imagine it a little wider ''67 with suave-looking res from the side."


    "Looking like a ''67 but still had the features of the 2014, right?"


    "Exactly."


    At this point, Mr. Alvarez looked exactly like Mr. Cuervo the first time I showed him his lowrider but we were still deciding the specifics of his build. Granted it was simr to just buying some recement body kits but custom work like this¡ªespecially if there would be personal touches from the owner and the people building it¡ªin the old world, it would''ve cost more than a pretty penny.


    In some way, the two of us found a way to pass the time and one by one, each of the family heads arrived.


    The first one to follow after us were Mauro and Elsa, followed by Castro who was now the head of the Castillo Family, in casual conversation with Sal and Edith. Mary and Brian on the other hand were a little busy critiquing the decor but they did acknowledge everyone''s presence by dropping in and out of conversations.


    It''s just that the only ones who fully joined in the conversation between me and Mr. Alvarez were Quinn and Mauro. Everyone else had their own conversation going on but once I looked around to Benjie''s spot, he was actually in some sort of conversation with Kaley.


    I was this fucking close to going between the two but Quinn held my shoulder and whispered, "Trust your wife a bit more, yeah? She''s not an idiot."


    "I trust my wife but I don''t trust Benjie, conversation over."


    I tried to brush her arm off but Mauro also held me down by putting his hand over my other shoulder.


    "Chill, bro. I don''t like the guy either but he''s not stupid. He''s a fucking wilding but he follows our rules to the dot. No one''s touching our wives without reason or provocation and just to add this bit, it''s not his style. He''d rather fight you right now but I''ll opt to go first. I hate other people fighting my battles for me."


    "..."


    Mr. Alvarez joked, "Honestly, I''m more afraid of your wife."


    I eventually sat back down but for the life of me, I don''t know what came into Kaley''s head by trying to talk to the guy that tried to kill me multiple times by using yesterday night''s games as an excuse, because if I remember correctly, she''d kill for me as much as I would kill for her. She even almost shot Arthur from back home after that certain incident and now I''m wondering why she looked like she wanted to know about that dog¡ª mutt¡ª person.


    After a few more ufortable minutes of trying to talk to the three while side-eyeing Kaley and Benjie, the motherfucking schmuck who arranged this meeting finally revealed himself.


    ''You gotta be kidding me.''


    Mr. Cuervo was actually already on the other side of the door where the refreshments were ced and he was just casually waiting for everyone to arrive. He beckoned us over after making Roxanne and Melina open the door, and right behind him were Zack and Cody.


    This time, the two were wearing formal attire and they were definitely custom-made for their sizes.


    With that said, there was a round table in the middle of the room we were in and there were seven chairs¡ªone of which was where Mr. Cuervo was already seated, though there were extra seats for the plus ones or plus twos located further back.


    I for sure thought that the fucking wait was over but there was an issue with the seating arrangements¡ªthe one where the head of the de Leon Family was supposed to sit, and Quinn and Mauro were tightly gripping each side of the chair in question.


    "Didn''t you marry into the Rivas Family? Fucking let go! This is my seat!"


    "I can be married to the Rivas Family and still lead my own!"


    "That''s too much work! Just give the seat to me already and stand behind Sal! Your wife is also there, getfy!"


    "Hah! Then why don''t you fucking stand behind the head of the Ishiyama Family because you''ve been spending a whole lot of time with them!"


    "You''re gonna go that route?! D''you want me to reveal every bitch¡ª"


    "Enough," Sal said just loud enough for everyone to hear but it definitely made the two shut their traps.


    "..."


    "..."


    Mr. Alvarez added, "No, no. Continue. If anything, it''s on brand with the Lion Family!"


    Mr. Cuervo shook his head, "Don''t start."


    "What? I''m just stating the obvious."


    "I already said enough. My sleep schedule is already ruined as is. We should finish this as fast as possible. Quinn. Please, just for this moment, humor me and let the boy take his seat."


    "I''m not a boy¡ª"


    "To my eyes, you still are."


    Quinn let out a chuckle as she sat next to Kaley and Edith, "Maybe this is for the best. Kidding. I''ll let off, for now."


    The three older folks had already defused the situation but in a sense, like me and Castro, Mauro was somewhat of a newer head. Sure, he was probably leading their family for a while but our ages weren''t that far from each other.


    "Let''s start, shall we?" Mr. Cuervo said after clearing his throat.

 Chapter 808 TIFU - Is This Still A Meeting?

    At this moment, Mr. Cuervo just looked to his right where Mr. Alvarez was and Mr. Alvarez just shrugged his shoulders before standing up. After that, he fixed himself for a short bit: made sure his suit had no creases, his hair was perfectly slicked back, and his mustache perfectly parted and pointy at the end.


    I didn''t know what he was gonna do next but he cleared his throat before he opened his mouth.


    "Alright, I''m Ongkiko Alvarez¡­ Head of the Alvarez Family since it was established and~ you know what I do: a bit of real estate, a bit of muscle, and especially¡­ well¨C mostly, collections. And I have a 9-inch cock¡ª"


    Mauro started dyingughing, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Are we still fucking doing that?! IT''S BEEN SOOOO FUCKING LONG!"


    Mr. Cuervo, "..."


    Sal, "..."


    Mary, "Pfft¡­"


    Castro, "..."


    Everyone else, "..."


    Mr. Alvarez turned to Castro, "Heh. Tough crowd, right? You''re next."


    "M-Me?"


    "Just a brief intro. It''s just a formality."


    "I don''t¡ª"


    "Haaa~? Fuck it, just follow after Mauro. Mauro, you''re up!"


    Mauro shook his head as he stood up, "Alright, Mauro de Leon. 2nd Head of the de Leon Family. We do anything that gets us from Point A to Point B, we do custom jobs, andstly, we do storage and transportation of cargo. Also, I have a 10¡ª"


    Elsa interjected from the back, "You say something more than that, I''ll slice your dick off."


    Mr. Alvarez rolled his eyes, "Party-pooper~"


    ''Is Mr. Alvarez drunk? He''s more unhinged than I thought he was¡­''


    Elsa snapped at Mr. Alvarez, "Lying won''t also get you anywhere. 9-incher my ass¡­ I doubt you could even get it up¡ª"


    "OI! THAT''S¡ª"


    Sal cut them off, "ENOUGH! We shouldn''t have started this meeting today. Everyone is acting like kids!"


    Mary added, "True¡­ How can we tell them our cock sizes if we don''t have any? Can I mention Brian''s instead?"


    "MARY! THAT''S OUR SECRET!" Brian eximed from the back.


    Sal sighed heavily, "Let''s just get on with it so we can finish faster. The name''s Sally Rivas, you should all refer to me as Sal. I''m still the Head of the Rivas Family and we''re in charge of producing some of the organic materials needed and half of the production."


    Mary followed, "Mary Garcia, co-head of the Garcia Family. We''re in charge of distribution. That''s it."


    "I guess I''m next?" Castro said after he noticed I wasn''t going next, "Castro Castillo, appointed head of the long-standing Castillo Family. From what I know, my family is also in charge of distribution and production but what I know for sure is that we''re tasked to clean up messes. Either quietly or as loudly as possible¡­ But¡­ that will definitely change once I get home. I don''t know what we''ll be after that but we won''t be the same I assure all of you."


    After Castro gave his introduction, everyone let out different expressions but after that, everyone was waiting for me to say my piece. It seemed like Mr. Cuervo was tasked to gost and quite frankly, all I know about myself was pretty simple.


    I cleared my throat as I stood up, "Yo, I''m Sky Ishiyama¡­ Head of the newly-established Ishiyama Family and umm¡­ I sell rice for a living¡­"


    If Mr. Alvarez saying his unhinged intro earlier prompted a fair moment of silence, my own intro was justplete and total silence for a few minutes. Everyone that didn''t know me personally thought I was pulling their legs and the scene was starting to get more and more ufortable by the second.


    And to break the tension, I just had to say it¡­


    "Oh, I have a 9-incher as well¡­ girthy too¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I thought my follow-uppletely backfired but it didn''t take long before the two 9-year olds¡ªMr. Alvarez and Mauro¡ªto burstughing while Kaley, Quinn, Edith, Melina, and Roxanne were trying their best to hide their expressions. Moreso, I saw Mr. Cuervo and Castro''s expressions crack for a short bit¡ªeven Mary, but Sal was already rolling her eyes because she already had enough times saying enough.


    Sal sighed heavily, "Seriously?"


    "I''m not lying one bit."


    "..." Sal was looking at my expression to see if I was fibbing or not.


    It''s just that my next words was enough to be in the subreddit of r/TIFU or "Today, I fucked up."


    I added, "Ask Edith, she knows."


    "...!" Edith suddenly went beet-red as she tried to cover her face in front of everyone.


    Ny-nine percent of the people thought she got embarrassed but Sal thought theplete opposite.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You¡ª Wait, you?! YOU!" Sal didn''t even need to piece things together¡ªeven if she first thought I was referring to me selling rice, and she was this close to climbing the table and strangling me to death.


    Mr. Alvarez added jet fuel to the raging ze, "Good job, Hermano. Heh."


    Sal shouted at the top of her lungs, "YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF HER?! YOU''RE MARRIED, RIGHT?! HOW COULD YOU?!"


    "Wait a sec¡ª"


    "I''M GONNA KILL YOU RIGHT NOW! I DON''T CARE IF I DIE¡ª"


    Kaley stood up from her seat, "Mrs. Rivas, you misunderstand¡ª"


    "WHAT''S THERE TO MISUNDERSTAND?!"


    "I¡­ This is gonna sound really weird but I¡­ we¡­ I was also there¡ª"


    "HUH?!"


    "We were¡ª"


    "YOU''RE A MAN?! YOU''RE¡ª YOU HAVE A DICK TUCKED IN THERE?!"


    Kaley didn''t know whether tough or cry, "NO! I HAVE A VAGINA! PLEASE LET ME FINISH!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"


    At this point, I didn''t even know why I was nervous at first when I attended this meeting but this was actually more¡­ fun than I thought. It took a good 30 minutes before we finally calmed Sal down but it didn''t help when it got revealed that I was with 90% of the women present in this meeting.


    However, half of the guys couldn''t help but give me a hidden double-thumbs up while the other half were either shielding their wives from my grasp or sending me death threats for being so lucky.


    "C-Can I start again?"


    "Sure¡­" Mr. Cuervo replied weakly.


    "I''m Sky Ishiyama¡­"


    Mauro instantly added, "The Pimp Daddy."


    Mr. Alvarez piled on, "Owner of the 9-inch Dickscalibur."


    Quinn couldn''t help but to interject, "Lover of multiple women and chocte milk."


    "Edgelord¡­ The horny edgelord¡­"


    "The Dragon of Draggin'' his nuts on their faces!"


    "The creator of the 69999999999 position!"


    More nicknames came after the other but in some way, the tension in the room lessened after making me go through their own version of a hazing process. Even if some of them looked a bit hungover, their overall mood seemed to be better than the time they entered this room because even if we all did have a fun time yesterday, we were supposed to be back to being adults and facing some end of the world problems.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo didn''t borate much on his introduction but he basically said he was in charge of everyone even though he mentioned that he was a retired pro. And after that, he kicked off the meeting by sharing his own report.


    "I could¡ª We could definitely say that yesterday was a huge sess, no? Most importantly, no brawls urred after that because everyone was too fucking drunk and tired to cause trouble. However, I''m sure that my girls have worked over-overtime and our cleaners have done almost the same thing."


    Mr. Alvarez interjected, "These events definitely helped all of us but it can only do so much. This Muerto thing is great and all but I''d still prefer the old world."


    Sal raised an eyebrow, "Getting mopey there, aren''t ya?"


    "It just isn''t the same and my people are feeling the brunt of that."


    "Didn''t you all raid everything from the town you were in and did almost the same thing to the surrounding areas?"


    "Hmph. I guess having everything couldn''t stop people from offing themselves. Trust me, drugs can also do so much too¡­ even worse once it wears off. And yeah, we had all the drugs in the world too because no one''s buying them. Who''s left to use them? Us."


    Sal sighed heavily, "I¡­ I didn''t think I''d say this but I couldn''t agree more. With the majority of the poption being lifeless hunks of flesh and the rest of the lifers living with what''s left of the old world, it''s bound to get¡­ monotonous. It''s not even funny, I first thought it would be fun but it gets really slow at times."


    Mauro let out a chuckle, "Old folksining about how boring it gets? Doesn''t that mean the three of you are just boring people? Hah!"


    Mr. Cuervo was the first one to rebut, "Excuse me? Are you calling ME boring?"


    "Well, it''s boring if I lose¡­"


    Mr. Alvarez chuckled, "Then don''t embody the number "3" on your body. Win on your fucking wedding day!"


    "You only got second because you took your sweet time! I took down more bodies than you!"


    "And you still fucking got 3rd, pathetic."


    "WANNA GO NOW?!"

 Chapter 809 Meeting I - Give Me Something I Dont Have.

    Mr. Alvarez and Mauro were this fucking close to climbing on top of the table and having a fistfight but Roxanne and Melina managed to calm them down before Zack and Cody tried to use a bit of force. At this moment, the two girls were now beside Mr. Alvarez while Elsa was casually holding a knife pointed right at Mauro''s crotch.


    In my honest opinion, it was a band-aid attempt to keep the two away from each other but we just needed this meeting to move along so we could go about our ways.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo anchored the conversation to where west left it.


    "Alright, I''m not entirely in the know as to how everyone in my fold is mental-wise but I do try my best to keep everyone busy, happy, or¡­ decent for the most part. To me, taking one''s own is the coward''s route and if I hadplete control over their lives, I''d rather keep my people clinging to life rather than seeing them reduced to a pile of meat chunks."


    He continued, "I''ve seen my people do it a number of ways: a shotgun in the mouth, overdose, riding out into the sunset, or the good ol'' viking way to get to Valha. We see more of thetter if my games are held but more often than not, it''s almost always death by OD''ing while one of my girls still has their mouth around their cocks."


    Mary and Mr. Alvarez nodded.


    "Same here."


    "Mine too."


    Sal spoke up, "I¡­ That''s really unfortunate but it''s their lives. We shouldn''t call them cowards by choosing how they¡­ move on. Everyone''s different and in a way, it''s better than getting torn to shreds while finding the next meal after running out."


    Mauro chuckled, "You, Sal? You''re not particrlycking in the food department."


    "I''m just giving an example. Besides, I''m not what I used to be. If I was in my prime, I could take down that kid''s¡ª What''s her name again? Ah! Tatiana, right? I could probably fare well against her in a fair fight. Maybe even Quinn too."


    Quinn quipped from the side, "Keep dreaming, Sal."


    "Heh. You''ll get older too, I promise ya."


    "Hmph."


    It got quiet for a few moments but Castro spoke up after making sure no one was continuing the conversation.


    "Excuse me. I don''t want to bring this up this early but if I don''t say this now, I don''t I would be able to."


    Mr. Cuervo''s eyebrows rose up, "What do you mean? What is it?"


    Castro looked down for a moment before facing everyone, "I''m grateful for this early summons because if you all don''t already know, I''ll be restructuring my family from the ground up. I''m gonna get a lot of resistance but since the majority of my people finally witnessed my¡­ that person''s¡ª and my¡ª that family''s real nature, I''ll also have a lot of support."


    "Have you done something already?"


    "Well, I''ve sent a portion of my people back already but it''s to make sure that everyone involved is put in the cers below our mansion."


    Mr. Alvarez shook his head, "Wait a fucking second, you should''vee back with full force! What are you even doing here?!"


    "I trust those people and most importantly, Benjie''s here. He''s the only person capable of stopping them because most of my family members can''t hold an assistant for too long. They''ll just end up as a piece of furniture or an artwork like¡­ you know what I mean."


    Everyone kept silent but Sal turned to him with a concerned expression.


    "Kid, I don''t know what''s going on in your head right now but you should end things quickly once you get home. I know you''ve suffered a whole lot but you shouldn''t stoop to their level¡ª"


    Castro bitterly shook his head, "Sal¡­ With all due respect, it''s my fucking life. Mine, my wife''s, and my kid. I''ll get even before I think about doing it quickly."


    After that response, Sal just looked at him solemnly before turning to me, "You''re awfully quiet. Care to weigh in?"


    "Sure."


    "Good¡ª"


    "Have fun."


    Sal couldn''t believe what she heard, "What?!"


    Castro let out a chuckle as he turned to me, "I sense something¡­ a connection. Did something¡ª Were you in a simr situation before?"


    "Something like that."


    "I see. And having fun is what you rmend?"


    "That''s what I did. It still sucked after I got more than even but I was content that I did something."


    Our eyes shared the same shade as we were looking at each other. The other heads besides Sal were just watching us¡ªthe new heads, speak to each other on the same level. However, only a couple of people in this room knew what my story was and the person I was sharing my experience to was just beginning a path of revenge.


    I wouldn''t rmend what I did to any other people but if you still kept on after you lost everything, you deserve to get more than even aftering on top of it.<novelnext></novelnext>


    With that said, there was another moment of silence after that but it seemed like it was my turn to bring up another topic.


    "Hermano. Before we get to the good stuff, what''s your n moving on?"


    "Aside from wiping the floor with everyone and winning by andslide?"


    Mr. Cuervo chuckled as he looked at Mr. Alvarez, Mauro, and Benjie let out a short bout of killing intent, "Heh. Yeah, besides that."


    "I''ll be around but I think I''ll split my team since the two people we''re looking for are in different directions. Quinn''s people¡ª I mean, Mauro''s people¡ª"


    Quinn interjected, "You''re right the first time."


    Mauro red at the two of us but said nothing.


    I shook my head as I continued, "The de Leon Family actually met one of them and exchanged vehicles while the other one was now a member of a different faction located much deeper in the provinces. And since I still have a promise to uphold, I''ll bring some of us to Quinn''s ce to repair her car and¡ª"


    Mr. Alvarez interjected, "And fabricating a body for Eleanor, too!"


    "Right, that as well. But while that''s happening, Artem will lead the other group to the opposite side."


    Mary interjected, "That reminds me. You brought a small ship over here, right?"


    "Yes, why?"


    "You won something from us, remember? I''ll do this now since we''ll be leaving soon but you can do whatever you want about the equipment in our tent, the people too. It''ll be a pain to bring all of them back so just take what you want and have fun with it, okay?"


    "Okay¡­"


    Mr. Cuervo cleared his throat, "Hermano, you could use my ce as a resting spot between you and your team''s trips but I''ll ept anything you might find between them. I have a few requests that my people can''t find in this area."


    "Sure, give me a list. I''ll keep an eye out for anything."


    "Yeah, that''ll be nice. That reminds me, now that we''re speaking about exchanges, what do we have for today?"


    Sal sighed lightly, "Finally. I''ll go first. Yield has been abundant but despite that, the wedding and the free stuff we gave away made us take a small hit. We''ll need to ease a bit on the celebrations after that but we can still provide produce as usual. Besides, this ce is very self-sufficient, it''s the second best ce in a zombie apocalypse."


    Mr. Alvarez scoffed, "Are you telling me my fortress is just third?"


    "No. Yours is deadst."


    "What?!"


    "Please. Everyone here had started to produce their own food after going through a quarter of our reserves. Only you and your people are still raiding huge warehouses and therger towns to feed yourselves. You work in real estate, right? Turn one into a huge farm for fuck''s sake!"


    "Hey! We have farms, alright?! The de Leon Family only had theirs because of you!"


    "And you still have nothing!"


    "I said we have a couple, alright?!"


    "And what do you nt in them?"


    "W-Weed, lettuce, and tomatoes¡­"


    "See my point?" Sal turned to me, "Kid, I forgot to ask, what can you put on the table? Do you have a farm of some sort? Don''t tell me you two got close because you''re doing the same thing? All that knowledge and nothing to show for it."


    I chuckled lightly, "I have a little bit of everything but I don''t have the means to produce quality honey such as yours."


    "Oh? You''re not half bad then. The samples were good, huh? Wanna start a farm yourself or do you want a shipment every other month? We could strike a deal right now."


    "Do you have a mushroom farm?"


    "What kind? Real mushrooms or "mushroom" mushrooms?"


    "Heh. The kind where you don''t see arge penis cutting your hair."


    Sal chuckled as she got the reference, "We have both, actually. Give me something I don''t have."

 Chapter 810 Meeting II - Im Old.

    In that moment, as Sal finished her sentence, it felt like more of a probe than a simple question. Everyone here possibly have been to each other''s turf to see what the other family could offer but since I was the furthest one among the people present¡ªand I was a new addition to their "team", I was a new artifact that needed some identification.


    I replied without a change of expression, "Like I said earlier, I have a little bit of everything but what Ick are specialty products. To make it easier for me, why don''t you tell me what you don''t have?"


    Sal replied without a bat in her eye, "A spouse?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "PFFT!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!"


    "I''M DEAD! FUCK THIS SHIT! HAHAHAHA!"


    "WHY ARE YOU ALL LAUGHING?!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK, SAL?!"


    "FUCK YOU, QUINN! I''M OLD BUT I COULD STILL GET IT GOING, YOU KNOW?!"


    "THAT''S TOO MUCH INFORMATION!"


    It took a while before things calmed down and even if a certain loud-mouthed oaf came to mind, I''m pretty sure that he already had something going on with someone else.


    ''Yep, I''m still not checking what they put in their boxes¡­''


    Sal eventually gave me a proper answer, "What Icked before were people but since *looking at Mauro momentarily* our families merged, that problem''s pretty much solved. Well, I gotta train those grease monkey''s how to use a trowel instead of a wrench but I trust their skills."


    "Really?"


    Quinn interjected from the back. "Hey! They still get the job done! That''s what matters!"


    Sal chuckled, "Well, for the first few weeks I''ll feed them our produce but they gotta make their own food after that so they more or less should take care of what''s growing in our farms. If not, they''ll be eating scraps until they produce a decent batch."


    Mauro nodded, "That''s fair."


    "Foraging is out of the question too because I already have a group for that. The mountains belong to us and we know every nook and cranny of it. It''ll take a miracle for them to find any good spot or any spot at all to get their bellies full."


    I interjected, "If I were in their shoes, I''d set up something like a hydroponic or a simple irrigation system but nothing could beat a human''s touch. There''s so much a machine could do but on the other hand, there are also a lot of things a machine could aplish. It''s a matter of whether you want to have a handful of top-shelf produce or a decent amount of produce enough to feed hundreds of people. But yeah, you can always do both and bridge the bnce¡­"


    Sal looked at me approvingly, "That''s what we''re actually doing, kid. We ce the fledgelings in the same spot and if one or two manage to stand out, they''ll be tasked with things that are a little moreplicated. But yeah, even with automatic farms, a few pieces are still high-quality but it''s a dice roll. If you want to have top shit consistently, you gotta do it right."


    Mr. Alvarez interjected, "But we''re not after quality right now, yes?"


    Sal instantly rolled her eyes, "If you''re like you who''s about to run out of food, yes."


    "Oi! Don''t start with me again!"


    "I''m just saying¡­ We''re surviving in this shitty world that has gotten even shittier but we got to live too, right?"


    "..."


    Mr. Cuervo let out a smile, "My thoughts exactly."


    "Anyways, to answer your question," Sal said as she turned to me, "I''ll take any able-bodied person you could spare but I''d like a few things that could make my ce a little more liveable."


    "Hmm, I could just give you what I won from the Garcia Family. No offense to you guys but I''m not particrly a huge fan of gambling. It could provide great entertainment but if left unchecked, it could be a detriment."


    Sal shrugged her shoulders with a tinge of disappointment, "That could work, I guess. But what would you like on my end?"


    I thought for a bit before I answered, "I want a¡­ some sort of starter kit to start a bee farm. I''d probably need a nuc or two and¡ª Oh! I have a few books at home for reference but I''d like to acquire a bee hive as well. Possibly the moremon ones like a Langstroth."


    Sal was smiling faintly, "What else?"


    "Hmm? Well~ Every other additional equipment we''d need but I''d like to borrow an Apiary to show my people the ropes for a month or two."


    "You''re that interested in honey, huh?"


    "I''m not THAT interested as you think but the multitude of applications honey is capable of is nothing to sneeze at. But yeah, having it as a sweetener or a dip for some houses is already a good alternative for regr old sugar. It''s not like I have a sugar cane farm back home where I could produce them in perpetuity."


    Sal nodded slightly as she looked at Mr. Cuervo, "See that? That''s the way to do it. You think you could buy a bunch of nucs and it''ll do all the work for you?"


    Mr. Cuervo was about to respond but Mr. Alvarez got there first.


    "Hold up, what the fuck are these nucs you''re talking about?!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "You won''t get it, don''t bother¡­"


    "Just tell me!"


    "They''re Nuclear Colonies! Nucs for short¡­ It means that they''re a group of bees that are already producing honey and the queen is already¡ª"


    "Forget I asked¡­"


    "Haa¡­ Told ya¡­ You were about to say something?" Sal said as she turned to Mr. Cuervo.


    Mr. Cuervo cleared his throat, "Sal, you must understand. I don''t have the space and the people to maintain them. I let a few of my girls take care of them and they wouldn''t get a single customer afterward because they got stung all over! You didn''t tell me they needed those protective suits!"


    "You didn''t ask! I thought you''d have everything ready beforehand!"


    "I didn''t!"


    "That''s not my fault!"


    Mr. Cuervo was shaking his head in disbelief but Sal turned to me and continued.


    "Anyway, I guess I could provide you with a couple of those starter kits you mentioned but sending you an Apiary is gonna cost ya. Starting a farm like that sounds easy on paper but there''s more to it than that."


    "Alright, what''s it gonna take?"


    "Not much, actually."


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "I''ll send you one mine so send me one of yours. I''d like¡ª"


    "No."


    "Hmm?"


    "You heard me. I''ll take whatever you deem fit for the items I won from the Garcia Family¡ªplus the dealers it woulde with, but I don''t put my people in my deals."


    ''Not with these people anyways¡­''


    "Hah! You''re fine epting people but you''re not willing to let go of them? That''s funny."


    "That''s the way I do business. I can move them around as I please¡ªin the confines of my ownnd, but they''re not exchanging hands."


    "And why is that?"


    "I don''t own them. That''s my simple answer. But if you want the slightly longer one¡­"


    "Do tell, I''m curious."


    "Unfortunately, I don''t have a long answer. I just don''t trade people like they''re objects. Besides, if we quantify a life, they value pretty high up, no?"


    "Hmph. Fine, that''s your own rules. Shame, Edith would''ve liked it at your ce¡ª"


    Edith almost fell from her seat, "AUNT S-SAL! D-DON''T SAY S-STUFF LIKE THAT!!!"


    "I''m old, I can''t shelter you for long. You already had fun with the kid, do something about it. Besides, you''re the second best Apiary after me. You''ll do well somece else without me. You can''t lead my turf, can ya? I''m sorry but you''d have to grow some balls for that but you''d have to grow a dick too."


    "B-BUT¡ª"


    "But what?! I told all of ya, I need a spouse. A strong one at that. I want to be held against a wall and fucked like I want to¡ª"


    "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, THAT''S GETTING A LITTLE TMI AGAIN! CUT IT OUT, SAL!"


    "Heh, I''m just sayin''¡­ Not to brag but my ce is pretty sweet. If that someone ys their cards right, they could get the whole thing when I pass. But don''t misunderstand. I''m not nning on clocking out anytime soon. I have a couple more decades in the tank and I''m gonna use it till thest drop. And yeah, someone keeping mepany would make it tolerable."


    ''I guess she''s pretty lonely¡­''


    At that point, everyone got a pretty good glimpse of what''s inside Sal''s mind but a few couldn''t help but rte to what she''s been going through. With that said, I just anchored the conversation back to our deal and since I still have a lot of time before I pay a visit to their ce, I asked for more time.


    "Fine. I''ll try and find a "bachelor" for you but it''s up to Edith whether she goes back with us or not. Does that sound fair?"


    "What? You want me to go with ya? Aren''t I a little too old for that?"


    "I''m not¡ª I was just¡ª"


    "Sheesh, I made thed stutter. Goes to show I still got it, no?" Sal chuckled as she turned to everybody.


    "..."


    It took a bit for Sal to stop teasing me but she dropped the bomb on her closing statement.


    "It''s gonna take a few days to make our usual deliveries but everything''s packed and ready to go. However, aside from the food and all, who''s got the pockets to hold 500 pounds of pure, uncut H? It''s gotta go somewhere, right?"

 Chapter 811 Meeting III - Yeah, About That...

    I thought Sal saying that would prompt a reaction from everyone else present but it was just akin to telling your roommates if they wanted regr-ass food. It took a lot to maintain a stoic expression¡ªeven Kaley, but the first one to crack was Mr. Alvarez.


    "Shit¡­ Fine. I''ll take 50¡ªwait, you said pounds, right? Do you have them in kilos?"


    Sal rolled her eyes, "Do you want me to repack them for you?"


    "It would be nice to¡ª"


    "I was being fucking sarcastic. They came in pounds when I started, they''ll stille in fucking pounds when nearing its end. I''m not fucking changing anything."


    "Jesus fucking christ, you don''t have to be so hostile about it. I changed my mind, I''ll just have 20."


    "Twenty?! You said fifty!"


    "I said I changed my mind. We can''t have too much at one time. Weed''s been pretty much holding my guys together but that shit''s dangerous if you have them regrly."


    "Fine. How about you?" Sal sighed softly before turning to Mr. Cuervo.


    Mr. Cuervo shook his head, "Pass. Stock''s been dwindling as ofte but H has been pretty much untouched."


    "Really? It''s post-games week, you''d probably need a pound or two for the ones that got a little too beat up."


    "You''re right but they can take it. More alcohol and pussy has been doing the trick for my people these days."


    ''They know at least that, huh?''


    "Fine," Sal replied before looking over at Mary.


    Mary''s eyebrows rose momentarily, "Hmm? Oh, right. We''ll take a hundred as usual."


    ''...!''


    Sal let out a bright smile, "That''s what I''m fucking talking about!"


    "Wait¡ª"


    "Hey, no backsies! I already lost sales from¡ª"


    "Make it 200."


    "HUH?!"


    "Mary?! You cool?"


    "Brian, you''re hearing that, right?"


    I thought a hundred pounds was already too much for a single family but Mary actually doubled-down to have the biggest purchase in this meeting. I''m pretty sure that the couple couldn''t possibly use it all so I was guessing they have some other purpose for it.


    Mary just chuckled as she waved everyone down, "Hey now, we''re STILL in charge of distribution. We still have our clients giving us a visit for the sole purpose of buying anything to make them forget. And yeah, with this end of the world thing going on, that''s all they pretty much do so we''re squeezing them dry as this thing goes on."


    Brian added, "Not exactly, no. We aren''t even squeezing them, they''re basically dependent on it to the point that our scavenging groups have it easy. Especially H, once you gain tolerance, you''d have to take a lot more to get the same feeling. Only a tenth of our machines are turned on for our regr patrons since most of them visit just to buy those stuff."


    ''Are they holed up in a casino? Which one though?''


    At this point, half the heads have made their purchase, leaving only me, Castro, and Mauro to transact with the rest of that merchandise.


    Mauro purchased 25 pounds¡ªwhere Quinn was strongly against¡ªwhile Castro purchased nothing. It was because Benjie informed him that they also had a lot of stock left at home so purchasing even a little bit was ill-advised. On the other hand, much to the surprise of Kaley, Quinn, Edith, and Mr. Cuervo, I purchased a pound for a specific reason.


    That reason could eithernd me behind a barrel of a gun but regarding the circumstances, this was one of the ways to move forward.


    ''I need to have it tested first.''


    Heroin still had its medical uses but the downside was just it was too fucking addictive. Well, that could apply to several drugs but if strictly regted and carefully administered, it could still relieve a lot of pain and even save a life. Only a few people could get on with enduring whatever they were feeling but in my honest opinion, there should be other ways to deal with it.


    It''s just that I need to have another option just in case something unexpected pops up and even if I despise drugs in the bottom of my heart, like I said earlier, it had its uses.


    Sal thought I was joking, "Kid? Just one? Are you pulling my leg now? You should be buying ten at least!"


    "I just need to test them¡ª"


    "Test? If you''re gonna check if Iced them with Fentanyl¡ª"


    I jokingly asked, "Did you?"


    Sal instantly red at me, "Kid, if I wanted to kill every client I have, I would''ve. But that''s not how I work. You can trust my goods just as much as you could trust the quality of my food. I know you''re just joking but I''m just putting it out there. So, just one?"


    "Just one."


    "Fine, but I''ll be expecting more next time."


    "We''ll see."


    After that, a few more talks were exchanged but Mr. Cuervo brought up another subject as he turned to Mauro.


    "Tell us about the Philippine Military Academy. The one in Cavite."


    ''...?''<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Academy? Isn''t it better to call it a Military Base now? It''s one of the biggest DDR Camps out there but it''s not fair to call it that, no?"


    "Sure, but tell us about it."


    Mauro tidied himself before he scooted a bit forward, "Well, it was as imprable as fuck but like us, this apocalypse is slowly getting to them."


    Mr. Alvarez interjected, "What do you mean by was?"


    "I''m getting to it."


    "Fine, go ahead."


    "Alright, I have several groups tasked with scavenging, scouting, taking back cars, etc. outside and one of my groups came upon one of their groups. It seems like they''re also outside for a supply run and it became a little heated."


    "And?"


    "It obviously became a stand off because of the way we looked but the officer that came with them offered an agreement of some sort."


    "What kind?"


    "Can you stop fucking asking questions and let me finish?!"


    "..."


    "Great¡ª"


    "Go ahead¡ª"


    "You!"


    "I didn''t ask a question, did I¡ª I didn''t ask a question. Continue!"


    "Fuck you. Anyway, this agreement really favored us because they''re offering military vehicles and parts¡ªwell, that''s what we requested¡ªin exchange for biter heads which they requested to be alive¡ªyou know, still moving. I couldn''t care less about what they''re doing with them but they''re holding up their end of the deal. We gave them a dump truck full of heads once and they gave us a jeep in perfect working condition."


    Quinn interjected, "They removed the gun though."


    "Yeah, unfortunately. In any case, we believe that they''re in close contact with this huge-ass university which is only a few kilometers away from their base. Trust me, when I say huge-ass, I mean fucking huge-ass. Like a huge-ass trunk of a Cadic or something. That ce is probably their source of food because not that I know what''s inside their base, I highly doubt they could produce as much food¡ªyou know, given the circumstances. So, I''m thinking they have some sort of deal like ours."


    "Probably¡­"


    "I had one of my teams drive-by once to exchange our services for food but they just took one look at us and turned us away. Get this, I had a different teame back that looked "decent" and they gave them a deal. I hate to fucking say it but their produce is slightly better than what Sal''s peddling."


    Sal turned menacingly to Mauro, "The fuck did you just say?"


    "L-Listen, Sal. I''m just being honest, alright? I thought they''d have at least a few meat products but they fucking don''t. They have these veggie meat recements or whatever that doesn''t taste like whatever the fuck they''re trying to imitate. However, the lettuce and the tomatoes that came back were fucking crisp and juicy, I could eat it on its own."


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    Elsa casually added with the same look as Sal, "Uh-huh."


    "Hey, I was just¡ª"


    "Uh-huh."


    "C-C''mon! D''you want me to lie on your faces?!"


    Mauro was already sweating bullets from the way the two¡ªthree were looking at him, Edith included but I couldn''t help but let out a reaction when they started to talk about this "huge-ass" university.


    I didn''t even think that we were this close to that ce and out of all the ces to make it, that one along with that academy survived. It brought a few memories¡ªgood and bad¡ªin my head and even Kaley noticed I was acting weird.


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo knew that something was up and he brought the attention to me.


    "Hermano, something wrong? You''re looking a little ufortable there?"


    "I''m good¡­"


    "Hangover or something?"


    "No¡­"


    "Then what is it?"


    I turned to Mauro, "Hey, that university¡­ Does it also have a huge-ass gate?"


    "Hmm? A huge-ass¡­ Yep, has one."


    "Long metal fencing that spans a kilometer or two?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Religious songs running in the background, uptight people: judgy eyes, air of arrogance, and a stick up their butt? Also, do they have these soy drinks and carrot juices on sale with their veggie burgers and mushroom steaks?"


    "Wait a fucking second¡­"


    "Yeah, about that¡­ I''m an alumni¡­"

 Chapter 812 Meeting IV - Imagine That.

    The moment the word "Alumni" left my mouth, there wasplete silence for a straight minute. Everyone else couldn''t believe their ears and if I mentioned that I also graduated with honors¡ªfuck it, Valedictorian with several awards, they would''ve bled from all of their orifices.


    However, what I wouldn''t mention to them was that Jared used to be a 3rd-year student at PMA or the Philippine Military Academy and he would''ve graduated this year if some things didn''t prevent him from doing so.


    Telling them that I went to that school was already too much information about myself, telling them that they might also have an "in" into thergest DDR Camp in the area could spell a lot of trouble for me and my group. It would''ve been a different case if we''re working together but that term was stillpletely fuzzy at this point.


    Mr. Alvarez stood up from his seat and pointed at me, "Wait a fucking second¡­ You¡­ You went there?"


    "Yeah."


    "You," Mr. Alvarez as he waved his index finger around me¡ªtrying to encircle me wholly, "You''re a college graduate? You studied and shit?"


    "Is something wrong with that? Isn''t that prettymon?"


    Mr. Alvarezpletely ignored my questions, "And you also have a 9-incher?"


    "...sure."


    "Fucking shit, just take everything, will you? If you have my good looks, you''d be fucking perfect! Well, grow a mustache like mine and you''d probably be passable."


    "Uh¡­ Uh-huh¡­"


    Mauro interjected, "Hold up, you said those people got sticks up their butt? How?"


    I lightly sighed, "Not everyone but most of them are, especially the ones that lived inside their walls their whole lives. But to give a brief exnation, imagine arge group of people that are mildly Republican but downright despise guns. Religion is the biggest thing for them and they''d fight you tooth and nail just to shove their beliefs down your throat."


    ? "Hmm, so you''re a religious one?"


    "Not anymore," I said as I chuckled, "Look around, does it look like¡ª"


    Castro suddenly cut me off, "And this shall be the gue where the Lord will strike all the people that waged war against Jerusalem¡ª"


    I chuckled as I cut him off as well, "Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. I know that verse, Castro. I have a few more in my head if you want but I don''t want to start something like this right now."


    Castro let out a smile, "I''m just saying. I don''t care about your beliefs but after what happened to me, seeing the Devil just made me believe that God exists even more."


    I bluntly replied with a smirk, "And how''s that going for ya?"


    Castro sent me a deathly re, "Don''t. Start."


    "I didn''t, you did. If the being you''re talking about is all-knowing and all-powerful, this shit wouldn''t have started in the first ce. And if this was just a fucking test? He would''ve known the end result without putting us through so much shit. If anything, if he''s real, it just told me that he''s a fucking psycho that''s just too bored and decided to have some fun¡ªwith us to provide his entertainment."


    "A-And what if this is actually another thing like the flood?"


    "So, are you telling me that he made a mistake? Is that why he''s trying to erase everyone in existence? Can''t he just snap his fingers again and make¡ª"


    "Enough!" Sal mmed the table as she looked at us, "I''m not hearing another word of this."


    "..."


    "..."


    "We''re here to talk shop, not disparage each other''s beliefs. Not one of you had irrefutable proof to back up your ims and all it''s doing right now is creating a divide. I know both of you are new and as hard for me to say this, our organization was just a shell of what it once was, we need to be more united than ever if we want to get through this."


    I sighed as I shrugged my shoulders, turning to Castro, "Sorry. It''s just that in my experience, suffering shit didn''t make me believe more in your god, it''s theplete opposite. I''m not gonna say more because it''s definitely gonna piss you off but I''ll just say that working in mysterious ways doesn''t excuse the fact that it did more harm than good."<novelnext></novelnext>


    At this moment, Castro listened to every word I said and he let out a heavy sigh as he lightly shook his head.


    "I understand what you''re trying to say and it''s the¡­ logical¡­ route¡­ but I''m gonna follow what my gut is telling me. Believing led me to this point and it proved that He hasn''t failed me. I¡ª"


    "I''m really sorry for this but you can fucking hear yourself, right?"


    "Pardon me?"


    "Tell me if I got this right, you, Castro Castillo was born into your family just to have your love of your life toyed with while each and every truth was bent against you right until your patriarch proved that he''s too fucking old to understand technology because that was what made him slip up. After that, you were finally free from your curse and set on the path to vengeance and the lesson you learned from that was that you realized that your god existed even more because of it."


    "And? What''s wrong¡ª"


    "My guy. Every bit of wrong is present from that. Imagine being created for the purpose of making you recognize your creator even more. I know you still have a lot on your te but try to apply what I said to every person you could think of. Imagine how fucked up it is if your book is just a couple of pages long because that''s the way it should be."


    "..."


    "Is that tooplicated? Imagine me, being born into this world to have a belief such as mine. If he''s real and he made me this way, won''t I just go straight to hell and burn for all of eternity once this is all over? Imagine that. But yeah, what do I know? I don''t have irrefutable proof of my ims as Sal said but I do think about it a whole lot instead of just believing in it because they said so."


    "..."


    After that, it becamepletely quiet again and the silence was broken when Mauro let out a yawn. But before that, Castro couldn''t find the words to reply to me and even Sal started to think to herself. The only person that looked me straight in the eye was Benjie and it wasn''t because he was still mad at me but it was because it felt like my words were getting through to him somehow.


    "You guys done? Can we move this shit along now?"


    I replied as I nced over Castro, "We''re done, right?"


    "For now, yeah," Castro added as he looked down.


    "Alright, back on topic. Where were we again? Right, the university. Whitewood University. It''s still quite a ways from the Philippine Military Academy but those two ces are working together. You said they despise guns but let''s just say that for this time, they decided to make an exception. Praying can only do so much, no? Ahaha¡­ bad joke¡­ Anyway~ the good news is that both camps are open to people: they trade food, information, services, etc., but it''s more¡­ PGpared to ours. I don''t believe they know of this ce yet but if we do it right, we could open up a channel between them and ours. We''ve been at odds since forever but unless they try to pick a fight with us, I don''t see any harm in working together."


    Mary interjected, "I agree with what you said but I still don''t get why they''re collecting heads."


    ''True. I''ve been sending them different samples but I never heard of them collecting heads aside from this one other group that we took care of. I doubt they''re even the same thing¡­''


    Mauro replied, "Does it matter? They''re giving us free shit for it and it clears the streets. Win-Win in my book."


    Mr. Cuervo chimed in, "We just need to be careful while collecting information. They must know more than we do but we shouldn''t bite more than what we can chew. Kid, I hate to do this to you but since you''re dropping by the De Leon Family''s turf, why don''t you drop by your old Alma Mater and say hi? They might give you more information if you know some of the people inside and we''d pay you for the information."


    I waved him off, "No need for that. I''ll tell you what I find out but they shouldn''t know I''m part of this group. If they ever do, they''ll shut us out because of obvious reasons."


    Mauro scratched the back of his head, "Yeah¡­ that''s why I send some of my decent-looking prospects over so everything goes smoothly when we trade shit. But on the other side, all they want is just results. Anyone could talk to them as long as it''s not either of the old heads that are a little too high profile."


    Mr. Alvarez nodded, "Fair enough. But what could you give us now?"


    I turned to him, "What do you mean?"


    "Deets, kid. Deets. I wanna hear more."


    "Hmm~ I said most of what''s important but if we''re talking about food, they got it. Well, I dunno about it now because it''s been a while but the folks from the other side wouldn''t give them protection if they don''t have anything to offer."


    "Interesting¡­"

 Chapter 813 Meeting V - I Should Return These...

    Mr. Alvarez''sst statement ended with him stroking his chin with aplex expression but I waved him over before he tried to do something stupid.


    "Hey, the n is to try and work with them. If you stir shit now while everything''s going swimmingly with the de Leon Family and that group, I won''t¡ª"


    He scoffed, "Won''t what? Who do you think you are?"


    For the first time in this meeting, Mr. Alvarez felt like a stranger, and even if we did have a short moment from talking shop, he was still a person that held a lot of power. He might be buddy-buddy with me for a short bit, but I still don''t know the guy fully.


    At this point, the atmosphere was getting a little heavy but I need to hold my ground.


    "I''m the person who put you down, bitch. And if you want to return the fucking favor, wise up and think for once. You say you have a fortress but guess what? They have one too. Nigh impregnable too, ording to the person you''re trying to get killed¡ª"


    Mr. Alvarezpletely ignored my provocations, "Whoa! Whoa! I''m not trying to get him killed¡ª"


    "Who do you think they''re gonnae after if something ever happened to them? They''re not fucking stupid. They''ll piece it all together and they''ll be like animals in heat once they found a new challenger. The random shamblers on the streets wouldn''t be as exciting to them."


    "So, you''re saying we''re gonna lose?"


    I shook my head in derision, "Both sides will but as previously stated, aren''t you all losing people on a regr basis? Is going to war with the government the solution? You know, to stop them from killing themselves? Or¡­ since they''re gonna die anyway, are you gonna use suicide tactics to cause massive amounts of damage? Is that it? Thest hurrah or some shit?"


    "..."


    "If you''re that desperate for food that you have to attack somece that could easily send several tanks and attack helicopters your way, why don''t you have someone in your fold take Sal''s hand or you could do that yourself¡ª"


    "PUUUUUUU!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"


    "I HAVE A FUCKING WIFE!"


    "Should we tell him?"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I''M DEAD!"


    "Fuck, that''s the most amazing thing that came out of you, holy fucking shit¡­"


    "Yep, we''re all gonna die today¡­"


    "I''m¡­ I''m gonna stay away from this one¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    I''ve never been so confused, "Is there¡­ Is there something I said?"


    At this point, even Sal was dyingughing from my earlier statement but Mr. Alvarez was this fucking close to choking me out. I definitely stepped on some toes but I guess I''d find out more stuff about these people.


    Sal wiped her tears fromughing as she turned to me, "Kid, I''m basically his step-sister but that was long, long~ ago."


    "WHAT?!"


    She added, "We''re not rted in any way but let''s just say that when ourte parents separated¡ª hmm, how should I put this in words you can understand? I maybe got stuck once or twice in the washer¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "STOP, SAL! DON''T SAY ANYMORE!"


    "I''M NOT HEARING THIS! I''M NOT HEARING THIS!"


    Hearing that, I didn''t know whether tough or shut the fuck up because Mr. Alvarez was staring daggers at everyone who so much show their teeth from trying to hide theirughter.


    I guess it was safe to say that their rtionship didn''t work out but they cannot erase the history between them. It''s just that Sal was pretty much over it while it was like an old wound that opened for Mr. Alvarez.


    Mr. Cuervo eventually anchored the conversation, "As stated earlier, since the kid will be dropping by the de Leon Family''s turf for a few days, he''ll be on the mission to gather info on his old Alma Mater. I strongly advise against stirring up shit while the kid is doing recon and even if he isn''t, it''ll do more harm than good for everyone here."


    "Agreed."


    "Agreed¡­"


    "That works for me."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Me as well¡­"


    "Fine. To keep it a hundred, I wasn''t actually thinking of doing it. My people are much, much more important now. I can''t just rece them and train themon rabble because we don''t have much of those anymore. But yeah, it''s another story if theye for us."


    "What do you mean?"


    "When it started, like the Castillos, we flipped our town and the ones surrounding it upside down, iming everything for ourselves, the DDR Camps included. It cost a lot of people and bullets but we absorbed everyone that didn''t fight back. It''s just that it''s taking its toll now since we''re always low on food."


    Mary sighed, "I told you so many times. Increasing your territory and the number of people on your payroll without making sure you can handle it will spell all sorts of trouble. You''re lucky that your only problem is food."


    Mr. Alvarez replied, "We have other problems too but that''s just the most troublesome at this moment. But yeah, I''ll take care of it once we get back. I''m thinking of downsizing and re-assigning other people to more helpful shit."


    Sal chuckled, "Good luck with that."


    "Hey! I''m not that good at managing shit but we still get it done! It''s not like I''m the only one that has that problem. Mauro and I¡ª"


    Mauro interjected, "Nope. Not anymore. Elsa will be handling some of the stuff back home¡ª"


    Quinn quipped from the back, "Finally¡­"


    "What do you mean by that?!"


    "There''s only so much I could do and I''m always busy so having another capable woman at the shop will do us wonders."


    "Hey! I''m¡ª"


    "What? Half the time you spend on managing is fixing the mistakes that should not have been there in the first ce! Dave handles some of the shit back home but everyone else keeps fucking it up. It still amazes me how we survived until now. I was about to start another chapter by myself if things continued as is."


    "Stop with the jokes, you''re not leaving even if I force you out."


    "Heh, true. Anyway, are we done here? There''s too much talking and I can only handle a little bit more," Quinn said as she turned to Mr. Cuervo.


    "Then a little bit more," Mr. Cuervo replied with a smile.


    After that, more topics were brought up but they were mostly concerns that were easily solved bymon sense or with the help of the other family. And surprisingly enough, aside from the casual mention of drugs and some other illegal shit like prostitution or straight-up bloody murder, their organization functions like any other organization in the "legal" world.


    Everyone needed the basic stuff to live and some other things though it would''ve been wildly different if it wasn''t the end of the world.


    Right now, everyone else was more focused on surviving, and somehow, cooperating with their long-term archnemesis didn''t sound like a god-awful n. And yeah, trying to live with these people didn''t sound too bad either.


    The original n was to wipe half of the families in question and take care of the dregster¡ªbecause the head of the snake was more important¡ªbut like the substance that Sal peddled to each of us earlier, it all boiled down to how you use a certain substance in order for it to do good or bad.


    That statement would''ve made my parents turn in their graves but I''ve already done a lot of things that would''ve prompted the same reaction.


    I''ve killed and tortured people, turned away from the ''creator'', and much, much worse. In short, my ledger was as bloody as it could get but it was done to achieve certain results that didn''t betray myselfpletely.


    Yes, psychedelics were the root cause of my parents'' demise and I would''ve achievedplete vengeance after putting a bullet in each head of the people in this ce but somehow, I felt that I should do something else entirely. It sounded cringe but for a higher cause, I could ce the thought of vengeance in the deepest part of my head and only bring it back if I was wrong.


    It sounded conceited and stupid but I could always raze this ce to the ground¡ªand each of their territories if I wanted to, but I wanted to see if my dream of everyone getting along could work now that we all share amon goal.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before the meeting was adjourned but Mr. Cuervo waved me over and handed me a set of keys and another keycard with the familiar dragon crest that was on the keycard Cynthia gave me.


    At this point, everyone else had already left and only the two of us were in the meeting room.


    "What are these for?"


    "It''s for the third house to the left of my mansion. You have your personalized floors here but you gotta have a house, your family''s house. And yeah, you''re gonna be busy today."


    "Hmm? Why?"


    Then Mr. Cuervo pulled out a live feed from the house he just gave to me, "See all those people lining outside? There are still some people that want to join your family even though you turned all of them away. Hear them out, you might find a few diamonds among the rough. Trust me, they''ll line up on that spot all week if you don''t see what they have to offer."


    "I see¡ª"


    "Right, before I forget¡­ I should return these¡­" Mr. Cuervo said as he ced the detonators for the stic explosives that were mounted on the viewing tforms for the Castillo, Alvarez, and the Garcia Family.

 Chapter 814 What Couldve Happened - IM NOT PSYCHIC!

    I looked at the rugged detonators Mr. Cuervo ced on the table and if things went as they should, there would''ve been three less seats surrounding the round table. Truth be told, every head in Mr. Cuervo''s organization seemed like they were friends for a long time but if we''re talking about their deep history with each other, they have enough reason to slit each other''s throats given the chance.


    From the top of my head, I know that Mauro and Sal knew of the n¡ªeven though I had no idea they were the heads of their families¡ªbut they too had to have a person or two to confide in: Quinn and Elsa respectively, as far as I know.


    At first, I actually didn''t care who the fuck was gonna survive but Mr. Cuervo actually made the right decision of choosing allies if he had to let go of a few to move forward. If I was in his shoes, I would''ve done the same thing and to have a political/genuine wedding to merge the other two families that would be left was a great choice.


    It was because with the nature of the other three families'' business model, they had to fucking go.


    First and foremost, Mr. Castillo and 99% of his blood rtives were just fucking psychos and they had an army¡ªmuch like the Alvarez family¡ªto mobilize at the drop of a hat. Secondly, the Alvarez Family was pretty much the same thing and since they had also reimed the town they were in and the surrounding areas around it by using violent means, they had the highest heat levelpared to everyone else''s.


    Andstly, the Garcia Family¡ªeven though they were kinda peaceful in nature¡ªstill had to go because from what Mr. Cuervo told me, Mary and Brian seemed to have the goal to rece him in the future but not by regr means. The Garcia Family had connections that Mr. Cuervo didn''t even have an ounce of an idea about and knowing that they also deal in organs¡ªeven after the world ended¡ªdidn''t sit well with me.


    If Mason didn''t tell me that one of their guys would be "harvested" because of incurring a ton of debt, I would''ve considered letting them live.


    But since our original n had gone to shit, we were gonna do it the long and difficult way.


    It was supposed to be a hostile takeover of some sort but much like what Castro was trying to do with his own family, we''d slowly restructure this organization into something "passable" in the president''s eyes.


    Mauro and Sal knew of our n but they have zero clue I was connected to the president of this country. Mr. Cuervo eventually knew of this fact but he had zero clue that I could''ve easily had this ce burned to the ground.


    I''ve seen it happen once when I was in Iskoh''s territory and I''m pretty sure that was just a taste of what the president could call upon. However, the president had zero clue I was connected to this organization¡ªand have a pretty high standing¡ªand Jose was the only one of the officers who knew the real story aftering with us.


    From what I told Morales, Ferdinand, and a few other officers back home, I was ying the "cold game" of sorts¡ªwhich was technically true¡ªto find out more about this ce that had a "few" narcotics circting around. But since I downyed most of what this ce was, they assumed I could eventually take care of it or this ce would eventually just run out of resources, and it was just a waste to have it reported to the president who had better things to do.


    Furthermore, if pushes to shove, Morales and his soldiers owed me a ton for taking in the majority of their family members, and since the president didn''t send over their able-bodied family members and conscripted them as his soldiers, it made a small damper on their rtionship.


    I was the guy supposed to be transparent about all this but if this blew up in my face, I would be in serious fucking shit.


    But to bepletely fair, I had no intention of being a family head or a government''s dog but it was required to bridge the two factions together.


    This fucking shit would be over at the earliest if these two parties just focused on what''s fucking important, and I was willing to y a dangerous game just to get back to the olden days. It was a decent but a little idealistic goal in my head but the payoff will be tremendous if I managed to seed.


    "Hermano?"


    "Hmm?"


    "You''ve been quiet for a while there, something wrong?"


    "Oh, I was inner monologuing, don''t worry about it."


    "Sure¡­"


    "Yep," I replied as I motioned to walk towards the exit.


    "Wait, you aren''t gonna take them?"


    "Nope. Keep the C4 too¡ªwell, hand them over to Jericho. I''m sure he''d like what I have nned for those."


    "Alright, he''d probably wake up in an hour or so but don''t forget to tell me when you''re about to leave."


    "Sure."


    At this point, Mr. Cuervo and I just shared a nce before I turned around and exited the room, but I did see him breathe a sigh of relief once everything was over¡­ for now. Even if I did say that all of them had some bad blood with each other, some good was mixed in it as well.


    It was safe to say that Mr. Cuervo was actually more than just acquaintances with the other family heads, and even if he witnessed allies and enemies go¡ªfrom the time he was active, it was also safe to say that it would''ve been difficult for him if half of them disappeared in a single night.


    Once I closed the door behind me, I walked inside the elevator and it didn''t take long before I was brought to the surface.<novelnext></novelnext>


    I thought I would start finding everyone else again but Kaley, Quinn, and Edith were actually waiting for me.


    Quinn let out a sigh, "Took you long enough. Right, Edith here has something to say to you."


    "Hmm?"


    Edith slowly inched closer with an embarrassed look, "About t-taking me in¡­"


    I waved her off, "You don''t have to if you don''t¡ª"


    "I¡ª I want to though! B-But¡­ all of my stuff is still back home¡­"


    Quinn interjected, "You coulde with us or Sal. You''re not gonna take a few days just to pack your things, right?"


    Edith looked a little dejected, "N-No¡­ It wouldn''t take as long but I have to hand over my responsibilities to a few people so that Aunt Sally wouldn''t take them all. T-That''s why we''re here, I''m asking if you could wait a few days so I could¡ª"


    "That''s no problem at all. We''d probably spend a week at most at Quinn''s ce and we''ll just pick you up if you''re ready."


    "Huh?! You''re only gonna spend a week at my ce?!"


    Kaley let out a chuckle, "Why? Gonna miss us that much?"


    "I''m n-not saying that¡­ I¡­ I just want to make sure you thoroughly f-fix my car¡ª Right! You''re gonna fabricate a Shelby''s body too, right?! Won''t that take longer?!"


    I shook my head as I let out my show-off face, "Quinn, Quinn, Quinn¡­"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "What? What? What?"


    "I can do both in a day and it''s up to your machines if they could keep up with me. I can do that in three days or so but I added a few more days because I wanted to drop by my old uni. But yeah¡­" I trailed as I turned to Edith, "Is a week enough for you?"


    Edith nodded, "That''s m-more than enough but I have one more favor to ask."


    "Sure, anything."


    "If¡­ If you decide to ce by here again¡­ I''d like to visit Aunt Sally if possible. I know that Elsa would keep herpany but I want to do the same thing too¡­"


    "That''s not a problem but it''s gonna between a month or a couple of months at a time. We''ll be opening up a trading route and you could ride the ship with an escort."


    "That works!"


    "Great."


    "S-So¡­ What are you guys up to now?"


    Quinn replied, "My guys are still packing shit. It might take a while and since I don''t have a working car, I''m gonna ride with these two lovebirds so they won''t take a detour."


    Edith turned to Kaley and me, "How about you two?"


    I held Kaley''s shoulder and pulled her close, "Kaley''s gonna do some psychic shit."


    "A what?" Quinn and Edith said at the same time.


    "Eh~ You''ll find out soon. It seems like the line is still outside the house Mr. Cuervo gave us so I''ll let Kaley hold the reign for that part. She''s psychic, have I told you two before?"


    "I''M NOT PSYCHIC!"

 Chapter 815 Forget The List. He Goes To The Block.

    Kaley eximed as she was kinda yfully ring at me¡ªbecause I used to joke about her being an actual psychic, and making another attempt to spread her "skills" was getting a little too out of hand. But despite that, Quinn and Edith took it as a joke but it was only a matter of time before they thought differently.


    To bepletely honest, I also regard it as a running joke between us but the way Kaley could filter out people¡ªthough not at 100% uracy¡ªwas still outstanding.


    It didn''t take long before the four of us made our way to the line in question and I was surprised to see a few dozen people waiting to pledge to our house.


    "Oi! He''s here! He''s here! Line up! Line up!"


    "Line up properly!"


    "That''s the new head?"


    "Hah?? Where were you yesterday?"


    "I was already out since 7 PM, woke up in my vomit and shit¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Can we really get in?"


    "One way to find out, no?"


    "He rejected everyonest time¡­"


    "Persistence has some merits, we just gotta show him we''re serious."


    "Sister in christ, we''re both fucking whores, how can we¡ª"


    "Shut up! I just wanna see him up close¡­"


    "Can you evenpete with his wife? She''s so pretty¡­"


    "Edith is over there too, she''s totally my type."


    "How about Quinn? She''s mommy, right?"


    "I¡­ I can''t keep up¡­ So he''s¡­ probably¡­ that good as Rox and Mel say¡­"


    "Oh?"


    I could only shake my head at the chatter I was hearing while we were making our way and to my surprise, Tatiana, Cynthia, and the twins were the ones keeping them in order. They had a table with a few refreshments on it but Riri was holding the list of the aspiring candidates.


    Her face lit up when we met eyes and she approached me with a jaunt in her step as she handed me the clipboard.


    "Here! Fifty-two people in total!"


    ''This is just a list of names¡­ They should''ve gotten a bit more info out of them¡­''


    I turned to Tatiana first, "Where''s Artem and the rest? Did they leave already?"


    Tatiana nodded after swallowing a mouthful of food, "Yeah, he brought Katya, Mikhail, Bogdan, Niks, and Alexei with the crew Mr. Cuervo gave them. If you''re looking for the others, they''re probably around here somewhere but I did tell them to inform me if they''re gonna head out."


    "I see, thanks¡­" I trailed as I looked at the clipboard and Riri who was looking to receive apliment. "Riri¡­ It''s nice of you to get their names but you should''ve gotten more given the time they were here¡­"


    Riri had the shock of her life, "Ah¡ª You''re¡ª I thought¡ª"


    "It''s fine¡ª"


    "Wait! I know everybody here! We could just tell you!" Riri eximed as she nced at Ruru.


    Ruru nodded, "Yes, we do actually."


    I nodded with a faint smile, "Alright, one of you bring one of them up while the other writes their info on a piece of paper. It''s impressive to know you know each of them personally but I''ll need a CV of sorts for proper record-keeping."


    "We''re sorry, we''ll do good next time¡­"


    Ruru turned to the people in the line, "Alright! Come over here! You! You''re~ Ang, right?" then she turned to me, "She''s Ang, 26 years of age, from the Cuervo Family, a member of the Pink House¡ª"


    "Hey! Don''t tell him that!"


    I cut them off, "I''m gonna need every bit of info, sorry. Don''t worry, I won''t judge you in any way but that doesn''t mean I''ll just ept anybody that tries to get into my camp."


    Ruru nodded with a faint smile, "He''s great, right? Anyway, Ang also works as a line cook when she''s on her day off and she keeps her room really clean! However~ she''s kind of a picky eater and she OPENS UP a little too much when she''s drunk."


    Tatiana interjected, "You mean physically or¡­"


    Ang shouted while her face was beet-red, "THE OTHER ONE! I JUST DON''T HAVE A FILTER WHEN I''M DRUNK, OKAY?!"


    "Ah¡­ I wouldn''t mind if you''re both, personally," Tatiana chuckled while she didn''t break eye contact with Ang.<novelnext></novelnext>


    At that moment, the sexual tension between the two was concerning so I had to swipe one of her burritos to distract her.


    "Hey! That''s mine!"


    "Uh-huh, I thought you''d have her for a meal so you wouldn''t mind this one. Anyway," I said as I turned to Ang, "I''m not the one to interview all of you even if I''m the head of my family but everyone, meet my wife, Kaley. She''s the one to decide if we''ll keep you or not."


    "..."


    Everyone was silent as Kaley gave them a short nod¡ªafter releasing a little bit of pressure, but I gave her a short introduction for them to know that she was not here to mess around.


    "Don''t let the pretty face and perfect body fool all of you, alright? I trained her personally and the only thing I haven''t taught her was to hold back."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­ just kidding~ She knows how to, she just prefers not to do it. Can we start again?"


    Kaley sighed exasperatedly as she beckoned Ang to speak, "Don''t mind him, he''s just trying to scare all of you but anyway~ I don''t mind you giving an introduction of your own. You know yourself best, right? I think it''s better for you to do it yourself rather than another person. And to add to that, Ruru did a good job just listing their names because this is actually how I want to do things."


    "..!"


    After Kaley said that, it seemed like she captured almost all of everyone''s hearts instead of intimidating everyone to the point of canceling their tryout spot. However, her methods seemed to be too effective because it didn''t take long before Ang started opening up, and she was already in tears while she haven''t had a sip of alcohol.


    "It''s just that I don''t know *sniffs* if I''m really doing the right thing *sniffs* by going here but *sniffs* y-you''re really cool, you know that?! *sniffs* I made a lot of friends in this line of work but I really j-just want to pursue being a cook! It *sniffs* It used to be my dream but money was really tight before and I had to *sniffs* sell pictures of my feet to strangers at this *sniffs* shady *sniffs* website. I just¡­ *sniffs* It was just so lucrative and I couldn''t believe how much *sniffs* money I made and it just devolved to me *sniffs* doing other stuff¡­"


    "I¡­ I see¡­"


    "B-But you know what?! *sniffs* Even if some part of me disappears every time I *sniffs* do it? It still empowers me in a way¡­ Am I crazy?!"


    ''Yep¡­''


    Kaley kicked my shin as if she heard what I was speaking in my head, "Y-You''re not! You''re just following what your heart wants! Sometimes¡­ You might do something that you don''t like for the sake of something that keeps you¡­ happy but if you discover that the something you hate or used to hate empowers you, isn''t that a good thing?"


    "D-Do you really think *sniffs* so?"


    ''Why did this turn into a¡ª nevermind¡­ it''s entertaining at least¡­ But yeah, they should be speaking about this topic somewhere more private¡­''


    With that said, Ang eventually decided to pursue a new(?) passion of hers while remaining in the Cuervo Family but the next person after wanted toe to our fold for a different reason.


    "So, your name is Belle?"


    "Yeah~"


    "And can you tell me your reason for trying to join our¡ª"


    "Dick."


    "H-Huh?"


    "I need more dick."


    "Care to e-borate?"


    "I''ve sucked every fucking dick in this ce and it''s starting to get¡ª"


    "I''m sorry, but our lodgings for ourdies of the night are limited. I love the enthusiasm but we''ll give you a call if we ever have an open spot¡­"


    "R-Really? Man~ fine¡­ that''s too bad. But hit me up, yeah? And also, I know what I am, you don''t have to sugarcoat it."


    "Oh. Sure¡­ alright."


    Two aspirers were gone in a blink of an eye but the next one that was called up have some serious, serious issues.


    I dunno how he was fucking awake right now because he seemed to have partied way too hard yesterday or even the week before, but what surprised everyone was that he came in and pulled his pants down with an absent look on his face.


    "Umm¡ª"


    We thought the nightmare had already reached its peak but something that smelled like ammonia but looked like it had a tinge of blood came out from hisid penis. He started pissing in front of everyone with the same expression but for some reason, everyone waited for him to finish before he got beat up and dragged away.


    I turned to Ruru and Riri, "Who¡­ Who the fuck was that?"


    Ruru almost didn''t reply from the shock, "That''s¡­ I d-dunno¡­"


    Riri added, "He''s not on the list¡­ What should we do?"


    I said with a straight face, "Forget the list. He goes to the block."

 Chapter 816 Isaac - Sensei?

    After I said that, I could only shake my head in disappointment because none of them got it¡ªincluding Cynthia¡ªbut it didn''t take long before the mess the previous guy made was cleaned up, and the next person was brought in front of us. The guy looked like a regr ol'' joe with sses but it looked like he was more interested in talking to me than Kaley.


    "Hello, my name''s Isaac," the person said while looking straight at me, "I''m¡­ I''m not from any family¡ªactually, I haven''t pledged to any family yet but I have purchased a few months'' worth of residence here in this ce just to have a chance to meet you."


    Kaley interjected, "So¡­ you wanna join us? Can you tell us a reason why?"


    Isaac turned to Kaley for a moment and nodded at her before turning to me again, "I''m¡­ this is embarrassing but I also practice the same¡ªwell, not the same technically¡­ but I''m from the Kishin-Ryuu School of Martial Arts. I was enrolled for two years and I''m a 2nd-Dan practitioner before¡­ you know¡ª"


    ''Fierce God-Dragon, no way. Not in a million years this kid is a student of that ce. Besides, they don''t have "School of Martial Arts" at the end of their sign¡­''


    "Kishin-Ryuu School of Martial Arts?" I asked with a faint smile.


    "You¡ª You know my school?"


    "No¡ª It kinda rings a bell but I doubt there would be an actual branch or any other branch here."


    Isaac looked a little offended, "Do you know all of the branches¡ª"


    "I do, actually. Everything from the AJKF(All-Japan Kendo Federation) to the old, old schools you probably haven''t heard of."


    "C-Can I ask which school you learned from?"


    "Yeah, no. You probably haven''t heard of it even if I tell you."


    ''Ours isn''t as cool sounding¡­ so, no¡­''


    "..."


    From his silence, I thought it was over and as I was about to turn to Kaley so she could continue her interview, Isaac cut her off.


    "Can¡­ Can you tell me and take me in if I score a point off you?"


    A few raised their eyebrows as they turned in Isaac''s direction though most of them didn''t know what Isaac was talking about.


    "A point?"


    "Basketball?"


    "What are they talking about again?"


    I chuckled as I stood up from my seat, "I ept the challenge if and only if you''d run 10ps around this ce naked if I score a point off you first."


    Isaac was a little taken aback but a look of excitement reced his expression before he nodded several times.


    At this point, the interview process had taken a pause but I guess it was better than seeing another person''s dick while everyone was still fucking tired and a little hungover. To my surprise, the twins had brought over actual shinais or bamboo swords we could spar with but Isaac was in the process of wearing his full kendo gear.


    "Dude. Seriously?"


    "Ah¡ª You didn''t bring yours?"


    I instantly facepalmed, "D''you seriously think I''d bring my¡ª"


    "O-Of course, I''d let you borrow my spare¡ª"


    "You have a spare too?! No. I''m fine as is."


    "B-But what if you get hit?"


    "I''ll take some painkillers."


    "F-Fine¡­"


    Looking at the guy, I had no clue as to how he ended up in this ce but seeing another "practitioner" in the flesh was a breath of fresh air. It didn''t take long before he donned his helmet and approached me in the circle-like stage I drew on the dirt though his whole demeanor changed when he raised his shinai¡ªholding it with both hands¡ªand assumed his stance.


    But on the other hand, I was just so fucking casual, I was resting my shinai on my shoulders while my whole body was rxed.


    I would always do this type of thing to irk my opponent just to get a small reaction or to throw off their game by a little bit, but all I received was a short exhale as Isaac continued to concentrate.


    And the moment the signal was given, his shinai just suddenly looked like a round, white object heading for me as he opened up with a quick thrust.


    The motherfucker was actually aiming for my throat and even if it was in the confines of the actual rules, it was still fucking dangerous.


    But yeah, this kid got some balls on him.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It''s just that much to his surprise, I easily knocked the tip of his shinai with the butt of my owning from my original stance of resting my shinai on my shoulders¡ªbefore I blew his helmet off with a sudden switch mid-swing.


    I could''ve done it with a simple flick of the wrist but I decided to use my freehand to help change the trajectory of my strike by cing it right at the end of the handle, and an attack made with both hands would 100% of the time be stronger than an attack with a single one. Good thing I did it at an angle away from his head or he''d have several concussions.


    ? Our match was over in a matter of seconds and he was just looking at me stunned but it wasn''t for disappointment but for amazement and awe. However, it was only for a few seconds that the realization struck that he had to run 10ps around Cuervo Heights nude.


    The look of horror and dread on his face was just so fucking priceless and even if he turned to me for mercy, I just chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders.


    "Why are you looking at me like that? A bet is a bet, no? And yeah, if you won''t do at least that, I won''t fucking take you in."


    "I¡­ T-Thanks for the match! I''llplete the 10ps while thinking of you, sensei!"


    "Ah¡ª N-No, I''ll fucking kill you if you do that."


    "Yes, sensei!"


    "And don''t call me sensei."


    "Shishou?"


    "No."


    "Daimyo?"


    "No."


    "Onii-chan?"


    "You''re fucking with me, aren''t you?"


    "No?"


    "I''ll count to three and if you''re not¡ª"


    "I''M GOING! I''M GOING! I''M GOING!"


    Without further ado, Isaac just started to sprint away while chucking out pieces of his clothing. But while that was happening, Kaley was looking at me amusedly but I just shook my head and sighed heavily before I turned to the twins.


    "Can I get some more info on that guy?"


    Ruru nodded, "Yeah, he came here a few months ago but he was probably present the first time you came here. He mostly just watched anything that''s happening around here but he would sometimes rent some "entertainment" from time to time. He mostly keeps to his room but we''d also see him exercise in the gym or runps around in the morning."


    Riri added, "Oh! He hadn''t been with us, before you ask."


    I lightly chuckled, "I see no problem with that even if he already has."


    Ruru pouted, "It would''ve been nice if you cared a little¡­"


    Riri chuckled, "Anyway, that''s because he has a little preference¡­ We''ll just leave it at that to give him a little bit of privacy."


    Quinn joined in, "Hah! That''s funnying from you two since you gave away every bit of info from my crew."


    "W-Well they''re rude but he''s nice. There''s a difference."


    With that said, as things went on, Kaley managed to interview a few more people but a couple of people¡ªQuinn and Tatiana, were getting a little too bored so they proposed something to move things along.


    "Alright, listen up! If you don''t have anything to offer except muscle,e over on that side and we''ll be the ones to test you. If not, just act like you heard nothing but we do wee challengers."


    Almost immediately, half of the people in the line walked over to the side where Quinn and Tatiana drew a line and it didn''t take long before screams of pain and horror came from their side. However, it did make Kaley''s job a little easier and she discovered a few more interesting ones among the bunch she was interviewing.


    We found a personal trainer, an ex-cop, a desmith, a "Marital Aid" manufacturer, a watchmaker, and a circus performer.


    Each of them had their own stories to tell and as much as I would''ve liked to have an actual desmith in my fold, I doubt that he''d pass my over-the-top standards. However, not everyone had the opportunity to wield a priceless treasure like mine and witness a grandmaster cksmith do his work, so having regr old des that were readily avable to the public was a plus in my book.


    ''As long as it could cut open heads and chop off limbs without breaking or bending, it''s good. Sometimes, quantity is better than quality¡­''


    With that said, I was still listening to their replies to Kaley''s question but my attention was caught by another dick pping in the wind.


    "ONII-SAN! I FINISHED THE TEN LAPS! ONII¡ª OW! WHY ARE YOU HITTING ME?! AH! AHHHHH~! HELP! HE''S FUCKING CRAZY!"

 Chapter 817 Temporary Farewells And Road Trips

    I didn''t know why, my hand holding my shinai just moved on its own and started beating Isaac up but something told me that he was enjoying every second of it. Even when he realized he had to run around the area nude, it felt like the notion of getting seen naked by different people stirred something inside him even though he was utterly embarrassed by it.


    ''Great¡­ a nudist-masochist with a humiliation kink¡­ Why is it that the most normal-looking people have them? Fuck it¡­ one of the many reasons why he ended up in this ce¡­''


    With that said, Kaley was still talking to the people that wanted to join our fold but my radio started buzzing.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kid. This is the captain speaking, are you guys done?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, a little change of ns. We''ll be here for more than a week."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What?! Why?! We can''t just stay here and wait for you guys to finish!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hmm? Did something happen?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [No,plete opposite. Well, we''ve started going through the other ships here but they''re all picked clean¡ªaside from spare parts we could use and the ship itself¡ªso we could probably have them all as donors or have another one sea-ready.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "That''s great, actually. I''ll leave it to you but have any of you gone around the area yet?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, the other kids you brought can''t sit still for more than a few hours. They''ve gone around and looted the areas in the immediate vicinity while the others fished. They haven''t found much but they did find some things we could make a use for.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    ? "Hmm~ Alright, just don''t let them wander too far and alone. The zombie poption here isn''t as muchpared to our ce but they shouldn''t let their guards down or y around too much."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I know, but time-wise how much longer do you think we''d be here?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Maximum of a month. And even if you get another ship ready, I''d still need you to be holding the fort for us. I can''t trust that to anyone else."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I understand. I''ll give my wife another call.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Thank you. Just give me a call whenever."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    After that call, it only took a few more minutes for Kaley to finish her interview and we got a total of 17 new people wearing the imaginary Ishiyama family crest.


    It was because aside from Isaac and the few others we found interesting, the ones that stayed behind genuinely wanted to join my crew and they were fine with making the house Mr. Cuervo gave me their new home¡ªmuch to the surprise of Isaac¡ªeven if they were technically still living in Cuervo Heights.


    Furthermore, the two sex workers Kaley let in¡ªAng and Belle¡ªwanted to have a change of scenery though the definition of the word differed for both of them.


    Ang wanted her main job to be the house''s cook and her "entertainment" job to be the one on the side while Belle really just wanted to suck and feel a different cock with a passion.


    All of them will be in charge of maintaining the house and taking whatever side quests Mr. Cuervo would put them on so they''d have an influx of vouchers to maintain the upkeep. Security wasn''t the main issue but since this house will also be Niks, Alexei, and Ilya''s house, I doubt no one would mess with them when we go back to our main HQ.


    After I gave them the run-down of what I expected them to do, it was at the same time Quinn was informed that their crew was ready to go back. They''d obviously leave some people to maintain their enclosure and keep their shop at the Bazaar open but some of them still had business in their actual spot.


    And lo and behold, Mr. Alvarez came up behind me with a huge smile on his face.


    "We''re finally heading back eh?"


    "We?"


    "Didn''t you forget? I need to see it with¡ª"


    Quinn cut him off, "Are you riding with us?"


    "Yeah?"


    "No. We''re fucking in the car. I don''t want your dirty and cringe mustache near it."


    Mr. Alvarez had the shock of his life, "No fucking way you''re fucking the whole three hours. Just no fucking way¡ª and my mustache is the best there is. You''re just fucking jealous you can''t grow one, end of story."


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Yeah, tell yourself that. Either you follow behind us or I''ll send the car to your home after we''re done with a little scratch I wouldn''t tell you where."


    "Fuck, no! Don''t do that! Fine! Fine! I''ll ride way~ in front though, you better leave no scratches on that or I''ll request a full refund!"


    After that, I sorted a few things with Mr. Cuervo, Jericho, and Jared before I left Cuervo Heights with Kaley, Tatiana, Jose, Isaac, and Quinn with the majority of her crew. Mauro was supposed toe with us but he decided it would be best to spend more time in Sal''s ce with his wife for a lot of reasons he didn''t tell me.


    With that said, I would''ve preferred Jared toe with me but he needs to learn a bit of leadership and what better way to start it than with a rowdy group of whores and gangbangers that were pretty much unpredictable. Furthermore, Ibarra and a few others like Ilya, Marina, and Natalya were left to keep the fort down, and I also briefed them on what to do while we were away.


    The only ones that didn''t like to be left behind were the twins because if Tatiana didn''t pry them off my legs, they would''vee even if they looked ridiculous.


    "Come quick¡ª I mean, don''t take too long, okay?"


    "Sis, I think he wouldn''t mix the two up¡­"


    "I was just trying to rify! Well, he never mixes us up¡­"


    "True, stay safe! Be ready for us when youe back!"


    "Alright, heh. Anyway, you know what to do. See youter!"


    We eventually drove away with my Raptor, merging with the convoy of vehiclesing from the de Leon Family enclosure, but for one obvious reason, the girls made Isaac and Jose ride the truckbed while the four of us were seated inside. I didn''t even have the chance to inspect Isaac''s gear when Quinn pulled my cock out of my pants and started sucking me off.


    "Woah, woah, woah¡ª"


    As I looked in front, Tatiana was the one driving while Kaley was riding shotgun but it seemed like they nned this from the start. The rear-view mirror was pointed directly at us while each of their hands was either down their pants or on top of their tight shirt. And if I''m reading this correctly, they''re gonna touch themselves while Quinn and I fuck each other''s brains out.


    Quinn stopped momentarily to jerk me off, "C''mon, you know I wanted more fromst night. Besides, I know you could fuck better since you did me better in my tent."


    I tried my best to keep myself from groaning, "I thought we''re not supposed to talk a-about that."


    "Feeling it already? Good, you gotta fuck me like you mean it because we''re gonna be real~ busy once we get home. If I''m not satisfied, I''m just gonna pull you whenever and I''ll ride you till I''m done."


    At this point, Quinn had already removed her coat and her ginormous breasts were right in front of my face. They were jiggling from the way she was jerking me off and it didn''t take long before I waspletely rock-hard. Seeing me like that brought a smile to her face and she leaned even closer before giving me a kiss.


    She was kissing me as hard as she was gripping my cock, and she ced my left hand over one of her huge tits and made me squeeze them hard.


    "Mmh~ Nnhm¡­ MnH!"


    Quinn''s body was fucking something else. Aside from being more than 7ft tall, she had muscle and fat in all of the right ces. Furthermore, I could be rougher at handling her but it just gives her more pleasure than pain.


    With that said, I switched from her huge udders to her meaty cunt located between her thick thighs, and they were just as wet as I could''ve imagined. She had to spread her legs a little bit so I could gain enough ess and it didn''t take long before we were giving each other a "handshake".


    But once she broke off from our kiss to breathe, I leaned closer to kiss her neck and eventually her chest right until I was biting and sucking on her hard nipples.


    "FUCK! MmH! M-Mnh! H-Harder! B-Bite them¡ª NnH! MMH! Shit! Shit! SHIT!"


    At this point, Quinn had already let go of my cock as she had her arms behind her head, but I continued to suck on her tits while I was starting to pull on her tight pants. With her weight, it became a little difficult but she raised her butt momentarily so she could pull it off herself. However, as her pants were right on her knees, I suddenly pushed her down and turned her over before I fingered her cunt and tongue-fucked her asshole.


    I thought for sure that she''d resist and try to turn the tables on me but all I saw was her hands spreading her cheeks apart so I could have better entry.


    ''These three hours will definitely be a bumpy ride¡­''

 Chapter 818 Bumpy Road Trips - Entrance

    From my point of view, Quinn''s perfect behind and her other perfect "behind" were right in front of me, and the pink meaty bits from her wet cunt and her winking little asshole were just asking to be vited. But since Quinn''s th thighs were mped shut because her tighttex pants were almost tied around her knees, the hole I''m choosing couldn''t be more obvious.


    I just grabbed her tits from behind and plunged a thumb in her asshole before I shoved my huge dick inside her tight fucking cunt.


    "YOU! I THOUGHT YOU WERE¡ª AH! MMH! FUCK! IT''S SCRAPING INSIDE MY¡ª MMH! SHIT! I''M SO FUCKING FULL! KEEP PINCHING MY NIPPLES! FUCK! HARDER! HARDER! HARDER! AH! FUCK! YOUR THUMB''S MOVING INSIDE MY¡ª AH! AH! FUCK!"


    At this point, it was taking everything not to cum from the first two pumps because Quinn''s pussy was just so fucking tight even if she was soaking wet. I had to push it in with much force just to keep it inside because it would start to push me out the moment her walls would tighten.


    Also, It''s just that Quinn was just so fucking loud I had to cover her mouth with my hands, but it just made her even tighter. She even made me choke her for as hard as I could and at the moment she lost air, she started squirting nonstop.


    Quinn''s muffled moans were just enough to make Kaley cum from her seat¡ªas she was fingering herself and watching us, though Tatiana made sure that our tinted windows were up and the music from the radio was on full st.


    However, due to the way I was pumping Quinn''s insides, it looked like my Raptor had the same suspension as a lowrider. The body was definitely moving side to side but the road was bumpy enough that the ones following behind had to be watching us closely¡ªwhich they definitely were.


    ''That''s all they could do though¡­ watch.''


    With that said, it didn''t take long before I was now seated nicely while Quinn was riding me fully naked like there was no tomorrow. At the same time, she was smothering me with her gigantic tits while I kept fingering her untouched¡ªfor now, asshole.


    "YOU LIKE FINGERING MY ASS, HUH?! YOU DO? YOU WISH YOU WERE FUCKING IT RIGHT NOW INSTEAD OF MY TIGHT PUSSY, HUH?! YEAH~ MMH¡­ FUCK~ NO FUCKING MY ASS UNTIL YOU CUM INSIDE MY PUSSY¡ª AH! LIKE THAT! YEAH~ FILL ME UP WITH YOUR WARM CUM! SHIT! SHIT! I''M GONNA CUM AGAIN!"


    I could clearly see how Quinn''s eyes rolled to the back of her head as she leaned back from cumming, and I had to support her back so she wouldn''t fall over. However, seeing her body while her tight pussy was gripping me like a vice was enough for me to explode inside her though I kept thrusting hard from below.


    Her hands were now tightly grabbing my arms but all she could do was squeeze on them while her tits were jiggling nonstop from the way she was moving up and down due to our position.


    At one point, she looked like she was tapping out but she kept cumming and cumming because the tip of my dick was rubbing against the most sensitive spot inside her. Looking down, my huge dick was just covered in our juices though most of it had already dripped down the flooring, making it a nightmare to clean up after it was all over.


    After I finally slowed down, Quinn managed to have a short breather but Kaley couldn''t take it anymore.


    Kaley moved to our side and easily spun Quinn and shoved my dick in Quinn''s ass before she started eating the cum out of Quinn''s pussy.


    I was still in my seated position though I was keeping Quinn''s legs spread apart so they wouldn''t mp on Kaley''s head. I barely got to thrust inside Quinn''s little asshole but hearing Kaley''s fingers going in and out of her own pussy almost made me go over the edge. However, I''ve done it once before but to Quinn''s surprise for the second time, I started lifting her with just arm strength alone and I used her body like a fleshlight.


    Quinn didn''t know how to react but her body just tightened as it had another release of its own.


    On the other hand, Kaley got drenched with Quinn''s juices so she had to take off all her clothes and opted to shove three fingers inside Quinn''s pussy while sucking on her tits. All Quinn could do was take it as she just squirted over and over and over. Kaley and I only stopped when Quinn had already melted from the pleasure and she was almost unresponsive from what we put her through.


    "Fuck¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Who needs f-fucking drugs if the sex is this good¡­ Ha¡­ Mmh¡­"


    For a short bit, we cleaned up including the Raptor''s interior though Quinn had to relieve Tatiana''s post so Tatiana could relieve herself¡ªwith the help of yours truly and Kaley, of course.


    With that said, we didn''t go at it for the whole three hours but Quinn''s sex drive at this moment was just insatiable. There was a point where she came back to her spot and was just sucking me off while giving me a titjob just for the hell of it, and with Kaley''s guidance, Quinn could now decently give me one and make me cum within a few minutes.


    "Was that really better?"


    "You have no idea¡­"


    "Hmm, I didn''t think servicing you like this would be this¡­ I don''t know what to call it¡ªsatisfying for me as well?"


    "What? You''ve gone all this time just receiving everything?"


    Quinn thought to herself for a bit, "Well~ Not exactly like that but yeah¡ªWait, no¡­ I just like doing it to you."


    Tatiana quipped from the driver''s seat, "How about us? Hmm?"


    Quinn chuckled, "I always service girls but for guys? He''s the only one in a good, good while¡­ Never felt like doing it to other guys I''ve been with but yeah, I could see how the twins and Edith decided to lose their V cards to you. Props to Kaley too, if we were together, I wouldn''t fucking share you with anyone else, just saying¡­"


    Kaley shook her head while smiling, "Can I get a thanks, at least?"


    "Not taking him for myself not enough? Remember, you''re going to my ce, I could do whatever the fuck I want there," Quinn said yfully.


    I interjected, "Where''s my say in this conversation?"


    Quinn scoffed, "Please, you''d lick my asshole every day if I ask you."


    I scoffed as well, "Hah! Just saying, if anything happens to Kaley, all manner of sex will stop and I''d just live off by smelling her clothes."


    Kaley was happily surprised, "You''d really do that?"


    "Maybe? Who knows? But I''ll make sure you''ll be with me always."


    "Aww~"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "How sweet, I''m gonna barf."


    Tatiana instantly joined in, "Whoa, whoa! What about me?! Why am I getting left out?! What are you gonna do if something happens to me?!"


    I joked, "We''ll bury you and make some matching pins?"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! KIDDING! KIDDING! Hmm~ I don''t really know the answer but I''m definitely gonna be sad. I''ve known you for a while and you''re one of my special friends even if we take the sex out of the picture."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "What? You asked the question, right?"


    Quinn shook her head, "Wow~ Way to bring down the atmosphere~"


    Kaley added, "I was expecting a wittyeback¡­"


    Tatiana nodded, "Yeah¡­ I was expecting for you to say you''d fuck my corpse one more time before¡ª"


    "Hold up, we''re not bringing up fucking necrophilia in the¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! That was a good one, wasn''t it?!"


    Kaley was at a loss for words, "Tatiana¡­"


    Quinn was in the same situation, "Jesus fucking christ that came out of nowhere¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    It became quiet again but my fucked up sense of humor had to react to it.


    "Pfft¡­ yeah, that was fucking funny¡­ Shit, hahahaha!"


    Tatiana''s face started to lighten up, "I told you it was funny!"


    Kaley shook her head, "Sure¡­"


    "How long¡ª"


    Quinn was still in mid-sentence when gunshots suddenly erupted from the front, and the straight line of vehicles we were in turned into a scattered mess¡ªlike a line of ants going in different directions. Furthermore, some vehicles even went off-road and started to drive in erratic patterns but to my surprise, Quinn wasn''t fazed at all.


    But since Tatiana was the one behind the wheel, she couldn''t help but shout at Quinn to get some insight as to what was going on.


    "QUINN, WHAT THE FUCK IS¡ª"


    "Chill. We''re just announcing that we''re here."


    I interjected, "Wait. We''re still a town away¡ª"


    "Exactly."


    "That didn''t make sense at all."


    "Don''t worry. It''ll be clear soon enough."


    Hearing Quinn''s words, I just took in everything that was happening at once and it didn''t take long before I realized that the gunshots had some sort of pattern. Furthermore, the ones that went off-road were the ones speaking through their frequency over and over, but they were speaking in terms I could barely understand.


    However, right as we drove into the town before the de Leon Family''s territory, I noticed several survivors perched on the roof or lurking in the alleyways.


    I assumed that they were not affiliated with Quinn''s crew but they were no way in hell gonna try to intercept us. I even noticed some roadblocks that were abruptly moved away and our convoy of vehicles just zoomed past everything at full speed, upying each street, road, or entryway like they owned it.

 Chapter 819 Parks And Malls - 4S

    This unique entrance was just the de Leon Family''s way to make their presence known and it seemed like it had the effect that they desired. To me, if I had these people close, I would''ve absorbed them¡ªafter an interview, of course¡ªin my fold to bolster my numbers. It''s just that with the zombie poption around these parts, there were certain groups that could afford to survive on their own.


    And just like that, it only took a few short moments before we passed this ce''s roadblocks and we were now on the short route to reach the town where the de Leon Family''s HQ was located.


    It was only a few kilometers away and it didn''t even take 30 minutes to reach our destination.


    ''Huh.''


    The de Leon Family''s main base of operations was actually in an industrial park that had everything they needed for making their own type of vehicle or anything they might consider, but something''s telling me that it was recently obtained from not-so-legal means.


    ''Yep¡­ the original logo of these buildings definitely got sprayed over¡­ Wait, is this actually their HQ?''


    Quinn chuckled as she saw my expression, "What? Who would''ve thought they''d just leave these buildings for us with all of the equipment and the materials avable? Quite homely, no?"


    I shook my head as I turned to her, "Homely?"


    "Haha! Just kidding, my ce is not as big but it''s definitely cozier."


    With that said, some vehicles drove inside the other buildings we just saw but Quinn instructed Tatiana to drive a little further, following a couple of vehicles that didn''t follow the majority.


    After a few minutes or so, we drove into amercial area for this medium-sized town that they imed for themselves, and we came upon a tall gate of what seemed to be a barricaded strip mall.


    And since the vehicle at the forefront was a truck that had a trailer carrying Quinn''s ride, no words were exchanged between the driver and the one guarding the gate as it just opened automatically after a short beep.


    Well, there were a few words when the guard¡ªa man in his 30''s with the usual getup for Quinn''s crew¡ªsaw the state of Quinn''s DB9.


    "Holy fucking shit, who''s the genius who did that? Probably dead?"


    "Hah! Long fucking story, my guy. Long fucking story. You''ll shit your pants once I tell you¡ª"


    Quinn shouted at the top of her lungs, "HEY! ARE YOU GONNA DRIVE IN OR WHAT?!"


    "SORRY! WE''RE GOING, WE''RE GOING!"


    The moment we drove in, I was expecting something like a much more chaotic clone of their enclosure in Cuervo Heights: several baldies walking around with a girl or a bottle in their hand, pimped-out vehicles that were one ident away from causing an outbreak, hard rock sting fromrge speakers, or a tent in the middle for their highness but it was not.


    Surprisingly, the strip mall was only manned by a dozen or so people¡ªmaybe more on the inside, and it was the cleanest ce I''ve seen.


    It looked totally metal from the outside but it was like a you-could-lick-the-floor type of situation on the inside. Well, I was pleasantly surprised by the way they repurposed their huge parking area, and making half of it into farms was a plus in my book. I could only guess what they turned the other sections of the strip mall into but the parking area also had an open gym, a "pimping" station, a repair station, a salvage station, and a¡­ umm¡­ a spot to actually park other cars.


    But despite all that, the huge garage located somewhat in the middle of the strip mall with several luxury vehicles in front must be our stop.


    We were eventually led to a space where we could park our Raptor close to Quinn''s main garage and I couldn''t hide my excitement from seeing this strip mall turned into a small fortress of sorts¡­ but it seemed like we have forgotten someone.


    And like clockwork, my radio buzzed.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kid, you seeing this ce?! This ce is huge! Look at all the vehicles they''re working on! Look at the engine on that Bronco! It''s fucking huge!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    ''Bronco? I don''t see a Bronco anywhere in this¡ª''


    I was this close to replying to Mr. Alvarez but Quinn grabbed my hand and signaled to not answer him for the moment.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kid? You there? Wait a minute, where''s your Raptor? I can''t¡ª Is that it? On the other building? My eyes can''t see that well. Kid? Can you hear me? OOH~ Is that a Five-Ton?! HAHAHAHA! Kid! You won''t believe this shit! Fuck it, call me when you see me! I''m taking that shit for a spin!]


    *bzzt*<novelnext></novelnext>


    -


    Quinn let out a chuckle, "Let him have his fun. He''ll find this ce soon enough."


    "Sure. Tell me: this is your own ce, right? The industrial park must be Mauro''s."


    "Yep, kinda. Well, he still owns a garage like mine but he relocated. I still prefer my own. Besides, that ce gets noisy with the number of people and the equipment running almost 24/7. C''mon, I''ll show you guys around," Quinn said as she stepped out of the vehicle, stretching for a few seconds.


    ''Wait¡­ 24/7?''


    I was still in deep thought as Kaley and Tatiana followed after her but I felt Jose''s arm grabbing my shoulder the moment I was about to follow suit. He never looked so ufortable and for some reason, he was having a hard time looking me straight in the eye.


    "Where the fuck did you take me now?!" he said in a whisper.


    "Oh. I forgot you two were with us."


    "C''mon, man! I look like I blend in with everybody but I don''t!"


    "What do you mean?"


    "I don''t have their number thingy on me! I''m just clean shaven and I''m covered with tattoos! I know I look awesome and all but I don''t want to do their version of stolen valor here!"


    I startedughing, "Hah! I guess you can say that. It''s never toote to pledge to this family!"


    "Don''t joke like that, man! I try to avoid them but some of them are already buddy-buddy with me!"


    "Isn''t that a good thing?"


    "They were shit-faced when they met me! The ones here are all sober, some of them are already giving me weird looks¡ª"


    Isaac added, "Nii-chan, I don''t handle new ces t-that well¡­ And we totally heard nothing on the trip here¡­ j-just saying¡­"


    I let out the tiniest bit of killing intent, "Isaac, call me ''nii-chan'' one more time and I''ll lop your head off."


    "Ah¡ª Big bro, my bad. It''s just a force of habit¡­"


    "Uh-huh. Let''s keep it that way¡ª"


    Quinn''s voice suddenly boomed, "THE FUCK ARE YOU THREE STILL DOING THERE?! COME OVER HERE! I''LL INTRODUCE YOU TO EVERYONE FIRST! WE''RE WAITING!"


    After a short bit, we all gathered in front of the main garage and even the dude guarding the gate was present. He had the number 441 tattooed on his left arm but looking at everyone else¡ªthese 40-something people, half of them didn''t look the type. Well, a good number of them were suspiciously looking at Jose and it didn''t take long before his appearance was questioned.


    A well-built woman wearing coveralls and the number 44 spoke up, "Who''s that? New prospect?"


    Quinn turned to 44 before turning to Jose, "Naw, unless he wants to? Anyway, everyone, that''s everyone and everyone, that''s everyone. Done and done. Can someone brief me on the things I leftst time? *cracks neck* I''m itching to work again. Where are my work clothes?"


    "..."


    "..."


    Quinn looked at us weirdly after her "introduction", "What?"


    Kaley actually stepped up, "That''s not how you introduce people¡­ Anyway~ I''m Kaley, this is Sky, that''s Tatiana¡­" she started to introduce everyone from our side, giving a short description for everyone and making sure that the other side was paying attention. And for some reason, her "assets" were already gettingpared to Quinn''s just from the way everyone else was looking at her and Quinn back and forth.


    ''I''m gonna give these people a piece of my mindter¡­''


    After a short bit, Kaley finished introducing is and since Quinn didn''t care much about properly doing it the second time, the woman numbered 44 started to introduce herself first and copied what Kaley did.


    As I thought, some of the people here were from Sal''s family to take care of the farms while the other decent-looking people were "prospects" as number 44¡ªZyra, mentioned. They were survivors from this town that managed to pique Quinn''s interest while the rest were sent over to the industrial park to do pretty much the same thing.


    However, one thing''s for sure, Quinn had this as-long-as-it-had-the-number-4 thing going on because it was tantly obvious that the ones in here that belonged to their family had her number in their¡­ number.


    I''m not sure if that was a bright move on her part¡ªdeciding who to take in just for something as trivial as that¡ªbut we would see soon enough if it was an actual blunder.

 Chapter 820 Zyra - Measurements

    Right when everyone was properly introduced, Quinn just turned around and went straight to the main garage, leaving everyone with nk or confused faces. I was pretty sure she mentioned that she''d show us around, but considering that she didn''t even try to introduce us properly, I''m assuming that this was her version of it.


    The guard named Junie slowly inched back, "We''re¡­ We''re good to go, right? I can go back to my spot?"


    Zyra nodded at him with a sigh, "Yeah¡­ I think so. She always does this, remember? I can¡ª"


    I cut her off, "Excuse me, Zyra was it?"


    "Hmm? What''s up, young head¡ª I mean, sir."


    "Sky''s fine, no worries. Where~ Umm¡­ Where are we supposed to put our stuff? We were supposed to be shown around this ce and I pretty much need to be shown around for obvious reasons."


    Zyra facepalmed, "Dammit~ I guess it''s up to me. Would you like to do it now or do you want to¡ª but before that, you guys fucked, right?"


    I''ve never been so confused, "I¡ª"


    "Just answer. Your lodging depends on whether she had sex with you or not and if it''s still a thing."


    "..."


    "Well? I don''t have all day. It''s almost sunset too¡­"


    I sighed as I nodded and pointed at Kaley and Tatiana, "Yeah, we three did¡­ and we''re still probably a thing, whatever that means¡­"


    Zyra nodded with a smile before she pointed at Jose and Isaac, "How about the prospect and sses?"


    The two quickly shook their heads before I answered, "Just us, so?"


    "Alright, you three can bring your bags to her room on the second floor of the garage while the two of you can sleep wherever. But prospect¡­" Zyra trailed as she gave Jose an up-down look, "You can bunk with me if you want?"


    Jose was slightly taken aback but pleasantly surprised, "With me?"


    "You don''t want to?"


    "N-No¡ª I''d very much like to!"


    Zyra let out a faint smile, "Good. sses, I''m sorry but you''d need to hit the gym a few more times before you get a chance with me."


    Isaac quickly waved her over, "Yeah¡­ I''m good, I''m good¡­"


    With that said, I eventually noticed that Isaac was also carrying a katana that looked to be a few centimeters shorter than mine. Still, from looking at it initially, it looked like an entry-level katana that was suitable for beginners.


    ''I''ll take a closer lookter¡­''


    At this point, Zyra showed us around while everyone else went back to their posts. She rolled her sleeves and wiped herself with a slightly dirty towel but it looked like Jose wouldn''t mind being the towel instead.


    "Okay, here''s obviously the main garage that Quinn and a few others only had ess to, and on the second floor is where her room is located. It gets freaky at times but if you''re into what she''s into, you''ll have a very~ good time¡­ I''ve been there plenty of times and let''s just say¡­ you know what? If you know, you know¡­"


    "What''s the next section here?"


    "That ce is basically our kitchen and mess hall, it used to be this fast food ce along with a few others but we kept this one and turned the others into storage areas or just a ce where we couldy our heads on. We used to sleep on the roof for obvious reasons but the roof was now the ce we erected all of the sr panels we found. It could run the ce when it counts but we have several backup generators when it''s rainy or if we need to have that extra pump of electricity. And that ce¡­"


    Long story short, Quinn''s ce had almost all of the essentials needed to survive, but in my opinion, some facilities needed to optimized so she could make use of this ce with 100% efficiency.


    Quinn had a decently sized armory, stocked storage areas for various food items, water, gas, and mechanical parts, a small clinic capable of giving first-aid or basic treatments, sturdy walls and gates, two bars located in her floor and in the mess hall, a decent crew, several machines for machining her own parts, and the other things we discovered earlier.


    "Okay, that''s pretty much it. What do you think?"


    "It''s decent but you need to have more guards present. I know you have cameras installed but that could only do so much. You need someone on the roof with a rifle or so¡ª"


    "That¡­ We can''t do that."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "It''s kinda embarrassing but none of us are good shooters. We can pull the trigger but shooting long distances are not our forte."


    "Oh. We can start¡ª"


    "But yeah, we have a workaround for that and it pretty much solves the issue."


    "Oh?"


    Zyra led us back to Junie''s post and made him show a different POV from much farther cameras.


    "You see those spots?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Since this town is pretty much ours and everyone else is staying in the industrial parks, we''ve booby-trapped those spots for good measure. What happens is that when something wanders on that spot, it''ll just trigger and we''ll get a signal that it went off. After that, we''ll just see if it worked or not, and we''ll just decide whates after."


    "How about hordes? How do you take care of them?"


    "We used to have a kill zone¡ª Well, it still exists but since Mauro started to collect heads and he can''t be bothered to collect scraps from the ones that would wander around, he made that thing to collect heads a little easier. Can you flip to that screen, Junie?"


    Right as Zyra pointed to a different screen, we watched as the feed switched to a street that looked like an unfinished construction project, though the most notable thing that was scattered around were long and wide strips of metal rebars made to have deadheads get their feet stuck on it and spiked barricades to either guide them to the rebars or have them stuck in the same manner but by trapping them in ce by piercing through their flesh.


    At this moment, a few were already caught in the traps but from one corner was a pile of headless corpses waiting to get burned to cinders. With that said, a dump truck was parked right next to it and I can already imagine what were wriggling inside it.


    "Nice. You''ve pretty much automated everything except for the collection process."


    "Yeah, it would''ve been nice if we have a machine that could lop their heads off but we don''t want to damage the goods because their height varies."


    "I see. But yeah, it doesn''t hurt to practice shooting from time to time. Kaley and I¡ª Jose could even give you lessons while we''re here."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Zyra chuckled, "I''m sure we''ll teach each other some stuff."


    "Right. Thanks for showing us around and can you point me to a free CNC Machine where I could make a new body for the Shelby?"


    "The Shelby? I thought it only needed some tweaks? Alright, we have one here and it''s not being used but I think you need to take a closer look at the car first. You can''t just punch in the measurements even if you did it before because each car had small differences."


    "Oh. I have already."


    "Already what?"


    "Looked at the car?"


    "Closely?"


    "Yeah. Closely."


    "When?"


    "Earlier?"


    "..."


    "Zyra?"


    "You''re messing with me, aren''t you? You can''t just look at something and¡ª"


    "34D-24-38."


    "What¡ª"


    "You''re 5''6" probably 190-200 pounds, 24% body fat while the rest is muscle. Also, it seems like you''re right-handed but for some reason, you use your left hand for everything. It''s either you had a bicep injury or you''re trying to be ambidextrous. And from the way your hair is tightly wound, it''s probably up to your butt and you''re¡ª"


    "Alright, stop! What the fuck?!" Zyra eximed as she looked at everyone else.


    Junie let out a chuckle, "34D, huh? Who would''ve thought¡ª"


    "SHUT UP!"


    At this point, Jose looked like he was about to cry and he just let out a long sigh before cing his hand over my shoulder.


    "Alright, you can have her too¡­ I''ll just bunk with Isaac and¡ª"


    "Huh? The fuck are you talking about?"


    "Look at her, man! Even I''M impressed! Even if she stays with me, she''ll probably think of you while I''m getting lucky! Couldn''t you have told me that first so I could''ve left a good impression?!"


    Junie added, "True~ At least you get lucky¡ª"


    "I TOLD ALL OF YOU TO SHUT UP! YOU! HOW DID¡ª DO I KNOW YOU?!"


    "I''m Sky¡ª"


    "NOT WHAT I MEANT!"


    "So¡­ The CNC Machine¡­ I want to get it up and running now so it''ll be done by tomorrow¡­"


    "..."


    "Zyra?"


    "Y-You¡ª F-Follow me¡­"


    With that said, Zyra led me to the machine I was looking for and she was staring at me like a ghost the whole time I was putting in the numbers through theputer. She was still in shock as she was trailing behind us, and even if we were carrying out bags to Quinn''s floor, she was making sure I was a few feet in front of her, keeping her distance.


    I waved over Jose and whispered, "See? She looked more scared than impressed."


    "Uh-huh¡­ she looks a lion stalking her prey. I wanna hate you but I can''t. I need to learn that shit, quick."


    "I beg to differ. Just try again and I''m gonna be a bro for once. I still have a lot to do and I can''t progress quickly if another onees running for me."


    "Fuck you! Suffering from sess much?!"


    "I¡ª"


    "What?! You didn''t choose the pimp life, the pimp life chose you?!"


    "Why are you so mad? Do you want me to bed her then?"


    "Wha¡ª I''m not saying that! Go away! I have to act fast while she''s still in shock! You''re gonna see how I do work¡ª ISAAC?!"


    I was just about to leave him to his own devices but we just saw Isaac leaving with Zyra while he had a firm grip on her waist.


    "Damn~ You can''t catch a break, can you?"


    "SHUT UP! I''M GETTING LAID TONIGHT!"


    "Uh-huh, see youter!"


    "FUCK YOU, MAN!"

 Chapter 821 BDD - PEDs

    I was about to leave Jose to find someone else to be with tonight but for some reason, he followed after Isaac and Zyra. I''m not entirely sure as to why he did that because he already conceded the first time when I was involved, why was Isaac any different?


    In any case, I just shrugged my shoulders and found Quinn who was still working on more than the engine of Mr. Alvarez''s vehicle, but it seemed like she doesn''t want to talk. She looked that focused on her work and I wouldn''t want to catch a wrench with my head if I somehow disturb her.


    ''Better leave her alone and find Kaley and Tatiana¡­''


    Reaching the 2nd floor of the garage, I found the two unpacking because, to my surprise, Quinn''s floor and her private room were as clean as they could get.


    Kaley saw me from the corner of her eye, "Oh? I thought you were hanging out with Jose and Isaac?"


    "Yeah¡­" I chuckled as I gave them the story.


    "Hahaha! Well~ Zyra seemed cool, I wouldn''t mind if she joined us sometime¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­ Quinn''s already a handful, I''m afraid of more people like her trying to wear me like a bracelet. Have you seen everyone here? Everyone''s jacked to fuck, especially the women¡­"


    "What''s wrong with that? Aren''t you jacked? We''re also kinda¡ª"


    "Kaley, our bodies¡ªTatiana included¡ªare achieved naturally. Quinn might have the rare .001% gics to achieve a body like that but I''m telling you, some of them must be on something. It could be GH, HRT, SARMS, or fuck it, let''s say some ''roids but the dosage must be kept to the minimum. Even so, it still shows."


    "Again, what''s wrong with that?"


    "Nothing in particr but whatever they''re taking will soon run out. But yeah, some of them could also be naturally gifted¡ªlike you, but for the ones who aren''t, their mental is gonna take a hit."


    Kaleypletely ignored mypliment, "Wait, how?"


    Tatiana moved over to the bar and inspected the liquor cabs, "Yeah, how?"


    I sat down on the couch as I let out a bitter chuckle, "The two of you had perfect bodies from the start but like me who had to work hard¡ªno, harder to get in shape, I know the feeling all too well. But yeah, now, the feeling of it doesn''t affect me as much but¡ª"


    Kaley interjected, "Are you talking about Body Dysmorphia?"


    "Exactly."


    Tatiana took a swig of Vodka from the bar, "What now?"


    I answered, "Hmm~ The short exnation is if you look in the mirror and what you see or perceive is different from what you actually look like. I''m not talking about a fat guy thinking that he looks like Chris Bumstead, Ronnie Coleman, or Arnold Schwarzenneger in the mirror but theplete opposite. It''s generally seeing every w¡ªeven nonexistent ones that affects your head that it even interferes with our ability to function."


    Tatiana faintly nodded, "Hmm~ Well, it do be like that sometimes¡­ I used to feel like that too."


    Kaley turned to Tatiana, "''It do be like that?'' Are you drunk already?" then she turned to me, "I still feel that way sometimes too, it''s not just the people here, you know? It happens to everyone."


    "Ah¡ª right, I''m sorry. I just assumed it never happened to you two but I guess it''s kinda different for people who actually used PEDs or had cosmetic surgeries to ''correct'' whatever w they have?"


    "Hmm~ I didn''t think of it that way¡­ Huh."


    "Hmm?"


    "Well, I didn''t think we''ve talked about this topic before¡­ Especially in this type of environment¡­"


    "C''mon, keeping our bodies in peak condition is one of the most important things in the apocalypse. Strength and fitness are on the list but looking good has some merits too. We need to feel good about how we look sometimes, no?"


    "True¡­"


    Tatiana suddenly spoke, "What''s this green stuff? Absinthe¡ª"


    Quinn''s voice suddenly boomed from the first floor, "NO ONE''S FUCKING TOUCHING THAT WHILE I''M NOT THERE!"


    Tatiana picked up the bottle and rested her arms on the railing, "What''s this stuff? I haven''t had this yet. And yeah, your ears are something else, huh?"


    "We''re just in arge room, hard to not hear everything you''re saying. But yeah, I agree with what you three are talking about."


    "Which one?"


    "That I have an awesome body. However, I dabbled on gear when Mi¡ª yeah, I dabbled on gear before but I stopped five years ago. I already have a hard time finding clothes¡ªlet alone a bra, I shouldn''t get bigger as is."


    I walked over the railing and rested my arms on it as well, "Really? I thought you were 100% natural. How long have you used PEDs? I''m guessing only for a year or two?"


    "How can you fucking tell?!"


    "Well~ You''re voice isn''t as deep and your clit isn''t that big either¡ª"


    "YOU! STOP TALKING ABOUT MY CLIT! IT ISN''T THAT BIG!"


    "That''s what I was saying! It''s kinda big but it''s proportional to the rest of your body!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Kaley eventually joined us by the railing, "Is having a big clit signify PED use?"


    "Not exactly because there are a few people that have bigger clits than normal but yeah, it''s one of the symptoms along with having a deeper voice for women¡ªeven growing facial hair in some cases. It''s different for whatever you''re taking."


    Quinn took off her gloves and stood up from her seat, "You have a lot of knowledge on this thing for someone that ims that they''re natural."


    I let out a chuckle, "Honestly? I thought of doing it before but I''m not joining anypetitions of any sort. And yeah, I still want to be able to scratch my back and not bother who I''d be sitting next to in an airne. I''m happy with where I''m currently at right now. Besides, I''m still BIG down there, it would''ve shrunk if I started using gear, totally opposite from what you guys might encounter if you get on the juice."


    Quinn suddenly had an epiphany, "Yeah, don''t use it. A lot''s riding on it! LITERALLY!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!"


    "DON''T FUCKING LAUGH! IT''S HARD TO FIND A PERSON LIKE YOU WITH A DICK THAT HUGE! DILDOS CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH! I STILL PRETTY MUCH PREFER THE REAL THING!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! A NATTY AND A NUTTY DICK!"


    "PFFT! FUCK THIS SHIT, I''M GOING BACK TO WORK! DON''T DRINK MY ABSINTHE! HAVE ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES THAT!"


    For some reason, the talk we just had made the three of us want to lift some weights but I strongly advised Tatiana against it because she already had a few drinks of alcohol. With that said, the lights for the open gym were already turned on and a few people were already working out.


    It was only a few minutes past 6 PM and I assumed this was some people''s free time.


    But to my surprise, Isaac and Jose were present in the gym and Jose was putting Isaac through a beginner''s workout.


    ''I thought they were¡ª Lemme just ask them¡­''


    "Yo," I came up to the two who were on one of the t benches.


    Jose turned to me with a bitter expression, "Don''t ask."


    Isaac rested the bar on the bench before sitting up, "I told you, we shouldn''t do that."


    Tatiana asked, "Do what?"


    Isaac proudly puffed his chest out, "As a member of the NoFapmunity and a follower of the knight''s code¡ª"


    I quickly left the scene, "Alright, I''m out. I''ll head over the squat rack over there~"


    Kaley followed, "Your disciple''s¡­ unique¡­"


    "He''s not my disciple¡­"


    Tatiana quickly caught up, "That guy''s funny. He actually just tucked Zyra into her bed and did nothing. Holy fuck, hahaha! That''s fucking rare, I tell ya."


    With that said, the three of us made our way to an open squat rack and we were greeted by one of Quinn''s mechanics¡ªColeen, who was using the nearby Smith Machine with two tes on each side. She had the same physique as Zyra but her quads and her ass were more prominent.


    "Doing squats too?"


    "Just us two, Tatiana''s just here to watch."


    Tatiana quickly asked, "Are you natural?"


    Coleen let out a chuckle, "My tits or~?"


    I interjected, "Sorry, she had a few drinks before she came here and we were just talking about gear earlier¡ª"


    "No problem, what do you think though?"


    I let out a faint smile, "Your tits or~?"


    "Hah! Anything you''re looking at~"


    "Well~"


    Before I got to answer, the one in charge of their logistics¡ªAnne, came up and loaded two more tes on the machine Coleen was using. Each te weighed 45 lbs(20.4 kg) and now it had 6 tes in total, weighing 270 lbs(122.7 kg).


    Anne turned to us, "Hey, getting a warmup in too?"


    Kaley shook her head, "Warmup? That''s way~ past my working set¡­"


    Tatiana scoffed, "I think I could do that¡ª"


    I quickly grabbed her tipsy ass, "NO!"

 Chapter 822 Strength =/= Big Muscles

    I don''t know how much alcohol Tatiana had but if she thought that she could squat 6 tes without a warmup, I''d choke her out until she passes out because that was just suicide with extra steps. Granted I was sure that she could do it with a 1 rep max, with maybe even more weight but if alcohol was involved¡ªeven a little bit, I''d rather receive her ire.


    Tatiana pouted as she leaned over, "You think I can''t do it?!"


    "You could, but you''re tipsy. I should be tucking you in with Zyra."


    Anne gave me an approving nod before she turned to Tatiana, "Yeah¡­ he''s right¡­ Sorry but no lifting if you had some alcohol¡­ I''m sure you could do it but we don''t have the capacity to treat you if a lifting ident urred."


    Coleen added, "That''s true¡­ I used to do 8 tes and a bit more before but I''m watching out for myself because a doctor isn''t readily avable. Besides, lifting a little too heavy increases the chance of injury by a whole lot especially if you''re not careful."


    I gave the two an approving look as well, "Huh. Color me impressed."


    "Hmm?"


    "Sorry, I''m really off my game today and I assumed everyone here are meatheads that''ll just keep stacking weight until they break their knees. I didn''t think that safety will be your number 1 priority."


    Anne chuckled, "Well~ You''re not wrong, per se¡­"


    Coleen nodded slowly, "We used to be like that¡ªtotally, but yeah, some guys here are still ''meatheads'' as you said and abusing gear, but Anne and I¡ªeven Zyra and a few others are slowly getting off the stuff. If you haven''t already noticed, my thighs couldn''t be this thick without outside help. I can''t just stop immediately because I''m not used to them getting slender even if they still looked thick as is. I''m sure you know where I''m getting at¡­"


    Anne added, "And since the ''stuff'' we have on hand are low now, it''s best to just slowly lower the dosage and eventually get off it. It''s really hard to see myself lose the progress I worked hard for but it''s for the best. I''m thinking of doing calisthenics if I shave off a few more pounds."


    I checked out her figure momentarily before I said, "Yeah, that''s great actually but you could still do strength training because big muscles doesn''t always equal to strength. Well~ some big powerlifters or strongmen would argue a bit and would even say that more fat could even help but since you''re going the calisthenics route, I doubt you''d want more fat in your body. Just remember to don''t push it too far, too low body fat would actually make you weaker even if your remaining muscles would look more defined with the striations and other stuff."


    The two were listening intently then Anne said, "Yeah, I added a lot more cardio in my training to lose more fat but I noticed I was getting progressively weaker."


    "Hmm~ I actually think you don''t need to lose more fat though¡­ I think you wouldn''t want to hear this but you still have a lot of muscle in your body, like a whole lot. I''m gonna suggest doing lower-intensity cardio and see how it feels first but getting off the stuff is the priority. It''s gonna be a bitch but you''re still gonna get weaker as you get smaller. But despite that, a different world will open for you because you''re gonna get lighter¡ªespecially if you retain most of the strength you have now."


    "What do you mean?"


    "These machines are screwed deep, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Okay, here are a few examples."


    I just easily jumped and hung on the protruding handles on top of the smith machine, and I started to pull-ups with perfect form.


    "Is¡­ Is that it?"


    "I was just getting started¡­"


    After that, I pulled myself up by keeping my arms straight, forming a ''7'' with my body but I brought myself down to slowly perform ache¡ªswinging forward then throwing myself back even more as the ''7'' looked like it turned counter clock-wise. After that, I engaged my core even more as I tried to ''walk'' as I brought myself down, doing everything smoothly without breaking a sweat.


    I even ''walked'' backward and sideways¡ªmuch to their amazement¡ªbut once I was back to my original hanging position, I started to pull myself up with one hand, then four fingers, three fingers, two fingers, andstly, my middle finger which actually made me strain and sweat a little.


    They were already shaking their heads at my disy but I then did it with my non-dominant hand just to prove a point.


    I would''ve also done the g and a few more power moves but Anne and Coleen had already removed the two extra tes they loaded on the machine they were using.


    "Alright, you''ve made your point. I''m impressed and it''s giving me the push to switch to something else. I might just get off the stuff faster from seeing that."


    I added, "Not only that, but when you''re lighter, it''d be easier to move around and you''d reach farther distances without tiring easily. And since you''re already doing cardio, you''d be able to do so much more. I think I don''t need to say what happens if you abuse PEDs too much, right?"


    "Yeah, our hearts could only take so much if we get even bigger. That''s one of the reasons Quinn got off earlier than us."


    Kaley interjected, "Does Quinn have heart problems?"


    The two looked at each other first before Coleen answered, "I''m not sure if you''ve seen Quinn before but she was already big before she started using PEDs. Add to that the other things she abused¡ªdrugs and alcohol, even before the world ended."


    ''She''s much leaner from the picture she showed me before though¡­''<novelnext></novelnext>


    She continued, "We''re not sure of the exact details but I think it would be better if you ask her herself. She seemed pretty chill with you guys but we don''t talk much about it because she might go back to that point again if she hears us¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly appeared from nowhere, "Go back to what?!"


    "Ah¡ª We didn''t mean to talk about¡ª"


    "About Michael?! You damn well shouldn''t!  WHO TOLD YOU TO GOSSIP ABOUT ME!"


    Tatiana''s ears suddenly perked up but didn''t say anything.


    "W-Were sorry¡­"


    Kaley stood between them, "I''m sorry, Quinn. I''m the one that should apologize, not them. I''m the one who meddled with your business¡ª"


    "AND THEY ANSWERED WITHOUT KNOWING THE FULL THING!"


    I stepped up and ced my hand over Quinn''s shoulder which was a little above my head, "Hey, calm down. They''re just looking out for you and besides, I can tell you that they never said anything about him. They actually told us that it would be better if we ask you ourselves. They haven''t done anything for you to get angry like that so you should be the one to apologize because you''re the one who hulked up without knowing the full thing."


    "..."


    I added, "Are you sure you''re off the juice?"


    "HAAAH?! DIDN''T I TELL YOU THAT ALREADY?!"


    "Well~ I''m just saying¡­ That could be remnant ''roid-rage or something, we don''t fully know¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly grabbed my arm, "YOU¡ª hnGH! HOW¡ª"


    I chuckled since my arm never budged, "Big muscles doesn''t always equal to strength, did you know that? It usually does but this is an exception, no? Don''t forget, I lifted you off the ground¡­ twice."


    At this point, everyone else present was looking at the two of us but Quinn''s demeanor was slowly wavering to the point she was starting to look embarrassed. In this ce, she might be the Queen or the fucking Alpha-Bitch but it seemed like she met someone that could take her down a peg.


    She might be equal to Tatiana but the only thing she won against me was drinking that cursed green spirit that she liked a little too much.


    With that said, a few words came out of Quinn''s mouth that made her crew''s jaws drop to the floor.


    "F-Fine¡­ Coleen, Anne¡­ I''m sorry."


    "WHAT?!"


    "SHE APOLOGIZED!"


    "DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT?!"


    "I''M DEFINITELY DREAMING, PINCH ME!"


    "NO FUCKING WAY SHE SAID SORRY!"


    "NO WAY¡­"


    "CAN YOU DROP THAT PLATE ON MY FOOT SO I''D WAKE UP?!"


    I didn''t think Quinn saying that she was sorry would cause this much of an uproar among her crew but it was definitely a wee sight. Seeing Quinn blush embarrassedly while swinging a 20.4 kg Olympic bar at everyone teasing her was fun in its own right. It slightly broke this invisible wall she put up against her crew but it wasn''t a bad thing at all.


    Keeping authority among your people was one thing but seeing them as friends couldn''t be sneezed at either.


    It took a while for things to calm down but I spent most of my time lecturing and giving a new training n to those who were interested to switch to a much better alternative to what they were doing.

 Chapter 823 Inevitable - Youre Different.

    "Listen, I''m not saying that calisthenics is the god of all exercises or training regimens because it''s not, I still lift weights from time to time. The best exercise is whatever works for you because it should be something you enjoy and can do for the rest of your life. You can still stick to bodybuilding, powerlifting, or whatever you''re doing right now, but what I''m saying is that eventually¡­ if longevity is something you''re aiming for, you gotta get off the juice. If not, just disregard everything that I said and do what you''ve been doing before. I''m not your coach, I''m not your mom, and I''m not your patriarch to tell or force you to stop whatever it is that you''re doing."


    I thought our discussion was already over but a big dude named Myke¡ªyes, it was spelled with a y and numbered 444¡ªthat was obviously on gear came up to me as we were about to head for dinner.


    Myke, from what I was told, was nicknamed in this ce as the "Human Jack" because if a jack wasn''t readily avable and it was an emergency, he''d just lift one side of the vehicle and have the others fix whatever needed fixing.


    He didn''t look too thrilled by my response, "I get what you''re fucking saying but I''m happy with the size and the strength that I have right now. However, like everyone here, we''re close to running out of the stuff we''re using. I could probably go on for six to seven months if I lower my dosage but that''s gonna be it."


    "Then what are we even arguing about? Is there something wrong with what I said?"


    Myke sighed heavily as he wiped his face with his hands, "I¡­ I still want to remain this way. Is there a way to do it without PEDs?"


    I scratched my head as I looked at him bitterly, "I think you know the answer to that, no?"


    "..."


    "Let me put it this way¡­ Let''s say Coleen, Anne, and the rest stops using now and you trade with them something valuable of yours to prolong the inevitable."


    "Inevitable?"


    "Can you still get them anywhere else?"


    "No¡­"


    "Exactly. If you''re gonna do just that, go ahead, I won''t stop you as I said earlier. But my only advice to you is that¡­ as hard as it may sound, you gotta start epting the fact that it''s gonna happen sooner orter. We can say that it''s just dying the inevitable but we could also say that you might just need more time to process things. Everyone''s different in that regard."


    "..."


    "But yeah, think about this¡­ If you have a normal working car, you can upgrade it by swapping out the internals, fabricating a new body or other attachments, or everything else, right?"


    "Yeah, like what we do here obviously."


    "Yep, like what you do here. We can take it as ourselves working out in the gym, taking natural supplements, and some other stuff¡­ But therees a point where you hit a limit, right? A car or our bodies'' natural limit¡ªour gic limit¡ªdo you understand where I''m getting at? And doing what you''re doing is just excess."


    "..."


    "Myke, there''s a bnce about things we should follow and what do you think would happen if we put a V8 in those ride-ons kids use or a jet engine in a beetle? It''s probably gonna be fucking awesome for a few seconds but it''s gonna be fucking bad news to whoever''s using it. Can''t be we happy with our bodies the same way we upgrade our vehicles? Granted this ce is a little extra but there are just some things you don''t put in your car. We could rece the parts or the machine we broke but we can''t just as easily swap our hearts if it stops working when it had too much."


    "..."


    "Your huge muscles are great and all¡ªand you''d probably win a few titles if you join apetition or two but *ces thumb on chest* if this stops, it''s game over. No de-load or rest day could possibly remedy that. And in your case, you shouldn''t think of it as a bad thing but a good thing. If you kept sting whatever it is you''re sting, it might kill you faster than the things walking around outside."


    "..."


    "So¡­ Can we have some dinner now?"


    "Yeah¡­ We''re the only ones here¡­"


    "Myke."


    "Hmm?"


    "While I''m still here, we can talk as much as you want but remember that the only person that could solve your problem is yourself. Trust me, being natural isn''t so bad and you mighte to like it. Besides, how many calories do you eat in a day? Six thousand? Eight? No wonder the Rivas Family had to send reinforcements¡­ I know nt-based protein isn''t as good as meat-based protein but sheesh~ How much do you eat? Five times your lean body mass?"


    "..."


    "Myke, that¡­ that was a joke¡­"


    "Uh-huh. I know."


    "And you shouldugh after one, if I remember correctly."


    "If I remember correctly, a joke should be funny first."


    "Hah! That was a good one, ahaha¡­ haha¡­ I guess that was a little too technical¡­"


    "..."


    "You don''tugh much, do you?"


    "I''m having a crisis here and you want me to fuckingugh about it?"


    "It could help?"


    "Not with this one, no."


    "..."


    "..."


    "How about we eat? That could¡ª"


    "Yeah, that could help. I''m hungry."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Should we¡ª"


    "After you."


    "Uh-huh."


    "Yeah."


    "..."


    "..."


    After a short bit, the two of us followed after everyone to their mess hall but a certain someone was smiling from ear to ear because of the food served on the tables. It was because not only we were having a bulking fiesta of sorts, the one in charge of cooking fucking knew his stuff.


    Tatiana quickly waved me over, "Hey! Get over here already! We aren''t allowed to eat unless everyone''s present!"


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, we saved a seat for you!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Wait a¡ª" I was about to invite Myke to our table but as I turned to my side, he had already taken his seat among the others.


    I didn''t put it to mind as much because we didn''t hit it off as I thought I would, and our dinner was concluded in less than 15 minutes. I was caught off-guard at how fast everyone just wharfed down their meals but no one can fucking beat Tatiana in this regard. As usual, she gained some fans and admirers from her disy though Kaley looked like she wasn''t faring well.


    Only a few people remained in the mess hall and Kaley and I were just chilling for a short bit.


    "You good?"


    "I¡­ I need to take a minute¡­"


    I chuckled as I rubbed her back, "Why''d you eat that much though?"


    "I dunno¡­ I just¡­ I kinda liked what everyone looked so bulking up a bit wouldn''t hurt, right? I''ve seen you look at Quinn and a few others, I want¡ª ah! Why''d you pinch me?!"


    "Kaley, you know that you can just say the word and we can stop whatever it is we''re doing with other people, right? You know that I only have eyes for you¡­ I can look here and there and admire but you know where I''m at, right?"


    "..."


    "Kaley?"


    Kaley was staring weirdly at me for a few seconds but it didn''t take long before she let out a small chuckle, "I know about that, doofus¡­ My point is that we might''ve found something we like so we should pursue it to spice it up a little bit more¡­ I''ve been training with Tatiana ever since she came to our fold but you wouldn''t mind if I put on a bit more muscle, right?"


    "If done the right and natural way, I wouldn''t mind. Also, if you don''t mind getting heavier¡­ Hmm?"


    "Did you just¡­"


    "Huh?"


    "Er?!"


    "Haah?"


    "You just called me heavy!"


    "I did."


    "...!" Kaley had never looked so shocked.


    I stood my fucking ground, "Kaley. Your fucking tits are heavy, imagine adding the rest of your body to it."


    "You¡ª"


    "Hey! I called you heavy, not fat! And I could still carry you in my arms if I want to!"


    "Why would you even carry me?!"


    "After we got married for real?"


    "You¡ª You''re just¡ª Ahh! That''s not fair! I''m not letting you get away with it! I''m gonna¡ª HlrRfGhhrrFrHA!"


    "Kaley?"


    Looking at Kaley''s expression, it looked like she bit off more than her stomach could handle and I helped her get to the nearest restroom so that she could throw up. In any case, her little re-up with me quickly ended though I had to apologize to the chef because some of his cooking had gone down the toilet.


    "She good?" Chef Ng¡ªNumber 104, approached me.


    "In a bit, yeah¡­"


    "Is she pregnant perchance?"


    I instantly shot him down, "No!"


    "You sure?"


    "Very!"


    "Heh, just messin'' with you. I saw what she ate, she was trying to bulk the wrong way. You can''t just up the volume of your food intake that much. Looking at you two, you''re probably eating around 2000 calories a day. She ate more than double that. But you, you held yourself well. Good on ya."


    "Yeah¡­ I used to be fat. I can handle a little bit of volume from time to time."


    "So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I don''t know how to say this but I''m gonna say it anyway¡­ You''re different."


    "Umm¡­ thanks?"


    Chef Ng chuckled, "I''m sorry, it came out wrong but while we''re on the topic of apologizing, what you made Quinn do, no one has ever achieved that. Ever."


    "Not even herte¡ª"


    "Yeah. Not even Mike."


    "Myke? Number 444?"


    "Huh? Oh, no. I meant Michael¡ª Mike with an ''i'', hahaha¡­ damn¡­ it brings back memories, that one¡­"


    "Care to borate?"


    "Well, you know... Quinn''s been Quinn ever since time immemorial but yeah¡­ ever since we lost him, she''s been¡­ not Quinn. But when you''re talking with her, she''s¡­ you know, Quinn again."


    I nodded a few times, "I''ve¡­ She kinda told me something like that¡­ yeah¡­"


    "Hmm. Kid, I don''t know you as well but I can tell that you have an effect on people, the good kind. I have something like that when ites to preparing them food but all I''ll say for now is that it''s been a while since Quinn ate with everybody. And I want to thank you for that."


    "I¡­ I don''t know what to say¡­ I''m¡ª"


    "You don''t have to say anything. It''s just a simple thanks from an old man. Anyway, your wife needs you over there."


    "Ah¡ª See youter, thanks for the food!"


    "Yeah."


    With that said, I handed Kaley a clean handkerchief and we excused ourselves and went back to the garage''s 2nd floor. And for some reason, Quinn and Tatiana were somewhere else but Isaac was waiting for me to arrive.

 Chapter 824 Heh, No You Wont.

    This time, Isaac looked like he wasn''t there to fool around or crack jokes because he was wearing a solemn expression. Furthermore, he changed into slightly formal wear and once we met eyes, he approached me and knelt on the floor before cing his katana in front of me.


    At this moment, I didn''t know what he was getting at but at the same time, Kaley slowly backed away and went to Quinn''s room on the same floor.


    Kaley mouthed as she bid me farewell, "I''ll leave you two for a bit, I need to lie down¡­"


    I nodded before I turned back to Isaac, "What''s this for?"


    "..."


    "If you''re not gonna answer¡ª"


    Isaac suddenly mmed his head on the floor, "Sir Ishiyama! I want to formally ask you to be my sensei! I''m still pretty wet behind the ears but I''ll do everything you ask of me! I¡ª"


    "Didn''t I already give you a training program?"


    Isaac rose his head slightly, "What?"


    "The training program. Didn''t I already give you one? Before you answer, stand up. We''ll talk at that bar."


    "..."


    Isaac looked a little disappointed by my reply but he picked up his katana and followed behind me. After that, I stood on the other side of the bar and poured us a shot of whiskey. He was waiting for what I would say next but I motioned him to take the shot with me. As I did, he quickly followed suit but it looked like he didn''t like the taste of liquor. He tried his best to hide his grimace but I just nodded before I brought us to our earlier conversation.


    "That training program I gave you¡­ You need to follow that for six months while progressively overloading as a start and¡ª"


    "But t-that''s not swordsmanship¡ª"


    "I thought you''d do everything I ask of you?"


    "..."


    "Well?"


    "But still, I wanted to continue my training¡­ not just¡ª"


    "Do you think that working on your body is not that important?"


    "I mean¡­ it''s important but I want to learn what you¡ª"


    "What I know? Is that what you''re saying?"


    "..."


    "What I know is that you need to build a better foundation first. Learning swordsmanship from me is something that you want, not something that you need. Only a small percentage of people here use katanas and as hard as it is for me to admit, it''s not the ultimate weapon. I can arm myself with just about anything and I''ll probably go about and survive without a hitch."


    Isaac sighed before he nodded, "I know that it all boils down to who''s wielding what but this is the path I want to walk into. And seeing you once wielding your de cemented my desire even more. I can''t learn that from anywhere else and that''s why I''m here asking you to be my teacher."


    "And we''re back to square one."


    "Huh?"


    "The training program I gave you."


    "..."


    "Listen to me, Isaac. The ce I''ve learned my stuff might be old school but they won''t even take a look at you if you don''t have a proper foundation. And we''re not even talking about if you have the talent, potential, or even¡­ the discipline to learn what they taught me. I''m pretty sure what you''re holding at the tip of your tongue is that you should just need to train the body part required for swordsmanship¡ªand you might be right in some instances, but that''s not the way it goes in my book. It''s gonna be physically and mentally demanding and you might be better off learning from your old school. I can teach you some stuff but you won''t get very far."


    Isaac shook his head, "I was just trying to¡ª"


    I stared him dead in the eyes, "I told you to listen, didn''t I? Listen. I fool around and troll people but I don''t half-ass things when ites to what''s on my hip. I even killed someone in cold blood because the fucking dumbass insulted something very precious to me. You were there when it happened, right?"


    "..." Isaac just nodded.


    "What I''m trying to say is if you really want to study under me, you need to learn to fucking listen. Your training has already started and you don''t even fucking know it. The training program I gave you¡ª"


    "STOP FUCKING MESSING WITH ME!!!" Isaac was on the verge of tears.


    I let out a sliver of killing intent, "Excuse me? Are you that fucking entitled?"


    Isaac mmed a piece of paper on the bar, "THIS ISN''T A TRAINING PROGRAM, THIS IS SAITAMA''S BULLSHIT ROUTINE! EVEN I KNOW THAT''S FROM A FUCKING ANIMATION!!! IT''S NOT BALANCED! HOW CAN I BUILD A STRONG FOUNDATION FROM THIS?!"


    "Wut?"


    "DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT I''D FALL FOR THIS?! I HAVE A KATANA FOR FUCK''S SAKE! I''M A FUCKING WEEB, I KNOW YOU''RE FUCKING MESSING WITH ME!"


    "Hold on¡ª"


    "I CAME HERE READY TO OFFER YOU MY SWORD AND YOU GIVE ME THIS BULLSHIT GATEKEEPING STORY THAT I''M NOT FUCKING GOOD ENOUGH¡ª"


    Isaac was still in mid-sentence when I smacked his face.


    "WHY''D YOU FUCKING SMACK ME?!"


    "That''s not my fucking handwriting."


    "Wut?"


    "That looked like a fucking chicken having a panic attack wrote whatever the fuck that is. I''m surprised you can even read that. I wrote everyone a tailored program to¡ª"


    Isaac had a sudden epiphany as he let out his own sliver of killing intent, "Jose¡­"


    I facepalmed, "Ah¡­" then I turned back to him chuckling, "He got you fucking good¡­"


    "Nii-chan¡­ I''m gonnamit bloody fucking murder for a bit, I''lle backter¡­" Isaac slowly stood up while unsheathing his katana.<novelnext></novelnext>


    I grabbed his cor and pulled him back to his seat, "No, you''re not doing shit. You take the L and move on¡­"


    "But¡ª You see what he just did, right?! I should¡ª"


    "Listen. You take the fucking L. I''m not gonna repeat myself."


    "...fine."


    Isaac still looked like he wanted to cut Jose a thousand times before pouring a bucket of alcohol over him but I waved him off as I wrote the actual training program I intended for him. Once I handed it over to him, his eyes lit up and his angerpletely subsided. He even looked like he wanted to start it right now, even though his whole body was already sore, but he folded it up and made sure he wouldn''t lose it.


    I chuckled, "Revengeester but we don''t do anything permanent to our people. You kinda messed with him when you tucked Zyra to bed and¡ª"


    Isaac couldn''t believe his ears, "She was in shock¡ªfrom you, no less. I can''t just¡ª"


    "Do you really think Jose would take advantage of her in that situation?"


    "..."


    "He wouldn''t, trust me. I''d lop off his head if he ever did. But yeah, like what you do by prompting a reaction from calling me ''Nii-chan'', we mess with each other from time to time. I know learning from me is a big deal to you, and I''m honored, but we aren''t like the six main families you''vee to live with these past few months. You might''ve seen a lot of shit when from the time you''ve lived with them but we don''t kill people on a whim."


    "Didn''t you just kill someone from insulting¡ª"


    "Point. But that was a different matter entirely. In your case, it''s just a hazing process everyone goes through when they''re new while Mr. Cuervo''s guy shat on something I deeply care for."


    "That''s fair but I really do want to learn from you and it almost didn''t happen if I didn''t show you that fucking page. I''m pretty d I kept receipts even though the one I kept was fake."


    "Understandable. But yeah, I want you to treat that as a brutal prank for me."


    "Already did."


    "Good, However, you need to get him back in the same fashion. Not by bloody fucking murder, got me? That''s how this works. You don''t go over the top, just a little bit more brutal than what he did."


    "Yes, sensei!"


    "And don''t call me sensei or whatever the fuck you''re thinking of in your head. I can teach people but I''m still learning myself."


    "Alright, alright¡­ one more thing though¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "That tattoo of yours and your katana¡ªeven the wakizashi Kaley''s using, what''s the story behind that? Can you tell me that, at least?"


    "Sure, we need to drink though. One paragraph for a shot."


    "Oh, fuck."


    "And here''s the first one!"


    With that said, I gave Isaac the same story I told Kaley and the rest¡ªomitting a few important parts in regards to Aoi¡ªbut he looked like he already had multiple orgasms by the time I told him I perfectly copied the most basic technique from our school when I was still a kid. To be honest, it do be like that sometimes as Tatiana said before but the guy can''t handle his fucking liquor.


    Isaac was already woozy from the 5th shot but Quinn and Tatiana came back at the worst possible time. Both of them were just as buzzed as me but I never drew my de as fast as I could when I heard the first sentence that came out of her mouth.


    "Fuck, I really need to fuck a guy tonight."


    "Hmm? He''s pretty much ready over there¡ª"


    "No, not that kind. The other way around. I love you three and all but I gotta have my fix."


    "You know I''m gonna fight you if¡ª"


    "Hmm? Who''s that?"


    "Haa? That''s Isaiah or something¡­ I can''t remember."


    Quinn just let out an evil grin, "He''ll do."


    Isaac sprang up groggily, "What? Are you talking about me?"


    Quinn chuckled, "Wanna fuck?"


    "Haah?! With me? Sure¡ª"


    I stood between the two, "Quinn. He''s fucking drunk."


    "So am I!"


    Isaac interjected, "You go Queen! You don''t need a man to tell ya what to do! I''m pretty inexperienced but I''ll try my best!"


    ''Fuck! I''m trying to save his fucking life here and¡ª''


    I was still thinking to myself when Quinn dropped her coat and showed Isaac the goods.


    "I''m pretty sure you''re a virgin but I can help you with that."


    Isaac looked offended, "I''M NOT A FUCKING VIRGIN! I''LL PROVE IT TO YOU! HIC! I''LL BEND YOU DOWN AND FUCK YOU SO HARD, YOU''LL CALL ME ONII-CHAN TOMORROW!"


    At this point, I was just trying to save my new student but if he wanted to poke the lioness, I wouldn''t be responsible for what would happen next. Even Tatiana looked like she was concerned for Isaac''s well-being but Isaac just kept digging his grave over and over.


    Quinn just shook her head amusedly as she easily pushed me aside and held Isaac by his cor.


    "Heh, no you won''t."

 Chapter 825 "That"

    At this point in time, Quinn had already dragged Isaac inside her room¡ªobviously kicking out Kaley who was still oblivious as to what happened in the past few minutes, and I "totally" would''ve tried harder for his sake¡­ totally. Still, it would''ve been my ass in the line if I somehow seeded.


    However, it wasn''t even a couple of minutes when Isaac got thrown butt-naked, and Quinn came out looking extremely frustrated while wearing a thick fucking strap-on that could probably go through anyone''s skull.


    Isaac was the first one to protest, "FUCK! AM I NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU?! I OFFERED MY FUCKING ASS ON A SILVER PLATTER AND YOU FUCKING KICK ME OUT?! WHAT IN FUCKING HELL IS THAT ABOUT¡ª"


    Quinn instantly bridged the distance between them and grabbed his neck, "YOU! YOU DON''T FUCKING YELL AT ME, YOU DON''T FUCKING COMPLAIN AT ME, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, YOU SOUNDED TOO EAGER TO GET PEGGED AND THAT FUCKING TURNED ME OFF! FUCK OUTTA HERE!"


    "B-But Mommy¡ª HGCK! GRCK! KCK!"


    Quinn choked him even harder, "GET OUT! CALL ME MOMMY ONE MORE FUCKING TIME AND I''LL CRUSH YOUR HEAD WITH A FUCKING VICE!"


    Isaac could only crawl down with the lump of clothes he had on him as Quinn put him down, and he just disappeared from view, leaving me to fend off this insatiable woman.


    But from our side, Tatiana was losing her shit from the situation while Kaley was just figuring out why her little nap was disturbed. The two couldn''t hide their amusement but I was the only one there trying to erase my presence. I wondered if things have gone differently if I didn''t offer Isaac some alcohol because that was another side of him I didn''t know about.


    Granted there were some instances that hinted he might be into that shit but right now, I was just trying to keep a buzzed Alpha-Bitch from seeing me.


    And luckily enough, it only took one nce from Kaley for Quinn topletely disregard my presence while Tatiana stood up andpletely took off her clothes.


    ''Side note: this ce''s lighting brings out everyone''s best features¡­''


    Tatiana stretched her arms out before calling out to Quinn, "Hey! We still haven''t done "that", correct? I''ll do you if you do me."


    Quinn let out an evil smile, "You have no idea what you just got yourself into¡ª"


    All of a sudden, Tatiana just lunged at Quinn and tripped her, bringing her to the ground before they started to wrestle and figure out who woulde out on top. In a simple contest of strength, Quinn would win 100% of the time but since alcohol was involved, it was anyone''s game.


    However, it looked like Tatiana wanted to be on the receiving side first so she just pretended to put up a fight before she was pinned down¡ªprone and thick ass sticking out. It didn''t take long before Quinn jammed the huge-ass dildo into Tatiana''s little asshole¡ªafter dipping it in a bowl of lube, and she was pushing in the whole length without regard to Tatiana''s movements and expression.<novelnext></novelnext>


    From our side, I was starting to get hard but Kaley''s eyes were glued to the two who werepletely disregarding us and having fun on their own.


    The two of us could clearly see how rough Quinn was fucking Tatiana''s brains out but her gaze shifted to me, and she went even harder. I could already imagine what was going in her head right now but she suddenly pulled out¡ªleaving a huge gaping hole on Tatiana''s ass, before she plunged her whole fist inside her.


    "HNGH! YOU¡ª"


    Tatiana was biting her lip with a smile earlier but her eyes just rolled to the back of her head with a slight grimace.


    Quinn turned back to Tatiana, "THIS WAS WHAT YOU WANT, RIGHT?! NO GOING BACK ON YOUR WORD NOW!"


    If Quinn desired to, she could''ve started a puppet show right from the get-go but she made Tatiana squeal from pain and pleasure by shoving her fist in and out of her stretched hole over and over. Tears were welling from Tatiana''s eyes while saliva was dripping on the side of her mouth as she was clenching her teeth hard, but despite all that, she was taking it like a champ while hiding a smirk.


    Seeing her in that state stirred something in me and Kaley but Tatiana started squirting when Quinn sat her up and pinched her clit hard while still wrist-deep in her ass.


    At this point, Kaley and I had the perfect view of Tatiana''s ass gripping Quinn''s wrist each time she would pull out but it was also tantalizing to see it take it all in after a sudden push. However, Quinn just pulled it out without warning and jammed her huge dildo up Tatiana''s pussy before she brought her up and down without issue.


    She definitely copied a certain someone and was curious to perform the same move but Kaley¡ªlike thest time we were in this situation¡ªcouldn''t take it anymore.


    Simply watching while passively touching herself could only do so much so she pulled my cock out of my pants before she sat on top of me and leaned back, feeling my whole length with her asshole.


    "Fuck! F-Fuck! FUCK! I¡­ I wanted to try that so bad but I''m already this f-full with you! AH! MmH! Shit!"


    At this moment, Kaley was just moving her hips, grinding on top of me while I was balls-deep inside her back hole but our eyes were still glued to the two vixens putting on a show for us. Currently, Quinn was still inside Tatiana''s pussy but Tatiana was now the one on top¡ªriding her, while her altered butthole was on disy.


    It only took a few squats before Tatiana came for the second time but from the looks of things, it was now Quinn''s turn to be on the receiving end. Tatiana was hiding a smirk as she got off Quinn''s body and she just stood up like her holes didn''t take a solid pounding.

 Chapter 826 BET!

    "You can still move after that?"


    "Don''t underestimate me, bend over and show me that ass!"


    Quinn chuckled as she bent over after taking off her strap-on, "Hmph! I''ll fucking choke you if you do some vani shit¡ª HNGH! FUCK!"


    Right from the get-go, Tatiana shoved her fist inside Quinn''s meaty cunt before she lowered her head down and started tongue-fucking her puffy asshole. At that same exact moment, Quinn''s eyes just rolled to the back of her head while she was biting her lip, but she wanted even more.


    "I wanna get filled, bitch! That''s just half what you promised me!"


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Shove that other fist in my ass too¡ª FUCK! YOU WENT TOO S-SUDDEN! HNGh! fUck! MMH! MMH! Deeper! DEEPER!"


    At this point, Tatiana''s arms were more than wrist-deep inside Quinn''s holes while Quinn was just melting from pain and pleasure. She was drooling on the floor with a euphoric look on her face while Tatiana looked more than eager to shove it even deeper. However, Quinn still had her limits because she grabbed Tatiana''s arm when she tried to go elbow-deep in her ass.


    "N-Not that far¡­ Ha¡­ Haaa¡­"


    "How about this then?" Tatiana suddenly twisted her wrist while still inside Quinn''s asshole and at the same time, her other arm kept going in and out of Quinn''s other hole.


    "HnGH! AH! MMH! FUCK! I can''t¡ª AH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    At this point, it didn''t take long before Quinn squirted nonstop and she copsed on the floor while breathing heavily. She only came once from that encounter but it was so intense that she had to tap out and take a breather. However, Tatiana still wanted to do more and her gaze shifted to us who were using them as visual aids to get off.


    Kaley had never looked so panicked when Tatiana walked over while licking the back of her palm, and she had to stop moving her hips while I was still inside her.


    "Tatiana¡­ I can''t do that¡ª"


    "Nu-uh. I still haven''t had enough. Put on that strap-on and fuck both my holes at the same time," Tatiana said as she pointed to the huge-ass dildo that was inside her a few minutes ago.


    With that said, let''s just say that all I had to do was sit down while Tatiana riding me but at the same time, Kaley was fucking her ass while groping her tits from behind. The two switched ces after a while and Quinn joined in after a little bit but fisting was already out of the picture. Well, Kaley tried a few times but all she could take in was three and a half fingers.


    It would take some training to fit a whole fist in and I was just there doing a little extra so that my dick wouldn''t get obsolete.


    Quinn let out a chuckle when she noticed, "Don''t worry too much. Your dick¡ªwell, you¡­ you are something else and I won''t get tired of it even if I wanted to. I just want to get extra stretched and roughed up sometimes¡­"


    Tatiana added, "And you can''t fit your fist in your mouth."


    "Hah! That''s true¡­ If you haven''t already noticed, I love your dick punching and sliding in my throat, and your cum tastes the best!"


    I shook my head, "Lies!"


    Kaley interjected, "Hey! She''s not lying!"


    Tatiana added, "True¡­"


    Quinn red at me, "See?! Thanks, Kaley! And the amount? Fuck¡­ It''s one thing to like someone''s cum but it''s the best when they cum lots! Yours is probably half my required protein intake! I can''t believe you got that much even if you''re fucking more than once a day. If I suck you off now, you''ll still fill my mouth, right?"


    "Can we just lie down and rest for a bit? I know you need your protein but there are tastier options avable! I have a few bars in my pack or you could have Chef Ng cook you a b of meat¡­"


    "Hmph! As if that''ll satisfy me¡­" then Quinn turned to Kaley, "Hey."


    "Hmm?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Tell me, how much do you suck him off in a day?"


    "U-Umm¡­ I don''t count them but at least once¡­ We always have this thing we do when we wake up and we¡­ you know¡­ take care of it¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled, "As if you just suck him off in the morning¡­"


    Quinn''s ears perked up, "Oh? Do tell¡­"


    Tatiana turned to Kaley, "Can I tell her?"


    Kaley yfully rolled her eyes, "You ask permission now?"


    "Alright, sometimes¡­ when I sleep with them¡­ I''d just wake up either of them doing more than oral even if the other person''s asleep. It''s their rm of sorts and I just end up touching myself from watching them. Cynthia kinda does the same thing but it''s annoying because she does it in the middle of the night."


    Quinn didn''t look too amused, "Ah, fuck that. I love my sleep. If I ever wake up and see either one of you licking my clit, fucking me, or sucking my tits, I''ll fucking break your neck," then she turned to me, "But can I suck you off when I wake up and see ''you'' up?"


    I facepalmed, "That''s not how it works! It''s a give-and-take thing, alright? But yeah, I''ll allow it."


    Kaley chortled, "That''s the most confusing way I heard someone say yes¡­"


    Quinn added, "Can I y with your¡ª"


    "Nope!"


    "I haven''t even said it yet!"


    "No one''s touching my ass! It''s sacred ground!"


    "Pfft¡­ You''re missing out, I''m telling ya¡­"


    "Let''s just say that I''m a giving person, alright? I''ll be happy to dick you down but you''ll regret it when you try to even poke it with your finger."


    "Oh~ I''m scared~ What will you do? Hmm?"


    "I''ll never get hard in front of you EVER again."


    "Pfft! I can get you hard whenever I want! Is that a joke?!"


    "Try it then."


    "What?"


    "Make me hard."


    "..."


    "If you seed, I''ll let you peg me right now. If not, you''ll never bring this topic again."


    "BET!"


    "Bet."

 Chapter 827 Broken Spirits And Water Filters

    After we established the parameters of our wager, Quinn wasted no time bringing up all of her moves and using them on me¡ªwithout going to "that" ce, of course¡ªbut let''s just say that when morning came, she never looked so lifeless and out of it when I discovered her sulking in a corner.


    It looked like she didn''t have a wink of sleep because the emotional damage she took was just too much, and for some reason, Kaley and Tatiana were wary of experiencing the same fate.


    But on the other hand, I never felt so safe while in the presence of these women who were pressuring me to give up my chastity, and even if I didn''t receive my morning "present" from Kaley, it was all fucking worth it.


    With that said, I just took a shower on my own, rubbed one out myself, put on a fresh set of clothes, and went down from Quinn''s garage victorious.


    The first thing I noticed was that the folks from Sal''s ce were already up and taking care of their responsibilities while only a few from Quinn''s crew were awake. Obviously, almost all of them were also doing their own tasks though the smelling from their mess hall made me check it out.


    Chef Ng was already busy preparing the food with a couple of helpers but his eyes lit up when he saw me walk through the doors.


    "Oi! Woke up early, huh? I thought you''d wake up at around noon based on the soundsing from the garage!"


    I shook my head, "We''re that loud, huh? Need some help though?"


    "You know how to use a knife?"


    "I dabble."


    "Fuck me, unlimited stamina and can fucking cook¡­ Jesus fucking christ, I need that b cut up into equal parts, those potatoes peeled and diced, that pot stirred, and that speaker louder! GET ON IT!"


    I let out a small chuckle before I yelled, "YES, CHEF!"


    Chef Ng threw me an approving look before he gave me a sharp knife and an apron, and we just worked on all cylinders until it was time to ring the dinner bell. This morning, we had an even bigger disy of foodpared tost night, and helping with the food made me work up an appetite.


    But funnily enough, when everyone gathered and started eating, Quinn still looked like she was out of it because she barely touched her food but Tatiana still wharfed down anything she touched while Kaley had a small increase of what she usually ate. I thought the two would still be wary of me but they looked like they already stored it as a fun memory.


    ''I guess doing that was just super effective, heh.''


    I just smiled faintly as I ate with everyone though the ones who were also at our table noticed Quinn''s weird disy. Like what Quinn tried to do to me, they tried everything they can to prompt even a small reaction but all they received was nothing, not even a change in expression or a small quiver.


    Anne even had the audacity to smear food on her face but all she got was a deep sigh.


    Then she turned to me, "What did you fucking do to her?"


    I promptly replied after swallowing a mouthful of food, "Nothing."


    "Nothing? You definitely¡ª"


    Tatiana cut her off, "That''s literally it. He did nothing. They had this wager of sorts and¡­"


    As Tatiana told them the story, they were in utter disbelief that what I did was possible but seeing Quinn in that state made Anne more curious.


    "Wait, so she tried everything yesterday and you didn''t even get hard?"


    "Yep."


    "Not even a little bit?"


    "Yep."


    "How''s that possible?!"


    "Can we talk about that some other time? We''re eating, no?"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "..."


    "..."


    "Does that mean you can get hard onmand?"


    "..."


    "Can you at least answer that?"


    "Nope. Why are you so curious? It''s not like you wanna witness it in person¡ª"


    "I do, actually. Can I?"


    "Wanna end up like Quinn?"


    "Nope. But I wanna experience the other side of it. It''s pretty obvious you can do that since you know¡­ you''re the only guy up there and they don''t seem to be looking elsewhere¡­ So as I was saying~ Can we do that when you''re free?"


    I shook my head, "First, you need to ask Kaley for that¡ª"


    Kaley interjected, "Sure."


    I continued after rolling my eyes, "That was quick. Anyway~ Second, I''ll be a bit busy so¡ª"


    "What else is on your to-do list today?"


    "Hmm~ I''m gonna need to check the body I was running on the CNC Machine first and foremost then I''ll probably start on a few improvements to this ce."


    "Improvements?"


    "Well~ Since you''re kinda in charge of this ce when Quinn''s out of the picture¡­ the first thing thates to mind is your water."


    "Our water?"


    "You don''t have ake or something to get it from, right?"


    "Everything''s stilling from the tap though we have a lot on storage."


    "Exactly."


    "This region didn''t cut off your water supply which is great but¡­ how long can you keep this ce running once it runs out. I know of a few ces close where you can get fresh water but you gotta have something even closer, right?"


    "Are you talking about rain collectors? As you can see, the roof is¡ª"


    "Full with your sr panels and whatnot? Look here, I''m not saying to liberate this whole town and the one close to it but can''t you just make use of the buildings and houses around you? It''s very easy to set up a tarp and a container atop the roofs around you and even if one of them gets destroyed or something simr, it wouldn''t be that hard to rece it with a new one. Besides, it''s very easy to lock the doors that could lead to the roof, no?"


    "Yes¡­"


    "And yeah, if you think about it¡­ you don''t have water filters or purifiers either. It''s pretty easy to make one¡ª"


    "But I don''t know how to¡ª"


    I let out a faint smile as I chuckled, "That''s why I''m here. We''ll get started once we finish eating."

 Chapter 828 Filtering =/= Purifying

    Anyhow, since everyone present could eat likepetitive eaters, it didn''t take long before Anne apanied me to check the body I was machining for Mr. Alvarez. With that said, even if I left it running overnight, it didn''t mean that the whole thing would be finished by the time I checked on it.


    I just punched in the measurements for the main body but the other parts such as the doors, the hood, the logo, a few artistic liberties, and even the wheels needed to be done at a different set.


    Anne was shaking her head when she saw the finished body¡ªthe main body, "You did this by eye?"


    "Yep," I answered as I punched in the measurements for the hood.


    "You aren''t even checking the one you just made?"


    "Already did, it''s not as perfect as I wanted it to be but it''ll do."


    "..."


    "What? We can''t do it now, we still have a lot to¡ª"


    "I''m not thinking about that! I j-just have nothing to say!"


    "Ah, I see. Wanna start working on your stuff?"


    "My stuff¡ª Don''t say it like that! Say we should start working on the thing we talked about earlier?"


    "But¡­ we also talked about that earlier¡ª"


    Anne let out a yful chuckle, "Ugh! You''re so annoying! I don''t know if you really wanna do it now or what! I''m talking about the filters and the rain collectors we talked about!"


    "Ah~ I see, I see¡­ Anyway, the rain collectors are pretty easy to do without a guide but do take note that filtering water and purifying it are a little different, okay? We might use it interchangeably¡ªwhich often gets people confused but there''s more to it than that. Up for a short one?"


    "A s-short one?"


    "A lesson, I mean¡­ Sorry for confusing you¡ª"


    "I swear you''re doing it on purpose!"


    "I dunno what you''re talking about. You''re the one confusing what I meant with other things."


    "Yeah, yeah, sure~" Anne shook her head, "Anyway~ do tell me about the difference between the two."


    "Alright, I said filtering and purifying but what I think is the more understandable way to¡­ you know, understand it is just to know what kind of things we filter from the water so it''s safe to drink."


    "So¡­ can''t we just stick to saying the word filtering instead of purifying?"


    "Again, it gets really confusing because ''filtering'' water is a process to remove contaminants from our drinking water but it''s mostly just sediments or otherrger stuff. But ''purifying'', on the other hand, also removes contaminants¡ªlike the filtering process, but it also removes¡­ bacteria, viruses, and other pollutants."


    "I see¡­ so purifying is just like an advanced form of filtering."


    "Oh! Right, that''s one way to look at it, yes. But do know that purifying water can be done in a number of ways like distilling water or by using a reverse osmosis machine that could be used on salt water to make it drinkable. But don''t forget about the tried and true method of boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Most of the time, that''s all you would need but you can''t be sure every single time. But yeah, boiling water or drinking it through a lifestraw or something simr might be betterpared to just getting them from the tap."


    "I heard some tablets or chemicals also work."


    "Yeah, water-purifying tablets work but they should be treated as luxuries. We don''t have a lot of them now and if we''re talking about iodine, bleach, or something simr, it does leave a nasty aftertaste so there''s that."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Hmm~ These options are out of my range and I dunno¡ª"


    "You don''t have to stress about it right now because there''s already a solution for that. In fact, I''ve seen a few of those still sitting pretty outside with no one bothering to take them inside."


    "Huh? I don''t remember there being filters outside except for those ones that had some sand or something in those 5-gallon jugs. We already took some of them but it''s easier to use the tap."


    I waved her off, "Not those ones. Well, they could also help filter your water but we''re talking about filtration/purification machines at the moment. From the time we entered this town and got inside this ce, I''ve seen eight stores that have them."


    "You''ve seen eight stores that sell them? Really?"


    "No, not sell. They have it for the purpose of selling what goes through them. Do you¡ª"


    "Oh! The ces that sell mineral water! I get it now!"


    "Right. They might have different brands of bottled mineral water but the machine they use is almost always the same. And don''t worry, it''s not that hard to use those machines to filter your water because most of the time, you''d just have to turn it on and it does the work for you. I can help you with that once we bring a few of those over here."


    Anne nodded with a smile, "That''ll be great! I''ll tell¡ª Wait, what else are you hiding in that head of yours?"


    I was slightly taken aback, "Hiding?"


    "I mean¡­ Do you have more ideas to help me improve this ce?"


    I chuckled, "There''s a few more like making gym equipment for doing pull-ups or dips¡ªyou know, bodyweight stuff, but we can''t do everything at once, right? Besides, I just took in a new disciple so I have to see what he got, your crew too."


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "C''mon being strong does not equal being good in a fight. It''s a requirement, sure, but there''s more to it than that."


    Anne just had a realization, "I just remembered. They told me you beat Benjie¡ªeven Mauro. Talking to you like this made me think that you''re just like me but you''re pretty strong in a fight too. You''re the Champions of Champions or whatever¡­ Hmm~"


    "Something wrong about that?"


    "Not really but¡­ I do need to ask for a favor."


    "Hmm?"


    "I''ve never beaten Quinn in a fight¡ª Heck,nding even a clean hit is out of the picture. Can you help me with that? I''ll do anything you ask for a day."


    "You mean I can''t already do that? Huh. I thought I already impressed you."


    Anne cutely rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms, "Hah! You wish! Well~ You''re not too far off. You have 15 minutes though, we can go over that corner before you go out¡­"


    "Good enough for me."


    "C''mon! I can''t wait!"


    With that said, Anne and I sneaked away for a short bit to have some fun but by the end of those 15 minutes, I had to carry her to her room. She never looked so embarrassed when everyone saw her in my arm but she hammered her fists on my back when I carried her like a sack of potatoes.


    Shepletely denied my help when I tried to clean her up so but I waited for the feeling in her legs toe back before I gathered half of my crew and a few others for the small retrieval mission. Surprisingly enough, Myke and Coleen came with us and they brought another guy¡ªJoe, Number 466, who helped me hook up a trailer to my Raptor.

 Chapter 829 Errands For The Queen

    Our small crew was made up of six people: Me, Isaac, Jose, and the three others, though Myke and Joe decided to bring out another pickup that had big winches installed on the front and back of their vehicle. Furthermore, it had an extended tbed that could be used to carry vehicles but with our current mission in mind, it would be used to hold something else.


    Isaac turned to me, "Are we nning to bring all of them back?"


    "I guess we are now," I replied as I stared at him for a little bit.


    "What? Are you thinking of bringing more people?"


    "No, nevermind."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Fuck¡­ you''re thinking about yesterday night¡­"


    "Kinda, but I''m not judging. Do whatever that makes you happy¡ª"


    Jose and Coleen asked at the same time, "What are you two talking about?"


    Coleen added with a chuckle, "Did more things happen after that ''noise''st night?"


    ''More like before¡­''


    Isaac tried to dodge the question, "Let''s just say I almost joined them¡ª"


    Coleen scoffed, "Really? I''m pretty sure you got thrown out."


    "I said, ''almost'', right? I almost¡ª"


    "Almost worn as a bracelet. I''m sorry, but you don''t look like someone that Quinn''s gonna spread her legs for or bend over."


    "Hey! I''m kinda lean but I got some muscle too, alright?!"


    "How much do you weigh again?"


    I cut them off, "Alright, we''re gonna head out now and we don''t need distractions. The outside is pretty clear but never let your guard down. I just met you guys and I don''t want your blood on my hands¡ª"


    Myke shouted from their vehicle, "ARE WE GOING OR WHAT?!"


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, just about to. Use your radio."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HURRY UP!!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, it didn''t take long before the gate was opened for us, and to Coleen''s surprise, I waspletely evading the traps theyid for the deadheads outside without her guidance. The reason she sat with us was to point them out but seeing them once through the monitors etched them in my memory.


    The first two stops were fairly close¡ªand just in front of each other, but we parked closely because Myke and Joe didn''t know how to properly move them. However, they only needed to see it once and they discovered that it was more finicky than needing a lot of muscle. Granted a few of them needed more than a wrench or a screwdriver, we pretty much brought anything to do the job.


    "Myke, you can ce thoserger ones in your truck while we take the ones that could easily fall off or break."


    "Do I need to secure them with the straps?"


    "Of course, I even brought some padding and some foam for the important ones here¡ª"


    "Zeds!" Isaac eximed, taking a few steps back.


    Hearing that, we turned our heads and saw a handful of deadheads that were hobbling from dozens of meters away, and I''m pretty sure I could overtake them even when I''m limping. However, right as Jose was about to shoot them down, a fucking 5-ton came out of nowhere and run them over.


    Their remains turned to paste either spread unevenly on the pavement or stuck nicely on therge tires of the huge-ass murder weapon.


    Like clockwork, Mr. Alvarez''s voice boomed from the distance and it was actually him driving the 5-ton with a huge smile on his face.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! WHAT THE FUCK?! HOW IS THIS THING SO FUCKING FAST?! IT DRIVES LIKE SHIT BUT ITS FUCKING FAST! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! OI!!! KID~!!! IS THAT YOU?!"


    I just gave him a wave and he quickly bridged the distance between us.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Heh, I knew you were up to something¡ªdisappearing like that. But yeah, what''s the timeframe on my ride?"


    "The main body isplete and it wouldn''t take long to finish the others but it still needs to be fitted, painted, etc. So~ As I said before, around three days before you can drive it out of here."


    Mr. Alvarez scratched his head as he grumbled, "Hmmrghmm¡­"


    "Is there a problem? That''s already the fastest I could work¡ª"


    "No, it''s not you. It''s me. I need to be home today. I love messing around like this from time to time but I still got responsibilities, no? Fuck it, I''ll just leave you the vehicle and you drive it back to my ce when it''s done. Deal?"


    "No deal."


    "What?! Why?!"


    "I have responsibilities too, no?"


    "Fuck~ I know, I know¡­ I really want you to see my ce so you could tell me a few things to change or improve upon¡ªlike what you''re doing right now¡ªso I could have more time to mess around. Remind me, what is it you guys are doing here anyway?"


    "I thought you already knew from the way you were speaking earlier."


    "Really? I can''t help it, my charisma just exudes naturally, it gives people the wrong impression sometimes¡ª"


    "Sure. Anyway, this machine we just took apart can be used to clean drinking water¡ª"


    "Hah? Kid, just boil it for a bit."


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Yeah, I know that method too. But using this machine¡ªeven though it also needs energy to run, doesn''t reduce the amount of water you''d have after it''s done doing what it''s supposed to do. There are different methods for different scenarios so we''ll just stick with this one for now."


    "Huh. Alright~ Alright~ Whatever floats your boat. Anyway, I guess this is goodbye for now. I''ll be taking this 5-ton as coteral, even though the turning radius for this fucking this is just too fucking awful, we''ll have some fun with it."


    "Oh! You''re heading out already?"


    "Yeah, I should''ve been on the road a few hours ago. I just dropped by to say goodbye. I would''ve liked to hang out more but I just need to take care of things back home."


    I suddenly had a thought, "Can I ask what''s your problem at home?"


    "Sure."


    "..."


    "..." Mr. Alvarez just kept staring at me.


    I finally got it, "You¡ª What''s the problem at your ce? You know, aside from food."


    Mr. Alvarez let out a bitter smile, "Why don''t you worry about this ce first before you worry about me. Besides, you''re already doing enough by fulfilling a selfish request of mine, no?"


    "Alright then. Safe travels."


    "Hmm," Mr. Alvarez just gave me a nod.


    At that point, he soon drove off with his huge-ass and loud-ass truck but we had only gone to two of our eight checkpoints. While we were talking, Joe and Myke had already taken care of the other shop though I would''ve preferred them to be a little more careful about handling them.


    Sure, we might be able to learn to make something like those in the future but I wouldn''t waste something that was already in front of us.


    With that said, we eventually made our way to the third spot which was located right next to a medium-sized gym¡ªthat was picked clean, obviously¡ªand a barbershop/parlor of sorts though the area had several rotting corpses that weren''t taken care of. Aside from maggots wriggling in and out of their bodies, just the fucking smell was enough to make all of us grimace a certain way.


    "Alright, before we do anything, we pile them in one corner and burn them."


    "Wait, why?" Myke said while covering his nose with a wet towel.


    "They make our stomachs turn for a reason. We can get diseases from decaying corpses out in the open like this. They were probably stewing here for several months way~ before Mauro decided to collect heads for that other group. Also, I don''t think I need to tell you about that special that can make use of these corpses."


    "Yeah, I get it. I''ll fetch my gloves."


    "C''mon, I''ll help you guys. It ain''t much but it''s honest work."


    However, right as we started, Isaac just threw up after he de-gloved a corpse''s arms off as the rest of its congealed organs¡ªwhich were mostly just ck goop¡ªspilled onto the floor because its discolored skin just ripped off from the slightest pressure.


    It wouldn''t have mattered to everyone else but Isaac was wearing a mask and his vomit just essentially spilled out from the small openings. Furthermore, he can''t just take off his mask because his hands were a little preupied with the pping gloves made up of greenish and ckish skin, and the first person he asked for help was me.


    Isaac tried his best to speak despite his vomit still in his mouth, "Nii¡ª"


    "Don''t fucking talk. Drop those gloves and lean a little bit forward¡­"


    It didn''t take long before he managed to clean himself up but just that happening to him made him look like he was defeated. It made everyone agree for him to take a short break but he kept on helping us make the most fucked up pile of corpses to burn. The pile looked worse than what two certain brothers created after sacrificing one''s whole body and a leg.

 Chapter 830 Isnt It Obvious? - That... Was My Penis.

    Taking care of the corpses in the immediate vicinity took close to an hour¡ªincluding burning them¡ªthough we did find a few more either partially intact or just looking like a slime that wore clothes. It really gave the term, "it was falling off its bone" its literal and much chilling side, but not all of them were exactly in that state.


    Anyhow, if we didn''t have more ces to goter, I would''ve brought a pressure washer to clean up the smudgy bits.


    With that said, Myke and Joe had already started to dismantle the purifying machine while Jose and I kept a lookout with our guns. On a side note, the two of us were the only ones carrying high-powered rifles while the others were using handhelds as a primary and a simple sidearm for emergencies, including Isaac.


    He actually had a double-stack 1911¡ªthe one on the cheaper side¡ªbut he didn''t have a proper holster for it or extra magazines if he ever ran out. Heck, I doubt that it was even full, and if by some chance¡ªa high chance that he knows jack shit about guns, his left asscheek will have an emergency if he ever needed to draw his gun for emergencies.


    I was just about to bring up that topic when Myke called out from behind, "Hey! We have a problem."


    "Hmm?"


    He slowly approached me while wiping his hands with a dirty towel, "When we''re moving one of the storage tanks, the one that receives water from the tap is leaking. It has this small hole or something and not only that, one of those identical filter thingies has cracks on them. Do we still take them or do we just move on to the other ces?"


    "We take everything. We might be able to repair it ourselves when we get back. And besides, we haven''t even tested the ones we have here and if they can''t be repaired, we''ll just make use of the other working parts as donors. You know, mix and match to see what works."


    He nodded, "Alright, can I ask one more thing though?"


    "Sure."


    He gave me a long stare before he sighed, "Why are we the only ones doing the hard work? You helped us once but that''s it."


    As soon as he said that, Isaac and Jose threw him a nce¡ªColeen included but not Joe¡ªand it made the atmosphere a little tense and awkward. However, I just kept my cool and gave him a small jab¡ªa factual jab with my words.


    I kept a straight face, "Isn''t that obvious though?"


    Myke instantly walked up to me and loomed over, "Haah?! Did you just¡ª"


    I stood my ground, "Don''t misunderstand, I''m making you do all the work because you''re gonna be the one doing it¡ªand teaching the others when we''re gone. We''re not gonna stay here forever and be in charge of your drinking water."


    Myke shook his head with a scowl, "You¡ª Why didn''t you say that from the start? Asshole."


    "Asshole? Uh-huh¡­ Listen here, Myke with a ''Y'', I dunno what I did wrong for you to be so hostile against me but if you want help, just ask. And if you have something to say to me, say it straight-up, don''t beat around the fucking bush. And yeah, if you''re gonna give me some lip, expect to take a few."


    "I was just¡ª"


    "I''m not done talking. Shut up. I know you are frustrated about your PEDs running out and if you want to take it out on someone, I''m also up for that."


    Myke''s eyes suddenly lit up, "Hmm!"


    I added, "You see, it''s far down the priority line but your gym is mixing a fucking octagon. Who cares if you have big fucking muscles but you got nowhere to let off some steam? I can easily drop anyone in my weight ss and I''m looking to throw hands with big guys like you to give myself a little challenge."


    "I like that sound of¡ª"


    "However, we don''t do that shit now. We''re still working."


    "..."


    "Jose can lend you a hand with lifting stuff but I''m gonna stay here with my rifle and watch out for emergencies. I have a pretty great view of everyone here and I''m not just sitting on my ass andzing around. If you wanna have a shot at me, let''s finish everything quickly so we could go home. I''lly your ass out after that."


    At that point, it waspletely quiet for a few moments but Myke just burst outughing while Coleen and Isaac didn''t know what to do. The two of them were already losing their shit from the idea of Myke and Iing to blows outside but it easily got resolved by agreeing toe to blowster.


    Jose chuckled after Myke and Joe went back to the store, "Hah! I don''t know how you do it but you fucking did it. Tell me, have you considered working in a suicide hotline or the ones where you hold a megaphone and prevent the other guy from jumping?"


    I shook my head smiling, "What''s the difference between those two examples?"


    "Distance?"


    "Hah! I got it from my dad, diffusing a situation¡­ He''s pretty much chill while my mother''s the exact opposite. They do be like that but if you see them firsthand, you''ll expect one from the other."


    "Do be like that? Since when did you talk like that?"


    "Long story, no subtitles. Tatiana started it and it caught on with me."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Ah¡­"


    While the two of us were talking, I was ncing at Coleen and Isaac who were trying to fan a little outward and they tried to get into this boutique that still had a few goodsying around. Smelling rot and decay even for a few seconds was vomit-inducing so a whiff of some fragrant soap or essential oil seemed to be their go-to solution at the moment.


    With that said, the two came back with these fancy gift baskets that had a myriad of items that smell nice and Myke didn''t even care because he already had a particr goal in mind.


    ''Why do people always opt for sneakers instead of soap?''


    As I nced at the items he brought over, the storage tank and the carbon filter had some external damage but were easily fixable. All we needed to do was patch the hole in the storage tank while we only needed to print out an exact copy for the filter''s sticponent. But as I said earlier, we can just have them in storage and just be used as donor parts because we didn''t need to have all of the purifying machines on at the same time.


    "Shall we?"


    "Yeah, we could go in either direction because it''s the same distance."


    "Lead the way then."


    After a few more hours, we finally got back to Quinn''s ce after a sessful run without incidents but it was an hour or so after noon. Everyone had already eaten though Chef Ng and Kaley made sure to leave us some food. For some reason, Quinn was present while Kaley was handing us our portions but she was still so out of it. Well, she could now give simple responses by nodding or shaking her head slightly and it was just the funniest shit to me¡ªthe exact opposite from her crew.


    Kaley whispered to me while I was eating, "Hey¡­ Can''t you just¡­ you know? Cheer her up a bit? She was spacing out all day and it''s starting to scare a few people¡­"


    "Nuh-uh."


    "W-Why?"


    "I''m gonna do some delicate shit after and I don''t want her destroying things once she awakens and revives."


    "But¡­ you kinda broke her¡­ her self-esteem I mean¡­ If that happened to me¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Rx, I wouldn''t do that to you. If anything, I''ll do the exact opposite!"


    "You¡­ You can actually do that? And please¡­ don''t do whatever you did to Quinn to me¡­"


    "Of course. And to answer your question, I can do it but¡­ it''s better to do it the regr way, no? I canst until you''re satisfied, why should I go to lengths that''ll put a strain on me? But yeah, unless you want to, I''ll do it no questions asked."


    "Uh-huh¡­ but you really need to cheer her up."


    "Why? It hasn''t even been six or seven chapters¡ª I mean, it''s too soon!"


    "Hah? You can just¡ª"


    We were still in conversation when I saw Quinn''s left eyebrow twitch momentarily and it just gave me chills like I never had before. The mixture of killing intent, anger, lust, and frustration culminated in this invisible film that was forming around her, and my head was already telling me to run. However, I would very much like to finish my food so I made a distraction.


    *thump*


    *thump* *thump*


    It made everyone present confused.


    "Huh?"


    "What was that?"


    "Where''s that knockinging from?"


    I chuckled as I produced another thump, "That¡­ was my penis."


    Quinn''s awakening halted as she snorted, "YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    As soon as the realization came from everyone present, chaos ensued as each person just died fromughter or choked on their food. Even Joe who was keeping quiet this whole time facepalmed before letting out a strained snicker that turned into hysteria.


    I couldn''t believe everyone fell from that because as much as I would''ve wanted to be genuine, I''m not gonna fucking get hard and bang my cock under from under the table. Unless it was life or death, I''ll stick with my knees for the meantime.

 Chapter 831 Bouldering - Logan

    Ourte lunch concluded after everything died down and Anne approached me with Zyra to tell me about what they aplished while we were away.


    "Let''s see¡­ I kept some watch on the CNC Machine in case anything broke down or malfunctioned, and since you wrote down what I should make on it next, it is now milling a few iterations of the logo. And yeah, Zyra here came up on me while I was assigning people to make bodyweight equipment and she suggested making use of one part of the wall to make some sort of a bouldering wall."


    "Oh! That''s great, actually."


    Kaley nudged me, "Bouldering?"


    "Kinda like rock climbing but the distance is much shorter and you''d only need your shoes and a crash pad," then I turned to Anne and Zyra, "Going all in, huh? You know, a simple pull-up or dip machine can already work wonders given enough time."


    "But we need more variety, no?"


    "That is true but is there a ce where you can get holds? Is a bouldering gym nearby?"


    Zyra answered, "We can make them the same way we''re making the body for Mr. Alvarez''s car, even manually if ites to it."


    "Oh? You have some experience then?"


    She added, "I used to work part-time in a store that sells training equipment and they had a portion of their store for bouldering. I can probably put up V3s or even V5s but we''ll start with easier ones and with bigger holds because everyone here''s a beginner. Also, when I was 50 pounds lighter, I feel like I could floatpared to now¡ªthis thing really excites me!"


    I nodded approvingly, "That''s awesome but I''m gonna need a slot for your 3D printer as well. Some of the enclosures for the filters we brought back have some significant damage and patching them up with duct tape wouldn''t work."


    Anne waved me off, "You can use them now since we aren''t using them at the moment."


    "I see, thanks!" then I turned to Kaley and Tatiana, "What did you two do while we''re away?"


    Kaley shook her head, "Aside from taking care of the mess you made?"


    Quinn interjected, "I''m a ''mess'', now? How far I''ve fallen¡­"


    "Don''t start! I tried giving everyone here part of a medical exam but they always keep telling me to check on you first!"


    "Haven''t you seen what I''ve gone through?!"


    "Well, it''s not like you''re the only one who got demoralized."


    "Who else?"


    Zyra raised her hand, "Me, but not to the extent you experienced."


    Quinn turned to Kaley, "See? I''m the only one!"


    "Fair. Anyway, this ce is pretty chill for the most part but I kinda wanna see the industrial park¡ªwhere everyone else is. I wanna gain some more medical experience even a little bit. Dirt and spit can only do so much and trying to endure it could make it worse. I patched up some cuts and some bruises but¡ª"


    While Kaley was still in mid-sentence, the roar of several engines coupled with hard rock sting from the distance caught our attention. I was 100% sure it was one of Quinn''s no¡ª the De Leon Family''s members but I was wondering why they needed to pay this ce a visit. Granted they could probably drop by and check in on each other, looking at Quinn''s annoyed face right now, our visitors weren''t exactly wee.


    I turned to Quinn, "Who''sing?"


    "No, they''re about to leave right about now."


    "Huh?"


    "Well, I''m kicking them out¡ª FUCKING HELL! WHO OPENED THE GATE FOR THEM?!"


    At this point, Quinn just took off with Tatiana while Kaley nudged me to go after them¡ªas she took care of our tes with Anne. But as soon as I saw the crowd of people with the familiar getup and with the more Mad-Maxed vehicles, I assumed the one in front that was almost as tall as Quinn but had a much wider frame¡ªbut still packed with muscles¡ªwas a high-ranking officer.


    The guy was just wearing a smug smile as Quinn was shouting at the top of her lungs¡ªbeckoning him to turn around and leave¡ªbut the moment we met eyes, he threw me a wide smile before getting clocked the fuck out.


    "WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!"


    Quinn never looked so pissed as she sent a middle kick to the guy''s torso, as he was still covering his face, but after taking two attacks head-on from our enraged giantess, he still kept his cool as he turned to Quinn with the same smile.


    "You don''t understand. Mauro asked me to take the reigns for the¡ª"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "TAKE THE REIGNS FOR WHAT?!"


    As Quinn cut him off, she was already sending another hook straight to his face but this time, he dodged by tilting his head back. However, right as he was about to bring his head to the same position, Quinn wound back and threw the same fist as a backhand, cutting up the guy''s left eyebrow and making it bleed.


    "LEAVE!"


    The guy just touched his eyebrow and wore a bitter smile as he saw the blood on his fingers, "Why are you so angry at me?"


    "YOU KNOW PRETTY DAMN WELL THAT I HATE YOUR FUCKING GUTS!"


    "Hah! But I hate yours more! You got him killed, right¡ª"


    "HAAAH?!"


    Right at this moment, Quinn just snapped and charged at the guy, throwing everything from punches to kicks and elbows to knees, and since those attacks would do a lot more than just cut up his eyebrow, the dude started to guard and dodge though he still took some solid hits here and there. However, I just don''t get as to why he never fought back and it made Tatiana and I interfere before things get worse.


    It''s just that when Tatiana managed to hold Quinn back as I stood in front of them, I felt a surge of killing intent and I instinctively ducked.


    *WHOOOOOOOSH*


    Just as my fingers barely touched the ground, I felt a huge gust of wind pass over my head but once again, I instinctively rolled to the side to avoid the motherfucker''s thick quads that almost decapitated and squashed me.


    Looking at his face, his smile had already turned upside down but I caught him by surprise when the temperature went down several degrees.


    He instinctively covered his face by crossing his arms but my foot still made its way to his chin before his whole body buckled. I thought he''d be on his ass after that but he threw a full-body hook with his right fist. However, I let it slip by my face but just from the way his body was positioned, I definitely felt an elbow lurking somewhere so the head slip turned into a close-contact doumawashi where my left heel found its way to the back of his head.


    It would''vended on his face if he didn''t follow through with his blow but since he was so eager to give something that had his full weight on it, I opted to do the same.


    Both of usnded on the ground but I was the only one that was able to stand up.


    It was then that I noticed he had the Number 9 on the same spot my heelnded but Quinn was this close to stomping on that poor motherfucker. I managed to stop her at thest second but I heard a soft groan from the person that I justid out.


    "Fuck¡­ How long was I out?"


    ''He''s fucking tough, I''ll give him that.''


    "LEAVE! HOW MANY TIMES DO I FUCKING HAVE TO TELL YOU¡ª"


    "Wait a sec," I waved her off as I waited for him to get up, "What did Mauro tell you?"


    "I''m Logan by the way~ How many times do I have to repeat myself? He told me that since Quinn has guestsing over, I''ll be acting deputy for the time being. I¡ª"


    Kaley suddenly came up from behind, "If we call him now will he say the same thing?"


    Logan rolled his eyes before he scoffed, "Go ahead, I don''t care."


    I was just about to give Mauro a call when Quinn stopped me, "Don''t bother, he''s fucking lying as always." then she turned to him, "I can''t even contact Mauro at this moment, why the fuck would he give the reigns to you?! Besides, he''ll give the reigns to Dave first before he thinks of your sorry ass."


    "Quinn! C''mon! We were having such a great time before that jackass interrupted our little dance! I was just beginning to feel it, do you feel the same way? And by the way, Dave''s dead. That''s actually why I came here."


    "WHAT?!"


    "HAH! You believed that?! I was lying, of course! But yeah, he looked like a corpse when you all got back! He was so beaten up he wouldn''t even drink with me! Almost shot me too when I tried to wake him up!"


    ''This guy''s a little¡­''


    "THAT''S IT! I''VE HAD ENOUGH! I''M GONNA COUNT TO FUCKING TEN AND IF YOU''RE NOT OUT HERE BY THAT, I''LL FUCKING DROP YOU AND TELL MAURO YOU CROSSED THE FUCKING LINE! WHO TOLD YOU YOU COULD COME HERE, HUH?!"


    At this point, Quinn was already in her third boiling point while I was still confused as hell. I can''t fucking believe they''d have an officer like that and a single-digit position to boot. If anything, I''d rank him among the three digits but there seemed to be more to their story as I thought.

 Chapter 832 Crossed Line

    Quinn balled up her fists once more, "D''YOU WANT ME TO THROW YOU IN THE PIT?!"


    Logan started tough hysterically, "The Pit?! Hah! I thought you were so against that?! Am I hearing things or what?!" then he turned to his crew who looked like they smoked a joint or snorted an 8-ball, "Guys! Queenie said she wanted to¡ª GRCK!"


    As if the beating he received wasn''t already enough, he had to call Quinn "that" so a fucking wrench just flew straight to his face. For some reason, getting hit by Quinn was waking something from inside of him and I quickly opted to refrain from looking down below his belt.


    However, it seemed like the mention of this "Pit" ticked Quinn for the fourth time, and her right leg was already up in the air, aiming at Logan''s head for a brutal axe kick.


    *WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH*


    The moment Quinn brought her tree trunk-like leg down, it just ruptured the air before it almost broke Logan''s vicle.


    If he didn''t guard at the right time and moved a bit to the side, it would''ve definitely crushed his skull¡ªeven disabling his right side¡ªbut despite all that, the fucking dickhead was smiling from ear to ear.


    However, on the brief second that Quinn''s leg was resting on Logan''s shoulder, she suddenly lifted up from the air, twisted her body, and then fucking sent her other leg to the other side of his head. The horrifying sound it produced the moment it made contact made everyone grimace or cringe, and he definitely lost several core memories.


    Logan had no fucking chance of guarding against that and he just copsed on the ground while his left ear was bleeding.


    I thought I already did a lot more than he could''ve handled but this time, the motherfucker wasn''t waking up.


    ''He''s still breathing though¡­ that''s good¡­ I think?''


    But the moment Quinn got up from knocking Logan out, she looked at his nearest cohort before sending copious amounts of killing intent.


    "PICK HIM UP AND LEAVE!!! IF I DON''T SEE HIM LOCKED UP IN THE BOX WHEN I PAY YOUR PLACE A VISIT LATER, I''LL SHOVE YOUR HEADS IN EACH OF YOUR FUCKING ASSHOLES BEFORE I THROW YOU IN THE FUCKING FURNACE!!!"


    "Y-YES! ABSOLUTELY!"


    "RUN! RUNNNN~!"


    "SOMEBODY PICK HIM UP!"


    At that point, Logan''s crew just scrambled to get the fuck out of dodge but only a few people saw the single tear that Quinn quickly wiped off her face. However, her eyes were still red while her whole body was trembling but everyone else thought she was just really enraged. I doubt everyone here would''ve thought that it was also due to some other emotion.


    I had never seen her in that state before but if there would be something that could cause her to be like that, it would always be herte lover, Michael.


    Kaley tried to approach her, "Quinn¡ª"


    "DON''T TOUCH ME! NO ONE GOES UP IN MY ROOM!"


    "..."


    Then she suddenly turned to me, "NOT EVEN YOU!"


    ''I didn''t even say anything¡­''


    With that said, Quinn just stomped her way back to her garage while everyone just gave each other simple nces. It seemed like her whole crew knew part or even the whole story but decided to keep quiet¡­ except for one person.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Chef Ng scratched the back of his head as he sighed, "That¡­ That was really unfortunate¡­ that time¡­"


    "That time?"


    "Wait, you don''t know? Ah¡­ it''s better if you ask her¡ª"


    "I think she''s not in speaking terms right about now. However, if I could get more context, I might be able to help her situation a little bit. Besides, everyone seemed to know already¡­ I think one or three more persons knowing it wouldn''t hurt."


    "..."


    I sighed as Chef Ng just kept looking at me, "But it''s also fine if¡ª"


    "No. I''ll tell ya. But whatever Quinn does to you after knowing shit like that, you gotta fucking take it. Understand?"


    "As long as it doesn''t involve getting my ass be on the receiving side, I''ll even take the same kick Logan did."


    "Hah! That''s good to hear. Come with me. You two too, you''re friends, right?" Chef Ng chuckled as he turned to Kaley and Tatiana.


    With that said, Chef Ng brought us over to the second floor of their mess hall which had a few partitions turned into living quarters. However, his room was the separate former main office of the facility, and once he opened the door for us, surprisingly, it didn''t have much on it besides the essentials.


    Tatiana joked, "I''m sorry but I''m not into older men. Besides, these two only have eyes for other girls¡ª"


    "TATIANA!"


    "HAHAHAHA! Funny one, are ya? Just to put it out there, I only date women my age. You look too young for my tastes, sorry."


    "I was just joking but good to know. Anyway, who''s the other guy in that picture?"


    Once Tatiana said that, Kaley and I turned to an old picture that was taped on the wall mirror that had a few other pictures with somewhat familiar faces. However, the picture in question sported a much younger Chef Ng who was smiling brightly and had one of his arms over the other guy''s shoulder who was much, much younger but had a sharp look.


    Chef Ng''s eyes dimmed for a short bit before he turned to us, "Ah¡­ That''s my son, Jackie."


    My eyes just widened from shock, "WAIT¡ª"


    He turned to me, "So you knew?"


    "No¡­ Not exactly, is he Number¡ª"


    "Number 2, yes. He''s the one who shot Michael and in turn got¡­ retaliated by Quinn¡­"


    "..."


    "It''s¡­ It''s a series of unfortunate events but if those kids just talked normally¡­ things would''ve been avoided¡­ As I said¡­ Everything that happened that time was really¡­ unfortunate¡­"


    As Chef Ng was talking, everyone could sense the bitterness in his words¡ªespecially Kaley, but it didn''t take long before he offered us to sit down so he could shed some light to our current situation with Quinn.

 Chapter 833 Unfortunate

    "Well¡­ How do I start this? Hmm~ I think it''s pretty obvious to you three that everyone here is kind of a gym rat and most importantly, everyone here is on gear. I still am at the moment, I take 300mg of Test a week just to retain my muscles since I''m old and once you''re past 45, you''d lose a percentage every year¡­"


    ''Weird start to a story but okay¡­''


    "Anyway, I told you guys that bit because it''s actually relevant. Mike¡ª Michael, Quinn''s old lover loved the way he looks more than he loved his old DB9. He used topete way~ back then and he was using as much¡ªmaybe even more¡ªthan hispetition. However, without proper coaching and guidance, things just turned for the worse. Granted he knows his shit but men could be fucking dumbasses at times."


    "What happened?"


    "Trust me, the guy''s gics is well above average but he keeps wanting to get bigger and bigger. However, sometimes, judges would favor definition more than size. What did he do? He amped the volume of his exercise and upped whatever the fuck he''s taking¡ªeven taking Insulin¡ª"


    Tatiana was taken aback, "Insulin? Isn''t that for¡ª"


    "Diabetics? Yeah, but it also works for bodybuilding."


    I added, "I''ve read about that but it''s totally different from Test, the dosage should be fucking perfect or¡ª Is that what happened? He made a mistake on the¡ª"


    Chef Ng shook his head, "Honestly, no one the fuck knows. It could be anything from whatever the fuck he''s doing to his body. But yeah, the guy''s pretty strong and he survived his mistake. It''s just that his body is not the same anymore. Quinn, Mauro, and especially my son tried so~ many times to make him stop even before he upped his dosage but the guy''s deaf when ites to that talk."


    Kaley said, "That mistake¡­ what actually happened to his body?"


    Chef Ng shrugged his shoulders, "I don''t know the exact details but he had some sort of stroke and he lost some feeling in his right leg and a few motor functions. He could barely walk after that and the body he was so fucking proud of became the darndest thing he ever possessed. And to top it all off, this fucking apocalypse happened. He was throwing money at everything that could possibly bring his old body back but losing 90% of the fucking poption made it impossible."


    "..."


    "And that''s when he had enough."


    "Wait, I thought Jackie killed¡ª"<novelnext></novelnext>


    Chef Ng chuckled bitterly, "He did but¡­ Michael asked him to. It was unfortunate¡­ really¡­ Michael and Jackie? They''re fucking closer than brothers, I might add but things happened too fast for anyone to react. Let''s just say when Michael had enough of everything, he asked¡ªno, begged my son for him to end it for him. I was cooking everyone their dinner when it happened and after that one loud bang, chaos just ensued."


    "But why did Quinn¡ª"


    "She didn''t know."


    "What do you mean?"


    "She was supposed to be on our other outpost with Lucy and Jordan but¡­ she was right fucking there when it happened. I don''t know what was exactly going through their minds at that time but knowing my son, he would''ve been broken if he had to end his brother''s life. It''s just that something also broke in Quinn''s head when she saw what just went down and she did what she did. No one was able to stop her when she charged at my son and from what everybody present told me at the time, my son¡­ my son never¡ª no, didn''t put up a fight. He chose not to. He knew what wasing to him and he took everything that Quinn threw at him¡­"


    At this point, Chef Ng just looked down in frustration just from remembering what happened and he was silent for a couple of minutes before he looked up.


    "A-Anyway¡­ no one fucking knew what to do but luckily enough, Mauro fucking stepped the fuck up. He was the only one who managed to pin her down and he gave her a few good punches to make her realize what she had done. However, the fact that the two kept it between themselves what they were about to do¡­ especially making sure that Quinn was away¡ªthough she was not¡ªwas devastating to her. Quinn was the most level-headed person before that happened but something just broke inside her. She did every drug imaginable and drank herself to sleep every single night but she still stopped taking whatever the fuck caused Michael to be like that."


    "..."


    "It didn''t make much sense but the weirdest thing was that she stood up on her own. Trust me, knowing that she killed my son made me want to take revenge but what would that aplish? I assumed she would just kill herself for what she was doing before but seeing her change on her own¡­ in some weird way¡­ made me forgive her. Again, I''ve had plenty of chances¡­ a lot of chances where she knew what I was about to do but like my s-son¡­ she didn''t bother to put up a fight. She knows what she did and she was willing to die for it. She knows her mistake and she was more than willing to make amends. Just¡­ Just knowing that made me forgive her. She killed my son but she, Michael, Mauro¡­ I treat them as my children¡ªwell, everyone here that''s younger than me¡­ even you three. I take care of everyone as my own."


    "..."


    "It''s just¡­ really unfortunate¡­ what happened¡­ but¡­ but yeah¡­ I don''t know what you''re gonna do with that information but my advice to you is you just keep doing what you''re doing."


    "Hmm?"


    "I said that she managed to stand up on her own but when I saw here back with you three, it''s one of the few times I''ve seen her genuinely happy. Well, I did hear about that other incident where I actually grew worried but whatever the fuck you''re doing is working. Keep doing that."

 Chapter 834 A Simple Hug - Is It Working?

    Looking at Mr. Ng as a father rather than a chef at the moment, the expression he was giving was something I''ve seen plenty of times in my life. He looked to be someone that had a momentary breather from carrying the world on his back because as messed up as this would sound, the father figure was always the one presumed to put up with some heavy shit without the need to talk to others about it.


    Granted that there were always exceptions, let''s just say that Mr. Ng''s situation was also¡­ an exception.


    It''s not everyday I could talk to a person that forgave his son''s killer and if I was in the same situation, I was not 100% sure that I would be able to do the same thing that he did¡ªeven if I knew Quinn beforehand.


    He had been walking on different shoes that I myself haven''t been able to walk on yet though if ever the timees that I had to be in the same situation as him, I wish I would be able to think clearly and not act rashly.


    At this point, the room had never been so quiet but Mr. Ng let out a faint smile before he pped hisp and stood up, "Alright, we''ve spent too much time here. I''ll see what I could do to make our next meal a little special while the three of you walk to the lion''s¡ª no, lioness'' den."


    Kaley scratched the side of her face as she chuckled, "Actually¡­" then she turned to me, "Why don''t you just go instead? I feel like you''d do a better job than if we threee together."


    "Me?"


    Tatiana added, "Yeah~ I dunno about you two but I don''t do emotions that well. I''d just tell Quinn to have a good fuck or get piss-drunk and I doubt that''s what she needed after hearing that. Besides, she doesn''t look it but I think she''d listen to you more than anyone else."


    Mr. Ng nodded, "That sounds about right actually. I''ve never seen her listen to anybody besides you. Just do it, kid."


    I shook my head as I sighed, "Alright¡­ I''ll do what I can."


    With that said, I parted ways with the group before I made my way to Quinn''s garage, but to my surprise, she closed itpletely¡ªlocking all the doors and rolling down the roll-ups. However, I dabbled in a little bit of burry myself but I chose the most difficult route to get inside.


    I found myself some rope and a makeshift grappling hook and the look on everyone''s faces when I was jauntily making my way to the roof was fucking priceless. Kaley and Tatiana were used to my shenanigans but Anne followed after me because I took the grappling hook from their armory.


    "Uh¡­ What are you doing with that again?"


    "Have you seen Mission: Not Possible?"


    "Don''t tell me¡ª"


    "Yeah, I wanna try it at least once in my life¡ª"


    "She''s gonna kill you."


    "But it''s gonna be funny! It''s gonna cheer her up, I''m sure of it!"


    "..."


    "Anne?"


    "You know what? Imma grab some ice just in case¡­"


    "Thanks!"


    At that point, I had already secured the grappling hook to a pipe and easily opened the skylight window right above Quinn''s domicile. The preparation stage had never been so easy because Quinn was sting music at full volume while she was drinking every bit of alcohol from her collection.


    She looked like she wanted to be alone to organize her thoughts but I know full well that doing it with alcohol involved wasn''t gonna do shit. So, I securely tied the rope on myself and slowly lowered myself right above her.


    ''Slowly but surely¡­''


    I was inching closer and closer above her head, and for the life of me, I just realized that I could''ve just easily gained ess to this ce if I used my lockpicking tools. However, I was already in too deep¡ªand only a few inches away from her head¡ªbut the moment she raised her bottle of Absinthe to take a huge swig, I plucked it away from her hands.


    "That''s enough, youngdy¡ª"


    "PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!" Quinn spat out everything on my face.


    "AH! MY EYES! IT BURNS!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Quinn was screaming at the top of her lungs and for some reason, she had several backup bottles, and just from pure reflex, she smashed two fucking thick-ass bottles on my head. Just the look on her face¡ªfilled with pure terror and fright, sent her over the edge, calling over her strength from other dimensions.


    Those fucking bottles could definitely survive a drop or two but they easily shattered when they came into direct contact with my head because of the amount of force she used and my primordial-grade skull taking direct impact.


    I had no fucking way to dodge them and I just felt my consciousness drifting away.


    ''Fuck¡­''


    -


    -


    -


    For fuck knows how long, I was awoken with a mind-numbing headache but once I got to open my eyes, I saw Quinn above me with tears flowing down her cheeks and trying her hardest to shake or p me awake. I definitely felt both my cheeks stinging for some reason but once she saw me open my eyes, she quickly wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug.


    A strong fucking hug.


    "Ah! Ah! AH! YOU''RE GONNA SNAP ME IN HALF! STOP!"


    "YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! WHY''D YOU COME FROM ABOVE?!"


    "Because the doors are locked¡ª GRCK! AHHH! STOP! STOP! MY BONES ARE CRACKING!"


    At this point, Quinn had already let go of me but she didn''t know what to do. She was still partially drunk while she just had the greatest scare of her life but this time, I needed to do what I came here for. The music was still going at full st but we could perfectly hear each other.


    I slowly reached out to her and wiped the tears from her eyes before I slowly leaned over and gave her the warmest hug I could give at the moment.


    "W-What are you doing?"


    "I''m sorry¡­"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "F-For what?"


    "For scaring you? And¡ª"


    "I¡­ I thought¡­ I thought I killed you¡­ I¡­ It was¡­ I was just¡ª"


    "Nah, it''s all my fault."


    "..."


    "You did nothing wrong. Not today, not ever¡­"


    "..."


    "Quinn?"


    "Did¡­ Did they tell you? About¡ª"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "..."


    "Are you mad?"


    "..."


    "Sorry, I made them tell me¡ªKaley and Tatiana too. I just wanted to¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ It''s okay¡­ Also¡­ You did all of this bullshit to what? Cheer me up?"


    "But is it working?"


    "It''s not¡ª"


    I hugged her even a little tighter, "How about now?"


    "You fucking¡ª A drink and a good fuck would''ve worked for me, you know?"


    "That''s what Tatiana said, actually."


    "Hah! But yeah, this feels nice¡­ besides theing from the ceiling part¡­ That was just pure dumbassery. I peed myself, did you know that?"


    "Oh~ You peed yourself. Is that it? Poor you, I think I might have a concussion or two but yeah¡ª"


    "AND WHOSE FAULT WAS THAT?! HMMM?!"


    "Shhh~ Calm down, calm down~ Just feel how nice this hug is¡ª"


    "I''m already bored with this hug, I want something else¡ª"


    "Oh yeah?"


    "Yeah, I want¡ª"


    "Two hugs?! Quinn, you''re so greedy! But yeah, here ya go~"


    ? "Godammit! You''re so fucking stupid¡ª Oh! It is nicer, I''ll give you that¡­ Mmm¡­ Mhm¡­ Ah¡­"


    "You like that?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ But I need more¡­ A LOT more¡­ You have a lot of shit to make up to me¡­ I still haven''t forgiven you for that¡ª And don''t you dare fucking do it again!"


    "But how about now?"


    Quinn let out the most seductive smile as she ced her hand on my crotch, "That''s better."


    At this point, Quinn was about to push me down and assume control but Ipletely stopped her. Instead, I overpowered her in the softest way possible by grabbing her arms, slowly pushing her back, and pinning her down with her arms above her head. She was trying her best to fight back at first but once I kissed her neck and moved on to her lips, she gave meplete control over her.


    Quinn was always outspoken or just straight up needing soap with the words that woulde out of her mouth but this time, she waspletely different.


    "Make¡­ Make me yours¡­ I know that you already have Kaley but¡­ but while we''re alone here¡­ can you just think of me?"


    "I¡­ Of course¡ª"


    "Promise me!"


    "I promise."


    With Quinn hearing me say that, a faint smile appeared on her face before she started to move from under me. She was moving her hips just to have my huge bulge somehow brush against her crotch but her eyes werepletely fixated on me. Despite that, I continued to be on top of her as I tasted her sweet lips over and over but the area we were in wasn''t that entirelyfortable.


    "Can we¡ª"


    "Move to the bed?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "But you gotta carry me¡ª Wah¡ª Not like this!"

 Chapter 835 Fuck You.

    To Quinn''s surprise and annoyance, I carried her like a sack of potatoes instead of holding her in my arms. She struggled for a short bit right until I threw her on the bed, and she was lightly shaking her head as she watched me take my top off.


    Looking at her now, her face was still red due to the alcohol and from crying her eyes out but the tears that remained in her eyes made them sparkle.


    Her body was almost always the first thing anyone would take notice but with the right setting, she''s also drop-dead gorgeous.


    "Did you really have to do that?"


    "We don''t want a bicep tear, no?"


    "Hmph! Lose the pants too, you''ve been kissing me far too much."


    "But I like kissing you and want to move way~ lower."


    "Oh?" Quinn gave me a smile as she spread her legs while still clothed, "You mean this spot?"


    I stared right at her as I also dropped my pants and started to stroke myself, "You take them off or I''ll rip them¡ª"


    "Hah! I''d like to see you try¡ª Wai¡ª"


    To her surprise, I lunged at her as I actually tried to rip hertex leggings apart but I had a nice little idea when she convinced me to just pull them off instead. Her tight leggings were right on her knees when I stopped pulling them off but it all had the important parts in the open.


    "What are you¡ª Oh~"


    "Turn over."


    "Like this?" Quinn went face down and ass up while her knees were still held by her clothes, entuating her th quads and her ginormous ass.


    I would''ve loved to stick my dick in each of her winking orifices but I had to savor the appetizers before I go straight to the main course.


    Without further ado, I gave each hole a good sniff before I buried my tongue in her glossy and gushing cunt. Quinn was just squirming as I reached each fold and slurped her cream from her pulsating walls but she started to squirt when my tongue started to bury itself in her little asshole.


    "Already?"


    "S-Shut up!"


    "Do you want me to put it in now?"


    "W-Why are you even asking? I want you¡ª"


    "Not like this, look at me."


    "W-Wait, I''m s-still sens¡ª Mmh!"


    As Quinn was still trembling from the orgasm, I turned her over again andpletely pulled her pants off before I went on top of her. However, I was just grinding my dick against her meaty cunt while I was kneading her boobs and looking her straight in the face.


    "W-What are you¡ª"


    "Say that you want me."


    "I¡­ It''s so¡ª"


    "Say it."


    "I¡­ I want you¡­ I want you in me¡ª I want you so fucking bad I''m going¡ª MMH! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    Right when Quinn was still in mid-sentence, I suddenly plunged my dick inside her tight fucking pussy before I mmed it over and over. I''d give her my whole length before I''d pull out right by the tip, and I would just vite her insides as I pleased.


    At the same time, Quinn had her arms and her legs wrapped around me¡ªsuffocating me with her tits and shouting out my name as her eyes rolled to the back of her head, but I broke free from her grasp and pinned her arms above her head.


    From my point of view, I could see her orgasmic face and her perfect body and it didn''t take long before I released everything inside her.


    I was trembling all over but Quinn kept a firm grasp on me with her legs¡ªtelling me to keep on going and just keep pushing on even with the mind-numbing sensitivity. With that said, I kept thrusting my hips forward even if I was still pumping her full of cum, and I could feel how her walls would tighten and suck me in, as if it was trying to get every single drop.


    But after several mindless thrusts, Quinn had another orgasm but all she could do was struggle from my grasp and push her hips upward. She just started spraying her juices mixed with my cum but I tried my best to keep them inside by plugging her gushing hole until her squirting subsided.


    It obviously did jack shit but I was too fucking busy sucking on her tits for it to matter.


    Both of her diabolical jugs were covered in my saliva but each of her pink puffy nipples were getting swollen due to how I was biting and pinching each one.


    "Harder! HARDER! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?! MMMMMH! OW! OW! MMH¡ª FUCK! CUMMING~!!!"<novelnext></novelnext>


    She started to cum over and over because I haven''t stopped burying my dick inside her meaty fuckhole, but once I pulled out and tried to go for her back door, she stopped me as she got up and grabbed the bottle of lube.


    "W-Wait, I want you to do something¡­"


    My eyes lit up in excitement, "Want me to fist you?"


    "Not exactly¡­" she said as she squirted a handful of lube on my hand, "I want that," then she did the same to my dick, "And that at the same time."


    "Oh. You want me to fuck your pussy while¡ª"


    "No, I want you to fist and fuck my ass," she said as she offered her ass in front of me, "Understand?"


    At this point, I was still BSOD''ing from thebination of words that entered my ears, but I gotta im this fine piece of ass in front of me.


    And afterposing myself so as to not cum from hearing that choice of words, I slowly pushed my fist right into her tight fucking asshole before I plugged my huge fucking dick right after. I would''ve had a lot of trouble if Quinn wasn''t spreading her fat asscheeks apart but pushing my whole length still proved difficult because there was barely any room inside.


    But once I pushed it right up until the base, Quinn had a small trickle flow down her thighs before she started squirting uncontrobly.


    "F-F-F-FUUUUCKKKKKK~!!!"


    I barely moved my hips because my position was a littlepromised but once I got the motions right, I began to thrust my whole length inside while my whole hand was still inside her. Basically, I was jerking myself inside her now gaping asshole and she lost feeling in her legs so now she was on her side while I was pushing my dick inside.


    Quinn could barely form any sentences as she was melting away but just the sight of her made me have my second release quicker than I thought. However, that didn''t stop me from making my free hand have the same experience with her free hole.


    It''s just that she pulled my hand that was in her asshole and started licking it clean while I was fucking her ass and fisting her pussy. Everything just seemed so surreal at this point and our bodies just moved on their own for the better part of an hour.


    We came multiple times in between¡ªsometimes at the same time, but I couldn''t believe she still stayed so fucking tight even when just my dick was inside her. That was just some superb muscle control and I was all for it. With that said, we were justying side to side exhausted after that session and she was staring right into my eyes as I was holding her in my arms.


    "Yeah?"


    "Fuck you," Quinn said with a chuckle.


    "What?"


    "You heard me. This is your damn fault, remember that."


    I shook my head, confused, "What did I do now?"


    "..."


    "Quinn?"


    She gave me a kiss before she answered, "I want us to agree on something."


    "Agree on something?"


    "Yep."


    "What is it? Can I hear it first?"


    "Just say yes! This favors you, extremely, I might add, so~ How about it?"


    "Nope, I really do wanna hear it first."


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she shook her head, "Fine, I haven''t thought of it that much yet because this just came to mind but I''m gonna stop seeing other guys from now on. Your dick will be the only thing I''ll be sucking and fucking from this point onwards!"


    "What?" I couldn''t help but let out a chuckle.


    "C''mon! Like what you and Kaley are doing! I wanna do that as well! You wouldn''t mind me fooling around with Anne and the others, right?"


    "Sure, but¡­ why do you want to¡ª"


    "Remember what I said before we fucked? You delivered so¡­ congrattions, you got a 7-foot muscle mommy with huge fucking tits and a th ass that''ll do whatever you want. Besides, I don''t think anyone could top whatever you just did. And also, it''s only been a few days but you basically ruined any chance a guy has to satisfy me. Happy now?"


    "Okay?"


    "What do you mean, ''Okay?'' this should be an honor to you!"


    "It is, it is. But what''s the catch?"

 Chapter 836 Confession - Strap Up.

    From my conversations with Quinn, I thought our post-sex talk right now was just some weird banter but this time, she seemedpletely genuine. I was waiting for her answer as I was staring right into her eyes but she went on top of me and gave me the most sensual kiss I received from her.


    She wrapped her arms around my neck as we continued to mix our spit together but once she went up for a little bit of air, she was looking at me differently while her face was getting redder and redder.


    "For¡­ Forget about it¡­"


    "Haaah? After all that? You''re gonna say¡ª"


    "I-I-I mean¡ª Forget about the catch! Because there isn''t!"


    "..."


    "Just¡­ Just don''t be a stranger when you move back¡­ Give me a call or something or v-visit in a month or t-two¡­ I''ll¡­ I''ll miss you¡­"


    I turned her over and now I was the one on top, "Or~ You could also visit me¡ª better yet,e with Edith when we go back. She''s gonna need a familiar face beside us, you know? I dunno about you but you''ve known her far longer than we did."


    Quinn''s face turned somber, "That''s¡­ I can''t just leave, you know? Besides¡­ it''s gonna be bad if I ever do that¡­"


    "Hmm? What do you mean? I''m not telling you to stay, alright? You know, just chill for a few weeks thene back."


    "I know that but the other thing¡­ D-Do I need to spell it out for you?"


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "Umm~ Please do, I''m really oblivious at important moments."


    "..." Quinn waspletely silent but she looked like she had this nagging thought to hit me.


    "Quinn?"


    She took a deep breath before she looked me straight in the eye, "I''m¡­ This is gonna sound so fucking stupid but¡ª I also don''t want to hurt Kaley¡ª"


    "Huh? Are you¡ª"


    "Wait, let me finish. I don''t mean physically but I don''t want a rift to form between us. You really, really love her, right?"


    "Of course," I answered promptly.


    "Of course, you do¡ª she''s amazing, after all. But here''s the thing: at the pace we''re going, it''s¡­ it''s dangerous¡­"


    "Dangerous? What are you talking about¡ª"


    "I''M FALLING FOR YOU, YOU FUCKING DUMBASS!!! THERE!!! I SAID IT!!! HAPPY NOW?! GOT YOUR LITTLE EGO BOOST?! I¡ª"


    Quinn was shouting at the top of her lungs while her face was beet-red but shut her up by nting a huge kiss on her mouth thatsted for several seconds. After that, she didn''t know what to say or think but the moment she was about to jump me and go for another round, she stopped herself when she saw my expression.


    "Hey¡­ you okay?"


    I sighed deeply, "Of course, who wouldn''t want every woman he meets to throw themselves at him?"


    Quinn looked a little puzzled, "You''re not fucking okay, talk. We got all the time in the world."


    "You''re gonna listen, for once?" I said as my eyes were wide from shock.


    "You fucking¡ª Why are you looking at me like that?! Just talk! I don''t do this every single day, you know?"


    I gave a bitter chuckle as I sat upright, "Well¡­ I have this small, little problem with the dynamics of my rtionship with Kaley¡­ You see¡­" I gave her a small rundown from the beginning then proceeded to tell her when we started to open up our rtionship to other women.


    Quinn listened to every word I said but she didn''t have the best of inputs I was expecting, "So¡­ You''re just fucking bragging about your sess? How is your dick not falling off? It''s more of an achievement, no?"


    "I''m leaving¡ª"


    "Wait! Wait! What''s the problem you were talking about again? I''ll try to understand your point of view, I promise!"


    "I''ll say it just for one more time, alright?"


    "Yeah, yeah! I''m not a shrink, you know? I''m gonna understand at my pace."


    "Right, sorry. I thought I wasn''t having a problem but turns out I do have one. You see, this inherited harem of sorts has a ton of fucking advantages especially towards me because I''m the only guy involved but no matter how many times we paint it as an ''It''s always love for us and simply lust for them'' is kinda¡ªfor theck of a better term, impossible."


    "Go on¡­"


    "I always say that I''d only have eyes or feelings for Kaley¡ªand I think I do, but¡­ it''s pretty hard if I get to know other people: Tatiana, Cynthia, you, and the others on a much, much deeper level. I try to ignore it but like you¡­ feelings develop and it gets dangerous¡­ When do we draw the line, you know?"


    "..."


    "Tatiana seemed kinda cool with it, Cynthia is kinda blurring the lines, and now¡­ since you kinda confessed to me¡ª"


    "It IS a confession but I know my limits."


    "Right! Thank you! That''s the problem, I appreciate everyone involved respecting our¡ªKaley and I, I mean¡ªour rtionship together, and backing off when told to, but sometimes¡­ I can''t help but feel guilty or some other weird feeling I don''t know the word for when I can''t return the feelings they have for me even if I''m¡­ developing feelings for them as well¡­"


    "Hmm¡­"


    "Like I said, I try to ignore it but it doesn''t mean that it''s gone, right? But yeah, I can''t say that it''s the same for everyone we''ve been with but there are a few where I think¡­ you know? Different than a normal fling or something."


    Quinn scratched the back of her head, "Jesus, that''s a lot to think about¡­ Have you two talked about this yet?"


    "We do sometimes, and it helps somewhat but it doesn''t disappear like that *snaps fingers*, right? Treat it like an awkward memory that would pop up every time you were about to fall asleep."


    "Ugh, I know the feeling¡­"<novelnext></novelnext>


    "So, any advice?"


    Quinn loudly exhaled with her nose, "Nope!"


    "Then what''s the point of this shit?!"


    "I already told you! I''m not a fucking shrink! I just listen, I don''t even know what to do about it and I''m fucking involved! Shit happens! Wait, Kaley''s kinda a shrink, right?"


    "Psychic would be a better term¡­"


    Quinn shrugged her shoulders, "Then talk again. See where you guys at and figure it out from there. You see, there''s a reason I don''t have sex with the same people all that much in a span of a few days¡­"


    "Oh, so you just fall in love¡ª"


    "Fuck you! It''s not like that! Well~ let''s meet halfway but you''re special. That''s why I''m trying to stay away for a bit and sort things out on my own. In the end, you and Kaley are the ones in a serious(?) rtionship while I''m the third¡ª I dunno which number of wheel I am but you get the point. What''s working with your other ''crew members'' might not work for me so I''m gonna figure out things while you guys are away and you two should definitely have the conversation we''re having right now."


    "Huh."


    "Huh?"


    "You gave me some good advice, that''s surprising¡ª"


    "WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?!"


    "It means you are a good fr¡ª Hmm~ How do we call¡­ ''us''? If you don''t mind me asking¡­ Since you confessed and all, I don''t want to¡ª"


    "''Friend'' still sounds good, for now¡­ Don''t think too deeply about it."


    "Oh, that''s good."


    "Yeah."


    "Uh-huh."


    "..."


    "..."


    "So¡­ Wanna clean up¡ª"


    "If you''ll carry me to the bath¡ª Wah¡ª Not this shit again!"


    "Thanks! Wanna let me clean you up as well? Get pampered for once?"


    "You''re really making this hard for me¡­"


    "But we still haven''t left? What''s the problem?"


    "You know what?" Quinn let out a bright smile as she shook her head, "Let''s make the best of it! Clean me up!"


    "Yes, your highness!"


    "Naw, that''s too much, dial it back a bit~ Can''t you call me ''Mommy'' for once?"


    "Do you have a kid I don''t know about¡ª"


    "NO!"


    "Then no, I''ll stick to something else for now."


    Quinn mumbled, "I wish you stick it in again while we''re¡ª"


    "Did you just say something?"


    "Nope!"


    "Huh. I was sure I heard something¡­"


    With that said, we cleaned up¡ªwell, mostly just me giving Quinn the best aftercare but once we got dressed, she suddenly donned her mechanical gauntlets and pulled out and assembled her huge-ass halberd/polearm.


    I thought there was something wrong about the way she dressed ''conservatively'' this time around but she looked like she was going out for a fucking crusade.


    She was just looking at me with a smile on her face as she pointed at my gear sitting in one corner of her room, "Strap up."


    "It''s almost sunset¡ª"


    "I don''t fucking care, strap up."


    I shook my head in confusion, "Where are we going though?"


    Quinn let out a chuckle, "We''re gonna piss Mauro off."


    "Huh?"


    "We''re cleaning the Pit."

 Chapter 837 The Pit - Shes There, Right?

    Hearing the word "Pit" from Quinn''s mouth and piecing together in my head¡ªfor a short moment¡ªeverything I''ve heard in conversation made me realize that they, the De Leon Family, was doing somethingmonly done that would''ve surprised any regr vani person that read or watched something in this scenario.


    "No fucking way," I muttered as I shook my head.


    ''Unlimited power with using deadheads to run generators¡­''


    Quinn looked at me like I was an idiot, "You realized just now? I don''t like the noise¡ª"


    "No, had a small inkling but how many¡ª"


    "Stop asking questions, you''ll see when we get there," then she had a thought, "You can bring Kaley and the rest or not but we''ll meet at the gate in a few minutes."


    "Wait, where are you going?"


    She rested her weapon over her shoulder as she brought her right hand up and closed and opened her palm, making her mechanical gauntlets make that peculiar sound, "You''ll see in a bit¡­"


    At this point, Quinn had already left the room and disappeared somewhere so I had to quickly strap up as I informed Kaley and the rest about the situation. They couldn''t believe their ears at first but since they were with a few people that could give them a little bit of context, it didn''t take long before we were about to ride out a couple of hours before sunset.


    However, I couldn''t help but drool a little when I saw Quinne up wearing a custom-made mechanical "exoskeleton" that supported her upper back, neck, shoulders, and arms¡ªbasically her upper body but it stops right below her chest.


    ''Slightly different to her gauntlets though¡­''


    To bepletely fair, it was bare bones and still a work in progress¡ªlooking like an over-the-top brace of some sort, but I assumed it was made with light materials because Quinn wasn''t having a hard time wearing it or she was just being a freak of fucking nature. It''s just that it looked like it had some pieces that were just added on or just looking off but I assumed the worst as always.


    "We''re not facing Deathws, right?"


    Quinn turned to me with a confused expression, "Haa?"


    "Nevermind, that was a weird thing to ask¡ª"


    She sighed, "Before you ask more stupid questions, this was Jericho''s old project he tossed when he joined Mr. Cuervo. He was supposed to make a full set for Mike but¡­ you know¡­ shit happened. I was in the process of making something simr¡ªputting my own spin on it¡ªbut the kid''s gifted, I''m just building on his work to make it easier for me."


    "But¡­ But where''s the rest of it?"


    "..."


    "Quinn?"


    "It didn''t fit me, alright?! My legs are too fucking long! HAPPY?! IT BARELY FITS MY TORSO!"


    "Ah¡­ My bad, my bad¡­"


    "Besides, everything''s too fucking heavy with the power supply by the waist support, I took it apart and made adjustments to it. With this, it wouldn''t need power for it to function. It could offer a lot of support and a bit of protection. Can we go?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    ''I guess it''ll be hard for her to find body armor like ours that fits her size¡­ this is her solution¡­ I''m gonna change that when we get back though¡­ I''ll make sure I find something her size¡­''


    To bepletely honest, I would''ve busted a nut if she rolled in with a fucking Power Armor but her "armor" now looked like a lesser version from this other film that had these pods that could cure almost anything.


    It''s just that when we started driving outside, Quinn couldn''t hide the look on her face when we made her stand behind on the truckbed because her frame was too fucking big to fit everyone inside. She was staring daggers at our backs but it just made all of us inside let out a small chuckle while the two with her: Isaac and Jose were walking on eggshells.


    She should''ve just brought it with her and worn it when we arrive but she was just too deep into it, she didn''t want to take it off.


    After a short drive, we eventually came upon their industrial park but since it was nearing sunset, almost everyone was either lounging around or just straight partying like it was thest day on Earth.


    Music was sting on each of therge facilities they took for themselves but Quinn didn''t mind the ruckus as she made us drive to the central area where this loud cranking noise was getting louder and louder the more we got closer.


    Quinn hopped off our truck, "We''re here. I''m surprised a lot of you came but we''ll only need a few people. Some of you should stay and keep watch over our vehicles and any interruptions that may ur. We can only do this since Mauro''s away but a lot of people would also get pissed if we take away their source of electricity."


    Surprisingly enough, Myke walked forward and shook his head, "Nah, Quinn, I''m all for free shit but this is just in wrong. I''d rather rely on other means or push the bar myself."


    ''That''s good to know¡­''


    Quinn let out a smile after a short exhale, "That''s good to hear but you''re guarding the door with the others."


    "WHAT?! I CAME HERE TO¡ª"


    "Trust me, Myke, it''s the best job I could give you at the moment. I doubt we''ll be able to clear everything but we should be quick enough to do the most amount of damage. Once one of the buildings loses power, they''ll definitely check this ce out and they''ll swarm here to ask what the fuck we''re doing. Don''t let anyone fucking pass. But yeah, don''t go too rough on them, I don''t want more of us down there¡­"


    "Fine¡­"


    With that said, Quinn came down with me, Kaley, and Jose while the rest were stationed to stand by the door. We were traversing this hallway that had several graffitis but the moment we reached the level where the supposed deadhead-powered generators were, not only were a few people present with Dave standing in front of another metal door with steel grates, the graffitis on the wall became like some weird math problem.


    ''Wait a second¡ª''


    I was still in mid-sentence when I realized that the numbers on the walls were probably their crew who were now working a different job but Dave''s clear voice entered our ears despite the cranking noise.


    "You shouldn''t be here, Quinn."


    Quinn scoffed, "Aren''t you recovering? You shouldn''t be here either. Logan said you were sleep¡ª"


    "Yeah, I should be sleeping but I had an inkling that you''ll sneak here when everyone''s away. And here you are¡­" Dave shook his head as he walked a few steps forward.


    "Dave. You know fucking well that she''s there, right?"


    "..."


    "And you''re letting her rot in there instead of resting her¡ª"


    Dave shouted at the top of his lungs for the first time, "SHE AGREED TO IT, QUINN! EVERYONE DID! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO FUCKING¡ª"


    "NOT EVERYONE WANTED TO BE IN THERE! IT WASN''T A CHOICE! THE MAJORITY SPOKE FOR EVERYONE! EITHER YOU STEP ASIDE OR¡ª"


    "OR WHAT?! YOU''LL SNAP MY NECK TOO?! CAN YOU REALLY DO IT?! YOU DID IT ONCE, RIGHT?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF MAURO COMES BACK AND HE SEES THAT EVERYONE''S A PILE OF ASHES INSTEAD OF GIVING US LIGHT?! HE''LL FUCKING KICK YOU OUT!"


    "SO FUCKING WHAT?! IS HAVING ELECTRICITY WORTH VIOLATING THEIR BODIES LIKE THAT?!"


    "ARE YOU FUCKING HEARING YOURSELF?! IS THAT GUY''S DICK WORTH MORE THAN EVERYTHING WE''VE EVER WORKED FOR?!"


    "HEARING MYSELF?! YOU FUCKING HEAR YOURSELF FIRST! A CURE''S NOT COMING, DAVE! NOT ANYTIME SOON! IF IT EVER DID, YOUR SISTER WOULD''VE TURNED TO GOO ALREADY¡ª"


    "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP! HOW CAN YOU FUCKING KNOW, HUH?! HOW CAN YOU FUCKING KNOW?! HOW CAN¡ª"


    Right at this fucking moment, the soundsing from the door behind them changed slightly before several loud thumps came from the door itself. The thumps became loud pounding before the door''s hinges started to creak and whine but before everyone here gets killed by this sudden cutscene, I shouted at the top of my lungs.


    "RUNNNNNNN~!!!"


    Everyone else was still slightly confused before I pulled out a couple of grenades from my pouch and as soon as I bit the pins off, everyone else started running back.


    Fear was great motivation but I was already walking backward while waiting for the first deadhead to break through that door. I wouldn''t make their work easier for them but the moment I saw several discolored arms bent the door after their rotting digits got degloved by trying to get out, I threw the first grenade in the small gap they provided for me.


    *BOOOOOOOOOOM*


    The grenade exploded inside after a few seconds but I had to throw the second one almost immediately when a deadhead peeked out of the same hole while only having its jaw as its head.

 Chapter 838 Small Gap - Peekers Advantage

    After the second explosion, more pulp and dismembered pieces were regurgitated from the door that was barely hanging on, but it didn''t take long before several rms red one after the other. Coupled with their rotating orange lights which were also present in the hallway that we were in, our attempt to sneakily shave off their numbers had gone to shit.


    But at this point, I already had my rifle ready but Dave and Quinn were still arguing a few steps above me.


    Dave eximed, "WHAT THE FUCK''S WRONG WITH YOU ALL?! THAT WAS ONLY A COUPLE OF ZOMBS, YOU DON''T HAVE TO BLOW THE PLACE UP?! CAN YOU IMAGINE THE REPAIRS¡ª"


    Quinn almost smacked the shit out of him, "REPAIRS?! THAT''S WHAT YOU''RE WORRYING ABOUT?! CAN YOU EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN AS TO HOW YOUR SURE-FIRE WAY TO KEEP THEM IN PLACE GOT BYPASSED?! THAT''S MORE THAN A COUPLE THAT GOT FREE, RIGHT?!"


    "N-NO! T-THEY SHOULD BE FUCKING BEHEADED IF THEY EVER TRY TO¡ª"


    I cut them off, "WELL BOO FUCKING HOO! ARGUE ALL YOU WANT BUT WE GOTTA TAKE CARE OF YOUR CREW FOR THE SECOND TIME! EITHER START ORGANIZING THE ONES THAT ARE ALIVE OUTSIDE OR WE''LL HAVE UNNECESSARY CASUALTIES, AND I''M NOT PLANNING ON WASTING MORE GAS TONIGHT!"


    Right as I finished my sentence, twonky deadheads crawled from the small opening of the door,cerating their bodies with the metal parts sticking out but like the partly headless one that I saw earlier, these two also had some form of damage in regards to their heads.


    The first one that came out had its head degloved¡ªor should I say "dehelmeted" because its skin, along with its lips, nose, ears, and its eyelids seemed to be scraped off roughly with some sort of tool while the second one had all manner of its brain exposed.


    Two shots from my rifle quickly put them down but since there would be moreing, Kaley and Jose had already taken their stance from behind me. With that said, Kaley only had to see a silhouette before she fired at the figures still squirming inside while Jose was giving a quick rundown via radio to our people above.


    I doubt we would be able to clear all of them from this narrow space but we gotta put down as much as we could before we move on to above ground.


    Then I had a thought, "HEY! IS THIS THE ONLY ENTRANCE?!"


    Quinn turned around as she barely heard me because she was speaking through her radio, "WHAT?"


    "IS THIS THE ONLY FUCKING ENTRANCE¡ª"


    "FUCK! NO, IT''S NOT! GOTTA INFORM EVERYONE!"


    "HAVE EVERYONE BARRICADE THE ENTRANCES SO THIS WILL BE THE ONLY ONE! HOW MANY ARE INSIDE THE GEN ROOM?!"


    "I DON''T FUCKING KNOW! HUNDREDS! IT''S NOT JUST OUR CREW WHO WAS INSIDE THEM!"


    I shook my head bitterly as I threw them a hateful nce, "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU MESS WITH THE DEAD! YOU DON''T PLAY WITH THEM AND EXPECT FREE SHIT! THEY EVOLVE FOR FUCK''S SAKE AND¡ª"


    Kaley cut me off, "HEY! STOP ARGUING AND START SHOOTING! WE¡ª"


    I also cut her off as I turned back to Quinn, "YOU STILL HAVE OTHER MEANS TO GET LIGHTS, RIGHT?! MAKE EVERYONE FORM A CIRCLE AROUND THE ENTRANCE ABOVE SO WE''LL HAVE GOOD VISIBILITY! CAR LIGHTS OR FLOOD LIGHTS WOULD DO! MAKE THEM GIVE US A BIT OF SPACE TO MOVE AROUND! WE''LL TAKE IT UPSTAIRS IF WE CAN''T HOLD IT DOWN HERE!"


    "GOT IT!"


    Quinn went back to barking orders through her radio while Kaley had already sent round after round to the small gap provided for her. The bodies she put down on the other side of the door have definitely slowed down their advance but god knows how many we still need to take out.


    However, Quinn and Dave''s radios started to blow up with several reports telling them that the deadheads behind the doors they barricaded were getting more and more aggressive to the point that they were about to break in.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "WHAT THE FUCK DID I SAY?! BLOCK IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE ON AND DON''T YOU FUCKING DARE TO HAVE ANYTHING GO THROUGH IT!!!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    Dave was also shouting the same things through his radio but I felt like something was off.


    Kaley know full well that she could fire at will but there had already been several seconds where she was just looking through her scope. Even Jose who had his rifle up had already put it down while wearing a distraught expression.


    I was pretty sure that they had only taken down a few dozen deadheads which were way~ too far from the number that Quinn mentioned, but for some reason, I felt like walking toward the door that they were shooting through.


    Kaley instantly called out to me, "W-What are you doing?!"


    "Just watch my back¡ª no, you get the idea¡­"


    As I was making my way to the beat-up door, I quickly double-tapped the two deadheads that managed toe in with my pistol, but the moment I peeked through the gaps Kaley and Jose were shooting through, I suddenly jumped back from what I saw.


    From the other side of the door, some lights were still on and rotating like the ones we have on our side but it only took me a few seconds to notice that almost all of the deadheads in the immediate vicinity were standing upright, facing the door I peeked at while their heads were mangled to shit.


    The reason I jumped back was that almost all of them suddenly twitched and move a step forward when they "sensed" my presence but now that I was far from their radius, they stopped moving altogether.


    I was kinda familiar with this situation but other clusters aiming for the other entrances told me that there were others that could ignore its influence.


    But since moving close to the door was the signal for their dinner bell, I moved back to the same spot with my rifle raised.


    And once I did, the deadheads having more than a headache got a lethal dose of 5.56s and I quickly dropped 30 of them before I had to switch to my secondary and drop 18 with 9mms.


    You don''t fucking bring zombies to a gunfight and even if they still had the numbers advantage, I could just easily reload ande back for more.


    With that said, I came out of their view and reloaded my guns but when I peeked back, I could barely see any deadheads waiting to get their heads popped.


    ''Hmm¡­''


    This definitely made the clearing process a little harder because the ones in control inside were trying to divide us and/or lure us in.


    We had no idea which deadheads are trying to break into the barricades of the other entrances but it was either a sentry or a stitcher/slurper that was trying to y mind games with me.


    It was because the moment they tried to get out, they were shut down immediately so they opted to make use of the other entrances avable to them. But since the other entrances were also taken care of, some of themy in wait, waiting for us to make one false move to try and break out while the others continued to make the same ruckus on the barricaded areas.


    It''s just that their rotting bodies had no chance to defend against fast-moving projectiles and I''m gonna assume they would try a bit harder to break through one of the entrances they were denied on.


    ''The itch to just break in and be done with it increases though¡­''


    I didn''t think we''d face a few with intelligence around this area but before I make another decision, I needed to learn more about this ce.


    But as I was just about to head back to where Dave was to ask for more information, the sound of several bodies dropping from an elevated position came one after the other. It sounded like two¡ª no, three floors high but some of them sounded like they were thrown down rather than dropped freely.


    At this point, I quickly made quick work of the ones I could see but I did throw in a third grenade when I heard loud thumping that seemed to be getting closer and closer. The thumping sound immediately stopped but the random noises that were making me feel uneasy were still present.


    It had this remix of someone stirring mac and cheese with a fork, someone getting locked inside of a freezer, someone slurping a bowl of ramen, random deadhead chatter, gennies still cranking but at a much slower tempo, etc.


    With that said, this beat-up door was the only thing separating me from the hundreds of deadheads waiting to pounce on me, but it became a battle of attrition of sorts challenging as to which side would carelessly walk into each other''s territory.

 Chapter 839 Lying In Wait - You Didnt Know?

    With each second or two, I''d catch a short break by seeing a head peek at an off-angle but I''d quickly make it hit the floor before it can do whatever it was trying to aplish. Just with the number of deadheads on the other side of the door, I assumed not all of them were being manipted one way or another but the fewer deadheads we''d face the better.


    ''Let''s see who runs out of patience¡ª''


    "Hey! What are you doing all the way here?"


    "I thought we''re supposed to keep a fair distance!"


    I still had my rifle at the ready but I almost jumped out of my skin when Kaley and Jose came up from behind. Funnily enough, it also gave them a fright but I quickly shook my head before I looked through the same spot that has gone quiet for several seconds.


    Kaley slowly nudged me, "I called Tatiana, Isaac is bringing over one of our drones and he can actually fly one. Wanna send one in first before trying anything else?"


    Jose added, "We gotta do something different, if worsees to worst, either those barricades fall or they''re all just regrouping silently to surprise where the actual barricade is that shabby door. I know that you can outshoot anyone but we need more barrels facing that door if we''re gonna try and make a stand here."


    I nodded pensively, "That makes a lot of sense, we actually have the "high ground" but we shouldn''t be aggressive even if we could afford it. I was this close to kicking that door open and going crazy."


    Kaley shook her head, "Don''t worry too much about the other entrances though,st I''ve heard¡­ They were welding thick sheets of metal to the entrances, even the soundsing from behind were getting dull. I doubt the infected could figure that their efforts will be for nothing but we just have to be patient. Dave''s also making several people encircle this ce so we could wait it out and figure the next steps¡­"


    Hearing that, a little bit of tension had left my shoulders so I made Kaley and Jose walk back a few paces with me as we slowly rejoined Quinn and the others.


    It didn''t take long before Isaac came running down while shakily holding my drone in his hands so I took it from him and decided to fly it myself. Kaley and Jose had once again pointed their rifles at the gaps provided for them but Isaac still looked like a wet shaking puppy that fell on a vat of water on a cold winter night.


    ''Well, it has ''that'' in it¡­''


    So I gave him the family special.


    "Turn around."


    "H-Huh?"


    "Turn around," I repeated myself as I widened my eyes.


    "O-OkaYYYYYYYYYYY~!!! FUCK! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"


    I just mmed my palms across his back and I let out a short chuckle, "Better?"


    "W-WHAT?!"


    "I''d rather you be mad than shaking. Also, hands off your pistol before you shoot anyone here."


    "..."


    With that said, Isaac calmed down a little while I slowly made my drone hover in the air before sending it inside with a burst of speed. The goal wasn''t to scour the ce for as much information as we could but to have several glimpses in a few seconds because we could always rey the footage and we''d have a higher chance for our drone toe back in one piece.


    As I did, I was paying attention not only to the drone''s positioning but to the sounds I was hearing from its microphone.


    I spent maybe 10¡ª no, 20 seconds inside before I turned the drone around and tried to send it back to me but I had another fright when I discovered that more than a dozen slurpers/stitchers were hanging by their tongues and had stuck themselves¡ªwith a few pieces of deadheads they had on them¡ªright on the wall past the shabby door I was just looking through earlier.


    ''The fuck¡ª''


    I almost bumped the drone when it was justing back to me and I sure as hell was relieved that I didn''t go in guns zing. If I did, I''d be the one on the receiving end in one of those ''educational'' animations I used to watch and it wouldn''t be as pleasurable as it was portrayed.


    Since I wasn''t the only one who saw the damn feed, it made everyone take a few steps up the staircase but those motherfuckers that were lying in wait knew that the jig was up.


    One after the other, several deadheads just straight-up sprinted and bolted straight through the door, and Kaley and Jose only managed to pick off a few before one of them mmed with all of its momenta, throwing its bloody juices to the other side while decimating its frail body. However, it made the shabby door blocking it violently shake and jiggle, chipping off whatever was left of its HP closer to 0.


    And right after that, a few more tried to bust down the door but several tongue-tentacles slithered from above and tried to sneak in, but my drone had already flown past them before turning abruptly and dive-bombing the spot where the majority of them had clustered together.


    The drone in question had a small explosive charge in it¡ªwhich was one of the reasons Isaac was shaking when he delivered it to me, and it definitely obtained the ability to send several nukes because it had more than a 30-kill streak after exploding at the cluster of slurpers, also liberating the regr deadheads from their control.


    And funnily enough, the shockwave from the explosion was the one that made the doore loose and slowly swing open but it opened up a lot more angles for us to abuse.


    Disregarding the pulp and the mix of burnt and juicy rotting meat by the door, we had an easier time picking off the regr deadheads from the distance but it still wasn''t the time to rx. We weren''t exactly sure that we took care of all of them because if we really need to make sure that the ringleaders were ounted for and if it was safe, we still needed to go inside and verify.


    It''s just that we needed to thin down their numbers as much as possible before doing anything because the gen room wasrger than I thought and we probably have just taken care of a fifth or optimistically speaking, a third of the poption.


    Kaley eximed, "MAGS!"


    I was slightly confused because we''re using different caliber rifles, "We don''t¡ª"


    She suddenly reached in and pulled out one of my extra mags for our Maxim 9s, "I''m talking about this one, you doofus!"


    Looking at Kaley''s chest rig, she had already gone through three magazines for her rifle chambered in .308s but she switched to her secondary to kinda "save up" the bigger bullets for the bigger surprises. At this range, a 9mm was enough and even a .22 LR could do wonders in bullet economy.


    Knowing that, I sent Isaac back to the surface to fetch more magazines from our vehicle¡ªincluding a couple for Jose''s M16 and my custom BCM rifle. Like Quinn and Dave, Isaac had no way of helping us three with our current task but the other two were busy rying orders while keeping close in case of emergencies.


    Dave had his punk''d 870 at the ready while Quinn had her Deagle tightly tucked behind her belt, and a 1-ounce slug and a .50 AE bullet were fucking devastating on close range. Sure, they weren''t helping us at the current moment but I''ll make sure that Quinn will reimburse me for the bullets we used because as stated by one of her crew members, they weren''t that good at shooting over long distances.


    That means that their rifle rounds were probably collecting dust and I had free reign over them.


    But after a short while, the zerg rush of sorts eventually slowed down, and listening to the reports from Quinn and Dave''s radios, the thumping behind the barricades had also lessened.


    That could only mean that we have probably taken down another third of the deadheads that managed to get out of their "sure-fire" way to keep them in ce because if we take into ount the ones that were still on the generators¡ªdue to the cranking sounds still present¡ªit''d probably check out. However, I still would advise against going inside and finishing the current mishap because I still had one more drone to scout the inside, but this time, on a much slower approach.


    With that said, Isaac eventually arrived with one of our bags that had an assortment of magazines with loose ammo¡ªincluding thest drone we brought for our trip.


    It''s just that he was shaking even more than thest time he came down, and he was keeping safe distance when I was trying to give him another family special.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "You¡ª You didn''t tell me that there was an explosive charge in there!"


    "You didn''t know?"


    "YOU¡ª I DIDN''T KNOW!"


    "Huh."

 Chapter 840 Fried - No. Just No...

    In the grand scheme of things, he should not have been this hysterical because the moment he sat his ass on my truck, it had enough firepower and explosives to take down a few hordes. Discovering a small explosive charge in one of our drones wasn''t a cause for concern because it wasn''t as vtile as he thought it would be.


    With that said, I quickly opened the bag he brought with him and I looked for the magazines that would fit Kaley''s "Reaper" first before I replenished my own mags and Jose''s. And almost at the same time, I handed Isaac our empty mags and ordered him to fill them up with the appropriate bullets.


    "You at least know which bullet fits which mag, right?"


    "I do, actually!"


    "Great! Refill the .308 mags first, then the 5.56s, and the 9mmsst!"


    Kaley suddenly turned to me and threw another empty .308 mag, "Here too!"


    "O-Okay! I''ll get on that too¡ª"


    "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?!"


    While Isaac was still in mid-sentence, Quinn''s voice just boomed through the passage we were in before we heard the voice from the other side of the radio repeat himself.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [THEY''RE GOING THROUGH THE VENTS! THEY''RE VENTING! THEY''RE VENTING!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this moment, it was taking everything from me to not reference a certain something because, in all honesty, this wasn''t aughing matter. We were so focused on barricading and watching through "human-sized" hallways or should I say "walk"-ways¡ªwe forgot about the slurpers'' ability to make use of their tongues to reach harder-to-reach ces.


    However, Quinn just had this "lightbulb" moment and she almost had the same look when she was thinking about viting my ass.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "REDIRECT THE CURRENT TO THE VENTS AND BARRICADES AND FRY THEIR ASSES!!! THEY HAD NOWHERE ELSE TO GO!!!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    ''Yep, she was thinking something close to that¡­''


    At this point, I was slightly at a loss because I wasn''t familiar with their whole setup and all I could do at the moment was point my rifle at the same gap we were staring at for quite a while and pick off anything that moves. But that doesn''t even matter right now because everyone was doing their part and now it was her moment to shine and prove herself.


    ''It''s her domain after all¡­''


    Quinn started to bark more orders through her radio but it didn''t take long before we heard that familiar buzzing "electric" sound that ran for close to 20 seconds.


    In my own experience, I''d usually hear it for a moment before someone would either be screaming in pain or just be straight-up dead, but 20 fucking seconds of god knows how fucking much electricity going through your body was fucking overkill.


    A regr-sized fish would be dead in a second with a small shock in close proximity.


    I can''t even imagine being electrocuted for more than a couple of seconds because if even a fraction of the stored energy this ce produced suddenly passed through me, the only way I''d survive is if I''d somehow learn Uncle Iroh''s lightning redirection technique on the spot.


    It''s just that I was stunned in ce when I heard the following wordse out of Quinn''s mouth:


    -<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    *bzzt*


    "Again."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Like a sick fuck ying with her food, she actually ordered her version of "double-tapping" zeds, and the people on the other side of the radio could onlyply¡­ but definitely shared the same sentiment.


    It didn''t take long before we heard an encore of sorts but Quinn had already grown tired of speaking through her radio and spoke through it onest time:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright,st order of the night: tear those barricades down and kill anything that moves. We''ll be going in from this side. If I catch any of you not following orders, I''LL FUCKING STRAP ALL OF YOU TO THESE GENNIES AND YOU''LL SPIN THEM YOURSELVES!!!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, the speakers of Quinn and Dave''s radios almost broke down from everyone cheering and screaming with all they had from the other side¡ªwhich could also be heard from above¡ªand Isaac fucking beat me to it.


    "Was it just me or did anyone else get horny from that?"


    As soon as he said that, Kaley facepalmed while Jose and I let out a chuckle but I did pull him aside because Quinn had the right to walk inside this gen room first and make it her bitch.


    To my delight, Tatiana had already made her way down, wearing a huge smile on her face and I just beckoned her over as I followed right behind my giantess, and no one had any fucking worries whatsoever. And since I could trust our backs to Kaley and Jose while they were holding their rifles, I slowly pulled out my katana from my hip and stole my wakizashi from Kaley''s.


    And right from the fucking get-go, Quinn just held her huge-ass weapon with both hands and rushed forward, creating several servings of meat paste with chunky bits while I circled to the right side and Tatiana the other.


    The familiar sounds from Kaley and Jose''s rifles rang out but there was now more to the mix because Dave and his buddies had also started firing.


    To my surprise, Isaac was trailing behind me, following a smaller radiuspared to mine but he lost all chances of keeping up after a short exhale.


    The moment my breath left my mouth, I shifted up more times than he could imagine and lopped heads with each swing if not, an arm or a whole torso.


    And at one point, I quickly sheathed my katana instead of my wakizashi¡ªbecause its scabbard wasn''t on my hip¡ªbefore I drew my pistol and shot three fucking deadheads that were about to blindside her highness. And looking back at my "disciple", he was looking a bit too overwhelmed so I thinned the herd he was currently facing with the rest of the bullets in my mag.


    But there was some protest.


    "I CAN HANDLE IT, YOU DIDN''T HAVE TO DO THAT!!!"


    I shouted back, "YOU FUCKING DUMBASS, I''D RATHER SHOOT THOSE DOZEN FUCKERS INSTEAD OF YOU WHEN YOU GET SCRATCHED!"


    "I SAID I CAN HANDLE IT!"


    "THEN DON''T LOOK LIKE A SHIVERING GOAT THAT WAS ABOUT TO FALL OFF HIS SAND CASTLE!"


    "THAT DIDN''T MAKE ANY SENSE!"


    "THAT''S WHY I FUCKING HELPED YOU! YOU''RE FUCKING WELCOME!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHH! ORA! ORAH! ORAHHHHHHHH!" Isaac just went berserk while I was cringing from hearing those wordse out of his mouth.


    ''No. Just no¡­''

 Chapter 841 ADHD? - Im Just Looking Out For You.

    After advancing a few steps forward, it didn''t take long before we heard gunshots erupting from the other passages we haven''t been to yet, and since Quinn and Tatiana were advancing at a faster pace, I reloaded my pistol and took down the ones that were still tied to the several generators present¡ªthat had different sizes¡ªwith thick metal wires.


    The wires in question were connected to a device simr to the noose-like apparatus that was used the first time we attended Mr. Cuervo''s games, and to give my semi-professional opinion and giving what happened to this ce as an example, these devices weren''t a sure-fire way to solve their problems.


    As time would pass, these devices should be checked regrly to see if some of them hade loose, but since the ones wearing them were too fucking dangerous and were moving around constantly¡ªplus their huge numbers to boot¡ªit was a herculean task to maintain and I doubt the De Leon Family would be that meticulous.


    ''Even I would have a hard time maintaining this kind of setup¡­''


    With that said, as I eventually let everyone else take care of the dregs, I happen toe upon a huge-ass corpse that rivaled a Hulker.


    Take note, almost every single carcass present was huge as hell but this one looked and exuded the same pressure as the one we faced before. However, this one was chock full of holes, eyeballs and bowels missingpletely, and judging by the long-ass appendage that was just hanging by its ear, it was probably being controlled by the sussy ones earlier.


    It definitely brought shivers through my spine because if we somehow face a Hulker that would always get up no matter how much damage it took¡ªeven to the point of decapitating its head off¡ªthat would be the time that I''d do everything, I mean everything I can to disable or stop it.


    ''We''re fucking lucky we took down the one controlling it¡­''


    From the time we''ve faced a handful of them, the ongoing protocol was to take away its mobility first before attempting to crack or puncture its head open with the use of the injection systems we made or with high-caliber rifle rounds.


    Isaac eventually caught up to me, "Woah, the fuck is that thing?"


    I turned to him with a solemn expression, "If you ever see one of these things outside, do everything you can to get away from it as fast and far as possible. You don''t try to fight it head-on, you don''t try to shoot it, and you don''t try to y mind games with it. This thing will kill you in less than a fucking second if it ever gets ahold of you and¡ª"


    While I was still in mid-sentence, Isaac just straight up pulled out his gun and shot its mangled head with a .45-caliber pistol.


    Without even looking at how far his measly round pierced through its ker-like skin, I grabbed Isaac''s cor and looked him straight in the eye. It was fucking obvious that he had the shock of his life seeing a bullet sink to the outermostyer of its skin and stop almost immediately¡ªslightly deforming in the process, but I had never seen a fucking ''disciple'' listen halfway and move based on instinct right after.


    I let out an ample amount of killing intent and directed everything at him, "Isaac¡­ I''ll ask you one fucking question and I mean it as respectfully as possible¡­"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Do you have ADHD?"


    "What?"


    "You have trouble paying attention, you almost always react or actpulsively, and¡ª you know what? Before all this started, are you on some sort of medication?"


    "I-I''m not entirely s-sure¡­ B-But I do get in trouble more often than I can control when I was a kid¡­ You know, I see something and I just move¡­ I dunno¡­"


    I sighed as I let go of him, "Right, I forgive you¡­ But do try and listen¡ª no, let me finish what I''m saying first before doing anything, alright?"


    "S-Sure?"


    "Good. That''s good for now. However, we''ll try and get you something for that because when we''re outside like this, you''re not just gonnand yourself in trouble if it acts up, it''ll get US in trouble depending on the circumstances. I hope you''ll keep in mind that I want my people to follow me to the dot and I''ll almost always get angry if something doesn''te my way but in the end, I''m just like that for all of you. That''s how I look out for all of you."


    "..."


    "We good¡ª Isaac?"


    To my surprise, tears formed on the corners of his eyes and he didn''t even know it himself. He was so confused as to what was happening while he was trying to hide his tears by wiping them with his sleeves but when he tried to wipe them with his hands, I kicked his shin for good measure.


    "W-WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"


    I sighed as I pointed at his hands, "Stick to your sleeves. Your hands are bloody."


    "AH¡­"


    "As I said, I''m just looking out for you. And yeah, you can be mad at me too. Getting kicked in the shin hurts¡­ I''ll always do shit like this but remember¡ª"<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>


    "You''re just looking out for me¡­"


    "Exactly."


    At this point, Isaac looked like he was rebooting or something because he was slowly nodding in ce while looking at nothing. However, right as he finished his own thing, the motherfucker straight up took a knee and offered his sword to me, garnering the attention of everyone in the immediate vicinity.


    "The fuck is that guy doing?"


    "We''re clearing corpses and he''s kneeling like an idiot¡­"


    "He''s giving me the creeps¡­"


    "Is he trying to get knighted?"


    "What?"


    "Huh?"


    "This is too weird, man¡­ I''ll help in the other sectors¡­"


    Despite all that we''re hearing, Isaac was still doing his own thing and I had to wave him over.


    "We don''t do that over here¡ª"


    "I do!"


    "I don''t!"


    "I insist you do! I''m getting tired here¡ª"


    "No one''s telling you to do that shit¡ª"


    "C''mon, man! Just knight me!"


    "I''m not a¡ª"


    "JUST KNIGHT ME! OW! WHY''D YOU HIT ME?!"


    "I''m just looking out for you¡ª"


    "NO, YOU''RE NOT!"


    "Yep, no I''m not¡ª"


    "A-HA! YOU''RE JUST AVOIDING¡ª"


    "I''m looking out for myself at the moment¡­ Our lives aren''t in danger but my street cred''s already going downhill from what you''re doing¡­"


    "FUCK! I FORGOT ABOUT THAT! CAN WE JUST DO THIS IN PRIVATE?!"


    "No. Just no¡ª I''m leaving¡­"


    "C''MON! YOU''RE JUST GONNA STAND UP AND I''LL BE ON MY KNEES AGAIN!"


    "DON''T FUCKING SAY THAT OUT LOUD! PEOPLE ARE GONNA GET THE WRONG IDEA!!!"

 Chapter 842 Clean Up - Davina

    After that exchange, it made everyone else let out a mix of reactions but it was moreplex than that because of the partial markings on the bodies that we put down. Not every carcass here was part of their crew but a considerable number of them were once part of their merry band.


    With that said, I discovered that Dave was now in a different sector¡ªprobably tending to his deceased sister, but I didn''t have the means to make it better for him because we weren''t that buddy-buddy and that wasn''t my fucking business. For aplete stranger, giving him space for the moment was the best thing I could do.


    Then I felt a tap on my back.


    "Wanna head out now?"


    "What? Now?"


    As I turned around, Quinn had almost an indifferent¡ªthough a little bit somber¡ªlook on her face but I couldn''t believe that she''d suggest leaving at this moment. We had barely cleaned up the mess we made and there were a lot more things to take care of than the bodies scattered around this huge-ass basement.


    Granted it was a boring-ass process to most people but after something like this happens, I made it a habit to check each person for injuries or infections, tally all the ammunition, explosives, and other materials expended, have a group or two survey the surroundings because of the noise we made, etc.


    In this case, we would also have to check the extent of the damage we did to the generators and perform repairs needed, rece the ventspletely, make new sturdy entrances for the gen room¡ªfortifications involved, and figure out their new source of power.


    Quinn looked at me confused, "Why are you looking at me like that? It''ste, we should¡ª"


    "No. Before we drive back to your ce, we take care of everything¡ª"


    "They already know what to do¡ª"


    "Mistakes could happen. We''re here to ensure¡ª"


    "They got it¡ª"


    "Uh-huh," I shook my head as I pointed at their ''sure-fire'' way to keep the deadheads at bay, "I have my reasons for doing some quality assurance."


    "...fine."


    Looking at Quinn¡ªno, everyone else''s expression, it seemed like they had already decided to just clean up the corpses and figure things out tomorrow. But since she reluctantly took my side, they had no choice but to follow through with it, but I quickly noticed a small problem.


    Four out of the five people that passed by me wafted over the scent of liquor, and by quickly working out the pros and cons of doing some work this evening, I had to somewhat work out apromise.


    I grabbed Quinn''s arm as she was about to walk away, "Wait."


    "Hmm?"


    "We can forgo checking the generators and attempting to repair them but we need to burn all of the corpses tonight plus the ones in the vents. Also, the ones that are too hammered to do some actual work should get checked first for any unforeseen injuries, and if there are any that need ''immediate attention'', you should be with Kaley to pass on judgment."


    "What are you¡ª Oh. That''s¡­ much better. So, I''ll leave everyone here to you?"


    "If you''d grant me some authority, we can go home faster¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly took in air before she turned to everyone, "LISTEN UP!"


    The moment Quinn''s voice boomed and echoed, everyone else just turned to our direction in attention. She began to update the orders she gave them¡ªwhich originally came from me¡ªand even if it was still a lot, a little bit less was extremely wee. Surprisingly enough, once they were told to follow my orders to the dot, the resistance wasn''t even that apparent because my reputation points in this joint were high as fuck.


    I wasn''t sure if it was because they knew about my performance on the first-ever game I joined beforehand, I was crowned the Champion of Champions, standing side-to-side with the 7-foot muscle mommy without getting pegged to death, or due to what I did in the short span of time I was here, but all I know was that in this ce, very much like Mr. Cuervo''s, strengthmands respect.


    ''And getting endorsed by Quinn of all people was already too much.''


    As time passed, the only thing that proved a little difficult was reaching the vent systems that were in different ces and at different heights. Granted some parts were still usable but we can''t just push out the corpses inside them like squeezing a bottle of toothpaste or cleaning out chicken guts.


    It''d be far easier¡ªbut a little more wasteful¡ªto just clip all of them off and either rece or deep clean the ones that didn''t receive a lot of damage instead of trying to take care of them while they were all hanging on different levels above and below ground. Completely flushing them out of the nasty bits that could possibly infect a person just from a single drop was worth more than anything at this moment.


    Then one of the residents approached me.


    "Yo, everything''s taken care of down here¡ªwe''ll just check the gennies tomorrow morning¡ªbut we still have one problem¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    The guy scratched the back of his head as he looked down for a moment, "It''s Dave, yo. We''re burning everyone in a huge pile above but he''s still refusing to toss¡ªyou know, his sister in¡­"


    "..."


    "I know it''s his sister and all but my brothers are already in that pile, dude. It''s stupid¡ª"


    Another guy tapped the person I was talking to, "Yo, don''t talk about Dave like that. Dave''s sister is pretty cool, remember?"


    "I know but¡­ he let her body do all this shit here but he''s refusing to let her rest¡ª"


    "You can''t say that. We''ve all talked about it before and we took a vote. Everyone''s just following everybody''s dying wishes."


    I shook my head as I turned to the two, "Did they also wish to break out and cause this scene? Possibly taking all of you out in the process? Hmm?"


    "Hey, man. We didn''t know that that''s gonna happen¡ª"


    "Seriously? Then why did you tie their heads in a noose?"


    "Ah¡ª I didn''t¡ª"


    "I was talking about the whole collective. I guess some of you didn''t know¡­ You just reaped the benefits and whatnot while turning a blind eye. Listen, I''m not here to argue but there are certain risks involved with ying with something we shouldn''t. Yes, it benefited all of you to the point that you could continue running your machines at full power, providing you with anything you can produce out of them but~ what would''ve happened if Quinn didn''t decide toe here while all of you are drunk out of your minds? I guess you''ll have more bodies to run the gennies, huh?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "..."


    "Personally, I wouldn''t do this kind of setup but since this ce is reliant on it, you should be more responsible with it. How many more parts or whatever the fuck are you trying to manufacture here? There should be some limit, no?"


    "..."


    Looking at their expressions, it seemed like I should be talking about this stuff to either Quinn, Mauro, or Dave so I bid them goodbye before I headed upstairs.


    If anyone would see what I was looking at right now, it looked like everyone was having a huge bonfire¡ªand about to sing some "Kumbaya" at any second. However, it didn''t take long before my eyesnded onto Dave who was sitting on the dirty ground,pletely ignoring everyone while a mangled corpse was lying in front of him.


    As I said earlier, I was aplete stranger and I should mind my fucking business but I had to do something.


    I tried to approach him as slowly as I could, "Hey¡ª"


    "Back off."


    I stopped where I was but I still tried to open up a conversation, "Your sister¡­ Your buddies said that she was pretty cool¡­ Can you tell me her name?"


    "..."


    "Her number at least¡ª"


    "She''s dead and there''s no fucking reception, why would she have¡ª Oh."


    "..."


    "..."


    I awkwardly scratched the side of my cheek, "Rough night, huh?"


    "What do you want, huh? Can''t a guy just mourn for a bit more? I''m not a fucking idiot, I''ll burn her myself and sweep her ashes¡ªprobably look for an urn or something¡­"


    "Just trying to offer a bit of help¡­"


    "Help?"


    "You know, do you have anything to remember her by? If you have pictures or something¡ª"


    "Pictures?"


    "Yeah, if they''re ruined or old or something, I have a way to bring it back to li¡ª you know, do some retouches to make it brand new¡­ Or if you have them in a broken down phone orputer¡ª"


    "I have plenty of those, I just need to be left alone¡­ but yeah, thanks for trying¡ª"


    "Right. I can do at least this¡­ Give me your hand¡­" I said as I walked over to him.


    "I said¡ª The fuck is this?"


    "That one''s Ibuprofen the other one is Mtonin. I can''t do shit for your sister but I know full well your fucking sore so¡­ That''s what you need right now¡­ Something for the pain and something to help you sleep¡­"


    Dave scoffed as he let you a small chuckle, "Can''t beer just do all those things?"


    "Beer? Really? Do you know how many fucking calories beer is? And are you gonna pass out with just one? Are you a fucking lightweight? You know, I could make some fucking beer myself if I wanted to but I can''t make those two tablets in your hands! I probably find someone but¡ª"


    "Alright! Alright! Stop talking too much! My head''s still ringing¡­ Thanks though¡­"


    "Alright¡­ See you¡ª"


    "Her name''s Davina¡­ And she didn''t have a number because she was still a prospect when she joined¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "..."


    "So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Did your mom or your dad hate her or something? Or did they just run out of ideas? Davina¡­ So fucking original¡­"


    "Haah?"


    "Dave''s pretty decent but they didn''t even try¡ª"


    "HEY! THAT''S MY DEAD SISTER''S NAME WE''RE TALKING ABOUT, YOU GOT A FUCKING PROBLEM?!"


    "Chill, bro¡­ I''m just saying~ Davina¡­ Pfft¡ª"


    "DO YOU WANNA FUCKING GO, YOU SON OF A BITCH?!"

 Chapter 843 EVERYONE, STRIP!

    Poking the tiger with a stick, also known as: pissing off Dave in his special moment almostnded me a beating but it did bring him out of his slump. He was out of his breath when he tried to chase after me but we just circled around and eventuallynded on the same spot.


    "You motherf-fucker¡­ Haa¡­ Haa¡­ I''m just fucking warming up! I''ll¡ª"


    "Good. Are you gonna carry her by yourself or are you gonna let me help you?"


    "..."


    "C''mon~ Bob is still at Mr. Cuervo''s ce, you can''t order him to do stuff for you always."


    At this point, Dave just stared me down for a few moments before he closed his eyes and let out a long~ deep, sigh, "Fuck it, you grab that side, I''ll grab that side¡­"


    "Got it!"


    "..."


    "So¡­ Does she have any nicknames or something you call her¡ª"


    "You¡ª Fuckin'' ass¡­"


    "You''re siblings right? She probably calls you D or Abe, you know? D''you call her Dana or Vi, or something?"


    "Vi?"


    "You know, remove the ''Dana'' from her first name and vo~ Vi¡­"


    "That''s¡­ That actually sounds cooler¡­ I used to call her Dani¡­"


    "Ah~ I guess that kinda works too¡­"


    "M-Hm."


    Right as we walked closer to the fire, Dave paused for a few moments and thought for a bit before he motioned for us to toss her sister into the fire and mes. We watched her sister burn for a few seconds but looking at his expression now, he really needed his moment to be alone.


    With that said, I briefly checked on everyone else in my crew before I eventually found myself in this ce''s infirmary of sorts.


    Surprisingly enough, each building had its own infirmary or small clinic to tend to their injuries or wounds but like Quinn''s ce, I doubt this ce had people that could performplex¡ªno, even intermediate or advanced procedures. Granted this ce had ample stock of various medicinal goods and equipment, but I''m guessing that they could only utilize a good 30% of them.


    ''If I can''t convince my old alma mater to offer these people medical help that these people can''t tend to themselves, wait¡ª Mr. Cuervo still has his own doctors and whatnot¡­ I''ll think about bringing them to my ce when the timees¡­ That''ll be a different can of worms¡­''


    With that said, it didn''t take long before I echolocated where Quinn and Kaley were.


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKIN'' AT, HUH?! NEVER SEEN HUGE TITS BEFORE?!"


    "Quinn¡­"


    "I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD IF ANY OF YOU COMES OVER HERE WITH A PITCHED TENT, I''LL CUT IT OFF!"


    "Quinn¡­ It''s totally okay¡ª"


    "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, YOU''RE ALMOST ALWAYS SEEING MINE SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL AND ONCE A NEW CHICK POPPED UP, ALL OF YOU SUDDENLY GET FUCKING INJURED! HAH! LEMME TELL ALL OF YOU, THE GUY SHE''S WITH CAN OUTFUCK ANY ONE OF YOU AND HE''S THE FUCKING HEAD OF THE ISHIYAMA FAMILY! IF HE CATCHES WIND OF THIS ALL OF YOU ARE GONNA GET¡ª Oh! You''re here!"


    The moment Quinn switched to using lowercase letters, the sea of people in front of me just parted in half like the red sea. Almost all of them thought I was gonnamit bloody murder but Quinn almost choked on herself when I let out the most unthreatening expression.


    "Hi~ How''s everyone doing? Is everyone well? I can also do basic check-ups, if we could form another line here~"


    As soon as I said that, the crowd of people in the infirmary got filtered once more though the people¡ªthe guys¡ªthat were already in the line for Kaley felt some sort of murderous intent when all of the muscle babes in this joint wanted to get ''examined'' by me.


    "Is that really him?"


    "Does he have a twin?"


    "No, the other guy is just a basic nerd¡­ but why does he look so different?"


    "He''s still hot though, you should''ve seen him in the games!"


    "Can you evenpete with those jugs?"


    "Fuck you! I lost mine when I started lifting weights!"


    "That''s a no, then~"


    "Shut up! But here''s the thing though, I heard that they''re you know¡­ epting applications and whatnot for some fun, and even Quinn''s in on it¡­ D''you think we can fill up an application of some sort?"


    At this point, I just ignored all of their whispers as I asked the first one in line to walk to our little partition which was a curtain that could provide ample cover. However, the first chick that came over instantly took off all her clothes and exposed herself to me, face down and ass up.


    "Umm¡­"


    She chuckled, "Do I cough now? Hmm? Or should I do something else?"


    "..."


    "Hello? Can you hear me?"


    Without batting an eye, I quickly walked out of the partition and waved Quinn over, asking for a little bit of assistance.


    "Hey."


    "What?"


    "There''s a patient in my partitionpletely naked."


    "Lucky you."


    "That''s not what I¡ª"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What do you want me to do, huh? Aren''t we supposed to give all of them a check-up? This was your idea, remember?"


    "But¡ª"


    Quinn let out a hidden smirk, "Then ''check'' her out! We can''t be here all night, no?"


    "..."


    "Why are you looking at me like that? You want some quality assurance, right? I know jack shit about that. Why don''t you show me some examples and I''ll learn from that?"


    "You''re messing with me, aren''t ya?"


    "Messing with you? You''ll know when I''m messing with you."


    "Oh, really?"


    "Wanna fucking bet on that? Fine. LISTEN UP! EVERYONE, STRIP!"


    "Wut¡ª"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT FOR?! I SAID STRIP!"


    For the fucking nth time, Quinn just had to say the words and everyone else in her domain would fucking follow. One by one, everyone, I mean EVERYONE in this ce besides the three of us stripped down naked and no one bothered to cover their junk with their hands. Some of them even looked morefortable without any clothes on though some of them were using Metapod''s signature move in certain areas of their body.


    As that was happening, I was cursing Quinn because this image will forever be ingrained in my head while Kaley had already turned around and tried to give Quinn a kick or two for the sudden nude-athon.


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU KICKING ME FOR?! WON''T THIS MAKE SHIT FASTER?!"


    "THAT''S NOT THE POINT!"


    "C''MON, KALEY! YOU''RE NOT GONNA GET GANGBANGED BY THOSE SHRIMPDICKS¡ª"


    At that moment, I was still BSOD-ing from trying to erase unerasable images that were forming in my head but when I heard the word ''gangbang'', even if the proper context was given, as long as that word and Kaley was in the mix, I wouldn''t be able to think straight.


    Almost immediately, killing intent filled the room and the temperature dropped several degrees¡ªmuch colder than the evening breeze this night and much more intense in closer proximity.


    Some women broke out in tears, fell to their knees, or started pissing themselves while some of the men were stuck in ce, inverted their dicks subconsciously, or just straight up tried to make themselves scarce.


    It was only for a few seconds but the moment when I regained control of myself, everyone present was giving me the look that Quinn was expecting when she announced my presence. It''s just that a small percentage of people were into that and they managed to get ahead of the line and were waiting for me expectantly.


    But I consciously let out the same pressure the moment I opened my mouth, "Listen. This is how we''re gonna do things: I''m gonna make you do something and then you''re gonna do it. After that, depending on what you did, you''re either gonna wear your clothes again or stay here¡ªthen after we do what we''re supposed to do, the three of us will head home. Nod if you understand."


    Everyone nodded silently while some of them either took deep breaths or quickly gulped.


    "Alright. Check yourselves all over. See if you have any scratches or any injuries you might''ve missed and don''t fucking lie to yourself or the three of us because we''ll fucking know.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "...."


    "Done? Again."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Good."


    "..."


    "To those who''ve seen nothing, congrattions. You can wear your clothes and head back. But to those who''ve seen something, stay back and we''ll provide medical care."


    At that point, my voice was just echoing through the silence but after a few moments of almost everyone shuffling for their clothes, a handful of people were left behind. All of them looked terrified but after we gave them a much thorough checking, as luck would have it, no one was fucking infected.


    .


    .


    .


    Except for one.


    It was one of thedies who pissed herself when I almost went berserk and the infection in question was an obvious bitemark on the area between her heel and her calves, and not only was the blooding out of it had a tinge of ck and green mixed with pus, but the area around it was also getting more and more discolored as time passed.


    Quinn, much like the rest of the people we checked were wearing solemn expressions but it turned to bitterness when the person in front of us started to break down.


    "S-S-So t-this is it, h-huh?"


    "..."


    "C-C''mon! Someone answer me! T-This is myst night, I g-get a wish, right?! Not that being tied up in the gen room''s not an option¡­"


    Quinn sighed heavily before she opened her mouth, "Alright. Chelsea, what do you want?"

 Chapter 844 Not Having The Right - My Time Has Come...

    Pretty much like every woman in this area, Chelsea looked like she had some Trenbolone Sarmswiches for breakfast paired with some high-stim coffee that had a dash of peptides and some GH. She had bigger arms than Isaac¡ª Heck, even Jose and a few other guys I know but despite all of that, it failed to protect her from a set of rotting teeth that contained whatever the fuck reduced the world poption.


    With that said, Quinn''s previous words didn''t reach her ears because it looked like her memories were shing before her eyes even before she was a walking corpse.


    Quinn waved her over, "Chelsea, can you hear me?"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "I''m sorry to say this but this is it¡ª"


    "C-Can we d-do anything about it?! Y-You know c-cut it off or¡ª"


    I interjected, "I''m sorry but we don''t even know when you got the bite."


    "W-What does that mean?"


    "If we''re talking about cutting part of your leg to try and stop the spread, whatever that has gotten into you through that bite had probably gone through different cycles around your body. And even if we do try and cut it off, it''s just more pain and suffering for the inevitable¡­ What we could only do for you right now is make it¡­ you know, quick and painless."


    "..." Chelsea was just looking at all of us, grasping at straws if we have any other ideas that involved her not receiving a bullet to the head.


    I continued, "But aside from that, do you have family? You know, aside from this one?"


    "I¡­ I have my boyfriend¡­"


    "We should be calling him over right now to have one final talk and if you have any special belongings that you want to hand over to a certain someone, we can also make it happen¡ªand if by some chance they''re not here, we can hand it over as well¡­"


    At this point, Chelsea broke down crying once more but it didn''t take long before a well-built guy came over, and lo and behold, it was the guy that approached me earlier. He wasn''t here before because he was one of the fellows who didn''t get shitfaced and was tasked with more jobs, but he had never been confused about the situation we presented to him.


    However, like Chelsea earlier, our words were just going through his ear and out the other as he was just dumbfoundedly staring at the bite on Chelsea''s body.


    "W-What''s going on?! SHE''S BIT?! HOW?! FUCKING HOW?! WE WERE JUST¡ª I THOUGHT YOU WERE ASLEEP AND¡ª FUCKING HOW?! ANSWER ME!!!"


    "I-I-I DIDN''T KNOW! I WAS JUST CALLED HERE A-AND WHEN WE C-CHECKED O-OURSELVES FOR W-WOUNDS OR SOMETHING, I-I-I J-JUST FOUND THAT I HAD T-THIS ONE ON MY¡ª"


    "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP¡ª HOW COULD YOU NOT FUCKING KNOW?! IT''S A F-FUCKING BITE FOR FUCK''S SAKE! HOW FAR GONE WERE YOU?! WHO FUCKING TOOK YOU DRINKING, HUH?! WHO?!"


    "I-I-I¡ª"


    "YOU DON''T EVEN REMEMBER THAT?! FUCKING SHIT, CHELSEA! I KNOW YOU''RE A FUCKING DRUNK BUT¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly stepped between the two, "Asher, now''s not the time to argue. Do you want yourst talk to be like this? Fighting? We''ll give you the room so you two could talk about whatever but no more fighting, understand?"


    To my surprise, it seemed like Quinn didn''t have to yell at the top of her lungs to make her people obey hermands but what happened afterward was something that boggled my low-EQ head for a good while right until we were burning two more corpses that should''ve been just one.


    We were now in front of the huge bonfire that was still burning brightly but I turned to Quinn who was wearing a solemn expression. I didn''t n on saying anything though she was the first one to speak up.


    "That''s their decision, you have no say in that. Ever."


    "I know, but¡ª"


    "Didn''t hear what I just said? I said you have no fucking say in that. Whatever the fuck they did¡ªno matter how fucking stupid¡ªit''s their right, we should just leave it at that. Trust me, more people did worse things when they tried to end themselves. They didn''t hurt anyone in the process, unlike a few knuckleheads I could remember vividly¡­"


    ''I thought that''s what they were trying to prevent from happening¡­''


    After hearing that, I just took to myself because even now, I didn''t think that Asher and Chelsea would also make love onest time before offing themselves, bringing back a certain instance that happened in my ce only a few days when the apocalypse started.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we drove back to Quinn''s domicile but even though it was close to midnight, Mr. Ng left us a feast, fulfilling his promise to make dinner special.


    What happened to the two put a little damper on our moods but we aplished something monumental¡ªclearing the gen room of deadheads¡ªwith little to no n¡ªno, actually no n at all. If we took everything into ount, we lost a couple of people but we prevented more from happening if we didn''t drive all the way at that hour.


    It''s just that seeing people choose death as an actual choice didn''t sit that well with me even though I''ve had brushed with that choice once in my life.


    I almost forgot that death was always a recurring urrence in this joint¡ªeven before the world ended¡ªand I was just lucky to experience so little of it in my fold.


    Chef Ng brought a few more trays of food, "Eat up, alright! I wish you all were here earlier but I didn''t even think that shit would happen. Easy on the dessert, alright? It''s prettyte and¡ª you know what? You''re all adults, I don''t need to tell you shit. But yeah, clean up for me. I''m going to sleep~"


    Tatiana gave him a thumbs up, "Thanks, old fox!"


    "Don''t¡­ Don''t call me that¡­ Anyway! I''ll be hitting the sack!"


    I turned to the tray he brought fresh from the oven, ''Even dessert? Mr. Ng pulled out all the stops, heh. I guess a brownie or two wouldn''t hurt¡­ It''s probably made with some protein powder too¡­''


    As we were eating, Tatiana was obviously the one wharfing down bite after bite but there was an instance where Quinn was just staring at the tray of brownies Chef Ng brought over. She looked like she wanted to address something but she just rolled her eyes and saw me looking at her.


    "What?"


    "Nothing¡ª"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    She let out a chuckle, "Eat for now, you can eat meter¡ª"


    Kaley instantly red at her with a panicked expression, "Quinn! Not here¡ª"


    "What? They already heard us fucking, what''s the point of hiding it?"


    Myke interjected, "C-Can I join¡ª"


    Quinn instantly shot him down, "No. Stick to your hand."


    Coleen interjected, "He''s that great, huh?"


    "Ask Anne," Quinn let out a chuckle as she turned to me, "Fill up, yeah? It''s been so long since I wanted to clear that ce. I''m fucking celebrating!"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! DON''T GIVE ME THAT LOOK! Fuck it, you alwayse through¡­ We''ll just keep everything that we''re gonna doter in our little circle. Also, we have some space for one or two more, right?" Quinn chuckled as she turned to Kaley.


    "Of course!" Kaley promptly responded as she brushed her foot on my calves, whispering to me, "Do me first, okay?"


    I whispered back, "I can do only you and just let them watch in envy¡­"


    "Hahaha¡­ As hot as that sounds, I also have some ns¡­"


    "Oh?"


    "You''ll seeter¡­"


    Quinn waved the two of us, "Hey! No whispering!"


    "It''s a surprise though, you''ll like it!"


    "Hmm~ I''ll be the judge of that."


    "Hey! Tatiana! That''s mine!"


    "What? You guys keep talking, I thought you weren''t gonna eat it!"


    "Hey! Where did my brownie go?"


    "Ah¡­ I also ate it. My bad, Kaley¡­"


    "I-It''s fine¡­"


    With that said, we continued eating but after we had our fill, everyone else did their own thing: either jumping straight to their beds or finishing up whatever work they left behind. However, after a good 30 minutes or so, something felt really~ off.


    I was 100% sure that I didn''t have a lick of alcohol because Quinn would definitely serve us some upstairs but I''m feeling a little buzzed and a little sluggish. And to add to that, the paint job on some of the cars and the random graffiti on the walls seemed so vivid and the soundsing from all around seemed a little¡­ louder.


    ''What the fuck is going on¡­''


    And for some reason, I felt like having some chips or anything to munch on even though I was quite full but it didn''t take long before I put two and two together when Kaley ran up to me in a panic.


    "H-Hey! A-Are you okay?!"


    "Huuuuhh~? What do you mean¡ª"


    "Oh god, oh god! I''m so s-sorry! I thought¡ª D''you remember the brownies that Mr. Ng gave us?"


    "Yeaahhh? The one Tatiana stole from you¡ª"


    "Y-Yeah! The one that¡ª That''s besides the point!"


    "Why are you sooooooo worried? It''s just brownies¡ª"


    "No! It''s not just brownies! It''s POT brownies!"


    "Wut? He cooked them in a pooooot? I thought he used an oven¡­"


    "You¡ª Oh god, how many did you eat?"


    "Eat what? Ah! I had two servings of rice, 400 grams of grilled chicken breasts, some mashed¡ª"


    "Not that! The brownies! How much did you eat?!"


    "I was getting to it, Kaley! Wait¡ª Pot brownies as in¡ª Uh-oh. My time hase¡­"

 Chapter 845 Devils Grass I

    Given my history with psychedelics, I was predisposed to actively avoid them but tonight was one of those few days I made a fatal error in judgment. But luckily enough, it wasn''t one of those that would make me streak the whole neighborhood or keep scratching the walls for some reason.


    However, I still felt a little bit of panic and fear because I was in unknown territory but I felt Kaley''s hand on my side before she draped my arm over her shoulder.


    "It''s gonna be okay, it''s gonna be okay¡­ I''ll tell everyone about what happened and I''ll stay with you all night¡ª or right until it goes away¡­"


    "T-Thanks¡­ Woah~ Kaley¡­ Why are your eyes so pretty¡ª prettier than normal? I could stare at them all day~"


    As soon as I said that, Kaley''s face seemed redder than usual.


    "S-Stop! That''s the weed t-talking! C''mon, I''ll bring you up the stairs!"


    "We''re gonna climb some stairs? Can''t we justy down for a minute¡ª"


    "No! Did you forget about the couch that Quinn had on her floor? It was real~fy, right? She had a lot of snacks too!"


    "Oh¡­ You''re right, you''re right¡­"


    "So¡­ Do you wannay down here or do you wannae with me upstairs?"


    I let out a goofy smile as I leaned on Kaley with all of my weight, "You''re right, you''re right~ I love you~ You''re so nice to me, I''m so happy that we''re together~"


    "Hnghmm~! I''d be kissing you so hard right now if you weren''t t-this high! And don''t lean on me that much! We''re gonna fall!"


    "Ah, sorry¡­ I''m not that tall, alright?! I wish I was, you know? Do you like tall guys, Kaley? I''m a little taller than you but¡ª"


    "You''re perfect! What are you babbling about right now?!"


    "Aww~ She said I''m perfect~ Kaley! Kaley! Kaley! Kaley said I''m perfect, did you hear that Kaley? You said I''m¡ª Oh, fuck¡­ I almost tripped was that a rock or a cockroach? It''s moving but it doesn''t have any legs¡­ Are you seeing that, Kaley?"


    "D-Don''t move your head around too much, we''re almost there!"


    At this point, I didn''t even know how much time had passed and how much energy Kaley used to bring me up the stairs, but she seemed to have left me momentarily to talk to the few figures just a few feet away from us.


    I could somehow hear their conversations but it looked like one of them was waving at me so I waved back with a huge smile on my face.


    "See? He''s doing good¡ª"


    "Doing good?! You call that doing good?! He''s high as a kite!"


    "He kinda looks cute and innocent when he''s smiling like that though."


    "Guys, I know you''re all itching to bone him but now''s not the time¡ª"


    "We''re kinda high too! Albeit identally but I didn''t think he''d be like this with a couple of brownies! You should smoke one with me so you don''t miss out!"


    "I have to pass, sorry. I need to take care of him. Please, just give him a break this night? And where''s Tatiana?"


    "Ah¡­ She was giggling in the bathroom earlier but she passed out in the tub. Don''t worry, we drained the water and she''s hugging a tub of chocte fudge."


    "Do you guys do this on the regr?"


    "Not regrly, it''s just a means to celebrate something, no?"


    "I get it but I''m telling all of you, he''s gonna be pissed tomorrow. Mr. Ng doesn''t know but I''ll talk to him first thing and I''ll exin things."


    "Why?"


    "It''s a very~ long story, it''d be nice if he forgets about this but I''m pretty sure he''ll remember everything."


    "But Kaley, I think you''re worrying about nothing. He''ll be off it in a couple of hours and I guess we could still have fun when we''re sober¡ª though I''ll still be drinking after and having fun with the girls."


    I could hear some of their conversations¡ªthough their voices seemed to contain an echo of some sort, but I cut them off when I felt like I was being neglected.


    "Kaley! Kaley! Kaley~!"


    "Wha¡ª Y-Yes? Are you okay? D''you need some water?"


    "Hug!" I eximed as I stretched my arms out.


    "Ah¡ª O-Okay, I''ll be right with you¡ª"


    "Can I have it now, please?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "I''ll do it if she won''t¡ª"


    "Nuh-uh! Stay away for now! I''m really sorry guys! We''ll stay on the couch while you can have your fun in Quinn''s¡ª"


    "You''re just trying to take him all for yourself, huh?"


    "I-It''s not like that! Do you guys think he''d be able to ''do'' all of us while he''s in that state?"


    "Well~ You got a point. Fine. You can have him for a couple of hours but I WILL check on you twoter. If he''s good to fucking go, he''s good to fucking go. We have the replica but I pretty much want the real thing."


    "S-Sure¡­"


    At that moment, I saw the figures go somewhere else but as I was trying to follow them with my drooping eyes, I felt some weight on myp and I discovered that Kaley was already in the process of giving me a hug.


    With that said, I slowly wrapped my arms around her soft body, and smelling her hair in the process made me feel warm and cozy. She was giving me quick pecks on my cheeks from time to time but our lips touched when I turned my head slightly.


    Kaley was a little surprised but she just gave me a smile as she hugged me even tighter, "Ah¡ª Are you okay? Do you need anything else?"


    "I have everything I need right here. I''m looking at her¡­"


    "Hngh¡­ You''re really making this hard for me¡­"


    "Huh? Did I say something wrong?"


    "N-No¡­ You''ve been really great¡­ I just don''t want to take advantage of you while you''re high¡­"


    "What? You won''t do anything bad to me, I trust you¡­"


    "Right! And that''s why we''re just sticking to hugging and kissing¡­"


    "Whaaaaat? You won''t even let me lick your pussy? I''m craving it right now, Kaley. Like really, really bad¡­"


    "But you''re¡ª"


    "Please~? Even for a little bit¡ª"


    "You¡ª"


    "Kaley, please~"


    "I mean¡ª"


    "I''ll be really~ good at it! I''ll even do it on your butt! At the same time even!"


    "Hngh¡­ B-But you won''t get mad, alright?"


    "Of course!"


    "And I want to do the same thing to you!"


    "Fine, fine. But I want to go first¡­"


    "Wha¡ª A-Alright¡­ Don''t b-me me forck of t-trying¡­"


    Right from the get-go, our light pecking suddenly turned into intense and passionate kissing, and for some reason, it felt twice or maybe even thrice as good at the moment. We both had our eyes closed, just feeling everything with our bodies, and I found myself caressing and gently squeezing Kaley''s butt while I was tasting her sweet lips.


    But at the same time, her hips were moving ever so slowly, grinding herself on top of me, but I managed to get ahold of her shirt and pull it away from her.


    Kaley wasn''t even wearing a bra at this point, and her smooth and fair skin was just on disy, and through my eyes, she looked like she was glowing. Also with her jet-ck silky hair, her bright and shining eyes of the same color, and even her pink puffy nipples had never looked so vivid, I had to have a taste of thetter.


    "MmH! Ah¡­ Mnh! T-They''re so s-sensitive! Ah! You''re sucking too¡ª Mmh!"


    She was twitching from getting her nipples sucked and with each yful bite I would give them but she stopped me momentarily so she could smother me with the whole package. My face was now in between her huge fucking jugs and I just got a good whiff of her even though I was losing air.


    Everything else just seemed better but I managed to break away from her embrace before I gave her another kiss. Our tongues just invaded each other''s open mouths but Kaley was pressing onto me more and more. And right when I gave her ass a huge p from above her jeans, her body just buckled before she started to shake uncontrobly.


    I took it as a chance for us to swap ces but I was still kissing her when I sat her on the couch. However, she still had her arms wrapped around me but I just snaked one of my free hands inside her jeans.


    "MmH! MMH! MmMmH! Hngh! MMh!"


    Kaley didn''t know what to do when my fingers brushed on her clit but I couldn''t believe that she was already soaking through her jeans. It already had a wet spot that had probably gone through her panties but I went a little deeper to reach the tiny little hole where her juices came from. And as I thought, it was wet and as silky to the touch but one of Kaley''s hands had already unbuttoned my pants and was about to whip my dick out.

 Chapter 846 Devils Grass II - Lowered Inhibitions

    On any given day, I would''ve let her give me the same pleasure I was giving her but this time, I felt a different kind of craving from Kaley''s whole being so I grabbed ahold of her wrist with my other hand before I ced her arm over her head. At the same time, my other hand was switching between going in and out of her soaking insides and brushing and pinching her little nub just above her opening.


    I was just looking straight at Kaley''s face and her reactions but she pulled me close to go for another kiss before I went a little bit lower and started to kiss her neck.


    "MmH! Mmn¡­ Your hands are¡ª Mmh! MmnH! Your breath¡­ it''s¡­ Ah! Anh! I''m about to¡ª Ah! Ah! aNHnmmMH!"


    As I slowly tasted each part of her perfect body, it didn''t take long before I started licking her smooth armpits before I went back topping her huge tits and sucking on her aching pink nipples. Her other hand was just holding tightly to my other wrist as my fingers were parting her insides and feeling up each fold and fleshy texture it could offer as it went deeper.


    I only had two fingers going in and out of her but if I was wearing a ring in each of them, she could''ve pulled them right off.


    Kaley had ways to control how her inner walls would move or contract and she could basically jerk me off with no hands or make me cum without moving her hips. However, I did promise her a little something so I let go of her for a short moment before I pulled her pants offpletely. I didn''t even count how many times she came up to this point but after I''m done with her, it''ll probably be twice or thrice the amount.


    With that said, the moment I saw Kaley''s fat innie drenched with her cream and sweet juices, I didn''t need to be told what to do as I instantly knelt down and parted her meaty lips with my tongue. I waspping each part of her pink little flower while I would lick and suck on her sensitive little clit at the same time, but I started to once again push two fingers inside her pink hole while I was licking thetter.


    "Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! FUCK! MMMMMH!!! SHIT~! I''M¡ª HNGH! MMH! AHHH! AH! AH! I''M CUMMING! I''M CUMMING! I''M CUMM¡ª MMMH!"


    Kaley could only mp her thick thighs on my head as I was going down on her but I grabbed tightly onto one of them before I pushed the two fingers in her pussy into her puffy little asshole.


    "HNGH! A-A-AH! MMH! MMh! FUUUUCK!"


    With only using her juices as lube, her tight little ass offered some resistance but the sudden fingers up her butt made her squirt harderpared to earlier. With the state I''m in right now, everything just tasted and felt so fucking good, so I drank and licked off everything that came out of her and was aiming to get more.


    Kaley''s face was just a mess at this point, and her legs had already lost the strength to crush my head so I propped them up before my tongue started to rece my fingers in her asshole. From the way I fingered her ass, it was gaping a little bit¡ªenough to see her forbidden pink insides, but I stuck my tongue in there for as deep as I could while I watched her pretty eyes roll to the back of her head.


    She could only receive everything at this point but I didn''t even notice the amount of precum that was leaking from my junk.


    Even calling it precum was an understatement because since the tip was already peeking out of my boxers, it had already made a mess of my pants because it looked like I let out ropes of cum on it¡ªand Kaley was the first one to notice.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ You''re¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ You''re d-dick is¡­ W-Wanna switch p-ces now? I think I''ll p-pass out if I c-cum one more time¡­ I n-need a little breather¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    "D-Don''t worry¡­ I''ll help you out¡­ e-ease you into it¡­"


    If this was any other day, I would''ve been so fucking against it but my inhibitions lowered a whole lot in this state and if it was gonna happen, I should do it with someone I really trust. Besides, we weren''t exactly gonna do the real thing but more like some things you do before you get to do it¡ªyou know, just to get a feel for it.


    Kaley helped me take off my pants and she sat me down before she knelt in front of me, then she started to slowly stroke my cock as she looked me straight in the eye.


    "I''m¡­ I''m gonna suck you off first, o-okay?"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    "I''ll t-tell you when I''m about to do it¡­"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "A-And you can tell me if you want to s-stop¡­"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    Despite all that, Kaley looked like she was about to cum just from the anticipation but she took a deep breath before she lowered her mouth to my cock.


    "MMh¡­ Mmh¡­ Mm¡­"


    I felt her warm breath before her tongue started to coil around the tip, and she continued to stroke me with her hand as she started to y with my balls. We were keeping eye contact the whole time she was sucking the tip of my cock but she eventually let go of me and closed her eyes before she took my whole length with her throat.


    At that point, I felt like bursting right then and there but Kaley kept a tight grip on my balls before she drew back and licked the base of my cock right up to the tip, slobbering on one side before going to the other, taking me in once again with her warm mouth, and then pushing the tip to the inside of her cheek.


    Kaley was touching herself and caressing her whole body as she was sucking me dry, but it didn''t take long before she started to run her hands on my torso, then onto my quads, and then to my calves. She was watching my every reaction¡ªmaking sure I was stillfortable with what she was doing but her breathing started to change when she ced her hands under my thighs and looked at me with her big, puppy eyes.


    "I''m¡­ I''m g-gonna do it now¡­. O-Okay?"


    With that said, I just looked at her for a moment before I answered with a nod and she slowly pulled me just by the edge of the couch before she slowly raised my legs up, exposing myself to her.


    At this point, a ton of things were running through my head but she gave me another nce before I nodded in response.


    Kaley let out the brightest smile as her face flushed even redder, "I love you so much¡­"


    Before I closed my eyes, I saw Kaley lowering her head but her tongue and lips were aiming for something much lower. I felt her warm breath once more as her tongue brushed on my perineum and as her lips gave it a kiss, but it didn''t take long before the tip of her tongue started to glide against the opening of my asshole.


    To bepletely honest, it felt as weird as it felt pleasurable but her hands went and grabbed hold of my cock and balls¡ªstroking and gently squeezing them¡ªas she continued to lick and kiss my puckered ass.


    I didn''t even know what to do at this point but just letting go and receiving what Kaley was giving to me was making everything for her. I still couldn''t imagine how she could have an orgasm even though she was the one on the giving end but these new sensations I was feeling were starting to pile on top of one another. I could feel the pleasure quickly building up, but right as I was about to explode, Kaley pushed the tip of her finger in and I just fucking cked out for a few seconds.


    I didn''t know if this was the weed talking or what Kaley just did to me but this was the most intense orgasm I had ever felt.


    When I opened my eyes, my stomach had ropes and ropes of my cum on it and the look on Kaley''s face was fucking indescribable. She looked proud, happy, flushed, horny, excited, out of breath, and most importantly, this fucking close to going all the way with me but she actually controlled herself and gave me a hug. After that, she gave me a quick peck on the cheek before we kissed each other but there was this look on her face that rivaled the insatiable look Quinn would give me.


    "Hey¡­ You''re still¡­ good to go, right?"


    "Good to go?"


    "I mean¡­ Not what we just did¡ªunless you want to do it again, but¡­ Wanna head over to Quinn''s room and have more fun?"

 Chapter 847 Devils Grass III - Happy Now?

    As she was staring right into my eyes while she was lightly biting her lip, she was also sneaking in my cum¡ªthat was on my stomach¡ªright into her mouth by tracing it with her fingers and then licking them off. Well, most of it was also on her body as well¡ªbecause she was hugging me, but we eventually wiped them off before we went to Quinn''s room for Round 2.


    And right from the fucking get-go, as we opened the door, we saw Anne and Coleen rubbing their meaty cunts together while Zyra was getting lifted up and down by Quinn who was wearing a huge-ass strapless dildo.


    Anne and Coleen were mutually receiving and giving pleasure to each other but in thetter''s case, Zyra was on the receiving end. But even though Quinn was on the giving end, just being the one holding power was enough to get her off and enjoy it as much as her current partner. However, it was pretty obvious that Zyra was nearing her limit but Quinn was the first one to notice us and she beckoned me over.


    "I knew you''de! C''mon! There''s one more hole to plug this horny bitch!" Quinn chuckled as she spread Zyra''s asscheeks, exposing her winking asshole.


    Zyra interjected in a weak and shaky voice, "Q-Quinn¡­ I''m¡ª Shit¡­ I can''t think straight¡­ I was cumming for 10 minutes s-straight¡ª"


    "You''re fucking wee. Do you want to stop now or do you wanna get dicked down by that thick cock?"


    "I¡­ I-I-I need a breather¡ª"


    "Bitch¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "You can do me? Better yet, you can do me while he does you?"


    Quinn let out a devilish smile, "You have no idea what you''ve signed up for~"


    At that point, Quinnid down Zyra to the side of the bed while Kaleyid right next to her, and Kaley just spread her legs as Quinn went on top of her, pointing the silicone dildo in her cunt. Their huge tits were just rubbing against each other¡ªeven prompting Anna and Coleen to stop momentarily and admire the view¡ªbut Quinn didn''t even wait for me to position myself behind her as she started to move her hips and fuck Kaley''s brains out.


    "AH! AH! AH! FUCK! YOU''RE GOING TOO FAST! YOU''RE HITTING MY¡ª MMH! FUCK! SHIT!"


    "YOU LIKE THAT, HUH?! YOU LIKE THAT?! I''LL FUCKING FUCK YOU EVEN IF YOU BEG ME TO STOP AND¡ª A-A-AH! F-F-FUCK! WHAT ARE YOU¡ª THAT''S NOT MY¡ª"


    Quinn had a good ten pumps inside Kaley''s tight pussy but once I grabbed hold of her thick waist, instead of pushing my dick inside her little asshole, I invaded the space where the other end of her strapless dildo was inside, and it was her fat, meaty cunt that was already soaked with her juices. To my surprise, it was actually vibrating to the highest level possible and it was transferring over to my cock and to the other end of the dildo that was inside Kaley''s pink hole.


    At this moment, Quinn had a hard time moving her hips back and forth but she lost it even more when I pushed my thumb inside her asshole.


    It was a difficult task to lift her off and fuck her at the same time but using her as a cock sleeve to fuck my darling wife was easy as fucking pie. With each of my hip thrusts and how she was tightly gripping the short end of the dildo inside her, it was like I was the one fucking Kaley with the rubber toy and I had the perfect view out of everyone.


    Just seeing Anne and Coleen glued to what we were doing and even Zyra who tapped out just straight up fingering herself while seeing me fuck two big-titted beauties was a great fucking¡ªliterally¡ªaplishment.


    Each of them looked like they wanted the next slot to get their pink slit vited, and it didn''t take long for the two toe over.


    I was standing by the edge of the bed as Anne and Coleen walked over, Anne quickly pulling my thumb out of Quinn''s asshole and sucking it while Coleen grabbing my hand on Quinn''s waist and making it explore her instead. I still kept thrusting inside Quinn''s meaty cunt but it didn''t take long before she took over.


    As the two were supporting my body, Quinn was moving her hips forward to get deep inside Kaley and moving it back to get me deeper inside herself. However, her little asshole was obviously neglected but Anne reciprocated by shoving three of her fingers inside. It somehow did the trick but Coleen added two more for good measure, and Quinn just started to squirt violently on top of Kaley.


    But as luck would have it, Kaley also squirted at the same time as her, and I almost followed just from what I saw.


    It was because the strapless dildo Quinn was wearing popped out when she came¡ªalso pushing my dick out, and I could clearly see how the inside of her pussy contracted and almost prpsed at that moment. And at the same time, Kaley just kept a tight grip on the long end of the dildo inside her as she came, though she still had multiples due to the strong vibrations.


    Quinn just fell on top of Kaley and her body would twitch involuntarily, but I still had a few more holes to satisfy before the night is over. But yeah, the usual stuff was to cum in each avable hole before trying to sleep so I''ll be back fucking Kaley and Quinnter.


    Coleen whispered in my ear, "It''s our turn, right?"


    Anne chuckled, "I''ll let you go first. You''ll finally know why he was carrying me back to my roomst time¡­"


    "Hmph! I can handle dick even though it''s fucking big¡­"


    "Your funeral~"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    At this point, Coleen wanted me to fuck her doggy while she would eat Anne''s pussy so I obliged. However, Zyra finally managed to get her second wind though she just sat behind Anne and yed with her tits and rubbed her clit.


    It was one thing to fuck multiple women at the same time but it was fucking indescribable fucking multiple muscle women while fucking high. Sure, it wasn''t everyone''s cup of tea but I couldn''t deny that all of their fucking holes were super tight. It needed more effort to break open their little tight holes but it was fucking heaven when I''m inside them.


    At one point, I was drilling Anne''s ass while I was fingering the other two but when it came to Zyra''s turn, she just requested in ''ol missionary but it was kinda funny when she asked to be fucked in the ass. She made it sound like it was her first time but once she took my full length in, she just straight up revealed that she was an anal slut.


    It was because she came twice as fast and as hard when I was fucking her little hole and it didn''t take long before Kaley and Quinn joined the fray.


    But this time, Kaley was wearing Quinn''s strapless dildo, and the three were ordered to pick the same thing from the closet and wear it because the Queen wants to get fuckingid.


    With that said, we continued the night where I wasying on my back and was Quinn on top of me while Kaley was fucking her ass from behind, and at the same time, the three were standing right next to her, two of them getting jerked off like they had real cocks while thest one getting sucked off like there''s no tomorrow.


    Even though she was on the receiving end, there was no question that she still was in full control of the situation.


    We went on for quite a while¡ªeven though our highs had already subsided, but a certain blonde glutton that almost had the same appetite for food and sex barged in when we were about to fall asleep.


    "Wha¡ª You guys are already done?! I just came to! C''mon! You can squeeze one or two more, right?!"


    I shook my head while trying to ignore the creeping headache, "I''m sorry, no. And for now, I''ll ignore the chocte mustache you have¡­"


    Tatiana had the shock of her life, "Chocte mus¡ª The fuck?! I was saving it forter?"


    "It''s alreadyter, Tatiana¡­ the brownies had weed¡­ It''s gonna be the problem we need to address tomorrow, but it was an ident. He didn''t know¡­"


    Kaley nudged me with her face, "Who are you talking to? I wanna sleep¡­"


    "It''s Tatiana¡­"


    "Huh? Oh, hi~"


    "Hi, my ass! You guys are so unfair! Why didn''t you wake me up?!"


    Anne interjected, "We tried, I promise you¡­"


    Quinn added, "Hngh~ You guys better shut up or I''ll make you walk to your rooms. It''s cramped as it is and I need to get some sleep¡­"


    "C''mon, guys! I can''t just rub one out myself?!"


    "You can, you totally can¡­ Try it¡­"


    "That''s what we''re gonna do, huh?"


    "Whaddya mean¡ª"


    At that point, I didn''t know what possessed Tatiana¡ªthough I partially do¡ªbut she did start rubbing herself and it didn''t help make us sleep when it started to sound like someone was scraping a bowl of mac and cheese with a fork. Furthermore, hardcore porn at full volume while trying to sleep couldn''t rece whale or rain sounds so we¡ªno, I was kicked out of the bed and had to literally fuck her to sleep to make her stop.


    "Happy now?"


    "Shh¡­ I''m sleepy now¡­"


    "..."

 Chapter 848 What Projects Are You Working On?

    For an unknown amount of hours, I woke up on the couch outside Quinn''s room¡ªgetting spooned by Tatiana, but I soon discovered a familiar goddess instructing another familiar giantess to help herself with the morning wood I was currently sporting.


    Quinn had already grasped me with one hand and was about to put me in her mouth when I did it again and got soft onmand.


    "What the fu¡ª"


    However, I timed it wrong¡ªgetting hard inmand almost immediately¡ªand I almost poked her fucking eye out.


    "WHAT THE FUCK?! STOP MESSING WITH ME!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    Not only was I got punched in the nuts, Tatiana almost choked me out from the sudden movements in front of her and it was chaos for a full 30 seconds before everyone else woke up from our night of debauchery. It''s just that I still had my cock at the ready so we were kindate for breakfast because we spent some time in the shower.


    And as soon as we walked into the cafeteria, almost everyone had already finished eating and some of them just greeted us briefly before doing their usual routine. Our small group eventually sat down with a small spread but Kaley nudged me to approach Mr. Ng who was still cleaning up in the kitchen.


    Tatiana turned to us, "Where are you two going?"


    Kaley replied, "Just gonna talk to Mr. Ng for a bit¡­"


    Quinn looked at us momentarily before she sighed and gave us her "blessing", "Sure, go ahead¡­"


    When we made our way to the kitchen, there were a few helpers present but Mr. Ng knew that something was up so he asked them to give us some space.


    He wiped his hands on his apron before takin a seat, "Is there any problem?"


    Kaley nodded, "Yeah, about the brownies¡ª"


    "Oh! D''you want some moreter?"


    "No¡­ you should''ve told us¡­"


    I nodded, "Yeah, that wasn''t cool."


    He never looked so confused, "What? From what I''ve heardst night¡ª"


    "That''s not important right now. You should''ve at least told us¡ª"


    Kaley cut me off, "It might''ve given them the usual results but I was lucky that my share was eaten by Tatiana. I¡­ Marijuana¡­ Doesn''t work that well for me. Some people might feel good about it but it''s the total opposite for me. I get really anxious for some reason and I even get depressive, to say the least¡­"


    ''What? I didn''t know that¡­''


    Mr. Ng wiped his forehead and the back of his head with the same towel before he answered, "I¡­ I sincerely apologize. I didn''t know¡ª No, I should''ve definitely asked. I''ll do better next time¡­"


    Kaley nodded, "Thank you¡­"


    "Is¡­ I-Is that it? You''re not gonna punish me or a-anything? N-Not that I''m asking for it but¡ª"


    Kaley waved him off, "No, that''s it¡­ No punishments."


    "Huh. Well~" Mr. Ng trailed as he scratched his chin, "The food today isn''tced with anything¡ªjust to put it out there, you know~ But yeah, do you have anything simr to that?"


    "Simr to what?"


    "Not that stuff per se but do you have any allergies or adverse reactions to other foods I don''t know about? I''m a chef. My job''s to know that shit and it seems to me that I''m fucking cking off in that department."


    Kaley shook her head, "N-No¡­ But thank you for asking," then he turned to me, "And you?"


    "I''m the same. I eat pretty much anything but I do eat weirdly sometimes."


    "Ah~ I see, I see. Can I do something for you guys though? Considering that I didn''t get my ass kicked for doing that."


    "Nah, the food''s already great. We''ll join the others now, bye!"


    "Alright, kid. See you allter."


    At this point, we joined the others for breakfast and after that, I continued my work on "Eleanor" and the water purifiers. I obviously called Myke over so he''d know how to properly operate and maintain them and surprisingly enough, I was able to leave him alone finicking and tinkering with the apparatus so that I could sneak in to print a simple enclosure for one of the broken filters.


    ''We could''ve used a donor part but it''s good to have the dimensions nailed this early so we wouldn''t have problems in the future.''


    With that said, the dimensions weren''t that difficult to copy but when I checked the engine that Quinn was working on, I had to rub my eyes for a little bit because it now had a huge-ass blower right on top of it.


    "Umm¡­"


    Quinn suddenly turned to me, "What? Oh, it''s you. Looks fucking badass, eh?"


    "Uh-huh¡­ It does¡­ but¡­ Why did you stray from the design? I thought you were just gonna remove the whine or something¡ª"


    "Hah? I did say that I''m gonna remove the whiny sound but that doesn''t mean that I''m gonna keep it as is."


    "But¡ª"


    "I just have a burst of inspiration, that''s all. Besides, you said it looked badass, right? Oh! The hood! I forgot about the hood¡ª Wait, nah~ I''ll just cut a hole for it, my bad."


    "..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Hearing that, I was at a loss for words for a few moments but I got totally stunlocked when she just picked up an angle grinder and straight up murdered the hood I fabricated without batting an eye. She didn''t even draw lines with a pencil but to my surprise, it actually worked quite well, but I would definitely polish the edges for a little bit. However, the audacity of this bitch to look so impressed with herself after lucking out ticked me off to an unbelievable degree.


    "What?! You''re staring at me again and not saying anything! What did I do this time?!"


    "You¡ª N-Nevermind, I''ll just fix it myself¡­"


    "You''re so fucking like Jackie, tell me what''s wrong! I''m legit asking!"


    "Fine¡­ It''s¡­"


    As I told her about her mistakes, she actually listened for once and tried a more gentle handling of the angle grinder to smooth out and polish the rough edges. She would''ve been doing less work if she didn''t go all ham on it the first time but all in all, it was a good thing to learn and impart a few techniques to an expert.


    At the same time this was happening, Kaley and Jose took the time to teach a ss about properly handling guns. We could hear gunshots erupting here and there but since the area was pretty much clear of deadheads, the only danger we''d face was outside sources.


    ''Really~ loud though, I definitely know if Kaley or Jose is firing their rifles¡­''


    It was because from looking at their armory before, they didn''t have many avable attachments¡ªmuch less suppressors¡ªand the only thing they could do on them was pimp them out, literally making them look like they used cosmetic game skins. However, they do have DIY weapons that couldn''t be found anywhere else or picked up from the ground¡ªunless we picked it off from a fallen member or made one ourselves¡ªbut as long as it could punch through the skull of an undead, it could be used to save or protect someone.


    With that said, it took several hours for us to finish our while Kaley and Jose''s ss concluded much earlier, but right as Quinn and I sat down by the stairs to catch a small break, Anne came running while holding a long-distance radio. Just from her expression told me that she got chewed up by the higher-ups and since there was only one above Quinn that was away, I already assumed the identity of the caller.


    But Quinn just picked it up with a devious smile.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What? Looking for tips to satisfy your wife? I got the best one to ask right here¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GEN ROOM?! WHAT''S POWERING THE PLACE¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Stop fucking screaming at me, I should be the one telling you ''I told you so.'', you dumbass."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [BUT LOGAN SAID¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "LOGAN SAID WHAT, HUH?! IF HE''S TALKING ABOUT ME YOU KNOW DAMN WELL THAT HE''LL TALK OUT OF HIS ASS! HOW DID HE EVEN MANAGE TO TALK TO YOU?! I GOT HIM LOCKED UP FOR BARGING IN HERE YESTERDAY!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [SHIT! FUCK! YOU¡ª You do know that because of that, we''ll be fucking behind on our projects, right?! Can''t we just¡ªfor now, use a smaller number of¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Continue that sentence and I''ll blow up your entire joint. It''s your fucking fault for taking in too many projects at once and relying on a power source that''s a fucking time bomb. You''re fucking lucky I did what I did or else you woulde back to your ce with nothing with recements for your precious gen room."


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, the two decided to talk normally but when Quinn finally put the radio down, I nudged her before I opened my mouth.


    "What projects are you working on?"

 Chapter 849 Ethanol - Who Are You People?

    As soon as I asked Quinn that question, she just looked at me like I''m an idiot but she leaned back and rested her elbows by the steps¡ªsticking her chest out¡ªbefore she gave me an answer.


    Well, another question to be exact.


    "Look at me and this ce. What screams at you the most?"


    "Huh?"


    Quinn partly unzipped her overalls, revealing her cleavage that was fucking bigger than most women''s full tits, "Just answer the first thing thates to mind."


    "Well~ We have a top-ss rough mechanic with huge tits and hard muscles that can build engines and customize anything with wheels so¡­ Is that it?"


    "That''s barely an answer. And you didn''t have to add "rough" on my title, let''s just call it an acquired aesthetic, no?"


    "Hmmrgh¡­ Really though, that''s my answer. This ce screams Mad Max and Mr. Olympia had a love child."


    Quinn started to scratch her head but Anne was also getting confused at her line of questioning.


    "Fuck it, I''ll just tell you. There''s another reason that the other families had no idea about why Mauro and Elsa tied the knot. Wait¡ª Nah, Ongkiko might''ve caught a glimpse of it but I doubt he noticed what we''re making over there at the industrial park."


    "And that is?"


    "You''re the genius here, right? How can you not figure this shit out?"


    I almost pinched her nipples off as I gave her a weird look, "I thought you''d just tell me?"


    "I changed my mind. Hmm~ I can give you another clue though but you have to answer me one question honestly. I''ll break your ass open if you don''t."


    "Fine¡­ but¡­" I trailed as I looked over to Anne, "Is she¡­"


    Anne suddenly turned red, "Ah¡ª Shouldn''t I have been here? I-I-I was just waiting for the radio¡ª"


    Quinn cut her off, "Stay here, Anne," then she turned back to me, "I tell and trust her everything, and what I''m about to ask you after I gave you the clue, she can hear. Just don''t get pissed off that much when you hear my question."


    "Now you''re making it sound like getting that clue is a bad idea¡­"


    "It''s an honest ident though, wanna hear the clue?"


    I stared at them for a moment before I eventually nodded, "Fine. Hit me."


    "Great! What can someone who can build engines and a farmer do in the apocalypse after a year or so? Not just anything rted to their own field but something that they''d need each other for¡ª"


    I suddenly had my lightbulb moment, "Holy fucking shit¡ª Why didn''t I piece it together?! Sal''s making ethanol?! And¡ª And¡ª And you''re making engines that could run them without any problems! There are different mixtures¡­ E10s, E85s, etc. but if you make something simr to those engines that could run them pure, that''ll solve a lot of things! THAT''S IT, RIGHT?!"


    As soon as I gave her my answer, Quinn just looked like she wanted to devour me whole but she put her arm over my shoulder and gave me a squeeze. I didn''t mind her huge boob against my face but the sweat and the oil mixed together were a little ufortable.


    "Good job, genius. But we''re not done here¡ª"


    "Ah."


    "Right, my question," Quinn was looking me directly in the eye as she said to Anne, "Tell him."


    Anne suddenly flinched, "M-Me?! W-Why me?!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she turned to her, "You''re the one who told me, right? So, you should¡ª Ahh~ Fuck it," then she turned back to me again, "Anne here performs maintenance checks on all of the vehicles we have inside this ce but since she isn''t sure what kind of fuel you''re using, she siphoned a bit just to be 100% sure. You know where I''m getting at, right?"


    I tried to deflect, "Was that the question just now?"


    "Don''t try me. That fuel''s fucking fresh. Where the fuck did you get that? There should be more, right? We''re willing to trade our services for that and it''ll solve our current problem now since our production of our custom engines ground to a halt. YOU know and I know that we could just use vehicles manufactured at thetest to remove some of the problems of ethanol use but we have vehicles we hold dear. And 99% of them wasn''t manufactured after 2003."


    "..."


    "Are you gonna answer me or not?"


    "..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Or is it that you still don''t trust me?"


    "..."


    Quinn had never looked so disappointed, "Fine, keep your secrets¡ª"


    "I get it from the same ce this country has been getting it from."


    This time, as soon as Quinn heard my answer, a ton of things were probably running through her head because she was quiet for some time while Anne and I were just looking at her. However, she seemed like she pieced two and two together but before she could even say a word, Kaley walked in with Tatiana carrying a pouch of spent casings.


    "..."


    "..."


    Kaley noticed the abnormal quietness, "Something wrong? We went out for a bit to collect these casings but we dide back to this ce Isaac mentioned that had soap¡ª"


    Quinn eventually dropped the bomb, "Who are you people?"


    Tatiana kept silent but Kaley responded, "H-Huh? What are you talking about?"


    Quinn shook her head as she frowned, "See here, a lot of things didn''t make sense but this is the fucking end of the world and the dead shouldn''t be moving so I let go most of it. The power couple that could shoot guns and wields their fancy des like crazy, the Russian chick that''s always by their side and can do the same thing, even that bald prospect¡ª I don''t even know what he is but he''s not a fucking gangbanger. His movements are too¡­ military¡ªand trust me, I''ve seen my fair share of them and he moves just like them. Shoots like them too. That copycat of yours seemed like someone you picked up as aic relief but he seemed to be hiding something as well."


    "Quinn¡ª"


    "Again, who are you people? And don''t fucking lie to me."


    This would''ve been a conversation for another time but Quinn was starting to get paranoid about a small little thing she found in our vehicle. However, she had every right to be suspicious of us because I dide knocking on a certain residence and suddenly turned out to be one of the newest and youngest heads to date.


    To be fair, even Mr. Cuervo partly knew of my real standing with the president and vice versa, so someone like Quinn¡ªwho was considered to be the vice-head of the De Leon Family shouldn''t even know this information. But yeah, she hit some pretty solid points and it was my responsibility to answer her.


    I took a deep breath before I looked her in the eye, "We are who we are but I''m neither a bootlicker nor a gangbanger. I''ve made¡­ connections that benefited me and the parties I''m involved with¡ªas you can clearly see now¡ªand like you told mest time, not everyone chose the life we live in. I make choices after heavily weighing the pros and cons of it but do know that my crosshair and the edge of my de are pointed¡ªand will continue to be¡ªat the undead outside and the ones who made them like that."


    "..."


    "I''ll dly hold an angel and a demon''s hand just to watch Saturday morning cartoons with my cousins like the old days but do know that I''ll destroy anyone that tries to prolong that from happening. I just want the old world back."


    Everyone was silent for a moment but Quinn loudly exhaled before she spoke, "That''s just telling me that you haven''t picked a side¡ª"


    "Quinn. That is what''s fucking wrong with everybody here. We shouldn''t be picking sides in the first ce and the options we are choosing to side with shouldn''t be the options we should be picking from. Can we at least agree on that? You said you weren''t given a choice but why are you so bent on defending something that you''re¡ª"


    "BUT THIS IS MY FAMILY NOW, CAN''T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!"


    I motioned for her to calm down, "Shout at me all you want but that''s not gonna solve anything. You''ve struck a deal with the Military Academy and my University, right? In the grand scheme of things, that''s something I want everyone here to strive for. We have differences but we should learn how to work with each other. And the end of the world shouldn''t be the trigger for us to start that. That''s just what I''m trying to say. It''ll be fucking difficult to achieve that but imagine if it did¡­ I can''t believe I''m saying the same speech I did before but here we are¡­ I should make a t-shirt or some merch outta this¡­"


    ''We really should''ve talked abouthis sooner though...''


    After I said that, Quinn just leaned back again with her eyes closed and everyone was just waiting for her reaction. It took her a full ten minutes to process her thoughts but she came up with something I thought she was totally against from ourst talk.


    "Stop saying stupid things."


    "I''m serious¡ª"


    "I know, but¡­ Fuck it, once everything is done here, I''lle with you and pick up Edith or whoever''s gonnae with us and see for myself¡ª"


    "See for yourself what?"


    "Your ce. You invited me toe, remember?"


    "I did, but what''s that got to do with¡ª"


    "Everything. It''s got to do with everything."

 Chapter 850 Clearing A Misunderstanding And Consciously Pissing Someone Off

    Hearing Quinn''s words right now, there was an invisible partition forming between us so I pped my knees and got up, looked for my phone for "receipts", and then told her what she wanted to hear.


    Well, most of it.


    And somehow, it sounded simr to the first time I tried to kidnap¡ªerr¡­ recruit Rin into my fold. But this time, I was showing her a little presentation through my phone to basically back up my ims so that another instance of her doubting me wouldn''t happen again.


    "Okay~ You''ve be suspicious of me after finding fresh fuel in our tank so I''ll give you a proper introduction. I''m Sky Ishiyama¡ªI didn''t change my name or anything¡ªI actually own a few shops where I mainly sell rice for a living but my certain hobbies kept me and my family alive¡ªeven enabling me to get to where I''m at. In the grand scheme of things, I''m good at making reasonable and forgiving deals with everyone but I can still be a shrewd businessman if I so wanted¡­ or if the people from the other side were fucking asking for it."


    "You love saying, "In the grand scheme of things", huh?"


    I lightly puffed my cheeks as I ignored her remark, "I''m actively maintaining five towns spread apart though I have several more that''s reimed and waiting to be turned apocalypse-worthy¡­ You know, self-sustaining without the gennies-run-by-deadheads part. Furthermore, I''ve made allies with themon people, like-minded people, the government, and you guys¡ªonly disclosing information that could only benefit us but wouldn''t spark conflict because as I said earlier, I wanted all of us to work together as one group."


    "Hmm."


    "I''m gonna tell you straight, discovering that you''re producing engines that could run Ethanol 100% and Sal making said Ethanol is something I so wanted to fucking do but didn''t have the means to do so. In my book, as shady as this would sound, I''m gonna make you a deal you wouldn''t be able to refuse."


    Quinn lightly shook her head as she was now smiling at me, "Dork¡­"


    I brought up the ent plus the fingers up together like I was trying to ask for food, "Whaat? I was just e-exining me-self~"


    Kaley added, "Doofus¡­"


    Quinn let out a chuckle, "You didn''t have to exin yourself the second time, I just said that I wanted to see your ce for some random reason because I didn''t want to argue anymore. It''s my fault. I know it''s only been a few days but I know when someone''s genuine."


    Tatiana interjected, "How about us? Also, didn''t you say that you think that Isaac''s hiding something?"


    Anne nodded a few times, "Yeah, I heard that too! What''s he hiding?"


    Quinn waved them off, "One at a time, okay? For the power couple, I think you two still have something to talk about¡­ And you, Russian chick, I dunno why but you seem like a spy¡ª"


    Kaley and I instantly chuckled but Tatiana was having none of it, "Not this shit again! I''m not a spy, alright?! It''s the movies you''ve been seeing!"


    Quinn cackled, "I know! My bad, my bad¡­ but yeah, Is Jose really military as I guessed?"


    I nodded quietly, "Yeah, but we trust him with our lives¡ª and you can also do the same¡ª"


    "I trust you, I do¡­ but what''s gonna happen if he makes contact with the Military Academy? They won''t just burn this ce to the ground, right?"


    "You''re just being paranoid again. Did you forget that you''re already dealing with them¡ª"


    "Mauro''s dealing with them, not me."


    "That''s basically the same but yeah, all you need to do is keep it tight with each other but do they know anything about the engines you''re making?"


    "No. Just you guys, everyone here, and Sal''s group."


    "Not even Mr. Cuervo?"


    "Did you hear me mention his name?"


    "Chill your tits, damn. Is this a recent project or are you trying to do something under the¡ª"


    "Hey. He''s the one who brought us all together but we don''t need to report every little thing we do to him. The Garcia Family''s proof of that. But yeah, whatever the fuck they''re doing is not something of the same magnitude we were trying to aplish. But since you two are kinda suddenly buddy-buddy, he probably told you that."


    I nodded, "Yeah, something like that. But yeah, just in case¡­ if something were to erupt between you guys and the military academy, contact me as soon as possible."


    "Hmm? You have the power to stop them?"


    "Not exactly but I''m your best shot¡ª"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "We can always fight back¡ª"


    "And I want your groups to work together, not kill each other. Keep the status quo and your rtionship with each other would be more than just exchanging heads for military vehicles."


    "Fine. But you better answer at the first ring or else."


    "Sure, but always keep a phone close to you, not have Anna always scrambling to look for you when hers rings."


    "Deal."


    "Deal. Are we good now?"


    "Wanna make up for some bad shit you did? You know, almost poking my eye out?"


    "C''mon, that was funny as shit. I made it up on the spot!"


    "Fucking¡­ I''m gonna have a wash. Can''t have this oil and sweat dry on my skin. Besides, we''ll be going outside."


    "Where?"


    At this point, it was almost at the same time when Quinn decided to pay the industrial park a visit, and since we were pretty much free of our responsibilities, she brought us over again. However, I made sure to refill our ammunition with her own stock because one, we used it to help her clean up her territory and two, they were barely using it.


    Well, I doubt we''d get to fight the same number of deadheads this time though my knuckles were itching for a certain asshole that brought unnecessary trouble.


    ''He was probably let go, that''s why Mauro managed to talk to him¡­ Who though¡­''


    With that said, it didn''t take long for us to drive back to Mauro''s Industrial Park and the ce had never been so busypared to before. Almost all of the people inside were sweating through their overalls and it looked like none of them had even taken a break.


    It''s just that it was pretty obvious that only a couple of buildings were running on full cylinders and I''m pretty sure the ones "powering" them up had several scoops of pre-workout and then some.


    ''That''ll be an insane workout though¡­ not that effective but still downright insane¡­''


    And just before we could drive inside one of the buildings, our custom Raptor which was actually sticking out like a sore thumb amidst these ''customized'' vehicles was instantly recognized. Almost immediately, everyone gave us a mix of reactions but it''s more along the lines of, "I thought we were ALL supposed to work on this ce''s problems first thing in the morning?"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKING AT? HUH?!" Quinn instantly exploded at one of the three-digit members we parked by.


    "I-I-I WASN''T¡ª"


    "WHERE''S DAVE?! AND WHERE THE FUCK''S LOGAN?! WHO FUCKING LET HIM LOOSE?!"


    With Quinn''s voice thundering around like Zeus hit his shin on an ottoman, the people she was looking for turned up only after a few moments. However, Dave looked like he was abruptly woken up from his afternoon nap while Logan looked like he received a sudden booty call.


    And almost immediately, Quinn talked to Dave about businesspletely ignoring Logan''s advances and the guy didn''t seem to be getting annoyed that he was being treated like dirt.


    It''s just that when Quinn waved me over to join in the conversation, his face just darkened before he shouted at the top of his lungs.


    "THE FUCK?! WHY IS HE INVOLVED?! YOU KEEP IGNORING ME ALL THIS TIME AND THAT BITCH-ASS HEAD GETS SPECIAL TREATMENT?! I KNOW YOU''RE JUST FUCKING OTHER GUYS TO MAKE ME JEALOUS BUT THIS DOESN''T SEEM FAIR! FUCK IT, I''LL FUCK WHOEVER HIS GIRL IS TO PROVE A POINT BUT I''LL BREAK THAT FUCKING SLUT''S HEAD OPEN IF SHE''S UGLY AS FUCK¡ª"


    With great respect to this ce''s tradition and how they follow rank, Ipletely ignored the first part of his sentence but thest part was something I should remove a tooth or two from him for.


    I abruptly released killing intent as I turned around to face him but he had already jumped back and was holding arge bowie knife that had a bone handle. And trust me, I would''ve stopped if I saw fear in his eyes but this time, he was consciously trying to piss me off.


    The motherfucker was smiling from ear to ear when he saw my expression and I barely heard Quinn and Jose when I grasped the hilt of my de.


    Fuck it, anyone could tell me that this was my greatest weakness¡ªbeing overly protective of Kaley and getting consumed with anger if she gets disrespected¡ªbut everyone should fucking know by now that you don''t fucking poke a dragon with a stick and get out fucking unscathed with it.

 Chapter 851 Deeper? - No. 7

    Once my hand was on my katana and my face looks how it looks right fucking now, it was the fucking signal for everyone else that hadn''t written a will yet to get the fuck away from me because I''d fucking cut up anyone within my range¡ªeven if they weren''t fucking involved. However, there was a particr motherfucker that fucked around and wanted to find out so I''ll give him the special treatment he so fucking deserved to have.


    A short exhale was all that could be heard the moment a glint appeared for a short second.


    Logan was still cheekily holding his bowie knife with a reverse grip¡ªde pointed downward¡ªbut he never looks so confused when its pommel¡ªa carved skull at the end of its handle¡ªlooked like it was momentarily floating a few centimeters away from his knife.


    Heck, even everyone else couldn''t exin that instance but there would be more instances like that that would instantly follow.


    And right at this moment, Logan''s skin from his elbow, his wrist, the side of his palm, and the little p just by his pinky split open.


    And immediately after that, the tip of his nose, a little bit of his left eyelid, his left eyebrow, and the left side of his forehead did the same exact thing before blood leaked out, and pain and even more confusion registered on his face.


    It looked like a shallow strike but the way the pommel on his knife¡ªdue the way he was holding it¡ªwas closer to his neck, I purposefully gave him a "flesh wound" AND a little warning that I can give him a shallow or a deep wound¡ªfuck it, a quick beheading if I so wanted.


    I could''ve dug my de deep into his elbow, cut into his forearm, and made him lose half of his hand, purposefully avoid his knife to prevent damaging my de, cut back in straight to his cheek, his nose, his eye, his ear, ande out the side of his skull in one quick sh, and have more than enough time to sheathe my de right after.


    With that said, no one had the fucking chance to react and no one even dared to move¡ªeven Logan¡ªand when they only heard the quiet clink when I sheathed my de was the time everyone else present managed to take in a breath.


    It''s just that Logan was still bleeding from his wounds and even he didn''t know if he was allowed to move or not.


    Well, the knife he put up earlier to defend against me had already fallen on the ground and was getting bled on by his own wounds but despite all that, he was still in the same position¡ªstill had his arm raised up¡ªbut he looked like I was actively sucking his soul out his body.


    I sighed as I turned to Kaley, "Hey, can you patch him up?"


    It took Kaley a moment to respond, "Y-Yes, w-why''d you have to cut him in the first ce?!"


    At this moment, everyone was still partly stunned but Kaley had already pulled out her kit and started to sit down Logan so she could treat him. However, I took a few steps forward and crouched in front of him to make sure he actually got the message.


    "Hey, tough guy. This here''s my wife, yeah? She''s the best in the world and I don''t fucking like people like you saying shit to her just to tick me off. But yeah, I IMPLORE you to try anything funny so we''d just waste a few cups of gas and some matches for you. Have some self¡ª"


    Kaley turned to me, "He got it, alright?! Besides, I''ve heard plenty of insults in my life, I can take some without flying off the handle¡­" then she turned back to Logan, "You''re lucky that you''re only gonna need stitches, everything''s almost superficial¡­ Can you press this cloth here? A little harder. He even avoided your eye¡­"


    "..."


    At this point, Logan miraculously found his mute button and he was just following each of Kaley''s words. But when I turned around, it was the usual thing for Tatiana and Jose¡ªtheplete opposite of Quinn and Dave, while Isaac looked like he just had an orgasm.


    "H-How did you fucking do that, sen¡ª bro?!"


    "It''s just a simple draw¡ª"


    "Simple draw my ass! Ah¡ª I was just¡ª That''s more than a simple draw! I''m not an idiot! It¡ª It looked like it but it w-went deep o-or something! That''s impossible¡ª"


    Quinn interjected, "Why''d you hold back? You could''ve just killed him¡ª"


    Dave suddenly got in between us as he red at Quinn, "Hey! He''s a fucking asshole but killing''s off the table!" then he turned to me, "Isn''t that too much? What you did?"


    I was taken aback, "Too much? What if he said shit about your sister, huh? What would¡ª"


    Dave quickly answered, "Ah¡ª Yeah, I would''ve shot him dead¡ª"


    Kaley shouted from behind us, "Hey! What are you all talking about?! He''s RIGHT here! Someone help me bring him to the infirmary! You''re all insane!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she pointed at me, "What if it''s him, huh? What would you do, hmm? If you know, something bad happens to him?"


    Kaley''s face suddenly went dark, "Insults, we can manage but if it''s the other thing¡­" she trailed as she looked in a particr corner inside her kit and let out an eerie smile, "I''ll cross the bridge when I get there¡­" then she turned back to Logan, "You wouldn''t do something stupid as that, right?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­" Logan had never looked so demure as he gulped.


    With that said, everyone else actually apanied Logan to the closest infirmary and the people inside set up a small section where Quinn and Dave could continue to talk about business. Well, it was mostly progress reports on the repairs and the state of the engines they were manufacturing but I couldn''t help but get annoyed due to how Logan and Isaac were looking at me a little too much.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "What?!" I shouted as I flicked a peanut right in the middle of each of their foreheads.


    I absolutely thought that some kind of chaos would ensue but the two dumbasses didn''t even have the reflexes to dodge them. Isaac got hit squarely but even though the same thing happened to Logan, it bounced off his head andnded on Kaley''s face, instantly prompting her to snap her neck towards me and give me a vicious re.


    "My bad¡­ my bad¡­"


    "Stop messing around! I''m focusing here!" then she turned back to Logan, "Are you sure you''re okay without taking some sort of anesthetic?"


    Logan responded weakly, "Yeah¡­ I''ve never felt so numb¡­"


    "Really?"


    "I¡­ I still can''t believe I''m alive¡­ I thought my torso was the one floating in the air instead of my pommel¡­"


    "He¡­ He does that sometimes¡­ When he''s really mad¡­ Just a tip though: there are other ways to get people''s attention aside from doing what you''re doing¡­"


    "But¡ª"


    "I''m not done. This could''ve ended really~ badly. Tell me, are you always¡­ like that?"


    "Well¡­ when I was younger I think something happened then¡­"


    "Can you tell me more about it?"


    Quinn interjected, "The fuck are you two getting buddy-buddy for? You should be the one fucking mad right now¡ª"


    I quietly waved Quinn off and mouthed, "Shh! Let her cook¡­ Let her cook¡­"


    At that point, Quinn had never been so confused but after a good 15 minutes or so, Logan was pouring his heart and soul into everyone present¡ªcrying nonstop, apologizing, and offering everyone a hug¡ªthough he knew when to back away when he tried to do the same thing to Quinn and me.


    And to my surprise, he just looked for an open bed and fainted right when his head hit the pillow and I actually thought he had done everything he wanted in the world and was ready to pass on.


    I chuckled, "No fucking way he could sleep just like that."


    Dave shook his head, "That''s his¡­ talent. He could just lie down anywhere and fall asleep any second. I''m fucking jealous of it because he takes Tren and it doesn''t affect his sleep whatsoever¡­" then he turned to Kaley, "But what did you do to him?"


    Kaley answered, "Hmm? I just talked to him? Why?"


    "I''m kinda scared of you now, honestly¡­"


    "Why? Can we talk about it? Also, I heard you mentioned your sister¡­ Can you share some details¡ª"


    "No. NO! We''re not doing this! I''M NOT FALLING FOR THIS CRAP¡ª"


    After another 15 minutes, Kaley was wearing a victorious smile while I was tasked with tucking Dave right next to Logan. No one could look her in the eye right now but Quinn stifled augh after stretching her body.


    Tatiana turned to her, "What''s so funny?"


    "Nothing, really. It''s just that they will need that sleep so much right now."


    "Hmm?"


    "Well, Jesus ising."


    "Wut? Jesus?"


    "Oh, right¡­ No. 7, Jesus ising. It''s pronounced as ''Hey-soos'', alright? Don''t get the two mixed up."

 Chapter 852 Impreza - Jesus

    Hearing that, I thought I''d literally meet my so-called "Maker" but I found out that this Jesus dude was the guy they''d send out for scouting missions or extended expeditions. He had a team of his own to help him and he''d just pop up here and there once or twice a month if he needed to take a break.


    Quinn added, "He''s basically a Nomad. He''d prefer the outside but he drops by¡ªlike what he''s doing now."


    "I see. When is he arriving though?"


    "Dave said he called this morning. He''d probably arriveter this night or tomorrow morning¡ª Hold up,e with me. I need to show you something."


    "Hmm?"


    "Just follow me! Don''t ask too much questions!"


    At this point, Quinn led what was left of us to the biggest building in this industrial park which coincidentally was one of the two buildings that still had power and was also where Mauro''s room/office was located.


    It had four floors and two basements in total¡ªlooking like a fortress on its own¡ªbut there was this corner where several finished vehicles were lined up like in a car show.


    "We''re going to that area."


    "To?"


    "Shut up and you''ll see! C''mon, slowpokes! Walk faster!"


    "..."


    Ignoring how catty Quinn was being at this moment, she never looked so excited to show us their collection of vehicles that they managed to put their own branding on. Granted some of them had her own style: almost close to the original, there were two particr vehicles that were covered by a dusty cloth.


    From my perspective, I could see an outline of a muscle car and a tuner but before I could even figure them out, Quinn beat me to it by pulling off the cloth and identally giving everyone a coughing fit.


    "FUCK! KAH¡ª *cough* *cough* SHIT! MY BAD! MY BAD!"


    "Holy Moly~"


    Despite all that, I had the shock of my life when I saw a silver ''70s Dodge Charger R/T and a ck Subaru Impreza WRX STI that looked like they haven''t been used for quite a while.


    Seeing them in their unique state felt like visiting an old vacation home that collected dust but I didn''t even as I approached them and ran my hands on each of them. But funnily enough, Kaley and the rest thought I would touch the muscle car more but I almost tried to break into the tuner car.


    "They aren''t locked, you FUCKING DUMBASS! PUT THAT CROWBAR¡ª WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GET THAT?!"


    "Ah¡­"


    Kaley mumbled from the side, "Whew, at least it''s not a helicopter¡­"


    Quinn suddenly turned to her, "A what?"


    Tatiana chuckled, "Oof, don''t remind me of that¡ª And~ He''s already inside¡­"


    As they tried to initiate another conversation, I easily found the keys in the glovebox and I didn''t bother to ask Quinn if I could start it or not. Because if she wanted me to show these cars, she would obviously allow me to y around with them. However, she quickly made her way to the driver''s side window and leaned over with a confused expression.


    "I thought you''d go for the Charger? What gives?"


    "I like this one more? I''m like a Twinkie sometimes but this car''s special to me."


    "A Twinkie?"


    "Yellow on the outside, white on the inside?"


    "You¡ª"


    "C''mon! At least let me run a few donuts outside! I''d even let you ride shotgun! How much do you weigh again? Around two hundred and¡ª"


    "L-Let''s stop there!"


    Isaac interjected, "I''ll ride shotgun!"


    Tatiana chuckled-scoffed, "Trust me, you can''t."


    Jose walked over to the back, "I think I can do it? Why don''t we boys have some fun for once?"


    Kaley eerily chuckled from the side, "Hah! Have fun~"


    "Why is she doing that? I heard you can fucking drive but why is she smiling like that? I¡ª"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Before he could utter another word, the girls just pushed his ass inside the car with Isaac, and I locked all of the doors and windows before Iunched us out of the building. The whole area had a huge space for any car to run wild but I imagined an outline in my head¡ªputting it over therge open space¡ªmaking it look like I was driving on aplicated drift track.


    With that said, this car would need a lot more work from the driver for it to be able to be drifted but I had an inkling that its internals had more work donepared to the outside.


    Like Quinn''s "stock" car, this one, much like the other one I was driving probably had more performance upgrades than their outward appearance, and scratch the word probably, it had more things done on the inside than on the outside because I can feel how much I could push it right from the first corner. However, I had already forgotten that I had a couple of passengers and surprisingly enough, I didn''t think that Isaac would be the one left conscious.


    "HAHAHA~!!! THIS IS SO FUCKING LIT¡ª HOW CAN YOU FUCKING DO THIS?! GO THERE! GO THERE! GO THERE!"


    Jose had already passed out when I lightly tapped this blue container¡ªto realign it with its friends¡ªwith the rear bumper and looked like I almost crashed into several cars when I weaved through the parking area at full speed.


    He was screaming at the top of his lungs a few seconds earlier and it was just cut off in the middle as he got continuously rag-dolled at the back.


    Things were fun after a couple more turns but I had to look at the rear-view mirror twice when I saw an old-ass station wagon following behind me. It looked to be a Benz Station Wagon from the ''70s or ''80s but the amount of parts that were switched out of it had me confused. However, the driver behind it was fucking god-like to keep up with me so I had to look at Isaac and give him a few words:


    "You better put your seatbelt on¡­"


    "What?"


    "Grab on that handle too¡ª"


    "Why¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    Before Isaac let out the blood-curdling scream that woke up Jose and instantly made him pass out in the same second, I let out a short exhale to figure out who was this fucking driver that could keep up with me. I''m not a drift king per se but the motherfucker was going parallel with me and withdrawing at the right moments. The dude was sticking right behind me like a fucking parasite¡ªonly deviating from copying me when the space I went in was too tight¡ªnot allowing him to go parallel with me when we were drifting side to side.


    I wanted to test him a little bit more but I wanted to see for myself who the fuck was this driver that they were hiding all this time.


    After a few more turns, I drove back to the building we came from and parked in front of it¡ªthe same car still copying what I was doing.


    However, right as I stepped out of my vehicle, the guy in the station wagon straight-up jumped at me and was bawling his fucking eyes out.


    ''Jesus fucking christ, it''s really him¡ª''


    "JACKIEEEEEE~!!!"


    I''m gonna be fucking honest, it was already too much of a fucking coincidence to have the Number 7 guy be named Jesus, but almost looking like the same person¡ªexcept for the clothes¡ªwas fucking uncanny. But yeah, the muscles helped me differentiate him between the two.


    I tried to get him off of me, "Dude! Stop! I''m not Jackie! I''m not¡ª"


    Then realization struck for the dumbass, "Wha¡ª You''re¡ª GET AWAY FROM ME!"


    "YOU''RE THE ONE WHO JUMPED ON ME!"


    "I THOUGHT YOU WERE JACKIE!"


    "I ALREADY TOLD YOU I WASN''T! AND WASN''T HE¡­ You know, not here anymore?"


    As soon as I said that, the fucking messiah broke down crying once again though another person stepped out of his station wagon.


    It was a woman who actually looked "normal" forck of a better term but she still looked fitter than 90% of the poption before the world ended.


    I already prepared myself to get jumped on but the woman who came out just looked at me like she had seen a ghost. And after that, she took a long hard look at the car I just drove and there was a tinge of sadness in her expression.


    The silence was starting to be unbearable for a short moment so I had to ask the question.


    "This¡­ This car¡­ Was it Jackie''s perchance?"


    The two just nodded in ce before Quinn and the others came up to us.


    "Wee back, Jes''. Got you excited for a bit, huh?"


    Jesus instantly got up, "QUINN! WHO''S THIS GUY?! WHY IS HE DRIVING JACKIE''S RIDE?! WHY DOES HE DRIVE LIKE HIM TOO?! IS HE SINGLE?! WHY ARE YOU HERE?! YOU SAID¡ª"


    "ONE AT A TIME, JES''! ONE AT A FUCKING TIME!"


    "Right. Is he single though¡ª"


    "THAT''S NOT THE FUCKING QUESTION YOU SHOULD BE ASKING RIGHT NOW!"

 Chapter 853 Forbidden Rope Candies

    ?


    After that exchange, everyone just started dyingughing but Jesus was having none of it. He actually looked dead serious in his question and he was still waiting for me to give an answer.


    I chuckled as I pointed at Kaley, "That''s my wife, Kaley. I''m Sky, by the way."


    Jesus looked so sullen as he turned to the woman right next to him, "I''m sorry, Meg. I guess you''ll be single for the rest of your fucking life¡ª ACKK! DON''T PULL ON MY HAIR! I JUST SHAMPOO''D IT!"


    "Stop screwing with me!"


    At this point, these two people¡ªwhom I don''t know what exactly their rtionship was¡ªcontinued to bicker but the rest of their team eventually followed with their own vehicles. They parked somewhat close but they couldn''t hide the same expression the two had when they saw the Impreza out in the open.


    It''s just that that look of excitement quickly faded because they knew full well that their Number 2 guy, Jackie, had already passed away.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before they approached us as Quinn got in between the two, and their eyes eventuallynded on me and my group¡ªthe unfamiliar faces. And obviously enough, their eyes stayed longer on me because they perhaps saw me as the one that came out of the Impreza or the one that Jesus jumped on. And to avoid any more awkwardness, I introduced myself and my crew¡ªan action that already went over Quinn''s head.


    After that, they also introduced themselves¡ªsix more people in total¡ªand it unbelievably got quiet for a few seconds¡­


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Until Quinn rolled her eyes and woke everyone up by mming her palms together and shouting at the top of her lungs.


    "SO?! ARE WE GONNA DO MORE OF THOSE MOMENTS OF SILENCE SHIT?! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR TRIP, JES''?! Jesus, am I the only one that cringed from that?!"


    Jesus answered, "Well¡ª"


    "Not what I meant¡ª Fuck, haaa~ Why don''t we alle inside first so you all can have a short break. How long has it been? Two weeks? A month¡ª"


    Meg answered, "Two months and twelve days¡ª"


    A woman from Jesus'' crew named Michelle interjected, "We were gone for that long? Huh."


    Then a guy named Brix added, "Well, it was ''that''s'' fault, remember?"


    "Ugh¡­"


    "What was it?"


    "We''ll tell you once we get inside¡­"


    At this point, even I got curious but I saw Jesus hobbling back to their station wagon and picking up what seemed to be two coolers covered by a fewyers of tarp.


    I already felt something unnerving just from the way he was looking at them and I never took my eyes off those coolers right until he ced them by the coffee table on the roof we just walked a few flights of stairs on. On a side note, the top of this building was particrly cleaner than the rest of the buildings in this industrial park but still looked like an aftermath of a frat party that turned into an orgy so, ''clean-er'' was the word I used.


    ''Yep, I''m not sitting on that couch¡­''


    Yet Jesus almost dived into it and put his feet up by the same coffee table that had several empty bottles and cigarette butts.


    "Can I have some beer?"


    Quinn answered, "It''s not as cold though."


    "Huh?"


    "You dumb fuck, look around. Noticed anything different?"


    "Eh? Not really?"


    Meg shook her head, "A fourth of the crew is gone, and only two¡ª or three(?) buildings are working. I guess it finally happened, huh?"


    "What happened?" Jesus asked again before realization struck, "Oh, shit! Fuck¡­ How many people did we lose? A fourth, right? That''s¡­ Shit¡­"


    Quinn let out augh as she momentarily looked at me, "Actually? Just two."


    Jesus, Meg, and their crew couldn''t believe their ears, "T-TWO?! JUST TWO?!"


    "OH? SO YOU WANT MORE OF US TO DIE, HUH?! IS THAT IT?!"


    Jesus tried to push away Quinn''s looming presence with a stick he just found, "I-I''m not saying that, but just two¡ª B-But why is a fourth of us gone?! Mauro, Dave, and Logan are gone too. Where did they¡ª"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Okay, here''s the rundown: Mauro''s at Sal''s ce while the other two are sound asleep. But yeah, the gen room is being run by the fourth of our crew that''s ''missing'', everything happened yesterday."


    "B-But¡­ how?! How did¡ª"


    At this point, Quinn turned to me and made me ry everything much better than she could but they kept noticing my nces toward the two coolers still unopened and sitting pretty by the coffee table at the center. However, they didn''t even address it and just let me finish giving them a recap of everything that happened before they arrived.


    But yeah, they lost their minds when they discovered that I was actually a new head for their organization of sorts and I beat Benjie who was a little more than infamous for crippling or killing his opponents "legally".


    Jesus started to scratch his head after tying his hair into a messy ponytail, "Shit, we just arrived and this infodump''s making me want to drive away again¡ª"


    "Again?"


    "N-No, not like that but you know, all this is a lot to take in."


    "I see. I''m sorry but what''s inside those coolers for you to bring them with you? I''ve seen that station wagon of yours is full of random stuff but you took those coolers with you specifically."


    "Ah¡­" Jesus trailed as he turned to Quinn, "Can I?"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "The fuck are you looking at me for?"


    "M-Mauro''s not here so¡­"


    "That''s not my business. Show him if you want, I don''t fucking care."


    "Really?" then Jesus turned to me and chuckled before he picked up one of the coolers, "Alright~ Here we go~"


    Just from the way those coolers made me uneasy made me think of the worst but let''s just say that from the things I''ve seen ever since it started, what he revealed to us was a little tame even though it was something I didn''t expect.


    The "tame" things in question were ps of skin that had different numbers¡ªbut all in the same fonts their family was using¡ªbut they were wrapped around a finger or two, covered in blood and starting to discolor. Furthermore, the cooler also had ice cubes in them but since I doubt they were trying to preserve the fingers and the skin ps, I found them to be a little wasteful.


    I shook my head, "Ever heard of Ziplock bags?"


    Meg chuckled form the side, "Hah! I''m starting to like you¡ª"


    Jesus cut her off, "He''s married, Meg, Jesus¡ª"


    Dave suddenly popped up from behind with Logan, "You found them, huh?"


    Jesus'' eyes lit up, "Hey, dude! Slept together, huh? That''s nice but yeah, I only found most of them. I still have a few names to check off my list."


    Logan leaned over to the ps of skin and pulled out one that had the number ''991'' on it with a finger missing a nail, "Oh! You found this bitch! Thanks, man! Mauro''ll be happy when he gets back!"


    I asked, "What did she do?"


    "..."


    "Logan?"


    I thought for sure that Logan was trying to ignore me but he threw me an expression I haven''t seen before¡ªsimr to Niks'' creepy smile¡ªand it made my skin crawl as he answered, "Ah. Yes, bro-man-dude, still getting used to seeing you and not crapping my pants but yeah, this bitch just joined to get close to Mauro so she could sell her own drugs from a different supplier. Weird shit, I know¡ª they should''ve known we had our own sources and we''re not gonna make a 3-digit be a middleman for a rival gang."


    "That''s it?"


    Logan shook his head, "You don''t understand, she made a few of ours peddle stepped-on shit and it ruined our name for quite a while. We made her stay after making her stop and a brutal DA but she kept on doing that shit on our other outpost before everything you know, ended."


    I nodded pensively, "I see," then I turned back to Jesus, "So, that other one¡­"


    "You''re really nosy, huh?"


    "Yep."


    "Hah! Straight to the point, I like it," Jesus said as he lifted the other cooler, "Don''t puke though."


    At this point, Jesus lifted up the lid but he was looking me straight in the eye as he did it. However, right as my eyesnded on whatever the fuck was inside that cooler, I should''ve paid more attention to his advice.


    What''s inside was actually a head of a Sentry that started growing more irises in one of its eyeballs but I got the shock of my life when Jesus lifted up its cracked-open head and revealed more mini eyeballs that were tethered together with fibrous tissue¡ªpacking them inside the eye socket¡ªlooking like a fucked-up version of those Nerds rope candies when he tried to untangle them.


    It''s just that the "untangled" parts started to slither back to their brethren before they pulsed a few times and then looked like they were chillin''.

 Chapter 854 Deals - Woody

    ?


    Seeing another mutation for the first time in a while made the jolly atmosphere somber for a minute but Jesus was the first one to put on a smile before throwing the head back into the cooler.


    Doing that could''ve damaged the new specimen¡ªbecause of its cracked head and all¡ªbut that thing surviving Jesus'' driving probably meant that their group uncovering it was aplete ident.


    They could''ve picked it up after a brush-in with a weird horde but I wouldn''t be sure unless we know the whole story.


    ''It could also be a Stitcher''s pawn but that in itself is a special¡­''


    I was still in my thoughts when Jesus spoke up.


    "Enough about that shit. Mauro will deal with that when he¡ª"


    I cut him off, "How much?"


    "What?" Jesus turned to me, much like everyone else who heard my voice.


    "That head, how much would you sell it for?"


    Jesus turned to Quinn before looking back at me, "Are you for real? What are you gonna do with it?"


    I kept a straight face, "I''m gonna be honest with all of you¡­"


    ''Partially¡­''


    I continued, "I''m not collecting heads per se but I also have some sort of deal going on with a smaller DDR Camp that''s close to mine. They have a small team that''s working on this¡­ this thing and they need all the specimens they could get their hands on¡­ especially¡­ you know, these specials that are starting to turn into something else."


    "..."


    "And if you don''t mind me asking, where did youe upon that thing?"


    "..."


    "Jesus?"


    "..."


    I scratched the back of my head, "Do I need to give you some offerings to answer or¡ª"


    "N-N-No¡­ It''s just¡­" Once again, Jesus turned to Quinn before looking back at me but it seemed like he didn''t have much say in the decision-making process in regard to the head he procured himself.


    However, Quinn just shook her head as she turned to me and said, "You really want that head?"


    I nodded, "Yeah. I''ll pay something that''s¡ª"


    "Take it. It''s free."


    "WHAT?!" Everyone else eximed.


    I thought for sure that Logan would eventually get in between us but Dave was the one who stood up.


    "Quinn. He''s willing to pay for it and need I remind you what the other camp''s offering for this kind of find. Also, we should also consult Mauro first before making a decision like this because he''s already pissed as is about the gen room, he''s¡ª"


    "I don''t care one bit about how he feels about it! Need I remind you all that that project of his almost cost everyone here their lives?! YOUR SISTER''S THERE TOO, WEREN''T YOU SO AGAINST IT?!"


    Dave couldn''t hide the anger on his face, "That''s not fair. We''re talking about the whole thing here¡ª"


    "And I said, he should have it for free! Do you have any idea what he did for this ce already?! I''m in charge while Mauro''s away and you all should just follow it! He was the one¡ª"


    I cut her off as I poked him with the same stick Jesus found, "Hey, settle down. I already said I''ll pay for it. Besides, we shouldn''t go behind Mauro''s back just because he''s away¡ª"


    "Why do you all keep poking me with that stick?! I''ll break it in half and shove it in your asses if you don''t stop!"


    Jesusmented from the side, "Jesus, I didn''t even see him take it¡­"


    Logan started chuckling from the same position, "He said the thing, he said the thing¡­ kukuku¡­"


    I anchored us back to the main point, "As I was saying, I''m not in agreement with the way the gen room was handled but it still set back this ce because of what we did. I know it doesn''t make a lot of sense¡ªgoing against myself¡ªbut we still need to give Mauro some face because he''s the one actually in charge of your family. That was a bad judgment call but we shouldn''t go against his back just because he did something bad or if we just feel like it."


    Quinn shook her head, "First time I see someone deny free shit."


    I waved her off, "I would have just taken it if it was any other day but this is different. How about this? You guys keep it for now and if we managed to get ahold of Mauro, I''ll talk to him instead and offer a deal. If he doesn''t agree, I''ll respect it but if he agrees, I''ll just send over whatever we made a deal on¡ªplus their wedding gifts¡ªonce Quinn gets back¡ª"


    Logan''s ears perked up, "Hold up, when she gets back? Where is she going?"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Wouldn''t you like to know?"


    "I do, actually¡­ Can Ie¡ª"


    "No."


    "..."


    There was a weird moment of silence but I continued.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Anyway~ Dave, what''s the DDR Camp you''re in contact with offering for that head?"


    Dave turned to me just as he lit up a cigarette, "We''ve been able to get jeeps or trucks for the most part¡ªplus a few parts we seeying around but they did promise us an APC or even a working tank if we find something special."


    "For real?"


    "Yeah."


    I scratched my chin, "I get it if they''re giving you a tank¡ª Heck, I even want one in my ce but in regards to APCs, can''t you just make one? Besides, if I remember correctly, we received a few from different countries but the one we made ourselves are MX-8s and they''re produced in consideration of trekking jungles. I dunno about you all but with our fuel starting to get past the expiration date, shouldn''t you ask for something else?"


    Logan interjected, "Like what though?"


    "Why don''t you tell me what you need and I''ll see what I can do about it?"


    Dave scoffed, "You''re dodging the question. We''re in possession of something you want and the oh-so-generous DDR Camp covets. Why don''t you tell me what you could offer so that we can decide ourselves who to make a deal with?"


    "Oh? You wanna go that route eh?"


    "You started it, so spill."


    I chuckled, "I have everything though, that''s why I''m asking what you wanted¡ª"


    Logan interjected, "Bullshit, you just said you don''t have a tank!"


    "Oh? You want me to reveal the fucking firepower I possess? Funny. Just saying, I came here in a helicopter the first time and the boat for the second time. Think, what else I don''t have? Do you want me toe in a convoy next? Kinda wasteful though don''t you think?"


    As soon as I said that, Dave and Logan were at a loss for words but Jesus had a glint in his eye before he leaned close.


    "Do¡­ Do you have a Woody?"


    Everyone else gave us weird looks but Jesus being the station wagon dude made me get it the first time.


    I let out a smile, "The Woody Wagon?"


    He never looked so excited, "Yes!"


    "I don''t¡ª"


    "Ha!"


    "But I have the means so you''d be able to make one."


    "Huh?"


    "Ask Quinn, she''ll tell you."


    Quinn shook her head, "What now? Oh!" she turned to Jesus while nodding, "This guy fucking machined a ''67 body for Ongkiko''s 2014 model for the GT500."


    "Everyone can do that with the right measurements¡ª"


    "Let me finish, he freestyled that shit with one look. I bet he could do the same thing with enough pictures or something. The car you''re asking for is rarer than the ''67 GT500 but if you''re gonna settle for a replica¡ªbut made by your own hands? He''s your guy."


    "..."


    Once again, the whole ce had gone silent but everyone from the De Leon Family looked like they were imagining their dream car being built by their own hands and driving it in the sunset or whatever time of day they preferred. Even the two who were so against me at this moment¡ªDave and Logan¡ªwere smiling like idiots as they were deep in their heads with the same thought.


    It''s just that the one single person that already had their dream ride mmed her palms together and brought them back to reality.


    "HEY! Way to wear your poker faces! Having second thoughts now, huh?"


    Hearing Quinn''s words, it seemed like I found something that would make each of them readily agree to our deal but since Dave wanted to y the game with me, I had to make him¡ªwell, everyone else sweat for a little bit and aim the target at his head.


    "You see, since we''re all basically friends¡­ I would''ve just given you a ''blueprint'' of sorts for free, you know¡­ but since a certain someone *cough* *cough* Dave *cough* *cough* excuse me, went that route with me, I HAVE to negotiate a certain price for my designs¡­"


    It didn''t even take for everyone to stare Dave down and Jesus was the first one to crack. He was this fucking close to offering me the cooler with everything else in his possession because with these gearheads, having their dream car was literally their dream.


    "Yo~ Buddy~ W-What would it t-take for the d-design for the W-Woody?"


    I answered with a straight face, "Salvation?"


    "Wut? Fuck it, how many salvations do you want?! Two?! Four?! I''ll give as much as you need!" Jesus started to get hysterical from my joke because he took it a little too seriously.


    "I was just joking, man¡ª"


    "I''LL SUCK YOUR DICK!"


    "Haaah?!"


    Everyone tried to pull him away from me, "Jesus, no!"

 Chapter 855 Deals II - Black Powder

    ?


    It was chaos for a few seconds but once everything calmed down, it was decided to actually wait for Mauro''s decision once contact has been made. However, Jesus was still too excited to be able to build a Woody with his own two hands, he was trailing behind me like how a deranged junkie would follow a dealer that had a bag of dope with holes in them.


    ''I thought Isaac following behind me was already creepy¡­ Tatiana did too at first but they weren''t looking at me like this¡­''


    In any case, it was totally understandable because aside from a few exceptions, most of the dream cars people wanted were still obtainable by simply liberating an auto shop, driving into a rich neighborhood, or like what I did, fashioning a body that would somehow make it look like the car they wanted.


    For example, lowriders had a certain niche in a particr culture but station wagons¡ªespecially a Woody¡ªhad a¡­ a¡­ for ack of a better term, a more particr niche amongst car enthusiasts.


    It''s within a niche of another niche so even though the Woody was famous in its own right, the number of people that love them¡ªmuch less own them, was much lower than the people that adore lowriders or something simr. Not to mention the insane price tag an original Woody would have, owning one just for shits and giggles was fucking impossible.


    In my case, I had almost an equal love for muscle cars and tuners but the number of people that had the same sentiment as me was more than twice¡ªfuck it, ten times the actual number of Woody enthusiasts.


    But to get out of this rabbit hole, let''s just say that Jesus'' taste for cars was unique among his family.


    Isaac eventually nudged me, "Bro, that guy''s still following behind us¡­"


    "You''re not included?"


    "Huh?"


    "I''m just trying to see the view and you''re trailing me like you''d get some insights just from me walking!"


    "I was just¡ª"


    Jesus interjected while he was rubbing his palms together like a shady businessman, "My guy, is there any chance you''d trade the Woody''s blueprints for something else?"


    "I already told everyone: no head, no blueprints¡ª"


    "I ALREADY SAID THAT I''LL SUCK YOUR DICK, WHAT''S THE MATTER WITH¡ª"


    I suddenly had the urge to kick his shin and I acted upon it, "DIFFERENT KIND OF HEAD!"


    To my surprise, Jesus not only endured the paining from his shin, but he also kept a straight face as he tried to argue with me.


    "C''mon, my guy! I''m not the one in charge here! But do know that I''ll swing the vote in your favor if it everes to that! Well, you already had Quinn''s favor so that''s half the battle already but I have more pull because I was the one who actually found it¡ª"


    "By the way, you haven''t answered me."


    "Hmm?"


    "Where did you actually find it?"


    Jesus was about to answer quickly but he had a thought, "How did you and Quinn happen though? Does your wife know?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Are you gonna answer my question or are you gonna answer with another question?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "Fuck it, I''ll give that one to you. We fucked and we liked it. There. Are you gonna answer mine now?"


    Jesus'' eyes had never been so round, "R-Really? You two¡­"


    "Yep."


    "Huh. B-But how¡ª before that, you know? You should''ve done something?"


    "And~ I''m getting duped, see yater¡ª"


    "W-Wait! I''ll answer! I''ll answer! We came upon it in this hot spring we used to frequent¡­ It''s actually the owner of the ce¡ªhe was¡­ it was still intact¡ªthe body''s still whole among other things, I mean¡ªwhen we came upon it and we had to redirect arge horde away from it and put up a trap to burn them somece else."


    "Again, where?"


    Jesus looked at me weirdly before realization struck, "Oh! I see, I see¡­ It''s actually close to this huge-ass university in Cavite wait¡ª I think it''s more in Tagaytay¡­ we had to drive down this narrow up-and-down passage, you know. It''s one of those natural hot springs that aren''t that famous to begin with and only a few people know about¡ªand the family who owned it didn''t even bother to get the word out and was just satisfied with their customers and shit¡­"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As he tried to continue his story, I tried to pinpoint the exact location with an internal map in my head¡ªplus my own experience being close to the area while I was still in college¡ªbut unfortunately, the ce was something even I have heard of or ventured to. I even tried to remember if I saw some signs in passing but there was never a match urring in my head.


    I would have to have been a local in that certain barangay or a tourist that wanted to experience everything in that area but unfortunately, I was neither of those and honestly, I wasn''t that keen on going out at that time in my life.


    With that said, it seemed like Jesus was telling me the whole truth just for me to give in to his requests because I have something that he could only dream of having. But as luck would have it, it seemed like the ce was a little isted so I instantly thought of something that Jesus and I could somehow work a deal on.


    I cut him off as he tried to provide more random information, "Jesus."


    "Yes, child?"


    Isaac almost choked from the sudden response, "KeK¡ª Fucker¡­"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Good one, Father. Anyway, you said that it''s a natural hot spring, right?"


    "Yeah? What about it?"


    "Is it the only one there or are there any other natural hot springs that are closer?"


    Jesus started to think as he rubbed his chin, "Hmmrgh~ Well~ There are a few but they''re a little too much, you know? The smoke from those yellow stuff would sometimes make my eyes watery but the ones we frequent have them just right. Oh! There are a few spots where it''s kinda irritating but it''s still tolerable¡ª and only a few peoplee and go so it isn''t much trouble, we just avoid it and pick the best spot."


    ''Well, we should start somewhere¡­''


    I let out a faint smile, "Great, can you take us there tomorrow? You''re not busy or anything, aren''t you¡ª"


    "N-No! I''m free all week! I''ll bring the whole crew so you and your guys will be safe¡ª Ah, I''m not saying that you can''t protect yourselves, you know¡­ Ahaha¡­ I''m just saying that we know the area quite well and that''s a huge advantage, right?"


    "Right. It''ll be perfect since we''ll be visiting somewhere close and I''ll need a proper tour guide."


    "It''s perfect! We just cleared the area and there won''t be that many zombies around. I''ll be the best tour guide you ever had and I''ll make sure that you and your crew will be able to rx for the whole day without any interruptions!"


    I waved him off, "That''s great. But we won''t be there the whole day though¡ª"


    "Right! I forgot, you can''t just soak in for the whole day without passing out, hahaha¡­ A-Anyway, I rmend us to drive outside maybe around 4 in the morning so we''ll be there around 5 or 6. It''s really great around that time, trust me."


    "Alright."


    "Great! Will that equal the blueprint perchance?"


    I let out a wicked smile, "We''ll see¡ª"


    "C''mon, my guy! Argh! You got me by my balls here! What else can I give you?!"


    At this point, our conversation had once again gone back to him begging me for the Woody''s blueprints but little did I know that someone close was listening in. For a group of gearheads and gym rats, I didn''t even think that one of them knew what I was actually going for.


    And it was none other than the Queen herself.


    "Looking to get some sulfur on the down low, huh? Why don''t you just go for the volcano close by?"


    Jesus turned around to see Quinn who had her hands on her waist, "Sulfur? What?"


    Quinnpletely ignored Jesus as she stared right back at me, "What? Cat got your tongue? You''ve worked Jesus pretty well, giving you valuable info like that, but luckily I wanted to get my pussy licked and I was just about to get you and here we are!"


    I waved her off, "It''s not like that¡ª"


    "Then tell me. Are you making what I think you''re making or do you really wanna just soak for a bit and cool off¡ª I mean¡­ not cool off but you know what I mean, right?"


    Jesus interjected, "Alright, what the fuck are you two talking about?"


    At this point, a few were already wondering why we were huddled away from them so I just shook my head as I gave Jesus an answer:


    "We''re making gun¡ª no, just straight-up ck powder."

 Chapter 856 Side Glances And Chocolate Milk

    ?


    To be a little transparent, I doubt we''d be worrying about raw materials for ammunition¡ªeven though it has been quite a while since the world ended¡ªbut it''s always a given to secure key points such as the source for obtaining sulfur among other things. And yeah, ck powder isn''t strong enoughpared to smokeless gunpowder we use in our current guns but there''s always another way to make use of them¡ªand yeah, muzzleloaders were still a thing.


    ''Also, in my honest opinion, who''d fucking give away the chance to fire a fucking cannon at a deadhead?''


    Going back to our current conversation with Quinn and Jesus, our giantess looked like she expected a different answer while Jesus looked at me like I was¡ªfor theck of a better term, Him.


    "You can make that shit, my guy?! That''s incredible¡ª"


    I quickly waved him off, "I KNOW how to make that shit but I haven''t actually TRIED making said shit¡­ Let''s not get ahead of ourselves. It''d take a lot of trial and error and I won''t just offer my fingers as a tribute for the chance to make them."


    Quinn interjected, "Did you just say ck powder? I thought it was called gunpowder. Is there any difference between the two?"


    "Depends, actually¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    For the sake of saving time and my sanity, I brought them over to the main group and started a ss then and there. It''s just that 90% of the attendees had already fallen asleep after a couple of sentences they didn''t understand. But yeah, gunpowder and ck powder could still be used interchangeably but smokeless gunpowder was totally different.


    It was because it had another ingredient aside from the OGs: saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur¡ªand even though it was called "smokeless", it still produced smoke but not to the same extent as its predecessor. Furthermore, smokeless gunpowder had three different sses¡ªording to their chemicalposition¡ªbut again, let''s not get ahead of ourselves.


    And after I finished that short ss, I informed the ones who were awake about the n to drive out at 4 in the morning.


    Quinn instantly protested, "Four?! Who fucking wakes up at four?! I thought you two were kidding that time!"


    Kaley sheepishly interjected, "Do we need to prepare anything else?"


    e¦Áglesn?¦Íel Yes, they were the only ones awake.


    I turned to Kaley, "Just the usual stuff," then I turned to Quinn, "You''reing with us?"


    "Of course, I''ming! That hot spring''s legendary! It''s like our own personal spot! But four?! Why do we have to wake up¡ª"


    "No, we should be DRIVING out at 4¡ª"


    "WHAT?! Then we''re gonna wake up at 3 at least! FUCK! We should be heading back like right fucking now! C''mon! We''re burning precious hours here!"


    At this point, Quinn was about to drag us back to our vehicle but I managed to hold onto Tatiana''s hand and wake her up. She groggily opened her eyes but she quickly followed behind us and left Jose and Isaac to fend for themselves against the wolves. However, right as we were about to board my Raptor, Quinn looked at me weirdly before pointing at the Impreza I had driven earlier.


    "You, take that back."


    I had never looked so confused, "To the same spot with the Charger?"


    "No, dumbass. You drive that back with us. Trust me, our chef would love to see that being driven after everything that has happened."


    "Oh¡­ right."


    "Yeah."


    With that said, Kaley drove shotgun with me and Iunched the car out of the industrial park,pletely leaving Quinn and Tatiana in the dust. I already knew the way back but it was a sight to see even Quinn''s people lose their shit when the No. 2''s ride pulled up in front of them.


    And yeah, the look on Mr. Ng''s face was fucking priceless and he lost his shit even more when Kaley gave her seat for him. I drove him around right until Quinn almost crashed the gate because of us leaving them, but her expression softened when she saw Mr. Ng smiling brightly for once.


    To bepletely honest with the old dude, I don''t see him as my father figure but in the case that he sees me as a shadow of his son¡ªdue to a few mannerisms and my driving style¡ªI wouldn''t mind it as much.


    Making someone happy just by being myself was rewarding in its own right.


    And speaking on that same topic, I was about to be supper happy from these three people just being themselves in this certain garage¡ªspecifically on the 2nd floor. I already knew that something was up when they weren''t present when Mr. Ng handed me another quarter to drive him around the strip mall again, so I expected to experience something heavenly the moment I ascended the stairs, and I wasn''t even talking about the sex yet.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Not only was our gear already prepared for tomorrow, but we also had another feast cooked for us apanied by our drink of choice be it absinthe, vodka, wine, or just good ol'' chocte milk.


    I instantly turned to Kaley, "You should''ve waited for me so I could''ve helped you!"


    Kaley let out a bright smile as she chuckled, "It''s fine¡ª"


    Quinn and Tatiana protested at the same time, "We''re here too, you know?!


    Tatiana added, "I carried all the food here!"


    "Oh. Thanks too, I guess¡ª"


    Quinn looked like she wanted to receive some praise as well, "I¡­ I prepared the drink, dumbass! Thank me too¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, from picking it up from that fridge a few steps away¡ª"


    "DO YOU WANNA FIGHT OR WHAT?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I''m kidding! I''m kidding! Thanks! This is really great!"


    "HMPH!"


    Without further ado, we easily devoured our meal in under 15 minutes but Quinn still couldn''t believe herself when I opted for this soy chocte milk drink instead of an ice-cold beer. But yeah, I didn''t think they''d even have this drink avable so I easily helped myself with it.


    However, it didn''t take long before a certain silence filled the air as we were just briefly giving each other side nces.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    After a minute or so, a smile slowly crept up our faces then Kaley sat on top of me and nted a huge kiss on my mouth. To my delight, her wine choice blended well with my drink and we tasted each other''s lips until the taste was almost nonexistent.


    We were still clothed at this point but I could see Kaley''s deep cleavage if I look down, but when I nced to the side, I saw Quinn and Tatiana still with their drinks and watching us with a certain look in their eyes. They weren''t even touching themselves¡ªand they weren''t even right next to each other, but they were enjoying the show as much as I was relishing my tasty dessert.


    With that said, Kaley''s lips were the only ones I have direct contact with but her gigantic tits were pressing against my chest while the huge outline of my dick was poking her from below.


    I could feel her hips moving ever so slightly while trying to get as much contact as possible, but it was almost impossible to get a release due to the thick fabric between us. But despite that, we craved that tinge of pleasure we''d feel if we hit the right spot.


    But to everyone''s surprise¡ªespecially me¡ªI felt a warm and wet spot right where the tip of my dick was rubbing against her crotch, and Kaley just started to convulse and twitch, breaking off our kiss so she could breathe easy. However, I kissed her cheek and moved on to her neck, eventuallynding on her deep cleavage that smelled like thebination of her natural sweet scent plus a bit of sweat.


    I couldn''t help but take in a huge whiff while I was giving her kisses and it just made my dick throb even more. Even if Kaley had already orgasmed, she still tried to move her hips¡ªbut she was slightly inching back because of the sensitivity. In turn, I grabbed her big juicy butt and pulled her even closer while she still had a tight grip on the sofa with one hand and my shoulder with the other.


    And as I started to move my hips against her, her cute little moans started to get louder and louder right until she covered her mouth.


    It''s just that I pulled her hand off her face to see her helpless expression but she got too embarrassed and buried her face on my shoulder.


    I dunno why, but Kaley was being super cute at this moment, it was starting to get too much for me. So, I stopped pulling her ass against me and went under her shirt from behind her, and just started to undo her bra that was holding her goodies. And right when I seeded, I felt them drop down for a teensy bit¡ªreleasing her cow tits¡ªand I pulled it off her before I tried to reach for them in my position.


    They''re as firm as they were soft and they were slightly warm to the touch. I had to pull Kaley off of me so I could have a good look, and I had the urge to suck on her pink puffy nipples because they were already fucking hard. And on that note, I sucked on the right one as I pinched the other and it didn''t take long before Kaley let out a sharp gasp as our lower extremities had once again felt wet and warmer.

 Chapter 857 Round-Robin

    ?


    This time, the feeling of wetness was even stronger and Kaley was shaking more intensely. It was a well-known fact that she could cum just from kissing but she would cum even harder just from nipple stimtion. I had never been with someone that was this sensitive¡ªeven more when she was with me¡ªand I was a lucky bastard if I say so myself.


    And in a span of a few minutes, Kaley had already orgasmed twice but for some reason, Quinn and Tatiana were keeping count.


    "That''s twice already~" Quinn said with a voice in a higher register before chuckling with Tatiana.


    The two still had their eyes on us the whole time but Kaley looked like she was out of luck. She was grumbling a little bit as I continued to y with her huge breasts, but she let out an abrupt sigh¡ªlooking unsatisfied¡ªbeforeing off me. However, she pulled out a small tie from her pocket, holding it in her mouth for a moment before fixing her hair, eventually kneeling in front of me as her hands were already reaching for my zipper.


    "There we go~" Quinnughingly quipped as she stared right at me.


    Kaley grumbled as she pulled my dick out, "S-Shut up¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I-It''s not your t-turn yet¡­"


    "I''m next though?"


    "..."


    At this point, Kaley ended the quick banter with Quinn as she locked eyes with me before lowering her head into my cock.


    I instantly felt her warm breath from the tip of my cock before she licked off the precum from the same spot, but it didn''t take long before she took me to the depths of her throat. My knees instantly buckled from the sudden burst of sensations but she reached for my hand and intertwined it with hers. But after that, she made me hold her hair with the other as she started to bob her head up and down¡ªcoiling her tongue around me at the same time¡ªalmost urging me to use her head like a fuck toy.


    And yeah, all it took was a sudden squeeze from her hand¡ªtelling me to do just that¡ªas I forced her head down and pulled it right back up, giving her almost no chance to breathe as my dick was clogging her throat.


    "MmH! GlcK! gLk! GAK! GlcKK! AglCkK!"


    I had no fucking idea what the other two were doing right now but Kaley was still maintaining eye contact with me even though her eyes were already red and watery from fucking her throat. I could''vested much longer if I so wanted but due to the way she was squeezing my hand and due to the way her body was sending me signals, she was this fucking close to cumming so I tried my best to cum at the same time¡ªor anywhere near closer¡ªshe would.


    Without further fucking ado, my whole body just tensed as I exploded right before she was about to go deep, so my cum just poured inside her mouth, filling it to the brim while a few ropes were dripping to the side of her lips and then to her chin.


    Kaley tried her best to take everything in her mouth but I just came too fucking much, I still had a few spurts that werending on her breasts. Even Kaley found it ridiculous¡ªme cumming a bucketload¡ªbut Quinn had already got up and was sticking her tongue down Kaley''s throat.


    Quinn looked like she wanted to steal what Kaley just worked hard for so I grabbed on her head and made her clean me up like the cum-loving vixen she was. She surprisingly didn''t mind sucking my dick instead but Kaley had already gotten up and sat down on Quinn''s spot.


    Kaley still looked like she wanted more and once she was about to put her hand inside her pants, Tatiana threw her a nce and stopped her.


    "That''s not what you said we''d do, correct?"


    "Hnngh¡­"


    At that moment, Kaley stopped what she was about to do but she was still squeezing her thighs together¡ªwhile breathing heavily, trying to get as much stimtion as possible.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With that said, I didn''t even care why they wanted to do that in the first ce and I had no qualms because my dick was being sucked by the Queen herself. And to her delight, my dick was still fucking hard, so once she cleaned me up nicely, she threw me at the same spot I was in before she rode me hard.


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! IT WENT IN JUST LIKE THAT! SHIT! IT''S SCRAPING AGAINST MY¡ª AH! AH! AH! THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! SUCK ON MY FUCKING T-TITS! AH! ANH! MMH! YEAH! YEAH! FUCK! JUST LIKE THAT!"


    At this moment, Quinn''s whole weight was just crashing down on me while she was smothering me with her tits almost twice the size of Kaley''s udders. I was definitely losing air from the way she was almost titfucking my head but if you''d ask anyone, it felt like one of the best ways to die. However, it seemed like Quinn wanted to make full use of me until it was Tatiana''s turn because she let off for a bit before grabbing my hands.


    She screamed as she looked me in the eye while still moving her hips, "WHY AREN''T YOU PLAYING WITH MY BUTTHOLE, HUH?! D''YOU WANT ME TO PLAY WITH YOURS INSTEAD?! I''LL FUCKING DO IT! I''LL FUCKING¡ª"


    And while she was still in mid-sentence, I pushed in as many fingers as I can inside her little butthole before I stretched them open and tried to sink them in a little more. It definitely made her stop fucking talking for a fucking second but boy~ was I fucking wrong.


    Quinn just grumbled that she wanted it to go deeper before she stood up and turned around and bent over, presenting to me her huge ass and gaping holes¡ªand without fucking warning, she shoved my huge dick back inside her meaty cunt before she guided my right hand inside her budding asshole.


    "FUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK~!!!"


    The moment my fist entered her ass, she barely moved her hips before she squirted uncontrobly, almost losing her footing from her bent position.


    I swear I''m a fucking tits guy but the view from her behind almost made me cum then and there. But yeah, feeling my dick slide in her tight cunt with my fist that was just on the other side was fucking nuts when Quinn managed to move her hips up and down. I had never thought that this huntress would fall prey to me and my dick, and she was now making me push in my left hand to where my right was currently in¡ªand if I managed to, I sure as hell would use her ass as a close-grip handle instead of her hips if I wanted to push my dick in even deeper.


    And even though I have some reservations about the pain she might feel if I tried to as I was told, it was just secondary right now because pleasure had already taken over. She said it before, she could take much, much rougher treatment than any woman on the, so I shoved my fist at the same spot without any lubrication.


    At this moment, Quinn''s ass was stretched to its limits but she kept moving her hips so my dick could continue to impale her. She was letting out helpless moans as she melted into the pleasure, and she eventually lost her footing as she was now down on her knees¡ªhead down and ass up¡ªboth holes gaping wide, so I had no choice but to stand above her and plug her hole that wasn''t squirting for the second time.


    And despite my fists up in there a few seconds ago, Quinn just gave me easy ess before she gripped me tight, choking my dick and squeezing off the cream that was from her pussy also a few seconds ago.


    Her screams were muffled by the carpet her head was smushed in but I grabbed her short hair as I was thrusting my hips below her. And once I pulled on them and brought her up on all fours, I started smacking her huge round ass as hard as I could, making it resound all around her garage.


    With that said, even though she came for the third time, Tatiana let me explode in her mouth, letting her slurp and drink all ourbined juices, but unlike Kaley, Quinn managed to take everything in. Her eyes were as red and as teary as Kaley''s when she was cleaning me with her tongue and her mouth, but when Tatiana''s voice entered our ears, it had never made the two so fucking happy.


    "Fuck this round-robin shit, you three are fucking me until I fucking pass out! Clear?"


    And to make the long story short, Kaley was the first one to put on a strapless dildo¡ªalmost making herself cum from doing so¡ªwhile Quinn followed after a short bit, and we fucked Tatiana''s brains out until she passed out on the couch, trembling.


    It didn''t take long before Quinn passed out as well after Kaley and I double-teamed her, but I did prate Kaley''s holes at the same time by fucking her pussy with my dick and shoving the huge-ass dildo in her little asshole. And yeah, I did let her toss my sd for the second time when we cleaned up in the shower and she respected my notion to deny any insertion.


    With that said, the two of us slept soundly on Quinn''s bed while the two passed out in the living room of sorts.


    Then morning came up.

 Chapter 858 Its Just A Prank, Bro!

    ?


    There was one thing that we forgot despite trying to prepare everything beforehand and it was to set a proper rm. However, that didn''t mean that Jesus and his crew did not, so let''s just say that the four of us were literally met with a rude awakening.


    A resounding explosion just came out of nowhere and screaming instantly followed.


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, JESUS?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "I''M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"


    The sudden explosion jolted Kaley and me awake but Quinn screaming at the top of her lungs made us jump from our bed. But right as we were about to rush outside, it only took a fraction of a second before the door to this room swung open, and several smoking packets were thrown inside. And almost immediately, a putrid fucking smell assaulted our noses, and the fucking door was also closed shut.


    A few seconds had just passed but our eyes were watery while we were trying so fucking hard not to throw up, but I pulled on the nket we had and gathered the corners, making a makeshift pouch.


    "Kaley! T-Throw them here!"


    "WHAT?! JUST BUST THE DOOR OPEN!"


    "WE DON''T KNOW WHAT''S OUT THERE!"


    "F-FUCK IT, BLEUUGHH!!! BLEG¡ª I''M RUNNING OUTSIDE!!!"


    "KALEY, NO!!!"


    My original n was to gather the packets and throw them inside the shower room¡ªand somehow douse them with water¡ªbut everything was thrown out the window when Kaley rushed for the door. And yeah, simply running inside the showers and waiting it out was also an option but just the fucking smell from those packets made us think irrationally.


    There was something about using stink as weapons and it was working its fucking wonders.


    However, all of the rms in my head were ringing when Kaley easily opened the door¡ªand something was definitely wrong when Kaley saw the scene from the other side.


    Not only did she backpedal almost immediately, but she also turned to me with an expression I had never seen before.


    If we were home and just messing around, I would''ve run faster than her but even if this ce was Quinn''s domain, it was still unfamiliar territory. Seeing Kaley scared for her life triggered my fight-or-flight response, and Iunched myself outside after grabbing the closest thing I could use as a weapon.


    The first thing I saw was this huge hole where a brick wall with several picture frames was supposed to be, but Quinn was inside several rolls of yoga mats¡ªgetting tightened by resistance bands while Tatiana was fucking missing. Furthermore, Jesus and his crew were all present with a deranged look on their faces, and they all turned to me slowly, looking like they''d eat me alive.


    "FRESH MEAT, BOIS¡ª"


    "WHY''S HIS DICK OUT¡ª"


    "WHAT''S THAT ON HIS HANDS?!"


    But before they had the chance to do anything to me, I dashed and got between everyone and aimed for the ringleader as I smashed a 24-inch dildo with a 10-inch diameter on his fucking face.


    "FUCK¡ª"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Jesus had no fucking way to dodge because I released every bit of killing intent I had and contained it in the circle where everyone else is present, making them fall to their knees or freeze in ce.


    At that point, he flipped in the air due to a huge fucking fake penis and I aimed for the one next to him even if he was already pissing his pants.


    I didn''t even notice that my fingers had already dug into the blunt weapon I was holding, and it ripped from my hand due to how hard I was gripping it, and due to how hard I smacked the living shit out of my immobilized targets.


    In a couple of seconds, I took down their savior plus a little extra but when I turned around to fuck up thest four, two of them managed to snap out of it and were about to jump me from the air while the other two were about to go for my legs. However, I quickly backpedaled like Kaley before I rushed back when the two who were about to perform a jumping attacknded on their feet.


    "SHIT¡ª"


    "WHY''S HE STILL FUCKING HARD?!"


    I was this fucking close to fucking them up but Ipletely forgot that I was still in the nude¡ªsporting a huge fucking morning wood¡ªswinging it around as I took down two of them. It made me stop in my tracks but they took it as the chance to get back at me. However, Tatiana just came from the huge hole in the wall and I didn''t even know how she fucking did it, and boy I''m gonna tell all of you that she had never looked so pissed.


    Dust and debris were present on her hair and face; by the looks of it, she looked like she went through hell and back just for this little "prank" they put us on. However, I just noticed that her fists were already bruised¡ªmeaning that she probably took down Meg who was also missing.


    ''Shit. This is gonna get out of hand real quick¡ª''


    But before we did anything that could cause permanent damage, I slipped, slid, and dodged the iing attacks towards me, and I got in between them¡ªrevealing Tatiana''s presence and current intention. Because if looks could literally kill, everyone present would have been dead already.


    It''s just that Tatiana was really aiming to do just that so I held her down and tried to calm her down.


    "Easy, now¡ª"


    "THEY PULLED ME OUT OF THE BUILDING!!!"


    "Huh?"


    "THEY TIED ME TO THE COUCH WHILE I WAS SLEEPING AND THEY BLEW THE WALL THEN PULLED ME OUT WITH IT!"


    "Oh."


    "IS THAT ALL YOU''RE GONNA FUCKING SAY?!"


    And at this point, I chuckled as I kept my boner and cracked my knuckles and my neck.


    "Yeah~ Fuck it, let''s just break a few unneeded bones so we get to punish them moreter."


    Tatiana cracked her knuckles as well as she began to release her own brand of killing intent, "Agreed."


    "Uh-oh," the four just gulped at the same time before a look of dread appeared on their faces.


    Long story short, we didn''t actually go hard on our would-be tour guides that we actually offended for not waking up at the right time, but let''s just say that we found flesh sheathes for Quinn''s huge-ass toy collection.

 Chapter 859 [Bonus ] Responsibility - Youre All Seeing That Shit, Right?

    ?


    At 6:30 in the morning, the gate eventually opened for us and we drove out using our Raptor¡ªtrailing behind Jesus and his crew¡ªwho had the station wagon at the front followed by random-ass sedan and SUV. I couldn''t even identify the base model of their vehicles at this point because they were customized to the point that they were basically franken-cars.


    With that said, themunications channel we were in had never been used because we still had a slight headache due to smelling something so fucking foul while they were still sore due to taking in something so fucking big. But yeah, Jose and Isaac were a little worse than us because it seemed like they were dragged into this huge weing party for Jesus and his crew and they barely had a wink of sleep.


    "Ughhh¡­ Never again¡­" Isaac groaned from the back.


    "Tough night?"


    "Bro¡­ Those guys¡­ Those guys can fucking drink, I tell ya¡­ And you HAVE to pass out LIKE fucking pass out before they leave you alone¡­"


    "How''d you two survive?"


    Jose answered, "We hid in Jesus'' station wagon, covered ourselves with¡ª Ughh¡­ Fuck my head¡­ we uhh¡­ We covered ourselves with this shitty nket and we had to endure hearing him and Meg having wild sex in the front seat and boy they made fucking use of the gear shift¡ª"


    Isaac interjected after taking a pill for his headache, "Brooo¡­ you should''ve heard her moans¡ª Fuck~ It was so¡ª"


    I tried to wave him off, "That''s enough, dude. Both of you: get some sleep while we''re on the road, I''ll wake you up when we arrive."


    "Really?"


    "Yep."


    "Fuckin'' A, thanks!"


    At that moment, it didn''t even take a second before the two copsed on the back, and even if the four of us had the vehicle to ourselves once again, no one tried to do anything because our noses were basically sniffing the fuck out of the perfume Kaley brought.


    However, it didn''t take long before we drove into this small town of sorts¡ªthe first of the few stops we had to go through¡ªthat had a small crew that belong to the De Leon Family.


    They were inside this radio station of sorts that had decent walls and a nice vantage point provided by the tall antenna tower. It didn''t look like it was self-sustainable but due to how close it was to their main HQ, a simple resupply or run back was very easy to do.


    With that said, Jesus nonchntly used his horn to try and announce our presence and they returned with a few beeps of their horn before a couple of people started to approach the gate. And once they met eyes with Jesus'' crew and our group, their eyes just grew wide when they saw Quinn step out of my vehicle.


    "Ah¡ª Mornin''! W-Wanna have some coffee¡ª"


    Quinn quickly shut the person down, "We''re good," then she turned to Jesus, "What are we doing here again?"


    Jesus answered while he was already holding a box of various supplies, "We''rete. Might as well do this on the way. At the rate we''re going, we''ll probably reach the springs in four¡ªmaybe five hours."


    "Cheh," Quinn rolled her eyes but didn''t say much.


    Jesus handed over the box to the person they were speaking to, "Here ya go. Anyway, anything we should be careful of?"


    The guy chuckled at the question, "Dude, it''s only been half a day since you stopped by."


    "So?"


    "Huh?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "A lot can happen in that timeframe."


    I nodded inwardly, ''True.''


    The guy eventually scratched his head, "Well~ The cameras haven''t picked up on anything, and the traps we set still weren''t triggered yet so it''ll probably be quiet in this front until you know, something happens further out."


    "I see¡ª"


    "Oh! Wait, there IS something."


    "Hmm? What is¡ª"


    "Why the fuck do you look like you got a stick up your ass? Like literally! You look¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    At that moment, Jesus tried to shut him up by covering his mouth but Quinn just straight up started dyingughing as everyone else from Jesus'' crew looked like they puckered their but and failed because of thesting damage that we did.


    I thought we''d lounge around for a bit more but Jesus quickly drove ahead of us to save some face. But after a few miles or so, the same guy started to broadcast what he uncovered to the channels avable, and it was the first time I noticed that Jesus failed to shift properly.


    But looking at the road we were driving currently, it seemed like the dead were nonexistent but each town we''d pass by looked like a ghost town due to the number of people living in them. We drove into a few more outposts¡ªpretty much in the same state as the first one¡ªbut we did have to stop for a bit in one of them because a few of their crew had medical problems we could solve and remedy.


    And to add to that, Jesus looked more and more responsible than he looked cause he made sure everyone had a fair cut of the supplies they brought, everyone was fucking healthy, their vehicles were in working condition, the threat outside was minimal, etc.


    ''Was Quinn just leading by pure tyranny? I mean, the engines she''s building could save everyone a lot of trouble in the future but the pedestal I put her in was starting to get lower and lower¡­''


    I just shook my head from creating that train of thought because even Logan was a fucking single digit. I haven''t met this Jordan guy and that Lucy chick too but I''m thinking that they had a lot of responsibility on their shoulders because they''re probably running a much more important outpost than the ones we stopped by.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before our peaceful ride¡ªrtively speaking¡ªturned into something disturbing when we stopped by one of those rest stops along the road where people on long bus rides can kick it off for a bit or something simr.


    Jesus'' voice was heard on the radio.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You''re all seeing that shit, right?]


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 860 Irregular Rest Stop - Remember, No Russian.

    ?


    Just a bit of a refresher: if I ever go out with my crew to do whatever, we make sure to take down any forming hordes, infestations, and the like¡ªeven picking off any stragglers we''de across. And if we''re blessed with the time and some extra gasoline, we''d pile them on top of one another then we''d light them up so they''d turn into cinders.


    But bringing it back to our current situation, it looked like Jesus and his crew hade across this rest stop before.


    It''s just that in this instance, I was thankful that they didn''t clear it of deadheads or so I thought.


    Kaley was the first one to speak up amidst the slight confusion, "They''re¡­ They''re dead, right?"


    At this point, Tatiana and Quinn just silently nodded but we heard Jesus'' voice from the radio a second time.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yo, you guys hearing me?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We do, we do. What the fuck is that ce?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [A rest stop?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You fucking¡ª Good one, I''ll give you that. But what the fuck are they doing?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Being¡­ normal, I guess? It''s fuckin'' weird, I know. We came across this ce a lot of times and the ones who wander in start to do what the freakin'' Romans inside do.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    No one said another word after that but what we''re seeing was far from the word "normal".


    We''ve seen deadheads do irregr behavior but we''ve never seen such a huge group well, for theck of a better term, act "normal".


    It was because the rest stop in question had deadheads in a line "waiting" for the next bus, "watching" the shops they were in, "sitting" on the tables with their orders, "wiping" the ss panes with their tools, "squatting" in a corner and "chatting" amongst themselves, "peeing" in a random private-ish wall, etc.


    The ce looked like any regr rest stop anyone would drive by but they were totally inhabited by rotting corpses that weren''t even trying to find their next meal.


    What''s disturbing was that even if their motor functions weren''t all there, anyone could see that they were somehow emting what they were doing from their past lives.


    Anyhow, we were still a good distance away from the rest stop in question so we went outside our vehicles without turning off our engines. Furthermore, I fetched thest drone I had on hand while Tatiana and Kaley went ahead and set up a small perimeter for us. Granted every deadhead in the immediate vicinity was already inside the rest stop, it wouldn''t hurt to be extra careful.


    "What are you¡ª"


    "I''ll fly it around once to get some footage¡­"


    "Oh? Take your time then," Jesus said as he was about to light his used cigarette.


    Luckily enough, the rest stop wasn''t enclosed in a single roof so I had easy ess navigating my drone around it. And like how it looked from our perspective, there were deadheads around that were either employees or people that were doing the same thing in the other facilities further in.


    However, right as I flew around the 2nd floor of this fast food joint that had ss windows, every deadhead inside took notice of my drone and they all just stood up and stood side by side¡ªheads turning in the same direction my drone was flying to.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    It made the next few seconds a little disturbing but when they eventually came back to their stations because they didn''t even care about my drone flying around for the second time. Furthermore, only that particr ce took notice of my drone taking a stroll and gathering footage because everything else inside their little territory was busy "functioning" as usual.


    So once I got enough footage, I brought my drone back and turned to Jesus as I was putting it back in the case, "Since when has that ce been¡­ like that?"


    Jesus shrugged, "I''m not entirely sure but it''s been a few months at least."


    Tatiana interjected, "Have you tried going near them or shooting them?"


    "We¡­ We went near to try and lure them out but they never leave that ce for whatever reason. We''ve encountered deadheads that hunker down in a specific ce like that but they rush you the moment they get near, not the other way around."


    I nodded, "Yeah, we''ve encountered a nest of sprinters like that pretty early on¡­"


    "Sprinters? Fuck, you guys must be pretty experienced with them, getting away¡ª"


    "Getting away? No, we cleared that ce and discovered a dead toddler that could say words¡­"


    "Don''t¡­ Stop. I can handle regr zombs just fine but if they''re that young, I can''t even imagine¡­"


    "My bad, my bad¡­"


    At that point, Jesus shared a few bits of stories from their travels while I was reviewing the footage I just caught. It involved some of the weirdest and most disturbing shit I''ve heard to the most fucked up and dumb shit we''ve also encountered.


    Being on the road pretty much their whole lives was pretty difficult in this scenario because practically living in your vehicle was already hard even before the world ended, imagine living the "Van Life" when pretty much anything that walked outside was a potential flesh eater.


    Jesus flicked off his cigarette butt, "So, what''s your n for that thing?"


    "It looks to me that it''s like an irregr infestation of sorts but looking at the disy on some of the stands and the state of some of the vehicles present¡ªas obvious as this would sound, it was formed after some time."


    "Haa?"


    I scratched the back of my head, "I mean¡ªI''m just saying, people have probably picked that ce clean or even used it as a base of sorts but my bet is that a special deadhead was making them act like that. It''s just that its main purpose wasn''t to infect the uninfected but to do as is, like what they were doing before."


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "It''s always a given that zombie was programmed to attack the living¡ªspecial or not¡ªbut the question is, where''s the deadhead that''s responsible? The obvious answer is that it''s probably inside their zone but how sure are we that they''re not gonna pounce on us the moment we enter it? You said that you guys tried to lure them out but you never told me if you tried to drive inside."


    "That''s true¡ª"


    Quinn interjected after rolling her eyes, "The question should be, do you want to clear that ce or not? Acting normal or not, they''re still undead. They shouldn''t be ''living'' in the first ce, right?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "So? Are we gonna shoot first or drive out? We''re burning precious daylight here!"


    At that point, Quinn''s words rang true because even if the deadheads we were witnessing right now were moving like normal humans, they were still meat bags that should be put down andid to rest. It was the only form of respect we could give to these things because if we try and leave them alone just because of things that shouldn''t matter, it could be another sort of problem we have to fix in the future that we should''ve fixed at this moment.


    With that said, Kaley and I brought our rifles out¡ªafter driving at a much safer distance¡ªso we could pick some of them off and see how would they react. But yeah, Jesus and his crew looked like they doubted we could pop heads this far but we didn''t say much and let our rifles do the talking.


    Then Kaley tapped me, "Shouldn''t we wake Jose up too?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "I-I''m awake, what are we doing again?"


    "Terrorism."


    "Hah?"


    "Remember, no Russian."


    Tatiana added to the confusion, "Wut¡ª Nevermind, I''m not gonna even ask¡­"


    We waited for Jose to get ready but there was a certain quietness when the three of us were lining our shots. And yeah, it didn''t take long before each of us sent a lead trajectory through a deadhead''s skull but the reactions we received weren''t from shooting from this distance but because of how everyone else in the rest stop reacted from losing three of their own.


    I thought for sure that the defensive mechanism of the one controlling them would make everyone else rush to our direction but they fucking didn''t.


    We can see through our scopes how the ones closest to the victims duck down for cover, run away, crouch to a fetal position, etc., while everyone else tried to get out of dodge. But yeah, the ones wandering outside their zone instantly hobbled to our direction but the ones who identally walked into their circle of influence abruptly turned and tried to take cover.


    Kaley and Jose wasted no time to pick off anything that shouldn''t be moving but I once again reached for my drone to get some precious footage. I could''ve asked Isaac¡ªwho just woke up¡ªto drive it for me but I won''t trust myst drone to someone who might just crash it the moment I gave him the controller.

 Chapter 861 Feeling Like The Bad Guy For Once

    ?


    My drone had only flown a few feet above the air as I saw Kaley turn her head and scan around for unwanted stragglers, and she basically made everyone else involuntarily take cover in fear of being gged. It was one thing to get gged by a random gun barrel but it was fucking something else if you somehow got gged by a gun barrel that rarely missed its shot.


    ''I guess shooting well above 100 meters is already godly for them¡­ But yeah, it is impressive though¡­''


    And at that point, we only heard a short exhale before three suppressed shots came one after the other, and I didn''t even need to check if the victims were alive.


    But the same couldn''t be said for Jose''s case because the ones he was aiming at had already ducked for cover¡ªthough he still made some shot that either hit or made him curse in his breath.


    I decided to give him a little bone, "Green dumpster. The ck bag with a straw poking out."


    Jesus turned to me confused, "Huh?"


    "Do you see it or not?"


    "I do, but¡ª"


    "Shoot the bag¡ª"


    I thought we''d have to go back and forth for a bit but I was cut off mid-sentence as Jose pulled the trigger and shot through the bag and the cowering deadhead behind it. It seemed like the degree of trust he had in me increased a little bit more because any sane person that didn''t know me as well would almost always question my actions¡ªor in this case, my order.


    With that said, I was the only one who saw a stter made up of fast-food and grey matter that was obviously in various states of decay, but it didn''t take long before I pointed out a few more spots that he could use a wall hack¡ªme and my drone¡ªto do terrorism.


    "Fruit stand that had the banana logo¡ª"


    "You nailed it."


    "Public bathroom door that''s ajar by the¡ª"


    "Hold right¡ª you got it."


    "The butt part of that inting thingamajig that would il around¡ª"


    "You got that? Good on ya¡ª"


    Jose turned to me briefly while trying to hide a smirk, "Where else?"


    "Getting cocky now, huh?" I chuckled as I said, "Alright, 2nd window to the right of that chewed-up holiday tree¡ª"


    Right as I was cut off in the middle of my sentence again, I for sure thought that Jose would nail the target but the sound I heard at that moment didn''te from his rifle. Turns out, Kaley had run out of targets to put down without aiming upwards, so she started to join in our little activity.


    Kaley had a faster time locating the spots I was pointing out but I suddenly stopped rying information when I saw the ones we put downe back to life. Not necessarilye back to life likee back to life but like¡ª you know, you probably got the picture.


    My group had already encountered this bunch before so we didn''t say much as we packed up and got ready to storm the capitol.


    I was happy that my group caught on to what I was trying to do because looking at Jesus, Quinn, and their crew''s reactions, it seemed like it was the first time they saw a group of deadheads that needed more than a long-range lobotomy.


    Granted they probably did already¡ªunbeknownst to them¡ªbecause the Stitcher/Slurper would almost always be close and be put down immediately or the body would almost always get ripped to shreds, rendering it unable to move, they never had the chance to see them get picked off from afar and be given the time to activate the effects of the green mushroom.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Jesus'' eyes lit up, "We''re finally leaving?"


    "Nope."


    "Then¡ª"


    "We''re going in. Our bullets can only do so much if we''re facing that type so it would be better to dismember a few limbs so anyone that passes by that ce is safe. You guys could probably help us with that, right?"


    Meg spoke up and tried to protest, "Hey! It''s not like¡ª"


    But Quinn cut her off, "That''s much better. It''s getting old watching someone shoot something I can''t even fucking see. I''ll have a great workout before I soak in the springs."


    I waved them off, "Alright, alright¡­ Here''s how we deal with them¡­"


    After a brief exnation, we drove only a few meters away from the main entrance of the rest stop before Tatiana jumped down with me. Kaley and Jose will still be required to hold their rifles and watch out for outside interference while I ordered Isaac to man the drone and be our eyes from above.


    Quinn obviously will being with us with Jesus and some of his crew, leaving a few people to watch their cars. This time, we all turned off our engines because no one was allowed to leave this ce until everyone inside this stop wasid to rest.


    ''3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡ª''


    Right from the get-go, I rushed in with my de drawn and I liberated a zombie of its head and its right shoulder¡ªalong with its right arm¡ªbefore I lopped off what was left of its counterpart, and everything else that came with it.


    It was in the process of turning around when I came down on it so right when its upper body fell to the floor, I had enough time for a third sh to bisect what was left of its torso and separate its legs.


    With that said, my de easily passed through its creaky bones and tainted bits though I had to pull straight instead of redirecting the flow back or else I''d hit the concrete floor. However, I used the same pulling motion to ready my body for a lunging thrust that was aimed at thisnky deadhead that was trying to get away.


    In a split second, I was several feet away from my original position but as I moved from one ce to the other, I twisted my hand that was holding my de to perform a change-up from a thrust to the back of its head to a low chop aimed just above its right knee.


    It was because even if it wasn''t one of the deadheads that stood up after taking a shot to the head, I''m pretty sure it would still get up even if I lopped its head off. So, I opted to disable everything and everyone I''d face inside this area, and chopping off 90% of its right leg made it stumble and fall down.


    At this point, this deadhead was a sitting duck but I drew my .22 pistol and shot its head while it was trying to cover its face with its arms. I should''ve aimed for the back of its head to disable its movement for a few seconds earlier but we''d just chalk it up to experience.


    But yeah, it had never felt so off to off a deadhead that looked like it was begging for its life¡ªnasty fluids leaking out, skin rotten and discolored, and random organs missing from its body. Furthermore, I didn''t think that I''d ever cut down deadheads that were trying to get away from me because most of the time, their chewed-up fingers and their fucked up teeth were racing to get a little pinch or nibble out of me, and we all were practically looking like the bad guys after this initial advance.


    It didn''t take long before Tatiana offered to dismember the bodies with her axe because Quinn and I were already doing most of the grunt work. I was clearing bodies in a methodical manner while Quinn was basically wreaking havoc with her rush.


    Even Jesus opted out of our advance and he insisted on just collecting the limbs and torso we left on the ground so he could make the most cursed bonfire with flesh logs and sticks.


    But right as I turned the first corner, I saw more deadheads trying to get inside the buildings that they had ess to¡ªeven if their bodies were getting sliced up by the broken ss shards or getting caught up between the barricaded entrances¡ªbut to our surprise, there were actually deadheads that tried to stand up against us.


    ''Oh?''


    Those deadheads were actually the few who were wearing ragged security uniforms¡ªthough there were also a handful who looked fairly "decent" or the ones who were wearing the pants in the family¡ªbut they were still regr ol'' deadheads as regr deadheads go, so they just made our job easier for us, even though this situation was still weirding me the fuck out.


    But yeah, Quinn couldn''t give much of a fuck about the dead as she swung her huge-ass weapon at full force, be it something that was trying to take her down or something that was trying to block her way toward an entrance because like we said before, they were already dead.

 Chapter 862 Special-Special - The Tacoma Stigma

    ?


    Since everything that shouldn''t be moving outside was either dismembered or had gone into hiding, Quinn went full "Redrum" and almost shouted the phrase that was meme''d to shit whenever someone was trying to forcefully break a door open. And since every deadhead inside didn''t bother to put up a fight, everything else was just so fucking one-sided, I jokingly thought of changing teams to tick her off.


    But yeah, joking aside, I kept close with my gun in hand because, at the end of the day, all it''ll take was a lucky deadhead to somehow get a hit in and Quinn would be permanently changing uniforms.


    It''s just that when we were halfway into clearing the 3rd building Quinn busted into, the deadheads left inside who were "cowering" in fear suddenly dropped down like puppets who got their strings cut.


    "Huh?" Quinn looked at me confused after she forcefully stopped her swing.


    I didn''t answer as I pulled up my radio and contacted our group outside.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey, did any of you nail it?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Huh?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nail what?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "The ones controlling them. Did anyone nail it?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You''re the only ones picking them off.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We''re also busy here stacking these things up.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Huh?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Something wrong?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What happened over there?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Is it just this building or did every deadhead in this rest stop suddenly drop dead? We sure as hell didn''t kill the Stitcher, Sentry, or whatever the fuck''s controlling them so that''s why I''m asking everybody if they just nailed it or what."


    *bzzt*


    -


    At that moment, no one replied as they seemed to have started to check out everything that Quinn and I haven''t been to though Quinn started to chop up the now lifeless corpses in front of us. She stopped at thest one because she thought that we should''ve dismembered them outside¡ªfor easier transportation¡ªbut I told her that it was fine because what if the dead spring back to life again?


    Quinn nodded pensively, "That''s¡­ Yeah, that makes sense."


    "That''s what I would do if I was one of them."


    "Huh?"


    "You know, confuse them by turning the shit off then turning it back on thatst second then boom! Meat''s back on the menu bois~ You know¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Quinn?"


    She eventually shook her head, "I''m surprised at myself that I understood that¡­ Yeah¡­ I''m breaking new ground today."


    "Heh."


    With that said, we were informed that each and every deadhead in this zone was no longer a threat but their ringleader of sorts was fucking missing. We spent the better part of a couple of hours clearing each building and making sure that no stone was left unturned but there were no signs of a co-star of a hentai flick or a pineapple that held dominion over corpses.


    It didn''t take long before we set alight the flesh bonfire Jesus and the rest put up, but he approached me after making sure it had enough gas to burn them to cinders.


    "Hey man, we still haven''t found whatever it is that''s making them do stuff, right?"


    "Yeah. Why do you ask?"


    "W-Well, it''s either the eye one or the tongue one but is there a chance that it could be both? You know, since some of them still stood up after taking them down while some stragglers that probably didn''t have contact with this group were influenced to do the same thing that they were doing."


    I nodded a few times as I nced at him, "Like a two-for-one deal?"


    "Yeah, something like that¡ª"


    Quinn interjected, "Or they could be a pair working together."


    Jesus and I nodded as he said, "That could also work¡­"


    Isaac came up from behind, "But where could it be hiding? Is it even in here? I was flying the drone from above and there''s no way I could''ve missed it¡ª Kaley too! There''s no way she could not have seen a deadhead scampering away unless it chose a route that''s on her blindside¡ªbut again, the drone could''ve seen it!"


    Jose added, "Yeah, unless it''s just a head that''s buried somewhere¡ª"


    I waved him off, "No, a Sentry should see a living target first before it sends the deadheads in its influence to it."


    "We aren''t even sure if that''s the extent of what it could do."


    "Ah¡ª That is true but we''re just ying off what we know about them. But yeah, it''s either two specials working together or just special-special that had the Sentry and the Stitcher''s attributes¡­ Plus and/or teleportation or invisibility¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Tough crowd. Anyway, we''ll chalk it up as a mystery for now but we all should keep an eye out."


    "Sure."


    "Agreed."


    With that said, we did try tob the ce for anything that we might have a use for and we actually found 3 packs of AA batteries, two shlights, loose ammo, spent casings, some water, assorted canned goods, different kinds of toiletries, etc. along with bags that had more random stuff like a change of clothes, pocket knives, or other means of identification.


    And yeah, since we were already at a rest stop and it was fairly close to noon, we thought of catching a small break and having some bite to eat.


    We obviously brought our own food but Chef Ng packed us some lunch that was filling and it was gone after only a few minutes of everyone else sitting down around it. Our group was already driving away from the rest stop we just cleared after 15 minutes of rest, and even though some shots were fired, we didn''t encounter a lot of stragglers that got attracted by it.


    Then Tatiana tapped me from behind, "Are we there yet?"


    "Hmm? Oh, I''m kinda familiar with the area but let''s just say we''re halfway there."


    "Oh."


    "Probably 3 or so hours if we don''t make emergency stops¡ª"


    Quinn interjected, "Hold up, what''s that spot over there?"


    Everyone in our vehicle was just about to turn to where Quinn was referring to but our radio buzzed at the exact same moment.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t.]


    *bzzt*<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hmm?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t. That truck that had those shiny rims that looked like it had a lot of supplies at the back?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s just 15 minutes of disappointment. Trust me.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then Quinn replied instead of me.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Like what Meg''s been saying each time she had sex with you?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ask the two dumbasses at the back of my station wagonst night. They heard everything Meg¡ª Ack! Ow! Meg! Stop hitting me! I''m the one fucking driving¡ª YOU FUCKING ENJOYED YOURSELF! THE FUCK ARE YOU¡ª DON''T HIT MY NUTS!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, Quinn just started dyingughing while Jose and Isaac couldn''t disagree with Jesus'' earlier statement, but I think we were missing the point.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "But Jesus, that''s a fairly new truck, right? We can¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s a fucking Ta, who would want that?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Umm¡­ I would?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Haaah?! You must be kidding, right?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "It''s actually one of the prizes we won from winning the gamesst time¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHAHAHA!!! IT WAS?! OH MY FUCKING GOD, A TACOMA OUT OF ALL¡ª Damn~ Mr. Cuervo''s probably drunk when he did that. But yeah, you like what you like.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "So¡­ Aren''t we gonna try and take a look? We have some gas and we could hotwire it?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You serious?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "If it runs, it can run? We can trade it for more shit if we stop by the university or the DDR Campter¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I guess we''re making another stop. Oi! Brix! Michelle! We''re bringing the Ta with us!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAAAAAH?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Will it still fucking work?! I shot at it a couple of times when we passed by it!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [IT WOULD COZ'' YOU PROBABLY MISSED!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, we turned around and drove close to this Ta that was abandoned by this small farmhouse of sorts, and we performed the necessary procedures before trying to jump the car.


    I easily cleared the small trail of zombies following us from behind while the others circled around the farmhouse for any surprises.


    With that said, we eventually discovered that the vehicle we were trying to take with us sustained a bit of external damage but it could still run okay. And surprisingly enough, the biggest issue we had to face was who the fuck would drive this vehicle because everyone else in Jesus'' crew was fucking against it.


    Jesus suggested the most obvious solution, "Quinn. You''re the one who led us to it, drive it!"


    "Hah? I just asked what it was but *pointing at me* he was the one who suggested we take it back!"


    Isaac raised his hand, "I can drive it?"


    Everyone else looked at him, "You will?"


    "Yeah?"


    "You poor soul¡ª"


    At this point, the problem would have already been solved but Jesus walked up to him with a solemn expression before giving him a prayer. It almost made Isaac back out of fear but Jose eventually relented and decided to apany him.

 Chapter 863 Cruz, Jim, And The Steep Hill

    ?


    Our four-vehicle convoy had now be a five-vehicle one but we had an agreement with Jesus'' group that the Ta should be driving at the back for everyone''s safety. At that moment, I remembered a huge recall of Tas having issues but almost all of them arose from high-mileage ones.


    ''But yeah¡­ the total''s more than the average for mid-sized trucks¡­ But it''s still fairly new though¡­''


    I began having second thoughts about the vehicle we repossessed but I made up my mind about trading it in for something better or of equal valueter.


    With that said, aside from picking off stray deadheads we''d encounter, the road we were traversing was rtively safe until we reached towns that had survivors that weren''t affiliated with the De Leon Family.


    However, Jesus pretty much knew these people because they were all around the area¡ªvisiting them much morepared to their rtives even before the world ended¡ªand he knew what to do on their "tollgates".


    And after passing through most of them without issue, we came across a small town that had a small group of survivors we could easily take down with our numbers if they tried something funny. But since we were literally letting Jesus take the wheel, we found out that¡ªlike in the real world¡ªwe''d have more use for people if we let them live as long as we knew what they needed.


    I know that it''s the apocalypse and all but I was inclined with Jesus'' methods.


    Jesus jauntily stepped out of his station wagon and greeted the "guards" who were basically holding a checkpoint with mid weapons, "Hello~ Is Mr. Cruz here? We''ve brought some things you might like or need so we''d like to sweeten the pot if you''d let us have ''safer'' passage, if you know what I mean?"


    ''Safer?''


    The short and stout guy wiped his face shakily before replying, "H-He''s here but what are you trading? Y-You got some ''spice'' in there?"


    Jesus shook his head, "Not today, sorry. The stock''s a little¡­ tight. But yeah, we have that Ta at the back up for grabs plus some random shit we managed to liberate from this rest stop you told us about before¡­ Is Mr. Cruz sleeping or do we need to¡ª"


    "I can call himter but the toll will be double if you don''t have anything to¡ª"


    Jesus cut him off, "Fine. I''ll check my stash again but I''m telling you to stop taking, it''s bad for your¡ª"


    "D-Don''t tell me what I should and s-shouldn''t take! I-I-I can take it alright?!"


    "Easy, easy~ I just might have the right one for ya¡­ Calm down, okay?"


    At that moment, Jesus turned around with a bitter expression but instead of checking his ''stash'' like he told the guy he was speaking to, he made his way to me.


    "Hey man. I hate to ask you but do you have something that you know¡­ can make it easier for a bit then make it fucking shitty the moment it fades?"


    I replied, "Drugs?"


    "They call it ''spice'' over here. It could be anything, really."


    "I thought you have a stash of some sort? Why are you asking me? D''you think I have drugs on me?"


    Jesus was a little taken aback, "N-No man, I was just¡ª I''m saving myst batch of weed and it''s a little¡­ you know? I know a ce where I could get some but I dunno when I''m gonna need it so I''m looking for more options. Can you help a brother out?"


    I shook my head as I looked back at Jesus, "I have a small bottle of Morphine and a tincture''s worth of Mad Honey."


    "Morphine? You still have those?! Wait, what''s Mad Honey?"


    "I only have a bottle of Morphine and we need it for emergencies so I''m leaning on giving you the Mad Honey. And yeah, Mad Honey is¡­ honey that could make you numb and hallucinate if you take more than a tablespoon¡ª"


    "We''ll take the honey! They probably don''t know what the fuck it was so they''ll be fucking curious! And you''re right, we''ll need the morphine for medical emergencies¡­ We can''t just find them lying around anywhere¡­ Don''t worry, I''ll pay it back with whatever you''d want for the Woody''s blueprint! I give you my word!"


    With that said, I handed over the small bottle of Mad Honey Sal gave to while Jesus exchanged it with an IOU, but once he presented the ''spice'' to the troll guarding the passage, he was sent away to offer more. I thought for sure that junkies would do anything for something unknown but the guy wanted a dash more of whipped cream on his supposed dessert.


    I was about ready to give a handful of painkillers¡ªor the bottle of Morphine¡ªjust to get it over with but Jesus didn''te back to me and just took out hisst batch of Marijuana, and handed it over to the guard.


    The guy was failing at hiding this smirk on his face as he took the offerings, but the moment Jesus and his crew were let in, the same fucking guy stood in front of my Raptor while wearing a nasty look on his face.


    "Who the fuck are ya guys? I know Jesus over there but you''re definitely new. If you don''t know¡ª"


    Jesus quickly stepped out of his station wagon, "Hey! They''re with us! The fuck are you doing that for¡ª"


    "SHUT UP! MOVE ALONG OR WE''LL WASTE YA! CAN''T YOU SEE THAT I''M¡ª GCKH! WHAT THE¡ª ARGCHK! ACK! FAK! GRCK!"


    "WASTE WHO, SHORT BITCH?!" Quinn shouted at the top of her lungs as she was already beating the guy senselessly.


    To be honest, I would''ve done the same thing for the tant audacity of that bitch, but Quinn was just a fraction of a second faster than me. I know that this ce was their territory and all but I wouldn''t ept getting bled dry by a 4''9'''' midget that wasn''t even this ce''s head honcho.


    And yeah, I waited a good 20 seconds before breaking up the fight¡ªor should I say the one-sided beatdown, and we were granted safe passage plus the items he took from us. It was because the guy''s partner had to call it in and summon their leader of sorts that definitely looked so fed up with the hobbit''s antics.


    Jesus still tried to apologize in Quinn''s stead, "Hey, sorry about that. We didn''t know that he was just ying and¡ª"


    The ''Cruz'' guy waved him off, "No, no. It''s all good. It''s his own damn fault for that beating, he''ll be back to shoveling horse shit after that. Anyway, we can offer you guys free lodging or something if you ever drop by again but I''m sorry, we''re not taking the Ta."


    "Huh? Why? It''s pretty much brand-new. You guys could use another vehicle, right?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "No, we''re good. Thanks anyway. Don''t you guys have somewhere to go?"


    "Kicking us out so soon? How''s Diane and the kids?"


    The Cruz guy shook his head, "Same as thest time you asked."


    "Ah¡­"


    "Jesus, I know you mean well and I appreciate it but I''m tired and still have so much to do. We''ll catch up properly next time, alright? Don''t worry about Jim, it''s his own fault for pissing off Quinn. He''s just too fucking dumb to realize who he was talking to."


    "Alright, man. Keep safe, and I promise I''ll bring some beer next time we stay for the night!"


    "Yeah, yeah¡­"


    After a few minutes, we were back on the road after leaving that small town but Jesus quickly spoke on the radio after we were a fair distance away.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We''re so fucking lucky Cruz is in a good mood.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "He''s in a good mood?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yep. That guy''s a psycho when he gets a good night''s sleep. He would''ve hacked Jim to death if he wasn''t tired.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Huh."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Anyway~ Just don''t actually take his offer of staying the night. I''m just being courteous but the guy''s fucking scary. I don''t mess with scary unless I have to.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Noted."


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, we continued the drive with the wonderful view despite the rotting corpsesying by the side of the road or totaled wrecks that had bodies that shouldn''t be moving or parts that should be attached somewhere. We still drove into towns that were either empty or had people that wanted to do nothing with us, but as we continued on, the area was getting more and more familiar.


    The road in these parts was starting to get narrow and narrow but it didn''t take long before we started to ascent a steep road that was ten times more dangerous. The number of wrecked cars and ttened corpses at the bottom were already a red g but Jesus and his crew just strolled in like it was a normal Tuesday.

 Chapter 864 Ligaya Rd. - Seb And Company

    ?


    In less than a minute, we were on a steep climb with our vehicles on Ligaya Road¡ªthat meant Happiness Road in English¡ªbut considering what happened around this area, it was theplete and total opposite.


    The immediate vicinity looked like an aftermath of a protest or a rally. And instead of garbage or whatever signage they brought littering the ground, it was reced with headless corpses that were either getting feasted on by flies and maggots or slowly turning into the most fucked up jerky due to the heat of the sun.


    Despite that, the view on this climb could still be immacte if we looked to our left because the Taal Volcano and itske were still present in all its glory. I even went there once in one of the field trips we had at school but that was a story for another time.


    ''It''s one of the few things left untouched though¡­ Still beautiful¡­''


    With that said, our ascent has been pretty much uneventful but seeing the ce we''d end up in if we''re careless could already get our hearts racing. It was because the road up this hill wasn''t just a steep climb, but it also came with tight corners and uneven passages where one mistake could be fatal.


    But yeah, there was only one thing more dangerous than climbing this hill and it was descending it.


    ''And those heads rolling down are¡ª Huh?! Why is¡ª''


    While I was still trying to monologue, close to a hundred heads just started rolling from a tight curve and down into the ravine, though a few managed to get bumped randomly, roll safely, or something that can''t be exined properly and somehow "survived". However, what came after those heads were a small group that looked like they were between the ages of 16-25.


    They were frantically trying to save every single head that was still in the process of rolling down, but they had the same look I had when I dropped an overloaded stuffed-crust pizza, an XXXL chocte shake, and a bucket of fries on the floor on my "bulking" days.


    Then our radio buzzed.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Geez, those cadets are fucked.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You know them?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Not personally but I know the military has their own clearing group roaming the streets and they also have the collecting group¡ªwhich is mostlyposed of cadets¡ªto gather the spoils for them. And as I said earlier, they''re fucked. Literally and figuratively.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Is there anything we can do to help? We''re stopping by their ceter, I should try and get some reputation points while we''re at it."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hah! You''re too fucking honest, you know that? Can''t you just say that we''re gonna help them from the goodness of our hearts and just think what you said earlier to ourselves?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Nah, it worked better for me being an honest douche most of the time. Anyway, what''s the protocol here? Can we just approach them? They won''t just shoot, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, just a sec. Lemme remember the thing they do¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hmm?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    At that point, Jesus repositioned his vehicle in a way that it''d be facing the group of people trying to collect what was left of their collection. After that, he started to flick the lights on and off¡ªpressing on his horn when the light was beaming on them¡ªand it didn''t take long before the group took notice and sent back the same signal with their shlights, but without the horn sound since they have nothing on hand.


    ''Three long and four quick? Hmm¡­''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    With that said, Jesus beckoned us to drive over to the group, and surprise, surprise, Jesus was actually recognized.


    One of the younger cadets greeted him, "Yo~! You''re Jesus, right? I''ve heard a lot about you! The name''s Kevin, nice to finally meet ya!"


    "Nice to meet you too¡ª"


    "I''m Alexa! That one''s Billy!"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "I''m Cole! Nice hair, bro!"


    "I was¡ª"


    "The name''s Anthony, but please call me Antho¡ª"


    "Alright! Alright! One at a time, yeah? Anyway, we''ve seen those heads rolling down the ravine and I''m pretty sure you guys are fucked. So¡­ we''re offering some help if you guys wanted and¡ª"


    "R-REALLY?!"


    "YOU''LL HELP US?!"


    "THANKS, MAN! THAT''S SOLID!"


    Jesus shook his head, "Yeah¡­ I''m not the one that decided on that¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "It''s that gorgeous man over there with the harem of ravishing beauties left, right, and center. The god among men, the bringer of light and darkness, the unshakeable¡ª Ow! What the fuck¡ª How''d you throw this rock from over there?!"


    I stared him down as I stepped out of my vehicle, "Physics¡ª No, because I can."


    The moment I approached the group, they looked a little wary of me even though I looked to be in their age group. It could be because I was carrying a much, much, different loadoutpared to theirs or I was the one that looked to be in charge of this small convoy and the guy they were revering.


    I continued, "Hey, I''m Sky Ishiyama, I was a local here a few years back and since you guys are in a little bit of a pickle, why don''t we offer some help and you''d just owe me a small favor?"


    "..."


    "Hello?"


    "..."


    "You guys hearing me?"


    "..."


    "No? Alright then, I guess you guys aren''t as fucked as Jesus mentioned¡ª"


    One of the cadets who seemed to be their leader of sorts cut me off, "Wait. Our group''s listed for 300 heads a week and we probably lost half of our quota from this mishap¡­ We''d need all the help we can get but I want this ''small'' favor to be concrete."


    I chuckled as I looked him in the eye, "I haven''t caught your name yet but do you have the luxury to negotiate right now?"


    "..."


    "The silent treatment again? C''mon, it''s just¡ª"


    He cut me off again, "It''s Seb and no, we don''t have the luxury to negotiate. But, at least give us the courtesy of knowing the shit we have to do for you instead of making us guess. No offense, but you guys don''t look like the goody-two-shoes type. I don''t want to get fucked for the rest of my life if I could survive this day. It''s kind of a respect thing, you know?"


    Hearing that, I was happily taken aback but I took some mental notes about this Seb guy.


    I briefly smiled as I sighed, "Bruh, you''re too fucking deep in the juice, lighten up a little bit."


    "Excuse me?"


    "I''m just saying not to worry too much about it. But since you insist, I need some lore¡ª you know, POVs from the people who are in these parts since it all started¡­ and you can tell me an hour''s worth of lore each and I''ll take it as the ''small'' favor. With that said, I''ll help you gather¡ª what was it? Three hundred, no¡ª 150 heads by the end of the day. Deal?"


    At this point in time, Seb looked to be mulling over the deal I handed over to him while everyone else in his group seemed to be checking me out. At first, they were checking out my facial features and the small bit of my tattoo that was sticking out then they started to check my gear from afar, drawing their own conclusions.


    And almost immediately, I found a weeb among their group, and it was either a "That''s so freakin'' cool!" dude or an "Actually, a katana is h, h, h¡­" moron.


    It''s just that the glint in his eyes already revealed his true nature but Seb cut him off before he tried to strike up a conversation.


    "Alright, that''s a good deal as any but where do you suggest we get more heads?"


    "You''re the guys down here, right? You should know where we can¡ª"


    "We''re not equipped to take down infestations the size of hordes! We can''t¡ª"


    "YOU guys can''t. WE can. I would''ve pointed you to a rest stop we cleared pretty recently but we burned all of their remains to cinders, and you probably won''t ept charcoal¡ª So, you either point us to where we can help you the easy way or I have climbing gear in my truck and we could do things the hard way."


    At this point, the order of which we should''ve followed had already gone to shit but the hot spring we had to visit first wouldn''t go anywhere. It''s much better to form rtionships with the locals¡ªeven though they probably have zero power in theirmunity¡ªbecause if they had nowhere else to go, we pretty much have extra space to take people in.


    Besides, the information they have on the inside was fucking valuable and if worstes to worst, I could easily contact the head, head honcho and get everything straightened out.


    With that said, Seb, for the first time, turned to his group to discuss some things concerning their quotas but a quick eavesdrop told me that he was leading his group with an iron fist.

 Chapter 865 Filling In The Quota I

    ?


    On the surface, Seb looked like an army brat trying to impress his parents but if his parents have some pull in the army with their ranks or something simr, why would he be in charge of a group of kids doing odd jobs such as this? Granted I''ll be doing the same job as them because of our deal but with my familiarity of how the world worked in these parts, he should be doing something much better.


    ''We''ll seeter though¡­''


    After a short bit, Seb turned to me and said, "I think we should head down."


    "Down?"


    "Yes," he nodded.


    "Why?"


    "I thought you were gonna help us?"


    "Not blindly. Tell me the reason for your decision because I''m going to assure you that we''d probably find more heads if we drove into Tagaytay City or even Sta. Rosa City than heading back to where we came from."


    Seb nodded pensively, "That''s true but we''re not the only group collecting heads in these parts. However, everything below this hill is open season though cadets like us couldn''t just drive down there. Except now."


    "Because of us?"


    "Yeah, because of you guys."


    "Hmm."


    "I don''t know much about the deal we had with you guys but I do know we''re not allowed to venture down that hill. Unless we''re with a high-ranking officer or if we gained permission from you guys beforehand, we''d be lit up before we could try and fire back."


    I turned to Jesus, "Is that true¡ª"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    Seb cut us off, "Why would I lie to your faces?"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "You really like to cut people off, huh? You see, it''s not about you lying to us, it''s about the chance that your officers are lying to you. They could be telling you another thing about the deal you guys made while conveniently omitting parts that aren''t relevant to you. I''m asking Jesus because he''s the 7th guy in the De Leon Family."


    Seb got quiet for a moment, "I understand. But which number are you?"


    "Me?" I asked as I shrugged my shoulders, "Probably number 1 or 0, if I think about it¡­"


    He instantly frowned, "Ass. Stop lying and have a decent conversation for once."


    Jesus interjected, "He''s not lying¡­ technically."


    Seb and his group''s ears perked up, "Hmm?" Seb asked, "Is he the new head or something?"


    "Again¡­ Technically~ yes."


    "How¡ª"


    I cut him off, "I already told you my name, right?"


    "But¡ª"


    "Listen, we''re burning precious daylight here and we have more stops than you can imagine. If we double back to the ces we''ve been, we''d probably get 50-60 heads from the deadheads we took down that we didn''t burn into cinders but we''d be back to your camp way past sunset."


    "That''s¡­"


    "I''m not done. We could also try driving into the ces we haven''t been yet but that''s aplete gamble. We could probably have more than enough orpletely nothing, but if you tell me where KNOWN infestations are located, we''d be going back to your ce in a couple of hours¡­ plenty of time for us to head to our destination after."<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "..."


    At this point, Seb just thought to himself for a bit,pletely ignoring his team''s remarks but once he looked like he managed to follow someone''s order for once, we packed up and drove with their 4-wheeler dropside truck and their new-ish Hilux.


    I discovered that they had three more people waiting in their vehicles¡ªbut also in the same age range¡ªbut the one that caught my attention was the way they were transporting their heads.


    Like fucking coconuts, they were bundled up in 50kg sacks usually used for rice but the majority that fell and dropped to the ravine were contained in this fishing that had a huge hole in it.


    ''That''s why¡­''


    Putting that aside, Seb decided to lead us to the West side of Tagaytay City, way past the city''s attractions and expensive residential areas. I could already tell that these ces were looted and picked apart, but there was still the presence of the dead somewhat, telling me that even though they had arge group capable of clearing hordes, they weren''t clearing them on a regr basis.


    Furthermore, I thought we''d encounter some of their groups doing the same thing as them but the drive was as if everything in the lobby got disconnected.


    On that note, it didn''t take long before it became tantly obvious that Seb was leading us to the ce where arge group of the undead was present because the smell was a very good indicator. Also, just the way he slowed down once we reached the street that would lead us to the local wet market was a dead giveaway.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We''re here. We should park our vehicles here where it''s safe and we go in to pick them off one by one. I don''t know about a couple of hours but we should take what we could and drive to a different area to get more heads.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I appreciate you looking out for us but I''ll take over. Just focus on collecting the heads after we''re done, yeah?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Seb? You hearing me? Fuck it, just don''t interfere and watch us work, alright?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, I made my drone fly overhead the area but I also asked Jesus to drive inside with his station wagon to draw everything out in the open. It was because we don''t have the time to systematically locate each deadhead inside the wet market and I''ve been to this ce before.


    I''m 100% sure that with Jesus'' driving skills, he could just stroll in and get out without any issue and he did just that in under ten minutes.


    I confirmed that there were around a couple of hundred deadheads in the wet market so we met up with Jesus'' station wagon after I asked him to herd them around with hisst loop around.

 Chapter 866 Filling In The Quota II

    ?


    To give a small image of what the wet market looked like, it was shaped like a sunflower seed of sorts where the tip and pointy of the seed was at the far end¡ªthat ends with a tall wall on one side and other shops on the other also separated by walls¡ªwhile the other end was the open entrance where the parking area was also located.


    Some parts of the wet market had second floors¡ªeven third floors on some parts¡ªbut it was all a huge jumble of small shops packed together in one ce.


    With that said, the way we met with Jesus'' station wagon was when the herd following after him was bisected right at the far end of the market¡ªwhere they were forming an upside-down ''V''.


    On that note, I meant "we" as the people in my Raptor because everyone else would being for the deadheads'' backs from the other side.


    This was a n made in haste but I''m sure everyone from the other side would have it a little easier.


    It''s just that Jesus and Meg couldn''t believe their eyes when Tatiana and I jumped from my Raptor to face the hundred or so deadheads trailing behind them while Quinn was left in the driver''s seat and Kaley was on sniper duty.


    Gunfire already erupted from the other side of the wet market but Tatiana and I started with the sounds of partial heads and limbs falling on wet concrete. But yeah, we didn''t n on going melee the whole time because we had our des in one hand and our pistols in the other, picking off deadheads much quicker while making sure that we had enough space for the both of us.


    This time, Tatiana was using a suppressed 9mm pistol¡ªbut not the same one Kaley and I were using¡ªthough I noticed that she would empty out the whole magazine before reloading and putting it back in its holster. For some reason, Tatiana was inclined to use her de with both hands to dismember the dead in front of her while I continued to use my katana and my Maxim 9 at the same time.


    But yeah, it would be easier to apply more force in our swings if use both hands and we''d end up with more "alive" heads than "dead" heads in the process. I wasn''t entirely sure what the DDR Camp in this ce required but I''m in the assumption that the ones that are still alive provided more value.


    In any case, these slow shamblers'' only threat was their numbers but it didn''t take long before Kaley started firing at the deadheads further in. I even heard Jose''s rifle firing from the other side and it meant there were faster shamblers or just straight-up sprinters in the mix. However, their speed meant shit when they were in the middle of the group and them trying to force their way into us would just make them an easy target.


    There was nothing easier than picking off a deadhead that was sticking out like a sore thumb, and it was even easier with a person that could shoot sub-MOA at great distances.


    Kaley stopped firing after seven shots but I noticed that Jose flicked his happy switch on.


    Hearing quick bursts after quick bursts of suppressed rifle rounds was music to my ears, but I focused on the task at hand because the way the horde got bisected wasn''t as even as I hoped it would be.


    How I wish the horde could''ve split to give us a hundred each but since the group from the other side made noise first, a few dozen more came to their side.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    ''They could probably handle it¡­''


    I would''ve worried if I let Seb and his group take care of the other half of the horde we were facing but the people on the other side have been on the road far longer than we have, and they also have Jose who could pretty much be a group leader¡ªand actually was back home¡ªfor his skills.


    With that said, Tatiana and I kept hacking down anything that woulde forward but we were actually taking a step back¡ªmaking the dead copse on their own¡ªto provide more space and a clear path to escape if anything went wrong. However, it didn''t take long before Quinn joined the fray¡ªafter shouting at Meg to drive the Raptor in her stead¡ªand our little advance but backwards have gotten a little easier with three people in front.


    And yeah, in less than 30 minutes, we cleared our portion and cut into the other side to help them with the dregs though we opted to use our guns at an angle. And luckily enough, we didn''t have any surprises from inside the wet market because ten minutes of Jesus driving around to draw all of them out was plenty.


    After 10 more minutes, the wet market was now cleared of deadheads and the look on Seb and his group''s faces was fucking priceless.


    I''m pretty sure that they''d be able to do the same thing if they had more experience but it seemed to me that they were ming their equipment.


    On that note, we still helped them collect all of the heads avable¡ªeven if he insisted they do it themselves¡ªbut again, we were pressed for time and I had other ces to be in. With that said, the wet market had sturdier fishs avable though I broke-in the mouths of the "alive" heads we had on hand.


    "What''s the total?"


    Seb turned to me as he breathed a sigh of relief, "Two hundred fifty-seven heads. Ny-three alive but we have a bit past four hundred right now. We might receive a bonus if we put it all in or we could have a note to reduce our weekly quota by a hundred heads¡­ Thank you, guys¡­"


    I chuckled, "Don''t thank us that much¡­ We have a deal, remember?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "We''ll do thatter, can we go now?"

 Chapter 867 Checkpoint - Bribe?

    ?


    After a little bit of prep work and a post-cleanup routine¡ªhauling the heads to our vehicles and burning the rest of their bodies in a huge pile¡ªwe made our way to Seb andpany''s Main HQ a.k.a The Philippine Military Academy. It was supposedly the biggest one and the most well-equipped DDR Camp in this area or even this ind group¡ªthough Seb and his group''s gear said otherwise. It was because they only had pistol rounds and shotgun shells on their loadout, not to mention the mismatched machetes they had with their K-Bar knives.


    With that said, the drive would take about close to two hours because it was farther than the private hot spring we were supposed to head to first.


    We were now in a new frequency with our new acquaintances but it was easy enough to switch back to our previous channel, and for them to do the same¡ªif they ever had a channel for their group, division, or even as a whole.


    Helping them with their head problem gave us some brownie points with their group but the same couldn''t be same for their ce as a collective. However, knowing that the De Leon Family already made contact with this group and have an ongoing deal with them told me they wouldn''t be stupidly hostile and if worstes to worst, I have a couple of things in my goodie bag.


    ''And that''s assuming that this DDR Camp is still on the president''s side and has not gone secretly AWOL¡­''


    With that in mind, we drove for around 20 minutes before we spotted a couple of military jeeps holding a checkpoint of sorts, and the vehicles Seb''s group slowed down as we approached it.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''ll do the talking, alright? I forgot to tell you that we shouldn''t be driving together like this but it''s a special circumstance.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Quinn instantly rolled her eyes as she shook her head, "And he tells us that now? Sounds bull to me."


    I said, "You don''t know if it''s real or not?"


    "I haven''t been to this ce in a while and it''s either Jesus or Dave who talks to them¡ªprobably Mauro or Logan too but the whole thing sounds stupid."


    With that said, we saw Seb step out of their vehicle before Jesus followed, but one of the soldiers at the checkpoint walked past them and walked over to us with his rifle pointing down. And from the way he was looking at Jesus'' crew, he seemed to be familiar with them and that left us to be the unknown variable. However, the moment he walked to my window and asked me to roll it down, I tried to hand him my license and registration with a 100 peso bill underneath it.


    "H-Huh? What¡ª Cheh, hahahaha! Shiiiit, it''s the first time Iughed in a while, what''s up? New prospects or something?"


    "Not exactly. I used to be a local around these parts and I just wanted to pay a small visit."


    "Oh. I see, I see. Some interesting connections you have here being a local¡­"


    I chuckled, "It kept me alive though, you''ll know more soon¡­"


    The soldier threw me a curious nce, "Hmm? What are you¡ª"


    Another soldier''s voice resounded from the checkpoint, "Saludario! Stop dallying there and let them pass¡ª You''ve checked them all, right?!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The Saludario guy turned to the other soldier and saluted, "YES, SIR! I MEAN¡ª JUST ONE MORE¡ª"


    "GET ON IT THEN!"


    "YES, SIR!"


    At this point, the guy just gave me a quick bow before proceeding over to Jose and Isaac''s side, but I didn''t take my eyes off him because of one particr reason.


    ''Jose might not be a movie star but he directly reports to the president¡­''


    Well, it was safe to say that Jose directly reports to me too¡ªand would prefer to do it for personal reasons¡ªbut that issue was irrelevant right now.


    It was because I''m pining on the fact that this Saludario dude might recognize Jose once their eyes met but there was also the chance that he might not because of Jose''s drastic makeover. Furthermore, who would fucking think that an officer that reports to the president would turn up tatted-up with a haircut simr to the local brand of detergent soap?


    However, there was also the issue of the president''s soldiers¡ªeven officers¡ªjoining the other side or straight-up deserting their post, so if things start to getplicated, it would be better to straighten things out.


    Thest thing I''d want would be a false tip into the wrong ears and that''d be a mess I wasn''t even willing to think about.


    It''s just that I saw something peculiar when the two finally met eyes.


    Saludario had his back facing me while Jose had his elbow resting by the door, but the moment Saludario tried to raise his right arm¡ªfor a salute or something simr, I guess¡ªJose quickly stopped him by diverting his attention to his own rifle.


    "Woah! Your safety''s off, dude! Do you leave them off, always?"


    "Wha¡ª I¡ª"


    "Be careful when running with that. Even though it''s pointed down, one wrong bounce and you might hit someone! Your dust cover too, flip it up!"


    "Y-Yes, si¡ª"


    "Fuck! I shouldn''t be telling you shit because you know better but know that it''s better to have things ''under control'', eh? Surprises are good but not negligent discharges! Hah! Get it?"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    At this point, the guy just gave Jose a quick nod before they let us on our way, but I didn''t get why Jose had to be so secretive about it. There was no fucking way that things could''ve gone South if he let it be known that he was under the same banner as them, and if we were a little luckier, they could''ve sent a special convoy to apany us.


    But yeah, it''s in his own discretion to be discreet but it''s also in my discretion to ask questionster.


    ''Let''s see where we''re at right now¡­''

 Chapter 868 PMA- Off To A Bad Start

    ?


    Looking around, I figured that we were only less than an hour away because I didn''t take into ount that there would be zero traffic earlier. Even the surrounding areas were clear of corpses and I couldn''t even see a burn pile by the sidewalks. It was night and daypared to the area outside this checkpoint but it was still a ghost town because the only people we''ve seen up to this point were the soldiers in the checkpoint we just drove from.


    With that said, Seb and his crew kept the same speed driving to their ce and there were never any problems for the whole drive.


    ''It''s been a while since I''ve seen this ce¡­''


    The Philippine Military Academy was close to 400 hectares in size and it had different buildings, departments, and facilities for various reasons. I actually don''t know much about this ce¡ªexcept for the things that Jared told me¡ªand how I wish he told me more about the ce he had a love/hate rtionship with.


    With that said, it was drastically differentpared to thest time Iid my eyes on it because the front was apocalypse-proofed to the point that it was a little intimidating.


    Not only were several belt-fed machineguns resting above and below their walls, but also the number of active soldiers stationed everywhere with their automatic rifles, high-caliber sniper rifles, and a couple of spots where a mortar was sitting quietly would make anyone that would like to try anything funny forget the thoughtpletely.


    On that note, I noticed that the "visitors" would be given an inspection while the ones with them would be let it without issue, but it was totally different in our case. The guards stationed by the gate just motioned for us to follow Seb''s convoy and like the Saludario dude, they gave Jose a quick nod before going on with their business.


    It seemed that our arrival was already ryed to everyone in this ce because they let us in without so much as another inspection, much to the surprise of Seb and his group.


    ''Again¡­ Why try the secrecy route and do something suspicious like this? They should''ve pretended to inspect our vehicles at the very least¡­''


    The moment we parked in this huge field of sorts, we gathered enough attention that a small crowd was watching us from a safe distance before who seemed like their Brigade Commanded a.k.a. their "Baron", the highest ranking cadet, approached us with a few officers¡ªtwo males and one female¡ªthat were actually soldiers on active duty.


    I could only shake my head with the way they were doing things but the inspection I was looking for came after all.


    The Baron in question quickly ordered Seb and his group to unload the heads they collected while one of the officers that came with him asked us to vacate our vehicle. It was pretty easy toply at that point but things quickly heated up when one of the male officers tried to give Kaley a "patdown" by cing his arms on her waist and trying to trace his hands upward.


    It happened so suddenly as it made Kaley flinch while I was already a fraction of a second from lopping this guy''s head off, but Jose quickly dove between us and tackled the motherfucker.


    "GET OFF ME! WHO DO YOU THINK¡ª"


    "I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE, YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! YOU KNOW WE''RE FUCKING COMING AND YOU PULL THAT SHIT?!"


    "WHAT ARE YOU¡ª WOAH! WOAH! WOAH! PUT THOSE THINGS DOWN! WHAT¡ª"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    At this point in time, Kaley and I were actually the ones holding Tatiana, Quinn, and Isaac frommitting bloody murder while Jose was trying his best to shield one of his own to jump straight to his death. I appreciated everyone''s actions for what just fucking happened but this was still unfamiliar territory and it would be better to stay our hands even though it was taking everything from me to do just that.


    Out of all the ces I could think of, I didn''t think that this ce would be the first one to follow through with what they were thinking in their heads. Sure, Kaley''s body is something to die for but it would be a gruesome and drawn-out death multiple times over if they were lucky.


    With that said, the two other officers also tried to diffuse the situation while Seb, the Baron, and everyone else was left confused. It seemed like they were only told that a known officer from the president''s side wasing but they weren''t informed about the special group that he was now working with or should I say, serving under. But yeah, that didn''t excuse that officer''s actions but he was quickly escorted away to avoid more trouble.


    "We''re sorry about that, it wouldn''t happen again," the female officer mentioned with an off-beat tone and a deadpan expression.


    ''Really?''


    The other officer added with the same tone, "Seriously, it''s been a while since he saw fresh¡ª new people to you know¡­ so forgive him¡­ I''ll talk to himter."


    I chuckled bitterly, "Oh, so he fucking touches my wife and you just escort him out then ''talk'' to him? Is that it?"


    "Yeah."


    "That simple, huh?"


    The female officer responded, "It happens more than you think."


    "What? Your people crossing the line without issue or you guys protecting your own uniform even though they''re the ones in the wrong?" I looked them in the eye before I nced at the patches on their uniforms.


    ''Diaz and Mari.''


    Mari, the male officer rolled his eyes, "What do you want then? Lopez might be a sleazebag but he''s needed over here. We''re already giving you special treatment for escorting him away but that''s the best we can do for you. Besides, it''s not like he touched anywhere important and¡ª"


    "Then why don''t you bring him back so I could beat him up instead of your sorry fucking ass?" I said as I walked up to him and stared him dead in the eyes, trying to contain every bit of murderous intent from taking over.

 Chapter 869 Major Perez - Counter-Offer

    ?


    Before the world ended, I met countless people that could put a smile on my face with the simplest things or could sour my mood with a simple word that they said. But currently, the people I''m interacting with were in the most extreme of thetter and I wasn''t even one of the cadets they get to boss around for more than two weeks prior to their enrollment.


    They could say I wasn''t exactly wearing the same uniform as theirs but I was granted special authority within their ranks, and I''m basically like the special unit created by The Monstrous Bird of Qin.


    It''s just that it felt so wrong to have someone that was supposed to be on the "good" sidemit to such an act that was supposed to "happen more than I thought" because everyone else from the "bad" side had only thrown harsh words to Kaley andpletely respected authority.


    But yeah, saying that it happens more than I thought was technically correct because again, even before the world ended, such things happening were brought to light and even had the chance to be put on the news and then some.


    However, seeing how things were happening right now, it seemed like people abusing their power was still a thing and the only difference was that it was more prevalent than ever¡ªand no one still had any way to fucking stop it so they just let them slide, or even join eventually¡­ except for now.


    I don''t know who and what the fuck was that motherfucker was contributing to this ce but I''m gonna make him fucking obsolete after giving him a good thrashing.


    At this point, I was ready to pick a fight with the people I should be trying to get along with but Jesus quickly squeezed his way between us to avoid more conflict.


    "Easy now, brothers¡­ We''re not here to start a fight, alright? We should¡ª"


    "I didn''t start shit and don''t get up in my face¡ª" the Mari dude tried to shove Jesus away but Jesus never budged an inch and I never felt any push transfer, "Listen¡­" he sighed heavily as he looked at me, "As I said earlier, not much happened and you''re trying to blow things out of proportion¡ª"


    I cut him off as I stepped back and nced at each and every cadet, soldier, and current officers watching us, "You hearing that? Tell me, which of you guys and girls HAD ''mUcH HaPpeNed'' prior toing here? Weren''t you supposed to be trained as soldiers to defend and serve the people not be used for quick relief?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Silence. Completely and total fucking silence.


    I continued with a bitter chuckle, "Fuck, I''d understand if you applied to be a sex worker¡ªbecause it usuallyes with the job¡ªthe higher-ups testing the goods, I mean¡­ but some of them could still say no and move on with their lives. I know it''s the end of the fucking world but¡ª"


    Diaz, the female officer, suddenly came up to me while a vein was about to pop in her forehead, "YOU FUCKING SHUT YOUR MOUTH! DON''T DARE SULLY THE NAME OF¡ª"


    I shouted back, "SULLY WHAT?! ONE OF YOUR PEOPLE TOUCHED MY WIFE AND I DON''T GET TO SAY ANYTHING?! HOW FUCKED IN THE HEAD ARE ALL OF YA?!"


    "NOT EVERYONE IS LIKE¡ª"


    "BUT EVERYONE''S HERE FUCKING READY TO DEFEND A PIECE OF SHIT TOOTH AND NAIL JUST BECAUSE YOU''RE WEARING THE SAME UNIFORM! HOW FUCKED UP IS THAT?! I''VE SEEN CROOKS WITH MORE HONOR THAN THIS SHIT!"


    "WE ALREADY HAD HIM ESCORTED OUT AND¡ª"


    "AND WHAT?! PROBABLY FUCKING A CADET THAT''S TOO FUCKING SCARED TO SAY NO?! WHY DOES HE GET A FUCKING TIMEOUT AND STILL GET WHAT HE FUCKING WANTS WHILE WE''RE THE ONES FUCKING TRYING TO KEEP IT IN?! IS HE THAT FUCKING IMPORTANT OR ARE ALL OF YOU USED TO GET FUCKING ABUSED?!"


    "...!"


    At this point, Diaz was trying hard to refute everything that I said but that certain look in her eyes told me a bitter story that shouldn''t even be shared with strangers but unfortunately¡­ it was a story that plenty of people¡ªnot all¡ªin this fold have experienced. In any case, I shouldn''t be directing my hate towards her but the perpetrator himself.


    Furthermore, a spoilt batch still had some edible parts on it and I should try to surgically separate the bad side from the good.


    I just sighed briefly before I said, "Listen, I don''t know how much you had to endure to get to where you are but you gotta feel and know where we''reing from¡­"


    She red at me while shaking her head, "Then what do you fucking want, huh?!"


    I put my hands up jokingly as I smirked, "You didn''t hear me the first time? I want that Lopez guy back here so I can beat his ass. You don''t have to tie him up or anything because I want him to be able to fight back and shit just to keep things fair. Something he doesn''t fucking deserve but he''ll learn soon anyways¡­"


    ''And I doubt he''d even get to get to use fairness to his advantage¡­''


    Mari shook his head from hearing the same thing twice, "What would that aplish though?"


    Iughed in his face, "Absolutely nothing!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Then why¡ª"


    "In the short term, I''d feel good about punching him once or twice because he seemed so important that I can''t just put a bullet in his head but in the long term¡­ I just want this ce to learn that they could reasonably fight back against authority because even if the ones in power could dictate what''s right and wrong, it''s still not what''s right AND what''s wrong. Trust me, I want to rebuild this ce from the ground up but I have more problems to take care of and I think just by the way things currently are, you wouldn''t let a stranger do just that."


    "..."


    "It''s deeply rooted in this ce but I wish you guys the best of luck. Now where''s the fucker at?"


    At this point, it had never been so silent but a thunderousugh came out of nowhere and broke the silence. I almost thought that a giant just happened to pass by but it was actually one of their highest-ranking officers that caught wind of what was going on.


    Diaz and Mari instantly took a step back before they lowered their heads and muttered:


    "M-Major¡­"


    With a quick look, the guy didn''t look like one of these uptight officers but more like one of Quinn''s brethren that happened to pick up a service coat and draped it over his wide, boulder shoulders.


    ''Major Perez, huh?''


    Yeah, this major that popped out from nowhere was fucking jacked to fuck even though he looked to be in his 50s, but he approached me with an amused expression before he checked me out top to bottom while puffing a cigar with his left hand.


    He chuckled as he leaned even closer, "You''re the fucking ''kid'', huh?"


    Everyone gave a mix of expressions but I turned to him and did the same thing he did before I replied:


    "You run this ce?"


    "You could say that," he answered with a cheeky smile and a raised eyebrow.


    "You don''t look the type."


    "Hah! You don''t look like the type either."


    "Type to what, exactly?"


    He shook his head as he snickered, "Kid, I know who you fucking are. These dumbasses don''t so cut them some ck. However, I''ll fucking acknowledge something I heard on my way here but you gotta stop cutting so deep."


    "Hmm?"


    "Let''s just say that there''s an easy solution to one of this ce''s problems but with my current alliances, we can''t possibly do that¡­ you know, in the open. I should also inform you that it''s not as bad as you imagined but yeah, it''s still bad if you think about it because we''re not doing anything to stop it¡ªBUT it''s also not always like that. It''s sometimes a ''you scratch my back I scratch yours'' kind of thing, you know?"


    "..."


    "However, with YOUR current alliances, you might be able to just help this ce with that problem and in turn, I''ll let you give Lopez a piece of your mind or two."


    ''Ah¡­''


    "You do know that if he did that shit in my ce, getting his arms chopped off is the lightest sentence I could give him, you know?"


    He let out a chuckle as he puffed his cigar one more time, "I know. But this ce here is not your ce~ It''s mine. So¡­ I''ll let you y around with him and I''ll just tell you to stop when I think you''ve done enough."


    "I still think I''m getting screwed over though."


    "Hah! You are, you fucking are. But what can you do though? It''s the best I could offer."


    "Then you''re gonna fucking love what I could offer."


    "Hmm?"

 Chapter 870 Payback I

    ?


    At this point in time, it wouldn''t even take 30 minutes for the sun to go down but the sky already had that red hue in a few ces. And to tie that statement to the current situation, the words exchanged earlier prompted a few who heard it to let out pained expressions or just straight up break down crying.


    Most of them were female cadets that had dark circles around their eyes and had this hunched posture with their arms crossed together, but I''m pretty sure they weren''t like that in the first ce. Granted not everyone that were victimized looked like that because some people that looked like they were keeping it together couldn''t hide the expression in their eyes.


    With that said, going back to our current situation, I didn''t inform everyone about my counteroffer because I walked up to Major Perez and spoke with a hushed tone.


    From the outside, everyone could only see my lips moving and Major Perez''s expression changing¡ªmore on his thick eyebrows¡ªas he learned more and more of what he could aplish with me around.


    He chuckled as I finally took a step back, "Hmph. You drive a hard bargain, kid."


    I chuckle-scoffed, "Seriously? You won''t get a deal like that anywhere right now. And it''s only for today."


    "Hmm?"


    "I''m saying that the offer only stands till sundown."


    "Sundown?! What¡ª"


    "That''s how a deal works. If I''m the only one to give you shit, that''s just fucking charity work or extortion. And yeah, I''m keen to know what the fuck this ce is trying to do with the heads you''re all collecting but you''re potentially gonna lose one of your suppliers if you take too long in agreeing."


    At this moment, Quinn threw me a nce because she thought their ongoing deal with this ce would get affected, but I almost stifled augh when she rolled her eyes. Because earlier, she was ready to throw whatever rtionship they had with this ce because of Kaley, why not let me handle that shit and get something more?


    In the grand scheme of things, this ce has already wronged us and it was all the leverage we needed to get the bigger slice of the pie.


    Besides, the military vehicles they were offering weren''t worth two cents if all they were offering were their jeeps and their trucks, and the only way it would sting a little was if they were offering the .50 cals that were supposed to be mounted on those jeeps, one of their APCs, one of their tanks, or even one of their helicopters or whatever aircraft they had avable.


    Major Perez stared at me for a few moments before he let out a deep sigh, "Fucking¡­ I was told this was gonna happen¡­"


    "Hmm? What¡ª"


    "I''m a fucking dumbass if I don''t agree to your terms. However, I do need Lopez alive so¡ª"


    I chortled, "I''m not gonna fucking kill him if that''s what you''re worried about. That''s an easy way out if you ask me, so¡­"


    "..."


    "Clock''s ticking, Major."


    "..."


    "I''m¡ª"<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Dammit, oi! Bring him back and don''t tell him shit, alright?!"


    I was just about to pile on but Major Perez turned to the two other officers¡ªDiaz and Mari¡ªthat was with the motherfucker¡ªLopez¡ªearlier, and they had to fucking follow their orders because their ranks said so. The look on their faces was just fucking priceless but even though I was ted for a short moment, I was still pissed as hell.


    I could only imagine what was going on Kaley''s mind right now because at this moment, she looked like she was ying poker with everyone. However, that light in her eyes never disappeared and as cliche as it may sound, that light was burning brighter and brighter.


    She even gave me a faint smile when our eyes met but I knew that motherfucker was present when she looked past me and ayer of killing intent covered her body.


    At this moment, Lopez was brought back by Diaz and Mari but the crowd around as had significantly grownrger. Word of mouth definitely had its involvement in this situation but I couldn''t care less because the more eyes that see whatever happens next, the better.


    And yeah, the motherfucker had no fucking clue about what was about to go down.


    He was still wearing a smug look as he jauntily walked over to us, throwing me a dirty look before he turned to Major Perez, "Took you long enough. So¡ª"


    Major Perez cut him off, "Shut up and grit your teeth, your about to get punched."


    "Huh¡ª"


    Before he could fucking react, I made my way to his back before I clocked the motherfucker. He had no fucking chance to react to a sucker punch and his head blew back before his ass touched the ground. Everyone else watching didn''t know whether to sing praises or shut the fuck up because this could be a revolution or a short spark of a dud.


    At the moment, blood was flowing from his nose as he could barely open both of his eyes¡ªand his expression was a mix of confusion and anger, but Major Perez''s mocking voice rang out:


    "Oof, that''s dirty."


    "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!"


    "I told you to grit your teeth, didn''t I? See what happened¡ª"


    I cut them off, "That''s for my wife, bitch. Stand up, let''s see how you do if one of your victims tries to fight back."


    Lopez spat out a mouthful of spit and blood before he stood up, "LET''S FUCKING SEE HOW THAT PRETTY FACE OF YOURS WOULD LOOK LIKE AFTER I''M DONE WITH YA!"


    Major Lopez cackle from the side, "Kid, you got till sunset."


    ''More than enough¡­''


    At that moment, Lopez''s gaze turned to Major Perez for a second after hearing that but he assumed a fighting stance before he took a huge breath and lunged at me. His fists were covering most of his face but his deathly re was locked onto me, but I let out every bit of killing intent and devoured him whole.

 Chapter 871 Payback II

    ?


    There was no stopping a raging bull but Lopez and all of the rage he was directing at me puffed out like a candle as he lost sight of what to do for a solid second. Fear just enveloped his whole body as his footsteps staggered, making his temple vulnerable to a full-wounded elbow.


    The moment it fucking connected, everyone present just grimaced when they saw an open wound between Lopez''s left eyebrow and temple, and blood just poured over his left eye and then some.


    However, the pain must''ve brought him back to reality as he threw the same elbow¡ªheaded for my face¡ªbut I met it with my forehead.


    "AHHCK!"


    This time, the pain registered on his tiny head but instead of trying to get even with me, he once again turned to Major Perez with a furious look.


    "CAN''T YOU SEE WHAT HE''S DOING TO ME?! ARE YOU GONNA LET THIS GO¡ª"


    But Major Perez cackled for the second time as he said:


    "Eyes on your opponent, dumb shit."


    "WHAT¡ª"


    As Major Perez stated, Lopez should''ve kept his eyes on me because waiting for him to stand up earlier was the only moment of respite I have for him. At this moment, I had already lifted up from the ground and spun once with my whole body as my heel was headed for his vicle instead of his head.


    Getting hit with a doumawashi in the head was sure to knock someone out but getting hit in the corbone was another story.


    The look on his face after we both hear that little crunch was fucking priceless, and Major Perez was already regretting giving me more than 30 seconds to y around with his guy. The only thing I promised him was that I wouldn''t kill this guy and there were no promises about leaving him in a wheelchair or a stretcher.


    But on that note, we both fell to the ground and he managed to keep a tight hold on my right ankle.


    I would''ve been in trouble if this was any other day but he already had three injuries on top of one another and his most recent one was making it impossible to hold onto me for long. He had to fight through the pain just to keep my ankle in the same ce but his face just lost color when he tried to put me in a lock.


    "YOU MOTHERFUCKER! DON''T FUCKING MOVE¡ª"


    Much to his surprise, I just rolled into the direction he was trying to lock me in and even if he tried to roll at the same time, we''d just roll on and on until his willpower gave out. It was like moping your courtyard while there was heavy rainfall, and him looking embarrassed was the least of his worries.


    In a real fight, you don''t go for ankle locks, you break fucking bones.


    He was still in the process of trying to put me in a lock when his big toe had twisted more than it should have. There was a moment of confusion when he looked at its current state but his face turned even redder before he had to let go of me and scream at the top of his lungs.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    I could''ve broken something much more valuable but we still had enough time.


    As of this moment, Lopez was rolling in pain but I was already up on my feet, looking for another opportunity to break him just right. But yeah, there was a clear divide among the spectators and the more their rank skewed upward, the more they were pissed off. However, the ones on the other side were still walking on eggshells because if they were seen supporting someone outside beating one of their officers, they would be the punching bag after this shit was over.


    But yeah, Lopez was taking his sweet time rolling on the ground and I had to kick some dirt toward him to embarrass him even more.


    "What? Are you gonnay there forever?"


    "FUCK YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"


    "Hah! You''re really great at that, you know? It''s just that there''s nothing you can say to me that I didn''t say to myself in front of a mirror before, but say something about my wife¡ªI fucking dare you, I''ll fucking cave your teeth in with my knee you''d be sucking dick for the rest of your life for some protein!"


    "..."


    "What? Cat got your tongue now? It''s so easy to do shit when they''re not fighting back, huh? How''s it feel to be on the other side?! STILL HADN''T HAD ENOUGH REST?! STAND THE FUCK UP!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I lobbed over a grenade with the pin still on.


    "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING¡ª"


    When everyone saw the grenade up in the air, I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea¡ªthough a few quickly discovered the ruse¡ªbut in this instance, I had a particr bitch I had to chase after. Lopez had never stood up so fast in his life and this time, I grabbed hold of his torso from behind before I lifted him up in the air and brought him down using my right knee as thending pad with the little prick between his legs.


    "Fighting" this guy was like a random dude in the practice mode of a fighting game that I get to bully for as long as I''d like because he had nevernded a solid hit, besides the sucky attempts at a counter.


    At this point, I could practically do anything to him within the time limit, but I grabbed onto his hair and lifted him up before turning to everybody:


    "Now''s your time, you have till sunset."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "It''s your one shot, one opportunity. I''ll hold him up while anyone who wanted to give him a piece of your mind can walk up¡ªand trust me when I say that I''ll take fucking responsibility. Or have things stay the way they are."

 Chapter 872 Kaleys Payback

    Chapter 872 Kaley''s Payback


    As soon as I said that, I for sure thought I''d be like that kid who brought some gum to ss but it was theplete opposite. Even the people I thought who would step up were either looking down at the groundpletely trying to avoid eye contact¡ªor still had hesitation in their eyes for the possible blowback even if I did say that I''d take full responsibility.


    It was because unless I take them with me or stay in this ce to keep Lopez in check, they would definitely get abused even more even if they had a shot of making their grievances known.


    However, right as I was about to give them another push, Kaley had already made her way towards us and she took off her right glove before sending a resounding p to Lopez''s already swollen cheek.


    The pain she transferred over was substantial but it was secondary


    ¡ª it was more on standing up to someone that held and abused power. If given the chance, Kaley looked like she wanted to be the one to fight him earlier but I sure as hell wouldn''t permit it¡ªnot because there was a chance that she''d lose but because I''d definitely put her opponent six feet down the concrete if he managed to get a minuscule of a hit in.


    But yeah, Kaley didn''t stop with that p because, like me, she made sure that his fucker wouldn''t be able to produce any spawns. It was because she held onto his shoulders before sending her knee


    ¡ªwhile still wearing her thick kneepads¡ªover to his already beaten-up dick and balls for good measure.


    And once again, Lopez couldn''t muster the strength to stand up with what he was going through for the second time this day so I change of heart, Kaley''s voice came in just loud enough for everybody to hear:


    just let gravity take him and let him roll around for a little bit.


    Then right as I was about to check everyone else if they had a change of heart, Kaley''s voice came in just loud enough for everybody to hear:


    "Listen here you sorry excuse of a man¡ªwhich is a word I don''t think should describe you: What we''ve done to you¡­ physically¡­ can be said to be over the toppared to you just touching a little bit above my waist but mentally, that''s something that could cause more damage than a bandaid or a dose of painkillers could fix. I''m lucky I''ve experienced worst things than that¡ªwell, you were stopped before things went further¡ªbut that''s beside the point."


    "..."


    "I have the best support system anyone could ask for and I could say that I''ve be stronger¡ªmentally, than I used to but that doesn''t mean I could brush things off just because I can take it without breaking down crying, shutting myself down, ming myself even though I did nothing wrong, or some bullshit reason I shouldn''t even be giving examples now."


    "..."


    "The point is: you''re the fucking scum of society and you probably resort to this awful behavior because as much as I don''t want to say this: no one fucking likes you for who you are and the only women who have touched your tiny little dick are the ones you forced disgusting self into or the ones you paid ten times their regr rate because you''re that much of an ick and they had to have some money leftover because you''re probably such a bad fuckingy, they''d need therapy right after."


    "You f-fucking bitch¡ª"


    "Tell me, when you''re having sex¡ª no, abusing someone else, do they tell you it''s fucking good or all you''ve heard is just the usual for you like: no, please stop, why did I deserve this? Oh! Or is it just radio silent for you because you either put them to sleep first or you gag them with your stinky drawers? Is that it, huh?! That''s probably it, right?! That''s¡ª"


    At this point, Kaley started to get even more emotional¡ªwhich waspletely understandable given the circumstances, but she took a deep breath and partly nced at me which somehow calmed her down. After that, she took another breath before turning back at Lopez who was keeping quiet the whole time, and she crouched down to whisper something only the three of us could hear:


    "Listen here and listen well: from a quick nce at you, I already figured out that you have a loving wife and daughter that''s probably


    ¡ª no, definitely clueless about your scummy behavior and I''m pretty sure they''re staying at the university next door¡ª"


    Lopez never looked so agitated, "How did you¡ª"


    Kaley let out the tiniest bit of killing intent directed right at Lopez, "Shut up, I''m trying to talk to you."


    "...!"


    "Good. This is how it''s gonna go because I know your frickin'' type all too well. See this here? We have video proof of the shit you just did to me and with everyone here as our witnesses, we can just stroll over to the other side and tell them what a loving husband you are¡ª"


    "Heh¡­"


    Kaley''s left eyebrow rose slightly, "You think they wouldn''t believe us, huh?"


    "You don''t know them as much as I do and you''re better off requesting something from this ce for reparations because I know full well that whatever I did, at the end of the day, they''ll both forgive me. That''s how devoted they are. Besides, did you forget? I''m THAT important here and you''re only able to do this because the General is out. Trust me, this thing wouldn''t fly if he saw what you''re doing to me right now."


    "Oh yeah?"


    "Yeah. You can bet your sweet ass on it, sweetheart."


    "We''d hate to do this to you but you forced our hands."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "You wanted the nuclear option, right? We''ll fucking give you the nuclear option."


    "And what is that?"


    At this moment, Kaley could only let out this devilish smile as she nced at me before looking at Lopez like she had him dancing in the palm of her hand.


    "I¡ª no, we''ll fucking seduce your wife and your daughter. I hope to god they aren''t as ugly as you."


    As soon as Lopez heard that, the look on his face was fucking indescribable but I was also wearing the same indescribable expression. I didn''t even think Kaley could say the first part of her rant to someone else and I sure as hell didn''t think that herst statement would conclude like this. However, I know that Kaley knew that saying that was the best way to get under Lopez''s skin and it definitely worked wonders.


    "SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME YOU BITCH¡ª"


    Lopez tried to lunge at Kaley not to touch her, but to actually hurt her but I easily tripped him down and stepped on his head so he could only struggle from moving just for a little bit. And to add insult to injury, Kaley had never moved a single step and she was just looking at him amusedly like she was having her first viin moment.


    ''Is it wrong that I''m horny right now¡ª the fuck am I thinking about?! Fuck it¡ª''


    And as I was still in mid-thought, Kaley just simply doubled down with herst statement, "Right, you shouldn''t worry we''d do anything bad. Besides, you''re gonna learn what consent means and you''re wife''s gonna know what having an orgasm feels like. But your daughter? Hmm~ She''ll definitely know more than that and I''m pretty sure you''re fucking mad not because it''s gonna be a disgrace but because one of the reasons you''re doing what you are doing is because there''s a line you couldn''t dare to cross and this is one of the ways you could cope with it. Am I right?"


    "...! Y-You¡­ Who the fuck are you?! HUH?! DON''T YOU FUCKING DARE¡ª"


    Kaley started to chuckle, "I hit the nail dead-on, huh? Are you finally ready to listen? You see, all I want you to do to prevent that from happening is to apologize to every single person you''ve wronged here¡ªsincerely, if I might add¡ªand you''d add a favor on top of that PLUS they had to have a person witnessing that you did just that."


    "You¡ª"


    "I''m not done. And yeah, I''ll keep a fucking list of those people and if you missed a single one, you know what''sing to ya."


    "..."


    From this point on, it was safe to say that Kaley had Lopez by his balls, and the assumption that she was a frickin'' witch-psychic solidified even more. And yeah, I added the witch part just now.


    Lopez right now was just slumped on the ground wearing a difficult expression and even though it was already past the deadline and no one followed after Kaley, the number of things he had to make up for wasn''t worth what he did earlier. He just had this defeated look in his eyes because like he did with me, Kaley figured out his weaknesses and leveraged the shit out of him.


    But yeah, we still don''t know how was he so fucking important and the convoy that just arrived could probably provide some context.

 Chapter 873 The General

    Chapter 873 The General


    Looking at my watch, it was 6:13 PM¡ªor should I say it was 1813 if we were gonna be a little location-urate with it.


    With that said, we definitely had all the eyes on us while we were tearing Lopez a new asshole but judging from everyone''s reactions, more shit was about to go down. However, Major Perez couldn''t hide the twinkle in his eyes when he briefly nced at me though he did order medical staff to take care of Lopez''s injuries.


    "You guys are f-fucked¡­" the bitch-ass let out before hissing because the medical staff assigned to him just tried to wipe his face with a clean piece of cloth.


    I let out a chuckle, "Bitch, you speak one more fucking word I''ll make sure to fucking cuck you by the end of the night."


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    The moment I said that, Major Perez just startedughing but his face slowly turned solemn as he leaned over, "Kid, you handled that prick nicely but this here''s the real shit. If you swear to your fucking life that you''re gonna do what you''re gonna do, I''ll back you up."


    "Uh-huh. Mr. In-charge, my ass. I wasn''t informed of any general and¡ª"


    "You didn''t ask. Besides, I DO run this ce when he''s out and I''m doing a pretty good job at it."


    I scoffed, "Really? Sure."


    "Hey, you wouldn''t be able to do what you just did to that bitch-ass if he''s here. And he''s about to hear about what you did so you better have someone like me in your corner."


    I thought for a moment before I replied, "Hmph. What''s his name though?"


    "The general?"


    "You¡ª Who are we even talking about in the first ce?! Of course, the fucking general!"


    "Jesus. Easy now, alright? Cheh, he''s General McArthur III but he goes by ''General'' usually¡­ he prefers it that way."


    "Just General, huh?"


    "Yep."


    "And before you ask, no. He''s not rted to ''that'' McArthur even though they had the same surname."


    "But he dide back to this ce¡­ multiple times, I imagine¡­"


    "Heh. You got some jokes, huh?"


    As Major Perez and I were talking, I didn''t even realize that Lopez was just stewing and waiting for the right moment to get his "revenge", but once the General came in with his entourage, hepletely ignored everyone else and went for someone I didn''t think should be in this particr scene.


    The General went straight for the highest-ranking cadet, the Baron, and wore a soft expression before opening his mouth:


    "Jameson Prome¡ª"


    The Baron kid flinched after hearing what I assumed was part of his name, "General¡ª"


    "You know our deal, son. Once it''s sunset, you call me Dad and I can call you by your real name. You used to like it when you were a kid, right? Jameson Prometheus Mcarthur III¡ª"


    "Dad¡ª Ugh, I go by JP. Is that hard to understand?!"


    I thought to myself, ''Well, this is an interesting development¡­''


    In any case, for the next five minutes was the most¡ªdepending on the person seeing it¡ªwas the most heartwarming/cringe-worthy father-son scene I''ve seen in a while. It started with a quick hug that turned into the exchange of, "So how did your day go?" then ended with the, "I''m proud of you, son." that the Baron¡ª or should I say "JP" was definitely trying his hardest not to cringe and push his dad away who was trying to give him another heartfelt hug any loving father could give to his son.


    However, like how I could get hard and soft onmand, the General just straight up turned from the loving dad back to the highest-ranking officer in this ce that no one should dare speak against.


    It took him one nce for everything else to feel suffocating but the bitch-ass I almost tried to hug on the neck with a rope didn''t give a single fuck as he instantly tried to make himself the center of attention.


    "GENERAL! G-GENERAL! T-THAT JUVENILE! THAT FUCKING KID W-WITH THAT SAMURAI! HE¡ª THEY¡ª I WAS JUST¡ª THEY ATTACKED ME! I WAS JUST TRYING TO¡ª G-GENERAL!!! CAN YOU FUCKING HEAR ME?! GENERAL!!! CAN YOU¡ª"


    "Hmm?"


    "G-General¡­"


    From Lopez''s original outburst, the General''s concise response¡ªbut mostly the way he looked at him¡ªmade him consider what he was doing. He was trembling as he was biting his lower lip and I could clearly see how he had both his fists clenched¡ªalmost hard enough to pierce into his palms, but the look in his eyes told me that he wasn''t as important as the person the General was speaking to.


    The General briefly nced at me before turning to Lopez, "Lopez¡­ You do know that I just came back, right?"


    "Y-Yes, General¡­ R-Right¡­ I do a-apologize¡­"


    "Hmph," the General almost rolled his eyes as he turned to me once again, "You''re here now, huh? Right when I arrived¡­ and you''re running with ''that'' group¡­ Interesting¡­"


    I had the audacity to chuckle as I pointed at Lopez, "And you''re running with that bitch."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    At this fucking moment, the whole Academy had never been so quiet but it only took a few seconds before Major Perez fell down on his knees, shaking uncontrobly from trying to contain hisughter.


    ''This guy¡ª Nevermind¡­''


    Furthermore, a select few had to turn around¡ªbut I could see their shoulders moving up and down though Lopez''s mouth was wider than an asshole altered by several girthy 9-inchers.


    He didn''t think I''d still run my mouth in front of the guy he thought that would make me voluntarily shut up but he had no clue that I already ran my mouth to someone higher than this dude in front of us. But yeah, running my mouth only prompted an eyebrow twitch from the General himself but the Baron looked like he saw me in a new light.


    ''Yep, a kid''s still a kid. Heh.''


    In any case, the General and I were just staring at each down for a few seconds before he shook his head and sighed. However, the moment he turned to his kid momentarily and then looked back at me, I knew that he was up to something.


    "Jameson¡ª"


    The Baron quickly cut him off, "JP."


    The General scratched the side of his cheek, "Right¡­ JP¡­ If you''re "General¡ª"


    The General cut him off while making his eyes wider and wider, looking for a teacher that''s not me, he could do it for you."


    ''Wut?''


    "General¡ª"


    The General cut him off while making his eyes wider and wider, "Dad."


    The Baron sighed and rolled his eyes, "Dad, a teacher? He can teach me what?"


    The General chuckled as he pointed at Lopez who was now on his feet but have ice packs on both sides of his cheeks, "That. He can teach you that."


    JP slowly looked more and more upset, "I can do that too but you wouldn''t allow me."


    "Exactly."


    "Haah? Dad¡ª You''re not making any sense right now. What are you


    ¡ª"


    The General suddenly turned to me, "Hey, kid. C''mere."


    "Sure¡­" I looked at him weirdly as I added him to one of the people who call me by that cursed title.


    "Punch me."


    "What?" I had to do a double take, much like everyone else that heard him.


    "I want you to ball your fist, aim at my left cheek, and punch me hard."


    "You sure?"


    "I''m sure¡ª GRCK!"


    Without batting a fucking eye, I did as I was told but it seemed like I caught him off-guard because he didn''t even manage to clench his teeth to somehow mitigate some of the damage. His knees buckled as he tried his hardest just to keep himself from falling down on one knee, but everyone else was just so fucking shocked, it took them a few seconds to point their guns at me.


    At this point, all he had to do was say "Open Fire!" and I''d be riddled with holes and this story¡ª err, my life''s story would be over. Heck, even JP was raring to give me a piece of his mind but the General recovered and waved everyone down.


    "Put them down¡­ Fuck¡­ I didn''t think that¡ª Nevermind. Ahh~ That hurts¡ª It fucking hurts! That was solid, yeah¡­ really solid¡­"


    JP seemed to couldn''t believe the choice of words his dad was using, "D-Dad? You okay?"


    "Huh? I feel great, son! Anyway, he''ll teach you stuff while he''s here and¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Ah¡­ That''s not gonna happen."


    "Huh? Y-You what?"


    "We were supposed to be out of this ce two hours ago. We''re not staying here especially with that ''important'' bitch hanging around."


    "W-W-Wait, I''m about to offer you food and lodging in exchange for teaching my kid while you''re here. Why are you going out at sunset? Stay the night at least! Or the morning after! Do you guys have a ce nearby or are you driving through the dark?"


    "Umm¡ª"


    ''Is¡­ Is this the¡ª Is this the real shit Perez''s has been talking about? Umm¡ª''


    I was in mid-sentence and mid-thought as I turned to Major Perez and to my surprise, he was surprised as I am for seeing the General act this way around me. I didn''t know whether I had a special affinity or the "Rizz" to soften-up old-timers and what-not, but I was pretty sure the back-up he told me he would provide wasn''t needed.


    And yeah, even Lopez couldn''t believe what he was seeing¡ªmuch like everyone else who didn''t know who I was¡ªbecause I was being given special attention by the most special man in this ce.


    The General continued, "C''mon! Humor an old man. Why don''t you and your people stay here for a week as my guests!"


    "I really can''t¡ª"


    "What''s holding you down? Do you have prior arrangements? Can I make something happen?"


    "Mr. Mc¡ª I mean, General¡­ With all due respect, you''reing a little strong and my schedule''s choking me as it is. I doubt I could teach much to your kid even if we stay the whole week and¡ª"


    "What if you take him with you?"


    "Wut?"


    "DAD! Wha¡ª"


    "What? It''s for your own good. You''ll learn a lot!"


    ''Why does everyone leave me their child, niece, or whatever¡­ It''s¡­ ugh¡­''

 Chapter 874 The Night In The Academy I

    ?


    After hearing another proposal of taking another person under my wing, I decided to not give a definite answer at the moment. But after 30 minutes or so, we still found ourselves in theirrge mess hall that definitely followed a set of strict rules to either make everyone work extra hard or just straight-up know who was fucking in charge.


    Our group was seated on an extra table provided for us¡ªwhich was right next to the Baron''s table¡ªand the first thing I noticed was that not everyone was eating the same meal.


    The high-ranking officers had something more than decent but the ones further down, especially the cadets'' meals had something that barely fulfilled one''s caloric and nutritional intake.


    With that said, our group had a generous serving of rice, a slice of what appeared to be beef in crispy breading, some nice hot soup, mixed vegetables, coffee, and a small piece of dessert to keep everything rounded.


    But since I was ''that'' kid and I have something that the General wanted, I had this extra thick slice of meat that everyone else in my group didn''t have in their trays.


    Furthermore, the only one that had something better than I did was the General''s son and when I found where Seb and his team were sitting, I discovered that they had a slightly better meal¡ªwhich was the ''extra'' cup of coffee they had¡ªthan the ones sitting further back. Because the ones further back only had a cup of rice, a small chunk of meat which I assumed to be those rigid cube steaks, the same soup but not as much, and the same serving of mixed vegetables with no coffee or dessert to wash it down right after.


    ''These people¡­''


    In my ce, I do give special rewards for people that gave a little extra or that can do something other people can''t, but as much as possible¡­ when everyone was eating together, I''d make it so that everyone was eating the same thing.


    Even before the world ended, when I buy some takeout, it was a given to buy EVERYONE living in the same house the same thing so you all could enjoy that meal together, and in turn, they''ll do the same when they buy food from outside. There were some exceptions sometimes like when someone else didn''t have the budget or the money for it but this ce sure as hell wasn''tcking in that regard.


    But yeah, we were living in different times right now, and doing this could be the only thing they could do¡­ but this didn''t sit well with me.


    Right after one of their officers said ame excuse for "grace", I quickly divvied up the extra slice of beef cutlet that was given to me before equally distributing it on our table. Tatiana easily tried to pick out the biggest piece while Quinn tried to take my own separate slice for her protein needs, but Jesus and his crew just said thanks as Kaley and the rest did the same.


    Doing that instantly garnered the attention of a few others¡ªespecially JP¡ªand I saw him shake his head before eating his food without a care for the ones at the back who looked sick eating the same shit over and over.


    ''I''m pretty sure that this ce isn''t short of supplies especially since they''re working closely with my university but doing this type of shit is fucking nuts¡­''


    And yeah, seeing Lopez happily engorging on his mountain of a meal fucking pissed me off but I couldn''t believe my eyes when Jesus stood up and handed over his portion of meat to the ones in the back wearing bitter expressions¡ªnot because he did such a thing but because the people he tried to give them to t-out rejected him.


    Jesus tried for a second time, "Hey. Thises with no strings attached, alright? Just take it, we have some food anyway¡ª"


    One of the thinner-looking cadets replied, "Thank you, but we can''t. It''s the rule here."


    Another one of them added, "We eat what we contributed, it''s thew. Aren''t you familiar with that already?"


    Jesus shook his head, "I''m not bound by this ce''s rules. What if I identally drop these pieces on your tes and you somehow didn''t want to waste some good fucking food?"


    "Umm¡­ what?"


    "I''m serious, alright?"


    One of the cadets who I assumed was a leader of their squad interjected, "I know you mean well, Jesus¡­ but we earn our keep. We barely got our quotas in and this is the result. We''ll be sure to do better tomorrow and make up for the loss of two of our members."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    As soon as that cadet mentioned the loss of two of their members, their side of the table instantly got quiet but he continued to eat his food, eventually making others to take a deep breath and do the same.


    It seemed like a lot was going on in this "fortress" Mr. Cuervo didn''t dare screw over but to me, even if it looked imprable from the outside, it looked fragile on the inside. There were a lot of things I could as easily use to bring this ce to its knees but my main goal was these separate camps working together.


    Building or creating something was fucking hard than just destroying it but let''s just say that I''d like a challenge.


    With that said, Jesus could only shake his head and go back to his seat but hell almost broke loose when he discovered that not only did Tatiana take a portion of his meal, Quinn was already digesting arge portion of his food as well.


    In any case, we did bring some food for ourselves so it wasn''t an issue and it only took everyone in this ce 10 minutes to finish their meals, leaving the lowest-contributing cadets to clean up after them.


    But much to my surprise, not only did JP stay behind but Seb also let the group he was leading to move on ahead and waited patiently for us to finish eating.

 Chapter 875 The Night In The Academy II

    ?


    If I was alone, I''d probably take 10 minutes to find a good show to watch while I was eating and just spend five minutes to finish my food but if I was eating with other people, it''d take around 30 minutes to an hour. It was because some people liked to talk while eating with their friends or family but in this case, it was fucking awkward to get stared at while we were eating the meals provided for us and Quinn was the first one to snap at the two.


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO STARING AT?! HUH?!"


    The two almost jumped at their seats and Seb was just about to speak when JP did it first:


    "Apologies. I didn''t think you would take this long¡ª I mean, umm¡­ apologies¡­"


    "..." Seb could only lower his head as he looked away.


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Haven''t heard of chewing, huh?"


    "P-Pardon?"


    "Jesus fucking Christ, I''m talking to a fucking noble¡ª"


    Jesus interjected, "Hey! It was a one-time thing, alright? I was drunk then too!"


    Quinn almost choked on her food, "Pfft¡­ Asshole."


    "Works every time, heh."


    "Anyway, the fuck are you two waiting for us? OR are you waiting for him? That''s it, huh?"


    JP nodded, "Yes, I was instructed by the General¡ª I mean, my father to wait for the leader of the Special Unit, Mr. Ishiyama¡ª Apologies, I''m not too sure of the title or rank given to you by the President¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Listen, you either call me by my name or call me ''Kid'' like every old dude I met. Oh! Boss works too if you''re at my ce. Drop the ''Mr.'' too, I''m not that old."


    "Y-Yes, sir!"


    I looked at JP with a defeated expression, "Fine. Call me whatever you want, I should''ve given up on that a long~ time ago."


    "P-Pardon?"


    "That''s not important. Anyway, I can kinda guess why you''re here," I replied to JP but then I turned the other side to look at Seb, "But why are you here?"


    Seb took a deep breath before replying, "P-Pardon¡ª ACk!"


    Quinn blew up right after throwing a spoon right at his head, "Enough of this ''pardon'', shit! CAN ANY OF YOU TALK NORMALLY?! WE''RE NOT IN A FUCKING NOVEL OR WRITING A LEGAL DOCUMENT, JUST TALK CASUALLY FOR FUCK''S SAKE!"


    Jesus cut in the middle of them as he tried to defuse the situation, "You guys probably¡ª no, you probably don''t know but they''re rted, kinda."


    "Kinda?"


    JP nodded, "Dad was great friends with histe parents and he basically took him in."


    Tatiana interjected, "So you two are kinda like step-brothers?"


    The two nodded, "You can say that."


    Then Tatiana chuckled, "But unfortunately the wrong¡ª Hmm, nevermind that¡­ Still possible¡­"


    As soon as Tatiana went there, I was apuding her in my head but the two had no fucking clue what the fuck we were talking about. In any case, we eventually discovered that the General told the two to follow us¡ªI mean, me¡ªfor the duration of our stay to "learn", but what was stewing in my head at the moment was if he''d also include Seb in the deluxe package he was trying to hand over to me.


    ''Let''s just not ask them to be safe¡­ But they''re gonna learn something alright¡­''


    Once we finished our meals, we cleared our tables and handed them over to the cadets washing the dishes though we did offer to help them clear the other tables which they obviously declined. However, I learned that the General had set up a private space where I could "teach" the two something only that I could, and the two actually had this sparkle in their eyes that they were trying so hard to contain.


    Honestly, any normal kid would love to learn to use the de in my hip¡ªor whatever it is the General was so cryptic about because I could pretty much teach these two anything in my wheelhouse. And as luck would have it, they had a "senior" that could probably teach them the basics in regards to Japanese sword-fighting.


    It''s just that the person who I thought respected authority was the first one to voice out his opinion.


    "Sir, with all due respect¡­ We''re here to learn from you and not from¡­ from¡­ the other person you''re here with," he said before turning to Isaac, "Apologies¡­"


    And Isaac had the audacity to side with them, "N-None taken actually¡­ I actually forced him to teach me too. I''m just as bad as you guys! Ah¡ª probably, right? I dunno much about you two but¡ª"


    I cut him off before he dug himself a bigger hole, "Isaac, just stop."


    "A-Alright sen¡ª bro¡ª sir¡ª you know how it is¡­"


    I shook my head as I sighed deeply, "Alright, this is how it''s gonna go: I''m not exactly sure what your dad is making me teach you but the setup here is he wants me to teach you kenjutsu or something that involved fucking the shit off somebody. But yeah, I dunno where to start with you two so how about you two fight it out and we''ll see where it goes?"


    "P-Pardon?" the two asked at the same time.


    "I already gave Isaac things he should work on based on how I assessed him myself but you two are basically ongoing books I had to decipher to know where to start."


    JP raised his hand, "Wouldn''t it be better if you assessed us one at a time instead of us fighting each other?"


    I quickly answered, "Yep, that would be better. Much more urate too¡­"


    "Then why¡ª"


    "No reason. I just don''t feel like teaching at the moment¡­"


    The moment I said that, I instantly sensed how upset JP was getting while Seb just took a deep breath and avoided eye contact. But other than that, what I quickly realized was how Seb was acting while JP was around because he wasn''t as passive when we first met him. I could only assume that something was going on between the two and what better way to bring out their grievances was for them to taste each other''s fists from the get-go.


    And yeah, I also didn''t feel like exining too much so I just added more fuel to the fire.


    "We gave you food, we gave you lodging, we gave you¡ª"


    "Before you pile on Mr. Baron, I don''t think your fragile ego would take it if I beat you two without breaking a sweat. I could definitely do that much without my de here, what do you think would happen if I hold it now?"

 Chapter 876 The Night In The Academy III

    ?


    Saying that, I was half-expecting for him to lunge at me¡ªbecause I was expecting some pride and entitlement since he was the General''s son¡ªbut he just put up a frown and let the remark slide, telling me he was as "special" as he thought he was and simple provocations wouldn''t work on him. However, since Seb also kept to himself, didn''t that defeat the purpose of being special because there were already two of them in the same room that did the same thing?


    At this point in time, there was still a handful of hours before it reached midnight but what better way to hit several birds with a stone was this scene that wasid out for me.


    From my understanding, these three people in front of me needed a teacher where one was here solely for swordsmanship while the other two were here for god''s knows what but if we left everything to my discretion and their own understanding, they''d just learn how I deal with things on a regr basis.


    Besides, I had a new-found ability that I haven''t had the chance to expand upon so in my point of view, I had three little guinea pigs I could do everything I want on¡­ but in a more research-like and not the Lopez-like way.


    And yeah, let''s not talk about theplicated rtionship the other two¡ªJP and Seb¡ªhave with each other but instead of having them beat each other up to vent their frustrations, they''d now have to find somemon ground¡ªIsaac included¡ªso they''d survive the night I had nned just now for the three of them.


    So, what better way to start our "lesson" than to call out the one that had everything handed to him on a silver tter.


    On a side note, this ce had several "Bastons" a.k.a. the sticks used for Arnis so the two half-brothers already had one on each hand like Isaac and I were because we didn''t have anything better. I would''ve preferred the ones Isaac brought over before but it seemed like he left everything on ourst temporary residence.


    I pointed to JP and beckoned him over, "You. C''mere."


    "Hmm?"


    "You wanna learn from me, right?"


    "I''m not exactly sure what you''re ying at¡ª"


    "You and me both, Mr. Baron¡­ but, this thing here is the first thing that popped into my mind so I''m gonna give you a taste regardless of whether this was what your father wanted me to teach you or not."


    JP still stood in ce after pondering for a bit, "What exactly are you gonna teach me though?"


    I let out a chuckle, "I''m gonna hit you with this stick and if you manage to block it, we''re done."


    "..."


    "Okay?"


    "..."


    "I''m gonna start now¡ª"


    "Wait."


    "Hmm?"


    "That''s it?"


    "Yep."


    "That''s too¡ª"


    Before JP had the chance to finish his sentence, I let out a short chuckle before I flicked my wrist and right as he thought I aimed for his left shouldering from a downward-right sh from his side¡ªit actually came from an upward-left sh that lightly tapped his right shoulder.


    The look on his fucking face was fucking~ indescribable and the way he had his guard on the opposite side of where my attack was supposed to be not only confused him but also the other two that would''ve done the same thing if they were in his shoes.


    "What the¡ª"


    "No fucking way¡­"


    "I was sure that¡ª"


    I chuckled at their reactions, "What? That''s just the practice swing. The next one''s the real thing."


    "Wha¡ª"


    And again, before any of them could respond or finish their sentence, I let out a gargantuan amount of killing intent and directed it to the same ce, thinking only of one thing: making this blunt stick to fucking ravage and eviscerate through JP''s flesh and bones and the other two even though they weren''t involved.


    I was still a fraction of a second to acting out my thoughts but before I could send out the real attack, JP had already lost color on his face and control of his body, bringing him to his knees faster than his training stick could fall. Furthermore, Isaac and Seb who were behind him looked like their entire search history was made public because they looked like their cold sweat permeated their clothes including their change of clothes for the next week.


    At this moment, the quiet andck of movement were definitely concerning so I broke the ice by awkwardly muttering, "So¡­ that''s a little too much, huh? Wanna do basics instead?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "A-Anyone?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Umm¡­ guys?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I did thep-tapping thingy before trying to say goodbye, "Okay, I think we''re done¡ª"


    Isaac was the first one to snap back to reality, "Woah! Hold up!"


    Seb followed, "You gotta wait for us to recover from that!"


    And finally, the Baron shakily stood up with a pale face, "Wait. We''re n-not done here¡­"


    I chuckled as I looked at him, "You sure?"


    "I''m sure¡ª"


    So, for thest time¡ªI hope, I tried to cover the whole area with my murderous intent but before I could think of what to do with these wet puppies that were left out in the cold, JP''s knees buckled as he vomited on the floor while the other two were just as close to doing the same thing as they fell on their asses.


    But for some reason, the three figures in front of me momentarily looked like corpses¡ªnot the ones that we were supposed to take down outside, but the ones that would look like after I''m done with them.


    I had to do a double-take for sure, and I doubt the three even noticed I shook my head and blinked a few times. And when things looked normal, the look of fear and confusion were on their faces but the look of morbid curiosity was starting to well up as well. However, what actually surprised me was that tears fell down Isaac''s face that he himself couldn''t exin why it was happening.


    For the record, JP was the one that looked like he''d shit his pants from going through that whole ordeal but the reason for Isaac''s tears seemed to be stemming from something deeper. I''m not a shrink per se but I''m pretty sure Isaac''s tears were from pity and sadness though he started to wipe them off with his palms with a confused expression.


    "W-What? I was just¡ª ah, fuck¡­ It''s not s-stopping¡ª I¡ª I t-think that¡ª"


    I cut him off as I looked at him solemnly, "Breathe."


    "H-Huh? O-Okay¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Haaa¡­ F-Fuck¡­ This is e-embarrassing¡­"


    I chuckled, "Really? I feel great though¡­"


    "Uh-huh. You didn''t experience what we went through¡ª"


    "Hah! That''s where you''re wrong now. You thought I was the only one that could do this?" I said as I did it again.


    "FUCKING ASSHOLE! STOP! CAN''T YOU SEE I''M THE ONLY ONE THAT COULD TALK HERE?!"


    As I turned to the two, they were one sneeze away from fainting but all I could do for them was throw them a bar of chocte each and hope for the best. But in the meantime, I dragged over Isaac so we could clean up the ce we just used because let''s be real here, with the state they were on, I doubt they could do much physical activity.


    But yeah, I was surprised that Isaac could help me clean¡ªmuch less stand up¡ªthough there were plenty of times when I saw him almost lose his footing. However, it didn''t take long before he looked like he wanted to hear more of the subject we quickly nced over though I was already about to head to where Kaley and the others were.


    I sighed before I turned around to face him, "Alright. I''ll answer some questions that I want to but when I ask you questions of my own, you have to answer them whether you want to or not."


    "Wha¡ª"


    "I know it''s not fair, to say the least, but that''s just the way it goes and I don''t want to talk about those people to someone I just met a few days ago."


    Isaac began to scratch his head with a dejected expression, "Fine, you win. Ask me everything you want now so we don''t have this silly back-and-forth game where we try to juggle two conversations at the same time."


    "Why don''t you just split your consciousness into two?"


    "HUH?! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?! BRO¡ª"


    I cackled as I snorted, "I was kidding you numbnut. Anyway, Kishin-Ryuu School of Martial Arts¡­"


    "You talking about the ce I studied kendo?"


    "Yep."


    "What about it?"


    "Who''s the owner?"


    "Hmm? Why do you ask?"


    I almost beat the shit out of this idiot, "You said you''d answer¡ª Nevermind, I''m going to sleep¡ª"


    "Wait! Wait! I''m sorry! His name''s Kenji Sato¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "Hmm? What?"


    "No fucking way that the owner of that ce''s name is Kenji Sato¡­"


    "Wait, why?"


    "Does he look like a Kenji Sato? That''s like the mostmon Japanese name if you Google that shit."


    "Really? Huh. I thought it was weird at first too but no one''s saying anything so I went along with it."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Well~ First of all¡­ he''s white¡ª"


    I almost choked on my spit and died then and there, "No fucking way¡­"


    "Oh! For some reason, he talks in this weird ent too¡­"


    "Uh-huh."


    "He always likes to listen to Drive, Wonderwall, and even Scars at times but I thought I disassociated when he told me that our dojo''s actually Chinese. And yeah! Can you believe that his favorite "anime" was Mn? Ah¡ª S-Sensei? You okay? You look¡ª BRO! WHAT ARE YOU¡ª SOMEONE CALL 911¡ª 117!!!"

 Chapter 877 Dojo? - Dojo.

    ?


    Hearing sphemous after sphemous statement one after the other, I almost went into shock and the only reason I was still barely conscious was that the mention of dubs being superior to subs¡ªor either way¡ªwasn''t said or the best DBZ fight this "Kenji Sato" guy witnessed was from the MC versus the one named like the woodwind instrument.


    In any case, the two half-brothers eventually found their bearings and even though they were still physically able to continue our training, they were mentally and/or even spiritually drained to function as usual.


    The chocte I gave them could only do so much and I doubt they''d wish to plunge into something that put them in that state after taking it in fully or perhaps trying to ready or prepare themselves beforehand.


    With that said, the only person I needed to get off my back was Isaac but I need to somehow satisfy him with my answers even if the deal we had about them was skewed in my favor.


    "S-So¡­ he''s a fake, huh?"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Not exactly. You have some of the basics down¡ªand that thrust of yours is somewhat decent¡ªand in the grand scheme of things, it''s just a me problem if I have something to say about white guys with Japanese names teaching a ss such as that."


    Isaac scratched the back of his head with aplex expression, "Sounds like you''re trying to avoid getting canceled or something. It''s the end of the world, no? Who gives a fuck nowadays?"


    "True. But it still feels weird, right? I spent most of my life with this certain mindset and suddenly, there was this number of years that you have to immediately think and act a certain way¡ªwhich almost always contradicts as to how I was raised¡ªbut yeah, I can understand and agree with some of those points but¡­ Hmm~ Let''s just say I really don''t have a side at this point. I always go with ''my'' side."


    "Hmm."


    "It''s like what I''m doing right now. It''s hard to pick a side because good things and bad thingse from either corner but if we look at them using both lenses, what''s right and what''s wrong bes subjective."


    "Umm.. how did we get to this part of the conversation again?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­ my bad, my bad¡­ It''s the ''cancel'' thing¡ª"


    "Right, right¡ª I started it, sorry¡­"


    "..."


    "Anyway, if you don''t have any¡ª"


    "Actually, this has been on my mind for a while and I really need you to answer this one honestly¡­ It''s about how you managed to afford rent on Mr. Cuervo''s ce for months, I might add, while you have that¡­ umm¡­ ''starter'' de on ya. If you can afford a room for yourself and some ''entertainment'' on the side without signing up to his family, I assumed you''d have something on your hips that at least have a $1000 price tag."


    "..."


    "Isaac?"


    "..."


    "I''m just saying¡­ People that are loaded tend to buy things for themselves and since you value learning from me that much, having something that could at least put a smile on your face on a daily basis should''ve been a given."


    "..."


    He was looking away for a moment but he sighed deeply once he turned back to me because I was staring at him straight in the eyes waiting for a proper answer, "Alright¡­ G-Give me a moment¡­ Fuck¡­ To think you''d think of t-that¡ª"


    JP suddenly interjected with a douchey look on his face, "What are you two talking about?"


    Isaac almost turned his head violently from the sudden interruption, "Hah?! Didn''t we send you two away?! Follow Seb over there, half of him is already out the goddamn door!"


    "You! Don''t think you can do whatever you want here just because he can¡ª Ugh¡­ I''m so fucking tired, I''ll deal with this tomorrow¡­" JP said with a heavy sigh before turning to me, "Kindly turn off the lights and lock the doors when you two are done here, alright? I''m going to sleep¡ª"


    Isaac muttered as JP turned his back, "For someone who respects authority that much, this is a ''pleasant'' way to talk to your senior, no?"


    JP stopped in his tracks as he turned back with a frown, "What did you just say to me?"


    Seb called from the double doors, "Baron, we should¡ª"


    JP exploded, "SHUT THE FUCK UP! DID I FUCKING TALK TO YOU, PLEB?!"


    ''And one of his maskses out¡­''


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT ME FOR?!"


    "I apologize, I''m heading out," Seb looked down momentarily before giving me a nce andpletely walking out the door.


    "Cheh, that''s what I thought," JP scoffed as he watched Seb disappear from view but then he turned back to Isaac with the same expression, "You¡ª"


    But I shut shit down before things escted.


    "Jameson Prometheus McArthur IV. Have some fuckingmon sense. The way things are between you three, by order of seniority, Isaac here''s your senior¡ªand that reminds me, Seb''s your senior too."


    "What?!"


    I wore a deadpan expression, "I met this guy first, then Seb, then you. That''s how it works. You might be above them in military standards but you''re the lowest of the bunch. And yeah, don''t fucking run your mouth while your dad''s away because if you haven''t forgotten, we record everything with our cameras here *pointing at the almost invisible lens by one of the straps on my vest*, see? You don''t wanna see him disappointed in you now, are we?"


    "..."


    "Also, if your dad hasn''t told you yet, I run a special unit that''s approved by THE president himself, and I dunno about you¡ª but Imand more people¡ªmilitary and otherwise¡ªthan the cadets who were here for more than they should''ve stayed. In short, without the university right next to ya, I''d probably have more people under mymand AND connections where I can call upon favor without issue."


    "...!"


    "Furthermore, everyone else in my crew can move on their own¡ªwithin reason, of course¡ªand I don''t answer to your dad, and my crew doesn''t also. We do our own thing to an extent. But we, as a collective, give each other respect and courtesy anyone should give to another person¡­ your dad included, unlike you. Trust me, holding on to your title that was probably given to you wouldn''tst long unless you earn it properly."


    "What does that even mean?"


    I almostughed in his face, "That''s¡­ That''s something you should figure out yourself."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    At that moment, JP could only stare at me while he tried to figure out what I just said to him but Isaac and I wouldn''t speak a word until JP walked out those doors. He already interrupted something that could allow me to shed some light on and I wouldn''t allow him a breakthrough or an epiphany after pulling that shit in front of me.


    With that said, he eventually turned around and mmed the door behind him but to my surprise, Seb came in from the other entrance wearing an embarrassed expression.


    "Can¡­ Can I hang for a bit? S-Seniors?"


    "Of course, you can! Come here, junior!" Isaac quickly replied with an idiotic smile on his face.


    "T-Thanks¡­"


    "You were snooping, huh? I would''ve kicked your ass if it was any other day but your fucking brother is nuts! What a fucking hypocrite!"


    "U-Umm¡­"


    "What are you acting like that for?! You weren''t like this earlier! Bro, I''m right, right?! The vibe''s totally off with when he''s present!" Isaac eximed as he turned to me.


    I nodded as I positioned myself so I''m facing them at equal proportions, "I noticed that too. Care to borate on that?"


    Seb scratched the side of his face as he replied, "Can uh¡­ C-Can the senior tell his story first? Isn''t that how it goes? Mine''s a littleplicated so¡ª"


    Isaac cut him off, "Mine''splicated too, so¡ª"


    And then I cut them off, "Stop with the senior and ''it''splicated'' bullshit. I hate pulling rank just to prove a point but that''s the best thing to deal with that kid. I don''t mind being the one inmand but we gotta act like bros too, you know?"


    Isaac squinted his eyes as he looked at me, "Mm-hmm~"


    "What?"


    "Well¡­ it''s just funny to hear that while I''m forced to answer everything honestly! Don''t you think so?!"


    "Oh~~~ You haven''t heard of a hypocrite, I see¡ª"


    "C''mon, bro! Don''t admit to what you''re doing like that while looking like you''d dump my body in acid! I just wanted to know what''s the name of your dojo, okay?! Just answer me that and I''ll tell you everything you wanted to¡ª"


    "Dojo¡­"


    "Wut?"


    "Dojo."


    "You mean¡­ just¡­ dojo?"


    "Dojo¡­"


    "Dojo¡­ Like Dojo-Jojo¡ª"


    "D''you want me to smack you in the head?! Can''t you fucking figure out why I don''t wanna tell it to Mr. Kishin-Ryuu-School-of-Martial-Arts-Student?! HMMM?!"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Yep¡­"


    "Hmm¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "Well, that was anti-climactic¡­ And honestly¡­ I''m a little disappointed¡ª no, underwhelmed¡­"


    "You think?"


    "W-Well¡­ You know¡­ I thought¡ª"


    "Ours is atop a mountain though¡­"


    "WHAT?! FOR REAL?!"


    "A mountain that we own¡­"


    "BRO, STOP KIDDING ME!!!"


    I started bbering after hearing a bit of encouragement and interest after the dojo fiasco, "Our founder and head teacher, who''s also my adoptive grandpa is the one who forged my des and he''s a 7-foot demon that even I don''t know how old¡ªbut yeah, our naming sense sucks so I better stop there¡ª"


    "C''MON BRO, I JUST GOT HARD! CONTINUE¡ª"


    "And~ I''m definitely putting a stop to this shit after hearing that¡­"


    Seb interjected after a while, "Way to go, senior¡­"


    "DON''T PUT THIS ON ME! YOU FUCKING GOT HARD TOO! WHO WOULDN''T¡ª HEY! BRO! WHY ARE YOU HEADING OUT?! WE JUST STARTED AND¡ª PLEASE! I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! COME BACK!"


    Long story short, it was chaos for several minutes but since we still had plenty of time, I deemed that it was probably fine to head back a little bitter to properly hear their stories. However,pared to how jolly and chaotic the atmosphere was earlier, it just became downright depressing and infuriating once I heard about what happened to these two people before we met.

 Chapter 878 Raptor > Log Cabin I

    ?


    At this point in time, I was walking toward this log cabin prepared for us¡ªwhere we also parked our vehicles¡ªbut to my surprise, Kaley was waiting by the porch with a dimly litntern and what seemed to be a mosquito coil that almost burned itself from its little metal stand it usually came with.


    Once our eyes met, the solemn expression I was wearing waspletely melted by the bright smile she let out as she waved me over, motioning for me to sit beside her so we could at least have someone to bear the cold with.


    I gave her a kiss before I put my arm above her shoulders, "Have you been waiting all this time? Shouldn''t you be morefortable inside?"


    She shook her head and chuckled before she scooted even closer, "I am and I would be but I needed some alone time to think. I¡ª You¡ª We handled things "appropriately" but that doesn''t mean we could just function like normal, right?"


    I was taken aback by that statement and the feeling of guilt suddenly welled up inside me, "I should''ve¡ª"


    But Kaley shut that shit down before I tried to me myself, "You doofus, I love that you think that way but being alone sometimes with my thoughts could sometimes help me a lot. You did good by¡ª Wait a second, why are you looking that way before I waved you over?"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Yeah, why do you look like that earlier?"


    "It''s... It''splicated¡ª"


    "I excel at handlingplicated stuff. Besides, I''m your wife¡­ kinda¡ª wait, I am without that certificate and other legal stuff, so you can tell me anything and I can help you. Did something happen with your disciples or whatever you call them? I see that Isaac didn''te back with you, did he find somece else to stay?"


    "..."


    "Hey? You can tell me every¡ª"


    I looked Kaley in her eyes before I sighed deeply and said, "I¡­ Hmm¡­ It''s a little¡ª no, I should tell you¡­ Fuck¡ª"


    "Just tell me!"


    "I''ll trust you with this, alright? Haaa¡­ I¡­ Hmm¡­ Why is this hard? It should be fucking easy to tell you everything but¡ª Can we do it somewhere private? I''m notfortable rying this to you while we''re on this porch¡­ Can we go inside?"


    Kaley immediately tried to hold me down as she looked into my eyes, "We can''t. Nope, I''m sorry¡­"


    "Hmm? Why¡ª"


    "There''s an ongoing orgy inside and¡ª"


    "Wut¡ª"


    "Before you ask, Quinn and Tatiana locked themselves up in one of the rooms avable but they are going at it ever since you took some time to teach the General''s kid. I would''ve joined them if it was any other day but you know¡­ things happened and I wanted some time alone¡­"


    "So Jesus and his crew¡ª"


    "Yep."


    "Ah¡­ Aren''t there windows we can climb¡ª"


    "Nope. I picked our room for that reason and it backfired¡­ We can''t bypass the activity in the living room because they''ll definitely make us join¡­ And no, I''ll ept "tacos" but not "sausages" in our rtionship¡­ Unless you''d let in¡ª"


    "Nope."


    "I mean trans-tacos but sure, I''ll always respect your decision on that."


    "T-Thanks, I guess?"


    Kaley chuckled before she gave me a light tap with her elbow, "We''ll go on our pace, alright? Hmm~ It really is getting colder but there''s no signs of them stopping anytime soon¡­"


    I suddenly had an idea, "We have spare nkets in our Raptor, we could spend the night there if they go at it for the whole night?"


    She let out a smile, "That sounds cozy, actually¡­ I can have you all to myself too. Quinn''s awesome but I want some US time, you know?"


    "You took the words out of my mouth. Shall we?"


    "Let''s."


    After a short bit, Kaley and I made ourselvesfortable in the backseat of my prized vehicle but she just had to ask about the things that weren''t answered before I had the chance to meet her lips with mine.


    "Can''t I just tell you tomorrow?"


    "Nope. You seem troubled by it, the best I can do is share the burden with you because I''m sure that with your memory and the way you are, you''d think about it deep into the night. And if we do "it", I want you just thinking of me, not the other thing that'' bugging you."


    "..."


    "Am I right or what?"


    "Psychic¡­"


    "Hmph. I''m not gonna react to that now."


    "Fine¡­ What do you wanna hear first?"


    "You choose, I''ll just listen¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Fine. I''ll tell you about Isaac."


    "Great."


    "Haa¡­ I wouldn''t go into much detail¡ª"


    "Nope. Go into all of the details you can. Please."


    "..."


    "We don''t have all night?"


    "Why are you so snappy tonight¡ª"


    "Don''t change the subject! I''m waiting~"


    "Fine¡­ Hmm¡­ Isaac''s story is pretty much like everyone else''s though¡­"


    "Would be nice to learn something instead of dancing around it¡­"


    "I was just about to¡ª Anyway, he''s pretty much like a regr Joe like me¡ª you know, a little weeb-like and some other shit but he realized one of his hobbies by enrolling into this school¡ª"


    "The uh¡­ Umm¡­ Kishin-Ryuu School of Martial Arts?"


    "Yep. You remembered, huh."


    "You were agitated when you remembered, I took note of it."


    "Huh. Anyway, it''s not as important right now¡ª well, it kinda is because when shit went down, he was attending a ss in that school. But since any kind of electronic ormunication devices were put away or were in a different room, they''d only taken notice when all hell broke loose."


    "Right around the first emergency broadcast?"


    "A little bitter than that because they thought that there was just a fire somewhere far because of all the sirens going off."


    "Oh¡­"


    "Anyway, Isaac said that the first thing they did was fish out their phones from their lockers while their teacher rushed to turn the TV on because their dojo¡ªor should I say their studio¡ªwas also his home. He mentioned that his teacher then realized that his live-in partner was still outside, working in a call center or something, so his teacher quickly fished for his keys and ordered what''s left of his students to vacate the premises immediately."


    "What? Really?"


    "Yeah, well he said that there really weren''t many of them left in the studio because everyone else just scrambled to get to their families, but since Isaac didn''t have a car of his own, he asked his teacher if he coulde with him and just drop him off when he''s close."


    "What did his teacher say?"


    "Oh, well¡­ it''s a no-brainer because they just took off with his teacher''s fancy-ass pickup and drove like madmen."


    "Did they bring¡ª"


    I almost stifled augh, "Right. There''s one piece of information I forgot to tell you."


    "Hmm?"


    "His teacher''s white."


    "And?"


    "His name''s Kenji Sato¡ª"


    "Wut¡ª"


    "Anyway~ To answer your question, yep. They brought their own katanas with them but Mr. Sato had a fully-automatic M16 and ssic 1911 at the backseat of his vehicle. Luckily for Isaac, the ce where his teacher''s gf was working at was pretty close to his home but¡­ but that''s the only time he lucked out."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    I let out a long sigh before I answered, "Well¡­ Remember when I told you when they fished their phones out from their lockers?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Well~ Isaac''s folks didn''t answer when he tried to contact them but when he was about to ask his teacher to pull over for a bit so he could jump out, his phone rang¡­"


    Kaley recognized my glum tone, "A-And?"


    "He umm¡­ he said that he was pretty ecstatic and d they managed to call him but when he answered it¡­ umm¡­ all he heard from the other side was his mom sobbing, telling him to get to safety and she loves him while she was bleeding out from the bites she sustained. He uhh¡­ he said that his first instinct was to still go back home¡ªespecially when he heard the sobs turn to screams¡ªbut his teacher gave him a good punch and gave him a good talking to."


    "..."


    "Mr. Sato kept telling him that after they''d let loose on those sons of bitches and the moment they secured his girl, they''d drive straight to his home so they could put his family''s spirits to rest."


    "What did Isaac say?"


    "He told me that he actually said nothing at that point but he told me that he never held his de so hard that the wraps were making that stretching noise. And once they made it to the call center, he was the first one to jump out of the vehicle and started cutting down anything that shouldn''t be moving¡­ and¡­ and the ones threatening to steal their vehicle."


    "Oh¡­ That''s¡­ That''s understandable, r-right?"


    I let out a bitter smile, "Yeah, I would''ve done the same thing but there''s a reason why we didn''te out for a time the moment it started. To avoid that. We resorted to that stuff but not that early¡­ and without a single loss to our belt¡­"


    "Yeah¡­ Oh¡­ What happened to his teacher then?"

 Chapter 879 Raptor > Log Cabin II

    ?


    At this point in time, it was still cozy being with Kaley under a nket but I would very much prefer a soft bed where both of us couldy down and stretch our feet. However, there was still an ongoing activity in the living room and the only way we could get into the bedroom where Tatiana and Quinn were was to drill a fucking hole in the wall or simply wait for everyone else to finish¡ªwhich would take a little bit of time.


    In any case, I just sighed deeply before giving Kaley an answer to her question.


    "His teacher¡­ umm¡­ Mr. Sato¡ªas Isaac told me¡ªobviously went out guns zing and attracted a herd so that he could make Isaac head inside the call center''s fire exit without issue."


    Kaley looked surprised, "Really? Wow."


    "Yeah. Right, before he did, he handed Isaac his 1911 for ''emergencies'' because a gun in one''s hand could be more persuasive than a katana."


    "I agree¡­"


    "Anyway, Isaac then told me that it really made all the difference because all he had to do once he reached the fire exit was to point it at anyone that wanted toe with them. And yeah, he easily found Mr. Sato''s wife because a petite Asian girl that had several ''enhancements'' would stick out in a crowd."


    Kaley almost rolled her eyes after discovering the way I described Mr. Sato''s partner, "Ah¡­"


    "However, since we''re talking about the people he pointed a gun to, there was a guy in the crowd that made himself known to be Mrs. Sato''s¡ªwait, that''s not even her real surname, what was it again? Uhh~ Right, Ann! It was Ann''s side hustle¡­ you know, the one that made himself known."


    "Oh no¡­"


    I nodded as Kaley shook her head from hearing another person in the picture, "Yep. And when Isaac tried to shoo him away, the guy was stupid enough toe forward with a gun pointed at him to plead to this Ann chick toe with him instead and he loves her h, h, h~ But at the exact fucking moment, Mr. Sato rolled in with his bloody pickup before shouting at Ann and Isaac to fucking get in. And guess what happens next?"


    Kaley thought for a moment before she answered, "Side bf still tried to get a word in?"


    I nodded bitterly, "Yep. He got a word in before Mr. Sato popped his kneecap much to everyone''s surprise."


    "...!" Kaley had no words to say at this point but I saw her widen her eyes as she waited for me to continue the story.


    "At that point, Ann just started to scream in horror but Isaac took it to himself to stuff her back in the truck. He did his best to hold her down to stop her from hitting Mr. Sato while Mr. Sato was mowing down anyone and anything¡ªand he didn''t even dare to ask his teacher about the deal they made earlier. It was aplete mess of events but they did make it back to their studio/home which was still locked up tight and in one piece."


    I continued because Kaley was just staring at me, "Once they secured the vehicle in the garage and rolled down the roll-ups, the couple just started fighting because of what both of them did¡ªarguing about two different things at the same time¡ªabout Ann supposed cheating and Mr. Sato shooting the guy. Isaac told me that all he could do was stay quiet and he couldn''t do anything when Mr. Sato had enough of getting hit by his partner and decided to give her a solid p to the face."


    "That''s¡­ I wouldn''t know what to do in that situation¡­ They should be just¡ªugh¡­ what happened then?"


    "After that, he told me it just became deathly quiet and Mr. Sato just shouted at Ann and told her to get cleaned up and bring out all of their supplies while they barricade all the entrances for the time being. He did tell me that Ann was just sobbing even though she followed Mr. Sato''s words and they survived in that home for a good three weeks before it started going downhill."


    "Did they start running low on food?"


    I shook my head bitterly, "That could easily be remedied."


    "Then what¡ª"


    "Isaac told me that Ann started to show ''interest'' though we very much know what would happen if he ever tried to dip his toes on that, right?"


    Kaley couldn''t believe her ears, "W-What did he do though?"


    I tried to scratch the back of my head before I continued, "Well~ It''s actually moreplicated than that because before the ''interest'' started, Ann caught him with one of her dirty underwear while jerking off¡­ yep, he told us. It took him a bit to confess to me and Seb but he did nheless¡­"


    "...!"


    Seeing Kaley''s reaction, the best course of action was just to continue the story, "Yeah, and since you mentioned they started to run low on food, it really did happen. The two of them¡ªIsaac and Mr. Sato¡ªused toe out to gather supplies but since there was an incident of other people trying to break into their home, another guy had to stay behind to protect their house and guard the only woman in the vicinity¡­"


    "Then Isaac was the one¡ª"


    "They alternated actually and as he told me, he did try to push her away when she tried toe on him but he could only do so much given the situation. He eventually gave in and started to have an affair but as they said, an affair''s greatest enemy is unpredictability."


    Kaley nodded a few times as she looked at me again, waiting for me to continue, "W-What happened then?"


    "Yeah¡­ they did it for as much as they can while Mr. Sato is away but they were eventually caught in the act because after driving away, Mr. Sato walked back and got into one of the entrances he left open. At that point, Isaac was already anticipating a bullet between his eyes but what happened was that Mr. Sato calmly asked for Ann to follow him to his room before Isaac was asked to retrieve the only vehicle they had that was only a block away¡­"


    "..."


    "With that said, Isaac told me that nothing happened after that¡ªand his activities with Ann continued even when Mr. Sato was in their home¡ªthough he was the only one who went outside to gather supplies for three more weeks before it happened."


    "W-What happened?"


    "Remember the guy Mr. Sato shot in the knee?"


    "Wai¡ª Did he bring a group over?!"


    "Nope. Getting shot in the knee was hisst appearance¡ª"


    "YOU! STOP MESSING WITH ME! W-WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?!"


    "Easy~ Don''t yell, we''re the only ones here! Sheesh~ Anyway, what actually happened in those three weeks was that they came across a couple who were seeking shelter for the night but when Isaac was about to turn them away, Mr. Sato epted the two even though the ones who tried to get in before were either shooed away or taken care of."


    "What?"


    "Yeah, but after giving everyone introductions over a simple meal, Isaac told me that Mr. Sato suddenly brought out booze and got everyone drunk¡ªespecially him and the guy from the couple they just took in. He said that he really felt weird that time so he would just put in his mouth the shot given to him before spitting it into the empty beer bottle he had¡ªthen emptying the contents in the bathroom every time he excused himself to ''pee''."


    "Oh¡­ that''s actually smart."


    "Yeah¡­ he said everyone thought he was just using the beer as a chaser to the liquor but as time went on, everyone else had gotten more drunk while the other guy waspletely passed out. There were jokes being passed around that he was a lightweight while Mr. Sato only looked tipsy but Isaac said that rms started ringing in his head when Mr. Sato offered to put the guy in another room to sleep so everyone could continue drinking¡ªand at the same time, the amount of liquor poured in his ss was getting higher and higher¡­"


    "Did he still try to¡ª"


    "Well~ They''ve drunk before so Mr. Sato had an inkling of his limit so he had to excuse himself onest time to get the 1911 in his bag. However, he told me he almost shit his pants when he discovered that Mr. Sato was following behind him with the 1911 he was just about to use to protect himself. Turns out, the guy he helped to his room had already sustained multiple stab wounds and he was the next one to die by his hands."


    "Then¡ª"


    "By some sort of coincidence, Ann also found it weird to have her partner take in random people and propose heavy drinking so she faked getting drunk and watched her partner very~ carefully. Long story short, Mr. Sato had their sharpest kitchen knife dug into his back before he shot down Ann in the process and Isaac had to finish him off by making his head roll on their stained carpet¡­"


    "..."


    "He said that his body just moved and even though he knew deep down that they caused everything that happened that night, he had to stay alive himself and continue from then on. What happened after that was that he cleared the house of all the supplies and valuables¡ªincluding the expensive des Mr. Sato owned plus a few other guns stored in his room¡ªbefore he dropped off the woman that survived in a DDR Camp in another city over."


    "..."


    "Right. Isaac did find the walking bodies of his family still locked in their old house and he took care of them before hitting the road. He was going through DDR Camp after DDR Camp to search for his other rtives right until he stumbled upon Cuervo Heights at the same time we stumbled upon it. He hadn''t had much luck finding existing rtives but he found us."


    "..."


    "And yeah, my good impression of him did falter from hearing his story but everyone has a bloody ledger, right? Kaley? Y-You okay?"

 Chapter 880 Raptor > Log Cabin III

    Kaley wasn''t speaking for a good while as we were talking and when I saw that she was wearing a difficult expression, I caressed her arms¡ªas I was hugging her¡ªwhile I Iooked at her with a gentle expression. She didn''t reply immediately as she kept quiet for a few more moments but once she let out a deep sigh, she held my hand and looked me in the eyes before opening her mouth.


    "I''m¡­ T-This story about Isaac made me r-remember what I didst time¡­"


    "Huh? What¡ª"


    "Y-You know, when I kissed Tatiana while¡ª"


    I almost smacked her head as I rolled my eyes, "Kaley. That was ages ago¡ª"


    "I know! It just¡­ It just surfaced in my head a-and thinking about it¡­ We found something else to address our¡ª m-my problem though I''d always feel bad when I hear stories such as this."


    "..."


    "You know, Isaac and Mr. Sato''s wife did way~ more than what I did but just attempting it¡ªnot the magnitude of the cheating done¡ªshould already be grounds for a break-up, separation, divorce, or whatever may the world call it."


    "..."


    "Look¡­ I''m not saying we do those things because we already talked about it but¡­ Hmm¡­ I d-don''t even know where I''m going with this b-but let me just say that I promise you that I wouldn''t do anything to hurt you like that again. And even if you didn''t look hurt¡ªaside from the chilling look you gave us the moment it happened¡ªI''ve never felt bad about doing something stupid."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Y-You listening?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, I was just waiting for you to finish."


    "Ah¡­ D-Did I dig too much from the past? I¡ª"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "Nah, it''s okay. But¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Let me say this too: Kaley, everyone else in the world would and could call me names after saying this but no matter what you do to hurt me or anything else in that manner¡­ I''ll¡­ I''ll do my best to get over it and forgive you because you''re¡­ you''re the person that I chose to be with, you''re all I ever wanted, and even with our current situation with everyone else, you''re all I ever need to be happy."


    "..."


    "But yeah, I still do have my limits but that''s beside the point. Telling you this does not mean that you shouldmit more mistakes since I''ll always find a way to forgive you nor should it be the type of situation that since I do this for you, you should do the same for me because it''s not. That''s not the type of rtionship I wanted to be in though I did reference that because a show I watched mentioned it in the ending."


    "..."


    "What I want to happen though is first and foremost: we should ALWAYSmunicate like this not just to address problems of any sort but because it''s the way any couple should do things. We don''t send signals, hints, or any of that bullshit if we want the other one to know about something really important because if it is really important, we should talk about it like adults."


    Kaley nodded, "Yeah¡­ I agree."


    "Yep."


    "I gotta ask¡­ where did you¡ª"


    "Reddit."


    "Wut¡ª"


    I instantly changed subjects, "That''s not important. Anyway~ I believe that thest story for the day shoulde the other day or else it''d bring more trouble so¡ª"


    "Wait. Why''s¡ª"


    "Kaley. Do you want me to eat your pussy while I try to finger your ass or do you want another story you''d eventually hear in¡ª"


    "You! I was¡ª"


    "You wanna just sleep?"


    Kaley didn''t know whether she wouldugh or cry but I almostughed my ass off when she ''begrudgingly'' unzipped and took off her pants, sitting backfortably with her legs spread wide, while her grey cotton panties already had a wet spot forming right above this soft juicy mound that I couldn''t wait to bury my face into.


    "Go¡­ G-Go on then¡­"


    I looked her straight in the eyes as I kneeled down in front of her, caressing her thick thighs before giving them a gentle squeeze. With that said, she looked like she was already dying from anticipation but I simply leaned close where my nose was just about to make contact before doing a huge inhale.


    And as soon as I did that, Kaley just had to move her hips slightly upward just to make a little bit of contact but much to her surprise, I dove in and tried to take in as much as I could even when she still had her panties on.


    "Hngh! Y-You s-should take them¡ª AH! MmH! You¡ª MmM~ Ah! T-Take them¡ª Ah! It''s¡ª MmmMMm! Oh~ Hngh! MMmH!"


    To bepletely honest, I would rather prefer the taste of her skin and her juices than the taste of fabric, but I wanted her to want more as my tongue tried to make do with the dribbles through the soaked part of her thin underwear. However, I did make some contact with her skin when I tried to lick the whole area because there was only so much it could cover.


    And at the same time, Kaley had already leaned as far as she could while she was trying her best to keep her legs spread wide, though her hands were either pulling on my hair or pushing my head even deeper.


    I was already pushing my tongue as hard as I could against the fabric of her tiny piece of clothing just to get to her clit but it didn''t take long before Kaley tried to take the matter into her own hands.


    "Let me just¡ª"


    As soon as she tried to pull her panties to the side, I grabbed both her hands and pinned them down before doing what she wanted to do in a more inefficient manner. It involved using my teeth to almost tear through the soft piece of cloth and ending up using my tongue to somehow push them to the side but somehow being feral about how I did it made Kaley gush even more.


    My tongue was always wet but it got even wetter when it finally made contact with her fucking cunt, and I began parting her fat meaty lips while slurping anything that came out of inside her. I could barely contain myself with Kaley''s scent and juices because my raging hard cock was about to burst out of my pants and my precum was starting to dribble out over and over.


    But before I could do anything to myself, Kaley''s legs suddenly mped on my head before she started squirting hard, and I wasn''t able to drink all of them as they drenched my shirt. However, I continued top her meaty lips and suck on her tiny aching clit before I pushed a finger into her asshole.


    "F-Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! I''M C-CUMMING AGAIN¡ª S-Shit! MMH! Ahn! F-FUCK! Y-YOU''RE STILL¡ª Y-YOU''RE STILL¡ª AHHHH! SHIT! SHIT! MMMmMmhHHH!"


    At this point, Kaley''s face was a mess while my finger up her ass could feel how her whole body was contracting but I only stopped fingering her and eating her out until she was about to cum for the third time.


    "W-What? I was about to¡ª"


    Before she could say more, I just stood up and tried to slowly unzip my pants but Kaley hurriedly tried to pull them off and slobbered on my knob with fervor. She was doing it with such enthusiasm before she pleaded for me to impale her¡ªand just with the anticipation and with the first insertion, Kaley flooded the backseat of my truck as she dug her nails into my back.


    Kaley was just gasping for air as I was inside her though I began to kiss her as I slowly pulled back and thrust forward, giving her a little break from the sensitivity.


    With that said, Kaley was just looking at me a certain way as she would give me gentle kisses all over all the while she had her legs wrapped around my back and her arms still at the same spot. We shared the same exact words at the same time, giving us both a surprise and a quickugh.


    "W-Wanna switch ces?"


    "Let''s."


    At that moment, Kaley and I were still mostly clothed so we eventually took off all our clothes before I sat down and she went on top of me.


    I didn''t have to ask her to shove one of her boobs on my face as she made me fondle the other, and she was slowly riding me while I was using the same finger to prod the surface of her little asshole. Needless to say, I started cumming right then and there when she started calling out my name while she was moaning loudly, and she kept riding me over and over even though my eyes were already at the back of my head and my hands were grabbing her roughly.


    Kaley had no intention of switching ces in our cramped space and we only did stop when Jesus came out to light a cigarette.


    It seemed like their nightly ritual was done or they were taking a small break but Kaley and I had never tried so hard to mask our presence when Quinn popped out a little bitter, obviously looking for the two of us who were missing the majority of our own ritual. It''s just that it has been a while since Kaley and I did things alone but when Quinn nced in our direction and just stared at us for a while, we knew we were fucked.


    However, she just rolled her eyes and chuckled before stealing Jesus'' cigarette¡ªthough doing nothing with it¡ªand heading back, leaving us to our own devices.


    "Heeeey~! That''s my only smoke for the week! Give it back!"


    Quinn instantaneously roared loud enough for even us outside to hear, heck, even everyone else in the immediate vicinity to hear, "I''LL STICK THIS LITTLE CANCER STICK UP YOUR BUTT IF YOU TRY TO LIGHT IT ONE MORE TIME!"


    "JOKE''S ON YOU, I''M INTO THAT SHIT!"


    In any case, Kaley and I just chuckled for a bit before we went on a few more rounds and we were woken up by everyone else in the morning when they were tapping on the ss windows.

 Chapter 881 Good Morning! - We Want You!

    ?


    The moment I opened my eyes, I almost reached for my gun because of the way everyone was looking at me. It was because not only Tatiana and Quinn were grinning from ear to ear, everyone else including Jesus and his crew looked like they busted their roommate jerking off or were speaking to their pets in that cutesy way they''d never do to normal people.


    And at the same fucking moment, I thought for sure that Kaley and I woke up at the same time but to my fucking horror, Kaley was under our nket¡ªbobbing her head up and down¡ªand had no idea that everyone else was watching us.


    I would''ve let everyone else watch if ''everyone else'' were the people we were involved with but this was an entirely different matter.


    But yeah, I should''ve immediately stopped what Kaley was doing but god fucking dammit morning head from her feels so fucking good.


    Not to mention, she definitely slobbered and engorged on my huge fucking knob the moment she discovered that I woke up but for some fucking reason, she didn''t hear the tapping on the ss windows.


    It could be that she thought it was just Quinn and Tatiana trying to y a joke on us¡ªand they''d have a little bit of a hard time seeing what was actually happening¡ªbut just the smile they were throwing at me told me that they fucking knew what was going on.


    However, it didn''t take long before Kaley went for the kill by doing the thing where she stops sucking me off and slowly stroked me with her hands, moving up from her position so she could mount me and finish together.


    ''No, no, no¡ª''


    I was this fucking close to pushing her down to make her finish what she started without discovering our audience, but I knew everything was lost when she pulled off the nket covering us.


    And it was .000001 seconds before chaos fucking ensued.


    "GOOD MORNING, YOU TWO!"


    "NICE TECHNIQUE¡ª WOAH! NICE COCK, BRO!"


    "LOOK AT HER FUCKING TITS!"


    Those three phrases came out muffled from our side but I definitely burst my eardrums when Kaley screamed for her life and took cover.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHA¡ª G-GET AWAY!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    Kaley tried so hard to pull up the covers by our feet as she tried to bury her face on my body and everyone else just startedughing and cheering from the spectacle. However, the pleasure I received earlier was entirely reced by pain as Kaley started to pinch my skin and hammer her fist on my body, ming me for everything.


    "AH¡ª OW! KALEY! IT HURTS! STOP!"


    "W-WHY DIDN''T YOU TELL ME THAT THEY''RE¡ª UGH!"


    "I JUST WOKE UP! I DIDN''T THINK YOU''D BLOW ME IN¡ª Nevermind that, it''s gonna be fine¡ª"


    "NEVERMIND?! REALLY?! NEVERMIND?! EVERYONE SAW US¡ª SAW ME¡ª AND YOU''RE TELLING ME THAT IT''S GONNA BE FINE?!"


    "YES! I REALLY THINK SO! DIDN''T YOU SEE THEM GO AT IT YESTERDAY?!"


    "B-BUT IT''S D-DIFFERENT!"


    "We''re going to a hot springter¡ª It''s probably a mixed bath too so¡ª"


    "I TOLD YOU IT''S DIFFERENT!"


    "At least you showed good technique!"


    "HOW DOES THAT MAKE IT BETTER?!"


    "I''M TRYING HARD HERE, ALRIGHT?! CAN''T WE JUST ACCEPT THE COMPLIMENTS?!"


    "HNGH~~~ C-CAN''T WE JUST COOK BREAKFAST FOR OURSELVES THIS TIME?!"


    "It''d be rude to¡ª"


    "PLEASE?!"


    "We can''t¡ª"


    "P-Please?"


    "Nope. It''s our mess, we deal with it."


    "Hngh¡­ F-Fine¡­ I''ll w-walk behind you though¡­ I''m still very embarrassed, alright?!"


    "I am too! I''m trying hard here so we''d be able to go out with everyone."


    "C-Can you f-find my clothes?"


    "Sure."


    With that said, we eventually got dressed before heading to the mess hall with everybody else but it didn''t take long before my mood was soured by the same exact thing they did with the breakfast portions.


    As usual, the ones who contributed less and were lower ranked got scraps while the ones who contributed a lot and were higher ranked got avish meal. And unfortunately, we were being given special treatment just because I was tasked to take JP as an apprentice.


    With the way things were, I wouldn''t be able to change this system but goddammit I''m gonna ruffle some fucking feathers.


    It didn''t take long before we finished eating so I quickly made my way to their assembly hall where each group''s daily tasks were being assigned to them. And luckily enough, no one from the cadets has driven out yet so I had a small window to proceed with my n.


    JP was by the stage with one of his cohorts who was barking at everyone to fall in line so I quickly made my way and made myself known.


    I simply gave JP an eerie smile before turning to his right-hand(?) man, "Gimme."


    [Huh?]


    I almost kicked the motherfucker''s shin, "You jackass, stop using the megaphone so close! Gimme!"


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Yes! That one!"


    As everyone else saw what was going on, the guy refused to give me the megaphone and instead turned to his Baron, but the people in the immediate vicinity heard a short clink before they heard someone¡ªI mean, me¡ªclearing my throat and speaking to the megaphone that had its strap cut off.


    [Morning, people! I know it''s gonna be a busy morning again collecting heads and whatnot but I have a small proposition for all of you. I''m only gonna say this once so you better fucking listen up! Can anyone hear me?]


    Saying that, I obviously garnered enough attention¡ªeven from the high-ranking officials and the regr joes who already finished their studies in this ce¡ªbut I didn''t expect all the cadets to stop whatever it was they were doing and listen to me attentively.


    Even JP who was still in the process of giving another cadet their set of tasks and the right hand who was still trying to get the megaphone off of me were perplexed by the respect given to me by their supposed pawns.


    I chuckled before I continued.


    [Alright. As much as I want to beat up Lopez for theing days, I''ll be leaving with JP and Seb for a little field trip. However, even if we ''bonded'' yesterday night, I don''t want them to feel out of ce so I''m thinking of bringing in a few more people with a particr set of skills¡ª no, what I wanted to say was that I want to bring a few more people that had a certain skill¡ª Get it? Singr. A single skill that they think that when it''s tested against everybody else here, they knew that they wouldn''t be bested.]


    [It could be anything. But the more obscure or weird it is, the better your chances ofing with me and my crew¡ª]


    One of the cadets with no particr features that were standing out raised his hand, "What do you mean by obscure?"


    [Good question, random citizen! What I mean by that is since all of you here are trained to do soldier shit, it would probably take a bit of time to find your best shooter, fighter, etc. So, if you have something¡­ something that you would shine on just by yourself, no matter how stupid or random it is, sign up and we''ll see if I''ll bring you with me or not.]


    Another random NPC raised his hand, "How many are you gonna take though?"


    [Another good question, random citizen 2! The answer to that question is I don''t fucking know.]


    "Huh?"


    [Why don''t all of you just worry about finding what sets you apart from that group you are in that''s trained to do a specific type of thing before you branch out to something that also does a specific type of thing? I''ll be the one to worry about the number of people I''ll be taking but let me tell you all that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I don''t wanna throw shade in this ce but I promise you''d have a good time with me.]


    [And don''t worry about leaving this ce for a while. The General is sending his son away for a bit, why would he care if he sends out a handful more?]


    JP finally made his way to my back, "What the fuck are you doing?"


    I turned off the megaphone for a bit, "What do you think I''m doing? Am I not being that obvious?"


    "Everyone here has some shit to do and you''re disrupting the¡ª"


    I suddenly threw him the look as I shoved his right hand away, "Why don''t you start packing up Mr. Baron before I tell your dad what''s going on between you and Seb?"


    JP''s eyes suddenly went wide as tried to look for Seb in the crowd, "What are you¡ª"


    "Let''s just say that I fucking know. And yeah, I''m gonna straight up tell you that you''re still fucking confused and you need to get that fucking head out the gutter or you''ll hurt more people than you think. You love being in a position of power and telling you that you''re notst night gave me an inkling."


    He gave me that same look when he yelled at Sebst night, "If you fucking¡ª"


    "Don''t fucking look at me like that. I fucking have you by the balls right now and let''s just say I''m gonna fucking whip you up to shape and your dad will probably let me keep you for a few more months. That repressed feelings of yours? I''m gonna give you a chance to let it all out while you''re on a vacation with us and trust me, you''ll probably beg your dad to stay with my group too."

 Chapter 882 Royal Blood - WE WANT YOU TOO(II)!

    ?


    In regards to my earlier announcement, only a handful of people noticed the way how JP looked like he was this close tomitting bloody murder while I looked like the most rxed stoner that had just received enlightenment. But before things went further between us, the number of cadets that tried to showcase their unique abilities at this moment was staggering.


    I forgot that I didn''t give them the means to audition and a good number of them had already made their way to the stage, making it wobble.


    [HOLD UP! HOLD UP! DO YOU WANT US TO DIE?! FORM A FUCKING LINE¡ª NO, GRAB A PIECE OF PAPER AND WRITE YOUR NAME ON IT AND A BRIEF INTRO¡ªINCLUDING YOUR TALENT¡ªTHEN GIVE TO UHH¡­ Umm¡ª What''s his name? AH¡ª GIVE TO RANDOM CITIZEN #1!]


    "M-ME?!"


    [YES, YOU! IT''S YOUR LUCKY DAY! DO YOU KNOW HOW TO USE A COMPUTER¡ª OF COURSE, YOU CAN¡­ RIGHT?]


    "I DO ACTUALLY! WANT ME TO ORGANIZE THEM!"


    [EXACTLY! I''LL GIVE YOU SOME EXTRA POINTS IF YOU DO GOOD ON THAT JOB! ANYWAY~ I''LL GIVE ALL OF YOU TEN MINUTES¡ª NO, FIFTEEN MINUTES TO GET EVERYTHING DONE AND WHILE WE''RE WAITING, I NEED A FEW MORE SEATS FOR ME AND MY GROUP AND PROBABLY A LONGER TABLE¡ª]


    Random Citizen #2 interjected, "D''YOU WANT ME TO BRING THE TABLE FROM THE CAFETERIA?!"


    [YES! THAT COULD WORK!]


    "THE NAME''S JAMES, BY THE WAY! RC #1''S NAME IS JAMES TOO!"


    [HAA?!]


    "I SAID¡ª"


    [YOU''RE GONNA MAKE ME EVEN MORE CONFUSED, I''LL STICK TO #1 AND #2¡ª SORRY YOU GOT THE WORST ONE!]


    "WHAT? OH! AH, FUCK! I''LL JUST GET THAT TABLE FOR YA!"


    With that said, a quick look at the few bulletin boards that have several tasks¡ªmuch like a guild would¡ªI discovered that this ce assigned either the most menial or should I say the most beginner-worthy task for the cadets and it just slowly ramps up until one was of higher rank.


    It looked game-like from the way different requests were strewn about by random papers but there was arge and continuous request¡ªthat involved all of the cadets¡ªfor turning in heads that were cleared by their group or the ones above them.


    The whole premise looked a little wonky for me at first but I realized that some groups were assigned nearby¡ªlike the ones maintaining a checkpoint¡ªor assigned to tasks that would take a few or more days like liberating an area for threat-reduction or supplies.


    JP had thisrge map of the city and the ones around it with various-looking pins but I noticed that he had more than half of the higher-performing groups working way~ further than what I would assign my people on. It could be the way he does things or it could be a way to have the ones underperforming have a chance to shine while the others go for a high-risk, high-return scenario.


    ''Did his dad leave him all the work for this? Or is JP just copying someone''s homework? In any case, I would''ve opted for a different approach and I can''t just have them change things out of the blue¡­''


    As I was thinking to myself, I noticed that JP was still ring at me from behind while his right hand was doing the same thing from a farther distance. I could only shake my head and scoff at the way he took things so I turned to him and looked him in the eye before I opened my mouth.


    "Listen¡ª"


    "No. You listen! If my dad¡ª"


    "Shut the fuck up, bitch. You fucking listen."


    "..."


    "Good. A lot of things are probably going through your head right now but in the grand scheme of things, I''m fucking helping you. You''re like a sheltered, religious, conservative military brat that identally discovered how his dick works and you''re confused about why it functions that way."


    "You¡ª"


    "You have some very troubling problems, huh? It''s the zombie apocalypse and all and you''re having 1st world problems. You see, you think I''m gonna do what you think your dad''s gonna do when he discovered you swing differently but it''s the total opposite¡­ kinda. In short, I''m gonna let you loose for the duration you''re with me but we''re gonna do about something about how you get poop on your dick so it''s a good time for anyone you''re with. Deal?"


    "What?! I''m not¡ª"


    "Stop fucking lying to me and yourself. Why don''t you join the audition too so I could see what else you can offer on the table?"


    "Wait. What?"


    I rolled my eyes as I fished out a nk piece of paper from their table, "Tell me what else you can do. Are you a tank, healer, mage, thief, or whatever, write it down. You don''t have to write that you have some Lopez-like qualities but do make it pretty. Make your right hand do the same and talk to me once you''re done."


    "W-Where are you going?"


    "Me? I''m gonna look and stay with Seb for the moment so he''d feel safe while you''re around. And yeah, no one else knows about your little secret aside from me and Isaac so you should learn to respect your seniors quickly before we spread it like a pyramid scam. If that ever happens, your dad will probably enroll you next door and I promise you that you don''t fucking want that. Those people will try to expel the g¡ª the ''happiness'' away from you, trust me."


    JP suddenly had a thought pop up inside his head, "Wait. Are you¡ª"


    "An Alumni? Yep."


    "No. I meant, are you¡ª no way¡­ Do you go both ways¡ª Ack! THAT''S MY SHIN, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!"


    I leaned in and whisper with ''that'' look, "Labels go both ways, alright? I also dislike being called what I''m not but yeah, people make mistakes. I can''t cancel you so that kick''s the penalty. Weird time we live in, huh?"


    "F-Fine! I''m sorry¡ª"


    "But seriously though, why''d Lopez big-dicking around here like he owns the ce? Tell me¡­ he''s not immune or something¡­ is he?"


    "..."


    "No fucking way¡ª"


    "He''s not! He''s¡­ He''s really important¡ª"


    "I know that part already but why? If anything¡ª"


    "It''s because of me."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "It''s¡­ It''s my blood. I have¡ª"


    "Oh! Do you have Royal Blood? I mean AB- Blood?"


    JP looked surprised, "Yeah¡­ I do. And Lopez is the same. So¡­ you get why he''s so important now? That''s why he could do what he does and eat what he wants here because dad wanted me to¡ª Wha¡ª Why are you looking at me like that?"


    "You''re telling me¡­ that if I manage to find you another person with the same blood type¡­ I can break his neck?"


    "What¡ª"


    "You know, we can also harvest all his organs and whatnot before¡ª"


    "Wait a second¡ª"


    "JP. He touched my wife."


    "..."


    "The world had gone to shit and so did its people¡ªincluding me¡ªbut nobody touches my wife unless she wanted to. Thanks for the info, I''ll even let you pick the music on our road trip."


    At that point, JP was looking at me with fear, worry, and confusion but I left him on his own for a moment to look for his half-brother.


    Looking around, I easily spotted Seb sitting with his own group, helping them increase the chances of getting picked by telling them a few quirks I might somehow like from the small time we''ve spent together. Furthermore, unlike the majority of the cadets present, he looked like he was the only one who doesn''t want to go¡ªunless, of course, I took his whole group with me.


    From what I heard yesterday, he was in a weird power dynamic with JP but in regards to the activity they were partaking in, he''d prefer if there was no power dynamic at all and if JP would be more honest with his feelings. It didn''te much of a surprise that he goes both ways in regard to this topic but I was more surprised that he was chill about the whole scenario.


    I would''ve lost my shit and instantly went for the nuclear option because, from the way JP acted if I somehow tell his secret to his dad, he''d lose in that exchange in any shape or form.


    ''This shit is tooplicated¡­ Too~ Fucking~ Complicated~''


    In any case, I''ve made myself known to the group and Seb just simply gave me a nce but all eyes were suddenly put on us when they saw us acting like we knew each other¡ªwhich was already apparent if they saw use back with them yesterday.


    "''Sup. How''s the CVing along?"


    "You still remember us, huh? You still know our names, at least?" One of the guys named Alexa remarked with a snarky smile.


    "Wanna bet that I do? How about 1000 pushups?"


    "Wha¡ª Fuck, no. A-Anyway, umm¡­ my talent''s really weird. Would you care to just hear about it? I can''t do an audition with what he have here¡­"


    "Huh? What is it though?"

 Chapter 883 Eyedropper Tool - Yep.

    ?


    Hearing that Alexa''s unique talent couldn''t be performed on the stage with theck of tools or props to use, it made me more curious as to what it was even though¡ªfrom the top of my head¡ªthere would be a lot of things that couldn''t be done here in the first ce. Anyhow, there was still a stark difference between a unique talent and a useful talent so at the end of the day, I was looking for something that could do both.


    "Alexa?"


    "Hmm? Oh! Right. I''m basically the Eyedropper Tool."


    Everyone else present muttered, "The what tool?"


    But I was pleasantly surprised, "Shit. For real?"


    Alexa replied with a faint smile, "Yep. I can grab a bit of paint over on the workshop to show you but using it aside from marking important ces or covering scratched-up panels is a no-no."


    "That''s fucking amazing if it''s real¡ªand I''m sure you wouldn''t lie about that¡ª"


    "Yep."


    "So¡ª W-Why are you¡ª"


    Alexa slowly looked somber as she replied, "Enrolled in the Academy? What do you think? Just the benefits alone could¡ª"


    I never felt more stupid, "I understand thatpletely. It''s just¡ª"


    Quinn who was actually behind me suddenly chimed in, "Eyedropper what? What good does that do?"


    My eyes lit up when I turned around and saw her, "Perfect! You''re here, I can give a good example."


    Quinn looked a little happy from my reaction before she asked, "A what now? You still haven''t answered what¡ª"


    "I''m getting to it! Okay¡­ Quinn¡­ With the nature of your work, your crew almost always deals with vehicr scratches, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Tell me, what''s the protocol for dealing with that?"


    Quinn looked up for a moment as she scratched her head before she turned back to us, "Well~ I don''t do it myself but it depends on the scratch. Most of the time, simply buffing it or using some kits would do the trick but deep, deep scratches would need a new paint job after fixing dents or whatnot if the car was involved in a collision, had some damage from debris, or something simr¡­"


    "Right. But let''s go to the paint job part. You guys have some samples like those strips with different color palettes in some kind of ring binder, right? Usually, you''d ce it near the color you want to copy andpare¡ª or just ask the client to pick from those and you have a machine tobine the colors for you."


    She nodded a few times, "Something like that."


    "Great. So¡­ what if somehow someone lost that binder and you have no way of printing a new one¡ªand you need to get the job done as soon as possible."


    "Easy. I''ll beat up and fire the one who lost the binder first¡ª"


    I almost chortled, "Ah¡ª But w-what would you do now?"


    "Shit~ I didn''t expect a quiz this early but I''ll probably do it by eye or ask the client to pick a new or simr color since he''s getting a new paint job anyway. The tricky part is if the client wants something exactly like the one they had before¡ªeven if it didn''t have to be matching against the other panels. But usually, they just opt to repaint the whole thing to save time and whatnot¡­ Does that answer your question?"


    "Yep. But here''s another one. What if youe across a person that could urately identify what exactly the color she''s looking at by eye and mix it herself?"


    Quinn didn''t even need a second to think, "Hmph. That''s easy, I''ll hire her on the spot with a high sry. I''ll probably even throw her a car in my collection if she could really do what you said."


    I chuckled as I pointed at Alexa, "Hire her then."


    Quinn threw Alexa a quick up-down look, "Hmm? For real? I mean¡ª"


    "W-What?!" Alexa eximed as everybody else did.


    I chuckled at their reactions, "That''s what an Eyedropper Tool does¡ª Well, technically~ it can identify whatever color you use it on, and in Photoshop, you''d be able to use that color afterward¡ª"


    Alexa interjected while shaking her head and looking at Quinn a certain way, "W-W-Wait, I''m just t-trying toe with Seb not¡ª"


    Quinn instantly exploded, "NOT WHAT, HUH?! THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO¡ª DID YOU JUST FUCKING HIT ME?!"


    I quickly waved her off after retreating several steps, "Easy~ That jab''s like an egg hitting a rock, alright?! Won''t you reconsider¡ª"


    "RECONSIDER?! She''s not even interested in joining! I have strict requirements too!"


    "Hah? Really? What are they?"


    Quinn snapped her head to Alexa as she started to stare her down, "You."


    "Y-Y-Yes?"


    "How much can you bench?"


    "Ah¡ª S-Seventy?"


    Quinn never looked so confused, "Seventy-what? In each side or as a warm-up? Pounds or Kilos? That better be Kilos at the very least or I''ll be fucking disappointed."


    "Umm¡­ Is it r-really that important?"


    "..."


    "H-Hello?"


    I sneakily joined in the interview process, "T-That doesn''t matter in the position she''s applying for¡ª"


    "Shut up! I''m not talking to you! Doing 225 lbs for 15 like it''s nothing doesn''t matter for you¡ª"


    "I lifted you like it''s nothing though¡­"


    "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"


    In a matter of seconds, our whole conversation went into several tangents but we soon went back on the topic of Quinn considering taking Alexa to her fold.


    Essentially, the reason I''m doing this Academy''s Got Talent bullshit was to somehow bridge the gap between factions through connections formed and somehow save a few Tetris pieces that were getting shaved down to a shape to fit in something they shouldn''t be in the first ce.


    In Alexa''s case, she could be in a totally different ce right now if she didn''t enroll in the academy because of money troubles though it did save her life nevertheless.


    This point of thinking could go on a deep, deep hole but what''s important right now was that a new road opened up for her. She could try walking on a different path¡ªor both¡ªbut in her case and the ones that were in the same boat as her, they should really think hard about making the choice because a chance like this one could onlye once or a few times if they were extremely lucky.


    I''m not implying that they''d have it better or easier in either of our wings because following your dreams or going for something you were made for wasn''t exactly a sure thing.


    Some people had everything handed to them on a silver tter but they were neither doing their dream jobs nor walking on the path they were made for.


    And again, this line of thinking could go on a deep, deep hole but what''s important was if the person was happy and content with what they have and achieved.


    ''It''s different for each person but to me, it''s always about bnce in the end¡­''


    In any case, before I go into another tangent myself, my attention was caught by Kaley wearing a sun visor and a face mask, making her way towards me with Tatiana who was trying her hardest to not stifle augh. But yeah, Ipletely threw whatever n she had by doing that out the window as I pulled her mask down and gave her a kiss when she was close enough.


    And yeah, itsted several Mississippis before we stopped and Seb andpany were looking at us like it was the first time they saw a couple kiss.


    Then Tatiana broke the ice, "No one''s teaching sex ed here? Is that why Lopez is doing shit to everybody?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Too soon?"


    "Tatiana¡ª"


    "What? It happened to me when I was young, I could talk about it¡ª"


    "That''s not¡ª"


    "What?"


    "Don''t make valid points, alright?! But yeah, I found our ace in the hole. They won''t have that Lopez problem sooner than they think?"


    Seb interjected, "What do you mean?"


    I let out an eerie smile, "It means what it means."


    Seb couldn''t believe what he just heard, "You won''t just take him out the moment we''re out of this ce''s influence, right? We can''t just leave him on the road for scraps, The General wouldn''t take that lightly."


    "Don''t worry, we probably have one next door and¡ª Wait, what do you mean leave him on the road for scraps?"


    He looked at me like I''m an idiot, "He''s¡­ Lopez¡­ He''sing with us¡­ right?"


    "Are you asking me or telling me?"


    Alexa joined in, "Lopez and JP, they''re¡­ they''re required to be in close proximity at all times just in case anything happens and if there was ever a time either one of them goes out¡ªmostly JP¡ªthe other is required to follow. It''s the golden rule, they''d probably send us a few bags of Lopez''s blood just in case too. The only exception was yesterday when you beat him up because his injuries needed to be taken care of."


    "Huh."


    "Yep."


    I took a deep breath before I let it out, "Fuck it, then he''ll probably see me cuck him in person then."


    "Yep¡ª HUH?!"

 Chapter 884 Academys Got Talent - Wood

    ?


    As much as I would''ve wanted to hit the road for a good while, our next stop was only a 15-minute drive. It was toward my old school, The Three Angels'' Message University¡ªsomece where I had a lot of good and bad memories from the three and a half years I was there. So all in all, it was a well-bnced part of my life.


    On that note, actually cucking Lopez was just a side quest while the main ones were to actually find out what was up and somehow form more connections with people that were surviving the end of the world¡ªand possibly see old friends other than Ken.


    It''s not like I would be able to fuse or summon something powerful from forming these connections but what I learnedte in my life was that social connections were just as important as actual skills to move up in life.


    ''Either of the two could be used to achieve one''s goals but having both in one''s arsenal was like~ me¡ªyou know, in an apocalypse setting and yes, I fucking said it [insertughing emojis or the good ''ol XD]¡ªnot because I couldn''t think of a more fitting example¡­ fuck it, I couldn''t think of a better example and I''m not going through anything right now¡­ Yep, that''s it¡­ totally¡­''


    In any case, #1 and #2 had already prepared the table and the seating arrangement, and surprisingly enough, Major Perez popped up with a few officers to watch the show. Jesus and his crew also found their way to us along with Jose and Isaac though I haven''t caught a glimpse of Lopez and The General in the open aside from the short moment in the cafeteria.


    Major Perez and I shared a short conversation before the Academy''s Got Talent began and the first contestant who came up was a guy I saw who was eating at the same table as JPst time, and he briefly introduced himself.


    "My name''s Ryan Crisanto. I''m 19 years old, I was born and raised in Puting Kahoy, and I''m #8 on the board for the number of confirmed zombie kills¡ªa total of 1,455¡ªthough the number should''ve been much higher if I wasn''t assigned to a leadership/management position. I prefer to be up close and personal in regard to dealing with the dead and my talent is that I could hold my breath for more than five minutes¡­"


    As this Ryan dude was speaking on and on, sad music slowly welled up from behind us and his "brief" intro was turning into a sob story that could easily hook the sheeple or normies that watched these talent shows.


    And funnily enough, #1 and #2 were the fucking perpetrators but Major Perez and the officers he had with him were fucking eating it up. And from our side, Quinn was this close to either beating up the contestant or the two producers but I started losing my shit when this Ryan dude started Fortnite dancing.


    He did fucking everything.


    And not only that, the motherfucker had a pre-recording that said that he also wished to be a part of that dance crew wearing masks, and this was his only time to somehow get an audition out. I tried my fucking best not tough at his face but seeing Isaac and Jose this fucking close to bursting out the vein in their foreheads made me choke on my spit.


    ''This will be the fucking death of me¡­''


    But despite all that, the show must go on for the motherfucker and I easily identified his friends among the crowd because they were the only ones that pped after he finished his dance number. And yeah, we didn''t even get to confirm whether he could really hold his breath for more than five minutes because the five minutes we gave him was the only five minutes he''d get because those five minutes of our life couldn''t be taken back.


    I used my microphone to address him and everyone else:


    [Alright¡­ That''s¡­ That''s great? I mean¡ª great! Anyway~ I''d hate to do this but since we need to be out of this ce as soon as possible, I''d prefer each audition to be a maximum of two minutes¡ªnot including the short interview we''d give them. Alright? Next one is~ Manuel Rivera? Pleasee on up, Manuel Rivera¡ª]


    "HERE!"


    [Great! Hurry up!]


    "ALRIGHT! HELLO EVERYBODY! I''M MANUEL RIVERA¡­"


    ''Why''s he shouting so much¡­''


    "I''M 20 YEARS OLD AND MY TALENT IS THAT I CAN DO THE ''OH-AH-AH-AH-AH!'' FROM DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS PERFECTLY!"


    ''...''


    "HERE I GO! *INHALES LOUDLY* OH¡ª Wait a sec, can we get the backtrack first?"


    #1 and #2 shouted at the same time, "YOU DIDN''T GIVE US SHIT! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO PLAY IT?!"


    "YOU DON''T HAVE DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS ON HAND?! BULLSHIT!"


    In any case, it was another fiasco and my hopes of finding another diamond in the rough were getting slimmer and slimmer. It became apparent that some of the kids who enrolled in the academy had this frustration with their given talent because none of them would be here if it worked out in the real world. Heck, I had my fair share of nurses who had other dreams or aspirations but sometimes, real life would just hit hard like a sack of bricks.


    But yeah, we all had those moments when we had a co-worker suddenly belt out a difficult song or just sit down in front of a piano and set fire to the keys like it''s fucking nothing.


    Though it didn''t take long before we uncovered another diamond¡ªwell~ let''s be a little conservative right now and say it''s an unidentified gemstone because its value was still unknown and its actual usefulness will be up to us in the end.


    It was when we had screened a dozen or so applicants when a guy just barely meeting the height requirement for being epted into the academy came up on stage with three wooden baseball bats and five bs of stone which were an inch thick. He was a little on the muscr side but the first thing I noticed were his callused hands with more emphasis on his knuckles.


    After giving us a quick bow, he put the baseball bats to the side as he stacked the bs on top of one another¡ªwith a little bit of allowance¡ªbefore he suddenly mmed his head down the center, going in with reckless abandon, right until his head hit the stage floor.


    The guy hadn''t even introduced himself to us yet as he went into performance mode and the next thing he did was break the bats with his arm, his shin, and his forehead yet again.


    ''Jesus fucking christ, that''s gotta hurt¡­''


    Aside from the shocked gasp and the whispered curses, it was too fucking quiet, to say the least, but he finished by giving us another bow while blood was slowly trickling from his forehead.


    [Uhh¡­ You okay there? You''re bleeding, you know?]


    "I''M NOT, SIR!"


    [You are, we can see the blood¡ª]


    "IT DOESN''T HURT, SIR!"


    [Ah¡­ I see¡­ That''s good¡­]


    "I CAN BREAK MORE THINGS, SIR! BUT I''M GONNA BE OUT OF POINTS TO SPEND IF I BREAK ANY MORE BATS, SIR! I CAN USE 4X4s BUT IT DOESN''T LOOK TOO IMPRESSIVE, SIR!"


    [I see, I see¡­ Care to tell us your name, first?]


    "..."


    [Hello?]


    "SIR!"


    [Your name¡ª]


    He never looked so panicked, "I TOTALLY FORGOT, SIR! MY NAME''S RUBEN PADILLA, SIR!"


    [C-Can you tone it down a bit? Wait a sec¡ª Are you rted to¡ª]


    "No, sir! Myte family thought it would be funny, sir!"


    [Ah¡­ I see, is that your talent? Breaking bs and bats without feeling pain?]


    "Yes, sir! I believe no one can beat me in that regard, sir! I''m very resilient, sir! I can take much more damage than the regr person and the only time I felt pain was when I punched myself, sir!"


    [Uh-huh¡­ Well~ That''s a pretty fascinating¡ª]


    "Sir! Before you set me aside, I''m just gonna say that I hit myself with the bats made of Narra, Mve, and Acacia, sir! They''re all premium timber used for furniture¡ªsome of them even used for support beams for mines¡ªbut I made them myself to make sure that they''re extra sturdy though my body could easily take them¡ª"


    I tried to wave him off, much to his dismay, [Wait a sec¡ª]


    "Sir! I-I''m not done! I-If you''re not impressed, I''m still saving a Kamagong trunk for my own weapon¡ªwhich is much, much harder than the three I listed above but¡ª"


    I let out a little bit of killing intent before I spoke through the mic, [Ruben. Stop talking for one fucking second.]


    "..."


    As soon as I said that, he looked like he wanted to say more but he kept his mouth shut as he was tightly balling his fists together. From the look on his face, he was desperate to get out of this ce but his expression changed when these few simple words came out of my mouth:


    [Pack up. You''re in.]

 Chapter 885 Academys Got Talent II - Embrace The Confusion

    ?


    It was quiet for a few seconds before my words registered in Ruben''s head¡ªand the crowd watching¡ªthough once it did, he just straight up ran down the stage before quickly running back up, giving me another deep bow, before eventually making his way back to their dormitories.


    And the murmurs and gossip started from the small group right in front of the stage.


    "W-Wait a sec¡­ He got epted on the get-go, right?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "That means everyone before he got on stage was already rejected!"


    "What?!"


    "NO WAY!"


    "N-No¡­ It''s basically just the golden buzzer, right?"


    "Oh!"


    "OHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    "But then again¡­ Is he just looking for tough dudes or short dudes? Or just dudes?"


    "Definitely not someone with your analytical skills¡­"


    "The fuck did you just say?!"


    "He probably has his own criteria but Ruben''s not the first one to get epted¡­"


    "HUH?!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Alexa from Seb''s group was already epted even before the audition started."


    "Huh? Isn''t she just Seb''s girl? Of course, he had to bring her in."


    "Does that mean J''s gonna get in too?"


    "Pfft! You don''t know anything, huh?"


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    "They cut it off a week ago, I believe he''s dating Megan now. For sure."


    "Megan?! I thought she was into girls?"


    "Not anymore, I guess."


    "Man~ Being the Baron has its perks, huh?"


    JP suddenly spoke to the group that was talking at a volume loud enough for everyone to hear but stupid enough to notice that the subject of their conversation was right fucking behind them. In which case, I didn''t perceive what JP told them but they quickly shrank down and made themselves scarce.


    To be fair, they didn''t actually badmouth him but it''s totally different when the person who knows his secret could hear what that group was saying out loud.


    Isaac gave me a quick nudge as he whispered while looking directly at the crowd, "Saw that, bro?"


    "Yep. Just keep quiet, I''ll handle it."


    "Handle what?" Kaley and Quinn turned their heads to me at the same time.


    "Some guy stuff, not important¡­ for now¡­"


    As I said that, Quinn just fixed the way she was sitting on her chair and continued looking disinterested about the whole talent show while Kaley was definitely using her fucking psychic powers to somehow read my mind or connect the dots. And yeah, if she figured the whole thing just with that, I''ll 100% believe she had some actual powers.


    But going back to our current situation, we actually had two more people that woulde with JP and Seb¡ªAlexa and Ruben¡ªand I''m probably gonna need a couple more to even the numbers.


    I wasn''t with myplete group even if I had "recements", so I''m gonna make use of the added numbers to make up for theck of familiarity¡ªnot quality. I''ve uncovered some pretty dark shit or history about these people but we need more time together in order for me to use them like extended limbs.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before #1 came up on stage and introduced himself.


    "Yo, I''m James Chu¡ªand yeah, I''m Filipino-Chinese¡­ I grew up here most of my life and I''m turning 20 this year. I don''t have any unique skills to bepletely honest but I was thest man standing when Major Perez made us run around the academy when one of us fucked up."


    I turned to Major Perez, "For real?"


    He nodded a few times before he answered, "Yeah. He ran twops more than everybody before he realized everyone tapped out."


    Isaac interjected, "How about that guy who can hold his breath for more than five minutes¡ª"


    Major Perez scoffed, "Hah! I don''t even remember that other kid getting close, to be honest. It''s impressive he could hold his breath like that but it''s a different ball game when you''re doing something strenuous. It''s a mix between jogging and running but you understand where I''m getting at, right?"


    I nodded as I turned to #1 with an approving look, [Large VO2 Max Capacity, nice.]


    "What?"


    [Let''s just say you''re really~ great at cardio, something a certain family I know should do more of¡­]


    As soon as I said that, Quinn gave me a "gentle" nudge with her elbow though I kept a straight face right until we saw #1 off the stage. I didn''t ept him like I did with Ruben but he had the top spot just for having Rule #1 of Zombind down to a T.


    Because in Ruben''s case, it was more to his knowledge about trees that had good-quality or even premium-quality lumber because this far in the apocalypse, we can''t just rely on the warehouses we were cleaning up for building materials. Sooner thanter, we''d have to start chopping our own trees¡ªlike our main goal for visiting the hot springs: acquiring a sample of its sulfur to analyze it to have a source in the future.


    And right after #1 came #2.


    "Greetings, the name''s James Tiu¡ª"


    [Hold up, you two also have the samest name? I thought¡ª]


    "No, no, no, James''st name is spelled as C-H-U while mine''s spelled as T-I-U."


    [Ahh¡­]


    He chuckled as he gave me a smile, "Confusing, huh? We get that a lot. You can stick to #1 and #2 if it''s easier."


    [I will do that¡ª]


    Tatiana interjected, [But how do the other people call you two? Do they call one of you James and the other one theirst name just to avoid confusion or something?]


    "Great question! The answer is: no. We just embrace the confusion and move on. Every day has been boringtely so that few seconds of confusion is a lot."


    [Hah! Can we take this kid? He''s kinda funny.]


    I chuckled before I turned to #2 again, [You''re already getting some favors from my group, huh? But before we get into that, what can you put on the table? Your talent, I mean. Because on your sheet of paper here, you wrote that you''re the guy to call if anyone wants to have a good time. How true is that?]


    "Well~ It''s because I could really check the vibe or read the room really well¡ª And since we''re going on a road trip, I got a good mix of tunes in my drive but if you''re gonna put me in the back, I can hand out snacks and shit and refill them when you''re about to run out. Also! I''m kind of an insomniac so if we ever drove at night, you can fucking trust me that I''ll be awake the whole time. Just don''t freak out if you woke up and mistake me for your paralysis demon, I have no control over that¡­ happened to my friend once, it''s crazy~"


    [Ah¡­]


    "Wait! Wait! Wait! I''m not done!"


    [Go ahead, your two minutes are still going¡ª]


    "Right! I''m also a great ''trip''-sitter, if you know, you know~ I can do yourundry, cook your meals, take point, clean the car, etc. but the one thing I''ll never do is listen to fucking bullshit. Trust me, if I ever smell a whiff of that shit, I''ll fucking call you out! And I''m talking to fucking everybody here! *turns around to face everyone* You know who you are! That''s why I fucking stopped talking to you, you need a fucking father figure, not a fucking ''daddy'' to call you babygirl¡ª Blech~ I''m not your fucking step-dad but I''m gonna be your fucking dad who stepped up!"


    At this point, it couldn''t be more quiet because #2 started going on a rant that we didn''t think would air out some dirtyundry about his peers. However, my group was already egging me on to press the golden buzzer because sometimes, apanion like #2 was what anyone would need even if they''re ''already set'', and like #1, I put #2 on the waitlist¡ªmaking my preferred number of people to take with meplete.


    I could easily say that the audition was already over but I still have tens of cadets to go through, and I was just making sure that I sorted through all of them before heading out.


    But yeah, a quick nce through the list didn''t awaken something in me or made me excited because the majority of the talents left were something we already had or didn''t need. However, it didn''t take long before someone with an impressive resume came up but I sure as hell was already bent on pressing the red buzzers the moment we met eyes.


    It was JP''s right hand who fought tooth and nail just to deny me his megaphone, but right now, he looked like he''d suck dick and sell one of his kidneys so that I''d let him apany the Baron.


    "G-Greetings! I''m Lucas, 21 years old, #2 on the kill rankings with 2,212 confirmed zed kills. I''m adept at using rifles and handguns, and I hold the top 5 record for stripping our M4s and putting them back together blindfolded¡ªthe same with our 1911s. And with our shooting drills, I''m only second to the Baron and I''m 3rd on CQC. I can¡ª"


    [Lucas.]


    "Sir?"


    [Look around you, everyone can do that. My instruction to all of you is to put something that sets you apart from the rest AND at the same time, it should be something that''s totally unrted to what you''re doing here. Do you only listen to JP or do you have a hard time listening to instructions?]


    "I-I''m¡ª"


    [I''ll give you 30 seconds, give me something that''ll make you ride with us.]

 Chapter 886 End Of The Auditions - Donor Change?

    ?


    When I y games that had dialogue choices, I would always opt for something that wouldn''t hurt the other character but the kid in front of me needed to learn a thing or two about properly listening to instructions and knowing what''s best for him. However, my choice of words also affected the crowd and it was just dead silent from then on.


    Everyone was just waiting for him to respond and after he calmed himself and took a deep breath, he stared me dead in the eyes before he answered:


    "This is all I have, sir. I can''t dance, I can''t sing, nor can I do something else other than this¡­ thing that I wanted to do all my life. I''m not even the greatest at what I do but I surround myself with people that do so that I could, you know¡­ like how that saying goes¡­ In any case, this is what I could offer and I hope you give me the chance to apany the Baron."


    I nodded pensively, [I see. Come here.]


    "S-Sir?"


    [You can''t even walk a few steps forward?]


    "C-Coming, sir! I was just¡ª"


    [Hurry up, hurry up~]


    At this point, I turned off the mic I was speaking to so not everyone could hear what I was about to say to him next. However, Lucas looked just like Ruben when he thought I wasn''t gonna ept him, and yes, I''m nning on taking the right hand with me.


    "Listen, I appreciate the honesty and making me look like an asshole¡ª"


    "I a-apologize¡ª"


    "No, don''t apologize. This is just the way I talk, see? Anyway, if I''m gonna take you with me you''d have to follow a set of rules."


    "Anything, sir."


    "Great. First and foremost: if I ask for your megaphone, you fucking hand it to me. Alright?"


    He nodded with a face filled with a little bit of dread, "O-Of course, sir. I actually thought I died that time."


    I chuckled, "Hmph. Secondly, you don''te with us and have just JP as your priority. Everyone in your group is a priority."


    "B-But, sir¡ª"


    "What? He''s the son of the General? True, I guess. But what would you feel if I left you for dead because I already had my wife secured¡ªor even JP secured? Would you like that?"


    "..."


    "No? See, I run things differently. What''s important about you guys is the mission but you gotta understand that my ''mission'' doesn''t involve getting fuck-all about everyone else just to finish it. It''s harder, sure, but it''s easier at the same time."


    "I don''t understand¡ª"


    "What I''m saying is: your life shouldn''t revolve around the Baron and maybe, just maybe, you might pick up a hobby or two while we''re on the road that you could possibly perform when I do one of these auditions again."


    Once I gave him my piece, he was just nkly staring at me for a few seconds but he started to slowly nod his head before he stared at me for a few seconds. After that, I told him to wait for the actual results like #1 and #2, because as much would like them to start packing so we''d save some time, I''m probably gonna need one more person on the trip so that we''d have an even number.


    Then Jesus waved me over from their side, "Hey."


    "Hmm?"


    "You do know our fencing kits could only cover so much, right?"


    "Fencing kits?"


    "Oh, you don''t know? I guess it''s not much trouble if we upy a ce before taking breaks at night. ''Cause from the looks of it, the group you''re bringing probably needs a vehicle or two with them."


    "We''ll manage, don''t worry."


    "Alright."


    "You''ll provide, right?"


    "Hah! Fucking asshole."


    With that said, the auditions continued on for a couple more hours and even though we did find a few more rare ones among the bunch, they weren''t epic rank or even legendary rank to rece what I was already nning to have on my roster. However, just to keep the number even, I did pick out this Megan chick toe with us¡ªnot only because it was highly rmended by JP and Lucas¡ªbut because she had that look in her eyes that she wouldn''t give a single fuck if I shot Lopez between his eyes though she would definitely watch me do it.


    In any case, as I was ordering everyone to pack up, The General and The Bitch¡ª I mean, Lopez finally popped out and Lopez was looking a little pale. And as I nced at one of his arms, it had a small bandaid with a small ball of cotton nestled between it and his skin, and what looked to be some betadine had soaked in it.


    ''He probably had his blood taken¡­''


    The General took my attention, "I heard you held an audition of sorts?"


    "Something like that."


    "Shame. I would''ve loved to see my kid y the violin¡ª"


    I never looked so surprised, "WHAT?! JP ys the¡ª No fucking way!"


    "He does, he does. What did he do though?"


    "Ah~ I asked him to join but he and Seb were too embarrassed to perform in front of everyone."


    "Hah! Those two are like brothers in that regard. Anyway, I heard you''re gonna leave at noon?"


    "Yeah. JP had to pass on some of the responsibilities to the other cadets on top of packing up some of his stuff. And yeah¡­ I''d hate to ask this but¡­"


    "Something on your mind?"


    "I''m actually bringing eight people in total¡ª"


    "I was told. No worries¡ª"


    "It''s not that. I''d hate to ask this but if you could lend us a truck or a¡ª"


    "Oh! That''s not a problem at all! I gave Jameson one of the Raycolts when he became the Baron though it has the M60 instead of the K12 on top."


    "Jesus fucking christ. You really love your kid, huh?"


    "Hah! Of course! And if hees back a man, I''ll let you have one of them too. With the M60 and everything."


    "For real?! Shiiit~"


    He gave a heartyugh to my response but his expression suddenly changed, "But listen here, young man. I know you and Lopez have your differences and he offended you in ways that a friendship couldn''t be possible, but do look out for him on your trip. We¡­ my son needs his ''services'' more than anything if something ever¡ªGod forbid¡ªever happens to him."


    "I understand."


    Then his expression slowly turned back the same way earlier, "Also, I know I''m a doting father and I''m spoiling my son so please teach him what I couldn''t. I was really amused by what you taught him yesterday, he thought I''d reprimand you when he told on me."


    I briefly nced at JP who was trying his hardest to attain invisibility, "Oh? He did that, did he? General, I promise you that I''ll take real~ good care of your boy¡ªthe VIP treatment, if you will¡ªif you give me that Raycolt with a K4 or an MK19 instead of an M60."


    He just gave me a faint smile, "Hmph! We''ll see about that¡ª" then he turned to Lopez who looked like he''d stumble and fall with a gentle breeze, "Lopez. I''d advise you to pack up and get a good rest after eating and make sure to stay out of trouble. As I told youst night, you bit more than what you can chew when I was away and the ''freedom'' I''m giving you has limits. Don''t forget about your family that''s livingfortably on the other side."


    Lopez replied weakly, "Y-Yes, sir¡­" then he turned to me, "I¡­ I apologize about yesterday¡­ Deeply¡­"


    I brushed him off, "Uh-huh. Tell that to my wife."


    After that, we saw Lopez and the others off but once they were out of earshot, I turned to the General with my proposition.


    "General, I''d have to ask you something."


    "Hmm?"


    "I know that JP and Lopez have Royal Blood¡ª"


    "And?"


    "If by some chance I found another person or two with the same characteristic, I''m asking permission to have JP¡­ change donors¡­"


    The moment I said that, the General just started to release unbelievable pressure that could make any other cadet have difficulty breathing but I stood my ground and brushed it off, not even pretending that I had faced far worse than him in my younger days.


    It was definitely heavy but that''s just a warm-uppared to other people withplete control over them.


    In any case, he still looked offended by my request so I had to give him an offer he couldn''t refuse.


    "If I may, I have respect for your authority but the dumbass touched my wife. And from what I recently discovered, he''s probably touched the majority of the female cadets in this joint and you''re letting him do it. I appreciate you reprimanding him in front of me but what if I give you the spoils after I''m done with him?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "He donates his blood, right?" I asked like an innocent angel before my expression turned dark, "What if I hand over his organs in perfect condition after I break him to pieces? Will that work?"

 Chapter 887 Deals And Permissions

    ?


    From what I could surmise from the deal Lopez had with the General, he was free to have his way with a few people at the time in exchange for his blood and organs, but with how protective this ce was of JP''s well-being, he''d only have to donate his blood a few times and reap all the benefits their deal have to offer.


    However, it was only a matter of time before everyone else had enough and the security the Academy could offer was one of the few things keeping them from moving on.


    It was a messed up way to make a person be epting of what was being done to them and at the same time, it was also¡ªno, had already affected Lopez'' view of reality. The power given to him definitely corrupted his head and he was trying to get away with everything he could instead of just doing the right thing without anything in exchange.


    Blood was just blood and the things he did were nowing back to rip his head off.


    At this moment, the General still couldn''t believe his ears but I doubled down as the temperature around us slowly started to drop.


    "General¡­ Unless you make full use of what he has to offer, you''d eventually need to kill the guy. At most, he could probably hand over one of his kidneys or part of his liver¡ªmaybe even his skin¡ªand don''t get me started about organ rejection. They have the same type of blood but that doesn''t mean that they''repatible in that regard, no?"


    "..."


    "What I''m saying is: it''s better to have more backups than a douche that''s one day gonna turn everyone else against you because you let him y around with the people that''s keeping this ce running. One day, they''re gonna point the me to you and after that, your son."


    "..."


    "Trust me, you''re doing what you think is best for him now but even the most forgiving people could only take so much. He can''t even say shit on the matter because he''s benefitting from it but those bags of blood and his organs wouldn''t do shit if he gets mauled to death¡ª"


    "ENOUGH!"


    If looks could kill, I would''ve died several times over but this was the first time I''ve seen him so fucking mad. It was a good thing no one had heard us but I held my ground and kept a straight face as his breathing hurried up and his face reddened. He was wearing such a difficult expression but it only took a few seconds before he tried to calm his breathing andpose himself.


    "You¡ª"


    "I just stated the truth. I think it''s better you hear it¡ª"


    "No, you''re right. This thing is a whole mess and I wouldn''t be able to keep up if it goes on. I should''ve done better."


    I almost rolled my eyes, "Words can only do so much too. But yeah, you have a lot on your te. Why don''t you just give the go signal and I''ll take care of this problem for you. You wouldn''t even need to owe me one because¡ª"


    "No. We''re doing it MY way."


    "..."


    "Listen here: Lopez is a valuable resource and even though hees with a set of problems, he''s been keeping his end of the deal for the most part. However¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "If¡­ and only if someone can find more than a single recement for the donor my son currently has¡­ I''ll probably have more chances to get swayed to change my choice on the matter. If not¡ª"


    I''m starting to get pissed off, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is¡ª"


    "Exactly. My point. Did you even see the state he''s in? For me to give you the green light, I''d need a constant supply of blood to fill at least a normal-sized refrigerator, and don''t talk to me like I don''t know about transnt procedures¡­ The reason I always make Lopez be in close proximity to my son is the time frame for each organ if an ident ever urs. The most important ones only range for a few hours while the less important ones only range for a day and a bit. Well preserved or not, it needs to be in a living host instead of being put inside a cooler¡­"


    ''So, he knows¡­''


    I let out a faint, bitter smile, "But you do know that Lopez isn''t exactly matching JP''s frame? It''s also one of the things to consider¡ª"


    He shook his head with a somber expression, "I know but he''s all we got. At the end of the day, I''m a father and you''re not. You wouldn''t understand. I''m prepared to abandon everything just to know that my son will be alright and you can''t fault me for that. You can say the same for your wife, no?"


    I had to give it to him, "True. But you''re treating him like he''s an ident waiting to happen."


    "I do. It''s a sad way of looking at things but that''s what a parent is supposed to do forever, worry. Even making him go with you is a very huge deal and if the president didn''t vouch for you highly, we wouldn''t be having this conversation. I want him to be able to stand up for himself¡ªeven without the titles and whatnot given to him¡ªbut the sad thing is, with the way I am¡­ I couldn''t do that for him."


    I felt something off, "What¡ª You sound like you''re about to kick the bucket."


    He almost smacked the shit out of me, "What? No! NO! Why would you think that?! Are you insane?!"


    "Oh. My bad, continue on¡ª"


    "You fucking¡ª Haa¡­ I was talking about how I treat him above everyone else. I don''t want him to get hurt but he needs to be¡­ needs to be¡ª umm¡­"


    "Tempered?"


    "Right! That''s the word I''m looking for, tempered."


    "..."


    "..."


    "You see¡­ he''s my kid but I''ve neverid a hand on him, not even once. Even our good book advises on doing so¡ª"


    "Spare the rod, spoil the child. Right."


    "Yeah, that. I actually didn''t know what to do when he came to my roomst night saying that you tried to kill him but it was refreshing to see him like that. Truth be told, I couldn''t do that to him even if I tried but you did knowing who we were."


    "Why would that matter?"


    "Exactly. That''s one of the reasons I want him toe with you. He respects authority too much and he needs to learn what umm¡­ that what we sometimes do isn''t ''right'' even though we''re the ''good'' guys, and sometimes, the ''bad'' guys could also do something that''s not ''wrong''. Do you understand what I''m saying?"


    "..."


    "Young man?"


    I let out a chuckle, "You know, I didn''t think we''d have this sort of conversation in the middle of the fucking academy while the sun is fucking ring. We should be having this type of talk in the middle of the night with a cold beer on our hands."


    "You were busy trying to kill my son, remember?"


    "Hah! Good one! But yeah, I understand what you''re saying," I replied as I nodded, "I''ll apologize to you about not telling the whole truth¡ª"


    "You mean, lying?"


    "Yeah. Lying to you about that so forgive me for beating up the bitch-ass who touched my wife¡ª"


    "No, you did a good job on that. He''ll learn to keep his hands to himself for the time being with that. Especially since he''sing with you. I doubt he''ll have any unless you let him¡ª"


    "Oh. My n was to actually bring him to this ce like Vegas¡ª let him have the time of his life before I drain his blood and harvest his organs. And after a few days or so, we''de back here and I''ll drop him off in a cooler¡ª"


    "That''s¡ª You really nned it that much, huh?"


    "Imagine what I could do if you give me more than a day."


    "..."


    "But yeah, I''ll keep him alive but our deal''s rock solid, yeah? If I ever find a proper recement¡ª"


    He nodded, "Recements. Plural."


    "Riiiiight~ Plural. Wanna shake on it? Make it official?"


    "Alright, you have a deal."


    At that moment, we even spat on our palms before shaking on it and the General gave me a vice of a handshake. He thought that I''d let out at least the tiniest of winces but I actually gave him a bright smile before I showed him my grip strength. He immediately tried to shake things off when he felt his bones screaming but he did jab my stomach and caught me off-guard.


    He whispered, "At least let me win a few things, you fucking kid. I thought the president was lying about you¡­"


    I chuckled, "Hey, I could''ve easily killed Lopez and made it an ident. I let you win by asking permission."

 Chapter 888 Senior Cass - Same Old, Same Old

    ?


    As soon as I said those words, the two of us just looked at each other before we shared a simple nod and a chuckle. We actually came to terms like adults and even though the terms we came to weren''t exactly civil or normal in the old world, heck, speaking like adults anding to a solution was even rare back then.


    In any case, the General called over what looked to be an assistant of his¡ªwho was actually waiting a good distance away with her clipboard¡ªthen gave us a brief introduction.


    "Cass, this is Sky Ishiyama¡ªthe one the president called to us about¡ªwho created the spectacle just as we arrived and young man, this is Cass, basically my assistant or something close."


    I offered a simple handshake, "Nice to meet you."


    She gave me an up-down look as she returned the handshake, "The ''Kid'' they always talk about in meetings."


    "Yeah, that kid who upied Valenzu, right next to Man."


    I interjected, "Well, parts of it."


    She chuckled, "Uh-huh. Weren''t you the one responsible for helping Mayor Iskoh and Jose''s CO get set up? What''s his name again? Morales? It''s Morales, right? What are they up to right now?"


    "Sir Morales started to cut inside the city between what the mayor and I upied though most of his forces were still in the harbor. There are plenty of things to do aside from taking care of the dead but still up to this day, that''s the job everyone''s tasked with."


    "Right. I gotta ask¡­ You have¡ª what''s her name? The Russian¡­ Is it Vera? Who''s in charge of thismunications room back in your ce? I appreciate the variety of shows we could listen to but don''t you think you should assign someone¡­ local?"


    I looked at her a certain way, "I don''t see that problem. Communication between me and the mayor works fine with her in charge and besides, the ces Sir Morales and Ferdinand upy are manned by your people. Furthermore, she has insights and ways that¡ª"


    She cut me off with a faint-mocking smile as she half-rolled her eyes, "I was just giving you a suggestion, no need to be so defensive. I''m sure she''s pretty talented¡­"


    The General threw her a look, "Aren''t you supposed to give me the report¡ª"


    I cut the General off as I looked this Cass chick in the eye, "I''m sorry but do you wanna start something with me?"


    "Excuse me?"


    "You see, I have a lot of pent-up stress because of Lopez and I had something else that''s EVEN MORE pent-up because we got interrupted this morning so if you wanna start something with me, just say it outright. I know you have some fucking issues but let me know what you fucking need from me so I could help you. I just met you five seconds ago and I don''t need more drama in my life. Just fucking say what you want and fuck off."


    "..."


    "..."


    At that fucking moment, the way she threw shade at me just ticked me off so bad I had to blow up at her, but the way the General was this close to burstingughing while this Cass bitch had her jaw almost hitting the floor made me realize that something was off.


    It was the first time I saw the General let out such a face and it also seemed like the first time this assistant had someone talk back to her.


    With a quick nce, she seemed to only be a few years older than me but she couldn''t even clear above my shoulders though she did look like she was physically fit. However, it only took me a few seconds before realization struck and made me realize that she wasn''t from this ce but next door, where my Alma Mater is.


    ''She actually had our old pin on her cor but hers is dated in 2012¡­ Cass doesn''t ring a bell though¡­''


    For the life of me, I didn''t think that my old school would have people working in this ce because I only thought that the Academy would be the only one sending people over to the other side.


    I actually berated my supposed senior but seniority doesn''t mean shit in my book if they were the first ones to show disrespect.


    And I tried to poke the little bear a little more, "What? You think you''re a fucking eight? You''re barely five feet, for fuck''s sake!"


    "I-I''m five-foot-three! The fuck do you think you are?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "First off, you probably knew who I am yesterday¡ªunless 5 PM is your fucking bedtime, and secondly, you SHOULD fucking know who I am because I have a fucking statue in our fucking Multipurpose Hall!"


    "You¡ª Wai¡ªWHAT?! S-STATUE?! Who are you, really¡ª"


    "Jesus fucking christ, I''m so sorry¡ªwith your height¡ªyou probably couldn''t see the te where our names were written but I''m the valedictorian for the ss of 2014 and the first awardee of The Solomon''s Wisdom Award¡ª"


    "No¡ª"


    "Yes, bitch. I''m the one who received ''that'' tinum pin, the fancy que, the handwritten bible, the cash award, and one of the small plots ofnd only given to the people who gave the school much, MUCH fame and recognition. I''m that fucking guy you tried to call a fucking imbecile."


    "I..."


    "And yeah, I''m also that guy you all made aughingstock off when I sent the university proof of the world ending."


    "...!"


    "Oh~ You received it too?! It''s funny, right? For you guys who were preparing for the seconding, you seem to forget that the world has to end first before that ever happens."


    At this moment, Cass looked like she had seen a ghost because she was just so fucking gobsmacked of me revealing trap cards one after the other. In any case, what I did wasn''t a little poke and I can kinda understand one of the reasons I blew up at her in the first ce. Though at the same time, the General was looking at me curiously while he kept silent through most of it.


    ''This is not like me¡­ Why did the bad memories start toe out first instead of the good ones?''


    Realizing that I shouldn''t pour everything into a single person, I calmed myself down before I offered an apology.


    "Shit, I apologize for being an asshole but even though I mostly am to people who were asshole-like to me, like what you did earlier, I should not have said those things to you in the first ce. For that, I''ll owe you a bottle of either those soya beverages or that carrot juice we have at the cafeteria plus whatever vegan meal you want. Is that okay? And yeah, is Mimi still around?"


    "..."


    For a good minute or two, Cass was just staring at me like a dumbass and I didn''t even notice the General slipping out of the awkward conversation along with the report that was supposed to be in Cass'' hands.


    I saw the General on a random bench reading through each page carefully and since the person I was talking to wasn''t even responding one bit, I decided to leave her alone and look for Kaley and the rest.


    ''Probably back at the log cabin¡­''


    But to my annoyance, the midget¡ªnot actually¡ªwas following close behind me with the same expression: eyebrows knotted, nose scrunched, and ears billowing smoke due to how hard she was trying to figure out if I was really the person she thought she was thinking of.


    I stopped walking and faced her, "What?"


    "..."


    "If you aren''t gonna talk¡ª"


    "There''s¡­ There''s just no way that you''re¡­"


    "Why? I got tall, ripped, and had this tattoo sleeve that''s supposed to be sin?"


    "Yeah¡ª but that''s not what I''m¡ª"


    "Then what are you trying to say?"


    She took a deep breath before she looked me in the eye, "Look¡­ We ce off on the wrong foot so c-could we start over?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Sure, I''d ept a quick breakdown of what''s the current situation over at our old school as an apology."


    "Wait¡ª I said we should start over and now you''re trying to ask for something in return¡ª"


    "Fine. Then just tell me just because you wanted to. Is that okay?"


    "You¡­ S-Sure¡­ But d-do you have any news around the area of Bataan? I know it''s a shot in the dark but¡ª"


    "I''m sorry, no¡­"


    "Ah¡­ I understand¡ª"


    "Wait. I remember something."


    "P-Please¡ª"


    "I''m not sure if you wanna hear this though¡ª"


    "Please! Just tell me!"


    "Alright~ It''s not actually news about that ce per se but a group ambushed us way, way~ back and the ones who we spared decided to go there. I''m pretty sure that they managed to reach the ce¡ªbecause we left a tracker in one of the radios I gave them, but that only proves that the radio is in that ce, not them¡ªtechnically speaking. And before you ask, the signal was gone after a month or so, so we haven''t had much info on the group since¡­"


    "Ah¡­ Is that so¡­"


    "You have family over there?"


    "Something like that¡­"


    "I see. So, what''s the situation over on our side?"


    She let out a bitter smile as she chuckled, "Would you believe me if I told you that it''s pretty much the same except for the soldiers present? Heck, we still even have the prayer schedules and our mass¡ªand have I told you that we still have sses ongoing? From primary to tertiary, even for people taking their master''s degree and doctorate?"


    "No fucking way¡ª"


    "Yes fucking way! Wanna bet on it?!"

 Chapter 889 OH, COME ON—

    ?


    Like a dog presented with a nice juicy steak, my senior¡ªCass¡ªhad never looked so excited with the thought of making one of her juniorse back to our ce of origin rather than actually winning a bet. However, I couldn''t hide the excitement myself because my old school was one of the ces I thought of hunkering over the moment a single zombie popped up.


    That piece ofnd that I was given? I actuallymissioned to have someone build a regr house on top of it¡ªand had one of my older colleagues live on it for free, as long as they kept it clean and had a room set aside for me on the chance I came to visit¡ªbut it wasn''t apocalypse-worthy like the one Oscar and I built up from scratch.


    In any case, I wanted to know more about the ce I spent a few years of my life at, and we were now having a pleasant conversation on our way to the log cabin.


    "W-Wait a second, everything''s still the way it is? Even our decades-old walls that should''ve been¡ª"


    "I thought you''d be more surprised we have sses but the walls were obviously built up and have several guards patrolling 24/7."


    I chuckled, "With the way a huge chunk of ournd was smack dab in the road, that''s a given."


    She looked at me like I was an idiot, "Did you forget about everything else from the other side? You know that we only had 4-foot log posts with three wires separating us from thend we didn''t own. Imagine the rush to build the same type of wall to keep the dead away."


    "Oh! You mean from the Food Factory!"


    She let out a cheeky smile, "How long has it been since yourst visit? It''s Factories now¡ªplural."


    "I guess that''s one thing you and the General have inmon, you two like plural shit¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Not important. Anyway¡ª" I stopped as I looked around the log cabin, "I thought they''d be here. Helloooooo~"


    I was just about to start knocking because everyone else was missing but it didn''t take long before a huge shadow loomed over us and Cass almost broke her neck from looking up.


    Yes, Quinn just came out the door looking bored as fuck.


    Cass pointed up with dread, "W-What¡­ W-What is that?!"


    "THE FUCK AM I?! ARE YOU LOST, KID?! TODDLERS AREN''T SUPPOSED TO BE IN¡ª"


    "I''m in my 30s, excuse me! Y-You''re s-so tall!"


    "WHAT?! FUCK OUTTA HERE, JAILBAIT¡ª" Quinn roared before she turned to me, "Hey, where did you pick this one up? Also, wanna have a quick one? I was really~ hoping for a hot soak but this trip has gone to shit and I really want some release¡ª I know you need one too after that¡ª"


    Cass couldn''t believe her ears as her face turned bright red, "W-Wait, you''re having an a-affair with this¡­ t-this one¡ª"


    "You fucking shrimp, I''m gonna let that slide onest time¡ª"


    "I thought you were a decent guy, but this?!"


    Quinn never looked so confused, "The fuck are you crying about?! I''d even let you in after a couple more years but you''re fucking weird, you know that?"


    "N-No! He''s married, right?!"


    ''Riiiiiight¡­''


    Before Ipletely forgot, almost everyone else from that ce had this holier-than-though view when it came to this kind of stuff and even though a good chunk of them still had this rebellious side, it wouldn''te as a surprise if having an open rtionship¡ªheck, even talking about sex out loud was a huge no-no for them.


    Even I struggled to get it out of my system but it would be rare to find someone that broke out of that ce''s teachings if they were living inside¡ªor in Cass'' case, probably the same thing but let''s just say that she''s a frequent visitor.


    On that note, I didn''t think I''d exin to another poor soul about theplicated rtionship I had with Kaley andpany, and she just looked like it was the first time she read a book that contained smut or even ankle pictures. And yeah, she was fucking stunned for a good minute once again, but Quinn dragged her with us when we discovered that Kaley and the rest were in the shooting range.


    ''She''s ripping it with the Reaper, that''s the fucking sound of it¡­''


    To my surprise, the shooting range definitely had a crowd surrounding my group and the people I''ll be bringing with me but the biggest surprise was Major Perez holding his ground with Kaley using his beat-up AR-10 chambered in .308.


    It was a rifle from PSA that only had a simple sling, a 20-inch barrel, no foregrips, no muzzle brakes, no nothing, but the thing that caught my eye was the scope he was using. His scope alone was worth more than everything else he had on his person and it was even one of the brands I was using.


    ''Better to have a legendary-rank scope and a rare-rank gun than a legendary-rank gun and a rare-rank scope¡­''


    When we first met, I 100% assumed that he''d be a Shotgun Schmuck¡ªlike someone else we know¡ªor even a Lever-action Larry, but he''s actually one of my close brethren. Sure and AR-15 was still different from and AR-10 but it still sported the same tform so it was pretty close.


    On that note, both of them were dinging the metal te that was nted a good 400 yards away, and the small moment of silence right after the shot was fired and then the small ding that would follow would just make everyone else either shake their heads from disbelief or grimace from the sheer ridiculousness of what they were witnessing.


    And yeah, it''s not because they were hitting the target that far out¡ªthough they were¡ªbut it was more because of the rhythmic sounds they were producing from each shot. Even a DJ could work on it and start making a sick beat if the crowd weren''t that loud with their reactions in the first ce.


    But it didn''t take long before JP approached me, looking annoyed as fuck while holding a brand-new, ''tactical'' AR-15 with all the bells and whistles you could put on it.


    "This is ridiculous!"


    I instantly rolled my eyes, "What about that''s ridiculous?"


    "Kaley¡ª your wife offered us to help zero our guns but it just¡­ t-turned into that shooting debacle! Wasting all that ammo¡­"


    "You can''t zero your gun yourself?"


    JP looked like he''d smack the shit out of me but he knew full well that he''d gonna need more than Lopez''s blood if he did so he just frowned and protested, "I can zero my gun, of course! But how can I do it if everyone''s there trying to disturb us! I had the highest kill count on the board! This is just a new gun I borrowed for the trip! They should be doing the jobs I assigned to them! Even the officers are cking off, dad will be hearing of thister¡ª"


    "Oh? Like you told on me for ''trying'' to kill you?"


    "I-I-I was upset, alright?! And for the record, I actually thought you would¡­"


    I chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders, "Fair enough¡ª"


    The Quinn cut me off, "Wait a second, you''re forgetting something you promised me you''d let me do!"


    I quickly tried to wave her off, "Woah! Woah! Woah! Not here and I don''t remember anything¡ª"


    "YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! I''M TALKING ABOUT FIRING THE .50 CAL¡ª THE BARRETT OR WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU MAY CALL IT!"


    The moment the word ''Barrett'' was spread in the open air, everyone else suddenly turned in our direction with bloodshot eyes and even Major Perez missed, giving Kaley the victory, and I was swarmed with all these fucking gun nuts like I was the only one that brought paper for the test. However, Quinn managed to quickly disperse the crowd as she swung Cass around like a ragdoll.


    ''That''s a relief, we only brought so much .50 BMGs and I''m not gonna waste it on target practice!''


    "WAIT¡ª WHY AM I HERE¡ª BLEGRHH! STOP THROWING ME AROUND! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    "You''re pretty light¡ª Well, of course, with that size it''s pretty much a given¡­"


    "PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN! SOMEBODY HELP!"


    After that short bout of chaos, I fulfilled my promise to Quinn by letting her have her way with my Barrett M107A1¡ªwith a full magazine, to boot¡ªand everyone else could only look with envy. However, seeing Quinn make it look like a regr-sized rifle in her hands was fucking shocking to me but the look on her face the moment she fired the first shot was fucking priceless.


    Her whole body jolted the moment she pulled the trigger and how I wish I had a slow-motion camera on hand, but I''d stick with photographic memory to remember everything that¡­ jiggled.


    Quinn was smiling from ear to ear as she turned to me like she''d devour me whole, "WHEW! I like this gun, like shit¡­ I really~ like this gun¡­ Can I have¡ª"


    "Nope! Not in a million years!"


    "OH, COME ON¡ª"


    Ipletely ignored her as I turned to my group, "We''re burning precious daylight here, hurry it up!"

 Chapter 890 Quick Stop And Accessorize - Three Angels Message University I

    ?


    In any case, I started helping our trainees to zero their new guns because to appease the General''s mind, not only did he give his son a new toy to y with, but he also gave everyone else a new set of pew-pews and stabby-stabs just to make sure they had the means to protect themselves¡ªbut most importantly, to protect his treasured son.


    ''Why don''t hee himself if he''s this worried?''


    They had 4 AR-15s, 2 M70s, and 2 Remmington 870s with 4 Glock 17s and 4 M1911s paired with a fresh K-Bar knife, a utility belt, and a chest rig. Furthermore, they were also given a fresh set of gloves, elbow pads, knee pads, and military boots¡ªand a ''tacticool'' helmet that had every random shit on it.


    JP was the only one that looked familiar with their gear and everyone else looked like they were wearing someone else''s skin.


    I walked over to Ruben who was having a hard time wearing his helmet that had NVGs strapped at the front, "The sun''s out, my guy¡­ You can¡ª"


    He turned to me like I was about to steal his toy, "I-It''s the first time I''ve w-worn things like these! It''s weirdly falling in front, but¡ª"


    I stole it from his head, "Ah, you should add some weight at the back here¡­ But yeah, it''s good to familiarize yourself with your new gear but using NVGs should be way~ down on the priority list."


    "I-I see¡­" he nodded as he leaned close, "Hey, w-would it be too bad to ask for that kind of scope to be ced in my shotgun?"


    "..."


    "Sir?"


    "You''re talking about that 4x scope on Alexa''s M70?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Ruben¡­"


    "Sir?"


    "Where are you on that list everyone on top''s been bragging about?"


    "What list? Oh! That list! I''m pretty low on that since I always use an axe¡ªI hold our positions outside too¡ªthe vehicle we have, I mean¡ªso I rarely engage in front."


    "Uh-huh. Can you at least tell me what shotgun loads you have on you?"


    "00 Buckshots and Breaching loads¡ª Sir, I''m gonna be honest. I''m not the best shooter but I really think that kind of scope will be able to help me."


    "You sweet summer child¡­"


    "S-Sir?"


    Hearing those wordse out of his mouth, I was this close to making him unpack but the reason I took him in was entirely different. He could be pretty useless from abat standpoint but I''d be able to verify his skills soon once we made our way to the Rivas Family or even my old Alma Mater.


    But yeah, I gave him a crash course about Oscar''s favorite boomstick though hexa-loading¡ªheck, and even quad-loading was out of the picture. He''d have to master the basics first to learn advanced shit but he''s clearlycking fundamentals and was mistakenly trying to rely on essories to ovee it.


    And with the other guys, I needed to do some micro-managing for some quality-of-life improvements.


    Namely: I made the new guys zero their rifles ording to our customs because if by some chance I had to call some shots, I''d be able to do so without converting shit on the spot because even a tenth of a second was important.


    It was because I discovered that JP had his rifle zeroed at 100 meters while Seb was at 100 yards.


    Some could say that it would be detrimental to change things up right before they go outside but it''d be better in the long run. Sometimes, it would be better to stick to one thing instead of having a lot of options. But since my group was also using 100 meters as our starting point, Seb and the few others were the ones that had to adjust.


    But yeah, I did let them use some of our time to somehow familiarize themselves with the slight adjustments plus some of the calls we''d give that were different from this ce.


    It also gave me a general idea of what they can do but they obviously didn''t expect Tatiana to wipe the floor with each of them. Their brand-new equipment was covered in dust the moment we were done but there was a single fucking problem I forgot to address:


    Lopez.


    The motherfucker didn''t show himself until the final minute but as he was about to ride on the Raycolt with JP and the rest, I pulled on hisrge rucksack and looked him dead in the eye, "You''ll be riding with me."


    "What?! W-Why?!"


    Obviously enough, Quinn and the others protested but I took it as a necessary sacrifice to mix up the people riding on our vehicles.


    I definitely had Kaley riding shotgun as I would be the one driving but I had JP sitting behind with Quinn and Tatiana while Lopez was on the truck bed with Lucas. And on that note, I made Seb lead the rest of their group with Isaac and Jose riding with them and yes, I definitely pawned off the Ta we found in exchange for more gas, ammo, food, water, and a few more resources.


    And after onest goodbye, we drove off from the Philippine Military Academy but it wasn''t even 15 minutes before we reached our next destination.


    Seeing it up close flooded me with more memories but I didn''t expect Cass''s voice from the radio.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Mic check, mic check~ Is this thing working? Can anyone hear me?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What. are. you. doing. here?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I rode with Jesus, silly! You''ll need a tour guide of sorts so I volunteered myself¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Uh-huh."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Stop sounding so disappointed! They won''t even let you in¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Even with my old ID and my alumni card?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Pfft! Hah! You still have those?! Sure, go ahead! I was supposed to do something here anyways and I just caught a ride but I guess you won''t be needing me¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Again, just say that you wanted toe with us and I''ll let you for the time being."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Really?! If you say so~ Right. I know where Mimi''s working right now, we should¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hold up, she''s still alive?! You didn''t tell me that¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [More driving, less talking~ Go on ahead, I bet they''ll recognize your IDs if you present it to them¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, once I drove my Raptor to one of their checkpoints, they took one nce at the Raycolt and let us move on straight to the huge gate that my university had. The General probably gave them a call, telling them that we''d be arriving soon with a group that this ce doesn''t usually let inside. However, I had my first wave of nostalgia when I handed my IDs to the confused guard looking at me sideways.


    "Wait¡ª aren''t you¡ª DUDE!"


    I gave the guard a casual smile and wave, "What''s up, Andy?"


    "WHAT THE FUCK¡ª HOW''D¡ª"


    "Can we go in? It''s about time for lunch, right?"


    "Y-YOU¡ª W-WE SHOULD FUCKING TALK LATER, ALRIGHT?! I''M GONNA RADIO EVERYONE! I MEAN EVERYONE! GET IN, YOU FUCK!"


    "Thanks!"


    "RIGHT! I''m also living in your house! Ben''s still alive and kicking, don''t worry! We''re all fine here! Jesus, I can''t believe this is happening¡ª OH SHIT! WE¡ª WE REALLY GOT TO TALK LATER, ALRIGHT?! DON''T FORGET ABOUT ME!"


    "Sure, sure. Nice to see you, dude. Like, for real."


    "AM I GOING CRAZY RIGHT NOW?! THE FUCK ARE YOU SO CHILL FOR?! DUDE¡ª A LOT OF THINGS HAPPENED WHILE YOU WERE AWAY! WE DON''T EVEN KNOW WHERE KEN WAS¡ª"


    "He''s with me¡ª"


    "WHAT?! WHERE¡ª"


    "I mean back home, you know¡­"


    He was stunned for a moment before his excitement quickly dissipated, "Right¡­ About that¡ª"


    "Don''t worry about it, dude. I''d hate to say this a second time but can we get in¡ª"


    "Fuck! Right! Right! H-Here we go¡ª We''ll talkter, alright?!"


    "Yeah!"


    As Andy pressed the buttons to lower the barriers to the ground, he still looked like he couldn''t believe he was seeing me in the flesh as he couldn''t contain himself. He was smiling like an idiot as he was speaking through his radio but the second wave of nostalgia happened when the familiar tune rang out from the speakers.


    Everyone else was still admiring the scenery inside but I was already cringing all over.


    [OH, HAPPY DAY~]


    [Oh! Happy day!]


    [WHEN JESUS COMES~]


    [When Jesuses~]


    It was the same tune that would ring out the moment the clock struck noon but the scenery took me out of it.


    The inside still looked like fucking paradise.


    It was like the Garden of Eden just from the trees, flowers, and other nts wereid out, and the first thing that everyone would see to the left was this hospital¡ªfor obvious reasons¡ªthat was right next to thisrge gazebo, separating it with a flowery walkway that would lead to our huge-ass church.


    There was a small building behind it that had a few ssrooms and more gardens but that was a story for another day.


    Nothing had fucking changedpared to thest time I went here and I got a third wave of nostalgia when I finally saw some students wearing our uniform.


    It didn''t look fancy at all: just a simple white blouse and a ck skirt for women and a white polo and ck pants for men, almost making it look like office wearbined with the ''proper'' haircut and enforced shoes for both uniforms.


    Kaley was the first one to see me squirming in ce but she relieved most of the tension when she opened her mouth:


    "Do you think they could sell me one of those uniforms my size?"

 Chapter 891 Three Angels Message University II - Food Selections

    ?


    For the life of me, I didn''t know how we didn''t crash and die then and there, because I managed to keep a straight face while I was side-eyeing JP¡ªas a signal to Kaley¡ªbecause he was in the vehicle with us. However, Kaley just rolled her eyes and chuckled before she adjusted her sitting posture and doubled down:


    "I said what I said, I just thought it''d look good on me¡­"


    Quinn was the first one to speak from behind, "Hah! I''ll probably take one too if there''s something to fit me!"


    Tatiana added, "Me too, imagine the sex when¡ª"


    I cut them off, "Hellooo?? We. Have. A. Passenger! Sit. Ting. Right. There!"


    Quinn chuckled-scoffed, "This kid here? Trust me, it''s like the first time he saw tits because he was frozen the whole way~ I first thought he''d even try to cop a feel but his hands are tucked between his legs. How boring~"


    Tatiana was looking at me via the rear-view mirror with an amused expression, "Imagine what he''d do if we start having sex on the ride¡ª"


    JP suddenly spoke up, "You¡ª This is highly inappropriate! I should be driving the Raycolt my dad sent me but I''m getting hazed¡ª"


    Quinn ced her arm over his shoulders and started to lightly choke him to death, "Exactly. But you should be thanking us we''re sitting with you. We wanted to do something carnal and a little violent but you''re here and stopping us from doing so¡ª"


    "You can just stop the truck and let me¡ª"


    "Nuh-uh. I take great pleasure teasing uptight boys like you and you''re riding with us until it''s not fun anymore. And right now, seeing you like that is fun and¡ª"


    JP cut her off as he red at me through the rear-view mirror, "Did you put them up to this?! You did¡ª"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "Nope. I let you sit with us because of one particr reason and it''s not because so that Quinn could have some fun with you."


    "Lies! It was just¡ª Stop spouting nonsense! Just let me drive my ride!"


    The whole time JP blew up, Kaley was watching him the whole time and was dEfINiTelY using her psychic powers to some degree. However, she still hasn''t spoken a word ever since she broke the ice so I continued to calm down our angsty Baron who had his most important thing taken away: control.


    ''And sitting between the biggest Alpha-Bitches I''ve known is definitely ufortable for the aLphA that he is¡­ Heh.''


    I shrugged my shoulders as I struggled to contain myself because of the 5mph speed limit, "You can believe me or not but I''m doing what''s best for you. We can¡ª"


    "You just want me to admit whatever the fuck I''m doing to these w-women, right?! You want me to embarrass myself in front of them, is that it?! Is that what it would take to drive my own vehicle?! HUH?!"


    "Woah, calm down there~"


    Tatiana turned to me, "What''s he talking about?"


    Quinn added, "Yeah, this feels different."


    "..." Kaley still kept quiet while keeping a close watch on our golden egg.


    How I wish I could just m on the brakes and make him fly through the windshield but at the speed we''re going, I doubt making him have a sore neck was possible. But yeah, as I was still figuring out how to actually make JP be okay with himself, Kaley made Quinn and Tatiana sit with the other two on the truckbed before she sat with him and stared him in the eyes:


    "Okay, you can tell me what''s wrong. I won''t judge you or anything¡ª I''m just here to listen, alright? What''s bothering you?"


    "W-What¡ª I was¡­ I¡­ I was just¡­"


    "It''s alright, take your time. It''s just us here, tell me what''s on your mind¡­"


    "I¡­ I-I don''t actually mean to d-do that¡­"


    "Do what, exactly?"


    "It''s¡­ Umm¡­ It''s umm¡­"


    "JP, we''re just here to help¡­ For that to work, you should just tell us¡­ We won''t tell anyone else¡­ We promise you¡­"


    "A-Alright¡­ I trust you¡­ Thanks for kicking those two out¡­"


    "Yes, you can trust me, right?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    ''Here we go~''


    We weren''t even halfway to the cafeteria when JP was bawling his eyes out but I was more impressed with Kaley from the way she kept herself together when JP told her his biggest secret with Seb. She actually gave him sound advice though I felt a little bad for listening in to their session because there were a lot of times he could''ve said the truth instantly if he wasn''t afraid of me¡ªor anyone else¡ªgiving him looks or straight up judging his actions.


    The biggest point in their entire conversation was it''s not actually about him doing stuff with the same sex, it was about being in the same corrupted mindset as Lopez. Well, it was actually a little bit of both¡ªhonestly speaking, but if there was something we needed to ''cure'', it was his usage of the power given to him with his titles. But in his case, he was only using the Baron buff to make Seb bend to his will but if he only knew that Seb was actually letting him do what he wants, it''d be an entirely different conversation.


    ''I''d hate to say it but Seb should be present next time¡­''


    In any case, who would''ve thought one of our problems could easily be solved by passing it to someone else more qualified to solve it, and I actually felt lighter because that''s one more issue leaving my te.


    And yeah, Kaley made a promise to JP that they''ll have this talk every now and again but I almost burst outughing when I saw Quinn and Tatiana trying so hard to read their lips from the ss window behind.


    With that said, reaching the cafeteria took longer than it should because we''d only have to drive past a small rotonda¡ªor a roundabout, a parking area that had gravel flooring, and a small bend past a few old Mve trees.


    It would''ve taken me 20 minutes to walk from the gate to the cafeteria but it almost took the same time with my Raptor because of the speed limit and a few more reasons.


    But yeah, once we reached the ce and saw the hundreds of students slowly falling in line to get in, I instantly thought of going somece else but Cass had already exited Jesus'' station wagon and waved us to follow behind her.


    "C''mon! Use your ID! They have a separate seating arrangement for alumni like us! Wait a sec¡ª do you still have caf load on that?"


    I nodded after cringing because of the wave of nostalgia that followed after hearing that choice of words, "I probably still have around 20k of credits loaded¡ª"


    Before I could finish my sentence, Cass just rushed at me and tried to cover my mouth but I held her in ce with my hand on her head. She never looked so distraught from hearing that I still had a boatload of unspent credits¡ªbecause I''d rather just cook for myself or eat outside¡ªbut I never would''ve thought such credits would prompt a reaction from her.


    Turns out, it was the currency this ce kept on using as the world ended and even a thousand credits was enough to make waves around the campus.


    "I d-don''t know if you''re lying to me but don''t say that you have that out loud!"


    "You''re the one who asked me¡ª"


    "Not important! K-Keep your ID safe at all times and¡­ ugh¡­ just¡ª d-don''t lose that, okay?!"


    I actually didn''t care about garnering attention because our getup and the vehicles we used to drive in were attention-grabbing enough as is. Heck, just Quinn and her 7-foot frame were enough to turn several bottoms male or female.


    And yeah, we were the center of attention when we walked through the alumni section¡ªwhich only had half the tables filled up¡ªbut the look on Quinn, Tatiana, Jesus, and his crew''spany when they saw the menu was fucking priceless.


    They knew fucking well that this ce didn''t serve any meat but seeing them in person instantly made them lose appetite.


    Sure, there are a lot of delicious and delicious-looking vegan or vegetarian foods but let me tell you with 100% certainty that in this ce¡ªespecially in the apocalypse¡ªthose two terms had no chance of existing whatsoever.


    What we have on the menu except for actual vegetables that were cooked in the simplest way like boiling them or just cutting them up to look nice were meat recements called gluten-meat, vege-meat, vege-tapa, etc. And yeah, there were some familiar meals in the mix but the ones that should have meat were reced by the ones I mentioned above or with tofu and beans.


    In the first few months I''ve studied here, I actually found all of them pleasant but it didn''t take long before everything else started to taste the same.


    And once again, I wasn''t saying that these types of foods taste bad¡ªit''s just that I wished that they were cooked and prepared a different way or they should just change the menu once in a while. Furthermore, we were in the fucking Alumni Section¡ªthe selection here should be a little bit better than what the students were having.


    But yeah, it only took a single phrase before we garnered more attention¡ªbecause Cass didn''t brief us on how dire the situation here was on food selection¡ªas Quinn spoke out the forbidden words:


    "Can''t we just eat what we brought over? I remember we still have some strip steaks and a bit of fried chicken left, right?"


    And all hell broke loose.

 Chapter 892 Three Angels Message University III - Small World

    ?


    Before I could even attempt to do to Quinn what Cass attempted to do to me, every meat-eating student who heard Quinn''s little slip looked like deadheads who were trying to bust through the ss partition while every carnivorous alumni in our section either had their stomachs grumble or mouths water from the possibility of meat touching their lips again.


    "Uh-oh."


    "She¡­ She said steak, right?"


    "S-Strip steaks¡­"


    "With g-gravy and mash, perhaps?"


    "W-We have gravy and m-mash here though¡ª"


    "Not with strip steaks¡­"


    "A-And some fried chicken¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "Steak¡­"


    "And chicken¡­"


    In a matter of seconds, the line that was supposed to be for the cafeteria''s food section broke off as they crowded over to us looking like deranged pitbulls that never had their rabies shot.


    Even Quinn''s intimidating presence was nothing to the chance to eat something with vor so I had to bust out my signature move and clear out the area.


    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOM*


    These poor students who had never had a life-or-death experience had no fucking way of resisting a fifth of the murderous intent I sent over to them, and the ones closest either lost feeling in their legs or looked like they were about to pass out.


    I said loud enough the moment the pressure subsided, "We''re just trying to have lunch here, would you guys please give us some privacy? Besides, the university doesn''t allow the consumption of meat whatsoever, right? Do you all want to get in trouble¡ª"


    I wasn''t even able to finish my sentence before realization struck for them, but I definitely came out with some ammunition¡ªmeat¡ªto use in case I wanted a favor of some sort.


    They all looked disappointed when they went back to their seats or fell back into the line, but a few persistent bastards wanted to strike a deal with me.


    One of them sat opposite me and facing away as he shoot his shot, "Yo, I''ve got something you might be interested in if you''re willing to trade in uh¡­ some real protein, you know what I mean?"


    "Uh-huh. Not interested¡ª"


    "C''mon, man~ Just give a brother some love here¡ª You know what? How about a freebie?"


    To my amusement, he faced me and motioned for a handshake where he had a small, rolled-up blunt that looked nice and tidy. The way he looked at me told me that he thought he piqued my interest but weed was something I''d avoid at all costs at the moment because thest time I identally took some, Kaley put a finger up my¡ª somewhere where the sun doesn''t shine.


    But to my fucking surprise, Jesus¡ªof all people¡ªchortled as he pulled out a blunt that could be used as a blunt weapon because it was big as a baby''s arm and one hit from that was enough to make even Snoop Dogg a little high.


    In any case, his little blunt was all he could offer so the next one in line tried to offer something that the previous one couldn''t offer, herself.


    From a quick nce, she looked like the typical sorority girl that tasted the whole football team but in this fucking ce, we didn''t have sororities¡ªwell, I mean the ones recognized by the school and had their own house¡ªor a football team, or any sports team for that matter. Well, we still do have PE ss and whatnot but our school doesn''tpete in sportspetitions outside our school and it was, well¡­ sad.


    And Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn shut her down before she embarrassed herself even more.


    But yeah, thest one showed a lot of promise.


    Thest guy was hiding a smirk as he looked me in the eye, "Wazzzzaap~"


    "..." I kept quiet as I tried my best not to respond and reveal how old I was.


    He chuckled, "No? Alright~ Yeah, sure. Anyway, what those dumbasses offered could easily be procured outside so I''ll offer something you probably don''t have at the moment."


    "And what is that exactly?"


    "I have some insider info, ya dig?"


    "Oh?"


    "I know everybody inside, I know their roles, their schedules, their secrets, their everything, and whatnot. I can also give you a ce toy your heads on¡ªis this all of you?"


    "Yep."


    He nodded with a smile, "I can handle that, sure. And yeah, if you need to know everything about this ce, I''m your guy."


    As this was happening, I was side-eyeing Cass who never looked so confused but I continued my dealings with Dealer #3.


    "Oh? That''s wonderful, actually. I do need one particr piece of information right now."


    "Uh-huh. What''s that?"


    "There''s this regr ol'' house by this water tank way~ past the greenhouse and the halfcourt where the¡ª"


    "Oh! The one close by this other house that had avocados year-round? The one with this very, very~ handsome caretaker that had a huge, huge~ cock. Much, much bigger than the actual owner of the house? That one?"


    I almost burst outughing as I looked him in the eye, "Sure, that one. Yeah."


    "Don''tugh! C''mon, everyone''s been talking about his ginormous penis and¡ª"


    I finally broke, "Cut it out, dude. Andy called you, huh?"


    He started cackling as he motioned for a bro-hug, "Hehehe~ What''s up, dude¡ª"


    Right as he thought I''d give him a hug¡ªwhich I actually did, the guy was still smiling brightly before I lifted him up in the air and mmed him on the table we were sitting on. That definitely took the air out of him but the look on his face when he saw me about to bodym his ass was fucking priceless.


    The scene that had gone quite quiet started kicking it up again as several of the onlookers thought thest dealer picked a fight with me and was paying for it.


    Well, there was a truth to that statement, to say the least, but everyone else in my group was also confused as hell as to what was going on.


    The guy was tapping on my arm incessantly as I was trying to choke him out, "Dude¡ª DUDE! YOU KNOW IT''S ME, RIGHT?! IT''S A-ME, BEN¡ª"


    "Yeah, I know."


    "Then¡ª DUDE! What the f-fuck¡ª GCK!"


    I lessened my hold on his neck, "It''s been a year, fucking asshole!"


    "Asshole?! What did I¡ª"


    "You let Ken go by himself?! Prick!"


    "Ken¡ª H-He arrived and he''s s-safe, right?!"


    "Of course, he''s safe! Why didn''t you contact me?! Huh?! I thought you were fucking dead!"


    "Fucking¡ª You know the Inte got cut out¡ª"


    "Inte?! Bro¡ª I left you a fucking HAM Radio and¡ª"


    "Ah¡­ I¡­ I sold that¡­"


    "WHAT?! TO WHO?!"


    "I dunno! S-Some hippies or whatever you may call them! They bought it for $200, bro! It''s a steal!"


    "A steal for them! That''s $500, you fucking dumbass!"


    "Huh. You know¡­ money''s pretty much worthless now, if you ask me¡ª GCKK! CHK! BRO! DUDE! BRO! I GIVE! I¡ª"


    With that said, a crowd had once again formed around us¡ªbut with arger diameter¡ªbut I actually choked one of my good friends here, Benedict "Ben" Romualdez who looked like a budget Jessie Pinkman, before I carried him like a sack of potatoes and threw him at the back of my Raptor.


    And by the way, we still haven''t had our lunch in the cafeteria¡ªand I don''t think that we ever will, after that¡ªso we went back to our vehicles and drove much, much further into the residential areas of this campus where I had a house built.


    As I said before, it was a regr two-story house with a white picket fence, six bedrooms, a living room, a dining area, a kitchen, two bathrooms, a storage area, a basement, and a small backyard that had a garden and a little shed with a few tools in it.


    It was one of the ces that would get picked clean in the first few weeks of the zombie apocalypse or a simple starter house a basic character would wake up in.


    In any case, Ben kept flipping me off from the truckbed¡ªthe whole way through¡ªbut I kept brake-checking him and trying to make him fall off as I aimed for the potholes and stepped on the gas when we were about to roll over a speed bump. Doing that definitely pissed off everyone who was riding with me but I had a lot of anger and frustrations I had to make him feel with his body.


    But in all honesty, I was relieved that he was still alive but I got another shock of my life when he gave Cass a warm hug and a 5-Mississipi kiss as he saw her exit the station wagon.


    ''Ohhh~ That''s why¡­ Whaddayouknow?''


    I was this close to doing the FBI joke but he stared me down before he fished out the keys to the house from hisrge jacket.


    I asked as he finally opened the door, "Who else lives here?"


    "Me, Cass, Andy, Ron, Allyssa, and Mimi¡ª"


    I turned to Cass, "Uh-huh. You could''ve made things easier, you know?"


    Cass chuckled as she gave me a cheeky smile, "What? I said I know where she works, you could''ve asked where she lived¡ª"


    "And you''re living in MY house. Perfect."


    "Hey! We kept it clean, you know? I just didn''t think you were the actual guy. You look totally different from the pictures."


    "Sure~ But Mimi, where is she though?"


    Ben answered, "Right, you guys drove past her."


    "What?!"


    "I mean. Dude, she''s a nurse now and she''s working for that MILF in the emergency room. What''s her name again? Cass, you know, right? Cass?"


    At that moment, Cass was shaking her head with an amused expression but the moment she nced at Lopez and then turned to me, I discovered that the phrase, "It''s a small world, after all." made a lot of fucking sense.


    "Doctor Sandara Lopez, it''s his¡ª Lopez''s wife."

 Chapter 893 Three Angels Message University IV - Mimi

    ?


    At this point in time, I had already run out of facial expressions to use with each piece of news I''d discover or every bit of nostalgia that would wash over so I put my hands up in defeat and entered my house to finally have some lunch. And lo and behold, the interior was definitely squeaky clean but there was no semnce of food whatsoever.


    And yeah, my ''good'' friend Ben knew what we had stashed in our cars so he wouldn''t even let me open the MY fridge to prepare us light food for once. However, I noticed that Lopez was the only one who didn''te in because he looked like he wanted to double back and check on his wife ASAP.


    He looked desperate for once, "I¡­ I need permission to visit my wife and¡ª"


    "No."


    "Wai¡ª Why?! You think I''d try to escape?"


    "Not really, I think you need to have some food first."


    He shook his head furiously, "I''ve already eaten a lot because they took my blood when¡ª"


    "Right. Go ahead, I already put a tracker in you anyway¡ª"


    "YOU WHAT?! HOW?!"


    "D''you know that you talk in your sleep? Of course, I''m fucking kidding! Numb-nut. But yeah, I wouldn''t let you out of my sight without a chaperone or two so you''d still have to wait for two of us to finish eating so they coulde with you. If not¡ª"


    "I''lle with him," JP suddenly raised his hand.


    "Me too! I''lle too!" Lucas followed like a loyal dog.


    When that happened, Lopez looked at the two approvingly but his face still turned solemn as he turned to me. I could only sigh because I didn''t know what JP and Lucas were trying to do but since I could easily call Andy and tell him to not let them drive away when they''re not with us, I just let them go because we did have some packed lunches stashed away.


    It''s just that it was he awkward when we saw them off but just for a little insurance, I made them leave their gear before they hiked their way towards the hospital.


    In any case, I still tried to look for fresh vegetables in MY pantry but Ben blocked me like his life depended on it.


    "C''mon, dudeee~ You know the food situation over here! The vegetables are fresh and crisp but I gotta have some meat, alright?!"


    Cass butted in, "I brought you some sausages from the Academy yesterday¡ª"


    Ben''s eyes had never been so round as he stared Cass down, "It was two little pieces, Cass¡ª"


    "Hmph! Then I''ll have what I brought today for myself because I definitely would appreciate not just the quantity but the thought¡ª"


    "It''s not like that, Cass¡ª I sincerely thank you for that but meat''s meat, alright?"


    Cass had never looked so confused, "I¡­ I don''t even understand what that meant."


    I cut in, "Where''s everyone else though? Won''t theye back here for lunch?"


    Ben chuckled, "Really, dude? You do know that it''s a long walk to here from the clinic? I''m not even sure why those three decided to walk it off. Mimi''s definitely gonna have lunch over there while everyone will do the same in their stations."


    "Sure. But something''s bugging me."


    "Hmm?"


    "What do YOU do for work around here?"


    Cass added while looking at Ben in a certain not-so-friendly way, "Yeah, what do YOU do around here? Huh?"


    The dumbass spread his arms out like that statue in Brazil, "The fuck are you guys on about? Can''t you see how this ce looks? I''m the perfect stay-at-home husband out there! The ce is clean, theundry''s already washed and folded, our pantry''s stocked¡ª"


    "Yet you still don''t want me to take some¡ª"


    "I WANT MEAT TODAY, DUDE! MEAT! C''MON!"


    In any case, it didn''t take long before he relented because I asked someone to pull out some of the meat products we brought with us, then Ben and I put on our aprons and prepared food for everyone. While we were doing that, everyone else either walked around outside or just chatted with each other but it was at the 30-minute mark when #1 and #2 brought in what they thought was a youngss who got lost.


    The "youngss" was standing at 4''10'''', had a petite frame, bright round eyes, clear but now had a smudged face, almost out of breath, wearing a dirtied nurse uniform, had scraped both her knees and an elbow, and was on the fucking verge of crying her eyes out.


    It took her one second to spot me from the crowd of people in their home¡ªwhich was technically mine¡ªand she started to slowly approach me with her arms forward as she ugly-cried once she hugged me.


    At this point, Cass and Ben actually shed a tear for seeing Mimi like this¡ªeven causing Kaley and the others to do the same¡ªbut the awkward thing was that everyone was motioning for me to hug her back but I can''t because my hands were tied with a dead fucking chicken that I just beheaded using a huge-ass cleaver.


    It was one of the most awkward scenes I''ve been in¡ªand Quinn wasughing her ass out she had to walk outside¡ªbut it didn''t stop when Mimi tried to speak while bawling her eyes out.


    Trust me, it was one incoherent sentence after the other but Kaley and Cass were kind enough to detach her from my body and take care of her wounds as I tried to finish preparing lunch for everyone else.


    ''I guess the three couldn''t give much of a fuck when they saw her running over here¡­ Or Mimi used a different route and didn''t see them¡­''


    With that said, Mimi eventually came out of their room wearing a fresh set of clothes but she was still teary-eyed when I turned around to greet her:


    "Yo."


    In a blink of an eye, Mimi started to bawl her eyes even worse than earlier but they didn''t have to detach her from me this time because I finally returned her hug as I patted her head. But yeah, the girls in my circle¡ªespecially Kaley¡ªwere looking at me a certain way but I rolled my eyes and shrugged them off as I introduced Mimi to everyone.


    "Okay, you weirdoes~ This is Mimi, the first friend I made in this university and people could say that we''re like brother and sister, in a sense¡ª but she''s older than me by a couple of years so she''s technically my older sister if you think about it¡­ She''s a really kind and gentle friend and¡­"


    I continued to sing her praises as I gave her a brief introduction about everybody in my crew, but for some reason, her eyes looked dead when I told her that Kaley was my wife. And for some other reason, everyone else was looking at me a certain way but I couldn''t quite figure out the reason why.


    ''Did I say something wrong? Did I praise her too much? Was that it?''


    Even when we started eating, she took bites like she didn''t just run the whole way here and she was even sighing at points that was grabbing everyone''s attention.


    But yeah, I eventually put two and two together¡ªwith a little bit of nudge from Kaley¡ªbecause it seemed like my denseness had started to act up again. I can actually pick up social cues or simple signs if it was ever thrown at me so I decided to remedy the situation by giving Mimi another slice of our strip steaks.


    "We know you cannot grow taller anymore but you gotta beef up! Put some muscle in ya, y''know?"


    She never looked so confused as she turned her head to me, "W-What?"


    "..." everyone else.


    I turned to Kaley instead, "Should I have given her more potatoes?"


    Everyone exploded, "NO! YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! CAN''T YOU SEE THAT SHE HAS FEELINGS FOR YOU?!"


    I chortled as I waved everyone off, "Whaaat? No way, heh. We''re just really good friends¡ªbest friends, if you will¡ªright, Mimi? Besides, I did say we''re like brother and sister so it''s gonna be weird if¡ª"


    Mimi cut me off, "Y-Yeah¡­ d-don''t get the wrong i-idea guys¡­ We''re¡­ We''re just¡ª I just really missed him and I thought¡­ yeah¡­ t-that''s it¡­ yep¡­"


    I turned to everyone with a smug smile, "See? I was¡ª"


    Before I got to finish my sentence, Mimi just straight up left the table and headed straight for the door and I had to get beat up by Kaley and the Alpha Bitches to finally understand what was going on.


    I was ordered to hurry up and run after her but let''s be fucking real here, she wouldn''t reach far with her legs and I actually caught up to her in less than a minute. But yeah, she tried to p my hand off her arm but she really should''ve eaten more because I felt fucking nothing.


    Though joking aside, we sat down under this huge tree that was just a small sapling when I was still studying here and we started to talk for real this time.


    I was just about to apologize to the things I''ve done and said but she took me by surprise and apologized first.


    "I-I''m sorry for c-causing a scene¡­ It was just¡­ A-All the emotionsing together a-and¡­ you know, seeing you after a-all this was too much and I-I can''t believe that¡ª"


    "Mimi."


    "W-What?"


    I gave her a faint smile, "Breathe, alright?"


    "R-Right¡­ Ha¡­ Haaa¡­ Haa¡­ Yeah, I think I''m okay now¡ª"


    "See¡ª"


    Then she suddenly blew up, "Y-YOU B-BIG GOOF! YOU GOT M-MARRIED?! WHAT¡ª I CAN''T¡ª WAS SHE¡ª YOU¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 894 Three Angels Message University V - Catching Up

    ?


    In the three¡ªno, close to four years Mimi and I have known each other, never¡ªI mean NEVER have I seen her raise her voice like this except, of course, when a rogue cockroach was flying in the air or someone identally mmed the door too hard. But yeah, it has been a while since west saw each other so it could be attributed to that¡­ or to be more realistic about the situation¡­ It''s about what happened a few moments ago.


    I slowly waved her down, "Alright, alright¡­ breathe~ Kaley''s my wife, of course, but technically speaking~ we didn''t actually get married¡­ you know¡­ officially. We have rings though, see¡ª"


    "B-But¡ª I know what living together meant but¡­ b-but¡ª huh? Y''know we''re not supposed to wear rings, right?"


    "Hmm? Oh! Right! Yeah, I backslid years ago¡ª"


    "W-WHAT?! I CAN KINDA LOOK OVER THE TATTOOS A-AND THE E-EVERYTHING THAT''S GOING ON HERE BUT I-ISN''T THAT GOING TOO FAR?!"


    I awkwardly scratched the side of my face, "Listen. It''s been a while since we''ve seen each other and a lot¡­ a whole lot has happened to me¡ªeven before the end of the world started¡ªbut¡­ you gotta understand that people change, right?"


    Mimi was wearing a difficult expression, "I-I-I can''t¡ª"


    "Hey. You were supposed to be a history teacher, right? I can''t believe that¡ª"


    "T-That example is w-way~ too different than what we''re tackling here! It''s¡­ I can''t¡­ This is not even backsliding¡­ I-It''s like you''re a totally different person! And I¡­ I fear for you¡­"


    "I''m doing just fine," I said as I sighed heavily.


    "I''m not talking about¡ª"


    "I know what you''re talking about, Mimi. It''s just¡­ I know you mean well and you always do but it''s kinda what you said¡­ I''m different from who I was those years ago but I''m still me. It''s just that I''ve chosen to question and doubt¡ªyou know, figure it out for myself instead of¡­ just¡­ simply believing. Simple as that¡­"


    "..." Mimi didn''t say a word but she did look concerned about certain choices in my life.


    "C-Can we change the subject? I don''t want to rant about that topic because I just did a few days ago and I don''t wanna start something with you right after our little reunion and¡ª"


    Mimi forced out a smile, "O-Okay, I understand¡­"


    I nodded awkwardly, "So¡­ H-How''s the weather?"


    "Ah¡ª Umm¡­ It''s¡­ It''s pretty nice actually¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Yep¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    I chuckled nervously, "We''re getting nowhere with this so I''m just gonna rip out the bandaid¡­"


    "U-Umm¡ª"


    And the bandaid I ripped, "Why me?"


    She never looked so confused, "Huh??"


    "You know¡­ The long teary hug¡­ The dead eyes when I mentioned that Kaley was my wife¡­ this ''I''m running away!'' scenario¡­ you know¡­ did you uhh¡ª Why is this so weird to ask? Haha¡­ Ha¡­ D-Do you really have umm¡­ Do you really have something¡­ f-feelings for me¡ª not like brotherly love or anything but you know¡­ the real thing¡­"


    Mimi slowly started to turn red as she couldn''t look me in the eye, "I-I-I¡ª"


    I continued, "Have I been that dense the whole time or was this just a¡­ a recent thing?"


    "I¡­ I don''t¡ª"


    "You know me¡ªwe spent a lot of time together, I wouldn''t notice a ''sign'' unless it was on a freakin'' billboard and you should know I''m like an NPC because I wouldn''t talk to people unless they talk to me first or something simr¡­ but yeah, I just really wanted to know if¡ª"


    Mimi turned to me with the same forced smile, "It¡­ It doesn''t matter what I feel now, right? Because¡­ B-Because she seems¡ªno, she''s really great¡­ I can''t believe that¡ª"


    "Alright, stop. Your feelings matter too because¡ª Hmm~ How do I put this? Even though it wasn''t totally my fault¡ªor yours¡ªthat I missed whatever it is you sent me¡ª if you actually did, of course¡­ What I''m trying to say is umm¡­ I feel bad and I''m sorry for putting you through that and making you feel this way and I wish I could''ve done better so that¡ª"


    "No, no, no¡­ I s-should''ve been more direct and h-honest with my feelings b-but I was just¡­ just¡­ a-afraid that¡ª *sniffles*"


    At this moment, Mimi wasn''t able to finish her sentence because her eyes became incredibly watery, eventually curling into a ball¡ªlike the first time I saw her¡ªby tucking her knees and elbows in while her head was down. She started to sniffle again before she actually started crying and all I could do was scoot a little closer as I gently rubbed her back.


    I didn''t say anything for a couple of minutes just to let her cry everything out but I had to let her know of a few things just to fully rip the bandaid off.


    Once she calmed down, I told her everything that happened¡ªwell, the important ones¡ªthe moment I stepped foot out of this ce to where we are now.


    As expected, there were a few false heart attacks and several moments when she had to take a few minutes to process things, but all-in-all, with the way Mimi was, she actually took it better than I thought she would. And yeah, we took close to three hours of just talking under this tree but it offered enough shade for the two of us.


    On her side of things, she ryed to me that she shifted when she found a generous sponsor¡ªbecause she used to be a working student¡ªand no, it wasn''t me and yes, I actually tried to pay for her studies but she respectfully declined me.


    And her reason for epting a random sponsor and not me? She told me that it felt really weird at the time but sheter realized that she''d be able to help more people earlier¡ªand possibly pay them back faster¡ªif she took the money and used it and not take more than twice the time to finish on her own.


    But yeah, she did mention she was too shy to ask me for that same offer she declined but we both know full well that I''d be happy to help her with anything if she just asked.


    It''s always just a matter ofmunicating properly.


    Other than that, her life was pretty much studying at this school then graduating and working at the same ce, and one of the few excitements she had in life was working in the emergency room with various patients and moving in with the crew after much convincing.


    And in regards to the MILF¡ª I mean, Doctor she was working under, she easily spilled all the things she know about her when I mentioned Dr. Sandara''s significant other''s unhealthy hobby.


    Though adorably enough, she asked too many questions when I talked about Zeus, the rabbits, and the other animals we were taking care of but she got quiet, TOO quiet when we were discussing about the type of rtionship I have with Kaley and the rest. She looked like she wanted to ask some questions but she was more inclined to listen to what I had to say and form her own hypotheses about it.


    But on a side note, Lopez, Lucas, and JP still hadn''t returned and when I asked Mimi about them, she told me she cut into all of the shortcuts avable and that''s why her knees and elbow had scrapes and bruises, she actually didn''t encounter the three on her way here.


    ''I guess they weren''t actuallyplete assholes but we''ll never know what would they have done because¡ª nevermind¡­''


    In any case, we hugged it out after she had a good cry, and turns out, the people at my house also broke bread and shared their own stories with each other but I was mostly the topic of conversation because I was the link between all of them.


    With that said, Mimi and I joined the conversation and time passed too quickly because my other two friends¡ªAllyssa and Ron¡ªcame into our house so fucking confused not only because of the armada of vehicles outside but by the number of people present. And once again, we had to make everyone catch up with a condensed version of our stories and it was already way~ past sunset when Lucas and JP came back without Lopez.


    JP approached me the moment we met eyes, "Umm¡­ Lopez stayed in the hospital with his wife and¡ª"


    I waved him off, "No worries, I understand."


    "You d-do?"


    "Yeah~ He won''t leave that ce because his wife is basically sleeping there and¡ª by the way, where did you two guys go?"


    Lucas answered while raising his smartphone, "I dunno if you''ll believe us but it''s the first time we explored this campus! It''s too huge! We''ve only gone to the hospital and softball field thest time we were here but we got to explore maybe 20% of the whole campus! We got pictures!"


    Megan was the first to react, "What?! Lemme see!"


    "You should''ve told us!"


    "We could''vee with you guys!"


    "Maaaan~ That''s not cool¡­"


    "Woah! What''s that thing over there?!"


    "Is that THE statue?!"


    "Bro¡­"


    "Lemme see! Lemme see!"


    At this point, Lucas had never been so proud of the pictures they took while JP was just too fucking embarrassed about the attention but I started chuckling when I met eyes with my old friends who know where the actual tourists spots were, and I''d hate to break it to the two but half the best spots to take pictures from could only be taken after sundown.


    I turned to Ben, "There''s still a curfew, right¡ª"


    "Bitch. We fucking graduated. The curfew doesn''t apply to us! Besides, they''ll give us more credits for patrolling in the night too, and that''s where I break the game."


    Everyone else asked, "The game?"


    "The fuck y''all think I''m lounging around in the morning when I could earn much more in the night?"

 Chapter 895 Three Angels Message University VI - Peace And Quiet

    ?


    Ben was just wearing a smirk before he pped hisp and stood up, giving Cass a pinch on the cheek before he went to their room trying to look as mysterious as he could. But yeah, it made everyone else who wasn''t familiar with his work extremely curious but we had more questions than answers when he went outside.


    The motherfucker came out wearing fullbat gear with NVGs, but aside from his sidearm that looked to be a Glock 26, he had the same type of baston¡ªthe eskrima sticks I used on JP and Seb''s first ''training'' session¡ªtucked in his right pit. Furthermore, he pulled out a set of batteries and reced it with the one in his shlight but once he turned it on, it gave out this purple-ckish sheen and I had to say something.


    "What¡­ Are you going on an exorcism or something?"


    "Huh?"


    "Did you also bring EMF Readers, an Ouija board, and some other shit¡ª"


    "No! Bro, you do know that the dorms are still segregated to this day, right? And you do know that we''re aware of certain ces couples might you know¡­ sneak out and y rub the smi or deconstruct the taco, right?"


    "Ah¡­ Then why do you keep bringing the ck shlight if you know where they could be¡ª"


    "They get creative, man¡­ trust me. God¡­ just yesterday, I found ''traces'' all over that oak tree you and Mimi were sitting on¡ª"


    "WHAT?! THE FUCK DIDN''T YOU SAY ANYTHING?! WE WERE SITTING THERE FOR THREE FUCKING HOURS!"


    Kaley tried to wave me down, "W-What are you guys talking about?"


    Mimi knowing jack shit of what we were talking about followed, "Traces of what?"


    Ben answered tly, "Bodily fluids¡ª fuck it, semen, ejacte, or whatever it is thates out after fucking. Would you guys believe me that I also found traces from under the stove¡ª UNDER THE FUCKING STOVE! Who fucking does that?!"


    As soon as he said that, chaos just fucking ensued and there was almost a shooting when I stole the shlight from his hands and tried to shine it in their room.


    #2 chimed in, "So your job here is to look for semen¡ª"


    Ben quickly cut him off, "Hey! I just met you today but no wisecracks until we shared some drinks, alright?! That''s the bare minimum, got it?! But yeah, the university hires people like me to make sure that no one''s ''sinning'' on their holynd of sorts but we could only do so much without the inte, right?"


    I was trying my best to hold myughter, "Of course, they pull this shit. Aren''t they aware that their precious students could still have sex inside the dorms and without their biological counterparts?"


    Ben chuckled as he shrugged his shoulders, "I don''t know and don''t care but what I do care about is that I earn twice the amount of credits at night and I get bonuses if I make discoveries and shit with definite proof provided. I can''t just pull them off each other, right? I''ve fought someone with a boner before, that shit broke me the longer it went on¡­"


    In any case, most of us were still game for a little sightseeing though we were going out in two groups: Ben''s group that would actually work to look for ''sinners'' and to do night patrol, and my group that would actually see some sights.


    I didn''t actually need to see the same sights I''ve seen before but Kaley seemed excited to see the ce I studied in so I was obviously gonna be the tour guide.


    In some twisted way, our groups were actually segregated because all of the guys were in Ben''s group while I was stuck with all of the girls wanting to take a walk. Even Mimi decided toe with us even though she was also familiar with the sights but the group on Ben''s side had differing reasons as to why they wanted to help him earn credits.


    It ranged from being able to use NVGs to the obvious reason which was to catch poor couples in the act.


    In any case, we brought a few snacks for the walk and a loadout just enough for emergency situations. This ce was practically safe but even Ben had to bring a sidearm for safety. But yeah, we wouldn''t walk around with our primary weapons slung on our bodies but I did leave our keys to the ones that would stay behind like Jesus and a few others for a quick pickup.


    Our group went further up on the part of the university that was still a little undeveloped where we were walking on a trail that was barely visible.


    The herbs, trees, and bushes were obviously spread apart unlike the central part of the campus, but it didn''t take long before we reached a clearing that would be perfect for a pic at a time when the moon wasn''t our only natural source of light.


    Kaley looked around, "What is this ce?"


    Mimi nudged her gently while wearing a smile, "Just wait for it, it''s about time¡ª"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Nah, there''s a better way than waiting for the right time. Everybody p!"


    "Huh¡ª"


    Before Mimi could finish her question, everybody else pped in unison and the whole area just glowed with the gentle lighting from hundreds¡ªmaybe thousands of fireflies. They appeared from the bushes and the trees surrounding us, starting in the area we were in and slowly pulsing out, giving us a light show like no other.


    ''Man, it still feels surreal every time I see it¡­''


    Once I looked at everybody, all of them were just gobsmacked from what they just witnessed, and even Mimi who was supposed to know of this campus'' secret couldn''t believe her eyes.


    At the moment, I wanted to pull a prank so bad but I held myself and wanted them to enjoy the short moment that could only be seen once a day.


    I held Kaley''s hand and she turned to me with a bright smile before looking back at the disy, and as cheesy as it would sound, the sight of her smiling like that was something I''d always get caught off-guard and fall in love with her even more.


    But funnily enough, Quinn was the one that got most entranced by the disy and she pped loudly after it was over, making everyone follow after her, though only a few fireflies came out and glowed momentarily.


    I chuckled, "It''s only once a night, Quinn¡ªand that''s when we''re lucky."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "It means¡ª"


    Megan grumbled, "I should''ve taken a video or something¡­ that was¡ª"


    Alexa interjected, "Hey. Sometimes it''s best to just enjoy the moment. Even if you recorded it, it wouldn''t be as good experiencing it first-hand."


    Megan nodded pensively, "True¡­ Oh! Can we carve something on the trees?"


    Everyone else got excited, "That''s a great idea¡ª"


    I panicked and waved all of them off, "Trust me, that''s a bad idea¡­"


    "W-Why?!"


    "If we don''t carve it the whole way around, it should be fine, right?"


    I shook my head as I tried to get beat up in the middle of this clearing, "Trust me, you don''t¡ª"


    Then Kaley saw this other shlight in my hand, "Wait¡­ Can I¡ª"


    Once Kaley shone the other shlight on a few trees up front, let''s just say that some trees shouldn''t be glowing that way unless they were bioluminescent or covered with glow-in-the-dark paint.


    "Are those¡­"


    I nodded, "Yep¡­ The ''traces'' Ben was talking about¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


    "I had to hold onto one of those earlier¡ª"


    "Good thing I brought my axe, I''m chopping all of them down¡­"


    "That''ll take all night, Tatiana!"


    "It''s fucking worth it¡­"


    "Sanitizer! Where''s my hand sanitizer!"


    "I''m gonna be sick¡­"


    "IF I FUCKING DISCOVER WHO FUCKED IN THESE TREES, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I''LL STICK THEM ON WITH DUCT TAPE BEFORE I SET THE FUCKING TREE ON FIRE!"


    "T-That''s arson or something, Quinn¡­ L-Let''s go to this other spot¡­ And yeah, avoid touching the trees as much as possible¡­ or shine some cklight on it first¡­"


    Megan grumbled once again, "I kinda wanna go back¡­ The mood''s really soured after that¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "How about you guys? There''s a few more that¡ª"


    Mimi''s face suddenly lights up, "Wait! We should take them to ''that'' spot! It''s k-kinda far from here but it''ll be worth it! I promise!"


    "Well¡­ alright! Is it the best one?"


    "Y-Yes! It''s probably not to some people but it''s best one¡ªa-aside from knowing that we can p on that c-clearing and¡ª"


    Megan let out a smile as she waved Mimi off, "You''re making it worse! C''mon, let''s go! Where is it?"


    I chuckled awkwardly, "We''d probably need to walk a little more than an hour¡­"


    "H-HOW BIG IS THIS PLACE?!"


    "C''mon! You guys were living pretty close to this ce¡ª"


    "Did you forget that we barely had any time to lounge around?!"


    "Ah. Well, we could lounge around now. C''mon, it''ll be fun! Trust."


    "Fine¡­"


    With that said, we made our way to ''that'' ce and instead of hiking up on a slope, we were now walking in a decline towards this campsite that had this beautifulke under the moonlight.


    For some reason, the moon and stars felt a little closer here than normal and the way they were reflected by theke was also a sight to behold. And luckily, we were blessed with clear skies and the only thing we were missing was a case of beer.


    Obviously enough, the campsite still had people up, and an older couple had a fire going in front of their cabin, and they were surprised to see a group of people suddenly emerging from the darkness. However, once they saw Mimi''s face, their guarded reaction softened before we introduced ourselves.


    "Y-You''re that kid!"


    "Y-Yes, ma''am¡­ that''s me¡­"


    "He''s the one with the statue?!"


    "Yep¡­ That''s¡­ That''s me¡­"


    "You look so different now! Anyway~ Feel free to use theke but I''d advise against swimming now because it''s so, so cold¡ª"


    "Dear, that youngss could swim there just fine¡­"


    "She''s still there? Did she start a fire¡ª"


    "Of course, hon¡­ You''re the one who helped her¡­"


    "Right! Right, I did¡­ Where was I? Oh! Right~ If you young ones want to spend some time by theke and watch the stars and the moon or something¡­ feel free to do so but don''t stay up toote, alright? Remind thatss for me too, if you may so kindly¡­"


    ''Who are they talking about¡ª''


    I didn''t know who thisss they were talking about but it really was a small world when Mimi recognized the person who was drying herself by the small fire.


    Mimi leaned to me and whispered, "That''s¡­ That''s the doctor''s daughter¡­ Chloe..."

 Chapter 896 Chloe Mae Lopez - Watch My Stuff, Yeah?

    ?


    Mimi actually talked a little about her before.


    Chloe Mae Lopez was the only daughter of the motherfucker I wanted to turn into a statistic and the supposed MILF that inhabited the emergency room of the hospital, and thank the fucking nine divines for making her take after her mother¡ªeven though I haven''t seen her personally¡ªbecause she does not look like Lopez one fucking bit.


    With that said, a quick nce revealed her natural(?) dirty blonde hair up to her shoulders, her green eyes, and her swimmer''s body. And yeah, she was wearing the university''s swimming uniform which was a one-piece navy blue suit that had three white strips on each side though she was wearing shorts on top of it.


    I replied to Mimi, "Chloe? As in Dr. Sandara''s¡ª"


    "Yep, she''s¡ª"


    Chloe suddenly turned in our direction, "Are you guys talking about me?!"


    "Ah. We were just¡ª sorry, Mimi here just introduced you."


    "Mimi? Oh! Mimi¡ª but w-who are you guys?"


    I gave ourselves a brief introduction before I mentioned her father, "...and we actually came with your dad, Sir Gibson Lopez."


    ''Weird calling that bitch "sir", but okay¡­''


    "He¡ª oh¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    To our surprise earlier, this Chloe person actually heard us from a distance and even though it actually wasn''t that far to not hear anything, people minding their own business tend to be in their own world while thinking deeply about something in their mind. However, mentioning her dad''s name definitely prompted a reaction from her face because she got even more guarded when she was about to rx after discovering that Mimi''s with us.


    But yeah, after she reluctantly offered to share the fire with us, I had to feel her out a bit in regards to what she knew about the whole situation and perhaps get a nce of how school life while the world has ended been doing to her.


    Trust me, it was one thing to study in this ce but to top it all off with everything that''s been going on, it should be taxing for a college student¡ªwell, everybody else to be honest.


    With that said, she fed the fire with more firewood that one of the older couple prepared for her, but seeing that there was still an awkwardness in the air, I had to break the ice with my supposed junior. But yeah, she was still trying to dry her hair with the fire but I noticed that she actually had a few bruises and scratches on her body that was barely visible.


    "You''re on the swim club, huh?"


    Chloe shook her head, "Ah¡ª No."


    I pointed at her uniform, "I thought¡ª"


    "Got kicked off the team¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Why though? Sir Sanchez still giving everyone a hard time?"


    Her ears just perked up, "You know Sir Sanchez?"


    I chuckled, "Alumni, remember?"


    "Ah¡ª right¡­ but no, not because of Sir Sanchez¡ª well, not technically but¡­"


    Tatiana cut in from the side who was trying to sharpen a stick she found, "Sounds juicy, spill."


    "U-Umm¡­"


    Megan followed, "Please, let us have something to talk about. We walked all the way here after discovering we touched a bunch of trees that had bodily fluids so please¡ª"


    Chloe let out a smile as she chuckled, "Did you guys go to the softball field?"


    "No."


    "Serfield?"


    "Nope!"


    "Huh. The Lovers'' Bridge?"


    "No¡ª wait, what''s that ce?"


    "Ugh, it''s the bridge that separates the male dorms from the female dorms¡­ It''s by the cafeteria¡­"


    Kaley nudged me, "Why didn''t you take us there?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Trust me, that bridge will fucking glow if we ever shine the cklight on that¡ª"


    Chloe interjected, "Oh~ So you guys are on patrol?"


    "Not exactly. My friend is the one on patrol and I just happened to bring the same shlight."


    "Ah¡ª I see¡­"


    Tatiana asked again, "So why''d you get kicked off the team?"


    Mimi interjected, "I don''t think we should force her¡ª"


    Chloe cut in, "Nah, it''s fine¡­ I don''t care anymore¡ª I mean, anyways¡­ Our vice-captain has a huge crush on Sir Sanchez and for some unknown reason, rumors suddenly spread that I was trying to get¡­ umm¡­ get uhh¡ª"


    Quinn chuckled, "Just say that they thought you wanted to hop on your teacher''s dick! It''s that easy~"


    "U-Umm yeah¡­ s-something like that. So¡­ jealous and insecure people tend to do stupid things and long story short, we got into a fight, she was sent to the ER because of a broken nose, and I was the one found at fault because of our ''credible'' witnesses¡­ It''s so~ funny when they don''t even try to get both sides of the story¡­ even¡­ even my m-mom didn''t think about asking me what happened because the parents of the girl I got into a fight with got so mad and they attempted to get her fired or demoted¡ªI dunno the exact wording but if she wasn''t the head of the ER and Cardiology Department and the world isn''t what it is¡­ she could be starting from the ground up thanks to ''me''... so stupid¡­"


    "When did this happen?"


    "A f-few days ago¡ª no, it''s been a week, I think. Yeah, it''s been exactly a week since."


    Kaley asked, "And you two still haven''t talked about?"


    "With whom?"


    "Your mom, you two should¡ª"


    Chloe let out a bitter smile, "Hah! How would we?! She never leaves the hospital and I haven''t been to our house since!"


    "B-But why¡ª"


    "Well¡ª I''m neighbors with the bitch and this is the only ce I could swim¡­ Do you have any idea how hard that was?!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "I''m sorry¡­"


    "Ah¡ª I¡­ N-No *sniffles* W-Why am I venting to you guys¡­ I b-barely know all of you¡ª Well, Mimi''s¡ª"


    Mimi waved her off, "N-No¡­ It''s okay¡­ For the record, I believe you too and I''ve been trying to exin to Dr. Lopez¡ª I mean, your mom what actually happened¡­ she''s actually beginning to see your side of the story¡­ It''s just that she''s too caught up in the moment¡ª"


    "Just keeping up appearances, right?! That''s all she do¡­"


    "That''s not¡ª I''m sorry, I''m sure you two will work it out soon¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    It got unbelievably quiet for a few moments but everyone just got shocked to fuck when Tatiana started taking off her clothes.


    "What are you¡ª Tatiana!"


    "What? I don''t have a swimsuit and I don''t wanna get wet this way so¡ª"


    Chloe tried to warn her, "U-Umm, it''s really cold¡ª"


    Despite her warnings, Tatiana just rolled her eyes before diving into thekepletely fucking naked¡ªthough with perfect form¡ªand she stayed underwater for a few seconds before she popped up tens of feet away.


    She even did the hair thing where you''d whip your hair as you pop up and she shouted at the top of her lungs to everyone else who was still stunned from what she did:


    "C''mon! The water''s not that cold¡ª there we go!"


    To my surprise, Megan actually followed after her but she only undressed to her underwear before diving in. She wasn''t able to bridge the same distance Tatiana did but she quickly made her way to Tatiana who was just waddling at the middle.


    Tatiana cackled, "Hah! You should''ve taken it all off! What are you gonna do if it gets lost¡ª"


    "It won''t¡ª Oh, shit!"


    "I just told you!"


    "N-No! It a-almost came off!"


    "Get closer, I''ll help you with that!"


    "Oh, thanks¡ª O-Oh! T-That''s¡ª OH! AH¡ª O-OH!"


    Quinn shouted from our side, "What are you guys doing there, huh?!"


    Megan shouted back, "I-It''s just c-c-cold¡ª"


    "Sure, it is~ Fuck it, a cold bath''s much better anyway~"


    On that note, if Tatiana''s body hadn''t already stunned everyone else, imagine seeing a 7-foot Amazonian with all the sliders maxed out in all her glory, running on this almost creaky but not too ramshackled pier before jumping with all her might andnding like a cannonball.


    *WHOOOOOOOSH*


    If it wasn''t already obvious, throwing a rock half Quinn''s weight would''ve already made a ssh so imagine everyone''s shock about the amount of damage Quinn did to thiske. But surprisingly enough, she easily made her way to the other two who seemed to be doing some funny business but it didn''t take long before Alexa followed after them.


    But like Megan, she didn''t take all off her clothes but when her body sunk into the water, she quickly tried to swim ashore.


    "W-W-W-WHY IS IT SO COLD?! I THOUGHT¡ª"


    "Chloe already warned you guys and¡ª" I said as I turned to Chloe, "I''m sorry, but do you have a nket, towel, or something?"


    Chloe was slightly chuckling as she waved Alexa over, "Come with me. There''s hot water in the ce I''m staying and you can also bring your clothes."


    "T-T-Thank you¡­"


    As soon as the two made their way to one of the cabins, I turned to Mimi and Kaley with a cheeky smile, "So, you two gonna test the waters or what?"


    Mimi shook her head immediately, "N-No¡­ We''re fine, right?"


    Kaley nodded, "Are you crazy? Who would¡ª"


    I cut her off as I started to undress up to my boxers, "Alright. Watch my stuff, yeah?"

 Chapter 897 Night Swimming Troubles

    <h4>Chapter 897 Night Swimming Troubles</h4>


    I basically used Kaley as a coat hanger and even though I''m 100% sure that she wouldn''t mind, she was just stuck in ce for a few moments¡ªwearing this cutesy-re expression¡ªwhile Mimi was just red through her neck. I could see how she was just looking at me with her big round eyes while also not moving a muscle but it was a surprise for me because I was also certain that she would just scream and/or look away from past experience.


    But yeah, I didn''t put it to mind as much before I took to the small wooden dock running and then diving into theke with the smallest ssh possible.


    ''Jesus fucking¡ª it''s as cold as I remembered¡­''


    In any case, I swam straight to where the three women were before I popped from behind Quinn and wrapped my arms around her neck.


    "Hey! Woah!"


    "It''s just me, just me~ Don''t yank on my boxers! What if they sink down?!"


    She chuckled as she just let me use her as a life buoy, "You just dove in, right? You''re fast!"


    Megan chuckled, "That''s what s-she said~! Well, boys always are¡ª AH¡ª W-WAIT!"


    As Megan made the joke, Tatiana copied me and did the same thing to Megan but she didn''t hold onto her as much because Megan was actually struggling¡ªnot from waddling in ce but from the actual coldness of theke.


    Tatiana gently nudged her as she chuckled, "Not him, no. Trust me. I''ll bet you for anything that you''ll tap out even before he starts to fuck you for real."


    I sshed some water onto them, "I''m here, you know?"


    Tatiana rolled her eyes, "And where''s my thanks, huh? This is basically free advertising¡ª"


    Megan shook her head as she waddled closer to Tatiana, "I''m more inclined to do it with you though¡­"


    "Hah! I''m part of the package, actually¡­ We both are," Tatiana said as she pointed to Quinn with her lips.


    She gave all of us a certain look, "I kinda had an inkling to that, actually¡­"


    Quinn scoffed as she looked at Megan, "It''s whatever but just don''t be a fucking starfish and we''ll be good. You''d have to ask Kaley first but I''m pretty sure she''ll be okay with it even if it''s spontaneous. Just have to tell her after¡­"


    Megan was a little surprised about how nonchnt we were about this topic, "So¡­ you guys just do this on a regr basis?"


    Quinn replied, "We do¡ªthough the ''husband'' and ''wife'' require alone time sometimes¡ªbut I''m the newest addition. But yeah, I heard in the grapevine that you''re with the Balrog or whatever¡ª"


    I cut in, "Baron."


    "I said whatever¡ª Anyway, I heard you''re with that uptight kid so why you''re trying to get in with Tatiana?"


    Megan sunk momentarily before she held onto Tatiana for a bit, "JP? Umm¡­ Let''s just say that he''s¡­ he''s a little confused about what he wants and he put himself on a pedestal that no one cares about more than himself. I don''t wanna say too much but¡ª"


    Quinn interjected as she tried to nce at me, "I think I get it. Is that why you made us sit at the back earlier? About the ''confusion'' that''s going on?"


    I waved them off as I broke off from Quinn and started to float, "Well~ Let''s just say that there''s more to it than that but Kaley''s taking care of it. I''ll try toe in a little bitter but let''s just say a bit of progress has already been made¡­ Probably just taking him away from the ce that''s causing that would do wonders¡­"


    Megan was surprised, "For real? Is Kaley a¡ª"


    "Psychic? Yes," The three of us said at the same time.


    "Ahaha¡­ I was about to say shrink but that kinda works. Sure¡­ I-It''s really cold though, how can you guys take it like it''s n-nothing?"


    "Russian."


    "Because I can?"


    "I take ice baths once in a while¡ªwe''re still talking about the cold, right?"


    "Pfft¡­ HAHAHA! You guys are too much! To be honest, I was a little¡ªno, very intimidated when you guys came in the academy and everything that came after that but so far¡­ It''s been really fun in a way a-and you guys make sure that everyone''s¡­fortable? Is that even the right word for what I''m trying to say? Ugh¡­ I dunno, you guys try to keep everyone included but you also let them do their own thing within reason, of course¡­"


    I chuckled, "It''s like holding a bird."


    "Wut?"


    "You know¡­ squeeze too hard it bursts, too soft it flies away, but if you hold it just right¡­ It''s umm¡­ it''ll be okay? Then if it goes on for a while¡­ it''ll also be okay to just let it rest on your palm¡­ Something like that."


    Quinn chortled, "Did you just pull that out of your ass?"


    "Kinda works, actually¡ª A-Ah¡ª I-I-I think I''m h-having cramps¡ª m-my leg¡ª Help¡ª" Megan was smiling faintly before her expression turned to panic as she started to sink down.


    Before Megan''s head fully submerged, I leaned my head back from my position and then dove in the water so I could grab her from below, and good thing Tatiana had already grabbed onto one of her arms so she wouldn''t sink further.


    With that said, I was holding her head up with one hand while supporting her back with the other¡ªavoiding skin contact as much as possible¡ªas I tried to kick back to the closest shore. Tatiana assisted me by trying to keep Megan''s leg straight while her toes were being pointed to her shin to stretch the muscles, but Megan seemed to not be in too much pain for someone who suddenly had cramped muscles.


    And once we made it into this shallow part of theke that had a few shrubs and bushes, which was also coincidentally on the opposite side of where we came from, I offered to carry her back or ask her to lean on my shoulder but Megan just started to walk like it''s nothing.


    ''Ah¡­''


    At this point, I''d be an idiot if I didn''t know what was going on and the sly vixen was giving me thate hither look before Tatiana came up from behind her.


    "You little¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª I w-was just¡ª Mmh! You! Ahh! That''s¡­ MMh! Y-Yes¡ª"


    As Megan was already squirming for dear life as Tatiana had already pulled up her bra and revealed her tits and was massaging them while her other hand was already rubbing more than her little piece of meat underneath, Quinn came up to me and pushed me against this huge rock before pulling down my boxers.


    "Let''s see how much you''re pent up ever since this morning¡ª"


    Without further ado, Quinn just got on her knees before I felt her warm mouth envelop my semi-erect cock, but once it left her mouth and came back in, it was ready for action as it punched the back of her throat before going even deeper. And at the same time this was happening, she was pulling and squeezing her tits all over while pinching her nipples as the other two were simply watching from a few feet behind.


    As Quinn took a small breath, Megan finally had a proper nce at my cock and I''m gonna be honest and say that seeing their eyes go wide with shock every time this happens would always feed my ego.


    "H-Holy shit¡­ That''s¡­ W-Wow¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled, "You''re shocked now but imagine when that goes inside you¡­"


    "C-Can I¡ª MmH! Can I r-really?"


    "Of course, but after Quinn gets the first pop¡­ You''re already this wet, get on all fours so I could taste you. Do you y with your cute butt as well?"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    "Even better¡­"


    As Tatiana started to dine on Megan''s Y and O, Quinn continued to suck my cock while maintaining eye contact and coiling her tongue around the tip, my whole body just buckled before I gave her mouthfuls and mouthfuls of my cum. She wasn''t able to drink and swallow everything as some dripped from her mouth and fell on her huge rack, but she continued sucking me off even though my eyes were rolling in the back of my head.


    I can''t believe being pent up this morning would prompt this kind of release and sensitivity, but I''m all for it and was about to return the favor.


    Quinn turned to the two as I had toy on the ground panting, "He''s ready for you guys now though I''ll sit on his face¡­" then she turned to me, "Wanna see it go in first? I bet she''ll be pretty tight, look at her body¡­"


    I chuckled as I panted, "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ You know how to wait? You''re dripping already though¡ª"


    "S-Shut up! Are you guys¡ª"


    Tatiana guided Megan over to us, "She''s ready. You can eat her out too or just do it now, your choice¡­ But from the way she''s looking at it¡­ Hmm~ I''ll just let her decide¡­"


    As Tatiana said that, Megan just gulped as she looked at "me" in a daze. She was a little out of breath as her underwear was barely covering her important parts, but she held it gently first before turning to me.


    "C-Can I suck it for a little bit?"


    At that point, I just nodded before she gave me a little taste and the other two were just watching her struggle to take even half of my size in her mouth. Despite that, she was doing pretty well because there was enthusiasm and there were no teeth, but it didn''t take long before shepletely mounted me with her fit body.


    "O-O-OH FUCK! It''s so¡ª Hngh! Shit! A-Ah¡­ I-It''s going in¡ª It''s s-still going in and¡ª MMh! Ha¡­ Haaa¡­ S-Shit¡ª"


    ''That''s fucking tight!''


    As soon as she took me all the way up to the base, Quinn immediately sat on me while facing Megan, rubbing her fat cunt against my face while spreading her cheeks apart, giving me a clear view of her wet slit and her puffy asshole.


    "Ah, fuck~ That''s the spot¡ª MMh! Oh shit, Kaley and the rest are looking at us¡ª"


    "W-What?! Wait¡ª Mmh! Shit! I¡ª It''s too¡ª F-Fuck! I-I can''t stop m-moving my hips! Yes! YES! F-Finger my b-butt too! Ah, fuck¡ª Hngh! S-SHIT!"


    Tatiana chuckled from somewhere, "Of course, you''ll take it from the ass too. No worries, we have plenty of time¡­ I doubt they could even see what we''re doing clearly¡­"


    Quinn moaned as she put more weight on me, "Kaley probably knows though¡­"


    ''That''s for sure¡­''


    While I could only hear everything from the three, I would''ve bust a nut a second time if Quinn didn''t suck the life out of me earlier. But yeah, never did I think that I''d get to fuck these beauties in my old alma mater that would definitely expel me if they ever discover me in such a position.


    But while I was in my thoughts, Quinn stood up and turned around before making Megan and me eat her pussy and ass at the same time though it didn''t take long before she squirted hard on my face.


    I almost ran out of air because she couldn''t get off me as her whole body was convulsing but to be honest, it was one of the perfect ways to clock out. But luckily enough, I managed to lift her off from one side and also lift off Megan¡ªwho was still riding me¡ªand pinned her to the wall and fucked her until she gave out.


    She didn''t know what wasing for her but her opinion about boys cumming too fast would change. It was because I made her cum multiple times without cumming even once inside her, and I''m gonna assume her ego would take a little hit after that, but in a good way.


    I would''ve fucked her in the ass as well but Tatiana was already waiting so her saying we still had plenty of time was for theing days we''d spend together. In any case, I did fill one of her holes after she had her way with me, but we had to swim back not only to wash but also because Kaley was shining her shlight at us in intervals, somewhat giving us a small signal of sorts.


    It was definitely awkward seeing Mimi red through her neck with several thoughts in her head while the three who came with me never looked so rxed, but Kaley piled on as she shook her head with a slight pout:


    "Can''t wait for us to go back, huh? It would''ve been morefortable on a bed with everyone present¡­"


    And if Mimi''s reaction wasn''t already awkward to begin with, the look Chloe gave us after she put two and two together was fucking priceless.


    "W-W-Wait! Y-You all are¡ª No¡­ How can¡ª Y-You''re joking, right?! Right?! It''s¡­ wow¡­ that''s¡­ Uh-huh¡­ Yep¡ª"


    Alexa was the first to respond as she panickedly nced at Megan, "U-Umm¡­ I''m not i-involved, if t-that helps¡­"


    Megan rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "Geez, why don''t you try some good, good~ dick for once instead of waiting for that ''perfect'' one that barely gives you proper attention."


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    And right on cue, there wasplete and total fucking silence for a few moments before tears welled in Alexa''s eyes and Megan realized what she just said. Alexa had already started to walk back on her own and Megan tried to follow after her after barely putting on some of her clothes.


    "''Lex, w-wait! I was just trying to say¡ª I''m sorry, I was just¡ª I want to say that¡ª"


    "What''s there to say, huh?!"

 Chapter 898 Bro Advice

    ?


    Megan''s yful jab towards Alexa that prompted that reaction told me that she was probably a second-hand victim of theplicated rtionship JP and Seb have with each other, and even though Megan didn''t mean for this to happen, feelings were hurt and it was extremely important to mend the wound and not let it fester.


    In any case, I quickly jumped in between the two to try and help clear out the misunderstanding but we suddenly had visitors¡ªBen andpany¡ªwho would either make the situation better or worse, depending on how it ys out.


    ''This is worse than trying to walk on eggshells¡­''


    Ben was the first one to get to where the three of us were standing and he greeted us with a huge smile on his face, "Yoo~ Some dudes told us you were around these parts¡ªdude, you did not just swim in theke! Wai¡ª Ahh~ I get it, I get it¡­ All of you are crazy and it''s not my business though but¡­"


    He trailed when he saw that Alexa''s eyes were a little red but he then nced at me before looking over at Quinn and Tatiana who luckily have covered their most important bits¡ªthough I doubt they''d care one bit. And as he turned his head in my direction, I assumed he partly knew that something was up so he quickly turned around to keep the rest of the boys from descending down the campsite.


    "Nothin'' to see here, boys~ We''re turning back¡ª"


    Ruben eximed, "Woah! Is that ake?! It looks cool!"


    #1 ran ahead of everyone, "I''m jumping innn~!"


    #2 followed, "Why''s no one taking off their clothes?! It''s gonna be fun at the moment but imagine walking back with wet¡ª Don''t say I didn''t warn all of ya!"


    Seb, JP, and Lucas were the ones who didn''t jump in theke though Seb was looking at Alexa, trying to figure out why she was in tears while JP looked like he didn''t want to look that outgoing, and in Lucas'' case, he looked like he wanted to jump in but he had to stay close to the Balrog''s¡ª I mean, the Baron''s side.


    In any case, it was an awkward scene for a few moments but I nced at Ben to take Lucas away before I called over Kaley and Chloe.


    JP was the first one to say something, "What''s going on?"


    I replied, "A total misunderstanding. That''s what''s going on¡ª"


    "Then why am I here?"


    "You''ll know soon enough," I replied as I turned to Chloe, "Hey, the ce you''re staying at¡­ Can we use it for a bit? Do you have other people living with you?"


    Chloe was a little confused but she answered, "Only a few people stay around these parts because of the trouble of ascending every single time so I have the cabin to myself¡ª Ah. Right, you can use the cabin over there with the flowers and the ribbons on the door. H-Here''s the keys¡­"


    After a short bit, Kaley and I were sitting right next to each other while the other four: Alexa, Seb, Megan, and JP were opposite us, sitting on a single couch in that same order and they were just looking at us, either confused about the whole situation or had a feeling that we were trying to get them to forgive each other with a little bit of unsolicited nudges.


    Seb raised his hand, "Umm¡­ W-What''s going on here, exactly?"


    JP followed while looking directly at me, "Yeah, and what''s the misunderstanding you were talking about earlier?"


    I nced at Kaley momentarily before sighing and looking them in the eye, "You see, I hate to see this kind of stuff happening, and even though we''ve just started on our journey and we''ve only vibed for a short bit¡­ we gotta address some deep andplicated stuff you should probably tell to a counselor or something simr. In any case, Kaley here is the closest one we have and before we start anything else, I''m gonna assure all of you that whatever that''s said here will only stay here and never spoken anywhere else¡­"


    Kaley nodded as she followed after me, "We''ll make sure we hold our end on that but you''d also have to do your part as well¡ª"


    JP cut her off with a guarded stance, "I don''t understand. What has this got to do with¡ª"


    Kaley shut him down with a re, "It has got to do with what''s happening over there right now. But what we need to understand here is that we''re not here toy me on anyone but instead, we should know that sometimes, our actions and decisions can somehow affect other people indirectly. And for the sake of everyone else in this room, I think I should preface that what we say right now should be inplete honesty because as much as I hate to say this personally, I have my own ways of knowing if someone''s trying to curve around the answer¡­"


    ''She admitted it! Fuck, now''s not the time¡­''


    She continued after giving me a side nce, "However, this is also not an interrogation¡ªeven though it sounds that way as I said it¡ªour goal here is to bring it all out from everyone''s perspective and then the actual truth, so we can understand the how''s and the why''s for everything that happened at this point. I know it feels forced and kinda cringe for some of you but trust me when I say that it''s much, much worse¡ªand you''d rather have the cringe than whatever you''d about to feel if¡ªno, WHEN it all crashes down."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Things were quiet for a few moments but Seb raised his hand again to ask the same question, "U-Umm¡­ B-But what happened here exactly?"


    Kaley and I looked at each other before I answered, "You see¡­"


    I started to ry EVERYTHING that happened the moment we reached the campsite all they to when some of us swam in theke and had some fun by the shorepletely baring everything¡ªright until what we thought was supposed to be an edgy back and forth turned into instant drama no one didn''t expect.


    It wasn''t that hard exining this part of our therapy session but the moment I started to skirt around JP and Seb''splicated rtionship that involved a gross power dynamic, the person to get most ufortable was the alleged aggressor.


    JP couldn''t sit still in his seat as I tried to exin to their "girlfriends" what the actual fuck was going on between the two, but even though Megan had already said she kinda knew about what was going on between these two people, she looked as conflicted as Alexa who only discovered the reason for the words that triggered her earlier.


    Kaley and I had to intervene a few times because their side of the couch got so fucking heated, and even though JP got chastised the most by the two women, Seb also caught strays for being a little too passive in his own right.


    It was already a heck of a thing to let a supposed abuser do their shit, but it was also another thing for both of them to involve two other people¡ªone romantically inclined and one there just for the hell of it¡ªto act as smoke and mirrors to continue whatever they were doing with each other.


    Any other person would''ve involved Judge Judy, Dr. Phil, or that guy on Youtube¡ª Dr. K to somehow unravel this pube-like tangled mess that shouldn''t have existed in the first ce if they were just honest with each other, but to bepletely fair, a ton of outside influence affected them to act this way.


    For example: let''s just say that being attracted to a person that had the same shit between your legs and being in a partnership with a religious school and a military-like school that had almost the same "values" that werepletely against their whole being, wouldn''t mix well and was more than a tricky situation.


    And yeah, this line of thought doesn''t evenpletely¡ª I mean, it kinda goes to that PC or woke-ish territory, but at the end of the day, as long as everyone''s happy and no one else was affected by whatever the fuck they were doing, I support them fully.


    But in our case, this thing with Seb and JP hurt someone¡ªthough indirectly¡ªwho shouldn''t be hurt in the first ce so that''s where I draw the line.


    With that said, Kaley and I spent close to four hours simply talking to the four, and even though it was severely taxing and exhausting while I wasn''t the one in the hot seat, I tried my best to keep myself out of the conversation and instead focus in helping Kaley work around the issues all of them had.


    However, it became difficult when I was asked what I should do in that situation because as the two reminded me, I was supposed to teach them shit that I know. It should be about them and not about me but to bepletely fair to them and to myself, I was only approaching myte-20s and I was still figuring shit out as well.


    I scratched the side of my cheek as I faced them, "You see¡­ I''m not equipped to talk about this in the first ce and the only reason I''m here is that I know about the real situation between you two and I did promise to teach you my ways or something but¡­ The way you guys were doing ''it'' is not it at all¡­"


    "We¡­ W-We know that¡ª"


    "That''s why we''re asking you¡­"


    "L-Let me finish, at least¡­ I''d really hate to say this but¡­ The first thing all of you should do is break it up with each other¡ªwhether it''s official or not¡ªbecause that''s fucking ridiculous. You''re with us now so whoever you bend down, dick down, lick up, suck up, up-up, down-down, left-right, left-right, B, A, Start, or whatever, news sh: we don''t fucking care! No one does! Sure, we''re deep in the mouth of the group that involves themselves in things that don''t apply to them, so what? We''ll be driving away from this ce anyway, what can they do? Worstes to worst I''ll take all of you in my fold, no cap¡ªis that what you guys say nowadays?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Tough crowd. But anyway~ It all boils down to whether what''s more important to you: your own happiness or the happiness of the ones who shouldn''t even give a flying fuck about. Megan!"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Bro advice here: Break it off with JP and just do what you''re doing but learn to read the room if we''re throwing out jabs, alright?"


    "That''s it? I mean¡ª Y-Yes, sir! I understand!"


    "JP!"


    "W-What?"


    "Here''s another bro advice: Break it off with Megan and figure out what you actually want to happen with Seb. It''s technically not an alpha move if he lets you dip in his shit hole but that''s a different problem in its entirety! Be honest with yourself first and try to see things from his perspective and you might surprise yourself. If it doesn''t work, we''ll try a different way! We got lots of fucking time! Don''t care about what your dad or anyone thinks for now, and focus on what you should be doing to not turn like Lopez! That''s the most important part!"


    "Y-Yes, bro¡­ sir¡­ bro-sir?"


    "Good enough! Seb!"


    "S-Sir?"


    "You know what''sing, right? Give Alexa some fucking respect and break it off with her if you''re into being the one on the receiving end! Ah¡ª Something I don''t wanna talk about right now is also possible but unless you''re nning to do both of them which is something I highly advise against because it would work from the looks of it, talk with¡ª no, don''t¡ª like for real, don''t even try. It could happen in the future but not for now. All of you need time away from each other but not in the literal sense since we''re on a road trip of sorts."


    "I-I see¡­"


    Then I finally turned to thest one on the chair, "Alexa¡­"


    "Sir¡­"


    "I''m really sorry this happened to you but my advice to you is also to break it off with the one you really like because right now, it''s a hot mess that needs to be cooled down before you attempt to even touch it again."


    "Yes, sir..."


    I continued as she looked down, "It''s gonna be hard and it''s gonna be weird because you''ll still see them the next day and the day after that but it''s better than trying hard for something you''re not even sure that could reciprocate back genuinely. It should still hurt and WILL hurt for some time because I''m sure your feelings for Seb are genuine. But do know that Kaley and I can still sit down and talk to you if you want, and that also applies to the three of you. But as of this moment, I''ll advise the four of you to just be friends for the time being and only try to resume whatever it is you started if you''re actually sure of what to go for."


    Kaley was just about to add to what I said but I touched her arm and had to say onest thing:


    "This is not an order, I repeat, this is not an order¡ªBut my fucking order to all of you is don''t be fucking assholes to each other, it''s pretty simple. Right? Is that hard?," I scoffed as I chuckled, "I should''ve started with that in the first ce because I''m really tired now¡­ Kaley?"


    Kaley lightly shook her head as she smiled at me, "I was just about to say something along those lines but why don''t we leave it at that for now? What do you guys think? Everyone''s probably bored out of their minds or had already gone back from how long we''re talking¡­"


    At that moment, each of them let out the faintest of smiles, and even though their bodynguage told me that what we tackled and tried to do today went well, I could only imagine what was happening inside their heads right now. But yeah, everyone genuinely apologized to each other with the matching five-Mississippi hug and we received the same hug with a genuine thank you for what we tried.

 Chapter 899 The Night Before Departure I

    ?


    As we left Chloe''s small cabin, we discovered that everyone else wasn''t actually bored out of their minds but actually having a nice moment by the even bigger campfire, but Jesus and everyone else that stayed behind¡ªexcept for my three other friends, Cass, Ron, and Allyssa¡ªdrove to this ce with all of our vehicles and actually set up camp. But also, Ben had to go back because Cass was back home and needed some cuddles.


    At this moment, several tents were put up a few feet away from the campfire and we could hearughter, singing, and strums of a slightly out-of-tune guitar from the distance.


    ''Well, this IS a campsite¡­''


    Kaley held my hand before she nudged everyone else toe over to the group, "Come on! I guess we''re staying here for the night!"


    Once we joined the group, we discovered that the house I owned had received a fewints regarding "noise" and our neighbors alsoined about the satanic-looking vehicles we had with one of them having a very dangerous-looking "machinegun" that was being used to intimidate everyone else in the immediate vicinity.


    Furthermore, they were sent an angry letter about using the temple of the holy spirit a.k.a. our own fucking bodies as canvasses that depicted nonsense or further satanic crap.


    Quinn wasughing as she heard the story again, "I should''ve shown them the cross on my back and know what they think, no?"


    Meg, Jesus'' olddy cut in, "Wouldn''t they send anotherint for nudity or trying to seduce their husband or something?"


    Megan followed, "Or for seducing their wives or both."


    Quinn chuckled as she nced at Megan, "Slow your roll, alright? You barely had a taste, I don''t want you to form an addiction¡­"


    Almost instantly, everyone else started asking questions.


    "What?"


    "What''s she talking about? Meg?"


    "Which Meg? Our Meg or their Meg?"


    "We never call Megan Meg."


    "I do call Megan Meg and she calls me ''Lex!"


    "That''s confusing¡­ Are we gonna start calling them #1 and #2 too?"


    "Please¡­ It''s confusing as is¡­ stop¡­"


    "Our biographies would be so fucking weird with these names¡­"


    "The fuck are you talking about? Megan and James are prettymon names, it''s probable that we got a few in our group¡­"


    "That''s true¡­"


    "Can we just stick to Meg for Jesus'' olddy and Megan to u-umm¡ª JP''s¡ª"


    JP suddenly cut in as he nced at Megan, "Uhh¡­ Guys¡­ This is a little sudden to spring on everyone but it''s been a while since Megan and I decided to cool things off for a bit¡­ You know, try to figure things out. It''s just that we don''t want anyone talking so we just pretended for a while¡­ So¡­ If you''re worried about whatever happened between her and Quinn, it''s cool."


    Megan nodded, "And it ended mutually but it''s awkward enough for us as it is for you guys so the sooner we move on from this, the sooner the awkwardness fades. But for now, let''s say I''m back in the market and I''m also looking around¡­"


    Quinn jabbed, "Aren''t you sore?"


    "Wut?"


    "You just had a 9-inch destroyer split you in half¡ª"


    "OKAAAAY~ We''re changing the subject!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! DON''T TURN RED, YOU TOOK IT PRETTY WELL!"


    It was chaos for quite a bit but to be perfectly honest, for once, I felt really at peace despite everything that happened beforehand. I knew full well that this was only a fleeting instance but it wouldn''t hurt to enjoy these little moments as much as we could. However, it became chaotic once again when Jesus and co. started pulling out a few bottles and started a Filipino drinking custom which involved a single shot ss, going around in a roulette of sorts, until we cleared the bottles or everyone else had passed out.


    Even Chloe and Mimi participated, surprisingly enough, and I had to remind them that they didn''t have to drink if they didn''t want to.


    Chloe was the first one to protest, "Hey! I drink! And you''ve used my cabin for hours and some of you would probably use themter too! Consider this as payment!"


    "Okay? Just take it easy, alright? This is the strong stuff¡­"


    "Yeah~ Yeah~ I can handle myself~"


    Then I turned to Mimi who seemed to be just people-watching but would still down the shot nheless¡ªbut with a little bit of difficulty, "And you?"


    "I c-can do it¡­ I d-drink sometimes, you know? I''m not as¡ª I''m not that b-boring as you t-think!"


    "I never said that though?"


    "H-Hmph! Don''t act so c-concerned¡­ I-I''m fine¡­ hcK!"


    ''That''s only her second shot¡­''


    I could only chuckle from their responses but it didn''t take long before Tatiana and I had to be the babysitters once again because people under the influence¡ªeven if slightly¡ªand ake deep enough for everyone to drown in was a recipe for disaster. But yeah, we didn''t have to worry about ourselves and Jesus and co. because we can handle our liquor just fine and a few bottles wouldn''t be enough to knock us out.


    I whispered to Tatiana, "If one of the kids wobbles, they go to the cabin, alright?"


    "I know, I know¡­ Just let them have fun for a bit more¡­"


    In any case, our camping session started with light drinking to sharing more stories and then having deep conversations, but it didn''t take long before certain couples or groups looked for their own space to either rest or to "rest" together before having some shut-eye. But yeah, the boys who didn''t have partners¡ªwhich was all of them¡ªstarted daring each other to jump in theke again so Tatiana and I let them drown for a little bit before actually saving them.


    I didn''t think that they''d jump for a few more times to see if the water had gotten any warmer but they eventually found something hot when Quinn got so pissed about the noise they were making and chased and beat them with a burning log.


    It didn''t take long before it kinda got quiet by the campfire¡ªexcept for the moans and grunts escaping in random directions¡ªand it was making what''s left of us either chuckle or get even redder from trying to ignore what they were hearing.


    Then Quinn said something that jolted everyone awake:


    "I dunno about you guys but I gotta get off before I sleep or else I''ll have a headache tomorrow. It''s either we do something now or I''ll jump one of you at random."


    Megan shook her head, "Y-You really guys do this more than a regr basis¡­"


    Kaley sighed, "Haven''t you had your turns already? If you join in now, it''ll be noon when we''re done!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "So it''ll be you, Mimi, and Chloe''s turn then? How about Alexa?"


    Chloe and Mimi eximed at the same time, "W-WHAT?! WE¡ª"


    Tatiana cut in, "Alexa''s already tapped out¡­ She''s already sleeping alone in one of the tents¡­"


    "Ah¡­ Fine¡­ It''ll be just the four of them¡ª"


    Mimi cut her off while red through her neck, "W-Wait, I d-didn''t sign up for this¡ª"


    Quinn looked surprised, "You don''t want to?"


    She never looked panicked, "I-It''s not like¡ª"


    "Then that means you want to! Don''t lie to yourself and have some fun¡ª Wait, how about you?" Quinn said as she turned to Chloe.


    "U-Umm¡­"


    "OHMYFUCKINGGOD! JUST KNOW WHAT YOU WANT ALREADY! Don''t wait for something to fall on yourp! You both want it and he probably won''t say no, so what''s the problem?! You don''t even have to go all the way but I highly rmend it!"


    Mimi tried her best to keep eye contact, "I-It''s not that simple¡­"


    "Of course, it is! We''re leaving tomorrow, so¡ª"


    Chloe cut in, "Wait, you guys are leaving tomorrow?! W-Why?! You just got here, right?!"


    Mimi turned to me and held my arm, "Is it true?"


    I nodded, "Yeah. It was a delight seeing you guys again but we have a lot of shit to do. So¡ª"


    "I-Is it r-really okay?" Mimi said with a tremble in her lip as she looked at Kaley.


    Kaley gave her a smile as she nodded, "Of course, he''ll take really good care of you¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly had a realization, "Ohh~ Fuck, lucky you¡­ Lucky, lucky you¡­"


    Chloe''s head turned slightly, "What do you mean?"


    Quinn startedughing, "Hah! You too?! Mannn~ Two in one night, huh?"


    Chloe figured out what Quinn was trying to imply, "Wai¡ª I''m not¡ª Well~ Technically¡ª I have experience, alright?! And what''s wrong without having one?!"


    "Nothing at all~ I''ll just say: Wee to the club! Go on, now~ Midnight''s a burning¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    As weird as it sounds, once Quinn gave(?) us her blessing of sorts, the four of us found ourselves in Chloe''s bedroom, and even though it was dimly lit and had a small fan powered by batteries, the moonlight and the cold breeze outside was enough for the special asion.


    We started with Kaley and me kissing in front of the two, gently touching each other over our clothes while strongly keeping ourselves from going at it from the get-go.


    And after a short bit, we broke off our kiss as Kaley turned to the two, asking them a question:


    "Have you kissed someone yet?"


    Chloe answered first, "O-Of course¡­ but not like that¡­"


    "That''s fine and you?"


    Mimi lightly shook her head as she was slightly out of breath, "N-No¡­"


    "I see¡­ He''ll teach you," Kaley said before turning to Chloe, "How about kissing a girl? Is that okay with you?"


    "I-I don''t mind¡­"


    At that moment, Chloe was the one who actually initiated the kiss with Kaley while I slowly approached Mimi who was trembling from the lightest touch. Despite that, she still kept eye contact right until I gave her her first kiss, and it was all lips at first before I slowly used my tongue.


    Mimi''s lips were soft and supple and even with the presence of alcohol, they still tasted a little sweet. And after that, she slowly wrapped her arms around my neck as I wrapped my arms around her tiny waist, gently squeezing her soft and small body over her clothes.


    But before we went further, I felt a tap on my shoulder and Chloe switched ces with Mimi, and she was an enthusiastic kisser.


    Chloe was already pressing her body against me while our tongues were intertwined, but she had to double-take when her hand snaked over my shorts. She stopped momentarily, giving me the chance to take over as I discovered that Kaley and Mimi were just watching us both.


    ''Mimi probably still has a light aversion to kissing girls¡­''


    Whether it''s true or not, her eyes were glued to everything that was going on and we could clearly see that she was squeezing her thighs together while stealing nces at Kaley''s body.


    Kaley stopped us for a bit as she looked at me, "Why don''t we get a little morefortable?"


    I didn''t think much of it as I took off my clothes and was down to my boxers but Chloe and Mimi were a little hesitant when they saw Kaley''s huge rack quake as she lifted up her shirt and let them drop. Without question, even if the twobined their sizes together, they wouldn''t be able to fill half of Kaley''s bra.


    But yeah, Kaley was so supportive and assuring, Chloe eventually showed us her perky set though Mimi needed a little encouragement from me.


    It''s not like Mimi and Chloe was also that far apart in their cup sizes, it''s just that Kaley''s was so fucking big, she got a little insecure and intimidated.


    I looked her in the eye, "Mimi¡­ I want to see yours too¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    Chloe added, "I do too!"


    Kaley assured her once more, "What do you say?"


    "A-Alright¡­"


    Once Mimi took a deep breath, she slowly raised her shirt and revealed her cute tits that just perfectly matched her frame. Even her ares and her pink nipples were proportionate to her size, but everyone noticed that her nipples were already fucking hard, and the two couldn''t help themselves but touch them.


    "A-Ah! That''s¡ª" Mimi sharply gasped as her body trembled.


    "You okay?"


    "Y-Yes¡­ Just surprised¡­"


    "You can touch mine if you want?"


    "C-Can I touch them too?!"


    "Sure¡ª"


    "W-Wow¡­ They''re so big a-and they''re soft and h-heavy¡­"


    "W-Wow¡­"


    I was actually surprised that Mimi touched and squeeze Kaley''s breasts but I guess her curiosity got the better of her, and the two just kept on fondling each boob until Kaley suddenly had a release.


    "A-Ah! S-Shit¡­ I¡­"


    Chloe couldn''t believe her eyes, "No¡­ Did you just?!"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ I''m very sensitive¡ª Ah! S-Stop for a bit¡­ I don''t wanna get ahead of you guys¡­"


    Mimi was breathing heavily as she was looking at Kaley, "W-Wow¡­ Just¡ª W-Wow¡­"


    At this point, seeing the three made me unbelievably hard and Kaley was the first one to notice. But yeah, we barely had begun anything but it looked like we would be skipping a few steps.


    "Mimi¡­ have you¡­ umm¡­ had an orgasm yet? Like, ever?"


    "..." Mimi lightly shook her head.


    Kaley understood, "Why don''t we remedy that first?"


    "W-What are y-you gonna do?"


    "Why don''t YOU lose those panties first and WE will see what we can do?"

 Chapter 900 The Night Before Departure II

    ?


    As soon as Kaley said that, Mimi just nced at me before she slowly peeled her panties off but she still kept her legs together, barely able to look at any of us in the eye. However, Kaley let out a smile as she gave her a peck on the cheek before pulling her wet panties off, eventually prompting Chloe to do the same.


    At this point, all of them were buck naked though the room''s shadows were partly covering the important bits while the moonlight was barely revealing most of what I wanted to see.


    But not to be this crass, I could probably¡ªno, definitely paint or draw Kaley''s body at any angle or position blindfolded, with all the details included, yet I''m still lusting and eager to see what lies underneath the shadows.


    Then I heard her voice, "Excuse me? Are you gonna keep wearing those boxers or do you want me to pull them off?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    Kaley suddenly chuckled as she saw my reaction, "We want to see you too, no? It''s only fair¡­"


    And as I started, they were keeping eye contact right until my hand touched the lining of my boxers and I watched their gaze lower, expressions full of anticipation and excitement before it quickly turned to shock, awe, fear, and delight as Chloe''s bed had three more wet spots we''d need to take care of once everything''s over.


    Kaley knew what wasing but the other two couldn''t help but gulp and keep direct eye contact with the "one-eyed snake" that was twitching in front of their eyes.


    "Uh-oh¡­ T-That''s not¡ª Q-Quinn w-wasn''t joking around¡­" there was a tinge of panic in Chloe''s voice as her breathing went a tad faster.


    Mimi was also in the same state, "Umm¡­ I-I don''t think I-I''m ready for that yet¡ª"


    Kaley chuckled, "Silly~ Don''t worry, we won''t do that yet¡­ We''re gonna focus on you first and if you really want thatter, he''ll oblige, alright?"


    "B-But what a-are you gonna do o-other than¡ª"


    Kaley waved her over, "Come here andy your back to me¡­ I wanted to taste you first but I think it''s better if he does it¡ª"


    "T-Taste?"


    Chloe cut in, "W-What am I gonna do while¡ª Should I¡ª"


    Kaley lightly waved her off, "Come on, we''re not in a hurry¡­ Are we?"


    "N-No, but¡­"


    "Let''s just watch for now¡­ I know a friend who really gets off on that. Why don''t we try it first? Don''t worry, you''re next after this¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    At this point, Kaley was motioning for me to get the first taste of Mimi''s untouched little slit but to this day and this moment, we could only catch a glimpse of it because Mimi still had her legs together. However, as soon as Mimiid on Kaley''s body, Kaley wrapped her arms around her body and gently touched her small handfuls before whispering in her ear.


    Mimi was looking straight at me as Kaley was touching her and it didn''t take long before she slowly spread her legs and gave us a clear view of what was underneath.


    Her puffy little pussy was neatly trimmed, following after a "Bermuda Triangle" but with Mimi''s size, it looked to be more like a "Martini ss", if anything. The sides of her crotch were clear and unblemished¡ªeven down to her tiny little asshole¡ªbut to give a shorter description, it was the cutest and the tiniest innie I''ve ever seen.


    It had enough "meat" and "fat" that could allow it to jiggle when flicked but I was more focused on how it was already leaking juices for easier entry.


    "D-Don''t s-stare at it t-too much¡­ I-It''s embarrassing¡­"


    "I-I''m gonna do it now, alright?"


    "D-Do what¡ª MmH! Wha¡ª Ah! MMmMHHhH! That''s¡ª T-That''s my¡ª O-OHhHHH! S-Shi¡ª Ah! Your¡ª It''s¡ª MmMMh! NnNh~ Ah¡­ Wow¡­ MmmHH! Hgnhh¡­"


    I could barely contain myself after I had the taste, and I hadn''t even started about how intoxicating the smell was. She always kept herself clean and tidy but there was something different about an untouched piece of meat I had to lick her deep and all over until I was satisfied. However, it wasn''t even a couple of minutes when Mimi tried to push me off her body but I knew full well about what was about to happen.


    "W-W-WAIT! AH! WAIT! S-SOMETHING''S C-COMING¡ª I''M ABOUT TO¡ª HGNH! S-STOP! I''M A-ABOUT TO¡ª A-ABOUT TO¡ª A-A-H¡ª I T-THINK I''M ABOUT TO¡ª H-H-HNGH! AHH! AH! S-SHIII¡ª AH!"


    I just grabbed hold of her thighs as I continued to bury my face in her cunt, pushing my tongue against her folds to reach her tiny hidden clit that was making her tremble. I just did it over and over and over until she violently orgasmed in front of everybody.


    At the moment, I didn''t even realize that Chloe was already touching herself as she was watching me eat Mimi''s pussy but as I was about to give Mimi her second release, I felt Kaley''s hand on my shoulder and she looked a little surprised when I nced at her.


    "O-Okay, g-give her a break for a moment¡­"


    "W-Why?"


    She pointed with her eyes to look at Mimi, "S-She passed out¡­"


    "What¡ª Ah¡ª"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    At this moment, Mimi''s small body was still lying on Kaley, and even though her body was still trembling a little, she definitely passed out after getting eaten by yours truly. There was a single tear in her eyes and saliva dripping on the side of her mouth, and it took a bit before she slowly opened her eyes.


    "W-What happened?"


    "Umm¡­"


    As we began to exin to her what happened in thest few minutes, she definitely remembered midway through our exnation because she couldn''t hide the embarrassment in her expression though I found it really cute and endearing.


    "I-I''m sorry¡ª"


    "N-No!" I tried to wave her over, "T-That''s pretty hot, actually¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    "Yeah, it''s¡ª"


    But Chloe suddenly cut in looking like an animal in heat, "U-Umm¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I-I''m sorry to i-interrupt but I-I want t-that and¡­ Ha¡­ i-if y-you can¡ª please¡­ I-I''m about to go crazy if¡ª"


    As Chloe was begging to be touched, she was already rubbing one of her erect nipples and her throbbing clit in her cleanly shaven twat that showed a little pink slit hiding inside her pale skin.


    And on that note, I took it upon myself to push her down and shove my tongue in her pink insides, and she just cried out in pleasure as her strong legs mped on my head. However, it didn''t stop me from tasting her sweet insides¡ªeven though I could easily pry her legs open¡ªbut this time, Kaley came over to join in.


    "W-What¡ª MmH! W-Wow¡­ Your lips are soft¡ª"


    "Yours too¡­"


    "Ah! Hngh! Y-You really know where to touch¡ª MmH! M-Mimi?!"


    "A-Am I d-doing it right?"


    "I d-dunno but keep d-doing it¡­"


    Turns out, as Kaley was kissing Chloe and fondling her breasts, Mimi took it upon herself to cutely suck and lick on one of Chloe''s pink puffy nipples, and if I ever raise my head for a moment, I''d be able to see Kaley and Mimi''s behinds and be free to touch them. However, my sole focus was to get off Chloe as hard as possible and the secret was a little aggression, consistency, and timing.


    Once I felt she was really close, I didn''t switch it up and just continued to press my tongue against her clit with a lot more pressure until it was over.


    "AH¡ª AH¡ª I-I¡ª I''M C-CUMMING~!!! AH! HNNNNNNN!"


    And as she did, I pried her legs open before I pulled her even closer, licking, sucking, and tasting her quivering cunt all over before warm liquid shot at my face.


    "WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WHAT''S GOING¡ª AH! AHhHHH! HA! HNGH! I¡ª I CAN''T STOP IT¡ªHNNNNNN~!!!"


    Right after her first violent orgasm, she didn''t think I''d try to make her cum again, and not only did thate as a surprise, her squirting on my face seemed to be a first as well. At first, it was a quick squirt that surprised everybody but it slowly turned into a waterfall that drenched a part of her bed, and she looked like she was wishing she''d pass out right now.


    Chloe couldn''t even cover her face from the embarrassment because of how it made her so exhausted but like Mimi, I assured her that it was one of the hottest things I''d seen and it was more of a great aplishment, if anything.


    But yeah, there was still a person who hadn''t had a release yet and the moment he was pushed down by every beauty in the room, he knew that he''d be blown away¡ªliterally and figuratively speaking.


    I''m talking about me, of course.


    Because once Chloe got her bearings back, she was still a little out of breath but she couldn''t stop herself from smiling before she gave me a kiss and began touching my junk.


    It was at this moment when Kaley followed and pushed me down with Mimi, making me watch them do their work while my 9-inch cock was right in front of their faces.


    "Do you guys know what to do?"


    "..." Mimi was the first one to shake her head.


    "We l-lick it? I''ve seen some¡ª"


    "Better to show you first then¡­"


    Once Kaley tucked one side of her hair on her ear, I tried my best to not cum at the fucking moment I felt her tongue and her warm mouth, and she wasn''t even using her huge tits because she was teaching the two how to properly suck cock.


    In any case, I basically lost my mind when Kaley was slobbering on my knob but it was also a different experience to see inexperienced beauties to try and copy what Kaley just did to me.


    Chloe''s enthusiasm was her greatest selling point aside from the idental teeth scrapes while Mimi trying to take all of me while making sure she wouldn''t make the same mistakes was adorable in itself, but in the end, it was Kaley who made me cum.


    I thought for sure that she''d swallow everything but she kept some of it in her mouth and shared it with the other two.


    I''d give points to Mimi for trying but Chloe would be getting higher marks because she sucked my dick right after to look for seconds. But yeah, it was Mimi who pointed out something that was prettymon knowledge in our circle while Chloe took it for granted.


    "Y-You¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You''re still¡­ H-Hard¡­"


    Chloe just realized, "Right! And you already did it with¡ª W-Wow¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "I said we have lots of time but who wants to go first?"


    The two looked at her, "First?"


    "You know, actually doing it¡­ Some PIV stuff, if you know what I mean¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    Kaley backpedaled, "Of course, it''s also totally fine if you''re not up to it yet but what I''m saying is that I usually gost because we go a little u-umm¡­ longer?"


    Chloe asked, "H-How long perchance?"


    "A c-couple, at least?"


    "M-Minutes?"


    "H-Hours¡­"


    "A-At least?! You said at least, right?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    At that moment, Chloe and Mimi just nced at each other and it looked like Chloe decided herself to finally lose her virginity. She did ask to be on top which I actually rmend for first-timers, and it didn''t take long before sat on top of me, slowly rubbing her young college pussy against my whole length while keeping direct eye contact.


    The other two were just watching as Chloe ready herself mentally and once she reached around and pointed the tip in her very small opening, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before pushing down with her hips.


    "A-Ah¡ª Ah¡ª It''s¡ª"


    She barely took the tip in.


    "Breathe¡­ You don''t need to take it all in at once¡ª"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ It''s just¡­ W-Wow¡­ It''s¡ª"


    After she took another deep breath, she pushed herself down even more, managing to put three full inches inside her vagina, tearing her precious hymen open, and very much looking like she was in pain as she was clutching for dear life on our interlocked hands.


    I just can''t believe how fucking tight she was and as I thought she''d pull out from the pain, she suddenly pushed down even more¡ªdefinitely getting more than halfway there, before winding back and pushing even harder right until she was only an inch away from the base.


    And as I was about to remind her to breathe, she wound up again and mmed her full weight onto me as her body trembled all over.


    At this point, it was highly rmended to get used to it inside you but no, something just switched off inside Chloe''s head as she looked at me a certain way while biting her lip, and moving closer.


    "I-I''m gonna move now, a-alright?"


    I wasn''t even able to give her an answer as she rode me like she lost her mind because it was an understatement to say that the whole fucking bed was creaking, and I could only imagine what Kaley and Mimi looked like at the moment. Furthermore, Chloe had great control of her body as she just wildly moved her hips and started giving me kisses.


    Then she broke off kissing for a moment with a huge smile on her face, "I. CAN''T. BELIEVE. THAT. IT. FEELS. THIS¡ª IT. HURTS. AND. FEELS. GOOD. AT. THE. SAME. TIME. AND. I. CAN''T. STOP. I''M. L-LOSING. MY F-FUCKING. MIND!"


    As Chloe was riding me, she leaned back and continued to fuck my cock while rubbing her clit but she sat right up again so I could y with her boobs. She didn''t know what to do but she kept on moving her hips even though I already felt her orgasm a few times, but all of that was in a span of ten minutes, and she didn''t show signs of stopping any time soon.


    But yeah, once I told her that I was about to cum, I almost burstughing when she shouted at the top of her lungs:


    "DON''T YOU FUCKING DARE PULL OUT! I KNOW WHERE MOM HAS HER PILLS! AH! AH! AH! AHNNNNNNNN~!"


    And once again, Chloe squirted while she was on top of me but I pumped her pussy full of cum as she finally copsed from sheer exhaustion. She didn''t faint like Mimi but I had to roll her off me after a while because she looked like she ran a marathon and she couldn''t even feel her legs.


    I did offer some aftercare while I gave her kisses and Kaley helped clean her up in the shower while Mimi and I were the only ones in the room.


    And yeah, calling Mimi nervous was an understatement because she knew full well that she''s next but I calmed her down by "calming down" and giving her a hug.


    "Hey. As we said earlier, if you don''t feel ready¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ I a-am¡ª I think¡­ It''s just¡­"


    "Something wrong?"


    "H-How¡­ How long will y-you be gone¡ª I mean, w-when will you be back?"


    "If all goes well?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "Probably a couple of weeks and if not¡­ I dunno¡­"


    "Why don''t you know?"


    "I''m probably dead¡ª No! Mimi! I was just joking! Don''t cry, don''t cry! It was just a joke! I''ll never die, alright?! It was just¡ª OW!"


    "Y-YOU IDIOT! DON''T JOKE LIKE THAT! YOU GOTTA COME BACK! PROMISE ME!"


    "O-Okay?"


    "SAY IT SERIOUSLY!"


    "Alright. I''ll definitelye back, I promise."


    "Good! B-But for i-insurance¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "..."


    "Mimi?"


    "I-I''m still n-nervous¡ª"


    "Mimi¡ª"


    "Let me finish! I s-said I''m still n-nervous l-losing my v-virginity to you but¡­"


    "But?"


    "If youe back in a couple of weeks¡­ I think I''ll be r-ready¡­"


    "That''s also okay¡ª"


    "I''m not finished!"


    "G-Go on¡­"


    "If you don''t mind¡­ I-If you don''t mind u-using the other one¡­"


    "O-Other one?"


    "D-D''you really want me t-to say it?!"


    "S-Say what?"


    "My¡­"


    "Your¡­?"


    "I-If you don''t m-mind putting it i-in my b-butt¡­"


    "Oh¡­ Oh! OHHH!"


    "D-Don''t light up like that, you pervert!"


    "Pervert?! You''re the one suggesting anal for your first time, who''s the pervert now?!"


    "S-SHUT UP! J-JUST PUT IT IN MY BUTT INSTEAD OF M-MY PUSSY!"

 Chapter 901 The Night Before Departure III - Compatibility

    ?


    At this fucking moment, Mimi was looming over me because she was standing on the bed but just as she broadcasted to the whole fucking world for me to fuck her ass, Kaley and Chloe just came back from the washroom. Kaley was obviously in full-support mode but Chloe was shocked to fuck hearing such vulgar wordse out of Mimi''s mouth, she had to drag Kaley away with her after she slowly closed the door.


    "A-A-Ah¡ª I didn''t mean to¡ª I-IT''S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Mimi crumbled down as she tried to bury her face in embarrassment.


    "W-What¡ª"


    "I-I don''t know what y-you''re doing to m-me! I-I d-didn''t even think I''d say that a-and even d-do those stuff with you and e-everybody but¡ª S-Somehow¡­ I-I just want to¡­ A-Am I g-gonna be in trouble¡ª Ah¡ª I-I don''t even know what I''m saying and¡ª"


    Mimi was this close to having a full-on nervous breakdown but I held her tight and whispered in her ear:


    "Listen¡­ I can''t tell you what to do because, at the end of the day, I''ll leave it to the person to make their own decisions and to pursue their own happiness¡­ With that said, I do have my own opinions and beliefs and it''s vastly different from the ones drilled to us ever since we were born¡ªmore so when we both went to this ce¡ªbut do know that I''m still me¡ª"


    "Y-You already said that e-earlier¡­"


    "Oh, yeah. I did, didn''t I?"


    "B-But what are you trying to say though?"


    "Well, I just wanted to remind you that if you wish to stop what you just proposed, we can¡­ even the one you promised once we came back. But since you did promise me something THAT important to you, I''ll promise you something that''s ALSO important to me¡­"


    "And that is?"


    "This ce is amazing¡­ right?"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "And it''s safe, right? You don''t have any problems with the dead, you have high walls, you''re well fed, and you could probably live till the end of your natural life here as long as you continue to either have perfect attendance in church, sses, or your jobs or contribute yourself to the university while doing a little extra from time to time, and a lot more other stuff we talked about earlier¡­ I''m really grateful that this ce kept you and our other friends here safe and¡ª"


    "I¡­ I don''t know where you''re getting at¡­"


    "What I''m trying to say is that once wee back here, you know, after a couple of weeks or whatever time we manage to do whatever it is we needed to do¡­"


    "Yeah?"


    "I''ll once again extend a hand¡ªan offer for you, Ben, Andy, Cass, Ron, and Allyssa¡­ toe live with me and¡ª"


    "W-Wait¡ª"


    "Please let me finish¡­ It''s the same offer where I made myself sound like a raving lunatic to everyone here those years ago¡ª"


    "That''s not¡ª"


    "Well, not anymore, right? *chuckles dryly* But yeah, you''re right next to the Academy and they have soldiers stationed at this ce but in mine¡­ Look, you know what it is and it''s a pretty big step for you and everyone else because you also have friends here and patients you''ve got to take care of and visit on a daily basis but I''m gonna be selfish to ask you to¡­ be a little selfish as well¡ªif that ever means anything¡ªto choose toe with me and move into my home¡­"


    "..." Mimi wasn''t saying anything but she kept direct eye contact with me all throughout this conversation.


    "It''s¡­ It''s gonna be one of the only ways I''d be sure that all my friends and families are safe and if something ever happens, I''d be able to just *snap fingers* make sure that everything''s taken care of even if I''m present or not¡­ It''s been a st reuniting with all of you again and it''ll be a huge weight off my shoulders to¡ª"


    Mimi cut me off as she let out a smile, "Hey¡­ You don''t have to say anymore¡­ Don''t you remember? You''ve been there for me when no one could even spare a nce or stop by to see¡ª"


    I suddenly cut in, "Mimi, you''re half your size at the time and you''re hiding under a bush, no wonder no one spotted you¡ª"


    "T-THAT''S NOT THE POINT! HGNH! YOU¡ª UGH! WHAT I''M SAYING IS¡ª W-What I''m saying is¡­ I''ll go with you¡­ even if no one else doesn''t¡­ B-Besides, two weeks is just the right time to drop my two-week notice to Dr. Lopez, right?"


    I let out a smile, "You''re really serious?"


    "Of course! Why wouldn''t I? We''re supposed to move in with you the moment it started so¡ª"


    Before Mimi could even finish her sentence, I gave her a huge kiss as I embraced her even tighter and she tried to return my kiss as much as she could though I stopped for a moment when I thought she was getting overwhelmed. It was because she had tears in her eyes as her hug felt like she didn''t want to let go but turns out she was just happy that I offered for them to stay with me again and I bore no resentment whatsoever.


    As Iid her on her back, my huge throbbing member was just nestled on her stomach¡ªthe tip just sitting a little bit further than her cute belly button¡ªand I would just rub myself against her lower lips as we continued kissing each other. And at the same time, I was fondling and cupping her cute little breasts, eventually kissing her all over until she whispered shakily in my ear:


    "Y-You can p-put it in n-now¡­ I-I''m ready¡­ W-We don''t have to w-wait¡­"


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ there¡­ t-take me¡­"


    Hearing that, I slowly got into position as I rubbed the tip just by her very tiny opening, and looking at Mimi''s face, she still looked a little scared but there was now a mix of anticipation as she was waiting for me to take her virginity.


    And as I pushed the tip in, I heard an audible gasp but the look on her face told me that she wanted to keep going, and once we reached the halfway mark, let''s just say I was so fucking lucky Mimi tend to keep her nails short, because even with their length, all of them dug deep in my back.


    And this time, I made sure to let her get used to my size before I kept going but she traced her hands to my lower back, motioning for me to push it even more.


    This was all Mimi could do at the moment because she couldn''t utter a word from the pain, but to my surprise, she even wrapped her legs around me to nudge me to just rip off her hymen and split her in half.


    "A-A-Ah¡ª AH¡ª H-Ngh¡ª"


    "A-Are you okay?"


    "Y-Yes¡­ I-It''s all the way i-in¡­ Ow¡­ I feel so f-full and¡­ Oh my¡­ My head''s s-spinning¡­ It h-hurts and it''s a little i-itchy but i-it''s s-so g-g-good¡­"


    To bepletely fair, we still had a couple of inches to go but I didn''t need to tell her that at the moment. I began moving after a few moments but my dick was literally getting choked by Mimi''s tight vaginal walls but it wasn''t the time toin because I could only imagine what she was going through.


    But despite that, Mimi was still smiling brightly with tears in her eyes, and she would try and give me a kiss when I would be a little closer. Her tiny cute moans made it hard for me to move my hips slowly and I almost started to fuck, fuck her when she was calling out my name.


    Since it''s her first time coupled with her small frame, I was extra careful to make it hurt less and instead make it much more enjoyable because she wasn''t like Quinn or Tatiana¡ªheck, even Kaley who can take it rough and rowdy and sometimes ask for more. But yeah, she had a little bit of muscture in her lower body because of all the walking every single day, and just the distance to the hospital from our house was more than enough cardio and steps for a single person or two.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before I felt Mimi''s insides tighten even more while her nails found another spot in my back to dig into.


    It was the only moment I decided to go faster and faster so we could cum at the same time, and she definitely made sure I''d cum inside as she hugged me tight and begged me not to let go. I was pumping her small pussy full of cum while she was trembling all over, and I onlyid next to her after a few moments of letting the sensitivity pass.


    Both of us were out of breath at this point but she wrapped her arms around me as sheid her head on my chest. It only took a few moments before I saw tears flowing from her eyes again so I decided to check on her.


    "Are you okay? Do you need¡ª"


    She chuckled as she shook her head, "N-No¡­ I''m fine¡ªno, more than fine. Did you forget that I''m an easy crier? I''m just so happy¡­ Besides, it''s amazing¡­ y-you''re amazing¡­ r-really¡­"


    "Yeah?"


    "Yeah¡­ I¡­ I really wish I could''ve done this s-sooner with you¡­"


    "Ah¡ª You won''t, trust me¡­ I''m not as great¡ª"


    "Doesn''t matter¡­ You taught me that it''s better to do something about what you want rather than to wait for it to fall on yourp a-and even though it took a r-really long time before this happened¡­ I''m really happy¡­"


    "But y-you know¡­ You still waited and something good came out of it, I guess? I''m not a prize per se¡ª"


    Mimi''s round eyes lit up for a moment as she snuggled even closer, "Y-You''re right¡­ Yeah¡­"


    At this point, it was peaceful and quiet for a few moments then we heard a soft knock on the door. After that, it slowly opened before Kaley''s head slowly popped in looking like she was casing a joint.


    I shook my head as I addressed her, "Where were you guys?"


    "Ah¡ª U-Umm¡­ I had to lose Chloe when she dragged me away but I brought some lube and a douche if Mimi''ll still need it?"


    "You brought those over¡ª"


    Kaley then let herself in as she eximed, "Hey! If you don''t want surprise poop in surprise anal, you always bring these with you! So! Do you¡ª" then Kaley had a realization from examining the scene, "Wait¡ª Oh! Mimi~! I''m so happy for you! A-Are you okay? Do you need anything? Want me to heat up some water?"


    Mimi was surprised about how Kaley was like that, "I-It''s okay, I''m fine¡ª It''s just I need to rest for a bit more because my legs are still n-numb¡­"


    "Oh, okay¡ª"


    "A-And Kaley¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "T-Thank you¡­ for y-you know¡­"


    Kaley just gave her a smile, "No worries..."


    I jokingly had enough, "Oh,e on! Why does everyone thank you and not me?! I bet Chloe thanked you too, huh?! Did she?!"


    Kaley instantly understood what I was going for and pped back, "Hey! I can''t help it if they did! If I took their firsts with my strapon, they''ll still probably thank me instead of you! Everyone''s dancing on the palm of my hands and you can''t do anything about it~"


    I rolled my eyes, "Oh really~ Riiiiight~"


    She jokingly scoffed, "You really wanna do this?"


    "Do what?"


    At this point, Kaley looked like she dug up everything there is to know about me and was about to bring it up to light in court, but she nced at Mimi before she looked me in the eye and opened her mouth:


    "You forgot that we''re a couple, no?"


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "Really?"


    "I don''t¡ª"


    "Select. You forgot, Select."


    Mimi and I said at the same time, "What?"


    Kaley rolled her eyes as she dropped the bomb on me, "If we''re a couple, it''s supposed to be Up-Up, Down-Down, Left-Right, Left-Right, B, A, Select, Start. Calling himself a ''Gamer'', what a joke!"


    "Huh??" Mimi was the only one to react.


    But at this moment, I never felt so defeated and disappointed in myself but I''ve never been so fucking hard at the same time so let''s just say that for the purpose of brevity, Mimi witnessed how Kaley and I actually fucked, like how we really fucked, and she wasn''t even able to join in not just because she couldn''t feel her legs or she was already exhausted, but her eyes were glued to whatever it was we were doing and even when Chloe came back looking for Kaley, she had to put her excitement aside and take notes.


    For a couple of inexperienced beauties that just lost their virginities to me a few hours ago, we pretty much had a good time, but in the grand scheme of things, they couldn''tpare to someone I had greatpatibility with and was a 10 out of 10y each and every single time we were together.


    Morning eventually came and we met up with everyone but Megan caused chaos once again by saying an innocentpliment:


    "Hey! Morning! You guys are glowing!"


    "What?"


    "GLOWING! YOU GUYS ARE GLOWING!"


    "WHAT?!"


    ''Oh no...''

 Chapter 902 Morning! - First-World Problems

    ?


    Glowing was supposed to be a greatpliment at any time of day but the word had apletely different meaning yesterday so it prompted such a reaction. However, it didn''t take long before things cleared up and everyone just shared a heartyugh this early in the morning.


    But yeah, aside from the older couple we met earlier who were probably a little hard of hearing, some of the folks who were also staying at the campsite were giving us a mix of looks, but the most prevalent one was with a mix of hate because we weren''t exactly that quiet doing that special type of activity.


    And to quickly remedy the situation, we offered all of them some goods, either meat or vegetable products¡ªwhich they jovial epted¡ªfor the trouble we caused then they continued on with their lives.


    "Hey~! Good Morning and God bless! Do you kids want to have some coffee?" The older guy waved us over.


    "S-Sure¡ª"


    "We got pancakes or waffles too¡ªwhichever you may want! Can you hear me?! We have some grilled cheese too!"


    At this point, we realized replying verbally was a mistake so we just signaled with our hands which he quickly understood.


    "Great! I''ll tell my wife you''reing! That''s the YMCA, right? I was there when it was first aired¡­ Honey~! HONEY! HONEY¡ª"


    "WHAAAT?! Don''t shout so early in the morning! It was so quietst night everybody must still be sleeping!"


    In a short bit, all of us were crowding inside their cozy cabin as they kept sharing stories one after the other with huge smiles on their faces. But as they continued on to their more recent topics, we discovered that they had no idea that the dead hade back to life.


    Everyone couldn''t be more confused by the sudden revtion but everyone who wasn''t a resident was giving me, Mimi, and Chloe a certain look.


    ''Oh,e on¡­''


    I was living in this university for close to four years but that doesn''t mean that I knew everybody.


    But yeah, it seemed like Mimi knew something about these two and she took over the conversation from then on.


    "Umm¡­ Mr. and Mrs. Flores¡­ Is umm¡­ Can I ask who''s the nursing assistant that tasked for you¡ª"


    Mrs. Flores waved her off, "Oh, no! Honey, we''re fine as we are and we don''t need anyone taking care of us¡ª Well, the delivery of groceries and whatnot are a huge help but it seems like they''re pushing more and more local products our way. Not that we mind but you know~ It would be nice to have some variety, right?"


    "O-Of course¡­"


    Then her eyes lit up as she turned to me, "Oh yeah! I love how you packaged the ground beef you gave us! You ttened them with a rolling pin, right?! I used to hate having them in big lumps and that really solved the problem!"


    I nodded awkwardly, "Yeah, they did¡­ Doing that really helps with thawing them faster and you know, easier to store them¡­"


    ''That''s Chef Ng for ya¡­''


    In any case, we finished breakfast and thanked them before we drove back to my house¡ªwith Chloe tagging along¡ªand gave apologies to the neighbors we caused "distress" by means of gifts like food or entertainment like some movies,ic books, or anything that could easily be copied and passed on.


    I have my fair share of experience with these kinds of people but almost all of them wouldn''t turn away gifts and I wouldn''t mind giving a few away just to make them shut up for one more day.


    With that said, I was lucky to catch all of my friends in one spot because Andy juste back from his shift, Ben and Cass had the day off, and Allyssa and Ron were still preparing to head out so I told them the same thing I did Mimi, but I did get a mix of reactions.


    First and foremost, since Ben was in a rtionship with Cass and Cass was working at the Academy, the only way that Ben would leave was if I could find a way to convince the General to let her go because this was the reason he didn''t drive to my ce with Ken the first time.


    And in Andy''s case, he easily made his decision toe with me the moment I promised him a set of firearms and meat at least once a day.


    I had to confirm one more time, "Andy, you sure that''s all you want?"


    "Of course! The fuck¡ª Do you know how pathetic I look holding this nightstick while all the other soldiers were¡ª" he nced at the cadets I brought with me and Jose, "No offense, alright?"


    Jose nodded, "None taken¡­ I''m actually on your side¡­"


    "See? They understand. And bro¡­ some of the directors here and some elders just have tons of meat lying around in their homes! Fucking hypocrites, right?! Well¡ª Not all of them but if they''re gonna have some, we should have a little bit, right? Besides, I could''vee with Ken when I had the chance but you know¡­ things happened and¡ª We should really talk man, I have a lot of fucking shit to unpack¡­"


    I chuckled, "You tell me, heh. Anyway, I have something for youter¡­ I''ll make sure to catch you before we leave."


    "Alright~ Alright, I got you bro¡­"


    But yeah, in Allyssa and Ron''s case, they were totally against the idea ofing back with us because of the danger of going outside and from what I thought would be Mimi''s greatest obstacle, leaving behind friends and their students they''ve made in this ce. Sure, we were still friends to bepletely honest but not everyone retains the same friendship they had with everybody.


    "I hope you understand our situation¡­"


    I waved them off, "No worries¡­ At least you two could maintain the house and whatnot? And you''ll have the whole ce to yourselves! Who knows? You might have kids¡ª"


    Allyssa cut in as she shook her head, "No-no¡­ No kids while this¡­ You know, this thing is still¡­ happening¡­ For now, we''ll just focus on our jobs and umting credits for more benefits, right?"


    Ron nodded, "Yeah¡­"


    "What benefits are you talking about?"


    Allyssa sighed, "It''splicated stuff. We''re aiming to be the heads of our departments but you gotta have a lot of pull to do that and I do, of course, but we''d need actual funds to make significant changes around here while everything''s going on."


    "I don''t get it¡ª"


    "Of course¡ªAh, sorry for sounding rude¡­ I''m under a lot of stress right now¡ª"


    I chuckled, "You''re always stressed. It''s cool. But yeah, tell me a simple way¡ªlike what are some of the things you''d need¡ª"


    Allyssa waved me off, "Oh, you don''t have to do that. This house is¡ª"


    "Just think of it as a parting gift or something. We''ll be back in two weeks but the third time we''ll be here is a huge question mark. We''re still friends, right?"


    "..." Allyssa didn''t know how to react.


    Ron nudged Allyssa, "Asking for someone''s help does not make you weak, alright? He''s offering as a friend, not one of your sneaky colleagues¡ª"


    Allyssa harrumphed as she nced at Ron, "You''re lucky you''re in the agriculture department¡­ It''s hell in¡ª Ah, shit¡ª I''m sorry¡­ I always¡­"


    Ron just made his eyes bigger as he nodded, "I know, WE all know! Sheesh, just tell him what you need, alright?"


    Allyssa took a deep breath as she looked me in the eye, "This is gonna sound mean but u-umm I don''t know what you can actually do for me but anything that you think could help the university in any way is great¡ª"


    "How about some books?"


    "B-Books? Oh, right! Books! D-Do you have any¡ª"


    "About all of them, I think?"


    Allyssa was looking at me like I''m an idiot, "I¡­ I don''t follow¡­"


    I chuckled, "You see, we''ve been outside around 90% of the time ever since it started and I¡ª you know that I''ve been somewhat of a hoarder."


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Let''s cut to the chase, I have several drives'' worth of books in my collection but I only have a few terabytes of random files with me at the moment. But yeah, it''ll definitely expand the collection here and you won''t be able to get them anywhere else though most of it is¡ª"


    "H-How?"


    "I made sure to scan each page of a book from cover to cover¡ª"


    "I mean, how did you collect¡ª"


    "Are you even listening? I said we''ve been outside and even though schools and other universities were the difficult ones to clear in a single day, it''s one of the most rewarding ones, and the books are almost always left untouched¡ªyou know, unless they''re used as kindling or something simr. And yeah, we''ve been to several schools and a few BIG universities so¡ª oh yeah, I know a guy who cleared the National Library too and he gave me copies of the books and other things they managed to save. And whaddayouknow? The ce was basically empty and almost all of the important books were still preserved."


    Ron was a little confused, "W-Who''s the guy you¡ª"


    "Oh. Mayor Iskoh. You know him, right?"


    "NO FUCKING WAY!"


    "Yep, and they''re expecting a baby anytime soon too¡ª"


    "Dude! Why didn''t you tell us this yesterday?!"


    "First of all, you two werete¡­ We had to give you the shortened version and¡ª"


    Allyssa cut in once again, "T-That''s great and all but h-how can you send over all of the files you have? It''ll be a huge contribution to the academy but you said¡ª"


    "That''s some greed you have there, heh. But yeah, I have my ways¡­"


    "W-What exactly?"


    I chuckled as I turned to Andy, "Can you get me to one of the closest cell sites? You know, the private ones? You can still power them, right?"


    "O-Of course, as long as you''ll provide some gas."


    "Then consider it done," I said as I turned to Allyssa.


    Allyssa looked like she wasn''t convinced one bit, "O-Okay? I still don''t get half of what you''re saying but the books are really a good addition. God knows how much credit it would cost for a group to bring even a truck full, and convincing them would be the hardest part! I''d do it nevertheless but there are other things I need to use our credits for¡­"


    Cass nced at me weirdly before I had a realization.


    "Hey¡­ How much credit would it take to send an¡­ an expedition? Is that what you call it over here?"


    Allyssa sighed once again but she asked Andy to exin for her.


    Andy just shrugged his shoulder as he looked at the ceiling for a moment, "For a single day? Around 10 credits per person but they''ll take less if you share whatever they procured but they always skim from their actual takes and¡ª you know, since none of them are interested in procuring books, they almost always opt for just taking the full price for that kind of errand. And it''s not even sure they''ll be able to take back anything¡­"


    "What?"


    "It''s for the attempt, not the actual goal¡­"


    "Like Evil Knievil¡­"


    "Exactly!"


    Allyssa sighed once again, "See my problems?"


    "I see," I nodded as I turned to JP, "The ones who do these expeditions are¡ª"


    He instantly cut me off, "Most of them are from our ce but there are other people around besides us, alright?"


    Allyssa turned to me, "You see, I''ll be able to use the credits I''ve saved up for other goals here or for other¡­ more inclined-to-produce-some-results expeditions but generally¡­ more credits would solve a lot of problems for me¡­"


    "Then how much have you saved up?"


    "A-Around a thousand? I''ll be paid in a few days so I''ll maybe have twice that but it''ll all sink down to my other projects I''m working on. Ron''s saving up too but his savings are used for our general expenses¡­ food and water, gas, etc. I''ll probably need around twice¡ª no, thrice that amount so they''ll recognize me and give me a shot for the next quarterly meeting¡­"


    "Oh! Then problem solved! Here ya go~" I said as I threw her my ID.


    She never looked so confused, "What¡ª"


    "Right! Wait! Throw it back to me¡ª"


    Ron took my ID from Allyssa''sp and flicked it back to me, "Catch!"


    Cass was already losing her mind by the sudden exchange, "You¡ª What the hell are you doing?! BE CAREFUL WITH THAT!"


    "I''m sorry?" Ron and a few others were confused by Cass'' reaction.


    I rolled my eyes, "What? I gotta replenish a bit of our stuff before we drive, alright? I''ll give Allyssa everything that''s left after!"


    Cass grumbled under her breath, "She has no fucking idea¡ª"


    Allyssa turned to Cass, "What did you say? What¡ª"


    "I said you have no fucking idea! Stocking up their vehicles to the brim will probably cost 200+ credits at the maximum¡ª"


    "Wait, how much do you still have on your ID?!" Allyssa suddenly had an inkling as she was eyeing my ID suspiciously.


    I chuckled as I had a thought, "Around 2k. Right, Cass?"

 Chapter 903 A Nobodys Pursuit To Change

    ?


    I thought it wouldn''t hurt to y a joke on Allyssa who was so strung up about something only 1% of the whole poption was worrying about, but it seemed that saying that I had a couple thousand credits on my ID didn''t match Cass'' reaction. But yeah, since Ron conveniently flicked my ID back to me, all izz well and I still had the means to have the upper hand in this conversation if I so desired to.


    Though Allyssa didn''t want to be kept in the dark.


    "Y-You two are hiding something! Tell me! How much¡ª"


    I cut her off as I chuckled, "Who fucking cares? I still haven''t¡ª"


    "I do! It''s really important to me! I''ll¡ª"


    "Hah! You went from refusing any help to downright demanding it as if I owe you, huh?"


    "That''s¡ª" Allyssa stopped herself momentarily before taking a deep breath, "I¡­ I apologize¡­ It''s just that this matter is that important to me and knowing that I''ll be able to catch a little break for once got the better of my emotions¡­"


    Kaley remarked after a short bit, "You''re horribly self-aware, you know that?"


    Allyssa was startled by that statement, "Ah¡ª I-I guess so¡­ It''s that bad, huh?"


    "Not exactly. There are good and bad points being that way though it mostly aligns itself with the good points. Tell me, why do you want to be a department head so bad, you''re willing to put yourself under this much stress to yourself and¡ª yeah, let''s just talk about yourself first. Why do you wanna do it?"


    "U-U-Umm¡­ This question is, u-umm¡­"


    Kaley looked at Allyssa solemnly, "I''m sorry but you have to be able to answer a question like this if you wanna impress and most importantly, convince, your colleagues at your next quarterly meeting. We''re basically nobodies in front of you so that much should be nothing, right? I''m not trying to be mean, I just¡ª"


    "I-I¡­ First, all of you are trying to help me so you''re not nobodies but my benefactors¡­ A-And if we''re talking about the reason why I wanted to do this¡­ It''s¡­ It''s umm¡­ It''s to save this school from crumbling by itself because everyone''s pretending that there''s nothing wrong and continuing as is even though what''s happening right now is just the beginning of the end times."


    "Pretending? What do you mean?"


    "I mean¡­ It''s a show of strength to continue as is¡­ continuing sses, the worships, etc. but that doesn''t mean we ignore everything that''s happening outside. A good majority of the people that were here even before the world ended are¡­ As much as I hate to say this are damned f-frogs that jumped into the well and purposefully isted themselves from the rest of the world just because this ce could function on its ''own'' as it has been doing for decades and even now¡­"


    "..."


    "Even I''m guilty of this. Myte parents studied here and met one year after, getting together, graduating at the same time, and continuing on with their master''s and then their doctorates until they conceived me and led me on this path. I''ve been here since preschool and I''ve barely gone out even when I have the freedom to do so and most of my friends outside of this circle were the same and to bepletely honest with you¡­" Allyssa turned to me as she looked a little ashamed of what she was about to say next.


    "Go on, I''m already over it¡­" I said as I chuckled.


    She continued after looking down for a moment, "I¡­ I wasughing at your back and looking down on you when you decided to continue your life outside the campus because I thought that there was no ce better than here, and when you sent us that email? I thought for sure that you''ve lost your damn mind¡­ But when everything as you''ve said h-happened and shook the world to its core? I''ve never felt so much like an idiot but I felt so much worse when the university that I was so fucking proud of just raised its walls even more and continued like nothing''s happening¡­ I thought some changes were about to happen but nothing¡­"


    "..."


    "You see, the Academy extending its help and the university deciding to work together with them was already a surprise in itself but the changes I was hoping for ended with that. Don''t get me wrong, this ce has kept everyone safe since day one but it seems like what we''re trying to do was just to stay alive and continue on until He arrives to save us all. It''s the end times, right? He should be arriving soon and taking care of everything as He promised¡­"


    I was 100% prepared to gloat and start a different conversation but I stopped myself because it would just strain whatever we have further. Besides, they knew full well about the point I would be trying to get across so it''ll be better to listen for now.


    She continued though she looked more somber, "B-But enough about that¡­ The reason¡­ The reason I wanted to do this is to promote change for the better of everyone here¡­ E-Even if it''ll be so, so difficult¡­ incredibly difficult to convince our directors and elders to do something about our problem¡­ I just¡­ I just want to be proud of this ce once again and the reason I''m doing what I''m doing is it''s a shout into the abyss if I try to voice what I wanted to them out while being a nobody¡ªI mean, at least to their eyes¡­"


    With that said, Allyssa needed to take a minute topose herself while each of my friends in this circle looked a little conflicted.


    It''s not like they''ve given up on this ce was the reason they''ve epted my invitation but seeing Allyssa fight for something she had a low chance of achieving was plucking on their heartstrings.


    What Allyssa was trying to aplish was admirable in its own right but not to bring up more issues and topics that should''ve been non-existent the moment the world ended, a woman trying to get a major foothold in a university whose core values and beliefs were inclined to be on the other team she wasn''t on¡ªin the context of leadership or something simr¡ªwas as she said earlier, a shout in the deep, dark abyss even if she became a diamond under all that pressure.


    Sometimes¡ªno, almost always, people''s own beliefs¡ªmore so when it''s a huge collective¡ªcouldn''t be changed even if the world had ended, and said beliefs would be even more strengthened as time went on. It could both be a detriment or a boon depending on the circumstances but it''s obviously the former in my case and Allyssa''s.


    And to further support my statement, I didn''t even try to do anything drastic the moment we arrived here because even if I tried to attempt what Allyssa was trying to do, it''d be the same thing that happened when I gotughed at by the whole university.


    But yeah, Allyssa was definitely dead set on her decision to stay and fight it out to the bitter end, and what better way to support my friend and milk this ce for whatever it was worth was to give her something that could make waves and somehow disrupt the flow of things or even break the ce''s economy which was alsopletely useless anywhere else.


    To bepletely honest, the credit stored on my ID was just a bonus aside from discovering that all my friends who were here were still alive and we''ll see what she could do with that after we''re gone.


    I eventually let out a short exhale as I stood up and looked at Allyssa who looked like she had more weight on her shoulders, "Look, we''ll do it this way: I promise you that we''ll just go shopping for a bit and whatever''s left in this ID will be yours but do know that my offer for you and Ron still stands until we get back. We don''t have a prestigious university like this in our control but my people will be more epting of you and we most definitely need someone of your level if we were to keep everyone well-educated for, you know, if we''re talking about university standards because back home, our teachings are more of the practical side than the philosophical or even the theological side."


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Sure, we trickle a bit here and there but the overall structure is not present. In this ce, you''re gonna struggle hard¡ªharder than everyone else to be noticed by the head of the dragon while in my ce¡­ You could well possibly be the head of a Koi¡ªwait, no, that''s too bad aparison¡­ How about we use dragons in the Western setting?"


    "..."


    "Yep! Let''s do that. This ce is like an ancient dragon and you''re at the very end of it, not even sure if it''s going to budge but in my ce, it''ll be like in between an actual fully fledged dragon and a wyvern and you could be the one leading the pack to full evolution. I know I''m mixing up lore and fantasy mechanics and shit but you do get where I''m getting at, right?"


    Allyssa let out a dry chuckle, "Unfortunately, yes¡­"


    "Good enough! So yeah, before we leave, I''ll transfer what''s left of the twenty-thousand¡ª"


    Andy straight up lost his mind, "WHAT?! TWENTY¡ª YOU SAID, TWENTY¡­ AND THOUSAND?! TWENTY-THOUSAND?! BRO! CAN YOU GIVE A THOUSAND¡ª NO, FIVE HUNDRED WILL BE REAL NICE AND I''LL MAKE SURE TO MAKE IT WORTH YOUR WHILE WHEN YOU TAKE ME IN!"


    I replied with a straight face, "Oh? Really? Then you don''t want one of our spare guns? Alright¡ª"


    Then Andy just straight-up fainted on the spot while foaming in the mouth and having a seizure or an epileptic episode before springing back to life in a few seconds like nothing happened.


    It was a bizarre sight as any but looking back at Allyssa, she looked like the other option I gave her was another ton of worries to consider because it''s as good an option as any and those two choices were life-altering.


    Everyone who knew her knew that she''dmit to anything she set her sights on 100% but she was also a realist in the sense that she was able to step back and think about things more thoroughly and had the courage to stoppletely or find other ways about the objectives she was working on.


    But it''s just that before we came in, she only had one path to take and it''s life-or-death and now, her confidence and convictions were wavering and she waspletely aware of that going on in real time.


    ''Now, what will you do?''

 Chapter 904 Risk And Rizz

    ?


    At this moment, Allyssa was at a loss about which path to take from the fork I presented to her but I broke off the tension when I pointed at the clock which was 15 minutes to 7:30 AM.


    "Earliest ss is quite close, no? Or they changed the time¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª It''s that time already?! Where''s my¡ª ARGH! I''ll eat on the way! Ron get me my¡ª Thanks! I need to take a quick shower before¡ª"


    It was a littleical to see Allyssa scramble for her things but she stopped in her tracks when she was about to run past me by the door.


    "Umm¡­"


    I just let out a faint smile as I took another sip of coffee, "You got plenty of time, alright? Always trust your gut."


    She looked at me momentarily before looking on the ground and eventually walking past me as she muttered, "I-I know¡­ I''ll have an answer by then."


    "Great."


    With that said, we have a few hours to kill before departure and I chose to divvy up a few tasks among the crew so they get to sightsee for a bit if they wanted to take some pictures like Lucas and JP. However, in order for some of the tasks to bepleted, an ID like mine was required so I also asked my friends to apany them because they pretty much had nothing else to do.


    But aside from Andy who was even willing to go to lengths just to get his own firearm, Ben and Cass looked a little miffed because it seemed like this was one of the few days off they had to be together.


    I rolled my eyes at the two who looked like they definitely fucked the whole night away, "Can''t you just give me your IDs?! I can transfer a few hundred in each of them so my guys could go for errands."


    Cass looked a little worried, "Who''s gonna hold mine? Once you apply to transfer your credits over to ours, word wille out that you have thousands upon thousands of credits and it''ll be crazy¡ª"


    "We''ll be fine, don''t worry¡ª"


    "It''s not you we are worried about, it''s us! Word will definitely spread that I have hundreds of credits in my ID and I''ll be hounded by people for scraps and whatnot! Some might even steal it from me!"


    I waved her off, "Don''t worry, I''ll handle it. As long as they''re not the president, the elders, or the directors, I''ll be able to work a deal around them. Besides, I can just send them some too like shush credits or something. Right?"


    Cass shook her head as she let out a sigh, "You rich people and your ways to spend them¡­"


    "So, can I borrow yours?"


    "Fine¡­"


    With that said, our first stop was one of the oldest buildings in the university and its main purpose was to process students'' enrollments, billing, transfers, etc. though some rooms were still used as ssrooms or offices for tutoring, meetings, and some club activities.


    It was pretty obvious that we caused quite amotion when we drove in with our convoy but I didn''t pay them much of a mind when I fell in line at the window that processes students'' credits with four IDs in hand.


    I was right next to this freshman-looking kid who for some reason was shaking in his boots but I just gave him a faint smile as Kaley and Andy caught up to me.


    "Why''d you go here on your own? You said you''d show me around more, right? This building looks old¡­ and smells old¡­"


    "Ah. Sorry, I''m so used to walking around alone here that I just went straight for the¡ª"


    Andy cut in, "Dude, I love the attention we''re getting but this is crazy! Everyone''s looking at you, dude! You''re like a rockstar over here!"


    "Really? I didn''t notice¡­"


    "I didn''t notice, my ass¡ª you''re always like this, you know? Always oblivious about the best parts of youth!"


    Kaley scoffed in agreement, "Trust me, he seems to be not that oblivious but the Mimi thing happened and it started all over again¡­"


    "Hah! I was told, I was told¡­ You two¡­ You''re together, right? Maaan~ I love Mimi to death but you two, you two are just like *chefs kiss* I dunno the right word but it works! Really~ really~ works!"


    ''I guess he wasn''t told about the rest that happened after that¡­ goodness gracious¡­''


    Kaley let out a smile, "Thank you! That''s really nice to say!"


    Andy scratched the back of his head, "Maaan~ I guess everyone''s looking over at you too, huh? You model or something? Ah¡ª I don''t wanna sound like I''m hitting on you or anything it''s just I just say what''s on my mind¡ª"


    Kaley started chuckling, "No worries, I''ll take that as apliment."


    In any case, it didn''t take long before it was our turn in the line and as it usually was, a working student would be manning this station and they''d always look so grateful the first year then would look like a certain squid that was a cashier in a fast food joint who knows how to y a r, mostly.


    And at this moment, it looked like we were being served by a sophomore who looked like she still had more life than most working students.


    She looked surprised from seeing me, "U-Umm¡­ H-How can I help you?"


    I let out a smile to ease some of the tension, "Hi, I''m an alumnus but I still have leftover credits from when I used to be here¡ª"


    "Oh! No worries, we get that every time. What year?" Her eyes had a certain twinkle in them as she looked at me.


    "2014."


    "2014?! Wow~ That''s a¡­ No worries, the university guarantees that it''s still possible to use them even if it''s from the 90s, the 80s, or whichever year we were established. So¡­ are you nning to use them for something right now or¡ª"


    I cut her off as I leaned close, "You see¡­ Umm¡­ I may have a few more credits than normal, as I was told¡­ so¡­ c-can I please¡­ please ask you to remain calm and keep this transaction a little discreet and if you do¡­ I''ll be d to share some of them with you¡­ Is that fine?"


    She suddenly looked over her shoulder before looking back at me, "U-Umm¡ª"


    I leaned even closer as I looked her straight in the eye, "Can I ask what''s your name?"


    "U-U-Ummm¡­ My name¡­ I-It''s Gabrie¡­ B-But you can call me G-Gab or E-E¡­"


    As this was happening, Andy had already moved out of the line tough his ass out while Kaley was giving me love taps with her elbow because it seemed like I was rizzing the fuck out of this attendant. However, if that was what it would take for her to keep quiet, I''d go along with it for as long as it would take despite the cringe going through my whole body.


    I smiled brightly as I kept direct eye contact, "How about Gabby? That sounds cuter, right?"


    "Y-You saying I''m cute?" She blushed for a short bit as she cutely made her long eyelids flutter.


    ''Oh god, the fuck am I doing with my life? Fuck it¡­''


    I chuckled, "Maybe? I can''t stop looking at those eyes of yours¡­"


    Gabby just started to get redder and redder, "U-U-Umm¡­ A-About that ID of yours¡ª"


    "Oh! Right! I almost forgot¡­ I would very much like your assistance in transferring 30% of my remaining bnce evenly to these other IDs. I have the letters required for the two of them and one of the owners is here with me to confirm. Is that okay?"


    She calmed down for a little bit, "Oh! If you''re the owner of the ID that we''d take from, you don''t need the other IDs present. Only the other way around¡ª"


    "Oh~ I see! I didn''t know that! Thanks!"


    "Y-You''re very much w-wee¡­" Gabby smiled as she started to twirl her side bangs as she kept on stealing nces at me, "Oh! But I''ll n-need your ID first so¡ª"


    "Here," I smiled as I handed it over to her.


    "Thank you, M-Mr. Ishi¡ª You''re Sky Ishiyama?! YOU¡ª"


    Before Gabby started to get even more hysterical, I probably morphed my face to try and tell her to keep it down. I probably got close to beating Jim Carrey with the number of facial contractions I tried to get my point across and luckily enough, we only got weird looks due to me looking like I was begging for scraps from their point of view.


    But yeah, it took her a few moments to calm herself down but she almost had a heart attack when she swiped my ID on their scanner and saw the numbers on her monitor.


    "A-A-Ah¡ª"


    I tried to remind her about our deal once again, "Keep it on the down low, alright?"


    Gabby was shaking as she muttered under her breath, "F-Fifty¡ª"


    I thought I heard wrong as I leaned over and whispered, "Fif¡ª You mean around t-twenty, right?"


    Then she twisted her small monitor and showed me the number 5 right next to four other random numbers, "T-Then what am I seeing r-right now?!"


    "What the fu¡ª"


    "You have no idea you have this much on your¡ª"


    At this point, it seemed like we garnered more attention than I would''ve because one of the older employees who was also a teacher of some sort approached with the oh-so-evesting Karen persona:


    "Why''s this transaction taking too long?! You''re¡ª" then she stoppedpletely when she saw what I had on the monitor, "A-Ah¡ª Stay right there, I''m calling the director¡­ Hannes! Hannes! DIAL THE DIRECTOR IMMEDIATELY!"


    ''Fuck!''

 Chapter 905 Director Celestre - Apologies

    ?


    For some reason, I very much felt like I was in trouble even though Gabby did mention that they''d still ept the processing of credits we had even before the world ended but yeah, I had more than double the actual credits I thought I had in my ount.


    However, I know full well that I haven''t done anything wrong so I confidently followed thedy with Gabby to the Director''s office.


    The office was just as I remembered back then though the Director''s name that was carved in the marble thingamajig on the table was now different.


    ''It would''ve been easier if it was the one I knew¡­''


    In any case, Gabby looked like she was this close to having a panic attack while the Karen¡ªnot her real name yet¡ªwas eyeing me like I hacked their system and funneled funds into my ount like a fucking idiot.


    It was because this Hannes guy gave her a printout of some sort and it seemed like it contained multiple transactions of different people on the campus, whether they were students, faculty, or even just residents, giving me random donations all throughout the year.


    I shook my head in disbelief, "Excuse me, but I just arrived here yesterday and¡ª"


    "QUIET! We''ll wait for the director and¡ª"


    "No. YOU shut the fuck up," I said in the politest way I could.


    "E-Excuse me?! You dare¡ª"


    "Bitch, you do know I can fucking lop your head off or empty the whole mag of my pistol in your empty fucking head if I so wanted so don''t use me of shit I didn''t do."


    "...!"


    ''Damn, that felt so~ fucking good¡­''


    I continued as I released the tiniest bit of pressure to envelop the whole office, "If you want receipts, I have receipts. I made copies of everything as I could the moment I could use a scanner and I can assure you I have more or less twenty-thousand credits in my ount!"


    She smirked like she caught me in a lie, "Then why do you have fifty¡ª"


    "That was what I was about to exin to you before you cut me off, you budget Mrs. Jennifer Coolidge!"


    She was just so fucking confused, "W-What Mrs¡ª Don''t talk to me like that! Don''t you have any manners?!"


    It took everything for me to not break her head open on the table, "Manners? Why? Just because you''re older than me? For the record, I do have them but it should go both ways. You made me walk into this office and start to piece in your head that I did something wrong even without checking out the facts and gathering evidence like you''re supposed to. Why? Is it the tattoos? The gun? My katana? What is it, huh?"


    Before I could say anymore, the new Director came in and took his seat and Washboard Bimbo#1 hurriedly gave him the ''evidence'' against me.


    But yeah, it looked like Gabby was the one who did something wrong because she had shrunk down and was covered in sweat while I was mad-dogging the fuck out of the new challenger.


    He didn''t seem to pay much of a mind as to what I was doing to him because he was more focused on checking the pages and pages of my transaction history.


    "Hmm¡­"


    "D-Director?" The bitch incarnate tried to call out to him.


    "..."


    "U-Umm¡­ Director?"


    "Hmmm¡­"


    "E-Excuse me, Director¡ª"


    The Director suddenly ced the evidence down before taking off his sses, "Jillian, can you please take Ms. Gabrie with you and¡ª"


    Her face suddenly lit up as she cut in, "S-So did he really hack into the system? This rude¡ª"


    He suddenly cut her off with a re, "Jillian. I''m asking you a simple favor so I can talk with our Guest of Honor¡­ Can you do something as simple as that?!"


    She couldn''t believe what she was hearing, "B-But Director¡ª"


    "Out! Don''t embarrass me any more than you did by calling off¡ª ugh¡­ just get out¡­"


    At this moment, I couldn''t believe the bitch-ass would be the one receiving the talking to but I had to protect my new acquaintance because I''m pretty sure she''d get reprimanded for doing nothing as well.


    I cut in, "Excuse me?"


    The Director turned to me with a certain level of attentiveness and with a totally different expression, "Yes, young man?"


    "Can Gabby¡ª I mean Gabrie stay for the moment so she won''t get yelled out when they go out and can I call you Mr. Celestre?"


    He nodded in kind as he smiled, "Alright. She can stay and you can call me whatever you want," then he nced momentarily at this Jillian fellow before mouthing, "Out."


    As soon as the door closed behind her, she started yelling at the poor Hannes fellow before it slowly faded and it didn''t take long before Mr. Celestre was just looking at me as a whole(?) if that ever meant anything.


    It was quiet for a minute or two but I had to break the ice because I had ces to go.


    "I''m sorry but if we''re just gonna try and read each others'' minds¡ª"


    Mr. Celestre chuckled as he waved me down, "I''m sorry, I didn''t actually think it was you."


    "You know me?"


    "Yeah¡ª We all do in name, but¡ª" he cut himself off before he looked like he was trying to choose his words carefully, "You see¡­"


    "Mr. Celestre, I''d appreciate it more if you''d be straight and blunt with me, even add a curse here and there¡­ Because I find those people more trustworthy and honest¡­ no offense if you want to keep kissing your mother with that mouth."


    He tried to hold in aughter as he smiled, "Alright, I''ll try to be cool? Is that even the word for it? We''ll go with that, shall we? In any case, it seemed like our clerks were a little surprised about the amount of credits stored in your ount but upon further inspection from yours truly, everything checks out."


    "Huh? It should''ve¡ª"


    "You don''t understand¡ª"


    I tried to prompt a reaction, "Then enlighten me."


    He just let out the same smile, "Very well¡­ As not to waste your precious time anymore, let''s just say that these transfers were all legit to the point that if we dragged all of them here to confirm whether they sent five credits to you or a hundred, they''ll probably send you more if they see you in the flesh."


    "And why is that?"


    "To put it in a single word: guilt."


    "Guilt?"


    "Yes¡­ and to find another word for it¡­ It''s for an apology¡­ I''m pretty sure the only receiver of the Solomon''s Wisdom Award can still remember that awful thing the university did to a certain individual who just wanted to warn everybody of the end of times yet everyone denounced him as one would a false prophet im they were a son of God or God himself."


    "..."


    "Mr. Ishiyama?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Still, thirty-thousand credits were still a bit much, no? Isn''t a thousand or so credits enough to send waves around campus?"


    "Ah¡­ Well, it didn''te evenly from everybody, I might say¡­ a-and for what it''s worth, the President, Dr. Ganoba, personally sent you¡ª no, doubled your credits because we had no way of sending our apology over to where you were at the time. We do know a credit or two is enough to live for a day but the life given to us by The Almighty is more important than that. If it wasn''t for you, more lives would''ve been lost and taken away by the enemy. For that, anyone who wanted to say their thanks and apologies did it in the form of sending you whatever they could at the time, and by God''s grace, He made it so that you''d be able to see it when you miraculously found your way back to us and¡ª"


    I tried my best not to roll my eyes and go on a spiel in case they take it all away if they knew about my current rtionship with his holiness, "I would love to hear more about that some other time but what I wanted to know right now is if I can still use ALL of them and if Gabby here can transfer some of them to my friends?"


    He nodded with a smile, "O-Of course! Then¡ª"


    I returned his smile before I stood up, "Then we''re done here, right?"


    "O-Of course," he nodded again before he turned to Gabby, "Ms. Gabrie, kindly guide Mr. Ishiyama to your station, and if you may do so with a little expedience, help him with his concerns the best way you can. Understood?"


    Gabby shakily nodded as she stood up and bowed to Mr. Celestre, "O-Of course, Director¡ª"


    "Oh. I''m also concerned about what Jillian might do to you so why don''t you take the rest of the day off or whatever and transfer a couple hundred of credits to your ount."


    "D-Director?!"


    "Take it from mine, no worries."


    "U-Umm¡ª T-Thank you, Director!"


    He let out another smile, "You''re very much wee! Go on then~"


    ''Well that was easy¡­''


    I was just about to open the door in front of us but Mr. Celestre left me some final words:


    "Mr. Ishiyama¡­ We¡­ We really are sorry for what we did to you¡­ If there''s anything¡ª"


    I cut him off before it became too sappy for my taste, "Yeah? You sure about that? Well~ Let''s just say that if another one like me tries to ruffle some feathers or suggest some changes and whatnot¡­ Why don''t you hear them out for once or check out or examine what they can do for the better of the university so there''s no repeat of what happenedst time?"


    "..."


    "Not everything''s a good idea but shutting everything down like what one of your clerks did to me even without knowing the full story is not up to the university''s standards, no?"


    "Of course¡ª" He was about to let out one of his smiles but I cut him off once again.


    "I know that it''s disrespectful to tell someone else how to do their job but they also got to stop and think why the other person risked offending someone by doing that, no? They could simply be an asshole like 90% of the time but what if the actual system is failing and some changes are needed to be done? Trust me¡ª no, trust myte parents who were guilty of the fact that they blindly trusted something that was working for decades and counting and they only realizedte and lost a few things that are important."


    "May I ask¡ª"


    "No, sorry. You''re grown adults, you gotta experience it firsthand or should be aware of it years ago."

 Chapter 906 Some Final Shit To Get Over With - Not The Biggus Dickus!

    ?


    As soon as I said that, I left the Director''s room and walked back with Gabby to where Kaley and Andy were leaning on. It was the window where Gabby was stationed though the people were in a different window now because it opened another one to cater to them unlike certain fast food joints or certain stores that only had one cashier open to serve their customers.


    But as we were about to wave at the two, I felt someone jumping on my back and I kind of confirmed who it was through the color of the hair strands that went past my peripheral vision.


    "Hi~! So, what are you guys up to?"


    "Chloe? I thought you said you''d attend sses after we drop you off¡ª"


    "Eh~ Ran out of uniforms¡ªI mean, clean uniforms to wear. I tossed all of them to the washing machine tho, they''ll be done in a bit."


    "Huh."


    "What are they gonna do? Deduct some credits? I have plenty!"


    Then Mimi joined the fray. She came from the other side and stood by Kaley and Andy so I walked over to them while Chloe was still clinging on my back.


    Mimi looked at me as she smiled, "Hey, I''m back! Jesus just drove me from the hospital to get my things¡ª"


    I smiled as I put my hand out, "Great! C''mon, hand your ID over," then I tried to look at Chloe who still refused to climb down, "You too! I just caught a windfall, I''ll be treating you two as well."


    Mimi looked at me sideways, "Why? I''ming with you when youe back, right?"


    I chuckled as I insisted, "You know some good people over here that needs a little pick-me-up, right? I couldn''t possibly meet them all and talk all day so why don''t you do the honors for me?"


    "T-That''s very nice of you, actually¡­" Mimi smiled as she was already tearing up, "Okay! I-I''ll do my best to try and give everyone what they need!"


    Then Chloe cut in, "And you''re giving me some, too?"


    "Yeah? You can buy anything you want¡ª"


    She climbed down from me and looked away, "I-I''m sick of all the things here¡­"


    "Ah¡ª Then¡­ Do you want something from the outside? It''s not a guarantee but we''ll keep an eye out if¡ª"


    "R-Really?! Then c-can you look for some nice clothes?! Oh! Wait¡ª"


    Kaley cut in while pointing at Gabby who was just standing behind me, "Guys, we can talk about thatter¡­ Ms. Gabby''s been waiting for us the whole time¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª N-No! It''s alright, actually¡­ I was gifted a lot of credits and a day off so don''t mind me," Gabby said as she waved us off.


    In any case, I still collected Mimi and Chloe''s IDs¡ªjust so Gabby could see what ID Number she''d put the credits in¡ªthen I asked her to put exactly two thousand credits in the five IDs I gave her. Furthermore, I also gave her five hundred credits¡ªmuch to her surprise¡ªjust because.


    Gabby couldn''t hide how happy she was and after all the transfers were done, she promptly returned all of our IDs and gave us a bow as we said our goodbyes.


    At this moment, it was time to divvy up the errands I would like everyone to run and they were divided as such:


    First and foremost, I gave Andy his ID back so he could procure some gas and some time to rent a generator and one of the privately owned cell sites in the residential areas. It was so he could install and power up one of our upgraded rys that had a direct connection to na, our resident hacker.


    na could easily ess one of my public servers at home to transfer all of the books we collected so far but it would still take a bit of time because it was still not as fastpared to the speed we had before the world ended.


    And yeah, I could''ve made Andy''s life easier by making him go through the university''smunications station and buy some time for use of their towers, but powering it up would need more juice and I don''t want the people here to know of na''s existence yet. Furthermore, I don''t want Allyssa getting showed up by the people stationed at the station by getting around Andy and procuring their own copies, so in the end, it was much better to be a little discreet about the situation.


    Secondly, I gave Seb Cass'' ID so he could take the rest of the cadets to the university''s general store which had anything from vegan food products, clothes, and farm tools¡ªI mean, it''s a general store so pretty much anything and everything was in it aside from ''sinful'' items like alcohol, drugs, firearms, meat, caffeine, etc.


    I asked them to pick up food items that wouldst a bit of time than normal¡ªand some seasonings if they ever had any¡ªand water to fill up our containers,stly, if they saw anything they took an interest in, they''d be free to buy it with the ID I gave them. But yeah, if the total did go over two thousand, they should contact me first and wait for me to add more credits to the ID I gave them.


    Ruben was scratching his head as I was giving them instructions, "U-Umm¡­"


    "Problem?"


    "Ah¡ª Not exactly but everything in here is supposed to be fresh, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "So, at most¡­ the ones in their store wouldst only a few days¡ª"


    "Not exactly. They do have dried fruits and vegetables¡ªI personally rmend the dried mangoes, and yeah," I said as I turned to Mimi, "We still have vegan jerky, right?"


    Mimi nodded as she was amused by the cadets'' confusion, "Of course¡ª Oh! I''d rmend the vege-tapa jerky if they have some in stock and if you''re looking for good seasonings look for the packs of mushroom powder at the bottom shelf or I''d rmend the university''s allspice though they always are sold out."


    Megan chimed in, "Can we also try the carrot juice and the soy drinks?"


    Mimi''s eyes lit up, "They''re really good for you! You should try them!"


    I nodded, "If you''re not that picky about the taste but just buy enough for today¡­ It wouldn''tst long on the road."


    "O-Okay! Everyone set?"


    "Let''s go~"


    "Guys, I promise you, there''s this huge pair of penguin statues by that store! We just forgot to take a picture with it!"


    "Yeah, yeah~"


    With that said, the final ID to be handed over was given to Jesus and his crew and the task I was meaning to give them was a little special and a little personal.


    It wouldn''t mean as much to any other person at the moment but if they were sessful in getting that special something for me, I''d definitely be fucking grateful.


    Jesus thought I was punking him, "You¡­ You want me to get this?"


    I nodded with delight, "Yep!"


    "Dude, we have tons of this in¡ª"


    "Nope! Not that one. I really~ really~ want you to bring that one in particr by the school entrance. Bonus points if you manage to convince the owner toe with you."


    "Okay?"


    "You should probably bring Jose and Isaac with you as a front man¡ªno offense coz you know, tattoos and shit¡ª"


    "I get it, I get it¡­ But where are you guys going?"


    "Umm¡­" I nced at Kaley and the rest momentarily before he cut me off.


    "Forget I asked, see yater~" Jesus just shook his head as he chuckled before he led his group away.


    With that said, my goal was to head to the hospital and somehow get a general idea of their current situation and finally unburden Mrs. Lopez with Mr. Lopez because from what Mimi told me and what Chloe added to her statement, their situation was more than fucking spicy and I couldn''t wait to see Lopez''s reaction when we drove in with his daughter.


    But yeah, we took a detour for some more personal reasons, and we ended up in a ce where certain types of machines were running in bursts after small adjustments.


    Mimi was confused as fuck as to why we drove into this ce while Chloe didn''t take long for her to realize what Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn were smiling about.


    Chloe leaned in from the back, "It''s a sex thing, right?"


    I didn''t even try to lie, "Yep. It''s their idea though, not mine..."


    "Sure~ Oh! Do you want me to wear mine, next time?"


    "Next time?"


    "Yeah! Once you guys... you know..."


    Mimi cut in, "Why would you need clothes for having s-sex?"


    Quinn cackled as loud as she could, "You''re so innocent, it''s adorable~"


    "I-I''m not! It''s an h-honest question, alright?!"


    Tatiana added, "You see, Mimi, asking that question is already proof. Don''t worry, you''ll learn more soon enough¡­"


    Mimi tried to go down swinging, "I-I know more than what you think, alright?! I even know about b-blowjobs and a-anal¡­"


    "HAH! SHE SAID¡ª AS IF THAT''S¡ª HAHAHAHA!"


    "MIMI, STOP! YOU''RE GONNA MAKE ME WANT TO EAT YOU UP!"


    "U-Umm¡ª" Mimi never looked so panicked as she turned to us, "H-Help?"


    Kaley waved the two down, "Don''t tease her, alright? She was really great yesterday¡­" then Kaley turned to me, "So¡­ Do we just go in or do we have to¡ª"


    Mimi answered while she was pouting cutely, "W-We can just go in¡­"


    Chloe tried to cheer her up as she turned to Kaley, "You can tailor our professors'' clothing here too since they also have the standard uniforms on disy. Don''t worry about the sizes¡­ They have ready-made ones but they can do customs after checking your measurements first¡­ Because you know¡­" she trailed as she nced at Quinn for a moment, "P-Peoplee here w-with big¡­ h-huge¡­ r-ridiculous s-sizes¡­ and they''d make youfortable with it and they do it pretty fast!"


    Quinn smiled even more, "That''s what I''m talking about! I barely have enough clothes that fit! Tailor-made is the way to go unless I want to air them out in the open¡­"


    Chloe then asked something she''d lose a few years of her life, "Quinn¡­ I-If you don''t mind me asking¡­ H-How¡­ U-Umm¡­ B-Big are they? I-If you don''t mind?"


    Quinn scratched the side of her cheek as she gave herself a squeeze, "I''m not really sure¡­ It''s been a while since I''ve checked¡­"


    "Ah¡­ But¡ª"


    Quinn squeezed herself another time, "But yeah, thest time I measured them¡­ I was around 46KK but now it feels like I''m 48NN¡­ somewhere around that ballpark¡­"


    ''Probably where she got her nickname¡­''


    Hearing that thought in my head made me do it, "Ah, so that''s why you don''t call yourself Quikk but Quinn¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­."


    "Thanks, Tatiana! You''re the breast¡ª I mean, best¡ª Ah! Ow! WHY¡ª Help! HAAALP! NOT THE JEWELS! NOT THE JEWELS! I STILL WANT TO HAVE KIDS! AHHHHHHHHHH!!! STOP! MY SCAPULA! MY BIGGUS DICKUS¡ª AHHHHH!!!"


    In any case, let''s just say I got beat up for saying the worst dad jokes I could think of at the moment and I was tasked with guarding the truck while thedies went in and got their clothes made for them.


    I had to down a painkiller or two because they somehow hit harder than usual but it was well deserved and well fucking worth it.

 Chapter 907 Chloe And Dr. Lopez

    ?


    Only a few minutes had passed when I saw Chloe jauntily skipping away as she made her way towards the vehicle. And since the windows were a little tinted, she had to lean in by the passenger''s side window first to see where I was. But before she could even knock, I unlocked the door for her which she excitedly opened, and she let herself in and closed the door before looking at me a certain way.


    Turns out, she asked Kaley for permission to keep me ''entertained'' while they were busy getting their clothes tailored so we quickly made our way to the backseat as we ''entertained'' each other.


    But yeah, she didn''t know what she signed up for after she had her way with me because when I had my way with her, let''s just say she needed a change of underwear and probably some water and electrolytes¡ªmaybe even a full meal¡ªto replenish herself. Furthermore, it was pretty obvious she lost feeling in her legs but the way she was smiling as we were making our way to the hospital was making everyone else a little regretful they stayed the whole hour inside the tailoring shop.


    Mimi turned to Chloe before we exited the vehicle, "C-Comb your hair! You don''t want your mom to notice¡ª"


    Chloe shook her head but still pulled out ab from her pocket, "I doubt she will, but alright~"


    Mimi handed over her hair tie to Chloe then turned to us four, "Before I forget, the hospital doesn''t allow deadly weapons of any kind inside so you can either leave them here or by the guards. It''s your choice."


    Quinn and Tatiana spoke up at the same time, "I''ll stay here./I''m not going in there¡­"


    I nced at the two as I removed the visible deadly weapons from my war belt though Ipletely removed my chest rig, "Take care of these, alright?" then I turned to Kaley, "Youing?"


    "Yep," Kaley nodded as she began to remove the same things I did.


    On any other day, I would''ve left my hidden knives in my belt, my shoes, etc. but seeing the guards were only using a piece of a drumstick to check everyone''s bags and whatnot, I decided to bring them with me just in case. They had this scanner thingamajigs by the entrances but I guess other things had more priority when ites to electricity.


    However, once Kaley pulled the hidden knife on her belt and the ones hidden in the heels of her shoes, Mimi gave me this particr re that made me droop my head low, making me unarm myself while looking at Kaley a certain way.


    And yeah, the look on Kaley''s face told me that she definitely fucked up and was definitely embarrassed but I just shook my head and dryly chuckled as I smacked her butt and went on a few steps ahead of everybody.


    The university''s hospital had seven floors and two basement floors in total, andpared to the other buildings the university had, it looked to be the most brand-new and where more of the funds were directed at because it was right next to our huge-ass gate where the two could act as ''covers'' because let''s face it, almost everyone judges a book by its cover.


    But yeah, the apocalypse hadn''t been kind to our hospital as well¡ªthe offline scanners, for example¡ªbut I noticed that the cameras were still working though the little devil in my headughed at the thought of what could''ve happened on the patients on life support. It was one of the darkest jokes I''ve thought of in a while but I''m pretty sure that whatever was the decision made for them, the ones who kept them alive were either loaded with credits or were being bled dry every single day.


    In any case, getting inside wasn''t an issue¡ªbecause ady guard was present to check Kaley, Mimi, Chloe, and the other women that would enter¡ªbut I was still given judgy looks when they saw the tattoo sleeve on my arm.


    But Kaley nudged me almost immediately, wearing a faint smile, "Don''t worry about them, want me to get a small one just to spite them next time?"


    Mimi followed, "I-I''d have one too but I''m scared of n-needles poking my skin¡­"


    Then Chloe came in and whispered, "You took something much bigger, no?"


    "B-Bigger? What¡ª Oh¡ª OH! Chloeee~! Nooo~ we don''t talk about that here! S-Stop teasing me!"


    At that moment, Mimi was once again red through her neck as she tried to bury her face in my sides, but right as everyone was having a good time, Chloe wentpletely silent as she nced at a familiar figure by the waiting area. Furthermore, she put up the hoodie she was wearing as she stood behind me, and she motioned for us to use a different passage that would bypass the waiting area.


    I took one look at the person annoying one of the hospital staff and discovered that it was Lopez, and as much as I wanted him to lose his head just from seeing us walk in with Chloe, I figured it was a bad move at this point and judging by Chloe''s reaction from seeing him, it was a really, really bad move at this point.


    Mimi looked concerned, "What''s wrong? Oh, it''s just your dad, right? He''s just here to see you¡ª"


    Chloe replied with apletely dismissive tone, "I don''t wanna see him right now, no. C-Can we just¡ª We can walk inside the emergency room since Mimi''s with us then there''s a door there that would lead to my Mom''s office¡ª W-What are we doing here again?"


    I replied, "We''re here to see your mom actually¡ª"


    "Wait, why?"


    I just shook my head as I held her arm with one hand and ced my arm on Mimi''s shoulder then moved forward, "We''ll talk on the way, your bitch-ass dad looked like he hasn''t slept a wink¡­ If I could just leave him here I could but there''s consequences¡ª"


    Kaley followed while she was covering Chloe''s frame with her body, "Quick! Quick! He almost saw us!"


    In any case, we quickly made our way to the emergency room and we were easily let in because they saw Mimi with us, and we easily passed two more doors before we were in the clear and in one of the main wings of the hospital.


    It seemed to not be as busy as I thought it would but Chloe quickly made her way to one of the nurses she recognized and I could hear most of their conversation.


    "H-Hi! I''m¡ª"


    "Chloe, what are you doing here? Looking for your mom, Dr. Lopez?"


    Chloe had never looked so demure, "Yes, actually¡­ I-Is she busy or¡ª"


    "You''re in luck, she just finished her rounds and is probably in her office."


    "G-Great! Oh, has she eaten yet? She''s pretty tired, right? H-How much are those cinnamon rolls and¡ª"


    The nurse just smiled at her gently, "Just get one for you and your mom, no worries. Mrs. Edna baked them, a little stale but it''s still pretty good! You can heat them in the microwave in her office."


    "C-Can I make her s-some coffee too¡ª Wait, she should sleep¡­ Can I make her some tea or some hot milk or something first?"


    "Of course, dear. I hate to leave you on your own but I gotta see this patient¡ª"


    "O-Oh! No worries! I''m with my friends! T-Thank you!"


    "Oh? Alright, then. See youter, Chloe. Bye~"


    At this point, we eventually loomed over her and helped ourselves to the "free" food offered to us but I started to ruffle her hair as I was smiling at her. But yeah, she instantly tried to move away from me but since her hands were full, some of the strands were covering her face as she was cutely ring at me.


    "W-Why''d you do that for?!" she eximed as she tried to fix her hair by blowing on it helplessly.


    I chuckled, "You really love your mom, huh?"


    "N-No, I don''t¡­"


    "If you say so~ Just don''t get mad for too long. You only have one mom in your life, remember that¡­" I said solemnly.


    "O¡­ O-Okay¡­"


    At that moment, Chloe was a little taken aback by my words and my expression but she motioned us to follow behind her while she was carrying a te of pastries and a warm cup of milk. She looked rather happy that her mom finally had some time to rest and she even peeked through the small ss partition before trying to open the door with her butt.


    In any case, I took it upon myself to open the door as slowly as possible, and from the way Chloe and Mimi were acting, it seemed like the person sleeping soundly on the sofa was Dr. Lopez, Chloe''s Mom.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    But yeah, it had never been quiet at this point because now, we were just watching Chloe''s Mom sleep and it was bordering on being¡ªno, it''s super creepy. And I did have some business with her but I''m pretty sure that not only Chloe and Mimi but also Kaley would get mad at me if I tried to wake her up.


    So we ended up watching her sleep for several minutes.


    ''Chloe definitely got her looks from her Mom though¡­ Thank the fucking divines¡­''


    However, it didn''t take long before her pager jolted her awake, and she almost fell t on her face as she tried to look for it, but she turned it off after looking at the small message it had. It looked to be something minor, judging from her expression, but everyone could see the tiredness in her eyes and after that, she tried to massage her back as much as she could reach by her shoulder.


    ''Why''s no one speaking?'' I thought to myself as I nced at Chloe and the rest.


    But at that point, Dr. Lopez got up and slowly stretched without noticing us and she walked over to her table and pulled out a "device", a certain device made of silicone that was powered by batteries for "massages" and some "probing". But once she licked the tip of it, turned it on, and was about to go "downtown", all hell broke loose.


    Chloe was red through her neck and eyes so fucking wide as shouted at the top of her lungs, "MOM! STOP! W-WE''RE HERE!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 908 Chaos - I Just Laid Down...

    ?


    In a matter of FUCKING seconds, security guards busted open Dr. Lopez''s door but all they saw was a group of people staring at each other, shocked to fuck, but my attention was somece else.


    You see, as Dr. Lopez screamed for her dear life, her little¡ªno, her moderately-sized "device" flew up in the air and got stuck in the ceiling¡ªwobbling and shit¡ªand god knows how much longer it would be there because of the weight of said "device".


    And if it fell, it would most definitelynd either on the table or on Dr. Lopez''s head, and it was just a bloody concussion waiting to happen.


    One of the guards finally spoke up after the brief silence, "W-What''s going on here?! Dr. Lopez, are you okay?! We heard a scream and¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez quickly snapped back to reality as she red at the guards and shooed them away, "I-It''s nothing! I was just s-surprised by my d-daughter and her friends! W-We''re fine! We''re totally fine! Carry on! Carry on!"


    "O-Okay, d-doctor¡­" the guard said as he turned to his colleagues, "False rm, get back to your stations¡­"


    As the guards gave us a brief look before they excused themselves, we were once again back in an intense and awkward staredown but it got even worse when the fucking dildo dropped down and miraculouslynded on the table like a weird fucking version of the bottle flip challenge.


    It was so fucking hard to keep a straight face as Dr. Lopez looked like she was about to kill us while the dildo was wobbling left to right like a metronome, but it didn''t end there when Lopez¡ªthe one I fucking hate¡ªbust through the door and knelt down.


    "HONEY! YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME! I''M SO SORRY¡ª WHA¡ª WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"


    As I saw Lopez''s reaction, I felt like I burst a vein somewhere in my head because I wanted to fuckingugh so bad but I couldn''t. It was just one unbelievable thing after the other but what seemed like another fight between the husband and wife ensued.


    "WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE?! DIDN''T I TELL YOU THAT I WOULDN''T LISTEN TO YOUR LIES ANYMORE?!"


    Lopez didn''t know which topic to tackle first as he turned to his wife with a difficult expression, "H-HONEY! YOU GOTTA UNDERSTAND¡ª"


    "OH! UNDERSTAND?! I UNDERSTOOD PLENTY! AND WHAT GOOD DOES A 50-YEAR-OLD WOMAN IS TO YOU ANYWAY?! YOU WERE HAVING SO MUCH FUN NEXT DOOR, RIGHT?! WHY''D YOU EVEN COME HERE TO TALK?!"


    "H-HONEY¡ª"


    "DIDN''T I ALREADY SENT YOU AWAY WITH THE GUARDS YESTERDAY?! HOW DID YOU EVEN GET IN?!" Dr. Lopez nced in our direction and probably had the same question for us but she turned right back to her husband, "DO YOU WANT ME TO CALL THE GUARDS AGAIN OR¡ª"


    Then Lopez tried to redirect the conversation towards me, "I-I''M GONNA LEAVE B-BUT WHAT IS HE EVEN DOING HERE A-ANYWAY?! And that¡­ that¡­ W-Why do y-you have that¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez red up even more, "THAT''S NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS! GET OUT! OUT!"


    "H-HONEY, I¡ª"


    "GUARDS! GUAAAARDS! HE''S HERE AGAIN! T-TAKE HIM AWAY!"


    At that point, the guards were pretty close to hearing whatever just happened and they took him away and Lopez didn''t put up much of a fight at the start. However, his eyes widened when he realized that the person wearing her hoodie over her head was Chloe but all he could do was shout a few words when he was being escorted away.


    "L-LITTLE PRINCESS! IT''S DADDY! CAN YOU RECOGNIZE ME?! I DIDN''T SEE YOU¡ª HEY! STOP PUSHING ME! P-PRINCESS! IT''S¡ª DADDY LOVES YOU! I''M TRYING TO SPEAK TO MY DAUGHTER¡ª WE''LL TALK LATER, ALRIGHT?! I''M GONNA BE WAITING BY THE DOOR!"


    Hearing that, I was already cringing enough as is but when I saw Chloe in tears as she rushed to hug her mom, I quickly pieced two and two together as my blood boiled.


    Even Dr. Lopez seemed like she had forgotten everything that happened before her husband barged in and she was trying her best to calm her daughter down. It took Chloe a few minutes to finallypose herself and she wiped her eyes and gave us a smile before introducing everyone.


    "U-Umm¡­ M-Mom, t-they are m-my friends! You know Mimi, of course. That super pretty girl is Kaley and that s-super h-handsome guy is Sky! E-Everyone this is my mom¡­ she''s s-super hardworking and very, very smart but she doesn''t know h-how b-beautiful she still is¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez instantly rolled her eyes as she sighed, "Enough with the jokes¡ª"


    Chloe chuckled as she turned to us, "See? Completely clueless!"


    "Ma''am, in all honesty, you look like you''re just in your 40s¡ª no, maybe evente or mid-30s! You look amazing for fifty! Right?" Kaley said as she turned to me.


    I nodded, "I-I agree¡­ You don''t look like you''re in your 50s at all¡­"


    Mimi chuckled from the side, "You can keep telling her that but she''ll never believe you¡­ Believe me, we tried¡­"


    Dr. Lopez cleared her throat with a slight blush as she quickly hid her "device" away, "A-Again, enough with the jokes but why do I owe the visit? And Mimi, you just straight-up ran in the middle of your rounds yesterday! What happened?"


    "U-Umm¡ª"


    I raised my hand slowly, "I¡­ I think I''m the reason for that¡­"


    "Oh?"


    On that note, I gave her the TL;DR version of our brief but chaotic stay on our campus, but I did leave out some very important bits about what happened between me and Chloe''s¡­ bits, forck of a better term.


    But yeah, we did touch on the misunderstanding that happened between them to straighten up the stories she heard and to hear Chloe''s side of things. And yeah, lemme tell you all that BOY~~~ she was so fucking pissed at those¡ªDr. Lopez''s own words¡ªdamn ugly-ass bitches, but the problem right now was that Chloe was already off the team while her supposed teacher who should also be dealt the same "punishment" was still their fucking manager, which was totally weird.


    Furthermore, Chloe had already be the university''s ck sheep of sorts and her "violent" tendencies were something really difficult to turn over even if it had only been a week since the incident happened, and because there were no other witnesses present at the time and it was her word against the whole swim team. And we can''t just drop Kaley between them all and tell them that Chloe was telling the truth because that would just make us look more like lunatics trying to bend their own version.


    Dr. Lopez was shaking her head as she was trying to figure out a way for her daughter, "This is really inexcusable and I''m also to me for this¡­ Dammit¡­ We need to convince them to re-open the investigation and¡ª"


    Chloe cut her off, "I-I don''t really care anymore, mom¡ª"


    "Don''t say that, you love swimming! You have the fastest record in¡ª"


    "Mom, we don''t evenpete with other schools and even though that''s a pretty pointless example now, it''s almost meaningless if I''m the only one in the ''team'' even if the truthes out and they somehow take me back¡­ I still have theke to swim around and I''ll find another thing to focus on¡ª"


    "Chloe¡­ We at least need to clear your name¡ª"


    Chloe suddenly looked ticked off, "Why? So you don''t get in trouble¡ª"


    "Chloe that''s not¡ª" Dr. Lopez''s chest heaved up as her face flushed but she took a deep breath andposed herself, "Listen¡­ I know that I''ve made a lot of mistakes as your mom and it''s totally understandable that you''re pissed at me but¡­ Y-You''re the only one I got¡­"


    "...!" Chloe nced at me momentarily before she turned back to Dr. Lopez.


    "I know I should not have taken the job of two people¡ªhonestly, it feels like a job for four people at this point, but¡­ I''m asking a lot of you to understand what I needed to do to keep us afloat and to have our needs met. I shouldn''tin but it has been difficult ever since your dad¡ª"


    "W-Wasn''t he supposed to help you¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez wore a difficult expression, "He is but¡­ I think you have an inkling as to what he''s been doing on the other side and even though him being there¡ªbecause of the agreement the Academy had with this university¡ªgives us some funds, I can''t bear to use them for our sake so I¡­ I use the credits we receive to purchase what it could as a uhh¡­ a top-off¡­ specifically for the girls he uhh¡­ you know, had his way with¡ª"


    I cut in with a bit of anger in my tone, "W-Wait, are you saying you''re paying them off to¡ª"


    "N-No! NO! I wouldn''t¡ª I-It looks like that a-and it is like that t-technically but t-that''s all I can do¡­ I know it''s bad, really bad¡ªwhat he''s doing, but the General holds him in high regard and I can''t do anything about it¡­" then she turned to Kaley, "And I also a-apologize for what happened to you¡­ No words or gifts can excuse what he did¡­"


    Kaley waved her off, "You shouldn''t be the one apologizing for it¡­ Besides, we''ve pretty much got more than even with him¡­ technically speaking¡­"


    I calmed down a fair bit, "Haaa¡­ Anyway, we are still stuck with him until we find more people with the same blood¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez''s ears perked up, "You''re looking for people with O- blood? Why?"


    "Its¡­"


    It was then that I told her part of the reason he was traveling with us but I made sure not to mention my revenge n against her husband because even though she hates his guts, casually dropping that I''d have his husband''s organs removed after torture was something she shouldn''t hear besides her daughter.


    I''ve gone on the deep end several times but this mother and daughter were sheltered in this ce like everybody else in it, and I didn''t think we were that close and they hated Lopez enough to hear my ns for him.


    Dr. Lopez was a little skeptical about what she just heard from me, "So, you''re saying that if we find more people¡ªno, two people that have the same blood as him that could also be in what''s his name? JP? As long as we have those people by his side, they can rece Gibson? He actually agreed to that?"


    "Exactly that. But you know, they should preferably be more¡­ hands-off."


    She nodded a few times, "My daughter''s definitely out of the picture, she''s not staying in that ce or following around another kid as a spare tire. But you know what? I''ll check the hospital records to see if there''s someone that fits the picture and would be willing to take the job but it''ll take a while."


    ''I guess I didn''t have to ask her...''


    I nodded approvingly, "Alright, I guess I''ll leave you up to that but we''ll still keep an eye out but don''t forget to check the records of peopleing in from the outside just to use the facilities¡ª"


    "I know, but I must ask something really, really important¡­"


    I tilted my head sideways slightly, "What is it?"


    All of a sudden, Dr. Lopez released an oppressive aura I''ve only ever felt from Marisha, Kaley''s Mom. It made Chloe and Mimi take in a deep breath and Dr. Lopez stood in front of me and leaned very close as she looked me in the eye:


    "What did you do to my daughter?"


    Chloe tried to cut in, "M-Mom! It''s none of your¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez red at Chloe with an eerie smile, "I''m not talking to you," then she turned back to me, "And I''m talking to you. I asked you a question. Do you want me to repeat myself?"


    "Dr. Lopez¡­ T-To be honest¡ª"


    "HMM?!"


    "I didn''t do anything at all¡­"


    "I''M GONNA ASK YOU TO REPHRASE THAT AND IF YOU LIE TO ME ONE MORE TIME¡ª"


    "I really didn''t!"


    "LIAR¡ª"


    "Chloe did most of the work! I justid down¡­"


    "YOU¡ª Wut?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

 Chapter 909 Almost - Petty Revenge

    ?


    For the life of me, I dunno how Dr. Lopez figured out what happened between me and her daughter, Chloe, all the while our lie about her husband went over her head. If she was somehow psychic like Kaley and Marisha, I''d probably get it, but she wasn''t even in the same medical field as them.


    But yeah, people did say that honesty''s the best policy so I fucking said what I said.


    From her initial reaction, I 100% thought she''d strangle me to death or carve my heart out without surgical tools, but she just sat back down on her sofa wearing a difficult expression. Furthermore, it looked like I didn''t need to exin to her the kind of rtionship Kaley and I have, but it was stillplicated to not be able to get it 100% right from the first guess.


    "And you, you''re okay with that?" Dr. Lopez asked as she turned to Kaley.


    Kaley nodded with a smile, "Of course, we made sure to discuss things before we did everything else¡ª"


    "Wait¡­ Did you just say ''we''?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    Dr. Lopez couldn''t believe her ears, "So you mean¡ª Y-Yesterday night, you three did¡­ together¡­ while¡ª ugh¡­ I can''t believe I''m saying this¡­ You three did t-that together? Is what I''m hearing right?"


    Kaley nodded again, "Y-Yes, us three and him¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez had a minor heart attack, "Hold up¡ª"


    ''Uh-oh¡­''


    At this point, Dr. Lopez was slowly unraveling what I thought was a nigh-unravble connection close to a cartel-like organization, but no one fucking expected what she said next:


    "W-Wow¡­ I''m actually happy for you, Mimi¡­ I''m surprised I thought for one that you''d grow old and lonely like me¡ª"


    Mimi couldn''t believe her ears as she was about to cry, "H-Hey! W-What was that for?! How do I r-respond to that?!"


    And Chloe instantly followed looking like she was about to throw down with her mom, "Y-Yeah! What the fuck?! Y-You get mad at me and you''re happy for her?! That doesn''t seem fair!"


    Dr. Lopez waspletely surprised by their reactions, "That''s not¡ª I was just¡ª It''s because you''re not even in your 20s¡ª"


    Mimi cut in with the cutest pout I''ve ever seen, "T-Then you''re saying it''s ok for me b-because I''m old?! Is that it?!"


    "N-No! NO! That''s not it at all, my goodness¡­ I was just¡ª Ugh¡­ The first time in a while that I managed to catch a break and this happens¡­ Haa¡­ Chloe, please listen¡­ It''s not that I''m mad at you because at the end of the day, since you''re already of age, it''s up to you about what you wanna do and¡­ you know¡­ "do". And this ce is just different so I worry that more rumors would spread about you¡ª"


    "Mom¡ª"


    "I''m not done. Listen, what I''d like for you to also understand is that I''m your mom and one of my jobs is to worry. Not just about the u-umm¡­ ''activity'' you have just partaken in but I worry a lot because that''s just what moms do, alright?"


    Chloe took a deep breath, "..."


    "Trust me, it could''ve gone way, way worse if the reason you did it with someone random¡ªnot them, before you ask¡ªwas just to spite me or act out because of what happened to you, but u-umm¡­ how do I say this¡­ But if the whole¡­ gang(?) is here and since it feels like they took great care of you and you''re already that close with them¡ªeven more than your friends¡ªno, your¡ª you know what I meant¡­ after just a day? And to add to that, Mimi''s on board a-and he¡­ he''s that boy with the statue and the awards¡ª I guess¡­ I guess it''s not that bad because I''ve made way~ worse choices when I was your age and that''s also one of the reasons I worry¡­ Like, a lot¡­ I keep repeating myself and I''m sorry for that..."


    "Mom¡­"


    "Look, they''ll be leaving in a few and I still need to catch a nap¡ªthank you for the cinnamon rolls and the cup of milk, by the way¡ªso I think you should spend your time with them a little bit more BUT I''ll promise you that I''ll take the night off so the two of us can make dinner for ourselves and be in our pajamas so we could watch one of MY favorite shows. Deal?"


    Chloe stifled augh, "Why are we watching Grey''s Anatomy again¡ª"


    "Ah-ah-ah! We''re watching all of it¡ªor whatever random season we have on myptop¡ªbecause you already had your fun and I was so rudely interrupted earlier. Is that clear?"


    "Y-Yes, mom¡­ C-Can I get a hug though?"


    Dr. Lopez chuckled as she rolled her eyes, "Nope."


    "But Moooom~"


    "You can hug me all you wantter but you should hug your new ''friends'' more because as I said earlier, they''ll be gone in a bit¡ª"


    I cut in as I gave her an offer she couldn''t refuse, "If you let her hug you right now, I''ll give you clear HD copies from Season 1 to Season 15¡ª everything before the world had gone to shit¡ª Woah! WOAH! WOAH! I SAID HUG HER! HUG CHLOE¡ª NOT ME! HEEELP! Wait... This feels nice actually¡­"


    "H-Hey! T-That''s my mom¡ª THAT''S SO WEIRD, STOP! STOOOP!"


    "I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! ALL FIFTEEN SEASONS?!"


    At that point, Dr. Lopez just straight-up leaped onto me and almost broke the chair I was sitting on as she wrapped her arms around me and excitedly gave me pecks on my cheeks. I didn''t know¡ªwell, I do know to bepletely honest¡ªthat having copies of a certain show someone liked would be simr to having a golden ticket, the cure to cancer, or something simr.


    In any case, I was happy to make another person smile¡ªand it was an added bonus because it was Chloe''s mother¡ªand I could say that we were both scratching each other''s backs because she already volunteered for the favor I was about to ask her and I gave her one of the small things in life that she could enjoy and has a strong connection to.


    However, it was pretty obvious that being pampered by hugs and kisses by such a beauty¡ªdespite her age¡ªgot me a little excited, and I shit you not that I knew that she knew what was going on yet she stayed on me far longer than I thought any regr person would when they noticed I had a huge fucking erection. This would sound so fucking crass but that particr acronym going around in my head was definitely true in this regard.


    But before things went further, my radio buzzed and I heard Jesus'' voice telling me that they''d secured the package and the owner came with them by the entrance.


    Hearing that made me jump up from my seat and carry Dr. Lopez with me but I gentlyid her down as I replied to the MVP.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You really managed to convince him to let go of his ride?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [It was pretty easy, actually. He never gets to drive outside anymore and it''s much better to walk around the campus than waste credits on gasoline. Anyway, what''s so special about this Adventure?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''ll see very soon¡ª I''ming out, won''t be long."


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, even Kaley had the faintest idea about what was going on but I just looked so ecstatic about Jesus acquiring that vehicle, they weren''t able to stop me when I excused myself and left the hospital without them. But yeah, Lopez spotted me when I walked through the hospital doors but all his curses just went over my head as I walked back to my Raptor and fished out my trusty ol'' sledgehammer.


    ''Where''s Quinn and Tatiana? Oh, they''re already over there¡­''


    Lopez had the shock of his life when he saw me smiling devilishly while holding my sledgie, "Woah! Woah! I''m just asking you what are you doing in my wife''s¡ª"


    Ipletely dismissed him as I chuckled, "Don''t worry~ I didn''t fuck your wife if that''s what you''re really asking¡­"


    ''Didn''t lie¡­ technically¡­ as long as he didn''t ask about his daughter...''


    He looked relieved for a moment, "G-Good¡ª I mean, w-what are you doing there a-anyway? And did my daughter talk about me? Is she okay? She seemed to be avoiding me¡ª"


    I didn''t let him ruin my fun as I cut him off onest time, "Listen. I don''t want to meddle in your family''s business so why don''t you ask them yourself? Besides, I''m kinda busy here. Bother me one more time and I''ll see how far your head will fly if I hit you with this."


    "Ah¡ª O-Okay, chill man¡­"


    "Great! Leave me the fuck alone but don''t go too far because we''re leaving in a few..."


    "A-Alright, I''ll try getting in again to exin... Shit''s soplicated..."


    ''That''s your own fucking fault, dumbass... Cheating while you have that? Fucking idiot...''


    On that note, I jauntily made my way over to the group but to my disappointment, the owner I was looking for wasn''t the owner Jesus took with them even if the vehicle in front of me was the same Adventure I have in my memories.


    The "owner" looked a little nervous when he saw me stroll in with my sledgehammer, "U-Umm¡ª"


    I put my sledgehammer down and leaned on it as I looked him in the eye, "Who the fuck are you?"


    Then everyone else looked at the poor kid.


    "U-Umm¡­ Richard? Richard Sobito... J-Jr.?"


    "Ahh, fuck¡­ Where''s your dad?"


    "A-At work? L-Listen, they s-said they''d give me 100 credits on top of the 500 if Ie with them with my ride¡ª"


    "Really? This is YOUR ride? Your dad actually gave his prized vehicle to you?"


    "I-I got the keys and everything, alright? W-Who are you anyway?"


    I chuckled as I released copious amounts of murderous intent before retracting it almost immediately, "I''m the guy who''d give you an even 1000 right now if you run to your dad at this fucking moment and tell him that this is the fucking promised day and he''d better run here with all he got or else he''d need more than just a fucking paint job!"


    "Y-YES, SIR!"


    As soon as he shouted at the top of his lungs, he straight-up sprinted to where the College of Business was, the building where the IT Department was located, but one of the guards who heard the whole conversation had a better idea.


    "My guy, you''re the friend Andy has been talking about, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "I got you, bro¡­ Just need to make a PSA."


    "For real? How much¡ª"


    "Fuck that, I fucking hate the guy too¡ª Free of charge!"


    As soon as he walked back to the guardhouse of sorts, he made a public announcement that Richard Sobito Sr.''s Adventure was being towed for illegal parking and he only had a few minutes to appear and exin himself or else he''d be fined for hundreds of credits, and a tiny little scratch will be put on his "LDY KLLR" license te.


    Hearing that, I was already dying fromughter and as soon as I saw the motherfucker running for dear life while his son was following right behind, I made sure his eyes were on me as I swung my sledgehammer in full force, breaking the driver''s side window.


    After doing that, I could hear the faint "NOOOOO~" from several meters away but I wound up my sledgehammer for the second time and broke the windshield.


    ss shards were either on the ground or inside his rickety-ass vehicle but memories of me getting verbally abused, smacked in the head, and pinched in the ear for correcting him¡ªand almost getting run over because I was walking too slowly flooded my head.


    There was also a time when I was publicly humiliated for speaking against his shitty idea of bringing back into the curriculum programming sses that were already outdated just so that we''d have a general idea of what they experienced before in their time and what they went through.


    It probably sounded like a novel idea in his tiny little head but in the real world, doing that was just like shooting ourselves in the foot before running a marathon.


    In any case, I did as much damage as I could while using my sledgehammer¡ªand they still haven''t reached us due to the incline¡ªbut the look on his face when he saw me throw in a lit match on his prized vehicle after dousing it with gasoline was fucking priceless.

 Chapter 910 Money(Credit) Talks

    ?


    The moment the match made contact with the vehicle, it only took a second before it was engulfed in mes. The bastard whom I promised to return everything he did to me tenfold couldn''t believe his eyes for a moment as he fell on his knees and screamed every curse, slur, and hatefulment in my direction.


    At the same time, his son could only watch in horror while being several feet away from his father. He didn''t know what to do because he was basically stuck on this campus, and trying to make a run for it would be the stupidest decision he''d make except for pretending to be the owner of Sobito Sr.''s vehicle and selling it to Jesus andpany.


    But yeah, Sobito Sr. started shaking from anger as his face turned red and arge vein protruded from his forehead.


    It didn''t take long for him before he recognized who I was, but the group behind me and the way I was carrying myself in front of him¡ªtotally different from how I was before¡ªwas giving him enough reason to not attack me from the get-go. But I know full well that he''d rather let his son get hit by a car than have his shitty-ass Adventure get so much as a scratch so I gave him a little nudge that pushed him over the edge:


    "You''re not gonna hit me now, sir? I have the credits to buy that heap of junk, I have more to pay for your hospital bills several times over¡ª"


    "YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT¡ª"


    The dumbass actually lunged at me and chose an overhead punch to bury my face in, but to everyone''s surprise, he actually ''connected'' and sent me flying a few feet.


    "W-What¡ª" Even the fucking "LDY KLLR" couldn''t believe his eyes.


    At this point, I ''staggered'' as I tried to get up¡ªeven spitting out a mouthful of blood in the process¡ªbut with the number of guards present and my group actually about tomit bloody murder, my old fucking teacher was tackled to the ground by the guard that offered me a free announcement while the rest of his guard friends did everything they could to keep my group ''at bay''.


    "WHY ARE YOU CUFFING ME, HUH?! DIDN''T YOU SEE WHAT HE DID TO MY BABY?! CAN''T YOU SEE¡ª"


    "SIR! I''M AFRAID YOU''RE GRAVELY MISTAKEN¡ª"


    "MISTAKEN?! CAN''T YOU SEE THAT''S MY FUCKING ADVENTURE?! WHO''S FUCKING MISTAKEN HERE?! DO YOU NEED TO GET YOUR EYES CHECKED?! WHY''S NO ONE TRYING TO PUT OUT THE FIRE?! IT''S¡ª IT''S RUINED¡ª IT''S¡ª STOP! YOU''RE HURTING ME¡ª"


    "SIR! IT''S ANOTHER ISSUE TO SET FIRE TO YOUR OWN VEHICLE AND MAKE A MESS WITHIN CAMPUS GROUNDS BUT ASSAULT RESULTING IN BODILY HARM IS EXTREMELY FROWNED UPON¡ª"


    "D-DID YOU JUST SAY THAT¡ª WAIT A FUCKING SECOND¡ª" Sobito Sr. violently turned his whole body to look at his son who didn''t know what to do, "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!"


    "D-DAD! I CAN EXPLAIN¡ª"


    "THEN BETTER GET TO EXPLAINING! IF YOU DON''T EXPLAIN SHIT TO THEM NOW, YOU''D HAVE TO FIND SOMEPLACE ELSE TO LIVE, YOU FUCKING IMBECILE! TELL THEM THAT THIS CAR''S MINE!"


    I chuckled as I cut in, "Not anymore, it''s not! Your son just sold it to me for six hundred¡ªno, five hundred credits plus another thousand for bringing you here to witness this¡ª"


    "YOU CAN''T FUCKING DO THIS! THEY CAN''T FUCKING DO THIS, RIGHT?! THE CAR''S IN MY NAME! THE TRANSACTION SHOULD BE INVALID! WE DIDN''T SIGN UP ON ANYTHING! YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ME BACK FOR EVERYTHING¡ª"


    "Oh? Is that so?"


    "DON''T PLAY FUCKING DUMB! YOU SHOULD BE THE ONE IN CUFFS, NOT ME!"


    I chortled, "Is everyone hearing this shit? Yeah? If anything, I was made to believe that your son was the proud owner of that vehicle and we paid for it in full¡ªwell, not the thousand I''ll be giving himter because that payment is for a different reason like the floating hundred that was supposed to be for you¡ªbut Mr. Security Guard, wasn''t that fraud or something simr? Should you arrest his son, too? I know the world has gone to shit along with itsws but am I being set up here? Is that what''s happening?"


    Sobito Jr. couldn''t believe his ears as he instantly tried to defend himself, "W-Wait! I can exin¡ª"


    Sobito Sr. tried to lunge at his son this time, "YOU LITTLE FUCKING SHIT¡ª HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU FUCK UP IN A SINGLE DAY?! COULD YOU EVEN TIE YOUR FUCKING SHOES, YOU DUMB FUCK?!"


    It was safe to say that Sobito Sr. was justpletely overwhelmed with anger and confusion¡ªhe''d snap at anything and everything while having a hard time making sense of all of it¡ªthough with more and more randoms popping up to see his disy, his image within the university was rapidly declining.


    In any case, seeing him like this already made me happy in a sense, so I ''tried'' to smooth over the situation given the amount of credits I have on myself:


    "Alright, this is muddy waters right now¡ªwith thews and shit¡ªbut why don''t I pay for the repairs¡ª"


    "REPAIRS?! YOU TORCHED IT! YOU FUCKING TORCHED IT! HOW CAN YOU FUCKING REPAIR THAT?!"


    I tried to look as non-threatening and angelic as possible, "Calm down, sir. That''s my bad, my apologies. My friends have dozens and dozens of this piece of crap¡ª"


    "PIECE OF CRAP?! THAT''S THE FIRST OF ITS KIND WHEN THEY FIRST IMPORTED¡ª UGH¡ª I KEPT IT MAINTAINED AND¡ª DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY I SPENT ON IT?!"


    "That''s why I offered 500 credits for that junker¡ª"


    "CALL MY BABY A PIECE OF SHIT ONE MORE TIME¡ª"


    "I said it was a junker, not a piece of¡ª"


    "YOU''RE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE! I KNOW YOU''RE DOING IT ON PURPOSE!"


    I rolled my eyes as I scoffed, "What else do you want from me? I thought I bought this donor car from your son in good faith and I should be able to do whatever I want to it because I thought it was mine, but turns out, it''s not and you stroll over here to punch me in the face and you kept calling me fuck all while I''m trying to remedy the situation. What am I supposed to do with that?"


    "T-THAT''S¡ª T-THIS IS ALL PREMEDIATED! I JUST KNOW IT! T-THE PSA! T-THAT''S MY PROOF! T-THIS IS ALL A FUCKING SETUP TO GET BACK AT ME FOR¡ª"


    I then cut in as the temperature in the immediate vicinity suddenly lowered, "Finally! That''s where I''ve been trying to get to! Exactly! Finish that sentence as to why I''m ''setting'' you up! Enlighten everyone¡ª"


    "T-THEN YOU ADMIT TO¡ª"


    "I''ll admit to buying stolen goods but don''t you think that there should at least be a reason as to why this sequence of unbelievable proportions happened to you randomly? Right? There should be a fucking reason!"


    "Y-You motherfucker¡­ You''ll pay for this¡­"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Sure. How much? I can even buy your fucking house and kick you out on the same day if I wanted to. But yeah, I''ll stop our feud with me destroying your ''precious'' ride but if you want to go down swinging, I''ll ask our guard to uncuff you and we can have a go until one of us can''t fucking continue. Do remember that I won''t pay for your hospital bills after that and this time, I''ll fucking hit back until you''re on life support."


    "..."


    With the number of times I was sessful in making a rise out of him, I thought for sure that he''d take on the chance for us to throw down¡ªwell, get one-sidedly beaten by me¡ªbut he actually kept quiet but his whole body was still shaking in anger.


    I didn''t think I''d be this sessful with this petty revenge of sorts¡ªright when we were about to drive away¡ªbut I''ll take everything I could while ticking off a number of things from my bucket list.


    In a span of a single day, I was able to confirm that my friends in my old Alma Mater were still alive, had a solution for the donor situation, made new connections, discreetly installed a ry so na could have arger sphere of influence, and paid back my abusive college professor for all the shit he did to me when I was here.


    But yeah, Sobito Sr. was eventually taken away while I was simply fined for littering but I did pay his son a thousand dors plus extra because he''d definitely get kicked out once his dad was out of their ''prison'' of sorts.


    ''He''ll be out in the afternoon, probably¡­''


    Sobito Jr. just looked so drained at this point, but it was up to him if he''d make full use of the two thousand credits in his ount. He still looked like he was pissed at me for everything he caught strays from but even at the end of the world, money talks so I made him another offer he can''t refuse.


    "It''s gonna be hard to find another ce to stay¡ª"


    "No shit¡ª"


    "Says the one with two thousand credits on his ount. It''ll be so fucking easy, trust me. You can easily apply for free lodging in the dorms and if you have perfect attendance and you do some work, you won''t even need to spend a single credit I gave ya."


    "That''s true, but..."


    "I have one more job for you though¡ª"


    "Enough, dude¡ª"


    "I''ll add another thousand to your ount: five hundred now and the other five hundred if you do a good job when wee back and before you ask, we''re leaving in a few¡ª"


    "Anything, dude. Anything, just¡ª"


    "Keep an eye on your dad for me. Being an idiot as he is, he''ll definitely try to do anything to my friends while we''re away so, if you see him doing shady shit and whatnot, I''m gonna ask you to run interference and report to the guards any suspicious behavior. He won''t be able to do anything to you because punching me is definitely a stain on his record so all you need to do is have some fucking balls to stand up to your father and you''ll be a hero of sorts for trying to stop him with whatever means possible."


    "That''s¡­"


    "Seriously? You sold his car behind his back and you don''t wanna do some spy shit?"


    He looked away and thought for a moment before he turned to me, "Y-You''re not from here, r-right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "C-Can you get me out?"


    "What are you trying to say? This ce is¡ª"


    "Horrible, this ce is horrible. I''m willing to give back everything you sent to me if you get me out."


    "Pfft¡­"


    "What''s so funny?"


    "Nothing¡­ Why don''t you do the job I assigned to you first and we''ll see after that? Deal?"


    "Deal."

 Chapter 911 Back On The Road I

    ?


    After an hour or so, everyone had finally gathered by the gate where I torched a certain professor''s precious ride¡ªbut just to himself¡ªthough the friends I''d be leaving in the meantime were present except for a select few: Chloe, Dr. Lopez, Ron, and Allyssa.


    The first two had solid reasons for not sending us off but we did a proper goodbye when Dr. Lopez treated the few scratches I sustained from throwing myself on the ground. And for the other two, they had their own issues to deal with but I did leave my school ID to Mimi which she clutched like her life depended on it.


    She was in tears as I was saying goodbye, "S-Stay safe, a-alright? Y-You bettere back! You promised!"


    I smiled as I ruffled her hair, "Yep! Just don''t forget about the things I just told you about, alright? If anything happens, give me a call¡ªbut if I don''t answer, call the numbers on the sat phone I gave you, and don''t hand it over to Ben because he''ll definitely sell it for a slice of cheese¡ª"


    Ben cut in while shaking his head, "C''mon, dude~ You''re not gonna let me live that down, huh?"


    Cass added, "Cut him some ck, alright?"


    "Nope! Well~ This is it, yeah? These goodbyes are pretty stupid because we''ll definitely see each other in a couple of weeks¡ªor maybe even earlier, so just be ready to drop anything and everything in a drop of a hat, alright?"


    But as we were about to set off, Andy creepily slithered in and whispered like he was dealing drugs, "Bro¡­"


    "What?"


    "The thing uh¡­ You know, the thing you promised me?"


    "What thing?"


    He couldn''t believe what I was saying, "Y-You know! T-The thing!"


    "Ah~ Right. Clean your fucking mess of a room!"


    "W-Wut?"


    I rolled my eyes as he didn''t get it the first time, "Clean. Your. Mess. Of. A. Room. And. You. May. Find. Some. THING. Over. There! Get it?!"


    "Oh¡ª OHHHH! LOVEYADUDESEEYOULATERBYE~!"


    Completely ignoring how Andy beat Eminem or Ez Mil for a second there, I gave everyone a farewell upward nod as I waved them goodbye before I rolled up my windows and asked the guards to open the gates for us.


    And as they did, the guard who assisted me earlier gave me a subtle nod as well but I bet he''ll be shitting his pants when he discovered that I gave a sneaky deposit into his ount.


    With that said, Jesus and his crew were the first ones to head out before we followed, and we all adjusted our radios to the same frequency as each other''s.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Mic check, mic check¡­ Everyone on Channel 777?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [C''mon, are you making fun of me or what?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey! I''m honoring you, don''t you like this number? You had it tattooed on ya!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHAHAHAHA! Jesus, just admit that¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey! 777 is another one of ours! I''m just number 7, alright?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Don''t you believe in the Holy Trinity?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [The what now?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Fuck you, I wanna be mad but that''s clever.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What are you two talkin'' about? Are you not hearing me?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You know, the father, the son, and the holy spirit¡ª Read the fucking bible if you want to learn¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Where would I even find one?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Dude, we just came from a school that probably has a million copies of them! You could''ve tripped on one the moment we got in!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ha. Ha. Funny, dude.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "If you really wanna know I still have the whole thing memorized like that movie. Alright: In the beginning¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Stop! Stop! The hymnals are still ringing in my head! Stop this madness!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU GUYS SHOULD''VE SEEN HOW MEG RECOILED WHEN SHE HEARD YOU¡ª STOP! OW! IT''S FUNNY! NOTHING TO BE EMBARRASSED ABOUT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Is this how everyone does things on the road?! Please, if you''re gonna mess around, let me drive in front¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Haaa¡­ The moment he gets on his pwetty whittle Waycowt~ Boo fucking hoo! We know how to multitask and make things fun, Mr. Bilbo!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What did you just call me?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Jesus, it''s Balrog! Not Bingbong¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I heard it''s bblblblbblblblbl¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright! I get it! I''ll shut up!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAAAAAAAAAAAAA! THEN HE GETS MAD! LIGHTEN BADA-BING BADA-BOOM! You''ll have plenty of time to assert dominance! Just not here! HAHAHAHAHAHA!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    In any case, I could only imagine what''s it like inside JP''s Raycolt right now because I''m pretty sure that his passengers were definitely walking on eggshells. But yeah, we were back on our current seating arrangement in my Raptor though Meg was sitting on the back with Isaac and Jose.


    She was sharing some of the things they managed to buy from the general store and it did have a few interesting items that people pawned off in exchange for credits.


    But yeah, we still spent ten or so minutes driving down a steep road just to be a good distance away from the university because it was a fuckingrge area, it was akin to a small or medium-sized city without the required poption count for it to be ssified as one.


    I could''ve spent more time in it to make sure that my old professor hate his fucking life, but I got plenty of shit to do than to satisfy myself with petty revenge.


    And after driving close to an hour, we passed by two abandoned strip malls, several auto shops, and arge factory that produces a variety of sodas but we didn''t even bother checking them out because almost all of them were picked clean by the soldiers on patrol and random survivors we passed by where some of which were actually living in them.


    It was not in our ns to strike up a conversation with these groups living in these parts but the way they were guarded from seeing us told me that they didn''t feel particrly friendly towards the De Leon Family or the military.


    And since we looked like a culmination of both, we weren''t gonna waste our time poking a beehive for a couple of cans of soda.


    But after passing through an exit/entryway for an expressway, it became pretty obvious that we''d be exploring the PVE or maybe even the PVP area of sorts because of the smell that was beginning to get stronger and stronger.


    I didn''t think that being in the university wouldpletely erase that smell from our noses but the scent of decaying corpses had been the norm for a while so in a sense, it was more our speed.


    Then Jesus gave us one of hismandments:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright: Listen up! The dead are the dead but the living are the ones we should be wary about. Most of them won''t bother us if we don''t bother them but if someone''s trying to rush in with a brick or a Molotov cocktail, we either speed off or shoot them on the spot. The ce we''re strolling in is a little hostile but with our numbers and the little bit of rep we have, they just might let us go. If not, better safe than sorry.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''ve sent some of my men in these parts and they''ll probably recognize me once I switch over to our designated frequencies¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I believe you, Baron, I do. But sometimes, some of your soldiers do interpret your orders differently and in a different radio frequency than what you told them. I know we''re cool with some of them but vignce at its highest, alright?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [A-Alright¡­ I''ll keep that in mind¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, we drove into this small township of sorts where its biggest highlight was a huge mall that was barricaded to shit where some people were standing above wooden tforms to see over their deterrents. Some of them were even present on the roof but we can see another group searching corpses for supplies and whatnot while another was lounging atop a couple of buses where music was sting from a crappy stereo.


    It looked to be an area upied by mostly civilians but luckily enough, they just watched us drive past them without any issue.


    In any case, after going a few blocks forward, we passed by several bus stations and smaller general stores but the undead we were seeing were the only ones stuck among the barricades or under crashed vehicles.


    I could clearly see Jose scanning around with his rifle in hand at the back, while Kaley and Tatiana were ready to roll down each of their windows in case anyone tried to get the jump on us.


    ''Seems chill, so far¡­''


    But yeah, for some reason, the public markets were always the source of infestations and in regard to this area, their public market had two stations for public transportation vehicles namely: for jeepneys and for tricycles.


    I didn''t mention that particr detail without reason because since these stations needed a lot of space to operate, it made the public market a much bigger area to contain the dead. Not to mention, they were located further in and there was now a ramp-like wall of undead keeping most of them in, trickling a few here and there to bother the survivors in the immediate vicinity.


    If I was living close to such a den of potential specials, I would''ve mobilized several groups for this disaster waiting to happen but I''m guessing they weren''t as armed as us to clear the whole area. However, JP''s voice had once again echoed through our radios and he sounded more pissed than usual.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [These fuckers¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What got your panties in a bunch this time?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''ve sent groups to clear this ce before and I was told it was done but¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "It''s gotten worse?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Y-Yeah¡­ I''ve given them rewards too and¡ª I gotta send a report to my dad¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You could do that now or WE can do itter."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What do you mean?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I mean¡­ It''s a few hundred zombies¡ª700 tops. We can do it in an hour or so if we don''t burn them but if you''re so inclined to tell your father about the mess you made¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Mess I made? Excuse me?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''re in charge of the people who told you that this ce is clear and if you handed them the rewards without definite proof, that''s also on you. I know how your ce works. But wouldn''t it be better to send two reports of what you discovered and what you did to take care of the mess?"


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 912 Back On The Road II - Got A Match, Bro?

    ?


    In a few minutes, we positioned our vehicles in a way to upy a small part of the concrete walls¡ªmaking it our safe zone of sorts¡ªbut we did have my Raptor in between everything and hugging said wall so we could bypass the walls of flesh that would probably need something close to an hour to clear off.


    At the same time, this formation allowed the cadets to be at the truckbed for reload duty while everyone else not in charge of jumping down and invading the dead''s space would be in charge of maintaining our safe zone and keeping the live ones away.


    Well, JP''s Raycolt seemed to be doing that job for us just fine but Tatiana, Quinn, and Isaac were ready to follow after me the moment I jumped.


    And so I did.


    The moment my boots hit the floor, Kaley and Jose made my job easier for me as they gave me a ton of space by shooting down the undead that weren''t in my peripheral vision. Though the ones that were in it had already fallen down with a fucked up little bowl made with their bloody rotting dome.


    With that said, the undead had definitely noticed their intruders as their heads turned in our direction, but I had already advanced several feet and was cutting down their allies one by one.


    In any case, I figured that Quinn was a little closer to me because literal heads flying like it was a normal thing was probably her handiwork.


    But yeah, I could hear the sound of des cutting through flesh and bone but the oh-so-familiar tap dancing could be heard from the distance.


    It was the telltale signs that a group of sprinters were making their way towards us but Kaley and Jose didn''t waste time to thin them out as much as possible. However, from their vantage point, the waiting sheds and a few stalls would be blocking their view, so I jumped back a few steps and drew my pistol before I aimed at thenky bodies running like an infamous pirate who defeated his ex-wife in court before pulling the trigger.


    In regards to these sprinters, the initial shock of seeing theming at you with speed could instill fear and make anyone else freeze from doing anything but the way its movement pattern was so predictable¡ªthey literally run straight at ya, unless there were irregrs in the mix¡ªit was just a matter of properly lining our sights to the heads of the targets before pulling the trigger.


    We didn''t have to predict where they''d turn abruptlypared to the damn annoying ferals so I easily put three down before I holstered my pistol and beheaded thest one Kaley left for me. But before it hit the floor, I flicked my wrist and made another bloody bowl from its head as my de easily cut through it.


    But yeah, we were quickly piling bodies left and right so Isaac took it upon himself to make the cadets do the dirty work.


    "EI~! CAN''T YOU SEE WE''RE RUNNING OUT OF SPACE?! PEE-PEE AND POO-POO, JUMP DOWN AND CLEAR THE FLOOR!"


    "T-That''s us, right?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    Quinn abruptly turned her head after cleaving two deadheads in half before shouting at the top of her lungs, "JUMP DOWN OR I''LL DRAG BOTH OF YA!"


    "Y-YES, MA''AM!"


    "HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~!!!"


    "You guys are so useless!"


    To my surprise, it looked like Megan was the first one to jump down with thick gloves on but to make things a little easier for the group, I began to advance a little forward while Kaley and Jose tried aiming for the dead that were a little further in.


    It was to somehow draw their attention to different points because if every single one of them swarmed us by the entrance we made for ourselves, we''d have to climb back to start over or it was a definite game over.


    In conjunction, Quinn did the same thing but in a more barbarous manner while Tatiana and Isaac fanned inside to make sure that the cadets were well taken care of. But yeah, I made sure I was only a few feet away from Quinn though I yelled at the other two to slowly whittle away the dead that was close to the flesh wall so that they''d have fewer blindspots to guard from and a more central area to gather the corpses.


    On my side of things, I was trying to put one down with a single stroke but with the majority of them had their chewed-up arms stretched out, they''d need two to three shes in total for my own safety.


    I''d usually need one stroke to lop off their arm, sidestep, and then go for the kill, but with the way they were side by side, I''d have to be a little extra careful about the direction I''m going. However, a sudden thrust with the right opening and distance would always drop them while leaving a coin hole that could fit a few quarters in their foreheads though Quinn would just eviscerate everything in her path.


    It''s one of the reasons I was a few feet away from her because her huge poleaxe/halberd hybrid needed some space to swing around and it would be difficult to fight side by sidepared to when I''d do it with Tatiana.


    In any case, her kill count at the moment was bigger than mine but her energy expenditure was also more than double mine. With her frame, her weapons of choice, and the way she was moving would definitely make any regr person fatigued or exhausted, and even though she looked like she could go on for hours, a little tweak here and there would do wonders.


    It''s just a matter of having a safe space to teach her stuff and most importantly, if she didn''t turn any time that we were alone to jump on me, I could''ve started going on with this idea much sooner.


    "MOVE!"


    "What¡ª"


    "FUCK IT!"


    Before I had the chance to react, Quinn''s muscles bulged before she swung in a wide arc and bisected every deadhead in the immediate vicinity and then some. All I could do was jump back to keep myself intact but I still felt a violent breeze after it was over.


    However, amidst the sounds of metal tearing through flesh and suppressed gunshots, Jose let loose a 40mm Low-Velocity, High-Explosive Shell from the M203 attached under his rifle, causing a row of small connected shops to copse onto itself.


    And following after, Kaley''s firing rhythm suddenly changed¡ªand if it did, it usually meant that there was something over there that we should be wary about, but that something didn''t expect an explosive shell to greet it this mid-morning.


    But yeah, that something definitely had some friends on the inside and this something¡ªwell, parts of it that remained intact¡ªwas eventually revealed after the smoke cleared.


    It was this¡­ u-umm¡­ Buddha-like blob without its head and the main upper parts of its body but what''s left of it and its copsed lower half seemed to have something inside of them that a certain angry chef would definitely be angry for.


    I had only caught a glimpse because I still had dregs to take care of, but those thick fucking intestines squiggling around like they shouldn''t were probably either from the victims it ate or the ones that got stuck inside its huge frame. Trust me, it was bigger than those influencers who demanded free seats in an airne and I was pretty surprised I didn''t spot them when they were that fucking huge.


    It''s like the most fucked up version of a kangaroo''s pouch where instead of its young being the only one that coulde and go, it was like an open house of sorts where a maximum of six to eight people coulde and check out the ce.


    In any case, it seemed to be dead aside from its tenants but Kaley and Jose now had another thing to keep an eye on instead of us.


    We were still in the driveway and the parking area of sorts so as long as we didn''t try to get inside the main area of the public market, we''d be rtively okay because I fucking doubt their legs would be able to support their body.


    It''s just that there was this deep growling/croaking sounding from the inside and it was making everyone else a little uneasy.


    However, there was always a modern solution for modern problems but if this solution was presented before the world ended, we''d be charged with several felonies or something simr.


    Yeah¡­ it was arson.


    Before I even had the chance to give an order, Brix, one of Jesus'' crew members jumped down with two jerry cans and a satchel of stic bottles filled to the fucking brim with the same shit, and he made his way toward me with this eerie grin:


    "Got a match, bro?"

 Chapter 913 Back On The Road III - Weapons Of Mass Destruction

    <h4>Chapter 913 Back On The Road III - Weapons Of Mass Destruction</h4>


    On any other day, I would''ve been totally against torching an area that could possibly contain loot or any other essential items, but we were on a schedule and the return for investing a few hours to sift through their bodies and gunk wasn''t worth it.


    This would soundpletely contradictory to my hoarding mentality but everything a public market could possibly have, we already have¡ªor have the means to make whatever they were ourselves.


    But yeah, we have one major problem because Brix the fucking dumbass was so excited tomit a felony, we were still several feet away from where Kaley and Jose nuked that bloater or whatever it was, AND the same dumbass dropped everything in his person to carry as much gasoline as possible.


    The motherfucker didn''t even have a screwdriver to defend himself and he was now stuck behind me like he was a fucking trailer where I needed to change up my movement pattern so he''d fucking survive.


    "B-Bro! Did you hear me?!! Do you have a fucking match?!"


    "I heard you just fine! Can you stop getting in the way first?! I appreciate the initiative but you''re like the human embodiment of a premature ejaction! Can''t youe a littleter?! We''re still busy here!"


    "That''s oddly specific, don''t ya think? So about that light¡ª"


    "DUCK DOWN!"


    "WOAH! WOAH! WATCH THE MOHAWK! WATCH THE FUCKING MOHAWK!"


    "DOES YOUR BRAIN STOP FUNCTIONING WHEN YOU''RE OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE?!"


    "Ah¡ª I kinda do, yeah¡­ Not gonna lie¡ª Woah! That''s a big one¡ª Jesus fucking Christ, your girl can fucking shoot! Don''t you shit yourself when those bullets fly past your head?! Jeez¡ª"


    "HAVEN''T YOU FOUND THE TIME TO RUN BACK, YET?!"


    "HUH?! I STILL NEED TO BRING THESE OVER THERE, RIGHT?!"


    "YOU FUCKING¡ª EVER HEARD OF THROWING?!"


    "W-What if I miss?"


    It took everything, I mean EVERYTHING for me to reply to that, "YOU KNOW THAT FIRE SPREADS, RIGHT?!"


    "Ah¡ª Oh. OHHH! THAT''S WHY YOUR GROUP WAS LOOKING AT ME WEIRD! Sorry man, I saw you hackin'' and shin'' I got too excited and jumped down¡ª"


    "JUST FUCKING THROW THEM OVERHEAD!"


    "R-RIGHT! RIGHT! FIRE IN THE HOLE! HAH! I''VE ALWAYS WANTED TO SAY THAT¡ª GCK!"


    "YOU FUCKIN'' DUMBASS!"


    To my surprise, Tatiana had already made her way over to us and she pulled Brix from behind right before she pped his face with the handle of a worn-out machete. And from the way his face lit up, the machete seemed to belong to him and it was thrown over by the guys on the other side of the wall¡ªthen delivered by Tatiana¡ªfor him to somehow take down a few bodies for the fuck up he justmitted.


    "Now we''re fuckin'' talkin''!"


    Before I told him what to do, the guy just straight-up hacked an unsuspecting biter''s head off. But since his machete needed a whetstone or aplete recement, he swung down thrice on its neck and then wound for a bigger swing before he managed to seed.


    However, he knew full well that his machete''s underperforming¡ªbut there was an inkling he just wanted to copy me for some reason¡ªso he resorted to aiming at the spot just above their ears before pulling out and moving onto another victim.


    Sometimes, all a dull de needed was a lot more force or just to be used as a blunt weapon, because metal was still metal and with enough weight and momentum, it could still crack open a skull to do enough damage.


    In any case, we heard another deep growl from inside the public market so Kaley and Jose took it upon themselves to light up the unknown by shooting the jerry cans Brix threw overhead a few moments ago.


    All it needed was a small spark and it only took a few seconds before the fire caught onto the mmable materials that most of the stalls in the public market were made of.


    But on another rted note, fire needed a bit of time to do enough damage to kill a walker or render it immobilepared to bullets, so imagine everyone''s faces when another batch of sprinters¡ªwhich were now burning¡ªcame from the public market like a fucked up entrance of a football team where''d they run through a fire instead of their team banner.


    At this point, it seemed like our arsonist route came back to bite us in the ass, and I didn''t even have to yell at Brix to turn tail and run.


    However, everyone else who jumped down still had their sidearms plus everyone else from above who had ess to their primary weapons¡ªincluding Kaley and Jose, of course¡ªso our attempt to save a lot of time cost us using more fuel and more bullets than necessary because going toe to toe with a ming group of sprinters would make us sustain only burns if we were extremely lucky.


    But yeah, on a darker note, it''d save everyone else a bit of time if somehow someone got bitten because the one that took them out took the time to burn themselves right after.


    In any case, I was more frightened at the fact that the cadets who just got their brand-new firearms pretty recently were shooting above my head because the only person I''d allow to do that was Kaley¡ªprobably even Jared or Lawrence but they weren''t here.


    This would sound a bit contradictory and a little controversial but between two random people that I''d have to trust my life to, I''d choose the one with the worn-out gun instead of the sparkly one with the mall ninja vibe.


    Kaley wasn''t using a worn-out rifle by any means but she definitely had worn out several barrels, firing pins, and many other internal parts of her rifles so I trust her with my life.


    Those fucking kids? No offense but I''d rather see them use those rifles as clubs than to shoot over my head or god forbid, a few centimeters away from me.


    But after clearing the surprise min'' hot runners and then some, the rest of the dregs became a breeze despite that warm feeling on our skin due to the fire we just made. That ze wouldn''t die anytime soon but I took onest look at the corpses on our feet before I wiped my de and climbed over the wall to the other side.


    And to be perfectly honest, it was actually harder to pull Quinn up than talking to Brix or clearing that horde, but my work on my poker face saved me because I would''ve received a beating if Quinn saw my lifting face when I was pulling her up.


    ''Do I have to be fucking her to lift her without issue??? This is madness¡­''


    In any case, after a skirmish such as this, I made it a point to pick up all our spent casings, reload everyone''s mags, wipe down our equipment, check ourselves for scratches and whatnot for everyone''s safety, etc.


    Thankfully no one was hurt and was now enjoying a celebratory chocte bar or shot of strong alcohol, but the one deep in the dumps was JP.


    It was because after the dust had settled, he began to contact his father to give a proper report, and to my surprise, an actual apology and ountability for his actions, taking most, if not, all of the me for the mess his men made that we had to clean up ourselves. And after that, he looked to be so fucking distraught because he had been at it since day one so if his men would lie about this shit, what else did they lie to him about?


    He could probably check the ones pretty close by but what about the people he sent on expeditions far out? How many of them were doing their jobs properly or cking off and just taking the rewards whileughing at his back?


    Even in the old world, that shit was literally disobeying a direct order and grounds for punishment or severe disciplinary action but now, all he could do was send a report because he was ordered toe with me for an apprenticeship of sorts.


    He did look like he wanted to drive back to straighten things out but just the general vibe around him right now also told me he lost a bit of that air of authority and pride around him.


    That could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the context or situation but as I said earlier, currently, that was not his job though this discovery could be a can of worms on the General''s te.


    I nudged him with my elbow, "Do you at least know the people you sent here?"


    He sighed deeply, "I need to check my logbook back home because I rotate them once in a while to avoid shit like this but when did they start colluding to get free shit?"


    "I''d hate to ask this but how many times did you order your people over to this ce?"


    "I¡­ I''m not exactly sure but it''s plenty of times because the zeds don''t just stay in one ce so there are plenty of times where I''d have to send a bunch of people to ces such as this to clear them out and report back. It''s just that¡­ It''s just that¡ª"


    "They just closed it off with those corpses and called it a day¡­"


    "Exactly."


    "What did your father say though?"


    "He¡ª He sounded disappointed at first but he kinda calmed down when I told him you guys took care of it. He started praising me, basically giving me all the glory for what you guys did, but I cut him off and told him I just reloaded mags and shot fifteen of them, and then he became quiet¡­ But yeah, he said he''d look into the matter because I gave him copies of my reports and I hate to say this but I''m relieved we aren''t there because if The General gets quiet like that, he''s fucking pissed. Everyone will take the fucking me if no one would step for it¡­"


    "I see¡­" then I pulled out two candy bars from my pockets, "Alright, want some Kit Kats or a Klondike?"


    "The fuck¡ª"


    "I rmend the Kit Kats but both have already melted but it''s either this or you wallow in your self-pity a bit more. Again, I''d choose the former from the choices but you do you. A stain in your record is a stain on your record, you either let that get to you or get more stars so that they can''t say shit when it''s all over, and this time, I''d choose thetter option."


    "..."


    "JP?"


    "..."


    "Fuck it, Jameson Prometheus¡ª"


    "I get it, I get it! Don''t you have any Warheads?!"


    "Oh! The candy or¡ª"


    "OF COURSE, THE CANDY!"


    "Ah, I could''ve shown you my weapons of mass destruction¡ª"


    "YOU HAVE A FUCKING NUKE¡ª"


    "OF COURSE, NOT! I WANTED TO BUT I CAN''T BUY IT IN A DICK''S SPORTING GOODS, CAN I?! YOU DON''T HAVE TO SHOVE IT IN MY FACE, YOU KNOW?! I''m already on several watch lists for googling that¡­"


    "..." JP could only nkly stare at me as he was so fucking bewildered from that exchange.


    Then I went back like it was nothing, "Oh! We have Yakees! Milder than Warheads and it kinda dyes your tongue in different colors and you can also¡ªwait, no¡­ you can''t swallow the gum after¡­ I''m pretty sure."


    This time, it seemed like something fizzled inside his head because one of his eyes started twitching for no reason.

 Chapter 914 Back On The Road IV - Mysterious Ways

    ?


    Seeing JP BSOD''ing in front of me was fucking hrious but we heard something copse from behind us, and it was some of the support beams inside the public market that was keeping it together. It sustained enough damage for it to copse on its own but what we didn''t think would happen after that was a much bigger ming blob plopping down the stairs and rolling over its minions that tried to protect itself.


    But yeah, due to the damage it also sustained, it broke open and scattered like a snowball that wasn''t pressed together hard enough, and more than a dozen assorted limbs poured out in every direction.


    ''Was it hanging by the roof?''


    However, it didn''t take long before we spotted a few deadheads¡ªthat were inside the blob¡ªthat survived the mes and the digestive fluids as they tried to move in whichever direction they could with what was left of them.


    I wasn''t sure that they''d reach far with those rotting stumps so anyone who didn''t barf at the sight pulled out their guns and put them out of their misery.


    In any case, JP was still sulking as I turned back to him and I thought he was contemting whether he was worthy of eating the sour candy I gave to him. This one blunder totally took out whatever his title gave him away but I couldn''t help but feel a little bit of sympathy because I was exactly like this¡ªbut not totally¡ªbefore.


    "Listen, I know what you''re fucking feeling and it fucking sucks¡­ Trust me, I know¡ªlike, I really know¡­ I''m the biggest perfectionist there was but I learned that even though the idea of everything being perfect was supposed to be the end-all, it could do more harm than good."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "Well, look at you."


    "What¡ª"


    "You made one mistake¡ª"


    "A HUGE mistake¡ª"


    "It still counts as one! Get it? It still counts¡ª Nevermind, I''ll deal with that other issueter¡ª But what I''ve learned is that I should''ve focused more on what I can still do correctly instead of what I did wrong."


    "Didn''t you just say the same thing earlier?"


    "Yeah, something like that¡ª"


    "Then why¡ª"


    "Because I felt like it wasn''t getting through to you."


    "...!"


    "Did that one get through?"


    "..."


    "It did, huh? That''s a start¡­ Look, as much as I''d hate to admit it, we''re simr in this sense. Trust me, it took me more than words for things to get through my thick skull and it wasn''t worth it. It''s hard to listen to advice when you''re set on your own path but that''s just how it is sometimes. I''m not telling you to follow every word I say¡ªthough it''s highly rmended, but yeah, following your own path doesn''t mean that the path everyone else took was wrong and you have to be different every step of the way."


    JP started to nod a few times before he stood up in front of everyone:


    "U-Umm¡­ Excuse me, everyone¡­ I need to say something but it''s more inclined to my¡ªno, more inclined to the group of cadets I''m traveling with. Listen up¡ªno, please listen to me: I fucked up and I''m sorry. That''s all," JP mentioned before giving them a bow.


    "Umm..."


    "..."


    "Sure..."


    "Ha..."


    "..."


    "You''ve done nothing wrong, Baron¡ª"


    JP cut Lucas off, "Please, don''t call me that too. As of now, I''m relinquishing my title and I''m starting over. And to prove that I''m fucking serious, I''m gonna hand over the keys to the Raycolt to the person who contributed the most from our side: Megan!


    Megan tilted her head sideways, "Me? Are you sure?"


    "You were the first one to jump and everyone followed after you. You didn''t kill as much of the deadpared to the other two who jumped down but you followed orders to the dot and¡ª"


    James #1 protested, "W-W-Wait, she wasn''t even ordered to jump down!"


    James #2 followed, "Yeah! We were!"


    Megan rolled her eyes, "And you two were staring at each other people thought you were gonna fucking kiss!"


    The two eximed at the same time, "We weren''t¡ª"


    Seb cut in after shaking his head, "Just let Megan have it. I didn''t think we''d go about the ownership of the Raycolt this way but it''s fun. I like it."


    Ruben followed, "Who''s the Baron now, though?"


    Almost everyone from their group answered, "No one!"


    JP nodded, "Yeah, we have to figure out a new way to¡ª"


    Quinn chuckled/scoffed from the side and said mockingly, "Aww~ You guys are so cute, adorable~ Can we fucking move on now because it''s already noon and there''s huge fucking fire right behind us AND WHY THE FUCK ARE WE HAVING A HEART TO HEART IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS FUCKING SHIT HOLE?! CAN''T WE FIND A QUIET AND COOL PLACE TO TAKE A BREAK?!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "N-Noted¡­"


    I chuckled as I ordered everyone to get ready to move out, "Two minutes tops, alright? We still have plenty of time before sundown but we should be on the move five minutes ago."


    In any case, it was a little heartwarming to see them like that but in all ounts, Quinn was right. Not only did we have to change locations for what she mentioned earlier, but we also caused quite amotion and as much as our armed convoy was a deterrent to hostile groups, there were some suicidal dumbasses or desperate people out there that we should be wary of.


    We could probably take care of them but it would be better if there was no fight at all.


    Taking care of the dead was one thing but raiders or something simr was a whole different story.


    On that note, Jesus and his crew led the way as everyone else followed but I soon discovered that the roads they were using weren''t as straightforward as I thought.


    If anyone used the same path as us, we''d receive multipleints or usations that we were lost because it''d be way easier to follow a GPS instead of what Jesus and his crew were doing.


    But yeah, it sounds funny but we literally let Jesus take the wheel because he knew more about the roadspared to ours, and he''d give mementary for each detour or abrupt turn he''d use. It was the weirdest tour I''ve been on but it was the smoothest ride we''ve been on, rtively speaking.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sorry, my children¡­ Heh¡­ We could''ve saved 30 minutes if we used that road but lemme tell ya, crazies over there and they''d literally drop boulders on your cars just to get your attention. Been there once and never again. D''you know how rare paint is these days?! They''re lucky we''re trying to pull a steampunk/ragged/Mad Max motif or we''d have smoked their asses!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Right! Tell them about the bar, dude! Tell them about the bar! The titty bar!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah~! The bar! I remember! That was insane! It''s on a different route, unfortunately, but that''s the only ce I''d return to if I could! Best service hands down! Got apdance, a blowjob, a titjob, a rimjob, and all kinds of jobs plus anal for the low, low price of a six-pack! It''s kinda weird that the one who sucked me took off her dentures first but it was amazing¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [BLECH!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [EWWW~!!!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [JESUS, WHAT THE FUCK?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HEY! HEY! DON''T KNOCK IT TILL YOU TRY IT! NOT ONLY THAT MY PUBES ARE SAFE BECAUSE THEY DON''T GET PULLED OUT BY THEIR TEETH, BUT I''D RATHER HAVE NO TEETH THAN TEETH WITH BRACES BECAUSE I DAMN NEAR LOST MY DICK WHEN I WAS BLOWN BY HER DAUGHTER! NOT AGAIN! NOPE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That ce is insane! C-Can we d-drop by¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NOOOOOOOOOO! HAVE SOME SELF-RESPECT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Well, fuck you kids! I share some intimate shit and you do this to me! I didn''t even tell you about this ce where they have bound zombies you could stick your dick in¡ª I never did it, before you sick fucks asked, but that ce is fuckin'' wild~]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "And~ All of that''s gonna be burned inside my head. Thanks, Jesus¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Anytime! I got more, if you want¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Uh-huh! Better space them out, you know¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Right, right¡ª Oh! Here we are! Just to our left, it''s a pretty safe space but we''d need to leave a few people guarding our cars. We have 30 minutes or so¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What is this ce?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Well, used to be a cockpit arena but they ran out of cocks so they''re making people fight each other. Kinda like Mr. Cuervo''s pad but a little less regted. Don''t worry, I know all of them.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, Jesus took us to a ce that looked like a budget version of the Roman Colosseum, and the whole ce didn''t even have a fence and there were several groups of people parked in clusters all around it.


    Some of them were doing drugs, having sex, keeping watch, or just patiently waiting for a deadhead to stumble upon them so they could blow its brains out while jealously hearing the cheers from the inside.


    We definitely garnered a lot of attention when we rolled up but a good majority of the people outside were ecstatic to discover Jesus was leading our armed convoy. Out of all the ces we could take a short break, I didn''t even think this ce was the "Cool and Quiet" Quinn mentioned, and she definitely wasn''t pleased when I nced at her in the rear-view mirror.


    ''What is Jesus up to?''

 Chapter 915 Cockpit Arena - Jonathan

    <h4>Chapter 915 Cockpit Arena - Jonathan</h4>


    We parked in a rtively safe area but some people were already approaching us weirdly. I specifically chose that word because not only were some of them walking like they were out to mug us, but some of them even had their weapons at the ready in case shit went south.


    It was obviously pretty tense inside our vehicles but Jesus and his crew were greeted as I thought they would¡ªwhen they came out of their vehicles¡ªexcept for us.


    Everyone else was definitely fresh meat in their eyes, especially the cadets, and the "goons" were posturing in an intimidating way, to say the least.


    If this was any other day, I''d assume that they were posing for a music video of some sort, but one of the burlier, tattooed gentlemen approached me without blinking an eye. He was giving off this vibe that he probably shoots his gun sideways, he only does arms if he ever works out, and most importantly, he was pretty much thinking that everyone else here was a bitch except for him.


    He got up and stared me dead in the eyes without saying anything, but he somehow felt disrespected when I momentarily nced at Jesus to somehow get a sense of what was going on:


    "What''cha lookin'' at him for? Huh?!"


    I faintly smiled as I replied, "I''m just tryin'' to see if Jesus there is your friend¡ª"


    "Who fuggin'' cares who I''m friends with?! I''m talkin'' to you and you look somece else?! Foo, that''s one step closer to seeing the reaper¡ª"


    I kept smiling as I maintained direct eye contact, "Oh, really? You''ve seen the guy?"


    He nodded a few times with a fake smile, "Oh? You think you''re funny, huh? You''ve got some jokes to throw in my turf? Is that it?"


    "Your turf? This¡­ raggedy-ass parking lot that''s one hypodermic needle away from an outbreak? I didn''t think valets in this joint owned shit like this¡ª"


    And as usual, before I got to finish my sentence, I heard a short chuckle before the dumbass used his whole body to wound up and throw a punch at me. However, the next thing everyone saw was the same fool folding like a ragdoll before hitting his head on the dirty parking space.


    It had never been so easy to nick the tip of his chin with a quick andpact hook, but everyone else from his group couldn''t believe their eyes.


    They even thought I shot him with a suppressed gun or stabbed him with a knife, but once they saw his chest move up and down while no blood was leaking out of his body, more confusion added to their expressions.


    But once again, I nced at Jesus momentarily and saw that he knew that this would happen, and I just assumed that this was his way of introducing us to this new group or collection of people who needed more than just a simple handshake.


    ''Is this it?''


    For a moment there, I thought everyone else from this guy''s camp would lunge at me¡ªand I was definitely prepared to throw down¡ªbut our little moment was disrupted by more cheersing from the cockpit arena.


    And with that, the guy I knocked out began to slowly regain consciousness but Jesus finally decided to cut the crap:


    "Had enough fun, you freakin'' assholes? It''s one thing to mess with the new faces but out of all the people you wanted to mess with, you mess with THE Kid? He beat everyone else in Mr. Cuervo''stest event, why the fuck do y''all think he couldn''t drop anyone in this dump?"


    The guy I knocked down slowly got up and backed away a few steps as he wiped his mouth, "W-Who? Cuervo''s¡ª Wait, you mean¡ª"


    A guy at the back who was smoking a joint had a lightbulb moment, "OHH! Jack, you fuckin'' dumbass! That''s t-the k-kid, you know?!"


    "What fucking kid are y''all talkin'' about? I don''t¡ª"


    "Dude! Remember those guys who drove by here a few days ago who kept talkin'' about this new head and whatevs who won the whole thing?!"


    "Huh¡ª Wait, what?! He''s that kid¡ª FUCK! Jesus! Couldn''t you have said something sooner¡ª"


    "Would you have listened to me?"


    "No¡ª But that''s not the point! A little warning¡ª The fuck are ya doing here anyways?!" then he quickly turned to me looking all apologetic, "S-Sorry man, I thought I could snag a few cigs off ya and¡ª"


    I cut him off as I turned to Jesus, "Yeah, what are we doing here anyway?"


    As soon as I said that, cheers had once again erupted from the cockpit arena and Jesus turned his head to the direction of the noise before he turned back to me:


    "I thought we could take a short break here but I have a few words with the owner of this ce. I''d prefer if youe with me with a few gifts to please the guy or you could put on a brief show and entertain him by beating the shit out of all his best fighters. Trust me, it''s important that we meet the guy."


    I shook my head as I nced briefly at my truck, "I''m not in the mood to have mud fights right now so what does he like for starters?"


    With that said, after a short bit, Jesus and I found our way inside the cockpit arena while bearing gifts, leaving everyone in our treasured vehicles. It wasn''t because they didn''t want to check what was going on inside, it was more that they needed to take a bite and they couldn''t afford to get pickpocketed while enduring the humid sticky feeling inside.


    ''This ce needs some fucking venttion, after a serious deep cleaning, of course¡­''


    On that note, I was basically following after Jesus but his holiness was fucking stopping every moment or so to greet each and every one who''d wave at him or offer him a drink. It was eerily simr when my mom would stop at a grocery aisle when they bumped into one of their friends but in our case, his friends were like the row of trainers from that certain pocket monster game.


    I could only follow him while wearing a fake smile but I must admit that his fucking social skills were bar none.


    In any case, it took us close to ten minutes to get to the balcony room of sorts which thankfully was closed off and had airconditioning, but the sight that weed us was this petite chick with nipple piercings getting fingered and eaten out by the person we were looking for.


    The guy looked to be the same age as Mr. Cuervo or Mr. Alvarez but let''s just say that he was morefortable showing off his rippling muscles instead of wearing a fancy suit and tie.


    With the way things were going, I thought that Jesus would pull his cock out and fill the chick''s mouth but thankfully but unbearably enough, we just had to wait for her to squirt uncontrobly while the same guy drank all of her juices.


    I even doubt the 30 minutes Jesus told me about was enough because we were probably at the halfway mark and we barely made any progress with this ce whatsoever.


    However, after the girl''s orgasm faded, the guy just straight-up pushed her by the edge of the table before sitting down and greeting us with a bright smile.


    "Jesus! You''vee to visit! It''s always a delight to see you but who''s your friend over there¡ª Wait! I kinda have a very great inkling so should we test him out¡ª"


    Jesus waved him off as he faintly smiled, "I''m sorry Jonathan, we''re on a very tight schedule right now because we need to be somece else but he brought some gifts! Would you care to see them?"


    His face lit up, "Oh? Gifts, you say? You know I love gifts! C''mon, ''Kid'', grace me with your presence!"


    On that note, I approached the guy with the gifts I brought but the girl he was eating out earlier was licking her lips as she was looking at me. But yeah, I gently ced a duffel bag on his table before I gave him a brief nod and slowly moved back to where Jesus was standing.


    With that said, the bag contained goodies such as: an ounce of weed, a pack of cigarettes, one of our newer spare K-Bar knives, a 1911 with two unloaded magazines, a box of .45 ACPs, a yboy magazine, a tactical shlight, a pack of jerky, a bar of soap, razors, shampoo, a can of shaving cream, an empty pill case of Viagra, and a small rock with googly eyes.


    I was fairly confident about the gifts I prepared for this guy but honest to the fucking god, I didn''t put in the empty pill case of Viagra and the motherfucking pet rock that had uneven eyes.


    But to my fucking surprise, the guy was shocked to fuck when he pulled out thosest two items but he started dyingughing before he rushed the both of us and gave us a hug.

 Chapter 916 Everythings Fucking Connected!

    ?


    Those two items were probably symbolic for this Jonathan fellow because an empty pill case and a rock with googly eyes looked like misceneous items to me. But as my initial shock subsided after lightly patting on his back when he hugged us, he gave me another shock by excitedly running over to the chick he was just pleasuring a few moments ago¡ªwith pet rock in hand¡ªand said:


    "Here you go, Allie! Nothing but the best for my daughter!"


    "Thanks, Daddy~! I''ll let you do ''that'' thing you so wanted since you found me my lost pet! I love you~!"


    "Heh! Anything for you, my dear!"


    Hearing that, it took everything for me to not let out a certain reaction but the other side of me¡ªthe fun side¡ªwas already looking for a banjo and ying that certain theme song.


    And to be perfectly honest, I felt a little conflicted about my thoughts because I had a certain interaction with the twins¡ªRuru and Riri, so I just put my judgment aside and carried on like Jesus who looked like he was way~ over it.


    However, Jonathan''s daughter was already looking at me ''that'' way but I was already nning my revenge for Jesus who was the one who sneaked in those two items in the duffel bag. But yeah, it seemed like the guy didn''t mind sharing his daughter with me but at this point, I''d push aside that te for the next time.


    Yet there''s still one mystery left unsolved: the empty prescription for people who were having a hard time getting and maintaining an erection.


    On that note, Jonathan went back to his seat with the pill case still in his hands, but all he did with it was to stash it in one of his drawers before he discovered I was waiting for what he would do with it.


    "You curious with that, kid? Wanna know why it''s empty?"


    I shrugged my shoulders as I replied, "Sure, if you don''t mind¡ª"


    "It''s because I don''t need it full! Or partially, get it?! HAHAHAHA~!!!"


    "Oh~ Pfft¡­"


    We all shared augh for a brief moment before it slowly became quiet. The rest of the items I''d given to him were still on the table but this Allie chick was still engrossed with the pet rock she was gifted and she didn''t have a care in the world that she was butt naked in front of two other people.


    Jesus tried to get on with the conversation, "Jonathan¡­ You know why we''re here."


    Jonathan nodded a few times, "I do, yes. I do. But these gifts¡­"


    "They aren''t enough? Are you kidding¡ª"


    "N-No, no. Don''t get me wrong, the ones in front of me are already a bonus because I only wanted my daughter''s pet rock but¡­ you see¡ª"


    "Then tell me! Don''t beat around the bush, Jon. I dragged my group to the other side of this region to find that very specific rock and those very specific googly eyes for our deal and you look like you''re gonna add more in the mix! Does that seem fair to you?"


    Allie nodded from the side, "That really doesn''t seem like it''s fair, Daddy¡­ You should give them the car back¡­"


    Jonathan wore a difficult smile as he turned to his daughter, "Listen, Baby¡­ Let Daddy talk with the grown-ups for a bit, alright?"


    "B-But I''m a grown-up! Aren''t we already doing grown-up s-stuff¡ª"


    I slightly grimaced as I turned to Jesus, "Car? What car?"


    Jesus was confused about my question, "Quinn didn''t tell you¡ª No, she probably wasn''t aware."


    "Aware about what?"


    "Dave''s car. Brix swore that he saw it parked on the other side of this ce when we dropped by for a quick chat but we weren''t even aware it was possessed by one of your guys. You know where I''m getting at, right?"


    Hearing that, it took me a few moments to dig a little deeper inside my head and once I put two and two together, I was suddenly invested because finding Dave''s car is almost equals to finding one of Tatiana''s missingrades, Kuzma.


    One of the reasons we decided to prolong our stay in this region was to look for Kuzma, who was around these parts, and Alexander, who was already spotted by Niks and needed some talking to by Artem.


    These Russian soldiers were very far away from home and keeping them together was the best thing I could do for them not only for their battle prowess but also for how close I''d gotten to them.


    I''ve formed different groups here and there but theirs was the most effective and the ones who could actually keep up with me and my antics, so it''s best to be with a group that we could mesh well together or put my trust in even if I send them on dangerous missions alone and/or with another local person to guide them.


    In any case, I wish Jesus could''ve told me sooner because if this was at stake, I would''ve tried more to get Jonathan''s favor. But yeah, I was definitely making a profile in my head¡ªfrom what I''ve seen¡ªto do just that, but for now, it was better to listen to him speak.


    "Jesus¡­ listen¡­ I know that you finding my daughter''s beloved treasure is the best thing that has ever happened to me¡ª I mean, us two but¡­ You gotta understand¡­ You think your name doesn''t pull weight around here but it does, it really does! I promise you! So, I''m pretty sure that if you talk to my buddy¡ª"


    Jesus cut him off, "Mr. Cuervo''s not your buddy, Jon. And I''m not your messenger. If you want to fix things with him, you should go there yourself and apologize. Maybe even drop him a gift or two like we did."


    "T-That''s the thing! It''s all c-connected, y''know! Look at this ce! It''s almost the same exact thing over there and even though the fighters I sentst time didn''t do as good with that fucking Russian who came out of nowhere¡ª"


    "Where are you going with this, man? I¡ª"


    "I''m getting to it! Listen, alright? You see, I forgot what''s his name or whatever¡ªsounded like my daughter''s name¡ª"


    I cut in, "You mean Ilya?"


    Jonathan sped his hands together before pointing at me, "Yeah! That''s the one! He strolled in a few months ago and¡ªI haven''t even heard of you since then but that guy trashed everyone! I mean, everyone! I''m not clear about the particr details but I guess even our national team does imports from time to time but c''mon! I heard more popped out so I guess they were the jam but I was already banned froming to Cuervo Heights because of one tiny mistake!"


    "W-Wait a second, what did you do anyway?"


    He looked a little conflicted before speaking, "Well~ I kinda told Cuervo that we should host an all-Filipino event next time because these foreigners and those pesky half-breeds are ruining everything then he kicked me and everyone out!"


    "S-Seriously?"


    "I swear to fucking God or whatever! How could I know he''s half-Mexican or something?! Don''t we just look the same?!"


    I tried my best not to smack his head with the nearest chair, "I''m half-Japanese, by the way¡­"


    Then his eyes lit up, "See?! How can we tell the fucking difference?! You look handsome, I kinda look handsome-er¡ª Is that even the word? All I wanted to happen is just¡ª" then the dumbass had a revtion, "Ohhhhhhhh~ That''s what I did wrong¡­"


    Jesus could only roll his eyes as he scratched the side of his cheek, "Look, I''m mixed too and that''s not the point but what I''m trying to say is that I did my part of the deal and you should honor it¡ª"


    "Aren''t I getting to that? Look, I''m giving you the car back, don''t worry¡ª"


    "Then you should''ve said so from the beginning!"


    "What? Can''t I propose another deal while one was about to finish?"


    "You didn''t make it sound like it, you asshole!"


    Jonathan rolled his eyes, "You''re confusing me, you know that? Anyway¡ª Oh! That''s right! About the Russians, before I forget¡­"


    Jesus rolled his eyes even harder, "Here we go~"


    "Listen, man! Just listen! I did say that''s it all connected, right?! You see, I had an inkling that that car was Dave''s but another guy was driving it but lo and behold, he was bald!"


    "What?" Jesus and I said at the same time while looking confused as fuck.


    "Bald! You know, like he doesn''t have any hair on his head! Isn''t that funny?!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­ You''re bald too, Daddy!"


    I was so fucking done with this conversation but the dumbass actually turned it around. I actually thought he had something for foreigners, mixed-breeds, and bald people, but in his own way and to our benefit, it all actually made sense.


    Hearing it firsthand, I know that the majority of the De Leon Family were bald or clean-shaven people but as he told us multiple times, it was all fucking connected.


    "Aren''t you guys getting it?! I thought he was another schmo or some shit that Dave send for an errand but the guy''s actually Russian! I knew that he was because he kinda looked like the same guy that beat my guys but I took him under my wing and he''s my secret fighter that''s about to blow Cuervo''s mind! Just you see!"


    I was once again shocked to fuck by hearing this important piece of news but before I almost beat this dumbass to death, cheers had once again erupted as they started chanting that fucking person''s name:


    "KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA! KUZMA!"

 Chapter 917 Kuzma - WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!

    <h4>Chapter 917 Kuzma - WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!</h4>


    Hearing that name getting chanted with fervor over and over, I was still in great disbelief about everything that urred up to this point, but the phenomenon where someone would find something they were looking for when they weren''t looking for it was ringing true.


    Sure, there could probably be a couple more Kuzmas here and there but all of Jonathan''s points¡ªwhere half was fucking confusing¡ªpointed to the guy we were still in the process of looking for.


    ''Another process was to make our moms look for that missing item but that''s impossible for me at the moment¡­''


    Once I nced over the ss windows, I saw a well-built man who was covered in scars¡ªeither from stab or bullet wounds¡ªonly wearing short trunks and some sort of makeshift cloth wraps that acted as his gloves, ankle supports, elbow pads, and knee pads.


    However, I noticed a particr shining object that was sticking out from his elbow pads and his ankle supports¡ªand considering where we were currently, it totally made a lot of sense.


    ''Running out of fighting cocks didn''t mean they had to stop using those¡­''


    The object I was talking about were these "Tari/s" that were basically a karambit for chickens used for cockfighting, and they were generally wrapped around by the chicken''s ws or ankles to deal more significant damage to its opponent or in some cases,pletely tear its opponent apart, saving the loser some money for butchering it for meatter.


    But yeah, the tari Kuzma and his opponent had on themselves were basically karambits or shoddy knives that were purposefully bent or curved to fit the bill. But yeah, it was still dangerous to the user even if it was properly secured but their safety wasn''t the main concern in this joint.


    Everything was made for fun and entertainment.


    I nced momentarily at Jonathan who was waiting for my reaction, "You''re one crazy motherfucker, if that didn''t cause too many fatalities, Mr. Cuervo would definitely have this in his shows¡ª"


    "Right?! For everyone to have fun, a lot of risks need to be involved!"


    With that said, the chanting eventually died down as Kuzma went to the "Meron" side while his opponent was already on the "W" side. Those two words basically meant "There is/There is none" in English but the bestparison for it would be our good ol'' blue and red corners.


    But before the fight even started, I had to p my forehead because if Kuzma died on that match then and there, Tatiana would definitely be fucking furious and the rtionship I had with Artem and the rest would fucking fall down the drain.


    However, I know that these fucking Russians¡ªno offense¡ªwere hardy as fuck, and his fucking opponent looked like he was down on hisst quarters. I very much know the look on people''s faces but Kuzma looked like he had a lot of shit going on as well.


    ''So¡­ I just let the other one die? Is that it?''


    To bepletely honest, I couldn''t give much of a fact for the other guy because everyone else in this joint probablymitted multiple crimes or felonies, went to jail for a year or so, or even still on the run and got lucky when the world ended.


    I wasn''t saying that everyone who decided to spend their days in a DDR Camp or in this shit hole were good and bad respectively but c''mon, a little bit of being judgmental could go a long way.


    And after a few more moments, the bell suddenly rang and the two rushed at each other at the same time.


    But as they were only an arm''s length away, Kuzma''s opponent jumped and wound up his elbow, performing a Superman Punch with a¡­ an elbow, of course, to somehow get the first hit in.


    However, as Kuzma was still leaning forward when he rushed in, I saw his leg muscles tense abruptly before he jumped forward in a fraction of a second¡ªhis elbow also wounded to the side before they collided.


    It definitely looked like a cockfight with humans instead of chickens but after that exchange, Kuzma''s right eyebrow had a deepceration while his opponent''s right cheek was pping by its jaw.


    Blood was definitely drawn from both sides, but I clearly saw how Kuzma''s stance changed into what Artem and Niks would use while we were sparring. It totally turned defensivepared to his zero-defense Hail Mary earlier, but due to the knives in his elbows, it looked like he was posing to strike first.


    But yeah, due to how injured his opponent waspared to him, the guy on the opposing side rushed in once again with a flurry of blows that turned into a flurry of misses, making him sustain more cuts andcerations on his arms.


    It was because Kuzma used his elbows defensively to block, dodge, and weave around his opponent, and to bring back another point of reference that he had knives on his elbows, he was basically a pterodactyl or some sort winged animal that had talons or ws built into their upper body.


    Attacking Kuzma in that way did him more harm than good and he was definitely running on willpower alone. Anyone else would''ve tapped out or surrendered but there were definitely circumstances preventing him from doing so.


    But as cheers for Kuzma''s name continued to get louder and louder, the guy just snapped and resolved to fight dirty just to win by any means necessary.


    The most obvious choice was to use the sand flooring to kick it up on Kuzma''s eyes but the motherfucker doubled down¡ªno, tripled down to use blood and spit for added measure.


    If this were done to me, my first step would be to somehow jump back to avoid itpletely or turn my head away¡ªor even just close my eyes first¡ªbut Kuzma had his own way of doing things.


    Attacking right then and there was definitely the first course of action the moment anyone seeded in blinding their opponent, but the only thing Kuzma''s opponent seeded in was throwing shit on his face.


    He was this close to shing Kuzma''s throat but he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Kuzma still had his eyes open wide¡ªwith all the sand, blood, and spit he threw at him¡ªthough definitely bloodshot, and before he could even retreat, there was a brief glint of metal before blood spurted from his neck.


    "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SHIT!"


    "DID ANYONE SEE THAT?! FUCK! DID ANYONE FUCKING SEE THAT?!"


    "HAHAHA! I''M RICH! I''M FUUUUUCKIN'' RICH!"


    "GREAT! TIME TO PAY YOUR¡ª OI! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING¡ª"


    "FUCK ALL OF YOU, YOU TOLD ME ANDREI''S A SURE WIN!"


    "JUST CRY OVER THERE, BITCH BOY!"


    "MAAAAN, STOP BICKERING AND JUST ENJOY THIS SHIT!"


    "WOOHOO! KUZMA FOR THE WIN!"


    "KUZMAAAAA! WARM UP MY BED FOR ME! I''LL LEAVE THE DOOR UNLOCKED!"


    "BITCH, IT''S ALWAYS UNLOCKED! EVERYONE HERE HAD GONE THROUGH TO YOU¡ª OW!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS CRAZY!"


    The conclusion was so fucking metal even I made a face because even I needed goggles to keep my eyes open underwater for extended periods. All I could do in that situation was avoid it or prevent it from happening but the motherfucker powered through that shit for the brief second it could give him to deliver the final blow.


    ''Doing that needed more than fucking willpower and grit¡­''


    But on that note, another round of betting had already started, and while the body was getting dragged away to be dumped somewhere else, I caught a reflection of Allie putting on an equivalent of a slutty nurse uniform.


    She never looked so excited as she put a few things in her medical bag, but before she went out the door, Jonathan stopped her.


    "Baby, you don''t need to go down. I''ll call him up¡ª"


    "Really, Daddy? Don''t you get jealous when I let him touch me when I nurse him?"


    ''Aaaand~ We are back to this weirdness¡­''


    Jonathan scratched his head as he looked at his daughter, "Baby, can you resist the urge for a minute because our guests need to meet our best fighter!" then he turned to me, "Isn''t that right, Mr. Champion of Champions?"


    I nodded dismissively, "Sure¡­"


    "I bet you''d like to fight him next time, so¡ª" then he suddenly spoke on his radio, "Hey! Tell Kuzma toe on up! Allie will patch him here and tell him to look a little decent! We have guests!"


    I chuckled as I waved him off, "Don''t worry about him looking decent, I just want to meet the guy," then I turned to Allie, "Excuse me, Allie¡­ But are you really a nurse? No offense¡ª"


    Allie''s eyes lit up, "Wouldn''t you like to know~?"


    Jesus chimed in, "She is, actually¡­ despite all that¡­ sparkle and enthusiasm."


    I nodded approvingly, "I see¡­ but Jesus¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "We really need to make Tatianae up as well. We should¡ª"


    Jesus looked at me a certain way, "You think that''s a good idea?"


    I thought for a moment and understood his nce, "Right. It''s better to just introduce him to the ''crew''ter. He should be patched up and not be disturbed further."


    At this point, it only took a few moments before we heard a knock on the door and once Jonathan let Kuzmae in, he barely nced at me when he abruptly came up to my face with bloodshot eyes ready tomit blood murder, staring directly at the smiley pin on my bulletproof vest.


    "You¡­ Where did¡ª Who the fuck are you?! ANSWER ME?!"

 Chapter 918 YOU DID WHAT?!

    <h4>Chapter 918 YOU DID WHAT?!</h4>


    Out of all the things I would forget to take into ount, it was the replica of the bloody smiley pin on my vest used tomemorate one of our fallenrades, Kristoff. It had been there ever since I put it on and as unbelievable as that would sound, I fucking forgot about it.


    But yeah, Kuzma seeing it on me was like an activation codeword for a secret spy of sorts because he lunged at me and demanded an answer right this instant.


    Jesus wanted us to be a little discreet with my connection to him from Jonathan but I guess that n went out the shitter.


    And the man himself, Jonathan, who surprisingly had some say in his actions tried to wave him down, "Kuzma! That''s our dear guest! Get off him!"


    Kuzma let go of me but kept staring me down as he replied to Jonathan, "B-But that pin¡ª"


    "What''s a bloody pin good for?! Huh?! A pin''s a pin! Unless¡ª"


    Allie cut in, "Daddy! I think K-Kuzma recognized it from somewhere!"


    Jonathan rubbed his chin as he stared at me, "Curious¡­ Well, I don''t want to beat around the bush anymore because I''m curious so can either of you enlighten us?"


    "..."


    "..."


    The two of us didn''t say a word while our eyes were still in a deadlock but Jonathan ran out of patience as he mmed on the table.


    "KUZMA! YOU OWE ME YOUR FUCKING LIFE SO ''FESS UP! WHAT''S THE DEAL WITH THE STUPID FUCKING PIN?!"


    It took everything for Kuzma to turn his head to Jonathan but then he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down before speaking in a respectful manner, "I-I''m sorry¡­ sir. That pin¡ªno, I''m not even sure if that''s the exact one but I have a friend¡ª"


    Then Jonathan''s eyes lit up for the wrong reasons, "Another Russian friend, perhaps?! That''s amazing! That''s¡ª Kuzma, stop confusing me! Does that kid even look a semnce of your heritage to you¡ª"


    I cut in before I jumped over this overlook, "It''s aplicated but long story short, we have a¡­ mutual¡­ friend that wears a smiley pin just like this on his vest¡ª"


    Then Kuzma turned back to me with a totally opposite expression from earlier, "I FUCKING KNEW IT! T-Then¡­ Are they here?! K-Kristoff and the rest¡­ a-are they here?!"


    At this point, I decided to carefully choose my words because the smallest of details about hisrade prompted such a reaction, what more could have happened if I told him that the specific person he was looking for was already dead?


    But yeah, I figured that it would be better to show him instead of telling him so I led him along with the father and daughter over to my group who were either in the process of eating lunch or just chilling inside their vehicles.


    Surprisingly enough, Tatiana who I thought would be neck-deep in food was actually sleeping and it was probably one of the reasons she wasn''t able to hear the chants of Kuzma''s name earlier.


    Everyone else was just looking over the three people I brought over but I took it upon myself to knock on the window to wake up Tatiana.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    "Hey! Sin of Gluttony, wake up!"


    No response.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    "I know you''re not a deep sleeper,e on outside!"


    There was no response once again, but I did see her move slightly.


    *knock* *knock* *knock*


    "TATIANA! KUZMA''S HERE¡ª"


    Then all hell broke loose.


    "WHAT?! KUZMA?!/THAT''S TATIANA?!" The two shouted at the same fucking time.


    Before I almost got hit by my Raptor''s door, I managed to jump back and avoid the bloody swing as Tatiana got out¡ªthough a little groggy¡ªas she stared down at the figure of Kuzma who was also doing the same thing to her.


    Both of them weren''t saying anything for several seconds, the same as everyone else around them, but we were just waiting for one of them to move.


    And right on cue, Tatiana''s eyebrows furrowed before she uttered, "You''re bald?"


    Kuzma couldn''t believe his ears, "Wut?"


    Then Jonathan cut in excitedly, "I TOLD Y''ALL, HE''S BALD! I KNEW IT!"


    ''That''s¡­ Nevermind¡­''


    This was the weirdest reunion I''ve seen in a while but the two eventually hugged it out as Kuzma involuntarily shed tears while Tatiana had never smiled so brightly. But to my surprise, Jonathan was the one bawling his fucking eyes out while his daughter Allie was the one trying to calm him down.


    "It''s okay, Daddy~ It''s okay~"


    "But this is just so *sniffles* touching!"


    Then Tatiana chuckled as she let go of Kuzma and took a good look at him, "You''re bleeding! The fuck¡ª"


    Allie and Kaley cut in at the same time, "Right! I forgot¡ª/I''ll take care of that¡ª"


    And again, "Ah¡ª/You¡ª"


    And again, "You should¡ª/Do you want me to¡ª"


    And again, "O-Okay!/I¡ª I''ll take care of it, no biggie!"


    At this point, it seemed like our 30-minute stay had been extended but there were still a lot of things both parties didn''t know about.


    If I heard things correctly, it seemed like Kuzma owed Jonathan his life, tying him to this ce, and in our case, let''s just say that there was a lot more that we had to unpack, a bit of tl;dr-ing, skips, or montages of people speaking without sound was in order.


    But first and foremost, Kaley cleaned the area of Kuzma''s most recent wound while Tatiana handed him a small bottle of vodka.


    Let''s just say that Kuzma had never smiled so wide as he downed it in a few chugs and he''d rather have one more than receive some anesthetic before Kaley tried to stitch his wound close.


    Kuzma needed a total of six stitches by his eyebrow but in all honesty, he very much needed a hot shower first because as much as I didn''t want to be rude, he fucking needs one, and his other injuries needed a second set of eyes and a clean environment so he doesn''t get an infection.


    All of this was happening while Tatiana and Kuzma were catching up¡ªthe happy times, initially¡ªbut I took it upon myself to give them a bit of space as I took Jonathan and Allie aside for negotiations.


    "Jonathan, Allie¡­ I''m prepared to fix the rift between you and Mr. Cuervo¡ª"


    "Hold on a second, I know where you''re getting at but you do know he owes me his fucking life. I don''t mind letting go of him eventually¡ª"


    "No. Not eventually, he goes with us today. That''s the reason I took both of you aside¡ª"


    Allie cut in with a smile, "Thanks for considering me!"


    "Y-Yeah, you''re part of the team. No worries. But as I was about to say, Kuzma and Tatiana, they belong to a special ''Russian'' group that''s under me, so it''s safe to say that he''s my subordinate. And before you say anything, someone''s life is always deemed to be priceless but we gotta be realistic about the situation."


    "Go on¡­"


    "As I said, I''m gonna mediate between you two and Mr. Cuervo¡ªgranted you sincerely apologize for what you did¡ªand I''ll give you twice¡ªno, thrice the gifts I had on the duffel bag¡ªexcept for the empty pill case and pet rock, of course¡ªand I''ll talk to him about incorporating what we just witnessed earlier to one of his event nights."


    "..."


    "Jonathan?"


    "Oh. You''re done?"


    I chuckled dryly, "You actually want more?"


    "Well, yeah? Of course, I want more! Incorporating the sport I created into his event will be nice but how are you gonna rece my fighter? Honestly speaking, he''s the best one I got, and if I give him away, I''ll only have one of the games to my name but I don''t have a participant! That doesn''t seem fair, don''t you think? A life''s a life but he''s worth more than one, no? Realistically speaking."


    "..."


    "Kid? Are you still there?"


    I scratched the back of my head before I tried to dig for more info, "How did he owe you his life anyway?"


    "Hah! Wouldn''t you like to know?"


    "I do, actually. If you''d like to do so, kindly¡ª"


    "HAH! KINDLY, HE SAYS!" Jonathan roared inughter before smacking me by my shoulder a few times, "Kid, listen. I''m just yin'' with you and you''re earlier offer''s enough."


    "What? Seriously?"


    "I just wanted a shot and for the first time since the world fucking ended, a young boy such as you could bend Cuervo''s will and change his mind on things. Fuck it, you were even crowned the new head, right?! You see, that''s my dream right there but those fucking bastards wouldn''t even take a second look at me because¡­ b-because of plenty of fucking reasons but anyway! How about this? I know you''ll be back to Cuervo Heights soon enough so could you let Kuzma enter the games under me a few times or until he snags a win so I could make that bastard''s silly mustache quiver for just a little bit?"


    I chuckled as I held out my hand, "Shake on it?"


    "FUCK YEAH! Ah¡ª Wait a sec¡ª"


    "What is it now?!"


    Jonathan couldn''t look me straight in the eye, "U-Umm¡­ It''s about D-Dave''s car¡­ S-Shit¡­ H-He''s gonna fucking kill me if he knew what h-happened to it¡­"


    Allie cut in, "Ooh~ We totally forgot about that, Daddy! It''s gonna be worsepared to me pegging you!"


    ''Wut???''


    But Jonathan nodded seriously, "I agree¡­ What¡ª"


    "W-What did you do to it anyway?" I leaned in because he was trying to make himself smaller and smaller.


    Jonathan looked at me like he was about to tell me he ran over my dog but his mouth opened when he ced his hand over my shoulder, "W-We¡­ I¡­ I cut it in half and turned it into a sofa¡ª"


    "YOU DID WHAT?! JONATHAN! DAVE''S GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU! YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?! D-DID YOU SAVE THE ENGINE AT LEAST?!" Jesus roared in shock as he was about to have a heart attack.


    Jonathan shook his head, "I-I have no more u-use for it so I threw it away¡ª"


    "YOU DID WHAT?!" Quinn suddenly popped out of nowhere ready tomit bloody fucking murder.

 Chapter 919 My Honest Offer

    <h4>Chapter 919 My Honest Offer</h4>


    The De Leon family were a mix of Gearheads and/or Gymrats, and the single digits among us¡ªJesus and Quinn¡ªwere ready tomit bloody murder for Jonathan basically murdering Dave''s baby. And as I recently discovered, it was one of the rarer vehicles, a 1st Generation Toyota MR2 which was a 2-seater, mid-lined engine sports car.


    Itster generations were also rare but like my old professor''s adventure, the 1st Generations are much, much rarer.


    Cutting it in half, and throwing out the engine that Quinn probably worked on was a death sentence.


    In any case, it was one of the few times I saw Jesus and Quinn emotional because once they saw the car/sofa looking like the most hideous furniture in the father and daughter''s private room, they just knelt on the flooring and started to cry while cursing Jonathan''s actions.


    "WHERE DID YOU THROW IT AWAY?!"


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "T-THE ENGINE, DUMBASS! WHERE DID YOU DISPOSE OF IT?!"


    "I-I don''t know! Outside? I-It''s been a fucking while so I''m not sure if it''ll still work b-because it was probably rained on and shit¡ªI even remember shooting at it when we threw it out¡ª"


    "Y-YOUUU!"


    It was a nigh-impossible feat to stop Quinn when she was like this but if we consider the technical process of ownership, Jonathan did nothing wrong. He was the current owner of Dave''s vehicle at that point so even if what he did was basically treason, he was well in his rights to do so.


    After a few moments, the two just huffed and shook their head as they went back to the group while I was still with Jonathan and Allie. The guy never felt so bad for his actions while his daughter kept rubbing his back tofort him.


    "It''s okay, Daddy! You did nothing wrong, right?" Allie said as she turned to me.


    I nodded, "Technically speaking¡­ Yeah¡­ But it''s like finding a fighter such as Kuzma and making him work as a janitor¡­"


    Jonathan was looking down as he kept shaking his head, "I should''ve known, alright?! It looked really old and dented when it came here, even though it''s Dave''s car, I thought he parted with it due to its condition! I fucked up real~ bad."


    I dryly chuckled as I waved him off, "Listen. They''ll be probably mad for a good while¡ªno, a long while but they''ll get over it. It''ll be great if you find the same thing out there in the wild but your chances are slim."


    "..."


    "But¡­ Can we move it a bit?"


    "W-Why?"


    "I just needed to take some pictures¡ª"


    "C-C''mon, man! It''s bad enough that I did this, it''ll be a whole other thing if Dave saw the pictures!"


    I chuckled, "It''s not for ckmail or proof, don''t worry. Let''s just say that if worsees to worst, Dave would need to get on with a fabricated body. It''s just that in this vehicle, the selling point¡ªI don''t even know if it''s the right word¡ªis the engine being in the center of the vehicle, so it''ll be more difficult if we try to make a replica. I probably have pictures of this MR2 back home but I need to see what minuscule additions Dave did with the exterior."


    "What? You can make an¡ª"


    "Not exactly. I''m only good with copying the outside, not the inside. But yeah, the De Leon family has the perfect ce to make anything from scratch as long as they have the blueprints for it."


    Jonathan let out a sigh of relief, "That''s¡­ That turned out better than expected¡­ You literally saved my life¡ª"


    My ears suddenly perked up, "What did you just say?"


    He suddenly had a realization and tried to y dumb, "U-Umm¡­ I said it t-turned out better than e-expected?"


    "You said that too but what came after that? Hmm?"


    Allie started chuckling from behind him, "Oh~ You''re fucked, Daddy! You shouldn''t have said that!"


    Jonathan just let out a heavy sigh as he dryly chuckled, "FUCK! D-Does that mean w-we''re even¡ª"


    "No. I''ll still hold up the deal we had earlier but you owe just about now. You''re pretty much everyone else from the De Leon Family because of my little trick so, you''re in the same boat as them."


    "Right¡­ I don''t mind owing you for some reason but all I''ll ask is some understanding. This ce is not like Cuervo''s or Mauro''s but we could hold on just fine."


    "Don''t worry, I won''t ask something dangerous of you but you should startworking if you don''t mind working with another person. Let me tell you, it''s kinda rare to see an independent ce such as this that doesn''t seem to be having problems despite the different visitors. You can either work with the De Leon Family to turn this ce into an outpost or move over to Cuervo Heights and be one of Mr. Cuervo''s hosts. You''ll do great with either, honestly¡­"


    Jonathan scratched the back of his head, "I¡­ I don''t know about that¡­ Working under¡ª"


    "I meant no offense but there''s this question that goes like this: Would you rather be the head of a chicken¡ªpun(?) intended¡ªor the tail of a dragon? In your case, you can probably move up with your abilities but I''m not explicitly telling you to throw everything that you''ve worked hard for."


    He let out another sigh, "How about joining you? As you already know, my rtionship with both families is a little strained, and since you''re a new head, this ce could be the tail of a dragon, no? Since you have that cool tattoo over there¡­"


    I nodded a few times, "You see, I just recently formed a group to stay inside Cuervo Heights and do any kind of work to increase our reputation or whatever, but with that, you''d probably have a better start than anyone else trying to move up in that carteldder, and he''d be more convinced to forgive you if you work under me. I''m gonna be honest with you and say that I won''t be in that ce as much as I would''ve liked so if you prove to that group that you can lead, the seat''s all yours."


    "T-That''s really tempting¡­ But no offense, w-working under someone is a little¡­ you know¡ª"


    I chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders, "Then no harm, no foul. I just had an idea and it didn''t work for both parties so that''s that. Besides, we''ve barely known each other and no offense, it''s a huge risk for me to ask a random person to lead my group over at Mr. Cuervo''s ce. And at the same time, it''s also a very huge risk for you to trust on someone that recently popped into your life¡­"


    "That''s true¡ª"


    Allie cut in, "But Daddy! Don''t you think that he''s leagues away from the people you tried to work with? All of them are dum-dums and he''s the only decent one! Do you remember that guy who tried to sell magic rocks¡ª"


    "Wut¡ª"


    "A-Allie! T-That was years ago! It was a bad decision, I admit¡ª"


    "How about the one where we almost lost all of our savings because he said that the money we''ll put up will double overnight?"


    "That''s¡ª"


    "And the auntie who''s selling love potions¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "And the one who told you he''d sell his fighting cock but turns out it was a mother hen¡ª"


    "S-Stop¡ª"


    "And these dozens of fighting chickens but you''d have to wait a while because they haven''t hatched¡ª"


    "A-Allie! T-That''s enough! We get it¡ª I get it, I made a lot of bad decisions, alright?! B-But you can''t mistake me now for not having experience! Those times were just whetstones for me so I''d be this sharp businessman/entertainer that''ll rock the world someday! Don''t keep telling my faults without telling my achievements too! That''s just bad marketing!"


    Allie gave me a look as she turned to Jonathan with a bright smile, "Alright, Daddy! If you say so~"


    "T-Thanks¡­"


    ''These two¡­''


    In any case, since Kuzma needed to take care of a few things before we drove away, the three of us talked for a bit more despite the noise and I did leave him the additional bonuses of our earlier deal plus a long-range radio so I could drop by and check on them from time to time.


    I wouldn''t take a second look at this ce if I''m being totally honest but Jesus proved to me that knowing a lot of people¡ªwhether they''d be a good investment or not¡ªcould sometimes hit the jackpot once in a while, and it was a bad way to look at or judge people based on what they could put on the table.


    But yeah, as small as this ce waspared to the other ces we''ve been in, it was the perfect size for the number of soldiers he had to properly protect and run it without something bad going on. I didn''t even notice at first that some of them were even strapped with automatic rifles and just above were a few mounted machine guns that were ready to bore holes in anything that wanted to disturb the peace.


    ''He did have the means to save Kuzma''s life with this firepower¡­''


    However, I soon learned the reason they were armed to the teeth was also Kuzma''s doing because he was tasked with taking down DDR Camps that had gone AWOL and he had seeded on a majority of them around this area except for the one he hit a snag.


    "We can''t just leave those guns lying around, can we?" Jonathan said with a smug smile.

 Chapter 920 Calling Card - Chicken?

    <h4>Chapter 920 Calling Card - Chicken?</h4>


    Hearing Jonathan say that, it slowly formed a chink in the way I was looking at him. It was because I pegged him as a 2nd-rate gangster trying to y a family head but the way he delivered that statement plus the weight or pressure I felt after that told me he had the makings of Mr. Alvarez or Mauro¡ªnot Mr. Cuervo¡ªand he either needed a bit of time to get to where they were or he needed a push in the right direction.


    ''He''s basically a person who started from the bottom and is still in the process of getting there¡­ It''s just that only a handful of people could get there and the rest¡­ not so much¡­''


    But yeah, it could all have been a fluke but with the way I am, I''ll keep a watching eye out.


    In any case, we eventually shook hands and said our goodbyes but as I was about to close the door behind me, Allie caught up to me with a knowing smile before handing me a card.


    "What¡ª"


    "Don''t lose it, okay?"


    "You¡ª"


    I didn''t even get to check what it said before she gave me a peck on the cheek, ran back, and closed the door in front of me.


    "..."


    And as I finally looked at the card, a few things made sense and a few things also became muddy because the card said "GARCIA FAMILY" in bold capital letters and then "Special Services" in a smaller and curvy font, and right behind it was their address and contact info¡ªwhere it specifically had their three numbers for their satellite phones and their exact coordinates that could be easily typed in a GPS.


    I was just standing in ce for a few moments before I decided to pocket the card this "Allie" gave me then I walked back the same way to my group and found Kuzma in somewhat decent gear, familiarizing himself with Tatiana''s AK.


    It seemed like he had gone through a couple of mags but when Tatiana saw me eyeing Kuzma weirdly, she approached me and lightly tapped my chest.


    "So, do you have any questions about him? Like, at all?"


    I lightly shook my head as I kept staring at Kuzma, "That''s your¡ª"


    "Yeah, I let him borrow it."


    "But¡ª"


    "You do know it''s already cumbersome lugging around an axe and a sword, do you also require me to lug around my AK and my Benelli M4?"


    "..."


    "Hey! You can answer me, for once!"


    "Right¡­ My bad¡ª it''s totally okay, but¡ª"


    "But what? You kept looking at him weird¡ª"


    "Oh! He did it! He did it! Did you see that?! He did¡ª"


    Tatiana never looked so confused, "What¡­ What are you¡ª"


    I then turned to Tatiana with a sense of relief, "He did the thing!"


    "W-What thing?"


    "T-The thing! The thing where you guys ''tactically'' rack the charging handle back without letting go of the pistol grip¡­ The reach-around thingy? You didn''t recognize him from the get-go earlier so I thought he was a spy so that''s one thing to prove that¡ª Tatiana?"


    "..."


    "Y-You okay?"


    "Geniuses do be crazy sometimes¡­" she trailed as she walked back to the group.


    "Wha¡ª Where did you even learn that phrase?!"


    "I''m not even replying to that, gonna wait for the crazy to fade a little bit¡­"


    "Oh,e on! Tatiana~!"


    On that note, since Tatiana and Kuzma still had a lot to catch up on, they sat at the back of the Raptor and shuffled our seating arrangement once again to give them a little bit of privacy as we were back on the road.


    And since I was the only one besides Jesus who hadn''t eaten lunch, I helped myself to some grub as I listened to radio chatter.


    *


    *bzzt*


    [Alright, Alright, Alright~ Another warm wee to our new friend, Kuzma! I believe he''s been doing good work over here and once he retired or some shit, he uhh~ turned to prize cockfighting¡ªbing the ce''s Reaper of sorts to the people who did wrong or just owed a lot of debt!]


    *bzzt*


    *


    *bzzt*


    [Woohoo!]


    *bzzt*


    *


    *bzzt*


    [Please, no woohoos are allowed while I''m deliberating but I do wee apuse!]


    *bzzt*


    *


    *bzzt*


    [BooooOOooOO~]


    *bzzt*


    *


    *bzzt*


    [That''s strike one, Isaac! A-Anyway~ as you can all notice, we''re starting to see some undead presence in the immediate vicinity but at the speed we''re going, they''ll barely be able to keep up unless it''s a¡ª Holy fuck! Who took that shot?! Was that Kaley?! Jesus¡ª Huh? I''m not talking to you, you really should rename it to Jes'' or something because there are a lot of curses that¡ª Nevermind that, our cap''n is still eating so I need to entertain you all in his absence. But yeah, it''ll be a few more hours until we reach the edge of the Rivas'' Household, and a bit of bumpyness due to the terrain once we get there is expected¡­]


    *bzzt*


    *


    The trip continued on for another half hour or so until the ones driving ahead began to decrease their speed, so we had no choice but to follow after them.


    Turns out, Meg intercepted chatter from different frequencies that an armed convoy would reach this particr area by this mall in ten minutes or so, so we needed to slow down and park somewhere to discuss our n going forward.


    Jesus walked over to me with a map and said, "As surprising as this would sound, I don''t know who those people are and their intentions, but it''ll be way~ past sunset if we turn around and use another road besides that¡ªor we could do some offroading and figure it out from there."


    I turned to Meg, "What else did you hear besides that?"


    Meg shook her head, "Not much, unfortunately. But whatever it is, they''ll be expecting us."


    "Have you tried contacting them? You know, to see if¡ª"


    "That''s¡­ That''s not advisable at the moment but I can give it a shot."


    "Hmm, they did say we''d reach some sort of mall in ten minutes, right? Do you know of any mall we''d reach in ten minutes?"


    The crew pondered for a bit but Jesus answered, "The closest one is Robinson''s Mall but we''ll reach that ce in a couple of minutes with our speed¡­ But¡­ Hmm~ The next one that kinda fits the bill¡ªaround 12 minutes to reach it, the SM Mall is probably¡ª"


    I cut him off as I said, "Then if we use that as a base and work our way backwards¡­ I think the scout or scouts who spotted us are around this warehouse or that electronics store above that fast food joint¡ª"


    Kuzma cut in, "If you''re gonna try and locate their scouts, you''ll have a hard time due to the size of our group and they could easily split and give the others a warning if they see us driving back. They probably know the are too well and they could slip in and out on foot or just a bicycle¡­ Just saying¡­"


    I nodded as I sighed, "That is true¡­ Fine, then there''s only one choice."


    "And that is?" Jesus asked.


    I chuckled dryly, "You already said it right before we discovered the infestation in the public market way back. It''s not our fault if they get shot or blown up the second they try to risk their lives to take what''s ours, it''s on them. We move as is."


    "Alright. Where''s my hair tie¡ª"


    But I called over Meg for onest order, "Do announce that we''reing and we know that they know that we are, and everything that happens if they try anything funny wouldn''t be the least bit chuckle-worthy if something funny did happen. Got that?"


    Meg lightly shook her head, "I''ll just tell them beware. Less confusing."


    "Sure¡­"


    On that note, we continued to drive on the same road Jesus chose for us but everyone else was keeping a close watch on our surroundings while having a firm grip on our weapons. Furthermore, we spaced our vehicles¡ªand drove as much as we could in twos¡ªin a way that the ones behind the wheel would be able to react in case things go awry though I specifically ordered the ones in the Raycolt to get the machinegun ready while we readied something of our own.


    This time, I was riding behind Tatiana, Kuzma, and Jose, and the quiet was just fucking deafening.


    It''s like waiting for the surprise of a wind-up toy, both exciting and ufortable at the same time, but in our case, it was a wind-up toy that went on for a good 15 minutes before a group of people were blocking the road like they were a certain movement that was evolving backwards.


    We saw them from a good distance away but to our surprise, Jesus and his crew cranked it up and sped up like they were making sure they didn''t have to reverse on them if they somehow survived being run over.

 Chapter 921 Confusion - Another Armed Convoy?

    ?


    Before anything else, I think I''m a good guy¡ªwell, I try to be most of the time, but in this case, even if those people blocking us were victims and being used as bait, the risk of trying to find out and resolve things like sensible adults was just too fucking much, the only choice we had for them except for moving out the way was get hit by our cars or get shot.


    Even if they didn''t have evil intentions, they should''ve replied to our announcement, because they havemunications equipment, and/or they should''ve just minded their own business, but they chose neither.


    Since Quinn was driving my Raptor, it wasn''t a question of whether she''d follow with Jesus and his crew but I did have to radio into whoever''s driving the Raycolt to floor the gas pedal.


    They weren''t even the ones that would make direct contact, but it was all so that they wouldn''t get left behind.


    And in a matter of seconds, bodies just flew up several feet beforending somewhere close by, but since I was outside with some of my people, we heard that horrifying crunch that signified bones breaking into several ces and pieces and that dull thud that followed after they hit the ground.


    At this point, my eyes were scanning around the general vicinity for pursuers and whatnot but what confused me was that we never heard a cry or scream from these people and there weren''t any vehicles that followed us right after we ran over a bunch of people.


    ''The ones we didn''t hit kept standing like it''s nothing too¡­''


    The next few minutes were still pretty tense but as we got further and further, we got more confused than guarded because of the whole situation.


    I''ve killed people before, we all did, but in this case, the reason for it was a little muddier than what I expected because every single time I pull the trigger or flick my wrist with the intent to kill, the reason for going through with it was clear as day.


    Sure, there were already a lot of warning signs in going through this road but standing over there just to get killed didn''t make a lot of sense either.


    It was like they called the suicide hotline and we were the service that did it for them.


    But after driving a couple of miles after leaving that particr town, we drove by this coffee shop of sorts that was right next to a building that offered notaries and custom-made cupcakes. Its parking space was enough to fit all of our vehicles so we could check the ones that made contact with those certain roadblocks for damages.


    We had just turned off our engines when dozens of deadheads poured out from the notary public, and I was shocked to fuck that they woulde out of there instead of the coffee shop or the cupcake factory.


    Even so, Kuzma was the first one to jump down and make quick work of the ones in front before everyone else either joined him or widened the perimeter.


    He had this certain way of using "Fatality" as if he heard the words "Finish Him" in his head because more often than not, I''d see him swing more than twice¡ªor even more than thrice on a single deadhead even though it wasn''t already moving or he already lopped its head off.


    I kind of assumed he had encounters with the stitchers/slurpers before but digging his axe into the dead''s torso wouldn''t do shit unless there was an undead baby moving its dead mother from the womb.


    In our case, our go-to was always to separate its limbs for good measure because his way of double-tapping them wasn''t supposed to work on those fuckers.


    What he''s doing didn''t technically cause any problems but since he''s the newer guy and he had this fighting style, almost all eyes were on him except for the ones cleaning the blood off their vehicles.


    "Something wrong?" Kuzma asked as he noticed some of us staring at him.


    "N-No?"


    "N-Nuthin''..."


    *immediately looks away*


    "Nope!"


    "..."


    I had to ask for the cadets, "Actually, we''re just curious as to why¡ª"


    He cut me off as he pointed to some of the bodies with our spare machete, "Oh. About those ones?"


    I nodded, "Yeah. Why the extra steps?"


    He looked like he didn''t know the answer for a moment, "Ah, I''m sorry. It''s been a while since I''ve held a sharp de. Completely forgot the feeling."


    I chuckled, "I see. So a few months in Jonathan''s care, huh?"


    "Yeah¡­ Right¡ª Before I forget, I wanna say thank you for getting me out and u-umm¡­ *points to the gear he''s wearing* and for this¡­ Also, I''m sorry for blowing up¡ª"


    I waved him off, "Don''t worry about that one, it''s just instincts kicking in."


    "Right¡­ So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Tatiana said I''m thest one from our group because they found Alexander before."


    "That''s true."


    "And she also said you beat everyone else, including Ilya and Artem¡­"


    "Yeah, since that''s what everyone else meant. Sure¡­"


    "So, you think you can beat me too?"


    I finally got where this conversation was going, "We''ll never know until we try."


    He chuckled, "You''re up for it?"


    "Yeah, if we have a much safer space¡­ Ask me anytime¡­"


    "I see. But I must warn you, I''m totally different from everyone."


    "How so?"


    "Umm~ I can''t exin exactly but I can beat them now if we ever fight again because I''m different now."


    "Don''t be too confident though¡­"


    "What did you say?"


    "All of them had grown too. Sure, they may not be fighting to the death every step of the way as you do, but you''ll see a stark differencepared to¡ªwell, I can''t say for sure what you know about them but in my case, they''repletely differentpared to when I first fought them."


    He let out a faint smile, "That''s good¡­ That''s good¡­ Can''t wait to meet them¡ª"


    "Yeah, in two weeks or so¡ª"


    "Two weeks?! Why?!"


    "Dude, it''s just two weeks. If we didn''t have our chance meet up, you could''ve been in the same ce sporting more cuts thanst time."


    He shook his head, "I get it, I get it. But those cuts and this most recent is because we needed to get hit at the same time because that''s what fighting cocks do as Jonathan says¡­"


    "Oh~ That''s why¡­"


    With that said, after Jesus and his crew did a thorough check on their vehicles, they discovered that there were only a few dents and scratches that could be easily fixed though they most definitely were the ones most confused about what happened earlier.


    In any case, I assumed that they''ve run people over in the past but I doubt they ran over people that stood still and didn''t even react to shit.


    They were like sentries in a sense, but wearing human skin, but Jesus and the rest weren''t even sure if they were staring at them for some reason because they focused on the spot that had fewer people.


    Furthermore, they''d probably have more things they were looking at instead of their eyes, but we''d probably know more, hopefully, if we checked the cameras on our vehicles once we arrived at the Rivas Family''s territory.


    And on that note, we were nearing the address Sal left for me, and it became pretty obvious that we were once again driving in a rural area rather than an urban one. It depends on the route we were taking but around this region, we''d drive on farnd, suburban areas, townships, and city-like areas alternately.


    We can possibly see a ransacked 7-Eleven in some ces and there could be areas where there was just farnd for miles.


    But yeah, Sal''s territory was in between a vast farnd in the ins and a foot of a mountain¡ªprobably the biggestnd any family head has owned¡ªbut ever since the world ended, their control over it shrunk¡ªmore so with theirck of farmhands or just people, though very recently, they had several recruits from Mr. Cuervo''sst event.


    In any case, I was excited to see Edith and Sal once again, but I was looking forward to Quinn and Mauro squaring off because of the incident in their generator room powered by deadheads.


    But yeah, I couldn''t help but feel bad for the guy because it was still technically his honeymoon with Elsa.


    Other than that, I''d like to have some samples of Sal''s very own line of Ethanol because if it is as good as Quinn made it out to be and if Quinn''s engine could run them without issue, it would be something that''ll get us ces in the future in case we run out of gas or diesel.


    However, we were just safely driving for an hour before we came across another armed convoy with a couple of trucks carrying what seemed to be fresh produce and other stuff.

 Chapter 922 Sally Rivas Estate - One Hell Of A Butler

    ?


    We were still a decent distance away from each other but we all stopped less than a car''s length away and parked in the middle of the road like moms would when they bump into someone they know in a supermarket. And if it wasn''t already obvious, the convoy on the other side were people from the Rivas Family and they recognized Jesus'' station wagon and decided to say hi.


    "Yo~ Jesus! We were just about to deliver to your¡ª Woah~ It''s the Kid and¡ª oh shit~ Quinn''s with you lot, huh?" the guy said as he snickered, "Good thing we''re already out here because lemme tell you, Mauro''s super fucking pissed and it almost ruined their honeymoon¡ª"


    Jesus cut him off, "Jules, you guys are using the direct road by Sta. Rosa, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Just a word of warning, some weird shit happened to us earlier and¡­" Jesus leaned in and continued to tell the story as more from the Rivas Family jumped down from their vehicles and decided to touch base.


    The Jules guy couldn''t believe his ears, "Fugg~ Shi¡ª"


    "We''re pretty much close to your ce so why don''t some of my guyse with¡ª"


    "Nah, nah¡ª We''re cool. We got beefed up real good by the Castillos, so¡­"


    "I see. Any news about them though?"


    "About who?"


    "The Castillos?"


    The guy clicked his tongue and shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry man, they''ve been radio silent ever since the incident, and Castro''s probably still busy clearing house, if you know what I mean¡­"


    "I see, I see¡­ Alright¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Why you bringin'' two trucks though? Isn''t the usual order¡ª"


    "Oh! We''re headin'' straight to Cuervo Heights too. The games might be over but people got to eat, right? More and more people are flocking in too so it''s good business¡­" he trailed before he gave me an awkward smile.


    I addressed it with an awkward smile of my own, "Yeah?"


    "U-Umm¡­ I hate to do this right now but since you''re going the other w-way¡­ C-Can I get a picture with you and can you s-sign my shirt?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I relented after a few seconds of unbearable quietness, "S-Sure¡­"


    "Great! Quinn¡ª No, Jesus, can you hold this please?"


    "A-Alright¡­"


    With that said, we took a few pictures with everyone else and I had to sign all of their shirts and someone''s forehead and a few boobs¡ªboth from men and women¡ªbut it''s all in good fun. After that, we drove past each other, and since an armed convoy like ours had recently gone through the road we''d be using, we only had to clear a small herd that followed after the noise they produced.


    And once we got closer and closer to the Rivas Family''s area of influence, the air seemed to be getting cleaner and cleaner and the temperature seemed to be getting cooler and cooler.


    Truth be told, there could still be a lot of ces like my old university but this area¡ªcoupled with howrge it was even though it supposedly "shrunk"¡ªwas unbelievable to me because we weren''t even in their Hacienda of sorts and we were already seeing stark changes in this partspared to the outside. But yeah, we weren''t technically "inside" or "outside" because the Rivas Family''s version of Cuervo Heights was a little different.


    From what I''ve been told, Sal''s Hacienda was pretty vast on its own but when her business started booming, she used all of her profits to buy off as muchnd as she could¡ªwhether it was from the local farmers or corporations that wanted to do a little something in that particrly remote area. But yeah, she did have an easy time doing that because money fucking talks, and the only trouble she had with negotiating was the tribes located up in the mountain.


    Those people had a hard time selling theirnd because they didn''t need money as much and they could pretty much live on their own, but do remember that Sal was still a family head of a drug cartel.


    Sal didn''t say it specifically but as much as she looked like she hated pure, unbridled violence, there were a ton of ways to get what she wanted.


    It could be from using a different channel¡ªlike bypassing the tribe chieftain or something simr¡ªto "legally" put her name on thend the government gave to those people, bribing the whole tribe with anything that they couldn''t forage or grow themselves from the mountain likefortable clothes or just basic amenities that would cost a lot of money for them, or just straight-up get everyone else addicted to one of the products she can''t sell willy-nilly in the public market.


    In any case, that''s just a brief description of the things I''ve heard from the Rivas Family head who already had the tough but lovable aunt schtick going on, but all-in-all, she seemed pretty much a saint if we ask Edith or some other person.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We''re finally~ here!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What''s with the excitement, Jesus?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nothin'' much, but it''s the food.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Food?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [As much as I love Ng''s cooking and the freshness of vegetables in your ce, this ce had the greatestbination of meat and vegetables on God''s green earth! I always love it when wee to visit!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Right¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''ll introduce you all to their main cook, Lisa! She''s great!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Heh, never heard you this excited before¡ªexcept for the time I told you that you could make your own Woody¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s¡­ *clears throat* U-Uh-huh¡­ We''ll get there soon¡­ E-Eyes on the road.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You just told us that we''re here¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [D-Did I?! R-Right¡­ Right¡­ W-Well waddayaknow? W-We''re here, alright¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Dude, I''ll admit it for you, alright? Jesus has the hots for Lisa but Lisa''s as dense as a fucking brick¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey! Don''t badmouth her like that!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [See what I mean?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Jesus, I thought you were with¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [With me?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, Meg, I thought you two are¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nonmital, no problemo~]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Can we stop talking about my problems here? There''s the butler, Sebastian, he''s expecting us. Didn''t think he''de all this way to open the gates¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [OH, COME ON!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What are you so mad about?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Seriously?! We got two James'' and Megs¡­ Now we got two Sebastians too?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [G-Guys¡­ You call me S-Seb, right? It''s not like I go by Sebastian¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Shut up, Seb-astian! You''re adding to the confusion!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHAHAHAHA! MY HEAD FUCKING HURTS BUT I''M SURE IT''S WORSE FOR YOU GUYS, HAH!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, we were let inside the gate by this one hell of a butler, and after driving for a few minutes or so, we eventuallyid our eyes on this beautiful English-Style Country House a.k.a. Sal''s Hacienda that looked like it''d be a perfect ce to shoot a movie or house aristocratic nobles or some shit.


    It even had this huge-ass fountain with a huge-ass statue sitting on top of it with water spurting from different directions, and the way the flowers and trees were ced was just pleasing to my eyes because they were as bterally symmetrical as the mansion itself.


    However, we were made to drive another path to where the guests could park their vehicles but there was just this way the butler instructed us to "hose" ourselves properly before stepping foot on their beloved property.


    "Dear guests, I''ll advise you all to clean yourselves thoroughly and make sure to remove all the dirt and blood you umted on your travels¡ªespecially your dirty boots¡ªso no marks will be left on the floor our hospitable cleaners just finished waxing for the night¡­"


    Jesus responded, "Thanks, Sebastian. It''s great to see you!"


    Sebastian just let out a forced smile before nodding slightly, "Likewise¡­ Anyway, I apologize because your visit is a little¡­ sudden¡­ So it''ll take a while to prepare each of your rooms tonight. If I may ask, who among you are couples or should I say¡­ willing to¡ªforgive the term¡­ bunk¡­ with another person or two¡ª"


    Quinn cut him off as she rolled her eyes, "Doucheface, you''re aware of howrge Sal''s mansion is, y''know?"


    He let out a dry chuckle, "Again, I do apologize. With our maids being given the afternoon off and your Patriarch and our Lady: Ser Mauro and Madam Elsa, reserving the whole West Wing to themselves, I believe that we''re gonna be in a little bit of a pickle. I''ll be personally doing some of the cleaning but if you require a room for each one of you, I''ll do my best but do expect for it to take some time¡ª"


    Quinn cut him off again as she pointed to me, Kaley, and Tatiana, "I get it, I get it. Just give me, that guy, that brte, and that blonde over the room next to Edith''s and let everyone figure out the rest for themselves¡ª"


    Sebastian never looked so offended, "That''s preposterous! I''m sorry but even if you''re our guests, I just can''t allow a man to be that close to Lady Edith''s room! Don''t you have any idea how¡­ h-how¡ª I hate to say the word but thedy''s not prepared for that nor she would befortable to¡ª"


    And right before Sebastian could finish his sentence, from several feet away came a figure wearing a Bee Suit running straight at us before the figure pushed him away like it was nothing before they jump-tackled me for a hug.


    I only recognized who the person was after I felt "those" press against my chest, and she was still in the process of cutely shaking away the headdress just by using her head but to no avail, so she just kept jumping excitedly while hugging me tighter and tighter. But when I pulled the headdress off her head, she let out the brightest smile before eximing at the top of her lungs:


    "YOU CAME! YOU REALLY CAME! ALL OF YOU! I''M SO HAPPY! MY GOD, I''M SO, SO~ HAPPY!"


    At that moment, Edith was already moving in for a kiss but the motherfucking butler couldn''t believe his eyes as he shouted like he was against a particr wedding:


    "L-LADY EDITH?! NOOOOOOOOO~!!!"

 Chapter 923 Nem-Nem, Mie-My, and Nancy

    <h4>Chapter 923 Nem-Nem, Mie-My, and Nancy</h4>


    Since we''ve been out on the road for quite a while not having brushed my teeth¡ªor even taken a simple breath mint, and to avoid a little bit of feather-ruffling this early in the Rivas Family Estate, I grabbed onto Edith''s head like I would palm a basketball but she was still trying hard to press her lips against mine.


    It elicited a couple of reactions but Sebastian couldn''t be more relieved from seeing me deny thedy''s kiss.


    But yeah, just to not leave Edith hanging, Tatiana came in and turned her around before sticking her tongue down her throat and the reaction I was trying to avoid happened then and there.


    Sebastian couldn''t believe his eyes but before he tried to pry Tatiana off Edith, Quinn just stared him down and tried to shoo him away¡ªbut of course, the hell of a butler''s drive to keep thedy''s image upheld was as high as Tatiana''s drive to make Edith orgasm just from kissing.


    However, we did have to pry Tatiana off Edith because we can''t just wait around in this garage forever, and we have a lot of stuff to unpack.


    The Rivas Family''s Mansion was already big from the outside but the inside felt like it was twice the size.


    Some parts of the East Wing were given to us and luckily enough, Edith''s room was on the 3rd floor of the same section¡ªso we wouldn''t have to worry about disrupting the newlyweds honeymoon phase.


    We didn''t have to bring everything from our Raptor to our designated rooms¡ªexcept for the perishables, of course¡ªbut we took several bags and cases over to Edith''s room before the room next to hers was still being prepared. But yeah, Edith offered to us to just stay in her room instead but we insisted on giving her a little bit of privacy and to avoid the butler from checking in on us every two fucking minutes.


    Kaley eximed, "Wow~ Edith, this is your room?! It''s like a room of a Disney princess or something¡ª"


    "D-Don''t say that! I-It''s j-just simple decor I picked m-myself¡­"


    Quinn and Tatiana rolled their eyes at the same time, "Riiight~"


    Then I found a portrait where Edith and Elsa were sitting next to arge dog that seemed to be a St. Bernard, "Wait¡ª The dog¡ª A dog! You have a dog! W-Where is he/she? I-Is he still alive?!"


    Edith startedughing at my outburst, "That''s Nemie¡­ Unfortunately, she passed away years ago but she did have babies! Aunt Sal sold almost all of them but we kept two!"


    My right foot was already out the door, "W-Where exactly?!"


    "Pfft¡­ They''re always following after Aunt Sal everywhere she goes so if we find her, we''ll find them. I just dunno where she''s at right now, she could be in any of the farms but she''ll definitely be back before dinner¡ª W-What are you doing, Tatiana?"


    As we turned our heads to the side, we saw Tatiana riffling through Edith''s fancy drawers and cabs and she seemed to be looking for something in particr. But yeah, the m''fer just gave us a devilish smile before opening her mouth:


    "Dildos, vibrators, electric toothbrushes, you know¡ª"


    Edith had never been so red, "W-What?! I-I don''t have¡ª"


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she scoffed, "Lies~ I''ve seen one or two before¡ª"


    "I-I REALLY DON''T HAVE¡ª"


    "SHUT UP, EDITH! CUCUMBERS AND EGGPLANTS COUNT! THERE''S A REASON YOU GROW THEM SO FUCKING BIG¡ª"


    Edith didn''t know what to fucking do, "KEEP IT DOWN! K-KEEP IT DOWN, QUINN!"


    Tatiana cackled as she added, "Everything''s a dildo if you''re brave enough~"


    "W-Wha¡ª I¡ª P-Please¡ª"


    Kaley added nonchntly, "True~ It could be a bedpost, a corner of that end table¡ª Oh! We forgot a regr ol'' banana¡ª"


    Quinn pped her thighs as sheughed out loud, "Right! I forgot about that! The curve sometimes does it but if you squeeze too hard it breaks¡ª"


    Tatiana startedughing as well, "Just use unripe ones. They''re firmer but don''t forget to put them in a condom¡­ You never know what might happen if you''re not careful¡­"


    "G-Guys~ P-Please¡­ I¡ª Pfft¡­ HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Edith was trying so hard to keep the conversation civil but she soon broke and startedughing, causing everyone to follow after her. However, the door suddenly swung open before two huge-ass St. Bernards came in a few steps and sat attentively. After that, the head honcho herself walked in with a huge-ass bottle gourd in her arms.


    Sal said with a deranged look, "Amateurs! FUCKING AMATEURS! IF IT WAS ME, I''D USE THIS SHIT IN MY FRONT AND MY BACK!"


    "AUNTIEEE~ NOOOOOOOOO~"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SAL, YOU CRAZY BITCH! WERE YOU OUTSIDE ALL THIS TIME?!"


    "HAH! No, no¡­ I just heard a bit and I just happen to have brought this with me," then she turned to me, "What''s up, kid? Whaddaya think of my ce?"


    I greeted her promptly, "It''s amazing, actually. Can''t wait to see the whole thing¡ª a-and by the way¡­ C-Can I pet them?"


    "Hmm? Oh! Hah! Stay there! Nem-Nem, Mie-My! Greet our guy over there! Give him kisses!"


    "Woof!/Arf!"


    At that point, the two dogs who were attentively sitting right next to Sal stood up tails wagging before they ran over to me and jumped like excited dogs who were greeting their owner after a long day at work. But yeah, it was a little difficult to stand up straight with their weight bearing down on me, but I leaned my butt on one of the tables before I petted them and let them lick my face.


    I didn''t think that they''d be this excited for a stranger but their affection seemed to be genuine. I guess even after all this while, they could sense that I had Zeus at home and they didn''t feel threatened by me whatsoever. However, as I nced over at Edith, she couldn''t believe how the two were acting towards me and she was wearing an expression of shock and jealousy.


    "W-Wha¡ª T-That''s not fair! W-Why are they that clingy to you! They don''t even bothering up to me even though I feed them almost every day!"


    Sal startedughing at Edith, "Hah! It''s because they like him more! Alright, that''s enough¡­ get off him now¡­ Nem-Nem? Mie-My? G-Get off¡­ GET OFF HIM! NOW! NEM¡ª FUCKIN'' GET OFF¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    In a few fucking moments, I was out on the field running with Nem-Nem and Mie-My¡ªying frisbee and catch¡ªwhile Edith and Sal had never looked so lifeless and betrayed by their two pets.


    With that said, I spent the rest of my time with these dogs before dinner because a little cardio session with the girls is fine and all but sometimes, I just wanna chill and have some peace and quiet.


    I came back all muddy and sweaty from all the running while lugging these huge-ass dogs on my shoulders after, and adorably enough, they brought over their water bowls and pointed over to me where the cold water was so they could have a drink.


    But to my surprise, it seemed like Edith was preparing a feast for us because the maids who I thought we were given the rest of the day off were present because they helping Edith with her endeavor. But yeah, they didn''t seem that pissed about it because it''s the end of the fucking world, what else can they do, and where else could they go?


    In any case, I gave them a greeting and introduced themselves before one of the younger maids who was a redhead that had pigtails asked for my dirty clothes so she could run them in the washer.


    I waved her off, "It''s okay, I can wash my own¡ª"


    "I¡ª U-Umm, we insist! You''re our guests! Lady Edith''s guests! It''s nothing! My name''s Nancy, by the way~"


    "Okay? Thank you, Nancy¡­"


    "Mm-Hmm!" she nodded as she maintained eye contact while holding her hand out.


    "Wait¡ª"


    "Oh! I should take it now so¡ª"


    "Now? You serious?"


    "Yep! We brought you one of our shirts we made ourselves! You should try it! It''s really soft~"


    "A-Alright¡ª"


    At that point, it felt a little weird but I took off my sweaty shirt and handed it over to Nancy who was definitely checking me out. Her face was just glued to my body as her face was flushed red, seemingly in a daze from what she just witnessed.


    "U-Umm¡­ Nancy?"


    "Y-Yes, Master¡ª I mean, sir! Oh! I-I''ll take that off you¡ª I-If you don''t mind¡­ I can help y-you with a quick bath right now so I could also clean your pants and under¡­ u-undergarments¡­"


    I tilted my head sideways, "H-Help me how?"


    Her face got even redder, "I-I mean the h-hot¡ª you''re hot¡ª I mean, the hot w-water, y-you might not be f-familiar with the controls so¡­ y-you know¡­"


    "Ah¡­" I chuckled as I waved her off, "D-Don''t tell me you also have pants and the rest avable?"


    Her face lit up, "Y-Yes, we do! It''s made from pineapple fibers and cotton we grew! I just didn''t bring them here because y-you know and¡ª b-but it''s already prepared in y-your room with the h-hot bath¡­"


    "Ah¡­ That''s great."


    "So¡­ S-Shall we?"


    I chuckled before I took her aside, "Look¡­ I know where this is going and I''m gonna assume you''ve heard something about me¡ªand you are pretty attractive, is this your real hair color?"


    She nodded slowly with a dejected expression, "S-So¡­ W-What''s the problem then?"


    "No problem at all but¡­ I just came from a run and I''m a little tired and peckish¡ªI don''t wanna disappoint you¡ª"


    Her face lightened up a little as she leaned closer, "You¡­ You don''t know how m-maids work¡­ D-Do you?"


    "I do, actually¡­ It''s just that from the way you came at me, you seem to be looking to be tossed around, fucked for hours, and left on the bathroom floor. Am I wrong?"


    "..."


    "Nancy?"


    "Y-You''re not wrong but¡ª"


    "But we have less than 30 minutes before dinner starts, right?"


    "Y-You''re making this s-so hard for me, sir¡­ I-I just wanna be of service to you¡­"


    "Again. I''m not denying you but are you okay with our given time¡ª"


    "Y-Yes! C-C''mon, m-master¡­ I''ll help you get cleaned up!"

 Chapter 924 Nancy and Megan’s Troubles

    <h4>Chapter 924 Nancy and Megan''s Troubles</h4>


    I''ve yed the "game" with a few women before but this thing with Nancy was a fucking speedrun.


    As we were making our way to the East Wing, she was walking in front of me with a certain pep in her steps, and I was just beginning to notice how her maid outfit was a little different than the rest of the maids I saw earlier.


    It was frilly but short in all of the right ces and she had these thigh-high socks on that were just squishing the right amount of fat on her thighs, held up by a garter with flowery designs.


    In any case, I couldn''t see much further because she was barely 5 feet tall and we were walking on a level surface¡ªbut when she started to guide me up the stairs, she made sure I was walking behind her to see her cute butt barely covered by the cotton panties she was wearing.


    On that note, I could definitely see a wet spot in that particr area and if her underwear wasn''t absorbent enough, some liquids would have been dripping the side of her this whole time.


    "W-We''re here¡­ M-Master¡­"


    To bepletely honest, this type of roley wasn''t my first go-to when I''d try to flog my log but fuck it, there weren''t any ces around where I could get bathed and "serviced" at the same time so I will most definitely take it.


    And the moment I closed the door behind us, Nancy looked like she flicked a switch in her head because she didn''t even take a piece of her clothing off before she threw herself at me, standing on her tippy-toes just to barely reach my lips and basically snuggling all over my sweaty body so she could get a whiff and a taste.


    Nancy''s like a bitch in heat as she almost resorted to cleaning me up by licking my sweat all over, and she never looked so disappointed when I stopped her and pointed at the washroom.


    "M-Master¡­ Y-You''re so cruel¡­ I-I was just getting started¡­"


    I could barely contain myself when she was looking like she was begging for scraps but it was then that I began to notice she was hiding some of her cute freckles with makeup. To me, it looked very attractive¡ªespecially on her¡ªand I was beginning to wonder is the carpet actually matched the drapes.


    On that note, I began to carry her in my arms¡ªmuch to her surprise¡ªbut she kept eye contact as Iid her on the counter.


    That was when I began to move in with a kiss that she so enthusiastically reciprocated as she was running her hands on my whole body. But yeah, when she reached the huge fucking bulge where my cock was located, she didn''t waste a second as she hurriedly pulled it out to see the whole thing.


    Nancy''s eyes had never been so wide, "W-Wha¡ª Oh, fuck¡­ T-This is¡ª S-Shit¡­ I doubt it''s¡ª"


    I began to loosen the top of her uniform, "Doubt what?"


    "U-Umm¡­ Y-You know¡­ F-Fit¡­"


    "Fit? Wait¡ª"


    She looked more nervous than excited for once, "I-It''s my f-first time¡­ M-Master¡­ L-Lady Edith r-rmended that y-you''re the best p-person to l-lose it on a-and¡ª"


    "E-Edith put you up to this?"


    She shakily nodded while keeping a gentle hold on my cock, "Y-Yes¡­ Oh¡ª S-She didn''t force me to but s-she couldn''t stop t-talking about you when she got back a-and I-I was one of the few people she told¡­ I¡­ I got so h-horny thinking about it a-and knowing that y-you''re here now¡­ I¡­ I had to shoot my shot and h-here we are¡­ D-Don''t worry¡­ Y-You can p-put t-this a-anywhere, m-master¡­ O-Only my f-fingers have gone up b-both of them¡­"


    I lightly chuckled as I leaned closer to cup her nice b cups, "You think you can really take it, huh?"


    "I-I''ll try my best, m-master¡­ p-please be a l-little gentle t-though¡­"


    "Then let''s get you ready first¡­" I gave her a kiss before I removed the rest of her uniform.


    At this point, Nancy was just wearing her thigh-high socks, her frilly cor, and her soaking wet panties¡ªand as I slipped her knickers off, she had anding strip that confirmed my question earlier. But yeah, her skin was so smooth and clear of blemishes and they were supple to the touch¡ªand she had a very juice innie and a very inviting pink butthole that''d make her quiver from the lightest touch.


    Just me looking at them was making Nancy wetter and wetter and parting her lips for a little bit revealed her very pink insides.


    Without further ado, I grabbed hold of her thighs as I buried my face in her wet hole, and her back just arched as my tongue made contact with her clit. I didn''t have to get her to build up because she looked like she was already about to have a release, so now was just my way to make her have a sensory overload¡ªessentially topletely overwhelm her mind and body until she sumbs to everything that''s going on.


    "HNGH¡ª AH! ANH! MMH! YOU''RE¡ª AH~ MMH! MASTER! M-MASTER! I''M¡ª AH! AH! HNGH! IT''S¡ª M-MASTER~ I-I-I¡ª AHH! AH! AHH! O-OH FUCK¡ª O-OH SHIT, M-MASTER¡ª I LOVE¡ª MMH!"


    And before I could even push a thumb in her little asshole, she began squirting hard as she was clutching clumps of my hair¡ªbut I kept munching on her fat beaver as I was keeping her legs spread open.


    Nancy''s face was just a mess from her first orgasm but when I started to move onto her butt and pinch her clit, it didn''t take long before she had another violent orgasm.


    "M-MASTER! MASTER! W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO M-ME?! I-I CAN''T STOP C-CUMMING AND¡ª AH! AHH! MMH! MHHMMmHHhhHH! FUUUUUCK~!!! IT''S C-COMING OUT! I-IT''S COMING OUT A-AGAINNNnnNnNNNnn~!!!"


    At this point, it''s safe to say that Nancy gave me a hot shower in a way but my dick was still throbbing while she wasying on the counter almost lifeless and out of breath just from those two orgasms. It didn''t feel right tearing her hymen or resizing her little butthole like this but luckily enough, I heard a knock on the door.


    To my surprise, it was actually Megan and she didn''t know what to do when I opened up the door with a raging boner peeking out from my pants.


    "U-Umm¡ª"


    "Yeah?"


    Megan shook her head as she pped her face with both hands lightly before wearing a solemn expression, "I-I''m sorry for bothering whatever it is you''re d-doing with¡ª whatever. I don''t care who you''re with right now but all I''m gonna say is that I''m feeling left out."


    "Huh?"


    "Let me finish! I loved the time we spent on thatke and I wished there could''ve been more but I just wanna say that leaving me out while you guys get this room feels like I''m just a nobody you threw after having sex once! And to be honest, it doesn''t sit right with me¡ª"


    "Megan¡ª"


    "J-Just let me let it all out, alright?! You said we needed tomunicate properly so this is my way of doing it! If you don''t want to have sex with me anymore, fine. I get it. But, don''t push me away like this and please just say it to my face. It''s much, much better than¡ª"


    "Megan¡ª"


    "I said¡ª"


    "We''re not throwing you out."


    "H-Huh?"


    "It''s Quinn''s way of telling you that you don''t have to stick with us every single time. You''re free to have fun with anyone else but since they had this particr exclusivity thing with me going on, we stick together. So, if you want to stick with us a bit more¡­ all you have to do is you know¡­ ask."


    Megan looked more relieved than confused this time, "Huh. F-For real?"


    "Yep. And I''m so lucky you knocked¡­" I trailed as I looked at my huge erection.


    "Oh¡­" she trailed as she finally understood the assignment.


    "So,munication! We don''t have a lot of time but do you wanna fuck? Like right now¡ª"


    She pulled me in for a kiss before she smiled brightly, "Argh! I''m so stupid! Fuck yes!"


    On that note, I dragged Megan inside and she was already climbing on me as she barely took off her clothes, but she almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Nancy looking like I left her in a fuck machine for several hours¡ªbut she got even hornier when she discovered that I got her to that state just by doing oral.


    In any case, we made full use of the 10 or so minutes remaining until dinner¡ªand even if Nancy recovered after a few minutes while I was fucking Megan''s brains out, she wasn''t able to lose her virginity because Megan wouldn''t let me go. However, it was then decided that they''d spend the night with uster but I almost spanked or punished Nancy then and there when I discovered the type of clothes I''d be wearing at the dinner.


    "What, master? You look dashing, no?"


    Megan chuckled from the side, "Sure~ Real dashing~ You only live once~ Embrace it!"


    "Oh! We prepared the same clothes for everyone! You should be wearing yours too! Lady Quinn and Tatiana were also adamant about wearing theirs but they knew the Master would see them so they relented! Quite quickly, I might add! They''re all in the fitting room below!"


    "What?! I''m not wearing something like that¡ª"


    I started directing a crushing pressure towards Megan, "You only live once, right?! C''mon! I''ll help you!"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"

 Chapter 925 Everyone, this is Rush E.

    <h4>Chapter 925 Everyone, this is Rush E.</h4>


    With the little bit of time left for us, I helped abduct Megan and threw her to thedies'' fitting room¡ªwhich for some reason, I was barred from entering, but since the clothes that I was supposed to wear were already prepared upstairs, I just put them on after fixing myself a little bit.


    Luckily enough, it wasn''t one of those clothes a certain Witcher needed to wear in one of those earlier quests but I did feel like I was about to attend a fancy ball or g with the fancy-ass clothes I''m wearing.


    ''Even these white gloves cover my tattoo¡­ Will I get to throw them at someone and start something? Heh¡­''


    In any case, all hell just broke loose when I met up with the guys who looked so fucking ufortable¡ªexcept for JP and Jesus, of course¡ªand to be frickin'' honest, they looked like they were made for this shit, and I don''t fucking know where Jesus pulled out that fancy-ass cane he was carrying around.


    Isaac nudged me while trying to scratch this certain part in his neck, "Dude! How''re you pullin'' this off?! I''m itchy as heck! And shouldn''t we be carrying rapiers or something? I''m practically naked without my gear."


    I chuckled as I leaned close, "I have four knives and two concealed guns on me¡­ Shh¡­"


    "Wha¡ª A-Alright, bro¡­ Dibs on one of those if shit goes down¡­"


    "Sure¡­"


    Then I suddenly felt two huge hands ced over my shoulders then a deep hoarse voice followed:


    "We meet again! Fancy meetin'' ya here, fuckface!" Mauro eximed as he let out a smile baring all of his teeth.


    I gave him a strong handshake as I turned around, "What''s up, Mauro? Marriage looks good on ya¡­"


    "Heh. Thanks!"


    "I heard you''ve been fuckin'' ever since you came here¡ª"


    "HAH! I JUST FUCKING KNEW YOU''D SAY THAT! But yeah, don''t tell anybody else but I''ve been trying to keep up with my wife! She looks pretty normal but she can¡ª Whew~ I''ve never seen a chick ride so hard and long and keep up with my schlong¡ª"


    "That''s what our 9-incher does for us¡ª"


    Sebastian suddenly cut in from behind, "Excuse me, gentlemen¡­ But I do hope we choose our words wisely when thedies arrive¡ª"


    Mauro rolled his eyes as he cut him off, "Piss off, man. Haven''t you heard Sal talk?! She''s worse than all of usbined! So cut it off, will you?!"


    I waved them off as I nudged Sebastian yfully, "Sorry, man¡­ We do talk like Irishmen sometimes but it''s all love, alright? Don''t worry, we usually stop when we''re eating so~"


    Sebastian forced out another smile before he excused himself, "Very well~ I''ll leave you all to it, thedies wille a littleter¡­"


    In any case, I began to introduce Mauro to those who don''t know him but I made sure to rub in his face that I beat him along with Mr. Alvarez, and I''m 100% sure a brawl would''ve urred if Ongkiko was present but it''s funny enough to see Mauro hold it in while crushing several furniture into powder or bending nearby metals like they''re fucking ydoh.


    Mauro found Kuzma already partaking in alcohol but wasn''t saying anything, "Who''s that?"


    "The one who traded the Humvee for Dave''s ride¡ª"


    "He''s the guy?! Hah! Yo, Kuzma! C''mere for a sec!"


    "Huh?" Kuzma just realized we were talking about him.


    "We got more alcohol over here! Talk to us for a bit¡ª"


    "I don''t understand¡ª"


    "Oh, look! Vodka¡ª"


    "Now, I understand! What''s up, Komrads?!"


    "THERE WE FUCKIN'' GO!"


    At this point, only us guys were present with some of the maids and other butlers handing out drinks and appetizers, but our attention was put somewhere else when the music changed and the girls walked in with all the shit and kaboodle.


    "Holy shit¡ª"


    "Should''ve worn tighter underwear¡ª"


    "Is that Alexa?! She looks way~ different!"


    "You guys blind?! Tatiana''s smoking¡ª No offense, bro¡ª I don''t mean anything by that, just stating the facts¡­ But Quinn too¡ª How do they fucking stay there?!"


    "HOLY FUCK, THAT''S KALEY?! WHAT¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHA!!! Why do both Meg and Megan look so ufortable?!"


    In any case, this dinner was supposed to have a certain theme but Tatiana and Quinn''s dresses threw it out the window. Both of them were wearing risque strapless dresses that entuated their assets and their tattoos while everyone else was wearing something appropriate for the asion.


    However, it was pretty obvious that I was like a statue¡ªnot because I was hard, wait¡ª no, I am, partially¡ª but what I meant to say was I was totally starstruck seeing Kaley in a beautiful ck dress thatplimented the clothes I was wearing.


    Kaley''s dress was a long gown that had a high slit up to her left thigh but the upper portion was like a sleeveless turtleneck of sorts where itpletely hides her deep cleavage but reveals everything from her shoulder, her sideboobs, up to her waist.


    She was even wearingplimentary jewelry and makeup, of course¡ªas everyone else did¡ªand she started smiling brightly when she saw me like a fat fuck just served the juiciest of steaks.


    But yeah, thest people who came in were Sal, Elsa, and Edith, and the dresses they were wearing could make anybody feel all sorts of ways though one of them was already way~ past my preferred age range and one was fucking off-limits because she was recently married.


    At this point, Edith quickly made her way towards me before she giggled and spun around for me to see her in this beautiful attire.


    "W-What do you think?!"


    "You look amazing, Edith!"


    "R-Really?! Aww¡ª"


    "Definitely much better than that Bee Suit¡ª"


    "Pfft! Hah! You''re so funny! A-Anyway, did Nancy take care of you?"


    "Hmm?"


    "She looked pretty exhausted when you guys threw Megan over to us¡ª Do you know we were having a hard time finding Megan earlier, good thing you found her!"


    "Ah¡ª I just got lucky¡ª"


    Before we could continue our conversation, Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn joined in with drinks in their hands though Tatiana and Quinn''s drink was a fucking bottle, and they seemed to be fishingpliments from yours truly. I obviously went above and beyond for my darling wife but the other two needed a different kind ofpliment.


    Let''s just say they needed to get close and grab me by my crotch to see if they prompted the right reaction¡ªand once they found what they were looking for, they just let out a smile before continuing where we left off. But yeah, these four beautifuldies were chatting with me before Megan came in and nudged my sides with her elbow.


    "You¡­ You''ll get itter¡ª"


    I chuckled as I pinched her cheek, "What? You look great, you should be thanking me¡ª"


    "Stop¡ª"


    Kaley and Edith added, "You do look great, Megan!/Right! You look really pretty!"


    There was a visible blush on Megan''s cheek, "I-I''ll let it slide¡ª W-Well, t-thanks¡­ Y-You guys l-look pretty too¡­"


    I never felt so betrayed, "Hey! What about me?!"


    "I said you''re ALL pretty! Just ept thepliment¡ª"


    Quinn cackled as she cut her off, "He probably wants to hear you say that he makes you wet."


    Tatiana nodded as she chuckled, "That sounds about right. That''s more of an actualpliment for me too!"


    "R-Really?"


    Megan was about to be dragged by these two''s weird but brutally honest antics but I found this Steinway piano sitting by itself¡ªand before anyone else asked, I couldn''t read music but I could definitely watch other people do their thing, but it seemed like I garnered a small crowd asking me to y a little something because they assumed I could y just because I was standing in front of it.


    But yeah, I was just about to decline when Edith excitedly sat me down before sitting right next to me, giving me more reason to just go with and somehow wing it for her sake.


    She nudged me while ying a few keys, "So¡­ What do you wanna y?"


    I immediately confessed, "I actually don''t know how to y¡ª"


    But she got the wrong impression, "Oh, you! Stop fibbing! I just know you do by looking at you! C''mon, anything elsees to mind?"


    ''Then fuck it, it is¡­''


    I pulled out my phone and showed her a video from Sheet Music Boss, "Can we y this?"


    "..."


    "Edith¡ª"


    "D-Do we even have enough hands for this?! Are you crazy?!"


    "A little, yes. But we crash and burn together, wanna give it a go?"


    Edith was staring at me for a moment¡ªtrying to figure out whether I was serious¡ªbut she eventually relented as she tried to give it a few practice runs. And with howplicated this piece was, it obviously needed a minimum of three people but we decided to go along with it with passion and guts.


    In any case, everyone else seemed to be waiting for us to actually y for real but as I said earlier, the goal wasn''t to y well but to just have fun with it so the two of us downed a ss of wine before cracking our knuckled and letting out a silent but long exhale.


    With the way everyone else was looking at us, they looked like they were expecting something from Bach or Mozart but the piece Edith and I will be ying was something these fucking normies haven''t heard before.


    I turned to everyone for a moment, "Everyone, this is Rush E."

 Chapter 926 Speak Lightly Or Else... - Guests Arrive

    <h4>Chapter 926 Speak Lightly Or Else... - Guests Arrive</h4>


    For theplete normies out there or for the people who didn''t visit the YT Channel I mentioned before, Rush E was basically¡ªno, it was an amalgamation that started from a meme from one of the OG Youtubers, "Markiplier", who was also extremely popr for doing a smash or pass on the OG Gen 1 Pocket Monsters.


    But yeah, there was a meme that circted from his face being put on a certain short character from the movie depicting a green ogre thatter evolved to parody meme songs using the "E" key, then having a Russian version hence the "Rush", and finally another YT''er actually making a song out of it because of ol'' inte pressure.


    With that said, since Edith and I were attempting to y this piece with just the two of us, I reckoned she be the one sitting on the chair while I was right behind her, ready to react and y whatever was left or necessary.


    "Ready?"


    "R-Ready¡­"


    At this point, Edith started it with a slow kinda off-beat start¡ªwhich the song actually had¡ªbefore it started to pick up and pick up and pick up until it was just chaos incarnate when we started juggling the keys together.


    And as it was said many times, the ongoing quote for ying this song was, "I bought 88 keys of this fucking piano, I damn well using all of them!" but if I''d give out a hot take, it was likebining Canon, Flying the Bumblebee, and Through the Fire and mes in one song¡ªif that ever made sense.


    But surprisingly enough, as impossible as it may sound, Edith and I yed it with little to no mistakes and with little to no preparation or practice. Duos would usually y together¡ªwith an easy song as a start¡ªto get a feel for each other''s rhythm and whatnot but we just winged it and fucking lucked out.


    In any case, the moment we finished the song, like the start of the song itself, the apuse came from a single person¡ªsurprisingly enough, from Sebastian¡ªbefore it picked up and picked up until everyone was cheering us on and requesting an encore.


    However, it was pretty obvious that it took quite a bit from Edith to y a difficult song but surprising me for a second time, Sebastian took over and yed something close to the song''s tempo until it mellowed and mellowed until it was fit for tonight''s happenings.


    ''One hell of a butler alright¡­''


    Then I felt a stinging p to my back.


    Salughed out loud as wore a cheeky smile, "That''s one way to start the night, kid!"


    I smiled and thanked her, "I guess so¡ª are we waiting for anyone else?"


    "How''d ya know? They''ll be here soon¡ª"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "If you''re the only ones in this huge estate, I''d be a little¡ª"


    "What''s wrong with that?! Our maids and butlers are already part of the family but we do need to have people in our other houses¡ªIt''s just that it was a little short notice to send the invites since you just came. Also, did you think the Rivas Family is the only one that survived around here? We still got neighbors, ya know?"


    "Ah¡­ I see, but¡­ all this for us?"


    "Yeah. Why?"


    "Umm¡ª"


    "Kid. You''re the newest family head, you deserve this much¡­ Much more for what you did to my niece¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "She''s smilin'' more¡­ Edith¡­ She''ll be a lot happier when she''s wit'' you¡ª"


    "C''mon, don''t say that¡ª"


    "Hah?! I can''t fuck my own niece, can''t I¡ª"


    I almost smacked the dumbass, "Don''t say that out loud! Are you fucking crazy?! People''ll get the wrong idea¡ª"


    "What?! Isn''t that what happened?! You split her open and she began smilin'' again¡ª"


    I settled for a light kick in her shin, "There''s more to that, alright?! K-Keep it down¡ª"


    Sal chuckled like an idiot as she rubbed her shin with her other foot, "Kekeke, gotchu, didn''t I?! But yeah, as much as I''d hate to admit it, she''s happy with you guys and I can only hope you keep it that way. You know I hate violence but I''m not afraid to use it when necessary, alright?"


    I chuckled, "But why give me your most valuable hostage if¡ª"


    "Hoh! Haha¡ª Hoh! That''s rich, kid¡­ I love those cajones of yours but don''t joke around with family¡ª"


    "What?! If I can''t joke with them, what''s the point?"


    Sal shook her head as she gave a long nce, "Haaa~ You''re right, you''re right¡­ Anyway, they''lle sooner orter so don''t disappear¡ªI mean, if you''re gonna disappear, be within earshot, alright?! They gotta know who''s to not mess with ''round ''ere. Well, some of them¡­"


    I couldn''t believe what I was hearing, "What are you talking about?"


    "Haaa~ Guess I should tell you¡­ People around here still believe in superstition and some old-world bullshit¡ªeven this thing we''re facing, it''s either a curse from the gods or something and we should offer sacrifices and some shit atop the mountains¡­ you know, some stupid tribe shit that they decided totch on because the world still hadn''t figured this thing out."


    "Tribe shit, you mean¡ª"


    "The ones I paid off. Those ones. You do know I hate violence, right? So, after paying them off, they need to settle somewhere so they either work under me now or find somece else to live. Some of them¡­ they didn''t go that far but with the money I gave them, they''re rtively sessfulpared to their old selves living in nipa huts and whatnot."


    "I see¡­"


    In any case, Sebastian continued to grace us with his music but if our other guests wouldn''t arrive anytime soon, they''d probably be left with scraps aside from the main course and desserts that weren''t served yet because Tatiana was making several trips with Kuzma, Quinn, Jesus, and surprisingly enough, Kaley and Alexa.


    It seemed it was still bulking season and the food was just that good but it didn''t take long before Edith came back after freshening up.


    That was Sal''s cue to check on other things as she left me with her but this time, Nancy was trailing behind Edith and wearing a cute dress of her own.


    They greeted me at the same time, "Hi, did I take long?/Hiii~ You look really great out there! Both of you!"


    "Thanks, thanks¡ª"


    Nancy cut me off as she nudged closer, "I hope it will still be all kinds of fun when we move in with you!"


    I turned to Edith, "Is she¡ª"


    Edith nodded with a smile, "Of course, she''lle with us. You see, we''re basically raised at the same time like sisters but our roles started to be different as we grew older. However, that didn''t stop us from being friends and whatever j-joyous asion or experience I was in¡­ Y-You know¡­ I try to let her experience the same thing as much as possible¡­"


    "I see¡­ So¡­ Those people that areing¡­"


    Nancy answered, "I guess they''re¡­ okay? They were kinda mean a few months back but you know¡­ after they came back with all those people, they''ve been pretty quiet¡­ Probably because they''re scared of what Lady S-Sally might do to them¡­"


    I slowly put two and two together, "So this dinner is basically a show of force?"


    "A-Auntie didn''t tell you?"


    "Not that part¡­"


    Edith bitterly smiled as she sighed, "We''d hate to do it this way but it''s better to posture up while another family head is present¡ªWell, there''s three of you now but they don''t know you yet so¡­"


    I waved her off, "Don''t worry, I understand¡­ But do remember that hating violence doesn''t mean you should never act on it. I''m the same way too¡ªwell, sometimes but¡­ do understand that sometimes it IS the answer even after weighing all of the options¡­"


    Edith nodded a few times as she plucked a ss from one of the serving trays, "I understand that¡­ I do¡­ but¡ª"


    I lightly chuckled, "Hey, violence doesn''t always mean killing or murder. Sometimes, it''s just inflicting the right amount of pain to get to a pleasant conclusion¡­ A little bit of pain for a little bit of pleasure¡ª"


    Nancy was weirdly squinting her eyes as she interjected, "Why did that sound a little dirty?"


    I rolled my eyes as I nudged her with my elbow, "How would you know? You can barely keep yourself upright after all that grandstanding¡ª"


    She had never been so red, "Y-You! It wasn''t my fault! T-That M-Megan w-wouldn''t get off of you even though she could see that¡ª"


    I patted her head which surprisingly made her calm down, "She did you right in a way, contrary to popr belief, anyone''s first time should be special. Anyone who said otherwise didn''t have a good time on their first¡­ But yeah, I can''t speak for everyone but that''s what I feel about it¡­"


    "R-Really? You think I should wait?"


    "It''s totally up to you but if you still want to do it with me, we''lly off a bit on forey¡ª"


    Edith cut in, "I-If you don''t mind me a-asking¡­ Was your f-first time with Kaley?"


    "Unfortunately, no. And her first time wasn''t with me either¡­"


    "Oh¡­"


    "But that''s not a problem at all because we always have an amazing time together and even if we both know what we want, we''re still discovering more and more things about each other. It''s special in its own way and¡ª"


    Nancy cut in once again, "B-But¡­ H-How long should one''s first time be?"


    I chuckled as I scratched the back of my head, "It depends. I''d rmend at least two hours if you want to experience at least the usual stuff at your own pace¡ª"


    "H-How long was your first?"


    "Noment."


    "Wha¡ª Why?!"


    "Because it''s embarrassing?"


    "You disappointed her, huh?"


    "W-Wha¡ª No one''s a fucking sex god the first time but¡ª"


    "Hmm? But what?"


    "Let''s just say as fast as I did my first time, I was as quick from recovering for several more roundster¡­ It was also the same night I discovered it was a mind thing¡­ I can get hard as fast as I can cum¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­" Edith turned around to contain herughter but Nancy just straight up lost it.


    "BWAHAHAHA! YOU DIDN''T JUST SAY THAT! NOT A SEX GOD, HE SAYS¡ª Oops¡­"


    At this point, everyone heard Nancy''sst outburst but the way Sebastian pressed the wrong key on the piano sent shivers through her spine. It looked like she was so fucking afraid of pissing Sebastion off, she started running for her life before Sebastian promptly finished the current song and gave chase.


    In any case, they came back after 5 or so minutes and Nancy was back to her maid uniform but some of the guests had just arrived.

 Chapter 927 Vidal Family - What invitations?

    <h4>Chapter 927 Vidal Family - What invitations?</h4>


    With the way the music was ying, I didn''t even realize that a few vehicles had strolled in¡ªand more seemed to being at the moment and muchter¡ªthough the ones who had just walked into the main hall were a family of four followed by a 3-man group that seemed to be their security detail.


    And if it wasn''t already obvious, they all looked to be a little tense¡ªeven more when Sal approached them and offered her greetings.


    But yeah, Sal didn''t need to disy the reinforcements she had to these people at this very moment though she quickly walked them over to Elsa and Mauro who were having a pretty nice and sweet chat by themselves.


    We could barely hear what they were talking about earlier but seeing Mauro''s facial expression change when they were disturbed was enough for this poor family and their bodyguards to shake on their boots.


    However, it didn''t stop there when I saw them making their way towards me and Edith¡ªand to my surprise, Edith locked arms with me and caressed my face before attempting to give me a peck on the lips which was interrupted by Sal and this family arriving at the most inopportune moment.


    ''I guess we''ll be improvising a lot this time¡­''


    Sal cleared her throat before smiling at us two then turning to the family she came with, "Mr. and Mrs. Vidal, this here is our guest of honor, Mr. Ishiyama. He''s one of our¡ª one of the newest family heads in existence and one of the most ruthless businessmen I''ve butt heads with. Don''t let his appearance fool you though, those guards of yours would''ve been useful guarding your home instead of following you around¡­"


    As soon as she said that, the Vidal Family''s guards were definitely ticked off but the head of the family dryly chuckled as he waved them off:


    "Funny as always, Sal¡­ I did hear of a new family head in the grapevine and it''s so nice to finally meet you. I''m George Vidal, this is my wife Cindy, my eldest Erica, and my youngest, Gregory¡­"


    I faintly nodded as I smiled and offered a handshake, "Pleasure to meet you all¡­ I would''ve apologized for this party''s very~te notice but I suppose the Vidal Family were not only quick on their feet but also punctual to be the first ones here and appear well-dressed as everybody present¡­"


    "Haha¡­ It might seem so but we are prettyte and we could''ve dressed more appropriately for such an asion¡­"


    I chuckled, "Just from me visiting? C''mon, you probably have something going on at your household and you were caught off-guard by this invitation and had to rush here."


    "A-Ah¡ª That''s¡ª"


    "For that, I apologize¡­ sincerely¡­"


    "T-That''s not a problem at all¡­ There''s no need for an apology since all we wish for all our families is a harmonious rtionship with everyone."


    Sal cut in with a smug face, "Harmonious, eh? You''re funny too, George¡­ Anyway, let''s leave these two¡ª Oh! If you want, you can let your daughter chat with people her age for the time being as I introduce you to everyone and little Gregory here could have a juice or a snack prepared by Edith here¡­ They''re really good! You should try them too!"


    "A-Alright¡­"


    At this point, a few more guests had arrived and Sal made sure to introduce them as much as she could though on our side of things, Erica was awkwardly sipping on her ss of wine as we tried to maintain a casual conversation.


    From the looks of it, she had a general idea of what her parents dipped their toes into and she was basically trapped to y the good daughter theyid out for her.


    However, the alcohol in her system couldn''t help with the fear she was feeling right now because she was paying attention to where Sal was taking her parents and what the maids were feeding her younger brother. All she''d reply to us with were simple responses or an apology quickly followed by a request to repeat the question.


    "S-So, Erica¡ª"


    "Y-Yes! Yes, Lady Edith?"


    "Haha¡­ Don''t be nervous¡ª"


    "W-Why wouldn''t I be¡ª I-I mean, I''m sorry¡ª"


    "Don''t apologize! Please don''t¡ª I know it''s scary for you but it shouldn''t be, alright?"


    "R-Really? I-I know what my parents d-did before and I d-don''t have any power to¡ª"


    "Erica, listen¡­ We''re not out here to hurt any of you or whatever you''re thinking right now because Aunt Sal just wanted things the way they were. That''s it."


    "I-I-I get that, Edith¡­ I do b-but I''m still having a hard time believing that because ever since you came back with all those p-people m-mon and d-dad were just frightened out of their minds a-and even some of our g-guards w-were thinking of leaving o-or swearing fealty to M-Madam Rivas¡­"


    I had to get more context so I joined the conversation, "I''d hate to ask this while you''re freaking out but what did your parents do, actually?"


    Erica had to double-take as she nced at me, "W-What?"


    "I said what did your parents do?"


    "Ah¡ª O-Oh¡­ I-I''m sorry¡­ I was just¡ª"


    I chuckled as I waved her down, "Breathe¡­"


    "R-Right¡­ Huuu~ Haaa~ O-Okay¡­ W-Well¡­ I''m not particrly p-proud of saying this b-but once news that the Rivas Family was slowly losing their hold in this a-area¡­ The other families and/or survivors started to s-steal from her farms or s-straight-up im some of hernd¡­"


    "What?"


    "You s-see¡­ Thend the Rivas Family owned was just too big for all of their people to properly monitor and maintain at that time so¡­"


    Edith continued with a sigh, "Also, since some of our workers used to own thends they''re tending to, they''ve begun iming it as their own and they refused to give the harvest they owed Aunt Sal. She ownednd way~ past the walls of this mansion and the whole estate, and even though our harvests were still plentiful, it couldn''t bepared to what we can do if we''re running on all cylinders¡­"


    "I think I get it now¡­"


    Erica shook her head, "I-It didn''t end there exactly¡­ Since Madam Rivas knew of the problem, she asked us and all the otherndowners for help¡ªeven though she knew we were stealing from her, and the deal was partial to future ownership of thend that''s right next to ours in exchange for a generous cut of 70-30 favoring us for the produce we harvested from hernd."


    I couldn''t believe my ears, "Are you serious? That''s a fucking steal¡ª"


    Erica never looked more apologetic and afraid, "I-I''m sorry, I had no power¡ª"


    "It''s not your fault though, don''t worry¡­"


    Edith added as she nodded at my statement, "In the future, thend Aunt Sal will have left will just be the walled areas around this estate and everything else will belong to our neighbors or the dead¡­ It gave Auntie plenty of problems because we couldn''t do much because we lost most of our workforce and took ournd with them¡­ And if we tried negotiating, they''ll either ask for more or just destroy what they''ve worked on for years¡­ It''s really sad it came to that¡­"


    "Came to what?"


    "Y-You know¡­ violence¡­ it''s not like we only broughtborers over, right? They''ve exhausted all the options and it''se to that¡­ You see, having enough is not enough¡­ It''s supposed to but they''ve taken more than a mile from the inch¡ªno, inches Aunt gave them¡­"


    "..."


    Edith continued, "B-But you see, Aunt Sal did nothing of that sort to the families around us¡­ only to our past workers that refused to apologize and go back to where things were¡­ With that said, this party is to¡­ you know¡­ to bridge the gap andmunicate once more so we''d get back to¡ª"


    Then Erica almost dropped down to her knees as she started crying.


    But since the main hall was starting to get crowded and as the chatter and music were overpowering almost everything, no one noticed this young woman bawling her eyes out and asking for forgiveness for something she didn''t even do. However, as much as Edith and I tried to stop her from making a ruckus, she couldn''t stop the tears from flowing so we brought her over to one of the empty balconies and closed the ss doors behind us.


    It was then that she broke down to her knees crying, begging Edith to forgive her parents'' transgressions:


    "P-Please L-Lady Edith¡­ I-I beg you, d-don''t h-hurt us a-and G-Gregory¡­ M-My l-little brother, I-I''ll do anything you ask¡ª A-Anything! A-As long as y-you don''t h-hurt him a-and¡ª"


    "Erica!" Edith eximed as tears were also forming in her eyes.


    "I''M SORRY, I''M SORRY, I''M SORRY¡ª"


    "Erica! Listen! I''m not¡ª We''re not here to hurt you, alright?! I promise you! We won''t do such a thing!"


    "B-But the i-invitations! T-The invitations! T-They''re¡ª I saw! T-They''re¡ª T-The invitations a-are¡ª"


    "What invitations?" Edith and I asked at the same time.

 Chapter 928 Bonding Over Murderous Tendencies

    ?


    All this time, I thought Edith knew about the shit that Sal was pulling but it seemed like she was also kept out of the loop and was made to y a role like I do. However, technically speaking, hating violence didn''t mean she didn''t act on it¡ªbecause she already did¡ªand Erica here who was afraid for her life after seeing this "invitation" was probably proof of it.


    And she kept shaking in fear so I pped her awake to ask the same question:


    "Erica. Listen to me. What invitation are you talking about?"


    At this point, the shaking stopped for a little bit because her head was now focused on the pain but before she had the chance to answer, the ss doors of the balcony adjacent to ours just shattered into pieces because a burly guy just went through it before hitting the stone railing.


    Both Edith and I didn''t know what the fuck just happened but we saw Sebastian stepping out of the adjacent balcony with an expression that could kill the guy several times over.


    "W-W-WAIT! I APOLOGIZE, ALRIGHT?! I APOLO¡ª GCRK! GACKH!"


    All of a sudden, Sebastian grabbed him by his cor and mmed his head on the same stone railing he hit his back on before saying something that I didn''t think could''ve been said at that moment:


    "I''ll say it again: take your dirty boots off and lick them clean before I do something permanent."


    That sentence didn''t make a lot of sense at the moment because once I nced at the crowd inside the main hall, everyone else was also shocked to fuck about the situation but I did see Nancy with a few maids carrying mops and was rushing to get through the entrance.


    But yeah, the guy Sebastian threw was still bleeding in several ces but he shakily took off his boots and licked them clean though smidges of blood were recing the dirt he licked off because his mouth was also bleeding from his head getting mmed on the stone railing.


    And at the same time, Sebastian was watching him like a fucking hawk but to his surprise, I jumped on their side of the balcony because I was umm¡­ nosy.


    I crouched down at the same railing before smiling, "Yo, what happened over here?"


    He had to nce at the distance I just jumped before he cleared his throat, "Mr. Ishiyama, don''t you think it''s dangerous to jump such a distance? You could''ve walked¡ª"


    I chuckled as I cut him off, "I could jump farther but you still haven''t answered my question."


    "Haaa~ Very well, this man is one of the Roxas Family''s¡­ Umm¡­ Friends? I guess, and not only did he let himself in without the Roxas Family Head, but he also dared to make a mess of the whole mansion walking in those boots purposefully covered with dirt, mud, and manure. Truly disgusting behavior¡­"


    I nodded a few times, "Ah, I see¡­ Y''know, you could''ve just thrown him off this balcony?"


    For the first time, I saw him let out a smirk as he looked me in the eye, "I apologize Mr. Ishiyama but my aim''s not as good this time of the night¡­"


    "Hah! But isn''t he just trespassing right about now? I don''t know about the rules and regtions in this household but if someone uninvited so much crossed his damn pinky in my fold, they get shot, no warning or throwing them here and making them clean up after their mess. I could do the honors if you want¡ª"


    "The two of you, stop."


    At this point, Sebastian and I just bonded over our murderous tendencies but Sal came in and had to ruin it while our uninvited "guest" was still bleeding out as he was cleaning his shoe like one would lick the whisk end of a mixer. But yeah, Sal threw me a nce that indicated that she wasn''t pissed at all about what just urred because this was the type of thing she was looking for to get back to the way things were and then some.


    With that said, it was more than safe to say that the guests we have on the main hall were just as terrified as the man who was kneeling in between me and Sebastian, but Sal threw him an olive branch by sending him away to get treated.


    And just like that, the party continued with an initial set of awkwardughs and nces but that scene definitely didn''t help with Erica''s situation. With great advisement from Sebastian, he guided me to the same ce I jumped from and he eventually discovered what Edith and I were dealing with. However, he just let out a smile as he tried to calm Erica down and it seemed to give the right reaction.


    "Lady Erica, you needn''t worry¡­ Our Madam would do no such thing and as I''ve been informed earlier, your parents and the Madam had alreadye to terms very much like some of the attendees she just talked to."


    "R-Really?"


    "Of course, I swear on it¡­ And if you wouldn''t mind, tears like that are only allowed if it is a truly sad asion or extreme happiness¡­ Please¡­" Sebastian said as he offered Erica a nice and fancy handkerchief.


    "T-Thank you, Sebastian¡ª" then she turned to us, "I-I''m sorry for causing a f-fuss too¡­ I-I should''ve believed you the f-first time¡­"


    Edith just smiled as she waved her off, "T-That''s alright¡­"


    I followed, "Just remember that Sal''s that generous. If you need something, just ask."


    "A-Alright¡ª"


    Sebastian politely cut in, "Mydy, if you''d be so kind, I believe your little brother needs some assistance at the¡ª"


    "Oh my God! Gregory spilled on his¡ª I-I''m sorry, I''ll tend to him quick¡ªgood thing I brought him a change of clothes, I-I''ll be back! Excuse me!"


    At that moment, the three of us saw her off but just as Sebastian was about to excuse himself to take care of the mess he made on the adjacent balcony, Edith stopped him to thank him personally.


    "Thanks for that, Sebastian¡­ You''ve done more than what''s required of you all these years¡­"


    Sebastian let out a genuine smile, "Mydy, I thank you for those kind words but I''m still verycking¡­"


    "Nonsense!"


    "M-Mydy¡ª"


    "Honest to God, Sebastian! If you weren''t here, we''d be¡­ we''d be¡­ God knows where we could''ve ended up just by the number of times you saved our lives! It''s just really unfortunate you''re noting with us¡­"


    Sebastian let out a bitter smile, "I apologize, mydy, but I think I''d be more useful by the Madam''s side¡­ and beside Lady Elsa too, I suppose¡­"


    "T-That''s true, I guess¡­ But promise you''ll visit me once in a while, alright?! I-I''ll visit too¡ª as much as possible! I''ll miss you, Sebastian¡­ got it?!"


    "O-Of course, mydy¡­ I promise¡­ So, if you''ll excuse me¡­"


    "O-Oh, please don''t let us hold you for long! B-Be careful though!"


    "I will, mydy¡­"


    In any case, Sebastian''s goodbye was a little awkward because he was only gonna be on the balcony next to us. But since he didn''t want a lot of attention, he closed the curtain behind him¡ªwhere we were the only ones who could see him work, though he did a mighty fine job of removing all of the ss shards and blocking the entryway to avoid any idents.


    But yeah, so he could show off like me for a little bit, he jumped the same distance I did back to where we were because this one hell of a butler blocked his only entrance to the main hall.


    And I threw back the words he said to me earlier, "Sebastian, don''t you think it''s dangerous to jump such a distance? You could''ve walked, you know?"


    He chuckled while covering his mouth, "I apologize, Mr. Ishiyama but it appears that I''ve fully locked my only entrance back. Forgive the careless disy¡­"


    "I know, I know~"


    "Then if you''ll excuse me once more¡ª"


    "If you aren''t that busy tomorrow, would you mind giving us a tour?"


    "Hmm? Of course¡­"


    "Somece where we could give each other pointers will be good too."


    "..."


    "Sebastian?"


    He let out a sigh before giving me a smile, "Of course, my lord¡­ After I''m done assigning tasks to the household''s maids and butlers, I''ll get back to you¡ªno, how about doing the tour after breakfast?"


    "That''s great, really great¡­"


    "Very well, enjoy your night with thedy¡­ Just give me a call if you need further assistance¡­"


    "Sebastian."


    "Mr lord?"


    "Do you at least know how to swear?"


    "Swear? You mean¡­"


    "Yes. Swear."


    "Oh¡­ I¡­ I swear I''ll give you a tour¡ª"


    "No, I mean that is technically¡ª do you know how to fucking curse?"


    "Pardon? I don''t understand¡ª I mean, I''m afraid my Latin''s a little rusty¡­"


    "..."


    "My lord?"


    "..."


    "..."


    After that brief silence, Edith didn''t know what to do but the two of us just startedughing¡ªthough I''m on the more maniacal side¡ªgenuinely. He looked to be a guy who had a stick up his butt but he''s starting to grow on me.


    ''What are the chances I''ll be able to poach him away?''

 Chapter 929 Zero to a 100 because I just wanna get shit done

    <h4>Chapter 929 Zero to a 100 because I just wanna get shit done</h4>


    On that note, it seemed like our presence was needed by Sal once again, but from the earlier disy, all I needed to do was smile and wave. I was pretty sure that these people had only dipped their toes in the dark side when the world ended while Sal was soaking in it for quite a time.


    But yeah, there were a few people who wanted to use this as an opportunity to get ahead of the pack that was recently stomped on.


    We were by one of the unupied tables near this huge disy of food with this pyramid thingy of champagne sses, and I was like a dealer who was listening to these people''s problems and offering a solution.


    I have talked to several people almost offering the same shit they did with Sal but the next one that followed thought I was a greenhorn who didn''t know better. He tried to make himself as non-threatening as possible but I was watching everyone that approached me or was just looking around and this guy thought he caught an easy break.


    "M-Mr. Ishiyama, I would like to introduce myself¡ª My name is Augustin and I have a proposition that''ll benefit us greatly¡­"


    "Alright, I''ll bite¡ª"


    "Very well! You see, we have 30 hectares ofnd that''s very rich and¡ª"


    "I''m sorry, I''m not interested innd right now¡­"


    "P-Pardon?"


    "You see, I can easily get my hands on 30 hectares ofnd. It''ll be better for you to offer them to Sal as well¡ª"


    "B-But thisnd is something you wouldn''t need to lift a finger on. Aside from the rustic manor, trees and crops are nted and we''re just waiting for the harvest season¡ª"


    "Then why are you offering it to me? What''s the catch?"


    "N-No catch at all. It''s just wasn''t being used and we''d like your expertise on the matter¡­"


    ''Trying to put a wedge between me and Sal? Pfft¡­''


    "That''s a lie. You don''t just offer a manor and a huge plot ofnd for nothing. If you want to negotiate a deal¡ª no, fuck this shit¡­ I don''t wanna do this shit while my date''s made herself this beautiful¡­ C''mon, Edith¡­"


    "W-Where are we¡ª"


    I smiled as I offered a hand, "We''re dancing!"


    "O-Okay!"


    And before we could even take a single step to the dance floor, the same dumbass grabbed on my shoulder for a hail mary.


    "M-Mr. Ishiyama, wait a second¡ª"


    "Don''t fucking touch me¡ª"


    "I was just¡ª"


    But before he could utter another word, he found himself several feet in the air before he discovered how hard the flooring was with his body. It was hrious to see his dyed reaction to the whole scenario but Edith and I were the first ones on the dance floor who started dancing, and Sebastian was kind enough to provide the music for us.


    People didn''t know whether to pay attention to the dumbass or the couple who started dancing right after that, but a portion of my group joining us to do the waltz was already an answer to that question.


    Though Edith was still a nervous wreck.


    "T-This is embarrassing¡­"


    "Dancing with me?"


    "N-No! N-Not that! I-It''s just I''ve n-never danced in front of people b-before¡­"


    "Only when Sebastian taught you?"


    "Wha¡ª How did you know?"


    "Seems pretty obvious to me¡­"


    "Oh¡­ He''s really great¡ª I mean, pretty patient with me¡­ no matter how many times I stepped on his feet¡­"


    "You did a couple of times, actually¡ª"


    "W-What?! I¡ª"


    "No worries, haha¡­"


    "T-This is really embarrassing¡­ I thought I was doing r-really well¡­"


    "You are, you are¡­ You said you''ve never danced in front of people, right? This is already a huge steppared to that¡­"


    "T-Thank you¡­"


    In any case, it didn''t take long before Kaley and Tatiana "identally" bumped into us so Kaley could swoop in and steal me away, but to their surprise, I ended up with Tatiana who funnily enough just went with it. But yeah, seeing Kaley pouting cutely was one of the highlights of this dance session though we did end up dancing with each other after Tatiana saw a whole pig roasted to perfection.


    To this moment, I still haven''t seen this Lisa person who Jesus had fallen for but Jesus was definitely gone for some time¡ªprobably helping with the rest of the food preparation.


    "H-Hey¡­ You''re dancing with me now¡­ W-What are you thinking of?"


    "Ah¡ª Can''t you just read my mind and find out?"


    "You! You know I can''t do that!"


    "I knew you were a fake~"


    "You doofus¡­"


    "I''m just kidding, sorry¡­ It''s just I need to look away for a few¡­"


    "Hmm? Why?"


    "Have you looked in a mirror? You know I can''t pop a boner with all these people?!"


    "Pfft¡­ You''re an idiot¡­"


    "Haha¡­ Yeah¡­ I just didn''t think we could still do this kind of thing in the middle of you know¡­ this¡­"


    "There''s a lot of things I didn''t think was possible other than this, you know?"


    "Well~ You got me there¡­ Did anything happen while¡ª"


    "While Edith''s hogging you all to herself? Maybe."


    "Oh, c''mon¡­"


    "I''m not jealous, maybe a little¡ª I''m just wondering how you''d make it up to me¡­ After all, I made myself look this pretty for you and you spend your night with her the most¡­ Also¡­ she asked me of something earlier and I just had to say yes to that, y''know?"


    "What do you mean?"


    Kaley cutely rolled her eyes, "What do you think? She asked for a bit of time alone with you and her maid¡ªNancy was it? To you know¡­ make it a little special¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Don''t worry¡ªno, you should worry because we''re waiting for you after that¡­ We''ll do you if you can''t do us right after, got it?"


    "K-Kaley? You¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ I''m joking, of course¡­ I don''t mind at all but yeah¡­ you''ll be missing out on something¡­ very¡­ very¡­ hot¡­"


    At that moment, Kaley embraced me a little closer and tighter as she kept eye contact, and from our position, we were almost kissing as we could feel each other''s breaths but the way Kaley was just looking at me was making me feel all sorts of ways.


    "Oh,e on~ You do know that I''ll drop anything and everything for you, don''t do me like that¡­"


    "Shh¡­ I know you will but¡­ It''s just so hot seeing youe back after those two beauties and wanting more from me¡­ Just me¡­ E-Either way¡­ I''ve been seeing how those other women have been looking at you and it''s just a t-turn on, to say the least¡­ You''ve no idea how much they want to sleep with you tonight¡­"


    Seeing Kaley like this, I shook my head and gave her a deep kiss in front of everyone as I held her even closer:


    "You do know I don''t care a single bit, right? You''ve no idea how much I want to sleep with just you tonight¡ªno¡­ Every. Single. Night. If it matters¡­"


    As soon as I said that, I had a thought that we''d just fuck in front of everybody but our little moment was interrupted by the champagne tower crashing under itself due to an "ident". But to my surprise, Lopez, who I thought who was keeping his head low for most of our trip seemed to be the perpetrator.


    But yeah, even I could tell that his face was telling everyone that he didn''t do it, and he was trying his hardest to look for a person among the crowd of strangers close to him but to no avail.


    To my surprise, even if he had no choice, he took the me for himself, "I-I¡ª I APOLOGIZE FOR THE DISTURBANCE! I-I''LL HELP CLEAN RIGHT AWAY!"


    At that point, the first person to react was Sebastian, who was already making his way toward the scene of the crime while Nancy and the rest were carrying the same mops as earlier while shooting daggers through Lopez''s back. I didn''t think I''d feel sorry for the guy for all he has done but owning up to something that he wasn''t even responsible for was a step in the right direction.


    However, that still didn''t excuse all the shit he had done but what came after that embarrassing disy was something I didn''t expect from this crowd of people.


    Lopez was actually helping clean up the mess that was thrown at him but several whispers were being thrown around at a volume loud enough for everybody present to hear them clearly.


    "Goodness gracious¡­ That''s so embarrassing¡­"


    "Wasn''t he from the Ishiyama Family?"


    "He looks like a creep¡­"


    "Why''s Sebastian doing nothing to that guy?"


    "Favoritism, I think¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "He''s with those people, figures¡­"


    "Just a way for them to exert their authority¡­"


    "What a way to kick us down just because they had more people¡­"


    "What can we do? We''re just lowly families serving under them¡­"


    "Don''t speak too loud they might hear you¡­"


    As we heard more and more shit being thrown at us, instead of being pissed off, I startedughing at the top of my lungs because if this was their way to retaliate against me, Sal, or even Mauro, they deserve all the shit that''sing for them.


    One''s name might be important to Sal and Mauro but I''ve said it once and I''ll say it again: There''s nothing they can say to me that I haven''t told myself in front of a mirror.


    So, to properly send the message Sal was trying to say to them all this while, I decided to do a little less posturing and a lot more hitting with a closed fist. And to do just that, I ordered the maids and butlers to send the kids and minors off to a different room before I gave my group one simple order:


    "No one passes through those doors."


    But as soon as I said that, the first one to react was this dumbass, Augustin, who basically tried to sell me some snake oil and he was wearing a totally different expressionpared to earlier. Furthermore, he had a group of people behind him ready to throw hands and he shouted at me like everything they''d seen prior to this was just an act.


    "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! HUH¡ª"


    I would''ve listened to his speech if he had given me a good deal but I dislodged his jaw with a right hook and jumped into this encirclement of rich-ass nobles who never worked a day in their life and wreaked havoc.


    What I''m doing right now was ramping everything to a 100 but I''m sick and tired of people sending hints and whatnot just to get their point across.


    If you want people to be afraid of you, just beat them to a pulp and start from there.


    Five seconds had only passed but there was already a set of loose teeth on the floor plus two numbnuts, and this was just the moment Mauro startedughing his ass off and was so fucking amped to join in. Furthermore, two bitches just tried to go for Kaley but they were soon lying in a pool of their own piss when Kaley prevented me frommitting bloody murder because I wouldn''t care if it was a 90-year-old bimbo, if anyone tries anything with my wife, they''re already perceived as a threat.


    "Why''d you have to do your thingy?! I got it, alright? WATCH OUT¡ª"

 Chapter 930 BECAUSE I HAVE THE FUCKING GUN, YOU DIPSHIT!

    <h4>Chapter 930 BECAUSE I HAVE THE FUCKING GUN, YOU DIPSHIT!</h4>


    I was lucky enough to be staring at Kaley''s eyes to see the reflection of a barrel-chested fellow about to throw a right hook to the back of my head, but I twisted my body and met his fist with my elbow before I sent my knee to his balls, finishing him off with the same elbow the moment he dropped to his knees.


    But yeah, hits to the back of the head was a huge fucking no-no¡ªbecause it''s literally fatal and banned from several sportspetitions¡ªso I stomped on his right arm and shattered it into pieces like his knuckles that collided with my elbow.


    I could hear the audible gasps and screams that came from the crowd but it didn''t end there when Mauro fully sent another "noble" straight out the balcony and beyond.


    My first thought was to nce at Sebastian who was probably having a migraine because of the damage we were causing on this mansion but the motherfucker became a fucking conductor and was guiding the rest of the people ying background music to match the fucking vibes.


    In any case, the vibe right now was "Fuck Shit Up!" and this party became a brawl.


    At this point, the dance floor became the octagon but as I was worrying about what might happen to Kaley since she was right next to me, all my fears ceased when I saw what she was hiding underneath that slit in her dress.


    I might not be that confident in her in close quarters but she was nigh-impossible to get close to with a gun.


    Then we heard a shout from the guy who caused trouble the first time:


    "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DUMBASSES DOING?! WE DIDN''T TAKE YOU IN JUST TO STAND BY AND WATCH! WHY ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF THOSE THREE PEOPLE?! I DON''T EVEN CARE IF THAT BITCH¡ª"


    Before this "friend" of the Roxas Family could say more, he should''ve paid attention to his surroundings because the two Alpha-Bitches were standing right behind him. He would''ve been the first fatality of the night but the two were kind enough to let Kaley fight her own battles because let''s be honest here, she needed to rack some street cred to avoid being the target of most insults and provocation.


    It''s not like she can''t do it herself but I would almost always interfere like Quinn and Tatiana hence she wasn''t able to do it herself most of the time.


    ''It''s just a matter of throwing the chick off the nest so to speak¡­''


    In any case, I figured it would be better for my own sanity and her development to focus on my current opponent because I''m pretty sure just me looking over that dumbass was giving Kaley an unbelievable advantage. Worstes to worst, the two could intervene because Mauro and I had already imed this dancefloor.


    On that note, Mauro and I made sure not to damage¡ªkinda¡ªmore furniture, especially the tables with food and drinks but we had little to no control of what these henchmen were about to do.


    It didn''t take long before they picked up forks and knives to make themselves appear like the bigger threat, but I quickly made their attempts for naught because they quickly asked for a fair fight once I started pulling out my hidden knives and the couple of guns in my person.


    "C''MON, MAN! WHAT CAN THIS BUTTERKNIFE DO AGAINST THAT GLOCK?!"


    "THEN FUCKING PUT IT DOWN AND I''LL THINK ABOUT IT!"


    "WHY WOULD WE PUT OURS DOWN FIRST?!"


    "BECAUSE I HAVE THE FUCKING GUN, YOU DIPSHIT! WANNA KNOW HOW A 9MM FEELS LIKE?!"


    "THERE! I THREW IT! I THREW IT! L-LET''S JUST FIGHT LIKE NORMAL, AYE?"


    "YOU MEAN GETTING BEAT UP SENSELESSLY?! SURE!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    It''s just that even without weapons and even if their numbers doubled, looking intimidating was fucking nothing against looking intimidating and actually knowing how to fucking fight.


    Just to make myself the bigger person, I prompted to knock the ones who fought fair in one blow while the ones who used dirty tactics donated their teeth to the dance floor and increased the number of bones in their body due to fractures.


    On the other hand, Mauro seemed like he built up his stamina and strength even more with his honeymoon phase with Elsa because people were just flying left and right and we have some of them hanging from the chandelier. But most importantly, his attacks have gotten sharper and morepact despite the barbaric disy of caving one''s face in.


    ''Definitely deterred more henchmen froming at us¡­''


    I''ve seen him clip a guy''s chin surgically¡ªand that would''ve been the end of that dude¡ªbut he picked him up and mmed him face-first onto the solid flooring before kicking his head like a ser ball.


    And after that, he made another poor fellow flip in the air with a fucking clothesline before stomping on his face and breaking his jaw.


    These people didn''t know who to fight anymore but they owed their bosses something so they had to rush to their deaths regardless.


    The fight would''ve been over then and there¡ªand it was pretty obvious these people wouldn''t stand a chance against us two, but I figured the right way to go about this was what I''d been thinking to do with Sebastian earlier.


    Right as one of these poor security detail lunged at me, I met his face with my knee before grabbing his cor and lifting him up in the air.


    With his weight and how tight his clothes were, it''ll be a matter of time before it choked him to death but I said loud enough for everyone to hear on this dancefloor:


    "I''ll let you switch sides if you want~ Just drag them here and beat them up for me and we''ll double whatever it is they''re paying you plus extra. How''s that sound?"


    "KchK¡ªCHkK W-W¡ª GckKK!"


    "Right, you''re choking¡ª"


    As soon as I dropped him down, everyone else who was trying to get the jump on us didn''t know what to do just yet because I could be putting them in a bad position against their master and then betray them right after. If that happens, they''d have nowhere else to go so I had to influence people that were already on our side.


    I turned to the Vidal Family first and foremost with a smile:


    "The offer also extends to you, George, you can have your security detail bring one of the offending families here and you''ll definitely have a top-off with whatever deal you had with Sal. That also applies to the rest of you people who just stood by and watched."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Everyone was just deathly quiet but I chuckled as I piled on:


    "It''s not like we needed the help¡ªyou see, Mauro there is still beating the shit out of that guy but we have other things to do and that''s one of the reasons we need more people on our side. Sal''s the most generous person in this area¡ªyou''ll never find another one¡ªwho you stole from and approached you to forget about it and form¡ª I''ll stop exining because you rich folks already know what she did¡­"


    At this point, all they needed was one single push and this one single push I gave them:


    "I''d hate to do this but you do know what happened to Sal''s workers who betrayed her, right? She gave them one more chance and let me tell all of you¡­ this is yourst fucking chance¡­ The ones that didn''te to this party? They''ll have half of a chance if we start visiting them¡­ So, for all of you¡ª"


    Before I even managed to finish my spiel, fists just started flying along with bones breaking as I put the attention from us two to the people going against us. And yeah, these rich folk''s workers even turned on their bosses as each head was dragged into the center of the dancefloor with more than just bruises¡ªthough there were some who surrendered before the beating came for them.


    But in regards to the friend of the Roxas household, it was safe to say that procreation would be out of his wheelhouse and the ability to eat through a straw was recently added to his ability pool.


    It seemed like Kaley did a number on the guy and her being in her bulking phase made hernd heavier kicks and punches.


    She was now back with my group guarding the entrances and exits and it was pretty obvious they took down a few more people because they thought going through them would be a tad easier. I wasn''t able to witness how Kuzma fought without his particr attachments but there was plenty of time given the aftermath of this "joyous" asion.


    With that said, I eventually gave Sal back the spotlight and she couldn''t hide the smile on her face as she stood in front of these people with several injuries:


    "Maaan~ I really should''ve brought the kid way, way~ earlier¡­ Mauro too, for what it''s worth¡­ This turned out better than expected but you know what? You dumbasses will be able to see my dungeon. It hasn''t been used in a while but this will be thest time you see sunlight¡ª I mean moonlight, heh. We''ll hold you there until the rest of your family members cooperate with us but do hope they don''t pull some shit like this again because¡ª no, you''ll just see what happens after that¡­ I''ve been really~ kind to all of you but I have my limits too¡­"

 Chapter 931 Agreement or Coercion?

    <h4>Chapter 931 Agreement or Coercion?</h4>


    Truth be told, this night could''ve gone a little~ bit better if wemunicated beforehand or nned more together, but both of us had other stuff to do and this was the best we could''ve managed given the situation. We can''t just stop time and figure out the best way possible out of any circumstance such as this but ain''t no fucking way these dumbasses would''vee out on top of this.


    Not to give them any ideas, if they''re gonna try and steal from a Family Head of a drug cartel, they better go all the fucking~ way because payback will always be brought upon those who did them wrong. Sal was kind enough to give them plenty of chances which they botched several times over.


    In any case, I didn''t think that Sal would have a dungeon in this fancy-ass mansion but thinking about it, this was probably one of those old, old houses that existed from where we were still under Spanish colonial rule, though a lot had changed given the time, but certain facilities were kept and maintained¡ªpossibly restored or refurbished.


    But yeah, if I had an underground space like this, I could''ve turned it into the most kickass man cave or you know, a huge-ass basement like we have back home.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before a mix of Sal and Mauro''s people¡ªnot the ones in hospitality services¡ªcame in as they took away the ones we had a sincere talking to despite their pleas and requests for one more chance.


    However, there was still the issue of these people''s kids where some of them could think on their own but still not of age, but instead of throwing them into the same ce their parents were, they were simply held into a much more pleasant area but were not allowed to leave.


    But yeah, the ones like the Vidal Family who sided with Sal were reunited with their loved ones¡ªmuch to the relief of Erica and others¡ªbut their family heads were escorted into another room with Sal and Sebastian to further discuss the specifics of their new rtionship or partnership.


    At this point, I thought I had already fulfilled the role I was given but like Mauro, we were soon approached and told that we were required to attend the meeting after making ourselves a little more presentable.


    Though Mauro just scoffed and asked me to simplye with him.


    "Fuck that shit, we''d get the better end of the deal with blood on our clothes, no?"


    I nodded, "True¡­ but I think the intimidation part is already over and done with¡ª"


    "That''s where you''re wrong, this is the time when we need to press them even more¡ª"


    I shook my head as I took off my frilly coat, "Nah, I think this is the time where we show them we could be reasoned with. Fear is a great motivator but adding a bit of respect to it could go a long way. You gotta give them a little bit too if you want return customers¡­ Gotta meet in the middle a little bit but it''s so where we are a little bit ahead¡­ That''s the sweet spot¡­"


    "Ha¡­ I get it, I get it¡­ It would be easier if we just do it my way though¡­"


    "Easier doesn''t mean better, no?"


    "I said I get it, man! D''you know how big this mansion is?! All my clothes are in the West Wing!"


    "Mine''s in the East Wing, you don''t see meining~"


    "Fuck it, meet here in five?"


    "Sure~"


    As I went back to my room, I found a fancy suit and tie that was probably prepared for me beforehand so I just washed my hands and wiped myself as quickly but as thoroughly as possible before heading back to the same spot with my katana. But funnily enough, Mauro came back almost wearing the same exact thing¡ªbut in his sizes, of course¡ªbut he was lugging around this huge-ass steampunk-style club which suspiciously enough, was missing a couple of things attached to it.


    "Hah! I knew you''d bring that katana with you!"


    "You brought your own, looks metal as fuck!"


    "Heh, anything you carry will look good with a suit. Not with those fancy-ass noble outfits¡­"


    "True~ True~ They have their own aesthetic but a suit matches my katana more¡­ Where are we heading again?"


    "Follow me."


    As Mauro fixed his tie, he led me to this set of doors that revealed a space that was only a quarter of the size of the main hall but it provided enough seats for everyone present. The tension could already be cut with a knife when we entered but it didn''t help them one bit when they met eyes with the two people who made a mess of the henchmen their "colleagues" purchased¡ªwhich coincidentally they could acquire with their funds but was ultimately useless when their services were called on.


    In any case, it seemed like they were waiting for us toe by but Sebastian beckoned us to sit with Sal who was right in front of everybody. This butler just gave us this smile as he stood behind his employer but it seemed like his presence was slowly disappearing the moment we took our seats. Despite that, I could clearly see him if I turned in his direction but it was a different case when he was out of my cone of vision.


    Sal then cleared her throat and spoke in a voice loud enough for everybody to hear:


    "Alright, this meeting won''t take long but here''s the gist of it: As luck would have it, I didn''t need to y the long game with those dumbasses but I hope you''re not ying the long game with me too. What I''m proposing is now a 50-50 deal with all of the harvests and possessions from those fucker''snds while I take a measly 20% from yours. Furthermore¡ª"


    One of the lesser family heads raised his hand, "I''m sorry¡ª W-Which f-fuckers? Excuse thenguage¡­"


    Sal cackled as she scoffed, "Thenguage is as good as it gets! Good question though, Erickson! The fuckers I''m implying are the fucking fuckers in my dungeon. You see, I wouldn''t need much from yournd right now since a whole lot opened up because of those dumbasses so count it as a fucking blessing. I''ll only be taking 20% from yournd¡ªand thend we''re talking about is thend you own PLUS thend you''ve taken away from me. Let''s be honest here, ALL OF YOU FUCKING STOLE FROM ME¡ª but I''m still the generous Madam youe to know and love. On that note, you''ll be in charge of cultivating thatnd plus the ones who are adjacent to you¡ªwe''ll talk about thister¡ªfrom our fucker''s association of dumbasses, so there''s that. Any questions?"


    "..."


    "No? Very well, I''ll continue¡­ Aside from the division ofnd, I rmend you open up a few rooms because you''ll have guests living with you¡ªthat will also help with keeping everything running, and I''m talking about the family members those family heads will be leaving after they''re situated well in my basement. Don''t worry about them retaliating against you because WE''LL fucking make sure they follow the protocol though we''ll talk to them about leading their own family under me. It''s a meeting for another day but I don''t have to talk about that to all of ya. You just need to do what we agreed on before and everything will be spick and span. It''s a little messy right now but we''ll all figure it out soon enough¡­"


    Another family head raised her hand with a fearful look in her eyes, "W-What about the ones who d-didn''t attend this party?"


    "Don''t worry about them Rosie, they''ll be well taken care of¡ª right¡­ You''re right next to the Roxas Family Estate, right? Good for you, aside from the rare flowers you cultivate, you''ll have some space for more essential crops and other shit. You get the whole she-bang like a few of you will¡­ congrats. Oh right, if their sons keep their heads down when my people visit themter, they''ll probably help your people get ustomed to their ce but if not, I guess their servants will suffice. However, my dungeon could only take so many people even if feeding them wouldn''t be an issue but some people will be used as fertilizer if you know what I mean¡­"


    Another family head raised his hand, "W-Wait¡­ You''re visiting them tonight?"


    "Of course, wouldn''t want them to go elsewhere, no? On that note, I strongly advise all of you to enjoy the party until it''s all over so that you won''t get disturbed by the¡ª umm¡­ noise¡­ that''ll emanate from theirnd. Don''t worry if your little ones can''t stay up all night because we have rooms avable and all of you can spend the night when you get tired. We''ll even have breakfast prepared for tomorrow and even lunch if you so desire. So, what''ll it be?"

 Chapter 932 Brand

    <h4>Chapter 932 Brand</h4>


    At this point in time, it was practically suicide to go against the victors because not only were they confined in a single space where we could easily take them out, but their precious family members were just outside and our people outside could also do the same. But yeah, that was just a hypothetical because as much as possible, given thend we now possess, we''d need more hands to take care of them for the future.


    It''s just now a matter of whether this arrangement could seed or fail because anything could look good on paper, actually putting it into motion was the hard part.


    But right as I thought we''d shake hands and sing Kumbayah, it was then that Sebastian walked over to the firece several feet behind us and lit a fire. It looked harmless at first but it didn''t take long before he pulled out and unveiled a branding iron that had the Rivas Family Ranch logo.


    ''Oh, shit¡­''


    Sal was just looking at her new partners with a smile but everyone else looked way, way~ worse.


    Just the realization that they have to get branded like cattle for their family to survive was taking a toll on their psyche but in the grand scheme of things, I''d say it was a better price to pay than being hunted down and getting everything taken from you by the people they stole from.


    "I''m sorry to do this to all of you but I gotta have some assurances, no?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "S-Sal¡­ Y-You know w-we''re not gonna do it again, alright?! T-This is totally u-unnecessary¡ª"


    "Rosie."


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Why don''t you *ms the fucking table* SHUT THE FUCK UP! UNNECESSARY?! HUH?! THIS WHOLE THING COULD''VE BEEN AVOIDED IF YOU GREEDY FUCKS JUST MADE THAT DEAL WITH ME! ALL OF YOU SHOULD BE SIX FEET IN THE GROUND RIGHT NOW AND YOU''RE SCARED OF SEARING IRON TOUCHING YOUR SKIN?! THINK, ROSIE! THINK! YOU FUCKED WITH ME AND YOU ALL LOST! DID YOU SEE ME BEGGING YOU FUCKS WHEN YOU TOOK SHIT FROM ME?! NO! I PLAYED THE GAME LIKE EVERYONE ELSE DID AND CAME BACK! SEBASTIAN!"


    "Yes, Madam?"


    "Darling Rosie here will go first¡­"


    "S-Sal, p-please¡ª"


    "Then choose."


    "W-What?"


    "If you don''t want a brand, you can choose between losing two fingers, an eye, your family, yournd, or everything after I put a bullet between your fucking eyes. Your choice."


    "...!"


    "Seems an easy choice, no? Trust me, it''ll only hurt for a second¡­ I think," then she turned to everyone else, "Anyone else having second thoughts? It''s all here. I''m pretty sure our boys here could take care of the other stuff but I''d rmend a spoon if you want to get your eyes¡ª I mean an eye taken out."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Nothing? Let''s start. Sebastian."


    "Yes, Madam¡­" then he turned to Rosie of the Villegas Family, "Please. I suggest it on the back or thine ankles but the decision is yours¡­"


    "U-Umm¡­"


    "Please¡­ if the iron cools down, we''ll have to do it again so decide immediately."


    "A-A-Alright¡­ I-I j-just g-gotta breathe for a m-moment¡­"


    At this point, Mrs. Rosie was almost hyperventting as she was trying to regte her breathing but Sal got fed up and ordered Sebastian to just stick it on her back and be done with it. However, to make a clean brand, the one receiving it shouldn''t be moving an inch yet Mrs. Rosie was having a seizure-like event the moment the searing iron made contact with her skin.


    ''That couldn''t have gone any worse¡­ Should''ve just kept still¡­''


    Mauro and I had to hold her down so the process could be over and done with but after multiple attempts, because she kept moving regardless, she just lost consciousness and was carried to one corner of the room while the next family head took the stage.


    We had a little more than a dozen lesser family heads in this room¡ªwhere three were older women¡ªbut it was safe to say that everyone chose to have a branding among all of the choices given to them. The most popr choice among the older gentlemen were on their shoulder or on their forearm though the otherdies chose to have it on their ankles.


    But yeah, branding all of them felt like a day had passed but looking at my watch told me that the whole process took less than 30 minutes.


    However, everyone was shocked to fuck when Sal ordered Sebastian to stick it on her vicle for god knows what reason. Even Sebastian hesitated to follow her orders but it seemed like Sal wanted to send another point across by not reacting at all when the hot iron burned her skin.


    "Fucking pussies," was all that came out of her mouth as she put back her coat and sat back on her chair.


    And at that moment, the new deal the Rivas Family had with all of these people was officially done¡ªsigned and sealed by everyone else involved¡ªand they shared a ss of strong alcohol before joining everybody.


    The look of relief was present on their loved ones'' faces but they were a little bit frightened when they discovered that they were now branded like livestock. However, I''ll say it again, it was a small price to paypared to total annihtion because they get to enjoy thisvish meal instead of a hail of bullets.


    In any case, the party had kicked off after a few moments of awkwardness but it was more due to the fact that everyone else was taking in more alcohol than usual.


    ''It does help with the nerves¡­''


    These people were so fucking used to paying people to do shit for them, they forgot how it was when they started. Sure, some of them could''ve started their lives with a silver spoon in their mouths but they could''ve at least have had a hands-on approach from time to time to get a gist of how shit works.


    After a while, another batch of freshly cooked food arrived and we were finally graced with the presence of the head chef, Lisa, who came with Jesus wearing a fancy outfit.


    The two literally looked like they were made for each other but Jesus was getting nailed on the cross every single time Lisa mentioned they were just "friends".


    However, Jesus kept a strong front as he tried to y everything off but he lost his fucking marbles the moment he discovered what happened when he was away.


    "I just fucking missed all of that?!"


    "Well~ You can try to follow some of Mauro''s guys who came knockin'' on their doors¡­"


    "Haa~ That''s not my thing. I guess it''s deserved but I could''ve pulled them to our side if I had more time. Right¡ª Everyone have a taste of Lisa''s Terrine! It''s made with all of the Rivas Family''s grown vegetables and it''s just *chefs kiss* perfection! And after that, have a serving of her beef wellington and her seafood soup! There''s a lot more like the¡ª"


    Lisa cut him off with a smile, "Jesus, why don''t you let them decide what to eat? They can only eat so much¡ª"


    Quinn and Tatiana cut in at the same time, "That''s where you''re wrong!"


    "O-Okay? P-Please, enjoy!"


    Truth be told, one bite of her food told me where Edith got her cooking skills from but getting it from the master herself was fucking sublime. I didn''t think the whole spread could match with each other so well and we fucking destroyed everything on our table and then some.


    And yeah, even the wine selection worked so well from beginning to end and I thought the ones we got from earlier were already top-shelf.


    It''s just a little weird to me when we were back to enjoying this food after everything that''s happened before we came through their gates, but it''s something we had no control over at the moment. I''m a "Fuck fate!" type of guy but sometimes, living the best life¡ªor should I say, enjoying the little things for as long as we could was sometimes the go-to in this type of situation.


    I eventually had my fill of food, drinks, and socializing but it didn''t take long before Edith and Nancy took me somewhere private despite the chaos happening outside their estate.


    Edith already had a few sses of wine but still looking fine while Nancy only had a ss but was already a little tipsy. To be fair, she needed to be somewhere on that ballpark because a little less would make her a nervous wreck for what was about toe and a little more would be a case of assault against me if we ever go through with it while she''s drunk.


    In any case, it was justplete and total silence when we were finally alone in Edith''s room but Edith excused herself to change to something morefortable while Nancy and I were just staring at each other in silence.

 Chapter 933 Slow Burn

    <h4>Chapter 933 Slow Burn</h4>


    Nancy and I already had a little run-in earlier though we didn''t go all the way but she looked liked she was in heat from the way her breathing was hurried and how her cute cheeks were flushed red. She even had her right fist right up on her chest like she was having a heart attack but it was just all the nerves going through her head and her body right now.


    On the other hand, I was just trying to look as non-threatening as possible but each movement I made seemed to be startling her.


    I lightly chuckled, "W-Would you like another drink?"


    "W-What?"


    "You know, to calm yourself down a little bit? Not a whole ss per se but~ just a little sip to¡ª"


    "A-Alright, I''ll get¡ª"


    I waved her off, "No, stay there. I''ll get it for you¡­"


    In any case, I left my de and my coat on the chair I was sitting on and Nancy was just watching me make my way to the serving tray that had the bottle of wine and sses, pour us a drink, and make my way to her side to sit down.


    We were on the edge of Edith''s bed with very little lighting but I could still see how her light blue eyes gleam from the smallmpshade.


    "Were you wearing contacts earlier? I didn''t seem to notice your eye color¡­"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ I-I''m sorry, I can put¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ They''re beautiful, I''d love to see you more like this¡ª and with these freckles too! They''re pretty! Don''t hide them, w-well, unless you have an issue with them or s-something¡­ In any case¡ª"


    She looked at me with her puppy eyes, "D-Do you think they''re r-really pretty?"


    "Yep!"


    "J-Just my eyes and my freckles¡ª Ah!"


    I suddenly pinched her cheeks much to her surprise, "You know what I meant, heh¡­ Don''t twist my words, alright? I wouldn''t¡­ you know¡­ do this with you and Edith if I didn''t find you attractive¡ª And don''t get started on just doing it just with your looks: You ARE pretty but we just met and I gotta know more about you if you''re gonna turn this conversation THAT way¡­"


    Nancy lightly rubbed her cheeks as she looked back at me, "I-I''m sorry, I didn''t mean it l-like that¡­ Y-You''re r-really attractive too¡ª M-More like h-hot a-and¡­ Oh. S-Should I still c-call you m-master while E-Edith''s here?"


    "Want my honest opinion?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "I don''t mind either way but I wouldn''t stop you if that''s what gets you off¡­ Sometimes, I wanna be the one on the opposite end of the act but I love conversations like these¡­ It''s best to talk about boundaries first, you know?"


    "R-Really?"


    "Yeah."


    "So, you don''t juste in and plow me then leave me leaking after¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ Hold up, Nancy! I didn''t think those words woulde out of your mouth but to answer your question, no. Unless you want me to do that, I''ll always take care of you after, no questions asked. But yeah¡­ Pfft¡­ That fuckin'' got me¡ª"


    Then Edith came up from behind us freshly showered and wearing a see-through night gown and some sexy lingerie.


    "Got you what? Oh, I just finished showering¡ª"


    I chuckled as I cut her off, "You know, we could''ve showered together? Saved some time?"


    "Hmph! T-Then you would''ve already seen me naked! I wanna surprise you wearing this, you know! Thanks for thepliment, by the way~"


    I scratched the back of my head as I chuckled, "I''m sorry, you look good¡­"


    "That doesn''t sound too convincing!"


    "Yeah¡­ Lingerie does only a little bit for me¡ª"


    "What?! You could''ve said so! I feel silly now!"


    "No, no! I''m sorry for telling you that now but¡ª"


    "S-Shut it! Go shower with Nancy right now and by the time you two are done, I''ll figure it out! Better yet¡ª no, I wouldn''t tell you anything! I''ll surprise ya! Go! GO!"


    "A-Alright¡ª"


    "C''mon now! I''m not mad, a little¡ª but that''s my fault for not asking Kaley¡ª J-Just go!"


    With that said, Edith looked adorably cute as she was shooing us away but we did see her leave the room after putting on a long coat before we closed the door to the bathroom. As soon as that happened, Nancy and I looked at each other before we shared augh then we began soaping up each other, making sure we could eat off each other''s butts¡ªnot exactly that, but you get the point.


    But yeah, it''s safe to say that Nancy''s nervousness was already gone though she was starting to get friskier and friskier as she ran her hands on my body.


    At one point, she was soaping me up with her perky little tits and her cute little innie but Ipletely stopped her when she was about to have an orgasm. Sure, it was cruel in a sense but we wouldn''t want her tapping out just as we were beginning to do the deed.


    "B-But¡ª"


    "I''m sorry but we shouldn''t get ahead while Edith''s waiting for us, should we?"


    "O-Okay¡­ B-But¡­ I-It''s too t-tingly r-right now¡­ I-It''s really¡ª Ha¡­ Haa¡­ H-Hngh¡­"


    "You just have to hold it a little more, okay?"


    "Haa¡­ O-Okay¡­"


    Nancy''s mouth was still agape as she was panting¡ªalmost as if she was losing air, but we quickly finished our shower when we heard the door to Edith''s room open and close.


    And to my surprise and to my delight, Edith was now wearing a loose, oversized shirt that was down to her thighs, and whether she was wearing anything underneath was irrelevant because I was more focused on the outline her figure was producing as she was against the light.


    I didn''t even think I''m into this type of shit but god fucking dammit it''s better to me than fucking lingerie.


    And yeah, it didn''t take long before she showed me a small tease, where she was wearing grey cotton panties that were a little tighter¡ªalmost like thigh highs that would pinch a little bit of fat on her quads¡ªbut this time, it was highlighting her round butt even more along with her fat pussy.


    I couldn''t see Edith''s nipples through her clothes because hers was inverted but I could very well see the shape of her fat cameltoe I wanted to bury my face in.


    "H-How''s this? K-Kaley said¡ª Oh¡­" Edith trailed as she looked at my erection, "I''ll be taking more notes for the f-future¡­ You two wanna join me? It''s quite cold alone in this bed¡­"


    In any case, the three of us found ourselves in Edith''s bed but it seemed like the whole focus was Nancy''s first time because all of my attempts to touch Edith''s body was her grabbing my hand and putting it on Nancy''s young and petite frame. But yeah, she''d just give me a smile as she would continue to stroke my dick while Edith was just on the receiving side of things from the two of us.


    However, Edithpletely underestimated as to how close Nancy was to having an orgasm because the moment the tip of my fingers brushed against her clit, her body just jolted as her eyes went to the back of her head, holding onto us tightly while liquid was spurting out from her pink pussy.


    From Edith''s actions, I thought she''d be surprised¡ªand she actually was from a totally different thing. Nancy was still fighting against the tremors but Edith wore a smile as she continued to stimte Nancy''s hard nipples.


    "Hmm~ I didn''t think you''d cum this fast¡­ Totally different when we''re together, no?"


    "L-Lady Edith¡­ T-That doesn''t¡ª"


    "Don''t worry, we''re both experimenting but it''s totally different when he''s here, right?"


    I just had to ask, "You two do stuff?"


    Edith chuckled, "Of course, why wouldn''t we? Well~ Mostly hand stuff but we eat each other from time to time¡ª And we''ve only put fingers in our butts¡ª D-Did your d-dick just twitch?!"


    "Hey! It''s hot, alright?! Who wouldn''t get turned on from hearing that?"


    Edith rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "I know a guy but we shouldn''t talk about him at the moment¡­"


    "You''re¡­ You''re really different thest time we were together¡­"


    She was suddenly caught off-guard by that statement, "Wha¡ª O-Of course, not! I-I''m still the same b-but you know¡­ a-after that¡­ I-It just¡­ Y-You know¡­ W-Woke up s-something in me¡­ D-Did you know I''m always having thoughts about you¡­ D-Dirty thoughts about you a-and I''d always just find myself touching down there every single time? B-But enough about t-that¡­ N-Nancy, d-do you wanna do it now? Or¡­"


    "I-I need a-a little break¡­ Ha¡­ I¡­ I was r-really holding that f-for a while¡­ I almost cked out¡­"


    "Alright¡­" then she turned to me, "Why don''t you lie down first? Nancy and I will s-suck you off at the same time¡­"


    "Fine¡­"


    "Alright¡ª"


    "But you do it this way¡­" I said as I motioned with my hands.

 Chapter 934 Body Heat w/ Surprise Butt Seggs

    <h4>Chapter 934 Body Heat w/ Surprise Butt Seggs</h4>


    After a few moments, Nancy and Edith were licking the tip of my cock as they were lying on their sides while their cute/rounds butts were facing my way. Edith was mostly teaching Nancy how to avoid using her teeth but god fucking dammit the girl knows how to fucking use her tongue.


    And after a few moments or so, they''d look back at me with their puppy eyes¡ªas if they were asking me if they were doing a good job¡ªthough they''d go back to licking my balls or slurping the tip of my dick.


    I could watch the two all day but my gaze was alternating between theirher regions and even though Edith was still clothed in a sense, I could see the wet spot in her panties which I was poking with my fingers.


    On the other hand¡ªquite literally¡ªI was pushing my thumb inside Nancy''s little asshole causing her to grab me a little tighter with her small hands while every poke toward Edith would prompt a little moan.


    It didn''t take long before Edith tried to swallow me whole but she was only halfway in when her gag reflex would kick in. I would''ve taught her to go about in a different position but since Nancy was also doing her best to lick and kiss what Edith couldn''t take, I figured it''d be best to enjoy the view while fingering or prodding their tiny little holes.


    The only thing missing was the constant eye contact but this time, Edith decided to actually try and make me cum with her mouth because thest time she tried, she failed in the attempt.


    And in doing so, she started to bob her head up and down my shaft as she pushed her panties to the side¡ªso I''d have an unobstructed view of her holes¡ªand each time she went down, she''d get a little closer to the base. However, she still couldn''t quite get down to my whole length but I didn''t even think she''d cum from sucking my dick while her clit was being pinched between my fingers.


    "Ah¡ª A-Ah¡ª AH! F-Fuck! I-I''m c-cumminggg~!"


    Edith had never held me so tight as she was squirming in ce while all Nancy could do was watch as she was partly touching herself. Their fluids were obviously running down their thighs at this point but Edith had to give up as sheid on her back.


    She was panting as her chest was heaving up and down but to our surprise, Nancy went on top of her and on all fours, waving her cute little butt towards me as she gave Edith a few kisses.


    "C-Can¡­ Can we d-do it this way?" Nancy asked as she raised Edith''s top, revealing her breasts.


    "Are you sure? It''s better if you go on top of me¡­"


    "I-It''s fine, I-I wanted it to be this w-way¡­"


    "Alright¡­"


    At this point, Nancy started to y with Edith''s boobs while licking her nipples and puffy ares but Edith took it upon herself to bring Nancy up to the right position as she spread her cheeks apart. Nancy let out a gasp as her sensitive spots were touched but both of her holes were winking as if waiting for something to punch through them.


    With Nancy''s paleplexion, her pink insides were so entuated along with her pink little asshole but I just rubbed the tip against her holes as I went into position.


    "A-Are you g-gonna put it i-in now?"


    "Yeah¡­ Just rx, alright? Breathe¡­"


    "A-Alright¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡ª"


    With that said, I barely pushed the tip in before Nancy''s whole body tensed as she clutched the covers, but I gave her a few more seconds to breathe before I pushed more inches deeper.


    "AH! AH! I-ITS¡ª MMH! S-Shit¡­ HNGH! I-IT''S GOING IN ME¡ª I-IT HURTSsSsss¡­ MMh¡­ HhA! HAA! Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    Nancy''s insides were so fucking tight¡ªthey were almost pushing me out¡ªbut losing her virginity didn''t mean she''d need to take my whole length and have a huge bulge on her stomach.


    I was barely halfway in before I decided to stop pushing it in even more, and I just stayed in ce until she got used to that size or until she asked for more. In any case, Edith was the only one who could see Nancy''s facial expressions but she threw me a gentle smile when our eyes met.


    It seemed like this was Nancy''s limit for the moment and going further would just hurt her even more. And yeah, Edith kept rubbing her back while giving her kisses, but Nancy was still getting used to the pain and my dick invading one of her tiny openings. However, I''d feel her pushing back but she''d almost immediately retreat from doing so, so I caressed her back gently telling her to not rush it because we have plenty of time.


    "Breathe, alright?"


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I-Is it all in yet? I f-feel so f-full¡­"


    "Kinda¡­ But you''re doing great. Are you okay?"


    "I-It still hurts a l-little b-but s-shouldn''t you start m-moving?"


    "Do you want me to? We''ll try a little¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Y-Yeah¡ª O-Ow¡­ Ha¡­ Y-Yes¡­ W-Wow¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    At this point, I began to thrust at a slow pace while making sure not to go any deeper and I was beginning to notice just the tightness of her pussy without the squeezing involved. It didn''t make a lot of sense because she was still gripping me tightly but as I thrust back and forth more and more, she seemed to be quite enjoying it instead of just anticipating the pain.


    "W-Wait a sec¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    "Hmm? Want me to go slower?"


    "N-No¡­ C-Can I see it?"


    "T-There''s a little blood, are you okay with that? I can wipe you off a little bit before¡ª"


    "I-It''s okay, I just r-really wanna see it¡­"


    In any case, there really wasn''t a lot of blood that came out but when she got off Edith and saw her blood and cream just halfway on my dick, she looked a little disappointed with herself for a moment.


    It was dissipated when Edith came in for a hug and basically told her that she was a woman now as they kissed in front of me and smiled at each other genuinely. However, that just lit a fire in her ass as she asked me toy on my back because this time, she''d follow my earlier rmendation.


    But yeah, we did wipe off for a little bit before she tried to get on top of me but I wasn''t able to see the whole thing because Edith couldn''t help but sit on my face.


    I just felt a tight grip on my dick before the same sensation enveloped it further and further, and just as I thought, they could''ve gone a little further if they used the correct positions.


    To their surprise, Nancy took my whole length just by being on top but she still took a bit of time to readjust to my full size, but I just fucking lost it when she started moving her hips while I was still inside her.


    "H-Hngh! I-It''s in m-me¡­ A-All of it''s in m-me¡­ Haa¡­ W-Wow¡­ I-It''s so big¡­ s-so t-thick and¡ª Hngh! I-It''s hitting my¡­ Ow¡­ W-Wow¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    It wasn''t the same thing as putting it back and forth while doing doggy earlier but it was more like this circr hip movement where she''d grind on top of me while my dick was getting choked and was stirring inside her.


    Needless to say, I exploded in her tiny little hole which prompted her to have her first PIV orgasm, but from the way she was squeezing me and how little the space inside her womb was, everything else just overflowed outside.


    "W-Wow¡­ Haa¡­ T-That''s¡­ Ha¡­ A-A lot c-came out¡­ S-So tired¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I''m¡­ Ha¡­"


    "You guys~ I''m so¡ª W-Wait¡ª MmH! Shit¡­ I''m gonna cum just from w-watching¡ª MMH! HNGH! AH! AHH! HA¡ª HNGHH~!!!"


    Luckily enough, Edith lost bnce when she started cumming and I could clearly see Nancy''s face before she copsed on my chest, and she was still shaking all over while her eyes had once again gone to the back of her head. However, she did pass out after cumming only twice but after a few moments, Edith woke her up by pushing a finger up her asshole.


    "Hngh! W-Wait¡ª D-Did you just¡ª L-Lady Edith?!"


    I tried to wave Edith off seeing her wearing a strapless dildo, "Wait, hold up¡ª"


    But she looked like lust had overtaken everything from her as she was looking at Nancy''s exposed little butthole:


    "C-Can I take this one? Please? I-I just came but I-I could take it a-anymore! I s-so wanted to do this, they let me b-borrow it f-for this o-assion¡­ C-Can we? Y-You can use it o-on me lter if you want b-but I just wanna take your f-first i-in this o-one¡­"


    And Nancy added fuel to the fire:


    "O-Okay¡­ J-Just do it a l-little¡ª HNGH! A-AH¡ª WHA¡ª"

 Chapter 935 Surprise Butt Seggs II - A little talk with the Devil

    <h4>Chapter 935 Surprise Butt Seggs II - A little talk with the Devil</h4>


    To Nancy''s surprise, Edith just jammed the whole length of her strapless dildo straight into her virgin asshole, and Edith just went fucking ham on it¡ªthrusting hard and fast over and over like an animal in heat. Needless to say, Nancy looked like a fucking mess as her small body was taking a pounding while my huge cock was still inside her pussy. She was gritting her teeth as her mouth was drooling all at the same time while her blue eyes were crossing from the pain and pleasure.


    On the other hand, Edith looked like she lost control of herself as she was violently moving her hips¡ªdrawing it back fully before mming it back in Nancy''s little asshole as she had this crazed look on her face.


    "YOU LIKE THIS, HUH?! YOUR LADY FUCKING YOU IN THE ASS?! FEELS BETTER THAN OUR FINGERS, RIGHT?! RIGHT?! OH MY GOD! HAA! HA! FUCK! WHY DOES THIS FEEL SO GOOD?! CAN YOU FEEL IT?! CAN YOU FEEL IT ALL INSIDE YOU?! I TOOK YOUR ASS''S VIRGINITY WITH THIS DILDO A-AND F-FUCK I-I THINK I''M C-CUMM¡ª HNGH! S-SHIT! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    Edith even started to pull on Nancy''s pigtails while giving her cute little butt a spanking, but since she was wearing a strapless dildo, she could also feel what she was doing to herself. And it gave Nancy a moment to breathe when she started cumming on her own. However, it didn''t even take a second before I felt Nancy''s insides contracting and tightening even more as she came hard from her back hole getting vited.


    At this point, some tears were falling from Nancy''s flushed face and she was out of breath and close to passing out once again.


    I barely moved when Edith was fucking her ass¡ªbut I was still rock hard¡ªand this time, I felt like giving Edith a well-deserved punishment because not only did she make Kaley and I think she never had any experience with girls, but also the first time she actually got to fuck one, she went a little too violent with it¡ªeven if the one on the receiving end did have a release from such actions.


    Even with two people on top of me, I easily moved them aside before I moved on top of Edith, and to her surprise, I plunged my dick into her puffy cunt that still had the other end of the strapless dildo inside her.


    "W-WAIT¡ª"


    Her orgasm was still in the process of receding the moment I held her hands just above her head, but I kept them in ce with one hand and shut her mouth with the other before I moved my hips even more violently and with more fervor.


    I guess this was punishment in a sense because overstimting someone who just came could both be heaven and hell at the same fucking time.


    At this point, all we could hear was her muffled grunts and moans along with her pussy squelching from each thrust but it didn''t take long before the other end of the dildo inside her slipped out which gave her a little breather. However, it just gave me more room andplete control over what goes in and out of her meaty fucking hole.


    With each violent pump, her huge breasts would jiggle all over the ce but she began to clutch my hair when I let go of her hands and started biting and pinching her nipples. They had already protruded long ago, and they needed some tough love before they went back again, though they''d be rough and sore the moment I was done with them.


    And the moment I finally let go of her mouth to hardly squeeze both her breasts, she let out this loud, orgasmic moan as she started cumming over and over:


    "H-H-HnHGnnhGHHH~ F-FucK! FUCK AhHHHhHNNnH! SHIT! SHIiIIiiT! MORE! M-MORE! AH!"


    Edith was squirting nonstop as I continued hitting her deepest parts but shepletely lost it when I pulled out and shoved it in her unsuspecting asshole.


    With semen and their juices as lube, I easily made her anal cavity several sizes bigger but she sought help and support from Nancy who was already on the brink of passing out. She didn''t have much stamina to endure losing both of her hole''s virginity in one night¡ªand in a most violent way too¡ªand all they could do was hold hands while Edith was screaming my name and for dear life.


    But yeah, it wasn''t even an hour before the two were passed out on their bed though Edith was leaking cum from her two little¡ªwell, gaping holes now, and they were just sopletely tapped out, they weren''t able to respond when I asked them to go to the shower with me to clean up. In any case, I just wiped them clean with a warm cloth before cing them on the cleaner parts of the bed and then putting a nket over them before leaving the room.


    And unfortunately, with the type of sex life I have with Kaley and the rest, I still have a lot in my tank so I was pretty much hiding a boner in my pants. I thought the quick fix would be to head to the next room but Kaley and the rest weren''t there.


    It''s just that it was a little awkward when Sebastian just popped out of nowhere wearing a faint smile.


    "Jesus fucking christ¡ª I should fucking introduce you to Jude, I bet you two will hit it off¡­"


    "Apologies for startling you, my lord, but did you give thedy and Nancy a good time¡ª"


    I almost had another heart attack, "W-Wut?"


    "I was just¡ª"


    "That''s¡­ That''s something that should be kept private, no? And yeah, why the sudden change of heart? You were so against kissing earlier then¡ª"


    He waved me off with a chuckle, "Apologies for that as well. Let''s just say I''m a little too protective with thedy but in the end, what I''m after is their happiness¡­ A little suggestion though?"


    I was a little taken aback, "Sure? You got tips for having inter¡ª"


    He tried to hold in a chuckle, "Gods, no¡­ I believe you''re very proficient with that activity just from the noises I heard¡­ That''s one of the reasons I rushed here because I though¡ª N-Nevermind¡­ A-Anyway¡­ If¡­ If thedy happens to find someone else¡­ I do hope you''d be the one to keep a clear boundary, if I may be honest with you, my lord¡­"


    I shook my head with a smile, "I''ll do that in exchange for something."


    "Anything, my lord."


    "Can you drop the ''My Lord'' thing with me?"


    "H-Huh? But¡ª"


    "You didn''t call me that earlier, right? It just¡­ you know, popped up suddenly¡­"


    "Umm¡­ I-Is that the condition, my¡ª *tilts head sideways* sir? Is calling you sir more appropriate? Or would you ept Mr. Ishiyama?"


    "Hmm~ Would you be up to it if you start all of our conversations by saying, ''Yo, what''s up?'', in a deep gangster voice?"


    Hesitation instantly appeared on Sebastian''s face, "T-That''s¡­ alright, for thedy¡ª"


    I waved him offughing, "I''m kidding, Sebastian. You''re free to call me anything and I''ll respect whatever decision she''ll make in the future by making clear boundaries with each other. I''ll also make sure that I''ll take her happiness into ount like you though I always do that with everybody I know. Just do know that I''ll always put my wife first before anyone else and Edith also knows that¡­"


    Hearing that, Sebastian just looked at me for a few moments without saying anything before he let out a sigh of relief, "That''s¡­ That''s the best I could''ve asked for. From the bottom of my heart, I do thank you."


    "O-Okay? But do you know where Kaley and the rest are? I can''t seem to¡ª Well, I haven''t searched the whole mansion yet but¡ª"


    "Ah, I believe they''re still in the main hall though I did see Miss Kaley drop by for a moment because thedy called for her. Would you like me to apany you?"


    "Sure. Would you be willing to answer a few simple questions though? While we''re walking?"


    "Of course, I''ll answer them to the best of my ability."


    "Alright. How long have you been serving the Rivas Family?"


    "Three decades, I suppose¡ª"


    "Three¡ª How old are you, Sebastian?"


    "Umm¡­ I''m not at liberty to say¡­"


    "Wha¡ª Fine, I get it¡­ Are you a devil or an immortal, perchance? You gotta tell me, right?"


    "Hahaha¡­ Wouldn''t you like to know?"


    I rolled my eyes as I shook my head, "How many of the maids have you fucked¡ª"


    "That''s¡­ As you said¡­ Some things are best kept privately, no?" he evaded once more with a chuckle.


    I began to walk a little faster, "This conversation is pointless, I''ll walk alone¡ª"


    "Please, you just have to ask the right questions and I''ll answer them truthfully¡­"


    "Fine, fine~ Do you know any martial arts?"


    "Yes, I do actually..."


    "Can you tell me what they are?"


    "Hmm~ I started with Taekwondo but I''ve branched out ever since¡­ I know enough to defend myself, thedies, and the madam but I currently training my cardiovascr endurance¡­"


    "Oh~ That''s great. Know how to use guns?"


    He chuckled while covering his mouth, "I do but probably not as good as you all are¡­ And the choices of firearms is a little bit¡­ non-traditional¡ª no, actually traditional, if you catch my drift¡­"


    "So, flintlocks and shit?"


    "U-Umm¡­"


    "Heh, just kidding¡­ How about knives or other des?"


    "That''s¡­ I''m quite fond of them, actually¡­"


    "Oh? What kind¡ª"


    "I studied under Kishin-Ryuu School of Martial¡ª"


    I dead-ass stopped in my tracks, "Hold up¡ª No fucking¡ª"


    He startedughing while covering his mouth, "Hah! I got you, my lord! I heard it from Sir Isaac earlier, I love small knives but not like Lady Elsa who loves everything that''s sharp. I do believe she''s waiting for a gift from you, no?"


    "Right, right~ remind me of that before we leave¡­"


    "Very well, I''ll make it so via a letter¡­ Any more questions, my lord? We''re quite close¡­"


    "Hmm~ I''m still thinking of one but¡ª Oh! Why haven''t you participated in Mr. Cuervo''s games? You''d be a champion in a heartbeat, no?"

 Chapter 936 Aftermath - Trophies

    <h4>Chapter 936 Aftermath - Trophies</h4>


    As soon as I said that, Sebastian just gave me a smile before replying:


    "My lord, that might be true but my purpose is not to win games for the madam but to help keep and maintain the estate. Any sort of activity that might hinder me from doing my assigned tasks is unnecessary. I apologize¡ª"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Makes sense."


    "Hmm? For a moment there I thought you''d convince me or do something to make me participate¡ª"


    "I could probably figure out a way for that to happen but your job is your job. Besides, you did agree to exchange at least ten moves tomorrow so there''s that."


    "That''s right, I suppose¡­"


    "And do you have any idea how long those games go for? It goes for way~ too long sometimes and I''ve only been in two! If I wanted to get pointers from someone, there are several ways to do it without all the loud EDM sting with all the theatrics."


    He chuckled, "That''s something we can agree on¡­"


    "Oh? You''ve been present a few times at least?"


    "Of course, but with our recent circumstances I had to stay back. It''s okay though, a few problems off the madam''s back means a job well done."


    "True~ True~"


    In any case, only a door separated us from the main hall and he opened the door for me. After that, he let me walk in first as he closed the door behind him, and he just found his way to Sal while I made my way over to Kaley and the rest. Funnily enough, everyone in our inner circle was present in the balcony Edith and I were in earlier.


    Tatiana was the first one to notice mee in, "That was fast."


    Quinn chuckled, "Honestly, I was surprised those twosted that long. Edith does some exercises but that little brat with her couldn''t jog a few miles to save her life."


    Then Kaley came in for an embrace, "How are you though? Had fun?"


    I gave her a peck on the cheek but she stole a kiss on the lips from me, "You¡ª It was¡­ Yeah, I had fun?"


    "What happened?"


    "Well¡­"


    I then began to tell them what happened with Edith and Nancy earlier and the three were just amused while Megan felt like she should''ve barged in when she got the chance. She was one of the newest additions to our group and they seemed to have their own dynamics in ce though it was a free-for-all if they had the chance to get with me alone¡ªlike what happened a few hours earlier.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before Kaley figured out what I needed but since we were still in a semi-public ce, we had to be really~ discreet about it.


    However, with how Kaley''s dress was designed, it was easy enough to slip it in after we got into a more obscured position. I knew full well that Kaley had this thing with doing things in these kinds of ces where we''d still be hidden though there''s a chance that we''ll get caught or the other alternative¡ªdoing it somece where everyone could hear BUT not see us.


    It was because there were other people present on the adjacent balcony behind us though Megan and Tatiana took it upon themselves to sit by that railing to obscure their view while Quinn barred anyone froming in after slightly lowering the curtains to our advantage.


    At this point, I was right behind Kaley thrusting with one to two inches of clearance¡ªbecause that''s the most we could do without anyone noticing¡ªbut Kaley was carrying the team with her muscle control. Because even if I didn''t move a single time, she''d be able to make us both orgasm with herplete control of her vaginal muscles.


    But since the balcony in front of us was closed shut and the next one after it was further away, I already had my hands inside her dress, and squeezing the living milk out of her huge udders I couldn''t get enough off.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ You d-doofus¡­ D-Do you want me to s-scream out l-loud?"


    "Is this y-your way of telling me to squeeze them harder or to hold your mouth shut?"


    "Y-You¡­ H-Hnghh¡­ I-I''m¡ª A-Ah¡­ S-Shiiiit¡­ I-I''m¡ª"


    Easily enough, Kaley had a sudden and hard, shaking orgasm either by PIV or nipple stimtion¡ªheck, or just by the thought of fucking in public pushed her over the edge.


    I had to hold her mouth shut before I began to fuck her harder and harder, but doing that just made her orgasm two more times before I finally exploded inside of her.


    With that said, Megan happily volunteered to clean Kaley off with her tongue while Quinn was already kneeling down to give me fetio. However, she suddenly lifted me up and sat me on the railing before she sucked me off while giving me a titfuck,pletely set on getting herself a mouthful after getting a taste of what was left in the pipe.


    It''s just that she couldn''t care less about the people who saw her doing it¡ªand it actually had the opposite effect¡ªbecause the ones who saw us immediately made themselves scarce so she could focus on the task at hand.


    At one point, we justpletely brought the curtains down so they could all get their turns plus extra but there were still a few onlookers who wanted to be on the receiving end of what I''m giving these four women a few times over.


    But with all things considered, it was still a quickie in a sense, but I was a little more satisfiedpared to just being with Edith and Nancy. Not to throw them shade in any way, but sometimes, it''s much, much better to have more experienced people with you or on the same wavelengthpared to amateurs or a straight-up virgin.


    There was still merit in them, in a sense, but that''s just me.


    And to prove a little bit of my point, Megan was out of breathepared to the three who looked totally fine from our quick session.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Fuck¡­ I d-dunno how you all do this¡­ E-Especially you¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled, "To be honest with you, I''m barely keeping up. Kaley''s the goat but no one''s beating him in that regard¡­ He''s not infallible but I tapped out more times than I could countpared to him calling it a night¡­"


    Quinn and Megan responded at the same time, "For real?"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "And there was still one thing one of ours, Cynthia, was trying to ask of me. It''s an experiment of sorts but even I shudder at the thought¡­"


    "W-What is it?"


    "Imagine giving him a blue pill¡ª"


    And Quinn just straight up lost it, "HAH! WE SHOULD FUCKING DO IT! ONCE EVERYONE''S PRESENT!"


    "E-Everyone?"


    Tatiana startedughing, "Hmm~ If we include everyone here plus the girls in Cuervo Heights, his old school, and the ones back home¡­ it''ll be the day¡­"


    Kaley was already shaking her head, "Please, no¡­ I love doing it with all of you but there''s a limit, alright? I can''t just watch all night or make do with a strap-on¡­ The real thing''s just different no matter how Tatiana''s ''treasure'' looks exactly like it¡­"


    I had to jokingly interject as I scoffed, "And no one''s asking for my opinion, eh? Women~"


    "Pfft¡­ We''re sorry, alright?! I bet you''ll love all of the attention¡­"


    "I bet you''ll be shooting nks¡ªno, I still highly doubt that part¡­"


    "You can probably repopte the whole world by yourself¡­ You''re like that turtle in the news a few years ago!"


    "T-Turtle?"


    "Hah! Out of all the things to describe him! Even turtle-dragon sounds weird!"


    "True~"


    "C-C''mon guys! Not like this¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    With that said, we were just chatting for a few more minutes when a few of the Rivas and De Leon Family''s men came back.


    We could clearly see everything from where we were but we saw Sal and Sebastian approach them and check this bloody sack that probably contained "trophies" or proof of confirmed kills, then she just sent them off again while Sebastian was tasked with carrying the sack elsewhere.


    It seemed a few people from the lesser families on the other balconies saw what happened as well, and there was just a mix of relief and fear in their expressions.


    They could''ve been one of those trophies inside that sack right about now but they were fortunate enough to ept this short notice of an invitation. I didn''t mention it earlier but faint gunshots could be heard from the distance and it''s safe to say that the Rivas Family had once again taken over this whole area with the help of the De Leon Family and quite frankly, the Ishiyama Family.


    If anyone would tell me that this was what I would be doing in the near future, I''d justugh in their face and boot up my old N64 to y some Goldeneye.


    It''s just that in this instance, the "bad" guys just retaliated against the "good" guys for doing something they shouldn''t have done in the first ce and if I was even in the same shoes as Sal, I would''ve done the same thing, either much better or more brutal.


    I tend to return favors twofold and revenge tenfold.


    But yeah, with Sal''s ability to produce Ethanol and Quinn''s ability to produce engines that could run them with little to no issue, anyone would''ve done way, way~ worse just to suck up to them to get their favor.

 Chapter 937 A Drunk’s Ramblings?

    <h4>Chapter 937 A Drunk''s Ramblings?</h4>


    In any case, the night was still young but I could certainly guarantee that only a small percentage of us had or was having fun. Well, it was also true that if we counted all of Sal and Mauro''s men who were wreaking havoc outside, the percentage would change¡ªand if that''s the case, you''re certainly correct¡ªbut the ones in the equation only involved the people inside this mansion.


    But yeah, among these lesser families who dodged a bullet, there were ones who were celebrating convivially because they had thick skin and could easily switch sides or recognize that they''d already lost but god fucking dammit being on the other side was cool too.


    One example was thisnky couple, the heads of the Aballe Family, who simply produced general crops that could be found anywhere else.


    They didn''t even have a particr specialty like rare flowers and the like. Still, staples shouldn''t be sneezed at because there''s a reason rice, corn, and potatoes didn''t need much advertising or special requirements to produce or farm like chicken, ducks, and even cows or water buffalos.


    It was basically a given to be able to produce such crops or poultry and meat products when starting a farm in this region.


    Back home, we can sustain ourselves and have some extra for storage but it couldn''t bepared to how abundant this region was in regards to food. Thend they owned just for farming or taking care of animals was almost as big as some barangays though the issue I had with these ranches or farnds was that they couldn''t fully envelop their territory with solid, nigh-impregnable walls.


    Sure, Sal had the whole area around her mansion plus extra covered with such walls but she couldn''t possibly cover her whole territory plus the ones she had on the mountainside.


    That''s one of the reasons people took advantage of hernd because even if she put up fences around them to mark her territory, it''s just a freakin'' pole with thin wire any kid could easily go through or jump over. She was probably working on them now given the apocalypse but she still couldn''t focus her whole attention on that the whole fucking time.


    So what better way to go about it than to give the thieves what they fucking wanted at first then take them for all their worth¡ªin the survivor''s cases, half their worth¡ªand reap the benefits.


    I portrayed it in a different way than what actually happened but that''s what basically happened if you wanted to exin in a sentence or two.


    With that said, as we eventually joined everyone in the main hall who were either awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact or looking for the sign-up sheet for the 3rd batch to Poundtown, I was approached by this kid who looked to be barely in his 20s and could also barely handle the liquor in the fruit punch.


    Him approaching me actually brought a lot of attention but I decided to cut the kid some ck because I''ve been that young and drunk once, and he was just staring at me nkly for a few seconds.


    "What''s up, dude? Need something?"


    "Hmm? Ah¡ª No! I-I don''t need anything¡­"


    Quinn chuckled under her breath, "Well, that was easy¡­"


    I then waved him off, "Alright then, see you¡ª"


    "W-Wait! I-I think I have to introduce myself¡­ I-I''m T-Terry, v-very nice to m-meet you, s-sir¡­"


    I chuckled as I offered a handshake, "Nice to meet you too, Terry. I''m Sky Ishiyama¡ª"


    "Maaan~ That''s a cool fuckin'' name~ I wish my name was like that¡ª Hey, c-can I t-touch your sword? J-Just a l-little bit¡­ I w-won''t b-break it, I promishhhss¡­"


    "I''m sorry, no. You might hurt someone if¡ª"


    "Hah! That''s good¡­ That''s good¡­ Y-You''re totally right¡­ I-I shouldn''t o-operate l-legendary a-arma¡­ arm¡­a-armaments while¡ª you know how the saying goes¡­ A-Anyway¡­" then he proceeds to scoot in a little closer, motioning to whisper, "Man¡­ S-Sir¡­ I-I gotta tell you s-something¡­ S-Something I-I shouldn''t t-tell anyone¡­"


    "Hmm? Then shouldn''t you not tell me as well?"


    "Shit! Right¡­ Y-You''re totally right¡­ Yea¡­ W-Wait! Wait! B-But¡­ Y-You''re different m-my guy¡­ I-I think I c-can t-trust you¡­ I-If it''s you¡­ I-I''m sure y-you''ll l-listen to me a-at least¡­ N-No one f-fucking listens to me¡­"


    "W-What is it then?"


    Taking everything into ount, he could just be drunk and out of his mind but there was still the .0001% chance that there''s a grain of truth in what he''s about to say. Besides, I''ve listened to probably 90% of the conspiracy theories out there and I came out on top after filtering everything out so what can one more do?


    Worst case scenario, I''d have one more idea to make my co-conspirators¡ªOscar, it''s just Oscar¡ªblow everything out of proportion just to prove or disprove it or waste a few minutes of my life listening to a drunk man''s ramblings.


    Then his eyes widened before leaning even closer and the only thing missing was a shlight shining from below his face toplete the look:


    "D-Dude¡­ I-I tried t-telling everyone but t-they d-don''t b-believe me¡­ I-I''mma tell you s-straight up¡­ T-There''s a w-witch i-in the m-mountains and s-she''s doing s-some shady s-shit a-all over t-the area¡­ S-She''s been doing t-these fucked up r-rituals w-with the dead t-to gain t-their p-powers a-and I¡­ I-I think s-she seeded¡­"


    "Powers? You mean immortality?"


    I didn''t even notice the three had already joined the others but I was already deep in the conversation, it''d be rude to cut it midway. Also, refer to my earlier statements.


    Terry nodded menacingly, "T-That''s right bro¡­ I-I thought s-sshe was a f-fuckin z-zombie b-because t-those things a-act like s-she''s o-one of them b-but I-I saw her pick up a-a frog o-on the ground and p-put it in her pouch one time b-before a goose followed her up t-the mountains¡ª"


    It took everything from me to not burstughing as I tried to ease on the brake pedal, "You at least got proof to back that up?"


    "It¡ª I-I was there maaaan~"


    "That''s¡­"


    "C-C''mon! I-I thought you were a s-straight shootah'' but y-you''re just like everybody e-else¡­"


    "Well, w-were there any instances aside from that?"


    "Uhmm¡­ Let''s see¡­ E-Everybody here t-thinks that she''s just an o-old woman l-living in the mountains b-but I-I saw what I f-fuckin'' saw¡­ I-It was in b-broad daylight too and I n-never had a s-sip of light beer¡ª"


    "Beer makes you drunk?"


    "Hmm?"


    "N-Nevermind, continue¡­"


    He scratched his head a few times while looking at the ceiling, "T-That''s the only time I s-saw her do s-something weird that c-close b-but she used to be this h-healer of sorts¡ª"


    "A witch doctor?"


    "Y-Yeah one of those freaks¡­ B-But anyway¡­ T-Their numbers d-dwindled when *leans even closer* t-this family took c-care of them s-several years back¡­ Shh¡­ Don''t tell them I t-told you¡­"


    "I¡­ I kinda know about that, actually¡ª"


    "See?! T-That''s proof!"


    "Wut?"


    "W-We finally formed a connection! S-Shit¡­ I think i-it''s also safe to say t-that that fucking w-witch started this whole thing¡ª"


    "Umm¡­ I don''t think so¡­"


    "Haah?! Ya got proof of that?!"


    I almost smacked the shit out of him when he threw my words back at me but I always bring my trusty phone with me, even if its only use was to y music and videos or to capture and look at photos. But yeah, the vids I made Terry watch blew his mind even more but he had once again staring at the ceiling as if he was looking at his mind pce.


    Then he turned back to me as I was about to leave him alone:


    "So¡­ You''re telling me that that fucking witch¡ª"


    "You think it''s best for you to curse her out?"


    "Right! RIGHT! G-Great catch, I love ya, man¡­ B-But¡­ Y-You''re telling me they''re working together?"


    I couldn''t even imagine the face I was wearing right now, "Working with who?"


    He looked around for a moment before leaning close once again, "T-The I-Illumi¡ª Sorry, bro¡­ I don''t even feel safe saying it out loud¡­"


    "Riiight¡­ So~ Nice to meet you, Terry¡­ See you tomorrow when you''re sober¡­"


    "Ah¡ª D-Did I talk to much? Shit¡ª A-Anyway, t-thanks for listenin'' bro~ Toodles!"


    ''Toodles? Really?''


    In any case, meeting this kid was just so random but a few bits from his revtions would actually be harrowing if proved to be true. However, the only way to get the dead''s powers a.k.a. their immortality was through infection or simply dying themselves. And if we''re gonna go at it by using the WWZ route, that "witch doctor" could''ve developed a sickness of some sort, that way the dead were avoiding her, but there were a lot more variables that didn''t meet that criteria.


    However, as I was making my way to Kaley, I heard Terry scream for dear life but all I saw was Sal holding adle and serving herself the same fruit punch he was taking.


    "THE WITCH! THE WITCH IS HERE! OW! WHAT THE¡ª THAT HURTS! SOMEONE HELP!"


    And I''ve never seen someone get beat up by a freakin''dle in record time.

 Chapter 938 Bweakfast! - Start of the Tour

    <h4>Chapter 938 Bweakfast! - Start of the Tour</h4>


    What Terry told me could''ve been just an imaginative version of what took ce or as I said before, a rambling of a drunk kid¡ªbut one thing stuck to my mind:


    What fucking experiments was this witch in the mountains was doing to gain the dead''s powers?


    Sure, it was as nonsensical as his other statements but one thing''s for sure, the bitch¡ª I mean, the witch probably experimented on live people as much as she did on the dead to somehow understand them. But still, I highly doubt someone who based their healing magic on the "dark arts" or realistically speaking, something they just came up on the fly for a few pesos would be able to understand something that killed off more than 90% of the world''s poption.


    There''s a small, small chance that she could stumble upon it like the chances of a chimp typing randomly at a keyboard and somehow producing a famousposer''s magnum opus.


    In any case, I ryed to the group Terry''s confessions and there was a mix of reactions.


    The ones who were like me simply chuckled and shook their heads while the ones who were on the religious or spiritual side of things were a little perturbed.


    "W-We¡­ We should check it out right?"


    "Yeah¡­ How long are we staying here anyway?"


    "A week at most¡­ could be shorter¡­"


    "Then what?"


    "I''m debating going to another ce much closer that''s unfamiliar or something farther that''s familiar to me."


    "And where is that exactly?"


    "To the Garcia Family or to the rural province of Quezon which is on the other side of the map from Cuervo Heights. I kinda need to check up on my other Uncle''s ce. They''re probably safe-ish out there but some people do be crazy and I''m one of those people¡­"


    "Huh¡­ A-Anyway¡­ That''s probably just hokum, right?"


    "What is?"


    "The story of the witch?"


    "I mean, it wouldn''t hurt to check it out¡ª"


    "We really should¡­ Like first thing tomorrow¡­"


    "I don''t care either way but I''d like to hike up a mountain¡­ There''s probably a trail that would lead us to the witch¡­ or signs of her presence if she''s actually real."


    "We''ll talk to Terry tomorrow once he sobers up and we''ll take it from there."


    "Alright."


    "Who''s Terry again?"


    "That dude with the curly hair about to get¡ª yep, that guy. He needs to effin'' sleep."


    On that note, it was nearing midnight and most of our guests weren''t allowed to go back to their estates but were very wee to stay the night.


    Their rooms were already assigned to them but there was still fear in their eyes when they discovered that a maid or a butler would "attend" to any of their requests and would stay outside their door for the duration of their stay.


    If I were in their shoes, my greatest fear would be waking up with a de pressed against my throat and discovering that everyone else was dead before it pressed past the point of no return.


    I can understand what they''re feeling right now but they also have to understand that if Sal wanted them dead, she wouldn''t go to these lengths because the ones she deemed to be irredeemable were in the sack¡ªtheir heads at least¡ªtheir henchmen brought earlier, and in the ones still pending delivery.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we went back into our own rooms and continued where we left off.


    Let''s just say we didn''t go ham on it like Edith did with Nancy and morning came in the blink of an eye.


    With that said, we were woken up by the smell of coffee that Nancy brought over but I did catch her eyeing "me" suspiciously just as I was about topletely open my eyes.


    "G-Good morning! L-Lady Edith asked me to bring you all some coffee and this here''s our special brew¡ª"


    And as expected, the coffee was as amazing as waking up with four nakeddies staring at my hard-on, and they definitely opted for the "cream" before taking the coffeepletely ck.


    We did enjoy the coffee briefly as Nancy told us that our guests were safely escorted to their homes plus their new housemates.


    To my surprise, it was still 7 in the morning but it seemed like everyone in this region wakes up way early¡ªaround 5 in the morning¡ªand they were already served breakfast and briefed once again for their new arrangements.


    ''There goes asking Terry for more info¡­''


    But yeah, Sal made sure to show thepleted deliveries of sacks I mentioned pending, further increasing this imaginary hold she had on their necks.


    In any case, breakfast was already prepared for us and we were sent down to their actual dining hall which was a floor below the main hall fromst night. Despite its smaller size, it had a better view of the flowers outside and it was morefortable eating sitting down at a long family table with everyone.


    Sal obviously upied one end of the table while Edith and Elsa were to her left and right, then it was just me sitting right next to Edith and Mauro next to Elsa. And of course, Kaley was sitting to my left though I didn''t care much who was sitting where after that.


    Then Sal nced at me and Mauro before opening her mouth, "Kid, I won''t mind the tardiness since you and your crew are new but Mauro, you better wake up earlier than this, alright?! We''re living around farms, so waking up at five should be normal! If you fuckte in the night you''ll wake upte in the morning!"


    Elsa interjected, "Auntie, we''re just about to eat, can this talk about our honeymoon activities goter?"


    "Haah?! Elsa, eggs, sausages, eggnts, and cucumbers are in front of me, what would I think about?! And who''s fucking sipping coffee like that?! Be a little quieter!"


    Quinn raised her hand, "Pfft¡­ That''s me, my bad¡­"


    Sal rolled her eyes, "At least that cup''s getting more action than me¡ª"


    Edith and Elsa said at the same time, "Auntie~ Please, stop!"


    "HAH! Just messin'' with y''all. Anyways, fuck grace, let''s eat!"


    With that said, everyone dug into the breakfast Lisa and the other chefs made for us and it was as amazingpared to the dinnerst night¡ªbut I''m gonna say breakfast was better because breakfast foods were just more appetizing and appealing to me for some reason. But yeah, anyone could eat everything for breakfast since it''s just a matter of choice.


    We finished eating breakfast in an hour but as soon as we did, Sebastian strolled in wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, work trousers with suspenders, a straw hat with bugs for his face, safety boots, and a multitool belt. He also had cut-resistant gloves hanging by his pockets and the only thing missing from his getup was a fucking pitchfork.


    Furthermore, he was resting a break-open shotgun on his shoulder, and slightly camouged by his belt was another strap full of shotgun shells that appeared to be 00 buckshot.


    "Ah¡­ It appears I woke up too early for the tour¡­ I''ll wait outside¡­"


    ''Didn''t we decide on the timest night?''


    Sebastian left almost as soon as he came in but Sal couldn''t hold herughter for too long as she mmed her fist on the table.


    "BAHAHAH! You kids need to apologize to himter¡­ He did wake up at 4 in the morning to prepare everything for the tour but all of you were still asleep when he was ready. He IS totally out of his mind to do it in the early morning because you''d only see shit but it''s been a while since we had a lot of guests. He doesn''t show it but he''s excited¡­"


    "For real?"


    "Yeah! So¡­ *p hands loudly* get on it and let the maids clean this up! Don''t go too far and bring plenty of water¡ª Oh! Bring some of our homemade ranch too so you can dip the lettuce on it when you get to that ce! It''s the first one after the flower garden!"


    In any case, once we got back to our rooms, we discovered that we almost had the same clothes prepared but the most surprising thing was that there was a shirt for Quinn''s size. She almost beat me up when Iid down on the bed and used it as a nket but the bigger surprise from that was instead of Elsa, Mauro was much more excited joining this tour because let''s face it, the man had his limits.


    However, Jesus decided to stay back and spend his time with Lisa but that wasn''t our business.


    But as Sal stated, after walking past the flower garden and then some, we came across these four huge greenhouses running a hydroponics system where one of them had a fuck ton of lettuce growing in several floorsyers of pipes that easily beat what we have at home.


    Sebastian turned to us with a smile, "Please. Try it without the ranch first¡­"

 Chapter 939 Lettuce, Mushroom, and the Dodgy Butler

    <h4>Chapter 939 Lettuce, Mushroom, and the Dodgy Butler</h4>


    As I took the first bite, I was going into it and expecting a burst ofplex vors but as it turned out, lettuce is just fucking lettuce. Sure, I could taste the freshness of it and was amazed at its size and color but we just had a heavy breakfast, this should''ve been the first one we had when we woke up.


    It''s just that some of the cadets started to have a fear of this one hell of a butler so the kiss-assing started as they threw him praises and even¡ªI kid you not, moaned in pleasure from the first bite. And yes, it was #2 who did it.


    But Sebastian didn''t look the least bit amused by those reactions.


    "That''s¡­ interesting¡­ Didn''t think I''d get that reaction from a leaf¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Silence. Complete and total fuking silence while Kaley and I were trying so hard to contain ourughter.


    In any case, Sebastian just shook his head and pointed at the jars of the homemade ranch that we brought.


    "Please¡­ Try it with the ranch¡­"


    And yeah, right as we all took a bite from the "leaf" dipped in their ranch, everyone''s faces just lit up from the creamy-herby goodness but a few dumbasses tried to double-dip out of reflex. However, Tatiana was one of those people and she instantly locked horns with Quinn who had a tight grip on her wrists with the leafy vegetable and our "inner circle" jar.


    "What¡ª Quinn! The fuck¡ª"


    "Double-dipping?! Really?! Just eat that one first and just dip the other!"


    "Why''d you care about something like that?! I''ve put worse things in my mouth¡ª"


    "THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN?!"


    "Not worse, but¡ª I can eat this leaf after a quick drizzle of water but you need more than that for your ass¡ª"


    "BAHAHAHAHA! GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, TATIANA! STOP SPEAKING THE TRUTH FOR ONCE!"


    Hearing that, Quinn didn''t know whether to continue resisting or just let it go because her face was so red fromughing, and everyone else was also dyingughing from the sudden face-off between the two. Even Sebastian wasughing so hard, he forgot to cover his mouth and some of the girls in our group, especially Alexa, found it incredibly charming.


    But yeah, since the newlyweds came with us, I couldn''t help but notice Elsa staring at either my katana or my wakizashi on Kaley''s hips.


    I did promise her my jian back at home¡ªbut it''ll take a bit of time¡ªso I let her hold my wakizashi for a bit because Kaley didn''t mind and because she was lugging around one of the cadet''s M70s because going all "tacticool" with her Reaper didn''t match the farmgirl aesthetic. Though some of the cadets still brought their war belts or even their primary with them while most of us simply opted for our ded weapons or a sidearm in a concealed holster.


    Then Ruben raised his hands:


    "Uncle Sebastian¡ª"


    Sebastian momentarily released a deathly aura, "Uncle?"


    "A-Ah¡­ I-I''m sorry¡­"


    "Sebastian''s fine, don''t worry about it. Are you trying to ask a question perchance?"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Go ahead, then."


    "Right! What''s in the other greenhouses? Can we also check them?"


    "We''ll visit all of them, don''t worry. It''s part of the tour. We''ll go as soon as everyone''s finished eating¡­"


    "We''re done!"


    "Done here, too!"


    "Tatiana! Don''t eat all of the ranch! We''re on station one! We got a lot more ces to go!"


    "Hmm? We have plenty, correct?"


    "W-Wait, this is my jar!"


    "This is mine too!"


    "No, that is OUR jar."


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"


    For a moment there, I was expecting the theme song but the next greenhouse we went in was a ce for cultivating different kinds of mushrooms.


    Some of them were growing from the fruiting bags we have at home though some were growing naturally on arge piece of wood. However, this ce also had those kinds of "mushrooms" that upied a quarter of this greenhouse separated by metal fencing with a door that needed more than keys.


    And #2 had to shoot his shot, "Sebastian?"


    "Yes?"


    "C-Can we¡­ y''know? Have a bit¡ª"


    "Absolutely not!"


    "Oh¡­"


    "On the way back, maybe¡­"


    "Oh!"


    "We''ve barely started the tour, we wouldn''t wanna see you chasing pink elephants or the witch of the mountains, no?"


    "Right~ Right¡ª Wait, witch of the¡ª does she really exist?"


    "Ah¡­ There were a lot of them before¡ªmostly quacks and whatnot, but there''s a handful of them who were rumored to actually possess the dark arts."


    "Oh, fuck¡­"


    "Then again, rumors are just rumors but the ones I''ve met were actually healers who had a deep knowledge of herbalism. The poultices they made worked really well when I got injured in the mountains once. I was already familiar with what the Rivas Family grew but wild herbs in the mountains used to look the same to me."


    Alexa interjected, "So, they taught you?"


    He let out a smile, "For a price, of course¡­"


    "A-And that is?"


    Sebastian said with a straight face, "My firstborn¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    Then it turned back to a bright smile, "I was only fibbing, don''t worry about it! In any case, we have a few mushrooms here that could be eaten raw like these white mushrooms or those portabellos, would you like me to cut some for all of you¡ª"


    "YES, PLEASE!"


    "The fuck do you mean by some?! Give me that whole log!"


    "I''m afraid the log is not edible except for the bark but it''s something I also don''t rmend¡­ Some of them are grown on coffee grounds but¡ª"


    "HAH! Fuckin'' dumbass got ya, huh?"


    In any case, I was beginning to appreciate these mushroomspared to the lettuce earlier, not just because of the dip, but because the fatty food aftertaste in my mouth had already disappeared. I''m sure it could''ve gone either way but we eventually found ourselves in thest two greenhouses that had a variety of fruits, vegetables, or herbal stuff.


    ''I guess Sal like lettuce and mushrooms for some reason¡­''


    With that said, in a span of an hour, we tasted varieties of kale, broli, carrots, figs, lemons, onions, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and lettuce, but we were still in the mushroom greenhouse when we ran out of their homemade ranch.


    Fortunately, Nancy came running with a jar of the stuff¡ªalong with other blends¡ªjust as we sampled a bit of the produce. She was definitely out of breath from running this short distance, once again proving Quinn''s statement of the girlcking stamina. However, everyone fucking lost it when Quinn ended up carrying Nancy on her shoulders like a little child because it would be better for her toe with us than copse on the way back.


    Tatiana started teasing the giantess, "Actually suits you, surprising."


    Nancy chuckled from above, "Yeah, though I doubt she''d be a traditional mom¡ª"


    "BUST ON MY CHOPS ONE MORE TIME, NANCY AND I''LL FUCKING THROW YOU LIKE A SHOTPUT!"


    "W-What did I say?!"


    "Excuse me, but I''ll be a great fucking mom! Look at my fucking tits! They''re gonna grow bigger too, if I start having one¡ª"


    Tatiana chuckled, "You''d really have one? Like for real?"


    "I don''t mind either way but how about you? I''m sure Elsa and Mauro there''s been trying even before they got married, she''ll probably pop one out soon enough¡ª"


    "Hey! Don''t say it like that! You can''t just squeeze¡ª Well~ Technically, I would¡­ yea¡­"


    "Pfft¡­" then Tatiana shook her head, "I couldn''t even imagine¡­ I''ll be one of those cool aunts though? Probably like Sal but taller¡­"


    Edith cut in, "You think Aunt Sally''s cool?"


    Tatiana couldn''t believe what she heard from Edith, "Are you kidding? Your Aunt''s cool as fuck. I imagine her leading a biker gang if she wasn''t in this¡­" she stopped as she nced at Edith and Elsa, "Why are you two looking at me like that? Wait¡­ Don''t tell me¡ª"


    The two answered at the same time, "W-When she was little¡ªno, younger¡­ when she was younger¡­ she did¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Everyone was justpletely silent from shock but Sebastian broke the silence.


    "Ah, I do remember that¡ª The madam was truly young, back then¡ª"


    "Hold up¡ª"


    "IT''S THE DARK ARTS! THE DARK ARTS!"


    "Hmm?"


    "SEBASTIAN KNOWS THE DARK ARTS! HE''S IMMORTAL!"


    "I would certainly assure all of you that I''m not¡ª"


    "THE HOW FUCKING OLD ARE YOU?!"


    "Excuse me, the right question to ask is how young am I! Not the other way¡ª"


    "THEN ANSWER THE QUESTION! HOW''D YOU KNOW THAT¡ª WHY''D YOU SAY IT LIKE YOU WERE THERE WHEN SAL WAS STILL IN HER 20S?!"


    "Ah¡­" then he broke eye contact, "After this area, we''d be entering the fields, hence the boots¡ª"


    "HE''S AVOIDING THE QUESTION! HE''S A DEMON! HE''S EVIIIIIIIL!"


    "RUBEN! STOP YELLING SO MUCH! DID YA TAKE SOME OF THE FORBIDDEN MUSHROOMS?!"


    Sebastian cut in, "That''s probably the case¡­"


    "STOP LYING AND COMING IN WHEN THE CONVERSATION''S TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!"


    "Ah¡­ If you''d look over there, a few miles out would be the¡ª"


    "STOP DODGING THE QUESTIONS!"

 Chapter 940 A Swing And A Miss

    ?


    In any case, we spent a bit more time in the greenhouses before we went into the fields that had different crops or seeds nted which were in different stages of growth¡ªthough there were a few plots that looked recently harvested. It was one thing to see a specific type of thing in a greenhouse or a variety of nts in it, but seeing a whole field with farmers and water buffaloes just hits differently with me.


    It reminded me of the rice fields we''d pass by en route to the provinces of Quezon but there was one thing that''s much more amazing was the rice terraces we had in one of the provinces in Baguio City.


    Basically, it was a man-made structure to carve out portions of a mountain to have parts of it where we could nt rice, wheat, or anything else in that regard.


    It also had its challenges because the farmers wouldn''t be able to use tractors or those fancy machines to help them but hardbor was a normal thing on those parts. Furthermore, scaling up and down the mountain was an everyday thing for them so their cardio was through the fucking roof, and I didn''t even mention they''d sometimes carry heavy bags¡ªsometimes even bnced on their heads¡ªwithout issue.


    ''I''ve also been hearing interesting stories about that ce¡­''


    With that said, in regards to this ce, it''s safe to say that Sal''s territory was still way~ too fucking big to protect each side and corner at all times but since havingplete control of the farmer''s association and with the number of the dead in this location even fewerpared to Cuervo Heights, it just might work. Granted there were still a few variables she''d still have to take into ount, but it was also safe to say that almost everything was under control.


    In any case, as much as we''d love to munch on fruits and vegetables, it didn''t take long before we made our way to their ranch which had an abundance of farm animals.


    But yeah, it was pretty obvious that everyone''s nose puckered as their eyebrows scrunched because there was also thisrgeposting area right next to it that collected all of the farm waste in severalrge vats.


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "Really? You''d prefer rotting corpses from this?"


    "IT STILL STINKS!"


    "But you can wash them and cook them forter! Think Lucas, think!"


    "And no jokes about my nickname here, alright? Trust me, I KNOW!"


    "B-But¡ª"


    "SHUT IT, I KNOW THERE''S A HIDDEN ''T'' OVER THERE!"


    "Hah! I didn''t even think of that!"


    But yeah, after walking a safe distance away from theposting area and after getting used to the animal smell, one particr glutton with blonde hair and a particr giant whom I''d refrain theparing to one of the animals present sniffed out the smoke house of sorts and sprinted away carrying almost all of our dipping sauces.


    "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP~"


    Surprisingly enough, Quinn carried Nancy in her arms before sprinting away because whish was a thing and I doubt Nancy would get off scot-free falling 7 feet or getting dragged along with her frame.


    Sebastian shook his head, "They''re already going to the¡ª *sigh* That was supposed to be thest part of this area but anyway~ Here''s the way to the ughterhouse¡ª"


    "Wut?"


    "C-Can we skip that?"


    "Please, no¡­"


    "S-Shouldn''t we go to the barn or one of those stables first?"


    He never looked so disappointed, "Excuse me? V-Very well, we''ll skip the ughterhouse so you all could y with the animals first. Any takers though? Anyone? Please?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I chuckled as I nudged him with my elbow, "I''m afraid you won''t be able to show them how to butcher a whole cow, huh?"


    His ears perked up, "How''d you know?"


    "I had an inkling but I''m also a little sad I wouldn''t be able to show you what I can do with my katana."


    "Oh? Can you perhaps cut them in half?"


    "In one swoop, sure. Though I could still it cut surgically, but it couldn''t bepared to wielding a very sharp and flexible knife."


    "That is true¡­"


    "It''s so satisfying cutting through all that bone without resistance¡­"


    "Oh? That is some technique, I would really love to see that¡ª"


    To our surprise, there was one particr person who was very much interested in what we were talking about, and she¡ªElsa¡ªquickly dragged us into the ughterhouse while everyone else¡ªincluding Mauro¡ªpeeled off to y with the animals. Furthermore, even Isaac who I 100% thought woulde with us was more interested in seeing a horse up close.


    Sal''s ranch had horses, sheep, goats, chickens, quail, ducks, rabbits, cows, etc., basically almost every farm animal plus extra but I did see a huge-ass bull running solo in its own enclosure.


    Mauro was eyeing it a little suspiciously as the doors were closed behind us but as the outside of Sally''s estate looked rural as rural goes, the inside of this ughterhouse looked like a fuckingboratory. Everything was just white and so, so clean, and the smell of the animals was reced by strong cleaning products.


    "This ce is¡­ wow¡­"


    Elsa pulled on us even more, "Stop admiring the scenery, we have to go further in!"


    "L-Lady Elsa, my shirt¡­"


    "What about it?"


    "S-Stain¡­"


    "Oh, Jesus fucking Christ! Get over it!"


    In any case, Elsa led us to one of the storage spaces where whole cows were hanging by hooks and there was a moment where I thought we''d be training with them like this certain guy that had a semnce to a bell pepper and kept saying, "Adrian~ Adrian~" over and over again.


    "I thought this ce would be you know¡­ freezing?"


    "Are you serious? We have ethanol but we can''t run the freezers 24/7¡­ it''s stupid¡­ We store them here for a bit and we either smoke them or dry-age them so they''dst longer."


    "You guys know how to make Pemmican?"


    Sebastian and Elsa tilted their heads sideways at the same time, "A what?"


    "Basically a way to prepare dried meat and depending on the recipe, it couldst years."


    "R-Really?"


    "Yep."


    "I would very much like to learn from you after this. I''ll rece the knowledge with several of our finest cuts of meat."


    "You don''t have to do that, it''s very easy¡ª"


    "Yeah, Sebastian! He''s doing it for free, why''d you offer¡ª"


    "Then we''ll take it from my own collection¡ª"


    I shook my head, chuckling, "I already said¡ª"


    Elsa cut in, "Hold up, since when did you have your own collection?"


    Sebastian let out an innocent smile, "Since time immemorial, mydy. But enough about that, shall we?"


    "Hmmrgh¡­ Fine! But before that, c-can I borrow yours first? I-I really want to try swinging it on a whole cow¡ª"


    Sebastian interjected, "Mydy, that''s a treasured de, if I recall correctly¡­ One chip and¡ª"


    I waved them off, "No worries, as long as you don''t strike hard on that hook, it''ll be fine."


    "See?" Elsa turned to Sebastian gloatingly.


    "V-Very well¡­"


    In any case, Sebastian put some covers on the flooring first before he pulled a whole, skinned cow in the middle of this room so we could do some practice swinging. It usually involved bamboo but thisdy of ours was too excited to be able to y with a real authentic de made by a grandmaster cksmith.


    But yeah, she looked so giddy when I pulled my katana out of its scabbard and handed it to her, handle first, and she quickly assumed a stance as she stood in front of the hooked cow.


    To my surprise, she didn''t strike at the huge b of meat from the get-go because she regted her breathing first before striking diagonally¡ªholding the katana with both hands¡ªwith her whole body.


    "HAAT!"


    And to her delight, half of the cow''s body fell to the stic covers and Sebastian was already apuding her for the amazing feat.


    It wasn''t easy to cleave a cow in half with one strike, especially with its size¡ªand if it was a regr deadhead, I assumed that any regr human would still find it difficult but a whole cow was a whole different story. However, I stopped her from jumping in celebration as I flicked her forehead, grinding the celebration to a halt and prompting a serious reaction from the butler.


    He wasn''t too happy for me "attacking" herdy in broad daylight but he couldn''t believe his eyes when I showed him Elsa''s right hand.


    "T-That''s¡ª"


    It wasn''t apparent from the first look but it was now tender and starting to get more and more swollen. Furthermore, it appears that the injury also affected her forearm.


    "Does this hurt, too?" I asked as I pressed on some spots on her forearm.


    "O-O¡­"


    "You understand why I flicked your forehead now?"


    "I-I don''t¡ª"


    "You know some techniques but you still forced it. You''re lucky it doesn''t look like you broke your arm. Still, we need to get this checked out."


    Sebastian looked apologetic as he turned to me, "Please, follow me¡­"

 Chapter 941 Shots Fired

    ?


    Getting injured in your hand, part of your wrist, or in your forearms wasn''t exactly an emergencypared to getting stabbed in your vital organs, but it was still painful though it wasn''t as evident on Elsa''s face¡ªexcept for her forehead vein sticking out like a sore thumb or a¡­ you know, a vein.


    And to my surprise, a modified electronic car that was "highered" and that could go off-road was already present by the exit.


    Though Elsa blew up, "Why''d you have to call a car over, Sebastian?! The clinic''s just over there! I can¡ª We all can see it!"


    "But you''re hurt, mydy, and yourfort''s our priority."


    She turned to me with an annoyed look, "See what I deal with on a regr basis¡ª"


    I scoffed-chuckled, "If you were Kaley and you acted this way after getting hurt, I would''ve chopped the back of your head already so you''d pass out so we could get on with it¡­"


    "WHAT?!"


    I turned to Sebastian, "I''ll do it if you won''t¡ª"


    Sebastian was at a loss, "Deary me¡­"


    "Sebastian! You''re not considering that, are you?! F-Fine! If that''ll make you two shut up!"


    In any case, a little bit of harmless intimidation could do wonders but us driving past the petting area garnered a bit of attention. Still, I made sure to call over the two, maybe three people that would need to know what just happened so they''d be present.


    I pushed to roll down the windows before I shouted at the top of my lungs, "KALEY! EDITH! MAURO! ELSA HURT HER HAND! WE''RE GOING OVER TO THE CLINIC OVER THERE!"


    And Elsa instantly kicked the back of my seat, "Why''d you have to tell them?! It''s just a sprain or something, you don''t have to be so dramatic about it! This happens all the time!"


    "For real?"


    Sebastian nodded, "Unfortunately, it''s true¡­ But that doesn''t mean we should treat it like it''s nothing, no?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, what if you died?"


    "Ugh¡­ Wait¡ª what?!"


    "Just an example¡ª"


    "THAT''S NOT EVEN IN THE SAME DEGREE OF¡ª You''re insane¡­"


    "You just noticed? I wanted to get tested but it''s just so apparent, you know?"


    Elsa was instantly caught off-guard, "Pfft¡­ Dammit, now you''re making meugh, truly insane¡­"


    The driver finally spoke up, "W-We''re hear, mydy¡­ Take it easy on the way down¡ª"


    "I''m not pregnant, alright¡ª"


    Sebastian and I said at the same time, "You might be¡ª"


    "SHUT UP! Thanks, Rory but you two, help me get down!"


    It didn''t take long before the resident "Doctor" weed us briefly but before he could even take Elsa in for an X-ray, the whole crew just popped in and crowded the whole veterinary clinic. That made Elsa annoyed even more but it was fun to see her interact with her sister and her husband because it was fucking night and day.


    She essentially made sure that Edith didn''t worry too much about her while Mauro had toically take all of the me and then some.


    "What happened here again? If I may ask, mydy?" The doctor asked as he put on some prescription sses.


    "Umm¡­"


    Elsa began to tell her story from her point of view but what actually happened was as I said, she forced it.


    To give a clearer image of what happened, she swung my de to the cow''s spine but as it went through its ribcage, it offered more resistance and areas that could make my de change direction in the tiniest of ways.


    If that happens while the person wielding it swung with her whole body and kept on guiding the de in the same direction in full force while the edge alignment was off, the best way to inversely exin it was rowing a boat while the paddle was aligned the right way.


    And if that didn''t make sense, imagine cutting into arge b of meat and bones while the edge was tilted even the tiniest bit on either side, but instead of correcting it mid-way by following the new path the de was facing, you put all of your strength into the same path and make the de follow you.


    In some cases, I did resort to doing that¡ªand Elsa did achieve her goal of cutting the cow in half¡ªbut if your hand, wrist, and forearms weren''t warmed up enough or strong enough, they tend to break, give out, or hopefully in Elsa''s case, get strained but not to the point of having a permanent injury.


    Isaac was the first one to say something, "Oof~ That happened to me plenty of times. Yours doesn''t look broken though, you''re lucky."


    Elsa looked a little relieved from hearing that, "For real?"


    The doctor shook his head as he beckoned Elsa toe with him, "Looks like it but we need to be very sure. Why don''t you all wait here for a while, we won''t be long¡­ I do believe I have some ice packs here somewhere¡­"


    In any case, the receiving area was quiet for a few moments but I''ve only realized that Mauro seemed to have sustained a few more injuriespared to Elsa. He had a busted lip, bruises in a few ces, and his right side seemed to be bleeding.


    "The fuck happened to you?"


    He answered simply, "Bull."


    "Ah¡­"


    Then he eyed me and Sebastian with a little bit of hostility, "So, why''d you two let that happen?"


    I was this close to smack him silly but Sebastian instantly took all of the me and looked genuinely apologetic.


    "It''s all my fault, should''ve picked a different cow¡­"


    "Why? You think she wouldn''t be able to cut it¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Oh, please~ Stop with that white knight shit."


    "You fucking serious?! I''m just trying to get to the bottom of things!"


    "You did. I told you everything that happened earlier. She technically did what she wanted to do but if she took some pointers from the biggest guy in the room instead of just doing straight cardio¡ª"


    "Oh! You''re an asshole, ain''t ya? You tryin'' to spin this on me?"


    I chuckled, "You tried to spin this on us the first chance you get. You just waited for your wife to be away so she wouldn''t merk ya."


    "You¡ª"


    "Can you just be fucking happy that she didn''t break her hand? She wouldn''t be able toin as much if she''s hurt that badly and you should fucking chill and get checked out coz honestly? You look way~ fucking worse¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­" Mauro chuckled as he shook his head while looking at me.


    "What?"


    "You''re alright. Scratch that, you''re really like Jackie¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "I''m sure he''s a great dude but I''m me, alright? You don''t hear me calling you the Asian Ronnie Coleman¡ª"


    "Hah! Why don''t you?! That''s just the dream, man¡ª"


    "It''s because your calves looked a little small¡ª"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO MY CALVES?! LOOK, MAN! LOOK! IT''S BIGGER THAN YOURS! YOU¡ª"


    Quinn eventually snapped, "YOU GOT MORE UPSET WHEN YOU WERE TOLD YOUR CALVES LOOK SMALL COMPARED TO WHEN YOUR WIFE GETS HURT?! FUCKING DUMBASS!"


    "STOP CALLING ME A FUCKING DUMBASS, YOU''RE THE REASON OUR GEN ROOM LOST ALL ITS FREE POWER!"


    "THAT AGAIN?! HOW MANY TIMES WOULD I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT IF WE DIDN''T COME THERE AT THAT EXACT SAME TIME, THE WHOLE INDUSTRIAL PARK WILL BE FULL OF YOUR ''FREE'' POWER!"


    "YOU COULD''VE JUST TAKEN CARE OF THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY! NOT TORCH THE WHOLE THING!"


    "HAAH?! DO YOU JUST REMOVE THE HAIR YOU FIND IN YOUR SOUP AND CONTINUE EATING?! EVERYTHING''S FUCKED! WE HAD TO ACT FAST! YOU WEREN''T THERE!"


    "HAIR IS JUST HAIR! AND YEAH! IT WOULD''VE BEEN DIFFERENT IF I WAS THERE!"


    "YOU WOULDN''T GIVE UP, HUH?!"


    "WHY THE FUCK WOULD I?!"


    "IF YOU ASKED ELSA TO GIVE YOU HANDJOBS FROM TIME TO TIME, SHE''D HAVE THE MUSCLE TO NOT BE INJURED!"


    "WHAT¡ª YOU WANNA FUCKING GO, QUINN?!"


    "I''D GLADLY BUT YOU''LL DEFINITELY BLAME THE BULL IF I TOSS YOU AROUND! YOU''RE A FUCKING PUNCH AWAY FROM FAINTING!"


    "TRY ME THEN, BITCH!"


    "BET, BITCH BOY!"


    "BET!"


    "THEN¡ª"


    Then a paperweight flew in the fucking air and clocked Mauro in the head, knocking him out. Right after that, we saw Elsa red in the face and so fucking pissed off while an icepack was resting on her right hand.


    She was definitely the one that threw the paperweight on Mauro''s head but Quinn wouldn''t give it up from just that so she picked it up and dropped it on his balls for good measure.


    "Quinn! Why''d¡ª You know we''re trying to make a¡ª ugh¡­ nevermind¡­"


    "Oops¡­ My bad, my bad¡­"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    We ran through a rollercoaster of emotions while Elsa was gone but the only one who wasn''tughing was the doctor because he was obliged to check on Mauro''s head and his injuries. Elsa might''vee out unscathed but Mauro would probably worry about losing a few sperm and brain cells.


    Then I turned to her with a grin, "Wanna see how it''s really done though?"

 Chapter 942 Chopping Session

    ?


    Without batting an eye, Elsa just nodded her head vehemently like an 8-year-old since my offer was like the candy kids would receive after a visit to a doctor which she technically did. In any case, we left Mauro to the doc while a few came back with us to the ughterhouse or went back to the petting area or to the smokehouse.


    When we arrived, half of the cow was still hanging in the same ce but I asked my "disciples" to examine the cut Elsa made.


    JP made the firstment, "How''s your de?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "No chips, bends, or anything?"


    I chuckled, "I would already be hauling my ass back to Japan if that ever happens. It''ll take a lot more than chopping that cow in half but you gotta have the arm strength for it because after it takes on the force you put on it, it''ll transfer back almost the same thing when it meets ample resistance. That''s why even though the technique is important, you gotta be able to handle it too¡­"


    Elsa cut in sarcastically, "Well, I''m sorry for being weak¡­"


    "I''m not saying that¡ª"


    "You actually did, back at the vet clinic¡­"


    "Yes, I did¡­ But now, upon closer inspection¡­ it''s half and half and you were a little bit unlucky¡­"


    "Hmm?" Everyone else said as they turned to me.


    "Oh,e on! As much as I love hearing the sound of my own voice, you gotta figure some shit out on your own!"


    As I said that, my disciples went back to examining the scene of the crime along with Sebastian, Elsa, Kaley, and Megan but our butler was the one who gave the correct answer.


    "I think¡­ Hmm~ I think thedy pulled her hand inward and aimed at an inopportune angle."


    I threw Sebastian an approving look, "Ten points to Slytherin! Adding what I said in the clinic and what you said is probably it."


    JP and a few others scrunched their brows, "How so?"


    "Well~ all of you weren''t here when it happened but as I remembered, Elsa was standing¡ª yeah, before that¡­ Where do you think she was standing?"


    Isaac answered, "Just from looking at the angle of the first cut, probably between the right(?) side of the cow and its spine?"


    JP nodded, "I''m thinking of the same thing too."


    Seb followed, "I''m thinking a little bitterally but it wouldn''t make much of a difference¡ª"


    "Actually¡­ every degree of adjustment would make a LOT of difference. You three are about the same height but Elsa here is a few inches lower than¡ª"


    Isaac looked at me weirdly, "Bro, we''re the same¡ª"


    "Heels, bro, heels¡­ Even wearing that made her posture a little bit more forward than normal. It''s not stilettos but as I said earlier a little bit could change a lot of things, especially at the angles we''reing from."


    "I see¡­"


    "But to answer the question she was standing at this spot earlier," I said as I pointed at the right side of the cow, "Her aim earlier was to cut into the spine and run it straight through its ribcage but if you all could bend a little and see those little nubs of bone sticking out¡ªthat weren''t cut clean¡ªthat''s the ce where Elsa got injured¡­"


    "Oh¡­"


    Then I turned to Elsa, "Tell me, you haven''t used an actual katana in your life, right? Probably rapiers or thin-ded stuff that Mr. Cuervo had¡­ That''s why you opted for the Jian¡­"


    Elsa nodded a few times with amazement, "Y-Yeah¡­ How''d you know?"


    "I just do, heh."


    "That didn''t exin a whole lot¡­"


    "It''s just from seeing the technique you''re using. You had the right intentions and the posture of a proper sh, but your actual discipline took over at thest second. It''s difficult to switch techniques as if you''re flipping a switch but you actually did well on your first try."


    "F-For real?! You serious?!"


    "Yep. But if you did this," I said as I casually sliced a thin piece of the meat with one hand and without injuring myself, "It would be much, much better."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Because what you did is this," I said again as I casually copied her "mistake" but got out scot-free also with one hand, "Wait, why doesn''t it hurt? Let me try¡ª"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "There! I felt a slight tweak there¡­ If you did that, it''ll be really~ bad as what happened right now but if you did what I did earlier, it''ll be¡ª"


    Elsa cut in while wearing a mix of emotions, "Y-You¡­ You''re messing with me now, aren''t you?"


    "What? I''m not, this is an actual lesson now and I''m being genuine here¡ª"


    "B-But you didn''t even cut it using both hands! How''s that a lesson?!"


    "Right. Just a sec¡ª"


    Within a matter of seconds, we had several perfectly cut "beef" chops on the floor covers and it looked like Elsa was about to quit learning the sword then and there. However, Isaac and the rest couldn''t believe their eyes while Sebastian was already rolling in a fresh cow that needed to be taught a lesson.


    "What''s that for?"


    "Please¡­ We''d save a lot of gas if you just cut this from nose to tail¡­"


    "Sure," I casually shrugged my shoulders as I walked in front of it and cut it in half, lengthwise, not diagonally.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    For some reason, I was always met with silence every time I did that but Sebastian took it upon himself to roll over the whole cows that weren''t cut in half or in any other pieces yet so that theirbor force could focus their attention elsewhere.


    I didn''t even think that I was hoodwinked into doing manualbor but I enjoyed cutting things cleanly as much as the next guy but everyone else''s mouth was agape for the continuous cutting session.


    And sure a full carcass or a half-carcass could still be dry-aged but it''s a fucking bitch to transport them without the proper tools.


    But yeah, my disciples were given their turns but none of them came close to doing what Elsa did. Sure, Isaac easily cut into the meat halfway through but he knows when and where to bail out to avoid any injury.


    Because what''s the point of going that far if that''s thest ce you could go to?


    In any case, another fight almost started when Elsa knelt in front of me to ask for her to be my disciple and Mauro came in at the wrong angle¡ªobviously thinking that his wife was sucking me off in front of all these people¡ªbut Elsa shut it down because she took down Mauro with a paperweight, how much more can she do with actual des?


    "I-I''m sorry¡­ Jumping to conclusions is a bad habit of mine¡­"


    "You think?"


    "I said, I''m sorry¡­"


    Then Elsa turned to me after rolling her eyes at her husband, "So, what do you think I should do for my body to take such force? Just my forearms?"


    I thought for a bit while looking at her physique, "Hmm~ I''m actually a fan of training your whole body at least twice a week but aside from that and daily cardio, this is gonna sound dumb but you can either practice the movement swing with a weighted stick or you know¡­ just chop wood."


    "C-Chop wood?"


    Mauro interjected, "That''s a novel idea, actually¡­"


    "Actually though¡­ do you guys have a gym here?"


    Sebastian answered, "Unfortunately we don''t¡­ But farm work and you know¡­ chopping wood is enough for almost everybody¡­"


    Mauro then had a thought, "FUCK!"


    "What is it now?"


    "I should''ve asked you guys to bring my power rack, a couple of bars, my yoke, and a few dozen tes at least¡­ I can''t believe I fucking forgot about that¡­ Doing just bodyweight exercises is too boring for me¡­"


    "Can''t you just deadlift a car?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Then stick a couple of metal rods in ''em and go ham. Elevate them a bit if you want to do some heavy shoulder presses."


    "Dude¡­ Where have you been all my life? Jackie''s the one who''s¡ª no, just thanks man¡­"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "You can also pour cement on a mold but it chips when you m them down so I''d prefer for you to do the former¡­"


    "Right¡­ Right¡­ I''mma give someone a call real quick¡­"


    Then I turned to Sebastian, "That reminds me, it would be a pleasure of mine to help around while we''re here and the cadets, especially my disciples here would greatly appreciate it if you''d give them most of the heavy work to give your workers a little bit of a break."


    "Are you sure about that?" Sebastian was holding back his reaction from hearing that statement.


    "Yep. Give ''em hell¡­"


    "Very well¡­"


    As soon as we shook hands, the two of us just shared a wicked smile that sent shivers down their spines but after everything was resolved, Kaley pulled me to where the others were.

 Chapter 943 It’s just a bull—

    <h4>Chapter 943 It''s just a bull¡ª</h4>


    At this point, my disciples were still shocked by what I did, but seeing several goats chewing on their clothes was funny as they were staring into nothingness. From my perspective, it was just a regr sh on a Tuesday morning but they probably won''t be able to replicate what I did unless they put all their heart and soul into training.


    Sure, I was acting like what I did was nothing but mastery over an art or a discipline couldn''t bepared to reaching a peak but falling into a deep pit you couldn''t get out of.


    Once you''re in there, it was impossible to forget it or regress even if you''re a fucking dumbass but I still wouldn''t consider myself a master under those circumstances.


    There were still a lot of things I still wanted to haveplete control and mastery over but some people would''ve stopped learning more if they reached where I''m at¡ªnot throwing shade at them or anything in that regard. But yeah, there was a time when I''d need to practice a specific cut a thousand times a day at the minimum just to get it right but there also came a time when I could easily perform it without so much as a warm-up.


    But yeah, going back to our current setting, Kaley was proudly unting her ability to attract chicks, piglets, calves, and any other animal in their early stages of life, and they were marching right behind her as she was walking in circles around me.


    "You seeing this?! You''re seeing this, right?! Aren''t they adorable?!" Kaley couldn''t hide the smile on her face.


    I chuckled as I smiled back, "They do, they do, especially you¡­"


    Then Kaley cutely red at me while keeping a bit of air in one of her cheeks, "You doofus! W-We''re talking about the animals here¡­"


    "Well¡­ Technically~"


    "I know, I know!" then she walked up to me and leaned close, "Here''s for that sweetpliment¡­"


    Kaley obviously went for a kiss which I obviously reciprocated but we weren''t even a few seconds in when I heard this snort of derision which I thought came from Quinn or Mauro, but to my fucking surprise and Mauro''s, it came from the bull that gave him all of those injuries.


    Mauro grumbled as he walked over to me, "Don''t let that fucker get to you¡­ He''s been mad-dogging me the moment I got here but he''s juiced to fuck¡ª" then his head snapped in the bull''s direction, "FUCK YOU, YA BULLSHIT BULL!"


    I chuckled, "Take it easy, alright? It''s just a bull¡ª"


    But Kaley said something that poured fuel to the fire, "No, no¡­ Mauro''s right¡­ That bull''s giving me weird looks while he had his ''rocket-thingy'' sticking out¡­ I guess mating season''s close but¡ª"


    I never let out such a contained and condensed murderous intent with a fucking smile, "Then he has to fucking die¡ª"


    Mauro and Kaley tried to stop me:


    "It''s not worth it, man¡­ I''m telling you¡ª"


    "H-He''s right, it''s just a b-bull, right?"


    I shook my head as I took off my shirt like one of those boss battles from the Yakuza series, "Nope, that''s lunch and dinner."


    The moment I did that, there was no stopping me from giving this bull a piece of my mind, and even though they actually couldn''t see red, I''m seeing fucking ck and there was a reason I took my shirt off.


    As poprized by matadors, they''d put on shows while waving a red g to make a bull angry and charge at them but in actuality, it''s the pping of the cape''s movement, not its color.


    I easily vaulted over the metal fencing it was in and even though everyone thought I was already crazy, another level was added to that when they discovered I didn''t bring my guns with me.


    And Isaac was already shouting at the top of his lungs, "BRO! D''YOU HAVE A FUCKING DEATH WISH?! AT LEAST PASS ON ALL OF YOUR TECHNIQUES TO ME BEFORE DOING THAT OR JUST LET A TRUCK HIT YA!"


    Edith followed, "W-Why''s no one stopping him?!"


    Quinn and Tatiana answered, "It''s just a bull¡­/He''ll be fine¡­ I think."


    Kaley followed, "Worstes to worst, I''ll shoot it before anything happens¡­"


    "What if you hit him?!"


    "I won''t. Done it plenty of times¡­"


    Mauro added, "D''YOU WANT ME THERE OR NOT?! I CAN HOLD HIM DOWN FOR A FEW SECS OR I CAN THROW SEBASTIAN THERE FOR A DISTRACTION!"


    Sebastian couldn''t believe his ears, "Throw me? What a preposterous proposition, I''ll jump down willingly if I say so myself¡­ This may sound dad-ish but that bull and I have some¡­ beef¡­ we gotta remedy too¡ª"


    "Did you just?"


    "Yes, I did."


    "..."


    "..."


    "That''s so bad¡­"


    But yeah, I didn''t respond to his shouts and everyone else''sments as I started to wave my shirt around to rile the bull staring me dead in the eyes.


    It was this hulk of a bull if I say so myself, just two-thousand pounds of pure fucking muscle and it was already scraping the ground with its hoof, preparing for a charge to hit me either with its huge-ass head or one of its sharp horns.


    This fucking bull acted like its the king of this fucking ranch¡ªand it does deserve that title in a way¡ªbut he showed his fucking dick to my wife and as stupid a reason as it was, it was good enough reason to test myself against something several times stronger than me.


    Then it happened.


    "WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT!"


    The moment it rushed towards me, I just went into a drawing stance and everything felt like it was moving in slow motion as I let out a short breath. However, as much as I''d hate to admit it, standing still in front of a charging bull was just suicide with extra steps but as soon as I saw it wind its head to the side, my whole body just tensed as my hands grabbed tight on my de while my feet dug into the ground.


    In a swift exchange, I found myself several feet from where I was while the bull couldn''t believe he had a huge cut on his face¡ªwhich actually looked fucking metal by the way¡ªthough he lost an eye and one of his prized horns was missing.


    To his shock and anger, he found his horn in the same ce we made contact with our weapons but for the first time in his life, he knew what fucking fear was like.


    He can destroy me in a pulling match, he can trample me on the ground, he could bump me and kill five more people who weren''t even involved, and he could also disy my guts for everyone to see with one swipe of his horns¡ªbut now, it seemed like he forgot how to take a step forward.


    And once again, he discovered how to take a step back as his face was fucking bleeding and he knew full well that if I actually wanted to kill him for lunch, I could very well could. Because even if we had pressure cookers, I''d still prefer beef on the softer side of things and in some weird and twisted way, his offspring tasted so~ fucking good.


    He''s probably the reason all the cows in the barn were well taken care of but I should stop right about now because this line of thought was already weird as it was.


    In any case, I still wanted to assert dominance so I started chasing the motherfucker with a deranged look on my face and the only thing missing was a boar''s head for a mask and twin katanas that were chipped to fuck with a rock.


    The first thing I noticed while running around was Mauro''s fucking face before everyone else''s and it was just so fucking priceless, to say the least. He couldn''t believe I tamed the beast that brought him such injuries but he was a fucking dumbass for trying to fight a bull with muscle strength alone.


    ''But it''s impressive that he actually lived despite that¡­''


    It only took a fewps around the fencing before he submitted to me by propping his belly towards me, but it seemed like we made a contract with each other when I found some strong horse glue and put his horn back.


    Cows had soulful eyes ording to a deranged physicist that looked like a human C-3PO but I didn''t think that murderous rampaging bulls could do them too.


    He was actually following behind me when I walked back to the audience but he started to mad-dog Mauro the moment they met each other''s gaze. He had this schtick that he only submitted to this particr human a.k.a. me, but Sebastian had a wonderful idea.


    "My lord, if I may, this bull still hasn''t been named so why don''t you give it one?"

 Chapter 944 Layers To A Name - Jerky and Textiles

    <h4>Chapter 944 Layers To A Name - Jerky and Textiles</h4>


    Funnily enough, I discovered that this bull had the same situation as my dojo because all the years he''s been living on this ranch, he was just referred to as the "Bull", nothing more. Both of them had a reputation for what they could do, but how I wished they were named something appropriate or cool-sounding.


    In any case, I turned to the beast in question because how many times could a living being had a say in what they were being named or called in their lifetime?


    Even the nickname "Kid" got stuck with me and I''d probably get called that by people older than me for the foreseeable future or in the worst-case scenario, have it also carved in my tombstone.


    "Alright, buddy~ You cool with me naming you?"


    He snorted but in a more enthusiastic way, "Hmrghfhh!"


    "Great!"


    Mauro suddenly cut in, "You can speak to animals?"


    I waved him off, "Mauro, we''re busy here. Git."


    "The fuck¡ª"


    Then I quickly turned back to my new friend, "Alright, how about~ Chicago? Like Chicago Bulls?"


    There was an evident disappointment in his snort followed by a shaking of his head. No one had noticed yet but the bleeding on his face already stopped for some reason.


    "Hmm~ Gyudon?"


    *snort of confusion*


    "Horns? No, horn?"


    *snort of sadness*


    "E10?"


    *head tilt with visible confusion*


    "E10 deez¡ª nope, you won''t get it¡­ Hmm~ BITA? Like Bull in the Apoca¡ª no¡­ too meta¡­"


    Megan interjected, "His fur is Red? How about¡ª"


    I instantly shut that down, "Wanna call him Redb¡ª You wanna get sued?! Think, Megan! Think!"


    "R-Right¡­ I was thinking of just Red¡­"


    Then James#2 cut in, "How about Ram?"


    JP shook his head, "He''s a bull, don''t call him another animal¡ª"


    "I meant that action of¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly loomed over the cadets, "Hey! Heeey! The fuck are y''all giving names out for?! He tamed it, he names it!"


    But yeah, I didn''t think that naming a bull would take this much deliberation but after a few back-and-forths with the crew and the bull himself we eventually decided on something I received the coveted snort of approval.


    It was slightly skirting around dad jokes and copyrightws but you''ll get it after saying it aloud a few times.


    "Rogue? Really?" Elsa asked as she tilted her head the same as everyone else did.


    "Bull-Rogue? I don''t get it," Quinn followed.


    Then Isaac had a lightbulb moment, "OHHHH! I GET IT NOW! HAH! THAT''S CLEVER!"


    I chuckled as I pointed at him, "Ten points to Hufflepuff!"


    "C''mon, bro! Give me Ravenw or something¡ª Wait, that''s you. You''re totally Ravenw."


    Then Kaley came up to me with a scrunched eyebrow, "C-Can you exin? I still¡ª"


    "Really?"


    "I don''t¡ª"


    "Bull-Rogue¡­ Balrog¡­ You know, the ming demon with horns¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Isn''t that JP''s old bullshit title?!"


    Isaac chortled once again, "Maaan~ That''s so many fuckingyers~"


    Then Megan got it, "Ohh! You incorporated the red fur too with the mes instead! Sheesh~"


    After that, more and more people eventually got the reference and Rogue snorted once again to ask me to pet his head that probably hadn''t been petted all his life. He looked so excited about the name given to him he was nudging me with his body like a cat would and I definitely felt sorry for him when we had to say goodbye.


    We''ve barely explored the whole of the Rivas Family Estate and even though he was obedient to me, the same couldn''t be said for everyone.


    Rogue might act up from the smallest things and I''d hate to have him put down because of it. But yeah, I promised him that I''d stop by tomorrow and I wrapped a piece of the face towel I brought to his horn that I cut so he''d have the least bit of assurance.


    It''s just that Edith and Elsa were looking at me with squinted eyes.


    "What?"


    They answered at the same time, "You''ve taken another one of us¡­"


    "Huh?"


    "First the dogs, now the bull¡­/I''ll give you Rogue but give me back Nem-Nem and Mie-My!"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "I''ve never taken anyone!" then I tried to change the subject as I turned to Elsa, "How''s the hand though?"


    "Eh~ Doctor said to ice it once we get back home but it feels fine now, luckily¡­"


    Sebastian followed, "Mydy, I think it might be best to follow the doctor''s orders¡­"


    "Sure, sure~ You''d still bring ice even if I say no anyway~"


    "But it''s for a different thing this time, no?"


    Elsa and Mauro''s eyes suddenly bulged, "YOU¡ª/MOTHERFUCKER¡ª"


    "Ah¡­ That''s my bad¡­"


    "AYO? WHAT THE FUCK¡ª"


    "So ice can be used for sex, huh?"


    "Stop talking about it!"


    "Can we tryter?"


    "U-Umm¡ª"


    "STOP. TALKING. ABOUT. IT!"


    "So what do you do with it? You put it in?"


    "You can just use the cold for added sensitivity but if you put it in a cup with some water and dip your fingers in it¡­ It was said to maintain erections for longer periods of time¡ª"


    "WHY ARE ALL OF YOU STILL TALKING ABOUT IT! AND YOU, WHY''D YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN ALL THAT, HUH?! YOU PROBABLY DO IT A LOT WITH ALL YOUR PARTNERS, HUH?!"


    "Nope. Don''t need it, ask them. But you two probably¡ª"


    "HAH!"


    "Well, that backfired¡­"


    "AYOOOOOOO~"


    After a bit of walking, we did stop by the smokehouse to grab a little snack but obviously enough, a certain pair were barred from entering because they did eat a little too much, and smoked meat was just a luxury even if this ce had an abundance of them. It was more to the point that their day''s work was wharfed down in a matter of minutes, and if they did nothing about it, their daily quotas would be affected.


    But yeah, Sebastian assured them that everything would be ounted for and their sries¡ªwhatever it may be now¡ªwould still be given appropriately to the amount of work they''ve done.


    ''Some good spices on these jerky though¡­ That streamer AsmonAu would love these¡­ Bet he''s still kickin'' with his two-hander on hand¡ª I mean, hands¡­''


    As we moved forward, I discovered that the farms were set up in a way that a cluster would be reserved for the crops that needed the same type of requirements in order for them to grow but after all this walking, I still haven''t found the spot where Sal had poppy flowers.


    Furthermore, there weren''t a lot of bees¡ªor any, for that matter¡ªin sight, and it was just a testament to howrge Sal''snd was.


    I just started to assume that it wasn''t this huge glob on the map that dictated her ownership but there were probably sectors where a portion of the area was heavily guarded or secluded because of the illegal or valuable items that could be found or looted. Furthermore, discovering the electric car that could go off-road told me that some ces would need more than just a simple walk in a span of a few hours.


    ''Even Edith wasn''t wearing her suit¡­ Probably further out or on the opposite side¡­''


    But yeah, the next ce we visited was two buildings dedicated to making fabric from nt material or from animal skins or hide.


    One of my uncles worked in a textile factory but it couldn''t bepared to the size and efficiency these two buildings could offer. And yes, one of them was running through the use of arge generator while the other one was running on elbow grease with a little bit of sophistication and meticulousness.


    Take the clothes we were wearing for example: Nancy mentioned that one of them was made from pineapples but the shirt I''m wearing now was probably made from cotton and the boots were from tanned leather. Not only were they sofortable to wear and elegant looking, it felt like they were tailor-made specifically to our sizes.


    It was a little creepy if you think a little deeper about it but it''s not like a sizerge shirt and a US size 10 boots were umon.


    In any case, the gist of one of these buildings was to make these huge-ass rolls of fabric or natural leather while the other one transforms them into something wearable or functional like rugs, towels, etc.


    This was something we didn''t have a lot going on at home, aside from raiding Unc Conrad''s old workce, several malls, clothing stores, and then some but in the near future, I''d want to be able to produce such items from raw materials and turn them into what we were wearing today. If not, since we were now allied with the Rivas Family, a trading situation was also possible.


    It''s not like our clothes back home wouldst a millennium so we''d need recements from time to time plus a bit for new people or for uniforms.


    Though Quinn never looked so excited.


    "HEY! GIVE ME ALL YOUR COMFY UNDERWEAR IN MY SIZES AND YOUR MAJESTY WILL PAY FOR ALL OF THEM!"


    "M-Majesty?"


    "YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT! GET ON IT!"

 Chapter 945 Clyde Leatherworks

    <h4>Chapter 945 Clyde Leatherworks</h4>


    As Quinn was terrorizing the Rivas Family''s workers, I saw Mauro from the corner of my eye making his way to an older gentleman working silently on a corner. He began to approach him slowly and respectfully as he tried to get the older man''s attention, and once he did, he let out a faint smile and motioned a small salute using two of his fingers.


    I couldn''t quite see the older gentleman''s facial features but they exchanged a few words before Mauro''s face lit up from excitement.


    He looked like a kid who was offered a ride on a tank, and he couldn''t stand still when the older fe excused himself for a bit to get something from storage.


    However, Quinn managed to follow my line of sight for a moment, and once she saw the old mane out with a medium-sized box, she looked like a bolt of lightning struck her body as she quickly made her way to the two. And being as how nosy I was, I quickly followed after her which she didn''t even notice.


    It was barely a few seconds when we reached the two but once I met eyes with the old man, he let out a warm smile as he beckoned us over.


    But Mauro was prepared to fight tooth and nail as to what was inside the box.


    "Hey! HEY! QUINN!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "BACK OFF, NOW! I GOT THEM MADE FOR ME! ME! YOU''RE NOT ALLOWED TO SWIPE THEM THIS TIME!"


    "OH YEAH?! YOU''RE GONNA STOP ME!"


    "YOU KNOW I''M FUCKING STRONGER THAN YOU!"


    "NOT TODAY, YOU''RE NOT! YOU''RE SPENT, YOU DUMBSHIT!"


    ''What''s in that box anyway?''


    As I was thinking to myself while the two were about to throw hands, the older gentleman let out a heartyugh as he uncovered the lid of the box he brought over.


    "Hohoho! Don''t fight now, kids¡­ I actually made plenty! You three can share. There''s plenty to go around¡­"


    Quinn suddenly turned behind her, "Three¡ª Oh, you followed me."


    "What''s in those¡ª"


    "Take a look, you can''t get those anywhere."


    To my surprise, the box contained several dozen pairs of lifting straps and eight thick lifting belts made with premium leather though the belts were missing the leverponent. The lever was made with metal but I assume that the two had their own personal levers with them or back home. It was only a matter of screwing them into these belts to be able to use them.


    Mauro was touched and annoyed as fuck as he looked inside the box, "Dammit, Clyde! Why''d you have to overwork yourself again?! This is a lot! I just asked for a pair!"


    Quinn followed, "Yeah, Clyde! This is good for a few years, at least!"


    "Hoho! I just got some free time but young man I''ve never seen before, I''m afraid your waist is too small for these belt''s sizes¡­ I can probably make one for you in¡ª"


    I instantly waved him off, "Ah¡ª That''s¡ª I-It''s okay, Mr. Clyde! Really! I''m Sky Ishiyama, by the way¡­ Nice to meet you, sir!"


    "Ah! A proper one, aren''t ya? Wait a minute¡ª Ah! I believe you''re the new family head, aren''t ya? They said you were young but not that young! How old are ya? 17?"


    Mauro and Quinn almost choked on their spit but I scratched my head and chuckled as I answered:


    "Almost twenty-seven now, actually¡­"


    "Hoho! Apologies, you''re almost the same age as Mauro here but he looked way~ older, don''t ya think?! I believe it''s the special juice they''re taking, am I right? If you''re a real man, natural''s the way to go! I can probably take ''im if I was ten years younger¡­"


    Mauro couldn''t believe what he just heard, "Wha¡ª Hey! I''m right here!"


    "HOH! I''m just kidding, kidding!" then he turned back to me and nced at my right arm, "You like dragons, huh?"


    I nodded politely, "Of course, they''re cool."


    "Hmm~ Then how about you humor an old man?"


    "What do you suggest?"


    "I''ll make you custom belts and straps and¡ª"


    Clyde wasn''t even able to finish his sentence when the two¡ªMauro and Quinn¡ªblew up and almost threw me overhead.


    "Come on, Clyde! What about me?!"


    "YEAH! THAT''S UNFAIR! YOU JUST MET HIM! I LIKE HI¡ª YOU JUST MET HIM!"


    Clyde chuckled as he waved them off, "I can hear just fine, Quinn¡­ And I''m talking to the young man, want me to give you those straps which I swore to never make again or not? If so, let me finish talking to him."


    "..."


    "..."


    Then he let out a smile as he turned back to me, "Young man, for some reason these things I''ve made, made them far stronger in their lifts than what''s humanly possible¡ªand that involved PEDs, obviously¡ªand it made them pursue things that put their well-being at extreme risk¡­ I know that it''s not these items'' fault but it''s sad to say that there''s still an indirect corrtion with it¡­"


    I nodded a few times as I said solemnly, "Are you talking about Mike?"


    "You know him?"


    "Not personally, no. I heard him and Jackie in passing¡­ great dudes¡­"


    This time, Clyde was still smiling but his eyes were not, "He''s one of them but there are many more who aren''t even as big as him pursued size and strength like they''re crazed¡ª"


    I then cut him off, "Clyde¡­ I think I know where you''re getting at right about now but even without these items, they''ll continue whatever it is they''re doing. We can say all we want and try a few things to get the point across but sometimes, some people are just too stubborn for their own good."


    "..."


    "But yeah, after whatever they''re taking runs out, they''ll probably look for the next best thing and then to the other until theynd back on external essories such as these straps or these belts. Then it''s your job to make sure that they''re of top quality."


    "I-I guess¡­"


    The old dude was starting to get more and more disheartened so I tried to change the subject a little bit.


    "So¡­ How custom are we talking about here? And what''s the deal you''re about to propose when I cut you off?"


    "Ah! Hoho¡­ It''s nothing really but I can make embroideries by sewing some thread on that leather to make it a little more a-appealing besides its quality. But on my proposal, since you''re the one here that looks¡­ normal? Forgive thenguage but you know where I''m getting at, right?"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "Physically, sure¡­"


    "B-But yeah¡­ I just want you to give them one of those friendly taps when you notice them getting too deep on that pool once again, that''s it. Quinn mentioned that she stopped months ago but she just looks happier now, not smaller!"


    "Pfft¡­/Kek¡­" Mauro and I chortled at the same time.


    "WANT ME TO BURY THREE OF YA, HAH?! I am happy though¡­"


    Clyde chuckled as he nced at me for a bit, "I could kinda understand why¡­ but yeah, I promise to make you a full set with custom designs, and even if you wouldn''t use it regrly, I hope you at least break it open and rip some shit up like Mike would say when he hits PRs¡­"


    Mauro and Quinn cut in, "U-Us too, please! Put in something wicked!/ Y-Yeah! Us too! I''d like a cross on mine!"


    "Sure, sure~ Anyway, you can take the box with you but don''t forget toe back in a few days for the custom ones."


    Mauro took the box before giving Clyde a fistbump, "Gotcha. Just don''t overdo it, alright?"


    "I could say the same thing to you! Go on now, git!"


    "Wha¡ª That''s the second time¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    In any case, we went back to everyone else who was trying on different kinds of clothes while Quinn was trying out the straps on her hands and she just looked so happy.


    To those who don''t know, straps and belts could help increase one''s maximum lifts aside from the support it would give them, and straps were known to provide extra grip if they''recking while belts were known to help with bracing and back support. But yeah, depending on what you''re using to lift, straps could give about a 2%-5% increase on their maximum while belts could give 5%-10%.


    That''s not even including other essories like sleeves for knees and elbows, the proper shoes, a lifting suit, etc. but the essories one''s wearing should also be dependent on the type of lift involved.


    You''d beughed off the gym if you ever wear a lifting belt while doing curls or abs but please, don''t get me started about lifting gloves. They''re in the same league as the foam/pool noodle used to help cushion the barbell for squatting and even if they do help in a way, they''re just one of those things people avoid unless they don''t want calluses appearing on their body.

 Chapter 946 RIPPIN’ IT

    <h4>Chapter 946 RIPPIN'' IT</h4>


    Since it was already a few hours past noon, we decided to stay inside this tailoring workshop for its shade but since the workers seemed eager to make everyone form-fitting clothes and custom leather boots, it was a no-brainer. I did say that we''d stay in this ce for more or less a week and we shouldn''t explore the whole area in one go.


    Furthermore, the way Sebastian was talking with the cadets told me he already had ns for the few days we''d be staying here.


    But right as everyone received their new set of clothes, Mauro received a call from his radio that not only brought a smile to his face but also Quinn''s right after he told her the news.


    "QUINN! THEY''RE HERE!"


    "SHUT YOUR TRAP, FOR REAL?!"


    "YEAH! THEY BROUGHT THE STUFF!"


    "THE FUCK ARE WE DOING HERE FOR? LET''S GO!"


    "THEY''RE STILL SETTING UP BY THE GARAGE BUT THEY''LL BE FINISHED THE MOMENT WE ARRIVE!"


    These two had never given out so much sibling energy because they were about tomit bloody homicide just from those straps Clyde made for them and now, they never looked so excited from being able to use them together.


    As I was told a little bitter, #9 Logan, was ordered by Mauro to bring some of his training equipment but the guy knowing that Quinn was in this ce, tossed everything aside to get from point A to point B. He did bring a few people with him for security purposes and whatnot but from what Mauro told me, they also rushed to get in here for the chance of trying out Clyde''s leatherworks.


    ''I guess I''m gonna give it a go too¡­ Haven''t tried my one rep max in forever¡­''


    To my surprise, Sebastian also showed excitement from knowing that someone brought over some gym equipment as he turned to the cadets, but it was for a different reason:


    "This will be splendid¡­ I can fine-tune the work you will all be doing tomorrow¡­"


    #2 James chimed in, "If we''re talking about raw strength, Ruben''s gonnae out on top. He has lumberjack genes."


    "Oh? You don''t say? That''s good¡­"


    Ruben never looked so distraught, "W-What are you gonna make me d-do?"


    "What else? Lumberjack stuff."


    "And us?"


    Sebastian let out a weird chuckle, "I already said too much¡­ Let''s see what you do now before I reveal it tomorrow. Don''t forget, everyone should be awake and ready before 5 AM. I mean it this time."


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we made our way back to the back of the mansion where the garage was.


    Logan and his crew had already finished setting up all of the equipment they brought and he was just wiping them down when we arrived. But yeah, I was just about to head back to our room to change into more appropriate clothes but Mauro and Quinn just took off the unnecessary stuff and went about it barefoot.


    A few others had already joined in their warmup but as much as I wanted to get involved, I turned my head around to get a change of clothes and something close to actual lifting shoes.


    However, as I was about to do just that, Sebastian approached me with a grin on his face:


    "I believe something appropriate was already prepared for all of you in your rooms, Quinn''s included¡­ I doubt she''d bother to pick it up but we have some Clyde Taylors in her size up there with yours. It''s not as good as actual lifting shoes but it''s of the same quality as the ones that had a star logo¡­"


    I chuckled, "You never miss a beat, huh?"


    "Well, that''s my job¡­ but this time, I''ll join in on the lifting session¡­ to provide an example¡­"


    "Oh? We shouldn''t dally here then¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before I got back with Kaley and the rest wearing appropriate equipment but Quinn and Mauro were still warming up with four fucking tes on each side. Quinn was obviously squatting with a pause at the bottom¡ªto make things more harder, to activate the glutes even more, and most importantly, to make it fucking impressive¡ªwhile Mauro was doing the same thing on the bench.


    Quinn was just using her new lifting belt¡ªwith her own lever attached to it, of course, plus her knee sleeves¡ªwhile Mauro was just wearing the straps without using them on his lifts though he had elbow sleeves on.


    But once Quinn was done with her warm-up set, I threw over her pair of Clyde Taylors and she just discovered that almost everyone was watching them lift. And unlike dumb fitness influencers who kept getting dunked on by certain "Swole" guy for getting angry by people ncing at them doing shit for the whole world to see, she didn''t mind the looks she was getting as she beckoned me over.


    "Hey! Logan just put more pads on the tform over there, wanna pull with me?"


    "Aren''t you gonna put on those shoes¡ª"


    "Nope."


    "Let me rephrase. Put the fucking shoes on!"


    "Oho~ Beat my PR first then I''ll think about it."


    "That doesn''t seem fair, don''t you think?"


    "Why? Because you''re a man and I''m a woman? Fuck outta here¡ª"


    "It adds to the equation but my reason for that is because you got at least 100 pounds on me¡ª"


    "HEY! I''M NOT 100 POUNDS¡ª I''m not 100 pounds heavier than you¡­ M-More like 80¡­"


    "My point exactly. And I haven''t pulled my one rep max in years. I don''t even know what it is right now."


    "What was it before?"


    "Two hundred twenty-five pounds(102 kgs)?"


    Quinn never tried so hard to contain herughter, "Two tes? No fucking way that''s your PR! You have at least four tes from what I''ve seen. Pull at least that and I''ll put on those shoes."


    "Fuck it."


    "Then it''s on¡ª"


    But before any of us had the chance to react, Sebastian, who had been missing for a few minutes suddenly dropped in wearing a top-of-the-line powerlifting suit, shoes, belt, straps, etc. from Clyde''s leatherworks obviously, and casually took the bar with four tes on Quinn''s rack before bringing it over to the deadlift tform like it was nothing.


    Everyone was just shocked to fuck, especially the people from the De Leon Family, and the only wish I had at this moment was Sebastian wearing a janitor''s uniform instead and kept saying sorry andughing goofily. Instead, he kept a straight face with a faint smile¡ªas he always did¡ªbefore ncing at everyone with a wider grin.


    As of right now, Sebastian just lit a fire on everyone''s asses but I was staring directly at his body.


    I couldn''t see much from his torso but because he was always wearing something covering his whole body, just seeing his arms and legs was enough to tell me that he went through some type of shit or hellhole to achieve what he had today.


    Despite being pale enough to mistake him for a beacon or a vampire, his "sleeper" build was nothing to scoff at even if he had scars that made him look like he jumped into a wood chipper. It didn''t make a lot of sense at all because his face and hands looked like he had a fabulous skincare routine while the rest of his body only received detergent and muddy water.


    But yeah, Logan was the first one to challenge him to a deadliftingpetition but I heard Quinn mutter something under her breath:


    "Shit¡­ Who riled up this fucker out of retirement¡­"


    "Retirement?"


    "Heh¡­ Haven''t seen enough from that?"


    At this moment, Logan pushed Sebastian aside before he took to the tform barefoot and raw. He performed a ritual of sorts where he''d spread his arms wide before taking a deep breath and bracing his core then he hinged down in the conventional position and grabbed onto the bar with a mixed grip and let it all fucking rip.


    *BANG*


    Without issue, Logan cleared a total of eight tes plus the bar, 405 pounds(184 kgs) in one swift movement before mming it down the tform, making everyone''s ears numb from the noise.


    "AHHHHHHHHHH! FUCK YEAH!"


    Sebastian nodded a few times, "That is impressive¡­ yes¡­"


    Doing that wasn''t a simple feat by all means but Logan''s confidence was shattered when Sebastian almost copied the same exact movements but from the moment he lifted the bar and put it down, all it produced was this tiny clink that everyone wasn''t expecting.


    Everyone thought it''d be as noisy as what Logan did but no one thought that the quietness would be music to our ears.


    It was one thing to lift the weight in one go but it was much, much different when it''s controlled both in the ascent and in the descent in one smooth motion. It couldn''t be characterized as a normal deadlift or even an RDL in that regard but one thing''s for sure, Sebastian knew how to rip shit up and sew it back.

 Chapter 947 Lifting Session I

    <h4>Chapter 947 Lifting Session I</h4>


    "Wanna add more tes or do you wanna go for more reps?" Sebastian casually turned to Logan while pping his arms around for blood to circte in them.


    Logan justughed out loud, "Fuck it! Let''s go five tes each!"


    "Very well¡­ I suggest wearing at least a belt though¡ª"


    "Belt?! Who fuckin'' wears a¡ª"


    "I help run this estate on a daily basis, I can''t get injured. I believe the two higher than you do too¡­ but don''t say I didn''t warn you if you get a debilitating injury¡ª"


    Logan turned to everybody else, "He''s trying to get into my head, right? He''s trying to¡ª Fuck it, where did I throw it¡­"


    With that said, Logan was convinced to take a safer approach in regards to lifting because one injury with the weights they were trying to pull could potentially render him unable to perform basic tasks for months at the minimum.


    He was taking a little bit longer to find his own personal belt but my attention was ced over Quinn who was teaching the girls about properly squatting. However, her teaching methodology was a little~ bit different but it seemed to get the point across somehow.


    "Listen, a pretty face, a kind heart, or a bangin'' body could be enough for some guys or girls out there but if you wanna take control of the bedroom, this is the way to go. Benching or simply working out will actually reduce your boob size¡ªeven if a few of us here are quite gifted¡ªbut this shit could grow your ass, your thighs, your calves, your hamstrings¡ªbasically your whole lower body in one go. It does work your upper body and core in some way but squats focus more on our legs, got it?"


    Megan raised her hand, "We''ve only been doing bodyweight squats in the academy though, is that enough?"


    Quinn shrugged her shoulders, "If you always go for as many reps as possible, sure, but if you wanna build muscle and strength instead of just endurance, you gotta add some weight to that, alright? Don''t worry, I''ll teach all of you how to get a fucking ass like mine. If you have one of these, they don''t fuck you, you fuck them. It''s that simple."


    Nancy raised her hand, "I-I can''t even lift t-ten kilos¡­ that bar''s over twenty, right?"


    Quinn nodded, "Twenty point four to be precise but you gotta start somewhere. Why don''t you show me a simple bodyweight squat first?"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    Surprisingly enough, Nancy had the ability to go ass to grass¡ªbasically squatting with her knees well over her toes and her glutes to her ankles¡ªbut what she needed right now wasn''t tips on technique but more time spent on the gym and enough protein. Further along the line, she could start using dumbbells for goblet squats and once she could do that easily would be the time she''d progress over to the bar and eventually add some weight to it.


    Quinn brilliantly exined what I just said to Nancy to the same extent but once she got to teaching Megan and Alexa the basics with Tatiana and Kaley, Logan came back wearing his lifting belt, wrist straps, and knee sleeves, and he also brought over some chalk for added grip.


    My attention was once again brought over to that part of this garage gym and even Mauro who was busy benching four tes joined in with a huge smile on his face:


    "Why don''t we up the ante?"


    "Hmm?/What do you suggest?" Logan and Sebastian answered at the same time.


    "Loser has to¡ª Wait a sec, where''s¡ª Oi! What are you doing over there?! Come here!" Mauro shouted as he waved me over.


    At that point, I was ready to disappoint all of them by declining because even if I do have the tendency to show off, I''d only do so when it was a sure thing and if my well-being wouldn''t be put at risk. However, my dumb disciples already dragged me over to the other three and there was just this crowd of supporters from my side and the De Leon Family''s side.


    The only one who didn''t have direct supporters was Sebastian but he definitely earned some respect from being a stone-cold lifter.


    But yeah, the bar in front of us still had four tes loaded on each side so Mauro easily took his turn first before he beckoned me to follow.


    He chuckled as he looked at me, "Are you actually kidding me? Why are you so nervous?"


    I instantly came clean, "The best I''ve done before is two tes. I need to work on that first before I can even try to attempt this."


    As soon as I said that, Logan threw me a mocking nce while Mauro couldn''t believe what I just said, but Sebastian took it upon himself to take two tes off one side of the bar as he asked me to do the same on the other end.


    And as I did, Sebastian said loud enough for everyone to hear:


    "The first rule in the gym is to leave your ego at the door. The lord waspletely vulnerable and honest by saying that so he should be met with respect, not ridicule. I heard he beat both of you senseless so why don''t we give him the benefit of the doubt."


    The gym had never been so quiet after that but I threw him a nce and mouthed "Thank you" before I stepped an inch before the bar with two tes loaded on each side.


    At this point, I let out a short exhale before I shut out everything around me.


    I had my feet shoulder-width apart as I took another breath and braced my core¡ªfilling it up with air all around it, not just the front¡ªbefore I hinged down and grabbed onto the bar using a hook grip.


    It was done by performing something simr to an overhand grip but the difference was to wrap my index and middle finger right around my thumb.


    With that said, I tugged on the bar a little bit to remove the ck and once I pulled on my shoulders and activated myts, the whole thing just lifted up from the floor like it was nothing and it surprised me.


    I had never been so nervous before I lifted the bar but it felt like I could do this for a lot of reps or add a te or two.


    But right before I lowered the bar, Sebastian gave me some sound advice:


    "My lord, brace your core again, and instead of mming it like a buffoon, perform the entric part of an RDL to essentially perform both lifts in one rep. Trust me."


    Logan wasn''t amused by that remark but I did as I was told, and as easy as pie, there was nary a sound when the tes touched the tform. However, as excited as I was, I let out a short exhale as I braced my core for the third time, performing another rep, and another, and another, and another, and another¡­


    ''This is starting to get fun¡­''


    I didn''t even think that such a thing was possible because one of the reasons I stopped deadlifting altogether was the noise it produced¡ªand before anyone says anything, I fucking know that noise was part of the whole she-bang but what I''m trying to say was that it wasn''t for me. Besides, I hadt pulldowns or simply pull-ups with me¡ªwhich weren''t as prone to injury¡ªso deadlifts weren''t that coveted to me even if it was one of the three big lifts.


    And after ten repetitions of this custom deadlift Sebastian taught me, he and Mauro threw me an approving look while Logan just looked annoyed that they haven''t moved on to five tes yet.


    But Mauro instantly threw him a smack in the head.


    "What was that for?!"


    "Are you blind, you jealous fuck?"


    "What?"


    "That''s perfect form in all ten reps and he just learned it like that *snaps fingers* you gotta give that some respect."


    "Sure..."


    "Thanks," I threw a nod at Mauro.


    He just rolled his eyes as he replied, "Wanna go for four now or do you wanna do it slowly?"


    I looked over to Sebastian whom I now designated my lifting coach, "What do you think, coach? I''m all ears."


    Sebastian didn''t know whether tough or cry or be proud of his new title, "U-Umm¡­ Uh-huh¡­ You lifted that pretty easily so why don''t we try three tes each?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    But he suddenly cut me off, "Wait a sec. Before that, do you always go conventional or can you also do sumo?"


    Logan cut in, "Isn''t sumo cheating?"


    Mauro looked like he''dmit bloody murder from hearing that statement, "Say that one more time, and I''ll end ya."


    Sebastian chuckled, "It IS in some way though¡­ Some people find it easier but with the way my body''s formed, conventional works best for me. But how about you? Have you tried it yet?"

 Chapter 948 Lifting Session II - Welcome To The Club

    Chapter 948 Lifting Session II - Wee To The Club


    To give aparison, the Conventional VS Sumo debate was like the ever-long rivalry between ARs VS AKs, Katanas VS Longswords, Tits VS Ass, Graymane VS Battleborn, Blondes VS Brtes, etc. The list could go on and on but at the end of the day, it was as Sebastian said earlier, it could be easier or harder depending on your body''sposition, and in my case, I achieved my former PR using the sumo technique.


    Yes, it was akin to a sumo wrestler''s stance where his feet would be way~ spread apart than shoulder width but in regards to lifting, other than foot cement, the arms would be in-between the legs instead of outside, and different muscles would be used¡ªor should I say, more focused on.


    With that said, since I''ve currently achieved way~ more than my old PR using the conventional technique, I took it upon myself to add one more te on each side of the bar now totaling 315 pounds(143 kilos).


    However, much to the surprise of Sebastian and Mauro, I still used the conventional technique before doing another ten reps with perfect form. Because for some reason, I was polishing this "perfect" technique and form I had with more practice and repetitions and god fucking knows how far I''d reach without using my favored technique plus the external essories.


    I was as excited as my disciples who were also itching to lift themselves but they wouldn''t let this opportunity to watch elites do their thing pass them by.


    Though Logan started to look at me suspiciously as I loaded a te on each side, now totaling 405 pounds(184 kilos) with the bar.


    "This is starting to sound and look like you''re hustlin'' us¡­"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "You serious?"


    "I''m just sayin'' I''ve never seen anyone almost double their PR like that. Never. That''s not even your one rep max¡­"


    I shrugged my shoulders as I controlled my breathing, "I don''t know what to tell you. You can ask Quinn or some of the people who saw me work out in her ce and I''ve mostly done calisthenics."


    He rolled his eyes, "I don''t have time for that. Besides, if you''re hustlin'' us, you''re just gonna tire yourself out¡­"


    Sebastian interjected, "That is also true but it''s also a way of getting a proper warmup¡­" then he turned to me, "You''re breathing technique¡­ It''s¡­ Different¡­"


    Mauro tilted his head, "Hah? Don''t he brace like normal? I don''t understand¡­"


    Sebastian shrugged his shoulders, "I don''t understand either but yeah¡­ it is different¡­ somehow¡­"


    I chuckled as I waved them off, "Hey. You have your secrets, I have my own¡ª That reminds me, what are we betting anyway?"


    Mauro then had a burst of energy, "SHIT! I almost forgot about that! So, you''re joining?"


    I chuckled again, "Fuck it, sure. I have a vast collection of old-world shit like games, movies, music, porn¡ª and if that''s not enough, I have a catalog that I''ve shown Mauro and Elsa at their wedding that contains vehicles, melee weapons, guns, etc. that you could pick an item out of. You won''t be able to get it now but what you is what you get¡­ And for you gearheads, you probably have dream rides too so I''ll offer the same shit I gave Jesus, custom body kits you could print in your own home¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    As soon as I gave my offer, I thought it''d be a heated exchange of sorts but I was met with dead silence as the three of them were staring at me.


    "Guys?"


    Mauro was the first one to react, "Jeez, I thought a free punch or a p on the face would suffice but you''re going all out here. Lemme think for a bit¡­"


    Logan followed, "Will you give me one night with Quinn¡ª"


    I quickly shut that down, "No. And I''m not the one to ask but you''re lucky they''re all busy over there or you''d be out thepetition."


    "I was just askin''..."


    Then Sebastian answered, "I don''t actually have much to offer since I can only move a certain distance outside the estate but anything I can do in my domain¡ªas long as you beat me, I''ll do it with the best of my ability¡­"


    "Alright then, how about we all reduce it to just a favor from the three who got beat?"


    "Bet!"


    "Bet!"


    "Bet¡­"


    To just get it out of the way and to start conserving my strength, I pulled what was on the tform with my full concentration, and even though it was just for one rep and I didn''t need to do the entric part of the RDL where I''d have to lower it as slow as five seconds or so, I still did it to set a standard because I''m not actually trying to win this between us but to win against myself several times over.


    ''Sometimes, it''s not about the weight pulled but how well was the lift performed¡­''


    And to my delight, I nced momentarily at the squat rack where Quinn who was supposed to be joining us in this lifting meet, had already put on the shoes I threw over to her and she just rolled my eyes¡ªprompting Kaley and Tatiana to chuckle¡ªwhen we made eye contact.


    With that said, the bar was eventually loaded with one more te on each side, totaling 495 pounds(225 kilos) including the bar¡ªand now, our setup was that Logan goes first, followed by Sebastian, then Mauro, and finally me.


    But as expected of Logan, he ripped that shit up like it was nothing¡ªwith the help of his belt and other essories obviously¡ªthough he still mmed the weights on the tform to make that loud nging sound of metal.


    After that, Logan just pulled on the lever on his belt to release it before shouting at the top of his lungs, adding to the noise he produced earlier.


    That was obviously jarring to me, Sebastian, and everyone else who was new to this scene, but it is what it is.


    And as loud as he was, Sebastian was still as quiet as he possibly could when he took his turn and I was watching his every movement from chalking up his fingers to releasing his lever buckle. I didn''t even think that you could have the word "elegant" work in conjunction with powerlifting but this hellish butler was doing exactly that.


    However, when it came to Mauro''s turn, the guy pulled that shit without so much as a dab of chalk on his fingers, much less a belt or his shoes because like what he was probably doing to Elsa every night, the motherfucker was going at it raw.


    Granted there was already chalk on the bar making it not as raw as I said, the shit''s still impressive to me and everyone else watching the show.


    But yeah, he did make a bit of noise when he mmed the bar down but instead of shouting like Logan did, he just huffed out a long and drawn-out exhale before beckoning me to follow after him.


    "No excuses now."


    "Heh. I already doubled my PR, beating all of you here is just icing on the cake¡­"


    "Hmph. Say shit when you make me put everything on¡ª"


    Logan cut in, "I''ve never seen you in full gear. Even in those meets¡ª"


    "S-SHUT UP! IT''S A METAPHOR!"


    "Oh¡­ My bad¡­"


    "Heh¡­"


    In any case, ten tes total was a serious fucking jump from four tes total, but I''ve already cleared eight tes total and found it fairly challenging so I''m not saying that this would be a breeze but if I ripped this shit as clean as I could, that would just be five pounds shy of lifting 500 pounds(227 kilos) total.


    But yeah, I was now wearing all the bells and whistles plus some chalk, and once I braced my core and felt my belt pushing against me, I hinged down and grabbed the bar with my hookers before ripping it up by pushing my pits to my pockets and pressing the ground below me with my feet.


    Barely a second had passed when I found myself locking it cleanly in ce so I quickly focused and braced myself for the second time before I lowered the bar in this time, around four seconds.


    "Whew~"


    After that, I unhooked my belt and grinned at mypetitors but everyone in this garage gym couldn''t believe their eyes. It might be because I''m breaking expectations by lowering the hypothetical bar on myself before it even started but even I was losing my head about the whole situation.


    But yeah, I already assumed that Logan would be bringing out two more tes to ce on each end of the bar we were using but we actually brought out 2.5-pound(1.14 kilo) tes that confused everyone.


    Though the ones in the know just nodded in approval.


    In any case, he threw me the other one and we both ced it in the bar before he offered a fistbump.


    "Lift this¡ª no, wee to the five-hundred-pound club in advance. You deserve it, dude."

 Chapter 949 Lifting Session III - Trump Card #1

    Chapter 949 Lifting Session III - Trump Card #1


    If we''d take the world into ount, the number of people that could even properly bench, squat, and deadlift a te on each side of the bar for reps was a small percentage¡ªand the only reason it felt like a small aplishment was social media.


    The people we''ve seen on those apps¡ªwho could do five tes each or more than that¡ªwere the best of the best for a reason, and as sad as this may sound, regr people also post their stuff over there but they barely, if that was even the right word, get views or recognition.


    Granted there were a few that got lucky or got through with doing more than just lifting like adding skits, a day in the life stuff, QnAs, cobs, etc., but in my personal preference, it''s always the personality and the vibes that made me stick with them.


    But yeah, in the lifting scene, joining the 500-pound club¡ªwhatever lift it may be¡ªwas a big fucking deal and even Logan who was being an asshole all this time dropped the bullshit and paid respect.


    In that regard, it would''ve been much better for me if I rested for a few minutes but my excitement was through the roof and I lifted 495 just as fast as my other lifts, so I simply assumed the position and cranked it out like another rep before I gave some props to the guy by mming the bar down and shouting at the top of my lungs.


    "FUCK YEAH! AHHHHHH!"


    Logan and the other two had to join as they each gave me this high-five enough to cook a raw chicken, but everything became serious all of a sudden.


    At first, Sebastian was looking out for me like a kid lost in the woods but once they discovered that I was here to y some serious fucking ball, there was this tension in the air that I couldn''t ce quite clearly. It wasn''t intangible in a sense but it was more like the feeling of picking up your prom date but three other dudes popped up at the same time.


    But yeah, after we took off the baby tes and reced them with 45-pound(20.4-kilo) tes on each side, Logan was already geared to shit while Mauro had just started fastening the straps on his wrists we got from Clyde. However, he wasn''t wearing it like the three of us were, or should I say, he wasn''t wearing or using it like most people do.


    The way it usually went was to make a left and right version of the straps by inserting the ends on the loop on the other ends oppositely, securing them by the webbing of our thumbs and index fingers, and then wrapping them around the bar or any other handle two-to-four times before doing the lift.


    From what I''ve seen, Logan and I seemed to be doing the same exact textbook thing while Sebastian would only wrap the strap around the bar a single time, but in Mauro''s case, he wouldn''t secure the straps on his webbings at all and he''d criss-cross the wraps on the handle before doing the lift.


    So, I had to ask:


    "Hey, can you tell me why you do it that way?"


    "Hmm?"


    "The wraps while you''re practicing¡­ Is that some special¡ª"


    Heughed in my face, "I''m not telling you now, are you crazy?! Aren''t wepeting?!"


    Sebastian cut in, "It''s because of his big hands and it''s a strongman thing."


    "SEBASTIAN! WHY''D YOU¡ª"


    "We''repeting, aren''t we?"


    "You fucker¡­"


    Logan followed, "Well, it''s not like he can change techniques¡ª wait, he can¡­ You''re fucked, Mauro¡­"


    Sebastian shook his head, "Again, the technique doesn''t matter if it doesn''t suit you¡ª"


    "WHAT IF IT SUITS HIM?! DID YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?!"


    Sebastian was looking straight into Mauro''s eyes for a moment before he answered, "Huh. Actually, no."


    "THEN IT''S YOUR FAULT WHEN HE COMES ON TOP OF THIS! WE NEED AN ADDITIONAL RULES TO OUR BET NOW!"


    "Hmm? What do you suggest?"


    "Simple. Three fails and you''re fucking out! No questions asked. That''s more than enough tried to try my technique out."


    Logan nodded, "That''s fair, that''s fair~ Oh! Wait! I brought some ammonia! It''s cool to use it, right?!"


    Mauro''s eyes lit up, "You did?! Fuck yeah! With Clyde''s shit and everything, this is perfect! New PR for sure!"


    Sebastian shook his head and crossed his arms, "That''s¡­ go ahead but I''m not partaking¡­ It''s not for me¡­" then he turned to me, "How about you?"


    "I have my ways to trigger the same effects without inhaling piss¡ª"


    Logan looked at me like I talked about bigfoot, "Huh? Piss isn''t ammonia¡ª"


    The three of us cut him off at the same time, "It is. It actually is./ That''s why I detest it./ Dude, you should do actual science from bro science from time to time¡­"


    He just shrugged his shoulders from the response he got, "Huh. Okay, that''s why I kinda like smelling it even without lifting¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "What''s wrong?"


    I ced my hand over his shoulder, "It''s okay from time to time but prolonged use can actually damage your body. Be careful."


    "Y-You''re not getting into my head, are you¡ª"


    "Not at all. I''m being genuine here. But yeah, do remember to only do it on PR attempts or yourst top set, not every other set to be on the safe side."


    "A-Alright¡­"


    In any case, with six tes on each side plus the bar weighing a total of 585 pounds(265.9 kilos), Logan stood in front of it after brushing the excess chalk off and putting a newyer on his hands. But this time, I''m not sure if he heeded my warnings or if this was his actual top set or PR attempt because he took a big ''ol whiff of the small container of ammonia before he tried to lift the bar off of the ground.


    As he did, his whole face had gone red as veins popped up from his body but once the bar went past his knees, there were signs of a struggle.


    Mauro shouted at the top of his lungs, "UP! UP! UPPPPP! UP¡ª"


    *BANG*


    Logan mmed the bar shortly after but it was after he locked it in with his hips first and looking maniacal.


    And this time, he wasn''t able to shout at the top of his lungs as he took a seat by the side to regte his breathing. He looked so spent from lifting 12 tes with all his might but he was definitely eyeing the two 5-pound tes along with the 2.5 tes we used earlier for an attempt to pull 600 pounds once everyone was done.


    But yeah, this impromptu session was no joke because there should at least be a little bit of programming to attempt one rep maxes but the notion of lifting something heavy and putting them down just made everyone else say "Fuck it!" and go along without any preparation.


    However, as I gave Logan a fist bump, Sebastian casually walked in front of the bar before letting out this silent, drawn-out exhale before suddenly taking in air to brace his core. And right after he checked all of his cues, he lifted the bar with a deadpan expression before lowering it at a much faster pace than what he had done earlier.


    There was only so much our lower back could take and a conventional lifting technique takes something from our back muscles toopared to sumo lifting which mostly takes the quads and the rest of our lower body.


    Despite that, he was still cool as a cucumber when he unhooked his belt and Mauro just took over like it''s nothing.


    Logan muttered, "They''re not letting me rest, huh?"


    I chuckled, "They aren''t but you can rest on your turn¡­ It''s just gonna make you look like a pussy."


    He shook his head as he grinned, "I know, I know¡­ So take your fuckin'' turn before making me think you''re feeling sorry for me."


    "Heh. Gotcha."


    With that said, my aim was to go as far as I could with the conventional stance before switching to the sumo stance¡ªammonia far back into my options¡ªbut unveiling my trump cards before even failing was a no-no, and I''d only pull out all the stops when I was about to strike out.


    However, this was still unexplored territory and it wasn''t in me to scope it out without assurances so when I breathed in to brace my core, the stuffy air from this garage-turned-gym started to get reced by something entirely different¡ªand everyone took a step back when I ripped the bar off the ground.


    I didn''t know what my expression looked like but Logan definitely did more than take a step back when I didn''t even try to lower the bar slowly. I just dropped it in front of me the moment I locked it in ce but Sebastian was smiling from ear to ear when I saw him.


    "Now, you''re teaching me something else too¡­ interesting¡­"

 Chapter 950 Lifting Session IV - All in.

    Chapter 950 Lifting Session IV - All in.


    This trump card of mine could only be called upon when I''m feeling extreme rage or anger¡ªmaybe even murderous towards a certain individual¡ªbut recently, I''ve been able to call upon it with a simple thought, and with some added effects if certain prerequisites were met.


    I''m not 100% sure about what it actually does to my body but what I''m totally certain of was if there was a problem, it''d solve it.


    But yeah, taking it with a grain of salt in conjunction with smelling salts¡ªyes, pun intended¡ªit had a simr effect to an extent and it didn''t involve smelling something putrid, not to kink-shame or anything.


    At this moment, Sebastian looked like he was ready to pull 14 tes right from the get-go, but before I could even check up on what the girls were doing, I felt something small hit me on my shoulder and I learned that it was a pack of sour gummy worms.


    Logan gave me an upwards nod before saying loud enough for everyone to hear, "Alright. Everyone take five¡ª"


    Hearing that, Sebastian and I chuckled but Mauro rolled his eyes and instantly pped back:


    "Pussy-ass bitch."


    "Shaddap! I''m not like you!"


    "Fine! Give me some of that¡ª"


    "Fuck no! We''repeting, right?! Honestly speaking, you''re the one to beat here coz you got more than 100 pounds on everyone! Even I''m not even close to being in your weight ss!"


    "You fuckin'' ass¡ª The bet''s here to determine total weight pulled not who''s stronger pound-by-pound!"


    "I know! I KNOW! That''s why I''m choosing who to give my gummies to! I only have a few packets left¡ª" then he was shocked to fuck when he saw me sharing the packet he gave me to the girls, "HEY! THAT''S¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    With that said, the packet he gave me only had enough gummy worms for a few of us: me, Kaley, Quinn, Tatiana, Megan, and Alexa, but luckily enough, Nancy and Edith didn''t want one because they already tapped out from the weight Quinn and the rest were squatting and they were just here to mingle and enjoy the show.


    In the girls'' case, Tatiana could easily clear three tes on each side of the bar for five to seven reps while Kaley was still doing two tes each with Megan and Alexa for as many effective, slow, and paused reps as possible.


    But yeah, in the corner of my eye, I discovered that Kuzma was going at it alone on the bench Mauro was in earlier, and he had two tes on each side, doing paused reps with proper form. He didn''t seem too interested in our one-rep maxpetition or watching the girls learn from Quinn like everyone else, but he''d talk either with the cadets or the De Leon Family goons when he''s taking a short break.


    And once the five-minute break turned into a fifteen-minute break was up, instead of piling in a te on each side¡ªwhich Sebastian very much preferred¡ªLogan decided to ease into it and get a total of 600 pounds(272.72 kilos) to be pulled including the bar.


    These small increments went on and on until we reached the 675-pound mark¡ªwhere Logan failed twice but seeded on the third try, where Sebastian seeded on the first try with two reps but decided to call it quits, where Mauro pulled wearing the belt he got from Clyde, and where I failed on the first try but seeded on my second by doing the sumo stance¡ªmy second trump card.


    Logan was just out of breath:


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ You fucker¡­ Y-You''re already doing that¡ª Ha¡­ T-That weird shit and you pull sumo?! God fucking dammit!"


    "Then pull fucking sumo!"


    "Nuh-uh! I''ll die on this fucking hill! Conventional is the way to go!"


    Mauro scoffed, "Then die on that hill yourself. Wanna do more increments or do you wanna go straight for 700 pounds? It''s just a 25-pound increase, no biggie¡­"


    Sebastian cut in, "Please, let me do the honors¡­ I would''ve loved to pull with you all but I have duties tomorrow¡­"


    "Yeah, yeah¡­ fuck it, let''s do 700! I can''t PR but if I hit it, I''ll match it. Doing this for fun anyway¡ª"


    "Excuses now? Fuck outta here~ Just put those clips on there so it''ll be 701 pounds, at least."


    "Ah, fuck¡ª Yeah, yeah include those!"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before everyone else in the gym was shouting at the top of their lungs so that Logan could clear thest few centimeters of his final lift to lock it out, and once he actually did it, cheers erupted from all sides but his nose suddenly bled and he almost passed out. However, Mauro was quick enough to grab onto his neck before sitting him down and Kaley quickly responded¡ªthough all Logan needed right now was some air and a cloth or some tissues for his nose.


    In any case, Mauro didn''t miss a fucking beat as he quickly cleared the same shit Logan did a few seconds ago, and he was looking me straight in the eyes as he unhooked his belt.


    It was now up to me whether I could beat him or not but I''d already gotten into the 500-pound club and the 600-pound club in a single session, everything that came after that was just a huge bonus. But yeah, not to shit on Logan but ever since I''ve used the sumo stance, everything felt 20% lighter. I ripped that shit off the ground with a little bit of skin off my thumbs and it was on the 750-pound(340.1 kilos) mark¡ªalmost 16 tes total including the bar¡ªwhere I had to resort to using myst trump card for the night.


    Mauro had already cleared 750 pounds and was just waiting for me to take my turn but I went over to Kaley who was leaning onto my Raptor and whispered into her ear.


    "A-Are you serious?!"


    "Yep."


    "H-HERE?!"


    "Yep."


    "RIGHT NOW?! D-Don''t you know t-that I''m sweaty right now¡­"


    "Do you wanna see me pull 750 or not?"


    Mypetitors and a few others were curious as to what I said to my Kaley but it seemed like Quinn and Tatiana heard what I said and they were offering themselves as tribute while dyingughing.


    In any case, I didn''t want Mauro and everyone else to wait that long so as soon as Kaley agreed to my suggestion, I lifted her off the ground before I took a long and drawn-out whiff from her crotch after burying my nose in her fat mound, that made everyone shocked to fuck while Kaley was just red through her neck.


    Needless to say, I had something much, much better than smelling salts and pairing it with my first trump card, I was basically double-dosing for this one rep max.


    Mauro, Sebastian, and Logan just couldn''t believe what I just did and they were more surprised by thatpared to me lifting off 750 pounds like child''s y.


    Elsa, who was just simply watching throughout thispetition was staring daggers at Mauro when he looked like he wanted to do the same thing to her.


    "Don''t even¡ª"


    "I-I WASN''T SAYING ANYTHING! AT LEAST, NOT YET!"


    "AT THE BEDROOM, SURE! HERE?! NOT A FUCKING CHANCE!"


    "DIDN''T YOU SEE HOW EFFECTIVE IT WAS?! I MIGHT BE ABLE TO CLEAR A THOUSAND POUNDS FROM THAT! THAT''S THE FUCKING DREAM, ELSA!"


    "I''D RATHER YOU POUND ME A THOUSAND TIMES INSTEAD! THAT''S THE DREAM! BUT IT SEEMS LIKE I''M THE ONE DOING THE HEAVY LIFTING! PROBABLY THE SAME THING TONIGHT!"


    "DON''T SAY IT LIKE THAT! YOU KNOW I''M CUTTING, RIGHT?!"


    "THEN FUCKING BULK AGAIN! I''LL FEED YOU A WHOLE COW IF I HAVE TO!"


    Then Mauro did a 180, "You do know I get hard when you scream at me like that, right?"


    Elsa had never rolled her eyes this hard, "THEN THAT''S GOOD ENOUGH, SMELL YOUR BUTTHOLE IF YOU HAVE TO!"


    As the two were fighting, Kaley and I¡ªmuch like everyone else was enjoying the show with someplimentary popcorn but I was trying to rest as much as possible. It was very easy at two tes each first but now, even a pound of increment felt like a ton of bricks and I''d have to be very careful so that I won''t get injured.


    ''If I recall correctly, our brain takes around 20+ minutes to recover from lifting uber heavy yet we''ve been doing 5-minute rests¡ª 15 minutes if we''re lucky¡­''


    Though long story short, for the sake of brevity, my final score was 16 tes total, and adding the bar into ount, it was a grand total of 765 pounds(347.72 kilos) while Mauro cleared 20 tes total, and with the bar, it was 945 pounds(429.5 kilos) in total¡ªthough I''m pretty sure that if we do six weeks of programming, we could''ve achieved a higher number.


    But yeah, it''s safe to say that both of us were fucking close to passing out, and once we get back to our own rooms, it''ll be a different type of life-or-death¡­ but in a good way.

 Chapter 951 Sneaky X Sneaky

    Chapter 951 Sneaky X Sneaky


    Since Sal seemed to be busy with something else, it was left to us whether we''d have supper with everyone else who could do so at the dining table or just pick them up in the kitchen, or as Mauro and Elsa did, have it all delivered at their wing. It was pretty obvious we chose thetter because I''d probably pass out while eating though Kaley probably had a whole other reason.


    It was already weird when she didn''t even try to get frisky with me while we were showering but to add on top of that, Quinn and Tatiana were our current roommates while Edith and Nancy were our neighbors, and all of them were AWOL including Megan.


    The two of us were wearingfy clothes¡ªI was just in my boxers while she was wearing a loose tank top and short shorts¡ªand we were both snacking at the small round table side by side¡­ though Kaley was definitely enjoying the strawberry cake Lisa probably prepared just for her. Our food was still being prepared but a few strips of jerky, some sweets, and a protein shake were also fine before a full meal.


    "Hmm¡­ Wow~ So good¡­ Mmh¡­ Nnn¡­"


    "K-Kaley¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Are you eating that or are you EATING that?"


    "W-Wha¡ª What do you mean?!"


    "You''re moaning''s a little¡ª"


    She chuckled as she rolled her eyes, "It''s just so good~ You should try it!"


    "Oh yeah?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    To her surprise, I gave her a kiss on her lips coated with icing but to retaliate in the worst(best) way possible, she "identally" dropped a small piece down in her deep cleavage, and she was just staring at me with puppy eyes, begging for me to fix her mistake.


    "Oh no¡­ What shall I do~?" Then the over-the-top acting started.


    But I shut that shit down, "You do know I''ll lick you all over without icing. You know that, right?"


    "Pfft¡ª I was just getting you in the mood,you know?"


    I rolled my eyes as I shook my head, "I was already halfway there when you started moaning out of the blue and you do know it''s disrespectful to not finish the meal prepared for us?"


    Kaley then wiped a few bits off her chest and licked it before looking back at me, "We''ll eat it after we''re done, like a post-lovemaking meal, you know? Also, this is just snacks, it doesn''t even count as a meal¡­"


    "Right, right¡­ You sure you''ll be awake to eat after a round though? I''m getting sleepy as is¡­ Where''s Tatiana and the others anyway? They didn''t even shower with us. I''m notining per se but you know, just curious¡ª"


    As I was in the middle of my sentence, the door to our room swung open and the first one I saw was Quinn in a veryrge pullover wheeling in what seemed like an actual whole roasted cow before Tatiana wearing almost the same clothes followed with several sauces and other stuff like jams, cheese, and alcohol.


    ''Fuck¡­''


    But yeah, rice was also brought over, cooked in different ways, though I''d stick with in ol'' white rice because the roasted cow would probably be the juiciest and most calorie-packed meal I''d have in this ce. It was glistening from its juices and the smell¡ªoh my fucking god, the fucking smell was so immacte, it brought us to our feet to join everyone¡­ plus another person who they invited tonight: Alexa.


    She just gave me a warm greeting as she closed the door behind her after everyone else had walked in, "Hi! I can''t believe you lifted all that weight earlier! That''s awesome!"


    I smiled gently before quickly grabbing my nearest shirt and putting it on, "Thanks! You should''ve told us you''d being, I''m not exactly decent¡­ sorry."


    She waved me off, "I-It''s okay¡­ You w-wouldn''t mind me here, would you?"


    I briefly nced at the group behind me and discovered they were sneakily leering at us but I shook my head and smiled, "You''re very much wee here, don''t worry. How about Sebastian though?"


    "Hmm? Which one?"


    Megan audibly sighed, "We don''t call Seb Sebastian, Alexa! You know who he''s talking about! The hot butler!"


    "O-Oh¡­ That ship sunk on the bottom of the ocean¡­ Haha¡­ I got t-out rejected¡­ Apparently¡­ I''m too young for him¡­ Ahaha¡­ Even though I''m already over 18¡­ I guess he prefers mature w-women¡­"


    "Oh¡­ That sucks¡­ sorry¡ª"


    Then Quinn egged on, "Nope! You''re secretly happy, aren''t ya?! Well~ Sorry to burst your bubble but you''re the second choice!"


    I turned to Quinn with a silly face, "I don'' gib a pak!(I don''t give a fuck!)"


    And Alexa realized what Quinn was hinting at, "A-Ah¡ª T-That''s not it a-at all! P-Please don''t t-think of it t-that way¡­ I''m not saying y-you''re less than¡ª"


    I waved her off, "It''s cool, alright? You don''t need to exin yourself. It''s chill."


    At this point, I was just trying to remedy the situation in case she blew up again, but it definitely felt weird and awkward when Alexa straight-up told us what her objectives were.


    "But b-before I s-show you my b-boobs¡­ Please know t-that I-I''m just here to u-umm¡­ just know what it''s like and I''m n-not interested in pursuing anything romantic of the sort t-though the prospect of b-being friends i-isn''t out of the picture! I-I just can''t stand the boys m-messing around in the room n-next to mine while I''m cpletely a-alone, i-is that fine?! I''m willing to try everything b-but please stop when I say so!"


    "Sure?"


    "Good! Shall I take off my clothes now?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    As soon as she said all that, it was fucking quiet for a good while before the silence was broken by Quinn snickering and Tatiana trying to hold herughter but as I assumed that Alexa would backpedal and run away crying, her eyebrows flipped upward as her expression turned into this cutesy-angry face with her mouth keeping in a lot of air¡ªblowing up her cheeks¡ªwhile her hands were on each side of her waist.


    "W-WHAT''S SO FUNNY?!"


    Quinn chuckled a little more, "Before I show you my boobs, she said¡­ Pff¡­"


    Tatiana followed, "Quinn¡­ stop¡­ pfft¡­ I dunno why that was so funny but it made me forget about food for a second¡­"


    "W-WHAT''S WRONG ABOUT IT?!"


    I waved her off as I put my hand over her shoulder, "Alexa¡­ I think you''re a little nervous but before ''that'', can we eat first? I dunno about you but I''m starving¡­"


    "A-Ah¡­ R-Right¡­ I-I''m sorry¡ª"


    "Don''t apologize¡­ You did make themugh so that''s a start¡­"


    "S-Start of what?"


    I chuckled, "You sweet summer child¡­ W-Why don''t you grab a te and we''ll teach you a few thingster, alright? Try to not let everything stew inside your head¡­ Just rx for a bit¡­ It''s not as crazy as you might think¡­"


    With that said, the food was even more amazing than I thought but I was actually worried about our guest because she looked overwhelmed from anticipating what was about to happenter. But yeah, that wasn''t a little bit of alcohol and supportive friends couldn''t fix.


    However, after a full day of walking around doing shit, working out intensely right after, then finally having a big meal and some alcohol to close the day, we all slept together like logs just piled on the bed knocked out of our minds.


    And after an unknown amount of hours, I woke up in the center of the bed with a couple of warm and soft bodies pressed against me though with the use of my nose and obviously enough, my sense of touch, I figured that Kaley was on my right while Edith was on my left. Both of them had sandwiched my arms between their huge breasts while each of their knees was either on my leg or on my torso.


    They were using my body as a¡­ you know, a body pillow but before my arms went numb, I sessfully managed to ce my arms over them as I pulled them closer though that particr maneuver woke Kaley up.


    I saw her nce around for a bit before her eyesnded on mine and I gave her a kiss on the forehead before I whispered that I was sorry, but she just faintly smiled and snuggled her head on my chest even more as I assumed she tried getting back to sleep.


    However, right as I closed my eyes, I felt a familiar hand snake down until she reached my boxers and went further. And from the angle and side the hand came from, I knew full well that it was Kaley gently "massaging" my cock but it didn''t take long before I pitched a tent below her.


    And as I opened my eyes, I saw Kaley staring directly at me while smiling and biting her lip, giving me this very slow, sensual, and sneaky massage the world has to offer.

 Chapter 952 Sneak 100 to Destruction 100

    Chapter 952 Sneak 100 to Destruction 100


    At this moment, in the middle of the fucking night, while we were surrounded by everyone else, Kaley decided to jerk me off with probably the most evil intention she had. She wanted me to juggle between suffering and pleasure while staying inplete silence because she know full well how to manipte my cock.


    But yeah, I could easily break free from this entanglement and have my way with her in the bathroom but where''s the fun in that?


    In any case, Kaley made sure to stroke the whole shaft for as slow as possible, and either caressing the tip or ying with my balls whenever she saw fit. However, I suddenly felt her fingers touch my perineal area followed by grazing and prodding what was a few centimeters lower.


    To her surprise, I didn''t even try to stop her¡ªwhich made her eyebrows rise¡ªbut she didn''t continue further as she went back to grabbing my manhood gently and sliding her hand up and down.


    And of course, more than half of my dick was out of my boxers while Kaley maintained eye contact with the same cheeky smile.


    I slowly began to pull her within eye level and who knew that her right jug was the perfect ce to hold onto. But after that particr maneuver, we felt some movement from behind her¡ªso we remainedpletely still for a moment¡ªbut when the bed calmed down and there were no movements for a few dozen seconds, Kaley continued what she was doing to my cock before our lips touched.


    And this time, my right arm was back to its previous position and my fingers were now inside her shorts as they found their way to her fat mound, gently parting her outer lips to get to her sensitive little clit.


    "A-Ahn¡­ MmMMm¡­ Ah¡­"


    "Shh¡­"


    "B-But¡­ MmMm¡­"


    We were still trying to be as quiet as possible but it proved a little difficult with the breathing, lip-smacking, tongue-fighting, bean-flicking, etc., but I continued to stick my tongue down her throat because if she continued moaning like a few seconds earlier, our little session would end and it would be a free-for-all like we did to our dear cow earlier.


    However, it didn''t take long before Kaley started getting greedy by slightly moving her hips so she''d get more contact but I slid in two fingers into her wet hole and pulled her in to keep her in ce while I stared her down¡ªbut it seemed to have the opposite effect as I saw how her eyes rolled to the back of her head while her grip on me tightened and her insides contracted over and over.


    Kaley was about to wake everyone else in this bed so I went to do damage control by suddenly removing my arm from Edith then using it to cover Kaley''s mouth and muffle her moans.


    And that certain maneuver woke Edith up because as Kaley''s orgasm subsided, I felt another hand grip the tip of my cock and was squeezing it over and over.


    No words were needed to be exchanged as I turned around to see her smiling at me¡ªthough still looking a little sleepy¡ªbut I pulled my right arm off Kaley''s before I made Edith lick my fingers off.


    And as I offered to do the same thing I did to Kaley to her, she shook her head as she moved up even higher so I could suck on her tits and y with her backside with the way my left arm was currently ced in.


    But yeah, as I was trying to keep the rest of them asleep, Kaley decided it was time to shake the bed as violently as possible.


    With enough legroom since Edith moved up, Kaley went on top of me while Edith''s breasts were still on my face but since Edith couldn''t jerk me off anymore, she decided it was better to sit on my face before anyone else who woke up did it first.


    I''ve never seen the two work this seamlessly because as Kaley pushed my dick up to the base, my tongue was now inside Edith''s pussy while my nose was this close to her little asshole. Furthermore, they both started moving their hips at the same time while my hands were being sandwiched between theirrge bosoms.


    It didn''t take long before I violently came but Kaley wanted fucking more.


    As soon as I pumped my first load inside her cunt, she pulled out for a moment before I was shoved inside something much, much tighter.


    "A-AH! I-IT''S IN! SHIT! F-FUCK! I-IT''S IN MY ASS! HA! HAH! AHH! HNGH! I FEEL SO FUCKING FULL! AH! AH! AH! SHIT! HIS CUM''S LEAKING OUT OF ME BUT¡ª HNGH! IT''S IN SO FUCKING DEEP! YES! YES! YESSS!"


    ''Well, fuck¡­''


    Right after Kaley lost her mind, I definitely felt more people moving around us and guess who was the first one to react.


    "What the f¡ª DID WE ALL FELL ASLEEP?!"


    "I think so, yeah¡­"


    "HOW LONG WERE YOU THREE FUCKING?!"


    Edith answered weakly, "I-I woke up after them d-doing hand stuff¡­ W-We just started actually¡­"


    "SHIT! I CAN''T WAIT THAT LONG! WHERE''S THE¡ª"


    "HERE! FOUND IT!"


    "W-What''s happening?"


    "WAKE THE FUCK UP! WE''RE FUCKING! WHO WANTS TO EAT ME FIRST?! IF YOU MAKE ME CUM, I''LL BE GENTLE WITH YOU AFTER!"


    From my perspective, I couldn''t see shit because of the darkness and Edith''s ass in front of me and as luck would have it, someone pulled Edith off me but I soon discovered that Kaley would be in for a rude awakening.


    Quinn was standing by Kaley''s side and making her suck off the strapless dildo she was wearing while Megan was kneeling behind her and eating her ass. And at the same time, Tatiana was licking off the cum that was leaking out of Kaley''s pussy while Alexa was nervously fingering Tatiana''s holes.


    And to my surprise, it was Nancy who pulled off Edith from my face and she was the one on top of her, grinding their meaty cunts together.


    We went from sneaking around handjobs to a full-on orgy in a few moments but it didn''t take long before Quinn went behind Kaley and pulled on her hair, pushing in her rubber dick inside the same ce where my dick was.


    "Q-QUINN! IT''S¡ª A-AH! F-FUCK! I-I''M CUMMING¡ª"


    Before I shut shit down, Kaley started squirting though Tatiana was the one who got soaked most, but since Kaley seemed to be enjoying what was going on, I went along with it while thrusting very slowly.


    Quinn was just a whole other being after being woken up from this stupor of sorts and she was definitely resizing Kaley''s asshole with this one.


    In any case, I was here to enjoy the view so I wouldn''t want anyone sitting on my face so now, I was watching Tatiana get it on with Megan and Alexa while Nancy finally put on a strap-on and started fucking herdy.


    But yeah, Kaley was definitely losing her mind even more when I pulled out of her and pushed both of them down, fucking Quinn in her ass while Quinn was fucking hers.


    I said it once and I''ll say it again, I''m not a fan of another dick sharing the hole I''m in, even if it was rubber or not, and even though I let it slide a few times¡ªpun intended¡ªit just wasn''t for me.


    In any case, as I had a very nice view of Quinn''s back, I was making sure to not push on them because Kaley was already taking on a lot of weight.


    "YOU FUCKING¡ª WE''RE SUPPOSED TO TRAIN HER ASS SO IT''D GET USED¡ª MMH! SHIT! AHN! S-S-SO IT''S GET USED TO MY FIST! AH! SHIT! YOU WOULDN''T LET ME TALK, WOULD YOU?!"


    "THERE ARE PROCESSES TO THAT, QUINN!"


    "C''MON! SHE LIKED IT, RIGHT?!"


    "BUT WHAT IF SHE DIDN''T?! HUH?!"


    "OH, PLEASE¡ª W-WAIT¡ª SHIT! THAT''S¡ª"


    To her surprise and to my own, I switched holes not to feel as much pleasure but to punish her in a way but it seemed like all of my actions were giving an opposite effect. Quinn started squirting nonstop and it took everything from her not to justy on top of Kaley when I eventually filled her to the brim and then some. And yeah, I made sure to stick my thumb inside her gaping ass for good measure but she just lost it when I went back to that same ce to finish in some unfinished business.


    Needless to say, Quinn''s submissive moans towards me were just making everyone else feel a certain way but ncing at Alexa who was now servicing Megan''s cunt looked like she was ready to back out.


    It could be from seeing my dick or seeing me go ham on Quinn''s fucking holes but her face was saying one thing but her pussy was saying another.


    It''s just that before she had the chance with me, Tatiana was already wearing her most prized treasure.

 Chapter 953 Breaking Alexa Open

    Chapter 953 Breaking Alexa Open


    Tatiana just smiled wickedly as she went behind Alexa''s plump ass and whispered close, "Take this as something close to the real thing but yeah, I just want to break you open first¡­ Who knew you were hiding such a round butt¡­"


    "U-Umm¡­" Alexa was a little startled but everyone saw her reach back and spread her asscheeks apart, revealing her cute little butthole and her pink dripping pussy, "I-Is this okay?"


    At that point, no words were needed to be exchanged as Tatiana pushed Alexa''s head down on Megan''s pussy even more as she jammed her rubber dick inside her pussy hole. With each thrust, Alexa''s ass would bounce and p but we heard an audible gasp when Tatiana pushed a thumb in her asshole.


    "W-Wait! That''s¡ª"


    Tatiana instantly stopped what she was doing, "Problem?"


    "I-I haven''t put a-anything in t-there¡­"


    "But you said you cleaned it, right?"


    "Y-Yes, but¡­ W-What if it h-hurts?"


    Tatiana just smiled as she continued to prod and rub Alexa''s asshole, "Does it hurt now though? Or does it feel good?"


    "It¡­ It feels o-okay?"


    Tatiana chuckled, "Seriously?" then she once again pushed a thumb inside but slower, "How about now?"


    "That''s¡­ Mmm¡­ I-It''s¡ª"


    "And now?" Tatiana said as she began to push it in and out while slowly moving her hips back and forth.


    "W-Wow¡­ I didn''t think¡ª Mmm¡­ Yeah¡­ Ah¡­ Hah¡­ Ha¡­"


    As that was happening, Megan was thoroughly enjoying the view but she eventually muffled Alexa''s soft moans as she pulled her head onto her cunt once more. I wasn''t exactly sure if Alexa was licking Megan''s pussy from this angle but Megan was definitely using her face as a loofah.


    She was timing the times Tatiana would push her hips forward¡ªmaking Alexa get mushed on her cunt even more¡ªas she would slightly move her hips upward so that it''ll have the most contact with her fatty upper pubic area.


    And after a few more indirect thrusts from Tatiana, Megan began topletely lie on her back before her whole body started shaking and as Alexa saw what was happening in front of her, it didn''t take long before she had a release of her own. They almost came at the exact same time but it seemed like Nancy and Edith did so a little bit earlier.


    I wasn''t paying much attention to the two but it was a different sight to see such a small body try and hammer away against herdy''s body.


    Though now, as Nancy had already copsed on top of Edith whilepletely out of breath¡ªeven if she came or not¡ªshe looked happy to see Edith''s body tremble in front of her. At the same time, Edith was just petting her head like a good girl but after they managed to take a breather and then some, Nancy was at theplete mercy of Edith the moment they switched possession of the wearable toy.


    Because once again, Edith was making Nancy''s cute little asshole remember what she did to herst time.


    "HMNFG! UGH! AH! AH! MY LADY! Y-YOU''RE¡ª A-AH! AH! K-KEEP GOING~! YES! YES! YES! YES! AH! MMH! AHN! MMNH! UGH! UGH! AH! AH! S-SHI¡ª MMMH! OH MY¡ª IT''S¡ª YES! YES! YES!"


    In any case, I was now back to filling in Kaley''s holes while Quinn was making her eat the cum out of hers after sitting in her face, but it didn''t take long before Tatiana beckoned me to switch ces with Megan so I could get my dick sucked by Alexa.


    And as I did, it was a little funny seeing Alexa''s eyes cross the moment I sat in front of her but Megan took it upon herself to jerk me off from behind before pulling in Alexa''s face for a thorough mouth and throat inspection.


    "O-Oh god¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ It''s bigger u-up close¡­"


    Megan chuckled from behind as she beckoned her, "Come on now, if you don''t start sucking it, I''ll dly do it¡­"


    "W-Wait¡­ I-I''ll¡­ Ha¡­ I''ll do it¡­"


    Since Tatiana was still fucking Alexa from behind, it proved a little difficult for her so Tatiana decided to slow down the thrust so Alexa''s focus would be solely on me first before we do something simr to the Eiffel Tower. And yeah, the moment Alexa put the tip and then some in her mouth, with the way everyone''s body was different, it was a unique and pleasurable sensation at the same time.


    However, she couldn''t go past the halfway mark without triggering her gag reflex but since it was her first time with us, Tatiana and I had an affirming nce that meant: if she wanted to get roughed up from the get-go, just fucking say so. But yeah, getting herfortable and in on it was the way to go at the moment but to bepletely honest, I was getting more turned on by the way her eyes were rounded and almost crossing from staring directly at my dick instead of her actual head technique.


    It''s always about enthusiasm at the end of the day but just her look of wonder and amazement for my cock was enough for the moment.


    And yeah, as Alexa began to be more and morefortable, Tatiana started to thrust faster and harder which made Alexa take my cock in further and further. I still haven''t started to fuck her throat but she seemed to be thinking about something else while slobbering on my knob.


    "Do you want me to fuck you now?"


    "That''s¡­ I was just¡­ Ha¡­ I wanna t-taste m-more of your¡­ y-you know but I-I also w-want you to fuck me r-right after¡­ I-I just don''t know if¡ª"


    Tatiana and Megan cut in at the same time, "Greedy slut¡­/We still haven''t taken our turns, you know?"


    "I-I was just thinking of w-what to choose¡ª"


    I chuckled as I held her hair with one hand, "Both can be arranged, actually¡­"


    In any case, I was already close even before my dick entered her mouth, and as I gave her mouthfuls and mouthfuls of cum, she wasn''t able to take it all so Tatiana and Megan had already started to lick off and swallow the dribbles from her lips, cheeks, and chin. But funnily enough, Alexa was more upset by the two stealing her rewards instead of choking a few seconds from guzzling mouthfuls of cum.


    But yeah, when it was my turn on her holes, Tatiana made sure to make Alexa lick off her juices from her dildo before turning to Megan who was already itching to get fucked.


    Though this time, it seemed like Alexa was in a daze when she asked me to deflower her virgin asshole to which I very much obliged.


    "G-Go slow¡­ a-alright?"


    "Of course¡­"


    Despite her advice, I easily pushed in a few inches as she let out this orgasmic moan but with each inch going inside her, it definitely became tighter and tighter. Though to keep her a little distracted and little bit rxed, I was reaching around for her little bean and rubbing it from time to time but she suddenly grabbed my hand when I went past halfway.


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡ª W-Wait¡­ S-Stop¡ª I-Is it close?"


    "Close how?"


    "I-Is it a-all i-in?"


    "W-Were a little over halfway¡ª"


    "Really? Fuck¡­ O-Okay¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ P-Push it in m-more¡­"


    I simply chuckled as I pulled back instead, "That''s not how this works, alright? Breathe a little bit more and just let me take over¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    With that said, all Alexa needed to aplish was to rx a bit more and get used to my size, and after a few more tries with the help of some lube and a mix of gentleness and roughness, she managed to take me in her ass up to the base. Furthermore, she looked like she''d cum any moment and she turned around and gave me this look to basically abuse her.


    So the moment I grabbed hold of her tiny waist, I pulled back right at the tip before mming it back in, repeating the same motion over and over even if she started to violently shake all over.


    I didn''t let up even if she was clutching the sheets as hard as she could and she wasn''t even able to stay on all fours, but I kept fucking her while she was prone. However, all she could let out was muffled moans because her head was also buried in the bed, but when I pulled on her hair, she was basically screaming out my name and begging me not to stop.


    And when I leaned on her even more to wrap my arm around her neck, that was when she started squirting for the first time.


    Alexa didn''t know what to do with the embarrassment at this point, but all she could do right now was take the pounding over and over with a huge smile on her pretty face.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before panic showed on her face because after filling her mouth and her ass¡ªas she had already cummed multiple times over¡ªI flipped her over and pushed her ankles by her head before I started to push it inside her now exposed and creaming pink flower.

 Chapter 954 DROP BEARS?!

    Chapter 954 DROP BEARS?!


    As I had my way with Alexa, we pretty much copsed on the bed while trying to ignore a few wet spots but with some sort of voodoo shit going on, we all woke up with enough time to clean ourselves and prepare this early morning.


    It was just a bitch to fit everyone in the same shower¡ªeven if Edith and Nancy offered some of us to join them in their room instead, but despite all that, it was a weird bonding moment to watch each other''s back with only a few inches of clearance.


    Megan was starting to get irritated because she was getting waterboarded by Quinn''s tits, "Seriously, if the biggest one here joined Edith and Nancy, we would be just fine~"


    "Say that to my face again, Megan! Wanna wear my fist with your ass?!"


    Alexa cut in, "Guys, stop! Megan''s always cranky in the morning¡­ You''ll get used to it¡­"


    Tatiana chuckled as she basked in the chaos, "Mm-hmm~ Seems like we got another angel over here~"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Oh, more of those please¡­ Megan can''t bepared to you two but Edith switches up when she''s really into it¡­ Kinda scary, if you ask me¡­ but in a good way."


    I scoffed as I chuckled, "Seriously?"


    "What?"


    "That''s like¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    "What?! Say it!"


    "Fine~ I was about to say that you''re kinda the same but the way Edith switches up is that she gets more dominant¡­ especially towards Nancy¡­ With you, everything just ramps up but it''s different from time to time¡­"


    Kaley nodded pensively, "Oh¡­ That''s spot on, actually¡­"


    Then Quinn cut in while pointing to herself, "What about me? Have you noticed anything in particr?"


    Tatiana chuckled from the side, "There she goes~"


    And before Quinn could react to what Tatiana said, Megan and Alexa joined in as they both turned to me, "Us too! Tell me something!/ Yeah! W-What do you think?"


    I just scratched the side of my cheek as I tried to ignore their soaped-up bodies, "Well~ I don''t have enough¡­ data for the two of you but if we''re talking about Quinn¡­ Even though she''s one of the Alpha-Bitches here, there''s also something different when she gets soft and mushy¡ª"


    "HOLD UP! WHEN DID I GET SOFT AND MUSHY, HUH?!"


    Megan and Alexa also couldn''t believe their ears, "She gets soft and mushy?/ No way¡­ Just¡­ No¡­"


    Tatiana turned to Kaley with a weird smile, "She doesn''t know herself, huh?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ Unfortunately¡­"


    "NOT YOU TWO, TOO! WHEN DID I GET SOFT AND MUSHY?! SINCE WHEN?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    In any case, we didn''t give her a definite answer though I''m sure she already knew the answer to that question¡ªbut she just didn''t want to admit it herself.


    After a few more minutes of banter and messing around, we found ourselves in the dining area served with a breakfast staple of pandesal and coffee though eggs, several slices of meat, and a side of freshly cut vegetables were also present.


    And funnily enough, Sebastian was all smiles while he was eating with us but for some reason, I felt like he was nning something arduous for my disciples and/or the rest of the cadets.


    Though Sal broke the silence as she addressed Sebastian from the way he was looking at my group:


    "What are you nning this time, huh? You do know that almost half of the people who joined usst time had to take a few days off because of what you put them through. You won''t be doing the same thing, right?"


    As soon as she said that, the cadets looked a little perturbed but they didn''t try to voice their opinions out.


    And Sebastian just let out an embarrassed smile, for some reason, "Ah¡­ That was an honest mistake on my part, madam. I just assumed that since they thought they were better than us ''mere'' farmers, I thought they could do twice the work we''re doing on a regr basis."


    Sal let out an amused expression, "Haha¡­ I do remember that¡­ That''s a lot of puke, we ran out of buckets¡­ but do take it easy on the kids, alright? They haven''t slighted us in the¡­ you know¡­ slightest¡­ pfft¡­ so at least make them able to walk back for dinner, agreed?"


    Sebastian nodded, "Agreed, madam¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we finished breakfast but since I wanted to know what Sebastian was nning for Isaac and rest, I decided toe with them and as you would obviously know, everyone else came¡ªyep, even Mauro and Elsa who was supposed to be "making" their child.


    This time, Sebastian was still wearing and carrying the same gear he had on yesterday but the cadets were now wearing more sensible clothing. And since they didn''t bring their primaries with them, we decided to bring ours for good measure. However, it seemed like I figured out what we were about to do¡ªwith the number of axes and other tools Sebastian was handing out¡ªso, the only question was where?


    Though it also didn''t take long before I figured that out.


    ''Oh, fuck¡­''


    After walking out of the safety of the walls of the estate, we walked onto this dirt path for close to an hour that ended by the foot of the mountain.


    Then Sebastian turned around and sped his hands together with a smile:


    "Alright! Today, until 4:00 PM, we''re gonna try and make a clear view¡ªkinda, from this dirt road up to that cabin up in the mountains. Is that clear?"


    Ruben raised his hand, "What cabin?"


    Sebastian nodded, "Exactly. We used to have a clear path from here to the cabin years and years ago but constant neglect resulted in that¡ª"


    "Those are fully grown trees, how old are you¡ª"


    "Ah! What great eyes you have, Ruben¡­ In any case, they''re far younger than the ones to the side¡ªthough we might have to cut a few that were damaged or just too old¡ªso we could make the overgrowth subside and have more room for other nts to grow. However, don''t worry as much, if we discover saplings or bushes that could be rented elsewhere, we will do so¡­ unlike the first batch of crude workers we had¡­"


    Mauro cut in, "Hey! They''re mechanics, they don''t know how shit in here works, alright?!"


    Sebastian let out a menacing smile, "I apologize, my lord¡­ But I didn''t think that they''d fumble if I pointed at the trees that should and shouldn''t be cut down¡­ Again, I apologize for that¡­"


    "T-That''s¡­"


    Sebastian waved him off, "In any case¡­ not all of us would be able to cut trees at the same time so some people will be tasked with guarding everyone, foraging for herbs and mushrooms¡ªif you have the talent for it, clearing bushes and the like¡ªyou know, to make it easier for everyone, etc. Be wary of Drop Bears though because it seemed like we also have them in this area¡ª"


    Hearing that particr term and seeing Sebastian''s smile, I had to y the part, not only would it make everyone else on high alert and make everyone safer, but it would also provide ample entertainment for us in the know, including Kaley, Mauro, Elsa, Edith, and Nancy.


    "Woah! Woah! Woah! Sebastian! You have Drop Bears here?! I thought they only have those in Australia?!"


    Alexa and Ruben were definitely more anxious than everyone else:


    "W-What are D-Drop Bears?!"


    "I-I-I haven''t heard of that! W-What are those?!"


    Mauro nodded menacingly, "Yeah, that''s kinda Sal''s fault¡ªone of the reasons this ce got neglected¡­"


    Elsa continued, "Basically, they''re bears who live atop one of those trees and they attack anyone unsuspectingly and it''s¡­ it''s just a¡­ it''s just an unfortunate thing¡­ Sebastian here was brave enough to hunt them from time to time but I''m afraid that they''ve reproduced and upied the mountains¡­"


    Alexa asked, "H-How big are they?"


    Megan had to cut in though she looked anxious as well, "They''re bears, right?! They should¡ª"


    Seb interjected, "I dunno¡­ They should be a little smaller if they can live on top of trees¡­"


    JP nodded, "I agree¡­ Also, Ko''s are also called Ko BEARS, don''t you think¡ª"


    James #1 brought them back to the delusion, "No, no¡­ If they got the name DROP Bears, they should be at least between the sizes of a Ko and an actual bear¡­"


    James #2 nced at everyone else before he said, "So¡­ at least enough weight to bring a normal human down?"


    Lucas interjected, "No, no¡­ it should be quite small. Even five pounds is dangerous if it falls high enough¡­"


    Isaac started losing his shit, "Shit! Then the guards should be looking way~ up then?!"


    Sebastian then ced his arm over Jose, "Don''t worry, we''ll both take careful watch along with the lords¡­ Just focus on the task at hand."


    "Are you sure?!"


    "Yes, we''ll guarantee your safety¡­ Luckily, it seems that your lord has knowledge with them¡­ Coupled with my experience, just think of them as nonexistent¡­"


    As soon as the sighs of relief followed, Kaley had to pinch my sides in order for me to not startughing.


    ''Man¡­ Sebastian''s really gonna work them physically AND mentally¡­ I guess he had to make his own entertainment sometimes¡­''

 Chapter 955 Felling 101

    Chapter 955 Felling 101


    In any case, the first thing Sebastian made them do was put on safety equipment like goggles, gloves, and the like before he approached a smaller, but rotten tree, to give a short demonstration.


    "Alright, as you can see now, I''m wearing my goggles, my gloves, my shin guards, and everything else but before we start chopping this tree down, the first order of business is to check your surroundings¡ª"


    Ruben cut in, "F-For Drop Bears, right?!"


    "Y-Yes, that too¡ª"


    "There''s more?!"


    Sebastian was trying his best not to stifle augh, "I''m talking about in an environmental sense¡­ You see, we''re still on a very gentle slope but as we go higher and higher, it''ll affect our clearing process. So yeah, the first thing to do is get a good look around you: make sure that the area around the tree you''re about to cut is free of anything your axe might get caught on like rocks, smallrge branches, other trees, a drop bear, etc., and make sure that the tree isn''t tangled or the ce it might fall wouldn''t hit phone lines, other trees, etc., but if it does, go to me first because what I''m teaching you today is the basics."


    "A-Alright¡­"


    "Though the gist of it is to make sure there''s always an area you can run to and the best direction for that is the exact opposite of where the tree is about to fall on¡ª Oh! Before that, it''s customary around here to do several bump checks because we can''t urately see what''s the situation up top unless we climb on it or use a drone. It''s a good measure of safety because sometimes if a tree is rotten up top and we start shaking it by chopping it from below, a huge part of it might just fall on our heads and kill us. I''ve seen it a few times and those are actually called widowmakers back then¡­"


    Isaac raised his hand, "W-What''s a bump check?"


    As soon as Isaac finished his question, Sebastian just removed the sheathe on his personal cutting axe before turning it the opposite way and smashing the t side against the tree in front of him.


    *THUD*


    And as he did with full force, the tree shook, and a few leaves fell gently but he bump-checked the tree six more times before he nodded his head and looked satisfied.


    "That''s a bump check," he said as he rested his axe on his shoulders, "So, once everything''s ounted for¡­ It''s not time to cut the tree down¡ªbefore anyone of you says anything, there are plenty of ways to cut them, of course, but it''s customary around here to shave off the bark first so we''d have a better view of where we are gonna sink our axe on. And yes, it''s also helpful to know that it gets rid of the dirt, moss, grime, etc. present on it because sometimes, it dulls the de and who knows what other foreign object¡ªthough a small, small chance¡ªwould be present on it. Take it as another precautionary measure aside from actually seeing if the tree is dead or something simr. One good indicator is that you can easily pick off the bark with our fingers like this¡­"


    As Sebastian exined more and more stuff¡ªwhich actually was a learning experience, even for me¡ªhe then finished clearing off the bark around the tree before he started his swinging motion by slightly hinging his hips as if he was getting ready to perform a deadlift. Doing that, instead of swinging to the actual level of his hips, made the path the axe traveled a little lower but either way could''ve worked¡ªdepending on the person doing it.


    He then continued his exnation while swinging with moderate force, "What I''m making right now is called the notch. It''s where I''m trying to make the tree fall¡ª"


    JP suddenly cut in, "Wait. Is there a reason you''re trying to make it fall that way instead of down this slope?"


    Sebastian then stopped cutting the tree for a moment, "I don''t understand the question¡­"


    Seb followed, "Yeah, I was wondering that too¡­ Wouldn''t it be easier if we make it fall that way too?"


    ''True¡ª Wait, unless¡­''


    As I figured out why Sebastian couldn''t understand basic distribution of workload, he just said it loud enough for everyone to hear:


    "My dear guests, it seemed like you thought we''d be bringing these trees to the estate."


    JP and Seb nodded at the same time, "Aren''t we?/ That''s what I''m thinking too¡ª"


    Then Sebastian finally started chuckling before it became a full-onugh, "This is just so hrious! HAHAHAHA! A-Ah¡­ Excuse theughter but the estate doesn''t need these trees for now, the log cabin does. I did say it was neglected for a number of years¡ª"


    Megan cut it, "Wait! I do remember you telling us that the PATH to the cabin was neglected, not both!"


    "Ah¡­ Then it is an honest mistake, apologies¡­ In any case, don''t worry as much because we have the easy route, it won''t be much trouble bringing all of these up there and the cabin isn''t that far¡­ We''ve actually started a few days ago¡ªthough I''ve been doing the clearing with a few of my personal workers who were now assisting the other people from the other side¡ªand even if we won''t be able to finish the whole thing in two weeks, just the help we''d receive plus the transformation your bodies will undergo will be enough for me¡­ It''s thepany I was actually looking forward to¡­"


    Then James#2 thought of an easy way out:


    "Umm¡­ Mr. Sebastian?"


    "Sebastian is fine, dear guest¡­"


    "Right, haha¡­ I''d hate to say this after giving us a brilliant demonstration but wouldn''t we be able to aplish more if we use chainsaws and the like?"


    Sebastian looked apologetic once again, "Apologies¡­ But as I said earlier¡­ There''s another group working on the opposite end where we''d like to clear a path and unfortunately, all of our chainsaws are being used at the moment¡­ Besides, how can we maintain our bodies if we just haul the logs up? And again¡­ With the way we chop trees sideways, it also works our oblique muscles, and it''s just a waste to not make use of the gentle slope we have¡­ That''s part of the reason I gave all the chainsaws away so that they wouldn''t be that disheartened by working in such a steep, steep~ slope unlike ours¡­"


    "A-Ah¡­ I-Is that so?"


    "Then shall we?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    "Drop Bear!"


    "W-WHERE?!"


    "Just kidding¡­ Ahaha¡­ Stay alert, alright?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    ''He''s¡­ He''s worse than Oscar¡­''


    In any case, as soon as Sebastian finished up the notch he was making¡ªwhich took up arge percentage of the diameter of the tree because of its smaller size¡ªall he had to do after that was make a smaller notch on the opposite side then push a little after shouting, "TIMBERRR~", at the top of his lungs.


    After that, he began to remove all of the branches it had and put them into a separate pile before cutting up the whole log at arm''s length, and then putting it into another pile.


    Cutting this tree on the smaller side didn''t take a lot of time, but it didn''t end there when he pulled out a pickaxe, a shovel, and a rusty-looking axe topletely remove the stump and cover it with some dirtter.


    Looking ahead at the number of marked trees for cutting down, it looked like the cadets had more than their work cut out for them, but they just couldn''t refuse because of the lengths Sebastian took to exin all of this shit to them and to be able to achieve a smidge of what Sebastian, Mauro, Logan, and I showed themst night.


    Even for me, it looked like a daunting task with our numbers but this felt more like training than actual work to me.


    But yeah, it was eventually decided to form three separate groups that would operate at the same time but well within each other''s earshot¡ªno vision, but as we broke off with a few others, Sebastian took an interest in the Injector Axe that was on Tatiana''s back. He thought it was simply a custom axe at first but he quickly made his way towards us when Tatiana made it hiss for a few times.


    "Ms. Tatiana? C-Can I please examine your axe for a bit? It caught my eye, it''s a curious one, isn''t it?"


    Tatiana nced at me but I couldn''t care less so she just handed it over, "Here ya go¡ª"


    "Ah~! This is heavier than it looks! I see the holes here and this particr button, can I know their exact purpose?"


    Since this was still a little bit of a sore subject for Tatiana, I took it upon myself to tell Sebastian a bit of context and his face just darkened when I mentioned a hulking zombie that was able to take several bullets to the head.

 Chapter 956 Its only fair. - Youre safe until you arent.

    Chapter 956 It''s only fair. - You''re safe until you aren''t.


    As strong as Sebastian was, without prior experience with the real thing, it''d be an arduous task to be able toe out of it alive by himself or to be able to protect Sal and her nieces. Sure, I haven''t seen his full capabilities but I was just simply judging from what I''ve seen because again¡­ as strong as he was, their estate needed more quality fighters, not more grunts to do gruntwork.


    ''Well~ There''s also his "personal" workers I haven''t seen so¡­ maybe? Just maybe¡­''


    In any case, his concern for his employers was genuine because I''ve never seen him this anxious. However, the notion of having a tool that could potentially solve his new-found problem at the same exact time was extremely lucky and unlucky.


    "So¡­ If I managed to sink this axe on its head and press this button right after, it''ll do it?"


    "Yeah, hopefully..."


    "But isn''t sinking the de to its head enough? I mean¡ª"


    "I think you must''ve forgotten about its head withstanding rifle rounds."


    "What rifle rounds, exactly?"


    "5.56s and 7.62s¡ª even a straight slug was caught in its skin that''s like the most gnarly jerky you''ve ever chewed on."


    "Then how did you exactly kill it? You don''t have it that time, no?"


    "Well~ I meant by withstanding bullets as being alive after getting shot because usually¡ªno, almost always, they die with a single shot to the head but that Hulker took plenty."


    "Ah, I see¡­"


    "But to answer your question, we tried disabling its movement first¡ªmaking one of its knees give out¡ªto get more shots in its head, and after a while, like a tough piece of meat, it''ll eventually give out given enough pressure."


    He let out a bitter smile as he chuckled, "I appreciate you trying to rte to me by using those references but is using this axe the only way to take it down?"


    "It''s currently the easiest way because Artem managed to test it on a partial Hulker like the one we fought on Mr. Cuervo''s games¡ªthough he haven''t actually used the injection system on thetter¡ªbut as I said, enough damage will put it down. The gas it injects into the small cracks from the damage it sustained straight to its head can be the deciding blow if you got close enough."


    "Close enough?"


    "You see, we''ve only faced one fully-formed Hulker and it hits harder than a truck AND you don''t get Isekai''d after. I''d actually rmend fighting it from afar if you have enough sharpshooters and enough firepower or just simply running away from it, but if worsees to worst, having one of those axes will save you¡ª"


    Sebastian''s eyes lit up, "So¡­ You have more of these?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "So¡ª"


    "Unfortunately, that''s the only one we have right now¡­ the rest of them are on the opposite side from Cuervo Heights¡­ We haven''t really tested if .308s could work on it but with Kaley here, we''ll just see how fewer bullets we''d use to take it down if we ever see one¡­ It''s just that they''re as rare as rare goes¡­"


    He nodded a few times, "I see¡­ I see¡­ In any case, may I please ask what would it take tomission¡ª"


    I instantly waved him off, "After you send off Edith and Nancy when we go back, I''ll give that to you plus a few more when I send over Elsa and Mauro''s wedding gifts. My folks back home are trying to improve them bit by bit¡­ if you don''t mind a prototype like this, it''s only fair to¡ª"


    "Are you serious, my lord?!"


    I chuckled as I leaned close for a whisper, "As serious as to your will to keep on scaring the cadets of those drop bears you speak of¡­"


    "Ah~! It is entertaining, no?"


    "It is, and I don''t mind it ''cuz it makes them safer in a way though indirectly."


    With that said, Sebastian returned Tatiana''s axe before walking back to his group which was now in the process of chopping down a medium-sized tree while my group was more focused on foraging, clearing out small branches and other obstacles, and watching out for threats.


    On the other hand, Mauro''s group was also chopping down arger tree further out, but from the corner of my eye, I saw Nancy huddled down on an exposed root of arge tree we weren''t supposed to cut.


    So, I approached her because everyone else was busy doing their own thing.


    "Hey."


    "Ah¡ª I wasn''t doing anything!"


    I chuckled from looking at her shocked to fuck expression, "I didn''t say you were, what are you doing over there? We''re not far out but you''re not supposed to venture out alone, right?"


    Nancy nodded a few times before pointing at a bunch of pinkish flowers on the ground, "I-I just found some Red C-Clovers¡­ W-We actually have some growing back h-home but I just wanna r-remember this spot just in case¡­"


    "Oh?" I was surprised at her find but I had to look into an empty space as I essed my mind pce, "Hmmrhgh¡­ Wait a sec, do you have osteoporosis?"


    Nancy cutely tilted her head, "What?"


    "Bone disease?"


    "W-What?! No! At least I don''t think so! Do I?!"


    "I think you''re just short¡­ How about high cholesterol?"


    Her face reddened as her mouth agape, "D-Do I look like I''m fat?! You¡ª"


    I tilted my head before I shrugged my shoulders, "So, menopause?"


    "IT''S FOR MY COUGHS AND ASTHMA!!!"


    As soon as I said the forbidden word, Nancy''s face just warped from embarrassment toplete disbelief and it only took a few seconds before she tried to climb on top of me and make me take back what I said to her.


    To bepletely fair, Red Clovers were being used to treat the first three that I said but it''s just that I haven''t gotten to coughs and asthma yet.


    But yeah, it had more uses than treating those we''ve mentioned above but with a small shovel in hand, Nancy took it upon herself to take a few from the bunch we saw and rent them a few feet away. That way, it would have the chance to at least multiply the next time she came here though I thought their supply from their estate should be enough on their own.


    It''s just that I didn''t think that Nancy had coughs or even asthma because I''ve never seen the symptoms, but at this moment, I''m gonna be a little more watchful over her and know more about her condition from Edith, Elsa, or Sal. All I know was that shecked stamina but that doesn''t mean to quit exercising altogether. She could also be suffering from a very mild case of those things but a few precautions while we were outside shouldn''t hurt.


    ''And Edith should definitely take it easy on her knowing that¡­''


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we heard "TIMBER~!" back-to-back followed by a couple of loud thuds when the trees hit the ground. After that, it was followed by constant chopping from clearing out the branches and cutting up the tree into logs and then carrying them over into the same pile before uprooting the stump and filling it up with soil.


    The group kept doing the same thing over and over until one got tired, but all they''d do was change up the tasks that person was doing then continuing on with the workload.


    As we cut a dozen trees or so, I noticed that even if Sebastian''s group had cut down a veryrge tree that seemed to be at least 20+ years old, we''d been doing "easy" trees that had no curvature and the like, and we were skipping a few trees that were definitely marked for cutting down.


    I just assumed that Sebastian deemed it to be either too dangerous for a novice group or he''d like us to skip a few so that the view or path to the log cabin would be clearer.


    But yeah, for some reason, Nancy kept spotting usable or edible weeds and flowers on the ground like pigweeds, purne, and even a wild raspberry bush. It didn''t have a single fruit yet but Nancy said¡ªand confirmed by my mind pce¡ªthat it was one. However, I almost had to smack her noggin'' because more often than not, she''d just wander around like a lost kid when she discovered something.


    With her small frame, it''ll be very easy to lose sight of her in the woods but I didn''t think I''d have to use a rope to tie us together because she was acting like we were still inside their estate.


    "T-This¡­"


    "You keep running away, that''s why."


    "But it''s safe¡ª"


    "Sure. Until it isn''t. You gotta understand, even without drop bears, deadheads, or the like, you might venture further than you think and sprain an ankle or god forbid, hit your fucking head in a log, and it''ll be a pain to find you. I''m just looking out for you so I don''t actually look out for you, got it?"

 Chapter 957 Safety First - Easier Ones First

    Chapter 957 Safety First - Easier Ones First


    Nancy was pouting like a little child getting reprimanded for her actions but after that, she slowly nodded from understanding what she did wrong but our attention was caught by Alexa screaming for dear life.


    In a split second, I carried Nancy on my left side before dashing to where the scream came from but luckily enough, it wasn''t as serious as I thought it was. However, even a few from the other groups sprinted here as fast as they could but all we saw was Megan on her ass while Alexa was already in tears.


    "WHAT HAPPENED?!"


    Megan was a little red from embarrassment, "I''M FINE, EVERYONE! I''M FINE! I JUST SLIPPED, OKAY?!"


    Alexa shook her head, "B-BUT YOUR LEG! I SAW¡ª"


    "I WAS WEARING THE SHIN GUARDS, ALEXA! I SLIPPED WHEN I SWUNG AND I¡ª"


    Kaley got in between them, "Alright, let''s all take a good, deep~ breath first¡­"


    And as they did, Kaley turned back to Megan who was still on her ass:


    "You still slipped, you okay? No sprains or anything?"


    Megan nodded, "Yes, of course. I¡ª Hngh! O-Oww¡­ Shit! Definitely a sprain or something¡­"


    As I took a closer look, the bottom of Megan''s right boot had a bit of mud and this shredded leaf¡ªwhich was probably the main cause for her slipping¡ªbut what everyone saw first was this huge tear on the shin guard''s leather padding.


    But as safety first saved the day, she wore the shin guards provided and it was the one who caught the blow when her axe missed its intended target. Because if she didn''t, she''d be lucky toe out of this with her left leg intact though she was even luckier because she came out of this with a sprained ankle.


    I haven''t actually seen a person chop their own leg off¡ªeven identally¡ªin real life, but I''ve seen plenty of leaked footage out there and since most of them were doing it alone, it was gnarly as gnarly goes and it would almost always result in death if they weren''t able to get past the initial shock.


    In any case, Megan was definitely out ofmission for now, but since she most definitely needed to get it checked out plus I didn''t wanna get tied down to Nancy who kept wandering alone, I took it upon myself to bring both of them back.


    "Y-You''re also taking me back?! Why?!" Nancy eximed as she started tugging on our rope.


    "Because you have to keep Meganpany! Why are you so feisty outside? You''re not like this inside the estate, right?"


    "I-I dunno! I just l-love exploring and finding things that people don''t find normally¡­"


    Megan interjected as I was carrying her on my back, "You better have some spicy stories for me or I get to punish ya!"


    "P-Punish? Why?!"


    "Not actually punish but you do have some, don''t you?"


    "I-I don''t follow¡­"


    "I mean¡­ Have you caught Sebastian doing something naughty with the other maids?"


    "W-What?! That''s¡ª"


    "Something like that, I want something like that¡­"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "He sure is popr, huh?"


    Megan almost headbutted me, "Not as popr as you but I''m just curious, you know? ''Cause he''s all mysterious like that¡­"


    "If I notice a wet spot on my back, I''m dropping you on the ground¡ª"


    "Oh,e on! Nancy! Sebastian''s hot, right?!"


    "W-Well¡­ His smiles a-are really nice b-but I a-actually find him a l-little scary¡­"


    "Doesn''t that add to it?"


    "A-Add to what?"


    "The whole thing? I might be speaking for myself but I like them a little¡­ you know¡­ dangerous¡ª though I still actually wanna feel safe at the same time¡­"


    I rolled my eyes as I readjusted my grip on her legs, "That¡­ That''s something I can''t understand¡­"


    "It''s¡ª Hmm~ How do I say this¡­ It''s like you know they can hurt you if they wanted to but they do the exact opposite¡ª a-and they sometimes kinda tease you into it which is really hot and they never go the full way¡­"


    "Okay~ I''m making you walk¡ª"


    "What?! I''m not soak¡ª"


    "If I stick my fingers in your vag right now, it wouldn''t slide right in?"


    "Pfft¡­ If you put it like that~ I might just lie and let you do more than just finger me¡­ This is what I''m talking about, you know? You can drop me down anytime but I''m sure you won''t¡­"


    "..."


    "What? Silent treatment right now? Seriously?!"


    Nancy interjected, "You''re really that h-horny, huh?"


    Megan chuckled, "You don''t know what it''s like for me alright? I''ve been with a guy who only wanted anal which I had to beg him to just took my first but once this guy whopletely went quiet came, and you know, CAME, a lot of my frustrations were solved."


    "Oh¡­ I think I might''ve a few stories like that¡­ I think I''ll be able to keep youpany¡­"


    "For real?! We''ll be really~ close at the end of the day then!"


    "Yeah!"


    I finally butted in, "Alright, Nancy can probably takeover from here¡ª"


    The two quickly reacted, "W-What?! We''re barely halfway back! I can''t even carry half of her!/Wait, wait, wait! Is there something I said?"


    I just chuckled as I waved them off, "Nah~ I just didn''t know what to reply back then so it''se to this¡­ But yeah, I like the way you''re that honest with your feelings. Not a lot of people are like that."


    "Wha¡ª Don''t suddenly go that deep on me!"


    "That¡­ That sounded dirtier than I thought, I''mma just keep quiet the whole way back¡ª"


    "NOOOOO~!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    With that said, I''d be happy to announce that all Megan needed was some ice and some painkillers and it didn''t take long before I bid the two goodbye and went back to where the others were.


    In any case, Kaley was the first one to run up to me and ask how Megan and Nancy were doing before we continued our slow ascent to this log cabin that still seemed to be nowhere in sight. Though morbidly enough, with how Sebastian was, I wouldn''t be surprised that if we finally cut down all these trees and managed to bring all of them up in two weeks time, he''d just say that the cabin was missing and we''d just have to build us one.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I got bored of just watching over the group so I switched ces with one of them to cut a tree by myself. And of course, it wasn''t difficult to find a willing sub¡ªwho was Seb, if any of that mattered¡ªbecause he get to hold my rifle and look cool with while taking a short break.


    Though it also didn''t take long before a few noticed we were being led to avoid cutting down trees that weren''t easy mode.


    JP walked up to Sebastian and asked the same question:


    "C-Can I ask the reason as to why we''re avoiding those ones? They''re clearly marked, right?"


    Sebastian simply nodded after wiping sweat off his brow, "Ah~ Someone finally noticed. It''s not a secret per se but that''s just how I do things. But if you want me to expand on that, the reason being is the trees we''re cutting down now are predictable or easily manipted to fall down a certain way while those ones that had curvatures¡ªor in tree lingo, "Banana-Shaped Trees" are very tricky to manage."


    "Tricky how?"


    "Hmm~" then Sebastian randomly pulled out a fucking banana from his pocket, "Let me give an example then¡ª"


    "Where in the hell did you pull that from¡ª"


    "That''s not important now, right?" then he beckoned JP over a tter surface before cing the banana on one end, "Watch how it falls down, alright?"


    As Sebastian let go of the fruit, it followed a straight line down at first but after its curvature was introduced to the ground, it started to shift and turn beforepletelyying t on its side.


    "You see now? Imagine if that banana was as huge as the trees we''re cutting. Sure, we can cut them at any time but what I''m trying to make us do was to clear the easier ones and give more space for those curved trees because, at the end of the day, we''re here to train your bodies and to avoid those trees tangling up in case they fall a certain way¡­"


    JP nodded a few times, "I see now. Thank you for exining that."


    "No problem at all¡ª"


    "Would you mind answering a few more questions?"


    "As long as it''s not too personal, I''ll answer to the best of my ability¡­"


    In any case, JP just asked more about helpful tips for swinging an axe while I focused on how each and every swing of this axe lent to me would hit deeply on its target. It was a totally different feelingpared to using my katana or my wakizashi but if I did have to use an Injector Axe in the future, simply gettingfortable with a regr one wouldn''t hurt.

 Chapter 958 Felling Trees To Whittling

    Chapter 958 Felling Trees To Whittling


    It didn''t take long before noon came and the Philippine version of rice balls after a workout such as this just hits differently.


    Tatiana and Kuzma eximed in surprise from the first bite, "Woah! I''ve never had this! Why don''t we ever have this?! This is insanely good!/ God, I''m gonna get from the amount of food I''m eating ever since I joined you guys¡­"


    To give a brief description, these rice balls of ours could be made in any number of ways but the gist would be to at least have a¡­ you know, a ball of rice with any type of viand on it, then be wrapped into a ball or any shape with banana leaves.


    It''smonly sold by small shops or vendors that would walk around the area to sell them though their shelf life isn''t that long.


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "We never had these because it''s not eatenmonly in the cities¡­ It''s more of a staple around these areas and even though it is delicious, it''s probably the hunger talking¡­"


    "What''s in this anyway? So good¡­"


    Edith answered with a Duchenne smile, "You''re praising me too much! A-Anyway, it''s just like Adobo but I shredded the chicken so it could mush nicely with the rice¡­ Hope you don''t mind the added spiciness¡ª"


    A few others then gave morepliments:


    "Naw! This is good Miss Edith!"


    "I''d love one a tad spicier and with more garlic too!"


    "Aren''t you being a little too ungrateful?"


    "I''m not, I was just¡ª"


    "D-Don''t fight, I just didn''t know what you all like so I brought a few spices here¡ª"


    "Dibs on the chili kes!"


    "WOAH! You thought this far ahead?! You''re a godsend!"


    "T-Thank you!"


    Then Ruben turned to Sebastian, "H-Hey¡­ How close are we a-anyway?"


    Sebastian looked a little surprised from the question, "Hmm~ I''d say we''re kind of friends right now but I don''t want to assume¡ª"


    "PFFT!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Ruben was shaking his head as he replied, "I-I meant the log cabin¡­ H-How far are we¡ª"


    "Oh~ I see now, apologies. I''m not exactly sure but it should take us close to two hours if we hike up normally but probably more now because we lost the direct path. On top of watching out for threats, we''d also have to make our own route and it isn''t advisable to just visit it because the view would be obscured by the trees, unfortunately¡­ It used to have this perfect view of the farnd and the mansion too, I might add¡­"


    "Then shouldn''t we work double-time for that?! I love a good workout but experiencing something like that even once is awesome, even more if we worked really hard for it!"


    "That''s really admirable, young sir, but it''s rather best to not overexert yourselves¡­ A certain key that almost everyone in the powerlifting, bodybuilding, or any other strength or fitness-rted industry forgets is avoiding injury and being as patient as possible. A little bit of ego is good but being unable to do what you want and love is more heartbreaking than not being able to achieve your goals in the time you think you should''ve achieved them¡­ Just my two cents¡­"


    "I-Is that so? If you say so, I-I guess¡­"


    As Ruben and a few others nodded pensively, I turned to Quinn and surprisingly enough, she turned to me at the exact same time before she got startled and looked away in a far corner.


    ''Pfft¡­''


    And after a short bit, we topped off our meal with some fresh water and then rested for a bit before we went back to choppin''.


    With doing the same work over and over, I tend tond myself in a trance and work and work and work without pause but this time, for some reason, I started to get bored after felling more than a dozen small trees, a handful of medium ones, and one big-ass tree that was at least a couple of decades old.


    It might be because I discovered the trick to cut in as deeply and as precisely as I could with my axe or one other reason was that Sebastian started giving me looks when I was progressing faster than we could''ve and making it easy for the cadets who were supposed to be training.


    In any case, I can''t just seem to sit still so after cutting down mystrge tree for the day, I picked up a few smaller logs and found myself on the exposed root I found Nancy in earlier. After that, I just pulled out a pocket knife I borrowed from Kuzma before I started whittling.


    And this time, it finally hit the spot as I decided to start carving out Nem-Nem, Mie-My, and Rogue. The wood I chose and the pocket knife could''ve been a little nicer but I''ll use what I could.


    I should''ve been guarding the cadets and everyone else but there''s no denying that Kaley''s almost unstoppable with a high-powered rifle. Besides, chances were, most of the threats would head over to the other side of the log cabin because of the noise chainsaws were making all day.


    In any case, I only have a couple of hours and then some before our time limit for the day but the moment I entered the zone, time passed like a snap of a finger and I was also brought back from hearing the same metaphor.


    Funnily enough, the first thing I saw was Kaley leaning and looking down on me with a huge smile on her face but there seemed to be a few people fighting behind her.


    "You started something again, you should fix it¡­ Pfft¡­"


    "What now?"


    "Just look behind me¡­"


    Turns out, I did more than just carve out my newly-tamed pets, and Elsa, Edith, Alexa, Quinn, Ruben, Isaac, and even Kuzma were having a fight as to who gets what.


    Alexa was pleading for dear life, "You two already got the dogs, why can''t I have this tiny wittle chick?!"


    Elsa put her put down, "First off, it''s Nem-Nem and Mie-My and secondly, can''t you understand how cute that is?! YOU BASICALLY ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION!"


    Quinn just exploded and raised my carvings up in the air so no one could reach them, "FUCK ALL YOU ALL! I DON''T CARE WHO GETS WHAT BUT I''M KEEPING ROGUE AND ROGUE JR.! I''LL BREAK YOUR NECK IF I HAVE TO!"


    And Kuzma was doing almost the same thing, "GIVE ME ROGUE JR. AT LEAST! I PROVIDED HIM WITH THE KNIFE! I SHOULD GET SOMETHING! HEY! WHO STOLE THE COW I HAVE ON THIS PILE?! HUH?!"


    Edith pouted, "B-But I¡­ I r-really wanted it¡­"


    Sebastian cut in, "My guest, I would do everything in my power to give you anything in exchange for thedy''s desire. How about a banana?"


    "WHAT?! THAT''S NOT EVEN A REAL BANANA!"


    "I apologize¡­ I''ve already eaten the one I brought but this is just to show that I can do a little bit of carving if I say so myself¡­"


    Then Ruben got into it as well, "Can I please~ have the axe head?! It''s gonna look so cool if I use it as a pendant! Wha¡ª For real?! Thanks Sebastian!"


    "No worries, now convince Kuzma toy off on thedy¡ª"


    "We''re not even in the same unit¡ª We are now but I''ve seen him fight, he''ll kill me!"


    "Ruben, young sir, need I remind you that I can alsomit atrocities and if thedy wishes something, she shall have it!"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!! JUST TAKE THE AXE HEAD BACK, I DON''T WANT IT ANYMORE~!!! TAKE IT, ISAAC!"


    "HAAAH?! I DON''T WANT YOUR CURSED AXE HEAD! I''M ALREADY FINE WITH THIS LEAF! I''LL WANT ANYTHING THE SENSEI PROVIDED!"


    "PROVIDED?! ARE YOU GUYS INSANE?! NONE OF YOU ASKED HIM IF THEY''LL GIVE IT TO Y''ALL AND Y''ALL JUST TOOK IT WITHOUT PERMISSION!"


    Seeing the mess I made¡ªno they made for themselves, I was a little afraid to show them myst work for the day¡ªwhich was a five-leaf clover¡ªbut I threw it a good distance away as a distraction so Kaley and I could get ahead of everybody. Because if they knew that I already "woke up", I would be barraged with different requests and that''s something I would''ve wanted to do at the moment.


    With that said, five days went on just like this without incident but it didn''t take long before the people from the other side reached the log cabin before us. Granted it was fairly obvious they''d achieve that with their equipment and their numbers, but Sebastian eventually deemed it that the rest of our time in this ce shouldn''t be spent on chopping wood manually.


    We''ve already established that lifting heavy circles wasn''t the only way to get stronger but everyone still wanted to see the view they were longing for.


    But to achieve the best way to see such a view, we would need to spend the sixth day hiking up and reaching the log cabin we still hadn''t seen, doing some intense spring cleaning, tons of repairs, and then sleeping there for the night to get the perfect view tomorrow morning.

 Chapter 959 Cabin In The Mountains - Spill.

    Chapter 959 Cabin In The Mountains - Spill.


    When the early morning came, I was the first to wake up in our group, and I sneakily woke Kaley up so we could have some alone time together and it wouldn''t be as cramped in the shower. Showering with beauties left and right could be the dream for some but it was as dangerous as dropping a soap in prison when their switches were turned on.


    "We''re gonna do this from now on, huh?"


    "When can I get some alone time with you then?"


    "Now?"


    "Exactly."


    "Then let''s stop wasting time and start making use of it, hmm?"


    "I thought you''d never ask¡ª"


    "Shh¡ª MmM! C-Close the door¡ª Ah! W-Wait¡ª There, we can do whatever we¡ª Ah! Hngh¡­ MmMh!"


    In any case, the reason we were able to sneak around was because we''ve recently discovered that sleeping by the edges of the bed could give us this small window and we have been doing it ever since everyone else decided to pile on together after our nightly activities.


    But yeah, in regards to our morning activities, I''ve seen from the mirror that even I had put on some muscle¡ªthough a portion of it was also fat¡ªdue to the amount of food we were consuming plus the arduous work every morning and night: chopping wood in the morning, powerlifting before dinner, and "cardio" before nighttime.


    After a while, everyone¡ªincluding Megan and Nancy¡ªwas now hiking up the mountain to finally see this log cabin Sebastian was holding in high regard.


    Sure enough, we were met with arger group of people just having breakfast in the early morning but only a few nods and invitations to eat were exchanged before three gentlemen who looked to be the same age as me made their way toward Sebastian.


    And upon closer inspection, I discovered that the one on the left had a huge gash on his left eye and the color on his left iris was different while the one on the right had what seemed to be a cleft lip but in actuality was also a 3-inch wound, and the one in the middle didn''t seem to have any outstanding scars.


    In any case, they all bowed their heads and greeted us at the same time, "Good morning, dear guests, our lords anddies, head butler¡­/ Have you all eaten yet? We have some rice porridge topped with shredded chicken, green onions, and eggs¡­ /Would you all care to try a bowl?"


    lights¦­¦Ïvel Sebastian answered, "Thank you, but we''ve all eaten beforeing here¡­ I believe I can leave this portion to you three?"


    The one in the middle replied, "Ah, so you''re heading for the cabin, I''m assuming?"


    "Yes, actually."


    Then the one on the right nodded, "We still insist on cleaning it ourselves but we leave it to you, sir. I hope it''s as liberating as the first time weid our eyes on the horizon¡­"


    The one on the left followed, "I agree¡­ Luckily enough it doesn''t need a lot of repairs but I hope you''d be happy to see it once again¡­"


    Sebastian then waved them off, "Please, no spoilers¡­ In any case, we''ll be moving on up. See you all soon."


    "Of course!/ Yes, sir!/ We''ll get there as fast as we can!"


    Hearing the three, it once again covered Sebastian in this veil of mysteriousness but instead of asking the most slippery guy I''ve met, I guess it would be better to just see the ce for myself.


    In any case, we spent a little more than an hour to reach this medium-sized cabin¡ªridden with branches, roots, and moss¡ªthat was built on top of this huge-ass rock that acted as an overlook on this side of the mountain. And even if the sun had already risen and there were still a lot of tall trees blocking the view, I was stunned by seeing this "obscured" view for a few seconds just like everybody else.


    However, to my surprise, Sebastian had never looked more emotional and perfect for a profile photo because from the lights and the angle he was standing on, it was akin to the short emotional scene with orchestral music ying right before the credits rolled.


    But yeah, as soon as he noticed me staring at him, he quickly took control of his emotions and facial expression like a snap of a finger before heading to the cabin and walking up to the porch.


    "No one step on here yet, I''m checking for its structural integrity¡­"


    As he said that, he was just staring at the wooden door and its rusted handle for a good while so I took it upon myself to sneak just a few feet behind him before I took in a deep breathe and mmed my right foot down and shouted at the top of my lungs as I performed a basic horse stance:


    "HAH!"


    To everyone''s fucking surprise, as the whole cabin shook, Sebastian was just so shocked to fuck as he twisted his body unnaturally and sent an overhead strike using three of his fingers¡ªmiddle, index, and thumb¡ªstraight at my head.


    It was the first time I saw fear and rage in his eyes but I easily used his force and his unbnced footing against him as I grabbed his hand, stepped in, twisted my body the same way, and then threw him on the porch before holding him down until he recognized who I was.


    Everything happened in a matter of seconds but a good note in the future was to avoid startling Sebastian when he was having his moment.


    "HAA¡ª HAAAhhHH¡­ hHAA¡ª"


    "SEBASTIAN! IT''S ME! IT''S ME! IT''S OKAY! IT''S OKAY! IT''S JUST ME! I JUST CAME UP FROM BEHIND YOU! I''M SORRY! SEBASTIAN! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"


    "HAA¡ª H-HAA¡­ HAA¡ª HHAAAAA¡­ HA¡ª HAaa¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    "You okay, dude? Can I let go of you now?"


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ W-What¡­ I¡­ Where¡ª"


    "We''re in the cabin now, right? You said you were gonna check for structural integrity but you took too fucking long so I u-umm¡­ surprised you and then this happened¡­"


    "Ah¡ª I-I apologize¡ª"


    "No, no! It''s my bad, actually¡­ I should apologize¡­ Want me to let go, now?"


    "P-Please¡­ I would very much like that¡­"


    With that said, let''s just say that I had something more potent than coffee this fucking morning and Sebastian needed a few minutes to gather himself from what went on. Luckily enough, he let Kaley talk to him for a little bit while everyone else was still confused as to what just went on.


    Then Edith and Elsa sneakily approached me, "What happened?/ W-What did you do?"


    I shook my head as I looked at the two, "I should be the one asking you that. What happened over here? He''s never like that."


    Edith answered first, "W-We¡ª I have no idea, sis?"


    Elsa shook her head, "It''s the first time we''ve seen him like that too¡­ He''s always like you know, like you but in a more posh or gentlemanly way."


    I nced momentarily at Sebastian before I turned back to the two, "What''s the deal with this cabin, anyway?"


    The two answered at the same time, "Hmm?/This cabin?"


    I looked at them, bewildered, "You¡­ You own a cabin in the mountains, right?"


    The two answered with confusion in their faces:


    "We do¡­ a few, actually¡­"


    "B-But not this one¡­"


    "What?"


    "We could''ve owned this too, maybe¡­"


    "But this one is too¡­ you know¡­ too old¡­"


    Hearing the two, I once again visited the fact that Sebastian might be a spawn or the devil himself and there were only a few context clues in my arsenal.


    One of them was that he''s older than he looks and even if he tried to get evasive or deny it outright, I remember Quinn saying that he came out of retirement¡ªand even though it could also mean that he quit earlier than actual retirement age, even if Quinn was only a little bit older than us or Tatiana, Sebastian should very well be older than the two for at least a decade.


    Secondly, the scars I''ve seen on his arms and on his legs werepletely unnatural, and the way his three personal workers addressed and talked to him earlier told me that they were hinting about something from the past but with the ages of some of the trees we cut down, it was also hinting at something further back and something terrible.


    Andstly, just the way he reacted from getting surprised from looking at this old but sturdy cabin corrtes with what I''ve said above but at the end of the day, we could only know the truth if we asked the person himself. But yeah, the way he was, I doubt he''d even open up toplete strangers or even Kaley after the fact.


    However, this was one of the few times a STR and CON characternded a critical on a nigh-impossible INT check.


    "Spill," Mauro said as he loomed over Sebastian.


    "Pardon?"


    "I said spill. You know I still haven''t cashed in my favor from you three, right? So, spill."

 Chapter 960 Crumbs

    Chapter 960 Crumbs


    The moment Mauro said those words, Sebastian just nced at him before taking a deep breath while Kaley looked like she didn''t like the way Mauro chose to enforce the bet between gentlemen. Sure, a bet''s a bet and there wasn''t any specific ruling as to what should and shouldn''t be requested beforehand, but in all fairness, making use of it to forcefully dig into someone''s personal life wasn''t gentlemanly at all.


    But yeah, Mauro doubled down as he repeated himself:


    "Hey, did you even hear me? I said spill. Don''t give me that look unless¡ª"


    Sebastian cut him off after a short exhale, "I apologize but¡ª"


    "Don''t fucking apologize. All you have to do is¡ª"


    "Please, my lord. Let me finish. What happened here isn''t entirely a secret but it was just a story forgotten by time. If you all want to hear the story, I could tell you all over dinner but if you want to waste calling in a favor, my lord, I''ll dly do so¡­"


    Kaley interjected, "Sebastian¡­ A-Are you sure about that?"


    Sebastian chuckled, "Of course, mydy, it is a tad depressing but I''m here now so it probably has a good ending, no?"


    "I-If you say so¡­"


    "I do have to thank you for thefort and the kind words, it truly helped me calm down. In any case, why don''t I give you a tour of the ce I ''lived'' in for years?"


    With that said, everyone was satisfied with the crumbs he was feeding us but it was hrious to see such a strong powerlifter struggle to open the door which was apparently, not unlocked. Eventually, all it took was a solid front kick to bust it open but the bugs, dust, and debris that came out almost wiped half the group off the porch.


    In all honesty, I was expecting at least a few ritualistic sacrifices and a couple of pentagrams drawn on the walls but it was¡­ as normal as normal gets.


    The first thing we saw was like a regr old shack that had an antique stove of sorts, wooden furniture for almost everything which was covered in dust, a few books by this end table, a discarded antler as a disy piece,mps powered by oil, etc.


    And making our way to the partial(?) second floor¡ªforck of a better term¡ªthat was the bedroom of sorts which we could see below was also as simple as simple gets as it only had this dusty old bed with this mattress that had its own ecosystem, a broken old mirror, and this dresser which was missing half of its door and all of its supposed dresses.


    In any case, I was expecting way, way~ worse than a hoarder''s den we needed to clear out but I would''ve preferred it honestly right after Sebastian kicked down the dresser and revealed a narrow passage before us.


    "This¡­"


    Sebastian let out a faint smile, "That¡­ Beyond that is the ce I¡ª no, we lived in¡­ And again, I''ll go on ahead for everyone''s safety but please¡­ if you''re gonna sneak up behind me again, no jumpscares, okay?"


    "You were really scared that time?"


    "You can''t even imagine, my lord¡­"


    "Hah¡­ If I get scared, I either scream or scurry away like a cockroach, notmit bloody murder¡­"


    "Haha¡­ Old habits, I guess¡­ A-Anyway, to those who''re not gonna follow after me, I suggest starting with the living room¡­ Leave the kitchen to me because I swear to all things living that the sink and the cupboards will be a tad diabolic¡­ Tread lightly¡­"


    On that note, only Mauro, Elsa, and Megan followed after me as Sebastian disappeared inside the passage though Mauro was having a hard time walking down the creaky steps because of his wide frame. He had to be behind everyone else and almost had to resort to walking sideways but after a couple of turns and a few more careful steps, we had to use our shlights because there was no chance in hell we could see in pitch darkness.


    "Home sweet home, I guess¡­" Sebastian joked as he turned around to face us.


    Pointing my shlight around, and with the help of the others'' light sources, I was able to deduce that this was simply an old and musty room that had been left for ages, but everything that we could identify was just pure rubbish or junk.


    Granted there were unknown mushrooms that I would strongly advise to not pick up and eat or in our case, we shouldn''t be casually inhaling the spores as we should''ve gone down here with respirators on.


    Megan remarked, "Y-You''ve lived in this ce alone for years?"


    "Hmm? Well, not alone but it''s safe to say we could only see each other when we get our nightly visits¡­"


    "N-Nightly visits?"


    "I¡­ I should be telling this over¡ª hmm~ maybe after dinner would be more appropriate but since you all came down with me, I''ll grant you the privilege of hearing a few tidbits¡­" Sebastian trailed as he pointed his shlight to the farthest corner of the room where four rusted metal rods were sticking out, "There¡­ That''s the ce I slept, ate, drank, pissed, shat, and did everything for a number of years as I thought it was the norm¡­"


    "W-What?"


    "I used to be all alone here until~ I dunno the exact time actually because I wasn''t even aware of that concept but what I thought were more visitors were actually my new roommates, I believe you''ve seen them a little bit earlier¡­ Shame I forgot to introduce them properly¡­"


    "W-What were their names?"


    "Well, I guess it''s safe to say that all of ourst names are one and the same: Rivas¡­ Pff¡­ Which we''re all very thankful for but the one in the middle without any visible scars was Gerald, the one with the scar on his eye was Chris Irvine, and the one with the scar on his lip was Keith. Let''s just say that even though we aren''t rted by blood, we''ve bonded over some¡ª no a lot of things over the years. There was actually more of us but you know¡­ We''re not actually sure if they''re still out there or not but once we got out of this ce, we were the only ones that are left¡­"


    "What¡­ What actually happened here?"


    "Hah¡­ A lot of things that I''ll dly tell you after dinner possibly with a cheese board, some jerky, and a bottle of wine¡­ Wouldn''t you all agree?"


    Elsa chuckled, "I''d love that¡­ I hate to say this but I think we should¡­ somehow¡­ air this ce for a little bit before staying longer¡­ I dunno how but we should¡­ right?"


    Sebastian nodded a few times, "Of course, my apologies¡­ We should head above ground for now because as I said earlier¡­ I might have a little shortcut for that¡­"


    "What now?"


    As Sebastian stated earlier, he did ask to leave the kitchen area to him for some reason but everything became clear once he ripped off what was left of the kitchen sink and counter before starting to chop down on the moldy and mushroom floor below it.


    And as the hole got bigger and bigger, it was revealed that the sink had a direct line to the basement instead of a drain or something simr and everyone''s faces went sullen when they pieced together that not only was Sebastian living in that damp basement inplete darkness, but he was also probably being fed with all the food wastes plopping down at indeterminate intervals.


    "W-What''s that ce?!"


    "Home?"


    "Wha¡ª"


    "I haven''t aired it for years, apologies¡­ It''s the only way to do it now¡­"


    "W-What''s that growing over there¡­"


    "Hmm~ Even I with my extensive knowledge of herbalism couldn''t identify what are they exactly. It might be a new cross-species or something but I''ll advise everyone to open up all of the windows before everything else¡­ We should also work on the outside first while we''re letting the sun do its thing over here¡­"


    "It''s only shining on that hole¡ª"


    "And it''s either that or tearing this whole floor down¡­ Part of me just want to burn this cabin to the ground¡­ If it weren''t for the view¡­"


    "S-Seriously?"


    "Yep."


    "Did you just talk informally, for once?"


    "I did, didn''t I? Huh¡­ That was¡­ I don''t even know what to call it¡­"


    With that said, I was just dying to know how he got, lived, and escaped from this area to turn into this one hell of a butler who somehow found powerlifting as a hobby while being able to still smile or joke around given what he went through.


    There was only so much a normal person could take and I imagine that even assuming the worst couldn''t have cut it.


    Because as bad as this would sound, sometimes, people with the most fucked up past could smile the brightest or have the most fucked up sense of humor¡ªeven using what they went through as the weapon or the armor that could push them forward with what regr folks call "adversity".

 Chapter 961 Glider? - Where the fucks Lopez?!

    Chapter 961 Glider? - Where the fuck''s Lopez?!


    At this point, it was safe to say that the entire mood or atmosphere had soured but to kick things back into action, since we were cleaning and all, I had to pull out a bit that I used when my group was in the City of Man.


    I grabbed onto this long brush with a mop handle before I started cleaning, "It''s a hard knock life¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I was already getting weird stares but I continued on, "It''s a hard knock life, for us~"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Pfft¡­"


    Then Nancy joined me with a huge smile on her face, "IT''S A HARD KNOCK LIFE, FOR US!/ IT''S A HARD KNOCK LIFE~ FOR US!"


    *KNOCK*


    *KNOCK*


    But before I get hit with something that shouldn''t have existed in this setting, imagine half of the group evolving into this routine sing and dance from the 80s while the other half couldn''t understand what the fuck we were doing but did it anyway for solidarity.


    In any case, it brought the vibes back up to where it was optimal but it ramped up way too hard when Sebastian straight-up set the cabin aze.


    With the amount of burnable materials in and out of that cabin, it was very easy to light it up even with a perfectly aligned water bottle and sunlight. But yeah, he should''ve told us he was gonna burn it in the end or this was just a decision at the veryst second.


    "WHA¡ª"


    "SEBASTIAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"


    "I do apologize for wasting everyone''s time but I''ll make sure to make up for itter. I just thought I''d be able to do something with this ce but it should be better if we burn it from the ground up first."


    "That¡ª That food you promisedter should be top-notch, goddammit!"


    "YEAH!"


    "Of course, even the wine too¡ª I''ll bring out something from my own collection¡­"


    "Again, it''s the first time I''ve heard of this collection of yours!"


    With that said, I would''ve put my foot down any other day from burning down a rustic cabin in the woods but I wouldn''t want to be a fucking hypocrite because I also burned down something¡ªmy old professor''s Adventure¡ªin the heat of the moment.


    But yeah, it only took a few moments before the three Gerald, Chris Irvine, and Keith came running with the same sullen expression Sebastian was wearing at the moment.


    They couldn''t stop watching it burn down in front of their eyes but they started to tear up before maniacallyughing side by side.


    Honestly, it was a little unnerving watching them do that but I''m just gonna assume it was their way to put that chapter in their lives to a close.


    And yeah, Sebastian would probably tell us the whole storyter but I doubt it could fully express what they went through together. Even I pride myself as a pretty decent storyteller but I doubt I could fully put into words what I experienced when I lost my parents because I even needed to seek help from Marisha to remember one of the important parts of it.


    Then Sebastian made his way towards me:


    "Excuse me, my lord¡­ what do you think though?"


    I tilted my head sideways, "Think of what?"


    "Ah¡ª I mean, this location¡­ Ites with a great view, solid stone basement that''s currently missing a house, right next to farm fresh produce¡­ what do you think? Restoration-wise, I mean."


    "W-Who''s gonna live here anyway?"


    "Umm~ Just take it as a vacation house if ever I was given a day-off or a weekend-off¡­"


    "Are you serious right now?"


    "Of course, my lord¡­ I''m open to hear any ideas off the top of your head."


    "Alright then¡­ Well~ the first thing I''ll do is clear the area around a bit more, some solid fencing, an rm system, a straight path to Sal''s estate, and aside from building a house to your own specifications¡ªwhich I could also give some input on, why don''t you make the basement a panic room of sorts?"


    "A panic room?"


    "You know, a ce where you have everything you''ll need to hunker down and be able to defend yourself because I dunno about as to why you''d want to live in istion from time to time but living alone in the woods up in the mountains is kinda scary. I''m a loner too but with the apocalypse still going on, you gotta stick with people¡­"


    "Hah¡­ Kinda ironic to build the ce I so wanted to get out of into a ce no one besides myself can get in¡­"


    "Eh~ You can look at it that way but it''s making use of what gave you nightmares, nightmares to those who wanted to fuck around with you, in a bad way¡­"


    Sebastian chuckled once again, "That is true¡­"


    "And speaking of a straight path to Sal''s estate¡­ this is gonna sound fucking dumb but since we''re this high up¡­ how about a zipline?"


    "A-A zipline?"


    "You know, if there''s an emergency, as fast as we can run downhill, nothing beats a zipline or sliding down using arge turtle shell, right?"


    "..."


    "But yeah, you also have to think about where the zipline will take you because if it goes straight to Sal''s mansion, it has to be guarded or really fucking hard to get to. I can''t imagine some randoms popping in and using it now, can we?"


    "Hmm~ It does pose a great deal of vulnerability, I''m afraid¡­"


    "So¡­ A glider then?"


    "Wut¡ª"


    "A glider? You know, those things that look like paper airnes but way~ big, like¡ª"


    "M-My lord, I-I do know what a glider is¡­ I-I was just surprised by the sudden jump¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "HAHAHAHAHA! YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH! YOU WENT THERE, HUH?!"


    "I HAD TO MY LORD, I HAD TO!"


    In any case, Sebastian and I shared a quick moment while everyone either chuckled or shook their heads at what we were talking about.


    But if you think about it, the overlook provided in this area was the perfect jump-off to get to Sal''s mansion if there was an emergency, and aside from making or acquiring the glider itself, the only thing that was left was an emergency parachute.


    I''m 100% sure we were sounding like people who just escaped a mental asylum but you gotta have a little bit of excitement in your life at least once.


    And yeah, as we were still discussing the specifics of Sebastian''s vacation home, he formally introduced his three personal workers or should I say his blood brothers who walked up to us seeing me talk to their eldest casually.


    Gerald was the first one to speak after the brief introduction, "My lord, it seems like our head butler has taken a fancy to you, huh?"


    "I do think so too./That sounds about right," Chris Irvine and Keith followed.


    Sebastian chuckled, "I do, actually¡­ He has something simr to us and I highly rmend you three toe back to the estate tomorrow¡ªat your earliest convenience, of course¡ªto¡­ you know¡­ trade pointers. So far, we''ve only traded lifting techniques and I''m just building myself up for that¡ª"


    I cut in as I shook my head, "Seriously? You needed a bit of programming for a spar? That''s ridiculous¡ª"


    "My lord, as much as I try to hide it, I am¡­ not as young as I used to be so a little bit of preparation is needed to give you a challenge¡­ And as evidence to that, you did beat me in a short bout earlier¡ª"


    The three couldn''t believe their ears, "HUH?!/ NO WAY?!/ SINCE WHEN DO YOU LOSE?!"


    Sebastian just chuckled as he waved them off, "I''ve lost several times against other people. But you three? Never in a million years¡­ And to go back to our previous subject, I''d like you three to also face the lord to see things from a different perspective though to be a little honest, I just want you to tire him out to the best of your measly abilities¡­"


    I interjected while the three looked like they were about to ignore the order of seniority:


    "That doesn''t seem fair. Why don''t I bring out a few of my boys in the mix?"


    "Oh? You mean, Sir Isaac, JP, and Seb?"


    "Huh? No. I mean Jose, Kuzma, and Mauro¡ª"


    "Kuku¡­ Now that doesn''t seem fair on my side, my lord! And I don''t think the lord, Mauro, would appreciate you calling him your boy¡­"


    "Eh~ He beat me in powerlifting, I beat him in the ring, potato, potato~"


    With that said, the five of us shared a maniacalugh with each other but our time here in the mountains made me forget of someone I should be paying very~ close attention to. Even if he should''ve been keeping a low profile as he should, I didn''t think he''d slip past my radar the past few days.


    Thinking about Lopez made me let out a weird expression and Sebastian instantly knew what was up when I started looking around:


    "You''re looking for Mr. Lopez? Don''t worry, he''s spending quality time with the madam every single day¡­"


    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 962 A Visitor - Phantom Limb Syndrome?

    Chapter 962 A Visitor - Phantom Limb Syndrome?


    As a select few from my group were shocked to fuck from the breaking news, the ones who weren''t in the know were confused about two consenting adults getting it on while I, on the other hand, didn''t know whether Lopez had an actual deathwish or he was having a taste of his own medicine.


    Besides, I already thought he was into girls half¡ªor even more than half his age, maybe even around the same age as his daughter, Chloe.


    But yeah, this could be a step in the right direction for him but unless he was that sex deprived and fucked in the head¡ªno offense to Sal, you don''t simply spend some "quality time" with one of the heads of a drug cartel and expect no blowback.


    Granted Sal might''ve been just missing the warmth of a "man" but if their thing blossoms into something more permanent, it''s going to be a whole lot of trouble because not only Lopez had a wife and a daughter back at my alma mater, but he also had responsibilities as a donor to one of my disciples, JP.


    And again, no offense to Sal, but in order for her to live a peaceful life with Lopez if ever, they had to "make" his recements which I doubt she had the ability to do.


    Furthermore, I was still torn between tearing his head off with a rusty saw or letting him turn over a new leaf, so let''s just say that I''ll cross the bridge when I get there.


    Then as we were pondering about what to do next, we heard a ghastly scream from a few meters above us:


    "YOUUU¡ª! YOU DARE BURN THIS OLD, OLD HOUSE?! ARE YOU ALL OUT OF YOUR MINDS?! THIS IS THE¡ª THIS IS¡ª THIS IS A PIECE OF OUR ANCESTRY! IT''S A PIECE OF¡ª GCHK!!!"


    I only managed to get a brief nce at this hooded figure when I heard Sebastian''s shotgun fire two rounds at almost the exact same time.


    The figure managed to avoid getting its head blown off but Sebastian''s younger blood brothers had already dashed and made their way. I never thought I''d feel such dense killing intent from those three, even more from Sebastian himself, and I might be a little out of base here but the figure they shot must be one of those bitches¡ª I mean, witches in the woods.


    But yeah, everything just happened too briefly and too quickly but as this "ancestral" cabin was still burning down, the three dragged down the hooded figure and presented it in front of Sebastian.


    "Take her cloak off," Sebastian coldly said as he popped off the spent casings from his gun and loaded fresh ones.


    "Right away," Keith answered as he pulled on the cloak of the figure still screeching and squirming from pain but it was safe to say that if we wanted to eat some lunch, the cloak should''ve stayed on.


    Right from the get-go, the rancid smell of BO, piss, shit, and whatever the fuck was rotting and mixing inside her assaulted our noses but I''m 100% sure that maggots were feeding off her rotting arm.


    I wasn''t even sure how she was alive and talking right now but I''m sure she didn''t have long because Sebastian blew most of her left shoulder off which seemingly had this very tight tourniquet wrapped around it. Unless this person was nning to cut off her arm any time soon, I doubt putting one there had any purpose to my knowledge.


    "Listen¡­ I don''t care who you are or where you came from because the only thing that matters now is if you want to die easily or if you want to die in the worst way your kind knows how to. Trust me, we have plenty of firewood in storage and I''ll even dly burn you with a magnifying ss if I wanted to¡­ So¡­ are you gonna tell me what I want or do you wanna make me repeat your options?"


    "Kugh! Haa¡­ Ha¡­ I''ll curse all of you when I die¡­ your loved ones¡­ your children¡­ everything! If you don''t¡ª"


    "Don''t what?! HUH?! TELL ME, YOU FUCKING WITCH! IF I DON''T WHAT?! As all¨Cpowerful as you are, you''re pretty fragile from taking in two¡ªno, a shotgun shell to your stinking shoulder! Newssh, they don''t work¡­ they never do¡­"


    "W-Who the fuck a-are you¡­?"


    As everyone was still trying to process what the fuck was going on, Sebastian started maniacallyughing by himself before he slowly took off the shirt he was wearing.


    And let me tell you this: I was more surprised that Sebastian was living and breathing right nowpared to him pulling more than 600 pounds of weight. Because as I said before, akin to a person jumping to a woodchipper, it seemed like my metaphor wasn''t as farfetched as I thought.


    Not only was Sebastian''s torso riddled with countless scars, as crass or slightly funny as this might sound, but he was missing both his nipples, parts of his skin were patched up by "donated" skin from god knows where, and if I was seeing things clearly, he also had a pair of ribs missing.


    Those were the only things I could see from the surface but it might be safe to assume that probably some of his organs were missing or swapped out.


    Fuck the "sleeper" build I mentionedst time, Sebastian might get a goodugh out of this but the "Frankenstein" build or the "One foot in the grave" build might just exin his actual physique.


    In any case, the "witch" in front of us couldn''t believe her eyes but instead of reacting like a normal person would, her face warped into this unnerving smile that almost ripped her cheeks off¡ªbut it ticked off Sebastian even more as he kicked her t on her back before swinging his axe straight down her ravaged shoulder.


    Almost immediately, another blood-curdling scream came out of this stranger and Sebastian just twisted on the handle to separate the limb from the whole body¡ªand it just rolled once to the side before another scream followed.


    Doing that would''ve definitely prevented the rot from going further but it''ll only be a matter of seconds before shepletely bled out.


    But as Sebastian was about to continue his interrogation, the woman gagged and regurgitated this slimy pit viper, then it sank its fangs to the first person it saw, our butler.


    "SEBASTIAN!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!"


    However, just as the witch threw him a mocking smile, Sebastian just smiled the same way as he pulled the snake off his body and bit its head off and¡­ you know, chewed. Even his three younger brothers stifled augh from the bitch''sst hurrah as Sebastian crouched down and looked her in the eye.


    "Shame¡­ I thought I''d at least feel something from that so I let it bit me¡­ Shame¡­ Just a shame, to be honest¡­"


    "H-How are¡ª Ha¡­ H-How are you still¡ª Kah! Hahck! KkCK!"


    "I thought you''d have what I want but your final gift here? I''ve had way~ worse¡­ Try harder next time¡­"


    And as soon as Sebastian said that, he reached for her messy head of hair that had its own ecosystem before dragging her by the burning house. But to everyone''s surprise, Sebastian simply smashed both her kneecaps before partly cing her body into the fire¡ªstarting with her feet.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!! NO! NOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!!!"


    I could only imagine the heat they were both enduring at the same time but I''m 100% sure that burning my body, feet first, was way worse than simply chucking me into the fire. I''d probably die in the first few seconds but it''spletely different if it was done this way.


    But yeah, Sebastian just maintained eye contact as the woman screamed for dear life until she was more than well done.


    As unnerving as it looked, he used a long branch to slowly push her as she was getting cooked and no one present even tried to stop him from doing so.


    Because again, I still have no idea what Sebastian had gone through but if this was his way to get over that, fuck it, not only does he deserve the gratification but the person receiving it fucking deserved it too.


    At that point, I''m pretty sure everyone else present added a few more points to how scary Sebastian was but I''m gonna assume Megan and a few others added some points somewhere else. Because yeah, as long as they didn''t have a cabin in the woods and tortured young souls, they should probably be fine.


    And as Sebastian made his way back towards us while literally smoking hot, he was smiling at first but once he saw everyone else''s reactions, his smile slowly turned sullen.


    ''Dumbasses¡­''


    But yeah, he had his younger brothers with him but I walked over and decided to disturb the waters:


    "So¡­ Ever heard of phantom limb syndrome?"


    "Yes?"


    I nodded as I nced at his nonexistent nipples, "So¡­ Umm~ Do they still get you know what when it''s cold or nah?"


    Sebastian followed my line of sight for a moment before realization struck, "Pfft¡­ HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 Chapter 963 A Full Meal

    Chapter 963 A Full Meal


    After that incident, even if it ended on a lighter note, from the looks a select few were exchanging, I assumed that they were having second thoughts about wanting to hear the whole story¡ªbecause they already had more than an inkling about it, and it was enough¡ªor they wanted to know more than everything¡­ including the behind the scenes footage and the director''smentary.


    But yeah, there were a few changes to our ns and one of them was to explore more of the areas we haven''t been to.


    Though with the time we had left before sundown, we only managed to visit a couple of their production nts that processed their produce to either dried goods or these varieties of juices packaged in colorful juiceboxes.


    I''m not sure as to why they still needed to put them in those colorful packaging but hey, it does make me a little more thirsty seeing them in vibrant colorspared to an old cardboard box.


    ''I guess they still have a lot those printed out and yeah¡­ their customer base is a little¡­ umm¡­ bleak at the moment¡­ They''re probably good for a while and they could just keep some for disy¡ª Who am I kidding¡­ Who are they using these disys for¡­''


    In any case, we did stop by the ranch to visit Rogue and a few other animals and to pick up our custom leather boots and clothes¡ªbut most importantly, I was there to pick up my very own custom lifting belt from Clyde.


    I''ve only used what was avablest time but the difference of usingmercially-made productspared to his had at least a 5%-10% difference¡ªand I was just talking about the lifting straps.


    I put up some numbers before¡ªin regards to how each essory could increase our total lifting capacity¡ªand I''m more than fucking excited to see what I could put up with something that''smercially supposed to give me a 10%-20% increase in my total.


    Realistically speaking, I''m expecting to get close to stepping my foot onto the 800-pound club but as Sebastian advised, I just need to be a little bit patient when ites to producing results.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we all headed back and for some fucking reason, Sebastian decided to do "story-time" behind the garage where we were supposed to work out, and he even set up log chairs around a campfire PLUS the food and drinks he promised us.


    In all fairness, it IS cozy and toasty as fuck but let''s just say it was a setup for what he was about to say¡ªand yeah, his younger blood brothers also showed up right before he started:


    "Alright, everyone settled in? Everyone good? Everyone okay? This is a very~ good time to tell this tale from way, way~ back¡ª no, not as way~ back¡ªthough it is¡ªbut¡­ let me restart. This is a very, very~ good time to retell this story from my childhood because of what everyone helped us achieve today¡­"


    Then he leaned over and assumed a pose, "You see¡­ these eyes of mine used to be so¡­ so used to the dark because contrary to that certain book, in MY beginning, there was no light¡­ Well~ There is from time to time and I only discovered that it was only at nighttime, when she visits, because she¡­ even if she needed light on the way down to my ''room'', she also needed them on the way up and to move around upstairs because there was absence of it¡­"


    And as Sebastian continued, he told us that the four metal rods sticking out of the corner in the basement was the ce he was chained down¡ªthough he could move a few feet around¡ªwhich enabled him to have an area of the room to excrete or expel waste, sleep, and to eat.


    "Before any of you asks as to why I get visits even though I already have everything in the world? Well¡­ I did say I was taught herbalism to a degree and I''m an expert in it¡­ But yeah, some of the ''food'' dropped down to me contained everything she could collect and process in the mountains, and she needed to examine not only me but my waste to see what the effects were to my body. However, call it a blessing or a curse, it didn''t take long before I got used to what she was giving me so aside from upping the dosage, she brought a control group to have a umm¡­ fresh ''perspective'' on her concoctions¡­"


    "Wait¡­" JP trailed as he seemed to be thinking deeply of something, "I''m sorry but¡­"


    "Go on¡­ You can ask me anything you want¡­"


    "It''s just¡­ s-seeing your body earlier and this story d-doesn''t add up as much¡­ Sure, she fed you poison or simply just vile concoctions but¡ª"


    "Ah! Why does my torso look like it was ripped open by a bear?"


    "Y-Your words but¡­ sure."


    Sebastian chuckled, "Well¡­ for some reason, even when I was still by myself, she knew the times when I was about to die¡ªeither by my own hands or by her concoctions, and she had every trick in the book to bring me back every single time. Honestly speaking, it got harder to do it when I gotpany because the ones before them would scream or yell if something was wrong with me, just me, not the others. I did say there were more of us but other than me, everyone''s free to get out of that hell by their own means. I guess I''m special in a way¡­ I am her son, after all¡­"


    "...!"


    Hearing that piece of news made everyone shocked to fuck but Sebastian just said it so casually like the term mother and son didn''t mean a lick in his vocabry. But yeah, he added more gruesome details as to why his body looked like that because as proud as his "mother" was of him for being able to stomach all her concoctions, he became an ingredient himself.


    "Yeah, of course, she opened me up to see how I was able to survive that long. And again, call it a blessing or a curse but as I obtained immunity to certain poisons and venoms, I lost part of my liver among other things and I didn''t even know that my pee was actually ck¡ªwhich was something I only discovered when I got out¡­ I don''t even wanna call it lucky but as it stands now, I was also very lucky to not be carrying around a colostomy bag¡­ no offense to those who had them but I wouldn''t be able to perform my duties as properly if I had something like that on me¡­"


    Alexa interjected, "B-But you''re as strong as¡ª"


    Sebastian cut her off, "As strong as I am, it wasn''t because of what was done to me. On the contrary, several doctors told me that I should''ve been dead long ago and wouldn''t be able to live as a normal person but here I am now¡­ Technically I wasn''t living as a normal person now but it''s a tad better than a normal person would, in my opinion, don''t you think so?"


    "H-How did you get out though? How did you all escape?"


    "Ah¡­ I dislike saying it multiple times in a single day but call it a blessing or a curse, having these immunities came with a set of responsibilities¡­"


    "Responsibilities?"


    "You see, we weren''t exactly sure as to how we got out before¡ªeven now¡ªbut us four concluded it to her mishandling of her instruments."


    "What?"


    "Umm~ How do I put this¡­ Oh! If you get bitten by a snake or something simr, it is rmended by yours truly to keep or trap whatever it was that bit you or poisoned you because that''ll give you the highest chance to make something to counter or make an antivenom of whatever it was inside you because doctors have to know exactly what ailed you to make a proper response to it. Sure, just remembering the shape and color of the snake is fine but if you can catch it, why not?"


    "Wait¡­ so mishandling¡­ she identally poisoned herself with¡ª"


    "Yes. One day she just rushed down the stairs in a panic but to us, it''s an open invitation to retaliate. A chance like that doesn''te very often or at all but it was safe to say that it was more than a monumental task because four barely kept alive, chained kids versus a grown woman who just happened to be poisoned with all her tools was still a mismatch. You see, as close as we are now, we still fought over who gets fed that day but it also became a crutch at the most critical moment¡­"


    "H-How so?"


    "I hope this next bit of information doesn''t change your perception of me but at that time¡ªno, ever since I woke up in that ce, I was always hungry¡­ So¡­ Let''s just say that after an unknown amount of time, we finally had a full meal¡­"

 Chapter 964 Bread, Blood, and a Campfire

    Chapter 964 Bread, Blood, and a Campfire


    As Sebastian dropped another bomb on our feet, I thought I had already run out of reactions for a possible thumbnail, but everyone else definitely thought that something was fucking off when his three blood brothers: Gerald, Chris Irvine, and Keith were also shocked to fuck at the revtion.


    Quinn was the first one to react, "HOLD UP, SOMETHING''S NOT RIGHT HERE!"


    Sebastian had never looked so confused, "Pardon?"


    She pointed at the three right beside him, "THEY WERE THERE, RIGHT?!"


    "Yes? And?"


    "AND?! THAT''S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?! AND?! WHY ARE THEY AS SURPRISED AS US?!"


    "I-I don''t follow¡ª"


    "DON''T FOLLOW?! WHAT IS THERE NOT TO FOLLOW?! YOU SUDDENLY BRING UP EATING YOUR MOTHER FOR DINNER AND YOUR ACCOMPLICES CAN''T SEEM TO REMEMBER A DAMN THING?! THE FUCK IS UP WITH THAT?!"


    As Quinn was ranting at the top of her lungs, the three were also nodding in kind because it did really seem like Sebastian was once again pulling the wool over our eyes. However, it only took a few seconds for Sebastian''s brain to process what Quinn had just said before his face warped into this look of disgust and difort.


    "W-Wait, I didn''t say any of that!"


    "HAAAAH?! YOU JUST ALLUDED TO IT BY SAYING YOU FINALLY HAD A FULL MEAL! AM I BEING GASLIT BY THIS FUCKER?! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD SEBASTIAN THAT I''LL SHAVE YOUR FUCKING HEAD IF¡ª"


    Sebastian cut in as he waved her off, "H-Hold on, I did say we finally had a full meal but I didn''t mean my mother! The full meal I meant was the bread and water in the kitchen above! N-Not¡ª T-That''s revolting to even think of that! Is that how all of your minds work?! T-That''s horrible!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "My dear g-guests? My lords?"


    Honest to fucking god, it was fucking quiet for several seconds as everyone was thinking as to how Sebastian was this so fucking good at making people misunderstand them, him, and each other, one or all at the same time. I assumed it was his way of talking eloquently but this night might very well be his own fucking demise.


    As strong as he was, he wasn''t able to keep several people from holding him down and bonking him a couple of times.


    In any case, he spent more time tidying himself up again andbing his hair back before going back to his seat though everyone else deserved a short breather from the things we heard earlier. But yeah, it was still sad to hear that young kid''s first "full" meal of his life was stale bread and a ss of water butpared to what he consumed before, it was definitely the best one by far.


    ''Maybe one of the reasons he acquired such a taste for good food and delectable wine¡­ He can''t just go back to whatever it was he was eating before¡­''


    Then Sebastian audibly cleared his throat as he gathered everyone''s attention:


    "Alright, alright¡­ I apologize for the dy and the¡­ misunderstanding I''ve caused but shall I continue where I left off? Okay? Here we go¡ª Where was I again? Oh! The full meal¡­ Haha¡­ Ha¡­ A-Alright, as we left my mother''s corpse in the basement, we made our way to the same passage we took¡ªuntil we reached the kitchen and found some bread¡ªthough the inside was totally different from what I''ve remembered¡­"


    "How so?"


    "It did have the necessities for a woman to live alone in the mountains but it definitely had jars, vials, and different kinds of containers that¡­ contained her hobbies¡­ I was¡ª I mean, part of me was in some of them too but I didn''t even care about that because I just remember that my head just got flooded with new things I haven''t seen before but I still can''t forget the first time I chomped on that piece of bread¡­ All of these delicacies from my collection but nothing could ever top that¡­ Part of me wishes to taste the same thing again but I''d have to recreate the whole environment and the same exact situation but I might just die this time¡­"


    ''Ah¡­ It''s the opposite way then¡­''


    Sebastian continued, "But yeah, as funny as this may sound, when I had the chance to take a proper look at them," he chuckled as he pointed to his brothers, "The first thing I told them was that¡ªpardon thenguage¡ªthey looked like shit, smelled like shit, and was probably eating shit from the moment they were born but these three justughed at my face and made me look into this item they called a mirror! I obviously knew what it was now but I just have to mention that was the first time I felt like I almost jumped out of my skin!"


    Mauro joked, "Wait, wait¡­ pfft¡­ how are you so scared of seeing your face if you''ve been seeing your mother''s face every single day¡ª"


    Sebastian didn''t take it to heart as he chuckled, "As atrocious my mother was to me, she didn''t look the type to do those at all. Besides, I dunno who my father was but you can at least tell where I got my face from. Curious eh?"


    "That''s¡­"


    Ruben interjected, "B-But how did you know that she''s actually your mother?"


    Then everyone else looked at Ruben weirdly.


    "I don''t understand the question, dear sir¡­"


    "I mean¡­ She could still look like you and vice versa but that doesn''t mean that she''s actually your mom, right? She could just be a distant rtive too!"


    Sebastian nodded a few times, "Well~ There is a small chance of that but I don''t wanna bet on the chance that my real mother could still be out there in this world that now had turned to this nigh-impossible to live on unless you''re part of the 1%..."


    Ruben shook his head as he wore a difficult expression, "It''s just¡­ O-Our mothers shouldn''t do that to t-their sons¡­ o-or their daughters in that regard¡­"


    There was a moment of silence there for a moment but Sebastian wore a gentle smile as he turned to everyone:


    "As difficult as my ''childhood'' waspared to everybody¡ªor most people that grew up with loving and caring mothers¡­ do know that I agree with that statement 100%. And yeah, growing up seeing kids my age not just with their mothers but also their fathers put me in a difficult position because as much as I would hate to admit it¡­ the feeling of envy was ever-present¡­"


    "..."


    "But yeah, as crude as this may sound to the madam¡­ I, for one, consider her as my mother figure while I consider Sir Clyde as my father figure. Only a handful of people here know what they did not only for me but for them as well to get back on our own two feet¡­ And yeah¡­ Sal did work us hard enough to vomit our breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a daily basis, and it might even be considered involuntary childbor of some sort but now¡­ I can put on this very nice uniform, serve guests such as yourselves, pursue a hobby, hunt down my enemies on my own time, and much, much more¡­"


    lights¦­¦Ïvel "..."


    "What I''m trying to say is that¡­ It''s already cliche at this point but sometimes, blood doesn''t determine whether you are their actual mother, brother, or anything else in that regard¡­ Simple as that¡­"


    In any case, Sebastian shared more details of his past as the other three added on for more context or other perspectives but as the subject became more and more sappy for our tastes, we just decided to kick it up a notch.


    And as one of a hell butler should do, he pulled out a tuned guitar, some graham crackers, marshmallows, and a lot of chocte for everyone to make smores, but a fight almost broke out as to who would get to first y the guitar.


    "Gimme!"


    "D''you even know how to y?!"


    "I know Stairway to Hea¡ª"


    "NO!"


    "Then what are you gonna y?!"


    "Drive by Incubus?"


    "Alright, alright¡ª"


    "I~~~~ Wish you were here¡ª"


    "THAT''S NOT EVEN THE RIGHT ONE! DRIVE BY INCUBUS MY ASS! GIVE THAT TO ME!"


    "Watch how his fingers tangle¡­"


    "Then you y it then!"


    "Alright! ALRIGHT! I''m not gonna y some pop shit, alright?!"


    "You''re saying alright too many times!"


    "SHUT UP! Here''s a song by Imagine Dragons¡ª"


    "HAAAA?! WANT A KICK IN THE HEAD?!"


    "BRING IT!"


    "C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G SONG! C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G SONG! WITH THE C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G SONG! WE CAN''T HELP IT IF YOU JUST SING ALONG~~~"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING ACAPELLA FOR?!"


    "OH-AH-AH-AH-AH!"


    "NOT YOU TOO?!"


    "I CAN FEEL IT COMING IN THE AIR TONIGHT~~~ OH LORD~~!"


    "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHO SPIKED THE WINE?! NO ONE SHOULD BE THIS FUCKING DRUNK!"


    But as everyone else was having fun, I did remember a question I should''ve asked Sebastian when he was answering everything honestly:


    ''What was it that he wanted to acquire from the quack witch earlier?''

 Chapter 965 Hyperspermia? - Challenge Accepted

    Chapter 965 Hyperspermia? - Challenge epted


    Putting that thought aside for the moment because it wasn''t exactly my business to begin with, it was now time to tie up some loose ends before we started going back on the road again. However, Edith requested a couple more days in preparation so it was just about enough time to figure out some things and manage things within my control.


    As our little story time with Sebastian ended, we went back to our rooms but the first thing I did was ask Nancy for a pencil and some paper.


    "O-Okay!"


    "Thank you," I said as I waved her off.


    It didn''t take long before she came back with the items I asked for so while everyone else was busy doing their own thing, I decided to sketch the witch we met in the mountain to show it to Terry¡ªthe drunk dude at the partyst time¡ªtomorrow.


    I figured it wouldn''t hurt driving around the other estates the Rivas Family now had some ownership of, and meeting the same person without alcohol in his system had more meritpared to an overly honest drunk who''d tell you just about anything thates to mind.


    However, I didn''t even notice that Nancy was watching me the whole time and she couldn''t believe what I did on the piece of paper that she gave me.


    "W-Whoa¡­" Nancy muttered while wide-eyed and fascinated.


    "Ah¡ª"


    Then she looked up at me with puppy eyes, "C-C-Can you d-draw me too?!"


    "Sure?"


    "R-REALLY?!"


    "Yeah?"


    "Ah¡ª A-Are you d-done with that though? I-I don''t want to d-disturb¡ª"


    "Oh! D''you want me to draw you now? I can finish this one upter¡ª"


    "C-Can you do it in my n-notebook?! Please?"


    "Okay, no problem with that¡ª"


    "YAY~! I-I WILL BE BACK! D-DON''T GO ANYWHERE!"


    In any case, it seemed like Nancy was taking her time finding her notebook so I quickly finished my sketch¡ªbut with themotion she made from seeing me draw, it attracted the attention of thedies behind me who were trying on some make-up that surprisingly enough, was also made from the Rivas Family''s products AND was a product line from Elsa herself who for some reason was present at the moment.


    I was shocked to fuck, "W-What are you doing here?!"


    She couldn''t believe her ears, "Haah?! It''s your room but this is still my home! Can''t wait to have all these girls to yourself?!"


    I chortled, "Don''t change the subject! Again, why are you here and not at the opposite end of the mansion where Mauro''s supposed to be pinning you to a wall or the ceiling?!"


    "Ceiling? We could do that? I guess we can try¡ª"


    "Think, Elsa! Think! I was just trying to make a joke!"


    "Ha-Ha. Funny! Do you know what''s really funny though? It''s bold of you to assume he does the fucking while I''m the one who does the actual heavy lifting from day one! Powerlifter my ass¡ª what a joke!"


    I shook my head as I chuckled, "Where is he anyway?"


    She rolled her eyes as she huffed, "He took off with Logan the moment they heard there was this barn find in one¡ª"


    I cut in excitedly, "W-What did they find?!"


    "MEN! Why are you all so excited about that?! Ugh¡ª I do understand the reason but we should be busy doing our thing right about now!"


    "Hey. I''m not an expert but sometimes, you two need toy off for a bit so that the sperm count¡ª"


    "Hah! Don''t tell me about his sperm count¡­ You won''t believe the amount he lets out every single time!"


    I tried my best to get the picture of another guy ejacting out of my head before I answered, "Trust me, I do know about that¡­ If that''s what we''re talking about¡­"


    "Huh?"


    Then everyone else confirmed it for me, "He''s not lying./ Correct./ It''s true!/ Trust me, there''s no way I''m not overflowing every time he cums in me¡­/ I can prove it to you?/ Tastes really good too, will re-order again, kek¡­"


    I then waved them all off as gged down Elsa, "Again, I''m not an expert but Mauro might''ve something called Hyperspermia. I''m not entirely sure about its causes but from what I''ve read, it could be from taking ''certain'' medications, eating a lot of protein-rich foods, etc. but the two I''ve mentioned represent Mauro''s case really well."


    "So¡­ You also have it?"


    "Well~ I do have symptoms of it¡ªas everyone else proved in this circle¡ªbut I''m not on the juice and I eat a very bnced diet. No infections in my prostate nor do I have pain, dizziness, or dys when I¡­ you know, so chances are, I might just have both the volume and sperm count¡­ And I''ve seen mine multiple times, it''s still white in color¡ª I''d hate to ask but¡ª"


    "Sometimes, it is, yes¡­ W-What was it again? Hyperspermia?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "Wait¡ª If his condition''s predisposed to release a lot of it, why am I still not pregnant?"


    "That''s the thing. Volume doesn''t always mean high sperm count. A cotton candy might look like it''s a lot but if youpare it to a jawbreaker with the same size¡­ You get what I mean?"


    "So¡­ Can you tell me more about it?"


    "Well~ I shouldn''t be the one telling this to you because I''m not a doctor¡ª"


    "Just tell me!"


    "Fine. There''s a lower risk of pregnancy if you''re with someone that has the condition and even if you do, there''s a higher chance of having a miscarriage¡­" then I paused as I saw Elsa''s face getting somber, "Hold on¡­ Hold that tear, alright?"


    "You just told me that I''m not gonna get pregnant! How''s that¡ª"


    Kaleyforted her from the side, "Just listen to him for a bit, alright? He knows his stuff¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    I cleared my throat before I continued, "Alright¡­ What I''ve said is true but that doesn''t mean the chances of you getting pregnant is zero. A doctor¡ªwhich we have at home¡ªcan simply extract your eggs and Mauro''s semen from his grande serving cup, fertilize it, then put it back to you, and vo! You''re fucking pregnant! That''s a sure-fire way to do it but if you wanna do it the old-fashioned way, you gottay off for at least a week before doing it again but do expect extra, extra servings because he''ll be backed the fuck up¡­ just saying¡­ NNN works for some people but I straight-up almost died from that so I do the exact opposite of that¡­"


    "W-What''s NNN¡ª"


    ''No-Nut November, Non-Stop Nut November is the way to go!''


    I shook the thought from my head as I replied, "N-Not important, but anyway, don''t get too mad when he gets back because if that barn find is actually gold, he''ll definitely fuck you even if you tap out."


    Elsa then let out a smile before she chuckled, "I''ll be the judge of that! But yeah, thanks for the info. I guess we''ll pay your ce a visit too? When''s the earliest we coulde? I don''t want to put all of the me on him because there''s also the chance that I could be the one at fault¡ª"


    "It''s not anyone''s fault, alright? But yeah, you can join us on the trip back and¡ª"


    Then Nancy finally came in with her notebook, "FOUND IT!!! H-Huh? What did I miss?"


    Quinn answered, "Where were you? We just finished fucking and even Elsa joined us!"


    "WHAT?! HOW LONG WAS I¡ª"


    "I''M JOKING! But we were just talking about semen. I didn''t think I''d be this invested but care to weigh in?"


    Nancy never looked so confused, "I-I-I was just about to g-get drawn¡­ I don''t¡­ I-It''s a g-good reward, I guess?"


    "BAHAHAHA! I COULDN''T HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF!"


    I any case, it didn''t take long before everyone remembered that I promised that I''d draw Nancy tonight but she was in tears because they dragged her a few feet away so she''d have proper make-up on for her portrait.


    I tried to g them down, "G-Guys¡­ It''s just a simple sketch¡ª"


    Elsa roared for the first time, "SHADDAP! SIMPLE SKETCH OR NOT, SHE NEEDS TO LOOK AT HER BEST!"


    "I actually like her looking like¡ª"


    "LOOKING LIKE WHAT, HUH¡ª"


    Nancy managed to cut in, "Y-You can do m-my eyes b-but please don''t cover my f-freckles! H-He said i-it looks cute so p-please leave them on!"


    "Shi~ Are you sure, Nancy? I thought you hated them?"


    "N-Not anymore, I guess? I stopped wearing contacts too¡ª"


    "Then that''s great! We''ve been telling you a lot of times that you''re pretty but all it takes is Mr. Lucky over there to convince you, huh?"


    "I-I guess so? He''s really nice but he''s not as scary as Sebastian¡­"


    I then cut in while making the roompletely ice-cold, "Is that so? Challenge epted."


    "STOP! YOU DOOFUS!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!"


    For the sake of brevity, let''s just say I was beaten because of reading the room wrong and I discovered that their makeup also covered bruises really well¡­

 Chapter 966 "Screenshots" - Rare Flowers

    Chapter 966 "Screenshots" - Rare Flowers


    Joking aside, as I finally got Nancy to afortable position for her portrait, I discovered that her notebook of sorts was like a diary, botany book, dream journal, etc. mushed together. To my surprise, she could also draw pretty well¡ªbecause she had full pages of herbs and the like in her notebook with notes on several things it could do, but she almost jumped me when she thought I was reading her innermost thoughts put on paper.


    "H-Hey! That''s¡ª P-Please don''t flip them around!"


    "Ah¡ª My bad, my bad¡­ I identally nced at some passages but you can also draw, huh?"


    "N-Not as good as you are!"


    "Art is subjective, alright? Anyway, would you mind me taking photos of your drawings and the notes at the bottom to add to my collection¡ª before you ask, they''re not hand drawn by me but you have interesting findings here that aren''t on the botany books I have at home."


    "R-Really? I-I''m not sure if they''re actual facts t-though¡­"


    "It doesn''t matter to me even if it''s anecdotal. What you found about these nts could be unique only to you or a select group of people so it''s better to have notes on them just in case they needed a different form of treatment. Your findings here could maybe help someone in need in the future, you never know¡­"


    "Oh~ I-I see¡­ Oh! I-I hate to ask this but d-do I have to staypletely still the whole time?"


    "Hmm?"


    "I mean¡ª I know I''m just sitting on this sofa but¡ª"


    "Are you happy with that position though?"


    "I-I guess¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Don''t guess, heh. Be really sure about what you want."


    "Umm~ Okay! I''m happy with this one! W-Wait! I don''t think I can hold my smile for this long!"


    "Don''t worry! I gotchu! Unlike other artists¡ªthough I don''t consider myself one¡ªI''ll give you the honor of watching me draw you like you did earlier."


    "I-I don''t follow¡ª"


    I then realized she didn''t know I have a photographic memory, "Ah¡ª I basically ''screenshotted'' you and will now draw you from memory. Neat little trick, amirite?"


    "F-For real?! That''s so cool~!"


    In any case, I spent a good 30 minutes drawing Nancy in her notebook and she couldn''t help but let out happy noises while she watched ite all together. I did bonk her head once because she grabbed on my drawing arm when she got too excited but little did I know that I''d be stuck drawing everyone past midnight.


    Even Elsa wouldn''t nudge an inch until I drew her even if Mauro already came back with Logan, looking like they struck gold.


    "C''mon Elsa, can''t you see I''m this excited?! He''s already drawing it from memory, why''d you have to watch it get finished?!"


    "Shaddap! Because I want to! We wouldn''t be here if you didn''t haul ass to a nasty old barn instead of doing me, right?! Have your well-deserved break, Mr. Cotton Candy! Go hang out with Mr. Sour Gummy Worms over there until we''re done!"


    "Cotton¡ª HUH?! The fuck¡ª I dunno if you care but we just bagged a 356! Can you believe it?!"


    I cut in, "A 356-what? Porche?"


    "YEAH!"


    I nodded as I kept drawing Elsa''s portrait, "Sick. That''s actually sick¡ª"


    Elsa rolled her eyes, "Yadda, yadda~ C-Can you make my eyes a little bigger?"


    Mauro cut in, "Dude. I''ll give it to you for free if you draw her forehead a few centimeters higher¡ª"


    "GET OUT OF HERE, MAURO! AND YOU! DON''T GET ANY IDEAS!"


    With that said, I eventually finished drawing everyone''s self-portraits including Logan and Mauro''s, and as they left, we closed the night off with an activity that involved cardio and a lot of hip thrusting. This time, Nancy took special care of me so Kaley and I decided to include her with our private time before everyone else woke up.


    In any case, we had two days left before departure so I let everyone do their own thing as I drove over to the Villegas'' Family Estate led by Rosemarie "Rosie" Villegas¡ªwho was housing her darling Nephew whom I was looking for, Terry.


    I did bring Kaley with me, but surprisingly enough, Nancy also asked toe with us for some reason, and to make our mixture of stows even more random, Logan, Kuzma, and Seb wanted toe with us, so they did.


    "I actually wanted a tour guide but wouldn''t Edith need your assistance, Nancy?"


    "Hmm? Oh! I''m deathly allergic to bees a-actually so I can''t follow her over there¡­"


    "Ah~ Thanks for guiding us then¡ª How about you three? What gives?"


    Logan answered first, "I''m actually a greatpany, mind you. As much as I wanted to spend more time with Quinn and increase my chances with her, I wanted to know why she wanted to spend more time with you."


    Kaley chuckled, "She''s not here though? Didn''t that contradict your statement?"


    Logan rolled his eyes, "Exactly. She always takes what she wants but she lets you two go off on your own. She never does that. I guess I''m trying to learn from you both, it''s weird, even for me."


    I chuckled, "Suit yourself then, how about you Kuzma? I thought you''d spend more time with Tatiana? Have you talked to Artem, at least?"


    He simply nodded, "I did, thanks to you. I''m here because he ordered me to keep you safe at all times. Especially now that Tatiana''s having a day off."


    "Oh. Thanks, I guess? How about you Seb?"


    "Ah~ I dunno¡­ I don''t mind horsing around with the guys or even casually hanging around with Alexa but¡­ Haa¡­ I dunno? Just a change of pace, I guess? It''s been pretty chill but it''s still kinda weird¡­ I heard you guys are going into another ce that has rare flowers so if I can afford one, I might get one for Alexa¡ª And before you say anything, I know¡­ She''s been smiling more these few days and can''t a friend give another friend flowers?"


    Nancy cut in with a huge smile on her face, "Normal ones? Sure! But the ones at Mrs. Rosie''s ce? That''s a little too¡­ you know, serious. Well~ There are normal ones too, of course, but you should''ve gone to our garden instead. You could''ve gotten them for free¡­"


    "Ah¡­ Do you have an idea of how much are her flowers sold for?"


    "I do¡ª"


    Logan cut in, "What are you even gonna pay for them?"


    "I-I just wanna get an estimate¡­ or pay in a day''s work or two or something¡­ Might be worth it to check it out¡ª"


    I waved them off, "I think they''ll give us one or two for free¡­ If not, I gotcha¡­ Don''t worry about it¡­"


    "Really?"


    "Yeah."


    "T-Thank you¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we reached the front gate of the Villegas Family but I didn''t think that a couple of Mauro''s men would open it up for us. They were just as surprised to see me with Logan though it seemed like there were more of them inside.


    In any case, the sweet smell of flowers instantly came into our noses and it had a more distinct fragrancepared to the ones in front of Sal''s mansion. Sure, it could be the way the flowers were arranged close to the entrance but it was definitely a nice touch.


    However, just as much fun as we had in Sal''s estate, Kaley and I could already sense how the events fromst time affected the lesser families.


    It shouldn''t havee as a surprise but when Mrs. Rosie weed us, she couldn''t hide the fear in her eyes, especially towards me.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I felt some hate and animosity from a few people whom I''ve never seen before. I didn''t think we''d be met with hostility right as we entered their doors but it didn''t take long before I discovered that the ones staring daggers at us were from the Roxas Family who didn''t attend the party. And yeah, Terry¡ªwho came at the right moment straight up told me who they were as he shooed them away.


    Though he was definitely more annoying sober than drunk.


    "GO ON THEN! GIT! YOUR HEADS WOULD''VE ROLLED IF ANYONE ELSE CAME! COUNT YOURSELVES LUCKY! FUCKING DUMBASSES, SERIOUSLY!" then he quickly snapped back to me, "I-I''m really sorry, bro. They shouldn''t have done that, seriously! I''m gonna tell the guards living with us to deal with themter¡ª"


    Logan then cut in as he cracked his knuckles, "No need to tell my bros. I''ll handle it myself¡ª"


    I quickly gged him down, "There''s really no need for that. They lost their homes, what do you expect?"


    "Seriously? They act that way and you let it go?! They should be put in their ce before they think they can do shit like that again."


    I shook my head, "Well~ That''s true in a sense¡ª"


    "So what the hell are we standing here for?! It''s better than shopping for flowers, right?!"


    "Nah~ There''s a more fun and proper way to go about it. But before that," I said as I turned to Mrs. Rosie who was patiently waiting for us, "Are they giving you problems?"


    She shook her head, "N-Not always because of the guards you sent here but all t-they do is just s-stare like t-that¡­ N-Nothing too serious¡­"


    "I see¡­" then I turned to Terry, "Can you¡­ please call them back? I mean, everyone involved? Don''t worry, as easy as it is for me to lop their heads off, we should just all get along, right?"


    "S-Sure but¡­ W-What are you gonna do?"

 Chapter 967 Posture Up - Juliet Rose?

    Chapter 967 Posture Up - Juliet Rose?


    Hearing Terry''s curious nce that had a twinge of excitement, I just stared at him without saying anything before he eventually got the message and fetched the people who were staring me daggers earlier. It didn''t take long before the same five people walked in slowly¡ªtotally different from what they were earlier¡ªand funnily enough, they couldn''t even maintain eye contact.


    However, even without eye contact, I could clearly see some of them clenching their fists, gritting their teeth, etc., a few ways to tell me nonverbally that they weren''t happy with their current arrangement.


    In all honesty, I was just here to talk to Terry about my sketch and ask Rosie for a deal with her flowers, and as thuggish as this may sound, if these people couldn''t ept their loss, pay what they were due, and still act out against the people who were feeding them and keeping them alive, they should be taught a valuable lesson.


    I said loud enough for everybody in the hall to hear:


    "Look at me."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Met with silence coupled with not following what I said, I just gave them another chance as I repeated myself:


    "You five kept on leering at me earlier, look at me."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Last chance."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    At this moment, Logan, and even Kuzma were ready to break some fingers to prove a point, but they were lucky enough to see Kaley pull Nancy and Rosie for cover as I suddenly threw a stun grenade right in the middle of the five who were still looking away.


    *BANG*


    If they heeded my words, they should''ve seen iting to protect themselves somewhat because the moment I opened my eyes and unclogged my ears, all of them had never looked so miserable as they were on the ground, eyes shut tight, and covering their ears¡ªthough one was already bleeding through them.


    In our case, Kaley and the rest were safe and sound and the same could be said for Seb and Terry, rtively speaking, because they were brought to cover by Logan and Kuzma. Granted a shbang or a stun grenade was non-lethal, but it could still cause blindness or deafness¡ªeven injuries in worst cases¡ªand they didn''t even know what I threw over¡ªso the best bet was to always take cover.


    But yeah, hurling a light grenade over to these five gave me the reception I wanted as a couple of them were definitely staring daggers straight at me, but they never expected me to bridge the distance in the blink of an eye as I enveloped them with murderous intent.


    From the outside perspective, it might look like I was simply crouched down and mad-dogging one of the guys in his mid-20s with my chilling visage, but I already had enough control of it to encase a small area and condense it to the point that anyone inside it would be hard not only of breathing but also moving.


    In any case, I gave this kid a faint smile before speaking in a normal tone:


    "When I tell you fucks to look at me, you look at me. Understand?"


    "K-Kch..! H-Ha¡ª Ha¡­ Hah K-KUk¡ª Hnnk!"


    The kid couldn''t even let out a proper word as he struggled to breathe.


    But yeah, I withdrew whatever I had on them so we could finally have a normal conversation, but thedy to the right straight-up peed herself as tears streamed down her face. She wasn''t able to move a single muscle earlier and the moment she was finally able to breathe, everything just rxed all at the same time.


    The other girl with them took a deep breath before trying to appeal to my good side:


    "P-Please sir, w-we apologize¡­ I-If I-I can just take her to the w-washroom and g-give her a c-change of clothes¡ªa-after mopping up this floor too, w-we would be more presentable to talk in your p-presence¡ª"


    I shook my head as I stared her down, "Then who''s fucking fault was it that she pissed herself, huh?!"


    "I-I¡ª"


    "Was looking at me that hard?! Isn''t the normal way to talk to people to look them in the eye?! You fucks were ring at me earlier, right?! Where did the fucking angst go?!"


    "W-We sincerely apologize! W-WE¡ª"


    "Your name''s Shirley, right?"


    "A-Ah¡ª Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    "So, Shirley¡­ do you talk for them or not?"


    "P-Pardon?"


    "Was the question that difficult? Do you talk for them or not? I know I''m kind of a genius and geniuses could probably count up to five but aside from you and this dude who could only speak thenguage of getting a dick stuck in his throat, no one seems to be speaking their mind!"


    "I¡­"


    "Newssh! I called you here so we can talk! You''ll never get this chance again! Do you wanna spend your precious time airing your grievances or do you want to help her clean up instead?"


    "I-I was just¡ª"


    "You''re good, Shirley, but I''m talking to them now," then I turned to the three¡ªno four, who still hadn''t spoken a single word, "If none of you fucks reply in five seconds, she''ll be the ones speaking for all of you at this time moving forward. Five¡­ Four¡­ Three¡ª"


    Then the three guys stood upright and spoke just loud enough for everyone to hear:


    "W-We apologize, s-sir!/ S-She doesn''t speak for me, sir!/ I-I can speak for myself, sir! Apologies¡­"


    "..." I simply gave them a dissatisfied look before turning to the girl who peed her uniform:


    "How about you? Are you gonna join Dumb, Dum-Dum, and Dumber or are you gonna let Shirley speak for you? Again, you are wasting my precious time, and if you wanna spend that time cleaning up while Shirley cooks up a deal for you, be my guest. So, how''s it gonna be?"


    Then this girl named Tania spoke for the first time, "J-Just¡­ Just kill me¡ª"


    But Iughed at her face as I threw one of my knives in front of her, "Wanna die? Why don''t you do it yourself?"


    "...!"


    "I''ve killed a lot of people but I don''t do it by whim, it''s eitherplicatedly calcted that they needed to die or in most cases, self-defense. If you want to die so much, you can do it yourself or to take an example in my book, grab that knife and try to kill me for real, I''ll give you the honors and lop your head cleanly¡­ The same goes for all of you actually, fuck around and find out."


    ''Or talk¡­ Like what I''ve been saying multiple times¡­''


    At that moment, there was an unbelievable tension in the air as the three dudes looked like they were deciding to take the plunge and take me out to at least have some form of revenge but the nicknames I gave them would be the ones etched on their gravestones if they actually acted upon it.


    However, the person with whom I intended to use the knife just stared at it before bawling even more, not knowing what to do in this situation.


    There were a lot of people who told me to end them or they wanted to end themselves but 99% of the time, it was just something they said out of emotion while the 1% wouldn''t even tell me stuff and simply handled it on their own.


    But yeah, it seemed like Dicksucker or Dum-Dum wouldn''t be their spokesperson because Shirley picked the knife up and handed it back to me gently:


    "Sir¡­ There''s no need for this¡­ We do apologize for the earlier offense and we''ll dly take punishment for it but with all due respect¡­ I-I''m asking f-for a little bit of understanding for Tania''s cpromised position¡­ I-If you''d just g-give me five minutes, w-we''ll m-meet up with you over the gazebo in the gardens with some tea and b-biscuits¡­ I-I''ll guarantee that it w-won''t be poisoned in a-any way a-and we''ll be more presentable¡­"


    With that said, she looked sincere and surprisingly enough, firm on her stance, for the most part, and since all they''ve done at this point was look at me and not look at me while I lobbed a stun grenade at them and put their psyche in unbelievable pressure, I gave them a short break.


    "T-THANK YOU, SIR! W-WE WON''T TAKE LONG!"


    "I''ll be keeping track," then I turned to Rosie and Terry, "I''m sorry, but, where''s the gazebo again?"


    As I said that, Rosie was still in shock while Terry couldn''t contain himself:


    "R-Right this way, brother! Follow me! Everyone too! Please! Right this way!"


    In any case, as we followed after Terry who was basically skipping away, I slowed down to let Rosie keep up because it seemed like she was still enduring the pain from the branding on her ankle she receivedst time. She did look apologetic when she realized I was deliberately slowing down for her but she made it easy for me when she offered me one of the things I came for:


    "My dear guest, I know the Rivas Family had a greater variety of flowerspared to mine but would you care for a flower from my collection for your wife? She did save me from the explosion¡­"


    ''That''s¡­ I''ll just roll with it¡­''


    I chuckled, "A flower for saving your life? Isn''t that a bit¡ª"


    She suddenly looked flustered, "A-Apologies¡­ What I mean to say is that I''ll dly show you my collection and whatever thedy touches, it''ll be hers. I do have unique ones I spliced myself but there are ones I also dyed¡ªbut if you''re considering ones that you could admire for longer, there are ones we encased in resin¡­"


    Then I went for the kill:


    "Oh? Can I have a bouquet of Juliet Roses?"

 Chapter 968 Care Package - You lost.

    Chapter 968 Care Package - You lost.


    To anyone who didn''t know what a Juliet Rose was, to give a brief description, it was this apricot-colored, fully-cupped rose that had this peachy smell that was sold for $15.8 million in 2006 because of the time and care it took¡ªwhich umted 15 years¡ªto produce such a flower.


    And before the world ended, it was sold around 5-10 times as muchpared to a regr rose in retail but even to a non-flower guy like myself, it actually caught my eye and made me read about it for a bit.


    I actually thought I was gonna catch Rosie off-guard but she gave me a gentle smile before suggesting something much better:


    "Dear lord, that request is inherently easy but would you mind an arrangement of mine for thedy''s taste coupled with the bouquet of Juliet Roses?"


    I nodded with a smile, "That''s great actually¡ª but could you humor one of my students here, Seb, for a friend of his as well? You can put it on my tab, no worries¡ª"


    "My lord, as I stated¡ª Well, I stated something different but a bouquet of flowers means nothing¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Don''t say that. This is your life''s work, be proud of it a little, yeah? I''ll let you treat us with your flowers but you gotta give me a quotation for everything else we''d find interesting. You have something other than flowers, right?"


    A genuine smile crept on her face, "Very well, my lord¡­ I''ll have one of my people fetch some of our products in the gazebo and thedy and Miss Nancy could take a look at them¡­"


    "Alright, then¡­"


    Surprisingly enough, a normal person could mistake Rosie''s garden of flowers for Edith''s but there are slight differences in how they were arranged and there was a gazebo in the middle of Rosie''s garden which had this walkway made with bs of differently-sized stones.


    Furthermore, there were already a couple of maidservants waiting for us with some refreshments though Kuzma walked up to them and stared them down before ordering them to take a sip of the tea and the random biscuit he picked up.


    "S-Sir?/ W-What''s this about¡ª"


    "Just do what I said," then he turned to Rosie, "You too¡ª"


    But I quickly gged him down, "It''s okay, Kuzma. I know when someone''s trying to kill me."


    He never looked so confused, "What?"


    I smiled as I released the tiniest bit of killing intent, "I''m pretty sure you know what it''s like. You''d feel something like this¡ª *then casually turns it off* Some people do this involuntarily while a select few like myself haveplete control over it. That''s also why I went a little overboard with those people from the Roxas Family¡­"


    He almost rolled his eyes, "That''s not 100% urate. The most dangerous ones are the ones who can do it without¡ª"


    "Oh~ trust me, I know those people. I''m one of them, as a matter of fact¡­"


    ''One of those fucked in the head¡­''


    In any case, my reply only received awkward silence but Rosie took it upon herself to drink the tea and bit a small piece of the biscuits first so Kuzma could have his peace of mind. But yeah, the time limit I gave to the five was close to running out and it didn''t take long before we saw them running for dear life in our direction.


    And as they reached the walkway, they immediately slowed down so as not to kick the rocks around and damage the flowers but boy were they out of breath. I know that they scrambled to change clothes and all but they honestly looked the samepared to the aftermath of lobbing a stun grenade at them.


    ''I wonder who patched up his ear¡­''


    "WE MADE IT! HAA~ HA!"


    "I''m so~ not used to running¡­"


    "My knees¡­ Ha¡­ Haaa¡­"


    "G-Guys, shut up! Just try to control your breathing¡­ Phew¡­"


    "E-Easy for you to say¡­"


    And as we met eyes, they stood straight and maintained eye contact¡ªthough not all the time, because that would be weird¡ªwithout the hate or animosity I felt earlier but another group of maidservants came with the Villegas Family''s specialty products.


    I just mouthed at them, "Stay there for a while¡­"


    Since this ce''s main thing was flowers, other than selling them as is, in a bundle, or inside a resin mold, they had them made into soaps, perfumes, creams, bookmarks, bath salts/bombs/, sprays, makeup, etc.


    "Ooh~"


    "Wow¡­ T-This smells really nice, don''t you think?"


    "Yeah!"


    It definitely made Kaley more interestedpared to simply picking out flowers from the bunch because I had this small inkling that she didn''t favor them as much as I thought she would. But yeah, it wasn''t like she hated them or anything but she was more interested in the bath products and the perfumes that had a lighter scentpared to the more overpowering ones.


    And as I turned to Seb who was eyeing one of the flowers in a resin mold, he picked up a smaller one before turning to Rosie:


    "U-Umm¡­ Excuse me, some of these aren''t real flowers, right?"


    Rosie nodded approvingly, "Good eye. As you can see, as much as I''d love to use fresh flowers, they''d just rot inside and they wouldn''t be as vibrant if we used dried-up ones so the next best thing was to replicate them with synthetic materials so as to imitate the vibrant colors of a real one¡­"


    "I-I see¡­ Can I have this one then? I think I could make this into a nice keychain¡­"


    "Splendid idea, I apologize that we haven''t thought that far ahead but we can give you a care package for thedy that would receive such a gift?"


    "R-Really? Thank you, then. I appreciate that¡­"


    In any case, we spent a bit of time perusing their disy and purchasing different items¡ªin a tab, of course¡ªbecause Rosie reminded me that they weren''t allowed to have firearms and the like for safety purposes but everything else was free game. However, I still couldn''t believe how valuable entertainment was because her face instantly lit up when I mentioned I could give her a terabyte''s worth of movies, TV shows, and music.


    Terry couldn''t hide his excitement as well but as Rosie and a few of her maidservants excused themselves so they could work on our flower arrangements, I decided it was time to talk to the five to straighten things out.


    At this point, they were still in the same position, patiently waiting for me to beckon them over, but the guy who could speak thenguage of cocksuckers already looked ufortable and a little bit pissed off from the time limit they needed to meet but was then tossed aside for close to an hour. To add to that, the spot he was standing on only provided shade for half of his head while the other half was directly in front of the sunlight, making him squint.


    But to be fair, I didn''t tell them to stand in one spot but just to stay put for a while being able to move around, so I''ll just consider it as a misunderstanding.


    "Alright, I''m sorry for the dy¡ªyou dide here in a hurry, but let''s talk. Come here, all of you."


    As I said that, they looked at each other first before walking into the gazebo and standing in front of us at attention. They were now maintaining eye contact with a little bit of respect but as much as I wanted to show Kuzma how psychopaths work, as we''ve established earlier, it would just go over their heads because sometimes, it would be simply done on a whim without a lick of killing intent involved¡ªakin to a person simply squishing an ant just because.


    So I first went with the route everyone could understand.


    "Alright, now''s your chance to talk freely but before that¡­ Has¡­ Has everything that happened not sunk in yet? Even if you didn''t have direct involvement with whoever from the Roxas Family¡ªand any other families who tried to mess with the Rivas Family, this is how it goes. They¡ª no, you guys lost. End of story."


    "..."


    "It fucking sucks, I know. But unless you have a way to turn things around, causing trouble and ring at me for god knows what reason isn''t helping your case. Whether you want it or not, the five of you are now under the Villegas Family who is now under the Rivas Family who is allied with me and a few other much, much bigger families who definitely have zero tolerance for rich brats like you."


    "..."


    "Any one of you could be now working as a prostitute, a target for a shooting range, a crash test dummy, or if worstes to worst, one of the corpses pushing their lifeless bodies around to power up a generator from this *pointing at Logan* handsome guy''s ce. I''d hate to say this but you''re still one of the lucky ones who could y as maids or butlers and have three full meals each day, a room to sleep in, and not be used for sexual release, but we here could talk to Sal and change it for you, if you want. Plenty¡ª and I mean, PLENTY of people would definitely kill to trade ces with you lot, just saying..."


    "..."


    "And yeah, that''s my piece so now it''s time to hear yours."


    At that point, I was genuinely interested to hear what they were about to say but a good five minutes have passed and no one had said a goddamn word. I was this close to lobbing another stun grenade but one of them walked up and looked at me with dead eyes before opening their mouth.

 Chapter 969 Maid Work or Sex Work?

    Chapter 969 Maid Work or Sex Work?


    Obviously enough, it was Tania, the one who asked me to end her to which I denied butpared to what she looked like earlier¡ªwhen they were running to meet the time limit¡ªshe looked just so fucking done about everything that was going and one more push and she''d join the 1% I mentioned earlier.


    "Good sir, t-this position m-might be considered ''lucky'' for most people b-but you gotta understand t-that what happened to us w-wasn''t even that long¡ªand yes, it hasn''t sunk in that all of our loved ones are either dead or sent somewhere else doing God knows what s-so we r-reacted that way¡­ A-And for that¡­ I, for one, apologize for my actions¡­"


    "Alright¡ª"


    "However¡­ I¡­ I-I''ll dly give up my spot as to whoever would f-fucking kill for it because I''m done¡­ sir."


    Kaley spoke my mind before I could reply, "You didn''t look like you were done when we saw you run here with everybody?"


    Tania shook her head before she looked down, "That''s¡­ That''s because they''ll be held responsible if I didn''te and since I was the reason for that also¡ªso I could change and all, I¡­ I just wanted to be in a position where I could decide for m-myself and not b-bring harm to them¡ª"


    Shirley suddenly cut in from the back, "W-What are you talking about?! W-We¡ª I thought we talked about this earlier?! You¡ª We don''t give up! We see things through and¡ª"


    I cut her off, "I don''t care what you talked about when you were changing clothes earlier or when you were crying yourselves to sleep after all that''s happened. She decides for herself and you have no say about¡ª"


    "B-But that d-doesn''t make sense! S-Sir! I-If s-she''s gonna die a-anyway, why don''t you j-just¡­ just give her to us?! T-That''ll benefit b-both parties and¡ª"


    "I''m sorry but that''s not how it works. Why the hell would you get to decide where she goes?"


    "I-I was just¡ª"


    Then I turned back to Tania with a dark expression, "And you, I told you earlier¡ª Fuck it, you know the drill, *pulls out the same knife and stabbed it on the table in front of everybody* I''m not gonna waste effort in ending your life. If you really wanna die, do it yourself. It''s either that or jump anyone of us and we''ll see from there."


    Tania shook her head before looking at the knife in front of her, "I''m also powerless to do that, sir. With all due respect, I didn''t think you''d hesitate to kill a nobody like me but the ironic thing is that I can''t do that to myself either¡­ However, I also couldn''t bring myself to serve this family who we thought were our beloved neighbors and I''d rather be sent somewhere else, even in much poorer living conditions."


    As she said that, Terry shook his head as he muttered, "Unbelievable¡­" but as Tania was looking at the ground, waiting for me to grant her request, Shirley at the back had never looked so desperate as she was looking straight at me and waiting for me to acknowledge her and break a deal somehow.


    In any case, I almostughed at her face for the second time because even if it looked like we were around the same age, I couldn''t believe how rich brats like her were this out of touch with the reality of the situation because she''d rather live in "much poorer" living conditions than to live in a fucking mansion and work as a maid.


    So, just to see how much she was willing to take it, I decided to test her like what I did with a certain high school brat from way, way~ back.


    "Are you really sure about what you''re trying to get into? I''m giving you a final chance because I did tell all of you to speak freely. Once we leave this ce, there''s no going back."


    She looked at me puzzledly before answering, "Y-Yes, sir¡ª"


    "Alright. Then strip," I said casually much to the shock of almost everyone present.


    And the bitch couldn''t believe her ears, "S-Sir?!"


    "I''m not kidding when I told you that you could be working as a prostitute. Trust me, a rich brat like you with that face and that body? You''ll be fucking busy for the first few weeks on the job. But yeah, we gotta make sure you don''t have any skin conditions or the like, right?"


    "N-No¡­ I don''t have any¡ª"


    "Not that it matters, actually¡­ You see, your patrons on your first day will vary from tallnky dudes to short stocky dudes who probably hadn''t showered for days¡ª no, weeks! If you''re lucky, and they''ll have their way with you for a good 2-3 hours before another one or arge groupes knocking. And yes, you can''t say no to any of them as long as you''re employed in the Pink House."


    "W-What?"


    "Don''t worry though, they''ll probably inject you with all sorts of drugs if you''re that nervous so you''ll probably forget about it, but the more you take to forget their ugly faces, their bad breath, their poopy assholes, their stinking dick covered in smegma, etc., then congrattions! You''re now addicted to that shit and you''ll probably take drugs in payment instead of¡ª who are we kidding? They''ll pay you in vouchers actually, though you''d still have free food and lodging for the most part¡­ But you''ll be roomies with wannabe prostitutes as yourself and don''t get me started about that¡­"


    "A-About what?"


    "Ah~ Interested, are we? That''s good, that''s good¡­ I like the initiative! You see, the prostitutes over there had this ranking system of sorts and you''ll be treated like a celebrity if you''re in the top 10 or even top 20 but if you''re unranked¡ªespecially because you''re new, you''ll be doing all sorts of things like joining a fraternity just to get on their good side. And if you caught a disease from fucking all those guys and girls unprotected, that''s aplete disqualification for their ranking system so you gotta be careful¡­"


    "B-But how can I avoid¡ª"


    "I''m still talking, aren''t I? Shut up. Where was I? Ah~ STDs, right? But as a newbie, you need customers too though, so it''s up to you¡ª wait, where was I again? Oh, right¡­ I''m sorry, I''m not that familiar with their rules because I''m not a regr and I don''t peruse entitled rich brats but yeah¡­ I did say that you can''t say no to customers but the proper wording should be that you ''shouldn''t'' say no to customers."


    "W-Why is that?"


    I chuckled, "Good question! Are you the customer or are you the fucking hole to fuck?! Think Tania, think! What worth does a lowly prostitute like you would have if you''re gonna be picky about your customers? You gotta be at least the top rankers to have that privilege, you know? But yeah, their prices are a little too high for the ones who were ridden with all sorts of diseases so it evens out in a way and somehow protects them. But you? Better pray that your RNG is that good or¡ª Hmm~ There is one way though¡ª Wait... Two ways, actually but a sure-fire way is that¡­ Nah~ I doubt¡ª"


    "P-Please just tell me, sir! I¡ª"


    "THEN FUCKING STRIP, DAMMIT! ARE YOU GONNA LISTEN TO THE SINGLE FUCKING THING THAT I ASKED FOR OR ARE YOU GONNA KEEP ASKING DUMB FUCKING QUESTIONS?! NO ONE WANTS A HOLE TO FUCK THAT KEEPS SAYING NO AND WIGGLING AROUND IT, YOU DUMB FUCK! THE ONLY WAY YOU''D BE A PRIZE IN THE PINK HOUSE IS IF YOUR FUCKING HYMEN''S INTACT BUT LOOKING AT THE BITCH YOU ARE, YOU''VE PROBABLY FUCKED EVERYONE ON SIGHT! THAT''S THE REASON YOU WANTED TO BE A PROSTITUTE, BECAUSE YOU ALREADY ARE ONE¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"


    At that moment, something inside Tania''s head snapped as she tried to lunge for the knife on the table, but I kicked the same table and made it m against her gut, causing her to bend like a folder before hitting her head on it. And before she could put her hand around the knife and do god knows fucking what to it, I pulled on the table once again before breaking it in half.


    It did make my right elbow numb for a short bit¡ªsince now was not the time to tell you it still hurt¡ªbut now we were left with Tania on the flooring of the gazebo breaking down in tears once again.


    Anyone could''ve been affected by a young girl''s tears but it meant jack shit to someone like me.


    But yeah, I crouched down in front of her before she heard something her probably dead parents had never told her before:


    "I''m sorry but no. You''re not gonna get what you want, you''re not gonna get transferred somewhere else even though you''d fetch a high price because you''re still a virgin, and you''re not gonna act like a spoilt fucking brat because now, you''re Tania the fucking maid of the Villegas Family."


    "I-I just wanna go home¡ª"


    "Man~ You''d be great at roleying too, shame~ But yeah, trust me, you''d thank meter that I kept you in here because chances are, you''d be shot on the head on your first day at the Pink House while a sick fuck would still fuck your warm corpse. You''ve barelysted a week in here, how do you think you''re gonna fare outside? Why don''t you swallow that pride¡ª no, that notion that things will go your way once you''ve cried hard enough because again, you fuckers lost, you gotta deal with it OUR way, not yours."

 Chapter 970 Job Change? - Rude Awakening

    Chapter 970 Job Change? - Rude Awakening


    At this point, not only Tania was the one wearing a difficult and bitter expression because the words I''ve said cut deep enough for the realization of their current situation to actually "sink" inside their heads. It was a difficult position to be in their shoes because they were still livingvishly even if the world had already ended, and their lives flipped upside down just because they haven''t attended a fucking weing party.


    However, it didn''t take long before Shirley had another realization of sorts because not only did I prevent her "friend" from offering herself to random people just to not see their neighbor''s faces, but I also made Tania think twice about harming herself because that pain I inflicted to her would definitely be memorable for quite a bit of time.


    It''s not like I didn''t hear her pleas to just "give" her friend to her because she''s gonna die anyway but I did it MY way, not hers.


    To be fair with them, their life and way of living waspletely different from mine where I needed to put on my big boy pants at a much earlier age¡ªand furthermore, we didn''t have hectares ofnd and servants to order around, so my take on their situation would be contradictory to what they thought they deserve should have or allowed to possess.


    But in the grand scheme of things, especially now, they needed to adapt to the situation as fast as they could and take advantage of their current starting point, or else what I told Tania to scare her off switching jobs would actually be her reality.


    What I was doing right now was to give them a little~ bit more of a fighting chance but I then turned to the four as Tania continued to sob while clutching her stomach:


    "We still have time to talk until Rosiees back with our flower arrangements. After that, we''ll go back and probably see you guys never so talk while we still have the time."


    Shirley immediately walked forward, "S-Sir¡­ I don''t know how to say this but I''d like to¡­ T-Thank you for your decision to let Tania stay with us. Words aren''t enough to¡ª"


    I cut her off, "Enough with the flowery bullshit. How else can I be of service? Time''s ticking, alright?"


    "Ah¡ª Y-Yes sir¡­ But this¡­ This is gonna sound¡ª"


    "Again, enough of the flowery bullshit. I did say you all could speak freely, right?"


    She took a deep breath before saying out loud, "I-I''d l-like to request a p-proper burial for my parents, sir!"


    I was a little taken aback, "A burial, huh?"


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    "You do know that an actual ''burial'' is phased out and a cremation is the norm nowadays?"


    "W-What?"


    Hearing that, I couldn''t believe the current knowledge they had about the undead, and I just had to give them a quick refresher course because these people seemed to have never gone out even once¡ªand probably never taken down a single deadhead¡ªwanted their "rights" given back to them. They''ll die on the first week¡ªno, on the first day out in the wild and they could only me themselves for their ignorance.


    But yeah, in regards to Shirley''s request, there was only one way to make that possible though I had a few questions first:


    "Do you have any idea where their ''bodies'' are?"


    As I asked that question, I made sure to watch out for the changes in their expression¡ªabrupt or subtle¡ªbecause I knew that there were sacks of heads delivered to Sal that fateful day but I wasn''t sure if they knew what I knew. I''m not even sure who among them were the actual children of the Roxas Family because all Terry told me that they came from that joint but I''ll know soon enough given the situation.


    Shirley shook her head after a deep breath, "From what you said earlier, sir¡­ That could only mean that my¡­ t-they were c-cremated somewhere else¡ª"


    "I''m gonna be honest with you and say that they were probably burned on top of one another¡­"


    "..."


    ''They didn''t know, huh? Makes it a little easier¡­''


    I sighed as I waved her over, "But I''m gonna be a little more honest with you again. If you weren''t aware, certain¡­ ''trophies'' were delivered on the same night they died and I''m not sure how you honor your dead but if you want to make it as ''proper'' as possible, you''ll need to have those trophies turned to ashes too. That means¡­ with your current predicament, the only way to achieve that is not to only get in Sal''s good graces, but also to prove your worth in a way that she''ll grant you a favor such as that. You understand where I''m getting at?"


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    "That means doing nothing close to what you did earlier because let''s be honest here again, Sal or any of the other family heads beside me would''ve done way~ worse than what I did to you guys and they wouldn''t even hear you out like what we''re doing right now."


    "W-We understand, sir¡­"


    Then I looked at the three who looked a tad ufortable for standing that long:


    "Dumb, Dum-Dum, and Dumber¡ª no, Jay, Richmond, and Mark, anything else to say?"


    They looked at each other first before the one I stared down earlier, Dum-Dum, a.k.a. Richmond took a step forward:


    "We¡­ W-We umm¡­ We''d like to see if we could be employed as¡ª no, trained as soldiers¡ª"


    I wasn''t able to hold in a chuckle, "Pff¡­ After all that talk, you three still haven''t understood a single thing?"


    "W-We were just¡ª It''s¡­ I know it''s presumptuous but I, for one, think that I-I''m better suited for w-work outside¡­ A-And seeing you in action, s-sir¡­ Learning from you is¡ª"


    "I''m gonna stop you right there."


    "O-Okay, sir¡­"


    "Haa~ Answer these series of questions honestly before I even think of taking you in as a gopher. Jay and Mark, why don''t you answer too? First, how many deadheads have you killed?"


    "Dead¡ª Ah, thirt¡ª no, a t-total of three, sir¡ª"


    "F-Five¡­"


    "One¡­"


    I almost rolled my eyes, "Seriously? Alright¡­ How many people have you killed? Be honest, alright?"


    "Zero¡­"


    "N-None¡­"


    "T-Two, sir¡­"


    "Oh? You''re a little serial killer in the making, aren''t ya? This following question is only for you, Mark: Why did you kill them?"


    "T-They tried to k-kill me, sir¡­ I-I had no choice on the matter¡­"


    I nodded ''approvingly'' at Mark, "Ah~ Self-defense, is it? I get it, I get it," then I looked at the three once again while shaking my head, "This is really~ awkward, ain''t it?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Any disciplines or martial arts you used to study under before?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Any of you know how to use guns?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Fuck~ What were your jobs before the world ended?"


    "I t-traded stocks¡­"


    "S-Still a college student s-studying business administration¡­"


    "I-I''m a student too but I have a schrship for ying basketball¡­"


    I nodded at Mark once again, "Oh? That''s promising, at least. A varsity yer, eh?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I sighed heavily while looking at the three, "Alright, this is how it''s gonna go. It''s pretty obvious that only Mark there has a slight chance of keeping himself alive out there because of cardio from ying basketball but I wanna be a little fair here. If any of you are still standing after three minutes with my actual student over there, Seb, I''ll ask Sal to give you a change of careers and if you actually win against him, I''ll poach you on the spot."


    The three didn''t know how to react to that statement but Seb instantly got up and asked to talk to me to the side:


    "Y-You¡­"


    "Hmm? What''s wrong?"


    "Fighting those three¡ª"


    "You don''t think that you''re gonna lose, are ya?"


    "No¡ª"


    "So, what''s the problem?"


    "I¡­ I don''t know how to properly hold back¡­"


    "For real?"


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    Hearing Seb say that, I''ve never been more excited to see him in action because, from the time I was his instructor, I''ve only beaten him senselessly and trained him to the point of vomiting without actually making them spar with each other. Sure, they probably did in their own time but our nice little gazebo had now be the octagon for Seb and the three stooges to show what they were made of, and I didn''t even care when one of Rosie''s maidservants told us that the flower arrangements were done.


    Funnily enough, the three decided to decide who would go first via rock-papers-scissors and their little BSBA was up.


    Jay had never looked so nervous as Seb was sizing him up but once I gave them the signal, Seb''s whole demeanor just changed as he lunged at his opponent. He was postured very low from the start which I assumed he''d aim for a takedown but the moment his opponent swung a hail mary to stop him in his tracks, Seb had already stopped an inch short from the arc Jay''s fist would travel, and it was already over right then and there when Seb took him down and mounted him for a pounding.

 Chapter 971 "Advantage"

    Chapter 971 "Advantage"


    Before Seb fully mounted him¡ªwhere Jay would be lying t on his back as Seb was sitting down on him with all of his weight¡ªhe took him down by grabbing hold of his right ankle, pulling it towards him while using his other hand to push on his torso. It was all done in a quick but forceful motion, probably even making his opponent have a small concussion due to hitting his head when his feet left the floor.


    There was a difference between hitting your head in those wobbly or shaky mats from the WWE or something simr to hitting your head in solid rock or concrete, because if wrestlers from that show performed those stunts on stone or solid concrete, they''d need more than ice or Ibuprofen to remedy that.


    In any case, it didn''t take that long before a rain of punches came from above, and even though I should''ve probably stopped the fight when Jay was fully mounted to keep him from sustaining more injuries, I still needed to see what he would do to defend himself and when the odds were stacked against him. However, I already pulled Seb from him when Seb came down on him with an elbow, knocked him unconscious, and cut a wound on his left eyebrow.


    Before doing that, I thought Seb would offer at least a little bit of resistance because he did say he had a problem from "Holding Back", so as I patched Jay up after waking him up, I turned to the other two who were already split from taking on my student.


    "I''m not fighting that guy, Mark! Didn''t you see what just happened?! I''m not¡ª"


    "I''m not asking you to get beat up, I''m just asking you to try and tire him out!"


    "Aren''t you being too shameless from doing that?!"


    "Fuck being honorable! This is a fucking fight! I''ll do anything to get us out of this ce!"


    "Us? You sure about that? And you''re willing to use me as a padding, huh? Why don''t you get beat up yourself and¡ª"


    Seb suddenly cut in with a dark expression, "I was ordered to fight three people, not two. I don''t care if you''re backing out but I''ll do what I was told."


    Richmond couldn''t belive his ears, "You prick, I''m making it easier for you and¡ª"


    "It''s not about making it easy for me or not. Orders are orders. If you want, why don''t you twoe at once?"


    ''Is that his problem? Overconfidence?''


    Mark couldn''t believe his ears either, "The fuck did you just say?!"


    Seb scoffed with a chuckle, "I said what I said. Better yet, if your guy there could get up on his own, add him to the pile. I''m walking out of here with my taskspleted either way."


    "T-This fucker¡­"


    "He''s riling us up but this is better for us. If we beat him, he''ll be forced to take us both."


    "You''re not backing down?"


    "What do you think, dumbass?"


    At this point, both sides were getting more and more heated but I had to step in to rify something:


    "Do remember that eye-gouges, kicks in the balls, hits to the back of the head, etc. are illegal."


    Richmond was about to protest about giving Seb special treatment but he couldn''t be more wrong.


    I rolled my eyes as I turned to him and Mark, "I''m not talking to you two. I''m reminding Seb of what not to do."


    Seb followed with a respectful answer towards me, "Yes, sir. I understand."


    "W-What?!"


    "Are you fucking serious? We have the numbers advantage here, dammit!"


    "Uh-huh. Sure, sure~"


    Nodding "respectfully" at their words, technically, what they said wasn''t wrong but two fucking eggs still wouldn''t do shit to a rock. Granted theparison was uncalled for or was a little too skewed but if I was in Seb''s shoes, my first go-to would be to use any of the "illegal" moves to quickly bring down one of them¡ªor even disable one of them in a few seconds¡ªso I could perhaps have a one-on-one fight, end it quickly¡ª or if the other one was about to recover, CC my current opponent to fuck, switch targets, rinse and repeat until both of them keels over.


    Fighting multiple opponents has different ways to tackle them¡ªpun intended¡ªbut since this was just an entrance exam of sorts to be a "soldier", we shouldn''t go too far for our aspiring trainees.


    Besides, I''ve already given them the guarantee that I would stop the fight if things were already decided so they''d be free to fuck shit up¡ªbut again, not as much.


    In any case, I almost burstughing when I gave the signal because the two dumbasses, where one had already killed two people, decided to do this posturing thing where they''d bait for a reaction and then react to it instead of rushing Seb like they were supposed to.


    ''They already alluded to being dishonorable so they should just use their numbers "advantage" to you know, get a fucking advantage for crying out loud!''


    And yeah, Logan started cackling when Richmond watched Seb''s boot reach his jaw¡ªinstantly taking him out of the picture¡ªbut even I was surprised when Mark decided to use it to his "advantage".


    What happened was the moment Seb connected with Richmond with his right foot, Mark came in and invaded his right side to throw a left hook to Seb''s temple, but before his fist even reached the halfway mark, Seb braced his core and his left foot before he drove his right leg back and hooked it on Mark''s arm, then leaning back and using his weight to bring both of them on the floor rolling, taking Mark''s left arm as hostage.


    "WAIT! WAIT! WAI¡ª AGHHh~!!!"


    Seb didn''t even hesitate to stretch and bend Mark''s arm way~ past its suggested breaking point, but I managed to jump in at the right time to prevent any serious injuries from happening.


    And again, I was a little confused as to how Seb was having difficulty from holding back because every time I chose to interfere, he''s just let me and stop what he was doing on the spot.


    However, right as we thought that my earlier point that these kids would die in the first five minutes outside, Dumber, a.k.a. Mark decided to throw a cheap shot when Seb offered him a hand to get up.


    The dumbass thought he''d get a hit in but at this point forward, all bets were off and I wasn''t gonna stop Seb from doing what he was about to do.


    Right as he tried to pull him in to do god knows what, he didn''t think that Seb would hinge down and bend his knees to counteract the pulling motion.


    I simply said in passing, "Leave him breathing without any bones broken¡­ But his teeth are fair game."


    "Yes, sir," Seb casually nodded before his eyes almost lost color.


    "W-W-WAIT! WAIT! I WAS JUST¡ª"


    Before he could spout more excuses, the moment he stopped pulling Seb down with him, Seb sent a kick to Mark''s torso, causing Mark to let go of him, and putting him in a very easy position to half-mount.


    However, fully mounted or not, I did say his bones shouldn''t be broken¡­ but not dislocated.


    I thought for sure that Seb would start pounding Mark''s figurative ass from the get-go after mounting him like Jay, but as he already had taken control of his hand, he easily went back to where they left off and popped Mark''s shoulder off its socket.


    A few people definitely heard that dreaded pop before Mark screamed at the top of his lungs but this time, no one was there to help him¡ªas even his only friends who were awake: Shirley and Tania, looked away when he was looking for someone to turn to.


    And right as he did that, I was a little unnerved by how Seb just looked at me to see if I was gonna stop him, but seeing that I wasn''t stepping in like the first three times, he did eventually got on top of Mark''s torso before making him spit out a handful of his teeth.


    It was already difficult defending from a ground-and-pound being fully mounted, how much more it would be if he could only use one of his arms?


    But yeah, I did step in when Mark eventually lost consciousness because even if he did his best defending himself and trying to stay awake, he could only take so much hits to the head and not umte damage.


    At this point, Rosie''s maidservants took it upon themselves to call their very own "doctor" but Kaley and I were just about done treating the three when this stumpy old dude walked in with a terrified look on his face. He didn''t think that the very people who put these kids in that state would be the ones to treat them also.


    But let this be a lesson for people to stay in their fuckingne unless it really, really, really calls for it.

 Chapter 972 Duck, Duck, Goose?!

    Chapter 972 Duck, Duck, Goose?!


    It had been more or less a year since the world ended and it baffled me as to why I still came across people like these. From the shows I''ve watched or read, the government should''ve already abandoned their people, random strangers wouldn''t even dare to have a normal conversation with another stranger, and¡ª sure, there could be another type of 1% like these dumb shits, but it was still an experience seeing it in person.


    What Seb did and I let happen could be a bit too much for these people but then again, even if his actual intentions weren''t to do harm, how the fuck could we know that?


    It takes less than a second to kill or even seriously maim someone so we wouldn''t take the chance to figure out his real intention regarding the matter. They''ve just been in a fight where there was a chance that Seb could be the one injured instead so it was his own damn fault for waking up a sleeping bear, poking a tiger with a stick, or in a less figurative sense, fucking around and finding out.


    With that said, they were eventually sent to this ce''s clinic of sorts, and as Rosie''s attendant thought we''d finally follow her, I instead pulled out the sketch I drew and showed it to Terry.


    "Hmm? What''s this¡ª Oh? Is this a gift? Thank you¡ª"


    I almost smacked the shit out of the motherfucker, "Look closely at the figure. I tried my best to draw her and this is a slim chance, but is she anything like the figure you sawst time?"


    "Last time?"


    "You know, when you were drunk as fuck and told me about this witch¡ª"


    "OHHH! I see now, yeah¡ª Wait¡ª Hmm~ I didn''t actually see her face b-but I guess the clothes they were wearing was kind of the same?"


    Logan cut in, "Really? A hood over rags? Kinda unique, I guess~ Shii¡­"


    Terry apologetically scratched his head as he turned back to me, "U-Umm, how about the frog a-and the goose? Y-You found them, at least?"


    I facepalmed as I remembered that specific detail, "N-No¡­ No frogs or geese¡­ Just a pit viper¡ª"


    "A pit viper?! A-A snake, you mean?!"


    "Yeah, sure¡ª"


    "Hmmrgh¡­" Terry grumbled as he looked up, as if he was trying to remember something, "Umm~ I''m not exactly s-sure but t-the one you found was p-probably a different one¡­ Sorry¡­ We used to have a lot of them¡ªeven travelling ones¡ªaround these parts so it could be anyone¡­ I-I doubt all of them survived though but be really careful though, they''re not as kind as they were portrayed in movies¡­"


    Nancy tilted her head from hearing that statement, "What kind of movies are you watching?"


    "Hmm?"


    "N-Nevermind¡­"


    I then nodded a few times, "Sebastian did say he learned from different¡ª"


    ''Wait¡­ Something doesn''t add up¡­ No¡­ It kinda does¡­ I guess "learning" could mean a few things if it came from Sebastian¡­.''


    I was slightly deep in thought because I did remember Sebastian telling me that he "learned" from more than one witch, mountain doctor, healer, or whatever term best described them, but I figured that other than his first time¡ªwhere everything was either fed, injected, or directly put in him, he learned their tricks of the trade one way or the other¡­ like the weirdest version of the Honey Trap scam.


    ''So¡­ So, so, much easier when people used to tell me shit straight¡­''


    "D-Dude?"


    "What? Ah¡ª N-Nevermind¡­"


    "Sure¡­" Terry just looked at me a little puzzledly because I did space out for a shot bit after cutting my sentence short.


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we sorted everything out in this ce like thanking the Villegas Family for their hospitality and giving the people from the De Leon Family stationed here a few "goodies" for some brownie points.


    lights¦­¦Ïvel However, right as we drove outside their gates, I saw this white speck from the distance that crossed the street¡ªand it was actually this weirdly shaped goose whose neck looked more like an elbow.


    ''Is that¡ª No fucking way¡­''


    It had this weird bump of sorts that was making it position its head lower but it quickly made its way into the woods as we were about toe closer.


    I wasn''t the only one who saw it actually but as weird as that instance was, the general consensus was to just leave it alone because, from our current affairs, it wasn''t our business and peace was still an option. Besides, who in their right minds would chase a goose down¡ªif it was even the right one¡ªin unfamiliar territory and possiblynd themselves in the same situation Sebastian experienced before?


    But yeah, as we put that thought behind our minds, I noticed that Seb was just looking out the window like he was filming a sad music video.


    I was this close to cracking a joke but our peace was disturbed when Kuzma and Logan started knocking loudly from the back:


    "HEY! HEY! WE GOT A SITUATION OVER HERE!/ THEY ARE POURING FROM WHERE THAT DUCK RAN IN! DO WE ENGAGE OR NOT?!"


    Right as I looked at the side mirror, a horde just seemingly popped out of nowhere, and faint gunshots could be heard from the direction of the Villegas Family estate. They obviously came from Mauro''s men but the issue here wasn''t their walls keeping up¡ªwhich I assume they will, but a horde should be cleared or thinned out as much as possible.


    I instantly stepped on the brakes and barked orders loud enough for everybody to hear:


    "KALEY! HOP ON THE BACK WITH KUZMA AND SEB WITH YOUR RIFLES WHILE LOGAN DRIVES THE RAPTOR¡ª"


    "GOT IT! I''LL HANDLE THE RUNNERS! DON''T MIND THE NOISE, KUZMA! WE NEED SOME OF THEM GOING FOR US TOO!"


    "UNDERSTOOD!"


    "WHY DO I GOTTA DRIVE?!"


    "I KNOW HOW THEY SHOOT BUT NOT YOU! YOU ONLY BROUGHT YOUR SIDEARM, WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT DO?!"


    "FUCK IT, BUT WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"


    I waved him off as I jumped to the back with Nancy, "JUST DO AS YOU''RE TOLD BUT I''M CALLING FOR BACKUP!"


    "WE HAVE PEOPLE MUCH CLOSER TOO!"


    "THEN CALL THEM AS WELL! BUT WE GOTTA HAVE AN ESCAPE ROUTE!"


    "GOT IT! GOT IT! WHERE''S MY¡ª HEY, YO! WE GOT SHUFFLERS OVER HERE! A WHOLE HORDE AND SHIT! BRING EVERYONE!"


    Logan managed to call his men a little faster than me because I had to exin shit to him and assure Nancy who was already scared to death, but it didn''t take long before I connected with Jose.


    He instantly understood our situation as he dropped the call after hearing the word "Horde", and I left my radio with Nancy as I stepped out of my Raptor with my rifle.


    From my perspective, I was seeing dozens and dozens of the dead that already invaded the road and smelled like the worst kind of Rafflesia but there were still moreing from the woods where the goose ran in. And as I turned around, there weren''t anying from the opposite direction but if worstes to worst, our escape route would be to drive into this open area¡ªor the most optimal route which was to drive over blood and ashes after everything was over.


    In any case, the AK Kuzma was using was ripping shit and making the most noise, but he did waste a full magazine just to attract almost half of the stragglers to our direction.


    But yeah, Kaley was already making quick work of the ones that broke free from the herd with a lead bullet to their skull while Seb was taking careful shots to not waste any ammo. At the same time, Logan positioned our vehicle in a way that he could see both sides of the road while still barking endlessly at his own radio.


    "I''LL CUT IN FROM THE FAR LEFT! KUZMA AND SEB! COME WITH ME! BRING ALL OF THE MAGS YOU COULD AND SOMETHING FUCKING SHARP!"


    "UNDERSTOOD!/ Y-YES SIR!"


    As it stood, we were facing a herd of regr deadheads with a mix of sprinters, so I decided to not burn through our ammo as much and let Kaley act as our backup. It was easy and safe to take them down from a distance but in an economic standpoint, it would be better to go through our pistol rounds first or take down as many as we could with our melee weapons.


    On that note, I had already made my way to the far left as Kuzma and Seb took the middle road, but I still used my pistol to shoot "inside" the horde to attract their attention. Furthermore, it would benefit me if I had more room to move around so the more space I take without corpses lying around, the better.


    And yeah, I just had the urge to use one of my fragmentation grenades to where they were most concentrated¡ªwhich was to the far right¡ªso I lobbed it in the right ce, cut down three unfortunate souls, before rotting body parts flew out after the explosion.

 Chapter 973 Frog, Frog, Toads?!

    Chapter 973 Frog, Frog, Toads?!


    It was a little difficult to get a whole view of the situation while I was at the front but since Kaley was on top of my Raptor while clearing zeds with movement speed buffs, I was relying on herms. and her surgical shots to make it easier for me. However, we were missing one crucial part of our factory line and it was someone to reload spent mags for everyone.


    There were two¡ª no, three options depending on the situation.


    The first option was to make Logan pick up the duty while keeping a lookout on the road at the same time so he could easily maneuver our truck when the time called for it. Secondly, I could make Seb run back to the truck while I make Kuzma move a little to the left so we could work together instead¡ªand Seb could still shoot a few rounds from the trucks after loading appropriate mags since he was taking careful shots from the get-go.


    Besides, Kuzma and I would need mags as well and we''d need a runner to throw us a bunch so we wouldn''t have to run back and fetch it ourselves.


    And the third one, I doubt it would be that difficult to reload mags but Nancy could take up the spot, though this option was far-fetched considering her reaction earlier.


    In any case, the most logical choice was to call over Kuzma to my side as Seb retreated, but he only did so after using up two magazines of his pistol. I would''ve wished he put more deadheads down with all that noise but uracy severely drops for some people if they start to fire rapidly.


    Once he made his way back, I was a little assured that Kaley would have someone right next to her just in case, but I was safer in my spot when Kuzma came in and made a lot of space by sinking his axe on this taller deadhead then kicking it back, knocking down the ones behind it.


    The axe he was using was actually the injector axe that belonged to Tatiana but it wasn''t as bloody as my katana due to its hidden feature.


    With a push of a button, it could expel gas to expand the wound cavity it created but it could also be used to somehow clear out the grime and other shit stuck in its tubes¡ªwhere in the case of Tatiana''s axe, it had eight in total and six of them weren''t right on its edge.


    They were located a few centimeters back¡ªwhich was still by the edge¡ªand it took a lot of tries to copy the edge pattern from one of those knives or even cleavers that had this particr bevel to make pulling it out much, much easier.


    Like cutting trees, a lot of shit could affect the cutting process if the axe had tons of other foreign shit on it so aside from wiping it with a rag or a clean cloth, expelling gas from its holes could get rid of its problems akin to me flicking my wrist to remove the excess blood on my katana.


    Kuzma could press it a total of ten times for a quick burst of air but he could pretty much hold onto the button to expel everything out¡ªit if ever punctured inside a Hulker''s head¡ªbut it would be considered a regr axe at that moment because reloading the gas canister would take longer, and he couldn''t simply do it on the spot without help.


    But yeah, it didn''t even take that long before backup came from the other side of the road.


    "BEEP! BEEP! MADAFACKAZZZ~!!!"


    "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! BIG DICKS, COMING THROUGH~!!!"


    Kuzma and I had to take a step back and get out of dodge once I heard the roar of engines followed by the incessant re of their horns, but even Logan suddenly backed up our vehicle out of the road because two pickup trucks straight-up rammed into the walking corpses from the other side and went straight through.


    And to our fucking delight, they cleared¡ªdebilitated or dismembered if not, almost 90% of the deadheads stomping their feet on the asphalt because their trucks were not only equipped with almost the same bumper we had, but they also had these spiked, thorn-like rods sticking out of their wheels like war chariots to rip out the legs, torsos, or whatever the fuck it came contact with¡ªand with the speed that they came in, let''s also add kic energy into the picture.


    Granted some of them were still "alive", but the whole process became easier because we''d only have to aim a rod to their heads like people who picked up garbage formunity service would do.


    However, once I saw the trucks slow down and perform a U-turn, I simply wiped my de, put it back in my sheathe, then picked up my rifle because the only problem we had left was the ones stilling from the woods that fucking goose went into.


    Their spiked wheels still did some of the work but the weight of their vehicles made this musical of sorts that sounded like an ASMR clip¡ªto make it a little PG¡ªof several watermelons getting crushed into pieces, but the visual aspect of it was just way, way~ worse.


    With that said, we took it upon ourselves to finish off the ones that were pushed out of the road, but with our limited space, I was the one to go forward while Kuzma slightly fanned the side to finish off the dismembered ones with a knife to the head.


    I didn''t even notice that our group eventually caught up to us and Ipletely forgot to rescind my call for backup because these two trucks that came in were the MVPs today.


    Furthermore, the onesing from the woods ground to a halt once I reached the halfway mark of the meat paste on the road, but that fucking elbow-necked goose was still nowhere in sight.


    I would''ve shot it or run it over when I had the chance because even if causation wasn''t equal to corrtion, the motherfucker must''ve done something. And yeah, if I see any fucking frogs hopping around, I would fucking murder it on the spot.


    ''We''ve spent so much time horsing around about anything else would make me trigger happy¡­''


    In any case, the look on everyone else''s faces¡ªthe ones who camete¡ªwas fucking priceless when we started the clearing process where we''d gather the corpses in one spot, pile them on top of one another before burning them, picking up spent casings, etc. but as we were gathering assorted body parts from one ce to the other, not only did I, but a few others noticed that a good quarter of them seemed to be strewn together¡ªnot in the stitcher kind of way¡ªbut like an actual human put them together with a needle and some thread.


    Looking at the one I found closely, its eyes, nose, ears, and mouth were sewn shut, but its torso was also stitched up for some reason, and a few things seemed to be out of ce.


    It definitely made me curious to the point that I pulled out my dagger and attempted to open up the ones I found, but before I even had the chance to do so, James #2 did first but he vomited on the spot after he discovered a stack of fingers jammed inside its mouth while several dozen eyeballs had reced its digestive system.


    His vomit dropping onto its torso which was now acting as a fucked up bowl for those eyes that were also the most fucked up bundle Orbeez I''ve seen so far didn''t help his case. Even some others who saw it had to look away but I''ve just noticed that the torso of my corpse twitched momentarily at one spot so I had to back away for a moment before sinking my dagger at the spot I saw multiple times until it stopped twitching..


    I said loud enough for everybody to hear:


    "Hey! Gather the ones you found in another spot and make sure that there aren''t any living creatures inside them. It''s a shame but stab their stomachs a few¡ªno, several times for good measure first¡­"


    As they did, I eventually tried to open up mine to discover the surprise and it was actually this discolored toad that looked to be a little poisonous but it also had small but dead animals inside like rats, birds, and the like, making it seem like this toad I stabbed multiple times was on itsst legs.


    Because from what I''d experienced so far, animals wouldn''tst long if whatever was making these corpsese back from the dead made its way inside their system, and it was a good thing we haven''t hunted anything to eat this far in our journey so chances of us eating a carrier were slim to none.


    ''But what''s the point of this though?''

 Chapter 974 Dragons Breath - Is that a duck?

    Chapter 974 Dragon''s Breath - Is that a duck?


    lights¦­¦Ïvel ?


    I''ve seen more than my fair share of weird shit even before the world ended like a specific order of how you should move in items into your new home, spilling the first shot of an alcohol bottle on the ground in a drinking session, etc. but yeah, they were more regarded as customs in a specific culture¡ªFilipino culture¡ªbut it takes a specific type of being fucked in the head and the obscure "arts" to do shit like this.


    And god fucking knows what the purpose of this was other than an intimidation/scare tactic or cause people to straight-up question if they should be free to walk among us or should WE be free to shoot them in the head if we came across such people.


    Heck, they were featured on the news multiple times in the past trying to "cure" various diseases with their spit, getting possessed by their customer''s loved ones so they could talk to them, selling fucked up concoctions as a fucking cure-all, getting rid of curses and figuring out who did them with the formation of melted candles dropped on water¡ªand as a fucking norm for a small number of people in the world, selling trinkets that could somehow alter their destiny and rid of bad juju, mojo, or whatever the fuck they may call it.


    I was so sick and fucking tired of this specific character ss surviving in the apocalypse and doing shit like this because more often than not¡ªno, like 99.99% of the time, they would do more harm than good.


    But yeah, I had this new friend I had who definitely shared the same sentiment, and he, Sebastian, was ready to fucking set the whole fucking mountain aze just by the look on his fucking face.


    He turned to me after softening his expression, "My lord, I''m afraid I''m gonna have to ask you for another favor¡­ This will only be possible with a group of capable fighters such as yourselves."


    "What do you mean?"


    "I¡­ It shouldn''te as a surprise but the Rivas Family is severelycking of capable soldiers and it was one of the reasons we joined hands with the De Leon Family¡ª"


    I cut him off, "I mean, what do you need?"


    ''I keep forgetting he does this shit¡­''


    "Ah¡­ My ongoing n was to hunt down their remnants and purge the mountain of their filth but I could only do so in my free time. As you can see, this mountain is as big as a few put together but if we follow the trail the undead used to get here, we might just catch ourselves another break."


    Logan interjected, "And the goose. That fucking goose."


    Sebastian never looked so confused, "P-Pardon?"


    "Hah? You don''t know? Before this herd dropped in, we saw a fucking goose cross the road and head to the direction they came in¡ªand one of those brats from the mansion we came from swore he saw another one of those bitches you put downst time. Catch my drift?"


    "Curious¡­ In any case, the group''s safety would still be my priority¡ªhence the reason for a bigger group toe¡ªand if it starts to be too precarious, I wouldn''t mind going back and pursuing the matter at my own time."


    I nodded approvingly, "You thought about this already, huh?"


    "Of course, my lord¡ª"


    Logan rolled his eyes, "h~ h~ h~ If you''d hand me a proper boomstick, I''ll alsoe with ya. Since ya know, my sidearm''s probably not good enough."


    I chuckled, "Then what''s your weapon of choice?"


    "Pff¡ª I can pretty much use anything!"


    "Any tform?"


    "Sure."


    "ARs?"


    "Too basic."


    "AKs too?"


    "Fuck yeah, I said anything, didn''t I?! Even shotties¡ª"


    "How about an RPG? A methrower? A minigun¡ª"


    "I SAID¡ª Excuse me, wut?"


    I acted like thest few seconds didn''t happen, "How about an M4 clone?"


    "H-Hah?! M¡ª Wait¡ª How¡ª"


    "You said you can handle shotguns too, right? Kuzma''s already using Tatiana''s AK so she''s now back to using her Benelli M4 but I can''t give that to you so what we have closest to that is a Tac-12 from Sulun Arms. Basically Benelli M4 but made locally."


    "..."


    "L-Logan?"


    As I said that, Logan was just looking at me puzzledly while Sebastian was hiding augh behind his signature faint smile. I wasn''t sure if he had several Windows updates going on in his head right now but he eventually shook his head as he caught up to me now checking our equipment, reloading our mags, and handing over to Sebastian a few special shotgun loads because he was firm on sticking to his own weapon:


    "H-Hey! You fuckers left me there spacing out! Where''s¡ª WOAH! How many fucking guns do you have in here?! Bro¡ª That''s the sniper I always use in COD! Can I use that instead?!"


    I turned to Logan with a weird look on my face, "You''re gonna use that, in a forest, with limited view due to shrubs and shit? I''m even hesitating to use my AR for this and switch to a lever-action but¡ª"


    "I get it, I get it, alright? I-I just got too excited¡­"


    And it didn''t take long before Quinn dropped in after checking in with her people who drove the trucks earlier:


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO ACTING BUDDY-BUDDY FOR?! I WAS EXPECTING YOU TO MAKE THE WOUND ON HIS FACE A LITTLE DEEPER ONCE YOU TWO GOT BACK, BUT THIS?!"


    At that exact same moment, Logan hit her with the "You wouldn''t understand us men" quote before he almost was rendered incapable of joining us in our little trip to the woods. But yeah, since the whole gang was here, we ventured into the woods while leaving a few people to watch our vehicles¡ªJesus and his crew¡ªbecause they were more suited on the road than the gentle slope up the mountain.


    In any case, Sebastian and I were leading the pack but Logan chose to hike close with us while Tatiana was in the middle with Kaley as Kuzma was bringing the rear with Quinn. Everyone else was either in the middle or in the back of the pack but we were walking in four sections so as to give space to each other when troublees.


    With that said, it was fairly easy to follow the trail the dead left behind but this side of the mountain wasn''t as properly maintainedpared to the one by Sal''s estate because the overgrowth was greatly apparent. And even though it was giving us a lot of shade, it was causing the other nts and even the much smaller trees under the taller trees to lose out on their much-needed sunlight for them to grow properly.


    Furthermore, the amount of dead leaves and rotten bark and branches were strewn all across the area, and they could cause unfortunate idents when one was trying to run away from a¡ªan example, Jason Voorhees or arge dude dual-wielding chainsaws.


    But yeah, as we continued following the trail, I started to hear a faint noise of running water which I assume came from a small river or even a waterfall.


    I tapped on Sebastian who was looking at an angle where I couldn''t, "You hear that?"


    "I do, yes¡­"


    Logan interjected, "Hear what?"


    We answered at the same time, "Water."


    Logan turned to Sebastian, "Aren''t you familiar with this ce?"


    Sebastian looked sullen, "On this side of the mountain, not so much. It''s been a while since I was allowed to explore freely like this¡­ Memory''s a little different and nature evolves at a slow but steady pace¡­ That little bud there could be a towering tree given enough time and a little bit of luck¡­"


    "Just say you forgot, fancy-ass words just go over my head¡ªyou''ve no idea¡­ Hold up, is that a wasp nest?"


    Sebastian and I looked at the direction Logan pointed and it was indeed a veryrge wasp nest right under this branch of this old tree.


    "Good eye, Sir Logan¡ª"


    I cut in as I pointed at the shell holder I gave Sebastian, "You can use one of those on them if you want."


    Logan couldn''t believe his eyes, "Bro, you gave him Dragon''s Breath and never bothered to ask me if I wanted one?!"


    "I¡ª I gave you some pepper spray, they could still light up because they use propents¡ª"


    "It''s not the fucking same, alright?! Do you have any more¡ª"


    Sebastian gracefully handed Logan a handful, "My good sir, you can have half of them if you want. I''ll even give you the honors if you''re so inclined to use them¡­"


    Logan immediately snatched the shells from Sebastian''s grasp, "That''s what I''m talking about! Alright, everybody stand back!"


    Isaac shouted from the back, "We can hear you three all the way here! Because we''re the only ones in this damned woods!"


    Megan piled on, "Oh, shut up you guys! What if they hear us¡ª is that a duck?"


    "WHERE?!"

 Chapter 975 Traps and Blockages

    Chapter 975 Traps and Blockages


    In a blink of an eye, the three of us at the front followed Megan''s line of sight before a bunch of feathers puffed into the air, but unfortunately, it was a browned-feather duck that had a very short neck.


    We could''ve salvaged its meat if it didn''t take too much damage but a 1-oz slug, a 5.56x45mm cartridge, and a Dragon''s Breath shotgun load were way~ more than "too much", because not only was it blown to bits, but it was also roasted to fucking imperfection.


    But yeah, a few including me stifled augh while Sebastian and a few others sighed from the scare before Logan loaded another Dragon''s Breath on his Tac-12 and shot the wasp nest.


    It looked like he was doing a fireworks show due to the shade provided for us¡ªand the specific shotshell used, of course, but we were careful to wait and check if we caused idental fires around.


    With the amount of dried leaves and twigs lying around, one could simply throw a lit cigarette butt and start a forest fire, but even though it had a chance of smoking this other witch out, we wouldn''t actually sacrifice a mountain and all of its resources for that.


    There were plenty of ways to make her a little bit useful by making her nutrients for the soil, and we were still in the process of doing just that.


    And as we hiked on and followed the trail, the sound of moving water became increasingly stronger.


    We had already been walking for more than 30 minutes on an incline but we were met with a fork in the road¡ª mountain¡ª woods¡ª pathway, that could lead us in a steeper incline or following this gentle slope we were in earlier:


    "Ah, shit¡­ What now?" Logan sighed as he turned to us.


    lights¦­¦Ïvel Sebastian examined both paths briefly before shaking his head, "There''s no way of discerning which way is which¡ª"


    Logan''s ears perked up, "Which way is what?"


    I answered for Sebastian, "Which way those stitched-up ones came from. From the looks of it, they either converged at this particr spot and kept going until they reached the road."


    "Then the goose¡ª"


    I chuckled, "The goose probably had nothing to do with it. I''m a bit superstitious at times but that goose and the horde popping up suddenly was more likely a coincidence than a¡ª"


    Sebastian cut in, "You really think so, my lord?"


    I looked at Sebastian puzzledly before I had a realization, "Ah¡ª I forgot you''re also a powerlifter¡ª but yeah, we should probably decide now though it''s gonna be a coin flip¡ª"


    Megan cut in at the right time once again as she pointed at a familiar creature casually waddling up the steeper incline, "Isn''t that the goose you were looking for¡ª"


    Everyone collectively shouted, especially Sebastian and Logan, "IT''S GOTTA BE THERE!/LET''S FOLLOW IT!/ WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?! LET''S GO!"


    ''...''


    I was dumbstruck from the instant the decision was made but I couldn''t care less because I''d go either way at this point. However, the noises these jackasses made, made the goose haul fucking ass, making the cadets limber up before trying to catch up to it.


    But before James #1, James #2, Ruben, and Lucas reached far as they tried to race for it, I aimed at the tree a few feet further to make them stop in their tracks.


    "WOAH!/ WHAT GIVES?!/ DON''T SHOOT! WE''RE MEDIA!/ THE FUCK?!"


    I was pissed as fuck for them running off and I made sure to give each of them a bonk to the head because even if that could cause loss of a few brain cells, it seemed like they weren''t even using it.


    The goal of our trip here wasn''t to catch that fucking goose but to figure out where those modified deadheads came from, so that it would lead us to probably another cabin in the woods or something simr. Furthermore, superstition or not¡ªand not even taking into ount the exposed roots camouged by dried leaves and shit¡ªthere were things that could debilitate a person that didn''t include the hunter present.


    I was talking about traps.


    Witch or not, the bitch had some way to obtain her test subjects and I doubt she''d had the strength to drag them back to herir or the charisma to seduce her way to invite strangers to her pad.


    The only thing I could think of from the top of my head was by the use of traps or something simr, and running headfirst into unknown territory greatly increases the chances of getting caught on them.


    Then again, with the mention of strength, the traps sheid could probably be a little closer to home, or in some cases, since medical aid was far out of reach in these parts, she probably offered medical assistance in her home though that only applied to the living.


    What''s there to say that she didn''t use the same traps on the deadheads themselves because let''s be fucking honest here, who would fucking hike in the mountains at this point in time?


    Andstly, my first instinct was to shoot that goose on sight, the only reason I haven''t was because these jackasses hit the ground running and tried to win a Darwin award for it. That animal could be here in another coincidence but even if it was trained to do that shit, following it still wasn''t the answer.


    ''And we still have the trail for us to follow¡­''


    With that said, I spent a bit of time lecturing the cadets who aren''t in my discipleship program or in my inner circle though they seemed to understand my actions and recognize what they did wrong.


    "Again, the worst thing we can do in unknown territory is do shit at their pace, and even if that goose wasn''t a familiar or not¡ªeven if it could rm the witch in hiding or not, your lives are more important. Understand? Even Sebastian said it before we decided toe here."


    "W-We apologize, sir."


    "M-Me too¡­"


    "I, as well, sir¡­"


    "We won''t do it again. Sir."


    Then I brought up a family tradition:


    "Now that we understand each other, lift your shirt from the back, and don''t scream as loud."


    "S-Sir?"


    "Huh?"


    "Wut?"


    "I-I don''t follow¡ª"


    For the sake of brevity, the four were enduring the pain of being pped at 60% power from the back as we continued to follow the trail, but unfortunately, the goose really left us in the dust. However, it didn''t take long before we finally came across this stream of clear water that came from this set of cascading waterfall-like water formations that were 5-10 feet in height, and the trail abruptly ended there.


    Anyone else were both appreciating the view and wondering where the dead could''vee from because even at the other side of this stream of sorts, the trail definitely ended by the shallow water that was barely up to our knees.


    In any case, Sebastian was in deep thought as he was looking around for clues¡ªanything to make sense out of the situation.


    JP gave a suggestion, "Could they have been washed over by the stream?"


    Logan looked at him like an idiot, "This shit isn''t that deep¡ª"


    "It doesn''t stay that way forever, does it?"


    "Ah¡ª True¡­"


    Seb looked over at the path the water wasing from, "So¡­ We''d have to follow the water? Where does it start?"


    Ruben nodded, "Would that even lead us to the ce we''re looking for?"


    Then everyone else followed:


    "What if we chose the wrong path?"


    "We''re gonna double back then?"


    "Oh man, I didn''t bring my pack."


    "I didn''t bring mine too¡­"


    "We rushed here, remember?"


    "It''s also almost noon¡­ We gotta have lunch¡­"


    "D-Don''t remind me¡­"


    Hearing these cadets go at it again, I was this close to giving them another talking to but Sebastian spoke up in an apologetic tone:


    "Apologies my guests for bringing you all the way here for nothing but with the way things are now, I guess it should be our stopping point¡­ I do apologize for the trouble but I''ll make sure to make up for it once we get back¡ª What¡­"


    As Sebastian stopped mid-sentence, seemingly looking at something from the distance, I followed his line of sight to discover that the clear water was slowly turning sewage-like starting from the 8-foot "waterfall" from the "floor" above us.


    "What¡­"


    Even the fucking smell that we should''ve been used to made everyone grimace but it suddenly regurgitated what looked like a huge fucking blockage for god knows what reason. It looked like a giant was backed up for ages and it finally had its release and again, the god-awful smell it produced was enough to make everyone else forget about lunch and maybe even dinner.


    However, this "blockage" rolled for a bit and then crumbled into pieces¡ªand as each piece got a partial washdown from the water flowing from the floors above, it revealed the very thing we were looking for.

 Chapter 976 Brief Encounter w/ A Failed Revenge Plot?

    Chapter 976 Brief Encounter w/ A Failed Revenge Plot?


    These figures looked as if terracotta warriors and descendants of Frankenstein made dozens and dozens of babies before bathing in a hot steaming poop bath though I took advantage of their cinematic sequence as I cheesed their entry with my .22 pistol.


    The distance between us and them was very short and since their earlier batch had already walked the same path, bridging the distance in an instant would definitely not spring any traps.


    And since Kaley was the only one who had the same suppressed .22 pistol that I had which was a Taurus TX22, she was the only one I didn''t stop when everyone else tried toe in guns zing.


    It was because we might very well be by the entrance of the witch''sir that was located behind this waterfall¡ªwhich tickled me as a gamer¡ªso we needed to be as quiet as much as possible even if we fired off a few rounds in the distance and made a lot of noise by the road earlier.


    But yeah, I saw Kuzma and Tatiana jump over the other side from the floor we were in as a catch-all for stragglers though a couple of cadets followed after them while the rest either secured the path we came in or were ready to fuck shit up when things didn''t go our way.


    In any case, with the words of Mr. Devito¡ªor should I say, Mr. Frank Reynolds, "So anyway, I started stin''."


    Kaley and I picked a side¡ªthe right or the left¡ªto start with, and so that we wouldn''t identally aim at the same walking corpse, but it went even easier than we initially thought.


    These fucked up deadheads were already having a hard time with their motor skills, how much could they freely move around while they were also covered in shit, dirt, and y?


    The answer was that there were actually a select few that we chose to avoid because their heads were still covered in thick dirt or they were still encased from that huge blockage and needed more water to rinse them from the substance.


    However, it didn''t take long before another "blockage" popped out of the same hole, but instead of the smell of just decay and rot, it also now had a mix of rotten eggs andpost.


    ''I''m beginning to doubt that this is the ce¡­''


    With that happening, the ones we were picking off got pushed to the level below, but everyone else took it upon themselves to end their misery with their axe, machete, or the melee weapon they brought with them.


    We were still following the protocol of being mostly quiet and what Kaley and I did was just switch our targets to the ones who were still in the process of separating from their brethren and struggling from the added weight to their bodies.


    And yes, I''ve said plenty of times before, even a suppressed .22 LR round was loud even without wearing ear protection but there was a stark difference to itpared to firing a shotgun load or an unsuppressed rifle round.


    It wasn''t exactly "silencing" it or suppressing it but the person that would hear the sound would have a harder time figuring out the exact distance or location it came from.


    And in much simpler terms, imagine ying Marco Polo with someone who was deliberately altering the volume of their responses.


    But yeah, as much as I''d hate to do this¡ªand since I''m on myst mag on my .22, I pulled out my katana while Kaley switched to our Maxim 9¡ªto those of you who forgot was an internally suppressed pistol chambered in 9mm.


    "Just shoot them when they''re clumping up, alright?"


    "Yeah! I''ll watch the above levels too!"


    With that said, my whole approach to the dead in front of me was slightly different because instead of bringing them down with one flowing sh after the other, I opted for angled thrusts that avoided whatever the fuck they were covered with.


    My de was fucking ductile and I don''t mind it getting grime-y but I sure as hell tend to avoid dipping it in feces.


    But yeah, the one I pulled up could''ve been a famous influencer if the shit on its face was reced with makeup because god fucking dammit they were as thick as humanly possible.


    I had to move to its side before I plunged the tip of my de into its exposed earlobe before pulling out and stabbing the one next to it right under its chin. And right after that, the next entrance I made use of was its eye socket but I just had enough when I had to push through that thickyer of dirt they had just to get on their only weakness.


    I would very much prefer lopping their head off but the ones who were left that were literally covered in shit who somehow managed to stand up? I either poked/pushed them with my scabbard or kicked them back on the stream with my boot because there''s no fucking way I''m touching that shit again.


    Cynthia and her rapier would''ve flourished in this situation but looking over at the other side, Tatiana and Kuzma were doing more than fine.


    I apud their candor for not giving a fuck whether the sword or the axe they were using was getting super dirty or some of it was getting on their clothes or their skin because if the deadheads¡ªgod forbid didn''t get them, fucking E. Coli will.


    Hearing myself say this was making it sound like I had a problem with getting dirty¡ªwhich I honestly am¡ªso I was just d to high heavens that my de was long enough to avoid most of the stter or the blowback from making contact with them.


    It didn''t take long before we put all of them down but the most difficult thing to do was drag all of their bodies from the stream to a few feet away so that we could examine them and then let them dry off for a while and possibly have other people visit and burn them in the future.


    But yeah, it was pretty obvious that almost all of them were experimented on¡ªnot only by putting things in their bodies or attaching limbs that weren''t their own¡ªbut also by harvesting from them what was "useful" or any other bullshit purpose they could serve.


    Because not everything that came from the "blockage" was whole or even an undead.


    Furthermore, if we somehow performed a proper autopsy on all of them, it would be like buying several sets of puzzles only discovering that more than a quarter of the pieces were missing or even the frame we''d assemble them on was also MIA. There were spare parts, to put it bluntly, and it would be a heyday for a stitcher toe upon these.


    ''One could mistake that the Garcia Family did this too instead of a witch doctor¡­''


    "Hmm¡­" Sebastian let out a long sigh after looking closely at one of the corpses.


    "Something wrong?"


    He pointed at a patch of skin that had what seemed to be a tribal tattoo, "Look at that, my lord. Seems familiar to me¡­ Most of them had it, even the ones that are separated¡­"


    JP cut in, "Isn''t that a normal thing for people nowadays?"


    A few others nodded but Sebastian shook his head before he replied:


    "Sir JP, I''m aware that tattoos are prettymonce as you''ve stated but you have to understand that there are specific tattoos that belong to particr tribes in this area. However, I''m not well-versed in all of them so I could only identify a few. It''s just that some of them were from the tribesfolk the Madam unleashed her wrath upon¡­"


    JP tilted his head, "And that means?"


    Sebastian shook his head, "This¡­ I don''t know the exact reason but a tribe''s healer isn''t supposed to cause harm to their own."


    I interjected, "Didn''t you also say that there are tattoos from different tribes?"


    "Ah. There are exceptions such as that but who would make an enemy out of all the mountain people just to further their research?"


    "Eh~ It could be a different thing altogether too."


    "W-What do you mean, my lord?"


    "Well, they have their own set of beliefs but they do be crazy sometimes. What if they did it to themselves or made their only doctor find a way to take revenge? Not all of these witches live alone, right? They do in a way but they belong to an org or something¡­"


    "I guess so but I-I don''t follow the revenge part¡­"


    I pointed at some of the corpses I examined, "See those bullet holes? Those aren''t fresh."


    "That''s¡ª"


    I nodded as I looked straight at Sebastian, "I dunno about you but the unleashed wrath you spoke of must''ve been a little sloppy. I doubt that the people Sal used to raze this mountain took into ount every one that they''ve shot down so this must''ve been a few corpses a survivor of them made use of in order to get back at us. You''ve also said that you''re not familiar with this side of the mountain so how could Mauro''s people do better than you?"


    "That''s true..."


    "Also, there could still be survivors from what Sal did and they could be hiding in a cave system and this was one of the exit holes, literally. I doubt we''d find anything useful if we go inside nature''s butthole but it could lead to where some of them are¡­ or aren''t anymore¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Because it looks to me that their revenge was cut short."


    Sebastian''s ears perked, "My lord?"

 Chapter 977 Speculations And Relaxation

    Chapter 977 Spections And Rxation


    Looking around, not only was Sebastian looking at me curiously, but everyone else either had their head tilted to the side or had this particr look where their eyes were opened wide¡ªmaking their eyebrows rise at the same time¡ªas they were in full attention. In any case, I would be speaking out of my ass right now but with Nature''s Butthole over there, I guess I won''t be too far off the subject.


    I started as I took a short breath, "If we have some time, we should start exploring those other levels or at least a short radius around this area. You see, cave systems usually don''t work that way unless there''s a mudslide of sorts or something simr."


    JP interjected, "A mudslide inside a cave?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Call it a cave copsing unto itself, it doesn''t matter, but it did follow a hole, tunnel, or a cave, sure, that led to that huge turd popping out like that. Twice. And yeah, we''re not even sure that that''s a cave¡­ you know, initially. I thought it was at first but aside from calling it Nature''s Butthole, Nature''s Garbage Chute could also fit perfectly well¡­"


    "Because?"


    I looked at everyone else puzzledly but weirdly at JP, "You do know¡ª I mean, you fucking know how buttholes and garbage chutes work, right?"


    "..." he looked like he was this close to punching my throat.


    "In simpler terms, they''re an exit channel. And yeah, before you fucking freaks mention anal, there! I did it all for you, sheesh¡­ Remember what I said about them possibly hiding inside a cave or a cave system instead of a home? This could be proof or evidence of it but since mudslides and the like only travel downwards, the ce we''re looking for could be a few levels up or further up this steep path."


    Isaac interjected, "So, we''re close?"


    I turned to Sebastian, "How long does it take to climb this mountain?"


    "Hmm~ We did so before but it took us three¡ª no, about four days in total. The Madam was with us, bless her heart, but if I was alone or with my colleagues, I''d say we''d reach the peak in two to three days. Nice view, I might add¡­"


    Hearing that, there was a mix of reactions because, with the time we had left before departure, we should''ve at least spent some of the days we were here to reach the peak. And even though we could probably do it right now, we weren''t equipped to do such a thing, and watching out for traps and the like while looking out for an indented area or another cave entrance would most definitely slow us down.


    On the other hand, I thought Sebastian would look disappointed from this failed(?) run but he didn''t look disappointed at all.


    He looked like he was deep in thought for a few seconds before he turned to us with a smile:


    "My lords, it''s still a little early but I think that this is a good stopping point. I believe we''ve done all that we can and doing more would be more wandering at areas that looked the same."


    "Are you sure, Sebastian? We still have a few more hours."


    "I do, my lord. I''ve ticked out more checkboxes from the list of things I have to do to aplish my goals than I could imagine in these few days with you all. If I was alone, it would''ve taken me months to reach this point, and even though¡ª Hmm~ You know what? I shouldn''t talk about my affairs at this time. But what I am about to promise on yourst day¡ªtomorrow, is a day of pampering for all the hard work you''ve done. Take it as a spa day of sorts."


    ''This guy really~ has a lot of secrets, doesn''t he?''


    I joked, "Then what''s the n for the afternoon?"


    "Ah¡ª I apologize but I do have other responsibilities to consider and since I was allowed toe here due to an emergency, I would have to catch up to those I''ve left before rushing. And oh! I apologize once again my lord but I guess our spar and the friendly match with my¡­ my brothers with your disciples would also be postponed¡­ Again, apologies¡­"


    I was a tad disappointed, "Really? Oh man, sure¡­ I understand. Will you still lift weights with uster though?"


    "Ah¡ª I''m afraid that too will be a negatory on my part¡­ Again, I¡ª"


    I waved him off, "Don''t apologize. It''s cool, no worries."


    "So, shall we head back?"


    "Yeah, lead the way."


    With that said, we eventually made our way back to Jesus and his crew without any incident, and Nancy instantly ran up to us with a basket of food she ordered Jesus to get from Lisa after driving back alone. They thought we''d take longer so Jesus brought more than the basket prepared for us though they already had eaten their share while watching the rest of the corpses turn to cinders.


    Tatiana epted the basket as I turned to Nancy:


    "You could''ve just gone home, you know?"


    "W-Why? Someone''s gotta take care of them! *points at Jesus and his crew* Do you have any idea how messy their interiors were?! Disgusting!"


    Meg snapped, "Hey! Do you have any idea how can I easily wrap my hands around your neck and squeeze?!"


    Jesus got in between the two, "Rx~ Rx~ Chill, alright? Nancy did do a good job while we made sure she didn''t wander around¡ª"


    Meg rolled her eyes, "Easy for you to say since you''re not the one who watched her! I had to tie her to my ankle and she kept pulling at it like a fish!"


    "I-I did not! I-I just found something cool over there and you wouldn''t follow¡­"


    "I''m not doing that again with you! You said it was close and we were already inside the woods! I thought you were gonna pee but you kept going and brought freakin'' mushrooms back!"


    "B-But you liked them!"


    "I-I did¡ª but that''s not the point!"


    "BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    In any case, it didn''t take long before everyone else took their seat as we drove back but let me just say that it was real~~~ awkward when Seb handed over the gift for his "friend", Alexa. Not only did Alexa turn to me right before epting the gift with a weird expression, but some of the cadets who didn''t know what was going on definitely knew what was going on right after that interaction.


    Granted Megan couldn''t care less about the situation but Alexa couldn''t even look at us in the eye when I drove back only with my "inner circle" of "friends".


    But any normal guy would, they looked at me with reverie, hate, admiration, jealousy, and whatever the fuck was between those examples. I didn''t even bother passing it off like it was nothing or like it was an achievement because that would just open a can of worms I tend to avoid.


    I was in a weird situation where I was kinda suffering from sess though I''d rather have this topic only mentioned in the "safe zone" as Cynthia coined before because there were different connotations¡ªgood and bad¡ªthate out of it.


    With that said, the drive back to Sal''s estate was without any incident though everyone was itching to get into the shower.


    I forgot to mention the face Nancy made when she got a whiff of us once we were all huddled up in my Raptor, and even if it was only for a few moments, we felt embarrassed because everyone wasn''t only stinky from the sweat but also the forbidden particles that got onto us from taking care of the corpses.


    But yeah, showering with a bunch of women in a cramped space would be trouble¡ªeven if it was in a good way¡ªbut this time, I would love to take my time soaking in a tub alone or just with Kaley by my side.


    There was just this awful way the smell of shit and whatever the fuck it was stuck in our skin that a simple bar of soap and water couldn''t easily fix.


    Though funnily enough, everyone else from our "group" had their priorities in order so Kaley and I had the bathroom to ourselves as everyone else did their own thing from the other vacant rooms.


    Kaley and I were just soaking in the tub with this fragrant bath bomb she tossed in while music was ying on my phone:


    "Hey¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Alexa told me she''d try things out with Seb again¡­"


    "For real? That''s good¡ª"


    "Hold that thought. She mentioned it when I told them you wanted to just bathe with me but the thing is that she still wants to you know¡­ do things with us. And get this¡­ she said she wanted no sex with Seb for a good while first as we were still doing things with her¡­"


    "But is Seb okay with that?"


    "I don''t know¡­ She''s gonna tell himter¡­"


    "Kaley¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I do like to gossip a bit but I wanna rx now, don''t you?"


    "Ah¡ª I was really caught off-guard from what she said but at least it''s better now because they''re talking¡ª Ah, I did it again¡­ Sorry¡­"


    "Don''t be, I still love hearing your voice though¡­ Can we talk about something else? Like how useless all that makeup is to you because you already look good without them?"


    "Pfft¡­ Doofus¡­ I do put a little at a time, okay? But sure, we can talk about something else but how about we do ''this'' too?"

 Chapter 978 W. Wilson did more, W. Wilson did more, W. Wilson did way~ more…

    Chapter 978 W. Wilson did more, W. Wilson did more, W. Wilson did way~ more¡­


    Kaley and I were in this tub just perfect for two peopleying their backsfortably on each end, but now, she invaded my personal space and grabbed "me" hostage with this cheeky look on her face. She was almost on all fours¡ªbecause her other hand was obviously elsewhere¡ªbut not only the view from the front but also seeing part of her firm cheeks slightly protruding from the water turned me on.


    She was keeping eye contact while her hand was moving ever so slightly with a gentle grasp but as she leaned in to give me a peck on my lips, she looked like she was about to ask for a huge, huge favor.


    Not only were her eyes round and puppy-like, but her lips were pouted slightly as both her hands were now gently massaging my thighs.


    "K-Kaley?"


    "..."


    "Hey¡ª"


    "Y-You that night lst time?"


    "Which one?"


    "W-When we first slept with e-everybody here¡­ T-That night when I¡ª"


    "Ah¡­"


    "A-And you¡ª"


    "Yeah?"


    "W-When you¡­ Y-You know¡­ C-Can I d-do it¡­ F-For a little bit? P-Please?"


    "..."


    "S-Sky?"


    "..."


    Kaley had never looked so somber even for a short moment as she forced a smile, "O-Okay¡­ I unders¡ª"


    "Wait¡ª F-Fuck it, let''s do it¡ª"


    "N-No! You don''t have to¡ª"


    "If it''s you, I''ll do anything¡ª W-Well, not anything per so but¡­ y-you know what I mean¡­"


    "F-For real?!" She never looked so happy.


    I nodded, "Y-Yeah, just don''t tell a-anyone, alright¡ª"


    Kaley looked jokingly offended, "You think I''d tell them about this?"


    "N-No, but¡­ W-What should I do? Do I¡ª"


    Kaley gave me another kiss, "Nothing at all¡­ But, I want you to just rx, look at me, and possibly enjoy it. Is that okay?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "Great¡­ Just tell me if you feel ufortable and we''ll stop *snaps fingers* like that."


    "Sure¡­"


    "Though we''ll ease into it first, okay?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    She giggled cutely while her face was turning redder and redder, "R-Rx, alright? H-Here we go¡­"


    As I let myself be on the receiving end of things at this moment, Kaley started by holding my hand and wrapping her arm around me before giving me this deep and passionate kiss that put my mind at ease and my body at this rxed but still aroused state. She didn''t even try touching "me" at that point because she was just so focused on making me that much morefortable with her and what was toe.


    After a while, she began to touch every single part of my body except for what we usually go for, and that just made me lose my mind as my stiff rod was just twitching from under the water''s surface blurred by the bath bomb we used earlier.


    Still, it was a different but pleasant and hot feeling as we kept eye contact¡ªand I didn''t even notice how fast I was breathingpared to earlier.


    I was trying to breathe normally and I was trying to rx as she said but I was slowly getting hotter by the second and I had this anticipation of sorts that was equal parts I was excited and scared of.


    And as she finally began to wrap her hand around my shaft, she began kissing me once again as she let me touch her wherever. I was still very much fighting the nervousness by just gently touching her boobs¡ªor any part of her body¡ªas she continued this sensual way of touching me, but it didn''t take long before her hands started to caress my thighs and my calves again, asking me to ce either or both my legs over the edge of the tub we were in.


    "N-Now?"


    She nodded with a faint smile, "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    "I love you so much¡­"


    "I-I love you too¡­"


    With that said, for the sake of symmetry and to make it easier for Kaley to do her thing, I opted to ce both legs over the edge¡ªmuch to her surprise and delight.


    On a slight note, we could barely see each other beyond the water''s surface but I never felt so exposed and embarrassed. My cheeks and my ears were definitely red and as a guy, this was the first time I did this for anyone.


    Kaley gave me anything and everything plus extra and some more so in my head, even if this had a few negative connotations from a traditional point of view, I just figured that if I would ever do something like this, it would only be for her.


    ''W. Wilson did more, W. Wilson did more, W. Wilson did way~ more¡­''


    In any case, I was bombarding my head with such thoughts but surprisingly enough, Kaley definitely eased me into it by giving me another kiss before holding "me" with one hand and simply cing her fingers just by the surface of it.


    Kaley was paying full attention to my reactions as she started to stroke me as slowly as she could, especially when she started to move her fingers around and on the surface. I was letting out short breaths at intervals as she continued to do the same thing with a set rhythm, but it didn''t take long before she gave me a look and slowly pushed a finger inside me.


    Let''s be fair here, she did it once when we were baked as fuck but all she did now before going into the act to make me feel this type of pleasure was crazy.


    And let''s be honest too, it did feel kinda "unstraight" in the traditional sense but god fucking dammit, I kinda get it now.


    I didn''t want to get into all the science and the anatomy behind it because aside from that, Kaley knew what she was doing. I don''t know how she was doing but I''m definitely feeling it.


    At this point, I was letting out grunts that were making Kaley feel all sorts of ways as well but as she started moving her finger in and out ever so slowly, there was a point where she was barely jerking me off. Her hand was just wrapped around the tip as she was squeezing it gently over and over, but it didn''t take long before I felt like I was about to cum.


    And right on cue, Kaley knew I was about to but instead of going ham on both ends, she just stuck it as far as her finger could before jerking me off as fast and hard as she could until she watched me cum hard from her hands.


    My body was hot, tense, and shaking all over but Kaley looked like she was over the edge as she watched me be like this in front of her.


    But yeah, as I was expecting the feeling of shame to follow, it didn''t.


    All these assurances and making mefortable probably did the trick but she still couldn''t help herself to let go of my shaft and keep her finger in, as she leaned in to give me this huge kiss that also prompted an orgasm from her side.


    Kaley could cum just from a kiss from me, I knew that, but it wasn''t this quick or hardpared to the several times she did when we were together. It was a slow build-up until it got more and more intense but this time, she barely had a taste of my lips before she looked almost like me a few seconds ago.


    I don''t know what was going through her head right now but the simplest touch was making her go over the edge.


    "D-Did you like it?"


    "D-Do you have to ask?"


    "C-Can you just answer me? Please?"


    "Sure¡­"


    "Sure what?"


    "Sure, I really liked it¡­"


    "And?"


    "Thank you?"


    "..."


    "Kaley?"


    "Pfft¡­ I''ll take the thank you, doofus¡­"


    "W-What did I do?"


    "Don''t worry about it, you''re amazing¡­ I love you¡­"


    She continued kissing me as I touched her all over but it didn''t take long before I carried her up the tub and made her stand in front of the mirror, before making her ce her arms on the counter so that I could feel a little more manly, forck of a better term, as I im both her holes.


    Needless to say, we were gonna go from soothing jazz to heavy metal, and even if we didn''te from the tub or she wasn''t as wet as she was, I''d be going in even if it was dry.


    We''ve spent too much time getting mefortable so I think it was now time we do something we were both used to.


    Kaley was still maintaining eye contact by using the mirrors, and she looked like she was the happiest person in the world while looking like she couldn''t wait for her holes to get a few sizes bigger. She was waving her bubble butt around while winking her cute little asshole but as I lubed myself up with her juices, I jammed it in as far and as deep as I could before I grabbed on the back of her thighs and lifted her off the ground.

 Chapter 979 Tangled and Interlocked

    Chapter 979 Tangled and Interlocked


    As I did, I thought Kaley would lean back so she could watch my huge cock go in and out of her little asshole but she thought I''d just do her from behind as I made her put her arms by the counter. She was in this weird pose¡ªthough I didn''t stop going in and out of her, albeit slowly¡ªbut since Kaley had gotten more flexible, I reached for her neck, sped my hands together, and put her into a full Nelson hold.


    "W-What¡ª Ohmigod¡ª SHIT! YOU"RE¡ª MmMMhH!!! AH! Ah! AHn! Ah! MMm! Mnhhh! Hngh~!!!"


    Kaley had never been so red as she saw herself in the mirror, and from the way she was trying, but failing, to get out of it by closing her legs, she never felt so exposed with her huge fucking tits getting squeezed by my forearms, her tight puffy innie slightly pushing out her pink insides, and her tiny little asshole fighting for dear life as it was getting gaped from my fat cock going in and out from the tip right to the base in quick session.


    And as I slightly hinged so both of us would get a better view of her perfect body, Kaley started to squirt hard¡ªand I mean, HARD¡ªas she sprayed the mirror in front of us before everything else got onto the counter, the sink, and the floor.


    Kaley''s face was a fucking mess as she was taking me in while letting all of her juices spill out, and there was a moment where her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she kept calling out my name. She came more than once, and right after the other, and she''d definitely pass out if I didn''t stop and let her take a breather. Unfortunately, I still haven''t filled her ass but who keeps count?


    At this point, Kaley''s weight was just pressing on me as she lost all strength in her body so I sat her on the counter for a moment but she quickly turned around and gave me a tight and warm hug.


    "Ha... Haa¡­ I love you so much¡­ Y-You''re the only one that could d-do this to me¡­ Fuck¡­ Ha¡­ I-I''m losing my mind¡ª I love you, really¡­"


    I gave her a peck on the cheek, "I love you too, Kaley¡­ Always will, and I''ll always try and make you happy¡ª"


    She suddenly gave me a peck on my lips, "I am, I am¡­ and I love you for that¡­ But~ I don''t want to make this that soapy¡ªeven though I love it¡ªso, why don''t we continue this on the bed?"


    "Saying sweet nothings to each other?"


    "Pfft¡­ Doofus¡­"


    With that said, we just nced at each other for a moment before our lips touched and our tongues interlocked, and I carried her to the bed doing just that before Iid her on her back and looked at her.


    Kaley knew everything that would make me lose my mind because sheid there with her arms behind her head¡ªmaking her huge chest push out and exposing her smooth armpits¡ª while her legs were spread wide, giving free rein to her wet-ass, creamy pussy, and her gaping asshole.


    This time, I chose the former and made her see how far my dick could reach her as I ced it over her crotch and reached past her belly button.


    "D-Don''t tease me like t-that¡­ P-Put it in and ce over here¡­"


    As Kaley gave me this pleading look with the same puppy eyes, I just lost control as I leaned forward and pushed my whole length inside her pink hole before I groped her tits and licked her all over.


    I was hitting her deepest parts over and over and it''d make her twitch and gasp in response, but most importantly, Kaley had never gripped me from the inside this hard, but I was forcing my way in and out of her with her creamy juices.


    "SHIT! FUCK! FUCK! F-FUCK! IT''S IN¡ª YOU''RE SO BIG! I FEEL SO FULL¡ª MMH! YOU''RE¡ª AH! YOU''RE BITING MY¡ª MMH! SHIIIIT! I''M CUMMING ALREADY! H-H-HNGH! MMMMMMH~!!! AAH!"


    Kaley had already lost control of herself when I began pinching her hard, pink nipples while switching between licking her armpits and her neck, and I waspletely high not only from the pleasure but from her taste and her scent.


    There was definitely something different about Kaleypared to everyone else and when I started filling her with loads of my warm cum, my hips just kept moving and she wouldn''t let me go.


    She already had her legs wrapped around my back the moment I pushed my dick inside of her, and there was no way she''d fucking let me go¡ªeven if everyone else came¡ªuntil she was leaking from both her holes.


    "FUCKKK! I-IT''S SO H-HOT! SHIIIIT!!! FILL ME UP MORE! MORE! PLEASE! MMH! CUM IN ME LOTS! UGH! U-UGH! MMMh! HNhhNh!!! FILL MY LITTLE HOLES!!!"


    And as this whole thing was happening, unless I was licking her all over, her eyes were rolling to the back of her head, or we were making out, we kept eye contact most of the time and each orgasm was definitely stronger. I''ve onlye twice inside Kaley at this point while Kaley had multiples over multiples. However, as I tried to attempt for my third, Kaley grabbed hold of me before rolling so she could be on top.


    And right from the get-go, Kaley was moving her hips like there was no tomorrow and she was smothering me with her huge tits at the same time. Our bodies were pping against each other while we were covered in sweat and our fluids, and as I was trying to suck on one of her nipples, I reached around her back hole before I pushed two fingers in and caused her to cum.


    "F-F-FUCK¡­ W-WHY DO I ALWAYS CUM W-WHEN YOU D-DO THAT¡­ I LOVE IT WHEN YOU FINGER MY ASSHOLE!"


    At that point, Kaley''s momentum halted for a moment as she was shaking all over but since I already got a good hold on her, I began thrusting from below right as Tatiana and Quinn came after their bath and for their clothes.


    Though I never stopped.


    "What do we have here, hmm? You fuckers love to sneak around, huh?"


    "I knew they''re gonna do this but~ fuck it, Kaley looks about done¡ª"


    "N-NO! NO! MMH! H-HE STILL HAVEN''T CUMMED I-IN MY ASS¡ª MMH! AH! AH! AHHN!"


    "Hah! There''s more to it than just dick, alright? I''ll¡ª"


    "Enough talking, I''ll sit on his face, you eat her pussy after that round."


    "How¡ª"


    "Kaley could just flip around as she rides him."


    "Fuck it, hah! We''ll just shower againter."


    With that said, Kaley looked a little pissed that people crashed the party but she got even fucking tighter, almost cutting my blood cirction right then and there. However, I thrust it in even harder as I fingered her tiny little asshole before she pressed her whole weight on me and gave me a sloppy kiss.


    She was holding her moans as she had another orgasm but it didn''t take long before I followed as I suddenly held her tight.


    Kaley''s walls started contracting over and over, but I kept thrusting my hips as I released everything inside her though I could definitely feel some of it leaking out because I filled her way~ past the brim.


    She was already full from the first one, the second one and this third one could''ve gone to her ass or her mouth but she herself told me before that it was a different feeling getting cummed inside multiple times.


    In any case, she begrudgingly flipped around to follow our game n, but her frown didn''t take long to turn upside-down when I was several inches inside her ass while Quinn was eating my cum out of her pussy.


    At the same time, Tatiana looked like she was in heat when she finally had more time with me¡ªas her juices were already running down her thighs¡ªbecause let''s be honest here, she was mostly giving me assists with the girls by wearing her strap-on. Even if I did make sure she got off once or twice, it waspletely different when she was having her way with me by doing her favorite thing¡ªaside from sucking me off¡ªwhich was sitting on my face.


    Kaley''s fat innie was bar none but Tatiana rubbing her exposedbia on my face and me getting to lick and suck on it at times was also something else.


    "Fuckkk¡­ It''s been a while~"


    Furthermore, Tatiana bulked unbelievably well at this point because not only she had muscles in the right ces and had grown thick and ther, but her breasts had also gone up another size, making me a very happy man.


    Tatiana''s face when she noticed I was paying more attention on her chest even though the other two behind her had significantly more volumepared to her was fucking priceless, and it was waking up her rarely seen submissive side.

 Chapter 980 Soapy As Shit

    Chapter 980 Soapy As Shit


    Tatiana was just looking down at me a certain way before she suddenly took in a breath as her body jolted, making her cheeks flush red before smiling and getting off of me. She was slightly out of breath but she looked more surprised from what just happened, then she leaned in from the side before touching my face gently and giving me a kiss.


    It felt a little out of character from her but in a good way because ever since Quinn came into the picture, from my point of view, I felt like she was trying to juggle between matching her energy and being her own self.


    I''ve always referred to them as the Alpha Bitches but let''s be honest here, even if Quinn was Quinn and Tatiana was Tatiana, the former was a little more Alpha-er for theck of a better word¡ªbut both of them had their own moments where they admittedly took off or straight-up lost their crown.


    I didn''t even know how I got to this train of thought while having sex with them but Tatiana acting like this was only a few people¡ªor even only I¡ªhave experienced or seen.


    Being this deep with Kaley and hearing her moans was fucking hot but Tatiana opting for a kiss instead of riding my face was something else too. It was fucking heavy metal on the lower part of my body while smooth jazz was slowly starting to take over from the waist up, and I was all for it.


    Everything just started building up more and more and when I reached the breaking point, I exploded inside Kaley''s ass as I also held Tatiana tight¡ªbut I was only three spurts in when Quinn took over and slobbered on my knob.


    Kaley had no chance to grip on me as she was squirting at the same time but it seemed like Quinn was doing us both by sucking me off and fingering Kaley''s holes at the same time.


    At one point, Quinn stopped sucking me off after she swallowed everything I let out but she jerked me off instead before eating Kaley''s ass and my cum out of it. Kaley and I could only moan or grunt from the sensitivity but as Quinn cleaned us up and started to ride me, Tatiana still wouldn''t stop switching spit with me though my fingers were already exploring her sensitive parts.


    Quinn couldn''t care less¡ªaside from grabbing my free hand and shoving it on her huge udders¡ªbut as Kaley recovered from the intense pleasure, she broke off my kiss with Tatiana and then kissed her instead.


    ''Holy fuck¡­''


    I''ve seen them kiss multiple times but doing it right in front of me while I was reaching Quinn''s deepest parts¡ªtits jiggling and now sucking on my fingers¡ªwas making me lose my mind.


    It didn''t stop as she leaned over and we had this four-way makeout session while she was moving her hips nonstop¡ªand since they were getting a taste of me and themselves without batting an eye, that specific thought that shoulde from a guy had long disappeared from my usual aversions.


    Though Quinn started to move her hips faster and grip me tighter:


    "WHAT''S WITH YOUR FUCKING D-DICK?! I-IT ALWAYS H-HITS THIS SPOT A-AND¡ª ANNDDD I-IT''SSSSS¡ª MMH! FUCK! FUCK! F-FUCK! I-I''M ALREADY¡ª SHIT! D-DON''T JUST L-LAY THERE! F-FUCK ME! FUCK ME HARD¡ª"


    My hands were exploring Kaley and Tatiana at the same time but the prompt from Quinn made me grab her hips and start thrusting hard from below. I could barely breathe and see anything because Quinn had already lost strength and was bearing down on me, but I continued to push my 9-inch cock into her meaty cunt even if she was squirting and shaking nonstop.


    Quinn''s body was soft and hard at the right ces but seeing her o-face that was also out of character for her was something else.


    In her case, I felt like she felt the need to always be the one at the forefront¡ªespecially with the girls, but once she waspletely vulnerable and melting into the pleasure, I''m gonna do fucking everything to see her like that for as long as possible. Since thrusting from below with her weight bearing down on me would tire me morepared to being the one at the top, I flipped her over so I could also get a good look at her face.


    "What¡ª"


    I propped her legs up to her head and mounted her at the same spot, "I''m not quite done."


    Quinn could barely look me in the eyes, "Shit¡ª"


    As I started pounding her meaty cunt, I didn''t even notice that Kaley was about to give me an assist because she already reached for her strapless dildo while Tatiana was patiently waiting for her turn as she was just looking at me¡ªbut lo and behold, everyone else from "our" group came in one after that other or all at the same time.


    Then again, I didn''t stop what I was doing as I watched Quinn get redder and redder from the pleasure and embarrassment of being put in such a position but I was cooking up a huge reward for her.


    I began to thrust faster and faster as I let go of her ankles, but the moment she wrapped them around my back, it was the telltale sign that she wanted me to cum inside her.


    Quinn was barely holding on as she was trying to maintain eye contact but as soon as I pumped her pussy full cum, she straight-up rolled her eyes, pulled me between her breasts, and came hard right after. Both of us were shaking all over as she was suffocating me with her huge udders, but as I found a pocket of air and had a short breather, I was aiming to please Tatiana but she straight-up chose food over sex.


    Obviously enough, Nancy and Edith came with a couple of carts of food and one of the dishes they prepared was a pirozhki that Tatiana would fucking kill for a bite.


    However, who said that we couldn''t eat food and have sex so the rest of the night had once again turned into this session thatsted till morning because it was ourst day, and if we wished to, we could just have food brought over to us and continue where we left off.


    But yeah, only Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn were the only ones that could still go for a few more because Nancy already passed out from the first couple of hours while the rest dropped like flies¡ªespecially Edith because she looked way~ tired already¡ªwhen Kaley and the Alpha Bitches donned their rubber toys and focused on the rest of the squad with me.


    Quinn was smiling nonstop as we four showered:


    "Ahh~ I thought I''d be tired but why am I so full of energy? It feels like I had a runner''s high but for fucking!"


    Kaley chuckled, "It''s the food you ate in between."


    "Fuck, hope I didn''t get too fat from that¡ª"


    I cut in as I tried soaping her from the front, "We definitely burned all those calories and we''re probably in a deficit."


    Tatianaughed, "Good thing I don''t have to worry about that¡­ I tried, trust me, I tried getting big but there''s a limit as to how I could get fat."


    Kaley was pouting as she was putting on some shampoo, "That''s some insane gics. I don''t get as fat too but everything goes either in my boobs or my ass, but mostly my boobs¡ª"


    Quinn cut in with a smirk, "Same!"


    I rolled my eyes, "You sure it also didn''t go to your whole body? You''re well-proportioned and blessed by your assets but you don''t grow like that without insane gics too. I''m probably the worst of the bunch because I always have to watch what I eat¡­"


    The three werepletely silent as they looked at me like I was an idiot:


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "What?"


    "Says the guy with the 9-inch destroyer¡­ Everyone knows you''re big but do you have any idea how thick that is?! You''re that BIG! I''ve said many times!"


    "Those abs too¡­"


    "Abs? He has muscle in everything! Pretty good-looking too¡­"


    "Guys¡ª"


    "Stamina too, that''s the best part¡­"


    "Nah, it''splete control over his body¡­ He always brags about that¡­"


    "True¡­ Can get hard and soft onmand¡­"


    "What¡ª"


    "Oh, shut up! Stop being so down while we''re bringing you up! Just take the fuckingpliment!"


    "Yeah! You still have good gics even if you used to be fat and you''re much better than me because you worked really hard for it and maintaining it!"


    "True! We didn''t mean to brag but despite all that, we all came for you, that''s how amazing you are."


    "..."


    "Getting quiet now? Pfft¡­"


    "Nah, he''s on his mind pce now¡­ Wait for it¡­"


    "Wait for what?"


    I simply chuckled as I shook my head, "Man~ That was soapy as shit but I love you guys, thanks!"

 Chapter 981 Rest Day Before Going Home

    Chapter 981 Rest Day Before Going Home


    The four of us shared a moment and another "moment" in the shower but their big talk about being so full of energy meant jack shit when their heads touched the pillows. It was because a hot shower and some warm "milk" from yours truly would definitely knock anyone out¡ªand joking aside, kinda, our bodies needed sleep as much as a bnced diet and exercise and unless a new release of a game or a DLC would being out, everyone should sleep as much as they needed.


    And yeah, that applies to taking watch on guard duty or other more important matters in these times but the trick was not to overdo it.


    In any case, I was tucking them in right before everyone else started waking up, but Nancy was about to run for the kitchen when she discovered what time it was.


    "Oh, no~! It''s alreadyte! It''s already 6:00¡ª"


    Megan and Alexa eximed, "PM?!"


    "Huh? AM! I always wake up at 4:00 AM! The Madam''s gonna punish me¡ª"


    Edith chuckled as she waved her off, "Don''t worry, she''ll understand," then she turned to me, "You guys just came from the shower, right? Were you just done¡ª"


    I nodded embarrassedly but as Megan and Alexa continued to sleep, Tatiana was actually still awake and answered for me:


    "Correct! You guys missed out but means more for us¡­ Why are my eyes so heavy¡­ Zzz¡­"


    Edith chuckled once again as she turned to me with a more serious expression, "Hey¡­ We''re leaving tomorrow, right?"


    "Is there a problem?"


    "A little¡­"


    "What can I do?"


    "Alright¡­ You guys came from a ship of sorts, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "And how long did it take to reach Mr. Cuervo''s¡ª no, if we start here, drop by your old school, the Academy(?), drive to Quinn''s ce, back to Mr. Cuervo''s, and then your ce¡­ How long would it take? And do you have any other things to do before going back? I heard that part of your group drove the opposite side to find another one like Kuzma¡­ I''m just worried about the travel time because it''ll be bad for the bees if locked up for too long."


    I slowly had the realization, "Right¡­ That''s an issue¡­"


    "You see, if traveling long distances, it would be much better to just buy a new nuc and start over but we can''t do that anymore¡ª"


    "I guess we have to leave you here¡ª"


    "W-What?!" Edith looked like she was about to cry.


    I quickly waved her off, "N-No! Not leave you like forgot about the whole thing but even Sal would approve of this because it''ll be safer for you and Nancy if we pick you up either in the early morning or at night once we get back to my ce."


    "How¡ª"


    "I''ll pick you up with my helicopter and we airlift the nucs you prepared."


    "..."


    "Just make sure they''re locked up tight with some venttion¡ª"


    Edith looked relieved but she suddenly pouted and red at me, "I know how bees work, y''know?!"


    "Ah¡ª you''re right, I''m sorry¡ª"


    "But I''m gonna miss out on a lot of things! Car sex, seeing your school, ship sex, everything!"


    "Pfft¡­ Aren''t you more concerned about the sex more than anything?"


    "You¡ª You have no idea what you did to me!"


    "Umm¡­ You''re wee?"


    Edith cutely red at me before leaning too close, "Hngh~ Y-You don''t understand! I-It''s like a whole new world opened up for me! I-I didn''t think it could be m-much more fun! It''s crazy! Kaley said it''s pretty normal to feel like this but I''m always thinking of it ever since!"


    I lightly chuckled as I shook my head, "It''s a day or two at most without us but driving back is actually and still dangerous. I don''t wanna say this but you and Nancy will be much, much safer¡ªand the bees, of course¡ªif you go by air."


    She nodded as she looked somber once again, "S-Sebastian did teach me how to use a g-gun but I d-don''t think I''ll be brave enough to face them outside¡­ I''m sorry¡­"


    I looked her in the eye as I tried to console her, "Look, I wouldn''t say that there''s nothing wrong about it and it''s not your fault but since we''re living in a difficult time, learning to defend yourself is a necessity. However, there''s a time and a ce for that and you being here wouldn''t help you be that ''brave'' person you''re trying to be¡­"


    "..."


    "Don''t look so down. After we secure your bees and get you and Nancy settled with everyone else, Tatiana and I will give you the same training regimen we put Kaley through. We''ll build you from the ground up again then we''ll give you first-hand experience as to what''s it like outside and facing them. You just need those things even if we don''t exactly sign you up as a soldier but it''s definitely badass seeing a cute beekeeper able to handle herself."


    Saying that, Edith''s face started to look brighter and determined but as she gave me a hug, Nancy suddenly cut in:


    "H-How about me?! I wanna be like Kaley too! I saw her shooting yesterday and she never missed! Not once! She looked so cool¡­"


    I patted her head as I pinched her cheek, "That''s the spirit but it''s also good to know our own limits, alright? You know you have a condition and it''s a disadvantage for you but as much as it sucks, it''s what you''re dealing with and it''s your responsibility even if other people could offer you help. Do you understand that?"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    "With that said, it''s a little cliche but you really gotta put in the effort¡ªdouble the effort, because you have a respiratory condition¡ªand trust me, it''ll pay off in the end and when you need it the most."


    Edith interjected, "Also, you might be able tost longer than a couple of you know what?"


    Nancy tilted her head as she turned to Edith, "Last longer in what? Ah¡­ You mean¡­ Oh! OHHH! I get it now! Will it really?! REALLY?!"


    I facepalmed but I nodded nheless, "Sure. I didn''t think it''d go there but it''ll definitely help¡ª"


    "Ooh~ Is that also why youst really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really long~~~?"


    "Sure¡­ Let''s say that¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! MAN~ I WAS GONNA SLEEP BUT THIS IS TOO FUCKING FUNNY!"


    "QUINN?!"


    "DON''T QUINN ME! WE''RE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE AND YOU FUCKS KEEP YAPPING ABOUT! WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?!"


    At that point, we discovered that everyone else was awake and was listening in but we didn''t put it to heart as I slept in with Kaley and the rest for a few more hours while everyone else did their own thing.


    This was our rest day of sorts, as Sebastian mentioned, but the moment we joined everyone to get pampered and shit, I straight-up lost it when I saw Mauro, of all people, wearing only a bathrobe, a facial mask, and a fucking towel over his bald head while several maids were taking care of each of his hands and giving him a foot bath and massage.


    The motherfucker had more attendees than his wife, Elsa, and he was definitely ticked off when he saw meughing my ass off.


    "WHAT''S WRONG, HUH?! YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY?! WANNA END UP LIKE LOGAN AND THE REST?!"


    Looking around, Logan and a few of the cadets were in one corner and sporting a ck eye, probably due to doing what I did, but if push came to shove, I wouldn''t dare fight a huge guy¡ªeven though I beat him before and still could¡ªthat could easily get disrobed and have his member flopping around.


    I can take kicks and punches to a degree but a dick to the face was where I draw the line.


    So, I tried to weasel my way out of the situation:


    "You know you''re bald, right? What''s the point of that towel¡ª"


    "WHA¡ª I''M NOT EXACTLY BALD! I HAVE HAIR! LOOK!"


    As soon as he said that, Mauro snatched one of the nail files the maids were using and ced it over his head and LO AND FUCKING BEHOLD, it was floating!


    "SEE?!"


    Before you say anything, it was actually "floating" due to the minuscule hairs he probably hadn''t shaved yet but I still fuckingughed my ass off and almost caused another rumble.


    In any case, I surrendered myself to our attendants but surprisingly enough, Tatiana kicked more of a fuss when Kaley dragged her to have a foot massage while Quinn was already having her nails done while drinking from a bottle of alcohol.


    My favorite part was when the masseuse came and made my body crack like a freakin'' glowstick and my only disappointment from the whole thing was that I didn''t glow. But yeah, time passed rather quickly while having fun and it didn''t take long before the next day came and everyone else was prepared for the drive home.


    ''As much as I love going out¡ª fuck that soapy bullshit, I wanna go home and sleep in my own bed so much¡­''

 Chapter 982 PINEAPPLES!

    Chapter 982 PINEAPPLES!


    Our vehicles were lined up in the same order they did before¡ªafter careful maintenance and whatnot with the addition of Logan andpany¡ªand before we got in and put our keys in the ignition, Sal, Edith, Nancy, Elsa, Mauro, Sebastian, Clyde, Lisa, and even Rogue who was surprisingly behaving like a puppy with Nem-Nem and Mie-My, were nning to send us off with a few words, mostly:


    Sal started looking a few years younger, "Kid. Have a safe trip, alright?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    "And that helicopter of yours. I won''t trust anyone else to fly it but YOU. If any other motherfucker swooped in to pick my niece and Nancy up, I''ll check if they''re hot first before doing away with them, GOT IT?!"


    "Wut¡ª S-Sure, I guess¡­"


    Then she nced at the Raycolt where Lopez was, "And yeah, I''m not sure about your situation with that fucking guy but do remind him that I fucking own his ass from time to time. He got issues but he got his uses, remind yourself that too if you ever want to put a bullet in his head¡ª"


    "I''m good in ''that'' department though¡ª"


    Then Sal leaned in suddenly with a whisper, "This is gonna sound dirty¡ª"


    "Again, I''m good¡ª"


    "Listen here, you little fuck, listen! You already dipped your toe over to my side and you did well considering you didn''t let the power that dapper fe, Cuervo, gave you get over your head but there are times you need people like that emaciated cuck to do some dirty work for ya. That''s one of the few ways you take some targets off your back and keep your ledger a little cleaner even though we all know that ours are already pretty bloody. You get what I''m saying?"


    I looked at her solemnly before I nodded, "I do¡­ Nice reference though¡ª"


    "Cheh. Talk soon, alright? And also, marry Kaley already and whoever the fuck''s next in line so that Edith here could have a kid from you¡ª"


    "WHAT THE FUCK?!/ AUNTIE!!!/ HAAAH?!" Everyone else that was too many to put in eximed upon hearing that statement.


    "Look, we gotta repopte sooner orter and Elsa and Mauro ''ere are doing just that. iF you two ''husband'' and ''wife'' take too long, I''mma request for a sample! Edith''s getting pregnant one way or another¡ª HEY! WHO FUCKING THREW THAT ACORN AT ME?! WANNA FUCKING DIE?!"


    Sebastian who totally~ wasn''t the one who threw it at Sal answered, "We don''t know what you''re talking about Madam¡­ However, everyone else wanted to say a few things too so I''m graciously asking if¡ª"


    "BLAH~ BLAH~ BLAH~ I''m done! Who''s next?"


    At that point, Rogue understood the assignment and just gave me a gently nudge and a loud snort before Nem-Nem and Mie-My almost did the same thing. After that, Rogue, started to walk back by himself before Edith and Nancy approached us.


    They almost said the same thing asst time we spoke, as well as Elsa and Mauro when they reminded me to send over their wedding gifts¡ªespecially now since they didn''t have to wait for the ship toe back because I''ll be hovering in a couple or a few days.


    Clyde did so as well but he prepared the same custom gear for Kaley and everyone else and his only request to me was to send a letter or give him a call if we reached new PRs.


    But yeah, thest one to approach me was Sebastian because Lisa just gave us some more food before walking over to Jesus, and he looked a little mncholic after he gave me a respectful bow:


    "My lord, you''ve helped me in ways you couldn''t even begin to understand and I''ll be forever grateful. I''ll await your next visit and the ones that will hopefully follow after that. I''m a little sad I wouldn''t be able to briefly travel with all of you since thedy would be picked up at ater date but I do hope for the ones that would try to harm you a painful death."


    Tatiana cackled from the back, "Can''t you just wish us a safe trip?"


    Sebastian shook his head with a chuckle, "I doubt you all would be in danger even if you wanted to."


    "That''s true, I guess¡­"


    "So¡­"


    "Right¡­"


    At that point, we finally exchanged goodbyes and farewells before their guards opened the gate for us. We drove out one after the other at the same speed and as always, Jesus was leading the pack because he had several optimal routes nned out yesterday.


    For the days we were here, the situation outside could stay the same or change drastically at any given point, but with his connections at several points of interest, he could lead us to the safest route possible or if he was trying to lose a tail, he could bring them to a ce overrun with zeds ande out unscathed.


    In any case, the first few miles went swimmingly well even when we passed by the area where this human blockade was present before, and it seemed that the rest of their group was either eradicated from the map or they willingly chose not to mess with us.


    Meg radioed in to tell us that she wasn''t intercepting any chatter even when we passed by the same spot asst time, but what was inherently apparent was the number of burned-down buildings that weren''t in a single spot or area. Furthermore, we barely saw a deadhead skipping around or the like and it was making me a little curious.


    Fire usually starts in one spot and then spreads around until it gets bigger and bigger but the buildings we passed by were too far apart and too contained to be idental so something must''ve happened here in a specific order in order for those things to make sense.


    "Could be a kill zone? Gather as much as you could in one spot before burning the ce down then rinse and repeat," Quinn mentioned.


    Tatiana nodded, "I guess some people were still doing good in the world besides us."


    Kaley turned around to look at Tatiana who was sitting at the back, "Not everyone''s turned to the dark side but they did try to monitor usst time."


    I chimed in, "They''re probably just doing their own share of keeping the dead off the streets¡­ In their own way¡­"


    With that said, the drive continued on until we reached our first stop of the long drive¡ªJonathan and Allie''s ce, the Cockfighting Arena¡ªthat still looked the same as it was with the same thugs lounging around outside and mad-dogging anyone new thates in.


    But this time, the Jack fellow who tried to stir some shit with me gave me the red carpet treatment.


    However, his great introduction to me was instantly swallowed by the loud cheering that came from the inside and I figured that this ce was working hard this early.


    I figured it wouldn''t hurt to check what was going on because they did lose Kuzma, but god fucking dammit the guy knows how to fucking excite and entertain the crowd in the most bizarre of ways.


    Because as soon as we stepped inside, two individuals were fighting for dear life in this tug-of-war of sorts with a wall of the dead surrounding their already cramped space. The smellbined with the humidity was a paragraph for another day but their options were severely limited not only by the dead chomping on their backs if they pulled too far but also the fucking bear traps spread around the floor mixed with a bunch of sharp caltrops.


    I could only imagine the debt they incurred to Jonathan to put on a show like this because it looked like it was designed for neither of them to survive, much lesse out unscathed.


    But yeah, it was definitely entertaining if you were the one watching the show and betting on different odds but as soon as I opened the door to Jonathan''s office, I had to close it almost immediately and almost resorted to plucking out my eyeballs and rinsing them with bleach or alcohol.


    "WHAT THE¡ª"


    "DADDY! IT''S HIM! THEY CAME BACK!"


    "WHY''D YOU CLOSE THE DOOR AS SOON AS YOU CAME IN! IT''S UNLOCKED FOR A REASON, KID!"


    "THERE''S ALSO ANOTHER REASON WHY LOCKS FUCKING EXISTS!"


    "WHAAAAT? WE''RE JUST PLAYING DOCTOR AND I JUST HAPPENED TO BE THE PATIENT WHEN YOU GOT HERE!"


    "UH-HUH! I''VE SEEN PLENTY AND YOU DIDN''T NEED TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"


    "OHHH~ NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN! I''M SURE YOU''RE ALSO INTO SOME PRETTY WEIRD SHIT, DON''T KINKSHAME ME, ALRIGHT?! JUST GET IN HERE SO WE COULD TALK!"


    "FUCKING WHERE?! THIS GODDAMN UNLOCKED DOOR OR YOUR GAPING ASSHOLE?! WHO FUCKING PUTS A PINEAPPLE IN THERE?!"


    "I DO! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR RUINING THE MOOD! Allie, dear¡­ can you please pull it OUT¡ª NOT THAT QUICK! JESUS!"


    "K! THX! I''VE SEEN ENOUGH! WE''RE MOVING ON!"

 Chapter 983 Supercars And Premium Leather

    Chapter 983 Supercars And Premium Leather


    I didn''t even think that we needed to stop by this ce because we could simply talk through the radio I gave them and I was deeply regretting my decision to pay them a short visit because of the horrors I just witnessed. However, as I was only a step away down their stairs, Allie managed to catch up with me and made me stop in my tracks by saying:


    "We''ve found a recement for Dave''s car! You need a mid-engine car, right?!"


    I turned back and looked at Allie who was just wearing a doctor''s robe and surgical gloves before I said, "I''m not going in there unless you and your ''dad'' get your shit together¡ª"


    Allie harrumphed cutely, "He''s not my dad! He''s my Daddy~! There''s a difference, alright?! D-Don''t be weird¡­"


    I chortled as I rolled my eyes, "You know what? The car''s probably outside so I''ll wait for you two by my Raptor¡­"


    "O-Okay, cutie~! See you in a bit! Mwah~! Kisses!"


    "Uh-huh¡­ I''mma head out¡­"


    With that said, I did watch the remainder of the show below and it ended as it was designed¡ªas brutal and as gore-filled as possible¡ªbecause the one who won the tug-of-war pulled too hard and got eaten by the freaks behind him while the other one caught more bear traps than his body could take and it ripped through his flesh and bone, either killing him from the shock or losing too much blood.


    The crowd definitely loved every single moment of it but a few ''entertainers'' had already spotted me and were offering their services for a very, very cheap price of a can of food, a bottle of water, or a handful of ammo.


    Anything and everything here could be traded for goods and services though the rates vary from person to person.


    "I''ll blow you for a smoke, baby~ What do you think?"


    I respectfully waved her off after seeing her teeth, "I''m doing good, thanks anyway¡ª"


    "How about me, handsome? You can do anything to me right here right now as long as you shit in my mouth¡ª"


    "Umm¡­ I''m doing really good, thanks for the offers¡ª"


    "HEY! YOU BITCH! WHY''D YOU OFFER HIM THAT AND NOT ME?! I''VE BEEN ASKING ALL WEEK AND YOU''RE CHARGING ME A WEEK''S RENT FOR THAT! THE FUCK?!"


    "ME TOO! WHO THE FUCK''S THIS GUY ANYWAY¡ª"


    "SETTLE DOWN, DUDE! HE''S THE KID! THE KID! DON''T YOU RECOGNIZE ''IM?! WORD IS, HE HAS FREE REIGN IN CUERVO HEIGHTS AND HE COULD KILL ANYONE WITHOUT REPERCUSSIONS!"


    "THAT''S HIM?! Why am I getting so wet¡­"


    "SHADDAP CANDICE! Wait a sec, can''t all family heads kill whenever?"


    "That''s a rumor, you dumb shit. T-They can, I think, but only for good reason. And none of them do it themselves even if they have the power to. There are other ways to do that¡­"


    "Well you do know a lot about how shit works there, huh? I''ll believe you, surely you''re not lying to my face you pizza face motherfucka!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!"


    "I SAID WHAT I SAID! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?!"


    "HEY! IF YOU''RE GONNA FIGHT, DO IT IN THE RING! I''LL EARN SOME CASH WITH IT AT LEAST, NOT A FUCKING HEADACHE!"


    "DO IT, PUSSY!"


    "DO IT!"


    "YEAH! DO IT!"


    I really had to leave the premises before I got sucked in from how rowdy and wide the ce was this early in the morning, but it didn''t take long before the father and daughter joined us¡ªthough I didn''t think that Logan wasn''t aware of what happened to Dave''s M32 so I had to stop him frommitting bloody murder while making Jonathan "owe" me once again for saving his life.


    "What''s the car, anyway? You said it''s a mid-engine, right?" Logan asked.


    "Y-Yeah¡­ Follow me at the back¡­ I-It''s in the warehouse¡­"


    As Jonathan and Allie made their way, only Quinn, Jesus, and Logan followed after me, but little did I know that the warehouse he was talking about was this outdoor rental storage unit they used as a you know¡­ a warehouse of sorts and their housing units for their people and their guests. Its tall fencing was perfect for keeping the dead out and simply stabbing them with a fork through the fencing line, and it was secluded and cramped enough to not let a horde breakthrough it easily with their numbers.


    Furthermore, it seemed like they secured a couple of blocks around the area so their Cockpit Arena was the centerpiece of sorts while everything else acted as supplementation or for utility''s sake.


    "Here we are¡­"


    As we were let in, a section of the storage units was pretty much everything that Jonathan owned and as he ordered one of his men to open up one of the rollups, it revealed a fucking Audi R8 that looked fresh from the fucking dealership.


    I was already impressed as fuck that they managed to find one in the few days we were away but the three behind me were the exact opposite.


    Quinn looked totally indifferent while Jesus and Logan were already shaking their head in disappointment.


    At that point, Jonathan started to sweat nervously from their reactions but Allie nudged him before they went all car salesman mode:


    Jonathan figuratively pped the roof of the R8, "C''mon now! Don''t give us that look! It''s a brand-new R8 we found just collecting dust in a dealership nearby a-and¡­ and¡­ y-y''know¡­" then he quickly nudged Allie for support, "B-Baby¡­ A l-little help here¡­"


    Allie chuckled before she shook her head, "They''re car guys, Daddy~ We don''t need to tell them anything! We just let them look at it for a while and if they want to, I could give them a ''hand'' while we''re inside!"


    "Right! RIGHT! Feast your eyes fes, I tell you¡­ There''s nothing like that out there anymore¡­ I''m pretty sure¡ªnot really, but y''know¡­ It''s gotta be pretty rare!"


    "D-Daddy¡­ S-Stop¡­"


    "Uh¡­ R-Right¡­"


    Logan started, "I dunno~ Could be a simple refurbish¡­"


    Jesus followed, nodding, "Yeah, why would it be left there if it''s a great catch? I would''ve taken this one if I wasn''t inclined to my own station wagon¡­"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "You guys are fucking idiots¡­"


    "Don''t butt in, Quinn. We''re doing our thing here¡­/ Yeah, let the men speak with another great man here¡­"


    "Whatever¡­"


    Hearing that, it took me a second before the two were just doing the thing where they actpletely disinterested about the fucking car they were trying to buy but I had another realization that all this shit was fucking pointless.


    ''IF JONATHAN''S GONNA GIVE IT TO THEM FOR FREE, SO WHY ALL THE THEATRICS?!''


    The head shake, the teeth sucking, and even tongue clicks were used to jack the price of anything way, way~ down for handshake deals, but I took it upon myself to look around and see if there was anything noteworthy while they do their own thing. Even Quinn followed after me because her sole responsibility was the car''s engines and she had nothing to do with the bullshit deal until it reached her garage.


    Whatever it was that came into her domain¡ªeven if it was from a junker or a supercar¡ªher goal was to bring it up to its best or optimum condition or even make it several levels better than how it came out of the box.


    But yeah, supercars and the like¡ªespecially if you''re driving on roads such as ours¡ªwouldn''t need a lot of power, so to speak, and in most cases, they needed a downgrade rather than an upgrade. It''s because we don''t have straight roads that could span miles and miles like where Oscar came from but like Japan, especially the mountains, our roads were curved and squiggly, making us need something different than raw power.


    Though it was the same shit for Quinn every single day because her goal wasn''t exactly to maximize output but to make sure what the car was using was the best for the road it was driving on.


    In any case, we had free rein to open up any storage units that had the specialbel on them but the first one we opened up made me try and close it at the same exact time but Quinn stopped me with this scary, lecherous look on her face because what we saw was kinda simr to what Clyde used to work on but in a more¡­ freaky way.


    It''s all fucking leather¡ªin other words: it''s liketex suits for dominatrixes but rece the shiny squeaky material with premium fucking leather.


    I never clenched my butt this hard when Quinn was already drooling from this find while holding a leather whip, but the thought of doing shit like this in the future had already crossed my mind, but if it was Quinn we were talking about, it''s a different fucking story.


    Kaley was akin to baby steps while Quinn would be like a storm giant having a tantrum.


    ''Why''s Jonathan have stuff like this¡ª Wait, nevermind¡­''

 Chapter 984 How about me? - Jonathan VS Logan

    Chapter 984 How about me? - Jonathan VS Logan


    ?


    Looking at this section, I didn''t find anything that I''d find useful but Quinn was dead set on taking home the leather ship she picked up¡ªand I''m gonna be a little honest here¡ªI was both scared and aroused from hearing the whip break the sound barrier multiple times as Quinn was practice-swinging it.


    She was making the whole thing look so easy but I did need a few tries to perfect it and remember the sensation when she made me take a crack at it.


    "Oh? You learn quick, huh?"


    "Kaley does too, but our heads are still wired differently."


    "Pfft¡­ That''s pretty obvious, but what do you think? Do you want me to give you an intro to chains and whips in the bedroom? I''ll be gentle¡­ at first¡­"


    I chuckled and shook my head as I moved a step away, "We could but if we start ball-busting, I''m fucking out."


    "What?! That''s the best part! For me, at least¡­"


    "I still wanna have kids and getting my balls crushed in a vice or under your feet doesn''t sound like a good time¡­ Some people are into it but I''m not."


    "Hmm~ I get it, sure. But what while we''re on the subject, how about me?"


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    Quinn looked away for a moment before turning back to me with a slight blush, "I''m pretty sure you''re gonna make lots with Kaley but what about me? You know, Sal did say we had to repopte one way or a-another and umm¡­ that d-doesn''t necessarily mean it shoulde from a random guy¡­ You get what I''m saying? I don''t wanna cut in line or a-anything but I came first before Edith at least, right?"


    "You mean¡ª"


    She rolled her eyes before she red at me cutely, "Yeah! That''s what I mean! I don''t know what Kaley''s gonna say but I wanna have a kid or two, y''know?! And I''m older than all of you, what if I lose the ability to¡ª"


    "You can have your eggs frozen¡ª"


    "Dipshit, why don''t you just whip out your cock and we do it the normal way?! That''s way~ fucking easier! And way~ more fun too! C''mon! W-What do you think?! Y-You like me t-too, right?!"


    ''She looks so fucking cute¡­''


    I tried to maintain a stoic expression as I scratched the side of my cheek, "That''s¡­"


    "Fine! Forget I said anything¡ª"


    "Quinn. I''m not entirely against it and I''m very, very, very much ttered by considering me but we should have an open discussion for this¡ª"


    "h~ h~ h~ Hearing you say that you''re not against it is already good for me! As soon as all the shit I''m supposed to at the moment is done, trust me, you''d look worse than Mauro every time Elsa had her way with him¡­"


    I jokingly rolled my eyes, "That''s some big words there¡­ Sure~ Tell me those words again every time you looked so panicked when I still haven''t had enough¡ª"


    Then Quinn suddenly leaned in with a threatening aura, "Bitch, I barely do any cardio! What do you think''s gonna happen when I started doing that plus us having sex every single night we could?!"


    "Won''t your tits sag and you''d look like a dried¡ª"


    "YOU SON OF A BITCH¡ª I WAS JUST¡ª ARGH!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! EASY! EASY! I WAS JUST JOKING¡ª"


    "JOKING MY ASS! One of these days I''ll fucking bend you down and make you call me mommy while I''m fucking your little ass!"


    "Again~ Those are some big wordsing from¡ª And how could you get pregnant from that? I''m not a fucking seahorse! You see, contrary to the norm, male seahorses are¡ª"


    "YOU! I KNOW HOW SEASHORSES WORK! YOU DO KNOW THAT YOU''RE THE ONLY ONE THAT COULD TALK THIS WAY TO ME, RIGHT?! DON''T TALK TO ME LIKE I''M AN IDIOT!"


    "I''m not, I''m not~ And I''ll take advantage of it as much as I can~ Wanna check the other storage units?"


    "ARGH! F-Fine¡­"


    With that said, we perused everything could while the others continued to haggle about something that was already free¡ªbut we did find a few items worthy of making a proper purchase¡ªand we brought all of them to Jonathan who was somehow giving the two more free shit besides the luxury supercar.


    "Hold on, hold¡ª I said HOLD ON! I''m already giving this car basically for free and you also want that differential, that set of tires, that subwoofer, and that old radio?! C''mon guys! Don''t bleed me dry¡ª" then he stopped his spiel as he turned to us, "Oh? You picked that stuff? You can have them for free¡ª"


    Logan instantly erupted, "WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?! WE''VE BEEN AT IT FOR 30 MINUTES AND THEY JUST DROPPED IN AND YOU GIVE THEM SHIT FOR FREE?! WHAT GIVES?!"


    Jonathan looked at Logan like an idiot, "First of all, you almost killed me but he saved me. Secondly, I owed him big, big~ time even before you came here, and third: I don''t wanna bring this up but did you forget the time when you joined the Cock-Arena of Time?!"


    I had to do a double-take, "The wut?"


    Jesus was losing his shit as he gave me an answer, "That''s what he calls the game we sawst time¡­ You know, with Kuzma? Cockfighting and shit? He calls it that¡­ The Legend of Kuzma: Cock-Arena of Time¡­ Current champion gets the naming rights¡­ Probably still Kuzma at this point¡­"


    Logan waved us off, "Hold on, hold on, I won that shit before! What''s fucking¡ª"


    "YOU CHEATED, YOU CHEATER! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BLOW EACH OTHER¡ª I MEAN, EXCHANGE BLOWS IN THE BEGINNING! YOU STRAIGHT-UP BLEW THE GUY¡ª I MEAN, STRUCK FIRST WITHOUT GETTING BLOWN¡ª I MEAN, GET HIT! DO YOU REMEMBER?!"


    ''I swear he''s fucking doing it on purpose¡­''


    Logan was about tomit bloody murder again from the nder, "YOU''RE DOING THAT SHIT ON PURPOSE! FUCK IT, HOW MUCH IS ALL OF THOSE SHIT ANYWAY?! I''LL PAY WHATEVER THE FUCK IT IS AND MOVE ON!"


    "Three-fiddy?"


    "THREE-FIDDY WHAT?! CASH DON''T WORK ANYMORE, THAT SHIT COULD BE ANYTHING!"


    Quinn interjected, "It''s always gas. Is that it? D''you want 350 gallons of fuel?"


    Jonathan nodded vehemently, "YES! But everything shoulde out from HIS pocket! That''s the deal! Three-fiddy gallons of fuel or¡ª"


    "Or we just let Dave drop in for a bit¡ª"


    "Hah! You think I''m scared of him?! W-Well, I do, but¡­ I''ll die on this fucking hill¡ª storage unit, whatever if I''m gonna let that guy get the best of me! Deal or no deal!"


    I drooped my head low before I looked at them exasperatedly, "This¡­ This is what you''ve been going back and forth on for thirty minutes?"


    Allie answered from the table behind, swinging her feet, "Yep! It''s still funny tho!"


    Logan just about had it, "Fine! I don''t have that much on my truck but I''ll give you 500 total but you have to pick it up or wait for Jesus to visit again¡ª"


    Jonathan never smiled so wide, "I''ll be in the next game night of Mr. Cuervo," then he turned to me, "Right?"


    I nodded, "Consider yourself a VIP."


    "Fuck it!" Logan rolled his eyes as he spat on his palm, "Shake on it!"


    Jonathan did the same thing and sealed the deal with a tight handshake while wearing an evil smirk, "My hands were in my ass earlier¡ª"


    "EW! WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "LET GO, YOU FUCKING PERVERT! STOP SMOOSHING IT IN! I''LL FUCKING KILL YA!"


    "THANKS FOR THE PURCHASE~!"


    "I SAID LET GO!"


    Eventually, Allie gave Logan the key to the R8 while the rest of us knew Logan got swindled to fuck. It was basically the "Pretty Woman" effect or something simr when a person would get denied a sale of something they could easily afford before the same person woulde back with a grudge and buy more items than what they usually came for, making them feel good about themselves but ultimately benefitting the store.


    But yeah, Logan''s calvary didn''t end there when we realized he had to drive in a very tight spot that required precise handling, and the only way to have a perfect run was to move all of the obstacles away which would pretty much take a lot of time.


    We already made our way back when the two were finalizing some shit and we just heard a loud yell of despair when he realized the traps Jonathanid out for him. In any case, he simply called the rest of his crew to move the obstacles away but he had to toss all his anger on this particr trash can because as annoying and repulsive as I found Jonathan in those instances, especially in his office upstairs, he definitely got Logan good and then some.


    After a short bit, we eventually ended our short stay and bid our goodbyes though Logan went ahead and burned some rubber to let off steam a bit more.

 Chapter 985 Spill - There it is...

    Chapter 985 Spill - There it is...


    As we continued our drive, Tatiana started to look through the bag of random items we brought over, and even Kaley''s interest was piqued. The first one they took out was the leather whip Quinn found for herself but they soon lost interest when they continuously pulled out assorted collectibles like toys, board games, miniatures,ic books, vinyl records, etc. that weren''t in my possession.


    Tatiana remarked, "It took you guys that long for this?"


    I chuckled, "Hey! That''s all for free and we weren''t the ones who took all of our time, Logan did. But yeah, they''re probably useless to you but to me¡ªmore so now, they''re as valuable as ever. Priceless even."


    "Ah¡ª I didn''t mean it that way, I did love ying D&Dst time¡­ I just never had the chance to pursue hobbies that are of this nature¡­"


    "Don''t worry about it. I didn''t have that much money growing up¡ªand even when I caught a windfall or earned some for things like these, I tried to keep a bnce of what''s useful and what could make me remember the times I so wanted to have them. Besides, I can''t y all of them even when I have the time because most of it''s just nostalgia¡­"


    Quinn interjected, "Eh~ I loved cars ever since and it just somehow turned into job¡­"


    Kaley turned around with a smirk, "Really?"


    "Why are you looking at me like that?"


    "Nothing¡­ I just had a mental image of you ying with dolls and whatnot¡ªnot like there''s something wrong with them¡ªbecause I grew up with dolls back then, Olivia, my sister, too but y''know¡ª"


    Tatiana chuckled, "We have different kinds of dolls back home but they''re not as fun when they kept going on and on and on~"


    "What¡ª Oh! I get it, I get it~"


    Quinn was looking away for a moment before she had a thought, "Hmm~ Oh! I didn''t have a doll per se but I remember my dad make me something like that from the shop rag and I fucking hated it and just stuck it down a muffler. Heh, I got into so much trouble from that¡­"


    I joined in, "So¡­ Did you take from your dad or from your mom?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Where did you get that¡ª"


    "Ah! I get what you meant. A little bit of both, actually. Both gearheads and tall as fuck, but I definitely outgrew both of them¡­"


    "Are they¡­"


    "I have no fucking idea."


    Kaley interjected, "You don''t know where they are?"


    Quinn shrugged her shoulders, "Left home after graduating high school. I thought I could be something else other than them but look where it got me? A little funny, right? But yeah, didn''t care as much as the years went by but chances are, they''re already dead."


    "You don''t miss them or anything?"


    "It''s a love-hate rtionship, mostly hate before I left home because I''m in my rebel years but they''d probably be against what I''m doing right now."


    I couldn''t believe my ears as I cut in, "Why? You''re making custom engines and living as you are, what''s wrong with that?"


    "Shut it. You know what I was referring to. Can''t we just fuck our brains out instead of talking like this?"


    Kaley chuckled, "As much as I would love that, I''d love to get to know you more like this. It''s fun too, no?"


    "Eh~ Then why am I the only one talking?! Spill, you three!"


    Tatiana rolled her eyes, "What do you wanna know?"


    "EVERYTHING! I SAID SPILL! BIG DICK, YOU START!"


    "Are you sure about that?"


    "WHA¡ª W-Why?"


    With that said, we shared more details of our lives with Quinn on our rtively safe journey and she definitely needed more than a minute to get everything sorted inside her head. That caused her to share more details about her life because she felt like what we knew wasn''t enough but I was just watching out the moment she''d drop the bomb on Kaley because talks about having kids shouldn''t be had in a moving vehicle, especially when the original couple hadn''t even tried themselves yet.


    But yeah, she knew where to talk about such a topic and I had more time to focus on the road than on the subject at hand.


    We definitely deviated from the original route we took after leaving Jonathan''s domain¡ªthough some of it could be attributed to Logan speeding away from everyone¡ªbut he''d drop in our frequency to tell us what''s what before Jesus would adjust the route ordingly. Though obviously enough, we definitely avoided dirt roads¡ªnot like we drove on themst time¡ªand roads that had a lot of speed bumps, not because the R8 was lowered to fuck but because Logan just didn''t want to slow down.


    However, it didn''t take long before the motherfucker attracted unwanted attention because we suddenly saw him speeding back up to us with a trail of ferals and sprinters¡ªand he would''ve rammed them to shit if he wasn''t using Dave''s recement car or if he had the same attachments to his vehicle tobat them.


    Kaley and Tatiana were ready to climb their way to the back of the vehicle to pop some shots to thin their numbers but the cadets already had an idea in mind when they radioed in to our frequency:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WE HAVE TO USE IT SOMEHOW, RIGHT?! RIGHT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    And I couldn''t agree more as I replied:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "FUCK IT! MAKE WAY FOR THE RAYCOLT!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [OH FUCK! OH FUCK! OH FUCK!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Before Logan drove past behind us, everyone else in the way of the Raycolt''s mounted machine gun moved out of the fucking way before Megan was given the honors and popped out from the roof hole.


    Everyone else was ready to pick off the stragglers with their own weapons but Megan didn''t even miss even if she didn''t even aim at each of the fucking bastards since all of them were running in a straight line.


    Megan just made sure to aim in at one spot and at an angle to dismember and ravage anything that crossed the firing line, because even if the deadheading was a professional limbo yer, there was no chance in hell that they''de out of it unscathed.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before the fuckers switched their targets onto us but to reiterate Sebastian''s words, we wouldn''t be in danger even if we tried looking for it. However, as much as I wanted him to be right, there was a reason we alwayse out of shit untouched and that was theck of arrogance and taking everything¡ªeven a single deadhead, like we would a horde of a hundred or more units marching with each other.


    I already made Megan stop firing as I ran towards the closest one with my de drawn and I sliced half of its face horizontally before I bisected the other one that followed after it.


    Kaley was making sure that I was only facing one at a time as she was already firing from atop the Raptor while Tatiana had already fanned to my right to make our jobs a little easier.


    She could probably go toe to toe with a feral right now but she wouldn''t take the chance at the moment as she crippled every single one that came at her with buckshots to their knees before finishing them off with the same load to the head.


    Agility was the selling point of a feral instead of just speed like a sprinter and taking their mobility was the sure-fire way of taking them out without having to panic as they''d juke out or try to dodge the barrel of our guns or even our attacks with our handheld weapons.


    It was the tinge of unpredictability that made them dangerous, aside from their lowered stance, but humanity didn''t survive this long to sumb to something that only existed for a year at most.


    With that said, Quinn and everyone else tried to follow after us but we didn''t need a lot of instruction to be able to move on our own because we''ve been doing this a while and we can more or less react to what the other person was doing.


    They then resorted to double-tapping the corpses Megan mowed down while Quinn stood behind Kaley as her bodyguard.


    I didn''t know where and how Logan attracted such a group from the town before us but it didn''t take long before we saw the main herd that wasposed of regr old deadheads akin to goblins in an MMO.


    This time, we took our time clearing the flesh litter on the road as I made the cadets take care of our new problem but it should be obvious enough that I didn''t make them use our trump card¡ªmaking everyone from their group who so wanted to use itin.


    Even I wanted to let it rip for a few seconds but I sure as hell wouldn''t use it on regr dregs.


    Unless a weird one, of course, would show up.


    In which case they did¡­


    ''Oh, fuck no...''

 Chapter 986 Creases - It wont be long now...

    Chapter 986 Creases - It won''t be long now...


    I didn''t know whether to feel unsettled or disgusted by the figures marching toward us but these few days of sunshine and rainbows made me forget that we were living in hell. Among the medium-sized herd Logan brought to us were three abnormally looking figures and the first one reminded me of the days when I used to frequent conventions.


    It was this plumpy deadhead¡ªthat seemed to be a stitcher¡ªwho was walking on all fours which had its freakin'' tongue wrapped around its neck like a noose while the end was wrapped tightly on the arm of this tall, headless figure behind it, "walking" it like a dog.


    The second one was this huge blob that probably did mukbangs in its previous life without throwing everything it ate right after and same as the first one, it was "walking" nine undead toddlers¡ªstill attached to its umbilical cords¡ªfrom its ripped-open stomach.


    With each step, bile and several other fluids were spilling out but most of it was "pieces" it wasn''t able to digest¡ªno, it could still probably break down someponents with its stomach acid but it sure as hell wouldn''t provide nutrients and do much to a rotting corpse.


    But yeah, the third one was a little tricky because I wasn''t sure if they were a pair or if there was a main body because it was this figure giving another one of them a piggyback ride though I couldn''t see much of their facial features due to their messy unkempt hair blocking the view.


    However, I could definitely see the extra set of feet and arms from the first one''s torso not only because I had a clearer view from the chest down but because the ce where its core and the rest of its internal organs should be was dangling dawn on its thighs while the extra set of limbs was sitting pretty on its "waist".


    And as much as I love to look at them, Kaley took down the one with the leash by punching in a lead projectile through its skull with her rifle but we were in for a surprise when she took down the biggest target right after.


    At any time of day, we''d always opt for the easiest shots¡ªand actually, snipers do as well¡ªbecause taking them down was the goal instead of making the shot as hard as possible by doing tricks and whatnot.


    "Uh-oh."


    I didn''t actually think that aiming for the huge plumper was the issue¡ªmuch less the thought of it losing its head first than its chunky knees¡ªbut as soon as it rolled to the ground, its fucking babies lost all sense of control. And I wasn''t talking about the headless stitcher-walker that dropped down after its host got shot down, it was more like identally letting go of a husky while the first time they went out.


    "I''M SORRY, I''M SORRY, I''M¡ª"


    "DON''T APOLOGIZE, JUST SHOOT!"


    Right from the fucking get-go, the blob''s babies either straight-up ran headfirst and ripped the umbilical cord off their stomachs¡ªrupturing their insides¡ªas they sprinted at top speed or they tried to chew them off first with their gums, ultimately just ripping them off with the tiny bones jutting out from their little fingers.


    But as fast as they looked, they haven''t bridged the distance between us with their tiny legs, but their fucking heads were wobbling all over.


    And yeah, Tatiana took it upon herself to once again rely on her Benelli M4 loaded with buckshot because she just needed to aim at the area where their heads would be before pulling the trigger and switching targets. Kaley and I did nail a few with her rifle and my pistol but it was like aiming at the most fucked up bobble-head we''d ever seen.


    The little buggers never came close but it was always a different thing when babies or even dogs were in the mix.


    In any case, the third one didn''t put up much of a fight once Kaley put her sights on it because its brain needed to be as small as it could if it was gonna try to survive a shot to the head to somehow miss its Achilles heel. It simply fell the same way as the rest of the dregs did when the rest of our crew marched on them though we did clean up and did our usual routine every encounter.


    This usually takes 30 minutes to an hour but unless we were running out of time, we shouldn''t be driving into the town where this herd came from with an empty mag or an unchambered barrel.


    It was akin to warming up and cooling down before and after a workout to reduce the risk of injury¡ªand in our current situation, it was to 99.9% of the time forgo mishaps or those so-called scripted deaths¡ªbecause god knows how stupid or unlucky people could be at any given moment. And even though the most prepared and most armed could still get into trouble, I''d rather fail doing just that instead of failing because of not doing something that could''ve taken a bit of our time.


    Ruben and James #2 then approached me while wiping their hands, "Everything''s ounted for, sir!/ They''ll all burn soon, shall we go now?"


    "And the casings?"


    James #1 answered, "All counted for too, sir!"


    Seb followed, "All guns are locked and loaded and our handhelds were wiped clean¡­ sir."


    I nodded before I turned to Megan, "The belt links, did you pick all of them up?"


    She nodded as well, "Yep. Every single one as you ordered¡­"


    "You don''t sound too happy?"


    "Ugh¡­ As fun as it was to fire it, I didn''t think I''d have to pick up all of the spent casings and the belt links it needs¡­"


    JP chimed from the back, "You already said what they are¡­ They''re ''needed'' for the gun to work¡ª"


    "Why are you so fussy?! You told me I should fire it, why are you¡ª"


    "It''s not that, I''m just realizing that the problem I have to now tackle the problems I created for myself when we get back."


    Lucas interjected, "What problems?"


    "Remember the public market we cleared? That problem."


    "Ah~ crap, I did forget about that¡­"


    JP looked more and more fatigued from the way he was thinking of all the shit he had to do, "I''d have to check each one of them, make sure they did the job I assigned them, and give out appropriate punishments for¡ª"


    I cut in, "Nah~ You''re probably gonna do it once or twice¡ªmaybe thrice if you haven''t set a proper example."


    "What do you mean?"


    I chuckled, "I''ve had plenty ofzy workers before. There''s azy but effective way to deal with them. You do know how to make your bed or put a cover over the dining tables, right?"


    JP shook his head, "Again¡­ What do you mean? Sir."


    "What I mean to say is: if there''s a crease somewhere, you don''t remove the whole sheet or cover and start over but instead, as I said earlier, you pull on the edges once or twice¡ªmaybe even thrice if it called for it¡ªand there you go. The initial crease will straighten out, followed by the minor ones that were negligible but let me add one more thing¡­ the moment you pull on it, pull it in a way that sends the message across the other tables or beds. Got it?"


    "..."


    "JP? Jameson Prometheus¡ª"


    "You¡ª I got it, sir. That just made more sense than I thought so it took me a bit to answer¡­"


    "Alright then, shall we?"


    With that said, we finally drove into this town that surprisingly enough, had a group of survivors who were actually sending a distress call. Luckily for them, Meg intercepted the message and Jesus made Logan drive by the herd and lure them out, making us take care of the problem and making this town a safer ce to live.


    They did offer many thanks and a few goods and "services" in exchange but it became an IOU of sorts because we couldn''t just take advantage of these people even if we did just save their lives.


    On the contrary, we left them a few items to get going and to remain in contact with our group but since Jesus would be the best chance they had out here, he gave them an offer that unfortunately split their group.


    What Jesus offered was for them to either find their way to the De Leon Family or to my old university because even though some of them could live on their own, they needed to join a bigger group while those bigger groups needed more hands to keep the status quo. Either ce depending on their preferences could be heaven or hell but there were still a few who wanted to stay in their hometown.


    We ultimately left the decision to them but half of their group was already packing their bags, but as much as we wanted to help other people, these randoms needed to get to their destinations their own way, and the best chance they had was if they go as a whole¡­ or simply continue what they were doing and live as a smaller group in this area.


    It didn''t take long before we connected to the route we usedst time but seeing the same public market we burned down in the same state asst time¡ªthough probably still picked clean of scraps¡ªwas making even me a little mad.


    ''JP will definitely bring the hammer down those assholes¡­ It won''t be long now¡­''

 Chapter 987 Disrespect - Faith

    Chapter 987 Disrespect - Faith


    It was very obvious that the people from the mall a few blocks away from this public market greatly benefited due to us clearing the dead for them because once we drove past them and the other folks chilling outside, they gave us a faint smile, a nod, a wave, or even a quick boob sh for our efforts.


    But yeah, I couldn''t care less about them at this moment because instead of going to my old alma mater to prolong their vacation for a few more hours, it was decided to head straight for the Academy.


    One other reason for that was the General was about to head out once again, and since JP radioed in to tell them that we were less than an hour away, his loving father decided to dy their trip for as long as he wanted to.


    In any case, Logan and Jesus along with their crews decided to just stay outside because we would only take a couple hours or so inside, but it was more for the purpose ofworking to see if there were particr soldiers that would bite for something less monotonous and more exciting.


    The soldiers stationed outside didn''t even bother to check our vehicles but the General himself¡ªand Major Perez, obviously¡ªwere already waiting by the parking area to wee us back.


    The General instantly bear-hugged JP, "Jameson¡ª I mean¡ª JP! d to see you safe and sound and¡ª Oh? I don''t know what it is but you do look differentpared tost time¡ª"


    JP shook his head as he wiggled off his dad''s embrace, "Cut the bullshit, Dad. I''ve left a mess when I left and I need to take care of it right now¡ª"


    He waved his son off, "I received your call and I already took care of it¡ª"


    "WHAT?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"


    "I don''t understand and I don''t like your tone. You''re away and someone needed to¡ª"


    JP scoffed, "I''m sorry about that, General, but I should be the one to fix my mistakes or no one will fucking respect me! They''ll obviously listen to your orders but it just made things worse for me! W-Where¡ª What did you do to them anyway?!"


    "Again, I don''t like that tone¡ª"


    "FUCK THE TONE! I''LL SPEAK HOWEVER THE FUCK I WANT! DON''T TELL ME THEY''RE JUST ON DISHWASHING DUTY OR SOME BULLSHIT PUNISHMENT TO ''KEEP THEM IN LINE''! I''M SICK AND TIRED OF OUR SOLDIERS GETTING AWAY¡ª"


    All of a sudden, The General''s whole demeanor changed before he sunk his fist into JP''s gut and mmed him onto the Raycolt''s body:


    "Again, I don''t like that fucking tone you''re using to address me¡­ Baron¡­ and who said that they got away with dishwashing duty?"


    JP never looked so surprised seeing his dad hitting him, "W-What are you¡ª"


    "Listen¡­ I''m a little surprised you talked to me that way but no one disrespects a McArthur, even if we share the same name. No one. I''ll understand and let it slide if I was somehow in the wrong but this time, I''m in the right and you should''ve tried to listen a bit more before blowing up in my face. Those vagrants who took our name to the dirt? The Major and I took care of them personally and let''s just say we saved a bit of food because no one could eat in the cafeteria for several days besides a select few¡­ Do you understand?"


    "..."


    "Baron! Jameson Prometheus McArthur IV! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"


    "Y-Yes, General¡­"


    "Repeat it with a lighter tone and look me in the eye as we''re talking."


    "Yes¡­ General¡­ I do understand¡­"


    "And?"


    "I apologize for my earlier outburst, it won''t happen again¡­"


    "Good. Then where were we? Ah~ Right! Wee back, everyone! d to see that you''re all safe! You all just didn''t get tanned on a beach, right? I''m jealous~ Any souvenirs, perhaps?"


    At this point, I just felt bad for JP because even if his heart was in the right ce, he went a little overboard with trying to correct his wrongs and even if I would''ve done the same thing as him, in this ce, his dad always had the final say and as he mentioned earlier, he was also in the right¡­ mostly.


    To be fair, The General should''ve waited and seen how his son could fix his own mistakes instead of always doing it for him because if he really wanted to see how his son would grow, doing that and then chastising him in front of everybody wasn''t the right way to go about it. He could''ve tried to talk it out calmly first¡ªif he really hated the tone they were speaking in¡ªthen talk to him privately right after.


    But yeah, it seemed like the lessons¡ªalthough not enough and in very short bursts¡ªI taught JP and the rest could''ve somehow helped them once I gave them back, it felt like JP was back to square one because of what just happened.


    However, speaking of things going back to square one, there was a particr individual who started growing his fucking horns back after keeping off of my radar.


    Lopez never looked so happy on familiar soil, more so because I haven''t made his life miserable enough¡ªbut to Seb and Alexa''s horror, the motherfucker was wearing a huge smile on his face as he was looking at the cadet''s leaderboard.


    I was still in mid-conversation with The General and Major Perez when Lopez threw Alexa a look before things went fucking south.


    We were barely in the Academy for 15 minutes before a body hit the floor.


    Everyone just heard a gunshot before Lopez''s lifeless body dropped dead with blood leaking out of his forehead, and once everyone''s eyes gathered on the perpetrator, it was actually JP who was holding the smoking gun.


    "WHAT DID YOU FUCKING DOOOOOO?!" The General just couldn''t believe his eyes.


    JP answered coldly, "I told you, dad¡­ I''m sick and tired of people getting away with shit," then he pointed at Lopez''s corpse, "This motherfucker just got here and found out Seb and his group are at the bottom of the list because they were away and he was already nning to have his way with her."


    "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA ABOUT WHAT YOU DID?! YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"


    "You said it yourself, dad¡­ No one fucks with a McArthur but to me, it applies to every single one of my friends, people, soldiers, and whatnot because if you fucking with any of them in any other way, that''ll happen to you. Besides, who fucking said I''m gonna get hurt? And I''m gonna get parts from that disgusting fuck? Honestly, I''d rather die."


    "YOU¡­ Meet me in my office, that''s an order¡­ soldier¡­ SOMEONE BRING THAT BODY TO THE UNIVERSITY QUICK! SEE IF THEY CAN MAKE USE OF IT SOMEHOW! BLOOD OR ORGANS, IT DOESN''T MATTER!"


    "..."


    "THE FUCK ARE Y''ALL STARING AT ME?! THIS IS AN ORDER, MOVE! MR. ISHIYAMA, WE''LL TALK FUCKING LATER! DO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT BUT WE''RE GONNA HAVE A TALK!"


    I simply answered respectfully while hiding the delight from my expression, "Alright, I''ll take the body back to school. I''ll be back here in a few hours."


    The General just red at me, "Make sure youe back here or we''re gonna have a problem."


    I had to let out a chuckle, "Why would we have a problem? I didn''t do anything wrong, right? I''m even helping you¡ª"


    "THEN GET OUT OF MY SIGHT! I NEED TO TALK TO MY SON!"


    "Alright, then~" I nodded as I nced at JP who like Seb, Alexa, and the rest of the cadets were also looking at me, "See you allter, alright? I''ll be back soon."


    Saying that, the General just turned around after ring at JP to follow behind him but JP and the rest acknowledged me first before I pulled out a bodybag and threw Lopez''s body inside it. I actually didn''t think that things would go this way but all the talk Sal mentioned about making use of another person didn''t have a ce in my book because even if I would appreciate outside help, if I wanted to do something, I''d just do it myself¡­ especially if it was someone who had this kind of track record.


    However, the problem right now was that bringing Lopez''s body to the ce where his wife¡ªDr. Sandara Lopez¡ªwould definitely be in could be the biggest thing I''ve done for her or the worst.


    Dr. Lopez and especially Chloe¡ªno, both of them probably had never been outside the university''s walls so the topic of murder probably hadn''t crossed their minds even though the motherfucker rightfully deserved it. I''m not entirely sure as to how they''d react to knowing that the person they regarded as their husband or father was killed by the person he was supposed to protect.


    But yeah, this was one of the few times I''ll have faith on those two people but I really didn''t think this would happen in the first ce.


    ''Though I''m not particrlyining¡­''

 Chapter 988 Grab my wrists...

    Chapter 988 Grab my wrists...


    It didn''t take long for my group to reach TAMU, Three Angel''s Message University, and once again, the guards didn''t even bother checking our shit because it seemed like I built a small reputation from myst visit. Furthermore, though not as apparent, the vibe was a little different too but I was happy they didn''t check our "baggage" because it''ll definitely go down the moment they discover we recently witnessed a murder.


    ''Eh~ They''ll probably wouldn''t mind if they know the whole story but there''s no need to tell everyone about everything¡­''


    This time, Logan and Jesus drove in¡ªbut they went ahead and headed straight for theke because my house wasn''t technically mine anymore and to just further avoidints from our neighbors. Besides, everyone else in this area was just one call away and it was a little unfortunate that Andy wasn''t in the gate to wee us.


    But yeah, I couldn''t quite exin the emotions running through my head right now when I drove in the emergency bay because the first person that came out was Dr. Sandara Lopez.


    ''Ah, fuck¡­ Here we go~''


    And yeah, she never looked so happy when we met eyes but she quickly noticed my change in demeanor, "Hi~! Wee¡ª What¡­ What''s wrong?"


    I nced at my truckbed before sitting her down, "Are you the only one on call?"


    She followed my line of sight earlier before looking bact at me, "I¡ª We have a few other p-people but they''re doing something and I''m already h-here¡­ W-What''s wrong? You''re scaring me¡ª"


    "Alright, I''m gonna need you to grab on my wrists¡­"


    "What?"


    "Please¡­ I''d like you to really grab them you can squeeze them like you''re trying to break them in two¡ª"


    "W-What are you¡ª"


    "We have a body at the truck¡­"


    "O-Okay?"


    "It belongs to a 50-year old male, Asian, medium to stocky build, used to be in charge of the ROTC program in this university¡­"


    "...!" Dr. Lopez''s grip on me started to tighten.


    "But when the world ended, he wasmissioned to apany the General''s son, the current Baron because of his blood type and so that he could be a donor in case something went wrong but this time¡­ something did go wrong¡­"


    "O-Oh my God¡­ W-What happened to¡ª"


    "He was too far on the deep end¡­ I thought he''d try to change his ways as I loomed behind him but the moment we set foot back on the Academy, one of the cadets that came with us¡­ he uhh¡­ he¡­"


    "Oh God¡­ Why would he¡­"


    "Technically¡­ He hadn''t done anything yet but once he saw that she was at the bottom of the rankings, the look he gave her implied that he''ll have his way with her one way or another¡­"


    Dr. Lopez''s whole body was shaking as she was looking me straight in the eye, "D-Did you? W-Were you the one that¡ª"


    I shook my head, "As much as I didn''t want you to hear me say this, no, unfortunately¡­ I would''ve wanted to be the one to put him down but¡ª"


    "T-Then who?"


    "JP¡ª I mean, the Baron¡­ the General''s son¡­"


    "W-What?"


    "Yeah¡­ I didn''t need to tell you this but he was kinda doing the same thing to one of the cadets¡ªbut that also didn''t excuse his behavior and it wasn''t technically the same reason¡ªbut he more or less woke up from that stupid notion that power could give him anything and for once, he did something he thought was right."


    "..."


    "D-Dr. Lopez?"


    "I-I need a s-second¡­ This¡­"


    At that point, Dr. Lopez was on the verge of tears as she kept a tight grip on my arms though now she was looking down and was still shaking all over, but one of the medical students came out of the doors she came from and saw what was going on.


    "U-Umm¡­ Do you need help?"


    I nced briefly at Dr. Lopez before looking back at the guy, "Yeah¡­ We have a fresh body that came from the Academy and the General ordered¡­ ordered us to¡­"


    As I was trying to speak to this medical student, Dr. Lopez''s hold on me tightened even more before her voice entered my ears:


    "W-What did the General order? Please, tell me¡­"


    "Ha¡­ He ordered us to h-harvest¡ª I mean, make use of his body for whatever reason because¡ª"


    Then the medical student cut in, "T-That''s great! Mrs. Prisci, Dr. Marteno, and a few others are in need of¡ª"


    I cut him off with a re, "Then you should move fucking fast, right?! Grab another doctor in charge so you can save those people!"


    "B-But Dr. Lopez¡ª"


    "HER HUSBAND''S THE VICTIM! CAN''T YOU FUCKING PIECE THAT TOGETHER?! WHY WOULD SHE BREAK DOWN LIKE THIS, HUH?! THINK, DUDE! THINK!"


    "A-AH¡ª I APOLOGIZE, DR. LOPEZ! I''LL GET ON IT QUICK! I''LL ALSO CALL MIMI ON THE WAY! SHE''S ON HER BREAK BUT¡ª"


    "STOP TALKING AND START WALKING, DUDE! GET ON WITH IT! WE FORGIVE YOU!"


    "Y-YES, SIR-DUDE? SIR!"


    With that said, the guy took off running and almost hit his head on the way in but it only took a short bit before more people came out to retrieve Lopez''s corpse while Mimi didn''t know what to do exactly because she was extremely happy that we were back but her soul was crushed from seeing Dr. Lopez in this state.


    However, we just exchanged nces before she politely asked if Dr. Lopez would want us to walk her to her office, but there was also another person who wasn''t aware of the news and it was Chloe.


    But at this point, Dr. Lopez excused herself to go to the bathroom in her office while I was sitting on the couch with Mimi and Kaley. Kaley didn''t look too worried about Dr. Lopez''s mental state but Mimi couldn''t help but steal nces at the open bathroom where the Dr. was.


    I tried to get her attention, "Where''s Chloe anyway?"


    Mimi answered, "Her suspension period is over, she''s attending sses once again¡­ A-Anyway, wee back¡­"


    I pulled her in and put her under my arms as I ruffled her hair, "Easy shift today, huh? You don''t look too haggard¡ª"


    "You¡ª I spent an hour fixing my hair¡ª"


    Then Kaley smacked both our foreheads, "You two! Now''s not the time alright?!"


    "We''re sorry¡­"


    At that point, we heard Dr. Lopez vomiting from the bathroom but the moment Mimi was about to provide some assistance, the same dude came knocking on our door.


    "E-Excuse me, sir! I-Is Dr. Lopez here, by chance?"


    "She''s in the bathroom, why do you ask?"


    "Dr. Av''s just wondering if she wanted to see her husband onest time before¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez exploded from the back:


    "WHY WOULD I WANNA SEE THAT SORRY PIECE OF SHIT?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HE DID TO ME AND MY DAUGHTER?! HUH?! I''D RATHER DIE THAN SEE THAT DISGUSTING, LYING, ABUSING, PATHETIC BASTARD! TELL DR. AVILA TO CHECK IF HE HAS ANY DISEASES FIRST! BETTER YET, JUST SEND THAT BASTARD IN THE INCENERATOR FOR ALL I CARE!"


    "Y-Yes, ma''am! I-I''ll get on it right away! And again, I''m sorry for¡ª"


    "JUST LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE! GET ON IT!"


    "Y-Yes, ma''am~!!!"


    At this point, the room was quiet except for Dr. Lopez trying to catch her breath as her chest was heaving up and down, but she nced at me momentarily before wiping her mouth with bits of vomit and then slumping down on her chair with a difficult expression. She looked like she was thinking hard about something but then she turned to Mimi:


    "Mimi¡­"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "C-Can you please go to the medical director and tell him I''m going to take a few days off?"


    "F-Few days?!"


    "What¡ª"


    "Take a few weeks at the least! He might be a bad person but you lost someone that was still a part of your life and¡ª"


    "Mimi. I''m sorry but can you please do what I asked? I can''t take a week off because of my responsibilities but a couple days or two might just help¡­"


    "H-How about Chloe?"


    "Don''t worry about her, I''ll pick her up¡ª W-What time is it again?"


    "It''s 10:30¡ª"


    "So she''s probably in Biology, the building''s a ways off¡ª"


    I cut in, "Let me drive you there and drive you both home¡­ It''s the least we can do¡­"


    Kaley added, "Mrs. Lopez¡­ I-I don''t want to intrude as much but i-if you want to have someone else other than your daughter to talk to¡­ I''ll¡ª We''ll be here for as long as possible¡­"


    Dr. Lopez looked at Kaley with a gentle smile, "Thank you, I''ve been meaning to go to my therapist but she''s the mother of the lying bitch my daughter beat up¡­ I''ll actually put you up to that¡­ I''ll take anyone at this point¡­"


    Kaley smiled gently as well, "I may not be as good as my mom but I''ll definitely give it my all! I can talk with you for hours on end!"


    "Hmph! We''ll see about that. D''you like Grey''s Anatomy?"


    "Of course!"


    "Then let''s go! Let''s rip one more bandaid after picking up my daughter and I''ll put you to the test!"

 Chapter 989 Oh no, you dont...

    989 Oh no, you don''t...


    With that said, it only took a moment before Dr. Lopez realized that her breath was a little off, so she jumped up and rushed back to the bathroom to take care of it. She never looked so embarrassed when she stepped back and gave us this signal that she''d need a few minutes but Mimi took it upon herself to excuse herself so she''d be able to ask for Dr. Lopez''s immediate leave to the medical director.


    "D-Don''t leave without me, o-okay?!"


    I waved her off, "Of course, we won''t¡­ unless~"


    "W-What do you mean?! I-I''ll just give her a call¡ª"


    Kaley sent an elbow to my side as she turned to Mimi, "Don''t worry about him, he''s just messing with you. Go! We''ll wait for you, definitely!"


    In any case, Dr. Lopez did finish up quickly before she started to pack some things in her bag, but she turned to us a little weirdly when she was about to reach for her drawer. Kaley and I instantly knew why she looked suspicious so we just pretended to look away to save her a bit of embarrassment.


    ''She wasn''t as embarrassed that other time though¡­''


    But yeah, she had finished packing her items as Mimi came in with several forms for her to sign and she just squiggled them on before beckoning us to the door.


    It''s just that a lot of people were right outside to give her condolences and some words to ease her pain, but she just forced out a bitter smile before asking for some space. Everyone definitely understood what that meant so they gave her just that.


    We then used the exit to the emergency bay because we left Quinn and Tatiana over there, but the two weren''t too happy from the looks they were getting because Quinn was a foot or a couple of feet taller than everybody while Tatiana''s left arm covered with a tattoo sleeve was disyed in the open.


    They were so used to gettingpliments from their outward appearance but receiving the exact opposite waspletely off base for them.


    Quinn red at me when she saw mee out with Kaley and the rest, "Took you guys long enough! I kinda know the pipsqueak but isn''t she the doctor earlier?"


    Tatiana followed right as Mimi was about to react from getting called a pipsqueak:


    "Is sheing with us?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, she''s Lopez''s wife¡ª ex-wife now, I guess. She''s Dr. Sandara Lo¡ª"


    Dr. Lopez suddenly cut me off, "It''s Nichols, now¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    She nced at me briefly before she repeated herself, "It''s Sandara Nichols now¡­ I-I don''t wanna associate myself with that name anymore¡­ Chloe will be happy too but it''s gonna be a pain in the registrar''s office¡­ Gotta wait a bit but I''ll go by my maiden''s name unofficially¡­"


    Quinn chuckled as she loomed over her, "You adjusted that fast, huh? You were about to cry earlier¡ª"


    Dr. "Nichols" stood her ground, "I did cry, briefly. He was my husband after all but now he''s not. That''s about it."


    "Oh? Then we''ll get along just fine~ Where are headed now? Are we going to theke or¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Just hop in. We''ll pick up Chloe on the way but I can drop you off theke if you wanna have a swim¡ª"


    "Fuck that, you fucks have something nned and I''m not gonna miss the world for it!"


    Kaley rolled her eyes as she got in my Raptor, "It''s not what you think, Quinn. We''ll be having fun but not in the way you think¡­"


    "We can do both, right? Right? I mean, I''ll just join if we''re about to¡ª"


    Everyone who already got in shouted at her, "Get in, Quinn! We don''t have all day!"


    "Jeez~ I thought you guys wanted to talk all day?! Isn''t that what we''re doing?!"


    "GET IN!"


    With that said, as we drove to the building where Chloe was attending her ss, I didn''t bother trying to contact her using the radio I gave her, but instead, Dr. Nichols made her way to the specific ssroom to talk to the teacher.


    Funnily enough, Chloe thought she was in trouble but she never looked so happy when she saw me and Kaley waving at her from behind her mom. However, she got a little scared when her teacher started crying before hugging her mom, and to skip a few details, we made our way to their house that was a little bigger than the one that was given to me.


    It had a couple of cars that belonged to each of them but both definitely looked unused for quite some time, but as soon as we parked at the avable spot, Dr. Nichols fished out the keys from her bag and opened the door for us.


    "Come in~ Come in~ It''s a little messy¡ª Woah! Who cleaned this ce?"


    Chloe rolled her eyes, "I did! Always did!"


    "I-I thought you were living by theke?"


    "I am when you''re not home¡­ b-but this is my home too¡­"


    "Aww¡­ I love you, Chloe, thanks for doing this."


    "D-Don''t make it like it''s a huge thing, alright? I-It''s pretty normal for me to take care of you too¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before Tatiana raided their fridge while Quinn slumped down on the sofa. Kaley and I wanted to smack each of them but in case they took it other than a form of punishment, we just decided against it. But yeah, as Chloe was about to join us after changing into a morefy attire, Dr. Nichols took it upon herself to tell her the news privately.


    They just locked the door to one of their rooms as each of us shared a nce, but since it was already almost lunchtime, I decided to prepare some food for us and keep Tatiana away from eating all of the important ingredients.


    The General did say that I should be back in a couple or so hours but I doubt the discussion he''ll have with his son would be that short. As unfortunate as it may be, we could be here for a day or two at the maximum, but since I would be bringing Mimi and my other friends with me and Ron and Allyssa wouldn''te, I guess recing them with two other people wouldn''t hurt as much.


    ''A great doctor and a ck sheep in this university¡­ they''ll have a better time at home if I manage to convince them¡­ Question is how¡­''


    In any case, it didn''t take long before I heard someone crying from the room where Chloe and Mrs. Sandara were, but Kaley just decided to increase the volume of the show they were watching to give them a bit of privacy by doing just that. Even in thefort of their own homes, crying could be a little difficult if they had nosy neighbors or guests so a little bit of random chatter from the television could drown out or cloud the noises a bit.


    But yeah, the first one toe out of their room was Chloe whose eyes were a little red but they shone brightly with her pearly teeth when she met eyes with me and discovered I cooked them some lunch.


    "W-What?! You can cook? Waaah~ It''s smells so fucking good~ W-What do you call it?!"


    "I dunno, it''s just a stir-fry of vegetables with thinly sliced beef strips and a light vegetable soup. I also have a cinnamon roll cooking by the oven and it''ll pair well with the ice cream you have in your freezer¡ª"


    "Wow~!!! You did all that?! A-Are they almost done?!"


    "U-Umm¡­ Give me around 30 minutes¡­"


    "Thirty minutes?! What¡ª"


    Then Dr. Nichols cut in, "You ungrateful brat, he''s already cooking for us and¡ª" then she turned to me, "D-Do you need any help?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ This stove here sticks a bit and it doesn''t turn on all the way?"


    "Ah¡­ Here''s what you do¡­"


    At this point, Mrs. Sandara decided to lend me a hand while Chloe and Tatiana were just leering at us to quickly finish the food but god fucking dammit they were so fucking annoying. I can''t fucking break thews of physics to somehow make the food cook quicker and turning the burners and the oven to max will just fucking burn them. But yeah, a piece of cheese distracted them for a short bit, so the two of us were given a bit of peace and quiet when they joined the others.


    However, I caught Dr. Nichols staring at me like she was in a daze before catching herself doing the same thing and abruptly looking away.


    "Dr. Lo¡ª I mean, Dr. Nichols?"


    "Y-Yeah?" She replied without looking at me.


    "Were you¡ª"


    She cut in as she finally looked at me with a flushed expression, "C-Can you just call me Mrs. Sandy or just S-Sandy while we''re here?"


    "S-Sure¡­ Mrs. Sandy¡­"


    She briefly smiled as she looked away, "I don''t wanna impose on you but getting called doctor all the time makes me feel old¡­"


    "Really? To me, it just sounds professional and dignified. And again, you''re not that old and you don''t even look your age¡­"


    "T-Thanks for thepliment but I dunno about dignified¡­" she trailed as she returned her gaze back to me, "You know¡­ I¡­ I¡­ F-Forget about it¡­"


    "Is there something wrong? You can tell me anything?"


    "R-Really?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    Then she suddenly leaned in to me while staring directly into my eyes, "Then was thest time I ''felt'' real or not? Was that because of me?"


    "What¡ª"


    Then she nced momentarily at everyone and after confirming they were busy watching the show, she put her hand directly onto my crotch before she watched my reaction.


    ''Fuck¡­''


    At this point, she leaned even more to my side as she pressed her huge chest onto me and showed me her deep cleavage while massaging the area around my crotch, and the moment she felt a twitch as I gradually got harder, she tried to hide her smirk but she suddenly let go of me as she tried to do the dishes.

 Chapter 990 Cinnamon Rolls and Claiming Dr. Sandara Nichols

    990 Cinnamon Rolls and iming Dr. Sandara Nichols


    At this point, we had a great view of everyone else in the living room still tuned in to the show, but I wasn''t exactly sure if Dr. Nic¡ª Mrs. Sandy wanted me to straight-up bend her down the sink and fuck her from behind or continue this current game we were ying because we have less than 30 minutes to get shit done.


    But yeah, as much as I wanted to have a taste of this beautiful, mature woman who definitely still took care of herself, I wouldn''t want to bepared to herte husband who''d just have his way every single time.


    In which, case I stood behind her, nestled my erection between her plump cheeks, and offered some assistance as I held her hands as we washed the dishes together:


    "Wow¡­ I didn''t think you''d have such soft hands¡­ nary a wrinkle too¡­" I whispered in her ear as I slightly pushed my hips in and pulled back as she let out a silent gasp.


    "W-What are you d-doing, young m-man?"


    "I just thought you needed some help¡­"


    "I¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I-I can do it by m-myself¡­"


    "Don''t you ever get lonely?"


    "W-What¡ª"


    "You know¡­ Doing it by yourself¡­"


    "A-Are we still talking about the d-dishes¡ª"


    "And to answer your earlier question¡­" I trailed as I pressed my hips on her even more, "Yeah¡­ You did this¡­ You''re responsible¡­"


    "W-Why would you get interested in an old woman like¡ª"


    "You keep saying old woman this, old woman that¡­ All I see is a woman in her prime who''s always being taken for granted¡­ I''d never do something like that to a beautiful, hardworking, and brilliant doctor such as yourself¡ª"


    "There you go again with calling me ''doctor''... Ha¡­ You know how I feel about¡ª"


    "Then I apologize, but do know it''s a form of praise to me¡­ But what can I do to make up for it?" I said as I leaned even closer that we were cheek-to-cheek as we were washing the same te for a couple of minutes.


    Furthermore, I have a great view of her deep cleavage from above and I was slightly focusing on this pink little mole on her left breast. Her breathing right now was a little hurriedpared to earlier and at the same time, she was slightly moving her hips to get a better feel of me from behind.


    But yeah, I started to feel her huge breasts from behind¡ªand even though they were hanging for a little bit, it didn''t matter to me because they were the softest ones I''ve touched and my fingers would just sink on them if I squeeze a little bit harder.


    Mrs. Sandy''s breathing started to get faster and faster but as I tried to trace my hand to her crotch, she grabbed my hand and stopped me. I decided to not push it that far but she reached around and started to touch me over my pants as she let me just grope her breasts from behind.


    I didn''t even care if my pants were getting soaked through her soapy hands but she hesitated once again when I tried to put my hands inside of her blouse.


    "That¡­ C-Chloe is¡ª"


    "What about her?"


    "S-She''s my¡ª A-And she''ll be hurt if she saw us¡ª"


    "I dunno about that¡­ It''d be a little weird if she saw us, sure, but I''m definite that she''ll understand¡­ happy even¡­"


    "H-Happy? What¡ª"


    "I thought she wants the best for you? Your happiness also counts towards that, right?"


    "D-Don''t be that cocky¡­"


    "Cocky? Sure, whatever you say but you at least wanted this in some way¡­ You wouldn''t have initiated if¡ª"


    "Initiated?"


    "Don''t gaslit me now¡­ You know what you did¡­"


    "..."


    "Look¡­ we have less than 20 minutes to go before the timer on those cinnamon rolls ring and I could definitely get off if I wanted to but it wouldn''t be right if I don''t do something for you¡­"


    "L-Like what?"


    "Whatever you want, I''ll do it."


    "N-No¡­ T-Tell me w-what you wanna d-do to m-me¡­ I-In detail¡­"


    "Well¡­ Even though right now I just wanted to lift your skirt and push my dick inside one of your holes, I''ll get on my knees first and lick your pussy and all your juices before I push a finger in and switch to licking your ass¡­"


    "...!"


    "With the volume on that show, they wouldn''t even hear me slurping everything that''ll flow down my fingers that are inside you, but I''ll start ying with your clit as I alternate licking your holes even if you start squirting in my mouth¡­ Trust me, I''ll drink all of it and watch you buckle to your knees, but I''ll prop you up with my dick as I¡ª"


    Before I had to say more, Mrs. Sandy just turned around with the same dazed expression as earlier before she licked her lips and gave me a sudden peck on the lips as she pulled down on my pants and knelt down.


    "W-What the¡ª I t-thought that¡ª W-Wow¡­"


    Mrs. Nichols eyes were so wide as she was face to face with my rock-hard dick, and her breathing just got harder and harder before she grabbed on my hips and swallowed me whole.


    ''FUCK!''


    I almost came from reaching deep down her throat as I felt her tongue still coiling around me, but it didn''t end there when she maintained eye contact before pulling down her blouse and revealing her breasts.


    And let me fucking tell you, they were as big¡ªno, a little bit bigger than Kaley''s and she had a few stretch marks on them due to how heavy they were, but I didn''t think for a moment that they''d mostly retain their shape even if they were slightly hanging from their original spot. However, I couldn''t care less because I was fighting for my life when I saw her big ares and her huge, puffy, and pink nipples which I thought would give me a cup of milk if she so gently squeezed them.


    All I was doing right now was keeping her hair from covering her face so I''d have a better view of her assets, but she flipped us around where I''d be leaning on the counter so she could put my dick between her tits and smother it while giving me head at the same time.


    I didn''t even think that she could do shit like this¡ªmuch less take me deep in her throat¡ªbut I''m all fucking for it as I gave her my first load in her mouth.


    "HmPH! MMpfh!! MmHhmMP!!!"


    But right as I was pumping her mouth full of cum, I noticed that she only swallowed the first two pumps before reaching behind me¡ªand I was shocked to fuck when I discovered that it was the bowl of maple ze I prepared for our cinnamon rolls.


    "W-What are you¡ª"


    "Shhh¡­ It''s a little weird but they''ll understand us¡­ right?"


    At that moment, my cum was flowing out of her mouth and my dick to the bowl of maple syrup, milk, and powdered sugar, but she couldn''t believe the amount that was still pumping out of my dick after she swallowed two mouthfuls earlier.


    But yeah, she was now looking at me a certain way as she had this victorious smile stered on her face¡ªand it definitely turned into panic when she noticed that I wasn''t getting soft from having an orgasm. It was as hard as she left it and it was still twitching in her hands waiting for a poor soul to get used for pleasure.


    "You¡ª"


    I brought her up as we went back to our original position before I whispered in her ear, "You know I''m also gonna eat that, right?"


    "Ah¡ª I-I''m sorry¡­"


    "And again¡­ You''re responsible for this¡­"


    "I-I-I am? Then..."


    "What are you gonna do to make up for it?"


    At this point, Mrs. Sandy didn''t know what to do but the moment I tried to touch her crotch over her panties again, she didn''t stop me. Furthermore, I wasn''t sure if she was this fucking wet earlier but if I pulled her panties off now and squeezed the contents in a cup, I could probably fill it halfway due to how fucking soaked they were.


    But yeah, since she ruined the maple ze for our cinnamon rolls for me, I think it was a fitting punishment to ze her asshole.


    "W-Wait¡­ T-There?"


    "Is there a problem?"


    "N-No but¡­"


    "Then tell me¡­ You know, in detail¡­"


    "I haven''t been¡­"


    "Oh?"


    "E-Except for my d-dildo¡­ a-and my fingers¡­"


    "Then ready for the real thing?"


    "I-I don''t know if i-it''ll¡­ fit¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    "Then do you want me just in your pussy? I would''ve preferred to fuck your ass while I''m ying with your pussy and your tits at the same time¡­"


    "W-Well¡­ I-I didn''t say n-no¡­"


    "You''re an amazing woman Mrs¡ª no, Sandy¡­ I would''ve loved it if you were in my ce¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    "You''ll be the head in your own department and your daughter can do whatever the fuck she wants and have real friends¡ª"


    "T-Then¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "T-Then w-we''ll see h-how you do here and I-I''ll t-think about it¡­"


    Before she had the chance to think of what she just said, I turned her around and gave her a deep kiss as I lifted one of her legs and pushed my huge cock in her pretty cunt. And after that, I started biting and sucking on her nipples as I reached around with my other hand to finger-fuck her little asshole, making her let out an audible gasp and alerting everybody.

 Chapter 991 Cinnamon Rolls II

    Chapter 991 Cinnamon Rolls II


    From our current position, I saw how everyone else turned their heads to discover that Dr. Nichols and I were tangled together, but I had a glimpse of Chloe''s genuine reaction before they all turned their heads back and pretended like nothing had happened.


    I was still moving my hips¡ªmaking her feel the whole length before pulling just below the tip then pushing it back in slowly¡ªprodding the surface of her butthole and pushing it in slightly.


    But yeah, she saw me nce at their direction but she was too embarrassed to follow my line of sight:


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ D-Did they¡ª"


    "N-No¡ª" I cut myself off as I looked her in the eye, "T-They did but they''re letting us do our thing¡ª"


    "Then C-Chloe¡ª"


    "D-Don''t worry¡­ Shepletely gets it¡­"


    ''Looked a little jealous but it''s her mom''s time for now¡­''


    "A-Are you sure?"


    "Do you want to stop a-and ask her?"


    She suddenly pinched my back as she was holding me, "You¡ª N-No¡­ But¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Y-You''re d-doing too much at t-the same time¡ª I-It feels g-good but s-since we''re not in a h-hurry a-anymore¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ C-Can we f-focus on f-fewer things?"


    Then I slowed my roll and looked her straight in the eye, "Then tell me what to do and what not to and I''ll do just that¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "T-Then¡­"


    For some reason, she sounded a little apprehensive when I told her to lead me on what she wasfortable doing, but she looked so relieved and happy that I was following her lead even though she was on the receiving end. I somehow knew the reason for her being this way but I put the thought of that person to the back of my mind while I made sure that Mrs. Sandy''s needs were met.


    It seemed like she was touched-deprived yet still remained faithful to that lying, cheating, and abusing bastard, and this was the first time she felt another human''s touch in a long while.


    If it was me, I''d be hammering away if I was that deprived but she wanted to savor everything that was happening between us in her own way.


    She pulled herself up from the kitchen counter¡ªsneaking a nce at everybody who was still facing the opposite direction¡ªbefore shepletely removed her bra and panties, except for her thin-strapped blouse and her short frilly skirt. However, her huge breasts and her cleanly-shaven and pretty-looking cunt were now on disy, but as much as I wanted to have a taste of her lower lips, she beckoned me toe closer for a warm embrace.


    "C-Come here¡­"


    And as I did, she wrapped her arms around me and pressed her plump chest between us before she started giving me a passionate kiss before breaking away:


    "C-Can you p-pin me on that fridge while carrying me and¡ª"


    Before she managed to finish her sentence, I grabbed on her legs as I pinned her to the fridge in the opposite direction but I almost chuckled from the way she held me so fucking tight, afraid of falling off.


    I looked her in the eye as she managed to catch her breath, "You mean like this?"


    "Y-Yeah but d-don''t be so r-rough¡­ yet¡­ C-Can you c-carry me until¡ª"


    "You know Quinn, right?"


    "T-The really tall and buff one?"


    "Yeah. She''ll deny it but she loves it when I fuck her in this position¡­"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Yeah. If I can do that to her until she gives out¡­ you know where I''m getting at, right?"


    "B-But what does Chl¡ª K-Kaley like¡ª"


    "If you keep stalling for time, I''ll push my dick in your ass and gape it enough you could fit your fist in it¡­"


    "...! I-I was just¡ª"


    "Just what?"


    "I-I was just nervous b-because I r-really want you to put it i-in my ass after m-my v-vagina¡­"


    I lightly chuckled as I gave her a peck on the lips, "Is that it? Again, you can tell me to do anything and I''ll do it for you¡­"


    "T-Then¡­ I-I want you to f-fill b-both my h-holes and I-I still w-wanna suck you a-after¡­"


    "You do know that as soon as I start, I won''t stop until¡ª"


    "Yes... I-I don''t want you to¡­ For now, m-make me forget about everything¡­"


    As soon as she said that, we sealed it with a kiss before the fridge behind her started creaking and wobbling like a fucking headboard. But with how hard I was thrusting my hips onto Mrs. Nichols, we managed to push it to the point that it was nestled in a tight nook as I fucked her harder and harder.


    "W-What¡­ F-FUckKk! MMmM! MmhH! S-Shit! W-Why d-does it f-feel so¡ª MmMh!!! Shiit! SHIT! S-ShhiiiiT!!!!"


    At this point, not only she was holding on to me tight, but her nails were also digging into my back as I was denting the door of their old fridge with each thrust. She never felt this much bliss as she melted from the pleasure but she suddenly tried to bury her face in my chest as her insides tightened.


    "T-They¡­ T-They''re looking¡ª S-Stop¡ª"


    "They can''t help it. Seeing a gorgeous woman like you getting railed¡ª"


    "MmHm! S-Stop! N-No¡ª W-WHY¡ª I-I''M CUM¡ª I-I''M CUMMING! I-I''M C-CUMMINGGG~!!!"


    I didn''t know what to do at one point because she told me the words stop and no, but the way she was still clinging to me, much less, looking at mepletely contradictory to her words¡ªmade me go faster and faster even if she started looking like a mess.


    It didn''t take long before I ejacted inside her very tight womb though I did give her a few seconds to breathe before I pulled out and plunged it in her ass.


    "HNGH! O-OH GOD! WHY DID I¡ª MMH! AH! HA¡ª MMH! I-I-I¡ª I HAVEN''T STOPPED C-CUMMING FROM¡ª MMH! MMNN! I-IT''S¡ª I-IT''S C-COMING A-AGAIN¡ª AH! AHHH! MMMMHH!!!"


    Dr. Nichols was barely holding onto me when I invaded her little asshole but it was now getting stretched and stretched even morepared to when she''d try to use her little rubber toy to fuck. For some reason, fucking the lights out of this beautiful mature woman whose daughter I also fucked was right behind us and probably watching sent me over the edge as I came inside her ass faster than I thought.


    But yeah, her feeling my warm seed fill her up a second time made her squirt for god knows how many times right now and make a mess of the kitchen floor, and she wasn''t even able to suck me off right after like she promised.


    However, I wouldn''t put that against her because she looked like she ran a fucking marathon, but I took it upon myself to carry her to the bathroom to clean her up with some well-deserved aftercare. And before that, I gave Kaley and Mimi some instructions on how to finish up the meals I was cooking and I asked Chloe for some towels and her mom''s change of clothes.


    Chloe did run up to one of their rooms to fetch what I asked of her but she kissed me while wearing aplex expression.


    "T-Thank you¡­ S-She needed that¡­"


    "Umm¡­ You don''t feel weird at all?"


    "A-A little but¡­ Y-You know¡­ I-I''m old enough to u-understand things like these¡­"


    "You mean mature?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "Of course, you are. If you don''t mind, I need to help your mom in the¡ª"


    "O-Oh! R-Right! Right¡­ T-Talk to youter, I guess¡­"


    With that said, as soon as I went back to the bathroom to check on Mrs. Nichols, she already retained the feeling in her legs and she fucking jumped me and pulled the clothes off my body like she had a fucking second wind. And who am I to fucking decline an invitation like this, so she tried to squeeze out more from my endless reserve but it didn''t take long before I once again came out victorious.


    She looked a little disappointed she wasn''t able to take me down but her biggest challenge at the moment was getting out of the bathroom we were in.


    "Y-You go first¡­"


    "You said they already saw you, right? What''s the¡ª"


    "B-Because! I can''t walk out just like that!"


    "Actually, you can. And I''m gonna assume they could probably hear us right now¡­"


    "D-Don''t you think I d-didn''t know that?!"


    "Then¡ª"


    Kaley shouted from the other side, "Guys~ The food''s done! C''mon! Let''s eat together~"


    I turned to Mrs. Nichols, "See? They don''t mind."


    "But I still do!"


    "This is your home, right? Why would you¡ª"


    "B-Because! W-What would C-Chloe think¡ª"


    I suddenly headbutted her very~ lightly, "You think I didn''t see your shadow from under this door when Chloe handed me those clothes you''re wearing?"


    Mrs. Nichols cute red at me as she tried to rub her forehead, "Y-You¡ª"


    Then Chloe gave her the final blow, "I-It''s nothing to be embarrassed about, Mom! Kinda weird, sure~ But I''m really hungry and I won''t eat until you twoe out! So please¡ª HEY! MOM! QUINN AND TATIANA ARE ALREADY EATING! WE WON''T HAVE ANY LEFT IF YOU TAKE TOO LONG!"


    "I-I need a few¡ª"


    In any case, I decided to open the door for us and drag her with me¡ªmuch to her surprise¡ªbut not gonna lie, seeing her shrink down while the two motherfuckers¡ªQuinn and Tatiana¡ªwere smiling at her while moving their brows up and down was the funniest shit ever before Kaley and Mimi tried to kick their shins but Mimi was too fucking short to reach across the table.


    But yeah, all her worries faded when she got a bite of my food but I almost choked on my stir-fry when Chloe reached for a cinnamon roll.

 Chapter 992 Cinnamon Rolls III - Serious Talk

    Chapter 992 Cinnamon Rolls III - Serious Talk


    I still had a vivid memory of Mrs. Nichols making me cum into that bowl of ze which was now poured on top of the cinnamon rolls we had on the round dining table¡ªand out of all the people who get to eat it first¡ªI didn''t think Chloe would be the one to reach for it. Additionally, the same could be said for my partner in crime because her eyes went wide the moment she realized the "mistake" she had done.


    Then Chloe took a big ''ol whiff of it first¡ªbecause cinnamon rolls definitely smelled heavenly¡ªbefore taking a huge bite of it, taking in most of the ze in her mouth while a smidge smudged on her lips.


    ''Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck¡ª''


    "Mmh! THIS IS SO GOOD!"


    Mrs. Sandy and I dumbfoundedly said at the same time, "Y-Yeah?/ It is?"


    Chloe nodded vehemently before taking another bite, "Mmm-hmm! Yea! I-I like that it''s not too sweet and it has this¡ª hmm~ What do you call it? Umm~ T-The icing? I thought it would be overwhelmingly sugary but i-it has parts that are *licks her lips and fingers* a little salty but it''s just so good!"


    Hearing her say that, I was absolutely terrified while doing my best to hide my fucking boner from my cotton shorts while Mrs. Sandy just got so fucking red, everyone else except for Mimi knew why the ze was a little "salty" and imed a piece of their own.


    Kaley, Quinn, and Tatiana only needed a bite to figure out the hidden ingredient but when Mimi took a bite while wearing a suspicious look on her face, she still couldn''t figure out what was wrong or what was making this particr cinnamon roll so fucking good to them.


    Then Mimi turned to me, "I-I don''t get it¡­ I-It''s good but I dunno¡ª"


    Kaley followed with a cheeky smile, "Why aren''t you having one, huh? It''s really~ good, you should try it."


    "Ahaha¡­ I-I''m still not done with my¡ª"


    Quinn cut in with the same look as Kaley, "Everyone loves it so~ much, you should take a bite at least¡­"


    Chloe tilted her head as she interjected, "Everyone? Mom hasn''t taken a bite of hers yet¡­"


    Tatiana looked at her as she chuckled, "Trust me, she probably had way~ more than what we had¡ª"


    "What?! Mom! That''s unfair!"


    Quinn and Tatiana chuckled from the side, "Tell me about it~ X2"


    At this point, Mrs. Nichols was definitely dying from embarrassment but it didn''t take long before Mimi had a realization that made her as red as her senior while looking at the zed cinnamon roll in her hand. And once Kaley leaned in to Chloe to tell her what they were snickering about, she got just as red but I almost lost it when she straight-up licked the ze while looking me straight in the eye.


    Mrs. Sandy didn''t know what to do seeing her daughter act like that in front of us, but she did way worse a few minutes earlier and if it wasn''t for her, they wouldn''t be enjoying such a delectable dessert in front of them.


    But yeah, as a guy, there was just something inexplicable when beautiful women were enjoying the white stuff that came out of us and let''s just say that after we had our meal, I was graciously thanked by them taking turns getting the "ze" straight from the source.


    We didn''t have a full-on reverse gangbang of any sort but it was this casual head under the nket type of situation as we were watching a show.


    Weirdly enough, Chloe was the first one to suck me off while her mom was in the living room¡ªbackpletely turned against us butpletely aware of the shenanigans¡ªbefore Mimi, Kaley, Tatiana, and Quinn followed after.


    And right as I thought that everyone was done, Mrs. Nichols squeezed in for thest time while barely making eye contact with her daughter on one of the couches. It was already weird having both mother and daughter whom I fucked in the same room, how much more could it get when they were taking turns just sucking me off while the other one was well within earshot?


    However, as Dr. Nichols got under the covers, Chloe was sneaking nces at me while wearing a flushed expression. At this point, Quinn and Tatiana were already doing something in the bathroom while Kaley was teasing Mimi on the other couch but Chloe was straight-up touching herself while looking at me get sucked off by Dr. Nichols.


    I wasn''t entirely sure because they also had nkets on theirps but the familiar hand movement was all so familiar.


    ''This is¡­''


    I didn''t know the whole fucking deal between them or was this a new thing they were discovering themselves, but I was already part of something simr because of the twins from Cuervo Heights, Ruru and Riri.


    Chloe and Mrs. Sandara haven''t done anything to each other to my knowledge but looking at them now, the curiosity was kind of present as I was the link bridging them together.


    Don''t get me wrong here, I wouldn''t try to coerce both of them to partake in such acts but if they were willing to go for it, I wouldn''t stop them either way because there was 0% chance of them creating a fucked up spawn with three mouths and two noses. After all, biologically speaking, it just wasn''t possible.


    But in regards to morality and whatnot, it was kinda fucked up in a sense but as times go by while we were living at the end of times, morality was a concept that was getting blurred and blurred. But if we look at it the other way, as long as no one else was getting hurt and both of them were consenting adults who had no chance to create children, it shouldn''t be too much of a problem.


    I could be speaking out of my ass right now because one of them was blowing me from under this nket but I said what I said and it was somewhat of a case-by-case basis even if there was a universal truth going around this particr topic of rted people within the same sex or the opposite.


    And again, being the only guy in this situation and not rted to them in any way, with my fucked up mind, it was kinda hot. Let''s be fucking honest here: I''ve seen and used such material for academic purposes way, way~ back but experiencing it in real life was fucking entirely different.


    Wifing Kaley was already unbelievable to me, how much more unbelievable could it get with our ever-growing inner circle where more than half of them had me as the only guy in the mix? I didn''t forbade them in any way but it is what it is since the only thing I cared about while we were doing these activities with them was that I was the only guy present.


    They could get tangled up with other guys without my presence as much as they could but if they were with me and Kaley, the thing I mentioned above was the golden rule.


    In any case, as soon as Dr. Nichols and I were done, she asked me to sit by the dining table before beckoning Chloe over for a proper discussion of their futures:


    "Okay, we''ve all had our fills¡ª"


    Chloe jokingly quipped, "Only you~"


    "Chloe¡ª Just¡ª Hear me out for a second, I''ll let you do everything you want with himter but we gotta discuss something very important¡ª" then she turned to me, "Should Kaley be here? If we''re gonna talk about moving¡ª"


    Chloe couldn''t believe her ears, "W-What?! You''re kidding! Really?! I''m so happy¡ª"


    "Settle down, alright? We are moving but we gotta finalize some things first," then she turned to me again, "Kaley¡ª"


    "I heard my name, what''s up?" Kaley came in from behind with Mimi.


    I pulled up a chair for them, "Since Mimi is also moving in with us¡ª"


    Chloe couldn''t believe her ears once again, "What?! You''re¡ª You didn''t tell me!"


    Mimi was a little startled, "I think I did? At the cabin?"


    "What¡ª I''m not¡ª Did you really?!"


    Dr. Nichols cleared her throat, "Chloe, I know you''re really excited but you gotta tone it down a bit¡­"


    "Ah¡ª O-Okay¡­"


    Then Dr. Nichols turned to me after letting out a long sigh, "To be honest with you, suddenly springing to me about moving in with you was a shock and a little scummy when you did it while we were having sex... but I think it''s the right move regarding the situation. However, I have to make sure that our living conditions would be close, if not, much better than what we currently have¡ª"


    "Trust me¡ª"


    "I will trust you in time, but I need assurances for my daughter. It''s been really hard for her to go back to ss and a new scene greatly benefits her, but above all else, her education shouldn''t becking in any way. Do we at least agree on that?"

 Chapter 993 Serious Talk II - Some Finalization Shit

    Chapter 993 Serious Talk II - Some Finalization Shit


    At this point, I wasn''t talking to Mrs. Sandy who was a loving mother but to Dr. Sandara Nichols¡ªwho was still a loving mother¡ªbut a medical professional who was highly regarded in her field and would put everything else to give the best for loved ones even though she was the one suffering for it. This was the type of person I''d give everything for because they so deserved it and I believe anyone''s hard work should be recognized in one way or another.


    But as much as she wanted everything to be perfect, we should meet halfway because she was talking to me.


    Not to brag in any way or to metaphorically swing my big dick around, I''m the fucking Nerd in the Apocalypse who has a wide range of skills, several "titles", plenty of achievements, and insane connections to the regr folk, the government, and the criminal underworld when the world fucking ended¡ªand I have more fucking pull than the Head of the Cardiology and the ER Department.


    I didn''t mean to shit in her in any way¡ªbecause anyone would be fucking lucky and should be grateful to have her in their fold¡ªbut even if she was part of the 1% of the top rankers in her field, her particr repertoire was too specialized to be able to live on her own.


    To be honest, I was somewhat like her with my particr set of skills but going into the real world before the world ended made me realize I needed to expand my skillset as much as I could while forming connections with other people¡ªespecially with people like her in this instance.


    As bad as this may sound, I need her value as a medical practitioner more than anything else she could offer because I only know what I''ve read in books about what she could do¡ªor honestly speaking,pletely jack shit¡ªwhile the same thing could be said about her if we wereparing each other¡ªand that''s what was beautiful about forming connections with people.


    ''It''s a you scratch my back, I scratch yours type of situation¡­''


    Though I still answered her with respect, "Dr. Nichols¡­ I agree on that, I do, but you have to understand that even though I upy a few universities and know people who also upy a few universities in their territories, Ick the professors and the teachers to give Chloe a full-on college education but¡ª"


    She cut in while looking displeased, "Then¡ª"


    "Let me finish, please. Ick the means to give Chloe the college education she deserves but¡ª she''s also studying to be a doctor while being a varsity in swimming, right? But let''s be honest here, if you''d take a look at this ce''s current curriculum in medicine, how much do you think we should take off the list? When you studied here for a decade plus extra, how many things in that damned curriculum did you think was a fucking waste of time and money?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Umm¡­ Dr. Nichols, I didn''t want to say this but I''m not barring you from speaking¡ª"


    She suddenly threw me a cutesy re, "Hold on! I''m thinking!"


    "Ah¡­ M-My bad¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "As an example, I studied Information Technology in this ce, and at least half of the things we studied were dated and most of the things that led me to have a job when I graduated were things I taught myself¡ª"


    She let out a sigh as she looked at me pensively, "Agreed, there''s a lot to shave off and I do understand your point but you can''t just teach yourself things from the medical field¡ª"


    "But you and our doctors can."


    "What do you mean?"


    I chuckled, "You''re probably the best doctor in your field, so who''s gonna teach her better shit, you or the professors they have in this ce who mostly throw around theory and philosophy for shits and giggles? She''ll get lessons from you in a few years but why wait that long? She''ll just get bombarded with tons of fluff mixed in with the important stuff so why don''t you streamline her education and have her have real-life experiences at the same time? I''m not saying make her a resident just like that but watching someone do their thing and having a lesson after also does wonders, don''t you think?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "Other than that, my ce can teach her just about everything she needs to be independent or self-sufficient. Like she could be taught how to change her tires, maintain her vehicles, grow and cook her food, shoot guns, train her body, and learn to protect herself with martial arts or with CQC¡­"


    Chloe never looked so excited, "Martial arts?! Y-You''re gonna teach me, right?!"


    I nodded, "I do teach sses in the afternoon or evenings, yeah. But you''ll have to take the lead in swimming."


    "Great! I g-got you on that!" then she turned to her mom, "Mom, what do you think?"


    Dr. Nichols still had a few walls put up, "That''s admirable but how about our living conditions?"


    Kaley answered, "Right now, there''s only Rin and Zeus living in our house but Tatiana and Cynthia also live with us at the moment. We started¡ª well, they started with a hugepound with high walls but we''ve upied several barangays from our main city and the ones right next to it, enough to call it a city of the world of sorts, but we do have allies located nearby with the same mindset as us."


    Chloe asked, "Zeus? Who''s Rin and Cynthia? And what do you mean they started? Aren''t you guys together from the beginning?"


    Kaley and I looked at each other before we trailed at the same time, "Well¡­"


    At this point, we gave them a brief rundown of what happened in the beginning and even though Mimi already heard the gist of it when we were herest time, she couldn''t help but smile and get shocked at the same time as the other two when they heard it from the first time.


    In any case, Quinn and Tatiana eventually joined us but they were just listening in while giving inputs from their perspective. The three didn''t know if Quinn was joking about being part of an "organization" that the government was supposed to take care of but they''ll know soon enough once they travel with us.


    Tatiana added in one of her favorite parts of living with us, "The nights go wild at times but if you wanna have the most fun, it''s better to stay in the same house as us¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols shook her head, "No! As much as I enjoyed our time, I wanna have my daughter have more tonic friends and I don''t wanna get looked at like a shameless older woman who shacks in with the ce''s head honcho the moment they moved in¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "Why are youughing?!"


    "It''s just funny how you say it, carry on¡­"


    I waved them off, "Again, Mimi included, you three could decide where you want to stay¡ªwhether rooming in with a few people or iming a house of your own and I''ll help you get settled in¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols cut me off, "Wait, you mentioned this Oscar fellow who''s living alone in his own house. Can''t we just live with him?"


    "He always has his friends over like Kaley''s dad but umm¡ª"


    She cutely rolled her eyes as she cut me off, "What? You want all of us to yourself, is that it?"


    "Not exactly but it''s his house and you should ask him if he''d let you. Trust me, the old man''s fucking messy and you don''t want any of that. He''s also seeing someone right now and he probably won''t allow another female or two in the house while he''s at it but again, there are plenty of houses to choose from though I rmend something closer to the hospital for work and whatnot."


    "..."


    "Thinking again?"


    "Yeah, s-shut up¡­"


    "But before I forget, what about our little arrangement?"


    "What arrangement?"


    "I don''t really like to bring this up now, but since our ''donor'' kicked the bucket, do we have a recement¡ª"


    "Pssh. Don''t even worry about it. I found more than ten people and four of them are around the same age as that kid. They''re fairly active too so that''s a plus, so if the General calls you over for a chat, just tell him that and he''ll shut up. He only cares about his kid besides his real job but most parents are like that. That''s a few things off my back just from that but I''m only regretting not being able to give more things to the ones he¡ª"


    "You didn''t do anything wrong and you shouldn''t be the one paying for his sins. Even if he''s not here anymore and somehow paid for it in his own way, I''m gonna assume you don''t think that it''s quite enough but what are you gonna do with this house and your cars? If you know, you decided to actually switch bases¡­"


    "Bold of you to assume we''d drive off to the sunset with you¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Don''t lie, you''ve already decided, and bold of you to deny such an invitation with all the benefits thate along with it. But yeah, if you really want to give them onest payoff, you could pawn this house and your cars¡ªbecause you''ll ride with me anyway for your and Chloe''s safety¡ªand give them the credits they''ll need while shaving a few off the patients you''d be leaving. Don''t worry, we''ll provide you with anything you''d need¡ªeven another car¡ªeven though the hospital is within walking distance, and you''ll only have to prepare your personal items plus extra."


    Chloe cut in, "W-When are we l-leaving anyway? I-I do take some time packing¡­"


    "Today."


    "Today?!"


    "The sooner the better but we''ll probably spend the night in Quinn''s ce before setting off to Cuervo Heights and using the ship to get home. I''m gonna tell you straight-up that those ces are way~ different from this holynd of sorts but you''re with me so you don''t have anything to worry about. Though I''ll advise you not to leave my side or any in my group just to be safe because some people do be crazy around those parts¡­"


    Mimi added, "A-Also¡­ I a-assumed this was gonna happen one way or another so I prepared all of the forms needed and y-you only need to sign them¡­ Once you do, I''ll just have to give them to the director a-and that''s that¡­"


    Dr. Nichols couldn''t believe her ears, "You little¡ª Haa¡­ fine, you all got me. How much time do we have left?"


    "I''m waiting for the summons right now but I''ll advise you two to pack up your bags and head over to Ron and Allyssa''s¡ª do you know them perchance?"


    She nodded, "I know Allyssa. She approached me a few times regarding the changes she wanted to implement here and even though I agree with her, it''s gonna be impossible with these people, realistically speaking. It will be better if shees with us."


    "I agree, but she probably set on doing things her way. But if shees with us, I''ll still take them both, no questions asked."


    "Then that''s a conversation for another day. Do we drive over to their house after?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "And then what?"


    "If the General takes too long, we''ll drive over there and finish whatever he wants to talk to me about before going our own way. We''ll be back on the road once again and hopefully, we reach Quinn''s ce before sunset."


    With that said, the two asked a few more questions before we bid goodbye for the moment, but I still needed to finalize a few more things with my friends and a certain someone who wanted to be set free from her father''s grasp.


    But yeah, the easiest way to make contact with all of them was through Andy so I picked up my radio to try to reach him first.

 Chapter 994 Transfer - Mustve been the wind...

    Chapter 994 Transfer - Must''ve been the wind...


    Luckily enough, Andy replied almost immediately and told me that he was at the house with Ben, Cass, and Ron while Allyssa still hadn''te back for lunch and probably had some takeout from the cafeteria. For some reason, he sounded too happy from hearing my voice but it didn''t take long before we reached my soon-to-be-not-my-house, and parked on the driveway.


    We briefly exchanged greetings and a few mindless stories before I dropped a few bombs that included Lopez''s death.


    Cass couldn''t believe her ears, "WHAT?! No way! How¡ª"


    "I just told you¡ª"


    "JP shot¡ª BUT HOW?!"


    "Let''s just say he had a change of heart from the time he was with us and he decided to do the right thing for once¡ªthough he did fuck up the first time he tried to."


    And I quickly went back to a few important topics, "First off, have you finally decided¡ª"


    Andy answered first, "Dude! I aming with you with Mimi but I gotta find some way to spend the credits I earned from the shit your group sent over!"


    My ears perked up, "From the books?"


    "Nah! I gave all the books to Allyssa but once I got into contact with Ken and An¡ªmostly Ken¡ªhe sent me a bunch of stuff to trade with the guys in the dormitories and I''m fucking swimming with credits among other things! I used to pirate porn but they''re worth a fortune over here!"


    Ben interjected after briefly ncing at me, "Dude. I''ve been telling you, be a good friend and just take off with all the random shit they gave you and leave the credits to us."


    I turned to Ben, "You''re noting then? You and Cass?"


    The two nodded as Ben answered, "Sorry, dude. I would''ve wanted to¡ª"


    Cass suddenly cut in, "Wait¡­ I think we shoulde¡­"


    Ben couldn''t believe his ears, "What¡ª I thought you¡ª"


    "I-It''s a different story now¡­ I dunno how mad the General is right now but I assure you that you don''t wanna be in close proximity when he is," she said as she turned to me, "You said you''re gonna drive there anyway and get on with it but I strongly suggest you at least let a day pass¡­"


    I replied, "We are in a little bit of a time crunch and I really wanna sleep on my bed but the General''s not mad at me but at his son¡ªno, he can''t be mad at JP but he''s definitely mad at what JP did, if that makes any sense."


    She let out a sigh, "Don''t you think he might mention that you put things in his head that made him do that?"


    "What? Making his kid a fucking badass that knows what''s right from wrong? I do skirt around the rules sometimes but the thing with Lopez didn''t fly with me since day 1. You touch my wife you get knife''d. Trust me, I''m not the only one who wants to murder him in cold blood but Dr. Nichols has the silver bullet to calm him down."


    "Nichols?"


    "Ah¡­ It''s Dr. Sandara Lopez a.k.a. Dr. Nichols, Gibson Lopez''s wife¡ª I mean ex-wife. She changed names¡ª"


    "Right! I know, I know¡ª Jeez, how many people are you gonna take with you? Will there be enough space?"


    "It will, don''t worry," then I looked at the two, "So, you guysing or what?"


    Ben and Cass just looked at each other for a moment but like Dr. Nichols, Cass had a few questions of her own:


    "Both of us don''t want to be burdens so what are we gonna do about jobs?"


    "Ben could continue doing patrols then branch on it while you could also do the same job you''re doing but for different people."


    "You mean working for you instead?"


    "Ah¡­ I already have Rin, one of my friends, back home to do the same thing you''re doing but you could be a great asset for either of the main DDR Camps we upy. It''s either serving under Sir Ferdinand who''s much closer or Sir Morales who''s further¡ª"


    Ben cut in as he looked at Cass, "You''re taking the closest one, right Cass?"


    She chuckled as she shook her head, "I will, I will~ Don''t worry¡­"


    Ron let out a sigh from the couch, "So you''d all leave, huh? This ce will be quiet at longst¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Like them, you could still change your mind?"


    He shook his head, "Nah, bro¡­ I''ll be on Allyssa''s side every step of the way. But we''ll require an emergency airlift in case things go wrong here. You''d give us at least that, right?"


    I rolled my eyes because their problem could be solved if they just moved in with us, "Sure, sure¡­ It''ll take at least 30 minutes to an hour but you wouldn''t have to change locations because we''ll just reim this ce for ourselves if both this university and the academy go down¡ª"


    "Woah! WOAH! Don''t jinx it, alright?! I love this ce too! I still have high hopes for it!"


    "Then find a way for not just Allyssa to obtain power through her contributions and whatnot but also from you as well. I don''t wanna tell you how kind of passive you are even if you''re that supportive but¡­ in this ce, as much as I hate to say it, you have a higher chance of being heard here because you''re a guy. No offense to anyone else."


    Ben let out a bitter smile, "That''s true but I''m not that guy, alright? I heard the same thing from Allyssa''s mouth but she also understood where I wasing from. Our way of doings this is being heard slowly and she just doesn''t wanna let go of something she''s determined to fix, you know what I''m saying?"


    I put my hands up as I gave in, "Alright, dude. Just keep that radio close but hope to fuck you don''t get to use my airlift services. I''m in a love-hate rtionship with this ce but I also don''t want this ce to go under."


    "Agreed, thanks."


    With that said, Ben and Cass got on to packing their bags while Andy was already sitting pretty and ready to move out at a moment''s notice. But yeah, it didn''t take long before we heard a knock on the door and Richard Sobito Jr. was the visitor. Andy let him in once I told him I was expecting him but the kid was both nervous to fuck and excited from seeing my face.


    "What''s up? Those credits I sent you treating you nicely?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ B-But I spent almost all of it because I really wanted to get out¡­ Keeping some wouldn''t do me good¡­"


    "Alright, let''s talk¡­"


    Long story short, we''d give him a lift to probably be a prospect in Quinn''s ce or do fuck all in Cuervo Heights but he sure as hell wouldn''t being with me to my headquarters. But yeah, he''d find a ce on his own though he looked to be interested in working with Quinn though he''d be disappointed that she''d be away from her garage.


    Quinn could probably attract a crowd of submissive guys just by looking at them and an extra pair of hands was an extra pair of hands.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before it was 2 in the afternoon¡ªthe time limit I set before heading back to the academy¡ªso since everyone was already present and a few things on the back end were already ounted for, we drove out with a few additional people for a quick stop-by to the Academy.


    However, I was a little surprised and confused when all of the cadets¡ªincluding the ones from Seb''s group except for JP¡ªwere standing outside the gates with the Raycolt they used on our short vacation and a military jeep.


    ''Wait a sec¡­''


    I was prepared to have another full-on conversation about what happened and what should''ve been done but I already had an inkling as to what went on when Seb approached me with aplex expression but with a mix of a lighter undertone.


    "Can we talk?"


    "Sure," I said as I nodded and stepped out of my vehicle, "What happened?"


    "About that¡­ We all uhh¡­ We''re being transferred¡­"


    "Ah, shit¡­ How¡ª Where? And JP?"


    "JP''s grounded in a sense but as the General said, we could go anywhere as long as it''s not here¡­ And in his own words: tell that fucking kid he had some fucking balls on him but we''re not on talking terms right now¡ª"


    I chortled, "He did, huh?"


    "A-And he also wanted me to uhh¡­" Seb trailed as he leaned close, "He told me to thank you but don''t ever fucking do that shit again¡­ His words, not mine¡­"


    "Hah! What did I do wrong though?"


    Seb chuckled as well as he scratched the side of his cheek, "Again, this is his words, not mine¡­ It seems that we''ve been influenced too much from the time we spent with you¡ªand this is my words now¡­ But this influence is something that we really needed and he just couldn''t admit to himself that we were right. I didn''t wanna say it out loud but I would''ve shot Lopez myself if JP didn''t do it¡­ Alexa said the same thing too much like everyone else from our group, even Lucas¡­"


    "For real?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "So good luck on your own¡ª"


    "P-Please¡ª D-Don''t even joke about this, we really need you to take us in¡­"


    "I don''t do charity work though, you''ll have to work for your¡ª"


    "Anything, sir. It''s probably night and day if you ept us into your fold¡­"


    "That''s true, that''s true¡­" then I had a sinister thought as I pressed the button to lower the windows to the back, "Before I forget, they''re alsoing with us¡­"


    "Oh?"


    "That''s Mimi, you''ve seen herest time but that''s Chloe and Dr. Nichols."


    Seb was a little taken aback by the sudden introductions of new people, "A-Ah¡­ Is that so? V-Very nice to meet you a-all¡ª"


    "That''s Lopez''s daughter and ex-wife¡ª"


    "Huh? C-Can you repeat¡ª I must''ve heard wrong, I think it''s the wind¡ª"


    "They''re his family. They''reing with us. Say hi¡ª"


    "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

 Chapter 995 YOOO~ WASSUP??! IT’S YA BOI—

    Chapter 995 YOOO~ WASSUP??! IT¡¯S YA BOI¡ª


    It was pure chaos when Seb discovered that the ex-wife and daughter of the bitch we were casually talking about merk''ing were present. He didn''t know what to fucking do from the initial introduction but it was universal truth that no one fucking liked the guy and the world would be a better ce without him.


    Granted we could argue that the General valued him as such, it was only for his son, not how special Lopez was because of his blood.


    But yeah, any other person would''ve left with our time crunch in consideration but we''re already fucking here and I wouldn''t leave with one of my fucking disciples and then some, so I picked up my radio and dialed the General who probably wanted to be left alone.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "YOOO~ WASSUP??! IT''S YA BOI¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHATT¡ª HAVEN''T I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?! WE''RE NOT ON SPEAKING TERMS RIGHT NOW AND YOU SHOULD GET ON WITH IT WHILE I STILL HAVE THE PATIENCE TO NOT FILE A FORMAL COMPLAINT WITH THE PRESIDENT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Wow~ That was a weird way to say you''re happy that I solved several of your problems."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You fucking¡ª WHAT DO YOU WANT?! I ALREADY HANDED THE RAYCOLT AND AN EXTRA JEEP¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "That''s just a bonus because what I''m after are my disciples but I''m gonna need two more things before I leave you the fuck alone. Care to hear me out?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Anything to shut you up¡­ go ahead¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "First. I''ll need Major Perez and some of his personal crew toe with us¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [W-Why?! I''m gonna need him¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Listen you Tsundere General, your son solved your Lopez problem but there are definitely budding Lopezes in your midst if you don''t take care of their sexual needs and frustrations. The reason I need Major Perez toe with me is for him to have a taste of what the "dark" side could offer and so that you''d have a proper connection with the gang¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You''re seriously making me cooperate with the cartel¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You already are with the De Leon Family, why not go for the whole she-bang? Well, not the whole thing because some of them are fucking crazy but I''ll introduce you to the good guys¡­ rtively speaking¡­ It''s better to have amunication line with people where you could work on a deal and a mutual understanding rather than to always keep guessing on what they''re gonna do next. Trust me, I''ve wanted to do thetter all my life but the former makes more fucking sense because we have amon enemy and you uptight motherfuckers need to loosen the belt for one."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Fine¡­ I''ll postpone my trip for a few days¡­ But what''s the second thing you want?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Oh, you''re actually listening? That''s good, that''s good¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t drag this out, I don''t have a lot of time¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Then do you know that a lion throws his cub off a cliff to make them stronger?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What? Is that even real¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Trust, bro. Trust. But do you know where I''m getting at?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Again, don''t drag this out because I don''t have a lot of time¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, I''m one disciple short and I don''t do trial runs on my disciple-ship program¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NOT A FUCKING CHANCE BECAUSE HE''S GROUNDED¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Not a fucking chance you believe those words you just fucking spouted. You''re sending the rest of his friends with me including his fuckingckey, what do you think''s gonna happen between you and him? It''s just gonna make a rift between you two and he''ll fucking hate you for the rest of his life and the only thing to avoid that is to throw him off the fucking cliff and watch him fucking exceed your fucking expectations. Do you want a caged lion that''s bound to rip your insides the moment he gets his chance? Keep grounding him for all I care!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Umm¡­ General, I know we''re ying the waiting game over here but we are in a little bit of a time crunch so I''m gonna need you to stop inner-monologuing and make a decision¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [YOU FUCKING KID, CAN''T YOU AT LEAST GIVE ME THAT?! AND I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I''M GONNA FIND OUT IF THAT LION QUOTE IS FUCKING TRUE OR NOT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "So¡­ Is that a yes?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [FUCK YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT! BUT YEAH! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I''M GONNA GO AFTER YOU IF SOMETHING EVER HAPPENS TO MY KID¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Can''t you stop threatening me? Or at least say something I never heard before?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [CAN''T I JUST THREATEN YOU AFTER ALL THAT?! WHAT THE FUCK?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Where''s JP and Major Perez anyway¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [THAT''S WHY I''M THREATENING YOU, YOU FUCKING RASCAL! THE MOTHERFUCKERS ALREADY HAD A BAG PACKED AND MAKING THEIR WAY! WHY DO YOU THINK I''M SO FUCKING MAD?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Oof¡­ He didn''t kiss you goodbye, huh?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NUH-UH! NO! YOU''RE WRONG! HE HUGGED ME AND KISSED ME! NO GOODBYE BUT IT''S THE BEST THING THAT''S EVER HAPPENED TO ME, YOU SICK FUCK! THERE! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?! DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY IT OUT LOUD?! THANK YOU BUT FUCK YOU! I''M OUT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "K."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    As soon as we ended the call, everyone else around me just started dyingughing while all of the cadets celebrated when they saw JP rushing out of the Academy''s gates to meet with them. Seb even ran up to him so they''d do this collision thing where they''ll jump and hit each other in the air but Lucas was in fucking tears because he didn''t want to be away from his supreme leader.


    But yeah, Major Perez dide alone¡ªthough gear as fucked¡ªand he approached me after taking off his shades and loosening his uniform.


    "You crazy fuck, that was the craziest shit I''ve seen all week!"


    "Hah! Just this week?"


    "You little shit, no one¡ª I mean, NO ONE yed the General like that but you''re like this fucking eel that''s lubed to fuck and everything! Where are we going anyway?"


    "You''ll see, you''ll see. Hop on one of the vehicles and don''t be afraid to ask for anything."


    "Heh. Is that so? If you top what just happened a few minutes ago, I might consider having a transfer too¡ª"


    "Then fucking ready your forms and shit because I''ll fucking poach you from the General too! I''ll introduce you to the old man and hispany and you''ll never want to go back to this ce."


    "Hah! Slow your roll, alright? I may look like I''m easily swayed but I''m a tough motherfucker."


    "We''ll see¡­ We''ll see¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we took to the road and we didn''t even need to be inspected at the several checkpoints around these parts because the Major rode with Jesus at the front and he was basically their RFID sticker for the gate thingy to rise up. They''d even offer an escort service of sorts for much safer passage but we''d justugh it off and let them do their own thing.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we reached the area where met Seb and his group for the first time, where we witnessed several severed heads rolling down the hill, and the one question left unanswered to me was what were they actually doing with it?


    They weren''t in a cult¡ªto my knowledge¡ªand I''ve probably spotted a few telltale signs of something going on and I''m sure as hell their neighbors wouldn''t let that slide or else there would be a crusade of sorts to get the evil ones out of their holynd. But yeah, I didn''t have a lot of time to observe both camps in detail but if they really wanted an easier way to keep tabs of their soldier''s kill counts, a pair of ears a finger, or even a nose would''ve done the trick.


    ''Some of them were ''alive'' too, I might add¡­''


    But yeah, with the Major by my side for a few days or so, I''ll probably make him spill all of the details regarding their weird collection process because he was basically the right-hand man of JP''s Dad and he knows the ins and outs of the Academy''s shenanigans. However, I might not even lift a finger because even if I was as silvery-tongued as the greatest bard who ever lived, the old man could probably just do it within a barrel or two of his homemade liquor.


    There was just something that was telling that these two would be like best friends who never met in their life and they''ll be drinking till morning while exchanging war stories.


    ''It''s been a couple of weeks or so but I do miss the old man¡­ Everyone else too¡­ And my bed¡­ My fucking bed¡­ I can''t fucking wait¡­''

 Chapter 996 Getting Closer

    <h4>Chapter 996 Getting Closer</h4>


    I didn''t think I''d say the same thing in my head over and over again in regards to everyone else back home and my bed¡ªand even though I have several beds I own in other ces, they couldn''t evene close to the one I''m very familiar with. It''s like the off feeling when you poop in someone else''s toilet or I could be just a crazy fellow living in my world.


    With that said, as we continued to drive onto the same path we took,paring it to the days we were herest time, it seemed like a portion of the dead respawned in a sense.


    ''This rest stop''s still having customers, eh?''


    It wasn''t like we didn''t make a lot of noise when we were herest time but it was bad news for their new customers because they were served lead projectiles, cold steel, or straight-up blunt-force trauma.


    The only way to fully clear or stop the dead from appearing again in a building or a block was topletely close it off or the dead would just find their way to upy it like squatters, rats, or squirrels trying to find a way to hide their precious acorns. We were doing just that in our Main HQ by house or building and then by block but it was an arduous process that would take a lot of time.


    But yeah, we can''t just wall off the whole country because one, even if it''s possible technically, it''s too fucking dumb¡ª and secondly, I''d rather have them as daily quests for us or newer peoplepared to facing them in unfamiliar territory if safety was our greatest concern.


    I wasn''t against exploring new ces I''ve never been on because it offered a lot of opportunities but now''s the time to trace our steps back, have a little bit of a reset, and then decide from there.


    In our case, we haven''t evenpletely traced our steps back yet because we did venture a lot farther than I thought we would and I haven''t had the chance to visit my other uncle who was on the other side of the map.


    I guess that would be a trip for another day and we''ll probably sail by Mr. Cuervo''s area if that time everes because that ce was also near the waters though a proper pier that we could use to dock the ship we had was non-existent.


    ''We''ll cross the bridge when we get there or just use our avable options depending on the situation¡ª''


    Then I heard Kaley''s voice:


    "What are you thinking about now? You''ve been awfully quiet¡­er."


    "Ah¡ª Yeah¡­ Just thinking about stuff."


    "Pfft¡­ Care to talk about it with us?"


    "Eh~ It''s just thing that I''ll do to you once we''re alone in our bed¡ª"


    "You''re lying! I know! Stop joking around!"


    Kaley cut me off while her face was a little red but a little intrigued, but the three at the back were still a little embarrassed about our current arrangement with each other so they just pretended that they didn''t exist while Kaley and I bantered for a moment.


    It did make them a little relieved we weren''t just cold-blooded killers like what they saw we did a few times outside but it was another conversation for another day¡ªand with time, they''ll get used to seeing stuff like this because they really should¡­


    ''It''s been a fucking year¡­ They''re lucky and unlucky at the same time¡­''


    But yeah, Kaley didn''t mind talking about stuff like that with the people who were in our inner circle but she''d definitely shrink down when other people could hear us if they weren''t involved.


    On another note, our back and forth could''ve gone longer if Tatiana and Quinn were with us but they were busy doing their own thing from the truckbed, and from a nce, they seemed to be in a deep conversation while surveying the areas we were driving on.


    ''We''re getting closer though¡­''


    In any case, we had to stop a few times to clear more stragglers or small herds, loot a few buildings, and offer help to a few roaming survivors and connected encampments but it didn''t take long before we arrived at our destination.


    Quinn shouted at the top of her lungs, "FINALLY! GOD! JUNIE! THE FUCKING GATE! LET US IN!"


    "WHA¡ª YOU¡ª ON IT! ON IT! GUYS! THEY''RE HERE!"


    Obviously enough, Logan and his crew still weren''t allowed inside Quinn''s personal garage, so we just gave each other an upward nod before they split off with Jesus'' crew¡ªincluding Major Perez and RIchard Jr.¡ªto head to Mauro''s Industrial Park. I didn''t mind Major Perez shooting shit with them because I''m pretty sure he''ll get along with them just fine while Richard Jr. should probably fit in with them as long as he shared a few stories or a beer with everyone.


    Looking at my watch, it was actually close to 7:00 PM when we touched down but it was just the right time to have some dinner.


    Chef Ng among others weed us warmly though Quinn introduced Alexa to her crew like she would be their new prospect instead of Richard Jr.


    It''s just that Alexa actually thought I''d ship her off to Quinn''s side while Quinn actually thought she could take her from me just like that. A few people might forget that Alexa has a very discerning eye when ites to colors and I just won''t let go of her just because Quinn said so.


    Seb wanted to voice out his opinion as well but he sure as hell knows that he has no power over here.


    So I shut that shit down Quickly when they were thinking of thebination of numbers to tattoo her:


    "She''s with me, Quinn. Don''t just take her like¡ª"


    "HAAH?! I thought you already handed her over to me?!"


    "I-I don''t want to be a-away from my friends¡­" Alexa whimpered as she looked at me with teary eyes.


    Quinn tried to use the friend card, "But I''m your friend too! Imagine the work you''ll be doing here¡ª" then she turned to me, "And also! We gave you the fucking Impreza! That''s Jackie''s! At least give us something!"


    "A person for a car?! Are you guys nuts?! I know all of you are a little insane but I remember that car being given to me without any strings attached! If that''s the case, I''ll give it back!"


    "ARGH! You''re impossible! She''ll be perfect here! I''m already thinking of making her do a custom detailing job on Mr. Alvarez''s car before shipping it off!"


    I rolled my eyes, "That''s cool and all but will she be happy though? Did you think about that?"


    Quinn was definitely taken aback, "YOU¡ª I can''t take in all of her friends! Probably Megan but¡ª"


    Megan instantly cut in, "Umm~ I like you, Quinn. You''re cool but *nces at me briefly* I''m staying with him¡ª I mean, them¡­ S-Sorry..."


    "SHIT! Why do you sound like you''re breaking up with me?!"


    "J-Just because! Our group almost got separated! Don''t do this, alright?! Why don''t youe join us instead?"


    "HAAAH?! Are you nuts?! I''lle with you, of course, but I''m not staying long! I have responsibilities and shit! WAIT¡ª FUCK IT! WE''RE GONNA HAVE A DEAL, RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW!"


    "What is it now? And stop yelling! We''re the only ones here!" I said as I rolled my eyes and ate another spoonful of the grilled chicken on my te.


    "I''M NOT YELL¡ª FUCK! It''s a part of me, alright?! But before we leave tomorrow morning, let''s have an all-nighter!"


    "All-nighter?"


    "YOU¡ª We''re fucking after we''re done, sure! But Alexa needs to hand-paint a custom design for MY car, YOUR car, and Ongkiko''s car! I don''t care what she do in yours but I wanna have mine turn heads if they ever saw it cruising!"


    I rolled my eyes, "I can easily plop one of your dildos on top and it''ll still turn heads¡ª"


    "NOT WHAT I MEANT!"


    "I thought you like to keep things stock?"


    "NOT THE PAINT! AND I DO CHANGE MY MIND AT TIMES, ALRIGHT?!"


    "Again, stop yelling! We''re the only ones here! Your whole crew could probably hear you outside!"


    "UGH¡ª"


    Then I chuckled, "But yeah, that does sound nice. I an probably do mine while Alexa could do her own thing¡ª" then I turned to Alexa, "What do you think? Up for an all-nighter?"


    Alexa was a little scared at first but she nodded with a little bit of excitement, "D-Do I really have free reign on the d-designs?"


    Quinn and I nodded at the same time, "YEP!/ Of course!"


    In any case, the three of us decided on an activity that could go till morning but little did we know that everyone who wanted to have an amorous night with us was staring daggers at our backs but still ultimately decided to do their own thing or decided to offer any help we or the other residents needed.


    ''Right! Dr. Nichols is a heart doctor¡ª''

 Chapter 997 Downtime I - Drifting > Drag Race

    <h4>Chapter 997 Downtime I - Drifting > Drag Race</h4>


    Before we finished our meal, I gave Dr. Nichols a brief description of this ce''s PED use and she was more than wee to give all of them an impromptu doctor''s appointment because this ce severely needed one. That made her take Chloe and Mimi with her to learn some things on the job, but I pushed Kaley with them so she wouldn''t mope about being left out.


    Dr. Nichols let out a knowing smile, "Oh? You were supposed to be a nurse like Mimi?"


    Kaley embarrassedly scratched the side of her cheek, "Y-Yeah¡­ About that¡ª"


    She chuckled, "Oh~ A little over-achiever, are we? Leave some for the rest of us, alright? But yeah,e with us. I''ll try to teach you a few things but it''s not as exciting as what you do. Literally. Unless someone suddenly gets a heart attack and we have to resuscitate them."


    "T-That happens on a regr basis?"


    "Pfft¡­ Hopefully not¡­ Mostly elevated blood pressure is the best we get but this will be a good experience for me because I haven''t had this many people doing drugs that enhance their muscle-building ability. Their hearts should be given a check-up like he said but I dunno if we have the right tools¡­"


    Quinn interjected, "What other tools do you need? We have that thing you put your ears on?"


    Dr. Nichols tried not to stifle augh, "A stethoscope? I brought mine, actually, but I''ll need an X-ray machine, an Electrocardiogram Machine, and an Echocardiogram Machine, or if we''re being fancy, throw in an MRI Machine as well."


    Quinn never looked so somber, "Fuck¡­ We''re missing all of that, huh? Well, except for this portable X-Ray we have¡­ I wish we have an MRI so I could urately check my bodyposition since it''s been a while¡ª"


    I cut in, "We have one at home, remember? But if we''re checking for body fat percentage, you''re probably in the 30s¡ª"


    "SAY WHAT?!" Quinn shrieked at the top of her lungs before everyone else tried to avoid myser eyes.


    I held my ground, "You¡ª Have you seen your tits and your ass?! You''d be 20% body fat if you lose just those! You''re fucking shredded while having fat in all of the right ces but it''s still fat!"


    "BUT 30% IS STILL¡ª"


    "Who fucking cares?!"


    "I DO!"


    "I DON''T! YOU''RE PERFECT!"


    "...!"


    "What?!"


    Quinn had never been so red from her anger turning to embarrassment, "D-Don''t say it like t-that¡­"


    ''Ah, fuck¡­ She''s too cute like this¡­''


    Hearing that, I didn''t think I''d summon this side of Quinn in front of everybody else but fucking everybody else blew up and tried to fish the samepliment out of me.


    "WHAT ABOUT ME, HUH?! I''M YOUR WIFE!"


    "I''ll pile on, pfft¡­ Compliment me too!"


    "And me! I''ve heard some sweet nothing from you but not perfect~ That''s a little¡­"


    "It''s because my tits are too small, huh?! Is that it?!"


    "I''M SORRY I WASN''T GIFTED!"


    "I-I''M STILL GROWING, ALRIGHT?!"


    In any case, all I had to do to not dig myself into an even deeper grave was to shut everyone out and skip away to have a change of clothes. It was easy enough to find overalls that would fit but as the rest were doing their own things, I found out that Tatiana would be putting all of the cadets in a brutal workout.


    It wasn''t advisable to out-exercise what they just ate but it seemed like Tatiana was bent on establishing the pecking order by making them beg for their lives as their muscles would be put on the verge of tearing.


    But yeah, the music Quinn put on st in her garage drowned out their cries as the three of us started doing our own thing to our cars.


    Honestly, I still couldn''t believe that they''d just hand me this Impreza that belonged to one of their top dogs¡ªJackie, the #2 guy¡ªbut I found a little surprise inside that wasn''t present on it thest time I drove it, or to the best that I could remember. It was this little¡ªno, big canister of sorts that had the propensity to increase the car''s horsepower by a whole lot and at the same time, had the propensity to blow the engine with one mishap.


    I waved Quinn over who was busy tinkering with her DB9, "Quinn? A moment?"


    She looked at me annoyed, "Already?"


    "Huh?"


    "We''ve barely started and you already want me to blow you¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­" Alexa chuckled from the back who was still mixing paint for Mr. Alvarez''s car.


    I rolled my eyes, "I appreciate that¡ªand for the record, I''ll ask to eat you first¡ªbut why is there NOS on my car?"


    She looked at me like I was a fool, "You don''t want it? I made the gang put it in for you! If you don''t want it, you can just take it out¡ª"


    I cut her off, "No, thank you. It''s just that I won''t get to use it as much."


    "Seriously?"


    "What?"


    Quinn chuckled as she wiped the sweat off her brow, "I thought you were the in-case-of-emergency guy? I''m not asking you to drag race, that''s just for a little boost in case of an emergency. Or you know, if you want to ram a motherfucker and you just wanna make sure they find their remains on the other side of the globe."


    I chuckled, "Ah, you''re right, you''re right¡­ Drag''s boring anyway¡ª"


    Quinn''s eyes never rounded this much, "YOU FUCKING TAKE THAT BACK! DRAG''S FUCKING AWESOME! IT''S A BATTLE OF PRECISION, TIMING, AND STRAIGHT-UP POWER! WHY''D YOU HATE IT?! PSH! YOU''RE THE SAME AS JESUS, HUH?! ALL MOBILITY AND NO POWER¡ª"


    I cut her off, "Aside from being the in-case-of-emergency guy and the Drift King, I''m also the Shift King and the only thing that''ll hinder me in a drag race is a faulty machine. That''s why it''s fucking boring to me. Do you understand? If everything''s right, I fucking know how the race will end because shifting at the right time was never an RNG thing for me. I''m that robotic but in a good way."

 Chapter 998 Downtime II - Paintjobs and What-jobs?!

    <h4>Chapter 998 Downtime II - Paintjobs and What-jobs?!</h4>


    With Quinn hearing me say that, she nodded pensively as she understood it from my point of view then she just let out this sigh of sorts while looking at me with pity:


    "Ah, fuck. That really sucks. Like really fucking sucks! Well, for you, anyway¡ª OH! You haven''t done drag in Mr. Cuervo''s games, right?!"


    "I haven''t, no. And don''t look at me like that, it''s totally not like you."


    "S-Shut up! I can''t just offer blowing you all the time but that''s it! The next time he holds another major event, we''ll race for pink slips and make a fucking killing! We''ll split it 100-0 but in a good way!"


    "Hah?! How''d that even work?! 100-0?!"


    "Yeah! In favor of me, of course!"


    "I''m heading back¡ª"


    "Huh? C''mon! I''ll build you the car and you''ll be the one behind the wheel! With each car you win me, that''s how many times I''ll let you do me no questions asked! See?! Isn''t that the best thing in the world? Kinda hot too, if you ask me~"


    I rolled my eyes as I nced at her huge-ass cleavage smeared with a bit of oil, "Aren''t I already able to do that for free¡ª"


    "YOU SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH! Y-You just always catch me a-at the right time, is all¡­"


    "Suuuuure~"


    "T-Then what do you want in exchange? Wanna split the cars? Won''t they be a pain for transport?"


    I had an idea, "How about an engine for a car?"


    "Hmm?"


    "You know? The one you make that runspletely fine on Ethanol."


    "Hah?! I''m already sending a few your way but that doesn''t seem fair¡ª"


    "Bitch¡ª You get a whole fucking car and I get an engine¡ª What about that doesn''t seem fair to you?!"


    "Well, you took out the sex from all of it! It just sounds too boring now!"


    "We can have sex anytime we want! Why''d you want it to be transactional?"


    "It''s just r-roley, alright?! And we haven''t had sex in the Raptor! What gives?!"


    "YOU. ARE. IN. THE. TRUCKBED! HOW IN THE WELL COULD WE DO THAT?!"


    "YOU''RE THE ONE WITH THE HUGE DICK! YOU CAN PROBABLY FUCK ME HERE WHILE YOU''RE ON THE 2ND FLOOR¡ª"


    Alexa then burst outughing as she cut in, "Guys! Guys! Stop! I-I''m mixing this paint in a small container and my whole body''s shaking from lughing! K-Kukuk¡­ Pfft¡ª HAHAHAHA!!!"


    In any case, my back and forth with Quinn stopped as I walked over to Alexa''s side to check on her¡ªbecause doing something like an artsy design on a ssic car would be difficult to pull off since a dark gray coat with ck racing stripes was already painted on Mr. Alvarez''s custom GT500.


    However, I was plenty surprised about her decision to make a simple pattern on the ck stripes themselves that wouldn''t steal as much attention but would definitely draw you in to take a closer look once you noticed it.


    It was this reverse painting of sorts where she''d just draw the shadows or highlights to make these curvy fleur de lis-like designs pop out from one of the ck stripes while making the second stripe have these American-Latino-like symbolism also reverse painted on it.


    She already drew the initial design on paper but she''ll freestyle all the way to the back, and I think she might be biting off more than she could chew.


    "That''s a tall order right there¡­"


    "We have all night, right?"


    "Need any help?"


    "I''ll be fine, thank you¡­"


    "You sure?"


    "Yep! I work really fast!"


    "Okay, just give me a heads-up if you¡ª"


    She suddenly red at me in a cutesy way, "Nuh-uh! How about you? Do you need any help? I can think of a design for you and you can just follow the outline?"


    "Ah¡­ I haven''t actually thought of one yet but I''ll mess around with it until¡ª"


    "Then do you want to hear an idea of mine?"


    "Shoot."


    "I''m thinking off~ Either go the easy route by outlining a dragon of sorts on one side of the car or go all out and do a two-tone! ck-Gray or ck-White like a yin-yang! And we''ll go ham with the designs! What do you think?! Oh! OH! Or better yet, we could continue with the outline of the dragon to the side but we''ll do sakura leaves on the other, slightly taking the shape of another dragon or something! It''s up to you!"


    I joked, "Alexa, if you continue giving me great ideas like that I might just drag you in the back of my car and have my way with you¡ª"


    But Alexa didn''t take it like a joke, "W-W-Wha¡ª R-Right now?! I-I''m¡ª I-I don''t look as good like this a-and¡ª b-but I c-could s-suck you off i-if you really want to?"


    So, I retracted my previous statement, "I¡­ I was joking¡­ I''m sorry, you''re still not used to me doing shit like that but I love the designs you cooked up¡­ However, I think I''m going with the first one because it''s gonna be more slick that way. I don''t want it to be that out in the open type of thing too so that works perfectly fine."


    "Oh¡­ So¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "So¡­ No head?"


    "Huh?"


    "Y-You know¡­ Like *casually bobs her head up and down while holding her hand up like she had a 9-inch destroyer in it* head?"


    I tried my best not to let out a reaction, "M-Maybeter¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ Maybe you''re not that used to me doing things like these too, huh? I''m not as prude as you think I am¡­ Well, not after I''ve had my time with you all¡­ It just opened up a lot of doors¡­ So, anything for you¡­"


    Quinn cackled from the back, "ALEXA! I SHIT YOU NOT YOU''LL FUCKING FIT IN HERE JUST FINE! AFTER YOU HAVE YOUR FUN WITH HIM AND ALL IN HIS OWN DAMN PLACE, I''M STILL GONNA STEAL YOU ONCE IN A WHILE TO DO CUSTOM PAINT JOBS! IT''S EITHER THAT OR I''LL BRING THE CARS TO YOU! GOT IT?!"

 Chapter 999 A Scoop! - Why are they all here?!

    <h4>Chapter 999 A Scoop! - Why are they all here?!</h4>


    Hearing Quinn say that, I first turned to Alexa to see her reaction but this time, she looked like she wasn''t against it in a way because as she was right now¡ªto bepletely honest, she looked like she was having a lot of fun. It was totally different from their previous day-to-day activity where they''d need to reach a certain quote or else a fucking bastard would start breathing on their backs for a punishment.


    I haven''t exactly established what they''d do back in my ce but it would be the same thing they were doing before except for the threat of getting used for sex. Granted there will be a lot of other work, hobbies, or activities they could branch out to but after some time, if she decided to help Quinn out, I wouldn''t be against it even if Seb decided to follow after her.


    ''They shouldn''t feel the need to stick together as a group all of the time¡­''


    Their "rtionship" was still a little weird at the moment because she was still involved with me, Kaley, and everyone else in our circle of sorts. Still, in my opinion, they should figure out what they really wanted to do first before getting back again potentially or doing some other thing that was also out of the norm.


    Some couples had this particr kink that I wouldn''t name at the moment but unless it were life or death, I sure as hell wouldn''t participate even if I would fill in the role which was named after a certain animal.


    In any case, I couldn''t believe how bold she was because she decided to free-hand her design all the fucking way like a person would answer crossword puzzles with a fucking pen.


    I thought she''d put in tapes to catch her mistakes¡ªassuming from the personality I thought she had¡ªbut yeah, I didn''t even think she was a prude that corrtes to being extra careful or a little shy because I was kind of the same thing about different aspects of life or in the way I do things.


    ''Jumping in solo to a horde with just my katana? Sure! Cracking a joke to Kaley while she''s on her period? Absolute not! Calling for a doctor''s appointment? Prolly need to prepare for three days to do just that¡­''


    With that said, I didn''t even realize time passing in a blink of an eye because once I saw Kaleying down from the second floor with some coffee, I looked at my watch and discovered it was already a little bit past midnight.


    ''What the¡ª''


    "You three need a break! Seriously!" Kaley eximed as she waved us off and shoved a ss on each of our hands.


    I gave her a quick kiss before I tried to scare her with my paintbrush, "I didn''t even notice you guysing up."


    Alexa couldn''t believe her eyes when she saw the time, "What?! I-I''m barely done!"


    Quinn followed after taking a sip, "Eh? There''s some alcohol in this¡­ Fuck it. Do you have any idea how long I went without working on my ce? I''m not sure if told y''all but this here really calms me down. Not as much as gettingid but you get the gist."


    Then Kaley turned to us with a knowing grin:


    "Guys¡­ Mrs. Sandy and I got to talking earlier and~ I got a little scoop¡ª"


    ''She looks a little tipsy but she did go down the stairs without a hitch while carrying a tray¡­''


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Gossip? At this hour? Greaaat~"


    Alexa was a little excited though:


    "A-About what?! Tell me!"


    Then Kaley turned to me, "How about you? Wanna hear it? It''s really spicy!"


    I chuckled as I shrugged my shoulders, "You''re gonna tell us anyway so¡ª"


    Then she cut me off, "You remember her telling us that she''s in her 50s while we kept telling her she doesn''t look it at all?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Guess what? She slipped! She''s not in her 50s at all!"


    Alexa had the shock of her life, "Wait¡ª No way she''s in her 50s! Not even early 50s¡ª HOW?!"


    Quinn followed, "She slipped in what? In a time machine?"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "No, silly doofus! You see, I asked her when she gave birth to Chloe and it was inte 2001 but she made ament about giving birth in her early 20s was hard for her so don''t you think that the Math''s off by at least 5 or even 10 years?! That''s a lot! Shh!"


    Then I began to get invested as well, "If she''s not actually 50 and let''s say she gave birth to Chloe at 20, wouldn''t that mean she''s¡ª Oh fuck¡ª"


    Then Quinn cut in, "Then she''s in her 40s? That would make more sense we''re almost the same age but why would she tell you she''s in her 50s?"


    Kaley shrugged her shoulders as she leaned on me with her cup, "That''s what I wanted to know! Chloe and Mimi told us two *pointing to me and herself*st time that she was in her 50s and she also confirmed that¡ª but why would she tell me she had Chloe in her 20s¡ª"


    I cut in, "Were you guys drinking?"


    "Yeah! She''s not as drunk when we were chatting but she''s knocked out now¡­ Everyone''s asleep except for Tatiana who''s taking her time in the shower if you know what I mean¡­"


    "She could''ve just made a mistake?"


    Alexa interjected, "Or a slip of the tongue as Kaley said?"


    Kaley nodded vehemently, "Right?!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes again, "I couldn''t care less. She''s a fucking MILF, that''s what matters. Wanna have my way with her too when we all¡­ you know?"


    Alexa interjected, "But how about Chloe? She''s also¡­ you know¡­ right?"


    Kaley meekly replied, "Umm¡­ That''s maybe a story for another day¡­ It''s a gray area too, if you know what I mean¡­ She fell asleep before I had the chance to probe a little into that topic¡­ But it seemed pretty recent¡­ Something must''ve happened when we drove away¡­"


    "Oh¡­ Oh?! What?!"


    I waved all of them off, "Guys¡­ Stop, alright? I dunno what''s making all of you this fucking obsessed with Chloe, Dr. Nichols, and her past but she probably has her reasons for allegedly hiding her age and whatnot. Remember, she used to hold a major position in the hospital of my old university¡ªtwo, actually¡­ and d''you think they''d just make her a department head if she somehow had an early pregnancy on top of being a woman? Trust me, those people would pick at anything to bring her down even if it''s something irrelevant to her position."


    Kaley looked at me sideways, "Early pregnancy in her twenties?"


    I joked, "Would you have a kid with me now?"


    Alexa almost spat out her drink while Quinn looked like she wanted to bring the subject now but Kaley had already sprayed the floor when I asked the question as she was taking a sip:


    "What?! That''s too¡ª"


    I wiped her face as I said the phrase, "You see what I mean? You''re one of the most understanding and progressive person I know but even that''s too early for you. Imagine what it looks like for them. They might not show how judgemental they are on the surface but you''ll definitely feel it even if you''re EQ''s like mine if you''re in there long enough. And that''s the worst type than calling you out in the open and telling you things that wouldn''t help her case."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I continued, "So~ What we should do about that information right now is to keep it to ourselves unless she brings it up and if she ever did, we just look a little more relieved because looking like that in her 50s is fucking insane, even for a guy."


    ''It''s a slim chance but it''ll be less weird if she didn''t actually had Chloe herself¡­''


    Kaley chuckled, "True¡­ Would you still look at me like this even if I''m in my¡ª"


    I cut her off almost immediately, "There''s another trap question I''ll graciously avoid~ I''m off to work again, see yater~"


    "B-But!"


    "Pfft¡­/ HAH!" Alexa and Quinn started chucklingughing from the side.


    Though I did give her an answer as I picked up my paintbrush, "Even if we''re in our 90s, I''ll still look at you the same way though I''m not exactly sure if our eyesight''s gonna be that good¡ª"


    "T-Then how about in our 100s?!"


    "Kaley¡ª You''ve drank a bit much, sleep that off!"


    "J-Just give me an answer!"


    "I''m probably dead or would want to be dead if I hit that age because I probably wouldn''t be able to move like I used to¡ª but yeah! You know the fucking answer to it and you should stop asking them because of that!"


    With that said, I thought Kaley would just ask more random questions¡ªthat actually help us because it was keeping us awake other than the coffee¡ªbut I just felt her hugging me from behind before she kept giving me kisses while being too giddy and whatnot because she still had a bit of alcohol in her system.


    I thought it''d eventually turn into one of those nights with her but I just found her sleeping soundly a couple of minutester.


    But yeah, once I tucked her in bed, it did turn into one of those nights with just Quinn and Alexa. Let me tell you, we tested all of the cars'' suspensions for short bursts before we actually finished our work but it was a job well done, to say the least.


    I didn''t think everyone else¡ªespecially Tatiana¡ªwouldn''t wake up from the noise we were making because we picked up right where we left off and turned the short bursts into a full-on all-nighter from the back of my Raptor.


    And yeah, once everything was all ounted for, we had breakfast and said our goodbyes to Quinn''s group¡ªespecially Mr. Ng¡ªbut we were up two vehicles because I was now driving Jackie''s Impreza while Quinn was back to driving her DB9.


    Jesus and his crew still led the way straight to Mr. Cuervo''s domain though we were in a bit of a surprise the moment we arrived safely.


    ''The fuck¡ª Why are they all here?!''

 Chapter 1000 Smorgasbord - Subic Bay?

    <h4>Chapter 1000 Smorgasbord - Subic Bay?</h4>


    Not only did I see my workers like Mark making some barbecue with my trainees like Marvin¡ª or even Brian, who coincidentally came from the same ce the cadets did, even Johnny out of all the people was wearing Hawaiian clothes, a straw hat, and funky sunsses while sipping from his "ss" of pi?a cda made from the bottom half of a pineapple.


    I''m pretty sure that I gave them precise instructions to keep our vessel safe and secured but I was jumped by Cynthia and the twins the moment I got out of my car. They instantly pressed their bodies against me as they gave me a hug and tons of kisses:


    "YOU''RE BACK!/ DID YOU MISS US?!/ NICE CAR! IS THIS YOURS?!"


    To my surprise, Cynthia had aplete makeover where her hair was now deep purple in color wrapped tightly in a ponytail and both the top of her ears had wicked piercings¡ªeven her bellybutton¡ªjust from looking at her while she was partly clothed. And right now, she was sporting a nice tan with a warmer undertone except for the ces where her bikini and her short jean shorts were covering.


    On the other hand, the twins had minor stuff done on them¡ªthough they still looked strikingly simr and just as pretty and cute¡ªbut they were leering at me whether if I could still tell them apart.


    In any case, I just chuckled as I rolled my eyes before I pointed at Ruru, "You''re Ruru," then to Riri, "And you''re Riri. I always know, alright¡ª"


    They both eximed though they were smiling as they jokingly gritted their teeth, "HOW ARE YOU DOING IT?!"


    Then Cynthia cut in, "H-How about me?! Noticed anything¡ª"


    I tried to jokingly ruffle her hair as I looked straight at her, "Seriously? You want me to address the humongous purple elephant in the room? And the piercings?"


    She chuckled as she leaned close, "I have a few more for your eyes only though¡­"


    I politely waved her off, "Oh? That''s¡­ Uh-huh¡­ Why don''t I introduce you to everybody first and I''ll get to the problem at hand."


    "W-What problem?"


    With that said, I brought everyone together to get the introductions in ce but the atmosphere started to get tense when Brian and one other of our trainees named Cyrus met eyes with JP specifically. They seemed to have a brief history of sorts and with the two gettingbeled as the ck sheep when they were sent to my ce was part of the reason they were staring each other down.


    And yeah, don''t let me get started when Cynthia and the twins noticed how Alexa, Megan, Chloe, and Mimi were acting towards me because even without Dr. Nichols in the mix, these girls do be territorial at times and there seemed to be a pecking order of sorts going on between the people in our circle.


    However, my biggest concern was Johnny lounging around like he was on vacation because let''s be honest here, he''d probably head back to our ce first given the chance. Right now, his actions werepletely off what I pegged him to be because he was as uptight as uptight goes and I would ce him in the same spot the people in my alma mater were.


    "Speak your guts, kid. Why are you looking at me like that?"


    I couldn''t believe what I was hearing, "Umm¡­ The ship?"


    He waved me off, "The ship''s fine. Lawrence is there with our other workers and your Russian friends are using your homemade¡ª I mean, shipmade, heh. Get it? They''re using the shipmade gym of sorts to make the guy they came back with to¡ªtheir words: to remember. Whatever that means."


    "What?"


    "Beats me¡ª heh, I''m in a fucking roll today! You trust them so I trust them but I actually thought they''d just say some codeword and he''ll fucking reset¡ª"


    Tatiana cut in after rolling her eyes, "They brought back Alexander then? How long?"


    Johnny replied, "HmM~ Around a week or so? Right. Mikhail and Alexei took a few pistol rounds but they''ll be a''ight."


    I almost blew my lid, "A''ight?! How long have you been here, Cap?!"


    "Cap? I like that more than Captain¡ª"


    Then Kuzma cut in, "They got shot? How?"


    Johnny shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno exactly but they obviously got shot at, that''s why they got shot but it probably has something to do with the camp that''s keeping one of your guys hostage. I''m sorry, I had a bit of a drink so¡ª"


    I cut in again, "So, they''re both fine at least?"


    "Of course, they''re fine! You drunk?! I would''ve said they were dead if that''s the case ain''t it?"


    Tatiana and Kuzma almost kicked the legs off the chair he was sitting on from the way he was casually speaking about one of their getting shot but I turned to the two with the keys to my Impreza:


    "Here. We''d only be here a few hours at most so get in with Artem to do your reunion of sorts and get all the details of what went down. You can bring Dr. Nichols with you to check on the two¡ªno, on everyone because the others might''ve sustained other injuries."


    Dr. Nichols nced at me briefly from giving her orders but she just faintly smiled as she took her bag from my Raptor, "I''ll need Mimi with me and¡ª"


    Chloe cut in, "I-I wanna stay here for a bit, mom¡­"


    Dr. Nichols continued, "I know you would. Stay close to Kaley alright and we''ll meet you soon."


    "Thanks, Mom! See you soon!"


    On that note, the four went on their way to the pier further back¡ªthough Jesus insisted to apany them so that he could introduce himself to the rest of my crew, and that''s just icing on the cake so I let him do what he wanted. However, Johnny still looked off but extremely happy for some reason so I needed to fish some more info on our captain, and taking the alcohol from his grasp was the first step.


    "Wha¡ª What gives?! I was drinking that, kid!"


    "We''re leaving soon, Captain. Tell me, did something happen back home?"


    He let out this weird, toothy grin, "Not at home per se¡ª didn''t Oscar tell you? He''s been keeping in touch, right?"


    "I checked in a week ago but he said nothing about¡ª"


    "Ah~ That''s why, that''s why¡­"


    "Then what happened back home?"


    "It''s not what happened back home, it''s a ways away from home, kid. You know Subic Bay, right kid?"


    "Subic¡ª You mean¡ª Oh. Oh! OHHHHH! OH SHIT! WE GOTTA GET HOME! EVERYONE PACK YOUR FUCKING BAGS OR WE''LL LEAVE YOU!"

 Chapter 1001 Lightning Round - What else?

    <h4>Chapter 1001 Lightning Round - What else?</h4>


    To give a brief history lesson on Subic Bay, it used to be called the US Naval Base Subic Bay, a major ship-repair, supply, etc. used by the navy of Spain and America way, way~ back. Furthermore, it also used to be thergest overseas military instation of the USAF right until one of its bases closed in 1991. It was approximately 100 kilometers (62~ miles) northwest of Man Bay and was the size of Singapore.


    And in the year 1992, it was turned into the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, amercial area of sorts when the ownership was returned to us. But unlike Man Bay, it was shared by several towns that turned it into a tourist spot of sorts but even though the ownership changed this past few decades, there was still a Marine base present even though its size wasn''t the same as before.


    But that was not all there was in regards to my excitement.


    Having Oscar as my inside man in the military, he''d get trickles of news from the grapevine, and adding Johnny into the mix just confirmed a rumor of Oscar''s that as of right now, proved to be somewhat true.


    The rumor was that the US would be officially repurchasing part of the ownership of the Freeport Zone about two to three years from now but a lot of things were moving up, and let''s just say that friends and especially, family, from their side had just paid our country a visit¡ªboth for business and pleasure.


    I''m not entirely sure how these new yers would y into the mix, but with the way Johnny was acting, everything was as he expected. On the other hand, I was still a little apprehensive about this news but before I tried to call Oscar or dig up more information from Johnny, Mr. Cuervo popped up from behind.


    "Hermano! I thought you''d be longer! How was your trip¡ª I mean, trips?!" He eximed as he went in for a big hug.


    "Good, great! Actually¡ª"


    "Why don''t we talk in my house? The kids would love to see you or even y a game¡ª"


    "We could do that but unfortunately, I wouldn''t be able to stay for long¡­"


    "Eh?! Por que¡ª Why?!"


    "I''ll tell you as much as I could in your home¡­"


    With that said, I would''ve really wanted to stay for at least half a day to catch up with everyone but the news of Mikhail and Alexei getting shot and getting yers from Oscar''s side into the mix not only filled my te to the brim, but added extra tes, bowls, or cups into the whole smorgasbord.


    But yeah, I''ll need Johnny to be a little more sober before he takesmand of his ship so I''ll spare a couple or a few hours to catch up with Mr. Cuervo and follow on some promises and deals I put my word on some people.


    And the moment we got into his home, he led me to his basement once again so we could talk privately.


    "Alright, Hermano¡­ We could talk now, give me everything."


    "Alright this is gonna be a bit of a lightning round so just tell me if you fell off¡ª"


    "Just give me, just gimme¡ª start with the bad ones first! I want this shit to end in a high note!"


    "A-Alright¡­ Here I go: There''s this guy named Jonathan¡ª"


    "WHAT?! *UNINTELLIGIBLE MEXICAN NOISES* HOW''D YOU MEET UP WITH THAT MUCHACHO?! HUH?! THAT¡ª WHY WOULD YOU START WITH THAT?!"


    "YOU JUST TOLD ME TO START WITH THE BAD ONES!!"


    "Aiiii~ Alright, alright¡­ I''m assuming he wants to lick my boots and work as an exotic dancer¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Close. But not quite."


    "Dammit¡­ He wants a spot in my games and for me to forgive him, huh?"


    I chuckled, "So, you already knew?"


    "Yeah, yeah¡­ I actually thought he was just fucking lying because your name has spread around¡­ He called me a week or so ago after meeting you. He told me you fucking owe him but I don''t want that so I said that I''ll give him what he wants contingent on the fact that you actually spoke with him. B-But what do you think about the De Leon Family and the Rivas''s People?! They''re good, right?! Compared to everyone else? We can work out a deal with them if they''re faced with that initially, right?"


    "Slow your roll, Mr. Cuervo. We''ve talked about this before but I have Major Perez with me, he''s not the top dog of the Academy per se but he''s #2¡ªbut only in that ce. The president will be a fucking idiot if he denies working with you, Mauro, and Sal but the goal is to do the same thing with the Castillos, the Alvarezs, and the Garcias, right?"


    "Right. That''s what I asked of you before. Not everyone could be saved, I know, but that''s the premise¡­"


    ''Did he assume I went to all of the families'' territories? I''ll tell himter¡­''


    "You see, we can''t just put you in the same room together and have a discussion like this so the best start in my opinion is to have Major Perez have a taste of what this ce has to offer but the trick is to just let him dip his toes before plunging him into your pool of¡­ of¡­ you know, entertainment, fun, and debauchery. Trust me, that ce has problems of its own and it can only be fixed here."


    "And why is that?"


    "Because¡­" Then I told him about their ranking system and their punishments.


    "WHAT?! That wouldn''t fly here, hermano! It used to happen here before but it just ruins business! It just makes the merchandise extremely vtile and why would people pay for pussy or culo¡ª I mean, buttholes if they can just do what they want?!"


    ''At least he''s against it even in a different way¡­''


    I nodded, "Exactly. So, that''s why I''m gonna need you to work him a little bit after hees with us¡ª"


    "Hah? He''sing with you?! I thought¡ª"


    I started to annoyedly scratch my head, "Fuck, that''s true. If I take him with me to meet with Oscar and his other uniforms, it''ll take too much time and the General will eventually recall him. That''s a bummer¡­"


    "I heard from that American chulo with you that he has some important news, right? That''s why he came here with those kids and I let them upy your house of sorts."


    "Right, right¡­ That''s¡­ Oscar will probably be too busy to even shoot shit with the Major so I guess I''ll leave him in your hands for now¡­"


    "Great! You have more news, right? What were you young people up to?"

 Chapter 1002 Sleeper Agents? - It’s armed!

    <h4>Chapter 1002 Sleeper Agents? - It''s armed!</h4>


    With that said, I didn''t think that I''d spend close to two hours condensing my two weeks plus of travel with the whole gang and telling it without pause to Mr. Cuervo who listened very intently to everything I said like an old grandpa would listen to their grandchild showing off. Granted it was a little wholesome how focused he was on my ventures but his expression turned somber when I mentioned I hadn''t been to the Garcia, Alvarez, and the Castillo''s domains.


    "Something wrong?"


    "Haa¡­ I actually thought you squeezed all that time to get to know everyone¡­ That''s why only Sal called me after you drove from them and also ryed Mauro''s message through her¡­"


    "Did you want me to visit everybody?"


    "Forget about it¡­ The Garcias are closerpared to the other two but it''s fine¡­ You''ll have the chance to visit them soon after but if we''re beingpletely honest here, I wanted you to see the ugly side of our organization so you could see it as a whole."


    "Makes sense..."


    "You said the academy and your university had ws but guess what? We have more. Way~ more. As much as I wanted to keep my friends and people I''ve known this long, I''ll admit that we''ve done more fucked up shit than we''d care to admit and we''re just looking for the good guys to fuck up once so that we could put them in the same level as us. Because at the end of the day, we''re still criminals. Through and through."


    "Right¡­"


    "I mean, I''m not trying to wash my hands of the deeds I''ve done because I''m probably not able to but¡ª"


    "I understand you, Mr. Cuervo. You''re doing the right thing right now, I think, and that''s what matters."


    Mr. Cuervo chuckled, "I dunno about that, hermano, but I am trying to do my best."


    "Uh-huh¡­ Kinda the same thing but okay. I still get this urge to lop someone''s head off when they''re abusing drugs but let''s just say I''m trying to be the better person whilst at the same time lying to myself about my feelings. It''s a littleplicated, sure, but not everything''s cut and dried¡­"


    "Hah¡­ That''s true¡ª Kinda deep too, y''know? But yeah~ Then what''s our n now? We already bailed on blowing up half the org so I''m assuming we''re gonna need to have a workaround that, y''know? Again, I would''ve loved for you to see everything in your eyes so that there won''t be any biasespared to when I just tell you the shit everyone else has been doing but when are you able toe back here? Realistically speaking?"


    "Honestly? I''m not exactly sure because we have new yers¡ª probably a while but aside from missing the hospitality of Mr. Alvarez, Mary, and Castro, I missed the chance to visit one of my uncles and his farm. He''s a few hours away but driving over there now will be a little impossible because of the ruckus caused by my group¡­"


    "Ah¡­ I''ve heard, is he perchance in that same town?"


    "No, a few more hours in but that''s the main road we''re talking about. We''re better off using the ship again depending on what went down on Artem''s end."


    "Hmm¡­ I''m not sure about the exact details but they kept saying that their guy''s mind has been fucked with and he just needed a few things to remember¡ª Don''t theye in with a codeword or something?"


    "Pfft¡­ You and Johnny watch too many movies¡ª"


    He cut me off as he leaned in with crazy eyes, "I''m just saying, hermano¡­ That side chick of yours might be a sleeper agent too and even she''s a champion in my games¡ª"


    "I''m a nobody, Mr. Cuervo¡ª why would they nt a whole gang of¡ª"


    "Cut that shit out! You''re YOU and I''m ME! Also! What if they''re also after me?! What if they just used you to get to me and I''ll just wake up one of these days with a knife to my throat! Hermano! We should be really careful!"


    "..."


    "Why are you so silent?! You''re supposed to be with me on this!"


    Then I had another sinister thought, "What if I''m the sleeper agent? Did you think about that?"


    "Hahaha¡ª You¡ª Tell me you''re joking¡ª Wait¡­ You''re fucking with me¡ª A-Are you? Is this how it ends?! Aiyaya~ Mi amor¡ª OW! WHAT THE FUCK, HERMANO?!"


    "You think I would just smack you in the head if I wanted to kill you?! Think, Mr. Cuervo, think!"


    "I am thinking! What if you''re just ying the long game and you''re just waiting for the perfect time to round us up and take us one by one?! Oh god, dios mio¡­"


    "I''m¡­ Ha¡­ I thought it''d be more fun than this but I think I''m gonna go¡­"


    "Wait! Give me an assurance that you''re not a government spy!"


    "..."


    "Hermano! Please! My wife and kids are out there! I should just lock you down here and take you down with me!"


    "Bitch¡ª My wife is out there too, d''you want me to stay with you until kingdome?! I''d kill myself first and bet on reincarnation! You try to make yourself look good but I''m not into dudes, alright?!"


    "HEY! I don''t try to look good, alright?! I look good ALL the FUCKING time! I just look good! ALWAYS! D''you wanna die?!"


    "Not with you! So, are you gonna ring us up or what?!"


    "Haa¡­ Fine¡­ You passed¡­ I can''t actually lock you here because you have the same permissions as my keycard."


    "Oh? That''s ttering?"


    "What if I lose mine? I can''t bother Jericho all the time!"


    "Oof. Alright, alright¡­ Where is he anyway? I believe I left him a project of sorts before we drove away?"


    "Ah, shit¡­ He never left his workshop ever since you guys went away. He''s probably still in there¡­ Come with me¡­"


    With that said, Mr. Cuervo brought us to the surface level before leading me to one of the doors shut tight in his basement gym. He started knocking on it profusely for quite some time, but once he gave me the go signal to use my thieving tools, the radios on our person buzzed before we heard Jericho''s voice:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [BRO, I KNOW YOU CAN PICK THAT LOCK BUT THAT DOOR''S WIRED TO ''EXPLODE''! GIVE ME A~ TEN MINUTES¡ª NO, FIVE¡ª AHHHH! A MINUTE AND I''LL DISABLE IT! DON''T PUSH IT, ALRIGHT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "WHY''D YOU WIRE IT THEN?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Because I wanted to?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Fuck, I don''t have an answer to that¡­ Then get on it! We''ll wait for ya!"


    *bzzt*


    -

 Chapter 1003 Tech-Bros - Leave it to me.

    <h4>Chapter 1003 Tech-Bros - Leave it to me.</h4>


    I don''t know what the fuck Jericho''s doing inside his workshop but I didn''t think the need to arm the fucking door with explosives was the way to go. But yeah, Mr. Cuervo and I almost beat the shit out of him when we discovered that it was just wired with a fart bomb but to bepletely fair, we shouldn''t underestimate stink in an enclosed space.


    "WHAT''S UP, BRO?!" Jericho, a.k.a. Ecko, came in for a huge hug before locking it in with a fist bump.


    "Great, great! Mr. Cuervo and I were just wondering about our little¡ª"


    "Little? You''re one funny dude, aren''t ya?"


    "Did you do it though?"


    "Heh. Arming a hundred drones with ''wacky'' putty? Arming it wasn''t an issue, controlling it¡ª well~ it wasn''t an issue too but it''s just a lot of fucking work, y''know? I had to make a program for each of their movements to go individually, by clusters of three, five, or ten, or like a big fucking unit once a target is locked on! You can control it manually too via a single controller or multiple ones if you wanna give your group the freedom to use them as they wish."


    Mr. Cuervo was a little unconvinced, "Really~?"


    I chuckled, "How lethal though?"


    Jericho rolled his eyes, "Dude. A bit of C4''s already too fucking much, why would you send a hundred or even a cluster of five against a single target? Ah¡ª Scratch that, that''s why you gave me the freedom to make them like that so you''d have the freedom to use them as you wish¡­ But anyway, you drained my workshop of all my mats so you gotta replenish them one way or another, alright? Making drones from scratch ain''t cheap! I had to DIY a lot of them too! Like 70%! And I haven''t even started on the PipBoi! The workload''s just too much!"


    "Can''t you just assign the easy stuff to other people¡ª"


    "Haah?! *imitates buzzer noise* Ain''t no way I''m trusting them with something this delicate and vtile! Wanna blow the whole area?!"


    "Okay, okay, I apologize for working you too hard but give me a rundown on how it works and how would we be able to deploy each one. And are they mobile? I mean, can we take it out on expeditions or is it just a home protection type of thing?"


    Jericho nced at me and for a moment, he looked like he wanted to choke the living shit out of me:


    "I''m sure YOU''LL find a way to take them out but it''s pretty hard to have a proper container for a hundred drones unless you''re fucking prepared to hitch a trailer with ya. I''d really rmend this for a scare tactic or thest hurrah for a home defense but if you''re taking this out, I''d rmend just a handful unless you''re trying to clear a mega horde of sorts¡ª Right! I forgot about the hover feature!"


    "Hover feature?"


    As soon as I asked that, Ecko dove back into his den, fished out a tracker of sorts, and stuck it into his forehead before going into an app from his phone. To our surprise, a small drone flew in silently and hovered around the tracker without making contact but Mr. Cuervo and I were several steps back because we could clearly see where the C4 was sticking out and one mistake would end our stories just like that.


    Jericho startedughing, "C''mon, guys! I haven''t even armed it! What are you two so scared of?"


    "How''d you think we would know that?!/ Yeah! And for the record, I believe I told you to work on this in the workshop in the basement! Not in this one! What if you blow up my kids?!"


    "Right! But our enemies shouldn''t know that they''re armed, right?!"


    "Sure¡­"


    Mr. Cuervo couldn''t believe he got ignored, "Did you even hear a word I said?!"


    "DiD I bLoW u uP??? HmmMMMM?!"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "One of these days¡­"


    In any case, Jericho showed us more of this hover system of sorts, and right now, it was a pretty nk te for a surveince system. Because if we''re just talking about surveying each of our guy''s POVs, our body cams were already enough for that. However, this was a door to endless possibilities because one example was if the person "on the chair" needed to see more than the POV of the person the drone was hovering on, the drone could literally be the eyes to the back of its head, its temple, its crotch, etc.


    ''Like an extra set of eyes you can pluck out and survey thend or a fail-safe to a horde if you attach a sound system instead¡­ or both..''


    But yeah, modding our drones was definitely a story for another day but the two wouldn''t believe me when I let them keep the drones I requested for their use to bolster up this ce''s defenses.


    "A-Are you serious, Hermano?! This¡­"


    "Duuuude! I did several all-nighters just to get this done! WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "Do you even have a regr sleep schedule?"


    "No¡ª Point taken. I''ll give you that¡ª"


    "Hah! See what I mean?"


    "Hermano, are you really sure you''ll leave us those¡ª"


    I waved them off, "The C4 will be a hit in my reserves but this is one of those things you''d wish to not use but be happy to have lying around. You get what I mean? Besides, as much as I love to keep the prototype, I do want to make all of them uniform¡ª"


    "HAAH?! YOU CRAZY, BRO?! WHAT WOULD THAT DO?!"


    "OCD, sorry¡­"


    "Ah, fuck¡­ Of course, of course¡­ You''re really gonna let us keep them?"


    "For the nth time¡ª Yeah, I''m sure. Trust me, you need it more than I do."


    "Do you at least need the app or one of the trackers? It''s very easy to do but it''ll save you a bit of time if you base your designs on one of them?"


    "That''s¡ª"


    Then Jericho plucked the tracker from his forehead and threw it over to me, "Just take it, alright?! I already feel guilty about taking back the brick of coke and now you gave me a fun project then gave me all the spoils! Have at least that!"


    "Okay, okay," I said as I pocketed the tracker he made before I stared him dead in the eyes, "If you start sending me weird shit because you''ll know my exact address once we get home, I''lle for you, alright?"


    "Prick! You think we''re not bros, huh?! I''lle for you too if you I don''t see my IGN in your prototypes!"


    I chuckled, "So, that''s what you''re after, huh?"


    "We''re building a legacy, alright?! WE! Don''t reinvent the wheel, make use of the tracker your buddy sent ya!"


    Mr. Cuervo shook his head, "I thought we''d be square the moment you get back but it seems like I''m drowning in my debt to you¡­"


    "Don''t worry about it but yeah, I''d hate to say it but I guess I''m gonna leave Major Perez by your side and a few others to the family house. I''m thinking of splitting the cadets soon too but I''ll let them stick together for a while and let them decide after a few weeks on where they want to stay in. Can you help me with that?"


    "No problem, I''ll be taking good care of them and I''ll try to keep them out of trouble."


    "And do put them to work as you see fit, but let them know that they''re not untouchable. You can keep them out of trouble but there should be limits and standards to uphold if they''re gonna live here under my name."


    "Got it. So¡­ You''re probably leaving now?"


    "I guess so, yeah¡­"

 Chapter 1004 Delays - Blue Pills for the Major

    <h4>Chapter 1004 Dys - Blue Pills for the Major</h4>


    Once again, I would''ve loved to stay in this ce for at least a day or even half to have some fun but we''ve done a lot of that the past few days¡ªand even though there was still actual work in the mix, my presence was required back home and like the General, I should spend some time at my own ce once in a while.


    I then made my way to my group but it seemed like the world was trying to dy my return for as much as they could.


    Because I thought it was only the girls¡ªthe little immature ones¡ªin my inner circle were having an internal power struggle with the bullshit pecking order, the cadets and the trainees seemed to be having one as well¡ª no, just Brian and JP.


    ''Why can''t I catch a fucking break?!''


    I was in Mr. Cuervo''s mansion for more than two hours and when I came back, the two fucking dumbasses were not only covered in sweat and dirt but also full of scratches, cuts, and bruises. They seemed to be "resting" right now for some reason¡ªprobably on round 50 or something¡ªwhile everyone else was actually having a good time with a te of barbecue and a ss of a refreshing non-alcoholic drink from whichever faction they belonged in.


    I know for a fact that Brian''s a fucking meathead¡ªthat would very much fit into the De Leon Family just from that¡ªbut I didn''t think that JP would encourage the dumbass and also get hurt in the process.


    It''s just that no one seemed to care¡ªor not anymore¡ªas to why these two were fighting in a corner in the first ce, so I pped loud enough to get everyone''s attention:


    "What. in. the. actual. Fuck?!"


    My p attracted enough attention but they were like two ethereal beings that couldn''t be seen by the naked eye no matter how many times I was trying to bring the attention over to them.


    "Guys? Anyone?!"


    Then I heard a familiar voice:


    "We tried, bro~ We tried~ There seems to be some history going on between the two so we just let them deal with it on their own."


    I turned to where the voice came from and I saw my beloved shin-kicking, long-shooting cousin named Jared, who was sitting on the roof of our family house with Isaac, #1, #2, Seb, and Ruben.


    And Isaac followed, "Yeah, bro~ They''ve been at it since you left and they''ll just go at it again even if we break them up!"


    ''These two are buddy-buddy at least¡­''


    I chuckled as I turned back to Jared, "You good sitting your ass here for a couple of weeks? Didn''t get bored or anything?"


    He scoffed and chuckled, "Eh. So-so if you''re in amitted rtionship but I didn''t think you''d bring my underssmen over here. We''ve been catching up since you arrived and it''s TOTALLY differentpared to when I''ve left it. Just a side note: I would''ve done that shit too from the first day it happens!"


    Seb muttered, "The General¡ª JP''s dad would''ve put your head in a pike¡ª"


    "So?" then he pointed at me, "He''ll do something very sly to get away with it but he''ll do it too! I think that''s where you''re missing the point, pal. I''m not a white knight per se but it doesn''t matter who was it being done on, I''d snipe that motherfucker''s temple even if I had to endureying down on my own piss waiting for three days just to get the fucking shot!"


    Then all of the cadets on the roof, except for Seb who was now in deep thought, sneakily pointed at Chloe before copying me, "Right. That''s his daughter tho¡­"


    Jared tilted his head sideways, "Who?"


    "Lopez¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHA! YOU THINK I''D CARE?! SHE PROBABLY DOESN''T TOO! HEY, CHLOE!"


    Chloe took a second to locate where the voice wasing from, "Hmm?"


    "REAL TALK, WOULD YOU HAVE DONE IT TOO?! YOU KNOW, MERK''ING YOUR DAD IF¡ª"


    Chloe nced at me for a moment before nodding and shouting at the top of her lungs, "YEAH! AND HE''S NOT MY DAD!"


    "WUT?! HE''S NOT YOUR¡ª"


    "WELL¡ª He is, technically, but¡ª DADS DON''T DO THAT SHIT!"


    Then Jared went for it as he pointed at me, "SO HE''S YOUR DADDY NOW, HUH?!"


    "WHAAAAAT?! THAT''S¡ª" Chloe didn''t know how to react as she buried her face in Kaley''s body.


    Then Kaley red at Jared and the cadets, "You fucks went too far! I''ll deal with you allter! GOT IT?!"


    "Y-YES, MA''AM!/ W-WHAT DID I DO?!"


    "YOU DIDN''T STOP THEM! DEAL WITH IT!"


    "FUCK!"


    "BRO! I HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL YOU, ACTUALLY! CAN WE CATCH UP¡ª"


    "I''d love to catch up with you too but tell everyone to pack up, again. We''ll be leaving shortly but I need to break these two up before they do serious damage to themselves¡ª"


    "I told you, bro. We''ve tried¡ª"


    "Well, I haven''t yet."


    "Ah, they''re fucked. Like fucked."


    But yeah, it''s as Jared said because it seemed like the two didn''t even notice meing. After all, after their break was over, they just mmed their tired bodies together before this awful mud-fight continued. And luckily for them, they''ll have a nice refreshing drink to go along with their scratch and bruises.


    It was then that I picked up the pitcher of ice-cold lemonade and sshed it on the two who were dead set on beating each other.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "IT STINGS! IT''S COLD AND IT STINGS! WHO¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    "Have some more¡ª"


    "STOP! STOP! I¡ª AHHHH!!!"


    "MY EYES! MY EYES¡ª OW! EVERYTHING FUCKING HURTS, SIR!"


    "IT''S INTENDED TO HURT! FUCKING DUMBASSES!"


    Well, it didn''t end there when I pped each of their faces with a huge~ me-grilled rib-eye, which Mark, oh so cautiously prepared before threatening to add more seasoning by means of a canister of pepper spray:


    "Look. I would''ve loved to get into this drama of you two but we gotta fucking go. Like right now. BUT! You two ain''t leaving that fucking spot and getting a rinse unless you finish that fucking rib-eye. Understand?!"


    "Y-Yes, sir!" JP quickly responded as he chomped down on the steak.


    Though Brian had other thoughts, "Dude, why the fuck would you¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE FUUUUUCK?!"


    As soon as I heard his bitch-assining, my can of pepper spray was already locked and loaded but I didn''t unload everything in his eyes. After all this time, the motherfucker was still a motherfucker through and through but he was being true to himself so maybe there was some merit in that?


    But yeah, I didn''t think their slugfest wouldst this long¡ªmaking me a little curious because a normal onlysts a few moves¡ªbut I put the thought in the back of my mind because with the body cams I made them wear, I could simply check the footageter.


    Then Major Perez came up from behind me:


    "You fucks are leaving already? How about me?! You''d leave me here alone¡ª"


    Then Belle, one of the ''entertainers'' who joined my house cut in, "Ooh~ I didn''t see this cutie here! You''re so buff even with your age¡ª not that it matters¡­ I pretty much prefer older¡­ and more experienced menpared to those boys¡­ oh god¡­ Mmh¡­ Would you like me to fix you a drink¡ª"


    I interjected, "Sorry, Belle¡ª"


    Then Major Perez also interrupted me, "Yeah. Sorry, Belle¡­ *casually grabs a boob* I''mma need you to stay there for a bit before we get to the fun part," and he turned back to me, "As I was saying, can I expect to meet you here again before I get recalled? I may need to tell you something, personally."


    "Everyone''s trying to tell me shit when I''m about to head out! You can''t tell me now? Or by radio?"


    He just rolled his eyes, "Nah. It''s personal. Once you get back¡ª but it''s not as important so don''t be in a rush to get to me."


    I thanked the gods for that as I let out a sigh of relief, "That''s up to the General but my group will be making trips around here like once or twice a month to keep a trade spot moving on. But yeah, I''ll just drop by from time to time in the Academy. I''ll leave the jeep too so you''d have a ride back home just in case."


    He nodded, "I heard about the base in Subic, what''s that about?"


    "I''m still finding out about it, actually. But if the General doesn''t call you in a couple of days or so, would you mind one of my¡ª your guys from my ce picking you up? I''ll actually be in the area a little bitter, hopefully, but I wouldn''t be stopping in these parts unless it''s absolutely necessary."


    ''Have to pick up Edith and Nancy too¡­ Just do everything in one go before getting my deserved rest¡­ Though I have to ring them a little bitter so they could be ready to go once I arrive¡­''


    He chuckled as he turned to Belle, "After I have my fun, of course."


    "Hah¡­ Of course, no worries about that. Mr. Cuervo will talk to youter and get you situated but Belle over there could probably give you a gist of this ce¡ª"


    "Heh, I was actually just messing with you but your cousin over there gave me a brief. I actually know that fucker. Wonder why he disappeared on me suddenly¡ª I actually thought he went AWOL though that''s much better than being dead. Could''ve given me a call at least¡­"


    "Jared''s one of your students?"


    "Don''t get me started, he''s supposed to be one of the promising ones but keeps doing his own thing because of this phantom teacher¡­ Know where I''m getting at? So fucking weird how pieces fall together."


    "That''s a lot of words to just say it''s a ''coincidence'', no?"


    "I call that fate, kid. Even if I don''t believe in that stuff. So, is this it?"


    I chuckled as I offered a handshake, "I''m sorry that we''re in a rush but we''ve barely even started."


    "Hmph," he chuckled as he returned it with a firm grip, "See you soon, kid."


    "Yeah, I should really have you meet with the old man¡­ The vibes are just¡ª"


    Then Jared approached from behind, "Bro, everyone''s about ready now, and the group that will stay here already knows the drill. Shall we?"


    Major Perez answered instead, "Get going now, I ain''t gonna hold ya for longer."


    "See ya, Major! Here''s some viagra I won from betting against other people¡ª"


    Major Perez''s eyes had never been so fucking wide, "YOU MOTHERFUCKER¡ª"


    I doubled down as I offered a bottle of painkiller ointment, Cialis, knee sleeves, and a dick pump, "Don''t take much at once or it''s bad for your heart¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YOU MOTHERFUCKING SHITS!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 Chapter 1005 Alexander - Trust me.

    <h4>Chapter 1005 Alexander - Trust me.</h4>


    As Major Perez chased us off with a tomahawk steak after actually KEEPING the gifts we gave him, I felt really good about making him be the temporary caretaker of our Family house¡ªmaybe even along with Jesus and his crew¡ªwhile being our guest of honor at the same time. I''d probably need morepetent people or just straight-up people I could trust that could stay in that ce but we were really in a fucking rush to do something about it.


    Temporarily closing this chapter in my life, it wouldn''t take long before this rush to get home embarked on its final stages.


    The drive to our ship wasn''t too much trouble or eventful because only a fucking idiot would try to stir up trouble with this armed convoy, especially if they knew that several of its passengers were high-profile individuals.


    But yeah, we saw Jesus and Meg waiting for us to arrive by their station wagon, and I got out of my Raptor before I asked my group to park our vehicles inside. But for some reason, the vehicle I won from Mr. Cuervost time¡ªthat Niks and co. were using¡ªplus another truck was also parked outside instead of being inside our ship since we''re leaving.


    ''The Impreza''s already inside though¡­''


    And as what would always happen while anyone''s in a rush, we hit a bit of a snag.


    Jesus then approached me as he offered a cigar which I politely pocketed for Oscar''s use instead:


    "This is it for now, huh?"


    "For now? I like that, heh¡ª"


    "A little advice on your friends though? Would you mind?"


    "Hmm?"


    Then his face turned solemn, "I know about the body''s ability to remember certain shit when inflicted pain but that Alexander guy''s been taking hits nonstop just to make him ''remember'' or some bullshit. He did look out of it but he prolly needs someone better than your wife to take care of this," he paused as he pointed at his temple.


    "I might need to check on them¡ª"


    "They''re fine, they''re fine¡­ for now, but¡ª Ah, it seems that ''most'' of them will be staying behind though. I''ll advice against that too¡­"


    I stopped in my tracks, "Most of them?"


    "Unfinished business, they said. But the big guy and the dude with the long hair? Mr. Cuervo''s doctors could take care of them AND have taken care of them when they got backst time but they need to be away for their sake. They''ll just rush right back because some type of shit started and¡ª scratch that, all of them should be away to stop shit from getting out of hand or else¡­ and that''s on you to make it happen. I do promise to check things out over there to see if I could do something but I said my piece, talk to your group to get the whole story from them. They aren''t telling me shit for some reason¡­"


    I nodded, "Alright. Thanks, Jesus. Don''t leave yet, we''ll talk in a bit."


    He nodded a few times as he tapped the roof of his car, "We''ll wait here, for sure. Have to talk to Quinn for a bit too¡­"


    "Sure, sure¡­"


    At this point, I was already thinking of postponing our trip for one more day¡ªand I agree with Jesus'' advice¡ªbut we should also be fair and try to take a look at this from their eyes.


    A group like them getting sent to a country they''ve probably never been to before and getting the worst treatment from the government and its people¡ªexcept for Tatiana¡ªwould be a different story for them especially if it involved one of their people. I wasn''t an expert on this type of thing but I know how being alone or isted feels like and if stress or something simr piles up, it might just turn into paranoia or schizophrenia.


    And as much as I loved a revenge story, two of them already got shot which means that it was a revenge plot that wasn''t thought of that thoroughly. Because if they wanted to bury people under their feet, the recipients should be begging for a quick death while all of them had nary a scratch.


    ''I said before, revenge should be returned ten-fold but it shouldn''t cost an arm or a leg¡­''


    But yeah, I still needed to get the full story of what happened¡ªand hopefully calm them down¡ªbecause as bad as this may sound, I justpleted the full set of what was left of them, and I wouldn''t want to lose any pieces from going at it without a proper n and in unfamiliar territory.


    In which case, the first person I saw from the group was Katya, who was leaning by the ship''s railing outside with a recently lit cigar, but once we met eyes, she beckoned me to follow after her.


    I stopped her for a moment, "Do I need to know anything before we go in?"


    She looked at my hand on her shoulder but didn''t particrly mind though I still retracted my hand:


    "Hmm? Oh. Alexander''s fucking tough so we''ve been going at it for a while but he got fucked in the head because he''s the one who shot Mikhail and Alexei¡ª"


    "Hold up¡ª He¡ª"


    "He''s the one who shot them. Crazy and unbelievably stupid, I know¡ª"


    "What? Why?!"


    "That''s what we''re trying to figure out by beating it out of him. We paid a hefty sum to the group too and it was supposed to go well but I felt something really off and then that happened¡­"


    "Fuck, they should trust your gut more¡ª"


    "Eh. I didn''t say shit at the time so maybe I should trust mine more too and should''ve spoken out¡­ Good thing you''re here already because as much as we''re happy you found Kuzma, he might kill Alexander with your girl¡ª I mean, Tatiana. Just saying¡­"


    "Haa¡­ Let''s go¡­"


    "Why am I guiding you? You know the way¡­"


    "Right¡­"


    It was then that I saw this beat-up guy, "Alexander", who instead of my punching bag, had both hands tied to the noose from where it was hanging. Everyone else was present too¡ªincluding Dr. Nichols who was standing her ground about treating the person Kuzma and Tatiana were brutally sinking their fists in.


    Natasha was the one barring her from interfering with the two but it seemed like it was due to the fact that Dr. Nichols might get hurt because Alexander was still fighting back.


    ''Mimi''s probably still tending to Mikhail and Alexei''s wounds¡­''


    And yeah, I''ve never seen Tatiana like this except for the time that na revealed the name of her benefactor while Kuzma was back to his cock-fighting days, but the one person who looked like he''d murder everyone else once he got the chance was not even Artem, Bogdan, or Niks, but still Alexander himself.


    I instantly felt the intense killing intent the moment his gazended on me, but this dude was baring his fangs on someone he shouldn''t even dare look a certain way.


    ''That''s just a deration of war¡­''


    "Haa~"


    Even if Dr. Nichols was still in the midst, everyone just heard a short exhale before the room got increasingly cold but I was directing the whole brunt of it to thest piece of my nesting dolls. Only a few people could resist or remain standing while every bit of negative emotion was running through my head coupled with copious amounts of murderous intent and they either subconsciously jumped back or fell to their knees¡ªwhich right now, was only Dr. Nichols, who was further back than everyone else was.


    I didn''t have the time to throw her out of the room because this fucker wanted to take a bite out of everyone''s neck, despite his condition, but he was too fucking out of it to recognize his ce.


    His whole body was covered in cuts, scratches, and bruises¡ªand he''d probably need more than a dose of painkillers for the pain to go away. With that said, everyone else had to give way as I took a step forward but as I got closer and closer, he got even more feral as his heavy breathing looked more like a convulsion but the blood and spiting out of his mouth were making these nasty red foam and bubbles trickle down.


    Even his left eye which I could barely see due to the bruising was getting as bloodshot as the other one the more he tried to stare me down. And his wounds? Those that partially healed even started opening up and bled through his beat-up body as he tried to get out of his restraints.


    But I just had enough of it when I got into my draw stance, grabbed the handle of my de, and attempted to cut him "loose" by means of cutting through hists, his neck, and then straight through his shoulder and his arm despite everyone about to stop me from doing so:


    "Trust me¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

 Chapter 1006 False-Slash - Snipped?

    <h4>Chapter 1006 False-sh - Snipped?</h4>


    To bepletely honest, these guys weren''t that far off from what to do with Alexander¡ªand even though I''m not an expert in dealing with rabid people¡ªI know a few ways to get them to calm the fuck down and one of them was to make them think that they''re dead.


    It''s just a little unfortunate everyone else who tried to step in got caught in the process.


    I had only drawn my de a few inches before Ipletely let go, continuing the sword path with only my arm, but the whole thing coupled with the intent to kill¡ªand everything else happening in a fraction of a second¡ªmade Alexander and everyone else thought that half their bodies separated andnded on the floor.


    It was akin to pretending to throw the ball for Zeus¡ªmaking him turn around confused¡ªor pretending to spill a bowl of hot soup to someone even though it was just water¡ªmaking them squirm and scream for their lives¡ªbut this was on a different level.


    Artem, Kuzma, Niks, and Bogdan were on the floor drenched in cold sweat while Alexander himself waspletely knocked out, simply hanging by his hands from where the punching bag was supposed to be¡ªbut I didn''t think that everyone else out of my range would be affected by making them draw their sidearms and pointing it at me.


    I removed the veil as I fully sheathed my de:


    *clink*


    "What¡­"


    "..."


    "I was sure¡­"


    "He¡­"


    "..."


    "Alexander''s¡­"


    I let out a gentle smile as I politely asked them to lower their weapons, "It''s just prank¡ª a trick, alright? I didn''t actually kill him¡­ so¡­ I dislike guns being pointed at me so please¡ª Guys?"


    Even at this moment, everyone was still at a loss from the moment they caught a glimpse of my de, and the mental thought of their bodies hitting the floor, but the first one I asked to help was Dr. Nichols.


    "Umm¡­ You can treat his wounds now¡ª"


    Artem just snapped out of it, "Wait! He still might wake¡ª"


    I cut in, "So help me hold him down so she could properly sedate then treat him, whichever works first. We''ll put him in the bed in the infirmary but we''ll still restrain him while he''s being treated but not this way¡­ Any one of you could easily get out of that knot if you''re thinking straight, he''s just so out of it he needs more help than¡­ this."


    "Alright¡­"


    With that said, I decided to finally cut him loose as I slowly drew my de to avoid any misconceptions, but Artem and Niks were the ones who carried him to the infirmary after making sure he wouldn''t be able to move a muscle. Because even if he''s still knocked out right now, we wouldn''t want our only official doctor to get injured and we all just rested easy when he was properly sedated and restrained as Dr. Nichols began her treatment.


    Though Mikhail and Alexei and also Mimi and Ilya who were watching over them didn''t know what the fuck just happened so I gave them a very, very, very brief exnation of what went down:


    "Oh. I tried to kill him¡ª"


    "WHAT?!" The three eximed at the same time.


    "YOU!" Mimi threw me a re before turning to Mikhail and Alexei, "Don''t move, I said! Your wounds are gonna open again! Stay on your beds!"


    Ilya just had the realization as Artem and Niks were shaking their heads, "What actually happened?"


    "I just said¡ª"


    "We''re gonna need the long version, chief. And are you guys leaving? Who''s gonna stay here besides me?"


    Artem threw him a nce, "Ilya? We''re gonna need to stick together as a team¡ª We''ll need you with us once everything settles¡ª"


    I cut in before they discussed without me, "That reminds me, except for Ilya who''s nowmitted to his wife, everyone''s going back."


    Niks shook his head, "At least let me stay with¡ª"


    "Before we say anything more, we need Alexander situated first and we''ll discuss who stays and who goes but as of right now, no one''s going back to that ce unless I say so¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    "You gotta be kidding me?! We got¡ª"


    "Got what? Got shot by your own? As much as I hate to say this, you guys got fucked and you''re the best unit anyone could fucking ask for. We''ll get them back for this, I swear, but everyone''s gotta do it my way or else you''d be eating more than pistol rounds with nary a dent in their actual force."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Look¡­ if we all just calm down for a short bit, we''ll sort it all out with Jesus because he already got a n in his head but he won''t be able to use his connections against them if you''re all gonna be a looming threat to those people because what we''re avoiding is a straight-up war¡ª"


    Alexei shook his head, "We''re soldiers¡ª"


    "And I''m a fucking nerd that works in retail and guess where it got us! You gonna listen or what?!"


    He tried to get up from his bed, "Fuck you¡ª"


    Artem stared him down, "Listen to him, Alexei. Calm the fuck down."


    Hearing that, Alexei mouthed something under his breath before he red at me, "Fine! What''s your words of wisdom then?! Huh?! You¡ª"


    I cut him off and copied one of the women''s special moves, "Artem''s right. I''ll talk to you when you calm down¡ª"


    "YOU FUCKING¡ª HNGH! A-AH¡ª Ow! You little¡ª n-nurse, why''d you hit me?!"


    Mimi got up right on his face, "HOW MANY TIME ARE WE GONNA TELL YOU TO LIE DOWN! YOU''RE BLEEDING AGAIN! D''you want a shot of what the doctor gave him?! You''ll be out for a day!"


    "A-A day?!"


    Dr. Nichols followed with a threatening re, "And stop screaming! This is a small room and we can hear everyone just fine! I''m not a urologist but I can snip your balls in your sleep if I wanted to!"


    "Ah¡ª S-Sorry, doctor¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    With that said, it got unbelievably quiet at this point because even I wouldn''t dare piss her off right now, and we just watched them work for a few minutes before we gathered at the main hall with most of us present.

 Chapter 1007 Sad Truth > False Assumption

    <h4>Chapter 1007 Sad Truth > False Assumption</h4>


    We should''ve been pulling up the anchors right about now but the next couple of hours became a civilized¡ªthough sometimes heated¡ªexchange between me, Jesus, Artem, etc. Everyone else was free to say their thoughts out loud too and we leaders made sure that they were heard and not just nodded at and their ideas swept under the rug.


    Obviously, almost all of Artem''s group wanted to get back at the same area to exact revenge but even if Kuzma, who was for the idea, and Tatiana, who was actually against the idea, joined them to fill in Mikhail and Alexei''s spots, a lot of things could go wrong if they followed the quote that told them to strike while the iron was hot.


    But yeah, Artem wasn''t that dumb for a suicide run and had ns of his own but what made the discussion far longer than it should''ve taken was Jesus telling them topromise and work around a way so that both parties wouldn''t shed as much blood.


    Because the full context was that Artem and his group finally convinced the group who had Alexander working for them as a soldier¡ªand even a captain of a small squad¡ªto be "returned" back to us in exchange for material things.


    So, Artem and his group won themselves a lot of those material possessions from the people who frequent Cuervo Heights and from the biggest game night I was a part of through betting everything on me¡ªand them, obviously¡ªall-in, every single fucking time.


    It included a couple of vehicles, weeks worth of food and water, guns, ammo, handheld weaponry, medicine, gas¡ªand whatever the fuck you could use or trade for in the apocalypse plus a few luxury items like sweets, tobo, and liquor.


    With that said, the deal went swimmingly well¡ªbut a little too well, as Katya mentioned and it was on their trip back that Alexander straight-up went berserk out of the fucking blue.


    Niks stated that Alexander just started shooting from the back, and Mikhail and Alexei got clipped a few times, and they had to quickly plug the bullet holes while trying to figure out what Alexander was actually aiming for. He then stated that Alexander was sleeping at the back before the whole thing started but there weren''t any particr details as to why he''d just react like that.


    But even before then, the first time they discovered him, he actually recognized hisrades¡ªdespite the refusal toe back with them¡ªwhich made them think he owed them his life or some sort like what happened with Ilya and Kuzma. However, it was totally different this time because not only he couldn''t recognize everyone else, but he was also acting like a deranged mutt who''d just attack anything itid its eyes on.


    It could''ve been PTSD or something simr that triggered him to do just that but we weren''t experts on the matter¡ªmaking Jesus'' advice to take him to a professional all the more important.


    And going back to the topic with Jesus, he did know some people around those parts and he was asking for a bit of time to get to know about the other side of the story because in his words:


    "I''m sorry but as much as I would hate to say this, that might be one of the ring reasons they let him go easily. They could''ve been working around him because he was that useful to them but they could only take so much and they just needed to cut their losses¡­"


    Jesus saying that struck a nerve among Artem''s group not because it was just hurtful but because it also had a grain of truth that most people wouldn''t want to admit or ept if it was being experienced by someone very close to them.


    Even I had a few things I found hard to ept from myself¡ªeven towards myte parents¡ªbut if what Jesus was saying were to be true, there wasn''t an actual need for a revenge plot for that matter but instead, a time¡ªforck of a better word¡ªto cut their losses and focus on healing then moving on.


    But yeah, everything''s contingent on his assumption and ours.


    If Jesus was actually right, it''d be best to avoid more bloodshed but if the worst thing came to be true, we should be prepared to deal with it as well¡ªfully prepared and the other side not knowing what hit them for the shit they put Alexander through and made him do.


    I''ll personally hash out a n to avenge someone I barely knew who tried to mad-dog me the first time we met but that''s on the premise we take down the actual bad guys that caused him to be like that. Thest thing I wanted to do was raze down a group of potential allies and sources of all kinds of resources then knowing they actually did nothing wrong.


    That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and one recent example was the people we mowed down while they were blocking the road.


    Granted they still posed a threat at that moment but in this case, we should be really safe than sorry. I''ve said it many times before¡ªquoting a particr bat covered in barbwire-wielding dude:


    "People are a resource."


    And yeah, we ended our talk on a good note and said our goodbyes but topromise a bit with Artem''s group regarding their situation, I let Niks stay with Ilya but Jose would also stay behind. Jose did request a change of pace because things were a little rough back home so he jumped on the first chance I gave him though he would be responsible for the actions of the two.


    Bogdan wanted to stay too for some reason but I wouldn''t let the so-called "Demolitions Expert" be with a group that had ess to explosives because I might just blink a few times and thismunity we were trying to bridge a connection with would just a be a huge-ass crater when wee back. It''ll only take one intrusive thought for Jericho to feed his own curiosity so that''s a fucking no-no.


    But yeah, after everything was said and done, mostly, I just plopped to our room and jumped in head first.


    ''I need a fucking break¡­ Zzzz¡­''

 Chapter 1008 Calling The Old Man

    <h4>Chapter 1008 Calling The Old Man</h4>


    At this point, I didn''t even notice that I dozed off for a few minutes until I was jolted awake by the ship''s horn, telling its intent to leave the port. We did say our goodbyes to the group we''d be leaving behind but I still walked out and saw them waving us goodbye before driving off.


    It was still a few hours past noon so we''d probably reach home right after they had dinner so I tried to make use of our traveling time to radio in a few people.


    Obviously, the first person I tried to contact was the old man, Oscar, and he picked up on the first ring:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [KID! I heard you''re finally getting back! I have some news for ya!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Subic Bay?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Aww~ man! Johnny told you, huh?! It was supposed to be a surprise!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "So what''s the n for going there¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Going? I''m already here, you dumbshit! We helped them clear the Marine base and everything! I''m helping them set up and all and I''ve taken a few dozen panels over here and they''re loving it!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "WHAT?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Jealous, huh? Things happen over there, things happen over here too, little shit! I would''ve loved to wee you back because the two weeks felt like two years but we''re still waiting for more¡­ uh¡­ guests¡­ to arrive.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "How about Irene''s package?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHA¡ª She sent something back too?! HAHAHAHAHA!!! I still got it, right?!?RIGHT?! I''m~ the fuckin'' man¡ª But seriously, don''t even try to open that shit or I''ll chop your fuckin'' balls off! Ya hear?! I''m serious!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m not even gonna try, old man¡­ So, who else ising?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Figure it out, dumbass! Who do you think I''ll wait for besides other veterans like me? My ce would surely be crowded once I take them in but I always have a room set aside for her¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "OH FUCK! Jennifer''sing, huh?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HEH! You got that fuckin'' right! I guess she misses her old man still¡­ The carrier they''re on is getting crowded and crowded with the oh, so special peoples and as usual, they''ll just send the not-so-special ones to this ce or other much closer shit¡ªno offense to our archipgo but you know how my people think.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "But it works for us¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Whaddaya mean it works for us?! If I see you fuckin'' look at her a certain way, I''ll beat your fucking dick off!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Not this shit again¡ª No homo but that sounds a little¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT! STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER, YOU HEAR?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Chill, old man. Fine! I''ll try to stay away from her. I won''t even speak to her while¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHY?! IS SHE NOT GOOD ENOUGH?! SHE''S A FUCKING MARINE FOR GOD''S SAKE¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Bitch¡ª I dunno if you''re getting fucking senile but you have to get your stories straight! D''you want me to fuck her or not?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [AHHHH! STOP MAKING IT SO WEIRD!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''re the one who brought up the topic! And what if she''s the one toe to me?! Or god forbid, she gets yed by a dumbass?! Are you gonna me me for that too?! Make up your mind, alright?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Huh. I didn''t think about it that way¡­ You''re making a lot of good points. I decided: I give you my blessing. I''m expecting a baby at your earliest convenience¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kid?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I was just talking in hypotheticals¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [But I wanna be a grandpa now, kid! I thought you''d put one in yours so I was kinda excited but you fucks keep waiting for the right fucking time! Ah¡ª You might have some problems though¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What are you on about now?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I believe she''s a lesbian¡­ I believe that didn''t stop you before¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m hanging up, you dumbass¡­ Couldn''t you have started with that?! She might bemitted for all we know!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Haah?! Be a little progressive, alright?! They can have babies too! Just need a proper donor¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Beeeeeep~ The number you''ve dialed is unattended, the number you dialed¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I KNOW IT''S STILL YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT! ARE YOU GONNA GET HER PREGNANT OR WHAT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You¡ª Be a little progressive too, then! It''s her choice after the fact, alright?! A-Anyway, do you need me there or something? A delivery or a resupply perchance? I''ll still be busy once we arrive but I''ll be ready first thing in the morning."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Of course, you''ll be fucking busy. I wonder how much pussy you''re bringing back this time¡­ Ha¡­ But yeah, we''re still figuring a lot of things out but I''ll give you a call if I ever need anything important¡­ I have¡ª no, we have people back home that could do shit for us¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Okay, old man. Stay safe, alright?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Heh. Thanks, kid. You too, wear condoms¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Asshole! WANT A BOX OF VIAGRA DELIVERED TO YA?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU CAN''T MAKE ME MAD WITH THAT!!! NOT ANYMORE!!! GET FUCKED, KID!!! BYEEEEE!!!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, I ended the call whileughing my ass out because talking with the old man was something I''ll never get tired of and I was d to know he wasn''t just moping around at his home and drinking alcohol but did something great and was now waiting for the arrival of his daughter.


    I would''ve loved to be at least part of the clearing group when they reimed the Marine base but I''m pretty sure that there was still a lot of work that needed to be done or wasn''t a priority yet, but we''ll get right on it once I pay a visit.


    But yeah, after that call, the person I tried to contact next was Honasan, one of our helicopter pilots I asked him if there was an avable helicopter for immediate use and the response was:


    "All of them, sir. Even the one on your roof."


    On that note, I asked him to prepare to apany me and attach a coupling mechanism for the cargo we would be taking from a certain farm and a few other items I promised our one hell of a butler. It wasn''t as drawn out of a conversationpared to the one I had with Oscar but the next one I tried to contact was Sebastian¡ª no, Edith so we''d be also straight to the point.

 Chapter 1009 Touchdown - Tension

    <h4>Chapter 1009 Touchdown - Tension</h4>


    I know that it had only been a day since west left their ce but not only having Edith and Mimi to my fold was important, but also the bees that would being with them was something this ce needed. However, I''m not sure how they''d react to my ce which waspletely different from their beautiful estate but I''m sure they''ll appreciate the challenge it would bring to beautify it up in a way that could satisfy them.


    Also, I''ve said it many times before, Honey¡ªnot to mention Royal Jelly, Bee Pollen, and even Beeswax¡ªhas a lot of fucking uses, and just straight-up having bees to pollinate our nts was a huge plus.


    It was somethingmonly taken for granted but it was just the right time to bring them into mypound and the rest of our territories because aside from having nts or root crops we could eat, we had also begun growing flowers as a requirement for all of our households and the ones stationed in our greenhouses.


    Not only would that help the bees produce honey and whatnot, but it would also help the kids or anyone else interested in the matter to learn a little about that subject and somehow put a little color on our graying world.


    With that said, as I gave Edith the call, as much as she wanted to talk with me, I felt like she wanted to end the call as fast as possible so that she could get her stuff and the nucs ready, so we did just that.


    I can pretty much understand her excitement and I''d be a freaking dumbass if I couldn''t sense the tension that was slowly building up in the ship with me and everybody else in our circle, but Kaley had already royally decreed to not to do anything as of right now and just go wild once we get home.


    Long story short, we safely reached thepound by around 10 PM which was a little unfortunate because most of my friends and family were already asleep, but the ones who had never been so happy to see my ugly mug was none other than Zeus.


    He straight-up jumped into my arms as he burst out the door when he heard me call out his name, and he basically made me carry him back to our home¡ªtail wagging like a propeller and kissing me nonstop¡ªand made me fix him a little snack even if he had already eaten.


    And yeah, everyone couldn''t get enough of seeing him struggling between eating, wagging his tail, and running back at me to get petted, but Rin was shocked to fuck when she went down and discovered all of our guests.


    "U-Umm¡­ H-Hi?"


    I chuckled as I introduced her, "Everyone, that''s Rin. Rin, that''s everyone¡­ But yeah, that''s Mimi, Dr. Nichols, Riri, Ruru, Megan, Alexa¡­"


    Of course, she couldn''t wait to give Tatiana a hug but she started to call a bunch of people in regards to living arrangements. Obviously, JP and Brian shouldn''t be in the same house right now but some of the guys could go pretty much wherever, but in regards to the girls in our inner circle, it was decided for them to stay in my house for the night.


    Then again, the sexual tension once the boys left ramped up several degrees but Honasan almost got beaten to death when he awkwardly came down from the roof:


    "Ah¡ª S-Sir? The heli''s ready. Are we going now?"


    ''Everyone sleeping will definitely get woken up¡­''


    "Yeah¡ª"


    I answered him casually but I was almost overwhelmed by everyone else staring daggers at me for leaving just as we had arrived.


    "Rx, alright? We''ll be back before midnight with Edith and Nancy. We won''t be long."


    Honasan was still shaking in his boots, "S-S-Shall we, sir?"


    I nodded, "Yeah," then I turned to Kaley, "See youter, alright?"


    Kaley rolled her eyes as she scoffed, "Be safe, alright? We''ll start without you if you take too long¡ª"


    I joked, "That''ll be in my favor actually¡ª"


    "You doofus! J-Just go! Hmph! W-We''ll get ready so you better be ready when you get back¡­"


    I chuckled before leaning in as I kissed her, "Love ya."


    "I love you too¡ª"


    Honasan interjected,pletely oblivious, "G-Get ready for what, sir?"


    Everyone else shouted at the top of their lungs, "NOT YOUR BUSINESS! GET OUT!"


    "I-I''M SORRY~!!!!"


    With that said, Honasan and I took to the skies thiste at night, and let''s just say he couldn''t believe one of the areas we visited when wended the helicopter ways away from the Rivas Family''s precious flowers.


    ''Me too, bud¡­ Me too¡­''


    But yeah, Edith and Nancy straight-up dove inside my helicopter with their luggage after Sebastian secured the sealed nucs though he was still insisting that we stay a bit for supper which I unfortunately declined. However, his face lit up when I handed him five of our Injector Axes, the Jian I promised Elsa, a case of guns and ammo that contained a Remmington 870, a Benelli M4, and a few automatic rifles, andstly, a few devices formunication and a little bit of entertainment for this quiet neighborhood.


    "My lord, this is¡ª"


    I waved him off, "Mauro''s gift wille a little bitter. I can''t lift it with this heli. Maybe next time when we use our ship again¡­"


    "T-That''s not a problem, my lord¡­ I just wish you and thedy, and Nancy''s safe trip¡­ Including your co-pilot¡­"


    "Thank you, Sebastian. Talk to youter¡ª"


    And just as we were about to head out, Sal appeared from nowhere and shouted at the top of her lungs:


    "YOU MAKE SURE EDITH''S PREGNANT WHEN SHE VISITS OR I''LL MILK YOUR DICK AND PUT ONE IN HER INSTEAD! GOT ME?!"


    "AUNTIE!!! STOP~!!!"


    "WHY WOULD I?! YOU MOUNT THAT SON OF A BITCH AS MUCH AS YOU CAN AND¡ª OW! WHERE ARE THESE FUCKING ACORNS COMING FROM?! SEBASTIAN?! I KNEW IT WAS YOU!!!"


    "I''m deeply offended m-madam¡­ It might be from that tree¡ª"


    "WE''RE IN AN OPEN FIELD, YOU DUMBASS! GET ON IT! GIT! I''LL BEAT YOUR ASS!"


    On that note, we took to the air again as fast as wended and we had no trouble flying through the air while it was night. And even if we did somehow attract a few zeds in our direction, we''d just drag them right back because we used the same flight path.


    Anyhow, I did wake up some of my sleeping neighbors once we got back, and right after I attended to Zeus'' needs once again and thanked Honasan for a prompt assist, I let him go on his merry way with a few goodies though the atmosphere and the vibe in my house instantly changed¡ªeven making Zeus know what''s up as he left in a hurry.


    But yeah, it was still a little too chill at the moment because as I let Edith and Nancy ce their luggage in one of the rooms avable, everyone else was just chilling in my room wearing pajamas and had a nket covering one, a pair, or a cluster of them, watching a random movie and eating some popcorn.


    I did introduce the two to the others who haven''t known them yet but they all knew what was up with a single nce toward each other.

 Chapter 1010 Release I - Blankets Again?

    <h4>Chapter 1010 Release I - nkets Again?</h4>


    On that note, I didn''t want to say that I was suffering from sess because I actually am, but I was a little relieved that not everyone from our inner circle came down to visit. Because aside from Rin who looked totally intimidated from being in between Tatiana and Quinn, only Ms. M, or should I say, Micah, who looked veryfortable between Kaley and Dr. Nichols showed up.


    And again, there was an unbelievable tension from everyone else as they were kind of ''sizing'' each other up for some reason and these were some examples:


    First and foremost, I noticed this from Cynthia and the twins toward Chloe, Megan, Alexa, and even Mimi but since Mimi was so nice to them¡ªno, everyone, it just became a 3v3 thing because thetter group returned it one way or another.


    However, right as Mimi and Nancy''s eyes locked, again, for some reason, I noticed the same thing going on between just them.


    I would''ve added the same thing towards Quinn and Tatiana, Dr. Nichols and Micah, Dr. Nichols and Chloe, Edith and Kaley, Kaley and Mimi, etc. but those were either resolved or were just too one-sided to matter.


    But yeah, the girls didn''t even care if I showered or not as they quickly made me share a nket with Kaley while being right next to Tatiana who was sharing a nket with Rin and Quinn. And at the same time, Edith and Nancy briefly excused themselves so that they could change to something morefortable.


    On that note, everyone continued to watch the film on my TV¡ªand it was a romanticedy¡ªbut as I reached for the popcorn in the bowl that Kaley handed over to me, Tatiana had already switched nkets and invaded ours, pulled my cock out of my shorts, and started jerking me off from under the covers.


    Everyone already knew full well what was going on and they seemed to have already decided on whose turn was it and how everyone else should act at the moment.


    It was a little in the free-use category but I was free to do what I want to Tatiana who was now sucking my cock and to Kaley, to whom I was gently fondling her breasts while she was just watching the film like it was nothing¡ªeven though her cheeks were flushed and her breathing was a little heavy.


    But yeah, I then reached around to Tatiana''s fit body to first unbutton her cute PJ''s before rubbing her hard, pink nipples.


    She was letting out these muffled moans with each pinch while we could all hear how she was slobbering on my knob but she then grabbed my hand fondling her breasts before cing it right on her panties that was drenched in her juices. My fingers were ced right by her clit and I just started rubbing it in circles while alternating with rubbing her meaty folds.


    On that note, I could barely focus on the movie as Tatiana started to also alternate between sucking my dick up to the base and then licking and slurping the tip¡ªand it didn''t help when Edith and Nancy finally came in wearing a sexy silk pajama and a cute one with teddy prints all over it. They more or less knew what was going on but I had barely started pushing my finger in and out of Tatiana''s wet slit before the walls around my fingers started contracting.


    "MmM¡ª M-M-Mmmh! Hngh! MhMp! Mm¡­ Hmnph!"


    Tatiana started cumming while my dick was still deep in her throat but Kaley started cumming too when I pinched her nipples a certain way, causing me to fill Tatiana''s mouth with several pumps of cum. She had no intention of sharing them one bit as she swallowed and swallowed until the final drop, even giving it a tight squeeze for any remnants she could pull out.


    But yeah, as soon as her head popped out from under the covers with a huge smile after wiping her mouth, everyone else seemed to be expecting something from her which was very soon revealed as Tatiana looked like she had all the power in the world:


    "Hmmm~ Right, right~ What to do~ I''d like him to eat Kaley out while I''d like to get reamed by~ Hmm~ Let''s say Mimi! Crawl over here!"


    I was about to do as I was told but Mimi''s expression was just too much to pass up:


    "W-What''s that?" Mimi asked with an innocent and very embarrassed expression.


    Tatiana chuckled as she beckoned her, "Just go down on me and I''ll show you where to stick that tongue in¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    I didn''t know much about the rules right about now but even though there were someintsing from Quinn, Cynthia, and the twins, they just huffed and continued to watch or eat popcorn as I went under the covers and pulled just the bottom part of Kaley''s pajamas off.


    But yeah, Mimi did give me a little squeeze on my butt as she made her way towards Tatiana but it didn''t take long before I was making Kaley''s moans overpower the film they were watching from above.


    I tried pulling her down so I could just have my way with her before I dealt with everyone else but the general rule seemed to have at least their heads over the nket. But yeah, my dick was already leaking precum without getting any action though I continued pressing and pushing my tongue against Kaley''s wet hole as my fingers were going in and out of her soon-to-be-gaping asshole.


    Hearing myself say that, I did remember Mimi''s little promise to me from the time I took her virginity and since we were very close to each other, I tried testing the waters to see if she''d let me put a finger in her butt.


    And there it was.


    I wasn''t actually trying to hide what I was doing because everyone could figure out what we were doing from under the covers, but the moment the tip of my fingers grazed the little puckered butthole she was a little conscious of, she was just startled for a moment before she moved her butt towards me to ask for more.


    Then Tatiana chuckled before she enforced another one of their made-up rules:


    "Mimi~?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Wanna get punished?"


    "W-What¡ª"


    "You do know we could see what you''re doing¡ª"


    "A-Ah¡ª I-I''m sorry¡­ D-Do you also want a f-finger in¡ª"


    "God, yes! He can do whatever he wants but you shouldn''t offer yourself just like that¡­"


    "I-I did p-promise him s-something though¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Are you sure you wanna do that while everyone''s watching?"


    "I¡­ That''s¡­ A-As long as we''re under the c-covers¡­"


    "Fuck¡­ That just makes it even hotter¡­ It''ll be your turn next though so why don''t you keep doing what you''re doing and you can request it in your own b-nket¡ª O-Ooh¡­ Just like that¡­ Y-Yeah¡­ L-Lick my clit too¡­"


    At this point, I could still barely understand their made-up rules so I just continued to lick both Kaley''s holes and fondle and squeeze her huge breasts. I could''ve really just used a loophole and just made sure my head was under the covers so I could fuck her but I''ll continue to y their little game because I could basically stay in the same spot for hours and make Kaley cum for as much as she could.

 Chapter 1011 Release II - Mimi’s Promise

    <h4>Chapter 1011 Release II - Mimi''s Promise</h4>


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I learned one more of their silly rules and that was the moment the receiver¡ªthe one receiving the service while above the nket¡ªor in our current moment, the receivers: Kaley and Tatiana, had a release not in particr order, the round just stops and the givers: me and Mimi could each assign someone else¡ªbut not limited to one person¡ªto either continue giving or receiving pleasure or straight-up a refresh of the current yers.


    It was a very loosely made-up concept because it was just for fun and to avoid an unpleasant tangled mess because this particr group¡ªeven though we''ve had experience with each other, it didn''t mean that everyone else had experience with everyone else.


    Doing this was a little pre-run of sorts to slowly figure out everyone''s way of doing things while at the same time having the chance to open oneself to new things, but the two people I was worried about the most were still Dr. Nichols and Chloe.


    Both of them were present in the room but were on opposite sides of my bed¡ªChloe was on the left side sharing a nket with Megan and Alexa while Dr. Nichols was on the right sharing a nket with Micah¡ªand they both had a mix of nervousness and a little bit of excitement once I nced at them as I emerged from the covers.


    But yeah, Kaley was already half a mess when I gave her a kiss on the cheek and she had to take a short break before Mimi and I had to announce the next round because she was literally out of breath.


    Though Mimi was really determined to get her ass split open:


    "I-I want h-him to f-fuck me i-in the¡ª y-you know¡­ L-Like I promised you¡­ C-Can w-we have our heads above the c-covers now? I-I didn''t want to say a-anything but I-I was a little out of breath¡­"


    Tatiana replied, "Sure. Whatever¡­ Hotter to see the one eating me''s facial expression¡­" then she turned to me, "And you? What would you like to do? Aside from Mimi, of course¡­"


    I shook my head as I looked around in the room.


    Obviously, I''ll be fucking busy with Mimi for a short bit but I really wanted a side reel while I was resizing Mimi''s butthole so I remembered a little surprise that was supposedly for my eyes only:


    "Cynthia¡­ Why don''t you get out of the covers and show me your little surprise¡ª"


    She never looked so happy and horny as she got out of the covers, "Okay! I''ll¡ª"


    "But I wanna see you just looking at us while Chloe''s behind you and touching you all over and I don''t wanna see or hear anyints. Got it?"


    Cynthia nodded obediently while looking at me with puppy eyes, "Y-Yes, ''nii-chan¡­"


    ''Fuck¡­''


    Chloe got out of the covers as well, "D-Do you want me to take my c-clothes off too?"


    "Not yet¡­ I just want to see you make Cynthia cum¡­ Is that okay?"


    "I-I''ll try!" Chloe nodded as she went behind Cynthia but she did sneak a nce at Mrs. Sandy.


    However, Mrs. Sandy was still trying to focus on the film instead¡ªthough her cheeks were flushed¡ªand it was somehow due to the fact that Micah had already gone ahead and was touching her all over. I wasn''t sure if that was against the rule or not but it was just for a bit of fun and I couldn''t care as much right now because Mimi had alreadyid prone and was waiting for me to join her.


    On that note, I went on top of Mimi and tried to give her a gentle massage first to get her to rx but once I turned my gaze to the young girls in front of us, Chloe was already gently fondling Cynthia''s pierced nipples while Cynthia had her toned legs spread wide, showing off her meaty cunt and her tiny clit that also had a matching piercing as well.


    But yeah, both their eyes were focused on me as I continued to get Mimi to rx but I did have a principle to eat it before you fucking fuck it.


    To Mimi''s surprise, my tongue started to lick around the rim of her little asshole¡ªmaking her let out an audible gasp¡ªbut I couldn''t believe how pink and how enticing it smelled so I continued licking her until I started prodding it with my finger. However, it seemed like Mimi couldn''t wait a fucking second anymore as she was just spreading her tiny asscheeks apart, telling me to put more and more, so once I thought she was ready and I fully lubed up my huge shaft, I lifted her cute butt for a little bit before I pushed the tip inside.


    "HNGH! I-IT''S IN¡ª A-AH¡ª IT''S¡ª"


    "Breathe¡­ Rx, Mimi¡­ It''s just the tip¡ª"


    "J-JUST THE¡ª HNGH! T-THE TIP?! I-I TOLD YOU TO P-PUT IT A-ALL IN! WHY¡ª"


    "Breathe first¡ª"


    "B-BUT WHY¡ª HNGGGHHH!!! AH! AH! A-AH! FUCK! FUCK! O-OW! YES! Y-YES! W-WHY IS THAT SO¡ª MMMMMMMH~!"


    To her delight, I pushed my whole length in the moment she took in a deep breath and her body just shook all over. I didn''t expect this kind of reaction from Mimi but if that was what she wanted, that was what she was gonna get.


    Mimi was clutching the bedsheets as she was moving her hips towards me so I started to thrust as fast and as hard right from the fucking get-go, making the whole bed shake in ce while she was calling out my name.


    At the same time, not only were Chloe and Cynthia''s eyes on us but everyone else''s. Although, Cynthia''s arms were wrapped around Chloe''s neck from behind while Chloe was pinching her nipples and rubbing her clit at the same time.


    And yeah, I couldn''t believe how fucking tight Mimi''s little asshole was¡ªand it was just gripping me so fucking tight, I had to use a bit of force to push my way through¡ªbut the moment I felt warm liquid squirting from between her thighs, her screams also stopped as we discovered that she had once again fallen unconscious.


    However, I was also this fucking close to having a release so I figured that a few more pumps wouldn''t be too bad and of course, she wouldn''t fucking mind, but Cynthia being in the front row seeing that just sent her over the edge.


    "F-F-Fuckkk~! I''m cum¡ª I''M CUMMING~!!!"


    As Chloe was trying her best to pleasure her, Cynthia straight-up grabbed her hands and started to guide her to her special spot and made her hit it over and over furiously until she sprayed me and Mimi in the process. Not only was Cynthia out of breath but also Chloe from never moving her hands that fast and deep into someone else''s cunt, but going back to my current partner, she woke up a few secondster though she was still feeling the waves of her orgasms through cumming from her ass.


    Mimi turned her head around to try to give me a kiss but she could barely feel her legs, much less her whole body after that intense ordeal, so I just leaned in to kiss her as I slowly pulled out.


    "You okay?"


    "I-I passed out a-again, huh?"


    "Yeah¡­ We''ll work on it¡­"


    "It''s a little embarrassing¡­"


    "Nah, kinda hot too but know that you''re not alone¡­ I''m not gonna name them right now but it''s a great achievement for me."


    "R-Really?"


    "Yeah, though I''ll know if someone fakes it and I wouldn''t mind not being able to do that to someone every single time¡­ It''s just a bonus for making them you know¡­"


    "T-Thank you though¡­ Y-You''re really a-amazing¡­"


    With that said, as I was letting Mimi rest, I noticed that Chloe and Cynthia were simply bonding over their little experience with each other because they were already straight-up making out with each other and ignoring the rules. But to bepletely honest, who gives a fuck at this point, because not only did Kaley join Dr. Nichols and Micah under their nket, Quinn was already having her way with Rin while Edith was already looking mischievously toward Nancy and Mimi.


    This now left me with Tatiana, Megan, Alexa, and the twins but these two cadets came up to the look-alikes with a proposition while Tatiana went over to check on Rin who was about to vited as requested for the nth time.


    But yeah, I could very much pick anyone from this group and join in no questions asked but I felt a tug from below me who then looked at me with her round puppy eyes as she wiggled her little butt:


    "W-W-Wanna go a-again?"


    "Are you sure? Aren''t you a little sore?"


    "A little¡ª"


    "Then¡ª"


    "So? I-I''m too h-horny to f-feel pain¡­"


    "Fuck¡­ If you keep talking to me like that¡­"


    "Hmm¡­ So what do you say? Wanna work on me a l-little more?"

 Chapter 1012 Release III - Why don’t we just turn off the lights?

    <h4>Chapter 1012 Release III - Why don''t we just turn off the lights?</h4>


    With that said, Mimi''s gaping butthole was still oozing with my cum and I did establish myself as a¡ªforck of a better term¡ªa fucking double-dipper, so once I got my dick in ce and her clutch on the sheets locked in, I started hammering away at her poor little butt until she gave out.


    It wasn''t as tightpared to the first time obviously but with her small frame and size, she wouldn''t even need to grip me that tight to almost choke my dick out, and her cries from pleasure and pain were just getting me over the edge.


    But yeah, the moment I came in her for the second time was when Nancy cutely pushed me off Mimi because in her words, "She had enough!" But right as I thought she''d be the next sacrifice, she started to eat my cum out of her ass while Edith started to ram her ass from behind her.


    At this point, Chloe and Cynthia seemed to have established something as they were beckoning me over, but right as I was about to join the two, I was dragged into this Mommies'' Den of sorts which was arge nket where Kaley, Quinn, Dr. Nichols, and Micah were a part of. I thought Edith would be part of this group as well but it seemed she wascking a few qualities because aside from havingrge breasts, this section seemed to require the experience and the attitude.


    Tatiana would''ve also been in the mix because her body was growing graciously thertely but she was busy with Rin at the moment and I could barely handle Kaley and Quinn at once, I was already dreading what these four had in store for me as of right now.


    And ignoring Cynthia and Chloe''sints, I felt Kaley''s embrace from the back before her huge titsnded on the top of my head. I was just about to give them a gentle squeeze before I felt different sensations from my hands at the same time¡ªsoft and firm¡ªand it came from Dr. Nichols from the left and Micah from the right.


    My dick was happy as fuck they had their phones with their shlights on from under the bed so I could see each of them and their lustful expressions but it didn''t end there when my whole length was enveloped by Quinn''s huge milkers before she gave me this sassy look.


    To bepletely honest, I could probably ept my death at this moment in time because this was the fucking dream.


    Kaley''s perfect natural tits were the perfect size for me and my hand, Dr. Nichol''s MILF tits that were just as big¡ªbut even though they were hanging or sagging a bit¡ªher erged pink nipples and ares were just so hot to look at and nibble on were on, Micah''s round tits, though unnatural, were very well done and shaped so well it still looked like they were natural, and finally, Quinn''s humongous pair that was the literal motherlode of all the tits I''ve fucking seen that even though looked a bit much¡ªwhich wasn''t actually a concern¡ªknowing that it was proportional¡ªno, just a little bit biggerpared to the rest of her 7-foot frame was enough to make any tit-lover lose their heads.


    In any case, the moment Quinn cupped her breasts together to give me a titjob and lowered her head to suck me off at the same time, Kaley, Micah, and Dr. Nichols started rubbing their cunts¡ªmaking this wet splotchy sound from below. But yeah, Dr. Nichols and Micah were giving me direct eye contact while they were both moaning in pleasure but Kaley on the other hand was doing almost the same thing as she was pressing her milkers harder above my head.


    At one point, Dr. Nichols tried to breastfeed me when Micah also tried to suck on her tatas, but Kaley knew what to do as she angled her a bit so I could get a whiff of her smooth armpit and thank the heavens that Dr. Nichols didn''t mind¡ªsurprisingly enjoyed it¡ªand she even offered me to lick them.


    Obviously, Micah offered the same things Dr. Nichols did and I was happy as fuck to partake in them, but as I went over the edge and pumped Quinn''s mouth full of cum, she straight-up got rid of the nket covering us before she went on top of me and shared some of my seed into Kaley''s mouth as payment.


    Still, Dr. Nichols tried to partly cover herself when she saw Chloe looking directly at her but I was still struggling from the sensitivity when Quinn started moving her hips:


    "FUCK! FUCK! F-FUCK! WHY''S THIS DICK SO F-FUCKING GOOD! IT''S SCRAPING ALL THE¡ª HNGH! UGH! YEAH! SHIT! I CAN BARELY K-KEEP MY HEAD STRAIGHT WITH THIS¡ª MMH! HMM! MMH! F-FUCK! I-I''M CUMMING ALREADY! SHIIIIT!"


    If I didn''te from Quinn''s amazing titjob/blowjob earlier, I would''ve came from the sight of her jumping up and down with her huge tits shaking all around while wearing a deranged expression, because it was one thing to make a woman addicted to your junk and it was another thing to make Quinn out of all the people lose all proper decorum even while being on top.


    But yeah, Quinn kept riding me until I filled up her cunt but as that was still ongoing, Dr. Nichols was making me push my fingers in and out of her pussy hole while fondling her own tits¡ªand as long as Chloe didn''t have a direct vision of what she was doing¡ªshe was up for anything.


    However, it didn''t take long before Micah had her fill and it was now her turn. But as she went on top of me while still covering her back with her nket, Quinn had a very tempting proposition to fuck her ass at the same time:


    "That''s¡­" Dr. Nichols trailed as she was already slightly moving her hips.


    "Still shy?"


    "N-No¡­ It''s¡­ You know¡­" she trailed once again before briefly ncing at Chloe who was "busy" with a few others but was definitely stealing nces at her.


    Then Quinn had the most brilliant idea:


    "Why don''t we just turn off the lights?"

 Chapter 1013 Release IV - Excited for tomorrow

    <h4>Chapter 1013 Release IV - Excited for tomorrow</h4>


    The moment one of us reached for the lights, I just felt Dr. Nichols'' warm and soft body press onto me before an external force pressed on her even more, making it transfer over to me and get dispersed over my bed. Even with their phone''s shlights still being on, they could barely illuminate the whole area and what I could only see at the moment was the side of Dr. Nichols'' head grazing past my face as Quinn continued to plow her from behind.


    Taking out one of our primary senses would just greatly amplify the rest, and there was just something different about doing something naughty, especially adult stuff, while no one could see you.


    And yeah, it didn''t take long before Dr. Nichols'' muffled moanspletely turned to cries of pleasure and it was akin to opening the floodgates as she had a mind-numbing orgasm after mind-numbing orgasm because the gaze she was trying to avoid hadpletely disappeared due to the dark.


    "Yes! YES! Y-YESSS! A-AH! I never thought t-that¡ª MmmMmHH! Oh god! OH GOD! OH MY F-FUCKING GOD! D-DON''T STOP! PLEASE! Y-YES! AHN! MMh! hNHNhh! hNGHGHnhh~~~!!!"


    Her cries just fueled me and Quinn even more as she continued to p her ass with her inner thighs over and over¡ªnot stopping even though she had an orgasm herself due to the little nub of the strapless dildo scraping her insides¡ªbut as soon as Dr. Nichols gave out, Kaley simply took her ce before Quinn and I just had a new hole to stretch a few sizes bigger.


    Of course, Kaley could take more punishmentpared to Dr. Nichols'' who had just recently ignited her sex life, and at one point when Kaley felt that Quinn''s thrusts had gotten slower, she straight-up pulled the strapless dildo from Quinn''s cunt just by clenching her butt before she pushed her down and fucked her instead. And right after that, she made me push my dick in her pussy¡ªwhere the smaller end of the strapless dildo was¡ªbefore she made me finger her gaping ass that Quinn worked so hard for.


    Kaley would sometimes be this aggressive before but it didn''t take long before I was doing all the work¡ªand even fucking Quinn through her¡ªbecause I think I didn''t need to repeat how Kaley''s body was so sensitive to my touch and following along with her requests was just making her cum faster and harder.


    But yeah, I was now just going mostly for my sense of hearing to get a gist of what was going on around me, but aside from my sense of touch, I didn''t think I''d get to use my sense of smell and taste to figure out who I was with the moment I filled both of Kaley''s holes.


    Before anyone says anything, it wasn''t anything off-putting or something along those lines because for some reason¡ªthough not 100% urate¡ªI could somehow identify whose fucking pussy, ass, or mouth was gripping or slobbering on my dick, and at the same time, I could also identify whose parts were those including a few extra ones belonged to when my tongue was gliding or deep inside them or right in contact with my nose. In short, even without my eyesight, I would have a 90% chance to know who the fuck was I fucking or vice versa given enough experience or data to extrapte on.


    Sounds weird, I know, but this was something I began to discover the more time I spent with other people doing this type of activity.


    And right now, I was pretty sure that Riri was riding my dick while Ruru was sitting on my face not just by feeling but also by the specific scent and taste Ruru had¡­ a gic fingerprint if you will, but for her delicious cunt.


    But yeah, as the twins were having their way with me, it only took a second before two other figures who I couldn''t figure out exactly went on each of their behinds to plunge one of our toys into their little asses. It was this Eiffel Tower 2.0, for ack of a better term, but I soon found out that it was Megan and Alexa who just recovered from the twins fucking their brains out earlier.


    "You like this, huh?! You like getting your asses fucked like this?!" Megan eximed only a few centimeters away from my head.


    Ruru eximed as she pushed her cunt on my face even more, "Y-Y-Yes! Harder! H-HARDER! YES!"


    Riri almost eximed at the same time, "D-Deeper too! H-He r-reaches deeper in my¡ª There! THERE! RIGHT FUCKING THERE! DON''T STOP! You''re¡ª M-MmmMMmH! Yes! Haa¡ª AH¡ª MmmmHHgmm!!!"


    I absolutely wished I could see what they were doing but their voices were already a good fuel in my head though I could''ve wished Alexa followed with that dirty talk but I guess being the one in control and talking at the same time wasn''t in her wheelhouse yet. But yeah, I could still feel how a good job she was doing because each of her thrusts would make Riri''s grip on me even tighter¡ªbut I forgot what that alluded as I was suddenly drowned from a torrential downpour.


    Because the moment Riri reached her breaking point, Ruru also reached hers.


    I was a little lucky that both of them didn''t shower me with their squirt but Megan just continued to break open Ruru''s ass and it just made her squeeze everything out with each of her violent thrusts.


    But yeah, I soon learned that she was also close as well, that''s why she suddenly went hard on Ruru, but I had to break up our little formation as I focused on Alexa who wanted to cum with them at the same time.


    I simply yanked off the toy in her pussy before I reced it with my huge fucking dick and she just buried her nails on my back because I sealed her lips with my own, muffling her moans.


    Then everyone heard Megan''s voice:


    "Fuck¡­ If it was this fucking good in your room, how much better could it get when we see the whole ce!"

 Chapter 1014 Panic! At the Poolside!

    <h4>Chapter 1014 Panic! At the Poolside!</h4>


    Everyone hearing that just caused a few giggles but a roar ofughter from Quinn, of course, and it didn''t take long before I sessfully made the "rounds" through everybody else as I copsed on the bed right next to Kaley and Dr. Nichols.


    Unfortunately, I didn''t witness the biggest question mark of the night to happen¡ªor did it, perhaps(?) without our knowledge¡ªbut I sure as hell wouldn''t force an interaction if one or both of them were still ufortable or weren''t ready for it.


    Besides, this night was just a pre-run of what this current group would feel like together but overall, I think that everyone else had a great time.


    But once morning came, I remembered a certain person who''d alwayse knocking at the most inopportune time and if things weren''t already weird between Dr. Nichols and Chloe, how much more could it get when Marisha, Kaley''s mom came knocking and saw all of our new recruits.


    ''Of fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck¡ª''


    I literally jumped out of bed and woke Kaley in the process but it only took her one nce to figure out what I was so panicked about and the look of fear on her face was fucking priceless.


    However, I noticed that not only was Rin not in the pile of naked women sleeping with us, but also Edith, Nancy, Mimi, and thank the fucking divines, Dr. Nichols seemed to have woken up earlier than us and would probably soften the blow a little bit when Marisha doese knocking.


    Kaley whispered while still in a state of panic, "W-What time is it?!"


    I dove into our pile of clothes to look for my watch, "It''s already 9! We overslept!"


    "Fuck! W-Where are they a-anyway¡ª"


    Quinn suddenly cut in while stillying on the bed, "I can hear you two fuckers whispering! Quiet it down! I''m sleeping!"


    "FUCK!" Kaley and I mouthed to each other at the same time¡ªignoring the few groansing from the rest of them¡ªbefore we tried to fish out a change of clothes to head for the shower.


    And luckily, as we opened the door, it was pretty peaceful and quiet, and as I tried to peek my head to see what was up on the 1st floor, it was also fucking empty.


    "S-So?!" Kaley leaned in, afraid to even show a strand of hair that could be seen from below.


    "W-We''re good, I think¡­ They''re probably outside?"


    "Yeah¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡­ Haha¡­"


    "Ha¡­ Hahaha¡­"


    With that said, Kaley and I breathed a sigh of relief once more as we got into the shower and sat on the marble flooring. We were just looking at each other for a while as the water was trickling down our bodies before we shared augh for panicking for nothing. However, our little celebration was cut short when we walked into the pool area and discovered that Marisha was lounging at one of the tables with Dr. Nichols.


    And like Kaley knew what was in my head from just a simple nce, I somehow obtained their powers and knew the meaning behind the nce Marisha sent us when our eyes met¡ªor it was just too fucking obvious and I could tell what was wrong due to her emerging aura and how Kaley was already moonwalking out of sight.


    But yeah, I was about to grab her because I wouldn''t let her let me take the fall but she then bumped into Quinn who somehow got ready in that small span of time and followed after us.


    Obviously, just her height garnered a lot of attention but she was just so used to that reaction as she made her way to Dr. Nichols and casually introduced herself to Marisha:


    "Yo, wait¡ª are you Kaley''s mom?"


    Marisha just nodded with a smile, "Yes, I am¡­ Nice to meet you¡­?"


    "Quinn, not the royalty. Q-U-I-N-N. Would''ve loved to see youst night¡ª"


    "E-Excuse me?"


    At that point, even Dr. Nichols would''ve griddy''d the fuck out of dodge because I''m gonna assume that she probably talked a bit with Marisha and knew that she had a husband and then Quinn just straight-up hit on her the first time they met. However, before anything serious happened, the kids who were ying with Nancy saw Quinn towering above them¡ªeven though she was still seated¡ªand without much thought, they excitedly made their way towards her to introduce themselves.


    "Woaaaah~ Y-You''re really big!"


    "She''s like a fridge!"


    "Yeah! A coke dispenser!"


    "Uh-Huh! She is¡ª"


    "HAAA¡ª" Quinn was about to snap but she couldn''t believe her eyes when she saw the smol ones admiring her from below, "Ah¡ª The fuck¡ª I mean¡ª H-Hello?"


    Then one after the other, the kids opted for a handshake before they introduced themselves properly. And despite getting roasted, Quinn''s expression softened as she looked over them with a gentle smile.


    "Y-Yeah, nice to meet you all¡­ I''m Quinn¡ª"


    "WOAH! Did you guys hear that?!"


    "YEAH! Her name''s QUEEN!"


    Nancy tried to cut in, "That''s not¡ª"


    "That''s so coooool! Queen! I wish my name''s like that too!"


    "Me too!"


    "Yeah! Me too!"


    "I-I''ll go for King but I-I like the name m-mom gave m-me¡­"


    "I''m too old to be a King too, maybe prince or something, no?"


    "Yeah! And we could all be princes!"


    "And princesses! Yeah!"


    Then Zeus added, "Woof!"


    "Yeah! What Zeus said!"


    "Since when can you understand Zeus? Big Bro Sky''s the only one that could y''know?"


    "I just do!"


    "Then what did he say?!"


    "He just said woof! Didn''t you hear?!"


    "We all heard it! But what did he mean?!"


    "Alright, I was lying! I thought I had it all figured out! Sorry~!"


    "I knew it! What are we doing here again?"


    "Ah¡ª We''re supposed to be ying tag but Nancy kept asking for a timeout but¡ª Oh! Queen could y for her while she rests!"


    "HAAAH?!"


    The Quinn I know suddenly emerged but before she could fucking react, the kids just made Nancy tag her before all hell let loose.


    "YOU FUCKS¡ª I MEAN YOU DUCKS ARE GONNA FUCKING GET IT¡ª HOLD ON! THE FUCK ARE Y''ALL SO FAST?!"

 Chapter 1015 More PANIC! - Amelia?

    <h4>Chapter 1015 More PANIC! - Amelia?</h4>


    As Quinn struggled to chase down a few 8 to 12-year-olds in mypound, Kaley and I had already sat down by Marisha and Nancy¡ªwho somehow already knew where to procure a few snacks and prepared us some. She was the one who also told us that Edith and Rin were picked up by Charlotte and Chris and they were already in the process of setting up a few nucs¡ªour ce included¡ªand they were now in Amanda''s home, unsealing a couple of them to get them settled.


    But funnily enough, Nancy was instantly loved by my aunts and whatnot due to how cute and helpful she was¡ªespecially popping up in their kitchen at 4 in the morning to help¡ªwhile on Mimi''s case, she was already put on a pedestal of sorts because after she introduced herself, she walked straight to our hospital to volunteer.


    I would''ve preferred to give all of them a proper tour at the same time but some people were just busybodies and even though they weren''t required to work right then and there, it was just a force of habit and their bodies were looking for it.


    But yeah, I couldn''t exin how funnily ufortable Kaley was while Dr. Nichols was casually talking with Marisha like normal mature women would. It was like she could feel or sense something Marisha was releasing that was just going over my head though at the same time, Nancy wasn''t feeling anything to as she was just patiently waiting to refill our drinks with a smile.


    Then I heard a question being directed at me though I was too deep in my thoughts to hear it.


    I turned to Dr. Nichols who seemed to be the one to ask the question, "Ah¡ª Sorry, what was it again?"


    Dr. Nichols just smiled as repeated herself, "Chloe. Is she still asleep?"


    "Ah. Yes¡ª"


    "I would''ve liked to introduce her to Marisha right now and it''s such a nice day for her to start practicing swimming again but I guess we should let her sleep a bit more, huh?"


    Marisha then interjected, "Who else was sleeping upstairs then? Besides¡­ Quinn(?) and Dr. Sandara¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols cut in, "Please, remove the¡ª you know, we''re both doctors but¡ª"


    "Right, you asked me earlier¡­ I apologize," then she turned back to me, "Dear? Can you answer me? I would love to meet all of them and perhaps get a chance to talk to them one on one too but my schedule might be full if I wanna have a deep dive with Sandara."


    Dr. Nichols, a.k.a. Sandara chuckled, "Oh? Is that so?"


    Kaley had to cut in, "Mom? Are you¡ª"


    The two older women chuckled before Marisha looked at her daughter after rolling her eyes:


    "I know what you''re thinking, you doofus, but I''m still very much in love with your father. I''m talking about just simply making her unload everything from her personal and professional life because she just mentioned that she really needed a therapist but with my professional understanding, I think she just needed a friend who shared the same interests."


    Kaley tried to rebut, "We share the same interest¡ª"


    "In the same age bracket, is what I was trying to say," then she turned back to Dr. Nichols, "That reminds me, I believe you two didn''t have a ce to stay yet. Have you talked to Rin?"


    Dr. Nichols answered, "Ah¡­ Honestly, I usually just sleep in my office because of my workload and I just discoveredtely that it damaged my rtionship with my daughter but still, I wouldn''t mind a small home where I could be able to take care of her more."


    "Oh, I see. But she''s an adult now, no? She could probably take care of herself¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª You''re right, that''s not what I meant actually but what I wanted to say is that not take care but focus more on our stained rtionship. I''ve been trying to work on it but I¡­ I might''ve made a mistake and it has gotten umm¡­ Y-You see¡ª"


    Marisha definitely sensed something as she cut her off, "I''m sorry but I think I might need to stop you right there."


    "Ah¡ª"


    "It''s not like I don''t want you to vent but why don''t we continue this talk in my office which coincidentally is also my home¡­"


    "Oh! Right now? D-Do we need to drive¡ª"


    "No, it''s pretty close actually. I''ll also give you a brief tour along the way and before I forgot, we also have a pool! It''s not as big as this one but it gets the job done. Shall we?"


    Kaley interjected, "U-Umm, Mom¡­ Before you go¡­ Where''s Dad and Olivia? And y-you know¡­ Amelia? Is she¡ª"


    Marisha rolled her eyes from hearing the question but she eventually realized the little dilemma she was in because Dr. Nichols had just arrived in this ce, and if her brief tour included seeing Amelia''s state¡ªeven though she was already in rehabilitation¡ªit just might be too much of a shock to her.


    But Marisha took a deep breath for a moment before talking to Dr. Nichols inaudibly from our side.


    It took a few minutes before Dr. Nichols''s gaze snapped onto us and her expression was a mix of confusion, fear, and disbelief. Even Nancy couldn''t believe the little snippets she heard but as we discovered that Quinn was already listening in from behind, let''s just say that it was a small fucking world after all.


    As my gazended on her, the look of rage or just straight-up pure, unbridled wrath was stered all over her face as her shoulders were moving up and down due to how hard she was breathing.


    It obviously scared the kids off that were trying to climb on her but before I could try to somehow calm her down to exin the full situation, a single tear fell from her face as she shouted at the top of her lungs:


    "WHO''S RESPONSIBLE?!"


    "Quinn¡ª"


    "GODDAMMIT, ANSWER ME! WHO''S THE FUCKER HANDLING THAT OP?!"

 Chapter 1016 CALM YO TITS! - Small World, Again

    <h4>Chapter 1016 CALM YO TITS! - Small World, Again</h4>


    Following that outburst, it took a great deal to calm her down because Kaley and Marisha''s words didn''t seem to enter her ears except for mine. I don''t know the extent of what Quinn knew about this "operation" as she coined it, but in order for me to know more about it and calm her down, I needed to dig deep into my mind pce.


    Because even though I do have perfect recall, it didn''t mean that I''d only need a fraction of a second to make it float above my head. Furthermore, doing that while trying to redirect her charge and making her stay in the same spot was making things a little bit difficult.


    But yeah, the moment a little spark ignited inside my head, it was just a chain of explosions that made me remember everything from that day:


    "QUINN, I SAID STOP!"


    "WHY ARE YOU HIDING¡ª"


    "LISTEN TO ME GODDAMMIT! I REMEMBER THE NAME ''POPS''! POPS! DOES THAT RING A BELL?!"


    "WHAT? WHO¡ª"


    And right as she gave me the smallest of openings, I tripped her down and made her ssh into the pool, hopefully calming down her hot-headedness with some cool water. I can''t believe she''d straight-up had an outburst like that from one of her darker core memories without even hearing our side.


    I wanted to be understanding for as much as I could but this was just in stupid and if it was any other person, she might''ve repeated the mistake she made on the person their whole family was likening to me.


    Obviously, we garnered enough attention for my people toe running and even though our meeting should''ve been a little joyous, it ended with me waving them off with a bitter smile because I already had things under control and things should''ve been a little more different.


    But yeah, as I tried to give Quinn a hand after she cooled down while standing perfectly straight on my pool, the motherfucker pulled me down and had the audacity to get mad at me:


    "WHY''D YOU THROW ME IN THE WATER?!"


    "WHY''D YOU JUMP THE GUN AGAIN?!"


    "CAN YOU BLAME ME?!"


    "OF COURSE, I CAN FUCKING BLAME YOU! YOU CAN FUCKING COOK A CHICKEN WITH A SLAP!"


    "NO, I FUCKING CAN''T!"


    "HAVE YOU TRIED?!"


    "YOU¡ª STOP CLIMBING ON ME!"


    "I''M SORRY, I''M NOT 7 FEET! YOU TRIED TO HIT ME, YOU BULL!"


    "BULL?! DON''T COMPARE ME TO A BULL!"


    "FINE! ROGUE''S MUCH BETTER THAN YOU! HE FUCKING KNOWS WHEN TO STOP!"


    "UGH! YOU KNOW I CAN''T STOP MYSELF WHEN I GET MAD!"


    "THEN YOU ARE A BULL!"


    "SO WHAT IF I AM?! HUH?! DO YOU FUCKING HATE ME NOW?! IS THAT IT?!"


    "I DON''T HATE YOU QUINN! IT''S THE REACT NOW THINK LATER''S WHAT I''M FUCKING MAD ABOUT! YOU''RE BETTER THAN THAT! DO YOU NOT FUCKING TRUST ME?!"


    "WE BARELY KNOW¡ª"


    "I KNOW ENOUGH! AND YOU DO TOO! SO CUT THE FUCKING CRAP AND CAN''T WE JUST TALK WITHOUT SHOUTING OR FIGHTING AT FIRST?!"


    "THEN GET OFF ME FIRST!"


    "Fine! This here''s my favorite shirt too¡­" I slowly got off her as I pulled myself out of the pool.


    Quinn was looking down for a moment before she got a glimpse of Kaley seriously pissed from her actions, "I¡­ I thought you like the anime ones Kaley''s wearing instead¡­ S-Sorry¡­ Sorry, I snapped¡­"


    I let out a brief sigh before I offered my hand again, "See? You do know me. But I swear to fucking god if you pull me again¡ª"


    "I said I''m sorry! Pull me up, please¡­"


    "Typical powerlifter, can''t even do a pull-up¡ª"


    Kaley and Quinn shouted at the same time, "YOU¡ª DON''T START, ALRIGHT?!"


    "What? I thought she knew me that much? Honestly, I''m disappointed¨C Ow! Kaley! I''m trying to pull her up!"


    "Stop joking around!"


    In any case, it came as a surprise to those who knew Quinn to start apologizing to everybody because of the ruckus she caused¡­ especially to the kids she frightened. After that, Marisha decided to also have a talk with us but she did bring Dr. Nichols first to their home while Kaley and I escorted Quinn back to our house so that she and I could have a change of clothes.


    It didn''t take long before we discovered that everyone else had already woken up due to Quinn''s screaming earlier and they were just waiting for the right moment to pop up before entering the scene but it ended before they could.


    But yeah, after everyone else got ready, we made our way to Marisha''s residence¡ªafter also giving them a brief tour along the way and introducing them to everybody we came across¡ªbut to our surprise, not only was Edith and Rin present with Nancy, but Mimi was also there and was already taking care of Amelia¡ªor Amy''s needs.


    It obviously came as a surprise to the rest of my group when they saw Amy''s condition¡ªmissing both her arms and legs¡ªbut from the time she was here and receiving proper rehabilitation and counseling, she now could walk by herself but not in the traditional sense.


    "Sky! Kaley~! I missed you two! Don''t go over here! I''ll walk over!" Amy eximed with a huge smile on her face.


    At this moment, Amy had this prosthesis that was only a few inches in height¡ªnot enough to be as proportional to the rest of her body or be as long as a regr teenager''s calves¡ªbut it was a way to help her get adjusted to walking once again until she could be fitted with something that would gradually get more and more matching to her bodyposition.


    It was something that she''d have to get used to for a span of months and even years¡ªdepending on her ability to adapt and get used to the adjustments¡ªbut seeing her walk right now was already a huge feat among all the people I''ve seen that had the same condition but from a different cause.


    And yeah, it almost prompted Quinn''s reaction from everybody else but it seemed like not only Quinn knew something about this stuff but also Cynthia and the twins.

 Chapter 1017 Doll Business

    <h4>Chapter 1017 Doll Business</h4>


    Seeing their pained reaction from seeing Amy in this state¡ªas she was trying to give us a huge hug after waddling over¡ªmade me think that they must''ve seen someone like Amy in their time in the "business" but I doubt they were actually involved in this horrible way people¡ªno, monsters try to make money.


    In any case, they also couldn''t believe how Amy could still be this little ray of sunshine and she didn''t even mindplete strangers seeing her in her unusual state, as she kept the bright smile before looking up at me once I returned her warm hug:


    "D-Did you all just a-arrive? H-How was your trip? Was it okay? D-Did you guys eat well? How about sleep¡ª"


    I almost ruffled her hair as I cut her off with a smile, "We¡ª We had a st!"


    "That''s great!"


    "How about you, Amy? Anything happen while we''re away¡ª"


    "Huuuh?! You can''t notice any~thing~?" Amy said as she took a few steps back and pointed at her new legs.


    I then had a small realization, "Oh! You''ve gotten taller! Congrats!"


    "Yeah! I grew an inch! Heh. I-I can''t run with them yet but I could walk just fine, right?!"


    "Of course! That''s why I didn''t notice you had an upgrade because you were already used to them!"


    "Aww~ Gee, thanks! W-Who are t-they anyway?"


    "Let me introduce you¡­"


    As I mentioned earlier, the type of prosthesis Amy was wearing could be adjusted the more she got used to it and I didn''t even notice it at the moment because I was more preupied by how everyone else would react to seeing her like this. However, it was almost as I thought because no one could fucking believe that a person that had been through what Amy had been through could bounce back¡ª heck, even talk like she was talking right now from just a few months we''ve rescued her.


    Because essentially, she did most of the work since she was the one who saved herself.


    Anyone could be given the best counselor, technology, support system, or even top-of-the-line medication but if the person that was taking them didn''t want to get out of it themselves, all of those things would be akin to taking medical advice from a stranger and using sour candy as a cure-all.


    In any case, after I introduced her to everyone else, she gave them a small nod and the same bright smile before Mimi realized that this group here needed to talk about something serious. So, with the help of Nancy who was more than willing to help, they brought out Amy to "practice" walking around¡ªwith an emergency wheelchair, of course, the moment she got tired¡ªso we couldpare stories and get this mess that Quinn started sorted out.


    "Alright¡­ I didn''t think that this would be the first thing we''d do¡ª I-In the morning right as we woke up but it started when we drove to this area for a material run¡­"


    It was then that I retold the story of what happened from our side, discovering this unfinished construction project of sorts, encountering a few zeds, meeting "Pops", seeing "Pops" get killed with an arrow through his neck, and meeting with the perpetrators where one of them was the mother of the ones like Amy while one of them was the son of the officer who got killed from investigating this case.


    After that, I gave them a brief rundown about the people I mutted from Iskoh''s territory in Man before Marisha continued the story about her and a group of people who took care of Amy''s needs and made her into this bundle of hope and joy they didn''t even think was possible.


    It was obvious that some of the group got emotional and angry at the same time they heard Amy''s full story but it was now time for Quinn, Cynthia, and the twins to tell their side of the story to remove further doubt and suspicion on their part.


    Quinn started:


    "Haa¡­ Again, I''m sorry for what happened earlier but I didn''t think those fucks would still continue that fucking business¡ª"


    Megan cut in, "BUSINESS?! IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK¡ª"


    "Listen, ALRIGHT?! THAT''S WHAT THEY FUCKING CALLED IT, NOT ME! I CAN''T EVEN THINK OF THE RIGHT WORD TO USE SO I USED WHAT THEY WERE CALLED BEFORE! I''M SORRY, AGAIN, ALRIGHT?!"


    Kaley interjected, "Guys, I think we should let Quinn finish her story first before adding in or¡ª you know¡­ Please continue, Quinn¡­"


    Quinn made sure that Megan calmed down before she continued, "Haa¡­ As I was saying, this ''doll'' business before threw me in for a¡ª I can''t even begin to describe what I felt at that time when I discovered their existence but let me just say that when more people were made aware of them¡ªand of course, angered by such a way to treat people¡ªthe¡­ the uh¡­ the organization decided to cut off ties with that group, among others, but it seemed they still continued their operations because it''s that just lucrative¡­ More so when there are fewer ces to get them¡­ I couldn''t care less if grown adults decide to pursue sex work and do drugs just to live by but you shouldn''t do it to people against their will¡ªyoung or old¡ªperiod¡­ Fuck! It''s still making me so fucking mad I¡ª"


    I cut in, "Which group was it? Is it connected to the cartel or the triads¡ª"


    "I hate to say this but it''s more of a straight-up of who could provide them type of situation that caters to anything and everyone that seeks it and would protect them as well. You saw what would happen when they get discovered, you even did some of the punishment as well... You''ll know more if you get to talk to Mason¡ª"


    "Mason¡ª The Garcia Family?!"


    Then Quinn''s face darkened as she nodded, "Yeah. Jordan(#5) and Lucy(#6) were the ones to handle the transport of the ''goods'' at that time years ago because they gave argemission and whatnot, that''s why I discovered it in the first ce¡ªbecause they opened the package even though they shouldn''t¡ªbut who wouldn''t open it if it starts moving and screaming for dear life?"


    "W-Where are they exactly again?"


    "Which one?"


    "The Garcia Family''s HQ and the two people below you¡ª Jordan and Lucy, were they?"


    "It''s a drive to the West from the Rivas Family which is a 5-star Hotel, Resort, and Casino. Around five-to-six hours from thest time I remembered but Jordan and Lucy''s outpost is much closer but not by much. Mary and John''s people have been trying to get them to move inside but those two wouldn''t budge after discovering the other shit they''ve been doing besides the doll business¡­"

 Chapter 1018 Doll Business II - WE ARE CALM!

    <h4>Chapter 1018 Doll Business II - WE ARE CALM!</h4>


    As Quinn continued her story, it actually made sense that the Garcia Family was the one who handled the "op" before¡ªin regards to which Family was involved with Pops¡ªbecause not only did they deal in organs and copious amounts of narcotics, but they also deal actual people because Jonathan''s "daughter", Allie, and the card she handed over to me were a few examples.


    However, since their dealings were allegedly "cut off", as Quinn stated, years before we discovered Pops little basement, the people they were dealing with right now must''ve been the next destination Tracy, Mchi, and his crew went next.


    I haven''t talked to them in a good while but I just hope that that didn''t mean they actually failed.


    Because to bepletely honest, a group of college kids trying to topple an organization¡ªheck, even one family head''s rule was next to impossible. They could do some damage, sure, but it was the same thing over again when Artem and his group wanted to drive back to where they got Alexander and take revenge.


    I just wished they could''ve told me where they were going next so I could be of help.


    ''They might even doubt my allegiances with my current connections now too¡­''


    Additionally, they could slowly chip their forces down¡ªat least that''s what I would do if I were in their shoes¡ªbut not only was that extremely dangerous, but they were also threading a very thin line and one mistake would make them wish for a swift death.


    But yeah, never did I think that the two who I assumed were the most docile or demure among the family heads would be the most fucked up ones by arge margin. Granted the Castillos were hiding some pretty dark shit too, but if we were talking about how much suffering a person would go through, the Garcia Family takes the fucking cake.


    Simply put, murdering someone¡ªeven though still a sin¡ªunless tortured beforehand would just make their loved ones suffer emotionally from the tragic fate they received but turning someone into a "Doll" for pleasure and then making money out of them was a whole fucking special ce in the deepest parts of hell.


    It was just living a nightmare until they died because no life should belong to another person but theirs.


    I''ve taken some in my lifetime, sure, but it was a different case because it''s either life or death or those bastards definitely deserved it.


    And at this point, there''s no chance in hell that the Garcia Family would be shown mercy even though they allegedly stopped what they were doing. They simply crossed the fucking line and the only reason I could think of that they did it was that they had plenty of sources of ie it wouldn''t even make a dent in their savings.


    ''Still, but how? First and foremost¡­ I need to gather more info about them and make contact with Mchi and Tracy as soon as possible¡­ Oscar''s¡ª''


    As I was still in my train of thought, I noticed that Cynthia was just trying to get me to look at her from across the room without waving me over, and it seemed like she had something to say.


    So I put the spotlight on her:


    "Cynthia, what is it?"


    She bit her lip while still wearing a difficult expression before letting out a deep breath, "I¡­ I swear that the Cuervo Family¡ª that WE had nothing to do with this and it was also one of the reasons that my brother wanted to take a more passive role with the cartel¡­ He''s still the bridge between the two countries but he can only do so much in regards to each family head''s own businesses¡­ T-That''s why they came up with the universal rule to absolutely not mess w-with women or children b-but there are a few exceptions with the former as you''re already a-aware¡­"


    Marisha looked Cynthia directly in the eye, "What are those exceptions? I''m sorry, I''m not familiar with them."


    "I-It''s¡­ Y-You know, about sex work and stuff¡­ Guys are also wee to apply, just saying, but women just have the bigger market¡­ I promise that it was way worse before because people just keep doing what they were doing b-but it''s more regted now and¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols also cut in with a sharp re, "Have any proof of that? You know, concrete evidence?"


    At this point, Cynthia couldn''t bear the pressure the two were using to press on her but the twins answered for her with a straight tone:


    "We''re living proof. Tell them Ruru."


    "Yeah. We started right when we turned 18 and Mr. Cuervo wouldn''t let us join unless we provided some of our IDs and stuff and we got checked by his personal doctors."


    Marisha interjected, "I think there''s more to it than that. Please, enlighten us."


    The twins looked at each other before Riri answered:


    "Sure. Not everyone in the Pink House was at the proper age to do sex work but it was much, much better than trying to do it in the streets, forck of a better term."


    And Ruru added, "Our professions might not be that muchpared to yours but it''s the only way we could''ve lived. It''s either we do it for money or every single man who catches a glimpse of us would just have their way without so much as a thank you¡ª"


    Marisha cut them off, "I''m not saying that you''re less of a person doing sex work¡ª We do have the same type of thing going on in this ce but it''s heavily regted and each person partaking would be carefully checked¡ª"


    Riri eximed, "We are too! We''re not that careless and dumb!"


    "Again, I mean no offense and I didn''t say that in any shape or form¡ª"


    Ruru then followed with a frown, "Then what''s with this line of questioning?! Are we just talking or is this an interrogation?!"


    I tried to cut in, "Alright, if everyone could just calm down¡ª"


    But everyone eximed, "WE ARE CALM!"

 Chapter 1019 Doll Business III - Broken Goods

    <h4>Chapter 1019 Doll Business III - Broken Goods</h4>


    For the record, I didn''t think the conversation would turn this way but it seemed like my first mistake of getting everyone''s ire was trying to tell everybody to calm down. No, actually, it was probably ignoring Kaley''s mention of just letting them finish their piece. And yeah, it would almost always have this kind of effect but telling them to blow up instead of calming down wouldn''t make them take it down a notch either.


    A little bit of misunderstanding goes hand in hand with new people interacting with each other and simply talking it out respectfully and in a calm manner would resolve it.


    I guess my role right now was just to listen until everyone else could say their piece¡ªbut not to be sexist or anything¡ªbut I should''ve expected this conversation to get into a few tangents here and there. But yeah, it was still a little in line with what we were talking about earlier but then again, it was better to talk about this type of thing right now than let people''s assumptions get the better of them.


    In any case, the situation right now was that the twins felt that Marisha was looking down on them or something but even though I didn''t feel or see it myself, who am I to tell them otherwise if I wasn''t seeing through their eyes?


    And so, Marisha took a deep breath and beckoned everyone else to do the same before she tried to clear the air:


    "Alright, I''ll start by apologizing to you two because my words and my actions hurt both of you¡ª but do understand that we are talking about a rather sensitive topic¡ªa highly sensitive one, if I may say so myself¡ªso once our emotions are running a tad higher than usual, some things could be said rather unpleasantly and taken wrongly."


    "..."


    "..."


    Dr. Nichols followed after the silence of the twins, "Then I''ll apologize too because I also had a part in our rather aggressive¡­ line of questioning and it wasn''t fair and very judgmental on my part. I wouldn''t say this as an excuse but I''m gotta be really honest here because seeing¡ª s-seeing a precious little kid in that¡­ s-state wasn''t something in the darkest corner of my imagination a-and it really took everything for me not to break down in front of her¡­ So once we all started talking, my state of mind wasn''t in the right ce and I apologize for that¡­"


    At this point, silence filled the room for a few minutes as everyone else was just looking on the floor but the twins soon opened their mouths to say what was on their mind:


    Ruru started, "Umm¡­ I guess we''ll have to apologize too."


    Riri nodded, "We should''ve been a little more thick-skinned¡ªand we normally are¡ªr-regarding this type of s-stuff¡­"


    "But you''re right¡­"


    "S-Seeing Amy like that was also a shock to us and it brought up a few things from our past."


    Then they looked at each other for a moment before they turned back to us:


    "W-We''re sorry for blowing up like this too but while we''re on the topic of honesty¡­"


    "We guess that we shoulde clean about Mr. Cuervo''s regtions regarding the Pink House¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª Before you all worry, we ARE really clear of any STDs and whatnot, we assure you of that because we really did get checked but there was a lot of luck involved in that because if you''re just¡­ y-you know¡­"


    "If you''re a little new in the business¡­ You gotta work really hard and there are limited resources to get your blood work done among other things so it was pretty probable for some of us to get something contracted even if some of us were careful¡­"


    "We were a little lucky that our sales numbers are high because we are a two-for-one deal so we were able to have ess to health care and we were able to deny customers and have a few rules set up for our own safety and whatnot."


    ''I remember them telling me that¡­''


    They continued:


    "And yeah, we were out of that line of work right now¡ªthough we still have a lot of fun ourselves¡ªbut we''ll respect your choices to not have any sexual involvement with us at all but do keep in mind that our feelings still do get hurt if we get certain looks even if we are broken goods¡ª"


    Kaley then cut them off angrily, "DON''T. EVER. CALL. YOURSELVES. BROKEN. GOODS. PERIOD!"


    The two let out a bitter smile, "We were just¡ª"


    "I SAID EVER! DON''T EVER CALL YOURSELVES THAT! IF YOU''RE BROKEN GOODS THEN WHAT AM I?! HUH?!"


    At this point, tears were already falling from Kaley''s eyes and it was due to something that shouldn''t be put on paper. It was something that we talked about way, way~ back, in private, of course, and it definitely struck a nerve.


    But to give a brief exnation of it, it had something to do with her high sex drive that led to a few horrible things that happened to her from her past rtionships.


    With that said, I think I shouldn''t dig it up too much because clearly, Kaley was hurting because of it, and even I had to step in to stop this conversation from going too far off the subject because it definitely had, several back and forths ago.


    Kaley''s face was now buried on my shoulder as she was trying to calm herself down but the twins started to break down crying as well among others. It was a totally different scenepared to when we had just arrived and I just can''t stress enough for how much I hate to see her in such a state, even if it wasn''t my own doing.


    But yeah, after I made sure she was okay and had mostly calmed down, I decided to anchor back the conversation to what we should really be talking about:


    The Garcia Family''s involvement in the Doll Business.

 Chapter 1020 Broken Goods IV - I guess we have that in common, huh?

    <h4>Chapter 1020 Broken Goods IV - I guess we have that inmon, huh?</h4>


    From my own understanding and from Quinn''s story¡ªcoupled with Cynthia and the twins'' testimonies¡ªthis was what we found:


    Pops was just one of the suppliers and also the manufacturers of the "Dolls" and the Garcia Family just happened to take on that business venture due to how lucrative it was and due to how much of a piece of shit they were.


    And the reason these two parties came into a partnership of sorts was that the Garcia Family had a lot of high-profile connections that even Mr. Cuervo wasn''t aware of and usually, sick fucks who had a lot of money to burn had the most depraved shit that they get off on.


    Cynthia''s kinks were already up there but purchasing a "Doll" just goes way, way~ beyond that.


    However, we weren''t even sure if the two parties actually worked together unless we got ahold of Mchi and he let me see his dad''s work.


    The notebook he had from his father could be the only thing that could lead us to all of the scum in hiding so that we could finally hug their necks with a rope and pull really hard.


    But despite all that, it was undeniable that the Garcias were involved in that type of business one way or another, even if they weren''t procuring their products from Pops himself.


    And it just fucking ured to me that they were already dealing in people, organs. and body parts, who''s to say that they weren''t making the dolls themselves?


    Furthermore, who''s to say that they''ve already stopped as per the absolute rules within the family heads?


    Mr. Cuervo already mentioned that they were dealing with other people he doesn''t know, who''s to trust the words of a fucking criminal? Granted I mentioned that they could have other sources of ie but I also mentioned that it was lucrative as fuck so who''s to say they weren''t still on it but doing it on the down low?


    Though Cynthia had some words to say against that:


    "I''m not sure if they''d be able to because not only does my brother had people on their resort looking over to what they were doing, the other family heads does too to make sure¡­"


    And Edith followed:


    "I do remember auntie discussing it with Sebastian too¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Jordan and Lucy might not be in the inside but if some highly valuable cargo needs to be sent elsewhere, they ask for their help and obviously, it''s contingent on the two checking the package before sending it off."


    Tatiana shook her head, "Aren''t they really rich? Like more than everyone else?"


    "So?"


    "I mean, can''t they just pay off the ones they sent over? And it''s not like your people could have eyes on all their activity all at the same time. Misdirection''s a thing too."


    I nodded, "Yeah, since Tatiana''s a spy¡ª"


    "Hey! Stop¡ª"


    "I''m kidding, of course! Chill. We''re just so fucking tense here, I need some breathing room. But yeah, knowing all this helps us a lot but before we do anything rash, we''d have to be really precise and absolutely fucking ready. We could start a few preparations regarding this issue but I can''t n something from start to finish without getting into contact with Mchi and Tracy. Meeting with them and making sure that they''re okay is key."


    Kaley then spoke after being quiet for quite a while, "W-What are we gonna do then?"


    "For now, I''ll need Vera and na to somehow get into contact with them and if possible, I''d like to have a talk with Jordan and Lucy too because they''ll have the most recent copy of what the Garcia Family''s HQ looks like from their heads and having a map and outline is crucial, along with a general idea of what the inside looks like and how the people inside moves a certain way or if they had any schedules and whatnot¡­"


    Quinn never looked so excited, "Fuck yeah! I''ll try to get in touch with them to get shit started but do we have a timeline on this?"


    I shook my head, "Unfortunately, no¡­ It could take days, weeks, or even months but if we gotta do something as big as this, we gotta do it right. If not, there''s a very easy and stupid way but it''ll cost a lot of blood from both sides and I don''t want that. Our best-case scenario is to have that ce under new management but the bottom line should be is that the ones working there as ''entertainers'' should be employed of their own free will and everyone that''s on Mchi''s notebook should be locked in with me in an enclosed space for a day or two¡­"


    "What do you mean by that?"


    "Let''s just say that I''ll do some depraved shit on them too but not the way they thought¡ª"


    "FUCK THAT! WHY WOULD YOU HAVE ALL THE FUN?! THIS IS THE CLOSEST I''VE BEEN TO RIPPING THOSE FUCKS A NEW ASSHOLE AND YOU''RE NOT GONNA TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME!"


    I chuckled as I rolled my eyes, "Sure. But you get your own room."


    "Huh? Why?!"


    Seeing Quinn''s and a few others'' confusion, I simply smiled before subconsciously letting out a suffocating amount of killing intent, "Friendly fire, I''m trying to avoid that¡­"


    "A-Ah¡­ Right¡­"


    "I like you very much and I don''t wanna see you¡ª Ow! What¡ª" I suddenly felt an elbow from Kaley and I noticed what I was doing so I easily retracted my invisible aura, "Yeah, I think I''ve gotten more used to the controls but I just don''t want any idents."


    Quinn then chuckled and let out a bitter smile that slowly turned to a faint one, "I guess we have that inmon, huh?"


    I then had the same realization as her because of her incident with Jackie, "Ah¡ª Sure do. Not just the tattoos and cars now, huh?"


    "Eh~ Losing control and awesome tats, sure. Cars? Not a fucking chance. If you kept that R8 I''d let you park close to my DB9¡­"


    I rolled my eyes once again, "I definitely parked somewhere much, much~ ''closer'' but what''s wrong with my Impreza?"


    She rolled her eyes too, "That doesn''t evene close."


    "I also have a Charger, just saying¡­"


    "Why do you have the fucking cars that remind me of Jackie and Mike?!"


    "First of all, you gave me the Impreza and I just happen toe across a Charger which was also given to me¡ª"


    "Don''t you have anything you bought yourself?"


    "I¡ª I have a Hayabusa?"


    "We''re talking about cars, you dumbshit!"


    "How about my Raptor?"


    "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!"


    "I also have a boat and a jetski¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "An ambnce?"


    "LISTEN¡ª"


    "A fire truck?"


    "..."


    "A few helicopters?"


    "..."


    "An electric jeep?"


    "..."


    "Right! I also have a ship! You just rode on it! Ah¡ª Quinn?"


    At this point, Quinn had never been so quiet¡ªlike, ever¡ªwhile a huge vein was bulging and about to pop in her forehead, but at the same time, everyone else was just trying so hard not to fuckingugh except for Tatiana. She did try to contain it at first but she had to run outside andugh so fucking loud, we could hear the fucking echo from the inside.

 Chapter 1021 Do it the right way.

    <h4>Chapter 1021 Do it the right way.</h4>


    Having a proper conversation about Amy''s condition should''ve been done with all of our new members present but it since it came to this, I''m gonna trust that everybody else who was present in this moment to properly ry everything they''ve heard and just tell them to ask me instead if they had any further questions.


    Amy had been here for a few months and everybody else was already made aware of her condition, and doing just that would be much, much betterpared to hiding her in a lonely house because it wouldn''t be any different to her past life.


    Granted some people would still give her looks of pity and whatnot, Amy had been living with Marisha''s support all this time¡ªincluding having the most thoughtful friends she could ask for¡ªso even if some people would treat her an unpleasant or a dismissive way, she had the support system to make up for it.


    But yeah, the moment we finished the conversation and went outside, we found Amy sitting in her wheelchair while Mimi, Nancy, Zeus, and some of the kids were by her side though a little bit of misunderstanding seemed to be going on.


    "Hold on, hold on, hold on, ain''t no way you''re 26 and you''re 19! You''re definitely the same age as us! I-I''m even taller than you two!"


    I already knew where this line of questioning would lead to¡ªbecause I''ve been with Mimi for a few years and I''ve heard every single thing that was said about her frame¡ªbut aside from my college friends knowing how to properly conduct herself in front of a bunch of kids, Nancy seemed to have another method of establishing this new pecking order.


    "Y-Yeah, it was my fault that I was this small even though I''m 19, y''know?"


    "I knew it! You should''ve done something baaaad!"


    "W-What did you do though?"


    "Oh~ That¡­ I was a really bad kid and was really mean to my friends that''s why I n-never grew¡­ I''m really nice now and I always am but it seemed like the curse would allow me to grow¡ª"


    Hearing her say that was already making my internal eyes roll to the back of my head but this might just work for 8-year-old to 12-year-old kids who''d just believe about anything they heard from the grapevine.


    "W-What?! T-That''s crap! I-I never heard of t-that!"


    "I live in the mountains, alright?! I-I don''t wanna scare all of you but since you''ve already talked to me, we''re now sharing the curse¡ª"


    "W-WHAT?!"


    "YOU SHOULD''VE TOLD US!"


    "M-M-MOMMY!"


    "Ah¡ª I''m sorry! Don''t cry, don''t cry! This is still really good though!"


    "HUH?! You cursed us and you''re saying that it''s good?!"


    "W-What are we gonna do!"


    "H-How do we remove it, please!"


    Nancy let out this very evil smile as she leaned closer, "Here''s what I learned, okay? Sometimes, we just can''t help ourselves doing something bad like forgetting to make our bed or not helping our parents in the house¡ªor much worse, saying mean things to other people!"


    "Just tell us what to do!"


    "Don''t scream at her! You''ll be that height all your life!"


    "A-And?! W-What else is there?!"


    "So, to counter that, you need to do one good thing for every bad thing you do to you know, cancel it out¡­"


    ''This is gonna bite us in the ass¡ª''


    She continued, "BUT! Deliberately doing something bad then doing something good to fix it wouldn''t fly for the curse! The bad thing you do should be idental o-or something you didn''t mean to happen! Trust me, I thought I outsmarted them by doing just that but the curse knows!"


    "I-It''s that smart?!"


    "Noooo!"


    "T-That''s so scary!"


    "So, the real way to go is just to try and do as much good as possible because if we count the idental mistakes we make plus the ones we definitely did, we''ll be on the losing side! It won''t just bnce out and you''ll be the same as me!"


    ''She didn''t count the good things we also do "identally". Huh?''


    "S-So¡­ That''s it? W-We just try to do good things to cancel it out?"


    "P-Pretty much, yeah¡­"


    "Huh. Is that maybe why grandma''s short? She did a lot of bad things when¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª S-She could also be s-short from the start, no?"


    "Wait a second¡­ T-Then how do we know if we''re actually cursed or short from the start?!"


    ''And this is where she gets bite in the ass¡ª''


    Then Nancy threw a hail-mary, "That''s just it! You¡ª We never know! That''s why it''s a curse! What do you think would happen if you''re already short and you keep doing bad things?! What happens then¡ª"


    Then I had to cut in, "Guys¡­ There''s a very simple way for this, alright? Kenny."


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "What would you say or feel when I tell you that you''re good-looking and very, very good at parkour?"


    "Wait, really?! I''m good at parkour?! I''m so happy~!"


    I chuckled as I continued, "Pretty great, right? But what would you say or feel if I told you that I lied and said you look like Pinhio was turning into a real boy but stopped halfway there?"


    "WHAT?! Are you crazy?! I''ll be half-wood?! THAT''S EVEN MORE INSANE!"


    ''He''s too optimistic¡­''


    I tried to turn it the other way again, "You''re very happy, right? What if I told you that you really suck at parkour then?"


    He looked like he had the shock of his life, "T-Then¡­ I-I''m gonna work on it more! I''ll get better! Surely!"


    I almost facepalmed at my failed attempts to bring him down, "B-But you still felt upset from that, right?"


    "U-Umm¡­ I-It''s kinda t-true though¡­ B-Because if I do too much my f-fingies hurt¡­"


    "But you still felt kinda sad or something, right?"


    "Y-Yeah, I guess so¡­"


    "Then that''s what Nancy and Mimi felt when you told them that they''re really short."


    "H-Huh? It''s not the curse?"


    I just nced at Nancy and mouthed, "See what you did?" before turning back to Kenny:


    "We don''t know actually but you made them a little upset from that, no? Even if you didn''t mean to, you still hurt them. And yeah, you can''t control what anyone else could feel from our actions but it''s best to do something about it, no?"


    "W-What should I do t-then?"


    "We''ve done a lot about it earlier but you should say you''re sorry, like we mean it, right?"


    "Sorry? Oh. OH! Right! That works too!"


    In any case, Kenny and the rest of the kids offered a sincere apology to the two and Nancy just couldn''t believe how simple it was to simply get to the root of the issue and resolve it like normal people should. It was because she went on this long tirade of a "curse" affecting her instead of just telling them straight-up that they shouldn''t bully someone because of their appearance.


    Granted not all of the kids could be reasoned with like this, but they could, so it was a win-win for both parties.


    But yeah, we still had a bit of time before lunch so we decided to look for everyone else we came with for a smaller tour of what this ce could offer.

 Chapter 1022 Brief Tour - Metal

    <h4>Chapter 1022 Brief Tour - Metal</h4>


    Right now, we were only a few facilities and homes from the canal system and luckily for us, the cadets stayed at the same ce Artem and the rest were. They just didn''t know where to go at the moment but funnily enough, Kuzma came with them and was more excited for the tour than everybody else.


    Besides that, Mimi already told me that Ben and Cass met with her in this ce''s DDR Camp to take up some jobs though she did leave a little early because of our introduction to Amy. Furthermore, a few of our Russian friends were apanying Alexander in the hospital and they were just letting him sleep for the moment before Marisha dropped by.


    We can''t just start his therapy of sorts while he was still like a bruised hotdog, so it was better for him to get enough sleep and nutrients before anything else.


    In any case, we introduced the people with me to Amanda who was our resident mushroom farmer, Derek who was the guy who takes care of our animals, Juan who was our resident DJ from the radio station, Unc Zeidrick who just happened to be fishing in our fishing ponds and was just whatever about seeing me back, and a few more others along the way.


    But yeah, the cadets never looked so excited from seeing the covered court that we turned into a ce where we could do parkour, our indoor gun range that was behind it, and our recently built gym for the public''s use. We actually built a few gyms here and there but it would be much better to make the biggest one with the space provided so it could house a lot of exercise-minded people.


    I wouldn''t mind sharing my gym on the third floor but we can''t house a few thousand all at the same time even if we give them 2-hour timeslots.


    Besides, I need to be a little more selfish regarding my home because not everyone should juste in and work out if they wanted to. With friends and family, sure, no problem, but strangers that came in for the first time in my fold? Not a fucking chance because I would just tell them to do bodyweight exercises or runps around my territory.


    JP then turned to me, "The gun range¡­ Umm¡­ How many times in a day could we use it?"


    Chloe also followed excitedly, "I-I wanna know too! You said you''ll teach me, right?!"


    I chuckled, "Hmm~ You can use it pretty much once every single day but you''d have to be mindful of the bullets you''re using. Aside from picking up the cases not only from using the range but also from our runs outside, you''d also have to help out all around because even though I could make bullets, the materials for them are getting harder and harder to find. We still have a pretty good stock but even I go through a box of ammo like that *snaps fingers* if I get too into it."


    The cadets eximed at almost the same time, "You can make b-bullets?!/ WHAT?!/ For real?!"


    Rin interjected, "That reminds me, the president sent us more raw materials to process and a press they acquired for us to make our own casings but so far, I''ve only tumbled all of our used ones and asked Oscar to make the projectiles. Unfortunately, a few casings for our 9mms and .22 LRs are cracked so they couldn''t be used anymore¡­"


    I nodded pensively, "They finally sent us the press I asked for? Where is it?"


    "It''s still wrapped inside the workshop¡ª well, I wrapped it twice because Oscar tried to run it but he can''t seem to make a proper one without the uh¡­ ''Kid''s Magic'' as he said."


    "Alright, alright¡­ we''ll check it outter¡­ Oh! Let''s see if Faith''s awake."


    Quinn tilted her head, "Who?"


    "Before you say anything, no, she''s not ''acquainted'' with us but you''ll be in for a little surprise."


    "Oh?"


    "Yeah, let''s hope Daisy''s over there too."


    At this point, we made our way to the very end of the road where our canal system with a nice docking area was located, but our main purpose was the house the very first group I took in from the outside chose to live in.


    Funnily enough, Zeus called over Boxer, who was Jay''s dog from behind their gate to inform us of our arrival and it didn''t take long before a woman not only covered with tattoos but also had this freshly-dyed hair that had different hues of blue came up with a huge smile on her face:


    "Woah! You got a crowd here! Are you all trying to get tats?! It''s my day off tomorrow but you can all choose the designs for now or you can just give me the outline and I''ll work it in a way to fit where you want it put."


    I chuckled as I waved her off, "I dunno about them but we just dropped by because I wanna introduce our new people joining us today. They came from a faraway ce¡ª"


    "Aw~ shucks, for real?! That''s great!" Daisy eximed as she surprisingly just saw Quinn among the crowd, "WOAH! Didn''t see you there, I''m Daisy by the way¡ª Fuck, we shouldn''t be too loud because Faith''s still sleeping¡ªpreggy, sorry¡ªb-but it''s almost lunch, right? Can I eat at your ce?"


    I nodded, "Sure."


    Quinn muttered from behind, "She sounds fun. I probably need a few retouches too¡ª"


    Daisy then turned to her, "You got ink, ma?"


    "Did you just call me¡ª"


    "Ma? Yeah? You''re very momma-coded so¡ª Ah. I''m sorry¡ª"


    "Nah. I kinda like the sound of that. Less creepy than mommy."


    "Hah! Riiiight~" Daisy trailed as she nced at me for a moment, "Anyway, do you just want a retouch or do you want something new?"


    "What do you got though?"


    "Oh? I got a few portfolios but you can just look at me."


    At this point, Daisy just unzipped her hoody and showed them the rest of her vibrant tattoos that definitely made Chloe and Megan eager to have one done on their unblemished skin. However, I did promise Daisy that Kaley and I were supposed to have matching tattoos done by her and we pretty much avoided her advances to ink our bodies.


    Though Kuzma already thought of a design for himself:


    "Can you do wings on me?"


    Daisy turned to scan Kuzma''s whole body before nodding, "I haven''t seen you before but yeah, I can do wings. Just on your back or¡ª"


    "Can it start in my back and end by my wrists? Also, I don''t want feathers. Can you make them assorted des or just pieces of metal that form the wings instead?"

 Chapter 1023 Hospitality - The Troops Plus Extra?

    <h4>Chapter 1023 Hospitality - The Troops Plus Extra?</h4>


    Hearing Kuzma''s suggestion, it made Daisy inspired and excited in a way before she suddenly ran back to their house and then came back with a few portfolios, but it was then that she pulled arge rolled-up piece of paper that seemed to be her current work in progress and showed it to us:


    "This is so sick! Did you know that I just started making this a week ago?!"


    Kuzma''s eyes just widened, "What. The. Fuck. This is what I had in mind!"


    In any case, even I was excited from such a design because instead of just a pair of wings that would start from his back and end on his wrists, there were two other smaller pairs where the first one would wrap around his abdominals while the other would go straight down and finish by his quads.


    It was a fucking metal tattoo that had literal metal instead of feathery wings and it was a little homage to Kuzma''s side job from the cockpit arena.


    For some reason, the rest of us were already being ignored but this was just too much of a coincidence to act like it was nothing.


    ''If something sparked between the two, it would be just icing on the cake¡­''


    Kuzma barely knew people from our fold and even though he was a solid member of Artem''s group, he needed more people to be acquainted with so he wouldn''t be as isted in the first few days or weeks for being the new kids in the block. However, it was also important to note to not force out interactions but what''s happening right now was just the right amount.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we made our way back to thepound because some of us literally missed breakfast, but for some reason, we didn''t feel that hungry. However, it was a prettymon custom in this country to prepare a little overboard with highly-ptable meals when we have visitors or in everyone else''s case, new people in our growingmunity.


    Tatiana was just gone in the blink of an eye the moment she saw the spread, and she already had two tes full of food when the kids just managed to hand us our utensils.


    And of course, we have Jpeno pepper bombs, deep-fried pork chops with extra gravy, cord greens, a vegetable medley, spaghetti with little cuts of hotdogs, chicken adobo with pineapples and potatoes, and most importantly, steaming hot and fragrant rice to eat everything with.


    As always, there was a little corner where chili oil, soy sauce, or any other condiments and seasonings could be used, and on the other side of the table was a jug of iced tea and ice-cold water.


    It was pretty obvious with our bites as to who hadn''t taken a bite yet ever since we woke up but Tatiana and Quinn among others just had no difference, except for the actual volume of food they were eating.


    But yeah, I took it upon myself to formally introduce everybody since most of them were present and I was d that some of them were already a little familiar or just a straight-up meeting with old friends.


    It was because Ken and An though not actually in the same friend group¡ªor should I say not in the same wavelength or particr closeness¡ªwith Ben, Cass, Andy, and Mimi, they were all my college friends and they also knew Chloe and Dr. Nichols from the same university.


    A lot of stories and catching up were absolutely in order but the thing I''m worried about the most regarding our new people was between JP and Brian.


    Their little mud fight at Cuervo Heights was just quickly swept under the rug and wrapped up because of our supposed rush to get here as quickly as possible but it seemed we should''ve taken a bit of our time because Oscar had already taken care of most of the important bits regarding our guests from the other side.


    On the other hand, most of the cadets and our trainees were gelling together pretty well¡ªIsaac included¡ªso I just decided to only interfere if they don''t sort out their, JP and Brian''s rtionship, like fucking adults should.


    Johnny then approached me with a ss of water, "Kid, are you gonna follow after Oscarter or what?"


    "Is that an offer for driving the ship again¡ª"


    "Hah?! We just got here and you wanna make me leave again?!"


    I chuckled as I shook my head, "I thought so. But to answer your question, I gotta settle in a bit more and see Rin and everybody else''s reports before I organize a party to go over there. Have you talked to the old man, at least?"


    "Didn''t I tell you about itst time¡ª"


    "Last time? You mean the time you''re drunk on¡ª"


    "Ah, fuck. I forgot about that. I was just in a high that time and¡ª"


    "In a high or high¡ª"


    He loomed a little closer with a threatening aura, "Don''t make me beat you up with my prosthetic leg, you fuck. Haa¡­ But to get back to that subject, apparently¡­ not only did we have our retired troops'' boats, fishing vessels, and whatnot visit besides theing ship carrier but a few civilians found out about that base location and tried¡ªno, some of them already made it while a few are presumed to be trying to get to that ce. So, who''s to say we wouldn''t end up with more visitors messing up the roadmap if they docked elsewhere?"


    "Fuck¡­ That''s true¡­ It''s gonna create some friction for sure if they''re not that cooperative but why bet on a long cruise instead of just getting into a remote ind somewhere South of the US?"


    "Well, for starters, you two fucks¡ªno, wait¡­ we three fucks decided to live here and you do know about your people''s hospitality among foreigners."


    I nodded pensively, "That''s true too but time''s changed as ofte¡­ it''s not gonna be the same but there would still be a few people willing to lend a hand."


    "Who?" he asked earnestly.


    I looked at him like he was a fucking idiot, "Me? Who else? I lend a hand to you and your family and I got a captain, who wouldn''t want that?"


    "You¡ª"


    "And you just get headaches from talking to me from time to time, win-win, no?"


    "..."


    "Johnny?"


    "Nice talk. See youter, kid," Johnny just said with a deadpan expression though I did hear a small snicker once he thought I was out of earshot.

 Chapter 1024 Progress Report - Too Generous

    <h4>Chapter 1024 Progress Report - Too Generous</h4>


    In any case, from the two weeks plus that we were away, a few things in my territory and other outposts changed. It didn''t take long before evening came as I gave everyone else a proper tour around the area but we would always gather around thepound for a meeting, especially now because not only was Oscar away, but I was gone for quite a while and I needed a recap of sorts as to what happened while we weren''t here.


    Rin took to the stage with a projector and her ownptop though she already gave me a copy of everything else as she started with a foreword and weed everyone else that came again.


    ''Let''s see here¡­''


    Starting from the distance between the harbor I owned and Iskoh''s, we could confidently say that, with 99% certainty that we could let a child walk that path without encountering a single deadhead, because not only were our soldiers and civilian fighters hard at work for keeping the threat outside that area to zero, several blockades made with shipping containers were sessfully ced to essentially close out the roads, only leaving a couple of areas where vehicles could pass through.


    It was the same thing that was ced all around Iskoh''s main area, due to the number of dead in that ce being significantly higher than mine, but since we were right next to the coast, we should take advantage of what it could offer instead of the high-rise cities that would take a lot of time, resources, and people to clean uppared to the ones near the water.


    But in regards tond where we nt our oh, so needed rice, right after the mission to clear out a road leading to both harbors, a portion of our soldiers was sent over to Mauricio''s HQ, where the intercity was, to beef up the rice fields for our farmers in Bcan.


    Furthermore, since we have visitorsing from Subic, it was just the natural decision to have more of our people on that side because driving further northwest would lead to where Subic was. But before that, it would tread on the part where one of our mutual business partners whom we met due to our fateful meeting with Mauricio, Jessica, where her HQ was located right by the border of Bcan and Pampanga.


    From ourst known news from her side, it was mentioned that she fought off a group that was led by a high-ranking officer of the Philippine Army that had gone AWOL, and it was partly due to the reinforcements and the equipment we sent her.


    Granted she offered me an airport to use, but we still haven''t been to that ce except for Oscar when he drove straight to Subic¡ªand of course, Mikhail, who was now incapacitated at the moment due to a gunshot wound.


    It has been a while since west spoke, so the moment we set off to follow after the old man, we should probably catch up briefly to maintain or even further increase the rtionship our groups had with each other.


    But yeah, speaking of rtionships, my eyebrow raised the moment I realized the number of guns, ammo, medicine, food, water, gas, vehicles¡ªessentially all of the fucking essentials he brought with him¡ªnot even including the people he sent over to help his folks get settled in that Marine base.


    And let me be honest, I was both a hoarding Scrooge and a generous god about our personal stock, and I''m particrly giving when ites to establishing connections with other people¡ªeven though it might sound like I''m buying their trust¡ªbut at the end of the day, it just speeds up the process and I can just stop sending them supply crates if the return in my investment wasn''t enough.


    Furthermore, Oscar out of all the people I know was the most stingy fuck when ites to his guns and he just straight-up sent a third of his own collection over¡ªnot including mine or our "emergency", "emergency-emergency", "emergency-emergency-emergency", "collected", "reimed", "repossessed", and "hidden" stocks¡ªto those people.


    "I can understand his desire and happiness to help the unfortunate ones and probably his brothers in arms but GOD FUCKING DAMMIT THEY''RE IN A MARINE BASE! DON''T THEY HAVE GUNS?! IT''S LIKE DONATING A CUP OF WATER TO A FUCKING OCEAN!!! Ah¡ª"


    I didn''t even notice that I was already thinking out loud from thest part while tightly clutching my hands and as a vein was protruding out of my forehead¡ªand right now, everyone else was just staring at me confused because Rin was still discussing about clearing out the space between the two harbors and it seemed like I may have read a bit too far in her report.


    But yeah, Quinn, Tatiana, and a few others startedughing from strategic points from the chairs we prepared for them and it just turned into a chain ofughter from one person to the next while my ears just burned from the embarrassment. Even Zeus had toy down and cover his face¡ªas if he was facepalming¡ªand he had the fucking audacity to let out a huff once we met eyes.


    Rin turned to me while trying to hold herughter, "U-Umm¡­ W-Wanna continue this instead?"


    I waved her off while trying not to look at the crowd who was stillughing at me, "N-No¡­ I''m sorry, you know how it is¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Yeah, I do¡­ I was surprised too but we''ll get to that¡­"


    "Yeah¡­ Again, sorry¡­"


    "It''s okay, it''s okay~ Pfft¡­" then she turned back to the crowd with a smile, "Alright, as I was saying¡­"


    On that note, there was a lot of things to go through not only from what happened in this current time because of course, we had several projects running at the same time before and coincidentally, it just either progressed a good amount or straight-up got finished so they would be included in the report.


    ''Hmm~ Oh! This is¡­''

 Chapter 1025 Progress Report II - Marry us?

    <h4>Chapter 1025 Progress Report II - Marry us?</h4>


    Being a bookworm and all, I would just identally gaze at a line or a block of text and just read it in a matter of seconds as a force of habit, because also stemming from being an anime enthusiast as well¡ªespecially from watching action sequences¡ªeven if I can understand Japanese and read the characters, there was this small chance that the words they were saying and what was actually written as the subtitles would be different.


    And obviously, I can''t just look down and take my time reading the text while the characters were wailing at each other so I needed to be quick about it or rey the scene though that would ruin it for me.


    In any case, my attention was sent to the report that Morales, one of the officers the president sent over who had beef with Artem, started to dig into Quezon City instead of going with the flow of just clearing the areas around the coast.


    But yeah, I should mention that he set up an outpost right on the University of the East, which was on the opposite side of the love hotel and the other university we cleared outst time, where we also first discovered the slurpers/stitchers hanging by the train station.


    He was leading a group to try and make contact with the othermunities located in that city, especially the ones right next or maybe even at the news station where we encountered one of their helicopters fromst time but he also had an officer leading another group to slowly whittle down and clear out the train stations and the surrounding areas.


    He had other officers like Jose to whom he could give direct orders and leave important responsibilities but now that Jose was in Cuervo Heights with the Major, the one he assigned as a stand-in for Jose''s absence at the harbor might be up for a permanent spot or a promotion.


    ''I don''t mind him doing things on his own but he should''ve stuck with clearing the train stations further down the LRT Line 1 so we''d have another route to Iskoh''s address¡­ But yeah, it could be the president''s orders for all we know¡­''


    This was one of those times I let the president do his thing with his soldiers¡ªeven though they also almost always listen to my orders as well¡ªbut there should be something or someone really important around those parts if they''d make the executive decision to travel to those parts.


    Because if it was me, and since the president had a direct line with Oscar, he''d probably do the same thing Oscar did and build up rtions with our newest guests but he was probably growing tired of the guests he had on his turf because several representatives from different countries were sent to his direction.


    Thest thing he wanted now was more people to get into contact with or he probably just let me and Oscar handle this shit on our side of the map because that was what partnerships were for.


    But then again, it seemed like I''d read far too quickly and skipped a few things that didn''t matter to me as much because I didn''t even notice that Rin turned to me with a concern of sorts while everyone was looking at me once again. However, this time, An was standing at the front with Jenny holding hands, and they seemed to be asking me a very~ important fucking question.


    And I didn''t hear a lick of it.


    So, I had to pretend I was in shock:


    "Wha¡ª N-No way¡ª Tell that to me again one more time¡­"


    An absolutely fell for it as he repeated himself with a huge smile, "Dude! I''ve known you all my life¡ª Wait, that doesn''t sound right¡­ I''ve known you for years¡ª" then he turned to Jenny, "Is that better?"


    Jenny nodded and chuckled before she answered, "Sure~"


    Then An turned back to me again, "I''ve known you all these years dude and you''ve saved my life when I got stuck¡ª no, you saved our lives when we got stuck in the supermarket and instead of just leaving with me, you decided to save everyone else inside¡­ and for that, we thank you for the bottom of our hearts because doing that made us found each other¡­"


    ''Where is this going?''


    "We¡­ We know it''s a bad time but when''s a good time nowadays, you know? Even Jay didn''t pull out from Faith and now she''s pregnant¡ª Ow! Jenny, what the fuck?!"


    "You didn''t have to say that part! And they''re over there!"


    Looking at the back, Jay and Faith were instead dyingughing and it was just a testament due to how well they knew An all this time so An threw Jenny a smug look before taking a kick to his shin:


    "A-Alright, it''s my fault¡­ I''ll stop! A-Anyway, dude¡­ You just mean that much to us and we basically owe you our lives so what better way to go the whole circle than for you to marry us¡ª B-Before you say anything, I know how it is with you and the almighty but it''s just a simple wedding like you''re the judge of some sort a-and we just want you¡ª"


    I finally understood the assignment as I cut him off, "I''ll be honored dude, when?"


    "Now?"


    "WHAT?! NOW?!"


    An couldn''t believe his eyes, "Are you even listening dude?! I already said that when''s a good time to get married¡ª and I even wore a bow tie! You know it took me five hours to get it right?!"


    "HUH?! THAT''S A CLIP-ON YOU JUST HOOK ON YOUR SHIRT¡ª"


    "I GAVE UP ALRIGHT?! THERE! HAPPY?!"


    "THEN HOW DID YOU GET IT RIGHT?!"


    "BY GIVING UP! THAT''S HOW! ANYTHING ELSE TO SAY?!"


    "..."


    "SPEAK UP, DUDE! WHAT?!"


    "I give up¡­ You two really wanna do it now?" I turned to Jenny instead, "I''m actually ordained, if that matters."


    Jenny couldn''t be more happy, "Wait, for real?!"


    "Yeah, better to be ordained and not have to marry random people off the streets than to not be ordained and need to marry friends I met along the way, no?"

 Chapter 1026 Simple Wedding - Cohabitation and Boundaries

    <h4>Chapter 1026 Simple Wedding - Cohabitation and Boundaries</h4>


    As soon as I said that, everyone else couldn''t believe I snuck it in there and altered my favorite saying, but since I saw Nancy from the back just waiting for me with an officiant''s suit on hand, I just chuckled about the whole situation before going with the flow from everyone else''s.


    But yeah, a few others didn''t even think we''d have a surprise wedding from the get-go¡ªsince everyone was still wearing casual clothes¡ªbut An and Jenny didn''t want a grand wedding but a very simple one with all of our friends and family in one ce.


    It''s just that I had to improv a few lines from memory but aside from my "group" chuckling to themselves from discovering the references I made along the way, all that mattered was telling the groom to kiss the bride and enjoy the happenings as all hell let loose when their lips touched.


    And even if the venue wasn''t as grand, the food and drinks served were appropriate to the asion and it was probably why we had the meeting before dinner. But yeah, I didn''t even think that Quinn would fight for the fucking bouquet tossed by Jenny at one point, but none of the guys expected the women, even Quinn who already won, to fight for the garter as well.


    "WHAT¡ª THAT''S CHEATING!"


    "WHO SAID I WAS?! YOU''RE JUST FUCKING SALTY YOU CAN JUMP SO HIGH!"


    "YOU¡ª YOU DIDN''T EVEN JUMP! YOU JUST RAISED YOUR HAND AND CAUGHT IT!"


    "IF YOU''RE THAT PISSED, YOU LITTLE BITCH-BOY, WHY DON''T WE FIGHT FOR IT¡ª YOU¡ª DON''T LOOK THAT EXCITED IF I''M AIMING TO BEAT YOU UP! THAT''S DISGUSTING?!"


    "YOU¡ª HOW''D YOU KNOW I WAS GOING FOR THAT FROM THE START?!"


    "Ew. I''d rather see you¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    "PLEASE! JUST CRUSH MY HEAD BETWEEN YOUR THIGHS¡ª"


    "ALRIGHT, ISAAC~ YOU''VE HAD ENOUGH, WE''RE SENDING YOU BACK~"


    "B-BUT¡ª"


    "D''YOU WANT TO GET SHOT BY RUBBER BULLETS?! THAT''S THE CUSTOM HERE, DO YOU KNOW THAT?!"


    Honestly, it was just a st and a wholesome moment for everyone else, especially the newlyweds, and it was also announced that they''d be moving out of thepound and living in a house just by themselves.


    They wouldn''t be as far from thepound because it was still within walking distance and they would still be the pair guarding ourpound during the day, but a few others were still teary especially their next-door neighbors who were Charlotte and Chris.


    But yeah, regarding that subject, the next pair that would upy their room was none other than Olivia, Kaley''s younger sister, and Lois, Jared''s younger brother.


    It was pretty obvious that there weren''t any problems from our side but we knew who was the only person that was upset about the whole situation. And yeah, that was the reason I didn''t even see the two, let alone Matthew, when we arrived because those three people joined Oscar''s expedition of sorts and Matthew would do anything to dy their cohabitation for as much as possible.


    That problem of his even probably made him forgot about our little fight before we sailed to Batangas¡ªincluding our arrival yesterday¡ªbut it was his problem to solve himself, not ours.


    Granted that our young couple wasn''t technically at the legal age to live by themselves and partake in such activities on their own, letting them live their lives while giving proper education and advice for such things was the lesser evil of them sneaking around whenever possible without the knowledge about the responsibilities they''d have to shoulder the moment they made a mistake.


    But yeah, now was just a different timepared to when the world hadn''t ended but in this ce, everyone else was still trying to live how they should for as much as possible.


    The horrors outside were another thing but the inside¡ªeven though not entirely without problems¡ªshould be a safe space for everybody else that was left in this world.


    ''Besides, both of them were only a few months before they were technically adults but the things they''ve experienced this year probably sped up the process because let''s be honest here, I''ve met far younger individuals who''ve had sexual experience and know jack shit about being an actual adult and there were also actual adults who also know squat about what adulting 101 should be, these two with the knowledge and experience they''ve gained the past year would fare far better than 70% of the people from the old world¡­''


    Sure, if they were leftpletely alone without the rest of us to support them, there should be some struggles at the start but I''m stillpletely sure that these two could handle once they found their own rhythm.


    In any case, I made sure to not drink too much because someone needs to be sober at these types of parties, but once we sent off An and Jenny with their very own car as a present, the night slowly died down though there was still plenty of hours before midnight.


    Most of the heavy drinkers were still present while small groups were either by our catwalk or some other spot chatting with each other, but with the way things were going, it seemed like Kaley enforced one of her decrees for us to be alone this night. However, that didn''t mean that the women in our circle couldn''t steal a round or two while Kaley still hadn''t brought me to our room but I wasn''t up for it.


    All of them were still very wee to sleep in the other rooms but this time, the moment the door to our room closes, Kaley and I should be the only ones inside.


    A few of them weren''t particrly happy with this type of arrangement but this was one of the boundaries we set and without following that, our arrangement with everybody else should be dissolved.


    I could probably handle it but with the surprise wedding and all, Kaley enforcing her absolute rules had some hidden meaning within it. Furthermore, we already spent time with everybody elsest night and I really wanted to sleep on my own bed just lying next to my one and only.


    So yeah, even though the night was still young, I pulled Kaley from the people she was chatting with and voiced my sincere intentions, and she just couldn''t hide the smile she was wearing when I took the initiative to get her.


    Let''s be honest, she was the one that would almost always initiate ande up with surprises and whatnot but this time, among a few times, I simply wanted to be with her.

 Chapter 1027 Alone, Finally - Domination

    <h4>Chapter 1027 Alone, Finally - Domination</h4>


    At this point, Kaley and I were already rushing upstairs but as I was about to go for the door to our room, she was reaching for the bathroom door instead. I wanted to get right on it while she wanted to freshen up a little bit, but I simply gave her one look and she knew what I was going for.


    "You dirty little boy¡ª Ah! Don''t pull!"


    To her surprise, I pinned her by the door and started kissing her mouth, cheeks, and neck, and aside from tasting her sweet lips and hearing her cute moans, I was starting to get more and more enamored by the scenting out of her body that had a mix of her natural smell and a little bit of sweat.


    Take note, we had just finished the tour earlier and we walked all the way to the ces we could given the time frame, and right after that, we straight-up had our meeting without having the chance to freshen up as Kaley said.


    However, there was really something vastly different to how a woman''s sweat smelled like it took everything from me to not rip her clothes then and there.


    Kaley was just wearing a simple cotton shirt with a long-sleeved jacket and some stretchy jeans but my face was already buried by her armpit and taking huge whiffs while I was groping herrge tits over her clothes. At the same time, Kaley was trying to touch me all over while she was trying so hard to control her breathing, but she let out an audible gasp when she suddenly had an orgasm right then and there.


    "MmM-MmH! W-Wait! A-Ah~! I¡ª I-Its¡ª H-Ha¡­ H-Haa¡ª M-My pants! W-Wait!"


    To my surprise, I felt the sudden release from her crotch area since my thigh was just rubbing her from under there, and she never looked so embarrassed because she looked like she peed herself. However, her flushed face just fueled me even more as I finally opened the door to our room and shut it tight before I bent her down my table with a mirror and just pulled her pants down to her knees.


    "W-What are you¡ª"


    At this moment, her big round ass was on disy along with her pink, puffy holes and they were just drenched with her juices because her cute panties and her pants hadn''t absorbed all of them yet.


    But yeah, I just knelt down and spread her buttcheeks open and started sniffing and licking her holes covered with her juices and sweat.


    "MmMmM! Ah! AnhN! Y-Yes! AmNmmNh! Ah! A-Ah! C-Cumming~!"


    I swear to fucking god I''ve never seen Kaley cum this fucking fast and from the lightest touch but I still haven''t had enough of her fat fucking cunt and her puffy little asshole. Aside from her moans and her calling out my name, the sound of me slurping and licking all of the nooks and crevices of her pink rim and her vaginal walls could offer, along with her excess juices plopping on the floor, were the only things that could be heard in our room.


    At this point, Kaley was basically begging for my cock once I pulled her pantspletely off, but I turned her around and took off the rest of her clothing before I took another whiff of her sweaty clothes.


    "W-Why don''t you s-smell t-this instead?" Kaley looked at me with helpless eyes as she raised both her arms to reveal her smooth, sweaty armpits.


    Hearing that, my huge boner was ready to rip my pants off and have my way with her but I simply plugged two of my fingers inside her wet pussy before I held both her arms which were already to the back of her head before I alternated between sniffing and licking her armpits while suckling on her huge fucking tits at the same time.


    Kaley was basically a godsent humoring me with all of my kinks and even though I still haven''t pulled out my cock from my pants, she was trying to give me a little bit of pleasure by also rubbing her thighs against my huge bulge from below. However, Kaley was just cumming over and over from my touch, and she could barely stand up from everything that she was receiving.


    We haven''t been to bed and she already came close to a dozen times, but I didn''t know if I should stop right now because even though she could barely stand, she was wearing this devilish smile while being out of breath.


    But yeah, as I gave her a kiss and let her taste everything else that came from her, it didn''t take long before she almost cut off the cirction from my fingers that were going in and out of her as she started cumming hard for the nth time.


    "H-HNGH! Y-Yess¡­ Ah¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ W-Why is it so¡ª Mmh! A-Again! I-I''m cumming a-again¡ª AhhhHnn! F-Fuckk¡­ H-How are you d-doing this to m-me¡ª MmH! Mmnn~!!!"


    At this point, I simply made her stand right by our bed as I made her watch me undress, but the moment she tried to kneel down to suck me off, I pulled her right back up before I sat by the edge and made her sit on top of me.


    I appreciate that she wanted to suck dick but at this point, I wanted my first load to be inside her pussy and we didn''t even need much lubrication as it slid right in.


    Furthermore, the moment she started moving her hips, I followed her movements as I reached around and put a finger in her little asshole while my other hand was supporting her lower back at the same time my face was buried between her chest.


    Kaley had never gripped me so tight as she moaned and moved like an animal in heat but we were only a few pumps in before I came inside her. However, she couldn''t give a fuck because of the number of times I made her cum and before I had the chance to recover, she managed to push me down and lean as we were face to face before she watched me lose my head when she moved her hips like there was no fucking tomorrow.

 Chapter 1028 Alone Finally II - Submission

    <h4>Chapter 1028 Alone Finally II - Submission</h4>


    At this point, I could barely maintain eye contact as my eyes were already rolling to the back of my head due to the overloading of pleasure and my senses, but Kaley suddenly sent a p across my face before she shouted at the top of her lungs:


    "YOU LIKE THAT, HUH?! YOU LOVE ME GRIPPING YOUR HUGE FUCKING COCK RIGHT AS YOU CUM IN MY LITTLE HOLE?!"


    "K-KALEY¡ª"


    "YOU LOVE HOW MY BIG FUCKING TITS ARE PRESSED AGAINST YOUR HUGE PECS WHILE I''M RUNNING MY HANDS ON YOUR HUGE FUCKING ARMS?! GOD! YOU MADE ME CUM SO MUCH! YOU MADE ME CUM SO FUCKING MUCH SO NOW I''M RETURNING THE FAVOR TENFOLD!"


    Kaley basically turned the table against me but there was one sure-fire way to get her shrivel up and slow her roll and I just stared her directly in the eye before I faintly smiled and said, "I love you, Kaley¡­"


    "W-WAIT! MMmmHM! T-That''s n-not f-fairRrr¡ª Mmh!"


    As soon as I said that, Kaley just went so fucking red through her neck and she never came so hard as her body jolted like she received a million volts of electricity. She was looking me right in the eye as she struggled to control her breath while letting out interrupted gasps but most importantly, the way her vaginal walls were contracting all over the ce also made me cum a second time just as fast, and I just held her tight as I could before the surges and waves pass.


    Even though I hadn''t cummed that hard, especially with Kaley at the same time, the two of us just started smiling at each other after a short bit before we were giggling like little idiots.


    "Caught you off-guard, didn''t I?"


    "You¡ª Of course, you did!"


    "And? I haven''t heard a reply yet, just saying~"


    "Of course, I love you too, you doofus¡­ B-But umm¡­"


    "Wanna go again?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ B-But I still wanna pleasure you¡­ I-If you know where I''m getting at¡­"


    "How about you tell me?"


    "W-Well¡­ I liked what you did to me on that table¡­ I-I¡­ I wanted to do the same t-thing to y-you¡­ I-If that''s¡ª"


    "Okay, sure."


    Kaley never looked so happy, "Wait¡ª R-Really?! Just tell me if you feel ufortable and I''ll stop, alright?!"


    "Pfft¡­ Okay. Do you wanna do it on the table?"


    Kaley thought for a bit but she shook her head, "This bed is just fine, you can just y-you know, by the edge¡­"


    "Okay¡­"


    And right as I sat by the edge of our bed after a quick trip to the bathroom, Kaley seemed to be waiting for me to do something else but once she discovered I had no idea what she was going for, she giggled cutely before pointing at me and moving her index finger in circles, asking me to turn over.


    "That''s¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ You doofus, you bent me over, right?"


    "R-Right¡ª"


    "God¡­ D-Don''t look at me like that¡­ D-Don''t worry¡­ I-I won''t do ''that'' until you tell me to¡­"


    With that said, I did as I was told and presented my behind to Kaley while my elbows were ced right by our bed, and Kaley didn''t waste any time as she grabbed my huge cock from between my legs and pulled it for as much I could take before I felt her tongue graze the tip, my whole length, my balls, and my taint, beforepletely licking my asshole.


    I could only go from feeling because Kaley was right behind me instead of the few times where I could see her face, but she started to slowly jerk me off with a reverse grip as she was giving me a rimjob.


    It was still pretty difficult for me topletely embrace the pleasure I was feeling, but Kaley was making sure that I was doing fine every single time I felt a little unsure. But yeah, even if this might seem transactional because she let me have my way with her earlier, I''m gonna say that it wasn''t all that bad because before this, she did ask and I agreed.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I heard sounds that weren''ting from me though I instantly figured out that Kaley was definitely touching herself and getting herself off from all of this.


    Kaley was even letting out moans while her tongue was busy elsewhere and her left hand was making wet sounds with my dick while the other was letting out squelches with her pink folds and her little bean. It didn''t take long before I felt the pleasure building up as my breath hurried while I let out a little groan, and Kaley took it upon herself to start jerking me off as fast as she could before using her other hand to reach for my prostate.


    "K-KALEY¡ª"


    I barely managed to call out her name as my whole body fucking shook from this violent orgasm, but contrary to our usual deal to keep going while the other one was still cumming, Kaley gently slowed her roll and let me catch my breath before she waited for me to turn over and get on the bed, greeting me with the brightest smile and showering me with kisses.


    Then again, the feeling of shame didn''te right as the little moment of rity arrived, but I took over once again and went for a few more rounds with Kaley as our arms were wrapped around each other. Granted she took charge again eventually by being on top, but sometime in the future, the things she always asked of me¡ªespecially that one other thing¡ªcould be a regr thing we do when we were together if she was this always respectful about how we progress and how she always made mefortable before, during, and after.


    "I love you, Kaley¡­"


    "I love you too¡­ So, so much¡­"


    "Sooooo¡­ again?"


    "Pfft¡­ You doofus¡­ I can''t even feel my legs right now¡ª"


    I faked gasped as I looked at her like she said the dirtiest thing I''ve heard, "I was talking about kissing you, what are you on about?"


    "You¡ª G-Give me five minutes and your eyes will be rolling to the back of your head again¡­"


    "So¡­"


    "S-So what? Why are you looking at me like that?"


    I started to loom over her with a threatening smile, "So, I have free reign for you for the next five minutes¡ªmaybe even more if the feeling in your legs doesn''te back that fast¡ª"


    "Y-You! G-Give my lower body a b-break, alright?"


    "Who said we can''t do about the upper half? I did say I''ll kiss you, your funbags and your pits are still part of the deal, no?"


    "Y-You''re impossible¡­"


    "Heh. Too much?"


    "N-Not quite¡­"


    "Oh?"


    "I-I didn''t say no so¡­ s-surprise me¡ª Ah! F-Fuck! Pinching them a-already?! W-Wait¡ª I''m¡ª MmMmHHH! Y-Yes¡ª K-Kiss me a-and¡ª Mmh¡­ Mm¡­ NnH¡­"


    At this point, I did just focus on Kaley''s upper half¡ªthough it didn''t stop her from cumming¡ªbecause Kaley could cum just from kissing me, how much of an effect would touching her all over, especially with my cock sliding in and out of her boobs would do to her? But yeah, as soon as the five or so minutes were up, she definitely made not just mine¡ªbut also her eyes¡ªroll to the back of our heads after everything was over.


    After that, we justid on the bed panting while on our sides, looking at each other straight in the eye, smiling, but inplete silence.


    I didn''t know how much time we spent just staring at each other right after our little activity but once morning came and we opened both our eyes, we were in for a surprise to discover that we woke up at the same time.


    I let out a little chuckle before I looked at my morning wood and nced at her, "So¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ You doofus¡­"

 Chapter 1029 Aftermath Horrors - Mauser

    <h4>Chapter 1029 Aftermath Horrors - Mauser</h4>


    Condensing our 30-minute morning activity to a few sentences, let''s just say that we smashed, Kaley smashed, I ''mashed, and we two did the monster mash.


    In any case, as we were about to head for the shower, there was a pretty big situation because living with all these beautiful girls wasn''t always sex and being king of the castle, because Kaley and I just saw the aftermath of what happened when we excused ourselves and left everybody else to their own devices.


    It used to be simply just random underwear lying around, getting jumpscares by bumping into one of them wearing facemasks, or even sometimes, seeing a random person¡ªno, just Tatiana at 3 AM in the fucking morning crouched down on my refrigerator like a goblin and having ate,te~ snack.


    ''All those blocks of cheese missing¡­ Always her¡­ Always¡­''


    But yeah, this time was a little different and the first victim was Rin who barely got in her room and was sleeping next to her or someone else''s vomit spread on the floor like a Pollock painting.


    "Jesus fucking christ¡ª"


    "I-I''ll open the door, she''s gonna hate it when she wakes up¡­"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ I''ll carry her¡ª"


    I was just about to carry her to the bathroom so she could clean herself up but as Kaley opened the door, Cynthia seemed to be duct taped on the toilet and probably took part in their free-use thing in their own time, but everyone else that was involved probably passed out and forgot to cut her out of the restraints so she had no choice but to fall asleep in her position.


    "..."


    "..."


    Ignoring Cynthia for the moment, I almost jumped out of my skin when I discovered the twins were not actually disemboweled by the shower but just covered with soggy pepperoni pizzas and several servings of spaghetti and meatballs with extra sauce.


    All I could do right now was simply wake the twins up by turning the shower to its coldest setting and hearing them scream before I slowly dipped Rin into the half-filled tub which luckily didn''t im a single victim. Doing that also woke up Cynthia whom I eventually freed of her captivity but I almost smacked her in the head when she got pissy that I didn''t avail of her services before cutting her loose.


    However, there were still a lot of yers missing but Kaley miraculously found Chloe safe and sound, sleeping on the top of the bunk bed in one of the rooms avable but it didn''t take long before I figured out Quinn had probably gotten ahold of some duct tape because I found Mimi and Nancy duct taped on the FUCKING CEILING OF ALL PLACES before I found Edith sleeping soundly in one of the closets.


    I had to take care of these two first and foremost as Kaley started to bathe Rin and keep the twins from getting the food on the bathroom floor even more, but our scavenger hunt of sorts didn''t end there because we still had the 1st floor, the 3rd floor, the roof, and the basement to look for missing people and that was contingent if everybody else got home before doing whatever the fuck they did while Kaley and I were alone.


    But yeah, I found Tatiana in our kitchen with an empty tub of ice cream and Quinn on the roof wearing only a duct tape bikini with an empty bottle of alcohol while Kaley found Megan and Alexa hugging each other in the basement because they thought they locked themselves in and had nowhere else to go.


    Then again, after looking all over the house, we eventually found Dr. Nichols talking with Marisha once again by the poolside and it was this weird Groundhog Day of sorts that we almost had to take a double-take on.


    I should''ve been preparing for the trip to Subic with a few groups in mind but we basically wasted a few hours taking care of everyone who definitely drank a little too much yesterday. I was confident that they wouldn''t go that hard considering the meeting we had but An and Jenny''s wedding put them in this festive mood and went ham on the celebration.


    But despite all that, there were a few reliable ones:


    Kaley was the first one of course, and even though Jared couldn''t be seen in thepound, I simply tried to give him a call and he answered in the first ring and told me he just crashed at Alex''s room. Furthermore, since I basically reced Ibarra with Jose from ourst trip, he was eager to get back in the saddle.


    These three were the main members of my scouting group before we went to Batangas, aside from Tatiana and Mikhail who were both incapacitated for very different reasons, but since I sessfully convinced Artem and his group off the warpath for the moment, his crew will definitelye with us.


    But to my fucking shock, the moment the kids ran off to tell everyone that breakfast was ready, Tatiana was the first one toe in like she didn''t get fucking wasted the day before:


    "What?"


    "N-Nothing¡­"


    With that said, more and more of our people came from the gate to have some breakfast and it gave me a general idea of who to take with me considering the circumstances.


    We wouldn''t be going into an unexplored territory per se¡ªsince Oscar already touched down over there with a few others¡ªbut aside from obviously bringing my Raptor, Tatiana''s Humvee, and my good ''ol business truck, I also decided to bring the Raycolt in which some of the cadets would be riding on plus some of the trainees who were suddenly interested to ride with us instead of going into their own missions.


    I already asked Rin to bring out the "general" stuff we''d use to give or trade with other people but as much as I would hate to do this and keep all of them in my domain, I decided to bring over something that Oscar wouldn''t even think of.


    It was one of Zeus'' younger siblings who already looked like a full-grown dog and the look of betrayal Zeus gave me when I put on a dog vest on "Mauser" and thought I was bringing anotherpanion instead of him was fucking priceless.


    But yeah, It was one thing to spring a puppy as a gift for the holidays but having a pet in your midst, especially at these times, was always an overlooked security requirement because of the responsibility it required.

 Chapter 1030 Unexpected Visitors - Complacency

    <h4>Chapter 1030 Unexpected Visitors - Comcency</h4>


    After a couple of hours or so, everyone and everything was geared up and ounted for, but the moment we were just about to drive past the gate through the highway, I mmed on my fucking brakes and almost caused a collision. And right after that, I suddenly bridged the distance between me and this couple of dudes merrily chatting with one of my "guards", JJ, who was supposed to be keeping a close watch as to whoes and goes in my territory.


    It was because these two fuckers weren''t even on the updated list of people who were epted in themunity that Rin gave mest night.


    "Boss, hey¡ª WAIT! WAIT! WAI¡ª"


    Before the guard who was supposed to do his job finished his sentence, one of the two fucks hit the ground due to a sudden front kick while the other was now on the verge of getting choked by his cor due to how I was raising him with one arm.


    So, in a matter of seconds, everyone else from my group ran up to them with weapons drawn and they would definitely shoot on sight the moment I gave the order.


    But the guard who was with them still tried to defend these visitors:


    "B-Boss! Please! T-They were just visiting a-and¡ª"


    "And you let them in, right?"


    "Y-Yes¡ª"


    "Did they have their passes?"


    "That''s..."


    "Did you inform one of the officers?"


    "B-But t-they''re here almost every single d-day¡ª"


    "Are you gonna fucking answer any of my fucking questions? I don''t fucking care if theye here to visit every single day, what I fucking asked you is if they have their passes on them and did you inform one of the officers of their visit?"


    "S-Sir¡ª"


    "Other than that, did you inform Rico, the CO of the DDR Camp in Meycauayan that there will be people from anothermunity near them, that these fucks will be driving over here and those other times? If that''s a fucking no again, you''ll be losing your job very, very soon¡ª"


    "B-But sir! A-All these protocols a-are just¡ª"


    I never looked so pissed hearing that shit and knowing what he meant even before he finished his answer, "Just what? Finish that fucking sentence and you''ll be leaving with these two right about now."


    "...! I-I was just¡ª"


    "Shut up," I said before I turned to Jared, "Those other guards gawking probably reported to Ferdinand right now but do call him just in case they haven''t yet. They should''ve done that the first time these two tried to weasel in¡­"


    Jared just nodded at me before pulling out his radio, "Yo, where''s¡ª we''re gonna need Sir Ferdinand here, real quick. Hmm? Someone''s¡ª a few people hadn''t been following proper protocol. Just get him here quick because he''s real~ pissed¡ª Who, you said? Supreme Leader is pissed, that''s who, Mr. Officer~"


    To give a bit of context, these two visitors of ours came from themunity where I picked up one of my high school friends, Darelle, and his GF, Trisha, but the reason I was this all up in arms about their sudden visit was because the leader of themunity they were from was Benjamin Crisologo.


    If any of you had already forgotten, it was the stupid fuck who demanded to leave half our guns right after we cleared the horde that was in their gatedmunity, but he had nothing else to hold us back so we just left without doing anything to please his highness.


    But yeah, all these months have passed and there was never a mention of their activity, but after confirming it with the guards and with his two minions who were visiting quite frequently these past few days while we were away, something''s definitely fucking off and I wouldn''t take another step around my territory if I don''t get everything straightened out.


    Furthermore, the biggest issue out of all of this wasn''t even with these two, it was one of the biggest things I''m afraid of but will eventually happen once a base like mine had gotten too fucking safe for our own good, and it was something calledcency.


    It was bound to happen sooner orter with the way I do things but this was just too fucking bad of a timing but a slight blessing in itself.


    Being a guard was a tough job if you''d have to defend from thousands upon thousands of the undead but forgoing security checks and letting visitors¡ªeven if they were visiting frequently¡ªwas a fucking no-no, and if I was in his shoes, I''d be more fucking alerted because they just popped out of the blue once the head honcho was gone and now they were visiting almost every single day and was already buddy-buddy with one of themon guards.


    In any case, I definitely stripped my "guard" off his badge and gun before letting him sit with the two he was so buddy-buddy with before I loomed over with a threatening aura. Because if Ferdinand would take his fucking time, I''ll also take my time getting information out of these fucks before they get saved by the bell because this is my ce they''re trying to wiggle into.


    "So, what''s the purpose of your visit? Since you know, JJ over there has been that nice to let you in without any passes and whatnot¡­ Trying to bypass things because your vehicle is parked outside?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "S-Sir, a-as I was saying¡ª"


    I threw JJ the ''if you fucking cut me off, I''ll cut you'' look, "You like talking when not prompted and you don''t want to answer shit when being asked, how the fuck did you be a guard?! Fine. Continue what you were about to say¡­ But if that answer doesn''t make any sense or are you just gonna make up more excuses of them being frequent visitors, I swear to my fucking life I''ll kill them both for trespassing and you for colluding with these fucks."


    Then the two finally had something to say.


    But with how their leader operates, it was pretty obvious that they operate with fighting fire with fire:


    "IS THIS HOW YOU TREAT YOUR GUESTS?!"


    "WE''RE JUST PASSING BY TALKING¡ª AND AFTER ALL THE GIFTS WE SENT OVER¡ª"


    Iughed at their face as I loomed over with my gun drawn, "So, you two admit to bribery too? Is that it? What fucking gifts are they and why aren''t they on the report Rin gave me with the tag such as that? Did you give them to me or did you give them to JJ or the other guards? And gee~ I''m sorry, I didn''t know you were such best buds for this gift-giving thing to happen. I also didn''t think giving gifts would be thrown at my face for this. As you know, giving a gift should be from the heart not for a transaction of sorts¡­ Did JJ give you anything or what? And why wasn''t I informed of that too?"


    Right as I said that, the expression they gave me was just of utter shock and disbelief but it seemed like trusting my gut once again prevented something like this from going on for too long.


    But it''s not over though, very far from it.

 Chapter 1031 Lockdown - Hazing?

    <h4>Chapter 1031 Lockdown - Hazing?</h4>


    At this point, I could be jumping the fucking gun a little too much but I''d rather it be that than anything else right now because I''m so fucking pissed off, I was smiling from ear to ear just to not rip these dumbasses'' faces off:


    "You see, even a grain of rice shouldn''t get past me. So, are things going under the radar between you three or is there more to this than what''s going on? You do know we have 24-hour surveince and since we don''t have a lot of people that had ess to that, it''d be a fucking pain to check the footage since we were just about to drive away. If I don''t hear a fucking confession right now¡ª"


    Then JJ cut me off in desperation as he shouted at the top of his lungs, "T-THEY WERE JUST G-GIVING US C-CIGARS AND SOME A-ALCOHOL A-AND THEY''D SOMETIMES ROLL IN WITH A FEW GIRLS TO HAVE F-FUN IN THEIR CAR! A-AND I-IN EXCHANGE, I-I-I¡­ O-OH FUCK¡­ FUCK¡­ I-I''M DEAD, I''M DEAD, I''M DEAD¡ª I-I''M SORRY, ALRIGHT?! I-I WAS JUST C-CASUALLY TALKING ABOUT MY SCHEDULE AND WHATNOT SO WE COULD HANG A FEW TIMES A-AND I-IT''S BEEN REALLY FUN I-I''D EVEN CALL OVER TO S-SIR RICO''S CAMP T-TO LET THEM THROUGH S-SO¡ª F-FUCK, I-I''M REALLY DEAD, AREN''T I?!"


    He wasn''t even able to finish his sentence when one of the dudes tried to shut him up with a weak shoulder bump but after just hearing that short bit, I''d already heard enough as I let out a smile and pulled out my radio:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a fucking drill. Commence Project Lockdown in ten fucking seconds because there''s a fucking breach. If any of you are fucking involved with these three fucking clowns right now, ''fess up for a chance of me forgiving you¡ª but with a small punishment or else I''LL FUCKING HUNT YOU DOWN AND THREE GENERATIONS OF YOUR FAMILY! Right, bonus rewards for those who could point out the ones involved but we''ll fucking kick you out if we found out you lied¡ª so don''t even try getting something from this ''cause I''m way more than pissed off¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    Right as I said that, it only took around five seconds before our emergency horn red and several vehicles came in from our side and the outside of the gate to block it off with anyone that would try to get out. Several reserved soldiers or fighters¡ªeven on their day off came running and manned the walls while the ones on patrol tripled because of my announcement.


    Other than that, I could see some soldiers escorting the civilians¡ªespecially the children and the elderly¡ªback to their homes, and each of our phones was blowing up with several calls at the same time.


    At this point, Ferdinand had juste in confused with several soldiers in tow¡ªbecause they were on the way the moment I called in the lockdown¡ªbut I couldn''t help but be a little pissed off from his tardiness because Johnny, who didn''t know that any of this was happening, came at the same time as him with Marco, Mark, and Dong, ready tomit bloody murder.


    And the three fucking clowns, JJ, "Bordz", and "Jomar" couldn''t even fathom what was going on¡ªespecially the other two¡ªbecause they were just attempting to case this ce out and the whole fucking cavalry descended upon them from just a simple call.


    Despite this guard''s shorings, everyone else''s response was still very eptable to my standards, but since we already set the stage and we had a veryrge audience, I beckoned the three to stand by the wall they were simply lounging about earlier while I was wearing an angelic smile:


    "Please? You caught me in a bad time so¡­ Before I change my mind and hack your limbs off with a rusty saw¡­ please."


    JJ immediately stood up but tumbled as he made his way to the wall before he knelt down and begged for his life, "P-Please~ sir! I-I-I didn''t really know¡ª I-I FUCKED UP, I KNOW! I-I''M REALLY SORRY! I-I JUST DIDN''T THINK AND¡ª AH! F-FUCK!"


    I cut him off by grazing his ear with a .22 cartridge, "Last fucking chance, JJ. You only talk when spoken to if you want me to keep missing. The next one will be on your dick and I''ll throw you out the gates and watch you bleed to death. Understand? Now, you can answer."


    "Y-Y-Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    At this point, JJ was just a fucking mess and one of the two was about to have a heart attack while the other looked like he was just waiting for a chance to speak but his knees couldn''t stop trembling regardless of what ace he had in his sleeves.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before seven dudes and a dudette came up from the side and looked nervous as fuck before they revealed themselves to be one of the guards who let these two fucks in like JJ without following proper protocol. Almost all of them had said the same thing as JJ did, but one of them had a different reason for doing what he did:


    "Ah¡ª I''m really s-sorry, sir¡ª a-and I''ll ept any p-punishment as long as you don''t throw me and my f-family out b-but you see¡­ W-We just g-got here a m-month ago t-through an interview w-with Ma''am Marisha a-and I just followed what everyone else here does an I thought i-it was a normal thing¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes as I cut him off, "So, you mean to tell me that if all the guards here started to take drugs while on duty or slice off a finger every time they''rete, you''d do it? Is that what you''re telling me?"


    "T-That''s¡­ I-I just didn''t want any trouble b-because I''m new and I-I should follow o-orders¡ª"


    "Hold up, orders? Did you just say orders?"


    "Y-Yes, sir?"


    "From who?"


    The guy shook his head, "I-I''m not exactly sure b-but¡ª"


    "What''s there to not be sure about? Was the person who ordered you to let them in wearing a mask? Was it a burning bush? What? Your name''s Mikey, right? You do know that I''m a very good friend and also a very terrifying enemy so let me help you here: You and your family''s safety now lies in your testimony¡ªcontingent on how urate it is¡ªand right now, I''m feeling that you''re getting pressured to omit some stuff. But here''s the deal: Who are you gonna side with? Me, or those fucks whonded you in this situation in the first ce?"

 Chapter 1032 So fucking angry I smiled and laughed.

    <h4>Chapter 1032 So fucking angry I smiled andughed.</h4>


    There was a reason I did this open interrogation of sorts in front of everybody else right as I announced the lockdown, and it was to cause chaos in their psyche so that they wouldn''t be able to think of proper excuses or match their stories because of the very small timeframe I gave them. Sure, seating them one by one would work as well but there were very few times that this tactic could work and be tried, and this was the perfect time to make them fight amongst each other.


    It''ll only need one whistleblower for everybody else to start digging up dirt and airing everyone else''s dirtyundry besides themselves, but in the end, I''d just have more information to work with. Furthermore, Kaley wouldn''t need to rely on her insight as much because people would almost always tell the truth when emotions were heightened and if their life and their families'' were on the line.


    And yeah, not only did Mikey reveal that JJ and two of the guards with him made him just do what the Romans do, but indirectly taking it from his statement, it seemed like our guards who should be on equal standing have their own pecking order and they were putting pressure on the newer ones just so that they could feed their inted ego among others. It was this hazing process of sorts but for all the dumb reasons.


    To be honest, that type of shit was bound to happen once we gave out important roles among different types of people¡ªand sometimes, it was a great thing¡ªbut in this case, it was like the human race started to evolve backwards.


    Having a power trip just to break rules that kept everyone safe was like not letting go of a smoldering pot and using a pot holder because they didn''t want to be called a bitch then getting 2nd-degree burns and no dinner in the process.


    At this point, more and more people''s names were being dragged into the dirt¡ªwho weren''t even in the group we were letting have a shouting match against each other¡ªbut we found out soon enough when the ones who were called out voluntarily walked in or rushed here to clear their name or was summoned or dragged in the same ce to prove their innocence.


    I just can''t believe more and more shit was getting brought up due to howx this ce waspared to the areas we''d send our scouts or our clearing groups, but I just found myselfughing out loud when I had enough.


    It was really funny to me that the moment I leave this ce, these fucking people who should be keeping things in order felt like the rules I set up were a chore. I didn''t set those rules up because I simply could but because it could actually make everyone from mypound safe, and not only that, it was also for them and their friends and families who were sharing the same roof as them and the same safe space as us.


    ''I swear to fucking god that it was in these types of situations where I''d have to agree with the viin''s point of view because sometimes, the only time people would learn was for a mistake to ur first¡­''


    I could keep telling or ordering everyone what to do in case so and so happens but unless they see for themselves how a little bit of carelessness could do, they wouldn''t be as passionate and reliable at their job like the ones who knew what it felt like.


    But as I continued tough like a maniac, everyone just stared at me and didn''t dare to move a fucking muscle, because I still had my pistol drawn though I''m not that careless to g anyone that didn''t deserve it. I chose those words specifically because I''m definitely pointing at each of these clowns with my gun, making them flinch each time I violently switch targets, but the moment I felt I should stop, I did so with an abrupt pause while keeping my facial muscles in the same position.


    Doing that made me look more like a deranged lunatic but it didn''t evenpare to the words I said next:


    "Here''s how this is gonna go: all of you here would be given a chance to redeem yourselves and you have the whole time we''d be away to make sure you''re the best guards this ce could ever ask for. Do you know why? Not only would you stand indefinitely on those walls for the whole duration, you''d have to know every person here, at Rico''s, at Morales'', the harbors, Isko''s, and Mauricio''s by heart, and know their names and current upation/responsibilities¡ªdon''t worry, Rin will give you a cheat sheet¡ªbut aside from that, for all of you to fucking know how serious you should fucking take your jobs¡­ As of right now, your families will start living outside these walls even if wee back¡ª"


    Then all hell broke loose:


    "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! WHY''D YOU HAVE TO DRAG MY FAMILY INTO THESE?!"


    "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME?!"


    "W-WHY DON''T YOU JUST SEND ME OUTSIDE?!"


    "PLEASE! MY MOM''S REALLY OLD! AND MY DAUGHTER GETS NIGHTMARES AT NIGHT!"


    "PLEASE, SIR! WE''RE REALLY SORRY!"


    At this point, not only was I trying to keep them down as I was trying to get to my point, but everyone else on my side was starting to get a little ufortable because these fucking clowns were about to kamikaze against a people who were armed to the teeth and much better at them at close quarters.


    It would be just blood to our name without aplishing anything but I let out copious amounts of killing intent as I grabbed hold of this "Bordz" head and ripped half of his face off by dragging his face against the concrete.


    He barely had time to react but I just broke his arms in several ces or mmed his head down when I felt some resistance and the whole ce had never been so quiet from the disy. They were so afraid of my gun earlier but they should be more afraid of me.


    Everyone definitely stopped from seeing that but I had a few more words I needed to say:


    "THEN WHAT''S THE FUCKING FUSS NOW, HUH?! I THOUGHT OUTSIDE THE WALLS WERE FUCKING SAFE?! YOU''RE EVEN LETTING STRANGERS CASE US OUT AND YOU CAN''T EVEN MAKE YOUR FAMILIES LIVE OUTSIDE?! WAS IT REALLY THAT FUCKING SAFE OR NOT?! WHAT IF THE NEXT TIME THESE TWO FUCKS CAME BEARING GIFTS, IT''LL BE A BULLET TO YOUR MOM''S HEAD OR A SHARP KNIFE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS THROAT?! DID ANY OF YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT, HUH?! WAS THAT ALL THIS PLACE MEANT TO YOU?!"


    Then I spat on the ground seething while still wearing a deranged smile, "THIS PLACE HAS RULES FOR A REASON! YOUR FUCKING HEADS HAVE A BRAIN FOR A REASON! THESE FUCKS ARE HERE FOR A REASON! HOW CAN ANY OF YOU LET THIS FUCKING HAPPEN?! I CAN''T SWOOP IN AND SAVE ALL OF YOU SORRY FUCKS EVERY SINGLE TIME! I''M WORKING ON SOMETHING MUCH, MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN SIMPLY GUARDING THE WALLS AND YOU FUCKS FUCK IT UP?! WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN IF THESE FUCKS'' ATTEMPT SUCCEEDED?! D''YOU THINK YOU''D BE HAVING FREE CIGARS, BOOZE, AND PUSSY EVERY SINGLE TIME?! HOW LONG DO YOU THINK THAT WOULD LAST FOR?! THINK YOU FUCKS, THINK! WE HAVE ALL OF THOSE HERE¡ªEVEN BETTER QUALITY¡ªAND YOU SETTLE FOR WHAT THESE CLOWNS GIVE YOU JUST BECAUSE THEY BROUGHT IT TO YOU WHILE YOU''RE WORKING?! IS THAT WHAT IT FUCKING TOOK?! HUH?! YOU CAN''T FUCKING FOLLOW YOUR JOBS TO THE STANDARD I SET SO YOU RESORT TO THAT?!"

 Chapter 1033 Change of Plans

    <h4>Chapter 1033 Change of ns</h4>


    I was still trying to figure out the right words to describe how fucking pissed off I was right about now though I just kept using the words I knew in quantity just to somehow keep the casualties to a minimum¡ªbetter yet, just exactly at two because as much as I would have liked to resolve this issue and breach of trust peacefully, I simply just can''t.


    Sure, at this moment in time, these two fucks and wherever the fuck they came from hadn''t done any damage yet but there was also a damn good reason they didn''t justunch an attack at this joint because one, like my answer earlier: they simply couldn''t and two, the very basic concept of attempting shit like this as they were starting was to gather information.


    It involved knowing their target''s total number of people, their main base and sub-base locations, effective firepower, response times in different situations, and so much more.


    Knowing one guard''s schedule was one of the few things they could use to figure out how to better understand how we do things, and the better they understand how we do things, the greater the chances of these people seeding in whatever it was they were attempting to aplish.


    I couldn''t stress enough how easy these guards of mine fell for the "Candy in the van" trick that was only supposed to work on kids whose brains haven''t developed fully and simply didn''t know better, but it seemed like these guards wanted a tight noose around their necks and that''s what I would be giving them plus making them see an exaggerated example of what it looked like if they kept doing as they were.


    My order to make their loved ones, whom they should be guarding against the threats outside, was not a fucking joke to just make a rise out of them because to avoid stupid shit like this from urring once again, I''d take the hate and resentment they''d feel for me just so that they''d be able to learn.


    The better and more brutal alternative was to make their families camp right outside the frontlines where we begin to see the undead beingse in droves but doing that might make thempletely fail on my other "punishment" for them to be better guards.


    And going back to our current situation, their faces told me that they already knew they fucked up, but I then turned to Ferdinand and the rest of the people¡ªa good distance away from our transgressors¡ªwho technically hadn''t done anything wrong before I opened my mouth:


    "I''ll keep them here, you have 20 minutes to gather everyone else at this very spot¡ªand don''t even take time to pack their stuff¡ªbecause their BOBs should always be ready to go in moments like these¡­ Those valuable shit we gave them shouldn''t be decorations and they should fucking know how to use them if these guards will be the ones watching them for the rest of their stay¡­ Do give them a brief exnation of what went down but I give you full authority to use necessary force to bring all of them here if they''re notplying with a simple summons¡ª"


    One of Ferdinand''s own officers, Marcel, interjected while wearing aplicated expression, "Sir, with all due respect, I believe in proper punishment but do we need to go this far to involve their loved ones¡ª"


    Johnny cut in with a frown as he looked at Marcel like an idiot, "Are you fucking serious right now?! You have to say involve?! You''re not gonna go far with that reasoning, kid, your COs already mobilizing the rest of ya over there!"


    "I was just¡ª"


    "Listen here: these fucks not doing their jobs properly involved everyone else that lived here. They should be the first line of defense from the threats outside and while the rest of us were so~ freaking confident in their ''skills'', this shit happens. And let me tell you, it''s already taking everything from me to not murder every single one of them in front of their family because the kid''s making it into a teachable moment¡ª"


    I cut Johnny off, "It''s what I''m trying but this is far from one. At most, their families will be camping outside for a few days but they don''t know that," then I turned to Marcel, "It''s now your job to keep a tight watch over them because not only did this fiasco costs us a lot of time, I''d have to cancel the trip altogether because I''ll be sitting those two fucks in separate rooms to have a nice little talk."


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Yeah. I don''t need to visit their ce to know every single about them because I just have to ask both of them nicely¡­ I''ll only need a few hours¡­"


    Then Artem came up from the side, "So, change of ns?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, be ready to head out at a moment''s notice though."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Depending on what I dig up about them, we''ll hit their ce today so inform the rest of your group back home to gear up," I replied before addressing Johnny, "I''ll also leave this ce to you with Marcel but can you get into contact with Mauricio to borrow some of our soldiers some timeter? Ask them to be battle-ready because we only have those few hours of me interrogating them before they feel suspicious¡­ JJ over there they just hang here right before sunset but we also need some time to mobilize everyone else and attack at the same time."


    "How many people are you bringing anyway, kid?"


    "Triple this group and thrice the firepower. I don''t wanna take any chances and I don''t wanna waste any more time fighting a battle of attrition, once I heard enough, we go just like that."


    With that said, Johnny and Artem nodded as they pulled up their radios to do as they were told before I found myself alone with Jomar because I needed Bordz with a little more health points before I started to talk to him nicely as well.

 Chapter 1034 I don’t like your tone...

    <h4>Chapter 1034 I don''t like your tone...</h4>


    As of this moment, Jomar and I were in the same ce I interrogated Tim and the rest of the crazy fucks who invaded Woonds, an annex of our main base that wasn''t a part of us before, but it wasn''t even a few seconds of intense eye contact when the motherfucker sang like a bird.


    He absolutely told me everything he could like his life¡ª no, because his life literally depended on it, and the most important bits were as follows:


    Benjamin Crisologo, their head honcho of sorts was actually presumed dead the moment the horde we cleared at their ce got in, but ever since then, he sessfully managed to get into contact with his friends right by the City of San Jose Del Monte¡ªa ce still part of Bcan located furthest east from Maro.


    And as he mentioned, Benjamin had very powerful friends before the world ended and a select few still survived to this day, and one of them was living in that same city and decided to lend him a hand.


    It made him bring back his property to its feet without the help of yours truly, unlike the othermunity where we found Roi''s belongings, but as the two touched base and started exchanging war stories, it seemed like I came up and the motherfucker was still harboring a grudge for not giving him half of my guns.


    However, what Benjamin Crisologo failed to tell his buddy was that the person he was trying to get information from was actually indebted to me.


    I obviously haven''t gotten into much detail about this particr bit of info from the past, but the two people we rescued from Benjamin''s grasp were Darelle and Trisha, who I put in charge of scouting ahead and getting into ces to gather all sorts of information¡ªvery simr to what Bordz and Jomar were doing¡ªbut the purpose was to make friends, not to figure out the weakness of the enemy.


    One of the reasons he was indebted to me was because I helped him and the DDR Camp located in their city with my troops and some of my supplies to build them back up though they did pay us back several times what we''ve given them because they had the monopoly of all the resources and other failed DDR Camps that ce had to offer.


    It was one of the better ROIs I''ve had up to date and Benjamin Crisologo wouldn''t see the shit that was about to blow up in his face in a few hours.


    And yeah, Jomar''s storypletely checked out.


    This powerful buddy of his was Christian Felix Garciano, a political figure from a neutral party before the world ended¡ªbut not on the same level as Iskoh¡ªand the reason he was helping Benjamin Crisologo was he owed him tons of cash when he was starting to climb the politicaldder, and it was one of those things where a bit of lying, guilt, and gaslighting was involved in order for him to be convinced to wage war with one of his enemies.


    But Jomar doesn''t know a single fucking thing about my connection to the guy because and neither did Benjamin.


    And right now, they were still in the information-gathering stage of their n while I was already nning on how to turn that piece of territory into something useful once I was done with that asshole.


    At this moment, Jomar who was sitting right in front of me never looked happy because I never looked happy myself once Mr. Garciano picked up the call for me because the number Jomar gave me worked. Furthermore, I was singing Jomar praises for finally bridging the connection between us because back then, we were just talking through a proxy and he really wanted to meet with the person who Darelle and Trisha were working with.


    But yeah, the moment we ended the call on a high note, Jomar breathed a sigh of relief as he started to apologize and tell me all sorts of things that could benefit "us" with our new partnership, but all the lights in his eyes dimmed down right when my knife went through our table while his right hand was right between them.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! W-WHAT¡ª F-FUCK! FUCK! W-WHAT DID I¡ª I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING! I-I FUCKING TOLD YOU EVERYTHING, D-DIDN''T I?! W-WHY¡ª W-WHY DID YOU¡ª"


    I cut him off with an eerie smile, "Put my knife through your hand?"


    "Y-YES! FUCK YOU¡ª NO, I-I¡ª W-WHY''D YOU HAVE TO DO THIS, YOU F¡ª AHHH! SHIT! D-DO I PULL IT OUT OR¡ª"


    "You''re being too loud Jomar, did you think you''de out of this unscathed?"


    "Y-YEAH¡ª I-I MEAN NO, B-BUT¡ª HNGH¡ª I-IT REALLY H-HURTS, MAN! FUCK! D-DO¡ª I-I CAN''T EVEN THINK STRAIGHT¡ª"


    "Hah! You can''t even think straight? For real?! I thought you weren''t thinking straight the moment you followed that fuck''s orders and tried to mess with me! We offered helping hands to everybody once we got the ball rolling! Aw, gee~ I''m sorry, we didn''t help you that time but who''s gonna help a fucking asshole that wanted to take half our shit the moment we lent them a hand, huh?! Can you fucking answer that for me, Jomar?!"


    "B-BUT I TRIED TO HELP YOU NOW, S-SIR! I-I¡ª"


    He stopped whatever he was trying to say when he saw me pull a bandaid from my medpack:


    "Here. I''m sorry for stabbing your hand but I''m gonna help you with this bandaid¡ª"


    "W-WHAT¡ª I-I¡ª"


    "Confused? I am too, Jomar, I''m confused too. You did make things a little bit easier for me but even without your help you fucks stood no chance against us. And to think that some of the resources we handed over to your powerful friendnded over to you guys fucking infuriates me. But yeah, aside from trespassing and bribery among other things you fucks slighted me with, we could probably add petty thievery or even grandrceny into the mix, huh?"


    "W-WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?! I-I DON''T HAVE THE F-FINAL SAY A-AND I''M JUST¡ª"


    "What do I want you to do? Quick question: do you wanna walk out of here alive or nah?"


    "W-WHAT DO YOU THINK?! I-I''M TRYING MY BEST HERE! C-CAN I GET THE KNIFE OUT O-OR WHAT?!"


    "Jomar, I don''t like your tone¡­ Better fix that up or I''ll have another knife buried in ya¡ª But listen: If you could pull your hand out of that knife without uttering a noise within a certain decibel, I''ll let you live. But if you try to pull the knife out, I''ll hammer it back in until you satisfy me. Do try to be fucking quick about it though because you''re bleeding¡­ Oh! The bandaid might help¡­"

 Chapter 1035 Mind Break

    <h4>Chapter 1035 Mind Break</h4>


    As soon as I said that, Jomar looked at me like there was a .0001% chance that I''d be joking at this very moment because to give a clearer image of how I stabbed his fucking hand, it wasn''t parallel or adjacent to the webbing of his fingers butpletely sideways and stuck between his index and ring finger¡ªwhere his middle finger was definitely out of the picture.


    Furthermore, the only way he could pull his hand out of my knife was to pick a finger to further break, then ripping the rest of his hand even more, and hoping it hadn''t lost most of its function.


    But yeah, the guy might''ve grown himself a mustache for staring at me this long so I gave him a little preview of what''s toe by nudging the handle of my knife, burying it a millimeter deeper.


    "AHHHHH¡ª FUCK! F-FUCK! FUCK! HAA¡ª HAA¡­ HA¡­ F-FUCK! SHIT! W-WHY DO YOU HAVE TO D-DO THIS?!"


    I scoffed as I rolled my eyes, "I could say the same thing to you but if you can''t even do this much, we could stop wasting each other''s time and I''ll¡ª"


    "WAIT! W-WAIT! WAIT! I''LL DO IT! I-I''LL DO IT, ALRIGHT?! J-JUST¡ª F-FUCK! HAA¡ª F-FOO¡ª HAPFOO~ I-I''M GONNA DO IT! I-I''M¡ª"


    Right as he hyped himself up, the maniacal look on his face coupled with desperation was a little admirable, but as he tried to attempt how a knight moves in chess to get himself out of this tricky situation, all he managed to do from all his screaming was make him bleed even more without evenpletely breaking either of his index or ring finger.


    If I were in the same situation, I''d take a deep breath before using my free hand to violently push or pull my other arm on either side to do everything in one go. I wouldn''t even attempt a clean break because, at that point, my hand waspletely fucked and the only thing I could do for myself was to put all my energy into my first attempt than tire myself out.


    But yeah, it was only good on paper¡ªnot if I was actually in that situation¡ªbut Jomar was so fucking out of it, his first attempt was trying to make a bigger wound channel from pulling his whole body away opposite me and the knife as if he was trying to cut a piece of bread with the fucking handle.


    Hepletely wasted all that energy from screaming while he had this constant debuff of bleeding out¡ªbut he suddenly had this moment of brilliance when he discovered the knife I stabbed his hand with had his inch or two of a saw-like edge on the opposite side of the de, right by the handguard.


    Then again, this idea looked so fucking good on paper but in real fucking life, it''d be much, much easier to do my first idea than to saw his fucking hand off by moving his hand only a few centimeters up and down because he only had so much clearance.


    If he didn''t bleed out from this idea of his, I bet he''d pass out first either from the pain or simply from bleeding out.


    Though I did give him a little bit of help by pouring water from my canteen, but it was more so that I could have a clearer view¡ªlike surgeons would¡ªbecause there was definitely a lot of blood blocking this particr y.


    However, doing that after everything between me and Jomar was going on fucked something in his head as he never looked more thankful from that little gesture:


    "T-Thank you, s-sir! I-I''ll never forget this¡ª I-I believe I-I-I can do i-it much better now¡ª I-I won''t fail you! S-See?! I-I''m doing it! I-I''M DOING IT! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    As he wasughing maniacally while moving his hand up and down my de, I felt a little unnerved to bepletely honest, but breaking his mind like this did get him out of this predicament though let''s just say he went a little too far.


    "S-See, sir?! See! I-I couldn''t d-do this w-without you! Y-You saved me! I-I''m finally out! I''M FINALLY OUT! WAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Jomar never looked so happy as he waved his hand around¡ªwhich was already missing three fingers¡ªbecause the motherfucker just went too fucking war and went ahead on sawing half his hand off instead of at least saving his pinky¡ªor even his ring finger by finagling-wiggling the knife at angles.


    He didn''t have topletely rip the dangling parts of his hand off but he just did so to "appease" me, but like Quinn in regards to her time dominating men, I find it very off-putting or I''d immediately lose interest when the person I''m trying to have the most difficult time of his life enjoy it.


    So the moment he tried to offer his free hand for a handshake to thank me, Jomar saw a brief glint of metal before his head slid off his neck.


    I expected a lot more blood spurting out but the blood on the table could probably fill two to three blood bags if we somehow found a way to gather them. In any case, I wiped my de and knife off his filth before requesting a team to somehow find some use for his remains but with the amount of alcohol, nicotine, and unprotected sex he was having, the best use we''d have for him was to nourish our soil.


    But yeah, at this point, I think that I didn''t have to waste any more time with Bordz because he was up next, and even though I would have loved to release some more of my anger and stress in the form of torturing the ones who wronged me, I felt like I should save a bit more of it to the actual perpetrator because he''ll have more than a knife through his hand the moment he discovered that today, out of all the times he could fuck up, he fucked up real bad.

 Chapter 1036 Sad Revenge Plot

    <h4>Chapter 1036 Sad Revenge Plot</h4>


    But before everything would''ve been all said and done, Mr. Crisologo''s ce wasn''t all just bad guys and whatnot because a good majority of them wereplete civilians who were tasked to do hardbor among other "annoying" and "boring" things to do in the apocalypse.


    And as per my conversation with Mr. Garciano, he had some of his troops posted over in Mr. Crisologo''s base, and we''d only have to take care of a dozen or so soldiers and the head honcho that bore a grudge.


    This would be the most embarrassing and sad revenge story ever but despite all that, we were bringing a few cavalries to deal with these fucks.


    So, fast forward a couple of hours, I was looking at a few disys showing different POVs when our Killdozer made a fucking entrance like the Kool-Aid man from themercials. And before it even broke through that part of the wall, Mr. Crisologo''s men tried everything to take it down but to no avail.


    And to add insult to injury, I was already in the same frequency they were using tomunicate with each other and Mr. Garciano already gave me the reigns tomand his soldiers who were on the inside.


    Not only did they inform me of Mr. Crisologo''s exact location, but they also managed to gather almost everyone who was in cahoots with their temp leader in one ce, which coincidentally was the area where the Killdozer broke through.


    ''Giving those fucks automatic rifles made them feel invincible, eh?''


    Granted they probably wasted a few hundred rounds attempting to pierce through inches of concrete and solid metal, but I''d rather have them choose that inanimate object as their target instead of my people.


    Everything was over in less than 30 minutes and it was fucking funny to me because we spent more time preparing and calling over everyone to participate for the battle to end so one-sidedly because there was nothing more stupid than getting shot in the back of the head from the people you thought were theirrades.


    The Killdozer and the several drones flying overheadpletely distracted them from the actual threat and the ones who weren''t in the fray were already put down silently or violently either by the soldiers I was givenmand of or by the civilians who knew about our attack and tried to switch sides.


    It was pretty obvious that they wanted new leadership and would dly have anyone else besides that slimy fuck, but that woulde a littleter because the biggest surprise of this afternoon was for Mr. Crisologo himself.


    The reason I didn''t have the Killdozer breach their only gate was for a chance for him to escape and seek asylum with only a few of his trusted aides.


    Hepletely left his people to "die" by my hands and I have definite proof of this because not only was I hearing his distraught voice through my earpiece, it was also being broadcasted to the speakers we mounted at the back of the Killdozer so we could kill more than two birds with one stone:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [FELIX! FELIX! ANSWER ME! ANSWER ME, YOU FUCK! I DON''T KNOW HOW BUT WE''VE BEEN MADE¡ª FUCK! IT''S PROBABLY THOSE FUCKS I SENT OVER TO GET TO KNOW THOSE DUMB GUARDS! HOW COULD THEY FUCK THIS UP?! WE''RE HEADING OVER TO ONE OF YOUR CHECKPOINTS NOW! I''M GONNA NEED AN ESCORT! BE FUCKING QUICK ABOUT IT OR I''LL SMACK YOU AND YOUR WIFE YOU FUCK!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then Mr. Garciano''s voice came through the same channel:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Don''t worry, alright¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHAT DO YOU MEAN, DON''T WORRY?! YOU HAVEN''T SEEN THE FIREPOWER THAT KID HAS AND HE SENT OVER EVERYTHING! I LOST ALL MY GUARDS AND I''M SORRY YOUR GUARDS HAD TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES! IT''S JUST A SACRIFICE THAT I HAD TO MAKE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [And your people? How about them¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [FUCK ''EM! I GAVE THEM ALL OF THAT SHIT AND NO ONE EVEN STOOD UP TO FIGHT FOR ME! I ONLY BROUGHT A COUPLE OF MY BITCHES HERE WITH ME AND FOR GIVING ME AN OUT, I''LL HAVE YA GET IN WITH ONE OF THEM¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''m sorry but I am married¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHO FUCKIN'' CARES?! I CHEAT ON MY WIFE ALL THE TIME¡ª I think no one''s following us, I think we lost them¡ª HOW IS IT ON YOUR CHECKPOINT?! IS MY ESCORT READY?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I luckily have my ''best group'' closeby and I already ordered them to meet with you. They''ll probably arrive there shortly¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [TELL THEM TO HURRT THE FUCK UP THEN! DON''T THEY KNOW WHO I AM?! WE''RE REALLY CLOSE! WE WOULD''VE BEEN THERE IF THIS FUCKING DRIVER COULD DRIVE ANY FASTER!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s really unfortunate, don''t stress though. I just received word that they''re already there and my best guy out there is driving this really cool Raptor, I believe your very familiar with those trucks.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [A FUCKING RAPTOR?! HAH! WHO FUCKING DRIVES THOSE NOWADAYS?! HAD TO OVERCOMPENSATE FOR SOMETHING, RIGHT¡ª Hold on¡­ Why¡ª Why does that look¡ª HOLD ON! HOLD ON! HEY, YOU FUCK! DRIVE BACK! DRIVE BACK! WHA¨C WHERE DID THOSE COME FROM?! FELIX! FELIX! YOU FUCK! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?! OUT OF ALL THE¡ª FELIX! FUCKING ANSWER ME YOU FUCK! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    As Mr. Crisologo was losing his fucking mind, I was still at the back of my Raptor¡ªa different one from the one he saw us usest time¡ªbut it almost had the same attachments even if the paint waspletely different. It didn''t take him long to piece two and two together but it was already toote when he was ordering his driver to go back because Artem and Tatiana''s Humvees had already blocked their exit path, and as of this moment, I drove thest nail to his coffin as I spoke with a friend tone through their supposed private call:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hey, the one driving that asshole''s piece of shit luxury car, if you switch sides right now, I''ll let everyone else besides that fuck live and I''ll let you have a punch in before you stop to recognize him."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Though Mr. Crisologo answered, seething with rage:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I KNOW IT WAS YOU, YOU FUCK! REMEMBER ME?! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU''RE MESSING WITH! YOU THINK THAT FELIX IS THE ONLY FRIEND¡ª NO, FUCK THAT! YOU THINK HE''S THE ONLY ONE I HAVE CONNECTIONS WITH?! IF YOU LET ME GO RIGHT NOW, I PROMISE TO¡ª HEY! HEY! HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU ANSWER TO ME, YOU FUCK! I OWN YOU! Y-YOU FUCKING BITCHES, WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME?! DO YOU WANNA DIE¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    It only took a second before everyone that Mr. Crisologo took with him to safety turned against him because that''s the only way they''d survive though it was a little amusing to see their sedan criss-cross this narrow road without actually hitting anything while a scuffle inside ensued. However, it didn''t take long because the bitch himself was on his knees¡ªwith several scratches and bruises¡ªstill eyeing me like he could somehow turn the tables around.

 Chapter 1037 Pause - Meeting Mr. Garciano

    <h4>Chapter 1037 Pause - Meeting Mr. Garciano</h4>


    I''ve never seen such a person to hold a grudge for this long but still be this fucking stupid to know his limits because if he had done his information gathering even before having the balls to finally go after me, he should''ve fucking known that even with his "buddy''s" help, Mr. Garciano, there was no chance in hell they''d be able toe out victorious.


    ''Unless¡­ There''s a valid reason for him being this so sure of himself¡­''


    But yeah, I could only shake my head from that thought because at this point, unless an almighty being descended to interfere, there was no chance in hell he''d get out of this situation.


    Though I am curious about the rest of his friends whom he was so vocal about:


    "Alright, you probably know how this goes but¡ª"


    The motherfucker suddenly spat on my face then grinned while a mix of blood and spit was flowing from his mouth that had recently lost a few pieces of his teeth, "I ain''t begging for my life, you smug fucking shit! YOU THINK YOU''RE ALL THAT?! YOU THINK FELIX''S THE ONLY ONE I''M FRIENDS WITH?! HUH?! THINK AGAIN! YOU DON''T HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I''M¡ª Huh? Is that my¡­ ear?"


    At that moment, I was politely listening to his little rant but the moment I finally wiped my face off his filth, I simply relocated his right ear from his head to the pavement with a quick draw¡ªand he only noticed what just happened when he felt the warm trickle of his blood flowing down on his neck, shoulder, and chest.


    Not to be a sexist degenerate but I''d take anything thates out from a woman except for blood, of course, but if I received blood that came from this mouthbreather''s loud hole that god knows where it had been? Losing an ear would''ve been the least of his worries.


    But yeah, I did give him a few seconds to scream and scramble to somehow stick his ear back to where it should be without any adhesive¡ªthough I''m slightly regretting my actions because I should''ve picked a different thing to slice off because I''d really need people to listen to me when I''m talking to them and doing this to him decreased his listening abilities by half if there was ever any.


    This type of person only knows how to talk and force orders onto other people who they think were lower than them but let''s just say I''m a very patient man when ites to dealing with such assholes and hearing them scream was just one of life''s greatest pleasures.


    However, right as I was about to continue our little talk, a small convoy rolled up from behind us before I heard a voice in my earpiece:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I hope I''m not thatte to the party, am I?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Hearing that, it didn''t take long before a man probably in his 50s came out from the SUV behind us and he was wearing casual clothing but with the appropriate protection like a vest, a helmet, and some thick military boots. He also had a war belt with a sidearm, a couple of magazines, a knife, etc on it but it seemed like he was more reliant on the soldiers who were protecting him from all sides.


    ''Is that Mr. Garciano?''


    This man didn''t seem to have any outstanding features besides this look of curiosity as he examined the scene before him but there was this thing where he looked so groomed and tidy with the freshly-cut hair, unblemished face, and this well-cut mustache¡ªbut even his skin even looked like they weren''t touched by the sun, only now, and his nails were trimmed at the right length.


    And from the corner of his war belt, I noticed this thing that appeared to be this hand sanitizer of sorts which said a lot because it gave me a general idea of what he was like. However, it seemed like he was profiling me in some way as well because we caught ourselves looking at each other for more than a few seconds which made me stifle augh.


    But our brief moment of judging each other ended when he let out a faint smile and spoke with a normal tone:


    "I believe you''re Mr. Ishiyama¡ª"


    But before he could finish his question, Mr. Crisologo mustered the strength to jump up from his position to rush the "traitor" but there just ain''t no fucking way he''d get past me as his temple got hit by my katana''s kashira¡ªpommel cap¡ªbefore he hit the ground unconscious.


    The side of his head just had this little indent from where I struck him but I turned to Ibarra to ask him to secure our little package forter:


    "Tie him up and bring his ear. I''m gonna use thatter¡­"


    He never looked so disturbed, "F-For what, exactly?"


    "What would you do if I cut off your dick and waved it in front of you while¡ª"


    "Stop. STOP! I get it! Of course, I''ll get mad!"


    I chuckled as I pointed at him, "Exactly!" then I turned to Kaley, "Catch up with everyone in Mr. Crisologo''s ce and see how they''re doing. Tell them to just follow the protocol and we''ll get back to them in a few."


    "Okay!"


    With that said, when I turned around to meet with the person who partially helped us make this rushed operation of sorts seed, considering his little quirk, I just gave him a respectful nod instead of offering a handshake:


    "Mr. Garciano? I''m Sky Ishiyama, it''s very nice to finally meet you."


    His smile then grew wider as he nodded the same way, "It''s very nice to finally meet you too! I''ve heard things, good and bad, amazing and terrifying from different people but never did I think that those two amazingly good and terrifyingly bad people were actually one and the same! I would''ve loved to shake your hand but¡ª"


    "I understand, I see no problem. But what do you think?"


    "A-About what?"


    "Am I that amazingly good or that terrifyingly bad?"


    "Hmm~ I don''t really want to damper our rtionship even more because I WAS that guy''s aplice, foolishly enough, but I''m gonna be honest and say that u-umm¡­ both."


    "Both?"


    "Yes, both. Both amazingly good and terrifyingly bad. I''d really, really not want you as an enemy."


    "Is that so?"


    "I really don''t want to make excuses now but if I didn''t owe Benjamin from the past and if I wasn''t that afraid of him, because of his connections, I would''ve shut him out and continued on with our own thing. Ah¡ª This ce is a little inconvenient to talk, would you mind relocating for a bit?"


    ''Because of his connections, huh? I guess we''ll find out more soon enough¡­''


    "M-Mr. Ishiyama?"


    "Sorry, I''m just with my thoughts for a moment there¡­"


    "Don''t apologize, rather, I should¡ª"


    "I think you shouldn''t either, at least for now¡­ But yeah, relocation~ How about this gatedmunity that just opened up? Like literally? I guess we could talk there and wee a few of our new people, no?"


    "Our?"


    "I don''t know about you but we''re in some sort of alliance now, no? I believe we are, even before this."

 Chapter 1038 Blame

    <h4>Chapter 1038 me</h4>


    Hearing me say that, Mr. Garciano stifled augh before he nodded a few times and looked back at me. He seemed to be altering his initial thoughts of me just from this exchange but it didn''t take long before we made our way to Mr. Crisologo''s ex-property. From the looks of it, Mr. Garciano''s soldiers worked well with mine to ensure that all the civilians were made aware of the current situation.


    However, they couldn''t contain their anger and grief the moment they discovered that the one who caged them in this ce was still alive in the back of my truck though they were a little taken aback from seeing his injuries.


    I''m pretty sure that they all wanted a piece of Mr. Crisologo right now but I still had some business with him, to say the least, though I was surprised to see that a few civilians remembered me from myst visit months ago:


    "H-Hey! Y-You''re that kid! Y-You''re the one that¡ª"


    "I REMEMBER YOU! YOU''RE THE OEN WHO KILLED ALL THOSE ZOMBS BEFORE!"


    "YEAH! I REMEMBER NOW, TOO! H-He saved us again!"


    "B-But what''s gonna happen now?! A-Are you gonna leave us a-again?"


    "Please! We''ve suffered long enough! We need a¡ª"


    I waved them off before I spoke with a clear tone:


    "Alright, one at a time but before you say anything, as of right now, Mr. Crisologo and his minions won''t be leading this ce anymore. Instead, you''ll be given a few choices: First, you can leave now and go wherever the hell you want and we''re not gonna stop you. Second, You can sign up with me and live a new life¡ªand even though I''m not yet familiar with the things Mr. Crisologo put you through, I''m not a pushover and I''ll still put you to work to earn your keep. That''s just the way things go but third and final: you can sign up with Mr. Garciano¡ª Hmm? Why do you all look like that¡ª Ah¡­"


    ''Figures¡­''


    Hearing Mr. Garciano''s name, even if his soldiers did help them in their predicament, it was also true that they followed Mr. Crisologo''s orders to do whatever he wanted them to do so it was pretty obvious that they had this aversion to hearing his name and even interacting with his guards at the moment. However, to everyone''s surprise, Mr. Garciano stepped up and gave everyone a deep bow as he apologized:


    "First and foremost, I understand the reaction towards me because I did work with him for the past few months but like all of you here, I unfortunately owed him as such and I''m deathly afraid of the guy and his friends¡­ Not only in what they could do to me but what they could also do to my family. It was a coward''s choice, that I admit, but my familyes first every single time and I''d also advise all of you to work with this young man because he was also the reason I was back up to my feet¡­ Though unfortunately, it¡ª N-Nevermind that part¡­ I owed him a lot just as much as you all do but I''d be willing to help for as much as I could within my power¡­"


    ''Did he allude to me helping him also helped Mr. Crisologo''s revenge plot? It''s true in a sense but a sly way of hiding the truth¡­ Fuck it¡ª''


    As I decided to have the truthe out from me instead, even if it was superseding his choice to hide it, I noticed the faint smile on Mr. Garciano''s lips when he figured out what I was about to do.


    Though I ignored that particr choice of action before I addressed everyone once again:


    "Here''s the whole truth though before you all decide to do anything. Mr. Crisologo''s reign over you guys is over but there''s this little detail that you have to know before you decide to sign up with me: In an indirect way, my party''s also to me for what happened because as I helped Mr. Garciano back up to his feet, it indirectly helped Mr. Crisologo to have a much better noose around your necks. But ultimately, that fucker should''ve used the blessings he received for good, and with all of that said, don''t expect an apology from me."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    The crowd had never worn soplicated expressions but I continued:


    "I never intended for any of this to happen but¡ª"


    Then the first round of resistance never arrived so fast:


    "No intention and apologies?! Like at all?! D-DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WE BARELY S-SCRAPED BY B-BECAUSE YOUR GROUPS TOOK EVERYTHING?! WE BARELY HAD ANYTHING TO SCAVENGE!" this middle-aged woman screamed at the top of her lungs while in tears.


    Then her husband(?) tried to shush her, "B-Brenda! Now''s not the time and the ce!"


    "T-THEN WHEN''S THE RIGHT TIME?! T-THESE¡­ T-THESE PEOPLE WERE THE ROOT CAUSE OF OUR SUFFERING AND HOW DIFFERENT WOULD IT BE IF THEY HAD PART OF THIS ALTOGETHER?! THINK, JOHN! WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF¡ª"


    I suddenly cut her off with a clear voice, "Alright, mark those two off to be sent elsewhere. Mauricio might take them. If you''re gonna me me and everyone else that happened besides yourself, I don''t have time to argue with you."


    The John dude tried to salvage the situation, "W-WAIT, PLEASE¡ª"


    But the Brenda dudette had more opinions to throw around, "THEN WHO''S TO BLAME THEN?! WE DIDN''T WISH FOR ANY OF THIS?! WE DIDN''T¡ª"


    Then I argued:


    "Exactly, bitch! We didn''t wish for any of this to happen! Who would fucking want a zombie apocalypse to ur?! Who would want to babysit a whiner like you?! We''re out here working on a n to move forward from all of this and you start yapping about the first chance you got! Who''d fucking take you at this point?! HUH?! ANSWER!"


    "A-AN APOLOGY WOULD''VE BEEN NICE!"


    "Fine! If that''s what it takes! I''m so~ fucking sorry for everything that''s happened to you¡ª" then I turned to Vera with a simple report of this ce''s operations, "What did she do here again?"


    Vera answered promptly, "Grew vegetables."


    I almostughed out loud before I turned back to our little ''victim'', "Right! I''m sorry you had to grow fucking vegetables for months¡ª I thought you were actually scavenging outside as you said, but that was a lie, huh?"


    "I-I was just¡ª"


    "Just what, hmm?"


    "I-I was just g-giving an example, my husband is¡ª"


    Vera cut in, "He was tasked on runs outside with a few others¡­"


    I turned to this John guy, "Good shit, bro," then I turned back to Brenda, "Have you heard your husbandin? I think he''s quite grateful, no?"


    "That''s¡­"


    As I was about to answer, Kaley just gave me a look before I had a small realization:


    ''Right¡­ I need to calm the fuck down¡­''


    So, I let out a deep sigh before I continued, "Look, you''re frazzled just as much as the next guy because a lot of things have happened this couple of hours but it''s gonna be different, alright? And if you still think otherwise, pick option one, what''s the problem? I''d even give you two a vehicle and a starter pack for your trip."


    "..."


    "And yeah: I''ll apologize again, and much sincerely, because I really don''t have any idea about what you guys went through but you gotta have an idea of what we went through as well. It''s the only way for us to see eye to eye and the only way for us to move forward. But the thing is, we''ll be building up thismunity to something much better but if you don''t want any part of it, as I''ve said for the third time, you can go."

 Chapter 1039 Why don’t you all take a look around?

    <h4>Chapter 1039 Why don''t you all take a look around?</h4>


    With how my brain works, I''d very much prefer to follow the n Iid out for the day than what we were currently doing but since the change was actually needed, I was now operating with a higher chance of blowing up due to minor inconveniences. The feeling was akin to thinking about the meal you were nning to eat once you get home but one of your friends or family members decided to eat it without saying anything.


    But yeah, my assumption with this group we saved was that they''d be all thankful for what we''ve done with them but since there were unforeseen circumstances that led to me and whatnot to get thrown around, I almost threw out actual victims by simply disagreeing with me.


    Sure, Brenda did make a few valid points in regards to the "free" items we''ve repossessed outside but it didn''t mean that those things belonged to her or everyone should be mindful of what they were taking.


    It would''ve been great, of course, but no one in their right mind in this type of setting would do just that, and it was like those helicopter parents that would me the school or their sportsmittee because their kid didn''t score as many points as the school''s MVP.


    There was no other way to put it because that was just how it goes but they also shouldn''t bite the hand that was about to feed them, because not only would they look like the most ungrateful human beings on this, but they''d also look like whiney little fucks that wanted everything to be handed to them in a silver tter just because they fucking grew vegetables for months.


    Then again, the only way to move forward was to move past my anger and for them to move past their victim mentality, or else we''d aplish nothing, and a slimy fuck like Mr. Crisologo would take up the reins again and continue his work.


    And that was what we just did.


    For a few minutes, we tried to clear the air for a little bit as everyone else tried to calm down and see the what-ifs now that the fucker missing an ear was tied on the back of my truck, and it didn''t take long before I addressed everyone else once again:


    "Here''s how it''s gonna go: the first thing we''d do in this ce is to redistribute all of the wealth Mr. Crisologo had to all of you but if you really want to be fair with everyone else¡ª"


    One of the civilians raised his hand so I stopped myself:


    "Yeah?"


    "I''m Justin, by the way¡ª"


    "What''s up, Justin?"


    "U-Umm¡­ I love the idea but shouldn''t we start on fixing up the w-wall? I-I don''t wanna be that guy but¡ª"


    "Hah! Be that guy, I love it. You see, I''m just waiting for one of you to address the elephant in the room and that''s right, I broke it, I''ll fix it. You don''t have to worry about that at all but I did break that particr wall for a reason."


    "F-For a reason?"


    "Yep. Having two entrances/exits would require more guards but this ce is too fucking big to just have one entrance for people toe and go. Furthermore, that particr area was one of this ce''s blindspot because it''s opposite your main gate and beyond that is tons of closed-up shops and whatnot that had those frilly or obstructing signs that made my Killdozer drop in as a surprise. Not that discovering it early would''ve done anything to it because it''s that you know¡­ tanky¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ I-I''m sorry¡ª"


    "Don''t apologize, I''m starting to like you but yeah¡­ The bulk of our guards would usually be ced by the gates and having another one right on your blindspot is like having eyes on the back of your head. But in the future, it would do you good to have a group tear down those signs and have roadblocks to either slow down or divert the dead''s march toward your ce. Any more questions regarding the hole I made for you?"


    "N-No, sir. I''m good, thanks."


    I nodded, "Alright, before we discuss Mr. Crisologo''s wealth¡ª Vera, the¡ª thanks! I don''t wanna pile on more shit for you guys to get angry on that fucker, but aside from the supply he had on his truck that couldst him for months, he had a significant stash of canned goods, luxury items, medicine, not a lot of guns, water, gas, etc. in his fucking attic AND his basement. Seems like he''s holding out on all of you, huh? That shit couldst all of you several months with your number¡ª maybe even a year or so if you ration them properly¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    "How¡ª Why didn''t we know of this?!"


    "THAT''S WHY THOSE GUARDS OF HIS NEVER LEAVE HIS SIDE!"


    "I-I''m¡­ I''m gonna cry¡­"


    "FUCK!"


    Obviously enough, these people who looked like they''d kill a man for a full meal were mad as fuck that Mr. Crisologo made them do all the heavy work while he lived avish life with security and bitches, but I''d still need to give everyone else the reality of the situation.


    I waited for everyone else to calm down before I opened my mouth:


    "Can I speak now? Yes? And here''s the thing: Once we redistribute all of Mr. Crisologo''s resources to all of you here, you''d probably eat like kings for five months or so but then what?"


    One of them who looked like a woman in his 40s responded, "W-What do you mean?"


    "I mean, I''m gonna help you fix this wall, provide security for a time but what are you gonna do while that''s happening? Again, I did say you''d have to earn your keep. I haven''t had your name yet¡ª"


    "Amanda. The name''s Amanda."


    "Oh? We also have an Amanda back home, a great agriculturalist, who grows these tasty mushrooms¡ª but anyway, I''d hate to say this but you''d have to continue what you were doing before but in a slightly different way. You catch my drift?"


    John asked, "C-Can you please borate?"


    "Sure! Why don''t you all take a look around?"

 Chapter 1040 What do you get out of this?

    <h4>Chapter 1040 What do you get out of this?</h4>


    As I asked all of them to look around in the ce they''d been for months, probably even longer if they were a long-time homeowner, they looked at me confused initially before the realization hit that the ce they''ve known to love and worked so hard for to call their own was just a smidge of what it used to be.


    This ce was essentially just a collection of fancy houses around this 14-foot concrete wall that only had a basketball court, tennis court, and a multipurpose hall to keep things "interesting".


    But now, it had random shit all around and everyone else''swn had turned into this hodge-podge of random crops nted asymmetrically with a few chickens or ducks running around with a dog or two.


    Even one of the houses was burned to the ground for some reason¡ªwhich we weren''t responsible for¡ªbut there were more that looked like a crack house of sorts due to the attacks it failed to fend for long ago.


    But yeah, the house that stood above the rest was definitely Mr. Crisologo''s because not only did it had a separate wall made of chain-linked fences with a tarp cover, but it also had the fancy stuff any survivor could ask for like sr panels, flood lights, and a fuck ton of resources my team recovered beforehand.


    It was safe to say that this ce needed more than its hole in the wall to be fixed but the gatedmunity as a whole.


    This would just be a ton of work and it would''ve been much, much better if they moved back to my ce, but somehow, I doubt that was ever going to happen. Above all else, these homeowners still had pride for the amount of work they put in to build or pay for their homes and that was one of the reasons they didn''t leave this ce the moment we cleared it off a few hundred zomb-fuckers.


    Even if a fucking dictator-dumbass were to lead them, they wouldn''t want to leave the ce they called home.


    But yeah, as they werementing the fact of what happened in the span of time they were living in tyranny, it obviously got emotional for them, but these people have stuck it all this time, they obviously wouldn''t stop now that they had the freedom to do what they want.


    "Had a good look? Yeah? Here''s what''ll happen, in the span of a month or two, I''ll have my builders, soldiers, and whatnot rebuild this ce from the ground up but if you have a particr set of skills that could help them, step the fuck up so it''d be much easier for us. Aside from turning that wall into a gate, we''d turn some of the vacant lots and houses to be dedicated facilities for farming, crafts, soldiers, fixing up vehicles,munications, etc. This ce will be one of my outposts and the requirement for that is it should be able to survive and live on its own."


    Mr. Garciano interjected, "I do look forward to this, can my soldiers stay for the time being?"


    I nodded, "Of course, they''ll be well-fed and taken care of as everyone else''s from now on, but that''s contingent they keep their bodies in tip-top shape as they could finish our trainee''s course every single day. And in regards to people like John over there who goes on runs, as this ce is getting built from the ground up, you can join one of my clearing or scouting groups to see how we do things and they''ll teach you a lot of stuff in killing deadheads and finding things in the weirdest of ces."


    "How about me?" Brenda, the one who grew vegetables, raised her hand.


    "Well, what did you do before the world ended?" I asked earnestly.


    "Sales."


    "In what?"


    "P-Pretty much anything. I do livestreams at home and just sell a bunch of stuff. Anything that''s trending that time, I''ll get my hands on it until it fades."


    "Hmm~ Here''s another question: What do YOU wanna do now?"


    "..."


    "Brenda. You work in sales, you gotta be able to sell yourself¡ª"


    She never looked so shocked, "WHAT?! I''M NOT¡ª"


    "Fuck, fuck, fuck! That''s not¡ª Wrong choice of words, but you know what I meant. It just came out wrong, alright?" then I turned to my group at the back, "Stopughing! I know it''s funny but¡ª Haa¡­" then I turned to Brenda again, "On an unrted note, we do have people working in that type of industry¡ªdefinitely consensual on their part and everyone''s getting tested the whole she-bang¡ªbut if you''re having trouble finding the right path, I''d suggest doing about everything else my camp has to offer and decide from there."


    "A-Aren''t there any jobs that require my expertise?"


    "Hmm~ At the moment? No. It''s because we have a fixed rate¡ªit varies still sometimes but very negligible¡ªfor trading goods with each of our outposts and allies, but it''s a different thing if our scouting groupes across a friend or neutral camp that has items for trade."


    "C-Can''t I juste with a scouting group?"


    "How many walkers have you killed?"


    "W-What?"


    "That''s probably zero. How many humans have you killed?"


    "That''s¡­ I don''t understand the connection."


    I sighed as I shook my head, "That''s the thing. You should be able to understand at least that for you to be eligible to travel with a scouting group outside. Ask your husband, he''s probably familiar with it. But other than that, you''d also have to pass our fitness test, and I don''t mean this in any other derogatory way but you and your husband had to fucking eat a bit more now that you''re with us. Not only will your bodies thank you but you''ll have a higher chance ofing back if you have proper nutrition and sleep. Don''t worry, we''ll take care of that as well¡­ you won''t be overworked as much."


    Then one of the guys who was the same age as them who kept quiet most of the time raised his hand:


    "Excuse me? Gary here¡­ I appreciate all you''ve done for us and I don''t wanna be pessimistic but what do you get out of this? This is a lot of investment for a group you didn''t even give a second look before."


    I nodded with a smile, "Of course, I''ll get something out of this. I ain''t doing this shit for free."


    He nodded with a bitter smile, "Of course¡­"


    "Let''s be realistic here. The reason I''m taking all of you in¡ªeven though I couldn''t give much of a fuckst time¡ªbecause right now, I can fucking do it. Last time? I was only managing the same 50-ish people in thepound I built with my old friend from scratch. And since now you probably signed up with me, you''re the newest addition to my few thousand loyal and happy individuals whom I take care of like family. I had a little spat with some of them earlier because some of you dared to case us out but we''re working on it. But to answer your question: I''ll give you all of these things and the only thing I''ll ask in return is a little cut and to not fuck this up. Can you all do that for me?"

 Chapter 1041 30% - Can I be brutally honest?

    <h4>Chapter 1041 30% - Can I be brutally honest?</h4>


    As I said that, everyone from this camp was more or less convinced to be under my wing though we did discuss the rest of the specifics while my builders started toe in droves. It was to patch up the hole in the wall for this afternoon and build its new solid gate then eventually mounting it first thing in the morning.


    Other than that, my old truck also came in driven by Unc Zardon and it carried a top-up of sorts for the items they''d need moving further.


    Granted I said that once we divvied up Mr. Crisologo''s stash, they''d have enough for five months to a year, but that doesn''t mean that they''d only need food to "live" like normal humans.


    To further supplement their supplies, we parted with some fruiting bags, different varieties of seedlings, a couple of vermposting bins, misceneous tools, toiletries, cleaning products, a few sets of clothing, footwear, a cage of rabbits, books, electronics, etc.


    But in addition to these people whom we had just taken in, I gave some goodie bags and minor upgrades¡ªin regards to their loadout¡ªto the soldiers that belonged to Mr. Garciano, who were on the inside when it all went down. Andst but not the least, I handed over Mr. Garciano a few boxes of specialty products that I thought he''d very much appreciate and I thought that he damn near lost his mind when he offered me a handshake.


    "THANK YOU SO MUCH! I DIDN''T THINK YOU''D HAVE THIS! I-IT''S INCREDIBLE!"


    Quinn had to chime in, "That¡­ moisturizer?"


    Mr. Garciano had never nodded so fast, "Yes! And this soap! This perfume! This aftershave! Everything! I''m a huge follower of this product line! I-It''s made with all-natural ingredients and it still baffles me to this day as to how they could grow a business this big with barely any advertisements at all! Well¡ª They''re not as big as the top brands but they could be bigger if they do it the right way!"


    ''The Rivas Family''s that good, huh?''


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Why''d you need advertising for if the product could speak for itself? Fuck themmercials if you already have top shelf¡ª"


    "You took the words out of my mouth! To be honest, I started saving up on all my products and had to supplement them with the riff-raff but this couldn''t havee at a better time! I really did wish they expanded so they''d have more of this stuff on the shelves in the malls but s, I''ll treasure these products until the lost drop¡­"


    Tatiana then came up from behind as she rested her elbow by my shoulders, "You gotta tell him now, correct?"


    Mr. Garciano turned to us while testing one of the moisturizers, "T-Tell me what?"


    Long story short, we further secured our rtionship with Mr. Garciano and we already brokered a deal with him on the spot.


    Because with the people we had just taken in, our deal was to take a 30% cut among their harvests and scavenged goods until they paid for the top-up we gave them, then it would lower down to a 10-15% in the months right after. However, they would now be required to learn various skills to survive these times and send daily, weekly, and monthly reports all the while a representative should be attending our meetings bi-weekly.


    In Mr. Garciano''s case, the deal we made was that aside from supplying him the same thing I gifted him from the Rivas Family''s product line among other necessities they might need and vice versa, his soldiers in thismunity would be required to stay with a few of my own to buff up this ce''s security. Furthermore, I''ll be sending another group of people over to their ce to further rtions with his group and mine.


    Like with Mauricio and the Intercity, they weren''t necessarily under my wing but we were more like business partners who had a mutual benefit with each other.


    ''My initial goal was to upy cities along the coast but the city he''s in is right next to the dam where na is so that''s a good thing still¡­ All that''s left is to upy the City of North Caloocan and we''d have a general hold of almost a third of the National Capital Region and a bit of the Central Region, Region III¡­''


    With that said, even if we had more things to talk about, we thought that it''d be best if we could also sit down with Mauricio since the two were closer to each other, location-wise, and introducing him to Iskoh, Oscar, Ferdinand, Morales, and even the president shoulde at ater date.


    "He''s¡­ He''s one of the merchants in the Intercity, right?"


    "You know him?"


    "Not personally, no¡­ but we purchase rice from the same ce"


    "What did you trade in then?"


    "We''re known for being the highly-urbanized city around our parts but we can''t just carry around houses, can''t we?"


    "Not with that attitude, no."


    "Hah! In any case, even now, we have a huge surplus of building materials from the several projects that got halted when you know¡­ all this started¡ªand I know, I should''ve told you before you sent people fixing everything already but it could be part of our deal too if you needed a lot of I-beams, cement, and whatnot."


    I shook my head, chuckling, as I decided to be blunt, "You have this habit of keeping some things left unsaid, huh?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    Then I suddenly smacked his shoulder and startedughing, "Don''t look too shocked, alright? How could you have known that we work this fast? Don''t worry about it."


    "Ahaha¡­ You scared me there for a moment, truly¡­"


    "Just a friendly reminder though."


    "Hmm?"


    "I''d rather be hurt by the truth than to be lied to. Omitting some stuff doesn''t work that well with me too. Do you understand where I''m getting at?"


    He nodded solemnly, "I do understand that but I''m not like you."


    "Oh? Do tell."


    "Can I be brutally honest?"


    "Now we''re talking. Go ahead."

 Chapter 1042 T-That’s it? - "Talking" with Mr. Garciano

    <h4>Chapter 1042 T-That''s it? - "Talking" with Mr. Garciano</h4>


    Mr. Garciano let out a huge sigh before he opened his mouth, "I''m just a family man trying to live his best life with his family. That''s it¡­"


    I turned to him and discovered that that was really it, no second paragraph, no nothing. I thought for sure he''d have this chapter-long story about himself but even if I appreciated how concise he was, I''m gonna need a little more.


    "Umm¡­ Okay? Care to borate on that?"


    "Should I?"


    "Dude. I''m trying to live my best life with everyone else here too but I only have a wife¡­ I technically don''t fully understand what a ''family man'' is¡­ no offense."


    "Hmm¡­ That''s fair. It simply means that I''ll do anything for them¡­"


    "Oh¡­ And?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Don''t tell me that''s it?"


    "That''s¡­ I thought you''d be able to understand it from that¡ª"


    "Do you need a fucking Snicker? A Milk-Dud? A Redbull? Are you saving energy for something? We''re not gonna have a fistfight after this, alright? And all I have of you right now are assumptions. We''re officially working with each other now so it''s a given we''d need to know about each other a little more than you being a little germophobe and forck of a better word, somewhat of a little bitch."


    He suddenly let out a small chuckle, "That''s not true at all¡­"


    "Which one?"


    "I''m the biggest germophobe out there and I''m also the coward of the country."


    "Isn''t that a song?"


    "You know Kenny Rogers?! Hah! How old are ya? Really? Aren''t I double your age?"


    "People double my age always refer to me as the ''Kid'', you aren''t, so¡ª"


    "I''m 52, now actually. And I don''t want to make it like I''m looking down on you by calling you a child¡ª"


    "That''s¡ª No, you got it wrong, ''Kid'', not ''child''. It''s just their form of endearment or something and I really don''t mind. And you''re really 52? Jesus fucking christ, moisturizers and lotions really do their thing, huh? Is that why you''re pale as fuck?"


    "I think you''re referring to sunblock¡ª"


    "Aren''t they the same thing?"


    "Ah¡ª I''m gonna pretend I didn''t hear that¡­ They''re not the same thing! How could you even say that?!"


    "Pfft¡­ Apologies, my bad¡­ I do use lotion from time to time¡ªmostly my hands to remove the calluses¡­"


    "Riiiiight¡­"


    "You¡ª I would''ve said I use it on my dick from time to time but there''s lube now, don''t it?! Don''t look at me like that! And sometimes, I even dry-stroke it! There! Happy?!"


    Mr. Garciano had the shock of his life but his face just warped to absolute goblin-mode, "HAHAHAHAHA! I can''t believe I''m having this conversation with you! Oh my fucking god, this is so¡ª Pfft¡ª HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "Heh, you think I''m embarrassed by admitting it, huh?! It''s a very normal thing, alright?"


    "I know, I know~ I was your age before¡ª but yeah¡­" then his face turned solemn once again, "All those things you said about me are true and irrefutable but that''s because being a coward was the only thing I could do so that my family could survive. But somehow, my people still stuck with me, even the ones who didn''t support me in thest election, because it really was a toss coin most of the time¡­ It''s very hard to bnce the coin right in the middle or make itnd on its side¡­"


    "True¡ª"


    "And to my knowledge, you were trying to do the same thing as I but were very sessful in almost all of your endeavors¡­"


    "What do you mean?"


    "I don''t want this to be my identity but it seemed like in my pursuit to achieve bnce, I''ve taken an equal number of wins and losses throughout my life¡­ It was mostly losses when everything started but it slowly bnced out when one of your scouting groups managed toe upon our small encampment before. We''ve grown a lot since then and I have you thank for all of that¡­"


    "I just supplied you with a few pick-me-ups, don''t give me all the credit. Where are you going with this?"


    "Hmm? Nothing, I''m just venting to you because I need to look strong for my wife¡­ We still need a bit of support from time to time¡ªand I''m just a little envious of you with all your aplishments. Compared to me¡ª"


    I waved him off, "It''s because I''m very OP, alright?"


    "OP? What¡ª"


    "You never yed games at all? It''s short for overpowered. And don''t startparing me with you, that''s a bad way of thinking. If you''re gonnapare yourself to someone,pare yourself to yourself yesterday. Look¡­ you were working with a dumbass yesterday but look at you now! Isn''t it night and day?! You would''ve been evading gunfire right about now if¡ª that''s a joke, a joke! Don''t look at me like that!"


    "Then how should I react to that?!"


    "You fucked up, alright?! I''m allowed to joke about it! That''s just how I am!"


    "Suuure¡­."


    "Cool. B-But yeah¡­ granted a little bit ofpetition is healthy, but there are also bad side effects too, right? Look at being a coward, for example, it has this bad connotation thates with being called one but you used that to survive this long. But look at being brave, it had all the positives thate with being called one but it could alsoe hand in hand with being reckless, stupid, etc. and a good number of our brave soldiers died in battle. Who''s to say being brave is a good thing anymore? Is being a coward really all that bad?"


    "Well¡­ which one are you?"


    "Me? I''m a coward¡ª"


    "Don''t spout bullshit right now¡ª"


    "I''m not. Listen. I''m a coward at times and I''m brave as fuck sometimes too. If Kaley''s mad? I''m a fucking bitch but if you put me against a thousand deadheads? Easy as pie. We''re kinda opposite in that regard because as you said you try to look strong for your wife. I''m the exact opposite. She''s the only one I can be weak to. Weird, right?"


    "..."


    "The thing is, it''s like youparing yourself to me, it''s like apples to oranges, boobs to asses, blondes to brtes to redheads, flight to invisibility, etc. I don''t even know where I''m getting at right now but that''s the type of conversation we''re having if we tryparing ourselves to other people. There are definite truths, sure, but what''s the point?"


    "I could argue that it depends on the way I''m looking at it. Knowing some of the stuff that I can''t do could make me work harder on it or other stuff, right?"


    "That''s the way to go unless you really wanna feel worse about yourself¡ªbecause you''re a tad pessimistic, no offense, but that line of thinking is where everybody should be at. Not the other way around¡­"


    "So you''re saying that we should only look at the positive?"


    "Eh~ Depends on what you want to achieve, actually¡­ We''vepletely derailed this conversation¡ªno, Ipletely derailed us. My bad¡ª"


    "Hah! It made meugh, that''s gotta count for something¡­ but what now? It''s almost sunset and I need to head back. As much as I would love to continue this talk, I only have a few moments to distract myself¡­"


    "Right. We''ll keep in touch but I''m gonna let Mr. Crisologo heal up a little bit more before questioning him regarding his allies. And then we''ll see from that."


    "I see. Do believe that he has friends all around the country but a good majority of them would flip just like me given the chance. He''s not as powerful as he waspared to back then but there''s just this fear that he ced in our heads that makes him do whatever he wants."


    "Alright. Comparing again, are we? Thanks for the info and I''m assuming you exceeded your quota of handshakes for the day? I''d dly offer one but¡ª"


    He shook his head as he chuckled, "I''m d you understand, and even though you look decent¡­ There are just things we c-cannot see that drive me nuts. It''s not a you thing but¡ª It''s a you thing, sorry¡­"


    "Hah! A simple nod will do."


    "Alright."


    "Cool."


    With that said, Mr. Garciano eventually said his goodbyes while we finished up a few things here with my crew.

 Chapter 1043 Pimpin’ Bitches

    <h4>Chapter 1043 Pimpin'' Bitches</h4>


    From the time everyone else had worked with me, they could pretty much make decisions on their own except for times when it was really important so then they would either decide on something that was easily fixed or just wait for me and hold on to that thought for as long as possible. Granted there were a few exceptions, but even though there would sometimes be something that could''ve been easily decided on paper, they operate on the notion of what I would do in their ce.


    It wasn''t like they knew what I would do every single time because they''d been inside my head, but my decisions on most things tend to usually favor everyone''s safety and well-being.


    With that said, while keeping Mr. Crisologo still loopy for the remainder of our stay in this ce, there were three individuals on whom I still needed to make a final decision.


    They were "Beth" and "Cece" a.k.a. Mr. Crisologo''s bitches and "Eduardo" a.k.a. the driver.


    It was pretty obvious that even though they helped in his capture, everyone else from their camp hated their guts for being favored by our hostage in the back of my truck because he did bring them with him in his "escape". But yeah, I did promise the driver his life for switching sides at thest moment but these lesser bitches¡ªas I was informed by a few of theirmunity members¡ªwere wrapped in the essence of the actual word: bitches, and I didn''t promise them anything.


    Eduardo stepped forward as it was now his turn, "S-Sir, you did p-promise me that y-you¡ª"


    Beth cut in, "Us too, right?! We did help!"


    Cece added, "Right?! We''re included in this deal!"


    I ignored the two as I maintained eye contact with Eduardo, "I did promise you your life and that''s the reason you''re still standing right now so¡­ What else do you want from me?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "That''s the deal, right? You probably had a lot of fun while that fucker was still swinging his dick around and I''m not gonna give you a fresh start from any of my outposts¡ªand it''s either you hit the road and find some shelter or you dig deep and earn some respect back even if it''s in the negatives. Those are your only options."


    "I¡­ I understand¡­ I-I''ll dig deep, sir."


    "Good answer."


    "..."


    Then Cece tried to get up in my face, "Hey! We gave you some time¡ª"


    And I suddenly gave her the Ol'' Pimp Backhand that shooketh everybody:


    "You gave me what?"


    "Did¡ª DID YOU JUST HIT ME?!"


    "I did¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Didn''t hurt as much? Take a guess why. If you can''t, I''ll hit you for real."


    "YOU DON''T JUST HIT A WOMAN''S FACE!"


    "Why?"


    "THAT''S¡ª BECAUSE!"


    "Bitch. With the amount of fucking makeup you have on, I can put your head in a bowl and have everyone use it as chalk in a powerlifting meet."


    "Wha¡ª WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"


    Ignoring Quinn''s cackle from the back, "Look, I dunno if you''re hormonal or anything but you don''t get up in someone''s face especially if you''re at their mercy. I promised the driver his life but I made no such thing to both of you. But despite that, I''ll also give you your lives as constion but you gotta earn your keep."


    "FINE!"


    "Good," then I turned to Beth, "And you?"


    "What else can I do then?!"


    "Uh-huh. Alright, since you two went up in the ranks by spreading your legs¡ª"


    "HOW DARE YOU?!"


    "Fine, you also used your hands and your mouths¡­ Anything that works, right?"


    "PIG! WE DID WHAT WE HAVE TO DO!"


    "Yeah. Apparently, you two acted like fucking queens while the ''king'' was still seated on his throne. You two didn''t give a fuck about what happens to everyone else as long as your tummies are fed and your holes filled. Listen here: I''m not considering building a facility here that could provide sexual release at the moment so you gotta have some other skills to do some other type of work¡ª"


    "Why the hell aren''t you building one yet?!"


    "How hard could a couple of discreet rooms be?! I can do it in my own room, for fuck''s sake!"


    "Oh? I thought you were so against getting called whores but now you''re even giving me the go-ahead and a couple of suggestions? Can you two pick a side and go with it?"


    "It doesn''t sound right said out loud, okay?!"


    "And everyone already hates us for sleeping with their partners, we don''t want to get looked down on even more!"


    "Alright, I apologize. But then again, what else can you do? I have a system back home that deals with this stuff but you can''t just fuck your way through every single thing. It''s either your main thing is sex work while you have a backup job or vice versa. Don''t forget the training we''ll put everyone through, I doubt your bodies could take that much pounding."


    Beth rolled her eyes as she looked at me with contempt, "How about you? Can you evenst long?"


    At that moment, Cece was about to pile on to look down on me but everyone from my inner circle and the ones who had a general idea of my ''situation'' couldn''t help butugh in their face. And from seeing their reactions, the two never looked so confused about what they were trying to imply but I just shook my head and moved on with the conversation:


    "Here''s what''s gonna happen: we''ll send a few people here to give EVERYONE medical exams and a few more tests and the only way you two could open up a branch here is contingent on you two passing with flying colors. It''s either that or you do that shit on the down low. I can''t control what you two do in your free time but everyone else that would avail your services should know what they''re getting into."


    "Are you saying that¡ª"


    "Yes. It''s just how it is. There are just some things that you can''t get rid of with a simple rinse."

 Chapter 1044 I already done torture today, anything else?

    <h4>Chapter 1044 I already done torture today, anything else?</h4>


    At this moment, it was almost the same conversation we had with the twins but this was me being the businessman or the "good" pimp that worries more about everyone else''s rather than his merchandise because being clean was at the very top of the list when doing sex work. But yeah, the reason I also decreed for everyone to be tested was because being clean should go both ways and there should be clear boundaries on who could do things with whom.


    I wouldn''t get into the much finer details regarding that type of stuff because it should''ve been obvious from the get-go.


    With that said, after I finalized a few more things with everyone else we''d leave here for the night, our grand cavalry made its way home with casualties only from the other side. Everyone was still convivial from our little intercept with what would''ve been a future problem but the mood quickly died down when everyone else saw that the guards I was punishing were now outside the gate, standing in front of their families.


    They all turned their heads to give me this apologetic look mixed with begging and desperation, but I''m fucking serious about keeping my ce safe and what they did was just inexcusable. And if their puppy eyes would''ve worked on me, then what''s the point of handing out punishments in the first ce?


    And to that extent, I made it a point to not have a bite of dinner until I squeezed Benjamin with every bit of information he dared to threaten me with because we went straight to our main DDR Camp and put him in the same ce I murdered Jomar.


    The meds I gave him were slowly beginning to wear off, and the ''healing time'' I promised him didn''t give him any HP but just dyed the bleeding debuff I gave into him. Furthermore, it didn''t do shit to his ear but his still being high on his mind right now made it easier for me to put him in a position where he''d be real fortable'' with the series of questions I was about to ask him.


    And since Quinn was a little wasteful with our duct tape, I found some other way to keep him really~ glued to the fucking wall, like literally.


    This particr brand of super glue would only take a minute or so topletely dry but I did take a bit of time and a few other tools to keep him from falling off when I started, but the moment he was finally "awake", I gave him a bright smile as I pulled off the table he was standing on earlier.


    "HNGH!"


    Benjamin Crisologo let out arge grunt the moment he felt his whole weight pushing him down due to gravity, but the worst part of this was that I used a fuck ton of super glue because it seemed like his skin was more adhered to the wall than to the rest of his body.


    And not only was his back half irritated to the point of swelling and severe redness, but it was also threatening to rip off if I didn''t push back the table he was standing on.


    "WHAT THE¡ª WHERE¡ª WHAT¡ª YOU! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?! CAN¡ª AH! SHIT! WHAT''S¡ª WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! ANSWER ME!"


    "Can''t you see¡ª Right, you can''t. My bad. I glued you to the wall."


    "WHA¡ª HUH?! GLUE¡ª IS THAT''S WHAT''S PULLING ME¡ª"


    "Nah, fam. Your fucking weight is what''s pulling you down."


    Then his gaze turned to the bloody table I pulled off him, "BLOOD¡ª WHO''S BLOOD WAS THAT?! IS THAT MINE?! W-WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME, YOU PSYCHO!"


    "First of all, that''s Jomar''s blood¡ª"


    "W-WHO THE FUCK''S JOMNAR?!"


    "Seriously? You can''t even remember your minion''s name¡ª Why do I even try? But to answer your second question, I glued you to the wall. Nothing else."


    "GLUE¡ª W-WHY?! I-IT''S¡ª I-I D-DUNNO¡ª S-SOMETHING''S NOT RIGHT¡ª"


    "Yeah, a lot of things are not alright. But you can make it right though¡­"


    "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?!"


    "Names and everything I should know about your so-called ''friends''. I don''t have the time to case each neutralmunity out there so I''ll just go straight to you to get the right info¡ª"


    "W-What makes you t-think that I''m gonna tell you shit?! T-THIS IS NOTHING!"


    "Uh-huh. Your face and your skin say otherwise. It''s notparable to a deepceration but imagine ripping half your skin off¡ª"


    "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING BUT Y-YOU HAVE TO PUT ME DOWN FIRST!"


    "That easy?"


    "Y-YEAH! JUST PUT ME DOWN!"


    I shrugged my shoulders as I pushed the table right under his feet, "There you go¡ª"


    "N-NOT LIKE THAT, YOU NUMBNUT! I MEAN PUT ME DOWN! ON THE GROUND! GET ME OFF THIS THING!"


    I asked with a tinge of worry, "Won''t your skin rip off? That''s gotta hurt¡ª"


    "THEN WHY DID YOU PUT ME IN THIS P-POSITION IN THE FIRST PLACE?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?!"


    "I''m a psycho, remember? And yeah, did you even think that you''d get out of this alive? Nah, bro. The only way I''ll get you down is if I put you down and not the same meaning you used earlier."


    "THEN IF YOU''RE JUST GONNA KILL ME, I WON''T SAY SHIT! HOW ABOUT THAT?!"


    Iughed in his face as I pulled on the table once again, "Trust me, you''ll say some shit before this is over¡ª"


    The motherfuckerughed through the pain, "HAHAHAHAHHAHA! YOU THINK THIS IS GONNA MAKE ME TALK?! I''VE BEEN THROUGH FAR WORSE SHIT THAN YOU CAN THINK OF, KID! YOU DON''T KNOW WHERE I''VE BEEN TO! YOU¡ª W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHAT¡ª"


    To his confusion, I casually walked out the door before I rolled in Bordz who was heavily sedated and sleeping soundly on his bed. And obviously, if he couldn''t even remember their names, how the fuck could he recognize Bordz who was missing half his face? But yeah, I already tortured someone a few hours earlier so I''m gonna let Bordz do the interrogating himself.


    "What the fuck are you¡ª"


    "Think, dumbass. Think. Smile too, alright?"


    "Smile? What¡ª"


    "You''ll know soon enough¡­"


    It was because the room was already equipped with a camera and a few recording devices so before I bid Mr. Crisologo goodbye, I pulled out my knife and stabbed Bordz in his chest.


    Murdering someone had never been this easy.


    But yeah, Mr. Crisologo was still confused as fuck when I was by the door but I left him a few words because his little brain was too slow toprehend what was about to happen:


    "He''s gonna ''wake up'' in a few minutes or a few hours and if you don''t tell me what I want, he''ll have you for dinner. Alright? Bye~" I said as I waved off and closed the door behind me.


    "WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! C-COME BACK! I-I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! I''LL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING, YOU FUCK! J-JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE! HEY! HEEEEEEEEEY! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY! GET ME OUT OF HERE! PLEASE! PLEASE! I BEG OF YOU! GET ME OUT OF HERE! I-I DON''T WANNA DIE! I DON''T WANNA¡ª HE JUST MOVED! HE JUST MOVED! I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING! I''LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!!!"

 Chapter 1045 Sad Reality - Strugglers I

    <h4>Chapter 1045 Sad Reality - Strugglers I</h4>


    Ignoring Mr. Crisologo''s cries, I turned my attention to the party I brought with me: Kaley, Tatiana, Quinn, Jared, and Ibarra who were still by our vehicle waiting¡ªthough Jared''s attention was watching the camera''s feed through one of our tablets¡ªbut it seemed like Mimi caught wind that we had just arrived and stayed put for a few minutes.


    I looked briefly at my watch as I turned to her, "It''s past eight, what are you still doing here?"


    "Dr. Lo¡ª Dr. Nichols is still here too, you know? We usually clock out way~ter in the university, sometimes even in the morning. We''re still getting used to things here too so the extra hours wouldn''t hurt. Besides, we''re used to this kind of stuff¡­"


    "Don''t push yourselves too hard¡­"


    "S-Sure¡­ U-Umm¡­" Mimi trailed as she was staring at the blood on my hands after briefly ncing at the door I came from.


    "..." I didn''t utter a word as I wiped the blood on my pants before I scratched the back of my head.


    She then took a deep breath before she opened her mouth, "D-Did you¡­ Did¡ª"


    "I killed three people today¡ª Two, technically speaking, but that''s why I have blood on my hands."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Then¡­ The ce you drove¡ª"


    "Right. Technically speaking, I didn''t kill more people but I still ordered a dozen or so deaths so it''s pretty much the same thing. Other than that, there are now 50-ish people who are free from their grasp but they''ll pretty much do the same thing but with higher incentives and better living conditions instead. I''ll tell you the bad stuff and I''ll tell you the good stuff. It''ll be in the reports or said in the meeting tomorrow but that''s just how this ce goes."


    "T-That''s great, I guess¡­" Mimi trailed once again as she looked at the floor solemnly.


    "Mimi¡ª Look, I already told you what''s happening outside the university and¡ª"


    She then waved me off with a different expression, "N-No¡ª I''m not¡ª H-Honestly, I-I''m not sure what to feel right now b-because it''s different hearing the stories from you than seeing things in person b-because since I''m new here¡­ I-I was one of the people who c-cleaned up¡­ y-you know, that room earlier. One of us was assigned to clean the table b-but it seemed like he wanted me to do it instead but I-I''m not a pushover¡­"


    "Name?"


    "W-What?"


    "Give me his name¡ª"


    "Huh?! Y-You''re not¡ª Just by not cleaning the table?!"


    I almost smacked this bish, "You¡ª What did you think I was gonna do to him, huh?!"


    "Y-You know¡­" Mimi trailed as she waved one of her hands around like it was a knife, "T-That¡­"


    At that moment, not only did I burstughing at her actions but everyone else from my group had to let out a chuckle like Ibarra or a straight-up cackle from Quinn. Anyone else from the old world would''ve thought we were deranged human beings fromughing at the thought of murder but it was downright funny now especially if it was a misunderstanding from a friend who lived in a well.


    Then I ruffled her hair for a moment before I answered, "I''m talking about a disciplinary action Mimi, not an execution. I won''t kill people just from that but it''s a bad look to me to see you get hazed a few days in¡ªespecially from your co-nurses. I thought it only happens in security detail or something simr¡­"


    But Mimi got ticked off as she got barely right up in my face due to her height, "I-I can take care of myself, alright?! You don''t have to always be there for me, ites with my frame that they think that they could bully me but I''m tougher than I look! And stop ruffling my hair! Argh! You did it again!"


    As she said that, I agree with all of her statements except for one thing:


    Mimi could be tough as nails mentally but the brutal truth was that even if she built up some endurance from walking to and from our home and the university hospital, a good majority of people could physically push her around if they wanted to. So, I''d rather be there for her when she needed it rather than¡ªyou know how the saying goes.


    I then grabbed the top of Mimi''s head, ruining her hair even more, as I looked at her seriously, "Look¡­ I know you''re tough in this little ol'' head of yours but you can''t even stop me from ruining your hair¡ª"


    "B-But it''s you, why would I¡ª"


    "What if that other guy starts doing it?"


    "T-Then I''ll kick his ass!"


    "Then what if he fights back?"


    "Then I''ll aim for his nuts?"


    "I''m serious here, Mimi. It''s great for you to not be a pushover and be tough but you gotta be smart too. I got bullied like you when I was in high school but even if I was a pushover then, I know how to fight back. It''s just that I didn''t. I''m notparing you to myself but what we both did was wrong. I should''ve fought back while you should put some safeties in ce."


    "I-I know the s-story¡­ K-Kaley helped you¡­"


    "Yes, that''s right. And right now, you have everybody here to help you if things go south. A little bit of hazing works to toughen some of you up but it''s bad when it goes too far. I won''t behead him if he keeps pushing work on you but the moment I see youe home with so much as a tiny little scratch, heads will roll. Do you understand that?"


    "I-I do¡­ Thanks¡ª"


    Jared suddenly jumped from the roof of my truck as he pushed the tablet on my face:


    "Bro! BRO! LOOK¡ª"


    "Don''t push it too far onto my face!"


    "But that fuck had already ripped his hand off! H-He''s bleeding a lot! Wait¡­ I thought the other guy already moved from y-you know¡­ Why''s he-it ''sleeping'' again?"

 Chapter 1046 Strugglers II

    <h4>Chapter 1046 Strugglers II</h4>


    My conversation with Mimi was suddenly cut off by Jared screaming into my ear and pushing the tablet right into my face, but it was for a very valid reason. The first one was to make Mr. Crisologo suffer and the other was¡ªeven if we were sessful or not¡ªto get the info and the dirt he had on his so-called friends.


    Because it was as Mr. Garciano stated: Mr. Crisologo referred to them as his ''friends'' but it was more like people who owed him a lot of money and favors.


    Sure, getting some dirt on his aces could help me establish a much better connection with them if we ever cross paths but I already have my own ways and I''ll only lead by fear if it was the final choice.


    But yeah, it seemed like Mr. Crisologo was already suffering since he ripped his right arm off the strong adhesive but he had to do it a few more times so he could free himself of the restraints.


    He was the type of person not to easily give up but one other reason he was fighting for his life was because I "forgot" to take out the knife I stabbed into Bordz''s chest and I was 100% sure that was the thing he was going for. Fighting us off and the rest of our battalion wasn''t even in his mind because right now, his current goal was to rip himself off the wall and obtain the knife he could somehow reposition from Bordz''s chest to Bordz''s head.


    And going back to Jared''s recent question, the reason Bordz moved earlier, as Mr. Crisologo stated, was due to his body shutting down from getting stabbed, and right now, we were in the waiting game that could take from a few minutes to hours¡ªand in some cases¡ªeven days for actual zombification to ur.


    This was the critical moment Mr. Crisologo was betting on because he''d take on bleeding out rather than getting eaten alive. Granted he''d bleed out all the same, but strugglers like him had a rather machismo way of driving off into the sunset.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we saw another twitch from Bordz which Mr. Crisologo definitely saw, and that gave him no choice but to rock his body back and forth, to attempt to rip half his skin off like the most fucked up version of the term ripping the bandaid off.


    "Wait a second. Why''s there no sound¡ª"


    "Fuck! There''s sound?! I was saving the battery and muted everything¡ª Here we go!"


    "..."


    And there we went as we watched Mr. Crisologo with sounds but for some reason, we could just peek through the small slits in the window but we didn''t.


    In any case, ignoring howpletely soundproof that room was nowpared to back them, we watched Mr. Crisologo sessfully give himself a receding headline that started from the back of his head but he still kept screaming curses and unintelligible words as he kept trying to shake himself loose.


    [YOU FUCK! I''LL CURSE YOU, YOU FUCK! ONCE I''M OUT OF THIS I''LL¡ª AHHHHHHHHHH! I''LL KILL YOU, YOU FUCK! HE MOVED! HE MOVED! CAN''T YOU ALL FUCKING SEE THAT?! HOW IS THIS AN INTERROGATION?! YOU''RE SUPPOSED TO BEAT ME UP AND ASK QUESTIONS! HOW FUCKED UP ARE YA?! GET BACK HERE A-AND I''LL¡ª AHHHH! SHIT! FUCK! CUNT! BITCH! ASS! SHIT! I''LL MURDER ALL OF YOU ONCE I¡ª FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!]


    As he filled every restaurant''s swear jar, he managed to tear half of his back off the wall but the pain he received became a little too much to bear. It was because I used most of the adhesive on his back while I was still trying to mount him up the wall. His arms, legs, and head were the easiest ones after Ipletely glued his back and he''d be lucky if he just ripped off his skin without a bit of meating off with it.


    But right at that moment, Bordz let out this noise as if he were choking on his blood before hepletely rolled off the table.


    It definitely gave Mr. Crisologo the second wind he desperately needed because, but instead of rocking himself forward once again, he twisted his body inward to release his right leg before screaming at the top of his lungs:


    [AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SHIIIIT! I''LL¡ª FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! STAY DOWN THERE YOU LITTLE BITCH OR I''LL¡ª AHHHHHHHHH!!!]


    And at that point, he tried to free his left arm but his incessant shouting not only drained his energy but somehow woke up Bordz who should''ve been pressing the snooze button due to the meds running through his system but he was already dead so that statement was probably moot at this point.


    However, right as Mr. Crisologo freed his left arm was when Bordz finally rose to his feet before violently twisting his neck to find where the noise wasing from.


    It didn''t take long before he started hobbling in Mr. Crisologo''s direction while Mr. Crisologo was still mounted on the wall.


    [STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY, I SAID! I''LL FUCKING KILL YOU¡ª I''LL GET THE FUCK¡ª FUCK YOU!]


    By some stroke of luck, or this bitch losing one of his nine lives, Mr. Crisologo managed to push him off with his free foot as Bordz tried to bite his cock off. I didn''t mean for it to be that way but it was just the perfect height and zombies can''t be choosers in which part they should be chomping on.


    But yeah, a gentle push with a foot wouldn''t kill an undead so Mr. Crisologo had to luck out several times by pushing at just the right moment while trying to free himself, but at his third kick, hended a critical hit that made Bordz tumble back and loose his footing while he suddenly plopped on the floor with almost all the skin from his back ripped clean off.


    We couldn''t imagine how much he was bleeding due to the positioning of the camera but even Mr. Crisologo couldn''t give much of a fuck because now he actually had the chance to survive.


    [COME YOU FUCK! COME! I''LL BEAT YOUR FUCKING UGLY-ASS?FACE BEFORE I FEED YOU TO THAT FUCKING IMBECILE! COME ON!]


    And using the table to his advantage, Mr. Crisologo had to run around a few times before he was in the right position to push it the right way to make Bordz fall t on his ass, giving him just the right time to get the knife and have his way with his head. He never looked so happy while wearing a maniacal smile and I could clearly see his gazend on the door as he gripped the knife so fucking hard.


    Adrenaline was definitely pumping through his veins right now because he really looked like he had the confidence toe out of this thing alive but I guess he wasn''t able to see to how still deep of a shit he was in because even I had a very small chance ofing out of this alive if I were in his shoes.


    Because I simply made my way to the window and threw in a shbang.


    [FUCK¡ª]

 Chapter 1047 Strugglers III

    Chapter 1047 Strugglers III


    I would''ve loved to see his reaction the moment his voice cut off, but I was already inside the door within .001 seconds of the shbang going off. Luckily for him, he jumped to the side to avoid tumbling into Bordz''s blood but unluckily for him, the side he chose was directly in front of me, and he received another concussion that ultimately knocked him out. However, his cavalry still wouldn''t end or get paused here because all we needed was to relocate next door and start over.


    That''s what we did word by word but I did turn to Mimi to ask for something:


    "Hey, can you ask one of the residents for an iron?"


    "A-A what?" Mimi responded shakily as she saw me dragging Mr. Crisologo''s ripped-up, bleeding body from the room she had just cleaned earlier.


    "I need something to stop the bleeding. Just tell them I''ll rece it tomorrow¡­"


    "..."


    "Mimi?"


    She was still looking at my nonchnt expression before she snapped out of it and nodded, "O-Okay¡­ I-I know a couple from¡ª I''ll get on it!"


    With that said, Mimi made her way back to one of the main wings of the hospital where some of our people were staying to retrieve an iron not to remove the creases from our clothes but to treat his wounds. Sure, there were a lot of other ways to treat his full-body injury but he was our fucking hostage, not our patient.


    On that note, it was easy enough toy him t on his stomach on the table whilepletely restraining him, and if he ever managed to get out of these ropes and handcuffs after waking up, I could just easily knock him out again and rinse and repeat.


    But yeah, Mimi had never looked so distraught the moment she handed me this pink-colored iron with several cutesy stickers but to me, it was the most fucked up thing ever because I''d rather die than get shot with an AK with the same decal and anime stickers on it.


    "W-Won''t you need more than that? H-He might d-die from the p-pain and shock¡­"


    I shook my head as I pulled out a small bottle of alcohol from my pack, "I''d hate to give him anything but this will do. He''ll probably even thank me for itpared to painkillers and whatnot¡­"


    "..."


    "You don''t have to stay, alright? You can go home or continue to work¡ª"


    "I-I''ll be at Dr. Nichols'' office¡­"


    "Sure¡­"


    As she turned around and walked away, I turned to my group and all they could do was either shrug their shoulders orpletely do nothing like me because there really was nothing to be done at that point except for them topletely absorb and adjust to their surroundings.


    In hospitals, they should''ve been more ustomed to death among other people but usually, it was the sickness that consumed them rather than people like myself.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I moved the table Mr. Crisologo was on closer to the power socket before I started closing his wounds with this pink iron.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Ignoring the rancid smelling out of his body coupled with the sound of his flesh burning, the scream he let out that slowly turned into this high-pitched squeal almost sent me, but he quickly passed out from my first attempt to heal him by turning him like a panini.


    It''s just that I''d have to press this now fucked-up looking iron that had his bits and pieces sticking to the bottom a dozen more times because one, I fix what I broke and this was one way of doing it.


    But yeah, as funny as it may look seeing him wake up and then pass out from the pain, he was already in tears from the fourth press. I wondered if I might need another iron because even if I could scrape off his bits from under the thing, I just wanted to cover a lot of surface area.


    However, without so much as a prompt, the motherfucker finally sang his first tune:


    "STOP! STOP! STOP! PLEASE! I-I''M¡ª I''M B-BEGGING YOU! I¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    "Stop my ass, it''s either this or you bleed out¡ª"


    "THEN WHO''S FUCKING FAULT WAS IT?!"


    "Wanna lose the other ear? Who fucking tried to case me?"


    "THAT''S¡ª IT''S PART OF THE GAME¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YOU MOTHERFUCKER! AHHHH! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! CAN YOU GIVE ME A BREAK AT LEAST?! I-I''LL TELL YOU ONE OF THEM! I''LL TELL YOU ONE OF THEM¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE¡ª I¡ª"


    "You tell me everything or I just might continue doing this even if you''re fully closed up. There''s also the matter of you lying through your teeth but either way, even if you have powerful friends, you think I don''t? Why would I be scared of you?"


    "I¡ª I JUST NEED A SECOND YOU FUCK!"


    "Sure."


    "WHA¡ª"


    "Time''s up¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I''M REALLY GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU! I SWEAR I¡ª"


    Then I pulled out my trump card, "Vodka? I''ll feed it to ya, if you turn the volume down a bit. We''re the only ones here, you know?"


    "YOU¡ª G-Give me! I¡ª"


    At this point, Mr. Crisologo was like the Hungry-Hungry Hippos but for Vodka because right now, it was the only thing he could grab on not just for the pain, but to also keep his mind intact because there was only so much a person could do¡ªeven if they were a struggler¡ªand everyone has their limits.


    And yeah, having a few gulps from the small bottle I had somehow calmed him down and I used it as the opportunity to ask some questions:


    "Alright, I''ll take one of your many friends. What''s his name and his current whereabouts? Is he part of amunity or is he leading one of them? Number of soldiers? Is he part of another group or just your very own circle? Tell me everything¡ª"


    "Alright! Alright¡­" he trailed before I noticed a hidden smirk, "One of them''s Christian Felix Garciano¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    At this point, I didn''t think he''d pull that shit but he didn''t think I''d clip one of his fingers off either.

 Chapter 1048 Still getting used to...

    Chapter 1048 Still getting used to...


    And once again ignoring his screams, I continued to cauterize his wounds with the literal bloody iron as the little stub from his clipped-off digit was bleeding out, but it didn''t take long before I felt that he was nearing his limit. Even with adrenaline and pure fucking grit making him continue on, it''ll be a matter of time before his body breaks down and all we received from it was a fixer-upper.


    Granted the 50-ish people and the alliance with Mr. Garciano were a huge plus, but I''ve already invested a lot of time in this fuck, I''d really want a name or two before he kicks the bucket.


    ''He gave a vague description of a particr ce though¡­''


    But yeah, it was taking him longer and longer to rise up from his stupor with every press because sometimes, I could even be two presses in before he jumped up. Still, I think the right move going forward was to ease on breaking his body but break his mind instead.


    It was already past 10 PM when I finished closing him up but I left precise instructions to my soldiers that he''d prefer some death metal at max volume at midnight, and he''d need it to fall asleep. I know that two hours was barely enough time for him to recover but that was all he should get.


    Before going into this, I swore he wouldn''t even get to live another day but as much as I would''ve hated to say this, he was a tough son of a bitch. I could''ve probably broken him with a little more push, but this time, I think all we''d need was a bit more time.


    In any case, I dropped by Dr. Nichols'' office which was an appropriate distance between the emergency room and the cardiology department and I saw her face down on her desk while Mimi was nowhere to be found. I thought for sure that she''d be here with Mrs. Sandara though I just assumed she walked around the hospital once again to check on everyone''s needs.


    It was something Mimi used to do out of habit that made her liked by everyone in the university because even if it was simply her job, she treated everyone like family.


    I was just about to leave a note for her and Dr. Nichols but I almost bumped into her on my way out the door and I discovered that she was carrying a set of pillows and nkets.


    "Ah¡ª Y-You done?"


    "Yeah."


    "E-Excuse me¡ª"


    "Right¡­"


    I opened the door for her and let her ce what she was carrying on the sofa, but I stopped whatever it was she was trying to do before I woke up Dr. Nichols by knocking on her desk.


    "Wake up! Wake up¡ª"


    Mimi tried to stop me, "Hey! She''s¡ª"


    "Whaaat? Hmm?" Dr. Nicols lifted her head before she tried to figure out who I was, "Where¡ª Ah, fuck¡­ What time is it?"


    I motioned for her to get up, "Come one, it''s a little bit past 10¡ª"


    "I slept that long?! How''s it morning¡ª"


    I cut her off, "PM! PM! It''s a little bit past 10 PM! C''mon now! I know you''re both used to this but you gotta sleep on a proper bed. It''s gonna be a matter of time until you both have back problems."


    Dr. Nichols still looked a little groggy but she rolled her eyes as she nced at her chest then looked at me, "I already have back problems, at least I could use them as pillows¡­"


    Mimi interjected, "W-We really need to sleep here, what if we have patients to look after?"


    "We have doctors who are living here but you two don''t. Don''t let them get used to that. And you''ve been here since morning, take a break¡ª"


    "But¡ª"


    "No buts. I think you two probably noticed we don''t have a lot of patients that need urgent care or attendants to check on them by the minute¡­ We still have a few but most of them asked to be ''let go'' by themselves or their families while I decided on a few myself. I don''t know if it ever happened in the university but we already had a few incidents and we can''t just put them on life support or hospice care until they¡­ you know¡­ that''s just the way it goes around here."


    "..."


    "..."


    Mimi and Dr. Nichols were wearing a difficult andplex expression as they looked into my eyes, but it seemed like they were very familiar with this situation but they just didn''t want to talk about it.


    It was very true that they nary witnessed a murder or something along those lines but mercy-killing or euthanasia¡ªeven if it wasn''t legal in this country¡ªit was pretty obvious that hospitals all around had decided toe around that method.


    But yeah, it seemed to have gotten the mood down, but even though a little stupid, there was a sure-fire way to cheer them up:


    "I''m sorry, how about some ice cream and a movie?"


    Mimi chuckled, "Sure¡­"


    "Alright¡ª"


    But Dr. Nichols wanted more, "I want some alcohol in my bowl and the movie better have some ''you-know-what'' scenes on it. You did disrupt my sleep, I wanna have to think about something before I¡­ you know..."


    "Sure¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we reached our house and to my delight, Tatiana already asked Nancy if they could heat our meals for us. It was a little heavy to have some chili and cornbread thiste into the night but I really needed somefort food right now and topping it off with some ice cream that had a few shots of alcohol did the trick.


    But yeah, it seemed like we would be topping this night off with the usual but like Micah, a few people have decided to pass. I would usually wee that with open arms but one of them was Mimi who quickly told us goodnight before retreating to her bed to the next room.

 Chapter 1049 Are you afraid of me?

    <h4>Chapter 1049 Are you afraid of me?</h4>


    I would''ve dismissed Mimi''s actions as what everyone else would when they weren''t feeling up to it, because even though I could probably get down with the whole neighborhood, I''d like to have a bed I could roll on after we were all done. However, with everything that happened today and her seeing another side of me, I was starting to assume the reason she didn''t want to sleep with us was due to that.


    But yeah, as always, Kaley read me like a book as she kissed me before pushing me out the bed:


    "Go on~ Talk to her before she falls asleep!"


    "H-How about¡ª"


    "We need to get ready, ice cream-stained PJs don''t sound too hot¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Oh please, even I''d eat ya if you''re just wearing yesterday''s newspaper¡ª"


    "Pfft!"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Just go, go! Someone needs to bring down the bowls, okay? Wouldn''t want to step on themter!"


    "Yes, mom~"


    "Don''t! Alright, don''t!"


    "Hahahahaha!"


    In any case, I excused myself for a bit before I discovered that Mimi was really sleeping alone in the dark in one of our rooms, but I thought I heard something different and muffleding from the same direction. Furthermore, there was also this buzzing noise that would turn on and off at intervals which would almost always get followed by what seemed to be a suppressed gasp.


    ''Oh¡­ She just¡­ wanted to be alone?''


    After all this time, I''d be the biggest idiot if I didn''t figure out what was going on but as I was about to literally leave her to her own devices, she almost jumped out of bed but then screamed for dear life:


    "W-Who''s there?! Ha¡­ H-Ha¡­"


    I decided toe clean as I walked in and turned on the lights, "I-It''s me, me! G-Get it? Ahaha¡­ I just thought¡ª"


    She squinted for a moment before I noticed she was hiding the redness of her cheeks with her nket, "W-What? Haa¡­ Ha¡­ You¡ª I-I was s-sleepingg¡­ Mmn¡­"


    ''Sureeee¡­''


    "Is that right?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­"


    "I''m sorry but can we talk?"


    "H-Huh?"


    "You know, after you turn your ''massager'' off¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª" Mimi had never been so red as she crawled inside her nket even more, "I-I was just¡ª" then she really took a few seconds to turn her vibrator off before ring back at me, "I-I really was just trying to sleep!"


    I waved her off with a smile, "It''s cool, it''s cool¡­ It''s pretty normal, I always do that¡ªnot literally that¡ªbefore I go to sleep but¡ª"


    "P-Peeking at me i-isn''t normal e-either!"


    "Ah¡ª Boundaries, right."


    "Y-Yeah! W-We''ve done t-things b-but that d-doesn''t mean that y-you know¡­"


    "I¡­ I''m really sorry but I''m not a creep who tried to peek at you and you should''ve locked the door¡ª"


    "T-Then where would Edith, Nancy, and C-Chloe sleep?!"


    "They also have duplicates but yeah¡­ I¡­ I¡ª Can we start over? We''ve really veered off the direction I wanted us to get to¡­"


    "..."


    "M-Mimi?"


    "F-Fine¡­ W-What do you wanna talk about?"


    "It''s¡­ It''s about you ummm¡­"


    "What? Just spit it out! Tell me!"


    "A-About you f-flying solo¡ª"


    "Then we didn''t veer off-course! It''s the same thing we''re talking about!"


    "W-Wait, look¡ª It''s kinda the same thing but it''s not, alright? I¡­ I don''t wanna sound like an asshole and make it sound like I''m the greatesty¡­ and it''s not like you were the only one who tagged out because Quinn and Dr. Nichols were the only ones to join me and Kaley but¡ª"


    "S-So what are you saying?"


    "You know¡­ you''ve seen a side of me¡ª no, you''ve seen¡­ just ''me''... do things earlier¡ªthat I''m gonna bepletely honest¡ªsomething I really enjoy when the person I''m doing it to had iting but¡­ I''m¡­ I''m just w-wondering if¡­ if part of the reason y-you''re here alone i-is because y-you''re afraid of me¡ª"


    "Huh¡ª No! T-That''s not it a-at all!" Mimi suddenly cut me off as she jumped out of bed and hugged me, only wearing the top part of her PJs unbuttoned halfway and her cotton panties which were slightly showing an imprint of her pussy, "I-I''m not afraid of you¡ªa little, sure¡ªb-but not in the way y-you''re thinking of!"


    "T-Then¡­"


    "I-If you want me to join you, I''ll¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ I-It''s not about that¡ª sure, you can join anytime you want but I-I just want to know the particr reason you d-didn''t this time¡­ And I know I really shouldn''t ask such things but I''m just really worried that i-it''s because of me¡­"


    Then she looked up at me with her big round eyes before hugging me again, "I-It''s not about that, alright? The reason¡ª Haa¡­ The reason¡ªI can''t believe I''m saying this¡­ T-The reason I-I didn''t j-join you two or four i-is that I-I really wanna s-slow down¡­ I-It''s the b-best thing that''s ever happened to me and trust me, it''s always been on my m-mind, even at work when you still haven''t taken us here, b-but I w-wanna go at it a-at my own pace¡­"


    "O-Okay?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ K-Kaley and I t-talked and t-trust me, i-it was really awkward for me but Kaley''s just that confident and natural a-about it b-but don''t even let me get started when her mom, Marisha, had almost same talk with me. I-It''s like¡­ s-surreal at one point but¡­ t-this way of t-thinking that shows something like free love or something along those lines is still very new to me¡­"


    "But what do you think?"


    "It''s¡­ It''s reallyplicated a-and I''m neither fine nor against it b-but right now? I-I needed some more time to think but i-it just so happens that y-you know¡­ that¡­"


    "R-Really? Is that it?"


    "Yeah. Don''t get me wrong, I loved every single minute of it¡ª I¡ª I didn''t even think I-I could do all that b-but I really just wanna slow it down b-before I do too much. I think it''s great that it came to the point that it was all that I thought about but it sounds like I was addicted to it or something, right?"


    "True on both ounts."


    "See? It''s not like it''spletely off the table but as I said¡ª"


    "You just wanna go on your own pace."


    "Right."


    "So, what are you thinking about though¡ª"


    "WHA¡ª YOU DIDN''T JUST ASK ME THAT!" Mimitched off me as she took several steps away andpletely red way~ past her neck.


    "Any celebs? Stars? Crushes? Teachers? You know¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Me?"


    "YOU JUST CUT ME OFF! T-THAT''S UNFAIR! Y-YOU CAN JUST A-ASK ME THAT! I-I WAS JUST W-WATCHING SOMETHING!"


    "Your phone''s on the other side of the¡ª"


    "T-THEN WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT, HUH?! I-IT''S ONLY FAIR S-SINCE YOU ASKED FIRST!"


    "A little bit of everything, really, but ever since you know¡­ I haven''t had the chance to¡ª"


    "Y-You''re an ass¡­ B-But¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "H-Have you t-thought of¡­ H-Have you t-though of m-me y-you know¡­ before?"


    I had to double-take, "W-What?"


    "H-Have you t-thought of me b-before w-when you were m-masturbating?! I-Is that hard to answer?!"


    "M-Mimi! W-We''re friends back then and¡ª"


    "I¡­ I thought of you¡­ you know¡­ m-many times¡­ I-I know i-it''s really weird b-but¡­ n-no matter what you do, I would never be afraid of you or look at you in that way, ever¡­ b-because¡­ I know t-that there''s no chance in hell that y-you''d do a-anything bad to me¡­ Unless¡­"


    As Mimi trailed her sentence, she began to fully unbutton her PJs and revealed her small but perky breasts before she pulled me to the edge of her bed where she sat down and looked me straight in the eye as I was standing over her. It was safe to say that I was starting to grow a raging boner but Mimi finished her sentence.


    "I¡­ I want you to do¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ something really bad to me¡­"


    "L-Like what?"


    "Whether you thought of me or not¡­ I¡­ Ha¡­ I want you to Haa¡­ I want you to p-pull out your b-big p-penis a-and I-I want you to l-look a-at me w-while you''re¡­ j-jerking i-it off and¡ª"


    As MImi struggled but somehow seeding in her dirty talk, I simply pulled my pants down and almost gave her an uppercut with my huge cock and she went cross-eyed for a moment when it swung between her big round eyes. It looked like she had forgotten everything that she wanted to say but she never took her eyes off it once I started to jerk it in front of her face.


    I could feel Mimi''s warm breath and the airing out of her little nose with each breath she took, and she began rubbing her little hard nipples as she made eye contact.


    At this point, precum was already leaking from the tip of my cock and she didn''t even care when I pressed it against her lips so she could have a little taste, but I pulled off and ced it between her tiny mounds of a chest which made her a little self-conscious.


    "T-That''s¡­ T-They''re really small for that¡ª"


    "Doesn''t matter¡ª It made me cum back then when I was thinking of you¡­"


    "You¡ª"

 Chapter 1050 Insecurity?

    <h4>Chapter 1050 Insecurity?</h4>


    The moment I revealed my little secret to her, Mimi looked like she was about to orgasm as her whole body shuddered while I was using her little cleavage to jerk my cock up and down. And right after that, I started pushing her cute little tits together¡ªby partly grabbing hold of her upper torso¡ªso they could somehow cover at least half my cock. And to my delight, she already knew what to do from her observations because her hands were already on the back of her head, showing me her smooth, clean armpits.


    At this point, I was jabbing her chin and her mouth with each thrust because she was looking down at my cock against her small frame but she broke her trance for a moment as she looked up at me:


    "This¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Mmm¡­ W-We¡ª I r-really need to slow¡ª Mmh!"


    "Y-You were saying?"


    "M-My pace¡­ S-Slowing¡ª"


    "Do you want me to stop?"


    "..."


    "Mimi?"


    "N-No¡­"


    Mimi couldn''t stop looking back at my cock as it started to rub against her erect nipples instead, gliding around her small handfuls before making their way to her underarms which were on full disy.


    I could clearly see that she was a little ticklish when her elbows would buckle each time I rubbed my cock against her pits, but it was a little unfair to her that I was getting the full satisfaction while her upper body was the only one that was getting any contact.


    With that said, I moved a little forward before I ced my left foot right beside her as I grabbed the back of her neck with one hand and made my way to her soaking-wet panties with the other. At the same time, Mimi held my arm that was on the back of her head while she slightly spread her legs so I could have ess to her wet hole.


    It was then that I slowly pushed my cock inside her tiny little mouth as I watched her round eyes cross once again, but her hold on me instantly tightened when I managed to find her clit and pinch it at the same time.


    "Hgk! HmnG¡ª Haa¡ª MnGkK! MMnnnMm~ Ha¡ª Ah¡ª Hgck! Gack! Ha¡ª"


    I pulled out for a moment as I looked into her eyes, "Wannay down so you could take it all?"


    Mimi''s eyes were in a daze as she replied while her saliva was dripping the side of her lips, "H-How?"


    "Just turn around andy on your back¡­"


    "L-Like this?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    With Mimi''s limited experience, she was barely able to suck a few inches from the tip before she''d gag from it hitting the back of her throat. Not to mention her small mouth, with the position we were in earlier, it was just downright impossible. But yeah, right at this moment, I had a straight path down her throat but I wouldn''t be that bad as to shove it all the way in.


    I was barely halfway when I''d trigger her gag reflex and make her tear up even more, and the only reason we weren''t stopping from going further was Mimi kept moving her tongue inside while pulling me in with her hands.


    "M-More, more¡­ Haa¡­ D-Don''t¡ª HgcK! Gak! Hakch! Ha¡ª Mmn¡­ Nn¡­ Hgck¡­"


    In any case, I started to fondle her small boobs as she tried to take me in little by little but she ultimately hit her limit just by the entrance of her throat. I would''ve pushed it further if I was with Kaley or Tatiana who definitely had more experience but there was only so much eagerness could do in Mimi''s case.


    But yeah, it wasn''t like she had to take in my whole length in order for me to orgasm but Mimi still wanted to make it up for me.


    It was because she never looked so disappointed in herself the moment I pulled out of her¡ªnot because I couldn''t cum but because I wouldn''t wanna bruise her throat¡ªbut she thought of the former instead of thetter. I did try to exin to her what I meant by that but she had already gotten to all fours, face down, and ass spread wide.


    I now had the perfect view of her meaty pussy that was already dripping down the side of her thighs and her pink little asshole she was beckoning for me to vite.


    "Mimi¡ª"


    "P-Please, I-I''m sorry I wasn''t able to do it s-so y-you can put it all i-in my ass again¡ª"


    "Umm¡­ Sure¡ª"


    "W-What? S-Something wrong? I-I did clean myself before I fingered my a-ass earlier¡ª"


    It took everything to not just ravage her little asshole and be done with it, "N-No¡­ It wasn''t a big deal because I did cum hard but I¡­ I haven''t put it all in your ass t-that time either¡­"


    Mimi had to roll around and look at me, almost in tears, "R-Really?! W-What else can I¡ª"


    ''Ah, fuck¡­ Now I know the other reason why¡­''


    At this point, I didn''t even notice that her insecurity was already through the roof so I just went on top of her and kissed her on her mouth. And at the same time, my huge cock was just rubbing against her cunt while I was fondling her little breasts, but I stopped for a moment to look into her eyes and reassure her:


    "Look¡­ I do have my preferences and if you can''t take all of me this night, who cares?"


    "I-I do¡ª"


    "I understand that but I could still count on one hand for how many times you had sex¡­ You can''t just be a pro or get carried by me throughout all this and there''s also basic physiology you''d have to take into ount."


    "..."


    "But can''t you feel it?"


    "W-What?"


    "Seriously? There''s a girthy 9-inch cock that''s rubbing against your cunt and you can''t feel it?"


    "I-I do¡­ I-It''s Ha.. Haa¡­ A-Also rubbing o-on my c-clit and i-it''s starting to f-feel good¡­"


    "Okay, so now close your eyes and just think about one thing¡­"


    "W-What¡ª"


    "Us. Nothing else¡­"

 Chapter 1051 Boundaries and Taboos

    <h4>Chapter 1051 Boundaries and Taboos</h4>


    At that moment, I began moving my hips as I continued to rub my huge cock against Mimi''s pussy, but instead of just invading her mouth with my tongue, I made sure to use it to appreciate every little nook and cranny of Mimi''s petite body. She did raise one of her arms so I could lick her smooth pits, so I followed with that, but I kissed even her non-erogenous zones to make her feel that I wanted every inch of her.


    But yeah, it seemed like Mimi very much preferred for my lips toe in contact with her neck and her ears, and it didn''t take long before her moans started to get louder and louder.


    "Mnn¡­ Ah¡­ Yes¡­ W-Wow¡­ Ahnmmn¡­ AH! MMH! Hnn¡­ HNGH! H-Hnn¡­. Ah¡­"


    At the same time, I couldn''t believe how wet she got doing all this and I could easily slide my dick up and down her cunt without external lubrication. As all this was happening, she even began to match my movement with her hips while she didn''t even notice how hard she was clutching my hair and how tight she was hugging me.


    But within a few minutes or so¡ªeven though the pleasure wasn''t that intense¡ªI began to feel that critical point that made me move faster and faster.


    And to my surprise, Mimi was feeling the same way but she held the side of my face with both hands to maintain eye contact before I exploded on her pussy, stomach, and on her face.


    "MIMI¡ª"


    "H-HNGH! MMH! C-CUMMING¡ª"


    Mimi had no time to react as she had an orgasm of her own, and she couldn''t even keep one of her eyes open as her body was jolting and shuddering from each wave she was feeling all over her body. However, I''d rather fill holes than dead air so the moment I managed to get on my bearings, I pushed my throbbing cock inside Mimi''s pussy which caused her to let out an audible gasp and another orgasm.


    I could still feel how her vaginal walls were contracting the moment I pushed in the whole length of my cock inside her, and it was almost pushing me out due to how fucking tight she was.


    But yeah, all Mimi could do at this point was look like the mess she was currently and take everything in while barely able to form any words.


    "H-HOW¡ª HNG¡ª AH! MY¡ª YES! SKY! PUSSY¡ª A-AHN! YES! F-FUCK¡ª AH! AH! AHN! CUMMING! CUM! FUCK! MY¡ª Y-YES! SHIT! AHN~ Y-YESSS~ AH! AH! AH! AH! F-FUCK! CUM¡ª C-CUMMING!"


    Both of us were still fighting through the sensitivity but Mimi had no chance to fight multiple orgasms after multiple orgasms as I fucked her cunt and kissed her neck, and all she could do was just moan loudly and shout my name while barely clinging to my head. Even before, she tried to avoid her nails digging into my back but I was already hitting her cervix, it was more than fairpensation.


    But the moment I filled her cunt and was about to push it in her ass, Mimi tapped me a few times and gave me a look which cause me to stop.


    It was because not only did she have to catch her breath, but she really was serious about slowing her roll with our nightly activities. I would''ve fucked her the whole night if she wanted to but I wanted to respect her wishes¡ªthough I did offer some aftercare which she graciously epted and offered as well.


    It''s just that it was a little awkward that I can''t just turn my dick off like usual because I was definitely punching her bellybutton with it while we were in the shower but it did make up for some interesting conversations.


    "That''s¡­ That''s really not normal, you know?"


    "But in a good way, right?"


    "Sure¡­ You''ve definitely pushed my IUD way~ deeper than it should¡­"


    "I could just wear condoms¡ª"


    "What? No! I¡­ I like the feeling when it y-you know¡­ w-when you c-cum inside¡­ i-it''s really warm and nice¡ª"


    "You''re not helping me get this down, you know? I''ll bend you down and fuck your ass if that''s what it takes¡ª"


    "WHA¡ª"


    "I''m joking, alright? I''ll work on it, it should also go down onmand, not just up¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ I-I''ll work o-on my butt t-too¡­ a-and my gag¡ª"


    "Don''t stress about it¡ª"


    "You should! Because you''re helping me! You know I can''t just borrow Tatiana''s dildo¡ª you know¡­ the one that¡ª"


    "Ah¡­ Pfft¡­ Right, right¡­ Just not today, huh?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ sorry¡ª"


    "Don''t apologize. That''s the rule and boundary you set for yourself. The same as me not allowing any of you to touch my backdoor. It''s either you follow all that or the deal''s off¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Is it really that bad? I loved it even though it''s my first time back then, you know? Oh! Did you know, the male G-Spot is located in¡ª"


    "I know, I know¡­ Kaley and Quinn¡ª no almost everyone else had told me multiple times. Still a hard no."


    ''Except for Kaley, obviously¡­''


    "Hah! Of course, of course¡­ So¡­ See each other tomorrow?"


    "Yeah, we''ll meet at breakfast though we''ll finally drive to where we should''ve been tomorrow."


    "Oh! Right. Don''t take too long, okay?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    With that said, Mimi and walked into different rooms where she was greeted by the same dark room while I was greeted by the three already tangled up with each other, but they sure as hell weed me back by spreading their legs though it was very obvious as to which one I''d always go for.


    I was deep in Kaley''s womb while my hands were busy pleasuring Quinn and Mrs. Sandy until we switched ces, but I noticed that Kaley wasn''t only wearing a wig simr to Chloe''s hairstyle, but she was also wearing colored contacts that were the same color as Mrs. Sandy''s.


    It was when Kaley went on top of me while Mrs. Sandy was right behind her with a strapon that I put two and two together.

 Chapter 1052 "Chloe"

    Chapter 1052 "Chloe"


    I was still recovering from the realization when Quinn decided to make use of my mouth but instead of sitting on my face, sheid by my side¡ªpressing her huge chest on me¡ªand started to kiss me while running her hands on my body. But yeah, I could stay hard for god knows how long but cumming violently or without myplete control would be due to what I was seeing in front of me and when my imaginations were running wild through my head.


    And seeing Kaley roleying as Chloe¡ªeven if their body types didn''t match¡ªjust sent me over the edge knowing that she was doing it for Mrs. Sandy''s fantasy, or hers, or both, or for everyone present in this room, and even Quinn was surprised that I had a release from briefly kissing her.


    "Wait¡ª Really?! Pfft¡ª You''re fucked now~"


    Quinn''s words had never rung truer because I would almost always go through with it even if we were fighting through the sensitivity, and since Kaley had just gotten on top of me¡ªeven though she cums fast with me¡ªthere was no chance in hell she''d let me catch a short break from that.


    But yeah, I caught a short glimpse of them still kneeling upright as Mrs. Sandy wrapped her arms around Kaley''s body before piling onto my little situation.


    I was barely moving my hips but I was feeling each time Kaley and Mrs. Sandy would move on their own, and this time, Quinn stopped kissing me so she could have a full view of my face, trying so fucking hard to keep it together post-orgasm. But yeah, she also couldn''t help but watch the two go at it as she began touching herself down there because Mrs. Sandy was really going all out to fuck the brains out of "Chloe" at this literal fucking moment.


    Not only was she moving her hips like there was no tomorrow, but the way she was tightly hugging Kaley''s perfect body while whispering something in her ear¡ªthat was inaudible to Quinn and me¡ªjust made my imagination do all the work the same as my eyes having the time of their lives seeing this taboo rtionship bore fruit at this moment.


    It was because despite all that Mrs. Sandy was doing, she still had her face buried by Kaley''s back and shoulder which made me think she was still embarrassed by what she was doing with her life¡ªbut let''s be honest here, except for maybe Cynthia, Kaley was the person to ask this type of favor because not only she''d be that epting of the situation, but she''d do everything she could just to satisfy one''s curiosity and make them asfortable as possible while AND after doing it.


    And Kaley just had to fucking do it:


    "Y-Yes! YES! J-Just like that, m-mommy! Y-You and step-bro f-fucking my¡ª MMnnNH! YES! Y-YESssSs¡­ Ha¡ª HA! AnmmH! D-Don''t stop! D-DOn''t s-stop mommy¡ª I-I''m really c-close¡ª I''m really close to¡ª MmMmHHH!!! CUMMING! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! I-I''M CUM¡ª HNGH! MOMMY! MOMMY! MOM¡ª MMMMH!"


    Hearing those words just brought something out of not only just me and Mrs. Sandy but also Quinn who was violently flicking her bean while Mrs. Sandy and I were filling each of "Chloe''s" holes.


    The three of them just came at almost the exact same time, but the moment Kaley copsed to her back andid on Mrs. Sandy''s perfect MILF body, I went ahead and spread Quinn''s thick legs apart before I plunged my cock inside her, burying my face between her breasts and thrusting my hips as hard as I could.


    She had no way of fighting me at this point but Quinn didn''t even try to put up a fight because she just let me have my way with her as she smothered my head between her breasts even more while locking me in ce by wrapping her legs around my back.


    "YES! YES! YES! FUCK ME JUST LIKE THAT! LIKE THAT! MMH! YOU LOVE THESE HUGE FUCKING TITS, HUH?! YOU LOVE FUCKING THIS BODY THAT COULD TAKE MUCH MORE POUNDING THAN ANYONE?! YES! YES! DON''T FUCKING DARE STOP EVEN IF I¡ª I¡ª FUCK! THAT''S MY¡ª WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!"


    To Quinn''s surprise, I easily broke free from her grasp as I grabbed her ankles and pushed them by the side of her head before I continued to fuck her creamy little cunt because as much as Quinn would''ve loved to be in control, she didn''t even know herself that she loved getting dominated by yours truly, and that just made her squirt on her face as I filled her first hole and went into the other.


    My cum was just leaking out of her cunt and dripping either on her chest or on her face as I was resizing her asshole, but I didn''t even need to hold onto her legs anymore because now she was doing it for me. However, it was just all a trap so she could hook my legs with her feet and put me in the Amazon position where she''d be on top where my legs would be propped up by my head.


    "You thought you could just fuck me, huh? Sure~ Anytime¡ª but I want to fuck you like this way too¡­"


    I chuckled as I maintained eye contact, "Okay, Ma¡ª"


    "Now you''ve done it¡­" Quinn just let out this devilish smile before I saw all her muscles contract for the pounding I''d receive.


    Because right from the fucking get-go, while she was in the squatting position, she moved her whole body and just dropped her whole weight on me as I was still inside her ass before bringing herself up slightly and mming herself down again. Not only was her huge tits shaking from her movements, but our bed was creaking due to the force she was generating, but funnily enough, it didn''t stop Kaley and Mrs. Sandy from doing their own thing.


    We spent a few hours just switching who gets to be on top and I just woke up using Quinn''s body as a pillow while Kaley and Mrs. Sandy were still fast asleep.

 Chapter 1053 Early Morning Tomfoolery

    <h4>Chapter 1053 Early Morning Tomfoolery</h4>


    I wasn''t sure what time it was but as I snuggled closer to Quinn, I just felt her arm over me before I tried to get back to sleep. However, it only felt like a second when everybody was jolted awake¡ªand I finally knew what the exact time was¡ªdue to our rm for 4 AM. Kaley and Mrs. Sandy easily got up from their stupor while I was tasked with waking Quinn up.


    Obviously doing that would require a particr method but I did kill two birds with one stone because I was having this particr problem that needs taking care of every morning.


    "WHA¡ª"


    "Good morning¡­ Time to wake up¡ª"


    "WANNA FUCKING DIE¡ª Wait¡­ N-No¡­ That feels just¡ª Mnn¡­ Nevermind¡­ Stick it in right after, okay?"


    "Of course, Ma."


    "You¡ª Be careful with calling me that."


    "I thought calling you by your real name''s the only issue?"


    "Just shut up and eat me like a good boy¡­ I''m already cutting you some ck for waking me up¡­"


    "We could just leave you here for a few days if¡ª"


    "Shit¡ª Right, right¡­ Sorry¡­ Mnn¡­ C-Come on¡­ Put it in now¡­ Before we shower¡­"


    "Alright¡­ Just one round, alright?"


    "It''s the first one though, it''s more than enough¡­"


    "Here I go¡­"


    With that said, Quinn and I spent a few minutes together before we joined Kaley and Mrs. Nichols in the shower. And even if Kaley''s not wearing the wig and the contacts now, it was a little awkward for Mrs. Nichols to look us in the eye but Kaley gave me a rundown of what went onst night:


    "Hey, we don''t talk about what we didst night to everyone else, okay? Especially Chloe."


    I quickly nodded before giving her a kiss, "Sure."


    Mrs. Nichols just nced at me for a moment before she mouthed, "Thank you."


    Though Quinn followed, "I still don''t get the secrecy and whatnot but there''s no way in hell I''m not gettingid yesterday. We already skipped a day because of you two and a little roley''s not stopping me from getting what I want¡­"


    Kaley shook her head, "Just be quiet about it, okay?"


    Quinn waved her off as she reached for the shampoo, "It''s whatever but it was really~ hot¡­ not gonna lie¡­ For real though, I think the real one wouldn''t mind¡­ I actually thought she''d be in your ce instead of the other way around¡­ Didn''t think you had it in ya. Kaley rocked it but I don''t think I''d be able to y that role¡ª Oh! I could be you when she asks¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "Quinn! I just said we don''t talk about it!"


    "I was just saying¡ª"


    Mrs. Nichols took a deep breath as she got in between the two, "It''s my fault, alright? I¡­ I didn''t even know what came over me but¡ª this is so messed up, I¡ª"


    I cut in, "You don''t need to exin everything but it''ll make us understand it more?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "You don''t have to tell the whole story now because we''re in a freakin'' shower but as Quinn said, it''s whatever¡­ A bit of a gray area if you ask me but I would''ve loved a bit of a heads up before going into it¡ª"


    "I''m sorry¡ª"


    "No, no¡­ Don''t apologize. It''s fine and all and again¡­ as Quinn said, it was really hot and I, for one, enjoyed it though I''m just gonna assume that Kaley knew that I would like it¡ª"


    Kaley chuckled, "You loved it way~ too much, to be honest¡ª"


    "Yeah, yeah, I loved it way, way~ too much than normal but it might be different for other people, okay? Just be careful around that¡ª but Riri and Ruru probably wouldn''t care¡­ A good number of us wouldn''t too but it''s better to be careful, alright?"


    "O-Okay, thank you¡­"


    "For what?"


    "You know¡­ to not be judging¡­"


    "Heh. On the contrary, I judged you pretty much. I did say I found it hot, right?"


    "Pfft¡­"


    As we continued our steamy shower, we were just about to squeeze in a few rounds before Chloe and Cynthia, the sudden best friends, barged in and took one nce at us before Cynthia nonchntly used the toilet while Chloe used the mirror to check out her new look.


    Contrary to the wig Kaley was wearing yesterday, Chloe''s hair now had this lock of vibrant pink on one side of her head and a few more earrings in each ear.


    Mrs. Nichols shook her head as she looked at the two, "No good morning, huh?"


    Cynthia quickly propped her head up while still peeing, "S-Sorry¡­ Riri and Ruru are on the first floor¡ª Good morninggg¡­"


    Chloe chuckled as she turned to us, "Sorry, Mom. We spent the night at Daisy''s and I thought I would''ve gotten inked but I just can''t decide on what to get!"


    Mrs. Nichols chuckled, "I told you it''s gonna be hard. Think about it carefully, okay? I allowed you a small one but it should have some meaning, at least¡­"


    "What a progressive mom~" Quinn teased from the side.


    Cynthia went back to business, "So¡­ Can we squeeze one in?"


    I waved them off, "Sorry¡­ I''ll need the energy¡ª"


    Chloe tilted her head sideways, "B-But why are you hard?"


    "Morning wood."


    "Oh. Isn''t that just wasteful?"


    "Preach~"


    "Alright. I''m gonna be honest, it''s already reserved. I would''ve loved to do you both but that''s gonna wait till wee back¡ª"


    "Not fair!/ You were already with them yesterday!"


    Quinn and Kaley followed, "It''s a first cum, first served basis./ Yeah, should''ve came sooner¡­"


    "Argh! It''s because of their tits!/ Of course, they are! Wait till you see us grow even more!"


    I facepalmed as I waved them off, "It''s not about that, okay?"


    "Then why¡ª"


    Mrs. Nichols had enough, "You¡ª You two are getting out of hand, you know that? Some punishment might be in order¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ That''s not scaring me away!/ Yeah! That just sounds like a good time!"


    Then Kaley used the Queen''s decree on them:


    "Is that so? Fine. You two aren''t allowed to have an orgasm for the duration of our trip outside and if I find out that you two did, how do I say this¡­ Hmm~ Oh! You''ll be off the team¡ª Wait, that sounds too harsh¡­ You''ll be suspended for a month!"


    "WHAT?!/ NOOOOOO!"


    "You two should learn to control yourselves alright?! These hoeing thing you two are doing is not healthy. I''ve been there and it''s not gonna end up well for you two if you continue hoeing on like that¡ª"


    "Is that even a real word¡ª"


    "Shut up! No cumming until we get back and trust me, I''ll fucking know if you two did and I''m serious as he is about punishments!"


    "A-Are you really serious?!/ How long would you be a-away?!"


    I joked, "A day, a week, or a month¡ª we''re not really sure~"


    "THAT''S TOO HARSH, KALEY!/ P-PLEASE, WE''RE SORRY!"


    Mrs. Nichols rolled her eyes, "Oh, please~ That was just every day for me when I was still with your¡ª y-you know¡­ A few days wouldn''t hurt you two."


    Then Kaley threw them the carrot, "There''s a reward if you two seed though¡­"

 Chapter 1054 New Light - New Fights

    <h4>Chapter 1054 New Light - New Fights</h4>


    Long story short, the four of us finally finished our shower peacefully and managed to finish each other off while the two were sent off to do this monumental task Kaley put up to them. It was this no-nut-while-we-were-away challenge of sorts and the reward was that the two could be alone with me for a night if they ever seeded but the punishment was no night with all of us for a month if they failed.


    I wasughing my ass off internally because we guys would always make shit up like that, and it was a thing for everyone in November.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we finally set off outside, and ignoring the guards and their families I was punishing for real, we did stop by our recently imed gatedmunity and checked on them.


    ''So far, so good¡­''


    There was only so much work they could do in the time we''d left them so after making sure that everything was fine and dandy, we continued our drive till we reached the Intercity.


    Compared to when we left it before, Mauricio was now the sole owner of the whole thing¡ªafter buying off everyone with their stocks¡ªbecause unless they had ongoing suppliesing in from the outside and farms to keep the ball rolling, it wouldn''t take long before they just had a huge storeroom with nothing on it.


    They could turn it into a trading hub or a servicing area but Mauricio also had his ws on that particr venture.


    That resulted in Mauricio not only giving him but also me, the biggest share out of the pot because they either had to sell everything outright or if they did have farms outside, they''d have to hire us for protection among other things.


    ''Unlimited rice~''


    Doing that didn''t mean we drove them away¡ªthough some found sce elsewhere¡ªbut they just downgraded from being business owners to our workers.


    But yeah, the reason I had arge share from Mauricio''s profits wasn''t only because the soldiers guarding the Intercity were more inclined to listen to me, but also¡ªbefore anyone else forgets¡ªwas because I helped in bringing back Catherine''s eyesight.


    It was a routine operation done on his wife that only needed a donor but in the zombie apocalypse, it was really hard to get an eye doctor of which I had two. Solving that problem of his and also taking care of his estranged family way back then put me in a position where I could simply ask him a favor and the answer would almost always be yes.


    With that said, Kaley and I were back in their same old room with the same old CD Radio ying the same songs from the same artist but now, Catherine, or "Cathy" was serving us a ss of lemonade with her new eyes¡ªstill wearing special sses though¡ªwhile we were ignoring the acid burns on her face.


    It actually didn''t matter if she had them or not because of the way she looked at everything curiously like Mimi was cute in a way, and to add some context, she didn''t want them fixed even though we had a doctor that could do stics as well.


    ''Looked metal as fuck though¡­ No one''s gonna mess with her with that face¡­''


    Mauricio then opened up the conversation:


    "You brought a lot of stuff. Your workers here still have plenty¡ª Or is that for the ce Oscar was rushing to?"


    "Thetter."


    "Ah. I heard you finally took care of that asshat. The ones I sent said they weren''t even needed¡­"


    "I don''t want it to be a close fight, no?"


    "Hah! That''s true¡­ Anyway, what''s the purpose of your visit?"


    "Do you know Mr. Christian Felix Garciano?"


    "I might''ve heard of him¡­ Why?"


    On that note, we spent an hour discussing specifics before deciding on an official date we''d sit with our new guy to discuss a more friendly partnership. I myself wouldn''t mind sharing some of the resources we had in exchange for construction materials because we had more than two sources of food and we were just stockpiling what we could and switching them around when their due date was about toe up.


    We eventually said our goodbyes before we drove further North and it didn''t take long before we were met with a familiar smell due to a bunch of zeds clumping up when left for too long.


    Aside from the obvious entrails exposed on the asphalt, it was pretty obvious that the circle that encapsted Mauricio''s domain with the others around the area had some holes or they were just feeling each other out as to who would do the heavy lifting. Because if they weren''t as proficient in fighting them up close and personal, clearing a horde or two required bullets, gas, or other building materials that would act as traps.


    But yeah, this type of thing was pretty normal with my crew and as soon as we left the cadets and the trainees with my six-wheeler, Artem and I just picked a side to wreak havoc with just our handheld weapons. Sure, Kaley and Jared would supplement our charge with their guns when it was really needed but it was barely 7 AM and we could be a little frugal with our bullet expenses.


    I obviously picked a side that could give me a lot of experience points and my first victim was a deadhead adhered to a bicycle before I imed the life of another that had a STOP sign driven straight to its stomach.


    It didn''t stop me from surgically cing the edge of my de by its right cheek and slicing up to carve off a fourth of its head before I simply chopped and pulled on the next one that saw me kill off their brethen wearing government property. I would''ve fanned to the side at this point but since Tatiana and Ibarra were right behind me, the ones I beheaded didn''t even hear meing because half of their heads slid just by their ears.

 Chapter 1055 Basic Loot & Run I

    Chapter 1055 Basic Loot & Run I


    We were still a few municipalities away from reaching Jessica''s ce, which was smack-dab in an airport where a good chunk of it was surrounded by the Sacobia and the Pasig-Potrero River, though they''ve already branched out to the useable farms in the area and the gatedmunity they reimed for themselves.


    They weren''t as far-reachingpared to me or evenpared to Mauricio but they were a tight-knit group of 300 or so people who were growing in power slowly but surely.


    In any case, their fighters should also be thinning the herd not only in their territories but all around the area to further reduce the oing threats because we were a city or so away and we were doing their jobs for them.


    But yeah, the ce we were in was technically closer to Mauricio''s area but it wouldn''t hurt to take care of their neighbor''s shit from time to time.


    It''s just that we couldn''t figure out which date these deadheads came to life because all of them were in varying stages of decay and some of them were even wearing their name tags from the ce they worked at or still had their things on them when they got infected¡ªlike this particr businessman whose hands were still tightly gripping on his bloody briefcase.


    After quickly ending its life, I didn''t even care what was on his briefcase but the next target I had to put down was a little special.


    Not only were its arms covered by thick books secured by duct tape, but it also had severalyers of clothing visible from the hunter''s vest it had on. However, it seemed to have sumbed to multiple gunshot wounds because even if it had bitemarks all over its face, there were circr marks of now-dried blood on these holes in its clothing where I assumed it bled to death.


    It was easy enough for my de to make its way through its head but I did have to mark off its particrly standing out "tacticool" backpack that even had all the stickers and patches on it.


    I would''ve loved to see its contents right now but we still had several dozen deadheads to go.


    But after a dozen minutes or so, I was ignoring the stares of the cadets and the trainees whom I tasked to clean up our mess while I was going through the same backpack and a few others.


    "FUCK YEAH!"


    The first thing I pulled out from its pack was a Glock 26 and a .38 Special revolver but from the box of 5.56s I also uncovered inside, it seemed like we were missing a rifle of some sort. However, his bag also had a good fixed-de knife, some MREs, a shlight, a fleshlight, a pair of socks, batteries, a two-way radio, and a few bottles of water. Aside from that, his bag was still in good condition though it should be run through the washer first and its bling should be taken off because it was that eye-catching.


    But yeah, it would spell trouble if the person who had it was traveling alone but a few stickers and whatnot wouldn''t matter from a group such as us. Of course, it was best to limit what sort of information another person could glean from our essories though it would always depend on the situation.


    ''If the person was trying to be bait by acting like an idiot for example¡­''


    In any case, there was never a shot fired but after a while, Marvin and Seb did manage to uncover a few hard drives from the LTO office by the corner while Brian and JP¡ªwho seemed to be cool at the moment¡ªmanaged to siphon a bit more fuel from the cars all around. Megan and Alexa did spot a few things that went by the boys which were a purse that contained a small snub-nosed revolver and a few working phones that just needed a charge.


    Carlo and Ruben scratched the side of their heads, "What good would phones do at this point?"


    ''Electronic parts are just as useful in the right hands¡­''


    Alexa answered, "Even now, people still carry their phones to get pictures or videos and we could gather a bit of info from those instead. People post anything to social media and this is just our way to find some juicy info¡ª"


    I cut in, "Be careful though¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Yeah¡­ Those points are valid but I''vee across a phone once that had hundreds of dick pics and with my photographic memory¡ª You know the rest¡ª Hey! Don''t drop it like that!"


    "You just said that you saw a lot of dick pics!"


    "Not that particr one!"


    "I-I don''t wanna risk it!"


    "Jeez, you found it, you search it. You can leave the phone to me but if I find some secret stash due to that, I''ll be taking most of the cut¡ª"


    Megan tried to swipe it off Alexa''s hands, "I''ll deal with it¡ª HEY!"


    "NUH-UH! THIS IS MINE! You already have the revolver!"


    Megan rolled her eyes as she turned to me, "What''s the protocol for finding guns?"


    "Depends on the person but you can either keep it or exchange it for something of equal or to less of value but with extra bullets or something. You can have it as a backup if you want?"


    "For real?"


    "Sure but as a backup, backup. You already have your primaries and your sidearm to spec but that one''s just a .22 revolver. A gun''s a gun but you already have a good set."


    "Hmm~ I do want to try out a revolver¡ª How about the one you found?" Megan let out a smirk as she leaned closer.


    I let out a smirk as well before I inched away, "What about it?"


    "Can I¡ª"


    "Nope."


    "I wasn''t even done with my sentence!"


    "Were you about to ask for it?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Then no."


    "Why?!"


    "Get used to your shit first. That''s one of the reasons the Academy¡ªno, probably why the whole military just let you stick to a set¡­ so you could master it first."


    "B-But where did our conversations of having a backup go?"


    "I''d be on the losing end if you trade that revolver for mine¡ª"


    "The purse had a couple of condoms inside it too though?"


    I almost choked from the sudden proposition, "You¡ª"


    Alexa then elbowed Megan, "Megan! No! That''s¡ª"


    Megan hissed at Alexa before looking at her like an idiot, "What? We''re just discussing options? How about it? See? Two¡ª Ah, no chance in hell these would fit¡ª"


    "Megan!"


    "What?! I''m right here and you keep shouting my name! Do you think these would fit his cock?! WE barely fit him! I pity this girl''s BF though or she just had a really shallow puss¡ª"


    "MEGAN!" Alexa shouted once again but this time, Kaley joined in as they were this close to beating her up.


    Ignoring Tatiana and Quinn''s cackle from my Raptor, I had to lightly smack Megan in the head¡ªfor being a little too horny while we were on the road¡ªand Tatiana whom she probably got the idea of being too open with her sexual advances.


    "What did I do?!"


    "You''re teaching a new generation of things that you always do to me! It''s your fault!"


    "Tsk! How is it wrong to ask for sex?!"


    "Not while working!"


    "Ah¡­"


    In any case, I did hand over the .38 special to her in exchange for the .22 revolver but since she didn''t have a proper holster for it and it really was supposed to be a backup gun, it simplynded in her pack which was jealously eyed by everyone else''s. For some reason, having an extra gun or simply finding it in the wild was like an achievement for everyone and almost all the boys were hitting their heads on the Raycolt for missing such a find.

 Chapter 1056 Basic Loot & Run II

    Chapter 1056 Basic Loot & Run II


    It didn''t take long before we were back on the road but as we made a turn to this budget 7-Eleven of sorts, we came across this cemetery that had this ramp of dead bodies from the inside which the dead could use to walk over and get to the main road. It was probably formed due to the design of the metal fences the cemetery had because I''m gonna assume that the survivors who used to protect this ce before used spears or something along those lines to thin the herd that formed inside.


    But yeah, we can''t just leave a potential flesh golem so as I made Artem and his group gather the walking dead over to the far end of the road using their vehicles, I made the cadets and the trainees use the fuel JP and Brian siphoned to light up the corpses even though they weren''t stacked up properly.


    We can''t just take the time to make a small mountain out of their rotting bodies but a little bit of extra fuel would probably get to them or most of them.


    I then radioed Artem:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''ll circle around to meet with you. You done with that batch?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Just finished. Found a rtively untouched vape shop here though, wanna loot the ce for tradingter?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Sure."


    *bzzt*


    -


    I wouldn''t pass on luxury items such as vapes because I categorized them at the same value or even more as cigars or cigarettes for the younger folks, but #2 was already a little too excited about getting his hands on one. However, one mention of the basic training I was putting them through made him pick out the vors that had no nicotine on them but I would still prefer for him to straight-up quit his vices.


    It was just a little hard to do it at the moment because as soon as we crossed this small-ish bridge to get to this gas station we saw from a distance, we encountered two more vape shops right next to a dental clinic.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Who told you fucks to park your Raycolt over there? We''re going for the gas station¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [It''s for trading, sir! Trading!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Uh-huh. One more shit like that and I''m gonna trade you for morepetent soldiers¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sir! With all due respect, we are cadets and we''re still learning so we''re bound to make mistakes, and that gas station''s probably dry at this point in time. Wouldn''t it make more sense to head to a ce where we could actually grab a few things we can use¡ª I mean, trade?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [S-Sir?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You were really about to convince me there but that slip-up just cost you and your team. We''re now heading over to that church to ask for forgiveness¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [T-That''s not even the same one in our¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Who fucking cares? We''re robbing the ce¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [S-SIR?! A CHURCH¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''d be surprised at the amount of shit they receive for free. I''ll bet you that bag of mods and vors in your pack we''re gonna score at least two cases of alcohol in that joint."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HAH! FUCK IT! I''LL GIVE YOU MY WHOLE CUT IN EXCHANGE FOR ALCOHOL!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You never get down, don''t ya?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Heh. You still gotta know me better, sir!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, we definitely robbed this small-ish church that used to promote a not-so-well-known religion they invented themselves but the look on the cadets'' faces when we really did find a few cases of alcohol was fucking priceless. However, it wasmunion alcohol and didn''t taste as good as themercial ones but a bet''s a bet though I just made #2 owe me a favor instead of giving me his "cut" which was a huge, huge rookie mistake.


    I didn''t even think we''d get to loot as much stuff on the outside¡ªcontrary to Brenda''s statement of us taking everything¡ªbut I realized that it was a matter of couldn''t get to these items instead of not finding any items.


    We were definitely much better equipped evenpared to this country''s soldiers and add in a loot goblin like me that could probably sniff a loose round from a distance, the ratio of items we''d take back from each scavenging run would definitely be skewed in my favor.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we entered a residential area of sorts which nary had a shop we could loot and at this point, each house we decided to enter was just a mystery box of Christmas gifts or coal. However, one indicator of whether the ce was good to break into or not was to check out the vehicle or vehicles parked in their driveway and just seeing which model it was¡ªnot to mention the stickers it had on the back¡ªcould give us a general idea of what lives they were living before the world ended.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Just pick five good houses before we get off this ce, alright? We don''t have all day!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    Granted some of them were already broken into or burned to the ground, but just taking the vehicles themselves and finding out they had a gallon or two of gas was already a good find.


    It''s just that we found another Ta in very, very good condition and Quinn never looked so dead inside when I asked Ibarra to start it up for me.


    A good majority of the people we brought couldn''t understand Quinn''s aversion to a free truck because with the amount of free shit we were bringing in with us, we''d either need a trailer or a new vehicle to store them. Furthermore, it wouldn''t hurt to get into Jessica''s good graces even more because even if we give her gifts without expecting her to do the same, deep down, she''d bepelled to just agree to whatever favor we ask of herter.


    It wasn''t an attempt to guilt-trip her in any way but we can''t just roll up to her ce with a bunch of shiny things without giving her a small cut.


    ''We did procure them from her territory after all¡­''

 Chapter 1057 J&E Flight School- Uh-oh...

    Chapter 1057 J&E Flight School- Uh-oh...


    Moving on from this municipality then to the next, the only ces we decided to stop by were this Alfa Mart where we procured a few tanks of gas and random knick-knacks, and this maternity clinic that still had a few boxes of medical supplies lying around. We had to break off from the main road we were using and use this particr backroad to get into a much "safer" area.


    We were still a bit far off the rk International Airport, where Jessica currently was, but it wouldn''t hurt to stop by this flight school where Eric and Jane seemed to have been living at for the past few months.


    However, it seemed that they might''ve forgotten to radio in to their people manning one of their checkpoints because all of them suddenly jumped to cover when they witnessed using in with several vehicles where a couple had mounted machine guns.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Wait, stop. They don''t know we''reing. Someone ring up either Jane or Eric before we have to pay for their split coffee¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    As soon as I said that, our convoy fully stopped before we tried tomunicate that we came in peace, but even though we still couldn''t contact either of the two at the moment, Brian made contact with one of their own over here and the matter was quickly resolved.


    It was pretty obvious that a few of the guards manning the checkpoint were shaking, not only because they hadn''t had their cup of joe yet, but because their first course of action should''ve been to haul ass instead of standing their ground with their numbers.


    They could only buy so much time because they were that close to their outpost and it was much better for them to gather everyone and fight together rather than to jump behind their cars and get hot coffee spilled on their clothes.


    But yeah, I did hand over a few items we found along the way¡ªwhich they greatly appreciated¡ªand they did tell us to avoid using the most direct route to J&E''s ce because it was rigged with traps.


    "Really? That close to your outpost?"


    The older guy who had binocrs hanging by his neck answered, "Our defenses still have holes in ''em, that just a little surprise or the ones who managed to sneak in¡ª Oh! Don''t turn into the ridel St. too in case youe from the other side of the river because you know¡­"


    "Traps?"


    "Exactly. Thanks for the food and the refill, alright? If you have any more questions, you can ask Eric¡ª no, Moses directly, or better yet, one of the people you sent over here. They''ll tell ya everything."


    "Sure, sure¡­"


    With that said, we were then granted safe passage but I still felt like this location of the first checkpoint we came across was too near their outpost¡ªbesides the traps set all around¡ªbecause adding to the point I said earlier, if a group came and had hostile intentions, they should be able to call in the threat so that by the time that group arrives, they were already prepared to "receive" them.


    ''Just need to remind themter¡­''


    In any case, it didn''t even take a couple of songs before we reached this flight school, and looking at it as a whole, it wasn''t asrge¡ªor even an eight of the size of the NAIA airport¡ªwhere everything started from our point-of-view.


    This small-ish or medium-ish flight school could probably hold an airne or two at most in its hangars¡ªor its runway could be used for emergencyndings¡ªbut its main focus was on lighter aircraft used for flight training or something simr in which they had several parked out in the open.


    Still, aside from its main selling points, the people assigned to this ce used the free space to its full potential¡ªticking off all the essential facilities and whatnot¡ªwithout sacrificing what made a flight school a flight school just to have a meta base.


    Pilots coulde in clutch at the most important moment and even though they would almost always not get picked over doctors, their specific skillset should still be respected and recognized.


    ''I hope I could run one of those smaller nester¡­''


    But yeah, as we parked by and connected with one of Brian''s "bros" and this Moses fe which had a job simr to Rin, it didn''t take long before Jane and Eric came rushing with a panicked expression, scanning their eyes into the group beforending on mine.


    "Finally!" I joked as I ignored the obvious "creases" from their clothes.


    "WE''RE SORRY!"


    I waved them off with a smile, "Nice ce. Slept in, huh?"


    Jane looked away embarrassedly while Eric scratched the side of his cheek with a goofy smile, "Ahaha¡ª"


    Moses cut in while shaking his head, "Excuse me, sir. As I was saying, are you here for an inspection or something simr? It''s because I haven''t heard of a visit and we should''ve prepared this ce to wee you."


    Jane took a deep breath before she answered for me, "T-That''s my bad, Moses¡­ We should''ve told you¡ª Wait¡­" then she suddenly turned back to me, "Weren''t you guys supposed toe in yesterday?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, and I made Vera contact this ce and I believe Eric¡ª"


    "FUCK!" Eric eximed as he pped his forehead, "That''s totally on me, I''m sorry¡­"


    Moses shook his head once again, not even bothering to hide his displeasure, which was totally understandable, "I-In any case, I do apologize on behalf of these two but may I ask to what do we owe the visit?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "It''s more of a wellness check with a few umm~ tips¡ª but before that, we cleared up the neighborhood a bit and looted a few ces and whatnot so we just came here to give your cut. This is your territory, after all¡­"


    Eric and Jane interjected, "What?/ You really don''t have to¡ª"


    Moses followed, "You really don''t have to, sir¡­ After this embarrassment, we should be the ones giving you stuff, not the other way around."


    I waved them off, "It''s fine. I''m feeling a little generous today so we got you that truck and some of the shit that''s on there¡ª"


    "Sir, we really can''t ept those¡ª"


    "I insist, okay? Besides, I''m gonna ask for a small favor¡­"


    "Anything, sir! Anything within our power, we''ll be d to help you with one of your requests!"


    "Y-Yeah!/ We''ll help you dude¡ª sir, don''t worry about it!"


    "For real? Cool. Can I take one of those nes for a spin?"

 Chapter 1058 IM A RANGER, BABY~~~ 2 - Location, Location, Location

    Chapter 1058 I''M A RANGER, BABY~~~ 2 - Location, Location, Location


    Before I even had the chance to finish my sentence, Kaley, Tatiana, Jared, and funnily enough, Niks disappeared from view the moment I asked to borrow their nes for a bit while almost everyone present couldn''t understand why. Unc Zardon and some of my workers were chuckling because they were the ones who knew what was up but they never put on their seatbelts that fast or ever while the truck was turned off.


    But yeah, Moses couldn''t believe his eyes when he discovered I had a PPL(Private Pilot''s License) that allowed me to fly a helicopter and in this case, a single-engined ne like the Cessna 172 right next to this Cessna Skyhawk I was already eyeing the moment we parked.


    "C-Can I fly with you, sir?!"


    "Sure, since Kaley looks like¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "I''m flying with ya, too! Howe you never told me you could fly a ne?!"


    "I told you I could fly a heli, right? With a PPL, depending on my training¡ª"


    "How the fuck could I have known that?!"


    "True¡­" then I turned to my group, "There''s room for one more. Who''sing?"


    As we waited for thest sacrificialmb¡ªerr, I meant a uhh~ a passenger¡­ I discovered that this Moses fellow was enrolled and was saved in this very school by Jessica and the moment they decided to make this ce an outpost to be a supplement to their airport in Pampanga, the guy stood up to the te because this ce just meant that much to him.


    However, he desperately needed an instructor to continue his studies and even though they had an older gentleman who could do just that, they couldn''t just use the fuel for airnes just to practice because I already made the deal with Jessica for everything to belong to me.


    But since the stars aligned for him at this very moment, he wouldn''t pass up the chance to learn because the motherfucker almost brought a whole camera setup just to see me at work.


    "You can only bring one camera and you need to really, really, really secure it, okay?"


    "O-Okay?"


    "Good."


    With that said, Lucas won the rock-paper-scissor tournament to decide who gets to ride with me but Megan used her backup revolver not to shoot him but to trade for that very spot and it just worked for both of them.


    ''Unbelievable¡­''


    But yeah, I did mount a couple of cameras on the ne to get some footage from up above¡ªinstead of just having some quick fun¡ªand everything went swimmingly well just as we took off from the runway before all hell broke loose.


    "I''M A RANGER, BABY~~~!!!"


    "Huh¡ª Sir? Sir?! SIR!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU CRAZY FUCK! I''LL KILL YA WHEN WE GET DOWN! HNGH! YOU''RE SO FUCKING DEAD, YOU SON OF A BITCH! HAHAHAHA!!!"


    "THEN WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING THEN?! I ALREADY PEED MY PANTS!"


    "This ne is well-maintained, Moses. Good job! Everyone brace for the Gs!"


    "WHEN DID THEY TEACH YOU THIS IN FLIGHT SCHOOL?!"


    "ROLL THIS PLANE ONE MORE TIME AND I''LL¡ª I''M GONNA PUKE¡ª"


    "ARE WE FLYING UPSIDE DOWN?! HEEEEEEELP!!!"


    "ISN''T THIS FUN, GUYS¡ª Moses? Did you pass out?"


    "..."


    "HE ALREADY PASSED OUT FROM THE FIRST LOOP, I''M SO GONNA CHOKE YOU OUT TO DEATH WHEN WE GET DOWN!"


    "I-I-I SHOULD''VE KEPT THE GUN¡ª NO, I DON''T EVEN KNOW WHAT''S HAPPENING¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Just imagine a ne moving like the most hellish roller coaster you''ve ever been on but the ride''s going much, much faster and the more you scream, the faster it goes. It''s been a while ever since I''ve flown the helicopter that was on the top of my house but a ne like this was much more fun to maneuver.


    But yeah, after that 5-minute flight that felt like an hour to them, Moses had to go to the infirmary, Quinn was just waiting for the feeling in her legs toe back before murdering me, and Megan needed to have a change of clothes. Funnily enough, it didn''t deter the boys from asking me to fly them as well¡ªwhich I obliged¡ªand even if the second batch came out in a much worse state than the first one, the third batch still wanted to have a go.


    So once again, I established myself as the group''s psycho but it didn''t take long before Moses recovered so we could have a proper discussion:


    Obviously enough, I learned that Eric and Jane were the leaders in name for this outpost but Moses had the bulk of the responsibilities but half of the power. Everything he decided on needed to be run through either of the two leaders but I''m gonna be a little partial for the one mistake they did before our arrival.


    In any case, they were very receptive to my tips and suggestions but Moses got a little defensive when we got to the topic of the distance between their checkpoints and this outpost:


    "Sir, it looks like the distance is quite short but have you taken into ount the turns you''d have to make just to get to this ce? Furthermore, anyone that would try to attack us would definitely use the shorter route instead of the drawn-out one¡ª"


    "Moses. Look, that idea of yours is genius but the distance is still way~ too short. Was this ce even attacked? By people, I mean¡­ Jessica does have enemies¡­"


    "N-No¡­ sir. J-Just biters."


    "And how does Jessica do it over on their side? And how many checkpoints does she have before you reach the main base? I know you only have 50 or so people in this joint, and before you say anything about the Angat River as a natural barrier that covers two sides of your base, I''ve also taken it into ount because you should have more eyes further out so the people here would be safer¡­"


    "I¡­ I know the risks b-but I wouldn''t want them to get written off just so we could be safe¡­ T-They should be able to get here as fast as possible so we could defend together¡­"


    I let out a deep sigh, "Look, this is one of the harder decisions when you''re managing your camp and ites with putting your people in such situations."


    "But¡ª"


    "They fucked up by jumping into cover instead of abandoning their post but thates with the job. Again, it''s a case-by-case basis because there are cases where I could be right and could be wrong but aside from moving away your designated checkpoints, you''re already on the right track. All you have to do right now is to improve on it. Take a look at the traps youid out for example¡­"


    "W-What about them, sir?"


    "Since when did you change their cement? I''m talking about the blockades and the smaller ones too."


    "Location¡ª What? Why¡ª Oh. Oh! That''s¡­ I didn''t think of that!"


    "Are you beginning to notice the pattern?"


    "I-I do¡­"


    "You see¡­ The big traps could stay as is but even though it''s gonna be a pain for all of you, wouldn''t it be harder for people who''d try to case this ce out if you switch things once in a while?"

 Chapter 1059 Missed Opportunities - Killing Floor

    Chapter 1059 Missed Opportunities - Killing Floor


    Doing what I suggested had pros and cons and the most advantageous thing about this setup was thatcency would just be thrown out the window because everyone else would be on their toes or in high alert¡ªnot to mention the discourse it would cause just from the forced misinformation from the enemies'' side¡ªbut the drawback was that aside from idents to ur, it would be mentally draining to be watching out and being mindful as to where they were currently ced at any given time.


    To be fair, this was one of those things that looked really good on paper and would totally work for a camp that had small numbers, but this would be next to impossible to pull off with my numbers at home.


    And with our aggressive campaign to clear groups of zombies and reim as much territory while boarding up the surplus, we even had to recall our "Killzones" where we ced automated traps or repositioned them much, much further to be feasible.


    In any case, we only talked for a bit more before we said our goodbyes because our goal was to reach the Marine base in Subic on or before sundown. Reaching Jessica by noon was also our goal but the number of stops we were making just to clear hordes and loot abandoned facilities were slowing us down.


    "Alright¡­ Good shit, Moses, but Jane and Eric, we don''t care whatever it is you do in your ''free time'' but keep your radios on, yeah?"


    "Ah¡ª Umm¡ª/ Y-Yeah¡­ sure¡­"


    "Goodbye again, sir!"


    With that said, we followed the road by the river and drove for a good 20 or so minutes before I slightly let off the pedal and nced at the entrance of JED''s Ind Resort which was a waterpark that existed even before I was born, but its poor state just made me go back to the pace we were in earlier.


    ''Now''s not the time¡­''


    Quinn was the first one to inquire about it:


    "What''s up with that ce?"


    "It''s a waterpark."


    "I could see that but why did you¡­ you know? Looked nostalgic and shit from seeing that¡­"


    "Eh~ It''s just been a custom for us to visit that ce with everyone back home and even though the decor could use some work, the luxury cars a bit further in¡ª"


    "What kind of cars?! Why didn''t you start with that?!"


    "We don''t have the time, alright? The ce''s probably infested and would take a day or two topletely clear. We''re not even sure if the cars are still there but from thest time we visited, there were a couple of Ferraris, a Porsche, a Lambo, and a Maserati among Benzs and Bentleys. The owner''s a casual collector and loves to show off his stuff but everything he had is probably stock and hadn''t been driven ever since they were in the huge disy case¡­"


    Quinn huffed, "Fucking dumbass¡­ He should''ve been firing it a few times a week at least¡­ Why bother collecting stuff if you''re not gonna y with it¡­ He should''ve just fabricated a body if he''s just gonna show it off¡­"


    "True~"


    After driving straight the main highway for 30 minutes and passing another municipality that had a moderate number of deadheads walking around, we reached the junction that would either lead us to Subic Bay if we drove for three more hours or to Jessica''s Airport which would only take 30 more minutes give or take.


    The answer was thetter obviously because this wasn''t the only road that would lead us to the Marine base though it was the shortest route given our current location.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before we had to make a full stop because we couldn''t just ignore the undead we were driving past, and even if the cadets and trainees had free reign to shoot down the ones that were following behind, our convoy had once again attracted enough attention.


    We weren''t exactly trying to be quiet but just to make our lives a little harder now so it''ll be a little easierter, a few unsuppressed shots followed by the continuous thumping from one of our vehicles'' speakers gathered the undead from every direction.


    It was up to Artem and his group to advance as much as possible, so we would have at least a decent area to put them down one by one and so that we wouldn''t get boxed out, while the cadets and the trainees at the back would be in charge of blocking off another path with the bulk of cargo.


    This time, everyone was allowed to fire their guns because we already made a lot of noise, but I still rushed forward with only my de drawn because Kaley had my back.


    She was in charge of taking care of the ones on my blindspot while Jared was the one in charge of putting down anything that moved a little quicker than normal, and as always, Tatiana was our resident jungler that could pop out from anywhere needed. Furthermore, Quinn was the one I left behind the wheel and Ibarra was there to do the same job as Tatiana but in a more passive way and just the area between the six-wheeler and my Raptor.


    With that said, I was already hearing automatic fire from where Artem and the rest took a turn while the ones further behind me sounded like carefully ced shots that came from pistols.


    Being in the front deprived me from knowing what was happening from all sides but I was doing everything I could to gather information¡ªthe way everyone was firing their guns for example¡ªto figure out if they were in a pinch or if I could readjust the initial positions we took.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "RUBEN AND BRIAN! FOLLOW MY TRAIL AND START PULLING THE BODIES OFF THE ROAD! ARTEM! YOU CAN DRIVE FURTHER IN, RIGHT UNTIL YOU REACH THIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NAMED MAINPIS OR WHATEVER AND YOU CAN TURN LEFT TO THAT AND THEN LEFT AGAIN ONCE YOU REACH THE BREWERY SO YOU CAN LOOP AROUND! YOU DON''T HAVE TO SPRAY THEM WITH EVERYTHING! DO IT IN BURSTS AT LEAST! COPY?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [COPY!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [COPY TOO, SIR!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    After that quick exchange, I rushed to this cluster of 5 to 7 biters but they were already a cluster of four when I reached them because Kaley already bored a lead projectile into their skulls. That made pieces of their skull and what remained of their brains sprayed on the pavement though it only took almost the same shes before their bodies collectively hit the floor.

 Chapter 1060 Murderstroking? - We got it.

    Chapter 1060 Murderstroking? - We got it.


    I could already see from the corner of my eye Ruben and Brian several feet behind me, pulling the decapitated bodies to the sidewalk, but this fucking deadhead running on all fours took advantage of it to try to catch me off guard. But to its surprise, my boot had already made contact with its head the moment it tried to use its arms and legs to spring up from its lowered position, and it just had the craziest reverse whish it ever experienced.


    The force it used to propel itself toward me was enough to topple a grown man but even bullets traveling in high velocity could deviate and miss its target just by making brief contact with a leaf or a branch.


    Breaking its neck didn''t kill it outright but it made sinking the tip of my de right in its eye socket way~ easier.


    It looked like a transformer that stopped transforming halfway but instead of vehicle parts, its body was made up of rotting flesh with deepcerations due to the way it was moving further than it was supposed to.


    But after pulling out and then flicking the blood off my de, a bullet whizzed in front of me and took down another feral waiting for the perfect opportunity, so I just pulled the pin from one of my grenades and threw it straight through the little bakeshop theye from.


    I would''ve turned my back against it and posed at the right moment before the explosion, but we weren''t here to mess around since I stepped back at the appropriate distance and aimed for the ones that weren''t caught by the explosion. Six bodies were confirmed and whatever the fuck was left inside that bakeshop but I simply holstered my TX22 before rushing in once again.


    Ignoring the broken ss and scattered debris with my boots, I opened my way into a cluster without Kaley''s help by Sparta-kicking a lone wanderer straight through this clump of congealed flesh. Right after that, I moved to their side and alternated between swinging on each of their heads like using a golf club and a normal horizontal swing for the party crashers.


    My de path became goofy as I tried to make it follow the swing arc of a different sport but I went back to the same style right when Tatiana came into view.


    She was now equipped with her bastard sword because Kuzma had taken ownership of her injector axe and hadn''t had the chance to get it reced yet, but the tip of her sword was still finding its way to violently inject itself straight through a deadhead''s skull without the help of CO2 gas to widen the wound channel.


    But yeah, there were just some times when she needed to get a little barbaric with her attacks because as she stepped back to wipe her de of the grime, she just had to grip her sword on the shard side with her bloody rag before swinging it on a biter''s head and breaking its skull with the crossguard.


    "Murderstroking, really? Just use your scabbard!"


    "Did you forget that mine''s made with leather, not wood? Yours even had a metal part just for that!"


    "Whatever! Still uses too much energy! And look what you did!"


    At this moment, Tatiana''s sword got stuck in this deadhead''s skull cavity and it just looked way~ worsepared to when she first wiped it. Another step backward could''ve saved her a bit of time to hold her sword properly but now the handle was also covered with the dead''s nasty bits.


    We had to pull out our sidearms to clear a small radius so she could pull her sword out safely, but she just left it there because she ran out of clean cloth. Furthermore, wiping our des haphazardly was okay in a pinch but it was a huge no-no when ites to our handles.


    Even with gloves, blood still had the chance to sip in and get into our callused or overworked hands, due to working out mostly, which could put us out ofmission forever.


    So yeah, Tatiana went old school and used the pistol and knifebo as I continued to just use my katana, but it has been a while since we heard a gunshot from Artem''s side. I know that I did remind them to not waste our bullets but it was a totally different thing to not fire them at all.


    I was just about to check in on them when I saw their ridee out of the street I instructed them to loop over, but it seemed like they came across one of Jessica''s clearing group who decided to help us as well.


    "We''ll take care of this¡ª"


    "We''ll all do it¡ª"


    "No, no¡ª We have a quota and we''re training neers. We had to do it, no sweat."


    Hearing their exnation to take over, the rest of us just decided to sheathe our des and holster our guns before putting on our thick gloves to move the dead-dead onto arge pile for a campfireter. Butpared to our new blood, their new recruits seemed to be from the camps further north that joined in with them and it just meant that their number had probably exceeded 300 long ago.


    It could be twice or thrice right now if they were just taking in people left and right like me, but I kept my gun and my de really~ close because that just meant we were working with people we technically had no rtions with.


    Granted it was true that they now belong in Jessica''s camp, but they don''t know us as much as we don''t know them so keeping our guards up wouldn''t hurt in the long run. But yeah, the pair we spoke to noticed the little tension in the air but they just let out a sigh and a chuckle before they offered to finish up:


    "Listen¡­ I know it''s a little weird right now but we got this, okay? Besides, Jessica''s already waiting for y''all¡­ That''s one of the reasons we came here. It won''t even be a 10-minute ride¡­"

 Chapter 1061 No, you don’t. - Pretty much, yeah.

    <h4>Chapter 1061 No, you don''t. - Pretty much, yeah.</h4>


    The pair I spoke to, Lizzy and Brandon, felt like they used to be preschool teachers just from the way they spoke to us, but with a dozen or so deadheads in the immediate vicinity and around 50 more in the distance from where they came from, I showed them that we didn''t need any help at all.


    To their surprise, I drew my pistol¡ªwhich made them back off except for their trainees who were methodically clearing the dead¡ªbefore I whizzed each shot by them and stole the kills they were nning to steal from me.


    "What are you do¡ª"


    And before she could finish her sentence while I ignored their group''s curses from "almost" getting shot, I holstered my pistol then I pulled on my rifle''s strap¡ªunfastening it from my back¡ªbefore I cleared them from left to right, reloading once, and then finishing the rest with a few more bullets left in my magazine.


    "..."


    "..."


    The pair was still processing what just happened in front of their eyes¡ªincluding some of their trainees who barely stained their "weapons" to reach this quota¡ªbut I already flicked the safety on and flipped back the dust cover before I started picking up the casings that dropped on the floor.


    "Lizzy¡­"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "How old are you?"


    "H-Huh?"


    "Nevermind. We''re probably the same age and I don''t appreciate people talking to me like that."


    "I¡ª"


    I waved her off with a smile, "It''s not rude¡ªit''s pleasant(?) if anything¡ªbut it just rubs me the wrong way somehow¡­"


    "S-Sorry¡­ I''m a preschool¡ª well¡­ I used to teach kids a-and the way I talk is just a force of habit¡ª"


    "I had an inkling to that actually but it''s not the way you talk, it''s the way you handled the situation."


    Brandon cut in, "Pardon?"


    I turned to Tatiana, "You felt it too, right?"


    Tatiana nodded, "Correct."


    Lizzy was still confused, "I-I don''t understand¡­"


    "Alright, let this be a learning opportunity¡­ The vibe waspletely off when you took over our jobs to fill your ''quota'' or whatever but while the tension''s running high between me and your group, you decided to break it off by sending us on our way."


    "I still don''t understand¡­"


    "Your first mistake is that even if you ''helped'' my group when you felt like they needed it, they ''got'' it as well as you said earlier. Even if it wasn''t your intention, that action will unequivocally put us in a position where we owe you some type of favor while barely doing anything to amount to that."


    Brandon cut in once again, "Wait, wait¡ª we didn''t mean to do that at all! We''re just¡ª"


    "Filling the quota, right? I''m not sure if you''ll understand this term but kill-stealing is extremely frowned upon in themunity I grew up in. You don''t juste in at thest second, killing off the boss¡ªor the dregs, in this case¡ªthen sharing the glory with us. Besides, how do you mark up your quota? Ears? Heads? Fingers? We got a few hundred here. Do you just take them all and get Jessica''s favor from it¡ª"


    "That''s¡ª"


    "And your second mistake¡ª no, your third mistake¡ª"


    Lizzy then got pissed, "Hey! I don''t get where these usations areing from but we came here with the pure intention to help! I''m sorry that we don''t have the masculinity as fragile as yours but if you didn''t want our help, you could''ve just said so!"


    I chuckled, "There it is~ Big wordsing from you, huh? I thought the wokemunity were the ones representing all the dead folks by joining their kind on the first day, but to get down to your level, what do you call someone who ''forces'' themselves on¡ª well, you are a group so what do you call a ''group'' who forces themselves on another group that didn''t need it? Is that what to do when I get abused? Just tell them no because I could''ve said so?"


    "Don''t twist my words like that, you sick fuck! This is making me so ufortable!"


    "Yeah, #metoo¡­ We were doing so well before you fucks came and it''s all ruined. Look at what''s happening now. I haven''t even told you thest mistake you fucking did because you just made a whole lot more¡­"


    "Then what is it, huh?! Mr. High and Mighty?!"


    "Aside from you hiding as a total woke bitch, I could''ve cleared the air with your group because they''re getting dragged along to your whims. I used to send people off¡ªlike a few of my troops to this ce¡ªwhen they have an unresolvable conflict with another group of mine but you''re doing just that from a small spat. In the guise of Jessica expecting us even. It''s really weird that we suddenly had to work together but guess who showed up to do just that in the first ce?"


    "Oh! OH! Is that it?! Is that right?! We''re the ones at fault here, huh?!"


    "Pretty much, yeah¡ª"


    "OKAY¡ª"


    Brandon cut in for the third time, "Woah, woah, woah! Easy now, everyone, alright? We''re all on the same side here, right? W-We can go elsewhere if they don''t want us here¡ª"


    "If THEY don''t want us here?! Are you hearing yourself, Brandon?! This is our¡ª"


    Brandon suddenly sent a p across Lizzy''s face, "Listen, Lizzy! I''m not sure if you''ve seen what they could do, but besides that, he''s the one who helped Jessica do all this! He basically owns at least half of the gear we''re using and more!"


    I just had to do it:


    "Pretty much, yeah¡ª"


    Lizzy then red at me because it obviously worked, "Oh? Is that right? Just because you supplied what we needed you get to be l-like¡ª l-like that?!"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Pretty much, yeah. If you still haven''t found an adjective, I go by asshole or psycho¡ª whichever one you choose¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Look, I don''t know how Jessica''s doing it¡ªby putting pairs into positions of power who mucks it up¡ªbut I hope to fucking god you''re just starting out as well. I get you''re short on staff but this is just nuts! Is the pay for being out here that good?!"

 Chapter 1062 It’s been a while...

    <h4>Chapter 1062 It''s been a while...</h4>


    I should''ve just de-escted the situation¡ªlike Brandon was doing¡ªto save some time and mental exhaustion by talking to this type of person, but it really has been a while since I''ve seen one, and her shady way of doing things just to get in some favors not only with Jessica but also with me by forcing in help when they weren''t needed was just something I wouldn''t let go.


    Different people had different ways to climb thedder even before the world ended but this was just nuts.


    First, I met with Eric and Jane who were supposed to be leading their group but were boning each other instead without the means of contacting them¡ªand I let that pass because someone else took the reins¡ªbut this pair was way worse even before the bitch revealed her true self.


    This whole situation with them was just too weird and shady from the get-go but clearing up our own mess before they took over was the right move. They came in with the guise of meaning well but it waster revealed that it was just for meeting their quota and the spoils we would be leaving behind.


    Their tactics could''ve worked on any other group but me being a loot goblin/hoarder prevented them from seeding on their sorry attempt to reap all the rewards with the littlest amount of work.


    ''It was like the Quiet Quitters but a level above¡­''


    But yeah, they could''vee with the full intention of just helping us and didn''t even realize what we were doing but a mistake was still a mistake, and getting pissed off about it by me telling it to their faces was another. Sure, I could''ve been nicer by I''m not a fucking preschool teacher.


    It''s just that our little encounter didn''t end there because as we made our way to Jessica''s camp after cleaning up, the same group had already made their way back¡ªprobably because of Lizzy¡ªno, it was definitely because of her¡ªand it seemed like she was dragging our name to the mud, the moment they got back, and was screaming off Jessica''s ear when she filed severalints.


    I could only imagine what Jessica was going through right now because I was told by one of their attendants that she had just arrived from another overnight run and was just about to sleep when Lizzy came back to call for the manager.


    But yeah, I already brought my presents and several receipts to metaphorically p that bitch''s face when I was finally told she could receive us in her office, which was the ATC(Air Traffic Controller) Area overlooking everything.


    To my delight, they were using it like our radio station back home, where a few people were receiving and sending messages to their troops in and out of their territory, but I was led in this little nook in the corner where a room with the blinds down was present, which was Jessica''s office and probably her bedroom at the current moment.


    "Sorry for the intrusion~"


    And as soon as I came in, I saw the tired look on Jessica''s face and Lizzy''s smug smile while sitting like a dumb bitch on one of the sofas.


    Jessica forced out a smile while trying hard to keep awake, "It''s been a while¡­"


    "That it is¡ª Sorry, Mikhail''s not here¡ª"


    "Oh¡ª"


    "He got shot¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    Lizzy had to but in at the worst possible time, "Excuse me?! We have something to talk about, right¡ª"


    Jessica instantly shut her down, "SHUT UP!" then she downed thest bit of coffee in her mug before she turned to me, "He shot show¡ª How?!"


    "You should be sleeping¡ª"


    "Yeah! I should!" she eximed as she red at Lizzy who was now confused and angry by getting ignored by the two of us.


    Then I put my presents and myptop on her desk before I reassured her, "It''s a long story but he''s good and will be able to visit really soon but besides theptop, all this here''s for you¡ªdon''t worry, I already gave your assistant their share."


    "W-What''s this?" Jessica confusedly looked at her gift basket while slightly relieved from hearing that Mikhail was doing okay.


    "Gifts?"


    "I-I know that they''re gifts but¡ª What''s with theptop?"


    "The full context. I heard this bitch has been saying nasty shit since she got back¡ªwithoutpleting their quota too¡ªand this is footage from my and Artem''s point of view. It''s raw footage so you could see it wasn''t tampered with in any way¡ª"


    Lizzy cut in, "I-I DON''T BELIEVE THIS!"


    I rolled my eyes, "You don''t believe in proof? Huh. You thought it was just gonna be your word against mine, huh?"


    "I''m so ufortable with this! Getting filmed without my consent?! I''M LEAVING¡ª"


    I then released copious amounts of killing intent as I shouted at the top of my lungs:


    "SIT THE FUCK DOWN, BITCH! WE''RE SEEING THIS ALL THE WAY THROUGH AND IF I DON''T RECEIVE AN APOLOGY AND YOU GET DEMOTED TO NOTHING, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD¡ª CONSENT?! REALLY?! WHO CONSENTED YOU TO FUCKING OFFER UNSOLICITED HELP?! WHO CONSENTED YOU TO BE A FUCKING SHADY-ASS BITCH?! WHO BROKE WHAT LAWS YOU''RE THROWING AT ME FIRST?! WHO?! HUH?! ALL YOU DO IS BE A FUCKING PARASITIC LEECH AND THE MOMENT YOU''RE GETTING CALLED OUT FOR IT YOU FUCKING BOUNCE?! UNCOMFORTABLE MY ASS! YOU FUCKING REVOLT ME AND I''M PUTTING UP WITH IT JUST TO PUT YOU IN YOUR FUCKING PLACE! AGAIN, SIT THE FUCK DOWN BEFORE I LOP YOUR HEAD OFF!"


    After that outburst, the room had never been so quiet but it didn''t take long before we heard a sigh from Jessica as she opened her mouth:


    "Lizzy¡­ You do know that I''ve been aware of what you''re doing and I''ve warned you multiple times not to do that because I''ve already received multipleints from the other groups¡­ The ones who started with you had already moved up by putting their head down and doing the work but you''re still stuck doing the same thing over and over¡­ What do you have to say to that?"

 Chapter 1063 No feelings?

    Chapter 1063 No feelings?


    Hearing Jessica''s words, it further cemented how much of a shady-ass bitch Lizzy was this shit definitely had to stop. It''s just that from what I was seeing, even with themand of close to a thousand people, Jessica was still doing most of the heavy lifting. I wasn''t sure if she didn''t how to delegate to people or just couldn''t because of her limited options, but the stress of leading a group such as this would be enough to make anyone cave in without proper help.


    I already meddled with her affairs by demanding Lizzy to get demoted to a grunt or a straight-up civvy but this was the type of help that would greatly benefit both parties, unlike being a parasite like Lizzy was.


    But yeah, why was it that there were these kinds of people who didn''t know when to give up or realize their mistakes?


    "WHAT WOULD YOU WANT ME TO SAY THEN?! I DIDN''T ASK FOR ANY OF THIS TO HAPPEN! I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH MY JOB BEFORE THIS WHOLE BULLSHIT BLEW UP AND CHANGED EVERYONE''S LIVES AND NOW I HAVE TO KILL PEOPLE JUST TO SURVIVE?!"


    I had to cut in, "Excuse me, what?"


    Jessica rolled her eyes and facepalmed before she huffed, "Not this again¡­ THOSE PEOPLE ARE DEAD, LIZZY! AND WHY DOES THAT EXCUSE ALWAYS COMES UP, HUH?! IT NEVER MATTERS WHEN YOU''RE GETTING YOUR QUOTAS FILLED, WHY DOES IT MATTER NOW?!"


    "WHY ARE YOU TWO ATTACKING ME?!"


    Jessica threw herself back in her chair, "This conversation is once again going nowhere¡­"


    "AND NOW YOU AVOID THE CONVERSATION?! I STAYED HERE, DIDN''T I?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "You''re one impossible bitch to talk to, huh?"


    "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" then she turned to Jessica, "YOU HEARD WHAT HE SAID, RIGHT?! AS A WOMAN¡ª"


    "I''M A WOMAN TOO, LIZZY! AND YEAH, YOU''RE A FUCKING BITCH WHO ALWAYS BLAMES EVERYONE BUT HERSELF! DO YOU KNOW THE HEADACHES I GET FROM LISTENING TO YOUR COMPLAINTS ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE AND EVERYONE ELSE''S COMPLAINTS ABOUT YOU?! LOOK AROUND! THEY''RE NOT THE PROBLEM, YOU ARE!"


    I had to ask, "Why is she leading a group, anyway?"


    "BECAUSE I''M A CAPABLE¡ª"


    "Shut your fucking mouth! I didn''t ask you! If you don''t tone it down, I''ll be legally required to p you. Twice!"


    "Y-You can''t do that!"


    "You can''t be this out of touch either and survive this long! I know the dead don''t just eat brains but they''re somehow avoiding you!"


    "YOU¡ª"


    Before she could stand up and shout at my face again, I rocked her head with a huge p, followed by palming her nasty face to sit her ass back down, and then pping her again when she was about to berate me from hitting a "woman". This bitch definitely had a screw loose or her wholeputer box was missing because I was starting to regret humoring myself and talking to one of these crazies.


    I had some woke ideologies I sometimes follow too but this was on the deepest end of the spectrum.


    In the end, you can''t just make a person who didn''t want to listen understand in the first ce, so Jessica just decided to take off her badge and gun, remove all her responsibilities, and had her stay in their prison of sorts getting fed slop and murky water until she "admit" she was wrong.


    There were just people who were set in their ways or their beliefs but even though apromise was on the table, she just wouldn''t have it and wanted the ones running the whole ce to conform to her ideas instead.


    "Finally¡­ some peace and quiet¡­"


    Jessica rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "You tell me. I''m sorry but I swear not everyone here is like that¡­"


    "Really?"


    "Wait. What happened? Did something else¡ª"


    "Eric and Jane are forgetting their responsibilities¡­"


    "Fuck¡­ What did they do now?"


    "It''s fixed now, don''t worry¡­"


    "Shit¡­ I''m making a bad impression to you now the moment you decide to visit¡­ To think I impressed your old-timer¡­"


    "Oscar?"


    "Yeah. We cut a hole in the expressway so we didn''t have to circle around the winding path to get to it but they almost had a straight path without distractions to Subic. His group used it when they had to bring in more stuff."


    "Oh? That''s very handy."


    "It''s like what you''re doing with one of your group but instead of having the whole expressway clear, we reimed a segment of it and built sturdy gates to rece the part of the wall we destroyed."


    "Yeah¡­ Can I give you one more advice though?"


    "Please. Anything to make it easier¡­"


    "Heh. It never will but ites with assigning people jobs. Learning to delegate them is a sign of a good leader but you should delegate to the right people. Again, I''ve only seen two very bad examples so I don''t know the wholeyout of your workforce, but if someone''s already getting that manyints, you should change things up a little and see how it goes¡ª"


    "I know, I know¡ª It''s just¡ª There''s too much work right now and I''m getting overwhelmed¡­ I barely slept and I really need a moment to catch up."


    "I see what you mean."


    "You do? You don''t look like you have problems¡ª"


    "I have a few, actually¡­"


    "Like what?"


    "There''s this group who I sponsored way back who''s working with us¡ªthey''ve been really thriving at one point¡ªbut the management is starting to fall apart because their leader doesn''t want to take any breaks or change things up to see what works. She just kept pushing through with all she got. Even though it''s admirable, it is kinda stupid¡ª"


    "Wait. Now you''re messing with me! Asshole!"


    "Hey~ You used one of my pronouns! You remembered!"


    "You¡ª Pfft! I''ll give you that¡­ Dammit¡­ I really want to sleep right now but the coffee''s kicking in¡­"


    "Ah, that sucks¡ª I may have a tablet or two of mtonin in my pack if you want¡ª It''ll kick in around half an hour but it still depends because you have coffee¡­ Want some?"


    "..."


    "Jessica?"


    At this point, Jessica was just looking me in the eye without saying anything, but I''ve seen Kaley and several others throw me the same look when they needed to get physical. Granted having a "release" prompted me to sleep faster than taking sleep medication, I wouldn''t want to step on some toes if they had something going on.


    "What about Mikhail?"


    "He''s not here and we''re not exclusive. What about Kaley? I heard some things but I''m not sure about the specifics."


    "She definitely wouldn''t mind and might even join us but I feel that you wanted something quick."


    "I just really wanted to sleep but if you want me to reciprocate, I can do it when youe back. But now? I''ll let you cum in me at least once but I want you to keep going until I had enough. Can you do that at least? You don''t even need to stay behind. You can leave if I fall asleep or pass out."


    "There''s no problem in that department."


    "Good. But first things first: no kissing, no BJs, no calling me derogatory names, and most importantly, no feelings. I just want to fuck and I want it rough and hard. How about you?"


    "Can I lick¡ª"


    "Yes, please."


    "I''m talking about your pits."


    "I''m sweaty and I haven''t showered¡ª"


    "Doesn''t matter."


    "Freak. But I''m intrigued, sure."


    "Creampies?"


    "Sure."


    "Anal?"


    "You''re really a freak. Do you have lube, at least?"


    "Always."


    "Okay, but fuck my pussy first."


    "On this desk?"


    "Where else?"


    "How about the people outside?"


    "I brought them in a few times. They''re probably jealous but wouldn''t mind."


    "I thought no feelings?"


    "Jealousy''s cool, not love. Besides, why''d you pick me over your wife? She''s hot. Any more questions?"


    "Last one."


    "Shoot."


    "Can I still go at it even if you pass out?"


    "Hmm~ You talk some big game, huh?"


    "Then take a look."


    "Oh, fuck¡ª I''m putting BJs back on the table¡ª You''re huge! You better have that lube or else¡ª Fuck¡­ W-Why am I getting so hot right now¡ª C-Come here! Pull them all the way down!"


    "Yes, ma''am¡­"


    "Shit¡­ That turns me on so much¡­"


    With that said, Jessica and I spent a good 30 minutes before she couldn''t take it anymore, but I kept using her unconscious body until I had enough, especially her unwashed pits that just sent me over to the edge. There was just something different about women''s sweat and body odor that drives me insane because even if they swore they fucking smelled, it was totally different when it enters my nose.


    But yeah, I still cleaned her up after I covered her all over with my semen though she woke up the moment I was done.


    "Sorry¡ª"


    "I¡­ I woke up a few minutes ago¡­ This is¡­ Thanks¡­ I really needed this¡­ C-Come back, alright?"


    "Sure."


    "..."

 Chapter 1064: Bizarre Behavior

    Jessica and I eventually said our farewells while she looked like sleep was catching up to her, because she only had a short nap when I was taking care of her AFTER I took "care" of her.


    But yeah, her shoulders were already slumped and her eyes were already droopy when I closed the door in front of me though she looked like I took off a ton of stress from her back, front, upper, lower, left, right, etc., and she could genuinely smile for once.


    It''s just that my supposed "Walk of Shame" out of the ATC Area became a triumphant one instead, because not only the guys were giving me the double thumbs up and the approving nod, but thedies looked like they were hot and looking for seconds.


    I just shook my head and chuckled as I went for the door because a little stroke for both my ego and my dick from time to time wasn''t a bad thing.


    In any case, while I was busy making Jessica "rx" my group had already taken it upon themselves to hand out some stuff we scavenged along the way and some things they brought themselves to score some brownie points.


    They were different from the items we also brought as gifts from the six-wheeler, and they came directly from their pockets to somehow remove the notion that we wereplete assholes which was technically true in some way.


    It was also true that our names were already cleared or should I say, not even tainted in the first ce¡ªbecause Lizzy''s name and "testimonies" didn''t mean shit because of her notoriety of being a bitch¡ªbut it really wouldn''t hurt to increase favorability by gift-giving.


    "You have people stationed over that gate of yours, right?" I asked "Tim", one of Jessica''s assistants who received us earlier.


    "Yes, sir. I''ve already called both ends and they''ll let you in and out without question," he replied.


    There were no outstanding features on his face besides the cool vest he was wearing but it seemed like he used to have a job as a public servant and he was making use of just that to make everyone''s life here a little easier.


    "Alright, thank you."


    "Thank you as well, sir. My kids loved the coloring books and the fancy crayons! Doing it digitally isn''t the same for them so, thanks!"


    "d to help," then I turned to my group, "Alright. Time''s up! Enough catching up with your old crew here, we''re this close to one of the best ces to take a vacation. Pack up and follow the same formation as earlier! Got it?!"


    Everyone responded, "Yes, sir!"


    At that point, we drove out from Jessica''s airport and made our way to this Korean town of sorts and this strip mall right next to a love hotel before we reached this shortcut gate which was also acting as a checkpoint.


    It was manned by a dozen or so people with a mounted machine gun on one of their vehicles because it was sitting at a perfect spot that could overlook several key points around the area.


    Though as we were being let in, one of the guards decided to give me a ticket as a joke, but everyone lost it when I took out a few peso bills from my wallet and handed it to him:


    "HOLY FUCK! HAH! YOU STILL HAVE THOSE?!"


    "Mostly for kindling but it got us out of this mess, huh?"


    "Dammit! Get in, sir! Get in! Never thought I''d see that day¡ª FUCK! HE GOT ME BOYS, HE GOT ME!"


    ''Some chill folks¡­ that''s good¡­''


    In any case, if we didn''t use this bypass of sorts, it would''ve taken us a few more hours to reach part of our destination because it only took us 20 minutes of smooth sailing to pass by several municipalities, a techno-farm, parks, and residential areas before we saw the other end of the line.


    We could''ve probably pushed in a bit more and used the actual expressway but we were informed that there was still a wreckage waiting to be cleared further in.


    Additionally, the other end of Jessica''s bypass was actually just tens of feet before the actual toll area, and we had to drive a bit off-road just to circle around this high school and avoid thisrge cemetery teeming with the undead.


    I wouldn''t get started with the smell it delivered when a strong wind passed by, but that was one of the reasons the guards here had a fire going to somehow mask the smell with the smoke. It was akin to lighting up a match while one was taking a huge dump but in all honesty, they should''ve gone with a bonfire instead.


    Don''t even get me started with the health implications of inhaling in rotting meat smell.


    I turned to everyone present, "There''s still a few hours before sunset, we can clear it now¡ª"


    One of the guys manning this gate cut me off, "Ah. If you''re gonna try it, kindly do it from the other side so they don''t migrate over here."


    "Not if we clear the whole ce, right?"


    "That''s¡­ For some reason, it replenishes day to day and¡ª"


    I had to do a double-take, "Replenishes? Exin¡­"


    He got startled by the sudden spotlight, "W-We are thinning them on a daily basis by use of trap set opposite our direction¡ªeven Sir Oscar brought arge group and caused chaos in the same ce twice¡ªb-but yeah, it seemed to be a gathering ce of the dead hence the replenishing on my part. We tried doing it ourselves with arge group too but nada, they keeping in."


    "Huh. What else did you do?"


    "Again, for another reason, it seemed to have a set number of upants(?) from our observation and if it reaches a certain number, the excess will just move on elsewhere and we''ll just take care of the ones whoe across here quietly. Wouldn''t want to attract a thousand or so of them here¡­"


    "Curious¡­"


    "T-That''s what Sir Oscar said too after his second attempt to clear this ce but he focused their firepower elsewhere and just told us to sit tight and wait for you to catch on. He said you might have some ideas. We also took footage as he said and covered a few stragglers with paint to see get a glimpse of their behavior.


    It is really bizarre but if it''s one of those specials, it should''ve been dead twice over if not, thrice from the times that ce was attacked by us and the ones before us¡­"


    "Hmm¡­ But technically~ Your group and Oscar didn''t clear the ''whole'' thing."


    One other dude popped up and said, "Uhh, yeah we did."


    "Umm, no you did not."


    "Yes, we did!"


    "I''m not ying this game¡ª Did you check the coffins or not?"


    "Pfft¡ª Ever heard of embalming¡ª"


    "First things first, not everyone buried in that ce gets embalmed¡ª"


    He nodded from the technicality, "That''s true but they should''ve been skeletons by now! That''s a different thing!"


    "You¡­ You ever heard of the term that says that you can hide a tree in a forest?"

 Chapter 1065: Different - Long-winding Route?

    As soon as I asked that question, he pondered for a moment if I was trying to catch him off-guard or was trying to wisecrack him but once he figured out that I was genuine, he simply dignified it with a proper response.


    "Yeah, sure. By what does that have to do with the conversation?"


    "Well, you can also hide bodies in a cemetery. Catch my drift?"


    "You mean¡ª Oh. Oh, fuck¡­"


    I nodded from his realization, "Now, you get it. I don''t wanna sully this ce''s great name for tourists and local tourists alike but it does have a dark side to it, covered by the fancy resorts and whatnot. The Man Bay always gets the k from illegal imports besides the floating garbage but this ce has them too.


    If you piece two and two together, a few syndicates or something simr had a system and it almost always involves making certain people go quiet and that cemetery was one of those ces they keep them hidden in in sight."


    "Fuck¡­ So what do we do?"


    "It''s gonna be the weirdest unboxing video you''ve ever seen, pal."


    "Uh, the name''s Paul."


    "Did you just¡ª"


    "I did. You catch on pretty quick, huh?"


    "Hah! That was perfect."


    "Thanks! So what do we do?"


    "You guys sit tight for a while because we can''t do this with the old man, but if his schedule is nothing but waiting till his daughteres, we''ll take a crack at it and then another crack at it and hope we don''t get haunted by their departed souls."


    "Ah, fuck¡­"


    At that point, the person I first talked to gave me some camera footage that was taken by a drone of theirs before I exchanged it with something that could help with their stress levels and overall mood for the duration of their stay.


    Because it seemed like their lodging was inside this expressway¡ªwhich wasn''t the safest area toy their heads on¡ªbut they do strict rotations between guard/watch duty.


    Hearing that, they greatly appreciated the top off of instant coffee, some sugar, and some creamer because we once again made use of the technique husbands/boyfriends would do whenever their significant other was feeling lonely or pissed off.


    This group wasn''t technically pissed off at us but aside from social workers¡ªjust a general thing, really¡ªwe should always be nice to people who''ve been nice to us except for obvious exceptions.


    ''What''s in the box though¡­ The coffins, I mean¡­ Is there even one or do we need an excavator to¡ª One at a time¡­ One at a time¡­''


    In any case, we continued our drive to the Freeport Zone here in Subic Bay and as we passed by the moderately-sized high school facility after going off-road, we were now driving in a residential that slightly gave the vibe that we were in the provinces because the there were just trees everywhere unlike the cities we came from.


    It felt like we were on an actual road trip to have some fun¡ªgranted we were¡ªbut it only just involved a bit of decapitation, looting, and a bit of gunpowder.


    Twenty more minutes into this ride, we only stopped twice to quickly get in and out of two barangay halls¡ªjust for their records¡ªbefore we had to stop right by this soda factory which was right next to a bus terminal, a delivery hub, and a small parish.


    Adding to that bit of information, the facilities across the street were just houses that had were just randomly built without any theme or direction, mostly due to having individual owners and we were still a bit off from the biggest residential which definitely had some rules to follow in regards to housing construction.


    But yeah, the reason we had to stop by this area was because if we cut into this yground and went off-road for a few meters, we''d be able to get into the Main Harbor, The Port of Subic Bay, which Oscar and everyone else should be much, much faster.


    However, I wasn''t exactly sure why the old man had to drive through the biggest residential area, then coast another medium-ish residential area right next to it which had another cemetery just by the edge of it, before looping back and using the farthest bridge to get to the ce they were supposed to meet up.


    The way I thought of was the easiest and the fastest way to get from point A to point B, and there must be some reason why he had to take the scenic route.


    So I tried calling him:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hello? Is this the hotline for lonely old men who are trying to get the approval of their estranged daughter? Hellooo?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''m not even biting that, kid. Where you at? You were supposed to be here at lunch!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "By this soda factory right next to the bus terminal¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah, you''re pretty close! Why bother calling, it''s only an hour if you follow the route we used.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Can''t we just cut into this yground and use the nearest¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nah, don''t go that way! A flour mill exploded in that part and there''s a wreck by the¡ª didn''t the people by the gate tell you that?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "They told me about the wreck, not the explosion."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Right, they wouldn''t know about the explosion but there has been one pretty recently. Well, it happened before we got here but some schmuck probably tried to light a cigar inside and we know where that''s gonnand him, right?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Over there, over there, and up there."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hah! You still remember! Anyway, if you have the time to clear debris and everything else from that side, feel free to drive to that spot. But if you''re already short on time which you are, use the longer detour because it''ll be faster. Don''t ask any questions. We''ve been trying to clear shit all around but the people around here don''t trust foreigners as much as they used to.


    Total night and day.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Huh."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Anyway, did you bring Irene''s package with ya?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "The fuck are you on about?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [BUT¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You said don''t touch it, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WELL¡ª WHERE IS IT THEN?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Man?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [YOU LEFT IT AT THE SHIP?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Heh! That''s the reaction I''m going for, see you soon. Bye~"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [KID¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then I abruptly ended the call. If this old-timer thought he could be cool and collected, he was dead fucking wrong.

 Chapter 1066: Confusion - A bit of Topography

    Despite multiple calls that the old man tried to reconnect with me, I kept turning it down because I was pretty sure he asked me to just put it inside his house. I wouldn''t be there to witness it but his head had definitely erupted several times like a volcano, and his immediate victims would be the ones right next to him.


    But yeah, without stopping for a single time, we eventually reached our destination but I almost blew my lid when this oh-so-great Marine Base they allegedly cleared for the past two weeks was really just the Main Harbor inhabited by a good number of Oscar''s¡ª or should I say Johnny''s people.


    ''Technically a Marine Base but¡ª Fuck¡­''


    While I was having an inner monologue, I just remembered that the actual Marine Base I was thinking of was on the opposite side of the Subic Bay, that would probably take a few more hours, which was something I would decide against regarding the time.


    I should''ve figured out that something was horribly off but this was just too fucking much of a blunder on our part.


    But yeah, we were just let in by Oscar himself who was with Matthew, Lois, and Olivia, and they weren''t expecting the frown on my face:


    "Holdup, why the long face, kid¡ª"


    "Cleared the ''Marine Base'', really?"


    The four looked at me like I was an idiot, "We did, numbnut. The fuck are you talking about?"


    "..."


    Lois followed, "Yeah, bro. We cleared it with everyone here and¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "I''m confused too, someone needs to exin things here or I might''ve taken something I shouldn''t have."


    I nodded, "Did you clear a Marine base or not?"


    They answered at the same time, "We did!/ Yeah!/ What are you talking about!/ We''re not lying!"


    I pointed to the other side of this bay, "But the real one is over that¡ª"


    Oscar cut me off, "Yeah! They''re cozy over there but we cleared this ce too! D''you think we''ll just sit on our asses waiting for your dumbass to do everything for us? C''mon, I''ll show y''all around¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Stop staring at me, alright?! Let''s get moving! Oh! Park your shit over there! AH¡ª Park the six-wheeler on that green warehouse, they''ll get it situated over there¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "I said don''t look at me like that, alright?! You think this is everyone?! Think again!"


    Just from what I''ve seen so far, aside from the people Oscar brought over, there were around 100 or so people from all walks of life who looked more able-bodiedpared to retired veterans, but it was just a little prerequisite in establishing a second base or an outpost.


    I didn''t think that they would''ve been able to progress this much given their current circumstances but I actually didn''t know what their circumstances were and I just went with my assumptions.


    But yeah, if it was me, I would be solidifying my hold on a huge-ass base first before moving on reiming a great spot to turn into an outpost but then again, other people had other ways of doing things and this was one example.


    Furthermore, I had just arrived and I should probably just observe for the moment before being that one asshole that started barking what they should''ve been doing without an actual idea of their current status.


    People could say I held the most power in mypound but this ce''s situation was a little tricky.


    Granted we gave them a huge top-off from our reserves, but they shouldn''t be bending over backwards in any of our whims ormands.


    Furthermore, they do look thankful and respectful just from the way they were looking and speaking to Oscar and Matthew, but right now, they knew jack shit about me¡ªand not to be that guy¡ªaside from bringing a few civilians like Mark and Unc Zardon, I also brought several Russian soldiers, a giantess, and a bunch of cadets/trainees who hadn''t even finished their training with me.


    They look confused as I was when I arrived but as we were about to be introduced to this other old-timer who seemed to be running the show with them, let me give a small description about the whole she-bang:


    To start off, the Subic Bay was probably an eight of the size of Man Bay but to bepletely honest, it was more beautiful and there was less garbage floating around the waters. Probably due to it being a tourist spot, the budget for maintaining its appeal to foreigners and whatnot was bigger, and then again, it was easier to clean up a much smaller area.


    There were even areas further out where a huge floating bouncy castle was set up and people could safely swim on the waters without catching any diseases.


    But to be fair to Man Bay, it epasses several cities and municipalities¡ªeven extending to a different region¡ªand trying to make it keep up with Subic Bay would just make the government bleed out cash.


    Even so, most of the me could be the people''s irresponsibility in regards to their wastes, and don''t forget about the squatter areas around Man which had thergest number of informal dwellers in the country.


    That was a story for another day¡ªand Iskoh''s problem at the current moment¡ªbut going back to Subic Bay''s topography, think of the ce we were in, the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, as one of the three coves inside a cove which was Subic Bay.


    Among the three, the Freeport Zone was the most relevant because of itsmercial value and all the facilities it could offerpared to the two¡ªwhich were simply resorts or campsites¡ªwhich the Freeport Zone also has. Furthermore, aside from the Main Harbor we were in, a few notable facilities were a yacht club, the Subic Bay International Airport, several wharves, malls, delivery hubs, etc.


    Just imagine the harbors Iskoh and I owned but put them right next to amercial area and make the view much, much~ better.

 Chapter 1067: Mitch Davis - You havent told him yet?

    Then again, the ce I wanted to be in and where I thought we would be in the first ce, the Marine Base, wasn''t in any of the coves I listed¡ªand was just part of Subic Bay, nothing less¡ªbut aside from what a naval base could offer, it was also where a shipyard and this ce''s power grid.


    It was the only thing the US owned after they gave us everything they took, but yeah, they had now taken sce in what they had left plus extra.


    And going back to our current situation, Oscar just introduced me to this man named Mitch Davis. He looked to be a few years or a decade younger than the old man but he didn''t look like he was retired but more like¡­ tired. He was of average height, caucasian, short dark blonde hair, blue eyes, cool messy beard, but with a slight favor on his left leg as he was standing.


    "Here''s the kid I was talking about First Lieutenant¡ª err~ Mitch. Whatever works¡­"


    The dude gave me a slightly surprised look as he offered a handshake, "Ah~ Pleasure to meet you. I now understand the nickname, heh."


    I returned his tight grip with a smile, "Pleasure¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª Strong grip, Jesus! I was just teasing, alright? I heard you''re working with the Colonel?"


    I chuckled as I pointed at Oscar, "This confusing-ass piece of shit?"


    Oscar had to cut in, "Woah! Woah! What''s with the sudden hostility?! We did clear the base, alright?! And you did see us where we told you to drive through."


    "Still misleading as fuck¡ª"


    Mitch chuckled, "Be gentle with the old folk, alright? It happens. Don''t even get me started with the Captain."


    "Who?"


    "Ah¡ª Captain Priest¡ª Umm, Stan D. Priest to be exact. He''s with everyone else in the Marine Base where you thought you''d being to¡­ I''ll apologize in Oscar''s stead for the confusion but we do need your help. Your old man says you''re great at that."


    "Great at what?" I replied as I nced at Oscar.


    Mitch waved his index finger around, "This¡­ This whole thing¡­ I have ns of my own but I want to see you work. We''ve only secured this Main Harbor but there''s much to be done since we just reimed this ce yesterday¡ª"


    "Excuse me, what?"


    "We¡ª We reimed this ce¡­ yesterday?"


    "Uh-huh," I answered with a fake smile as I was subconsciously letting out a murderous aura directed at Oscar.


    "Something wrong?"


    "N-Nothing¡­ Can you give me some info on what went down yesterday?"


    At that point, he asked us to talk in their office instead while I let my group help around the area. Not only would it make everyone else''s job easier, but my group could get a glean on things from their own perspective.


    And since this was a newly created outpost, there was lots of work to be donepared to the Marine base which was supposedly up and running "just fine" as Oscar and Mitch coined themselves.


    Matthew looked like he had a few things to say, but he decided to talk to his daughters first while Lois caught up with his brother, Jared.


    But yeah, as I was informed, they started their raid by closing off the bridge that would lead to this area from the big residential area we just passed through before heading straight to that other bridge where a flour mill supposedly had an ident.


    After that, they went straight for this ce, taking down anything and everything that shouldn''t be moving, and with the help of the gear Oscar gave them and the ones they uncovered from the Marine Base, they were already closing off the area, burning off the bodies, and looting all the other buildings closeby.


    They haven''t fully checked everything else in this area¡ªaside frompletely clearing it off dead people, outside the Main Harbor included¡ªand their current problem was creating a full inventory so they could go forward with much better fortification and move on with more exploration.


    "What about the Marine Base? Are there any issues on that end?"


    Mitch answered, "Well, to be honest, I''d prefer this harbor because you can just iste it¡ªlike what we''re doing with by closing off the bridges¡ªbut that ce has far more important facilities and our families are there. It does have high walls and we have people that could patrol all around but as I said earlier, I prefer this harborpared to the Marine Base.


    As long as we close off those bridges, our people could live in much nicer beds because of the beautiful hotels here instead of the bunkers that I''m very much used to."


    "How many people are there anyways?"


    "Well~ We''re around this number initially but more and more of us came at the same spot so we''re 500-ish strong, mostly. A good number of us are Marines, ex-Marines, able-bodied civilians and whatnot though we do have children and older folk we have to take care of.


    Some of them were not even rted to us but we were tasked to take care of them since most of us were still driving off the dead from our soil."


    "..."


    "I do believe that more of us will arrive in theing days because we''re sessful in setting up, but as soon as we''ve established a working system andmunity plus a good rtionship with our neighbors, some of us will go back to fight while bringing back some people¡­ depending on the circumstances."


    "What circumstances?"


    Mitch then turned to Oscar, "You haven''t told him yet?"


    "Told me what?"


    Oscar''s face was solemn as he looked at me, "I think it would be better if he hears it in person¡­"


    I had a bad feeling in my stomach, "Hear what, exactly?"


    Mitch let out a deep sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Oh man¡­ I didn''t think I''d be the one to tell you this but umm¡­ Yeah¡­ You guys had no fucking idea¡­"


    "What are you talking about?"


    "Everyone sent nukes¡ª"


    "Hold up, wait a fucking¡ª"


    "Kid. Let him finish, alright?" Oscar said with a somber tone.


    "As I was saying¡­ Everyone, the whole world, decided to send nukes to every major city or cities in the countries where we''ve lost radio contact for the past three months¡ª"


    "Wait¡ª"


    "That includes New York, Boston, San Francisco, Miami¡­ Cali, many, many more but¡ª"


    I said with a dark tone, "Mitch."


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "What about Japan?"


    The motherfucker replied without a fucking clue, "Oh, that ce? It went down early on so we sent them a few just to be sure¡ª GACKKK!"


    "KID! KID! STOP¡ª GODDAMIT, KID! LET GO OF HIM!"

 Chapter 1068: Second Lieutenant - "BREAK IT UP!"

    This shit just wasn''t right¡ª no, almost everything I heard from this son of a bitch didn''t seem right at all. The grip test, acting like everything was fine and dandy, then suddenly telling that they sent nukes all around the world so fucking casually wasn''t fucking right at all.


    He could''ve at least alluded to the fact before I slowly got the realization but the motherfucker spoke like he would squash a cockroach using a slipper on a fucking Tuesday.


    Seeing him without any remorse at all just made something snap in my head, and I just found myself pinning him to a wall, choking his fragile neck with my right hand.


    The guy was already purple when I heard the old man''s voice ringing in my ear but I suddenly tumbled sideways as I felt a huge force strike me in my torso, and the next thing I saw was this huge fucking fist about to wee my face.


    "BARTOW, STOP!/KID, DON''T DO IT!"


    All I heard was the old man''s voice ovepping with Mitch''s but there''s no fucking way I''m eating a knuckle sandwich for lunch, so I met it with my forehead before I braced my whole body. However, that fucking punch was aimed to go through my face and straight through the wall just from the force behind it so I stumbled at an angle once again though I rolled to recover.


    At this moment, I saw a buff fucking dude who was the same size as Mikhail but his hands and forearms were a tad bigger and disproportional to the rest of his body.


    But yeah, who gives a fucking fuck, because the moment he threw me a smug smile¡ªjust because he threw me over this office twice¡ªI already bridged the distance between us as I aimed to return the favor.


    It did catch him off-guard and as he tried to block my oing attack using a cross-guard preemptively, Ipletely weed the challenge as I balled my fists with my middle finger''s proximal interphngeal joint nudged forward.


    I''m sure as hell pissed to high heavens but I''m not having a contest of strength against someone who screamed arm-day everyday and "natural" testosterone.


    With a quick and surgical reverse one-two, I aimed for the specific parts of his huge forearms before I drew my right fist, twisted it in ce, and balled it the regr way before I sent it straight to his now unguarded mug in full power.


    I definitely broke his nose and he should thank me for it because it was an improvement to his current situation, but he''ll definitely curse me for what wasing because I ain''t fucking done.


    As he reeled in from the pain, I already half-stepped and cocked my left elbow to make a huge indent in his temple but the motherfucker still hadn''t realized he needed a few more seconds before the feeling in his armse back.


    He now had more openings because he was the one about toe to me, but as I switched to my right fist to disengage his jaw, I saw a very familiar tool I''d always opt for to break fights but I had no fucking way to stop mid-swing because I already switched-up.


    ''Ah, fuck¡ª''


    Right at that moment, I saw a bright sh of light before a loud boom resounded in my ear¡ªslightly concussing me, but then I felt the cold touch of metal on my wrist as I was dragged away a few feet.


    I did try to fight initially but it didn''t take long before I realized the one dragging me was the old man, but as soon as I regained my vision, I discovered that this Bartow fellow and I were both cuffed on the opposite sides of this office while each of our "superiors" were shouting our ears off.


    Mitch started, "DIDN''T I TELL YOU TO STOP?! YOU DON''T KNOW WHO YOU JUST ATTACKED!"


    "BUT SIR! HE WAS¡ª"


    "HE DOESN''T KNOW, SECOND LIEUTENANT! HE DOESN''T KNOW!"


    Oscar followed, "ARE THOSE EARS JUST FOR DECORATION, YOU LITTLE SHIT?! I WOULD''VE SHOT YOU, YOU KNOW THAT¡ª HEY! I''M RIGHT HERE YOU NUMBNUT! GIMME THAT LOCKPICKING¡ª"


    *crack*


    "HEY! PUT THAT THUMB WHERE IT SHOULD BE AND NO DISLOCATIONS FOR THE NEXT MINUTE! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?! I KNEW YOU''D ACT UP BUT THIS IS INSANE!"


    I shouted back as I put my thumb back to where it should be, "INSANE?! YOU CALL THIS INSANE?! YOU FUCKS NUKED THE WHOLE FUCKING WORLD AND YOU CALL THIS INSANE?! YOU''VE ALREADY NUKED JAPAN TWICE AND YOU DECIDED TO SEND A FEW MORE?!"


    The Bartow dude who was still bleeding through his nose bellowed back, "YOU DON''T KNOW WHAT''S HAPPENING TO THE WORLD, HUH?! YOU''VE BEEN LIVING IT EASY FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS AND YOU THINK THAT WAS AN EASY DECISION?! THE CLOTHES ON MY BACK IS THE ONLY THING I HAVE LEFT! YOU THINK WE WANTED TO BOMB EVERYONE JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT?!"


    Mitch cut in, "I''m gonna need everyone to calm down, alright¡ª"


    Bartow continued still, "WHY''D YOU EVEN CUFF ME?! HE''S THE FUCKING PROBLEM! HE''S JUST A KID! THE FUCK DOES HE KNOW?!"


    Oscar shouted back, "Trust me, he knows more than all of ya, that''s for sure¡­"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU OLD COOT¡ª"


    I had to cut in as well, "CALL THIS OLD SON OF A BITCH AN OLD COOT ONE MORE TIME¡ª"


    The motherfucking old man suddenly smacked me but I kicked his shin, "YOU FUCKING LITTLE¡ª AHHHH! YOU WANT ME TO GAS THIS PLACE?! I WILL! OH, I WILL IF YOU TWO FUCKS DON''T SETTLE DOWN! LET''S HEAR EACH OTHER FIRST ALRIGHT?! NOTHING''S GONNA HAPPEN HERE IF YOU TWO DON''T PIPE THE FUCK DOWN!


    SEE FROM EACH OTHER''S PERSPECTIVE, ALRIGHT?! THERE''S A FUCKING REASON THEY BOMBED JAPAN BUT THEY HAD TO, KID! THEY HAD TO, ALRIGHT?! THEY¡ª FUCK! THOSE THINGS¡ª Those things¡­ We really had it easy, kid¡­ Trust me¡­"


    I let out a huge and long, drawn-out sigh before I returned Oscar''s cuffs back to him, "Fine¡­ I apologize for my actions¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª Why did I even try¡­"


    I turned to Mitch and Bartow as well, "I apologize to you two as well. I''ll let you choke me Mitch, if you want¡ª"


    Mitch quickly waved me off, "N-No¡­ That''s okay, I knew you''d react but not like that though¡­ I''ll ept some kid''s clothes for my six-year-old and nine-year-old¡ª"


    Bartow cut in as he red at me, "What about me, punk? You broke my¡ª"


    "Looks better, no? I have some painkillers for the pain if you want?"


    "YOU MOTHERFUCKER¡ª MITCH! WHY AM I STILL CUFFED?!"

 Chapter 1069: George Bartow - "Lucky"

    Obviously, our little scuffle and Oscar throwing a shbang between me and Second Lieutenant George C. Bartow garnered everyone''s attention though it was a weird look from their perspective once they rushed in. It was because Mitch was wearing a hand imprint on his neck due to me choking his ass out while George was still bleeding through his nose due to my right straight.


    Granted he now had feeling back in his arms, but they had these two circr bruises that were made more apparent due to hisrge forearms.


    But yeah, to avoid another situation like this happening, we waved everyone who didn''t know off¡ªexcept for Jared and Kaley who already looked different from the information they were withholding¡ªand I took it upon myself to tell all of themter in a much, much better way to how I was informed.


    I just can''t believe that the old man and everyone else who came with him were holding such a piece of information, but at this point, who knows what and how much now?


    Even I was doubtful of Rod, our current president, because if this shit happened three fucking months ago, he should''ve at least informed me or like everyone else in this country, no one was fucking informed, including their foreign soldiers and diplomats.


    I thought I already had a lot on my collection of tes but I was a frog in a well as to what was happening beyond my realm. It fucking hurts to feel so fucking small despite the things I thought were great achievements and it just reminded me of how big the world was despite the small coincidences between people that made it seem small figuratively.


    And as Mitch divulged more and more information regarding the situation outside this country, I never felt so helpless until we went back to where we left of earlier:


    "Before that¡­ What cities were bombed in Japan?"


    Mitch looked at me with a forced smile, "Are you sure we could discuss that now?"


    "Depends, actually¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "Kid! Enough!"


    "I''m just being honest, really. Who gave them the right to¡ª"


    Bartow cut in after a short exhale from his mouth, "The UN, punk."


    "I''m not talking to you, literal mouth-breather¡ª"


    "I''LL SHOW YOU WHO''S A MOUTH-BREATHER¡ª"


    Mitch spoke out loud for the first time, "AGAIN! ENOUGH!


    The UN decided on that after the CDC discovered that one critical problem of leaving the dead by themselves¡ªespecially in countries that went down¡ªis once they were in arge enough number and started to feed on themselves, it just elerates the mutation by multiple times and God knows what abilities would it have depending on the country of origin¡­"


    Bartow followed while being slightly dismissive, "That''s why you fucks are so lucky¡­ There''s no fucking chance a mega-horde would''ve formed here due to this ce''s poption including how fast you responded and listened to the government when it started¡­"


    Oscar rolled his eyes, "Some of that statement''s true but we just did ourselves and basically sheltered some of the government''s men. The guy up there still had the power but he would''ve lost this ind group if it weren''t for us and few others¡­ Not to brag but it''s mostly due to us. And the role I specifically yed, of course. Definitely."


    Bartow looked at Oscar a certain "funny" way, "Sure, great~ job, Colonel.


    But yeah, it''s one thing to stand up for yourselves and be able to do just that but it''s totally different to be one fucking stubborn, piece of fucking shit that didn''t even know how to use guns and decide to live by themselves and/or form several groups against the government¡­ Don''t even get me started on those illegal fucks that made things way~ fucking harder¡­ I swear if I see the fucker who made those Jumpers, I would''ve¡ª"


    I cut in, "Wait, Jumpers? As in¡ª They jump like really high? What specials do you guys have?"


    Mitch answered, "You call them specials, huh? We just call them mutations but other than the ones who could easily jump¡ªwith a running start, of course¡ªfifteen to thirty feet in the air, a good number of our regr walkers are believed to be nocturnal. I believe it was already shared with the worldst year but it was a split between that and their fear of the sun."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, it was actually weird because the sun does no damage to them whatsoever¡ªyet they still tend to avoid it at all costs¡ªbut my particr mutation I tend to hate were the Screamers."


    "Ah, because they attract everyone in the immediate vicinity?"


    "That too, of course, but some of them mutated once again to be able to mimic certain voices like a cry for help or amander giving orders.


    Sometimes, they''d even echo out what they hear outright or they''d just find the most obscure hole and shout the most horrendous things and if we can''t find it, it''ll just be an all-nighter¡­ My kids couldn''t sleep when they hear their shrieks so I really hate when one appears out of nowhere and scream their lungs out¡­"


    Bartow then turned to me, "I heard you have Tanks here, you know, the big sturdy ones that could take a hit."


    "You talking about the vehicle or¡ª"


    "What are we even talking about in the first ce?! Of course, I''m talking about the¡ª You have them right?! The Colonel already told us!"


    "Then why are you asking¡ª"


    "You¡ª We met a couple that could take a .50. What''s the difference here?"


    I had to lean back after hearing that "We¡­ We met a fully-formed one that was able to take 5.56s and 7.62s but the partial Hulkers we met were taken down by our Injectors. We have faced them but not as much as you think you guys did."


    "Lucky. You said Injectors? What''s that? We just use more .50s, napalm, or acid. Don''t tell me you fucks go toe-to-toe with them?"


    "We just had to. We met our first one several dozen floors up and we didn''t even have our Injectors there¡ªit''s just an enhancement to expel gas in the wound channel, making it bigger¡ªand it took several rounds of ammo while a couple of us kept it busy."


    "Hmm¡­ You''re crazier than I thought. The first one I met flipped a tank and wiped my toon and from then on I swore I''ll try and fight it with all I got from afar¡ª"


    "Wait. How did you survive?"


    "I was in the tank."


    "Ah¡­ Lucky."


    "You did not just call me that, you lucky punk."


    "Well, what do you want me to call you, Popeye, the bloody-nosed bitch?!"


    "ALRIGHT, THAT''S IT! THIS IS ROUND TWO¡ª"


    "THEN COME AT ME AND I''LL FUCK YOU UP AGAIN!"


    "YOU WERE SO LUCKY THEY STOPPED US OR ELSE¡ª"


    "OR ELSE WHAT?! YOU WERE THE ONE THAT HAD A NOSE JOB ON THE SPOT!"


    "LUCKY SHOT!"


    "STOP CALLING ME A LUCKY FUCK OR I''LL FUCKING DO WHAT I SHOULD''VE BEFORE THEY STOPPED US¡ª"


    "HEY! HEY! HEEEEEEY! I''LL FUCKING THROW SOMETHING LETHAL THIS TIME BEFORE I STICK A CLAYMORE UP YOUR ASSES, SO SIT THE FUCK DOWN WHILE YOU STILL HAVE ''EM! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, WHAT''S UP WITH YOU TWO?!"

 Chapter 1070: [DONT.]

    Due to how vtile Bartow and I would be in close proximity, it became difficult to have a proper conversation without either of us ticking each other off for the smallest of reasons. But for some reason, we would calm down much, much~ easier if we came into blows instead of our two superiors shouting us off.


    But yeah, all those forearms wouldn''t mean shit if he can''t fucking connect because the reason he managed to connect earlier was that I wasn''t aware of his shoulder tackle¡ªpartly because I just hade to after choking Mitch¡ªand I decided to take on his fist with my forehead.


    He had more fucking bruises each time we decided that our little round was over, but he was on par with Mikhail in regards to taking hits, though in all honesty, I felt that he had a tiny bit more power. It was obvious he had the same speed problem as Mikhail but it was a trade-off for his raw power.


    In any case, I still had more questions to ask Mitch and George "Popeye" Bartow, so I did just that:


    "Before I forget, which cities in Japan were hit?"


    Mitch then answered solemnly as he realized I had family over there:


    "Yeah¡­ uhh¡­ What was it¡ª Ah¡­ It''s¡ª We sent one each in Tokyo, Yokohama, Chiba, Nagoya, Hamamatsu, and Shizuoka¡­"


    "...!" I lifted my head up to look at Mitch''s expression for a moment, "How about Sapporo, Kyoto, Osaka, and everything else? I thought you sent one in each city that¡ª"


    Bartow cut in again, "If you put in a request¡ª"


    "Bitch¡ª You would''ve been dead by now if we weren''t just using our fists! You wouldn''t even be able toe close¡ª"


    "Parry my .45 then, fucking eel! I fucking dare you!"


    "No one has fucking seen me all-out, motherfucker! And guess what?! You haven''t been able to hit my face!"


    "I DID THE FIRST TIME, YOU FUCKER!"


    "IT''S BECAUSE I LET YOU! WHAT ABOUT AFTER, HUH?!"


    "IT''S BECAUSE YOU CAN''T FIGHT HEAD-ON!"


    "IT''S BECAUSE YOU CAN''T HIT FOR SHIT!"


    "OF COURSE I''D BE SLOWER, DIPSHIT! LOOK AT OUR SIZES!"


    "I STILL PROBABLY HAVE A BIGGER COCK THAN YOU, NO-HOMO!"


    "THAT''S WHERE YOU''RE WRONG, PAL!"


    "I''M NOT YOUR PAL, BUDDY!"


    "I''M NOT YOUR BUDDY¡ª"


    Mitch and Oscar just looked so sick of it before they had to cut in again, "AGAIN! THAT''S ENOUGH!/YOU TWO FUCKS ARE SO LUCKY I DIDN''T BRING MY RUBBER LOADS WITH ME¡ª"


    Bartow and I grimaced at the same time, "HUH?!/ That''s just weird, old man¡ª"


    "What¡ª WHAT?! I MEANT THE¡ª"


    Mitch took over again as he nudged Oscar outside to scream it out, "Okay, okay¡­ To answer your question before we got derailed for the nth time, it''s because we weren''t total monsters."


    I rolled my eyes as I huffed, "Riiight¡­"


    "It is true¡­ You see, Japan''s government went down early on but remnants of the JSDF and other retired soldiers from their side¡ªincluding capable civilians stepped up and began to fight back without the proper support. Sure, it was still ugly¡ªvery¡ªon their side but they''re doing what they can."


    "Then why did you bomb them in the first ce?"


    "Haaa¡­ One, they got rid of their nuclear weapons¡­ Two, we didn''t technically bomb ''them''... We bombed the densely popted cities that were radio silent and three, bombing Nagoya was also their request. We angled it a bit to the right because they have a group in Kyoto but we basically destroyed more than five cities with a push of a button. I-If I may ask, which city is your family from?"


    I red at Mitch momentarily before I answered, "They''re out of range from the cities you bombed and that''s all I can tell you at the moment."


    "A-Alright¡ª"


    Bartow scoffed, "That''s real nice, considering we told ya everything."


    "Oh, yeah? Can you tell me who started this thing?"


    "MOTHERFUCKER HAS JOKES HUH¡ª"


    Mitch dove in before it escted once again, "That''s¡­ That''s what we are trying to figure out still. The colonel mentioned that you have clues you obtained before it even started."


    "Sure. I can hand over the files we¡ª"


    The fucking moment I nced at my phone¡ªwhich I was already used to seeing without a signal bar¡ªsuddenly connected to a randomwork before I received a message:


    [DON''T.]


    Seeing that message which probably came from na, a lot of things went through my head again before I was cut off mid-thought by Bartow:


    "The fuck are you staring at your phone for?! You know that¡ª"


    Mitch looked me straight in the eyes, "You were saying?"


    I quickly pocketed my phone and kept a straight face, mostly, "Yeah, I, uhh¡­ I can hand over the files I collected before this shit happened but we gotta do something before that."


    Bartow stood up once again, "Punk¡ª You think we''re ying games here?!"


    I waved him off, "Bitch¡ª I mean, dude¡­ It''s already 6:47 and we haven''t even had lunch yet. Can we have at least that?"


    The two were dumbfounded:


    "Ah¡ª/It''s thatte, huh?"


    Oscar rolled his eyes as he nudged me with his elbow, "If you two fucks didn''t start a fight every two seconds we would''ve been done here! It is time for dinner though¡ªa little early¡ªbut I''m itching for something you''ll make, kid."


    Mitch''s eyes suddenly lit up, "You can cook?"


    "Yeah. But am I supposed to?"


    "Please. I haven''t had a proper meal ever since¡ª Well, the colonel provided some when they arrived but I barely had a bite."


    Oscar cackled, "Heh. Trust me, you fucks haven''t 1% of this kid''s power yet. Ah, shit¡ª Do we even have an oven over here?"


    Bartow chimed in, "We could just make a fire?"


    "That''s true," Mitch followed.


    I waved them off, "No, I want to be able to regte the fire. We brought a portable stove. If we could find a gas tank to hook it up on¡ª"


    Bartow volunteered, "I know where to find a few. I''ll get on it as long as you promise me some good food."


    "Bitch. You really don''t know who you''re talking to, huh?"

 Chapter 1071: Food Talks.

    At that point, cooking for 100-plus people was no joke so while Bartow went out with a few people to find more working stoves, cooking pots, a couple of woks, and some gas tanks, I took Kaley with me and asked for some volunteers to help with preparing the ingredients.


    From the time we four were in a meeting, everyone seemed to have been well-acquainted but almost everyone from Mitch''s side was still a little wary of me.


    They probably heard a bunch of stories from my group plus my little disy of fighting with two Marines, but it was just too bizarre for them to see me work seamlessly with a knife and do it twice as fast as everyone else like I was an actual chef instead of a fighter.


    ''Jack of all trades, baby~''


    But yeah, na''s brief message was still on my mind and Kaley obviously picked up on my behavior. I fucking hate keeping secrets unless it was really that important but I didpromise with her by sharing what I found not what she sent over to me. I believe it was just fair to do just that because suddenly shutting those two out¡ªespecially Mitch¡ªwould just make me that suspicious.


    It''s just that she never sent another message after that and each time I checked my phone, Kaley would just give me this weird look.


    I looked her in the eyes as I joked, "It''s those dumb fucks again¡­"


    She never looked so confused, "What?"


    "You know, it''s asking about my car''s extended warranty¡­"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Doofus¡­"


    "Heh. You probably know why, though¡­"


    "I do¡­ Have you asked about Tatiana''s you-know-what though?"


    "Ah, fuck¡­ I''ll askter while I''m showing them some of the files I have."


    "I see¡­ Are you okay though?"


    I let out a forced smile, "Umm¡­ Not here, Kaley. Please."


    "Ah¡ª O-Okay¡­ I-I''m sorry¡­"


    "Thanks¡­"


    I may have looked like I was doing okay while I was busy preparing everyone''s dinner but it was taking everything from me to not just go ham in the residential area above us and let off some fucking steam.


    Even arge bomb or a missile was something I''d decide against because of the sheer destruction it could create but a nuke was at the top of the fucking list I wouldn''t even dare think of using unless there was really no other choice.


    Then again, these motherfuckers weren''tplete monsters or idiots as they seemed and I understand that it wasn''t on a whim or they just finally decided to get rid of their nuclear weapons for good.


    But yeah, I was still d that the people from Japan still had survivors and most importantly, Okinawa wasn''t touched whatsoever.


    It was the ind way~ south of Japan where my other family was located but for some fucking reason, they still haven''t contacted me. Granted they had their own thing to worry about but god fucking dammit I left them all manner ofmunication devices and no one could even pick it up and contact me for a couple of seconds.


    I would''ve fetched them myself if I could but the more problems I take care of, the more problems rece them.


    I''d dare say it was like trying toplete radiant quest from a game I used to y because they were fucking never-ending andpletely random.


    ''Calm down, calm down¡­''


    With that said, I needed to be in a certain state of mind so that it wouldn''t transfer over to the food, so I just gently rested my head on Kaley''s shoulder for a moment before I continued on.


    "..."


    "..."


    "Thank you¡­"


    "Pff¡­ Anytime¡­"


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we finished cutting up all the ingredients because what I decided to make was just a medley of meat and vegetables eaten over piping hot rice and a hearty soup from the meat''s bones.


    It was a meat bowl instead of simply just a beef bowl though I made sure to cook each type of meat separately first before mixing them all together with the savory-sweet sauce I made with the avable ingredients.


    The motherfuckers were already drooling from the smell wafting in their direction, but the food''s gotta cook and I wouldn''t offer free taste tests because we''d just run out of everything before we had to eat.


    But yeah, the hardest part we had to ovee was having everyone fall in line because I just had to slow-cook the meat, furthering their suffering just by a little bit more. A fight almost urred but I then decided to call each of them, one-by-one, by their names, which creeped the fuck out of everybody present.


    I did in an hour what my "guards" back home were supposed to do in a matter of days, and it didn''t take long before ordered everyone to dig in.


    "FINALLY¡ª WHAT THE FUCK?! THIS IS SO GOODMMMHH!!!"


    "THIS ISN''T HEAVEN, RIGHT?! SOMEBODY PINCH ME¡ª I SAID ME! NOT MY FOOD! HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!"


    "I''m so fucking d we sailed here¡­"


    "Me too, bro¡­ Me too¡­"


    "ARE YOU CRYING?!"


    "WHY DO YOU FUCKING CARE?! I''M JUST HAPPY IS ALL!"


    These motherfuckers didn''t know I had a hidden trump card:


    "EVERYBODY CAN COME BACK FOR SECONDS! YOU CAN COME BACK FOR SECONDS! ONE BOWL EACH, ALRIGHT?! ONE BOWL¡ª"


    "BROOOOO! I''LL FOLLOW YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH!"


    "HEY! YOUR BOWL JUST HALF-FINISHED! FINISH IT FIRST!"


    "WHAT IF WE RAN OUT?! LOOK AT THAT RUSSIAN CHICK! SHE''S ON HER FOURTH BOWL!"


    "THAT BUFF CHICK''S ON HER FOURTH TOO!"


    "WHAT?! WHY ARE THEY GETTING SPECIAL TREATMENT¡ª"


    "DUMBASS! WE''RE THE ONES GETTING SPECIAL TREATMENT! CAN''T YOU SEE THIS FOOD WE''RE EATING?!"


    "YEAH! JUST BE THANKFUL! THEY''RE ALSO PART OF HIS CREW SO IT DOESN''T MATTER!"


    "You guys saw that he wiped the floor with Bartow, right?!"


    "Yeah, shit''s insane!"


    Then I cut off their ramblings with my coup de grace:


    "ALRIGHT! IF YOU GUYS FINISHED YOUR FOOD, WASHED THEM IN THAT SPOT, AND STACKED THEM IN THIS TABLE, YOU GET AN ICED-COLD BEER¡ª"


    "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"


    "WE''RE REALLY DEAD, AREN''T WE?!"


    "SHUT UP! I CAN''T DECIDE BETWEEN EATING MORE OR GETTING THAT BEER!"

 Chapter 1072: Talking with Kaley and Ilana

    Seeing everyone chomp down or straight-up inhale their food even if their tongues were getting burned in the process, would usually put a smile on my face, but I really just needed a moment to process everything that had happened. I asked Megan and Alexa to make sure everyone was well taken care of and only a bottle of beer for each person before I found an obscure corner and sat by myself.


    I did bring my bowl and bottle of ice-cold beer with me because I am hungry and I just found Kaley peeking at me from the corner.


    "Pfft¡­ Please don''t be like Cynthia¡­ You know I can see you, right?"


    "C-Can Ie over? So you know, we can eat together?"


    "Why would you need permission?"


    "You know, everyone needs their space and¡ª"


    "Not with you,e here. I''ll hold that¡ª you got it, you got it~"


    At this point, Kaley and I were sitting on this freezer of sorts covered by a thick tarp and she already took a few bites before me. It didn''t take long before she noticed I wasn''t touching my food even if my stomach was already making audible noises, but she took it upon herself to feed me a certain way.


    "Herees the airne~"


    "..."


    "This airne wouldn''t stop until you open that mouth~"


    "..."


    "Don''t make me bring out a speculum¡ª There we go~ Pfft¡­"


    I was chewing on my food as I red at her jokingly, "Awfhole(Asshole)."


    "Don''t talk with your mouth full, alright?"


    "One more."


    "Hmm?"


    "Ahh~ One more, I already swallowed it."


    "Ah¡ª Oh! Wait¡ª"


    "Give me some more rice, the ratio''s¡ª"


    "Okay, okay! Wait a second alright?! I''m not feeding you the whole way¡ª"


    I then turned the tables against her, "Open wide~"


    "You¡ª That''s a whole-ass cow! I ain''t putting that in my mouth!"


    "You''ve taken much bigger, open up~"


    Kaley briefly red at me from the sidement, "Don''t y with our food!"


    "You started it! Open wide~"


    "F-Fine~ *chomp* Mmh! It''s the best bite! The juices¡ª Wow, wow, wow!"


    "See?"


    "Thank you! Open up, check this bite if this is what you like."


    "Okay¡ª Mmh! Yep, that''s the¡ª hey! I''m still chewing! Stop! STOP!"


    "Hahaha! I miss your chubby cheeks! You look really cute like that!"


    "No, I''m not!"


    "Yes, you do! Please! Have one more bite!"


    "Kaley¡ª Fine¡­ Ahhh¡­"


    "There we go~ Pfft¡­"


    For a good moment, Kaley and I fed each other with our bowls of food before we shared our beer together. To my surprise, both of us actually took the vored ones because the people here would definitely avoid them like the gue but ultimately, there was more for us and plenty to go around.


    I was really nning to mope around for a good while before acting like it was nothing, but ever since I''ve been with Kaley, it was totally different.


    She knew that I wasn''t okay and she tried to cheer me up but even so, she still listened to what I had to say regarding the whole situation.


    People would sometimes end the interaction when the person had slightly forgotten about what was bothering them but cheering me up earlier was just her way of softening the blow or something along those lines when I had to talk about how everything I did from this point on felt insignificantpared to the whole picture.


    "Hmm~ You might be right but you did save me too. I''m¡­ I''m important to you, right?"


    "Well¡ª If you put it like that¡ª Of course, you''re important to me but why weren''t we informed that this happened three fucking months ago? They should''ve at least¡ª Haa¡­ This shit just makes me mad¡­"


    "What can we do though? I hate to say this but would there be any difference? We can only do so much, right?"


    "I know¡ª Ha¡­ Trust me, Kaley¡ª I''m mad that we weren''t told but I''m also mad that I''m this powerless¡­ I should''ve done something, ANYTHING, at least¡­ Were they given enough time to evacuate at least? What happened after the st? Why''s no one fucking telling us anything?! And what happens now?! Shit''s just so fucked up¡­ Man¡­ I''d like to have a pause button or something¡­"


    "C''mon, ce your head over here¡­ It''ll calm you down¡­"


    "Seriously? Ap-pillow?"


    "You can''t rest your head on my chest rig, can you?! Besides, no taking them off until we''re in a secure spot, right?" Kaley started to push my head down herp in a weird particr way I wouldn''t dare to borate more on.


    Though I did give in as Iid my head on herp and gotfortable, "I-I didn''t say no¡­ Ah¡­ You''re right, you''re right¡­ This really feels nice¡­"


    "See? You¡ª Stop sniffing my crotch! A-At least not here¡­ It''s kinda dirty¡­ The tarp I mean¡­ Since you know, it''s a little dusty¡­"


    "Heh¡­ Wouldn''t stop me¡­"


    Kaley then lightly pinched me, "Oh, I''ll stop you alright. We''ve done it in a public bathroom but not here¡­ Besides, you still have something to do, right?"


    "Yeah, I''m just teasin'' for the moment¡­ Sorry¡­"


    "Doofus¡­ Just enjoy the quiet before everyone''s done¡­"


    "Yeah¡­ I love you¡­"


    "Love you too, doofus¡­ Pff¡­"


    "Hah¡­ We should really do this more often¡­"


    "My turn next time¡­"


    "My thighs are not as soft¡ª"


    "I''ve taken in something much harder¡ª"


    "Hah! Dammit, that got me¡­"


    "Hehe¡­ Pfft¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "So¡­"


    At this moment, I was lying my head on Kaley''sp as she was stroking my hair gently and we talked a lot more until everyone finished up. The amount of favorability I received from everyone else just because of the food I prepared for them¡ªmostly the beer, which was 99% more likely¡ªwas fucking enormous, and even Bartow gave me an upwards nod when we met eyes once Kaley and I joined everyone.


    Once the time came and we were back to the same office Bartow and I trashed, I already had a prepared thumb drive for Mitch''s use instead of him sticking his USB stick to where it shouldn''t belong.


    It was a little preemptive move I thought of as I fetched myptop from my pack and at that moment, na and I had a "short" conversation that ticked me off but went like this:


    [Good.]


    I said out loud, "Can''t you be more borate on that?"


    [Busy.]


    "Is there something up with them or something?"


    [Not sure.]


    "Then why the warning earlier?"


    [Because.]


    "You''re back to single-word replies, huh?"


    [Yeah.]


    "Did you know about the nukes?"


    [...]


    "It''s a yes or no question, na¡­"


    [Kaley.]


    "Hmm? What about her?"


    [What she said.]


    "You''re not answering my question still¡­"


    [...]


    "I just need to know¡­"


    [Would you hate me?]


    "Bitch. You''re snooping on me 24/7, probably heard us fuck every single day, and you''re asking me if I''d be mad at you?"


    [Would you though?]


    "Yes! Of course! I''m not a saint, alright? But who wouldn''t?!"


    [Fair.]


    "It''s just¡­ I''m not mad now¡­ I''m okay, for the most part."


    [That''s good to hear.]


    "Uh-huh."


    [I do know¡­ About that¡­]


    "See? Wasn''t that easy to type?"


    [Fuck you! Wasn''t easy to keep it all in at the time.]


    "Should''ve told me. And congrats, you''ve evolved from a word per minute!"


    [ASSHOLE! I COULD TYPE MUCH FASTER THAN ANY OF YOU AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT TOOK TO KEEP IT TO MYSELF! EVERYONE DOESN''T NEED TO KNOW THIS TYPE OF INFORMATION! IT''LL JUST BREAK THEM! IT ALMOST BROKE ME FOR FUCK''S SAKE!]


    "You didn''t tell your bodyguards, huh?"


    [Ass. They can''t take it.]


    "You''re assuming things again. What if they can?"


    [You took it far better than I thought but then again, how would knowing help our current situation? It''s just more stress.]


    "So you''re saying that ignorance is bliss?"


    [Isn''t it?]


    "Eh. There''s two sides to that."


    [Yet now you''re dying to know more about what everyone''s been keeping from you.]


    "What do you mean? It''s not like I could just extract information forcibly, there''s a way we do things over here¡ª"


    [I don''t just listen to you, you know? Well¡ª I don''t have enough memory to store everyone''s conversations but I do keep a text file after running them through a voice-to-text program. It''s just a pain to go through them even if I filter them to certain keywords and such. Your life''s just interesting so I''m almost always tuned in to you.


    I have something to look forward to every night too¡­ since you''ve brought that topic up¡­]


    "It''d be better if you delete that."


    [See? What a fucking hypocrite. Sometimes, it''s better for not everyone to know everything. What did Frodo say?]


    "Don''t use that against me."


    [What did he say, Mr. Nerd in the Apocalypse?]


    "Fine. Keep your secrets!"


    [There we go~ See what I mean now? Did you have to know that bit of info or not? There''s a reason a little bit of secret-keeping or censorship could keep the world from plunging into chaos. Right. Wanna know if Mrs. Lopez¡ª I mean, Mrs.


    Nichols was really Chloe''s mother or not? I know.]


    "What. the. fuck. have. you. been.


    doing. with. all. your. free. time?!"


    [Wanna know or not?]


    "Doesn''t matter."


    [You''ll fuck ''em anyway, right? Looking forward to that.]


    "I''ll fuck you too when I have the chance."


    [Yes, please! I''m looking forward to that too. Honestly, missed my chancest time.]


    "Is that so?"


    [Pfft¡­ I''ll drop by soon enough but there''s a lot of responsibility to the power I hold, you know? Ites with a lot of stress but it does feed my curiosity. Wanna share the burden?]


    "No."


    [Are you sure?]


    "Not unless I really have to."


    [Heh. That''s good enough. See you soon?]

 Chapter 1073: The Common Cold

    As we put that other conversation off and get back to reality, Mitch was in the process of copying the files in my thumb drive into hisptop¡ªeven though I told him to keep it¡ªbut he started ying the short clips¡ªthat had finished transferring besides therger files¡ªI yed for everyone else from the first meeting I had with my group.


    The two thought I had definite proof from the digging I did even before it started but all of those were simply clues or allusions that could somehow corrte to what we were currently experiencing.


    "What are some of those images?" Bartow asked.


    "Some random newspaper clippings and the like that somehow alludes to the same thing."


    "That doesn''t help us much either¡­"


    Mitch nodded, "Aside from knowing it''s just as unravble as it''s confusing. It''s either we are against a super genius who was able to make different strands in one lifetime to cause chaos or a veryrge group doing pretty much the same thing."


    I chimed in, "It''s either of the two really but we could also say that it could just be one simple thing at first before it turned to what we''re facing right now."


    "What do you mean?"


    "I''m not a scientist, okay? I only have the basics down but take a cold for example, the moment we gain resistance to that particr strand, the only way we''d get a cold again is from a different strand but causing the same experience.


    Well¡ª there are some cases were you could reinfect yourself with the same cold¡ªthough it is very hard¡ªthe ''easy'' way to do it is having an immune system low enough for the antibodies we have for that particr cold to not kick in or lose its effect."


    Bartow was already smoking but Mitch was looking at me solemnly before he opened his mouth:


    "I do understand that but what does that have to do with this?"


    "Ah¡ª I''m still getting on it but are you also familiar with coinfection?"


    "In regards to colds?"


    "Yes."


    "I do. It means having two strands of different colds affecting us at the same time¡ª Are you talking about the mutations?"


    I nodded, "Something along those lines but building on that, there''s at least 100 different strands of the cold virus¡ªmaybe even more¡ªbecause it just changes and changes into different strands depending on its environment for example¡ª"


    Bartow cut in, "Wait. So, what we''re facing''s a fucking cold?!"


    Oscar, Mitch, and I answered at the same time, "No."


    "Then¡ª"


    Oscar chuckled, "We''re just talking about viruses in general and how they behave a certain way. We''re just on the topic of colds at the moment. It''s not the virus per se but there are certain aspects of it that we could corrte but not determine the actual causation of what happened here."


    I continued, "As I was saying, viruses could just evolve on their own when they replicate and have these errors as they say but it could also happen when they jump or cross to different species, making it a jumbled mess. There are limits, sure, but my guess right now is that it used to be this one thing that was let out many, many years ago andid dormant untilst year."


    Bartow''s eyes just went wide, "Hold up, hold up, hold up! Is that why I heard some say that we''re all infected?!"


    "Not 100% sure but that''s the premise we''re on. Unless someone actually isted themself from the world¡ªno, nature could''ve been contaminated as well¡­ This is really confusing, we''re trying to find the single connection among an unlimited number of possibilities as to what caused this thing.


    Finding it out by elimination would work but how long and how lucky could we be before we arrive at the right answer? Are we even alive by then?"


    "Why are we trying to find the cause again?"


    "Well, if we could figure out how it''s made, we could figure out how it''s cured. People do it on the daily without their notice, but in our case, taking them out by means of violence always works but it''s like a catch-all without solving the actual problem. It does help it in some way but that doesn''t mean that it''s done. At the end of the day, we just know how to kill it, not the way it works."


    "Is that a bad thing?"


    "Of course. If we know how it actually works, it opens the whole to almost the same number of possibilities. It''s gonna sound sci-fi-ish right now but imagine if we couldmand a horde with one look or¡ª"


    "Flip a tank like it''s nothing!"


    I chuckled, "That''s right. Or not even needing to sleep¡ª"


    Then Oscar interjected, "Or be immortal."


    Mitch looked a little taken aback, "That''s¡­ That''s promising actually, I would''ve loved to see my kids grow."


    I got taken aback as well from his statement, "You¡­ You will, right? You don''t look that old."


    "Hah! I mean¡­ You know, I''d like to see them grow up and have families of their own and see their families grow up and on and on¡­ I''ll jump on that chance the first time itnds on myp."


    "Eh. I would''ve loved that too so I could see the endings of the things I used to binge before the world ended but yeah, that sounds actually good too. I''d want an off switch though."


    Bartow''s ears perked, "Off-switch? What''s the point?"


    "Are you sure you wanna have this kind of conversation now?"


    "Fuck it, at least I could understand some of it now since we''re in fantasynd!"


    "Hah! Depends on the type of immortality. Do just not get even older or do we move bodies? Are we just moving our consciousness around or could we store them in a thumb drive like this? What if we lost an arm? Can we grow it back or better yet¡ª what if we''re just a head and got thrown at the bottom of the sea?


    Are we just stuck there forever?"


    "Alright, stop! Stop! Stop! You''re making me even more confused! One at a time, alright?!"

 Chapter 1074: Back-end Stuff - SHOWER!

    After that little detour from our conversation, I gave them theplete breakdown of what I uncovered and thought of¡ªexcluding the ones na handed me, of course¡ªbefore we went on about what we''d have to do in this harbor.


    And as a side note: the Marine Base across the bay was definitely much, muchrger than the Main Harbor but if we close off the rest of the facilities in this area by blocking off the three bridges avable, it''d be at least four times the size of the Marine Base they were upying.


    "Alright, securing a small perimeter is key in almost all of the situations but securing those three bridges and leaving us with a bigger outpostpared to your main HQ would be the way to go. Kinda confusing but it''s easier to hold those three points in the long run since you mentioned that there would be more peopleing.


    I''d suggest just moving everyone in this ce but the Marine Base has facilities we can''t just pass up on."


    Mitch nodded as he was looking at the map I drew, "I agree with all those points, and then what?"


    "Then~ Right. We''re gonna need a full inventory of not just the Marine Base but everyone thing else in this section of the Freeport Zone we''ll upy before we make more adjustments or improvements and there has to be someone or a group of people keeping everything in check.


    Everything thates in and out up to a single grain of rice should be recorded¡ªI know it''s tedious¡ªbut someone has to do that job to avoid future problems."


    Bartow suggested someone not here, "Hey! y and Marge can do those types of stuff, right? Maybe Janice or Maine too so we should call one or two of them over."


    Mitch nodded pensively, "Yeah¡ª y''s probably already doing that in the Marine Base so maybe Marge and Janice then? We have more stuff to go through over here."


    "Eh, bring Maine too so it''ll be easier¡ª"


    I cut in, "I do have a temte of what we''re using back home and I could just show them how to do it¡ªmaybe evenpare notes to what you have currently so you can decide on how you do things?"


    Oscar followed, "They''re better off using your thing, kid. Trust me."


    Mitch embarrassedly scratched the back of his head, "May I see it?"


    I chuckled as I pointed at one of the folders titled "Misc." from the files I sent over to him, "It''s over there. I included some other stuff in case you might need it. It even has someic books or coloring books for kids though you might want to acquire a printer and some crayons first."


    "This¡­ This is more than thinking ahead¡­"


    "It''s basically the same thing, heh."


    "Sure, but still a step higher and a little creepy, no offense."


    I chuckled, "None taken."


    Bartow shook his head, "Nah, who was that brat again? Angelica? She''ll love that."


    Mitch''s eyes smiled(?) as he chuckled, "That is true. Alright, what''s next on that list of yours?"


    I pondered for a bit, "There''s no actual list but since we already have basic security in ce for our territory, we still got to eat, right?"


    "Of course."


    "And we can''t just keep giving you stuff but we can teach you not just to fish but to farm as well."


    Bartow cut in, "Ain''t no way we''re growing anything in solid concrete, boy."


    "Hydroponics is one solution but if you wanna go with the ssic way of farming, we can do it over the surrounding area of the Marine Base instead. You might have to put up more fences and spread out security but it would be able to let you nt some crops and have animals running around.


    Cows and chickens would feel much, much better on soil, and it''ll save you some feed if they could graze or find some worms on it. It''s a small trade-off but those cows'' hooves will also thank you for it too."


    "Hmm¡­ We could assign some people for that."


    I continued, "But yeah, we did bring some fruiting bags and those box thingies where you could have a vertical farm of potatoes and we''d be more than happy to tell you how it works but it''s also included in the files I sent over."


    "At this point, I''m already out of things to say, really¡­"


    "We''re not yet done though¡­"


    "Heh¡­ Cool¡­ Lay it on me¡­"


    "Alright, I know we''re living at the end of the world right now but that doesn''t mean we have to live like savages. This one things ismonly forgotten in this type of situation but aside from everyone else appreciating for everyone else doing it, it also protects us from getting sick from the¡ªjust an example: amon cold or even diarrhea."


    "And¡­ And what is that thing?"


    "I''m not talking about any specific person in the room or anyone else in this ce but I''m just gonna be blunt and tell you fucks that some of you need to learn to regrly wash their hands, brush their teeth, and shower.


    I''m very familiar with the smell of a rude armpit since I have businesses in a public market but for the love of god and all things fucking holy, we shouldn''tpete with the smell of rot and decay outside. It''s not a way to live, okay?"


    Bartow suddenly got offended, "YOU TALKING ABOUT ME, YOU PUNK?!"


    "At least you can fucking smell yourself. There are people I''ve known throughout my life who can''t even tell the difference between the smell of nice candles and their stench. We can still fix you," then I turned to Mitch, "You''re good though."


    "Thanks, I guess?"


    Oscar followed, "How about me?"


    "You don''t have that old man smell yet, old man. It''s either you smell like gunpowder or straight-up whiskey. No fucking in between."


    "AM I GETTING SINGLED OUT HERE?!"


    The three of us said at the same time, "YES! TAKE A FUCKING SHOWER!"


    "FUCK ALL OF YOU, I''M OUT!"


    "If that''s to take a shower, then go right ahead!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 1075: Theory & Application

    As we ended our meeting, we still had a few more hours before midnight and since this whole section of the Freeport Zone was blocked off, I decided to bring Kaley and a few others to this long-ass pier that looked more like a concrete driveway¡ªwhich was only a block or two away from the Main Harbor¡ªand parked the Raptor by the edge.


    To their surprise, even though some form of lodging was prepared for us, I decided to set up a couple of tents and a small campfire in this area instead.


    This pier wasn''t anything great or something besides the "Mabuhay and Wee to Subic Bay!" signage painted at the road itself to wee touristsing via boat or a ship, but what I was actually after was the privacy of being away from everyone else.


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "Why two tents instead of one? We can fit in one just fine, right? It''s trouble setting them up like that¡­"


    "Now you''re just sounding like my guards back home¡­"


    "That''s different! We''re just boning here while everyone else''s lives matter on their side!"


    Tatiana chimed in, "It''s probably just in case we break the first one¡­"


    Quinn cackled, "Hah! I love the sound of that, is that a challenge?!"


    I almost made the two set theirforters in the truckbed of my Raptor instead, "Please don''t destroy our belongings¡­"


    Then Megan nudged me from the side while Alexa was trying to shield the mes from the strong breeze that just blew:


    "Hey¡­"


    "Yeah?"


    "I¡­ I wanna say something to you¡­"


    "O¡­ Okay? Tell me."


    Megan looked away for a moment before she turned back with a genuine smile, "You''re awesome!"


    I was a little taken aback not from the statement because I''m not used to takingpliments out of the blue:


    "O-Okay? Thank you."


    Megan chuckled, "Yeah."


    "Is¡­ Is that all? You''re cool too if that matters¡­"


    "I know!" she said with a snap as she cutely moved her lips, "I just wanted to say that."


    Quinn quipped from the Raptor, "If you just wanna get dicked down, just say so. He''ll oblige either way¡ª"


    Megan shook her head as she turned to Quinn, "It''s not about that, alright?!"


    "That''s called catching feelings, sweety~"


    "No, it''s not! It''s¡­ It''splicated b-but I know how it is too! Don''t make it that weird~"


    "Hah! Don''t get so defensive, it''s pretty normal. He provides you with everything you need, makes you cum several times, cums on AND in you several times, what more can you ask for?"


    Kaley joined in, "Isn''t that already ''everything''? Why add those two again?"


    "Because! It''s as Megan said, it''splicated. Not in the literal sense because it''s just sex plus extra and lessplicated than feelings."


    Alexa joined in as well, "Would it be weird though?"


    "Weird what?"


    "You know¡­ I still have feelings for Seb and we''re taking it real slow while I''m here and you know¡­"


    I answered, "Very."


    "Ah¡ª"


    Kaley cut in before Alexa spun it differently from what I meant, "It''s weird in the ''normal'' way but our situation *pointing at me and herself* is weird too. You have romantic needs Seb provides while we provide the primal one. It''s very unconventional, sure, but aren''t all the parties involved okay with it? I think that at the end of the day, that''s what matters most."


    Alexa pondered for a bit, "But what if he''s just putting up with it just to be with me? I-Isn''t that emascting to him in a sense?"


    Kaley replied, "Hmm~ That''s the question that you should be asking him, not us. But if what you''re saying is true, it''s already breaking one of our rules so you should decide whether you want to continue whatever it is you''re doing with him or us for that matter. In turn, he could also decide for himself whether he wants to continue what he''s doing for you or find love somewhere else.


    You gotta have that honest conversation with him once again to clear your doubts or else that''s just gonna stew and lead to problems. We can all have a talk if you want since we''re involved, but this is a more you type of situation¡­"


    "Hmm¡­ Thank you¡­"


    "Just remember that it doesn''t always work out but I think it''s much better than trying to pretend that it is even though it''s not¡­ That will just get to the point that it''s unhealthy and toxic and if you think about it, it''s just a dyed result of the inevitable of that rtionship not working out¡­"


    Megan chimed in, "Kaley¡­ Umm¡­ Have you been in a lot of rtionships? Not to throw shade or anything but you seem very knowledgeable about this thing¡­"


    Kaley answered, "Yeah. The advice I''m giving you is from past experiences and from what my mom advised me on because I did have this ''phase'' where I just give about everything plus more just to please my current partner. It came to the point where I put up with everything without considering myself and it just resulted in the word I didn''t want the twins to use from that other conversation¡­"


    "B-Being damaged¡ª That one?"


    "Yeah. You can say it, don''t worry. I just don''t want those words pointed at any of us. It might''ve been true for me at one point in my life but that''s not something anyone should be referred to no matter what it is."


    I cut in, "Alright, if any of you makes Kaley look like that a second time, you''ll have a fate worse than death¡ª Ow! Kaley!"


    "I said it''s okay, alright? We''re just talking here¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Quinn couldn''t bear the quiet as she nudged me, "How about you?"


    "How about me what? Ah¡ª NGSB(No Girlfriend Since Birth)before I met Kaleyst year but I did have some experiences that almost came to that."


    "Ah~ Kinda the same thing with me and Mike."


    Tatiana finally chimed in, "No one''s gonna ask me, huh?"


    I rolled my eyes, "When did you learn to sulk?"


    Tatiana looked at me weirdly, "Huh? I already told you, right? When I was a kid, I was sold for¡ª"


    I cut her off, "No! Not that! I mean sulk! Like S-U-L-K sulk! But do add to the conversation if you please."


    "Pfft¡­ Yeah¡­ It''s pretty casual and sometimes freaky for me but for the ones who don''t know, it''s a littleplicated too."


    Megan and Alexa said at the same time, "We wanna know!/ We have the time!"


    Quinn interjected, "Maybe a bit of time, not a whole lot," then she turned to me, "We''re still fucking after this sappy shit, right?!"


    With that said, we spent a better part of an hour sharing precious parts of our lives though Megan and Alexa''s love life was pretty normal in a sense before they got tangled with Seb and JP. It''s just that the big surprise for them was that Alexa lost her "frontal" virginity much earlier than Megan even though she was the one who looked prudish than Megan who was a little out there.


    But yeah, everyone else couldn''t stop asking me questions about my first time with my older "sister", Aoi, the moment we talked about each other''s firsts.


    "Really?! In ten seconds you¡ª"


    "It''s my first time, alright?!"


    "Still¡­ I couldn''t believe that could happen to you, of all people¡ª"


    "I''ll do it to you, if you want¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª Don''t¡ª I mean¡­ It''d be kinda hot if you cum that fast with me¡­"


    "Wait! Then how did you two do it for hours if y-you know¡­"


    "If his dick''s already out?"


    "Yeah! That!"


    "Well¨C It''s not like I can''t do other stuff?


    At that time, I just don''t have the actual experience but I have a lot of knowledge regarding that other than porn¡­ She''ll definitely kill me if she heard me say this but she''s probably the hardest person I''ve made to orgasm¡­ I do know her ins and outs now though but the first time and those other times that followed took a few hours¡­ Probably one other reason for my increased stamina¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "And we owe her big time for that, pfft¡­ It''s always funny to me when I hear this story¡­"


    Alexa was still curious, "B-But why did it really take her that long though? Was she that nervous or something else?"


    "Hmm~ I''m not entirely sure¡ªmaybe a little bit along those lines¡ªbut to take the magic out, there''s a bit of a physiological issue at hand. She''s really gonna kill me for this¡ª"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "No, she won''t¡ª"


    "Yeah, she will. She almost seeded multiple times but in different circumstances¡­ But yeah, I''ve said that she''s a little ''withdrawn'' before but it''s because her nipples are inverted and she had a rather big clitoral hood over another hood inside her innie."


    Kaley added, "Imagine something like mine but there''s this bigger p of skin that covers it and once you uncover it, there''s another. A ''double-hood'' type of situation."


    Tatiana quipped, "Why are we suddenly having a biology ss?"


    Quinn added, "Can we get to the part where we''re shown a sex video like the poor students we are? I''m more of a visual learner, you know?"


    Kaley waved them off with a chuckle, "This is important stuff, alright? Everyone has different shapes and sizes but the most important way to do to get to a release is to experiment. Safely, of course, and within reason. It''s about finding what works best with you.


    The best way to do just that is to do it by yourself then if you ever had a partner with you, you just need tomunicate what needed to be done and then go from there¡­"


    Megan and Alexa nodded pensively, "Hmm¡­/ That makes sense¡ª"


    "But if you already have a partner and you''re both inexperienced, you can still follow my advice but you can also experiment by yourselves andmunicate while you''re doing it and after¡ªsometimes even before but it really depends on the individual and the couples doing it at the end."


    Megan raised her hand, "C-Can we ask more questions?"


    "Ask away~"


    "Umm¡­ I-I''ve seen you orgasm m-many times not just from o-our vag or our backdoor¡ªusually from getting your nipples touched or even just a straight-up kiss¡ªs-so how do you do that?"


    Alexa nodded, "I was gonna ask that too."


    "Oh! Umm~ I''m a little more sensitive than others but you gotta ask him how he could do that to me too. I''m still learning things about my body through him¡­ It''s a very pleasant experience¡­"


    "Oh¡­"


    "That''s¡­ That''s so¡­ Yeah¡­"


    Then Quinn finally had enough as she suddenly took off her pants and spread her legs while inside one of our tents:


    "Alright, let''s do an ''experiment''¡­ Use all that knowledge for this practical!"

 Chapter 1076: Throat Goats - You love pits, right?

    To our surprise¡ªno, it was still a surprise but not as much, Quinn''s crotch area, especially her firm pinkish folds between her meaty cunt was already dripping with her lubricating juices while her little asshole was already inviting us to dig in.


    To be fair, I was also partially aroused from hearing everyone''s experiences among other things we talked about, so we just got on it though from actual experience, Quinn''s other sensitive part was her mouth.


    She was already anticipating to get her pussy eaten and as Alexa got on all fours andpped up her cunt, I moved right behind Quinn before I pulled my pants off and nestled my cock over her face.


    "Mnh¡­ You really know me, huh?" Quinn said as she gave my shaft a little kiss.


    "The you I know would''ve already gone to position and had me reach your throat."


    "What if I want you to do it for me?"


    "Very well¡­"


    With that said, as Quinn was still leaning on her hands behind her, I slowlyid her on her back¡ªas Alexa continued to ''figure out'' Quinn''s pussy because Quinn would almost always just sit on anyone''s face¡ªbefore I basically ''sat'' on Quinn''s face as I pushed my huge cock inside her mouth.


    From the first few tries, she was using her tongue to cover me with her saliva but it didn''t take long before I began pushing deeper and deeper until my balls made contact with her upper lips and her nose.


    "MnNh¡­ Hck¡ª Gac¡ª Gawkc¡ª MmH! AgchkK! AcggGhH!"


    But yeah, as I looked past Alexa and the tent we were in, I saw Kaley went in the other one with Megan and Tatiana.


    I would''ve preferred if they also joined us but it was already a little cramped with the three of us and Quinn''s huge fucking boobs were in front of me and were getting neglected.


    Without further ado, I started kneading them with each handful I could grab as I slowly increased how hard I''d pinch her puffy nipples while Megan started to use her fingers to find Quinn''s G-Spot as she was sucking and licking Quinn''s erged clit.


    As everything was happening, I made sure to make Quinn struggle for air a little bit before I gave her a small window to take in as much air as she could before the cock went back in her fucking throat.


    It was something I discovered way~ back when I reversed our roles for the first time and I haven''t had the chance to perform erotic asphyxiation on her that much until now.


    But yeah, even though it was muddying how Alexa was trying to learn Quinn''s body, our goal for today was still to get everyone off, and it didn''t take long before she squirted on Alexa''s face.


    It happened right when I was just about to give her some air but even while her body was having the tremors, Quinn used her thick legs to wrap it around Alexa''s neck and force her to drink and swallow everything while proceeding to rub her cunt on her face.


    "HNGH! GGH! UGH! AGH! MMM¡ª MMH!"


    I could barely understand what wasing out of Quinn''s muffled moans because I was still busy fucking her throat but both of them seemed to bemunicating with their bodies and the premise was that Alexa shouldn''t stop from the first one.


    And on that note, I began to thrust even harder as I made her struggle for air longer¡ªall the while I was squeezing her breasts with a little more violence¡ªand it just brought Quinn to the edge in record time as she almost choked Alexa to death as her whole body shook.


    At the same time, I began pumping her mouth with my cum but as we began to have some spillover, I pulled out and sprayed the rest onto her big fat tits and some on Alexa''s face to give everyone a little breather.


    It''s just that as I got off Quinn and as Quinn finally let go of Alexa, Alexa just had this zed expression before she slowly crawled on top of Quinn''s body¡ªwhile eating and licking off all the cum Quinn wasn''t able to take in¡ªbefore the two traded spit and semen right in front of me.


    I would''ve started moving to where their wet little holes were but Alexa wanted topletely clean me off as she turned to me and then to my cock still dripping with my cum.


    "By all means¡­"


    At this point, Alexa and Quinn''s bodies were just pressed against each other while they were licking and sucking off my thick shaft like a lollipop, but I could already hear violent moans from the other tent.


    It didn''t take long before the twopletely cleaned themselves and me up with my white stuff, but Alexa wanted to get her throat resized to my girth while Quinn was already prodding her ass with her fingers.


    "Just grab my wrists if you want me to stop, alright?"


    "Yeah¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ A-And don''t even dare stop until I r-really grabbed you¡­"


    Quinn let out a chuckle, "Don''t regret thatter, okay? You have no idea¡ª"


    "I-I can do it!"


    Quinn then turned to me with a sinister smile, "The bitch wanted to get her throat fucked, so don''t fucking stop until it''s bruised and she can''t talk straight tomorrow, got it?!"


    Despite what Quinn said, Alexa looked like she really wanted to get manhandled and I just grabbed her head and got a good grip with clumps of her hair before I jammed my whole length in without letting her ease onto it.


    And right from the get-go, Alexa''s gag reflex was kicking in but she held her fucking ground and bore with it even though tears started to run down her face. Obviously, I started to slow down from seeing that but Alexa fucking meant what she meant because she threw me this fucking vicious re when she noticed I slightly let up.


    "Just fuck the bitch''s throat, alright?" Quinn let out a chuckle as she sent a resounding p onto Alexa''s bubble butt.


    "MMMH!"


    At that point, I was basically fucking Alexa''s throat while I felt my cock erge her neck all the while Quinn was making Alexa''s buttcheeks red from all the spanking. Quinn was enjoying something just from looking for once but it didn''t take long before Alexa had the most violent, toe-curling, convulsive, and mind-numbing orgasm she had.


    Because the moment I exploded in her mouth and kept thrusting in, it filled the whole space and some even had to exit through her nose, and Quinn this time took care of the spillover. That particr moment just sent her to the deepest edge she could''ve been on and she just came and squirted so hard, she fucking passed out for a few seconds.


    Quinn tried to clear her airways by stealing her reward for doing such a good job, and she was basically resuscitated after coughing out a few mouthfuls of my cum.


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ W-Why''s there so much¡­"


    "Just be thankful, alright? Sorry, I had to steal some off ya¡­"


    "I-It''s okay¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡ª Mmm¡­ I-I think I-I''m still c-cumming¡­ I-I can''t feel¡ª Mmm¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    "Wanna keep going or do you want a break?"


    "G-Give me t-two minutes¡­"


    Then Quinn turned to me with a devilish smile, "It looks like it''s just you and me, huh?"


    I let out a chuckle, "How do you want it?"


    "No. You''ve done enough. How do YOU want it?"


    "I think you SHOULD know by now¡­"


    "Putting me in the spot now, are we? I wanted to try something though¡­ You game?"


    "As long as it doesn''t have anything to do with my ass, sure."


    "Hah! I''ll definitely get into THAT one of these days but no, this one¡­ I think you''ll like it¡­"


    "Then show me."


    "Alright. Lay down."


    "W-What are you gonna do to me?"


    Quinn never looked so taken aback, "YOU¡ª Don''t look at me like that¡ª I might end up not being able to control myself! B-But now that you asked¡­ Y-You love pits, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "I think you might''ve not done this thing yet¡­"


    "Oh?"


    "J-Justy down already!"


    "O-Okay!"


    At this point, as Iid on my back, Quinnid by my side and pressed her whole body against me where her huge tits were right by my chest and where I was using one of her arms as my pillow. I still wasn''t sure what she was nning to do at this point but she then lifted her left thigh and ced my throbbing dick right to that particr spot on the back of her knees.


    That ce was essentially the "knee pit" inyman''s terms but I just straight up lost it when she flexed her muscles and gave me a sudden tug.


    At that point, I''ve never been so scared and aroused but Quinn never looked so happy when she saw my reaction.


    "You''re in trouble now¡­"

 Chapter 1077: Let im cook!

    Without so much as a warning, Quinn started to grind and press her whole body against me like I was some body pillow with a dick, but feeling her warmth with her hard muscles and softer bits had already sent me over the edge.


    It was not only because she was jerking me off with the small tight space behind her knees, but she was also grinding her meaty cunt on my thighs and pressing her humongous tits against me.


    And while she was making mey my head on her right arm as a very firm pillow, she had her other hand either squeezing the tip of my dick or hugging me even tighter to dig my torso even more into hers.


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ D-Do you like this?" Quinn said with ragged breath as she was this close to my face.


    "Y-Yes¡ª"


    "Louder!"


    "YES!"


    "You love feeling my calf and my thigh around your cock?! You love feeling my pussy and my tits grinding on you?! Answer me!"


    "Y-YES!"


    As I let go of any sort of control, Quinn let out this victorious chuckle as she began to flex even harder, moving more violently while heavily breathing on the side of my face.


    With my left arm acting as the pillow for her whole body, I could only fight back by pinching her left nipple with my right arm and trying to give her a kiss but she was determined to see my expression when I finally ejacted all over the ce.


    We were staring right into each other''s eyes as I slowly felt iting up and the moment my whole body tensed for the hard orgasm, Quinn just pressed our bodies even more whilepletely choking out my dick in the process.


    "You gonna cum? Cum! CUM! COME ALL OVER ME! All over my thick thighs, my whole body¡ª Yes! YES!


    MORE! MORE! DON''T YOU DARE FUCKING STOP! LET OUT ALL THOSE HOT FUCKING CUM FROM THAT BIG THROBBING DICK AND¡ª YES! Y-YES! MMH!


    YES! I''LL SQUEEZE EVERY LOST DROP OF YOU! IS THAT IT?! I KNOW THERE''S MORE IN THERE! FUCK IT! YOU STILL HAVE TO FILL MY PUSSY AND MY ASS ANYWAY¡ª"


    "QUINN¡ª"


    At that point, I was barely clinging on for dear life because I thought for a moment there that she would actually rip my dick off just from how much force she was using to squeeze me, but before I even had the chance to recover, Quinn had already got on top of me and held my hands above my head.


    Then she whispered in my ear with a devilish smile, "I won''t let you perform a reversal this time¡­"


    As she said that, Quinn just smothered me with her huge fucking tits before she moved her hips and squeezed her glutes so fucking hard, the little bit of semen left in the pipe got squeezed out as she was riding me. There was a pocket of air from my position given to me by her deep cleavage, but I so fucking wished that I could fondle and squeeze them or y with her little asshole.


    Nevertheless, Quinn looked so fucking feral as she was riding me, and looking me straight in the face as I struggled was just some sort of heaven I barely got to experience.


    At one point, Quinn held my wrists with one hand¡ªeven though I was letting her take the reigns¡ªbefore she used her free hand to shove a tit down my mouth as she just kept my whole length inside her while grinding her hips.


    I could feel how much her insides tighten and contract each time I''d brush against a particr spot, but even though I felt her cum multiple times¡ªwhere she was most vulnerable¡ªI still let her have her way with me until I blew my second load in her womb.


    Quinn was smiling from ear to ear as she pulled out and saw her pussy drip with my cum but she then sat on Alexa''s face while she was still catching her "two-minute" break, and made her eat my cum out of her cunt.


    They were basically in the 69 position though Quinn was just ying with Alexa''s cunt, but it didn''t take long before she turned around and beckoned for me to go behind her and finish my homework:


    "One more hole before Alexa gets her t-turn¡­"


    As she said that, Quinn''s body was still trembling due to multiple orgasms but she was still trying to look unfazed as I made my way behind her.


    Her meaty cunt was still oozing with my cum as Alexa was still licking her clean, but I spread her little asshole with my thumbs before I ate her little pink ring that was about to get a few sizesrger.


    "W-What are you¡ª Mmh! Fuck yeah! Lick that dirty ass clean before you put your dick in it! F-Fuck¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡ª Shit! J-Just put it i-in alright?! I-I want¡ª MMH!


    FUCK!"


    At that moment, while we were using Alexa''s face as a drip tray for all of Quinn''s juices plus extra, I then grabbed on her tight hips before I shoved my whole length in her ass. Quinn''s body just buckled because I didn''t ease into it at all¡ªand my dick''s already well-lubricated¡ªbut I didn''t wait for her to tell me how to stir her insides as I made her huge asscheeks p with my thighs.


    "SHIT! SHIT! FUCK! H-HOLD ON! HOLD ON¡ª DID YOU JUST GET EVEN B-BIGGER?! NO¡ª MMH!


    F-FUCK! MMNnnNn¡ª Ah! AH! AHnnHn!!!"


    Quinn''s whole body would follow with each thrust, giving Alexa a little bit of air each time Quinn''s pussy would lift off her mouth, but Quinn grabbed one of my hands on her waist before cing it on one of her huge udders, and just let me squeeze as hard as I could while I thrust my hips over and over and over.


    It didn''t take long before Quinn started to squirt on Alexa''s face for the nth time, but I soon followed after when I saw Kaley looking straight at me while fucking Megan from behind while Tatiana was doing the same thing from right behind her.


    I just exploded deep inside Quinn''s zed butthole before I pulled out and let Alexa have some but she just straight up took in my cock with her mouth instead of just catching what drips down from Quinn''s ass and the tip of my huge member.


    But to our surprise and Alexa''s surprise as well, she started to squirt uncontrobly without so much as a touch from Quinn, but Quinn took it upon herself to get off Alexa''s face to further heighten Alexa''s orgasm by going down on her pussy and using her mouth and a finger in her ass.


    At the same time, I began thrusting my hips to basically fuck her throat while I was kneading her perky set, and her orgasms can''t seem to stop as we were viting her. All she could do was take everything in while letting out muffled moans due to my dick stuffing her throat, but there was a point when it became a little too much for her so she had to grab on my thighs to ask me to stop.


    I''m not an actual monster so I slowed my roll as I pulled out but it''s just one depraved thing from another at this night by the pier.


    Alexa let out with a rough tone as she looked me in the eye, "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ P-Please f-fuck me¡­"


    From then on, I started to push my dick in and out her holes and filled each one to the brim as Quinn continued to grind her cunt on her face. At some point, I was just about to offer some aftercare but Quinn wanted to do it with her mouth and Kaley was already beckoning me to join them since Megan was also down for the count.


    After some time, Megan and Alexa still tried to join in but Kaley, Quinn, and Tatiana kept up with each of us until everyone had their fill plus extra.


    I obviously ended our session with Kaley and me face to face with each other though one funny bit after that was finding a nearby shower to clean ourselves. The dumbasses were so fucking scared to see ghosts or some other ethereal being just because we were right next to a cemetery that Oscar and the rest used as the burn spot for all the deadheads they put down.


    But yeah, once morning came and we were doing another quick morning session as each of us eventually woke up, we almost opened fire at these two young-ish adults¡ªa boy and a girl¡ªwho came out of nowhere.


    "WE DIDN''T SEE ANYTHING! WE DIDN''T SEE ANYTHING!/ WE PROMISE WE DIDN''T SEE ANYTHING¡ª HOLY FUCK THAT THING''S HUGE¡ª"


    Quinn came out almost wearing nothing while holding her Deagle, "DON''T MOVE A FUCKING MUSCLE! GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES AND¡ª"


    "HOW''S THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!/ D''YOU WANT US TO MOVE OR NOT?!"


    "YOU¡ª WHO ARE YOU FUCKS ANYWAY?!"


    "W-WE''RE JUST ASKED TO HEAD HERE B-BY SIR BARTOW BECAUSE¡ª/ H-HE WANTED TO ASK T-THE ''PUNK'' IF HE''D LIKE TO COOK FOR EVERYONE AGAIN!"


    "HAAAH?! BITCH¡ª IT''S BARELY 5 AM!"


    "WE''RE SORRY! WE''RE SORRY!/ JEAN! STOP LOOKING AT HER¡ª WHY''S EVERYTHING SO¡ª"


    "WHY''S EVERYTHING SO WHAT?! SAY IT WITH YOUR CHEST¡ª"


    I eventually came out with my shorts on then waved Quinn down, "Jean and Tyrone, right?"


    "Y-Yeah!/ How did you know?!"


    "I''m that good. Anyway, did he tell you guys to let me cook?"

 Chapter 1078: Rice Porridge - Janice and Maine

    After a short bit of introductions, we discovered that the two were actually brother and sister¡ªJean being the older one¡ªand the rest of their family was in the Marine Base instead of the Main Harbor.


    In any case, we tidied up and gave them a lift so they wouldn''t walk all the way back but there was some unbelievable awkwardness in the air because the two couldn''t even look any of us in the eye for more than two seconds.


    But yeah, we can''t just force the weirdness away with a snap of our fingers so I just went ahead and cooked up a hearty rice porridge for breakfast after we dropped them off at the same location.


    It might sound like a very basic dish¡ªwhich it was¡ªthough the sides more than made up for it because it was the perfect vehicle to have a bite of abination of boiled eggs, fried garlic, green onions, slices of porkchop, ginger, etc. Despite being used as somewhat of a dish only served when someone was sick, this was usually a staple for breakfast in this country.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before more people from the Marine Base came in via a smaller boat they used to sail to this country¡ªbecause it''s much, much faster¡ªand a couple of them were these Maine and Janice dudettes¡ªa Private First ss and a Lance Corporal respectively¡ªwho looked to be on the same age as us.


    Mitch had already given them a brief run-through of their would-be responsibilities yesterday¡ªand a little bit more currently¡ªthough there was an audible stomach grumble when they got a whiff of the garlic I was frying on the pan.


    Maine tried to hide the fact that she hadn''t had breakfast yet, "This¡­ This is a lot¡­ *stomach grumbles* more than what y cooked up for sure, but I''d rather we use this¡­ Pretty intuitive too¡­ Fuck, this is so embarrassing¡­ Traded the protein bar for a pillow¡­ Haa¡­"


    Janice chuckled, "Who''s the cook? And why does Bartow look like he got in a car crash?"


    Mitch answered, "He''s the kid who made that temte and made Bartow look like that. I got some strays too but any normal person would''ve been heavily injured if it wasn''t him taking all those hits."


    "Jesus¡­"


    "I''m just d we could have some of what he''s cooking because we were woken up this early and there''s no breakfast till seven¡­"


    I then came at them and handed them a bowl that had an even distribution of toppings with steaming out of it:


    "Yo, have some breakfast first. That temte''s pretty easy to understand but the real challenge is the uracy of what you put in them and mark off. It''ll be up to you two if what''s in there actually reflects what you guys have in those warehouses and a minor discrepancy could cause a lot of problems¡ª"


    "Fuck!" Maine didn''t hear a lick of what I just said as she was busy slurping down and getting burned by our breakfast.


    "Maine! Keep it together! We''re¡ª I''m sorry," Janice said as she turned to me offering a fistbump, "She just needs to eat and she''ll be functioning, thanks for the food! I''m Janice!"


    I returned her fistbump with a chuckle, "Sky. Nice to meet you two. Anyway, I did say to have some breakfast first but other than what I told you two earlier¡­ Jotting down inventory can be pretty daunting but it''s better to start small before trying to do the whole thing.


    It would be less overwhelming if you start room by room though you should still keep an eye out or ask other people if they stored or took out some stuff from the room you just logged while you weren''t there. That''s pretty much it¡ª"


    "Fuck, dude! This is so good! Why''s the porkchop still crispy while still in this soup?!"


    "Maine!"


    "What? I heard everything he just said! You''re the one who kept on staring at his eyes!"


    "What?! I didn''t¡ª"


    "You''re cute but you''d be jumping on a lot of hoops for Mr. Popr here to notice ya¡ª"


    I cut in, "Mr. Popr? Where did thate from?"


    Maine looked at me while her face had a green onion sticking out by her cheek, "You aren''t? Huh. I swear a fewdies were looking at you differently. Especially that brte with the huge jugs."


    "Maine!"


    I almost facepalmed, "That''s¡­ That''s my wife¡­"


    "Oh. Oh! I see, I see~ You have good taste bud, anyway¡­ why do that blondie over there and that Amazonian freak look at you the same way?"


    "It''s¡­ It''splicated."


    ''That''s some good observation¡­''


    She then scoffed, "See? Mr. Popr. Not gonna lie, if you cook for me like this every single day too, I''ll start to like ya! Good shit bro, good shit."


    I chuckled, "Okay? Thanks. There are seconds though so stop stealing from Janice''s bowl¡ª"


    "MAINE!"


    "WHAT?! I THOUGHT YOU AREN''T EATING IT?!"


    "I WAS SAVING THAT FOR LAST!"


    "He already said there are seconds! Just get another egg from that pile¡ª You! Give me back that porkchop or I swear to god¡ª"


    "Give me back the egg!"


    Mitch had to cut in, "Where''s Marge anyway? I thought she was supposed toe with you two?"


    Janice answered, "Ah¡ª Yeah, well¡­"


    "Something wrong?"


    "Mrs. Adams felt something snap on her back yesterday. She was trying to move this coffee table to the other side of the room by herself so¡­ But yeah, Marge''s been keeping an eye on her so that she won''t try anything stupid. We said she couldn''t move at the moment anyway but she said that Mrs. Adams with definitely try to wiggle out of that bed she''s in."


    I interjected, "Do you have doctors that came in with you?"


    Mitch nodded, "We do, fortunately, though we''re still building up a proper clinic for everyone else''s sake by looting around the area. It''ll be up in no time soon. Anyway, what''s your n for today? We have a few objectives to meet, right?"


    "Hmm~ I think we''ll try and clear the dead from that flour mill first."

 Chapter 1079: Across the East Bridge - Gorilla?

    We briefly discussed a few more things we needed to aplish before our breakfast ended. Still, while we''d be clearing a few blocks of the dead East of the Freeport Zone to make our drive back easier and possibly getting us ess to the techno-farm that had a hundred or so sr panels for the taking, Oscar will bring a group of people to deliver items offort over to the Marine Base.


    At the same time, Bartow would lead a group to further clear the streets northward and northwesternward.


    And as we used Basin Rd. to get to one of the bridges closed off, we were eventually given ess to go over to the other side where an extension of the yacht club was present.


    It was a straightaway of sorts that reached around 800 meters to the right and while most of the yachts were just floating by the small pier they have, some were still covered on these trailers parked on the driveway¡ªwhere some weren''t even hooked on and vehicle¡ªbut we took care of the dead around this area first so that the group that came with us could bring some of the boats here over to the yacht club in our side of the water.


    Another group stood by to watch over them so we moved on to this block ofrge warehouses where a few trucks were parked on each one.


    Across the street from it was a call center building and a bank which seemed to be unupied from the outside.


    Quinn then turned to me, "Where''s this flour mill we''re looking for again?"


    "It''s past that intersection. After that, it''s a little bit forward and then to the left. Following that road will lead us to the other side of the expressway we used yesterday."


    Jared chimed from the back, "What''s the n though, bro?"


    "d you asked¡­" I trailed as I pulled my radio.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Artem, bring your crew over to that intersection but turn left instead and it''ll be a 300-meter drive or so before you''d hook back to this ce that sells surplus parts then you''ll get to where the flour mill."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then the cadets/trainees radioed in:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What about us?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, can wee with them?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m getting to that. JP you''ll be in charge of holding the intersection we''re about to go in while Marvin will be in charge of the smaller intersection Artem and his crew will pass through after that store I said. Conserve ammo as much as possible but don''t ever forget to double-tap even though it stopped moving. Artem and I will clear the flour mill from both sides."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Technically speaking, the flour mill was one of the two flour mills that exploded and they were in a block of other facilities that produced electronic appliances, coffee, shoes, and stics.


    However, the noise from the explosion just gathered almost every deadhead in its immediate vicinity, and viewing the road from where we stood, the dead were gathered way~ more in that spot than the area we were in.


    It was like that particr scene in this TV show where the MC got shocked to fuck after moving forward with his horse because he just left a street where a tumbleweed could pass and the next street was just fucking Zombind.


    But yeah, Artem and I timed our advance and went ballistic the moment I gave the signal. Because instead of going in quiet for taking down a horde of the undead covered in breading, we used our vehicles'' horns to split the dead and wake up some of them that were in deep slumber because there nothing would suck more than clearing hundreds of deadheads then getting bit on the ankle by a sleeper.


    In any case, it only took a few seconds before we heard the quiet groans turning to loud grunts as the wet splotches of feet turned to these dull marching sounds of rotting flesh hitting the pavement, and several dozen deadhead just split off the main group and rushed for us.


    "YOU FUCKS KNOW WHAT TO FUCKING DO!"


    Except for Quinn who was in charge of my Raptor, everyone else raised their rifles¡ªTatiana using a new AK instead of her Benelli M4, of course¡ªbefore we popped heads one after the other.


    I barely opened up an assault using my rifle by taking down close to three dozen deadheads in one burst, but I easily ran through my mag before switching it with a fresh one.


    It was when I felt the bolt lock to the rear so I quickly pressed the mag release¡ªhabitually closing off the dust cover¡ªthen took out the spent mag and pinched a fresh mag between my fingers, then jammed it in the mag well and pressed the bolt release after I reced each mag''s spot within seconds.


    I didn''t think I could still perform the movements seamlessly but I was already aiming at eye level before I let out a short exhale and watched these sprinters fall down the moment they got in contact with my sights.


    But yeah, Kaley used to be in charge of the normal dregs while Jared would aim for the more dangerous ones but since I was helping them with Tatiana and Ibarra, they aimed for the ones crawling on all fours or exhibiting some pretty bizarre behavior.


    And on that fucking note, I saw a huge Bartow-like deadhead with huge forearms barreling towards us like a gori using its arms to move. However, it only took a seconds before I realized that half of its body was already torn to shreds¡ªleaving only a piece of its spine sticking out beneath its torso¡ªbut god fucking dammit its forearms were even bigger than Quinn''s thighs.


    "TEN O''CLOCK!!!"


    "ALREADY SEEN IT¡ª FUCK! RELOAD!"


    Right as it crossed the wall of dead sprinters on the ground by jumping(?) with its hands, a bullet made its way to its face and its elbow joint that made it stagger on itsnding, but three more rifle rounds bored its way right on its exposed skull before it dropped on the ground.

 Chapter 1080: FIRE IN THE HOLE!

    With the gori-like deadhead in front of us, we didn''t even bother to double-tap it because it was already quadruple-tapped and an eight of its skull had littered the floor. But in which case, Tatiana took it upon herself to pull out her axe and dismember its huge arms by its shoulder joint.


    It was likely that we''d just burn all of them in one pileter but an upgrade or a minion like this for a random stitcher would be fucking trouble.


    But yeah, more and more disfigured deadheads came out of the woodwork and joined the horde we split in two with Artem who was on the other end of the street, but we were all shooting at an angle to avoid unnecessary strays hitting us from the crossfire.


    "KALEY! I''M GOING IN!"


    "GOTCHA! I''LL CALL OVER ONE OF THE CADETS FOR RELOADING MAGS!"


    "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! TATIANA, I''LL WAIT FOR YOU WITH IBARRA!"


    "JUST ABOUT DONE!"


    "ME TOO!"


    "CARE FOR THAT UPTURNED VAN BRO, ALRIGHT?!"


    "YEAH! YEAH! I''LL THROW A GRENADE AT IT IF WORST COMES TO WORST!"


    With that said, I pulled on the straps of my rifle to fasten it on my back¡ªafter pulling out fresh mags from our ammo cans and switching it with the depleted ones in my chest rig¡ªbefore I zoomed past the cluster of dead sprinters and hacked the dregs along the way.


    We''ve made enough noise to attract almost everything from the immediate vicinity but I was still hugging the wall to the left to not get grazed by a bulleting from the other side.


    I was absolutely confident in Kaley shooting from my back and sometimes whizzing it just by a few centimeters from my body but I wasn''t that sure from the other side, especially if the rifles they were using weren''t as uratepared to ours.


    Granted an AK tform could still be urate but there''s no chance in hell I''d let them shoot an apple on my head if they were always running it at full-auto.


    But yeah, I just saw a deadhead wearing what seemed to be a uniform of a fast food chain got sat down with a .308 that came from Kaley''s "Reaper" which punched through and destroyed the vicle of the one behind its target.


    They were still in the process of advancing in my general direction but before the victim of a second-hand homicide could react, I sliced its head open like those stic eggs that had candy inside them.


    However, what''s inside its dome wasn''t anything close to what sugar looked like but I already sent a huge kick to its torso so that I''d have more space and so that it could tumble down to the ones behind it.


    At this point, I already saw my people wielding a copsible spear and a new prototype of an injector axe join the fray as we continued to thin down what seemed like a few hundred deadheads who didn''t care about gluten.


    There were some instances where there would be a puff of white alongside the short puff of red the moment the bullet exited their heads and how I wish that flour mill could''ve been looted first before it exploded.


    In any case, the three of us: me, Tatiana, and Ibarra were in this diagonal line as I was the closest to the wall where we were like those huge trucks shoving the snow off the main road.


    The tricky part that I''d always like to emphasize on going melee with these fucks was the positioning needed to deliver a killing blow. Because like with shooting over long distances, a small discrepancy could mean hitting a few feet off the target or in our case, not delivering enough power or just sinking our des onto something that wouldn''t even one-hit kill like its shoulder.


    Sure, it could somehow impinge on its shoulder mobility but our aim was to put them down, not to prevent them from throwing a fastball.


    And right on cue, Tatiana swung at an off-angle and wasn''t able to reach her target because her axe came in from its left cheek and stopped right on its eyeball¡ªbarely missing its critical weakpoint¡ªbut she made use of our injector system to get that oomph she was looking for.


    I actually thought she''d just kick it off and just try again¡ªlike I would in that case¡ªbut she still needed to make sure if her new toy would work in critical situations such as these.


    It''s true that they were only reserved for an encounter with a Hulker but what''s the point of having them if she''d just lose everything from a bad swing?


    But yeah, using them on something that would break open from a normal impact was fucking messy because the coagted blood inside their heads just sprayed all over and most of them got onto Tatiana''s clothes and protective gear.


    Even though she was wearing a face mask and eye protection on top of her helmet, I took it upon myself to give her plenty of space to retreat by pulling out my pistol, hanging back, and then emptying the whole mag while taking down the deadheads in front of me one-handed.


    "IT''S JUST BLOOD!"


    "IT''S JUST BLOOD ALL OVER YOU! IT''LL TAKE JUST A MINUTE TO WIPE DOWN AND COME BACK! DON''T BE FUCKING STUBBORN¡ª"


    And as I was in mid-sentence, a bullet whizzed by my cheek as a smaller deadhead which seemed to be a kid that got its face bitten off copsed on its fragile knees¡ªas the lead projectile entered its forehead¡ªeven before getting to high school.


    I was focused on a lot of things to notice a very small target sneaking its baby teeth on me, but Tatiana and I got the hint as I focused on what''s in front of me while she sprinted back to not look like that character on that prom night covered in blood.


    Then Ibarra suddenly lobbed a grenade overhead:


    "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

 Chapter 1081: HEY! THIS ONE JUST MOVED—

    If blood getting all over our clothes and protective equipment was a problem, imagine getting bits and pieces of someone who died¡ªand turned into a living corpse and roamed a good part of a year under the sun¡ªget all over you.


    It was like those juices with pulp but fucking way, way~ worse.


    In any case, the reason Ibarra lobbed the grenade was that there was movement in the upturned van¡ª no, it''s because the van moved itself and we''re not fucking ying around to see whates out of the box.


    And right as itnded beside it, there were more chunks of meat and sinew that flew in the air than scrap metal.


    The van in question was just ruptured as a pig part of its interior was like one of those normal, everyday items that were actually cake but instead reced with human body parts.


    It just made me double-tap the van as I lobbed another grenade at its "entrance" before the two of us took a few more steps back.


    "What the fuck''s in there, sir?!"


    "At least it''s all over the ce now! On your right!"


    "Got it, thanks!"


    At that point, we were still in the middle of clearing a horde and while both of us still had some of our focus on the ones beyond our melee range, we still had blindspots from where our backs were turned. It was up to us to catch each other or straight-up focus on one thing when we were alone.


    But yeah, Ibarra easily juked the one I pointed out at him before he pulled out his sidearm instead of his rifle because the fucking crawler wearing an "I LOVE MEAT" shirt didn''t allow him to maneuver his M16 around and point the barrel at its temple.


    It was just the wrong equipment at the wrong time but his 9mm easily entered below its chin and made its way up to its victim''s dome after creating the most gnarly wound channel.


    And right after that, Kaley made several shots whizz over our heads as she took down the cluster that formed as our advance halted.


    She made sure she was conserving bullets in a way while keeping each deadhead''s space between each other just right for each of us to have a proper swing and/or enough clearance so that they wouldn''t be able to nk from both sides.


    It was something hard to pull off in the real world¡ªand usually, the space provided would onlyst for a few seconds¡ªbut we were making it work in a way and taking advantage of the opportunity presented to us.


    "I''M HERE YOU FUCKS, LET''S FUCKING GO!"


    "QUINN?! WHERE''S¡ª"


    "SHE''S NAKED FROM THE WAIST UP! DON''T ASK WHY! I ALSO AIN''T SITTING ON THAT LAME-ASS SEAT WHILE YOU GUYS HAVE FUN LIKE THIS¡ª"


    "WE''RE NOT PLAYING AROUND!"


    "WHY CAN''T IT BE BOTH?! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"


    To our surprise, Quinn came in with her huge-ass halberd/polearm hybrid and wreaked havoc with one swing. She took the initiative to be at the forefront while Ibarra and I supported her by fanning on either side where her weapon couldn''t reach us.


    Everytime Ibarra and I would move, we''d use the least amount of force necessary to put down our enemies to conserve stamina, but Quinn was just on the opposite end of the spectrum as if she was trying to instill fear onto these abominations that couldn''t receive certain mental status effects.


    But yeah, Quinn going all-out somehow made us amped up as we followed her advance.


    With Kaley and Jared making sure that no one would be surprising us from our blindspots, I almost took over the advance from the left as I split open three heads and beheaded four horse-looking deadheads in a few seconds.


    I didn''t even bother cutting up their chewed-up arms first¡ªlike my usually setup¡ªas I aimed just for their heads to meet with my de.


    From a flick of a wrist, a deadhead who looked like it needed a father figure got a good look at the asphalt as its head slid from its neck while my next victim figured out a way if it woulde across a fork in the road because I split its body in half.


    "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, WHO HURT YOU?!"


    "SHADDAP!"


    "FUCK YOU, DON''T SHOW ME UP THE MOMENT I ARRIVED!"


    On that note, I just saw Quinn charge up an attack by taking a split second more to wind up before swinging at a morbidly obese mukbanger and taking out three more that could fit in its back that weren''t even involved or an intended target.


    And right after that, she used the momentum of her swing to somehow flourish his 20kg plus weapon and smack down onto the head of this undead midget and then rolling it back again like it weighed nothing to thrust several times to a group that she couldn''t take out with a wide swing.


    Quinn''s weapon was the perfect choice for someone who didn''t want to stick to a single attack type or if they wanted a multi-tool imagined as a two-handed axe, spear, hammer, etc.


    She didn''t even break a sweat by swinging it like she was a gbearer except for the time when Kaley tried to whizz past a bullet through the gaps from her muscr body.


    "HEEEEEY! DON''T FUCKING DO THAT!"


    "QUINN, ON YOUR RIGHT¡ª"


    "I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" Ibarra followed as he stabbed anky motherfucker with the tip of his spear.


    At this point, we must''ve piled a couple hundred of rotting corpses with chicken breading so we called on a few reinforcements to drag the bodies to the side. We can''t just advance and advance because of the crossfire but while we were retreating at set intervals, our space to move around was getting smaller and smaller.


    So yeah, Ruben, #1, and #2 eventually showed up with their thick gloves to help move around the bodies we put down.


    "HEY! THIS ONE JUST MOVED¡ª"

 Chapter 1082: Breathing Fiasco

    Much to my shock, I thought we obliterated every single fucking thing in our path but it seemed like one made it out alive.


    James "#1" Chu screamed for dear life, "GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME¡ª"


    Ruben Padi reacted faster than James "#2" Tiu, "JUST HOLD IT DOWN¡ª HOLD UP, ITS HEAD''S ALREADY GONE!"


    #2 cut in again as he let go of the carcass holding onto #1''s arms, "D-DON''T MOVE! I-I''LL CHOP ITS ARMS OFF¡ª"


    But yeah, Tatiana arrived at thest second by swinging down at the ruptured roadkill and chopping off all its limbs from its torso:


    "TOO FUCKING SLOW! DON''T FUCKING ANNOUNCE YOUR MOVES ALRIGHT?!"


    "I¡ª"


    "T-THANK YOU! F-FUCK! I-IF IT WEREN''T FOR THESE GLOVES AND YOU¡ª"


    "STOP YAPPING AND CONTINUE MOVING THE BODIES!"


    "HUH?! WHAT IF¡ª"


    Ruben cut in, "Y-YES, MA''AM!"


    But #1 still had something to say, "I-IT''S STILL MOVING! I-IT''S BREATHING!"


    "NO THE FUCK IT''S NOT¡ª"


    "IT IS! LOOK!"


    "BUT IT''S A GUY¡ª HOLY FUCK IT''S BREATHING!"


    Even I was getting curious but ultimately distracted from all that shouting so I shouted back to get to the task at hand:


    "JUST PULL IT ASIDE¡ª AWAY FROM THE REST OF THEM AND SOMEONE WATCH OVER IT! WE''RE LOSING SPACE HERE!"


    "R-ROGER!/ YES, SIR!/ WE''RE SORRY, SIR!"


    With that said, my curiosity was getting the better of me so I pulled out my TX22 and used my katana with one hand as my kill count increased exponentially. And even Quinn tried to do the same with her Deagle, it only holds a few bullets and she didn''t have a lot of mags to go through a hundred or so deadheads for it to make a particr dent other than her handheld weapon.


    But yeah, as soon as I ran out of bullets, I used a deadhead as a temporary scabbard for my de as I pulled out a fresh mag from my chest rig. After that, I switched it with the spent one before I bumped the slide release and pulled my de out of its flesh sheath and went to town once again.


    As I raised my left hand forward with a small bend for the recoil¡ªeven if its just a .22¡ªI quickly acquired my targets and squeezed the trigger with the padding of my fingers all the while holding my gun with a tight grip.


    And with each random deadhead kissing the pavement with its face, I was already acquiring another target right until I ran out of bullets once more.


    I would''ve stabbed another deadhead to use as a sword sheath but I only had a couple of mags avable on hand with this particr gun, so I quickly holstered it and switched to my Maxim 9.


    However, I only used one full mag before holstering it and using my katana with both hands because as much as I would''ve loved to dissect the "breathing" torso behind my back, conserving a bit more bullets was my priority.


    Granted I already wasted a bit more to save some time but it was one way to cope¡ªalbeit slightly¡ªrather than having the thought of hurrying up fill my mind.


    I then shouted at the top of my lungs:


    "IS IT STILL MOVING?!"


    #1''s voice echoed, "Y-YES, SIR!"


    "DID YOU TRY OPENING ITS STOMACH OR CHECKING IF IT''S REALLY A DUDE?!"


    "AH¡ª ONE SEC, SIR! WILL DO! WILL DO!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "SO?!"


    "AH¡ª FUCK!"


    "WHAT IS IT NOW?!"


    "ITS CROTCH IS ALSO BITTEN OFF! BLEGHH!!!"


    "NOW''S NOT THE TIME TO PRACTICE DEATH METAL!!!"


    "I-I''M NOT! I-IT''S JUST¡ª UGHH! FUCK! THAT''S SO GNARLY!"


    "IS IT A DUDE OR NOT?!"


    "I ALREADY SAID THAT ITS CROTCH IS¡ª"


    "CHECK ITS TITS!"


    "IT''S FLAT!"


    "ADAM''S APPLE?!"


    "ALSO BLOWN OFF!"


    "FUCK!"


    "DON''T WE HAVE ONE LESS RIB THAN THE GIRLS?!"


    "DIFFERENT ADAM, ASSHOLE! THAT''S ONLY LIMITED EDITION! WE ALL HAVE THE SAME NUMBER OF RIBS!"


    "THEN WHAT CAN I DO?!"


    "CARVE ITS ASS AND CHECK IF IT HAS A PROSTATE¡ª"


    "FUCK NO! I''M NOT DOING THAT!"


    "THAT''S AN ORDER, YOU FUCK!"


    "I DON''T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!"


    "BUT DID YOU CUT OPEN ITS BELLY¡ª"


    "AH, FUCK! I FORGOT!"


    "YOU FUCKING¡ª I''MMA D.A. YOU AFTER THIS!"


    "SURE! ANYTHING BESIDES¡ª WOAAAHHHH!!!"


    "WHAT IS IT NOW?!"


    "I-IT HAS FUCKING TWINS! TWINS! UGH¡ª THE SMELL!"


    "THEN PROBLEM SOLVED! KILL IT!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "YOU KNOW THEY''RE DEAD, RIGHT?!"


    "AH¡ª SHIT! FUCK! I''M SORRY! *POP* *POP* *POP*"


    At that point, there was another¡ª no, there were two problems solved and it gave me a slight peace of mind to our current situation.


    I held my de tightly with both hands once again as I advanced further than Quinn who almost caught up to my total kill count this morning, but I was still a tad slower because I had to bisect a few non-conforming looking deadheads horizontally so we could avoid another "breathing" fiasco.


    But yeah, we could already see where the "split" was, between me and Artem''s team, and it didn''t take long before we were burning several piles of the undead at the same time.


    Additionally, I thoroughly checked #1''s arms and the rest of his fucking body for any scratches and whatnot¡ªthat made him deathly pale¡ªbut luckily enough, the thick gloves he wore that were almost up to his shoulders protected him.


    "A-Am I okay?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "Physically? Sure. Mentally? A little questionable."


    "I-It just caught me off-guard, okay?! I thought I was gonna die!"


    "Sure, sure¡­ Our next training session will be a tad interesting for all of ya¡­"


    Ruben cut in with a glint in his eye, "W-What is it?!"


    Tatiana and I never looked like antagonists who actually kills the MC in a book:


    "You''ll see./ Don''t tease them, you fucks just hadn''t had enough life-or-death experiences. We''re gonna remedy that."


    "Ah, fuck¡­"


    But yeah, even though we were in a "short rest" phase of this expedition, it was obvious that stragglers were still popping up here and there so while I tasked some of us to go over the belongings of the undead or pick up casings, some of us were watching with their rifles at the ready.

 Chapter 1083: Unclogging Wreckages

    Once I refilled my mags and wiped down my equipment, I moved over to the pile of items my group collected from the dead¡ªbut while we were on the topic of piging items from the dead¡ªthere were a few things to look out for once we have a horde-sized group to pick from:


    The most obvious ones were obviously the bags they had on their person, secondly their pockets, then checking if they were wearing any jewelry, andstly, their shoes.


    We could uncover almost anything within the size of the bag we took from the person¡ªsame thing with their pockets, obviously¡ªand while the only advantage for jewelry is trading or for a chance of identifying another person if it was an engraved ring, checking their shoes was a different story.


    A good pair of military boots could go a long way but we can''t just sneeze at the mobility provided by sneakers or some other basketball shoes, but other than that, there were also people who''d sometimes sneak in a few items in their socks or just by their ankles.


    ''It''s almost always a lighter paired with a smoke or a very small knife tucked in for emergencies.''


    It''s just that the challenge for looting footwear from the dead was cleaning them and even if the person who used to wear them wore socks, it was still a fucking struggle to clean them and have the mindset to actually try them on.


    There were also cases where a shit was possible to be looted but they were mostly used as rags or cut into small patches to repair clothing.


    In any case, moving onto therger side of things to loot from, aside from the block where the two flour mills were located, we discovered three car dealerships, a Puregold branch, a Dutyfree branch, a small botique, a shoe store with the check logo, some other generic minimall, a hardware store, and a ce that sold sses.


    We''d have to explore more so I could fill up the internal map I had in my head but this ce used to be the central hub for ships so there should be more mills that produce things other than stic or electronics.


    ''There was a mention of a steel factory too¡­''


    Megan nudged me, "Where does that path lead?"


    "That''s to the other end of the expressway we usedst time and the road on the opposite end would still be the Freeport Zone though going a bit further would lead us to the airport. I would''ve tried and reimed an airport for our own use if it was any other day but we gotta clear up the path to the expressway first to save us a bit of time driving around the residential areas.


    There''s a lot of ces here suitable to be turned to farnd too but we don''t have enough people to go around. The trick is to always start small but this ce just¡ª it has so much potential¡­ an even better starting areapared to mypound if you have all the right tools¡­"


    Kaley chimed in, "Don''t get too far ahead, alright? You know what it does to your head."


    "Right¡­ Right¡­ Thanks."


    After some time, we began to form a perimeter around the exit of the expressway¡ªwhich was much closer to Artem''s side¡ªand then started to pull the wrecked cars to an open spot.


    Granted there were still deadheads either trapped inside their cars or the expressway itself, but it was easy enough to get them out of the way after getting their vehicles out of the way.


    It took us a few hours to fully clear the exit of all the cars we needed to either tow away or hotwire because they survived the wreck, but there was one side effect coffee could give to people, especially when they were right next to a vtile cemetery.


    "THAT''S THE LINE, BUDDY! ONE MORE STEP AND WE''LL BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!"


    "Don''t wanna shoot the guy that brought you coffee, alright?"


    "OH SHIT! IT''S HIM! HEY! PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN YOU FUCKS!"


    The guys from the other side were so wary of the noise we made earlier¡ªthey were up in arms the moment theyid their eyes on us¡ªbut they all breathed a sigh of relief the moment they saw my ugly mug.


    "Easy, alright? It''ll be a bit of work¡ªand the people here will help you¡ªbut do protect both entrances at all costs. This expressway is a godsent."


    "They cool people?"


    "We don''t have a lot of oil here, so probably yeah."


    "Huh?"


    "That''s¡­ You know¡ª Nevermind¡­ We allmitted atrocities either way so¡­"


    "I still don''t get it."


    "It''s fine, it''s fine¡­"


    "Need any help?"


    "Sure. We can share the loot and we could probably bring some of the vehicles here to act as temporary walls before making a proper gate for this exit."


    "Then we''ll get right on it! There would be coffee, right?"


    "Heh. Of course, of course."


    And this time, there was more loot to go around because this wreck was just unclogged at this moment and these ex-people in their cars didn''t even manage to use the items they brought for their survival.


    We found clean clothes of all sizes, assorted medicine, food that either expired or was still safe for eating, mineral water which was unfortunately stored incorrectly, a few camping tents, assorted de and blunt weapons, a crossbow and a few bolts, a slingshot, boxes upon boxes of ammo, seven handguns where two were revolvers, three rifles, and a shotgun.


    I just couldn''t believe these folks didn''t even try to go out of their way to loot some of the vehicles much closer but I guess they were just afraid to attract the horde right behind it if they made a lot of noise.


    In any case, we came back to camp an hour past lunch and again, I couldn''t believe no one even prepared some fucking lunch.


    "I''M NOT COOKING EVERY SINGLE TIME, ALRIGHT?!"

 Chapter 1084: We just needed a W.

    At this point in time, I wasn''t able to resist these sorry fucks'' puppy eyes but I did make everyone else prepare everything themselves without me touching a knife. Afterwards, I even assigned a random-ass citizen to make my own version of meat stew so they''d be able to make the meal without me.


    Granted there should be slight differences from one recipe to the next, but to take some of the magic out, anything and everything should taste the same as long as the same ingredients, procedures, etc were followed.


    Some say it was love but sometimes it was justrd.


    But yeah, the only group who didn''te back from our trip outside was Oscar''s but that was because it''d take several hours to go back and forth the Marine base and then to this one.


    Bartowmented, "They''ll probably get back here first thing in the morning."


    I turned to him, "How were things on your end though?"


    He just shrugged his shoulders, "Eh. Just killed anything that wasn''t supposed to be alive. We''ll send a crew to clean up¡ª"


    "Hold up. You just left the corpses there?"


    "Yeah?"


    "You''ve been here for at least two weeks, right?! You should''ve known what sneaks around these parts! You don''t just focus on one thing, you kill, you loot, you stack, you burn! That''s the way to go! You don''t just have fun and have your servants do the dirty work¡ª"


    "Don''t start again, you punk! We closed off the area, alright?! There are more bridges to close off¡ªseven of them in total¡ªand since you said you''d be opening up a new road, it''s fine, right?! We gotta eat too!"


    "Have you marked off the cleared buildings at least?"


    "What?"


    "That''s a no."


    "Mark off¡ª The fuck are you talking about?!"


    I closed my eyes before I deeply sighed, "Look. You''re not the only ones here and I''m surprised that we haven''t run into them yet. But the reason you mark off a cleared building and close it right after looting them or cataloging everything that''s inside was to keep the dead and the living from wandering in and restarting what you''ve worked hard for."


    "Why are you being this difficult?!"


    "I''m not! It''s standard procedure!"


    Mitch chimed in, "They did clear all of the dead inside that sector, right? Take it like how you make some coffee¡­ You can start with a tablespoon of coffee or a tablespoon of sugar but at the end, it still tastes the same alright? In this case, I would''ve been with you if the area they just cleared couldn''t be closed off but it is, right?


    There''s no way those sneaky ones you spoke of could''ve made it through¡ª"


    Then I turned to Bartow again as I cut Mitch off:


    "You checked the restrooms?"


    "Yeah."


    "The female restrooms?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    "You sick fuck."


    "Haah?!"


    "Just kidding, did you take the tissues, napkins, and tampons from the dispenser?"


    "What? I told you we just cleared the dead, not loot¡ª"


    "Right. You mean to say if you find a gun on the pavement, you wouldn''t take it?"


    "Of course, I would! It''s a fucking gun¡ª"


    "But napkins aren''t a priority?"


    "DON''T FUCKING COMPARE IT TO A FUCKING GUN! A GUN''S A GUN!"


    "Eh. I just thought you Americans love tissues so fucking much. Gotten used to washing your ass with soap and water yet?"


    "I''M STILL EATING, YOU PUNK!"


    "Uh-huh. If you see a chunk of poop in there, you''d stop, right?"


    "THE FUCK''S WRONG WITH YOU?! WHAT''S WITH THIS LINE OF QUESTIONING?! ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT THE RESIDENTIAL AREA UP NORTH?!"


    "Now that you mention it, did you check the manholes? The ongoing construction site? The small prison from the precinct? The mall? The drainage channel? The schools?"


    "We checked everything, alright?! We''ve been attracting the dead in one spot and taking care of everything!"


    "..." I stopped talking as I looked at him with disappointment.


    "WHAT?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "I thought you cleared everything?"


    "We did!"


    "Howe you cleared that space in a span of a day or two¡ª no, a day and a half at most? That''s just impossible. Did you really clear everything or just the streets and some interesting buildings? It''s because those are totally different things."


    Bartow then put his bowl down with a frown on his face, "Look here, punk. We know how to kill. That''s where I''m the fucking best at. I may not be good at everything else but if my superiors tell me to raze a ce to the ground I''ll fucking do it¡ª"


    "I''m not questioning how brutal you could ravage a sack of flesh, I''m questioning if you got all of them, not most of them."


    "The. Area. Is. Closed. Off."


    "Still. Doesn''t. Mean. Shit."


    "THEN WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY?!"


    "Are you confident you could let a child y alone in that residential area without a biter chomping his head off?!"


    "Y¡ª I mean¡ª Why would you leave a child alone?!"


    "JUST ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION! IS IT THAT HARD?!"


    "FINE! I WON''T!"


    "FINALLY! SOME FUCKING HONESTY!"


    "YOU''RE REALLY FUCKING BENT ON MAKING ME LOOK BAD, HUH?!"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU ON ABOUT?!"


    "YOU GOT A LUCKY SHOT YESTERDAY, ALRIGHT?!"


    "YOU''RE THE ONE WHO GOT A LUCKY SHOT! NO ONE COULD EVER FUCKING TOUCH ME WHEN I''M FOCUSING ON ONE THING! AND NO! YOU''RE THE ONE MAKING YOURSELF LOOK BAD! I WOULD''VE SUNG YOU FUCKING PRAISES IF YOU DID A JOB WELL DONE BUT YOU KEPT LYING ABOUT YOUR FUCKING ACCOMPLISHMENTS!"


    "YOU KNOW JACK SHIT! WE NEED A WIN!"


    "THEN FUCKING DO YOUR JOB PROPERLY! LYING ABOUT IT IS STILL NOT A WIN! CLOSING OFF AN AREA''S A WIN, LYING ABOUT CLEARING AN AREA ISN''T! WE OPENED UP A NEW PATH WHICH IS A WIN BUT WE DIDN''T EVEN SAY WE FULLY CLEARED THE AREA! IT''S JUST TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!"


    "WHAT DO YOU KNOW?! WE''D CLEAR IT IF WE HAVE MORE TIME! IT''S JUST A MATTER OF¡ª"


    "THEN JUST FUCKING SAY SO, YOU NUMBNUT! WE COULD''VE HELPED YOU!"


    "WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU EVEN HELP ME IF YOU''VE BEEN AGAINST ME SINCE DAY ONE?!"


    "IT''S NOT ABOUT YOU, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! IT''S BECAUSE YOU JUST TOLD ME YOU NU¡ª BUT THAT DOESN''T MEAN WE COULDN''T HELP IN PICKING UP THE PIECES! WE CAN''T WORK TOGETHER IF WE''RE NOT ON THE SAME FUCKING PAGE!"


    "WE''RE ON THE SAME FUCKING PAGE! AREN''T WE?!"


    "ARE WE THOUGH?! DOES IT LOOK LIKE IT?!"


    "Y¡ª I DON''T FUCKING KNOW AT THIS POINT! WE JUST GOT HERE, YOU PUNK! BUT I THOUGHT WE WERE!"


    "WE SHOULD BE! BUT NOT THIS FUCKING WAY!"


    "..."


    "..."


    All of a sudden, the two of us just went quiet like everyone else listening in the conversation, but Bartow still angrily picked up his bowl and finished his meal while looking like he''d be the happiest guy alive if he got to choke me out.


    But yeah, to bepletely fair, both of our intentions were impossible at the moment because they really just couldn''t clear that whole sector in two days and we didn''t have enough wooden boards on hand topletely close off the buildings like we did near our territory.


    There was just some fucking reason we were so fucking pissed at each other and like potassium''s reaction in making contact with water¡ª fuck it, lobbing a grenade into a gas station, we''d just blow up and cause chaos every time we see each other.


    However, as we both set out for our own runs, we both used the North bridge we blocked so they could once again sweep the area with a fine-toothedb while my group made use of kitchen tables or liberated tables from the inside to blockade the entrances and the exits from a few smaller buildings.


    We can''t just chop off trees and turn them into sizable and uniform nks¡ªthough that would''ve been nice¡ªbut we were doing what we could at the moment.


    At one point, Bartow and I met at an intersection and I was surprised to see that he had a huge dump truck with a pile of random items he specifically didn''t touch so I could rifle through them.


    "Thanks."


    "Yeah."


    "Great job on sweeping the smaller buildings or houses first."


    "Thanks for double-checking them before closing them off."


    "Yeah. I''ll give the list of items we left behind here to either Maine or Janice."


    "Eh. Maine works better."


    "True."


    "..."


    "..."


    "We''re gonna go this way."


    "Us too."


    "Don''t fucking follow me, you punk."


    "Who the hell would want to follow you, Mr. Sailor-man?!"


    "DON''T START WITH ME WHILE WE''RE OUTSIDE, KID!"


    "I DO IT OUT OF NECESSITY BECAUSE YOU ALREADY HAVE TWO STRIKES!"


    "TWO?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWO?!"


    "DO YOU WANT ME TO COUNT WAITING FOR ME TO COOK LUNCH?!"


    "YOU DID NOTHING!"


    "I HAVE A VERY GOOD ROLE MODEL!" I shouted while pointing right at him, "BUT AT LEAST I FINISHED WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO!"


    Then Kaley roughly nudged my torso while Quinn kicked Bartow''s calf:


    "NOT HERE, DOOFUS!/ ALRIGHT, THIS IS ENOUGH!"


    "WE''RE JUST TALKING!"


    "NO, YOU AREN''T!"

 Chapter 1085: Major Harper? - Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose...

    From the perspective of things, I could definitely beat Kaley in a physical fight¡ªwhich I did, multiple times during our spars¡ªbut strength-wise, Bartow had the slight advantage against Quinn but he''d lose against reach.


    Take note, Quinn was still a few inches taller than Mikhail¡ªor in this case, Bartow¡ªand with the almost same analogy with speed, strength doesn''t mean shit if he wouldn''t be able to connect.


    But yeah, I''m still a little biased in my observations because in all honesty, Quinn was a mechanical engineer/powerlifter while Bartow was a Marine/Asshole.


    I''d bet on Bartow''s win if they evere into blows¡ªthough I''ll definitely give my winnings to Quinn after to appease her¡ªbecause not to be sexist, even with Quinn''s physicality, there was a much higher chance for Bartow to emerge victorious.


    She could outdrink him, sure¡ªprobably everyone else in this ce too¡ªbut she''d just lose this battle with the spinach-eater.


    However, much to everyone''s shock, Bartow just nced at Quinn momentarily before he led his group to another smaller building where they could easily clean up.


    Because at this point, they had once again rtively "cleared" the streets 100% so they were doing the same thing of barricading the doors, windows, or some other entrance/exit of a reimed space so it wouldn''t be able to host infestations or intruders.


    But yeah, the "cleared" status of the streets could onlyst for so long because the ones that still needed to be put down¡ªwhich were inside one of these buildings or houses¡ªcould still walk out for some sun, and it''ll be an annoying problem all over again.


    That was one of the main reasons I wanted them to follow my procedures to the dot but the only saving grace for them was blocking off these sections like we did with the section that involved the Main Harbor.


    It was because this residential area wasposed of five municipalities stacked together but the section they closed off only involved three of them.


    Additionally, the road we used to loop around to get to the Main Harbor belonged to the two municipalities above us that couldn''t be closed off because it wasn''t this floating ind of sorts¡ªlike the ce we were in and upying¡ªconnected by bridges.


    But yeah, as we were about to continue what we were doing until the sun sets, my radio buzzed before I heard the old man''s voice:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Kid. Get your crew. The Major here wants to see ya.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Do you want us to get in one of those boats or do you want us to drive?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Eh. You can probably make it if you drive. Don''t worry, we cleaned up most of the dregs so it''s rtively safe. Didn''t burn them though... I kinda want you to see the coastline before getting here. A fresh set of eyes could give us better ideas.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, alright¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Right. You''d save some time if you off-road once again. Just drive straight the Burgos St. past the shipyard and continue on until you reach this resort that had this mansion that''s shaped like a "W". After that, you''ll drive a little bit more off the road but do make sure to stay on the left of this high school and you''d reach the road that would lead to this ce.


    It''ll be 30 minutes or so once you reach the gate and I already notified the ones manning the checkpoint to just let you in. You''d probably get here at 7 or 8 depending on your pit stops.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You need anything else we could bring?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Eh. As long as you promise to not pin the Major to the wall like you did with Mitch, we''re good.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What''s his name anyway?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Harper.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Harbor? Quite fitting, no?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Harper! HARPER! H-A-R-P¨CE-R! HARPER! ERIC HARPER!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Ah. I see, I see. We''ll just stop by the Main Harbor for some stuff then we''ll drive straight over there."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright. Stay safe, kid.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Sure."


    *bzzt*


    -


    As we ended the call, it took us about 15 minutes to get everything right though we only left with my Raptor, one other truck we brought, and Tatiana''s HuNovelFireee. We did leave Artem and a portion of the trainees and the cadets here with JP''s Raycolt¡ªwhich almost made him stay back¡ªbut Artem specifically asked Kuzma and Bogdan toe with us.


    They were driving the other truck we brought with us including theirrade''s Humvee while I had a couple of stowaways¡ªMegan and Alexa¡ªin my truck.


    "Lots of beaches and resorts here, huh?" Alexamented.


    I chuckled, "Well~ If you''re gonna do a business like that, this is one of the best ces to do it on, not a freakin'' volcano."


    "Not unless you''re going for a natural hot spring, no¡ª"


    "Fuck!"


    "What is it now?"


    I suddenly remembered one other thing I forgot to aplish on my trip to Batangas:


    "We¡ª I forgot about the sulfur deposit in one of the hot springs Quinn mentioned."


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "It''s not an actual deposit but you could probably find better ones in the volcano right next to it."


    Alexa cut in, "You guys talking about Taal Volcano?"


    I nodded, "Yeah¡­ It''s this hot spring without boating over to the other side¡­ I forgot about the whole thing coz of the ton of things that popped up. Well, we could alwayse back or get it straight from the source."


    "Ah¡­"


    With that said, we quickly zoomed past the resort we were talking about earlier before we stopped by one of these barangays just past this funeral home to get some valuable information regarding this ce''s residents either from their hard drives or their archives.


    Funnily enough, there was close to a 100% chance that it was always there because we were the only ones doing this shit though there was also close to a 100% chance that this ce''s armory was looted.


    ''Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose¡­''

 Chapter 1086: Quick Drive - The Marine Base I

    Additionally, there was also a gas station a few meters ahead, and even the annex where it sold groceries and other random items were already picked clean. However, a discerning eye like mine noticed this particr wiring sticking out and when I followed it to the back and saw several batteries attached to an inverter, I startedughing like a fucking idiot which unsettled mypatriots.


    "What''s so funny?" Kaley leaned in as she was wearing a weird face.


    "Eh. Not much. Just have some of the guys look for adder so they can get to the panels on the roof. There are probably more¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Wait. Why? Are we just gonna give everything to them?"


    "Oh. Good point. We can just point our findings to them since they''ll be the ones to use them. We still have a surplus of panels back home and other ces to get them so the ones here are just extra weight¡­"


    Tatiana followed, "It''s not a bad call to score some brownie points but we can''t just do everything for them. Besides, they''re all adults¡ªwell, most of them¡ªso they just needed some guidance instead of a handout."


    "Yeah, yeah¡­ I''ll just remember the ces they missed and point it to themter. Even if we don''t they''ll probably discover it sooner orter."


    "Correct."


    At that point, it didn''t take long before we drove over the 306 Bridge and cut into this public market of sorts filled with carcasses¡ªwhich slightly ticked me off because we really should be burning them¡ªbut we cut into this big parking lot and hotwired another truck in good condition before stopping by another barangay hall.


    This time, aside from finding the drives we could dig some dirt on this ce''s residents, we uncovered two sets of riot gear, three boxes of shotgun shells, and a canister of pepper spray.


    After this route, we would reach the bridge Oscar was talking about where we would start going off-road and we were basically cruising until we reached the resort he mentioned.


    It wasn''t because we were met by a dead-end but we were met with some deadheads that were recently washed over. Some of them were definitely bloated as fuck while some were just waterlogged, and to avoid their juices spilling over, I just asked Kaley and Jared to put them down from a distance before we drove our merry way.


    To my surprise, we were definitely shaving off a lot of time by using this road but once we went past that bridge, we hadn''te across any stores or ces to loot which was a little sad. It was one of the joys in life in the apocalypse but being able to live another day was one of them too.


    Then we came to another small problem.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Is this river crossable?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Why would I fuckin'' ask you to drive over there if you can''t?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You do know that water rises, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah, fuck. Didn''t think of that. Wait, how wide is it now?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Maybe six meters?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Want a fuckin'' smack to the head?! How much is that in feet?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Unbelievable."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [JUST ANSWER ME, YOU LITTLE SHIT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Umm¡­ Around twenty, I guess?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah. You''re good, you''re good. Just drive through it. It''s the one with the red fishing boat, right?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, with this homemade motor?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s the one.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we ascended this shortcut of sorts while keeping to the left of the school Oscar mentioned¡ªalso noticing the track marks from their vehicles¡ªuntil we stopped by this ess road hugging part of a small hill.


    It had some smaller houses here and there made with lighter materials but we soon reached one of their checkpoints with a dozen or so people guarding it with guns.


    The dude in front suddenly dragged me into this staring contest of sorts while everyone else from his crew was staring at our convoy, but I broke our silence with the most random shit I could think of.


    "Yo."


    "..."


    "What''s better than a .45?"


    "..."


    "A .46¡ª"


    "PFFT¡ª FUCK! Are you the fucking kid?! Dammit!"


    "You know why you guys have F-18s?"


    "Stop! Stop!"


    "Because F-17s are illegal!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! DON''T DO REVERSE MATH ON ME, YOU FUCK!"


    "Reverse math?! You mean subtraction?!"


    Then all hell just let loose:


    "HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "HE GOT YOU, BOB!"


    "DAMMIT! HE GOT ME TOO!"


    I waved them off with a smile, "We''re going in, alright?"


    The Bob guy stopped us still, "I was told you only have three vehicles. I see four here."


    "We got one on the way. We''re trading it anyway, do you have anything for me?"


    He let out a knowing smile, "Look for Royo, alright? ck dude with a curly mustache. He''ll hook you up. You can hand over that truck to Thomas, his friend."


    "Cool," I gave him a fistbump before throwing over a pack of cigarettes, "Here. Just a wee gift."


    "Hah! We''ll get along just fine, kiddo. Carry on. Now who''s got a light?"


    I cut in before we drove off, "I have one. $100 though."


    "HAH! FUCKING DAMMIT! I KNEW THIS WAS COMING! Fuck off, heh. We''re just gonna start a fire on our own. Thanks anyway¡ª I got a match here."


    "Alright, alright, heh."


    After that short interaction, it was eventually a short and safe ride to where the Marine Base was, and not gonna lie, these fucks weren''t ying around once we entered their gates. Our group would''ve been taking it easy at this point in time but everyone was still hard at work while several floodlights were shining on their ongoing projects.


    Their priority was fortifying their walls and making them a tad higher while making a catwalk attached to the whole thing and building watchtowers at certain key points.


    But yeah, we were soon greeted by this young kid in his early 20s who was a simple private before he asked us to follow him to one of the bigger hangar-like buildings.


    "Please."

 Chapter 1087: Meet-ups - The Marine Base II

    As we were let inside, I was expecting an evacuation center type of situation where random civilians had these little enclosures of their own while a couple of soldiers were maintaining peace and whatnot but it looked more like a call center division that spontaneously dressed up as soldiers.


    The whole fucking space was set up with differentmunication devices and one part of it had this huge-ass map of the USA right next to other maps of countries like the Philippines for example.


    It was obvious that we were weed very differentlypared to the Main Harbor¡ªbecause they were all down on their noses, busy to whatever it was they were trying to do¡ªbut we kept following the footsteps of this young private until we reached a pitched-up tent inside this hanger for privacy''s purposes.


    The dude stopped by the entrance and beckoned us toe in without going inside:


    "Please."


    However, as everyone else from my group was about to follow, the dude stopped them with a difficult expression:


    "Umm¡ª Sir Ishiyama, you can only bring up to two people inside with you¡ª"


    I cut in, "Shouldn''t you have told me that before you made everyone follow after you?"


    "U-Umm¡ª A-Apologies¡­ I d-didn''t think that they''d all follow¡ª"


    Quinn quipped from the side, "For a ce that had all of this shit tomunicate, you''re having a hard time doing it, huh?"


    "A-Again¡­ Apologies¡­"


    Then I nced at his name patch, "Ah fuck, you''re Thomas, huh?"


    He was visibly surprised:


    "Sir? I¡ª"


    I waved him off, "I met with Bob at the checkpoint. He told me your friend Royo would hook us up with something special if I gave you the keys to that stock truck we brought over."


    Then his demeanor suddenly changed:


    "A-Ah¡ª A''ight. The white one with the stripes, right? Meet me at Building 34¡ªthe one further back away from everything else¡ªwhen you''re done here. If I''m not there, tell Royo that you met Bob and then me in that order, he''ll hook you up."


    "Alright."


    At that point, this Thomas dude quickly said his goodbye as he pocketed the keys to the truck but Kaley was already frazzled from that interaction:


    "D-Do you even know what you''ve gotten yourself into?"


    "Not a clue, why?"


    "What if¡ª You should''ve asked what they offer, at least!"


    "Well, we''ll know¡ª"


    As I was in mid-sentence, it seemed like the old man recognized my voice so his voice boomed from the tent to tell us toe in:


    "HEY! I HEARD YA, KID! FUCK THAT LITTLE BITCH, JUST BRING EVERYONE HERE!"


    Hearing that, everyone either stifled augh or let out a chuckle so we just let ourselves in and saw this McGyver-ish setup with severalputers stacked on top of one another disying several monitors from different angles. Three people seemed to be operating them while one was down on her nose with her headphones but I already spotted from afar who this Major Harper was.


    It was this well-built dude with a clean cut and a trimmed beard but his dignified look was destroyed by this leather eyepatch he was wearing for his right eye.


    He stood a good six feet tall, with dark brown hair, green eyes¡ª I mean, eye¡ª no¡ªthey should be¡ª fuck, just green eyes, a square jaw, and this fucking neck that would need three hands topletely envelop.


    But yeah, he also picked me from the crowd and watched mee up to him before he offered a handshake which would almost always mean a battle for grip strength.


    And the moment our hands took hold of each other, we were just stuck in a staredown where he was maintaining his stoic demeanor while I was keeping a faint smile despite our forearms suddenly working on all cylinders from all the stress it was suddenly put through.


    Though while this was happening, Oscar was already rolling his eyes but Major Harper had already decreased his assault even if I was 100% sure we could go on for longer:


    "USMC, Major Harper."


    "Sky "The Kid" Ishiyama."


    "The Kid, huh?"


    "I have plenty of nicknames but it''s very inappropriate in the workce."


    "No actual rank?"


    "Well~ I was given special authority by the president to do as I please within reason but I don''t wanna get mistaken for special forces because we''re a special unit."


    "And why is that?"


    "For starters, you people have a lot of respect for rank and since the old man here is a few steps above yours even though he''s retired, you respect his authority¡ªmaybe even more because he''s one of you guys."


    "Is that so?"


    "Yeah. I''m basically a nobody to you right now but I might strike a few nerve endings if I told you that I don''t answer to you or anyone for that matter. It''s just that my actions aligned with the president''s goals that''s why he lets me do as I please and not work under him or any other high-ranking officers for that matter."


    "Heh."


    "Something funny?"


    "You''re one special kid, alright¡­"


    "What does that mean?"


    "I hate that you fucking hit the nail on the assumptions you have of me but I also like you for it. You also made yourself to be out of the ranking system we''re so proud of but you didn''t throw it at my face from the get-go¡ªwell, not until you were asked¡ªbut I heard you caused quite a stir when you met with my officers."


    I rolled my eyes as I stared right at one of his, "Can you me me for that though?"


    "me your president for not telling you."


    "Heh. That''s good. You''re already driving a rift between us, eh?"


    He let out a chuckle, "Is it working though?"


    "It still stings a lot, to bepletely honest, but that just meant that I''m still not worth shit in his eyes, or yours. Even though I thought I was doing the almighty''s work over here but that''s just a blip in the grand scheme of thingspared to the ce you fucks are ying on."

 Chapter 1088: The Marine Base III - Shoot Shit

    As soon as I said that, Major Harper just looked at me for a few seconds, nced at Oscar, then looked back at me for a few more seconds before he straight-up cackled while palming his face with his huge hand. To my surprise, as this was happening, Oscar was giving me an approving look but all I did was spit out shit on the top of my head.


    Then I heard something I believe I heard only a few times in my life from this stranger I just met:


    "You''re horribly self-aware, huh?"


    "..."


    "Cat got your tongue now?"


    I shook my head, "Nah, I was just taken aback by that phrase. Only a few perceptive people have said that to me."


    "Mm-Hmm~ Is that right? I guess losing an eye made me more perceptive, huh?"


    "Hah¡­ I thought losing one or in your case, partially losing one of your senses heightens the other ones, not enhancing the same thing."


    "What if it''s just my mind''s eye that was heightened, hmm?"


    "Huh. Haven''t thought of that. What did you call me here for, anyway?"


    "We''re done shootin'' shit? Alright¡­ I don''t know how much Mitch has told you, but we''re aiming to turn this ce, among others, into our little safe haven while we''re trying to reim our soil. I think one of the first steps is to introduce me to one of your allies that''s on that other airport due Northeast but the colonel insisted that I go through you first."


    I waved him off, "Among others, where else have you guys docked at?"


    "Whichever one''s closer and hospitable, really. The rule''s one in each country to spread us around¡ªwe even nned to head straight for your president''s main ind but there''re just too many foreign diplomats over there from other countries we wanted something that''s already ours. Did you know that we were nning to buy this ce again?"


    "I do. Oscar mentioned that to me before."


    Major Harper momentarily nced at Oscar, "Telling government secrets to your nephew, huh?"


    Oscar scoffed in derision while picking his ears, "Shaddap, rookie. You fucks kept telling government secrets to a retired fuck like me too. Besides, all this shit wouldn''t be possible without us working together. The kid''s one of the main reasons we''re talking here."


    Major Harper shook his head, chuckling, "Fair, fair¡­"


    I cut in, "But yeah, aside from introducing you to Jessica, your main goal after establishing yourself in this base and the Freeport Zone is to connect with the local residents because they''re fucking cautious of you. We should''ve been hearing from them but there was nary a peep or an attempt to establish a connection."


    Major Harper sighed, "It''s probably because of the other fucks who followed after us. Not only did they dock somewhere else, but they were also telling them horror stories and whatnot, and a portion of my people here are trying just that to convince them otherwise. What we need right now is someone local so they''d believe us more."


    "That sounds about right¡­"


    "Also, our next main goal after clearing the Main Harbor is to liberate the Subic Bay International Airport so that we could have more of our troops deliver our people here to safety. Not everyone could just get here by boat, you see¡­ All the more reason that I think you should give me the chance to have a talk with that Jessica(?) fellow. I''ve also heard great things from her."


    I rolled my eyes, "Not to shit on her but our actions are on a lower scalepared to yours¡ª"


    "I was just¡ª"


    "Let me finish. Jessica would appreciate the brutal honesty more than ttery¡ªand the same thing could be said for me. Tell us straight-up what you need done and we''ll tell you what we also need from you and after that, we''ll work on the best solution."


    He then nced at the women standing behind me, "You know how to handle yourself around women, huh? You''re awfully familiar with how your ally of yours thinks too."


    I just dismissed him, "Sure. But that''s a story for another day. However, the way I think things are going, you''d need more people to run this ce, the Main Harbor, and the Airport all at once and it could be done either with a supplement from either of our troops or more from your side.


    I heard a carrier will arrive here soon but if Jessica gives you ess to her airport, you''d have more people to work with in theing days."


    He then cut in, "Mitch."


    "Hmm?"


    "Mitch will have more people to work with in theing days, not me."


    "What do you mean? Ah¡ª You mean?"


    "Yeah. He said he wanted toe back and fight but his family here wouldn''t let him and that includes me. I''ll be better off bringing more of my people here temporarily and fighting those undead fucks rather than sitting my ass here all day, and honestly, Mitch is the best man for the job.


    Once everything partly settles or when the carrieres in, I''ll give him all the reigns and his well-deserved promotion."


    Oscar cut in, "That reminds me, do we finally have an ETA for the carrier to arrive?"


    Major Harper nodded as he turned to the female soldier wearing headphones, "Rodriguez! Hey!"


    The Rodriguez dudette then took off her headphones, partly shocked due to the increase of people, "Sir?"


    "The carrier. The one where the colonel''s daughter is?"


    "Right¡­ Just a sec¡­ If I¡ª No¡­ This one¡­ Ah¡­ M-Maybe~ No¡­"


    "We just need an estimate Rodriguez¡ª"


    "I got it here! Around 6-8¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "DAYS?! WHAT?!"


    Rodriguez shook her head, "N-No, colonel, it''s¡ª"


    I cut in too, "No way, weeks?!"


    "No¡ª"


    Major Harper cut in as well, "MONTHS?! I THOUGHT THEY WERE CLOSE?!"


    Kaley then had enough, "LET HER FINISH TALKING! GOSH!"


    Rodriguez turned to Kaley thankfully before she looked at us, "Hours. They''ll be here in 6-8 hours."

 Chapter 1089: Passing Responsibilities - Not quite.

    Hearing Rodriguez say that, saying that Oscar looked shocked to fuck was an understatement. Because not only did he prove he was in no way Asian due to how roundly erged his eyes, the motherfucker couldn''t even squat with full depth as he had a panic attack-like event.


    I thought for sure that he''d be jumping for joy or unloading several birdshots¡ª err, buckshots in the fucking air, but the dumbass needed to sit down as he started to hyperventte.


    "K-KID! KID! KIDDDD! SHE''S COMING! S-SHE''S COMING!"


    I tried my best to contain myughter, "I heard, old man. She''s finally¡ª"


    "OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT! SHE''S FINALLY COMING! WHERE''S SHE GONNA STAY?! OH FUCK!


    OH FUCK¡ª"


    "You have a house back home, alright?! Keep it together!"


    "OH~ BRUDDA~! WHAT IF SHE SAW THE MESS?! THE HOUSE HASN''T BEEN C-CLEANED IN WEEKS! S-SHE''S GONNA KILL ME, KID! W-WHAT DO I DO?!"


    "We''re gonna call Aunt Sharon and she''ll get it sorted, alright¡ª"


    "OH HELL NO! WHAT IF SHE TELLS ME I COULDN''T TAKE CARE OF MYSELF?! S-SHE''S GONNA LEAVE ME AGAIN, KID! I''M NOT PREPARED FOR THAT¡ª OWW! THE FUCK YOU HITTIN'' ME FOR, YOU LITTLE SHIT?!"


    "GET YOURSELF TOGETHER! YOU''RE A FUCKING MESS! I THOUGHT YOU''D BE HAPPY TO SEE HER! AREN''T YOU FUCKS TALKING?!"


    "DON''T CALL MY DAUGHTER A FUCK, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! SHE''S THE BEST!"


    "THEN WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING SCARED OF SEEING HER?!"


    "THAT''S THE FUCKING THING! WHY WON''T YOU FUCKING HELP MEEEEEE?!"


    I slowly approached the dumbass, "Alright¡­ Alright¡­ That''s totally my fault¡­ I''m gonna help you don''t worry¡­ C''mere old man¡­ Bring it in¡­"


    "Now you fucking get it! I TOLD YOU I NEED HELP, ALRIGHT¡ª"


    "Shhh¡­ Settle down¡­ Settle down¡­ Turn around, turn around¡­"


    "What are you doi¡ª HNGH! GCK! HELP! GACK! HE''S CHOK¡ª"


    "Shhh¡­ Shhh¡­ Sleep¡­ Sleep¡­ We can''t take eight more hours of this¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Major Harper had to cut in, "Did¡­ D-Did you just choke out the colonel?"


    I turned to him with an angelic smile, "Yes! Works pretty well, no?"


    "Ah..."


    "...?"


    At this point, even if the old man wouldn''t stay unconscious for the whole eight hours, one sure-fire to get anyone from a 100 to a 0 was to not only make their mouth stop moving, but also the rest of their body. Furthermore, I was slowly stacking the times this motherfucker spiked my drink for my "benefit" but this time, choking him out was also beneficial for everyone else.


    But yeah, it looked like Jenna Rodriguez, one of Major Harper''s Warrant Officer''s still had more to say before Oscar blew up, so I turned back my attention to her after cing Oscar in a rtively safe corner.


    "You were saying? You had more, right?"


    "I¡­" she was still in a little bit of a shock from what had just urred but she shook her head quickly before she resumed her game face, "Right! It is just a generous statement though but I''m confident that they wouldn''t take more than 24 hours to dock the carrier in this ce.


    We''ve already made ample space for them and the ones that would arrive but we''re expecting at least a thousand evacuees¡ªnot including the soldiers who''d sail in a few days after a short rest."


    "A thousand at least? And sailing in a few days?"


    "Yes. That''s one of the reasons the Major had Mitch take over that bigger ce across this small body of water¡­"


    Major Harper followed, "Yeah, I did say we''re just waiting for things to settle but we gotta meet in the middle here. The hospitality my troops and I received from all of you was more than weing and I hope you''d do the same for everyone else, within reason, of course. I''ll grant you some authority to throw your name with some weight around my men because it seems like a popr choice, no?"


    I lightly chuckled, "I appreciate the confidence and all but I thought Mitch would be the one doing most of YOUR work here. Right now, I think you''re trying to push more work on me without any sort of return."


    "Hmph! Gaining full control of my men and a thousand or so survivors isn''t enough? The world is your oyster, you can pretty much tell them to do fuck all and I was told specifically by the colonel that you prolly wouldn''t even need the special authority I''ll give ya to make them bend to your will."


    I shook my head, "It''s not about bending anyone to my will, it''s about finding what works for everybody¡ªwithin reason, of course¡ªand moving on from there. We just gotta find the perfect bnce for it so everyone could¡ª"


    "I''m gonna stop you right there, kid. You should be telling all your secrets to Mitch, not me. Besides, can''t you see that we went to you and the old man directly instead of the president? We have our reasons, of course, but doesn''t this favor you greatly? I don''t wannapare apples to oranges but don''t tell me this shit isn''t tempting you?


    You can''t just pass up a few hundred soldiers from the Navy to anything the president has an excess of, right?"


    "That''s true in many cases¡ª"


    "So why do I think you''re about to say no?"


    "Then let me finish so we can see eyes to eye, alright? No offense."


    "Heh. Go on. I''m listening with my two good ears."


    "You''re basically asking me to babysit a "few" hundred Marines, a thousand or so random survivors, and look out for your escapees who are trying to smear your name. And for what? I do know that someone said that people are a resource but ites with a lot of fucking baggage and responsibility without any actual power."


    "What do you mean by that?"


    "I''m confident in my ability to lead people but each and everyone of you testing me every single time we shook hands just rubs me the wrong way."


    "So, what are you saying? You sayin'' no?"


    "Not quite."

 Chapter 1090: Passing Responsibilities II - Consider it done.

    At this point, Major Harper and everyone else in this tent were waiting for my proper response but it was also safe to say that I''m being a little fucking eel because I was still trying to weigh everything inside my head because I was just supposed to work with them, not have a 50% share ofmand with a Marine I almost choked to death.


    Furthermore, the USMC was something no one should fucking sneeze at but won''t they just leave me with the slim pickings the moment their best fighters leave everyone here to fight?


    I know that they were the best of the fucking best but there were still tier levels in their skillsets too, right?


    But yeah, this was just a change far too fucking fast for me¡ªand another overflowing smorgasbord in my cart¡ªbut then again, this was an opportunity I can''t just fucking pass up.


    So I had a few things in mind:


    "For this to work, I''m gonna need you to do a few things for me."


    "Again, I''m all ears."


    "Even if I''m working on a smaller scalepared to you fucks, I still have a full te and a ton of other things I want to aplish before I kick my shoes back and rx for once."


    "That means?"


    "Before you guys leave, I''m gonna need you to clear the airport, the techno farms due East, and a quick run through the road North right until you reach the East bridge of the area Mitch took over with Oscar. Add chopping down a bunch of trees so we have more materials to work with. And this ce severely needs some too."


    "Consider it done."


    "I''m not yet done though."


    He lightly shook his head, "Go ahead."


    "And right as you leave, I want you to give two other people the same authority over 100 Marines because I''ll send them over to their ce so they can offer their services and learn from each other. If you want, we''ll send some of their troops here too."


    "Who? Jessica? Who''s the other one?"


    "Iskoh. The Mayor of Man. He''s in a bay muchrger than this one and that''s where most of the fighting is."


    "That''s too many, let''s cut that in half."


    "In the premise of you sending 100 each of those evacuees that''sing. They could be non-fighters but we can''t just have you all in one ce. We gotta spread you around."


    "What about your ce?"


    "I thought I was leading this shit with Mitch? Don''t I basically own half of your troops when you leave?"


    Major Harper let out a smirk, "That''s right. Carry on."


    "I need to hear if my second idea is approved first."


    "I said carry on, it''s the same thing as saying that it''s done."


    "Andstly, we''re gonna need a monthly shipment of fuel enough to run the power grid and an F-18¡ª"


    "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THAT''S RICH! OH FUCK, I DIDN''T EXPECT¡ª HAH! GODDAMMIT, YOU''RE TOO FUCKING MUCH, YOU KNOW THAT?!"


    "What''s so funny? Your people need to live infort, no?"


    ''I''m gonna use the fuel for our vehicles though¡­ Those techno farms are literal farms of sr panels¡­''


    "HAH! I understand the need for fuel¡ªand we can have an arrangement for that¡ªbut an F-18?! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS, KID?! WHO''S GONNA¡ª CAN YOU EVEN FLY IT?!"


    "Do you gift someone a toy without batteries? Give me a pilot too!"


    "BWAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, I''M DYING HERE! OH FUCK! THIS IS REALLY TOO FUCKING MUCH! WHEN DID OUR PILOTS BECOME BATTERIES?! I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST JET FUEL?!


    WHEN?!"


    "Look here, I''m not asking for the carrier or a B-2 Spirit. I just want a trump card of sorts for emergency situations¡­ And honestly, it''s a bucket list of mine, heh. Besides, much like your oil rigs¡ªwe do have one too¡ªbut I''m not just babysitting a thousand or so survivors, it''s gonna blow up sooner orter, right?


    Just fucking promise me that their numbers wouldn''t reach five digits within the year. Spread them around even if this is the best ce to take them in."


    "Hmm¡­"


    "No carry on or it''s done, huh?"


    "You think? I''m still thinking though¡­ But to be honest, I would''ve rejected this outright if it was a tall order but somehow¡­ It sounded like one but it isn''t."


    "One more question though."


    "Hmm?"


    "Can''t you just have the old man work with Mitch instead? This is an awful roundabout way to get me to work with ya."


    He shook his head, "No offense, kid. But he has always been one of us. We needed someone local¡ªlike your n earlier¡ªand you''re the perfect one for the job. You came highly rmended by the colonel AND the president. You think you''re moving small-scale but that''s some of the shit even I wouldn''t touch.


    Sending soldiers to their deaths to reim what was ours is easy, keeping everyone else alive in a foreignnd is that fucking difficult. Once everything here is over, all of the fucks you see outside here will fucking thank you."


    "Hmm."


    "I just threw you a fuckingpliment, you prick. Lighten the fuck up!"


    "Promise me one thing though?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Tell me when something like that''s about to go down¡­"


    "..."


    "I know I wouldn''t be able to do anything but I don''t wanna be kept in the dark either. I still hate all of you for doing that¡ªbecause it might cause something else along the line, I fear¡ªbut you gotta do what you gotta do with what you have¡­"


    "Hmm. You can count on that, kid. Rodriguez will answer everything for you."


    With that said, we talked more about minor stuff but it didn''t take long before the old fuck woke up and caused pandemonium:


    "GAAAAAAAH!!! KID! KID?! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YA?! I''MMA KILL YOU! CHOKING ME OUT¡ª"


    I cut in at the right fucking moment, "Hey! Jennifer''s right outside! She''s waiting for you!"


    "WHAT?! THEN¡ª Oh god¡­"


    Then the motherfucker passed right out.

 Chapter 1091: Amaryllis - Paella

    For some reason, as the old man''s daughter was just about to arrive, he was just the gift that keeps on fucking giving because everyone else was stunned for a good minute by his reaction before everyone else tried so fucking hard to contain theirughter.


    Oscar could be a retiredbat medic that had seen some shit, but deep down, there was still a part of him that was a nervous father meeting his daughter he hadn''t talked to for long.


    But yeah, the moment Oscar came to properly, he chased me out of the tent for a good ten minutes before he ran out of breath, before we were able to continue finalizing my part¡ªtechnically speaking, my 49% share with Mitch¡ªin "babysitting" their people.


    "You know what? You can just give Mitch the full authority while I work my way up since you said the old man is one of you, your people would understand spreading some of you guys out. You see, I already started warming up to the ones in the Main Harbor and getting a top-up like this just isn''t right."


    Major Harper shrugged his shoulders, "We could do that, sure, but that''ll just make things harder for ya."


    Oscar chimed in while ring at me, "Eh. He''s insane to even suggest that but won''t that work much better? What would you think if your Fleet Admiral introduced a random-ass kid you''ve never even heard of before and said you should follow his orders?"


    "That''s¡­"


    I chuckled, "See what I''m talking about? I could have all the achievements and whatnot but I still gotta earn the rep to being an honorary Marine or some shit. I know the old man''s in a different department but it''s kinda the same thing for him though, you know?


    You can sing me praises all you like and they could follow your rmendation because you guys are that tight but nothing beats starting from the bottom and then working my way up."


    "That is true¡­"


    "Besides, I did say I''m good with people, I handle this ''colonel'' who''s deathly afraid of his daughter, how hard could it get?"


    Oscar cut in, "Now you''re cutting a little too deep, alright?! Easy on the jabs, kid!"


    I chuckled, "Anyway, we shouldn''t finalize everything now because the people that areing are also involved so¡­ what time do you guys eat?"


    Jenna Rodriguez suddenly cut in, "Two hours¡­"


    I''ve never been so shocked, "You guys eat at 10:00 PM?!"


    Major Harper let out a sigh but Jenna continued:


    "N-No¡­ We should''ve eaten two hours ago¡­"


    "What¡ª"


    Major Harper answered, "If you haven''t noticed, we''re in a rush here so everything''s just spread so thin. We don''t have a proper rotation yet¡ª"


    "Fuck it, I''ll cook¡­ Again. Where''s your kitchen at? You guys eat everything, right?"


    "You don''t have to¡ª"


    "Eh. I''m hungry from all this talking, I have to. It''s either that or I risk getting mobbed by you people if I start cooking for just me and my crew."


    "Hmm! I guess we''ll be indebted to you again¡ª"


    "Eh~ Just add in a Chinook or a submarine on our deal and¡ª"


    "HAH! YOU REALLY HAVE JOKES, HUH?!"


    "I''m not joking though, heh. The joke is if I ask you about your spice levels. You fine with a little chili or just pepper¡ª"


    Jenna started rolling on the floor,ughing while Major Harper had never been so offended:


    "LISTEN HERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT¡ª JENNA! GET UP ON YOUR DESK OR I''LL FIRE YA! I CAN HANDLE MY SPICES, OKAY?! GIVE ME ALL YOU GOT THEN!"


    "Your funeral, heh."


    With that said, it seemed like my favorability in the Marine Base suddenly jumped because their meal times werepletely random and they didn''t have a proper chef to prepare their meals.


    However, with a couple of weeks on their belt, they had a good haul of fresh fish from our waters and a bunch of random ingredients they collected either from looting stores or from foraging the woods outside this area.


    But yeah, since the people I''d feed this time quadrupled, to say the least, I needed some help in preparing the ingredients so I sought help from my crew and the resting housewives who had a little break from taking care of their kids.


    I easily found Mitch''s wife, Amaryllis, among the crowd and she was more than happy to help us too.


    "What are we making?"


    "Hmm~ Something easy¡ª What about some Pae and we use the fish bones and the ms for some soup? I found some Saffron over there and some cheap wine¡ªwe''d probably need five or so stoves to cook everything at the same time."


    "T-That''s a tall order¡­"


    "It''s better to feed everyone at the same time, no? Food should be eaten with everybody."


    "That''s really nice¡­ To think you''re the one who u-umm¡­ put your hands on my husbands neck¡­"


    "You heard about that, huh?"


    "Unfortunately, yes¡­ But he did say you''re a great cook though, and he packed some breakfast earlier and sent it over here. Our kids loved it! Thank you!"


    "Ah~ That''s good, that''s good¡­ Shall we?"


    "We take care of the vegetables and you take care of the seafood?"


    "That''s the n."


    "You''re doing a lot¡ª Whoa! How are you that fast?! Let us keep up!"


    On that note, cooking some Pae wouldn''t take an hour but with the prep work and the number of people we needed to feed, it did take that much time¡ªand we made a spicy version too for Major Harper and the rest of us¡ªbut we didn''t even notice the crowd of people hovering over, waiting with their own tes and utensils.


    "WHOAAAAAA! THIS SHIT IS GOOD!"


    "MOM! MOM! YOU MADE THIS?! YOU CAN ACTUALLY COOK?!"


    "HEY! DON''T DISS YOUR MOM! SHE WAS JUST BUSY THOSE OTHER TIMES!"


    "THIS IS REALLY GREAT THOUGH, WHO COOKED IT?!"


    "IT''S THAT KID, RIGHT?! HEY, KID! THANKS FOR THE FOOD!"


    "WE HELPED TOO, YOU KNOW?!"


    "THEN WHY''D THE FOOD SUDDENLY GET GOOD?!"


    "HEY! WANT ME TO BOIL YOU ROCKS FOR BREAKFAST?!"


    "EASY DOWN, ALRIGHT?! HEY! THAT''S MINE YOU FREAK! GIVE IT BACK!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    At this moment, I was eating a bowl of the food with Kaley and the rest and this time, the thought of these people''s government making that huge mistake was kinda out of my mind so I was enjoying the food with everyone.


    But yeah, it was funny to see Major Harper returning his bowl of food and exchanging it with the milder one because he talked a lot of shit and couldn''t even handle finishing half the bowl.

 Chapter 1092: Building 34 - Royo

    In any case, cooking this food made them take a small hit from their reserves but the morale and favorability boost was more than worth it because the people from this side were as hard at work as the people on the Main Harbor.


    Compared to us, once the sun went down, it was free time for everybody in mypound¡ªexcept for the essential duties like security and whatnot¡ªbut these people were still going out on runs even though it was dark outside.


    I barely made people go out in the dark because it was totally differentpared to when the world ended because they would only be the ones with a light source and that would make them serious targets for the ones lurking in the dark. However, they simply needed to take that risk, or else this ce would copse on its own due to limited resources.


    But yeah, they didn''t have a lot of issues in regards to food because they had great fishermen in their fold though fresh seafood could only do so much in the long run.


    I know that it was the fucking end of the world but people need variety and some vor to keep themselves happy, not just satiated, and a little ssh of salt goes a long way.


    ''Good thing they''d already started drying seawater¡­ It takes a while though¡­''


    Then Oscar nudged me:


    "Kid. I appreciate you cooking for them and all but my daughter''s gonnae in a few hours, right?"


    "Don''t worry, old man. We''ve cooked just enough for everybody here but I already prepped the ingredients needed once theye. They just needed to wait 30 minutes or so for everything to cook."


    "Oh!" then he leaned close, "I got some beer in the cooler of my H1, want someter? We haven''t had a proper talk."


    "Sure. Is it serious though?"


    "Eh. Just random bullshit to pass the time. I wanna hear about what happened on your trip. Must''ve been more insanepared tost time."


    "Not as insane as what happened those three months though."


    "Haaa¡­ Don''t bring that up too much. I''m surprised too. Just grab meter when you''re ready, alright?"


    "Sure, old man."


    With that said, we still had several hours to kill if we were just gonna wait for the carrier to arrive, so I made my way to this "Building 34" of sorts with some of my people¡ªno, the girls, it would almost always be with Kaley andpany.


    The Building 34 was one of the warehouses located at the further end of the Marine Base¡ªalmost at the foot of some hills¡ªwhere a campsite was located only a few kilometers out.


    It wasn''t the only building in this location, of course, but we definitely felt some shady vibes upon entering though Thomas was already present¡ªweing us with a more chill tone¡ªand introduced as to a few people including "Royo" who was face down with welding mask, working on a project of his.


    "Royo! ROYO! OI¡ª ROYOOO¡ª"


    "WHAT?! CAN''T YOU SEE I''M BUSY ''ERE?!"


    "We have guests! Bob sent them!"


    "Isn''t he the cook?"


    "The guest of honor too, he''s the kid the colonel''s been raving about."


    "Ah~" this Royo dude took off his gloves and mask then offered a handshake, "Wee, wee! Thanks for the food, yeah? Hadn''t had a proper meal since¡ª You know what? I''m ramblin'' Watchu lookin'' for, huh? I''ll hook you up with everything in B34."


    I returned his firm handshake with my own, "I dunno what to look for though, what do you offer?"


    "Strong grip, huh? Shiii~ Bob didn''t tell you, huh? Hmm~ Think of this ce as a legal ck market of sorts. We have anything and everything, we also do procurement jobs, fabrication jobs¡ªeven without a blueprint, just tell us what you want made and we''ll try our best, and yeah, we offer all sorts of services too."


    "Legal¡ª You mean Major Harper knows about this?"


    "He a customer, brother! It keeps things interesting, you see? It''s just that I''m surprised you''re here because I''m assuming you have all types of shit lying around but we''re also looking to buy more than your handsome donation. What''s it gotta be?"


    "I kinda wanna have a look at the full catalog though, you have some stuff that didn''te from here though, right?"


    "Of course, we do! Take that fancy-ass de on your hip, for example¡­ We have something like that too¡ª"


    "Trust me, you don''t have something like this."


    "Oooh~ Is it a treasured de or something?! Don''t get me excited now!"


    "..." I just kept silent as I was faintly smiling.


    "OHHH~ SHIT! IT IS ONE, HUH?! CAN I SEE?! BRANDON! HIT THE LIGHTS!"


    The Brandon dude from the back shouted back, "Which one?!"


    "ALL OF ''EM! I GOTTA SEE THAT SHIT REAL CLOSE! MAY I? PLEASE?!" then he shouted at the other dude eating a bag of corn chips, "HEEEEY! CHICAGO! BRING ALL OF ''EM HERE!


    WE GOTTA DO SOME COMPARISONS!"


    With how desperate this Royo guy to look at my de, I relented as I untied the knot on my warbelt, pulled the whole thing out with its scabbard, thenid it on the table.


    Funnily enough, the motherfucker had this loupe on like he was checking diamonds while the other guys were scrambling to bring a few crates of martial weapons they collected overtime.


    "Oh my¡ª OH MY LAWDDD~ GIVE ME THE STRENGTH! I HAVEN''T EVEN PULLED THE THING OUT AND THIS JUST SCREAMS PRICELESS!" then he violently turned his head to face me, "You samurai or somethin''?"


    I chuckled, "Something like that¡ª"


    "HOLD UP!" he then pointed at Kaley, "THAT''S THE SAME ONE TOO, RIGHT?! I noticed a simr dragon pattern! This is not some weeb shit, huh? This is the real~ fuckin''~ deal~ Am I right?!"


    Isaac then nudged me from behind, surprising me because I thought he was with Jared:


    "Bro¡­ Look at that other box¡­ It has the¡ª"


    "Oh, shit¡ª"

 Chapter 1093: Upgrade?

    From my own collection, I have three pieces of priceless treasures¡ª namely: my katana, my wakizashi, and my tanto which were all made by a grandmaster cksmith named Kaiseki Yamamoto. However, that didn''t mean I didn''t peruse what else was avable on the market¡ªpurchasing a few along the way¡ªbut nothing could justpare to what I have right now that was made just for me.


    It''s just that the packaging of some of their merchandise looked to be from a desmithingpany that ships their works worldwide: deworks Limited.


    Sticking out from its signature box was also its signature velvet pouch where they would always ce their merchandise and it was sticking out from the pile¡ª no, aside from that, the length of this particr item for sale far exceeded the normal length of katanas and it just made this weeb and nerd in the apocalypse a little excited.


    But yeah, I wouldn''t just take my eyes off my de so I made Isaac get it for me before Royo asked for permission to draw my de.


    "Go ahead."


    "Mannn~ I''ve never been this nervous, here we go¡ª"


    As Royo pulled my de in its entirety, this was the first time I met him but he had never been this awestruck as he saw his crisp reflection from my de while trying to take in all of the work that was done on it.


    He just looked like he was in a trance-like statebined with a state of bliss as his eyes slowly scanned over each detail he could perceive, starting from the intricacies of the entirety of the handle and the handguard to how me-like yet ever-flowing like waves of water the genuine edge pattern a.k.a the "Hamon" was due to how it was made.


    Royo was one of the few folks who looked like he understood what was in front of him¡ªtotally different from the dudes from Cuervo Heights who wanted to sell me trash¡ªbut funnily enough, Thomas, Brandon, Chicago, and the rest of their group was looking at Royo like he lost himself.


    Thomas waved him off, "Yo. You okay there¡ª"


    "Shut up, man! This is the first time I''ve seen this shit¡ª" then he suddenly looked at me apologetically, "I didn''t mean it in a literal sense, man. You know what I meant, yeah?"


    "Of course, of course¡­ I understand."


    "Whew~ Almost got my head lopped off over here¡­ Heh¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Royo!"


    "What?! I''m still lookin'' at it! Bugger off!" then he turned to me once again, "Can I look at it for five more minutes? I won''t run away with it, I promise. You can peruse my collection while you''re at it like your friends."


    "Eh. I''m good. It''s been a while since someone can differentiate what''s mademercially and once every few years, no?"


    "What?! It''s that special?! Hold fuck¡ª How manyyers is this one?! Was it made for a shogunate or something?!"


    "That¡­ That I cannot answer¡ª"


    "Fuck! I''m sorry, right. Master''s secrets¡­ I can''t even imagine what kind of steel runs in here. I could check but that''s just too fucking rude and could cost me my life!"


    I chuckled, "Hah! You really are different¡­"


    ''All I know is that it''s made with nineyers but the actualbination of the steel¡ªwhatever the fuck was used is still unknown to me. It''s some sort of alloy at this point but we never know with the old man¡­''


    With that said, I didn''t think that it''d be this amusing to see a huge fucking guy with a curly mustache get lost for five minutes just looking at my treasured de, and once he was done¡ªafter taking a few pictures and selfies, of course¡ªhe returned it back to me with a bow and both arms stretched towards me.


    "I''ll never forget this, my man. That''s something I hope to aplish in my life but the modern method just lost something along the way¡­"


    "You a cksmith or something?"


    "Nothing as grand to receive a title¡ª an amateur, if you will. But I do know proper forging but I usually opt for cutting out the form out from 1095s or just in sheet metal then working from there. I know how the temps work for the hardening process and all that jazz but working with a good ol'' hammer and anvil''s the dream."


    "You can still start by doing just that, no? Looking around, it looks like you don''t have the things you need from a modern forge as well."


    He then looked sullen as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Eh. It is what it is. I can''t afford to practice now since I''m supposed to make different types of shit every day and the old way just takes too fucking long, no offense."


    "None taken. It''s the price for such things, no? As long as it works though, right?"


    "Yeah~ That''s true, that''s true¡­ Oh! Looks like your sidekick found the tachi, huh?"


    This time, instead of the one I was speaking to, Isaac was now like a statue staring at the long-ass de in front of his eyes with longing and admiration while everyone else was just looking at him weirdly. However, I broke his trance the moment I took it from his hands, put it back in its sheathe, and then drew it back to get a good feel from it.


    And for some reason, Kaley and a few others didn''t give me the same look they did Isaac and my "sidekick" definitely got ticked off:


    "Hey! That''s not fair!"


    I turned to him, "What''s not fair?"


    "I saw them look at me like I''m some weeb before my mind drifted away but when you do it, they look like they''re creaming their pants right now¡ª Ow! Why''d you hit me, bro?"


    "First of all, don''t talk to them like that. And secondly, we''re both weebs. What''s the problem?"


    "Argh¡­ Would be nice to have someone¡ª Holdup, why are you putting it back? Don''t you like it?"


    "Doesn''t feel right, for some reason."


    "Oh. Can I have it instead?!"

 Chapter 1094: Whats the difference between a tachi and a katana?

    Not to sound too cocky or anything, but if Isaac were me, I''d just let him switch primaries like it was nothing but there were pros and cons to doing that.


    Sure, a tachi had more reach and power, akin to the advantages of a katana to a wakizashi, but there was this adjustment period of sorts when changing into something new, also akin to switching gun tforms¡ªAR to AK and vice versa¡ªand it just might be the thing that broke the camel''s back.


    Additionally, Isaac''s fighting style was geared towards just doing straight-up melee¡ªonly using his gun less than 1% of the time¡ªand on paper, having something to supplement your fighting style was key but in the real world, it could spring a lot of problems.


    But yeah, also in the real world, it wasn''t like he was only allowed to use one weapon because Tatiana was the most versatile in our crew, switching from a semi-auto shotgun and an AK to a bastard sword and an injector axe¡ªnot to mention the knives she''d pull out from time to time and her sidearm.


    I thought for a bit before I gave him an answer:


    "I''ll buy it for you but you can''t use it outside until you''ve swung it enough times."


    "For real?! Fuck yeah¡ª wait. How many times should I¡ª"


    "You know the basics I thought you, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "And the dailies you need to aplish?"


    "A thousand swings on all directions each day including a thousand thrusts with a soaked bokken."


    I nodded approvingly, "That''s right. You''re doing the same thing with a longer bokken now but you''re doing it on top of the thing you''re already doing."


    "What¡ª That''s it?"


    "Yeah."


    Royo mentioned from the side, "That''s so fucking cool¡­"


    Isaac asked, "For how long though?"


    "What do you mean how long? You''ll be doing that for the rest of your life now."


    Isaac was a little taken aback but he slowly nodded his head, "That''s true¡­ I kinda get it¡ª"


    Thomas cut in, "How can you be sure he does everything you say? You keep watch over him or something?"


    Isaac answered while ring at Thomas, "I just do, okay?! It''s a trust thing!"


    "Riiiiight."


    I chuckled, "It''s true that I can''t watch over all their training but it just shows when we spar. It''s very little increments but hey, who suffers if they don''t do the shit they were supposed to do?"


    "Hmm. Makes sense, I guess¡­"


    Alexa interjected, "I''m not exactly familiar with Japanese weapons but what''s so different about them exactly that Isaac needs to do different sets of training for them?"


    I had never smiled so brightly from hearing that question:


    "That''s a very good question, Alexa! Everyone gather around~"


    Tatiana started, "Oh no¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "It''s been a while, let him have his moment¡­"


    Quinn turned to the two confused, "What''s going on?"


    Megan followed, "Yeah, what''s¡ª"


    Tatiana and Kaley answered at the same time, "Just¡ª Just follow along and don''t ever doze off, he''ll ignore you for a week¡­"


    "What? Sounds interesting though¡ª"


    I waved them off with the same smile I was wearing earlier, "Enough chattering¡ª" then I snapped my head over to Royo''s subordinates, "Oi! You fucks are included too! Sit the fuck down! Please?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Royo waved them over, "Sit down, you fucks. It''s an order."


    "Fine¡­"


    "Sure, I guess¡­"


    "Where''s he get the whiteboard?"


    I looked at all of them wearing a coat I pulled out from nowhere:


    "Alright! Time for another lesson! It''s really been a while, huh? But yeah, from an outside perspective, what differences can you see between a tachi and a katana? Anyone?"


    Alexa raised her hand, "Length?"


    "That''s right! You have a discerning eye, right? Look a little closer."


    "Ah¡ª Umm¡­ It''s umm¡­ C-Curved a little more?"


    "Ding! Ding! Ding! That''s right! It''s curved a little more but even though there are tachis that are less curved than katanas, they were originally designed that way because it''d be easier to draw one-handed while riding on horseback. Any idea what came first though?


    The tachi or the katana? Anyone from the Marine''s side? Chicago?"


    "Me? I-I dunno¡ª"


    "Just guess?"


    "The uh¡­ The katana, I guess?"


    "Can I ask why you guessed that?"


    "Well¡­ I heard that metal was pretty scarce back then and the quality was not as good so they probably made things shorter? Did I get it right?"


    I nodded a few times, "That''s a good line of reasoning but tachis were made first, unfortunately. Katanas were made in the warring period when numbers meant more-- meaning, more soldiers needed to fight on foot aside from horseback, and even though there are slight differences or inuracies from the history books, it was believed that uchi-katanas were made after tachis."


    "Uchi-what?"


    "It''s the actual name for this piece of art because simply ''katana'' was an umbre term like people use for longswords. It''s a small detail I wanted to add in so¡­ the more you know."


    "Oh¡­"


    Megan raised her hand, "Wait, I thought we were talking about their differences?"


    Alexamented, "We are in a way though, right?"


    "Eh. Megan''s right in a way but I just wanted to add a bit of history lesson for all of you. But yeah, aside from the length and the time they were created and used, what else is there?"


    As I asked the question, everyone else was looking at me for clues but I waved them off before they veered off the right path.


    "Holdup don''t look at me for clues because what I''m doing right now is different from how it''s usually done. Ah¡ª It''s a clue in a way but¡ª"


    Kaley joined in, "Is it the way you carry them?"


    I''ve never been so happy, "Bingo! There''s a very subtle difference but I do wear mine very differently, no?"


    "..." Everyone thought otherwise as they shook their heads.


    "Need aparison?" I turned to Isaac, "Hey, stand next to me."


    "How will that¡ª Oh!"

 Chapter 1095: Comfort and Cow bells-- what?

    A lot of things have changed over time but if we were talking about historical uracy, tachis were tied and hanging from a samurai''s waistband with the de facing down while katanas were simply inserted or tucked inside the waistband with the de facing up.


    Granted there were vast differences in how samurais wore them¡ªand in recent examples¡ªhow Isaac and I wore them, but let''s just say Isaac was wearing his katana in the traditional sense while I was doing a mix of both.


    It was because I had my katana tied tightly to my war belt, not hanging down, and the de was facing downward.


    There wasn''t any particr reason for the way I was doing it because I even used to wear my wakizashi¡ªthat was now on Kaley''s hips¡ªhorizontally on my back, and it was partly for coolness but more along the lines offort and just how it felt right.


    A few perceptive ones quickly noticed the difference as to how Isaac and I wore them differently but Isaac looked at me like he failed as my student.


    "S-Should I have done it that way?"


    "No, no¡­ It''s just that this way is morefortable for me and the techniques I''m using are¡ª"


    "But I''m under you, right?"


    "Yes, but you were my student for not that long ago. You''re still relearning everything but if you kept the same way of wearing it for some time while still under me, it wouldn''t matter as much as you think it would. This way just works for me and that way just works for you.


    But in the traditional sense, you kinda have to do it this way if you''re using a tachi though the de should be hanging from your hips. It''s weird, I know, and that''s why I''m trying to tell you to find your own style."


    "I see, I see¡­ I just need to find what works best for me, huh?"


    "Exactly. But yeah, that''s pretty much it because their main purpose was always for cutting down anything that stood in front of them but the funny thing is, wakizashis were always used alongside them for the user''s off-hand. You would think a tachi user would use a katana for their off-hand but they''d always opt for a wakizashi or just hold their des with both hands."


    "A-And why is that?"


    "Well, there was some rule back then that samurais had to carry two des¡ªusually a katana and a wakizashi¡ªbut it''s whatever now. I''m not technically a samurai, if anyone asks, but I should know a bit about this stuff since I''m wielding one of their weapons, no?"


    Alexa just had to do it, "W-What other weapons do s-samurais use?"


    "ALEXA!"


    "HE WAS JUST ABOUT DONE¡ª"


    "EXCELLENT QUESTION, ALEXA! Now that you mention it¡­ Hmm~ Oh! Right, there were chokutos at first¡ªdouble-ded shortswords¡ªeven before tachis but there were also naginatas¡ªa spear with a curved de at the end¡ªthe katana itself, a wakizashi like the one on Kaley''s hip, tantos¡ªwhich are basically daggers¡ªand yaris which are basically spears.


    But yeah, there are a lot more like odachis, nagamakis, bows and arrows, and yeah, even firearms that samurais used back in the day. Just know that if a country is at war, they''ll use everything in their arsenal to win."


    "Whew~ I thought we''d be here for an hour¡­"


    "Say something?"


    "N-No! I said that it was interesting! Ahaha¡­"


    "Yeah, we did take an hour or so, huh? But yeah, we''ll be here for a lot longer if we start to discuss each weapon''s history and how they were used back then. But now, what''s important is if they could work against the undead, nothing more, nothing less."


    Thomasmented, "Amen to that. I understand the niche, it IS cool, but not a lot of people could make them, right?"


    I nodded, "That''s very true. The only thing I could take away from this is that my des were custom-made for me and it just feels really good using them but in turn, I feel kinda off when I handle other weapons in the same category. It doesn''t happen with guns though, just these stuff. That''s one of the reasons I''m making Isaac get used to that tachi¡ª Anyway, how much is it?"


    Royo waved me off, "With the truck, the food, and the story? I still owe you. Look around, you might find some more things aside from ded weapons. There''s a cart over there on that side and we''ll see what you and your guys roll up in a little bitter."


    "Got something to do?"


    "Heh. A dumbass ordered a big-ass Rambo knife while one other dumbass¡ªno, a decent one ordered a shield. Don''t see a lot of folks asking to fabricate defensive shit¡ª well, he specifically requested spikes on it and it should be mountable on a jeep door, so there''s that too."


    "Alright, alright¡­ We''ll take a look around but we''re taking that tachi for sure."


    "Alright, brotha¡­ Just¡ª Just no sex on the building, alright?! I know it''s big and spacious but do your shit outside! I can''t keep cleaning the gunk people be leaving behind!"


    "You sound like you have other sets of problems, huh?"


    "Haaa~ Tell me about it. But yeah, I''ll dive in my project over ''ere while you guys do your thing, yeah?"


    "Yeah."


    With that said, aside from the firearms section that was locked tight in a sector with a passcode, it seemed like we were in a mall following a certain theme because it just had about a little bit of everything. Granted we can''t just spot Morningstars or steel-ted boots on disy on regr ones, but let''s just say that it was rtive to the time we were currently living in.


    But yeah, I easily found a couple of knives Megan and Alexa appreciated once they knew that I''ll purchase those for them, but finding a fucking bra that could fit Quinn''s humungous udders was fucking scary.


    "NO FUCKING WAY! QUINN! IT''S THE PERFECT SIZE! OW¡ª"


    "IT HAS COW PRINTS, YOU ASSHOLE!"


    "WHAT?! WHY DOES IT MATTER?! IT''S EVEN BETTER IF YOU ASK ME!"


    "THEN WHY DOES IT COME WITH THIS CHOKER WITH A LITTLE BELL, THESE HORNS, AND THAT PLUG?! THIS IS SOME FETISH TYPE SHIT!"


    "BITCH¡ª" I then whispered with intensity, "You can fit fists in your ass and you''re grossed out by a cow costume?!"


    "YOU¡ª"


    In any case, let''s just say that even though we didn''t have sex in the warehouse five minutes in, it did sound like it because I almost got beaten to death by Quinn who had never been so red in her life.

 Chapter 1096: Texas? - NRCH

    Joking aside, the motherfucker still kept the set for "emergencies" as she stated but we did find some things on disy that piqued our interest. I did call Building 34 some sort of mall but there was this section where it looked like a pawn shop with several memorabilia or random items hoarders like me would love to collect.


    "Oh, shit! This is sick!" I eximed.


    Kaley and Quinn looked over to me, "What is it?/ Did you find another costume?"


    "No! Heh, Royo has this box of tes from all 50 states and DC! The old man would love this! I can''t believe he hasn''t seen this yet¡ª"


    Then Quinn suddenly pried it off my hands, "Thank you, dibs."


    "Wha¡ª"


    "I just said dibs, piss off!"


    "I found it first¡ª"


    "Did you say dibs?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Fine, keep it. There are three other boxes of the same thing over there¡ª"


    "Well, you should''ve said so! Still keeping this one though¡­ Looks¡­ cleaner¡­ and less rust¡­"


    Kaley turned to me, shaking her head, "Is Oscar collecting license tes?"


    I replied before I picked another box and ced it on the cart, "Yeah."


    "How far along is he though?"


    "Hmm~ Texas?"


    "Okay¡­"


    "..."


    "And? What else¡ª"


    "Ah. Just Texas¡ª Ow! Kaley!"


    "Is he collecting them or not?!" Kaley eximed as Quinn almost died fromughing.


    But yeah, we can''t just keep this gold mine to ourselves so we gave a call to everybody else with us. Granted I wasn''t sure that the truck, the food, and the story I gave Royo could cover up all the expenses, but he gave me a breath of relief when he said that he could just put it in my tab.


    Because right now, he needs vehicle parts and different power tools more than anything aside from the usual tradeable items.


    However, I think that Building 34 should be relocated over to the Main Harbor because this ce was their main base of operations.


    Not anyone should be allowed inside unless absolutely necessary and the Main Harbor was already themercial spot for hangouts and whatnot. It wouldn''t be too much trouble for it to double as a trading spot for survivors who woulde visit and it was just counterproductive to ce it in a location further in their territory.


    ''Should be in front or something by the entrance¡­ Well~ It''s supposed to be a ck market though¡­ and a legal one at that¡­ whatever¡­''


    In any case, almost everyone just opted for a set of clothes and some sort of memorabilia but Jared damn near lost his shit when he spotted a stock FN SCAR with a 20-inch barrel hanging from Building 34''s firearms section.


    "B-Bro, bro! Look! LOOK! C-Can we take a loot at that?! You got the hook-up, right?"


    "You talking about that SCAR?"


    "What else?!"


    "What''s wrong with what you have on ya?"


    "Nothing! I just wanna look at that one! It''s navy blue! Well, parts of it! Don''t see them in that color as much, no?"


    "I can wrap yours if you want¡ª"


    "Please, bro! Can you ask the big dude¡ª look! He''s drinking some water! He''s on a break, right?!"


    "Fine¡­"


    "FUCK YEAH! THANKS BRO!"


    With that said, to prevent Jared from making more of a ruckus, I politely asked Royo if we could take a look at that particr SCAR on disy and he didn''t even need to ponder about it as he opened the door for us.


    However, he did only let me and Jared in this particr section¡ªalbeit apologetically¡ªbecause it was one of Major Harper''s imposed rules but the crew didn''t seem to mind because they would still get their turn and they were still busy looking around.


    "This one, right?"


    "YES! I mean¡ª Yeah¡­"


    Royo just had a glint in his eye, "Fancy SCARS, huh? This one''s from my personal collection but you can convince me to let go of it before the night ends."


    Jared nced at me momentarily before he turned back to Royo, "I-I thought we could put it in his *pointing at me a few times* tab?"


    "Hah! I did say that but those are for the items that are on disy outside. The ones here are difference, especially the ones that don''t look stock. You catch my drift?"


    I cut in, "How long have you had it for?"


    "Hmm~ Seven years, I think?"


    "That''s a long time."


    "And it''s still in tip-top shape. Had to rece a few parts for the thousands upon thousands of rounds I run through this baby because the best thing about this is that handle''s non-reciprocating. The bigger trigger guard helps too if you''re wearing gloves like that but''s it''s just a normal SCAR without the annoying things we marksmen had to bear while using this particr gun."


    Jared never looked so shocked, "What the fuck¡ª FOR REAL?! This is gonna be like¡ª A thousand dors more expensive! My thumb used to get murdered with the reciprocating handle when I was just getting used to mine!"


    "Sucks, right? But this thing solves that problem¡­"


    "Maaan~ I''ll pay top dor for this one¡­"


    "That''s what I''d like to hear~"


    ''Ah, fuck¡­ He isn''t helping his case one bit¡­''


    Royo threw us a bit of a bone, "That''s true on all ounts but the scope you have on plus all the other bling you have on yours is just about the same price as this one."


    Jared cut in, "But it''s stock!"


    "That''s true too, heh. Well, aside from the paint it has."


    "Which probably costs more¡ª"


    I had to step in again, "But yeah¡ª Wait, why''d you take off all the bling though?"


    Jared followed, "What are you currently running?"


    Royo forced a smile, "Do I have to tell you, gentlemen? Why''d you think I''m working on projects instead of going on runs?"


    I quipped, "Because you''re a great engineer?"


    "HAH! DAMMIT! I TRIED GOING FOR THE SOB STORY BUT IT BACKFIRED! Fuck it! No particr reason, just moved on to belt-fed shit when I partially lost my vision in both eyes. It''s not as bad as you think¡ªI can still shoot sub-MOA, if any of that matters¡ªthough there are better people for the job."


    "..."


    "..."


    "And no one here could use a welder''s torch better than me and all the shit you can see that could make things spark. Anyway, enough of that, what are you gonna give me for this? Take note, I''ll only be this generous until midnight which is coincidentally only a few hours away."


    "How about we bling it up, first?"

 Chapter 1097: A dil- WHAT?! - Im not leaving my post twice.

    "No," Royo replied without even thinking about it.


    "Why?!" Jared protested.


    "Look around! It''s the middle of the night!"


    I nodded, "That''s true¡­"


    Unfortunately, we just caught Royo on his break and it was in the middle of the night¡ªand even with the help of NVGs¡ªwe''d just look like dumbasses trying to zero a shelved gun without proper targets to acquire from afar. However, the only way that we could actually benefit from this trade was not to fucking rush it and actually take our time to fully examine the gun and weigh our options.


    Jared cut in, "I-I-I thought we''re gonna bling it up and shit, bro?!"


    I waved him off as I turned to Royo who was looking at his watch, "Hey, you up for a deal though?"


    Royo looked taken aback for a moment before he let out a chuckle, "A dildo? What¡ª I thought we were talking about guns ''ere? I don''t have any in stock but if you could supply me with some, it''ll be great."


    I snorted, "Dumbass. I said if you''re¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    "Hah! Gotcha, huh?! What sort of deal are we talking about?"


    My smile slowly turned to a more serious expression, "Look, I''m not telling you that you''re a crook but I''ve been burned a few times when I was dealing with used guns with the old man, and I learned a few things from him. But among those things I''ve learned, a rush to sell to a person who''s that interested in procuring a gun and buying it as brand-new is a huge red g for me, sorry."


    Royo nodded a few times, "But where else could you find this thing? There''s a lot from where I came from, sure, but it''s a different story in this ce, no?"


    Jared tried to butt in again, "Bro¡ª"


    I palmed his face and pushed him aside, "However, I might have a deal¡ª I mean, a proposition that could even the odds for me even for a little bit. Maybe even put me in a slight advantage."


    Royo''s eyebrow raised, "Curious. What do you suggest?"


    "Alright. I''m gonna risk you not being that generous after that clock strike past midnight because I''m gonna need to have a more thorough look at this gun before I could offer a proper trade on it."


    "Understandable¡­"


    "But¡­ do know that this thing I''m offering you is contingent on a few things."


    "Just tell me, man."


    "Alright. The easy route is to trade SCAR for SCAR with us adding anything to match that SCAR''s value¡ªafter thoroughly checking it first¡ªbut I''ll dly add anything else for that matter because my cousin here just really~ wanted to have it."


    "Hmm~ Sounds fair. The most basic concept in trading actually¡ª"


    "But this here''s the hard route¡ª and boy~ I''m sure as hell that this is gonna be a thinker on your part because it''s definitely gonna be heavy."


    "Ah¡ª You want this deal or not? And why would I ept something that sounds like it wouldn''t benefit me?"


    I looked him straight in the eye, "I know you''ve found your thing to continue serving your country and its people but¡ª"


    "What are you fuckin'' on now¡ª"


    "Let me finish, man. This is my fucking pitch¡ª don''t cut in while I''m doing this."


    "..."


    "Thank you. But yeah, you have the ability to make all sorts of shit and still continue to shoot sub-MOA¡ªas you''ve said, of course¡ªand it''s a great thing that you can only do but wouldn''t you prefer to be able to fight on equal ground¡ª no, even greater heights once you''re tiny~ little~ problem gets solved?"


    "..." Royo didn''t say a word but he know full well that I was talking about his partially lost vision.


    "You see¡ªpun unintended¡ªI had a chance encounter with a very nice woman who was, unfortunately, got sshed with acid from a jealous lover, and she had something much, much worse than you. However, with some things I''m gonna skip over, we solved her problems and we made a little fireworks show the moment she recovered."


    "..."


    "What I''m saying is¡­ Full disclosure: I''m not a doctor. BUT! I know you''re fucking busy too but you should at least get that looked at by a couple of professionals and if there''s a chance¡­ there''s a chance, right? What do you think?"


    "..."


    "Ah¡ª You can talk now, sorry about that."


    Royo took a deep breath before opening his mouth, "Look¡­ I can''t."


    "Why?"


    "This shit *motioned to the entirety of Building 34* needs to keep on going. I can''t just leave my fucking post twice."


    "But you''re gonnae back even better. Besides, Thomas can be the head for a bit while I send a few of my engineers over and I''ll dly share some of my tools and the blueprint for one of our patented axes. It''s¡ª"


    "This is going too fast, kid. H-How long would I be o-out anyway?"


    "Realistically speaking¡ª No. It depends on what kind of treatment you''re getting. And take note: we can only do it for so many people so it''s just on a firste, first served basis¡ª"


    He shook his head, "Now you''re the one rushing me, huh?"


    I wanted to look cocky but I maintained a respectful expression, "I am in a way but yeah, realistically speaking, you''d be out ofmission for 3-4 months."


    "That''s¡ª"


    "Meaning¡­ no fabrication work or anything simr to that but you can still give pointers and handle some logistics if you really have an itch for it. It may even be faster depending on your recovery but I''m gonna advise you right now to not fucking rush it or it just might make things worst for you.


    But yeah, 3-4 months or even half a year is nothingpared to doing what you actually want for the rest of your life, no?"


    Royo then looked down, "Dammit¡­"


    "Something wrong?"


    "N-No¡­ Fuck¡­ You fucking got me, kid¡­ There''s no way I could have an answer to that¡­"


    "It''s a yes or no question, Royo¡ª"


    "ASSHOLE! I MEANT IN A¡ª AHHHHH! WHAT ELSE CAN I TELL YOU?! NO?! I''LL BE THE BIGGEST FUCKING DUMBASS IF I DON''T SAY YES TO THAT!"


    "Is it a yes though¡ª"


    "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! OF COURSE, IT''S A YES! HAVE THE GOLDEN BUZZER TOO IF YA WANT! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! WHEN CAN WE SCHEDULE THE APPOINTMENT?!"


    "As soon as you want but we could do it in a few days right as the Major leaves."


    "FOR REAL?! C''MERE, ASSHOLE!"


    "What are you¡ª"


    "I''M HUGGING YOUR UGLY-ASS AS THANKS!"


    "I-I''d rather have one of those drones you fucks use to spy on people¡ª AHHHHH! MY BONES ARE SCREAMING, YOU ASSHOLE! LEMME GO!"


    "NOT A FUCKING CHANCE! YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING FROM MY COLLECTION! FUCK IT, I''LL ALLOW YOU TO SAY THE N-WORD TOO!"


    I quickly waved him off, "N-No¡­ I have a "brother" friend who gave me one of those cards too but that''s a trap, I tell ya¡­ I know a beating when I see one¡ª AHHHHHH! THE FUCK ARE YOU SO STRONG FOR?! WANT ME TO JUST GO WITH THE EASY ROUTE?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! NOT A CHANCE BRO, NOT A CHANCE!"

 Chapter 1098: Safest Spot? - Vale Tudo

    In any case, after that short interaction with Royo, I still declined his offer to have ess to all of his guns but he did increase my credit limit to Building 34 and handed over his FN SCAR with a 20-inch barrel and a non-reciprocating charging handle. It was both a sign of respect and trust to both parties, but acquiring one of their drones was found to be a little more difficult.


    "I-It''s yours, right?"


    "Technically, yes, but¡ª"


    "So, what''s the problem?"


    "Gonna have to ask the Major for permission first. We don''t have a lot of these though they don''t get used muchpared to before, honestly speaking¡­"


    "Because the people you spy from are already dead, no?"


    "That''s¡­ sure."


    "Heh. I''ll trade them with the F-18 he promised me¡ª"


    "WHAT?! HE PROMISED YOU AN F-18?! HOW?!"


    "Hmm~ You''ll know once he makes the official announcement¡­"


    "Jesus, who are you really?"


    "I''m me. Can I look at some of the other stuff?"


    "Sure! Anything!"


    After some time, Royo eventually went back to working on his projects after he took care of a few more of our purchases from his armory like different kinds of explosives¡ªwhich Bogdan was on cloud nine for¡ª and assorted ammo for our guns.


    Everyone else didn''t actually need new firearms¡ªeven Jared who just wanted an upgrade but it was all good¡ªbut it''s just fun to look at stuff hidden behind a gate with a passcode or something simr.


    But yeah, we eventually said our goodbyes to the people in Building 34 but we had just discovered that not everyone else was sleeping in the Marine Base, technically.


    It should''ve been obvious and pretty much logical because a good number of the civilians¡ªand a small portion of the Marines¡ªwere still sleeping in their ships or in their smaller boats. Not only did it provide this natural rocking of water to lull them to sleep, but it was actually much safer because there wasn''t any report of deadheads that could swim on water.


    Anchoring somewhere just bumps up their safety without the use of firearms, sturdy walls, guards, etc.


    In any case, we were eventually told that our lodgings were already prepared for us¡ªso we moved our vehicles over there¡ªand it was at the same hangar given to Oscar and the people he brought with himst time. It was just this big open area with "cubicles" made with cloth separating each one, but we were given soft mattresses, pillows, and nkets.


    It did have the essential amenities but think of it as a painting that just had the outlines drawn.


    ''To be fair, two weeks is not a lot of time¡­''


    Then Jared nudged me while still hugging his new FN SCAR like an idiot:


    "Bro, bro, you brought your tools, right?! Right?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "Can''t you wait till tomorrow?! You''re worse than Isaac!"


    Then he pointed at Isaac at one corner swinging his new tachi like an idiot, "It''s not fair, bro! He can just use it as is and I have to wait a few goddamn hours just to set it up! I''m just gonna transfer over everything I have on this SCAR to that SCAR! It wouldn''t even take an hour!"


    "You and your SCAR addiction¡­ I understand the charging handle not reciprocating but is it really worth the three extra inches?"


    Jared rolled his eyes, "What if it''s you? Kaley and I pretty much have the same job but I''m in charge of the big and special-er ones, right? Unless you''re using your BCM, Kaley''s in charge of thinning the horde which is equally important for everyone''s safety."


    "Special-er?"


    "You know what I meant!"


    I chuckled, "Sure, sure¡­ But yeah, wait a few more hours. It just saves you the frustrationter."


    "Haa¡­ Fine¡­ I''m gonna try and catch some sleep though¡­ Are we still supposed to do some watch duty?"


    JP interjected from the side, "Kuzma and Ruben already volunteered. They''re doing the rounds with a few people from this side."


    I nodded, "Thanks. Have you seen the old man though?"


    "The colonel? I believe he went back to where Miss Jenna was for updates on the carrier."


    "Alright, so take of your clothes¡ª"


    "W-WHAT?!" JP had never been so fucking red while the women in my circle had never misunderstood my intentions this fucking much.


    "Ah¡ª I mean, take those off and wear somethingfortable. We''re going one-on-one."


    "T-THAT STILL DOESN''T HELP! W-WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING?!"


    "Umm¡­ Sparring? We just drove most of the time, I still have a lot left in my tank. Besides, if you want to have your title back, you gottae out on top."


    "JUST SAY IT FROM THE GET¨CGO, ASSHOLE!"


    I facepalmed as I finally had the realization, "Dude. With all due respect and all, I don''t swing for the other team¡­ Heh. But yeah, you''ll be a fucking bottom while we''re going at it though¡ª"


    "YOUR WORDS¡ª Haaa¡­ I''mma hit that fucking face of yours so much, we''ll see who bottoms!"


    "Hah! We''ll see, we''ll see~"


    With that said, while waiting for JP to get changed I jogged a fewps inside the hangar because it was pretty cold outside before I stretched right as he got to warming up as well.


    Funnily enough, Kaley and the others were thinking of something else entirely while the two of us were talking but I couldn''t believe how they looked a certain way once JP and I were face to face and about to start fighting.


    JPmented, "Concrete floor."


    "Vale tudo but I''ll avoid throws if you want. I''m more of a striker though."


    "Time limit?"


    "Until one falls down."


    "Fine¡ª"


    And without even touching our open-finger gloves, JP just turned his game face on before opening up with a crisp jab and following with a quick one-two, a step-in upper, and two left-rightpact hooks. To his annoyance, I dodged everything within a hair''s breadth but he got even more pissed when I stepped on his right leg right when he was just about to throw a high kick.


    I looked at him with a sinister smile, "Grit your fucking teeth."

 Chapter 1099: Trials and Tribulations

    Out of all my "students", I felt that JP had the most aggression held within himself that needed to be let out, and this was one of the healthy ways to do so.


    And right as I gave him a warning, I saw how he abruptly clenched his jaw to brace for theing attack so instead of faking him out¡ªand also to build a little more trust between us¡ªI delivered on his face my own version of a crisp one-two.


    It probably looked like a double punch from his perspective¡ªdue to how I sprang and retracted my attacks¡ªbut he had never been so confused by two quick attacks that felt this heavy.


    But yeah, excluding his initial attack and his finisher, I followed up my one-two with the samebo he tried to hit me with but he never managed to dodge a single one.


    At this moment, his arms were shaking due to the damage they sustained from trying to block each of them because if he tried to do it with his face, it would''ve been night-night for him with the step-in upper.


    It''s just that when he was about to get his bearings, I showed him the kick I used when I weed Tatiana to my fold, and 99.99% of the time, the first time I would use my shifted frontal kick to someone who hadn''t been hit by it before would not only guarantee a hit but also a knockdown.


    "What the fu¡­"


    ''Oh?''


    To my surprise, JP saw iting but he was still a littlete to do something about it and just like Tatiana, he tried to take a step forward but he just slowly copsed on himself beforepletely falling unconscious.


    Then I said loud enough for everyone in their cubicles to hear:


    "I know you''re still awake, Seb. Come on out."


    "..."


    "It''ll be way worse when I start pounding you on that bed¡ª"


    "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! I''M COMING OUT!"


    Kaley quipped from the side, "He''s got to be doing that on purpose¡­"


    But yeah, as Seb slowly emerged from the cloth partitions, Kaley was already taking care of JP so it didn''t take long before Seb took over JP''s ck. But this time, he never ran so fast when he saw me unsheathe my wakizashi from Kaley''s hips.


    "WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?!"


    "I THOUGHT WE WERE SPARRING! THIS IS FIRST-DEGREE MURDER, SIR!"


    "WHY CAN''T IT BE BOTH!"


    "I''M UNARMED!"


    "YOU HAVE TWO ON EACH SIDE!"


    "I MEAN I DON''T HAVE ANYTHING TO DEFEND MYSELF WITH!"


    "WE WERE JUST IN BUILDING 34, WHY DIDN''T YOU PICK ANYTHING UP?!"


    "I PICKED UP THIS CHANGE OF CLOTHES!"


    "YOU SHOULD''VE PICKED UP ONE OF THOSE SHIELDS HANGING ON THE WALLS!"


    "WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, SIR, I BELIEVE THOSE AREN''T ENOUGH!"


    "True."


    "THEN WHAT''S THE POINT?! IS THIS EVEN TRAINING?!"


    "YEAH! WE''RE TONING JP DOWN AND YOU GOTTA RISE UP TO THE ADVERSITY! I''M THE ADVERSITY! RISE UP AGAINST ME!"


    "I VERY MUCH KNOW THAT PART, SIR! I''D RATHER FACE A HUNDRED BITERS OUTSIDE THAN YOU WITH YOUR KATANA!"


    "FIRST OF ALL, IT''S A WAKIZASHI AND DID YOU JUST SAY A HUNDRED?! I''M THAT LOW?! NOW I''MMA REALLY KILL YOU!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


    In any case, after making sure that everyone that was trying to sleep was disturbed, I easily cornered the son of a bitch thatpared me to a hundred or so deadheads. From all his all-out sprinting, it was admirable that he wasn''t as out of breath as I expected him to be because I was pretty sure that James#1 was unmatched in that certain category.


    But to be fair, when one''s life was perceived to be in danger, people would be able to pull out shit from their ass and emerge victorious.


    It''s just that he was against me and I was holding something that I could easily lop his head off.


    Before anyone thinks otherwise, I wasn''t really gonna chop his body into pieces from a small provocation but color me surprised when he showed me the same expression when I brought him with me to that lesser family from the Rivas territory because he ripped off his t-shirt and wrapped them on his hands.


    There was only one particr way he thought out of this situation and it was to somehow catch my de and avoid getting cut down.


    ''Good enough.''


    But yeah, I still knocked him out with the back of my de before throwing him in with JP who was still figuring out how he got knocked the fuck out.


    If surviving was the goal of this exercise, I would''ve given him a failing grade but this training exercise was for him to choose a way out instead of giving in. Granted what he chose was still suicide¡ªespecially against me¡ªbut that''s a step in the right direction regarding his decisions in life.


    I know that his situation with JP was called off ages ago and even if he was somehow consenting to the supposed assault, what if there ever came a time when he was in the same situation and it was life or death?


    This may sound stupiding from me because I would always advocate life above everything else¡ªeven if someone got ruined mentally and/or physically¡ªbut in this case, he would''ve died either way so the best course of action was to try and gamble it all in the 1 in a million chance that he''d seed.


    But yeah, despite my two students getting knocked out senselessly, there was still one other with a brand-new tachi who still wanted to do this old-age tradition of swinging it on a random passerby just to test its sharpness.


    "I''m really~ feelin'' good, bro! I feel like I have a chance while you''re using that wakizashi!"


    "The reach advantage?"


    "Yeah! For some reason, this thing feels lighter too! It feels like a part of me already!"


    "Trust me, you need more than a day¡ª"


    "Trust me, bro! I can handle it!"


    "You really sure?"


    "Yeah!"


    And long story short, the motherfucker couldn''t handle it.

 Chapter 1100: Sneakin Around

    In some twisted way, resting was also a part of training so I just helped my dear students to fall asleep much quicker. But yeah, Jared and Bogdan were still tinkering with their new gun or their new set of explosives while Kuzma and Ruben were still patrolling outside.


    Oscar, on the other hand, wouldn''t just sit still while waiting for his daughter while everyone else who came with him was doing whatever.


    I could already feel the looks everyone else in our circle was giving me but I can''t just choke out the ones that were down on their noses while working on their shit or just hanging around, but I quickly found a suitable solution to our current problem.


    There was one other more obvious solution but I kinda wanna see the carriere into view when the timees.


    "Follow me¡­ Bring our nkets and pillows¡ª and your kit."


    "W-Where are we going?" Kaley replied.


    "To the roof. Those are the stairs leading the catwalk by the entrance and that''s our way to get even further up."


    "I was thinking we could do it in the truck¡ª"


    "It''ll shake. Also, we wouldn''t need to be as quiet because of the breeze. It''ll be really~ cold though so we really~ have to keep warm¡­"


    "W-Won''t the people outside see us?"


    "Moving around in nkets? Unless they''re using drones to spy on everyone, no. Just have to keep ourselves covered."


    "O-Okay¡­ Pfft¡­ Sold."


    With that said, for us not to be that obvious¡ªthough some in our group already knew what was up¡ªKaley and I went up first before the others would follow right after. But once Kaley and I had started kissing, there was no chance in fucking hell I''d let her go.


    We already found a perfect spot where weid our first nket and covered ourselves with the other, but we were still fully clothed while our tongues were invading each other''s mouths.


    And the moment Tatiana and Quinn made their way to where we were, Kaley''s body just tensed as she let out this muffled moan between our kiss, and it just made her hold on me even tighter.


    "MmMH! Wai¡ª Mmn¡­ I just¡ª Wai¡­ Mnnn¡­"


    "Did you¡ª"


    "Y-Yes¡­"


    "I see no reason to stop, no?"


    "D-Doofus¡­ Ah!"


    With that said, I began to grope her huge tits over her clothes while she was trying to feel me up with her thighs all the while ignoring the other two that followed Quinn and Tatiana. For some reason, the four just watched us as they gotfortable by themselves so I just took advantage of the chance that I could just be with Kaley.


    But yeah, the breeze and the coldness up here was no fucking joke but the warmth I was feeling from Kaley''s body¡ªeven if we were still clothed¡ªwas just that cozy and enough as long as we were right next to each other.


    "Mmmh¡­ MmH! I-It unhooks¡ª T-The front¡ª Yeah¡­ Yes¡­ MmMH! G-Gentler¡­ B-Bite them gentler¡ª MmmH! That''s¡ª Ahn! Yes! S-Suck them too¡ª AH!


    AmnHhn~ Yes¡­ Y-Yesss¡­ K-Kiss me¡­"


    At this moment, I was still on top of Kaley but most of her upper body was exposed¡ªbut still covered by our nket¡ªand I was already fondling her huge udders and rubbing her hard nipples while she told me to go back up and taste her lips. She already came three times from the short moment we were up here, so I took it upon myself to fully zip down her pants so they wouldn''t get even more soaked.


    Kaley was wearing one of those pants that could be zipped right through the back so she''d have an easier time peeing or something else outdoors, but the two of us were definitely making use of its other function.


    And as much as I would''ve loved to make her cum just by kissing and ying with her breasts, I moved on to her lower lips which were not only soaked with her cream and juices but also aching for some action.


    So yeah, I just dove in head first and took a big fucking sniff before I swiped my tongue and tasted her pink meaty folds and sucked on her erect clit then lightly biting them before I dove in some more.


    Kaley never mped her thighs on my head so fucking fast as she had another orgasm from the get-go but that never stopped me from eating her fucking cunt.


    "Y-Yes! YES! C-C-CUMmMMiing~ OhHhh fuck! FUCK! YES! E-Eat mMmY PusSSyyy!!


    Ah! AH! That''s¡ª Ugh! Ye¡ª Ah! A¡ª Mmm! MMH!


    C-Cumming! CUm¡ª Anh!!!"


    From the way Kaley was moving her hips, I would''ve thought that she was also trying to snap my neck but I dug deep and grabbed hold of her full breasts and squeezed them around as I was licking her wet hole and sucking all that wasing out.


    All she could do at this point was grab on my wrists as she was having orgasm after orgasm, and her attempts to drown me with her squirt wouldn''t work because I was drinking them all.


    It didn''t take long before Kaley lost the strength to mp her legs shut but I took it upon myself to move up and let her taste herself with my mouth before my dick almost break out of my pants.


    I didn''t even notice that everyone else was just using Kaley''s moans and facial expressions while they were touching themselves, but I already pulled my huge hard dick out of my pants and shoved it inside Kaley''s tiny pussy that would be a few sizesrger.


    "H-HNGHHH!!!"


    And right from the fucking get-go, Kaley had another violent orgasm the moment I hit her womb and her insides just gripped on me as if to pull me even deeper. However, Kaley was already fighting for her life the moment I entered her tight vag so all she could do now was take the pounding while I was squeezing her breasts and kissing her.

 Chapter 1101: Kaleys a Camel?

    With each forceful thrust, Kaley''s insides would just tighten as she''d let out a muffled moan through our kiss, and god fucking dammit her lips were still as sweet as the first time I kissed them.


    At the same time, the firmness and softness of her huge breasts between my armsbined with the warmth it provided felt like fucking heaven even though both of us were starting to sweat from under the covers.


    I was still on top of her, moving my hip back and forth while my body was pressed against her, and only our heads were the ones not covered by our nket.


    I''d lean on one side so I could fondle the other side of her perfect natural set but I began to lick the sweat off her body¡ªespecially the ones on her tits and on her armpits.


    "H-Ha¡ª Ha! AnnmmMm~ Tickles¡ª Ah! YesSss¡ª MmmnNnn! K-Kiss! Kiss m-Me!"


    But yeah, Kaley was still a little afraid of us being too loud so she''d pull me back to her lips to basically gag her with my tongue but it didn''t take long before I came inside her. And yeah, it wasn''t that long but even with my high sperm count and volume, she barely got filled up by my first load and I just filled her to the brim plus extra.


    "A-a-AH¡ª S-So much! MmnH!"


    At this point, my whole body just buckled as I felt the wave and the violent throbbing of my cock as I was releasing my hot stuff inside Kaley''s pink hole, but I only took a few seconds to recover before I used my cum and Kaley''s juices as lube to fuck her back hole.


    "AmNnHH! A-Already?!"


    With Kaley cumming for god knows how many, even if her little asshole was a tad tighter, it was just as sensitive to my huge fucking cock. And to her surprise and dread, I moved her thighs to one side¡ªthen lying right behind her¡ªso I could pound her butt a little harder while fingering her pussy at the same time.


    At this point, both of us could see how the four had their zed eyes nted on us as they watched us fuck our brains out, but Quinn and Tatiana couldn''t just watch forever as they dragged Megan and Alexa to their nkets. It was so that they could either have their pussy eaten or have the other party finger-fucked to multiple orgasms.


    It just turned to Megan on all fours, getting fingered by Quinn while Quinn was touching herself and Tatiana 69''ing with Alexa, but like us, their bodies were partly covered by the nket as they were stealing looks from the main couple.


    But yeah, as I was fucking Kaley in the ass, fingering her pussy, fondling her tits, and kissing her neck from behind, Kaley''s euphoric moans were just overpowering everyone else''s and it was safe to say that we''d need new nkets or else it would be better to just sleep in the truck.


    "C-C-c-CummInnhGGg!!! Y-Yes! Yes! F-Fuck that t-tiny little asshole! MnH! HA¡ª Ah!


    S-Squeeze these t-tits hard¡ª C¡ª MmnHHH!!! YES! YES! OH GOD¡ª FUCK! M-My clit¡ª C-CummMmINNN!!!"


    At one point, instead of Kaley having multiple orgasms, she just had this very long, drawn-out one thatsted for several minutes. Her whole body didn''t stop shaking as her insides were also as tight, and it sounded like she was choking from the ongoing onught of the waves going through her whole body without stopping.


    And when I came inside her ass while she was having this moment, I just stopped thrusting altogether and just hugged her tight as she melted with the pleasure.


    Buf after she recovered, she was just looking at me this certain cutesy way before she nted her lips on mine, going on top of me even though it was technically the others'' turn.


    Like she said before on the pier, she was discovering more about herself while we were together and she was just in this state of pure bliss and horniness, she couldn''t stop moving her hips, kissing me, and hugging me tight even if she came many times over.


    Obviously, the feeling was mutual because as a man, who wouldn''t like their woman getting this insatiable due to our own doing?


    I did cum inside her tight cunt for the second time as I was pushing one of my fingers in her asshole, but when Kaley showed no signs of stopping any time soon, I just held her tight and enjoyed the ride.


    But when it was over, funnily enough, we can''t just cuddle and enjoy some pillow talk before drifting off to sleep because both our nkets were fucking soaked and I was beginning to wonder how the fuck Kaley wasn''t dehydrated yet.


    I joked while we were wiping ourselves, "You''re like a camel, you know?"


    "W-WHAT?! CAMEL?!" Kaley never looked so confused and offended as she puffed her cheeks up and cutely red at me.


    But Quinn just cackled loudly, interrupting her time with the other three:


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! She does have one fat camelpared to the rest of us!"


    "NOOOOOOOO!"


    I piled on, "It''s not a bad thing, alright? It''s just all this water¡ª"


    "I CAN TAKE GETTING CALLED A COW BUT NOT A CAMEL!"


    Alexa cut in, "What''s wrong with a camel?"


    Tatiana huffed, "Hey! This ass still needs to get eaten¡ª"


    Megan interjected, "Umm¡­ Sorry, Tatiana, I can''t think of anything else now, hearing that¡­"


    Then Tatiana red at me, "You owe me an orgasm¡ª no, several orgasms!"


    "What¡ª Why?!"


    "You ruined one for me! I''m that close!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she put on some clothes, "Can we go back to calling Kaley a camel?"


    "GUYS! Stop! Please!"


    Quinn chuckled, "I''m the cow now since I have the costume, you''re the camel because you hold all that water¡ª PFFT! HAHAHAHAHA! WHY DIDN''T I THINK OF THAT?!"


    Kaley cutely red at me again, "Now, I''m getting bullied!"


    "We''re not¡ª"


    "T-Then y-you''re a rabbit!"


    "Why?"


    "B-Because you have sex a lot a-and¡ª"


    I shrugged my shoulders to tick her off even more, "I''ll take it. Rabbits are cute though¡ª"


    "THAT''S THE THING! COWS AND RABBITS ARE A LITTLE CUTE BUT CAMELS?!"


    I hugged her and tried to calm her down, "Alright, alright~ I''m sorry for calling you a camel. Their milk''s really great for baking though. A little salty like your squirt sometimes¡ª"


    "DON''T EVEN SAY IT OUT LOUD! MINE''S NOT EVEN THAT SALTY! IT TASTES LIKE NOTHING BECAUSE I DRINK A LOT OF WATER BEFORE¡ª"


    Quinn quipped from the side, "Like a camel does¡­"


    I just had to do it, "They do drink a lot of water *snaps fingers* just like that and¡­ you know, those humps¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I''M DYING! I''M DYING! STOP!"


    With that said, once we were all fairly decent, we went down to discover that almost everyone was asleep though they were ying some music for some reason. Jared just threw me a look that he fucking knows what we did on the roof and him ying some tunes was the reason for that. But yeah, the girls didn''t need to know that particr detail but we drove somece else to have a decent shower.

 Chapter 1102: Arrival - Fucking Brat.

    As time went by, we found ourselves on the same spot on the roof but instead of partaking in an amorous activity, we were either sipping on some coffee or just starting to fall asleep on the person they were leaning on. I did have to spend 15 minutes with Tatiana because interrupting her earlier was my fault for some reason, but honestly enough, we both enjoyed our time.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before Kaley, Quinn, and Alexa used me as a human pillow as Kaley was leaning on me while the two were doing the same thing on each side.


    Tatiana and Megan could onlyugh at my predicament but as everyone else started to drift to sleep, I began to feel the weight on my eyes before I was suddenly jolted awake by a loud foghorn-like sound. Obviously, it also woke everyone else up but it seemed like a lot of hours had passed in the blink of an eye.


    To our surprise, it was already 6:14 AM and the sun was already shining down on us from above.


    And from the distance, we could clearly see the carrier where the US Navy and a thousand or so civilians were, followed by a couple of Chinooks flying overhead. The carrier would probably take a few more minutes to reach this ce but those two aircrafts would reach us much faster.


    Then my radio buzzed:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Where are ya, kid? That horn probably woke you up. Time to cook!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Meth?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Huh? Oh¡ª HAHAHAHAHA! Dammit, that got me. Amaryllis and everyone else here are waiting for ya! They took out the ingredients and everything! C''mon!


    I''m cooking too! Gonna impress my daughter one way or another.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''m gonna stop you right there."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Huh? Why?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You''ll impress her by not giving her food poisoning. I know you mean well but stay on yourne, old man. You brought some liquor you made, right? Won''t that be better?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [OH, SHIT! YOU''RE RIGHT, KID! HOLD ON! SEEYOULATERBYE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, everyone else was still doing their morning stretches but it didn''t take long before we made our way to the kitchen and prepared food for at least a thousand people. This was something I wouldn''t be able to do solo but preparing the ingredients beforehand already made us a little more confident.


    But yeah, in addition to the pae and the soup we madest night, it didn''t hurt to make seafood and vegetable tempura by covering everything bite-sized with batter and then frying it in oil. Additionally, I guess some kids would appreciate some waffles or pancakes while almost all of the adults would appreciate some hot coffee.


    Obviously, the people in the Chinooks arrived much earlier and they were perfect taste testers on what the rest of the people in the carrier would bite on.


    But yeah, I discovered that aside from two captains and two pilots, they came in with a first and a second lieutenant, a journalist, a cameraman, a doctor, and an engineer while the rest were family and friends of either these officers or politicians.


    I briefly introduced myself and gave each of them a te and bowl of food¡ªbecause they seem to not be thinking straight because of the smell¡ªbut it wasn''t even a fucking second when a Charlotte-like incident started.


    Because as the rest of the group started to wharf or inhale the food I served to them, a fucking brat with pigtails who was named "E" quickly pushed her food away¡ªspilling the soup in the process. Additionally, she never looked so disgusted from the crispy tempura, the cup of pae, and the vegetable medley I put on her te with the bowl of soup to the side which she spilled.


    It quickly put a damper on the otherwise jolly atmosphere but as one of her attendants, "Myra"¡ªwho suddenly stopped eating because of her¡ªwas nervously looking at me, I started to quietly clean the table they were on before everyone almost had the shock of their lives.


    Kaley was already about to jump in when she noticed my deathly aura slowly forming but I kept everything in with a deep breath.


    But yeah, I don''t fucking care if you''re if your parents were the fucking president, the general, the king/queen, or the fucking pope but if you dare to fucking waste food I graciously prepared for ya, you gotta deal with some assholery from yours truly.


    It''s just that there might be some reason for her to act like that.


    At the same time, there was also a reason for why I would be acting in the next line:


    I stared right at her as I pushed her te even further away from her, "You allergic to seafood?"


    "..." She just gave me a quick nce before turning away annoyed.


    "Vegetables?"


    "..."


    "Gluten?"


    "..."


    "You fasting?"


    "..."


    Myra cut in apologetically, "I''m sorry but thedy is just not feeling too well. She doesn''t have any allergies or any of that sort, fortunately¡ª"


    "Huh. I get in now," I said as I turned back to E, "So, you''re just a fucking brat¡ª"


    "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME¡ª"


    Right as she snapped her head to me and shrieked with her high tone, I had already locked and loaded my middle finger with my thumb and sent a deathly flick on her forehead¡ªwhich like the rest of their group¡ªshe didn''t fucking expect.


    And again, to everyone''s shock, especially her attendant, her head almost experienced a whish due to how it blew back because the brat never had any support on her neck and I didn''t think a flick could cause first-degree murder.


    It was one thing if she had any allergies but that doesn''t mean she could fucking waste food if she wasn''t feeling up to it. Additionally, it''s the fucking end of the world and everyone else would kill for just a cup of rice and she had the fucking nerve to act like a fucking spoiled bitch.


    So yeah, before anyone could react for the third time, I grabbed on the top of her head and dragged her to the group that was still cooking the rest of their meals.


    "W-WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?!"


    "WE JUST ARRIVED YOU DUMB BRAT! APOLOGIZE TO THESE FOLKS!"


    "W-WHAT AM I APOLOGIZING FOR¡ª OW! W-WHY''D YOU¡ª STOP FLICKING MY FOREHEAD! YOU CAN''T JUST DO THAT!" E was already in tears while her forehead had this big red mark on it.


    "I CAN AND I WILL! AFTER THIS, YOU''RE DOING THE DISHES AND TAKING THE WASTE TO THE COMPOST BINS!"


    "WHAT EVEN ARE THOSE?!"


    "OH, YOU''LL FUCKING KNOW, YOU BRAT!"


    "I''M NOT A BRAT! I''M A LADY¡ª"


    "FUCK NO! YOU''RE A BITCH! WHO FUCKING DOES THAT?!"


    "DOES WHAT?! I DIDN''T DO ANYTHING WRONG!"


    "DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING LONG THAT SOUP WAS BOILING FOR?!"


    "I DON''T CARE¡ª"


    "HOURS! FUCKING HOURS! NOW GO APOLOGIZE TO EVERYONE HERE BEFORE I THROW YOU IN THE WATER!"


    "HELL NO! I WON''T¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    And again, for the fourth time, before anyone could fathom whatever the fuck I was doing, the brat was already flying in the air as I chucked her into the Subic Bay.

 Chapter 1103: USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69)

    At this point in time, the Subic Bay should''ve been clear of trash or bratty bitches but I just had to fucking throw her in there, or else she''d go into the pot. But yeah, the carrier they came with had just crossed the small ind by the entrance to this bay so the ones who were simply watching in shock eventually snapped out of it and started to take off their gear so they could save her.


    One of the Captains named Moore eximed, "DOES SHE KNOW HOW TO SWIM?!"


    Myra was in total panic mode, "I-I¡ª I''m¡ª SOMEBODY HELP HER!"


    But as a great attendant would, Myra had already managed to get hold of a life buoy but as she threw it at herdy, this dumbass hit her square in the head which made E sink just as she managed to waddle upwards.


    "NOOOOOOOOO! I''M SO SORRY, MY LADY!"


    "CAN''T YOU GUYS MOVE ANY FASTER?!"


    "IT''S A 30-FOOT DROP¡ª"


    "JUST JUMP IN!"


    "WHERE DID SHE DROP ANYWAY?!"


    "IN THE WATER, DUMBASS! WHY''RE YOU ALL IN FULL GEAR ANYWAY¡ª"


    Major Harper pushed me with fear in his eyes, "THAT''S THE SENATOR''S DAUGHTER, YOU DUMBSHIT! SHE''S¡ª WHY ARE YOU TAKING YOUR CLOTHES OFF NOW?!"


    I rolled my eyes as I walked by the edge of the dock, "You guys are too fucking slow. Besides, I may have gone a bit overboard, pun intended¡ª"


    "JUST SAVE HER, YOU PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT!"


    As the Major was screaming my ear off, I dove straight for the water and found her gradually sinking¡ªbut still struggling nheless¡ªbut her frilly gown and the random shit she had on her body as essories were weighing her down and making it hard for her to breathe.


    ''That weird choker, for one¡­''


    But yeah, the moment I reached her and we met eyes, she didn''t know whether to rejoice, get angry,sh out, or whatever action in the stupid brain of hers could think of.


    It''s just that she couldn''t believe the one who chucked her in the bay would also be the one to save her but it didn''t take long before she started to lose air.


    It was at the same moment I wrapped my arms around her, and as much as I would''ve wanted to see her drown and pass out for a few seconds, I gave her some air in the only way I thought possible given the situation.


    I was shuffling our way up as I leaned close to her face and pushed the air in my mouth into hers, but this fucking brat was so determined to fucking die she pushed it back in my mouth as she screamed for dear life underwater.


    ''Fucking dumbass!''


    However, I could also do the same fucking thing but she definitely wasted at least half of the air I gave her.


    This time, she finally understood the reason for my actions but she definitely still looked pissed at me for some reason, but I''d rather see her mad than fucking dead. But yeah, the fucking brat never held me so tight but the moment we surfaced, she screamed for dear life as she burst into tears:


    "HELP! HEEEELP! SOMEONE HELP ME¡ª OWWWW! WHY''D YOU HIT ME¡ª"


    "I''M ALREADY HERE, YOU FUCKING BRAT! YOU''RE SCREAMING MY EAR OFF!"


    "YOU''RE THE ONE WHO THREW ME IN HERE!"


    "IN THE HOPES YOUR UGLY ATTITUDE GETS WASHED OFF!"


    "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!"


    "I GUESS YOU NEED ANOTHER CLEANSE!"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    "DUMBASS! DON''T STRUGGLE¡ª THE CARRIER''S COMING, JUST BEAR WITH IT FOR A SECOND!"


    "D-DON''T DROP ME, ALRIGHT?! I D-DUNNO HOW TO SWIM!"


    I rolled my eyes as I waddled over to thedder attached to the wall, "Pssh, figures. Your pops didn''t teach you?"


    "YOU¡ª Y-You won''t understand¡­" she trailed as she suddenly calmed down.


    "Yeah. I probably won''t if you keep acting like that."


    "You people are all the same¡­"


    "Eh. I did try to understand you first before chucking you into the water¡ª"


    "IT WASN''T MY FAULT, ALRIGHT?!"


    "It never is, huh?"


    "YOU¡ª I was just¡ª"


    I finally grabbed hold of thedder, "Look, I won''t make you take the waste to thepost bin or wash the dishes but you gotta apologize to the cooks at least. I don''t know what you went through beforeing here but acting out like that would just make me hate you even more. But yeah, we can forget all of that now and start fresh if you''re okay with that."


    "..."


    "Answer me or I''ll fucking drop you¡ª"


    "Y-Yes! YES! I''LL APOLOGIZE! DON''T D-DROP ME, ALRIGHT?!"


    "Can you even climb thisdder?"


    "..." she never looked so embarrassed as she just red at me while looking sideways.


    "I''m gonna need an answer, not this bullshit silent treatment. You have a lot of fucking issues, brat, geez¡­"


    "I''M NOT A BRAT!"


    "You''re acting like one though¡­ You can just climb over me if you could do it yourself¡ª"


    "F-Fine! I-I dunno if I could¡­ H-Help me, please¡­"


    "Fine. Hold tight. Move over to my back."


    "O-Okay¡­"


    With that said, I easily carried her on my back as she was tightly holding onto my neck. Once we made our way to the top, Myra ran in with a huge towel to cover E''s body and dry her up somehow.


    But for some reason, not only these two in a master-servant rtionship were eyeing my body, but almost everyone else that came running¡ªespecially the fighters or the ones in the opposite gender, like this journalist for example¡ªwas scanning me up and down.


    But yeah, Kaley threw me a towel to dry myself before handing me over the clothes I took off. I did strip down to my boxers when I saved E and the only thing missing from my disy was oil and the right lighting for a shoot.


    ''I somehow bulked nicely¡­''


    In any case, ignoring the looks of the Major and the one other Captain named Marcel plus a few others who didn''t appreciate what I did beforehand¡ªexcept for the curious nce E gave me before Myra excused themselves, the carrier was already in a much closer view and needed some assistance as it was about to dock.


    They seemed to have a lot to say at that moment but it kind of canceled out because I was the only one who acted while everyone else was still in shock or was still trying to take off their gear. But honestly, it was a different thing to save someone drowning, especially if it was a brat that would il around like a fucking tuna.


    But yeah, the carrier still looked like an ant when we woke up this morning but I didn''t even realize that the carrier that would being was one of the five supercarriers the US Navy hadmand of that was nuclear-powered.


    Don''t even get me started on the number and variety of nes helicopters, and jets it had on its flight deck, but its whole length of a thousand fucking feet and height of two hundred feet or so was not as imposing or as nice as its name and its hull number:


    [USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69)]

 Chapter 1104: Admiral Jason C. Burke - Sudden 180

    Obviously, they wouldn''t need me at this portion because we still had a ton of food to finish up so I quickly dried myself and put on some clothes as Major Harper andpany weed their Admiral, ADM Jason C. Burke.


    From my brief talk with the Majorst night, he mentioned that a lot of promotions were thrown around and even the rank of a Fleet Admiral¡ªwhich wasn''t given to anyone even way, way~ back¡ªwas handed to five individuals who were previously holding the previous rank.


    And yeah, Admiral Jason Burke was a Vice Admiral just a year ago but right now, not only was he promoted from a 3-starmissioned officer to a 4-starmission officer, but he was also granted the Eisenhower not only due to his achievements but also necessity.


    Sure, the US Navy looked super imposing even now, but everyone else in the world took a huge hit when the world ended, and a lot of positions needed to be filled.


    However, even if I did mention the word "necessity", it didn''t mean that they''d just take the riff-raff but I was told that the Admiral took the first step¡ªor should I say, the fucking leap when he smelled that something was fucking off when they were about to go home from their mission.


    That was a story for another day because right at this fucking moment, it was safe to say that a portion of the group that I was trying to feed didn''t take too kindly of what I did with E, who was a senator''s daughter, because the old man and Major Harper were the only ones between them and me getting into a brawl.


    ''Had to wait for the whole team, huh?''


    But yeah, everyone else in my crew eventually got my fucking back as well¡ªincluding Royo, of course¡ªbut for some reason, the Admiral was just looking from the back with a curious nce.


    Funnily enough, he couldn''t give a rat''s ass about the people causing trouble because he took a seat with the other civilians and started eating while enjoying the show.


    ''This guy¡­''


    And to make everything more fucking awkward, Oscar''s daughter, Jennifer Goodman, who was supposed to have a touchy reunion with her father, was stuck between a rock and a hard ce because it seemed like she was also part of the group that was supposed to be with the fucking brat.


    It''s just that I waved everyone off with a dismissive tone:


    "Look, we had some food prepared for all of ya. If you eat them now, you''ll be able to eat whole foods before you puke them all after I''m done with you or if you decide to eat themter, you can start with the soup while I put everything solid in the food processor¡ª"


    Oscar cut me off, "Kid, now''s not the time for jokes. Of all the stupid shit you do¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "She had iting. Besides, I''ll do it as many times as I fucking want if she continues to be like that¡ª"


    Major Harper cut in as well, "Listen to your uncle, kid. This shit''s serious."


    "I already made up with the brat, we''re chill. What are they so fucking mad about¡ª"


    A dude who didn''t look to be over 30 shouted at the top of his lungs, "YOU THREW THE SENATOR''S DAUGHTER IN THE WATER! WHY WON''T WE BE MAD?!"


    "She needed a swim."


    Another "guard" shouted at me while pointing angrily, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD''VE HAPPENED IF SHE DROWNED?!"


    "She didn''t. And I kinda taught her how to swim."


    "IMPOSSIBLE! THE LADY''S UNABLE TO¡ª"


    "Unable to what? Take a hint? Learn new things? Again, if you could talk to Eter, she''ll tell you we''re good."


    "DON''T FUCKING ADDRESS THE LADY THAT FUCKING WAY! WHAT YOU DID IS SOMETHING SERIOUS! IT''S A FEDERAL CRIME¡ª"


    My brow just twitched from that statement, "Listen here, you fuck. On whose fucking soil are ya and whose fuckingws should we be following here?! Besides that, the spat we had was just formon decency and she already failed at that. And you dare talk to me like you''re a fucking saint?! Wannapare atrocitiesmitted, huh?! COULD YOU?!


    YOU FUCKS SHOULD BE STANDING IN FRONT OF A FIRING SQUAD RIGHT NOW BUT I''M FUCKING FEEDING YOU BREAKFAST! WHO ACTUALLY COMMITTED A FUCKING CRIME HERE?!"


    Another attendant bellowed with a deathly re, "WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"


    "I''M THAT FUCK THAT WOULD BABYSIT ALL THE PEOPLE YOU CAN''T FUCKING TAKE CARE OF BECAUSE YOU FUCKS WENT NUCLEAR! IF YOU DON''T WANT TO FUCKING EAT, DON''T! FIND YOUR OWN FOOD ON YOUR OWN FUCKING SOIL!"


    "...!"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "HOW CAN YOU FUCKING SAY THAT?!"


    Obviously, bringing up that topic that I obviously wouldn''t let them live down was still a very sore subject for everyone. Even the ones who had started eating had to stop while a few others still continued¡ªbut wearing a difficult expression¡ªbecause even if they really needed to do it, in the grand scheme of things, no one wanted to do it.


    But yeah, the tension could still be cut with a knife but it took a different turn when E got in the middle of everyone¡ªwearing a different frilly gown that looked like it used several geese as a sacrifice¡ªbefore bowing towards my group.


    "I-I''m¡ª"


    I cut her off, "Why do you look like a duster¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª I WAS JUST ABOUT TO APOLOGIZE!"


    "You have no sense of just about anything, no? You do know I was about to beat your group to a pulp."


    Her posse reacted almost immediately:


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?! YOU SHOULD BE THE ONE APOLOGIZING! WALK OVER HERE AND WE''LL SEE WHO GETS BEAT TO A PULP!"


    I ignored them as I turned to E, "Wanna eat?"


    She readily nodded, much to the shock of everyone, "Y-Yes! I promise I won''t spill the soup this time!" then she leaned to the side to look at the cooks, "Also! I''m sorry for wasting the food earlier!"


    Hearing E say that and act that way towards me, the group who was supposed to watch over her, including Jennifer Goodman, were shaken to the core and they just watched me give theirdy another serving of food as she jauntily made her way towards one of the tables.


    Additionally, E who was supposed to be the pickiest of eaters hungrily wharfed down and inhaled the food I prepared for her¡ªwhich was the reaction I was hoping for from the start¡ªand it was just a shock to everyone.


    "HEY!" she then turned to me with a grain of rice by her lips.


    "What now, you fuckin'' brat?"


    "YOU¡ª G-Give me more! I''m still hungry!"


    I rolled my eyes as I chuckled, "What do you want?"


    "EVERYTHING! I wanna have some coffee, too! What blend do you have¡ª"


    "We only have instant¡ª"


    "WHAT?! Why''s it so good?!"


    "Because of chocte, sugar, and milk. That''s my own "blend", all instant powdered shit."


    "A-Alright! Another cup of those! STAT!"


    "Don''t fucking ''stat!'', me! Wanna have another swim?!"


    "If y-you''re the one to s-save me¡­"


    "Ew."


    "DID YOU JUST SAY WHAT I HEARD YOU SAY?! YOU''RE AWFUL!"


    While this interaction was happening, I saw Jennifer inching closer to the old man before she mouthed:


    "What the fuck is going on?!"


    Oscar just chuckled as he nudged his daughter with his elbow, "I don''t even know¡ª no, it''s the kid''s magic, I tell ya."


    But yeah, as E happily ate her food like everyone else did, there was just some way that would make everyone watching drool or suddenly have the itch to binge some food, and it quickly de-escted the situation I had with her followers.


    Granted there was still some tension when I was the one handing their tes with a smile, but their grumbling stomachs couldn''t hide the fact that they were all just fucking hungry.


    But I just had to do it:


    "IF ANYONE WANTS SECONDS ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS COME BACK HERE AND ADMIT THAT I''M FUCKING RIGHT! IF YOU KOWTOW A FEW TIMES AND HIT YOUR HEAD ON THE GROUND HARD, I''LL EVEN THROW IN A BEER FROM MY OWN STASH!"


    Saying that, I definitely received different reactions¡ªespecially from E''s followers¡ªbut it didn''t take long before the Admiral finished his meal and walked up to me with his tray:


    "What if I''m in the neutral party, kid? What does a man have to do to get a free beer ''round here?"

 Chapter 1105: A Beer for a Drive-By?

    Looking at Admiral Burke face to face for the first time, he looked to be the same age as Oscar but from a quick look and using my own judgemental-ness for a bit, he looked like one of those dads that would wear white New Bnces, Khaki shorts, shades as a headband, and some random-ass shirt with a cor¡ªand would mow hiswn at 6:30 in the morning and would always overcook our burgers at family cookouts despite asking us multiple times on how would we want them.


    Additionally, he looked to be someone who would get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every day but would perform a fucking dead drop on his father-daughter dance.


    Looks-wise, he was rocking a full head of grey hair, a full beard trimmed nicely, light blue eyes, sun-tanned patches on his face plus a few wrinkles, and a very dignified and proper look befitting of an Admiral.


    But yeah, as I pulled out a cold one from my cooler by my feet, I noticed that his ring finger had this particr mark that would''ve said he was married before. It was one of those things where someone who would always jog or run in the morning while wearing their watch takes it off after some time.


    ''Not the time to ask that or my business¡­''


    "What''s this?" the Admiral asked as he was looking at the cold bottle in front of him.


    "Oh, this? I''m not charging you for it now so you''ll owe me big timeter."


    "Hah! Is that so?" He chuckled as he twisted the cap open.


    "That''s how interest works, right?"


    He took a big gulp much to everyone''s envy, "Ah~ That hits the spot. Shouldn''t be doing this in the morning but damn, I wouldn''t mind getting hustled every now and again for this¡­ It''s been a while¡­ It''s been a while¡­"


    At this point, it seemed like everyone was just watching what the Admiral was doing¡ªthough E was still deep in her nose with the food I gave her¡ªbut no one expected the words that came out of the Admiral''s mouth next:


    "You know what? For this beer you gave me, I''ll give you the chance topletely obliterate one of your enemies with a¡­ What do young folk call them? Ah¡­ Drive-bys? Is that it? We''ll just visit them with a few of my F-18s and problem gone. What do you think?"


    Hearing him say that, I kept a straight face that slowly turned to amusement when the people behind him either spit out their food or almost had a heart attack. However, seeing him look at me with the same expression as earlier told me he was half-joking or was just simply waiting for my response.


    But I just chuckled as I nced down before looking back at him.


    "Something funny, kid?" he said as he took another sip of his beer.


    I shook my head, "We''re starting with this, huh?"


    "Eh. We''re only here a few days and we are letting you babysit the people we couldn''t take care of. Seems fair, no?"


    "By erasing a part of the map?"


    "You know the drill."


    "Sorry, but no. I only work small-time."


    "Shame¡ª"


    "You don''t understand, Admiral. It''s for a reason."


    "Do tell."


    "Alright. I don''t know if you know already and you''re just fucking with me but we don''t have those mutations you have in your cities you had to send nuclear weapons over and even if you''re just gonna drop a few missiles or borerge fucking holes in my enemies'' territory, I''m sorry but that''s just a¡ªpun intended¡ªa nuclear option."


    "It solves the problem, no?"


    "I guess that''s how you folks really operate, huh? Doing it that way is just gonna create more problems to fix afterward."


    "What do you suggest though?"


    "Hmm. I just want you to let me handle my own shit because I don''t know if you''re that rich to not care about resources to go around but it''s a problem for us if we just keep destroying everything to achieve our goals. We can make our shit as well but turning some perfectly good facilities into rubble don''t help us as well.


    For example, wouldn''t it be better to get the maximum spoils in a ship you were just in a dogfight with including the ship you just took out yourself? What good does that do if you just sink all that metal in the ocean?"


    Admiral Burke was a little confused, "Why would I want another ship if I have the best one?"


    "See? That''s where we are different. You only want the best one, I want fucking everything."


    "Won''t it be hard to manage everything at once?"


    "It is. But that''s what I''m good at. It grinds my gears and slowly makes me insane but it''s also doing the opposite at the same time too. Kinda weird but it works for some reason. I already have a fucking lot on my te but I''m taking on this huge project too."


    He shook his head, "Doing that will burn you out, kid. Just saying. Take it from me¡ª"


    "A-ha! That''s why you need multiple ships. The best one could do all the work but not all of them. You need some small vessels or fishing boats to do simple work and specialized ones like a speedboat or a submarine to min-max everything at the same time. I dunno if you could get that but that''s how it goes."


    He nodded pensively as he chuckled, "Ah~ I kinda get it, sure. That analogy¡ª did you think of it just now?"


    "Yeah? Don''t ask for too much though. That''s all I got at the moment."


    "Hah! Shame," then he ced the empty bottle in front of me, "Can I have a refill?"


    "If I gave you another one, does that mean you''ll destroy two enemies for me? And does it change with the beverage?"


    The Admiral suddenly looked intrigued, "What else do you have though? And why aren''t you drinking with me?"

 Chapter 1106: Morning Drink Sesh - Not this again.

    As soon as the Admiral said that, the kitchen counter we were in suddenly turned to a bar of sorts where I became the bartender and the Admiral one of those lonely customers that just wanted a stiff drink and someone to talk to about their problems.


    However, since we already talked about alcohol, it didn''t take long before Oscar, Major Harper, Royo, the two Captains: Moore and Marcel, Quinn, andstly Jennifer Goodman to join in and drink with the Admiral.


    The old man already plopped down the barrel of his brew in front of me with a Tupperware of jerky and peanuts, "Serve this kid."


    Quinn followed with a bottle of Absinthe she pulled out of her ass, "Serve this too¡ª"


    Royo cut in, "Isn''t that illegal in¡ª Nevermind¡­"


    Captain Marcel turned to Jennifer, "First Lieutenant, why are you here and not with the Senator''s daughter?"


    Jennifer replied, "Fuck off."


    "What did you just say to me?!"


    "I''m off-duty now¡ª I''m basically on vacation the moment we docked here! So again, fuck off!"


    "FIRST LIEUTENANT¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "HEY! THIS IS MY BREW WE''RE DRINKIN'' AND THAT''S MY DAUGHTER YOU''RE YAPPIN'' AT, PUNK! WATCH YOUR MOUTH, HUH?!"


    "Colonel¡ª"


    Captain Moore rolled his eyes, "We haven''t had a drink yet and you''re all¡ª" then he turned to me, "Can I have a beer, first?"


    The Admiral cut in as well, "Whoa! WHOA! What are you all doin'' I''m having my time with the kid here and you all interrupt?!"


    Major Harper replied, "C''mon, Admiral~ Alcohol should be shared with friends! And we''re celebrating now!"


    I muttered from the other side of the bar, "At 8:00 in the morning¡­"


    Quinn mmed her palm on the bar, "Hey! Are you serving us liquor or not?!"


    Jennifer followed, "YEAH! I just got back from deployment and it''s all gotten fucked up! POUR ME ONE ALREADY! COME ON! YOU''RE BASICALLY MY YOUNGER STEP-BROTHER, RIGHT?! GIVE ME THE GOOD STUFF!"


    I should''ve expected something else for meeting the old man''s daughter for the first time but funnily enough, she got right in there and acted like we had known each other long ago¡ªwhich I greatly appreciated¡ªso I gave her the first shot of the day before handing Captain Moore a cold bottle.


    Looking at her closely, she did have some of the features of the old man but I''d say that body-wise, she was more on the bulkier side with her athletic build. For a littleparison, she looked like what a powerlifter would look like though she traded some of her assets for actual muscle.


    Not to take anything away from her physique but her body was what Quinn would look like if hers didn''t defy thews of equivalent exchange. She was almost as tall as me but a normal gym goer could look at her and say that she might be taking something.


    ''Voice is not as deep though so she probably didn''t take anything but we''ll never know fully without bloodwork¡­ Probably a smidge of Anavar but we''ll see¡­ She''s a mix of Quinn and Tatiana¡ªno, Quinn and Katya¡­ Sounds about right¡­''


    However, I could only see her thick neck and forearms at the moment, but facial-wise, all things were ''Merican-made or coded but she had this pointy-ish nose and square-ish jaw that would make guys who only wanted the Barbie types or thepletely feminine types swipe the other way.


    ''Not me, though¡ª Hold up, this is a dangerous thought¡ª Not now, not now, not now¡­''


    But yeah, she still waited for everyone else to have a drink on their hands before they all had a toast in front of everybody who was still having breakfast.


    ''This is one of the weirdest shit I''ve seen¡ª Nevermind¡­ This ce would need an actual bar in the future¡­''


    Obviously, more and more people came for a cold one¡ªeven those from E''s side¡ªbut my focus was just on this fucking lineup of people because they just might slip up and say more government secrets while they were having fun.


    I know that I''m already partially in on it and have some sort of authority but it just wasn''t the samepared to them who served the same g and the same country, except for Quinn, of course, who was just there for the alcohol.


    However, it didn''t take long before these fucks realized the potency of the old man''s brew and the old man, Quinn, and his daughter were the only ones that were enjoying it.


    The two captains easily downed five shots but little did they know it also snucks up at ''em too after the brutal first hit and that was one of the reason the Admiral was holding onto his third shot while the Major and Royo was contemting on taking their second one.


    Jennifer turned to her dad who was at the opposite side of the bar, "Hey! What''s this made of?!"


    Oscar quipped after asking for his fifth one without issues, "Don''t ''Hey!'' me, you brat! Can''t call me dad, at least?!"


    "We still have a lot of fucking things to talk about, Colonel! I''ll call you that if I want to! And can''t you answer that at least¡ª"


    "Watermelon! Shit''s made with watermelon!"


    "What?! For real?!"


    "I aged them in a whiskey barrel though, that''s why you get that aftertaste¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Isn''t the aftertaste from the watermelon instead?"


    Oscar pped his forehead, "Yeah, yeah, I got it backwards. It''s faint but you can smell the whiskey and taste a bit of it when it goes down, right? It''s still a work in progress but it''s kinda smooth in a way¡­"


    Quinn and Jennifer nodded and said at the same time, "Yeah, yeah¡­"


    The Admiral chimed in, "I dunno about smooth but this is too hard first thing in the morning after breakfast¡­"


    Oscar chuckled, "You can stick to the bud light if you can''t take it."


    "I didn''t say that, I just said it''s too hard! Can I have a taste of that green one?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    "Eck! Jesus! WHY''S¡ª"


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she drank straight from the bottle, "Pussies. Pussies, I tell ya," then she turned to Jennifer, "Want a taste?"


    "Sure," Jennifer nodded before drinking from the battle as well.


    "What do you think?"


    "Ooh! Jesus, that is wild but I''d like it with some coke or something," then she turned to me, "You have a can over there?"


    "Uh-huh. Here," then I turned to Major Harper, "So, we''re drinking the day away, now?"


    Major Harper shook his head, "Nah. I''m fine with this one. We have a lot to go over now that they''re all here," then he turned to the Admiral, "Admiral Burke, after you''re done here, I suggest we meet at the Main Hangar in fifteen. Is that okay?"


    The Admiral nodded, "Sure, sure," then he turned to me, "I must''ve forgotten to do this but thanks for this."


    "It''s all on your tab though, heh. It''s gaining interest at the moment, watch out."


    He chuckled, "That''s true, can I shake your hand though? I need to see something for myself."


    I turned to the rest of his troops before I turned back to him, "Really? Not this again."


    "Just humor me, alright?"

 Chapter 1107: Gentlemen, I would like you all to meet my ex-wife.

    For some reason, almost everyone who was a ranking officer¡ªincluding the Admiral, of course, as he was way~ up there¡ªwanted to share a handshake with me. I wasn''t sure if this was just amon urrence to test a person''s worth or someone''s grip strength in the most literal sense, but it never hurt anybody so I did what the Admiral asked and humored him like everybody else.


    But yeah, at the back of my mind, I was picturing that he''d just grimace for some bullshit reason and I''d just be taken to the brig for assaulting a high-ranking officer¡ªbut I already threw a senator''s daughter overboard, why fucking stop there?


    And the moment we "shook" hands, I already felt his firm callused hands¡ªdespite hismanding position¡ªbefore it turned to a deathly grip that would''ve crushed a small watermelon.


    ''All these motherfuckers'' bullshit test of strength for some reason¡ª''


    But despite the Admiral''s attempt to make me make out a face, I kept a straight look as I gradually built pressure until both our arms were shaking, but our little excursion was interrupted by the goose, E:


    "DAD! Stop messing around! Have you tried the soup, yet? It''s really good¡ª Hey! I''m talking to you! Dad!"


    And as soon as E''s voice entered the Admiral''s(?) ears, his grip crashed down before I matched it until we were actually having a normal handshake, but I sure as hell wouldn''t pass up what the brat fucking called him.


    "Wait, a sec¡ª I thought you¡ª She''s the daughter of a senator, right? Not an Admiral¡ª Wait¡­ So, your wife''s the senator?"


    Admiral Burke was looking at E with a gentle smile as he said, "I''ve tried it all, dear. It is good. d you enjoyed it too! Let me just finish my conversation with this young man, alright?"


    "O-Okay! Be nice to him, alright?! He''s my friend!"


    I wanted to cut in, "I¡ª"


    But the Admiral turned back to me again, "To answer your question, yes and no."


    "Then¡ª"


    "Let me finish. Michae is my daughter too but she''s also my ex-wife''s. I hope that clears any misunderstanding. Don''t worry as much about throwing her in the water though, I haven''t had the chance to teach her how to swim and I guess I''ll leave that to ya. My ex-wife should''ve been taking her to sses but she''s pretty busy as well¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    From that brief moment of silence, it was then that I realized the reason why the old man and Major Harper were that worried for my well-being, because from the list of high-profile individuals that had just arrived, "E" was at least at the top 3 out of all of them.


    However, I''d still throw her in the water the second time but I also realized that the senator in question or their mother/ex-wife¡ªdepending on who was asked¡ªwasn''t present.


    ''Still, would''ve been clearer if the Major started calling her the Admiral''s daughter instead of the senator''s which wasn''t here at all¡­ There might''ve been a .001% chance I could''ve changed my mind because I am trying to score brownie points off them¡­''


    I poured myself a shot before I looked at him with a solemn expression, "Right. To avoid any more misunderstandings, is she¡­ your ex-wife¡ª"


    "Alive?"


    "Yep."


    "I would''ve saidte ex-wife, no?"


    "Eh. Depends on the person. It could mean a lot of things."


    "Huh. That is true¡­"


    "So, your daughter¡­"


    "Yeah? What do you wanna know?"


    "Is she¡­ Is she staying here too?"


    "..." he just gave me a look before beckoning me to take another shot.


    "She''s staying, huh? Fuck¡­ The next time you''re here though, depending on her behavior, she just might beat Michael Phelps or develop a more¡­ normal fashion sense¡ªnot that it''s bad or anything but people just might throw her some bread if they thought she''s a goose¡ª"


    "HAH!" the Admiral cackled as he finally downed his drink, "Don''t say that as loud! She took fashion, footwear, essories, and jewelry design all at the same time so¡­ you know¡­ she''s the authority in¡­ in that department¡­ whatever the hell that is¡­"


    "Huh."


    "Pour me another one¡ª"


    "She took¡ª You mean she was in college?"


    "Pretty obvious, no?"


    "She elerated or moved up or something?"


    "Huh? Why? She''d probably be a doctor or in one of those sciences if she was."


    "Ah¡­"


    "You¡ª Ohhh, that''s right¡­ She doesn''t look one, huh?"


    "Doesn''t act like one too¡ª"


    "Like you''re any mature¡ª"


    "Fuck you. Can you swear on your life you wouldn''t throw her in the water if you had the chance?"


    "..."


    "Hmm?!"


    "You fucking¡ª Asshole! That''s my kid! Why would I¡ª"


    "Just answer the damn question, you fuck!"


    "..."


    "Ooh~ Silent treatment. You learned that from your wife¡ª I mean, ex-wife?"


    He just stared at me for a bit before he tapped his fingers on the table, "Just pour me a damn drink, you kid."


    "That''s a yes, huh?"


    In any case, I didn''t even realize that the two of us were the only ones in the bar as everyone else decided to move on and do their own thing. It IS still morning and we still had a lot of fucking shit to do before they leave again, but after we downed his sixth shot and my fourth, the Admiral beckoned me to close up shop and meet everyone else in the Eisenhower instead of the Hangar.


    "I think everyone''s already in the Main Hangar¡ª"


    "Then call them over. I have something to show all of you."


    "Okay?"


    "I''ll meet you there in five¡­" he trailed as he let out a long sigh.


    With that said, it wasn''t that difficult to convince all the high-ranking officers in the makeshift HQ toe to the supercarrier because the Admiral himself said so, but instead of meeting up in their "war room" to discuss specifics of our current situation, we were led by one of his officers towards one of theirrger storage areas.


    It''s just that the Admiral was standing in front of this huge-ass translucent aquarium where a figure was supposedly "sleeping" inside.


    "Gentlemen, I would like you all to meet my ex-wife."

 Chapter 1108: One of One

    As the Admiral bumped the ss¡ªwhich I assumed was military-grade reinforced ss¡ªwith the bottom of his closed fist, it just made a dull sound before the "ex-wife" inside rose up unnaturally by flinging its whole discolored body to the sound it heard.


    Additionally, it also barely made any sound when it collided on the spot the Admiral bumped but it did leave nasty mark of its bodily fluids which slowly got washed down by the steaming from the inside.


    ''What the fuck¡­''


    From a quick nce, it was just a simple-looking aquarium with nothing on the inside to sustain a human being.


    All it had was a light source, the mist spray, and some random ass bullshit to monitor everything that was happening inside.


    But yeah, the figure inside couldn''t even be called "human" anymore because it looked like what would happen if you crumpled a piece of paper and tried to straighten it back out.


    Sure, it did have some external identifiers like its face had a showdown with Mike Tyson or its limbs that looked like it was more than double-jointed due to its injuries, but in all honesty, it looked like a person tried to volunteer as a crash test dummy and somehow survived.


    Despite all that, I was more confused as to how it could move unnaturally¡ªor even move at all¡ªbecause this "senator" needed more than a wheelchair or a shoulder to lean on.


    I was just staring at it the whole time like everyone else who saw this scene for the first time, but the Admiral was looking straight at me.


    "Take a closer look. My ex-wife''s one of one if any of that matters¡­"


    "Does your daughter know?" I asked as I moved a few steps forward.


    "No."


    Oscar chimed in, "Can I also tap the ss?"


    "Sure."


    And as Oscar did, instead of a "ragdoll" flinging itself to any known sound source, we all just heard a dull click after we saw it motion to throw something.


    "The hell?"


    "What''re those¡ª"


    "That''s also her. Part of her, at least."


    "..."


    "..."


    To our surprise, the senator was making use of its bones as throwables because we saw pieces of its skeletal system on the flooring, but that just made us even more confused. Our bones should be the structure that keeps our bodies upright but even with the unnatural movement, it shouldn''t be able to fling itself, throw an item, or much less, move.


    But yeah, we saw it "search" its right arm for more "artillery" though we discovered that it was a Southpaw from that action.


    It seemed like its right arm was just a very long appendage but its whole muscle configuration was jumbled all over. I was pretty sure it had five bicep heads and three long heads for its forearms¡ªaside from its fingers just being nubs¡ªand it made me think of one of our own.


    ''Maybe?''


    I would''ve thought that this was a doing of a stitcher/slurper but I''m pretty sure there wasn''t any mention of a special like that from overseas. Even so, what if it was just a matter of time until each continent or country have the same type of shit¡ªbut it seemed like my prediction was a little off.


    The Admiral pressed some sort of button to conceal his "ex-wife" by turning off the lights from the inside. But before the lightspletely dimmed down, we saw the spraying out of the small nozzles give out a lot more but the color of it was still the same.


    I wasn''t sure if it was some way to make it "sleep" but we still have a lot more questions than answers¡ªwhich I''m gonna assume he doesn''t have the right answer for it either.


    "I''m sorry, gents, she has to ''recollect'' herself after that. We can''t just stress her body out even more¡ªbecause we can''t just feed her outsider meat¡­"


    Oscar cut in before I managed to, "Holdup¡ª That''s a lot more questions than answers. We gotta need more context than that!"


    The Admiral let out another long sigh, "Let''s talk upstairs, I just wanted you all to see that before I surrender her. I know she''s not my wife anymore and she really doesn''t look like her anymore but¡ª"


    I just had to do it, "Admiral. I don''t know if this would work with you or if this is appropriate but does this aquarium have a catching tray of sorts where we could get a sample of her blood or any of her bodily fluids? Maybe even a bone or two? We don''t need a lot but we do have Japanese scientists in a different ind group and they would greatly appreciate the help."


    "..."


    "Admiral?"


    As I asked him that question, the Admiral just looked straight at me for what felt like a whole minute before he let out another sigh and looked down. After what seemed to be another minute, he looked back at me and nodded a few times before he answered:


    "We already have some samples to pass on. It is kind of diluted with the mist and all but you just gotta collect a lot of it, you know? Don''t worry though, this is just the alcohol talking, I already made up my mind about this."


    "T-Thank you, Admiral¡ª no, Mr. Burke. For the record¡­ I won''t charge you interest with the alcohol¡ª"


    "HAH! Is that so?"


    "Mine''s not watered down¡ª"


    He suddenly jabbed my gut before he kind of stared me down as he lightly shook his head, "Asshole. Easy on the jokes, alright?"


    "Right¡­ Apologies."


    But yeah, I took onest look at the aquarium before we followed the Admiral up the staircase but it was very obvious that the weight on his shoulders was as heavy as the steps he was taking.


    It didn''t take long before we reached their "war room" of sorts but the first thing I noticed was the simrity of the markings of their world map with Major Harper''s except for a few select ones.

 Chapter 1109: The Senators Origin

    In any case, the "select" markings I discovered weren''t onnd but actually on a body of water, and with the number of supercarriers and carriers the USA possessed¡ªincluding the ones not run by nuclear power but still fall under a Nimitz-ss carrier¡ªI''m just gonna assume that these markings were theirst known or current location.


    But yeah, before I had the chance to look around and assume shit that was hopefully spot on, the Admiral beckoned me to sit down before he projected a family picture on the table we were sitting at.


    It was a picture that not only showed that people who served had probably a dozen or so of either theirbat or service uniforms¡ªbecause that was what they would always opt for clothing even in the fucking holidays¡ªbut joking aside, it was one where a wacky shot which was taken by their daughter forughs was treasured by both parents because it was a time where their work hadn''t interfered that much with their marriage.


    I could be fucking talking out of my own ass right now but I''ve never seen people working for the government smile that genuinely except for a few exceptions.


    ''So that''s what she actually looks like¡­''


    I turned to the Admiral, "When was this, if I may ask?"


    "Probably a decade ago or so ago. A few months before our divorce."


    "I see."


    "Hmm."


    "Ah¡ª W-What was her name again? I can''t remember you¡ª"


    "Jolene."


    "Oh. She''s¡ª She looks really different here¡ª"


    The Admiral let out a bitter chuckle, "I didn''t do half-bad, huh?"


    I nodded a few times, "Yeah. E''s so fucking lucky she didn''t take after you¡ª WOAH! Don''t start throwing shit around! That''s a good brand of stapler! Jesus!"


    "I''ll throw this paperweight next if you can''t just give me a singlepliment, you dick!"


    "I''m sorry! You aged really great! And your wife''s gorgeous! I wish I could grow a full beard like yours! Happy?!"


    "Hmph."


    "A-Anyway, why are you showing¡ª"


    As I was still mid-sentence, I was cut off by another picture that only showed Jolene alone wearing a hospital gown and she looked like half her foot was on death''s door.


    The pale skin almost imprinting her very skinny body, loss of at least 90% of her hairline, sunken eyes, etc., and all of the telltale signs that someone was on a ton of medication and clinical trials just to keep her alive¡ªnot even turning once to hospice care.


    "What the¡ª How¡ª When?"


    "That was taken a couple of years after our divorce. And before you ask, I''m not the fucking devil and I had no idea¡ªour daughter too¡ªthat she was going through all of this at the time, but yeah, our divorce was for some other reason that''s not relevant to this scenario."


    "But¡ª"


    And for the second time while I was still in the middle of my sentence, he showed another picture of his wife, probably in the same hospital and wearing the same outfit, but this time, she looked more like the first photo he showed us.


    It''s just that I wasn''t sure if it was a before or after photo.


    However, knowing that everyone else in this group still referred to her as the "senator" and E not knowing of her mother''s current situation, I''m gonna assume that her meds and whatever clinical trial she was in worked but still failed at surviving the end of the world.


    But yeah, the Admiral continued posting more photos of her life after the treatment and how she funded several foundations in cancer research¡ªright until we were shown a CCTV footage the moment she turned over to the other side.


    To my surprise, it was dated only a few months before D-Day, and with the familiar markings on the walls and the same equipment in the background, I assumed it was at the same ce she got treated though this time, it was now for the other hopefuls that were granted the privilege to be like a normal person.


    It''s just that I was waiting for a maintenance worker or any fucking personnel toe in and take a bite out of her neck, but Jolene just happily talked with one of the patients before she got out of the room, sat on one corner for a good fifteen minutes before a nurse checked in on her and discovered she was no longer breathing.


    Almost immediately, CPR was given to somehow revive or resuscitate the victim, but the moment the nurse pressed on Jolene''s chest for the firstpression, Jolene''s chest cavity caved in like it was made of twigs and her brittle bones made a pincushion of her insides before it broke out of her skin, making blood seep out of her clothes and giving the nurse the fright of her life.


    Despite that, the nurse tried her best to keep herposure before calling every fucking doctor on the floor, and it gave her a slight glimmer of hope that she could still keep her job when she saw movementing from the Admiral''s wife.


    It seemed that Jolene had started to choke on her own blood despite the broken chest cavity and her body not expelling air a few fucking minutes ago.


    But as the blood on the nurse''s hands who touched anything and everything¡ªfrom the panic of calling everything to her exact location¡ªgot onto and into her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, it didn''t turn her into a flesh-eating abomination we refer to as the undead but it just¡­ it just killed her.


    Within a few minutes of having Jolene''s blood in their bodies caused a fatality, but the biggest and most confusing surprise came next.


    Once the doctors and any other emergency personnel arrived, all they saw was the dead nurse on the floor lying next to the senator, who supposedly had the freakiest CPR ident recorded in history, had the fastest recovery.


    Not only did Jolene''s skeletal system ''recollect'' itself as the Admiral mentioned earlier, she would''ve lived to this day if she hadn''t been given CPR that caused the bone fragments to pierce through all her organs.

 Chapter 1110: Its a yes or no question, Mr. Burke.

    Obviously enough, the hospital tried to dy announcing the deaths that urred and gather as much data as possible, but it didn''t take long before they discovered that "Jolene" still had brain activity despite being dered dead due to her internal organs getting punctured from the inside and out.


    The brain was supposed to have activity for around four to six minutes as a person died and something thought impossible became possible¡­ in a sense.


    At that point, the term "zombification" wasn''t even in their heads yet because the words brain and skeletal auto-regeneration were being thrown around¡ªin their words, the brain''s ability to stay alive and "jump" the rest of its body like a car would so it would be able to function as normal again.


    It''s just that Jolene''s bones moving on their own seemed to be not as focused as its own thing because let''s be real here, 99.9% of the people that would witness this would focus on the brain and assume that everything was just the brain''s doing.


    And yeah, it''s also true¡­ in a sense.


    ''What if her bone regenerating that way is just another separate thing caused by the treatment she received? Not just the root or actual cause in tandem with the actual thing that made these monsters?''


    But right now, we were being shown several X-rays that showed a timeline of how fast Jolene''s skeletal system tried to repair itself but as it moved through its organs to reset itself to its right ce, it solved its current issue but still caused problems everywhere else.


    But yeah, getting these scans was a feat in itself because not even including when another personnel died from getting Jolene''s blood in an open wound, Jolene''s spine and calves literally snapped when they moved her to a stretcher. Her bones were still as brittle but they "recover" just as fast, rtively speaking,pared to bones'' usual healing rate.


    She was like a character with a negative constitution modifier but her recovery was way~ off the fucking charts, but with several dependencies and conditions to be fulfilled so that she could survive the day.


    It''s just that these doctors opened her up after her bones "healed" in record time and tried to stitch her organs back up as they thought it would''ve been a great help IF the rest of her organs started to heal themselves as well.


    And to their dismay, it didn''t.


    This fucking hospital tried everything to dy announcing her death¡ªdespite already covering up the nurse and the EMTs death¡ªbecause she technically wasn''t but she technically wasn''t alive either. However, everything just abruptly jumped to when the "senator" was looking like a few car crashes from what she looked like earlier.


    "What¡ª That''s it?"


    The Admiral replied solemnly, "From that instance, yes. Just watch the rest."


    "Okay¡­"


    With that said, the videos we were seeing right now was from a differentb and we could clearly see the Admiral and a few other officers from the other side of the window.


    This time, Jolene was held tight by multiple ratchet straps and her bones were much, much strongerpared to the time it''d break with the simplest touch. However, something was definitely off from the videos I was seeing¡ªthough the Admiral and everyone else seemed serious in showing me this¡ªbut I had to hit pause and look everybody in the eye.


    "You''re not punking me, right?"


    "No."


    Oscar asked, "What''s wrong, kid?"


    "Nothing. Just making sure."


    If it was any other day, I would''ve assumed it was an altered video made by a very early-on AI program but remembering the extra amount of muscles Jolene shouldn''t be having, I just kept to myself and continued watching the video.


    At that point, the Admiral from the video never looked so pained when seeing his ex-wife get experimented on, but I was more focused on the number of bones they were taking out of her body and the location they were taking it out from.


    But yeah, I just watched them pull out a skull, a hipbone, a femur¡ªbasically a random assortment of bones from anything, everywhere, and all at once from the senator''s whole body¡ªnot just its stomach¡ªand it looked to me like a telltale sign of a Stitcher.


    However, it looked to me like Jolene "absorbed" them into an on her body wherein a Stitcher would use its tongue to physically attach a new appendage to itself.


    It was like one of those times when we saw a few deadheads congealed on each other but they were just functioning like regr deadheads, not like ammo or extra padding for the ragdoll¡ªand in another case, "Jolene" ragdoll-ing still wasn''t discussed yet.


    The Admiral then turned to me, "Thoughts about this?"


    I thought for a bit before I answered, "Do you know how anglerfish mate?"


    He nodded approvingly, "My thoughts exactly."


    Major Harper cut in, "What?"


    "When a male anglerfish finds a mate, it basically attaches itself to the female, sharing DNA, blood, skin¡ªfucking everything. Before long, the two literally be one and the same and it''s just¡­ Some type of way it could sustain itself given its way of using its bones as throwables."


    "Are we still talking about the fish or¡ª"


    I answered the same time with the Admiral, "Both."


    "Ah¡­"


    "But in the case of the senator, whether she absorbs one into her body or a deadhead starts a parasitic rtionship with her, it wasn''t for a reproductive purpose. It''s just their way to survive¡ªthat reminds me," I said as I turned to the Admiral, "You said to not feed her outside meat. What does that mean?"


    The Admiral turned to the Major, "You told him about the key factor in mutations urring, right?"


    "I did."


    He turned back to me, "Now, think¡ª"


    I finally had the realization as I cut him off, "Ah, fuck. I get it now. But hold on, why would you feed her anyway? She''s dead, right?"


    "..."


    "Right?"


    "Hmm¡­"


    "It''s¡­ It''s a yes or no question, Mr. Burke."


    "Haa¡­ Yes and no."

 Chapter 1111: How It Works - Spoilers

    Ever since this shit started, we''ve been trying to figure out how this fucking workspared to the media we consumed, but the progress we had at this point was like clearing a hoarder''s den and discovering it was just a fucking room within the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kongbined with the Underground Catbs in Paris.


    There existed a universal truth that their brains were their critical weakness but with the emergence of Stitchers that could basically turn left-alone deadheads as puppets for a time, the way it should''ve been working was blurring more and more as we discover more shit that they could do.


    But yeah, 99% of the deadheads we encounter would still sumb with a strong enough blow to the head but then again, this was only to the extent of our knowledge and the information shared with us.


    ''What if there were certain mutations that didn''t need the Main CPU or what if there were mutations that were stand-alone puppets who didn''t need a master?''


    That was one of the reasons I sent out clearing groups¡ªto try and nip everything in the bud to avoid such mutations from happening¡ªbut that might also be one of the reasons that the world decided to send nuclear weapons all around the globe, topletely obliterate certain mutations that a small group or even an army couldn''t handle with a sharp de or an anti-tank round.


    In any case, bringing it back to our current situation, I should''ve asked a better question so that the Admiral could''ve articted more from the get-go.


    Answering me coyly with "Yes and no," was still technically an answer because zombies were both alive and dead, but I dryly chuckled and looked a little fed up before he took it upon himself to give me his real answer:


    "Look, I didn''t mean feed in the literal sense but I''m sure you noticed that she wouldn''t even be able to chew her food unless she put her jaw¡ªat least what''s left of it¡ªto where it belongs and do her magic¡ª Wait. No, her original jaw and the rest of her teeth were long gone the moment she discovered how to use them as weapons¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "Hold up, what do you mean by original? Does she have fake ones we don''t know about? Can she make a new skeleton from scratch¡ª"


    I cleared things up with Oscar before ADM Burke could, "I think he''s referring to the bodies it absorbed. Once they''re one and the same, her only problem is finding the right size¡ª Hold up, what happens to the brains of the ones she absorbed?"


    Oscar waved me down, "Hold up, hold up¡ª Let me catch up, kid. So when they fuse together¡ª Oh! Ohhh~ I get it, I get it¡ª Right! What happens to the brain of the other one and the rest of its organs?"


    "It''s¡ª"


    The Admiral was about to give an answer but I followed up with a third question:


    "Before you answer that, a bicep is called a "bi"-cep because of the two muscles it wasposed of but the one we just saw over there has five. Are they even bicep heads or just extra lumps from the¡­ you know?"


    The Admiral let out a brief sigh, "You''ve kinda answered your own question. But to rify, this is just from our observations, but the way she ''feeds'' is through absorbing the others like her as we established earlier but as they meld into her skin, they just shrink more and more until they''re the size of a¡ªforgive theparison¡ªa chilidog or something simr but the bones remain the same.


    It''s just that they stick out and that''s what makes them essible to her as throwing weapons¡­"


    "Even the brain?"


    "Yes."


    Oscar muttered, "She''d probably look even weirder if she still had several appendages sticking out from her body. No offense, Admiral."


    "None taken. Quite a silver lining in a way."


    I asked, "How long does it take to absorb a deadhead? And before they turn into a chilidog, can she move them or does the mate move on its own?"


    "I think it''ll be better if I show you the video."


    "There''s more?"


    "Among other things, yes."


    "Then show us¡ª"


    "Move your feet off the goddamn table, then!"


    "Ah¡ª Apologies."


    "Haa¡­"


    With that said, as the Admiral loaded the video on the coolest "gaming table" ever, it showed Jolene in pretty much the same state she was in right now¡ªeven in the same aquarium¡ªbut this time, she looked to be a tad lethargic despite the couple of "friends" she had over.


    But yeah, we''ve seen her flung herself earlier but seeing her "walk" right now doesn''t look like she was walking. It could be from the missing bones or just her muscles doing all the work but it didn''t take long before the ones before her knew of her presence and made their way to meet her halfway.


    The two seemed to be regr deadheads, but even though I''ve seen dregs eat themselves or eat one of their own, I''ve never seen them chomp through her flesh halfway before giving her a tight hug.


    It was the weirdest fucking three-way I''ve seen in a while but the video started to speed up.


    "Woah, woah¡ª Wait¡ª"


    "It''s much better this way, trust me. You wouldn''t wait the full week, would you?"


    Oscar asked, "It takes a full week?"


    "Give or take."


    "Man~ you just gotta spoil it, huh?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Tough crowd¡­"


    But yeah, I''ve seen lotion get absorbed through the skin but I''ve never seen a full body¡ªmuch less a rotting one and two of them, I might add¡ªget absorbed for another''s "sustenance".


    It was like this ssic animation where this antagonist absorbs certain androids through its tail to further perfect its evolution but this one looked like it was evolving backwards or just barely clinging to life.


    Jolene did look a little more "energetic" as it finally finished its meal.

 Chapter 1112: The Hall Pass

    Looking at Jolene''s body at that specific moment, it wasn''t aplete absorption as I thought because there were ky bits of skin that fell off along with some bones that were either too big or a little loosepared to the rest of the ones making her look like the most fucked-up hedgehog known to man.


    However, even if I''ve seen a lot of shit before¡ªeven the onesmitted by people¡ªseeing how the whole process works was still unnerving, to say the least.


    But yeah, our whole conversation took more than a few hours to finish but at the end of the day, it was just more ways in how these things could function, not how to bring about a solution.


    ''Hmm¡­ outsider meat just refers to the deadheads that might have a different strand of the virus¡­ Also, our nerves could still order the body around without the proper support, hence the ragdoll-ing¡­''


    In any case, to fully solve this thing or any other viruses or whatever the fuck we were facing right now, the way to go was to fully understand it as well¡ªand somehow even recreate it¡ªbecause that was how it was done even before this zombie bullshit started.


    It''s just that the mutations urring over and over was making everything extra hard because a cure for one strand might not be the cure for another. We''ve discussed this type of thing before and we did end up with the "solution" of making something that could also evolve with the virus to render it null and void.


    However, it''s still just fantasynd at this point because all we''ve done was send samples while the ones we sent them to just analyze them.


    It''s like going an incline that keeps getting steeper and steeper and there''s no downhill or end point in sight. It would''ve been nice if there were checkpoints or water breaks along the road we were trekking but we''re still stuck with the same cure we''ve had since day one: violence.


    And before we left the Admiral alone for a while, I did ask for copies of the footage and images we''d seen and he reluctantly agreed.


    "You can say no, you know?"


    "It''s¡­ It''s alright. The more eyes to see this, the better. Saves us the trip to Mindanao too."


    "I see¡­"


    "Well¡­ If you don''t mind, I really need to be alone right now. If you''re gonna ask for anything, just look for~ anyone really, just tell them I gave you the go-ahead."


    "For real?"


    "Yeah."


    With that said, as I was leaving after copying everything I could by plugging my phone into hisptop, I did hear him call for someone to be alone with. However, that wasn''t my business at this point, though I have another use of my phone now that we''re still in the Eisenhower.


    Selfies!


    To be honest, I wasn''t that active in social media before and almost all of my pictures were just backed up in a drive, but I wouldn''t dare pass up the chance to have a look around and possible have the most badass profile once the world was back to normal.


    But yeah, I looked like a fucking lunatic¡ªlike a certain character in a brown suit with a brown teddy bear and an iconic green car in one of his movies¡ªbut I did have the Admiral''s "go-ahead" so I fucking went ahead for as much as I could with the given hall pass.


    And to make things even better, I saw this chick painting what seemed to be an original anime character based on herself which was heavily inspired by the JoJo series.


    "DIO!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.


    The chick turned around confused for a bit before realization struck:


    "Oh? You''re approaching me?" she said as she struck the same inspired pose.


    Then I changed the script for copyright reasons, "YEAH! Instead of running away, I''ming straight for ya!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "HAHAHAHAHA! I thought you''re a fucking lunatic taking all those selfies but you''re just you! The name''s Rachel!"


    "Sky!"


    "Oh, shit! For real?"


    "Not a little too on the nose?"


    "Fuck no, it''s awesome! What brings you here, anyway?"


    "Yeah, I have a huge favor to ask."


    "Huh? What is it?"


    "Well¡­"


    Of course, my rep of being a lunatic was starting to get high but since I mentioned the "go-ahead" from the Admiral himself and adding our little moment earlier plus her discovering I was the kid who cooked their breakfast, it didn''t take long before we fucking took to the skies with her F-18F, a two-seater variant of an F-18, and I was on the backseat acting as the Weapon Systems Officer(WSO) while she was obviously on the pilot''s seat and making me go through several G''s of force after a brief warmup.


    [YOU STILL ALIVE OVER THERE?!]


    "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY FUCKING LIFE! MORE! MORE!"


    [WE''RE ALREADY ON 6GS, YOU FUCK! YOU SURE YOU WANT A TASTE OF WHAT I CAN DO?!]


    "I''LL LET YOU FUCK ME IF I PASS OUT! BRING IT ON!"


    [HAH! I''M FUCKING YOU AFTER THIS ANYWAY! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW THIS SHIT GETS ME SO FUCKED UP!]


    With that said, Rachel cackled briefly before she let me have a taste of 7.5Gs of force for a few seconds. Let me be fucking honest, I almost passed out when I felt everything hit me but let''s just say that my will to only serve my ass to Kaley was stronger so I fucking survived.


    Still, both of us were still having the best time even when we got back to the flight deck, and the look on everyone else''s face, especially the Admiral, was fucking priceless.


    "ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?! AND YOU! WHY DID YOU LET HIM FLY THE¡ª"


    I cut him off, "I can fly it?! CAN I?! CAN I PLEASE?!"


    "SHADDAP!"


    Rachel had my back, "With all due respect, Admiral, you did give him the hall pass, right?"


    "I DID¡ª BUT¡ª I DIDN''T THINK YOU TWO WOULD DO THIS!"


    Then Oscar ced his arm over the ADM''s shoulder:


    "First time?"

 Chapter 1113: Chris Kenneth - Walk the plank!

    On that note, the Admiral and everyone else in the Marine Base knew of my business side and my fun side¡ªbecause it''s just that inevitable and I wasn''t hiding it in any way shape, or form¡ªbut as my new friend, Rachel, was about to drag me somewhere to have a bit of fun, Kaley tugged on my arm while wearing a concerned look.


    "Something wrong?"


    "Who''s she?" Kaley and Rachel asked at the same time:


    "Ah."


    "It''s okay."


    Kaley instantly knew what was up but something seemed to be in her mind though Rachel thought that I was a cheating piece of shit. The vibes just as we got out of her fighter jet and while we were getting scolded by the ADM were great but now, she looked like she''d rather die of asphyxiation than to share the same air with me.


    "No, I get it. You seem kind of cool but I don''t deal with this shit, I''mma bounce¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "No, it''s not about that¡ª"


    But Rachel cut her off as well, "No, no. We haven''t done anything yet¡ªwe were supposed to¡ªbut he''s all yours¡ª"


    Kaley was persistent, "No, no. It''s totally cool and you can even join uster but¡ª"


    "Hold up, hold up! I don''t¡ª Oh. Ohhh~ Huh," then her face lightened up a little as she looked at me, "This was an borate way to have a threesome with me, you know? Heh. With your woman looking like that, all you have to do is ask, no?"


    "Umm¡­ Thanks?"


    Rachel then turned to Kaley, "Right. My bad for assuming shit. But weren''t you about to say something else?"


    Kaley nodded with a smile that slowly turned to somberness, "Ah¡­ Right¡­" then she turned to me again, "Chris is here."


    "Chris or Kris? Which one?"


    "Huh?"


    "It''s amon name, Kaley¡ª"


    Kaley shook her head, "N-No! Chris Keh Ry! From high school! He came with them!"


    Then realization struck, "Oh! A little taller than me back then, curly hair straightened, thick eyebrows, darker skin tone, a little on the skinny side¡ª"


    "Why are you giving me all these descriptions?! You''re as close to him like with Raphael, Earnest, Darelle, and Kris¡ª It''s your friend group back then, doofus!"


    "I-I know! My bad. B-But where¡ª"


    "He''s down below! I can''t believe we didn''t recognize¡ª" then her expression turned somber again, "But¡­ Look¡­ He came alone, alright? You know what that means¡­"


    "Oh¡­ Yeah¡­"


    At that point, even Rachel knew what was up despite our earlier misunderstanding, but she even decided toe with us just because. But yeah, it was obvious that our little arrangement earlier was canceled altogether but that didn''t matter as much because she was open for our "threesome"ter when everybody was present.


    It was nice to have a pilot that shared the same interests as me but for the second time, the mood just dropped a whole lot when we met with one of my old friends.


    I really thought it''d be one of those touchy reunions but I thought wrong.


    It was because when I waved at CK, as we''ve called him back then, the dude just looked at me briefly before continuing his assigned job.


    He still kind of looked the same despite the obvious changes when someone got older but the only thing that was different from before was that his hair was now longer¡ªup to his shoulders¡ªbut it was now as curlier because he hadn''t been straightening itpared to back then.


    At the moment, he was hauling their luggage with several other people and Kaley just looked down when even I, one of his supposed closer friends, was also dismissed like that.


    ''Didn''t see him earlier¡­ So, he didn''t eat breakfast?''


    Kaley then nudged me, "I-It''s him, right?"


    I almost smacked the dumbass, "You weren''t sure?!"


    "Wha¡ª I-I''m just making sure for the third time! Obviously, it''s him but¡ª He should''ve nodded at least, right? That''s why I called you over to see if he was just mad at me or something."


    "Why would he be mad at you?"


    "I don''t know, I was just specting. He¡­ He looks really off, no?"


    "Hmm. For one, he wasn''t smiling with that one tooth of his at the front¡ª"


    Then Rachel seemed to have a realization, "Ahh¡­ I think I remember that one. He really is a bundle of smiles and he has these cool music choices but he lost someone pretty recently."


    Kaley and I asked, "Who?"


    "His girl, Edna or Ezra or something. He had to collect bits of her ashes from the incinerator when she was chucked in there."


    "What happened?" Kaley asked.


    "Eh~ Not my business, no? I know that you have to know but he''s your friend, right? You should talk to him yourselves, I''mma find some other people to hang around for the meantime. I thought I could hang with you guys for a bit but this is more important."


    I nodded a few times, "Thanks, Rachel. See you soon, alright?"


    "Of course. We''ll be ''seeing'' you twoter, right? Don''t forget about me."


    "Yeah¡­"


    "Cool."


    At that point, CK had juste back from one of the storage areas so I cut off his path instead of just calling out to him.


    "You can''t just ignore me, you fuck. You know I¡ª even Kaley called you over earlier, right?"


    "..." CK just gave me a dismissive nce as he tried to sidestep away.


    However, I cut him off once again, but this time, I grabbed his arm, causing him to throw me a re.


    "Now we''re getting somewhere, huh?"


    "Fuck off, I''m trying to work¡ª"


    "No, you don''t."


    He gave me a side nce as he looked so fed up just from talking to me for a few seconds, "Get off me, man. I''m going through something."


    "Oh. I know. You''re mourning right now and we aren''t expecting anything from you but you look like you needed a hug, at the very least."


    "..."


    "So?"


    "I¡­ I really am just trying to work, man."


    "I just said you didn''t need to."


    "That''s¡­ That''s not how it works¡ª"


    "Umm¡­ You really don''t know, huh?"


    "Know what?"


    "That''s how it works, really."


    "What?"


    "I''m 49% owner of this shit, dude. I can basically give you a month off and they wouldn''t care. I can even take you back with me and you get to see our whole squad¡ª Well, Roi''s still in hiding but you know how he is, right?"


    "..."


    "Dude? Earth to CK, Earth to CK. Did you just get hit with a 5-second stun with that big-ass arrow? You know what I''m talking about, right?"


    "..."


    "You don''t remember? Cool chick riding on this white tiger and throws this big-ass arrow, leaps forward, turns invisible, and have stars falling from the sky? Hello?"


    "..."


    "Is the stun still in effect? Yo?"


    "I know you''re trying to make meugh, man, but please¡ª Enough with the jokes."


    "Huh?"


    "I said stop messing with me! No chance in hell that¡ª"


    "Oh~ You think I''m lying, huh? I''mma make you walk the nk, right now¡ª"


    "What? Hey¡ª HEY! HEY STOP! STOOOOOP! BRO! THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

 Chapter 1114: Catching Up - Imma need that hug, bro.

    I just managed to have CK start talking but when we were right in the thick of it, some dude just came hauling a surfboard and in my head, I thought that was just fucking enough. It didn''t take long before I had the same dude step on the other end of the surfboard¡ªusing it as a nk as pirates would¡ªas I dragged CK over to the other side and threatened him with my katana.


    All I was missing was an eyepatch, a peg leg, a hook hand, and a parrot toplete the look.


    But yeah, I know that CK needed his time alone but he also needed time with the people he knows or close friends with at the same time. I''ve been too familiar with being alone and it was quite addicting, but as I said earlier, I just wanted to give my friend a hug.


    "Arr~! You bein'' a fuckin'' bitch, matey! You either walk the nk or face with me and my de!"


    "This is all sorts of crazy, dude! Are you fucking insane!"


    "You''ve been friends with me for a long fucking time, you should''ve known!"


    "T-Then¡ª W-What do you want, man?!"


    "A hug? But before that, you didn''t even eat breakfast, huh?"


    "I wasn''t hungry!"


    "You haven''t even smiled! I miss your lone buck tooth, bro!"


    "I GOT IT FIXED, ASSHOLE!"


    "WHAT?!" then I turned to the guy who seemed to be enjoying me torturing my friend for some reason, "Drop him¡ª"


    "BRO, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD¡ª"


    "For real?!" the guy never looked so excited.


    "No! I was just trying to spook his ass¡ª"


    "HEY! DON''T SWITCH LIKE THAT! ARE YOU REALLY WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE?!"


    "You''ve read my emails, no? You fucking know this shit ising, right?! I have a whole n and everything!"


    "I¡ª JUST GET ME OFF THIS THING, MAN!"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before the two of us were sitting in one random spot with Kaley, and he had a bottle of beer in his hands with a pill for headaches or muscle soreness.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    CK hadn''t taken a sip or the pill I gave him yet but it had never been this quietpared to earlier.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    So I had to break the ice, again.


    "So¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "How''s the weather?"


    "..." CK never looked so disappointed in me.


    "Pfft¡­" But Kaley thought otherwise.


    "Kaley gets it."


    CK shook his head, "You really were telling the truth, huh?"


    "Yeah."


    "And everyone from our friend group is in¡ª"


    "Besides Roi."


    "What does your ce look like?"


    "Better than this dump."


    "Can you really say that? I''m living here, you know¡ª"


    "I already told you that we''d take you with us. See the boys, at least. They''ll smack your lonely ass too, if they see you like this."


    "It''s really better than this ce, huh?"


    "Well~ It''s still a work in progress, this ce, butparing it to mypound that''s been at it for a few years, it''s just night and day."


    "Now you''re just bragging, man."


    "It does have a power grid, to be fair, but we got everything else, so¡­"


    Kaley then asked, "Are you okay, though?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "I''m sorry¡ª"


    CK waved her off, "N-No, no. I''m sorry, Kaley. I shouldn''t have ignored you earlier too¡ª"


    "But you have a lot on your mind, i-it''s okay¡ª"


    He waved her off with a smile, "Nah~ You''re my friends, that''s on me. Besides, I should be on cloud nine right now seeing you two finally together. Am I right in seeing this shit or is the rest of the world still hoping for a miracle?"


    "Well~" Kaley and I trailed at the same time.


    "Heh, that''s already the answer I was looking for. But yeah¡­ I''m¡­ I''m holding on¡­"


    "Almira, right?"


    "Wha¡ª How''d you know?!"


    "We''re friends on Facebook, bucky! And it''s only been a year!"


    "That fuckin'' memory of yours, huh? And don''t call me that, I got it fixed already! Don''t people mistake you for a stalker, sometimes?"


    "When I looked like a tub ofrd, yes. Now that I look a little presentable, I''m suddenly the observant one¡ª"


    "Presentable my ass! You look fuckin'' great! You got the whole thing going on and everything! Kaley too! Any chance I could wear something like that?"


    "Depends. Skills you have in airsoft could transfer over but recoil''s the one to make or break ya. You just really have to get used to it first or we start you off with a .22¡ª"


    "C''mon! A .22?! Really?!"


    "Heh. At least you''reughing now."


    Kaley chuckled as well, "That''s a good sign, no?"


    "Hmm¡­ That is true¡­ So¡­ So what now?"


    "Riiiight¡­ About that, we''ll be here for a few more days¡ªuntil the Admiral sets off again¡ªbut if you really want some time for yourself and see everyone else, I can ask for a heli to pick you up."


    "..."


    "Dude?"


    "You''re not really lying¡ª"


    "I''m not lying! How suspicious are ya, you fuck?!"


    "Look¡­ I''ve been through a lot and I''m not sure if I deserve to be sad at this point, because everyone else is experiencing the same thing, maybe even worse than me, but¡­ Well¡ª No, I''ll finish whatever work I have here first and I''ll drive with ya back to your ce. I see you bagged yourself a Raptor¡ª"


    "That reminds me, remember your old ''colorful'' house?"


    "Yeah? We sold it off¡ª"


    "Ahh¡­ Shame."


    "Is it still there though?"


    "We can check?"


    "I''ll take you up on that."


    "You still haven''t touched that beer¡ª"


    "Haven''t had breakfast yet¡­ or even dinner¡­ or anything, really¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "You two¡ª Don''t get quiet on me now what I''ve started talking! I''ll rely on ya two from now on! What sorta type of job can I have at your ce anyway?"


    "You still have a new music reco for me?"


    "Dude¡­" the motherfucker almost teared up, "You''re fucking too much¡­"


    "W-What did I do now?"


    "I''m¡­ I''m really gonna need that hug right about now¡ª HOLDUP¡ª HNGH! NOT TOO TIGHT! MY BONES! YOU FUCK! AHHHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 1115: Work, work, work...

    On that note, we resumed our day with actual work by gathering everyone''s info¡ªconsolidating them if necessary¡ªthen asking the doctor in this ce to check all of our neers for anything, even if they would still sail back with the admiral and the other marines in a few days as they''ve stated.


    But yeah, I only did the initial work before passing it off to y and Marge¡ªwho were the ones doing the same jobs as Janice and Maine over at the Main Harbor¡ªthough from this point on, they''ll be using the temte I made for them.


    It was pretty straightforward and intuitive so it wouldn''t take a lot of time for the adjustments and whatnot to reflect after it was all made into different files.


    And after some time, my radio buzzed and I discovered that it was Mitch calling me:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Any news on anything? Need any help?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''ve processed around a hundred people or so, we''ll send them over to you guys shortly. What about you guys? Need any help? We literally have all the manpower here."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [How many people are you gonna send over here?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hmm~ At least 60-70% Both ces still need a lot of work but lodging-wise, the Main Harbor can amodate more people. We''d keep at least 80% of them in the few days or so but we''ll gradually send more depending on the circumstances."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Good thing I made some of the people here clear dust-up this 3-star hotel.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "The one by this admin building next to the vi?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yes, that one. It could amodate 200 or so people but if any of them wanted to stay elsewhere, they gotta clean it up. In regards to food, fishing had never been this easy but we need everyone to have a bnced diet with fruits, veggies, and other types of animal products and meat.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''ll get to that. I can send over a bunch of fruiting bags and our tater boxes as I''ve saidst time but you gotta start with seedlings for the other ones. It''ll take some time but it''ll pay offter."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I really appreciate the help.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "D''you want me to send your wife and kids over too? The same as with your people there?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hmm? Why?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "If we do that, we could send more than a hundred people and you could easily fill up that hotel. They already have their checkup and info recorded too so it''s just a minor adjustment on their part. You guys haven''t been here for long. What do you think?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''ll be great. I''ll tell the others.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    With that said, we eventually ended the call to continue managing this ce, and right now, we had a group of people that went past Building 34 to either get us some lumber, forage the mountains behind it for resources, or venture in to see what''s on the other side.


    These people were already cleared for work¡ªand let me tell ya, Royo''s warehouse of goodies was fucking overflowing with resources because the people we just weed to our fold had a lot of shit to trade.


    In any case, Building 35 and 36 would be the extension of Building 34''s storage space though Building 30-33 would be the storage area for lumber and other resources found in the wild. It would be mostly logs, branches, and twigs but dirt, y, soil, and stone would be present as well.


    But yeah,paring this ce to the Main Harbor, anyone else would prefer thetter to this one because it was like a pre-built PC that only needed a bit more work or none at all while the former with all its hangar-like buildings was a nk te.


    They''d need a lot of work and imagination to be able to pull it off but one otherparison to take into ount was that this ce was fairly isted while the Main Harbor was smack dab in the center of everything.


    Granted they already cleared a spot that they could use to slowly increase their hold on the Main Harbor, but it needed a lot of work externally while this ce needed a lot of work internally.


    As of this moment, we were also repurposing some buildings into indoor vertical farms, a training center, an entertainment center, a proper workshop, and a much bettermunications area. Additionally, the roofs were free game at the moment so I already had a group make use of the extra space as additional farms.


    ''Because who would decline some extra food?''


    But yeah, as more people were cleared to work, I had more people to order around so I then had several groups raid the areas we just drove byst time and clear those areas of the dead.


    Major Harper and most importantly, Admiral Burke, had nothing bad to say when they gave me the reigns with their people but honestly, as good as I am doing this type of work and as much of a homebody as I was, I still had to go out with my group to venture to the area we skipped when we had to rush to this ce.


    Unfortunately, it was just a drag because it was just trees after trees or farms after farms, with a few smaller houses in between, and there was barely any action to go around.


    But yeah, we stumbled upon a medium-sized gym with decent equipment right next to a ce that had several trucks of construction materials, so we called it at that and went back with a good-ish haul.


    However, while we were on the way back, I spotted this coconut tree that wouldn''t get any swipes from a dating app due to its height.


    It looked like it was about half-rotten but seeing this type of coconut tree brought a smile to my face.


    "Hold up, I gotta check something real quick."

 Chapter 1116: Mutated Coconuts - Make me stay—

    With a screeching halt by the trucks filled with gravel, sand, or cement, I casually skipped my way to this particr coconut tree that had a .15% chance of spawning in the wild. Funnily enough, our resident glutton and former stalker, Tatiana, quickly followed behind me as she curiously nced at the coconut tree I was easily picking the fruits from.


    "So¡­ Coconuts, huh? You just had an itch for them or something?"


    I chuckled, "Have you had Macapuno, yet?"


    "Maca-what?"


    I handed her over one I suspected was a Macapuno coconut, "Try to break this open. You''ll see what I mean."


    "How about the juice?"


    "There isn''t any. With that one, at least."


    It didn''t take long before curiosity got the best of Tatiana but as she cracked open the first one in fear of wasting the coconut juice, she was surprised at the amount of coconut flesh inside. Furthermore, it looked creamy and jelly-like or straight-up sugary¡ªbecause it is¡ªand I beckoned her to take a huge serving and put it in her mouth.


    "Mmmh! What the¡ª It''s so sweet! What is this?!"


    "Macapuno? Mutated Coconuts, in a way..."


    "I know but¡ª why?! Coconuts are sweet in a way but never like this! I''ve had a few of them but this is so good!"


    "I''m more surprised you had coconuts before, heh."


    "A-Are they all like that?"


    "No, it''s a chance-by-chance basis even if you find them like this¡­ unless you breed them for the sole purpose of making straight Macapuno. My grandpa used to have a rotten-looking one like this on his farm that he was toozy to chop down but he had never been that surprised that it actually bore Macapuno coconuts. Additionally, this is my mom''s favorite dessert. It''s really~ high in sugar though."


    Tatiana had already finished half the coconut, "B-But how¡­ You''re not eating the other half, right?"


    I chuckled at her hamster-like expression, "Nah, you can have it."


    "Thanks! Really!"


    With that said, we came back with a few bundles of coconuts but while we were back on the road again, Tatiana opened up one which I thought was a Macapuno coconut and she just got drenched with coconut juice along with Quinn and Kaley.


    "Wha¡ª You said this was one!"


    "No, I didn''t! I said it has a chance to be one!"


    "How can you not know which is which?!"


    "That''s why it''s called a chance-by-chance basis, okay?! I could be wrong or I could be right!"


    "Ooh~ This one''s flesh is soft! Hey! That''s mine!"


    "Nuh-uh! You got me wet so this is mine, now! Kaley grab the other one! That''s yours too!"


    "I-It''s okay, you two can have it¡­"


    "C''mon! Want me to break open another one and see if it''s a Macarena?"


    The three of us had to double-take, "A what now?"


    "Macapuno?"


    "Riiiight~/ I swear you said something different¡­/ Pfft¡­"


    In any case, we just shared augh and the three just cleaned up while I went on to continue managerial work to do these Marine''s work for them. But yeah, it was getting closer to sundown, and since I didn''t cook lunch for them, they hurrah''d for thest bit because they wanted my cooking rather than their resident housewives.


    However, the lunch we had was actually delicious so I didn''t know what was wrong so I just gave them the illusion of cooking by being extra loud while just standing in one corner of our big kitchen.


    I just let the housewives and the househusbands do their own thing and the look on everyone''s faces when I revealed that I didn''t do a thing after theyplimented my cooking was fucking priceless. And yeah, Royo''s sales for apology items skyrocketed because these fucks had to apologize to their significant others.


    But with the number of people I wasmand in at the same time in the first day, everyone was surprised that I know each of their names while jumping from job to job, but we still went at it until it was a couple of hours until midnight.


    Obviously, I exercised my right to sleep in one of the rooms inside the Eisenhower though it was a little cramped than we expected.


    Rachel looked a little apologetic because we crashed her room without saying our actual numbers. She was expecting just Kaley and me but she didn''t think that Tatiana, Quinn, Megan, and Alexa would also be present.


    "Umm¡­ Make yourselvesfortable¡­ S-Sit anywhere you could¡­ I''m sorry, it''s a mess¡ª"


    Kaley waved her off, "N-No, we''re actually the ones that are sorry, we didn''t check with you if we could alle."


    "Ah¡ª It''s fine¡ª"


    But Quinn opened up with something we''d never expect from her:


    "Hmm. Right. I''ll leave you all for tonight. I''mma be with someone else instead."


    Tatiana asked, "Who?"


    "New drinking buddy, Jennifer," then she turned to me, "Sorry, got to her first. I asked her if she wanted to join us but she basically brother-zoned you so you''ll have to work a bit before you tap that ass. Bye~"


    "Can Ie?" Tatiana asked after looking around but she turned to Megan and Alexa as well, "Come with us too. We did crash their threesome, so¡­ We have many other times to join in."


    Megan wanted to say something but Alexa already pulled her off their seat, "C''mon! We can just explore this ship too and take some pictures!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    In a matter of seconds, Rachel''s room waspletely vacated, leaving only us three, but it also didn''t take long before it started to get hot by the minute. The three of us were just staring at each other while giving light touches, but it didn''t take long before Rachel made the first move on me.


    She started by pulling my shirt off and exposing my torso before she devoured me with her eyes but Kaley did the same thing to her from behind as she whispered in her ear:


    "Nice rack¡­ Your nipples are really pink¡­"


    "Not as nice as yours¡­ I''ve been eyeing them for a while¡­"


    "Are you really leaving with them after a few days?"


    "Depends¡­"


    "On what?"


    "Make me stay¡ª"

 Chapter 1117: DVP?

    At this point, Kaley was the only one fully clothed while Rachel and I had already had our tops taken off. With the smallmpshade on her nightstand, I could see Rachel''s athletic body but I can''t deny that she had very round and ample-sized boobs with very pink and erect nipples.


    But yeah, as she lunged at me to force her tongue in my mouth, Kaley took it upon herself to pull off her pants to reveal that Rachel wasn''t only braless from the start, but she was also goingmando.


    It could be that she was already expecting something to happen and she was just avoiding more clothing items to get soiled, so she just put on whatever for the moment before we arrived.


    "Mmh¡­ Nn¡­ Mm! You two are so¡ª Oh god! Your muscles are so hard and¡ª Mmh! She''s¡ª She''s eating my ass and¡ª Ah! Mnnh! Yes!


    Yes! Yes¡ª Ahh! H-Hug me tight! Please!"


    Not to demean Rachel or anything, but the way she was hungrily tasting my lips, pushing her breasts on me, and touching my biceps while her ass was getting eaten and her pussy getting fingered by Kaley, it felt like she was a little touch-deprived as she hugged me like she had no rtives.


    It was a weird metaphor, sure, but it was like it had been a while since she had some action.


    But yeah, as she started kissing my neck and my ears for her own pleasure, I caught a brief nce of Kaley taking off her clothes and signaling me to do the same as well. It was because the moment she stopped fingering and eating her out, she began to hump my huge bulge and wet my pants with her juices, so I did what I was told to.


    And obviously enough, it just made Rachel go over the edge.


    "F-Fuck¡­ I thought you were big b-but not this big¡­ C-Can I suck you off?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "Wanna do it at the same time?"


    "Ah¡ª I almost forgot that, sorry¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ No apologies needed. Shall we?"


    At this point, the two made me sat by the edge of the bed as they both got on their knees and side to side¡ªKaley on the right and Rachel on the left¡ªalmost getting cross-eyed from staring at my huge cock.


    And yeah, they started as Rachel went for the tip and the shaft while Kaley went for the base and my balls.


    Kaley''s tongue was obviously doing wonders but Rachel was sucking me off like she wanted to taste my cum now. Her warm mouth felt so fucking tight despite her tongue coiling over and around the tip and its opening, and she used one of her arms to wrap around my back to brace herself because she was about to take me whole.


    Rachel was barely halfway when I reached the entrance of her throat but she pushed on and on until her lips reached the base of my cock before she pulled out and tried doing the same thing over and over.


    "F-Fuck¡­ It''s so fucking thick and hard a-and warm¡ª Schlrp¡ª Schl¡ª Gck! GkCCK! GAK! GAWK!"


    Kaley looked so pleased to see Rachel doing her best to take me whole but she then grabbed on my balls as a cover for ying with my asshole.


    With the smallmpshade as a light source and the way Rachel had her eyes closed while deepthroating my cock, she''d barely see Kaley prodding my forbidden zone, but as I threw her a nce, she just looked like she was this fucking close to cumming just by watching us because her other hand was already deep in her Rachel''s holes at the moment.


    I would''ve stopped her any other day but this time, I just grabbed on Rachel''s head and started to push her head down even more as I partly opened my legs for Kaley''s ess.


    At that point, Kaley looked like she was having an orgasm as she slid a finger in me while watching, but it didn''t take long before Rachel and I followed as she drenched the flooring while I filled her throat.


    Kaley''s finger was still inside me for a few moments before she pulled it out and continued to massage my balls, but Rachel didn''t expect the amount of cum I let out so Kaley decided to help her when they started to drip off her mouth.


    After that, Kaley gave Rachel a kiss as they shared their spit and my cum but Kaley was using the same white substance as a lubricant to stroke my dick for round 2.


    And again, surprise shed on Rachel''s zed expression but she couldn''t be more happier at the thought of my huge cock filling her holes Kaley was exploring earlier. However, she did be more excited when Kaley pulled out her strapless dildo from her pack and wore it in front of her.


    "That''s¡­"


    Kaley chuckled with a seductive grin, "Wanna take it in your ass too?"


    "H-How about you? You still haven''t¡ª"


    "Oh, I have. Trust me," Kaley said before briefly ncing at me, "I''m way~ more sensitive when I''m with him and I just came from watching both of you."


    "No way, really?"


    "Yeah, so do you want it on your ass as well or do you want it in your mouth again? Or~ We could fill you real~ good by doing it in one hole. Either way, we''ll do everything you ask us so¡­"


    "Well~ T-The two-in-one deal got me c-curious so¡­"


    With that said, I simplyid on the bed as Rachel mounted me but I just gotta say how my ego was getting stroked more than my dick when they struggle to get me in the first time and show this euphoric expression the moment they take me in fully.


    But after that, Kaley pushed Rachel down to press her fit body against me before she aimed her rubber cock at the same ce my dick was resizing.


    "HNGH¡ª"

 Chapter 1118: DAP. - Its complicated.

    My whole length was already inside Rachel''s tight pussy and the moment Kaley pushed the tip of her rubber cock in as well, Rachel''s whole body just tensed as she squeezed me even more. But yeah, Kaley was still letting Rachel get used to the additional phallic object pushing inside herher regions but Kaley sent a loud and crisp p on her tight ass that made Rachel let out a sharp gasp.


    I could clearly feel how her insides tightened but Kaley started to y with her little ass while smothering a cheek with her free hand.


    "Mmm¡­ Your girl''s so bad, you know?"


    Kaley chuckled, "In a good way, right?"


    "Pfft¡­ Of course¡ª Mmnh! Ah! Yes¡ª D-Don''t m-move yet, alright?"


    Rachel was just squirming from the different sensations happening at once but as I joined in by simply caressing her back and kissing her neck, it didn''t take long before Kaley tried her 2nd attempt.


    "HnGH! W-Wait¡ª N-Not yet¡­ N¨CNot¡ª Mmm¡­ A-A bit more gentle¡ª"


    "Want me to pull out and feel Kaley for a bit?"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    "I''m not as big but¡ª Here I go¡ª"


    "Mnn¡­ Nn¡­ Kaley¡­ Oh, wow¡­ P-y with my ass¡­"


    "We are," Kaley and I said at the same time.


    "I-I mean¡­ M-More¡­"


    "Do you want us to just DP you instead?"


    "W-Well¡­ C-Can we try i-it on that one? Y-You know¡­ P-Putting it in at the same time¡­"


    "Sure!"


    As Kaley reached in her pack for lube, Rachel just used her spit and her juices to get me inside her ass to prep her for two cocks, and the moment Kaley and I tried putting it in at the same time, it went it much easier and Rachel came from a few thrusts.


    "F-Fuck¡ª FUCK! H-HOW IS THIS S-SO GOOD?! OF FUCK¡ª I''M SQUIRTING AND¡ª MMH! YOUR COCK IS ALREADY DEEP IN MY CUNT AND A-ANOTHER ONE''S TRYING TO¡ª MMMMH!!! I-I THINK I''M CUMMING AGAIN! I-I''M CUMMING AGAIN!


    SHIT! SHIT! MmmMMhHHhH!!!"


    Rachel was already a fucking mess as she was clutching her bed sheets but Kaley and I were still thrusting and thrusting in her tight fucking ass, making her cum over and over. At one point, Kaley pulled on her hair and held both her arms behind her back to make Rachel''s round tits bounce right in my face.


    In doing so, I ced my hands on each one and either squeezed the whole thing or pinched a nipple, watching her tortured expression of bliss while drool came out of her mouth.


    Just from the sight of these two beauties drowning in pleasure, it didn''t take long before I filled Rachel''s little hole with cum but Kaley kept on thrusting inside as she was close as well. Within a few violent thrusts from her side, she started to shake before copsing on Rachel who had long copsed on my torso.


    The three of us were breathing quite heavily from the sudden roughness but we only took a few minutes of rest before Kaley and Rachel switched sides as we went back at it again.


    At this point, I noticed that Rachel was better at taking cock than giving it to Kaley but as long as everyone was having fun, who fucking cares about technique? In any case, we finished in about an hour and it just dawned on Rachel the amount ofundry she had to do tomorrow and the number of sheets and pillowcases she''d need recements for.


    "Fuck it¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ This was the besty I had in a while¡­ F-Fuck¡­ I really can''t f-feel my legs¡­ I-I thought that was just an expression¡­ A-And cumming over and over¡­ Fuck me¡­ I think I might need a midnight snack¡ª"


    "I actually brought some over¡ª"


    "Goddamit, you two! There''s a limit to how you guys could be this perfect!"


    Kaley chuckled, "Does that mean that you''re gonna stay?"


    Rachel''s face then went sullen, "Ah¡­ I did say to convince me but that''s just to motivate you both to do a little extra¡ª T-Trust me, you went way and above expectations but y-you know, duty calls. I do promise toe back here every time we get more people to safety¡­ I-Is that okay? I-I''m sorry for lying¡­"


    I waved her off, "That''s totally fine, don''t worry¡­"


    Kaley added, "You''re really good too! And for your first time? That''s insane¡­ I should''ve brought a smaller one if I knew that¡ª Y-You know¡ª"


    Rachel chuckled as she nudged my cock with her knee, "I''m gonna say¡­ You hit the gic lottery, huh?"


    I replied after I gave her tits a huge squeeze, "You did too¡ª"


    "Not as much as your girl!"


    Kaley gasped from the sudden nipple teasing, "S-Stop! T-They just got soft¡ª"


    "Pfft! You two are the definition of a perfect couple, for real."


    "Aww~ Thank you, Rachel! For the record, you''re really nice too! Anyone would be lucky to have you¡ª"


    Then Rachel got suddenly quiet.


    I nudged her, "Rachel?"


    Kaley followed, "You okay? Is it something that I said¡ª"


    She let out a sigh before she got up and looked at us, "Alright¡­ I-It''s not what you said, Kaley, you''re cool. But¡­ There''s another reason I can''t stay over here¡­ I-It''s umm¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "Hmm, is it Jennifer?"


    "Wha¡ª How''d you know?!"


    I interjected, "We gotta tell you something too, she''s psychic¡ª"


    "What?! For real?!"


    "NO, I''m not! Not this again! I-I just saw your expression change a little earlier when Quinn¡ª you know¡ª"


    "The big and muscley one, right?"


    "Y-Yeah, your expression changed when she mentioned her name. And h-he did tell me that Jennifer''s orientation is you know¡­ A littleplicated."


    Rachel let out a soft sigh, "It''s notplicated at all¡­ We just love people, is all¡­ It''s just that¡­ We''re in a sort of a break right now¡ª but we did agree to sleep around so¡­ No harm, no foul on what we just did, and it''s different from our little misunderstand earlier but¡­ But¡ª"


    Kaley followed, "But you don''t think it''s helping?"


    "Really! How did you know?!"


    I added, "C-Can¡­ Can you tell us the reason why? We might be able to help you two if you''re both okay with it¡­"


    "R-Really?"

 Chapter 1119: Domestic Abuse?

    Obviously, opening a rtionship was a can of worms in itself but it seemed like Rachel and Jennifer had a lot of stuff to talk about yet refused to do so. Communication was always key in these kinds of situations and the two chose a band-aid "fix" to their rtionship, not an actual solution.


    Allowing one''s partner to sleep around in an open rtionship or a semi-open one had a lot of reasons from couple to couple or anything in excess and in between.


    One could be that one or both of them needed to explore because they missed out on a lot of things, wanted to try something they couldn''t with their partner, had straight-up curiosity, had this want to involved more people in their rtionship sexually or emotionally, etc.


    My rtionship with Kaley was unique in itself and although the arrangement of additional partners was skewed towards me¡ªeven if she was bisexual¡ªwe had started to break into a different power dynamic when we were alone and it was definitely geared towards her wants.


    Almost always, both parties should be okay with each other''s needs and wants and tend to avoidpromises or deals that would make it seem transactional, but in our case, Kaley and I were half and half on both of those things and we were making it work.


    But yeah, as soon as Rachel was about to open up, we heard a sudden knock on the door:


    "Rache''! Open up! It''s me! W-We need to talk¡­"


    Rachel had never been so shocked, "I-It''s Jenn! It''s Jenn! What do I do?!"


    Kaley instantly tried to calm her down, "Well, what do you wanna do?"


    "W-Well¡ª"


    "Rache''! I know you''re in there with my little brother and his wife! It''s totally cool, okay?! I slept with their posse too so we''re kinda even¡­ Besides, we both agreed on it, right? T-They''re here too s-so¡­ A little weird but we got to talking after and ''we'' were brought up¡ª"


    Rachel then shouted at the right volume, "W-What do you want?!"


    "I really just wanted to talk¡­ And to say sorry¡­"


    "..."


    "Rache''?"


    Rachel turned to us for advice but Kaley and I pointed at the mess we made inside her room. Additionally, Jennifer also had broad shoulders so adding her on top of everyone elseing inside to have a talk, it''d be a little ufortable.


    Though Jennifer was a little persistent with her knocking:


    "Rache''! Please! I just¡ª"


    "W-Wait a bit! We''re just getting decent¡ª"


    "You know I''ve seen you naked, alright?!"


    "Wanna see your ''little'' bro naked, too?! Newssh, he''s not as little as you think he is! He''s fucking bigger than our toys!"


    "For real? Oh shi¡ª W-Wait, open the door¡ª"


    "Nuh-uh! Wait over there! W-We''re changing locations!"


    "B-But why?!"


    "BECAUSE! AT LEAST LET ME HAVE A SAY IN THIS! OR AT LEAST ANYTHING! HOW ABOUT THAT?!"


    "..."


    "THEN YOU GO QUIET?! TYPICAL!"


    "A-Alright¡­ We''ll wait for you¡­ I''m sorry¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "T-Thank you¡­"


    With that said, we eventually made our way back to the roof of the hangar assigned to us though the hangar itself now had more residents trying to sleep. We even parked our vehicles in the right parking spots to have more space for civilians though some of them still chose to sleep in the free rooms avable via our myriad ships.


    But yeah, Rachel and Jennifer were sitting cross-legged in front of each other and it didn''t take long before Jennifer went straight to the topic:


    "Alright, I''m gonna start by saying sorry for asking to have a break with you for the stupidest reasons b-but you gotta understand where I''m¡ª where we wereing from, alright?"


    Rachel shook her head, "Jenn, what we agreed on is we pretend we''re just friends when we introduce each other to our parents, or in your case, your dad or the freakin'' colonel but you broke up with me! What the hell is wrong with you?!"


    "A-Again, I''m sorry¡ª"


    "WHAT ARE YOU SORRY FOR?! YOU KEPT SAYING THE DAMN WORD AND NOT THE REASON FOR IT!"


    "It''s¡­ I panicked, alright?!"


    "Panicked?! You try to calm down when you panic, not break up with your girl¡ª"


    "Hold up, hold up, don''t mix my words here, I didn''t say we break up, alright? I said to take a break¡ª"


    "It''s pretty much the same thing when you told me we could sleep around! How could that help us?!"


    "Y-You slept with someone else the night I told you we''re cooling off, how''d you think that made me feel?!"


    "JENN, I WAS HURT! I DON''T KNOW WHAT TO FUCKING DO! Why bother telling me we could sleep with other people if you''re gonnae up here and get mad at me?! That''s not fair! YOU were the one that suggested it I just followed! Like every single fucking time!


    And the moment I do ONE thing for myself, I''m the fucking bad bitch¡ª"


    "If you''re so hung up on that, you should''ve said something¡ª"


    "How could I?!"


    "You''re saying a lot of shit now! Why can''t you do it before¡ª"


    Right at that moment, Rachel suddenly sent a p across Jennifer''s face so I had to jump in between the two. This was just a hot mess of a situation but as my back was turned to Jennifer, Rachel was already cowering in fear by covering her face with her arms, even if she was the one who escted the situation.


    However, it didn''t take long before realization struck because as I turned to my older sister, it was taking everything from her to just keep herself from hitting back.


    Not only were veins popping out of her face to contain her anger, but she had lightly ripped the nket she had on her from clenching her fists.


    ''Jesus fucking christ¡­''


    It was one thing for a rtionship to get opened up and fail and it was a whole other thing if you add what looked like some form of domestic abuse within the same sex.

 Chapter 1120: Talking Like Adults, Kinda

    But yeah, Jennifer took a huge breath before expelling it all and doing the same thing over and over until the color on her face returned to normal while Rachel never looked so sorry for what she had done. The group was just at a loss from what they witnessed but Rachel inched closer to Jennifer before she opened her mouth:


    "I-I''m sorry for hitting you¡­"


    "..."


    "I-It doesn''t excuse what¡ª Nevermind that, I''m sorry for hitting you, that''s not okay."


    Jennifer replied with a dismissive tone, "Nah, just tell everyone here that I used to hit you. It''s fair. Bare it all. Bare everything. I''mma be honest, I really wanted to hit you that moment but I didn''t. Holding myself now doesn''t excuse what I did to you before but it''s a step."


    "..."


    Then Jennifer turned to me, "Look, I dunno how you managed to get between us in record time but your big sister''s a piece of shit. I deserve the looks you''re giving me¡ª"


    I had to poke a little bit, "Tell me, how long have you two been together?"


    Rachel and Jennifer answered at the same time, "Five Years¡ª/ Four¡ª Five¡­ Fuck¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    Jennifer fucking up made things a lot more tense and awkward but I moved on and just gave her a small slip:


    "Since when did you open up the rtionship?"


    Jennifer answered, "A month¡ª No, a month and a week ago¡­" then she turned to Rachel, "Right?"


    Rachel was looking away as she answered, "Hmm."


    I continued, "Okay, can you tell us the reason why?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "No judgment here¡ª Well, there''s a little bit since we''re human but I''m gonna try my best not to show it. You also mentioned it was a stupid thing to do, why is that?"


    Rachel quipped, "Yeah, can you ''please'' tell us the reason. I''m still thinking about it to this day and I only came up with shit¡­"


    "F-Fine¡­" Jennifer looked down as she scratched her head and loosened her tight ponytail, "I¡­ I thought the colonel¡ª my dad, would be the same piece of fucking shit he was before but surprisingly enough, he wasn''t," then she turned to me, "I guess I have to thank you for that?"


    "Me? Why¡ª Oh¡­"


    Not to make a generalization of amon stereotype, an old military vet from Texas had certain values they were brought upon from generation to generation¡ªand it could be different for a small percentage of them¡ªbut Oscar used to be one of those people.


    What we were tackling right now was almost the same thing as the situation between JP and Seb before but this time, Oscar was already epting of the fact¡ªalbeit slightly¡ªof his daughter''s orientation but he was adamant for her to have an offspring one way or another.


    ''That''s a conversation for another day¡­''


    But yeah, Jennifer who assumed shit on their way to this country jumped the fucking gun and made the stupidest mistake possible by putting her father''s wants over her own happiness.


    In some cases, it wasn''t bad to put your parents first but in this case, especially in one''s personal rtionship with another person, the parents or anyone else''s opinion shouldn''t fucking matter in the first ce.


    With that said, we eventuallynded at the root of the issue but we were still left with a couple(?) who seemed to still want to be together but doing every single fucking mistake they could in record time.


    It''s just that Kaley and I¡ªand the rest of the people in our circle got involved with them so let''s just say that this was our way to resolve the situation.


    But then again, how many times where things could''ve been solved if the persons involved in the rtionship just talked like normal fucking adults and didn''t act like fucking children? We wouldn''t be having this conversation right now in the middle of the fucking night, on top of a fucking roof, and with this freezing temperature!


    Rachel bellowed, "WHY. ARE YOU. SO STUPID?!"


    "I''M SORRY, ALRIGHT?! IT WAS ALL ON ME! I SHOULD''VE HAVE¡ª FUCK! I MESSED UP FUCKING BIG TIME! I''LL DO EVERYTHING TO¡ª"


    Rachel cut her off, "No. We''re not getting back."


    "What¡ª WHY?!"


    "At least not for now¡­"


    "WAS THE DICK THAT GOOD?! WHY¡ª I CAN BUY BIGGER TOYS¡ª"


    "IT''S NOT ABOUT THAT, JENN! This is so ironic but we need an actual break with each other¡­ I think that''s the best way to move forward¡ª"


    "How?! How can we fix it if we''re gonna be apart¡ª"


    "I-I don''t know. I need some time, a lot of it¡ª"


    "But you''re gonna stay here, right?! You can have all the time you have but I need you to be here¡­ Please, that''s all I ask¡­"


    "That''s¡­" Rachel looked at each of us before turning to Jennifer, "I-I''ll¡­ We''re a mess, you know that¡­ right?"


    "Yeah¡ª I mean¡­ I''m the mess, you''re perfect."


    "No, I''ve done my fair share of fucking up too, but¡­"


    "But what? Look, I swear if I hit you again I''ll chop my arms off¡ª"


    Rachel shook her head, "That''s a bit much¡­ I just need a bit of time, alright? I don''t need long actually¡­ Just a bit before the Admiral decides to anchor up."


    "W-Wait, you''re cutting it that close?"


    "D''you want me to tell you what I want now? You won''t like it, I promise you¡ª"


    "N-No, t-take your time¡­"


    "But yeah¡­ the notion of staying as friends for now is cool with me. Are you okay with that?"


    "Just before they leave?"


    "Yep. Or before I leave with them, whichever¡­"


    "..."


    "So?"


    Jennifer took a huge breath once again before she answered, "Alright¡­ Whatever works¡ª N-No, I''ll wait for your decision and I''m okay with being friends¡­ for now¡­ Wait¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "What about him?"


    ''Huh?''


    "What about him what?"


    "You still fuckin'' my little brother while we''re¡ª"


    "Jenn! That''s none of your business! And who you do while we''re friends doesn''t matter too! Just know that it''ll affect my decision! It could end in a lot of ways but do know that it''s not the end of everything¡ª"


    "FINE! You can fuck him if you want!"


    "JENN!"


    I had to cut in, "Hold up¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in as shepletely ignored me, "I''LL LET HIM FUCK ME TOO IF IT IMPROVES THE CHANCES OF¡ª"


    "JENN!" Kaley and Rachel eximed as Quinn was already dyingughing from the back with Tatiana.


    "WHAT?!"


    "LISTEN¡ª Listen to me, it''s not about who''s f-fuckin'' who but it''s what both of us think at that time about our rtionship. We may or may not like the oue but that''s just how it is."


    "Doesn''t sound too promising¡­"


    "So, you''re giving up already?"


    "Fuck, no! I''m not giving up! I¡ª We''ve been through a lot, we can get through this, alright? A-And we''ll do it the right way this time¡­ I promise."


    "..."


    "Rache''?"


    "That''s what I like to hear, thank you," Rachel smiled as she gave Jennifer a peck on the cheek.


    At that point, everything seemed to be going well but seeing Jennifer''s guns a.k.a her biceps since she was just wearing a tank top made me curious:


    "Yo, big sis."


    "W-What?" she got a little taken aback from the casual-ness.


    "I had to ask¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You on the juice?"

 Chapter 1121: Pretend you didnt hear anything.

    It was already way~ past midnight but no one seemed to be feeling drowsy so while everyone else was being open with each other with casual conversation, why not pry a bit more?


    Though Jennifer replied with a question, "How about you?"


    "Just naturally bulking at the moment. A small caloric surplus here and there¡ª"


    "Ah. Sure, sure¡­"


    "Then¡ª"


    "I''m on and off Anavar and Winstrol but I''m just using what I have left or until I find more. Why do you ask?"


    "I mean, it doesn''t necessarily cause it but aggressiones with it, no?"


    Quinn added from the side, "I was 50-50 when I saw your clit but your nose doesn''t look as big and your voice doesn''t sound too deep either¡­ A very low dose, then?"


    Jennifer looked ufortable from the questions she received:


    "W-Well, to answer both questions, yes. It might''ve stemmed from that but I got my temper from the colonel. Even before I discovered I like women as well, I had to put myself in a position where I could stand on equal footing with men because if you don''t know, some things are just bound to happen when you look like a Barbie doll."


    I scratched the side of my face, "Well, we''ve recently been involved¡ªnot directly¡ªbut I took in *pointing at Megan and Alexa* those two and their partners were a little confused, to say the least¡ª"


    "Oh shit. Really? And you bagged them instead, huh? I wanna hear everything from the top! It''s only fair, right?"


    I turned to Megan and Alexa, "If you two are fine with it¡ª"


    "Sure, sure¡­/ No problem over here¡ª"


    In any case, we shared a different case from our side while the other two intently listened. Their stories had simrities, sure, but it didn''t take long before we shared our more personal ones or the ones that involved everyone else. However, Jennifer was already looking at me and Kaley suspiciously as we finished a quick re-telling.


    "Something wrong?"


    Jennifer shook her head, "Seemed to me that everyone you two get involved with joins this ''circle'' of yours. Transference is a bitch, huh? You know, the thing that happens between a therapist and their client¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "In a way, sure¡­ but everyone''s still free to do their own thing. We have our own sets of rules and boundaries and everyone else has their own. It sometimes work like a perfect hand and if it doesn''t, it doesn''t. Not everyone stays and sometimes it''s just a one-time thing for them but if they wanted to join in, it''ll be on our terms, vice-versa."


    Jennifer chuckled, "The cock must be that good if 99% of what I see here is cunts."


    I waved her off, "Eh. Sometimes toys would give me a hand¡ª"


    She shook her head, "Doesn''t matter. You''re one lucky fucking guy, literally. Must be hard when someone catches feelings but your ego must be¡ª"


    "It''s not all me, alright? It''s true that I''m the only guy, and that''s by my request, but everyone else also grows and develops mutual feelings for each other. And that''s the weird thing, we don''t know what kind of feeling it is exactly. It''s not the same¡ªat least what I think¡ªfor what I have for Kaley, but I could say that it''s above simple friendship.


    It''s like it''s in between friendship and love probably because sex is involved but yeah, we''re still figuring everything out¡­ and talking, talking before AND after is key. Everyone needs to be on the same page or at least in the same realm of understanding."


    She nodded pensively, "Hmm~ Looks to me that you got it figured out already. I''m expecting a dumb-guy response but I didn''t think you''d be this articte about it."


    "But yeah, I''d be lying if I said that my ego''s not through the roof while being with everyone because it''s every guy''s dream¡ªwhatever they may say when asked directly¡ªbut Kaley''s the one who holds everything together. You heard our story earlier so you know what my feelings are for her and how all this shit works but yeah¡ª"


    Kaley cut in as she turned to Jennifer, "So much for being egotistical, no?"


    Jennifer chuckled as she nodded, "Never seen an egoist be this humble and give the glory to someone else¡­ Pfft¡­ I actually wouldn''t mind as much¡ªafter talking to you¡ªto have my kids¡ª"


    As soon as Jennifer said that, everyone, I mean fucking EVERYONE couldn''t believe their ears as they either went hysterical or homicidal because, in essence, she hadn''t even been officially weed to the circle or had the thought of doing it with Kaley and me, why''d she get to jump in front of everyone else¡ªespecially Kaley¡ªto have my child?


    "JENN?!/ WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!/ Oh, you''re dead¡­/ Yeah¡­ So dead/ HAHAHAHAHA! I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!/ HOLD UP, HOLD UP! DID I HEAR IT JUST RIGHT?!"


    In any case, it was funny and very endearing to see Kaleytching on me like a face-hugger to protect me from "predators", but aside from Jennifer dropping the bomb on us, Quinn also fucking slipped and revealed something we should be talking to Kaley in private.


    Kaley was hugging me as tight as she could:


    "Hold on, h-hold on, wait¡ª Quinn?! You too?!"


    "What did I say? Oh¡ª Ah, fuck¡ª Pretend you didn''t hear anything."


    "How could I?!"


    "That is true¡­ I have a PowerPoint prepared and everything but it just slipped¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in, "I also wasn''t that serious. The colonel¡ª my dad just dropped that on me on our way here and that was one of the reasons I panicked. If anything, Rachel would carry our baby though I''d help with the conception, you know?"


    "W-Why me?! W-Well¡­ Wouldn''t mind that either, to be honest¡ª"


    Alexa followed, "I wouldn''t mind as well but not now¡­"


    And Megan just had to, "I''m all for solidarity but no kids for me, thank you¡ª"


    Kaley waved everyone off, "Everyone be quiet! I need to process this for a bit¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    Tatiana just had to do it, "For the record, I would''ve wanted to as well but I physically can''t so¡­"


    Kaley then snapped her head towards her, "Hold up, we both got IUDs, how¡ª"


    "It''s double the protection, correct?"


    "IT''S NOT¡ª HOW¡ª AHHHHHH!!!"


    For the first time in a while, Kaley looked like she was about to have a mental breakdown but I slightly eased her turmoil by hugging her tightly as well. This other topic should''ve been discussed some other time but let''s just say that Jennifer also had Oscar''s way of dropping important shit out of the blue.

 Chapter 1122: Pregnancy Talks - YOU HAD IT IN YOU! LITERALLY!

    At this point, everyone else was waiting for Kaley to calm down, and let me tell you, it did take more than a few minutes, but the moment she let out this long~ and drawn-out sigh, she looked at me with a serious expression before kissing me. After that, she hugged me again which was just as tight as earlier before she turned around to face everybody:


    "A-Alright¡­ Are we having a serious conversation now or are just messing around?"


    Jennifer started, "I was partly serious because I did think of it¡ªbut yeah, I''m in myte 30s, have to pass it on to someone at least."


    Rachel replied, "Wait, and you''re making ME carry it?"


    "Yes?"


    "Nuh-uh. I don''t mind having kids but you''re not passing on anything if it didn''te from you. You know how passing it on works, right?"


    "Of course, I do. A doctor gets the eggs from me then he jerks off in a cup then bada-bing, bada-boom, after a short bit, they put it in you¡ª"


    "NUH-UH! Not a chance in hell! And I thought you said you''d help with the conception?! DO IT YOURSELF!"


    "You¡ª Fine. That''s fair. We BOTH get pregnant¡ª Does that mean you''re staying?!"


    "Ah¡ª I could also stay here and not be with you, you know?!"


    "Nah~ You wouldn''t. Is the dick that really good or are you just ying with me?!"


    "I dunno, you''ll see in a few days."


    "OH, COME ON!"


    Kaley waved these two off, "Alright, I see how you stand on this."


    Quinn''s ears perked up, "Is it my turn to¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "Tatiana, why¡ª How¡ª"


    Tatiana just shrugged her shoulders, "I said I can''t. That''s it, you know what I went through. I could probably surrogate, sure, but that''s not me getting pregnant. If anything, I wanted to see YOU get knocked up first¡­ Since you know, you''re the first one and everything¡­"


    "That''s¡ª alright, thanks for your input¡­" Kaley trailed as she turned to Alexa, "And you?"


    Quinn quipped from the side, "I know how it is¡­ I''ll wait."


    Alexa chuckled, "Well, don''t take this the wrong way¡­ I still have my situation with Seb and all but I''m still very young. I''ll think about it again in a few years but maybe I''ll end up with both their kids."


    Jennifer cut in, "You talking about the sub?"


    Megan interjected, "Yeah, she is¡­ Pfft¡­ Quite the five-year n, I must say."


    Kaley turned to her, "I know you already said no kids, but why?"


    "I just don''t. My mind might change in the future but as of right now, I''ll enjoy whatever it is that we''re doing."


    "Alright¡­" then Kaley finally turned to Quinn, "Quinn¡­ I''m sorry for picking youst¡ª"


    "It''s cool. I have a lot to say, anyway."


    "I-I see¡­ Then¡­ You really want to have kids with him?"


    Quinn was grinning from ear to ear earlier but her expression turned to a solemn one before she gave Kaley her answer:


    "I do, yes."


    "..."


    "Look, I brought it up with him before and I was slowly hinting at it to you¡ªI don''t know if you''ve noticed¡ªbut I''mpletely serious about having one. Like Jennifer, I''m also not as young as I would''ve liked but yeah¡­ I know we''re friends and all but that doesn''t have to change when he knocks me up. Totally up to you if you want to be the first one."


    "..."


    "I have other people to help me though I''d appreciate some visits or at least a call, and if it''s a bitch¡ª I-I mean a cunt¡ª I¡ª Fuck¡­ I mean a girl, I''ll give you the rights to name her. If not, he''ll be named after me. He''ll grow with a wrench in one hand and a barbell in the other but if you''re open to have ydates with my kid, I would love that.


    They''d be half-siblings, so it should also be their rights, right?"


    "..."


    "Unless¡­ Hmm¡­ I haven''t asked but¡­ Kaley¡­ Do you have any intention of having kids?"


    I cut in, "I mentioned something¡ª"


    Quinn cut me off, "Not you, stud. I''m asking her." Stay informed on m-vl-em-pyr


    "..."


    "Kaley. We can''t be having this conversation if we''re the only ones talking. I thought you already took the time to steel or resolve yourself or something¡ª"


    I cut in once again with a slight glint in my eye as I looked at Quinn:


    "Look, I did say I''m open with it and all but if Kaley''s not cool with it, and she clearly isn''t¡ª"


    "No," Kaley finally spoke up.


    I held her gently, "You don''t have to say anything, Kaley¡ª"


    Kaley waved me off and looked at me with a smile, "Haaa¡­ To be fair with all of you, we did have a talk about having kids but the time we decided to do that is when everything here had kind of settled.


    And of course, I''m totally fine¡ªno, excited for bearing his children and I would''ve preferred to have his firstborn but¡­ As you can all see, our situation is crazy as it is, and as a woman, I wouldn''t want to deny another one of the privileges of having one¡­ Especially now that you''re kind of racing for time.


    Getting them frozen is also a decision and is actually avable but we all know we wanted to do it the traditional way, right? Hahaha¡­"


    "Kaley..."


    "Also, I''m also gonna be honest and say that I was kind of shocked at first as I felt a pinch in my chest, but thinking about it albeit briefly, it wouldn''t be as bad as I thought initially. Besides, why do it with some random guy when there''s already one in front of you that you''repatible with?"


    Tatiana just had to do it:


    "Kaley, look. You really don''t have to decide now. Like Rachel and Jennifer here, you can take your time with your response and if you wait enough, Quinn might just have menopause and it''s a win-win¡ª"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU BITCH?! WIN-WIN?! WANT ME TO FIST YOUR FUCKING ASS?!"


    "First of all, I fisted YOUR ass earlier and that just means your my bitch for the day¡ª"


    "WHEN DID WE FUCKING AGREE ON THAT?!"


    "When I fisted your ass¡ª Are you even listening?!"


    "FUCK YOU! I FISTED JENNIFER''S ASS SO DOES THAT MEAN SHE''S MY BITCH?!"


    Jennifer never looked so panicked, "HOLD UP¡ª"


    But Rachel was already dyingughing, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU GOT FISTED?! FOR REAL?! DIDN''T THINK YOU HAD IT IN YOU! AND IT IS! HER FIST!


    LITERALLY! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "S-SHUT UP! I WAS JUST CURIOUS!"

 Chapter 1123: Pregnancy Talks II - My Requests, for now...

    It took a while before the chaos subsided but Kaley did take Quinn to the side to talk privately, and for what seemed like 15 minutes or so, the two hugged tightly for a good minute before they came back.


    The two were wearing a smile as they walked back to us but I definitely saw signs of tears being shed between the two.


    I wasn''t sure of what exactly they talked about¡ªneeding to do it privately¡ªbut it definitely had something to do with Quinn''s personal request.


    But yeah, despite all their talk about who''s getting knocked up or not, they seemed to have forgotten about one fucking important person that should have a say in this as well.


    Me!


    "Hmmrghh¡­" I trailed off as I looked at them with squinty eyes, "Must be nice¡­"


    Kaley obviously noticed what I was hinting at, "Hmm¡ª Oh. Something wrong¡ª"


    "It must be real~ nice to, you know, to be included and discussed specifics and shit¡ª"


    "Pfft¡ª I''m sorry, forughing a-and excluding you but we''ll definitely talk too! However~ If you really wanna go that route¡­ How should I put this¡­ Hmm~ Are there people here you wouldn''t want to get pregnant? Is that it?"


    ''Ah, crap¡ª''


    As soon as Kaley said that, everyone just gave me this look of "The audacity!" and it had this mix of cheekiness and a bit of smugness as they stared me down. But yeah, if we get down to brass tacks, the egg cells were the ones who choose the sperm to fertilize with, not the other way around.


    It''s just that with our progressive rtionship and all, I just thought that even though they have the final say as to how, who, when, and where they want to get pregnant, I''d have a say at least.


    Quinn chuckled as she broke the silence, "C''mon now, shoot your shit. Got anything to say about that?"


    I took the dangling bait and just went with it:


    "Alright, you''re giving me the floor so I''ll take it¡­ First of all, I''m deeply honored for all you fucks to choose me as your donor¡ª"


    Quinn cackled as she continued, "Fuck you, hah! Alright, alright~ You got our attention~"


    "Anyway~ As we''re on the topic, if it weren''t for Jennifer, we would''ve done this in a more~ umm¡­ ideal setting but it is what it is. What''s important is we got to talking and we''re trying to figure out what works for us. But yeah, I do have some requests¡ª"


    "Some?"


    "Yeah, some requestssss, plural. With an ''s'' and all that because even if I''m like this, I also wanted to be a father though I really have no fucking idea aside from the things I would''ve wished my dad did for me when I was a kid or things I wish some fathers should''ve done for their kids also."


    Jennifer leaned over to Kaley, "He''s¡­ He''s really serious about this, huh?"


    "Pfft¡­ You tell me¡­"


    I waved them over with my New York ent, "I''m still talkin'' ere~"


    Jennifer''s eyes grew wide, "HAH! Spot on!"


    "Thank you, thank you¡ª Anyway~ As I was saying, my requests could increase as I think of more in the future but even though I''m not forcing them on you, do know that¡ª"


    Quinn waved me off, "Enough of that flowery shit, tell me what hoops I should jump through before you put that huge cock of yours in me and do its other intended purpose! Heh."


    "Okay, okay~ First of all, if we''re gonna do it, I want us to be alone. It''s different from our usual nights so I want it to be a little more intimate and a little special." Find additional tales at m,vl-em,py-r


    "Even better. Works for me, what else?"


    "Timing."


    "What do you mean?"


    "We do it at the right time based on your cycle and I''ll make sure to at least hold off on any intercourse for at least three days. It kinda takes the magic out of it but if you really want it, we gotta do it the most effective way."


    "Seriously?" Quinn rolled her eyes, "Why bother doing cum retention if you already cum that much? Besides didn''t you already say that even though you have that thing where you cum a lot, it''s still packed with the good stuff?"


    Alexa interjected, "But why three days? Didn''t you advise¡ªwhat''s his name again¡ªMauro, to wait for at least seven?"


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "Yeah¡­ If I go on for more than four days without a release, trust me, my balls look like it''s about to burst the same with my dick imprinting out of my pants."


    "Oh¡­ G-Good to know¡­ C-Continue¡­"


    Quinn turned to me, "Okay, I can deal with that. Anything else? Anything while I''m carrying my baby and after he''s born? I did say I can handle myself but what are your thoughts on that?"


    "Hmm¡­ Like I said, I haven''t thought much about it but I''ll make sure all the doctors provide you with everything you need whether it be checkups or prenatal vitamins and whatnot, and I''ll keep all the alcohol off your shelves."


    "Hey! I''m not gonna drink a sip, asshole! What do you think of me?!"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "I''m just saying¡­ I do trust you but there''s a lot of things to consider. But yeah, I don''t wanna scare you about the dark shit in regards to pregnancy but do know that we''ll do everything in our power to make sure that everything''s taken care of. I''m not just gonna pump you full of my seed and bolt. I''m not that kinda guy.


    We''re not in that type of rtionship but I still wanna be there, mostly."


    "..."


    "Quinn?"


    "Heh¡­ For a moment there I thought we''d be discussing what car he''d get and what type of loudout he''d use when he grows up but that works too. For the record, we''ll start him off with exotics but muscle before tuners, alright? And the way the world is, he should be fucking strong too and be able to lift at least twice his bodyweight!"


    "Oh, fuck¡ª That''s another can of worms right there¡ª We might have another talk with cars and some other shit but I''d agree with that if you''d let me teach him the way. Anyway, I''ll think about it but the gist is that we guide him in either of our paths but he gets to choose when he''s older, cool?"


    "Cool."


    Megan cut in, "Hold up, so are you two fucking now or what? I didn''t think getting someone pregnant needed all this talk!"

 Chapter 1124: More Things To Consider - Getting Ready for the Airport

    Obviously, 90% of the poption would''ve agreed with what Megan said but 90% of the poption was fucking dead, and this was just the way we do things. Of course I fucking know that a pregnancy could ur once two people of the opposite sex have unprotected sex¡ªas did the 90% of the poption¡ªbut then again, the same percentage seemed to have just "winged" what happened after.


    And even though more than half of them were decently doing their jobs, the total sess rate should be 99.9%.


    ''I''m pretty confident about managing and leading thousands of people to survive the apocalypse but I can confidently say that I still know jack shit about being a father.''


    I did say that I have a fewints as to how my father or my parents raised me, but that wasn''t even half the argument since what makes a person shouldn''t only be from how they were raised, but how he lived his life till its end, even if how a parental figure greatly influence what happens after they left the nest.


    One more thing, it seemed like Quinn wanted to do it with just herself with some help from her crew in her domain¡ªallowing some visits and plenty of calls from us¡ªso in essence, if everything goes right, I''d technically be a father but realistically part-time.


    Truthfully, this whole thing had a lot of shit we need to iron out before plunging into the deep end because if something went wrong in the beginning, part-way in, or at the end, it''ll be on all of us and the one who''d suffer most was the child.


    That was something I''d avoid at all costs, and even if slight mistakes could be forgiven or resolved, I''d rather have my child have the perfect childhood before he/she moves on to being an adult or being their own person.


    I''d still check in on him/her from time to time or I''d let ''em pay me visits for advice or anything else like sharing a drink or two¡ªprobably even let them stay until they were full grown adults¡ªbut that was too far into the picture at the moment.


    ''Another te on the tray¡­''


    With that said, it didn''t take long before we eventually felt that wave of drowsiness, and the moment I let out an exaggerated yawn, everyone else followed with their own.


    "That''s really weird, huh?"


    "Yawning after seeing someone yawn?"


    "Yawn-ception¡­"


    "Witchcraft¡­"


    "Pfft¡ª Hahahaha! We''re really gonna sleep here?"


    "We didst night and Rachel''s room is umm¡­ soaked, to say the least¡­"


    "Because of you."


    "Wha¡ª That''s not all me, alright?! It''s 70% me but who were the people that kept fucking me on both ends, huh?!"


    "Oh,e on! Don''t make me jealous, now! I''m already sleepy and you''re making me horny¡­"


    "Unless¡­"


    "Oh no¡­"


    "Please? Just one round? For each of us?"


    "I really should''ve put up more rules than being the only guy¡­"


    "Please? I''ll let you lick my armpits?"


    "Dammit! Just one, alright?!"


    "So, you like armpits, huh? Interesting¡­"


    "You can do him if you want, Jenn¡­"


    "Hmm~ I''m tempted from hearing all the recos but not now¡­ very soon though¡­"


    "Trust me, you''ll like it."


    "Oh, I''ll know that I like it, I''m just preparing myself for when it happens. It''s been a while since I had good dick¡­ or any, if that matters¡­"


    "Hey guys, I know y''all are fucking horny but I''M TRYING TO SLEEP! DO IT QUIETLY!" Stay updated with m-v le-mpyr


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    In any case, since Quinn and Megan requested somete,te-night "snack", I obliged with the premise of their underarms though we did it as quickly and as quietly as we could. However, Jennifer was definitely eyeing me within thefort of her own nket and lonesome because Rachel decided to share her nket with Kaley instead of her.


    But even when morning came, Tatiana and Alexa had their turn with me but Jennifer still wouldn''t budge and was refusing to even partake with just her mouth or even her hands.


    It wasn''t like I''m pissed that she wasn''t joining in or anything but I definitely know the look of someone that horny and curious but still refuses to follow what they want. It was a little weird between us because she still referred to me as her little bro but I decided to just see what happens in their own time.


    ''She also had this thing with Rachel still but whatever¡­''


    In any case, right as we had our breakfast, at least 60% of our fighting force was getting ready to storm the Subic Bay International Airport because it was one of our deals with the ADM before they set off to take back theirnd.


    Granted we could do it on our own given enough time, but I''d take all the help I could get from these people because even if we were expanding at a pace extremely faster than what we were doing back home, we have the people to man these key locations, and just the dead we''d take off the streets plus the untouched loot at the other wharf right next to the airport was fucking huge.


    Furthermore, the airport itself had a lot of facilities and a ton of space everyone could stretch their feet on, but the most promising yet most dangerous one to add to our lists of services offered was the safending of air vehicles.


    We could always close everything off even if they weren''t locked off by a body of water but we can''t just make an airlock of sorts with nes and the like because they''d use thending strip we''d provide for them.


    That was something we''d need to be really careful for or should prepare for because if one of those passengers was carrying something that could affect the well-being of everyone in the airport, everyone would just be fucked with the simplest of mistakes. However, on the flip side, if this ce was maintained perfectly and without issue, it''d just open the world for us.


    Then Oscar tapped me with a shit-eating grin on his face:


    "Wanna drop in the middle of the runway with me, kid?"

 Chapter 1125: The Subic Bay International Airport

    If I was just gonna try and reim the Subic Bay Airport with my crew, the n would be to slowly whittle the dregs using .22s, leading the bulk into a trap, or a hit-and-run tactic. But yeah, reiming such a huge area needed careful nning but since we were in a bit of a time crunch and we have several hundred Marines on our side, I guess that a bit of brute-forcing was feasible.


    To be honest, I had no involvement in how these people nned to take over the airport I asked them to because one, I was busy with admin stuff yesterday, and two, I wasn''t the only one capable of moving forces to a spot just to clear it with the dead.


    Most likely, I''d be in charge of the aftermath but as of right now, Oscar was already pushing me into one of the Chinooks their troops used to get here while lugging around an M240 with hundreds of rounds stapped on his torso.


    It''s just that it was a fucking fiasco because Major Harper was also present in the same aircraft and lugging around the same loadout, but since we still had plenty of room, I brought over my core group which wasposed of Kaley, Tatiana, Jared, Ibarra¡ªand since Mikhail was out of the picture, Quinn took his ce but I also brought over Bogdan and let Kuzma lead the trainees/cadets.


    And to give a brief outline of our attack, the n was to attack, nothing more.


    But yeah, our group would being from above while three ships would split two-and-one where the two woulde from the airport''s side which was closest to the Marine Base while the other one would be going to the other end of the airport where they''d meet up with the bulk of soldiers on Mitch''smand.


    Additionally, there''d be five fishing vessels and six other boats that would dock either on the wharf sticking out of the airport¡ªto clear out smaller dregs that mighte in¡ªor a bit further in to where this "Majestic" resort was located to manage the traffic and other deadheads that might visit us when we started to make some noise.


    It''s just that the airport had a lot of entrances left open due to the panic when it started and some of the chain-linked gates had already fallen down and it could only plugged by vehicles at the moment.


    And one other thing: there were survivors inside.


    It shouldn''te as a surprise that a decently-sized group managed to lock themselves in and find sce in an area teeming with the undead but with no way of making more food or getting out without sacrifice orpletely annihtion, it was only a matter of time before they go through the whole storehouse of food and other stuff.


    This was a piece of information that just surfaced yesterday because with the use of one of the US Drones, I so fucking highly covet, they were able to get valuable information and discover said survivors by using its thermal and night-vision capabilities.


    "Any idea of how many are inside?"


    "Sioson!" Oscar called out to this other guy wearing a high-visibility vest, "You saw the readings, right? Do you have an estimate?"


    "Hmm~ I''d say around fifty or so but there is another group on the other side of the airport that''s way smaller. Maybe around a dozen people¡ª but they seemed to have kids with them."


    "Is the airport the only ce you checked?"


    He just stared at me for a bit before he answered, "Well~ There are also heat signatures South of the airport where this other resort and this maritime academy were present, numbering a couple hundred at least, but there''s a lot more in this medical center further East."


    "Like how many?"


    "Like way~ more. They even have checkpoints on the road leading up to that point and some patrols roaming around. It''s hard to see shit in the dark but those heat signatures wouldn''t lie."


    "I see, I see. Thank you," then I turned to Oscar again, "We''re just waiting for Mitch and the other ships to get close, right?"


    "Yeah. They''ll draw as much as they can on each end first before we drop in then we''ll mount these bad boys *tapping at their machine guns* on each edge of the main building before you fucks go down and clean the mess downstairs. Be vignt, alright? I know they''re people but even if they surrender easily, detain them and take all their weapons."


    I nodded, "Yeah."


    "Tie up the unruly ones and don''t be afraid to break a bone or two."


    "I''ll make sure to get my point across quickly, don''t worry about it."


    "You sure about that, kid?"


    "I''ll hit a kid if I have to¡ª" Enjoy reading at m,v lem|p,yr


    "HAH! Enough said, you don''t mind me borrowing Jared for a bit since you have Kaley with ya, right?"


    "You can take them both if you want to save ammo."


    "Nah, one of you will be¡ª"


    As Oscar was still in mid-sentence, the Sioson fe cut him off to look at this reinforcedptop with what looked like the controller for the drone they were using and it showed footage of a peculiar sight of the runway teeming with the undead.


    It was very easy to lure the undead once the ships came in using something less noisy than their foghorns¡ªbecause no one wanted the undead from the whole bay to drop in¡ªbut the live footage said otherwise.


    Granted there were already a good number of them moving on either end of the confines of the airport, but there was also a good number of the dead looking into the sky like they were waiting for rain. However, with the bulk of the dead going their own way without a care to which meat bag they''d bump into, some of them got tossed or pushed around which prompted a reaction.


    Almost all of the ones standing on the central area of the runway were unscathed as they remained on their spot but the ones that got pushed off their weird stance changed teams for a moment before they finally got to their original position.


    However, not all of them managed to get back¡ªat least to what we were seeing¡ªbut as of right now, it seemed like the ones fighting the wave decided to just go with the flow as each of them tried to follow the sound they were hearing at intervals.


    It''s just that the walls on each side were simply chain-linked fences alternating with walls made from hollow blocks, and the chain-linked fences could only take so much weight.

 Chapter 1126: DID YOU JUST MAKE NAPALM?!

    On that note, the ones with the clear shot open fired and reduced their numbers from a distance while the rest of us who woulde in via a helicopter strapped up. It''ll only take a few minutes before we reach our destination and the ships we were waiting on were close enough.


    But yeah, the Admiral was barking his orders from the Eisenhower which was still docked on the Marine Base¡ªas he had a perfect view of everything¡ªand Mitch''s team arrived shortly and took care of the dead outside the airport and blocked off the other entrances with the spare vehicles they brought.


    We did have the numbers but we wouldn''t be idiots about it but it didn''t take long before wended on the roof of the Main Building of this airport.


    Continue exploring at m-vl-em|p-yr


    Our groupnded first than the other Chinook we flew in with, but instead of rushing down ording to our n, I pulled out the case for the gift I received from Matthew which was a Delta 5 from Daniel Defense.


    I barely used this gun because I was almost always at the front while Kaley and Jared were doing their designated long-shooting job, but this time, with these new unknowns on the prowl, Iid down on my stomach and went with using a bolt-action.


    Without its suppressor¡ªor should I say, just the barrel was already a whopping 24-inch, four inches longer than the barrel of the SCAR Jared got from Royo. Additionally, if we''re talking about precision and taking the shooter out of the picture, a bolt-action would always prevail against a semi-auto.


    And yeah, this gun of mine was actually a pair because at the time Matthew gave it to me, I revealed that I already had one, so I just gifted my gift to Kaley instead and used what I was used to.


    No words were needed to be discussed as we bothid our rifles down and then went prone to pick off the ones at the middle of the runway, which was the ce we were supposed to drop in as Oscar mentioned earlier.


    Be it a hundred or a thousand deadheads, our group would be able to clear it but fifty or so unknowns could spell if we weren''t careful with them.


    And as we exhaled and squeezed the trigger at the same time, me taking the one on the furthest right while she on the furthest left, it only took a moment before we saw a puff of ck and red before our targets were put to rest.


    ''That''s the universal truth for you.''


    Our goal for taking them down was to figure out if they''d die with a blow to the head and to observe what happens next, but I just felt a weird twist in my gut, as Kaley and I saw each of them look at their fallenrades.


    "What the fu¡ª"


    As all of this was happening, and even before we took down two of them, the groups outside of the airport were already piling bodies one after the other, but this awful feeling in our gut just made the two of us empty our mags to whichever we could and reload one more time and empty it as well before what was left of them turned in our direction and unhinged their jaw.


    We were already bracing for a deafening scream of some sort but their "scream" didn''t even reach our ears even though we could see from our scope that their wailing ripped off their cheeks as they forcefully erged their mouths to be a better speaker.


    And with our second reload of our 10-round mag carrying 6.5 Creedmoor rounds, we managed to put all of them down¡ªat least what was on the central runway¡ªbefore ourms specifically told us to get back in the Chinook and fly away.


    Because not only did we invade their territory, but we also killed their guild members, so each and every one of them¡ªwhich were on either side of the airport¡ªstopped being fish in a barrel as they turned around and headed for the Main Building with speed.


    I actually thought the mand" to hunt us down would cease once we take care of these ones we just put down, but no, these fucks were running back with a grudge.


    My only regret was to not fire as fast as I could''ve plus forgetting that we had survivors to liberate in this building, but it was only a matter of time before we got swarmed with hundreds upon hundreds of the undead.


    "Alright, time to go¡ª"


    "AH, NO WE DON''T!"


    "YEAH, WE JUST FUCKING GOT HERE, KID!"


    It''s just that we had several people here who were known to stand their ground, especially the ones carrying machine guns, but our pilots still booted up our only means of escape as these two fucks¡ªOscar and Harper¡ªhad already mounted their M240''s with hundreds upon hundreds of ammo linked together.


    Additionally, Bogdan seemed to have just finished lining up¡ªforgive theparison¡ªwhat seemed to look like white, sticky, gel-like semen, from ten small-ish wine barrels to be chucked to where the bulk of the dead would being from.


    But yeah, Oscar and Major Harper had already opened fire along with the other soldiers that came with us¡ªmy group included¡ªtowards the angry horde that wasing for the intruders on top of the Main Building, but Bogdan just let out this arson-y smile as he lit up the same small-ish wine barrels and threw it a great distance away.


    A few people still weren''t sure what Bogdan was nning but I just had a realization from the ingredients he was working on yesterday.


    ''If those machineguns only needed a little~ bit of uracy, this firebomb fuel gel mixture needed a lot less¡­''


    And yeah, seeing a great me envelop each and everyone one of those undead fucks and spreading on each of them with the slightest touch confirmed my suspicion.


    "DID YOU JUST MAKE NAPALM?!"


    "YEAH! AND THROW THIS ONE OVER TO THAT SIDE!"


    "I''LL THROW ONE TOO!"


    "ME TOO! YOU SHOULD''VE TOLD ME YOU WERE MAKING NAPALM! GIMME!" Oscar eximed.


    "COLONEL! MAN THE FUCKING MACHINE GUN!"


    Quinn took his ce, "I''LL HANDLE IT! GIMME¡ª HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Ignoring Quinn''s murderousugh while mowing down the undead burning or not, this type of incendiary weapon was banned for use against civilians but let''s just say that all is fair in love and war.


    And like a man''s inherent impulse to dig holes when handed a shovel, we were also predisposed to dly experience what it was like to watch things burn when the victims should be what they were called, victims.

 Chapter 1127: When one door closes, you make another one...

    To give a short description of what the airport looked like, the whole length of just the runway was around 9000ft(2743.2m). It didn''t even include the dimensions of the building we were in¡ªwhich was designed to hold at least 100,000 passengers, the aviation schools, the multiple hangars, and the huge-ass parking space for nes and othernd vehicles alike.


    But yeah, the first batch of the dead we decimated with several barrels of napalm came from the right side¡ªwhere a single ship had docked and where Mitch and his group would being from¡ªbut a few hundred were stilling from the other end.


    It was because this building was closer to this end than the other, but the sprinters and the ferals in that cluster had already advanced way past the halfway point though our bullets were still faster.


    Returning to our main loadout, Kaley and I joined the group that was picking off anything that wasn''t hit by Bogdan''s nasty surprise, though this huge boon had a little disadvantage and it was called reduced visibility.


    Not only was the smoke and fire making it hard to see whether the undead we were aiming at were truly dead, but the strong winds that blew past us just made identifying which rotting dome we should aim for.


    Napalm was the better choicepared to Molotov cocktails, obviously, but with a guy like me who preferred everything to be fucking precise, my best-case scenario was to just fly away with our Chinooks and drop them down when they were all in one big spot.


    "MAJOR! THE CHINOOKS ARE STILL ON STAND-BY¡ª"


    "FUCK THAT SHIT, CAN''T YOU SEE THE SMOKE COMING FROM THAT SIDE?! THEY''RE COMING! WE JUST NEED TO HOLD OUT A BIT MORE!"


    "IS THAT ALL THE NAPALM YOU HAD?!"


    "YEAH! THAT''S ALL I COULD MAKE LAST NIGHT! SHIT''S EXPENSIVE!"


    "I''LL HOOK YOU UP LATER! DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE¡ª"


    "I MADE SOME PIPE BOMBS TOO¡ª"


    "FUCK YEAH! GIMME A BUNCH! THERE''S EVEN DYNAMITE! HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"


    As chaos was ensuing, it seemed like everyone had forgotten that the building we were in had also deadheads waiting for their hostages to try to make a break for it, but since there was new meat on the table¡ªin our case, the roof¡ªit didn''t take long before we had visitors came in from both ends of the fire exits and from the roof ess door.


    I only needed to give my group a simple nce before they figured out what I was about to order them to do¡ªexcept for Quinn, of course, who was now back to using her borrowed AK¡ªso I just dragged her with me to one end of the fire exit while the rest tried to plug the other.


    Obviously, we had other soldiers who had the same idea, but I just made them plug the roof ess instead of joining us in our melee.


    However, there''s no chance in hell several deadheads could get past me with my de in hand if they were to try and do it one at a time.


    The tight space provided by the fire exit''s staircase made it all possible, so Quinn just got more familiar with the AK tform as she magdumped the cluster at the very bottom to somehow make my life easier. At the same time, Kaley was right by the edge of the roof and picking off anything that exhibited unusual behavior.


    "DON''T JUST HOLD ONTO THE TRIGGER! DO IT IN BURSTS¡ª SINGLES EVEN!"


    "HAAH?!"


    "YOU''RE USING BULLETS LIKE THEY FALL FROM THE SKY! DON''T JUST AIM AT AN AREA, YOU''RE HITTING THEM BUT YOU''RE NOT KILLING THEM! FLIP THE SELECT-FIRE SWITCH TO SEMI-AUTO¡ª"


    "GOT IT! THEY''RE STILL MOVING AROUND THOUGH!"


    "IT''D BE TOO DAMN EASY IF THEY WEREN''T! THAT''S LIFE!"


    "FUCK YOU! I''M HELPING!"


    "NOT AS MUCH AS YOU THINK!"


    "THEN SWITCH PLACES WITH ME!"


    "THEN DON YOUR FUCKING GLOVES!"


    "BET!"


    Even if Quinn was still armed with our extra AKs, she''d rather bash skulls with her halberd/polearm hybrid as she took her whole getup with us. She only needed to put on her mechanical gloves without the fucking exo-suit, but I wouldn''t just feed the bearer of my firstborn, potentially, to the wolves.


    With my rifle in hand, a 5.56 cartridge easily bored through a deadhead''s skull with each trigger pull, and I even had plenty of time to aim at the onesing from the other side of the runway before reloading and making a mess of the ones clogging the fire exit.


    But yeah, I was making sure that Quinn had a face to smash in by letting them in a couple of steps at a time¡ªwhich was just the right timing for each of her murderous swings that could probably fell a tree with one swipe.


    And with two magazines empty, I swiftly put on a fresh mag, but this time, I pulled on my rifle''s strap to fasten it on my body before pulling out my TX22 which was something I should''ve used from the moment we switched sides.


    In essence, taking on a few hundred deadheads was dangerous as fuck but it was a fucking cakewalk when they were lining up to face you.


    And to add insult to injury, it didn''t take long before the bulk of our forcesing from our ships got into the airport with theirnd vehicles, and our little excursion ended faster than we thought.


    ''That''s the Marines for ya¡­''


    The only ces we could hear gunshots were from the wharf and the highway Mitch''s group was guarding, but everyone here was already piling corpses onto mountains and setting them on fire.


    We did most of the work when wended on the roof, so we let everyone else do their own share by clearing the whole area from the undead.


    It was a weird feeling for things to go this easy and without much nning, but that was what a group trained to do just this, or at least a version of it, were capable of doing.


    Funnily enough, it''d be a different story if we made them switch jobs with our cooks while we arm our cooks with high-powered rifles because it''ll be like Michael Jackson auditioning for the UFC and Mike Tyson auditioning to be a figure skater.


    People had different set of skills or a specialization, like one might say, and being a jack of all trades was just making it a little weird for me.


    I was used to doing everything by myself and conditioning everyone to do the same or simply function on their own but what I witnessed right now was a group of people that were actually right for the job.


    Granted they might have other skills unrted to violence but they knew the assignment and delivered on it many times over.


    But yeah, I was making sure that everyone was also picking up the cases they used themselves but it was now my turn to talk to the people stranded in the main building of this airport because all they heard from the storeroom they locked themselves in was a ton of gunshots and several explosions.


    "The other group has locked themselves in the suites, right?"


    "Yeah, but the biggest group is here."


    "You tried talking to them, yet?"


    "We did but¡­ They really do want someone local with a leadership position¡­ and they''re still very paranoid."


    "Alright¡­ Thanks, Sioson."


    "Anytime."


    So yeah, I made my way to the door of the supposed storeroom and knocked with one knuckle so as to not startle them:


    "YOOOO~ IT''S YA BOI~~~"


    "We cleared the whole ce and everything! It''s safe toe out! Hello?"


    "This is the representative of the Philippine Government and the US Navy and we''re informing you that we have just cleared the airport of the dead and it''s now free to head out! We have several outposts surrounding Subic and we''re turning this airport into one very shortly. We need all the cooperation we can get. Please, open up¡­"


    "We have foooood~"


    Experience tales with m_vl_em_p_yr


    "Klondike Bar?"


    "I might say other things adults would definitely go for but you might''ve kids over there so I''m being extra careful. And with that in mind, we have doctors in the Marine Base and if any of you have any injuries or any condition that needs treatment, especially the young ones o the older folks, our doctors could take a look at them."


    Nothing. I tried everything that worked before but even my membership card for Costco didn''t work.


    But yeah, I can''t believe this fucks were ignoring me after shooing Sioson away, but they''d be the dumbest creatures in the world if they think they could win against me with the cold shoulder method.


    However, it''s just that this storeroom of sorts didn''t only have food in ce, but also everything else that the airport could offer, and I was hearing quite a few suspicious noises like they were building something or hauling more shit to block the only door.


    Sioson tapped me from behind, "No luck?"


    "Is this the only entrance?"


    "Unfortunately, yes."


    "Then we make one."


    "Sure¡ª Huh?! Wut?"


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1128: George - Paranoia

    Some of the easier ways to make a new entrance that came to mind were to sacrifice a truck by ramming it at the external wall connecting to this particr area, get through sussily by using the vent system, blowing up a portion of the wall that''s non-load bearing, or in the same realm with using explosives, just blow the existing door altogether.


    In any case, a sledgehammer to the wall also came to mind but before we could enact upon our barbaric methods, we finally heard a reply.


    "P-Please prove that you''re real!" A gentle, womanly voice resounded.


    ''Real?''


    "Huh¡ª"


    "GET BACK HERE, REGINE! WE DON''T EVEN KNOW IF THE EXPLOSIONS WE HEARD WERE REAL!"


    "The ground was shaking, George! How can they imitate that!?"


    ''What are they talking about¡ª Oh¡­ That''s¡ª Huh.''


    I replied in calm tone, "We''re pretty much real, alright? If you''re talking about the ones that could copy voices¡­ I personally haven''t encountered a lot of them but their voice lines are pretty limited, no?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "WE''RE IN A BUSY AIRPORT FILLED WITH TOURISTS! WE COULD HEAR PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING¡ª"


    "Then what do you want me to say¡ª or hear?! Something you can''t hear in an airport?!"


    "THAT WOULD BE NICE¡ª"


    "You¡ª FINE! BOMB! BOMBS! FIRE IN THE HOLE! 9/11! MISSILE! Find exclusive tales at m-vl-em,pyr


    NUKES! GUNS! BRATATTA! C4! NAPALM! HIJACK!


    KABOOM! WE NEVER OVERBOOK ANY FLIGHT, PROMISE! FREE FOOD! CHEAP ITEMS! OF COURSE, WE CAN ASK THE PLANE TO LAND BECAUSE YOU''RE LATE FOR FIFTEEN FUCKING MINUTES!"


    "..."


    "HOW''S THAT, GEORGE?!"


    "I¡­ I think he checks out¡­ But¡­"


    "Want me to send something in written format?!"


    "W-Would be nice¡ª"


    "You¡ª I''m so gonna fucking smack your head once you open this door for me¡­"


    "P-Please¡­ It''s just¡­ It''s just for our safety¡­ You can''t believe¡ª"


    "Yeah, yeah¡­ Give me the sob storyter¡­"


    With that said, I easily found a pen and fucking piece of paper to write on, but I drew the most graphic furry fanart I could with the space avable while writing, "FUCK YOU, GEORGE!" at the bottom.


    Ignoring the looks of the Marines present and my group, I slid the paper on the gap between the door and flooring, and it didn''t take long before we heard them moving away all the barricades they ced on the sole entrance.


    "W-WE''RE OPENING THE DOOR!"


    "I HEARD YA! BUT NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS, ALRIGHT?!"


    "Huh?!"


    "WHAT IF YOU FUCKS WE''RE THE ONES IMITATING VOICES?!"


    "WHA¡ª YOU JUST TALKED TO US!"


    "THAT''S NO PROOF!"


    "BUT THE PAPER!"


    "STILL NO PROOF! I JUST SENT YOU ONE, NOT RECEIVE IT!"


    "W-WHAT IF I SLID IT BACK?!"


    "WHAT IF YOU FUCKS JUST LEARNED TO DO THAT?!"


    "THEN WHAT DO WE DO THEN, YOU PSYCHO?!"


    "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING, GEORGE?! I JUST SAID NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS!"


    "..."


    "Did you learn to be fucking quiet too or¡ª"


    "J-JUST DON''T HURT US, ALRIGHT?! I''M COMING OUT FIRST!"


    "C''mon, George, I won''t judge whatever orientation you are¡ª"


    "I MEAN COMING OUT LITERALLY! WE''RE TALKING ABOUT OPENING THE DOORS, ALRIGHT?!"


    "Ah. My bad¡ª Hold up, before that."


    "WHAT IS IT NOW?!"


    "I''m telling you now that once youe out, we''ll detain you and check you for injuries or god forbid, bites, before moving on to the next person. I hope that not only you understand that because it''s for the safety of not just us but your own people so do bear with a bit of frisk before we offer you all a warm meal.


    Because if not, we''ll be forced to use the same violent means we used to clear this whole airport if we so much see a little bit of aggression from any of you. Is that okay?"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ That''spletely fine."


    "You don''t need to answer that fast. Discuss it among your group first. Do know that we have women who can also do the same checks if they''re worried about guys going too far¡ªwhich we won''t, I promise you¡ªbut take it as a measure of trust and respect between us."


    "That''s¡ª A-Alright¡­"


    Our "talks" with this other group seemed to be going well, especially from the approving look Major Harper and everyone else who wasn''t familiar with how I was were giving me, but after some time, we eventually heard a knock from the other side:


    "We''ve talked."


    "And?"


    "They all agreed. I''ming out first, is that okay?"


    "Yeah. We''ll do it one at a time."


    "H-Here I go¡­"


    With that said, we heard the final barrier of the door between us which was its locks, obviously, but we soon saw it open inward, ever so slightly. After that, a man in his 40s who looked like fucking shit and had been through the wringer slowly came out and almost jumped back from the number of guns pointed at him.


    "W-Woah¡ª I-I''m oh God¡­ Oh God¡ª We''re saved! R-Regine! T-Tell the kids toe out next¡ª A-After all these¡­ *sniffles* W-What do I do now?" He asked as he looked at me with tears in his eyes.


    "George, right?"


    "Y-Yes¡ª Y-You were the one I was talking to e-earlier?"


    "Yeah. Name''s Sky."


    "Y-You''re a kid¡ª I mean, you look so young¡ª"


    "I get that a lot, unfortunately. But yeah¡­ George, what I''m gonna need you to do now is to get on your knees and put your hands behind your back so we can detain you and check your body for anything as I''ve said earlier."


    "Y-Yes¡­ Yes¡­ A-Anything¡­"


    Easily enough, this George feplied with our demands and one of our soldiers put some zip-ties on his wrists before he started to check him of anything.


    And since George was our first participant, we made sure to show the whole process to his group¡ªbecause we did all this in front of the slightly ajar door¡ªwho looked like they were stuck in the same ce for quite a while were still suspiciously eyeing everyone else from a safe distance.


    Of course, there was a horrid stenching from George and especially the storeroom they came from, but that just meant that their water was used for drinking, nothing less.

 Chapter 1129: Above And Beyond For Refugees

    On that note, they didn''t seem to be too famished, probably because they rationed well but a lot of questions were popping in my head the more I looked at them. However, the best course of action was to get through checking George first, before anything else, and herees the frisk we were talking about.


    Doing this type of shit before the world ended couldnd us in a lot of fuckingwsuits but at this point, it should be the minimum requirement for strangers to be eligible to pass.


    "Alright, I''m giving you another choice, George."


    "What is it?"


    "It''s gonna sound extreme if you choose the first one but I''m gonna need you to either strip and take a bath in front of everyone here or you do it semi-privately with some of our soldiers watching you¡ª"


    "I-I thought this was the check we''re talking about?!"


    "The only thing we''ve checked you is for obvious ces where you could hide bites or weapons. Besides, wouldn''t you want a nice warm bath and a fresh set of clothes after a¡ª Question, how long have you been here, exactly?"


    George looked a little difficult before he answered, "I¡­ I honestly don''t know, you tell me."


    "Well~ It''s been a year and a change of a few months since it started so¡ª"


    "Then a year and a few months is our answer."


    "What? No shot."


    George looked defeated as he turned to his family, "We''re all here and everything, at least what''s left of us. We even got our documentation with us, if that matters¡­"


    "Huh."


    "Look, I dunno how hard your ce was hit but this ce got hit hard. It''s¡­ We did try and make this a ce where everyone could be safe with the help of the soldiers who came to rescue us but they still couldn''t make it like those camps they said were fortified. We weren''t even sure if those camps are still standing¡­ You gotta believe me, man¡­ I¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Alright, George. I''m gonna hear the whole story from you and everyone else present but we got to move things along first. What do you say? Wanna do it here or in one of the restrooms?"


    "There''s no more watering from the pipes¡ª"


    "Ah, right. It wouldn''t be warm and nice but we do have water outside, enough for a wipedown with a cloth or a rag."


    "W-Why do all this?"


    "I dunno, you tell me. Your group has been here for god knows how long so I was just giving you the choice to do whatever if they aren''t too keen with ya going somece else. Let''s just say I''ll ept some degree of paranoia, alright? If you don''t trust us to be away from your family for a short bit, it''s cool. It''s on you to assure them and sacrifice a bit of dignity for them."


    "Hah¡­ What else can we do?"


    "Honestly? Not much. We could''ve just blown up this door and done something that could''ve saved us a lot of fucking time but we didn''t. Trust me, there aren''t a lot of people who''d do something like this outside. Also, we''d even give you the option to go your merry ways after we hear your story and feed you but we''re slowly building up this ce and we need more people."


    "So¡­ Same shit as before¡ª"


    "Well, if you want a change of pace, we have other ces we could send you along¡­ totally your choice but we rmend this ce, the Freeport Zone, or the Marine Base. We have something a bit further¡ªunfortunately, it''s another airport, but that ce has seen more action with raiders than deadheads. They''re not actually under me but we''re working together, if that matters."


    "..."


    "George¡­"


    "H-Huh?"


    "C''mon, man¡­ You''re just gonna take a bath, how hard could it be?"


    "Well¡­ Umm¡­ I''m sorry but I might need to do it here. I don''t want my kids to be worried¡­ It''ll reassure everyone else too."


    "Alright, we''ll bring you everything you need. Just wait a sec."


    "A-And the restraints?"


    "We''d cut it off too. No worries. We don''t get off in this type of shit, it''s totally just for security¡ªand to give you some peace of mind, I''m part Japanese and I''ve been through my fair share of public baths. I usually bathe with them but this is just a special case, alright?"


    "A-Alright, thank you."


    Obviously, not all the hundreds of troops were watching George and I talk¡ªjust a few dozen or so¡ªbut as weird as this might look, George got down into his bare muddy ass as he cleaned himself with a bucket of water, a bar of soap, and a clean cloth that soon turned murky.


    But yeah, It didn''t take long before George looked decent and human and from my astute observation, he was clean from any bites and just needed a bit more food in his system.


    He couldn''t hide the delight of wearing a fresh set of clothes but he didn''t even care when they got a little dirty when he beckoned Regine, who seemed to be his wife, and his two girls: Allie and Reba, toe out and give him a hug.


    "I-It''s totally fine, alright? I''m okay! See? New clothes too!"


    "Dad! Stop hugging us! We''re s-slimy! It''s getting on your clothes!"


    "Yeah, dad! Stop!"


    Regine turned to me, "A-Are we¡ª"


    "It''s your choice, actually. My wife, Kaley, and a few others had already prepared the proper area for you three. All we''d need is a little bit of trust from both sides."


    "A-Alright¡­" she turned to George, "W-We''ll be back soon, okay?"


    "Of course, I love you."


    "I love you too." Find additional tales at m,vl-em,py-r


    Their two daughters cut in, "We love you too, DAD!"


    "Ah¡ª R-Right, right¡ª I love you two, too!"


    Obviously, it''d be a different type of ball game to have these three women strip and bathe in front of me so I asked Kaley, Tatiana, Quinn, and five other soldiers who were women to apany them in a more private area to have them checked and run through the same process George did.


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    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1130: They kept us in!

    If it was any other day and these people came at us with disrespect, I would''ve just made them line up and hose them all together, but yeah, respect goes both ways and we should honor it.


    But yeah, the tiny bit of tediousness of bringing a couple of buckets filled with clean water¡ªeach time a person was done¡ªwas necessary to build more trust though it didn''t take long before we had to process them in batches.


    Obviously, we had more people watching them with guns at the ready but the group understood the situation and the necessity of doing so.


    They were just happy to breathe some fucking fresh air for once because even if they had small windows they could swing open, the storeroom they were in was fucking rancid, to say the least.


    On that note, it didn''t take long before a bunch of the guys huddled up in one spot to bathe together while the women did the same thing but in a private space, but there were still a few that requested a more private area so they could clean themselves and have fewer people looking at them naked. Find hidden gems at m-vl-em-pyr


    The world may have gone to shit and all but some of us still appreciate a little bit of privacy here and there.


    However, we still had a smaller group of people we had to convince toe out, and they were in this airport''s hotel suites but George didn''t look too happy when he discovered who I assumed to be people among their ranks were still alive.


    Since we built him up as this group''s representative of sorts, he was present with us when we were talking about how we''d go about the suites those dozen or so people were in, and the mention of their survival made his expression turn dark.


    "Something happened, huh? Spill."


    "That''s¡ª Those people¡ª Those damned¡ª"


    "It''s okay, breathe~ alright?"


    George tried to lighten his darkened expression but even taking a deep breath diminished it only by a little. Even his fists were clenched up and his whole body was shaking as his head was going through what he experienced with those people that he still hadn''t told us.


    After a minute, he managed to collect himself but he still shook his head angrily as he spilled as instructed:


    "They¡­ I-I''m not even sure if they''re the ones I''m angry at b-but we have this manager and security officer who imed the empty suites for themselves and favored the soldiers who were supposed to protect all of us greatly."


    "Uh-huh. A little scummy, sure, but¡ª"


    "No. That''s not all! They¡ª" he stopped himself for a minute before he called one of his daughters, Reba, who was hungrily chomping down on a rice ball over, "Reba! Can youe here for a sec?"


    "O-Okay? Just a sec, Dad¡ª Coming!" Reba replied as she folded the rice ball over with its wrapping.


    As she made her way towards us, she seemed to be the same age as Olivia¡ªmaybe even younger¡ªand she seemed to be particrly wary of everyone else that had guns on them, so I fastened my rifle to my back to somehow appear friendly to her.


    "''Sup?" I greeted her with a faint smile.


    "H-Hello¡­"


    George turned to her, "Reba, can you still remember what you saw that time? When you were assigned to clean the deluxe and executive rooms and identally went to the suites?"


    Reba clutched her fresh set of clothes for a moment, "The¡ª Umm¡­ Mrs. Agnes and Robert''s room?"


    "Yes, the one where you saw a lot of food¡ª"


    "Oh! The one right next to Dax''s and Sheepy''s?"


    I interjected, "Who?"


    Reba turned to me, "They''re our f-friends over here, sir *nces at George for a moment* i-it''s¡ª They''re pretty rich so they get to stay in the suites while we''re in the normal rooms but D-Dad told us to note over their room anymore when they asked us to hang out too many t-times¡­ in Dax and Sheepy''s room, I mean¡­"


    "What happened there¡ª"


    George cut in, "They''re a bunch of rich boys who don''t know any better. W-Well, they acted well by securing a lot of food for themselves before it started, probably because they didn''t do many jobs a few months in, but that''s a story for another day," then she turned to Reba again, "Aside from the food, tell them what you saw."


    "I-It''s¡­" Reba trailed as she wore a difficult expression.


    I looked at her gently, "If you''re that ufortable, your dad could just tell it to me instead, and we''ll take your word for it¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ I-It''s okay¡ª Well¡­ I-I''m not that good at recalling things b-but I-I saw a lot of used needles and some s-stuff on little clear pouches just sitting on their nightstand. S-Some of them are powdered while some a-are whole? I don''t know the exact term but I do see a lot of s-soldiers carry the same stuff and use them on their shifts."


    "Did they see you when you saw the drugs?"


    "That''s¡­ They did¡ª I mean, S-Sir Robert saw but he uhh¡­ He asked me if I wanted to have a good time? Start small, even, but that was when Mrs. Agnes came in and yelled at him. I believe they fought because Sir Robert h-had bruises the day after that and I was assigned to other areas¡­"


    "I see¡­"


    George held Reba tight before he asked her to go back to her mother, "I''ll talk to youter, alright?" then he turned back to me, "That''s what happened¡­ I''ve seen people abuse power and whatnot but that''s just uneptable! You can talk to the others about what that fucking security did when he was given authority but it just went downhill from there!"


    "What else did he do?"


    George spat on the ground, "What else THEY didn''t do? It''s not all of the soldiers that came here but those substances just pulled a good number of them to the dark side! Aside from the creepy shit they try to pull on everybody, the way they tried to keep all of us here caused this whole ordeal!"


    "Again, what did they do¡ª"


    "We uhh¡­ I had some talks going with the other families present with us to move on to another ce but bringing such arge group made it really difficult. We were way~ more when you found us but the way they kept us from escaping into the night or even having the means to prepare is that they st those damned sirens to attract everything around us!"

 Chapter 1131: Burglary - The Day I Had To Hit A Kid

    As we were hearing George''s story and everyone else in his group confirming everything¡ªand even adding on bits from their own perspective¡ªeveryone else just wanted to take the less than pleasant approach we would''ve done if George and his group came to be fucking assholes.


    But still, everything we heard to this point were just fucking words and until we met with the other group and heard their side, it was only then I''d make the decision on what to do with either of them.


    However, I''ll admit that a bit of bias was already forming inside my head because the simple mention of drugs and the way those fucks try to slither in with young adults didn''t sit well with me, so I won''t promise the same treatment as I gave George and everyone else''s.


    I usually give people two to three strikes before they''re out but right now, I''m only inclined to only give them one chance.


    So yeah, after taking everything into ount with the suite floor being the only one isted from everything else, I came up with the same setup as we did with George''s people.


    ''They probably just slept in the same room or were in the same room as the drone passed by¡­''


    The suite floor had six suites in total, with a cool-ass entertainment area, a bar, a ton of space, and a gym, but only two of the suites, which belonged to the two kids and the airport employees¡ªincluding ess to the bar and the gym¡ªwerepletely closed off to us.


    Andpletely inverse to what George and his people did, a ton of furniture in the hallway deterred us from getting any closer. But despite the noise we made and these people''s clear view from the outside¡ªif they''d just step out onto the balcony or peek out the window to see that soldiers were outside instead of the undead¡ªthere were no representatives to meet with us.


    I turned to one of the soldiers present named Gavin, "Yo, why hasn''t this barricade been moved? Is it trapped?"


    "That''s¡­ That''s what we''re trying to figure out while everything''s happening. We''ve been taking them piece by piece but with all the trash mixed in with the furniture, we''ll never know. We even tried calling for the supposed people inside and even sent a normal drone to peek through the windows but there the curtains were obstructing the view from the inside."


    "Huh. Did you guys try using the one with thermals again?"


    "Not yet. It''s still circling around the wharf and the surrounding areas because we already confirmed heat signatures in this spot, so it''ll take a bit more time."


    Experience the best from m|v|l|e|mp|y|r


    "How long?"


    "Maybe half an hour?"


    "Can you just ask the one using them to re-route one to this side? Where is Sioson anyway, he has control of one of them, right?"


    "I believe so, yes. I''ll check in with him if he''s close to circling the drone around."


    "Hmmm¡­"


    We weren''t in a particr rush or anything but as all of this was happening, we also gained ess to the maintenance room and discovered that a fucker specifically shut off the water from everywhere else besides the suite floor, and I was just itching to meet these people and give them a nice talking to.


    However, different barricades were slowing us down but everyone''s safety was still the top priority.


    It was pretty ironic since we rushed here and all and a mess of furniture was the one to slow us down.


    But yeah, we could try to wake them up by probably turning off the water and electricitying to their floor but I had a better idea.


    It ain''t much but it wasn''t honest work, if I may say so myself.


    Burry!


    Going all through that trash and trouble didn''t sit well with me so I just made my way back to the roof with climbing gear I easily produced¡ªdon''t ask where¡ªbefore I slowly descended upon these fuckers'' balcony.


    Of course, I didn''t go alone as I took Tatiana with me but right as I was about to check if the sliding door was locked, a groggy kid who looked to be in his early 20s did all the work for us as he slid the door himself, yawned, nkly gazed at each of us before I put him in a chokehold.


    I did say that I''d hit a fucking kid but I didn''t think we''d go Assasin''s Creed on this motherfucker because as I put him to sleep, Tatiana tied him and have our crew pull him up to the roof.


    At this point, it was either this fucks were heavy sleepers or had a great partyst night because the moment we stepped foot inside what seemed to be Dax''s and Sheepy''s suite, another dude the same age¡ªwho could be either of the two¡ªwith a few other naked women around the same age, maybe even younger, was sleeping soundly while everything else urred outside.


    And with Reba''s statement earlier, all sorts of drugs were being consumed because several drug paraphernalia were present, and these fucks would''ve been dead if our intention was to kill.


    It''d only take a swipe of our knives to end all of them right here and trust me, I was already inclined to chuck them out of the window because I wasn''t sure if they would have any use to me as all they did in this ce was waste away and get high.


    One of the reasons I didn''t do just that is because as I talked with the 50-ish people earlier, they had some family, friends, or something along those lines missing or presumed dead.


    It was all chaos when the dead they attracted overwhelmed this ce and those months of hunkering down on one spot¡ªnever seeing the ones who tried to get out¡ªmade them think a lot of things.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I had to hit a kid again, this time, in a more literal sense.


    "H-Huh? Who¡ª The fuck? Where''s Dax? Am I seeing¡ª Whoa~ You look cool as fuck, bro¡ª Woah! A chick! Wanna have some fun¡ª"


    And so I did, Asian Parent style.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1132: Diesel and Fuel Save/Unleaded

    Before sending this motherfucker to Jesus, a tool much like a slipper would''ve been appropriate but from my own experience, it was usually anything that could be held on tightly and the nearest one my parents¡ªusually my Mom¡ªcould find. So yeah, with a flick of the wrist, my scabbardnded on his right temple and gave him a mild concussion before Ipletely knocked him out by nicking his chin.


    One strike would''ve been enough to knock him out¡ªwith enough force¡ªbut I wouldn''t want to fracture his skull and I would''ve wanted him to feel a bit of pain before Tatiana ships him to the roof with his bro.


    But yeah, this ce was just a fancy drug den or the aftermath of a frat party because when I peeked at the living room connected to the kitchen, there were more young adults who were knocked out of their minds and didn''t even bother to put on clothes or clean up a little bit.


    A lot of trash from packaged food items was on the floor along with empty or partially empty bottles of liquor, but funnily enough, their drug paraphernalia were stacked nicely on one side or in one corner of the table.


    It was the same thing as what''s in the bedroom we just infiltrated from but Tatiana continued to send these other girls first to the roof, as if we were expecting the extra exp points for liberating an outpost stealthily. But yeah, we did cover their important bits as much as we could, of course, because at the end of the day, we''re still decent humans to a degree.


    And as we cleared the bedroom, Ibarra and Kuzma joined us before Quinn decided to join the party as well, because in her words, "I didn''t think kidnapping these fucking kids could be this fun!"


    Obviously, the difficulty level was very low because almost all of them were hammered, high, or both, but Quinn suddenly caused a ruckus¡ªhalfway into us clearing the living room with young adults¡ªbecause she rushed to pick up this pale girl with a petite frame because she either looked dead from an OD or very close to.


    She stomped her foot as she carried her over to our extraction point and she shouted at the top of her lungs to make them call over a doctor:


    "SHE''S STILL BREATHING! SHE TOOK SOME H AND A LOT OF ALCOHOL! BRING HER TO A DOCTOR ASAP!"


    From themotion we caused outside, I didn''t worry as much that Quinn might wake up these fucking kids, but for some fucking reason, she fucking did.


    "W-What¡­"


    "The hell¡­ It''s not even noon¡­ Who¡ª"


    "Where''s Casey?"


    "Morgan?"


    "Jeffrey¡ª Where¡ª WOAH! W-We''re legal! W-We can drink! WE CAN DRINK!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK¡ª WHERE''S DAX AND¡ª HOLD ON! HOLD ON! HOW CAN¡ª"


    "THEY''RE INTRUDERS! HOW DID THEY GET HERE¡ª"


    Without further ado, I really did have to hit a kid with my fists, everyone else included, but it didn''t bring the satisfaction I was expecting because to bepletely fair, they haven''t beenplete assholes to us.


    I can''t just hate fucking kids because I was cool with a good number of them back home, but riled up and drugged up kids who were starting to get gassed up because of a few visitors was trouble.


    So yeah, the four us, beat the shit out of this malnourished fucks without issue because yeah, it wasn''t even a fucking contest because they''ve been wasting away here ever since they pulled too much aggro while the rest of us were doing the work and training our bodies in our spare time.


    Their broken bottles and semi-hard dildos wouldn''t do shit with our scabbard, blunt edge of our de, or just straight up our fists, and this other bitch trying to give me an aneurysm by screaming at the top of her lungs as she tried to w my face with her broken nails also took a crisp jab from yours truly.


    "AHH! D-Did you just hit me?!"


    "Equality, bitch! Also, self-defense! I did hold back a little though¡­"


    "What?! You¡ª"


    "Here''s ten percent of my strength then¡ª"


    "WAIT¡ª"


    Knockout.


    And as soon as these fucking kids saw that I didn''t give a fuck some of them actually surrendered but we still gave them a proper beating.


    There''s no chance in hell they''d act this reasonable while all sorts of substances were running through their veins and even if there was a small chance of it being true, I still wouldn''t risk it even if they were just the same victims who got trapped in this floor because of poor horde management.


    But yeah, as wepletely cleared this suite and have most of them sent to the roof¡ªexcept for two other fucks who looked to be not as high¡ªwe separeted them by having one in the living room and one in the bedroom before starting our interrogation.


    "Alright, bro¡­ Who do you work for? Before that, what''s your name?"


    "Diesel!"


    "Seriously?"


    "W-What? I¡ª GACKK!"


    "Alright, Diesel. The next one will break a rib. Who do you work for?"


    "W-What''s this, I¡ª D-Dax and Sheepy! W-We work for Dax and Sheepy! GACKH!!! I ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION, YOU FUCK!"


    "Didn''t break a rib, did I? I doubt you''re even feeling anything."


    "ASSHOLE!"


    "That''s my nickname, apparently. Where''s Agnes and Robert?"


    He looked at me like I''m an idiot, "Who are you, huh?! Reinforcements?! HAH! You''rete, bitches! How did y''all even get here?! EVERYONE''S DEAD!


    INCLUDING YOUR MIDDLEMAN DRUGGIE BITCH AND YOUR CREEPY OFFICER! WE HAVE EVERYTHING NOW! AND DAX AND SHEEPY KILLED THEM! AND THOSE SOLDIERS?! WE MADE THEM THINK THEY''RE HOT SHIT BEFORE WE GOT THEM HIGH AND DID AWAY WITH ''EM! HOW''S THAT, HUH?!


    PRETTY NEAT FOR A BUNCH OF FUCKING KIDS, RIGHT?!"


    I nodded approvingly, "That''s actually awesome cool."


    "ASSHOLE¡ª Huh?"


    As soon as my words registered to this "Diesel" fe, even my group was confused as I suddenly changed teams.


    "D-Did you say we were cool?"


    "What you did was, not all this junkie shit."


    "Ah¡­ Gotta ration bro, one way to stave off hunger is to get high for days¡­"


    "Is that right?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "You did all this shit just for that reason and not the feelings thates with it or the free pussy offered to ya?"


    "Ah¡ª I swing both ways, dude. I''d suck yo dick for a Klondike Bar¡ª"


    "Hah! Thank you but I''m good. But tell me, what are we expecting in the other suite?"


    "That bitch¡ª I mean, Agnes and Robert''s suite?"


    "Yeah."


    "Almost all the food''s in there."


    "Why?"


    "We''re saving, right? We just moved all the drugs and liquor here and go there every few days or every few weeks."


    "You''re awfully stocked with weed though¡ª Ah, avoiding the munchies, huh?"


    He let out a knowing smile, "Ya get it, ya get it¡­"


    Kuzma interjected, "Hey, are the furniture in the hallway trapped or not?"


    "Holy shit, whitey, your voice is scary as fuck! Nah, that shit''s not trapped, just looked like it is because we forgot we could just chuck all our trash out the windows."


    I cut in, "You mean the floor?"


    "Trust me, bro, this pad is the cleanest it has been in a month!"


    "Alright, Diesel, can I have you take the lead on the other suite and the lead on removing the furniture?"


    "Ya got some food?"


    "I have some protein bars here but if you built up that trust by doing what I told you, I''d even cook you whatever you want."


    "Shiii, that''s cool. But I want a rematch a little bitter though, that cool? Where is everybody?"


    "The roof."


    "Wha¡ª How?!"


    "It''s how we got in."


    "HAH! Dax and Sheepy''s probably so pissed right now. They fucking hate those soldiers so much, they''ve been meaning to kill them the moment they confiscated some of our shit because it''s contraband."


    "Is that so?"


    "Yeah, so¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    As we were about to end this conversation with Diesel, we heard a deathly scream from the other side and it was obvious that it was Quinn''s doing. And once we checked whatever the fuck Quinn was trying to do to get information about Unleaded or Fuel Save, Diesel just straight up cackled at his bro because Quinn was holding the dude by the balcony with two fingers and about to let go.


    "I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING¡ª AHHH! I DUNNO IF YOU''RE FUCKING SHOWING OFF BUT IF YOU FUCKING LET GO, I''M DEAD! WHY WOULD I FUCKING LIE TO YOU?! AHHHH! STOP!


    STOP! WHY''D YOU SWITCH TO A FINGER?! THIS ISN''T HOW I EXPECTED TO DIE! SOMEBODY PLEASE¡ª WHAT?! WHY''S EVERYONE ON THE ROOF¡ª AHHHHHHHH!"


    "FOCUS ON ME, YOU BITCH! IF YOU PEE YOURSELF ANOTHER TIME, I''MMA DROP YA! UNDERSTAND?!"


    "THIS ISN''T HELPING MY CASE, MOMMY! AHHHHH! I''M JOKING! I''M JOKING! GET ME UP! PLEASE!


    I''LL GIVE YOU MY STASH! PLEASE! I''LL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING!"


    "THEN¡ª"


    I cut in as I tapped Quinn, "Pull him up. We''ll see if their testimony''s true."


    ''If not, then¡­ We''ll see¡­''

 Chapter 1133: Heres the gist and choice youll be making...

    If it was any other day, I would''ve let Kaley use her psychic powers for a bit to filter these kids out but yeah, let''s just say that the vibes felt alright, and even if I''ve seen all types of stupid by working in retail, these kids wouldn''t be that stupid if given the chance to do so.


    Did they seem unreliable? Sure. Would I let people their age interact with them as of this moment? Absolutely not!


    But despite all that, what they gave off was this irresponsibly responsible air that means even if 99% of the "responsible" and "outstanding" parents would be disappointed in whatever the fuck they were doing, they''d do fine on their own as long as they weren''t getting fucked with.


    In the off chance that they were, that was where the AK gets pulled out of the locker¡ªand the only reason you''d get spared was if you treated them like humans even for a little bit.


    I''m not particrly glorifying this type of behavior or this type of person but let''s be fair here, if we didn''t have assholes at schools who thought what they were doing was just a bit of fun, teachers who at least gave a fuck, parents who actually cared, bitches who think bringing down people was cool, or everything else in that spectrum, we wouldn''t have kids who thought that whates before the number 47 was "AK" instead of 46.


    So yeah, I''m giving them a little bit of freedom or the leeway to be a little unhinged or chaotic¡ªor simply themselves¡ªdespite the admittance to drug use and murder, but once they cross the line, I would treat them as what I would treat anyone else for that matter.


    "I''m just gonna open the door and give you a tour? Is that it?"


    "Why don''t you clear the barricades with your friend¡ª What''s his name?"


    "Te."


    I turned to "Te", "For real?"


    Te replied, "What about it? The world has gone to shit and we can''t even get ourselves new names?"


    Quinn cut in as she looked at me confused, "Don''t you have a lot of them?"


    "Me?"


    "Yeah! Like the Kid, the 9-inch destroyer, the Asshole, the Excali-Dick¡ª"


    "BWAHAHAHAHA/ HOLY SHIT! HAH! IS THAT REAL?!" Diesel and Te lost their shitughing.


    I shook my head, "Those were given to me, I didn''t make them up myself."


    Diesel replied, "So get yourself one. It''s not that hard and we''re the same age, right?"


    "Eh~ I''ll think about it."


    With that said, Diesel and Te did clear the furniture blocking the hallway without issue, and I threw each of them a protein bar and an Ibuprofen for a job well done and for telling the truth. After that, I made them open the door to the other suite where they supposedly stored what was left of their food but god fucking dammit "what was left" wasn''t the right term.


    Not only could the amount of food inside couldst them at least a year with their numbers, but with the way they were going and rationing them, they''dst a bit more if they continued as is.


    "H-How many times do you eat in a week again?"


    "A few?"


    "Define a few."


    "Sometimes once sometimes twice?"


    "And how the fuck did y''all stock up this much?"


    "We didn''t."


    "Huh?"


    "Agnes did most of the work. We hate her and Robert, sure, but if it weren''t for those greedy fucks taking this much from the storeroom and not touching it at all, we wouldn''t be alive."


    Kuzma cut in, "No offense, but you all had to eat a bit more."


    "You have no idea. We could, sure. But we need all the chance we could get, maybe."


    "Maybe?"


    "You''ve seen this ce before you cleared it, right? We had ns to get away but their numbers tend to increase every single day. We kill a few, a bunch reces them. It''d cost a lot of time and energy so we tried to hold out for as long as possible."


    "Hold out?"


    "You guys¡­ You know they get hungry, right?"


    Kuzma answered, "No, they do not."


    I nodded, "A few special ones do but¡ª"


    Diesel waved us off, "Bro, they get lethargic, right? I swear they¡ª"


    "Where''d you see one? Or was it a group or the whole thing?"


    "Well¡­ As we''re in the early stages of nning to get outta here, there were a bunch of them like us who barely moved and they look emaciated as fuck so, we think thought that there''s a type that goes hungry after a time¡­ We thought of waiting until everyone in the airport became like that but they just increased in number as we, uhh¡­ kept as is."


    Tatiana shook her head, "At least you''re aware of what you did."


    "Hey! Where else could we go?! We don''t even know if there''s anyone else out there! Besides, it''s not like we''re running out of food!"


    Te interjected, "Well, Dax made contact with this other soldier group from one of the soldiers we took out but once they discovered that we were from the airport, theypletely ignored us."


    Diesel nodded a few times, "That is true¡­" then he turned to me, "You guys really should talk to either Dax or Sheepy, they know more than us¡ª But yeah¡­ what''s gonna happen now?"


    Te took a step back, "Yeah, what''s gonna happen now? Are we¡ª Are we still¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Here''s the gist of the situation. You still had people living right under you in worse conditions but their hate is mostly towards Agnes and Robert.


    We got to them first and told me a bit of the context but I''ll tell you what I told them: This ce is now under the joint protection of the US Navy and a Special Unit under me, which is kind of a floaterpared to the Philippine Army, but yeah, we''ll give you a choice."


    "What choice?"


    "Let''s get you all cleaned up and fed first. Then we''ll talk with everybody else who survived besides you guys."


    "There were others who survived?!"

 Chapter 1134: Whats it gonna be?

    In essence, the barricades weren''t trapped in any way and the other suite really was just a stockroom full of food. Any other psycho would''ve wanted to spring a trap at thest minute but it seemed like the notion of giving respect to get it rang true at this moment. But yeah, when this group met with George''s group whom we saved first, it wasn''t as pleasantpared to how I interacted with them.


    It seemed like the girl who OD''d that Quinn hurriedly got brought up was a younger sister to one of the people in George''s group among others.


    Even Diesel who was actually named "Daniel" was cousins with the girl I punched, "Morgan", and they used to be acquainted with one of George''s daughters, Allie, by going to the same school.


    George''s group had all this pent-up rage and aggression to let out but as they looked at Dax and Sheepy''s constitutionpared to theirs, they didn''t look that different. However, the moment they saw the amount of food they stocked up and the little bit of "entertainment" they had, it was back to the way it was as they were atplete odds with each other.


    "YOU''VE BEEN STOCKING UP ON ALL OF THAT FOOD AND YOU NEVER BOTHERED TO SHARE WITH US?!"


    "WE DIDN''T STOCK IT OURSELVES! AGNES AND ROBERT DID!"


    "BUT YOU GOT TO USE IT!"


    "ARE YOU SEEING THINGS? DO WE LOOK LIKE WE LIVED A LAVISH LIFE!"


    "DON''T GIVE ME THAT! IT''S WITH THE HELP OF WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU''VE BEEN INJECTING IN YOUR ARMS!"


    "WELL HOW CAN WE SEND FOOD OVER TO YOU FUCKS, HUH?! YOU''RE TRAPPED IN THAT FUCKING STOREROOM ALL PARANOID AND WE DIDN''T EVEN KNOW YOU FUCKS ARE STILL ALIVE!"


    "IF YOU LOOKED A BIT MORE, YOU COULD''VE FOUND US! WE HEARD YOU USING THOSE SOLDIERS'' GUNS!"


    "YOU HAVE FUCKING GEAR TOO! AND LOOK AT YOUR NUMBERS! YOU COULD''VE MADE MORE DAMAGE IF YOU CAME OUT AT THE SAME TIME AS US!"


    "HAVE YOU SEEN THE DEAD OUTSIDE! WE''D BE SWARMED THE MOMENT WE STEP FOOT FROM A SINGLE NOISE!"


    "BUT THAT''S HOW IT IS! YOU GOTTA GAMBLE!"


    "LIKE YOU FUCKING KIDS DID!"


    "WE DID YOU ADULT FUCKS! WE LOST MORE PEOPLE THAN YOU THINK! WE THOUGHT WE WERE ALL ALONE!"


    "..."


    "..."


    As the sudden silence hushed them all over, I took it upon myself to step forward because it was the job assigned to me. Some soldiers were just looking at the drama unfold while taking a short break from their duties, but I still had a bit more knots to untangle before everything was over.


    "Look, this is how it''s gonna go. Your groups could fight all you want but can we say that this debacle with the airport is all over?"


    Dax turned to me with a re, "What happens now? Diesel said you have something for us?"


    Jason, a man in histe 30s from George''s group cut in, "For you?! How about us!?"


    I waved them all off, "Stop. Trust me, we''ve all done our fair share of dark shit as the end of the world was happening but we aren''t even asking you to work at the same ce. One of you could continue living in this airport¡ªbut with better living conditions and security, of course¡ªwhile the other could either be in the Marine Base or the Freeport Zone."


    Sheepy stepped forward, "You''re the asshole who choked me out, right?"


    "Well, I choked out and knocked out most of you, why do you ask?"


    He let out a grin, "Hah! I like you, same as Dies'' and Tes'' mentioned. But yeah, we''re staying here with all our belongings and you could find those fucks other ces to live because we own this shit."


    I chuckled, "Not so fast."


    "Ya got something to say?"


    "You got ownership a little muddled there."


    "And why''s that?"


    "Your group only owned those two suites¡ªI''ll even give you the whole floor¡ªwhile George and his group own the storeroom¡ª"


    "HAH! Are you saying you own everything else besides that?! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?! WE''VE BEEN HERE ALL THIS TIME!"


    "Again, not so fast. The dead owned everything else besides those ces you''ve been living in. And we took it from them, end of story. The reason we''re having this talk is because we''re decent human beings and we''re giving you the choice to stay with us and work starting tomorrow or you go your merry ways."


    "YOU¡ª"


    Dax cut Sheepy off, "How would that work?"


    "Everything from your pad belongs to you and since you''re giving us a bit of space toplete the whole thing, we''d send you off with working vehicles and a few items to survive the road. It''d work for a couple of weeks or so but the current meta is to find a group to live with. It''s been a year plus change and probably 60-80% of the known stores are cleared out.


    You could probably find a few stuff lying around but I rmend the former choice."


    Dax pointed at George and his group, "And what did they decide on?"


    "They''ll stay."


    He shook his head, "I don''t get it. There''s no chance in hell you fucks managed to get into this ce, the Marine Base, and Freeport Zone this fast."


    "We just did. What are you talking about¡ª"


    "Nah, I''m talking about that there''s no shot these three ces are the only ones that are avable. I understand you could clear arge area with this much firepower but you gotta have other ces we could live."


    I nodded approvingly, "We do, actually¡ª"


    "Then¡ª"


    "It''s not on the table at the moment."


    "And why is that?"


    "Because it''s not."


    "Just tell me. Is it because we junkies are too good for you?"


    "Trust me, I have worse people living in my ce but I already know them. I barely know you fucks yet so what we''re doing is a trial run. We''d see if that option is viable in the future but I do insist you stay here and be part of the workforce. So, what''s it gonna be?"

 Chapter 1135: Oil & Water

    To my surprise, Dax didn''t give an immediate answer as he referred to Sheepy first then to their other members who stayed¡ªmeaning, they didn''t just flock off to their friends or family members to the other side¡ªas they all discussed among themselves on what to do about their current situation.


    On the other hand, George and a few other parents weren''t too happy about my decision to give this younger group a choice on the matter due to how difficult their life was the moment this ce copsed.


    But at the end of the day, due to how I was seeing it, both groups did scummy shit anyone would be pissed about and admirable things anyone could be proud of.


    Even the approach they used to tackle every decision was different¡ªbut that''s the thing, they were onplete ends of the spectrum and they would have a better chance of reiming this ce for themselves if they just worked together.


    ''Funny how the thing I''m always going for wasn''t the obvious thing to do¡­''


    Take how they fought the dead for example, both had means to fight the dead but one of them was too brave while the other was too timid. Some help from the other side could''ve been a huge boon, but when it didn''t arrive, instead of regrouping, this other group decided to push on and lost some members.


    And with the case of food consumption, it was admirable that George and the other parents prioritized the food for their young ones but if all the adults were left with no more strength¡ªand god forbid, died and rose as the undead while inside the storeroom¡ªwhat then?


    On the other hand, it was out-of-the-box thinking¡ªthough a little extreme¡ªon Dax and Sheepy to extend their food consumption by use of drugs but then again, they were using drugs, and what if a less than nicer group came in with worse intentions?


    I''m not even gonna touch on what was going behind on closed doors¡ªeven though it looked like they were all pretty open about it¡ªbut as it stood, the girl who OD''d was actually carrying more than harmful substances inside her system.


    She survived and all but the doctor who checked her didn''t even need that much to discover that she was actually pregnant for more than three months.


    "WHAT?!"


    Obviously, another fight started between the two groups because even though these kids were forced to be responsible on their own, they didn''t know who got "Casey" knocked up.


    However, as much as I would hate to say it, this was a stain on their record¡ªand if somehow, in some way, Casey was also forced into it, it''ll change a lot of things in how this group gets treated if they somehow decided to stay.


    There''s also the notion that we''d need to figure out who did what first before we even let them take a foot out of this ce.


    Then again, as much as I would hate to say it, if Casey was also in on it as it happened¡ªbecause she''s already of age and she should also be responsible with her own body¡ªshe, the father, and the baby should receive all the help they could get, especially from Casey''s family, because it was already a miracle that her older sister, "Camille", found her to be alive so they shouldn''t form more rifts between each other.


    But for the third time, one of thest two options, if Casey, the father, and everyone else wouldn''t take it or care for it, there was one other solution that in some special cases, might be more humane, because a child riddled with drugs on their system would already have a lot ofplications and whatnot in the old world, imagine how it would live in the new forsaken one?


    I''d hate to bring up this topic because some people would favor lifepared to early termination¡ªor what it''s technically called: abortion, because from my own observation, a good number of these pro-lifers only cared about making the person "give" life, not have the actual life have one.


    It''s a slippery slope if we start having talks about the different ways it''s wrong or other ways to have the child taken care of by another, but then again, we don''t even know if the baby or the mother could live life because right now, they were just surviving.


    "SEE WHAT YOU FUCKING DID TO CASEY?! IT''S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Camille shouted at the top of her lungs.


    Sheepy got right up in her face, "ME?! WHAT ARE YOU POINTING AT ME FOR?! WE''RE NOT EVEN SURE WHO THE FATHER IS AND NEWSFLASH! IT COULD BE ANY ONE OF US RIGHT HERE! IN SHORT, YOUR LIL SIS A HOE¡ª"


    Camille sent a solid p across Sheepy''s face as she pped back, "YOU GODDAMN SON OF A BITCH!"


    "HAH! IS THIS WHAT YOU''RE GONNA DO TO YOUR BROTHER-IN-LAW? QUESTION MARK?!"


    Dax interjected, "Don''t rile her up, Sheeps. It''s ugly enough as it is, don''t make us look bad even more."


    "US?! US LOOK BAD?! WE''RE ALREADY LOOKED DOWN ON! EVEN BEFORE THIS SHIT STARTED¡ª" then he nced at me briefly, "IF IT WEREN''T FOR HIM, WE WOULD''VE BEEN LINED UP IN A WALL AND SHOT AT!"


    "I do understand that, what I''m saying is don''t do anymore. What happened to Casey is on us, we should be more responsible with our group¡ª"


    Camille spat on the ground, "YOUR GROUP?! SHE DOESN''T BELONG IN ANY GROUP! AND AT THIS POINT, SHE SHOULD NEVER SEE, HEAR, OR BE IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH ALL OF YOU! SHE SHOULD BE WITH FAMILY¡ª"


    Dax cut in with a re, "Because her older sister was not there when she needed it the most. Go ahead, make up for lost time¡ª"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!"


    Dax shook his head, "I don''t get why you''re so worked up,dy. If anything, she should be taken away from you."


    "WHAT¡ª"


    "Casey told us¡ª Nah. Everyone told us everything while we were in that nice suite. In essence, we''re more family than you are, at least that''s what I thought for some of us." he said as he nced at the few who already switched teams, "But Casey? She''s one of the good ones. And you''re the exact opposite. Calling yourself the older sister?


    What a joke!"


    "YOU¡ª Don''t you dare¡ª"


    "Dare what? I''m sure that we don''t know the whole story and you still get to exin your side but don''t you dare paint us in a darker light even if we''re already in it just so that you could move some shade off yours. That''s all."

 Chapter 1136: How about that?

    With a calm reply from Dax, he easily anchored the direction of the conversation into something entirely different¡ªand it''s impressive, don''t get me wrong¡ªthough he was doing the same thing he was using Camille of doing, which was painting someone in a bad light to look great in another.


    He had this eloquent and confident way of speaking but being someone''s shoulder to cry on wasn''t at the top of what makes someone a good person. But yeah, I let him cook and finagle his way to everyone else''s mind to see how far he''d take it before I decide whether to waste his efforts or not.


    However, Kaley was already giving me this look of, "Why aren''t you doing anything?" but it took her a second to understand my intentions.


    I did say I''d give them a bit of freedom and treat them fairly, but if they go a certain threshold¡ªlike everyone else, for that matter¡ªI might do something that their group might consider oppression or something along those lines because they do think that type of way sometimes.


    But yeah, Camille isn''t a pushover either.


    "SO WHAT DID SHE TELL YOU, HUH?!"


    "I dunno, you tell us. Can you?"


    "FINE! IF THAT''S WHAT IT TAKES! I¡ª I''m the bad sister that introduced her to all her vices: be it alcohol, tobo, weed, etc. In my head, I thought if I gave her a taste of it, she''d understand how bad it is for you if you abuse it, but unfortunately, I can''t be there every single time."


    "Like when this ce copsed, right? Typical¡ª"


    Camille just red at Dax, "Ass! I''ll admit I''m responsible for all of that but I''m the one who pulled her out of the trash heap she was living in and sent her to rehab after our parents disowned her¡ª US! THEY DISOWNED US! WE''RE THE STAIN IN THE FAMILY! WANNA HEAR MORE?!"


    Dax still looked indifferent, "Sure."


    She spat on the ground, "Let me tell you: you''re the same type of trash that got in her head while I was away and did all of that shit¡ª and you know what''s disgusting? She''s pregnant at that time too¡­ We tried to keep the baby alive but he died in her arms¡­ That''s what happened. And now, you fucks are doing the same shit that happened to her and you''re putting it all on me¡ª"


    "Are we wrong though¡ª"


    "AT LEAST I''M ADMITTING I''M WRONG, YOU PIECE OF TRASH! ALL YOU DO YOUR FUCKING LIFE IS WASTE AWAY AND BLAME EVERYONE ELSE FOR YOUR PROBLEMS! I WASN''T THERE WHEN IT COUNTS BUT YOU SHOULDN''T HAVE PUT HER IN THAT STATE EITHER! IF YOU''RE HER REAL FRIENDS, OR GOD FORBID, HER FAMILY, YOU SHOULD BE TAKING CARE OF HER LIKE YOUR OWN!


    NOT LETTING HER BATHE IN A PILE OF HER OWN VOMIT AND HAVING STRANGERS TAKE CARE OF HER INSTEAD! SHE COULD''VE BEEN DEAD IF IT WEREN''T FOR THEM!"


    "..."


    "YOU TALK ABOUT FIGHTING WHILE FEELING ALL ALONE BUT YOU ALSO GAVE UP LIKE THE REST OF US! YOU BARELY DID SHIT AND YOU GOT SOMEONE YOUR AGE TO HANDLE SHIT BETTER THAN ALL OF YOU COMBINED! IF YOU''RE THAT GREAT, WHY''D YOU STOP HALFWAY?!


    YOU THINK YOU''RE SO FUCKING GREAT AND YOU THINK YOU SHOULD''VE BEEN TREATED BETTER BECAUSE DADDY NEVER LOVED YOU AND JUST THREW YOU ALL THAT MONEY BUT MORE PEOPLE HAD MORE PROBLEMS THAN YOU!"


    Sheepy pped back, "WHAT DID YOU DO, YOU BITCH?! AGAIN, WHY DIDN''T YOU COME YOURSELF?!"


    Camille shook her head, "You still don''t get it? I''ll admit I''m scared to death at what could''ve happened to me and my sister but I was more scared that if I go out, I might never see her or see her like one of those abominations that could mimic our speech. I''d rather die.


    You see, I''m not afraid to admit that I barely got my shit together but all you kids are just toughing it out and faking it¡ª I''m sorry, but did you really lose people or just chucked them off so you could garner some sympathy?"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU ON ABOUT¡ª"


    "Who''s to say you fucks are just out of your minds¡ª Running around with the guns you took from the soldiers YOU killed just to y around with them?! Who''s to say you really tried to get out?! You paint yourselves as heroes as you''ve lost people but you barely did shit. The ones who died for your whims should at least be honored, not you fucks who¡ª"


    "NOW YOU''RE CALLING US LIARS?! BITCH¡ª"


    At this point, Dax had already taken a passive stancepletely unmoving to somehow get unnoticed by everyone¡ªwhen Sheepy stepped in so I took it upon myself to save everyone''s time and to get to the bottom of what really happened.


    And since this ce still had electricity and running water, it was pretty obvious that there would be CCTV footage all around the area because this is a fucking airport, and with a sick fuck of a security detail running the show, he''d probably enjoy his free time just peeping on everyone he could.


    I waved them all off, "Alright. That''s enough, let''s all go to the security area."


    Dax asked, "Why?"


    "So we could see what really went down. A good number of the cameras are in working order. Even the ones we destroyed earlier. You see, a good six months of footage could be saved, maybe even more with the backups restored."


    "..."


    Camille turned to Dax, "Why so quiet? Afraid your shit might get exposed?"


    Dax shook his head, "Nah. I''m already enjoying the quietness once you shut your trap because we did try to get out, we just needed the help."


    "Hmph! We''ll see about that."


    For some reason, both parties were that eager to see the other side wrong but this wasn''t what I was expecting. It could be thest hurrah for the real perpetrator but once we took several hours of our time to check each moment from specific points in time, over and over, and at different angles, everyone wasn''t happy from what we found.


    ''How about that?''

 Chapter 1137: Scummy & Shitty

    We started from the very beginning.


    Let me tell you, watching CCTV footage to uncover the truth isn''t that fun and very time-consuming due to the fact that we''d have to watch POVs from different angles¡ªsometimes even connecting a person''s actions to a different camera¡ªover and over, just to find out and make sense of everything that had happened.


    So yeah, this airport''s Patient Zero of sorts was anky gentleman who had just finished his vacation time and was about to go back to the States, but he looked a little sickly and he was coughing all over.


    Furthermore, he seemed to have been scratching this itch on his right leg multiple times¡ªas seen on camera¡ªand thest time we saw him was when he entered the restroom.


    At that point, it took maybe nine other guys toe in and out before the tenth one didn''t, but instead, they grew a little nest egg and had more victims who turned to allies before they took the airport by storm.


    After that came absolute chaos about "people" eating people and ripping each others'' flesh by bites or their ws, but fast-forward maybe a few hours or half a day, the ce was raided by the Philippine Army, and the airport was closed to the public as it was slowly getting turned to a proper DDR Camp.


    Obviously, a lot of strict checks were made before the refugees inside were kept in without the chance of getting out¡ªbut again, obviously¡ªthe people with enough cash or other valuables to throw around met with either Agnes or Robert and they had a one-way ticket out of the supposed hellhole.


    But yeah, this ce''s biggest problem was keeping in 30,000 people, abination of staff, soldiers, and passengers, but the soldiers and staff werepletely outnumbered by the people just trying to get out, get in, or something in between.


    It took maybe three days of mind-numbing headaches just to manage this ce and keep it together for the most part, but in the end, they just couldn''t with this number.


    However, this airport wasn''t the only ce that was turned into a DDR Camp, and it became a sort of relief to send other people to those areas like the Marine Base, the Maritime Academy south of the airport, the Hospital further east, and many more.


    Aside from the people Agnes and Robert sneaked out or just straight-up people, the "uncorrupted" soldiers looked the other way around so that there''d be fewer problems for them, it greatly reduced the the airport''s poption by half just in a couple of weeks. However, their poption greatly reduced in theing months due to unforeseen idents, escapes, outbreaks, failed runs, and the like.


    They weren''t even doing the siren thing George and his people had reported doing to keep them in, but when their poption hit the bottom four digits, that was when shady and creepy shit started happening.


    Take note, what I''ve mentioned earlier was just the general gist of what happened, not the way we could uncover the whole truth as to what really happened between these two groups.


    ''Lemme forward it a bit¡­''


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before Agnes and Robert were given the power to order around everyone else in this airport due to the substances they possess, which they were getting from one of their connections outside.


    Unfortunately, all we know was that they used to have an open line between the other DDR Camps to send and receive resources and they used it to their advantage to get the leg up among themon people.


    Then along came Dax and Sheepy, or should I say, Dexter and Shepard.


    It didn''te as a surprise to discover that the two were half-brothers who had the same Dad but as Camille said earlier, it was the type of Dad that would just give them a phone and then send them away or in their case, tons of money to do whatever the fuck they want with it.


    So yeah, it was obvious that cold hard cash didn''t mean shit now but it was a totally different thing when the two were frequent flyers, huge tippers, and the King and Queen of this airport owed them a ton of cash¡ªor in other terms, their capital to start their drug business.


    That made them have the suite they were staying in exclusive to their name and if they wanted to live in there for a year or maybe more, Agnes and Robert would pull some strings to do just that.


    But yeah, all these two boys wanted to do was party and meet girls, eventually inviting them over to their pad and having adult fun, nothing more.


    Obviously, their n to waste away their life like that took a drastic change when the apocalypse happened, but for the most part, Agnes and Robert were giving them some courtesy because they do owe them a ton of favors.


    That was the reason these two were exempted from chores or any civic duty to maintain the upkeep, and almost all of the adults hated their guts without knowing the actual reason while the kids their age envied their status.


    And that was when Allie and Reba came into the picture, yes, Allie and Reba, much to the dismay of George and Regine.


    Unlike Reba, Allie didn''t identally stumble upon the suite floor because she heard some cool stories from the grapevine, and who would decline a bit of fun¡ªespecially when you get to skip your workload for the day?


    However, to be fair to Allie, it wasn''t like Reba stopped "stumbling" across the suite floor when she got creeped out by Robert but I guess she''d take the risk to be able to knock on the other side of the door.


    Additionally, most kids their age did the same thing but let''s just say that sometimes, there were unfortunate circumstances where the other door opened up instead of the one they were knocking on.


    ''Robert did have ess to the CCTVs¡­''

 Chapter 1138: Unfortunate - How about your life?

    But then again, not to treat these kids as actual kids¡ªand to be fair to them, it wasn''t like they were the only ones paying a visit to the suite floor because yeah, some people from George''s group also paid either Robert or Agnes in the middle of the night or even the day.


    In short, all sorts of people had a certain limit or threshold where they could resist temptation or where they needed a break from the mundane or hard work they were putting up with every single day.


    It''s just that some people take advantage of that and sometimes, they don''t have to do anything, some people would juste unannounced without a prompt.


    This type of thing happened more than people thought, and in this ce''s case, not only were Agnes and Robert ruling over everyone, but a good number of the soldiers did too.


    From what I''ve experienced, themon currency when the dead started rising was sex, bullets, food, water, medicine, entertainment, security, and gas. There were a few niches, sure, but that''s themon denominator.


    It''s shitty, of course, but a few days in without food or clean clothes would make someone''s dignity cost far less. And sometimes, people don''t even hold out that much¡ªand that''s when Casey and Camillee in.


    We''ve already heard a bit from these two people but the reason I added Camille with Casey''s name was that she had to shake hands with the devil just to make her sister''s life a little morefortable or to atone for what she did before¡ªor that''s what she thought.


    Even when this ce hadn''t copsed, as much as it would hurt to say, Sheepy''s words rang true and it dug deep into Camille''s chest.


    "See what I mean?" Sheepy chuckled.


    "..." Camille was just not saying a word.


    Quinn grabbed him by the neck, "Shut up or I''ll break your neck for real."


    "..."


    "..."


    Let''s just say that forck of a better term, Casey was doing it with everybody in power not just for favors or small advantages, but just to feel something.


    It''s hard to see the supposed victim being the perpetrator herself, and then again, it''d be hard to pinpoint who exactly the father was because she had been with almost everybody.


    And even if we take into ount the way all those people had been around her, how could they have known that Casey had that past? And let''s be real here, would those people trading favors for sex even care?


    How could a random bartender know that the person they were serving was trying to be sober?


    How could a hardware store employee figure out the rope was meant for that customer''s neck?


    Andstly, how could a gun owner ascertain that the tool to protect oneself be used to harm arge group of innocent people?


    Of course, there was a saying that we shouldn''t always me the victim, or in this case, Casey, but really, is that really the way to go or should we take each and every case a separate one to be able to figure out what was right and what was wrong?


    In most cases I''ve seen, the victim and the perpetrator were always different people but how about this one?


    It would''ve been an open-and-shut case if we saw her getting dragged into some corner but no, almost every single time we see her, she was the one in front leading the way.


    This was just one of those days when the person we hate was actually right in what he said, but then again, now that they know¡ªno, I doubt that knowing would even change a thing, at least I hope it does but this time, it''d be a little different.


    Though one more thing, let''s take into ount that the people from Dax and Sheepy''s group knew, what''s there to say that Casey still gave them consent despite everything that happened to her? In short, we still didn''t have the full context until Casey woke up.


    So I addressed everyone:


    "This thing here''s really unfortunate but what we should focus on is Casey and her child''s well-being. Honestly, we could even forgo looking for the father right now because I think that it''d be better for the kid to not know until he/she is old enough."


    "T-That''s fair¡­" Camille let out from the back.


    I continued, "But yeah, now that you fucks know her past ''now'', and I''m also made aware of it, do know that we''ll ssify Casey as someone who couldn''t give a sound decision by herself at the moment even if she''s technically an adult. Part of the reason for that is her involvement with drugs, even if she took it willingly or unwillingly.


    And since her situation is special, we''ll move her over to my ce and have my doctors check her."


    "That''s¡­ Thank you."


    I replied, "You''re alsoing with her since you''re her sister and her legal guardian but do know that after we get her therapy and everything she needs, the training wheels wille off and whatever else she does will also be on her. We''d try to keep an open mind but everything should be within reason, alright?"


    "Of course¡­ I''ll try my best to keep her out of it¡­"


    "Camille."


    "Yes?"


    "It''s gonna be hard for you to hear this but as you''ve said earlier, you can''t be there for her at all times. Of course, she''ll need some help from all of us but if this type of thing happens again, you have to¡ª"


    "With all due respect¡­ sir. I can''t do what you''re trying to tell me. She''s family."


    "Then how about your life?"


    She shook her head after a long pause, "I''ve ruined hers, sir¡­ I''ll try everything to fix it."


    I nodded solemnly, "Alright, I understand. I was just telling you what could go wrong after this isn''t on you, remember that."


    "...y-yes, sir."

 Chapter 1139: Opposite Ends

    With this part of the viewing or enlightening process over, we then went over the part where both groups tried to fight against the undead.


    Obviously, the first week plus change was the time when everyone was doing all they could, going out as much as possible and using whatever means to even out the poption between the dead and the living, but even though both groups'' paths were crooked, they can''t seem to have a single moment where they fought side by side.


    Take note, it wasn''t like they were avoiding each other, for some reason, in the months that came after this ce''s copse, they were like junior partners in a firm who worked in separate cubicles who only discovered they worked in the same ce in the year-end party.


    It was off the absurdity chart but even so, there were a handful of chances where they could''ve done so, but it was at those times when the other side had lost people, facing something hard other than the undead, or their feelings for the other group was that bad, they refused to offer help due to resentment.


    But as mentioned earlier, this group upstairs had more firepower to go around while this group of mostly adults had the manpower.


    I did mention that both groups had gear but the quality and the quantity greatly differed.


    Agnes and Robert''s group¡ªbefore Dax and Sheepy merc''d them¡ªhad four assault rifles, three shotguns, a dozen pistols, and a few hundred rounds to go around with assorted melee weapons while George''s group only had a Remington 870, a couple of 1911s, a handful of fire axes, and the rest were makeshift weapons taken from the shelves.


    I still mentioned Agnes and Robert''s names but they onlysted a few days because almost everyone was pissed at them, even the leftover soldiers¡ªbut Dax and Shepard handled them too because their influence over them wasn''t as goodpared to their pawns.


    Still, it was important to note that they took it upon themselves to just lead a group around their age despite the challenges life would throw at them.


    There wasn''t anything wrong with leading a group where their lives were dependent on the choices you''re making¡ªbecause I could say I was in the same boat¡ªbut the thing is, taking up a leadership position, especially in the apocalypse, was a lifetime job and the two shouldn''t have gonecent or given up halfway¡ªno, a tenth of the way.


    But yeah, they could absolutely say that if they fought as they did, they could''ve been included in the horde we cleaned up this morning because to be fair, their actions led to them getting discovered by our group and getting saved in the process.


    It''s just that with the involvement of drugs and everything else in between, their "sess" of surviving till help came couldn''t be considered as one but then again, they were breathing and talking to us now.


    Like some people, Casey for example, a bit of ire from the entire group meant nothing if they could live to see the other day.


    But in regards to George''s group, they were extremely careful each time they opened the doors of their storeroom, but then again, none of them knew how to fight because ever since day 1, the soldiers were handling most of the fighting.


    Even so, they had good days where a lone deadhead would wander their hallways and they would jump it with five people, but as soon as more than a handful came out, they''d retreat back to their nest and wait for another "opportune" moment.


    Seeing their actions from the screen, even I had to make a bit of a face because Dax was shaking his head in disbelief while Sheepy was straight-up ridiculing their actions. Because as much as I''d hate to say it, if this group channeled all their anger and resentment of these kids to how they take care of the dead, they could''ve cleared the main floor in record time.


    Because yeah, I believed that anyone, I mean ANYONE would''ve grown a spine a week or even a month into the apocalypse¡ªand yeah, I do have people that wouldn''t survive a day out there¡ªbut god fucking dammit, there should''ve been at least one of them that could act as a leader or a murdering bastard to save themselves.


    But then again, as much as I would hate to say it, their methods also worked and they survived but imagine¡­ imagine what they could''ve done if they put on a little bit more effort while the kids toned it down a little bit more.


    I was always the advocate of bnce but yeah, these two groups were just at the opposite ends of the spectrum.


    So yeah, how about that?


    In short, I have my own way to handle things and they have their own way to handle their shit as well. Granted they were suboptimal in my eyes, but maybe, it could be all that they could''ve done at the moment, or they couldn''t see the proper way or even act upon it.


    I wasn''t telling them how to live their lives because to each their own, as they''ve said, but if it''s life or death, the way they do things was all sorts of wrong in my book.


    Even now, I have thought of different ways to ovee each path and the challenges each of them faced throughout the day if I were in their shoes, but yeah, now wasn''t the time to gloat or show off my skills in front of these new people.


    What I wanted to do now was to let them rest and recover and figure out a way to make them learn the optimal way to do shit¡ªor y to their strengths¡ªand how to increase their chances of living with an actual safe haven watching over them.


    But yeah, these people might still be at odds despite the sad revtion but one quick way¡ªand kind of a cheat¡ªto bridge the gap between them was always through food.

 Chapter 1140 : Bonding Over Food and Fistfights

    As of this moment, it was a bit past 4:00 PM¡ªa little early for dinner but we definitely skipped lunch due to somehow finding the important ones through months of footage. So yeah, we''d still need to prepare for a few hundred people too so a couple of hours to do it was more than enough time.


    Then I heard a familiar voice:


    "Hi! Mitch brought us over with a bunch of cooking ingredients. He said you''re gonna need some help¡ªor do you want me to just lead the group?" Amaryllis, Mitch''s wife, said with a smile.


    Camille cut in, "Can I help too?"


    I waved her off, "Nah. You should get checked with our doctors first. You can be a taste-tester while it''s not your turn or after you''re done but we did have an agreement that you have a few days off¡ª"


    "Please. I insist. It won''t be trouble at all¡ª I-I''ll do anything¡ª"


    "Camille."


    "Y-Yes?"


    "You''re doing too much again. I''ll literally cuff you somewhere if that means you take it easy. You all should be resting¡ª"


    Then Daniel a.k.a. Diesel came in, "Bro! Why she gotta be the taste tester?! I could do it too!"


    "Who''s turn is it anyway?"


    "It''s her¡ª It''s Casey''s turn first, of course, it''s taking a bit of time with thecking equipment but really, all I need is some food and I''ll be good! I don''t even need a check-up."


    ''You say that now¡­ Withdrawal''s a bitch, I''ll tell you that much¡­''


    I just shrugged my shoulders, "Fine. The two of you sit over there and we''ll call you when we need food getting tasted. To be fair, we can do it ourselves but you need the participation trophy."


    "Ahaha¡­ That''s a little¡ª He''s nuts, right?" Daniel chuckled as he turned to Camille.


    "..."


    "Aw man, why the hostility? We''re all shitty people, just embrace it¡ª"


    Camille snapped back, "I NEEDED to do it, you just went with it. There''s a difference."


    "Jesus¡­ Okay? Ufortable silence it is¡­"


    On that weird note, even Amaryllis was worried for the two''s well-being because it did get a bit hotter when we approached their area of influence. Not enough to give us a burn but just enough to melt butter. However, I was surprised by what Amaryllis told me while we were making dinner:


    "You know, Bartow''s been talking nonstop about your food."


    "Uh-huh. That motherfucker''s honest, at least."


    "Ufufu¡­ You two will be good friends soon, that much I can tell."


    "Yeah¡­ That does happen sometimes¡­"


    "Oh? You don''t deny it?"


    "Yeah¡­ We''re just two people that were that honest about our feelings. Weird for men to say it but yeah, if we go over this phase, I think we''ll be really good friends."


    "Then you''ll be d to hear that he''s staying."


    "What?! Why?"


    "Aside from the food?"


    "Yeah, sure."


    "His grandpa''s one of the people who came in with the Admiral¡­"


    "Oh. Ohhh~ I see, I see. He needs to take care of him, huh?"


    "Yeah, he''s a vet too like your Uncle Oscar so he might''ve another friend in the works too."


    "Does he drink? What''s his name anyway¡ª FUCK!"


    "Wha¡ª What''s wrong?"


    "I just remembered¡­ Bartow''s given name is George¡­"


    "And?"


    "Well¡ª I mean¡ª We have a few Georges in the mix but fuck it¡ª What''s his grandpa''s name?"


    "Pfft¡­ Take a guess."


    "No shot¡ª"


    "Hahahaha! It''s not the actual same but it''s with a J!"


    "Jorje?! He''s Mexican?!"


    "HAH! No! You still say it as George but Jeorge! Funny, right?!"


    "Maaaaan, it''ll be real difficult if someone writes our autobiography or something."


    "Ahahah! True, true¡­"


    With that said, as we were chatting, we didn''t forget about our two taste testers who tried to keep quiet the whole time but it was pretty obvious they were listening in due to the faces they were making throughout our conversation.


    But yeah, they weren''t too happy at first when I was making them taste the raw ingredients but as everything came together, the rub for our baked fish, the stock for our soup, and the vegetables for sd blew their lids because not only they were delicious as fuck, it had been a while since they had cooked food.


    "THE FUCK, BRO! THIS IS SO FUCKIN'' GOOD! HOW?!"


    "T-This is really delicious! Is everything cooked? Can we all eat now?!"


    I waved her off, "Nah. Our doctors here just got done with her preliminary tests and my pilot over on our side is ready to bring you both in my ce. I already packed you two some food and she''d be here very shortly.


    Casey''s a little groggy but she''s already awake¡­ Unfortunately¡­ Hmm~ It''s not my ce to talk about it here but you two should have a long talk once you settle in one of our rooms in the hospital¡­"


    "That''s¡ª T-Thank you, sir."


    "Just remember what I told you, alright¡ª Whaddaya know? She''s already in view."


    As we were preparing the dining area, it didn''t take long before Ms. M a.k.a. Micah came in with her security detail, and everyone who knows her just fucking lost it. All sorts of things were going through their head, especially when she gave me a tight and very unfiltered hug with her massive jugs, but I exined to her the whole situation with the two sisters.


    "I get it, I get it¡ª But seriously? We have an airport now? I thought we were aiming for NAIA instead?"


    "Iskoh''s already making ns for it but technically we have two. Maybe three, if we count the flight school."


    "Ah, right. That Jessica a bit of ways from here, right? Hold up¡ª I thought we''re also bringing someone else?"


    "Royo?"


    "Yeah."


    "He''lle with us in a few. Don''t worry we''ll take a few more days in here before we go back."


    "Damn, I really wanna stay for a bit more but I also have duties back home. We''re going now, alright? Take care! Mwah!"


    As she gave me a peck on the cheek, I saw not only Diesel and Te, but also Sheepy dying from Envy¡ªand this "aplishment" might be one of my ins to get into their circle of friends, but aside from food, the talk I had with Mrs. Amaryllis gave me another idea on how to bridge gaps between two groups or two people.


    Obviously, bonding over food wouldn''t work if they were sitting on opposite ends of the tables but yeah, instead of trying to keep them away from fighting and forcing interactions for them to get friendly at the same time, why don''t we embrace the chaos for a short bit and have them let out their aggression?

 Chapter 1141 : Mud Fight - Tatianas Signature Move

    This type of thing was something I''ve arranged and advocated a few times in the past to bridge the gap between two aggrieved parties and it was akin to putting a bit of violence in our old CRT TVs in order for them to work.


    However, Ipletely forgot about these people eating almost nothing or straight-up garbage for the past few months but at the end of the day, we wouldn''t worry that much about injuries or something along those lines.


    It was because 90% of the guys and some of the girls wanted to let out a ton of aggression and hate¡ªand even if they were doing it for the opposite reason I intended them toe upon naturally, they''d juste to the realization sooner orter like I did with Bartow.


    And yeah, this shit would also provide some good entertainment and perhaps they could be an opening act for some of the fights that may or may note out of the blue.


    Without further ado, Sheepy and Jason came up on our ring¡ªwhich was just a circle we drew on with chalk¡ªand they both had protective gear on and a medical team on standby. Funnily enough, the Admiral caught wind of what was about to go down and the motherfucker had to be picked up with one of his Chinooks with a few people like his daughter E, Jennifer, Royo, etc.


    Obviously, I was the acting ref with Tatiana, and once some other dude rang the bell for us, the two malnourished fucks who just had a big meal started to slug it out for everyone''s entertainment.


    "HIT¡ª YOU CALL THAT A PUNCH?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!"


    "TWIST HIS DICK!"


    "WHA¡ª HOLD UP?! ADMIRAL?!"


    "GRAB HIS DICK AND TWIST IT!"


    "ADMIRAL! YOUR DAUGHTER''S WITH YOU WATCHING¡ª"


    "YE OL'' DICK TWIST!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Then everyone started the chant, including E:


    "TWIST HIS DICK!"


    "TWIST HIS DICK!"


    "TWIST HIS DICK!"


    "OH MY FUCKING GOD, I''M SO HAPPY I CAME!"


    With that said, what happened between the two was even less than what I expected but for some reason, it was more entertaining than professionals fighting because technique was out the fucking window and the two were aiming for a knockout.


    At that point, it was safe to say that it was worse than a mud fight but as Sheepy dove in for a headbutt and mmed on Jason''s nose, Jason gritted his fucking teeth as he reeled back to send something between a hook and upper straight to Sheepy''s fragile jaw.


    "OHHHHHH SHIT!"


    To everyone''s surprise, Sheepy fell down like a ragdoll as Jason fell to his knees¡ªbut to be fucking fair to Sheepy¡ªJason had a good 20 pounds on him while Sheepy was just running on pure aggression. But yeah, a win''s a fucking win, and weight ss don''t matter in a street fight.


    However, as Dax was about to challenge one of his boys, "Jeffrey", who defected from his camp, Morgan, Diesel''s cousin and the bitch I punched walked up and challenged me of all people to a street fight. And to make a small description of what she looked like, it was the epitome of "White Women Rage", but no one was fucking stopping her.


    "COME HERE, YOU PUSSY! FIGHT ME FAIR IN A ONE ON ONE!"


    I shook my head,ughing, "There could be fucking ten of you and you won''tst a fucking second¡ª"


    "THEN COME UP HERE AND I''LL SHOW YOU WHAT I COULD REALLY DO!"


    Tatiana cut in with a smile, "I''ll fight you, if you want¡ª"


    "BITCH, WHO ASKED YOU?! I''M TALKING TO HIM, NOT YOU!"


    Tatiana chuckled once more, "Hey, Screech, he''s doing you a favor. And ten of you against him is still a disadvantage for ya, just spitting facts."


    "HOW MANY TIMES I''MMA TELL YOU TO SHUT THE FUCK UP¡ª"


    "OHHHHHH SHIT! THE BITCH JUST GOT CLAPPED!"


    A few seconds before disaster, Morgan tried to square with Tatiana of all people, wounding this telegraphed punch from ten feet away, but I already called over the medical team when I saw Tatiana lift off the floor.


    ''Rest in Peace¡ª''


    It has been a while since she used her signature move¡ªbut even though it had less power, probably less than a tenth of what she usually let out, Morgan flew in the fucking air along with a rotten tooth out her mouth before she hit the hard floor.


    "Bitch," Tatiana scoffed as she fixed her uniform.


    Obviously, this crowd of Marines just went wild while a few started dyingughing from a bitch getting what wasing for her. But yeah, a lot of them now wanted to have a few rounds with Tatiana, me, or people from their own group,pletely overshadowing Dax''s request to fight with Jeffrey.


    However, I waved them off to make some way for this depressing and maniptive son of a bitch because Jeffrey looked like he had things to straighten out with Dax as well.


    "It didn''t have to be this way, bro," Jeffreymented as they looked each other in the eyes as if they were posing for a poster fight.


    "You''re not my bro. Bros don''t leave each other when it''s easy¡ª"


    "I didn''t leave! Are you telling me I can''te see my family?!"


    "We''re your family!"


    "They''re my family too!"


    "Psh! Just pick a side¡ª"


    "They''re fucking blood, asshole!"


    "I see how it is, suit yourself¡ª"


    "You could''ve been a great bro if you weren''t running us like a cult!"


    "I HAVE TO KEEP THINGS TOGETHER!"


    "NOT LIKE THIS!"


    "IT''S THE ONLY WAY!"


    "NO, IT''S NOT!"


    "THEN PROVE IT!"


    "BRING IT ON!"


    As the two came to blows, as much as I hate to say it, the excitement fucking died down when these two "brought" it like 15-year-olds in the back of a Whole Foods fighting for the first time in their lives.


    I was so fucking confused because from the footage we saw earlier, they moved like they know a thing or two about fighting but it didn''t long before I realized that the people in their group were having withdrawals faster than I thought.

 Chapter 1142: YOUR MAGICS NOT WORKING ON ME!

    The thing I forgot to take into ount was thest time they took drugs because withdrawal symptoms usually ur within 48 hours of not taking them. And yeah, we''ve only met these people this morning and they could''ve taken something at this time yesterday or something in between.


    But what''s important right now was to bring all of them to a ce where they could safely detox but let me tell you that the next few days or even weeks for these kids will gonna be fucking hell.


    So yeah, Oscar took it upon himself to have one of their pilots use the Chinook to bring all these kids to our hospital, including Matthew, Lois, and Olivia.


    Of course, Quinn took my ce as the referee as she ran the game with Tatiana but it seemed like she was getting requests to fight as well from the crowd we gathered. However, as I got back to join them, it seemed like Kuzma was about to have a fight with Bartow, and someone else¡ªRoyo, obviously¡ªput up a table to cast bets and almost everyone was betting on Bartow to take the gold.


    The odds were definitely against my chicken but I showed support for my guy by nudging the Admiral:


    "Yo, wanna have a personal bet with me?"


    He chuckled, "Shoot."


    "If Bartow wins, I promise that unless shees to me, I won''t go out of my way to seduce her. But if Kuzma wins, you give me one of those drones you have."


    "The fuck you talking about? Who''re you gonna seduce¡ª OH, YOU FUCKING¡ª" The Admiral''s neck suddenly snapped towards E, "HE''S THE ONE YOU''RE TALKING ABOUT?!"


    E had never been so all over the ce, "W-WHAT?! I''M NOT¡ª HE¡ª IT''S BECAUSE HE KISSED ME!"


    "THAT''S ALL IT TOOK?! A KISS?!"


    "IT WAS MY FIRST, DAD! MY FIRST! AND HE TOOK IT! A-AND HE DOESN''T EVEN LIKE ME¡ª"


    Admiral Burke snapped at me instead, "WHAT''S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT HER?!"


    "His dad?"


    "HIS¡ª THE FUCK YOU MEAN?! I''M AWESOME!"


    "Then would you give me the drone and the Chinook for free?"


    "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"


    "Just the drone then?"


    "YOU¡ª I''M NOT FALLING FOR THIS SHIT! I''VE ALREADY BEEN WARNED BY YOUR UNCLE!"


    "Oh~ You just listen to what a colonel says, huh?"


    "I''M TELLING YOU, IT''S NOT WORKING!"


    "FINE! If my guy wins, I get the drones and the Chinook but if your guy wins, I only get a drone and I''ll give your daughter the boyfriend treatment¡ª"


    "I SAID¡ª DID YOU JUST SAY DRONES?! WHY ARE YOU GETTING TWO NOW?!"


    "Tch."


    "I''m not a pushover, kid! Your magic won''t work on me!"


    "Alright, alright¡­ you win, Admiral. But you know¡­"


    "What is it now?"


    "I''d be able to keep a better eye on her if she had a personal drone following her every step of the way and a Chinook with a personal pilot¡ªmaybe even a whole squad¡ªready to move in at a moment''s notice.


    I''m a very busy guy, especially with the workload you''re giving me¡ªand yes, I''ll absolutely have people watching over her other than Jenniffer who seems to be her personal bodyguard but two or three is better than one, no?"


    "..."


    "Admiral?"


    "How''d you know that the Colonel''s daughter is¡ª"


    "I just do. Besides, the apple doesn''t fall far from the tree and if Jennifer isn''t tied up somewhere much more important, she would''ve joined us and manned a third SAW on the roof."


    "...damn you."


    "Is it working now? The magic?"


    "...fine¡ª"


    E then cut in, "Hey! I don''t appreciate getting tossed around in a bet! I''m ady!"


    I rolled my eyes as I looked at her outfit, "I''m sorry but why do you look like a bottle of Ranch¡ª"


    "I-It''s fashion! Besides! W-Who doesn''t like Ranch?!"


    I turned to Jennifer who was being awfully quiet but trying her hardest not tough, "Yo. Ranch or Texas barbecue sauce?"


    E cut in, "Hey! That''s not fair¡ª"


    Jennifer shook her head, chuckling, "Depends. But you can eat almost anything with Ranch¡ª"


    E was overjoyed, "See?! Ranch is ten times more better!"


    I rolled my eyes, "She just said it depends. She just added thest bit because she doesn''t want to make you mad."


    "I hate you! I hate you both!"


    I flicked her forehead, "Dumbass¡ª I didn''t say I hate Ranch! I just made ament on why your color scheme looks like one, nothing more."


    "Hmph! Fine, I don''t hate you as much¡­ But Jennifer!"


    "Yes?" Jennifer answered while still looking tense.


    "Can you¡­ Can you be more than just my bodyguard?"


    "That''s¡­ I''mmitted¡ª"


    "WHA¡ª Not like that! I mean as a friend! Like him! Can you?! Please?!"


    Admiral Burke cut in, "Honey, you do know some professionalism is required for her to be able to do her job properly."


    I scoffed, "That''s bullshit. If anything, she''d be able to more if she treats her like family. A step above friends but we can also argue that some friends are better than family."


    "..." the Admiral.


    "...!" Jennifer.


    "Hah! You do say some good things, sometimes! Approve!" E gave me a nudge as she gave me a thumbs up.


    The Admiral let out a long sigh, "Can''t you just give me anything to win on?"


    I nced back at the ongoing fight, "Bartow won, so¡­"


    "Wha¡ª We missed it all from this talking¡­ But why do I feel I lost all the same?"


    "Hey, at least you wouldn''t give me an F18¡ª"


    "WHOA! WHEN DID THE F18S COME INTO PLACE?!"


    "Ah. Major Harper promised me a few things but realistically, I''d have more uses for the drones and the Chinooks so¡ª"


    "CHINOOK! C-H-I-N-O-O-K! CHINOOK! SINGULAR!"


    "You have a good ear, dontcha?"


    "ASSHOLE! YOU''RE BLEEDING ME DRY! THIS IS DAYLIGHT ROBBERY!"


    "Hah! I''m not robbing you, you''re just giving it all to me for some reason."


    Jennifer muttered, "Yeah, for some reason you''re seeding¡­ Unbelievable¡­"


    I chuckled, "I do make some great arguments. So yeah," I turned back to the Admiral, "So that Eisenhower, how long do you think it''llst? Can you give me it''sst year¡ª"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! STOP! STOP! I DON''T EVEN OWN IT! CUT IT OUT!"

 Chapter 1143: I forfeit.

    As we four shared augh, I didn''t even notice that almost everyone else was looking at us because Bartow was still raring to go. Even with his win¡ªa decision after three five-minute rounds¡ªhe wanted to do it with a knockout which he absolutely failed at because even if Kuzma''s one of the attack types, he was also under Artem who was the most annoying defensive type I''ve fought.


    "COME ON OVER HERE SO I COULD OFFICIALLY WIPE THE FLOOR WITH YOU!"


    "You want to lose with your whole group watching?"


    "THAT''S JUST TALK, WAL THE FUCKING WALK¡ª"


    But Kuzma''s voice entered everyone''s ears just loud enough to cut into our conversation:


    "You''d lose to him, especially that you''re tired."


    And as soon as he said that, everyone else was just waiting for Bartow to blow up and obviously enough, he did.


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU ON ABOUT?! LOSERS DON''T HAVE THE RIGHT TO SAY SHIT¡ª"


    "If we had two more rounds, I would''ve dropped you¡ª"


    "SAY WHAT?!"


    Kuzma just chuckled as he shook his head, "Nah, I''ve said enough. You won under the rules so have your win, I''ll ept my loss as it is."


    "YEAH! JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Bartow bellowed before he turned back to me, "SO WHAT NOW?! ARE YOU GONNA KISS THE ADMIRAL''S ASS OR DO YOU WANNA FINISH WHAT WE STARTED?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "Why are you even here, you fuck? Shouldn''t you be taking care of your granpa?"


    "YOU¡ª HE''S RIGHT OVER THERE ASSHOLE?! THAT''S WHY I''M FUCKING HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!"


    "Wut?"


    Then a voice from a few feet away emerged and it belonged to an older gentleman around Oscar''s age. However, he looked nothing like his grandson because he looked like the chillest dude you''d see fishing alone in the same spot for years.


    ''That''s Jeorge Bartow, huh?''


    "Ohoho~ You''re as interesting as I thought, kiddo~ Would you humor an old man and teach my grandkid a lesson¡ª"


    "POPS! THE FUCK?!"


    I chuckled, "What''s in it for me?"


    "Hmm~ I can tell you some embarrassing shit he did when he was a kid?"


    "Deal!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK¡ª I''MMA PUSH YOU OFF THE WATER, OLD MAN!"


    Then Jeorge shook his head as he looked at me again, "See what I deal with? Carry on then, if you lose, my ears might fall off by this dumb kid bragging about it like the time he beat his girl-bully for the first time¡ª"


    "POPS! FUCKING STOP!" Then Bartow was already waving me over, "ARE YOU JUST GONNA STAY THERE OR WHAT?!"


    With that said, I took my gear off and handed them over to Kaley who was only a few seats away with Quinn and everyone else. And again, Royo was riling up the crowd because a few who already knew who I was were also betting on me, evening the odds for the bets¡ªgiving everyone else a moment to think about whether they just bet for their home team or not.


    However, all these fucks were expecting a show while Bartow was expecting a brawl but fuck no, Kuzma already set the stage for me, so I''ll just avenge him by finishing what he started.


    "FIGHT!" Quinn and Tatiana shouted at the top of their lungs.


    Almost immediately, Bartow rushed at me like a bull with an overhead swing but I slipped by and ignored the wind he brought with him which was like being on the opposite side of a muzzle break attached to a high-powered rifle.


    But yeah, his right torso was open from his overhead swing so I sent apact hook/uppercut mix straight to where his liver was located before I backed away.


    I definitely felt good resistance¡ªalso due to how big he was¡ªbut as he quickly turned around to counter with apact left hook, I was already a foot away and was about to send a middle kick straight to the opposite side of his torso.


    Obviously, the oaf looked like he didn''t take much damage but as I slipped in a low kick to his inner thigh when I moved to his left side, I saw him brace his torso for an attempt to take one of my attacks.


    ''Heh.''


    Seeing that, it made me realize that this motherfucker was already more hurt than I¡ªor than even he thought¡ªbut the only difference between me and Kuzma was that Kuzma was taking hits for his setup while I waspletely dodging everything like a lubed eel in a pond covered with oil.


    One of the reasons for this feat was that right now, I was mostly calm and collected,pared to the time in the Main Harbor where I was pissed as fuck, causing me to take a few hits just to hit harder. But this time, just with our weight difference, he''d have a hard time due to how agile I was and it was definitely showing.


    ''He''s as pissed he wasst time too so it all works in my favor¡­''


    And with a few more exchanges, Bartow''s torso and legs were fucking pumped and red¡ªmaybe even purple on some parts¡ªand it definitely slowed down his movements. If it was any other day, I would''ve just aimed for his head and shook it to the point he goes down on one knee but this time, I want him to despair about ignoring his body''s damage.


    At this point, even his people were trash-talking the fuck out of him because his match with Kuzmapared to mine was night and day.


    Additionally, I could''ve ended our exhibition match right now but I fucking dragged it all the way to the third and final round where he took all of the hits and remained standing despite him dragging his feet and visibly looking hurt. However, what''s admirable was that the light in his eyes didn''t dim a single bit right until I went for the death blow.


    To everyone''s surprise, especially Bartow, I walked out of the ring and said:


    "I forfeit. Refs, do a better job."

 Chapter 1144: Oops. - W-What are you a-about to do then?

    As soon as I said that, everyone¡ªI mean EVERYONE blew up, because they were all waiting for me to knock his loud-ass out, but I took the ''high ground'' because of the damage he sustained. Even Quinn and Tatiana¡ªour "refs"¡ªcouldn''t believe what I just did because if it was any other day, I would''ve just knocked his ass out and took the winnings and the glory.


    But no, I already proved that I could beat him in a fight and I sure as hell wouldn''t lose to him any time soon, but the only way to make him lose was to make him win.


    It''s fucking confusing, I know, and breaking a man''s psyche and confidence in an exhibition match was uncalled for¡ªusually, but doing all this shit for him would be a lesson he''d thank meter.


    Bartow''s a man as a man could get but as my new "friend", now''s the time to learn some hard shit a man like him should also be capable of. A few from the top of my head were control, temperance, knowing when to stop, acknowledging one''s limits, and so on.


    Bull-headed people like him were destined to die early on and even if he was already aware of such things, it was still fucking dumb to ignore it and keep moving on.


    But to bepletely honest, as much as I would''ve hated to lose¡ªeven by forfeit¡ªI''m sure that it definitely fucking sucks inside his head right now because even I would find this extremely unsatisfying and stupid as fuck. Then again, I still had some bones to pick with this motherfucker, and doing this type of shit would be a huge blow, especially for guys like him.


    He''s one of those types to rather die than go back with his tail between his legs and he couldn''t even voice out his anger ore up to me and demand to get knocked out because his torso and legs were that swollen and it was a fucking pain to just walk.


    And yeah, I did technically lose but everyone still knew that I fucking won.


    That''s the hard fucking pill to swallow for Bartow.


    But yeah, there was one other thing that I forgot:


    A lot of my people fucking bet on me.


    Isaac started, "BROOOO! WHY''D YOU QUIT?! I BET MY GUN, MY KNIFE, AND MY ASS TO ROYO! I''M NOT SAYING ANYTHING BUT I WON''T BE ABLE TO WALK FOR A WEEK!"


    "M-My pics¡­ I just bet my nudes¡­"


    "DUDE! I''M GONNA GET SLAPPED WITH A WHOLE FUCKING TUNA! THE FUCK?!"


    "My hot pockets¡­ I lost all my hot pockets¡­"


    "That''s not even that bad, Artem¡ª"


    "How dare you?! WHO BET AGAINST ME?! DOUBLE OR NOTHING!"


    Luckily, Kaley predicted that something was up and the ones sitting next to her were spared from losing shit from the betting pool. But yeah, even Unc Zardon was looking like he''d drive our truck to the water because he lost something important. In any case, what''s done is done but to mitigate our losses, Artem, Kuzma, Tatiana, and a few more of our fighters stepped up and bet with the Marines.


    Granted not all of them were professional fights, since even Seb and JP joined in to test the waters with the other privates, it was all in good fun and it increased morale and a bit of rtionship points toward this camp.


    But yeah, I was given a stern talking to by Bartow''s grandpa and the Admiral because I should''ve really knocked him out when I had the chance instead of embarrassing him thoroughly, and also, Bartow wouldn''t be avable to go on runs tomorrow because of his injuries and a quick knockout would''ve been preferred.


    ''Brain damage is still worse but okay¡­''


    In any case, our event went for a bit more than an hour before everyone soon did their own thing, but we found ourselves on the suite floorughing at Quinn''s annoyance from theck of 45-pound tes in the supposed gym.


    "CAN YOU SEE THIS SHIT?! THERE''S ONLY TWO PAIRS! TWO! WHAT KINDA FUCKING GYM IS THIS?!"


    I piled on, "Have you seen the dumbbells¡ª"


    "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, DON''T REMIND ME OF THE DUMBBELLS! WHO FUCKING GYMOWNER WOULD DECIDE TO HAVE IT GO UNTIL 35 POUNDS?! THEY ONLY HAVE ONE POWER RACK THAT''S MISSING ONE OF THE SAFETY BARS, TWO FUCKING USELESS CHEST MACHINES BUT A TON OF FUCKING TREADMILLS AND STATIONARY BIKES?! THEY DON''T EVEN HAVE AN ELLIPTICAL OR A STAIRMASTER!"


    "It''s weird they have a Kabuki bar though¡ª"


    "WHAT¡ª Oh shit, you''re right. The fuck¡ª I''m more surprised you know what a Kabuki bar is."


    "Heh. I don''t deadlift as muchpared to you but I do know some stuff, alright?"


    "HAH! STILL FOR PUSSIES THOUGH! IF YOU WANNA PULL SOME HEAVY SHIT, PULL IT ALL THE WAY! NOT AN INCH OFF THE GROUND!"


    "Don''t you sumo deadlift? It''s almost the same¡ª"


    "IT''S NOT THE SAME THING!"


    E nudged me as she finally took the plugs out of her ears, "Is she really this loud?"


    Everyone else nodded, including Jennifer, "Unfortunately, yes¡ª"


    Rachel who flew in with more supplies earlier cut in, "What''s a Kabuki bar?"


    I replied, "In short, it''s a deadlift bar where it bends a lot, allowing you to pull a lot of ck and be in lockout position while the tes were only a few inches off the ground. It does have a lot of merits to it and it feels like cheating because you''d be able to pull more weight with thatpared to the stiff bar but yeah, no one gives them too much shitpared to sumo lifters.


    That''s a whole other subject toin about¡­"


    "That''s¡­ That''s not a short exnation at all¡ª"


    "Want the long one then?"


    "No¡ª"


    Tatiana quipped from the side, "I''d like the long and thick one, please."


    Quinn chuckled, "Me too but we have a kid over here¡ª"


    E sprang up, "Hey! I''m not a kid!"


    "Uh-huh. I bet you don''t know what we''re about to do after this, huh?"


    "W-What are you a-about to do then?"

 Chapter 1145: Seckus?

    Hearing and Seeing E say that just made everyone else let out a mix of reactions, mostlyughter, but as soon as she realized that it wouldn''t take long before each of us would take our clothes off and do the naked dance, she got so red she now looked like a bottle of Sriracha.


    "Y-YOU MEAN¡ª WITH ALL OF YOU¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in, "Not me¡ª I mean, at least not yet."


    "A-AND WHY IS THAT?!"


    "THE HELL ARE YOU ASKING ME FOR?!"


    "YOU''RE MY BODYGUARD! I CAN ASK YOU ABOUT ANYTHING!"


    "THE FUCK YOU CAN?! AND YEAH, I JUST SWITCHED WITH MILLS YESTERDAY AND YOU''RE ACTING LIKE WE''RE ONE AND THE SAME! DO YOU EVEN KNOW YOU HAVE FOUR BODYGUARDS WHO ROTATE EVERY WEEK?!"


    "WHA¡ª I''M NOT AN IDIOT! I-I JUST THOUGHT WE''RE ALL FRIENDS! AREN''T WE!"


    "SOME FRIENDS DON''T ASK IF THEY''RE GONNA BONE A PARTICULAR GUY EVERYONE''S PINING FOR!"


    "Oh. Noted. That''s my bad¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª Hah~ Fuck it, c''mon, we should leave while they''re still decent¡ª"


    E turned to me, "Are you gonna use the whole floor?"


    Jennifer almost choked her E to death, "AGAIN! STOP WITH THOSE TYPES OF QUESTIONS!"


    "B-But he kissed me! I-I should be able to ask a-at least that!"


    I chuckled, "First of all, it''s technically a kiss but it''s just to breathe air in ya and what do you mean by at least? Do you have more questions to¡ª"


    "YES! I do actually!"


    Jennifer turned to me like an idiot step-brother, "Need I remind you E''s the Admiral''s daughter?"


    Tatiana cut in, "You saw Micah, right? That was the president''s mistress¡ª ex-mistress because of this guy¡ª"


    E cut in as well, "Hey! I''m literally right here! Why would my dad care about who I¡ª I-I mean¡ª I was just curious and wanted to ask some questions! C-Can''t I do that at least?"


    Quinn chuckled, "You know, some things are just meant to be experienced¡ª"


    Jennifer''s eyes had never gone so wide, "ABSOLUTELY NOT! D''YOU WANT TO DIE?!"


    "I don''t but I wanna fuck. And to achieve that, we gotta go past this questionnaire bullshit in front of us¡ª"


    E harrumphed as she tried to head out the door, "Fine! Keep your secrets then!"


    Kaley waved her off, "That''s one way to get in."


    E suddenly stopped mid-way into opening the door, "Hmm?"


    Kaley chuckled, "You''ll learn that other part soon if you hang more with us but yeah, there''s nothing wrong with asking questions though there''s nothing wrong with experiencing them too."


    "I-I mean¡­ I-I''m not¡ª I-I do know some stuff but¡ª"


    Jennifer tried to cut in but Kaley continued:


    "Look, if you''re cool, we''re cool. You''re wee to ask anything of us and we''ll answer them to the best of your abilities¡ª and IF you do want to try something, we can always do other stuff other than the main thing if you still have to prepare yourself for it. It''s totally your choice."


    "..."


    Jennifer shook her head as she turned to me, "I actually thought I''d be worried about you. Turns out, your wife''s more trouble." Explore more at m,v l''e-NovelBin


    Kaley chuckled, "I can hear you, you know?"


    "I wasn''t trying to hide shit. I''m actually looking out for¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "And the offer extends to you as well. We''re all adults here, you know? I''ve said it before, it can be a one-time thing, a sometimes kind of thing, or you can be a¡ªforck of a better word¡ªa fully-fledged member. There''s no membership fee and vice versa, even cancetions, and all you need to do is to show up and we''ll work something out¡­"


    "..."


    "So?"


    Jennifer shook her head,ughing, "You know, if a guy told me that shit, I would''ve smacked his head or be ass up and be on the receiving end but it just hits different when ites from you."


    Kaley chuckled, "I wasn''t even trying, just telling you the facts."


    "That''s the problem, I''m already enticed and you fucks aren''t even putting your game face on."


    Rachel cut in from the back, chuckling, "It worked to me, it''ll definitely work on you."


    Jennifer turned to her not-girlfriend, "You''re okay with this?"


    "Depends."


    "What do you mean?"


    "If you do join us and we¡­ you know¡­ I wanna be in control this time. Like, for the rest of the night."


    Jennifer let out a smirk, "Sure."


    Rachel caught the smirk and made a face, "What''s with the smirk?"


    "Nothing, it''s just a little surprising you wanna switch ces this time."


    "S-Shut up!"


    "Okay~ Whatever you say~"


    Kaley chuckled at the two before she turned to E who was still by the door, listening to what everyone was trying to say:


    "How about you? I promise you this: we won''t do anything you don''t want and if you have actual questions and concerns, you go to me or him, and we''ll take care of you. If you call it a night, I''ll personally take you to your quarters and stay with you for as long as you want. You can also go to Tatiana but Quinn and the rest? Stay away¡­ for now."


    "I¡ª"


    Quinn, Megan, and Alexa got up in arms, "HEY! THE FUCK?!/ I''m trustworthy!/ ME TOO!"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Right now? Sure. Quinn knows it herself but in the heat of the moment, you two also go crazy. Am I wrong?"


    "..."


    "..."


    Then E''s voice entered our ears after the brief silence:


    "A-Alright¡­ Yes! I do have s-some questions a-about s-seckus¡ª I meant sex¡ª AHHHH! I''m already fumbling! It''s embarrassing!"


    "SECKUS?! HAH!"


    "Quinn! Stop¡ª"


    "HAHAHAHA! C''MON! THAT''S REALLY FUNNY!"


    "Quinn, I really wanna hear about your first time, seriously."


    "My first? Sure. I got drunk and I fucked the first guy I saw, end of story. I came so¡­ It''s all good."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Once again, the brief moment of silence enveloped the whole room but what soon came after was the unbelievable tension where everyone else was just ncing at each other. But yeah, since we have fresh blood into the mix, Kaley took E''s hand and brought her to one of the private rooms and beckoned me over.

 Chapter 1146: Thats why...

    I could already imagine how the night was going but as everyone else was supportive of what Kaley was trying to do, they just let me walk over to the partially ajar door when Kaley and E had just walked in. And as I did, Kaley made me lock the door behind me from a nce but as I turned around to look at E, her breathing was already hurried and she couldn''t even look at us in the eye.


    "E¡­" Kaley leaned over slightly to meet her eyes, "Breathe¡­"


    E nodded a few times, "A-Alright... Ha.. Haa¡­ P-Pretty n-nervous Haha¡­ Ha¡­"


    I said gently as well, "Imagine I''m not here unless you want to. This is a free space, you can ask us about anything."


    "T-Thank you¡­" E took another deep breath as she turned to Kaley, "S-So¡­ D-Do I t-take off m-my clothes¡ª"


    Kaley shook her head with a smile, "No. At least not yet, breathe again."


    "O-Okay¡­ Okay¡­ Ha¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Huuu~"


    "..."


    "..."


    At this point, what''s more important was to make E take off some more of her nervousness. If this night goes as intended, it should at least be a little special for her so that she wouldn''t be averse or scared to do it in the future with us or anyone else for that matter.


    So yeah, we sat in silence for a little bit, ncing at each other while wearing faint smiles, but as soon as E could look each of us in the eye without looking away all red and bothered, Kaley proceeded to ask a few questions of her own:


    "E?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Umm¡­ I forgot to ask but¡­ I know you''re kinda into him but are you also into me? I mean, women in general?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "If you''re not, it''s totally okay¡ªand I''ll still answer some questions, but if you want to be alone with him, it''s fine too and he could also answer your questions. I''m totally okay with that."


    E shook her head, "I¡­ I don''t actually k-know but¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I-I do think you''re really p-pretty¡­"


    "Oh! Why, thank you! You look pretty as well¡ª I heard you design clothes, would you care to make me one in the future? I''m looking for a sundress that''s reallyfy but shows a little skin but you''re totally in charge of what it could look like¡ª"


    "R-Really?! You don''t find my designs weird?"


    Kaley chuckled as she pointed at me for a moment, "You see that guy? He''d be on the moon if he saw me in cosy but on normal days, he''d just love it when I wear oversized shirts and thigh-high socks¡ª no bra and just panties."


    "Oh. Oh! N-Noted! B-But my designs, do you like them?"


    "I do, really, I LOVE Ranch but have you made something like a strawberry shortcake?"


    "OH! I would love to make you something like that! I-I already have an idea in mind! I¡­ W-Wait!"


    "Hmm?"


    "A-Aren''t we supposed to t-talk about¡ª"


    "Seckus?"


    "You¡ª D-Don''t make fun of me, please! I''m already¡ª"


    Kaley gave her a nudge, "Oh, c''mon! That''s adorable, besides, we''re already doing part of it. You see, one of the most important parts of doing ''that'' is to be really~fortable with your partner or partners first. Don''t get me wrong, I would really love a new sundress but it took a lot of the nervousness off, right?"


    "I-It did¡­ I¡ª B-But when can I ask¡ª"


    "You can ask one right now. You''refortable now, right?"


    E nodded a few times, "O-Okay¡­ U-Umm¡­ Would¡­ W-Would it r-really hurt? I heard that if it''s your f-first time, it really does, b-but some people said it d-didn''t. And I¡­ I-I did try p-putting a f-finger in o-one time a-and i-it pinched a bit so I s-stopped¡­ It''s just¡­ I-I''m really afraid and i-is there a way so that i-it just n-not hurt?"


    Kaley looked at her gently, "E¡­"


    "I''m sorry¡ª"


    "What? Don''t be sorry! Well~ About your question, here''s the thing: it would really hurt but it depends on the person and their pain tolerance. However, the more you''re aroused, the less it would¡ªat least in my experience¡ªbut to bepletely honest with you, it would pinch a bit more and even hurt a few more times when you do it again, realistically speaking."


    "Really?"


    "To be fair though, it''s a mix? With feeling good and feeling that pinch but do know that if it gets too much or unbearable¡ªif you decide to do it tonight¡ªwe''llpletely stop and not pursue anything more."


    "B-But h-how would he f-feel good?"


    I cut in with a smile, "That''s not how it works."


    Kaley nodded, "That''s true. You said it yourself, you tried to put it in when you were masturbating, right?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "Then¡­ You should''ve at least made yourself orgasm every once in a while and¡ª"


    "Huh? S-Shouldn''t s-something be i-inside first¡ª"


    "Wait a second¡­ E¡­ Have you¡­ Have you made yourself c-cum yet?"


    "..."


    "Oh no¡­" Kaley and I said at the same time.


    "I-Is there something wrong with me?!"


    Kaley waved her off, "N-No, no, no! You''re perfect! It''s just that¡­ You went to school, right?"


    "Yes? I majored in fashion design¡ª"


    "We do know that but there should be minor subjects and biology or even sex ed should be¡ª"


    I cut in, "Did you do it online?"


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    "Huh?"


    "I mean, your degree?"


    "Y-Yes?"


    "That''s why¡­" Kaley and I said at the same time again.


    "H-Hey! I-IT''S COMPLETELY LEGIT! IT''S A REAL SCHOOL!"


    I waved her off, "I know, I know! It''s not about that but it seemed like you have a lot to catch up on regarding that particr subject¡ª And I''m gonna say it now: you don''t have to put it in you to cum like I don''t have to put it in you or Kaley''s or anyone''s to cum."


    E was inplete disbelief, "No¡­ No way¡ª I thought¡ª"


    Kaley interjected, "Have you¡­ Have you at least rubbed¡­ yed with your nipples or your clit¡ª clitoris¡ª"


    "I-Isn''t that bad? Aren''t we supposed to not do that?"


    Kaley and I never looked so confused as we asked at the same time, "And why do you think that?"


    "It''s¡­ S-Sister Dorothy said that w-we shouldn''t because you know¡­ I-It''s bad¡ª A sin!"


    "That''s why¡­" Kaley and I said at the same time after figuring it out.


    "S-She really did a-and¡ª I-I do identally touch it a little more sometimes when I s-shower but when my b-body f-feels really weird I stop¡­ That''s why I know it''s really bad because I''m really moody after but¡ª Why are you two looking at me like that?!"

 Chapter 1147: From A Kiss

    At that point, Kaley and I couldn''t believe how E got to this point without discovering anything or going out of her way to fulfill a human''s basic need, but we took it upon ourselves to give her a full fucking course, literally, while everyone else out the door was already going at it.


    And after what seemed like an eternity, E somehow understood a bit of it though she looked like her perception of the two "realities" was still tethering on both edges.


    "That''s¡­ Huh. R-Really?"


    I nodded, "Yep."


    Kaley followed, "Really."


    "But Sister Dorothy said¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Fuck what she said¡ª Where the fuck is she anyway?"


    "I-I dunno, sorry. She used to homeschool me before I went to design school¡ª"


    "You mean online design school¡ª"


    "IT''S THE SAME THING!"


    "Sure, sure~ But what now?"


    "What now what?"


    Kaley replied, "I mean, we answered a lot of questions for you and some more that a girl your age should know so¡­ do you want to leave it at that or¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª Oh. Y-Yeah¡­ T-That¡ª I¡ª"


    I waved her off, "It''s cool, don''t worry. It''s just that we might have to wait a couple more hours or so while everyone outside finishes. We can talk about other stuff if you want¡ª"


    "NO!"


    "No? Wanna scale the fucking wall?"


    She harrumphed and cutely red at me, "No! I¡ª I mean¡­ C-Can we d-do a bit of it?"


    "Seckus?"


    "YOU¡ª Don''t say it like that!"


    Kaley chuckled before she waved me off, "Stop teasing her! But yeah, what do you wanna do anyway?"


    "Umm¡­ W-What do you two u-usually start with?"


    "Oh. With us, it could be anything at this point but it''d be nice if we start with kissing and simple touching first."


    "O-Okay¡­" E trailed as she nodded a few times.


    "Do you wanna do that?"


    "Do I n-need to take my c-clothes off now?"


    "Depends on you, but who do you wanna kiss first?"


    "Ah. I-I don''t know how¡ª"


    "This¡­ This is something that''s better if we just show you¡­ Wanna watch us first or do you wanna experience it first-hand?"


    "Umm¡­ I-I wanna watch first¡­"


    "Okay," then Kaley turned to me, "Come on, now¡ª I¡ª"


    As Kaley gave me the go sign, I moved over to their side and held her hips before I gave her a peck on the lips. But yeah, Kaley pulled me even closer as she began to use her tongue, letting out little moans while I began to touch her breasts above her clothes. However, as I was about to make her touch my bulge over mine, she held E''s hand instead and pulled her close:


    "C''mon, that''s enough of a showing, right? Why don''t you try? You can kiss either of us¡­"


    "That''s¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ O-Okay¡­ I¡ª"


    To my surprise, E picked me and she tried to reach me by standing on top of the bed so I put my hand on her waist to support her as she met her lips with mine. At first, E was still shaking all over but when she pulled back and looked at me a certain way with her cute eyes, she just went back in for more as she tried to use a little bit of tongue.


    And yeah, E''s lips were as soft and as sweet as I thought but her eyes looked like they were in a daze the more times she pressed her lips to mine.


    "Okay, now try me," Kaley said after E pulled back for the nth time.


    "Ha¡­ Kaley¡­ I''m feeling s-something already¡­ Haa¡­"


    "That''s good, here I go¡­"


    This time, E was now receiving the kiss instead of giving it, and I definitely felt her whole body tense the moment Kaley pushed her tongue inside her little mouth. At the same time, I was squeezing Kaley''s ass above her clothes but Kaley gave E back to me, looking like she just ran a marathon.


    But yeah, E still pushed her lips with mine, using what she learned from Kaley, but this time, I also participated actively by invading her mouth as she tried to invade mine.


    "MmH!"


    E was now letting out little moans¡ªlike Kaley did earlier¡ªas she was now trying to touch my arm holding her, but before I could even move my hand higher above her waist to touch her breasts, E''s knees buckled before her whole body shook to the core.


    "H-HnnNNHGG! NnmNHG! W-What''s¡ª AHhNhHH! S-SomethiNG¡ª NnHNGGH!"


    To our surprise, E came just from kissing and once she copsed on the bed, it went on for a full minute before it slowly subsided. However, E looked like a fucking mess as both her hands were still clutching onto each of our clothes while she was struggling with the waves of her first-ever orgasm.


    At the same time, I was still holding a raging hard-on while Kaley was also this close to having an orgasm from watching but E looked like she needed a break right now.


    Seeing her in an out-of-breath and flushed state, Kaley and Iid next to her as she got even more embarrassed but Kaley and I reassured her and said that it was the hottest thing we''ve seen in a while.


    "R-Really?"


    Kaley gave her a peck on the cheek, "Trust me, not a lot of girls can do it just by kissing. We''re only very few out there."


    "Ah¡ª H-How about you two?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Did you two¡ª"


    "That could wait, don''t worry."


    "Really?"


    "Of course, it begs the question though¡­"


    "W-What question?"


    "Do you umm¡­ Wanna call it a day, go on like this, or go further?"


    "I¡­"


    "Again, it''s totally cool if¡ª"


    "I-I¡­ I-I do h-have one more q-question¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I¡­ I-I¡ª Don''tugh, okay?!"


    "Of course, we won''t¡ª What is it?"


    "I-I think I-I p-peed myself¡­"


    "Like for real or¡ª"


    "H-Huh? Is there any other¡ª Oh¡ª You mentioned that¡ª O-OH! C-Can I go to the b-bathroom for a b-bit?"


    "Of course, of course! Take your time, alright? Call on us if you ever need a-anything."


    "O-Okay, thank you!" E got up but she suddenly stopped mid-way into opening the bathroom door, "Y-You two c-could k-kiss if you want, w-while I''m here¡ª D-DON''T WORRY ABOUT ME!"


    Then she ran straight to the bathroom door and mmed it shut.


    "..."


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    "..."


    At that point, it took everything from Kaley and me from bursting intoughter¡ªdue to how cute and adorable E was¡ªbut it only took a moment of silence before Kaley and I invaded each other''s mouths.


    E did say that she''d "allow" more kissing so this time, just for a bit of solidarity, we did just that but with a little~ bit of dry-humping, mostly.

 Chapter 1148: So, what now?

    On that note, Kaley was on top of me, invading my mouth with her tongue as she was rubbing her crotch over my bulge while both my hands were on her plump ass, squeezing them tightly while her breasts were pressing against my torso.


    If this was any other day, both of us would''ve been buck naked and fucking each other''s brains out but we wouldn''t want to spook E who despite her eagerness to explore, she needed to be dropped down the cold water very~ slowly.


    And bringing my focus back to Kaley, I was so fucking d we changed to our workout clothes¡ªyoga and jogger pants¡ªbecause we''d feel close to nothing if we wore our protective equipment.


    But yeah, I could feel Kaley''s fat pussy, grinding on top of my cock, despite the clothes, and my precum was already leaking out of my joggers while Kaley''s juices had already soaked her yoga pants.


    "MmnnN¡­ Nn¡­ NNh! HNG! NNH! MMMHHN!!!"


    Suddenly, Kaley moved her hips with even more enthusiasm but when she abruptly stopped and shook all over, it was safe to say we needed a change of clothes. However, we were so preupied with ourselves that we didn''t even notice that E was watching us wide-eyed and out of breath, and I almost took Kaley then and there if she hadn''t stopped me sooner.


    Kaley beckoned her over as she got up and ced her hands over my chest, "E-E¡­ H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I d-didn''t notice y-you were¡ª"


    E cut her off while her hand was pressed on her chest and the other by her legs, slightly pressing on her crotch area, "U-Umm¡­ Ha¡­ H-Haa¡­ S-Should I h-havee back at a-a¡­ d-different time?"


    "N-No, it''s okay¡ª Umm¡­ This is a little jump b-but d-do you wanna see it?"


    "S-See what?"


    "Us? You know, without clothes?"


    "Oh. Ohh¡­ A-Are we getting naked n-now?"


    "Yes, but that doesn''t mean that we''re gonna do¡ª"


    "I-I already took m-my panties o-off, t-they''re wet b-but i-it''s not p-pee¡­ S-So¡­ I-I''m already a step a-above¡­ Haha¡­ Ha¡­"


    "Okay, haha¡­ We''ll take off our clothes, you''re wee to just watch and take off as much as you''refortable¡ª"


    "N-No¡­ I-I''m okay, I-I''m fine if i-it''s you two¡­ J-Just don''t lugh¡ª"


    "Why would weugh?"


    "M-My¡­ M-My pussy''s a l-little¡­ big?"


    I cut in with a smile, "Even better, right Kaley?"


    "Yep!" she then shook her head, "Doofus¡­ Just because I also have a fat one¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    "Wanna see?"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    On that note, Kaley took off her loose shirt first but when she took off her sports bra, it just shook E to her core. E severely underestimated how squished Kaley''s humongous breasts were under sports clothing and once they were free, she did look a little insecure.


    However, Kaley was just that supportive of a woman so as she encouraged E to set all those feelings aside, to be perfectly honest, Kaley and I were surprised at what she was hiding underneath that dress.


    It''s because when Kaley took off her pants¡ªshe wentmando, of course¡ªE followed suit and just took off everything with a simple pull of a string.


    For some reason, E was wearing a corset tightly woven on her torso, and even if she was a littlecking in height¡ªonly a couple of inches above Mimi or Nancy¡ªshe had meat and fat in all the right ces plus extra. It''s a good bnce between an athletic build and a shortstack, I might say, but yeah, she does have a fat fucking pussy¡ªand an innie to boot.


    "D-Don''t stare as much! It''s to fit my clothes!"


    "You¡­ You look really great though!"


    "Yeah, we didn''t expect that!"


    "R-Really? Thanks¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Wanna see him now?"


    "O-Oh¡­ A-Alright, I-I''m ready¡­"


    And at this point, I was the only one who hadn''t had an orgasm so when I revealed my throbbing cock in front of this innocent little girl, the look of terror and absolute shock on her face almost made me go over the edge.


    "W-WHAT?! HOW?! THAT''S¡ª THAT''S AS BIG AS MY ARM!"


    "Pfft¡­ Don''t be afraid of it, alright? Come on, we''ll do him first because he still hasn''t you know¡­"


    "D-Do him h-how?"


    "Just ce your hands over there¡­"


    E wrapped both her hands by the tip and gripped gently, "H-Here? W-Wow¡­ I-It''s so warm a-and h-hard¡­"


    "Kinda nice, no? Now move your hands up and down¡­"


    "Like this?"


    ''Fuuuuuck¡­''


    Kaley chuckled at my expression, "Yes, just like that¡­"


    With everything that was going on and had happened earlier, I was this close to busting a nut but Kaley piled on by grabbing me by the base with one hand and my balls with the other, matching E''s clumsy movements.


    And with a few more strokes in front of these beauties, I let out a loud grunt before I exploded right on their faces¡ªbut as Kaley continued to move her hands up and down, E didn''t know what to do.


    "Wha¡ª I-Is this¡ª IT''S COMING OUT! IT''S S-STILL COMING OUT!"


    "Don''t stop, just keep going like that¡ª"


    "O-Okay!"


    "K-KALEY!"


    I just lost my fucking mind looking at Kaley who definitely knew what she was doing and at E, who knows jack shit about what was going on but just went with the flow, but E''s eyes grew wide when Kaley took over and sucked me off in front of her as she was still jerking me off.


    "FUCK!" I eximed as I threw my head back.


    "W-Wow, wow¡ª Y-You''re doing it! Y-You''re taking it all¡ª This way? Oh, W-Wow¡­"


    Kaley did it by moving E''s hands to the base of my cock as she swallowed me whole, coiling her tongue by the tip and moving all the way down even if it went past her throat. I could barely open my eyes as I was still fighting with the sensitivity but Kaley was determined to break my fucking mind with just a single orgasm.


    In addition, E started to use her other hand to massage my balls and her touch was as soft as the way she was gently gripping me. However, she still couldn''t look away from the scene happening in front of her even if one of her eyes was partially closed due to my cum flowing down her eyebrow.


    And yeah, I was definitely losing my mind as I watched two beauties covered in cum suck me off and jerk me at the same time, and as much as I would''ve wanted to take Kaley then and there or have a taste of E''s pussy, when it finally subsided, I chose to let it go and take it slow¡ªeven though we did jump a few processes for E''s sake.


    However, it was definitely hard to reign it in seeing E getting lightheaded by the sight of my huge cock and the cum still covering most of her face and body, but as Kaley cleaned her up with her tongue and kisses, she took the initiative to clean the cum off Kaley''s face as well.


    "Oh? You just did that yourself, huh? What do you think?"


    "A-Ah¡­It''s a l-little salty!"


    Kaley chuckled, "It is, right?"


    "Y-Yeah¡ª"


    "So, E¡­ What do you wanna do now?

 Chapter 1149: Can we share?

    At this moment, E still looked eager to explore things she was deprived of for years and years of her life, but since she already had a close look at what I could offer, she was now keen on seeing things from her side of the table¡ªbesides using a mirror. It was a little weird we''d have to stop and go from time to time but we were still having a lot of fun nheless.


    Kaley let out a smile, "You just wanna see mine?"


    E could barely look her in the eye, "Y-Yes¡­"


    "Okay then¡­"


    With that said, as I was still sitting by the edge of the bed, Kaley made me scoot back a bit so she could sit in front of me and lean back, giving E the best view she could ask for.


    And yeah, even if I had already ingrained what Kaley looked like down there¡ªher whole body even¡ªin my head, and could probably make a perfect 3D model of her, I was still jealous at E''s front-row seat for a full view of Kaley''s pussy.


    However, it was still quite a sight to see a girl like E look so absorbed in looking straight at Kaley''s fat cunt¡ªwith this dazed look in her eyes, and Kaley just had to make her snap out of it for a bit:


    "You can touch it too if you want¡­"


    "R-Really?!"


    "Of course, anything you want¡ª Ah!"


    "Ah¡ª D-Did I hurt you?"


    "Mmh¡­ N-No, it''s¡­ That''s part''s extra sensitive but go on¡­"


    From my point of view, I could see down Kaley''s deep cleavage, her toned abs, right through the meaty/fleshy part of her fat mound, and her thunder thighs where E was kneeling and spreading Kaley''s lower lips apart¡ªtrying to expose her hidden clit from her meat folds or see even deeper through her pink hole.


    But yeah, I was giving Kaley kisses on her ear and her neck while slightly massaging her breasts¡ªBut Kaley and I almost chuckled when we saw E take a huge fucking whiff of her vag while spreading it as much as she could.


    I just had to say it:


    "You got a good whiff?"


    E got even redder, "A-Ah¡ª Sorry! It''s just¡ª"


    Kaley pinched my arm, "Don''t mind him, it''s cool¡ª A little embarrassing for me but d-do I smell bad or anything?"


    "N-Not at all! I-It smells like nothing but s-somehow i-it¡­ d-draws me in?"


    "Pfft¡­ Why, thank you! That''s a lesson for another day but yeah, you can push your fingers deeper¡­ I already lost my V-Card so, it just feels really good for me¡­ Excuse the wetness though¡­"


    "I-I don''t mind b-but can I really push deeper?"


    "Just be careful with your nails, alright?"


    I added, "Move inside her with the tip of your fingers, the fleshy tip¡ªand avoid scraping the inside with your nails, that''s what Kaley''s trying to say¡­"


    Kaley nodded, "Yes, exactly."


    "A-Alright, I''ll be careful!"


    On that note, I hooked Kaley''s legs with my feet and spread her apart so E could only focus on one thing¡ªand so she''d have easier ess¡ªbut of course, even if Kaley was already thisfortable with her body, she''d get a little shy and horny when she feels exposed.


    However, since she was being explored by aplete beginner, guiding E to the right "spots" was slightly taking her mind off it.


    "Mmm¡­ Nnh¡­ M-Move to w-where¡ª A little upwards, i-it''s the spot right behind my clit a-and you''d just feel a different texture, a little spongy and¡ª MmMh! E! T-That''s it! That''s it! T-That''s my¡ª Y-Yes! You f-found it!


    You found it¡ª Ah!"


    "W-What do I do now¡ª"


    "J-Just keep rubbing it! M-More! More! A-A little harder! Yes! T-That''s it!


    D-Don''t change a thing and¡ª MmH!" Then Kaley clutched on my arm, "R-Rub my tits harder¡ª Kiss my¡ª Y-Yes! YES! YESS!!! HNNNGH!!! C-CUMMING!"


    As I was doing Kaley from above and E from below, within a few seconds of E locating Kaley''s G-Spot, Kaley squirted right on E''s face as she had a violent orgasm from stimtion at different ces.


    But yeah, E forgot one crucial thing they did to me earlier¡ªthat she should be doing to Kaley right now¡ªand it was to keep going and have her drown in pleasure but E was just that surprised from the warm liquid that came out.


    "WHA¡ª I-Is this what you call the s-squirt?! It''s¡ª W-Wow¡­"


    "Y-Yesss¡­ Yea¡­ G-Good job¡­ H-Ha¡­ Haaa¡­ T-That was¡­ Mmm¡­ W-Want me to return the f-favor?" Kaley suddenly had a weird glint in her eye.


    "Umm¡­"


    "D-Don''t worry, as I''ve said¡­ I don''t need to put anything in you but¡­" Kaley trailed as she looked at me, "Something''s definitely going in me¡­"


    "P-Pardon?"


    Kaley chuckled, "Why don''t you justyfortably and I''ll take care of you¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    With that said, as much as I would''ve loved to eat E''s untouched young pussy first, Kaley asked first and E already agreed on it. But yeah, even if Kaley and I wanted to go slow with E, both of us couldn''t hold on as much as we thought with each other.


    Or so I thought.


    So yeah, once E wasfortably lying on her back by the edge of the bed and looking up, Kaley knelt in front of her, slowly spread her legs, and beckoned me to go right behind her. And as I was just lightly pressing my cock in between Kaley''s cheeks, I saw her lean into E''s tiny hole.


    "MmH! Kaley¡ª"


    From my point of view, I could see how pink E''s insides were despite the juices and cream leaking out, but I''m gonna be honest and say that I really wanted to taste her as well.


    Because not only was E spotless and hairless down there, but just the sight of her fat outer lips covering most of her pink slit glistening with her juices¡ªand her tiny pink butthole winking straight at me¡ªwas making me drool just from watching from afar.


    But yeah, Kaley started by giving it a gentle kiss right as her tongue slid from the bottom and right up the clit, making E let out an audible gasp as her butt pushed upward. After that, Kaley spread E''s pussy even more to reveal more of the pink flesh before she wet it with her tongue and gently sucked the juicesing out, shifting to the opposite side and doing the same thing and more.


    "Nnh¡­ K-Kaley¡­ What¡ª A-Ah¡­ I feel¡ª NngH! I think I''m¡ª NnnGH! AH¡ª"


    "E, your pussy tastes so sweet, it''s so good¡­" Kaley said as she pulled on E''s legs and propped them up so E''s more exposed.


    "Umm¡ª Mmh! MMnnHHNHG! K-Kaley~ I¡ª HNGH! NnNhNN! I¡ª I-It feels¡ª Ahg! Kuh¡ª Ngh¡­ Hngh!


    Y-YES! A-AhnNmGh!"


    With E''s moanspletely distracting me from my job, it didn''t take long before Kaley noticed I was barely doing anything from behind her. So once she paused for a bit to nce at me, she let out this knowing smile before she beckoned me over which E definitely had something to say:


    "W-Why did you s-stop, Kaley¡ª Oh¡­"


    "He kinda wanted to have a taste as well? Can we share?"


    "O-Okay? Then¡ª"

 Chapter 1150: Why dont we leave it at that for today? - Sister Dorothys Candle

    Like a hungry beast, I just dove in there as soon as I was given the go-ahead much to Kaley''s amusement. Because if anything, I''d rather eat pussy than receive head, and technically, Kaley and I haven''t "shared" pussy like this before.


    But yeah, I made fucking sure I tasted the whole fucking surface of E''s cunt by widening my tongue with each lick, but I felt Kaley''s hand on my junk as I was engorging on this young pink hole.


    "My turn, you doofus¡­"


    I came up covered in E''s juices, "Ah¡ª"


    But yeah, Kaley never let go of me¡ªand even started to jerk me off¡ªas she pushed her tongue on E''s tight hole, but I reached around from behind to push my thumb in her ass and prod the surface of her pussy with my fingers.


    Almost immediately, Kaley''s body jolted as I felt up her fuckholes but she continued to eat E''s cunt while jerking me off.


    It''s just that the scene of us doing this was breaking E''s mind:


    "You two¡ª Ah! Y-YES! You''re licking me while¡ª MMmH! Y-Yes! I feel¡ª AH¡ª C-CUMMING! C-CUMMING!


    W-WHA¡ª WHY AREN''T YOU STOP¡ª HNGHHH! WHAT¡ª I¡ª F-FUCK! MNGHGHH! W-WHA¡ª KALEY¡ª"


    At this point, E was trying to mp her legs shut but there was no chance in hell she could do it while Kaley and I were in between them, so Kaley and I just used our free hands to prop her legs up the same way before Kaley passed the baton, making E had multiple mind-breaking orgasms over and over.


    "H-HAH! HAH! HA¡ª SKY! S-SKY! AHnNN! H-HOW¡ª HNGH!


    C-CUMMINnnNnng~ C-CumminggHh! AH¡ª I¡ª I''m losing mMy¡ª AHNNN! AhG! KuKh! AHhHhhH! Y-YeS!


    K-KALEY?! I¡ª MMmPHH! nHmmMP!"


    All of a sudden, Kaley just gave me full reign of eating E''s fat innie as she moved up the bed and pushed her tongue down E''s throat while pinching her erect nipples that were left untouched the moment we jumped to carpet munching.


    Doing that just made E squirm even more as she had more and more violent orgasms¡ªbut with the four or fifth wave that came after we switched, E looked like she was about to pass out for a moment before she drenched my face as she squirted for the first time in her life.


    "AHHHHH! I-IT''S COMING OUT! IT''S¡ª I-I''M S-SORRY! HNGHNnnHn! aHhahhh! I¡ª I''M SO¡ª A-AHHH!


    I-IT WON''T STOP! I-IT WON''T STOP C-COMING OUT, I¡ª G-GUH! C-CUMMING WHILE¡ª AHHHHHH! aAH! AH! AH!


    WHY¡ª YOU''RE STILL¡ª AHHHH!"


    To E''s horror, I kept on and slurped, drank, and licked everything that came out of her¡ªthen continued to suck and lick either her pink folds, her tiny hole, or her throbbing clit to get more as the torture continued. However, I then felt a tap on my shoulder and discovered that Kaley was telling me to stop.


    "Huh? Why¡ª Ah¡­ She passed out¡­"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    But only for a few seconds.


    "HNGH! C-CUMMING! I-I''M STILL C-CUMMING I¡ª AH! W-WAIT¡ª Ha¡­ Ha¡ª W-Wait¡­ What? I¡­ Huh?"


    As E was looking at us confused, it was true that she was still experiencing the waves of several orgasms stacked upon each other, but Kaley and I were trying our best to notugh our fucking asses off because it was like one of those videos of roller coaster rides when someone passes out and wake up the next few seconds after.


    Kaley sat next to her and stroked her hair, "Are you okay?"


    "I¡­ Hngh¡­ H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ My legs¡­ S-Shaking¡­"


    I scratched the back of my head, "That''s my bad¡ª"


    E tried her best to wave me off, "N-No, it''s¡ª Mmh! How¡ª"


    Kaley chuckled, "We uhh¡­ Did a bit too much, really. Why don''t we leave it at that for today? Let you have some rest?"


    "R-Really? Is it okay? H-How about you two?"


    Kaley and I looked at each other and chuckled before she answered, "We''ll be fine, don''t worry. We''ll find some time aler but we should really take care of you right now."


    "Huh? D-Didn''t you already?"


    I waved her off, "It''s not just sex, you know? It''s something most people don''t even put emphasis on."


    "W-What''s that?"


    "Aftercare. We did put you through a lot¡ªeven if we didn''t go all the way¡ªbut honestly, you did pretty well considering¡­"


    "R-Really?! I did?!"


    "Yeah, of course!" Kaley and I said at the same time.


    Then E let out a bright smile, "I-I''m sorry we didn''t go all the way b-but I''m keen on d-doing something I saw S-Sister Dorothy did once¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "W-Well, s-she had this candle in her dresser¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "What were you doing with her dresser¡ª"


    I cut her off as well, "Kaley, let our sister speak! Don''t ask such irrelevant questions!"


    "Ah¨C Pfft! Doofus¡­ Go on, E, I''m sorry for cutting you off¡­"


    "N-No worries¡­ W-Well umm¡­ Sister Dorothy had a room in our old vacation house and she did fancy scented candles and whatnot to spruce up her own ce¡ª but she always had this big white one that wasn''t scented at all! But¡­"


    "But?"


    "It did umm¡­ I-It did s-smell a little weird¡­ So¡­ O-One day, I umm¡­ I¡­ I was just about to call her up for dinner but she uhh¡­ jumped right up her bed and was standing weirdly¡­"


    "A-And?"


    "She umm¡­ She looked so distraught that time¡ª and I really thought she was going through something but I only realized what happened now."


    "Huh?"


    "I-I didn''t think that was happening at that time, alright?! The candle I was talking about just fell from under her dress and it was soaked! I thought s-she was doing something else with it so I just passed it off as whatever!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!"


    At that point, I really couldn''t control myself but lemme be honest and say that I was both amused and aroused. Partaking in something forbidden or taboo was always a different topic but if it was just exploring one''s own needs despite their current stance on the subject, it just does something in my head.


    But yeah, this story made me think that E wanted to y with toys but I couldn''t be more wrong.


    Even Kaley was so fucking sure that she was already discussing the use of vibrators or something along those lines that wouldn''t go inside one''s body, but once again, E was looking at us confused while tilting her head sideways.


    "I¡­ I wasn''t talking about a v-vibrator¡­"


    "B-But the candle¡ª"


    "Y-Yeah¡­ W-We''re talking about the candle Sister Dorothy was using, right?"


    E nodded a few times, "Yes?"


    "Then why¡ª"


    "Oh. The candle was u-up s-somewhere else¡­ T-That''s what I-I was g-going f-for¡­"

 Chapter 1151: Pick one for the day.

    As soon as realization struck, my dumbass popped a boner right as we decided to call the night to a close, and obviously enough, my 9-inch destroyer with an undisclosed girth to the public scared the fuck out of E¡ªbecause of her suggestion to try anal the next time¡ªbut Kaley justughed her ass off as she dragged us all to the shower.


    This was a prettymon thing for the two of us but with E, she was still getting used to other people seeing her naked, and even if we had done a few things that weren''t prative sex, her face was still red when Kaley tried to wash her back.


    "K-Kaley¡ª"


    "It''s totally okay, you should get used to this at least!"


    "N-Not that, S-Sky''s still¡ª"


    "Oh¡­" Kaley nced at ''me'' momentarily before she realized my ''little'' problem, "Just don''t mind it, I''ll take care of it after we''re done, okay?"


    "Ah¡ª B-But can I¡­ You know? S-Su¡ª Socket?"


    "Hah?/ Wut?" Kaley and I said at the same time.


    "I-I MEAN¡ª"


    "FIRST IT WAS SECKUS, NOW IT WAS SOCKET?! HAHAHAHAHA!"


    "D-Don''tugh at h-her¡­ Pfft¡­ S-Sure you can but¡ª"


    "NOOOOO! Why''d you get soft?!"


    "DON''T MAKE ME FUCKING LAUGH THEN! But if you really wanna¡ª"


    "What the fu¡ª HOW?! Did you just get hard onmand?!"


    "Yep."


    "T-Then¡­"


    Discover exclusive tales on m,v l''e-NovelBin


    Kaley chuckled, "By all means¡­ Didn''t think you''d like to do one more thing before we sleep, huh?"


    "Ahaha¡­ H-Here I go then?"


    With that said, E tried her damn best to please me with her mouth but yeah, her inexperience was showing but then again, her enthusiasm and Kaley''s little show from behind more than made up for it.


    It didn''t take long before we left the room with a fresh set of clothes, but everyone else in the main room was eyeing E suspiciously.


    "W-What¡ª Why are you all staring at me?!"


    Then all of a sudden, Quinn rushed to the room we came in, followed by Tatiana and Jennifer, but it didn''t take long before I realized what they were so confused about.


    But before I could even exin what happened to them, Quinn had already formed assumptions of her own:


    "You three did it in the bathroom?"


    "No¡ª"


    "There''s no blood in the sheets, so¡ª"


    "We didn''t¡ª"


    Jennifer nodded, "Smart. Unless the Admiral ordered our doctors to check her¡ª"


    "WE DIDN''T GO ALL THE WAY!"


    "Huh?/ No shot./ Don''t t-talk about my h-hymen like that! It''s precious!"


    Quinn still couldn''t believe her ears, "So, anal?"


    "NOOOOOOO! T-That''s f-for¡ª S-SHADDAP!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    As Quinn cackled out loud, almost everyone followed as E just jumped into Kaley''s embrace for sheer embarrassment. Still, funnily enough, Jennifer breathed out a sigh of relief because I didn''t take E''s purity.


    ''At least, for now¡­''


    In any case, before we all hit the hay, Kaley and I took it upon ourselves to perform maintenance checks on our equipment¡ªincluding the other''s¡ªbut Alexa and Rachel did help us while the rest were either lounging around or went straight to sleep because we still had a lot of shit to do tomorrow.


    But yeah, when early morning came, I woke up from a series of gentle knocks on the door and I discovered that it was Myra who was E''s previous attendant/bodyguard when they first arrived before Jennifer switched with her.


    I opened the door for her and greeted her with a smile:


    "Miss(?) Mills, right? Good morning!"


    "Oh¡ª Hi, good morning as well¡ª How''d you know myst name? Ah¡ª N-Not important, I guess, but is thedy and First Lieutenant Goodman here? I was informed that they spent the night?"


    "They did. Want me to call them?"


    She shook her head, "That''s fine, the Admiral just wanted to know where they are but they''re actually calling for you."


    "They want me to cook again?"


    "Ahaha¡­ Fortunately, you solved that previous conundrum, no?"


    "Then may I ask why they''re summoning me at 4 AM?"


    "I''m¡­ I''m not entirely sure, I apologize. They just sent me here to deliver that message."


    "Okay, I''ll be ready in a couple of minutes. Want toe in?"


    "I''ll wait by the door, sir."


    "Sure."


    After a short bit, I was led to this airport''s new HQ which was its ATC room, and a bunch of officers were present alongside the Admiral, the Major, and a few Captains. But surprisingly enough, Oscar was already present with a cup of coffee in hand, looking like he hadn''t slept a wink even since he brought Dax and Sheepy''s group to our ce.


    I greeted everyone:


    "Morning¡­"


    And as they replied with their own greetings, the first one to snap in my direction was obviously the Admiral and the look he gave me told me everything that was going on his head right now. So yeah, what other way to break everyone else''s sleepiness with a huge icebreaker?


    "I didn''t fuck your daughter, don''t look at me like that¡ª"


    But Oscar just nced at me at the right moment and thought I was referring to his dumbass:


    "WHAT THE FUCK?! WHY?! I EXPLICITLY TOLD YOU I WANT GRANDKIDS, KID!"


    The Admiral exploded, "HOLD UP! WHY WOULD YOU HAVE GRANDKIDS IF HE GETS WITH MINE?!"


    "HUH?!"


    "HAH?!"


    "..."


    "..."


    ''Jesus fucking christ on a cracker¡­''


    And as the two were looking at each other shocked and confused, it didn''t take long before everyone else had the realization as they burstughing. This was one of the fucking reasons I rmend eight hours of uninterrupted sleep because shit like this would happen if they just bandaid everything with coffee.


    It took a bit of time before things died down but it definitely woke everyone up as we quickly went back to business.


    As we all know, the Admiral and his armada would leave in a couple of days and even if we''d do fine without their help, the goal was to maximize their stay here not only for the sake of everyone but especially his daughter. So now, aside from sending more people to clear the streets with their numbers, I already knew from their map what I would be doing next.


    "Pick one for the day. It''s either the Dewey Medical Center or the Idress Maritime Academy. All we know is that there are survivors numbering at least a hundred in each camp though there''s more on the medical center. Additionally, the medical center is at the uhh¡­ center¡­ of a woond area atop a hill while the academy is right by the coast."


    "You''ve done surveince on themst night?"


    "Even now, yes. They seem too wary of our arrival and our actions at the current moment, making them have everyone turtle up, but we need you to calm them the fuck down. Can you do that?"


    "Have you tried their radios or some other type of way tomunicate with them?"


    "We did."


    "What happened?"


    "Both camps replied rather enthusiastically but those are just words. We need actual eyes on their ce to see how everything''s working for them. Don''t worry though, if anything goes wrong, we have a team at the ready¡ª"


    "Wait up, why are we already in this phase? Something going wrong? Why¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "It''s just how it is, kid. Just a precaution. I''ming with you too if that helps."


    I shook my head, "Can he just stay?"


    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 1152: Off to do some honest work. - GDMWC

    Joking aside, from my brief understanding as to what these two ces were, the George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center was a hospital for the most part but it also acts as a rehab center for Marines and the Coast Guards alike.


    Most importantly, they house several veterans or people who retired and were being well taken care of due to the funding of thete George Dewey who used to be a military brat ages ago.


    He built this hospital as he retired himself andter passed at the same ce, and it was still going strong with the help of several foundations, sponsors, and his kin, continuing his dream to take care of the people who led the same life as him or was close to it.


    I''d hate to say it but from my experience, a lot of folks in the US tend to worship veterans and give them apuse, recognitions, and even the "Thank you for your service!" catchphrase but only a small fraction of them actually cared for them, especially the ones struggling to readjust to the current society.


    But yeah, that was a story for another time but in regards to the Idress Maritime Academy, take it as the Military Academy where Megan and Alexa came from but was built on the coast, obviously, and right next to a cool-ass resort.


    Furthermore, it had a diving spot from a wreck that happened years ago, more resorts, and a fucking safari zoo among other things further south, but honestly speaking, I was inclined to visit the medical center first.


    ''Always the fun forst, at least for now¡­''


    It was true that we''d only need one hit from a deadhead to be out of the game but it''s not like it was the only thing that could take us down.


    One recent example was Bartow''s injuries due to toughing it out or even the kids'' detox phase where they''d be extremely vulnerable as they were trying to get it all out of their system, so yeah, we still require as much medical equipment, resources, or all the hospitals we could get even though we already secured one from the Freeport Zone.


    "Anything I need to know before we drop by? How did the conversation go anyway? And who contacted them? Wasn''t I supposed to do that?"


    The Admiral shook his head, "One at a time. First, they''re quite happy about our most recent aplishment as they were so happy to finally have more legroom¡ªespecially so that US troops were the ones who came to the rescue. Sound very contradictory to what Mitch and the others experienced first-hand, no?"


    Mitched from the side stepped in as he scratched the side of his cheek, "That''s¡­ The owners of the ce ARE American, so¡­"


    Major Harper shook his head, "The owners, sure, but the bulk of the people inside¡ªI mean the able people, people who could do work are mostly, forck of a better term, not under our g, so¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Don''t worry, you''re just speaking the truth, you have more shit to worry about thanbeling something appropriate. Besides, I''m halfsies but both Asian counterparts, so do what you do with that¡­"


    Oscar nodded, "I''m just gonna say that we do a bit of a show of force while extending a hand. We already did the first part after clearing the most infected areas around ''ere, so we just make it like we''reworking. Besides, they''ll be fucking stupid if they kill the messengers. Not only will all of you bring the heat upon them but *points at me* the messenger is pretty much an army of himself too.


    And I haven''t even included myself or the rest of his crew in the equation."


    Surprisingly enough, the old man''s words still carried a lot of weight even if he was already retired and speaking among the admiral and his people.


    But yeah, I still had more questions in mind so what better time to ask but now?


    "Who else ising with me?"


    ADM Burke answered, "You decide. It''s your run¡ª though we''ll take care of the backups. You''ll at least have a Chinook and quite possibly an F18 at the ready in case anything goes wrong but I''m pretty sure you''d love to preserve everything so you''d just get to use it instead."


    I nodded approvingly, "That makes everything better, thanks. Alright¡­ here''s what I''ll do¡­"


    In an hour or so before breakfast, I gave them my approach to the current "recruitment" n while I gave a few ideas about how we could maximize all the people we were in control of and further stabilize the situation in this airport.


    We did reim it as of yesterday but a lot of fixes needed to be done¡ªespecially the entrances and exits. It was like being handed a 10-year case file with all the foundations built up, and we had to figure out our way to finagle it before making it our own.


    To bepletely honest, it was a tad overwhelming with another big ce to manage and protect¡ªadd to that my current focus was bridging gaps between people and their groups¡ªbut with these people willing to help and cooperate, even do shit good on their own, the usual headaches when something wasn''t up to my standard rarely pops up.


    With that said, with our vehicles brought over by one of the ships used to get to this airport, we drove to the GDMC with a six-vehicle convoy, including a truck with several essential supplies a hospital wouldn''t have direct ess to just to smooth over our impending "conversation" with this other group.


    But yeah, the road we drove in was just wide enough for two vehicles to pass through but we did pass by arge condo unit and fancy apartment buildings which weren''t smack dab built by the coast¡ªbecause that was usually the go-to in this area¡ªbut yeah, we had another group following behind us to clear it and take care of the unwanted attention from the dead.

 Chapter 1153: Checkpoint - What does he look like?

    With the noise we made yesterday, it was safe to say that we attracted a good 90% of the dead from the immediate vicinity and then some because we barely encountered a cluster worth stopping for. Granted any deadhead we encountered should be put down, but I meant it in a way that we wouldn''t need to spend a lot of time as usual.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we approached a fork in the road¡ªwhere one leads to the GDMWC or to this telmunications port with ground satellites that used to provide inte connectivity around these parts.


    But yeah, it seemed like the people from the medical center used the ce as its first checkpoint because it did have a few dozen people guarding it with a mix of weapons¡ªand at the same time, the road to the medical center had several barricades to keep humans, deadheads, and vehicles away.


    So, I picked up my radio to inform the crew:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Slow down for a bit but keep a close eye on our surroundings. Visibility''s bad around here with all these trees¡­" Stay connected with m-v l|e''-NovelBin


    *bzzt*


    -


    Just a side note, we were leading the convoy with a military jeep with a mounted SAW, followed by Tatiana''s Humvee, our Raptor, a closed van, my old six-wheeler, and JP''s Raycolt.


    However, I was already made aware that the Admiral was using one of his drones¡ªwhich would eventually be mine¡ªto give us eyes from the sky but so far, it seemed like these people didn''t have goons hiding by the woods.


    ''That''s good¡­''


    So yeah, once I got down my truck with Oscar, we were still being eyed by the group a few dozen feet away without putting down the couple of guns pointed at us.


    ''This is stupid, they should already be expecting us¡ª''


    But while I was in mid-thought, I spotted one of them holding his ear¡ªwhich seemed to have an earpiece¡ªlistening intently before he tapped the two other guards to lower their weapons. In doing that, the silent tension between the two groups lessened¡ªsignificantly more when they beckoned the two of us toe close.


    I muttered while I was walking with the old man, "Imagine if we got shot down at this moment?"


    "Hah?! Is this what you think about in a regr basis¡ª Hold up, of course, you do¡­ Hah¡­ At least I met with my daughter. Only regret is that I haven''t seen my future grandkids yet¡ª"


    "Grandkids?! Seriously?"


    "Pah! She''s hanging around with that other chick so rtively speaking, what you make in her is probably my grandchild too!"


    "..."


    "Hah! Got you there, huh? Hehe! It''s been a while~"


    "Pfft¡­ You did, you did¡­"


    With that said, once we made their way to this other group, the moment they saw Oscar''s ''Murican features¡ªadditionally when they saw him walking in front of me¡ªthey thought he was the fucking head honchomanding everyone in our armed convoy. But yeah, both of us decided to go along with us as we greeted them with a smile:


    "Morning!/ Morning, ya hardworkin'' folks!"


    The guy in the middle with the earpiece and an M-16, who seemed to be their actingmander, responded after the two guys with the same getup nodded in kind:


    "Pleasant morning to you two. It seems like your group is just about to pay the med center a visit? Is that right?"


    Oscar nodded, "You weren''t briefed?"


    He forced a smile, "Apologies but yes, I was just told a few minutes ago¡ªhence the gun pointing¡­"


    "Ah¡­ What''s your name, young man?"


    He chuckled, "I''m not young¡ª"


    "Wellpared to me, you are!"


    "Ahaha¡­ That is true¡­ I''m Cisco Batianci, nice to meet you, sir~?"


    Oscar nodded with a smile, "Colonel Goodman. Oscar Goodman," then he turned to me, "This here''s my nephew¡ª Introduce yourself, kid."


    I chuckled inwardly, "Sky Ishiyama, great to meet you, Mr. Cisco."


    He turned to me with a faint smile, "Likewise. These two here''s Cory and Manuel¡­ So¡­ I could introduce you to everyone but Lisa upstairs had already given me the go-ahead to let you gentlemen through. We''ll just have to move the barricades here and you can go back to your vehicles¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "You kids okay here? Need anything?"


    "Umm¡­ What do you mean, Colonel?"


    "Just being a good neighbor, as you can see, we recently moved, so¡­"


    "Ahaha¡­ T-That''s right¡­ I''ll extend the first thanks, we were able to send a group or two by the freeport zone this morning. It''s the first time in a while, we just hope to get some despite the groups you''ve sent to sweep the streets."


    ''There we go¡­''


    Oscar waved them off with a smile, "Actually, the kid here convinced the Admiral to bring you some stuff WE cleared ourselves just for you guys¡ªbecause you were here first and everything¡ªbut we''re just keen on talking with your CO so we could work on an arrangement. You see, we like what your ce stands for and we''d be d to work with you all in theing days."


    "Ah. That''s great to hear, Colonel. That''s great to hear¡ª" then he snapped his head towards me, "Many thanks to you too, any help is great help."


    I nodded with a smile, "Don''t worry about it, you seem great folks."


    Oscar then cut in once again, "So yeah, before we drove uphill again, do you need anything? A smoke? Some coffee? A protein bar? Anything?"


    "W-We''re good, Colonel, thank you."


    "Alright~ Suit yourself¡ª"


    Then the Manuel dude interjected, "Actually¡­"


    Oscar huffed with a smile, "There we go, what do you want?"


    Manuel removed his cap and revealed somewhat of a Hispanic persuasion, "Umm¡­ Do you perhaps know of a John Robert Caguia? He''s uhh¡­ he''s one of the uhh¡ª He''s one of our contacts in the airport you just cleared. I''m just wondering if there are survivors that go by that name."


    "Hmmrgh¡­ Doesn''t ring a bell¡ª Hey, kid! Does the name ''Robert'', I mean¡ª John Robert mean anything to ya?"


    I kept a straight face as I turned to Manuel, "I''m not exactly sure. What does he look like?"

 Chapter 1154: Cisco - Main Stash?

    Obviously, the name "Robert"ing up randomly gave Oscar and me a small wrench on our ns but both of us kept a pretty solid poker face as we were thrown the question out of the blue. Furthermore, it''s not like there was only a single "Robert" in the thousand or so people who used the airport as a ce of refuge but coincidences like this do tend to raise a g.


    Manuel thought for a bit as he answered, "Umm~ Probably my height? 5''6''''? Fair skin, keeps to himself, mostly, ck eyes, ck hair, fairly fit? 30-ish years old, works as a security detail¡ªI''m not sure of his exact position¡ªbut he''s in a management position of some sort too?"


    ''It''s the guy, at least I think it''s him¡­''


    I replied with a small exhale, "Hmm¡­ I''m not entirely sure but the survivors we rescued were all drugged out of their minds¡ªI could maybe ask them after they detoxed but it''s gonna take a while. What''s your rtionship with him, anyway?"


    "I-It''s nothing¡ª"


    Oscar cut in, "Nothing? You specifically asked for the guy, you should be at least friends with ''im or something¡­"


    Cisco squinted at Oscar''s response before he turned to Manuel, "That''s enough. Did you really think they''d fall for that? Just be straight with them, there''s no shame¡ª"


    "It''s just¡ª"


    Oscar made a face, "Fall for what?"


    Cisco shook his head lightly, "I''m sorry, Colonel, but we''re already aware of the drugs and other stuff that got circted around these parts. I''m not sure about your particr alignment on them, but even if they''re regarded as harmful substances, there ARE great uses for them if applied responsibly."


    I replied, "That is true but why are you looking for Robert specifically?"


    Manuel replied, "We''re actually looking for his stash, the main one or whatever''s lying around. We have a few patients here¡ªone of which is my Dad, he has Parkinson''s and weed, I mean medical Marijuana tends to have a good effect on him. At least the kind Robert used to send over here. It''s been a couple of months since we ran out so¡­"


    Oscar interjected, "Huh. So this ''main'' stash is in the Freeport Zone? Is that why you''re so happy you sent a few groups in there?"


    Cisco shook his head, "Among other things. But yeah, we''re mostly hoping to have the stash to where he used to live but¡ª"


    I cut in, "Robert''s dead. At least the one we think you''re thinking of."


    As soon as I said that, surprise shed on Manuel''s face but not on Cisco''s. It brought the conversation to a halt for the moment but Manuel took the initiative to ask us of something again:


    "I''d hate to ask this but have you found a stash or something of the sort in his room? Or anywhere else in the airport?"


    I took a good look at him before I answered, "I''m gonna answer you honestly but I''m gonna need one thing in return."


    Manuel took a good look at me as well before he nodded, "A-Anything, sir!"


    Oscar chuckled, "Sir? You''re the same age!"


    Manuel shook his head, "D-Doesn''t matter, Colonel. I''ll call him anything he wants¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Okay~ Let''s not get overly weird here but what I''m gonna ask you to do is be straight with me every step of the way. I''m good at reading people to an extent but I hate the fucking game thates along with it. Do just that¡ªeven with just me¡ªand I''ll tell you what you need to hear. It''s just¡­ It''s not gonna be all good news."


    "Y-You found his stash?!"


    "Not quite. We found ''A'' stash, with tons of weed¡ªnot literally, of course¡ªseveral pounds worth of them but upon closer inspection, a good number of them already had mold. It''ll still get anyone high but not the good kind."


    Cisco mentioned from the side, "You''re awfully aware of its effects."


    I simply chuckled, "I''m awfully aware of almost everything, unfortunately."


    Cory, who has been listening the whole time finally spoke up:


    "Wait a second, how would¡ª Why is there a ton left? Is it just weed or¡ª"


    I replied, "Just weed. The kids I mentioned used almost everything else just to stave off hunger. I''m gonna assume you at least know of the effects of weed, no? It''s bad to have them if you''re trying to conserve food."


    "H-Huh. Smart."


    "A little extreme, but yeah. It''s one way to extend your food consumption."


    Cisco added, "It''s gonna wreck your body though."


    "Also true."


    But yeah, as we continued our conversation, we then discovered a group wearing sports clothing making their way down the hill¡ªwith a smaller group trailing from behind¡ªbut as they drew closer, it seemed like they were also carrying a bunch of stuff made to make things harder for them.


    Obviously, the younger and the fitter ones were at the forefront, racing for their lives, but they took a brief pause once they noticed our presence before moving on and running to Cisco for something:


    "CISCO! STAMP! STAMP!"


    "STAMP ME FIRST!"


    "NO, ME!"


    "FALL IN LINE, YOU FUCKS!"


    "CISCO, STAMP!"


    "STAMP PLEASE! POPS!"


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    With that said, Cisco took out this stamp of sorts and this inkwell with the stamp pad from under the table before he smushed it at each of their foreheads. And as each forehead was stamped, the runners just quickly turned around and made their way back to where they came from because it was just a straight path to the GDMWC.


    Oscar let out an approving look, "Training the younger ones, eh?"


    Cisco nodded, "Yeah, my kid''s the one with the parted haircut."


    "Ohh~ The one who called you Pops?"


    "That''s right. He''s Zack. They''re plenty young but it''s just inevitable at this point. He was supposed to be a doctor."


    Osca and I looked at each other before I replied, "Umm¡­ Isn''t he in the right ce then?"


    "Ehh¡­ Not quite."


    "Hmm?"


    "He fucking quit the moment he heard zombies. He''s been training ever since¡­ Haa¡­"

 Chapter 1155: George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center I

    Cisco just let out the longest sigh of disappointment which I felt that wasn''t directly aimed at his kid but for the whole situation. To be fair, all parents had dreams and aspirations for their children but those things¡ªincluding the kids themselves¡ªwere abruptly rearranged to suit the current setting.


    Granted all of them could still pursue their dreams of the old world, let''s just say that they''d have a few more extracurricr activities that needed to be met and some mandatory stuff to be added to their major subjects.


    Take note, a doctor was something of very high value but if we had someone just like that who could also fight, they''d be ranked a little more higher.


    But yeah, in Zack''s case, it seemed like he threw everything out the window to start anew and it seemed like Cisco wasn''t entirely against his son''s decision. It''s just that sometimes, something drastic or life-altering happening could change someone''s perspective in life and it was one of those things happening to Zack.


    In any case, this was something I think I shouldn''t meddle with so we briefly ended our conversation as the group catching up to the main one had just arrived.


    "S-Stamp! H-Ha¡­ Haa¡ª Stamp, please!"


    "C-Cisco¡ª Hack¡­ Ha¡­ S-Stamp!"


    "Stamp¡­ Ugh¡­"


    With that said, we eventually made our way up the hill¡ªeven catching up and moving past Zack''s group¡ªbut to my surprise, the two at the forefront tried to catch up to us. It was a moderately hard thing to do because we weren''t even that fast but James#1 and Seb, which was another surprise, jumped out of their Raycolt to race against them.


    "WHAT THE¡ª OH, IT''S ON!" A kid with an aloof expression said out loud.


    "HEY! THAT''S NOT FAIR! THEY''RE JUST RUNNING NOW!" A girl around the same age shouted looking like she''d beat the shit out of anybody who goes against her.


    "WE''RE ALREADY WARM SO KEEP THE BITCHING TO YOURSELF!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME¡ª"


    "SUP! I''M JAMES, HE''S SEB! WE''RE¡ª"


    "OUTTA THE WAY! NO ONE''S GETTING PAST ME!"


    "HAH! There she goes again~"


    As the two in front raced with James#1 and Seb to the top with even more fervor, the group where Zack was included just kept on with their usual routine though they were shaking their heads in amusement. It seemed like it wasn''tmon for them to have any visitors and anything new waspletely wee though they hit the jackpot by having visitors the same age as them.


    In any case, I just gave them a simple wave but Oscar just had to do it as he peeked through the window:


    "LISTEN YOU LITTLE FUCKS! FIRST ONE ON TOP GETS THIS SMITH AND WESSON MODEL 19 WITH A BOX OF .357S! DON''T MIND THOSE FOUR OVERACHIEVERS! YOU''RE THE ONLY ONES RACING!"


    And as soon as he said that, it just lit a fire on everyone''s asses but even the younger ones in my group joined in and caused more chaos. The four in front just couldn''t fathom how everyone else had a sudden burst of energy but just the thought of the trailing group running past them lit a fire under their asses as well.


    "HAHAHAHAHA!"


    What Oscar did was force an interaction but even though something like that could be said to be a bad thing, if it was done responsibly as he did, it just produced some good fun, broke some records, and a bit of friendship among the younger folks.


    But the funny thing was, JP, who so wanted to win the revolver had no choice but to stay behind because he was the one driving the Raycolt. And when Lucas actually won the uphill race and gave his winnings to his master, he was so fucking heartbroken when JP didn''t ept it and got angry instead.


    I chuckled inwardly, ''What did you think would happen?''


    With that said, it didn''t take long before this ce''s trainees invited my trainees/cadets to their training program which included a few rewards as they gained more and more stamps by hitting checkpoints and finishing thempletely.


    I would''ve loved to take a crack at it if it was any other day but Oscar and I were already approached by one scary-looking mofo and a docile-looking assistant who told us to follow them to somece further in.


    And to give a brief description of what the GDMWC looked like from the outside, it was a rustic-looking hospital that could almost be mistaken as a huge-ass vi, but for some reason, they didn''t have external walls or even a fencing structure to keep the dead from getting in.


    ''Curious¡­ I''ll just ask themter¡­''


    Kaley caught up to me, "Can Ie with you two?"


    "Of course, why do you ask?"


    "Nothing, just wanted to see the inside. I already asked Tatiana to look after everybody."


    "That''s great, thanks."


    Then Grace, the assistant leading the way, pointed to the stairwell leading several floors up:


    "Please. Sir Jacobs will follow you up to the fourth floor and please keep to the right, right until you see Mrs. Dewey''s office. I have to tend to more stuff now that the area has opened up¡­"


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    "Alright, thank you¡ª Oh! We did have some gifts on the back of the six-wheeler, where should we hand them over?"


    Her calm expression turned to one of confusion, "H-Huh? What? Why?"


    "Just because?"


    "Uhh¡­ O-Okay? I mean, thank you! We''re¡ª I''d hate to say this b-but do you have anything for seniors?"


    Oscar cut in, "You mean weed?"


    "What?! No¡ª I-I mean¡ª"


    Oscar snorted, "I''m sorry, youngss¡ª one of your guys at the checkpoint had this old man with Parkinson''s, so¡­"


    "Ohhh~ You''re talking about Manuel and his dad~ I see, I see¡ª The doctors we have might hit you up on that but I''m just looking if there are things like for¡­ entertainment? I''d say."


    Oscar cut in again, "You mean porn?"


    "WHAT?! What are you¡ª"


    "HEY! As much as I''d hate to say it, I''m a senior too and I watch it! I flog the log every single day¡ª Hey¡ª Kid?! The fuck you shushing me for?!"


    I facepalmed and instantly apologized to Grace before turning to the old man, "OSCAR! AIN''T THAT A LITTLE TOO MUCH?!"


    Then Jacobs cut in, "What''s wrong with watching porn? I watch them¡ª At least I used to but shit''s getting repetitive and I always nut when I see the guy''s face, so¡­"


    Oscar tapped my shoulder, "Give it to the kid, he''ll edit it all out for you¡ª"


    "FOR REAL?!"


    "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, OLD MAN! IT WAS A ONE-TIME THING!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 Chapter 1156: George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center II - Challenge Accepted.

    Ignoring the fact that I did a special favor for the old man to edit out the parts where the guy shows his face, Grace never looked so ufortable while the old man and this scary-looking mofo looked like they had just be friends. Meanwhile, Kaley wasughing her ass out about my predicament, but I just straight marched up the stairs while everyone else was still reeling.


    ''Never again¡­''


    It didn''t take long before we reached the fourth floor but once we reached this "Mrs. Deweys''s Office" which looked like a principal''s office instead, Mr. Jacobs walked ahead of us and knocked at the door.


    "Mrs. Dewey? Our guests are here."


    Then we heard a voice from behind the door:


    "Come in,e in¡ª Open the door for them, Jacobs¡ª Ah!"


    And as Mr. Jacobs did, he walked in front of us before we saw an olderdy wearing very casual clothes and was just in the process of dusting her own office, looking like she wasn''t this ce''s owner at all.


    "Wee! I wish we could''ve prepared more for what you did but¡ª Honestly? We''re all pretty scared when we heard the assault! Sit down! Sit down! M-Make yourselvesfortable!"


    Oscar walked in towards her, "Howdy, name''s Oscar Goodman, this here''s my nephew Sky and his wife, Kaley¡ª"


    "W-Wife?! You two young ones?! When did you two get married?!"


    I waved her off, "We''re not technically husband and wife but we are wearing our rings and living in the same roof."


    "Oh~ It''s that type of situation, I see. Would you like anything? Tea? Coffee? Some orange juice?"


    Oscar waved her off, "Unfortunately, we just had breakfast beforeing in. How about you? Would you need a bit of time to get your gears rolling? I, for one, wouldn''t function with my cup of Joe and a shot of whiskey, heh."


    Mrs. Dewey chuckled, "Oh, goodness, no. I''m not one for alcohol and even coffee''s too much for me. One sip and my sleep schedule''s all broken, unfortunately¡­"


    "Ah¡­ So, can we get right on business then?"


    Mrs. Dewey''s expression changed suddenly as she turned to Mr. Jacobs, "Mr. Jacobs¡ª Or should I say, Captain? Could you please guard the door for us? We''ll be uhh~ Discussing important topics and we wouldn''t want any of our patients listening in for a little bit and interpreting it all twisted."


    "Very well."


    ''Hmmm¡­''


    With that said, Mr. Jacobs just gave each of us a nod before he did as he was told and Mrs. Dewey just sat on herfy chair before looking us straight in the eye.


    "So, to what do I owe the visit?"


    "As you can see¡­"


    Oscar started by giving her the brief run-through of the US Marinesing to this country and the uing arrangements we''d have with them, and as we discussed before, we specifically told her about working together as allies.


    Mrs. Dewey nodded pensively, "I wouldn''t say no to that, I''m delighted, even¡ª"


    I cut in, "I''m sorry, but could you also give us a brief about what happened around this area? Also, it seemed like you don''t have any protective barriers around the building or buildings¡ª"


    She let out a smile, "One at a time, young man. What do you wanna hear first?"


    "Some lore would be nice?"


    "Lore? Hah! Do you perhaps y this old tabletop game back then?"


    "Which one? There''s a lot of them with lore."


    "Ah¡ª Right, it''s this roleying one my husband loves to y with his mates, they do it every Thursday¡ªjust sitting around in a circle with their sheets of paper, pen, and some dice. They even take hours just to finish a game and that''s all they talk about even in the mornings when they go off to work."


    "Ah~ You''re talking about D&D, I do y them, even now."


    "Oh? Then my husband would love to have a chat with you¡ª Oh! But with our current subject, it''s umm¡­ It''s quite long? Would you care to hear everything or just a few important snippets?"


    I faintly smiled, "I''d like to piece the whole puzzle actually, we''ve only heard what happened around the airport and we could only specte from the damages done all around, but yeah, this ce is¡­ this ce looks like it had never seen a zombie attack¡ªat least for the most part."


    "What do you mean?"


    "I mean¡­ I''ve seen the checkpoint, heard of your people going on runs, and seen the next generation training for the undead. It''s still pretty standard stuff but there are no gates, no boarded-up windows, no walls¡ª it feels like this ce got isted."


    "Oh, I dunno about that¡­"


    "Can I ask why?"


    "Dear, this is a hospital that mostly caters to retired veterans and to anyone the other hospitals rejected. We see death on a daily basis and seeing them rise up for the first time caused chaos in unbelievable proportions.


    If my husband isn''t what he is and raised our kids a certain way, this ce would''ve been one of those abandoned buildings with all its resources taken by raiders and survivors alike."


    Kaley interjected, "Excuse me, Mrs. Dewey but where is Mr. Dewey?"


    "Jack? Hmm~ Probably with Eden, our second eldest daughter, checking the forest."


    "The forest?"


    "Well¡­ there''s a reason we don''t have checkpoints on the forest and have concrete walls, it''s because the forest itself isdden or filled with obnoxious amounts of traps my husband set up since day one. It used to be just for small to medium animals but he quickly moved on torger targets¡­"


    Oscar nodded approvingly, "Hell yeah~"


    Mrs. Dewey shook her head, "You''d get along with him, I''m assuming. It''s great and all but even I don''t know how to properly traverse it. Only him and our kids coulde of it unscathed because even Captain Jacobs came back with a scratch when he tried to do the rounds without any of them apanying him."


    But I took it as a challenge:


    "Is that so?"

 Chapter 1158: George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center IV - Just Help Each Other.

    Not to shit on the US or anything, but they tend to get surprised when they fly over here and discover how friendly and weing we Filipinos are but that''s just part of our culture. And yeah, just from my observation, folks from the other side tend to keep to themselves and mind their own business¡ªand even though it''s not actually a bad thing, it just seemed kind of cold.


    On the other hand, there could be areas in this ce where people could beplete assholes or areas in the US where people were just as weing and treat everyone like family.


    The point I''m trying to make was like Grace, Mrs. Dewey found it hard to believe that we''d just give away stuff for free¡ªwell, not technically free¡ªfor people she never knew or heard of until recently.


    However, I did call her out on this ce''s business model because they''ve also been helping people without asking for money first, and I found it contradictory to what she was currently saying about us giving her stuff.


    "That''s¡­"


    Kaley then cut in, "Mrs. Dewey¡­ Don''t take this the wrong way and I might be wrong in assuming this but people who tend to help everyone else like it''s second nature find it hard if they''re the ones receiving help¡­ or sometimes maybe asking for help, even¡­"


    I added, "Also, it''s not like you needed help because look at this ce, despite the mishap on the airport, you''re all still going strongpared to the other ces that already went down, so let''s just say we''re just trying to give you all a little boost."


    "Umm¡­" Mrs. Dewey looked a little ufortable as she forced out a smile, "I¡­ I do understand that point as well and I might be guilty of that¡ªbecause that''s just the way we do things but we should at least do something in exchange¡­ You know, we already joked about healthcare so let''s just say I don''t wanna incur more debt¡ª"


    Oscar cackled so fucking loud he sounded like Chewba choked on a whole cabbage:


    "HAH! That''s brutal, Jesus fucking Christ!"


    I waved them off, "It''s not like we aren''t gonna ask for anything but as the old man said earlier, we''re here to form alliances. You see, we also have some troops who needed help because some vets also came with us so¡­ this ce and that thing¡­ you know where I''m going with this, right?"


    She chuckled, "Of course, dear."


    "Other than that, we''d like to take a crack on that telmunications port you''re using as a checkpoint and see if we could hook it up with the ATC room in the airport and thems center in the Marine Base and the Main Harbor.


    I''m guessing you have something simr here too for broadcasting anything on the monitors you have outside so I think it''d be best to have us have an open line ofmunication to you and this ce."


    "Huh. That sounds ratherplicated¡­ I''m sorry, I''m not that well-versed in¡ª You know¡­"


    Oscar cut in, "Sometimes I just watch his mouth move up and down and just nod. It usually works because he''d just do his own thing but your kids might know whatever the fuck he''s talking about."


    Mrs. Dewey chuckled, "Hah! I guess I''ll ask my youngest, she''d be great in that."


    Kaley interjected, "We haven''t asked but how many kids do you have Mrs. Dewey?"


    "Oh! We have seven beautiful children¡ª"


    "Seven?!" Kaley and I eximed.


    "Is that really surprising? Seven kids¡ª I guess most of them are adults now but since we adopted and all¡ª"


    "Ahh~ I see, I see¡­" Oscar nodded from the side.


    "Well, Austin''s our eldest, followed by Eden, then Jeremy and Cindy¡ªthe two we adopted¡ªthen~ Oh! They''re followed by Maddison, Chris, and June. I guess you''ll need to look for Jer, she''s usually in theputer room but if she''s not there, you''d find her feeding the chicks at the back or hanging out with Mrs. Rose on the third floor."


    "I guess we''ll do that, thank you."


    "No problem at all. She''ll need a friend or two ever since the inte went down. It''s just weird though, she''s still down on her nose ying her games."


    "Well~ You don''t need the inte for some games but I guess she''d appreciate my collection."


    "Oh? That''s good to hear then, thank you so much! But anyway, what we could offer right now really is just what our hospital and rehab center could offer ever since time immemorial. Still, I doubt you''d need food since you''re giving a lot of it away but we do grow some medicinal herbs and whatnot in our greenhouse."


    "That''s¡­ That''s way~ more helpful than what we''re offering you, Mrs. Dewey."


    "Oh, shut it, haha¡­ It''s a different case if no one gets hurt, no? At the end of the day, everyone still needs food. It''s a weird thing to say but it''s like our maintenance meds. You''d need to take enough of it every single day or our bodies just get weaker and weaker."


    "That is true¡­"


    With that said, we continued with our pleasant conversation paired with a respectful discussion about our budding alliance.


    Additionally, it also involved sending some training instructors from our side to have an additional ss for the ones who wanted a more active role against the undead, and in turn, we''d also have some people from this side sent over to the areas around Subic Bay for their expertise.


    It was a simple give-and-take rtionship without a care as to which force was bigger and had to be in a significant advantage¡ªand even if we could actually force it like that, there was no merit in doing so and all the talk we had with this person would''ve been just for naught.


    Granted some other people would have it like that, but realistically speaking, in the long term, everyone simply needs to work together despite their differences and it''ll be totally different to the "bad ending" I had in my head earlier. Discover exclusive tales on m,v l''e-NovelBin

 Chapter 1158: George Dewey Medical and Wellness Center IV - Just Help Each Other.

    Not to shit on the US or anything, but they tend to get surprised when they fly over here and discover how friendly and weing we Filipinos are but that''s just part of our culture. And yeah, just from my observation, folks from the other side tend to keep to themselves and mind their own business¡ªand even though it''s not actually a bad thing, it just seemed kind of cold.


    On the other hand, there could be areas in this ce where people could beplete assholes or areas in the US where people were just as weing and treat everyone like family.


    The point I''m trying to make was like Grace, Mrs. Dewey found it hard to believe that we''d just give away stuff for free¡ªwell, not technically free¡ªfor people she never knew or heard of until recently.


    However, I did call her out on this ce''s business model because they''ve also been helping people without asking for money first, and I found it contradictory to what she was currently saying about us giving her stuff.


    "That''s¡­"


    Kaley then cut in, "Mrs. Dewey¡­ Don''t take this the wrong way and I might be wrong in assuming this but people who tend to help everyone else like it''s second nature find it hard if they''re the ones receiving help¡­ or sometimes maybe asking for help, even¡­"


    I added, "Also, it''s not like you needed help because look at this ce, despite the mishap on the airport, you''re all still going strongpared to the other ces that already went down, so let''s just say we''re just trying to give you all a little boost."


    "Umm¡­" Mrs. Dewey looked a little ufortable as she forced out a smile, "I¡­ I do understand that point as well and I might be guilty of that¡ªbecause that''s just the way we do things but we should at least do something in exchange¡­ You know, we already joked about healthcare so let''s just say I don''t wanna incur more debt¡ª"


    Oscar cackled so fucking loud he sounded like Chewba choked on a whole cabbage:


    "HAH! That''s brutal, Jesus fucking Christ!"


    I waved them off, "It''s not like we aren''t gonna ask for anything but as the old man said earlier, we''re here to form alliances. You see, we also have some troops who needed help because some vets also came with us so¡­ this ce and that thing¡­ you know where I''m going with this, right?"


    She chuckled, "Of course, dear."


    "Other than that, we''d like to take a crack on that telmunications port you''re using as a checkpoint and see if we could hook it up with the ATC room in the airport and thems center in the Marine Base and the Main Harbor.


    I''m guessing you have something simr here too for broadcasting anything on the monitors you have outside so I think it''d be best to have us have an open line ofmunication to you and this ce."


    "Huh. That sounds ratherplicated¡­ I''m sorry, I''m not that well-versed in¡ª You know¡­"


    Oscar cut in, "Sometimes I just watch his mouth move up and down and just nod. It usually works because he''d just do his own thing but your kids might know whatever the fuck he''s talking about."


    Mrs. Dewey chuckled, "Hah! I guess I''ll ask my youngest, she''d be great in that."


    Kaley interjected, "We haven''t asked but how many kids do you have Mrs. Dewey?"


    "Oh! We have seven beautiful children¡ª"


    "Seven?!" Kaley and I eximed.


    "Is that really surprising? Seven kids¡ª I guess most of them are adults now but since we adopted and all¡ª"


    "Ahh~ I see, I see¡­" Oscar nodded from the side.


    "Well, Austin''s our eldest, followed by Eden, then Jeremy and Cindy¡ªthe two we adopted¡ªthen~ Oh! They''re followed by Maddison, Chris, and June. I guess you''ll need to look for Jer, she''s usually in theputer room but if she''s not there, you''d find her feeding the chicks at the back or hanging out with Mrs. Rose on the third floor."


    "I guess we''ll do that, thank you."


    "No problem at all. She''ll need a friend or two ever since the inte went down. It''s just weird though, she''s still down on her nose ying her games."


    "Well~ You don''t need the inte for some games but I guess she''d appreciate my collection."


    "Oh? That''s good to hear then, thank you so much! But anyway, what we could offer right now really is just what our hospital and rehab center could offer ever since time immemorial. Still, I doubt you''d need food since you''re giving a lot of it away but we do grow some medicinal herbs and whatnot in our greenhouse."


    "That''s¡­ That''s way~ more helpful than what we''re offering you, Mrs. Dewey."


    "Oh, shut it, haha¡­ It''s a different case if no one gets hurt, no? At the end of the day, everyone still needs food. It''s a weird thing to say but it''s like our maintenance meds. You''d need to take enough of it every single day or our bodies just get weaker and weaker."


    "That is true¡­"


    With that said, we continued with our pleasant conversation paired with a respectful discussion about our budding alliance.


    Additionally, it also involved sending some training instructors from our side to have an additional ss for the ones who wanted a more active role against the undead, and in turn, we''d also have some people from this side sent over to the areas around Subic Bay for their expertise.


    It was a simple give-and-take rtionship without a care as to which force was bigger and had to be in a significant advantage¡ªand even if we could actually force it like that, there was no merit in doing so and all the talk we had with this person would''ve been just for naught.


    Granted some other people would have it like that, but realistically speaking, in the long term, everyone simply needs to work together despite their differences and it''ll be totally different to the "bad ending" I had in my head earlier. Discover exclusive tales on m,v l''e-NovelBin

 Chapter 1159: Jack Dewey - Combat Hardness With Softness

    A couple of hours into our discussion, Mrs. Dewey felt like she needed to give us a tour of their space just to see if we could rmend some improvements. Of course, what''s passable in our eyes was totally subjective but that was one of the reasons developers, for example, do alpha and beta tests before releasing their product.


    Besides, we''ve pretty much done around 70% of what I wanted to talk about but before we could even head for the door, we heard a knock from the other side.


    Everyone thought that it''d be Sir Jacobs but the voice that entered our ears waspletely different:


    "Dear? Can Ie in?"


    I turned to Mrs. Dewey and mouthed, "Mr. Dewey?"


    She nodded at me with a smile before she responded to her husband:


    "It''s your ce, you can barge in any time you like!"


    Yet the doorknob didn''t even move:


    "I know but¡­ Wouldn''t that be disrespectful? You have guests, right?"


    Mrs. Dewey chuckled, "They''re OUR guests. They came over here to talk to us."


    "Really?"


    ''Pfft¡­ This guy¡­''


    "Oh my goodness, yes! Juste in! We''re all waiting for you!"


    "But I''m not decent! I''m covered in dirt and everything!"


    Mrs. Dewey facepalmed as she tried to notugh, "Alright, dear. Once you get cleaned up, we''ll meet with you right here¡ª"


    But the door suddenly burst open and a woman covered in dirt, who I assumed to be Eden came in, rolling her eyes as she made her way to the table and poured herself a ss of water:


    "I''m so sorry but I''m really parched! I don''t have time to wait for Dad''s silliness!"


    Eden had short brown hair, a slender figure, and more Asian features than American despite the color of her skin. From the surface, she''d look like a pure Filipina but the moment she drank the ss of water with both hands, her midriff exposed pasty white skin that inparison to the rest of her exposed tanned ones, meant that she tended to go out a lot, especially in the mornings.


    At the same time, when I nced at the doorway, all I could see was Sir Jacobs wearing a smile, looking behind the wall where Mr. Dewey was hiding because he didn''t want to lose face from some dirt on his boots.


    But his voice echoed with a bit of anger:


    "Eden! How indecent! This is why you don''t have anyone courting you!"


    Eden snorted as she rolled her eyes, "I''m more surprised you managed to get Mom! Oh, wait~ She came to you, right?"


    "Eden!"


    Mrs. Dewey cut them off, "Alright, you two¡­ All the work I put in to make us look intimidating and you just ruined it¡ª"


    Mr Dewey eximed from behind the wall but this time, his hand appeared, pointing angrily at his wife''s words:


    ''That''s a big hand¡­''


    "Are you crazy?! Intimidation¡ª Why?! Didn''t you see what they came in with?! That was the Eisenhower! Oh my God, Edna! They could blow this ce up if they wanted to!"


    Eden piled on after ncing at her mother, "We can just take them hostage, right?"


    Mr. Dewey eximed once again and this time, showing even his forearm, "PREPOSTEROUS! ABSOLUTELY¡ª Dear guests¡­ I deeply apologize for my wife and my daughter, everything that has happened the past year had rendered their mental capabilities akin to a 12-year-old, it''s totally uneptable and I''ll dly take the punishment for them¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Oh,e on, Dad! We''re just ying around! Now you just ruined it! They''re pretty much on it too!"


    "Excuse me, what?" Mr. Dewey replied as he retracted his forearm from view.


    "Dear¡­ Why don''t youe in here and introduce yourself properly? Isn''t it more rude to just be a disembodied voice and pointing around like a madman? Trust me, they''re pretty nice and you''d be d to meet them."


    "Ah¡­ A-Alright, if you put it that way I was pretty rude¡­ Give me a minute¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    To our surprise, the motherfucker actually took an exact minute topose himself beforeing in, looking even more terrifying than Sir Jacobs. Because if we hadn''t seen his funny disy earlier, I''d assume he was sent here to collect from his mob boss because an urate description of this "Mr. Dewey" was as if a human was about to transform into a bear and stopped halfway.


    I did see his big fucking hands and forearms earlier but I assumed he''d just be a carbon copy of Bartow''s physical features, not that it was proportional to the rest of his body.


    Mr. Jack Dewey was close to seven feet in height, had wide and broad shoulders, a huge torso, log-like legs, an awesome full beard, Prince Vegeta-like hairline, "dirty" boots, but most surprisingly, a gentle expression.


    It was like he swapped bodies at some point in his life because his mannerism was totally contradictory to what he fucking looks like, but I guess this ce had a lot of contradictory things in and of itself. And yeah, he was sporting a huge-ass splitting axe, a huge-ass bowie machete, and a double-barreled break-open shotgun which seemed to have pleased the old man sitting to my left.


    "G-Greetings, J-Jack Dewey¡­ Wee to my humble abode¡­ I-I believe you''ve already met my darling wife and my second-eldest, Eden¡ª A-And let me just say that we don''t have anything against you and we''ll be d to work out in any sort of agreement and change anything my wife had told you that''s to our advantage¡­ W-We don''t want any trouble and¡ª"


    I just had to stop him:


    "Mr. Dewey and Ms. Eden, I''m Sky, this is my wife, Kaley, and this is my uncle, Oscar. I think you might have mistaken our purpose foring here¡ª"


    "W-Well once again, I apologize¡ª"


    "What for? You haven''t done anything¡ª"


    "I apologize, we should''ve done something."


    "Wut?"


    Eden facepalmed, "Dad! Breathe!"


    "Ah¡ª Did I do something wrong again? I apologize¡­"


    Mrs. Dewey nced at her husband lovingly before she said, "Dear¡­ We''ve done nothing wrong, alright? And they''re actually here and brought some gifts and proposed wonderful arrangements for all of us! You''d be really d to hear them!"


    Mr. Dewey bowed deeply, "We aren''t worthy but we ept them all with great thanks!"


    Oscar chuckled, "That''s a little¡­"


    "I APOLOGIZE, SIR!"


    "We''re the same age, brother. Why don''t you take a seat so we could refresh ya?"


    "O-OF COURSE, SIR! EDEN! SIT DOWN AS WELL! Edna! Did you offer them a refreshing beverage!"


    "Of course, dear¡­ We''re all set and been talking for a couple of hours¡ª"


    "I''M SORRY I WASN''T PRESENT!"


    I waved him off with a smile, "Don''t worry about it Mr. Dewey, you had a lot of work to be done¡ª That reminds me, Mrs. Dewey mentioned you y D&D¡ª Mr. Dewey?"


    As soon as I mentioned the magic keyword, his downtrodden expression suddenly turned to shock, then to confusion, disbelief, and finally to suspicion as he put his huge hands under his chin and eyed me for a good minute:


    "Curious¡­ What edition?"


    "Fifth Edition. You?"


    "Look at me, punk. 1st Edition."


    ''Did he just call me punk?''


    "That''s hardcore¡ª"


    "Psh. You kids have it easy, you don''t have any idea¡ª"


    "I run a homebrewed campaign though and depending on the yers, it could be easygoing or hardcore¡ª"


    "Psh! You don''t have any idea about hardcore!"


    "Oh yeah?"


    "Then prove it!"


    "Five extra characters minimum."


    "Hmm."


    "I checkponents for spells."


    "Eh."


    "Realistic Weight System."


    "So-so."


    "Dismemberment System."


    "Hmm. That''s¡ª"


    "When you create a character, I employ curses especially if they''re working with a deity, giving them the curse of the opposing god or gods."


    "That''s a given."


    "Have you done it?"


    "..."


    "Also, this is something unbeknownst to ya, if you really wanna make it an experience, have them stick close to their phones and they could only hear the results of their own checks and it''s up to them to decide whether to tell the party the truth or lies. It''s the Paranoia system. Sounds very simple but it gets worse if you have more than six yers and you have a traitor or traitors in the mix."


    He rolled his eyes, "That''s tooplex to run in a pen-and-paper system."


    "We''re already using phones, right?"


    "Then is that even D&D?" Enjoy more content from m-v l''e|-NovelBin


    "I can hand them a note or whisper."


    "Mmm. Better but not great."


    "You''re a fucking hard-ass, you know that?"


    "Only when ites to D&D, nothing else."


    "It''s really hard for you, huh?"


    "Of course, you don''t have a fucking idea¡ª"


    "One time I scheduled a game and no one came so I used four of my self-made characters to y with myself."


    "You think that''s hard? Scheduling problems¡ª"


    "For a year."


    "..."


    "I may have developed multiple personalities from that because two of me aren''t on talking terms and one of me got reced by another me because one of them just went out for milk and didn''te back."


    "W-Wanna y sometime, Sonny?"

 Chapter 1160: Can I come?! Please?!

    At this moment, I looked like the cat wearing boots voiced by the person who yed the fencer guy wearing a ck mask as I was melting hearts left and right. But yeah, as sad as it may sound, I actually enjoyed and even if D&D wasn''t in the picture, I spent most of my childhood life ying alone, and never did I think I was sad or should deserve pity.


    Being alone and lonely had differences and I was perfectly fine and happy being alone at that time.


    Even now, even with Kaley and the few others in the mix in my life, I still treasure the few minutes or hours I could just be with myself¡ªand it''s got nothing to do with them, but sometimes, the peace and quiet were like an old friend that was always there for me.


    Though Mr. Dewey and I shared a moment right then and there as he offered to y:


    "You''ll DM?"


    "Anything for you, Sonny."


    "Don''t call me Sonny."


    "Ah¡ª What do you want me to call you?"


    "I''m used to getting called the ''Kid.'' but yeah, I''d want you to experience 5th edition and my homebrew world so I''d love for you to sit down in one of my games. It could be even one-on-one and I''d voice your potential party members and NPCs."


    "Holy¡ª For real?"


    "For real. I''ll take your Dwarven Cleric every single day¡ª"


    "The heck¡ª How''d you know?!"


    "Seriously?"


    "I mean¡ª Yeah¡­ That''s the only thing I y¡­"


    "Great! We''ll schedule it in the near future! But before that, here''s what we talked about earlier¡­"


    Since our original conversation swerved, drifted, and went into different tangents, we exined to him everything we talked about earlier. But funnily enough, he never changed his expression as he intently listened while his daughter Eden couldn''t contain her excitement.


    "D-Dad! I-I wanna go visit the Marine Base a-and their other outposts! Wouldn''t it be cool?!"


    Mrs. Dewey chuckled, "Easy now, dear, you wouldn''t want to let them know you''re that excited."


    "B-But Mom! We''ve all been cooped up here for ages! At least with their group, we''d be sure that they''re packing heat! We''ll be safe anywhere!"


    I shook my head, "I wouldn''t say that as an absolute¡ª"


    Mr. Dewey nodded at my words, "Precisely. You need to take better reins of your emotions, youngdy."


    Eden protested, "Oh,e on! I did everything you told me! I understand theyout of our traps in the forest, I check on everyone before doing my own thing, I hydrate, I exercise on top of my duties¡ªalone to boot! A-And I attend Austin''s boring~ sses!"


    Mrs. Dewey shook her head, "Your brother''s sses are not boring, dear. He''s a great doctor and you don''t know when you might need to apply the skills you learned from his sses."


    Mr. Dewey nodded, "Precisely." Stay connected through m-v l|e''-NovelBin


    "That''s true but he doesn''t know how to teach w-with enthusiasm! It''s like he''s just reading from a book!"


    "Isn''t that¡ª"


    "Dad! You know what I meant! You fell asleep in his ss and I have proof!"


    "Ah¡ª"


    Mrs. Dewey shook her head, "Dear¡­ You know Austin probably saw you and he won''t say anything about it but he''ll be hurt nheless¡­ You know how he is."


    "Hahh¡­ I''ll bring it upter but Eden, don''t you think Jeremy and Cindy would be better candidates?"


    "Why can''t the three of us go?"


    "Well, for one, we need you here. You have responsibilities now."


    "That''s not fair. I needed a break at least."


    Mrs. Dewey nodded, "That''s true, dear. She''s been great. She needs some time to be people her age too."


    "T-Thanks, Mom!"


    Mr. Dewey sighed as he turned to me, "How¡­ How long would this exchange program be?"


    "Depends. If she''d just stay around these parts, she could spend a couple of days on each of our three bases ande back here whenever. But if she wants to go farther, for example, Jessica''s main HQ or mine, at least a couple of weeks or even a month if you really want her to have a change of scenery."


    "A month?!"


    "Dad! Please, please, please! I''ll even take the couple of weeks and stagger the days as I get back here and spend some time to the nearer bases!"


    Mr. Dewey sighed again as he pinched his be, "What¡­ What courses do you offer?"


    "What does she excel and suck at? Including Jeremy and Cindy¡ª Just a question are they the kid who''s like Ranch dressing while the other is like Sriracha?"


    ''Didn''t think I''d use condiments to describe people again¡­''


    Mrs. Dewey snorted, "Hah! Couldn''t describe them better! Have you met them?"


    "We saw them running up and down the hill earlier."


    Eden cut in, "That''s them, for sure. I wish I could join them in the mornings¡­"


    Mr. Dewey shook his head, "But you''re doing great work, what''s wrong with that?"


    "Dear, it''s like our stock in the basement, alright? We should rotate them once in a while or this type of thing happens. You''re the one who taught us that, remember?"


    "Ah¡ª It''s just that she''s the best one for the job¡­"


    "Dad, I do appreciate thepliment, I do but¡­ You know how it is, right? You even change up the entry points and exit points we walk through every couple of days!"


    "You noticed?"


    "Of course, I noticed! You just said I was the best one for the job! We have¡ª The maze you built looks extremelyplex up close and even if you traverse through it every single day, there''s a chance you get lost but it isn''t as random as you think it is! You still have your own quirks and patterns and I could somewhat pick up on it!"


    Mr. Dewey looked a little proud for a moment before he let out an exhaustive sigh to mask it:


    "Fine. I''ll let you have a vacation for two weeks. You learn everything you could at the moment and you teach everyone once you get back. Is that a deal?"


    "Y-Yes, Dad! THANK YOU! I''M GONNA GO PACK¡ª"


    "Not so fast¡ª"


    "W-What is it now?"


    "Your mom and I are gonna talk for a bit with Mr. Goodman. You give the young couple a tour."


    "Okay! Easy enough! Come,e! We''ll start from the roof and make our way down! It''s mostly sr panels anyway but we gotta made ourselves known just in c-case¡­"


    With that said, the three of us made our way to the roof and it was just as Eden stated.


    There was a portion of the roof space where most of the sr panels looked uniform and identical and there was another side where it looked like a beginner''s attempt at ying Tetris. But yeah, the roof also had several rain catchers and big-ass water tanks that could supply the whole hospital.


    And looking from below, we''d see a clear path for the route we took but it was the only road that provided great visibility because everything else that concerned the forested area was covered with leaves, tree branches, and foliage from below.


    It would''ve been easy if we could just use the drone to figure out the exactyout of the Forest of Death, but it was the type of thing that we''d need to experience first-hand.


    Then I noticed that Eden was eyeing the des on our hips:


    "..."


    "Interested in learning kenjutsu? I''ll teach you the basics."


    "Woah, for real? Honestly, it could be anything¡ªeven guns, because to be honest¡ª Shit, I say honest way too much¡­ B-But yeah, I don''t wanna say bad things against what Dad aplished because it''s way~ too effective but I kinda want to actually face one and defeat it on my own. Not set up traps and let it do all the work or even most of it before we take care of it easily¡­ You get what I mean?"


    I nodded, "Of course. There''s nothing wrong with doing both but as per your argument earlier, doing one simple thing every single day could get tiring. It''s not like I''m telling you to stop doing your responsibilities because it IS important¡ªbecause we just had an incident back home¡ªbut I do understand your point regarding this."


    "You do?"


    "Yeah. Traps are useful in a lot of ways but there are limits to them¡ªor to everything. It''s not like I could swing my katana endlessly while you and your dad could reset all the traps you''ve set indefinitely and have them work every single time. And we aren''t even talking about the special ones. I don''t wanna jinx it but I could think of a couple that could bypass the traps we''ve been told about."


    "For real?"


    "You''re preserving the forest, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Do you have anything that could total a car or even a truck when its triggered?"


    "N-No?"


    "Seriously? I''m just asking for concern. We''re not trying to case you out. You''re even going to my ce for Pete''s sake."


    "I-I was not¡ª I just haven''t seen anything that could survive after going through all that¡­"


    "At least for now. I''m not telling you guys got lucky but you did, a little bit. There are mega hordes and Hulkers¡ªthough extremely rare¡ªcould pass through a minefield and survive."


    "For real?"


    "Not quite but it can take quite a beating."


    "Oh¡­ That''s a relief, I guess? But yeah¡­ A-All of them are a mix of mechanical and primitive ones. There are no traps rigged with explosives or anything that could set a fire."


    "Hmm¡­"

 Chapter 1161: Dilemma - Because we can?

    Hearing that statement just made me extremely concerned for this ce because a preserved forest wouldn''t mean shit if the people preserving it wouldn''t be there to witness it¡ªbut looking at it from a dark perspective, nature could simply survive on its own and the reason they needed to be preserved in the first ce was because of us humans.


    It could range from the need for space to build resorts or condo units to just simply needing firewood but yeah, I''ve said it many times before that if we just vanished or died right here, right now, the world would just thank us for it.


    In any case, one might say that we could just simply encase part of the forest but that''s practically impossible because it just extends for miles and as big or perhaps even bigger than Man and it''d just defeat the purpose of it being a natural forest. However, that just might be one of my proposed solutions if these people wanted to keep the legacy of their ancestors alive.


    There were more ways avable than to be a stubborn fool to risk everyone in their family just to appease someone that was already dead. Saying this might sound harsh but if I was their ancestor, I''d try to reincarnate then and there to bonk their heads of this stupid decision.


    I then turned to Eden once more:


    "What are your thoughts on erecting a log wall a certain radius around your home?"


    Eden''s ears perked up, "That''d be great, actually! It''ll mess up some of the traps but some of us will feel safer¡ª"


    "Only some of you?"


    "Well, Mom and Dad are against doing that because they simply love the forest and the view it gives each morning¡ªeven most of our residents who don''t have any idea about what''s going on outside¡­"


    Kaley cut in, "Really? There are some who don''t know?"


    Eden nodded, "Y-Yeah though it''s not forck of trying¡­ Some of them are too old to be put on more stress while some would just forget the day after. For the ones who came to the realization, some epted it and even volunteered to work but not all of them can move like they used to before.


    Our staff, friends, and family are amazing even the soldiers who came from the DDR Camps and the other evacuees who found or sought this ce for refuge¡­"


    "I see, I see¡­" I trailed as I looked over the sea of trees, "Still, you should still convince your parents to listen to you guys and I have to ask, with those traps lying around, do you have early warning devices put up or nah?"


    Eden looked confused, "Warning devices? What for?"


    "..." I just looked at her silently while Kaley already figured out what I was going for. Read new adventures at m_v-l''e|-NovelBin


    "W-What for?"


    I let out a sigh, "Do you¡­ Do you alwayse with your Dad or do you have days where you switch with your siblings?"


    "Well¡ª At first it was mostly just Austin but Dad would put us in a rotation so that we''d all get familiar with his design."


    "Did he let you guyse alone or do you sometimese in groups?"


    "We used toe in groups but as of recently, he''d just take me four or five days out of the week and take one of the soldiers or one of my brothers or sisters when I''m on break."


    "And you''ve never encountered anything else aside from the dead?"


    "Yeah¡ª W-Why are you asking these questions?"


    "Look¡­ I''m not saying or implying anything but have you¡­ Have you thought about other people trying to sought refuge in your home?"


    "Huh? Of course¡ª I just told you earlier!"


    "I mean¡­ Without using the main road¡­"


    "What? Why¡ª Huh? I mean¡­ No¡­ No. No! What?! NO!


    WHY WOULD¡ª THEY¡ª NO!"


    "..."


    Kaley tried to calm her down, "Eden¡­ Calm down¡ª"


    "CALM DOWN?! WHY WOULD I¡ª WE MIGHT''VE JUST KILLED PEOPLE! THEY¡ª WHAT¡ª"


    I waved her down, "We''re not 100% sure about that. I''m just specting that¡ª"


    "You spected just fine!" Eden eximed as she touched her stomach, "I think I''m gonna be sick¡ª I¡ª Why didn''t I think of this earlier?! I-I need to talk to D-Dad right now! Excuse me¡ª"


    I grabbed her hand just as she turned around, "And what would you say?"


    "I''d get to the bottom of this, of course!"


    I shook my head, "You need to calm down first. You think your dad would¡ª"


    "WHY DO YOU CARE?! AND HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?! HE''S NOT YOUR DAD! ASK YOUR DAD IN YOUR OWN TIME!"


    "My dad''s dead."


    "...! I-I''m sorry, I¡ª"


    "Don''t worry about it. It''s been a long time¡ª"


    "A-At least he didn''t die a gruesome way¡ª"


    "Umm¡­ About that¡­ A drug addict broke into our home and killed them both¡­ I''m still counting the days that passed in my head¡­"


    "WHA¡ª I-I''M SO SORRY! I SHOULDN''T HAVE SAID ANYTHING! I WAS JUST¡ª I''M SO SORRY!"


    I lightly chuckled as I forced a smile, "Look, you''re not one for great timing but I think you should really sit down first and take a few deep breaths."


    "O-Okay¡­"


    At that point, Eden followed my suggestion after her blunder but after a couple of minutes, I opened the conversation once again as I turned to her:


    "Look, it might havee as a surprise to you but your Dad''s doing it for all of you. We don''t know, it might be to increase the trap''s effectiveness since it''s the only ''wall'' between you and them and if you think about it, why would those people not use the direct route if they wanted to seek refuge?"


    Eden still shook her head with a frown, "Still¡­ That''s still a lot of what-ifs¡­"


    I scratched the back of my head, "It''s not like we weren''t doing the same thing but we lean more on early warning devices or something along those lines because we could afford it."


    "Afford it? How?"


    "Umm¡­ Because we can?"

 Chapter 1162: June & Mrs. Rose

    Joking aside¡ªwell, mostly¡ªwith the number of people we have on our fold, we could actually use our numbers to our advantage, and adding traps, snipers, roaming groups, and our main force into the mix would just be overkill.


    In addition, despite the group we took care ofst time, who had evil intentions toward us, we were geared toward recruitment and poaching others to join us instead of outrightmitting murder.


    To be fair, this approach was a little idealistic but realistically speaking, the reason randos popping out of nowhere to do bad stuff was just that they had to.


    Of course, there were outright devils in this world who''dmit atrocities at the drop of the hat, but it was easy enough to fish them out of the pile because my groups would always keep keen observation before proposing recruitment.


    And if they didn''t pass the standard of being a normal human being, we''d take care of it as humanely as possible¡ªdepending on what they did¡ªif they got too close or forced an interaction.


    There were times when we had to take the lead because yeah, we can''t just have people who kill and abuse for sport roam around the streets even if they were reducing the undead poption by a bit.


    And yeah, being the judge, jury, and executioner was a tough spot to be in but like Mr. Dewey making his traps be as effective as they could, in these times, we just had to.


    We just have to be really responsible with it but the same couldn''t be said for traps that could be sprung and kill just about anyone or anything.


    It''s a weird thing to say out loud but I think that I''m pretty much neutral good in my stance or in my alignment, which I think is an ideal way of setting a standard, but yeah, I had also surrounded myself with people who''d check me if I was going overboard and vice versa.


    In any case, back to our conversation with Eden, I exined to her things that she shouldn''t blow her lid over because there were just things they couldn''t afford of doing and that was to be openly wee to their home from all angles.


    I let out a smile, "In a sense, I''m kind of relieved you feel this way because honestly? If I were in your shoes, I think¡­ I think I wouldn''t care as much given the situation."


    Eden shook her head, "That''s¡­ Still¡­"


    Kaley caressed her hair, "Look, that means you''re still good people. Don''t take this the wrong way but I¡ª we were actually surprised at this ce?"


    "Because we''re idiots and murdering bastards¡ª Ow! Why''d you chop my head?!"


    I chopped her head as well for solidarity, "Because you''re an idiot but not a murdering bastard. You''re honest to god too, and that''s rare now. One of you guys was looking for medicine for his dad and he had to go a roundabout way just to ask me for some weed." Stay connected via m-v l|e''-NovelBin


    "Weed¡ª Oh, Medical Marijuana? And what''s wrong with being honest?"


    "Nothing at all! It''s just¡­ Sometimes, being too honest just attracts the wrong people and it''s gotten pretty hard to be vulnerable around people you don''t know. You''d take a leap of faith just to meet with people and even we were ready for a fight when we got here. We heard some bad things from the people we rescued but we wanted to hear your side so that''s why we''re here."


    "That''s¡­ I don''t know if I should thank you or not¡­"


    "Hah¡­ It''s a weird feeling, I know. And to quote your mother, a little bit of survivorship bias is going on but it''s a nice feeling now that we got to talk like this, no?"


    "Ah¡ª T-That''s true too¡­"


    With that said, we ended the conversation after a few more minutes before we went down a different set of stairs to get to a different part of the GDMWC.


    And yeah, the first thing we noticed was that this ce of a few hundred people had more evacuees than the actual patients. Of course, they stressed enough that they took care of the elderly but we''ve only met a handful on the upper floors and the majority of the patients were retired vets that were around the same age as the old man.


    But with actual old people who couldn''t live on their own? They had their own special room¡ªfor obvious reasons¡ªbut as we reached the third floor, we came upon who I assumed as "June", a girl with blue hair and gothic-like clothes, reading a book to this older woman with auburn hair, who I assumed to be "Mrs. Rose", sitting on a wheelchair with her back facing us.


    However, it didn''t take long before we realized that it was taking everything from June to hold her tears as she was about to reach the end of the book she was reading as we came at the most unfortunate time.


    "Oh no¡­ Mrs. Rose¡­" Eden muttered as she held her mouth, tears about toe out of her eyes as well.


    At this point, Kaley and I already gave each other a nce because a lot of people were in this open area of sorts and we couldn''t just shoot or stab the back of Mrs. Rose''s head while they were all present¡ªnot for technical purposes but formon decency.


    But yeah, I already spotted a familiar handle on the "bookmark" June was holding with her other hand though everything could go all sorts of wrong if we waited that long. However, June kept reading the book to Mrs. Rose, determined to get to the final pages, and she definitely threw us a deathly re when she noticed use close.


    But to my surprise, Eden began to use signnguage with June tomunicate indirectly so I did the same while she was looking straight at us.


    [Keep going, we''ll just stand by at the ready just in case¡­]

 Chapter 1163: Thank you, Mrs. Rose.

    On this particr floor, we were in the area where most of the elderly gathered for some social time or entertainment like ying some bingo or chess, watching a vintage film, reading or getting read a book by one of the staff, or in Mrs. Rose''s case, getting read a book by June herself.


    It''s just that the timing couldn''t be more unfortunate as one of the older residents had to pass on but to look at the silver lining, she passed on surrounded by her friends she considered family.


    But yeah, an older gentleman slowly walked over to June and Mrs. Rose''s side while carrying a fruit tter and his expression just turned sour when he made the realization.


    "A-Angie? Angie? Oh God, no¡­ Angie, I¡ª"


    Eden quickly made her way to the older gentleman''s side then forced a smile, "Where are you looking at, Harold? I''m right here!"


    The "Harold" fellow looked confused for a moment before he let out the brightest smile, "Ah¡ª Angie! There you are! I''ve been looking for you! Did you know that our daughter''s turning seven tomorrow? Can you believe it?!"


    Eden just nodded as she walked him by the TV, "Time sure does fly fast, huh?"


    Harold simply nodded with a smile, "You know, Jessica, your mother and I love you very much¡­ It''s really sad that she went on ahead of us but she''s watching from above, alright? I might do it someday too but you gotta be really~ strong and¡ª Oh, right, Angie, I have a meeting at six¡­"


    Hearing their conversation, it didn''t take long before Kaley and I made the realization, but June on the other side, had already broken down crying in front of Mrs. Rose''s body. They were in one spot by the window where not a lot of people could bother them, but it also didn''t take as long before a woman who I assumed to be staff walked over and had the same realization.


    "June¡­"


    "I-I''m okay, Maddy¡ª I''m t-totally okay, I¡ª"


    "Wanna bring her down with me?"


    "C-Can we w-wait a bit more?"


    "I''m sorry, June, we can''t¡­ You know what happened those times, right?"


    "... *sniff* a-alright¡­ I-I''ll¡ª"


    Eden then came back at the right time:


    "June, I''m so sorry, I¡ª"


    At that moment, June just jumped into her sister''s arms for an embrace as she tried her best to cry without making a lot of sound. All Eden could do was hug her back as this Maddy gal pulled on the locks to Mrs. Rose''s wheelchair.


    But yeah, she gave them a bit of time as she waited if June woulde down with her¡ªand long story short, we used the elevator to get down with them and made our way to their backyard.


    I would''ve greatly appreciated how bountiful their vegetable garden looked but the ce we were going for was the incinerator further out, away from the resident''s eyes.


    Since Eden was still holding June in her arms, I took it upon myself to help Maddy with the incinerator, but once I pulled out a knife just to be 100% sure Mrs. Rose wouldn''t rise up while we were preparing her pyre of sorts, June just grabbed on my arm with a difficult expression.


    "NO! WHY WOULD YOU¡ª WE''RE ALREADY PUTTING HER IN THE¡ª WHY?!"


    "JUNE!" Eden eximed as she tried to pull her off me, "Stop! You know what happened to Mr. Hendricks and Sister Mae?! This is why!"


    "B-BUT¡ª"


    "NOT BUTS¡ª"


    I waved them off as I put back my knife, "I''m sorry we had to meet like this, June, and to Ms. Maddy too but umm¡­ This is something necessary to avoid further idents¡­ I don''t know Mrs. Rose but I think anyone wouldn''t want their loved ones get hurt by them, right?"


    June started to tear up even more, "B-BUT¡ª"


    "Also, this is gonna sound morbid but if she means that much to you, I think you should do it."


    "H-Huh? D-Do what exactly?"


    I shook my head with a bitter smile, "You were also holding a knife, right? That bookmark on your pocket, I saw you holding that earlier¡­"


    "...!" June never looked so surprised as she was still struggling with everything that was going in her head, "I-I¡ª Mrs. Rose is¡ª *sniff* I¡ª S-She really loves books! I¡ª"


    I nodded respectfully, "Is that right?"


    "A-And she''s really kind to me!"


    "I''m sure she is."


    "She said she really loves my hair e-even if it''s the total opposite of her hair color!"


    "It does look great¡­"


    "..."


    "Umm¡­ I don''t wanna rush you or anything but¡­ You know¡­"


    "..."


    "June?"


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    "...do it¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I-I''ll do it¡­"


    "We''ll just be right here, alright? Your safety''s still the priority here¡­"


    "I-I understand¡­"


    At that point, June slowly made her way to Mrs. Rose''s body and she kept a tight grip on this very thin de that looked like a bookmark due to the ribbon hanging down by the small handle, but as June said more things to thank Mrs. Rose for what she had done for her, I noticed that Mr. & Mrs. Dewey received the news of her passing and came down with the old man.


    And as they noticed our presence and June standing in front of Mrs. Rose, they made sure to not make any noise until it was all over.


    "T-Thank you for everything Mrs. Rose¡­ I''ll never forget you¡­"


    In a very gentle motion, June raised the tip of her de, pointed it at the back of Mrs. Rose''s head, and pushed slowly.


    June was clearly shaking from the first inch and she took several deep breaths as she pushed it deeper and deeper. She was definitely bawling her eyes out the moment she pushed it all the way in and she wrapped her arms around her and cried out the pain.


    "June¡­" Eden muttered as she wiped her tears with her sleeve.


    With that said, we gave June all the time she needed since Mrs. Rose''s body was cleared but after ten minutes or so, she eventually let go and helped me put the lifeless body into the incinerator.

 Chapter 1164: Have you tried though?

    From then we took a bit of time just watching smokeing out of the incinerator and even if Mr. Dewey, Mrs. Dewey, and Oscar joined us, June still stood straight in front of the incinerator with tears in her eyes. By this time, it wasn''t as bad as earlier but that''s just how emotions work and different people had different ways of expressing them.


    And yeah, even if everyone else except Eden decided to excuse themselves after some time, Kaley and I still stayed with June.


    I thought we''d have a couple of hours of peace and serenity but my phone buzzed right at the same time June''s did. Experience tales at m v|l e''-NovelBin


    Eden turned to us, "Are those your phones?"


    I answered first, "rm¡ª"


    June nodded, "Y-Yeah, me too."


    At that point, Eden put more logs to fuel the me but June and I shared a nce and we both knew what was up. Kaley already had an inkling of the reason our phones buzzed, of course, so she took it upon herself to let June and me have some private time to talk with our resident hacker, na.


    "Hey, Eden¡­ I kind of wanna check on the other areas, see if we could help for a bit¡ª"


    "Oh. Lunch is awfully close but June¡ª"


    "He''ll stay with her, right?" Kaley said as she turned to me.


    I nodded, "Of course, I don''t wanna say this now but it''s umm¡­ pretty close."


    Junemented, "You''ve burned people¡ª"


    "Cremated."


    "I know the term but I can''t just keep mementos like this, I just can''t¡­ don''t ask."


    "Then I won''t."


    "..."


    Eden looked at us weirdly, "Okay? Then¡­" she trailed as she turned to Kaley, "Come on then, we''ll help in the kitchen!"


    Kaley chuckled, "He''s a better pick but I''m still learning the ropes, take it easy on me."


    "Nah, I think you''re much better than me. I''m only in charge of washing the dishes!"


    "Oh! Ahaha! I''ll ask him to include cooking as part of your curriculum then!"


    "What?! No way!"


    As the two walked back to the main building, June and I shared a brief look at each other before we looked at our phones. And surprisingly, na just dropped us the same message and dipped out:


    [He''s one of us, y nice :)/They¡ª She''s one of us, y nice :)]


    "..."


    "..."


    I shook my head as I decided to break the ice:


    "So¡­ should I call you June or do you have an IGN I should refer to¡ª"


    She rolled her eyes, "Doesn''t matter now, does it? Look¡­ don''t tell my parents or my siblings, alright? Does your girlfriend know?"


    I nodded, "She knows, my wife knows¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "No worries. We aren''t technically married and I don''t know what you know about me at this point. It''s been a while since I met na and¡ª"


    "What?! You''ve met Ana71 in person?! Dude! What does she look like?!"


    I was taken aback by the sudden 180, "I did meet her when she came to my ce with an escort. She looks like a typical Asian woman who acts sheepish with a crowd and like a spy in intimate settings and she had a certain adoration of knives¡­ a lot of knives¡­ and she likes hiding random shit in her body¡ª"


    June grabbed on her forehead and sat down on a log, "H-Hold up, that''s too much information at once¡­ Wait¡ª Oh! I get it now! You''re the guy!"


    "The what?"


    "The guy! T-The¡ª The videos in the umm¡ª What was it called? At South! Even in the whatchamacallit~ T-The cartel one¡ª Cuervo Heights! I''ve seen all of them! Y-You''re the guy¡ª FUCK!


    I need to take a picture with you! L-Like right now¡ª Please?!"


    "Okay?"


    "T-Thank you! Dude! I owe you a lot for this! I-I''m a huge fan!"


    "T-Thank you?"


    With that said, June quickly inched towards me and snapped several photos of me while I was posing awkwardly. But yeah, thinking that this was one way to take her mind off Mrs. Rose, we did a photoset doing anime poses in between the incinerator and the garden, and she couldn''t stop smiling as she looked at each of them.


    "Thank you so much for this! You''re the best!" Eden eximed as she gave me another hug.


    "Anything, I¡ª June?"


    Even if it was for a short moment, June did forget for a while and it all just came back at her the moment she saw the incinerator running on fumes. But at that point, she just solemnly looked at the incinerator¡ªmore like the person we put in there¡ªbefore bowing deeply and mouthing "Thank you, Mrs. Rose" for the final time.


    We shared another moment of silence for the departed but June brought up something she heard her sister say before they left:


    "Hold up, what did Kaley mean by curriculum?"


    "Oh. Your dad granted her and your two other siblings, Jeremy and Cindy, was it?"


    "A what?"


    "A two-week vacation at my ce¡ª"


    "Oh! Can Ie too?! Will na be there?!"


    "Ah¡ª I don''t know if I should tell you this but yeah¡­ She''s not living with us but she just told me that she''lle visit¡ª I don''t know if it''s within those two weeks they''ll be staying¡ª"


    "I gotta tell Dad! And Mom! W-Will you help me ask them?! Is it scummy if I use Mrs. Rose as an excuse?"


    "Hold up¡ª It is VERY scummy and a little disrespectful¡ª"


    "But Mrs. Rose would be in on it! She''ll dly cover for me!"


    "Let me ask you this¡­"


    "Go on¡­"


    "Is there a reason they wouldn''t allow you toe if you ask the regr way?"


    "Umm¡­ Do you have eyes?"


    "What?"


    "Look at me hotshot, I''m tr¡ª I''m the definition of a kid in her rebellious phase. Blue hair, piercings all over, spiky clothing, ck nails, thick eyeliners, you name it. They wouldn''t even consider it¡­"


    "Have you tried though?"


    "Were you even listening?!"


    "I am. But have you tried asking or is that what you think they''re gonna say?"

 Chapter 1165: I told ya.

    As soon as I said that, June just looked at me incredulously before she had a moment of realization. It was one thing to have a very low chance of sess and it was another if she just went for it. Besides, it''s not like she''d get stabbed in the leg just for asking permission, and the worst they could say was no.


    "I¡­ Huh. I-I can just ask, right?"


    "Yep."


    "Huh."


    "So¡­"


    "Kinda hungry though¡­ Wannae to the cafeteria?"


    "Sure, a few of my guys would probably be there anyway."


    "Few of your guys?"


    "It''s not like Kaley and I were the only ones who got here. You''ve seen the old man with your parents, right? He''s with me too."


    "Uh¡­ Makes sense, I guess. C''mon, I wanna get some extra breadsticks!"


    "Alright, alright¡ª Don''t pull!"


    With that said, the two of us made our way to the cafeteria which was located on the first floor at the right wing, and obviously enough, everyone else was present except for Oscar. It seemed like their separate meeting wasn''t over but in regards to people gelling together, my trainees/cadets were bonding well with the kids their age over on their separate table.


    But funnily enough, both tables called for us and as I was inclined to sit with Tatiana and the rest, June wanted to sit with her younger brother and sister.


    "Ah¡ª"


    "Umm¡ª"


    I''d definitely ruffle some feathers¡ªthough not as serious as I put it¡ªbut since the tables they were on was just close to each other and we have plenty of fucking space, I hold onto June''s shoulder for the moment as I addressed everyone:


    "C''mon, you fucks. Is this young VS old? I''m in between! Merge those tables for fuck''s sake!"


    Saying that, all they''d need to do is stand up for a bit and do a little push so they did just that and looked back at me. However, much to their shock, I just gave them an approving smile before I took June with me to the kitchen.


    "W-Where are we going?!"


    "If you''re that hungry, you should help the cooks¡ª Is this the right way?"


    "Y-Yeah, but I don''t know how to cook!"


    "Then you''ll learn fucking now! Oh! They are making some breadsticks¡ª Anyone need any help?!"


    At that point, Kaley and Eden who were now wearing frilly aprons turned around and dragged us into the depths of hell¡ªjust kidding, it was just pretty hot inside while wearing protective gear¡ªand made me take over the frying station.


    To my delight, we were frying different kinds of vegetables dipped in some light batter so I just put several at once and made June take care of flipping them over because the leafy vegetables would always float.


    "What?! Why¡ª"


    "Just flip them over if they change color! It''s like a rhythm game, no?"


    "W-Which color?!"


    "Very light golden brown!"


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    "HmM~ Around #D3B683!"


    "Oh! I got it!"


    Kaley and Eden were shocked to fuck, "HOW?!"


    I chuckled, "Trade secret! It''s level two now, June! Some vegetables fry faster than others! Watch out for them!"


    "Wha¡ª There is! There''s¡ª Oh god, there''s another one too!"


    "Great job! Great job! Focus! Here''s another batch!"


    "AHHH~! I can''t watch over them all at once!"


    "Hah! It''s time for a switch-up! I''ll take care of the frying but make some more of the batter! The recipe''s taped on the wall!"


    "Wha¡ª This is too much information at once! What the fuck?! You''re literally doing everything yourself! You don''t even need me!"


    "Yeah, I do! Chop some more vegetables! I can do more batches!"


    "W-W-What am I even doing¡ª I-I''m overloading! I''m literally running out of RAM!"


    "This is a test, June! Do fucking well and I''ll give you a rmendation!"


    "What?! For real?!"


    "Of course!"


    "THEN IT''S FUCKING ON!"


    As soon as she rolled her sleeves and put her game face on, Eden simply stopped talking and just moved to wherever I told her to move. She''d respond with simple nods or would just get right on it and her way of removing speech freed up some space in her RAM, and she was able to keep up with me for a good 30 minutes before she felt the strain.


    I was pleasantly surprised that she was able tost that long but since we may have made more fried vegetables than necessary, I took it as a necessary stopping point so she could cool down while I could help with the nice sauce Kaley and Eden were making for fresh eggrolls that were saved as is.


    We usually call it "Lumpian Sariwa" in ournguage and it was basically eggrolls with vegetable filling topped by a sweet/savory sauce with crushed peanuts.


    And yeah, after a short bit, we began serving the ones in the cafeteria while the rest of the staff packed lunches for the ones in the checkpoints, in their separate rooms, or for eatingter.


    However, the funny thing was Quinn never looked so defeated seeing only vegetables for lunch but she cried tears of joy when Tatiana pulled out her reserve of beef jerky and bacon. They just ate it with the meal we prepared for them but on the other hand, my new apprentice, June, never looked so out of ce because she was smack dab in the middle of my main group.


    I did introduce her, albeit briefly, but my group could be a little intense, especially when ites to lunchtime.


    "You okay, June?" Eden who already blended in nudged her younger sister.


    "I-I''m alright, thanks for asking¡­"


    Quinn leaned back and turned to me, "Fresh meat?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Our exchange students and no, pace yourself."


    "Eh, we''ll see about that~"


    Eden asked, "See about what?"


    Kaley cut in, "That''s¡­ That''s something umm¡­ We shouldn''t talk about while eating¡­ And with other people¡­ Right, Quinn?"


    Quinn lightly chuckled, "Sure~ Is it just me or does this thingamajig taste like meat?! Like what the fuck?!"


    Eden smiled brightly, "Right?! It depends on the seasonings but it''s jackfruit that hadn''t ripened yet!"


    "Oh? Looks like meat too with all these fibers and shit¡­"


    "Mm-hmm! They''re what we have closest to chickens¡ª We do have them but we need eggs more."


    I chimed in, "Well, as we''ve talked about earlier, we''ll solve that little problem of yours with a small top-up. You''ll taste different things when you get to my ce so there''s that."


    June then turned to Eden, "Right¡­ Umm¡­ Can I alsoe?"


    "Hmm? You want to? Of course! I mean, you should still ask Mom and Dad but I''m sure they''ll say yes."


    "Really?"


    I chuckled from the side, "I told ya."

 Chapter 1166: Deets - Then nothing.

    As we finished our meal, I also got acquainted with Jeremy and Cindy and they were as I thought they would be. Jeremy was the older one between the two, cool and aloof, while Cindy was like the word spontaneousbustion. She acted like Quinn in a way, but she definitely mmed up when she was face-to-face with the real thing.


    It was one thing to act like an Alpha-Bitch but it was a different thing to actually be one.


    But yeah, these two were picked up by Mr. & Mrs. Dewey from another couple who eventually had to say goodbye to this world and they might just be our in into the Idress Maritime Academy.


    "You two were both enrolled?"


    Jeremy answered, "Yes, sir. We were actually there when it hit but we got here as fast as we could. We used to have an openmunication with them but since all we could do was just talk with them when the airport got too infested, we''ve just been dropping in weekly just to check in."


    "I see. Can you tell me more about that ce?"


    Cindy cut in, "Hmph! Sound to me like you''re up to no good!"


    I rolled my eyes, "Your parents already signed you up to me for a couple of weeks. Haven''t you heard?"


    "WHAT?!"


    Jeremy chuckled, "You should really~ be listening to when people are talking, sis."


    "Shut up! When was this?!"


    I shook my head, "If you don''t want toe, then don''t. Eden and June were the only ones who wanted to actuallye and your parents just rmended you, so again, if you don''t want toe¡ª"


    Jeremy cut in, "W-Whoa there, hold up. I wannae! I wanna square with with James and Seb over there!"


    Cindy got right up in my face, "I-It wasn''t like I said I didn''t wannae! I just wanna have a say in it!"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "So tell me a little bit about the maritime academy. Seb, James came from an academy as well, way~ up in the mountains, so I just wanna get a gleam on what to expect. As you can see, we''re trying to cover our bases and have proper connection with everybody else."


    Cindy huffed, "Why bother talking? You can juste in and tell them what''s what!"


    "Spoken like a true American, eh?"


    "Wha¡ª I was just¡ª"


    "Mm-hmm~ Sure, we can do just that but if we do that to this ce, what do you think is gonna happen?"


    "...! I¡ª I didn''t think about it that much, I just¡ª"


    "Freudian Slip much? Don''t worry, you''re still plenty young, your head hadn''t matured that much, so I understand¡ª"


    "You! I said I''m sorry!"


    "I said I understand, so are we gonna waste more time or are you gonna help Jeremy give me a good intro about that ce?"


    Jeremy leaned in, "Well¡­ It should be better if you just talked to them but here''s what we know¡ª or at least what they told us¡­"


    The two started by saying that the maritime academy had more peoplepared to this ce but from the most recent info we got from our drones, we found only around fifty or so people. But yeah, there were a ton of ways to hide one''s heat signature or simply mask it, and there was also the chance that they could''ve been somewhere else when the drone passed by.


    In addition, Jeremy mentioned a former artillery bunker that the people from the maritime academy repurposed as a third outposts beside the two buildings that already belonged to them and the resort right next to their training center.


    "Where''s the bunker located?"


    "Oh, it''s straight down from here but we gotta navigate through the Forest of Death. It''s much easier and safer to drive over there but we really should have a talk with them first and even try if we could vouch for all of you."


    "Your name carries some weight with them?"


    Jeremy shook his head, "Well, not me but Cindy used to be boning our Staff Sergeant¡ª"


    "JEREMY, SHUT THE FUCK UP! IT WAS JUST A FLING!"


    "You still boned."


    "I-I SAID, SHUT UP!"


    "Hey, they needed an in, he got in you, that''s an in. Wouldn''t you think? Besides, he still asks for youst time I checked in with them so they might wee them with open arms if you''d just talk to the guy."


    "Absolutely not! I''m not whoring myself¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Whoa, whoa, I''m not gonna whore you to anyone. Chill. If you''re notfortable doing shit, it''s okay, we''ll do our own thing. However, I just want you to give them a bit of peace of mind since even your parents were scared to shit when we first came in."


    Cindy rolled her eyes, "Who wouldn''t?!"


    "That''s why we need your help."


    "B-But¡ª"


    "Then don''t."


    "HAAH?! DO YOU NEED MY HELP OR WHAT?! MAKE UP YOUR MIND!"


    "Nah. It''s up to you. Do you wanna help me or not? I thought you wanted to have a say in anything?"


    "That''s¡ª Huh," Cindy was taken aback before her lips formed a smile, "I''ll do it on one condition though."


    "Shoot."


    Her smile grew wider, "I want my own room with all the necessities when wee with you!"


    "Sure."


    "Just like that?"


    "Just like that."


    ''I would''ve made them bunk but that''s easily doable.''


    "Doesn''t that mean you can do more?"


    "Depends. Want to add more to the condition?"


    "Can I?"


    "You''re gonna be there for a couple of weeks. Trust me, with the training you''re doing here, you''re gonna need all thefort you can get."


    She mmed her palm on the table, "Now that''s some bullshit! We train just as hard! We even have a specialized program for each of us!"


    "Then how about this?" I said as I pointed at Alexa, "Beat her in a fight and you can have everything you fucking want."


    "And if I lose?"


    "You''re already thinking of losing?"


    "I''m hot-blooded but I''m not an idiot! I should know the stakes."


    I chuckled, "Then nothing."


    "Nothing?! What does that mean?!"


    "It''s as I said, no punishments, nothing."


    "How is that fair?!"


    "I don''t wanna assume shit but Alexa¡ª no, everyone in my group probably gets around 80-90% of what they want from me, so she''ll do me this favor just because. For you, I don''t wanna add more pressure because as I said, we''re fine without you but it''d be nice if we could get some help."


    Cindy just stared me down before she nced at Alexa, "Fine. Let''s go to the PT Room."

 Chapter 1167: Cindy VS Alexa

    Funnily enough, as Cindy stormed off to where the PT Room was, Alexa was just staring at me shocked because I just put her in a match without asking. It was true that she''d do me a favor here and there butpared to everyone in my group, she wasn''t the one I''d pick first if we were being totally honest.


    Alexa was still holding her spoonful of food, "W-Wha¡ª Me? You''re putting me in a fight?! With that girl?!"


    I chuckled, "So what? Your odds are so-so, besides, even if Tatiana''s been training you guys for a week plus extra¡ª Nah, you''ll just see for yourself."


    "O-Okay?"


    Tatiana quipped from the side, "Oh yeah, I''ll double¡ª no triple your training if you lose, soo¡­ No pressure!"


    "H-How is that no pressure?! I''m way~ pressured now!"


    Jeremy cut in, "Nah, she''s too fired up now getting put aside or what''s the word I''m looking for? It''s¡­ It''s not actually a word but her ego takes a hit if she thinks she''s not that important¡ª plus her movements get sloppy when she''s mad. You''d only need to be really~ careful when she ms up."


    I turned to him, "Really? Interesting."


    He chuckled, "It''s just weird if you ask me."


    "Heh."


    ''I''m super chill but I do get fired up and gives me some bonuses but¡­ I do some things when I m up for real¡­''


    With that said, Megan took it upon herself to hype up Alexa¡ªthough she also received an assuring nod from Seb¡ªbut it didn''t take long before Tatiana and I were wearing referee uniforms and was about to officiate the two''s exhibition match. Honestly, I''m more curious to see how Cindy moves because I know more than Alexa than what she knows she is capable of.


    I started, "Alright, no eye-gouging, hits the to the back of the head, the whole she-bang¡ª and if we say stop you stop. We''ll be forced to use force when you don''tply to these basic rules of safety and we''re looking for a clean fight!"


    Tatiana added, "That''s right! No hair-pulling, crotch-grabbing, nipple-twisting, throat-fingering¡ª"


    "The fuck are you¡ª"


    "Heh, I said too much¡ª FIGHT!"


    Ignoring Tatiana''s silly face and everyone''s chuckles, the two started by touching gloves and giving each other a nod. Additionally, they were wearing proper sparring equipment: thick open-finger gloves, headgear, and a mouthpiece, and they were on this thick mat that would provide a lot of cushion.


    But yeah, Cindy was the one who rushed in after a short exhale while Alexa had already put up her guard.


    With eachpact attack, Alexa was getting pushed back more and more to the edge of the mat, but she was guarding everything optimally. I would''ve preferred if she employed head slips, because she could clearly see the attacksing, but she would just turn her body and her guard at the most optimal position to block Cindy''s attacks.


    "IS THIS ALL YOU CAN DO?! FIGHT BACK!"


    "..."


    "FIGHT BACK, I SAID!"


    All of a sudden, Cindy wound up her right arm for a millisecond longer¡ªgiving up a small opening and a prompt that she''d throw a bigger punch¡ªand Alexa stepped to Cindy''s left side instead of seizing the opening she gave her.


    It was a valid move nheless but she would''ve finished the fight then and there.


    But yeah, this was just me thinking of what I would''ve done but everyone had different fighting styles and to bepletely honest, I think it was working to a degree.


    Cindy seemed to be the type to overpower her opponents but since it was someone she wasn''t familiar with, she opted forpact attacks¡ªbut withpact attacks mean more attacks thrown which could also mean more breaths taken in session.


    I might be reading too much into this because big attacks could do the same thing¡ªbut it would leave more and wider openings¡ªbut Cindy looked a little out of breath because of all the punching and shouting.


    At this moment, we were back to square one with Cindy attacking and Alexa defending, but all of a sudden, we heard a very crisp sound of flesh hitting flesh as Cindy threw a low kick right onto Alexa''s inner thigh. It wouldn''t have been too much trouble now but she followed up with another one to even the other side before sending another one back to the same fucking spot.


    "LIKE THAT, HUH?!"


    "...!"


    "YOU CAN''T CLAM UP FOREVER¡ª FIGHT ME!" Discover hidden content at m,v l''e-NovelBin


    All of sudden, Alexa''s demeanor changed as she opted for the same attack Cindy did to her but it just brought a smile to Cindy''s face as she took it head-on.


    "THAT''S RIGHT! ONE MORE! AND DO IT FASTER!"


    "HAH!"


    "BARELY FELT IT! I''LL GIVE YOU ONE MORE!"


    "HAHH!"


    "LAST ONE¡ª"


    Cindy was just grinning from ear to ear as she saw Alexa''s face turn even more serious but her face suddenly turned to what "This fucking bitch!" would look like if we put it into words.


    What happened was instead of sending another low kick to her inner thighs¡ªwhich she was definitely prepared for since she was flexing her quads¡ªAlexa sent it right on her left torso without her notice.


    And to add insult to injury¡ªthough not as much, Alexa performed movements as she threw a left kick straight for Cindy''s right temple. If that kick was as "fast" as "normal" high kick would''ve traveled, with the amount of power Alexa put in it, it would''ve been a knockout if Cindy hadn''t put up a guard at the moment it would''ve connected.


    However, right as she threw more punches which Alexa guarded against, she ate two more low kicks which caught her off-guard for some reason because they were a tad "faster" than what she took willingly.


    But yeah, this situation suddenly made her take a deep breath and take a lower stance as she put all her focus on Alexa''s weird movements.


    She was patiently waiting for Alexa to attack but we gotta cut them off because it had been a good three minutes. We would''ve let them fight for five minutes each for three rounds but that was what we decided on just because.


    ''To lessen chances of injuries too¡­''


    "DING! DING! DING! Sorry, we don''t have a bell¡ª"


    "FUCK! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO GET INTO IT!" she eximed as she turned to Alexa, "THE FUCK WAS THAT?! WHY ARE YOU KICKING SO WEIRD!"


    Alexa couldn''t believe her ears, "W-Why would I tell you?!"


    "ARGH! YOU''RE DOING SOME WEIRD SHIT AND I''M GONNA FIGURE IT OUT!"


    I chuckled from the side, "Oh, your special program doesn''t cover that? Huh."


    "S-SHADDAP! YOU''RE THE REF! BE PARTIAL AT LEAST!"


    "Hey, we got a bet riding on this! At least let me trash-talk!"


    "FINE, SHRIMP-DICK¡ª"


    Then reactions from my "circle" emerged one after the other. I wouldn''t even put all of their names here but you know the deal. It''s just that Cindy seeing their reactions, among other people who saw as well, caught her as off-guard as the weird kicks she''s been receiving and she just went red on the face as she shouted at them.


    "W-WHY ARE YOU ALL LAUGHING AT ME?! LAUGH AT HIM!"

 Chapter 1168: Conclusion - Weird Kick

    As the fighters went into their corners for a minute of rest, just to be fair to Cindy, Tatiana and I didn''t go to Alexa''s side but Tatiana threw her a thumbs up for her nice execution. The particr "trick" Alexa''s been performing was simple and yet its simpleness was the thing that was making it so effective.


    Granted it was a bit slower than a normal kick, but if she started to mix it up with normal ones¡ªwhich she already did¡ªit''d just be a toss-up between their reflexes and reaction time.


    Then we heard Jeremy''s voice:


    "It''s all in the knees, alright? That''s the trick but it''s up to your noggin'' and a little bit of luck to go against it."


    "You saying I''m dumb?!"


    "Psh. You''re smarter than me but you never use it, that''s the problem. I dunno why you''re asking for advice right now but the best way to go about it is just to experience it. Either that or just keep her locked out by making her guard."


    I nodded approvingly, ''That''s right¡­ and learning Alexa''s patterns gives you a higher chance of predicting what''s toe¡­''


    With that said, the minute was up and Cindy was definitely rarin'' to go while Alexa looked like she''d still stick with cautiously observing the situation before acting upon it. However, right as they met at the center, Alexa threw a swift straight before following it with a sudden low kick.


    Cindy easily saw through the simple switch-up and guarded against them but she got ticked off when Alexa was already a step away and aiming to guard against her counterattack.


    "YOU¡ª ARE YOU GONNA FIGHT OR WHAT?"


    "I am though?"


    "NOT LIKE THAT!"


    "Hmph."


    "ARGH! IT WAS JUST SO GOOD LAST TIME!"


    "Nope."


    Funnily enough, Alexa began replying to Cindy''s taunts(?) and it was making the taunter taunted instead. It was forcing Cindy to expend more energy to close in on Alexa but right as she thought Alexa would nt her feet down so she could figure out whatever the fuck her "weird" kick was, she''d just run away again and talk shit until the bell rang.


    What Alexa was doing was straight-up edging Cindy for a release andpletely denying her the satisfaction of a good fight and it was super fucking effective.


    On the third and final round, Cindy went all-out to force Alexa into a brawl but it was as unsatisfying as the conclusion of the match I had with Bartow.


    Sure, it would''ve been nice to end the fight with a knockout but just seeing how slightly difficult Cindy was walkingpared to Alexa, even Jeremy thought that his sister lost. And with that, we obviously gave the win to Alexa but Cindy was keen on getting some answers.


    "Hey!"


    Alexa turned to her, "Hmm?"


    "Alright! I''ll ept the loss but you have to tell me how you did that!"


    "Umm¡­ Why?"


    "Because!"


    Alexa smiled, "Our instructor and friend, Tatiana would teach you once we get home¡ª"


    "B-But I wanna know how it works now! Please!" then she turned to me, "I-I''ll call our Staff Sergeant if you teach me now!"


    Jeremy cut in, "I told you, it''s all in the knees¡ª"


    "I''m not asking you, I''m asking him!"


    I interjected, "He''s right though."


    "Ugh¡ª I mean¡ª Yes, it''s all in the knees but how?! I-I need to see it!"


    "Didn''t you eat enough of them already?"


    "N-Not on me, you ass! I want it done on someone else!"


    "You want me to hit someone else for a demonstration?"


    "You¡ª Not for real, of course!"


    I looked at everyone and discovered that a few from their group wanted to learn as well so I cleared my throat as I addressed everyone:


    "Alright, since we''re all here, why don''t we have a small ss in regards to this weird kick? I''m gonna need a partner though¡ª"


    Cindy cut in excitedly, "Jeremy will do it!"


    Jeremy shook his head, "Sure¡­ Anything for you¡­"


    I chuckled, "Don''t worry, I''ll give you some painkillerster¡ª"


    "Wut?"


    "Alrighty then, everyone look closely and see how I perform a normal low, mid, and high kick to Jeremy¡­"


    "Oh boy¡­"


    As Jeremy was already preparing himself for a beating, I just let out the tiniest bit of my domineering aura to make him and everyone else think I''m fucking serious before I performed the movements as slowly as possible and without any destructive force. This made him sigh in relief but Cindy was definitely annoyed that her brother wasn''t hurt even by a bit.


    But yeah, I did perform the weird kicks in the same manner and turned to everyone for a simple exnation.


    "You see, with each of those three normal kicks, the starting point and the path it takes is apparent and obvious but if we''re talking about this weird¡ª fuck it, it''s a Brazillian Kick, or any other term you can make for it, it has a starting point, the setup point, and the destination, unlike the normal kicks which simply goes from Point A to Point B."


    Cindy raised her hands with a notebook she pulled from nowhere:


    "U-Umm, so it starts with a fake-out?"


    I nodded, "You can call it something like that since it copies the movements of a high kick¡ªby bringing your knees up¡ªbut once you reach the setup point, the midpoint, or the beginning of the tri-path, that''s where it could go the three ways: low, mid, and high, and confuse the opponent by twisting your knee or just suddenly extending it, hence it''s all on the knees.


    Your next read is at m v|l-e''-NovelBin


    Sure, it''s a tad slower than a normal kick but it still got the job done¡ªespecially with what Alexa did by mixing it up. It''s pretty simple really but that''s what makes it so annoying."


    "That''s it?"


    "That''s it. You still gotta practice by a lot though to incorporate them in a real fight. And there''s also guarding against them and the unlimitedbinations anyone could throw at you. It''s not like they''d just keep sending you those weird kicks, right?"


    "Huh."


    "Any more questions?"


    Her eyes lit up, "Do you have more tricks like that you can teach me?!"


    I chuckled, "Of course, in the two weeks that¡ª"


    "FUCK NO! I''M STAYING THERE FOR AS LONG AS I CAN! I''M LEARNING EVERYTHING! STAND UP, JEREMY! I''M PRACTICING WHAT I LEARN NOW!"


    "Haah?! Find your own punching bag!"


    "BUT¡ª"


    Tatiana then cut in with a gleam in her eye, "Hey, why don''t you learn from me? He just knows how to do it but the weird kick you lost to was from me. How about it?"


    "YES, MA''AM!"

 Chapter 1169: Defensive Techniques - Just a fling, huh?

    Long story short, Cindy and the rest of the Dewey residents who wanted to get trained,pletely used the energy they rued from lunch and maybe even breakfast.


    Because not only did Tatiana put on her teacher''s mantle and made them go through a taste of what we do for training back home, but I did the same thing as well¡ªand surprisingly enough, Artem picked a handful of willing participants from the back and taught them some defensive techniques.


    ''Well, that''s rare¡­''


    It was because Artem taught through spars, meaning, he usually taught people with their bodies and what they could glean on from the short match he''d put them through but this time, he gave brief pointers which were umm¡­ very brief and very unique.


    And this was one example when Jeremy had to get away from Cindy and joined his ss:


    "Umm¡­ E-Excuse me, sir~?"


    "Artem."


    "S-Sir Artem, how''d you take a hit to the head without wobbling or feeling it all over? That''s my main problem and¡ª"


    "You get tough."


    "Ah¡­"


    "I mean tougher."


    "Ah, yes¡­"


    "Look, you can learn different techniques and mix it up with evasion skills that Nyebo''s¡ª Sky''s really good at but¡ª hmm¡­"


    "S-Something wrong, sir?"


    "In regards to the undead, evasion or parrying skills are the way but still, the core of defensive techniques improves those two skills as well.


    It requires¡­ careful and precise observation of your opponent''s attack and reacting upon it and if you think about it, it''s just a matter of taking it on, going around it, or directing it elsewhere¡ª Oh, there''s also counterattacking which means attacking before the attack hits you."


    "That''s what a counterattack means, sir."


    "..."


    "Ah! N-No offense, English is very tricky¡ª I apologize for¡ª"


    "Hmm¡­ None taken, teaching is very new to me."


    "Ah¡­ I see."


    "I will apologize in advance because what I know, I taught myself, so, it''ll be difficult for me to put it into words. I also found it difficult to teach so that''s why I only do it just now. But in essence, my core technique revolves around taking an attack squarely and directing it at the same spot."


    "Umm¡­ Isn''t that just a counterattack?"


    "No, no¡­ It''s¡­ Why don''t you try punching me?"


    "Are you sure?"


    "You can''t hurt me."


    "Ah, yes¡­"


    "Do one normally, one very fast, and one very strong. You can hit anywhere but face and body are preferred.."


    "Yes, sir."


    With that said, Jeremy took a normal orthodox stance as Artem stood normally but as Jeremy sent three of those punches, Artem never moved from his spot and showed signs of pain. And like what happened to me the first time I encountered Artem''s weird technique, Jeremy never looked so confused as he stared at his after thest attack, which was supposed to be the strong one.


    Artem looked at him nonchntly, "You see?"


    "I don''t¡­"


    "Good."


    "Huh?"


    "That''s the technique. You shouldn''t see how¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "But you think why. Good?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "Now I''ll try on you¡ª"


    "Wait! Wait! WAIT¡ª"


    Just with Artem''s "normal" punch, against a kid in his early 20s, Jeremy was so fucking lucky Artem didn''t break his nose since he managed to lean back and reduce the force of the blow¡ªalbeit a very small percentage¡ªbut it still knocked him in his ass because Artem followed through.


    But yeah, little did I know that June was also watching that unique interaction with me and she made a perfect reference from it:


    "Kinda weird to say this but isn''t this like the time when the Avatar''s getting taught to bend the Earth?"


    I nudged June''s arm with my elbow as I cackled, "Hah! That''s so~ true. They aren''t doing the same thing but the whole vibe is just like that. Artem just might be an Earthbender if we''re in that particr universe."


    "I see that too! Then you''re of the Air Temple because Sky''s your name?"


    "Pfft¡­ A little on the nose, isn''t it? Probably true."


    "Oh? I thought you''d be master of the four elements?"


    "Me? Maybe, sure, I can change the way I fight depending on the circumstances but I''d rather be my own thing while using techniques from each side. Like how Scarface''s uncle learned to redirect lightning through Waterbenders¡ª"


    "Psh, so you mean to say you''re the coolest one? Riiight~"


    "Heh, I didn''t say that. I said that I just use techniques from different people and make it my own. Being cool''s a totally different thing¡ª"


    "But it''s the coolest out of everything! It''s¡ª"


    "Okay, okay, you''re fucking stalling now. One morep around the course, you''ve rested long enough."


    "Why am I even here?!"


    "You came here, you fuck! Do what the Romans do!"


    "Argh~ I''m so not good at running! It''s so fucking hot!"


    "Then take off your jacket! You''re the only one not in proper training uniform!"


    "H-HELL NO! I JUST CAME HERE TO WATCH AND YOU DID THIS!"


    "Suit yourself~"


    ''She could just stop too if she wanted, heh. This would definitely take her mind off things though¡­''


    "I HATE YOU, YOU KNOW THAT?!"


    "YOU''RE TRAILING BEHIND EVERYONE, RUN FASTER! YOU''LL HIT THE MITTS AFTER THIS!"


    "WHAT?! EVEN MORE TRAINING?!"


    "THIS IS NOT EVEN TRAINING! THIS IS JUST AN ASSESSMENT! AN ASSESSMENT! I''LL FIGURE SHIT OUT NOW BEFORE YOUR PARENTS SHIP YOU OVER TO US!"


    "AHHHHHHHH!!!"


    "THERE WE GO! LEARN TO CONSERVE YOUR ENERGY THOUGH!"


    "I DON''T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!"


    From then on, I was making astute observations of the four people we''d take with us and all I could say that aside from June, Jeremy, Cindy, and Eden just needed more fighting experience. This ce wasn''t a rehab center for nothing and the Physical Trainers who gave them their specialized programs made sure that their bodies were in very good condition.


    But yeah, that was totally different to a trainer who uses boxing to actually hit peoplepared to one that uses the same thing but for cardio.


    ''All I could say right now is that they just needed to get beat up more¡­ nothing less¡­''


    After a couple of hours or so, we were just about to end our training session when the old man, Mr. & Mrs. Dewey, came in with three people: two gentlemen and a middle-aged woman, looking around carefully. However, Cindy who looked like she''d pass out any moment jumped up in fright and his behind Quinn''s back.


    "What gives¡ª"


    "SHHH!"


    "Wha¨C Don''t shush me, you bish! I shush you!"


    "J-Just don''t move! I''m sorry!"


    "Hmm? Oh~ Is that how it is?"


    To my surprise, it seemed like some people from the Idress Maritime Academy came to visit us and one of them was this "Staff Sergeant" Cindy had a fling before. But yeah, it seemed more than just a fling because of the way Cindy was acting. In addition, this guy seemed to be looking for her but she was well hidden behind Quinn''srge frame.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before they made their way towards us but Mr. & Mrs. Dewey couldn''t believe that June participated in some physical activity.


    "June?!" they eximed at the same time.


    "Haa¡­ Ha¡­ W-Water¡­ I''m¡­ Ha¡ª I''M DYING! Water please¡ª Ow! Why''d you toss it to me!"


    I facepalmed, "I thought you''d catch it! My bad¡ª"


    "I can barely lift my arms¡ª someone, please¡­ help."


    Easily enough, Kaley sat by her side and helped her take sips from the bottle slowly while the husband and wife were beaming as they looked at me.


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "Is there something I did?"


    Mrs. Dewey nodded with a smile, "You did a whole lot! Thank you!"


    Mr. Dewey added, "It''s true¡­ I''d hate to say it but¡ª Umm¡ª"


    June cut in, "SHADDAP! I JUST GOT DRAGGED IN! THAT''S ALL!"


    Kaley tried to sit her up, "You''re drenched, you should really take off your¡ª"


    "N-No!"


    Kaley harrumphed, "Fine then! Let''s go to your room! I''ll make sure you get cleaned up!"


    "W-Wha¡ª I-I can do it myself!"


    "Nope! You''reing with me but you''re leading the way! Come on now!"


    "AHHH~ LET GO OFF ME! HOW ARE YOU SO STRONG?!"


    "You''re just too weak now but yeah, I also work out."


    "Help!" June eximed as she turned to me.


    "Not today, bucko¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOO!"


    As June was dragged against her will, the older gentleman beside the Staff Sergeant found the right timing to step in and introduce himself to me with a handshake.


    "Greetings, young man, Mr. Ishiyama, was it? I''m rk Guzman, that''s our Staff Sergeant Mikee nco and this here''s our Technical Sergeant, Ms. Criselda Ng."


    I returned his handshake which was surprisingly not as tight as the previous ones I came across:


    "Nice to meet you three, I''m Sky Ishiyama, here''s my crew besides my wife¡­"


    As I introduced everybody, Quinn''s slight movement revealed Cindy''s whereabouts and the two just shared an intense staredown before Mr. nco got down on one knee and made his way to Cindy with a small velvet box.


    "Cindy Dewey, I¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

 Chapter 1170: A bit off... - Carrot & the Stick

    Little did we know that our Staff Sergeant would propose then and there but let''s just say that Cindy put her training to actualization. From the brief second she screamed for dear life, she had already brought her right leg to the setup zone before it suddenly descended abruptly to point B, the "Middle Kick" destination¡ªor should I say Mr. nco''s head.


    "CINDY¡ª/ DEAR¡ª"


    Mr. & Mrs. Dewey were also shocked by the sudden proposal and they were only able to utter a word when Mikee''s head hit the floorpletely knocking him out¡ªwhile the small velvet boxically flew up in the air.


    In addition, Cindy had already made her way to the exit and no one was able to follow her¡ªexcept Jeremy, of course¡ªfrom the abrupt chaos and sudden quietness.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    But after a short bit, Mr. & Mrs. Dewey, along with Mr. Guzman and Ms. Ng slowly turned their heads to me¡ªand I just thought of the worst reply.


    "I dunno about you guys but that''s a good kick."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Woah! I didn''t teach her that¡ª but that''s not important right now! Won''t anyone check on Mr. nco?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "That''s right¡ª Hon¡ª"


    "I¡ª On it!"


    Funnily enough, Mr. nco just sprang up as soon as Mrs. Dewey was about to check on him but as soon as his well-being was ounted for, Mr. Dewey looked like he grew a few more inches as he put his huge-ass hand on his shoulder and let out the most imposing aura without holding back.


    Then he spoke in a gruff tone, "So, you didn''te here to negotiate but to take my daughter''s hand, huh?"


    "Umm¡ª"


    "Aren''t you supposed to go through me first?! WANT ME TO BREAK YOU IN HALF?!"


    "Ah¡ª I''m sorry! It was just¡ª"


    Find adventures at m_v l|e-NovelBin


    "JUST WHAT?! YOU JUST WANTED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SITUATION?!"


    "I-I-I love your daughter, sir!"


    "BUT SHE CLEARLY ISN''T INTERESTED!"


    "S-She was just shocked¡ª"


    "WE ALL ARE, YOU IMBECILE! WHO PROPOSES OUT OF NOWHERE?!"


    "I-Isn''t that how it''s supposed to work?!"


    "YOU FUCKING TALK BACK?!"


    "Ack¡ª My shoulder, sir! It''s¡ª"


    "WHAT ABOUT IT?!"


    "N-Nothing¡ª gGhk!"


    Mrs. Dewey had to interfere, "Dear, that''s enough."


    "Hmm."


    "Aren''t we supposed to do something else?"


    Mr. Dewey finally let go of Mr. nco, "Fine," but he still stared him down with a deathly expression, "I''m watching you, you punk. Watch your fucking step or else I''ll squeeze¡­ harder."


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­" Mr. nco quickly made his way to Mr. Guzman''s side as he massaged his shoulder.


    With that said, instead of Kaley, Tatiana came with me to the same office where we discussed things earlier but never did I think that Quinn would alsoe in for a "conversation" among group leaders. However, just her being there was making the people from the Idress Academy sweat bullets while it had a lesser effect on Mr. & Mrs. Dewey for obvious reasons.


    ''Quinn''s still bigger but he''s¡­ wider? Let''s just say he needs to go on a cut¡­''


    Then Mrs. Dewey let out a smile as she turned to the two, "I''m sorry but we haven''t been properly introduced, you two are his officers or something?"


    And again, like their supreme leader, these two couldn''t think of a much better reply:


    Tatiana started, "I''m his mistress/bodyguard."


    "Ah¡ª"


    Quinn followed with a straight face as she pointed at her tattoo, "Can''t you see? I''m wife #4."


    "AH¡ª"


    I facepalmed and turned to Mrs. Dewey as Oscar struggled to control hisughter, "I''ll apologize on behalf of these two, we do joke around to relieve some tension, ahaha¡­"


    Mrs. Dewey waved me off, "N-No, no¡­ I''m well aware of rtionships like that and I apologize for my reaction."


    Quinn''s ears perked up as she smiled, "Oh? You''re a progressive mom. I like that. It''s cool."


    "T-Thank you¡­ So¡­ Is it true though?"


    Quinn chuckled, "Nah, we''re just messing around¡­"


    "Ah¡­ Ahaha¡­ That''s¡ª"


    "I''m technically not Wife#4 but I think I''m that number regards to our unofficial ranking¡ª"


    I had to cut in, "QUINN!"


    "What? The nicedy asked so¡ª"


    Mr. Dewey cleared his throat as he stared at us before turning to his wife, "Dear, isn''t it inappropriate to discuss such things in a semi-private setting? Besides, we have guests unrted to this matter and the young man''s clearly ufortable with it. Me as well!"


    Mrs. Dewey let out an apologetic smile, "I¡­ Well, I apologize. I do get carried away so if we could continue our discussion and bottle the embarrassment for a few minutes, that''ll be great¡­ Who''ll start?"


    Mr. Guzman cleared his throat, "Can I?"


    "Of course."


    "Haaa¡­ I mean, this day''s the weirdest it''s been and I thought hundreds of people storming THAT airport was the craziest thing we''d see in a while but¡­ I digress, I''m¡ª We''re here to meet with you all for the eptance of this alliance and we just hope that our Staff Sergeant''s actions didn''t do anything that bad to sully our rtionship¡­ We do apologize for his actions as well¡­"


    Mr. nco nodded, "T-That''s correct¡­ I do apologize for my actions and if there are any sanctions, please direct them all to me and not the group I''m with¡­"


    I shrugged my shoulders as I chuckled, "It made meugh, so¡­ A little weird, sure but you should probably talk more with Mr. Dewey privately."


    "Of course," he nodded as he turned to Mr. Dewey, "If you''d allow me, I already made arrangements to show you how serious I am and I''ll stay here for as long as it takes¡ª"


    Mrs. Dewey cut him off, "About that¡­"


    "Pardon?"


    "Our daughter would being with Mr. Ishiyama for two weeks¡ª"


    I had to cut in as well, "Umm¡­ Mrs. Dewey, it seemed like Cindy wanted an extension on that. I''m not sure about the other three but she''s keen on learning from Tatiana. She''s the best instructor in our fold."


    Tatiana rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "Before you, you mean¡ª"


    Mr. nco further bowed to Mr. Dewey, "That''s¡ª I''m here to seek your approval, sir¡­ And Mrs. Dewey''s as well¡­ I see no problem staying here while she''s away and gathering her thoughts."


    Mrs. Dewey smiled, "Again, this should be done in private¡ª"


    "Ah. Again, apologies¡­"


    I waved them off with a smile, "Alright, with that out of the way, can I ask how you three got here despite that weirdms?"


    Ms. Ng''s brows furrowed, "Weirdms?"


    "I mean, we aren''t sure if you''re really serious about talking with us so¡­"


    Mr. Guzman answered, "You should understand our position. We don''t want any confrontation with your group¡ªespecially with that size and firepower¡ªbut as we were called very recently by Mrs. Dewey to vouch for your¡­ genuine-ness and umm¡­ generous-ness, we came as fast as we could to pursue this alliance."


    Oscar shook his head, "Sounds to me that you''re just looking for a handout."


    "That''s¡­ While it''s true on all ounts, it doesn''t deny the fact that we could offer our services for any excess goods you mighte upon or¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Sounds to me that you''re just offering merc'' work."


    Oscar nodded, "That''s right. The way you''re putting it doesn''t sound like you want an alliance."


    "P-Pardon?"


    At that moment, I didn''t think that conversation would lead to that but I kind of understand the part Oscar and Quinn were ying. To bepletely honest, I''d rather we go the straight path but it was kind of weird how Mr. Guzman put emphasis on how generous we were in giving away scarce resources to a group such as Mr. & Mrs. Dewey''s.


    Then again, Oscar might''ve already discussed something with Mr. & Mrs. Dewey beforehand because they know full well how we had an honest talk with them, and this time, it looked like we were pressing Mr. Guzman out of nowhere.


    ''Let''s just see how it goes¡­''


    Oscar continued, "Look, I don''t mean this in a bad way but this couple and what this ce stands for meant a lot for our group and we made sure to be just as generous when we met with them for the first time."


    "That''s¡­"


    "With you guys, WE did call you to have a talk face-to-face but you don''t start with how generous we are right out the bat then offer services when we called you out. That''s just bad business. And it''s disingenuous,pletely opposite to where you ced us."


    I decided to cut a bit of the tension, "That''s what that word literally means in the opposite¡ª"


    Oscar "looked" angry at me, "I know how words work. I''m just making a point, kid."


    I shrugged my shoulders as I yed my part as the carrot, "Look, old man¡­ It''s been very stressful for these people and how it came out just might''ve been in the wrong order. What if they meant to offer services for stuff and they just wanted a bit of a top-up for a job well done?"


    Oscar shook his head again, "But it didn''te out that way. It''s just awful¡ª"


    I then turned to Mr. Guzman who looked like he was more than willing to talk to me instead, "Why don''t we start over?"


    Mr. Guzman nodded a few times, "That''s¡ª I''ll be grateful but then again, if my words came a bit off, I do apologize for that¡­"


    I nodded, "Old man?"


    Oscar was just eyeing him as he muttered, "Colonel."


    I rolled my eyes, "Colonel? Shall we?"


    "Go ahead."


    Then I smiled as I turned to the three, "Alright, I think you already know the ces we''ve upied but we only know about the academy itself and the bunker¡ªand you know this ce already belonged to Mr. & Mrs. Dewey, care to share more information?"

 Chapter 1171: Get Everything Straight - Care to explain?

    As the three turned to each other, Ms. Ng was the one who first looked at me and gave a reply:


    "Very well, it''s only proper for us to give you a general idea of the territories we upy but do understand that even if we''re in a would-be alliance, we can''t just divulge everything. However, do know that we''ll give our word that what we''re telling you after this will be the absolute truth. Is that eptable?"


    On that note, not to copy what they did¡ª no, we totally fucking did, the four of us looked at each other for a moment before I replied:


    "Very eptable."


    "Then¡ª"


    "But do know our ''generous-ness'' would greatly vary from the solid information we''d get."


    Mr. Guzman asked, "What does that mean?"


    "I''ll tell you straight. We were generous enough to give this ce a solid top-up and a mutually beneficial partnership that hopefullysts a lifetime, but do know that as much as we love a harmonious rtionship with our neighbors, it should be a give-and-take rtionship, no?"


    "We do understand that¡ª"


    "Then again, we''ll give you some stuff we have in excess but we''re wondering how we could mutually benefit each other. With this ce, it''s plenty obvious that having people in the medical field is indispensable¡ªand don''t get me wrong, a pair of hands is a pair of hands but what I''m asking is if you''d have anything else that might sweeten the deal for ya?"


    "We¡­" Mr. Guzman paused for a moment before he turned to Ms. Ng, "Should we?"


    Ms. Ng nced at me before she took a few seconds to ponder while looking straight at the coffee table, "I¡­ Hmm¡­" And after a few more seconds, she turned to me with a regretful smile as she opened her mouth:


    "Unfortunately, don''t take this as an offense and us a little mistrusting of your desire to obtain more valuable information from us¡ª but as you''ve established yourselves as people, decent people, who had no ill intentions towards us or any other group who''d be willing to sit down and talk like civilized men and women, please do understand our intent to withhold such information to ourselves¡­ as of this moment currently."


    I let out a smile: Continue reading at m|v-l''e -NovelBin


    "So you''re saying what you''re keeping between yourselves is that important we need to show our hands first? Is that it?"


    "That''s..."


    "That''s what it sounded to me, no offense."


    "I¡ª N-None taken¡­"


    "None taken as well. And it should be a given, honestly. We''re the new kids on the block, you should be that careful in revealing sensitive information about yourselves. Besides all you know about us is that we''re generous people and had control of three major spots in this area."


    "..."


    "Look, one of the reasons you might be wary of us is that there are other people who braved the waters just to get to this little archipgo of ours. And for some reason, whatever bullshit they spouted nted something in anyone who heard them speak so now, people like you guys are deathly afraid of us.


    Then again, we ARE dangerous and we HAVE the means to deal with a few hundred or even a thousand people in less than an hour¡ªfuck it, a minute, if we so wanted but we didn''t. Aren''t we here to hash things out and talk like civilized folk?"


    "..."


    "But yeah, you''re very wee to keep your secrets because we all have them but do be careful when you hear random shit about people you never met. It can be true and it can be false but what''s important is getting it right by getting all the facts straight. And by some chance youe across those people, do give us a call and we''ll take care of them.


    We don''t need people who sow discord just for a night''s rest, a hot meal, or whatever the fuck they requested for a ''friendly'' warning¡­"


    Mr. nco nced at the two before he exhaled with a smile:


    "I dunno about you two but we should tell them. We''ve been in close contact with this ce for years and if they vouch for them, that''s good enough for me."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Tell us what?"


    From then on, Mr. Guzman and Ms. Ng looked at each other for a moment before they both let out a sigh. After that, Ms. Ng turned to me once again with a difficult expression:


    "There''s this¡­ There''s this group we have in contact with further south, in the municipality of Morong. A few days in between the arrival of the ships in the Marine Base, we''ve received word that they just took in a group of mixed foreigners speaking about the horrors they faced and the warning we should all heed."


    Oscar rolled his eyes, "So you fucks just believed them just like that?"


    Ms. Ng shook her head, "It''s not like we believe everything we hear but that group''s just as tight-knit as ours and they have no reason to lie to us. In addition, not everyone from that fishing vessel survived and only a few were lucky enough to live past the malnourishment, injuries, and whatnot but who just pops out of nowhere to say those things in their dying breaths?"


    I nodded, "There''s merit in that logic, sure, but that''s why we''re also trying to clear from our side. It''s not like the US Navy were the only ones who took to the waters because the dead can''t fucking swim, no?


    In addition, what I wanted to aplish is to have a recorded statement from all these people trying to smear dirt in our name¡ª because I''m not sure if you know but there are other groups who made it into our soil but chose to dock somewhere else. They could be talking about another group entirely and we just took the me because we''re the most eye-catching."


    "We''re¡­ We''re not aware of that¡­"


    I continued, "In any case, we''d like to ask for that same favor because if you have contact with more people further south or further north¡ªanywhere along the coast, honestly¡ªwe''d like to know what were the exact descriptions of the people or the ship or vessels that did those things to them.


    Because in a few days, the Admiral will go back to the US with a portion of their group and they could easily take care of them with their weapons. We just needed to know where should we direct their cannons, metaphorically speaking."


    Oscar added, "Because honestly speaking, if WE were the ones who did it, there''d be no survivors. They''d all be sunk into the bottom of the ocean and there''d be no chance in hell they''d be able to safely dock somewhere else. It''s a conspiracy against us if anything. Why''d they have to spread around? So we can''t track them with our fighter jets? Please."


    "That''s¡­ Alright, we''ll get into contact with our allies and we''ll inform you of what we uncover. Is there anything else?"


    At that point, it looked like a huge rock was taken off their boots as they were able to converse more freely but yeah, their living situation was the same as everyone else that was surviving currently.


    And with how we dealt with the most popted area of this region, we basically saved them a ton of bullets and solved a lot of their problems because their focus would fall on rebuilding and making connections with more people or further solidifying them.


    And to my fucking surprise, they had some unconventional protein source that they''ve been taking advantage of¡ªwhich was totally not human meat, by the way¡ªand let''s just say that it came from the zoo only a few miles south of their main base location.


    Quinn eximed, "Crocodiles?!"


    I chuckled, "You haven''t had them yet?"


    "Only alligators."


    I chuckled, "Tastes the same, honestly. Leaner meat too, I might add¡­"


    Tatiana turned to Mr. nco with a sparkle in her eye, "W-What else do you have in stock?!"


    Mr. nco scratched the back of his head as he looked down then back at us, "Of course¡­ We also had alligators, ostriches, frogs, possums, kangaroos, the list goes on¡­ The caretakers of the zoo did try to keep them alive as much as possible but we''re now only left with ostriches, crocs, and frogs because those were the only ones that caretaker could confidently, you know, take care of."


    Mr. Guzman chuckled,pletely surprised about our reactions, "We did capture a few pheasants and some quail for their eggs but crocodile eggs are too weird for me, texture-wise."


    As this was happening, I failed to notice the eerie smile Mrs. Dewey was wearing and we realized toote when Mr. Dewey cleared his throat to bring attention to it. But yeah, it seemed like they were trading way back then and they didn''t know the kind of meat they were receiving in exchange.


    I chuckled, "Oh, you guys are fucked."


    Mrs. Dewey turned to her daughter''s prospective husband, "Care to exin more?"

 Chapter 1172: We need to talk about June...

    Long story short, Mr. nco, our "Staff Sergeant" was in the negatives in terms of his approval rating to have a chance of requesting Cindy''s hand in marriage¡ªbut joking aside, I wasn''t even sure if they were actually dating.


    He definitely skipped some steps or thought they were already on that level and if actions could speak louder than words, that kick in the head told me that it was pretty one-sided.


    But yeah, we talked for more specifics regarding our recently established alliance, and since they have to pass by the airport to get back to their ce, they''ll receive their goodie bag once they drive back with us a littleter.


    And in regards to Mr. & Mrs. Dewey and their children, since four of them would being with us¡ªI already asked them about June, and they agreed¡ªthey requested to cook us dinner and have a meal together with everyone.


    It was decided we''d all gather at the cafeteriater at around 6 PM, but as I was about to check in on Kaley and June with Quinn and Tatiana, Mrs. Dewey took me aside while Mr. Dewey just gave us a nce before he left the room. In addition, Mrs. Dewey looked like she wanted to talk to me privately so despite the look on Quinn''s face, I asked them to let us have the room.


    I waited for them to close the door behind them before I turned to Mrs. Dewey, "Something wrong?"


    "Not exactly but is the umm¡­ rtionship you have with your ''wife'' and these two otherdies¡ª Tatiana and Quinn real or not?"


    I was slightly confused, "It is but¡­ why do you ask?"


    Mrs. Dewey looked like she had a ton of things on her mind but she exhaled before she spoke, "Look¡­ Umm¡­ I have some concerns regarding June. And before you say anything and I say more, I want to preface this by I appreciate what you did for her¡­ June''s never been that open to talking to other people she just met and with Mrs.


    Rose''s passing, we thought she''d just hole up in her room again to y on her devices¡­"


    I softly exhaled, "That''s something any normal person should do, no?"


    She let out a smile, "That''s true and should be the standard, I guess, but June''s a little special¡­"


    I nodded, "She is."


    ''She''s in the same hacker group as na¡­''


    Mrs. Dewey''s eyebrows rose in surprise, "You already know?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Oh."


    "Why? What''s wrong? Hold up¡ª" I put my hand in front of her as I tried to see if we were on the same subject, "Looking at your face, we might be referring to two different things."


    Mrs. Dewey grew curious as she looked at my facial expressions, "What do YOU know that I don''t?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "Young man¡­"


    "Look¡­ There are just some secrets that even their parents shouldn''t know about, right? I don''t wanna assume but with Mrs. Rose, she probably had secrets with June too."


    She let out a long sigh, "I''m afraid you''re right¡­ There''s no denying that and as much as I would''ve hated to say this, they were closer than I''m with her¡ªeven with her dad or her siblings. Do you know that Mrs. Rose is blind?"


    "...! That''s¡­ That''s why she reads to her almost everyday¡­"


    "Not almost¡­ Every. Single. Day. To be honest, June doesn''t even like reading that much. She just did it for Mrs. Rose because in rtion to what you said, she just needed a person to talk to who is not one of her rtives."


    "..."


    "And after she reads or her for a couple of hours, it''s time for June to just talk about anything she wanted with Mrs. Rose, and in turn, Mrs. Rose would give her insights or stories from her life as well. They just talk like that for half a day without pause and it''s just the sweetest form of friendship ever despite the differences they have with each other¡­"


    Enjoy exclusive content from m v -NovelBin


    "I see¡­ That''s really nice."


    Then Mrs. Dewey''s face looked solemn, "And the¡­ And the reason I''m telling you all this is because you seem to be her new friend right now. Don''t worry, you''re not meant to rece Mrs. Rose in any way but¡­ but do know that¡­ that umm¡ª"


    "She''s trans?"


    "...! Then you already know¡­"


    I scratched the back of my head, "I don''t, actually¡­ well not 100% but with the way this conversation is going and how my eyes usually operate¡ªeven my untrustworthy gut instincts, including her small slip-up, I had my suspicions¡­"


    Mrs. Dewey was just staring at me in silence for a few moments before sheposed herself, "Umm¡­ Well¡ª That''s uh¡­ Technically speaking umm¡ª Huh. Wait, how do your eyes operate?"


    "Umm¡­ Not to sound like a creep or a pervert, but I see things notmonly seen unless normal people squint and observe for a long time normally¡ªand even with fully clothed people, I could somehow predict where each¡­ part¡­ is located with 90% certainty, give or take.


    And with how my brain works, I''ll see one thing and I could remember it for a lifetime, making me able to ce it in apartment of sorts in my mind pce for further examination or for running diagnostics among other things¡­ including other stuff I scanned with these eyes of mine¡­"


    "Huh¡­"


    "I don''t know if you''ll believe me but¡ª"


    "I¡­ I don''t see a reason why you''d lie¡­ I believe you."


    "Thanks?"


    "..."


    "...also¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "I¡­ Is she on HRT or something? She¡ª again, I don''t wanna sound like a creep but¡ª"


    Mrs. Dewey let out a soft chuckle, "She doesn''t ''look'' the type?"


    "I mean¡­ the voice, her physique, everything. Unless she''s been on it for a while and has the best people looking after her, she might also be you know¡­ Intersex or¡ª I''m not sure about the right terms but there are differences and¡ª"


    "You''re really scaring me right now, you know that?"


    "Huh?"


    She chuckled with a gentle smile, "You''re saying things I was just about to say out loud. Are you psychic?"


    "Hah! That''s funny, Kaley''s the one usually¡ª OH SHIT! KALEY!" I never stood up so fast.


    "W-What? What''s wrong?!"


    "SHE¡ª" I shook my head as I slowly sat back down, "No¡­ She''s probably fine¡­ She just took a shower with her¡ª She probably knew by now, is that okay?"


    Mrs. Dewey sighed softly, "They''re both women and I don''t think your wife would be that surprised. She doesn''t seem the type, you know?"


    I nodded, "She''s the coolest person I know about these things and I don''t think you should worry about it. If she hadn''t discovered June''s secret already, she''s probably apologizing to her profusely because she did drag her against her will. Kaley has a¡­ let''s just say a higher ''drive'' in that sort of thing but she respects boundaries of people, especially if it''s people she just met¡­"


    ''Not counting that other time¡­ It''s cool for me though¡­''


    "Your wife, Kaley, I mean¡­ Is she¡­ Is she okay with this arrangement of yours?"


    "Ah¡­ I don''t wanna call it the word ''me'' but she started it¡­ it''s been pretty great, actually¡ªnot to sound like I''m bragging or anything¡ªbut openmunication''s been our bread and butter. Actually, uhh¡­ we just had a major discussion just yesterday and it went pretty well if I say so myself¡­"


    With that said, I gave Mrs. Dewey a gist of what we talked about yesterday and the few things I could share with a random person regarding our special arrangement with other people. At first, Mrs. Dewey looked a little concerned for her daughters, especially Eden who she admitted was some sort of a caged bird wanting to spread her wings and fly, but let''s just say that Quinn calling Mrs.


    Dewey a progressive mom couldn''t be more true.


    Because with the extra time we had left, we discussed about safe practices, things specific to our circle, and most importantly, the chance that her daughters might get tangled with us in the time that they''d spent with us.


    "You¡­ You''re really cool speaking like this?"


    "Of course, are you?"


    "A little weird, sure, but do understand we aren''t gunning for everyone, okay? It''s just if we vibe or something and it clicks, we try and go from there. It could be a one-time thing or something more but our line is that Kaley and I are like this, *squeezes fists together* you know?"


    She snorted, "Apes together strong? Really?"


    "I¡­ I can''t think of a better example but yeah¡­ something like that."


    "Okay, I think I do understand but onest question before we leave this room¡­"


    "Okay, I''m all ears."


    "June¡­ How about her?"


    "Umm¡­ I¡ª"


    "I already know that you''re the only guy in your special arrangement¡ªwhich says a lot of things about your¡­ physical prowess¡­ but then again, June''s a special case, right? Since lines were getting blurred and all if she gets involved¡­ You said it yourself, she doesn''t ''look'' like one and technically isn''t one either but¡­ you get what I mean?"

 Chapter 1173: WHAT IF SHES BIGGER THAN ME?!

    Dropping this question right in my face¡ªespeciallying from June''s mother, just made me go back to the time Kaley and I first talked about this sort of topic. Unfortunately, I put it to the side because the honest truth was¡ªlike the things only Kaley and I were slowly experimenting on¡ªwere things I still wasn''t sure of myself.


    I fucking know those things were simply subject-adjacent with each other but my brain seemed to be running on all cylinders even though I wasn''t even sure what I should use it for.


    But yeah, I don''t want to get into the specifics of it but that was just where my brain was heading to.


    ''Do I find June attractive? S-Sure. Do we vibe? Of course! And¡ª A-And¡­ Umm¡­ Would I befortable doing sexual things with her? Depends on the acts¡ª and most importantly, will I befortable with her doing sexual things with Kaley?


    Again, depends on the act itself but¡ª AHHHHHHHHH!!!''


    As I was having an inner turmoil with my thoughts, I forgot I looked like I was just staring into dead space from Mrs. Dewey''s perspective. However, she was giving me enough time to process my thoughts which was for some reason, making her let out an involuntary smile but then again, I quickly found my solution to this problem and it was very simple at the moment:


    This was the type of thing I can''t decide on my own.


    Granted there were aspects I could decide on myself but as a whole, it should at least be decided by the parties involved and would-be involved, depending on the circumstances.


    ''I''m not even sure if June would be up for it but¡ª Ah¡­ She did get excited meeting me¡ª n-not that type of excited but¡ª Hmm¡­ I felt those soft pair for sure but the lower¡ª Argh! I can''t even think straight¡ª Fuck?! Really, Sky?! Can''t even think ''STRAIGHT''?! REALLY?!


    Haa¡­ If anything¡­ Kaley''d be crying tears of joy if¡ª Haaa¡­ I really should talk to them first about this¡­ Just in case but I don''t wanna assume¡ª Haaa¡­'' Readtest stories on m_v-l''e|-NovelBin


    And as I was talking to myself for the second time and looking into the abyss, I just thought of something even more dreadful but instead of just voicing it in my head, it was suddenly put into abrupt words:


    "WHAT IF SHE''S BIGGER THAN ME?!" I said fucking out loud.


    Mrs. Dewey never looked so shocked, "Umm¡ª What?!"


    "Did I just say that out loud?"


    "Yes."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Fuck¡­"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "I¡ª I''m sorry, I shouldn''t think like that of¡ª"


    She waved me off, "No worries, hun¡­ It''s a moremon thing than you think."


    "For real?"


    "It''s just that it''s the first time I heard someone say it to my face first. June''s reserved as she is but she does have many inte friends. I''m not sure about the specifics but sometimes, June would also talk to me about stuff and it''s one of those things that woulde up¡­"


    "Seriously? Come up? Are you¡ª"


    Mrs. Dewey was caught off-guard as she chuckled, "Oh¡ª I didn''t mean to say it like that but it''s a happy ident¡ª I¡ª I''m gonna stop¡­"


    "Yeah, there''s one other question I want to ask but¡ª"


    "Then ask away, isn''t this the right time to ask those questions?"


    I shook my head, "No, sorry. As much as I would''ve loved to know everything from the get-go, I think I should just talk to them¡ª no offense to you, of course, Mrs. Dewey. You''ve been a great help and very understanding of my inadequacies. I''m plenty sure you could''ve answered any of my questions but I think it would be better if I ask them myself, no?"


    "That''s true, but offending me? Gosh, that''s nonsense! You''ve been really great, actually¡­ So¡­"


    I nodded, "Yeah, I''ll think I''ll look for them now."


    "Alright, see youter young man. Take care!"


    On that note, Mrs. Dewey told me exactly where June''s room was, and from a quick check-in with Kaley through our radio channel, she told me toe quickly for some reason. There was this unbelievable excitement in her voice but I still walked at a normal pace as I made my way towards the two.


    It''s because I still needed to figure out the things running through my head but I still found the time too short even if time flows differently inside my mind pce.


    However, as soon as I knocked on the door and Kaley told me toe in right after, time felt like it slowed down again as I saw Kaley smiling from ear to ear:


    "What do you think?! Ah¡ª What do you think, boy?" Kaley suddenly lowered her voice to a slightly deeper register as she gave me this serious domineering look.


    To my surprise, Kaley was rocking some sort of wedding-adjacent dress turned into a gothic outfit: a tight¡ªvery tight¡ªcorset-like top¡ªwith leather straps and shiny buckles¡ªthat was pushing her tits up, exposing almost half of them out, and showing the contrast between the ck dress and her white skin.


    In addition, the bottom part had this cascading stylebined with the style of her top¡ªlike a pagoda had with itsyers but it had this high slit to the right side which exposed one side of her smooth legs and supple skin.


    And aside from the spiky tform shoes, Kaley was wearing these spiked bangles on her wrists and this jet-ck choker around her neck while her hair was in this simple ponytail where one side was braided tightly while the other had bangs to the side.


    Obviously, her makeup was on fucking point as well with the ck lipstick and the eyeliner but what almost pushed me off the edge was this fake tattoo sleeve of a tribal dragon coiling on her right arm. Even if it wasn''t an eastern dragon like mine, it still looked fucking sick and cool, it merged different styles into this Asian Gothic-Punk look.


    ''W-What am I here for, again? Ah, fuck! Right! Right! Here I go¡­ Dammit! Why''d she have to look like this?!''


    Seeing all that, it was safe to say that I was stunned in fucking ce, and if June¡ªwho was wearing basically the same type of clothes as earlier¡ªwasn''t here, I would''ve taken Kaley right then and there.


    But yeah, seeing me in such a state, Kaley quickly broke character as she puffed air in one of her cheeks as she cutely red at me:


    "I said what do you think, you doofus!"


    "I¡ª Uh¡ª U-Umm¡ª It''s¡ª Ah¡ª"


    "Pfft! Good enough. Right, June?!"


    June chuckled from the bed, "Yup! You do look really great tho! I can''t believe you got into my clothes¡ª Well not all of YOU but you managed to get in there! Can you even breathe normally?!"


    Kaley shook her head as she chuckled, "Barely! But yeah! Who would''ve thought you were hiding all that under your clothes?! You should show some skin from time to time!"


    June instinctively crossed her arms as she kept her legs shut, "You! S-Shut up! Despite all this, I''m still mad at you! You¡ª U-Umm¡­ you, uhm¡­ I¡ª W-We s-should tell him, right?"


    Kaley''s smile turned solemn as she nodded a few times. And after that, she slowly turned to me and looked apologetic as she opened her mouth:


    "Look, ummm¡­ we had a uhh¡­ an a-ident¡ª But we didn''t do anything! I swear! O-Once I umm¡ª knew that umm¡­ that, she¡ª uhh¡ª Look¡­" Kaley then turned to June once again, "Do you really want me to be the one to tell him?"


    As I turned to June as well, she also looked like a nervous wreck but as she nodded one final time for confirmation, Kaley leaned in to me with a face full of concern. However, right as she was about to drop the bomb on me, I pulled her close to my side and smiled at both of them solemnly:


    "I¡­ I already know."


    "Oh¡­ Then¡ª I swear I¡ª"


    I cut her off, "You don''t have to say anything, alright? I do trust you... But then again¡­ I¡­" I trailed as I looked straight at June as well, "I want us three to talk. I had an honest talk with Mrs. Dewey and it brought me to the time when *looking at Kaley* we first talked about this topic before¡­"


    June and Kaley nodded as they nced at each other, "Sure¡­/ Of course¡­"


    "Alright¡­ But before that¡­ I do have one very, VERY important question though¡­"


    June subconsciously cleared her throat as she kept eye contact, "I-I''ll answer anything¡­"


    Then I dropped my own bomb in front of them:


    "Real talk. Are you bigger than me?"


    "..."


    "..."


    As soon as I fucking said that, I could hear the wall clock ticking but it just turned toplete chaos right as I tried to ask the same thing:


    "June, I asked you a very simple¡ª Ow! ACK! ArcK! Kaley! What the fu¡ª"


    "YOU DOOFUS! I THOUGHT YOU WERE BEING FUCKING SENSITIVE AND SERIOUS AND YOU COME UP WITH THAT?!"


    "IT''S AN HONEST QUESTION! AND STOP HITTING ME! YOU''LL RUIN YOUR DRESS!"


    "I-I DON''T¡ª IT''S NOT ABOUT THE DRESS, YOU DOOFUS!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU GUYS ARE TOO MUCH! OH MY GOD, I''M CRYING!"


    To our surprise, June just started dyingughing as she tried to cover her mouth with her hands but just theplete randomness of my fucking statement sent her over the edge as she cried actual tears fromughing too much. However, as we eventually shared a good honestugh with each other, June just looked at me with a smile before she opened her mouth.


    "About that¡­"

 Chapter 1174: Labels - I-I’ll… I-I’ll show you mine if you s-show me yours…

    At this point, June and Kaley shared a nce again but June turned back to me with a¡ªsurprisingly enough, a very chill expression. It seemed like the two came to some sort of understanding but it didn''t take long before she told me that they had almost the same conversation I had with Mrs. Dewey.


    "Kaley and I have a good talk after uhh¡­ she saw ''me'', so¡­ as we stated, we didn''t do anything and we showered separately¡ª"


    "Then?"


    "Then what?" June asked as she slightly tilted her head.


    "Y-You know¡­" I trailed as I looked a few degrees lower.


    "Ah¡ª Pfft! Do you really want to know?!" June chuckled as she looked at me with sparkling eyes.


    I nodded sheepishly, "It''s¡­ It''s that important¡­ to me, at least¡­"


    Kaley cut in, "Why though?"


    June nodded, "Yeah, why? It''s not like¡ª"


    Kaley''s eyes suddenly went wide, "U-Unless¡­"


    June was confused for a slight bit before realization struck as well, "Unless¡ª Oh¡­ Oh! I¡ª Umm¡ª I, uhh¡­ Hmm¡ª A-ARE YOU IMPLYING WHAT I THINK YOU''RE IMPLYING?!"


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "Umm¡­ Why don''t we three sit down and have an honest talk?"


    June just looked straight into my eyes for a moment before she smiled and nodded, "Sure, I already told Kaley so¡­ I can''t believe I''m doing this but¡ª It''s a scary-good kind of thing, you know? But kind of liberating at the same time, so yeah¡­ I''m¡ª"


    At that point, June gave us¡ª or should I say, just me at this point, a very detailed exnation of¡­ of her.


    From what I understood, she was born with both genitalia, ssifying her as being Intersex, but since she was born into this hospital that the Deweys owned, instead of assigning her a legal sex by means of surgery¡ªwhich was the "normal" but controversial thing to do in these types of cases¡ªMrs. Dewey decided to hold it off until June could decide for herself.


    "H-Honestly, I really thought I was just a very weird boy at first but puberty came and I started growing t-tits¡­"


    I asked, "Why are you a weird boy if you just¡ª"


    Kaley cut me off, "You¡­ You better listen first¡­"


    "Right, sorry¡­ continue, please¡­" I said as I turned back to June.


    June just shook her head as she chuckled, "Well~ To answer your question, I found myself ''weird'' when I discovered that I don''t have any¡­ umm¡­ you, know those two things that should be hanging below my¡­ you know¡­"


    "Oh¡­ then¡ª"


    "Instead¡­ I¡­ I have umm¡­ ''lips''¡­ under there where the inside gets¡­ you know, w-when I get aroused¡ª e-excited, I mean, and umm¡­ but I don''t have that l-little bean that''s very s-sensitive to touch like every normal woman does¡­ But yeah, I dunno why but my¡­ boy part is extra, extra sensitive¡ªprobablypensating for something missing, you know?"


    "You know your body pretty well then?"


    "Yes¡­ Mom told me about my condition very early on and exined things even if I couldn''t understand most of them at the time¡­ She kept on though and I explored myself because there are very few books¡ªor none at all that could best describe what I am down there because my condition''s unique as is¡­"


    "I see¡­ It''s not a condition if you''re referring to it as a disease or something¡­ It''s just biology, no?"


    June let out a warm smile as she chuckled, "I dunno about that¡­ History suggested otherwise, but thank you, I may not be the exact same as the people who are like me¡­ But still, I''m very happy and thankful that Mom decided to hold off on the affirmation surgery at the time.


    I still have a, umm¡­ a slightly smaller p-penis¡ªto answer your question, and it does ''work''¡ªbut you know, inside my head, I still see myself as a woman¡­ not to sound too woke-ish or anything¡­"


    "No at all¡­ You''re just exining yourself, no?"


    June shrugged her shoulders, "A lot of people use a lot of buzzwords to identify and such and they get too mad when people new to the billion terms get it wrong but what they don''t get is that everyone makes mistakes. But at the same time, people don''t have the same views as each other. It''s just sad when I think about it more but isn''t it simpler if they just refer to everyone by their names?"


    I nodded, "That''s one way, of course, but people do get hung up onbels. The world offers a ton of information that could make any normal person insane if they take it all in¡ªaside from me, heh, because I''m already insane¡ª hol'' up, yeah, that''s probably why I''m slightly psycho so¡­ Where was I going again?"


    "The ton of information thingy, pfft¡­" June said as she slowly ced her arms by herp, sitting cross-legged.


    "Yeah, that one¡­ In my opinion,bels are used to create some semnce of order since we could call something, someone, or a collection that particr term easily but with how each individual in your particr spectrum is¡­ it just makesbeling much, much harder and confusing."


    "T-That''s true¡­"


    "It breeds a lot of chaos because some people couldn''t keep up or just straight-up deny your existence¡ªand at the same time, more and more specific terms keep getting added on because of different nuances, totally different to what people were used to for several years, but then again, it''s getting more personal and more unique to each person, more so to the fact that it was getting more difficult to just call them by their names¡­"


    "It''s just a way we could voice out that we''re also here but it just gets too personal for just that one part of one''s existence. There should be more than what we''re ''supposed'' to be called, right?


    That shouldn''t be the only thing to define us¡­ I know I''m different but I stick to a term that''s simpler because there''s more to me than being called my sex, gender, gender identity, you know the whole convoluted thing people fight about¡­"


    "I agree with that but yeah, existing¡ª don''t you fucking exist already? Seeing you right here is already proof, not tiptoeing around things I should and shouldn''t refer to you as. In addition, since you mentioned that you don''t fall into any of thoseplexbels while identifying as a woman¡­"


    "Go on¡­"


    "It might make it sound easier¡ªand don''t get mad at me on this but¡­ isn''t it anotheryer to take into ount due to how unique everyone is? How unique you are, me, Kaley, and everyone in this world. So in a sense,bels could onlybel so much if you think about it but it loses its meaning¡ªto make things simple and identifiable¡ªif we focus on it too much¡­"


    "...! That''s¡­ It''s kinda sweet though¡­ hearing these things from you¡­"


    I lightly smiled, "If we''re talking about me, I''d easily fall into very simple categories but if we dig a little deeper, I have a ton ofyers too¡­ It''s just that¡­ Hmm¡­ In the grand scheme of things, I think if we don''t get too extreme about it,bels do make everyone''s life easier but I also think we should not get too hung up on it from both sides, of course.


    People are people and you''re right, we could always stick to people''s names but it also wouldn''t hurt to be a little understanding, again, from both sides. We have a lot more problems than that¡­"


    "..." June and Kaley nodded slowly.


    I continued, "It''s definitely gonna be a ton of work to incorporate that but whaddayouknow, we just had a restart of sorts a year ago, so¡­ we could just leave it as is or add a few rows of information but not get too extreme or hung up about it¡­ I can''t believe how much I''m saying that phrase¡­ And again, some people don''t need to prove their existence because they already do and don''t get me wrong, everyone is special, of course, but there should be a bnce between things¡­ But yeah¡­ While we''re still on the topic¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Are you bigger than me or what¡ª OW! WHAT GIVES?! I AM CURIOUS, ALRIGHT?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! KALEY, STOP HITTING HIM!"


    "BUT¡ª RIGHT AS WE THOUGHT¡ª"


    "IT''S FINE! IT''S FINE¡ª OH GOD, MY STOMACH''S HURTING FROM LAUGHING TOO MUCH!"


    From then on, I tried to get back on Kaley by slightly choking her from the back but it just made her a little more visibly¡­ aroused. I definitely noticed the ragged-ness in her breath as I eventually let go but we just noticed that June''s face was also a little red while she was looking at us.


    An unbelievable amount of tension was surrounding us right now and it''ll only take one moment before we escted things abruptly.


    However, I believed that we were still far from heading in that direction because as of right now, mypletely honest question still wasn''t answeredpletely. In addition, these were very new waters I didn''t want to just plunge into and I wanted to learn as much as I could given we''re all being open books about it.


    I also wanna get my thoughts and feelings sorted and at the same time, I wanted Kaley and June to do the same thing too.


    But yeah, June took it upon herself as she slowly stood up to amodate me by offering the chance of some visual learning:


    "If¡­ If you''re that curious¡­ I-I''ll¡­ I-I''ll show you mine if you s-show me yours¡­"

 Chapter 1175: Junes Body I

    At this moment, all sorts of things were going through my head, but Kaley was keeping a close look on us¡ªespecially me¡ªand judging our reactions to see ourfort levels from the current situation. But yeah, since June offered, I nced at Kaley first before I nodded at her, prompting her to slowly unzip her hoodie instead of her pants.


    I actually thought she''d show me ''that'' right from the get-go, but there was order in these types of things, no?


    But yeah, Underneath her oversized jacket was actually a petite-ish figure with bits of fat in the right ces¡ªand slightly visible abdominal muscles¡ªpartly covered by her gray band shirt with a wide neckline and underneath that was her ck sports bra, and for her bottoms, she was wearing dark-faded jeans with all sorts of chains and buckles as her grey panties were slightly visible, partnering them with her custom Chuck Taylors.


    ''Fuck¡­''


    Aside from her face flushed from embarrassment, her whiteplexion stood out because of her wearing very dark-neutral colors, but she started to remove her shirt right until her thumbs were under her sports bra, showing a bit of her ample underboob and her very smooth pits.


    "I-Is this okay? I-I can''t just show you t-that first, right?"


    I swallowed a bit of saliva, "Umm¡­ You can d-do what''sfortable for you¡­ Want me to take off my top too?"


    "I-If you w-want to¡­"


    Putting aside how heavy Kaley was breathing right now, I was almost the same because I was nervous as fuck¡ªwe three were, honestly. But yeah, June''s eyes were glued to my torso¡ªespecially my abdominals¡ªbut her eyes would also wander around my pecs and my arms before continuing eye contact.


    "W-Wow¡­"


    "S-Sorry, I went ahead a l-little¡ª I mean, umm¡ª I usually don''t wear a¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ N-No¡­ It''s okay¡­ W-Wanna see m-my¡ª me?" June said as she slightly pushed up with her thumbs, showing more underboob and a but of her bottom cleavage.


    I nodded, "Yeah¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­ Ha¡­ H-Haa¡­"


    As June took the courage topletely take off her sports bra, the moment her round perky tits gave in to gravity and bounced¨Cjiggled as they were set free, anyone, I mean ANYONE could mistake June as a very beautiful woman. Not only were they shaped very nicely, but her pink puffy nipples protruding on each side coupled with her modestly-sized ares made me gulp seeing them for the first time.


    "W-Wow¡­"


    June crossed her arms and pressed them against her chest as she looked away, "Y-You''re lying¡­"


    "N-No, I''m not! T-They look really great, June¡­"


    She slightly turned her head towards me while red through her neck, "R-Really?"


    "Yeah, so¡­ D-Don''t cover them¡­"


    "...o-okay¡­"


    With her sheepish reply, she turned her head back to us as she let them free once more but to my surprise, she was looking straight at Kaley with a slight unwillingness.


    "T-That''s not fair¡­"


    "Hmm?" Kaley replied, a little confused.


    "S-Show me y-yours too¡­"


    I never agreed so fast, "Yeah, this is totally unfair¡ª"


    "Doofus¡­" Kaley chuckled as she smiled at us, reaching for the string to loosen the top part of her dress and revealing her huge breasts, "Happy?"


    June couldn''t help but bite her lip, "Y-You''re so pretty, Kaley¡­ I''m¡ª"


    "You''re very pretty too, June but do you wanna stay like this first or¡­ move further?" Kaley said before she turned to me, "That goes for you too, are youfortable with this?"


    I nodded before June answered:


    "W-What do you have in mind?"


    Kaley chuckled, "If you two aren''t up to it yet, we could still do plenty of things from the waist up¡­ For example¡­"


    At this moment, Kaley turned my head and gave me a peck on the lips as she made me grab her right boob. Squeezing them ever so softly made Kaley let out a few moans as I began tracing my fingers around her nipples but she beckoned June to step forward and join us as she made me pause while looking at me for permission:


    "Can I¡­ Can I, you know¡­ kiss June if she''d let me?"


    "Y¡ª Y-Yeah¡­" I replied as I turned to June, "Can she?"


    June took a few seconds of breathing deeply before she replied, "O-Of course, y-you can touch me t-too, if you want? K-Kaley said you r-really love b-boobs so¡­ B-Be gentle though¡­ N-No one''s touched them b-before¡­ o-or any part of me r-really¡­ N-Not even Kaley¡­"


    I gulped, "Can I kiss you too?"


    "R-Really? You want to?"


    "If you''d let me, s-sure¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­ I-I want you to¡­"


    At that point, we started with Kaley giving June her first kiss while my left hand was on June''s tit as the other was on Kaley''s ass. They started with simple pecks before Kaley started to incorporate her tongue which June took in very willingly and there was a moment when June started to tear up.


    "A-Are you okay, June? Did I do something wrong?"


    Kaley stopped kissing her as she looked at her with concern. However, June shook her head with a smile as she wiped the tears from her eyes as she responded:


    "N-No¡­ I-I can''t exin it b-but I''m just so happy right now¡­ I''m overwhelmed by something in my chest and I¡ª" June stopped herself as she looked at me, "C-Can I kiss you, too?"


    I nodded as I moved closer, "Of course¡­"


    With that said, I thought I''d feel a little ufortable or something along those lines because of June being June but I kissed her like any normal person would, and I''d just have to say that it didn''t feel any different.


    Not in a bad way of course, but with the way my head works, I thought it''d be a little different but soft lips were still soft lips, and let''s just say that June''s were one of the most kissable ones I had the privilege to meet with mine.


    So yeah, I grabbed her back and pushed her towards me, pressing her body against mine, and she just uttered a whimper.


    "Mmh¡­ N-Nnn¡­"


    June''s voice was a little strained when she was talking normally but when she was letting out these little moans, it was very girly and really sweet. After that, Kaley joined in as we began invading each other''s mouths, but the way June was pressing her chest against me told me she wanted to go a little bit further.


    So yeah, with a simple nce for permission, I moved my kiss down to her neck before I went for one of her aching nipples as her body reacted to my touch.


    At the same time, Kaley began kissing her as my hand slowly traced lower to June''s back, but once I made my way to her butt, I can''t fucking believe how soft they were to the touch even if I''m touching it over her jeans.


    I couldn''t help but knead on them more and more while I was sucking on her pink puffy nipples but as Kaley was invading her mouth at the same time, June''s whole body just jolted, breaking off her kiss with Kaley and drawing her hips back.


    In addition, her eyes just rolled to the back of her head before her tight grip on us suddenly lessened.


    "I¡ª Ha¡ª WAIT¡ª MHMmmhH! Ah¡ª K-Kaley¡ª S-Sky¡ª AHHH!!! S-Shiii¡ª"


    June immediately lost strength in her body as she fell back on the bed, and her face was just as red as it was earlier, looking at us helplessly while covering her crotch with her pants. At the same time, she was just trembling all over while getting bigger tremors in intervals, and she was just squeezing her crotch area to somehow alleviate everything she was feeling right now.


    "H-Ha¡­ Ha¡ª I-I¡ª Ha¡­ Haa¡ª I just c-came¡­ I¡ª Oh g-god, i-it''s cing again a-and¡ª How¡ª I¡ª MMmHH! S-Shi¡ª A-Ahnn~ I¡ª AH! C-CUmMminGggG!"

 Chapter 1176: Junes Body II

    At this point, it was safe to say that Kaley and I didn''t know what to actually do because it was our first time being with someone like June, but what we DO know was that if it felt good, we saw no reason for stopping.


    It was just the initial shock of seeing June having an orgasm from Kaley''s kiss and my touch, but what we were surprised even more was that June was capable of having multiple orgasms.


    But yeah, like with E, we wanted June to set the pace herself but once again, she was crying tears of joy as the feeling inside her eventually subsided.


    Kaley asked, "You okay, June?"


    June nodded with a smile, "I-I feel a-amazing¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I¡­ I d-didn''t even know w-what has h-happening¡­ I-I''m¡ª I''m s-soaked¡­"


    Kaley let out a smile, "Why don''t you take off your pants? I''ll¡­ I''ll clean you up? If you want?" then she turned to me, "C-Can I?"


    I nodded, "Of course¡ª"


    June cut in, "Clean u-up? How?"


    Kaley chuckled, "You''ll see¡­"


    At this point, it was safe to say that WE''LL also see¡ªeven if Kaley already caught a glimpse of it¡ªbut I''m gonna be honest and say that I was curious as well. Forgive the term, but from the descriptions June gave us, she made me thought of a hermaphrodite or a futanari-esque type of situation down there, and let''s just say that even Kaley was surprised to see June while part of her was aroused.


    But at the same time, I wasn''t sure why, but I was happy and relieved to see that aside from the not-so-puffy innie she had under there that was drenched with her juices, her girl-cock oozing with her cum wasn''t even half of me.


    ''Thank the fucking gods it was actually as she said¡­''


    But yeah, Kaley and I didn''t even notice that June was barely holding on to the embarrassment of us two beingpletely silent and just staring at her parts, so she addressed it while covering her face:


    "D-Don''t s-stare at it too much¡­"


    "Ah¡ª" Kaley was the first one to snap out of it, "I¡­ C-Can I touch it?"


    "Y-Yeah¡ª Mmh! Ah! I-It''s still so s-sensitive, I¡ª N-Not that o-one too¡ª MmH! K-Kaley! I¡ª CUMMING!"


    "A-Again?!"


    "HnGHhNHg!!! I¡ª A-Ah¡ª I-I told you I-I was r-really sensit¡ª AH!"


    To our surprise, as Kaley held June''s 3-inch girl-cock and slightly jerked her off while tracing her fingers down her pussy, June had another release¡ªand take note, from both her parts¡ªand she was struggling just from the lightest touch.


    It could be due to how sensitive she really was or with Kaley and I in the picture, but looking closer, her penis was a little pink-colored even though it wasn''t merged with her woman parts.


    However, Kaley continued to figure out June''s body as she asked June to spread her legs even more¡ªin which she submissively did¡ªand let''s just say that not only her inner lips were that pink, but also her little asshole.


    In addition, we also discovered that not only June didn''t have a clitoris, but her hymen was non-existent as well.


    But despite all that, when June gave Kaley the go-ahead to push in a finger inside her tiny pussy opening, we discovered that she still had her tiny, little G-Spot hiding right behind her girl-dick was located, and June wasn''t even aware of that.


    "HnGH¡ª WHAT¡ª W-What was that?! I¡ª S-STopppP¡ª C-Cumming a-again I-I¡ª AahhHHN!"


    At that point, even I had to stop Kaley for a little bit because she was getting too carried away in figuring out how June works.


    "I-I''m sorry, June, I¡ª Y-You didn''t know where your G-Spot is?"


    June shook her head while still trembling all over, "I-I¡­ I usually just t-touch my p-penis and I-I''m already a f-few orgasms in before I c-could explore m-my pussy¡­"


    Kaley gave her a peck on the cheek, "I''m kinda jealous, not gonna lie¡­ I thought I was the most sensitive one here but turns out¡ª Wait, we have to check something else too!"


    "W-What?"


    Kaley nced at me for a moment before she looked at June dead serious in the eye, "U-Umm¡­ H-Have you yed with your ass yet?"


    June got even redded, "M-My ass?!"


    "You haven''t?!"


    "I-I did¡­"


    "Then¡ª"


    "S-Same with my pussy, I-I haven''t gone¡­ d-deep yet¡­"


    "W-Would you like to see if you have ''that'' in there too?"


    "Y-You mean? Oh¡­ that?"


    "C-Can I?! Please?!"


    "O-Of course¡­ W-We''re already doing¡ª G-Go s-slow though¡­"


    At this point, I wasn''t even mad that I was just watching but it didn''t take long before we discovered that June had a prostate¡ªthough smaller as well¡ªdeep in her tiny pink asshole. And to reward her for being such a good sport, Kaley began sucking her off and June obviously came in seconds.


    And yeah, it was another thing that we discovered about June that she''d stay mostly erect even after cumming, but she waspletely helpless to do anything else.


    I actually thought I''d feel something bad when Kaley began sucking another person''s dick¡ªwho was Intersex, technically speaking¡ªbut I guess if it wasn''t a person that looks like an actual guy, I wouldn''t have the urge to lop their heads off. In addition, seeing June''s size doesn''t scare me either way and I soon felt that she should see what she''s dealing with.


    So yeah, once Kaley cleaned her up nicely, her eyes were already saying that it wasn''t fair that Kaley and I were still partly clothed, but once she caught some shade from being under "my" shadow, she finally knew one of the reasons why that if she was with me, she''d be mostly on the receiving end.


    June was almost cross-eyed when she was face to face with my 9-inch cock which was also double the girthpared to hers, and her girl-cock was just twitching nonstop and oozing precum while I was standing on top of her.


    "H-Holy fucking s-shit¡­ Mnh¡­"


    She looked like she just came from seeing my cock and let''s just say she also took a big gulp when she saw Kaley''s flower.


    However, even Kaley could say that June was more interested in having my cock punch her throat but she was aplete beginner and she needs some proper guidance. Kaley did the same thing with E just yesterday, and I couldn''tin that it was bing amon urrence.


    Kaley grabbed June''s hand and ced it over my cock, "You can touch it like that first¡­ Don''t worry, he won''t cum as fast unless you want to¡­"


    "I-I''m sorry¡ª"


    "N-No no, that''s pretty hot in it''s own way but what do you think?"


    "I-It''s so big¡­ hard¡­ w-warm, a-and v-veiny¡­"


    "Yes, it is¡­ Why don''t you do it with both hands?"


    June simply followed, "L-Like this?"


    "Yeah, just like that¡­ See him enjoying your soft hands?"


    "I-I guess he is¡ª MmH! Kaley, you''re touching my b-boobs¡­"


    "They''re pretty soft¡­ I love them¡­"


    "T-That''s¡ª"


    "Don''t stop jerking him¡­ See that on the tip? Lick it."


    "Y-Yes, K-Kaley¡­ MmNnh¡­ Mm¡­ Ahmn¡­"


    "That''s it¡­ Why don''t you just put your lips around the tip while jerking him?"


    "Mnh¡­ O-Okay¡­ I-I''m getting d-dizzy though¡­"


    "That''s pretty normal, it''s your first time after all¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­ AHm¡­ Hmn¡­ Ah¡­"


    As June was giving me the sloppiest but fairly enthusiastic blowjob ever, Kaley kept touching her in all the right ces except for her most sensitive part which was also leaking a lot of precum. And with all that we witnessed and what was happening, let''s just say that I was very close to blowing my first load and Kaley definitely knew that as well.


    So right as June was giving me head like she was in a daze, she pressed even more on June''s body as she whispered in her ear:


    "Now don''t back up, he''s gonna cum¡ª" Then she turned to me, "Now!"

 Chapter 1177: A little bit at a time...

    As Kaley just gave me that look that sent me over the edge, I just let out a short grunt before my thick warm load filled June''s warm and wet mouth.


    "Wha¡ª HmnGHgH! KacK! Hackh¡ª UmnGh¡­ MmN¡­ Hn¡ª Nnnh¡­"


    Kaley smiled as she hugged June even tighter, "That''s it¡­ That''s it¡­ you already know what to do, huh?"


    "HnnmGh¡­ Nhg¡ª Mn¡­"


    From my point of view, June''s eyes just widened in shock from the amount that filled her mouth but as she felt some of it dribble down to her chin, she began slurping anything that she could¡ªthough her hands had already stopped moving¡ªlicking off the tip of my cock and sucking off anything that was stilling out right after.


    June''s face was a fucking mess after drinking several mouthfuls of my cum but Kaley never looked happier as she turned her around to have a taste of what was left.


    But yeah, from what we did yesterday night with E and what we were doing with June right now, Kaley had been holding back a lot. She didn''t even notice her juices dripping down her thighs as she was touching June now and earlier, so I took it upon myself to fully satisfy my wife:


    "I''m sorry, June, as much as I would love to split you in half, I want Kaley¡ª"


    Kaley shook her head, "N-No, I''m¡ª H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ still fine¡ª"


    June cut her off while still catching her breath, "N-No¡­ I¡ª Ha¡­ I need to take a l-little rest¡­ I-I was cumming nonstop for a while n-now¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Nothing''s justing out a-anymore¡­"


    Kaley sheepishly turned to June before she slowly stood up, "Well¡­ I-If you put it like that¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long before Kaley rode me while I was sitting on the side of June''s bed, and she actually came from the first insertion. However, I began to thrust my hips from below while my hands were supporting her back, and Kaley just lost her mind while June was haphazardly watching us with her girl-cock in hand.


    Kaley could only moan my name as she was stuffing my head between herrge breasts and she let out a yelp right as I pped her juicy peach from below.


    But yeah, I began kneading them while my dick was going in and out of her meaty cunt but it didn''t take long before I began pushing a finger inside her tiny asshole. The moment my middle finger got as deep as it could, Kaley''s walls just contracted as she had another violent orgasm right as I was viting each of her fucking holes.


    "H-HNGH! Y-YessSS! YES¡ª AH! Y-You''re doing it again¡ª YOU''RE DOING IT A-AGAIN¡ª AH! SLAP THAT ASS! S-SLAP¡ª HNGH!


    aH! AH! a-aAH! Y-YOU''RE BITING MY NIP¡ª MMMH!"


    With Kaley''s breasts as big¡ªor even bigger than my head, I could barely see anything aside from her smooth skin between her soft and firm cleavage, but I managed to have one hand in her ass, one in her breasts, my lips on her nipple, and my dick in her cunt all at the same time.


    We did change positions a few times but I never had the chance to taste her lips from those moments. Don''t get me wrong, I would''ve loved to be invading Kaley''s mouth as well but hearing her moans was just something else, but the surprising thing was that June had a faster-than-normal recovery period, mostly.


    "G-God¡­ You two are so h-hot¡­ I-I already came five times w-watching and¡ª Hngh¡­ Ah¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    Right when Kaley and I had a brief pause, we got a good look at June who was still as red and as out of breath, one hand in her cock and her pussy with the other, pleasuring herself in her lonesome butpletely satisfied from just watching the show. She didn''t even move from thest ce we saw her but Kaley and I had already switched to different positions, as she continued to watch from afar.


    Kaley and I knew that June had never been with anyone besides us butpared to E who passed out at the beginning stages, even if June was watching Kaley and I go at each other, she was pleasuring herself and cumming all at the same time. However, we could clearly see how clear the liquiding out of her she-cock, and it wasn''t as 80% erectpared to earlier.


    Kaley got off me and looked at June apologetically, "W-We''re sorry, we should''ve let you join, right?" Kaley then turned to me, "Right?"


    I nodded without question, "Of course, I''ll let you do anything Kaley would let you do to her but you do know what happens to someone with the smaller cock?"


    June never looked so confused, "W-What happens?"


    Kaley chuckled as she lightly elbowed me, "Doofus, you''re fine with it? June going inside me?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "As long as it''s not in me, sure!" then I leaned in to whisper, "You get my first, right?"


    "...! You! Stop it, alright?! I¡ª" Kaley got so red but she was nevertheless happy, "B-But yeah, what if I wanted to fuck June instead?"


    June cut in as she slowly made her way towards the bed, "I-I''m confused, how¡ª Oh¡­ You mean using toys?"


    Kaley nodded, "Would you want me to?"


    June didn''t take long to think, "Sure, of course! I-I dunno if it''s just me but I-I cum too fast w-with my p-penis¡­ I''m not sure if I tried with my other ones if¡ª"


    My eyebrow raised, "Other ones? Are you willing to take it anywhere else too?"


    June chuckled, "I mean¡­ I do y with them too but after seeing you two do ''that''... If I''m not this tired, I would''ve let you two have your w-way with me¡ª Ah¡ª D-Did I just say that?! Ha¡ª I''M NOT S-SEX CRAZED, ALRIGHT?! IT''S JUST¡ª"


    Kaley and I chuckled before I said, "It''s like the dam''s been breached, huh?"


    Kaley added, "Also, I''m a little sex-crazed too, so don''t worry too much about it. It''s about finding the right people to do it with¡­"


    June turned sheepishly to Kaley, "Really? Did I find the right people?"


    "It''s up to you, really¡­ Would you want to do more with us in the future? You had fun, right?"


    "O-Of course! I¡ª I-It''s not like I''m touch-deprived o-or anything which is also true but¡­ F-For some reason, I-I feel reallyfortable with you t-two¡­ I-I did try talking to o-other people but I-I bail each and every time¡­ But now¡­ I-I *sniffs* I-I''m really just h-happy¡ª"


    "OH, JUST COME HERE AND GIVE US A HUG¡ª There we go~"

 Chapter 1178: Pillow Talk - THEY BROKE THE TREATY!

    From then on, June had a good cry¡ªprobably a mix of both emotions this time¡ªbut as we got cleaned up in her shower, Kaley''s back to her usual getup while June decided to show a little bit of skin by wearing her other jacket that exposed her mid-riff.


    In addition, its hood had a cat ear-like design¡ªwhich looked really cute¡ªespecially since the furing out of them was also the same as June''s hair color.


    But yeah, we still had a lot of time before dinner so we just stayed at the same ce while talking about random shit:


    "For real?!"


    June nodded while chuckling, "Yep! I can pee in either p-part but not at the same time."


    "But you can cum from both¡ª Huh. That''s really cool."


    "R-Really?"


    Kaley asked, "H-How about our monthly cycle? Do you¡­ you know?"


    June nodded again, "I do have them and Eden said it''s unfair I only have them for a day or two¡ªand before you ask, it onlyes out in the u-usual spot¡­"


    "Interesting¡­"


    "The cramps I get is a little more intense though¡­ I won''t leave the bed unless I have to but for some w-weird reason, t-touching my penis¡­ you know¡­ while moving my hands up and down kind of helps¡­" Continue reading stories on mvl


    Kaley shook her head with a little bit of animosity, "That IS unfair. Masturbating really helps but in my case, it''s messy unless I do it in the shower¡ª and I can''t be in that mindset when my flow''s really heavy¡­"


    June tilted her head, "What do you mean by heavy¡ª"


    Kaley huffed with a smile, "You really are special, June¡ª"


    "W-What''s with the suddenpliment?!"


    "But you are!"


    I added, "You are, June¡­ But yeah, have you got your blood work done?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Your Mom mentioned that you''re on HRT so I''m just wondering what''s it like."


    "Hmm~ It''s been a while since we''ve done it but it''s pretty much all over the ce. It''s like a see-saw each time we get my results and my doses for them change depending on those results as well. Sometimes I get more for men¡ª what do you call it? Testosterone? You know, if it gets too low and I get less if I look like I''m growing more muscle than normal."


    I nodded, "You''d look great if you¡ª No, you choose what you want to look like, I don''t¡ª"


    June got right up in my face, "W-What''s your ideal body type then?!"


    I quickly answered as I pointed at Kaley, "Her."


    June snorted, "Of course¡­ Why did I even ask~"


    Kaley chuckled as she looked at me, "Smooth~"


    I put my hands up, "Real talk though, I''m all for loving one''s body but there''s still a limit, no? If someone gets too fat from eating junk or bulks up too much from using gear, how can you say that you love your body if you''re putting yourself in those extreme states? Some people also have unfortunate conditions but that''s not a reason to just let themselves go, right?


    Love your body to not feed your delusion but to be your best version of yourself¡­"


    June was taken aback, "Holy~ I didn''t expect that out of the blue, pfft¡­"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "I''m just saying, I used to be really~ fat and I got to where I am¡ªand I could''ve achieved more if I took gear but I decided against it. It''s about finding the right bnce, not to sound too preachy¡­"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "A little, but it''s okay."


    June smiled, "Yeah~ I did have a lot of problems, mostly mental, when growing up and changing¡ªsome of which caused me to stay home¡ªnot because of what other people have done to me but what I thought they might do. Don''t get me wrong, I did get called a few unsavory things pretty early on at school but I was lucky to have my family, Mrs. Rose, and now¡­ you guys¡­ so, thank you."


    I overemphasized getting taken aback, "HOLYYY~~~ I didn''t expect that out of the blue¡ª"


    June got red in the face again, "You¡ª S-SHUT UP!"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "Kaley! Not you too!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "You guys are being mean to me!"


    "We''re not! A little but¡ª Hold up, it''s been a while since you stopped getting bloodwork, right?"


    "Yeah, why?"


    "Then¡­ You WERE on HRT not on it? How could they decide on your doses without the results?"


    "Ah¡ª T-That''s right, I suppose¡­"


    "What do you feel though?"


    "I¡­ I dunno¡­ I didn''t even realize that¡ª Huh. If anything, I feel so pretty right now, not gonna lie. Being with you two? I didn''t even think you''d be interested in me."


    Kaley asked, "Can I ask why?"


    "I mean¡­ It''s just my¡ª It''s my assumptions about myself and you guys¡ª I mean, everyone else besides me, you know? I still have some issues to get over but the floodgates did open and I just went along with it¡­ But yeah¡­ What now?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Well¡­ I did say we can do things in the future but I''m not blind, I''ve heard everyone react when my sister, Cindy, called Dick Maul over here shrimp dick¡ª"


    Kaley snorted, "Dick Maul?! PFFT!"


    "What? You two call it something else?"


    I rolled my eyes, "Me and my dick''s known by many names¡­ You just added another one¡­"


    Kaley went back to subject, "If we''re talking about everyone else in our circle, it''s up to you, really. You can join in with us or have something like this again but I''ll assure you that they''ll be cool with it. But yeah, there are a couple of people you should be a little worried because they¡­ they''re a little intense."


    "Q-Quinn and Tatiana?" June asked.


    Kaley and I nodded, "Yep," Kaley added, "We do get intense sometimes but we match it with our current partners. Except for the time we got carried away earlier¡­"


    "T-That''s pretty hot actually¡ª"


    And as June was in mid-sentence, we suddenly heard loud thumps from the door and it seemed like we summoned the Alpha-Bitches as we were talking about them:


    "HEY! WE KNOW YOU''RE IN THERE! I''LL COUNT TO THREE OR I''LL BREAK THE DOOR¡ª"


    "Quinn! Just turn the knob."


    "AH¡ª Huh. WELL I''LL STILL BREAK THE DOOR BECAUSE I CAN SMELL YOU FUCKS HAD SEX WHILE WE''RE BUSY¡ª IT HAS HAPPENED TWICE ALREADY AND I''M NOT THAT HAPPY BECAUSE YOU SHOULD BE KNOCKING ME UP EVERY CHANCE YOU GET!"


    Tatiana added, "And yeah, dinner''s ready¡ª"


    "WHY''D YOU HAVE TO TELL THEM THAT?! WE''RE JUST TRYING TO¡ª FUCK! DINNER''S READY, YOU FUCKS! OPEN THIS¡ª"


    "Just turn the fucking knob!" Tatiana eximed with an amused tone.


    "YOU''RE NOT HELPING ME, YOU KNOW?!"


    Then the three of us shouted at the same time, "IT''S OPEN! TURN THE KNOB!"


    "GODDAMMIT¡ª" Quinn did turn the knob but she still kicked the door open for effect, but as sheid her eyes on us with an unamused expression, Tatiana cut in after taking in a good whiff of the room:


    "You," Tatiana confusedly pointed at June, "You''re¡­ S-Something smells¡­ different¡­"


    June never looked so nervous, "W-What do you mean¡ª"


    "I smell cum," Tatiana said before taking in the air again, "Different kind of cum¡­"


    "W-What are you talking about¡ª"


    Tatiana cut June off again as she pointed at me, "I know how his cum smells but this¡­ there''s a mix¡­ too different though¡­ Kind of sweet and fragrant and it''s something I never encountered before but I''m sure it''s cum. Girly cum?"


    Then realization struck as Quinn and Tatiana''s eyes widened.


    "OH SHIT!/ NO WAY!"


    "I-IT''S FROM ME, ALRIGHT?! HOW''D YOU KNOW?!"


    "IT''S A TRAP!/ THEY BROKE THE TREATY!"


    "Woah, woah, woah¡ª STOP! STOP!"


    "CAN WE SEE IT?!/ ARE YOU BIGGER THAN HIM?!"


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Long story short, Kaley and I had to beat up the Alpha-Bitches but they quickly recovered once we ate dinner.

 Chapter 1179: Back to the Airport - Renegotiation with Captain Ignacio?

    The Deweys graced us with a very scrumptious meal which focused more on their homegrown vegetables and only using the meat products we sent them as very small sides like bacon sprinkles for the sd or a few chunks mixed in with the pasta made with zhini, basil, mushrooms, and tomatoes.


    But yeah, Kaley and I were sitting between June, for obvious reasons, and different people who noticed our behavior¡ªincluding Quinn and Tatiana¡ªwere having different revtions for different reasons.


    Eden seemed like she knew something was going on but wasn''t 100% sure of the specifics while Megan and Alexa were 100% sure of what happened between us and June but weren''t exactly sure why Quinn and Tatiana were acting like they discovered a hoard of treasure waiting to be explored.


    On that note, Mrs. Dewey definitely knew what went down but she couldn''t believe how fast our progress was with June because we were only here for a little more than 12 hours.


    Because aside from June wearing clothes that had a little less fabric than earlier, she was now showing more of her cute face by tying her hair in a ponytail instead of letting most of them cover her face. In addition, she was also wearing a bit of makeup which Kaley did for her and it was just the right amount that wouldn''t cause a smokebomb in case she got pped.


    On another side note, a couple dozen soldiers from the US Navy''s side joined us for dinner including another three dozen for different fields, and they were all assigned here semi-permanently¡ªsince we''ll rotate most of them around¡ªbecause it was one of our agreed terms for taking four of their children and what this ce needed more than just top-ups.


    It only took a little more than an hour before we bid the Deweys, our troops, and everyone else goodbye, and we quickly made our way back to the airport with the people from the Idress Maritime Academy.


    But funnily enough, they had more people who came for a "visit", and the Admiral wanted all of them to go through me.


    ''Slimy as fuck¡­ I guess they''ll soon learn like Mr. Guzman¡­''


    Granted Mitch would be 51% owner the moment they depart, but these people shouldn''t skip their negotiations with me by going straight for the highest-ranked officer avable. Also, since we aplished a two-day work in half the time, the Admiral moved up their departure for tomorrow morning and he requested some well-deserved dinner and some final alone time with his daughter, E.


    And of course, our certain promise with E would be dyed, but I figured we''d stay in this ce for one more day or maybe two, before we go back to my ce.


    It was because I needed to figure out with Mitch as to who would be left and how we''d proceed because almost everything I did today was to fix up their inventories and personnel profiles, but none of those included which ones would being our going¡ªbut to be fair, the final list wasn''t even finalized.


    Admiral Burke was making abrupt decisions on the fly and it was making our schedule like an improv skit.


    But yeah, as soon as my group settled in our spruced-up suite, Mr. nco came knocking with an apologetic expression:


    "Uhh, excuse me, Mr. Ishiyama¡­"


    I chuckled almost immediately seeing him, "I thought you''d prove yourself to the Deweys? Why are you here?"


    "Yeah¡­ About that¡­ With the people from this ceing over there, it seemed like they didn''t need the help¡­ I tried insisting but they told me I should win Cindy''s heart first before trying to ask her hand for marriage¡­"


    "That sucks¡­ but why are you here?"


    "Ah¡­ Captain Ignacio would like to formally apologize to you and request an audience¡­ We did have an arrangement already but the Captain wanted to negotiate a little more. Would that be possible?"


    I simply replied, "You know, we could''ve saved a lot of time if you came in with him or any other people who wanted to talk. I don''t wanna be that gut too, but I''m not seeking him out myself because in a couple of hours, I''m due for another meeting with the Admiral''s officers and I want to sneak in a few lightpounds before that¡­"


    Mr. nco nodded, "Then can we work out with you? Two birds in one stone?"


    "Sure. Just don''t steal the tes from Quinn, I barely had the 35s to myself¡­"


    He let out a smile for some reason, "A-Alright, I''lle back with them in a short bit."


    On that note, everyone in my group¡ªlike everyone, including the guys¡ªwere lounging in our suite, so sex was off the table, at least after the meeting or after midnight, but Quinn never looked so happy when Mr. nco''s group came in with several 45-pound tes among various gym equipment.


    ''That''s why~''


    "NOW GIVE THEM WHATEVER THEY WANT! I CAN FINALLY HAVE A NORMAL WARM-UP!"


    "T-That''s your warmup?!" June eximed while a few others like Eden and Cindy were also shocked to fuck.


    "ARE YOU FUCKS INSULTING ME?! MY WARMUP''S ALWAYS THREE PLATES EACH!"


    "Jesus¡­"


    With that said, a middle-aged man with a built body, a captain''s insignia on his service uniform, and partly graying hair came up and introduced himself and his group:


    "You must be Mr. Ishiyama¡ª Special Officer or something¡ª"


    I shook my head, "I don''t even know my exact rank but I go by ''Kid'' these days¡­ C''mon, let''s talk by the bar. What''s your poison?"


    He put his hands up, "I don''t think alcohol''s a great way to meet someone¡ª" Read exclusive content at mvl


    "It''s an honest way to meet someone. We aren''t even getting hammered. Just a ss?"


    "Haa¡­ Alright, what do you have?"


    "I don''t actually know, we''ll see¡­"


    "Ah¡ª Bourbon or Whiskey then¡­ But I''ll drink whatever."


    "Got it."


    On that note, aside from Captain Ignacio, Mr. Guzman, and Ms. Ng, a Sergeant and a Staff Sergeant also sat in with us, namely: Mr. Cruz and Ms. Chua who looked to be in their mid-30s, keen on learning who the fuck I was.


    And as I poured each of them a drink and mest, I downed my ss almost immediately before looking at all of them:


    "So yeah, to what do I owe the pleasure?"


    Mr. Ignacio went straight to the point, "I''ll start by apologizing because as we sent Mr Guzman and Ms. Ng over to the Deweys, we thought we could also negotiate here but the Admiral firmly told us no. So I''d¡ª We''d like to formally apologize for it if we caused any offense."


    I nodded, "Okay, apology epted. He could''ve sent you to meet with Mitch but I guess he has his reasons."


    "Ah, I was told Mr. Davis was back in the Main Harbor and wasn''t able to meet with us and we were explicitly told to wait for you instead."


    "I see¡­ Then, I''m here now. Mr. nco said you''re here to renegotiate?"


    "About that, we''re looking to obtain a fishing boat or two and some fuel you obtained for yourselves from all around the freeport zone in exchange for a good percentage of our catches and a shipment of lumber. Also¡­"

 Chapter 1180: Just be nice. - Dad wanted to talk.

    Hearing Captain Ignacio''s proposal, I didn''t think I was really needed but let''s just say that there was an order in things that Admiral wanted us to do business. But at the same time, there were just things that could be delegated to other people instead of looking for me every single time.


    But yeah, it seemed like with the overabundance of aquatic resources everyone else forgot that we could farm them instead of heading out and catching them every single time.


    Both options were easily doable though one yed an active role while the other was a more passive and time-consuming one. In addition, building natural fish ponds flew over everyone''s head because Subic Bay was supposed to be a tourist spot, so most of the fish ponds built on the water were somece else.


    Captain Ignacio just had the realization, "I¡­ I¡ª Huh. I suppose that''s one option. Still, we''d need people watching over them and feeding them."


    I nodded, "That''s very true but as you''ve said, you need boats and fuel for the easier thing and you do know how valuable fuel is. It''s much cheaper to make fish food than to trade in fuel every single time you go out, right?"


    "I¡ª"


    "Here''s another suggestion, we can still hand you some for a few trips but wouldn''t it be better if we handle the bulk of fishing while we have your group take care of some of them?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "The people over at the Main Harbor have fishing vessels that could go further out and catch more fish at a time so we could hand over maybe¡ª a portion of our catches to you as a start. You''re free to do whatever you want with them but farming them by constructing fish ponds is the way to go. You''ll have your own supply in due time and we''ll save on fuel costs."


    "That could work but¡­"


    "Problem?"


    "Not exactly but taking handouts¡ª"


    "Those aren''t handouts. Investments mostly¡­ We aren''t even making you do much since we''ll be constructing fish ponds of our own and preparing each fish by smoking, curing, etc., and I was thinking, since you have ess to a zoo, would you be willing to take on farm animals?"


    Mr. Guzman answered enthusiastically, "O-Of course! Ah¡ª Apologies."


    I shook my head, "None taken," then I turned back to Captain Ignacio, "What do you think? Alligator meat is good and all but nothing beats chicken or any regr ol'' meat we''re used to, no? Again, we''ll take care of our own animals here but since we''re already sending some to the Deweys, I think it''s fair to send you what we could also spare."


    Captain Ignacio sighed, "I''m not really sure why you''re doing this¡ªand I''m very happy, don''t get me wrong but¡ªisn''t this a little too much? What would you even have us do in exchange?"


    I looked at him solemnly, "Do you want the honest truth?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    "The truth is, we don''t need any of you."


    "...! That''s¡­ U-Umm¡ª"


    "And I''m not joking about that. With the things we umted and the territories we upied, reimed, rebuilt, etc. We''re pretty much set¡ªrtively speaking andpared to others¡ªand we could focus more on the dead and how each person is living together."


    "..."


    "I don''t mind going on runs myself and it''s actually pretty exciting for me but now, the bulk of what I did these past few days was manage people and our resources. A little boring, sure, but I get the job done. And other than that, the most important thing to do next was to talk to you guys and other people like the Deweys and bridge a connection, why?


    Because not only is it the right thing to do but also the next step once we secure ourselves. I did say we''re set but we shouldn''t deny Murphy''s Law, no?"


    "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong¡­"


    "Exactly. And with that said, having to work with more and more people is all sorts of trouble as well but if you do it right and be fair on all ounts, the percentage of anything going wrong will get less and less. We can obviously strongarm all of you to a losing deal but we didn''t. It almost got to that because of how Mr. Guzman spoke to us earlier but it''s water under the bridge, right?"


    Mr. Guzman almost choked on his drink, "A-Ah, if you say so but I do apologize for my a-actions earlier¡­"


    "Taking that for example, it''s true that some people might be inclined to take advantage of the situation but in essence, we do have the power to fuck shit up and straighten that crookedness maybe hopefully due to being on yourst straw.


    It''s true that the Admiral will leave with the Eisenhower tomorrow as well but you don''t wanna fuck with us even if we lost that trump card¡ªbecause we can afford it, the same with the valuable resources we''re giving away¡­"


    "...that''s¡­ we would never¡ª"


    "In short, why don''t we all just get along where I''ll be nice and you''ll be nice to me back? Is that even difficult?"


    "I-It''s not¡­ Pretty easy, actually¡­"


    "So why is everything so fucking difficult?"


    "..."


    "I''m still taking Mr. Guzman as an example but do know we''re over it, okay? I''m just prattling on just because. But yeah, I might''ve forgotten about the world ending and turning everyone to pieces of shit but if you''re talking with me and needed a favor, just be fucking nice about it and tell me straight up so we can figure out what to do, alright?


    Also, thanks for the 45-pound tes, Quinn''s very happy with those¡­"


    At this point, everyone was stunned but a few of them started to look down in shame, especially Mr. Guzman. I actually wouldn''t put it against him for acting that way, because I''d probably do it as well, given the chance¡ªand shamelessness should be part of a negotiator''s repertoire but yeah, it was just a case of wrong ce and wrong time.


    In any case, our silence was broken by the sound of Quinn repping out 585 pounds for reps in her ass-to-grass squats, and it was making the submissive folks feel a certain way.


    But yeah, everyone in the bar shared a couple more drinks as I poured them, and it was the beginning of a new partnership between people. Captain Ignacio and I finalized more shit and specifics on both ends¡ªlistening to Mr. Guzman and Ms. Ng''s inputs¡ªand it was decided that they bring more people in here for training in exchange for the same number of people to bolster their forces.


    It was pretty much the same arrangement we had with the Deweys except they''d all stay here unlike June and the rest.


    I wished I could''ve talked to some of their cadets or other people in training in person, but we''ll just see what tomorrow will have in store for us. But yeah, it didn''t take long before E came in with Jennifer, but she looked like she wasn''t in the mood for talking. However, her face quickly lightened up when we met eye-to-eye, but it quickly went sullen again as Jennifer approached from behind:


    "Hey¡­"


    "Yo, something wrong?"


    "Hmmp¡­ Nothing, Dad''s just calling for you, he said they''re leaving early tomorrow, they wanted to talk."

 Chapter 1181: Plans for tomorrow - Kadena Air Base?

    Hearing that, I looked for Kaley and told her I''d be away for a while and she gave me a quick peck on my cheek as Jennifer and I made my way to where the Admiral and the others were. They obviously made the ATC room our strategic room of sorts, but I discovered that not only Mitch was present with the few other higher-ranked officers but also Bartow.


    To my surprise, it was because the two were being promoted, Mitch to Captain and Bartow to First Lieutenant¡ªalongside others who had gone a rank or two as well for staying behind and holding the fort.


    ''He looks like he recovered fast¡­''


    The hardass actually gave me a mocking nce when walking back to his seat while holding his new rank given to him, but it kinda lost meaning when everyone was getting promoted left and right.


    In any case, I do respect the ranks people were in but since I was in a special unit, my name and unofficial title carried the weight instead¡ªand it applies to all the different groups I''ve interacted with.


    But yeah, when my turn came, I received more than a handshake and a new patch to sew onto my uniform, and it involved a Chinook, a US drone, and a five-man unit that should only answer to me and me alone.


    However, those rewards were contingent on keeping E safe and other fatherly things that E wasn''t amused about and requiring me to give a weekly report on everything that was going on concerning this ce and his people.


    In essence, it still felt like I was given a babysitting job instead of those incentives¡ªwith E being the actual recipient of those rewards¡ªbut with my current rtionship with E, I''m pretty sure she doesn''t give a fucking damn about those rewards and simply wanted to be her own self and do her own thing.


    ''It''s not like a fashion designer had a use for those things so yeah¡­''


    But then the Admiral spoke up and addressed everybody:


    "Look, these promotions may have been more special or significant if you received them before the world was taken over by the dead¡ªand if you did something that warranted it¡ªand it might look like we were handing them away like it''s nothing but do know it is THAT special and significant to receive them.


    I may sound a little contradictory right now because I became Admiral after a lot of us were lost¡ªand since I had to fill bigger shoes¡ªbut it was for the same reason that it holds that much weight¡­"


    "..."


    "The sacrifice our brothers made for us to get to this point should not be wasted on useless thought that this was simply for a morale boost or something along those lines but back to the very reason we filled up that sign-up sheet to wear these very colors. And I''m gonna be perfectly honest, the benefits are quite good if I say so myself¡ªbut aren''t we supposed to get that much or even more?!


    Of course, we are! We''re serving our country goddammit and those fucks out there are preventing us from doing and receiving what we''re supposed to!"


    ''This speech took a turn¡­''


    "And again, I''m just being perfectly honest to all of you¡­ I could be that rousing or patriotic to lit a fire in all of your asses but there''s a limit to what it could do. Believe me, I''ve done that plenty of times initially¡ªit does work but not at this time¡­ And I specifically chose not to do it.


    But what I''m trying to say is¡­ we can say fuck it to everything that''s going on around us and move on with the world but that shouldn''t stop us from doing what''s right and fighting for what our family, friends, and especially, what we, ourselves, deserve."


    "..."


    "I may have a few TV Dinners rotting in my trash can at my probably looted home but I chose it to get like that¡ªnot those things that forced us away from it! If something''s going to rot at my house, it''ll be to my own choosing, not to whoever that fuck''s responsible for this shit! Am I right?! It should be on OUR terms, not theirs! Pfft¡­ Dammit, I''m not really good at this public speaking, huh?"


    At this point, a few chuckles and snickers were happening as the Admiral beganughing himself, but yeah, his actual thoughts seemed to have gotten across to everyone else and I preferred it more to baseless gusto and shouting empty promises.


    Words were just words in the end but being genuine while delivering it could carry something intangible that could benefit the person hearing it.


    With that said, they resumed our talks by reconfirming their ns of departure at 4 AM and their route to the state of Washington. To be honest, I didn''t think that half of us were needed in this meeting but I, for one, wanted to hear their ns before hitting the hay.


    It was then that I discovered that an evenrger number of their evacuees were residing in Hawaii¡ªbut yeah, it was pretty obvious to choose an even closer archipgo than ours before going somece else to unload their people.


    However, my eyes and ears definitely perked up when I heard about Kadena Air Base, which was a US Air Force Base located in the City of Okinawa, in the Okinawan Prefecture, and even though it was miles away from where my other family resides, it was good to know that they were doing their own part in tandem with the JSDF.


    It''s just that the Admiral had no ns of sending a detachment over there or even dropping by to see what''s up like they did with us any time soon, but let''s just say that the first chance I get while everyone and everything here in my ce could be left alone, I''d take the first ship, ne, or whatever method it was to finally reunite with them.

 Chapter 1182: Give that shit to someone else.

    I can''t believe how much I wanted to go there but knowing them, they''d probably beat me to death by leaving all my responsibilities here just to see them. In addition, even if the world got fast-forwarded a few more years where the world wasn''t like it is today, they''d probably stick to their roots and carry on¡ªalbeit slightly adapting¡ªso let''s just say they have their own world to worry about.


    ''It''s not like they need me but it''s not like I''m not worrying about them¡­ It''s been a year plus change¡­ Haa¡ª''


    But yeah, while I was in mid-sigh while I was in mid-thought, Jennifer definitely noticed my reaction earlier and she brought it up by nudging me:


    "What''s with that Japanese Air Base?"


    "Which one?"


    "The one you reacted to¡ª In Okinawa, was it? Kadena or something?"


    "Ah¡­ I have family kind of near there."


    "Oh¡­ Then¡­"


    "We haven''t had any contact since it started but I''m pretty sure they''re still alive."


    "That¡­ That doesn''t make any sense. Sorry, but¡ª"


    "Yeah, but I just know. One of the few things I have blind faith in¡ª"


    "Don''t they have radios you left them or¡ª"


    "I did leave them the premium pack of sorts¡­ But let''s just say the mountain''s a little special¡­"


    "Special? Mountain? What do you mean?"


    "It¡­ It just is¡­ I don''t even understand itpletely¡­"


    "Then what do you understand about it? Can you tell me at least that?"


    "Hmm¡­ Sure. But not here."


    "Why?"


    "It''s rude to the Admiral¡ª"


    "Pfft, nice save. But will you really?"


    "Really what?"


    "What are we even talking about? I''m asking if you''ll tell me!"


    "Shh¡­ Quiet down, they''ve nced at us thrice already¡ª"


    "Ah¡ª I don''t even think we''re needed here."


    "Why? Because your babysitting ass didn''t get promoted?"


    "You¡ª"


    "And I got all sorts of shit?"


    "You''re making it less and less likely for me to fuck you, you know that?"


    "I can transfer all those rights and authority over to you, if you want?"


    "Fuck that, I''d love a promotion but I hate doing more work than intended. I''ve just had enough of it."


    "A little rebel, huh? Don''t let the old man hear though¡ª"


    "Why''d he care?"


    "He just does. He talks about you a lot, you know?"


    "Really?"


    "No¡ª"


    "Then¡ª A-Asshole!"


    "He talks about a lot of things but he gets really vulnerable when you''re the topic so he doesn''t do it much. Despite that, I could see that he really cares about you and he''s really sorry¡ªespecially selling the house."


    "It''s not about that house¡ªBut yeah, it kinda is because it holds a lot of memories¡­ But it''s not just the house I''m mad about¡­ It''s a few more things that are more important¡­ The house is just¡­ y-you know¡­ It''s where I grew up in and everything¡­ He owns it and all and I would''ve like a heads-up so I could''ve bought it from him instead.


    It just pissed me offing ''home'' with a different family living in it¡­"


    "I understand that, I do¡­ I''m still holding onto the house my parents worked so hard for¡­ I''m not living in it currently but some of my treasured items from them are still there."


    "You lucky fuck."


    "Eh. I would''ve preferred if they were still alive¡­"


    "Now, that''s not fair. You don''t just spring that up on me. I know the Colonel''s still alive and all but those are two different things, alright?"


    "I''m sorry¡ª"


    "No. Don''t. But I''m sorry too¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "We good?"


    "Yeah, lil bro."


    "Pfft¡­ Alright, aneki¡­"


    "Don''t go using informal speech on me, you fuck, I know some Japanese because of Rachel."


    "Now you''re just turning me on¡ª"


    "Shh¡­ Not here¡­ Pfft¡­"


    "And using my words against me? Heh¡­"


    "Idiot¡­"


    At one point, our pleasant conversation abruptly stopped when we saw Oscar giving us a double thumbs-up from across the room, so we went back to listening in to a much more important conversation.


    To be honest, it was more like a review of what we had already discussed about¡ªin regards to our ns here in Subic Bay¡ªand anything besides that considering this country was left to me and First¡ª I mean, Captain Davis.


    But yeah, we ended the meeting after three or so hours, but as everyone else was leaving the room, the Admiral specifically asked me, Bartow, and Jennifer to stay behind.


    At the same time, a pair of middle-aged doctors came in rolling what seemed to be this fancy freezer of sorts, and it seemed like this night was far from over. To my surprise, it seemed like Bartow already knew what the fuck was going on but looking at Jennifer, it seemed like she knew what was up as well.


    I was the only one who doesn''t know what the fuck was going on but before I could even ask a question, the Admiral beat me to it:


    "Mr. Ishiyama, I believe you still remember my wife?"


    I paused for a moment before I answered, "I do, why?"


    "Let me start by saying that I may not have lied to you but I didn''t tell you the whole truth¡­"


    I shook my head as I sighed deeply, "You''re owing me more and more punches to the face, you know that¡ª"


    Bartow cut me off, "Watch how you talk to the Admiral¡ª"


    Admiral Burke cut him off, "It''s fine, I expected as much."


    I nodded, "What''s with the fancy-ass freezer? You don''t have the psyche of a terrorist/lead singer in a rock band there, do you?"


    "What?"


    "Not important¡ª What''s with the freezer? This is not your pitch for an MLM, right¡ª"


    "Stop," Jennifer said as she nudged me.


    "It''s how I cope, you seem to forgot talking a few minutes earlier too."


    "..."


    Bartow huffed, "Can you take it seriously? We''re about to show you government secrets¡ª"


    "Nice of you to point that out, Sherlock! Seemed apparent earlier too but I didn''t say anything about it¡ª"


    ADM Burke cut us off, "Alright, enough! All that build-up for nothing¡ª Anyway! Do you know how peptides work?"


    My eyebrows rose from themon term, "I do, yes¡ª Well, some of them¡­ Be it for building muscle, fat loss, recovery, or anti-aging¡ª Heck, even Insulin is one¡­ The first one, I might add."


    He nodded, "That''s great¡­ These aren''t technically peptides but one of the things we have here is something that kind of replicates how my wife''s skeletal system works. Though still very, VERY experimental¡ª"


    I cut him off, "No. Hard pass."


    ADM Burke was taken aback, "You didn''t even let me finish¡ª"


    "I don''t need you to. Give that shit to someone else."

 Chapter 1183: Min-Maxing with Drugs

    Ignoring one of the pseudo-"peptide" or whatever the fuck kind of medication they were probably offering me, actual peptides do have various useful applications¡ªthough they weren''tmonly referred to like that, take Insulin or even Creatine as an example.


    For a brief description, Peptides are strings of molecules called amino acids and they are essentially the building blocks of protein.


    I don''t want to go deep in the rabbit hole with it butpared to other drugs, it had fewer side effects and since their byproducts of amino acids could be recycled by our bodies, it was much, much safer to take than the former.


    But yeah, I''ve heard of different Peptides aiding in the recovery and strengthening of bones but not to the extent that allowed Jolene, a.k.a. The Senator or the Admiral''s wife, to have the ability to reconstruct her skeletal system that fast, and slowly had them get stronger and stronger despite the rest of its body continuously dposing.


    ''She needs energy from other corpses though so there''s that as well¡­''


    But back to our current situation, Ipletely shut down the Admiral''s offer before it was given to me, and right as I was about to turn around, Admiral Burke mmed his fists onto the table as he shouted at the top of HIS lungs:


    "I CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH DISRESPECT! LET ME FINISH WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AND YOU CAN DECIDE FROM THEN WHETHER YOU WANT TO DECLINE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE THE POWER TO PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONES!"


    I slowly turned back to the Admiral as I bowed, "I''m sorry but I won''t be able to protect my loved ones if I''m dead."


    One of the doctors stepped up, "T-That''s¡ª T-This won''t kill you at all! I-It just improves your body''s ability¡ªyour bone''s ability to recover a-and with enough doses, it gets stronger over time! Look at First Lieutenant Bartow¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Again, I won''t be able to protect my loved ones if I became an annoying piece of shit¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª" Bartow was about to get right up in my face but the Admiral''s voice thundered once again to diffuse a fight I wouldn''t back down from.


    "ENOUGH! Isn''t his recovery from the beating you and that other~ Kuzma, was it? Isn''t the recovery from the beating you gave him enticing enough for you?"


    I shook my head, "Isn''t someone like me who isn''t in any of the shit you guys are peddling enough to tell you to stop messing with our bodies this way? Your ''roided-up fuck lost to me, what does that say¡ª"


    Bartow exploded, "WE CAN HAVE A REAL FIGHT, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW IF YOU WANT TO¡ª"


    Admiral Burke shut him down, "I SAID ENOUGH! You two¡­ Alright¡­ I''ll admit you''re a very special case but what about the rest of us? If I had a thousand of you and sent them to reim ournd, the chances would be higher but unfortunately, you''re one in a million¡­ That''s one of the reasons we have to resort to¡­ to enhancements such as these¡­"


    Enjoy new stories from mvl


    I had to agree a bit, "That''s a fair point but since you already know I''m special, why are you offering it to me? You could''ve just given them to someone else¡ª"


    The Admiral huffed, "Isn''t that all the more reason to take it? If a¡­ If a regr person takes one of these, it gives them the chance to slightly level the ying field but if someone already on the top of the food chain takes it, what then? Can''t you imagine that?"


    I shook my head, "I''m sorry but these things you''re offering me wouldn''t be able to do that. Momentarily, sure, but these things take something from you and once you have to pay the toll, it''s already toote. I''m all for being above average in certain aspects but you gotta understand that there are certain downsides to it."


    "..."


    "Tell me," I said as I turned to the couple of doctors shaking their heads, "What are the cons of taking them? Is it taken orally? Transdermally? Injected? What?"


    The same doctor spoke up, shaking his head, "That''s¡­ We did tell you it''s very experimental but so far¡­ mood swings, increased weight, increased appetite, insomnia¡ª"


    I cut him off, "What''s your name, doctor?"


    "S-Stevens¡ª"


    "Doctor Stevens, no offense, but¡­ aside from this ce I''d have a part in leading with Captain Davis and Popeye over there, I have other ces and a billion other people to interact with and take care of and do you think someone like me would be able to do my job¡ªwhich is hard enough as it is¡ªif I''m highly irritable andcks sleep?


    For a soldier you sent to the battlefield, sure, but isn''t my case a little different? And even if I could handle it, why suffer all that if I won''t be able to move like I used to?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Not to brag or anything, but if I''m at my 100%,pletely focused, it''s a one-on-one, and life-or-death with my des on hand, no one could fucking touch me and the match will be over in a split second. Why the fuck would I need increased recovery if I wouldn''t get hit and why would I need stronger bones if it would slow me down? Won''t it just change everything I do things?"


    "That''s¡­ That''s something we haven''t considered¡­"


    "Look¡­ I do believe our human shell is limited on its own and it''s up to you all to advance us but I won''t be able to plunge into it if there are already negatives that could affect how I do things and uncertainties waiting to blow up in our faces. Sure, Bartow''s¡ª First Lieutenant Bartow''s recovery is amazing and all, but that''s not for me. I''d rather take the freezer."


    "What?" Everyone said at the same time.


    "It''s a cool-looking freezer, meshes well with¡ª"


    Admiral Burke cut me off, "That''s why I want you to let me fucking finish!"


    "Pardon?"


    "I''m giving you the whole lot, you punk! And it''s up to you if you use it or not!"


    "Oh."


    He shook his head, slightly defeated, "We haven''t told you about the other ones here but it''s enough doses for a handful of people. Let me tell you, I am on a cycle of what Bartow¡ªand what my wife had as well¡ªto further its research because yeah, I''m all for taking something safely but we wouldn''t get there without any sacrifices. Can''t you agree to that, at least?"


    I nced down before I looked back at him, "That''s definitely true."


    He lightly chuckled, "In the future, if this all goes well, you''d probably be one of the people benefiting from this¡ªand you''d have to thank me and Bartow for that. It IS experimental and it DOES carry risks, but we''ve gotten far enough that the negatives are manageable, and with more time and more data, we''d be able to tweak it to the point it had a stronger effect but less of the drawbacks.


    If not, less effect but less drawbacks as well, do you get me?"


    "Min-Maxing, yeah. But what does the other shit do?"

 Chapter 1184: Then we wont be saying goodbye, yet.

    At this point, I''m not even sure if that freezer contained doses for a handful of people each or as a collective, but yeah, it could also be for safekeeping in case something goes wrong on their end. And since they won''t be able to collect data on me¡ªbecause I''m sure as hell wouldn''t use it¡ªI have the freezer that I wanted plus government secrets only a few people know about.


    But Admiral Burke then answered my question:


    "To satisfy your curiosity, we have advanced orbined those amino acid strings¡ªand a few others¡ªthat could slightly increase one''s lifespan¡ª"


    "Holdup, Mr. Snake Oil Salesman, seriously?"


    Admiral Burke was starting to get more and more irritated at me, "Why don''t you let me finish listing everything and you save the reaction forter?"


    ''I guess he''s pretty chill before if he gets irritated this way¡­''


    I scratched my head as I apologized, "I''m sorry."


    "Haaa¡­ Again, aside from the increased longevity of at least two-to-three years, we have something for more severe cases of chronic pain, anti-aging¡ªbefore you ask, it''s different from adding lifespan because this is more external, improving one''s skin, hair, and nails¡ª"


    "Like the cogen peptide?"


    "It IS the cogen peptide but twice as effective."


    "You should be on that as well¡ª"


    "CAN YOU JUST LET ME FUCKING FINISH?!"


    "Do you have something for mood swings as well¡ª Wait, that''s just weed and we do have them in storage¡ª"


    "PFFT¡ª Goddamit! You got me there, you ass¡­ Anyway, we have something for cognitive problems like dizziness, brain fog, and the like¡ªAlso, we have something that increases digestion and absorption of food nutrients as well as something that could inherently increase muscle building and reduce weight by burning fat." Discover hidden content at mvl


    "Isn''t that what PEDs already are?"


    "Somewhat but the side effects are much more manageable and it stays on your system for longer with lesser doses. A bottle of that couldst you a year if properly stored¡­"


    "Is that all?"


    Dr. Stevens answered, "We have the base peptides on the lower shelf as well, but you''d be able to find them in hospitals if they aren''t lootedpletely. The ones on the top shelf are more specialized to us and are more experimental in nature but since you said you won''t be using it yourself, we should ask you to have them stored in a ce for safekeeping¡­"


    ''As I thought¡­''


    "Why don''t you just store them here? It''d be safer if your folks¡ª"


    Admiral Burke shook his head, "That wouldn''t be possible. I did tell you, everyone here will do everything to serve their country and it involved injecting themselves with anything to have the advantage. This is not the only freezer we have on hand, mind you.


    And to bepletely honest, I''m slightly relieved that I''ll be able to entrust this to you but I wouldn''t put it against you if you yourself use it or have it taken by someone else you deem who needed it."


    "That''s¡­"


    "Some of them aren''t even that bad, to say the least, since most of them are already medicine that circted the pharmaceuticalpanies and was already approved by the FDA, but yeah, we just gave it a little oomph and that''s all there is to it."


    "I dunno, even the cogen peptide that''s twice effective still scares me."


    "How?"


    "What if someone gets too young and they don''t look legal anymore¡ª OW! JEN¡ª"


    "THAT''S WHERE YOUR MIND WENT?! SERIOUSLY?!"


    I nodded unapologetically, "Yep."


    "YOU¡ª KUK¡ª DAMMIT! KAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Obviously enough, I was one to cope by throwing curveballs at the most important moments, but let''s just say this was just a lot of information to take in and I needed a little break. However, some of the "Peptides" they were peddling did entice me morepared to the increased bone density and recovery that would be helpful in a fight and what goes on afterward.


    And it was the increased lifespan.


    So I had to ask:


    "The lifespan thingy¡­ How can you be sure that it increased¡ª"


    Dr. O''Hara, the other doctor who was keeping quiet the whole time finally spoke, "We tested it on rats first and it actually doubled their lifespan. They usually live for 2-4 years but we have eight among the fifty rats we used them on live twice their age.


    It''s a far cry from doubling a human''s age because we only managed to seed in ramping it up by a couple of years or so but that''s the going rate as of now."


    "Can it work on other animals?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "My dog, Zeus, for example."


    She was definitely taken aback, "Umm¡ª That''s¡­ We''re talking about millions of research here and you''re using it on your dog?"


    "Why not? A Florida man kidnapped a scientist for almost the same reason."


    She let out a faint smile, "Fair."


    "Then again, I wouldn''t want to live an extra two to three years if I''m gonna be a decrepit fuck annoying my caretakers. I''d rather have the option to die if I start to make others'' lives miserable because of me."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Admiral Burke was taken aback, "That took a turn¡­ You''re young, your views might change but aside from entrusting you safekeeping of this freezer you so love and its contents, if you or anyone ever got to use them, please¡­ please do provide us their bloodwork each week and we''ll have a look at them every time we or any other of my personnel gets back."


    "Or I could include it in my reports."


    "That works as well but yeah, I really thought your reaction from this would be different but let me just say that I still respect your choice. Take good care of my daughter, alright?"


    I nodded, "Of course, she''ll be living with us¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Does she have other friends here?"


    "N-No¡­"


    "There you go, then¡ª"


    Admiral Burke cut me off as he turned to Jennifer, "How about you? Have you made your decision yet? The Colonel said you''re free to do as you wish though I might say I''m more inclined to have you lead the 5-man group I''m assigning to protect my daughter to free up more space from this kid''s~ whatever is it he''s doing."


    Jennifer answered with a solemn expression, "I do thank you for the opportunity and I''m fine with doing anything as long as it''s within this country, close to my father, *points at me* my lil bro, and my partner¡ªincluding E, of course, but hearing his side regarding these drugs, I''d be happy to relinquish that opportunity to someone else.


    It''s also thanks for letting Rachel stay here though she''d be thoroughly disappointed without her F18f¡­"


    I nudged her from the side, "I''ll hook her up, we''ll talk to Jessica. It''s not F18s but they have something she could fly whenever¡­"


    Jennifer chuckled, "Thank you¡­"


    Admiral Burke cleared his throat, "Very well, you two are free to go and do whatever you wish while Bartow and I will have more discussion with our doctors. Thanks for your time."


    "And the freezer?"


    He chuckled, "We''ll keep it hooked up in here with tight security¡ªeven though it has several hours of battery life¡ªand we''ll give you itsplete manual a little bitter. Send us off tomorrow, yeah?"


    "Of course."


    "Then we won''t be saying goodbye yet. See youter, kid."

 Chapter 1185: What now, lil bro? Don’t you want to spend some time with your big sis?

    Out of everything that has happened, I didn''t think the US Government would still keep on producing something that might''ve been subject-adjacent to what turned the world upside down. Sure, peptides, anabolics, etc. were already avable before this virus wrecked the system of everyone who got it, but yeah, it seemed to be a "fight fire with fire" type of situation.


    ''It''s one of the paths avable too but that option wasn''t avable to me¡­ Even so¡­ I don''t have enough research to mess with my body as is and it might incur more problems than solutions because I don''t have those problems to begin with¡­''


    But yeah, as Jennifer and I went out of the ATC room, we saw a couple of dozen peopleing in¡ªeither from the going out or staying in squad¡ªprobably called in to have the same talk with the Admiral and Bartow''s doctors.


    The majority of them didn''t look like Bartow in the sense that they just looked like regr fit soldiers, but to be fair, I was very familiar with people on the juice who didn''t look like they were, no offense.


    And as they saw us, they gave us a brief greeting before they shut the door behind them, and Jennifer and I were alone, walking down the hallway to reach the stairs instead of the elevator.


    "..."


    "..."


    Experience more tales on mvl


    I wasn''t sure about Jennifer but I waspletelyfortable with the silence, but instead of us going to the left, Jennifer turned to the right.


    "What¡ª"


    "Restroom."


    "Ah¡­ I''ll just wait out¡ª"


    "No, the fuck you''re not, juste in with me! I ain''t pissing alone!"


    "But the women''s¡ª"


    "Say something?" Jennifer turned around to give me a look as she went straight for the separate room for people with disabilities.


    "Ah¡ª You¡­"


    "What now, lil bro? Don''t you want to spend some time with your big sis?" Jennifer said as she unbuttoned two of the buttons on her uniform, exposing a bit of her cleavage.


    "Umm¡­" I was stunned for a moment before I looked to the left and the right, pushing her further in once I was sure no one was watching, "Fuck it."


    "There we go¡ª Shit! L-Lock the door, at least!"


    All of a sudden, Jennifer and I were invading each other''s mouths as we were violently pulling on each of our clothes, and let''s just say that clothes, especially tight orpression ones could hide a lot of stuff, and Jennifer''s jugs were bigger than I fucking thought.


    "Pfft¡­ I have to rein them in, you know? Let''s see you¡ª Holy fucking shit¡ª They weren''t kidding¡­"


    Jennifer was wearing a smirk as she saw me get stunlocked for seeing her huge udders, but her jaw fucking dropped when she saw my huge cock. However, it just made her smile grow wider and wider¡ªand a little maniacal¡ªas she recovered, but she suddenly lifted me up with her huge arms and sat me down the bathroom counter.


    She chuckled as shepletely pulled my pants off, "I ain''t kneeling down for you, lil bro, but I''m definitely sucking this cock¡ª Don''t hold back, alright?! I wanna taste that cum of yours quick!"


    Without even waiting for my reply, Jennifer grabbed both my arms and nted them down the counter, showing me her boulder shoulders, before giving me the same smile and taking me whole with no hands.


    "F-Fuck!"


    With how rough, Jennifer was sucking me off, her teeth would sometimes scrape against my skin, but the way she was taking me past her throat every single time more than made up for it.


    And since Jennifer already asked me to cum fast, from the view and how everything went so fast, I made her choke not only on my fat cock but with the mouthfuls I released in her mouth, and she had to pull out in shock¡ªwith her mouth still full with my load¡ªseeing my throbbing cock still pouring out with my hot seed.


    "F-Fuck¡ª I¡ª Mnn¡­"


    Jennifer eventually swallowed everything in her mouth and as she was just looking straight at me, she held me tight before jerking me off with my cum thered all over my shaft.


    The way she was looking at me had this sense of excitement and wonder, but as she realized I wasn''t getting soft any time soon, she pulled her pants down to her knees and she pulled me off the counter so we could switch ces.


    "Now I know why¡­ You okay with taking your big sis from the b-back?"


    "You should take off your pants and your shoes, just saying¡­"


    "Sure, as long as I can see you fuck me in the mirror¡­"


    "You''re so fucking wet¡ª"


    "S-Shut up and just p-put it inNn¡ª F-Fuck! FUCK¡ª FUCK! Y-YOU''RE SO FUCKING BIG! AH! A-AH! AH!


    SHIT¡ª Y-YOU''RE STRETCHING¡ª MMNH! F-FUCK ME! F-FUCK ME HARD¡ª AH! AHH! J-JUST LIKE THAT! YES!


    YES! Y-YES¡ª"


    The moment Jennifer nted her fucking feet on the cold flooring as she took off the rest of her clothes, I grabbed her hips and pushed my fat cock inside her tight fucking cunt over and over, and as hard and as fast as I could.


    Her whole body would just jolt and tighten as I hit her deepest parts, and she was getting more and more turned on seeing me resize her front hole while in front of the mirror.


    She was melting from pleasure and screaming each time her cheeks would p, and I just saw how her eyes rolled to the back of her head as warm fluid squirted from her and trickled down our thighs.


    "A-AHH¡ª K-KEEP¡ª K-KEEP GOING! D-DON''T FUCKING STOP!"


    At that point, Jennifer was just looking straight at me with a maniacal smile as she was losing it while her tits were bouncing all around, but the moment she began losing feeling in her legs, I turned her around and pinned her to the wall.


    She was in no way on the lighter side, but the look on her face when she saw me carrying her on her legs like it was nothing¡ªwhile still fucking her wet hole¡ªmade her clumsily caress my shoulders as she pulled me in between her huge jugs.


    "H-Hngh¨Ch HNGH! Ugh¡­ AHnn¡­ I-I¡­ I-I h-haven''t s-stopped c-cumming but¡ª Hnghh¡ª NnnnnMH! MmnH! Fuck! F-FUCK! Y-You''re so¡ª MmnGH!


    G-Gh¡ª"


    And while my muscles were bulging from carrying her as my hips were moving in the exact same motion, I just realized I hadn''t tasted her puffy pink nipples along with her milk jugs, so I began sucking on her tits while fucking her brains out.


    Doing that just made her tighter and quiver with each yful bite, and all she could do was try and suffocate me by pushing me on one of them to make me hard of breathing.


    But yeah, I wanted to spend more of my energy fucking her than carrying her so once Iid her on the cold floor, she was just submissively waiting to be fucked silly, but her eyes just widened when I aimed a little lower.


    However, I propped her legs up without issue orint, so once I pushed it slightly and slowly pushed it all the way, even Jennifer knew our brother-sister dynamic would change very, very soon¡ªor it already did.

 Chapter 1186: The Special Mountain

    In a span of an hour and a half, Jennifer wasn''t able to perform a reversal and the only time she had the upper hand against me was when she picked me up and sat me on the bathroom counter earlier. And now, let''s just say I filled all her holes with cum and I was just letting her catch her breath for a short bit, but I had already begun cleaning her up, much to her surprise and embarrassment.


    "I-I can do this on m-my own!"


    "Pfft¡­ You can''t, you''ve tried twice already¡ª"


    "S-Shut up!"


    "I''m your lil bro, remember? I should do this much and besides, if you don''t want anyone to know what happened here, we can just tell them anything you want¡ª"


    "I-I''m not lying to Rache'', if that''s what you''re saying¡­ I-I just really got caught off-guard there¡­ J-Just don''t tell them the details u-unless they asked specifically¡­"


    "Isn''t that lying by omission?"


    "Just go along with it but¡­ Y-You know¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    Jennifer looked away for a moment before she lightly nudged me with a smile, "I gotta say, you''re a good fuck, lil bro¡­ I can''t even remember I got thisid¡ª Heck, I''ve been with those two¡ªTatiana and Quinn¡ªand I could still fucking walk after. With you, it''s just different."


    "I''m still lil bro, huh?"


    "You still are! Age-wise, I mean¡­ Fuck, I still can''t believe you had a cock like that and can use it that well¡­ Ha¡­ I''m still a little out of breath and I-I''m still feeling some tremors¡­" Readtest stories on mvl


    "Thank you, I guess?"


    "Pfft¡­ I''m just being honest, I''ll stroke your ego and especially your dick if I could be fucked like that again¡­ It''s been a while since I''ve been totally on the receiving side¡­ With a guy too, most of the guys I fucked¡ª You know what? We shouldn''t even be talking about them¡­ Do you have anything else fun to talk about while we wait for the feeling in my legs toe back?"


    "Well¡­"


    At that point, I began telling her stories about the time I first met with the old man but she quickly shut that down because she''d rather watch paint dry instead of hearing about that subject post-intercourse. But yeah, she couldn''t believe the story I shared about Kaley, Tatiana, Quinn, and everyone else in our circle that she''d been with, and the time we had with the cartel stood out.


    "For real?! They have these game nights every weekend and you''re the reigning champion and partly in with them?! HOW?! I WANNA ATTEND! WHEN''S THE NEXT SPECIAL ONE?!"


    "I dunno about the next ''special'' one but¡ª"


    "You know what we''ve done the past year? Evacuate and move people! We''ve been at sea more than we were atnd¡ªand it''s a little on the nose since we''re in the Navy bute on! We do mess around and have fights here and there on the ship but not like that! The highlight of the month was the attack on this ce and the fights after! I thought it wouldn''t get better than that!


    HOLD UP¡ª You still haven''t told me about that special mountain of yours!"


    "Ah¡ª Right¡­ What do you wanna know¡ª"


    "Everything, of course!"


    "I can''t tell you that."


    "Then tell me what you could! It''s not an interrogation, we''re just here to pass the time."


    "Hmm~ Well, I dunno if you''ve heard that it belonged to my ''grandpa'' akin to you being my ''big sis'', but he did own it for a while¡­" I started as I gave her some details of what Kaley and everyone else already knew, "But yeah, the mountain''s rich with resources and I''m not talking about just things you could forage on it or the wildlife and the aquatic resources which were also present¡­ We do farm and raise some of them but not like we do in here¡­"


    "Then what? He''s a cksmith of sorts, right? Does the mountain help with that?"


    "Not quite but yeah."


    "Okay? Then tell me."


    "It''s umm¡­ It''s¡ª Hmm~ How do I put this¡­ It''s umm¡­ It''s special."


    Jennifer never looked so fed up, "You said that a billion times already, what''s so special about it?!"


    "Well, for starters, remember why I can''t seem to make contact with them?"


    "Yeah?"


    "It might be ''cos they moved all of the important things they have on the peak¡ªincluding the radios and the sat phone I bought for them¡ªand for some reason, even if I tried to hook up a satellite dish even in our main area of sorts, we can''t seem to have a lick of even the tiniest signal. But if we''re at a good distance away from the mountain, everything''s fine."


    "Oh~ Like it has some maic field that interferes with the waves?"


    "Something like that and it has something to do with the mineral deposits in the cave. Sometimes, even normal electronics don''t work right¡­ On top of the mountain actually being an inactive volcano¡ª"


    "SAY WHAT?!" Jennifer suddenly managed to sit up as she almost butted heads with me.


    I waved her off and threw in a towel to partly cover herself, "Before you say anything, I''m not entirely sure but wouldn''t you hitva if you go deep enough?"


    "Bro¡ª You do know that Rachel would fucking CREAM if she hears what you''re telling me right now?!"


    "Pfft, I bet she would¡­"


    "Please tell me his forge is in the deepest part of the mountain!"


    I shook my head, "You want my old man Kaiseki to die? Do you think about venttion or not? It''s above ground, of course¡ª but we do get the materials for our des for as deep as we can. I''m not explicitly saying the material''s 100x stronger but for some reason, it IS special. Add to that the forging techniques used and the cksmith¡ª I mean, grandmaster cksmith himself¡­"


    Jennifer finally managed to stand up, "Now that got me going, phew¡­ Imagine¡­ Can you go for one more?"


    "One more what?"


    "We''re fucking again, of course! Don''t get me excited for nothing¡ª How about you justy down so I can show you I''m not a fucking starfish?!"


    I chuckled as I did what my big sis asked of me, "Fine by me¡­"


    On that note, we spent 30 more minutes before we actually took a shower to clean up and get dressed, and once we joined everybody, I could see why Jennifer decided to do it with me away from everyone else because everyone in our group, including the one from the maritime academy was still present and waiting for the Eisenhower''s departure.

 Chapter 1187: Whats your total?

    Even if it was still a few more hours before the Admiral and everyone that would be going with him leaves, the whole ce was still buzzing with activity due to all the preparation.


    It was a miracle in itself that Jennifer and I managed to sneak out and have some quality time for a couple of hours, for some reason, and everyone in our circle knew what we did and they were kind of giving us looks for it.


    But yeah, I just offered Jennifer a drink but she opted for a soda because she already had a stiff one.


    "Haa~ That hits the spot¡­"


    Rachel rolled her eyes, "Really? A Diet Coke hit the spot?"


    Jennifer scoffed, "Trust me, even water tasted like whiskey after we were done¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ I barely recovered when I was with Kaley, you''re too brave taking it solo¡ªI couldn''t imagine Kaley''s stamina for that too¡­" then she turned to me, "How do you two do it? I''m usually good once I get off once but you two always keep going ESPECIALLY when I thought we were done!"


    I shook my head, "I dunno¡ª It more than makes up for theck of cardio in my exercises¡­ I used to do them a lot because it clears my head so¡­"


    Jennifer took a sip from her drink, "Cardio sucks¡­ And with how much I weigh, ugh¡­"


    "That reminds me, since you declined the Admiral''s offer for that certain enhancement, you nning to stay that buff or do you wanna scale down a little bit?"


    Rachel looked surprised, "You declined it?! W-Why? Only a handful of people¡ªespecially the ones staying here¡ªgets to have them!"


    Jennifer ced her arm over Rachel''s shoulder as she looked at me, "Because someone convinced me indirectly and I wanna know if I''m special without them¡ª Also, I don''t wanna owe the Admiral too many favors¡­"


    Rachel looked sullen for a moment, "D-Did you do it for me? Since I''m only one of the few instructors¡ª"


    "Eh. Briggs could handle it and who''d have the time to learn all that shit if they''re preparing to take back thend they already took from someone else?"


    I had to make a face, "Oof, you went there, huh?"


    "I''m just sayin'' this shit could be voodoo for all we know¡ª and nuking every goddamn ce that got overrun might''ve taken off the chance to find that one herb to cure us all. Even so, would we even have enough for everybody?"


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    "Hmm."


    "At least that''s my theory."


    "You really think so?"


    "Not quite but it wouldn''t hurt to have another perspective on things. Gotta see all the options, you know?"


    "Hmm, I guess that''s true."


    "But yeah, why are you asking if I wanna scale down again?"


    "Well, you know, a bit of size grants more strength but it takes off some speed¡ª One of the reasons I declined the enhancements as well. So, what I''m saying is¡­ if you cut down to maybe¡ª How much do you weigh again?"


    "Around 220?"


    "Kilos?"


    "Pounds! Do I look like I use kilos?!"


    "Americans¡­ Anything but the metric system¡­"


    "Can''t you just get back on topic?!"


    "Sure, sure¡­ If you''re 220 now and slowlyying off on gear¡­ Hmm~ It''s gonna be brutal if you suddenly cut to 180¡ª"


    "180?! Do you want me to look like a fucking twig?!"


    "You¡ª I''m 180¡ª no, I''m actually 185 right now but that''s besides the point! You''re maybe 30 pounds less than Quinn and your heights are a foot apart!"


    "Your point? Just means I maybe have more muscle! She looks like she''s using gear as well so I''m winning¡ª"


    "She''spletely off it months ago¡ª"


    "What?!"


    Then Quinn suddenly walked over to us, asking for a drink as well, "I heard my name, what are you talking about?"


    Rachel chuckled, "The step-siblings are discussing fitness stuff, by the way, I''m 150 pounds and I don''t look like a twig¡ª"


    Quinn chuckled, "Because you''re natural, that''s why. No offense saying that but you still look great¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in, "You''re 250 and off gear?! How?! You look amazing!"


    ''She used to be heavier before too¡­''


    "Well~ I used to be close to 300 and¡ª huh. I actually am lighter now, feels good, not gonna lie. But yeah, with my height and hobbies, it''s prettymon to be 250 and I do eat a lot¡ªhigh-quality protein, especially¡ªbut yeah, it''s still a bitch I can''t throw around the weight I used to throw around when I''m casually powerlifting.


    Gics ys a part in it as well¡ªI don''t wanna say I''m that blessed but I kind of am."


    Jennifer sighed as she looked at her arms, "Maaan~ I don''t wanna lose these though¡ª"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Then don''t."


    "Then why are you telling me to cut to 180 then?!"


    "I was just¡ª I''m offering advice, alright?! You probably had some goal to achieve getting that big but since you denied getting that particr enhancement¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "What particr enhancement?"


    I turned to Jennifer, "Can I tell her?"


    Quinn asked again, "Tell me what?"


    Jennifer shrugged her shoulders, "I don''t care, really¡ª if you trust her, tell her. But not with all these people around, at least don''t tell her about the specifics."


    I then turned to Quinn, "You wanna have a kid with me, right?"


    "Of course¡ª And before you say anything dumb, I''m just asking because I''m curious, I''m not thinking of taking anything right now and it''d be dumb to fuck up my body while I''m trying to conceive. But what is it?"


    At that point, I made her lean in so I could whisper in her ear bits of what this "Peptide" was capable of and Quinn wasn''t able to hide the initial shock.


    "That''s¡­ That doesn''t sound like a peptide at all¡ª at least with those effects! Huh.


    I''d be tempted to take it if I was stillpeting but with those side effects, it''s like taking SARMS or MK-677 or some shit," then she turned to Jennifer, "Look, if you just wanna look big, don''t change anything but if you''re just after strength, how big you are helps with it¡ªpeople whopete in strongmen are prime examples¡ªbut look at him, he looks around 180-190 right now but he could pull weight like a motherfucker¡­ Fast as fuck too."


    Jennifer sighed again, "Can''t we just do something in between first? See how it goes?"


    I smiled, "That''s why we''re here talking. You''d probably kill me if you dropped down 40 pounds *snaps fingers* like that but we could go halfway there as a start. Trust me, it''s gonna be a bitch slowly losing the strength to do your top sets but if we tweak it a little bit¡ªand include some cardio as well¡ªyou''d see the things your body could do in a state you''d think would be impossible."


    Jennifer looked down for a moment before she eventually asked for a shot of whiskey, "Fuck it, being this big has its own set of problems but this sort of adviceing from someone bigger than me¡­ I guess I''ll try it. How much weight do you bench anyway?"


    I casually replied, "135."


    "Kilos?"


    "Pounds¡ª"


    "ARE YOU FUCKING MESSING WITH ME RIGHT NOW OR WHAT?! I CAN BENCH 225 FOR REPS AND YOU''RE THE ONE GIVING ME ADVICE?!"


    Quinn just had a realization, "FUCK! ME! I HAVEN''T THOUGHT ABOUT THIS SHIT YET!"


    Jennifer waved her off, "WHAT ARE YOU ON NOW?! YOU MESSIN'' WITH ME TOO?!"


    Quinn shook her head as she pointed at me, "This bitch mostly does calisthenics so we don''t actually know his Big 3 besides his deadlift! HAH! Can you imagine?"


    Rachel chimed in, "W-What''s his deadlift anyway?"


    Quinn turned to me, "Are you gonna tell them or what?"


    "Just tell us!" Jennifer eximed.


    "775¡­" I casually said as I downed a shot of bourbon.


    "..."


    "...wut?"


    At that point, even Rachel who looked like she casually lifts couldn''t believe the difference between my bench and deadlift, and even though they were totally different lifts that use different muscle groups, the difference was just too fuckingrge.


    But yeah, Ignoring Quinn''s predatory look on me as it reminded her of our lifting session back in the Rivas Estate, Jennifer gave me this unwilling look because it seemed like I broke her total¡ªmeaning her total tonnage between her benchpress, squat, and deadlift.


    Currently, it seemed like my total had already exceeded a thousand pounds since both my bench and squat were 135 while my deadlift was 775, a total of 1045 pounds(475 kilos). However, with how I bulked up a few pounds plus the techniques Sebastian parted with me, I was pretty sure I could bump those numbers up to unbelievable amounts if I so wanted.


    It''s just that I was pretty spent already and had a few drinks, making it extremely dangerous to lift heavy weights, much more, try and break a personal record just because.

 Chapter 1188: Quiet night to kill time

    With that said, I came to discover that Jennifer''s Big 3 were 315 pounds(143.18 kilos) for squats, 225 pounds(102.27 kilos) for bench, and 405 pounds(184.09 kilos) for deadlifts, totaling 945 pounds(429.5 kilos).


    That meant she hadn''t been weed to the thousand-pound club for totals yet¡ªnot for each lift¡ªand if she started to cut right now, it''d take more time to regain her strength while being smaller in size.


    However, it''d be more impressive if she gets weed to the club while being 180 pounds instead of 220 if we go about it pound for pound, considering her lifts with her body weight.


    ''I wasn''t even sure if she''s powerlifting like Quinn¡­ Her max bench¡ªheck, all of her lifts could be higher if she doesn''t do it for reps as she stated¡­''


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    But yeah, she was only 55 pounds away from getting weed to the club, and Quinn only having a couple of shots would make her that inebriated¡ªand it was totally at Jennifer''s discretion¡ªso she easily let herself in the club with a 370-pound ass-to-grass paused squat while Quinn and I were spotting her from side to side.


    "FUCK YEAH! YOU GUYS SAW THAT?!"


    Quinn chuckled, "You could''ve done more, actually¡ª"


    "WE COULD¡ª"


    I shut that shit down fast, "Nope. We''re not doing shit and you''re not doing shit either."


    "THE FUCK YOU MEAN?!"


    "You''re tired and had alcohol¡ªthough in very small quantity¡ªit''s already affecting the way you''re thinking. You could be bull-headed as far as we know but I don''t want you to get injured. It''d be more impressive to break these records if you''re in a much lower body weight."


    "BUT¡ª"


    Rachel cut in, "That''s already great, Jen! Meet us halfway here, you really shouldn''t be lifting like that or in this hour, some of us here were already sleeping."


    "But¡ª Haa¡­ You''re right, sorry¡­ Just got too excited."


    On that note, a groggy Kaley and Tatiana came out of our room to check out the suddenmotion, and if it was any other person making a ruckus, we would''ve received a beating on top of a harsh talking to. In addition, the people from the maritime academy were taking naps on the sofa in the lounge area and they just didn''t say a word because of who we were and what they owed us.


    Nevertheless, we did apologize because it''s justmon fucking decency, and I apologized to Kaleyst, who I found slumped down on this table-cab thingy with a mirror in front of it by the living room of sorts. On the other hand, Tatiana just threw herself on the sofa and started sleeping again with barely any clothes on.


    "Hey¡­"


    "Hey."


    "We''re sorry for the noise¡­ I did try to stop because they already had a drink but we did have a drink so¡­ sorry."


    Kaley turned to me before she beckoned me over, "It''s alright, it''s like the cops were circling the area anyway, have you seen these lightsing and going through the curtains? It''s distracting as is so you didn''t disturb us as much¡­"


    "I take it everyone''s still trying to sleep?" I asked as I gave her a peck on the cheek.


    "I''m not sure about everyone but we all moved from that sudden bang! I trieding back but they just upied the avable space, I might just slump on the sofa like Tatiana."


    "You had some fun with everyone, at least?"


    "Not a lot without you, but did you?"


    "What do you think?"


    "Pfft¡­ Of course, you did¡­ Jennifer this time?"


    "Yeah, she lived."


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Uh-huh~ Suuure, brag about it while you just disturbed my beauty rest, that''ll get me going~"


    I chuckled, "I''m sorry, alright? Besides, you''d still look beautiful if you had eyebags like mine¡ª"


    Kaley pinched my sides, "Oh, shut it! I didn''t say I''m ugly, I said I''m sleepy! I know I''m pretty¡ª Just don''t wanna say it out loud, you know? So what now?"


    "What now what?"


    "You still have to make me fall asleep, you know?"


    I joked, "You can startying down and close your eyes?"


    "Or¡­" Kaley said as she traced her fingers on my torso.


    "I don''t wanna put you in a choke-hold, Kaley¡ª"


    "Ugh! You know what I want! Please?"


    "Alright, how do you want it?"


    "Here. Eat me on this table."


    "How about me?"


    "Well you can jerk off, no negotiations."


    "I can just fuck you or Tatiana while you''re sleeping, you know?"


    Kaley gave this look with a raised eyebrow, "Don''t care. I want you to eat me now."


    "Very well¡­"


    Long story short, it didn''t take long before Kaley was sound asleep on her sofa after I munched on her carpet and tongue-fucked her pink ring below, and of course, Tatiana wanted to get it while she was lying prone.


    I easily agreed since I won''t get to do it by myself but let''s just say I did my duties as the man in this circle when Quinn, Jennifer, and Rachel walked in though we did it in a ce where they wouldn''t hear us because we only get one strike when waking up the people who were asleep.


    But yeah, it was a fun way to kill time and we were killing two¡ª no, three birds with one stone because it was also cardio on top of our attempts to have Quinn pregnant.


    While it was true, we had an agreement to have it on a very special day while we were alone, it didn''t take long before we decided that it wouldn''t hurt to try it as much as we could because it would definitely hurt if any of us didn''t get some for three days.


    We could me it on how high our sex drives were and the position we always put ourselves in, be it idental or on purpose, because we''d almost always end up tangled with each other the moment we were in close proximity.

 Chapter 1189: Goodbye, Dad. - Back to Business.

    But yeah, the airport had never been so busy an hour before the departure because aside from the Eisenhower leaving the Marine Base to get much closer to us, the people that''d leave with the Admiral¡ªplus the ones that would be assigned to this airport¡ªhad all gather in this spot.


    The noise produced by everyone triple-triple-checking everything and making sure that no stone would be left unturned was just like this buzz or adrenaline the first time you''d walk into a gym.


    It was exciting, intimidating, and a little sad in a way, because even if we only met for a few days, it felt like we already formed this small bond with these people.


    In addition, we don''t even know if all of them would be able toe back next month or if a different ship wille to deliver more evacuees, but with the way the Eisenhower was powered by a nuclear reactor, I guess it''d be one of the few ships that could travel for as long as that reactor would let them.


    It''s just this mncholic feeling got quickly overshadowed by seeing E wearing this gothic lolita outfit, who probably got the idea from seeing June''s vibe.


    To my surprise, I just learned that June was among the people inside the room Kaley was inst night before we woke them up but I''d just ask Kaley for the detailster because her siblings just joined them after waking up due to the noise as well.


    Kaley was already with me outside and helping with whatever was needed but the two among others just came out after some time.


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    E immediately ran up to me, "How''d I look?"


    I instantly shattered her confidence, "You look like Annabelle¡ª No, Anab-E, get it?"


    Or so I thought.


    "R-Really?! That''s what I was going for! I could''ve done the makeup too but it''d take too long! Thanks! And where were you yesterday?! W-We should''ve¡ª"


    I widened my eyes as I looked at her, "We should''ve what exactly? Wasn''t I called over to see your dad?"


    "Y-You took that long¡ª D-Dumb question, you did, right?"


    "That reminds me, why do you look so sad yesterday?"


    E looked away for a bit before turning back to me, "You know¡­ Goodbyes are just hard, I''ll get over it¡­"


    "Morning¡­" June and the others finally reached us as they greeted Kaley and me.


    Kaley smiled at them, "Good morning, want some coffee¡ª"


    Cindy quickly ran for the thermos, "Oh God, yes¡­ You have cinnamon powder?"


    "Ah¡ª" Kaley was taken aback by the sudden request, "Sorry, no¡ª"


    Jeremy cut in, "Just be thankful for the coffee! We''re sorry¡ª"


    "It''s okay, I''ll be prepared next time¡ª"


    I cut in as I handed her a stick of cinnamon, "Will this work?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "You don''t want it?"


    "DO YOU JUST HAVE A CINNAMON STICK ON YOUR PACK AT ALL TIMES?!"


    "I''m getting judged for helping, forget you saw anything¡ª"


    Cindy suddenly snatched the cinnamon stick from my hands as she gave me a sideways hug, "THIS IS AMAZING! YOU''RE AMAZING! THANKS!"


    ''Good thing I still have that pack from Jericho¡­''


    On that note, as we kept giving everyone who''d stop by their cuppa Joe, Admiral Burke actually went down from the Eisenhower to have onest coffee with us before they go. Obviously enough, he asked to be served by E¡ªin which she happily obliged¡ªbut I just had to do it when Bartow came in with this grumpy look on his face.


    "This¡­ This is just the bag of instant coffee¡­"


    "I ain''t making you shit if you look like that¡ª"


    "YOU''RE LOOKING FOR A FIGHT THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING?!"


    "d this shit isn''t my responsibility anymore¡­" Admiral Burke said from the side, peacefully sipping his coffee.


    Captain Davis shook his head, "I barely survived theirst altercation¡­"


    "Hah! You''re the Captain now, deal with it."


    "Oh,e on! Can''t you just order both or either of them to take it easy or get along?!"


    "WHY WOULD YOU EVEN ASK THE IMPOSSIBLE?!"


    I nodded, "Nope. I don''t belong in any unit¡ª I''m special, remember?"


    Admiral Burke added, "Out of my jurisdiction now, and I did just order YOU to sort this out yourself."


    But yeah, we had a short moment of peace before E took five good minutes to hug her father before he finally said goodbye and boarded the Eisenhower, and we did wait with E for a while until the ship waspletely out of view.


    There was a moment of silence where E was just staring at the dark horizon, but she eventually wiped her tears and came up to me for a hug.


    She wasn''t even speaking a word but she was just hugging me for as tight as she could, but as Kaley joined in, it just evolved intoplete chaos when everyone else from our circle joined in.


    I could definitely feel the daggers on my back from the jealous fucks though it didn''t take long before we went back to business.


    The first thing on the list was obviously breakfast but even though it was still a few hours away, we had a bigger group to prepare it and we called everybody over just as the sun was barely on the horizon.


    At this point, I figured that we would stay for one more day before we go back to our own HQ, and I wouldn''t leave this ce¡ªand I''d probably stay longer¡ªif we didn''t solve the mystery of the cemetery by the expressway.


    So yeah, after making sure that the people from GDMWC and the Idress Maritime Academy were sorted out, our hit squad drove to thest ce, in general, that was still teeming with the dead because Bartow and his hit squad already took care of the area around the Freeport Zone.


    We were obviously weed warmly by Jessica''s crew watching over the entryway to the expressway, but their eyes almost popped out of their sockets when they saw use in with several excavators.

 Chapter 1190: Homicide with Extra Steps

    And without further ado, with the help of Bartow ordering an outer perimeter formed outside the perimeter we made with our own squad, we just all took to position as loud bass thumped from each of our vehicles.


    Though I heard Bartow''s voice from the main channel:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Just kill them all, huh? That''s the n?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "That''s Phase 1. Phase 2 is turning this cemetery into an open area, literally."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I know. I just didn''t you''d go with it.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You cleared the houses all around, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Then if this doesn''t stop them from gathering here, I don''t know what will. And don''t get me started on the morality of desecrating graves, my family would very much prefer if they don''t cause me more trouble when they''re dead."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I said nothing.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Just sayin''..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright, just give me a call if you can''t clear this ce with your squad.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "You wish."


    *bzzt*


    -


    On that note, I already had my katana and wakizashi on both hands, waiting for the dead to get closer and closer, but from the other points of entry, my crew had already begun their assault. However, with the Dewey siblings and Jennifer joining me on our assault my main group, I just wanted to make asting impression.


    And right as June spun the drone to check if I was sleeping or not, I quickly disappeared from her view and then reappeared several feet away with seven heads rolling down their brethren''s feet like coconuts.


    I set the pace on hard mode as I left more than headless bodies in my wake, and I was just moving forward without stop, making every fucking deadhead who came to our mating call surround me.


    But yeah, it''s more like they were moths to a me as they fell each time they got closer, but they were getting cut down by the two pieces of metal in my hands instead of that fire they were so attracted to.


    At the current moment, my arms were moving like they were from different people because my right hand was flowing like water while the other was just descending like thunder.


    I was lopping heads left and right with my katana while stabbing and thrusting eyesockets and earlobes with my wakizashi, but if I so felt like it¡ªlike right now¡ªI could just switch techniques from each side or use one technique every so often. Certain techniquesplement the de I was using but I just had to change the movement a bit to achieve the same result.


    And with both hands upied, I don''t have a lot of ways to wipe the grime off my des but it wasn''t like the dead werepletely naked.


    At one point, just so I wouldn''t stain the inside of my scabbards, I jammed my wakizashi onto a deadhead''s skull, used its apron topletely wipe my katana in one swift motion, bisect three other fucks who dared toe close by holding my katana with both hands, then rinsing it and repeating the same thing for my shorter de.


    Obviously, I would run out of space if I just stayed at one spot while culling all of them with one strike so I used the unevenness of the terrain because in this ce, not all of the coffins were buried six feet underground.


    In most cases, they''d just build this enclosure of sorts above ground to save on costs¡ªwhich usually happens on lower-end cemeteries¡ªand they''d just push them in and close it with hollow blocks, adding on the tombstone right after.


    So yeah, it almost became a tformer as I jumped from each enclosure to the other, almost doing the same thing the first time Mikhail and I had to fend off the bulk of the De Leon Family baldies.


    Though this time, I wasn''t stepping on hands, tripping their feet, or pushing them off to the deep end with a Spartan Kick, but I was making them fulfill the purpose of the ce they were in.


    Because with each head I lopped off or sliced open, a cemetery would be happier if its inhabitants were dead instead of the undead. Granted us being here was a little contradictory, it was safe to say we were this ce''s friend right until we began digging up their buried corpses.


    I''ve said it before, not only were the dead we have buried in this cemetery not embalmed, but there was also the chance of crime syndicates using this ce as a burial ground¡ªhiding a tree in a forest type of situation.


    The only way we''d stop this ce from calling flesh-eaters to lounge around was to make sure each and every coffin was unboxed, cleared, and burned to cinders along with its contents.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before a headless corpse¡ªwhich I already cut down¡ªstood up with its arms forward, revealing its crooked hands with chewed-off fingers, indicating that it wasn''t the owner of its body for the second time, so I just had to cut my way out of this zombie enclosure as I called over our demolitions expert:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yo."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Is it finally time?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Not yet. I''m just telling you to get them ready."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright. We already spotted a few and we''re chopping them to pieces.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I just spotted a few here, just have to tell you that particr detail."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Gotcha, Boss. Just say the word.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright." Find adventures at §Þ??


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, my main group was just about to catch up to me but I could clearly see how Tatiana dragged back the Deweys: Eden, Cindy, and Jeremy with her topletely dismember the corpses Jennifer and Quinn had put down with them.


    It was a relief to see themply and follow orders to the dot so I went back to killing my targets with extra steps.

 Chapter 1191: HEAVY!

    But yeah, aside from giving Bogdan the heads-up for the use of some explosive rubber cement, I did quickly tell Tatiana to leave a hollowed one mostly intact. Because even if the rest of its brethren plopped down when we put down the puppetmaster, it''d be more apparent to us if we seeded or if there was more than one of them in the area.


    In any case, my next target was a chewed-up bodybuilder wearing a muscle tee and I greatly appreciated how it offered easy ess to its shoulder¡ªeven if I could cut through them just as easily¡ªbut with only two flowing shes with my katana, I managed to put it down.


    I did it by lopping off its left arm from above before flourishing my de hand and entering its right armpit, cutting straight to its left trapezoid muscle by forcing the stretchy fabric to stretch as far as it could before itpletely ripped off along with its wearer''s right arm and head.


    If it was any other day, I would''ve done it with three shes, but I had to horizontally bisect my next target¡ªwhich was a gym thot¡ªwith an exposed midriff, intestines and whatever the fuck its breakfast was dangling from it.


    And again, this chop was an unusual choice but with the presence of the hollowed ones and the puppetmasters in the mix, it''d be easier to fend off a torso with its arms and head still attached with the rest of its legs having no idea where to move.


    Cutting them in half vertically was also a safe choice, because the regr fucks wouldn''t even know how to hop with one leg, but don''t worry, Quinn was doing that type of god''s work along with Jennifer.


    Because aside from Quinn iling around her huge-ass polearm/halberd hybrid, Jennifer was using some sort of mix between a straight razor and a cleaver that could easily cleave a person in half as long as they have the muscles for it.


    From the looks of it, it was obviously a custom job from Royo himself and the only thing I''d improve on it was the bandage-like handle¡ªand maybe shaving off that pointy-ass pommel whose only purpose was topletely the look. Granted it could punch holes in sheet metal, but we all have our K-Bar knives for that.


    It would be a little hard to wield around and it''d be a pain in her palms if it kept sliding in and out of ce¡ªand even though some people would say that she could take it¡ªdo it a thousand times a day and you''d definitely say otherwise.


    It was akin to driving a manualpared to an automatic because even if I was a little purist at heart, it IS more fuckingfortable to drive an automatic vehicle.


    So yeah, with how rough Jennifer was moving and with the weight of her de, each of her attacks was a kill despite the angles it was entering and it''d one of the things I''d give her pointers about aside from strength training and cutting weight.


    But to my surprise, one thing to take note of was that Jennifer¡ªdespite her rough movements¡ªwas a "hold the fort" kind of person or should I say the defensive type despite their advance because she was making sure that Quinn and her had ample space to retreat while taking into ount everyone else''s position.


    One example was that she''d always scan her head around each time she had ample space for herself, and she''d let Quinn take eat the space for them while she''d put down anything that invaded theirs.


    It was totally different to Quinn who was like a spinning Beyde but we can''t fault her for that because she was doing the job she was supposed to do as well.


    Even I was letting lose because more heads on the ground equals more safety and less work for everybody else, and let''s just say Jennifer''s movements came as a surprise. It could also be that she was just matching Quinn''s movements because she was new to the team, and it''d be also great if she could wreak havoc if she pleased.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before Tatiana felt confident to leave the Deweys the grunt work of pulling bodies to one side after chopping them off, so once she joined the fray, it opened a lot of space for us while Kaley and Jared took care of the special ones. Experience more on §Þ??


    This time, Ibarra was on protecting the Raptor and the ones close to it duty, so yeah, it just added to Tatiana''s confidence to leave the three behind.


    However, as the big duo started to jump from one elevated enclosure to another, this particr tform with algae suddenly copsed on them¡ªdue to theirbined weight¡ªand let''s just say the deadheads, yes, plural, the deadheads inside who were trying to get out were both happy and unhappy to see them.


    "WHAT THE FUCK¡ª"


    "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT¡ª"


    From my point of view, Quinn easily pushed Jennifer off the copsed tform and the broken coffin, but it was by letting go of her self-built weapon.


    Tatiana and I were already flying and cutting in half anyone that was in front of us while our shooters designated a new killzone around Jennifer and Quinn''s exact proximity, and we did see Quinn pull out her Deagle and her backup knife and look below.


    We did see her stomp down while a portion of the dead around them either lost their legs or got shot in the head by Jennifer sweeping them from below or by our shooters shooting from afar.


    But yeah, as I got there in record time, Kaley and Jared shifted their shooting away from us to create a path back while Tatiana pulled more deadheads out the way.


    Jennifer had also got up with a few smudges from getting pushed down on the dirt but my focus was getting Quinn out of that death trap.


    "I''M FINE! I''M FINE¡ª WHA¡ª PUT ME DOWN, YOU FUCK! I SAID I''M¡ª"


    "SHUT THE FUCK UP! DID YOU GET BIT OR WHAT?!"

 Chapter 1192: Luck

    To Quinn''s surprise, I easily pulled her out of that 3-foot hole and brought her to where Jennifer and I were standing, and right as I gave us more space by emptying my Maxim 9 on every forehead I saw, I quickly checked not just to the future mother of my child but also my friend andrade.


    "I SAID I''M FINE! CHECK JENNIFER! SHE''S THE ONE WHO LANDED ON THEIR HEADS! THAT''S WHY I PUSHED HER OFF!"


    Jennifer shouted back, "YOU SHOULDN''T HAVE PUSHED ME!"


    "SAY WHAT?! I JUST SAVED YOU!"


    "I COULD''VE JUST STOMPED ON THEIR HEADS! WE''RE HEAVY ENOUGH TO COLLAPSE CONCRETE! IT WOULD''VE TAKEN THREE STOMPS! I ALMOST GOT BIT WHEN YOU PUSHED ME TO FIVE MORE OF THEM!"


    "I-I¡ª I DIDN''T THINK STRAIGHT! SORRY!"


    "YOU¡ª F-FINE, fine¡­ you owe me a fucking beer¡­"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    Tatiana shouted from the side, "A little more help?!"


    I shouted loud enough for her to hear, "We''re retreating for the moment¡ª"


    Quinn and Jennifer couldn''t believe what I said, "WHAT?! WHY?/ YEAH, WHY?!"


    "You two said you''re fine, we aren''t sure¡ª"


    "BUT¡ª"


    "IT''S EITHER YOU WALK BACK WITH US OR I''LL FUCKING DRAG YA! THIS IS SERIOUS! I DON''T CARE IF YOU FUCKING GET MAD AT ME BUT I''M CHECKING YOU WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! I CAN EASILY CARRY BOTH OF YOU ON MY BACK!"


    "F-Fine¡­ What if I''m bit?"


    "NO STUPID QUESTIONS, CAN YOU WALK OR NOT?!"


    "I CAN WALK JUST FINE! STOP YELLING!"


    At that point, Quinn never looked so pissed as she stomped her way back with us but Jennifer was a little more understanding of the situation. Obviously, Ibarra quickly met with us as he brought the rear while Tatiana was to the side, and I was walking with Quinn''s main weapon while she was emptying her Deagle to whoever came close.


    Kaley had alreadyid her emergency pack on the Raptor''s truckbed, "What happened? You two okay?!"


    Quinn huffed, "WE''RE TOTALLY FINE AND YOUR HUSBAND''S DELAYING US FOR SOME BULLSHIT REASON!"


    I shouted back, "IT''S NOT BULLSHIT! TAKE THOSE PANTS AND BOOTS OFF SO WE COULD CHECK YOU!"


    Quinn suddenly chuckled, "If that''s what we''re doing, you should''ve said¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "Enough jokes!"


    I added, "That goes for you too, Jennifer. I''m sorry but you have to take off your clothes here, not including underwear, of course¡ª"


    "I understand," Jennifer said as she was already partway in taking off her vest, "It''s actually pretty serious, it''s just adrenaline back there¡­ Sorry¡­ I should really go on a cut, huh?"


    I let out a short exhale, "I like that you two are joking, alright? It''s just¡­ be quiet for the moment¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    If we were in the old world, it would''ve been criminal to ask these beautiful women to strip down to their underwear to see if they get bit, but now, it was not time to get self-conscious because it was a life or death situation.


    And to give us a lot of time, Tatiana and Ibarra began using their rifles in tandem with Jared while the Deweys tried their best to help around by handing Kaley and me what we needed, refilling mags, flying the drones, or pulling the bodies in a safe spot.


    And right as the two were in their underwear, Kaley and I began wiping them down with a clean and damp cloth, starting with their feet and making our way up, and even though it was really as Quinn and Jennifer stated, I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I gave the two a tight hug and an apology.


    I was being aplete asshole within reason but it didn''t mean I could go back and recant what statements I said after it was all over.


    Quinn just rolled her eyes with a huff, "Told ya. I guess it''s better me saying it than you if you discover a bite."


    I nodded gently as I gave her back her clothes, "Yeah¡­"


    Then she lightly jabbed my torso, "Also¡­ Thanks for caring and sorry for shouting at ya¡­ I know you mean well¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in while already wearing all her clothes, "The fuck¡ª You gonna talk or are you gonna move?! We''re missing the action here!"


    "WE''RE HAVING A MOMENT, ALRIGHT?!"


    "BLAH, BLAH, BLAH~ YOU''RE DISTRACTING THE DEWEYS TOO!"


    "HAAAH?!"


    "THAT JEREMY KID''S GOOD AT HIDING IT BUT CINDY''S STARING AT OUR TITS EVER SINCE WE TOOK THEM OUT!"


    Cindy''s jaw dropped, "NO, I WASN''T!"


    "THEN WHY''S THIS MAG HAD THE BULLETS ON BACKWARDS, HUH?!"


    "I¡ª ALRIGHT, I''M STARING! IT''S BECAUSE JEREMY LOOKED FIRST!"


    Jeremy pped back, "WHA¡ª WHO WOULDN''T?! AT LEAST I DIDN''T FUCK UP!"


    "THE FUCK YOU SAY TO ME?!"


    "I SAID WHAT I SAID!"


    Eden waved them off, "GUYS SHUT UP! SIR IBARRA''S NO JOKE EITHER! I''M GLAD HE''S ON OUR SIDE¡ª"


    "HOLD¡ª I THINK I KILLED IT, BRO!" Jared eximed from the roof of our Raptor.


    All of a sudden, the body Tatiana saved as an indicator for killing the Stitcher controlling it suddenly "turned off" as its outstretched arms fell limp to the ground along with a few others in our cluster. In addition, we received several calls that reported deadheads dropping down from their own clusters as well but I still ordered them to chop the bodies up for good measure.


    It''d be a little tedious, sure, but everyone knew it was for their own safety.


    So yeah, with my des wiped clean, pistol mags full, and my eyes delighted from the earlier disy¡ªwhich I won''t admit to the two despite my noble intentions¡ªwe began marching forward with a focus on staying within 6-10 feet among each other, and for obvious reasons, Quinn and Jennifer were barred from stepping onto an elevated tform at the same time.


    This time, they got fucking lucky the ones who surprised them hadn''t had enough food or sunlight, and if it was a more active member of the undead society, we would''ve bet on the chance to chop their infected leg off for their survival.

 Chapter 1193: The Drug Stash

    The moment we joined Ibarra and Tatiana, it didn''t take long before wepletely took care of our cluster and branched out to help with the others. Of course, I ordered Jennifer and Ibarra to hold the fort and to double-tap and dismember the fallen bodies with Kaley, Jared, and the Deweys¡ªthough we didn''t spend that much time in each cluster, especially from Artem''s side.


    With that said, the cluster where the trainees and the cadets were surprised me instead because they were more organized than expected.


    But yeah, their own group split to where they were mostfortable with working side by side, and in a sense, it was much better than forcing them to work together as if they were a single unit.


    JP obviously took back his title over his peers while Marvin continued to be their silent leader, but this time, Seb felt a little more attuned to working with the other side while Bryan with the other, making him Lucas'' new nemesis for JP''s favor.


    ''I dunno why they suddenly made up but it''s a good sign, no? Better than me and Bartow being like oil and water¡­''


    In any case, once we gathered all the dead bodies in clusters and set them alight, we began to make use of the excavators we brought over to dig up the graves and add them inter as kindling. Some people definitely questioned this action but Quinn and Jennifer almost saying goodbye to that particr surprise was enough reason to make sure that those in their coffins were also cleared off.


    I dunno, if spirits were real, my karma points would be in the negatives but I''d dly take them just so the living would be able to breathe freely.


    However, it didn''t take long before we found more than rotting corpses in the elevated enclosures/tombs on the ground, and whaddayaknow? We actually found one of Robert''s hidden cache of cash, firearms, and drug paraphernalia among other things.


    Bogdan and Ruben actually came upon it identally when they cracked open this tomb which seemed to be refurbished many times, especially at one end, meaning it was covered and patched up many times by cement not because it was such a good spot for dead bodies but a perfect ce to store shit without gathering too much attention.


    And aside from the $100,00 worth of cash in different currencies and numeration, a crate of handguns, two cases of automatic rifles, five bricks of cocaine, ten pounds of Marijuana, a pound of heroin, four pounds of shady-ass meth, etc., we also found this notebook with handwritten passages of numbers and letters that looked like gibberish, for now.


    I would''ve been excited to take a crack at this ck book of sorts when we got home, but with the amount of workid out for me, I just put it in the back of my head right now while I took everything this tomb has to offer.


    Obviously, part of the drugs we uncovered will be shared with the GDMWC, but since Royo would being with us back home, I''d decided on the detailster if we''d start dealing very small incrementster.


    If it was the me before, I would''ve just burned them all with the pile of corpses we just took care of, but my stance on this type of thing had already changed probably due to my involvement with Mr. Cuervo and epting the world wasn''tpletely ck and white.


    There was this gray area of sorts that everyone should be careful of traversing and drugs such as these have their uses like for trading, recreation, or even actual medication.


    Then Bartow''s voice echoed from our radios:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey. It''s already done, right?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Not 100% but we''ll see if theye back."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We tied a couple of biters here trying to get past us and they''re just standing around just now.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Just now?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah. They didn''t stop trying to get to that ce when your cousin yelled that he killed the one. I''m thinking there are multiples of them present and you just burned thest one.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Must be the case, yeah."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright, now that''s done, I''ll be leaving two of my groups here to take care of any stragglers and my main group will drive south to clear the streets even more. Nice work.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, yeah. You too."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Ever since Bartow''s promotion, he had more people to order around and he''s making use of all of them to maximize anything that they''d do in a day, so that everyone in our outposts would be safe. In turn, the ones in their protection would maintain the upkeep and greet them with warm meals and a clean ce toy their heads on, forming the most basic rtionship since time immemorial.


    But yeah, our group was mostly done in this area so while everyone else was cleaning up and putting the excavators back to the trucks we brought in with us, I walked back to check on Paul, who was the leader of sorts in charge in this part of the expressway.


    "Yo. Hope we didn''t attract much on this side."


    He rolled his eyes,ughing, "Attract much on this side, my ass¡ª You even had a group waiting on this end! We just had our drone watching you from above! Your group''s insane, I tell you¡ª not as much as you but you''re all crazy. d we''re on the same side."


    I chuckled, "Thanks. Oh, hey, I dunno if you''re keeping up with the radio chatter but has your group heard anything or anyone about warning everyone here of us?"


    "Huh? Warning?"


    "Yeah, some folks who followed after the Navy docked somewhere else and started talking shit about them. I assumed you heard¡ª"


    He let out an exasperated sigh, "Even here we have those fucks stirring shit?"


    "Well, that''s America for ya¡ª Depends on where they came from but I was sure they''d die the first day."


    "Jesus¡­ I''m sorry I''ming up with nks but I''ll ask my group to tell me or give you a report if we ever hear of them on our side, cool?"


    "Cool. Right, it''d be ourst day here for the moment¡ª"


    "Ah, shit. You''re leaving then?"


    "Not today, no. But we''ll spend the night and leave early morning. We''d stop by Jessica''s ce again to drop off some troops and maybe some of them might get stationed here or in your other outposts."


    "Shi¡ª For real?"


    "Yeah."


    "Alright, I''ll be happy to keep my job as is but we gotta make this ce a little morefortable."


    "That''s true. Since you''re close to this residential area once you break off this road, it''d be better to split your group in half to have some sort of semi-permanent residence in one of the houses."


    "And just have our shifts in intervals, huh?"


    "Yeah."


    "That¡­ That''ll work, for sure¡­ You gonna tell Jessica for us?"


    "Of course, it''s still up to her but that''s not a bad arrangement."


    "Heh. Just being able to shower on a regr basis is good enough. Thanks, man."

 Chapter 1194: Work Hard, Play Hard

    After that exchange, we drove back to the Freeport Zone instead of the airport to have lunch with Captain Mitch Davis. And with his current promotion, instead of enjoying his time in the vi where everyone else proposed their family live, he was cooped up in the same spot where they dropped the bomb of sending nukes to every corner of the world, buried in paperwork with Janice and Maine.


    Busy wasn''t even the right word to describe the three, and they didn''t even notice mee in with their share of the food.


    If I let my intrusive thoughts win, I would''ve opened them up with a shbang, but it didn''t take long before their nose did the work for them.


    "Wha¡ª When did you get here?!"


    "Five minutes ago," I said as I cleared them a table, "Enough of that shit, for now. Eat."


    Janice cut in, "But we still gotta¡ª"


    "I can beat you three in a pulp and send you to a hospital so you could eat three squared meals¡ª I mean, we can feed you three in a tube? Do you want that?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "A-Ah¡ª You heard the man, l-let''s eat!" Maine set the rest of her work aside to walk over to me, "What are we having for lunch?"


    "Salmon and veggies with some soup. I already ate though, thanks."


    "What?! You should''ve waited!"


    I showed her my watch, "It''s already past 2, I can''t believe you fucks didn''t notice."


    Captain Davis dryly chuckled, "Well once we get going, we get going. It may seem boring from the outside perspective, but once you get a rhythm going, stopping''s harder."


    Maine nodded a few times, "So true¡­ And we haven''t even caught up to the day since you got here. I''d hate to say it but we kinda need more people doing boring jobs like these¡­"


    Janice nodded, "And with the ton of things Bartow''s group keeps bringing back, it''s hard to keep up."


    "What happened with y and Marge? Can''t they help?"


    Captain Davis answered, "Oh, y''s been doing it alone in the Marine Base while Marge was one of the people we sent over to help with the Deweys. Remember Mrs. Adams?"


    "Ah, right, right~"


    "But you shouldn''t worry about this, we did ask for help from their side and they''d be sending some bookies to help temporarily. It''s just a lot of work now but if we caught up, it''d be easier and we''d be more familiar with this system of yours."


    Maine added, "It''s a mess right now but as soon as we''re done here and y''s done over there, we''ll get started on the airport as well. A little at a time, right?"


    I nodded pensively, "Well, I can see you''re keeping your records close but you can have our civilians do inventory of the simpler things like our food storage and whatnot and check themter just to be safe. But yeah, I''d keep a tight lid onto our firearms and ammunitions, medicine, and fuel¡ªthere''s a lot more to consider but delegating less important stuff''s the way to go."


    Captain Davis let out a smile, "Yeah, I''m already letting my wife take care of that and they''re already thinking of ways to food prep for at least a week and have a separate thing for long-term storage. After that, they''ll focus more on food production and whatnot."


    "About that¡­"


    With that said, I shared with him the things I talked about the people from the Idress Maritime Academy and he was more than excited to implement those changes even if they were still knee-deep in work. However, I did mention that the GDMWC was preserving the forested area around their territory and they''d appreciate it if they don''t cut trees from that side.


    "Oh, really? It''s booby-trapped?"


    I nodded, "Yeah. Don''t want a repeat of Vietnam, right?"


    Maine choked on her food, "Oof, bro! Even I got it! Don''t cut so deep, alright?!"


    Captain Davis shook his head afterposing himself, "Jesus Christ¡­ That''s¡­ Alright, I''ll tell the troops to do just that, what else do you need from me?"


    "Right¡­ I haven''t talked to Iskoh yet about their supplementation of troops but since we''d be setting off early morning and Jessica''s HQ is our first stop, do you have a list of people willing to go already? I''m assuming most of them are here."


    "About that¡­"


    "Is there a problem?"


    "We do trust you greatly but this Jessica person is someone we haven''t met. We''re totally fine sending our people while they send over theirs but can we agree on sending a portion of it now beforepletely shipping them off?"


    "How many people are we talking?"


    Captain Davis turned to Janice, "How many volunteered again?"


    Janice leaned back to fish out a list, "Twelve? Five soldiers and the rest are civilians."


    Captain Davis added, "In addition, we haven''t actually settled in with new management and all these people so¡ª"


    "Could we at least get it to fifty? Or at least double that amount? We''re not in a hurry per se but it''s harder to send people elsewhere once theypletely settled in. Besides, that ce is only a few-hour drive and we''d rotate them in a month. The people you can send over to my side can wait, the same as with the Mayor of Man."


    "Hmm¡­ That''s¡­ You got a point there¡­ Alright, I''ll see what I can do but I''ll use my authority if no one else volunteers by sundown."


    Maine cut in, "I can go to his ce if he''d take me¡ª"


    Janice eximed, "MAINE!"


    "What?! I''m just volunteering¡­"


    I chuckled, "Avoiding work, I see¡­"


    "Ah¡ª I-It''s not that, I just¡ª Man~ I thought it wouldn''t be hard to seduce ya¡ª I''m in a bit of a dry spell, you see?"


    "MAINE!"


    "Stop shouting my name! I can hear you just fine¡ª I just wanted to shoot my shot, alright?"


    I chuckled, "I''m ttered, I really am but¡ª"


    Maine cut me off, "There we go~ Fine, let me down nicely¡­ You''re probably drowning in pussy so you can''t facilitate someone like me¡ª"


    "It''s not that, alright? I''d be more convinced if you finish your work in¡ª"


    "I was actually fucking around for an hour now, I''m done with my share."


    "WHAT?!" Janice and Captain Davis eximed.


    "Again, I can hear you two just fine! Jesus¡­"


    "Are you really done though?"


    "Yes, you can check my work. It''s over there."


    Captain Davis couldn''t believe what Maine said so he checked her work and found out that she was already done and was actually fucking around by doing their share they haven''t touched yet.


    Even I was surprised at the rate shepleted her tasks and at the same time, the uracy shepleted them with footnotes regarding special cases like certain bullets that came from a box or loose ammo collected elsewhere.


    So yeah, I gave credit where credit was due, so let''s just say Maine couldn''t stop giggling to herself as she went back to work all disheveled and shit, after we excused ourselves for 30 minutes in the bathroom.


    Then Janice had to say it, "I-I''m done too¡­ C-Can I have some of that¡ª"


    "JANICE!"

 Chapter 1195: Getting Some Shit Done - No System Is Safe

    After we all shared augh and as Janice and I shared a room for almost the same time as Maine, I helped them finish a portion of their work while my group was doing their own thing. Part of them were offering help as to who needed it though I asked Artem''s group to apany Jared, Ibarra, and my uncle to retrieve the rest of the items we left in the airport.


    However, since we did have a Chinook gifted to us, the more important items would be ced in there¡ªespecially the freezer that contained these "Peptides", the drug stash we uncovered from the cemetery, and E apanied by the five-man group to protect her¡ªand it would be flown by Rachel herself, and anyone who wanted to ride it was free to do so.


    In doing so, Royo and Chris Keh would definitely fly with them though they''d reach my ce sooner, but I already asked the people I left there to take care of it because we were known for our hospitality and if they''d need anything more, I was just one call away.


    But yeah, hours easily passed and funnily enough, the three''s words rang true when Kaley, E, and June almost gave me a shock when they popped out of nowhere like Jude¡ªbringing us some dinner¡ªbecause it was already 8:00 PM, and we were that absorbed in our work.


    I didn''t think I even went into my automated state¡ªsince I was making sure everything was typed in correctly¡ªbut we really do have to take a short rest.


    E eximed as she pointed at me, "You''ve been here all along?!"


    "What? No one told you?"


    "I didn''t ask but¡ª I''m hungry!"


    Captain Davis chuckled, "Then I''ll leave you guys here to eat. I''d love to join you but my wife''s probably looking for me as well."


    Kaley interjected, "They can eat with us here too, right?"


    "No, no, they could but I did promise to eat with just us. They''re probably waiting at the vi¡­"


    "I-I see, take care then!"


    "I will, I will¡­" Captain Davis trailed off as he walked out the door.


    At that point, since we discovered that Kaley and the rest also hadn''t eaten yet, we cleared the biggest table and had dinner right then and there. Some of our crew also discovered our location and decided to eat with us, though it definitely got rowdy when Oscar, Jennifer, Quinn, and Bartow joined in.


    They were the loudest of the bunch and I wish we could''ve eaten quietly, but it is what it is.


    Though E soon learned of her trip tomorrow via a Chinook:


    "W-What?! I don''t even get to drive with you?!"


    "The Raptor''s already at capacity and you''d be there in less than an hour, what else do you want?"


    "I-I want to drive with you! See the road and everything!"


    "Trust me, the road''s not nice and you probably think every ce here looks like the Subic Bay, unfortunately, it''s not."


    "B-But¡ª"


    "No buts, it''s also safer for you and it''d give me peace of mind¡ª" then I turned to everyone, "Also, anyone aside from my main group is also wee to join them and we''ll see if we could fit in one of our vehicles in there."


    Oscar nodded, "If anyone wouldn''t board the Chinook, I''ll put my H1 there and enjoy the flight. I can''t waste time driving all the way back¡ª" then he turned to Jennifer, "How about you? Your girl''s driving the Chinook, right?"


    Jennifer answered, "I''lle with, I suppose," then she turned to me after, "Is that okay?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Sure."


    At that point, Jeremy and Cindy also decided to board the Chinook while June and Eden decided that they wanted to drive with us. A few more people wanted to experience flying from the CH-47, and since we had enough people to drive our vehicles without diminishing our fighting power that much, I allowed everyone who could fit inside that helicopter.


    But yeah, as soon as we finished eating, I went back to finishing up this ce''s records with Janice and Maine¡ªwherein Captain Davis also returned shortly¡ªbut this time, we received help from Alexa and June, who were more attuned to this type of stuffpared to my usual fighting crew.


    At the rate we were going, we''d actually finish the whole she-bang if we stayed up till midnight, and we did just that despite the almost telepathic messages I was feeling every time one of the women in our circle dropped in to check in on us or make us some coffee.


    If only they knew we could''ve gotten on it faster if they all chipped in but nevertheless, this type of work needed someone proficient inputers or slightly adept in some form of organizing shit, and the people that joined us fit the bill.


    Because aside from June who could type like a motherfucker, Alexa made subtle changes to the files already done by color-coding certain entries to make them easier to identify by a nce, because most people do see colors first than text.


    June cut in, "Do we have a centralized server yet? I can make one if you''d let me?"


    I turned to Captain Davis, "We could make use of the rys we installed all around¡ª"


    Captain Davis shook his head, "How about security?"


    Maine added, "Like the food inventory and the thingamajig for our building materials, we can only have those in there and have only physical copies for the important bits."


    June nodded, "It''d be up to you to keep it safe because no system is safe, everything''s hackable if the person doing it knows their thing."


    Maine nced at June, "You a ckhat or something? You know your shit."


    June snorted convincingly, "For someone to know their shit, it''s pretty basic shit, no? There''s a lot of shit to learn online, if you''re into that shit¡ª"


    Janice had to cut in, "Can''t we use other words other than that?!"

 Chapter 1196: Prodding Around

    In any case, we soon discovered that June''s suggestion could also be made by Maine so we left it at that. It wasn''t like everyone here was just fighters and this ce would just turn into a raider''s outpost if they only had people who could shoot guns, wring necks, or stab their enemies in the head.


    Moving on, we finished everything a few minutes before midnight and Captain Davis took all of the important files with him.


    Maine and Janice looked like they''d fall asleep any second but Alexa was already out. It was because she didn''t take coffee¡ªor even a sip of it¡ªwhile we were working, and once she curled into a ball with her fuzzy nket, she was knocked out on one end of the sofa, and the other two were about to fall asleep in the same ce as well.


    "Night guys¡­ Good work¡ª"


    Maine tried to wave me over, "You''re leaving?"


    I chuckled, "Get some sleep, alright?"


    "Fine¡­ By the way, thanks for taking care of me earlier¡­ I really needed that¡­ We really needed that¡­ Right, Jan¡ª"


    "Zzzz¡­"


    "She''s already asleep, nevermind¡ª See you tomorrow?"


    "At breakfast, sure."


    With that said, June and I started making our way to our spotst time, and I took it upon myself to dig a little bit about what happened with herst night. She just had her arm around mine, slightly pressing her soft body against me, definitely regretting wearing clothes that exposed her mid-riff at this hour.


    "I only have my vest, sorry¡­"


    "Hmm? You said something?"


    "You''re cold, right? Sorry, I don''t have a jacket¡ª"


    "Huh? I''m wearing one¡ª"


    "N-No, I mean¡ª You sticking close to me and with your jacket that short, I thought you were cold¡­"


    "Oh. Ohhh~ Your arm''s pretty warm, so it''s okay¡­"


    "Alright, then¡­ Can I ask you something though?"


    "Hmm? Okay."


    "Umm¡­ Last night¡­ I''m just wondering if¡­ you know¡­"


    June chuckled as she looked at me with this mischievous smile, "Wouldn''t you like to know, huh?"


    "I really do, yeah¡­"


    "What do you wanna know then? Hmm?"


    "Ah¡ª D-Did you umm¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ I can''t keep this facade for long! Fine, I''ll tell you! We DID have some fun but how do I put this¡­ Hmm~ Let''s just say like E, aside from our mouths, we''re pretty much virgins. How about that?"


    "Okay? But¡ª You know¡­"


    She chuckled again, "You''re that worried, huh?"


    "A little¡ª"


    "Fine, FINE! It''s mostly an oral type of night, alright? Kaley decreed it for some reason, that''s why Tatiana and Quinn did it somece with Alexa and Megan, so we''re just left with me, Kaley, and E¡­ Happy?"


    "When you say oral¡­"


    "Oh god, do I really have to spell everything out for you?!"


    "Pretty much, yeah."


    "PFFT! Dammit! Remember when Kaley umm¡­ cleaned me up?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Let''s just say that that was as far as we went¡ª E might''ve said some things but it''s all water under the bridge."


    "What did she say?"


    June rolled her eyes, "You really want to know? Can''t you even guess? Clue: it''s something that would definitely boost your ego!"


    "Oh. OHHH!"


    "PFFT¡ª AHAHAHA! Can''t you believe it?! She said it straight to my face as to when it''ll get bigger! I was like¡ª Not everything''s ginormous like him! Can''t you tell I''m hard as is! She kept shaking it and y-you know, with how sensitive I am¡ª Right?!


    Forget how naive she was, even if I''m in the same boat, I''m not that oblivious!"


    "That''s just E¡ª Did Kaley say anything?"


    "Of course! She exined it for me after this whole other conversation of how I am down there but yeah, I can clearly tell, she''s also eagerly waiting for you¡­ to you know¡­ that¡­"


    I lightly chuckled as I scratched the back of my head, "Uh-huh¡­ I actually thought you''d lose your first to Kaley yesterday¡­ It''s not like I don''t mind but I kind of wanna be there, you know?"


    "D''you know that she said the exact same thing?! You two are¡ª Ugh, but she''s right, you know? Both of you are¡­ I''m not in a hurry per se, but¡­ you know¡­ I kinda wanna lose my virginity to you first¡­"


    I suddenly stopped in my tracks, "AH¡ª Umm¡ª Which side, exactly¡ª AH¡ª"


    Juneughed out loud as she jabbed me on my sides, "OF COURSE MY¡ª" then she leaned in, "Of course me at the receiving end¡­ While it''s true I don''t have the thing to prove I''m still a virgin but¡ª"


    "June. No offense but I don''t really care either way."


    "W-What do you mean? Aren''t most guys hung up on that sort of thing?"


    "You could say that it''s true and makes things a little special but do you know Kaley and I weren''t each others'' firsts? I understand that it''s kind of special to you to prove it but you don''t have to bleed and get hurt just to convince me, you know? Just say that you are and I''ll believe you *snaps fingers* just like that."


    "R-Really?"


    "Yeah¡ª but you know¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Anal''s a little tricky, you know? Not to brag or anything but with my girth, if we don''t do it right, you might bleed a little bit but that''s not a determinant if it was someone''s first time or not¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "What?"


    "Ugh¡ª You were so cool before that tirade, you know?! B-But yeah¡­ thanks for saying that other thing¡­ B-But will you really do it with me?"


    I slightly tilted my head, "Why are you asking? Of course¡ª"


    "Y-You know¡­ Because you know¡­ lst time we¡ª"


    "June."


    "Y-Yes?"


    "I''m gonna be real straight with you, alright? Pun slightly intended¡­"


    Her slight frown quickly turned to a smile, "Pfft¡­ sure¡­ what is it?"


    "There are three¡ª no, two things I probably wouldn''t do with you. You''re free to give me your own sets of boundaries but do you wanna hear mine first?"


    "O-Okay?"


    As I leaned in to tell June what those two things were, she couldn''t help but let out an amused smile as we eventually joined the others who were either lounging around or were already asleep.

 Chapter 1197: Finally crossing the line with June-- Eden?!

    Obviously, we had more tents set uppared tost time but it appears that not everyone participated in our nightly activities¡ªor they''ve been doing it on the down low¡ªbecause not only were the rest of the Deweys present, but our trainees/cadets had set up their tents as well, enjoying the breeze and the view from our spot away from the bulk of the people.


    Megan greeted us first, "Ah¡ª Where''s Alexa?"


    "Already asleep. Wouldn''t want to wake her but don''t worry, she''s sleeping with Maine and Janice at the same office, cool girls."


    Then she leaned in to whisper, "Sorry about everyone else here¡­ They discovered our little spot and we can''t just shoo them away¡­"


    I chuckled, "So that means I could finally get some sleep?"


    She rolled her eyes, "Not quite. See those two tents by the corner with your truck partly covering them? That''s our spot¡ª"


    "Oh. I''ll sleep in the Raptor then¡ª"


    "Oh,e on!"


    As Megan adorably stomped her foot, Eden approached us¡ªncing briefly at June¡ªthen turning back to me:


    "Hey."


    "Hey. How''s your first day away from your responsibilities?"


    She let out a smile, "It''s a mix of things, really¡ª But yeah! Mom and Dad wanted to say thanks for the¡­ you know¡­ the medication you sent us. It''s a bit unconventional but it does get the job done. We promise we won''t abuse or squander¡ª"


    I waved her off, "I trust you guys, don''t worry."


    "W-Well thanks again¡­ We really mean it. C-Can I get a hug?"


    I was slightly surprised, "A hug?"


    June rolled her eyes, "Oh please~ She wants more than a hug¡­"


    "JUNE¡ª"


    "Where''d your free-spiritedness go, sis? Ask for more and ye shall receive more~"


    "I already asked for a hug, that''s all I''ll need!"


    "For now, right?"


    "S-Shut up!"


    I chuckled as I invited Eden toe up to me, "I could go for a hug?"


    "Really?! Here I go¡ª"


    To my surprise, I thought Eden would wrap her arms around my torso but she suddenly went for my neck. She was standing on her tippy-toes while her face was smudged right on my face but I didn''t mind it as much as I rubbed and patted her back gently. But for some reason, her back was a little ticklish so she quickly pulled away before it got more awkward for her.


    "Ahaha¡­ Haa¡­ T-Thanks! I-I''ll get back to our t-tent! Y-You guys do your t-thing¡ª Bye!"


    Seeing Eden almost trip herself as she scrambled back to where her two other siblings were¡ªwho totally witnessed that disy and wereughing at her awkward ass¡ªMegan and June also had a kick from Eden but I found it very, very cute instead.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long Cindy and June decided to throw Eden to the wolves(me) as they dragged her out of the tent she was hiding in to the backseat of my Raptor where Megan reluctantly got off me and joined the other two after an intense but short makeout session with yours truly.


    ''These girls¡ª''


    And to everyone''s fucking surprise, as much as Eden struggled to get from point A to point B, the moment she discovered I was more than wee to give her something more than just a hug, we only stared at each other in silence for a few moments before she quickly took Megan''s ce¡ªwhich was on myp¡ªand sealed her lips with mine.


    Eden definitely knew what she was doing, and it actually felt nice, but the moment she took off her shirt and revealed her perky set, her farmer''s tan just highlighted how light her skin tone was, even making her ares and nipples barely visible because it was almost the same color as her pasty white skin.


    "W-What do you think?"


    Ignoring her question, I quicklypped up her breasts before sucking and licking each of her nipples¡ªwhich instantly elicited a moan¡ªand she was already grinding her plump crotch against my huge bulge, even if she was leaning back from the pleasure.


    Even with her slender frame, it was a surprise and a delight to see some ab definition aside from her perky set, but as much as I would''ve wanted to just take in the sights a little more and lick every part of her body, it seemed like June wasn''t the only one touch-deprived, as Eden made metch off her tits then looked me in the eyes.


    "Ha¡­ H-Haa¡­ Do¡­ D-Do you wanna put it in?"


    I suddenly caught a glimpse from the rear-view mirror, "I do but¡ª"


    "I-I''m already s-super wet¡­ Hngh¡­ Hnn¡­ C-Can''t you feel it? D-Don''t you want to put it in?"


    "It''s just your sisters are watching from the back with Megan, are you okay with that?"


    "Hngh¡­ T-They''re so s-stupid! F-Fuck¡­ F-Fuck it¡ª I-I don''t even care anymore! They can all watch i-if that''s what it takes!"


    At that point, Eden hurriedly tried to take off her pants¡ªbut was failing miserably, and once she managed to pull it halfway through her thighs, she turned around and showed me her plump ass, pleading for me to just make do with her while her panties were just soaking all of her wetness.


    And yeah, making her lean back and pushing her panties to the side, I easily found her tight opening made even tighter by her legs closed shut. But once I pushed the tip in, Eden moaned and groaned from pleasure before she straight up squirted when we barely reached the halfway mark:


    "F-FUCK! Y-You''re so big¡ª I¡ª W-Wait¡ª Y-You''re still carrying me¡ª H-How¡ª Hngh¡­ H-How far?!"


    "Almost h-half¡­ Fuck, you''re so fucking tight¡ª"


    "S-Slide it¡ª Push¡ª Whatever the fuck¡ª G-Go all the way in¡ª F-FUCK ME! FUCK!"


    As I stopped supporting her with my arms, her weight eventually pushed her all the way down¡ª down to the base of my cock, making her reach around and almost w through the back of my neck as I basically impaled her, making her cum for the second time just from insertion.


    "F-F-F-Fuckk¡­ I''m¡ª Ah¡­ Ahn¡­ H-Hngn¡­"


    At this point, I would''ve just moved my hips while making her scream out my name, but I took the time topletely pull off her pants to get herfortable. However, the doors to my truck opened and the three watching from outside joined us, June sitting on the front seat passenger side while Megan and Cindy were to our left and right.


    Eden protested, covering her face, "W-What¡ª June! Cindy! What are you¡ª"


    "I-I''m just watching! I should be there first, you know?!/Who gives a fuck? I''m here for him, not you!" June quickly answered as Cindy chuckled while caressing my right arm.


    Megan added, "Sorry, we can''t just watch you enjoy that dick so we''re taking his arms¡­" then she turned to me, "You don''t mind, do you?"


    "If Eden''s okay with it¡ª"


    "F-Fine! I¡ª Hngh¡­ Ha¡­ J-Just don''t make it weird as it already is, okay?!"


    With that said, while everyone was taking off their clothes, Eden began to move her hips and grind on top of me while my dick was still deep inside her womb.


    Even with her legs notpletely shut tight, her pussy was still gripping me tightly making continuous pration a little harder from my position because, at the current moment, Megan and Cindy were now leaning on me and guiding my fingers around their bodies.


    At the same time, June was vigorously pleasuring herself while one of her arms was tightly hugging the headrest¡ªonly looking at my body and facial expressions.


    In Eden''s case, she could only avoid June''s gaze by looking down because her short hair couldn''t cover her face, but the pleasure she was feeling couldn''t stop her from moving her hips in the same motion over and over. Granted it was a little clumsy at first, but she began losing herself from the simple trick of just closing her eyes and enjoying what was happening with her.


    But yeah, her moans definitely toned down to more silent ones or just straight-up sharp exhales, but right as her next orgasm was about toe up, she began moving her hips faster and faster while her insides were contracting more and more.


    "HnghH! nnhGHh! Y-YEAH! Yeah! Y-YESSsss! MmNH!


    NnH! NNH! F-Fu¡ª Fu¡ª NnnngHH! C-Cu¡ª C-CUMMING! I-I''M CUMMINnnnNNNG!"


    Hearing that, Ipletely let go of Cindy and Megan as I held Eden''s hips, matching her movements with my own as I began pumping her pussy with my cum. And the moment she felt my warm seed filling her womb, she wasn''t able to restrict herself from cumming hard and squirting for the third, fourth, fifth time, and so on even if she was still embarrassed by her sisters watching her melt in ce.


    But yeah, the moment the feeling of embarrassment and weirdness left her body, she just turned around and mounted me the same way we were making out earlier, making the two by our side get up and protest because she wanted my hands exploring the rest of her body as well.

 Chapter 1198: Do what? - Happy to oblige.

    Focusing on one girl at a time, right as I ced my hands over Eden''s back, she let out the sweetest moan we could hear as she moved her hips the same way¡ªand even if her insides were just as wet and as slippery with her juices and my cum, I could still feel her gripping me tight with her walls while she was grinding on top of me.


    I was hitting her most sensitive spot from this position so she didn''t want to push and pull in, but I didn''t care as much as I was back to lightly nibbling and sucking on her perky tits while Cindy and Megan decided to take the matter to their own hands.


    "W-Wai¡ª Wait! M-Mnngh¡­ Mmnh!"


    What happened was before I even attempted to prod Eden''s ass with my finger, Megan went ahead and did it ahead of me while putting her hand on Eden''s neck and kissing her, all the while Cindy pried me off her sister''s bosom so she could taste my lips and take in my tongue.


    Though Eden quickly tried to make Megantch off not from the slight choking but from the finger on her ring:


    "N-Not there¡ª MmnH! Ah¡­ P-Please¡­"


    And Megan respected Eden''s request but as she was about to go for her boobs instead, Cindy broke off from our kiss as she turned to Megan:


    "You can do me, if I do you first?"


    Megan giggled, "Then go over here, my new friend!"


    At that point, crisis was averted as Cindy moved over to Megan''s side but June couldn''t make do with just watching us with her she-cock in hand so she moved over to where Cindy was sitting previously and gave us this pleading look.


    "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ C-Can I? Please? I-I can''t take it a-anymore, sis!"


    "W-What? June? W-Wait, wait¡­ O-One more, please¡ª O-One more and I''ll¡ª I-I''m really close¡ª F-FUCK!"


    "H-Hurry!"


    Ignoring how cramped the backseats of this truck we were in for the moment, Eden was just wearing this deranged expression as she began to ride me harder and harder while June continued to milk her 3-inch cock while squeezing her boobs.


    To my surprise, the two actually had the same size breasts¡ªthe only difference was the color of their ares and nipples¡ªbut I don''t know how many times June had orgasmed just from watching us.


    And to address the elephant in the room, as weird as it was, these sisters haven''t touched each other¡ªto my knowledge, at least¡ªbut they were fine doing things with me at the same time but just not with each other.


    ''Let''s just see where it goes¡­''


    But at one point, when Eden was about to reach her nth orgasm with me, I held her back just as tight as I held her hips earlier, before I once again matched her movement, and this time,pletely overpowering her by pushing my hips upward, hitting her deepest parts all at the same time while my head was between her breasts.


    It caused her to have the biggest and hardest orgasm she ever had as she squirted over and over¡ªeven when I pulled out¡ªand she just copsed on my body shaking and gasping for air.


    She looked like she wanted to give me a kiss but lost all the strength to do so, but after I gave her a sweet one andid her to the side, June was just patiently waiting for me to beckon her over while her little cock was twitching and leaking cum.


    However, we suddenly heard a knock on the driver''s side window and it was actually Kaley wearing a smile with an eyebrow raised up.


    And right as I lowered the window for her and she saw everyone doing our thing, she just shook her head as she leaned over to me, asking for a peck on the lips:


    "You do know I saved a tent for us? They''re all cramped and passed out the other one while E and I were waiting for you two¡ª I guess five now, there?"


    "I didn''t know, sorry. I thought we might''ve disturbed you sleeping¡ª Right, June wanted to say something."


    "Hmm?"


    June was still hard of breathing as she looked at Kaley, "I-I wanted to do it n-now¡­"


    Kaley was both excited and surprised, "You sure?! OH! You wanna do that?!"


    I was then confused, "Do what?"


    With that said, leaving the other three in my Raptor¡ªfor the moment¡ªbesides June to head to our tent where E looking like a garden gnome with her PJs was about to fall asleep but suddenly sat up in attention when she saw us, we threw off our clothes to one side after putting on what''s decent as we vacated my truck.


    At this moment, the four of us: me, Kaley, June, and E were the only ones in this medium-sized tent withforters and Kaley didn''t waste time to get us all in the mood.


    And even if June and I were a little past the point of exchanging spit, it was definitely a sight to see Kaley''s body¡ªand E''s too, of course¡ªbut it didn''t take long before I discovered what Kaley was referring to earlier as she spread her legs in front of June:


    "You wanna lose your virginity to me, right?"


    June nodded vehemently as she gulped while her dick''s standing erect, "Y-Yes, please¡­"


    "And you wanna lose that other virginity to him?"


    June nced at me before she answered, "Y-Yes¡­"


    Then Kaley nced at me as well before turning back to June, "Then why don''t we do it at the same time?"


    "P-Pardon?"


    "Your girl-dick in my cunt, his huge monster in yours¡ªunless you want it in your ass¡ªand I''m sorry E, but you gotta wait your turn for this¡­"


    Hearing that, precum just started to flow out the tip of my dick¡ªand also June''s¡ªbut once again, E waspletely oblivious when we were talking about "seckus". However, I know full well that Kaley''s the one enjoying the most out of this situation but let''s just say I''m happy to oblige.

 Chapter 1199: Moment of Truth - I love you guys...

    Doing this type of thing with June was a new stage in my rtionship with Kaley, but instead of thinking of things to justify in my straight-ass head what I would be diving into, the greatest and most powerful indication if I was sure of this or not was my huge dick throbbing in anticipation.


    It would''ve been a different case if another masculine guy would be participating but¡ª you know what? I think I''ve already exined enough and I think we should just go back to fucking.


    So yeah, with E''s round and curious eyes waiting patiently for us three to do whatever Kaley suggested, June shakily made her way to Kaley''s spot¡ªncing at me for permission¡ªand as I gave her the go-ahead, Kaley pulled her close for a kiss.


    June''s little dick was still rubbing the outside of Kaley''s pussy¡ªthough still leaking precum¡ªbut so as to not overwhelm Jude all at the same time, Kaley asked me to hold off for a bit before I join in.


    Then the moment of truth:


    As Kaley broke off her kiss with June, she gently held June''s she-cock before she pointed it at her wet opening, and as she asked June to push it in, she let out the tiniest of moans while June was already struggling to keep it together.


    "K-Kaley! Kaley¡ª I-It''s so¡ª Umm¡ª H-Ha¡ª Ha! H-Haa¡ª"


    Kaley held her hands, "You haven''t even moved yet,e on¡ª"


    "I-I think I-I''m about to c-cum already¡ª"


    Kaley pulled her close even more, "Don''t worry about that, I know you can keep going, June¡­ How does my pussy feel?"


    "H-Ha¡­ S-So warm, w-wet, and t-tight¡ª Hngh! C-Cumm¡ª Hngh¡­ A-Ah¡­ H-How¡ª A-Ahn~ I-I''m sorry¡ª H-H-Ha¡ª I''m¡ª MmMnh! S-So good~ C-Can''t stop¡ª I-I-I¡ª MmnnhNn!"


    As June moved her hips for the first thrust, she just began cumming hard while Kaley was being supportive and encouraging her to do her best. And as June continued to clumsily thrust her girl-dick inside Kaley''s pussy, I didn''t even notice I was jerking myself off while watching June fuck my wife.


    In addition, E was kind of doing the same thing, but she''d mostly switch her gaze to my huge cock¡ªbut it didn''t take long before Kaley beckoned me over to get behind June to lose her other virginity to me.


    "Here hees¡­" Kaley whispered to June.


    "H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ I''m sorry, Kaley, I¡ª"


    "Shh¡­ It''s quite nice, don''t worry¡­ You''ll get better and you''re still going, no? Ready for it though?"


    "Y-Yes, please¡­"


    And as June briefly nced behind her, seeing me with my throbbing cock, Kaley spread June''s cute butt apart, showing me June''s pink little asshole and her pink little slit partly covered by her juices and her plump innie.


    I''m feeling all sorts of things while seeing June use her cock to somewhat pleasure my wife, but I almost fucking lost it when I slowly pushed the tip of my cock inside June''s cunt hole.


    "H-Ha¡ª HnGH! W-Wha¡ª C-Cumming¡ª Wh¡ª H-Hngh!!!"


    At that moment, June started to cum inside Kaley''s pussy for the nth time, but even with the tip of my cock just inside her, I could feel her insides twitch and contract¡ª so to feel the full experience, I began pushing it in inch by inch, and June can''t seem to stop cumming and squirting at the same time even if I still haven''t pushed it all the way in.


    In addition, Kaley seeing me take June''s virginity as she was inside her finally got her a release, but June just straight up lost her mind having multiple double-orgasms¡ªwith her pussy and cock¡ªwhile feeling my cock inside her pussy and Kaley''s pussy contracting on her cock.


    But yeah, as June was still being tortured by her orgasms, I began to thrust and push it all the way in her tight fuck hole, pushing her head down between Kaley''s huge breasts, and it was literally me fucking Kaley while June was between us. All we could hear aside from her cheeks pping was her muffled moans as she was losing her mind from the overloading of her senses.


    From my point of view, aside from June''s pink asshole waiting to be vited, her whole body had just copsed on Kaley''s embrace¡ªand it seemed like she hadn''t stopped filling Kaley''s pussy.


    At the same time, E looked very lightheaded just from watching us because if I remembered correctly, she still hadn''t seen Kaley and I fuck and this time, June was a good example of what she''d be like if she went between us instead.


    I could very fill Kaley''s womb with half or even a quarter of my load but June had been cumming nonstop ever since she pushed her tiny dick inside Kaley''s tight hole.


    However, it didn''t take long before Kaley asked me to cum inside June so June could have a break¡ªand she could have her turn¡ªso I pulled June off Kaley''s body andid her down to Kaley''s side.


    "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ C-Can''t¡ª S-Stop¡ª C-Cumming¡­"


    At this point, aside from Kaley''s pussy leaking June''s cum, June''s 3-inch cock was now semi-erect but still leaking her juices, but we still need to finish what we started.


    So yeah, once I pointed my huge cock at her creamy hole and pushed it all the way in, June''s body jolted once more as she wrapped her arms around me for an embrace. I was fully expecting her to dig her nails on my back but she was just gently holding me while trying her best to keep eye contact.


    And this time, my whole focus was just her, so I wrapped my arms around her as well before I began moving my hips, and as her eyes rolled to the back of her head with joyful tears in her eyes, I rewarded her with forceful but gentle thrusts before I imed her with my load.


    It was a totally different thing seeing me overflow Kaley''s womb and feel it inside her instead, and I just felt her little dick release a small dribble of cum while her insides were still violently contracting.


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I love you guys¡­ Ha¡­"

 Chapter 1200: Back On The Road Again

    After iming June''s body and soul, metaphorically speakin, I gave her a sweet kiss before I fully satisfied my wife. On another note, E did join for some light touching and kissing¡ªbut let''s just say her senses were already overloaded from the sight of me bringing two women into submission by my huge member. Chapter Find:


    And even if she volunteered to clean me up after we were done, she had this concerned expression while looking straight at it but I did make sure she had a few releases without my lower half prating her little untouched area.


    But yeah, she did pass out again and she was lying next to June¡ªwho had fallen asleep due to exhaustion¡ªas Kaley and I were wiping them down with a clean cloth, sharing faint smiles and light kisses.


    Then as we spoonedfortably since the three in my truck probably wouldn''t join us tonight, Kaley held my arm and gave it a kiss before turning to me:


    "Hey¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "T-Thank you¡­"


    I was a little confused, "What for?"


    "For this, everything, I was a little concerned but¡­ you know¡­ you did really great¡­ I love you¡­"


    I gave her a kiss as I hugged her even tighter, "I love you too¡­ If anything, you did most of the work¡­ If it was me before, I wouldn''t even think of doing this but¡­ you know¡­ You put me in this level offort that made me want to try new things and I wouldn''t have been able to experience them without you¡­"


    She chuckled as she kissed me back, "What if I used mind control or something, hmm?"


    "You¡ª Don''t even¡­ What if I let myself get mind-controlled, hmm? Did you think about that?"


    "Pfft¡­ Doofus¡­ I''m joking, of course¡ª but yeah, we''re a team, right?"


    "Yeah¡­"


    At that point, it didn''t take long before we slowly closed our eyes while in each other''s arms then suddenly jolted awake by our rm ring this early morning. Kaley and I instantly got up and made sure everyone else was awake¡ªasking the cadets to fix our tents and prepare our vehicles by the Main Harbor''s entrance¡ªbefore we made breakfast for this ce for thest time in a while.


    Then after close to two hours, we were just about ready to head out with everybody else who wouldn''t fly on the Chinook when we saw Jennifer walking up to us.


    "You''re not flying with Rachel?"


    She snorted, "Where''s the fun in that? Besides, she asked me to drive with you fucks."


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Alrighty~ then, you can drive with the cadets¡ª"


    "WHA¡ª HOLD ON NOW! WHY THERE?!"


    "Weight issues."


    "YOU¡ª"


    "You see, I''m driving, Kaley''s riding shotgun¡ª then Eden, June, and Quinn will be in the backseat while Tatiana, Jared, and Ibarra will be in the back¡ª"


    "WE CAN SQUEEZE ME IN THERE! JUNE CAN SIT ON MY LAP IF SHE HAS TO!"


    June instantly reacted, "W-What?!"


    Eden chuckled, "I''d love to see that, actually¡ª"


    "SIS!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Fine, fine¡­ I''m always left with driving duty anyway *points at me* you sit in the back with ''em so you''d have more space¡ª You know what? Kaley can sit in with you fucks too and Jennifer will ride shotgun. It''s not our fault you aren''t as wide as us."


    Jennifer cackled, "I love the sound of that, it''s not our fault you fucks aren''t spammingteral raises¡ª"


    I cut them off, "Yeah, yeah~ If my truck breaks down in the middle of the road, it''ll be on you two, alright?!"


    "OH, SHUT UP!/ IT''S A RAPTOR NOT A TACOMA!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    With that said, after we said our goodbyes to Captain Davis, Bartow, and the rest, Artem led the way with their Humvee, making us form another convoy without Oscar''s H1 and my old six-wheeler.


    Instead, we had four other vehicles trailing behind us¡ªtwo military trucks, a closed van, and a military jeep¡ªwhich had sixty people whom Captain Davis managed to convince to reside in Jessica''s ce before we went away.


    Eleven of them were Marines while the rest were civilian families or individuals who wanted a fresh-er startpared to seeing the same people every day from a different setting.


    Obviously, the Chinook had already flown way ahead of us with Oscar, Royo, Chris Keh, E, Cindy, Jeremy, and a few others, and they had probably settled in the moment we touched down.


    But yeah, using this expressway was a very convenient way to cut into several towns probably teeming with the undead and the only bad thing I could take from this was the possible loot we could''ve taken for ourselves if we put down the abominations inhabiting them.


    On the other hand, it was a job for the residents or the remaining survivors of this area, and with the way Bartow was leading his force to put down as many of them as they could, they''d probably start branching away from the Subic Bay to keep their families¡ªespecially his grandfather¡ªsafer.


    "Maaan~ this ce''s beautiful, no?" Jennifermented as her eyes were glued to the window.


    "As long as you don''t breathe in the rot, sure," Quinn chuckled as she urged the vehicles in front to drive a little faster.


    I added, "And no risk of radiation anywhere else¡ª"


    "HEY! THAT WASN''T UP TO ME, ALRIGHT?!"


    "Chill, chill~ I was making light of the situation¡ª that''s how I cope!"


    "Unbelievable¡­"


    Obviously, everyone else eventually knew what the US and the other countries with nuclear weapons did with the countries who were in dire need of help because of "overpoption" that would lead to more unknown problems along the line, and let''s just say doing that sort of things was probably the less evil¡ª no, probably something that carried less risk because they could predict and take the next steps of what would happen after that type of explosion rather than the chain of evolution that would ur once those mega hordes decided to eat their own.


    ''At least to our knowledge¡­''

 Chapter 1201: Exit 125 - We know the cause but why?

    Past the halfway mark of this expressway, near Exit 125, our convoy slightly slowed down before we heard Artem''s voice in the radio:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Nyebo¡ª Deadheads ahead, three in total, proceeding to slow down. We''ll take care of them in just a minute or so.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Where did ite from?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [My bet''s the exit but we''ll check, no need for you guys to get down.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then Jared joined in:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Bro, I think they climbed the wall.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "How?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    Then a few more voices joined in:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah, how?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Exin.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I can see from my scope that the exit''s still tightly blocked but I could see a rope dangling from the walls. A grappling hook type of situation and they seemed to have camped here for a bit.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Now you''re losing me¡ª Wait, I think I get it, they''re probably infected on the way here or sumb to their injuries. We might have to go down."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [If you''d like to investigate, sure.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Bro, we can check their camping gear over there, might be some clues to their identities and some shit, ya know?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "That''s exactly what we''re doing."


    *bzzt*


    -


    So yeah, as quickly Artem and Katya took down those three walking corpses, I still checked their bodies and stripped them of their clothing for further clues about the small timeframe they had before turning into the undead. A few curious folks from our "exchange-student" n walked over as well but they just wanted to look and not provide any input.


    "What did you find?" Katya asked.


    "This dude here had a fanny pack/war belt with random knick knacks on it aside from the usual stuff but the ring he''s wearing and the ring *pointing at the chick* she''s wearing didn''t match¡­"


    "Who''s the kid then?"


    "You asking who''s the parent?"


    "Not whose, who''s, with the apostrophe."


    "Ah~ I''m betting the guy, biologically speaking¡­ They dress almost the same but aside from this kid still having his phone in his pockets like me, it seemed to be¡ª" then I turned to June, "Found anything on the phone?"


    June was looking away from the corpses as she scrolled through the contents of the kid''s phone, "Umm¡­ Sorry, everything here''s new to me¡ª"


    "Don''t worry, just tell me what you found. Where they were staying and shit¡ª"


    "You''re not gonna believe this."


    "Hmm?"


    Then she faced the phone towards me, "Look, isn''t this the vige of Aetas? They came from the mountainside?"


    "For real¡ª That does look¡ª"


    Katya and Artem tilted their heads at the same time, "Aetas?"


    I exined, "Yeah, umm¡­ it''s one of the indigenous tribes here, a tribe of hunter-gatherers and shit but they do have people joining society and living amongst everyone else. I was just surprised to see these people with them."


    "Are they a dangerous bunch?"


    "They''re pretty cool if you brought them gifts but *scrolls through the images even more* Hmm¡­ Something probably happened in the ce they were in that made them hike down."


    Eden joined in, "C-Can we help them, at least?"


    I shook my head, "Unfortunately, no. It''ll take at least a couple of days to hike up to the nearest mountain and we can''t just change ns from the get-go."


    "I see¡­ That''s too bad¡­"


    "Not quite," I said as I pointed at the three naked corpses lined together.


    "Hmm?"


    Currently, these people were zombies maybe a day or two ago and their bodies hadn''t dposed to the point that they''d give off a smell or any visual indication.


    However, I didn''t think I''d see these again but almost all of their blood vessels werepletely ck and some were even protruding from their skin, but the most puzzling piece of the puzzle was aside from the knife marks Artem and Katya made on them, there wasn''t any sort of injuries to them whatsoever.


    How I wish Oscar just drove with us so he could examine the bodies further but as I was just about to take some blood samples¡ªor maybe even a body for an autopsy¡ªJune pointed out something thatpletely went over my head.


    "Why are their tattoos like that?"


    "Hmm?"


    Looking closely, the tattoos these bodies had on them seemed fairly new and for some reason, it was a family tattoo because all three had the same one and at the same spot¡ªwhich were on their left wrists¡ªand it had all the signs of being a recent project that involved old-school methods of inking.


    In addition, due to how the tattoos were tribal-like in nature and how their blood vessels werepletely ck, it hid the fact that it looked like the majority of the protruding blood vessels were centered around those areas.


    If anything, it looked like a dumb fuck wasn''t practicing safety and hygienic standards in the case of marking a client with their instruments, and it caused the deaths of these three people who didn''t know any better.


    I concluded, "Nice catch, June. I think that''s the cause of death¡­"


    "R-Really?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, but why?"


    Quinn said in a dismissive tone, "Right now? It could be anything, really¡­"


    "That''s true, sadly, but let''s check their luggage just to be sure."


    At that point, we found three hiking bags which were the same hiking bags I found in the pictures they took, but aside from the general stuff I''d put in a bug-out bag plus extra, there was nothing to prove as to why these people were done like this.


    I could''ve understood if they stole a relic or done something to these people, but why did they go through all this trouble to off them if they could''ve easily lopped their heads off with their primitive weapons?


    Chapter Stay:


    But yeah, we can''t do much since we were in the middle of something already so before we drove off, we took proper documentation and put the lightest body in a bodybag before we burned the rest.

 Chapter 1202: Occams Razor

    The drive to the other end of this expressway was pretty eventful but we did have our own discussion with what happened with those three people. Everyone either shared the same theories or had somethingpletely contrarian to one''s statement but as we kept digging a deeper rabbit hole, I figured out a very simple solution:


    "am''s Razor."


    "Hah?/Wut?/Say what now?" Almost everyone else¡ªincluding in our radio channel¡ªmuttered.


    Isaac replied, [The best answer to any situation is almost always the simplest one.]


    I chuckled, "Something like that. Look, the tribespeople weed them pretty well and the dates on the images were from only a few days ago, so yeah, someone fucked up and caused those deaths. We don''t know who yet but we should spread word of this thing to avoid more stuff happening like this."


    Meganmented, [It could still be intentional, no?]


    "Either way, whether it was intentional or not, they should avoid getting tats from people who don''t know how to do their jobs properly. No offense to anyone''s culture but they fucked up. Who mixes tainted fluid in their ink solution?"


    Jennifer nodded, "True¡­"


    With that said, after a simple exchange with Jessica''s people from the other side and handing them another peso bill for shits and giggles, we easily made our way to rk International Airport which was Jessica''s Main HQ. Before driving in here, I already informed Jessica of our arrival, and the people we brought were weed quite warmly which came as another surprise for them.


    On that note, I gave Jessica a copy of their files¡ªand told her about those three deadheads we encountered in the expressway¡ªand introduced each one of them by heart.


    "I¡ª I thought there''d be more of them since we prepared arger ce but nevermind, we''ll send some of mine over to their ce very, very soon."


    I nodded, "Sure. I''ll get you connected with Captain Davis and probably Maine or Janice¡ªI''m guessing one of them should be working in the airport''s ATC Room as well¡ªso if anythinges up you can inform them of anything."


    "That''s okay but we can handle it. I''ll give them light jobs for now but you don''t mind me sending the stronger ones further out, right?"


    "Totally up to you and don''t ask me, ask them. Their lives are in your hands but you gotta prove ''em you have what it takes. I learned that by every single one of them trying to break my hand."


    She was slightly taken aback, "W-What? They¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Not important, they just shook hands with me roughly so I broke their noses, not a biggie. It could be different for you but if you take care of them, they''ll take care of you, that''s the way it goes."


    "I''ll¡ª I''ll keep that in mind. Will you stay for a while?"


    "I''m sorry, we should really be on our way¡ª"


    "Not even 15 minutes?"


    I gave her a look as I replied, "Well~ We could go for 30 if there''s no audience outside?"


    "Fine, I''ll let Tim take care of them for a bit¡ª"


    "Then I''ll let Tatiana take care of mine for a bit as well¡ª"


    "Your wife''s not taking care of them?"


    "Nope."


    "Ah¡ª"


    "She''s joining us, if you wouldn''t mind¡­"


    "Oh. OH! Yes, please!"


    On that note, the three of us went to her actual room to "sleep" and as fun as it was¡ªespecially with Kaley included¡ªwe had to say our goodbyes and make contact a littleter. In that regard, we could''ve also gone to the flight school where Eric and Jane were to check up on them, but we were aiming to reach our home before sunset.


    So with a smaller convoy of vehicles, we used the same roads we usedst time not only to make our trip somehow safer and faster, but to also check if there were changes that urred.


    It had only been a few days since west traversed these roads and minor changes are expected, sure, but seeing changes like more ces broken into or vehicles not in the same spot we left them or just straight-up missing would give us a general idea of other survivors'' activities.


    Doing this wasn''t to bar them from you know, surviving, but it was a good exercise to partly expect the unexpected in case things go wrong.


    However, with the size of our convoy and how each of us was armed to the fucking teeth, we were still waiting for the day a group would be dumb enough to go against us¡ªbut since we were still traveling on mostly friendly territory, it''d be very difficult to get jumped in our own neighborhood.


    So yeah, after driving continuously and stopping to clear a few clusters along the way, we soon arrived at the Intercity where Mauricio was patiently waiting for our arrival.


    Chapter Stay:


    Of course, I also promised Mauricio a top-up of Marines but like us, he''d have to wait a bit longer, but in all fairness, this ce was more guardedpared to mine because of the farms they also upy.


    ''My group also has to drive further to clear the streets because of how safe it has gotten¡­''


    Jennifermented, "What is this ce?"


    "Rice City, essentially."


    Quinn cut in, "Rice Vegas sounds better."


    "Pfft! You do love your rice, huh? Don''t get me wrong, I do use them when bulking up but I''ve never seen them in this quantities! Each sack is 50KGs, right?! I don''t even know how much is that in pounds! Around a hundred?!"


    I nodded, "Yeah, 110, to be exact¡­ C''mon we''ll do our set of introductions again¡ª"


    Jennifer suddenly stopped in her tracks after passing by a certain store, "HOLD UP, IS THAT V8 FOR SALE?! IS THAT A HEMI?! HOLY SHIT WHY''S THERE A RAT ROD IN HERE?! THIS PLACE IS FUCKING AMAZING! I''MMA CHECK THEM ALL OUT!"


    I never facepalmed so hard in my fucking life, "NOT AGAIN! OSCAR ALREADY PURCHASED SEVERAL, JENNIFER! STOP! YOU DON''T EVEN HAVE THE CURRENCY HERE!"

 Chapter 1203: We have some... problems...

    Like father, like daughter, the first thing Jennifer sniffed out in this ce was Oscar''s most favorite spot¡ªwhich was the ce that seemed to have good taste in American motors and imports. I could say Quinn should be losing her head as well but her DB9 said otherwise. In any case, let''s just say I was strong-armed into buying this off-road Buggy that looked like a roll cage with wheels.


    It didn''t even have anything special on it aside from the huge-ass engine with the blower, but it seemed like Jennifer wanted a nk canvas instead.


    "THANKS A LOT, LIL BRO! I''LL MAKE IT UP TO YA!"


    I rolled my eyes as I shook my head, "Yeah, yeah~"


    "OH, COME ON! DON''T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT! THIS IS MY WELCOMING PRESENT!"


    Quinn cackled from the side, "You sure are excited, huh?"


    "WHAT''S THERE¡ª What''s not to be excited about?! Can''t you see it?! It''s a work in progress, sure, but¡ª"


    "I''m more into exotics, actually."


    "Ah~ I see, I see¡­ and him?"


    I answered, "I''m between Tuners and Muscle."


    "Mh-Hmm~"


    I chuckled, "I can''t wait for you to see Oscar''s monster truck¡ª"


    "THE WHAT?!"


    "I knew it¡­ You two are pretty much alike¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    On that note, Jennifer and the few others looked around while Kaley and I had another pleasant talk with Mauricio and his wife¡ªand I gave him the gist of what was actually going on past the waters. Obviously, he never looked so pissed from the thought of information getting hidden like that but it didn''t take long for him to understand their decision from their perspective.


    We almost had the same conversation I had with the Admiral and everyone else from the Navy, but we did talk about more local things where we could actually take part and make a difference.


    "You already talked to Mr. Garciano?"


    "Yeah, I would''ve loved you to squeeze him even more when we had the meeting, but I think I did pretty well myself. We do need some fresh construction materials aside from using what''s avable but they''ve been pretty generous because they''re kind of saving on rice which we have an abundance of.


    He''s also been asking me if I have those skin care products you spoke of but I don''t even know what they are."


    I chuckled, "That''s a secret of mine, heh. He likes the stuff and uses it religiously while we''re totally good even with dish soap, so¡­"


    "Fine, keep your secrets¡ª"


    "It''s just some fancy natural creams. It''s just the brand he follows."


    "Yeah, I don''t even care at all¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Anyway, are there any other things that popped up from this side?"


    He waved me off, "Not anything we can handle ourselves."


    "Like Jessica then, thanks. I guess we''ll have to pay a visit to Iskoh real soon as well now that it''s pretty peaceful here, rtively speaking."


    "He having some troubles?"


    "Not exactly but out of everyone here, his ce needs the most soldiers. It''s the capital after all."


    "Then you can forgo sending soldiers here. I don''t wanna jinx it but sending more over here would make them morecent. I even made some of them do farm work as well because they''re just sitting on their ass most of the time¡­ You know, unless deadheads wander off past our checkpoints."


    "Is that even a thing?"


    "Well¡­ Sometimes they get carried by the river though we already solved it by using strongting to pick up the garbage as well. Our soldiers have to travel further out to clear the dead and it''s somewhat of a bad thing but more of a good thing still."


    I nodded, "I get that, I do. That''s just the way it is though. Just find the right bnce of sending a few teams out and waiting for them to wander in. Just close out the ces where they could nest in and you''ll be fine. You can''t just waste precious gas by seeking a dozen deadheads thening back."


    "Yeah, I''ve started luring them in the sports arena with a siren every week, just to see our current threat levels but if we need to get an exact reading in regards to the special ones, we need to venture out and seek them orpletely clear out towns or even cities where there''s no one defending them.


    I''d hate to say this but the dregs are the ones who mostly run around while the special ones have been sneaking away unless we get to their territory."


    "That''s right¡­ We can''t have that. Then again, we should stick with the system of having a few scouts venture out to get they of thend and figure out the right time to send in several teams equipped to tackle the problem. Either that or checkpoints located set further out but not so much to thin us out here. We can work with our allies with that."


    "Yeah¡­"


    "Yeah. So anyway, thanks for thete lunch and we''ll talk soon, alright?"


    "Yeah. What you told me''s a lot to unpack but I''ll keep busy."


    "Yeah, yeah."


    On that note, I couldn''t believe we reached our home in record time¡ªprobably because we didn''t loot a single ce on the way backting us a few extra hours to spare, but yeah, it was fun while itsted, including the times we had some car fun.


    However, it was all sorts of chaos when we got back because right from the get-go, Zeus had already jumped for my embrace beating E who somehow found a service uniform her size while the old man was having withdrawal symptoms from seeing Jennifere in with a Buggy with a V8 engine.


    Chapter Explore:


    The ones that came in our brand-new Chinook still weren''t properly introduced to everyone else¡ªthough everyone in mypound and inner sanctum already knew of them¡ªbut it''d be a brand new set of introductionster once we have our meeting after dinner.


    Though once Rin was made aware of arrival, she quickly ran in and briefly hugged Tatiana before turning to me:


    "We have some¡­ problems¡­"

 Chapter 1204: "Death Squad"

    Before Rin even began to say anything, I suddenly noticed four presences by the catwalk, on each end of our houses inside thepound, and a dozen or so feet behind E. I didn''t know whether this was one of the problems Rin was talking about but this was a problem to me.


    In addition, these fucks could''ve at least tried to blend in with my crowd of people¡ªeven though I''d still notice them¡ªbut no, all four of them were sticking out like sore fucking thumbs and I quickly went for my metaphorical hammer.


    ''Where''s the fifth one? Fuck it, he''ll show up if I do this¡ª''


    After quickly putting down Zeus on the ground, I suddenly grabbed on E''s cute little head by the ears¡ªlike I would hold a basketball¡ªas I lifted her up much to everyone''s shock.


    "Wha¡ª WHA¡ª WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" E screamed as she grabbed on my arms and squiggled in ce.


    I stared her dead in the eyes, "Make them stand down and chill."


    "W-What?! What are you talking about¡ª CARRY ME LIKE A PRINCESS OR PUT ME DOWN!"


    I went back to calling her the first nickname I gave her and then some, "You horny fucking brat¡ª"


    "LET GO OF THE ADMIRAL''S DAUGHTER¡ª"


    And right as I was about to spin her around, the closest one to E bridged the gap between us in seconds.


    I chuckled, "Chill, chill~"


    "I SAID¡ª"


    But right as he put his hand on my shoulder, I slowly put E down with a smile before I grabbed this dude''s arm and threw him overhead.


    This dumbass didn''t know what wasing to him¡ªmuch like everybody else from the sudden judo throw, but no one fucking postures up in my neck of the woods without my say-so, or even if they were just doing their job.


    Even the Admiral would look down if the barber said so and it''s my ce, my rules¡ªand their actions were definitely making everyone else in mypound uneasy and ufortable.


    Moreso, if their actions continued as is and if someone other than me even got close to E, it''d just iste her from everyone else and it was one of the reasons she didn''t have any friends in the Eisenhower aside from her attendants, Jennifer included.


    Then the dudette from the catwalk eventually reached us:


    "Whoa! Hold on, now! We just received strict orders to keep the Admiral''s¡ª"


    I cut her off, "You also received strict orders to do what I said so! I told him to chill and he gave me lip¡ª and I''m just messing around with E, who''s my friend, what do you say to that?"


    "That''s¡ª"


    Looking at these two, they were still wearing fullbat gear even if they''d arrived here way~ before noon, and honestly, I was thinking this five-man group to protect E wasn''t the best and brightest. They do look capable of killing dregs, sure¡ªlike the two others who had juste down from the roofs of our houses¡ªbut I guess we''ll see after this one.


    I gave the dude who touched me a hand up but he just stood on his own while ring at me. And as he patted himself off the dirt and dust that dirtied his clothes, he let out a huge huff as he shouted at me but from a safe distance.


    "THE ADMIRAL''S DAUGHTER''S SAFETY PRECEDES¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "h, h, h~ Hold up, your name''s Brownie?!"


    "WHA¡ª WHAT ABOUT IT?! YOU CLEARLY ASSAULTED THE ADMIRAL''S¡ª"


    I cut him off again, "E. If you can''t do that, Michae. AT least know the name of the person you''re supposed to take care of¡ª"


    He looked so bbergasted, "WHAT ARE YOU¡ª"


    I turned to the dudette surnamed Lee who tried to diffuse the situation earlier, "Can I still return this fuck to the Marine Base? You know, exchange him with a person, even a civ with at least a normal modifier for their intelligence stat?"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY¡ª ACK!"


    All of a sudden, Jennifer went ahead and ran over this dude with her Doom Buggy¡ªwithout killing him, of course¡ªand yeah, she looked as pissed as everyone else from this group doing this to me but they all knew I could handle myself just fine. They were just waiting for the face-pping to urter.


    But Oscar''s voice resounded right as Jennifer tried to anchor the conversation around her:


    "I told ya, let the kid handle it, alright?"


    "Ugh¡­ It''s just so annoying¡ª"


    I cut them off, "Break a leg, at least!"


    Jennifer cackled, "You want me to?! I will, lil bro, I will!"


    Lee tried to get between us as she tried to help Brownie up, "I¡ª I do apologize for our actions and we may have gone overboard but we are actually under strict orders for the Admiral''s¡ª I mean for E to note to any harm. We''re just doing our jobs."


    I shook my head, "Aren''t you harming her indirectly by isting her from everybody else?"


    "I-Isting?"


    "You fucking idiots, she may look like a child but she''s not."


    E tried to cut in, "W-What was that for?!"


    "Let me finish, I was expecting her to be in a circle of friends by now but everyone around her age is afraid to approach her because you fucks are hovering worse than a drone with several rm clocks taped on it. Aren''t you supposed to be covert in doing this type of shit? She''s been here for half a day and the only one she came up to meet with us is my dog, Zeus!"


    "Woof!"


    "Hear that? He also knows what you''re doing is fucking bullshit."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "Anyway, where''s your fifth guy? I only sensed you, you, you, and you, " I said as I pointed at Lee, Brownie, Hooper, and Tennyson from the crowd around us.


    Lee answered, "He''s guarding the Chinook¡­ sir."


    I''ve never been so confused, "What for?"


    Brownie rolled his eyes, "For a quick escape, of course!"


    "From what?! If anything, shouldn''t you bemandeering the chopper on my house instead?! It''s closer¡ª"


    The dumbass agreed just like that, "That''s actually a good idea¡ª"


    I already lost my shit, "NO, THE FUCK IT''S NOT! IT''S DUMB!"


    "YOU''RE THE ONE WHO SUGGESTED IT!"


    "IT WAS SARCASM, BROWNIE! CAN''T YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND THAT?!"


    "YOU FOUR COME TO MY GYM ON THE THIRD FLOOR AND BRING YOUR FIFTH GUY WITH YOU!"


    "W-What are you gonna do?" Lee asked.


    I rolled my eyes, "You fucks answer to me, you either follow it or I''ll ship you back to Bartow and Davis, do you understand that?"

 Chapter 1205: The Five Stooges - Hell Week.

    At that point, it didn''t take long before I gathered a small crowd in my home gym, and the five stooges¡ªtemporary title, of course¡ªcame in looking concerned about what I called them out here for.


    It didn''te as much of a surprise but their fifth man¡ªI mean, their fifth woman was surnamed Williams, but she surprised me with the puffy curly afro she was hiding under her helmet when she took it off.


    ''Looking closely, we''re all around the same age too, except for Brownie and Hooper, they''re probably older than me¡­ Maybe not, we''ll see.''


    She had the same African-American persuasion as Royo from the surface but her gray eyes¡ªalmost the same color as Artem''s¡ªtold me she was mixed blood just like me and a few others.


    In any case, I shooed the crowd away because this group had enough of getting reprimanded with an audience. They seemed to have appreciated the thought but I then introduced myself like I would with any other group¡ªespecially around the same age as I am.


    "''Sup?"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I pretended to call Captain Davis on my radio, "Yo, Captain Davis, these five-man group protecting E''s not flying well with me, can I send them back¡ª"


    Lee instantly cut in, "W-What''s up, sir?"


    I put down my radio and smiled, "Alright, Lee, you''re in charge of this group now¡ª"


    Tennyson, the most regr looking one cut in, "S-Sir, with all due respect, I''m leading¡ª"


    "Doesn''t look like it, no?"


    "That''s¡­ I was just being respectful of authority¡ª"


    "You say that but you let Brownie do his shit to me and Lee to speak for all of you? Where''s the leadership in that?"


    "That''s¡ª"


    Lee cut in, "Sir, with all due respect, Tennyson''s the best one to lead but please understand that¡ª as much as we''d hate to admit, we''re all pretty¡­ pretty surprised about¡­ you know, how this ce is a-and all we could do is be on high alert. It''s overwhelming, to say the least, and we apologize for our actions¡­"


    I turned to Tennyson, "See that?"


    "Sir?"


    "Can you do better than that? Better yet¡ª I''m sorry, you and your group say you lead this team but tell me how because I can''t seem to see the reason why. You could''ve been the same as me before because I hate being the spokesperson, even now¡ªsometimes, but it''s just something that I have to do.


    But yeah, prove to me why you''re voted the leader of this group or else I''ll strip it off and give it to someone I can talk to."


    Tennyson looked down for a moment, making a slight gesture with his lips before turning back to me, "Sir, I''ve just been recently promoted to Sergeant¡ª"


    I waved him off, "I don''t care about ranks, even I don''t have an official one. So what? You''re Sergeant, they''re Corporals, Lance Corporals, or Private First ss¡ª god forbid, a Private¡ª"


    Brownie cut in again, "What''s wrong with being a Private?! I''m promoted to Private First ss too, but¡ª"


    "Hold up Brownie, hold old are ya?"


    "Haah? I''m twenty-two¡ª"


    "No fucking shot, you look like you''re pushing thirty!"


    "HAAAAH?!"


    I immediately facepalmed, "I get it now¡­ the Admiral duped me again¡­"


    Tennyson said, "Duped you?"


    "Haaa¡­ I''m expecting a Death Squad, you know? I guess it''s fine¡­ No one would be able to touch E here anyways¡­ especially when I''m here¡ª"


    Brownie cut in, "What makes you say that?!"


    "Bitch¡ª Judo''s the worst of my skillset and I threw you like a fucking bag of marshmallows. You can''t even do your job, much less, look like you''re doing it properly."


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Look, wearing fullbat gear looks intimidating and it''ll scare off the dregs, sure, but you''re going at it the wrong way. Pop Quiz: Where''s the Chinook?"


    Brownie answered, "Above the indoor gun range¡ª"


    "How far''s that from mypound?"


    "Umm¡ª"


    "How many houses in between and how many people, soldiers, checkpoints, steps, drones, cameras, and guns you''d have to go through before you can "escape"? Hmm? Can you even get past the catwalk and my huge-ass gate with E struggling from your grasp? Can you even outgun my people? Can you shoot kids? Trust me, they''ll shoot you.


    I trained them, they just don''t look like it."


    Everyone didn''t know how to react to that not-so-obvious lie.


    ''Or is it?''


    "That''s¡­"


    I chuckled, "That''s not even the most important thing you missed. All that posturing is just gonna get you all hated by my people, or if you''re in another ce, get you killed. So first off, I''d like it if you wear casual clothes and conceal carry then apologize to my people and E right after.


    I''m sorry I''m this rough on you because I thought you were the real deal but I guess I''d lump you in with my trainees/cadets¡ª Hmm¡­ What if we do that, huh?"


    Lee replied, "Do what?"


    I smiled from ear to ear, "Hell Week."


    ''Maybe even Hell Month¡­ Eheheh¡­''


    "W-What''s that?"


    "Something I just made up from saying I''d lump you in with JP and Marvin''s group so yeah¡­ Basically, we''d lump you in the same group without any official rank and the top-scoring bitch-ass is gonna be the Baron."


    "Baron?"


    "It''s something the military does here for the cadets and you''ll participate in it. And trust me, you''re gonna hate me, Tatiana, Oscar, Johnny, and everyone else that''d be putting you through hell. I guess I''ll make the Deweys join in as well but I''m expecting a lot from you five. We''ll start¡ª no, I won''t tell you when we''ll start but when we do, you''ll definitely know it.


    Comints we''ll receive will just grant you more punishments, ya dig?"


    With that said, I eventually dismissed the five¡ªsurprised I didn''t give them a beating¡ªand they dide back wearing casual clothes and slightly concealing their sidearms, apologizing to everyone and hovering around E less and less.


    But yeah, Rin came back looking for me:


    "I''m sorry, but we still have more we''d need to take of¡­"

 Chapter 1206: You can tell me.

    With an hour or so before sunset, Rin led me to our nearest DDR Camp, which also where our nearest hospital was also located, and it was because of the junkies¡ª err, the adolescents¡ªDax and Sheepy''s group¡ªwe sent here a few days earlier.


    To my understanding, they should be going through hell right now because they were detoxing and currently undergoing withdrawal symptoms but it seemed like the people in charge with them weren''t having it so easy either.


    And whaddayouknow? Dr. Nichols was the doctor in charge of them and Mimi was one of the nurses who volunteered to take care of their needs¡ªbut yeah, aside from Chloe who was learning the ropes from her mom, Camille, Casey''s older sister, was also lending a hand, especially to help with Casey''s well-being.


    Before they even got here, I was already informed that Casey''s child didn''t survive but with their detoxing phase currently ongoing, I was told that she wasn''t even told the news. However, I believe it was the right call because putting too much on someone''s te just might make them snap.


    But yeah, as soon as we met eyes, the three gave me a hug and a few pleasantries, but the first thing I noticed was the scratch on Mimi''s arm.


    "Hold up¡ª What''s with¡ª Is the one who did it barely clinging to life because that''s the right call because his next few day''s gonna be fucking miserable¡ª"


    The four had to take a step back from the slight killing intent but Mimi quickly waved me down as she recovered:


    "Y-You¡ª It''s not like that! It kinda is¡ª but ites with the job, alright?!"


    "Still¡ª What happened?"


    "It''s a literal scratch, it was when we were trying to tie¡ª what''s HER name? Morgan?"


    Chloe nodded while sneaking nces at me with a smile, "Y-Yeah¡ª to be fair, they''re all pretty scratchy but Sir Oscar gave us the executive right to knock them out! Those scratches quickly stopped after a few bonks!"


    "Scratch¡ª Like with her nails¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols waved me off again while looking amused with my concern, "Before you say more, aside from all of them being underweight, have a liver fighting for their dear life,ck of sleep, and having a lot of various drugs in their system, they don''t have anything that you''re worried about. They''re all clean in a sense."


    "Still¡ª"


    Mimi chuckled, "I appreciate the concern, I do, but it really doese with the job and I''m much better than they all are. Having withdrawals like that is pretty ugly¡ª I hope they''re fine in a few days¡­"


    "Hmm¡­"


    Chloe nudged me, "What are you thinking about now?"


    "I''m thinking about putting the cadets, trainees, and E''s bodyguards¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols rolled her eyes, "The ones hovering around that little kid like a helicopter?"


    Mimi quickly joined E''s side, "S-She''s not a kid! She''s just s-small¡­ l-like me¡­"


    I chuckled, "Yeah¡­ I''m thinking of putting them through a Hell Week of sorts¡ª you know, intense training and all that¡ªthough I''ll ept anyone else who''s willing to join¡ªbut I''m thinking of having these kids go through it as well. What do you think of that?"


    Dr. Nichols shook her head, "I''d advise against that. They''re pretty young, sure, but they have to go through some sort of rehab first¡ª mild exercise, eating healthy, the works, and not intense training or whatever you''re thinking of."


    Chloe cut in, "C-Can I join?"


    I turned to her, "You sure?"


    "Yeah?"


    "You''re gonna hate me for sure, it''s called hell for a reason."


    Chloe rolled her eyes, "It''s already hell for me¡ª me and Cynthia, these past few days of our bet! Do you even remember?! How bad could it get?!"


    "Oh~ You two still keeping it on?"


    "W-Wouldn''t you like to know? Of course, we are¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols shook her head as she cut her daughter off, "They already lost¡ª"


    "MOM! No, we didn''t! It was an ident!"


    Mimi backed Dr. Nichols, "ident or not, you two still did¡­ you know¡­"


    I looked at her weirdly, "You identally came? How?"


    Chloe was about to lose her shit, "I-It really was an ident! I-I¡ª W-We were doing it in our sleep! W-We woke up feeling good all of a sudden but R-Riri and Ruru taped us h-humping our p-pillows and y-you know¡­ that¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­"


    "B¨CBUT WE STILL DID IT UNKNOWINGLY! BELIEVE ME! WE''RE STILL NOT DOING ANYTHING TO Y-YOU KNOW! THAT!"


    I put my hands up, "I dunno, Kaley will be the judge of that¡­ But yeah, what''s the problem Rin''s been talking about? Aside from the scratch? Or is that it?"


    Dr. Nicols answered, "Mimi''s scratch is as she said, part of the job but¡ª I dunno how to say this but some people here are taking advantage of the free services this hospital of yours has to offer."


    "What do you mean?"


    She took some files from her desk, "I noticed¡ª Well, Mimi and I noticed it in our first day while we were feeling things out¡ª you know, seeing how this ce works and all, but, a much as I''d hate to say this, after gathering some evidence¡ª"


    "Dr. Nichols¡­ You can tell me."


    "Alright¡­ This ce has 24 patients admitted who are prolonging their stay for as much as possible because of the free amenities this hospital provides¡ª and six of them who should''ve been discharged a week ago are still benefitting from the free food, free room, freeundry, and everything else. I know you don''t charge anyone a dime but it''s just ridiculous."


    Mimi added, "One of them got admitted here with a bag of theirundry and asked me to do it for him since he doesn''t have anyone else to do it for him while he''s here.


    I did it for him once because he was nice at first¡ªand we do have machines for them and it''s just a push of a button¡ªbut a few of his friends started doing the same thing and got mad when I said no¡­ It''s not like they couldn''t do it themselves¡­ It''s just a little¡­ you know¡­"


    "They should already be earning their keep in some way¡ªand I''m not telling you how to do your job but¡­ even if they''re not taking prescribed medicine you have strict regtions on like painkillers, they shouldn''t be abusing everyone else who are very much willing to do simple tasks for them. It''s downright shameful for these people toze around like that.


    The staff are enabling such behavior and I''m all for kindness, I am, but it still should be within reason."

 Chapter 1207: Public Humiliation

    Hearing theseints, I started to get a little pinch in the back of my head¡ªnot because of themining per se but adding that on top of the incidentst time with our guards, it seemed like¡ª no, it was apparent that more and more people were gettingfortable with their current living situation while caring less and less about the people who were still nose down on work for giving back to themunity as a whole.


    I wouldn''t mind or would''ve been a little understanding if they were still kids, had actual disabilities, old, or some other valid reason, but thesezy fucks who were grown able-bodied adults were taking advantage of this ce''s generosity and needed to be put in their ce one way or the other.


    ''They could bezy on their own but they shouldn''t have other people pick up their shit for them¡­''


    So yeah, after gathering more evidence like their charts, some CCTV footage, and reliable witnesses, I decided to blindside all of them and have our nightly meeting held in this ce''s multipurpose hall, making sure that this type of thing that could happen due to human nature and their environment wouldn''t fly with me and everyone should be held ountable.


    Almost everyone thought it was to bury the hatchet and ept the apology from the people who weren''t doing their guarding duty properly, but let''s just say it was a little bit of both. And yeah, some people wouldn''t admit it as much but a bit of drama here and there would just us more attendance, making public humiliation a more dangerous tool to call out people.


    Don''t get me wrong, I also talk to people privately when they make mistakes but this was also something to send out a warning because it seemed like my punishmentst time wasn''t enough.


    So yeah, we started our meeting normally like we would by having everyone involved give their reports.


    Obviously, things were going fine, and officially introducing everyone else went off without a hitch, but when it came to addressing the first elephant in the room, the ce couldn''t be more quiet as I took to the stage:


    "Alright, I''ve said it before and I said it again: do your fucking jobs because your life and your loved ones'' lives literally depend upon it, and there should be no excuses whatsoever.


    I''m aware none of you could remember a few thousand names at a time but I''m also aware that the wake-up call I put you through opened your eyes and I have witnesses that told me you all were doing your best so that''s that."


    "..."


    "Trust me, I''ll fucking send all of you to where Morales and his group are just to prove a point because if guarding the empty road while your family''s outside fucking scared ya, you''d be shitting your pants at what they''re facing on a daily basis. You''ve all been toofortable and have gottencent about everything that''s been going on but we''re still far from getting to that stage.


    Getting scared as shit for having your family outside our walls is proof of that."


    As I said that, everyone was quiet and the people I was referring to were either looking down in shame or were nodding in agreement as a response to my words. They knew they made a mistake, they knew they fucked up. They received their punishments and paid their dues so now they were all starting fresh¡ªeven if some of them were demoted or were put in a different job entirely.


    In the end, what mattered was that they were held ountable and they recognized that.


    As I said earlier, it''s not like I threw them and their loved ones to the wolves but correcting a mistake that could''ve gone a lot worse if left unchecked. I wasn''t saying I''m perfect in every regard and wasn''t prone tomitting mistakes but if one bore witness to it, they should be aware and brave enough to call it out and make the other person or persons involved see it as they saw it.


    Then again, time to address the second elephant in the room:


    "But yeah, while we''re on this topic¡­ This one other thing I''d like to shed light on but not as severe as the first one should still be addressed before people get used to it.


    You''ve been pretty shameless doing this type of thing to our hospital staff so I''m gonna be pretty shameless as well to call all of you out¡ª No, no, no one fucking leaves this ce until I''m done, that''s why there are guards posted on the doors.


    Yes, yeah¡ª I''m talking about you, Danielle Francisco, 32 years old, admitted on the fourth floor on the right wing who scraped her knee and has been living in the same fucking room for two weeks now with full benefits. SIT THE FUCK DOWN!"


    She quickly backpedaled and went for a hail mary, "I-I was just¡ª I was just going to the bathroom¡ª"


    I just gave her a fake smile as everyone started to whisper among themselves:


    "You can wait¡ª Even better, from the time we were holding this meeting, like your sleazy-ass husband, Uriel Francisco, 34 years old, who had the audacity to have our nurses do his smelly fucking, yellowy-ass, bag ofundry for him even though he just checked in for a cough and asked to get admitted, we''ve since cleared up your rooms and prepared you for discharge.


    And with the two weeks you used toze around doing nothing, we''ve been in your house¡ªwhere your other friends who decided to admit themselves here for some bullshit reason as well were living in¡ªand took away some luxury items you''ve been keeping to give to our nurses who¡ª"


    "Y-YOU CAN''T DO THAT! YOU CAN''T JUST¡ª"


    I cut her off, "Bitch, I just did. And if I remember correctly, you can''t just do what you did either. You can visit the hospital if you have anything worth checking and they''ll treat you and have you admitted for free¡ªthe whole shebang¡ªbut they''re not responsible for babysitting yourzy asses just because you felt like it.


    So yeah, aside from you two, the following names I''d say out loud would incur penalties appropriate for the shit they did and a repeat of this offense would incur more penalties right until we send you to the fucking Gg¡ª not abor camp per se, but you''d wish you''ve been earning your keep the same way as those people you tried to get ahead of by dirty means."

 Chapter 1208: Basic Human Decency - Give & Take

    From thest time I''ve been away for a few weeks, I''ve had guards letting random-ass people case our ce out, and from the few days I''ve been to Subic with my group, Dr. Nichols and Mimi uncovered stupid shit people have been doing for quite a while.


    Corrting this bullshit behavior every time I went away wasn''t exactly the cause, but I felt like I was a fucking scarecrow preventing these dumbass birds from taking advantage of our crops.


    And just for a bit of context, every able-bodied person in this ce was expected to work¡ªdepending on their skillset, if not, anything that wouldn''t need specialization¡ªto earn their keep, and for some reason, if they weren''t able to do their duties, be it an injury, sickness, or something along those lines, they''d be given the time off without docking their pay¡ªwhich was their allocation of food, water, basic necessities, etc.


    In addition, like with this hospital, they''d treat them to the best of their abilities and take care of their needs while they''re indisposed but somehow, these people found the gall to abuse our generosity and live avish life thinking none of us would notice or speak up.


    I shook my head as I addressed everyone once more:


    "Jesus fucking christ, we just had an incident with our guardsst time and you fucks didn''t even think to clean up your act?! You''re only required to work six to eight hours a day and you''re even allowed a day off each week¡ªdoubling the resources we''d pay you if you decided to work on your day off and if you decided to work overtime.


    We''re not paying you with bullshit pizza parties people, we''re paying you for your time and contributions because that''s what you deserve and worked hard for!"


    "And yeah, I''m sorry your bank ounts and the bills you''ve made before the world had gone to shit has you know, gone to shit but¡ª aren''t we all on the same boat?! While it''s true some of us got a leg up on thepetition but so what? Are you gonnain about that too?!


    We worked extra hard to afford us these edges but if you''d like to hear it again be my guest: the world''s fucking unfair, dig deep if you wanna keep up and dig deeper if you want to have the chance toe up on top."


    "Look¡­ it''s great and all that we can affordfort like this but there''s a bnce between that¡­ I don''t give a fuck if you''re azy bum but do it in a way that wouldn''t inconvenience other people who should be spending their precious time to meet their quotas, improve upon themselves, or take care of their families.


    You could be wasting away on your free time but finish your fucking quotas first and don''t involve anyone else in your bullshit. Is that hard?"


    Then I brought up another subject:


    "The families with children here have more days off in case of emergencies and each of their children is given their share of necessities without question but we do expect them to attend sses while the parents take care of them and such on top of their jobs¡ªand before you question it, taking care of your kids is a job in and of itself but for people with unfortunate circumstances or for those who wanted to have some sort of rainy-day fund, we have babysitters where you can drop your kids off or you can be one yourself, there''s always slots avable.


    You can talk to your neighbors who have kids or want their kids taken care of but it''d be better if you go straight to us, less mess that way because the rates are flexible and I''d like to receive fewerints about people not holding up their end of the deal."


    At that point, I began to discuss more things people here should''ve been aware of but since these fiascos popping up left and right, I felt everyone needed a refresher. But yeah, the people whose names I recited earlier couldn''t look everyone in the eyes still¡ªand as one of them asked for a transfer, I quickly shut that shit down:


    "Emille Roxas, you''re one of our tailors, right?"


    "Y-Yes, sir¡­"


    "Alright¡­ so tell me, why do you wanna transfer?"


    "I-It''s umm¡­ y-you know¡ª"


    "Embarrassing?"


    "..."


    "Shameful?"


    "..."


    "Can''t look at your colleagues in the eye?"


    "..."


    "Look, if you''re not gonna answer¡ª"


    "A-All of those things, sir¡ª"


    "The answer''s still no though. You had skin thick enough to ask our nurses to wipe your ass and bathe you when you had a fever, you should have skin thick enough to soldier through getting weird looks from your friends, families, and coworkers.


    You should''ve thought long and hard before you decide to do scummy shit and instead of running away, you should be¡ª no, all of you, including our guards or ex-guards involved in that incident, work hard to earn back your reputation. You fucked around and found out, deal with the repercussions."


    "...I''m sorry, sir."


    I rolled my eyes, "Don''t apologize to me, apologize to the people you took advantage of. Not here, of course¡ª do it on your own time. And let this be a lesson, alright? We can afford to be generous around here but it''s not fucking right to take the whole pie for yourselves.


    And look, calling you out like this in public''s pretty lenient, if you can''t imagine, so the next time this happens, we''ll just ship you off to where Morales, Iskoh, Mauricio, or Jessica is¡ª better yet, send you off to Subic Bay, see how it goes for you. Trust me, you have it fucking easy here¡ª too easy if I might add, considering how you decide to do that type of thing¡­"


    "So on that note, we''ll end it here. Making mistakes is a normal thing but consciously doing it is a whole other fucked up thing, remember that."

 Chapter 1209: Mikhail & Alexei - Planning Hell Week

    As I finally adjourned our meeting, I was actually surprised that no one spoke up in a way to justify their behavior and that was just a huge plus in my book.


    If somehow they thought of getting slick with me or ming us for their actions, I would''ve taken more than their privileged items and made them literally start from scratch because I''d rather spend more time doing anything else, ANYTHING else than solving domestic issues.


    While it''s true that I had other people to do this job for me¡ªwhich should''ve been done in the first ce¡ªthese people we took in fear and respected me at the same time, more than anyone else in this ce, so me doing this in front of everyone was more effective than dealing with it within closed doors and/or handled either by Marisha or Oscar.


    So yeah, the ones involved decided to stay back with the ones aggrieved to say their piece and apologize but they should know pretty well that words were just words and their actions starting tomorrow would make the biggest impact.


    Other than that, Mikhail and Alexei, who were shot by Alexanderst time were already able to attend the meeting, except for Alexander, of course, so while they were chatting amongst theirrades, I decided to drop in for a quick chat:


    "Yo."


    Mikhail was the first one to acknowledge me:


    "''Sup, weeb."


    "''Sup, normie."


    "Heh, I''m sad. I thought you''d visit us the moment you get here."


    I joked, "What? You''re not that important, the fuck would I visit you?"


    Alexei cackled but grimaced once he felt his gunshot wound ache, "F-Fuck, that caught me off-guard¡ª" then he turned to Mikhail, "I really gotta have what you''re eating, you''re barely feeling it, you should''ve been discharged a few days ago!" then he turned to me again, "Shouldn''t this guy be on the list of thezy bums you¡ª"


    Mikhail cut him off, "Eat some shit, bro! I''m just doing a good job of enduring it."


    Alexei rolled his eyes, "A good job of hiding it from his other girl!"


    "Shut up, dude! Mimi''s just nice, we''re friends and I don''t want her to take the trouble visiting me again and again. Besides, I wouldn''t want to step on some toes." then he turned to Alexei, "At least you and Vera are back again. I thought she''d leave you for him, only a few people could resist his charms."


    I waved him off as I turned to Alexie, "About that¡ª"


    Alexei shook his head, "No harm, no foul. We''re still working things out but my girl in Cuervo Heights is fucking pissed. She thought I''d marry her, she forgot I was just you know¡­ looking for a fling."


    I chuckled, "Alrighty, then¡­" then I turned to Mikhail, "Jesa''s been asking about you though. You guys talked?"


    Mikhail was pleasantly surprised, "She did? Fuck, I got her contact info but never bothered¡ª But before that, have you¡ª you know? I don''t care either way because my dick''s bigger than yours but¡­ I have to fucking know, alright?"


    I put my hands up as I chuckled at that other remark, "Fair, we did have some interaction but it''s not serious. She was just looking for something to feel."


    Mikhail sighed, "Fair, fair."


    Alexei rolled his eyes, "You still bummed about that giantess? Quinn was it? She''s the De Leon Family''s vice president, right?"


    Mikhail let out a bigger sigh, "That ship sailed the moment I fumbled when we met. *points at me* He did try to help me but she chose him instead. Would''ve been perfect but I guess I''ll try with Jessica again, if not, I''m just going back to Gina once we sail back to Batangas."


    I nodded, "Alright, I hate to ask but don''t take it as me in a hurry but what''s the ETA on you recovering? *looks at Alexei* You as well?"


    "Me? I didn''t get hit in the torso like Alexei so I''m good in a few days¡ª Will be fucking d to be in training as well."


    Alexei followed, "Doctor said maybe a week or two for me, why''d you ask?"


    "Well, we''re a solid group together but you notice me bringing the younger ones with us, right? All of them are following the training regimen we gave them every step of the way but I think there should be a time when we make them leave theirfort zones and push them to their limit¡ªmaybe even close¡­ no, past their breaking points.


    They''re doing great as is but¡­ I don''t wannapare my experiences to all of you but we have something that they don''t¡­"


    "Uh-huh¡­ Don''t kid yourself, you''ve been through shit too and you''re¡ª no, that''s prolly why you''re kinda psycho."


    Alexei nodded so fucking hard, "True. Remember when I got you that time and you fucking moaned? You must''ve been through hell and back to think of that shit¡ª"


    Mikhail facepalmed, "Don''t remind me of that shit, dude¡­ Hepletely wiped the floor with us¡­"


    I waved them off, "I appreciate the vote of confidence, I do, but there''s still a difference, alright? And no, you haven''t got me, you almost got me, there''s a difference there too."


    "Fine, fine¡­"


    "So, what are you saying again?"


    "Hell Week. I''ve already teased it with them but I haven''t thought it through or have the exact date. I''ll need all your help if you could, even your inputs are okay."


    Mikhail nodded, "If you want them to have an experience against a bigger guy, I''m in."


    Alexei was a little unsure, "To be honest, sniping''s more math but sometimes instinctes into y. It also involves mental fortitude if we decide to put them out there for several days without moving but it should be a different thing from Hell Week altogether."


    "Hmm~ I guess that''s true. It''s maybe specialization training too."


    "Yeah, that. And do understand not everyone could do what you''re doing."


    "But that doesn''t mean they can''t improve on their weaknesses, right?"


    "Uh, sure, yeah."


    "Alright then, everyone''s waiting for me. Get well soon, alright?"


    On that note, everyone else living with me made our way back to thepound and then to my house to check off our daily workout and perform needed checks and maintenance for our gear.


    Hell Week was a thing to consider more thoroughly and I needed to n it with Oscar, Tatiana, Johnny, and a few others I thought from the top of my head.


    ''Maybe Artem, Kuzma, and Katya too¡ª maybe even Mikhail and Bogdan if we want to have a broader system¡­ If Alexei can''t do it, Jared or Lawrence are viable options¡­''

 Chapter 1210: Chilling - Nicknames

    At this hour, everyone in our circle was just wearingfortable clothes and lounging around, getting to know each of us much better than a simple introduction and a brief handshake.


    Like Jennifer and Rachel, the Deweys were living in a separate space¡ªone of Oscar''s vacant rooms in his home¡ªbut this time, the Dewey sisters would be having a sleepover with us while their only brother present would be bunking with the cadets.


    All the doors to my house were locked while the curtains were closed to prevent anyone from peering in, but with the number of women in my ce of residence, even if I had the ability to stand on top, our n for tonight was to approach it like we were just hanging out¡ªand it''s not like they couldn''t do anything with each other.


    It was a semi-free-use type of situation and while I had the perfect excuse of cleaning my des without anyone bothering me, I was still aware of the situation happening inside my room.


    And one of the funnier interactions was with E meeting Nancy and Edith for the first time:


    "H-Hi! I believe we haven''t met yet! I-I''m E, short for Michae but I-I have to ask, is that maid uniform for cosy or¡ª"


    Nancy answered gleefully, "Gosh, no. I''m an actual maid¡ª a personal attendant of Ms. Edith here but we''re also close friends much like with everyone!"


    Edith let out this eerie chuckle, "So, E¡­ since you''re here¡­ have you been close with him too?"


    ''There she goes again¡­''


    E gulped from Edith''s auro enveloping her, "U-Umm¡­ W-We have but¡­ N-Not as close as what you might t-think¡­"


    "Hmm? Care to borate?"


    "U-Umm¡­ I haven''t¡­ Y-You know¡­ that¡­"


    "Oh, really? Huh."


    "I-It''s not f-forck of t-trying but h-he''s really busy a-and umm¡­ I-I could only t-take so m-much before passing out¡­ J-Just the sight of it¡ª sometimes, even thinking of it makes me so lightheaded¡­"


    "Mmm¡­ You got that right¡­ Hurry up though¡­"


    "H-Hmm?"


    "I kinda wanna eat you up but I don''t wanna step on some toes¡­ Looking at you just makes me feel a certain type of way¡ª"


    Then Quinn cut in while looking bbergasted at Edith''s alter ego, "You¡ª Can you stop that? You''re freaking me out¡ª"


    Edith let out this eerie chuckle once more, "In a good way, right?"


    "Uhh~ I dunno, I don''t wanna kink shame but I''ve known you all these years, never seen you like that for real¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­ Not your fault though¡­ I''m very demure but I''m very deprived too¡­ With the right people¡­ I''m still exploring this side of me, you know? If you''d like, I can take you¡ª"


    Then Quinnpletely dismissed her, "Eh. Not tonight. At least not like that. I told you, you''re freaking me out."


    "W-What? Why?!"


    "You got this dom thing going on but it''s not working on me, sorry."


    Then Edith suddenly went back to her other self, "W-What can I improve on then?"


    "Uhhh~ It''s not like you''d need improvement on anything because really, it works on certain people but¡ª you''re kind of barking the wrong tree with that approach. Unless you can physically put me in my ce, the only way you get to top me is if I''m feeling like it. You''d have a better chance if you do it the other way around."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "I dunno, sex is sex, but it takes a certain kind of man to let them have their way with me. It''s just the way I work, but sometimes, the innocent-looking ones eager to please me gets me going too. Look at Dickscalibur over there, he''s the only one here that could overpower me so the rest of you could only go the other route¡ª"


    Tatiana cut in, "So, you say¡­"


    Quinn gave Tatiana a face, "Saying something there?"


    "I dunno, I think I did just fine when I put my fist up your ass¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª That''s just one of the exceptions, alright?! But fine, you''re part of the 1% too, including Kaley."


    Kaley never looked so surprised hearing her name, "What?! Me?! Really?!"


    "Of course, you''re one of the bestys I''ve¡ª"


    Jennifer cut in, "Hey! Why am I not hearing my name over there?! I''ve been patiently waiting!"


    Quinn snorted, "Hah! You?! Oh, please~ You''re a try-hard dom but a sub at heart! Once someone, or should I say, once I got the upper hand with ya, you never fought back and took it all in! At least with those three *points at me, Kaley, and Tatiana* they take it, bide their time, and bite back!


    Kaley and Tatiana sometimes let me just have their way with them too but our main guy here alwayses up on top, at least that''s what happens to me. I dunno what happens when he''s with other girls or when he''s just alone with Kaley."


    Then Jennifer tried to get my attention:


    "Hey! I know you''re hearing us, care for some input¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "Shh, we''re noisy as is but don''t disturb him when he''s cleaning his swords."


    Jennifer scoffed, "Or what? He fucks me to death? Isn''t that the best thing?"


    Rachel nudged her, "Jen! You¡ª"


    Ms. Sandy cut in, "Trust me, I''m a doctor and I tested it, it''s the exact opposite. He hasn''t done it to me yet¡ªbecause he had no reason to¡ªbut he has full control of his erections, better yet, his full body, he could do away with any of us and getpletely soft when ites to you. You''ve been warned."


    Quinn never nodded so fast with a shudder, "Y-Yeah¡­ Don''t poke the bear, big sis, pfft¡­"


    Jennifer got up, "Ah¡ª Don''t call me that! He only gets to call me that! That''s our thing! Besides, you''re bigger than me! I should be calling you¡ª"


    "Aside from my name, you fucks only get to call me Mommy, understood?"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "A little on the nose, huh?"


    Quinn quipped, "The fuck you on about, you''re Mother Superior!"


    "WHAT?! WHEN DID THAT COME FROM?!"


    "JUST NOW, DEAL WITH IT!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Everyone else cackled.


    "I-I don''t like that nickname!"


    "Sure~ You got plenty more!"


    "W-What?! When?!"


    ''Now this got interesting¡­''


    "I dunno, Her Majesty, The Reaper, The Camel¡ª Not as much as him but you have some good ones!"


    "WHAT?! I DIDN''T EVEN KNOW YOU REFER TO ME LIKE THAT! WHEN DID REAPER COME FROM¡ª Oh, the gun? That doesn''t even¡ª Ugh! For the record, Her Majesty should belong to you, you know! But think something better for me!"


    ''Ms. Hypersexual, Mrs. Ishiyama¡­ Heh¡­''

 Chapter 1211: Gentle Top

    As I was having a kick from the thoughts inside my head, everyone continued to have a pleasant time with each other even without sex involved. While it was true that it was one of the reasons we gathered in my house every night, which was still the main reason for today, sitting around with snacks and a random movie with friends wasn''t too bad either.


    And yeah, more subjects came to light, like Quinn''s goal to get pregnant, June''s situation, everyone else''s kinks they''d love to explore, but most importantly¡ªthough only for this night¡ªCynthia and Chloe''s punishment.


    While it was true that they did it unknowingly by humping their pillows in their sleep, an orgasm was still an orgasm, and the twins did have damning evidence to support that they lost the bet.


    However, if this was Cynthia we were talking about, her kinks were of the extreme end¡ªand I don''t know about Chloe but since they started hanging around together, they might share the same interests or Cynthia might start rubbing off onto Chloe, figuratively and literally speaking.


    And to my surprise and to everyone else who didn''t know as well, Cynthia and Chloe were wearing chastity belts to prevent them from partaking in sexual intercourse or even just straight-up masturbation. It seemed like Micah still had some toys reserved for special asions and once she knew of the bet, she made them wear those belts and kept Cynthia''s padlock key for me while Dr.


    Nichols had the one for her daughter.


    Quinn couldn''t hide the smile on her face, "Now this got suuuper~ interesting."


    Micah giggled as she threw me over Cynthia''s key on a ne, "Catch!"


    I caught it easily as I nced at the two who could barely look me in the eye. And for some reason, Dr. Nichols threw over the key to her daughter''s padlock as well and the tension inside the room just started to get stronger and stronger.


    At this point, I was already done with my des but this simple hangout quickly turned into something different.


    And as much of a fan as I am of everyone having fun, I guess this was some sort of fun as well because everyone else who stayed in my room and didn''t go elsewhere was just waiting for what I would do to these two with bated breath. I wasn''t sure if they''d all participate but I''d be happy if this got their juices going.


    I twirled the keys around my hand as I made the two kneel in front of me, "So¡­ Unless I give you two your punishments¡­ you get to stay like that for as long as I want you to?"


    "Y-Yes¡­/H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Y-Yes¡­" Chloe answered while gradually getting redder while Cynthia was already out of breath from the things going through her head.


    Micah shook her head, "Or you could dole out their punishment and still make them keep wearing ''em."


    Quinn interjected as she nced at Micah and Dr. Nichols, "Why''d you have to give him both keys? I''d be happy with either one of them."


    Dr. Nichols immediately answered, "I know he''d be gentle, I dunno about you¡­"


    "What?!"


    "Am I wrong?"


    "I could be gentle if I want¡­"


    "But not with my daughter, right?"


    "Fiiiine¡ª"


    Micah cut in, "I''ll let you have me for the night, Mommy. If you want?"


    "Hah! It''s Mistress to you¡­"


    "I''m afraid that''s what I go for."


    "Not tonight, you''re not. Fuck it, I''ll get knocked up another day. Come with me, bitch."


    Micah giggled as she followed Quinn out, "Yes, Mistress¡­"


    Funnily enough, one whisper from Rachel made Jennifer stand up and join the other two with her, and as more and more people chose to do their own thing, it didn''t take long before these two young beauties were slobbering on my huge cock.


    While it was true some more of us left the room like Rin and Tatiana, the rest either picked a corner to have some fun on their own or continued to watch us like Megan and Alexa.


    It was because Kaley was showing E the ropes of wearing the strap-on on girl-on-girl rtionships with Mimi while Dr. Nichols had already gone ahead and was giving June a thorough examination.


    And on the other side of the room, the twins were giving the step-sisters, Eden and Cindy, a show¡ªurging them to do the same because why not¡ªwhile this time, Edith made Nancy wear the rubber dick but still being the active one in their dynamic.


    It didn''t take long before the room smelled of sex, but right as I was about to blow my first load, I made Chloe and Cynthia stop before I beckoned Megan and Alexa over. In turn, they quickly knew what I was going for and it didn''t take them much work to suck my cock as they easily earned the reward the other two worked so hard for.


    And to add insult to injury, I made the two lick Megan and Alexa''s cunts and tongue their buttholes before I fucked the two right in front of them. They could only squeeze their legs together for the tiniest bit of unrewarding pleasure but their juices leaking past the side of their chastity belts and trickling down their thighs said otherwise.


    As painful as it was for them to get denied an orgasm, it was a kink in and of itself, and the two were enjoying every second of it. If they were already orgasmic from the slightest bit of pressure from clenching their groins with their legs, how much more could it be if they had an actual orgasm?


    But yeah, I still gave them a bit of a reward as I made them eat my cum from Megan and Alexa''s holes though they still weren''t convinced of it as they transferred them over to Megan and Alexa''s mouths. And since the two wouldn''t deny a free meal either, I added another factor to our little y as I simply put on some blindfolds on them.

 Chapter 1212: Punishment Served

    With their vision taken away, the rest of their senses wouldpensate for it and it''d feel like they had gotten stronger¡ªbut I went a step further and bound their hands slightly higher above a rope hanging above their heads, making them stand almost on the tip of their toes and leaning on each other''s back.


    Their young and luscious bodies were onplete disy, highlighting their bodies'' natural curves from their ample breasts, smooth pits, tiny waists, their inner thighs, and what lies beyond it, but I obviously shifted my focus onto their perky mounds and the special dessert on the side.


    "MmMh! Ah¡ª A-Ahn! Ugh¡­"


    "Nnngh¡­ MmmH¡ª Y-Yes! Hngh¡­"


    My mind and my dick was just telling me to take off their chastity belts and have my way with them like I did with Megan and Alexa, but it wouldn''t be much of a punishment for them if they had a release thirty minutes in?


    On that note, I kept teasing their breasts, nipples, and armpits by licking, sniffing, sucking, caressing, and squeezing them alternately¡ªand as their bodies were about to have a release from that, I''d switch to the other person, making the experience and the search for an orgasm that much more unbearable but extremely rewarding once we got into that.


    But yeah, Chloe and Cynthia were trying to best to blindly pleasure me or bait me into fucking them senseless because while I circled around while ying with their bodies, they''d do whatever they could when part of their bodies make contact with my huge cock.


    To be fair, teasing them all this time hadn''t gotten me a release and was just leaking so much precum, and once we reached another 30-minute mark, they were just so out of breath and was that aching for a release, and they damned near lost their minds when they heard the sound of Kaley swallowing my pent-up load from the time I was teasing them.


    "Hngh¡­"


    "Hnn¡­ S-So unfair¡ª"


    I let out the tiniest bit of killing intent and let it envelop only the two of them, "What did you just say?"


    "HnnKGhH!"


    "A-Ack¡ª HnGGH!"


    Even if Chloe was the one who spoke up, Cynthia being in the same state as her caught some strays as they found it extremely hard to breathe, but the oppressive pressure bearing down on their minds suddenly had a physical aspect¡ªat least for Chloe¡ªwhen I held her neck and started to squeeze.


    At that point, she started to lose air as I hadplete control of her airways¡ªand even if she began to struggle and let out difficult noises, I only let go after a few more seconds and she gasped and fought hard to take in all the air she could from the couple minutes or so when she was holding and losing almost all of it.


    On another note, Ms. Sandy wasn''t even that worried because not only hadplete trust in me with her daughter but she was also engrossed in the various functions of June''s body¡ªand even June herself was finding this medical examination touching on her alley of kinks.


    But yeah, right as Chloe managed to stabilize herself, Cynthia was about to act up to receive the same treatment but theypletely froze in ce when they heard the keys to their belts jingle from my hands.


    It suddenly turned them into the most obedient sluts but as I took the blindfold off Chloe''s face, I could clearly see how her whole body shuddered¡ªas her eyes rolled to the back of her head¡ªthe moment I broke that fucking lock with my bare hands, threw it on the floor, ripped the chastity belt off her, and started to push my huge fucking dick inside her aching, wet, and tiny hole.


    "HAhH! H-HNGH! AGH¡ª A-AhnH! A-AhGh! G-GhHGH! H-Ha¡ª H-HAA¡ª A-AAHHH!


    y-YYaAA¡ª A-AHHH! I¡ª NnhHGHH! CUM¡ª HnNGHHnh!!!"


    Chloe couldn''t even moan properly as the sight of me bending that lock like it was nothing before taking her then and there just made her gush like a fucking fountain, almost squirting from each violent thrust, shouting my name and losing it while Cynthia could only hear what was going on.


    At this point, I was holding her legs up while her hands were still bound above her head¡ªgiving me the best view of her swimmer''s body¡ªbut the intense eye contact she was giving while struggling with the ongoing orgasms was fueling me even more.


    However, as Cynthia was hearing everything around her while way~ past her breaking point, she started to squirt through her chastity belt and her juices started tricking down her th thighs, down to her calves, and to her feet.


    Her body was shaking all over as she looked like she just peed herself, and she wasn''t even able to support herself being on the tip of her toes as she just hung by her hands almost unmoving.


    In any case, it didn''t take long before I filled Chloe''s womb and then some with my thick and creamy load and cut them loose,ying Chloe next to her mom while making my way to Cynthia who was lying prone on the floor, hands still bound, and shaking each time she felt the tremors post-orgasm.


    She wasn''t even able to react as much when I broke the lock in her belt the same way because it was all just panic from there when I aimed my dick at her ass with only my cum and Chloe''s juices as lubrication.


    As much as I didn''t want to say this, there was just something about Latina''s asses, how shapely and full they were¡ªeven with a young and athletic frame¡ªand seeing them jiggle from the feedback of me pounding that ass hard, was both doing and not doing Cynthia any favors.


    I was fucking her now, which was a plus, but it has been a while since she had anything up there and I wasn''t that keen on letting her get used to me because let''s just say it, even if her ass was burning right now, she''d get used to it soon enough and with the freak she was, she was probably liking it¡ªlike the violent orgasms she was having now.


    And yeah, it didn''t take long before I filled her tiny butthole with my seed but it also didn''t take long before it was gaping wide enough for her to just feel pleasure from getting her pink asshole vited.


    Pulling on her hair and pushing her head down was just making her look like the freak she was but this was the time and the ce to be one because she was always this bright and sweet girl when she was interacting with anyone else outside this "safe zone".


    I believe she was the one who coined the term as well and let''s just say almost everyone was adhering to it, and even though we''d sometimes get freaky outside, this was just the ce where we let out our innermost desires.


    "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ U-Ugh¡­ Haa¡­ T-That was¡ª HnGH! S-Still cumm¡ª Hngh! NnHH! H-Ha¡­ Ha! A-Ahh¡­ Ha¡­ H-Haa¡­ Y-You''re too much¡­ H-Haah¡­ Ha¡­"


    "Whew, alright 15-second break''s done. Lemme turn you over¡ª"


    "W-WAIT!!!"

 Chapter 1213: Taboo? - The Real Story

    As the night went on for a few more hours, let''s just say it was nice to have more people in charge of aftercare¡ªMimi, Nancy, and Dr. Nichols¡ªbecause before, it was almost always just me or with Kaley if I didn''t go overboard with her.


    It wasn''t a requirement or anything because it was sort of a double-edged sword: it''s great I have some help dealing with the mess after but it was making me think I haven''t done enough because they could still walk.


    But yeah, after taking care of everyone and putting them to sleep, the five of us enjoyed a hot soak in the bathtub. It was pretty crowded but two of us being small made it possible.


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Doofus¡­ Pfft¡ª You''re thinking about that?! Weren''t you the one who told me male rabbits need more female partners because they do it a lot and if there''s only one female partner he could copte with, the female might get overworked?"


    Mimi chuckled, "I-I dunno about you guys but I''m fine with just one orgasm¡­ multiples are good too but I do get very exhausted if it''s one after the other¡­ That''s why I don''t join these gatherings as much even though I''ve only been in a few because, you know¡­ I get my daily steps but my staminapared to all of you is just that bad¡­"


    Nancy couldn''t agree more, "Y-Yea¡­ Me too¡­ Being with thedy¡ª I-I mean Miss Edith''s already tough but I dunno, I think I''m getting good at it even with my asthma¡­"


    Dr. Nichols caressed her hair, "Just don''t overdo it, Nancy¡­ But yeah, in my case, I''m feeling like a million bucks! Didn''t think I still had it in me with my age¡ª"


    Kaley rolled her eyes again, "You''re not that old! Besides, when are you gonna do it openly with Chloe? I know you''re hiding something¡ª"


    Mimi nudged Kaley, "Kaley! That''s¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols waved them off, "It''s okay, Mimi¡­ Haah¡­ I technically birthed Chloe but¡­ Hmm¡­ How do I put this? I did give birth to her but I''m also not her real mother¡­"


    ''Hold up¡ª Ah¡ª Ohhhh¡­''


    Nancy had to double-take, "Wai¡ª How?!"


    Kaley answered for her, "Surrogacy, right?"


    Dr. Nichols and Mimi nodded solemnly though it was a little funny that Dr. Nichols was the oneforting Mimi instead. However, telling Nancy just the word of it didn''t exin much so Dr. Nichols had to borate. I didn''t think we''d have an impromptu ss post-intercourse but the gist was, that a fertilized egg was put into Dr.


    Nichols body and nine monthster, she birthed Chloe instead of her real mother.


    This was something prevalent even in this country before¡ªbecause of the money involved¡ªbut there should be some reason why Chloe was living with her surrogate mother instead of her real mother.


    Kaley stood firm, "Look¡­ I''m sorry for pushing it but you two have been holding out this long for a reason that doesn''t even apply to you both¡­ Even Riri and Ruru¡ª I know it''s not the exact thing and it''s taboo for most people to say the least but what I mean by openly doing it is you know¡­ when we have these nights for us¡­ It''s there for a reason¡­ And honestly, I wouldn''t care either way¡­"


    Mimi then turned to Kaley with a solemn expression, "Will you do it with Marisha or Olivia? Or even Mr. Matthew? Would you even allow them to get pregnant by him if they ask?"


    Dr. Nichols tried to cut in but Kaley answered almost immediately:


    "Alright, I think that''s a fair question and you could judge me for all I care but¡­ just for the sake of argument, if two consenting adults or a party decide to do it without hurting anyone else or without any cheating or infidelity involved¡ªunless they''re conceiving, because that''s a different story altogether¡­ Where''s the harm in that?"


    Mimi shyly answered, "M-Morality?"


    Kaley slightly shrugged her shoulders, "Where do we draw the line though? This nightly activity of ours¡­ Wasn''t morality out of the picture already? *Points at me* We''re not technically husband and wife and we''re having sex out of wedlock but aren''t you all doing the same? Why are we fine with murder and such¡ªwhere actual people get hurt¡ªand why are we so bent on this topic?"


    I joined in, "I think it''s apples to oranges¡­ Those are two different things already¡ª but yeah, I guess there''s some corrtion when ites to morality. Then again, every day the line''s getting blurry and blurry. Heck, the twins are already doing it and we don''t even bat an eye¡­ Not sure the twins or just twins, in general, get a pass while everything else is bad¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    Obviously, the bathroom had gone quiet for a moment but Dr. Nichols spoke up:


    "Look, since the cat''s out of the bag¡ªthough I had the feeling you knew already, but¡­ I mentioned that ''mistake'' we: Chloe and I, didst time but¡ª Hmm¡­ I dunno¡­ I cared for her all this time like a real mother should but I guess¡ª Maybe?


    We''re even in the same room while we''re doing all those things yet we don''t do anything to each other even if we did do something before¡ªwhich is weird, I know¡­ but¡­ Haa¡­ There''s just this wall between us still, preventing us from plunging to it but yeah¡­ Time will tell¡­ Maybe when it''s just the two of us or maybe with a smaller group who wouldn''t¡­ you know¡­ make it such a big deal¡ªeven though it really is¡ª"


    "I-I''m sorry¡ª/ Sorry¡ª" Kaley and Mimi apologized at the same time.


    "AH¡ª/Ah¡ª"


    "I¡ª/You¡ª"


    "Go ahead¡ª/Pfft¡ª What are we doing?!"


    I rolled my eyes, "Being cute? Side note, it''s working."


    Nancy interjected, "I still have to ask¡­ sorry¡­ Why do you two look so alike though? I really thought you were mother and daughter¡­"


    I added, "And while we''re at it, I''m gonna be shameless and ask who her real parents are¡ªaside from you, of course. You might technically not be her mother but you''re kinda are, just saying¡­"


    Mimi added as well, "Does Chloe know though?"


    Kaley chuckled as she turned to Mimi, "Now you ask questions¡­ Pfft¡­"


    "S-Shut up¡­ I''m curious too¡­"


    "Pfft¡­"


    Dr. Nichols smiled before she chuckled, "You guys¡­ One at a time, phew¡­ alright¡­ Why do we look like each other?


    Luck of the draw, I guess, her real mom almost had the same features as I did but he-who-shall-not-be-name is still her real dad¡­ I really was supposed to carry their child and pay me a huge sum of money so I could continue my studies but lo and behold, he divorced her in record time and went to me instead."


    Everyone eximed, "WHAT?!"


    "I know, I know¡­ a lot more questions popped up but can''t we just chalk it up to me being young and stupid? That''s one of the reasons but add to that that I''m also broke and wanted to pursue being a doctor¡­ Everything just added up and to be fair to the ''guy'' he was really sweet and honest with me before¡­ I just didn''t think he''d look elsewhere once I got too old for him¡­"


    Kaley cut in, "Despite everything, you''re still beautiful, Ms. Sandara¡­"


    "Thank you, you''re drop-dead gorgeous as well, Kaley¡­ And I wish I could think like you soon, it''ll take me¡ª I mean, us, some time but it depends¡­ at least she''s getting there while I''m still figuring things out on my own¡­"


    "I really am sorry for pushing but¡ª"


    "It''s okay, it''s okay¡­ I think that''s what I really need, thank you¡ª"


    I asked, "Do you have a name, at least?"


    "A name?"


    "Chloe''s biological mom, if you want, I might have a way to find out if she''s still out there or you know¡­"


    "R-Really?"

 Chapter 1214: Start of Hell Week - What do you think of this place?

    Obviously, if the name I was given wasn''t on our existing records, I could simply give na¡ªor even June¡ªa call or a small nudge for a favor. Still, with how the son of a bitch picked Dr. Nichols over his other wife and her taking up his offer, I didn''t think she''d be up for it. I wasn''t sure if I''d go through with it if I was wearing her shoes but I guess she had her reasons.


    "It''s not a 100% guarantee and you might not like the results we''d get, is that okay?"


    Dr. Nichols let out a sigh, "Go ahead, even I''m not sure why I''m doing this but I just wanted to know how she''s doing¡­ At least Chloe has the right to know¡­"


    Kaley asked again for Mimi, "So she''s aware that you''re not her real¡ª"


    "Not 100%... You see, there are ways to check it herself since it was pretty easy to get samples from our house but then again, looking at us both, anyone just might trust their eyes instead of what''s written on paper.


    Medical records of me birthing her was a thing as well¡ªincluding the pictures my¡­ my ex-husband took of us when she was born, all the way until she grew up and¡ª I guess there''s an inkling of sorts but I''ve been her mom every step of the way, maybe even more than some biological mothers do."


    Once again, the ce became quiet for a few moments before Dr. Nichols asked for a hug. Talking about all this and letting it all out for people she trusts was a huge weight off her shoulders. So yeah, after we got a good soak and moved on to the shower for a quick rinse, we all just went to our beds¡ªthe vacant ones at least¡ªand had our few hours of uninterrupted sleep.


    "Zzz¡­"


    With that said, I found myself to be the first to rise among these beauties so I quickly kidnapped Kaley from her sleep, so we could go ahead and take care of things before everyone else woke up.


    "Hngh¡­ Whyyyy¡­."


    "Wanna fight who gets to use the sink while we brush our teeth? And wanna do it while someone poops?"


    "Hngh¡­ S-Stop using logic on me¡­ You didn''t even let me wake you up with a BJ¡­"


    "You can do it while I brush my teeth first?"


    "T-Then how about me?"


    "Fine¡­ We shower first and brush our teethter, is that okay?"


    "D-Doof¡ª Dammit, why are you so right this early? Kaley then managed topose herself as she smiled brightly, "C''mon, I''ll do you first!"


    Funnily enough, almost everyone else had the sameints once Kaley and I started to wake everyone up but we had to drag Quinn back from the first floor because she was just about to walk outside topless and with a horse-dildo still strapped on her crotch.


    "Fuck¡ª That would''ve been too awkward¡­"


    "YOU THINK?!" Kaley and I eximed at the same time.


    "Jesus¡­ Chill¡­ I thought I was still on the rooftop, I guess I found my way here, huh?"


    "What kind of sex where you having¡ª Wait¡ª Don''t tell¡ª"


    "Hah! Toote! It''s like pin the donkey but with this! *points at her blunt weapon* It was supposed to be different yesterday but whatever, alcohol''s the main culprit!"


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "You''re soooo~ gonna hate it once you get pregnant, imagine no alcohol for nine months!"


    "Hey! I''m not an alcoholic!"


    "Suuure~ Can''t you get changed already?! Breakfast is almost ready! Good thing the doors were still locked or the kids would''ve been traumatized to see you like that!"


    "Fuck, fuck, you''re right! It''s refreshing to see them call for us every single time! I won''t take long¡ª If I do, just go! Jen'' and Rache'' are still showering! I think I''ll go with them!"


    "If you three could fit¡ª"


    "HEY! I HEARD THAT!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    On that note, we soon gathered at the pool area and had an awesome breakfast but the cadets/trainees seemed to have heard the news of Hell Week from E''s five-man "Death Squad". For some reason, they were all excited to participatepletely oblivious to the looks Oscar and Johnny were giving them.


    Marvin and his group had already experienced some form of it from our vets in bursts but they had the faintest clue of what I''d put them through and I could only hope that at least three or five¡ª fuck it, one makes it to the end.


    So yeah, after I gave Artem free rein to run his squad, I unceremoniously started Hell Week by gathering all the willing participants in one spot, and it was on our biggest gym located across from our indoor shooting range.


    Obviously, I made all of them wear appropriate gear but as some of them were stretching, warming up, or nervous as hell because of the smile I was letting out, all their expectation shattered when I pulled out a whiteboard, my marker, and my eraser. While it''s true the younger generation were the only ones invited, it wasn''t like everyone else wasn''t allowed to watch.


    Oscar was already raring to go with his whip for some reason but let''s just say he almost fell from his chair when the first challenge of Hell Week was a fucking orientation.


    I simply chuckled as I started, "Alright, it''s been a while since I did something like this but what do you think about this ce? And your experience with it? Hmm? Anyone?"


    Cindy raised her hand, "I haven''t been here long but I love it, even better than my folk''s ce¡ª don''t tell them I said that, please¡­"


    I chuckled, "Anyone from the ck sheeps? I''m talking about the old nickname of Marvin''s group. Do you think I''d forget? Among all the participants here, you''ve been here the longest and some of you even lived on our other outposts for a while. What do you think about this ce?"

 Chapter 1215: Start of Hell Week II - Rank Yourselves

    Marvin raised his hand, "I''m not the group''s leader anymore since we all branched out but yeah, being able to experience all the other outposts and this one, I''d say this is the best."


    "Can I ask why?"


    "I mean, just thefort alone¡ª"


    Brian cut in, "It''s the food for me."


    Carlo added, "The things to do. There''s a lot to do, honestly¡­"


    Ashley followed, "Everyone''s nice and it''s really safe."


    JP then followed, "It''s not as strict but it''s not easy-going either¡­ A little more on the easy-going side but it''s¡­ you know, a perfect bnce."


    I let out a smile, "Ding! Ding! Ding! Points to Slytherin¡ª"


    "I-I''m a Ravenw, actually¡ª"


    "I don''t give a fuck, it''s just a metaphor but it''s a pretty easy question, no? Sure, it still has its set of problems¡ªwe just had two of them very recently¡ªbut mi casa is the best, no?"


    Seb nodded, "I''m not a 100% sure but among the high-ranking officers, none of them are using their power to abuse the lower-ranking ones. At least not to my knowledge."


    Megan interjected, "With how surveince is and how each of us are wearing bodycams? I highly doubt it."


    Ruben nodded, "Most of them are stern but very respectful. They give a lot despite the authority they hold."


    Isaac joined in, "Eh. I''m just happy with how I''m proceeding with my training. I can''t find this guidance anywhere else. I''m even enjoying using guns even without sense teaching us personally. Everyone''s verypetent in their field and they are most wee to teach you just about anything. It''s nice."


    Then I turned to the "Death Squad", "How about you guys? Care to join in? Brownie, I''d like you to answer¡ª"


    Brownie shook his head, "The leader''s an asshole but he has a good shoulder throw. Would love to learn that¡ª Jesus Christ! Why''s everyone looking at me like that?! It was just a joke¡ª a little true¡ª Tell me if what I said isn''t true, huh?! I''ll fight all of ya!"


    Iughed out loud as I waved everyone off, "Chill, chill¡­ He''s speaking the truth, let him cook. Anything else? Tennyson? Lee? Williams? Hooper?"


    Lee answered softly, "Umm¡­ I really can''t say much but it''s way better than any of our territories in Subic Bay. I don''t wanna offend anybody but it''s very homely and nice¡­ but I feel safe and it''s not suffocating¡­"


    "Why would anyone take offense to that?"


    "I mean¡ª Won''t it sound like it''s an easy target?"


    Oscar was about to cut in but I already knew what he was about to say:


    "There''s this saying and some people might say it''s false but with every de of grass¡ª You know how it goes, right?"


    Lee and everyone else nodded.


    "With every de of grass, there''s a rifle right behind it¡­ That''s why the US Maind can''t be invaded. It''s not just the government and its massive arsenal is the threat but each citizen upholding their rights to bear arms and do what''s right. Going on a tangent like this might sound political but that quote¡ªtrue or not¡ªis what we''re aiming for.


    While it''s true that a good number of my people here are able to use guns and whatnot, there''s still a small percentage that couldn''t, wouldn''t, or was still in the middle of their training. And that''s the reason for Hell Week."


    Ruben trailed, "Now I''m confused¡­"


    I nodded, "A little, yeah¡­ And that''s my fault but the reason I asked all of you to name some things about this ce is for all of you to know one of the reasons it is what it is and why the things I''ll be putting all of you through will be important.


    It''ll also corrte with the metaphor we just talked about and let me put it in the easiest way I could think of at the moment: All the things you listed keeps most of us at a 100% and since I said mostly, the rest of us at a 100% should ovepensate for the 80%-ers, 60%-ers, and even the 90%-ers to keep this ce doing what it''s been doing for us."


    "Please don''t add percentages¡­ That''s one of the reasons I joined the Army¡­"


    "Fine, how do you grow a tree? You give it everything it needs, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "And isn''t that what this ce does for ya?"


    "Most of them, yes."


    "Ah¡ª That''s fair, can''t please everybody fully but yeah¡­ I don''t wanna keep saying this but I''ll guarantee that all of you participating will hate our fucking guts but all I''m saying is to try and hold out as much as possible because I''m not even sure all of you will pass.


    I''m not underestimating you in anyway or making you lose confidence but this shit''s designed to make you fail unless you break through your limits. Even I''m¡ª a little voice in my head''s telling me to just make all of you keep doing what you''re doing because some of you might not even thank us at the end¡ª"


    Brownie cut me off again, "Will this shit make me one step closer to beating your ass?"


    "Honestly?"


    "Just shoot straight with me, sir. I can take it."


    "You need more than a week of training to touch me if we got at it for real."


    He looked unfazed, "But do I get closer?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    "So, there''s a chance. I''m in."


    I scoffed, "You fucks are already in the moment you step into this ce. But yeah, at this point forward, I don''t care what fucking rank you''re CO fucking gave you but what matters now is what everyone else thinks of you¡ªthe next step of Hell Week: Rank yourselves in different aspects."


    "What?"


    "Huh?"


    "How?"


    I let out an evil smile, "I dunno. I''m a proponent of specificity but I want you all to form a straight line as to who you''d think would finish first to finishst. You got 10 minutes."

 Chapter 1216: Questions - Rule #1: Cardio!

    As soon as I said that, each of them looked confused for a short bit but it didn''t take long before JP, Brian, Cindy, and Brownie almost fought to get to be the first in line but Megan, Lucas, Isaac, and Tennyson followed right after.


    The rest in the middle zone were clumping because no one wanted to best¡ªor even close to it¡ªbut that was pretty much an urate representation of their confidence levels and how they were viewing each other and themselves.


    Their personalities also had something to do with it whether they didn''t want to lose to anybody or if they had some other type of goal to achieve besides the "training" I''d put them through.


    In any case, it didn''t even take them that long to form a "line" but I purposefully started being all over the ce as I made them form another ranking right off that bat¡ªbut not to what corrtes to this setting¡­ at least not at first.


    "Alright, that''s cool. Rank yourselves as to who you''d think can eat the most meals."


    "Hahh?!"


    "What?"


    "Are you serious?"


    "This is all important, alright? Form up, form up!"


    "There! Now what?!" Brownie eximed.


    "Great! Hooper is the biggest one here so¡ª Now form ranks as to who keeps the tidiest room?"


    "WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TRAINING¡ª Hey, I''m not deadst! I''m not a slob!"


    I rolled my eyes and chuckled as I watched almost every dude inst ce while almost all of the girls in front, "So, it''s Eden, huh? Great! Now who sleeps the most!"


    "Who drinks water the most!"


    "Who can tolerate more alcohol!"


    "Who watches the most porn¡ª HEY! YOU FUCKS BETTER NOT LIE¡ª KALEY''S HERE! SHE''LL FUCKING KNOW IF YOU''RE LYING! SHE''S PSYCHIC!"


    "I''M NOT PSYCHIC!"


    I waved her off as I rolled my eyes, "That''s what you always say¡ª"


    "That''s what YOU always say!"


    "Anyway~ Ignore our psychic for the moment to focus on who''d easily¡ªwithout question¡ªhelp an elderly cross the road!"


    "Carlo? Really? Sheesh, now who''d pocket money¡ªor anything else valuable on the ground without reporting it to the police or trying to find its rightful owner?"


    "Who''s more likely to have sex with a random stranger without protection?"


    "Who''s the most dominant?"


    "Submissive?"


    "Who prefers chunky over creamy peanut butter?"


    "Who has the most regr bowel movement?"


    "Who could hold their breath the longest¡ª No, no, no, you don''t do that shit now, just guess and fall in line, that''s the deal!"


    "Who''d use melee weapons over guns?"


    "Who''d run rather than hide?"


    "Who''d solo a cluster of walkers rather easily?"


    "Who''d call for backup first?"


    "Who has something to say about our current leaders?"


    "Who has something to say about their group''s current leaders?"


    "Who has something to say about their group members?"


    "About themselves?"


    "Who among you think you still had a lot more to prove?"


    "To improve?"


    "Who among you thinks you could do much betterpared to the people already locked in their jobs?"


    "Who could be in the more supporting role?"


    "Who would love to try leading a pack?"


    "Who''s currently happy with their current situation?"


    "Who among you needs some support¡ªwhatever it is?"


    As I asked them more and more questions, it was totally random and as I said, all over the ce¡ªbut it was giving me a better view of everyone else''s situation and an idea of how to properly break in each one of them. Because yeah, it was very easy to break each of them physically but even if a tinge outside that factor came into y, it''d be something close to what I went through from the past.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before my question went through the boundaries of forming a straight line and it more or less created a divide or a group of people with differing beliefs, ideas, etc.


    Some things could be answered by a yes or a no and sometimes it could be by percentages or by staying neutral with the matter in question.


    Funnily enough, to me at least, it became a way for each of them to know each other on a much deeper level because my questions started to pry into much darker shit like if they ever thought about offing themselves or taking something from someone through murder.


    It quickly made this whole thing ufortable¡ªeven for the onlookers¡ªbut for the people who''d need this data like me, Rin, June, and Marisha, it was as valuable as gold.


    In my head, a character sheet formed for each of them with all of their stats and whatnot while kind of the same thing appeared for the other three: Rin and June would work together with all of us to gather shit for the following challenges while Marisha would do her thing for after everything''s over.


    Tatiana, Oscar, and Johnny already figured out the things they wanted to do on their own day allocation but I once again faced everyone with a question:


    "What''s rule number 1?"


    Isaac chuckled while James #1 smiled from ear to ear: "Cardio?"


    I nodded vehemently, "Yeah~ Cardio."


    Cindy rolled her eyes, "Is that it? We''re just going for a run?"


    I chuckled, "Something like that but here''s how it goes: we all have these manual treadmills for us and we''ll start pretty light¡ª we''ll just walk for a bit before we run as much as we could in 30 minutes. After that, we''ll take the median score of distance traveled of everyone, and round it up a bit for a challenge, before we run the same way for an hour until there''s only one of us standing.


    No ckers though or this whole thing would''ve been pointless."


    James #1 raised his hand, "What if we finish faster than an hour?"


    "Then you could use that time to rest, eat, piss, whatever. But the moment the hour is up, we''ll run again, and again, and again, and again~"


    Ruben asked, "What happens to the ones that would drop out?"


    "Good question, whatever the winner''s distance traveled will be double your fucking assignment¡ª and since we only have one winner, the losers will be fucked. Get me?"


    "Ah, fuck¡ª"


    "By force or by will, you''d have to finish the assignment by midnight or whatever''s left of it will add on to the set of exercises you''d have to aplish in the future. But yeah, the ones whoe out on top¡ªor even finish the course¡ªwill be in for great, great rewards and I just hope it''ll more than make up for the shit I''ll put you guys through.


    So, wanna ask more questions or do you wanna start this shit?"


    Ruben just looked at me like the few others who weren''t that confident from the first physical challenge before he chuckled:


    "Fuck it, there should be some rule somewhere to my advantage along the line¡­"


    James #1 chuckled, "I''m not sure if there are cumtive points but I''m gonna try to smoke all of you and try to hold off on my advantage as much as possible."


    Cindy cut, "You wish."


    Seb and Jeremy added, "We''re here, too¡­/ Yeah, just sayin''..."


    I rolled my eyes as I took off my shirt, "I''m here too, don''t forget about me."


    Lucasined, "You''re really joining?!"


    "I said we multiple times, no? Who said I''m just watching? I have to show you fucks I can do the things I''m putting you through, no?"


    Tatiana chuckled as she took the treadmill close to mine, "Fuck it, I guess I''m joining too, huh?"


    I turned to Oscar and Johnny, "You old-timers joining or what?"


    WANNA GET PELTED WITH A BEANBAG, YOU FUCK?!/ I HAVE BEAN LOADS FOR MY GRENADE LAUNCHER, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"


    I rolled my eyes as I moved over to my machine but it seemed I have forgotten about one crucial thing, "Fuck, I forgot my vest¡ª You guys start, I''ll follow."


    Everyone on their treadmills asked, "Your vest?"


    "Such a show-off¡­" Kaley rolled her eyes as she threw me over my weighted vest.


    "They''ll wear theirs soon, too¡ª"


    "Ours?/ What are you talking about?!/ We didn''t see any vests here!/ What¡ª"


    "Then what''s this over here?"


    Much to their fucking shock, I put on my 10-pound vest as a start but what made them lose their heads was the rest of the vests waiting for them¡ªand the 1-pound, 2-pound, and 5-pound increments¡ªthat they get to put on after the first hour.


    In addition, even if some of them had already started their warm-ups and somehow expected this twist, I could clearly see how they¡ªespecially James #1¡ªadjusted his pace because even a 5-pound increment would make things significantly harder.


    It was because he was already jogging while everyone else was still walking, getting himself used to the machine he''d be using for several hours.


    And to add a bit after each hour? Let''s just say that things would get more and more brutal and they didn''t even know how far everyone was willing to go.

 Chapter 1217: Rule #1: Cardio! Part II

    On that note, Tatiana obviously wore her 5-pound vest to prove a point to our female trainees but even she threw me a slight re before we started running.


    The first few minutes were just all of us enjoying the music sting through the speakers, but almost half of the participants almost tripped on their feet when the music abruptly changed from hip-hop to metal at the 5-minute mark.


    First of all, there wasn''t anything wrong with the two genres but music yed a very important role in one''s training regimen.


    All sorts of people had different tastes in this regard because I knew people who''d listen to ssical music while lifting heavy weights¡ªand even now, a select few were definitely enjoying the switch-up while the ones that were doing well definitely staggered.


    But yeah, this was a small sub-level of difficulty in this challenge, but Tatiana and I were racing as to who gets the farthest distance traveled in this 30-minute run.


    Our scores would bebined with the others to dictate how intense this training would be and both of us wearing these vests was actually mercy for these trainees.


    Because even if some of them were holding out on their own, Tatiana and I traveled far greater distances¡ªand that''s on top of the vests we were wearing. If we went at it without wearing them, whatever was left of their confidence would be gone the second they saw the distance between us because even now, the top scorers were barely on our tail.


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE RUNNING?!"


    "HAHHH! I SUCK AT CARDIO SO MUCH¡ª RAAAAHHHHH!"


    "IF YOU FUCKS HAVE TIME TO SCREAM, USE IT TO RUN! CONTROL YOUR BREATHING!"


    "YOU GUYS FUCKING SUCK! WE DO THIS IN AN INCLINE EVERY SINGLE DAY!"


    "WHO ASKED?!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME?!"


    "WE''RE JUST AT THE HALFWAY MARK, YOU FUCKS AREN''T EVEN TRYING! GET THOSE FUCKING KNEES UP!"


    "HAH! H-HAAH! HAAAAAH! THIS FUCKING SUCK SO MUCH! HAH! HAH!


    HAHHHHH!"


    "DON''T BREATHE OVER HERE, ASSHOLE! FORGOT TO BRUSH YOUR TEETH?!"


    "FUCK YOU! FORGOT TO WEAR DEODORANT?! YOU FUCKING REEK!"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU SAY ASS-MOUTH?!"


    "THE FUCK YOU GONNA DO, REEK-PIT?!"


    "EVERYBODY SHUT THE FUCK UP, I''M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THIS IS GREAT! SO FUCKING GREAT!!! RAAHHHHHH!!!"


    From then on, the pace continued as is from their banter with each other but they all slowed down when we reached the 20-minute mark. However, aside from Tatiana and me, James #1 still kept at it with a serious expression while Cindy, Seb, and Tennyson were doing great for themselves.


    These four didn''t slow down at all and kept at it either with technique or pure fucking grit because Cindy wanted to score higher than the boys while Tennyson was a tad heavierpared to the forerunners.


    That was a disadvantage in and of itself because even I bulked up pretty recently¡ªand I felt a slight impingement on my normal movements despite the increase in strength¡ªbut yeah, I''m so d I didn''t eat much this morning, or else I''d be slower.


    In any case, I was still happy with everyone''s cardiovascr endurance because if any of them dropped off at this point, I''d be disappointed. But yeah, I still went up in gear for thest five minutes¡ªwhich made Tatiana and James #1 do the same¡ªand the sound of stomping almost overpowered the country music sting from the speakers.


    Then we heard June blowing on the whistle: "THAT''S TIME! TIME! EVERYBODY STOP!"


    I quickly got off as I addressed everyone who either copsed on the floor or was hard of breathing, either guzzling water or trying to control their breaths:


    "Alright, I''m actually surprised. You earned a 15-minute break before we hop on it again and with that time, do everything you can to rest and recover¡ªmaybe even figure out your n to tackle the following hours we''d be running."


    James #1 raised his hand, "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡­ W-What''s the¡ª Ha¡­ What''s the¡ª you know¡­ the thing?"


    I turned to June and Rin, "What''s the thing? You finished tallying them?"


    Rin answered, "Ah¡ª Just a sec¡ª You came in first ce for running 13.37 kilometers in 30 minutes followed by Tatiana running 12.93 kilometers in 30 minutes followed by Uno running 11.07 kilometers in 30 minutes¡ª"


    "Who''s Uno? Is that me?" James #1 asked.


    "Y-Yeah, is that okay?"


    "FUCK YEAH! I CAME FIRST!"


    "Third actually but yeah¡ª technically speaking, you came first. Next is Warren Tennyson, running 11.05 kilometers in 30 minutes, then Seb doing 10.89 kilometers and Cindy doing 9.98 kilometers¡­ then¡­"


    Rin continued to list the following names from best to worst and obviously, the biggest one, Hooper, came deadst with Ruben, clocking around 7-8 kilometers¡ªwhich was a feat on their weight sses themselves.


    However, they couldn''t care too much to talk while they were still hanging on for dear life from catching their breaths but when it came to the moment of truth, they weren''t too happy¡ªlike everyone else¡ªwhen they discovered they had to run 10 kilometers in an hour.


    It''s not like the distance itself was difficult if someone was regrly training but doing it for god knows how long with weighted vests on¡ªadding me egging them on¡ªwith all the shenanigans I''m ying for them was fucking brutal.


    Then I handed Uno a 5-pound increment to his vest:


    "Wha¡ª Why?! I came first!"


    "Yeah. You technically did. So here''s your reward," I said as I also gave him a 2-pound increment, "Choose from the guys who''d get to use that. Choose wisely."


    "Oh. Ohhh~ Fuck yeah, you guys are fucked!" Uno smiled from ear to ear, "Wear this Tennyson! You''re noting near me even with the 3-pound difference!"


    Tennyson graciously picked up his punishment as he turned to me, "Do I get a reward too? I''m technically second."


    I nodded as I also gave him a 2-pound increment, "Of course, choose wisely. Seb also gets to give a 1-pound increment to any dude while Tatiana can do the same thing with her group, clear?"


    Tennyson cut me off, "Can I give this to you¡­ sir?"


    I nodded as I took it graciously, "Of course, that''s part of the game."


    Unoined again, "Dammit! I''m second and I got the worst one?!"


    I chuckled, "I''ll give the next 5-pound one to Tennyson, don''t worry."


    "Ah¡ª" Tennyson could only look in shock at the mistake hemitted.


    Uno came up to my face, "What if I won and gave it to you?!"


    "Sure, you can¡ª"


    "FUCK YEAH!"


    "Sure, you can dream on for as much as you like."

 Chapter 1218: Rule #1: Cardio! Part III

    At this point, we still had a few minutes to rest and as a blessing and a curse, Rin brought in refreshments for everyone and actual food if they were aching for a bite. Not only was Tatiana ring at me because it was also a test for her gluttony, but like me, she opted for a sip of water unlike everyone else.


    It''s because all of them either reached for the pot of coffee or an energy drink¡ªsome even started opening up the packs of candies or having a bite of some riceballs¡ªbut it''d be all sorts of trouble when they go at it too much because they''d feel bloated and heavy.


    However, we just chose not to say anything¡ªand even if some of them were telling their friends to stop doing what they were doing, they still kept on and drank one or two bottles of energy drinks to over-replenish themselves.


    And when our time was up, these kids just discovered that they sort of fucked up¡ªand to add insult to injury, I made June to not y anything and have everyone be stuck with the sound of our treadmills going on and on and on.


    Let me be fucking honest, even I was affected because hearing everyone breathe so heavily was fucking jarring, but James #2 or Dos found a fucking loophole in which everyone apuded him for:


    "AS I¡ª HA¡­ HAA¡­ WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF¡ª HAHH¡­ DEATH¡ª"


    "IS THAT FUCKING¡ª HAHAH! YOU KNOW FUCKING COOLIO?!"


    "S-SHADDAP! I''M SINGING! HA¡­ HAA¡­ L-LOOK AT MY LIFE¡ª REALIZE¡­ HA¡­ LEFT¡­"


    Even if Dos was the resident bard for some reason, all that singing would take a toll on his lungs even if he''d earn some favor from everyone. But yeah, it gave everyone a slight boost as they actually did well way~ past the 10-minute mark but the torture continued when I gave June the signal:


    "I''M SO SORRY GUYS¡ª"


    [IN THE JUNGLE~ THE MIGHTY JUNGLE~ THE LION SLEEPS~ TONIIIIIGHT~]


    "NOOOOOOO!"


    "BRO, WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "AH FUCK, I''M LOSING MY MIND! MAKE IT STOOOP!"


    [A WHIM AWAY~ A WHIM AWAY~ A WHIM AWAY~]


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! KILL ME!"


    "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"


    "IT''S ACTUALLY GOOD, RIGHT?!"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    At that point, everyone significantly slowed down but I gave them some euro beats when we reached the 20-minute mark. It gave them a second wind of sorts as a few started to bump their heads and enjoy it but they were shocked to fuck to discover I already finished my 10 kilometers in the span of 26 minutes.


    There should be no fucking way I''d be faster after running 3.37 kilometers less, a difference of 4 fucking minutes, a 2-pound increment on my body, and the cumtive fatigue I incurred from the first run unless I was still holding myself back.


    "HOWWW?!" Uno shouted at the top of his lungs.


    I just chuckled as I went back to Rin''s spot to take my sip of water.


    ''Sweating all these removes some water weight too¡­ It''s the same for them but two pounds is very manageable¡­''


    And to everyone''s surprise, Tatiana finished her set a minuteter but she was also surprised that like her, I also held back.


    "You fucking¡­ I thought I''d surprise you¡­"


    I chuckled, "I got all of you to thank for¡­ All that ''cardio'' bore some fruit, huh?"


    "Shut up, hah!/ Doofus¡­/ Pfft¡­ / Cardio¡ª Ohhhh~ I see! Haha!"


    Tatiana shook her head as she chuckled, "Maybe me wearing my own reward is the difference, correct?"


    "You wore the 5-pound increment? You''re crazy~"


    Kaley cut in, "Shut up, you''re already wearing two 5-pound increments on top of the 2-pound increment Tennyson gave you¡ª"


    "SHH! That was supposed to be a secret, Kaley! You¡ª Fuck it, you got me¡­"


    "HWAT?!/ WHAT?!/ NO SHOT!/ AGAIN! KILL ME!/ AHHHHHHHH!!!"


    Obviously, our current participants heard what the fuck we were talking about but the 22 pounds of added weight on me was nothing because almost every single day we''re out there, the gear on our bodies was way~ over 50 pounds. Just my te carrier with protective tes on the front and on the back is 30-ish pounds add to that the misceneous shit on me plus my swords and my guns.


    The 22 pounds on me right now is just a fucking joke at this point, but surprisingly enough, even if some of the kids were disheartened, some of them knowing this secret lit a fire in their asses as they pushed on with more fervor.


    And to everyone''s surprise, Seb took the first spot before Uno¡ªand JP took over Tennyson''s spot as well as a few others above him.


    "FUCK!" Uno and Tennyson eximed as their original spot were overtaken¡ªtwice for Tennyson because he was overtaken by Seb and JP.


    "Good job, Seb, you know the drill¡ª"


    He let out a smile, "I''ll give it to you, sir."


    Iughed out loud, "Fuck it, I''ll take it! You''ll have the 5-pound increment next. I''m just waiting for Tennyson to finish," then I turned to JP, "What''s up, Jameson? Getting close to taking your title again, huh? How about you?"


    JP turned to Seb, "I''ll give it to you, sorry."


    Seb chuckled, "None taken, it''s all fair."


    "That''s true."


    With that said, Uno finished next and he decided to give his 1-pound increment to JP instead while Tennyson and the rest put on their 1-pound increments as a global punishment. Obviously, everyone else took longer than 30 minutes to finish our goal and they weren''t even talking that much, just focused on replenishing their energy with food and drink and resting up to recover as much as possible.


    Then I came bearing bad news once more: "Time''s up, you fucking crabs! Time to get on it again and do it all for nothing!"


    "I THOUGHT THERE WAS A REWARD!"


    "Yeah, of course¡ª"


    "THEN¡ª"


    "Did I lie or not? Let''s find out¡­"


    "FUCK!"


    "We can do it! One more!"


    "SHIT!"


    "H-Hahh¡­ HAH¡­ Ha¡­"


    "One more, baby! One more!"


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"

 Chapter 1219: Rule #1: Cardio Part IV - No food?

    As we hopped on our treadmills for the third time¡ªnot including the first time we had to take everyone''s distance traveled into ount¡ªJune yed some good music with a nice beat and tempo matching almost everyone''s pace. It went on and on for a good 15 minutes but everyone didn''t look like they were enjoying one bit.


    "The fuck y''all looking at me like that?"


    "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! IT''LL CHANGE ANY SECOND!"


    "YEAH!"


    "WE SUFFERED LONG ENOUGH¡ª"


    "The one time I do nothing¡­"


    "NOOOO! I''M NOT BELIEVING ANY OF THAT CRAP!"


    "WE''VE BEEN TRICKED TOO MANY TIMES!"


    "GUYS! STOP YELLING! STOP¡ª"


    "Fine¡­ It''ll change in the 20-minute mark¡­"


    "I KNEW IT!"


    "I KNEW AS WELL!"


    "I''M NOT RELAXING ONE BIT!"


    Then 20 minutes passed without anything changing.


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I chuckled as I looked at each of them, "Something wrong?"


    "...fuck you. Respectfully."


    "Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Ha¡­ I hate you, sir."


    "I can do this a few more times regrly but this mental torture¡ª"


    I never smiled so wide, "Right?!"


    "OH, WHY DON''T YOU SHUT IT?!"


    "DON''T FUCKING SMILE LIKE THAT!"


    "HE''S THE DEVIL! THE TIME THE MUSIC WAS GOOD, I WASN''T ABLE TO ENJOY IT! HAA! HAH!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"


    From then on, I finished maybe a minute or two past my current record while everyone had arger space between their own, but aside from the challenges posed while we were on the treadmill, there were also challenges that appeared while everyone was recovering.


    It started right after our sixth run: the perfect time we''d had our lunch¡ªwhere everyone went all out because they were expecting some grub¡ªbut as they all turned around to where the food was supposed to be, Kaley, Rin, June, and everyone else who stayed to watch was just looking at them apologetically.


    "What¡­?"


    "N-No food?"


    "But there was a lot when¡ª No¡­"


    "Ah, fuck¡­ This is insane!"


    "We can only have water?!"


    I waved them all off, "If you wanna have lunch, you can have lunch¡­ It''s just that you''d have to walk out the door and forfeit. Some good homemade food is waiting for all of you at thepound but do know while you cane back and run a partial amount of your total punishments to save some time, you can''te back to thepetition.


    And remember that whatever we finish here will be doubled and be your punishment."


    "Fuck¡­"


    "This is brutal¡­"


    "Not having lunch¡­ Shit!"


    "I can go for a few more! Fuck it!"


    "No one quits! We''ll all get through this¡ª"


    I cut them off as I turned to Seb, "By the way, here''s your 5-pound increment¡­ JP and Tennyson get to choose who gets the 2-pound increments while you get to choose the 1-pound increment¡­ The same goes for Tatiana''s group."


    Seb nodded a few times as he slid the 5-pound increment in his vest, "Alright, sir¡­ Tennyson¡ª"


    Tennyson took it from his hands, "Yeah, yeah~ We already ran 60 kilometers like this.. How long¡ª"


    I cut in with a smile, "You can quit, if you like¡ª"


    He shook his head, "Nah, I''m still good¡­" then he turned to Uno with his 2-pound increment, "Hey, sorry for this¡ª"


    Uno just let out a huff, "Fuck¡­ I''m out the forefront and I''m still getting this on top of the 1-pound increment."


    I chuckled again, "You can quit¡ª"


    "Oh, shut up! It''s just fucking lunch! We¡ª"


    "I''m sorry, sir. But this much is already great a strain on my body¡­" Hooper suddenly said as he approached me.


    Tennyson and the rest of his team shook their heads as he said, "Fuck¡­"


    I took his vest and put it aside, "You sure?"


    Hooper bitterly chuckled, "Not asking me to quit, sir?"


    "Well, with your height and weight, I''m surprised you made this long¡ª It''s a feat in itself¡­ Want to scale down in the future? I can make you a program?"


    He just stared at me for a moment before he answered, "That''s¡­ We''ll see the next challenges, sir. I really have to eat and take a nap¡­ I''ll be back."


    I gave him a bump on his chest, "You did good¡­ Don''t eat too much at once, alright? Zeus will walk you back."


    "Who¡ª"


    "Woof!" Zeus cut in while wagging his tail.


    "Oh."


    "That''s Zeus, if you haven''t met him. He''ll run back here if you copse on the road, don''t worry¡­"


    "Ah¡­ Right¡­ Thank you, sir. C-Come on, Zeus?"


    "Woof!" Zeus barked again as he went out the door.


    At that point, I saw how everyone looked at Hooper''s back as he was the first person to forfeit but some of them looked like they wouldn''tst that long either.


    Honestly, I was already surprised that they stuck that long¡ªdespite the challenges and the distractions¡ªand it just told me that they were taking their training seriously since stamina should always be one of our main focuses on top of having great mental fortitude.


    Unfortunately, Lee''s or Tennyson''s group¡ªwhichever¡ªhadn''t been with us for long but let''s just say that aside from Brownie who talked of big game earlier, the three weren''tgging behind the groups their fighting against.


    On the contrary, Williams was the one leading the pack on the female group¡ªbesides Tatiana, of course¡ªand she was followed alternately by Megan, Cindy, Lee, and Eden who were just swapping around each time.


    Of course, the Dewey sisters except for June were up there as well¡ªwhich was also a surprise¡ªbut if wepared their time with each other, Williams was onlygging behind Tatiana, who was wearing all of the supposed punishments herself, for a minute give or take while the rest weregging behind a full two or three minutes.


    But out of everyone on the boys'' team, there was one guy keeping to himself and hiding beneath the shadows¡ªwith only a 6-pound increment total on his 10-pound vest¡ªand it was Marvin.


    He was the supposed leader of the ck sheeps from the time we came recruiting people and he was definitely ying the long game by keeping out of the spotlight and biding his time.


    ''Let''s see if his strategy works out¡­''

 Chapter 1220: Rule #1: Cardio Part V - Conclusion

    Marvin and I didn''t interact as much the moment we rotated among our outposts but he''d always appear when we called them for anything while doing all of their quotas on the dot. Much like Ibarra, his weapon of choice was a spear along with the usual M16 and a Glock¡ªand if I had to describe him in a few words, it''d probably be reserved and reliable.


    And unlike Brian or Carlo, I would''ve grouped him around Seb and Jeremy¡ªor maybe even JP because of how he performs his duty as it is, no more no less, but yeah, it can be a good or a bad thing depending on the situation.


    Because now, I wasn''t sure if he was actually biding his time to overtake everyone else in this challenge or if he was just trying to coast around the middle group just to survive or to just have an experience. It was because I relieved all of them from their duties while they were in Hell Week and they should all be making the most of this situation for themselves.


    But yeah, we ran for 20 more kilometers and there wasn''t a single change in his vest loadout besides the global increments of a pound.


    He now has a total of 18 pounds in his vest while every forerunner or anyone who came close to me and gave me an increment received a 5-pound increment instead. Actually, I was nning to wrap this game a little bit after dinner time but I was still monitoring everyone''s status while they were recovering.


    In any case, it was obvious everyone was taking longer to finish the 10-kilometer run and it was leaving us less and less time to catch our breaths. And without any lunch for two hours, I almost didn''t want to do this but I did promise them they''d hate my fucking guts while they were in Hell Week.


    So yeah, once their superte lunch was brought over to them, they looked just as happy but their faces showed a different emotion when they discovered the glorious food they''d been having since time immemorial was fucking nd¡ªit looked fucking delicious on the surface but there was nary a seasoning in them.


    I wasn''t one to waste food but if we ate all of them, what''s the problem?


    "Bro¡­"


    "I''m literally gonna cry!"


    "I hate it! I hate it! I HATE IT!"


    "Then give me your share¡ª"


    "DON''T TOUCH MY FOOD, YOU FUCKING HEATHEN!"


    "Shit¡­ Still a bnced meal though¡­ If we only had salt¡­"


    I chuckled, "You guys have it so~ fucking easy, huh? This is one of the things you were taking for granted. One of the reasons we should protect this ce with all we got."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    To my surprise, no one actually talked back because it hit them deep in the feels and I was just satisfied they were realizing the little things they thought was a normal thing.


    It was one of the questions I asked them before starting this challenge and it made them appreciate the things this ce was doing for them¡ªeven having the privilege to train in this safe space to push past their limits without the risk of a deadhead wing their eyeballs out.


    But what came as another surprise was Tatiana bawling her eyes out because her rtionship with food is that great but she had great appreciation of food''s natural vors.


    I was a proponent of delicious stuff as well but sometimes, we just have to appreciate what we have and be thankful we have a full te or two that could keep us full. However, it didn''t take long before Hooper came back and we went on for just an hour before some people decided to call it quits.


    Obviously, it was the people on the heavier side like Ruben, Brian, Martin, and Tennyson¡ªbut Tennyson was the only one keeping up with the people with the leaner physiques while still packing decent muscle. He was probably a good 10 or so pounds above me unlike Hooper who probably had 30 or more over me and he was keeping with everyone else who weighed 150 or 170 pounds.


    But yeah, as more rounds passed, it didn''t take long before more and more people weren''t able to climb back to their treadmill or recover as fast as me or Tatiana.


    On the boys'' group, only me, Seb, JP, Tennyson, Uno, Marvin, and Jeremy were left while in the girls'' group, only Tatiana, Williams, and Cindy were the only ones left in thepetition.


    Everyone else would still shave off a few kilometers from their punishment as they ran with us but as Cindy finally dropped out, Williams was crowned the winner of the girls'' team¡ªbecause Tatiana was just there to keep them going on like me¡ªwhile on the boys'' team, Seb, Tennyson, Uno, and Jeremy had dropped out.


    ''I fucking knew it that Marvin''s holding out¡­''


    At the current moment, we have run a total of 110 kilometers¡ªwhich was already on the ultramarathon level¡ªbut JP and Marvin had no intention of stopping any time soon.


    Honestly, I actually pegged Uno to win this one but there was so much technique and talent could do without grit and mental fortitude.


    These two dudes were the leaders of their squads for a reason and if Tennyson was a tad lighter and had fewer increments on his vest, he would still be in thepetition. But yeah, while I had 40-ish pounds on my vest, JP 30-ish pounds on his vest, and Marvin 20-ish pounds on his vest, Marvin was at a huge advantage.


    I''d hate to take out the magic but he only needed to hold out longer than JP¡ªbecause I was just there to have some fun. If anything, this should''ve been thest and final round but this is fucking Hell Week and it ended with me running a total of 133.7 kilometers total while the two dropped almost at the same time.

 Chapter 1221: Good Game - Well see about that...

    Finally feeling the blisters on my feet and the fatigue in my legs, I still helped both of them up while raising one hand slightly higher. The funny thing was, I was expecting a roar of triumph or something from the winner but all these two could do was stay down on the floor and catch their breaths.


    So I joined them by standing in between them.


    "Ha¡­ Haa¡­ What you doing¡ª Ha¡­ Ha¡­ Sir?" Marvin asked, holding his forehead with both hands while still breathing heavily.


    I chuckled, "I dunno¡ª I still beat your asses so shouldn''t I be in the middle? Sorry, I didn''t prepare a podium¡ª"


    "Oh, fuck you¡ª H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ You''re fucking insane¡­" JP cursed as he couldn''t even open his eyes.


    I turned to Marvin, "What a sore loser, huh? And you, you sneaky~ sneaky~ rat. You nned to stay out of the radar before we started?"


    Marvin tried to chuckle but he still couldn''t regte his breathing properly, "H-Hah¡ª Ha¡­ H-Haah¡­ Ha¡­ N-Not quite¡­ Ha¡­ H-Ha¡­ I just thought the uh¡ª Ha¡­ Haa¡­ I-I can''t even talk¡ª H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    I chuckled once more, "It paid off, good job¡ª and whatever anyone else says, keep your chin up, at least after you could breathe easy. You performed well within the rules and took the top spot¡ª"


    He lightly shook his head, "I''m still technically second, sir¡­ H-Ha¡­ I-I¡­ H-Ha¡­ I would''ve¡ª At least everyone here w-would''ve done better i-if we m-made prior preparations¡­ T-This was all I could do¡­"


    "Bit of a humble brag, eh? But that''s just it, as much as we talked about being 100%, in the real world, surprises like this justes out of the blue and you just have to dig deep and roll with the punches. And yeah, it''s a different mindset but you still technically won, I was just there to prove that there''s always something better than all of you."


    The two shook their heads, "Bit of a humble brag, sir?/ That''s just fucking arrogant¡­"


    "HAH!" I chuckled as I lightly hammered down on their abdominals, "I''m getting dizzyying down with you two, don''ty down for long."


    "Ugh¡­ It hurts¡­/ Fuck me¡­ Why''d you do that for?!"


    I rolled my eyes,ughing, "''Cause I won for nothing?" then I turned to the group who were either running still to shave off some of their punishment or were just waiting around for the result, "Alright, I did say it''s Hell Week but I think it''s about time we all stop and focus on recovery. I want you fucks to push past your limits but I hope it''s not to the point it does permanent damage."


    Ruben raised his hand, "How about our punishment? We do double what you guys did right?"


    "You really think you could finish it tonight?"


    "Then how¡ª"


    "Tatiana ran with us too so her training will be moved to the 4th day and since the old man will be handling you guys tomorrow¡ª Wait, fuck it, as long as you finish it in your own time¡ªwe''ll do the honor system¡ªI''ll be happy. But for now, stop doing what you''re doing."


    "That''s a relief at least¡­"


    Uno shook his head, "For now¡­ I could go for a bit more but the pacing whacked me good. You guys are monsters."


    I chuckled, "It''s just a way for them tobat your stamina, you got the technique down, they don''t. They can''t just fight a losing battle, no?"


    "Ha¡­ I guess you''re right, sir. Good game¡­"


    "Yeah, good game¡­ Anyway~ You can walk your wayter to shave some distance off but no more running. It''s almost the perfect time for dinner too, with some proper seasonings now, of course. Congratte Marvin though, he whooped all your asses¡ª And Williams too, of course, she won the women''s division."


    Williams just gave me a nod, "Thank you, sir."


    I faintly smiled, "Heh, don''t rx just yet¡ª I mean, it''s time to rx now, now that the day''s mostly over but again, do focus on recovering. I asked my aunt to prepare some extra food too because we burned a ton of calories but since we don''t want all of you to burst your stomachs, it''s more calory-dense to bridge the distance.


    Have a nice hot shower or soakter andy off the electronics and have an early sleep. That''s all I have to say for now, good work, everyone¡ª yes, Hooper?"


    Hooper hobbled over slowly to us, "Is there a ce where we could take care of our blisters? I got a lot and I just bandaged them tightly before going back¡­ It looks bad then, it probably looks worse now¡­"


    "Alright, we''ll have our doctorse in to your bunks or after dinner. Listen to what they have to say and follow all their advice¡ª that sounds like the same thing but¡­ Is there anyone else who has concerns?"


    Brian spoke up, "What''s the theme for tomorrow?"


    I shrugged my shoulders as I pointed at Tatiana, "Don''t ask me, ask her."


    Tatiana chuckled as she turned to me, "Are you gonna be busy tomorrow?"


    "I''ll take care of some things, yes, but I''ll drop by when I finish early¡ª"


    "Ah¡­ That''s alright, Kuzma will do¡ª I''ll ask Artem. A nice big meal will replenish me but I can''t fight and teach at the same time with these numbers. Not unless you want me to send all of them to the hospital, I can''t hold back as good as you."


    Brian let out a smile, "So it''s hand-to-handbat training tomorrow?"


    Tatiana nodded, "Something like that but don''t get too excited¡ª Have you fought Kuzma yet?"


    "No? He''s the new guy, right?"


    "Yeah, your dirty style wouldn''tst against his¡ªmore so now."


    "Dirty¡ª Just what¡ª"


    "Let''s just say he''s not the best fighter in our group but we avoid sparring with him as much as possible. It''s dirty and annoying."


    Brian rolled his eyes, "We''ll see about that."

 Chapter 1222: Time for recovery... - Boys Night?!

    On that note, Tatiana just rolled her eyes and chuckled before we all made our way to thepound, but the funny thing was that everyone who participated was walking funny due to our cramping legs and blistered feet. However, when Kaley offered a piggyback ride, I jumped straight at her back for instant relief but we were met with all sorts of roasts and cheeky insults.


    "Now, that''s not fair!"


    "Walk with us like real men!"


    "PUSSY!"


    "I thought you''re better than that, sir!"


    "Ugh¡­ Cringe¡­"


    So, I pped back at the lonely single dudes who tried to tick me off:


    "Oooh~ I''m so sorry~ Because my loving and beautiful wife wanted to carry me, I can''t really decline. I guess if you lonely fucks have someone in your life, you''d understand¡ª but you can''t carry yourselves with the hand you jack off with, right?"


    Though I was met with more insults but I wasughing my ass off:


    "YOU¡ª WAY TO RUB IT IN, HUH?!"


    "WE''RE JUST WORRIED FOR KALEY! YOU''RE NOT LIGHT!"


    "MAN UP AND CARRY HER INSTEAD!"


    "I¡ª PUSSY!"


    "FUCK YOU, BRO! THAT''S JUST MEAN!"


    And the other single dudes who didn''t say anything also caught strays:


    "IT''S NOT LIKE I CHOSE TO BE SINGLE, ALRIGHT?!"


    "KILL ME! HAHAHA¡­ THIS WAS SOMETHING I DIDN''T NEED TO HEAR AT THIS MOMENT!"


    "IT''S ALL YOU FUCKS'' FAULT!"


    "SOMEONE! ANYONE! BE MY GIRLFRIEND AND CARRY ME! PLEASE! FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING GOD!"


    "YEAH! AND YOU KEPT TAKING THEM ALL!"


    Then the girls pped back as well:


    "HEY! I-I''M NOT PART OF T-THEIR¡ª y-you know¡­ AND I''VE NEVER BEEN ASKED OUT! IS THAT MY FAULT TOO?!"


    "AND YOU FUCKS KEEP GHOSTING ME!"


    "YEAH! AND YOU''RE SENDING MESSAGES TO ALL OF US!"


    "KALEY''S GREAT¡ª HE IS TOO! IT''S NOT THEIR FAULT YOU''RE ALL MISERABLE!"


    "THEY''RE ACTUALLY COUPLE GOALS! FUCK ALL OF YOU!"


    And I heard the "Death Squad" ask around some shit our groups already know:


    "I-Is he¡­ Really? Oh. Ohhh¡­ I''m so fucking jealous¡­"


    "Really? A-All of them? Huh."


    "Interesting¡­"


    "I''m¡ª I¡ª I''m¡ª I''m speechless¡­ How can Ipete with that¡­"


    "I bet he has enough in the tank for them tooter¡­"


    So, I shouted back:


    "No discussing of our rtionship! Mind your own or at least be in one to be eligible for a discussion¡ª Wha¡ª IT''S NOT MY FAULT YOU FUCKS ARE THAT INSECURE! THEN WORK ON YOUR FUCKING SELF UNTIL YOU FEEL THE ONE YOU''RE PURSUING DESERVES THAT VERSION OF YOU OR YOU FEEL GOOD ENOUGH TO HAVE ONE! DON''T MORE AROUND WITH SELF-PITY¡ª WHERE WOULD THAT GET YA?!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "...r-really? Will that work?"


    I bluntly replied, "Nope."


    "THEN WHY BOTHER¡ª"


    "LET ME FINISH YOU BALD MOTHERFUCKER! IT''S NOT A 100% GUARANTEE BUT THE WAY YOU FUCKS ARE GOING AT IT ISN''T WORKING EITHER! SOME OF YOU ARE EVEN AFRAID TO WALK UP TO SOMEONE TO START A CONVERSATION¡ª And even if that worked for me, and it COULD happen, EXPLORE YOUR FUCKING OPTIONS, ALRIGHT?! DON''T JUST USE A SINGLE TYPE OF BAIT, EXPECT TO FUCKING FAIL AND LATCH ON TO THE ONE THAT WORKS!


    Be careful of some other things along the way though¡ª because you''re also worthy of respect but¡ª HAAAAaaaAAaa~ If you fucks wanna talk after dinner, we''ll talk. It won''t guarantee you a rtionship but there''s a chance¡ª"


    "REALLY, BRO?! SIGN ME UP!"


    "I''LL CARRY YOU, BRO, IF I COULD BUT I''M SO FUCKING HAPPY!"


    "HAIL!"


    "THAT''S THE BEST THING I HEARD ALL DAY!"


    "I FUCKING HATE YOU BUT I FUCKING LOVE YOU AT THE SAME TIME, BRO! NO HOMO!"


    "MAAAN! I WOULD''VE CALLED YOU A HOMO BY NOW IF YOU DIDN''T SAY THAT!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "HOW ABOUT US GIRLS?!"


    "TALK TO KALEY¡ª WAIT¡­ IT''S BOYS NIGHT TONIGHT! HAVE YOUR OWN PARTY!"


    Kaley chuckled as she turned around and dropped me, "FINE! GIRLS NIGHT TONIGHT TOO! DIBS ON THE POOL AREA!"


    "HEY¡ª FUCK! WE ALL RECONVENE ON THE ROOF!"


    "W-What about H-Hell Week¡­"


    "This is all part of recovery, look at them go¡­ At least give them this night."


    "Fine¡­"


    With that said, we all shared arge meal¡ª a pound of steak cooked to perfection, a side of mashed potatoes with gravy, a bowl of fresh vegetables, coffee, and some bone broth. Desserts were present too like ice cream, cake, and apple pies but almost everything was just gone in the blink of an eye.


    "SOME MORE RICE, PLEASE!"


    "WATER¡ª AGK¡ª WATER!"


    "CHEW YOUR FUCKING FOOD, MATE!"


    "WHY''S EVERYTHING SO FUCKING GOOD! I LOVE THIS PLACE!"


    "I COULD BE HUNGRY BUT THIS SHIT IS THE BOMB! YOU FUCKS EAT LIKE THIS EVERY DAY?!"


    Obviously, everyone in mypound were already used to Tatiana¡ªand Quinn¡ªeatingrge servings every single day but to see a group looking like they were having a foodpetition was mind-blowing.


    In any case, Dr. Nichols offered the girls a quick check-up while Oscar did the same for us¡ªand once we invited him to boys night with all the old-timers, we decided to just have it in his house instead to have a taste of his own concoctions.


    If it was any other day, I would''ve been several feet away already but seeing that the old man just took out some homebrew mead he made from Sally''s Honey from the Rivas Estate. He obviously put his own spin on it and it was the first time it''d get served to everybody, but I still waited for everyone else to have a sip before I downed mine.


    Ruben was the first to react, "GACk! THE HECK!? IT''S SWEET BUT¡ª HOW MUCH ALCOHOL IS IN THIS?!"


    Brownie smacked his lips, "Around 20% or more¡­ this shit''s strong¡­"


    Oscar raised his eyebrows, "You know your shit?"


    "My brother and I were supposed to¡ª let''s just say I made IPAs with him before I signed in the military."


    "Ohh~ Curious¡­ I''m d you''ll be here a lot since you and I will be working quite close. I have ton of fucking ideas and you''d be my golden goose!"


    Brownie chuckled, "Will you make it easy for me tomorrow?"


    Oscar''s expression didn''t even change as he said, "Au contraire~ You''ll be puking blood by the end of it!"


    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 1223: I’m sorry, but I’m with the kid on this one.

    If it was any other day, a decent number of our soldiers could tolerate hellish training for a day but doing it in session¡ªand in our case, a full fucking week¡ªit''d spell all sorts of trouble for everyone. However, at least half of the boys presentughed it off because a good number of them couldn''t tolerate the alcohol content in Oscar''s Homebrewn Mead.


    Better yet, it could just be the fatigue setting in and the alcohol just adding bits to it because it wasn''t even an hour before all of them fell asleep to wherever they were sitting on.


    Oscar cackled, "Buncha fucking lightweights, I tell ya!"


    Matthew took another sip of mead before chuckling, "We should line them up, at least. Sleeping like that gave me back problems."


    Johnny shook his head, "They''re young, they could do it a bunch of times morepared to us."


    "No, no, that''s the problem¡­ like alcohol, it just adds up bit by bit and you get all sorts of problems when you''re fucking over 30. Imagine¡ª no, I believe you know what I mean since we''re all at this age."


    I cut in, "True~"


    "BAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "DUMBASS!"


    "YOU IDIOT, JUST COME HELP ME LINE ''EM UP, AT LEAST!"


    "Yeah, yeah¡­ Ahaha¡­"


    To my surprise, everyone didn''t even wake up once while we were moving them onto these bunch offorters weid out in Oscar''s living room, and they didn''t even roll around or anything as they werepletely knocked out. And after I took a few pictures for ckmail, I sat back down with the old-timers and Oscar offered me one of his cigars.


    "Nah, I''m good but thanks¡­"


    "Suit yourself¡­"


    "Anyway, what do you have in store for them tomorrow?"


    "I don''t actually know since the schedule''s messed up. Why''d you two fucks have to join in? I understand your need to show off but Tatiana should''ve been the one teaching them tomorrow!


    I don''t want any of them to suffer severe injuries because Jesus, running five kilometers is already difficult for some people and you made them run a fucking ultramarathon¡ªand that''s on top of the psychological shit you put them through! How about I give them the best day of their lives so they''d switch alliances from you to me?"


    "Haah?"


    Johnny chuckled, "As if that''ll work¡­"


    Matthew interjected, "What are you gonna do? Make them fire a bunch of guns on a random herd?"


    Oscar shrugged his shoulders, "Wouldn''t that be fun?"


    "It''s fun but a huge waste of bullets."


    I nodded, "Don''t forget you donated a third of your armory to them¡ªI''ve seen you fight tooth and nail for a .22 short missing and you handout shit like that even though we''ve uncovered more in the Marine Base''s armory."


    Oscar rolled his eyes, "It''s my guns, I do whatever the hell I want with them. Besides, those guns are doing their work over on that side. It''s much better than them sitting here and collecting dust, no?"


    I''ve never been so confused, "You already drunk, old man? All these years I''ve known you¡ª you''re the stingiest motherfucker I know! And that''s besides me!"


    "BAHAHAHA! That is true¡­ I dunno, really. It''s like giving back despite giving everything to them and then some. The little Admiral even gave me a full cycle of shots which I hear you¡ªand even my fucking daughter turned down¡­ I can''t say I''m surprised but I''m kind of d¡ª"


    I cut in, "Hold up, which shots did he give you?! Did you already take them?! WHY?!"


    At that moment, Matthew and Johnny¡ªwho I assume were already informed of them by Oscar¡ªkept quiet while Oscar just shook his head as he took one more puff from his cigar and a swig of alcohol.


    "Haaa¡­ I''mma need some stronger stuff for this¡ª"


    "You¡ª"


    "Settle down, alright?! I''m not like you! You''re fucking young and full of life¡ª fuck it, overflowing with it and I probably had a decade or so left to live before I became a decrepit fuck so I''m sorry for taking shit that''d give me a slight edge and make me enjoy life a little better! It''s my body kid, alright?!


    Only I know what I''m going through and YOU very well know that I''d rather go out with a bang than live the quiet life¡ª It''s Project Valha for fuck''s sake!"


    It took me a few seconds to control my breathing before I replied:


    "It''s¡ª Haaa¡­ FUCK! The fuck did you take anyway?! Lemme guess, something for your bones like Bartow and the Admiral?! You''re fucking old, it''s supposed to do that¡ª"


    "HEY! You cuttin'' a little deep but my bones are good as it is! I took something else¡ª"


    "Then what is it?! If it''s for erectile dysfunction, I swear to fucking¡ª"


    Oscar looked like he didn''t know whether to strangle me or m my head on the table as he shouted:


    "It took the one for my noggin'' and the one for my lifespan! If I''mma live those extra couple of years, my head should be able to keep up with it! It''s not much to you but it''s a fucking lot to me! It''s also something you have no fucking idea about! You can probably remember yourself swimming in your mother''s womb before you were even born!"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Hey! You took shots at me, I can take shots at you! That''s how it goes!"


    "...fine. But¡ª"


    "But what, kid? It''s already done. The one for my lifespan''s a single shot and the one for my head''s every two months¡ª I already took them before you arrived and was just waiting for the Admiral to tell you before we have this conversation."


    I shook my head, "I still hate being surprised like this¡­ These bunch of secrets popping up one after the other is insane."


    "It IS ssified government secrets. They''re supposed to be hidden¡ª"


    "I know, but¡ª"


    "You have secrets of your own, kid. And I respect you not telling me each one of them so yeah, don''t be mad if I have secrets of my own. It''s not a one-way street, alright?"


    I let out a long sigh, "And all I got from it was a cool freezer¡­"


    "Psh! That''s a fucking lie and you know it. The Chinook, the drone, and most importantly, the authority to¡ª"


    "I know, I know, just making ame joke¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Anyway, I just got my bloodwork done when we arrived and we''ll see in a few days if there''s anything wrong with me."


    "We already know you''re an annoying piece of shit, why''d you even get tested¡ª"


    "YOU! WANT ME TO STICK THIS BOTTLE UP YOUR ASS?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!/ JESUS FUCKING CHRIST¡­/ Those boys are still not waking up, Jesus¡­"


    Oscar took another swig, "You fuckin'' assholes, I''m just the perfect candidate alright? I''m this old and don''t have much to live. If it doesn''t work, I''ll give you all the rights to study my body and if it does, you fucks will regret not taking it. Just my two cents."


    Johnny rolled his eyes, "Oh, gee~ As if I was given an offer, huh?"


    Matthew looked surprised, "You''d take that shit?"


    "You won''t?"


    "I''m sorry, but I''m with the kid on this one."

 Chapter 1224: I’m sorry but I’mma head out…

    To my surprise, Matthew agreed with me for once but in all honesty, the only reason I turned down the offer of taking them was all the negative side-effects that ites with. I haven''t even read through all the shit it would do to my body because I was only informed of the one the Admiral and Bartow were taking but from the surface, the old man still felt like the old man so that''s that.


    Oscar shrugged his shoulders, "Sure, it''s your choice too, and doing this is mine. Honestly though, I''ve been getting random erections and I don''t know what to do with it¡ª"


    "PFFTT!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "It''s not funny¡ª well, it kinda is but¡ª STOP MAKING THAT FACE!"


    "Well, are you hard now?"


    "YOU¡ª DON''T FUCKING ASK ME THAT! You know how stupid it is to start wearing tighter underwear to keep them all in! As if my balls dropping down to my knees aren''t hard enough¡ª"


    "AHHHHH! FUCKING STOP! I CAN''T GET THE IMAGE OUT OF MY HEAD!"


    "HAH! WELL, IT''S YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT FOR ALL THAT LIP!"


    "Maaan~ I thought we''d talk deep shit like every other night but this is craaazy~"


    I waved them off, "Any other side-effects you felt though?"


    Oscar thought for a bit, "Actually? Hmm~ My head''s pretty clear ever since I took it¡ª no brain fog, no forgetfulness, no nothing. My appetite''s grown bigger though but it gives me more energy in return because of all the food¡ªso I just take care of it by eating more shit with fiber. Kind of a side-effect but in a good way, you know? A side-side-effect, if you will."


    Johnny nodded a few times, "Interesting."


    Matthew shook his head, "You really want to hop on the juice, huh?"


    Oscar cut in, "I''d advise against it."


    Johnny couldn''t believe his ears, "What now?! YOU advise against it?!"


    Oscar shook his head, "Aside from you being the fail-safe if I die earlier than expected, you still have your wife and grandkids¡ª"


    I cut in, "How about me, Jennifer, and everyone else here?"


    Oscar looked down before turning to me, "Don''t take it the wrong way, kid, you''re family. I''d even refer to you as my son¡ª"


    I never shook all over, "Cringe."


    Oscar shook all over as well, "Yeah, let''s not do that. Nephew?"


    "Uh-huh. Continue."


    "Yeah, yeah, despite all that shit¡ªsomeone has to do it and not do it."


    Matthew cut in, "I could be the one not doing it, I''m here aren''t I?"


    "While that is true¡ª Hmm, why don''t we wait for my bloodwork toe back first before you decide on it or not? It''s only a few days, you can wait that long, right? I treat this shit like I have some sort of transmitted sickness until it''s not. The Admiral''s doctors already told me about its effects but there''s a chance I might be different, no?


    Besides, you''d have to ask the kid if he''ll give you some."


    Johnny turned to me with a serious expression, "I really don''t wanna pull rank and my aplishments here but with the time I served the Marines, I think I deserve a shot¡ªbe it for research purposes or anything, I''d take even half a dose if it gives me a percent chance to protect my family more¡ªincluding everyone here, of course."


    I sighed, "Johnny, you have to understand¡ª"


    "No, YOU have to understand. This shit''s the worst thing that could''ve happened at my age. We''ve been living good¡ª fuck it, maybe even better the moment you pressed that button on our inte but I gotta be here for as long as possible. Or at least long enough until it''s over."


    "..."


    "If I''d have to kneel down and beg, I will¡ª"


    "No¡­ Listen¡ª and don''t cut me off even once. The old man''s decision to do it is between him and the Admiral alone, if I''m the one to give it to you and if something goes wrong, it''ll be on me¡ª"


    He put his hands up, "Then I waive you of all the responsibility thates along with it. I''ll even make a written or a recorded statement that absolves you of anything¡ª"


    "You think your family would ept that? And don''t even start about lying to them¡ª"


    "N-No, no, thest thing I''d do to them is lie. I tell them every bit of bad news as much as I tell them the good ones. They''ll know what I''ll be getting into and I''ll make sure to tell them¡ªespecially them¡ªthat my decision to do this is on me and me alone and I''ll make them aware of your stance on it."


    "That''s still¡ª"


    "Heck¡ªI''d take you anywhere you fucking want! You wanna go to Japan, right?! Set a fucking date¡ªthough we need a better ship¡ªbut I''ll take you there and back! What do you say?! Come on! It''s a win-win for you, kid!


    You don''t have anything to lose!"


    I tried to joke, "If you two fucks croak, I''d be left with this guy *points at Matthew* how miserable would that be?"


    Matthew actually agreed as he added, "Listen to the kid, John¡­ He''s right¡ª"


    Johnny shook his head, "Wanna make jokes, huh?" then the motherfucker actually pulled out his prosthetic leg and waved it in front of me, almost dropping the Mare''s Leg hidden in it, "I''m literally on myst leg, you fuck! What now?! Can''t spare me a fucking shot?! How much is left anyway¡ª it''s not like those mint figures you have to kept on the shelves collecting dust!"


    I smiled bitterly, "Alright, that''s enough¡ª"


    "I ain''t leaving here until you say yes! PLEASE! I''M FUCKING BEGGING HERE¡ª"


    I stood up, looking him straight in the eye, "Look, you''ve had a drink¡ª We all have¡ª"


    "BUT¡ª"


    "I know you''re fucking heavy drinkers but we gotta do this in a more neutral setting, without any alcohol involved. So let''s do this after Oscar gets his fucking bloodwork and while you''re the uptight son of a bitch who wouldn''t bend the knee for anything, understand? That''s when we''ll resume this talk. I''m sorry but I''mma head out¡­"

 Chapter 1225: Wanna talk about it?

    Right as I said that with a straight look on my face, I thought Johnny would blow up at me but he let out a huge sigh before taking a swig of his ss. After that, he let out another huff as he shook his head, not even bothering to say anything back as I slowly stepped away from the conversation.


    From then on, I just gave Oscar and Matthew a nod before I closed the door behind me¡ªbut as I made my way to the pool area, I almost had the shock of my life as I saw almost everyone lined up side by side, still wearing their bikinis, andpletely passed out.


    "What the fu¡ª Here, too?"


    Kaley was the first one who saw me, "Ugh¡­ They fell asleep one after the other¡ª We wanted to call for help but Quinn could just stand on the pool so¡­ She just picked all of them up and threw them to the side¡­ Completely knocked out¡­ I want tough but¡ª"


    Quinn chuckled, "I still am, hah! Look at Tatiana on that pool table, she''s fucking asleep but she kept her elbow tight so the food doesn''t get wasted¡ª The fuck, how are you still up?!"


    "Me?"


    "Yeah! How much stamina you got?! There should be a limit!"


    "At least I could help you with moving them¡ª you guys take care of the ones not in our¡­ y-you know¡­ they might wake up and see me carrying them and it might lead to other conclusions¡­"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Or we could just wait a bit and see if they wake up¡ª if not, then we wake them up. They''ll cramp up sooner orter¡ª"


    Chloe cut in, "We should cover them, at least. The cold will¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols waved her off, "I already asked Rin for nkets. June and E are helping her bring enough down. The best we could do right now is dry them off andy them down somewherefortable¡­"


    Kaley then noticed something with my face, "You look mad, something happen?"


    I looked around first before I replied, "Where''s Jennifer?"


    "They called the night early¡ª Did you just avoid my¡ª"


    "Not exactly, no. It has something to do with her, albeit slightly."


    "Wanna talk about it?"


    I looked at everyone first before I sighed, "Sure. But not here."


    After some time, after we safely sent off everyone to the vacant rooms in the houses avable¡ªor just straight to their own personal rooms¡ªmost of us gathered back in our room for some decaf and luckily, Jennifer and Rachel were just watching a movie together.


    And since my cool-looking, futuristic-ass freezer was my room''s new center of attention, I just discovered that almost all of them were itching to ask what it was about because not all of them knew the fact of the "Peptides" the Admiral was peddling over to us.


    With how secure it was and how I came back with it¡ªor should I say the Chinook¡ªright after we made contact with the US Government, all sorts of eyebrows were raised but they were just respectful enough to not pry until it was talked about in the open.


    Dr. Nichols threw the freezer a curious look, "That¡­ Unfortunately, I''m not that well-versed in that department but would it hurt for me to test some of them?"


    "I could give you a copy of the file they sent me over but even if they told me I had free rein of those injectables, I kind of wanna hold onto them longer for safekeeping.


    Not that I don''t trust you or anything but those doses don''te by aplenty, they had to send me a freezer just for that because their soldiers were fighting for a dose¡ªleading us back to why I looked how I looked by the pool area."


    Jennifer let out a sigh, "Dad prolly on a cycle, huh?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, and Johnny was prepared to suck dick for a fucking dose¡ª"


    Kaley cut in, "H-How about D-Dad? Did he¡ª"


    I lightly bumped her shoulder with mine, "Nah, your Dad''s with me, actually¡ªeven Oscar, it''s kind of hypocritical of him to tell Johnny to stay away but he has his reasons."


    Jennifer looked like she was a little conflicted about the situation, "I mean, it''s his choice¡ª"


    I shook my head, "That''s the problem, it is HIS choice whether to take it or not but that shit''s just very, VERY experimental. They said it themselves. If something were to go wrong or if something were to happen to him¡ª I''d hate to even think about what would happen to him but what would happen to everyone here?


    The old man''s already dangerous with a shot of whiskey and an hour less of sleep, what the fuck would happen if he became a super mutant or something? I am joking right now but I''m also kind of not¡­ It''s just¡­ we''re a whole group, y''know? We should at least have a discussion like I tried with Johnny¡ª"


    Dr. Nichols asked, "What kind of injectable did he take anyway?"


    "I mean¡ª I trust you all and I hope this conversation don''t reach anywhere else but¡­ He took something for increasing his lifespan for a couple or so years and another thing to improve his brain''s cognitive functions. He said he''s been eating a lot but his head has never been clearer and he seemed to remember things now and his brain fog''s disappeared.


    It''s mostly positive shit since the negatives are very manageable ording to him but I have to be the pessimistic one in this¡­ I''m afraid he might start asking for more because everything feels great for him."


    Quinn shook her head, "That''s how Mike was when he started taking PEDs¡­ It''s all good and the negatives are manageable until he becamepletely blind to it¡­ I know they''repletely different things but¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Nah, it might be different but that''s just the thing I''m afraid of happening. At least now, I''m the only one that could open that freezer."


    "For real?"


    "Yeah, it''s programmed to my voice, my prints, and a special code that changes every day¡ªwhich isn''t a problem to me¡ªand once someone else tries to break it open, it notifies me, and I have the option to make the freezer destroy everything inside."


    "Shi¡ª How great is that?!"


    "Of course, I''m lying¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª I ACTUALLY BELIEVED YOU!"


    I lightly chuckled, "But which one did I lie about? Hmm? I won''t tell anyone¡ª that''s the thing. Everything inside that shit could be our first step toward the future but we should be very careful about it because it could be the one I''m dreaming of or the hell I''m dreading about."


    Kaley nodded pensively, "I can understand that but you gotta take it from their perspective as well¡­ I dunno, being at that age is probably very tough for them, and from their backgrounds, they wanted to be as useful as possible¡ªand even if they already are, they just wanted to do more.


    I''m not saying they''re blind about the negatives but what I''m saying is that they''re willing to put themselves to that much risk for all of us¡­ and yeah, also for them. That''s something to think about, at least."

 Chapter 1226: Early Morning Jackassery

    As Kaley said that, everyone couldn''t help but agree, especially Jennifer¡ªmaybe even Rachel. Honestly, the promise of improving one''s body from a simple injection was very enticing for everyone else and it''s just the negatives that was holding them back from pursuing them.


    But yeah, Jennifer could see the nces everyone else was giving to the freezer but she waved them off as she tried to exin her side:


    "That''s¡­ That''s the mindset I had when I applied to be one of the soldiers to have the privilege of taking those things¡ªand I''m gonna be a little bit hypocritical like my father because I also did PEDs to gain muscle and mass. Was it great? Fuck yeah! For everybody else though, not so much."


    Rachel let out a sigh as Jennifer said that but she still nudged her with a smile as she rubbed her shoulders, "It''s okay, I''m okay¡­"


    Jennifer touched Rachel''s hand, "I focused on the positives too much I didn''t even notice I was hurting the one person that''s important to me *looks at Rachel* and even if I know I did those bad things, I''m still having a hard time saying that I wish I didn''t take them¡ªbecause in all honesty, and as I said earlier¡ªit felt fucking great.


    It felt that good to be improving that much from a simple pill or an injection¡­"


    Quinn nodded a few times, "Been there¡­"


    Jennifer shook her head, "Of course, you still need hard work, great nutrition, sleep, everything in order for you to maximize your gains but let''s just say that what I took are fucking cheat codes. I enjoyed my time using them but at the same time, I''d say not to use them but¡ª Ugh¡­ All the insights I received from him *looks at me* is great and all but I''m still having a hard time letting go.


    I''m still having a hard time thinking of these things *looks at her arms* to disappear."


    I cut in, "I''m telling you, you''re just downsizing but we''re gonna try and let you keep all of that strength¡ª how did we get to this conversation again?"


    Dr. Nichols chuckled, "It''s all the talk about injectables¡ª That''s something I am familiar with though hadn''t had much experience because the only ce I used to work in didn''t do any PEDs or anything of the sort¡ªbut my private visits to other friends away from the university made me aware of its effects, especially the bad ones.


    It''s very illegal here and since you can''t get a reliable source, some of the patients I treated were given fakes and it led to more problems. Besides steroids are not just for bodybuilders or other athletes like you guys, it has other uses."


    Edith cut in, "You know¡­ There''s this one thing Sebastian used to inject on Rogue¡ª"


    Everyone else asked, "Who?"


    I chuckled, "Ah, Rogue! Our bull! Tren, right?"


    Dr. Nichols shook her head, "Trenbolone Acetate? Yeah¡­ I''ve heard of that, It''s originally used for cattle but we found other uses for that¡­ Insulin is one other example but out of the bunch, Peptides, the real ones are much safer and it''s along the lines of injectable testosterone."


    June nodded a few times, "I have taken that a few times depending on my blood work¡­ Stoppedpletely now though¡­"


    "Oh¡­ What else have you been on? If you wouldn''t mind sharing?"


    "Well¡­"


    "I¡­"


    "In my case¡­"


    "Oh¡­"


    "I was¡­"


    From then on, the conversation continued on and on until I finally hit my limit and woke up in the middle of the night sleeping between Kaley and Quinn. I was still feeling the soreness in my legs and I was also itching for a trip to the kitchen for a small bite, so as I walked down the stairs to fix myself a snack, I almost jumped off my skin when I saw E eating a bowl of cereal alone.


    "What the fu¡ª"


    "You¡ª You scared me!"


    "You scared me too! The fuck are you¡ª"


    "Hmm? It''s 5 AM, it''s essentially morning, you know?"


    I looked at my watch and discovered it was as she said, "Huh. You''re right."


    "Want some? I can''t believe you still have some Peanut Butter Cap''n Crunch¡­ I love these¡­"


    "Thanks but I''ll go with some Corn kes with a dab of honey¡­"


    "Corn kes?! Ugh¡­ Ew¡­ You''re like my dad¡­ He just eats them as is with milk though, no honey whatsoever¡­"


    I chuckled as I sat next to her, "You woke really early though, what''s up? We could''ve had breakfast a little bitter."


    "I''m okay, really, no worries. Dad just checked up on me but he got the timeline mixed up so he called in at 3 AM. We just finished talking and he hung up¡ª Can''t sleep after that though."


    "I see¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "You doing okay though?"


    "Hmm?"


    "I mean, you doing okay here? Is there anything you¡ª"


    "I-I''m fine¡ª I''m great, actually¡­ It''s just¡­ you know¡­ nevermind¡­"


    "You can tell me, you know? We can see what I could do or I can just listen to you vent, you have me until everyone wakes up. I''m gonna be pretty busy once morninges¡­"


    "Then¡­"


    "Ask me anything, really¡ª"


    "Then can you stop treating me like I''m an idiot and tell me the truth?"


    "E¡ª"


    "I thought you hate secrets¡ª guess what? I hate them too, and I know you''ve been keeping a huge secret from me! I just don''t know what! O-Once Dad invited you i-into that b-basement, you just l-looked at me the same way everyone who went down there looks at me! I-I act like a child¡ª like a brat sometimes but I''m already an adult! I fucking hate when I don''t get treated like one and you know what?!


    I was mad¡ª FUMING! When you threw me in the water but that''s the first time someone treated me like I wouldn''t break from the slightest touch! I¡ª I''m sorry for t-telling you all this w-when you just w-woke up but I j-just have a lot of things to say t-true off my chest¡­ A-And since you offered and all¡­ y-you know¡­"


    "..."


    "Don''t just look at me l-like that! S-Say something!"


    I looked her straight in the eye, "You really wanna know? I can tell you, right here, right now. What I''m saying is just¡ª if you''re not 100% sure, tell me now or else you''d wish you haven''t heard it. I''ll respect your wishes but I''m not responsible for what you''d feel after, is that okay?"


    E took a moment to ready herself before she looked back at me, "A-Alright. I''m ready¡ª"


    I let out a sigh, "Alright. Hold my wrists and listen well. It''s about your Mom¡­"


    As soon as I mentioned her Mom, Jolene, E''s grip on me tightened considerably as her eyes just scanned every inch of my face, especially my eyes. Tears fell down from hers as I gave her the bad news and I saw every bit of emotion in her eyes as I spared her no details of her mother''s condition.


    It seemed she already had an inkling and the talk we hadst night of the injectables¡ªespecially the one that could reinforce bones¡ªadded to her suspicions and being kept in the dark was just eating away at her¡ªand opening the doors for her like this made her realize and understand.


    While it was true that it was bit much for her to know everything her father was keeping from her, it was all she needed at the same time.


    On that note, her tight grip on my wrists turned to a full-on hug as shepletely cried herself out, and even Zeus joined in to give her some emotional support despite almost hitting his head on the table counter when he jumped up:


    "Aww, Zeus¡­ D-Did we wake you up? I''m sorry¡­"


    "Woof¡­"


    I chuckled, "He said it''s okay¡­ and that''s his cereal¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Of course, not! I can''t speak woof, E, the fuck you think¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª Stop joking around!"


    "AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "AHHH! Stupid! Y-You''re so stupid! PFFT!!! Dammit!"


    In any case, I''m not gonna lie and say I didn''t notice her giving me "that" look after sheughed her ass off with me, giving us a few seconds to stare at each other in silence¡ªbut it didn''t take long before the kids came knocking, prompting Zeus to open the door for them as they excitedly ran in and told us that the food was ready.

 Chapter 1227: Downtime - I HAVE GOOD HANDS!

    At that moment, E quickly withdrew her hand ced over my arm as she greeted the kids with an energetic, "Good Morning!", and helped them wake everybody else upstairs. Funnily enough, the kids'' job was somehow delegated to her because they all started to y with Zeus¡ªbut one look I gave him while he was belly-up made him follow E so that the kids could continue their jobs properly.


    "GOOD MOOOOORNING!"


    "Wakey~ Wakey~!"


    "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! THE FOOD''S READY!"


    "WOOF! WOOF!"


    "Keep knocking! They''ll wake soon¡ª Oh, hi! Good Morning! Mom said the food''s ready!"


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we all gathered at the same spot and was having breakfast¡ªbut our trainees/cadets/"Death Squad" in question were dreading the eerie smile Oscar was wearing while he was getting himself some coffee.


    Other than that, Johnny looked like he wanted to revisit the conversation we had yesterday though Rin and Vera looked like they wanted to have a brief talk with me as well.


    "Shoot. I don''t mind while we''re eating¡ª"


    Vera cut in, "I''ll start then, the people from the dam called and they said they''ll be visiting in a few days. They said it''s an independent check-up on the independent line we got here and¡ª"


    Tatiana chuckled as he looked at me, "Some troubleying pipes? Pfft¡­"


    Vera shook her head, chuckling, "Uh-huh, riiight¡­ Anyway, they''re also requesting a small bump of food from the usual and some more bullets if we could. They said they''ve prepared appropriate trading items and information but the reason for those requests is they''ve just liberated a town and they had an influx of a few hundred people left and right."


    I thought for a bit, "We can agree to that but ask them if they want to send some of them over here. We can shoulder a bit of burden¡ªforck of a better term but, we could always use an extra pair of hands."


    Vera nodded, "Alright, I''ll tell them that once I''m back in the Broadcast Station."


    Rin then took her turn, "About bullets, while you''re away, I''ve uhh¡­ I''ve done the usual sorting, tumbling, and everything¡ªincluding loading only pistol rounds and shotgun shells to Sir Oscar''s liking but looking at him now, we might need to uhh¡ª get busy in the workshop for at least a day.


    I''m also reading on the press to make our own casings since I''ve set aside the ones that are wearing down but aside from that, when are we umm¡­ opening up those other stored rounds? It would help with the materials rotating around if¡ª"


    "Nah. We''ll stick to what we can still use and find in the wild still¡ª and since we''re making our own casings now, we should avoid using the ones we had stored for the same reason. Those are for emergencies."


    "I see¡­ In regards to other materials used to make them though¡­ We''ve been receiving materials here and there but is there a way we could make them independently?"


    "Not a chance¡ª at least not right now."


    "Ah¡ª Why?"


    "Well, aside from the tons we still have in stock, we''re still relying on traders and scavengers who don''t know anything to do with them¡ªbut you''re right, I''m still figuring out a way to gather raw materials to start making them by ourselves.


    However, an easier method is a step above those traders and scavengers is to have them gather the specific materials we are looking for and we''ve just made contact with the ce that has an overabundance of them."


    "So, we''re just gonna wait for them toe back with everything?"


    "Nah, we''re doing both."


    "You mean¡ª"


    "I mean, why choose one or two methods if you can do all of them? But yeah, I''ll help you make them in bulk today but I''m looking for another workshop-worthy area that''s away from everything else at the moment. Do you have anything in mind? Something with an open field to test explosives would be good."


    "U-Umm, are we gonna start making explosives t-too?"


    "We did a few times but it IS irresponsible to make them this close to everyone else even if we''re that careful. idents can still happen, you know? But yeah, I''m assigning another expert on that and he''d be in charge of that workshop instead of me."


    "Who¡ª Oh! Bogdan?"


    "Yeah~ The motherfucker didn''t even tell me he could make napalm. So aside from explosives, he''ll also be in charge of developing incendiary shit for our use. I''d hate to say it but sometimes, clearing them out one by one could be tedious and we''d sometimes need to resort to fire and explosion."


    "I see. We''ll set up a meeting once theye back."


    "That reminds me, where did they go, anyway?"


    "Right, umm~ if I remember correctly, they set off to shave off dregs from LRT Line 1 until they reached Iskoh''s¡ª I mean Mayor Iskoh''s spot but they''re keen on taking care of the ones in the backroads while Iskoh''s clearing group takes care of the squatter areas. The President might''ve cleared arge group before but there''s still a lot of them to take care of¡­"


    "Do they have someone local with them?"


    "Yes, they''ve brought Mark''s group with a few other soldiers from Sir Ferdinand''s camp they''re familiar with so it''s all good."


    "Alright, if there''s nothing else, once we finish this food¡­ We''ll let Oscar do his thing while we do our own. I would''ve wanted Alexa to work with us but she''s part of Hell Week and we don''t have anyone else that has good hands¡ª"


    Then the one whopletely went over my head due to her size cut in, "HOLD UP! WHAT ABOUT ME?! I HAVE GOOD HANDS!"


    I never facepalmed so hard in my fucking life, "Right, Ipletely forgot about you. We aren''t loading cannon rounds right now but I''ll call you¡ª"


    "YOU FUCKING PRICK! JUST BRING ME WITH YOU! I''M TAKING A BREAK FROM ENGINES TODAY!"

 Chapter 1228: Downtime II - Offer?

    A person who''s meticulous and precise with their work is the best person for the job in regards to making bullets, and Quinn looking like Quinn made me forgot about how delicate her work was in building her custom engines. We haven''t even started on fitting the engines she made that we brought back that could use 100% Ethanol, and I''d take her up on that once we have enough time.


    "How much are we making anyway?"


    Rin answered, "A hundred?"


    "That few?!"


    "Ah¡ª I mean a hundred thousand¡ª"


    "WHAT?! A HUNDRED THOUSAND BULLETS?!"


    I gave her the deathblow, "Each caliber."


    "THE FUCK?! HOW LONG WOULD THAT TAKE?!"


    I finally knew why I didn''t think of her, "Not really though. It''s like doingundry sometimes, okay? Sometimes, it''s much better doing it in bulk."


    Rin added, "Well, I''ve focused on pistol rounds while you were all away so the only ones we''d make a lot of are 5.56s and 7.62s. The rest would only hover around a thousand or so rounds. W-We can just do it ourselves if you don''t want¡ª"


    "Nah, nah, I''ll help! I''ll help! Show me how it works then, I might figure out a way to make it automated¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Nah, everything should be to my standards. Automating it would make it open to inconsistencies."


    "You saying the shit I''ll make for you would be shoddy as fuck?! D''you know who you''re talking to?!"


    "Don''t get offended, it''s just my way of doing things¡ªand yeah, you''re the best on your field but you gotta do the hard shit first before making it easy for everyone else. It''s not like you do everything automatically in your field, right?


    The custom ride you built needs a human touch and while those special engines you built are made in that industrial park, don''t tell me you don''t check them after the fact?"


    "Point. I''ll just bottom while we''re taking a break¡ª"


    "Pfft¡ª What?!"


    Rin almost choked on her coffee, "W-We''re not h-having sex on the workshop!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Because it''s your thing, huh? Fiiine~ Your ce, your rules¡ª"


    "I-It''s not like that!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! Suuure~ If you say so~"


    In any case, as Rin showed Quinn the ropes, I inspected Rin''s work while we were away and it''s definitely up to my standards. I see no problem letting her load rifle rounds as well besides the sniper rounds that have loadspletely different from the book of measurements she was referring to.


    It didn''t take long before we easily sunk a couple hours into making bullets but we suddenly had a visitor who was away for some reason and had juste back, Chris.


    "B-Bro¡ª Y-You''re back! Wha¡ª HOLY¡ª H-HELL WEEK! W-WHAT¡ª HOW¡ª I-I-I WANT TO JOIN!"


    Quinn chuckled, "You''ve missed your chance, kid. Oscar had already brought everyone outside. Where were you, anyway?"


    "H-Hello, Ma''am Quinn¡­ I¡ª C-Charlotte and I were in M-Mr. Borris'' ce by the South Checkpoint and¡ª"


    "Bahh~ Don''t bore me with the details¡ª talk to him, I''m busy here."


    "Ah¡ª R-Right."


    I rolled my eyes, "Why''d you talk to him, anyway? Nevermind, what''s up, Chris? Rin''s report mentioned Charlotte nting more trees, right?"


    "Y-Yes, bro¡ª B-BUT HELL WEEK! C-Can I still c-catch up?! T-THEY SAID¡ª T-They said you all ran a 100 kilometers¡ª A HUNDRED! I-I CAN DO THAT TOO! I-I''M RUNNING AGAIN!"


    I tried to joke, "If you can run a 100 now¡ª"


    "ALRIGHTBROTHANKYOUI''LLSTARTRUNNINGNOWBYE!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!"


    At that point, Quinn just lost her shit fromughing but I already pegged Chris as one of the people more suited to hold the fort rather than go outside to take care of problems.


    One of the reasons for that was Charlotte and his good and honest nature¡ªbut if he was willing to break his body just to see how far it could reach, I''d let him do a version of Hell Week or just straight-up let him join as a wild card forter.


    ''He''ll definitely give everyone a hard time tomorrow or maybe on Tatiana''s day¡­ I guess we''ll see.''


    But yeah, as soon as Charlotte came in and caught up to us, I asked her to take care of Chris while he was fucking running his ass off and after that, we sunk more hours into making bullets for our everyday use.


    Quinnmented, "This IS a fuck ton of bullets though¡­ Can y''all monitor all of ''em? What if someone or a group starts skimming off these shit?"


    Rin and I chuckled eerily as we said at the same time, "Oh, we''ll know. We''ll definitely know. We have a system¡­ We really wanna see everyone try but none of them are that brave, ufufufu¡­"


    "Ah, fuck¡ª I know you already make that fucking face but *looks at Rin* you too?! Don''t scare me like that! Still, if you were any other people, I would''ve recruited you in my fucking garage. We need all the help we can get¡ª And I''m still working Alexa to join me, alright?!


    I''ll take that cuck Seb or whatever just to bring her in¡ª maybe even Megan too so I''ll probably need a mold of your cock to do it! Gimme a hand, alright?!"


    "I thought you need my cock¡ª why my hand¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT!"


    Rin had the greatest idea, "Can''t you just have the same garage here? You mentioned you already have branches, why not build one here? You''d be closer to us and if you really get knocked up, sorry to say, but you need those checkups and you''d have the best support here if you want a healthy child¡­ Just saying¡­ And I''ll be a really~ good aunt!"


    "...umm¡­" Quinn was at a loss for words.


    I added, "It''ll save you the trip back too. Have Zyra or anyone else take over," then I added, "If you''re working Alexa, I''m working you too. I said I''ll visit every now and again when you get pregnant but isn''t this arrangement better?"


    "I-I''ll think about it¡­"

 Chapter 1229 Downtime III - Hes here now, by the way--

    Looking at Quinn''s reaction to our words, she looked like she was really thinking about the possibility of actually living with us, because let''s face it, if she were to have a child with me, it was the best ce to be in. It''s not like we were throwing shade at her workshop/garage but I''m gonna be honest and say that her ce is not the best for having or taking care of a baby.


    But funnily enough, Quinn was just mulling over herself¡ªtalking, chuckling, and blushing randomly with just her thoughts, and Rin and I just let her be for the moment because she''d blow our eardrums if we teased her.


    My rtionship with everyone else was pretty good so far¡ªespecially with Kaley, of course¡ªbut I wouldn''t lie and say that I wasn''t excited to be a father. I joked around with Kaley before about having a family but I just had a feeling she wasn''t ready¡ªand Quinn presenting herself was probably the best thing that could''ve happened to either of us.


    It hit two birds¡ª no, three birds with one stone but if I was still being honest, I''d still want to have a kid with Kaley too.


    With that thought aside, we sunk more and more hours in and Quinn had to stop me from moving my hands because I fell into my trance-like state once again and it was 15 minutes past lunch.


    "Seriously? You couldn''t wait past fifteen¡ª"


    "OH, SHADDAP! I WANNA EAT!"


    "Pfft¡ª"


    "YOU SHADDAP TOO, RIN! I CAN FLING YOU AS FAR AS I COULD¡ª Ugh¡­ So hungry doing things over and over again¡­"


    I rolled my eyes, "I don''t even feel hungry, this shit is very therapeutic to me."


    "Me too! That''s why I made a lot the past few weeks!"


    "You two are so¡ª Can''t we just eat! C''mon! I''m hungry!"


    "Yeah, yeah~ Let''s¡­"


    And as we had lunch, I discovered that Kaley took June and E to the indoor range to practice with Lois and Olivia but like Quinn, Charlotte had to drag Chris off the treadmill so he could have a bite to eat. It was good that he hadn''t heard about the psychological shit I did to my group or else he''d just do it to himself which he would definitely do.


    ''He still goes out from time to time but Charlotte''s his rock in a way¡­ They''re young, they could spend as much time with each other and it''s also beneficial aside from going through Hell Week¡­''


    In any case, it didn''t take long before the three of us were back to our workshop and the only time my attention was taken elsewhere was when the old man appeared and dumped a few sacks of spent casings from different calibers and told me that they took care of several hordes in a day with the help of Artem and his team.


    "So¡­ you just shot guns?"


    "Wha¡ª Different kind of guns! You remember the shit you made me y before?"


    "Which one?"


    "T-The one where you get a different gun after each kill?"


    "Yeah! That one! Also, the challenge was to have all the ammo in one big-ass bowl and they''d have to fish out the right one for the random-ass gun I prepared for them! Fun, right?!"


    I chuckled, "I gotta admit, that''d be pretty fucking hell for me¡­ Was anyone hurt?"


    "Not at all¡ª some of them did experience cramps in the middle of it but the focus was fucking shooting shit you aren''tfortable or familiar with. We have the usual loadout for everybody but there''s just those times when you can only use what''s avable, right?"


    "That''s a good lesson, I agree¡ª But did Artem and his groupe back with you all or did they stay in Morales'' outpost again?"


    "They stayed, they stayed. Said they''ll be back until you need them but they''re doing work, I tell ya. In the future, we might just build outposts in each train station if we have enough people and after we clear each one. The problem is making the trains work and making sure they''re clear of those tentacle fucks.


    Seeing them from afar is eerie, especially if they''re hanging from it instead of just hanging their tongues down. Makes it look like they offed themselves."


    "That''s the n we had for a while but that''s a very big project. We have to consider the other LRT lines and the MRT lines too so we have the full benefit of transportation."


    Oscar nodded, "Well, Morales is the one doing some work on that. He already made contact with another group in Quezon City and it''s part of the same one in that Memorial Veteran Center. They have a group stationed near Balintawak, by that mall¡ª what''s it name again?"


    "Ay Mall?"


    Your next chapter is on empire


    "I dunno, that must be it¡ª but starting from Monumento then driving straight ahead over to Quezon City is where the MRT Line is, right?"


    "Yeah, it''s somewhat connected to the LRT Line and it''d be a huge boon to have full control of that."


    Quinn cut in, "And why is that?"


    Oscar answered, "Well~ we can just punch in to each station if we need something specific from a certain city instead of clearing the whole way down the road. The stations themselves¡ªespecially the big ones in the bigger cities¡ªare mazes themselves but they''re good outpost locations if we manage to secure them¡­ or if they let us, all of ''em."


    I added, "I kind of want that too but it''d be impossible with our numbers still. We''re based a bit far off from that area and the one who could benefit from that the most is Morales'' group and Iskoh''s. Add to that how we deviated our focus by going for Subic Bay and the other ces by the coast."


    "You got a point there, kid, but it wouldn''t hurt to try, right? We can still clear it for Iskoh and have him manage it himself. Better yet, once we have our donation of troops, maybe a dozen in each station could do the trick plus fifty or so civs, no?"


    I thought for a bit, "We''ll talk it with Iskoh first¡ª and Morales too. We might not be able to handle the whole thing but for the ones we could take over, it should be rock solid as any other outpost. And since we can easily close off the entrance and exits, we can min-max how many people we''d have on each station when the timees."


    "Hmm~ Sounds good, we''ll set up the meeting. He''s here now, by the way¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 1230 You probably heard of me... - Small World

    Seeing one of Oscar''s antics when someone important visits our ce for the nth time, my first go-to was to run back to my room and retrieve a dose for someone''s cognitive functions because this dumb shit was fucking killing me.


    But yeah, I just assumed it had nothing to do with his head¡ªand just wanted to see my reactions¡ªbut still, he should''ve at least given me one or two hours to prepare to receive guests of Mayor Iskoh''s caliber. Experience more on empire


    Quinn cut in as Oscar cackled loudly:


    "Who¡ª Wait, the mayor who''s always on social media? That Iskoh?"


    Rin replied, "He''s the only one who does that, no?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, he''s the one. It''s for a purpose though and he walks the walk to. Ever see other politicians as big as him continue to serve his people?"


    Quinn quipped, "The President?"


    "Pfft¡ª Well, if you put it like that¡­" then I turned to Rin, "Can you finish the remaining batch for me?"


    Rin waved us off, "Sure! It won''t even be that long¡ª"


    Quinn stood up, "Can I clock out too? I gotta meet the guy face to face."


    "Yeah, yeah! No problem, you did good by the way!"


    "Thanks, bish¡ª Anyway, shiii~ don''t tell me he''s the one on the 911?"


    Oscar finally stoppedughing, "He is, he is¡­ Come on, he''s already inspecting your DB9, you might hit it off¡­"


    "As long as he doesn''t arrest me, sure."


    "Hah! Imagine."


    I shook my head, "If it was any other day, he probably will¡­"


    "He can always try but I''ll break his fingers first."


    "No, you won''t."


    "Try me."


    "Bahahah! I would love to see that, honestly."


    In any case, Quinn and I did have a recement¡ªand it was Alexa, of courseing to greet us but shoved by Oscar to the workshop instead to help with sorting spent casings while we headed for the Mayor''s general direction.


    And of course, as soon as he saw me in view, he gave me an upwards nod while I took off my gloves to receive his handshake, but more and more people were crowding around him as more people recognized his face.


    "You left your pregnant wife in Man, you fuck¡ª Are you crazy?"


    He then jabbed me in my stomach, "Jude''s with her, of course¡ª still gives me jumpscares whenever he pops out of nowhere but they''re cool like that. They always know where each other is," then he nced at Quinn''s DB9 once again, "I see you''ve started taking in luxury cars¡ª I mean more muscle and a rally car is present but¡ª"


    Quinn cut in as she towered both of us, "That DB9''s mine. You ain''t too bad yourself¡ª"


    "Holy¡ª I thought¡ª My eyesight''s already that bad, huh? I actually didn''t see you there, the name''s Francisco but people call me¡ª"


    "I know who you are, Mr. Mayor."


    "And you are¡­?"


    Quinn let out a smile, "You''ve probably heard of me but not in the way you think."


    Iskoh was taken aback for a moment, "I¡­ I still believe we haven''t met¡ª"


    "Nah, you''re a busy man, I doubt you''ll even remember us fully but I''ll take a chance. Your task force probably busted some of my boys for street racing, modifying vehicles that are not street-worthy, speeding, reckless driving, and since I don''t care that much anymore, transporting illegal contraband. Nice to finally meet the person behind those arrests."


    "...umm. I¡ª"


    "Don''t worry, you''re not the only one who put my boys in the pen but those things you caught us for are only for distractions. You made a dent but it''s that manageable."


    Iskoh lightly shook his head as he stared Quinn straight in the eye, "I haven''t got your name¡ª"


    Quinn then showed the number ''4'' tattoo on her neck, "Ring a bell? Hmm?"


    Iskoh''s eyed never grew so fucking wide, "No fucking w-way¡ª How are affiliated with¡ª I¡ª What¡ª Kid¡ª Single digit¡ª"


    Quinn never smiled so wide, "Then you''ve heard of me, Quinn De Leon, at your service. And before you ask, we''re business partners. I''m the one who gave him that Impreza and I''m betting on my bottom dor that 911 came from busting us as well. We have a warehouse near this harbor¡ª"


    I had to fucking cut in, "W-Wait, wait¡ª Hold up, that warehouse is yours?!"


    Quinn almost broke her neck as she snapped at me, "HOLD UP, YOU''VE BEEN TO THAT WAREHOUSE?! EVERYTHING''S THERE IS MINE¡ª I MEAN, NOT TECHNICALLY TO OUR NAME BUT YOU KNOW HOW ILLEGAL SHIT WORKS! WHERE ARE THEY¡ª SHIT! SOME OF THEM ARE HERE! THE FUCK?!"


    Iskoh was still fucking gobsmacked but I replied in the best way possible:


    "I mean, thanks?"


    "THANKS?! THE TRUCK YOU GIFTED MAURO FOR HIS WEDDING IS MINE! THAT''S¡ª AHHHH!!! WE GOTTA HAVE A FUCKING TALK! STAT! I THOUGHT I FUCKING LOST ALL OF THEM!


    AND YOU¡ª AHHHHH!!!"


    Jared cut in at the perfect time, "Thanks for the RX-7, Quinn!"


    "OH, FUCK YOU TOO!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    ''It''s really a fucking small world, huh?''


    In any case, as much as we all wanted to have a private conversation with each other, Iskoh had to do his rounds talking to everybody who wanted to meet him or just shake his hands. He was famous in his own way but I could see he had a lot more on his mind after meeting Quinn, but even after a couple of hours of doing PR work, our meeting was cut off by dinner time.


    Obviously, it was always a custom in this country to have avish meal when someone important visits, so it was safe to say everyone was fucking stuffed and the people who participated in Hell Week were starting to feel like they were on a vacation instead.


    In addition, with Iskoh present, I might move Tatiana''s training by a day since I might be swapping with her, but it didn''t take long before we were in Oscar''s house¡ªafter the general meeting¡ªwith Quinn, Iskoh, Royo, and surprisingly enough, Morales.

 Chapter 1231 I have some ideas.

    Obviously, Johnny looked like he couldn''t wait to bring up the subject we talked about yesterday and he was deliberately pushing off his ss of liquor while staring me dead in the eyes. But yeah, he was still polite enough to entertain Royo, who was in the same department as him, and his stories would always make Johnny let out this nostalgic smile.


    In any case, we still had a lot to talk about and Iskoh started by taking a sip of alcohol:


    "Mmmh~ This is good¡ª"


    Oscar chuckled, "Nothing but the best."


    "Heh, that''s right. It''s my first drink in a while¡­ Anyway, the people from Subic Bay have made contact with me and even though there''d be dys, the people they sent over were already a huge help with the dead¡ªand I''ve been made aware of our other project that keeps getting dyed. It has something to do with the train stations, right?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, I know it''s a bitch to clear them alone but it''d be a huge boon if we reim it for ourselves."


    Morales joined in, "It''s been a while since I''ve seen you all but in regards to clearing LRT Line 1, my groups are going in a different direction but it''s still with a purpose. We didn''t have too many problems but QC(Quezon City) and Man¡ªespecially the ce you meet in the middle¡ªwere too fucking congested.


    It''s a fucking infestation after infestation and we need to take care of that problem too. It''s a miracle there are still people surviving out there. It seems neverending, for some reason, and mix it in with those weird ones and it''s a can of worms."


    Oscar added, "Well, our Russian friends are doing some of the work and we did a little in the day and you''re right, we need to redirect some of our people over to that side¡ªthe best way is to have them camp in your outpost like Artem''s group did."


    Morales nodded, "They''ve been a great help, really. We could focus on one thing at a time since they''re helping over between the areas we can''t cover with my main group."


    I chuckled, "You guys buried the hatchet?"


    "Somewhat, but I got beef with you now."


    "Me?"


    "Yeah."


    "How¡ª"


    "Why''d you make Jose stay over on that ce?! I need him in the Harbor!"


    I rolled my eyes, "He doesn''t want it here and he''s the perfect liaison for the Academy and the people I''ve been working with."


    Morales shook his head with a frown as he nced at Quinn, "You mean with her type of people¡ª"


    Quinn never backed down, "HEY! IF YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY, GIMME BACK ALL MY VEHICLES FIRST! YOU''VE BEEN HAPPILY DRIVING THEM, RIGHT?!"


    "Haah?! ALL OF THEM ARE STOLEN ANYWAYS!"


    "WHICH YOU FUCKS ALSO STOLE! I GUESS WE''RE IN THE SAME BOAT, HUH?!"


    "YOU¡ª"


    Iskoh cut them off, "HEY! We''re not here to argue! We do, kind of, but not in this type of way. I didn''t want to put this out there but as much headaches this group had given me in my term, looking at it now, they indirectly helped me in some way. The gangs of Man are no joke and the police can''t take care of all of them, they need policing of their own."


    Quinn scoffed, "We didn''t do shit to help ya, those fucks were just in the way. If you''d pay me for our indirect help, you can return my vehicles, especially the ones in your impound¡ª Take the 911 as my tip to ya, ya seem to like it."


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    I had to break the silence, "Alright, Quinn¡­ you know we can''t return those vehicles now because they''re obviously in use¡ª"


    Iskoh cut in, "If you know the model and the serial numbers, we can¡ª"


    Quinn cackled, "HAH! You think we do serial numbers?! I''ll know one of our own once I see them. But fuck it, keep it as us but you fucks owe me."


    Morales shook his head, "Why would we owe you?!"


    Quinn looked at him like he was an idiot, "Dumbass,pare how my cars handle to stock shit¡ªand if you had a semnce of sensitivity in ya, you''d notice how they drive that fucking well. And it''s all because of me. They weren''t there to be sent to me, it''s already for export or direct selling here¡ªwell, not all of them are but the ones who drove my shit should''ve at least noticed a difference."


    Oscar nodded a few times, "You took care of that Power Wagon?"


    "Yeah, a bitch to import parts. Had to make some of them on my own."


    "Haa¡­ You have no idea¡ª I owe you just from restoring that beaut, thanks."


    Quinn let out a smile, "At least some of you know how it is."


    Iskoh sighed once more, "Alright, if you have the time to visit my ce, we''ll¡ª"


    She cut him off, "I already said you can keep ''em, it''s finders keepers once the world turned to shit anyways. Just remember me when I cash in the favor."


    "Sure¡­"


    Quinn chuckled, "And I''m cashing it right now¡ª It''s very easy so listen up: we''re all the same right now so don''t get high and mighty on me just because you''re the fucking ''good'' guys. If you get stuck up on that bullshit that fucking guy *points at Morales* has been on ever since he found out I''m a criminal, trust me, we won''tst that long.


    You have it hard but we have it hard too, I''m putting my neck out for this shit to work between groups *points at me* and he is too, so give me a fucking break and just let me do what I''m good at. I can even help you fucks make the trains fully functional once you cleared it from the dead."


    Iskoh replied, "I¡ª I respect that, I do¡­ but we should really think about how we should start this first. She can''t work her magic on this if we don''t clean that ce up."


    I cut in, "I have some ideas."

 Chapter 1232 Easy Solution - Wrinkly-Ass Bitch--

    For a brief description, LRT Line 1 has 18 stations in total¡ªMonumento to Baran¡ªand it cuts through three cities which were Caloocan, Man, and Pasay. The distance between each station is a kilometer give and take¡ªbut even if our aim was to take over this LRT Line fully, we should be more selective in which ces to start.


    It''s not like we could easily build up 18 outposts just a kilometer from each other that easily, so aside from making sure we have total control of each end, three¡ªno, two stations came to mind:


    "Aside from Monumento and Baran, we should take care of D. Jose and EDSA. It''s the biggest among the bunch since they connect to LRT Line 2 and MRT Line 3 respectively and they''d be the biggest pain to clear out because of the walkways and shit¡ª"


    Iskoh cut in, "How about Blumentritt Station? It also connects to the PNR Metro Commuter Line, right?"


    I tilted my head sideways, "Yeah, but¡­ That thing''s down on the ground by the highway, it doesn''t necessarily offer the same elevation as the other ones I''ve mentioned."


    "Hmm. You''re right."


    I continued, "But despite that, we need a proper setup first and that''s closing off all the entrances/exits to each station. It''s just a couple of stairways on each end¡ªmaybe even an elevator and a fire exit depending on location¡ªthen again, it''s a different story for the connecting stations."


    Oscar cut in, "Aren''t Artem and his group¡ªwe included earlier¡ªdoing that type of thing? You can tell them to focus more on the stations rather than the backroads. It''s a straight shot too right before they reach the bridge."


    Iskoh gave a nod, "It''d be a little easier on my part since EDSA Station and Baran Station are just right next to each other but my problem from that is the dead below. I need more soldiers on my side and the Marines will be a huge help. Aside from that, the shopping district right next to it is just a fucking maze and anything could pop out from that."


    Oscar chuckled, "Then we''ll lend you the Killdozer. Just sift through the trash right after but I doubt there''d be anything important in that dump. It''s mostly sub-standard shit and fakes sold over there, right? The ones in the stalls, I mean."


    "I mean, yeah¡ª but I''d prefer the smaller bobcats you armored up. Easier to transport as well."


    Morales cut in, "Still, we can close off each station as we want but those fucks underneath the railings and hanging from above is the problem. We can''t use the same thing against them, we gotta clear the area fully."


    Almost all of us sighed at the same time:


    "That''s true¡­"


    "They''re a problem¡­"


    "Rather have roaches."


    I had to say it, "I mean¡­ It''s not like they''ve tied themselves on there. They''re just sticky enough to stick to the bottom. We already have the solution for them, right?"


    Iskoh looked at me, "What?"


    "Umm¡­ Firetrucks? Just the pressure alone could make them fall down and it''d be so much easier than picking them off one by one. I haven''t thought of it before but we''ve been using the same damn thing to wash the gunk off the roads, right? It worked on protesters before, it could fucking work on those Stitchers. We should just have a few teams or a perimeter ready before we start sting.


    We shouldn''t do it all at the same time. Worstes to worst, we''d use dirty water, it''s not like we needed those Alkaline bullshit to arm them."


    Iskoh cut in again, "What? I thought Alkaline water is great?"


    "Eh. Dr. Nichols told me they''re bullshit."


    "Who?"


    "Doesn''t matter, Alkaline water has a different pH level than our stomachs and once it reaches there it loses whatever magic it has. Just drink clean water."


    "Huh."


    I waved them all off, "So about my idea?"


    Morales chuckled, "Hosing them down?"


    "Something wrong with it?"


    "Nah, that shit''s perfect. It''s always the simple solutions, huh?"


    "It''d take a few trips but that''s the way to go, the easiest way, I think. Much better than using napalm¡ª"


    Oscar chuckled, "I would have disagreed with you any other day but yeah, we''ll do that¡ª"


    Iskoh waved us off, "I think umm¡­ I''ll head the operation on my side while Sir Morales heads the operation on his side. It seemed like you already have plenty on your te. My group solely benefits from this arrangement anyway¡ª since fifteen or so of the existing stations in LRT Line 1 are in my city. There''s zero in yours unless you count Caloocan with ya."


    Morales shook his head, "If anything, we''re all over the ce. It''s just¡­"


    "Wanna say something else?"


    "I mean, it''s great we''re clearing the streets of the dead but most of them are buildings from the old world¡­ I''d hate to say it but I prefer the route they''re *nces at me* taking right now because it''s near the coast and other than that it''s just hectares and hectares of farms where we could actually use to our benefit.


    What use are office spaces aside from their hard drives and whatever else is in them? What use are those call center cubicles we reced farms for?"


    Royo chuckled, "Are we going deep now? I''m all for it before I have surgery¡­ It''s in a few days but I''m open to this talk."


    I threw Morales a nce, "It''s not much, sure¡ªand I don''t wanna go the deep end because it''s up to us to make use of what we found, but electronics appliances and other stuff ripe for the taking are shit we can''t grow ourselves. It''s great to look at it that way but clearing the dead''s still the main purpose of you guys holding up out there."


    "Haa¡­ That''s true¡­ I''m up for some harder stuff if you have some?" Morales said as he downed his ss.


    I tried to warn him, "That''s not¡ª"


    Oscar quickly shut me down, "The guy asks for the hard stuff, we give him the hard stuff! Coming right up!"


    As soon as Oscar said that not only me, but Iskoh was already one step out the door but I had to carry Quinn out of that ce because it wouldn''t take long before those fucks destroy their fucking livers. However, Johnny still caught up with me as he offered Iskoh a ce to stay instead of Oscar''s but if he was really adamant about what he wanted, I thought I should just give him what he wanted.


    "You sure about this?"


    "I am."


    "After Oscar''s blood workes in. AFTER. Can you wait at least that much?"


    "Of course¡ª"


    "And we''ll BOTH talk to your family¡ªespecially your wife."


    "Already did but you''ll just hear the same thing. If I fucking lied to you forget everything I said."


    "You want the same thing as the old man, right? Or do you want something else?"


    He smirked, "Look at me, kid, what do you think I want the most?"


    "Smooth skin? You look wrinkly as fuck, you wrinkly-ass bitch¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "I''m joking! I''M JOKING! I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT! LET''S WAIT FOR THE RIGHT TIME AND I''LL HAVE THE OLD MAN ADMINISTER IT!"

 Chapter 1233 Quick Refill

    Short story even shorter, the moment Johnny discovered that I agreed to let him have a dose, the motherfucker suddenly moonwalked back to Oscar''s house¡ªeven with his prosthetic leg¡ªbefore shouting for joy.


    Obviously, him asking for the increased lifespan PLUS the reinforced bones/recovery was still very doable because he''s the first person I''d allow to plunge into the deep end with my "stash", but at the end of the day, I''d want to save some for myself or a few others if I don''t see debilitating side effects.


    ''Jennifer might want someter along the line too¡­ We''ll just see how far my hard work could take me PLUS how far these mutations could get before I dip into it¡­ or not¡­''


    But yeah, Quinn instantly jumped me right as I closed the door to my house and we weren''t even able to reach the stairs because she was already on top of me while I was sitting on the couch.


    She broke our kiss for a moment as she aimed my huge cock in her and sat down, easily taking me right up to the base, "Haa¡­ Haha¡­ Caught you off-guard, didn''t I?"


    "A little, but I''ve been a bit much yesterday¡ª"


    "I heard. Shit was hot, not gonna lie~ But it makes it even hotter that you''re giving up everything tonight though¡­"


    "Well, not everything, per se¡ª"


    "PFFT! HAH! I know, I know¡­ But trust me once Kaley breaks open your ass, I''m next."


    "You¡ª We''ll do it once you sail back¡ª"


    "HEY! That''s not fair! FINE! I''M STAYING HERE FOR AS LONG AS I COULD!"


    I pulled her back for a kiss, "I wouldn''t you moving in, honestly¡­"


    Quinn''s insides twitched as she started to slowly move her hips, "Y-You¡ª B-Be careful what you wish for¡­ E-Enough talk, you''ll be a good boy and sit down like that, and don''t you get fucking soft while I ride you or else you''ll be riding my horse cock, understood?"


    I ced my hands on her hips as I leaned back, "Enough of those silly threats, you wanna get knocked up, you gotta work hard for it too, Ma."


    Quinn''s face flushed for a moment before she leaned even closer and smushed her humongous tits against my face, "You¡ª I''ll fucking break this couch if I have to¡ª"


    Right as she held the cushions of the couch by my head, Quinn started to move her hips violently but only for a few seconds before she nted her feet on the couch and started to squat-ride me¡ªsqueezing me so fucking hard while pulling out just before reaching the tip of my cock and mming down with the full weight of her body.


    She still had her head, arms, and torso at the same spot while her lower body''s doing all the fucking work, but god fucking dammit, anyone would''ve happily died in this fucking scenario.


    "H-HAH! HAH! HAH! FUCK! YES! YOU LIKE THAT?!


    YOU LIKE ME PINNING YOU DOWN AND FUCKING YOU?! YOU LIKE ME FUCKING YOU HARD?! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I WOULDN''T STOP EVEN IF BOTH OF US CUM OR THIS COUCH FUCKING BREAKS! YOU''LL FILL MY WOMB AS MANY TIMES AS I WANT AND YOU''LL EVEN THANK ME FOR IT!"


    While Quinn was in full control, she was enjoying every bit of it as her eyes turned maniacal as she was watching my every reaction¡ªand each time I let out a whimper instead of a grunt turns her on even more.


    She wasn''t holding back at all when she told me she''d break this fucking couch we were in and even I was a little worried because I''ve never heard this couch creak so fucking hard while a woman was riding me.


    Even so, even if I could hold back cumming for as long as I wanted, I wanted to give her the satisfaction of winning over me by cumming in less than a minute¡ªbecause let''s be fucking real here, I would''ve probably if I didn''t have full control¡ªbut it was a little too effective when she saw my face contort and feel her womb get pumped full with my warm cum.


    Once she had the realization, her expression turned to panic for a short bit before her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she suddenly gripped me even more as her insides contracted almost at the same time I was pumping away in her.


    "S-SHIT! C-CUMMING! FUCK!"


    And once we felt the warm stream from below, Quinn looked a little off her game as she was red through her neck, but her momentumpletely stopped as she was having the tremors. However, I just found it so adorable as I pulled her face for a kiss while sinking my hands onto herrge udders, slightly pushing my hips up, and requesting for another round.


    And if she didn''t move at all, I''d obviously take the reins but she tried to save some face as she went back to her original position and rode/grind on me the same way.


    "Y-You¡­ H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­"


    "What did I do?"


    "Y-You can''t k-keep getting away with it¡­"


    "Get away with what?"


    "Ugh¡­ H-How are you so¡ª MmH! F-Fuck¡­ P-y with my ass all you want but y-you''re only going in my p-pussy¡­"


    "I dunno¡­ Seems pretty full to me¡ª"


    She suddenly smothered me with her breasts, "S-Shut up! I-I''m fucking you, right now¡­ Y-You don''t get to decide¡ª You¡ª I didn''t tell you to stop p-ying with it¡­ Y-You love doing it with Kaley, right? Do it to me too¡­ As much as you want¡ª AH! YOU¡ª D-Do it again¡­"


    Then all of a sudden, I gave her left asscheek the strongest p I could give from my position before I squeezed the other one. It would''ve been painful in a normal setting but with Quinn being Quinn, she loves all sorts of things, and getting roughed up was one of those things.


    However, it didn''t take long before I was the one doing most of the work as I was thrusting my hips up while my fingers were exploring her ass¡ªbut it was probably on my third orgasm when someone else walked in on us and wanted more than ate-night cereal bowl.


    "H-Hey! I-I was waiting and i-interrupted this morning! I-I want my turn!"


    Quinn and I were slightly taken by it as she was the first one to look around:


    "Who¡ª E? Haha¡­ Ha¡­ Haa¡­ Are you sure you really want to start with this cock? Even I could barely handle it, you sure?"


    "Ah¡ª I-I-I¡ª I-I DO! N-NOW!"


    Quinn let out this devilish smile, "Fuck it, I''m full as is¡ªbut you prolly won''tst long. I''ll wait right here."


    "But¡ª"


    "All yours~"


    And as Quinn got off me, full or overflowing wasn''t even the right word to describe what was happening below her but I still have lots to give. But with our sudden interruption, my huge cock was still throbbing and ready for its next victim but how I handle E, who was now panicking about what she said, should be more differentpared to Quinn where rough sex was amon urrence.


    In addition, with E''s frame, I should be as gentle as the time I took Mimi and Nancy''s firsts even if she had more meat and fat in her bones.


    ''How do I do this¡ª''


    And while I was thinking of the right thing to do, Quinn was already acting all nonchnt about the situation while E looked like she wanted to do it somece else. With her personality, she wanted it to be sort of special and she did just that¡ªslightly meeting me in the middle¡ªas she put her put down:


    Continue your adventure at empire


    "I-I want him alone, you big-titty perv! At least give me that!"


    Quinn rolled her eyes, "Where can you be alone here? Every room''s upied! And the bathrooms aren''t that special¡ª"


    "That''ll do just fine! I-I don''t w-want it to be m-messy¡ª I-I cleaned and all as Kaley taught me but y-you know¡­"


    Quinn''s eyes rounded from surprise, "Oh~ Like the twins, huh? Fine, I already had my fill anyway~"


    E nodded several times, "T-That''s great! S-Some of them are still in the g-gym and they might j-join us when they s-see us so¡ª" then she turned to me, "C-Come on! C-Carry me then!"


    Quinn chuckled, "You for real?"


    "OH SHADDAP! I HAVE MY FANTASIES TOO!"


    In any case, as we left Quinnughing her ass off, E couldn''t be more red as I obliged carrying her in my arms to the bathroom¡ªthough it was still a little weird she was still fully dressed while I was already on my birthday suit with my half-erect cock swinging left and right.


    However, once we closed the door behind us as Iid her down, she couldn''t stop shaking all over and she couldn''t even look me in the eye.


    "E?"


    "Y-Yes?!"


    "We can do this some other time if¡ª"


    "N-NO! I-I¡ª S-SHOWER! QUICK!"

 Chapter 1234 Anal Seckus?

    Right as she stomped her foot and pointed at the shower while barely able to look in my general direction, it took everything from me to notugh my ass out because it was both funnily ridiculous and absolutely adorable. But yeah, the shower was a great ce to start because my body had my and Quinn''s juices and smells mixed together.


    It''s just that E looked like she just nned to watch me clean myself but I dragged her with me and pulled her clothes off myself.


    And yeah, I can''t believe I still haven''t tend to E''s needs fully even if she''d been with us multiple times. She even had the option to use a strapon on Mimi¡ªto which I heard, she enjoyed¡ªbut that was a story for another day as I tried to turn on the shower.


    "Y-YOU¡ª I-I just did my pigtails! It''ll get wet! A-And¡ª"


    "We can aim the shower head to me and¡ª Oh? Look at what we have here¡­"


    "D-Don''t stare at it too long! K-Kaley said i-it''ll help¡­"


    I lightly tugged on her cute little buttplug, "How long have you been wearing this, huh?"


    "N-Not long¡­ I-I took it off a few times but¡ª HNGH! D-Don''t p-pull on it j-just yet!"


    I kissed her on the cheek, "Alright, what do you wanna do? Aside from anal seckus?"


    "You¡ª You''re making fun of me a-again!"


    "I''m just making you less nervous¡­ You''re still shaking, you know?"


    "W-Well¡­ Y-You''re p-poking me w-with that¡­ I-I don''t even know h-how it''ll f-fit¡­"


    "You don''t need to take it all, I''ll be real gentle¡­ Don''t worry¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­ I-I¡­ I trust you¡­"


    "So again¡­ What do you wanna do first? I washed off everything now¡ª"


    At that moment, E reached for my face so she could give me a kiss but with our height difference, she was standing on her tippy toes. So I then easily lifted her up and sat her down on the bathroom counter before we explored each other''s mouths with our tongues while at the same time touching each other''s bodies.


    "I-It''s¡­ H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ S-Still so h-hard¡­"


    "Y-You''re so wet too¡ª"


    "T-That''s not the¡ª"


    "I know, I know¡­ Just saying¡­ Want me to lick you there again?"


    "Y-You will?"


    "I want to, yes."


    "O-Okay¡­"


    "But you wouldn''t mind me licking other ces too, right?"


    "S-Sure¡­"


    Obviously, I tasted her lips, mouth, cheeks, ears, neck, breasts, nipples, armpits¡ªfucking everything else before I tasted her pink puffy pussy that''s never been touched and it was fucking drenched the moment I got there. E was hard of breathing from the anticipation and she couldn''t control herself the moment my wet tongue made contact with her most precious parts.


    "H-HnghH! Y-Yes¡­ MmnNgh! I¡ª HmnHh! A-Ahh¡ª H-Huh?"


    But to her surprise and disappointment, I stopped before she even had a release because I wouldn''t want to fuck her little ass when she was passed out. I would fucking eat her every single day if I want to but her first orgasm should be targeted ordingly.


    And on that note, I slowly pulled on the plug that was inside her tiny asshole¡ªand it revealed a very small gape, which I thought wouldn''t help much¡ªand let''s just say Kaley taught her fucking well as my tongue instantly chose its next destination.


    "YOU¡ª A-AH! THAT''S¡ª MMhhHh! W-WHY¡ª S-SO¡ª HNNNnNNHGh!"


    And to my surprise, E''s enjoying getting her ass eaten more than her pussy and it was checking a lot of boxes. She was squirming harder and moaning louder but it didn''t take long before she asked me to put it in herself.


    "You sure now?"


    "Y-Yeah¡ª b-but can I see m-myself in the m-mirror?"


    "Anything you want¡­"


    "T-The lube''s in¡ª"


    "Already ready¡­"


    "O-Oh¡­"


    "Then¡­"


    "B-Be gentle¡­"


    Even with all our preparation, there was still a difference between our heights and it was a slight logistic issue. But yeah, I want to make this veryfortable for her so I just needed to bend my knees a little bit and aim my huge cock in that very tiny hole.


    E was already bending down with her juicy ass spread for me, and even with the mirror in front of her, she was still looking back and staring at the person that would take one of her firsts:


    "Here I go¡ª"


    "A-AH! H-H-Haa¡­ Ha¡­ I¡ª C-COLD¡ª MmHmH! MMnH¡­ Nnn¡­ Ahn¡­"


    With the tip of my cock slowly entering her small asshole, E''s whole body tensed so I went even slower as I pushed it centimeter by centimeter. At the current moment, E had her eyes closed but she was biting her lip, moaning, and still spreading her asscheeks apart as I was stretching her with my tool.


    "O-Oh god¡­ Oh f-fuu¡­ K-Keep g-going¡­ K-Keep going¡­ NmNmm¡­"


    Hearing that, I drew it back a little bit before pushing it a little more which made her grimace and buckle, but I felt her body backing up to me when I decided to slow down. We were still barely at the halfway mark because I kept pulling a little bit when we were met with some resistance but every single time, she''d fucking lean her ass back so I could be deeper and deeper.


    However, right as we hit half our goal, E just straight up orgasmed as warm liquid came out of her tiny pussy, and I watched her eyes open for a bit before it rolled to the back of her head as she had to support herself by leaning on the counter.


    In turn, I had to hold her hips so I could also support her body from falling down but she sent me to the fucking edge when she turned around and looked at me with puppy eyes:


    "I-I don''t care a-anymore, D-Daddy, it doesn''t hurt¡­ P-Put it a-all the way in¡ªHNGH! Y-YEsSsS! Y-YES, DADDY! YES! I¡ª HMMNH! Y-YES!


    F-FUCK ME!"


    To her surprise, I fully extended my legs and lifted her lower body off the ground¡ªas she was still leaning onto the counter with her hands¡ªas I pushed my dick in her all the way which made her have a much more violent orgasm.


    Right at this moment, her feet were hanging and swaying from the ground as I was pushing her body to the limit by taking in something so big and getting fucked with it over and over. For some reason, even getting called "Daddy" which wasn''t my cup of tea, fueled me to give this dirty girl what she wanted.


    "AH! A-AH! Y-YES! F-FUCKKKK! H-HOW¡ª DADDY, IT''S SO GOOD! Y-YOU''RE FUCKING MY ASS AND¡ª A-AH!


    I-I WANNA SEE! I-I WANNA SEE, DADDY! PLEASE!"


    Hearing that, I lifted her up so she could lean her body on mine¡ªand so she could wrap her hands around my neck from reaching behind her¡ªwhile I was holding onto her meaty thighs as I moved her up and down like a fuckdoll.


    Before doing this, I was actually worried she''d pass out from the pain or get scared from the potential blood but all of that was for naught by discovering she was an anal slut. Part of the reason could be the things Kaley taught her, to make everything we''re doing enjoyable, but seeing a virgin like her cumming so hard from getting fucked in the ass¡ªand taking my full size¡ªwas something else.


    She had this dazed look in her eyes as she was melting from the pleasure but seeing her full body on disy didn''t make mest long even though it was my fourth shot of the night.


    "D-DADDY¡ª HnNHGh! W-What¡ª IS THAT?! IT''S SO¡ª MmNhGH! AH¡ª I-It''s p-pouring in, Da¡ª HmnnNhGH! Y-YES! YES!


    I-I can see it f-flowing down¡ª AH! HnghhHH! C-Cummingggg!!!"


    Find your next read at empire


    At that moment, E just sprayed the bathroom mirror as she never came so violently but it took me a few more thrusts to discover that she had passed out. And as much as I want to feel her tight ass, I decided to put a plug on it¡ªnot literally¡ªand cleaned her up right after.


    But yeah, even if we did things alone, she couldn''t find enough pillows to bury herself in embarrassment when she woke up and everyone in our circle gave her a standing ovation in my room. All she could do was scream through the pillow but it didn''t take long before Kaley told her it was just for a bit of fun and asked her if she was okay.


    Though Quinn quipped almost immediately, "Why wouldn''t she be? I''d be good to sleep if I get fucked in the ass every single night¡ª"


    "QUINN!"


    "What? She cut us off earlier, I had to say something."


    "But¡ª"


    E waved Kaley off as she finally faced us, "I-It''s okay¡­ W-Was just surprised f-from everyone but I-I really enjoyed it¡­ K-Kind of wanna do it again¡­ V-Very, very soon¡ª"


    "That''s where you''re wrong!"


    "H-Huh?!"


    "THERE''S A LINE, BITCH! D''YOU KNOW HOW LONG I WAITED FOR ALONE TIME! SHIT''S CRAZY!"


    "YEAH! IT''S YOUR FIRST SO WE LET YOU CUT IN LINE!"


    "I-I''M SORRY! I''M SORRY!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 Chapter 1235 First Station - As long as it works...

    In any case, after resuming whatever nightly activities we had for a few more hours, let''s just say that since Tatiana couldn''t¡ª I mean, shouldn''t beat up all the participants of Hell Week for a full day, we brought a ratherrge group to start up the operation we talked aboutst night.


    And with Oscar''s training not so physically demanding, everyone seemed to be fully rested even if some fatigue was left over for them running over a 100 kilometers.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, we''ve talked over breakfast about this n and it''s as simple as simple goes. Everyone ready?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    As I spoke through our channel, I heard several replies from my group, Artem''s, and Morales'' and we always start a clearing operation by sending a couple of drones in the air and sting some music.


    Of course, our music choice right now was the sirens from the fire trucks we brought but it was pretty obvious that Artem did their fucking work as only a handful of clusters showed up from our end of the station.


    Still, my group took the right side of the road while Artem''s group took the other so we could advance up the steps.


    Morales was in charge of everything below, including the trainee''s participation¡ªespecially with the use of the fire trucks¡ªbut since only gunk was present on the Monumento Station, we didn''t have to wait for the Stitchers to drop down after getting hit with a Hydro Pump.


    With that said, the steps to the Monumento station should be around four people side by side while extending their arms, but it splits in half, coils around, and joins again after a few dozen steps, revealing the tform with the ticket booths, splitting it by the railway from the other tform from the other side.


    And from ourst visit, the train derailed and blocked the highway below but since clearing it with arge group, we just had to clear this station from the dead and close it up before making our way to D. Jose Station which was around seven or so kilometers away, with six more stations in between.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Station''s clear with gunk, moving on a little forward to spray a few meters.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Gotcha!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Careful about dropping bodies from the tforms! It''s a ssh zone over here!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sorry! We''ll just let them slide the steps then!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Designated spot for the bodies is by the elevator! Chop them up first!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Backside''s still clear! No sign of the undead!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What about that old mall?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''m watching it, none still!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Careful, they''re all bunched up the railing. Only a few could climb up the tforms but there are still a few in there!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, thanks!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    On that note, our side had a little more deadheads on the stepspared to Artem''s but theirs seemed to have more on the separate fire exit and the tforms themselves. But yeah, once we cut our way to the top, Ibarra had a st punching holes in the deadhead''s heads on the railways because his weapon had the reach advantage.


    Tatiana and I could do the same thing but it''s just easier with his spear because it''s like he''s ying billiards.


    But yeah, I had Ruben and Brownie carry those watering cans with a pump so they could also spray the steps with water because we''d rather slip in that liquidpared to coagted blood. It was after Brian and Carlo took care of the bodies we put down, making a ry of sorts from the bend.


    Stay connected through empire


    Never did they think they''d do janitor work while clearing the dead but sometimes, that''s just the way to go because it must''ve been a bloodbath in this area when it started.


    However, it didn''t take long before the dead on the railway got more and more agitated from the stimulus of us creating a lot of noise, so they pushed and pushed with their rotting bodies and we finally knew one way how they''d manage to climb up.


    In addition, the more obvious reason some of them could climb was if they were fucking specials¡ªor in our case, ferals¡ªthat needed to be put down immediately.


    Brownie shouted at the top of his lungs, "INCOMING!!!"


    Brian eximed as he chuckled, "It''s like one of those coin games! Hah!"


    Brownie cut him off, "Take off those thick gloves now and pull out your gun! They''reing!"


    "Nah, they got it¡ª"


    "HAHH?!"


    "Yeah, we fucking got it."


    Confused at Brownie''s reaction, I forgot that he had never seen my group in action because as Ibarra continued to punch holes down the dead, he almost lost his shit when Kaley shot between our bodies, made it whizz past the dregs, and aimed for the special ones lunging¡ª or should I say, about to lunge on all fours.


    With Jared watching the group below, we only had Kaley with us but we didn''t need two shooters up top, and like Ibarra''s spear, how Kaley acquires targets with her rifle and shoots them down quickly was more needed than Jared''s long-shooting expertise.


    But of course, Brownie''s worry was warranted and Brian''s nonchnce should questioned but I don''t wanna sound cocky or anything because we really did have it.


    These several hundred deadheads stuck on the railway were like fish in a barrel because the tform was up to their shoulders and they had a very small chance of getting out. And if they ever did, they''d either face cold steel or a hot lead bullet, and they''d be back on the railway as a small stepping stone.


    But funnily enough, out of all the people on this tform, I almost lost my shit when I saw Ruben bring out a fucking pitchfork to do almost the same thing as Ibarra but with an added caveat since he could pull the bodies up and have Brian and Carlo slide them down the steps.


    ''I mean¡ª As long as it works, right? Hope he brought two¡­''

 Chapter 1236 Pitchfork Clutch

    Seeing Ruben pull out a corpse¡ªor a partial one at that¡ªeach time he''d sink in the four prongs of his pitchfork to the smorgasbord of expired pounds of flesh made me realize he had some bit of strength in him since the way these corpses were stuck to each other was even more than conjoined twins squished by a hydraulic press.


    Weird metaphor aside, it''d definitely take a while for a single pitchfork to do all that work but I soon became desensitized to the surprises when Quinn came in bearing thest one.


    I had to say it, "Dude. It''s hours before lunch, the fuck you brought your fork for¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª SHADDAP! IT''S EMBARRASSING AS IS!"


    While everyone was trying to avoid Quinn''s ire, it didn''t take long before the part of the railway we were in was very much at capacity and it allowed the deadheads below to step onto their fallenrades.


    And since they were just getting squished and squeezed by the ones trying to get to us¡ªand as more of them fell, it allowed for a slightly higher elevation, making them the most fucked up slope made of flesh and bone.


    But despite all that, as much as Brownie and Brian were itching to do some actual work, I held them off like an owner pulling on their dogs'' leash to allow more deadheads to climb up just for less work from Quinn and Rubenter.


    We just made them hobble towards us right before the steps but right as I was about to let go of my dogs'' leash and join in myself, Kuzma fucking flew from the other side of the tform just to join us in our assault. He easily bridged the distance with a single jump¡ªafter dropping most of his gear, of course¡ªand he just went on a rampage wielding his two handaxes.


    In turn, the rest of us just let loose the same way but shit was over in less than a few minutes.


    I nced at Kuzma''s weapon of choice and chuckled, "Two axes, huh?"


    "Yeah¡ª"


    "I thought you''d pick a¡ª"


    He cut me off, "A sickle and a hammer? I left it back home."


    "HAH! We''re gonna be good friends chicken-man."


    "Naw, nahhh~ Don''t call me that!"


    And as the others tried to dig more deets from his nickname, more and more deadheads managed to climb or get pushed up the tforms just to get put down by ourselves. Kuzma wouldn''t have jumped over here if there were climbers from the other side but with how fast Artem and Katya work side by side, there was barely enough for them to go through but I just had a thought:


    "What about the side entrance to the mall?"


    Kuzma stepped back and looked at me, "What side entrance?"


    "There are two side entrances! One for this shopping mall and one for this love hotel¡ª they''re located at the bend right when you get up the first set of stairs¡ª"


    "Ah! Nah, nah, it''s closed-off shut with the roll-ups though I''m sure it has its inhabitants."


    "We''ll clear it after we close off this station first."


    "Alright."


    On that note, our system of sorts was still moving slowly for all of us but it still produced results. Because from our side, looking to the right was where most of the deadheads wereing from¡ªand it was where the other stations should be¡ªbut to the right was one of the ces where the trains would be parked, and we could see the numbers from that side dwindle.


    And even if a portion of the protective barrier was broken¡ªfrom the time one of the trains derailed and hit the highway¡ªit was easy enough to patch it up but seeing less and less of them from that side didn''t mean it was clear of the dead.


    In addition, our sub-goal was to close off the path to the right so we could safely clear the path to the other side and see if the other trains were still functional. There was the issue of the shopping mall and the love hotel too but it was a sub sub-goalpared to this one.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before our factory line of clearing the undead leveled up from one radio call and a couple of dudes riding a motorcycle to deliver fresh tools for the trade:


    "Hellooo~ A shipment of pitchforks for Sir Ishiyama?"


    "Here! Here!"


    Then Kayta shouted from the other side, "Hey! Where''s ours?!"


    "C-Coming! I mean¡ª one of us is¡ª There he is!"


    "Why''d you need a picture of me for this pitchfork?!"


    "P-PROOF OF DELIVERY MA''AM!"


    "I''LL RETURN IT SO BUZZ OFF! WE''RE WORKING HERE!"


    "Y-YES! APOLOGIES!"


    ''Good thing Morales'' outpost is very close¡­ Pretty obvious a university like that has some lying around¡­ who knew we''d use these though¡­ heh.''


    As weird enough to use tools to transfer hay to transfer walking meat, it really did make the job easier. We didn''t even need to wait for the dregs to climb up since we could just punch a hole in their heads and lift them up in one go though the trick was to pick a side where there was enough space to go around.


    Because even if I could lift a deadhead up among the crowd, it would still need more strength and I can''t be caught off-guard by doing this type of work. It''s pretty honest, sure, but I was still looking our for possible threats like Kaley was scanning around with rifle in hand.


    And yeah, I''d hate to say this again but who fucking knew a pitchfork woulde in clutch because it saved us a lot of time since we took three fucking hours just to have a gap on the railway so we could have our people brought in the barriers for closing up this station. Enjoy exclusive chapters from empire


    It was nothing pretty but it was solid enough to bar anything froming in or climbing up¡ªsince it was higher than the barriers of the station itself and it was on a reverse decline¡ªbut we had to hose down the station for the nth time because of the gunk and whatever fucking mixture of dirt, blood, and whatever was on the flooring and the railway itself.


    Brownie nced at our barrier momentarily, "The fuck? Who took the time to make that? Shit''s awesome! Solid as fuck!"


    Alright, it''s pretty.


    In any case, I had a group watch the barrier still¡ªwhile picking off some that they could¡ªwhile I came in with de and pistol drawn to the ce where they dock their trains with Kuzma and Tatiana.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1237 Non-Human - Im game.

    Using my TX22 nestled gently on my other arm, I''d use it over my katana because I can''t just invade space while I wasn''t sure about the shit that might jump us, and a few mags of .22 LRs wouldn''t hurt in exchange of that. In addition, Kuzma with his AK, Tatiana with her Benelli M4, and Kaley with her Reaper was enough backup¡ªeven if one was ways~ away in the back.


    And as I suspected, there were at least a few dozen stuck in several ces in this lengthy parking spot but I was delighted to see that none of them got inside the rest of the avable trains.


    I was aware of some of them making nests like this other station we cleared out in Man with C4 attached to drones, but this time, the nests they picked were the underside of the train station. But yeah, I was still very careful about checking each one¡ªmaking use of the RC cars Ken modified to run on almost every rugged surface, so I could also check the underside of the trains themselves.


    Kuzma tapped me, "Hey, I thought this station was the end of Line 1, why does the railway curve over to that side and go on? I thought MRT Line was over there?"


    I replied, "This ce IS technically the end of Line 1 but it was extended to three more stations to connect to the MRT¡ªbut as you can see, not only was it blocked by what''s left of the train that derailedst time, if I remember correctly, it was also under construction and if you look further~ over there, it''s cut off on one end and you''d see the dead way~ over on that side and falling."


    "Oh. Didn''t notice that small cut over there."


    Tatiana waved us off, "Let''s check the train that derailed. There should be more inside even if it''s a single car. We''ve checked everything besides that, correct?"


    "Yeah," I nodded before I tried to contact June.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yo. Can you fly over that toppled train car on our side? Just check for surprises, don''t worry about the drone."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Okay! Will do, will do.]


    *bzzt*


    - Find exclusive stories on empire


    From the time I wiped my de and switched to my rifle, June got back to me and told me that there weren''t any good spots to check the train car on its side because all the windows were either¡ª no, cracked in all ces and had smudges of dried blood keeping her from peering inside.


    Even the receiver couldn''t pick up anything when she tried to make some noise through the drone''s speaker¡ªon top of its des whirring nonstop¡ªbut despite all that, Kuzma still gave the train car a solid kick while Tatiana stomped on it from above to see if anything would respond.


    And after a few more attempts, we then fully broke all the windows and make June fly the drone in to see once again.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Anything? There should be, right?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Yeah~ Should be¡ª Oh! Look over on that end with those¡ª ugh¡­ d-dead rats¡ª those are rat skeletons, right?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    I jumped down and checked the spot.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, prolly tried to keep eating this one¡ªwho seemingly ate everyone else in this train car too¡ªrats couldn''t learn that it is instant death once they consume tainted flesh so they just kept going and going until this one ran out of its meat to give. Well¡ª it still tried to fight back though, some bones in its stomach looked non-human too."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [N-Non human?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I mean¡ª rat bones."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You¡ª Don''t say it like that!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "My bad, my bad¡­ We''re done here, kindly check on the others. Thanks again."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [O-Okay! Want me to check the shopping mall? I could see several entry points?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Sure. It''s an old one, anyway. Not as big as the usual ones."


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, putting the idea of chopping up this wreck in the back burner, the three of us returned to the station tform. I checked the barrier we set up again and this time, Ruben, Brownie, and Brian were already chucking the bodies they''d pick off from the bunch over to the side¡ªstraight down the road below where a new spot for collecting them was designated.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Artem then approached me, "I heard your techie''s checking the mall. The guys below said the floor below''s pretty clear¡ªsame thing with the love hotel''s first floor. Wanna bust down the roll-ups here and be done with it?"


    "Let''s wait for June first for the mall but you see that ledge by the love hotel? If you can jump on that and climb up that roof over there, if you turn to the right and hug the wall, you can probably reach the fire exit and reach the roof of the love hotel."


    He smiled, "Walk our way down while you guys work your way up?"


    Katya cringed, "That sounded way~ dirtier than usual."


    Artem turned to Kuzma, "Who''re you going with? I see you flying all over."


    Kuzma chuckled, "You know me, I''m with the exciting shit¡ª" then he turned to me, "No offense, dude, but you know¡ª"


    I waved him off, "Yeah, yeah, knock yourself out. Be wary of the tight hallways and the airlocks to some rooms. You can kick them down but there might be a party¡ª"


    Quinn cut us off, "Hey! The fuck you guys clearing those two buildings for if we still had this railway to clear off?! I''m not leaving here till it''s squeaky clean!"


    I nodded a few times, "Exactly."


    "Haah?!"


    "You think we''d all fit in that space? Stay here with Kaley and the rest while I go down to this love hotel with Tatiana."


    Tatiana rolled her eyes, chuckling, "Pretty early but I''m game. Plenty of condoms there, I''m sure."


    "Hah! ANYWAY~ Yeah, we''ll clear this love hotel first before we clear the shopping mall."

 Chapter 1238 Dont out yourself!

    As Tatiana and I made our way down, I brought Marvin and Isaac with me before we went to the main entrance of this love hotel. Obviously, since Oscar brought them here yesterday, there wasn''t much¡ª or anything, really, on the first few floors aside from the ones stuck or locked in one of the rooms tightly shut.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Isaacmented, "Really weird how they kept the same theme for every branch, huh?"


    I chuckled, "Don''t out yourself like that¡ª"


    "Ah, fuck¡ª I''m a lonely guy, alright?! Forget I said¡ª"


    Marvin cut us off, "Something''s in the kitchen, sir¡ª"


    Tatiana took the lead, "Breaching¡ª"


    *BOOOM*


    Easily blowing out the locks with a 1 oz shell load, Tatiana pulled the thick door for Marvin toe in with his spear¡ªand even though it had the disadvantage in tight spaces, as long as he used it to just thrust, he''d be okay.


    But in addition, he had long upgraded his spear to a detachable one like Ibarra''s¡ªand in a secondary addition, he was clearing the corners in a textbook manner which was something Tatianamented on them long before that they should improve upon.


    As that was happening, Isaac already vaulted over the counter to manually unlock an even thicker door¡ªthat acts as a pseudo-airlock before reaching the steps to the rooms above¡ªwhile I was watching all of them within an arm''s length just in case.


    On that note, I heard the sound of des entering flesh and it seemed like Marvin took care of an indentured cook while Isaac took care of a receptionist that locked herself in one of the rooms and died of starvation.


    "Kitchen''s clear, sir."


    "Over here as well¡ª The door''s open for ya, it''s made sure to be soo~ clean, so good. Heh."


    I rolled my eyes, chuckling, from hearing this hotel''s tagline, "Stop messing around, aim that 88 up since you still aren''t used to that tachi. You still can''t aim for shit either but that 00 buckshot''s the way to go in situations like this."


    "Hai, hai~ Wan''t me to break this ss divider for another escape route?"


    I nodded as I turned to Tatiana, "Yeah, and¡ª Tatiana, pry open the elevator door. Marvin, back her up."


    "A''ight/Roger."


    In tight spaces like these, we had to have more entrance/exit points¡ªbut the trick was to make sure that those passages wouldn''t surprise us when it came to use them. In addition, another sub-goal while clearing this love hotel was to make sure the elevator''s location was confirmed and the inside was free of surprises.


    It was still a very sore spot for Tatiana''s group but it was just one of those ways to keep everyone else safe.


    But yeah, we soon discovered that Artem and his group had just finished clearing a floor and the rooms avable but I still ordered mine to keep the same pace while reminding Artem of the elevator sub-goal.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Roger.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Isaac cut in:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Remember folks¡ª not to out myself or anything, regr and deluxe rooms only have one door to the room itself while the premium and the executive rooms have two.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    And as soon as Isaac gave out that valuable piece of info, a string of messages, roasting, mocking, and chastising him flooded in but it was all in good fun. The guy outed himself for the sake of everybody clearing these rooms who definitely weren''t in the know and Artem''s thanks to him made everyone settle down.


    But yeah, as we made our way to the second floor, the smell of rot and decay just became stronger because of the poor venttion¡ªthough I had Isaac guard the stairs¡ªTatiana prying open the elevator door again¡ªas I made my way to the corner that would lead us to the secondary entrance which was closed off by the steps to the train station.


    ''Ah, fuck¡­''


    The first thing I saw was a congealed b(?) of deadheads that melded together after being stuck together for god knows how long but the thing that left the most impression was that they looked like someone ate a bunch of fish and didn''t bother turning them over.


    It was because their whole posterior chain was chewed up to the point that their organs were dangling down but the rest of them in front got stuck in the barricades that were supposed to protect them.


    Looking at what was left of their clothes, it didn''t look like it was this ce''s uniform so I assumed these were people who tried to make this ce their own but all sorts of shit happened that turned them into that. Stay tuned to empire


    So yeah. I easily dispatched them with my de but I heard several wet footsteps before my group started sting.


    "YOU ALRIGHT?!"


    "YEAH! JUST UNLOADED ON THESE FUCKS! STAIRS ARE STILL CLEAR!"


    "Elevator''s clear¡ª and here too. No passenger, luckily, so are we gonna start clearing the rooms?"


    I waved Tatiana off for the moment, "Nah. Not yet¡ª Lemme call the boys over on the other side first. Let''s just let Artem do their thing above."


    With that said, it didn''t take long before Ruben forced open the entrance to the other side¡ªso we could ce the barricades and the bodies I took care of somewhere more essible¡ªbefore I had my current group break into each room and see if we''d get lucky.


    It was getting rarer and rarer to have supplies out in the open so let''s just say we''re taking chances on these rooms made for quick relief.


    And we actually did find a stash in one of the closest executive rooms next to the fire exit. In addition, another set of barricades was ced between this room and two others¡ªbefore the hallway splits¡ªand I''m very sure the six or so people I cleared were the owners of those rooms kept away from everything else.


    "BRO! JACKPOT! I FOUND IT! ME!" Isaac eximed, waving us to run over to him.


    "What did you find¡ª"


    "THIS 20-INCH DILDO¡ª HOLY FUCK, IT''S HUGE! AHHHH! WHY''D YOU CUT IT OFF, CINDY?!"


    "STOP FOOLING AROUND!"

 Chapter 1239 Someones Happy. - BROOOOO!!!

    Out of all the things this dumbass would pull out, it was the fucking dildo¡ªand if he didn''t wave it around someone like Cindy, I would''ve loved a repeat of the time from this other love hotel where we found a bunch and used them as fucking lightsabers and a percussive instrument for one of Phil Collin''s songs.


    ''He''s having too much fun¡­''


    In any case, once I entered the room he was just in, the ce was definitely packed with myriad shit ranging from essential stuff to luxury items.


    I wasn''t even sure how they found the time to collect several mini-fridges¡ªand it was unfortunate some of the items had already expired inside¡ªbut two of seven had melted chocte, ice cream, etc. and it''d be at least a year before we reach the expiration date.


    But yeah, I asked Tatiana to lead the group up with a few others while I checked everything here with Isaac because we were only in one of three rooms and we didn''t even know what else we could find in this ce.


    I would''ve helped her clear the following floors but Kuzma just kicked it up a notch and started clearing floors at record speed. In any case, the most Tatiana could do with the rest of the squad was see if they had more things they could work on in regards to clearing rooms and taking care of the dead.


    So, I''m here with Isaac in this executive room looking around:


    "You checked for weapons?"


    "Pretty basic shit, dude. Machetes, knives, baseball bats¡ª We''ll see in the other rooms if they have guns."


    I nodded, "Yeah, remember to pick ten items from this bunch. You earned it."


    "Psh. Unless I find a treasured de here, I''m pretty good."


    "You sure? You can still trade the shit you keep for items you might findter." Continue reading stories on empire


    "Ah¡ª If you put it like that then I''ll take the most expensive shit."


    "Except for the guns and ammo, alright? You can only have one of those and if you don''t want any of them, we can trade it in for a better one¡ª"


    "How about crossbows, dude? You have a few, right?"


    "If you''re going at it alone, sure, but its caveat is pretty useless if everyone else has guns, right?"


    "I mean¡ª can I have one?"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "If you put it that way, sure. It''s one more thing to learn but make sure to not forget everything else. You''re trying to learn too much shit at once."


    "Yeah, yeah¡ª Oh, what''s this thing? Needles?"


    "That''s¡ª Oh. Those are needles for acupuncture. Want me to open all of your meridians to unlock your qi paths?"


    Isaac stopped in his tracks, "Bro¡ª You¡ª Don''t joke with me like that, alright?! I''m¡ª"


    "Fine, fine~ If you don''t want to, be my guest¡ª"


    "BROOOO~ STOP!"


    "HAHAHAHA!!! It''d be nice if it''s that easy, huh?"


    "Heh¡ª"


    I mumbled, "You gotta experience death for that¡­"


    "You said something, bro? Death?"


    I chuckled, "I''m still fucking around, d to see your ears are doing fine¡ª"


    "Asshole! Whoa~ Shiiit~ These are Pocket Monster cards¡ª Ah, fuck¡­ Their family photos are here too¡­ Shit¡­"


    "You okay?"


    "Yeah¡ª Just caught off-guard. I''m good."


    "Alright. Breach the other doors for me and I''ll take the lead."


    "Sure, bro."


    At that point, we found pretty much the same thing in the other rooms but what surprised me was the amount of canned goods they managed to hold on to plus the variety of guns they managed to hoard themselves.


    To be fair, they were right next to a shopping mall but if they managed to hole up here while the dead outside was that many, they had fucking balls of steel to choose this ce as their hideout.


    But yeah, the special variety we found was a fucking Colt Python chambered in .357 Magnum, a Kimber 1911 chambered in .45 ACP, andst but not the least, an MP5 chambered in 9mm¡ªbut the weird thing was, it had a muzzle brake instead of a suppressor.


    Isaac tilted his head, "It helps with recoil, right? If I remember correctly¡ª"


    "Sure, but¡­ with an MP5? With a sh hider, maybe~ or if someone had a different style of aesthetics but it''s running a 9mm, you don''t need a muzzle brake for that. Unless you really have bad control but¡ª ugh¡­ If anything, it''s like with lifting weights, focus on how you do it properly first before adding on essories. Remember the time I lifted with Sebastian?"


    "Yeah?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "That''s one of the few times I actually used a lifting belt and shit. It does help but if someone is a beginner, you shouldn''t stick to external stuff that''d help(?) you right off the bat. If someone learns the proper techniques first, like with shooting guns, they''d learn a muzzle brake on an MP5 isn''t that¡­ useful."


    "Because they''re pretty much used to a niner''s recoil?"


    "Exactly."


    "I see¡­ Must be why Oscar told me to take off the muzzle brake on this 88 even if it would help me with it."


    I nodded, "Well, it''s already pretty umon to use muzzle brakes on shotty''s¡ªexcept for those inpetition¡ªbut it pays to not rely on them too much. So, what are you taking home?"


    A smile then formed on Isaac''s face, "I guess I''ll probably take the MP5, one of the mini-fridges, that gamingptop, the defibritor, those Jordans, that diamond ring in the 2nd room, this silver chain, that Switch, that bottle of edible lube, and whatever the fuck this key is used for."


    I chuckled from his choices before looking closely at the key he found:


    "Ah¡­ This is for a motorcycle. An NMAX, I think?"


    "For real?! Shiii~ I really hit the jackpot, didn''t I?"


    I rolled my eyes, "You didn''t. I know it''s your birthday, asshole¡ª I checked your file."


    "Bro!" Isaac didn''t know what to do.


    "What? It''smon decency, no?"


    "BRO!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "BROOOO!!!"


    "If you hug me with that bottle of lube in your hand, I swear to fucking god¡ª"


    "BROOOOOOOO!!!"

 Chapter 1240 Genius Way To Die

    To avoid any misunderstandings just in case someone else shows up, we settled it with a fist, elbow, and shoulder bump before having a group secure these rooms by calling over a closed van to gather these items. Of course, a portion of it would be given to Morales'' group¡ªmostly the food and maybe all the ammo¡ªbut we''d divvy everything up once everything was over.


    In any case, we didn''t even take more than 30 minutes checking these three rooms out so when we joined Tatiana and her clearing group, they were just about done with the 3rd floor.


    And of course, she had two groups clearing rooms at the same timeposed of three people¡ªand another group tasked with chucking the bodies through the window. The Deweys¡ªexcept for June¡ªwere the ones in charge of thetter objective though Cindy looked like she wanted to do something more violent or homicidal.


    "Dammit! All these gear and I haul whores'' bodies! Ugh¡ª Is that a bloody thong?!"


    Jeremy shook his head, "Everything they''re wearing is bloody¡ª"


    "I don''t care! I want to do what they''re doing now!"


    But yeah, I didn''t even need to do anything as Tatiana shut her down:


    "You don''t get to do what you always want around here, alright?! I''m aiming to rotate your assignments on the fourth floor but with the way you''re acting, you gotta calm your tits first before you put your siblings in danger."


    "BUT¡ª"


    "Oh, I''m gonna have a field day with you, once it''s all over~"


    "I was just¡ª"


    Right as Cinddy was in midint, we heard three shotse from the left side followed by several more,ing from different guns.


    It was a tell-tale sign that Marvin''s group opened a door where an orgy or a gangbang was probably conducted before the big surprise because as the shots died down and as we came to check on them, it seemed like bite-y had gone too far in addition to how much stuff could a body get prated with something more than a penis.


    I''d just spare most of the details and leave it to one''s imagination because some shit shouldn''t even fit or go in those ces.


    ''These fucks are reinventing the Kamasutra, that''s for sure¡­''


    But yeah, one other thing I wouldn''t spare any details about was this other room where an upant tried to fend himself from a masseuse just with an ashtray and the avable sheets.


    Granted he was sessful in defending himself, but he couldn''t do the same thing with all the roaming upants and hotel staff, so he ended himself by tying his neck using the TV''s power cord and miserably trying to hang himself while his feet were still on the ground.


    Lemme be honest, getting hanged was one thing because it''d be over once someone''s neck snapped¡ªbecause of gravity doing most of the work¡ªbut the way this dude did it was more horrible since you basically had to choke yourself slowly, and he probably tried multiple times and seeded using what was avable to him.


    Isaac couldn''t hide his disgust, "You mean¡ª"


    Eden was grimacing as well as she cut in, "He used that bottle of lube so he wouldn''t be able to stand up?! H-How?"


    "I mean, it''s genius in a morbid way but unless you really wanna die, our body''s knee-jerk reaction to survive just kicks in, prompting us to stand up if we''re in the situation. This guy just had no choice on the matter."


    Cindy shook her head, "I¡­ I don''t even know how you concluded it with that¡­ I thought this was just a crime scene and I thought only people who tried offing themselves could think of this¡­"


    I dryly chuckled, "I mean¡­ Nevermind¡­"


    "WHA¡ª You¡ª D-DON''T DROP THAT ON ME LIKE THAT!"


    I put my hands up, "It was a long time ago and things are very different now¡ª and it''s a very~ long story I''d rather not tell now¡­ but yeah, it''s just a slip¡ª I mean, pun unintended considering our circumstances but¡ª"


    "DICK! D-Don''t do that!" Cindy suddenly jabbed me on my shoulder.


    Tatiana piled on, "To be fair, I''m kind of in the same boat as him with my childhood but I''d just go out with a bang at that point. See how much I''d take down with that fucking ashtray."


    Cindy couldn''t believe her ears, "G-GUYS! Please! I¡ª I-Is this part of Hell Week? Putting me through mental torture?!"


    I was confused, "No, why?"


    "It was just¡ª Ugh¡­ I mean, it might be a way for you guys to cope but¡ª"


    "Somewhat, right?" I said as I turned to Tatiana, in which she nodded a few times as well, "Correct."


    Jeremy nudged his sister, "That''s why you don''t ask questions you don''t want the answer to, alright?"


    "YOU¡ª It was just something I learned from¡ª" then she turned to us, "I-I''m sorry, shouldn''t have asked that question¡­"


    I waved her off, smiling, "Nah, you did nothing wrong¡ªaside from being a homicidal maniac, you''re good."


    "YOU!"


    "What? If you wanna keep killing shit for sport, you should''ve just stayed on the railway with Ruben and Brownie! Kaley and Quinn are there too!"


    "UGH! We gotta have a real talk after this! You guys are so mean!"


    "It''s our fault now?! Huh!"


    "S-SHADDAP!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    Short banter aside, it didn''t take long¡ª I mean, it took us an hour after noon topletely close off the love hotel¡ªand the shopping mall right next to it¡ªincluding Monumento Station, before retreating back to Morales'' base of operations to have lunch.


    As I said before, it was in this university we passed by and did a few jobs before, and it was looking much betterpared to the time we were herest. Because not only did it look intimidating and secure from the inside and outside, but upon closer look, Morales had a nice system going on even if this ce''s main purpose before was a short stopping point before clearing off dregs in the area. Explore stories on empiren/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 1241 Anything to add?

    Upon a broader look, its main entrance/exit along with its two other sub-entrances/exits were manned with enough people, an rm system, crisscrossing barricades, a vehicle or two with a mounted gun, and if you''d look through the adjacent buildings, he had other people watching from above with high-powered rifles.


    In addition, the other ces that might gain entry to the area were closed off from the outside with metal tes¡ªand before going in, an intensive check was needed, including a full body inspection and a washdown.


    But yeah, aside from therge open space in the center where college students used to lounge around¡ªwhich was now being used by his residents for whatever purpose¡ªevery other ce was just as secure as their entrances.


    ''Two helis up on that building, military vehicles all over, and the essential shit to the side¡ª It''s stricter here for a purpose but it''s better than beingx andzy¡­ Even the younger folks here look intimidated despite their time spent in this ce¡­ And there are those guys¡­ Seem reformed but not even sparing a word to Artem and his group, huh? Luckily, Mikhail''s not here¡­''n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Just for a bit of a refresher course, before Artem and his group were under mymand, they were in a separate ind group handled poorly by the soldiers under Morales''mand, causing them to lose some people before they were sent over to my side.


    However, it didn''t take long before the same soldiers were sent over here for deserting their posts andmitting other crimes¡ªand if it weren''t for Morales, their heads would''ve rolled on the same day.


    Still, those guys still gave me a respectful nod before moving along to their current post while Artem just nced over them without making a fuss¡ªunlike the rest of his team, opting him to make them settle down¡ªbut yeah, everything''s pretty calm as we were waiting for our food to get done.


    And with that said, Morales took me aside for some feedback since he saw me looking around:


    "Anything to add?"


    "Paint? Bright colors."


    "You serious?"


    "I love the security but this is a university, not a fucking jail. It''s just depressing to look at, honestly. I can paint an anime character with huge tits on one wall if you''d let me¡ª"


    "You keep fucking around¡ª"


    "I am but I''m also serious."


    "..."


    "You already have shit in ce and there''s nothing else to change it besides the atmosphere. You can''t enjoy delicious food if it''s one fucking color or smells nothing, right?"


    "If you put it like that¡ª"


    "What do you do here for entertainment?"


    He thought for a bit, "We have spars at nights and betting and some light gambling. We have the gym, movie nights, but yeah, some guys have ying cards, their TV shows, DVD yers, and whatnot¡­ Also, I''d hate to say this but we have a few people here known to relieve stress for a Klondike Bar."


    "I guess you have that pretty set too¡ª"


    "Still doesn''t sit well with me."


    "Think of it as a necessary evil. It''s one of the oldest professions for fuck''s sake. And not everyone''s built to have rtionships."


    "Coming from you who cucked the president and have girls line up left, right, and center¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Coming from you who''s only had one in his life¡ª"


    "It''s by choice! I won''t cheat on my wife!"


    "I''m not saying you are and I''m not saying I''m great either. What I''m saying is that people do different shit and you shouldn''t judge them just because you''re okay with what you have.


    While it''s true some people would kill for what either of us have, as I said earlier, not everyone''s built for rtionships and some of them just wanted a quick relief or a different face or¡ª I mean, something casual."


    He scoffed, "Those girls already talked to you, huh?"


    "I gave them business advice, actually."


    "YOU WHAT?!"


    "I mean¡ª It''s rough out here, you know? They have to protect themselves and have others consider their jobs as real jobs. Sex work is still work and it''s keeping your soldiers frommitting something that warrants an execution. So again, necessary evil from your perspective. You either pay and treat them well for their services or you''d wake up with some of your soldiers with a gash on their neck."


    "What do you mean protect themselves?"


    I shook my head, "You have no fucking idea the trouble sex workers face from day to day, huh? Your soldiers might be in more danger since they''re facing the dead but who gets the brunt of their leftover aggression after the fact when some of them just went through a life-or-death situation? And again, context clue: not everyone here has an avenue to drop all their shit to. Get me?


    You have your wife to talk to but the others just can''t talk to their hands forever, no?"


    "...shit. I do, I do¡­"


    "So yeah, after this, they''d ask for permission to go back¡ª"


    "Hold up¡ª"


    "Let me finish, they''d ask for permission once a month to go back to my ce for a proper check-up and a bit of a rest day, not that there''s anything wrong with your clinic here, and take it some time to talk to Micah to have some girls sub-in for them for the time being. She''s in charge of that department and trust me, it''s more than happy wife, happy life in dealing with a group like yours.


    And I''m pretty sure you just need to look in the right direction. It''s not a bad thing if you do it the right way."


    "Alright, alright¡­ I think the food''s ready. Let me feed you guys at least before you go back, we can handle this from this point on."


    "Hah?"


    "Artem and his group will still stay, right? I can sub the ones you''re training with mine and it''ll be good. You have better shit to do and we''ll do right by ya. Agreed?"


    "If you put it like that¡ª Agreed. Let''s eat?"

 Chapter 1242 Adult Problems - Tamiya?

    With everything said and done, not to nitpick or anything, and no offense¡ªI mean a little¡ªto the cooks but this ce''s whole maximum security shtick seemed to have bled onto their food as well. I could''ve understood the strict portions but it''s like eating in oatmeal despite the nice bnce between carbs, protein, and fats.


    But yeah, it wasn''t a problem too much to handle with salt and pepper shakers.


    In addition, Tatiana''s secret bacon stash and Artem''s ability to spawn hot pockets from anywhere he''d wish came into y¡ªand even if everyone else who ate saw what we were doing, they just didn''t say much but Morales let out a huge sigh.


    "I do apologize for the food, I''ve just had the best dinner at your ce yesterday and here I am serving you something with very little seasoning¡­"


    "It''s okay, if it''s by choice¡ª"


    "It''s my wife''s choice, not ours, not everyone''s. We just had a fight and she''s been doing this ever since. We''re gonna have another talk after this and she should understand she shouldn''t mess with everyone''s food just because we had a little spat. She could do it with mine if she''s that angry but this is just embarrassing and ridiculous."


    Oscar cut in, "Just apologize. It''d be easier that way¡ª"


    Morales shook his head, "I will certainly not. It''s not even my fault. Besides, with all due respect, it''s not any of your business¡ª"


    Oscar rolled his eyes, "She made it everyone''s business if she pull shit like this, you said it yourself, it''s embarrassing. You either take her off the kitchen or you apologize even if she''s in the wrong. It''s one thing to let her keep doing it but it''s another thing to let your fight affect everyone else.


    I know it''s just food but you''re husband and wife, resolve the fucking issue like adults¡ªor partners would, or have her cool off somece else and pay visits whenever you have the fucking time. You''re acting like fucking children."


    "..."


    "..."


    Morales then stood up after cing his meal to the side, "I guess I will do that, again, I apologize."


    Oscar scoffed, "At least you apologize when you know you''re wrong."


    "Excuse me, then¡­ Do inform my officers if you have to leave while I''m still talking with my wife¡ª"


    I cut in, "We offer¡ª I mean, my wife''s mother, Marisha, offers couple''s therapy. Don''t be shy to pay a visit once and again if you can''t resolve shit yourselves. We''re already meddling in a sense but I just want to put it out there. Food still has a bit of vor though, it''s not bad per se but¡­ N-Nevermind that, have a nice talk."


    "...alright. Thanks for the advice, kid."


    As soon as Morales left for the kitchen, it was obvious from the reaction of his people that they knew shit was going on but couldn''t say anything, but they couldn''t be that mad at either party for the things they were going through.


    Though Oscar piled on, "Haaa~ That guy needs some friends. I thought we already got him loose from the alcohol but it''s problem after problem once he got more and more drunkst night."


    "Old man¡ª You know what''s going on, then?"


    "Yeah. We''ve talked about it in length yesterday, they just needed topromise, not do this chicken bullshit and see who gives out first."


    Kaley joined in, "What happened, anyway?"


    "You know, family stuff. The wife wants a safer ce for their kids while the husband wants them all together. That''s one of the reasons this ce looks like a fucking prison but that''s not what his wife wanted at all. It''s safe in a sense but it doesn''t look like a good ce to raise kids, yeah?"


    I nodded pensively, "I see now. He just asked me beforeing here about anything else to add and the first thing I told him was paint. Brightly colored paint."


    Alexa never interjected so fast, "That''s brilliant! I was just about to say that too! I can even paint a wall here¡ª"


    "Hah! That''s what I mentioned too aside from the other stuff but yeah, they shoulde to an agreement. It''s either they make a portion of this ce a little homely or have the wife and kids back home with all the other wives and kids who are staying with us. He can always pay them a visit and we can always give them a separate house but it should be a little closer with their kids'' ages¡­"


    Oscar pushed his te aside after finishing more than half of it, "He''s just being a stubborn son of a bitch, I get it, I do¡ª He kept saying it''s not his fault but in this case, it shouldn''t be about them, it should be about their kids. I''d hate to say it but I''m with his wife but her doing this type of shit doesn''t sit well with me either.


    It could be all she could do but they have to have a proper talk with Marisha to properly hear both sides. I doubt they could sort this shit on their own."


    With that said, it was pretty obvious that Morales was taking a lot of time¡ªwithin reason, of course¡ªso in that case, I asked Artem to lead the same group without us, clearing 5th Avenue Station and the kilometer-long railway span between Monumento Station.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The n used was to clear them surgically but with how my head works, it just works better this way and we''d just have topletely close off the preceding stations before we get to the connecting stations we nned to take over before. And in addition, it''d be a lot safer if we had a path we could safely turn our backs to or have a little less security on that spot.


    Still, even if they just managed to hose down the gunk under the railway, it''d be a job well done given the time left before sunset.


    ''Wait a second¡­ Oh! That could work¡­ right? Definitely!''


    And this was where I had a nifty idea for the blockades we left back home. It''d be a pain to have our engineers cut ''em up again and fit something for a special purpose but it''d be much better that way moving forward. In addition, just the flexibility it could provide would prove useful if there ever came a time the LRT Line 1 gets breached.


    However, on our drive back, I didn''t even notice I was looking at Quinn with a weird smile.


    She never looked so weirded out as she palmed my face away, "You¡ª Don''t¡­ I''m down to fuck every step of the way but don''t fucking look at me with that smile¡ª It''s a fucking ick, honestly."


    I chuckled as I rebooted to my normal smile, "I''m sorry, remember the blockades we started makingst minute where we only managed to make one that we used earlier?"


    "Those¡­ Those are words, sure¡­ But yeah, I remember why do you ask?"


    "I''m thinking of adding some wheels on ''em."


    Quinn shot me down, "That''d be easy but why? It''s not like the protective barriers on the side are the same width! It''s lucky enough the ce we dropped it in was a perfect fit."


    "You silly, silly goose¡­ You''ve never had a Tamiya before, huh?"


    "The fuck is a Tamiya¡ª HOLD UP! OH, SHIT! THAT''S PERFECT!"


    "If anything, we''d only need one, right?"


    Kaley cut in, "What are you talking about again? Tamiyas? Isn''t that the old cartoon way back when?"


    "That''s the one! I even have a few in storage too! I can''t disy all my shit back home! So yeah, we''ll drop by Jude''s ce first and I''ll show everyone the thing so you have a better idea!"

 Chapter 1243 Tamiya/Mine Cart Hybrid - Youre gonna die.

    Funnily enough, even June couldn''t rte to us even if she was kind of a nerd through and through, but yeah, I was surprised for a gear head like Quinn to know something about toy cars from an anime I used to watch when I was a kid.


    For some context, when Kaley and I were in highschool, the show came back on one of out local channels and it just boomed for a year or two which meant some hobbies formed and I may have purchased a few from saving up on my allowance.


    In addition, they used to be raced in this track just above the store itself and seeing the railway gave me an idea to make shit easier for us.


    With that said, once we got back home, I quickly fished my own keys to let myself in Jude''s House¡ªwhich technical was still mine¡ªbefore taking out this old dusty box from one of the safes. And yeah, the fucking wave of nostalgia once a few dudes and dudettes my age saw it put a smile on my face.


    Chris Keh straight up lost his shit, "BROOOO! Is that a fucking Tamiya?!"


    "Yeah, custom-built."


    "That''s with the silver mas and everything, right?! We used to race ours back then!"


    "I rewound it myself too and¡ª"


    "Holy¡ª What''s with the front and rear bumpers?! Those are some fancy-ass bearings! You fucking still yed after it died off, huh? This is pro shit, dude! Jeez!"


    "A man can''t have a hobby? That''s the n for this afternoon, anyway."


    "What n? And don''t give me that crap, you have ALL the fucking hobbies!"


    "Heh¡ª You''ll see, you''ll see¡­ Can you please call over Raphael for me? He''d love to see this, for sure."


    "Alright, bro, I will¡ª Maaan~ So cool to see stuff like that! We can make it ourselves, right?! Create a league of some sort¡ª"


    "Easy now, heh. One at a time. We gotta restart making the barriers first."


    "Huh? What? Why?"


    Quinn cut him off, "You''re not even in the same group¡ª"


    "Hey! I mixed the cement, alright! I helped!"


    "Sure~ Sure~ Carry on~" Explore more stories with empire


    In any case, it didn''t take long before we huddled up and thought of a way to cut into our existing barriers to put train wheels at the bottom¡ªwith solid brakes, of course¡ªand the most crucial part, the side profile, which would have thick springs from shock absorbers and arge ball bearing or any type of wheel¡ªalmost stacked on top of one another¡ªthat would push onto the protective barriers to the side of the railway system so that it would tightly fit in within a certain width.


    "This is cool but if we cut it straight on each side, we''d have to put something to hold them up since the weight of the concrete would push them down¡ª"


    "Nah, nah, just cut in the same holes we''d have with the wheels at the bottom and cut in more narrower inside for the shock absorbers."


    "Wouldn''t the space between them be too thin? They''d break if we do it like that. I say we scrap everything we made before and make something new by pouring the cement into the mold with some metal bars to act as bones."


    "Hold up, hold up, just make the fucking indentsrger so we could slip in metal tes in between."


    "Oh, an exoskeleton instead of bones? That''d save us more time and resources."


    "We gotta have a pair though."


    "A pair? AH¡ª It''s supposed to move right? Why not make it a mining cart of sorts from the get-go? It''d be better if it could carry a bunch of people and have it run with a motor."


    "Hmm~ If that''s the case, wouldn''t it still be better if we make it from scratch? It can''t be too heavy and they''d still have to assemble it on the train tforms so¡­ you know, I''m all for saving us some time and resources but we could always reuse the other stuff for other projects."


    "Hmm¡­ I would''ve argued against it because it needs to be heavy so that the dead couldn''t push us back but since we''re putting on breaks on ''em, it''ll work just fine. A few wedges here and there works wonders too."


    "Hmmrghh~ A wedge behind the wheels is good. Can we also make the front in a shape thay gets them thrown overboard if they push too much?"


    "Ooh! You''re right, you''re right¡­ We do it from the top. No need for a blueprint, right?"


    "Eh~ Just make one for documentation. There are other train lines too so let''s have the other ces do their shit for them."


    "True, true¡­"


    "Heh, all this from the race track of Tamiya''s, huh? A bit niche but it works very well in this case."


    "Just had a brain st moment. It''d be useless once we make the trains themselves running."


    "Still. Nothing wrong with going manual from time to time. Shit needs to be pushed gradually or that lever thingy those mine carts have, right?"


    With that said, once I was done drawing the blueprint, the motherfuckers threw me out of the warehouse and politely asked Quinn to leave in fear of getting bludgeoned to death. For some reason, everyone else was adamant that I had more important shit to do besides bringing some ideas to the table and resolving some issues.


    But yeah, I didn''t care much if I was doing something I could easily delegate to other people because one, it''s fun, and two, before all this started, I''m used to doing things myself. Still, it was a nice thing to have people to rely on but I just spotted Rin with Nancy, using a pushcart to deliver a couple ofrge Colemans filled with ice to our big gym.


    ''I guess it started, huh?''


    So I quickly offered help:


    "We got it, we got it, you have¡ª"


    "Better shit to do?"


    "Don''t you?"


    "I mean¡ª I''ve been all over the ce recently¡ª"


    Rin chuckled, "That means you should focus on one thing at a time."


    "But the important shits are all pending! That''s why I''m juggling different tasks at the same time! Have you seen Kaley though?"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Nancy answered, "Ah, she''s with thedy¡ª I mean, she''s with Edith, June, and E. They''re on the range again just across the gym. Are you going to join them or¡­?"


    "We''ll see. Kaley''s already good at teaching them, especially the women, so I think I''d rather see Tatiana figure out how to make everyone else use all this ice you brought."


    Rin shook her head, "She already is¡­"


    Nancy couldn''t agree more, "It''s actually our second trip¡­"


    "Haah?"


    "Well, this is both for pain relief and punishment. She''s been doing something weird too."


    "Weird how?"


    "You''ll see."


    "Alright."


    On that note, the weird thing Tatiana was actually doing was not knocking everyone out from one blow but akin to wearing them down from¡ªguess what¡ªmore cardio, a three-minute educational spar with her, weight training, a match with a participant, and a quick five-minute break before doing the same shit over and over.


    It was like CrossFit with MMA involved but the smile Tatiana gave me when I arrived told me I''d have to do the same thing for my "beloved" students.


    So yeah, she can''t just give them the educational spars all at the same time but with me present, she''d have an easier time as I take on all the boys¡ªbut let''s just say that even if we''re a proponent with equality, outside our gates, we can''t just choose our opponents at any given time.


    "H-Ha! HA! HAA! H-Haa! H-Hold up, YOU''RE STARTING WITH ME?!" Alexa couldn''t believe her eyes as I stepped onto the mat with her.


    "Yeah. You''re gonna die¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

 Chapter 1244 Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms...

    Before I could even release an ounce of killing intent, Alexa''s first instinct was to turn fucking tail and run for her life¡ªand if it was any other day, it would''ve been the best decision of her life.


    However, as our goal for this training was to have a spar educationally¡ªmeaning: the instructors weren''t allowed to knock them out in one blow but instead, receive blows while giving instructions or improvements¡ªI can''t just let my prey¡ª err¡­ my current student off.


    So yeah, I started to give chase but once she was almost out of the sparring area, the fucking bitch abruptly slowed down and used the force in her legs to jump back and surprise me out of the blue by sending a horizontal slice through my torso.


    But to her fucking surprise, I took the hit dead-on as I grabbed onto her leg and easily swept her other feet, fully mounting her in a matter of a few seconds.


    "Now grit your fucking teeth¡ª"


    "W-WAIT¡ª"


    *BOOOOM*


    For added effect, I release a tiny~ bit of killing intent before I punched down but my fistnded on the mat instead of her pretty face. However, Alexa''s head was still in the thought of her receiving a deathblow and she still had her crossguard put up while her whole body was shaking and covered in sweat.


    I had to flick her forehead to get her out of that loop and the look on her face as she was so relieved she wasn''t missing half her face was fucking priceless.


    "W-Wha¡ª Huh?"


    "Nice trick but you should''ve aimed for the head. Let''s go again," I said as I stood up and offered her a hand.


    "You¡ª Hah¡­ Ha¡­ Alright¡ª"


    "Motherfucker!"


    And right as she locked hands with me so I could pull her up, the bitch had once again coiled like a fucking snake on my right arm to perform an arm bar, but to her dismay, I''ve dealt with this type of shit many times before.


    In addition, she should''ve known that I could easily fling her weight around just from seeing me lift Quinn without issue in our "sessions", and again, if she had the ability to wrap on my arm like that, she should''ve just sprung up and kicked my chin¡ªor as I''ve said earlier, aimed for the head.


    "HOW ARE YOU THIS STRONG?!"


    At this moment, she was just hanging on me like a fucking sloth¡ªwhich was just embarrassing¡ªas she tried to move around to somehow pull me down with her weight, but I already braced my core and hinged my legs slightly to carry her much more easily.


    So, after I told her her mistakes and things she could''ve changed, she slowly let go of me as we finally was about to do a proper match.


    Read exclusive chapters at empire


    "Alright. One more before I switch to Bri¡ª"


    Chris then cut in, "I''m about done, bro! I told you! I''ll catch up!"


    I shot him down, "Eh. You''re pretty much sitting in at this point, I''ll deal with youst¡ª"


    "WHAT?! BRO, PLEASE! I WANNA JOIN!"


    "LATER! LATER! I''M BUSY!"


    Ignoring his pleas, I waited for Alexa to fullypose herself as I stood at the spot all cool and rxed.


    "H-HERE I GO¡ª"


    I met her jab with mine as I easily moved away, "Don''t fucking announce that you''re going, dumbass! Your shoulder''s already giving away your first attack!"


    "I-I''M¡ª AHHH!"


    "You''re fighting a guy! We''d almost always overwhelm you with strength so everything you throw at me should fucking count or aimed at my weak spots!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Y-YOU DON''T HAVE ANY WEAKSPOTS!!!"


    "Wha¡ª H-How about my kind heart?"


    "Y-YOU¡ª STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!"


    "Everyone''s head is a prime weakness but our fucking dick and balls are our Kryptonite! We''d rather lose an arm or a leg!"


    "What?! R-REALLY?!"


    "I dunno? Oscar said so! He said it''s the first thing everyone in his toon always ask when they woke up after a bombing. There was also one time¡ª"


    "Y-You! Stop telling me stories while we''re sparring!"


    "Then do fucking better so I could focus on you¡ª THERE WE GO! CLEAN, PRECISE, AND FUCKING COMPACT! IT''S NOT THE BIG MOVES, IT''S THE SMALL ONES! I SAID EVERY SHOT HAD TO COUNT BUT IT DOESN''T MEAN YOU''RE NOT ALLOWED TO USE FEINTS AND SETUPS! THEY''RE CRUCIAL TOO!"


    "W-WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!"


    Then I suddenly got up in her face and looked her straight in the eye, pulling the shit I did with the twins, "I love you, Alexa¡­"


    Alexa had never been this fucking red, "W-W-WHAT?! I¡ª"


    Then I knocked the bitch down with the simplest leg sweep:


    "Dumbass! Don''t fall for cheap tricks! If you can aim at my balls I can also aim for your heart! That''s what you call a setup!"


    "B-BUT THAT''S NOT FAIR! I-I-I¡ª"


    "Worked too well, right?"


    "S-SHUT UP! I-I wanna go again! I-I-I know the best setup for you!"


    I waved her off, "Eh~ You can try when it''s your turn again, Brian, you''re up!"


    "UGH! I SWEAR, I''LL CATCH YOU OFF-GUARD¡ª"


    Funnily enough, Brian was already watching the whole time I was teaching Alexa some basics but he just had this smug look on his face like he already had this in the bag.


    For one, I already know that he fights outside ofpetition rules¡ªwhich was totally understandable, but still a little scummy¡ªbut since I''ve kind of inferred that everything is fair in this educational spar of ours, the motherfucking dumbass had the best idea but the worst fucking execution.


    Everyone already knows about some of my weaknesses but not too sound too cheesy, it''s¡ª I mean, she''s also one of my strengths. And with how I messed with Alexa''s psyche by telling her I love her, Brian tried to do the same thing but he should''ve chosen something oundish by saying he snuck into my room and vandalized one of myic books or something.


    Instead, he said one of the most taboo or suicidal things to say to me:


    "I got nudes of your bitch in my phone, sir! Wanna see¡ª"


    Once I fucking heard that, in all honesty, he would''ve received full marks for riling me up, but there was a stark difference between throwing someone off their game and pissing them the fuck off.


    But yeah, just for the sake of it, I wouldn''t knock him out in a single blow because I want him to fucking feel EVERYTHING.


    And without further ado, the whole ce just turned colder by several degrees as I appeared right in front of the dumbass''s face:


    "Eight Trigram Sixty-Four Palms¡­"


    "Uh-oh."

 Chapter 1245 Whaddayouknow?

    Before Brian could even put up his guard, I enveloped his whole body with my killing intent as I condensed the release into the area around us. For some reason, it tends to hamper anyone''s movements by a few seconds¡ªmore or even incapacitation when they weren''t used to it¡ªbut yeah, this guy''s fucked.


    And of course, I wouldn''t be able to use that move since I need to have that set of eyes and be in that n in order for that technique to be passed down so I turned it into my own version which was the eight seconds of a sixty-four-hitbo.


    "HYUP!"


    Right as I took in some air, I sent a nasty hook to where his liver was located before keeping him up with a kick to his left torso. His body hadn''t even recoiled yet as I aimed for specific joints in his body to make him dance in ce¡ªand the only saving grace from this was the hits were more quantitative than qualitative.


    If anything, I was a proponent for ending things with a single blow, but this time, I would''ve juggled this motherfucker in the air withbos if I could but I''ll make do with something shorter than a 30-second massacre if someone was to join a fraternity in a shoddy neighborhood.


    But yeah, each "educational" spar should''vested at least three to five minutes but I ended it in eight seconds.


    In any case, Brian was still conscious but he getting enveloped with all my negative thoughts racing was akin to taking on several G''s of force¡ªjust a metaphor¡ªand he definitely threw up his breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The dumbass wasn''t even able to fight dirty but he couldn''t believe his ears when these words came out of my mouth:


    "We still have four minutes and some change, get up."


    "H-HAAAH?! IT''S ONLY BEEN¡ª IT FELT LIKE AN HOUR! I THOUGHT I DIED A MILLION TIMES! IT''S THE INFINITE TSUP-TSUP¡ª WHATEVER OR SOMETHING! I''M NOT GETTING UP!"


    I shrugged my shoulders, "Well, I''m not that good at it but we can do ground work¡ª"


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    With that said, after four minutes or so, I stood up and smiled at my next victim who was JP.


    "Ah, fuck."


    I chuckled, "Come on! Insult my wife too! Say something better!"


    "Fuck, no¡ª I''ll wait for Marvin to finish with Tatiana¡ª"


    "Ah¡­ you''re fucked¡­"


    "W-What did I say?!"


    I snorted as I pointed at Tatiana who was now smiling at her while putting Marvin on a nasty lock, "You didn''t say shit to me, you said fucking shit to her¡­"


    Tatiana released her own brand of killing intent, "That bitch-boy''s mine, alright?! He''s next after this¡­"


    Marvin could only forfeit early to save himself, "H-Help¡­ Help¡­ I give¡ª I yield! Fuck you, JP!"


    I turned to JP, "See that? Marvin never curses and see where it got you¡ª" I turned to the rest of the people on death row, "Who''s next?! I''ll take on anyone!"


    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"


    "Don''t look him in the eye! He''ll pick you!"


    "DON''T EVEN MOVE! HE WON''T NOTICE US IF WE DON''T MOVE!"


    "You''re practically moving your mouth when you talk, jackass!"


    "NOOOOOO! HE SAW ME! TAKE ISAAC INSTEAD!"


    "I''LL GO! I''LL GO IF ANYONE DOESN''T!"


    "YEAH! TAKE CHRIS! HE''S BEEN PESTERING US NONSTOP IF HE COULD JOIN! JUST BE A DECOY GO! GO!"


    "WHAT A BUNCH OF PUSSIES!"


    Admirably enough, Chris still tried to wiggle in even if he wasn''t actually in Hell Week, and let''s just say he improved as much as everyone else¡ªmaybe even a bit more. He''d do as he''s told and dig deep into the tasks anyone would give him¡ªand as long as he trusted the process and continued improving, he''d be someone I could trust my back to.


    There was nothing wrong with being an honest kid like him, and even if there was a thing that''s called being too honest, he didn''t need to cross to the dark side because a dip and some glimpses were enough so he''d be aware of the possibilities or things to watch out for.


    But yeah, as much as I would''ve wanted to reward him by letting his crisper jabs in, it''d just be an insult to his hard work for reaching this far. So yeah, I definitely sent him off with a bloody nose just likest time, but this time, he didn''t get knocked out silly¡ªthough I definitely held back.


    Getting punch drunk was still a thing so a little less power on headshots would prove useful in the future if they really had to take them.


    ''That''s much better and more believable, at least¡­ I think it''s still a good boost for his confidence too¡­''


    With that said, training looped three more times before we called it a night because again, there was a thing called overtraining, and breaking their bodies down just the right amount was the fucking sweet spot.


    Sure, everyone had varying degrees of recovery but aside from the Death Squad that recently joined us, Tatiana and I were fairly familiar with everyone else''s since we''ve been with everyone else even before Hell Week started.


    But yeah, as we left the gym open for the rest of the people still trying to sneak in a little workout, I found out that the lights to the indoor gym were still on.


    ''They''re still there?''


    So yeah, excusing myself from the main group, I made my way across the street. And of course, we had a small area where there were spare eyes and ear protection, but since I always bring my gear with me in the form of my backpack where my war belt was draped on, I put on my own set as I entered the premises.


    And surely enough, Kaley and her group had run through several hundred rounds of ammo by putting them through the randomizer a special someone¡ªme, of course¡ªdeveloped for more dynamic targets but never did I think that someone with a unique fashion choice who supposedly had no knowledge of using firearms be this fucking good.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ''Whaddayouknow?''

 Chapter 1246 Recoil or something else?

    With how E uniquely dresses herself and acts like a brat or a young deer who was bred in captivity all her life and was suddenly released into the wild¡ªweird metaphor, I know¡ªbut there was no fucking shot she could hold her own against Kaley who was only next to yours truly.


    This was a pure fucking battle of reaction time coupled with one''s mechanics in handling firearms and I was fucking impressed.


    And even if Kaley was using a sporting rifle chambered in .22 LR which was something she wasn''t used to or rarely uses, they were both using the same thing at the same time and they were fucking neck and neck.


    In addition, there was a reason I was this astonished because this randomizing mechanism I made for the steel targets to move around well, randomly, was fucking random in its own right¡ªwithin reason, of course¡ªbecause if you''d ask any person familiar with numbers, a person might think they were being random or trying to be, but everyone follows a pattern or a certain style.


    ''I say within reason because it has at least a few thousandbinations of where each te might go¡­ It''s somewhat random but to a normal person¡­ You know how it is¡­ I can predict where some of them might go but not all at the same time¡­ It''s more fun that way though I still have a slight edge hence why I''m at the top of the leaderboard¡ª which means Kaley is actually at the top¡ª which also exins my astonishment because E is technically at the top too¡­''


    June, Edith, and Nancy¡ªwho actually followed me behind¡ªcould only sit at the back and watch how the two duel it out and it didn''t take long before the match ended.


    E eximed as she lost feeling in her legs, "Haaaah! I''m exhausted! I can''t beat you, you''re too good! H-Ho~!"


    Kaley just smiled while clearing her gun before offering E a hand, "You do know you''ve hidden yourself pretty well¡ª If he knows that you¡ª Ah¡­" she stopped herself as she finally discovered I was just standing by the door, "Umm¡­ Ahaha¡­ Whaddayouknow? E can actually shoot guns!"


    E never looked so panicked, "H-HI! Ahaha¡­ Ha¡­ Haha¡­ Kaley''s a really~ great teacher¡ª"


    I chuckled eerily as I suddenly bridged the distance and smushed her cheeks, "You''re an awfully good liar, huh? Who told you to hide yourself like this? Huh?"


    She tried to break away but all it did was to stretch her cheeks even more, "I''M SORRY! I''M SORRY! I''M SORRY!"


    Kaley tried to get me off E, "H-Hey! It''s not like she hurt anybody! Let off a bit!"


    I finally let go as I put on puppy eyes and clutched my chest, "She hurt my kind and loving heart, you know?!"


    Nothing got past Kaley as she rolled her eyes, "Doofus. She has her reasons, alright? Besides, she can''t handle recoil pretty well, that''s why¡ª"


    I just nodded, "That''s why she sticks to the .22. Oh, I know," I picked up my rifle and handed it to E, "Try this. Still a .22, no? A .223/5.56 but just more powder¡ª"


    Kaley tried to cut in, "But she¡ª"


    "I just want her to try, see if I can offer some help."


    "Okay¡­" then she turned to E, "You okay with that? I know you''re scared to shootrger calibers but¡ª"


    E just nodded while slightly ring at me, ignoring my rifle, "Cheeks still hurt¡­"


    I flicked her forehead, "You¡ª It kicks a little more since not only it has more powder but as you can see, the barrel''s shorter than that sporting rifle. However, you just need to dig this fucking stock between your chest and front shoulder while using your other hand to pull back and stabilize the whole thing by gripping this foregrip as tight as you can.


    Don''t forget to control your breathing too and keep your body tight so you won''t get bothered with the recoil."


    E red at me, "Y-You¡ª I-I know what to do! It just s-scares me, you know?!"


    "Then don''t get scared. Easy¡ª"


    "I wish it were that easy! You don''t get it!"


    I waved her off, "No. YOU don''t get it."


    ''Even you don''t even know what you''re actually scared of.''


    "H-HOW CAN YOU KNOW BETTER THAN ME?! IT''S ME WE''RE TALKING ABOUT! I''M ME! I KNOW ME A WHOLE LOT!"


    I flicked her forehead again, "If every person in the world knew what''s wrong with them, doctors wouldn''t have any jobs¡ª"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "T-THAT''S DIFFERENT!"


    "I know."


    "Y-YOU¡ª"


    "But trust me on this. Shoot it once and you''ll see, trust me."


    "..."


    "Please?"


    "F-Fine¡­"


    At this point, I didn''t think I''d have another lesson that would corrte with the things we uncovered earlier but it do be like that sometimes. So yeah, while E was psyching herself up just for a single shot, I gave Rin a quick call to retrieve a couple of things for me, and I even asked her to use one of our electric bikes so she could get here faster.


    But yeah, as soon as E took a deep breath, followed all my directions to the letter, and finally squeezed the trigger, her small but stacked body jolted from the ''recoil'' or something else altogether.


    And obviously, she quickly cleared my rifle before turning around and ring at me:


    "WHAT NOW?! I SAW SHIT!"


    I nodded in agreement, "Obviously, you fucking deer."


    "Wha¡ª When did I get a new nickname now?! A deer?!"


    I ignored her following outburst as I turned to Kaley, "You saw, right?"


    Kaley looked confused, "H-Huh?"


    "I said you saw, right?"


    "T-The recoil?"


    I shook my head, "Her body jolted back a bit, right?"


    She nodded a few times, slightly unsure, "Yeah¡­ From the recoil, right?"


    "Nope."


    "Then¡ª"


    Rin arrived at the right fucking time:


    "I-I''m here! B-Brought the things you asked for¡ª"


    "Thank you, Rin," then I threw one of them to E, "Wear that."


    She looked confused as well, "But I''m already wearing eye pro¡ª"


    "Want me to flick your forehead again? And gimme my gun back for a bit, I''m showing you what''s wrong with¡ª I mean, what''s special about you. You''ll see."

 Chapter 1247 Easy. Youre afraid of circles--

    As I cleared my gun once again for safety, I then took out a simr item to the MP5 I gave to Isaac on his birthday, and I switched the suppressor I had on my BCM Rifle with it. It was easy enough to swap ''em out and as I discovered that everyone was looking at me confusedly, I turned to E, who had now put on the eye protection with a darker shade, as I asked some questions:


    "You taking any medications?"


    "W-Wha¡ª Why are you asking?"


    "Just answer, please."


    "I mean¡ª no?"


    "You like having bangs cover your eyes, right?"


    "What''s with these¡ª Sure. But depending on my outfit!"


    "Uh-huh, uh-huh. Then what about contacts?"


    "What about them?"


    "You wear them depending on the outfit too?"


    "Of course! Why wouldn''t I?!"


    "How about now?"


    "I didn''t wear one."


    "Because?"


    "Because! It depends on my mood too, you know?!"


    "Hmm~ That slightly~plicates things¡­ I''m not even sure what to treat you for¡­"


    "Complicate what things?! What are you even trea¡ª"


    "I''m asking the questions here¡ª butst one, have you had LASIK before?"


    "Wha¡ª How''d you know?! YOU READ MY MEDICAL HISTORY?! THAT''S¡ª"


    "I didn''t, chill. I just saw a picture of you when you were small¡ª I mean, younger."


    "Woww~~ Way to rub it in, huh? But¡ª"


    I waved her off as I pushed my gun onto her, "Eh~ Enough talking, just shoot my gun and we''ll go from there. It might not just be one thing that''s your problem but we''ll try to fix or work around them from here on, okay?"


    "O-Okay¡­" Stay updated with empire


    In any case, the thing I put on my rifle was a muzzle break which could minimize at least 90%~ give or take of the recoil¡ªwhich I already ruled out that''s not her problem¡ªbut at this point, we''ll just do some trial and error and see what works for her.


    And once again, as soon as she fired a shot, she then gasped and quickly turned around to hug me after clearing my gun.


    ''So, it''s really not the recoil¡ª''


    "IT WORKED¡ª"


    I quickly shot her down, "No the fuck it did not!"


    "Wha¡ª HUH?! I''m pretty sure¡ª"


    "What happened was we eliminated more recoil BUT your body still moved the same! Hmmrgh¡­"


    Kaley had to join in, "Umm~ Isn''t her problem her eyes? I thought that was why you asked those questions and brought those things¡ª I mean, the sses, sure, but isn''t the muzzle brake for recoil?"


    I nodded, "Yeah, yeah, you''re right. I just want to make sure it really wasn''t the recoil by bringing in something that would eliminate almost all of it. It would''ve been easier if we used a normal-sized AR but the one I have had a little shorter barrel¡ªhence the muzzle brake for E."


    "But what now?"


    E cut in, "I have something wrong with my eyes? I thought the LASIK fixed it?"


    I turned to E, "I mean¡­ Sure, theser surgery fixed one thing but I think you''re a little sensitive to bright lights."


    Kaley cut in again, "But¡ª Wouldn''t the suppressor hide most of the muzzle sh too?"


    "That is also true but while we have a physical problem, there might be a psychological one too. She said she''s plenty scared of shooting it, right? If we rule out the noise for now¡ªbecause she''s he loud¡ª"


    E never looked so mad-cute, "HEY!"


    I waved her off as I continued, "Ruling the sound out, it could be the muzzle sh, the gas blowback from using the suppressor, or again, recoil."


    Kaley looked confused, "I thought we already ruled out recoil? Are you talking about the physical one or the psychological one? Anticipating the recoil could be a problem too, right?"


    "Sure, but we dunno yet. But we''re mixing and matching everything here to figure out what''s what."


    E cut in, "Then¡­ W-What now?"


    I smiled at her, "We keep shooting until we figure out. It might be scary but we might find the root cause or causes, no? Wanna give it a few more tries?"


    "O-Okay!"


    "Then change sses and do it again."


    "Alright!"


    So yeah, once E switched eye protection and lined up another shot, she looked happy once more because she didn''t feel any recoil but her body was still recoiling for some reason, heck, I would''ve expected that her shoulder or at most, half her back would move but she looked like she was taking a punch from someone.


    ''Hmm¡­ What if¡ª I mean¡­ There''s also the issue that she needs to get used to the gun first¡­''


    In any case, we tried morebinations where there weren''t any attachments, just the sh hider, or just the suppressor with either sses, and her reaction was almost the same for everything except with the muzzle brake on.


    However, once Kaley had the idea to turn off the fucking lights and shoot some rounds while testing out all the otherbinations, E''s answer changed¡ªeven more when we turned on the lights and let her shoot with her eyes closed.


    Andstly, the coup de grace was when we obstructed her vision of the gun while telling her a different setup before she started firing.


    Kaley and I couldn''t hide our surprise, "Huh./Whaddayouknow?"


    "What? WHAT?! Can I open my eyes now?! This feels the best to me! Just let me use the muzzle brake and I''ll be good to go! I won''t go out but I''ll be good atop a wall!"


    I chuckled, "You sure about that?"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Wha¡ª Why are you¡ª"


    "Have you checked what you''re running? Hmm?"


    "You told me I''m using¡ª"


    Kaley cut her off, "Remove the covers."


    "You¡ª Huh? I''m using the same setup as before! HOW?! *removed sses to check if it''s tinted* I''m using the clear eye protection too! I thought there was something wrong with me¡ª Wait¡ª Is there? I''m really confused now, someone tell me what''s wrong!"


    I answered her question for her my way, "Easy. You''re afraid of circles."


    "HAAH?! THAT DOESN''T EVEN MAKE SENSE! WHAT?!"

 Chapter 1248 Root Issue - Strike while the irons hot!

    The diagnosis for E''s problem would''ve been easy if everything was ck and white but in the end, we discovered that it came from multiple facets.


    While it was true that she couldn''t handle recoil, from the time it was actually real to our current time, there may have been a point where she was able to ovee it and her body just remembered the knee-jerk reaction the first time she felt it and continued as is.


    Because as far as I remember, continued practice eliminates certain things you want to get rid of but E feeling scared the first time probably dug deep in her psyche¡ªand one of her triggers was the muzzle sh from a gun she probably shot that time.


    "Before I answer, what was the gun you shot that made you scared of shootingrge-caliber rounds?"


    E didn''t take long to answer, "U-Umm¡ª I-It''s one of those o-old guns that PINGS! A-After thest bullet on the clip! I-It''s after my usual firearm training too and e-everyoneughed at me! C-Can you imagine?! I-I wasn''t even in high school at that time!"


    "When you''re still in elementary¡ª"


    "J-JACKASS, I WAS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL! I was in the first year but¡ª WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ME, HUH?!"


    I patted her head which instantly calmed her down, "Ah, shit¡ª My bad, my bad, we didn''t have middle school in this country that time, we start from prep, kinder, elementary then straight to four years of high school before college. Still, that''s a little dumb¡ª"


    "I-I''m not dumb!"


    "I wasn''t talking about you, alright? I mean the person who made you shoot an M1 Garand¡ª"


    "That''s the one! ARGHHH!!! I hate it so much! They kept saying it was the coolest gun ever but it just scared the living crap outta me! Dad and his old friends are the worst!"


    I facepalmed, "Yeah, yeah, that''s pretty bad. Oscar and I used to mess¡ª I mean, we still mess with people by letting them shoot hand cannons but before we do, we''re that sure that they could take it. I don''t wanna say anything bad about young girls or anything but even with proper training, they should be really careful about handing them those kinds. A .30-06 is fucking loud, you know?"


    "IT IS! IT REALLY IS! T-The noise scared me the least b-but the f-fire and the k-kick knocked me off my feet! IT''S EMBARRASSING!"


    Kaley then gave her a pat on the head as well but she turned to me to pat her head again, "I-I''m dealing with trauma here! It''s the least you can do!"


    "Pfft¡ª Alright, alright¡­ Here you go¡­"


    E nodded a few times while giggling before she went back on the subject, "Mmhmm~ W-Well but¡ª Why did you tell me I''m afraid of circles?"


    I chuckled, "Not circles per se, but the muzzle sh itself. The time you got your surgery probably coincided with your firearms training and even if you''re used to it to some degree, photosensitivity kicked in and gave you the fright¡ªand the recoil from the M1 piled on.


    The st must''ve been amplified a few times in your perspective that''s why it''s rooted deep in your head and body¡ªeven making smaller calibers with sh hiders and suppressors do jack shit for you even if the sh was already small or several times minimized."


    "Ohhhh~ I-Is that really, really what happened? M-Makes sense with the surgery too¡ª It''s around that time when I''m recovering and tried to go for firearms training just to see!"


    "I mean¡ª I could still be wrong but when we switched in the muzzle brake, it just sted to the side and altered the circr shape of the sh¡ªgave you less recoil¡ªand it''s the best thing as you''ve said. But once you got the confidence back, we made you shoot my normal setup and it went on just fine¡ªafter a few times of getting used to it, of course.


    The tinted sses might''ve helped to some degree too but the way you are now, it''d just help with the shade, heh."


    "..." E was fucking speechless as she was just looking straight at me.


    "E¡ª" Experience more on empire


    And all of a sudden, tears just slowly fell from her face as she wrapped her arms around me. I was a little taken aback at first but this small fix for her problem might''ve been a very huge deal for her.


    Of course, she already said she was traumatized from her past experience¡ªwhich was why she had the need to hide her expertise about using guns¡ªbut yeah, I guess we have another shooter on our crew and I''d be more confident if she''d be relied on to hold the fort each time we were away.


    Then again, it was one thing to help someone with their problems by simply saying "get good", "get over it", "it''s just the way it is, suck it up", or something along those lines¡ªand yeah, usually it''d work for us guys but half the world aren''t us and sometimes that type of machismo shit doesn''t work on all of us as well.


    One way to help was to actually find the root of the issue and try ways that could help the person with the problem their own way¡ªand yeah, this type of thing was a luxury at this point and I''m not saying we should be vulnerable at all times, but if we could afford and befortable with it, why not?


    As I said, it was one of the ways, not a broad-spectrum antibiotic that could help with several issues at once.


    Though there may be times to simply collect our winnings and not push the issue even more but yeah, I''ll fucking strike the iron while it''s fucking hot.


    "So, E¡­"


    "Hmm? Yes, Da¡ª I mean, yes?"


    "You''ve probably improved by leaps and bounds by now¡­"


    "Yeah?"


    "Wanna shoot a Garand now to spit on this trauma of yours?"


    "Wha¡ª I just ovee my¡ª You know what? Why the fuck not?! Let''s do it!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 1249 M1 Garand & M1A SOCOM 16 - All the way?

    Without much dy, it didn''t take long before we had another special delivery of an OG M1 Garand chambered in .30-06 and a modern one, an M1A SOCOM 16 rifle, chambered in .308 Winchester.


    I didn''t need to exin much about the ssic M1 because it could stand alone in its own notoriety but the new had obviously a few things that had quality-of-life features while having a modern "tacticool" look than the usual wood stock and iron sights. Experience more tales on empire


    Of course, my new-age M1 came in all ck with a 16-inch barrel, an adjustable stock, match trigger, ghost-ring rear sights, tritium front sights, a Picatinny rail that only had a shlight for now, and a proprietary muzzle brake with an option to easily screw in a suppressor.


    ''It''s lighter too¡­ the same with its shorter bullet casing¡­''


    Sure, it might look half-done at the moment but it still had the spirit of the OG Garand just from looking at the side profile¡­ mostly.


    "A-Are those the same thing?" E asked.


    "Yes and no. Kind of the same gun but they also use different calibers."


    "C-Can I shoot one, now?!"


    "Pretty excited, huh? Alright. Knock yourself¡ª I mean¡ª You know the saying, heh."


    At that point, even if E still had some PTSD from her bad experience with this gun, she still knew the ins and outs of it and it didn''t take long before she was lining up a shot with the OG Garand. And yeah, right as she exhaled, she sent out a .30-06 projectile straight to one of our targets, and obviously enough, her body felt the brunt of the recoil.


    However, once she turned around to face us, she couldn''t be more happier as she was itching to fire another shot or even unload the whole thing until she heard the glorious ping she was so pissed about before.


    "Go ahead, fire at will¡ª"


    "H-HELL YEAH!"


    And yeah, with each shot, E''s body was getting more and more used to the gun itself but she still got spooked when she heard the loud ping she was dreading. Despite that, she asked for another clip which I easily gave to her, and she went on for two more clips before she asked to fire the other one.


    "Can I?! Please? I-I dunno why b-but I-I''m itching like crazy, right now!"


    "Ew. You need a cream for that or something?"


    "YOU¡ª I-I-I WAS TALKING ABOUT¡ª UGH! YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"


    "Hah! Just messin'' with ya¡ª but go ahead. You''d use mags this time though since the ghost ring''s covering the area where you push in the clip. Just smack it in the underside, front first, and have fun with it."


    "I know, I know! Thanks!"


    With that said, once E fired the first shot, she couldn''t believe the difference between the two guns because let''s face it: The OG M1 Garand was notorious in its own way but if we''re talking about a girl in E''s size picking between the two¡ªfuck it, include me in theparison, just thefort the new-age M1 could give us was just that more enticing.


    Of course, there were a lot of things to consider¡ªcaliber-wise¡ªwhere the .30-06 might be better than a .308 but at the end of the day, it''s just up to who would use it¡ªand then again, it wasn''t like technology hasn''t advanced to the point that even the M1 Garand running a .30-06 was reced by our M14s running .308s.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    And yeah, this new-age M1 Garand of mine running a .308 was just to bridge that gap between eras though I''d still opt for my AR to run a 5.56.


    Though E gave me that look a kid would when they find a new toy that they''d like:


    "H-Hey¡­ C-Can I¡ª Please, please, please?! C-Can I have this one?! I-I''ll be good!"


    "Here we go¡­"


    "I-I dunno why but¡ª I don''t know but it''s like i-it''s fate! I-It just¡­ just¡­ k-kicks me j-just right a-and d-does ite with a bigger mag?!"


    I chuckled, "It''d be a little heavy but I do¡ª"


    "YES! Thank you! T-That old one''s cool and all but I LOVE this one! I-It doesn''t feel heavy at all and the recoil''s m-much better! I-I can take this one more and s-shoot it for longer!"


    "I take it you''re trauma''spletely gone now?"


    "I¡ª I guess so? All thanks to you! Ah¡ª I-I promise to train with Kaley or with Olivia and Lois every time theye here and I-I''ll even clean it myself! I-I¡ª I''ll even clean the house e-every¡ª"


    I waved her off, "You don''t have to do anything. I just want you to keep at it so yeah, I would love for you to have it. I still have my own setup, no?"


    "R-REALLY?!"


    "Yeah."


    "YOU''RE THE BEST! I¡ª HMMMRGH! I''M SO HAPPY!"


    Once again, E dove in for a hug but this time, Kaley and I smothered her together. At this time in the night, we were the only ones present but we spent a bit more time with E figuring out what she wanted to do with this Garand and some things to consider for her sidearm and some other essories.


    Of course, it wasn''t like we''d throw her out to the wolves but it''s just much better to let her have the whole thing rather than to just have one thing she''d be good for.


    "What? I''m gonna have to start exercising too?! I mean¡ª I-I am trying but I-I don''t want to run 100 kilometers a day!"


    "I mean¡ª not like that but more regrly, of course. It''s not as heavy now since you''re just standing with it but there might be times you gotta move around carrying that gun with all the other shit you have with you. So yeah, it pays to have more muscle in your body and the stamina tost for as long as you can. You already said you''d train with Olivia and Lois, right?"


    "B-But how about you two? Can''t I train with you still?"


    "I mean¡ª Of course, you can train with us but we''d be out the walls sometimes like this morning, or be out for days or even weeks."


    "Hmmrgh¡­ T-Then I-I think we should j-just make the best of it, y-you know?" E stuttered as she looked at her feet before turning to us with a slight blush.


    Kaley and I nced at each other before I replied with a knowing smile, "What do you have in mind?"


    "W-Well¡­ E-Everyone''s back home a-and¡­ I-I¡­ I¡­ I-I wanna go all the way n-now?"

 Chapter 1250 Ellas First I

    Hearing and seeing E speak those words, I would''ve been jumping for joy and doing a silly dance but I decided to be a little coy as I danced around the subject:


    "It''s a littlete though¡­"


    The light in E''s eyes slowly dimmed, "Ah¡­ O-Oh¡­ I-I mean¡ª I-I could w-wait till¡ª"


    I cut her off, "I mean, it''s not like we can''t do it now¡ª"


    Then the light quickly came back, "R-Really?! A-Are you¡ª"


    "But y''know, that M1A just needs a sling, a suppressor, a better scope¡ª E?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    At this point, E never looked so confused while it was taking everything for Kaley to hold back herughter, but when realization struck, E just got so fucking red before she cutely reprimanded yours truly.


    "I-I¡ª Meanie! I-I was about to g-give you m-my¡ª AGH! You¡ª STUPID! STUPID! STUPID¡ª"


    However, while she was in mid-sentence, I leaned down and gave her a kiss which instantly pacified her loud bratty ass. But yeah, she already lost her other virginity in my bathroom, even Kaley agreed we should do it on our bed.


    "B-But everyone¡ª"


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    Kaley waved her off, "Don''t worry about that, they''ll give us some space and time¡ª a-and do you want me to be there or anyone else? It''s totally fine if you want to be alone with him?"


    "W-Well, you two were there the first I¡ª And you really helped me with prepping m-my you-know-what a-and¡ª"


    I cut her off, "E. Breathe."


    She nced at me for a moment before she turned back to Kaley, "I-I mean, I''d love for you to be t-there! I-I wanna experience t-that other thing t-too¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "Y-You''ll see! I-I''m not even sure I w-wanna do it yet but i-if it feels g-good too I¡ª C-C''mon! W-We''re wasting time! W-We have to shower t-too, right?!"


    In any case, before Kaley and I could answer her, E started running out our indoor range with her brand-new gun. Of course, I quickly closed up and followed after them but it didn''t take long before just the three of us were in my room after a hot and steamy shower.


    But with the cold airing from the AC, the three of us were already under the nkets¡ªwith me between the two¡ªand exchanging each other''s spit while our hands were blindly exploring whichever throbbing part it touched.


    Obviously, the two had their soft bodies pressed against mine while they were jerking me off their own way¡ªand at the same time, my hands were in each of their peachy butts, either squeezing a plump cheek or prodding one of their little holes.


    "Mnn¡­"


    "Ahh¡­"


    And as Kaley went on to kiss me for a longer time, E took it upon herself to move down and slobber on my huge knob using her wet tongue and her little mouth and Kaley was using her hand to gently push down E''s head on my cock so she could reach deeper.


    "G-GackH! KkH! H-Hahg¡­ MnGhh¡­. Mnn¡­"


    At this point, Kaley and I were just watching E''s progression with my thick shaft and she made a point to swallow me whole even if she was partly choking and had tears in her eyes. However, Kaley wanted E to make sure of the size that was going inside her virgin pussy as she made E reach the base over and over and over.


    "That''s it, E¡­ Feel everything from that big cock¡ªthe taste, the skin, the veins, how hard it was, everything! It''s going in your tiny pussyter and you have to earn it first before it goes inside you!"


    E went up or air for a second, "W-What should I d-do?"


    "Use that sweet little mouth of yours and make him cum in your mouth¡ª you should take it all and swallow everything too¡­"


    "O-Okay, okay, I''ll¡ª"


    "Less talking, more¡ª Yeah, just like that¡­" then Kaley turned to me with a smile, "How''s she doing?"


    "G-Great, actually¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "Really? Then I guess we should hurry it up for the main event¡­ I mean¡ª at least one of them¡­"


    "W-What do you¡ª"


    All of a sudden, Kaley scooted up and made me suck on her hard pink nipples while E was trying her best to suck my cock. But to get a little handle on the situation, I used my left hand to order E''s pace while I used the other to have a firmer grasp on Kaley''s buttocks.


    With their moans¡ªmuffled or not¡ªentering my ears, it didn''t take long before I filled E''s mouth and her throat with my cum, making her choke on it while Kaley was that close to cumming with me sucking and licking her nipples while barely touching the surface of her asshole.


    But to my surprise, Kaley held off as she turned around, giving me a full view of her round ass and her cunt dripping with her slick juices, as she made E eat everything that was still cumming out of my cock.


    "That''s it¡­ That''s it¡­ What a good girl~ Now let me taste those lips of yours¡­"


    "Yes, Mommy¡ª"


    Kaley stopped in her tracks, "W-What did you just call me?!"


    E stopped in her tracks too, "Ah¡ª I¡ª I-It just came out¡ª Shouldn''t I? I-I called him D-Daddyst time and¡ª"


    Kaley turned to me with widened eyes, "What¡ª You okay with this? I don''t mind either way but¡ª"


    E cut in, "I''m sorry, I¡ª I should''ve asked first¡ª"


    Kaley gave her a kiss on the forehead, "No, no, it''s fine¡ª It''s your night, it''s just¡ª" then she turned to me again, "Again, I don''t mind either way but¡ª"


    I finally answered, "I mean~ Still kind of weird but if E gets off on that and it stays between us three, for now, sure?"


    As I said that, Kaley just stared at me for a few seconds before she let out a sigh of relief, then turning to E and touching her chin to move her closer, "Sorry for the interruption, baby, now let Mommy taste that cute little mouth of yours¡­"

 Chapter 1251 Ellas First II

    From then on, Kaley started to french E''s tiny mouth filled with my cum and all I could do was watch them while glossing my fingers over Kaley''s exposed butt. I couldn''t believe how wet she was at this point but before I could even push a finger in, she grabbed my hand and looked at me with a knowing smile:


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    "Be patient¡­ You''ll get your turn on this too¡­ We gonna get her off first¡­"


    "O-Okay¡­"


    But yeah, as soon as she turned around, E was patiently waiting for her but all of a sudden, she lifted E and put her between us, pushing my head down to E''s untouched slit that was also dripping with her juices.


    And at that point, Kaley began to torridly invade E''s mouth while urging me to get down and dirty too, but I barely touched E''s tiny pussy with my lips when she started to cum.


    "HmmPHGHghh!! G-GaHhH! K-ChCK¡ª C-CummingGGg!"


    E''s whole body jolted as she let out this stream of warm liquid that drenched our sheets but I barely had a taste so I still went in to taste her pink bits with my tongue.


    "H-HNnHNHHHGG!!! A-AHhH! M-MomMmY! D-D-DAdddY~ Y-Yes! Y-YoUu''re both~ Aa-AahNNAN! Y-You''re L-LlIicking MmY pitsS M-MommY I¡ª AhnghaG!


    A-AhNg! T-TickLes! A-AhnGG! M-My¡ª C-CummMmM¡ª Y-You''re¡ª Dad¡ª Clit¨C A-AhNNH!"


    At this point, E was just fighting for dear life as Kaley and I licked her all over¡ªbut even though she had orgasm after orgasm, this time, she didn''t pass out and held on. However, she was still squirming in ce as both of us were holding her down and having our way with her, but as soon as she had her seventh orgasm, Kaley and I finally let off and made her catch a break.


    "H-Ha¡­ Ha¡ª H-HaaHH¡­ You two¡­ Y-You two a-are so¡ª HHNggH¡­ F-Fuuck¡­"


    Kaley chuckled, "We''ll give you a minute¡­"


    "A-A minute? For?"


    Kaley nced at my junk before turning back to E, "That."


    "W-Wha¡ª Why''s i-it look bigger now?!"


    "I mean¡ª seeing you cum over and over like that¡­ Even I''m this close to cumming from seeing you melt with our touch¡­"


    "B-But¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "W-Won''t it be o-over fast?"


    "Pfft¡­ Trust me¡­ Unless you forgot everything that goes in here¡­ It''s only over until we''re done or if you say so¡­ That reminds me, time''s up."


    "A-Already?!"


    "Come on¡­ We''ll let you do the honors¡­"


    "D-Do what?"


    "Pfft¡­ You''re so cute, E¡­ Hurry up, can''t wait till my turn¡­"


    "Y-Your turn? F-For?"


    "Jeez, E! You know how it works already! J-Just get on top of him and see what you wanna do¡­"


    In any case, with taking someone''s first, it''s a given to let the receiver do it herself to gauge how much she could take in one go or even set the pace herself as she began getting used to it, and it was as E did as she nervously went on top of me.


    But yeah, she just began to grind on top of my dick using her puffy mound and I just couldn''t imagine how fucking tight she''d be the moment I went inside her.


    And without further ado, while Kaley was sitting by my side, E began to point the tip of my cock inside her pink hole, and for a moment there, she couldn''t even figure out whether to sit down on it or rub it on the opening a little more.


    However, once she took a deep breath, she just looked straight at me before she gradually lowered herself, tearing her precious hymen with my cock, going lower and lower and lower until she reached the base in one go.


    ''FUCK!''


    At that moment, even Kaley was fucking surprised but the look on E''s face almost made me go over the edge.


    It was because not only had her eyes on the back of her head, but her mouth was also agape¡ªtongue sticking out and letting out this sweetest moan as my 9-inch cock went fully inside her and took her virginity.


    In addition, I could feel how her walls were gripping me so tight¡ªcontracting ever so often¡ªtotally shattering my expectations of being inside her which I thought would take more difficulty.


    I was already prepared for taking it slow¡ªeven if we went too fucking fast in her ass, but still, it wasn''t like we were enjoying ourselves despite the speed at where everything went¡ªand if we''re both feeling good, why not?


    "H-Ha¡ª Ha¡­ D-Daddy¡ª I-It''s all t-the way i-in, Daddy¡­ D-Did I d-do good?"


    I pulled her close and gave her a kiss, "You did great but don''t move for now¡­ g-get used to it first before¡ª"


    "B-But¡ª MmNGHhH¡­ I-It f-feels so good, Daddy¡­ I¡ª I¡­ I-It''s like¡ª N-No¡­ I-It''s e-even better when you f-fucked m-my ass¡­ a-and¡­ u-umm¡­ I-I don''t w-wanna hurry or a-anything but¡­ c-can Mommy fuck my a-ass too?"


    ''Fuck me¡­''


    And before we could even answer, E had another orgasm just from my cock being inside her tiny little hole and my dick was just getting fucking choked as her insides were contracting over and over. However, she began to move her small frame despite the sensitivity and Kaley just couldn''t take it anymore when E looked at her with those puppy eyes.


    It didn''t take long before Kaley came behind her with a strapless dildo¡ªwhich I still think was a bad idea¡ªbut with someone like E who was just deprived of everything because of her parents'' status, all it would take was just one crack before the floodgatespletely open.


    So yeah, while Kaley was still lubing up her toy, I began thrusting from below¡ªand even though E would still grimace, she''d just look at me with this smile as she''d move her hips on her own. The pain she was feeling waspletely overpowered by pleasure and she was making full use of it in her own way.


    "Y-Yes, Daddy, I-I feel so full¡ª A-Ahhn! HnghNnG¡­ Mmn¡­"


    And what fucking blew my mind was that with each following thrust, it still felt like the first insertion¡ªand it had been a fucking while until I could almost cum the second time this fucking fast.


    However, it didn''t take long before I realized that Kaley was a fucking angel because she just stood behind E, taking her sweet time to "prepare" for E''s DP, but in actuality, she was making me take my sweet time with this lovely young girl.


    Because in all honesty, E was really trying to bite more than she could chew because, at this point, I was the only one moving as she was just taking everything fromying on top of me.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Even without the pain, she shouldn''t just jump steps with us because again, it wasn''t a race, and some things should be taken in moderation¡ªand most importantly, it wasn''t about what we were doing but enjoying these special moments with each other.


    And obviously enough, E had already fallen unconscious the moment I pumped my second load in her¡ªoverflowing from the space my huge cock had already invaded¡ªand after that, I justid her to the side while Kaley and I simply chuckled at E''s expression because she now was just sleeping soundly with a smile.

 Chapter 1252 Finally Doing "It"

    At this point, Kaley was still kneeling by my feet, the shorter end of the toy inside her, and looking at me a certain way. If anything, I already knew what was on her mind but with the possibility of E waking up after a short bit, I couldn''t just risk it and I wasn''t even sure if this was the right time.


    In addition, we can''t just leave E sleeping soundly while my seed and bits of blood still flowing out of her¡ªbecause aftercare was still a thing¡ªthough I definitely felt Kaley''s sigh after a few seconds of staring at each other and doing nothing.


    ''Shit¡­''


    I sat up and tried to kiss her, "Kaley¡­"


    She waved me off as she took off her strapless toy, "I know, I know¡­ I understand¡­ It''s just¡ª Nevermind, i-it''s fine¡ª"


    I faced her towards me, "No, it''s not."


    "..." Kaley didn''t respond as she just looked at the ground while I was talking to her.


    "I mean¡ª L-Look¡­ I¡­ I''m¡­ I''m really being unfair to you and you''ve been a saint¡ª fuck it, a fucking angel, and I may still have some reservations about it but umm¡­ I¡ª What if we~ umm¡­ Make sure that umm¡­ E''s t-taken care of first before we y-you know¡­ d-do it¡­"


    "..."


    "Kaley?"


    She shook her head, "I¡­ A-As much as I would love f-for you to y-you know¡­ do it with me I¡ª I don''t want you to force y-yourself into doing it j-just because I¡ª"


    "The sigh?"


    "It''s more than just the sigh¡ª"


    "I know, I know¡­ It''s more than that but¡­ Hey¡­ Look at me¡­"


    Kaley then shifted her gaze towards me and we were this close for a kiss. We could definitely feel each other''s breath from our close proximity with each other but as she was waiting for what I was about to say, I briefly looked down and gently chuckled before I stared right into her eyes:


    "Look¡­ You''re the best person that''s ever happened to me and I sure do hope that I''m also the best person that''s happened to you¡­ We might''ve been in this¡­ totally unconventional rtionship with these other people but in the end, I''d still choose to be with you, spend my time with you, make you happy, and such¡ª and if anything, I would love to explore this t-thing to bepletely honest, I''m still very much scared of doing but if I''m gonna do it with anyone, I would do it with you¡ªand if you so wanted, only you¡ªfuck it, of course, it''s only you those freaks would''ve torn my ass if they ever had the chance¡ª OW!


    Kaley! A headbutt?! Really?!"


    "D-Doofus¡­ It''s like your proposal over again but you should''ve omitted thatst part!"


    "I was just being honest, you know?! Quinn''s already gunning for me the moment you''re done with me! You told her, didn''t you?!"


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    "Wha¡ª I-I didn''t!"


    "Semantics, you probably slipped in girls'' night but¡­ w-what now?"


    "W-Whaddayoumean, what now?"


    "I-I''m presenting¡­ O-Offer expires in f-five seconds¡ª"


    "W-Wha¡ª A-Alright, let''s d-do it! I-I¡ª You don''t know how happy I am now, you doofus, I love you! W-We should¡ª Fuck! E¡ª"


    "Right, I love you too¡ª"


    "S-Save that forter! W-We gotta clean her up¡ª"


    In any case, after a frantic scramble to the bathroom and a thorough clean-up, Kaley and I were once again alone in our room where I waspletely lying on my back as Kaley was on top, kissing me.


    At this point, she was just trying to get me to rx¡ªthough she was already wearing the strapless dildo she took off earlier¡ªand even if she asked if I wanted her to wear something smaller, I ain''t no fucking bitch though I was probably gonna regret that decisionter.


    But yeah, Kaley began to kiss me lower and lower until she reached my shaft, but this time, she was spreading my legs apart while her head was bobbing up and down. And obviously enough, she gave me a quick nce before her fingers entered my ass¡ªand Kaley kept blowing me with a tight grip on the base of my shaft while her fingers inside me began to move in and out.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "NNgh¡­ F-Fuck¡­ K-Kaley¡­"


    "Are you okay? W-Want me to slow down?"


    "N-No¡­ I-It''s¡ª"


    "It''s okay, you don''t have to t-talk¡­ y-you can even close your eyes and just feel everything¡­ Don''t worry, it''s just us here and I''ll be real good¡­"


    "A-Alright¡­ I-I love you¡­"


    "I love you too, Always¡­"


    At this point, Kaley found the same spot in my ass that made me squirm and groan¡ªand she kept hitting and hitting it while sucking and jerking me off, and it didn''t take long before I orgasmed.


    But yeah, Kaley kept going and going while swallowing everything that wasing out of me¡ªand I didn''t think I could cum this hard and stay fucking hard for what was about toe.


    Still, Kaley opted to give me a rimjob as she propped my legs up¡ªjerking me off with a two-handed reverse grip¡ªand going for as long as she could while looking me straight in the eye.


    I already relinquished all control to her, at this point, letting my cum drip on my chest as she had her way with me¡ªbut I already knew what was about to happen when she started to lube me and her friend, and assumed the position I''d always find myself in.


    "Y-You ready?"


    At this point, all Kaley had to do was push her hips in as she was already leaning over me and pressing her huge tits on my chest¡ªand once I gave her the go-ahead, she moved and pushed ever so slowly as my whole body tightened up.


    "F-F-F-F-Fuck¡ª"


    Just from looking at my face, Kaley looked like she had the hardest orgasm of her life as she got closer and closer¡ªbut now I could safely say how each of them felt now that she was inside yours truly. Honestly, it still felt weird and it definitely fucking hurts¡ªdespite all the fucking lube¡ªbut I once again felt this heavenly sensation when Kaley reached my prostate.


    "F-Fuck¡ª I-I think I-I''m cumming, Kaley¡ª"


    "W-What? A-Already?! S-Shit, you are¡ª HnnHGh¡­ D-Don''t look at me l-like that¡ª S-Shhhiit¡­ I''m¡ª I-I''m c-cuMmIng t-tooo¡ª F-FuCCKkk!!!"


    Within a few thrusts from Kaley, I didn''t think I''d cum this fucking fast but it was all these new fucking sensations and my body couldn''t fucking lie. With my dick just nestled between our abdominals, I just began spurting out ropes and ropes of cum¡ªwhile she was squirting at the same time¡ªand let''s just say that this night was like two virgin newlyweds'' first time with each other.

 Chapter 1253 Shackles Off - Ilana?!

    As Kaley and Iid on our sides facing each other, we just took a few seconds to catch our breaths before we exchanged a sweet kiss. After that, we were back to just looking into each others'' eyes and sharing a chuckle or a giggle without a single word.


    And yeah, once again, I could''ve said all sorts of things to justify what we did¡ªor even bring up Deadpool again¡ªbut fuck it, pun very much intended, I just know that it felt good and Kaley loved it, so there''s no shame that I felt after doing that or probably other things like this I''d do with her in the future.


    However, tears just started forming from Kaley''s eyes which got me instantly worried but she quickly waved me off telling me that she had just never been so happy.


    "R-Really? I-I''m sorry I''m that f-fast¡ª B-Been a while since that happened¡ª"


    "It''s not that, you doofus! I-I can''t believe that you¡ª we¡ª you know?! We didn''t even t-take long but WOW! W-We¡ª T-The connection and t-t-the¡­ it was just¡ª Ha¡­ H-Haa¡­ I-I can''t exin but t-tears just¡ª Fuck! I really love you, you know that right?! I-It''s like¡ª AGH!


    I can''t really exin! I-I-I wish I could put i-into words w-what I''m feeling right now I¡ª"


    As she was still in mid-exnation(?), I just leaned in and gave her a kiss once more and this time, itsted far longer¡ªand was definitely more intense, since it was orgasm-inducing for her¡ªand as I gave up my body for her, she gave up her body for me.


    While it was true that I imed her many, many times, the simple fact of us crossing off one activity in her bucket list of sorts brought our rtionship to the next level¡ªand sex just got even more amazing while the shackles from both parties werepletely off.


    It was totally different from taking E''s or anyone else''s first and as Kaley said, what we were both feeling was unexinable.


    At this point and for the rest of the night, I was the one pushing my dick inside her wet and tight pussy or her soon-to-be or already gaping ass, and I even thought that I''d rather starve than fucking pull out.


    It was just something above the physicality and the emotions¡ªmaybe just bothbined¡ªand it was the first time we fucking lost count of how many times we made each other orgasm akin to getting ck-out drunk but due to the most mind and body-shattering fuck.


    Then again, there was still one other time when I was at the receiving end of things but we''d justugh our asses off due to how quick we''d be done with it. I would''ve been embarrassing if it was with other people but Kaley and I would just resume whatever feels good and go from there.


    But yeah, we really didn''t feel the time passing because while we were doing our usual position with her on top and me inside her with my fingers in her other free spot, we felt a knock on the door followed by a gentle voice:


    "Morning~ The kids said that breakfast''s ready! Guys?"


    Kaley replied, "H-Ha¡­ O-Okay, Rin¡ª We''re c-cummMInNnG! F-Fuck! H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ W-Why''d you have to do that?!"


    I just gave her a face as I continued thrusting from below. But obviously enough, Rin realized what we were up to and she just replied softly as I heard more footsteps on the same floor.


    "U-Umm¡­ guys? Wait¡­ Ohh¡­ I-I''ll leave you two to it t-then¡­"


    But yeah, Kaley and I were just about to pick up where we left of when knocks poured in one after the other, and the obvious ones'' voices disturbed our overnight sesh.


    "HEY! I THOUGHT YOU HAVE HELL WEEK TO TAKE CARE OF, HUH?!"


    "At it this early morning?! Save some for us, will you?!"


    "We''re here too, y''know?"


    I pped back, "WE HAVEN''T SLEPT YET, SHADDAP!"


    "WHAT?!/ NO WAY!/ OPEN THE DOOR!"


    At this point, it was just pointless to continue but the look on everyone''s faces when they saw us covered in sweat¡ªand with just the smell of sex in the room¡ªwas fucking priceless. But yeah, it was then too that Kaley and I felt that we needed some fucking food or at least some water as the fatigue set in for fucking and making love for hours on end.


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she looked down on my still erect hog, "God fucking dammit, you''ll knock up Kaley first before me, you know?!"


    Kaley chuckled, "We''re very~ careful. If anything, I had my fill for a week¡ª I''d still join in butst night and today was fucking unbelievable¡­ I-I''m still surprised I can still feel my legs," then she turned to me, "You tired?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    I thought for a bit before I shook my head, "Kinda but not as much as I expected, you?"


    She nodded a few times, "Really weird but I felt like I slept for days! I''m sure it''d hit uster on but maybe I''m that hungry to feel drowsy?"


    "Maybe¡ª"


    Quinn cut in again, "Yeah, yeah~ Parade that lovey-dovey-ness of yours in front of everyone. If you could still maintain that, I''d love a shot before breakfast?"


    Kaley answered before I could reply, "I had my fill¡ª you guys have fun¡ª"


    "Kaley¡ª"


    "Hah! Toote to back down now! We''re showering together! JUST YOU AND ME!"


    Then all hell broke loose as each of them fought over me:


    "HEY! We''re here too!"


    "I-I am too!"


    "Me too!"


    "We haven''t been with him for a while too!"


    "Let us in!"


    Find exclusive stories on empire


    "We''re getting in one way or the other!"


    "SHADDAP! I DON''T CARE WHO COMES IN BUT I GO FIRST, GOT IT?!"


    "Sure./ Yeah./ I can live with that¡ª/ Hurry then!/ I call dibs on second!"


    "Noooooo~" I looked like I was dragged into the abyss as Quinn put me over her shoulder.


    In any case, yours truly persisted before we went down to have some breakfast though I definitely matched the amount of food Tatiana had on her tes because I needed to replenish all those burnt calories.


    However, little did I know the person in line behind me was actually fucking na and no one bothered to tell me that she already arrived with the same group asst time. I only discovered it was her when I handed her the serving spoon from my third te and she just gave me this cheeky smile after saying thanks.


    "What the fu¡ª na?! You''re here?"


    "Yeah? ''Sup?"

 Chapter 1254 The Good & The Bad - Digital Archeologist

    At this point, it felt like I didn''t have a firm grip on life as I kept being surprised one after the other but I guess I''m still lucky because June who was fucking right behind na got fucking stunlocked for a few seconds¡ªworst then when Mikhail firstid his eyes on Quinn.


    So yeah, I had to drag her alternative ass to our table¡ªwith the three other tes I have on one arm while na was just smiling as she followed us the whole time.


    And she greeted everyone before introducing herself to those who didn''t know her yet:


    "Umm¡­ Hi, I guess? I''m na, you could say I''m his remote ''tech support'' and since some of our objectives aligned properly, we decided to pay him and this ce a visit. It has been a while and this ce¡ª I mean the inside of thispound didn''t change at all but in a good and honest way¡­"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Well¡­"


    And from then on, everyone else in our circle introduced themselves and had a pleasant talk with na, whose demeanor was totally different thest time she was here. It was because she was like this demure gal who likes sweets and needed to be protected for some reason, but now, she''s chill as chill goes and she wasn''t even wearing a speck of body armor.


    ''Won''t let my guard down yet, she probably had a few knives here and there¡­ somewhere¡­''


    Then I was suddenly snapped out of my thoughts as na was literally snapping her fingers in front of me:


    "Yo, the fuck? If you stare too long, I might charge ya¡­"


    I quicklyposed myself as I finally took my first bite of food and swallowed it whole to assert dominance, "Eh. I pray with my eyes open now, sorry¡ª"


    "PFFT¡ª What the fu¡ª I did not expect that, have you been listening to me though?"


    "I was prayin'', sorry¡ª"


    "Riiight¡­ Anyway¡ª I got the files for the people you might be interested in taking in and I''m expecting a little thanks for giving you the full list. Our CO over there''s a little scummy with the way he wanted to hand out people but I managed to convince him from picking out the good ones and leaving you with the awful ones."


    "Oh! That''s really¡ª thanks! I owe you."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Jennifer cut in, "What kind of awful people are we talking?"


    na replied, "You know, people with records before AND/OR after the world ended. But if we wanna dial it down a bit, there''s a few in there I specially marked for fucking around while at work or have been caught stealing food from other peoples'' stash. Caught a few of them while I''m working the cameras."


    Tatiana cut in, "And the good ones?"


    "I mean¡ª you can put them pretty much anywhere and they''ll be thankful for a simple house and a simple meal but there are specialists like dentists, tutors, and even a circus performer."


    E''s eyes had never shone so bright, "C-Circus performer?! Like in Cirque du Soleil?!"


    na chortled, "Maybe? If they get discovered? There''s one who can handle snakes, there''s one with hypermobility, and there''s even one that could eat anything and regurgitate it back though that motherfucker''s in the naughty list. You can''t imagine the number of times he stole something and the owner doesn''t want it back because it''s been inside that fool."


    "Ugh¡­ Ew¡­"


    "I mean¡ª at the end of the day, it''s up to you to decide whether to find good even in the bad ones since they just need a ce to thrive, right?" Your journey continues with empire


    I nodded as I skimmed through the list in her tablet, "Of course¡­ Any soldiers though?"


    She looked apologetic, "Unfortunately, that''s something I can''t take away from our Captain. He took them all and what do you need them for?! You have¡ª *turns momentarily in Jennifer and Rachel''s location before pointing at them* You have them, right?! We should be the ones asking for¡ª"


    "Yeah, yeah, you pesky snoop."


    "Snoop?!"


    "I said what I said. Anyway, wouldn''t it be better if you bought some of them here? It''s much better than seeing their records, no?"


    "Well¡ª We actually came with them though that guy in the DDR Camp¡ª What''s his name again? Ferdinand?"


    "Ah. He''s that ce''s CO."


    "Who''s under your thumb."


    "Suuuure~"


    "Uh-huh. We brought around twenty handymen and handywomen with us who could help with anything though they do have an appetite. The Ferdi-guy already put them to work loading a few things in their trucks but I did make him promise to meet youter so you''d see them face to face. They''re the ones marked yellow in the list."


    "Just handymen, then?"


    "For now, yes."


    "Alright¡­ That''s a start¡­"


    "So, what now?"


    "What do you mean, ''What now?'' I still have to eat!"


    "Ah¡ª Right, right¡ª"


    Then June finally got the courage to introduce herself to na, "Umm¡ª H-Hi! I''m¡ª"


    Though na cut her off, "''Sup, June? I see you''ve been doing extra well here, huh? I''m sorry¡ª It''s nice to finally meet you offline, I like the vibe you''re carrying. I''m like you when I was your age."


    "R-Really?!"


    Quinn had to cut in, "Hold up, hold up, are you a celebrity or something?"


    na never shook her head so fast, "Gods, I hope not. We try to be anonymous but I guess it''s safe to say among our peers, just meeting any of us is a huge deal."


    Tatiana cut in, "Celebrity my ass, unlike me, she''s the real spy here if anything."


    Then everyone else eximed, "WHAT?!"


    na threw her hotdog at Tatiana but the glutton easily caught it with her mouth and even thanked her, "YOU¡ª I''m not a spy, alright?!"


    Tatiana never looked so happy, "God, I wanna say this phrase so much¡ª na, that''s something a spy would say. You even know who the fuck my benefactor is, stop spouting shit."


    "I just have a way of uncovering things unconventionally, alright?! I call it a digital archeologist!"


    "Uh-huh¡­ Riiight¡­ Riiight¡­"


    But yeah, at this point, my head''s already itching about what to do or prioritize because one, Hell Week is still in effect and two, I''m waiting on our engineers to finish up our Tamiya/Mine Cart to be able to use it on the train stations.


    And with na popping out from nowhere, I was fucking sure we''d have to discuss about the files she stole from the Eisenhower and the only reason she''s here aside from you-know-what was that she either found something or hit a brick wall.

 Chapter 1255 Not Again...

    In any case, we finished breakfast without issue though Raphael and Anthony were already itching to show me the finished product of the thing they kicked me out of after deliberating over and over with it. At the same time, our trainees/cadets/DS¡ªfuck it we''ll just call them trainees for now¡ªwere waiting for what I''d do with them since I had them for the day.


    But yeah, I made my way to our engineer''s main workshop¡ªwhich was Anthony''s house among a few other dwellings inside a smallerpound¡ªand saw the finished product.


    For a brief description, it''s what would look like if a minecart was stretched in a photo editing app and had a rebellious phase. It weighed over a thousand pounds¡ªmaybe even past double that number¡ªand the side bumpers and the stoppers can fucking do their jobs as intended.


    JP took a closer look, "So, we''re going back to Monumento?"


    Tatiana replied, "Kind of but everyone''s already made it to Abad Santos station."


    "That fast?"


    "We''re not babysitting you cadets so yeah, *points at me* he''s not there too to 100% each area so they definitely are faster."


    June added, "So by the time we get there they''re probably a station or two away?"


    "Probably."


    I turned to na, "You good postponing our meeting tillter?"


    She replied, "Got plenty of time, I''d just look around in here more¡ª We''ll leave tomorrow though so pleasee back tonight."


    "Okay, we''ll be back by sunset¡ª"


    "Wait, can I juste? I can fly another drone with June?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "You can say no, it''s just an idea."


    "If Harold allows it¡ª"


    "Pfft¡ª Harold?! He and Mylene can''t say shit to me now, I''m free as a bird! I''ll be in that Raptor of yours so don''t worry about me sneaking out."


    "Uh-huh. Do remember if you do something stupid and disappear on us I''ll have June shoot you in the leg before doing so¡ª"


    June couldn''t believe her ears, "W-What?! I-I can''t shoot her!"


    "Just the leg with a .22¡ª"


    "Hey! I''m not stupid! I have other reasons I came here, alright?! I won''t wander alone with those walking corpses."


    "Alright, alright¡­"


    With that said, it didn''t take long¡ª I mean, it took a couple of hours before we reached Abad Santos Station which was already locked up as suspected and one radio call told us that Artem and the rest were already clearing the way to get to Blumentritt Station.


    However, it was already apparent from the number of burn piles that the groups ahead were facing more and more of the dead so our smaller convoy decided to cut into a parallel road a block away from them to lessen the burden on at least one side of the road.


    It was very easy to spot where they were currently picking off dregs and from our side, we had a portion of the dead where their heads were turned back to us so we quickly took advantage as Tatiana took another group to face the other half head on.


    Using my TX22, I ran and gunned down a cluster at a time while lopping off heads with my katana¡ªand I only paused to either wipe my de with a torn cloth or reload. I would''ve assumed we''d face fewer dregs in this joint but we still underestimated the number of informal settlers around the area plus the way each of them migrate just by walking around aimlessly.


    In a sense, there were times they were like spreading butter on in bread that came from the fridge or the way the water in a pail reacts if you took a small cup from it.


    This time, it was thetter because the ones everyone else took care ofst time were replenished by the ones on standby. It might seem neverending just from the way they keeping but let''s just say we were trying to empty a bowl of water using a fork.


    A cluster of two dozen or so deadheads was just a drop from the entire poption around these parts and we just have to keep digging deep to make an obvious dent or impression.


    However, what we didn''t take into ount around this area was an elevated expressway that''s even higher than the Blumentritt Station and the noise we were making were making some of them drop down for the most fucked version of calling in reinforcements. And even if we could dig deep and see who''d run out of bullets or meatbags first, it wouldn''t hurt to get some information.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "June! Can you¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [T-There''s a lot! At least a few hundred concentrated on our point and almost the same number from the¡ª HOLY SHIT! THE ONE NEAR THE STATION SUDDENLY CAUGHT ON FIRE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Ah fuck¡ª That''s probably napalm! Nevermind! Just keep a closer look on our blindspots!"


    *bzzt*


    - Readtest stories on empire


    *bzzt*


    [WILL DO! WILL DO! THERE''S MORE ON JP AND SEB''S SIDE THAN YOURS ALREADY! RUBEN COULD HOLD IT WITH BRIAN OR BROWNIE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Jesus, it seems you guys don''t even need me here¡ª Oh! There''s a fast oneing from the high school! Give them backup!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NAH! JUST STAY THERE! WE CAN HANDLE THE DEAD HERE! WE''RE JUST A LITTLE SLOW BUT WE GOT IT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [THEN SEND SOME HANDS OUR SIDE! SPACE IS GETTING STEEP!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WOAH! DON''T SHOOT OVER OUR HEAD, KALEY! WE KNOW YOU''RE GOOD BUT FUCK! IT''S SCARY AS HELL!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [DON''T MIND HIM! THANK YOU, KALEY! YOU SAVED ME!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''M SORRY! HAD TO ACT QUICK!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [AH¡ª T-THANKS THEN! JUST GOT SPOOKED!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Obviously, I just didn''t bring the trainees with me since I had two other vehicles with us full of people including a truck wide enough to carry the mine cart¡ªand yeah, like na, Harold and Mylene came as back up including Matthew having another field trip with Lois and Olivia.


    And while we were taking care of the more important ones below, Lois had already started aiming for the ones in the expressway above because Kaley and his brother Jared already had a lock on the intersection.


    In any case, I had already advanced past the chunk of dead bodies on our side so I just ran to the area where arger group couldn''t fit in one street, and being on one side behind a few buildings was enough cover to not get clipped by the ones shooting from our main spot.


    But yeah, I noticed that the drone na was flying was sticking close to me, but my attention was caught by a literal waterfall made up of corpses from the farther side of the expressway.


    ''Not again¡­''

 Chapter 1256 Dive Bomb - Check again!

    Every time we drove around Man, almost all of them had the tendency to skydive just from anywhere. Thest time we noticed a simr urrence was when we visited one of the hospitals where we lost Kristoff and I was just happy at this point that they were justing from one spot.


    However, nothing seemed to be going on that spot so I really needed to have eyes over there to see what was going on.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "na, can you fly there?! Check what''s up, please! I''m set here, no need for visuals on myself!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [O-Okay!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Just flip the happy button there if you think you need an area to disappear! That''s to arm them! Press the happy button again for confirmation! Its range is as far as its normal connection!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What happy button?!]


    *bzzt*


    - Read exclusive content at empire


    *bzzt*


    "The drones have happy putty on ''em, what else?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Happy¡ª You mean C4?! We''ve been driving around with C4?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "The fuck are you so surprised about?! I''m more dangerous than C4!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Enough with the jokes¡ª HOLY FUCK THAT''S A BIG MAMA!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "What Big Mama¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    All of a sudden, I just had an inkling that na had already pressed the happy button once to arm the C4 on her drone¡ªand it didn''t take long before we heard an explosion with bits and pieces of rotting flesh as confetti. I would''ve been a little sad about our run-of-the-mill drones exploding into pieces but if a "Big Mama" were to explode with it, I guess I wouldn''t have any qualms.


    And right on fucking cue, June''s drone flew overhead the expressway and it didn''t even take a fucking second before I heard several curses of disgust as June used her drone to divebomb the same spot na did with our drone.


    Two explosions at once definitely turned several heads around this area and the one I was about to perform a lobotomy worthy of a malpractice suit turned around to where the explosion was. But yeah, with the sudden explosions came the halt of the dregs on the expressway from jumping to their third deaths but my fucking curiosity was killing me.


    June and na were still pairing up our backup drones to their controllers but it took everything from me to make sure that everything was okay on our side first.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What''s the Big Mama anyway?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Come back here and we''ll tell you! Don''te over there! Eugh! It gives me the heeby-jeebys!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I didn''t go! I''m still in the same corner aiming for backshots!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ew. That sounded dirtier than¡ª Nevermind¡­ Just imagine the most morbidly obese zombie that was getting feasted on by the dead¡ª Worse than a resident from McAllen¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [No, no, its babies were getting eaten¡ª but it''s also eating its c-children too¡­ Fuck, that''s disgusting! Why''s it so big?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, I could only rely on their testimonies and the footage our departed drones collected, but yeah, if I can''t see what was over there the deadheads walking away from me shouldn''t either.


    Since my TX22 had already ran out of bullets, I just opted to use my katana still with one hand while using a regr K-Bar knife with the other. I would''ve wished I brought my tanto with me toplete the weeb look but a knife''s a knife and as long as it could puncture heads and not break, I''d use it as many times as it takes.


    But yeah, I easily cleaved through a few dozen bodies on the street before anyone else from our group caught up to me.


    While killing zombies with one sh, I''d sometimes use my knife to dig it deep into a deadhead''s chest cavity before dragging it to somece else where a group needed to huddle up and tumble down. And with their low motor skills, it was already hard for them to get up and I''d easily take care of them with a boot stomp.


    And of course, the faster ones had already made their way to the scene of the explosions but I did make sure to snipe some of them with my rifle as their backs were turned against me. Because for some reason, the "Big Mama" was just a feeding zone for the dead even though it was one of their own.


    I''m not entirely sure if it was a new thing because we have seen bloated once before but they were almost always in secluded areas where the sun couldn''t shine.


    Also, we''d always see them getting brought over food¡ªnot being the food themselves¡ªand in the most fucked up sense, it was eating part of itself or part of its creation but it seemed like I forgot something crucial:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "na, how big was it again?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Easily over 800 pounds. It''s bloated as shit and it had a ton of babies still stuck in it. Like seven or so still with the umbilical cords attached were crawling around but there could be more inside. It''s in this open space where there are signs of buildings demolished. I''m not entirely sure but that''s what I saw before I sent the drone in.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Huh."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What now?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Nevermind. As long as its gone."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [With two C4s? Not a chance.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Still check."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [These ones have happy putty on them too?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Not the backups, no. Still check."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I heard you the first time.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, I was just feeling uneasy for some reason and this was almost always the tell-tale sign of trouble. But yeah, na and June flew severalps around the area and didn''t see shit¡ªbut I still kept arger radius of detection around me. It''ll only take a second of carelessness for any of us to warrant a bullet to the head and no one''s clocking out unless I fucking said so.

 Chapter 1257 Napalm Shots & Lost Babies

    In any case, I wasn''t sure if it was paranoia setting in but as time passed¡ªeven if we already reconvened with Artem and his team in the Blumentritt Station¡ªI''d still get the urge to look over the other side where na and June sent their drones to take care of a special and few dozen base jumpers without wearing any parachutes.


    Jared nudged me, "We can drive over there now, bro, if you want? These guys are gonna install the mine cart and it''ll be smooth sailing until D. Jose Station."


    "I¡ª"


    Bogdan cut in, "What''s wrong over in that side? Those C4s are not enough?"


    I replied, "You still got a barrel of napalm?"


    "Heh. Have three more in stock."


    "Can I take one?"


    "Sure¡ª Want a handful of pipebombs in your order, sir?"


    Kuzma cut in as well, "Want a group to climb on the expressway? We should at least shovel off the corpses this fuck set aze, right? I''ll kill whichever''s left too¡ª"


    I shook my head, "Not so fast. I feel something off¡ª"


    "Hah?!"


    "I''m serious. It''s the same thing when Kristoff¡ª"


    Discover exclusive tales on empire


    Instead of getting mad, Kuzma''s eyes lit up, "We have a Hulker in the midst?!"


    And yeah, as soon as the forbidden keyword was said, everyone else from their crew turned to us and I''m even gonna assume the three still in the hospital and the one in our radio station fucking did the same. Then again, I could still be mistaken and just wanted closure by seeing what remained from the explosion but it''s always better safe than sorry.


    So yeah, by leaving Morales to close up the station and make partial use of the mine cart, our main squad plus extra drove over to the site just under the expressway¡ªand on another note¡ªthe underside of the expressway had no dangling Stitchers waiting for a victim to consume or take control of.


    In addition, it just looked worn out despite the smidge or splotches of blood due to the explosion but reaching the actual st site didn''t answer or cate my suspicions either.


    Kuzma looked around disappointed, "Aside from the horde we cleared, there''s nothing dangerous here¡ªeven remotely."


    Bogdan scratched his head, "What if the C4 did it?"


    I started to scratch my head as well, "I could be wrong?"


    Bogdan snorted, "You? Get something wrong?"


    "I mean¡ª If I remember the shit I''ve seen from Iskoh''s office, there shouldn''t even be a sewer system hererge enough to contain a big one like the Hulker. And there''s no reason for it to attract the dead up top aside from the other big one na and June saw and blew up with the drones. Something still doesn''t feel right for some reason¡­"


    Katya chimed from the back, "It could be because it''s too easy."


    "Too easy?"


    "Remember when we faced that fuck face? It took everyone here to take it down and it''s a fucking struggle. We even lost Kristoff. And now, Hulker or not, it''s over with a couple of C4s. I''m not saying stic explosives are nothing but those are fucking C4s. I guess it would''ve been meaningful if we took it down with our bare hands but still feels iplete, no?"


    "Hmmm¡­ I guess so¡­ It would''ve been poetic to say the least. But I''d rather us all feel uneasy than to have something pop up out of the blue."


    Tatiana nodded as she made her injector axe hiss a few times, "Hmm. I still wanted to cut it down with this axe and see what happens. You fucks encountered a partial one and it worked wonders. I wanna see how this holds up with the same thing that killed Kristoff."


    Artem then joined in, "Listen to him, I''d rather we alle back in one piece. I''m all for revenge but I''d rather keep all of us than take down one of those things and lose one or more of us. Who knows how many of them are out there despite their low numbers? If anything *turns to Bogdan* Hey! Can''t we have a napalm shot?"


    Bogdan never looked so confused, "Napalm shot? What¡ª"


    My face never smiled so wide as I cut in, "Like a pipe bomb but with napalm inside. How much is in that barrel, at least a liter? Can we have something in a few ounces¡ª It doesn''t have to be like a pipe bomb, maybe even as big as a normal grenade just made for those fucks."


    Artem nodded, "It''s not C4 but it''ll be enough to burn through their skin and maybe, just enough time and distraction for us to finish them off ourselves. It''d be safer than fighting one head-on."


    JP cut in, "I thought Sir Bartow used acid as well?"


    Bogdan rolled his eyes, "Acid over napalm? Please¡ª"


    "I guess it''ll be more difficult to carry ss vials around than napalm that needed to be lit up first. It''s not like anything would stay still if we pour acid on their heads."


    "It''s just a matter of what we have avable and making sure it doesn''t get on us. Both are equally destructive for us. If we''re gonna whittle it down anyway, shouldn''t we just aim for its knees first? That worked the first time, right?"


    "I guess that''s true..."


    Then again, we still looked around for a bit to see if something like a Hulker was lurking around but yeah, Katya might be right and it''s not the uneasiness of something out there but just the feeling of not being able to deal with it with how much we''ve been preparing for it.


    Forgive the term but we''re getting fucking blue-balled by theck of something that could wipe us all out with one mistake but we really should count our blessings with their absence.


    Still, another way to look at it was if they weren''t here, they should be somewhere else but then again, their destructiveness would''ve been apparent and they would''ve been easily spotted so their actual chances of spawning or a regr deadhead turning to such things was very, very low.


    But on another note, they could all just be like the bloaters, hiding somewhere until they received enough stimulus¡ªeventually waking like a sleeping giant.


    With all the what-ifs inside my head, I just decided to put all that energy from thinking to actual use by ordering everyone to continue the clearing process of the LRT Line 1 Station and the area below it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    And yeah, on the other side of where the Blumentritt Station was located was a public market of sorts where all sorts of stalls or random types of bullshit were put up¡ªright on the road itself¡ªdefinitely barring anything from driving through without hitting any pedestrian.


    However, with the dead and light materials upying those streets, we just made use of our truck to do a fewps and just crunching of bones along with scrap wood resounded as Unc just ran everything over with a huge smile on his face.


    If it was any other day, it would''ve been several counts of hit and run but even I had intrusive thoughts of running all those people blocking the road over and over so that we could''ve just reached our destination much sooner.


    That road actually wasn''t meant to be blocked by vendors but the city itself grew tired of shooing them off every single day. While it was true that smaller vehicles could still pass through, it had just be an unwritten rule to not drive over there or else they''d get the ire of the illegal vendors peddling random bullshit just to get by.


    But yeah, right on thest fucking street to clear out, several dozen babies with umbilical cords ripped out of their stomachs just came from the alleys looking like it was the first time they tasted light.


    However, we couldn''t quite exin the situation when each of them started crying like they just came out of their mother''s wombs but the gunk on their bodies was their own skin rotting due to the curse of undeath.


    Moreso, I felt fucking goosebumps when they all stopped crying at the same fucking time before turning their heads to us and walking clumsily like toddlers would.


    I wasn''t sure if this was their means of attack but we can''t just let them get closer.


    Then again, if this was any other day, it would''ve been several cases of killing fucking babies but how I wish I could''ve painted a better picture when one of them tripped on its feet and bumped the one next to it, causing a crash.


    Because with the way their skulls weren''t fully closed shut and how their stumpy legs couldn''t provide useful mobility, what was left of the ones we didn''t shoot fell on their faces and whatever the fuck''s inside their tiny little heads spilled out from the top of their dome without issue.


    If this was a game, we would''ve gained several killbos due to making use of the environment but let''s just say not all of them had enough damaged brains since a few had to twitch in ce so yeah, we had to use our fucking boots to clear them out.


    It was just one of those times we wish we could''ve just faced regr dregs because let me tell you, their deformed skulls didn''t take much weight before they cracked from the pressure and these babies'' brain matter on my boots doesn''t feel that good either. And it''s not that even a great feeling poking it with a stick.

 Chapter 1258 DONT TOUCH THE PULP!

    While I''d agree thisst stretch was a little anticlimactic, there was something we forgot to take into ount. If what we witnessed an hour or so ago was true, these babies'' corpses were like fire from a moth''s perspective or the marbles from Hungry, Hungry, Hippos.


    And even though we weren''t 100% sure that we got the facts straight, it only took a few moments of reprieve before na and June shouted through our radio channel followed by Harold''s angry voice.


    -n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    *bzzt*


    [T-THEY''RE COMING! S-SAME NUMBER AS THE¡ª NO! THERE''S MORE THAN THE ONES WHO JUMPED FROM THE EXPRESSWAY ABOVE! W-WE GOTTA RUN!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [HOW?! W-WATCH OUT! A HERD FROM SULU AND ISAGANI¡ª FUCK! THERE''S RUNNERS FROM HUERTAS ROAD TOO! WHERE THE FUCK DID THEY COME FROM! WHAT DO WE DO?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WE''RE BOLTING OUT OF HERE! IT''S TOO DANGEROUS! YOU SHOULD''VE BEEN MORE CAREFUL!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [FUCKING PUSSY! THIS IS NOTHING! FIRE AWAY!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I ALREADY AM DIPSHIT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [SHUT THE FUCK UP! WAIT FOR THEM TO BE IN RANGE BEFORE THROWING OUR GRENADES!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [THAT''S WHY I''M SHOOTING FIRST, DUMBASS!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    In any case, everyone else from our channel started shouting at each other but as Artem''s group had just stated that they''ll try to cut off the furthest oneing from Huertas Road, I made sure to calm everybody the fuck down as I gave instructions:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "FUCKING LISTEN UP! HAROLD! BRING MY RAPTOR BY HIZON ST. TO KEEP JUNE AND ILANA AWAY FROM THE HORDE WHILE EVERYONE ELSE DIGS DOWN! EVERYONE HERE WITH ME RUNS TO CATIBANG ST. TO MEET THE ONES BY SULU ST TO HAVE A KILL POINT!


    YOU FUCKS PUT AS MUCH DENT AS YOU COULD BY THE ONES COMING FROM SULU ST AND WE''LL FACE EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME AS WE ARRIVE! UNC! JUST CIRCLE AROUND LEONOR RIVERA ST. AND LOOP BACK TO MEET WITH HAROLD! AND PREPARE US A BUCKET OF WATER! DON''T ASK JUST DO IT!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    And at that point, everyone else quickly shut the fuck up as we heard the group at the back reverse or run towards the specific spots while some of them had already flicked on the happy switch and fired at will at the onesing from Sulu St.


    On the other hand, my group just quickly turned tail and ran to not get swept up by the horde but I''m pretty sure with the bits of babies on our boots, they were our main targets right until we washed them off.


    But yeah, it''s not like our only problem was the horde because a handful of quadruped deadheads dropped down from the roofs or crashed outside the ss windows of some stores we passed by¡ªbut with me leading at the front, they could just kiss their fucking heads goodbye.


    "W-WATCH OUT!"


    With my first victim, it had onlynded from the roof but it lost its bnce as I shot off one of its kneecaps sticking out from the side and a quick swipe from my de nicked the side of its head, and ck goo just oozed out from the open wound.


    And right after that, the next one who came at me from the side fucking missed its lunge because instead of going from 0 to 60, I suddenly went from 60 to fucking zero.


    Stay connected via empire


    The only damage I received was the waft of rot and decay mixed with BO, trash, and some Hennessy. However, it justnded in two pieces as my de came in abruptly, going through its flesh and bones like a hot knife through butter.


    Its enviable waistline didn''t do it much good since it offered little resistance whatsoever¡ªand even if I could still cut straight through its thick thighs¡ªit wasn''t worth the effort and it wasn''t the fucking time to show off.


    Then again, everyone else did their own part though Kaley couldn''t offer her expertise of thinning down dregs with her rifle since she had to be in a static position to shoot deathly urate with it because right now, we were still mobile though a few quick stops to do a Run-Pause-Gun instead of a Run&Gun was her work around.


    In any case, Tatiana was still bringing the rear¡ªan equally dangerous position at the moment¡ªbut it seemed like the front would be a little more dangerous since the Ferals'' little interruption caused us a few seconds, making the hordeing from Isagani street show up.


    It would''ve been perfect if we funneled both hordes at one spot¡ªas the third one was being held by Artem''s group¡ªbut since I already knew their target was either us or the remnants of the babies we stomped on, I took out the only item in my misceneous back and threw it over the street corner where they wereing from.


    "KALEY¡ª"


    "I SAW! I SAW!"


    Then I picked up my radio:


    -


    *bzzt*


    "DON''T WORRY ABOUT US! TAKE CARE ON THAT SIDE! RETREAT IF YOU WILL!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    And right as I finished the transmission, the barrel of napalm just exploded on top of the heads of the deadheadsing from the street corner¡ªand since most of them had to slow down because of the curvature of the road¡ªa good number of them clumped up at the spot where I threw the barrel and they instantly caught fire, spreading the intense heat and mes to anything it touched.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [WHOA! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "FOCUS ON YOUR END! THEY''RE ATTRACTED TO OUR SPOT BUT BE CAREFUL OF IRREGULARITIES!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [W-WE GOT IT, NO WORRIES!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    At this point, it would''ve been badass to cleave down burning walking corpses but I''m not a fucking dumbass so I sheathed my de and holstered my .22 LR pistol before proceeding to pull up my rifle. Then again, we were now trying to hold our position while hundreds of dregs were trying to eat us alive, but this was the most optimal position for Kaley as she took down dregs one after the other.

 Chapter 1259 What. In the actual. Fuck…

    While it was true that I still had other decent shooters with me like Ibarra, Tatiana, and even JP and Seb¡ªwho were with us at the moment like Brownie and Brian¡ªeven I went back to my pistol and katana to join Tatiana in the rear and just ordered Ibarra and JP to provide backup with their M16/AR-15 while Kaley was trying to reload.


    Even so, Kaley''s mechanics allowed her to do a full reload in a fraction of a second if she didn''t have to rece the mag and put it back in her chest rig¡ªmeaning, just letting it fall down¡ªbut as of this moment, there were a few clusters appearing from the far end or the other side of the street we were in.


    "Can I shoot at them? Haven''t had much practice with this one," Seb asked with his AR-15.


    At this point, most of us were voluntary sitting ducks as Kaley was making a wall of corpses with JP and Ibarra at the front. It would''ve been a better idea to head to the other end of the road right about now but it would have been a waste for the opportunity the barrel of napalm provided as those burnt corpses wouldn''t even need so much as a lead projectile to the head. Discover stories at empire


    Because most of the deadheads Kaley was putting down were either Sprinters or Runners because the ones who were a tad slower would just crumble down afteryers of their skin got toasted as its insides got cooked from the fire.


    But yeah, once Seb started to pick off the ones further back, it was pretty obvious I''d been making them do melee work too much or he''d just need a little more confidence. While it was true he''d hit his targets dead-on 70-80% of the time from 100 meters away, he''d have some trouble with realigning each shot for a smoother transition.


    Then I heard June''s voice on the radio:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [H-HEY! THE ONE ON YOUR SIDE''S ALMOST DONE FOR! I CAN SEE EVERYTHING FROM ABOVE! WE''RE JUST CLEANING UP HERE TOO! THERE''S STILL MORE COMING BUT I-IT''S NOT AS COMPARABLE TO THE ONES WHO PICKED UP THE SCENT OF WHATEVER ATTRACTED THEM HERE!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, alright, and on Artem''s side?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We got two barrels of napalm here, brother-man, what do you think? They''re all just running to their deaths!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Forget I asked¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    But yeah, this must''ve been the most stupid shit to do at this point but I started pickup up casings off the ground and putting them in the pouch where I had Bogdan''s barrel of goodness. Even if I was given weird looks by my current team, especially Brownie, I quickly shut him down by picking the casings instead.


    "REALLY?! NOW?!"


    "It''s an order, shut up."


    "BUT¡ª AGH! I DIDN''T EVEN SAY ANYTHING!"


    "Uh-huh. Still, it''s an order. Pick everything up."


    "F-Fine¡­"


    "Here''s the pouch¡­"


    "Alright¡­ Dammit¡­"


    Slightly bullying the new trainee aside, I still kept a watchful eye of the surroundings despite our drones flying overhead¡ªbut looking back at the stomped at corpses and the bodies of the horde we somehow attacted, it seemed like this "bait" or "lure" of sorts only had a set time where it could be in effect.


    But yeah, we''d still need to be sure about our assumptions so after everything settled down, rtively speaking, I thought of two ideas where the first one was already fucking stupid while the second was more stupid and probably more dangerous than the first.


    "Umm¡­ W-Why are you emptying our cooler? Don''t you¡ª" Lee asked.


    I turned to Ruben, "Empty your cooler too, put everything in ours."


    "W-What for¡ª Nevermind, sir¡ª Just a sec."


    JP cut in, "Samples, right?"


    I chuckled, "Points to Slytherin! Yeah, we''ll fill one with those babies'' remains¡ªsince we didn''t have the chancest time but the second will be umm¡­ let''s just say a scavenger hunt of sorts. It''s a low chance but if we go in the buildings they were in we might get luck and find some live ones¡ª"


    Tennyson had to argue, "While they''re still clearing the station?"


    I waved him off, "We had too many people at the same spot. Why do you think we''re here? The mine cart was too effective on the rails once the dregs from the station tforms cleared off. Add to that the pitchfork buff. But yeah¡ª Wait, you''re right¡­ But¡­ It''s not like we can just leave them there¡ª Hold up, I got a better idea¡­"


    As surprised as Tennyson was for being right, I pulled up my radio once more to contact Iskoh.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Sup, Daddy, you there?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I know you''re there you fucking asshole, answer me!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [...]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Jesus fucking christ¡ª I can see Jude right fucking behind you¡ª"


    *bzzt*n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    -


    *bzzt*


    [What the fuck¡ª No, he''s not¡ª OH SHIT! JUDE THE FUCK ARE YOU¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    In any case, after Mayor Iskoh took a few to calm himself down, we got a special delivery from their side and it was in the form of a punk-ass ice cream truck. The fucking ice cream truck looked like it came from Twisted Metal or just straight up from Quinn''s Family because it had all sorts of spike attached to it and a DIY metal de from a bulldozer.


    But while it was still in transit, we had our group spread out while I came inside one of the buildings with Tatiana, Brownie, and Lee¡ªstarting our search for an alive dead baby.


    From the top of my head, it could''ve been the noises they made when they saw us¡ªand even though we didn''t hear a cry the first time this sort of attracting phenomenon happened¡ªit was a matter of the term, "If a tree fell in the forest and anyone wasn''t there to hear it, did it make a sound?"


    However, we might''ve just found the reason of the abundance of babies in this joint and something in between them.


    "What. In the actual. Fuck¡­"

 Chapter 1260 The floor is a meat carpet-- mattress-- patty--

    Out of all the things we''d see from this ce¡ªthough I''ve heard of this thing before hidden around these parts¡ªwe stumbled upon an illegal abortion clinic AND a prostitution den like a two-for-one deal hidden behind a ce that makes processed foods like hotdogs, bologna, etc.


    I would''ve understood the dried blood all around but why the fuck was there more in the smallest sector in this whole fucking warehouse?!


    It was like these fucks decided to hole up from the time it hit since the amount of food here could''vested them years but something definitely went wrong somewhere aside from the hundred or so pounds of rotten food that thawed the moment the power went out.


    ''But the door to this food section should''ve been secure too aside from that area if they holed up in here¡­''


    Brownie couldn''t believe the shit we were seeing as he said, "You guys seeing this shit, right?! What the fuck?! Eughh¡ª The smell! Worse than pits and ass!"


    I rolled my eyes, "I dunno what kind of ass and pit you''re smelling but it''s been¡ª Ugh¡­ Fuck it, I can''t even joke about this shit¡­ The venttion''s fucked up¡ªwe need to have someone to bring a porta-genny here¡­ Make sure the fucking masks stay on even if it barely helps."


    "Fuck it, I''ll put five in my mouth if I could¡ª"


    "That just sounds wrong¡ª"


    "What¡ª"


    "Pfft¡­"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Then June''s voice echoed from our earpieces:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You guys okay there?! J-Just give us a signal, alright?! Don''t turn off your radios!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Of course, of course¡ª We''ll bolt the moment we feel something wrong. We already used the RC cars to scan around, something should''ve reacted to it."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Do you want us to send more people? Kuzma wants toe with you¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "If you send more people, we''d have to fight anything that pops out in here, space is too cramped and I doubt there''s a hidden maze here unless there is. That''s why it''s called hidden, no?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You¡ª don''t even joke about that stuff! I''m¡ª We''re worried!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We''ll be fine don''t worry, I''ll drag his ass out if he does something stupid.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "If anything, we should be luring it out and then fighting it in the open. Whatever the fuck spawned all those babies."


    *bzzt*


    -


    Lee cut in, "Speaking of that, where''s the mother or mothers? It''s just a carpet of meat paste here¡­ Should we go in? We checked this freezer room long enough¡­"


    I turned to her and gave her a proud look, "Nice analogy but the dead don''t produce milk anymore, right?"


    "And?"


    "I mean, their decay had slowed dramatically but sooner orter, some of them would turn to goop, right? Then¡­"


    "You mean¡ª"


    "Yep. If the mothers could eat their babies why not the other way around¡ª It''s not like they can''t suck the goop from the bones¡ª"


    "Ugh¡­ Fuck, I''m gonna be sick¡­"


    Brownie added, "Wait¡ª How could they have fit in all those m-meat in such small bodies?"


    Tatiana answered for me, "Have you seen their stomachs ripped open? While some of them still had the umbilical cords on ''em, it was just an endless supply of human sludge if they couldn''t digest it. We''ve seen this type of thing before but not in babies¡­ an endless loop you''d hate to see¡­"


    "Well, there goes my lunch¡­"


    But yeah, as we took a closer look at the meat carpet, it didn''t take long before we discovered that it was more like a meat mattress. It was because once I tried to flip a piece over by pushing my knife in, I didn''t even get to the bottom of the floor as my knife kept sinking right up to my fingers, making me pull back in disgust.


    "Whelp¡ª I guess that''s my fucking lunch too¡ª No pudding for a while¡­"


    "What in the actual¡ª How deep is that floor?!" Brownie eximed.


    I shook my head as I pulled out my katana, "Good thing we haven''t entered it yet¡­"


    In any case, as I pushed my katana down the meat mattress, it soon became apparent that it was more like three mattresses on top of each other as I hit the floor and felt some odd bones here and there.


    The feeling was fucking worse than touching rice that had gone bad in the pot or touching the gunk that was stuck on the drain of the sink after washing the dishes.


    But yeah, my OCD brain was already making me itch all over and this was the first of many buildings where the dead babiese from. However, I suddenly felt a tug on the tip of my de still dipped in this triple-mattressbo and I had to put my foot by the door and grip tight with my hand so I wouldn''t get pulled in.


    Lee eximed, "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!"


    Your next chapter is on empire


    "JUST SHOOT!"


    "JUST LET GO!"


    "I TOLD YOU TO SHOOT! FUCK¡ª TATIANA! IT''S PULLING TO THE LEFT! AIM THERE!"


    "YOUR ARM¡ª"


    "JUST SHOOT!"


    Just to act upon my orders, Tatiana unloaded the full magazine tube of her Benelli M4 to the spot I pointed at because yeah, there''s no fucking chance I''d let go of my de even if it fucking kills me and yeah¡ª I''ve never let go of it a single time in my life unless it was for a trick or I was willingly handing it over.


    It''s just that if Tatiana had taken a second more, I would''ve been pulled into the gunk as I felt the strain on my forearms and my legs. I would''ve been able to rip that shit up if I wasn''t caught off-guard because right now, I only had a quarter of a brace and a single arm to pull against it.


    But yeah, Tatiana probably hit the target since I was able to free my de as I almost stumbled on my ass, and as soon as I regained my footing, a couple of pipe bombs were already being lit between my fingers because of the audacity of the bitch that tried to pry my de off me.


    "GRAB THIS YOU SON OF A BITCH¡ª"


    And right as I threw it inside the meat pit, I definitely saw the floor move but I wasn''t able to see it emerge because everyone else had already taken cover¡ªsince the door to that ce open from the inside¡ªand Tatiana pulled me to the side right as the bombs exploded.


    "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT¡ª"


    *BOOOOOOM*


    And right on cue, everyone in our channel wanted to know what was going on but all four of us inside weren''t responding as we already had our guns aimed at the entrance¡ªwaiting for anything to move. But yeah, there''s no chance in hell I''d stir the pot with my de again but we did call for another person to provide us a particr ingredient for the most fucked Mole I''ve ever seen.


    It dide close to certain color schemes of the Mexican food but I doubt it''d taste good unless someone like Hannibal tasted it.


    Bogdan ran in with a huge smile in his face, "Arson?"


    I just nodded as I took the can of gas from his hands, "Arson."


    Because yeah like in The Office, Season 7, Episode 19, Minute 14:45, I should''ve burned this ce down then I had the fucking chance.


    It was because as we were searching this building, Artem led his own team with Katya, Hooper, and Marina¡ªand they had already found a dead baby "drowning" in an aquarium filled with dead lobsters. I would''ve loved to see things from their perspective but we''ll get to that after taking the footage from their bodycams.


    All we knew was that they found one and it was already in one of our coolers. I just didn''t want toe back empty-handed though a son of a bitch did try to take something off my hands.


    But Bogdan almost lost his shit when he saw Brownie and Lee holding fire extinguishers we found in the building, "W-What''s that for?! I thought¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Hold your horses, they''re just good fire extinguishers, we had to put the fire out once it got bigger and bigger, right? Even one of the fire trucks is headed here."


    "I thought the firewall was good? Can''t it contain the fire just here?"


    "I mean¡ª We don''t want to burn down the whole block. The fire truck is just for insurance, we just burn that particr room and block it off with these plywood and sheet metal from the side and let it you know¡­ cook for a minute or so."


    "Fuck it, I guess we still need the scraps from the other buildings."


    "You call them scrap, I call them treasures."


    "Yeah, yeah¡­"


    With that said, after I let Bogdan create a controlled fire, we cooked whatever was inside it for a bit before we carefully removed the DIY door. And yeah, we already had the vents working by using a portable generator to give power to this building¡ª and things went on as they should as we were left with a burnt patty the size of a small room.


    ''Now that thing''s well done¡­''


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before Iid my eyes on the baby Artem had on their cooler, and as some sort of insurance, Artem ripped off its jaw and pulled out its tongue before putting it in. We don''t know the actual reason why but even if it was still in the open, it didn''t attract the dead likest time.


    "So, it''s really sound?"

 Chapter 1261 Fastback - Chicken Legs

    As soon as I asked that, Katya threw over a separate trash bag that contained bits and pieces of a dead toddler in which they''d already crushed its skull. It would''ve caused panic among everyone else but it seemed like even if these babies had the ability to attract the dead to their location, every other deadhead in their radius was already taken care of or wasn''t tantamount to anything.


    Isaac scratched his head from the side, "We did encounter a handful heading in this direction even if we didn''t make much noise¡ª"


    Tennyson disagreed, "We still made noise earlier, that doesn''t count. Or at least I think it doesn''t. It could''ve been the slower ones that didn''t make it as fast or the ones further away."


    Isaac rolled his eyes, "You really wanna disagree with what everyone says, huh?"


    "Just giving out possible options, no harm intended."


    "Haaa¡­ You''re pretty stiff¡­ Loosen up¡ª"


    "How about no?"


    "Sure¡­ Suit yourself, buddy¡­"


    In any case, we still put the coolers inside the ice cream truck''s working freezer and we had it delivered to Iskoh''s Main HQ. And it was then that we took the time to clear the streets of our mess and loot the surrounding buildings for anything worth a second look.


    And yeah, aside from the few surprises we encountered, nothing much followed after aside from picking where everyone else left off from keeping the streets clean.


    While it was true that it felt like we were trying to mop the floor while it was flooding, we just had to keep going and going and going until there was nothing left.


    And yeah, not everyone who ventured outside and tried to do the same thing as us had enough resources or even manpower to have several burn piles from handling the dead so it was up to us to clean up for them because decaying bodies'' random-ass particles in the air was already a no-no before the world ended, how much more diseases could we contract now?


    ''I mean¡ª it''s not really airborne or anything or else we''d already have everyone turn from a whiff¡­''


    Then I turned to my group, "What have we uncovered from the shops?"


    Marvin answered, "Almost every corner here is a hardware store though we scored some really nice tires. We loaded most of them on the truck where we put the mine cart though Ashley found boxes and boxes of clothes from this thrift shop. Should we haul it too?"


    "Go ahead," I said before turning to JP, "How about you?"


    "Well aside from the couple of shotguns we got from the guards on that bank, we found seven pistols, three shotguns, and a rifle from that barangay hall over there along with their drives and some important records from their archives. Oh¡ª We found three boxes of instant noodles and a cart of canned goods in that PC store too."


    "Tennyson?"


    "We got a bit of everything else but we took all the car batteries from all the auto shops we broke into plus some random knick-knacks for our vehicles."


    "Eden?"


    "Same-same, honestly. We followed after Tatiana so we mostly picked up casings and other stuff we had to dig through the corpses¡ª I mean their belongings. Some phones, makeup, IDs to identify them¡ª Oh! Some clean sheets too and some thick boots for hiking! We got them from that drive-in hotel by the corner near that bank."


    I nodded a few times, "Alright, alright, I wish we could take everything from here so let''s continue helping Morales with the next station. It''s much closer so we just do our thing and skim from the shops or any other ces we can loot shit from, good job, everyone. We''ll divvy up the pileter but don''t get your vehicles too heavy or encumbered, alright?"


    With that said, once we arrived by the Tayuman Station, aside frompeting banks at every corner, we came across a block where several buildings of DOH(Department of Health) were along with a few public or private hospitals only a building or two away from each other.


    Explore more at empire


    In addition, several pharmacies or shops that sell OTC medicine or other medical supplies were present¡ªthough partially looted, but still, a scavenger''s wet dream.


    However, out of all the ces to break into while clearing the streets of the dead, Quinn had to park us right in front of this powerlifting gym she spotted from god knows how away and decided for it to be our spot where we''d put in our perimeter.


    "Seriously? A gym?"


    "Why not?! And excuse me, that''s a powerlifting gym, StudMaster 6000, not one of thosemercial gyms with casual lifters! We''d find all sorts of good shit in that¡ª HOLY FUCK!"


    "What now?!"


    "You''re kidding me, right?! Check the fucking driveway! That''s a fucking¡ª THAT''S A FASTBACK, DUMBSHIT! WE HIT THE FUCKING JACKPOT!"


    June had to cut in, "W-What''s that? You talking about that old car?"


    Quinn couldn''t believe her ears as she stared at June like a fucking idiot, "You''re lucky I fucking like you, or I''d be putting all the Olympic bars we find in that gym AND UP YOUR ASS!"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "I-I''m sorry! I-I don''t know much about cars!"


    "START NOW! THAT''S A FORD MUSTANG FASTBACK! AND WE DON''T CALL THEM OLD! WE CALL THEM CLASSICS, RIGHT?!" Quinn shouted at the top of her lungs as she turned to me.


    I chortled as I gave my support to June instead, "It''s a ''67 model so¡­ you know¡­"


    "h, h, h~ You''d still stick your dick in it given the chance¡ª"


    "Hah?! I''d fuck YOU in that car, not the car itself!"


    "THEN LET''S FUCKING CLEAR THAT GYM SO YOU CAN FUCKING DO IT, PUSSY!"


    "If that''s just transmogrified, I''ll¡ª"


    "What? English, buddy?"


    "You know, what if it''s just a body kit to make it look like one? It somehow looks off¡ª"


    "You¡ª AH, FUCK! IT IS! THE DIMENSION ARE ALL FUCKED! LET''S JUST¡ª FUCK OUTTA HERE ROTFACE! WE''RE BUSY!"


    Quinn never hit a deadhead so fucking hard that she ripped its head out of its socket and sent it a block away as the rest of its body was still upright. However, as impressive as it was, the ones that came out of the powerlifting gym didn''t take too kindly to the noise we were creating.


    One by one,rger-than-normal deadheads came walking out awkwardly but as soon as each of us looked a few inches down, the disappointed look we gave at their leg gains was fucking miserable.


    Everyone thought we''d be in for some trouble but Kaley and Jared instantly busted up one of these gym rat¡ª no, gym mingo''s knee caps and their top-heavy body copsed on themselves.


    "That''s just fucking sad."


    "Their legs?"


    "What do you think?"


    "I mean¡ª they probably hadn''t worked out in a while¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª PFFT! HAH! FUCK YOU, GET BUSY SO I CAN SEE WHAT WE COULD DO WITH THIS FUCKING FAKE!"


    "Leave that car for a minute¡ª Fuck it, I can take care of these fucks alone anyway."


    In any case, while my main group spread on each side of the road to create a perimeter, I dove in as Tatiana followed behind as my spotter.


    My first victim was another chicken-legged schmuck who instantly lost a foot of height¡ªas I took care of its legs¡ªbefore it toppled to the back for easy pickings. After that, my second victim ate my cold de beginning from its chest to its throat before I twisted my de to the side and cleaved half of its pectoral muscles as I pulled my de out another way.


    It was already a surprise that these fucks retained some muscle but unless they were as rigid as Hulkers, it was just a few inches or centimeters of dead flesh that I could easily cut through.


    But yeah, we thought it''d be a difficult encounter but it seemed like using their twig legs to get out of their safe zone took everything from it and they couldn''t even lunge or so much move past 2nd gear. One sudden juke I performed caused one wearing a muscle tee that stuck to its body like a wet burger wrapper literally broke its knees and tumbled down for an easy downward stab.


    Furthermore, their turning radius was fucking worse than a five-ton truck because as Tatiana dove into three deadheads and aimed for the one in the center a bit further back, the other two took approximately ten seconds toplete a turn¡ªand each of us took them out before taking care of the other ones.


    "That''s what happens if they don''t do leg day¡ª"


    "Enough jokes, there are serious lifters inside. Can you see them?"


    "Ah¡ª Fuck."


    Because as we peered inside the broken stained ss of this gym we saw a handful of deadheads that definitely looked like they took gear before they sumbed to something that would grant them the curse of eternal death.


    "Are they¡ª"


    Tatiana shook her head, "Not a chance."

 Chapter 1262 Missing People - Ammonia

    Right from the fucking get-go, each of the ones inside waiting for us to get rid of their gym bros whomitted crimes started to perform a running stance. They put one of their legs back as their bodies lowered, keeping tension in their legs before suddenly bursting through the tinted ss windows.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    However, two lead projectiles from Kaley and Jared took out the first couple who got out while Tatiana and I almost did the same from a much closer range.


    And with a red puff of bloodbined with an entry and exit wound, as their bodies sprawled on the floor, we didn''t even think twice toe in and go toe-to-toe with the remaining buff monsters wearing clothes that entuated their arms and legs.


    Using my katana with both hands, I took in a bit of air to brace my core to deliver a fatal strike which included a sudden entry from the top of its head then an exit from its right pectoral muscle. I could''ve aimed it in a way for an easier diagonal sh but those were just the ces this buff deadhead needed to work on.


    In any case, it seemed like body-shaming them this way made me the center of attention so as one gym thot tried to dive in for my calves¡ªwhich was totally not my weakest part¡ªit ate the tip of my de before having my boot make it lose some of its teeth as I pushed it back for some space.


    However, another bitch wearing spandex went in for Tatiana''s blindspot but before I¡ªor even Kaley or Jared¡ªmanaged to step in, a fucking tire came out of nowhere and the bitch suffered some head injury as its face hit the ground hard.


    "GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, THE INSIDE IS FUCKED TWO! THIS SHIT IS EVEN USING STOCK BRAKES! ALL THIS CAR WITH LESS SUPPORT! I BET ITS OWNER''S ONE OF THOSE CHICKEN LEGS! AGH!"


    Tatiana took a step back to thank her with a nod but Quinn didn''t even realize she saved her.


    But yeah, I guess we weren''t taking this "Fastback" home but Quinn had already joined the fray and made meat paste with her huge-ass weapon. With one swing, she''d end the fight and probably do more damage to that body''s soul for its next life.


    Because yeah, my katana doesn''t even go above two kilograms(4.4~pounds) yet depending on what Quinn had on her polearm/halberd hybrid, it was ten kilograms(22~pounds) minimum.


    Even if some people say that big things came in small packages, I still wouldn''t get hit with a full swing of that huge-ass weapon.


    "HAH! HOW REFRESHING IT IS TO HIT SOMETHING THAT''S MY HEIGHT!"


    "YOU''RE STILL TALLER THAN THEM!"


    "YOU WOULDN''T UNDERSTAND, SHORT STOP!"


    "HEY! EASY WITH THE NICKNAMES, JEEZ!"


    "JEEZ ON DIZ NUTS!"


    "THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO YOU¡ª FUCK IT! YOU CAN''T EVEN SQUAT 405 ASS TO GRASS ANYWAY¡ª"


    "THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "HEY, YOU! FUCKING TAKE THAT BACK! I SQUAT 585 FOR REPS!"


    "NOT HIGH BAR!"


    "YOU FUCKING PRICK! COME BACK¡ª WHOA!"


    All of a sudden, these fucks who seemed to have more mobility than regr dregs¡ªbut still with the same fatal weakness¡ªstarted to get more and more eager to take us down.


    It was in the literal sense of tackling us to the ground like the gym thots who tried aiming for our ankles and calved but this time, one of the bigger dead dudes performed a Spear by lunging in and trying to tackle us to the ground.


    However, despite all their mobility, each of us who were still living had this definite advantagepared to their increased strength.


    And with their added weight, we''d have to be caught off guard for them to sessfully perform a takedown¡ªand in addition, they''d have to be that mobile to dodge a bullet from an almost point-nk range.


    It was because when they started doing human strats, each of us pulled a pistol and used tech that was impossible for them to use at the moment¡ªand everything just went downhill for them. They already were given the chance to fight us close up even though we still had shooters from the back but yeah, everything''s fucking fair in love and war.


    It took us maybe three more minutes toplete the perimeter though putting these fucks in one pile took more time because of their weight.


    ''I mean¡ª I bisected some of them so¡­ I guess that helps?''


    Then I heard Iskoh''s voice through our channel:


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Hey, kid, I heard you''re by the DOH buildings?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah, why do you ask?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [I''m gonna send some people over¡ª do you mind keeping an eye out for a few people?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "What are you on about?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We lost some people there and haven''t been able to retrieve their bodies. They came in a red moving truck for a supply run and we haven''t heard from them for a few. We''ve been meaning to retrieve their bodies to be burnedter but we just got caught up in doing several things¡ªwhich includes my sudden visit to your ce.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, we''ll wait for your men and I''ll call you when we spot the truck you''re talking about. Do you have any identifying marks or uniforms for them? Anything peculiar about their clothes or appearance?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [You have a tech with you? I can have someone send over a picture through your rys?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, go ahead."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [They''re sending now, five people in total,st transmission we received was that they stopped by the DOH''s gymnasium, where are you guys at?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''re by this gym across the DOH Center¡ª I think the gymnasium''s on the other side of the street. Just a bit past the Tayuman station and right under it."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [That''s the ce. Have you received it yet?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    I turned to June and na and they just gave me the thumbs up.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Yeah. No guarantees we''ll find them, okay? We have other groups clearing and we can''t just sift through a horde of bodies. But if we find the truck, we''ll just hand them over to ya."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Alright, that''s fair. But yeah, even a small keepsake to take back. That''s all I ask.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "We''ll try, we''ll try¡­ But again, no promises."


    *bzzt*


    -


    But yeah, I let our two techs give a detailed description of what these five people looked like as best as they could before I followed Quinn inside this gym she was so excited to have a look at.


    To our surprise those gym bros and gym thots we finished off actually holed up in this ce for maybe at least a few months before they sumbed to this ce''s cancer. I could see how they put up a few barricades in ce for the way to the 2nd floor¡ªbut doing that type of shit just wouldn''t be up to my standards.


    It could''ve been their only method of survival but even if it worked for a few months for them, the end result just proved my point.


    ''I mean¡ª The tinted windows might''ve helped but the moment it breaks¡­ Should''ve picked a better location¡­''


    Still, from the short time they were here, they managed to hoard a lot of essentials or items to live day-to-day or to protect themselves. But yeah, we still took care of a few remnants stuck inside but Quinn was just like a kid in an amusement park from the things she uncovered from their storage room.


    "WHA¡ª OH SHIT! THIS ARE THE PREMIUM STUFF! THESE PROTEIN BARS ARE¡ª BROOOO! I LOVE WHAT CLYDE MAKES BUT SBD SHIT ARE LEGIT¡ª Eh, fuck this shit, nothing''s ever my size with those fucks¡­ Really had to make Clyde custom-made all my gear!"


    I chuckled as I pointed at a few things that could still work with her, "How about those straps and wrist wraps?"


    "Eh. Clyde''s better."


    "I''ll take all of them then~"


    "PSH! Suit yourself, I''ll be taking all these protein bars with me! They''re CICO for fuck''s sake! The guy who made it just icks me but he''s still legit! Need to tone down the drama a bit but¡ª OoooH~ Holy shit, that''s a nice piece of equipment right there~"


    "Hmm? The leg press machine?"


    "Heh. I mean¡ª Back squats are my jam but I wanna feed my ego from time to time y''know? Besides, see the cut in the middle?"


    "Oh~ You can do it on one leg each too! They separate and join at will, huh?"


    "Yep! Yeap! I made one at home but this looks pristine! Let''s haul it back! Everything hanging on that wall too! And that bench!


    That scale¡ª Ooh! Everything on those disy cases, the chalk, holy fuck¡ª they really do have everything here! They have ammonia packs too, hah! HEY BROWNIE!"


    "Hmm?"


    "SMELL THIS, YOU FUCK!"


    "What¡ª AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 Chapter 1263 DOH Gymnasium - Donors

    Messing around aside, we also freed the road from vehicles blocking the way either from poor parking skills or from vehicr crashes all around. It was a good thing we brought over arger truck because aside from enabling us to haul more loot, we could easily fit a vehicle or two if we so wanted¡ªor have them ced somewhere else to act as a barricade.


    But yeah, since it''d be a pain to ask the people working on the railway to stop for a bit so we could inspect the DOH Gymnasium, I just decided to have my group work inside the DOH block where we could ess the same ce from a different entrance.


    The area had a driveway and parking area of its own but the road was like a bent hourss that was also somewhat twisted. Though luckily enough, we wouldn''t have to squeeze through a tight space because the driveway itself was pretty wide and the gymnasium we were talking about had two parking areas on each side.


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Alright, we''ll have Tennyson''s group take the rear, JP''s group take the corner of Faben Ave. and Gatmaitan Ave, while Seb''s group handles handle that small walkway towards the ounting building and the churches. You know what to do and what to not fucking do but don''t be afraid to ask for support if you fucked up! C''mon!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    So yeah, with the same tools in hand, I cleaved through the space that wasid out for me because in addition, one visit from our drones confirmed that the vehicle they werest seen on was also parked at the target area.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    These expired fucks had no chance to stand their ground as my main group breezed through them but we had to pull on the reins when we reached the gymnasium.


    "Are those¡­ people hung likeundry?"


    "Ingredients now."


    "Eugh¡­ Fuck it."


    Because as we caught a glimpse through the windows, the fucking ceiling of the gymnasium not only had slurpers hanging from above but also their victims who they, for some reason, were bleeding out or hanging to dry.


    It was akin to spiders and their meals wrapped up in their webs but this time, they were tied up by their organs¡ªmainly their intestines¡ªand was the most fucked up pinata we''ve ever seen.


    It''s just that Kaley began shooting through the gaps provided by the windows to rattle or put down anything within her sights as the rest of us took care of whatever fucking abomination walked through the double doors.


    It felt like fighting a cursed spirit that had the power to transfigure human souls or if an incarnate of Frankenstein wanted to continue his legacy.


    Because right from the get-go, two big burly amalgamations of human flesh burst out withyers andyers of fat covering their heads. And right after that, the most fucked up sea urchin-looking motherfucker that had legs and arms for its supposed spines rolled out like a fucking tumbleweed followed by several dregs where the parts were taken from.


    Obviously, Kaley tried to care of the dregs while Jared tried to take care of the tankers but the moment Jared wasn''t able to take them down with a precise headshot, he aimed for their legs instead.


    "WATCH OUT BRO! I TRIPPED THEM DOWN BUT THEY AREN''T DEAD YET!"


    Seeing them tumble down, I aimed my rifle at the fucking urchin/tumbleweed and it took maybe four shots topletely put it down. I wasn''t exactly sure if it exactly did the trick but Kaley had the same problem of not confirming the kill with a headshot.


    "THEY''RE MIXED WITH THE HOLLOWED ONES! CAREFUL NOW!"


    "ALRIGHT! IMMOBILIZE FIRST! I''M GOING FULL MELEE!"


    "COMING RIGHT AT YA!"


    "I''LL STICK TO THE M4 WITH BUCKSHOTS!"


    "HAVE YOUR AXE AT THE READY STILL!"


    On that note, June and na ryed our findings to the group watching the choke pots because we hadn''t encountered this mix yet since we came into this area, but then again, it was just extra steps for homicide, and lopping off extra body parts was part of my itinerary anyway.


    Only Ibarra''s weapon of choice didn''t shine in this area though he could easily confirm whether a deadhead was a puppet or not from a distance.


    In our case, puppet or not, we''d just go straight for their legs before going for their head to avoid any surprises but it didn''t take long before I noticed how they''d be a gaping hole in each of the hollowed ones'' orifices.


    It''d still take a split second to recognize them¡ªand there''s also a chance that the orifice the slurper made use of was also chewed off¡ªso yeah, I''d use that type of information depending on the situation as we cleared off around 50 or so "donors" of bodyparts.


    Then again, out of those fifty or so donors, we came to discover that a couple fit the description of the people Iskoh was searching for.


    It was the type of clothes they were wearing and the type of equipment they were carrying on their warbelt¡ªwhich was still on ''em¡ªand aside from their primary weapon, we uncovered spare mags, knives, kits, etc. on each of them.


    ''I guess this rules out the notion that some other group took care of them¡­ to a degree¡­''


    But yeah, I only took a quick nce at their dismembered corpses but it didn''t take long before the backup Iskoh promised arrived. They came in from the other side of the hourss and did some work for us and their group leader of sorts recognized me and held out his hand.


    "Mr. Ishiyama, right? I''m Richard, we''re here to¡ª Sorry, we''rete, we didn''t use the railway because of the operation and¡ª"


    I cut him off as I returned his handshake, "That''s alright, I think we found two of them. Jace and KC, was it? We haven''t found the others yet but they''re either on the road still or inside the gymnasium? What''s in there, anyway?"

 Chapter 1264 Hydro Cannon - Slop

    From the short break we got from the dead ceasing toe out of the gymnasium, this Richard fe talked about how this ce was found to have various supplies but was still yet to be cleared outpletely.


    It was for the reason that there were still a lot of ces to loot items from but as more and more time passed the same ces tended to either get more and more dangerous and have fewer and fewer items to be taken for it to be worth a trip.


    "So why take the chance here?"


    "Look around, just the instruments inside the gymnasium are worth a lot but there''s just pallets and pallets of food and water stored in these ces. We haven''t even begun clearing the main buildings, who knows what we might get there?"


    "With such a small group, I think it''s pretty evident¡ª"


    "That''s why we should strike while the iron''s hot, sir! We''ll split the difference! W-We just need to¡ª"


    I put my hand in front of him as I cut him off, "First off, our reason for going out here is to clear the railway, not this DOH Block. It''d be a good mission with our numbers¡ªadd to that the promises of a good score but we only take care of the gymnasium because of Iskoh''s request."


    "Then¡­"


    "For another time, sure, but not now."


    "I¡­ I understand but¡ª W-Wouldn''t we be able to find some shit from one of these buildings?!"


    "What shit?"


    "I-Isn''t this the buildings for the Department of Health?! There could be¡ª"


    "Highly doubt it, no."


    "Huh? Why?!"


    "First off, each and every specialist in regards to what''s happening¡ª fuck it every doctor or scientist who has a chance of figuring this out is already in Davao City working with the same people prioritized from Japan. And if this ce holds real value, it should''ve been turned into a five-star DDR Camp, not a simple evacuation center.


    While it''s true we could fine some valuable shit we could use back home, I doubt it''d contain the secrets to unlocking the universe."


    "I¡­" he looked down for a moment before he nodded a few times and turned back to me, "I understand, sir. C-Can we check the vehicle they came in at least? Or have you already?"


    "Yeah, pretty vacant aside from the supplies they brought and things they picked up on the way but it''s still pretty drivable. You can ce their bodies there if you want or some keepsake which I rmend doing. We''re burning everything else after and it''d save you a bit of fuel doing that."


    "I see¡­ Is there anything else we could help with?"


    "You can have your group park over there and help us with moving bodies to one side though you could also hold the other end of that choke point further out and pretty much do the same thing."


    In any case, Richard and his group followed thetter suggestion while I led my group inside through several points of entry to this gymnasium.


    The ss windows I mentioned before were at least five feet above what looked like red bricks stacked all around this ce''s base but a car cement just before it¡ªand after shooting those ss windows off¡ªhad made this ce with a double door and one single door to the back a ce full of openings.


    But yeah, this gymnasium was as big as at least two basketball courts side by side and we''d have to be really careful of our footing while at the same time bepletely wary of the ceiling.


    Because as we had a better view from atop the cars, the inside just looked like the inside of a blender after crushing some beets and it was just a slip-and-slide disaster waiting to happen.


    Still, there were still a few clusters of the dead inside not wanting to get out so aside from sniping them from thefort of the outside, we had one of the firetrucks avable to give this ce a good hose-down even if it''d be unfair to the other side.


    There''s no chance in hell I''d risk my group to such stupidity and again, it was just way, way~ easier to smoke them¡ª I mean to Hydro Cannon them out their nest. Furthermore, the water pressure was enough to scrape off the ones hanging from the ceiling, and let''s just say we found two more on the missing persons'' list except for one.


    "Who''s thest one, again? Missy?" Tatiana asked.


    I nodded, "Yeah. She could still be out there but she could also be in¡­ you know¡­ there."


    "That¡­ slop?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I don''t have better-sounding words to call it¡­"


    So yeah, with the degree of decay on the deadheads we''d face, it was already difficult to have a perfect ID¡ªbut to use the same metaphor¡ªthis slop that washed up after a serious hose-down of the gymnasium could be from a hundred different people was like the most fucked up version of a beet smoothie.


    However, it was like the blender lost power for some reason and they weren''t blended all the way through, leaving just chunks and pieces for us to sift through just to find an identifying mark.


    But yeah, even the identifying clothes were hard to look through because it became apparent that when they feed, they''d chew through the clothes as well just for a little pulp like those fancy juices sold in stores.


    "Hold up¡ª Isn''t this the umm¡­ nose ring?" Ibarra said as he picked up a shining object from the slop.


    Quinn rolled her eyes as she scoffed, "And what''s left of the nose, yeah. What do you¡ª"


    I cut in, "Ah, that might be Missy''s. Have someone call Richard or anyone who knows Missy from their group over, have them confirm for us."


    On that note, their group couldn''t have given us the worst person to see what remained of this Missy gal because the dude went ape shit as he tried to pull out a gun on all of us. Read new chapters at empire

 Chapter 1265 Carry as is. - Something Important

    More importantly, the dude who pulled the gun on us was pointing it at Ibarra who was still holding Missy''s nose ring and what was left of her nose, but the shit was quickly shot down when I came up behind him without him noticing. Funnily enough, the guy still had the safety on his pistol but despite all that, the motherfucker still deserved a short beating just for pointing a gun at each of us.


    So yeah, let''s just say that this guy named "Mistah"¡ªironic/moronic, I know¡ª was now tied up and looking like a roon or an almost ripe banana from his bruises.


    In addition, the rest of his group with Richard could only shake their heads and look down in shame at what just happened because that shit doesn''t fly anywhere else. If they wereplete strangers¡ªwhich they kind of were¡ªthey''d be part of the pile we were burning already.


    Richard tried to approach me, "I''m really sorry, sir¡ª He''s¡ª"


    "A dumbass? Yeah, he is."


    "It''s just¡ª"


    "Don''t fucking exin anything right now. We''ll hold him here for our safety while we finish up until Bambang Station. It''s D. Jose Station right after that so it''s just a natural stopping point."


    "B-But what are you gonna do to him?"


    "Rx. If we wanted him dead your group wouldn''t be able to do anything about it."


    "Ah¡ª"


    "It''s plenty fucking dangerous here, Richard. You fuck around, you find out. Just think of it as a one-time professional courtesy. One more slip even inside our walls and I''d definitely hit harder and do something permanent, get me?"


    "Yes, sir¡ª"


    "Now hold the same spot and await further orders. You listen to me even if you''re under Iskoh."


    "That''s a given¡ª"


    "Go."


    "R-Right! Right!"


    On that note, Richard sprinted back to his group while we finally felt confident to step inside this gymnasium we power-washed. And obviously enough, there were still some food packs as they''ve mentioned but even a beggar or someone dying of hunger wouldn''t touch these pallets because they were already tainted by the dead''s remains.


    The only thing salvageable at this point was the gymnasium itself but it''d be a while before we branch out into this area.


    So yeah, with our remaining daylight, I helped for a bit on the railway¡ªbut ever since finding it so monotonous with our mine cart system and pitchfork buff¡ªwe continued following the road below.


    Even reaching Bambang Station, the area below still had a ton of pharmacies and other ces that sold medical equipment though we were only a few blocks away from where we lost Kristoff and discovered our first Hulker.


    But yeah, the only thing different from Bambang Stationpared to the other stations we breezed through was that this one had a 7-car train on it on one side¡ªmeaning: we''d only be able to use our mine cart just before reaching the station itself.


    We''d be doing something simr to what we did in Monumento Station before we could proceed further to the other ones further in¡ªespecially the connecting railway for the MRT.


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Now we see what you mean, sir.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Seriously? You guys are up there and you didn''t see those train cars?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ah. We''re too focused on flipping the dead like hay bales¡­ So, what are we gonna do now?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Same shit you''ve been doingst time only you stop before reaching the tforms in Bambang Station. Where''s the barriers we usedst time?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Umm¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Brian? Ruben? Don''t make me pull out that reference from Drake & Josh¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Umm¡­ We kinda felt sorry for everyone else pushing¡ªus too¡ªso we left it a ways~~~ back¡­ sir.]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Uh-huh."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Ahaha¡­ That''s totally our bad, sir¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "..."


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [Sir?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I mean¡ª It''s nice for you fucks to take ountability but there''s a reason we fucks still follow the chain ofmand, right? I''m open to hearing suggestions too but why the fuck did you think of doing something so stupid when I ordered something that''d help us save a lot of timeter, huh?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [A-Ah¡ª W-We just didn''t think that¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Hold up, hold up, hold up, I''ll refrain from saying something demeaning but what now? If you just fucking asked for the reason why you''re carrying all that extra weight I would''ve answered but what now?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [U-Umm¡­ W-We go back?]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "And?"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [We retrieve the blocks and shit? A-And apologize? To everyone and S-Sir Morales? A-And especially you, sir¡­ w-we really fucked up¡­]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "It''s fine, it''s fine¡­"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [R-Really, sir?! T-Thank you!]


    *bzzt* Read new chapters at empire


    -


    *bzzt*


    "I''ll just have you two serve our guests in Micah''s ce for a week after this¡ª"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NO! PLEASE, SIR! ANYTHING BUT THAT!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "Haah?! You fucks won''t take responsibility for WASTING EVERYONE''S FUCKING TIME?! HAH?! IS THAT IT?!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [B-BUT¡ª BUT¡ª BUT, SIR¡ª]


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    "AT LEAST YOU GET IT! YOUR BUTTS ARE GONNA BE THIS YAY~~~ BIG AFTER THEY''RE DONE WITH YOU! THOSE GIRLS HAVE PENT-UP STRESS TOO, YOU KNOW?! AND BIG BOYS LIKE YOU TWO ARE THEIR FAVORITES! HAVE FUN! BRING LUBE AND RELAX!"


    *bzzt*


    -


    *bzzt*


    [NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!]


    *bzzt*


    -


    Joking aside, I still made them apologize to everyone else because of leaving the concrete barriers behind¡ªbut it actually wouldn''t matter as much, just a little¡ªsince aside from bringing another mine cart tomorrow, I was also nning to plug the pre-reimed stations with the static barriers just in case a straggler somehow ended up breaching the area.


    It was to ensure that we wouldn''t have to clean up the whole ce just because of one mistake and instead, it''d be contained to a station or just the railway in between.


    But yeah, as we made use of our remaining time, there wasn''t anything that stood out or needed any warranted attention as we continued to do what we were supposed to do.


    And as we were getting ready to leave, it was easy enough to hand the "Mistah" dude back to his group and just leave Iskoh a call, so with our vehicles full of items and whatnot¡ªinstead of driving back to Monumento with Morales'' group, we cut into the stretch of road we cleared between Morales and Iskoh''s Harbor so we''d have an easier trip back home.


    While it was true that we''d be leaving Morales and Artem''s group alone, they could handle their shit and we could hold our own.


    However, once we got home and had our well-deserved meal, the people participating in Hell Week couldn''t believe their ears when I left them with this instruction:


    "For tonight, I''d want you all to think hard, like really~ hard about something that''s very important to you. It could be anything, anyone, any ce, and any-whatever the fuck it is. It could be as simple as a love for food or be genuine andplex as one''s feeling for a person or a group of people, but what''s important is that you make fucking sure that it''s important to you.


    I''m not gonna tell you the full reason why but let''s just say you''re gonna need it for tomorrow."


    And as soon as I said that, I made my way to my home gym upstairs and continued as usual.


    All sorts of things were running through my head as I jogged on the treadmill¡ªthe limitations, my own experiences, and my interpretations for what I''d let them experience tomorrow¡ªbut even if I made Kaley and the rest experience the kind of the same thing before, it''d still be different, especially with the guys and the people I don''t have a lot of rtionship points with.


    That "something" I could easily bring out took me a lot of fucking work and luck¡ªand while it was true everyone else had the ability to do the same thing¡ªit''d be more subconscious or when that particr person was on the brink of life or death. However, it''s not like I''d break them because that wasn''t the point of the exercise but to get to that sweet spot akin to training for muscle growth.


    It''s just that it''d be a little different from the usual because this thing had more to do with the mind but it wasn''t like it didn''t have any direct on the body because it almost always did.


    If anything, it was like what a Venn diagram would look like when an eclipse was about to happen or had just passed over¡ªand to circle around, what I would like to aplish from the exercise tomorrow was when the eclipse was about to happen, I would like everyone else to hold onto it for as long as possible, cross over, and then hold it again right at that fucking sweet spot again but in reverse order.


    Any sane person would consider what I''m saying as delusional orplete hokum but it''d work for me and I could just hope that it''d work for them.

 Chapter 1266 Dipping Toes

    Before, all I knew about this particr ability was like dipping my foot into this ck pool of raw emotion made from hate, anger, and every negative emotion I''ve experienced ever since that time. I''ve been very careful not to fully plunge myself into that pool because I''d definitely lose myself but it was also true that I hade close to that a few times.


    Though ever since the revtion or breakthrough after that session with Marisha, I found more ways to tap into that particr pool¡ªand surprisingly enough, it allowed me to mold or develop the intense desire I had before into something almost intangible plus all the other things I used to have ess to before.


    One particr example was my strong intent to kill a certain individual¡ªand don''t fully quote me on this¡ªcould now be turned into a strong intent to violently beat someone up or just straight up lop their head off, but still, it was on the realm of extreme violence.


    The intense desire to want something could sometimes manifest into fruition but more often than not, it was backed by action to achieve the desired result or just straight-up delusion.


    In my case, if I so wish to kill someone, this particr ability of mine just removes some of the limitations my body''s shackled with to be able to perform much better.


    However, pretty recently, I was able to have my targets feel my strong desire¡ªhave them "see" what I would''ve wanted to do to them without even submerging half my body into the pool, sometimes even just having the tip of my toes wet.


    But how does this tie into tomorrow?


    In short, let''s just say I want the trainees to be able to dip the tip of their toes in their own ck pool but a little more conscious than usual. However, they''d have to be on the brink of it¡ªand let''s be honest here, they''d actually die if I''m not careful. So my solution?


    Exhaust myself as much as possible until tomorrowes and have Vera take care of our recements tomorrow and possibly the next.


    Also, when night came, I talked to Kaley and arranged a special night with everyone¡ª I mean EVERYONE in our circle except for the ones in Hell Week like Eden, Cindy, Megan, and Alexa. I made them fully aware of my intentions and since they''d still get something out of it, they didn''t take it to heart and just went with the flow.


    Andstly, I had Rin rearrange a special ce tomorrow¡ªthat wasn''t as far¡ªand it''d probably be close to noon before D-Day starts. Just one note, it involved a lot of obstacles and now, a few senses would be deprived or messed with in that area but it was all for the sake of this group''s development and survival.


    So, without further ado, when the time finally came, I decided to have my preye in two at a time, but funnily enough, three came in¡ªno, four right at this fucking moment and it was JP, Brian, Cindy, and Tennyson.


    I would''ve beat their asses right then and there because they should''ve followed precise instructions but with the light obstructed in this parkour ce by ckout curtains, loud music ring from the speakers, and different smells emanating all over, they''d need all the help they could get.


    ''Depends if they could have teamwork though¡­''


    Of course, they were in full gear but had wooden melee weapons and rubber bullets for their guns, but nothing could prepare them when I suddenly turned the speakers off.


    And right at that exact moment, I enveloped the area with pure killing intent as I jumped between all four of them from above and aimed for Brian and Tennyson.


    With my eyes already adjusted to the darkness, the two had no fucking chance of defending themselves especially since I had in my hands perfectly sized bokkens and I almost broke one from hitting Brian''s throat and almost bent one from thrusting hard onto Tennyson''s sr plexus.


    But yeah, JP was fast enough to reach and turn around but I kicked him hard on his chest before I dragged Cindy to a corner and was slowly choking her out.


    In Cindy''s defense, she really tried to put up a fight but our frames and strength were just too different, she was knocked out in a few seconds, and I left a nice present for her when she eventually woke up.


    At this point, I could still hear the curses the three were shouting out¡ªthough Brian''s was a little hoarse because of the wooden sword to the throat.


    But yeah, little did they know I had already traversed the area and circled around them without their notice, I had pressed the switch for the speakers once more¡ªthen turned it off abruptly, confusing and disorienting them even more¡ªbefore I lobbed arge firecracker by their feet.


    *BOOOOM*


    In just a split second, the three split up in different directions where Brian was firing all over, JP crouched down and hugging the wall by his side, and Tennyson almost hitting this horizontal bar because of his height.


    But yeah, I took advantage of Brian''s firing as I aimed for the fucks still adjusting to the darkness but I easily made my way to Brian and pushed him over the area where there was a puddle of oil.


    It didn''t take long for him to realize he fucked up but he ran straight into a solid wall and knocked himself out when he heard the clinking sound of a lighter.


    But yeah, I muscled up to this long bar to surprise JP who was trying to find where Cindy was but he suddenly came into blows with Tennyson identally before Cindy let out a blood-curdling shriek.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It was because of the ballistic torso I left for her to cuddle with but it was covered in spaghetti sauce and fake innards. Just the scene imprinted on her mind was enough to make her theoretically shit in her pants but my next target was Tennyson who was running right behind JP in an attempt to locate where the scream came from.


    I was surprised they were moving faster than before because they had already realized that I hadid traps all around, but there was something they should be warier of aside from the things just waiting for them to step onto.


    Me.


    Because as soon as JP vaulted over this short wall, I intercepted Tennyson and gave him the fright of his life when he felt the cold edge of a knife by his throat as I exuded deathly killing intent.


    I made Rin bring them here on the premise of a semi-dangerous trial and the choice of things to defend themselves with didn''t include anything that could easily take a life. While that was still true because I was just holding a dull prop knife on his neck, Tennyson had no way of knowing that at the current moment so the fear in his head was fucking real.


    And with this prop knife able to release fake blood, I didn''t even take long before I put enough pressure as I "shed" his throat, letting him feel the liquid on his skin before I slowly kept the air from going in his head¡ªbasically knocking him unconscious as he thought he actually died.


    But to my delight, I felt a presence behind me but the dumbass was too fucking pumped to control his breathing as he tried to sneak from behind me.


    It could either be JP or Brian but it was all the same as they ate the front of my boot before having almost the same experience of getting stabbed over and over with a deranged maniac wearing a huge smile on his face.


    And of course, it was still an act so I''d still knock them out before they realized sooner though what I realized now was that JP also realized that Tennyson wasn''t running behind him and decided to circle back.


    So yeah, my next victim right now could either be Brian or Cindy so I just went in the direction where I heard wet footsteps, and lo and behold the sound was because of spaghetti sauce, not oil. Explore more at empire


    ''Cindy then¡­''


    But from the way she was moving around and huffing with her wooden sword in hand, I know for sure that she was 100% fucking pissed off and she couldn''t wait to have a shot at me.


    So I spooked her for the third time:


    "Psst¡­"


    "THERE YOU FUCKING ARE¡ª"


    Right as she turned around, she unloaded the whole magazine in my direction but with her unfamiliarity with the terrain, she hit this 10-foot wall with her rubber bullets as I just had enough space for a certain elf archer to shoot an orc below. However, I easily lobbed a water balloon in her direction before I watched Brian tackle her from the side.


    ''Whoops¡­''

 Chapter 1267 Brutal - Skip to Phase 3???

    Funnily enough, I saw exactly how Cindy managed to use the butt of her sword to smack it right on Brian''s temple before she got tackle-speared into oblivion, making both of them tumble badly on the floor. However, with how Cindy''s face was still drenched in water and bits of spaghetti sauce, she kept hitting Brian with the butt of her sword as she was trying to wipe her face with her sleeves.


    It''s just that she had already scored a critical hit on Brian''s temple and he''d sooner run out of saving throws to survive the day.


    However, she soon realized she was hitting the wrong guy but another water balloon plopped at her forehead before drenching her again.


    "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIIIIIIS?! COME OUT HERE SO I COULD STICK THIS S-STICK UP YOUR ASS! YOU¡ª STOP THROWING FUCKING WATER BALLOONS AT ME!!!"


    Ignoring her screams, I was already circling around after I lobbed the third water balloon over her head, and I had just received word that JP and Tennyson were already packed and ready for shipment.


    It was for the Phase 2 of this particr activity but that other shit woulde a littleter.


    Stay connected through empire


    But yeah, even if I circled around to get to Cindy''s back, I made myself known by emitting killing intent and letting her know I was standing right behind her¡ªand I made my "bloody" knife sheen from the small amounts of light seeping through the curtain slits.


    "W-What¡ª"


    And before she could utter another word, I emotionlessly took a step forward before I suddenly bridged the distance between us, and kicked her a few feet off Brian''s body.


    Judging from the looks on her face, she was still confused but more afraid of what was going on but her eyes never grew so wide when she saw me stab Brian over and over and over.


    With this visibility, it easily masked the whole racket but as I saw her take off and leave her items on the floor, I instantly gave chase and easily grabbed hold of her ponytail.


    From the way she was trying to kick me off and struggling with tears in her eyes, I knew that the fear was real and she was at her breaking point so once again, I knocked her out with a sleeper hold by you know, holding her tightly until she falls asleep¡ªaround her neck, of course.


    At that point, I began to carry her back to the same spot where Brian was and there I saw Tatiana putting Brian''s body in a wooden coffin.


    In addition, Tatiana and I just shared hand signals but I was still very careful so as to not conjure a Raikiri or a Rasengan. But yeah, as soon as I had them package thest two items, I called Rin to send the second batch of victims¡ª err, Hell Week participants.


    On another note, to preserve this ce''s surprises, they were all in the gym just a few steps across the street and they had no idea what the fuck their brethren just went through.


    One of the reasons I used genuine fear as a stopping point was the time I was almost hacked to death by Aoi and that dark time when I lost my parents. It was just conjuring that particr emotion before cutting it off right before deep roots set in so as to notpletely leave my precious students with trauma they''d need several therapy sessions to ovee.


    But yeah, it wasn''t like they haven''t feared anything yet but the reason I''m doing this hazing process of sorts was like the time I reced Tatiana''s fear of the Hulker to myself¡ªlike I was forcefully suggesting to my students that they could be afraid of the dark, heights, or a frickin'' cockroach but there existed a guy that they should fear above everyone else.


    Me.


    Then again, we still have a lot of processes¡ªand participants¡ªto go through but I just couldn''t hide the smile on my fucking face when Seb and Marvin walked in.


    Not to y favorites or anything but the people who somehow keep their emotions in check or wore their hearts on their sleeve¡ªlike me¡ªhad the highest chance for this "ritual" of sorts to work out. There could be a different way to handle different personality types in this type of situation but let''s just say the more they were simr to me, the higher the chance my bullshit method works.


    But yeah, as soon as the gate was closed behind them, they were like wet puppies caught between a hailstorm and a hurricane but let''s just say that apes together strong because these two leaned on each other''s backs as they didn''t move from their spot.


    They were trying to get used to the dark as much as possible but June foiled their ns as she yed the recording of Cindy''s screams as I dragged her to one corner of this obstacle course.


    It definitely made the two hesitate but in their heads, they still knew that it was just a scare tactic to throw off their game, and Cindy wasn''t a Scream Queen that she''d be able to envelop the whole area with her high-pitched shriek. While it was probably possible, June ramped up the volume too much¡ªand without my go-ahead¡ªso I went with a rather barbaric or awful way to separate them.


    As they were trying to get used to the dark, I had all the lights turned on at the same fucking time¡ªand it was fucking enough to burn a vampire''s retina and a frozen burrito.


    All the two could do was close both their eyes and fire aimlessly but I had already dropped down¡ªmission: impossible-style¡ªand kidnapped Marvin as I grabbed on his body and put a clothced with chloroform on his mouth as I began to tie him up in this small tform from above.


    Right after that, Seb was still reeling from the sudden sh but he was shocked to fuck when I slung a rope on his leg¡ªwhich almost pulled him up¡ªand thenter realized that Marvin was on the other end.


    "W-What the¡ª Is that¡ª WHAT?! MAR¡ª"


    I cut him off, "Don''t bother, he''s fast asleep."


    Before he could even have the chance to reply, I just started to beat him senselessly¡ªhitting every part that would fucking hurt¡ªbut he stood his fucking ground so as to not drop Marvin who was hanging at least a couple tens of feet. It''s just that it wasn''t actually Marvin on the other end of the rope but the same fucking ballistic torso I surprised Cindy with.


    And yeah, I admire his dedication to protecting Marvin from fucking danger but there''s a stark difference between their weight¡ªand even if he was caught in the heat of the moment, he should''ve at least tried to fight back or sacrificed Marvin so at least one of them could''ve lived.


    While I was a proponent of getting everyone to safety, this was just one of those times where indecisiveness was just suicide or in this case, a double-suicide with extra steps because if I were in "Marvin''s" shoes I wouldn''t want to be the cause of my friend''s death because I got caught.


    Still, I couldn''t hide the smile in my fucking eyes when I felt Seb let out actual killing intent as he thought I was ying with Marvin''s life just to teach a fucking ss.


    He was staring at me with cold, dead eyes¡ªand he looked like he''d snap any second¡ªbut I took it a step further as I pulled out an actual knife and cut off the rope "Marvin" was tied to.


    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"


    At the current moment, I was fucking ready to receive his lunge but I couldn''t be more happy when he rushed to Marvin''s "corpse", it''s just that he almost lost his shit when he discovered his blunder and smelled spaghetti sauce, but I made my way towards him with a smile as I put my hand over his shoulder:


    "Maaaan, I would''ve loved you to skip Phase 2 and let you go to Phase 3 but rules are rules. I''m gonna knock you out now."


    "W-What?! Y-YOU¡ª WHERE¡ª Hnngh¡­"


    In that instance, I still had the piece of cloth with chloroform on it so next thing we know, Tatiana was rolling another coffin while I had the actual Marvin tied on the rope but hanging more than fucking 20 feet above the ground. At this point, he''d actually die if I identally dropped him or cut off his rope but I had different ns for this guy as much as a different approach for Seb.


    These two people had almost the same personality like me but the difference was that Seb was one to let go and forgive while Marvin tended to bide his time and wait for the opportune moment.


    So how do we tie this into Marvin''s current situation?n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Nothing. I just cut the rope again and let him freefall before he fucking discovered there was a bungee cord also tied to his body.

 Chapter 1268 Switch - Raw

    Marvin became a death metal vocalist as he thought he''d fall straight to his death but he took on Quinn or Oscar''s persona of saying every curse word known to man when he eventually realized what was going on. And as soon as he did, I released him from hanging by that bungee cord but he did hit the ground from five feet in the air tho it was much, much better than falling from a 4-story building.


    But yeah, his hands and feet were still bound by rope and it didn''t take long before I emerged from the shadows and channeled my inner Sagitarrius.


    "W-WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    I mean, I came out wearing a horse head mask and one of Quinn''s horse cock dildos for added effect¡ªand I''ve never seen someone roll away so fast just to get away from me. But since I already achieved the amount of shock I wanted him to feel, I stepped on the rope that was gradually disappearing from view to intercept his retreat.


    Right after that, I began pulling him back to me as I was making this pervy old man smile each time he looked into my direction.


    It''s just that when we were finally face to face, I bit onto the blood bag inside my mask and blood just came pouring out of this mask''s orifices and onto his face. I didn''t even fucking need to release killing intent as he was terrified enough of the visuals provided, but then again, I used my trusty prop knife to make him feel the coldness of metal as it made contact with his torso.


    "HELP¡ª"


    And before he could utter another word, I grabbed hold of his neck as I started to impede his airways but I made sure to nt a seed in his head that every time I stabbed down, I''d just go through his armor and the presence of fake blood added into this illusion that his body was now ridden with holes and he was losing tons of blood¡ªbut in actuality, he was just losing air.


    It only took a few seconds before his struggling stopped but to Tatiana''s surprise, I ripped open an ammonia pack and woke up Marvin after cutting him loose.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Enjoy new stories from empire


    At this point, Marvin didn''t even recognize where he was as he almost tripped himself over a small tform, but he received a flying knee to the chest before I grabbed hold of his clothes. In one abrupt motion, I threw him over my shoulder but his next words surprised even me:


    "S-Sir?! I-IT''S ME! ME! S-SOMEONE''S HERE! H-HE''S¡ª F-FUCK, I-I GOT STABBED I¡ª I DON''T HAVE MUCH¡ª SEB! W-WHERE''S SEB?!


    W-WE GOTTA FIND HIM!"


    I almost felt sorry for him as I scratched the side of my cheek, "Ah¡­ He''s in a coffin right now¡ª"


    "WHAT?!"


    "But you don''t have to worry about it because you''re next¡ª not yet legible for Phase 3 but it is what it is. I shouldn''t even be telling you this right now, heh."


    "W-Wut?"


    "Night-night!"


    From then on, I knocked him out with a single punch to the head and Tatiana was just shaking her head as she came in with Marvin''s coffin.


    "What?"


    "..."


    "Don''t worry, even the tranq you shot them with is cleared by our doctors. They even gave us the right amount of dosage and it''ll just knock them out for a few good hours."


    "This is just¡­ too crazy, even for me¡­ Is it even working?"


    "Seb."


    "Really? Chances are pretty low, huh? I''m not even sure if I could really do it as you''ve said."


    "You can. But not like this¡ª"


    "You¡ª"


    "And like this¡ª"


    "STOP TURNING IT ON AND OFF OVER AND OVER!"


    "See? You just did it in a split second. I just have to piss you off real~~~ good."


    "Fuck, I didn''t even realize it."


    "Heh. At least you know how to dip your toes. It''s just a matter of finding the right depth for ya."


    "Can''t you just exin it in simpler terms?"


    "That''s the simplest I could do it. If anything I''d just be doing hand signs and random noises trying to exin this shit I don''t even understand fully."


    "But are you okay though? You''ve been doing it for a while."


    "Not exactly."


    "Hmm?"


    "As you said earlier. I''ve been turning it on and off over and over. It''s less exhausting moreso now that I''m already this exhausted. I''m basically running on fumes."


    "Then why''d you have to¡ª"


    "I might kill them, Tatiana. This is the best I could do for them. I can stop myself if I saw Kaley right before but with everyone else, it''s a different thing. I might not even recognize their faces¡­"


    "Oh¡­"


    "Yeah."


    "T-Then how about me?"


    "How about you what¡ª Oh¡­"


    "Yeah¡­"


    "I mean¡ª Wanna try now?"


    "Haah?! We could try it out that easily?!"


    "I''ll give you my real knife and I''d just hold this wooden sword. I might break this thing on your neck though, are you sure?"


    "Ah¡ª Fuck it, I guess¡ª"


    So before Tatiana could ready herself, I already threw over the real knife I had in my pocket before I tightly gripped each wooden de in my hand.


    "Huuu~"


    After a short exhale, time seemed to have stopped momentarily as it got unbelievably colder while the almost pitch-ck scene seemed to have suddenly turned ck and white¡ªlike what would someone see through NVGs with barely any lighting.


    But yeah, I had just assumed my stance when Tatiana had already felt her body getting cut in quarters¡ªand she wasn''t even able to move a single muscle as she stood in ce with her eyes riddled with shock, fear, and awe.


    Though this time, with more control over my psyche, I was able to hold myself down as my attack just became two taps on each side of her torso¡ªand the same taps just woke her up from the illusion that her body got cut into pieces.


    "Huh?" Tatiana muttered as she looked at her body.


    From then on, I let out a smile before giving her a hug as she let out a sigh of relief. Still, Tatiana took a few moments topose herself while I was the one who put Marvin in his coffin after tranq''ing him.


    She did give me a jab on my shoulder as she excused herself with Marvin in tow but it didn''t take long before the next set of victims walked in¡ªand still had the faintest idea of what happened with everyone else who came before them.


    It was because they''d usually hang around after but Phase 2 was about the same but still a little different.


    But yeah, once Isaac came in with Chris, it must''ve been some sort of fated meeting because these two so fucking wanted to be training under me but the things they wanted to learn were from different disciplines.


    And even when I was making Isaac experience my version of an Infinite Tsukuyomi, Chris made sure to stay back and let us have a one-on-one¡ªno, it wasn''t even a match-up at all¡ªbut it still had the same effect I wanted each of them to go through.


    Isaac felt the actual gap between us while Chris figured out about almost the same thing but he discovered that I was still going easy on him from all our spars.


    Even if it was called a spar, it must''ve felt different for him because he put me as his goal but it was like we weren''t even in the same ce to begin with.


    Because with our usual spars, I tend to overwhelm them with speed, power, and technique, but this time, I added some mental shit to overwhelm his psyche. It was like getting his ankle broken in basketball terms but with my new-found feints, his brain was trying toprehend something tooplex for it too understand logically.


    I''ve done this sort of thing when I sparred with Isaac, JP, and Seb before in the Academy but never in front of Chris whom I sparred with many times before.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    While it was true that feints was amon thing in boxing to overload their opponent''s brain with information, what I was doing with my intent was a step above and just downright confusing.


    Because yeah, it wasn''t just a straight-up mental attack since I''d still perform at least 30% of the actions required for this "feint" to work¡ªand abruptly stopping it while at the same time, at around 30% of the actual movement as well.


    It was a huge strain on the mind as is the body but an exchange between each of them wouldst a few seconds¡ªand I could at least go through all of them with bits of rest in between and going in small bursts at a time.


    Then again, there was one other person that I didn''t expect to be hiding this much raw emotion in herself and it was Eden.

 Chapter 1269 Top of the Class

    I was with thest pair¡ªJeremy and Eden¡ªand was making them go through almost the same shit everyone else experienced, but the moment I knew Eden was hiding some raw shit inside was when she thought Jeremy fall from several stories as he tried to chase after me. But in actuality, he DID fall from several stories but hended on several foams where Tatiana was already lying in wait.


    In addition, the thud that followed after his fall was all thanks to Jude so let''s just say I wasn''t the only one that brought this up from her sister.


    "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!"


    Right as Eden cursed out loud and screamed in anger, he rushed straight to my direction, and let me tell you, a couple ofps of experience in this maze was already enough for her to memorize at least 70-80% of the terrain.


    ''Oh?''


    But yeah, despite that great disy, my body was reacting to the raw emotion she was letting out and it was akin to a caged bird finally having the chance to fly¡ªbut in the context that the bird we were talking about decided to break her own cage and fly.


    It made me stop ying mind games with them and faced her with my own, employing a "full release" to sh with hers.


    Obviously, I''ve refined mine over the years and I had more control over it which was totally different from Eden''s which felt like the first time it happened to me, but yeah, losing rationality was one of the downsides to this "ability".


    And since this was her first time, she ran straight at me, eager to w my eyes out and break her wooden sword on me many times over before stabbing my abdominals with its jagged edges.


    ''I definitely looked like this the first fucking time it happened¡­''


    The moment we were in striking distance, Eden leapt through the air and tried to smack me down while holding her wooden sword with two hands but I easily redirected it to the side with a simple flick of the wrist before striking her exposed torso and leg with my free hand. Discover stories with empire


    But yeah, she didn''t even wince from the precise taps to where it would hurt the most but instead, she used the momentum her body had gone through to dive in with her face to spin around with one foot on the floor to deliver a full body heel kick.


    The air the came with it could definitely knock anybody out but it was contingent that it hits but it just unfortunately gave me a breeze as I took a half step to avoid in.


    Contrary to how Chris suffered his defeat by overloading his brain with feints and whatnot by using multiple attacks¡ªit might be different in the future for Eden¡ªbut currently at the moment, all her attacks were straight to the point, almost being downright obvious, because raw and unfiltered emotion doesn''t deal with feints or trickery.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Sure, Eden''s attacks¡ªeven the ones that followed after it¡ªwere much more precise and had more power over them but it still didn''t bridge the gap of ability between me and her. It was that certain quote where it said mentioned that the person they were talking to had just begun their journey while the other was already on their way back.


    Despite that, Eden still continued her rush without pause while I continued to receive her attacks one way or another.


    Surprisingly enough, she had a lot in her tank as each strike that I either blocked or let pass through had enough force to break someone''s head but with my experience, it''d only be a matter of time before she gassed out. Still, thest few seconds in her tank became explosive as she suddenly went up a notch while she was running on fumes.


    She suddenly went a few inches lower before exploding from her legs and giving me three-four kicks in session before sinking down again and aiming for my legs with a double-leg sweep.


    However, the way she clutched her wooden sword so hard made me think she was just waiting for me to jump¡ªbut since she was the most promising of the bunch¡ªI took the fucking bait and waited for what she would do next.


    And obviously enough, I felt her killing intent surge as she aimed for the opening I gave her but it was at this moment I condensed my killing intent to just a few centimeters around my body before directing everything at her.


    "HnGHhHKK!"


    If my regr "spread" couldn''t affect her, the condensed and directed one definitely will.


    It only took a moment before she felt something in her throat and vomited on the spot, falling to her knees, and shaking all over. After that, Eden started to sob and wail in ce as she was head down while on all fours, the memory of Jeremy resurfacing on her head after her ckout.


    And yeah, as I tried to put my hands on her shoulder, she pped it away before she tried to get some distance on me and it take me some major convincing that Jeremy''s totally okay.


    "YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU¡ª"


    "I didn''t! It was all an act! He fell onto a bunch of foam¡ª"


    "I-I HEARD HIS BODY HIT THE FLOOR! I''LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"


    "That was June!"


    "WHAT?!"


    "I-I mean¡ª June yed the sound on the speakers!"


    "WHAT?! SHE''S IN ON THIS TOO?! Y-YOU''RE NOT LYING, RIGHT?!"


    "I''m not! I''m not! I''m telling you the truth!"


    "S-So where''s Jeremy?!"


    "In a coffin¡ª"


    "WHAT?! YOU SAID YOU WEREN''T LYING!"


    "EDEN! It''s for Phase 2, don''t worry! And besides, you passed with flying colors, you didn''t even need Phase 2 or 3, you skip to thest Phase¡ª I mean Phase 4¡­"


    "W-Wut? I¡­ I-I''m so¡­ I¡­ Tired¡­"


    "Oh fuck¡­"


    The moment Eden knew that everything was okay, I saw her get lightheaded before falling unconscious and I was able to catch her before her head hit the floor. Wiping the tears off her eyes and the sweat off her body, Tatiana eventually came in looking like she wanted to ask what we''d do.


    "You heard what I said, right?"


    Tatiana nodded, "We did. So it''s just the rest, now?"


    "Yeah."


    "..."


    "Hmm? Is there something else?"


    "You''re really sure about Phase 2?"


    "Of course, we''ll monitor everyone. It''s just like this thing, it has two sides to it but what''s important is to make the experience feel real and genuine. They''d have to experience the actual feeling of death and every other raw emotion known to man and release it at once. Then¡­"


    "Then?"


    I looked back at Eden''s sleeping face, "We''ll have something like this."


    Tatiana chuckled, "So she''s a better pick than Seb?"


    "Currently? Yeah. But we''ll see up until the end. Still, Eden crossed the threshold, she''s miles ahead of everyone else."


    "Heh. Is that so? Even me?"


    "Pfft¡­ Want to take her ce in the coffin? Gack!"


    "HAH! SERVES YOU RIGHT!"


    All of a sudden, Eden sprang up from lying in my arms and hit my chin with his head¡ªand everything would''ve been over if I bit my tongue and bled out. But yeah, I lightly headbutted her in revenge before properly exining to her what was going on and she actually couldn''t believe she was the forerunner of this ss.


    "R-Really?! I-I was barely in the middle of the pack in the other challenges! I-I didn''t even know what I did here exactly!"


    "Let''s just say you finally dipped your toes in your ck pool of consciousness¡ª"


    "Wut? Is that even a thing?"


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "I mean¡ª That''s how I imagine it. You really have no idea what happened before?"


    "Umm¡­ After I¡ª Jeremy¡­ He¡ª After I saw him fall from that height I¡­ I just¡­ I just b-cked out and I-I kept seeing glimpses of you for some r-reason? A-Am I c-catching feelings weirdly or something?"


    "Pfft! I didn''t expect that at all!" Tatiana cackled as she sat down on Eden''s supposed coffin.


    I waved her off, "It''s because you fought me for a good five minutes."


    "FIVE MINUTES?! AGAINST YOU?! I CAN''T EVEN LAST A MINUTE AGAINST HER! YOU¡ª HOW?!"


    "Let''s just say you unlocked something hidden deep within you and¡ª"


    Eden had to cut me off looking like she was holding herughter, "Pfft¡­ I-I''m sorry, I''m sorry! I didn''t mean tough! I-I¡ª What you''re saying feels like one of those emo songs I used to listen with June! N-Not that there''s anything wrong with them or anything it''s just¡­"


    "..."


    "S-Sky?"


    ''I''m still a fucking edgelord, huh? Dammit¡­ It is what it is¡­''


    I shook my head before I replied, "It might sound kind of cringe but it is what it is.


    I don''t really have a correct or normal-sounding term for what you unlocked in your head but while the rest of them will try to do what you just did, you''re gonna start to learn¡ª no, you''re gonna start having more experiences with it, get you really~ familiar with the sensations, before you try to learn what works for you so could control it.


    Keeping conscious while it''s happening is your first goal."


    "Oh."


    "Any questions about it, at least?"


    "Umm¡­ H-How do I¡ª Y-You know¡­ How do I experience it again? A-And how do I keep conscious? I barely even remember anything."


    "Ah¡­. I mean¡ª It''s just us three here so what are the important things you thought about when I asked you to think of them?"

 Chapter 1270 Buried Alive

    As soon as I asked Eden that question, she pursed her lips to the side before looking up, thinking momentarily before her lips turned to a smile. After that, she just looked at us with the same expression before telling us her answer:


    "My family, of course! What else?! Wha¡ª Don''t ruffle my hair! It''s short but it gets¡ª Hmm?"


    At this point, Eden was a little confused by our reaction because if I remember correctly, I already mentioned to her my parents'' passing but I wasn''t sure if she could remember at the moment and/or if she also knew of Tatiana''s situation as well.


    But still, she was the only person to get out of this room on her feet, and not everyone else who was still asleep in their coffins.


    "WAIT A SEC, YOU SAID COFFINS, RIGHT?!"


    "Yeah?"


    "B-BUT¡ª"


    "No buts, just grab a shovel. We''re starting Phase 2 right now. They''ll wake up in a few."


    "D-Don''t tell me we''re gonna bury them!"


    "Sure."


    "HAAAH?! SURE WHAT?!"


    "I won''t tell you¡ª"


    "YOU¡ª"


    "Jeez, rx~ It''s totally~ okay. We didn''t actually kill Jeremy, right? That applies to everyone else too. We¡ª You know what? You''ll just see, and again, grab a shovel."


    "O-Okay¡­"


    From the time we started Phase 1 to our current time, just almost a couple of hours had passed and we started to line up each coffin in our indoor shooting range before piling up a mound of dirt, rocks, and gravel right beside them among other things.


    In addition, these wooden coffins were sealed shut with 4-inch screws¡ªand the only way they''d get out was if we''d let them or if they could somehow break out of it with sheer strength.


    ''It''d be a tad difficult whileying t on their back though¡­ Unless they Kill Bill the shit out of it¡­''


    With that said, we were just waiting for each of them to wake up but I did bar anyone else froming close to the indoor range for the day or having any vehicles pass through it. It might be soundproofed for all we know but we gotta preserve the illusion for any of my bullshit theories to work.


    On that note, four hours passed in the blink of an eye and none of them had woken up.


    Eden approached me, concerned, "Umm¡­ W-What exactly did you inject them with? I forgot to ask?"


    "Etorphine. If they don''t wake up in a couple of hours or so, we have naloxone at the ready."


    "I see, I see¡­ That''ll work¡­"


    "You know your shit, huh?"


    "N-Not a lot but I''ve administered some of them to unruly patients before. They''re mostly old people and veterans but sometimes, we''d be surprised in the middle of the night with someone running amok.


    It''d be safer for everyone if we knock them out that way instead of trying to calm them down the normal way¡­ I''ve been punched in the face more than enough times to know that sometimes, talking wouldn''t work out as much as everyone thought. It''s within reason, of course, but you get the gist¡­"


    "I do, I do¡­"


    "S-So this ability of mine¡­ H-How does it work?"


    "Like this¡ª"


    "Wha¡ª"


    "See? Or like this¡ª"


    "HEY!"


    "Or even like this¡ª OW! KALEY!"


    "WE''RE ALL HERE, YOU KNOW?! STOP TURNING IT ON AND OFF! EVEN I''M NOT USED TO IT! Eden''s¡ª Pfft¡ª EDEN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    As I turned around, Eden looked like she was trying to take a huge dump or just had just eaten the most sour fruit or gummy candy known to man because not only were her eyebrows scrunched but her lips were pouting forward while her eyes were getting cross-eyed by the second.


    I had to wave her down even if that might be the way she could call upon it but from experience, it was to draw out something within you not expel something out like what she looked like she was doing.


    "D-Did I do something wrong?"


    "Remember the first time you dipped your toes¡ª I mean, had it activated? What happened then?"


    "Umm¡­ I thought¡­ Jeremy¡­ I thought he died. I-I thought you k-killed him¡­"


    "And?"


    "I-I¡­ I felt so angry I¡ª"


    "Try to recall the memories, the sensations, what you were feeling, was your body tensing up? Was your heart beating so fast it''d almost explode? Or was it theplete opposite? Did it slow down to the point you think you were fucking dead or was it your senses heightening so much everything felt like it was slowing down?"


    "I¡­ I dunno¡­ I-I''m really not sure, I''m sorry¡ª"


    "Oh, don''t apologize¡­ I don''t even remember what I did the first time it happened to me like you. I only know what I did when I saw the footage¡­"


    "The footage¡­ You have your bodycam with you still! Can we see it?!"


    "Later, heh."


    "Ahhhn~ Whyter?!"


    "We still have a job to do, right?"


    "Ah¡ª Right, sorry¡­ Then, someone was training you like this, huh? AH¡ª WAIT A SECOND! I-I''M SO SORRY! I TOTALLY FORGOT! JUNE SAID SOMETHING AND I¡ª I COMPLETELY FORGOT WHEN I HEARD IT! I¡ª JUNE!"


    June was trying her best to hold herughter, "What?"


    "WERE YOU THE ONE WHO TOLD ME¡ª"


    Quinn cut in, "Keep your voice down, alright?! I''m bored outta my ass here!"


    "AH¡ª Shit, shit, shit! Stupid! I really forgot, I''m so sorry¡ª"


    I waved her off again, "It''s okay, it''s okay¡­ It''s a little hard for me to try and emte what happened to transfer it over to you guys but without Kaley and Marisha''s help with my noggin'' al this wouldn''t be possible."


    Kaley rolled her eyes, "Psh, I did absolutely nothing. It was all to Mom''s credit¡ª That reminds me, you should talk to her too, now that you could do what he did."


    Eden nodded a few times, "I-I gotta ask, do you all¡­?"


    As soon as Eden popped the question, everyone else¡ªKaley, Tatiana, and Quinn¡ªshook their heads because even if I saw them do it like Eden did, they couldn''t just easily turn it on and off like I could.


    In extreme cases, they might''ve the ability to do so but let''s just say Eden was part of this other circle now¡ªthough I''m pretty sure there was still a handful of people out there in the world that had the same ability as mine.


    ''Benjie''s one of them, for sure, even if I hate to admit it¡­ Also Old Man Kaiseki¡­ Aoi¡­ Mashiro-san¡­ Fuck it, maybe they all learned it by now¡­ It''s only fair¡­ I did steal some of their original techniques by watching¡­ That''s why they hate sparring with me¡­ Well¡ª except for Aoi, of course¡­''


    With that said, as our voices echoed through this gun range, it didn''t take long before we heard the first taping from one of the coffins.


    At this point, I reminded everyone present to keep silent and use either hand signals or notes to ry messages so that we could make them go through Phase 2 without issue.


    But yeah, the first tap was followed by more and more until they weren''t even taps but punches, elbows, and pushed¡ªwhich was eventually apanied by a scream which more or less woke up everybody.


    Right now, we were just hearing a cacophony of people screaming for dear life and it was safe to say that everyone else who was hearing the same thing as me looked very~ ufortable.


    It''s just that this was when I asked June to y the audio recording she prepared for us and it started with shuffling of feet, either brushing up to their coffins followed by a truck speeding away.


    "H-HEY! HEY! HEEEEEEEEEEY! WHO WAS THAT?!"


    "A-ANSWER US, PLEASE!"


    "W-WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE?!"


    "MEGAN, IS THAT YOU?!"


    "ALEXA?!"


    "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! IS EVERYONE HERE?! THIS IS JP! ANSWER ME!"


    "W-WE''RE HERE!"


    "DON''T JUST SAY FUCKING WE, SAY YOUR FUCKING NAMES! ROLL CALL FOR EVERYONE IN THE ACADEMY FIRST!"


    "WHY THE FUCK DO YOU GUYS GET TO GO FIRST?!"


    "DOES IT FUCKING MATTER?!"


    "BROWNIE, SHUT UP! THEY THOUGHT OF IT FIRST, WE SHOULD LET THEM!"


    "GODDAMMIT, LEE! YOU''RE JUST SUCKING EVERYONE''S DICK!"


    "IT''S CALLED COOPERATING, YOU DIPSHIT!"


    "HEEEY! YOU''RE RUINING OUR ROLL CALL! SHUT THE FUCK UP! LUCAS HERE!"


    "FUCK YOU, LUCAS!"


    "FUCK YOU, BROWN ASS! YOU''RE JUST LIKE BRIAN BUT AMERICAN! MAKES YOU SUPER FUCKING ANNOYING!"


    "HEEEEY! WHY DID I GET DRAGGED OVER THERE!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "SHUT THE FUCK UP TOO!"


    "HEY EVERYONE QUIET THE FUCK UP! DON''T YOU KNOW WE''RE MAKING SO MUCH NOISE?! JUST LET US DO OUR THING AND WE''LL LET YOU DO YOURS! THIS IS SEB!"


    "SEB?! FUCK YOU''RE REALLY SAFE¡ª I THOUGHT¡ª"


    "NOT NOW, MARV!"


    "FUCKING MEN ON MEN SHIT OVER HERE, I''M OUT!"


    "FUCK YOU BROWNIE, YOU WATCH TRANNY PORN ON REPEAT¡ª"


    "IT''S NOT THE FUCKING SAME!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK¡ª CAN''T YOU JUST ALL SHUT UP AND TAKE INTO ACCOUNT EVERYONE ELSE''S SAFETY FIRST?! THAT MOTHERFUCKER''S PROBABLY AROUND BUT WE KNOW JACK SHIT OF WHERE WE ARE! HE''LL PROLLY KILL ME IF I SAY THIS BUT I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I''LL RETURN WHATEVER HE DID TO ME TEN-FOLD!"


    "YOU CAN''T EVEN BEAT ANY OF US IN A FISTFIGHT, ISAAC! SHUT YOUR FUCKING TEACHER''S PET ASS OVER THERE!"


    "CINDY! CINDY! IT''S JEREMY! WHERE ARE YOU!"


    "I-I''M HERE! HERE! EDEEEN! EDEN! IS JUNE¡ª NO, EDEEEEN! ANSWER US!


    WHERE ARE YOU?!"


    At that point, Eden didn''t know what to do but if she makes so much as a peep, I''ll just knock her out then and there to not impede everyone''s growth.

 Chapter 1271 Buried Alive II

    ncing at Eden, she looked distraught from hearing her siblings in great distress but she kept it in before turning, asking what to do in that situation. In any case, I just motioned for her to keep it down while we let everyone else freak out and lose their shit¡ªwait until it dies down¡ªbefore giving them stimuli to make their heads spiral down again.


    It was just straight-up mental torture at this point and I could only feel sorry for the people who were afraid of very, very tight spaces.


    Still, what they didn''t know was that we strapped them with heart monitors among other monitoring devices not only on their bodies so we could properly judge if they could carry on with Phase 2 or not.


    Each person has a different locking mechanism and if we go too far, we just might break thempletely, unable to unlock their full potential. But yeah, it also takes a different kind of person to fall into the category of the people who have crossed the threshold and I''m gonna be honest and say that my method might not work on them.


    Despite that, it''d be an invaluable learning AND harrowing experience so they''d still get a little something out of this whether they achieve what I wanted them to achieve or not.


    I could also say that this was also some sort of mental torture for us as it is for them because we''ve been with them for a good while and we''re just as friends as we wererades. And not even replying to them when they were breaking down crying or screaming for dear life?


    ''It more than fucking sucks!''


    However, the few minutes that would pass would feel like an eternity for them but it didn''t take long before I picked up one of the shovels and started to pour dirt over their coffins. At the same time, June had already yed a randomized loop copying almost the same sound and running it at different intervals.


    Doing that would make them think that a group was burying them alive and even if someone wasn''t hearing dirt or gravel fall on their new home, they''d think someone else was pouring dirt on theirrades.


    It was safe to say that a few people had already tapped out¡ªor at least we deemed them incapable of such a challenge¡ªpulled their coffins out of the line up and had them delivered straight to the hospital.


    It''s just that I had the people with the truckse in with a wood chipper and I decided to help them to, you know¡­ chip wood.


    Then again, I threw inrge wood scraps over in that wood chipped and had the sound of flesh getting ripped apart yed by June through the speakers¡ªbut instead of more people screaming for dear life, we were met with deathly silence.


    But looking through their heart monitors, everyone''s heart rate was fucking through the roof and I could only assume that they were all shocked to fuck at what they''ve seen or heard.


    And yeah, it didn''t take long before my expected shouting and crying for help came but there were a few that were starting to get suspicious.


    "N-NO¡­ NO SHOT THIS IS REAL!!!"


    "I DON''T WANNA DIE, PLEASE HELP!"


    "HEEEEEEEEELP! ANYONE!"


    "H-HE¡ª HE''S JUST PLAYING WITH US! I-I''M SURE OF IT!"


    "EVERYONE THINK! THIS IS ALL A GAME!"


    "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW?!"


    "PLEASE, LISTEN!"


    "STOP SCREAMING YOU FUCKS AND FOCUS!"


    "FOCUS?! THEY''RE THROWING US IN THE WOOD CHIPPER! CAN YOU FUCKING THINK?!"


    "IT''S ALL A GAME!"


    "HOW CAN YOU BE SURE?!"


    "TRUST ME!"


    "THE FUCK WOULD I TRUST YOU, HUH?!"


    "G-GUYS¡ª I-I CAN''T HEAR JAMES AND RUBEN!"


    "FUCK! RUBEEEEN!"


    "E-EDEEEN! PLEASE! A-ANSWER US¡ª CINDY?! W-WHERE ARE YOU?! TALK TO ME!"


    "FUUUUUUUCK!"


    "GUYS! EVERYONE CALM THE FUCK DOWN!"


    "LEE! WHERE ARE YOU LEE! TALK TO ME!"


    "WILLIAMS!!!"


    "ASH! ASH! ANSWER ME, ASH!"


    "I-I''M HERE! I-I''M HERE! W-WHERE''S MARTIN A-AND¡ª S-SOME OF US ARE R-REALLY MISSING!"


    "I-IT''S STILL A G-GAME TO F-FUCK WITH US! T-THEY COULD BE IN THE SAME ROOM!"


    "SAME ROOM?! WE''RE IN A PIT, YOU FUCKING PRICK! IT''S BASICALLY AN OPEN GRAVE!"


    "DUMBASS NO ONE BURIES PEOPLE ANYMORE! IT''S ALWAYS THE FIRE AND FLAMES!"


    "SHUT THE FUCK UP DRAGONFORCE!"


    "CINDDDYYYY!!!"


    "R-ROLL CALL AGAIN! EVERYONE! WE NEED TO FUCKING DO THIS! FOLLOW AFTER ME! I''M JP!"


    "S-SEB!"


    "ALEXA!"


    "MEGAN! IT''S YOUR TURN!"


    "MEGAN!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "FUCK! S-SHE''S NOT ANSWERING! MEGAAAN!"


    "W-WE''LL DEAL WITH HER LATER, WHO''S FUCKING NEXT?!"


    "J-JAMES!"


    "W-WHICH ONE?!"


    "NUMBER ONE, ASSHOLE!"


    "I HAD TO ASK, FUCK FACE! WHO TOLD YOU TO CONFUSE EVERYONE?!"


    "FUCK YOU! HEEEEEEY! ANYONE OUT THERE! I-I GIVE¡ª NO, FUCK THAT TOO! WHOEVER''S DOING THIS, I''LL FUCKING BEAT YOU TO A PULP AND MIX YOUR REMAINS FOR PIG SLOP! YOU HEAR ME?!


    H-HEY! HEY! HEEEEEEY! W-WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?! HEEEEEEY!"


    "JAMES!!! W-WHERE ARE THEY TAKING YOU?!"


    "OH GOD! OH GOD! OH GOD! IT''S THE WOOD¡ª IT''S R-RUNNING AGAIN! HEEEEELP!"


    "JAMES! SHOUT EVERYTHING THAT''S HAPPENING! I-IT''S VITAL INFORMATION!"


    "MY LIFE''S VITAL TOO, YOU FUCKING BAROOON! T-THEY''RE C-CARRYING ME! SOMEBODY HELP!"


    "WHERE?!"


    "THE FUCK WOULD I KNOW, GENIUS?!" T-THEY''RE BRINGING ME UP¡ª I-I''M BEING LIFTED¡ª"


    "FUCK! SO WE''RE REALLY IN A PIT?!"


    "STILL COULD BE A TRICK, SAY MORE JAMES!"


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"


    "TENNYSON! JUST SHOUT EVERYTHING THAT''S HAPPENING!"


    "JAMES?! JAMES! JAAAAAMES!"


    "HE''S NOT ANSWERING! FUCK! THEY''RE REALLY KILLING US! HEEEEELP! HELP! SKY, PLEASE!


    C-COME HERE! W-WE DON''T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED BUT PLEASE! SAVE US!"


    "STOP CRYING ISAAC, HE''S THE ONE THAT''S DOING THIS! IT''S ALL PLANNED FROM THE START!"


    "WHAT IF WE GOT BREACHED WHEN WE''RE TRAINING?! YOU NEVER KNOW YOU DUMBASS!"


    "LISTEN TO YOURSELF! YOU THINK WITH HIM AROUND THIS PLACE COULD FALL DOWN?! NOT A CHANCE! SO AGAIN, DUMBASS!"


    "H-HE''S INVINCIBLE! ADD TO THAT EVERYONE IN HIS MAIN CREW! HE''S AN ASSHOLE BUT¡ª HE''S A FUCKING ASSHOLE BUT THIS IS STILL TOO FUCKING MUCH! AHHHHHHHH!!!"


    "GET US OUT YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! WE ALREADY KNOW YOU''RE THERE!"


    "EDEEEEN! IF YOU CAN HEAR US, FUCK! J-JUST GET US OUT! WE GET IT! PLEASE!"


    "I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I''LL SMACK YOUR FUCKING FACE WHEN I GET OUT!"


    "FUCK YOU, SKY! FUCK YOU!"


    "FUCK YOU SKY!"


    "YOU SUCK!"


    "YOU FUCKING SUCK!"


    ''JP and Tennyson as always, huh? Some of them might not voice them out but they''re always the 10th man, the person that should always disagree¡­ at least Tennyson''s more that guy¡­ JP''s just being logical¡­''


    Find your next read on empire


    In any case, it didn''t take long before our smokes and mirrors stopped affecting them so we eventually put a stop to Phase 2 as we had them all sent to the hospital for a proper check like everyone else who quit before them.


    Funnily enough, all of them were fucking staring daggers right at my face and it was almost the literal example of the term: if looks could kill. Despite that, the animosity they were all directing towards me while I was just looking at them with all smiles was a fraction of what Eden achieved thest time.


    But yeah, Seb was the runner-up among all others followed by Marvin, JP, Brian, and Alexa.


    Everyone else calmed the fuck down when they felt they were safe but it was still a question mark at this point because they just experienced a fraction of hell and started topartmentalize.


    The only way we''d know at this point was to enact Phase 3 though it would take a long fucking day and at this point, it was already a little past dinner.


    And again, funnily enough, they were all huddled up in one spot, refusing to eat with me though they were all still okay with eating with everyone else who still took part in their trials and tribtions. It''s just that they were still recovering from everything that they experience from Phase 1 and Phase 2 and they haven''t had the chance to talk about it until after dinner.


    "WHAT?! EDEN PASSED?!" Almost everyone else eximed.


    I rolled my eyes, "Now you fucks want to talk? Forget it!" then I turned to Eden, "Hey!"


    "Y-Yes?!"


    "Not one more word to them, alright?! That''s supposed to be a secret!"


    Cindy lost her shit, "W-Wai¡ª How?! How did you pass?! And you were just staring at us all this time?!"


    Jeremy nodded, "Yeah! W-We were so worried about you!"


    Eden scratched the side of her cheek, "I''m sorry, everything''s still blurry after Phase 1 s-so¡­ A-And I really shouldn''t say more¡­"


    "AGHHH DAMMIT, EDEN!"


    "Sorry~"


    "Hngh¡­ FUCK! And we''re gonna do the same shit tomorrow?!"


    "Haah?!"


    "Who told you that?!"


    "I mean¡ª"


    I waved everyone off, "You''ll just see tomorrow but you''re noting as a group. I''m happy that all of you here are gelling together because of onemon enemy: me! Heh, but yeah, Phase 3''s a one-on-one session and I''ll just call each of you up my gym on the 3rd floor. You don''t have to bring anything but yourself and I''d still require the ones who tapped out toe.


    It didn''t mean you''re out of the game, it still goes on like that."

 Chapter 1272 Needed Rest

    At that point, everyone else wanted to ask more questions¡ªsay a few curses directed at me as well¡ªbut I waved them off, and even if they tried to get some info for tomorrow from the others like Kaley or Tatiana, they didn''t know shit so they wouldn''t be much help either.


    So yeah, we just lounged around for a while before I skipped the gym and went straight for the shower, and I was more than happy to get my back washed by Kaley.


    "Ah¡ª Go on, don''t stop¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Doofus¡­ Did I surprise you? You''re very tense, you''re that tired, huh?"


    "Weren''t you there? Didn''t you see what I did?"


    "Hahaha! I didn''t see who you DIDN''T do, for sure! Everyone wanted to do it again but I''m sure you''re really tired so I told them some other time¡­"


    I turned around to kiss her, "Thanks, so it''s just us then?"


    "Well~~~ mostly?"


    I lightly huffed as I smiled, "Fiiine~ but no promises, I''ll beying down most of the time¡­ I need some energy for tomorrow too, okay?"


    Kaley chuckled again as she kissed me, "It''ll be chill, don''t worry¡­ We''ll just be watching a movie or two while snacking or having some ice cream."


    "Oh? What movie?"


    "Well~ I thought we should watch some of those B-Rated scary movies to keep Quinnughing her ass off while the snacks will keep Tatiana busy. Riri and Ruru were the only ones itching a little bit tonight though¡ªbut we can handle them, right?"


    "Again, no promises¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Alright, alright~ Wanna wash me too?"


    "I thought you''d never ask!"


    "Ah¡ª Hey! T-That''s¡ª MmMmH! N-Not now! I-I thought you were tired!"


    "I am!"


    "Then¡ª"


    "You''d be pinned to the wall by now, I''m just washing your ass very~ thoroughly~"


    "D-Doofus¡­ T-That''s not my ass¡­"


    "Didn''t you know you''re supposed to wash front to back not the opposite? Common sense, Kaley¡ª O-Ow! Kaley! Hahahaha!!!"


    "D-Dammit! PpfaAhahah!!! Doofus! Doofus! Doofus! Mmn¡­ NNh!"


    With that said, Kaley and I did something quick with each other before we reconvened with the usual suspects in my room. Well, some of them were also waiting to get to the shower, getting in their workouts, or just finishing up some chores¡ªthough some of them were busy elsewhere still doing their jobs or something simr.


    But yeah, Kaley picked a couple of goofy "scary" movies from my collection and the first few minutes of it was as she predicted.


    The twins became our cuddle buddies while Quinn and Tatiana were kept busy by the film and the food. But yeah, E was using June as a shield from the ghosts while na couldn''t quite figure out what was going on.


    While it was true she could glean on some details of our private lives in and out of the bedroom, it was totally different from the things she had read and heard about from actually seeing it. Continue your adventure at empire


    So she threw me a quick text.


    [Are we pre-gaming or what?]


    [What do you mean?]


    [I thought we were fucking?]


    [You weren''t here yesterday?]


    [Asshole! I thought Kaley was kidding! I slept early because of what we did in the train stations!]


    [You''re that tired from flying a drone, huh?]


    [Again! Asshole!]


    [Is that you''re lovenguage or something or are you hinting to get fucked in the ass? I respond well to straight shooters, alright? Just say what you want me to do to you but yeah, no promises tonight because I AM tired¡­]


    [Ugh¡­]


    [What?]


    [I-I¡­ I wanna do it now¡­]


    [The nket''s big¡­ There''s room¡­ Just slither in¡­ Riri will get it and you''ll see where it goes¡­]


    [L-Like right now? You two are¡­?]


    [Not at the moment, no¡­ as you said, pre-gaming¡­]


    [W-What about everyone else? And June?]


    [Stop asking questions and see for yourself¡­ I don''t have much in the tank but I can still get it up but you''ll do the rest of the work if you wait too long¡­]


    [Fuck it!]


    [That''s the spirit~]


    [Asshole!]n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Again, just tell it to me straight!]


    [Ugh! F-Fine! H-Here I go! Don''t make such a big deal about it!]


    [Okay~ Okay~ You look quite cute, actually~ Now that I''m staring at you¡­]


    [Stop! I''m¡ª Ugh¡­ J-Just¡­ L-Let me do my thing¡­]


    At this point, na did join Riri and me in our nket but even though I thought Riri might react to it negatively, she actually smiled at na and guided her hand to where my crotch was. However, na''s hand immediately pulled back¡ªwhich surprised Riri and me¡ªbut while we were quite amused by na''s flushed face, she slowly ced it on my abdominals before moving it up my chest.


    Then she whispered sulkily:


    "You two are so¡­ Ugh¡­ B-But not gonna lie¡­ Your body''s¡­ Mnn¡­ So nice a-and hard¡­"


    "Pfft¡­ Hard? Really?"


    "S-Shut up¡­ I-It''s my first time d-doing this¡­ I-In a while¡­"


    Riri chuckled, "Why? No hunks over there at your ce?"


    na rolled her eyes, "No one I fancy¡­"


    "Hmm~ So you fancy him then? I see, I see¡­ Fufufu¡­"


    "S-Shut up¡­ J-Just let me e-enjoy at my own pace¡­ W-We''re not in a hurry, right?"


    I softly nodded as I pulled her a little closer, "Yeah¡­ I mean¡ª A little but I''m good if I''d justy down like here¡­"


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    "I mean¡­"


    As I trailed myst sentence, I ordered my lower half to stand in attention as I watched na''s face turn toplete disbelief when she saw me pitch a 9-inch tent from below the covers. Seeing everyone stare in shock was a stroke to my ego but then again, I''d prefer the more physical version of stroking, if anyone would catch my drift.


    So yeah, na definitely caught it as she had this urge to finally wrap her soft hands around my knob, gently squeezing it while imagining what it''d look like behind our covers.


    With our lighting situation, one of the few light sources was the TV itself as the darkest part of my room was on our side, so let''s just say that my pitched tent was casting arge shadow over us. However, it didn''t stop na frompletely exploring my whole length with her hands¡ªeven so far as going to feel my balls to have an image of it like a 3D scanner.


    Still, I was beginning to notice how her breath was getting heavier and heavier as she holds me tighter and tighter and it didn''t take long before she looked into my eyes, seemingly asking for permission.


    "What?"


    "U-Umm¡­ C-Can I¡­?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Y-You know¡­ *gulps* t-taste it?"


    "Sure¡ª"


    "D-Don''t push my head down, alright? Or else I''ll bite you!"


    I lightly chuckled, "You already said you''d go your own pace, right? You get my lower half, Riri gets my upper half, deal?"


    "D-Deal¡­"


    From then on, Riri didn''t want to pass up the chance to see my reaction as na finally went under our covers and went face to face with my Shai-Hulud.


    We definitely heard the small gasp followed by another gulp but instead of sucking the tip like everyone else would, na started by gliding her tongue all over my length, wetting itpletely before even trying to taste the tip leaking with my precum.


    And when I finally felt her warm mouth enclose the head, I let out a short exhale as Riri giggled right next to me, but from the other side of the bed, Kaley was already getting eaten out by Ruru while her hands were going inside her.


    Adorably enough, na didn''t feel too experiencedpared to the others but she sure was giving it her all by trying to swallow me whole¡ªbut failing miserably. To me, it was just a bonus if they could take my entire length because again, enthusiasm gets me off more times than I could imaginepared to wless technique.


    And if someone could do both? That was just heaven on Earth right then and there¡ªwhich I definitely experienced from a few people in our circle.


    In any case, as I was enjoying most of na''s tongue, she began to bob her head up and down¡ªonly reaching about half my length before moving back to the tip again, but it didn''t take long before Riri couldn''t get enough of just watching and started to push her tongue down my throat.


    And when that happened both the girls on me grabbed on each of my hands at the same time and guided them to their special spots.


    All I could say that one wasn''t wetter than the other but both were definitely needing something more than just my fingers. However, na seemed like she hadn''t tasted a skin-vored lollipop in so long, she wanted to savor the moment so in their case, theypromised with more fingers inside them while their tongues were busy sucking on either my tongue or my cock.


    Everything happening all at once just made my whole body tense up as I exploded and filled na''s mouth.

 Chapter 1273 Mouths To Feed

    How I would''ve wished the cover wasn''t there when na''s grip on my cock tightened as her mouth was still wrapped around me¡ªbecause like everyone else, the amount I let out was more than a shockpared to seeing my size, and they''d always try to take it all in with one gulp even though it''d take more than three.


    But yeah, it didn''t take long before I broke my kiss with Riri as na gasped for air when she choked on my mouthfuls of cum, and she just became the center of attention as everyone nced at her.


    Quinn was the first one who said something:


    "Hah! First time? Fucking surprised me too! If you wouldn''t clean that up, I will?"


    Riri protested, "Hey! I''m here! Hello?"


    "So?"


    "I-If anything, I should be next in line!"


    "Psh! Fine, fine~ you fucks are lucky this movie''s so fucking awesome¡ª so funny¡ª"


    E had to speak up, "Funny?! IT''S SCARY!"


    na ignored the rest of their remarks as she red at me, "What the fuck?! H-HOW¡ª You could''ve warned me!"


    I scratched the side of my head, "If you weren''t aware, my mouth''s actually busy and I thought¡ª Nevermind, I should''ve¡­ My bad."


    "Argh¡­ Y-You''re lucky, I hadn''t had my fill yet¡­ I-I guess I''ll go again¡ª"


    "W-What?!" Riri eximed.


    "S-Shut up! Y-You had your fill yesterday¡­ J-Just give me one more and we''ll share¡­ Fuck¡­ I didn''t even notice but you''re still fucking hard¡ª"


    "C-Can''t I have my turn though?"


    "Please? I promise, just one more¡­ I-I''ll even help you next¡­ I-I just gotta¡­ H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­"


    "Hmmrgh¡­ Fine¡­ B-But I-I''ll do something else now¡­" Riri trailed as she turned to me, "Is that okay?"


    I replied as I gave her a smile, "S-Sure¡­"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    With that said, Riri couldn''t have looked happier as she stood up and then squatted down, slowly lowering her wet slit on my face while na started to slobber on my knob sloppily. For some reason, she was using my dick like a toothbrush while Riri was using my face as a backscratcher for her snatch.


    Despite the weird metaphors, it actually felt fucking good giving and receiving oral at the same time while hearing Kaley moaning as Ruru continued to munch on her carpet as everyone else was either giving us nces or continuing watching the movie.


    However, it didn''t take long before Riri started to push down on my face even more as she moved her hips faster and faster¡ªand the moment she grabbed my hands and put them on their breasts and squeezed, she let out this ear-piercing moan as her body tensed and locked all over.


    "AaAHHnnNHGHGHH!!! C-CU¡ª CU¡ª C-CUmmMingnNGHG!!!"


    As she grabbed on my head, warm liquid squirted out from her tiny hole and almost drowned me but I drank what I could while parting and pressing on her sensitive lips with my tongue. She was struggling with the sensitivity and wanted to get off but I switched my hold to her legs, pinning her in ce as she continued to cum over and over.


    At the same time, I could feel how na wanted me to give her a second serving, but at the same time be served as well, because she was already presenting her cute butt over to me by waving it around, exposing her pink holes which werepletely spotless.


    The only reason I could see them was I had to give Riri a break or else she''d rip my hair off, so once she was set free, she got off me and na quickly took her ce.


    And boy~ if I could fucking tell you, which I could, definitely, the moment na''s scent wafted over to me just made me wrap my arms around her hips and pull her crotch against my face.


    I started slobbering on her cunt like she was slobbering on my cock earlier, but as she had saidst time, she was that touched deprived so the moment the tip of my tongue made contact with her pink walls, she wasn''t able to perform just as good though she still kept a tight grip on me.


    "S-Sshit! F-FucK, mE! A-A-AananahGHh! Y-YessSS! YES! A-AH!


    F-Fugg¡ª MnNghhH!"


    At this point, my cock was just twitching right by the side of na''s face but I couldn''t care less of getting sucked on if I could taste this new touched-deprived cunt creaming with the slightest brush with my tongue. While her butt was exposed for me to vite, her head was still under the covers before Riri tried to join in on the fun.


    I was still sucking on na''s clit while gliding my tongue on her lips as Riri decided to taste na''s asshole from the top as she spread her cheeks wider.


    "H-HnNHGH! W-WHAt?! You¡ª S-ShiiiIIIT! I¡ª I''m¡ª AHnNHHHGHHHH!!!"


    All of a sudden, na started to convulse before a slow trickle of liquid came out of her pussy but as everyone knows, it was tradition around here to continue making one enjoy the pleasure beyond cumming as Riri and I continued to use our tongues to make her melt in ce.


    And while I still had a good hold on her hips? There was no fucking chance she wasn''t cumming multiple times while we were all over her.


    It took about maybe ten minutes before na stopped struggling and the moment she was just lying on top of me, Iid her to the side with my throbbing cock ced gently on top of her aching cunt.


    "H-Ha¡­ Haa¡­ W-Wait¡­ Wai¡­ Hngh¡­ S-Shit¡­ Y-You guys are too much¡­ Nnn¡­"


    "Wanna take a break or¡ª"


    She let out the most devilish smile, "Fuck no, fuck me right¡ª HNGHHhGGHH! FUCK!"


    The moment I heard na''s go-ahead, I slowly pushed my whole length inside her tight fucking pussy and she just straight-up started to cum violently when I reached her womb. Her insides were just unbelievably tight and warm and I would''ve cummed right then and there too if she was sucking me the whole time I was eating her out.

 Chapter 1274 Holes To Fill

    It''s just that we barely even started so I pulled right by the tip before I jammed it in the same spot, making na''s eyes roll over to the back of her head¡ªbut I had to sweeten the deal a little more because I still haven''t seen what''s inside her loose band shirt.


    It was easy enough to pull it up by her neck, but let''s just say her skin was as smooth and as pale as Eden''s if Eden didn''t have a farmer''s tan.


    In addition, she seemed to be eating properly and her tits were perky and full¡ªjust the right size for my palms¡ªbut her brown-pinkish nipples could already cut ss from how hard they were.


    But yeah, na was just losing her head as I began thrusting over and over, rougher and rougher, and then faster and faster until I came inside her tight fucking cunt, but then again, it was tradition around here to vite her other hole or just continue to churn the butter inside even if I had already filled her way~ past the brim.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    So I had to ask her if she''d opt for wastage or get her other hole broken into:


    "What now?"


    "W-What now¡ª H-Ha¡­ W-WHat not w-what?"


    "I have one more for you, pussy or ass? Or your mouth? Your body?"


    "S-Shit¡­ Fuck¡­ I-I can''t even think s-straight¡­ Hngh¡­ H-Nnhnn¡­ A-Ass¡­"


    "You sure?"


    "Y-Yeah, but¡ª I-I''m on t-top so¡ª Y-You know¡­"


    "Anything for you, works for me."


    "S-Shit, okay¡­ g-get off m-me¡­ Hnn! D-Don''t pull out l-like that!"


    "Shi¡ª My bad¡­ I''ll justy down again, right?"


    "S-Shut up¡­ I''m sorry¡ª I¡­ L-Let me take a b-breath¡­"


    In any case, once Iid on my back with my 9-incher still pointing up to the sky, I discovered that Ruru and Kaley had switched ces while the others did almost the same. E was now hiding behind the biggest back she could find which was Quinn''s and June was already keen on joining me, Riri, and na.


    Easily enough, na would be lying if she said she wasn''t intrigued of what June was hiding behind her punk rebel-ish clothes so Riri had me again for a short bit as the two also had a short time with each other.


    I was honestly more surprised that June was more open to opening up to new people but then again, I wasn''t exactly sure of how long the two have been online friends.


    Heck, they both belong to the same organization or small group, but let''s just say after na''s curiosity about June was satiated, she might be biting off more than she could chew when she asked not only June to join in with us at the same time but also Riri to wear one of our toys to be used on her.


    At least that was what I thought initially.


    Because when na lowered herself onto me, she was already losing her head when I was resizing her tiny butthole¡ªand the only saving grace when June entered her pussy was of her smaller size.


    But right then and there, Riri went behind June after June gave her the go-ahead¡ªand I wasn''t exactly sure if Riri put it inside June''s pussy or asshole¡ªbut what I do know was that everyone''s fucking enjoying it.


    From my point of view, June couldn''t figure out where to look between me and na while she was stuck fucking her idol with me and at the same time getting fucked by Riri from behind. And in Riri''s case, she wasn''t even doing much as June''s hip movement would do all the work for them but her hands were busy with cupping June''s perky tits while pushing her own to June''s back.


    But yeah, my hands were also free to explore as I pinched and squeezed every part of na that I could hold onto, but I knew she was into some kinky shit when she guided my hand to hold onto her neck.


    I was applying just enough pressure on her jugr while I was pinching and pulling her left nipple¡ªbut with how sensitive June was, she started to cum inside na''s pussy, mixing their juices together with mine while I still was being a pain in the ass for na quite literally.


    Because yeah, despite the amount of lube plus our juices on my cock, na''s ass felt like a fucking vice the moment she took in my whole length and I could barely move in and out of her with our current position.


    However, with June tapping out this early due to overstimtion not just from her lower region but also her mind from being with na, Riri and I DP''ed the fuck out of na''s holes when she got inside her before we flipped us over.


    We did agree on her being on top and me being tired as fuck but she was on top of someone else while I don''t leave any fucking hole unless it''s filled to the brim.


    "FUCK! fUckk! fUCK! f-fUKC! hNGH! hnHAG!


    Ha¡ª nanGG! aNHVG! y-yeE¡ª A¨ChANG! ANGHG!GHH!!! CUMMING! CUMMING!


    CUMMING!"


    With each fucking thrust, na would bite onto the pillow Riri wasying her pretty little head on but to my fucking delight, she was also moving her hips to match with our movements, and I''d just m it right inside her each time we pulled back.


    And the moment I pulled her hair as Riri choked her instead?


    It wasn''t up to Kaley''s level yet but she drenched the fucking bed when she was about to run out of fucking air, and we didn''t even see her struggle but instead, a huge smile was stered on her face as her eyes were rolling to the back of her head.


    So yeah, the coup de grace was when I pulled out of her ass after filling it up and shoving it back in to where Riri''s toy was, fucking her with two fucking dicks in one hole, making her pass out from the pain and the pleasure.

 Chapter 1275 Passing Out - Cereal Again?

    At this point, June and na were lying on their sides¡ªhugging each other¡ªas I was deep inside Riri''s tight cunt, feeling my whole length with each thrust as I move my hips. While I did tell them many times I was tired, I suppose I''d just do myst hurrah and pass out¡ªand for once, let them take care of me right after.


    But yeah, each of Riri''s hands was either clutching the hair on the back of my head or straight-up wing my back, but let''s just say my 9-inch rod was fucking deep inside her so it was only fair.


    "H-HannchhGH! A-ANghG! MmngG! NnNg! Agh! AChK!


    MnGH! Mngh! NnHnGH!"


    Riri couldn''t even form proper words anymore but there were times she''d tighten and orgasm not because of me but of the inherent ability she shares with Ruru. At the same time, the same thing might be happening to her twin sister so in a way, Kaley and I were pleasuring ourselves indirectly since Kaley was using her strapless dildo to rearrange Ruru''s insides.


    In a way, I was a little jealous because it was almost like this certain Hokage''s multiplication ability but the twins could feel everything at the same fucking time, not after the technique''s released.


    But yeah, it only took one look from me and Kaley then Riri and Ruru for us to switch ces¡ªand have Ruru borrow Kaley''s toy for her sister¡ªbefore Kaley pushed me down and went on top of me. Her whole body was pressed against mine and even though I wasn''t inside her yet, my shaft was brushing against her plump ass and both of us were just prolonging the inevitable.


    "I''m tired, okay?"


    "Pfft¡­ Tired my ass, shouldn''t you beying down like this?"


    "Heh, I have my street cred to protect. It''s a different story with you though¡ª"


    "Doofus, don''t you dare get fucking soft or you know what''sing to you."


    "Uh-huh, we''ll see about that¡­"


    "Pfft¡­"


    At this point, Kaley leaned in for a kiss as I moved a bit to finally push my whole length inside her but slowly gave it inch by inch until she let out a short whimper. As that happened, she broke our kiss for a moment but she already had this insatiable look in her eyes as she leaned in to kiss me once again.


    "MmNh¡­ Nnh¡­ Ah¡­ Nnghn¡­"


    "Ah¡­"


    "Y-Yess¡­ nNgn¡­ Ahn¡­"


    Feeling her soft body against mine, I slowly moved my hips from below while she did the same from above as her hands were all over my head and my face while mine was all over her back and her firm buttocks.


    I was feeling Kaley''s soft lifts with mine and tasting her sweet saliva with my own, mixing it together over and over as our bodies'' heat continued to rise up.


    We weren''t even going at it as violentlypared to everyone else because it was more sensual and light¡ªhowever, I never felt so close to bursting out and it was taking everything to have the feeling of just about to explode though I still ultimately failed.


    Because with one more thrust inside her gripping wet slit, I never hugged her so tightly as I filled her insides with my hot seed, spilling over ourher regions, and making her follow right after.


    "F-FuCK! Fuck! Ahn! S-Shit¡ª S-Shiii¡ª MmNnnn!!!"


    But yeah, Kaley and I obviously didn''t stop there as we both moved our hips and continued on while the wet slopping sounds of our skin pping against each other reverberated¡ªall at the same time I pushed a finger inside her neglected asshole.


    And as soon as that happened, Kaley straight-up lost her mind as she hugged me tightly while pressing her huge tits between us, and I was almost sure she came over and over and over with each thrust.


    We didn''t even bother changing positions or locations as we were just in the fucking sweet spot¡ªand the only ever difference that urred in that 30 minutes of pure bliss was when Quinn and Tatiana took turns on Kaley''s ass.


    I made fucking sure they wouldn''t be able to slither in her pussy because I imed it for the night but they were very wee to slurp the sloppy seconds oozing from her tight hole.


    And at the current moment, Quinn was using her horse dildo against Kaley''s ass and she was directly staring into my eyes while she was ramming my wife¡ªwell, we both were¡ªover and over and over.


    However, there came a point when we had to flip Kaley like a burger patty because I wanted to have a turn in her ass, and their huge jugs just squishing together with all their sweat¡ªwhile Tatiana would also be ramming Quinn''s behind¡ªwouldnd me in the best view of the night.


    Better yet, I had a role in this position and one of the best ones as well because aside from resizing Kaley''s ass to my length, I get to put both my hands in between their tits as Quinn was pounding Kaley''s pussy with her horse cock.


    Though surprisingly enough, Quinn was forced to bend and lean even more as Tatiana took charge with my rubber incarnation, plowing Quinn''s pussy with a fist in her ass while using me and Kaley as a pillow.


    Still, with my hand on Kaley''s throat and Quinn''s lips on hers, everyone''s having fun and having multiple violent orgasms one after the other.


    But as time passed, I started to feel the fatigue from yesterday and today¡ªthough I still managed to make each one of them have at least one orgasm without filling them up. However, they still squeezed more out of me while I was justying on my back and the view of these beautiful women in different shapes and sizes having their faces deformed from sucking my cock was fucking incredible.


    They couldn''t exin it quite well but they love having my cum for some reason not only for the protein benefits but they somehow loved the taste and it was more than an achievement if ever.


    But at this point in time, Kaley was hugging me from my right while E snuck in between me and Quinn and nestled in the small space she could fit into, but yeah, she loved getting squished between my muscles and Quinn''s for some reason.


    We had already cleaned up, changed the sheets, and wearingfortable clothing though na was actually out cold from joining our nightly ritual for the first time.


    She did try her best and performed well but let''s just say she was more adept on the receiving side of thingspared to giving them.


    But yeah, now wasn''t the time for her performance review because June looked like she ticked off one of her wishes from her bucket list and she was just spooning her while wearing a sweet smile. However, there was still the matter of the files she stole from the Admiral we hadn''t talked about but at this point, my eyelids were really falling down.


    It took maybe a few moments before time passed like someone used a forwarding tool, but as I got up and got a good look at everyone else, E seemed to have gone down for some cereal again, including na and June.


    I wasn''t exactly sure the two would be up for an early morning cereal but it seemed like I answered my own question when I saw them quietly enjoying a bowl with E. Surprisingly enough, E still opted for Peanut Butter Cap''n Crunch while June opted for some Frosted Mini Wheats.


    However, na''s choice came as a surprise because as boring as Cornkes were, she dabbed them with tons of honey akin to a guy eating a hotdog with either a bottle of ketchup/sriracha on the side, pouring some of it with each bite.


    Then they all said in unison, "Want some?"


    I shook my head as I pulled out a box of Coco Crunch and Milo and poured them into my bowl at the same time:


    "I''m good¡ª"


    E couldn''t believe what I''d done, "Whaaa~ You can do that?!"


    "Pfft! It''s my cereal, I can do whatever the fuck I want with it," then I suddenly pulled out a pack of mini marshmallows and put two spoonfuls on top it followed by a scoop of protein powder AFTER adding in the milk.


    "W-W-Wha¡ª I-I DON''T EVEN KNOW IF THAT''S EDIBLE ANYMORE!"


    June couldn''t believe her eyes as well, "Right as I thought na''s could give me a toothache¡­"


    na chuckled, "At least it''s honey! But yeah, where the fuck did you get this?! It''s too good!"


    I joined them on the kitchen counter, "It''s from Edith''s ce. The Rivas¡ª"


    na''s eyes went wide, "Fuck¡ª Really?! The¡ª Shiiii~ You really wouldn''t know, huh? With Quinn, you know for a fact she''s rolling with some gangbangers but Edith and Nancy? I wouldn''t peg them for doing that type of business."


    I chuckled as I rolled my eyes, "Like you''re one to talk¡ª Me too, I guess."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 1276 Jen & Raches Escapade - Phase 3?

    Obviously, looks could be deceiving and we really shouldn''t judge a book by its cover but there wasn''t anything wrong about using our eyes and being a little judgemental.


    It wasn''t like we should be calm and collected when we saw a knife-wielding addict roaming around with a deranged look on his face then suddenly heading straight for us because I''d either put him down if I was armed or run for my fucking life.


    Either way, both our statements didn''t mean any harm though I dide back to check my cupboard if I had any bee pollen for my cereal.


    "What''s that?" The three asked almost at the same time again.


    "Just a little something-something for a little something-something. It wouldn''t hurt to take it since it does have some health benefits."


    June asked, "Can I have some?"


    "Sure, a teaspoon will do or just shake the bottle a little and let a few bits drop."


    na turned to me, "Really, what benefits does it¡ª"


    "Helps with menopause¡ª"


    "PFFFFT!!!/AHHHHHHHHHH!/PUUUUAHAHAHAHAH!!! DAMMIT!"


    I chortled, "I mean it''s one of them? Hahaha¡­ But yeah, it''s an antioxidant, helps with stress, helps a little with weight loss, et cetera, et cetera~"


    "You got this from Edith, too?"


    "I have a few bottles in stock but they sent me some of those too. I guess my supply with them wouldn''t run out¡ªaside from the skin care products everyone else had already divvied up. Shit''s insane."


    na looked at me the same way as Mr. Garciano did, "W-What skincare products?"


    Funnily enough, Nancy came down in her PJs, rubbing her eyes before ncing at us¡ªbut it took her a few seconds of loading time before she realized we were real people and we were staring right at her.


    It was chaos for a few seconds right after that though she was more than amodating to ask the Rivas Family for another shipment of skincare products if I could pick it up myself again with my helicopter.


    From then on, she went back wearing her usual maid uniform¡ªwhich we weren''t even requiring her to wear but she was insisting on¡ªand joined us for a bit before heading straight to my aunt''s ce to help with breakfast.


    But yeah, it looked like na wanted to bring up ''that'' subject with us and the only reason she wasn''t was because the Admiral''s daughter was sitting right with us. So yeah, we just have to find the right time to open such a topic but I''m pretty sure we''d be able to talk about what she uncovered today or maybeter this night.


    However, another person¡ªI mean, another couple came in at the same time and it was Jennifer and Rachel who had been doing their own thing for a good minute.


    "''Sup you fucking stud? You still alive after what we did to you?"


    I chuckled as I rolled my eyes, "I remember that night very~~~ differently."


    Rachel nodded at me, "I believe everyone passed out at least once and none of us were able to walk properly for hours. He basically stacked us side by side so we could sleep¡ª"


    "Hey! C''mon! Was just trying to sound cool, back me up a bit! No¡ª wait, straight-up lie for me!"


    "Pfft¡ª Nope!"


    I waved them off, "What were you guys up to the times you didn''t join us in the train stations?"


    Rachel answered, "Oh! We''ve been to a few ces to perform maintenance checks with all your aircraft with Micah¡ª We even dropped by Man too to see this Mayor though they have more boats than nes. Had to procure a few for them which he greatly appreciated."


    "Procure?"


    Jennifer chuckled, "Basically Grand Theft Auto but with a helicopter¡ª It was the dumbest but the coolest idea we''ve thought of in a while and Micah was all for it."


    "Why haven''t I heard of this¡­"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Rachel started to scratch the back of her head, "Don''t get mad, alright? You see almost all helis are atop buildings, right? So¡­ We had a group clear a roof while Micah''s piloting a heli and I get the one on the roof running¡­"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Don''t get mad¡ª"


    Jennifer rolled her eyes, "What could he do?"


    I flicked a cereal in each of their foreheads, "WHY DIDN''T YOU TELL ME?! I COULD''VE JOINED! THAT''S SO AWESOME!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "The fuck you guys so silent for?!"


    "Pfft¡­"


    "HAHAHAHAHA! WE''RE SO FUCKING SORRY, WE HAD ALREADY TAKEN EVERY HELICOPTER WE COULD IN MANILA!"


    "WHAT?! DAMMIT!"


    Rachel tried to soften the blow, "T-There are a few in the following cities we can go to next time?"


    I slumped down and drank my cereal soup, "Mm-hmm¡­"


    Jennifer suddenly got behind me and put me in a headlock, "You sulky motherfucker, you were so busy on your trains, right?! How could you have found the time?!"


    "S-S-STILL!"


    "Oh? Lil'' bro could still talk, huh? Are you really that pissed or do you just want me to take care of you? You''ve rested well enough, right?"


    Rachel just joined the other three as she sighed, "Here we go¡­"


    Long story short, Jennifer tried to solo me in the first-floor bathroom but with me just having half a breakfast and some good fucking sleep, ten of her wasn''t even enough to make my spider senses tingle. However, we still had sacrificialmbs in the kitchen and it was still the early morning so I basically had turns with everyone while on their stools and they very much weed the extra milk.


    But yeah, everyone else woke up in due time and we had proper breakfast but after a couple of hours, I called over the first of the few of these young soldiers I was training to be proper warriors.


    ''Did I just fucking say that? Cringe¡­ Ugh¡­''


    In any case, the first one toe up was Williams, who belongs to the ''Death Squad'' led by Tennyson. She was wearing a soldier''s uniform without her gear and she had her puffy hairstyle tightly wound to a curly ponytail.

 Chapter 1277 Williams Partial Release?

    The moment we met eyes, I still admired the way her eyes stood out like Artem''s¡ªthough hers had a little more depth and contrastpared to Artem''s who almost blends in with the color of his skin and his grey-ish facial hair but yeah, she looked a tad nervous by being alone with me just wearing gym clothing though I wave her over to sit down in front of me in the center of our gym mat.


    "O-Okay, sir¡­"


    "So¡­ How are you?"


    "Umm¡­ Fine?"


    "You sure?"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Pfft¡­ That doesn''t sound too sure?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I mean¡ª"


    "On a scale of 1-10, how much do you want to smack my face right now?"


    "Ah¡ª"


    "Be honest, alright? I''m not like my wife, some things could still pass through my detection skill¡­"


    "Umm¡­ Y-You see¡­ I¡ª T-There must be a reason for putting us through that but for a moment there, I really thought you were gonna kill us. But¡­"


    "But?"


    "W-When¡­ You know¡­ When the curtains fell and the tricks are revealed¡­ I¡­ I felt relieved and safe obviously but there''s this¡­ There''s this something inside me that''s been lingering but doing nothing e-ever since."


    "You mean trauma?"


    "Ah¡ª N-Not exactly that but I-I dunno¡­ I¡­ F-For some reason I''ve been¡­ Umm¡­ Noticing things more? I don''t really know how to put it, I''m sorry¡ª"


    "No, don''t apologize. This is good stuff¡­ Aside from noticing things, what else is new?"


    Williams looked away for a moment, thinking deeply before looking back to me, "I-I don''t really wanna say the other one b-but¡­ I''ve never slept this good in a while¡­ M-My body''s a wreck after that run and I was having cramps at that time but this¡­ but this time¡­ with all the mental stress and all¡­ I didn''t think I''d slept that good¡­"


    "I see, I see¡­ So why don''t you wanna say the other one? You can tell me anything¡ª"


    "I-It''s just¡ª"


    "Look, whatever you''re experiencing right now, I''ve been through it. So¡­ here''s a shot in the dark¡­ Libido''s gone way~~~ up, right?"


    "...! H-How¡ª That''s not even a shot in the dark! I-It''s a fucking bullseye!"


    I chuckled, "I told you already, I''ve been there. This might sound inappropriate but have you had a release yet?"


    "Ah¡ª That''s unbelievably inappropriate! I¡ª Have YOU had a release yet?! See how it feels!"


    "I did, actually. Multiple times. I''m surprised you haven''t heard of¡ª n-no, please don''t ask about me¡­ it''s better that way¡­"


    "Ah¡ª I may have heard of your¡­ exploits¡­ Hmm¡­ A-Anyway, is this what we''re doing here? J-Just talking¡ª"


    As Williams was still in mid-sentence, I let out a faint smile before the area got unbelievably cold and she felt the edge of my de pressing on her neck before seeing the rest of her body¡ªas her head fell off the floor.


    Of course, it was all an illusion from the need I wanted to materialize at the moment but I could clearly see how Williams'' eyes dted as she clutched her neck and screamed.


    It took her a minute or so to realize that her head was still attached to the rest of her body and I had no chance in hell to do what she saw because I didn''t even bring my des with me or even the fake knife I kept stabbing them with.


    Yesterday was just a mix of reality and illusion but this time, I won''t need to use props to make them see the actual difference.


    ''Or if they were that sensitive to perceiving it¡­''


    "W-What¡­ H-Ha¡­ Ha¡­ What just happened?!"


    I smiled, "Nothing."


    "What do you mean¡ª"


    "It''s the limit of what I can do, but this one''s my goal for all of you¡ª"


    Once again, the room got unbelievably cold but this time, Williams'' body froze for a moment before she gritted her teeth until blood came out, making her able to jump back and get away from my circle of influence.


    Seeing that, I assumed she bit part of her lip to transfer the fear over into pain and I was actually surprised she found the quick solution from seeing the watered-down version of my first ability.


    "WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    I waved her over with a smile, "Easy, easy¡ª"


    All of a sudden, the fear that turned to pain slowly turned to anger as more blood flowed from her mouth¡ªand the moment I saw an inkling of its partial activation, I overpowered her release with my own.


    It was already a surprise in itself she could do it¡ªeven subconsciously¡ªbut this type of thing should be reined in the moment you see it happen like I did with Eden, though I''d let her loose for a bit to see what she could do on her own.


    So despite the overwhelming differences of our release, she lunged at me like Eden did though she opened up with an overhead punch.


    I easily dodged to the side which she followed by sneaking in her elbow but I caught it with my palm, redirected it to the side, before giving her face a nice good p.


    Anyone else would''ve grimaced if they heard the noise it made but Williams was so eager to hit me with her attacks as she tried to aim for ate simultaneous hit from the small opening I gave from pping her. It''s just that that type of attack would only work on fucking idiots since it was another Hail Mary punch, so I caught her left arm heading for me and threw her to the mat.


    Then again, she didn''t want to let me go as she wrapped her legs around my body and then quickly performed an armbar that was just a setup to send a kick to my jaw. I wasn''t exactly sure how she used a setup¡ªthough I could argue her release wasn''tparable to Eden¡ªbut it just allowed me to get a proper grip on her ankle as I pried her off my body like a fucking leech.


    She couldn''t believe the strength I was exhibiting with my grip but out of all the things she''d do next, I didn''t expect her to suddenly kiss me.

 Chapter 1278 Nia - Ruben

    In all fairness, not to be sexist or racist, Ipletely denied her kiss like Neo dodged the fucking bullets because one, I wasn''t expecting it at all and two, I didn''t know her that well to reciprocate her advances, and three, we were in the middle of a fucking fight, unless she was already in our fucking circle, I''d assume that everything was an attack or a setup to hit me clean on the face.


    But yeah, the look of regret, hate, and disappointment across her face looked so fucking genuine, it turned toplete rage once more when she realized I declined her advances.


    And this time, her release bumped up as I felt more pressureing from her, and even though it was only a fraction of an increase, I always knew that it was almost always the negative emotions that would add fuel to the fire.


    "I JUST WANTED TO KISS YOU!"


    "You did!"


    "AND YOU DENIED ME!"


    "I did!"


    "W-WHY?!"


    "I have a choice in the matter too, don''t I?"


    "STILL! DON''T YOU FIND ME ATTRACTIVE?!"


    "Sure!"


    "THEN WHY?!"


    "There''s a time and a ce Williams! There''s a time and a¡ª"


    "NIA!"


    "Huh?"


    "THE NAME''S NIA!"


    "Sure, there''s a time and a ce, Nia! Read the fucking room!"


    "I-I CAN''T HELP IT ALRIGHT?! I THOUGHT I''M HAVING HORMONE IMBALANCES BUT IT''S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU?! I HAD TO DO IT!"


    "Again! There''s a time and a ce!"


    "WHEN?!"


    "NOT NOW!"


    All of a sudden, I assumed my draw stance when we were an arm''s length apart¡ªand this time, she wasn''t able to shake off the pressure I was exuding as she really thought my de magically appeared in my hands and was about to cut her down.


    However, even if she increased our distance from jumping back, the moment I drew my de and shed her, she still fell t on her face as she thought I cut her body in half and this time, she took more time to recover while I simply waited in the same position we were in.


    It took maybe 15 minutes before she woke up, and once again, the first thing she touched was her midriff which she thought she was disemboweled thrice over. She then looked around the gym and saw me casually waiting for her to wake up¡ªand it was only when I proved I wasn''t a threat anymore by waving at her did she slowly made her way towards me.


    "How¡­ I¡­ I''m sure¡ª"


    "C minus. Schedule an appointment with Marisha Payan, Kaley''s mom. Don''t think about the score too much, you''ll improve over time."


    "W-What am I¡ª we¡­ improving on exactly?"


    "That''s a good question."


    "What?"


    "My goal is to make all of you stronger¡ªphysically and mentally, though what you caught a glimpse of in our little session was thetter. From my experience, the best way to go about it is actually how we also improve physically and it was to have more experience with it in a very safe space.


    That''s about how much I could tell you right now but one tip I could give you is for you to be very, very, very~~~ honest with your feelings and intentions."


    "T-Then what?"


    "Be like that every second of your life and you might discover something in yourself you didn''t know existed. I really shouldn''t say more, thanks for your time, Nia."


    "A-Alright¡­ do I just¡ª"


    I chuckled, "Yeah, you can just leave by the door. I''ll call the next one after you and you could schedule an appointment now orter. You have the rest of the day off."


    "Oh! T-Thank you, then! I-I''ll be going¡­"


    "See ya¡­ A favor, don''t tell anyone about what we did here, alright?"


    "O-Of course, sir¡­ Can I ask a small favor too?"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Shoot."


    At that point, Nia opted for a hug that definitelysted more than it should¡ªand even if she was being real honest about what she wanted to do right now, I couldn''t just reciprocate at the moment because again, there''s a time and a ce for that and I had more students to get through.


    So yeah, after a few more minutes, Ruben''s head peeked in my gym door and he quickly came in with his whole body once I waved him over. He was almost in the same getup as Nia though he had a id shirt on instead of the full set.


    "G-Good morning, sir."


    "''Sup?"


    "I''m good, sir. You?"


    "Same, same¡­"


    "That''s good¡­"


    "You''re really okay from what I did to you all yesterday?"


    "I mean¡ª It''s training, sir. Isn''t it? Thest one''s he scary but it''s all for a purpose, right?"


    "Heh, you can say that."


    "I-It is, right?"


    "Sure. It''s more of a test than anything but it could also be considered training. You don''t just run 100 kilometers for training, right?"


    "I guess that''s true, sir. Umm¡­ I-Is this what we''re doing today?"


    "Talking? A bit of it, yeah."


    "I see¡­"


    "Tell me, is there anything else you''d like to improve on? You see everyone''s different, thest bit of Hell Week might not be for all of you but if we don''t do what I did, we''ll never know so¡­ I already have a n for each of you but what do YOU think you should work on more?"


    Ruben started to scratch the back of his head, "Hmm¡­ if you put it that way, sir¡­ I think I have a lot to work on everything but¡­ I think I''m not as agile as everyone else? I don''t wanna assume but I think I''m a tad stronger than my group but speed''s been something that I think is holding me back.


    I could maybe lose a bit of weight but with the delicious and almost unlimited food served every day I¡­ I think I might have put on a few more pounds¡­ Ahaha¡­"


    I chuckled, "That''s kind of spot-on, I''m gonna be honest, but you know what I think?"

 Chapter 1279 Dark Passenger

    I''m a weird dude, I know, and I''ve said many times before that I was a jack of most trades since I am a master of a few things. I would almost always find myself in the middle of things and if I ever made a g, it''d be mostly neutral gray with a few bits of what I actually stand for.


    So yeah, my advice to everyone would sound boring but it waspletely genuine and what I do myself to improve my strengths, weaknesses, and everything in between.


    Still, I''m afraid Ruben didn''t have or to be more specific, hadn''t brought out the darkness in him yet¡ªedgelord talk, I know¡ªbut that was just the way it was though he still took my advice to heart.


    "Umm¡­ Just keep working on it?"


    "Sounds simple, I know, but that''s just how it goes. You work on everything¡ªnot just your weakness¡ªand that also means things you know jack shit about. Learning new things once in a while wouldn''t hurt."


    "I-I see¡­ but can I ask something?"


    "Yeah, shoot."


    "It''s about the umm¡­ about the ''thing'' you do¡­ when you get all serial killer-y?"


    "Oh. This¡ª"


    "AGH¡ª T-That, that¡­ Thanks for turning it off¡­"


    "Heh. Anytime, but yeah, what about it?"


    "I mean¡ª you''re trying to teach us that, right?"


    "Yeah. Trying. It''s pretty hard for me to do that because I''m just making you all have an experience of what I went through. Not that I was buried alive or anything, hahaha¡­"


    "Or get chased around with a knife-wielding maniac, right?"


    "..."


    "R-Right?"


    "Umm¡­"


    "Uh-oh¡­"


    "Heh¡­ That was a dark time for me but somehow, in some fucked up way, I have something to call upon or something that takes over depending on the circumstances. I have way~ better control of it now, since you all could see me turn it on and off at times just for funsies but let''s just say I was making light of a very, very dark situation."


    "Oh¡­ I¡ª I hate to ask this but is that¡­ n-normal people could do?"


    "Pfft¡ª What do you mean by that?"


    "I mean¡ª I''m a pretty normal guy¡­ I don''t get mad a lot though I do get fired up but I tend to let things go. Is there a problem with that or will I be able to do what you can if I''m like this?"


    "Want the honest truth?"


    "Yes, sir. Please."


    "This thing¡­ It stems from negative emotions and it does¡­ does things to me and lets me do some things a tad above what normal people could do but it drains me a lot. It''s totally different from being on autopilot or being in the zone as most athletes experience so let''s just say that it''s more of a double-edged sword or ast resort of some kind.


    It''s just that as I said earlier, I had more control of it pretty recently so I had the option to y around with it. Maybe, just maybe, it might not need as much negative emotions though it was strictly required the first time I came upon it."


    "I see, sir. I see¡­ but¡­ s-shouldn''t this be not discussed with people like me?"


    "Hmm? What do you mean?"


    "I-Isn''t this like some special secret or something you''d only share with Isaac when he reaches a certain level?"


    "Hah! I mean¡ª you have a point there but I trust all of you. And it''s not like you can read the manual¡ªthat''s actually non-existent¡ªand do what I could do in the blink of an eye. I''m not even sure if this thing could be learned traditionally. It''s not like you''d let me murder your parents in front of you so you''d have the chance to learn what I did, right?"


    "WHA¡ª SIR! Y-You''re parents¡ª T-That''s what happened to them?!"


    "Ah¡ª Right. I haven''t told you all, huh?"


    "A-Are you okay, sir?!"


    "So-so. How about you?"


    "Hmm?"


    "Your family."


    "Ah¡­ I''ve tried checking in, sir. It''s either they found a cave to hole in or you know¡­ We have contact with all the Camps avable and they do have records for each resident so chances are¡­ I mean¡ª There''s also a good chance that they''vee back as heads and I didn''t even notice¡­"


    "How does that make you feel though?"


    "Sad?"


    "You''re not sure?"


    "Umm¡­ I just wanted to think that they''re still out there even though the chances are pretty close to none. I mean¡ª as long as I don''t see their bodies, I think I could still fool myself into thinking that they''re still alive."


    "Huh."


    "Sir?"


    "I actually thought you''re pretty dumb but you''re pretty articte and wise."


    "U-Umm¡­ thank you?"


    "Ah¡ª Sorry, dude. It''s just¡­ there''s a certain spectrum against people who exhibits superhuman strength, right?"


    "That''s a way to soften the blow, sir¡­ Ahaha¡­ I mean¡ª We never actually talked like this before, so you never know. I never talked to anyone like this too, it''s almost always mucking around with the boys and awkward silence with the girls."


    "I see that."


    "Now we''re talking and all and I would hate to pass the chance¡­ H-How do I talk to them?"


    "Talk to who?"


    "Girls in particr?"


    "Like this?"


    "Huh?"


    "You talk to them like you talk to me. They''re humans too, don''t be afraid to speak your mind. If you don''t vibe that''s just the way it is but if you click, try to remember the topics you talked about and go from there. If you don''t understand anything, ask genuinely and don''t fake it. Lying might work if you just wanna hook-up and it usually does but depends on who you''re going for, you know?"


    "C-Can you say it one more time so I could w-write it down or record it?"


    "HAH! That''s one way to go too. I know you mean well but being funny is a good thing. Some chicks might like the nonchnt ones or the Sasuke-types but you''re not like that, right? Just be you. If they don''t like you, it is what it is, find someone who does.


    Don''t force yourself into other people just to fit in."


    "A-Again, sir¡ª I missed that other part. Can you start from the top?"


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    "S-STOP LAUGHING, SIR! I''M SERIOUS!"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Alright, alright¡­ I''m sorry¡ª But tell me: who is it?"


    "A-Anyone that likes me, really¡­"


    "Hmm."


    "Is there a problem with that, sir?"


    "Not really but tell me more, do you have anyone in your group you fancy?"


    "N-Not in my group per se¡­"


    "Ohhh~ From Marvin''s group or Tennyson''s?!"


    In any case, Ruben and I spent a good 30 minutes just talking about each other and even though he might have a lower chance of unlocking or even finding his dark passenger, it might be just the best thing for him.


    Some people carry more burdens than others while some carry none at all.


    In the same sense, some people might be able to carry more weight on their backs while some would straight-up copse with the slightest bump in the road. Then again, it''d just be a long rabbit hole if we speak in metaphors but yeah, it''s just fun to talk about it sometimes.

 Chapter 1280 Picking Marvins Brain

    In any case, it didn''t take long before I shook hands with Ruben and gave him a slightly lower score than I gave Nia¡ªthough my next three students went by quite quickly. They didn''t fit the bill like Ruben¡ªslightly less than him, even¡ªbut even though they failed in that regard, they were still invaluable as soldiers and the extracurricrs they tend to spend their free time on.


    Finding Eden amongst these people was already a bonus in itself but I still have a handful of people I was definitely hopeful for and one of them came in at the right time.


    "''Sup, Marvin?"


    "What''s up, sir? Can Ie in?"


    "That''s the n. Sit down here with me."


    "Alright¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Marvin¡ª"


    "Y-Yes, sir?"


    "Are you gay?"


    "WHAT?!"


    "Not in a derogatory way, of course, but are ya? You and Ashley, I though¡ª"


    Marvin couldn''t hide the shock in his eyes, "W-We''re still a thing, sir¡ª S-Seb and I just found we had a lot inmon."


    "Such as?"


    "I mean, we''re both pretty chill, same music tastes, same poison, minus the bisexual part¡ª I get along with him more than the rest of the guys in my group. We''re the ck sheep and all. To be honest, sir, I''m surprised you paid attention to us again, I thought we''d just be send all over to see where we fit."


    "Ah¡ª You do understand that your group''s a little out there, right? Especially Brian and Carlo?"


    "Ahaha¡­ That''s true. Brian''s more out there though Carlo just follows him around whenever. I just know Brian has some beef with JP too, he''s an interesting guy as well."


    "In what way exactly? From your perspective, of course."


    "Seems pretty tight-knit? Goal-oriented, bit of elitism, the works, you know?"


    "I see that, actually. But you, let''s focus on you for now."


    "A-Alright, sir. What do you wanna know?"


    "Yesterday. What do you think?"


    "Umm¡­ It was intense, to say the least¡­ I really thought I died¡ªeveryone¡­ I thought everyone died¡­"


    "You know I just talked to Ashley, right?"


    "Yes¡­"


    "Do you know that she''s mad at you?"


    "Yes¡­"


    "Do you know WHY she''s mad at you?"


    "It''s¡­ I called for Seb first before¡ª no, I just called for him. I didn''t call for anybody else¡­"


    "Right¡ª"


    "It''s not a gay thing, really¡ª It''s just¡ª I was with him when it all happened and I was still in the heat of the moment¡­ I should''ve realized that Ash is with us too¡ªin the group, I mean¡ªbut Seb''s just the first one that came to mind. I just felt really responsible that that happened because of me."


    "Really?"


    "Y-Yeah?"


    "Why did you say you feel responsible? It''s not like you threw him to the wolves. I attacked both of you."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Marvin let out a long sigh, "I mean¡ª Sir, with all due respect, you''re a fucking psychopath¡ª"


    "Why, thank you!"


    "Ah¡ª You''re wee, I guess¡­ but yeah¡­ Everything felt real and when JP and Tennyson are shouting at us to keep calm, I still thought we''re all about to die. I wasn''t able to actively participate like when I was supposed to be fighting side by side with JP¡ª I just¡­ I froze. It''s totally different from when we''re outside but what if I froze when it actually counts?"


    "You mean you''re afraid of taking the step or making some sort of mistake? Like¡ª Like adding on to the chaos that''s happening mistakenly?"


    "WHA¡ª T-That''s exactly it, sir! I¡ª I-It''s a bad habit of mine¡ªsomething I hate to admit¡ªbut yeah, that''s something I''m really ashamed of. I can handle things well but when everything gets so messed up, I start to freak out mentally and break down, staring at everything as it copses on its own. I try to stay on top of things but one mistake would just make me spiral¡­"


    I smiled, "Then you''re a lot more like me than I thought. I''m the same way, actually."


    Marving shook his head, "You, sir? Don''t kid me¡ª"


    "I mean¡ª I worked on myself, obviously, but I was really like you when I was just starting out. Don''t worry, I might be able to help you¡ª"


    "Then¡ª"


    "One at a time. What''s the special thing you thought about before we started Phase 1?"


    "Umm¡­ my friends?"


    I chuckled, "You don''t sound too sure."


    "Ashley''s there, for sure¡ª Seb too, but¡­ I dunno¡­ I don''t have a lot of friends so I really treasure the ones I have¡­ Small as they''ve been in number¡­"


    "I see, I see¡­ Now think about this¡­ You, Ashley, and Seb are stuck on a deserted ind and you only have enough food tost two of you for one day¡ª"


    "We''ll share the two servings between the three of us."


    "Smart. But then the next day¡ª"


    "We''ll still try to share the remaining portion between us¡ª"


    "Hmph. And after that?"


    "Same answer."


    "Okay. A few more days passed and the three of you were losing strength because of theck of food. And in order for all three of you to have a fighting chance, one of you has to eat whatever''s left of your food so that he/she can have enough strength to find food for all of you. Who do you choose to take on the burden?"


    "I¡ª Umm¡­ I-I''ll take on the burden but I''ll make sure to¡ª"


    "Not so fast. Let''s say you ate what''s remaining of your food so you could venture out to forage, hunt, whatever¡­ But fucking jackpot! You came across a tribe that doesn''t only speak yournguage but also wees you with open arms! You''re fucking saved! They have food and everything!"


    "Huh? Wut? I don''t follow¡ª"


    "It''s because I''m not done yet. However, since you love taking on the hard stuff and sharing the burden among your friends when it''s easy enough, this tribe just had a particr thing they do before they wee guests¡­"


    "W-What is it?"


    "It''s either you give one of your friends¡ªeven you as tribute¡ªor you cut off a limb for you three plus another one for good measure. What do you do?"

 Chapter 1281 Pick a side - Sup?

    As soon as I popped Marvin that question, he just looked at me with aplex expression¡ªand I was a little d because he was actually thinking about what to answer.


    If I asked this to any other person, they''d just brush it off or answer jokingly, but with the few percentage of people that''d actually answer, I''d like to hear from someone who really values the friendships and rtionships he formed with people.


    "I¡­ If it was just a limb each I¡ª that would''ve been the obvious answer but¡ª Hmm¡­ I¡ª Asking me that now, I¡­ I probably had two limbs chopped off but I don''t actually know when ites to that. I''m¡­ If it reallyes down to it I¡­ Shit¡­ My answer could change depending on the circumstances but I-I have to know more, sir."


    "Like what, exactly?"


    "I thought it was a deserted ind¡ª"


    "I guess we thought wrong. Not deserted after all."


    "Huh. Also, could I pick which limb to chop off?"


    "You mean¡­ Whether it''s left or right or an arm or a leg?"


    "What''d you choose, sir¡­ If ever?"


    "I wanna copy a certain dude but I''d lose my left arm and right leg."


    "R-Really? You''d take the harder route?"


    "If I have to¡ª Hey! I''m asking the questions here!"


    "B-But you answered, sir¡ª"


    "Because I wanted to! I''ll answer everything I asked you after you''re done! So go! Think about it long and¡ª"


    "Not to copy you or anything sir, but I''ll probably do the same thing¡­ Based on our information now. It''d be hard to lose both hands or both legs but with each one missing, I''ll learn to walk with a peg leg and still have room for grabbing things and shit. And if anything, my friends would be more than happy to assist me until I get used to it."


    "My thoughts exactly¡ª now let''s make it harder. What if they needed two extra limbs instead of one?"


    "Fuck. I mean¡ª I''d hate to go this route but Seb and I should probably take it since we''re the two guys."


    "Nice. But what if the vige requires you to put in the work on top of finding your own food?"


    "I thought they weed us?"


    "Let''s just say they lied. It''s to hook you in."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "I mean¡­ The answer''s pretty obvious at this point but if I had the chance to scout the vige first and see how they do things and decide from there, I might be able to make a more informed decision as to why they''d need sacrifices¡­"


    "I like that answer, actually."


    "R-Really, sir?"


    "Yeah, because think about it¡­ It might be their way to have outsiders have their fighting force cut to a fraction and they could be cannibals for fuck''s sake. In addition, is it really worth it? I know that living is living but is it really? It''s a tribe you know fuck all about and you''re gonna cut up your bodies to survive? Is that really the best decision?"


    "..."


    "Well, your friends might disagree with you so isn''t it better to just sacrifice yourself?"


    "That''s¡­"


    "A lot to think about, I know. You see, I''m a proponent of living to see another day but there are limits to it, no? Learning to survive with an arm and a leg is technically possible but that has its own limits in an ind such as that. Bleeding out is a possibility too. But yeah, it''s not like I''m telling you to give up."


    "Then what should I think about?"


    "That''s an answer you need to decide for yourself. Weigh in all your experience, your knowledge, everything, and decide for yourself and your group as to what you''d do in the situation.


    You are the face of the ck Sheeps so the responsibility might fall on you one day¡ªand it helps to discuss something like this with them too¡ªbut at the end of the day, it should be important for you to know that you have a ton of options in your hands but which one to pick among them should be crucial and you have to get it right."


    "I dunno about that, sir¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "You see¡­ It''s not like we''re all in the same group nowadays or in the same clique¡­ I don''t even know if I hold the leadership position among our group or want to continue being the one in charge."


    "Ah. Like you''re the one pointed out by the whole ss because no one else is there?"


    "Something like that but even though I think I could still reprise the role, I''m morefortable to see JP or even Tennyson¡ªor Lee, to take charge of the whole group. I''m more like Seb, we could probably do the job but there are people who are much better. But yeah, we can step in if the need arises but then again¡­ you know¡­"


    "Pfft¡ª Hah! AHAHAHAHA!"


    "S-Sir?"


    "I''m sorry, you are¡ªand Seb, are really a lot like me. If I''m gonna be transparent with you, I''d prefer not to lead this whole thing¡ªthank the fucking gods I could delegate work¡ªbut yeah, I still needed to step up because I needed to. If I don''t, some schmuck will and I really just wanna do things my way if the world had alreadye to this."


    "Ah¡ª I-I see¡­ If you put it that way, sir, Ipletely agree."


    "B minus."


    "Huh?"


    "Don''t tell anyone about this convo and don''t mind the score I gave ya."


    "Then why bother¡ª"


    "Eh. Just do what I told you. Or don''t. I''ll remember it anyway."


    "O-Okay, sir¡­"


    On that note, it was safe to say that I had different interactions with everyone else that came up in my gym be it a straight-up brawl, a heart-to-heart, a deep tonic conversation, or even a mix in between, or all over. However, thest person I called over before lunch was Alexa and she looked nervous as fuck when she came over.


    "''Sup?"

 Chapter 1282 Choices

    Like all the others that came before her, Alexa and I had a light-hearted conversation before it went into a few tangents. It was actually pretty nice talking to her like this but it didn''t take long before I started to push the envelope and started to dig deeper into her psyche.


    "You know, Quinn still wanted to take you in. What are your thoughts about that?"


    "I-I thought she''d¡ª"


    "I mean, she had the propensity to change her mind in the blink of an eye. Don''t worry though Seb did say¡ª right, Megan said that too that they''de with you, if ever. You three have to get a tattoo with the number ''4'' in it though, if you''de under her wing."


    "Y-You mean in her gang?"


    "It''s not technically hers, it''s Mauro''s currently¡ªthough she has enough influence to have a sub-set of that organization follow her instead of Number 3."


    "B-But¡­ Don''t you want me here?"


    "Sure, if that''s what you want?"


    "Y-You¡ª You don''t care either way?"


    "It''s not like that. And what say do I have in the matter? A little, maybe, but the decision''s up to you. Hmmrgh¡­ If Seb''sing with you, there''s also a chance that Marvin and Ashley would follow if you be closer with them. You''ve talked to those two before, right¡ª"


    "I-I did¡­ It''s¡­ They''re pretty, chill, I guess? Thoughtely, Seb seems to want to spend time with them morepared to me."


    I scratched the side of my cheek, "I mean¡ª Isn''t that how it goes if you''re not in it fully?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "I think you know what I meant. Your thing with us and him, he doesn''t say it or realize it like you do but if he''s really okay with it, he''d just stay put and not look elsewhere. I gave you and Megan the order to stay with your group for the moment but you two are spending a lot of time with us as well, right? Compared to your Academy buddies, I mean."


    "..."


    "Alexa?"


    "I¡­ I actually don''t know what to do¡­"


    "Hmm?"


    "It''s¡­ Umm¡­ It''s a¡ª It''s a very hard thing for me to say this but¡­ But what I want for me and S-Seb is something you and Kaley have¡­ You two are¡­ You two are like this *sps both hands together* and even if it''s just women you let in, it''s¡­ I dunno¡­ I''m really grateful and my mind has been opened to such things but I do fill a tinge of jealousy that you two can make it work out while¡ªlet''s be a little honest here¡ªeven if Seb says he''s okay with it, I''m not really sure if he is¡­ It''s¡­ It''splicated¡­ Moreplicated than the other time you sat us four down and had a good talk."


    "I mean¡­ That talk that time in my uni is a lucky break because things like these takes time. A LOT of time. Kaley and I are what, maybe 5 or 6 years older than you two¡ªand it''s not a lot, but you two are still very, very young. You have a lot of time to figure yourselves out and again, you don''t have to maintain the upkeep if it isn''t worth maintaining it.


    Are you doing it for the sake of having in a rtionship or are you just afraid that it''s another miss? Look, there''s still a lot of fish in the sea, even in our current circumstance, but then again, as time passes, a lot of things could happen."


    "W-What kind of things?"


    "Anything. You two might work it out, you two might find other people, you might still be with us, you might be in another situationship, who knows? It''s just the worst thing you could do is waste each other''s time just to have your social media statusbeled a certain way or to put up appearances.


    Look, I''m not saying you''re faking it with Seb or something AND I''m not saying to break it up again but do figure out what you two really want and try a few things before moving on or trying to stay afloat again. You do get me, right?"


    "I-I do¡­ It''s just¡­ I dunno¡­ I''m¡­ I''m afraid of being alone, you know? While I could kind of understand how you and Kaley work, I really am a tad jealous and wanted to have the same thing.


    I know for the fact that I can''t get between you two no matter how I try it and it''s hard enough to maintain what I have for myself even though it''s kind of crumbling but yeah¡­ It''s¡­ It''s hard¡­ Maaaan~ I really was expecting another fight but¡ª"


    "We can fight if you want?"


    "Pfft¡ª HAHAHAHAHA! Can I decline?"


    "You can do that too, heh."


    "Shit¡ª I was nervous for nothing¡­ I thought you beat us up for answering wrong or something and none of them tell us shit when they go down. Everyone''s left is just scared as fuck I¡ª"


    "C plus."


    "Huh? Like my grade or my y-you know?"


    "Pfft¡ª I''m not talking about your tits. They are great but you have another ASSet, am I right?"


    Alexa rolled her eyes, "Of course¡ª Pfft¡­ How much time do we have left¡ª"


    I waved her off, "Sorry, not now. I want to but there''s a time and a ce like I told Nia. Won''t be long now though, I missed you both. It''s actually hard hitting you two and putting you through that¡ª"


    "Nia, huh? The chick with the awesome curly hair?"


    "Uh-huh¡­ And why are you looking at me like that?"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Pfft¡ª You''re just drowning in pussy, aren''t you?"


    "And your word choice is getting more and more out there, heh."


    "I mean¡ª I''ve been with you guys a lot. Only a matter of time before I start talking like most of you."


    "Well, that is true in a sense."


    "So really¡­ C plus? Any way I can¡ª"


    "Nope. Thanks for ur time¡ª Ah. We''re about to have lunch now. C''mon, I''m hungry with all this talking."


    "Ugh¡­ Just one round, please?!"


    "Nope!"


    "Hnggh! Just you wait!"


    "Exactly!"


    "AHHHHHHHH!!!"

 Chapter 1283 : Partials

    Funnily enough, all Alexa could get from me right now was to climb on my back right until we reached the pool area for lunch, though she still insisted on riding me this way until I sat her down. I didn''t mind the looks everyone was giving us though from the group that I''ve talked to versus the group I haven''t, it was practically night and day.


    It was because, for some reason, it seemed like the people I''ve talked to looked to have somewhat achieved enlightenment as a ray of sunshine was shining on their faces while the ones pending had this dark cloud over their heads.


    Telling everyone I''ve talked to keep what urred upstairs a secret was working wonders for me¡ªnot for them, obviously¡ªbut once the day''s over, I just hope they get something out of this just as much as they had from the days that had passed.


    After some time, I was once again back to my office and the next person I called over was Isaac.


    He came in wearing pretty casual clothespared to everyone else wearing their tactical uniforms. Obviously, he was always carrying his katana everywhere¡ªonly bringing his tachi outside¡ªthough this time, he seemed like he was aiming for a fight. However, once he saw that I waspletely unarmed, his tense expression softened before he made his way towards me.


    "''Sup?"


    "''S-Sup, bro?"


    "Good."


    "Great¡­"


    "If you wanna have a match with me, I still have wooden swords lying around here¡ª"


    "N-Nah, bro¡­ I-I''ll avoid fighting you if possible¡­ I''ve seen my limits¡ª You could probably take me barehanded."


    "Did I break your spirit too? I have a cure for that¡ª"


    "Nah, nah, not like that bro. What''s that quote again? Frog in a well?"


    "You mean you just realized that now?"


    "Wha¡ª Fuck you! I-Imagine once I got out of the well, it''s a series of wells! How about that?!"


    "Oh? That''s a nice way of thinking about it."


    "Don''t patronize me¡­ Tell me, have you ever gone 100% against anyone?"


    "Hmm? Why do you ask?"


    "I mean¡ª I''ve seen you fight Benjie, Mauro, fuck it¡ª even the old dude from the Alvarez Family! And as you know, I''ve been meaning to peruse Ms. M''s girls that night and I was just devastated to hear that they''re all booked and had just gone to your house the day before Phase 1 or whatever. You see where I''m going with this?"


    "Heh, you want to die or something? I do have control of my body but this *knocking on my head* this is the most troublesome shit I''ve been facing my entire life. It''s my biggest asset but also the worst one."


    Isaac shook his head, "At this point, bro, I don''t even know if you''re still joking or not. Would be d to see it at least once in my life too. I''m very proud of my thrusts but it''s like practice swingspared to yours and I don''t even think I''ve seen you practice that much. Shit''s insane. I don''t even know how you came to master the de, dude¡­ and you''re not even an old fuck¡­"


    "Hmm~ I''m not a total master per se but once you be one at a certain aspect, you''ll know."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Huh?"


    "You''ll just know, trust me."


    "O-Okay?"


    "You don''t trust me, huh?"


    "I do t-trust you but¡ª FUCK! DID I JUST SEE MY HEAD GET LOPPED OFF?!"


    "Yeah?"


    "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST DUDE! TAKE IT EASY!"


    "I am, I didn''t do it for real¡­"


    "..."


    "..."


    "..."


    "You okay?"


    "YOU¡ª Y-Yeah, I guess¡­ shit¡­ haven''t felt that in a while¡­"


    "Heh. I''ve said it many times before, mastery isn''t something you climb up to, it''s something you fall into. Kind of like riding a bike but obviously moreplex than that. Have I mastered the de? Some of it, yes. But as a whole?


    Not even close. Let''s just say I sp''d to the shit I use a lot."


    "I fear not the person who practiced 10,000 kicks but the person who practiced a kick 10,000 times¡­"


    "Something like that, yeah."


    "Hmm, I guess I''m kind of like that with my thrusts¡ª"


    "Pfft¡ª Not even close!"


    "DUDE! C''MON!"


    "Hey! D''you want me to lie to you?! I could lie to you if you want but do you really want that?! It''s life or death out there, you know?!"


    "Ugh¡­ I just¡ª"


    "But you''re getting there¡­ Hmm~ My only tip for that is part of how the thing I''m trying to teach all of you is rooted in. What are you really trying to aplish by doing those sets of movements?"


    "I mean¡ª It''s a thrust, right?"


    "Well, yeah. Why did you even favor that kind of attack in the first ce?"


    "Umm¡­ Because I''m good at it than anything else?"


    "Hmm~ That could be a reason but if I tell you my entire thought process on it, it might not work for you and do more damage. It''s just something you have to figure out yourself. I mean, it''s not like you have to master that particr thrust to survive out there. Then again, it''s just so fucking sweet to have mastered a few simple motions."


    "Argh! Now you''re just bragging, bro! I don''t even¡ª Maaan~ I still have a fucking lot to work on, huh?"


    "It''s just how it goes¡­ You just gotta keep going until you reach the peak¡ª"


    "Hah?"


    "What now?"


    "I thought I would fall onto mastery, not reach an apex of some sort?"


    I chortled, "Psh! You haven''t even reached the apex of your art yet and you''re trying for mastery already! Gimme a break!"


    "WHAT?! I STILL DON''T COME CLOSE?!"


    "OBVIOUSLY!"


    "WHAT DO YOU MEAN OBVIOUSLY!"


    "IT MEANS WHAT IT MEANS!"


    "NOW I REALLY WANNA BEAT YOUR ASS!"


    "NOW BRING IT ON, YOU FUCKER! I''LL SHOW YOU MY FORMLESS ART!"


    "WHAT?! THERE''S A THING LIKE THAT?!"


    "OF COURSE, NOT! EIGHT TRIGRAMS, SIXTY-FOUR PALMS¡ª"


    "WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! AHHHHHH!"


    "TEN THOUSAND YEARS OF PAINNNN!!!"


    "NOOOOOOOO!!!"

 Chapter 1284 : Closing Out Phase 3

    Alexaing out of my gym like a panda while Isaacing out of my gym like he had a colonoscopy¡ªboth saying not a word of what happened¡ªjust confused the people that were left for Phase 3. However, it didn''t take long before one of the eager ones decided to knock before I even had the chance to call another participant.


    "Ah¡ª Come in?"


    Then Chris'' head popped out:


    "Bro! I¡ª Am I really in Hell Week or not?! I¡ª I did everything you asked! I¡ª"


    "Come in,e in. Let''s have a nice talk, Chris."


    "Uh¡ª O-Okay?"


    "Sit down in front of me¡­"


    "Sure¡­"


    In any case, Chris did as he was told and made his way towards me¡ªand as he sat down, he was looking all over, and seemed to be looking for something in particr before our eyes met. And as soon as that happened, he was just staring right at my face, waiting for me to open my mouth.


    I chuckled as I opened with my opener, "''Sup?"


    "Ah¡ª I''m okay, I guess?"


    "You mad you weren''t included in Phase 1 and 2?"


    "Kind of¡­ Yeah, not mad per se but¡ª"


    "You and Charlotte are turning 18 next year, right?"


    "Huh¡ª Y-Yeah, we are¡­ Why do you ask?"


    I let out a smile, "Not to invalidate everything you two had gone through ever since it started and not to use your age as a reason for excluding you from most of our activities during Hell Weel but yeah, I kind of am."


    "W-What do you mean?"


    "Like Lois and Olivia, we''re not forcing you to be adults but you could work your way towards it¡ªlike what you and Charlotte are doing right now¡ªbut yeah, enjoying the little things in life is important too. It''s one of the rules, you know?"


    He chuckled, "Zombind, again? I mean, it is a nice movie and I follow some of them but I don''t feel forced to participate you know?"


    "Because you aren''t."


    "I understand that, bro, but it''s a matter of wanting to actually do it. Everyone here mostly treats me like a kid while the actual kids treat me like an adult. I''m caught in between these weird age ranges and I''m losing track of how to interact with people¡­"


    "Same."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Same¡ª Hah? Same? You?!"


    "That''s just part of life. It happens to everyone though there might be differences depending on their social circles and friend groups. Just ride the wave however you want and don''t rush it. It''ll surprise you how fast it would go by you even though you feel like it''s so fucking slow."


    "Oh¡­ I guess¡ª I guess I''ll take your word for it¡­ It does feel really slow though¡­ A-Anyway, I''m not one toin but training feels like a drag right now¡­ I just wanna experience something new to keep it a little more fresh, you know?"


    "Really? I thought you incorporated other disciplines in your style besides boxing?"


    "I am, I am¡­ What I''m having a harder time with is fighting with people like Brian. I do get it''s different outsidepetition rules but when I try to perform illegal moves, I still have this thing inside my head preventing me from doing so. And if I see other people use it on me? I get more and more pissed and it messes with my rhythm."


    "Just means you''re one of thosewful good pdins that could never do wrong."


    "Are we talking about D&D?"


    "Yep. And you better listen. People say it''s a boring archetype since they''re just in annoying and have no ws but upholding thew or what they think is good is a w in itself. I''m not telling you to act like Brian¡ªand I could already give props to you because you''re trying to go out of yourfort zone, but yeah, what makes or breaks it sometimes are your own beliefs."


    "I-I don''t get what that means exactly¡­"


    "I mean, you could free yourself with the restraints you put on yourself to reach greater heights or keep them in to achieve the same thing. Different people work in different ways. It''s what moves you in the end. You could try different positions to cum or just stay in fucking missionary for two hours if that''s your jam."


    "Ah¡ª That''s¡ª"


    "Oops. My bad, I was just giving more examples so you could get it¡­"


    "I think I got it at thest part¡­"


    "You fucking perv, that''s what gets you going, huh?"


    "N-No! It''s¡ª C-Can we talk about something else?"


    "Like what?"


    "Like¡­ W-What''s the purpose of P-Phase 1 and Phase 2?"


    "Ah~ Something along the lines of making them experience something near-death so their body triggers their flight-or-fight response to certain situations. I wanted to reach this certain sweet spot with everyone else so they would have the ability to call upon it wheneve they want."


    "Ohh~ Like the off and on thing you always do?"


    "Exactly."


    "I guess that''s one of the reasons why you excluded me, huh?"


    I nodded, "Kind of. You''re a pretty chill guy and I rarely saw you get mad¡ªonly when your beliefs or the things you stand for are challenged, though that''s a good thing in itself. You have the urge to put them in their ce but not to actually kill them to achieve your goal.


    It''s more akin to letting them know the consequences of their actions while still having the possibility to learn from it and change."


    "Huh¡­ I¡ª I don''t even know that part but I kind of agree with that¡­"


    "In any case, the thing that I could do also stems from my beliefs and what I really wanted to do with it but unfortunately, it was always driven by negative shit¡ªmostly the intent to kill. Boxers had a toned-down version of it that coulde as a crutch for feints but it''s paired with physical actions to further give this image of throwing out a phantom punch a certain way."


    "Ohh¡­ Like with slightly moving my shoulder or even slightly bobbing my head to overload?"


    "Something like that but I just do my thing while staring at you sometimes, right?"


    "R-Right¡­ Shit''s still frightening¡­ Ahaha¡­"


    "Still, this is just my way of doing things and it might not work for you so this might sound really cringe but you''re always wee to forge your own path. You know, like everyone does.


    I''m only doing this to have people simr to me get a slight leg-up and have the people unlike me just have something a little less out of it but yeah, they''re wee to find their own way too even if they''repatible with my methods."


    In any case, Chris asked more questions about this ability of mine while I answered to the best of my¡­ you know, ability. Still, even if I doubt Chris would be one of the people to pull it off, he still tried to take in the knowledge I rued and it''d be up to him as to what he''d do with it.


    However, it didn''t take long before I went through everyone else except for Tennyson and JP.


    My conversation with Seb and Jeremy pretty much went like what I had with Marvin while my conversation with Megan and Cindy was a mix of Nia and Alexa''s.


    In the grand scheme of things, the Deweys weren''t exactly part of the people under mymand like the ck Sheeps, the Death Squad, or the people from the Academy¡ªand the other reason I''m prefacing this sentence this way was because the other reason for Phase 3 aside from getting to know all of them a little more was to consolidate the group into one and have them be led by a leader and a vice leader.


    Despite me dismissing Tennyson the first time we met to shed light to Lee, he stepped up and took control of his position while Lee simply let things happen before her eyes¡ªand mainly kept invisible¡ªso I pegged him to a leadership post along with JP who had been the same ever since it all fucking started.


    While it was true that Marvin¡ªor even Seb¡ªshould be in the sub-leader post, I have another task for these two while I have to figure out who to give the more active role between JP and Tennyson.


    So yeah, instead of calling them one after the other, I called them both at the same time and JP was the first one to walk in my domicile. Surely enough, Tennyson walked in right after¡ªbut really, that didn''t mean much in my book though for some people, they take it as JP leading this group already.


    ''While it''s true JP ticks more boxes and I may have already chosen him to lead this group, I wanted to see if Tennyson could also be the leader or if my thoughts were right, the perfect vice leader to lead such a group after much consideration¡­''

 Chapter 1285 : Guild Leader & Vice Guild Leader

    At this moment, I had a bottle of alcohol in front of me and three shot sses and I waved the two over to sit down when they slowed their stride seeing me like this. Despite their hesitation, I still poured each of us a shot and the moment they sat down, I had us down our ss in one breath.


    "Ugh¡ª/ Gck!/ Eugh¡­"


    I chuckled, "Sorry, it gets better with more shots¡­"


    JP shook his head, "No the fuck it doesn''t¡­"


    Tennyson nodded, "That''s like straight-up kerosene¡­"


    I quickly anchored the conversation back to usual programming, "So, what''s up with you two?"


    "Hmm?/What?"


    "I said, ''sup?"


    JP answered first after pushing his shot ss close to where the bottle was, "I recovered okay-ish but I''m still wary if you put something in our drinks. Even if everyone came out mostly unscathed, we never know with you."


    Tennyson''s eyes grew wide, "Ah, fuck! Then why''d you¡ª we, drink it?!"


    I chuckled, "Rx, I just wanted to talk or if you can''t handle your shit, you''re wee for a one-on-one without any tricks."


    "Pass./I''ll pass, sir."


    "Good. Tennyson, you still haven''t answered my¡ª"


    "Ah, right¡­ Same-same, I guess."


    I rolled my eyes, "Not much of an answer but yeah, the reason I brought you two together is that I want you both to lead this particr group as a whole. No ck Sheeps, Death Squads, Academias, nothing. While it''s true you''d be in clusters when you go out, you should be blending in as a single unit, not scattered groups that somehow banded closely."


    JP answered instantly, "I can do that."


    "Good," then I turned to Tennyson, "How about you? I''m thinking of letting JP take the Guild Leader position while you''re the Vice Guild Leader, think you can do that?"


    Tennyson looked confused as he answered, "I''m¡­ I''m not so sure about that arrangement."


    "How so?"


    "Look, sir¡­ I appreciate the vote of confidence but I barely knew everyone aside from my group and if anything, I''ve contradicted everyone''s choices or found things that people overlooked¡ª"


    "Exactly."


    "Huh?"


    "While JP''s busy doing his thing, you''ll also be met with hard shit to deal with. It''d be almost like a thankless job because while you''re free to agree with everyone else, you''re main goal is to find fault or gaps in everyone else''s actions or decisions and find steps to prevent those faults or gaps from happening."


    JP followed, "Kind of like a person whoins a lot but finds the solution at the same time?"


    I nodded, "Just like that," then I turned back to Tennyson, "You''re not afraid to voice out your thoughts and that''s a good thing and while Brian kind of does the same thing, that''s all he does for the most part. While it''s also true I haven''t seen you work out a solution to our problems, I''d rather have you than that meathead as vice leader."


    Tennyson let out a sigh, "I see¡­ Still¡ª Again, I appreciate the vote of confidence but why not Marvin, Seb, or even Lee?"


    "You''re kind of weird, you know that?"


    "H-Huh?"


    "You so wanted to get back your post when I appointed Lee as the leader of your group but when I''m appointing you to something bigger, you question everything in front of you. I mean¡ª that''s kind of the job I wanted you to do as vice leader but right now, I''m just wondering why you''re a little opposed to the job."


    Tennyson thought for a bit before he answered, "It''s not like I''m opposed but¡­ There has to be a catch."


    "A catch?"


    "Everything has to, sir. Respectfully."


    "I mean you''re right, for one, it saves me the trouble of babysitting all you fucks every single day and I hate fucking yes men so I appointed you as the no man. You''d receive a lot of hate going against the current but it''s also for everyone''s sake."


    JP chuckled, "So he''s here to point out all the mistakes I''ll make? Good luck."


    Tennyson squinted his eyes, "What do you mean good luck?"


    JP turned to his vice leader, "It means what it means. I only fuck up on a thing once¡ª"


    I rolled my eyes, "Mmm-hmm~ If you say so~"


    "Haah?!"


    "If you count everyone else going above your head as one thing, sure."


    "That''s¡ª"


    "And you weren''t even granted the right to correct it¡ª"


    "B-But now, I''ll make sure that¡ª"


    "With Tennyson''s help, you''d have no excuses left. Get me?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Heh¡­ Of course, sir. No excuses now."


    I turned to Tennyson once more, "You okay with your job now? JP seems okay with his."


    Tennyson slowly nodded after mulling it over, "I¡­ I''ll take the job, sir. But do know I won''t be disagreeing for disagreement''s sake and I''ll give credit where credit is due. However, I''ll still try to think of ways of how things might go wrong, maybe handing some of that stuff to Brian, just so we could see away from our vision cones."


    I chuckled, "I think you two are perfect for the job."


    The two answered at the same time, "What job?"


    I instantly rolled my eyes, "What have we been talking about the past few minutes?! It''s the Guild Leader and Vice Guild Leader job! I mean¡ª I do have a task for you two but I want to talk to you both a little more before we get to that."


    JP shook his head, "You''ve known me for quite a bit and you''ve seen my ugly side already, what more do you want to know?"


    Tennyson followed, "If you pour me another drink, I''ll answer a few questions."


    I never smiled so wide as I poured us a shot to toast to, "Just a word of warning though, thest shot we''ll have is a little different. While we still have a lot to go before we finish this bottle, see to it that I warn you of that. It''s that important, so keep your head clear once wee of that. I won''t hear any excuses about getting drunk from this shit."


    Tennyson rolled his eyes, "Why? Is it some Yakuza shit¡ª"


    I instantly facepalmed, "Way to ruin the surprise, you fuckin'' weeb!"


    "YOU''RE YAKUZA?!"


    "No!"


    "Then why¡ª"


    "Just sounds cool, ya know?! It''s supposed to be this bonding moment where I take you two fucks under my wing officially and you have no fucking chance to get out of it unless you do a very dangerous mission you have a high fucking chance of dying in¡­"


    "Umm¡­/ Hold up¡­"


    "Hah! The look on your fucking faces! It''s kinda like that, actually¡ª but yeah, aren''t we doing the same thing already? But look, the number of people I''m taking care of more than doubled ever since my trip to Subic and I want more people I could lean my back on when I need to take a break.


    Fuck it, I want people to take charge and take care of their own while I''m indisposed or somewhere else so I wouldn''t worry about the people I''m leaving behind where we go on trips, get me?"


    JP asked, "Aren''t we always with you when¡ª"


    "There will be times when I''ll send you somewhere else to do shit or times you''d be on your own missions you curated yourselves like Artem. I don''t just want people to obey my everymand, I want people who could think on their own and do something adjacent to what I''d do given the situation.


    You are your own people but you''re still under me so do at least 70% of what I''d do given the situation where I''m not present. Do that for me and I''ll let you fucks do whatever you want within reason."


    Tennyson couldn''t believe what he was hearing, "For real?"


    "Yeah, I''m sorry Ms. Jackson, I am for fucking real. However, do fuck up incredibly and I''ll hold everyone ountable even if one of you did something wrong. You''re gonna be a single unit once you walk out those doors, not just a bunch of groups or random individuals. Get me?"


    "Yes, sir./ Of course, sir."


    In any case, our conversation was going for the most part until we reached half the bottle. We were talking for close to an hour when these two fucks started wobbling at the same time, and it was aking to Quinn seeing me get tipsy after she downed a barrel of ale. I already considered myself a lightweight but these two fucks couldn''t hold a shot ss to save their lives.


    It was then that the two had the brightest idea to take me up on the 1v1 offer¡ªturning it into a 2v1¡ªand let''s just say even if they didn''t feel a thing because of how intoxicated they were, they''d definitely feel it tomorrow.


    But while we were still subject-adjacent, I had toe over to another group we had taken in from the Subic Bay and it was the junkies we were taking care of in the hospital.

 Chapter 1286 : These Two & These Two...

    Per ourst meeting, all I''ve heard from them was they were still in the process of recovery though most of them were already past the hardest part of withdrawal. I could only imagine the shit they were going through because even though I have partaken or was given psychedelics identally or deliberately, it was only in very~ small amounts and I didn''t need to be confined in the hospital for it.


    In any case, aside from Mimi and Dr. Nichols, the first person I saw waiting for me was Camille¡ªCasey''s sister¡ªwho lived in the hospital halls and bedding areas instead of the lodging we provided for her.


    For the whole time they were here, she was watching over her sister''s recovery aside from the other family members who were also present and doing almost the same thing. I said that because she was the only one Casey got while the others were switching people or had times where they were letting the nurses and doctors do their jobs as they settled into this ce.


    While it was true that like George from Subic, they opted to choose the same ce as their permanent address, these people still wanted to help however they could because we were taking care of their own. Of course, Camille was being either Mimi''s or Dr. Nichols'' assistant¡ªeven Chloe''s helper at times¡ªand the three chose to hire her help instead of her doing odd jobs here and there.


    I apud her actions to somehow "repay" Casey''s medical bills and even though it was perfectly fine for me to have her work in Micah''s ce, it''d just look bad at the moment and she was desperate.


    Again, there was a time and a ce for such things and let''s just say the work Mimi and Dr. Nichols were making her do was just things to have her keep her mind off Casey even for a little bit.


    But yeah, I was a little startled when she came in for a tight hug before bursting into tears and thanking me over and over.


    "Umm¡­ I¡ª What did I do?"


    Camille couldn''t say proper words so Mimi answered for her with a smile:


    "It''s Casey, she''s cleared by Dr. Nichols today and they''re about to move into Woonds. Sir Damian offered his free rooms in exchange for cleaning services and some assistance when he goes on morning walks. His cane could only do so much now¡­"


    "Casey''s fine and all then?"


    Dr. Nichols answered, "Well, it''d be best if Camille watches over her for a few days, observe her for a bit and see¡­ But with all the tests we conducted, she''s totally fine. Aside from the you-know-what, of course¡­"


    ''Ah¡­ The baby¡­''


    Camille finally let go of me but she took my hands and shook them many, many times as tears were still streaming down her face, "T-Thank you again¡ª T-The past days were¡ª Oh god, it was terrible¡ª Terrible! I thought she wasn''t gonna make¡ª"


    I lightly chuckled, "I did jack shit¡ª Thank Mimi and Dr. Nichols instead¡ª"


    The two chortled at the same time, "She did, she definitely did¡­"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Ah~ I see¡­ Well, I''m still d to hear it. I''d hate to bring this up now but doe to my ce and find Rin for other work and see where you could fit in much better. Don''t worry about Casey''s contribution as much since she needs more time to rest and recover."


    Camille shook his head, "D-Don''t *sniffs* w-worry about that, s-sir¡­ I''ll¡ª I''ll take care of her s-share of the burden too¡­ Ack!"


    I chuckled after flicking her forehead, "No the fuck you''re not. Overworking''s a thing too, you wouldn''t want to be on the other side of things and have Casey take care of you, right? So yeah, just do what you can and leave at least an hour or two for yourself and your sister. That''s a fucking order."


    "Ah¡ª O-Okay, I guess¡­"


    "And fucking shower, not that you reek or anything but Americans would fucking invade your hair and face for how oily they are¡ª OW! MIMI! WHA¡ª DR. NICH¡ª STOP!"


    "YOU¡ª DON''T TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!/ SHE''S WORKING HARD, ALRIGHT?! THAT''S SO UNNECESSARY!"


    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"


    To the two''s surprise, Camille startedughing her ass out while clutching her stomach and it was at the exact moment Casey was wheeled out by another nurse. Obviously, herughter was cut short and the first thing she did was hug her sister, and the nurse who wheeled Casey in just gave us a short greeting before we sent her on her way.


    Though obviously enough, Casey still didn''t know how to react and she still looked ashamed¡ªwhich was also understandable¡ªbut as any responsible adult would, I offered them a ride to get to Damian''s ce though they promptly declined.


    "The fuck?"


    "We can''t impose on you anymore a-and the others w¨Cwanted to see you¡ª"


    "Nonsense, they could wait for all I care! It''s barely seven! I wanna speak to Damian for a bit too, catch up with that old coot."


    "I-If you say so, I guess we could¡ª"


    Casey rolled her eyes, "Ohmygod, sis! Eugh! You''re even blushing! I''m hungry! Can''t we eat first before you flirt with the boss man?!"


    "CASEY! I''M NOT¡ª AGH! S-SHUT UP! I''M NOT FLIRTING!"


    In any case, after one awkward drive to Damian''s ce in Woonds, I saw the old coot wearing sses and reading this old book with several creased pages. He didn''t even see using in¡ªas he thought we were just his other tenants¡ªbut I was happy to see he still got his reflexes when I released a bit of killing intent directed towards him.


    It was because he quickly reached for his cane-sword and drew it halfway before turning around and facing us:


    "Wha¡ª You don''t do shit like that, kid! What the fu¡ª Wh¡ª You''re gonna give an old man a heart attack!"


    I chuckled, "I knew you still kept that sword sharp¡­ your senses too."


    "Hmph."


    "Anyway, I''m supposed to drop these two for ya."


    Damian''s eyes scanned over the two before his dimming lightbulb lit up, "Ah! I remember now, hmm¡­ you can take the 2nd room upstairs to the right¡ª You''ll find everything you need over there¡­ I''m a little tired now, I apologize but this ce isn''t that big and I''m not that messy of a person so¡­ I just need someone to help me in my morning walks¡­"


    Camille nodded with a smile, "I''ll be sure to help you, Mister Damian¡­ Is there any particr time you''d like to be woken up?"


    "Gods, no¡­ I wake up in the middle of the night and just walk around¡­ Just let me sleep when I can and if I croak, you can have the house though that kid will definitely take my sword."


    Camille and Casey couldn''t believe their eyes, "Wha¡ª Don''t say it like that!/ Y-Yeah! W-We''re just here for¡ª"


    I cut Casey off, "I''ll definitely take that cane sword."


    Damian chortled, "SEE! He took some of my collection with him and had that hot blondie wave one of them around but fuck it, it''s better than collecting dust, I guess¡­"


    In any case, aside from these two taking care of Damian''s needs, they were also here to make him take his medicine. Even if he was the same age as the old man, his body wasn''t that forgiving and he couldn''t move as well as them.


    He''d need the exercise, proper nutrition, and his meds to be taken on the regr though I''ve heard that he was in talks with Marisha to take care of his "problem", being old, to extreme measures.


    While it was his decision to make, he still needs proper counseling and this old fogey didn''t look like he wanted to take that route and was only open to talking about it to get an idea.


    Assisting someone down that road was never easy¡ªand since it was done here a few times and I''ve done it personally with Earnest and Earl''s grandmother¡ªI had a few things to say about it but if you''re still alive and kicking well, still eager to learn new things or read new books, and the like, going down that road should never be an option.


    Then again, it was still the person''s choice and all we could do was give them counseling and decide from there.


    So yeah, after 15 minutes or so of fucking around with Damian, I went back to the hospital with my car and I''ve personally talked to the families watching over our junkies like Diesel and some other skinny kid.


    Like Camille, they were all very thankful to me and very eager to give back with some form of help or service though again, like Camille, I asked them to not overdo it and focus on taking care of their family.


    But yeah, it was another story for Dax and Sheepy.


    ''I almost forgot about these two¡­''

 Chapter 1287 Left or Right?

    While it was true that there were also a few like them without families watching over them as they recovered, these two¡ªDax & Sheepy¡ªwere still half-brothers and they got each other.


    However, it was safe to say that they were getting discriminated against because of their actions that their followers followed to the dot¡ªand from Marisha''s observations, it seemed like they were getting more reclused and feeling like they didn''t belong anywhere else.


    Still, in between their recovery periods where they could be talked to was when Marisha would pop up and give them talks like everyone else¡ªand surprise, surprise, they were the only two people who needed more time before Marisha managed to break into their stubborn heads.


    Of course, they were still assholes even to some of the staff but it seemed like that now, they put Marisha in high regard though with me, it was a different story.


    "BROOOOOO!/ WASSUP'' DUDE, MAN!"


    "Wut?"N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ''What in the actual fuck?''


    "THERE''S OUR BUDDY, BUD-BUD!/ YEAH~ HE IS! OUR CHUM-CHUM BUDDY, BUDDY!"


    At this moment, not even Mimi, Sandara, or Marisha was present but I''m 99.99% sure these motherfuckers were high as a kite. At the same time, it didn''t take long before I noticed that Dax seemed to have a cracked rib while Sheepy had a fractured arm¡ªconfirmed by looking at their charts and the not-so-obvious restraints they had on their beds.


    So I just opened up with my usual greeting after trying to get into contact with at least Mimi, telling her that I just got back.


    Sheepy cackled, "Sup? That''s all you can do?! I can do schlurp-schlurp, gluck-glock-ck in my fucking sleep, bro!"


    Dax recoiled, "Eugh, bro¡­ Enough about that¡­ I love you but I gotta bnce out seeing dicks with pussies. And right now, I''ve seen your dick more than I see anyone''s snatch and the fucking nurses here aren''t even wee to negotiations¡­" then he turned to me, "I offered my jello, bro¡­ MY FUCKING JELLO AND¡ª AH, FUCK¡­ If that fucking guard wasn''t so much as a wise-ass¡­"


    ''I found the in¡­''


    I cut in "What guard? Is that why you two are injured?"


    Sheepy cackled, "Heh¡­ It could be anyone, really¡­ Everyone fucking hates us, you know? Even our crew we took care of¡ª Fucking loyalists, my ass! They turned fucking coats the moment they were with their families!"


    Dax nodded several times, "Who took care of them?! US! ME! YOU! WE! A-And they pull that shit¡­"


    "What shit?"


    "I-I¡­ I dunno, man¡­ bro¡­ dude¡­ whatever the fuck¡­ Our rooms are so close to each other, we always get visits from their families every time something bad was happening to ''em¡­ It''s not like the same shit''s not happening to us!"


    "We''ve heard all sorts of shit that it''s all our fault and shit for putting them through that so I guess we should''ve just let everyone die, huh? I mean¡ª we could''ve done that but we didn''t coz we''re brooooos~"


    "BROOOOOS! FOR LYFE! WITH A Y!"


    I chuckled, "Then you''re not exactly sure they said those shit you heard, right?"


    "AH¡ª"


    "OH SHIT!"


    "BRO!"


    "BROOOOO!"


    "WE DUCKED!"


    "FUCKED UP, BRO! FUCKED! WITH AN F! BUT YOU''RE FUCKING RIGHT!"


    "STOP YELLING, BRO¡ª YOU''RE HURTING MY¡ª"


    "YOU''RE YELLING TOO! WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    "Oh shit¡­ Oh shi¡ª Y-You''re right, my bad~ my bad, bro~ A-Anyway¡­ What the fuck are we talking about again?"


    "Those bitches, bro! Those bitches be talkin'' shit!"


    I waved them off, "Yeah, yeah, I get that but why did you two get injured like that? Is that deliberate to get some drug in your system or have you two fucked up real bad?"


    As soon as I asked the question for the nth time, these two nced at each other before looking at me with a knowing smile, as if I read their minds and figured out their intentions.


    "He knooooows, bro~ He knowsssss~"


    "Yah, bro¡­ Detox is cool and all but gettin'' high has been our bread n butter to survive¡ª And getting high''s pretty cool too¡ª"


    "Okay, shut up."


    Right at that fucking moment, I filled the room with copious amounts of killing intent and whether they were high on painkillers or were faking it to mess with me, the two gulped down and had difficulty breathing within my presence.


    It was then that I reminded them that I only provided them with a very short leash and whatever secrets they were hiding doesn''t mean shit to me if all we''d find are more drug stashes or names of people who used to peddle them.


    In the grand scheme of things, without a production line and with our current poption, they''d eventually run out of products and customers.


    "Look, you two¡­ This ce is yourst fucking chance to turn your lives around and let me tell you, everyone here doesn''t fuck around¡­ There''s a saying that I''d always like to mention to people who always love to fuck around but you two won''t even be aware to findin'' out if you keep messing around with everyone.


    So again, were those injuries just for a shot of something like morphine, or are those people outside or my guards responsible?"


    ".../¡­"


    "Quiet time, huh? Either way, I''ll find out¡ª We have cameras here too, and yeah, snitchin'' is good once in a while. It''s nice to do things your way but you gotta ept the hand that offers help too once in a while¡­ especially if it''s thest hand that''ll offer help."


    ".../¡­"


    "Fine, keep your secrets¡ª"


    The two then answered at the same time, "It''s to get high¡ª/It''s Te''s cousin¡ª"


    "Dude! Shut up!/Dude! Shut up!"


    "There''s no proof!/Who fuckin'' cares! He broke my good arm! I can''t jerk off like this!"


    I stared them down before I opened my mouth, "It''s either he did you in the storeroom or the restrooms. Give me the full story¡ª and no lies, there are no cameras in the restrooms but there are cameras in the hallways. It''s not much but if you aren''t pussies as you are now, there should at least be something that''s left behind.


    I have other means to uncover the truth and again, I''m your only shot, trust me for once and I''ll pull you fucks through."


    Sheepy turned to Dax, "What now, bro? Told you, he''s legit."


    Dax looked straight into my eyes, "I''m still kinda high but your death re woke me up. What do you need from us aside from the info we''re keeping to stay alive? And why go to such lengths for two assholes like us? We ruined a lot of lives, you know?"


    I chuckled, "I said I''d give you another chance, here it is. Don''t waste it. I can save hospital resources if I just kill you two right now¡ªand it''d be easy as fuck¡ªso, what now? I''m all for revenge but if what you said is really true, that shouldn''t be the way to go.


    Besides, your group collectively did what you did to survive, even if you two were the ringleaders, what he did to you two is worse than a sucker punch."


    Dax scoffed, "What are you gonna do to him if he''s found guilty, anyway?"


    "Well~ Aside from a severe talking to, I''ll take away some of their luxuries, have his ''deeds'' well-known to everyone, and yeah¡ª I''ll arrange a time and a ce for you two fucks to get back at him in a ring. Separate times, of course¡­ You know, to be fair to the poor sod¡ª"


    "Hah!" Sheepy cackled, "I''m in, bro! The fuck? That''s the best deal we''vended! What do you say, Dax?"


    Dax chuckled, "And if we''re lying through the skin of our teeth and just wanted to get high onest time?"


    I stared right at him, "Haven''t been listening? I''ll let you two look at the flowers before slitting your throats. Don''t even test me."


    "Shit, then fuck it¡ª it happened a couple of days ago. Same wing we''re in currently, and he was wearing a id shirt and off-white sneakers. If he didn''t clean his shoes, my blood''s on them for sure."


    Sheepy and I spoke at the same time, "The fuck, bro?!/I thought there was no proof?"


    Dax shrugged his shoulders, "There may or may not be proof. I tend to remember things like that if it''s life or death, you know?"


    I chuckled, "Then what would you remember if I point my gun at you now?"


    "Heh. I can remember more shit too if you give me shit that could get me high."


    "I''ll even give you more shit if you stopped getting high¡ª"


    "Don''t kid me, I''ll never stop getting high. Not the hard stuff, of course, a little blunt here and there would do me good. I miss good food, ya know? And this hospital''s not serving hospital food at all. It''s like being back at grandma''s¡ª"


    "Alright, so the shoe. Left or right?"

 Chapter 1288 Pods

    At this point, the two began recalling more details from the incident and told me about what happened though I still felt that there was something they weren''t beingpletely honest about. However, at the end of their statement, the two looked at each other solemnly before Sheepy nodded¡ªmaking Dax let out a sigh before turning to me:


    "Alright¡­ We''ve told you all sorts of details but we did exchange some rather¡­ unsavory words with that fucker, TJ. While it''s true we sustained injuries like this, we managed to throw one or two punches but we''re just too weak to do anything about it. I''m not sure what you''d do about that information but you trusted us, and now we''re trusting you to do you''re thing¡­"


    Sheepy nodded, "Whatever the fuck it is you''re gonna do¡­"


    I chuckled, "That puts a damper on things but do know I''m also hearing his side of the story and I''m gonna gather as much footage I could with the help of a few people. Just do know that this will take a bit of time¡ª"


    "How much time?"


    "A few days, a week at most. If all else fails, I''ll make sure you''re far away from them or vice versa."


    "Fuck it, that''s the most help we received from anyone."


    "I mean¡ª you fucks are still recovering here and Te along with his family members would be sent to work in this ce. That means that if he wanders around here more, that TJ, he''d just be digging his own grave. Get me?"


    "Yeah¡­/ Mm-hmm¡­"


    "So sit back a bit and recover for the meantime and I''ll do my thing."


    In any case, I am getting tired of being like Dr. Phil for everyone else in Phase 3 and the ones who followed after though I had one more bout of talking after since Artem and his group managed to lock down all the standalone stations with Morales and his crew.


    The only ones left were the two other stations connecting to the other train lines though there were a few problems that we needed to work out before tackling them.


    So yeah, once we got back and had dinner, we gathered everyone involved and decided to hear from them first with Artem walking up to the front.


    "Dobryy vecher¡ª Good evening, everyone. I rarely speak in front of people like this but we have both good news and bad. First the good news: as you''ve heard, we''ve cleared this LRT Line 1¡ªI meant the stations that aren''t connected to the other train linespletely.


    It would need a human''s touch to get into those stations or a rather agile undead but not the normal ones we try to clear off every single day."


    Matthew cut in, "So, what''s the bad news?"


    "We''ve received strict orders from Nyebo to not enter those connecting stations without a proper n but he didn''t say anything about sending a drone in. It''s what he''d do if he''s there so we did just that. There''s this other thing that we also did but it could wait¡ª"


    I, "Nyebo", also cut in, "Can we hear that other thing first before the bad news?"


    Artem nodded, "Sure, it has to do with the Legarda, Recto, and Tutuban Station from LRT Line 2 and Maganes and Taft Avenue Station from MRT Line 3.


    Since we''re in the area and have enough time to spare¡ªand with the help of the people from the Mayor''s side¡ªwe decided to clear the seeding standalone stations and the outer surface of the connecting stations from those two other lines namely the Recto Station and Taft Avenue Station."


    Matthew turned to me, "What''s he talkin'' about?"


    I chuckled as I gave Artem a nod of approval, "He basically used a tourniquet on those other stations so we could focus on it when it matters."


    Oscar cut in while scratching the back of his head, "I do know what a tourniquet is but I''m gonna need a little more than that, Kid? Was it a good thing?"


    I nodded, "Of course, it''s a good thing. As you can see D. Jose Station is connected to Recto Station while EDSA Station is connected to Taft Avenue Station hence the names. So, what they did is they went after the stations after those two so we could focus more on these connecting stations tomorrow. I thought you fucks spoke English? It''s both our secondnguage and¡ª"


    "Ah, shaddap! You two put the word station in every sentence and it confused me! I think I get it?" Oscar nodded as he sat down.


    Matthew asked his previous unanswered question, "That''s the other piece of news, right? What''s the bad news?"


    Artem then pulled out the drone footage they got as he took a few steps away from the screen, "This is the bad news. I''d like to call them pods."


    Everyone else asked, "Pods?"


    As the video yed from three different drones, Artem made us focus on Drone #1 but the footage on Drones #2 and #3 were just as important. It gave everyone the generalyout of what it looked like currently even if some of us knew it by heart due tomuting to and from work before the world ended.


    It was because aside from those pods we hadn''t seen yet, flesh barricades were all over the ce, altering the area''s known pathways. We''d have to prepare more than just firetrucks and pitchforks for this run though coordination with everyone else was paramount.


    However, once we saw a glimpse of what Artem was talking about, one of the things I fucking feared about came true when these fucks had developed the ability to create more of themselves.


    ''Hold up¡­''n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Everyone else was already thinking of nicknames to call this new type we haven''t even seen yet because so far, all we''ve seen are these non-uniform pods where new deadheads spawn¡ªbut a person with my eyes or someone else with a physiology degree or a gym rat¡ªwould notice some muscle inserts were off and the length of each limb was fucking off as well.


    In addition, there were some creations that had extra limbs or missing one or two¡ªand yeah, some of them weren''t even in the right ces most of the time.


    It brought me to the time when we were in Man and had to procure oxygen tanks but we came across a station¡ªwhere we sent a couple of drones armed with C4¡ªthat was a nest for a much bigger, singr, pod¡­ unlike this one that had several smaller pods spread together.


    And one other thing that I remember from that time was that we found severed limbs, torsos, and heads and that could''ve been the start of what we were seeing right now.


    Still, whether they were puppets or not¡ªor another version of them¡ªmeant these fucking meat bags were still continuing to evolve as we continue to find more ways to take care of their kind.


    However, the footage wasn''t even halfway done when Artem forwarded it a bit and we began to question whether they were breeding pods, sleeping pods, collection pods, or a mix of those things in between.


    It''s because we saw these collection pods either swallow a wandering deadhead and/or a deadhead choose to take a nap in it with its dismembered friends.


    We haven''t had enough footage to go by but we did see a few pods dete/inte after rewinding the footage Artem caught many, many times. And yeah, they hadn''t even had footage of where the thickest parts of this fucking flesh wall were and a good number of us just wanted to blow the ce up.


    If I didn''t want to take home at least a few samples to study I would''ve agreed to just went Samurai on it and burn that motherfucking ce to the ground but yeah, bullets were the easiest solution but we gotta know what the fuck''s going on topletely wipe them out.


    So yeah, it was almost midnight when we all decided to call it a night¡ªand only the elite yers were present plus our new squad¡ªand we were all up in the gym for some good lighting and using therge mirrors as an impromptu whiteboard.


    What we first did was figure out mostly the new pathways created for us and ways we could make it more advantageous for us¡ªand what followed was everyone''s loudout for the iing siege of just the connection station between D. Jose Station and Recto Station.


    We decided it would be best to handle them one at a time, focus all our forces in one spot, and have several backups at the ready in case things went south.


    And of course, I''m feeling a little more confident because aside from the young junkies getting cleared by our doctors, Mikhail and Alexei were also cleared for their gunshot wounds, mostly.


    Their doctors said to wait a few more days but they were already itching to stretch their bones and fight with everyone in full gear.


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